foreign
good evening everyone I'm calling to
order the March 20th city council
meeting and as a reminder we continue to
have a remote aspect to our meetings
both staff and members of the public may
be participating in tonight's meeting
remotely via WebEx and council member D
Michelle is attending tonight's meeting
remotely
the first item on the agenda is the
Pledge of Allegiance and I welcome you
to join us
strong
the next area on our agenda this evening
is audience comments members of the
public May address council at this time
in person or virtually those who have
signed up in advance to make comments
will be called on First and if you are
joining us virtually and would like to
make comments please raise your virtual
hand or send the host a chat message
if you're on the phone press star 3. if
you are joined by computer or smartphone
look for a hand icon if you're in the
room and did not sign up I will ask for
other speakers before closing this
portion of the meeting
city clerk has anyone signed up to speak
for General audience comments or
indicate a desire to speak this evening
yes thank you
for those making comments please direct
your comments to the whole Council and
not individuals and while this is not a
question and answer session we will
contact you to follow up if needed
when recognized please unmute your
microphone or step up to the lectern
state your name address and relationship
to the city please speak clearly and
pause frequently and limit comments to
five minutes if you're attending
virtually and do not respond after your
name or phone number is called or if
your connection is lost unexpectedly the
meeting will need to proceed and you are
encouraged to rejoin the meeting if you
are able
personal attacks obscene language
derogatory remarks and disruptive
behavior will not be permitted
citizen comments written in verbal are
an important aspect of the public
process and the city takes these
comments seriously we thank you for
taking the time to address us city clerk
can you please identify the first person
who has signed up yes we have one person
in the room and two virtual attendees
who'd like to make comments the first is
in the room Lori Burrell
come on up there and you'll have to push
the button on to get a red light you
should be good to go
okay can you hear me okay okay good
evening my name is Lori Burrell and
first of all
um good evening mayor Polly Council
people Wally Trisha and all you guys in
the room
my name is Lori Burrell I'm the
president of Issaquah Community Services
we are one of the organizations that
will benefit from the decision that is
made tonight
we have served the Issaquah and the
surrounding areas
and as a non-profit for the last 50
years
so we've been around a long time our
mission is to provide rent rent and
utility assistance to local families
when they encounter a financial bump in
the road that could be a single parent
at work getting a call from the school
saying sorry you need to come pick up
your children and because they're sick
so they miss out on all that work time
we also have several adult
residents that are not back to full time
workout
their 40-hour work week is something
like 26. so they're just not full-time
yet
our all-volunteer
organization will continue to work very
hard making sure that the neediest
living in Issaquah will receive these
funds
ICS fully supports the recommendation
from the ICS City Administration to help
our Issaquah residents recover from the
pandemic issues as well as help with the
increases due to cost of living
thank you council members mayor for your
consideration of The Proposal we are so
grateful for your ongoing support for
all these years thank you
thank you Linda city clerk who's next
Dia executive director is the next
speaker let me make you a panelist now
you have the floor
uh can everybody hear me yes we can
um so um I just wanted to
um say hello for this evening and I
wanted to update uh both the city
council and the city on some of Diaz
programming for the second quarter
um this year uh so we have our Farm
Fresh Market uh on Saturdays that starts
this Saturday uh goes from 9 until 2 p.m
and we've expanded it with uh live music
and specialty food stalls and Artisan
booths and that runs March 23rd 5th
through April 29th
um the spring fair uh we're calling the
last one of these uh April 29th uh which
we'll have country music as well as a
downtown Issaquah Discovery walk uh keep
his quad beautiful day it's Earth day
which is April 22nd it's a Saturday from
9 to 12 and people come beach at the
Shell for that or they can lead a
neighborhood cleanup in their own
neighborhood
um we've also got uh open mic night
Issaquah open mic night is every
Wednesday from 6 to 8 30 at the train
depot so that's uh happens each month uh
our first wine and artwork is Friday May
5th from 6 to 9. and finally uh fenders
on Front Street is coming back uh it's
always on Father's Day and that is June
18th which is a Sunday from eight to
three and finally I'd just like to uh
um thank the city and the ltech
committee for uh providing uh fun Studio
this year for fenders on Front Street
thank you very much
thank you Mark
City Clerk
next is Connie Marsh Connie I'm making
you a panelist now
I heard I'm making you but
I hope you can hear me we can hear you
perfect so I'm Connie Marsh I live up on
squawk mountains and I have a
generalized topic today
of what you know but we out here in the
world
can't see or find
um
the major projects this the active
projects lists the links to the meetings
that are held
uh make it almost impossible to find the
information
to know what's happening in the city
it's it's super hard for the public
to understand and actually it's gotten
worse the active projects list is is
very difficult the major projects list
on the front page of the website often
lags and is in a format that's
incredibly difficult to negotiate and I
think difficult for people to use
so at the last uh subcommittee meeting
on Title 18
Council those people were willing to
sort of push this
difficulty off into the future and I'm
unwilling to just let that stand
I have for the last three weeks tried to
excavate what should be public
information out of the website and it's
just too difficult for me and that means
a normal human who is not absolutely
crazy is going to have a really really
really hard time and I don't think that
is the point of our town I think we're
supposed to be trying to be transparent
and I'm here to to tell you that it's
it's not happening I was just trying to
figure out your topic of the Newport Way
Landslide is that going to impact
private property is that going to impact
uh land that that you don't already own
I don't know I was unable to ascertain
that in any way shape or form
um so here's my challenge
pretend you are not on City Council
and on some of these topics
try going in to what is only available
to the community and see how far you get
and if you can find everything then
ignore me because I I'm just not getting
it right but if you find yourself in the
same places in normal Community member
who doesn't get the inside scoop which
is sort of left out then I I would ask
you to take action and and require
something immediately to at least get us
back to where we were two years ago so
I'm hoping somebody has the time and is
is crazy enough to actually take me up
on this challenge because the community
is Reliant upon you to represent us in
things like this otherwise it's very
hard to make it better
so uh moroccon have fun I of course will
talk to you soon
thank you Connie City Clerk
we're just checking to see if anyone
else is online yes we do have a few more
individuals online but no one else is
indicating a desire to speak
thank you City Claire also thank you for
those that made comments tonight we
heard about one of our items that of
businesses this evening which is on
rental assistance some great programming
coming in the second quarter from our
Mean Street group downtown and about the
difficulty reading interpreting major
projects list active projects lists so
that residents can easily follow us
through the website so thank you all for
doing that as a reminder written
comments can be submitted at any time to
city council it is gov and council
president Walsh do you have any email
comments to summarize on any of
tonight's agenda items thank you madam
mayor we did not receive any email on
the items on tonight's agenda thank you
so we will go into Canadian Regional
reports and we'll start with council
member Joe
thank you madam mayor March 21st the
Cascade water lines finance committee
will be meeting March 22nd the Cascade
water Alliance board will be meeting and
March 29th uh sounds
cities Association I will be having
their monthly or quarterly social
elected meeting in Renton if anyone
would like to attend I will be going
and then on your agenda for the consent
agenda AB 8581
um the lodging tax advisory committee I
think was mentioned in the public
comments that will be coming back to you
for review reflecting our February 28th
work as we reviewed all the ltch
applications that concludes my report
and one upcoming meeting on Thursday
March 16th the salmon Recovery Council
of wyra 8 met wyra 8 is the name of our
Watershed and we had only informational
items so no decisions were made we did
have one item that I wanted to flag for
my colleagues on the council which is
that we one of the items that we are
supporting at the state level in the
state legislature is a 365 000 budget
thousand dollar budget Proviso for
continuing a pilot effort on Lake
Sammamish to address impacts from
artificial light pollution on salmon
survival and to continue to expand that
work and to build on the work that was
done last year and this also ties into
our Title 18 or land use code work
because we have an ordinance there that
will improve the lighting standards for
docs to improve salmon survival and many
cities are looking looking forward to
using that using that standard as well
and incorporating incorporating it into
their own code and this budget provides
are at the state level would help us
expand the program so outside of like
Sammamish as well other other Lakes
other people would be able to use our
code as well and also take additional
items take additional actions to reduce
light pollution so that is exciting and
that is work that is happening in close
partnership with representative Ramos
who has been a big supporter of salmon
recovery in our area
then I have one upcoming meeting the
Planning Development and environment
subcommittee of this Council will meet
on March 28th we have two item items one
is id1340 public projects code of
conduct and the other is id1394 which is
the comprehensive plan periodic update
scope
and that concludes my report thank you
councilmember Ray oh thank you mayor
Paulie the city council mobility and
infrastructure committee met on March
14th at 6 30 pm
we had two items on the agenda the first
was ID 1387 which is the an update on
Northwest
um
Sammamish Road Project
we looked at different alternatives for
the cross-section of road if we built
for building out the non-motorized
transportation from South Lake Sammamish
to the
State Park we also got an update on the
washdot Culvert project which is going
to unfortunately have an impact on the
timeline for the um
South Northwest Sammamish project
this is coming back to the council full
Council on April 17th for more
discussion we had a a very large crowd
and we had about 25 people show up for
this one had a good discussion I think
by and large people weren't really
thrilled with the news but understood
the constraints that we're dealing with
we also took on ID 1291 intelligent
transportation system Capital project
and we received an update on the its
project we
were given kind of three pieces of ask
for guidance and three directions one
was there's a need to further invest in
infrastructure so that we can fully
benefit from intelligent
systems and the council was supportive
of that
and we also were supportive of alignment
with the goals of the plan to include in
the next CIP and with that I we're
expecting to see
um Public Works comes back with the CIP
with funding to take the first steps in
terms of building out infrastructure for
intelligent transportation
system
and that concludes my report this
evening thank you councilmember marks
thank you madam mayor the council
services safety and Parks committee is
going to meet tomorrow night 6 30 here
in council chambers ID 1245 Community
Broadband assessment we're going to
speak with Gene Paul and Dave nower and
Andy Fox Dave and Andy are Consultants
with the Timmins group we are going to
discuss a recommendation from Venus from
the administration
that has elements of requesting
potentially requesting Issaquah internet
service providers to replace existing
internet plans as recommended in the
report and to work with Issaquah isps to
build or improve Broadband
infrastructure and identified
underserved neighborhoods and then
potentially developing an education
program to educate residents on methods
to reduce internet speed losses as well
as accessibility to available internet
discount programs available to
low-income residents so this is very
exciting and a topic that has been much
out of my mind in recent years
that's the only Topic at services and
safety tomorrow night the sound cities
Association public issues committee did
meet online on March 8th at 7 pm and as
anticipated no action or potential
actions were taken later this evening
I'll be talking about a previous bill
that was in front of services safety and
Parks ID 13.
88 emergency rental assistance but I
will save that for when that item comes
up on regular business this concludes my
report thank you Deputy council
president
looks like I'm the outlier tonight no
report this evening oh and actually I'm
going to jump to council member D
Michelle who I missed councilman
Michelle
uh thank you mayor Paulie
um on March 10th I attended the Eastside
Transportation partnership meeting we
received reports on the ultra High-Speed
Rail study which is mapping out the
feasibility of High-Speed Rail
connecting Portland Seattle and
Vancouver BC and I shared the slides
from that presentation with the council
we also received a report on the status
of Safe Streets and Road Grants
on March 15th I attended the regional
transit committee we received an
overview of Metro's collaboration on
local comprehensive plan revisions as
well as an update on rapid ride routes K
and R and if it helps the K line we'll
be going through Kirkland and North King
County and the r line goes south through
Rainier Valley replacing a route with
the highest ridership in the system
so those were both very interesting
reports on March 16th Eastside Human
Services Forum held its first meeting of
the year and the group reviewed plans
for several public forums and we're
starting a strategic planning discussion
and we also did around Robin's sharing
and that concludes my report thank you
thank you we'll go to council president
thank you very short report on the
affordable housing committee met last
week we elected leadership a County
council member belducci is continuing to
lead the group and discussed our work
plan and how we'll follow the
legislative priorities that we had set
after the session since it seems there
may be many potential bills coming out
of the legislature that have some sort
of impact on affordable housing so we
want to keep track of those as they go
that concludes my report thank you
council president the next item is the
mayor's report
there will not be an executive session
this evening and I invite everyone to
join me on March 30th for the state of
the city address so as mayor I will have
the honor to recognize accomplishments
and review the city's current standing
and preview and preview the year ahead
our new superintendent of viscua school
district will also be present to share
highlights from the past year and her
outlook on the future of Issaquah
schools Julie Hartwig the CEO of the
Issaquah Chamber of Commerce will be
recognizing incoming and outgoing
chamber board members as well to learn
more visit the greater issquad Chamber
of Commerce website at
issaquahchamber.com
stop by the atlas Apartments Lobby on
March 30th from 6 30 to 8 30 pm to chat
with city council members and staff on
all things Central Issaquah topics will
include parks and the green necklace
development and the central Issaquah
plan police Safety City Council and
upcoming events
we are currently seeking nominations for
the Hall of Fame they are now open and
it is a top honor for making a lasting
contribution to our community each year
the mayor and council president select a
person to induct into the Issaquah Hall
of Fame for their exemplary record of
inspiration leadership and service the
award will be presented virtually at the
Chamber of Commerce annual Issaquah
Community Awards event on May 24th
nominations can be submitted at
issaquah.gov
slash nominate and the deadline for
nominations is 5 PM on April 28th but
don't wait start thinking about it now
there's going to be a community transit
survey we'd like to hear your thoughts
on the future of transit in Issaquah
please provide your feedback by going to
escuelwa.gov Transit study survey
tell us how often you currently use
Transit and your priorities on service
frequency Transit connections bus stop
amenities and more your impel will help
shape our Transit study questions
related to the transit study or survey
can be emailed to Thomas baldry's our
senior Transportation planner at Thomas
V at iskawa.gov and there are a couple
of upcoming events on March 22nd which
is the beginning of Ramadan it's an
Islamic holiday that is recognized in
our religious and cultural calendar
there is a Farm Fresh Market in downtown
Issaquah and I don't have to go into
details because our executive director
gave them but it it starts this March
and it goes through April it's a really
fun thing to do on a Saturday and that's
all for the mayor's report
the next statement business on the
agenda this evening is the consent
calendar and it was distributed to
Council in advance if authorized the
items on the consent calendar will be
considered together and approved by one
motion have the payables and payroll
been reviewed they have they have thank
you does any council member desire to
remove any item from the consent
calendar and consider it under regular
business
if uh can I get emotion yes um I moved
to approve the consent calendar as
written
second
thank you it's been moved and seconded
is there any Council discussion
hearing none uh the motion before
council is to approve the consent
calendar as presented all those in favor
signify by saying aye
aye
those opposed
that passes 7-0 unanimously
now we're going to move into the regular
business portion of our meeting and
we'll start with
ab8583 emergency rental assistance the
request before Council this evening is
to authorize the funding
ab8549 and ab8586 will be presented
jointly and I see that our human
services manager Monica negrela is
already up at the podium so let's start
thank you madam mayor good evening
council members this is Monica Human
Services nice to see you all tonight as
mayor noticed we are seeking City
council's authorization tonight to
approve a one-time funding allocation of
two hundred thousand dollars for
emergency rental assistance and we
propose to utilize uh the 0.1 percent
affordable housing sales tax revenue
funds for this purpose this is also
known as HB 1590.
so before I go into detail on how we
propose to allocate those funds I would
like to give you a brief background on
why are we here tonight and how did we
come up with the proposal in
collaboration with our non-profit
partners and one of whom you heard from
tonight we really identified a few
Trends in the post-pandemic era in our
community on one end we noticed that
needs continue to arise and we continue
to see those needs in particular one of
our affordable housing providers in
Issaquah Highlands the YWCA continues to
see 42 percent of their units with rent
with overdue rent
um we also noticed a few other Trends
reduce donations for our nonprofit
Partners this is not unique just to our
emergency financial assistance providers
or to Issaquah it's actually a
nationwide Trend uh due to the inflation
last year a lot of donors have stopped
providing donations or donations
decreased in amount
I mentioned inflation it's no news to
anyone last year was really really
difficult in June of last year we hit an
all-time 39-year high in inflation of
nine percent we ended the year with a
seven percent inflation this really had
an impact on affordability rent rent
increases and last but not least the
other trend is definitely at the end of
the moratorium rightfully so land
landlords had to readjust the market and
so we hear about rent increases anywhere
between three and twenty percent
so with that background and that's the
reason for us being here tonight we
mentioned that we would like to seek
your approval to allocate two hundred
thousand dollars we propose as you see
on the screen to
um to allocate those to three of our
local non-profit agencies the first two
would go to Issaquah community services
and Saint Vincent De Paul the Saint
Joseph Issaquah conference as our local
100 volunteer based non-profit providers
so 60 to ICS not 60. 60 000 to ICS forty
thousand dollars to Saint Joseph
Issaquah conference and we propose a
hundred thousand dollar direct
allocation to the YWCA in the Issaquah
Highlands this relates to create more
efficiencies rather than asking the
volunteer based organizations to process
one by one additional applications
we would just work directly with the
employer and make sure that the overdue
rent is being that the funds that we
provide will will go towards the
overrent overdue rent I'm sorry
um for those units in the highlands
before I move on from this screen I
would like to also highlight that if
Council
um decides to approve utilizing the
house bill 1590 the affordable housing
sales tax dollars there's a requirement
a stipulation that funds need to be used
for residents at or below 60 Ami area
medium income we checked in with the
organizations they have no problem
meeting that requirement in fact 90
percent of everyone that they serve is
at or below 50 percent of Ami so there
are no concerns on that
and and last but not least also you see
on this screen in Orange the Human
Services Grants allocations that the
organizations currently receive
um from from the city so just you see
where they're at and then in green what
we are proposing to add to their current
allocations
moving on next I'm gonna just start
briefly the conversation on the 0.1
percent affordable housing sales tax
revenue will go a little bit in detail
in just a few minutes but just as a
brief reminder city council adopted at
the end of 2020
um the ordinance through which
um
0.1 percent of the sales tax would go
towards the affordable housing program
um again based on state legislation up
to 40 percent of the revenues in that
fund could be used for operations and
services for Behavioral Health Services
and housing related services so this is
kind of like the the pot of money that
we we would use for this purpose
um a brief overview from 2021 and 2022
taxes we currently have a little bit
over 4.4 million dollars in that fund
and for 2023 we are forecasted to add
another 2.4 million dollars so it's a
pretty healthy fund and we'll talk a
little bit about that just in a few more
minutes
before though again I would love to give
you a little bit of background on the
feedback that we received from the Human
Services Commission and also from the
council committee on on this topic so
back in mid-February we went to the
Human Services Commission we saw their
input and we received great support from
the Human Services Commission to
increase funds and to their suggestion
was for staff to focus on
disproportionately impacted communities
prioritizing by Park population by
pockets in brown indigenous and people
of color
next week we went to the services safety
and Parks Council committee meeting and
there too the committee was supportive
of bringing this item forward to the
city regular city council meeting for
further discussion and elaboration
and we received a few other
recommendations and questions for which
we are going to provide answers in the
next few minutes I'm gonna highlight two
of those here one was to consider
increasing the funds to 250 000 and the
other one was to provide additional
information on the affordable housing
sales tax utilization
so I'm gonna go now in a little bit more
depth on this you have actually more
information in your staff report in the
presentation I just highlighted a few
numbers
um what you see on the screen is
actually thank you Susie Mansell our
finance manager for providing all this
great information
the the committee asked for a breakdown
between the operations and capital funds
so what you see on the screen a really
nice breakdown between those funds for
the actuals and also for the forecasted
numbers I want to highlight those here
and ask your permission as the
administration we would like to return
to city council to a committee of the
whole meeting in April and really dive
deeper into discussing the long-term
planning for these funds so tonight you
just receive a brief overview we are
happy to answer questions we also have
our Chief Financial Officer here if
needed however we would really love to
focus this conversation in more depth at
the future Council committee of the
whole meeting so currently tonight we
are proposing just a small expense to
meet the immediate needs and I would
also like to highlight that based on
Council discussion from last during the
last year's budget process we also have
allocated for this year's budget and for
next year funds to include the Motel 6
pilot project and also set aside money
for the staffing for the affordable
housing planner position those are
described in detail in your staff report
I don't have them pulled up on on the
screen here what I do have done on the
screen is really a fund balance that
includes the total revenues broken down
by operations and capital funds and also
should we consider the two hundred
thousand dollars tonight and the two
other
expenses that I just mentioned for Motel
6 and for the staffing we still have a
pretty healthy balance remaining of a
total of over seven point million 7.3
million dollars
so with that just a few more additional
responses to the feedback and questions
that we received from the council
committee meeting in February
and one of them you have seen perhaps in
your report a great response from the
city's attorney
on the question regarding there was a
question at the committee meeting on
whether we could use potentially as a
city all the funds towards capital
projects because you you have seen the
Bro the the legislation says that 60 can
be used for Capital and up to 40 could
be used for operations the question was
could be if we wanted could we use all
the money for Capital the short answer
is yes our City attorney is online if we
need further discussion again I would
recommend that we leave more detailed
conversation on this topic in particular
for the council committee meeting in
April but the short answer is yes there
are some caveats and exceptions but I'm
gonna stop there another question was
how many households that will receive
rental assistance through this program
will be families with school-aged
children we can safely say that anywhere
between 60 and 90 percent of of those
benefiting from the funds will be
families with children we base the
numbers based on actual 2022 numbers
received from Issaquah community
services and Saint Vincent De Paul and
from actual 2023 numbers current units
behind in rent at the YWCA
um then uh one of the the other
proposals and recommendations was to
consider increasing the funding
allocation to 250 000 and provide a list
of pros and cons
the administration would like to
um remain and propose the two hundred
thousand dollars that were originally
proposed for this fund
um and consider continue the discussion
once city council had a chance to really
plan for the long term
use of these funds in conversations
without our partners the two hundred
dollars will nicely supplement their
current needs and will leverage what
they exist and they have currently and
so as did as the administration we chose
to remain at the more conservative level
to allow city council to have the
long-term conversation
and last but not least we received a
suggestion to consider hiring a
consultant in the future to really
evaluate the impact of the Human
Services funds in the community and so
staff will take that into consideration
for a future strategic plan development
and we will consider hiring a consultant
so with that
um
next
the options in front of you council
members tonight are on one end to
approve the administration's
recommendation to allocate the two
hundred thousand dollars for rental
assistance utilizing the house bill 1519
funds the second option is you may
direct the administration to consider
funding at a different level or even
considered a different Revenue source
and then last you may decide to take no
action at this time
so
and to summarize the administration's
recommendation really is to
um
put in front of you the approval of a
one-time funding allocation of two
hundred thousand dollars utilizing the
sales tax revenue funds and
um having the three programs we
mentioned Issaquah Community Services
Saint Vincent De Paul and YWCA being the
three organizations that will distribute
These funds
should city council approve our
recommendation staff will proceed to
enter into contract agreements and we
expect that all funds will be
distributed in 2023
so this concludes my presentation you
have the recommendation on the screen
again and I'm available for questions
thank you Monica are there any questions
by council members before I hand it over
to committee chair Martz who might want
to provide some additional information
questions
not far by there straight to you council
member
thank you madam mayor so at that
February meeting
we asked basically
I'm trying to remember if it was um
there's a difference in in my notes I
remember if it was one of a result was
that all three of us or was it just one
okay uh no
um what's that it was all three of us
okay
um uh to look into this uh potential
amount of 250 000 we had identified the
idea of moving the YWCA YWCA amount from
100 000 to 125 000 the ICS amount from
forty thousand uh to
um sorry the ICS amount from 60 000 to
75 000 and the Saint Vincent De Paul
amount from 40 to 50. but I I had also
asked for a bunch of additional
information on basically the health of
the the 40 amount and the 60 amount and
some idea of what our plans were for
those amounts
um so
uh and then we asked about the potential
consultant and uh so some some of that
information is here this evening and
some of it sounds like the
administration would like to have uh at
a future time but that was the that was
the amount that the three of us uh
discussed thank you for that that's a
good summary um I just wanted to point
out that when the council has their
additional conversation in April there's
always the potential for us to bring
back you information on what this
Administration proposal has accomplished
and we would be able to see if the need
was greater than what was done so there
is opportunity this is considered to be
urgent and not necessarily regular
business but we definitely need some
more information and we can bring stuff
back in April as well if that's helpful
because you did ask for a lot of
information yeah sure did
uh we if we have questions great
otherwise let's go for a motion
questions yeah a quick question I just
wanted to hear the summary of the
committee meeting first do we know if
the county is still provided just out of
curiosity are they still providing
rental assistance dollars and are we
most of the most of the so thank you for
that question most of the support
services have been expanded at this time
um and yes from local Regional yeah
there are still those who have signed up
last year there might still be some that
they're Distributing but nothing new is
being
there are no new applications that
they're being processed right now okay
thank you
get more questions
emotion
sure uh I moved to authorize a one-time
funding allocation of two hundred
thousand dollars for emergency rental
assistance utilizing 0.1 percent
affordable housing sales tax funds to be
distributed by local emergency financial
assistance and housing support programs
as follows Issaquah Community Services
sixty thousand dollars Saint Vincent de
Paul St Joseph conference forty thousand
dollars and YWCA Issaquah Family Village
one hundred thousand dollars and direct
the Chief Financial Officer to include
the two hundred thousand dollar funding
allocation in a subsequent
2023-2024 budget amendment
second it's been moved and seconded and
I missed that council member D Michelle
had her hand up so before going to the
motion maker maybe we can see if she has
a question
uh no question I was going to second if
um
that is still really hard to do in a
hybrid meeting to catch that flow okay
um to the motion maker
uh thank you madam mayor so uh I I
certainly understand uh the argument
that this is an emergency action and um
given the the sort of inability to get a
holistic view of what we what our
long-term plans are for that 40 and that
60. I do understand the argument to do a
smaller amount right now I think that um
you know we have built up an
extraordinary reservoir of money and uh
but there's a number of things uh down
the road that we want to think about you
know I I mentioned uh uh you know
Fentanyl and some of the uh impacts in
our community of opiates and of course
there's a conversation about the uh
Opportunity Center associated with
Transit art and development and so I'm
eager to have all those conversations
and and I understand and and support the
administration's position that uh we
should start with this emergency amount
get it get it out the door get it out to
people and help them and perhaps revisit
this is part of the larger conversation
about the very large nest egg that has
developed thank you
any other comments uh councilmember Joe
thank you first I'd like to complement
the administration and um Monica and
negrilo for coming tonight and adding
color to this agenda bill
um I think it's great that we are giving
money to organizations that have been
long time Community pillars and those
organizations are giving money directly
to people that they have screened and
have a relationship with and those that
need funding right away so if we can
continue to keep that at the Forefront
as we look at all this funding and the
future whether it's with a consultant or
one of our Human Services people I think
keeping a focus on getting the money to
the people that really need it and that
we have a relationship and that are part
of our community here is very important
from my point of view
I think that the breakdown is is great I
would ask that we also kind of give some
thought to the homeless youth that we
have in our community though at the same
time the school administration School
District estimates that there are 95
homeless students in the district
I would venture to say that number is
probably a lot higher than that people
that are couch surfing or are in unsafe
situations in housing as well and
um the the people who are not housed in
our school district have to go to either
Kirkland or to Auburn or to Seattle and
we're a growing Community we're getting
bigger we have a wonderful population
that cares about what goes on here at
the same time we need to step up and be
cognizant of our responsibilities as a
community to all the members that live
here so I'm just a
Over the Horizon a goal or aspiration
that I have but I would just pass on to
the administration the human services
department as we go forward looking at
the holistic picture of how we're going
to use this funding in the future thank
you thank you councilmember Joe
councilmember Dean Michelle and then
council president
uh thank you mayor Paulie
um
uh well first of all I want to thank
um Monica and uh the team for putting
together a lot of information in a short
period of time and I still think that we
uh have some additional questions but I
do appreciate the information that was
assembled for tonight I had advocated
for the larger amount for the 250 000
based on my reading about the number of
young people who are
currently truant from schools or the
dropout rate in this country has also
been soaring and so my specific concern
was making sure that we targeted
families with children and made sure
that those children were able to
complete the school year because we're
we're only four months away from the end
of the school year and it would be
really tragic to have families evicted
and their children actually lose a year
of schooling uh because they couldn't
finish the school year but I feel like
the statistics that came back to us are
very helpful and it appears that a lot
of families will get help through this
uh process and I thoroughly agree with
the administration that we need to have
a plan for the 590 funds that is turning
into a large amount of money and I think
we need to stop and pause and figure out
exactly what we want to do with it and
there are many many excellent uses that
we could put that money to so I'm sure
it will be a really interesting
conversation
so in short I will support the motion
that's on the table tonight and I would
hope that when we have the
topic come back to us with a little bit
more meat around the uses of that fund
that we can also do kind of a check-in
make sure that we're meeting the needs
in our community and if we do need to
add to the 200 000 that we could do it
at that time but for now I am I am ready
to support the motion tonight thank you
council president
thank you
um I will take what I've heard from the
other council members just a step
further
um I am very eager to have this planning
conversation about how we use this large
amount of money what the highest and
best use of that is what the needs are
for our community and I have to say I'm
a little bit frustrated that this is
coming back to us knowing that one that
conversation is supposed to happen next
month and two that this isn't the first
time that we've said okay we understand
there's an urgent need but we really
want to make sure that we're having a
conversation about planning so that we
are utilizing those funds to the best of
our abilities so I will Express a little
bit of frustration absolutely appreciate
that the information is getting to us
about the need appreciate that we have
great organ organizations in our
community that are able to have those
relationships but I really want to have
those conversations about our homeless
youth about what whether building and
utilizing one of maybe our city-owned
properties to build something versus a
temporary short fix of rental assistance
is the best use and so I come at this
with a little bit of frustration that
being said it's two hundred thousand
dollars for a very urgent needed I will
support it and I'm very much looking
forward to that future conversation
councilman Brad
um thank you well I want I was
interested in hearing the perspective of
the committee I do think rent can rent
assistance will be a part of the future
need as well we clearly are not
addressing that whole need and in fact
as was presented today a hundred
thousand dollars was the difference
between last year's budget for ICS and
and this just based on people donating
less so I think we are um
nowhere near addressing the need I
realize this addresses some of it but I
would I will look forward to having more
conversations about that rental
assistance because it seems that the
committee that did the Deep dive on this
I would like to respect their work seems
every every Committee Member is
comfortable with this recommendation at
this time thank you any other comments
okay if there's no further discussion
the motion before council is to
authorize a one-time funding allocation
of two hundred thousand dollars for
emergency rental assistance utilizing
0.1 percent affordable housing sales tax
funds to be distributed by local
emergency financial assistance and
housing support programs as follows
issqua Community Services sixty thousand
dollars St Vincent de Paul St Joseph
conference forty thousand dollars and
YWCA Issaquah Family Village a hundred
thousand dollars and to direct the Chief
Financial Officer to include the two
hundred thousand dollar funding
allocation in a subsequent
2023-2024 budget amendment all those in
favor signify by saying aye
aye
I
those opposed
that's great that passes unanimously 7-0
and the next item of business tonight
thank you Monica is
ab8549 2022 budget reauthorizations and
ab8586 the first 2023 budget amendment
and
ab8549 and 8586 will be presented
jointly and I'd like to invite our CFO
Robert hamoud to present this item hi
Robert
okay
thank you mayor good evening
Council so we just have a brief slide
presentation to summarize
the information that's in the packet in
front of you this evening
next slide sorry
so tonight again we're requesting the
city council to reauthorize certain
funds previously budgeted in 2023 for
expenditure in the 2023 and 24 budget
cycle
and the request is to adopt the proposed
ordinance amending the
2023-24 adopted budget
next slide
so the 2022 reauthorizations it's an
annual housekeeping manner
the budget reauthorization reallocates
unspent funding Authority for an
unfinished project into the next fiscal
year to allow completion of the project
new this year is the biennial budget so
what that means is there will not be a
2023 reauthorization because we're going
into the first
biennial budget cycle for the city
and so there's four rationale buckets
that are hypothetical here for the
reauthorizations one is the staff
capacity a lot of the projects as you
know we were starting the construction
season staff capacity was a concern so
it did delay some of the projects but a
lot of that has been alleviated so we do
have a spending plan for those
reauthorization
items and projects as well this for the
2023-24
number two is a supply chain delays they
are improving but they're still
continuing so that they delay some of
our projects
three are external delays so this is
anything from the timing of a contract
any external pressures grant funding
other items federal agencies state
agency authorizations those delays also
factor into some of the reauthorization
requests and then for just simply
multi-year projects where we do have
several CIP projects for example that
transcend fiscal years
and so the reauthorization summary you
can see the the total on the expenditure
side is approximately 26.4 million total
revenues 8.1 million again this is all
funds in the city
but again uh some of these projects
again were carried over year over year
as part of a routine and some of these
were active projects so they were
already anticipated to have a
reauthorization for the multi-year
projects
and um next slide any questions on this
slide so far
so the first
2023-24 budget amendment that you're
also considering tonight will have the
previously approved request by Council
five of them one budget correction and
seven budget adjustments
it's at the budget amendment summary on
the revenue side
8.998 million across all funds 7.64 in
expenditures so about a 2 million or 2.1
million dollar increase in the budget
amendment summary and again this is for
a two-year period not a one-year period
in any questions
seeing Andy Robert
back to mine script you are at the end
of your presentation yes that's all
thanks uh Council questions and if no
questions is somebody prepared to make a
motion
it's a president
um questions I'm trying to find my
information because I wasn't expecting
it to go that quick at this point so
with the budget amendments uh uh let's
see
can you talk me through the budget
amendments on the arpa project how each
of the expenditures are coming through
and
what they're pulling from
yes I can I believe it's I'm just making
sure I got the right page here
it should be
is this a budget adjustment number 10
page 273 of your past thank you
so just to summarize here
I just briefly read the description
maybe a48a approved the allocation of 4
million of arpa dollars to two Capital
Park Improvement projects Confluence
Park and Veterans Memorial Field
pedestrian Park in addition to these
funds the administration proposes
shifting to other Parks capital projects
to appropriate adequate funding
to ensure the completion within the time
frame for the arpa funds so again what
this adjustment is doing the intention
of it is to make sure that we are
shifting the arpa dollars to make sure
that we're spending that money by the
2024 deadline for the affordable or for
the American Rescue plan act funding
and so that's what the the allocations
are on the site as well
um and some of the other
detail on that the Tippets Valley Park
had 427 000 budgeted 357 350 000 was for
the park impact fees 77
000 was from Reed so I think that was
answering your question the amendment
reappropriates the 427 000 of unspent
funds
and again shifts 376 000 to PK 41 50 000
to PK 10.
and we also have the Creek Quarter had
the 200 000 of refunds budgeted so again
that that was an arpa it was refunds and
that amendment reappropriates that 200
000 of unspent funds from the creek
Corridor interests them to the capital
project 41.
quite the puzzle and then I have kind of
a follow-up on that and I see Jeff has
uh come up on the screen so I'll key in
my question for you on that
um the creek Corridor I from my
understanding Creek Corridor is an
acquisition project but this talks about
it as a design project can you talk me
through what that 200 000 is and whether
that would impact the money that would
go into an acquisition fund
absolutely thanks for the question I'll
answer that one directly and then maybe
I can also give some some context to
Robert's overview but to your question
first uh this is not an acquisition
project uh PK 45 the creek Corridor is a
continuation of it is a planning and
eventually a construction project that's
a continuation of some of the the
community engagement work we did before
the pandemic
um
the acquisition budget which is PK or
fund which is PK 12 Valley Creekside
Valley and Creekside Acquisitions
remains whole
so what you have before you tonight is a
proposal that doesn't touch or impact
the ability that we have to act on
strategic Acquisitions uh that that
might support the creek Corridor
these are planning dollars that just to
give some additional context to Robert's
feedback to you all you might recall the
conversations we had last summer in Fall
with these Opera projects where even
even as we are identifying potential
projects U.S Council stated your real
your goal to to find a way to make sure
the arpa funds paid for construction and
not design and so you may recall we
talked about strategically at that time
we might need to bundle design dollars
we already have in a capital budget to
fund the design of this Opera work
or the projects that we decide upon so
that the federal arpa funds could go
towards construction what you have have
before you deny it is a budget
adjustment that follows through on that
commitment it doesn't mean Tibbetts
Valley Park nor the creek Corridor are
no longer priorities those remain super
high priorities but this was just a way
of of taking existing design dollars
have these fund the design contract you
approved a couple months ago for The
Pedestrian Park Senior Center Plaza and
neck housework so that that those arpa
funds again could go towards
construction and not the soft costs of
design
additional questions
and Barb does not have her hand up
either
okay is anyone prepared oh Deputy
council president thank you and just
quickly to clarify this I mean it's not
to say that now we're going to spend 200
000 Less on Creek Tour all right that
will be backfilled eventually with other
dollars is that correct
yeah that would be the goal right you
will have the the 2024 through 2029
six-year CIP before you here in a couple
months uh we also are going to be doing
pretty extensive Community engagement
around the park strategic Plan update uh
this summer that's going to be before
you in 2024 I know both the green
necklace as as a council priority and a
community priority as well as the creek
Corridor this Seven Mile North South
spine all the way through town will
remain Community priorities and and
probably be spoken to in both that CIP
and that Park strategic plan
check for more questions I see council
member hunt do you need to speak before
do you want to print some information
out let's go to councilmember hunt
thank you so the creek Corridor project
in the
2022-2027 CIP it has the two hundred
thousand dollars spent in 2022 which is
behind us now then it has
um a hundred thousand in 2024 for design
but it also gets into Construction in
2024. and
um I am wondering and this is the
multi-phase project that would create
the series of parks trails and green
spaces that would stretch from like
Sammamish to the southern edge of the
city at squawk Valley Park so I'm
wondering since we already are past 2022
and we're talking about using that
funding for something else
how does this impact that timeline and
also shouldn't this conversation
probably be in the CIP
um that's I it seems like a CIP
conversation but since we're here I'm
wondering how it affects the timeline
thanks and I'll uh go to City
administrator Bob kowitz but first just
want to remind the council that the arpa
projects were being discussed at the
same time as the budget last year and we
only have so many bodies so sometimes we
can we have to shift things around just
to support the work that we can do state
administrator
uh thank you Madame members of the
council uh I'll let Jeff uh you know
pick up on on on this point but I wanted
to just remind the Council of the
discussion we did have during the budget
deliberations where the administration I
think made it very clear that we were
uncomfortable with the resources that we
had not only to work on the the green
necklace and the and the creek Corridor
but a lot of other projects and so we
asked the council to add a capital uh
projects manager for Parks and
Recreation uh which you were kind enough
to do our challenge has been hiring the
position and so we went through a
recruitment process that failed
um just in the last month we are trying
to sort through next steps for that so I
think as much as having dollars
allocated we need people resources too
even to go through the process of
Contracting for additional work right
now it is Jeff and one additional staff
person to do all of our Park projects
work and so by adding this additional
staff person I think that gives us a
little bit more leverage we heard the
council out and clear we agree with you
uh but I think as the mayor said
um there's only so much money and
there's only so much time and the
council's discussion regarding the arpa
project was that that was a priority to
get out the door given the uh or federal
requirements on that funding so Jeff I
don't if you want to elaborate anymore
on on resources and focus go right ahead
now thank you to the administrator
bachowitz really appreciate that that
overview
um very very real I think to your
question too council member Honda is a
really good one you know when that CIP
the 2022 CIP was being created in 2021
we were still in a pandemic uh we were
hoping to be able to launch into the
really really important visioning work
and Community engagement work uh for the
creek Corridor that didn't happen we
made a conscious decision not to really
try and engage in that kind of public
engagement work during the pandemic
um and then to the city administrator's
Point as we started crafting the budget
and priorities with with you last year
it was pretty clear that completing
capital projects that were already in
design was the priority for 23 and 24
budget and we wanted to stay true to
that so even along with the completing
this arpa investment really is a first
phase of
um
um our our Old Town Parks we also have
on our work plan completion of Hillside
Park have completion of our first dog
park
um have
um completion of uh the eckhouse project
um have the start Park strategic plan
updates
um I could keep going down the list but
just to say that we we have a pretty
full dance card
um
um so I you know as
the CIP conversation here in a couple
months I think we'll continue to show
that that Creek pre-corridor visiting as
well as Tibbetts Valley Park visioning
which would which also has design
funding proposed to go to the Opera
project both of those remain really
really high priorities and and we
certainly hope
um with Staffing Resources that thank
you you've been able to to provide us
with we're able to continue to move
forward on on all of these
um important efforts both planning
efforts acquisition after and and
development efforts
additional questions
not seeing additional questions Barb has
not cut her hand up would someone care
to make a motion
council president
um I moved to adopt ordinance number
3009.
reauthorizing remaining 2022 funds for
certain projects and amending the
2023-2024 budget as set forth in
ordinance number 2994 concerning
revenues expenditures and fund balance
for various funds
second it's been moved and seconded is
there any Council discussion
councilmember hunt thank you well there
is a lot of material here and I think it
is well explained I think the each
budget item has information about it so
I appreciated that of all of that
information of the millions of dollars
here the one thing that doesn't make
sense to me is this Creek corridor
project having the design funds
reallocated to the arpa project and so I
have two reasons I think it doesn't
makes sense for me one is I don't my
intent when we had those conversations
about arpa which is true they were
fast-paced conversations and we may not
have been able to cover
um everything and so now we're we're
continuing to make sure that we're
crossing all the t's and dotting all the
eyes and I understand that I think from
my intent to clarify that which I think
is important at this point
I wanted to make sure that we had
projects that we
were able to do the construction on with
the arpa funds and have a place for
people to go to at the end so they knew
this project was done and they could
enjoy it and it was it was
um a public benefit that was a tangible
benefit at the end which meant that
construction had to be part of that
funding and completed with that and that
is I think what my intent was in in
comments that I made that we wouldn't
that I don't think we would be as well
served if we had a really great design
at the end using the arpa funds a really
great design for a project and then we
needed to go have funding additional
funding to support it I wanted instead
to make sure that we had funds that
covered the improvements and they got
done so that wasn't to say at least for
me and I would be very interested to
hear my colleagues but I that wasn't to
say for me that I thought zero dollars
would go to design or to planning or to
other I'm sure the many other
aspects that need to go into these very
complicated infrastructure projects so
this is two hundred thousand dollars
it's not
um it is within the scope of this entire
budget amendment and even within the
scope of the arpa project it is a
relatively small percentage but for the
Creek Quarter project it's the design
and planning for that project and like I
said this is the project that connects
Lake Sammamish all the way down to the
South edge of the city so I think it's
very important I think if we want to
talk about re-prioritizing or moving
timelines and I understand about the
dance card I think the dance card is a
very important conversation but it
really feels like a CIP conversation to
me
so I think um
I think I wanted to clarify that because
I don't actually my intent wasn't
actually aligns with the way the uh
the way the answer was characterized as
far as not using any of the funding for
design
we're using it all for construction
and then for arpa and then the other
thing is uh
with the timeline I don't think that we
I don't feel comfortable assuming that
the funding is decoupled from the timing
timeline and the planning I think we
should have a conversation
about funding as well as about resource
allocation and I think that should be a
CIP
conversation but for now I'm not
comfortable moving this money out of a
really important project that Council
has identified is really important and I
would like to make sure that we have the
funding there going into the next
conversations about how to make sure
that we can make progress on it so um
with all that said and like I said
everything else I uh I appreciate the
information and I agree to but I would
like to make an amendment I move to
amends the ordinance Exhibit C budget
adjustment descriptions budget
adjustment 10 to not shift unspent two
thousand two hundred thousand dollars of
planning design funding within the creek
Corridor project
pko45 to pko 41. and to instead
reauthorize those funds for the creek
Corridor project for 2023.
we had a clarification
that would not provide enough money for
the arpa project so can your
recommendation include where the 200 000
can come from
uh I have a motion here to do one thing
I do think I imagine that there will be
additional funding needed for the arpa
project and so I would request a
different funding be
um be identified by the administration
I went through I had a conversation with
director Watling earlier today it's
difficult from Council side to look
through where there are funds that are
unspent and try to crosswalk it against
the CIP because the CIP says new
requests so I attempted that but I think
probably much better to have if council
is interested which
just a second clarifying question if we
don't have the Staffing to do the Creek
Court or planning this year you still
want the funds to remain in
allocated I I think that that to me is
is a CIP conversation about
planning and resourcing that's my
opinion do we have a second
second
conversation
council president
thank you um yeah I I really appreciate
all of the detailed information in this
um in the entire information this was
the one thing that kind of stood out to
me that said well wait a second that's
making a decision about a project that
we included in the CIP
and
this isn't just
a moving money from one year to the
other it feels like it's a decision
about a project and
um somehow downgrading a project by
removing the money for it I appreciate
the information that there are Staffing
challenges there are resource challenges
um but I don't think that a budget
reauthorization and amendment is a time
to have that type of conversation
I would be open to having that and
understanding well where are our
priorities according to what the
resources we do have from both the
funding and the Staffing standpoint but
at this point I would much rather the
two hundred thousand dollars come out of
a capital fund or a general fund or
whatever that is rather than making a
decision to
basically defund the planning portion of
the Creek Court checked so that would be
my preference and I will be supporting
the amendment other comments
Council Marie
actually it's not a common it's a
question and and the question is
um there's a lot of moving Parts here
what's the implication of this I mean
um it sounds very interesting and I
agree with the council president it
seems like an odd place but I don't
understand if we do this what it means
to you what it means to get work done
because it's all about getting work done
right
so here's our best take on that if this
motion passes then the arpa project is
two hundred thousand dollars in arrears
uh and we are not we do not have a
substitute for that uh if the motion
passes I guess we will have to go and
look for 200 000 to take away from
another project and we would come back
to you
um the project is pretty quick and again
I think it's important as you there's
been discussion about budgeting uh the
council passed a budget uh for fiscal 23
that did not have this funding in it and
so from the administration's perspective
we've already had this discussion with
you and the money was not included in
the budget so now there's a request to
put it back in the budget using the
carryover we do not believe we have the
resources to work on this project during
23. uh we hope that at some point we'll
be able to fulfill this position and so
perhaps that work could happen in 24. so
um again if the promotion passes our
first priority is we have a consultant
working today we need to pay those bills
we'll need to come back to you with
those those dollars
um so that would be the first priority
but we really as I think Jeff did a
great job of explaining there's a lot of
things on our dance card a dance card
that the city council approved when you
adopted the fiscal 23 budget
um we want to do we want to do
everything we truly do but we also feel
an obligation to be honest with you with
resources
foreign I'll come back to you Council
memberhead I just want to make a little
quicker yeah quick around the room any
other questions
a comment okay well let's go to the
question then uh councilmember hunt
question and then we'll do comments
um so this I I had my questions about
this today
this is a budget amendment
so why would this be a required budget
amendment if it was already approved
it's the carryover from the fiscal year
so again we had projects that carried
over year over year 22 ended so we're
asking to reauthorize reauthorize these
projects as far as our budget Authority
for the 2324 biennial budget year will
you take a second explain the difference
between a reauthorization versus an
amendment
sure the reauthorization is a list of
items that you're carrying over year to
year the amendment's actually funding
those items so you have the list of
items you're identifying you're saying
these items these projects are carrying
over year over year the amendment is any
adjustment to the current appropriation
to accommodate those items so again
unspent funding from the last year you
could have a
an adjustment that says we're still
working on this project but it's going
to be within the current fiscal year
funding the appropriation takes care of
anything that's above and beyond what
was already appropriated in 2324 meaning
the unspent money reprogramming that
unspend money for the current fiscal
year so let me say it back to you in the
2324 budget there was not a line item
for two hundred thousand dollars for
this project in 22 there was it was
unspent what you're asking to do is
reauthorize it towards a different
project yes for the entire project
budget yes
more questions more questions and if not
we'll go to comments look at Chris's
face
did that not make sense either
go ahead ask a question
no no I I think it makes sense I just
don't know what to do with it
any more questions otherwise councilman
Mertz wants me to comment
looks like you're up
so the the thing at the heart of this
for me I I don't really know what to do
with this this evening it kind of feels
to me like maybe I just missed it that
it wasn't that the Creekside stuff
wasn't in the 2023 budget I mean I think
at some point we need to have a really
strategic conversation about what's at
the heart of our Parks plan I always
thought it was the creek and Confluence
Park those are the two pieces that are
at the very very heart of what we have
going on Parks wise in our city and if
we've gotten distracted from that by
arpa dollars and conversation about what
we could or couldn't do in certain other
Parks I think I've been consistent in
saying that I want to focus on the spine
of the parks which is Creekside and and
or I mean the the creek Corridor and uh
Confluence Park so I don't really know
what to do today because this is an odd
top topic other than maybe correct or
wrong and that I should have seen this
not in the 2023 budget because I just I
want us to make progress we have we we
do things on the creek Corridor we may
we have made some progress but we're
still not we've done we identified this
a long time ago uh both this and the
central the centrality of Confluence
Park and neither have had the progress
that that I would love to see with
distractions and other other Park areas
so I like I said I don't know what to do
today other than highlight I think that
at the heart of this whole conversation
is really needing to have a check
sometime after today on where we're
focusing our Park efforts and are we
putting it where our our major strategic
plans have said we should be focusing
thank you any other comments
a deputy council president well and just
real briefly that sounds like a
fantastic conversation during the CIP
process to tee up for Council to kind of
have that structured conversation about
parks in general
um and for that reason I think I'm I
think I'm I love the intent of the
amendment and would love to get behind
it but I think I'm more convinced by
just the reality of us not having the
staff capacity to get it done that's a
problem in and of itself that that we
should just have a discussion with
during the CIP so I won't be supporting
the amendment tonight this reminds me a
lot of a conversation we recently had at
the mobility and infrastructure
committee too which is just given all of
these rationale buckets essentially that
we have for reauthorizations or or just
not being able to do work like staff
capacity or supply chain issues and
stuff like that that we need to kind of
have a more grounded conversation as a
council of what we can actually
accomplish given the resources that we
have whether they be staff or people
resources or money resources and that's
a tough one because I think we're pretty
lofty Council and wanting to get things
done to get you know better outcomes for
the future here in Issaquah but we only
have so much that we can do in each area
I mean even in the consent agenda
earlier today was talking about some of
the great progress that we've been
making in equity in the equity framework
there are so many different hats that we
wear as a city and some new ones
affordable housing we haven't really had
that conversation about what is our role
with those dollars so this is a tough
conversation I'll be not the first to
admit that but for that reason I won't
be supporting the amendment tonight but
do support having that conversation and
potentially writing a wrong if there is
one during the CIP discussion thanks any
additional comments or questions
um I'm seeing none so we'll go to Wally
thank you I'd like to ask Jeff to come
back on uh and talk about two points one
is the council's funded process for the
park master plan uh reluct in that
process that is currently underway and
then anything else you want to talk
about as far as what our recent
Investments have been in the Creek
Quarter
sure thanks for that I really appreciate
hearing Council discussion on this and
sorry get emotional uh no just I've my
voice
um
really the priority that is the the
creek Corridor I I want to point out one
thing that you know as as the park board
as we discussed with you and looked at
where we make these potential arpa
Investments I just want to point out
that both the conglomeration of parks in
Old Town that make up pedestrian Park
and the senior center and that is a
pearl on the necklace of the creek
Corridor Confluence Park and that
investment is also a pearl on the
necklace of the creek Corridor so I I
just I want to give you credit and
applaud you that even these arpa
projects are investments that are going
to be long benefiting
um this Creek Corridor in the planning
effort
and that comes really from the community
engagement we did last summer as we
started to pour over maps with residents
and said what is this spine what is this
Northwest or north-south spine that is
the creek Corridor and there's an
understanding that the Rainier Trail as
part of that and these parks in Old Town
are very much part of it I think as we
continue the engagement now with this
summer for the park strategic Plan
update
as I said earlier I think tightening the
vision for the green necklace beginning
to really coalesce the vision for the
creek Corridor begin to do some trail
planning and prioritize where those key
gaps are that works just gonna we're
gonna get that much more
detailed into that work so a little bit
more context there but really appreciate
your just support of the creek Corridor
as a high priority it remains a high
priority for administration too thanks
councilmember Ray
oh thanks this is really hard I mean
it's really hard for me to wrap my brain
around it so I'm I've got a couple
points I want to make one is it's weird
to do a budget adjustment and be moving
dollars not from like to light year over
year so I get that but it also leaves us
in a jam because if we don't do it then
we've got some unfunded work that we
agreed we need to do
so those those are the kind of my kind
of processing of all the information
I've gotten tonight
and then I want to layer on top of that
is this is a CIP problem I mean we this
is something we should be addressing
when we take on the CIP and this is a
CIP year and the one thing that I'm
going to advocate for tonight and every
time we talk about this is I'm tired of
hearing we got a full dance card and we
can't you know we can't chew everything
that's on our plate mixed metaphor I'm
sorry but
um then let's not put it on our plate
we've got to do a better job as a
council and as a city government of
saying we only have the capacity to do X
so let's stop talking about why and so
um I I think I want to go ahead with the
budget amendment as presenter the budget
amendment as presented not the amendment
is presented
um because I think that moves us forward
but I want to have this discussion I
think this is what councilmember March
talked about too I want to have this
discussion and I'm just tired of oh we
just don't have the capacity to do that
so fine then what do we have the
capacity to do and that's what we'll do
but we can't keep saying
um you know we're at the buffet and
we're putting too much on our plate so
let's be real with each other
so councilmember Ray thank you for that
and I think you guys did a very good job
of that in the fall
the part of the capital plan that ends
up in the budget is not necessarily the
first year of the CIP and I think that's
the really important part to talk about
in this what are we going to do with our
CIP process because this is the constant
source of frustration but we are staffed
to do what was in the budget and this
project wasn't there so we really do
have to focus in on that conversation
um I believe it's council president
thank you can someone talk me through
budget amendment number one it says
ab8487 approved the allocation of 1.591
million in arpa funds in the
2023-2024 budget for the following
projects there's a list of projects and
then toward the end of that it also says
the remaining 409 thousand dollars will
be kept in reserve in the capital
project fund until after these projects
have completed the bidding process this
will ensure that sufficient funding is
available would it be a possibility to
take two hundred dollar thousand dollars
from that rather than unfund a project
that we had previously allocated since
that remains in the capital project fund
yeah everybody wants to jump in on this
one
um in your current approved budget you
don't have this 200 000 funding it's not
in your budget it is in your Capital
plan that exact project did not end up
in the approved budget by Council
um next I don't know who wants to chime
in and answer if that's a Robert or a
Wally question
I was good go ahead sorry council
president Walsh uh to the mayor's point
on that with the arpa funds we've
already identified
you know funding as far as the city
funds and other funds to match the arpa
projects and we've reported that to the
federal government so any changes at
this point on arpa would probably be
pretty restricted and shifting arpa
funds from one project to another we
could not guarantee but we could run
afoul of of the feds for that at this
point
okay thank you any additional questions
any additional comments
okay the amendment to the motion on the
table
is to amend the ordinance Exhibit C
budget adjustment descriptions budget
adjustment number 10 to not shift
unspent two hundred thousand dollars of
planning design funding within the creek
Corridor project pko45 to pko41 and to
instead reauthorize those funds for the
creek Corridor project for 2023. all
those in favor say aye
aye aye
all is opposed
okay
the amendment fails two to five and
going back to the main motion
there's been a lot of questions so I'm
assuming there may be a few more
questions or comments before we vote one
more opportunity council president
yeah I will just come back to this I
really appreciated some of the Creative
Accounting that I saw in there that
really truly did stay true to our goals
you know I saw money from the temporary
fire station that wasn't going to be
spent being put toward the permanent
fire station and so I can see in
everything except for this one little
area that Finance was really taking the
meat of what we were trying to do and
putting it forward and I really
appreciate all of the detailed
information in that memo about why
something was carried over whether it
was because we had supply chain issues
or just the project was intended to go
multiple years that really helped me
understand it so I wanted to put out
that appreciation on the information
thank you council president thumbs up
from Deputy council president any more
comments before I read the main motion
council member D Michelle's hand is not
up
the motion is to adopt ordinance number
3009 reauthorizing remaining 2022 funds
for certain projects and amending the
2023-24 budget as set forth in ordinance
number
2994 concerning revenues expenditures
and fund balance for various funds all
those in favor signify by saying aye aye
aye
those opposed
that carries unanimously 7-0
the next item of business this evening
is good of the order so looking around
to see a couple one going up Deputy
council president
uh thanks I just had one thing I wanted
to add we had a really great
informational update from Stephanie
Johnson our HR director in our consent
calendar about the equity framework so I
just wanted to give her a huge shout out
and everyone else on our internal Equity
team for all the work that they're doing
the memo really highlighted kind of the
The Challenge and how time consuming
this work is and I also just wanted to
say too from you know um what I've been
learning in my own MPA program we talk a
lot about this and how jurisdictions are
applying an equity lens and it is a
challenge and a lot more than many
policy makers
um appreciate right away and so much of
it ends up really being a product of
organizational culture which takes a lot
of time and a lot of nurturing so I just
wanted to just take a step back and and
make sure that Stephanie and everyone
else who's involved in equity in the
city is
thoroughly acknowledged and appreciated
and honored and this council is just
tremendously proud of you and keep up
the great work I mean somewhere in the
packet it was just one line towards the
end it said that
diversification of our Workforce has
increased by six percent in the last
year that's not something to bury at the
end of a memo that's amazing like that
is incredible work City of Issaquah
congratulations and like I said keep up
the good work
great comments um council member Joe
thank you
I would just like to pass on compliments
to our council president for hosting our
fifth district Senator Senator mullet
Our House Representatives
Ramos and Callan
on Sunday it was a well-attended event
we had Mayors from Maple Valley North
Bend Snoqualmie all participating in the
Forum along with quite a robust uh
audience of various community members
from all over the district so council
president did a great job hosting and
moderating the conversation and you made
Issaquah a Proud by by represent as well
thank you
one foreign
last item I'm not sure council president
if you saw but there was an email from
the public that was on tonight's items
not not sure if you want to kind of add
that into the record
yeah I will have to look through back
through the emails I admit I am a little
bit behind
um while you're looking I'll do a couple
of meetings so Thursday March 30th is a
special city council meeting there are
two of them one in the morning and one
at night 7 30 a.m state of the city
address at the Hilton Garden Inn 6 30 PM
the council's community listening
session at the atlas Apartments
and on Monday April 3rd the city council
meeting with anticipated agenda items
including Public Works Staffing
Resources and just one other good of the
order item I'll share for now is I will
be heading to Washington DC on Saturday
as part of the National League of cities
thousands and thousands of council
members and Mayors from around the
country attend this event and so it's an
opportunity I believe I have a
one-on-one with our congresswoman and
I'm in some group meetings with our
Senators so it should be exciting and
I'll report out when I get back
any luck with it council president
well um I see the email that this
Community member has mentioned I had not
recognized it as related to the budget
update
um but I will say there are some
questions in the email about
the effectiveness and what the impacts
are on tr073 the Mountain Park Boulevard
Southwest safety Elements which is two
hundred thousand dollars which I guess
is going into a reauthorization and that
fed into the comments about having a
tough time finding the current tip and
major projects list so that I guess was
the email thank you elated thank you for
sharing any other items for good of the
order
huh then there being no further business
we are adjourned at 8 34.
foreign