City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of 05/05/2026. Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy mayor Bushnell?

Present.

Council member Diaz? Council member Diaz? Here. Council member Hines?

Here.

Council member Palmer?

Here.

Council member Rumba? Here. Council member Sidalgo?

Here.

Councilmember Scott? Absent Councilmember Walker? Here. Mayor Ibsen?

Here. Please join me in listening to the land acknowledgment and flag salute led by Councilmember Palmer, followed by a moment of silence.

We gratefully honor and acknowledge that we rest on the traditional lands of the Puyallup people where they make their home and speak the Lushootseed language. If you so choose, please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence.

We have one modification to resolution number four, one nine zero five, item number 13 on the agenda tonight, to consider a substitute to refine the language. Are there any additional modifications to the agenda this evening?

I move to adopt the consent agenda, including Resolutions Number 41,901.

Second.

Moved and seconded. Are there any comments, questions, or corrections to the consent agenda? Councilmember Walker.

Thank you. I just really quickly want to say how excited I am about the South Cedar Street Active Transportation Enhancement Project, and this is the final step in getting that project going this summer to provide some North South connections for people on, bikes. Thanks.

Wonderful. Well noted. Alright. Seeing no other comments, all those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Consent agenda is declared adopted. We have three ceremonials tonight for National Red Dress Proclamation Day. I would like to invite Mallory Trujillo, business services analyst to calm a fire to the podium as I read the proclamation. Whereas, May 5 is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit Peoples in The United States and Canada.

And whereas, also known as Red Dress Day, this national observation was inspired by Metis artist Jamie Black, who displayed red dresses to address the disproportionate rates of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. And whereas today, many indigenous people continue to experience systemic and individual discrimination, and highly disproportionate levels of life threatening and gender based violence, trauma, and exploitation. And whereas indigenous women across the nation and in our region are being murdered and are missing at epidemic rates, including in Washington State, which ranks second in the nation for unsolved cases. And we need ongoing respectful and responsive affiliation with tribal entities, regional and federal jurisdictions, and their law enforcement arms to solve these cases. And whereas Red Dress Day is an opportunity to honor the memory of murdered women, girls, and Two Spirit people, to acknowledge those who are still missing, and to stand in solidarity with indigenous nations and families here in Tacoma, and across The United States and Canada who've lost loved ones.

And whereas the city of Tacoma is committed to engaging with indigenous nations and peoples in the spirit of reconciliation, now therefore I, Anders Ibsen, mayor of the city of Tacoma, on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, 05/05/2026, as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People Day in the city of Tacoma, and encourage our residents to reflect on this day with the many families, friends, neighbors, and communities that deserve diligence, resolution, and reconciliation. Please say a few words.

Thank you, mayor Ibsen and council members. I prepared a little brief statement to speak. Today, my heart and thoughts are with the survivors and families of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. Indigenous communities know too well the pain wrought by past and present injustices from the trail of tear to the era of residential schools. The violence targeting indigenous women and girls is a stark reality we continue to face daily.

Red dress day is not just a day of remembrance, it is a day of action and reflection of the ongoing impact of its systemic injustices. This day draws its inspiration from artist Jamie Black's red dress art installation project, which is an evocative symbol of the lives taken and the pervasive inequities faced by indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. The haunting vigil of empty red dresses serves as a powerful reminder of the thousands who should be standing with us today. This day raises awareness of this national crisis and offers us the opportunity to reflect on the efforts made as well as the work still left to be done to address the deep rooted systemic issues and help us build a safer more equitable society. Today as we mark red dress day we stand united giving voice to those who no longer have one.

We honor the lives lost and recognize the strength and courage of families survivors and communities who continue to advocate for the dignity and justice of their loved ones it is essential that we not only remember but we act urge everyone to educate yourselves spread awareness and help us build a community where no one is left vulnerable together we can help prevent violence and recommit to building a future where all indigenous women girls and two spirit people can live in safety and dignity Let us just take today to remember, to learn, and to support. Our ancestors taught us the power of community and resilience. Let us honor them today by doing same.

Thank you. Thank mister Hill.

Thank you.

Are there any council comments? JUSTICE Seeing none, thank you for all that you do and for your comments. Let's please have a round of applause and please confirm Thank you. CHIEF Here you are.

I'm gonna have all of you just scoot down just a little bit so we can center you up. Two more steps to this way. Yep. There we go. Perfection. Alright, everybody. This way. One, two, three. Let's do one more. One, two, three.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. For our second proclamation, we're now going to proclaim Wednesday, 05/06/2026 as City of Destiny Awards Day. For the City of Destiny Awards Day proclamation, I'd like to invite Ashley Young, special events coordinator for the Tacoma Venues and Vents, and members of the city's events and recognitions committee to the podium as I read the proclamation. And you're right up there. Great.

Whereas the city of Tacoma proudly celebrates civic engagement, volunteerism, and leadership through the City of Destiny Awards, recognizing individuals and organizations who embody the spirit of Tacoma through innovation, service, and dedication to the public good. And whereas this annual celebration is made possible by the city's Events and Recognitions Committee, a council appointed group charged with uplifting community changemakers who contribute to Tacoma's resilience, vitality, and progress according to neighbor across neighborhoods, cultures, and causes. And whereas the City of Destiny Awards ceremony not only honors exceptional leaders and groups, but also provides a welcoming space for the community to gather, reflect, and celebrate through a showcase and reception that highlight the many partners working behind the scenes to unite and strengthen Tacoma. And whereas the award categories, leadership, service, advocacy, environmental stewardship, and economic development shine a light on the diverse and meaningful ways people contribute to Tacoma's growth, well-being, and sense of community. And whereas since its inception in 1987, the City of Destiny Awards have recognized hundreds of individuals and groups whose efforts have strengthened Tacoma's social fabric and inspired others to step forward with compassion, creativity, and commitment to building a better future for all.

And now therefore, I, Anders Ibsen, mayor of the City Of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, 05/06/2026, as City of Destiny Awards Day in the City Of Tacoma, and encourage all residents to attend the celebration at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall, beginning with the community showcase at 05:30 p. M. The awards ceremony at seven p. M. Honor the spirit of volunteerism, leadership, and community pride in our city. Please say a few words.

Thank you mayor Ibsen, council member, city manager's office. My name is Ashley Young. I'm the special event coordinator for city of Tacoma and I work with Tacoma venues and events. I am pleased to have joined me today the chair our chairmember Jacob Tice for city's events and recognition committee and our co chair Ty Vo who will be saying a few words about city of destiny awards.

Hi good evening mayor Ibsen and our fellow city council members just to reiterate a few things on behalf of the city events recognition committee thank you for the opportunity to present this proclamation of recognizing the twenty twenty six city of destiny awards since 1987 this event has honored the individuals and organizations who shaped to come up through service leadership and commitment to our community. These are the people solving problems building connection and investing in the long term success of our city often behind the scenes and without asking the recognition this year's event will take place on May 6 tomorrow at the Tacoma Dome Exhibit oh my gosh excuse me Exhibition Hall this evening begins at 05:30 p. M. With a free community showcase featuring local organizations and resources that directly serves our residents and light refreshments it will be followed by an award ceremony at 7PM where we will recognize honorees across categories including youth and adult leadership environmental sustainability disability advocacy economic development and equity and empowerment. This event is directed by the council through this committee and we are intentional about delivering a program that reflects tacos values while being responsible with the public resources this is done through partnership sponsorships and dedicated cultural programming and community grants including the city of destiny awards this is how we are able to give back to the community programming and keep this event accessible to the public Tonight our ask is simple please join us attend this event help us amplify these stories and continue supporting the programs and partnerships that makes this work possible.

Recognition matters and when we show up for the people doing the work we strengthen the entire community. Thank you.

Any counsel comments? I will see none. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your comments. And, please accept a round of applause and come forward to accept your proclamation.

Was gonna say, we have you take like half a step this way. Perfection.

And then we're right in the window. Alright.

123. 123.

Okay. Ready? Over here. Ready? 123. Okay. 123. Thank you.

Okay. Moving on to our third and final proclamation, last but certainly not least. Our next proclamation is proclaiming May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, for this proclamation, I'd like to invite Louis Griffith, Deputy Director for the Environmental Services Department Jennifer Camerzel, Division Manager for the Public Works Department former Judge Art Wong and all other attendees from the APCC organization to the podium as I read the proclamation. Come on up.

The more the merrier. Whereas each May, our nation celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander AAPI month to recognize and celebrate the historic achievements and contribution of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans to our country, state, and community. And whereas the AAPI community encompasses a vast and diverse group of people with ancestral roots in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands, each with unique histories, cultures, languages, and traditions, bringing together community members from all professions who serve the community. And whereas since 2021, the City of Tacoma's AAPI Affinity Group has been dedicated to building community and opportunities for Tacoma's AAPI employees, and employees have since gone beyond Tacoma to lead the efforts to create the first regional board of the International Network of AAPI Public Administrators focused on the AAPI leaders in public service across Washington, and whereas Tacoma is enriched by the presence of institutions like the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, which is committed to nurturing and serving our AAPI communities in Tacoma and beyond. Whereas we give special recognition to Jennifer Camerzel, Public Works Division Manager, and Lewis Griffith, Environmental Services Deputy Director, whose dedication, professionalism, and forward thinking leadership have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the city Of Tacoma, and whose peers have recognized them as outstanding AAPI leaders for consistently exemplifying excellence in public service, fostering collaboration, and advancing initiatives that strengthen our community.

Now, therefore, I, Anders Ibsen, Mayor of the City Of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Asia Pacific and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Tacoma, and encourage all residents to join me as we celebrate the achievements and the contributions of AAPI community members who enrich our history, society, and culture on this special observance. Please say a few words.

Good evening, mayor Ibsen, deputy mayor Bushnell, and members of city council. It's an honor to be nominated by this amazing group of people that I consider my mentors and friends. I recognize that we are here to honor the rich history and contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. There's no better example of that diversity than the people who work and support the city of Tacoma. We've got members on city council, in the executive leadership team, on our management team, on our API affinity group, and within our strong community partners.

Many of us have long recognized the value of our voices because at the core of it, we are a community of immigrants. I am a second generation Philip Chinese Filipino that hopes to uplift and support those that came before me and those that come after. Thank you for being here and recognizing the importance of diversity and contributions that the Asian Pacific Islander community and heritage provide. I'll turn it over to Louis.

Good evening mayor and members of the city council my name is Louis Griffith and I serve as the deputy director for environmental services department. I thank you for this proclamation I don't take for granted the recognition of asian and pacific islander culture. I'm half japanese and in my own family's history there were times when my heritage was not fully recognized or valued. My japanese american grandparents were incarcerated during World War II at the Poston Arizona Internment Camp. And I believe that that experience led them to try to assimilate culturally in order to survive and to distance themselves from the culture and identity that were rightfully theirs.

I grew up without a full appreciation of my family's Japanese culture and without spaces and communities where I could feel like I could celebrate that heritage. I think actions like this proclamation, spaces like our asian pacific islander affinity group and the work of the APCC in Tacoma really allow us to celebrate our cultural roots with pride and to acknowledge the resilience in our families journeys. Thank you for this proclamation.

Thank you. Your honor.

Thank you mister mayor, city council members. My name is Art Wong and I'm here actually as a substitute for Lua Pritchard. So, I'll pretend I'm Lua, I'll speak loudly. We'll pretend you're Lua too. But, we also have a number of people who are prepared to speak to you, so I'll be brief. Actually, I had planned to say a few things, I'll save them until later when councilmember Sidalgoy's resolution comes up. So I'll save that for that. But in the meantime, let me start by introducing Nakam Khino and Emily Dudalo.

Good morning. Good morning. I mean, good evening, mister mayor and respected council members. I am Naka Makino, and I am seven years old. I go to school I go to school here in the city of Tacoma. I am proud to be Filipino in my community. When I grow up, I am already volunteering at Asia Pacific Culture Center where my mommy works. Thank you for this honor today for our Asian Pacific people in Tacoma.

Hello, mister mayor, and hello, respected council members. I am Emily Dotalau, and I am 11 years old. I am a proud Filipino American. My family lives in Tacoma and I go to school here as well. My goal is to do very well in school so I can be someone valuable in the future to help others, especially my Filipino community. I know my Filipino people have been working hard to make this city and the state of Washington a better place for everyone. It is very sad what our immigrant communities are going through today. I want to be a world changer when I grow up. Today, I am proud to be here and honored by your proclamation. Thank you so much.

Next, we'll have Alice Fong.

Oh, jeez. I thought I was number five.

I did not want to follow the young people.

That's what I was thinking while I was standing there.

Hello, thank you so much for this proclamation. My name is Alice Fong. I am a born and raised Tacoma. I grew up when we did not have an APCCC. So seeing organizations like APCC and then seeing the work and the highlighting of the heritage month means a lot, not just for me as an older person, but for our next generation.

And so I really appreciate that, recognizing our past history of the Tacoma method and then incarceration of our Japanese neighbors and our other neighbors all around our city is very important for us to remember not because it's, you know, old stuff but to prevent it and to really create communities that we are proud of, that are safe, and that we're connected. And as a chair of the Pierce County Refugee and Immigrant Affairs Commission, that is exactly what I have learned from Tacoma to do for our whole county as well. And so I thank you all for recognizing and taking this time, and really appreciate everybody for doing what they're doing to make this city so awesome. Thanks, bye.

And next we have Suzanne Pack.

Thank you, Mayor Ipsen and Tokoma City Council members, city manager Kim, and our community leaders Art, Wine, and Greg Temberra, who's like hiding over there. I'm Suzanne Pak of Answers Counseling, and formerly Korean Women's Association. Lua Pritchard of APCC and I were previously invited to speak during your twenty twenty one AAPI proclamation at the height of anti Asian hate during the pandemic. Since then, Deputy Mayor Joy Bushnell has become the first Cambodian American to be elected to office in Washington State. And we are also joined by City Council Member Sodaj.

K pop concerts are being held annually at Tacoma Dome for tens of thousands of fans across the country. Asia Pacific Cultural Center's Samoan Culture Week, whom I've seen all of you there, and New Year celebrations draw thousands of Washingtonians to Tacoma, and Uwa Jimaya is returning to its founding roots in Tacoma for the first time since 1940. These are not only moments of immense cultural pride for us as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, but innovative economic engines that bring in jobs to Tacoma. We thank you for your commitment to making Tacoma stronger through diversity and inclusion.

Good evening, honorable mayor, deputy mayor, and honorable city council member. My name is Roddy Mayum. It truly an honor to stand before you today and receive this proclamation on behalf of Asian American, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander. I wanted to begin expressing my sincere gratitude for this recognition and for the opportunity to share a small piece of my story and my community. I am proud to be Asian and expressly proud to be Cambodian.

I am also a refugee survivor of Khmer Rouge genocide. My roots are deeply connected to a culture rich in history, resilience, and beauty. I carry that heritage with me in everything I do. I lived in Tacoma for forty four years. Over the years, this place has become more than just where I live.

It become my home. It is where I have grown, built relationships, and found meaningful ways to give back to the community. Living here has given me the opportunity to share who I am with others. At times, that means sharing my story as Cambodian American, a refugee survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide and other means is time sharing beauty of my culture through traditional dance and community engagement. I am the founder of the Cambodian Classicals and Folk Dance of the Northwest, a group that very close to my heart, through this organization, we preserve and pass on our tradition, telling story, and connect our past to present.

It is our way of honoring our ancestor while also educating and inspiring younger generations. And through spaces like APCC, a true cultural hub for our community, we continue to gather, celebrate, and stay connected to who we are. Today, I stand here not only as individual, but as a representative of a community that has overcome many challenges and continues to contribute so much to this region. I am grateful for the space that allow us to be seen, heard, and celebrated. Thank you so much for this incredible honor and opportunity to speak today.

It truly means a great deal to me and to our community. Thank you.

I do wanna apologize that Lua was not able to make it here. She's in Spokane today, and so but it you can see it takes all of us to make up for it. But but I appreciate also just the fact that that this is a recognition both of community groups such as Asian Pacific Cultural Center and of city employees and city staff who play a key role in doing things. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for all your comments. It looks like we have some comments from council members Sadalgay and

the deputy mayor. Thank you mayor and I do want to give TVE an opportunity to pan and see everyone over here because I don't think everyone fits on the camera while I'm talking because it is I'm just so proud to see so many people here, so many people that I've seen out in community again. And I'm going to echo some of the words from the youngest people that talked over here, which is now more than ever, right? It feels like we say that too often, but right now more than ever, it is so important that we share and celebrate our diversity, our heritage, our culture and often at the APCC our food with one another because we do have a history that we need to learn from. And we shouldn't hide from it.

And the way we learn from that history is by what a lot of you did and that I really appreciate which is share your stories with one another. Because humans when we share our stories and we have connections we learn that we're just another person. And yes we're gonna have some resolutions and ordinances that are coming. And I'm realizing as I'm sitting here that a lot of what we end up saying can be surmised and summarized as just saying we don't want this federal government to shut us up and silence us. So when I see a large group like this, really it just makes me feel so much better because they're because we're all allies here.

I want to especially thank the city staff that shared their stories. I didn't appreciate until I was in this position how important it is to have representation at this level. I've gone to a few schools, and I've had students who are AAPI that have basically said, I didn't know you could be in a position of responsibility like this because I'd never seen anyone. And you guys are all that. You guys do that all the time.

And that's one of the most important aspects. And city employees, right? You're out there interacting. And representation matters because we want to be visible. That's part of the issue we have with what's happening right now is they want to make us invisible. And that ultimately is the reason why I asked TV to pan out to show everyone because we're not invisible. And I appreciate you all being here. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN Thank you for your comments. Deputy Mayor.

J. Ditto everything Council Member Sidalgo said. Just thank you so much for all of you, everything you're doing out in community. Everyone here is serving our community in some form or fashion. And, you know, I grew up being told, You need to be a doctor or a lawyer, and this, that, and the other.

But there are so many ways that our community shows up and so many ways that we can serve, whether it's at city government, whether it's at a nonprofit, whether it's mental health services and support. And each of you have played a vital role in supporting this community. Everybody's journey here, you know, we've been first generation, second generation. I'm the first of my mother to be here in The U. S, so, you know, everyone's journey came here differently, but we all are unified in that we want to support one another, that we want to support our communities, and that we want to make sure that we're all visible, and that our stories are being shared, our cultures are being shared, and that we can work together to make sure everybody knows that very loudly, very clearly.

So thank you all so much for being here. I'm very proud to be Cambodian as well, as Mingredi as well. And I'm, as Councilmember Sonali said, you know, is super important. And that really hit home for me when I had a young lady when I first was elected, drove all the way down from Bellingham. She was Cambodian. I was doing a ceremony at, what, Samaki over in McKinley, and she drove all the way down just to say thank you, and she felt seen. That really just was extremely impactful to me. And so, to our city manager, you know, making history here as well, I just it is so important to be seen, and I just really appreciate every single one of you helping to do that. So, you, mayor.

Thank you. Councilmember Scott.

CHIEF Thank you, Mayor. Thank you all for being here. I won't take too much time. Just wanted to speak specifically to the young girl that was talking. No, you, yep. And you were saying that you want to be a world changer or change maker in the future. And I just want to let you know that you can do that right now, and you're doing it now by standing here with people and talking about your heritage and your culture and sharing that with us and standing here today. So, anytime you think that you have to wait until later, just tell yourself that you can do it now, too.

Thank you all. Are there any additional counsel comments? Well, what summarize in saying is that we are so glad to have you all here. You are not simply a valued part of Tacoma, you are Tacoma. And we are all so much richer for you having joined us, and for all of your immense wonderful efforts. Please, So, on behalf of the Tacoma City Council, accept one more round of applause, and please come forward to accept your proclamations.

If anybody else is A and HPI and they want to come up and join us for this photo, do so.

I'm gonna squeeze. Okay. Alright. I can let's see. Yawn. We just if we could get everybody on this side to just come in, like, two

two or three

more steps. There we go. Alright. One two three. Do one more. One, two, three. Oh, man. Wait. Put it one second here. Hold on one second. Okay. Oh, that's much easier. Okay. One, two, three. We're just taking everybody continue to smile. Great job.

Is that everybody?

Yep. Okay.

Thank you so much everyone. We're going to continue with the meeting. Moving on to public comment. Yep. Moving on to public comment. If folks can keep their voices down, please. Thank you. Moving on to public comment on tonight's agenda. There is one opportunity for people to comment. Under public comment tonight, you can speak about motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

This forum is intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making and is not meant to be a back and forth. Your remarks should be directed to the city council and not at individual staff members. If you want to speak under the public comment period, please press the raise hand button near the bottom of your zoom window or star nine on your phone now so we can see the number of people wishing to testify this evening. If you're speaking in person, please sign up at the back of the room if you have not done so already. Your name or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out once your turn to speak. Clerk, please read.

This is a time set aside for public comments. Speakers are asked to identify the specific legislation they wish to address.

Okay. I'd like to remind everyone to please keep your comments respectful, relevant, focused, on topic. We strive to provide a common period where people can feel respected while sharing a wide variety of viewpoints and acknowledge that we may hear comments that conflict with our values. To ensure that all speakers can express their First Amendment constitutional rights, we ask that you refrain from clapping, cheering, booing, or otherwise being disruptive. You will have ninety seconds to make your remarks. Please be mindful of the time frame. As always, you are not required to use all your time to make your point. If you cannot remain on topic, you'll be given two warnings, and if you remain off topic, we'll have to move on, and we'll end your time. And with that, I'm going to call on to the people who signed in. We're going to start with John Scott, followed by Mareks Castro.

Good evening, Mareks. On your first sermon to the members of the city council. My name is John Scott. I first chose to coco when I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2024 and I am proud to still call to coco home today. I have dedicated history of public service including working for the washington state legislature and the city of Kent.

Even when my career required commuting to Olympia or Kent, I kept my home right here in Tacoma. I am here to speak in support of Resolution Number 41,904 for the Film Task Force. As a film school graduate I know the city has the character and stories to be a creative hub. Investing in this task force is a vital step towards keeping creative professionals in our community. I also wanna speak to the hiring freeze.

I understand the fiscal constraints. I've worked in government and I know these aren't easy decisions but they have human costs. I don't own a car and commuting outside of Tacoma meant expensive ride shares and unreliable transit but I managed because I had flexibility. But I wanted to think about the college student or the parent who needs to work close to home. If it's hard for me to serve the city I choose I imagine how hard it is for them. Tacoma is worth investing in. I hope we can make it easy for residents to serve in the city as it is for them to love it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Mayor X Castro followed by Delilah Green.

Hi there. Thank you so much honorable mayor and city council for recognizing Asian American native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage month. I just want to share a little bit of history on that that the term Asian American is a political term that did not come about until the arrival of the term African American, and so it's really born out of this term of us seeing what the black community has done to mobilize and drop strength and power, and that also mobilized us in our community. So this month actually would not be around without fighting for these rights for African Americans as well. So I wanted to share that, and I thank you.

And I also wanted to share that that it is such a powerful thing to be here in the city of Tacoma. We do have such powerful representation. We also had chief stallings Alaima come join us, for that photo who is the first Samoan ever to serve as fire chief deputy mayor Bushnell who's the first Khmer ever elected in Washington state history, our city manager Kim and I just want to say that representation is not only something that we see but something that we feel and something that heals that was mentioned earlier during the height of the pandemic they received that proclamation those aren't just words we were terrified together but to still show up and to still say that we love ourselves and we love our people despite the hate is a powerful message to be sharing especially in this climate today so thank you so much for your service and all that you do.

Thank you. Delilah Green followed by Art Wong.

Hi. I'm Delilah Green. I attend Foss High School. And I would like to speak on the section 41,902 services to be included for our community service. Last week we had an incident at our school that made worldwide news where we had a mass stabbing in our hallway.

It was been really hard for students to come back to school especially thinking about leaving school and thinking about going online now because they're too afraid for another incident to happen. This week we had lots of support from our community and I saw how comfort it was for other students and how they felt better coming to school and I feel that we should have more support like that at our school to help students feel more safe.

Thank you.

And thank you for coming forward. Art Wong.

Thank you mister mayor council members. My name is Art Wong. I'm speaking in behalf of council member Sidalgo's resolution. Originally I planned to speak about things generally as part of the Asian heritage month resolution but it occurred to me that this might be a good time to share a personal story. And the personal story is as I was preparing and thinking about what to say for the asian heritage month it finally occurred to me that I have a that there are personal effects of the different things that the federal government is doing.

One of the things that's under consideration now has been birthright citizenship going back to the case of Yiguo and one of the Chinese who originally established the notion of birthright citizenship being born in The US. I've known all of you. You've known me. I've been an american citizen for seventy seven years and it finally occurred to me as I was preparing for this yesterday, I was thinking, you know, my American citizenship could be under question because although I was born in The US, my parents, my father was consul general in for the national the old nationalist government of China at the time. So under the rationale used in being presented to the supreme court, I would not be considered a citizen potentially.

That is in for those of you who know me, that's probably an incredible consideration. I mean, it's just struck me as just being totally novel and something that frankly I had never considered before. Would literally be a man without a country. So just appreciate this restraints that are necessary to curb some of the federal go actions on immigration. BERNANDEZ: So thank you.

Thank you. All right. We have two speakers who have signed in. April, followed by Lydia Zapata.

-Hello. I'm speaking to

resolution for the ordinance '20 9,104 amending Title 17. And just want to thank you all again for clarifying the definitions and helping the animals that don't have voices for themselves. So thank you, and I hope that this passes tonight.

Appreciate your comments. Lydia?

Yes. Thank you. My name is Lydia Zepeda, district three. Thank you. I'm gonna be speaking on ordinance 20 nine-one 105 and also resolution 40 one-nine zero five.

Twenty nine one zero five is one of the things that the Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, CIRA, has been advocating for. I'd like to really urge you to vote for it and also, a question of clarification whether public schools are included in municipal property. I also wanna speak in support of resolution forty one nine zero five. I'm glad the city is reiterating its support of Washington state laws and calling on congress to make changes in immigration funding and policies. But I ask that the city council also include in its resolution concrete support for immigrants that are within its power to provide.

Some examples are things like putting a permanent line item in the budget for nonprofits to provide legal services and phone calls to those who are detained at the detention facility. This is a concrete way to provide, support to defend the rights and permit communication by immigrants who were detained at the detention facility who have no right to free counsel or free phone calls. I also urge them to make really clear language and outreach about the guidance towards officers and commutes and community about what we can expect from TPD when actual or supposed federal agents are harassing immigrants. Both officers and community are confused, and we need clarification. Again, thank you for the ordinance and the resolution, and thank you very much.

Appreciate your comments as well. Thank you. Alma Villegas.

Hello. Thank you so much for, having me speak. I want to echo what Lydia just provide testimony. I'm Alma Villegas, and I am in support of resolution four one nine zero five and ordinance two nine one zero five as well. I wanna thank you all for listening to community, something we've been asking for quite some time now, and moving forward on both

of

these positions. But I do wanna stress that, you know, I attended the study session earlier today, heard a lot about, you know, what you can do that's within your control, how you are limited in in some of the things that you cannot do. And two of the very, very, things that is within your control are, one, is, ensuring and making commitment that is a permanent, and I will stress permanent line item in the budget to support of detainees at the detention center as we've been requesting. And then second, to please provide clarity, for the Tacoma Police Department on what they will do in the event that ICE shows up in our communities and so that the community members can know what to expect. We provided some information, a couple months ago with the, language suggested language, and clearly asking for definition of what interference means, And that's one example.

So we urge the council to follow-up on those two as well. Thank you so much.

CHIEF JUSTICE Thank you. So with that, it looks like we have everyone who's signed in who has spoken. So we're going to close public comment and move on to the meeting. Thank you, everyone, for speaking. Moving on to our regular agenda, item number 10, under resolutions. This item will have a PowerPoint presentation. Clerk, please read.

Resolution 1,902 a resolution authorizing the submittal of the annual action plan to the department of housing and urban development and authorizing the execution of agreements to support housing community and economic development and public service activities.

I move to adopt resolution number 41,902.

Second.

Moved and seconded like to call on Felicia medlin.

Good evening, council good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and city council. So I'm just going to be before you briefly to go over the final steps of the annual action plan. Next slide, please. So this is our 2026 grant. It's covering three programs: our CDBG block grant, the home investment partnerships program, and emergency solutions grant.

And so the totals are on your screen. We have about 2,400,000 from CDBG, 208,000 for yeah, 208,000 for emergency solutions grant, and then our home grant comes in at just over 1,750,000. Next slide, please. So these programs are all going to serve households at 80% AMI and below. However, our shelter programs do serve households that are usually between 030%.

And then our other two categories, are housing programs and economic development efforts across the city. Those go up to 80%, and we're looking at homeownership opportunities and also small business and micro enterprise business efforts. And then we have some set aside for admin as well, and this is all under the CDBG grant. Next slide, please. So our two programs so ESG, again, that's going to be serving shelter operations, and then we have some rapid rehousing dollars there, also a little bit of administration.

And then under the HOME program, we're looking at housing programs within the city of Tacoma and also housing programs in the city of Lakewood. And then we have an administrative set aside with that as well. All of those programs are outlined in our annual action plan, which is the document that we have to submit to be eligible for these grants. Next slide please. So the recommendation and the request of counsel tonight is that they approve that you all approve the annual action plan so we can submit that document to hud.

That also includes authorization for some subrecipient agreements, which will allow us to implement and deploy those dollars once we receive them. And so that's the third thing that we're looking for tonight. This is all the culmination of a thirty day comment period as well that ended on this past Friday, May 1. And so we've done a lot of external kind of outreach and engagement to get input on this plan as well as we moved it forward for your consideration of final action tonight. And that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any additional questions before you all.

CHAIRMAN Thank you, Medlin. Are there any counsel questions or comments? Deputy Mayor.

Deputy Mayor. You, Mayor. Just wanted to clarify, we're doing this jointly with the City of Lakewood because it helps us capture a lot more grant support for these programs. That correct?

Doctor. Correct. That's and it's specific to the HOME program, our partnership with Lakewood.

Great. I just want to say that's a really great example of us as a city working together with our other partners to really maximize the benefit to our region. So I just wanted to point that out. Thank you.

Seeing no other counsel comments or questions, are there seeing that there are no further comments or questions, all those in favor of adopting Resolution Number forty one thousand nine two, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed to saying nay. Resolution is declared adopted. Moving on to item 11. Clerk, please read.

Resolution 41,903, a resolution authorizing the execution of an amendment to the agreement with the nisqually indian tribe in the amount of $4,831,162 to extend jail housing and services for an amount not to exceed $5,331,162 retroactive to 04/01/2026, through 04/01/2028, with the option to renew for up to five additional one year periods.

I move to adopt resolution number 41,903.

Second. Moved and seconded would like to call on city attorney chris boccia.

Thank you mayor, deputy mayor, members of the council chris boccia city attorney. As the clerk indicated this contract amendment would authorize an extension of the current agreement through April 2028 and increase the compensation under that agreement for jail services from $500,000 to a total of $5,331,162 an increase of four million eight and thirty one thousand one hundred and sixty two dollars Tacoma has contracted with the nisqually tribe for jail services since 2015 when the city ended its jail services agreement with the city of Fife and contracted with Pierce County jail for primary jail services. We contracted the same time with Nisqually tribe because we had an agreement with the county that we can only have 75 beds or inmates in custody at any given time, and so we needed a place to house inmates once we exceeded the bed capacity, and so Nisqually tribe was available and willing to contract with the city for those jail services and so we were routinely transferring prisoners to nisqually after arraignment because we were well over the 75 beds usually we were around 115 to 120. In twenty nineteen-twenty twenty we experienced covid which significantly impacted the Pierce County Jail's capacity to continue to house City Of Tacoma inmates as well as felons and inmates from other jurisdictions.

So, the role that Nisqually had changed under our contract to providing overflow services to having a much more significant role in taking our inmates. We also saw a significant reduction in the number of inmates in custody. We're no longer meeting our 75 bed capacity requirements with Pierce County, and in fact our agreement with Pierce County at the time was a take or pay agreement meaning we paid for 75 beds whether we used it or not. We were able to in the last few years negotiate a new agreement with Pierce County. They still suffer from staffing shortages, and so under our current agreement with Pierce County, all inmates, once they're arraigned, and if they're still held in custody, are transferred to Nisqually to be housed until their next hearing date, until their criminal charges are adjudicated by the court.

We have had an outstanding relationship with Nisqually jail and the Nisqually tribe. They've been very accommodating to all of the issues that have come up, in particular transportation, because moving inmates back and forth between Thurston County and Tacoma has been trying experience, and we' still working our way through that and we thank the tribe for being available and accommodating to us, but we' also need to amend the contract to increase the jail services compensation. A little bit behind in our payments because we reached our maximum of $500,000 quite some time ago. Was actually last year. So this amendment has been a long time in coming.

We' tried to project what our future GL capacity needs would be so we could adjust the contract based upon those projections. It's really impossible to know with any level of certainty what our capacity needs are and what the maximum contract price should be. This is our best effort and best guess at what will cover us through a five year term. Happy to answer any questions if you have any.

Thank you. Any questions? Councilmember rumbaugh.

Thank you, mayor. Chris, I'm curious why did we end our contract with fife?

Is a

question I can't ask?

Our city manager was knowledgeable about that. All I would say is that it wasn't working out.

Okay. Okay.

I can turn

it over to him

if he has

Actually, I can speak to this without any discomfort, Councilmember Rumba. The city of Fife at that time, we terminated our jail contract and we actually contracted with score jail in ctac. So the city of fife eliminated that service.

Thank you for answering that. Thanks.

Congressman Palmer.

Thank you mayor. I was going to note that I going to vote no on this,

just mainly

because I'm sure Nisqually is doing a wonderful job at these services. But I haven't really heard as far as alternatives to this service or what are all of our options are here. And so for a lack of knowledge around this area and information, I'm going to be voting no.

Counsel. You Mr. Mayor. Chris the question would be so that we' voting to authorize an amount to not exceed 5,331,000 that we're not agreeing to spend that amount right now correct?

That's correct.

So we we had in the past authorized authorized $500,000 and then now we're kind of coming in putting that in line and allocating the number we think is gonna may meet our needs in the future.

Correct. Okay. All

right. No I you know thank you for explaining that Chris. Mean just go back in time a little bit. I do remember during the COVID times where we had a lot of challenges with people who were cited and arrested for pretty serious misdemeanors. They were unable to be booked in a jail and were causing ongoing harm in the community. Is it the time during go that the jail base said if you were not unless you were a violent felon we weren't booking anybody. Am I am I remembering that correctly?

That's correct the jail had to implement standards and was only accepting certain types of misdemeanor defenders like domestic violence and DUIs. Yeah. That hasn't changed an awful lot. Okay. Under the new contract.

Yeah. I think that's just what, so the just the reality of that situation was we had many people in the community where people had committed serious crimes against people and property that were instead of being you know held not only for the community's safety but probably for their own sake to kind of get connected to services and and have access to resources were being kind of turned back out into the community over and over again. So this is while I'm not excited about us transporting people back and forth between Thurston County I do recognize this fulfills a gap that was clearly identified during COVID that hasn't been yet filled. So thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the explanation. I was actually kind of my next question from Council Member Hynes' discussion here is what does it look like to have our Pierce County Jail meet the capacity needs for the City Of Tacoma? And are we still under contract for 75 beds? And it sounds like we've renegotiated. But I want to know what when when do we know we've succeeded in having our capacity needs met?

So, our current agreement with Pierce County allows us to book offenders misdemeanor offenders people that have violated the Tacoma municipal code allows them to be booked and held through arraignment. Under that agreement they will be released after arraignment regardless of whether they're held on bail unless we have an alternate to take them to, and that's why we have the contract with disqualify. I should mention that in 2015 when we were contracting with Fife, was a Fife was providing an electronic home monitoring service through a vendor. We entered into, after an RFP, a contract with a vendor to provide electronic home monitoring services as an alternative to incarceration, and that's been used successfully by the courts, and the data shows that it's being used more and more frequently as an alternative to bail, or alternative to incarceration. We also contracted with Yakima County as an alternate for incarceration.

That was for long term commitments, and we ended that relationship. We just didn't use it very much, and Nisqually the reason we were using Yakima was it was a lot less expensive than either Nisqually or Pierce County, but we just weren't using it enough, it was hard for people, for families, to meet with their loved ones all the way over in Yakima. Our current relationship with Ms. Quali works out pretty well, and we are working on the transport issues and hope to solve those at some point this year.

Thank you. Any further questions? Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Resolution Number 41,903, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Aye. Resolution is declared adopted. Item Number 12. Clerk, please read.

Resolution 41,904, a resolution authorizing the one time use of council contingency funds in the amount of $10,000 to sponsor the Tacoma Film Task Force.

I move to adopt resolution number 41,904. Second.

Moved and seconded. I'd like to call on councilmember Scott.

Thank you, mayor. I'm excited to bring my proposal for a council contingency fund request to support the Grand Cinemas Task Film Task Force to a vote tonight. During the past couple of years, I've been meeting with people who are engaged in the filmmaking community and trying to find ways to expand and enhance the film industry here in Tacoma. Filmmaking is not just an important part of the work our creative community is doing. It's also a powerful economic development tool.

Filmmaking can foster a wide range of jobs, engagement with our local businesses, and even tourism. However, Tacoma only issued 11 film permits last year. Meanwhile, Seattle issued about three sixty. And even more importantly, the permitted projects in Seattle helped employ more than 4,000 local crew and cast members. Tacoma should be attracting more film projects.

We have fantastic locations, great hotels, and parking lots for film crews to use, plus we have a great community of people who work in the industry living right here. This proposal will provide $10,000 in council contingency funds to help the grand cinema launch a film task force that can help elevate Tacoma as a film friendly city. The task force would have a diverse range of participants and their scope of work would include developing recommendations for the city council on code and permitting updates, enhancing connectivity, and much more. I'm especially excited about this task force because one of the key themes I often hear is that our filmmaking community has a lot of energy and passion, but it lacks organization and leadership. I think we can help fix this, and I want to thank my EDC colleagues for cosponsoring this proposal, and I hope you will all join us in voting yes tonight.

Thank you, councilmember Scott. Are there any other council comments? Thank you very much for bringing this forward. All those in favor of adopting Resolution Number 41,904, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. Resolution is declared adopted.

Reaffirming the city' longstanding opposition to private for profit detention centers supporting oversight of operations at the northwest immigration and customs enforcement processing center calling on congress to take steps to ensure federal immigration enforcement agencies operate under clear standards and provide real accountability when those standards are violated and calling on state leaders to take further action to reaffirm the underlying principles of the keep Washington working act.

I move to adopt resolution number 41,905.

Second.

Move and second I'd like to call on councilmember Sidalgoy.

Thank you mayor and I want to thank everyone on council for considering what will become a substitute resolution in a second I believe but I'll do my comments at this point. So I want to thank you for basically our continued commitment to supporting Tacoma's immigrants and refugee community. This federal administration continues to promote actions and policies that sow fear and anxiety in our community. And as I've said before, you know, as a foreign born immigrant myself, I understand those profound anxiety in our community, but I'm also so appreciative of all of us on this council who've been unanimous in our solidarity with our immigrant and refugee neighbors and in actions that we've done to protect that community. This is a timely resolution given not only recognition of the AAPI community but it builds on over a decade of work that this council has done and showcases how the Tacoma City Council continues to research and investigate every opportunity to take action on behalf of our residents.

Last week, members of the City Council in solidarity with Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown and scores of community leaders and residents stood in front of the Northwest Ice Processing Center as they announced their legal action against Geo Group, the private company that owns and operates NWIPC, to ask that court ordered Geo Group follow state law and to allow inspectors from the state department of health into the immigration detention facility to investigate the more than 3,500 complaints from detainees about conditions in that facility. Through this resolution we emphatically reiterate that the Tacoma City Council condemns the broader pattern of overzealous, unjust, and dangerous enforcement actions carried out during the recent federal immigration enforcement actions. The city also affirms its longstanding opposition to private for profit detention centers and strongly supports the state of Washington's efforts to impose robust, enforceable oversight of private detention facilities, including independent mandatory compliance standards and meaningful consequences for violations. This resolution also builds upon all the advocacy work we've done as a council and as a city during the last legislative session when the state advanced four bills to strengthen protections for immigrants and refugees. It also shows our willingness to be partners with our state and federal delegation for further actions.

When we pass the resolution tonight, the city council will reiterate our calls for the United States Congress to include meaningful and significant guardrails on the U. S. Department of Homeland Security and how it operates in our communities including requiring DHS to obtain a judicial warrant prior to enforcement actions, ceasing the use of masked agents during immigration enforcement operations, and ensuring independent and transparent investigations are conducted at all federal agent and law enforcement involved deaths. The city council will also affirm our longstanding support for the keep Washington working act and calls on state leaders to continue close monitoring and oversight of state agency data sharing agreements with federal agencies, to perform a formal review to ensure that all state agencies are fully compliant with the provisions of the act, and to provide additional training and guidance to local governments regarding local law enforcement responses to activities conducted by the U. S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly where concerns arise regarding legality of such actions. And this is particularly important because this supports our neighboring jurisdictions and municipalities in understanding what they can also do. In conclusion to come and have been loud and clear on these issues and their desire to see the city council take a stand on these issues this resolution is a targeted approach to call on our policymakers and state and federal government with the authority to take these actions and improve the quality of life for all residents in Tacoma. And at the end I also want to add based on what we heard earlier we do not want to be silenced. We cannot make these people that are in our community invisible.

We believe in fundamental human rights. At the end of the day we want to be able to share our stories with one another. I look for your support in this resolution. BERNANKE:

Thank you. Are there any other counsel comments? Councilmember Diaz followed by councilmember Palmer.

Thank you. Is now a good moment to speak to the substitute or would you like me to hold that? I'll hold.

Councilmember Palmer, and then we can hear your motion. How about that? Okay. Do you have a comment, Councilmember Palmer?

Yes. Sorry. I'm just hoping this is the right time to say it. I wanted to thank Councilmember Sidalgoy for allowing me to sign on to this. We all know that this is a huge concern and a huge issue for folks in the community.

We are all horrified at what's happening around the nation and in our backyard with ICE enforcements. And I wanted to be very clear that that is not something that any of us welcome in Tacoma. And we know that our authority when it comes to ICE is very limited, but I want to make sure that folks know that I and I know my colleagues want to ensure that our city does not support or benefit from any actions that degrade or harm our community members. We celebrate our immigrant and refugee community by proclamations and others' meaningful support as well. I encourage everyone to learn about their rights and stand in solidarity with those who are being unfairly targeted.

I also include encourage all agencies and organizations in our city including the Tacoma police department to continue updating and clarifying their engagement with ICE and their services that support our immigrant community. While this is absolutely a step in the right direction I know that none of us are going to be done looking for other opportunities to support our community members. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN Thank you. Counselor Diaz, do have a motion?

CHAIRMAN Yes. I move as a substitute, substitute resolution number 41905.

Second. All

right. Are there any counsel questions or comments? All right. The vote is on the substitution of resolution I

have comments on my substitute.

Yes, I apologize. Didn't see your

That's okay. You didn't shake up. That's why I was assist. So I wanted to speak to the substitute I just motioned, or that we're voting on now. I want to thank Councilmember Salgay first for his leadership on the entire resolution.

It was a team sport for sure, at least between the two of us, and definitely community members and council members were able to give some feedback, especially after it was posted in the packet, just because of quorum rules. That's usually the way that we're able to solicit the most feedback is once the public has good eyes on it. With that in mind, we had a couple of items that came forward from stakeholders, different council members that I wanted to highlight in the substitute and make sure that we incorporated. Because we have been working on this resolution for months. Things have changed over that time, so there's been some additional work and just some work that other council colleagues have been working on that we wanted to make sure was included.

So with that said, my substitute speaks to the press conference that council colleagues and I attended last week that council members Sidalgoy mentioned, where we stood with governor Bob Ferguson and attorney general Nick Brown to be in support of their legal action against the GEO Group, the private company that owns and operates the NWIPC, and asked the court order the GEO Group to allow inspectors from the state health department into the immigration detention facility to ensure that they're following state law in there and that they investigate those more than 3,500 complaints that folks have received from the detainees about the facility. I know that those are just the complaints that the AG's office and the governor's office have compiled. We have heard those complaints, several of them here at this council and in the community, so we know that they are active complaints and we're really grateful that this work is moving forward. So we wanted to honor that in the resolution. We also wanted to incorporate some feedback around the ongoing oversight the governor's office has done to monitor state data sharing agreements with ICE and Customs and Border Patrol and make sure that we're urging the governor to continue that important work.

And we lastly wanted to make sure that we do some grammatical edits and make sure we honor the work that this council has done in the past to advocate for the passage of Senate bill or substitute House Bill fourteen seventy and engrossed Senate Substitute House Bill twelve thirty two that both allowed the state health department to get into the facility which is the subject of the lawsuit. And the city has been working, particularly I think Councilmember Walker and staff have been working on collaborating on the rulemaking process to make sure that we get more folks into the facility and lay the groundwork for making sure that there is more oversight. And that is very important work that we wanted to not miss the opportunity as we're working collaboratively in this entire resolution to really make the case and state all of the work that the city or give a broad overview of all of the work the city has done over at least the past decade. Definitely predating Councilmember Spauldier and I and others on making sure that this detention center that it's in our area is held accountable, that they are treating our now residents, detainees, in a way that is humane, and making sure that the community knows that we have been leading on this issue and that we're going to continue to lead on this issue.

And particularly around not just what we do here at the council, but how we advocate with our state and federal leaders to make sure that they know how to come a feels and that we want to make sure that our communities are safe. So those are some of the main highlights I wanted to highlight in the substitute of other remarks on the final passage.

Thank you councilmember Diaz. We have a comment from councilmember walker.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Diaz. Thank you for including my suggestions from study session today. I think even with these small changes for the substitute, of course, with more eyes on and the community weighing in, we have a better final product. Very happy to support Councilmember Diaz and Councilmember Sidalgo in this resolution and my co sponsor, Councilmember Palmer.

I think I will just repeat what Councilmember Diaz said about this highlighting the work, all the work that's been done to date. And absolutely before I got here, but at least for the past six and a half years since I've been here in working through the state legislature, working with our federal partners, It is clear that this council's priority is being a welcoming city to everyone who is here, and it truly is part of Tacoma's identity. So I think this is just one more way we can show that and be really public about that. I also made a note earlier today about just a big thank you to our federal delegation. We're really lucky here in Pierce County to have great people working at the federal level, Representative Randall, Representative Strickland, and of course our senators, Murray and Cantwell, and I appreciate them being a partner in a tough environment.

The last thing I would just mention, because I know some of the public comment mentioned it, too, is that we are working on additional information on our website, and we talked about that a little bit at study session. And even though that's not part of the resolution, is work that is happening at the city staff level, and we will make sure that that's public when it gets up on the website. So thanks again, Councilmember Diaz, thank you, Mayor, for the time. Appreciate it.

Thank you. The vote is on the substitution of resolution number 41,905. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Motion is declared adopted. Substitute resolution number 41,905 is now before us. Are there any additional counsel comments or questions on the substituted resolution? Counselor verdez.

Thank you. I had a couple more remarks I wanted to make just because the last one was more substantive and this one is more sort of opinion and narrative I guess I would call it. I didn't want to let the moment go by on how much work had gone into this resolution. A lot of community feedback was incorporated. A lot of historical knowledge was put into it.

I'm sure there will be things that we miss. There's also a lot of effort to try to make it evergreen so that when we need to eventually address this topic again, this federal government is not changing anytime soon. And so we know that there's going be new different attacks in the future. And so we're going to keep our eyes on that making sure that we're being proactive. We also have another ordinance I'll speak to later today about how some of that ongoing work continues to happen.

But I didn't want this resolution that really sort of states our history and explains where we're at and where we want to go and keep keeping oversight without saying that nationwide one in five workers in The U. S. Wasn't born here. Quite frankly, one of nine on our council wasn't born here, right? One in four kids in The U.

S. Has an immigrant parent. Three of your nine on this Tacoma City Council have an immigrant parent. Immigrants are the fabric of our community here in Tacoma and our nation and were the fabric and backbone of our economy. We pay taxes we take care of our elders we take care of our youth we do those in both our own families and in service through careers.

We are public servants, we are military professionals, we are all of the things that every other neighbor that you have in this community is and are and it is really important for this council to continue to iterate that because a lot of our neighboring jurisdictions quite frankly don't. A lot of our neighboring states don't. I think for us to be a city who has answered the calls from our community in this way is very critical and very important. I for example am a queer person individual woman with birthright citizenship it is not easy for me to be loud about how much I am disgusted with the federal government the way that they treat us the way that they treat my neighbors but it is important and I'm going to continue to do that work and this council is going to continue to do that work whether or not the target is on us or not because we know that at any given day the target can move and if it's not us today it could be us tomorrow. I So just wanted to make sure that I' very clear that this is not some little light rubber stamp resolution this is important it' impactful and it' been meaningful work to work on.

You.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz, and to all the cosponsors for your bravery in moving this forward, as well as your constancy. We hear the frustration and the fear from so many of our neighbors in the community, and as well as the righteous, very good impatience about what more can we be doing, how much more can we take before we take even further action. And that's exactly what this resolution represents, is not just performative statements, but real concrete steps that the city has been taking and will continue to examine. I, as well as my colleagues, have been in Olympia testifying on behalf of real actionable policies, as well as further directions that the state and local communities like Tacoma can do to protect their immigrant communities. We are a city and a larger community and a nation of immigrants, and we'll continue to stand resolutely with all members of our community.

So, with that, I'm very much in support of this, and thank you once again sponsors to for bringing this forward. So with that, all those in favor of adopting substitute resolution number 41,905, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed to say nay. The substitute resolution is declared adopted. Moving on to final reading of ordinances. Quick, please read item number 14.

Ordinance 29,104, an ordinance amending title 17 of the municipal code relating to animal control by amending chapter seventeen point zero one and seventeen point zero two to clarify definitions and requirements for the adequate care, humane restraint, and confinement of animals.

CHAIRMAN This item was presented last week. Are there any additional counsel questions or comments? If you're calling, councilmember Heinz.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just take some final comments about this. Talked about the study session two weeks ago and presented during first reading. But just really proud to bring this proposal forward for the animal control code. Past few months I've had talked to several community members about concerns about how residents can restrain or confine animals. It's not been multiple different instances of people asking and reaching out about you know what are we doing. And as the speaker earlier said the animals can't speak for themselves. So we've had upon ourselves, us as a city, the community to kind of set humane objective standards for our animals and their care. One of the concerns I hear most about is that animals are being kept in vehicles without breaks for long, prolonged periods of time.

And the animals are left tethered outside, particularly during adverse weather conditions. So, two of these instances where animals are the care is not what we would like to see as a community. I've worked closely with our animal control officers who examined our current code, and I think there are couple ways we can address these concerns. The first is our existing code has few protections for animals that are kept in a stationary vehicle. And I'm recommending a couple changes to that, which would say no more than four animals can be combined to a stationary motor vehicle.

No animal can be tethered inside a stationary motor vehicle. There must be evidence of adequate care, which includes food, visible, you can see food, water, and proper shelter. And the animal has to be let out every thirty minutes, whatever, within any four hour period which are confined. This is the idea that, you know, animals being confined inside a vehicle whether it's hot cold or any point in time do need to be let out quite frequently. And so this is just kind of being really clear with our code to say that's adequate care for animals inside vehicles.

The second I'm proposing that we clarify and strengthen requirements around tethering of animals. So this tethering also known as leashing an animal but we use the term tether in our code would ban tethering an animal outdoor during adverse weather conditions and that would apply to anything below 32 degrees or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. So, the idea that if you're tying up an animal outside, it has shelter, it has protection from the elements, especially when we see extreme weather, like very cold or very hot. And also, recommending that we ban tethering an animal to a vehicle while the animal is unsupervised. So tying an animal up outside to a vehicle where somebody's not able to keep eyes on it.

There's a real risk of, you know, animals being hurt or harmed. And you know we've seen instances of people driving away with vehicles being attached to their vehicles. Animals being tethered to their vehicles unbeknownst to them and leading to really horrific consequences. Finally there's a couple other changes around ensuring that our code matches kind of the highest humane standards. I want to thank our animal control officers for kind of helping me put this code together.

Want to thank Councilor Rumbaugh and Councilor Diaz for co sponsoring this with me. I think this is the fourth amendment to the animal control code I've done, so pretty soon I think I'll touch almost every part of it. But it just is a good reminder, and I think what I would say both of the commenters are here and then the people in the community. We really do love our animals here in the of Tacoma. I hear people all the time about how much they care and what we're really just trying to do is get our standards closer and closer to what we all know is humane treatment of animals. Thank you.

Thank you councilmember Hines. Seeing no further council comments, clerk please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Aye.

Councilmember Diaz. Aye. Councilmember Hines.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmer. Aye. Councilmember Rumba. Aye. Councilmember Sidalgo.

Aye.

Councilmember Scott. Aye. Councilmember Walker. Aye. Mayor Ibsen.

Aye. The ordinance is declared passed. Moving on to first reading of ordinances item number 15 clerk please read.

Ordinance 29,105 an ordinance amending chapter 8.19 of the municipal code relating to use of public property to prohibit the use of municipal property for civil immigration enforcement and providing for civil remedies.

I'd like to call on councilmember deos.

Thank you mayor. The ordinance here on first reading is ordinance 29,105 is a response or sort of the next step to a resolution the council adopted late last year, I want to say second to last or last meeting in December, resolution number 40 one-eighty one-seven, which directed the city manager to clarify the use of city owned property for federal immigration enforcement operations as we had directed the prior in resolution 40 one-six 27 which was councilmember Sidalgo's resolution to expand the keep Washington working protection act protections into city code. This ordinance is the enacting part of getting the signs up on our city resources that we do not want to have used as staging locations for civil immigration enforcement purposes. This is an important next step because it builds on the city's leadership. We passed the first resolution, as I mentioned, the last meeting of December, because of a direct conversation I had with the prior mayor and the prior council about the need to take action soon, because we knew that the way that ICE was ramping up was going to continue to escalate.

And quite frankly, was worried about what would happen over the holiday break while we were gone. I was like, this is not something that can wait. We have seen this happen in a couple of at that time in December, we had seen only one or two other councils across the country adopt a similar resolution. So Tacoma was a real leader in that effort. This ordinance today is bringing that work to fruition on Tacoma's timeline and within our budget to make sure that staff has been able to do their due diligence around sign language, around prioritizing where the signage will go, and making sure that we have the important enforcement mechanisms that will be outlined in the ordinance in a way that will make us the most safe we can be.

So I want to first appreciate staff's due diligence and following through with this directive and carefully crafted approach to the ordinance in front of us today. I also want to appreciate my colleagues deputy mayor Bushnell and councilmembers Rumbaugh Sadalgay for co sponsoring this ordinance particularly councilmember Rumbaugh a lot of the signage will go into District 2 there will be signage throughout the city and further as we get more budget allotment and more progression going forward. But a lot of this city owned properties that will be addressed will be in District 2, and so that's why we're focusing there. I also wanted to address a comment that I heard earlier during public comment about whether or not this will apply to school properties and just clarify that it will not. This only applies to properties that the city owns.

The city of Tacoma does not own any school properties, so therefore we don't have jurisdiction there. Something I would love to work with our partners, perhaps my colleagues on JMAT can bring that up with folks at that committee on what the schools in the Park District are working on. This ordinance here before us makes clear that property owned or controlled by the city should not be used without the permission or consent of the city of Tacoma by agents of federal government including agents of ICE or customs and border patrol for immigration enforcement purposes. This ordinance also creates a civil enforcement process to allow the city to seek an injunction or declaratory relief in court. The good stewardship of city resources ensuring that city services are tax payers fund are delivered effectively safely and without disruption remains incredibly important to us as a city and that's why this ordinance matters every building park and vehicle owned by this city exists to serve a specific public purpose for our residents here in Tacoma not for federal civil immigration enforcement purposes.

At the end of the day this ordinance is about preserving operational integrity for city of Tacoma resources. It is vital that we distinguish between the city's local obligations and the operation of other jurisdictions as we continue our ongoing work to preserve Tacoma's community members, safety, and our neighborhoods and properties. I look forward to having this item come up for a final vote on May 12 and hope that my colleagues will join me in that vote and welcome any questions you might have.

Thank you councilmember Diaz are there any counsel questions or comments? Councilmember Palmer.

I just want to thank Councilmember Diaz for continuing to follow this process and make sure it's moving along. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And once again thank you for your and the cosponsor's leadership on this issue. I look forward to supporting it next week. Okay. Seeing no further comments or questions on this ordinance, it will be settled for final reading next week at the next council meeting. Is there any unfinished business? Seeing none, city manager, do have a report this evening? Mayor I have no report for tonight. You. Moving on to comments and committee reports of the city council, I'd like to call on Chair Walker from the infrastructure planning and sustainability committee.

Thank you, mayor. And I think this may be the last report that Anna Lee is writing for me, so I want to give a shout out and really embarrass Anna. I hope she's listening somewhere. She's not leaving the city, but we're very sad that she will not be our IPS staff liaison anymore. She's been amazing.

So one last report out from Anna. The infrastructure planning and sustainability committee has met once since our last report out. On April 22, the committee voted to forward the draft six year comprehensive transportation improvement program to the full council for consideration, so coming to a dais near you. That will likely come forward in June. Staff also updated IPS on the Schuster Parkway Trail project, which would fill one of the final gaps along the waterfront between the Tacoma Dome and Point Defiance.

The design team began mapping and analysis in March, and they are approaching the 10% design milestone, so we're getting closer to knowing our true cost of the project. Since the last report out, the committee has received two policy letters on Sound Transit's investments here in the South Sound, one from the Transportation Commission and the other from the Climate and Sustainability Commission. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, May 13. The committee will be briefed on an application for a public right of way to be added to the Tacoma register of historic places, the twenty twenty five-twenty six public works capital improvement program, and the storm water management manual update that is nearing completion. Mayor that concludes my report.

Thank you chair walker looks like we have a comment from a

councilmember hines followed by councilmember rumba. All right thank you mayor Ibsen and as many of you know it is my favorite time of year it is pothole palooza out there in the city of Tacoma. Pothole Palooza started on Monday in District 1 right near the mayor and I's house on North 20 not related to fact that we live there just like be that really clear. It was on the list guys. The neighborhood. I did not. So but started District 1, finished there and then is now slowly moving across the entire city. Pothole Palooza is an opportunity to not, you know, remind the public, one, that we don't like potholes. Two, the city is doing lots about potholes all the time. And three, sometimes you have to have fun because otherwise this job would drive you crazy or make you cry.

So with that, I'm bringing back the fill the pothole theme song here for everyone. So the refrain is it's fill the pothole. So I will do my part of it and then I will point to you all and I want you all to say in a good voice, it's fill the pothole. Alright. Here we go. Driving around the block, feels like you just broke a shock. Now you gotta stop and go to the shop. It spilled the pothole. Driving down the street and you feel it in your feet, like you tripped on a wire and now you got a flat tire. It's Phil, the pothole.

Alright. Driving down the road, and the lanes are full of holes. That when rhyme was tough. Anyways, and you hear a loud crunch, and now you're late for your lunch. It's Phil.

The pothole.

It's Phil.

The pothole.

Phil. Phil. Phil. Phil. It's Phil.

The pothole.

There we go. Coming to a record studio near you. But again, just I want to take a minute to thank our public works department for all their amazing work and getting out there and making this a fun event. And I just also would say my next brainstorm, just FYI. Somebody has pitched me idea of a Doppa Pothole.

I like that a lot. I've also talked about the idea of creating a group of people called fill fighters. So if you want to be a fill fighter and report to 311 every time you see a pothole, we'd love to have you join the team and help us stop Phil and his relatives, Penelope, and Pablo, and Pedro, and all the other P names that are Because potholes are only named P names. So, thank you all for that, and happy Pothole Palooza.

That was beautiful. Someone's clearly moonlighting as a public works theme DJ. It is beautiful. Thank you. Councilmember Barumba.

I just wanted to say that I won't be at the City of Destiny Awards, which is like painful, because I love coming to the City of Destiny Awards, but I'm getting an award from the Affordable Housing, a consortium for work on affordable housing. And if I wasn't going to be doing that, I would be going to see my husband get Judge of the Year Award from BERNANKE: the Washington State Association of Justice. So there's so many things happening on Wednesday that are great for Tacoma, but I just wanted everyone to

know why I wouldn't be at City of Destiny. All right. Thank you. All right. Are there any other counsel comments or any other reports? Seeing none, we have a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed to say nay, we are adjourned.