City Council - Regular Meeting

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Thank you very much, you guys. I saw the thumbs up from Jeff, so I'm going. Uh, will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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. I'd like to call David Barnes to do our invocation, please.

Dear Father, first we just want to declare we are so grateful and thankful for your grace and your mercy. God, we declare that you are good. And tonight, we uh come before you just um asking for your your discernment, your wisdom, your guidance um in making decisions for this community. Um Father, I lift up these um servants to you that come before you um looking for your wisdom, asking for your wisdom, and pray that that uh their decision- making is is one of um of kindness, compassion, but also truth. Um and so, Father, we um we just look to you for guidance. And Father, um we pray for this community as you've done some amazing amazing things. So, we praise you for that. And we believe that you'll continue to guide and to direct this community, keep it safe. And um God, we we just want to be thankful tonight. Thankful and grateful for all that you've done and all that you'll continue to do. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you. All right. Will the clerk please call the role? Alers wait till it turns red. Alers not here. No, it's not red yet. I'm here though. I can see that you're here. Mad here. You've really got it mad now. Take a while. You broke it. You got a battery. Evers here. Hawkstadder here. Kenna here. Malcolm

here. Ranky here. Wilie here. All members are present.

Thank you. So, we've got a proclamation 2026 Arbor Day proclamation. So, I'd like to call on Derek Barry, assistant public operations director. Thank you for having me here tonight, mayor and council. Uh today we are going to be doing the proclamation as mayor mentioned recognizing Arbor Day and celebrating the tree city designation. Whereas the city of of Sar's forestry and parks commission promotes the responsible planting and maintenance of trees on public and private property. And whereas the citizens of Sar highly value their environmental quality and promote the planting of trees as well as enhanced park system. And whereas the city of Sar recognizes that trees reduce air pollution, improve aesthetic value, provide shelter from wind and rain, provide animal and bird habitat, reduce noise pollution, save energy, enhance property values, and provide privacy. And whereas the planting of the of trees promotes community pride and enhances the character of the city and its neighborhoods. And whereas Arbor Day is a nationally recognized celebration of trees and tree planting. And whereas Sumar is celebrating its 32nd year as a tree city as designated by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Therefore, be it resolved that the city of Sumar proclaims April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day and request that all citizens join us and celebrate our trees, our parks, and our continued commitment to environmental environmental stewardship. Um, some background is last Saturday we did our Arbor Day planting on Cherry Avenue and Willow Street. We planted, I believe, 31 trees. We're going to be planting two more. There were some complications on where someone wanted the trees. Um, but they are making an immediate impact on the those two streets. So, if you have a moment to go take a look, it's fantastic. Any questions?

All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Will the clerk please read the consent agenda? Item number one, approval of council member Malcolm appointment to the finance and personnel committee. Item number two, confirming Mario mayoral the mayor appointment of Andy McCertie as chief of police and approving of the related employment contract agreement. Item number three, approval approval of an employment agreement with Ryan Johnstone as the public operations department director. Item number four, Washington Street Preservation Project Construction Contract Award. Item five, Washington Street Preservation Project Construction Management Consultant award consultant contract award. Item six, Washington Street Preservation Project design consultant amendment approval. Item seven, 2026 pavement chip seal application construction contract award. Item eight, operations facility, approval of Avidex contract. Item nine, approval of checks and electronic payments in the amount of 7,884,181.19. Item 10, operations facility furniture purchase, Blue Space Interiors.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elers, would you please make a motion to adopt the consent agenda? Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda for April 20th, 2026. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by council member Kenna. It's has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Would any council member wish to remove an item? All right. Thank you. So, mayor, would you call for a vote, please? Yes, I am. All in favor? I

opposed. Passes unanimously. Thank you. So, we will now move on to uh our public hearing. So, we have a public hearing tonight. Uh this is ordinance number 2966, vacation of 63rd Street East, and a PPW portion of State Street. So, I'd like to open the public hearing at 6:06 p.m. I'd like to call on Deputy City Attorney Doug Ruth. Got to come all the way around. Okay, there we go. Oh, he's online. I was like, where is he?

Well, maybe it's Andrea tonight. Is he online? Well, we'll just Mayor, I apologize. Why don't we take a threem minute recess?

Okay. Thank you. 3m minute recess at 607. Thank you. recess will probably be longer than my presentation. What's that?

11 wins. PM. Thank you. Deputy City Attorney Doug Ruth.

Yes. I apologize for the delay. Uh so the um proposed ordinance and the public hearing for tonight regards a vacation of a right ofway to remind the council vacation of rightaway is a statutory process where the city removes a rightaway from their inventory and turns it over to the adjacent property owners. This one is a little bit unusual because we're turning it over to ourselves. The rightway happens to be, as you can see from the picture um on the screen, right in front of the wastewater treatment facility. So, it'll go from being a rightaway to being part of the general inventory of the city property. In this case, the um uh wastewater treatment facility inventory. Um, and you can see there that it regards 63rd um, street east, which does not continue on past 410. So, we're vacating the whole totality of that road there and a little bit of State Street. Um, but of course, that's not before the council tonight. That'll be a future meeting. Tonight's just a public hearing when the public can comment on that change. Um, so let's see more of the pictures here. There we go. Um, and so this will show you a more microscopic um, view of it. Um, and um, I drew this so it's not exact. So let's just go on to the more exact picture. And there you go. And you can see the important points probably for here. The informative points are that it's um, 60 feet wide. Um, and it doesn't show it there, but it's about 500 ft long. So that works out to be about 3/4s of an acre that will be vacated. And this picture shows you the utilities that are underneath there. Water lines, some lights. In this case, we don't need to require an easement because again, it's just moving it from one sector of city property to another sector. We will

have to sort out kind of behind the scenes um to give any PSSE easements um or well, they have it as a franchise right now. any rights there and it'll have to become an easement, but that can be sorted out behind the scenes um if the council goes forth with the vacation. And this will give you a little visual um awareness of the reason why. Um you can see the red circles show security fences that uh currently exist and the blue circle or oval shows where they would like to put a security fence to consolidate. Why have three fences when we can just have one security fence at the opening? But to do that, um, it's best to vacate the road. Um, it's not really appropriate to limit public access to a public road. Um, you can get around that if you have a certain reason, but vacating it, um, simplifies that process. Also, it's easier with improvements to the wastewater treatment facility that they don't have to go through the permitting process for right ofways. It's treated differently than just having um, normal in or fee property. Um it's a simpler prop pro process when you have fee property. So it simplifies any kind of expansion or the security changes. Um and that with that I'm open for questions. Seeing none I will turn it back over to the mayor.

Okay. Thank you. Um anyone wish to make a comment on Zoom? Is there anyone I Okay, thank you. Um Michelle, has anyone signed up to make comments or is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak on this item? No, mayor. There are no um comment or no signups for this item.

Okay, then I will close the public hearing at 6:12 p.m. Thank you. All right, so we'll move on to regular business. So, unfinished business, resolution number 1744-2027-2032, six-year transportation improvement program annual update. Council member Kenna, would you like to make a motion? Thank you. All right. Yes, Mayor. I would like to make a motion to adopt resolution number 1744 27 2027 to 2020 2032, excuse me, six-year transportation improvement program annual update.

Thank you. Uh, can I get a second, please? You're gone. Let's go. I'll second that.

Thank you, Andy. Or deputy mayors. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Elers, ma'am. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve resolution number 1744-20272023, sixyear transportation improvement program annual update. I'd like to call on Courtney Latril, assistant engineering manager. Good evening, Mayor Bowman and council members. My name is Courtney Latril, assistant engineering manager. The item in front of you is resolution 1744 for the 2027 to 2032 six-year transportation improvement plan update, also referred to as the six-year tip. Per state law, the city is required to update the six-year tip annually and file a copy with of the approved plan with the state department of transportation. There are a few quick projects that I would like to highlight. Um the first is suit road bridge replacement. Um construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed in 2028. We have our Washington Street preservation project. Um bids were opened at the end of March and is expected to begin in the coming months. And then we have our Maple Street uh pedestrian signal and citywide back plate projects. This per excuse me, this project is currently suspended while we're procuring signal poles and signal equipment um and is expected to be completed in fall of this year. This item was previously brought to council on March 9th at a study session and on April 6th for a public hearing. And with that, I will be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Since uh a public Oh, do you have a question? I do. You're not showing up here. You're already Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Courtney. Hey, I think uh Jason may have asked you this, but I didn't have as a chance to ask you directly, but I was curious. Um we were I was part of the pedestrian overpass and getting some grant funding for that. So, I think that's project T3, which is a a trails project. And I just was my question was just to make sure that we had in our tip uh allowed for sidewalks and any other street improvements that needed to be part of of making sure that people have access whenever that gets built. It'd be kind of a shame to have the roads or the sidewalks not u you know kind of ready for that. Is that can you address that?

Yeah. So on the River Grove side where that it's going to connect there there is not existing pedestrian facility on the north side. Um and so with this project, there will be ADA curb ramps constructed to connect um further into Rivergrove and then that sidewalk network will be completed where there's missing gaps between the um pedestrian bridge and the existing sidewalks. Okay, perfect. So there'll be contiguous for people to get to the school and get back and ride bikes and stuff on both sides, but um if I remember correctly, there are existing pedestrian facilities on um on the other side of 410 on the northern side of 410.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Since a public hearing uh has already occurred on this matter on April 6th, 2026, there will be no additional public comment taken uh this evening. So, do we have any comments from the council? I see none. Will the clerk please call the role? Wilsy, yes. Kenna, yes. Oxetter, yes. Evers, yes. Malcolm, yes. Ranky, yes. Alers, yes. Pass 70.

Thank you. Okay, so we will move on to public comment. Uh Michelle, did anyone sign up for public comment? Yes, mayor. We do have three people who have signed up for public comment. The first being Mr. Randall Adams.

Okay. So, uh, I'm going to go ahead and read the rules for public comment. Do we have anyone on Zoom? Thank you. So, uh, the purpose of these meetings is to conduct 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 city staff deserve respect and dignity. Please refrain from disorderly or disruptive speech or conduct, personal attacks, name calling, rude or offensive statements, obscenities, derogatory comments directed at individuals, and hate speech. If you do not comply with this rule, I will interrupt you with a reminder and then may choose to suspend you from continuing or have you removed from the meeting. Three, we have behavioral expectations. We will all model courtesy and respect. This includes those of us on the dis and members of the public are expected to do the same. Audience members, to ensure every speaker feels comfortable speaking, please do not clap, boo, or speak while another person is addressing the council. Number four, please speak into the microphone. Comments are broadcasted and recorded via the mic. If you leave the microphone, your comment time ends. So, now that I've reviewed the rules that will apply, I invite the first speaker

to the microphone. Please start your comments by stating your name and the city in which you reside for our records. You will have three minutes to speak. Mr. Adams. Randall Adams Sumar. Local cities and communities like Auburn, Covington, and Black Diamond to name a few have continued in the past few weeks going through a process of openly gaining more information regarding best sites. They all previously passed moratoriums to give everyone involved the opportunity to research and gain greater knowledge about the best sites and what ramifications a site would have on their citizens, including how loud they are. They they've included planning commissions, civic participation meetings, and are still working through their process and zoning thoughts make before making a final decision. Yet in Sumar, we had none of that. No planning commission, no presentation in front of the whole city council to educate you on the pluses and minuses while considering if and when to issue a permit or to buy more time with a moratorum. Also, a best site. Is the best site beneficial or is it too much of a hazard sitting on top of our aquifer? Some citizens and nearby communities that are potentially be in harm's way. We're not allowed to voice their opinions at all. If the best sites are so safe and as is being represented, then why doesn't PSSE build these sites and own them as part of their own infrastructure? Maybe because they are public owned utility and the risk is too high for them. Best sites are sold as it is as a way to store excess energy. Yet PSC already creates more electricity than is used in this state and sells the extra to other states. We are being put at risk so other states can benefit, not us. A best site does not bring power to you if a storm knocks down your power lines. It you just don't have power.

Also, at Seahawk games, they get very loud as we all know, peaking at 130 dB. Yet, a best sight is 12 dB 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's like an airplane jet taking off. Thursday, we will have a LAR drill in the morning to try and educate those primarily in school what to do in case we have a LAR. What plans for evacuation or road closures has the city prepared as a part of your SEIPA for the best site? Do you have a plan? If so, when are you going to unveil it to the public? Have you trained your officers when when they need to block off or where they need to block off roads for the for commuters? Is it at the top and bottom of Forest Canyon on East Valley Highway at Steuart Road or up and down on Stewart Road? What are we how are we going to give notices to the subdivision up up by the PSC substation off Forest Canyon that we are considering annexing and the thousands of people that live in apartments and homes in Lakeland Hills. How are we going to get a hold of these folks? I sent to you earlier today two different articles regarding a lithium battery pack that failed and caused a fire over at Fucci Junior High so bad that the environmental damage to that facility they've shut down for the entire school year and they don't know how much longer that it'll be.

Okay, your time is up. The next person who has signed up for public comment is Trisha Megra. Hello. Excuse my voice. I'm um recovering from laryngitis. Um my name is Trisha Magra. I'm a resident of Sumar and I also own and operate a licensed childcare center on just over here on Ryan Avenue. I'm here to discuss childcare traffic impact fees. Currently, child care facilities are assigned traffic impact fees that are similar in cost to casinos. Casinos and daycarees are at the top tier of fees based on the city's traffic fee chart. Child care does not function like most land uses. For example, a lot of families carpool, siblings are being dropped off together, families walking to and from preschool from our community, and there's train chaining, which families are already in sequence of linked trips made in continuous outings. So, you may stop several places um while you're dropping off your child. Drop offs and pickups also happen in predictable windows, not continuous traffic throughout the day. Often families are assigned times to pick up so it doesn't create a surge of vehicles all at once. Another issue is that the city fees are based on building square footage not by licensed childcare capacity. To determine how many kids can serve in a bas based on DCI DCIF which is department of children, youth and families is based on usable space which is different from how the city calculates use. For example, a 600 square foot new addition to our child care would cost around $49,000 in tra traffic impact fees, but only 500 square feet will be usable license capacity space for 10 kids. We're also told that fees cannot be adjusted within an

individual or we were also told that fees cannot be adjusted without an individual traffic study. However, in practice, those studies consistently show the same results, which is childcare generates lower and more predictable traffic. Local data data, including prior studies I've done in 2014 and most recently done by Faith Covenant Church, Little Sprouts, already confirms this. Our cities have addressed this more effect if other cities have addressed this more effectively. For example, in other cities, an automatic reduction is given to child care facilities to better reflect actual conditions without requiring repeated costly studies. In closing, it may be I may be here representing Sumar Valley Preschool, but I can confidently share that my fellow directors um in child care operations in our community share the same um concerns. I respectfully ask the council review my written statement that I submitted and consider how children how childc care traffic fees are calculated. Um I really appreciate your time and and I hope um we can work something out for our community because I love serving kids. Thank you.

And the last person who has signed up is Tina Bernett. Hi, couple things. Um, one,

you keep predicting that SAR is going to grow into a, you know, our population increase. Well, we don't just need apartments for the increased population. We need child care. So, I think you need to take what Trish is saying very, very seriously because if you start making it hard to grow child care and daycare centers in this town, that's going to turn people away if they don't have a place to to uh send their kids when they go off to work. Um, so I support whatever you can do to help Trish and her fellow daycare providers. Secondly, um later on in the agenda, you're going to appoint Nick Beerman to the planning commission. Great choice, very smart, very dedicated, knows a lot about the city. So, I I am so happy that you're finally doing that and allowing us to participate in the city. And I think I've forgotten my third thing. Um, I did I space. That's why I should write things down. But okay, that's good enough. I support Trisha.

Thank you. All right. Thanks. Oh, I know what it was. I still just real briefly. Um, the you're you're changing the design commission to incorporate the historical preservation commission. I think I I know PB does that. So, Tina Tina. Yeah. come back up and talk when we talk about that, please. Oh, you were going to give us public comment then? You can make uh Yes. Okay, great. Thanks. Thank you. There are no additional people who have signed up, mayor.

All right. Thank you. So, with that, we'll move on to new business. Uh item a mayorial appointment to the planning commission for Nick Beerman. Council member Hawk Stitter, would you like to make a motion? Got it. I'm trying. There we go. Got it. Yes. I would like to make a motion uh for the mayor mayoral appointment planning commission of Mr. Nick Berman. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second that.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elpers seconded that. Uh it has been moved and seconded to approve the appointment of Mr. Berman to the planning commission. So, I call on community and economic development director Ryan Windish.

Thank you, Mayor Bowen, members of the city council. Tonight is confirmation for Nick Berman, who's being appointed by the mayor to the Sumar Planning Commission. Uh, the planning commission serves in an advisory capacity to the city council. The commission's main purpose is to assist in the implementation of the vision and policies in the Sumar comprehensive plan, including reviewing and making recommendations on various city plans, goals, and policies and the Sumar code, zoning code, and development regulations. Mr. Beerman, as you all know, has been very active in the community and regularly attends city meetings and other community events. I think he's attended like almost every city council meeting in the last few years. He's attended every community development committee meeting that I attend. Uh he's been very dedicated in that regard. Uh Mr. Beerman will fulfill the remainder of the council uh of council member Malcolm's term since he was appointed to council with an expiration of April 2029.

There you have it. Thank you. Do we have any comments from the public?

All right. Is there anyone on Zoom? Thank you. Any comments from the council?

He went red. I'm red. My screen here is not allowing me to hit next on. Mayor, he's on. Thank you, Mr. Malcolm. I'm on. Okay, great. Well, I love to say congratulations to Nick and I think the city's better off having him uh bringing some of those brains and that energy to the commission. So, I'm really excited to see him and I know I'm some big boots to fill, but I think you'll do a good job. So, congratulations.

Thank you, Council Member Ranky. Yeah, I just want to say a quick word about Nick. Um I didn't know Nick until I got on the council about two and a half years ago. And I think you've been at every meeting I've been at. So, uh not to include all the um committee meetings, too. He zooms in on almost every single one that I've been on the last two and a half years. He's dedicated. He puts the time in. He's knowledgeable of a lot of things in the city. And um I see him all over town, everywhere. So, I'm I'm going to support this appointment by Mayor Bowman of Nick Burman to the planning commission. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Go ahead.

I'll second that. I just think uh that it is it is we appreciate when people come and comment and um sometimes it seems like we start out getting involved in city stuff because we're upset at something or we don't like how something's happening and I think it's um it's meaningful when someone decides to commit and to be active and and to to try to learn how to help the process. So easier to complain than it is to be a part of the solution. So um Nick, I hope to to hear you solving some problems on the planning commission. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Will the clerk please call the role? Kenna, yes. Alers, yes. Coxetter, yes. Rankie,

yes. Alver, yes. Wily, yes. Malcolm, yes. Pass 70. Thank you very much. Um, would Mr. Beerman like to say anything? My screen is just not working at all. A couple weird links.

Is it Is it good? All right. Okay. Thank you. I'll just say a couple things here and keep it pretty pretty short. Um, thank you for the opportunity to apply and interview for this position. I look forward to being able to serve in this capacity. And uh most of all I think I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of the process going forward. Be an active participant rather than just observing from the outside and just speaking at meetings and not necessarily being a part of the process. So thank you for that. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

All right. Next ordinance number 2961 repealing the Cultural Arts Commission Sar Municipal Code 2.86. 86. Council member Evers, would you like to make a motion? Yes. But first of all, I want to go on the record that I'm a big lover of the arts here in Sumar and worldwide. That being said, I'd like to make a motion to approve ordinance number 2961, repealing the Cultural Arts Commission. Is there a second? I'll second that.

Seconded by Deputy Mayor Elpers. So, it has been moved and seconded to approve ordinance number 2961, repealing the Cultural Arts Commission, Sumar Municipal Code, chapters 2.86 and 2.96. I'd like to call on community and economic development director Ryan Wendish.

Thank you, Mayor Bowman, members of city council. Uh, ordinance number 2961, as we've heard, will repeal the Cultural Arts Commission from the Sar Municipal Code. Uh, the Cultural Arts Commission has had a long history in Sar. It was first established as the arts commission in 2000. In 2021, the purpose and responsibilities of the commission were broadened and it was renamed as the cultural arts commission. Over the last 26 years, the commission has assisted in holding the music off main summer concerts, launched the chalk art festival, held night markets, writing events, created murals, and wrapped utility boxes downtown with art. The commission was also responsible for art on the Sumar entrance sign that you see on Traffic Avenue and other pieces around town. And as much as the Cultural Arts Commission has done, we have unfortunately come to a point where the city needs to shift away from a formal commission. Over the last several years, the commission's membership has declined as fewer people have time in their busy schedules to commit to routine meetings and numerous events. The commission has consequently taken on less responsibility with staff doing more of the work and improved technology allows for more public engagement on cultural art programs and projects and public art around town. Formal advisory of artwork for parks and open spaces will shift to the existing forestry and parks commission. We'll be talking about that at a subsequent ordinance. Uh and the culture the forestry and parks commission does have some openings for volunteers for specific art related projects and programs. The city will not rely as much on a formal commission and instead we'll create ad hoc committees for specific projects and have people participate in that way. And then technology such as online surveys and outreach can also be

used for valued public input and ideas which we've done uh recently on some parks projects when it came to choosing for example the color of the playground equipment. We were able to do an online survey uh conceivably you can do an online survey even to pick uh bands for the concerts or at least get an initial initial read. So there's some online activity that could happen as well. I can tell you that we appreciate those who have volunteered and served on the Sumar Cultural Arts Commission over the years, including some who were commissioners for over 20 years and became council members. We have current council members who've been on the cultural arts commission. And we hope that they will help Sumar shift to this new way and encourage the community to be involved in arts and cultural celebrations and all their forms. I just want to say Sumar is not doing away with art. uh is we're just shifting that focus to a to be in a different commission as I as I said I'll talk about later. This went to the community development committee uh on on the 25th of March and came out with a do pass recommendation. Happy to answer any other questions

questions. She's already got them turned on.

Thank you, Ryan. I just want to say that I appreciate the statement of the commitment to the arts sum um arts is not going away. Um and and to just clarify what I understand is that that's going in with the parts for street and parks still be a wing of it for art. Um and I do really like the idea of ad hoc community and and the public input through online. I think it's really important. Arts are very very important to me. Um, I had the opportunity to serve for I think four years. Um, so I I am going to vote in favor of combining this for efficiency. Um, knowing that the arts are not going away and that some are still committed to the arts. So, thank you, Ren.

Thank you. I'm going to uh go ahead. Is everybody on Zoom? Okay. Any uh comments from the public here? All right. Oh, yes, Mr. Adams. There's more of a glasses than I know. I saw it.

Um, without repeating what was in in in the ordinance, I'm just going to go straight to comments and that the city blames the lack of interest or commitment from the Cultural Arts Commission. Yet, it doesn't note that the commission was reduced from 13 down to nine and wanted actually to squeeze it down to seven until they were pushed back. Yet, afterwards, longtime members have resigned as their input was consistently rejected and came to believe that they were no longer wanted. Why would you keep giving up your time for nothing? This this reduction in members was orchestrated by this by the city to create gate to gain greater control over all the processes within. That was all. It was just to have greater control over that and not have have the citizens be out there doing their own thing.

And thank thank the people that were in the conditions for so many years. Thank you. Any comments from the council? None. Will the clerk please call the role? Ever. Excuse me. Evers. Yes. Malcolm. Yes. The mics. The mics are not uh mics are on now. Okay. Yes. Please. Yes. Malcolm. Yes. Wy. Yes. But my mic is glitching. Yes. Thank you. Alfers. Yes. Kenna. Yes. Hawkstarter.

Yes. Ranky. Yes. Pass 70. Thank you. All right. Next, we'll move on to item C. Ordinance number 2962, Forestry and Parks Commission Amendments, Sumar Municipal Code 2.87. Council member Wilsey, would you like to make a motion? Yes. I'd like to make a motion for ordinance number 2962, Forestry and Parks Commission amendments, Sumar Municipal Code 2.87. Thank you. Yes. Can we get a second, please? Deputy Mayor Alers. I'll second that.

Thank you. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Alfers. It has been moved and seconded to approve ordinance number 2962, Forestry and Parks Commission amendment. Sumar Municipal Code 2.87. Again, we'd like to call on economic and community development director Ryan Windish.

Thank you, Mayor Bowman, members of the city council. Uh the ordinance before you tonight is 2962 and it would amend the summer municipal code and addresses changes to the duties and responsibilities and uh membership requirements of the city's forestry and parks commission. Uh the forestry and parks commission is an advisory body to the staff and the city council on programs, rules, plans, and activities related to the city's parks, trails, public trees, and open space. Forestry and Parks Commission's duties and responsibilities are being expanded to include cultural arts. Uh this would include art installations, art programs such as concerts in the parks, sculptures, or other outdoor exhibits on city-owned properties and facilities. Uh, this item also went to the community development committee on March 25th and came out with a due pass recommendation. Happy to answer any further questions.

Thank you. Uh, Council Member Wilsey, do you have a question or your mic's on? Nope. Okay. Thank you. I'm just sitting here. There you go. So, Council Member Hawksteader, would you like to present an amendment? I got a quick question. Can I go? Yes, you can. Council member Kenna.

All right. Sorry, just a quick question before Council Member Hawksteader. Um, uh, Ryan, can you, uh, address the, um, the members from the Cultural Arts Commission? Um, and you know, those are, um, kind of we're losing those. We've got members on the parks commission now. We may have some vacancies as well. So, what happens to the folks that we're serving? And then, does the Forestry and Parks Commission grow in membership or stay the same or how is that going to all work out? That's that's a great question. So, we actually have uh a member of the cultural arts commission who also serves as a member on the forestry and parks commission. So, we already kind of have that synergy there, that connection. And then, um we have had some interest and more than interest. Uh the mayor interviewed one of the cultural arts commissioners uh who's interested in being on the forestry and parks commission. And now it's up to the mayor if she wants to recommend appointment, but uh yeah, we're seeing that connection for sure.

So, what is the what will be the membership of the Forestry and Parks Commission? Again, uh Forestry and Parks Commission is a maximum of 12 voting members. Okay. And what are we at right now? Is that uh We're less than that. We're less than Is it nine? 10. We have two two open spots. Okay. So, we have some spots. Okay, Jason. Okay. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, Council Member Hawksteader.

Yeah, I would like to move to amend section one of ordinance number 2962 section 2.87.010 title to change the name of forest forestry and arts commission forestry and parks commission excuse me to forestry parks and arts commission to better reflect the new scope of the commission's work. If this if this amendment is adopted, I request that code uh publishing update all references to forestry parks and arts commission wherever it may appear throughout city code. Thank you. Is there a second? Council deputy mayor Elers. Second.

All right. With all this up here, it has been moved and seconded to amend the ordinance to include the arts added on the end. So, Council Member Hawksteader, you've already spoken about your amendment. I would like to say one last thing if possible. Sure. I I just think that I think it's pretty clear. Everyone who's probably listening um understands that the commissions are being combined. It only makes sense and the city understands and and I hope the council will understand it only makes sense to um have the name reflect that the arts are now with parks and forestry. So that's my ask with the amendment.

Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any comments on the amendment from the public?

Mr. Beerman. Uh just as a member of the public uh let me thank council member Huxetter for putting forth this amendment to change the title to change the name of the commission. I think retaining the name arts in any commission that has public members on it who are making decisions about uh things like performances and uh art that's displayed on public property. I think retaining the name arts is going to be important going forward so that the public understands that we're not losing a commission of public citizens. We're just transforming commissions into one instead of two. So, thank you for that.

Thank you. Any comments from the council? All right. So, will the clerk, please call the role on the amendment. On the amendment. Yes. as to whether uh to or not to approve council member Hawksteaders's amendment. Alers, yes. Ranky, yes. Malcolm, yes. Avers, yes. Oxtter, yes. Wilie, yes.

Kenna, yes. Pass unan pass unanimous 70. Thank you. Now we will vote on ordinance 2962 as amended. Will the clerk please call the role? Ranky, yes. Kenna, yes. Alers, yes. Malcolm, yes. Wily, yes. Ever? Yes. Hawkstutter? Yes. Pass unanimous 70. Thank you. On to item D. Ordinance number 2963, Historic Pres P preservation commission amendments, Sumar Municipal Code 2.95. Council member Kenna, would you like to make a motion?

Yes. Let me get there. Mayor U. Yes. I would like a make to make a motion to approve ordinance number 2963, Historic Preservation Commission amendments, Sumar Municipal Code 2.95. Can we get a second? Council member Evers. Second. Thank you. Seconded by Council Member Evers. So, it has been moved and seconded to approve ordinance number 2963, Historic Preservation Commission Amendment, Sumar Municipal Code 2.95. I'd like to call on community and economic developer director Ryan Wendish.

Thank you, Mayor Bowman. City Council uh ordinance number 2963 uh would amend the S municipal code and it will designate the city's design commission as the historic preservation commission. And this change provides needed efficiencies involving managing numerous city commissions as it relates to staff time, volunteer recruitment, and overall support of the commissions. And I think the the mayor can appreciate because she interviews all the folks who get on the commission kind of how much time it does take to maintain and keep up the commissions. In 2008, the city of Sar established a historic preservation commission and in 2011 appointed the first five members to the commission to provide a means to review requested designations and provide oversight and pre-authorization related to property owner improvements of historic properties. So, there was a commission in place in 2011. The terms for all five original members of the Historic Preservation Commission have expired, leaving the commission membership currently vacant. And even during their terms, the Historic Preservation Commission was never requested to review an application for the Sumar Historic Register. In the interest of efficiency and in acknowledgement of the fact that the qualifications for membership on the historic preservation commission and the design commission are very similar being that the members have to be practicing professionals within the fields of architecture, planning, civil engineering, landscape architecture and development. Staff is recommending to designate the design commission to also serve as the historic preservation commission. And that's what is entailed in the ordinance. So the uh item went before the community development committee March 25th with a due pass recommendation. So happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and go down the agenda appropriately and you will have an opportunity on the council here to ask questions. At that time, do we have any comments from the public? Mr. Adams. Mr. Adams. Oh, Adam, he's pointing at me. We asked for it.

As we just heard, the commission appointed five folks in 2011. Then they let their time lapse and never refilled those positions. Then it states that the HPC commissioners were never requested to review an application for the Sumar Historical Registry. I guess that's like the council never being asked to review a best site application. If you've never asked, you can never know and answer an unknown question, now can you? The whole reason this is being brought up bec because the HPC was supposed to be in existence and to be there to consider items like the Ryan House actually being a historical significance in the city of Sumar. Instead, we spent $185,000 in attorney's fees to not have an independent opinion about the Ryan House being historical here in Sumar to the Sumar community because that might have caused it to be saved instead of demolished as the city desired. Thank you, Miss Bernett. As I was saying earlier, um I know that Puallup combines the design commission and the historic preservation commission and that works kind of um I've had talks with people in historic preservation in Puallup about this. Um, it works, but you need to, the design commission is made up of people whose mindset is tear down and build new. And I think to make this work, you need to expand. I consider expanding the design commission and changing the name as Mr. Hawk did or did so that it does include historic preservation. I didn't notice whether that was included, but um you

need to get people who are interested in historic preservation on the design commission. So, you need to expand who's allowed to be on it. I think it would be great if if not on the commission. Certainly seek the advice and and work with the Washington State Historic Preservation Group. I mean, they can certainly tell you what's involved in historic preservation. And I think you can do much more than just do a Sumar historic register. I mean, that's not doing much. I think I think I like the ideas of creating an inventory of the historic properties, both government-owned, which probably aren't any left, and private property. I I work as an archivist at Miker Mansion and for the last more than a year, all I have done is Sumar history, archiving Sumar history. I have learned so much about all the buildings, the old buildings, the old stories. I love it. I'm not saying put me on the commission. I'm saying you really need to get some more input. Expand the members that are allowed on the design commission, design and historic preservation commission. Um, and I think that's one way to kind of earn back the trust of people and create something real, not just, you know, it's part of our Bailey Wick, but we're not going to do anything. So, I really appreciate if that's something you would consider in the very near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beerman. Um yeah, uh Nick Beerman, uh Summer Washington. Um from the standpoint of of a citizen who is deeply interested in historic preservation and concerned about the character and small town charm that we have here in Sumar. Um, I think I would feel good about the design commission handling historic preservation commission tasks and responsibilities if there was uh some sort of a direct statement in the uh design commission um requirements to to be a commissioner that you have some experience in history or historic preservation or a desire to work with groups like the Washington State Historical Society or the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation There are definitely groups out there that have expertise and we've learned that for for sure over the last couple of years. Um I think um maybe even to the point of appointing one particular member of the design commission to be re in charge of reviewing or at least um be appointed for the purpose of reviewing for historic uh uh historic buildings and historic nominations. I think that would be uh a wise choice for the design commission. So I think um I think there's room for discussion about how exactly to go about making this this change. Uh and I think uh there's a lot of good things that could come of this. So I hope we go in that direction. Thanks.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Any comments from the council? Deputy Mayor Elers.

Yeah, I just want to say I'm uh in support of this change. I think it really does show since it was started in 20 2008 and we haven't used it that it it needs some work. I do feel like the last couple years we've talked a lot about history and preserving it and yet we have no no uh there's a lot of talk about solving this with a public we talked about the Ryan House I guess. So we there's about putting a the public house in there and we went over the cost and the difficulties of public uh ownership of historic um property and and it was much more difficult than having a private ownership. So again, I'm supportive of making some adjustments to the design uh commission, maybe with the name or a couple things like that. So those are good good suggestions. And I also um you know, it'd be nice to to to get some of the folks who talk about history a lot to to find a house that somebody wants to be on this uh preservation list. So,

thank you, Council Member Kenna. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Brian, could I um get you back up for a question or two? Thank you. Um was just going to ask um understand the suggestion about um adding historic preservation to the title of the commission and that would need to be an amendment similar to council member Hawksteader. Um in terms of the actual um content of the ordinance and this changeover is historic preservation is that woven in throughout the the what would be the new commission the design commission um in terms of the responsibilities the expectations the um the experience of individuals serving

the um first of all the historic preservation commission chapter remains uh the it In the ordinance, it just directs the membership to the design commission. So, okay,

all the duties and responsibilities of the historic preservation commission remain intact in this chapter. It's just the design commission. So, if somebody applied to be on the n be on the local register with their property and they came in and made a case for it and they filled out the application and came before, it would be the design commission that they would be standing in front of and not a different historic preservation commission. And the other and it it takes owner consent just as a matter of fact in the ordinance to actually commit your property to uh being registered and um and the responsibilities uh as I said would be the same. Um the commission the design commission you know architects engineers are they historians? Is that a requirement? No, not necessarily. Um, so, so there are, uh, you we're not asking for them to have a, you know, a degree in architectural history, but if you're an architect, you probably have done some work on historic buildings and downtowns and whatnot. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is um the design commission uh professional credentials may not line up with, you know, a history professor for example or a historian specifically, but in terms of their understanding of kind of the broad range of things, uh that's what we're talking about them being able to do. Um yeah, follow up to that, Ryan, just in terms of the comment made by Miss Bernett about um design commissioners being more um experienced in, you know, tearing down and building up new and things like that. Uh can you speak to the experience of our commissioners or past commissioners in terms of the what they're reviewing? Um is it more new development and and um or is it looking at uh our current structure, our current current format and kind of maintaining and preserving? How would you characterize that?

Most of what the design commission looks at is new construction uh with an eye for how does that new construction fit into the small town character of Sumar given our design standards and and you know architectural treatments and materials and how does it address the street. So they look at lots of different aspects of the development to to try to preserve and promote what Sumar already is known for and has. If a project is is less than I think it's 3 4,000 square feet, the design commission is not going to see it. Uh but in this case again the design commission is becoming the historic preservation commission. So if there is an application, there is a nomination for a property, then we would convene the design commission as the historic preservation commission and they would review it.

Gotcha. Thank you. And maybe one more uh mayor very quickly would just be um would it be fair to say that actually historic preservation as a subject matter um might actually be talked about and discussed, interviewed more often now than it was in its previous form because the historic preservation commission wasn't convened, wasn't meeting, wasn't used. I I don't know what it's going to be in the future, but if you choose as a property owner to commit your property to the to a register, historic register through the process, then any alterations you want to make beyond just normal maintenance and repair, which is pretty minimal. You have to come back in front of the historic preservation commission and get approval and get what's called a certificate of appropriateness for whatever changes you want to make. And so, um, you know, I've personally known council members who had historic properties and properties on register. They didn't come in and apply because as property owners, they didn't want to be restricted. Now, there can be some tax benefits if it's on the historic register around some of those improvements, but um, again, we've been in place since 2008. Nobody's applied. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Thank you,

Council Member Malcolm. Um, thank you, Ryan. Um, this been well covered by folks up here today, but I just wanted to emphasize that as we recruit commissioners for this that we do look an eye towards people with preservation background and I think we should expand what we're looking at and how we're thinking about that for that. And I'm also not opposed to the idea of including that in the naming of the commission um at some point, probably not tonight. But I think both those things would um do the due diligence we need to make sure that's emphasized correctly going forward. That's just my only comments. Thank you. All right. Anything else?

Yes, Mayor. I just want to make sure that one point is abundantly clear tonight. The Historic Preservation Commission is not going away. All that's happening is that the same individuals that serve on the design commission will also serve on the Historic Preservation Commission. So, there's been some discussion about changing the name. That's not necessary because it's not it's not being merged. It's not going away. It's just that these commissioners will serve both roles. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you very much. Will the clerk please call the role? Yes.

Malcolm, yes. Brinky, yes. Wilie, yes. Ever? Yes. Oxetter? Yes. Kenna, yes. Pass 70. Thank you. Item E, ordinance number 2965-2026, compensation schedule amendment. Council member Ranky, would you like to make a motion? Yes, I'd make a motion to adopt ordinance number 2965, 2026, compensation schedule amendment. Thank you. Can we get a second? Second.

Boy, that was council member Evers. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded to approve ordinance number 2965-2026 compensation schedule amendment. I call in deputy city administrator Jeff Stephins.

Good evening mayor and councel. The previously approved labor agreement with the teamsters union called for the creation of a new promotional lead position within the public operations department. That promotion process has now been completed and the final step is to amend the 2026 compensation schedule to adopt the position's salary. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Do we have any comments from the public? Mr. Adams. Guess you can note at 7:03 this happened. I have learned that there were three persons, a three-person citizen board that contributed to the decisions regarding the payraises for executive positions in this city. I thought it was disclosed differently by staff and that they that it was addressed direct when it was addressed directly to you. I have been wrong in stating that staff created their own study and presented it to council. Instead, there were a number of meetings where the raises were addressed with citizens with the citizen board and council committee. I owe apology to both the council and to the staff for the inaccurate statements that I have been making. That was not intentional. Well, I certainly do agree do not agree with city with city of Sumar being one quarter of the size of Puyol having much lower income revenue and far fewer employees. We still pay our staff more than Puyolib does. It was the thought that senior employees set their own wages that I was most against and that on that thought I was wrong. I publicly state that this apology especially to the to the executive staff of the city of Sar.

Thank you. Any other comments from the public? Anyone on Zoom? Thank you. Any comments from the council? Okay. Will the clerk please call the role? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Okay. We will now move on to reports. So, we'll start with the council. Uh, Council Member Wily. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first I want to say congratulations to Nick Beerman for your appointment. Um, and um, thank you to the community um, just, you know, for being an awesome community. Um, I want to just encourage everybody to, um, remember to shop local. Um, we're here to, um, you know, bless and protect our community, and that includes our small businesses. Anywhere within, you know, our boundaries, we got to we got to, um, we got to rock our our small businesses. Um, you know, we've got a lot of them and they're not just on Main Street, they're all over. So, you know, we want to uh be supportive of all of them. Um, I also want to remind everybody, um, we've got some downtown events coming up. Sidewalk sales May twth. Um, rhubarb days is off and rocking. We've got, um, June 20th and 21st. Um, and then we've got the, uh, music off Maine going on. We're back at Heritage Park this year. Um, and so super excited. Super excited um, about um, the music going on. Um, and then we've got the the Chalk Art Festival at Loyalty this year as well. That's um Fridays in July. Uh, and then in August. So, um, just encourage everybody, shop local. We got some awesome businesses and we need to support those guys. Um, and then don't forget to schedule downtown at uh for your summer uh events. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Kenna.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, a few items here. Just want to also congratulate Mr. Beerman on joining the planning commission. I think you'll add a lot there and look forward to hearing from you and your opinions um from the planning commission. Um also wanted to congratulate our uh pending incoming chief of police, Andy Mccertie. Um really excited to be able to promote somebody from within and and uh as as uh council member Wily was talking about keeping things here in SAR and supporting those. We've got somebody uh great already here that's going to be um elevated to that position. So, congrats to Andy there. Um, I'm going to report out on the finance committee. Um, I sat in on this one. Um, as uh, our chair, Deputy Mayor Elfers, was out. So, a couple of these things we did already chat about. Um, the collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters Union. So, I feel like we we covered that one. Um and um we'll we'll just say there's something I I learned quite a bit about um while at our finance committee here is our central well and the filter that we have out there. Um this carbon filter um that you know keeps our water fresh and clean and everything and it's coming to the end of its useful life. Um, and it's something that staff I know has been aware of for a little while and they've been looking to address it and uh we have one provider of these filters um that we can go to and really nobody else can provide this filter to us. Well um as we've been looking at this and eyeing this the price just keeps going up and up and up and at this point in time we have to kind of um we we have to strike on it because it's uh at the end of its useful life anyway and um we got to you know kind of lock in this price. So, I just find that interesting. I think when um folks in the public um think of the costs of some of our infrastructure projects and the things that a city has to do to keep everything running around here, it's just an example of um kind of the way things are and just how

expensive things continue to get. Um and our revenues are not keeping up with with the pace of those projects. So, just found that one uh interesting. I'll also add uh on the consent agenda tonight was um approving uh Council Member Malcolm on the finance committee taking my place. Um I think he's going to do great there. He's got a great background and experience in finance and budgeting um from a lot of big um places, too. So, I think he's going to be a good um person there. No hard feelings to anybody on the finance committee. I love those folks. I found it very interesting. It's just um it was more finding a place for Mark to land that that fit him. So, it it works out on both sides of it. Um, we'll also note that the public works committee um is tomorrow. Um, so you can join that at 4:00 and we do have a joint meeting with the city of Bonnie Lake uh to address the wastewater wastewater treatment facility during that meeting as well. That's all I've got.

Thank you, Council Member Malcolm.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, thanks uh to Council Member Kenna for vacating that spot for me. It's duly appreciated. I uh I'm going to have fun on that committee. So looking forward to it. And also just in the spirit of what council member Wily was talking about, I'm I love to spend locally. I think last year I I committed to spending my Christmas budget in as locally as much as possible. And I'm looking so forward to a tradition we have that starts in May every year, which we call milkshake Wednesdays. That means when the warm gets warmer, we get to walk down and and buy a milkshake. So there's another opportunity to spend locally. So I'm excited about that. Um, coming up this week, I've got three different kind of meetings that are investigatory for me. They're things I'm that are new to me, but there's the uh government government affairs council hosted by the Palop and Sar chambers of commerce uh that's starting tomorrow morning and I go hopefully get some insight from them. There's also a Sumar Main Street association economic vitality committee. I'll sit in hopefully learn some uh new things there. And and on this Thursday, I'm attending the uh Puallup 2026 Housing Summit, which is uh hosted by the Master Builders Association. Again, just opportunity to learn more about what's going on uh locally and regionally and hopefully uh uh learning some things there. And that's all I have.

Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, Nick. I'm very excited for you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Alers.

Yeah, I don't have too much. Uh, Council Member McKenna did report on the finance committee. So, I've been um busy with a couple things. I wanted to point out the community summit is next Tuesday, the 28th at Calvary Community Church, and I hope to see a lot of people in the community there. Um, so it's always an event where you get to kind of connect with people and and hear what's going on and usually there's a good speaker. So, I don't recall who the speaker is this year, but okay. Secondly, I appreciate Tisha Migra coming today. Thank you for that. We I just wanted to kind of point out that uh we did spend a little bit of time I think in the last year and a half we looked at preschools and had when the you mentioned faith covenant a couple different things there was some big issues with the traffic impact fees and so we looked at a couple options they weren't there were some problems every once in a while you look at a rule to fix a problem and it creates more problems and so we ended up kind of getting stuck on that with the traffic impact fees and we were able to uh in our budget for the utilities come up with a grant program for small businesses related to the utility uh or the um certain types impact views, not traffic. And then I think this year we're going to do our budget. We're doing our budget study. Um so I'm hoping to be able to include some kind of um I would love to to at least talk about as a as a council uh some ways to help preschools. I do we know that's a problem. We we looked at some solutions and and it wasn't there wasn't an easy solution there and so it needs to be revisited. So thank you for bringing that up. It's helpful. And um and then uh and I'm assuming we'll look at other cities and what they they've done as well. Um but sometimes there are solutions that create more problems and so we don't necessarily copy other cities but so thank you for sharing that and we do want to see preschools do do well in our community. So uh thirdly I want to just yeah congratulations Danny Mccertie. We're excited to to have somebody who we know already who can take the fill Brad's shoes. So um thank you for that. And then fourth you know interesting if you look at the future one of the things we're seeing is costs are going up everywhere. Uh, Peterson Energy, if you look at their fee schedule, I think their rates are

expected to go up 17% in the next next year. I think that's like I think so, it's a pretty big deal. I've never been a huge fan of solar. I've had a couple people out to my house in the last couple months looking at solar panels just cuz there's some opportunities there to um make that work. And so, there's some good programs. again, u you know, with with the cost of of of of electricity and and utilities and everything continuing to go up mostly because of the climate commitment act, it does incentivize things like solar, which I don't think are very efficient. Um, but in Washington, maybe maybe they're cheaper than the alternative. Um, and also the um anyways, we talked about battery energy storage systems a little bit. So, there's there's some things that are being pushed at us that are kind of affecting some of my decisions, but really enjoyed the weather outside. I've enjoyed being outside. one of this one of the restaurants that I discovered that was next to Fred Meyer that I I would just really was on their sign was up for years and we had a a friend who my my high schooler was friends with the Hispanic gentleman and he said uh that the best authentic Mexican food he has had in this area was at Pure Brasa. So I just said local shop local, eat local. It's I hope you don't go there too much cuz I don't want to have to wait in line. But I do really enjoy their food and they apparently they're they're uh they have some good food. So, um there's other lots of other places, but um I just want to give a shout out to them. And uh that's it.

Thank you, Council Member Evers, which by the way, that's his favorite place, so I think you two talked, but anyway, go ahead. I don't remember talking about that. And um that's one of our favorite restaurants. And um no, I guess uh people is not a lot of seating in there, though.

So um yeah, I guess it is very good. I can't tell lie. So anyway, um I guess this week I'm just excited. Um I see a couple Rotarians in this room, but we have our 100 year anniversary um celebration tomorrow. And Rotary maybe doesn't do the best of, you know, shouting what we do, but we do a lot of cool things in the community. I'm hosting, it's called Honors Night next month, which we celebrate the top students at uh Bonnie Lake and Summer High School, and that's a lot of fun. And what else have we got going? But it we just do we hand out dictionaries every year to every third grader in the summer school district, you know, and obviously Bill Heath Park was a a big project uh back a little bit before I joined. So anyway, it's a good organization that does a lot of good in the community. So I'm looking forward to celebrating 100 years tomorrow. I haven't been on it for 100 years, but uh I think I think 29 years. So, but anyway, shout out to Rotary.

Thank you, Council Member Ranky.

Uh, thank you, Madame Mayor. I'll report on a few things. Um, first of all, thank you, Nick, for putting in a congratulations. Looking forward to hearing from you. Um, last week, Tuesday, was open house here. I don't know if some of you were here. Uh, had in this room and the one across the way in the foyer. A lot of city staff here reported on the projects updates. Um really informational. The library was here. Washdaw was here. Sound transfer was here. Uh downtown association was here. So it was good to see everybody. The weather wasn't that great. So the turnout wasn't as much as I'd like to see, but it was uh very informative and had a good time. Uh, Wednesday was public safety last week and uh didn't do a lot on the I had the fire report from Chief Parkinson and then um police report from newly promoted uh going to be Chief McCertie was there running it now. So, him taking over from Brad. And uh on that side note too, there'll be a promotional ceremony. I think I don't know if the city manager will talk about it later, but on the 27th here for as the deputy chief moves up and somebody's moving up to his spot and then everybody's moving up. So, there's going to be some promotions and a ceremony on the 27th, I believe, at 4:30. And the rest of the time, we really did have six items for public uh works on the public safety committee. we had to get them. They're all on the consent agenda tonight. So, that took up a lot of the time there. Our next meeting was the next night. Thursday was uh Pierce County Regional Council and uh this month we had two guest speakers. One was uh Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank uh spoke and uh Pierce County Executive Ryan Melo. It was very interesting uh listening to the sheriff and the crime rates are pretty pretty much down in Pierce County, unincorporated county. Uh the big issue they're having right

now is uh staffing. They're down 37 deputies and 40 jailers. So anybody out there wants to be a Pierce County Sheriff or a jailer, uh look up Pierce County. Um Ryan Melo, the county exec reported on the uh justice fund they started January 1, onetenth of 1% which is going to help with that. It's going to hire deputies, jailers, help with the courts, legal services, equipment, and technology. Um he's got an executive priority in 26 to expedite permit process for economic development in the county. reported on the unified regional approach to homelessness, which is kind of everybody in Pierce County getting together and trying to tackle this problem with uh homelessness in the county. And then he gave a report on the World Cup uh coming up uh in June. It's going to start June 11th to July 19th. There'll be events going on all over the county from Tacoma up to Seattle. Uh they have a website you can get on. There's a fan zone that's going to be at the Emerald Queen there. the PEL T driver Indians is sponsoring it. There'll be a lot of activities free for everybody. So, if you want to get on the FIFA website, all that stuff will be on there. And uh I think that's it for me.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Hawksteader.

Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to thank Trisha for her comments. Um, I have a um, six-year-old who went through Little Sprouts and I know they've they've upgraded their facility and uh, and I have a three-year-old that's about to start preschool and um, and so I just want, you know, I heard everything you had to say and I appreciate I appreciate how you're serving our community cuz that child care I can tell you where I am in my life. It's expensive. It can be hard to find, especially good people that are running it locally in a neighborhood like you are. So, thank you for your comments. Uh, uh, Cultural Arts Commission. I just want to thank two commissioners that come to mind that served. They could have been on the 2000 commission in the first year of it. It was Donna Harky and Sue Larson. Um they're kind of unsung heroes, you know, didn't get paid anything. Volunteered, loved the arts, loved their community even more and served and found a way to serve through the arts. And uh everyone probably knows here that art near and dear to my heart. I play in a band. I I served on the arts commission. And to to hear the city's commitment to the arts, the arts are not going away. It's a big part of our town. We look at our murals. We we look at the the color and the vibrancy that it adds. It's it's it's good to hear that um the arts will they're here to stay here in Sar. Uh last I want to say thank you to Andy and congratulations to Andy Chief Mccertie. Um uh culture is so important in a workplace, on a team, in a police department, and it always comes from the leadership. And so to have a good leader like Andy step into the shoes and lead our police department as a resident makes me feel really good to know we've got a good leader and a good culture with our police department. So congratulations, Chief.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh city administrator Jason Wilson. Thank you, Mayor and Council. You've hit a lot of the topics I'm going to talk about tonight.

Uh but I'll throw on some extra stuff. First off, you know, I don't know if the public knows or even all the council members know, but uh when council member Hawketter was on the arts commission, he just did a phenomenal job. And if you look at the murals that were updated, you know, mostly during the pandemic, that's this guy right here. That was his hard work. So, uh kudos to him and I I appreciate and I enjoyed working with you uh on those projects. Uh coming up, uh next week at the study session, you have three items. First is a an update on the debt that was issued for the bioolids modernization project. Uh we sold those bonds a couple weeks ago and just closed on them last week. So we'll be presenting the terms of that of that debt issuance. Then the YMCA will be here to provide an update uh on their annual uh things that they're working on and we'll also be discussing an amendment to their 2013 services agreement. And then we're going to end the night with a review of battery energy storage systems. uh kind of where we are to date. Um obviously we've been working with uh BES for several years now and we're getting ready the planning commission will be starting on BES 2.0 here in May. The May 4th regular council meeting and the May 11th study session are both cancelled and in lie of those uh we will be holding our council retreat. So, it's a two-day retreat both on Mondays from 1 to 7:00 p.m. focusing on strategic planning as well as kicking off the 2728 budget process. So, our next regular council meeting will be on Monday, May 18th. I'm also here to let you know that uh Memorial Day is at the end of the month in May and the mayor today cancelled the Tuesday meeting that week. So, no uh meeting the week of Memorial Memorial Day. So that's that's news for the staff too. So they're they're excited. Uh on the personnel front, uh as many of you alluded tonight, we appointed or you approved the mayoral appointment of Andy McCertie to chief of police. Uh you all

had some wonderful nice things to say about Andy, but the public may not know who Andy is. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about him real quick. I'm going to save most of my comments for Monday. But uh Andy has over 30 years in law enforcement. He served as Sumar's deputy chief of police since August 2021. Prior to that, he had a long career with King County Sheriff's Office as well as a couple other agencies. Uh he has extensive experience in criminal investigations, police administration, and employee wellness. Uh he is a proven leader that is respected both internally and externally by our partners and our community. We're very fortunate to have him here and I think he's the right person to take the lead uh into the next chapter of our police department. As you mentioned, culture is so important. He understands that he is building a great culture. is continuing where Brad left off and and continuing to take our police department to the next level um and making sure that we are here to serve our community as uh their roles and responsibilities continuing to evolve and change. So with the promotion of Andy, you know, he was the deputy chief. We went through some other promotional processes and I'm pleased to tell you that uh Lauren House is being promoted to deputy chief. Uh Lauren is the most senior employee in the city of Sumar. Been here for 30 years. Yeah. Served in the army and then became a police officer and he's been here ever since. Um Justin Gregson is being promoted to lieutenant and Jeff Boon to sergeant. All three of these promotions are welld deserved and each is uniquely qualified for their new positions. As I mentioned, these promotions mark a historic milestone for our department. Uh all four employees will be promoted and celebrated next Monday as council member Anki said at 4:30 here in the chambers and uh the council and the public are invited to attend. Probably wondering what about Brad?

Brad. Yeah, Chief Mariki. All right. Uh Brad is retiring. Uh his last day will be at the end of May during the month of May. Andy will be the police chief. Brad will be working on some transition things as he, you know, unwinds his 25 year career here with the city of Sar. Um, we will be celebrating Brad at a public open house on May 27th and more information will be distributed when we get closer. Um, uh, also this week we are doing the LAR drill. Uh, that's going to take place Thursday morning and that's a regional LAR evacuation exercise. Uh last time we did this I believe it was the largest LAR evacuation in the world. You might be saying well where's other LAR? They do happen other places but you know we are definitely one of the biggest laar zones uh in the world. So not only will we be participating that but the cities of Oring and Puolip will be um be um evacuating their schools in conjunction with this. So in Sumar all of our schools will practice their evacuation routes. They'll be leaving in the morning at staggered times and and marching all the way down to the east side of town. This is obviously going to affect traffic uh particularly on the main routes so like Main Street, Valley Avenue, and 160th. So if you're out driving around, please allow extra time. Be creative in your routes and and respect the traffic control devices as well as the employees that are out there trying to keep the children safe. Um, if you want to know more about LAARS, at the community summit on next week on the 28th, USGS will be hosting a breakout session talking all about LAARS and why they occur and and how to keep yourself safe. It's not too late to register for that community summit. You can find a link on the school district's page or our our website and uh on top of the USGS session. The city will also be doing a breakout session. Happy to answer any questions.

Excellent.

Looks like you're good. Thank you. All right. So, uh, I'll wrap up these reports. Um, first thing I'd like to echo is Council Member Rankkey's comments about the open house. So, uh, a lot of people from the city staff and other entities here in town put a lot of time and effort into these open house events and it was nice to see that we did have some people attend, but in my opinion, not enough people attended. So, we really need to get out there and encourage the public uh to get into these open houses. And I would invite the council members that couldn't make it to come in and attend the open house. There's a lot of learning that goes on there. Um then the next thing is I too would say congratulations to Mr. Beerman. You had a great interview and I think that you'll do a fine job for us. So, I'm glad that you applied. And then uh I know next week is a big deal and we're really not supposed to use our phones up here, but this is where my notes are at. So uh Chief McCertie, he and I were talking one day and uh he said he worked for King County Police. And a lot of people don't know this, but I do come from a long family of police officers. So I said, "My cousin worked for King County Police." So I sent my cousin Bob a messenger. He lives in Chalan now. And I said, "Hey, do you know Andy Mccertie? I mean, is he any good at anything?" And uh and he said, "Well, yes, I know him very well." And I give him an A+ on character and an A+ on police knowledge and an A+ on work ethics

and an A+ on leadership. I thought, how could we not choose him?

He gets an A+. I mean, he's a stellar guy. But congratulations. We look forward to actually swearing in next week. It's going to be a a good event. Then, just to remind everybody, uh, Traffic Avenue on-ramp will be closed during the day for the next two days. Uh, they're going to fill some potholes on the ramp, and those are some big potholes. I don't know about you, but that's a tough ramp to navigate on. So, remember to use the Valley Avenue on ramp onto 410. And then my next coffee with Carla is this Friday at noon at Van Lup Garden Market. Uh, there's no agenda. Um, some people in here actually come and have attended and so just put the word out there. Uh, just stop by and say hello, but really it's for people to come in and ask questions and talk about things that may be of interest to them or concerns. So, I look forward to doing that this Friday at noon. And then I'm going to talk about uh parks and arbor day. So, did you know that we have an estimated 4,500 trees in our urban forest? and they are in our parks and public spaces and including along our streets. So on Saturday, our staff and volunteers from the Forestry and Parks Commission came out to plant more along Willow Street and Cherry Avenue. As uh Derek Barry stated earlier, beyond their undeniable beauty, street trees act as a natural multi-tool for urban living. So they can lower local temperatures by up to 10°, reduce storm water runoff by catching rain on their leaves, and even increase property values by as much as 15 to 25%. So by absorbing carbon dioxide and filtering air pollutants, these green walls create a literal breather for pedestrians and residents. I personally, my backyard, I do have a fence, but then I have a green fence of hedge and trees, which works out really

well. Keeps it nice and cool back there and very private. So, I'd like to thank our staff, Derek Barry, Dan Gates, Jerry Martinez, Todd Bagginski, Tammy Murphy. Did I get that right? Okay, good. Tristan Kanty and Noah Eller and our commissioners John Gammon, Nicholas Johnson, Terresa Hosi, her son Teddy, and Jean McCall. So, we just want to thank those folks. Uh they did a great job. That's a lot of trees getting planted there. So, we need to really appreciate what they bring into the city. So, with that, there's no executive session tonight. So, with no further business before the council, this meeting is adjourned at 7:31 p.m.