Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, pulling my script back up.

We're ready when you are.

Okay, good evening. I'd like to call to order the Infrastructure Planning and Sustainability Committee meeting of August 12, 2026. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

That's Member Diaz.

Here. Could you hear me?

I hear you.

Oh, okay. They can't hear me. I'm here.

I'm here. Okay.

Vice Chair Sedalge, absent. Chair Walker?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell, absent.

All right. Thank you. Moving on to public comment. Clerk, will you please read?

items on the agenda please sign up in the front of the room if you've not done so already if you're speaking virtually please press the raise hand button near the bottom of your zoom window or star nine on your phone your name or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out when it is your turn i think clerk is has anyone signed up to speak no there's no one signed up

Okay, we'll go ahead and close public comment and move on to our briefing items. Today, we are doing interviews, Transportation Commission interviews, and then we do have one interview for the Climate and Sustainability Commission. So I will turn it over to Nicole Emery, our city clerk.

Thank you, Chair Walker. Good afternoon, IPS Committee. Today you'll be interviewing four applicants and reviewing applications for two individuals. The two individuals are a commissioner currently seeking reappointment and Maria, who has interviewed for Planning Commission with this committee part. For the interviews, each applicant will have a three-minute presentation and will include answers to the following three questions. Number one, what skill set or perspective would you bring to the Transportation Commission if selected? Number two, what does equity mean to you in the context of transportation? And number three, what do you see as the biggest transportation challenge facing Tacoma right now? After each presentation, the committee has time to ask additional questions, and then once interviews have concluded, you may make motions to the full council with recommendations. Carrie, the staff liaison's in the room, and I am available to answer any questions before we get started.

Great, thank you so much. Any questions for our clerk or for Carrie before we start? All right, seeing none, let's get started with our first interview.

Wonderful. Our first applicant will be Luke. Hi, Luke. Are you here? Welcome to the IPS committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Walker to begin your interview.

Oh, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Great. Thank you, Luke, and welcome. We are, as you can see, the committee members are all online with you today. Our room does have some staff members in it and our city clerk. But this is the first time we've done this all online. It's great because we can see you in the same size as us instead of a teeny tiny on the screen. So thanks for joining us. And I think, you know, the the drill you have three minutes to answer the questions that were provided to you ahead of time and then afterwards you'll have we will have up to five minutes to follow up um with questions um can you see the the timer on your screen uh yes i can okay great so the city clerk's office is going to start that as soon as you start speaking so the floor is yours whenever you're ready great thank you so much uh councilman walker

Hello, everyone. My name is Luke Cassidy, he, him pronouns. I live in the first district of Tacoma, and I am interested in serving on the Transportation Commission because I care deeply about our city and I want to see it continue to improve and have better access for everybody. And I think I would bring a unique perspective to the council. I'm an Army veteran. Hi. I'd say I'm on the younger side. I'm 33 years old. And I have a background in urban planning and public administration. I'm currently finishing up my graduate degree program there at UW Seattle in urban planning and public administration. And I also have experience serving on boards and committees. I'm currently on the Pierce County Veteran Advisory Board, which I found very fulfilling. And I'm working on a project there to try to make a human services for veterans more inclusive of all veterans, regardless of how they were discharged. Um, and, uh, I think, um, one thing great about my, uh, Oh, and I'm also currently an intern with King County Metro and, uh, Before that, I worked for a year as a transportation planning intern with the city of Bellevue. So I've learned a lot about Vision Zero and I worked on like Safe Speeds Bellevue and other programs and also have gotten a taste for all the different agencies that make things work. And, uh, I think that in part is one of the biggest challenges that, uh, Tacoma faces, um, from a transportation perspective is that like the mobility plan we have is very good, but it's also very ambitious. So to be able to meet all those goals, it'll require resources that we don't yet fully have and also interagency cooperation and, and, uh, accessing federal and state grants, uh, working with, uh, community organizations, um, But I do think it is achievable. And I think it's important that we continue to move forward with that. And also with the recently passed transportation levy, that's very exciting. And I guess for that, I would say just continue to build trust with local communities. And that's where I think equity comes into play. equity can mean a lot of things to different people, but, uh, and the way I like to think about it, there's like spatial equity. So all of Tacoma needs to be served, but also there's like socio-demographic equity, um, where some communities have not been treated fairly in the past. So, uh, we can't treat every neighbor the same and we need to, uh, do community engagement with everybody in order to, uh, do, um,

know to implement our transportation goals over the next few years and i want to be a part of that so thank you so much for your time great thank you um i'm just gonna go down my screen if that's okay council members if you don't have a question no worries um but i'll start with you council member diaz thank you um i don't think i have a question but thank you so much for all your thorough answers thank you thanks for your time council member

Thank you, Chair Walker, and thank you so much for interviewing us today. It's really exciting to have people who are really passionate about transportation. I think the question I would say is, you know, you know, of all the bucket of work that the Transportation Commission does, you know, what about it? What's the most interesting thing? Like, what's the thing you'd like to kind of work on if we're to appoint you to the board from the beginning?

I guess the way I think about transportation and planning, and perhaps it's how I was trained in Bellevue, I think of, like, Vision Zero as, like, an overarching initiative, and then everything can kind of umbrella underneath that. Like, safe routes to school, like, reducing speed limits, even working with like Pierce transit to improve bus stops. So I think you have to answer your question. I think, I think if we like focus on vision zero, everything else will work out because making it safer for everybody will inevitably, we will focus on communities and places in the high injury network more to, to ensure that those areas are safer and, But I think with the Vision Zero focus, Tacoma would, that would be a great way to push our mobility plan forward and use that transportation money wisely from the levy that just passed. Does that answer your question, Council Member Hines? It does, it does.

And you know, it's a high note. I mean, you know your audience. You've got three Pierce Transit Commissioners here on this commission, which is interesting that we're all three of us are here. Thank you, Noah, for answering my questions. And thank you for your willingness to serve.

Thank you, Council Member Hines. Deputy Mayor?

Thank you, Chair, and thank you so much for your willingness to serve on this really important committee. This is a team. I'd be really curious of what your philosophy is as working in a team and how you go work through challenges with a team.

Well, I think my whole career, like when I was in the Army, a lot of that is very collaborative by nature, and then... Now, going through the University of Washington Seattle graduate program, they do a great job of making sure we do a lot of group projects and group work. And I did a studio with them with the urban planning program with the city of Snohomish, where we helped them redesign First Street, because they're planning long term to take out utilities and replace them. But that required a big team effort. You have architects and other disciplines in there. But I'd like to take a collaborative approach and I like to consult with people that know more than me. Like, I think that the city of Tacoma already has a lot of great transportation planners, a lot more experience than I'll ever have. So leaning on them to figure out what some of the best practices are. And also, you know, the transportation. Traffic engineers. That was something cool at Bellevue, too, because I got to work with the traffic engineers and the planners and see different perspectives. And now at Metro, it's different than Bellevue because like when you're doing like Vision Zero safety countermeasures, sometimes that can. It might be good for pedestrians, but it might make it to a bus if it's like a 40 foot bus can't can't make that turn. So. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess that was a little bit tangential. I'm sorry.

Oh, no, that's a really good answer. Do you know Army has an acronym? It's Ain't Ready for the Marines Yet.

Thanks for your service. Oh, yeah, thanks.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Luke, thanks so much for interviewing with us today. We are interviewing a number of other people, but we do plan to make a decision today. So after we've made our recommendations, you will hear from the clerk's office. But for now, you can go ahead and disconnect. Thanks so much for coming in.

Well, thank you. It was great meeting you all and appreciate what you do for the city. Have a nice evening.

Next up, we will have Jackson. Hi, is it Jackson?

That's right.

Hi, Jackson. Welcome to the IPS committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Walker to begin your interview.

Thank you.

Hi, Jackson. Thanks so much for coming in. We are all committee members online with you today. And you do have in the IPS meeting room some staff, including our Transportation Commission staff there in the room. I think you know what we're doing here. You have three minutes to answer the questions that have been provided to you. And then afterwards, we will have up to five minutes for follow-up questions. Can you see the timer on your screen?

I can't.

Okay, great. So the city clerk will start that as soon as you start talking. So go ahead. The floor is yours when you're ready.

Thank you very much. So yeah, Jackson Cook, thank you very much for the opportunity to interview. So I'll just get right into the questions. First question for a skill set or perspective. So the past 10 years, give or take, I've been working for the city of Seattle and the permit TAB, Mark McIntyre:" counter at s dot first as a plan reviewer and transportation player and then as a supervisor on street improvement permits, so we focused largely on sidewalk and curb oriented projects so private development, usually but occasionally private public agencies. that wanna build sidewalks and curbs in the right of way. So we focus on site constraints, space constraints, right of way constraints, utility obstacles, tree needs and canopy coverage, bike parking, transportation facilities like transit and bike, making sure that all of those facilities have space in the right of way while still maintaining adequate pedestrian facilities to encourage walking and allow safety pleasant places to walk. So that's the perspective that I would bring is a focus on that safety and adequacy of pedestrian facilities. Equity to me in the transportation context means two things. It means first acknowledgement and attempt to redress, continuous effort to redress the history of underinvestment in black and brown communities in the United States and in Washington state. as well as a recognition of the current situation where both public government and private employers are less and less focused on democratic responsibility and responsiveness to constituents and engagement as a two-way conversation and as an opportunity to build government policy as a consensus and as an opportunity for public support and not just support, but participation. So providing an opportunity for people to feel like they actually have an ownership of things that are happening in their communities is an important part of equity to me too. And last is the biggest transportation challenge facing Tacoma right now. I would say, you know, growth is kind of Don D' Slow down in the region, a little bit over the past year or two, but it's going to come back. I have no doubt in the next 10 or 20 years Don D' And the arterial vehicle capacity in the city of Tacoma is not going to be adequate for everybody to continue driving when that growth happens and the cost of acquiring new space for roadway. Capacity is going to be prohibited for the city, and so providing adequate transit service, expanded transit service, as well as expanded safe, adequate pedestrian facilities for people to access that transit service is going to be crucial to allowing people to keep commuting and getting around the city for service needs.

Great. Thank you, Jack Sinning. I'm going to go ahead and start off the questions with Councilmember Diaz. If you have one, if you don't know, you can pass. I don't, but thank you for interviewing with us. Councilmember Hines? Any questions?

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

No, Jackson, thank you very much for interviewing with us.

And the question I usually ask is just kind of what are you most eager to work on if you're appointed in the Transportation Commission? At the end of our conversation today, you've got mostly to that. So I guess I would open it up if there was anything specific you also want to dive more into details on. But otherwise, I don't have any other questions. I thought you did a wonderful job. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, no, I mean... I would be most interested in hearing about, um, future opportunities for expanding the sidewalk network in the South of the city. Um, that that's where my focus would be. Um, for sure. There's a few arterial transit service routes, like a 30th street near my house, um, that are, uh, infrequent service and can definitely use additional capacity. And I can see, I can see commute, uh, trip opportunities there and so like big picture talking about planning perspectives for you know how can pierce county in the future have have capacity for that kind of service um would be interesting to me too but uh the the thing that i work on day to day is is designing new sidewalks and i'd be excited to to hear more about that in tacoma too well you've got some real sidewalk advocates on this committee and so that's exciting for us to hear thank you

Thank you, Council Member Hines. Deputy Mayor?

Thank you, Chair, and thank you so much, Jackson, for your willingness to apply for this position. My question is, this committee is like a team. What is your philosophy in working on a team and working through challenges?

I'm a supervisor on my team these days myself, so what I appreciate more than anything is regular communication and people sharing things that they want feedback on or they expect others will have feedback on before decisions are made or before there's a need for decisions to be made. So for conversations to start happening early and continue happening throughout project design is really important to me for in my day to day job being able to manage projects and that's important for me as well for moving stuff up to Folks above me are people who are working in other areas that they know what I'm working on and they know what my group is working on. So that kind of like starting from the beginning, communication is the key for me.

Great. Thank you so much.

Great. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Luke, thanks. Sorry, our previous candidate was Luke Jackson. Thank you so much for interviewing with us today, for taking the time. We are interviewing a number of other candidates, but we will make a decision at this meeting and the clerk's office will reach out to you with the decision. So at this point, you can go ahead. Thanks so much for coming in.

Thank you very much. I apologize about that.

Next up we'll have Herschel. Hi, is it Herschel?

Sorry, yes, it is.

Hi, welcome to the IPS committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Walker to begin your interview.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome to the IPS meeting. You have everybody online with you today. And in the IPS room, you do have some staff members there, including our Transportation Commission liaison. I think you know what the drill is, but you have three minutes to answer the questions that were provided to you ahead of time. And then we'll have up to five minutes to ask you questions after that. So can you see the timer on your screen?

Let's see. I do. Yes. No, I do not. I don't see the timer.

So you have a three minute timer. If you're okay with it, we can tell you when you're at three minutes. Otherwise, maybe it's being shared from the room. It's the city clerk's office's screen. So you may scroll to the left or right.

I see it in the middle. Yes. There you go.

Okay. Good. Okay. Well, she'll start it as soon as you start talking. So the floor is yours.

Thank you so much. Good evening and thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview for the Transportation Commission. The perspective I would bring is a combination of being a resident, small business owner, working in economic development and being involved in the community as well. One thing I think a lot about often is with transportation is not just one thing. We have to look at mobility at all scales. People drive, take transit, bike, walk, and often use a combination of those things. I sometimes joke about the Hilltoe Express, which is simply walking, but the larger point is that every part of someone's trip matters. I believe in listening first. When the community has concerns about a transportation project, we should understand what those concerns are, look at the data, understand what the city is required to do and work towards a practical solution. Everyone may not get exactly what they want, but people should know that they were heard and understand why a decision was made. When I think about equity and transportation, I think about the fact that everybody does not start from the same place People in neighborhoods face different barriers depending upon where they live, when they travel, their mobility, and what transportation options are available to them. To me, equity means understanding those barriers and making sure people have meaningful access to jobs, education, healthcare, business, recreation, and the rest of the city. That leads me to what I see as Tacoma's biggest transportation challenge right now, connectivity as we grow. Tacoma already has many of the pieces for a strong transportation system. The challenge is making those pieces work together. That means connecting neighborhoods to transit, jobs, businesses, downtown, and the larger regional transportation system in a way that's safe, reliable, and convenient. I don't come into this thinking that cars are the enemy or that buses, bikes, or any one mode of transit is the answer to everything. I think the goal is to give people a safe, reliable, and realistic choice for how they move through Tacoma. And that's the perspective I would hope to bring to the Transportation Commission. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Herschel. I'm going to just stay with the same order, colleagues, if that's okay with you. Council Member Diaz, any questions from you?

None for me. Thanks for having me, Herschel.

Thank you.

Council Member Hines.

Thank you, Chair Walker, and thank you, Herschel, for interviewing with us. Great answer to the questions. The question I usually always ask applicants is, if you were appointed to the Transportation Commission, what's the thing that you're most passionate about working on right away? You've kind of gotten to a lot of that through your comments, but I'd give you an opportunity to talk about something else if you haven't gotten to it yet.

Thank you so much. I appreciate the question. It's really important to me to make sure that our transit reaches as many people as possible. It doesn't necessarily always have to involve buses. It could be bike lanes. It could be safer sidewalks, more lighting. Those are things that really give me a lot of passion. My mother is part of that example. You know, walking to and from places, not good proper lighting, and it makes an area feel a lot more unsafe than what it really is. So for me, the passion is making sure that everyone has good access to mobility here in the city of Tacoma.

Great. Thank you very much. And thank you, Chair Walker. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. And thank you so much for your willingness to apply. My question is, this is a committee, it's a team. What's your philosophy on working as a team and going through challenges?

Wonderful question. I believe that working in teams is really the best way to get a good collaborative approach to many different issues at once. I also work on the Pitcher Pack Avenue Severia Committee, and that really has shaped a lot of what I view as collaboration. There are so many different players that have their part to play. They bring their expertise to the table. And then also you have to look at it from the community standpoint of the things and the needs that they want and how do we marry those two things together. So for me, biggest thing is to listen, understand the goal, respect what each person brings to the table. And you will have some disagreements, but I think that oftentimes disagreements can be solved just by understanding what the overall outcome is. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you, Herschel, for all those answers. I appreciate you applying for this position. We have a number of other applicants who we're interviewing tonight, but we will make a decision at this meeting. So the city clerk's office will reach out to you with our decision. But I really appreciate you coming in. But for now, you can go ahead and disconnect. Good to see you.

Thank you so much. Good seeing you all. Have a great day.

We're going to have our last interview for this portion of the interviews tonight. It's Ainsley. Hi, is it Ainsley? Are you able to hear us? Awesome. If you could end.

Hi, yes. Oh, no, it's echoing.

It looks like maybe you're in twice. Kimmy, I don't know if you can push the other one out of the room. Let me try talking again.

Let's hear it. OK. Oh, no.

Sorry.

Should I leave and enter again? If you have the link, if you could leave and come back, that might help.

There you go.

How about now?

Yes, sorry. It opens the app and was also online.

Double feature. Welcome to the IPS committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Walker to start your interview. Thank you.

Thank you, City Clerk. Ainsley, thanks for being here today. I'm Chair Walker, and you have all of the IPS Committee members online with you. In the room in City Hall is our staff, including the Transportation Commission liaison. You know the drill. You have three minutes to answer the questions that were provided to you ahead of time, and then after that, we'll have five minutes to ask you questions. Can you see the timer on your screen? Yes, I can. Okay, great. So the city clerk's running that bit. Once you start talking, she'll start the timer. So go ahead. The floor is yours.

All right, so first of all, regarding the skill sets I would bring to this position if selected, I am a civil engineer. I just got my professional engineering license in transportation. So in my career, I'm very familiar with transportation construction projects and design. Prior to that, I was actually a civil engineering Air Force officer. So I led a lot of projects and teams and also did a lot of briefings to leadership So all of that makes me very organized with a great attention to detail and I can synthesize topics for other people to understand very easily. Another perspective I bring is that I am primarily a non-driver. I got in a bad accident in 2013. So since then, I've been a little hesitant to drive. So that means I mostly take the bus or ride my bike. And that means that I get to see the community from a totally different perspective. You get to see a lot more outside of a car. And I'm also using systems that maybe hadn't been the highest priority in the past. And so I can see where there are gaps in the system. So equity to me means that no matter your income, age, physical limitations, personal values, or for me, anxiety around driving, that you should be able to quickly and easily get where you need to go when you need to get there with dignity. And I say with dignity because if you just have a crappy sidewalk next to cars flying beside you, that's not a very dignified way to travel. And there should also be the same level of service for all modes of transportation, not just a car. Of course, understanding the importance of cars and vehicles, but that all other modes should also have the same level of service. And that also your transportation choices shouldn't be dictated by where you live, that you should have equitable access to all modes no matter where you live. So with that, the biggest transportation challenge I see with City of Tacoma is delivering to the community what was promised. And this could be through funding challenges, limited bandwidth to execute, unforeseen construction challenges, which I'm very familiar with, and providing projects of value. I think the city has excellent intentions and great plans, but You just need to make sure that the community can actually see it. From canvassing for Prop 1, I talked to a lot of folks who maybe didn't see the impact of their dollars to transportation. Because I firmly believe that all the pieces are there. They just need put together.

Great. Thank you so much. Council Member Diaz, do you have any questions?

No. Thanks for applying.

Council Member Hines, you're up.

Thank you, Chair Walker, and thank you so much for interviewing with us today. The question I usually lead off and ask, but you talked a little bit about this already, but I'll give you an opportunity to go more in depth, which is if you were appointed to the Transportation Commission, what are you most excited to work on or what's kind of your top priority in your mind of the work they're doing that you want to really kind of continue to support?

Yeah, I think the thing I'd be most excited about is filling the gaps in the existing network. I mean, first of all, as a cyclist, I think of like the gaps in bike lanes or maybe gaps in bus service where, you know, maybe there's too much time in between or the stops are too far apart. So really just kind of filling in the gaps is something that I would want to focus on.

Great. Well, thank you so much for interviewing with us. And those are all my questions. Chair Walker.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines. Deputy Mayor?

Thank you, Chair, and thank you so much for your willingness to apply for this important commission. My question is, this is a team, so what is it like to work in a team and work through challenges?

Yeah, so my time in the military exposed me to many different teams and many different styles of leadership. And I think I learned a lot about how to lead a team and how to motivate a team and how to utilize everyone's strengths and rely on subject matter experts for areas that I maybe didn't have the most familiarity with.

Great. Thank you. And thank you for your service. I spent time in the Marine Corps myself.

Oh, great. Appreciate you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Ainsley. Thanks so much for coming. And thank you for your very succinct answers. And we are interviewing or we have interviewed many candidates tonight. You are our last one for the day. But we will make a decision and the city clerk's office will reach out and let you know. But for now, you can go ahead and disconnect. All right. Thank you so much. All right, so I know you all have the list of applicants and the motions in front of you. So just to be very clear, Maria Buchanan is the only candidate for district four. We did interview her as part of the planning commission interviews and the clerk's office did reach out to her to see if she'd like to be considered for this position. So I would like to start with that one, and then we also do have an incumbent that submitted an application, but I didn't ask him to re-interview, and that is Matt Stevens, and he's in one of the at-large positions. So I'd like to do those two first, and then we can get to the other decisions. And so starting with Matt, the District 4 seat, does anyone have thoughts and feelings about Maria Buchanan serving in that seat? I know we all just met her a month or two ago, a month and a half ago.

I think that's a great idea.

Great. Any other? Okay. Councilmember Diaz, would you like to make that motion?

Sure thing. Oh, yeah. Our I'm sitting vice chair. I moved to recommend the appointment of Maria Buchanan to the council district number four position on the transportation commission to serve a three-year term effective September 1, 2026 to expire August 31st, 2029.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any final questions, thoughts? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, the ayes have it. And so we have a council district number four person. And then, so on your sheet, it is the fourth motion. It is for the at-large number one position. Matt Stevens has done a great job serving on the committee, the commission, in my view, and I've had great interactions with him. He works very hard and I think really helped lead the new transportation mobility plan work. with staff the last couple of years. So I don't have any hesitation in reappointing him as the incumbent, but open it up to any thoughts on that or if anyone feels differently. All right. Seeing no comments, I would entertain a motion.

I move to recommend the reappointment of Matt Stevens to the at-large number one position on the Transportation Commission to serve a three-year term effective September 1, 2026 to expire August 31, 2029. Second.

Been moved and seconded. Any final comments? All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. All right. Great. And thank you, Matt Stevens, for your service and willingness to continue to serve.

Okay, so then we have the three other motions.

We have two folks who could serve in the District 1 seat. We have one person who could serve in the District 5 seat and one person who could serve in the other at-large position. I want to be very clear that if we don't like the candidates, we don't have to put the person in. We selected, working with staff, we selected the best candidates for interviews, but we are not obligated to fill them. So I just want to make sure that that is clear. And let's start with Council District 1. And both of those candidates would also be eligible for the at-large position. So thoughts on Luke Cassidy and Jackson Cook. Who wants to kick us off?

Apparently not Heinz. There we go. I guess I should go first. Go ahead. Deputy Mayor Heinz, is that something?

It's my call signature. I'll go first. I thought they were both very good applicants and I appreciated their energy. They brought to it definitely good perspectives and good skill sets that can all show. for the commission and can provide some good feedback. I'm sorry, there's people moving around in my house right now. But I would say that I really did like Luke quite a bit and thought he could be a very valuable perspective. And so he'd be great. But if the committee also thinks that Jackson is the right person, I also could support that. I could also see either one of them going for the at-large position that's remaining. Yeah. I guess I didn't really give much other than I think we have great candidates.

We have great candidates. Council Member Diaz or Deputy Mayor, do you have thoughts?

I would agree that they're both great. And, you know, I think Luke would be really good in this position as well.

And since these candidates are also eligible and appropriate for the at-large position, should we have that conversation at the same time? I was separating them out for no particular reason. If folks have had thoughts on the at-large.

The only thing I would add if you want to go there is that Ansley and Herschel are also available, qualified for the at-large position.

I just want to flag Herschel's also qualified for the District 5 position solely.

Singularly qualified.

Yeah. So if you're okay, Chair, I think Herschel would be a great addition, and I think he'd represent District 5 really well. I would have no challenges with appointing him to District 5.

Agree. I have known Herschel for a long time and known him to be very involved in community and I appreciated his answers very much. So that one to me is an easy yes in District 5.

Can I make that motion just to get it out of here and then we'll come back? Yep, love it. I will move to recommend the appointment of Herschel Wilson to the council district number five position on the transportation commission to serve a three-year term effective September 1, 2026 to expire August 31st, 2029.

Second.

Been moved and seconded. Any final comments, questions? All right. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. We've got a district five person. So now we're back to council district one and the at-large position. So I think I would just say I think Ansley is a great candidate and I would really want to support her in the at large position. And so for me, it is it is down to Luke and Jackson for the district one. And I think I was hearing generally a lot of support for Luke and I can I I think that would be great. I think he brings a lot of very different experience and a lot of enthusiasm as a intern and a. UW students and I think he would bring a lot to the table. So I will go with that as well. Again, as always, we have great candidates. Any final thoughts or should I speak now or forever hold your peace? I'll ask Council Member Diaz to make the motions.

Only two thoughts is I always like to do a tertiary scan of the demos, demographics. And if we were to appoint Ansley and Luke, that would triple our military folks on this commission because we only have one currently. And this is actually a D5 heavy board. So who knew? Fun fact.

The mayor's out there recruiting, I guess.

But I'm happy to make motions unless we have other thoughts.

We'll get some good work done in D5. Yeah. Council Member Diaz, why don't you go ahead and make the motions.

Okay. I will move to recommend the appointment of Luke Cassidy to the Council District Number 1 position on the Transportation Commission to fill an unexpired term to expire August 31st. 2027, followed by a three-year term to expire August 31st, 2030.

Second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. All right, a final motion.

Long term.

Yeah. I move to recommend the appointment of Ansley Zora to the at-large number two position on the Transportation Commission to serve a three-year term effective September 1, 2026, to expire August 31, 2029. Second.

It moved and doubly seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. The motion carries. Thank you so much. And looking forward to lots of good work on Transportation Commission.

Thanks for being here, Carrie. Thanks, Carrie.

All right. We have one more item and one more interview. So I don't think it will be too long of an item. And I will turn it over to you, Nicole, again.

I'm sorry. I lost my talking point. So that's not going to do me any good here. Okay. Okay. The next step, you'll be interviewing one individual for the emerging leader position on the Climate and Sustainability Commission. For this evening's interview, the applicant will provide a three-minute presentation, which includes answers to the following three questions. Number one, what skills and experience would you bring to the commission? Number two, what is your understanding of the role of a commissioner and how would you contribute? And number three, what action in the climate action plan seems most important or impactful to you? And as always, afterwards, you can ask additional questions and make a motion to the full council for consideration. Pat, the staff liaison, and myself are available for any questions before we get started.

Great, thank you. And Nicole, can you or Patrick just briefly say why we're doing this one sort of out of our usual order for Sustainability Commission?

um, That's a great question. Pat, do you have?

Yes, I can do so, Nicole. Good to be with you, council members. Chair Walker, thanks for your question. We've had a vacancy for some time. We used our normal recruitment period to try to fill the emerging leader vacancy as someone aged out previously, and we're excited to fill that and get someone who's interested to serve and also learn more about climate sustainability topics locally. So we appreciate the committee considering this out of our normal cycle.

Great, thank you. All right, we're ready to start.

Wonderful. Sierra will be over shortly. Hi, is it Sierra?

Yes. Hi.

Sierra, welcome to the IPS committee. I'm going to pass you to chair Walker to start your interview. Awesome. Thank you.

Hi, Sierra. Thanks for joining us. All four committee members are online today with you. You can see the IPS room there. We have staff in the room coordinating the meeting. I think you got information ahead of time, but just to remind you, the drill today, you have three minutes to answer the questions that have been provided to you ahead of time. And then afterwards, we'll have up to five minutes for follow-up questions from the committee. Can you see the timer on your screen? Yeah, I can see the timer. Great. So the city clerk's office is operating that behind the scenes. So as soon as you start talking, it'll start. So the floor is yours. Go ahead whenever you're ready.

Sounds good. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you all today. I'm really excited about the possibility of serving on the Climate and Sustainability Commission. I was born and raised in Tacoma, and the city has always been home to me. When I left for college at Tufts University, I had the opportunity to study international issues from a much broader perspective, as well as represent Washington State as an intern in the U.S. House and Senate. I graduated summa cum laude with a degree in international relations, where I focused on politics, sustainability, climate change, and some of the most pressing issues facing communities around the world today. After college, I made the decision to come back to Tacoma. I wanted to take what I'd learned and use what I'd learned to help the community that really helped shape me. It's a big part of why this opportunity is so meaningful to me. I'm not just interested in climate and sustainability from an academic perspective or study. I really care about how it affects the city I grew up in and the people who live here. Now, professionally, I'm a consultant where I manage projects and solve complex problems that have saved my client millions of dollars. My work has really taught me how to analyze complex issues, complex information, work with different people with different perspectives. and then turn complicated problems into practical solutions. I think those skills would really translate well to this commission. I also understand that being a commissioner is about more than simply being passionate about climate change. It's about helping hold the city accountable for implementing the 2030 Climate Action Plan, evaluating policies and investments, and making sure our approach is both effective and equitable. So I would bring a younger perspective to those conversations, but also the perspective of someone who has had a long history with Tacoma and wants to see the city really succeed. Someone who likes to ask questions, listen to different viewpoints, and understand why people may see an issue differently. I think it's especially important when we're dealing with issues really as complex as climate change. So one area of the climate action plan that I'm particularly excited about is clean and reliable transportation. I think transportation is a great example of how climate action can also improve people's everyday lives here in Tacoma. And investing in public transportation, electrical vehicles, and safe walking and biking infrastructure, I believe can really reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also making Tacoma healthier, safer, and more accessible. So I really ultimately want to bring my education, professional experience, and passion for Tacoma to this commission. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Sierra, and for the perfect timing. Councilmember Diaz, I'm going to ask you to kick off our questions again.

I don't think I have any questions, but thank you for interviewing with us today and for your interest. Really exciting. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Council Member Hines. Any questions from you?

Thank you, Chair Walker, and thank you, Sarah, for interviewing with us today. The question I usually ask is if you are appointed to the Climate and Sustainability Commission, what's the thing you're most excited to work on? You kind of talked about this already through the questions, but I also just would give you an opportunity to maybe focus in on something else if there's anything else you'd like to discuss.

Definitely. For me, so since I have grown up in Tacoma, I'm a longtime resident. I really see the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our community to really help the health and safety of the people who live in our community, as well as the environment. I think a really cool opportunity would be to work alongside the Port of Tacoma to Because I know the port is great for our economy here and producing a lot of jobs for people. But we also want to find that balance with environmental protection. So I would love to work alongside them and help the city figure out a way that we can figure a solution that benefits both parties. I was also really interested in when reading the 2030 Climate Action Plan about how we can help the city provide $25,000 for residential air filters, as well as planning training and equipment enhancements at these resilience hubs. I think that's a really important initiative that we would like the city to do, just because we've seen it recently with the Spokane wildfires and how devastating that is and how it impacts the health and safety of those in the community. And so anything from wildfire smoke and toxic emissions, reducing that as much as we possibly can for the most vulnerable populations.

Great. All right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for willing to serve and interview today. And those are all my questions. Thank you, Chair Walker.

Thank you, Council Member. And I think I froze a little bit during your, so I might have missed a little bit of it, but back on. Deputy Mayor, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. And thank you so much for your willingness to serve on this commission. And my question is, this is a group and it's a team. What is it like for you and your philosophy and working through challenges as a team?

Yeah, I have had lots of experience, both in college and now in the professional working world of working with other people, especially those of differing opinions. And so the way that I like to approach these situations is with curiosity and active listening skills. as well as respect for the other people. So I want to get to a solution that allows us to both benefit, even if we may have differing opinions. Back in college, I took a conflict resolution and negotiation class. And there we learned from Harvard Business Review about how it's important to not have a zero sum game. And meaning that we don't want one party benefiting while the other is losing out. And so we want to come and find this common ground. And I believe that when we don't play a zero sum game, there won't be any missed opportunities or damaged trust. So for me, again, it's important to come in with curiosity, the act of listening and respect.

Great. Thank you. That's a great answer.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, and thank you for your answers, Sierra, and thank you so much for coming in to interview. We will make a decision by the end of the meeting, and the city clerk's office will reach out. Really appreciate you coming in and spending time with us. And I can go ahead and disconnect. Awesome. Thank you so much.

It was nice to meet you all.

Chair Walker, that concludes the interview portion of this portion.

Great. Thank you. Council colleagues, what do you think? Any concerns about appointing Sierra to the Climate and Sustainability Commission? Does anyone want to make a motion?

I move to recommend the appointment of Sierra McCarty to the emerging leading position on the Climate and Sustainability Commission to fill an unexpired term to expire April 30th, 2027. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any final comments or questions? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. All right. You guys have it. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick, for being here. All right. We've got a few wrap-up items before we sign off for the day. Marvin, I'm turning it over to you for topics for upcoming meetings.

On August 26th, the tree and land scoping... the urban forestry priority action plan update september 9th solid waste management fleet alternative fuels update and then the green block south tacoma plantable space inventory findings and projects overview and then september 23rd infrastructure planning and sustainability committee commissions boards and committees update

Great. Thank you. And just a note to my colleagues that we did get the invites out to all of our commission chairs and vice chairs. So they all are getting ready for that September 23rd meeting. And we did decide to do it in our regular room. I don't love the formality of the council chambers. It felt like too much. And we didn't have a ton of members of the audience last time. So we'll be a little cozy. But I think that's kind of part of the idea is to make sure all our commission chairs get to meet each other, too. So, all right. We had a lot of reading in our packet. So I'm just going to make sure that I say all this publicly. You got a ton of information. We've received a letter from the Transportation Commission on the elimination of parking minimums. The committee also received three memos from Public Works. And thank you, Ramiro and Public Works for all of these. One, I have. corridor improvements with pedestrian access to Fife, another one addressing the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge replacement project, and a third covering the automated enforcement expansion communications plan. The letter and memorandums were sent to the committee along with today's meeting materials and will be available to the public on Legistar after this meeting. Do any of my colleagues have questions or want to discuss any of the either letter or memorandums in greater detail at this time?

If I may, just one quick question. Thank you, Chair, and I appreciate all the memos and information. My question is in regards to the automated enforcement. I see that there's a postcard at the very bottom. Do you have, and is that going out to the whole city, or is it kind of in a geographic area? How are those being divvied out as these programs are being implemented?

Council Member, Deputy Mayor, I believe it's on the geographic area.

Okay, great. Thank you. I was just kind of curious as we roll these out, how big of a net are we casting? And maybe you can talk with me later about how far it goes. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. That is a great question. And I am curious on the outreach for the automated enforcement team. The I know that the work is sort of hyper local in terms of geographic, so I would also love to know where the postcards going. But are the postcards also available to the district reps to make sure that that when they're in conversation with folks they can. Be letting folks know.

Yeah, we can make this available.

Okay. The one pager is great. And I think just kind of have it. I'm going to carry that around for a couple of weeks here as people are asking me questions and share that on my channels so that people know. But I know that you all are doing a little bit more drilling down. And then it looks like it does. we are gonna do some social media through the city's channel so we can all share those too. But I think this is gonna get a lot of interest, positive and negative. I'm really excited about it. I think the impacts to our safety and the safety of our most vulnerable residents is, this is gonna be huge. So thank you, Ramiro, to you and your staff for getting this out and getting all this information to us. I really appreciate it. Any other questions, comments? Okay. Has anybody attended any of our committees, boards, or commissions since the last meeting? All right. Any other items of interest? I'll take a motion to adjourn. Second. We moved and seconded. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. We stand adjourned. Thank you all.

Thank you.