Welcome everyone. I call the December
1st city council meeting to order.
Council member Ray has been excused has
an excused absence this evening. Council
member Ray's term does end on December
31st and I was really excited to have
the chance to thank Council Member Ray
for his service at our November
services, Safety, and Parks Committee
meeting. So, as a reminder, we continue
to have a remote aspect to our meetings
and both staff and members of the public
may be participating in tonight's
meeting remotely via WebEx. So, the next
item on our agenda this evening is the
pledge of allegiance and I invite you to
join.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Thank you.
So, we did just have an election and the
next item of business this evening, we
will be swearing in for city council
position number six. Council position
number six became vacant in January of
this year when Victoria Hunt was
appointed to the state legislature. The
city council then appointed Kelly Jiang
to position number six in February.
Kevin Nichols ran for position number
six in the general election and won. He
will now serve the remainder of Victoria
Hunt's unexpired term through December
31st, 2027.
Because the community has now elected
someone to fill this vacant position,
he's being sworn in early and the other
council members who were elected at the
November general election will be sworn
in after their terms begin on January
1st. So, I'm going to invite Kevin over
to the lectern here and we will do the
oath of office.
>> So, please raise your right hand and
repeat after me. I state your name. I,
Kevin Nichols,
>> having been duly elected
>> having been duly elected
>> to the city of Isiqua
>> to the city of Isqua
>> council position number six
>> council position number six
>> term expiring December 31st, 2027
>> term expiring December 31st, 2027
>> do solemnly swear
>> do solemnly swear
>> that I will faithfully and impartially
>> that I will fa faithfully and
impartially
>> discharge the duties of this office
>> discharge the duties of this office
>> as prescribed by law
>> as prescribed by law
>> and to the best of my ability and do the
best of my ability.
>> And that I will support and maintain
>> And that I will support and maintain
>> the Constitution of the United States
>> the Constitution of the United States
>> and the Constitution and laws of the
state of Washington
>> and the Constitution and laws of the
state of Washington
>> and all local ordinances
>> and all local ordinances.
>> Congratulations.
>> Thank you.
>> So Kevin will be participate seated and
participating in tonight's meeting.
This one.
This one for the clerk.
And this one for you. Congratulations.
Get a picture.
>> We should get a picture with it.
>> You want to come up?
>> There you go.
Take a break.
So, there's a lot of recognition
tonight. The next item on the agenda is
ID 1926, the recognition of myself and
council member
and council member Hall. Zach, do you
want to join me over there so I can talk
about you first?
Fine.
>> So, this is very fun and exciting for me
to get to talk about Zach. I'm going to
talk a little about his service and then
some personal memories I have of working
with him. So, Zach sat on Isiqua City
Council position number two for 5 years,
2025 through 2020 through 2025. He
served as deputy council president
during that time, the planning,
development, and environmental council
committee chair, and the east side fire
and rescue board. There are nine or ten
other meetings that Zach attended
regularly throughout the region to make
sure that Isiqua was at important tables
where important decisions were being
made about our community.
So, I'm very pleased to present council
member Hall with a plaque from the city
in gratitude for his six years of
service to our city council and to thank
him for all the time, energy, and effort
he put into his work to ensure that we
continue to provide the highquality
services that the Isiqua community
expects. As many of you may know, Zach
and I first met nine years ago while he
was completing his studies at the
University of Washington and looking for
some public sector work. That feels like
a long time ago, doesn't it? Yeah, it
does. He was my campaign manager in 2017
in my first run for mayor as well as
Representative Ken's campaign manager a
year or so later. Zach then joined
Representative Ken as a legislative aid
in Olympia and when that work was
complete threw his head in the ring for
an Isiqua city council member position.
During his service in Isiqua he also
completed his mers in public
administration. Is it Foster School?
>> The Evans School.
>> The Evans School. I knew I had it wrong.
At the Evans School at the University of
Washington, a degree that significantly
deepened his understanding of local
government and public sector work.
While I am sad he is leaving our city
for now, I know that there are
opportunities for her him here anytime
he desires to work locally again.
Council member Hall has served as one of
the most humble council members I have
ever met. Recently, when talking about
what humble leadership means as a at a
candidate forum, I referenced several
traits and I will share those with you
now with regard to Zach's service to
this community.
Humility and political leadership
includes admitting mistakes,
actively listening to the community and
staff members, giving credit to others,
seeking and accepting feedback, and
collaborating to solve problems. A
humble public servant maintains an open
mind, fosters a culture of continuous
improvement and mutual respect, and
demonstrates that true leadership stems
from service and selfaware awareness
rather than personal ego.
It means prioritizing the community's
needs by honing your listening skills
versus speaking at constituents so that
you're able to distill the community's
collective concerns and issues. It means
assuming you don't know what you don't
know yet and therefore asking lots and
lots of questions is important.
Over many coffee shop meetings, Zach and
I have discussed and debated a policy
development process over and over again.
Rather than picking an idea and working
around to describe what problem it might
solve, we talked about allowing enough
time to define the problem, collect the
data, and examine the many alternative
ideas that you need to use criteria to
evaluate to contrast and compare these
ideas so that they can be evaluated and
proposed for implementation. also that
outcomes are the true measure of success
and ensuring that there are measurable
established measurements established to
ensure that those desired benefits are
achieved by this community.
This is the process. Zach also has a
copy.
However, I have to give him the new one
because it's been modified a little bit
based on one of our last coffee
conversations. But it's a it's a process
that allows you to really be that voice
for your community, to really dig in and
really understand what would make a
difference. It requires a great deal of
humility and patience to create policy
this way. And Council Member Hall has
always brought both both of these traits
to the table to complete his work in a
manner that is thorough, thoughtful,
well vetted, and measurable to ensure
our community is getting the outcomes
they deserve. Council member Hall, you
will be truly missed, not only in this
room, but at all the other tables
throughout our region where you
represented our council and our
community. You have demonstrated over
and over again what a community leader
and humble public servant can do to help
their communities thrive. Thank you for
all your service, my friend.
Are you ready?
>> Sure.
>> Here we go.
>> That was our recreation.
>> Appreciate it.
>> Thanks.
>> I also have some thoughts uh to share
about you. Um,
well, it's certainly my honor to speak
about Mayor Paulie um tonight. Um, I
won't be as well, I'll just say I'm not
sure if I'm completely deserving of all
those very nice remarks. I appreciate
that. Um, I won't be as um I don't have
as much to say because we have a lot of
opportunities to thank you for your
incredible service to Isqua in the
coming days. I know there's a big event
that everyone should come to. When is it
the 8th? Is that right? to celebrate
everything about you and I hope that we
see a lot of community there as well.
But I did want to say this, Mary Lou's
time as mayor has had an incredible
impact on our city. There's no doubt
about that. She now she will be the
first person to admit that she couldn't
have done any of it without the help of
many, many others. But progress starts
with the tone set by our leaders. I
think we can all agree on that. And what
I find most remarkable about the tone
that you have set, Mary Lou, is
consistency.
You have this reflex, this instinct to
step out of however you might feel about
a particular issue and ask, "What does
the community want?"
No issue too big or too small to put
community at the center of decision-m.
That's the tone that you set during your
time as mayor. That focus, that
commitment you brought with you into the
mayor's office is the very foundation of
our government. Now, the questions that
we ask as a council that staff ask when
they're producing memos and engaging
with community stems from your
leadership and the tone that you set
around that. And to me, beyond your more
obvious and visible achievements, I
think of the Bergsma acquisition. I
think of the strategic plan, guiding the
city through a pandemic. Um, bringing in
new leaders and professionalizing our
workforce. That's your legacy. asking
what does the community want and how do
we bring them into the process. So on
behalf of the city of Isiqua and the
Isqua city council, it's an honor to
present you with this plaque and to
thank you for your many, many years of
service to the Isqua community.
Very funny.
No, thank you. Very nice.
>> Yeah, that's a great
fun. And again, in all seriousness,
thank you, Council Member Hall. We
expect great things from you heading up
to the state legislature.
Um, we are going to take a short recess
because we know we have many family
members in the room that may not be
staying for all the really thrilling,
enticing work items that we have coming
up. So, we'll take a 5m minute recess
and uh then we'll get back here at about
7:20. Thanks.
Okay, everyone. I think we are back on.
Yes, thank you, Tim. Um, so thank you
for taking a little recess. That's
helpful for those that didn't want to
stay for the rest of the information.
We're going to move into the next item,
which is ID 1930. It's anformational
update on the asset management system
update and Deputy City Administrator
Andrea Leonard is coming to the lectern.
Welcome, Andrea. Thank you, Mayor Polly.
Good evening, city council. I'm Andrea
Leonard, deputy city administrator, and
with me here tonight, we have a bunch of
staff to help present the next item. Um,
I'd really just like to call a couple of
you up to the podium since we won't all
fit cramped behind here. So, if uh Gus,
Brian, and Roma could come up, please.
Uh these are folks who've been working
very hard, very long hours on this
project, which is the asset management
project. And um here tonight, thanks
guys. here tonight. I wanted to provide
anformational update on where we are
with our asset management program and uh
also celebrate the completion of the uh
launch of our policies and software for
this program. And so uh starting off,
can we have all of the staff who are
here tonight who helped uh support this
program, who worked many hours on this
uh project, could you please stand and
just show us who you are? THANK YOU.
THANK YOU GUYS. Uh so this particular
project, these updates to our asset
management program is something that's
highlighted in the strategic plan under
the infrastructure goal. It calls out
this work specifically to develop and
implement an organizationwide asset
management policy program and financial
plan to ensure sound stewardship of city
assets. After three years and hundreds
of hours of work from over 200 staff
members, in addition to the staff being
recognized tonight, we have done just
that.
Before this effort, every department had
a different approach to managing and
maintaining assets. Uh policies guiding
this work were few and far between and
also differed among departments. So with
this effort, we brought all of the
departments, public works, parks, admin
services, including facilities and
finance under the same set of policies
and the same new software system called
Cardigraph.
The system takes our asset management
work out of our heads, stray post-it
notes around the office and random
spreadsheets into one system, one
GISbased system that is integrated with
our C clicks fix program and our
financial system
so we can better plan and prepare for
the cost of maintenance and adjust our
maintenance approach to the actual needs
of the city through robust data that
just wasn't available to us before.
This has been a large project to change
how we do business. Now that we have one
set of policies and one software tool,
we can continue to find more
efficiencies and better manage the
public assets. Here is a little video
I'd like to show which highlights a few
of the benefits we're already seeing.
The asset management software called
Cardigraph over the last four years was
a major focus by all departments
throughout the city particularly public
works, parks and facilities to better
manage their assets and track expenses
and hours put into the maintaining those
assets.
So with Cardigraph, we'll be able to
track our equipment costs, labor costs.
I mean, we'll be able to track
everything down to, you know, the leaf
blower, the mower, even the rechargeable
batteries that we use for our equipment
to know how much um we're using those
pieces of equipment and how much the
true costs are for maintaining our city
parks. Another way we're using
Cardograph in the aftermath of the bomb
cyclone is we've tracked all of our
storm damage with the trees um that were
damaged during the storm and obviously
there's still stumps out there. So we
have all those stumps on a GIS layer now
that we'll be able to input into
cardograph
identify them and then move forward with
creating work orders and tasks to remove
those stumps and then replant trees um
as we continue into this fall.
Cardigcraft's an extremely powerful tool
and we've been able to use it to augment
our flushing program and water
operations. Uh flushing is done on a
routine basis to freshen up water in uh
lowflow areas of the system. Uh
previously that was all done on paper
and all the data was collected and put
into an access database. uh now we're
able to use uh you know the power of GIS
to both uh optimize our routing um and
figure out areas of the system where CIP
projects have improved flow uh and we
can also trend um and analyze trends on
the the data that we collect um uh
concerning water quality parameters. So
it's been a really really easy way for
us to reduce the time that we're
spending on it and uh improve the
efficacy of the program overall.
This year during salmon days we were
able to use cardigraph to to track our
time, materials, labor. Um, in the past
we never really had that option. We
would kind of just use Excel
spreadsheets, do our best to guesstimate
time and and the equipment cost. So this
year was really nice. We were able to
capture the true cost of equipment
because those are all um inputed into a
cardograph and track our labor materials
and get a real accurate cost of how much
our department spent for salmon days.
>> I've enjoyed being a part of the process
and I'm very appreciative that the city
entrusted us to help them with this
journey. Um it is a very large change.
It's a it's a change in from the way
things have always been done to being
able to go to a new modernized system
and a way of managing assets that is
really going to allow the city to be
able to plan the work that they're doing
to be able to track that work and um and
report on it. So that way you can show
the community all the great things that
all of your staff are able to do. One of
the big aspects that we identified as we
went through this process is that yeah,
if we're going to select a unified piece
of software, then we should move
together as a a unit as a as as the city
to do that work. And so, you know,
public works was had their own
management system uh called how and then
parks uh was doing it just via
spreadsheets for the most part as was
facilities. So we kind of had um
different systems going on that weren't
compatible with each other and weren't
compatible with our new system. So we
all identified change management as as
something that we should focus in as
well as implementing this software so
that we move together unified into the
future with this piece of software.
So that video gave a few examples of
some of the benefits we're already
seeing from this work. And the reason
why we wanted to bring this update
before you tonight is because it is work
that has impacted all the city
departments. Big changes for us and
doing things very differently and has
been largely invisible to you and to
members of the public over the past
several years. So we wanted to take this
opportunity to uh thank you city council
for placing this as a priority on the
strategic plan for the budget to do this
work, the staffing to do this work
because we do believe it's delivering
great benefits already. So, thank you
very much also to the staff who've
worked tirelessly over the past few
years to make it happen and um improve
the way that we do business. Are there
any questions?
I am not seeing any questions, but if
you could get the staff to stand again,
I would just love to express all of our
gratitude again for this. I think
Council Member Hall said it really well,
this absolute professionalization of our
operations and such a big and heavy
lift. I would love for our staff to
stand up and we give you a round of
applause again. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Andrea.
Next item on our agenda this evening is
audience comments. And members of the
public may address the council at this
time, both in person or virtually. Those
who signed up in advance to make
comments will be called on first. And if
you're joining us virtually and would
like to make comments, raise your
virtual hand or send our host a chat
message. If you're on the phone, press
star three. If you join by computer or
smartphone, look for a hand icon. And if
you're in the room and you 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?
Yes. So if you're making comments this
evening, you're invited to address the
council regarding matters that are
directly related to sequest programs,
projects, services, or events. Comments
related to political campaigns are not
permitted. I guess I could have dropped
that line. Please direct comments to the
whole council and not individuals. And
while this is not a question and answer
session, we will follow up with you if
needed. When you are recognized, uh if
you are virtual, please unmute your
microphone. If you're in the room,
please step up to the lectern in the
center of the room. There is a button on
the base that allows you to turn on the
microphone and you will see a red light.
State your name, address, and
relationship to the city. Speak clearly
and pause frequently and please limit
your comments to 5 minutes. If you're
attending virtually and you do not
respond after your name or phone number
is called or your connection is lost
unexpectedly, the meeting will need to
proceed and you're encouraged to enjoy
rejoin us if you can. Personal attacks,
obscene language, derogatory remarks,
and disruptive behavior will not be
permitted. Public comments, written and
verbal, are an important aspect of the
public process, and the city takes
comments seriously. We thank you all for
taking the time to address us. City
clerk, do you want to call up the first
person on the list? Yes, Joan Wallace,
who's joining us virtually. Welcome,
Joan.
>> Thank you.
Good evening, everyone. My name is Joan
Wallace. I reside at 532354th
Avenue Southeast in Belleview.
And the reason I'm speaking to you
tonight, even though this is Isiqua,
is that I serve on the board of
directors of Acres of Diamonds and I am
chairing their capital campaign.
So before I get into my remarks
regarding Acres of Diamonds, I'd first
like to thank all of you for your
service. I come from a family that has
long been involved in community and
public service. Uh and I personally have
co-chared five different
uh Belleview City Council campaigns in
the past.
My son Kevin served two terms on the
Belle City Council and also was deputy
mayor. So I know firsthand what it takes
to do what you're doing. All the hours
of doorbelling and campaigning and then
you're the lucky dog that caught the
fire truck and now you get to sit and
listen to people like me when you have
this full schedule of things to get
done. So I will uh move forward quickly
with the comments that I have to make
regarding the subject at hand.
So
I know that you like me are in very
concerned about homelessness
and its growth in our greater Seattle
area.
And I wanted to share with you why I
chose the mission of serving on the
board of directors of Acres of Diamonds
and attempting to raise 12.5 million
dollars.
First of all, as a woman of faith, I
believe I'm called to help people find a
better path.
And like you, I'm concerned about the
growing homeless situation.
I can't fix this problem, but by helping
raise 12.5 million dollars, I can help
24 more families find a real path to
success.
And that little bit is important to me
cuz it's something that I can do.
Acres of Diamonds is really a special
place because it treats people with
dignity, compassion, and respect.
We raise the bar for these young moms
and inspire them to find the courage to
learn, to change, and to succeed.
All of us have had the experience of
having someone in our lives who believe
in us. And when these young woman women
come to Acres of Diamonds with their
little ones, they have a whole team of
people who believe in them and give them
the tools they need and watch them go
forward with confidence and success and
and become successful.
Acres of diamonds a little different
because it's not about heads and bids.
It's about creating lasting generational
change.
My prayer is that every child who comes
under our roof will never again
experience homelessness, violence, or
trauma.
And the results of our program speak for
themselves.
5 years after graduation,
92% of our families are still sober and
self-sufficient.
I want to thank you again for your
service to the Isiqua community and I
know that you too care about the
underserved
because you are here tonight doing what
you're doing. Thanks again.
>> Thank you Joan. Um city clerk the next
person on the list. Yes, DC Goodman.
So, don't cut me off because I got the
all clear from from
city administrator Bob Bob Koitz about
the topic that is on the agenda tonight,
which is a recognition. Good evening.
Um, good evening, Mayor Py and u Mayor
Elect Mullet. A hearty congratulations
to you and council and congratulations
to council member Hall for your next
chapter. That's very exciting. So, this
is a very momentous night. I'm excited
to be here tonight. We are honored to
celebrate um a one-of-a-kind public
servant, which is our own mayor Paulie.
Um as this is her last council meeting
as mayor,
her dedication to serving our community
is truly remarkable.
She and her husband Carl brought their
young family here from Canada in 1993.
And just one year later, Mary Lou was
appointed to the development commission
where she served for 19 years until 2013
when she was elected to the city council
and then in 2017 she was elected mayor.
But her public service began way before
1994.
In her earlier career, she was a civil
engineer working for public works
engineering um and an environmental
consultant in Canada public servants as
well and including time when she was a
student. So all told, Mayor Polly has
spent about 40 years in public service,
which is shocking since she's only 39. I
don't know how that happens.
Anyway, 31 of those years have been
right here in Isiqua. 31 years. Just
think about that. That's a long time. I
think that's pretty incredible. And what
I find most incredible is Mayor
Pauliey's embrace of public service in
its purest form. She maintains the
highest standards and ethical
principles, honesty, integrity,
transparency, and humility. She serves
the common good above personal ambition,
politics, pettiness, and self. Her
heart's greatest passion is to help
others. And both her heart and her home
are always open and always full.
Even during her off hours, Mayor Polly
is consumed by being the best public
servant she can possibly be. She loves
this work. You know, she absolutely
loves this work. You can tell. You can
see it. We've all experienced it. When
you're with Mayor Paulie, she is
engrossed in conversations with people
247.
Engaging with people is not a check the
box part of the do job. She doesn't do
this because she has to. Mayor Polly
talks to people because she loves to.
You know this is true. I'm sure you've
experienced this as well because she is
often running late because she cannot
tear herself away from conversations
about our community and local issues
because she enjoys it so much. I
experienced that tonight. By the way,
public service to Marylu is not about
sitting in a chair, holding a position,
being efficient, having a title, or
simply making decisions. It's about
truly loving the people and truly loving
the community you serve through passion,
empathy, dedication, actions, and
conduct. And she does it authentically
because she means it.
to borrow a a current movie song phrase.
Because our community knew you, because
we all knew you through your public
service and your friendship, we have
been changed for good.
So from the bottom of my heart, I want
to thank you, Marylu, for your service
to Isakqua. It means a lot to all of us.
Now, at the end of this month, you are
going to be discharged and ordered to
spend more time with your family and
friends because they miss you and you
deserve it. I want to say
congratulations again. Thank you. Cheers
to you, Mayor Lou. I love you.
Thank you. Um, city clerk, who's next?
Nancy Davidson.
Good evening. I'm Nancy Davidson. I am a
resident in Oldtown, Isiqua, 405
Southeast Bush. And I too here want to
echo um Stacy's comments because I'm
here also to thank Mary Lou for her
service. I want to thank you for your
over 30 years of commitment to the
residents, businesses, and visitors to
the city of Isiqua. Your leadership,
thoughtfulness, caring, and commitment
to the city has been unmatched.
She has thoughtfully dealt with
significant growth as a member of the
development commission, council member,
and since 2017 as the mayor. She has
stewarded our community's financial and
environmental resources, dealing with
budget surpluses and shortfalls,
environmental challenges such as
flooding, bomb cyclones, pandemics, and
other issues that have fa been faced in
her term as the mayor. all while leading
the city thoughtfully and carefully. The
one true area I really appreciate about
Mayor Paulie is her leadership and her
commitment to communication.
As mayor, she has worked to improve
communication with residents and
businesses. A true challenge to the
community since we have recent since we
lost the Isquel Press and that continued
effort to try and communicate with its
residents businesses is duly noted. It's
a challenge. Finally, at one point in
time, I was too on the city council with
a vision to complete a crossing of I90
at what is now the underpass known as
4th Avenue Northeast. I ran for election
to try and get that built. I'm truly
proud that you finally got that work
completed. It took a while, but it took
a lot of money, but I want to thank you
for actually seeing that vision that I
ran in 19, no, it was 2001 to get
completed. So, Mayor Pi, thank you for
all you have done for this community. I
wish you the best as you and your family
moved to try to figure out what's next
in your life and go be happy. Enjoy
life. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Nancy. It's very kind. Um,
city clerk, who's next up? Michelle
Winterstein.
Good evening, council members and mayor
Paulie and I thank you for your service
as well. But I am here to actually speak
about a different issue. Um, I
appreciate the opportunity to speak
about the e motorcycle and ebicycle
ordinance AB9087.
I want to start by saying sorry I'm
Michelle Winterstein. I'm a resident of
Isiqua 655 Mount Logan Drive.
Um, I want to say I share your concern
for safety in our parks, trails, and
streets. Reckless riding, whether by
minors or adults, can put pedestrians
and other users at risk.
We all want safe, welcoming public
spaces.
But the ordinance before you takes too
broad of an approach. It punishes all
ebike riders for the actions of a few.
In effect, it stereotypes us, assuming
that because some riders behave
dangerously, everyone with an electric
assist bike should be restricted. And
that's not fair.
Most ebike riders are responsible. Many
of us use pedal assist bikes for
commuting, recreation, or mobility
support with or without using our pedal
assist on our bike. I'm one of them. I
ride the Rainineer Trail to and from
work.
It's my safe, reliable route. If this
ordinance bans class one and class 2
bikes from trails like the rainier
trail, I would be forced to ride on the
street with cars and trucks and I don't
feel safe riding in traffic. So I would
be more likely to drive and that means
more congestion, more emissions,
fewer people choosing healthy,
sustainable transportation options.
For those whose only option is a long
bike commute on the Reineer Trail, for
example, or other areas around, um
you're forcing them to be on the roads
when they could be on the trail safely.
Um, in addition to riding on the trail,
my office is right on the Rainineer
trail and I look over the trail all day
long and I watch people cross the street
and there are many bike riders who are
unsafe.
They ride too fast. Most of them are e-
motorcycles
and many of them are younger minors or
young adults. Um,
so what you're doing is your bike
profiling. You're treating all riders of
electric bikes as dangerous when only a
minor minority are misusing the
technology. It's a collective punishment
and it undermines the very goals of
safety and accessibility.
We already have tools to address unsafe
behavior. speeding, reckless riding, and
endangerment are enforceable under
existing codes. Targeted enforcement
against violators, would solve the
problem without stripping rights from
responsible users. And education
campaigns, especially for minors and
their guardians,
could make a real difference.
Council members, safety is essential,
but fairness is too. Please don't close
our trails to those who use ebikes
responsibly.
Revise this ordinance so it targets
unsafe behavior directly instead of
stereotyping an entire group of riders.
Let's protect our parks and our trails
without pushing riders into more
dangerous situations on our streets.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Michelle. City Clerk, is
there anyone else who has signed up to
speak?
Yes, Paul Winterstein.
>> Welcome, Paul.
>> Good evening, Mayor Paulie, council
members. My name is Paul Winterstein. I
live at 655 Mount Logan Drive here in
Isiqua.
I'm going to talk about Agenda Bill 9087
as well. But first, uh, congratulations,
Zach. Thanks for your service. I know
you're going on to great things. Thank
you. Also, Mayor Paulie, I know you're
going on to even greater things. And I
just got to say, you guys ran a heck of
a campaign in 2017.
Uh hopefully most of you saw my email
from yesterday evening, so I don't want
to go over that into detail, but I was I
proposed an amendment to agenda bill
9087. And um was really appreciative
this morning when I got a very
thoughtful reply. I know that my request
was taken seriously and given serious
consideration. And so I do appreciate
getting that response. Um so um um and
I'm so what I'm going to do is respond
to the response that I got. Um
it did that response did suggest that
the amend my proposed amendment makes it
clear that this ordinance is not really
about unsafe riding. It's it's about
stopping electric bicycles altogether.
The administration in their response
says enforcement will be difficult
because officers can't tell from afar
whether a motor is on.
But that misses the point. If an officer
observes someone riding unsafeely,
speeding, weeding through pedestrians,
or endangering others, that behavior is
already visible. The officer doesn't
need to know whether the motor is on.
They need to sight the rider for unsafe
operation. That's how we enforce every
other traffic law, by observing
behavior, not by guessing at equipment.
The administration also suggested that
the motor use is fluid and hard to
prove. That may be their impression, but
it's not accurate. Riders can and do
choose whether to use the motor.
Penalizing someone who has chosen to
ride responsibly with the motor off is
unfair and inconsistent with the city's
stated goal of addressing unsafe
operation.
The ordinance as written criminalizes
the presence of a motor rather than the
misuse of that approach punishes
responsible riders while failing to
address the real problem unsafe riding.
If the city's goal is safety, then the
ordinance should focus on behavior,
speeding, reckless riding, and
endangering pedestrians, regardless of
whether the bicycle is electric or not.
I urge you to reconsider the ordinance.
Please refocus it on unsafe operation,
not on the mere presence of a motor.
That would give police the tools they
need, protect pedestrians and trail
users, and avoid penalizing residents
who are riding safely. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Paul. City Clerk, is there
anyone else that has signed up to speak
this evening?
>> Yes. Corby Castler. Welcome, Corby.
>> Good evening, Madame Mayor, Council
members, um, Mayor Elect Mullet, and the
audience. Today, I'm going to encourage
you to shop, and I want you to shop
small. And if you haven't been to the
holiday shop at Historic Shell, then
you're missing out on all the creations
that 30 different artists are selling.
and they're selling at a great rate.
It's been packed. It's been really a
beautiful thing to see people come
downtown, shop before and after the
theater, but I really encourage you to
go and take a look at all the different
one-of-a-kind items that you might be
able to get for a gift. Second, if you
haven't seen Lazy Boy parking lot
filled, you would have wanted to drive
by yesterday during the historically hip
author fair. We had 30 authors there
selling their books in the the store and
the store manager said he'd never seen
his parking lot so filled before. So it
was great to see boning of things
happening in downtown. Um it's a plain
old Saturday and Sunday during the
holidays and people are coming out in
droves. So really encourage you to be
among them. Thank you.
>> Thank you Corby. City Clerk, is there
anyone else has signed up to speak? No
one else has signed up to speak. We do
have a few folks with us virtually, but
I don't see any virtual hands raised.
Just looking to see. Oh, Mariah. Hi
there. Oh, and Kelly. Okay, Mariah
followed by Kelly.
Oh, I'm good. Now I have to find my
notes.
So, hello Mayor and Council, uh, staff,
administration, and Mayor Elect Mullet.
I'm really happy to be here tonight, and
I would love to just talk about a couple
of things. I'd like to talk about Mayor
Paulie and thank her and also Zach Hall.
Uh, so, Mayor Paulie, and I'm going to
talk personally here. I want to thank
you for three things. I want to thank
you for your leadership, your
mentorship, and your friendship. Your
passion for Isiqua and your love for
this city and this community has been
inspiring uh to me for years, and I know
it inspires so many. Your leadership for
this city has been steadfast. You've
been an amazing leader to this whole
amazing city of Isiqua team. leading our
city, balancing growth, balancing the
budget, stewarding the environment,
developing really impactful
partnerships, guiding us through
emergencies, who could have seen the
kinds of things that were coming your
way, COVID and the bomb cyclone,
uh, and just adding, uh, advocating for
isqua through the legislature and
working tirelessly
ly sorry throughout the region day and
night and I I just know how much you've
done. Um caring and listening to our
diverse community I think is really
number one. Um, I think that your
ability to really stop and listen to
everyone who's speaking to you is is
really been amazing and it's been
amazing to watch and it just instills
trust uh across the board. Um, that's
not just a personal comment, but from
what I hear from others as a mentor when
I started on city council, you were an
amazing mentor to me, and I know that
you and Stacy and I will always fondly
remember our time on Landon Shore and
the laughs that we had.
And you've been an amazing mentor to so
many. You're always encouraging people
to to run for office and you're
inspiring people to believe in
themselves and that that is so
impactful. you shined as a city council
leader and I watched you evolve as you
became mayor and then had the
opportunity to work with you uh while
you were mayor uh when I was on
leadership and just I've learned so much
from you and I know everyone around you
has learned so much from you and now as
you're leaving I just want to thank you
and now I'm just honored to call you my
And
one more thing,
your amazing impact
is felt now. It's been felt for decades.
And all of the seeds that you've planted
are going to grow into a tall,
beautiful, foundational tree in Isiqua.
Thank you,
Zack.
Zack Hall. Oh, in 2019, after four years
on council, I made a difficult um
heart-wrenching decision not to run in
the upcoming election. And I was so
concerned about who was going to take on
council uh position number two. And I'm
so glad that it was you, that it was
Zach Hall. After long conversations with
Zach, I knew that you were the person
for the role and I was just taken. I
remember being very taken at the time
with your knowledge, your profound
profound knowledge of all of the issues
that were happening. It was really
astounding
and just your absolute care. You I could
tell how passionate you were, but I
could tell that it was just more than
that. it was how much you really really
cared about this community and then you
stepped in right while co was getting
started and it a lot of really complex
issues and and I watched you know as as
you worked your way through so much of
that um and I just was very very
impressed and you've really worked to um
balance a sustainable isqua our quality
of life you've been an advocate for the
environ enironment, voting for
infrastructure, working again across so
many different projects, and now moving
to the House of Representatives. I I'm
really happy that you're going to be our
representative in Olympia, and I know
that you'll be advocating um you'll
continue to advocate for Isaqua, and I
just want to thank you for your service.
Thanks everybody.
>> Very kind, Mariah.
Um city clerk, is there anyone else? Oh,
sorry, Kelly, come on up. I was going
back to the list, but we're in the room
now. Welcome.
>> Great. Um, well, I'm here as a just
random member of the public tonight. Um,
but I'll be back up there uh in uh not
too long. Um, so I'm here to talk about
two topics tonight. The first one is the
Acres of Diamonds situation and the
second one is the e- motorcycle
ordinance. Um, so first of all, uh, I
just wanted to mention that deputy
council president D. Michelle and I had
the opportunity to tour the Acres of
Diamonds facility up in Duval. um a
couple months ago and it was a really
great experience. It's I mean they have
a facility that um provides the
wraparound services that these um
formerly unhoused women and their
children need to actually get back on
their feet and get on a path to you know
employment, finding um permanent
housing. And so it's actually like a
typically women and children are there
for like one to two years. And so having
seen that program and how it really
works with that group setting and you
know we saw where they were going to
build the new facility that would
actually have on-site child care which
is a huge issue for these women because
a lot of times you know they have to get
jobs elsewhere and the child care
provided on site will also you know be
trauma-informed for those children. So I
think it's a really great project and we
have an opportunity to um be able to
help uh move that forward. I know you
know when I originally heard about this
project there were a lot of concerns
that I and others had. for example, you
know, removing an affordability covenant
is not something where we want to set
that as a precedent. Um, and but
ultimately where I came to on this was
that it's it's going to result in a net
increase in affordable housing
throughout the region and also where
they're able to kind of have a more
centralized um space to provide those
services like on-site child care,
counseling, etc. So, I think it makes a
lot of sense. There's also, you know,
concerns about the fees uh that were
waved, such as the permit fees, um the
low-inccome heat pump retrofit, and the
fact that the final agreement now, you
know, requires them to essentially pay
us back for that, I think is great. And
also the um whole escrow account where
basically the money um that if they sell
these properties at full market rate,
the money is basically locked up in this
account until they actually have raised
enough money to break ground. So, it's
not like we could end up in a situation
where they take the money and don't do
what they said. So overall, I think um I
want to give a huge kudos to the
administration and especially our city
attorney for working through all of
those details and I'm in full support of
um moving forward with that project. Um
on e- motorcycles, so um I recently had
the opportunity to talk to hundreds
possibly thousands of voters in Isiqua
and e- motorcycles was like top of the
list. It's like number one concern
traffic, number two e- motorcycles and
it's not something that's in the
community survey so it wasn't in there.
Um, so I think that, you know, passing
local legislation addressing e-
motorcycles is really important and I
think what we have at this point is
generally reasonable. Um, however, I do
think um, it's good that in uh, our
state legislative agenda, we've included
that we want to push for more state
action. And one of the things that's
been done in other states is basically
saying, you know, going actually going
after the manufacturers for deceptive
marketing. So if there's something at
the state level then the attorney
general can actually go after companies
like Siron for you know advertising
these as ebikes when they are e-
motorcycles. Um so I fully support all
of our legislative efforts at the state
level. I do agree with some of the
concerns that have been raised
particularly on section um
10.48.030
which is the authority to limit class
one or two electric assisted bicycle
use. Um, so which basically says the
parks and community services director is
authorized to prohibit use of class one
or two electric assisted bicycles within
city-owned parks or open space. I think
that I personally have a lot of
questions on when that would be allowed
to be used. So I would encourage the
council to discuss whether or not at
this juncture it makes sense to strike
that. I'm someone who also rides an
ebike. Um, I don't have that much fear
of riding near cars, although I do
appreciate being able to be on the Renew
Trail safe from cars when that's an
option. Um, and so I think, you know, if
the real concern right now is the e-
motorcycles, I think, you know, also
offering the parks director like
unilateral discretion to ban um, ban
class one and two ebikes is a bit out of
scope for this specific discussion. So,
I would recommend considering striking
that. Um, but ultimately I think you
know what we've seen in a lot of other
cities is that when they've addressed e-
motorcycles, they've also just like
fully banned ebikes and we're not doing
that in this case. So I think that's
very good. Other things that we've seen
in other cities are things like, you
know, restricting the speed limit on
sidewalks to 5 miles an hour, which also
uh restricts runners because most people
run faster than 5 miles an hour. So I
think overall, you know, what we're
doing here is fairly balanced and um I'm
looking forward to hearing the full
discussion tonight. So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Kelly. Is there anyone else
in the room or city clerk, anyone else
online that would like to comment?
Anyone else in the room? Well, thank you
all for your comments. We heard a lot of
embarrassing comments tonight for
Council Member Hall and I, but I
appreciate that you took the time to
talk about how we may have impacted our
community and the work that we do. So,
that was that was very, very kind. And
also, thanks for coming in and talking
about the ebicycles as well. all e
motorcycles e bicycles because that will
be an item for tonight. So, thank you
all for doing that. Um, appreciate it
and Corby, thank you for coming in and
talking about the uh available fun stuff
in Oldtown during Christmas as well. Um,
as a reminder, folks can write uh their
city council at any time at city council
atquawwa.gov.
And we are going to move on to the
consent calendar. Um, I don't have any
remarks on the consent calendar items,
but I will ask city clerk to address one
update that has been made to the
calendar.
Thank you, mayor. Uh, city council, you
received an email before the meeting
that has a corrected version of the
ordinance that accompanies item I on the
consent calendar, the 2026 salary
ordinance. We noticed some minor errors
in exhibit A, the non-representative
salary schedule that was included in the
packet. So with approval of the consent
calendar, uh we we have put before you
this corrected version of the ordinance
that was distributed prior to the
meeting. Thank you.
Are there any committee chairs or chair
designs who would like to report on any
of the consent calendar items? Not
seeing any indication. Uh the consent
calendar was distributed to council in
advance and 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? Not seeing any
indication. Uh can we get a motion?
>> Council president.
>> I move we approve the consent calendar
as
amended.
>> Thank you.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
>> I. Those opposed.
That carries 6 and0. We're going to move
into regular business. This is AB9079
Acres of Diamonds Affordable Housing
Covenants. And the request before
council this evening is to authorize.
Um, city attorney Rachel Bender Turpin
is up at the D at the podium to speak to
us. Welcome, Rachel.
>> Thank you. Thank you for having me this
evening. Me get this started.
Okay.
Thank you. Uh before you this evening is
a memorandum of understanding between
the city of Isiqua and Acres of
Diamonds.
The purpose of this discussion is to
seek your authorization for the mayor to
execute this memorandum of
understanding, which as you've heard
about a little bit this evening, um,
thanks to council member Jen's very nice
overview, would release some affordable
housing restricted covenants that are
recorded against two transitional
housing properties in the city.
There's a little bit of background um on
this item that I want to go over. uh has
kind of a lengthy history, so bear with
me. But back between 2005 and 2006, the
city council agreed to wave
approximately um $21,000 in permit and
other development fees in exchange for
development of um the property that's
located at 250 uh 252 Southeast Andrews.
has the slash in its uh in its title
because it's a duplex and that's how the
addressing works for duplexes. Uh which
were going to be developed into
transitional housing by a nonprofit
called Compassion House which um in
exchange agreed to record a 30-year
restrictive covenant against the
property restricting its use to
affordable housing at a a very low um
income level.
Then in 2012, the city council again
agreed to wave permit and other
development fees uh for another property
owned by Compassion House, this time in
the amount of um approximately $52,000.
This was also developed into a duplex
for use as transitional housing. And
once again, a 30-year um restrictive
covenant was recorded against the
property. however, didn't get recorded
for several years. So, it wasn't
recorded until 2019.
Then, Acres of Diamonds came on the
scene. They acquired both properties
from uh Compassion House in 2019, I
believe, and they have been operating
them as transitional housing. Acres of
Diamonds is a local nonprofit, as you've
heard about this evening. They provide
housing to um transitional housing, but
long-term transitional housing to uh
unhoused women and their children. And
they also provide related services like
counseling, job training,
trauma-informed child care, and other
services that are intended to empower
their participants to um get help and
become self-sufficient and re-enter um
the workplace on their their own. Their
primary facility is located in Duvall.
It currently serves 18 family units.
Acres is in the process of developing a
new facility, the family renewal home,
which will add 24 units. So, it will
more than double their current um
capacity to serve. And it will be um it
will also have a a onsite daycare, which
is a really big asset. As you've heard,
the project is located in Duvall where
the organization is is located and it's
estimated to cost approximately $12
million.
Uh, Acres has already raised, I believe
it's up to $6 million at this point. um
in cash and matching gifts from um
charitable folks around the region. And
they plan to bake to break ground when
they get to 8.75 million, which is 70%
of their of their um goal, which is a
pretty typical number um to hit when you
would break ground because often more
funds come in the farther along in the
process you are. you're more eligible
for various grants and things when
you've shown that you're actually
working on the project.
The proposed
um has several terms to it. Under it,
the city would agree to release the
affordable housing restricted covenants
so that these properties can be sold for
their highest um fair market value.
right now with the restricted covenants
on them because they can only be used as
transitional housing, it's going to
severely impact the ability to to sell
them at at market rate. So, this would
allow um Acres of Diamonds to receive
the the best possible prices for these
homes. In exchange, Acres would
reimburse the city for the wave fees at
today's values. So we took the amount of
of wave fees in the past and we applied
an inflation factor to them to get what
it would be at current value. They would
also reimburse the city for uh the heat
pumps that were installed at the
properties through the city's low-income
heat pump installation program so that
the city can then reinvest those funds
into additional heat pump installations
in the city.
They would also agree that the city
would continue to be a priority
community for placement of um graduates
from the family renewal home project
or program. And they would agree that
the proceeds from the sale, which we
estimate to be approximately $2 million,
would be held in a restricted account
and not release 2 acres of diamonds
until they get to $6.75 million um in
funding and can break ground and
actually use that money to to get to
work. If they don't proceed with the
family renewal program in three years,
then the parties would meet and confer
to decide how to best use those funds to
support uh women and children in the
region.
So, the options before you this evening
are to authorize the mayor to execute
theou and the release documents that go
along with it. In that case, the
properties would be sold and invested
into the family renewal home. or you
could decline to execute theou and
release documents in which case the uh
restricted covenants would remain in
place for the remainder of their term
and the properties can only be sold at
afford as affordable housing which would
likely reduce their sales prices.
The administration is recommending
moving forward with this proposal and I
am here to answer any questions that you
might have.
>> Thank you Rachel. Council questions.
Well, there was a lot of good
information in there. I'm not seeing any
questions. Um, I'd be looking for a
motion.
Council President,
I move to authorize the mayor to exe
execute the memorandum of understanding
between the city and acres of diamonds
and the related restrictive covenant
release documents attached there too.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any council discussion? Council
president,
>> thank you. Despite there being no
questions up here on the dis, I know
this has gone through a long process and
so I wanted to take a moment to
appreciate the fact that when this first
came up for us, I was rather concerned
with the idea. Um, I'm very protective
of our affordable housing in the city of
Isiqua. And while I very very much
respect Acres of Diamonds as an
organization, I think they've done
wonderful work. Um, my job and my role
here is to be protective of Isiqua, both
our city finances and the benefits that
um, our residents um, get through deals
that we have made about affordable
housing. So, um, I wanted to recognize
the great work that went into
understanding the benefits that these
organizations throughout the years had
received from the city in exchange for
providing the affordable housing. um as
well as you know just all of the
conversations that had to happen in us
saying well we don't want to give this
up until there really is a project that
is viable um and thus is going to end up
resulting in more affordable housing in
the region. So very much appreciate the
work that has gone into that. I will be
supporting this this evening um because
of that intense work because I know we
are not just saying yes to any option
that came across us but rather being
protective of the benefits that our um
our residents receive. Thank you.
>> Thank you deputy council president.
Uh, I think Council President Walsh
summarized that very well, so I won't
repeat what she had to say, but I I did
want to say as well that uh was very
appreciative of the tour that uh Council
Jen and I received. Uh very very
informative. Um I do think that uh
transitional housing that provides the
kind of wraparound services that uh
Diamond Acres of Diamonds provides is
the real answer. And I'm not surprised
at all at that 92%
uh rate of uh people who remained house
after they've been through your program.
So um it's uh been a a very good journey
in terms of communications and
information that was provided freely and
openly and I just appreciate all the
work that went into this including our
uh city uh attorney's work. So thank you
so much and I also will be supporting
this.
>> Any other comments from council?
Council Mertz,
>> thank you. Um, I just I think that this
document is particularly well done in
terms of the lens of what is the
community uh investment and what is the
proposed community benefit. And while
the benefit in the near term uh won't be
into our community, by pulling back the
our uh the benefit that had been
received on this, I think it it really
uh makes it an easier conversation to
have with the public. And so if we have
any more like this in the future, that
this lens of of what benefit was given
versus uh what public benefit results, I
think is a wonderful lens and makes for
good policy. Thank you. Any other
council comments?
Um, I got to get this right. Council
member Nichols.
>> Thank you. Um, I want to say so first
off, I think affordable housing in Isqua
is critical and anytime we're
considering modifications to affordable
housing covenants that will reduce
affordable housing in the city, we need
to analyze those very carefully. Um,
however, I'm really impressed with the
work the staff has done here to come up
with a good compromise. Um, I also think
that the context here is important as
well. we've had as a community 20 out of
the 30 years of this intended agreement
have now materialized. Um and now we
have an opportunity be to be a part of
something even bigger and better. Um I
do think there's a lot that we can do as
a city uh to help with the housing
affordability both locally and
regionally and that this is a good
example of one of those types of things
and that this will will directly benefit
Isiqua residents. um
people will not have to be a a Isqua
residents will be able to benefit from
this whether they live uh
even if they are not in the city of
Deval for example where this is intended
to go. So I think that's really
important to keep in mind and that uh uh
building something bigger and better
using these funds is is ultimately the
best use of this this land and this
resource as a community. So I'll be
happy to vote yes and uh I appreciate
all the work that went into this. Thank
you, Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I'm happy to
support uh this agenda bill this
evening. Uh, just want to make sure that
uh we as a council and we as a city
understand that under the comp plan, um,
for 30% AMI and below, we need 1668
units by 2044.
Uh, 30 to 50% AMI, we need 868 units by
2044.
50 to 80% AMI, the low income, we need
460 units. So if we are giving up four
units here,
uh it would seem that we would need to
add four units to those numbers as we go
forward. So, I would encourage us to
think about u being a little bit more
aggressive as we talk with ARCH and as
we look for other opportunities for um
partnering partnering with other
nonprofits to get the numbers that we
need uh to comply with our comprehensive
plan goals. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other comments?
Okay. Well, Rachel, I just want to say
well done. um a very complicated one-off
type situation where um I think what
you've worked out is the very best plan
that we could have going forward. So,
fantastic work.
>> Well, thank you. Acres of diamonds was a
pleasure to work with the whole time as
well.
>> That's so nice.
Um so, it has been moved and seconded to
authorize the mayor to execute the
memorandum of understanding between the
city and acres of diamonds and the
related restricted covenant release
documents attached there too. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed. That carries six and no.
Congratulations. And again, Rachel,
thank you very, very much. So, we're
going to move into the next item, which
has already been talked about this
evening as well, which is AB9087,
e motorcycle and ebicycle ordinance. And
the task before council this evening is
to adopt the ordinances. Let's start by
inviting please Chief Schwan to come up
and present this item. Welcome, Chief.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. Council,
as you know, tonight we're here to talk
about AB98 or 9087 e- motorcycles and
ebicycle ordinance.
I'm here to present the administration's
proposed ordinances to better regulate
ebike and e- motorcycle definitions, the
use, and the penalties for violations.
So this is achieved through two related
ordinances.
The first is a proposed new code section
defining and reg um regulation use of e-
motorcycles and ebikes. The second
cleans up the existing empoundment
chapter to modernize it allowing for
impounding of e- motorcycles and
allowing for officers to use discretion
and allow e- motorcycles or ebikes to be
picked up at the police station within
certain parameters.
We recommend authorizing both ordinances
as presented. The ordinances presented
today were supported by services,
safety, and parks committee.
We began discussing discussing the need
for these ordinances due to the
prevalence and visibility of ebikes and
e- motorcycles in the Isiqua,
particularly dangerous and illegal
behavior. While there is national
increase in popularity and ambiguity of
ebikes, there are some dangerous trends
emerging and the region um that they are
seeing in Isiqua as well and the other
local jurisdictions around us. Ebikes
can provide motor assistance to up to 28
mph which is faster than many pedal
bikes go. And the e- motorcycles and
ebikes or dirt bikes are also gaining
popularity. These vehicles can go much
faster than 28 mph
and both e- motorcycles and ebikes have
large youth ridership. This poses
several issues. Younger riders are less
likely to be aware of the rules of the
road and operate these vehicles at
higher speeds than pedal bike only,
leading to danger for riders and
drivers. All of this results in more
dangerous interactions between riders
and drivers, pedestrians, and parks and
trail users.
At the summer or the September 30th
services, safety and parks committee
meeting, the administration provided an
overview of these issues in Isiqua and
the committee was in support of the
administration's recommendations to
develop a local ordinance and with
definitions, usage and penalties to
support state action on defining and
regulating e- motorcycles and education
for parents and minors. The committee
also strongly supported means to ensure
officers to have the tools they need.
The ordinance proposed today are one of
the tools that they will help
enforcement and the education by IPD.
We returned to the committee on November
18th with the proposed ordinances which
the committee supported with two
adjustments.
correcting the scope of the parks
director's authority and reducing the
monetary penalty for ebike infractions
to ensure the penalties and tailored to
the gravity of the infractions.
These are the goals the administration
used to craft the ordinances. They are
based on committee feedback and IPD and
parks needs. Number one, ensure officers
have tools needed to make stops,
education,
um, and issue infractions as needed.
Consistency and clarity on where ebikes
and e- motorcycles can be operated, and
tailor penalties to better educate
guardians and riders themselves.
The first ordinance creating a new
section of the code for e- motorcycles
and ebikes has the following definition.
We propose that an e- motorcycle is a
motorcycle powered in full or in part by
electricity and that does not have
operable foot pedals or exceeds 750
watts or the motor continues to assist
even when it exceeds 28 mph.
The definition is written this way to
ensure it captures e- dirt bikes and
ebikes that are modified beyond the
capabilities listed in the current RCW.
The definitions for ebikes are derived
from RCW. Class one ebikes only provides
motor assistance when the riders pedals
and or the riders pedal and stops
providing assistance at 20 mph. Class 2
ebikes have a motor that can power the
ebikes without pedaling and is also
capped at 20 mph.
Class 3 ebikes only provides motor
assistance when pedaling, but it
provides assistance up to 28 mph.
Proposed requirements for operation.
The proposed ordinance has numerous
requirements for the operation of e-
motorcycles drawn from RCW. The issues
we most commonly see are noted on the
slide. Miners under the age of 16 and
operating without registration, license
plate, lensure or endorsements.
Ebikes are subject to less regulation
because we don't want to widely
discourage use. But other portions of
code and RCW have provisions for safety,
including requirements for helmets and
that you must be 16 or older or um for
class 3 ebikes, which are the ones
capable of going faster than the motor
for motor assistance.
Assuming a rider meets all of the
criteria we just discussed,
their bike or e- motorcycle is allowed
as outlined in the table above.
As you can see, e- motorcycles are
allowed only on the street, while class
one and two ebikes are allowed most
places, similar to regular pedal bikes.
Class 3 ebikes are allowed on streets
and the sidewalk if no alternative path
is provided, but cannot be on pedestrian
paths, shared use paths, park trails,
and city parks.
These recommendations were developed by
looking at where King County parks allow
different classes of ebikes and our
surrounding jurisdictions as well as
other cities.
What we propose here is largely similar
to Seamish and Belleview's code.
I'd like to see if um Director Jeff
Watley would like to come up now and
address the issue regarding um
preventing or discouraging people on the
parks as was mentioned earlier.
>> Thanks, Chief. Uh good evening,
everyone. Jeff Watling, parks and
community services director. Um glad I'm
here tonight. uh I wasn't planning on
staying for this but uh really want to
provide some clarity and I think this
table is a great place to to show that
um it is our intent and was our intent
as we drafted this with administration
that we allow class one and class 2
ebikes throughout our parks and trail
system um uh just like we encourage um
any other bikes. Um the prohibition
language that you see in there is
similar to the prohibition language that
um King County has and a number of other
jurisdictions. That prohibition is
intended to be extremely extremely rare.
Um and in many cases that prohibition is
probably not just for class one, class 2
ebikes, but for bikes in general. Uh we
have some forested trails within our
park system where bikes aren't allowed.
um here on the valley floor. Uh the new
improvements to pedestrian park. We want
to see how that space is being used that
it could it could be a possibility um as
a gathering space that we want all
bikers to dismount uh their bikes. And
so we would have a prohibition. Again,
the intent isn't to prohibit solely
class one and class 2 bikes, uh, ebikes,
uh, but this ordinance to at least give
consistency where we are doing a
prohibition, um, of bike use, um,
throughout the system. But that's meant
to be extremely rare. We know the value
of of Isqua's parks um, and trail system
is really meant for connectivity. That's
the vision of that system. Um, and
providing an alternative way to get
around. um specifically pointing out the
Reineer Trail, that would be a shared
use path that um class one and class two
ebikes would be strongly encouraged to
be used. Um and um just wanted to to
give that clarity and again I think the
table certainly points out um intent.
>> We're going to take a question from
Council Marts. Actually, it was for uh
it was for Director Wilding. Sorry.
>> Come on back up, Jeff. So, I'm looking
at the um draft minutes from the
services, safety, and parks committee,
and I have that we did um the chief was
correct about the the general um sense
of the body, but we did it said the
proposed ordinance. We recommended that
it be amended to state that parks
director can only prohibit ebikes use on
city parks, trails, and pla uh city city
park trails, parks, and plazas, but not
sidewalks, pedestrian pathways, or
shared use paths. That is not the
language that's in front of us today.
Um, was did the administration reject
our request?
>> No, I I I don't believe so. That I it's
probably not a question for me. I know
the intent I listened into that
conversation. You're absolutely right.
The intent was understanding the parks
director probably shouldn't have
authority to make decisions on right of
way.
>> Thank you.
>> Please do.
>> Um you see pedestrian pass include Oh,
sorry, pardon. Jillian straw management
analyst. Thank you. Um you see
pedestrian pass included there. Um in
part because there might be some
pedestrian paths that intersect with or
cross over with our parks. Um, and we
wanted to to give the ability to to
regulate that to our parks director.
That was a change that was made after
the meeting with services, safety, and
parks. We had a minute to look into it
further. But sidewalks should not be
included in that.
>> So,
>> and sidewalks are not included. It was
the it was the pedestrian pathways and
shared use paths that I was specifically
referring to.
>> Thank you. Okay,
>> Chief.
>> Oh, uh, Council Member Nichols.
also potentially enough. Um
so my question is uh does the parks
department have the authority to ban
bikes in general? So not ebikes just but
bikes overall um on
trails, pedestrian paths, etc. at the
moment.
>> Yeah, we we are able to sign a
prohibition of bikes, let's say on our
synthetic turf fields at Central Park.
Um or again, there are certain forested
trails within um Park Point and
Tradition Plateau where bikes are not um
not allowed
>> and and would that prohibition include
ebikes and motorcycles?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you, Jeff. Just stay up there.
Okay, Chief, do you have more slides to
go through? Yes. Thanks.
Thank you.
An item that came up in the September
meeting is speed, particularly for off-
streetet use. This will be a topic of
discussion next year with park staff and
park board as they develop a dedicated
park portion of the code.
Um, regarding the proposed empoundment
and penalty options, the proposed
ordinances address empowment and
penalties as well. The second ordinance
proposed would allow ebikes and e-
motorcycles to be picked up at the
police station likely the same day as
the stop is what our goal is. This
accounts for scenario where for example
an IPD officer makes a stop where they
cannot allow the minor to ride on e
motorcycle e- motorcycle or ebike home
after the stop but the guardian can come
pick it up soon thereafter. This could
be a useful education tool another
opportunity for us to communicate with
the guardians rather than impounding
straight to a tow lot. Uh and that's
where it's limited to contact between
the officer and the guardian at that
point. Plus, it incurs a large amount of
fees comparatively.
The change to the IMC allows for
officers and flexibility to have the e-
motorcycle or ebike be picked up at the
station, but does not mandate that uh
this approach be used. There are also
penalties separate from an impounding
charge uh from a tow company. The table
on the slide lists the penalties for
infractions. Ebikes have a lower penalty
because e- motorcycles pose a much
larger issue and increased danger
compared to the ebikes themselves.
The city council if uh city council
approved a legislative policy manual
that directs the administration to
support changes to the state level
around this issue. We will also continue
to monitor the issue and develop
outreach and education.
We're recommending the two ordinances
are adopted today
is what we brought forth to the council
and open for questions.
>> Thank you, Chief. I'm going to first go
to Council Member Marts as the chair of
the services safety and parks committee
meeting. And is there anything you'd
like to summarize about the committee's
recommendation on this item?
>> Sure. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh the
services, safety, and parks committee
met on November 18th here in chambers.
Uh on this item, the committee did
recommend the ordinances be brought to
the full uh city council at this
meeting. Uh we recommended the proposed
ordinance changes that we already
discussed. Um, we recommended penalties
for ebikes and e- motorcycle violations
to be different and that the code to
closely match neighboring jurisdictions
regulations uh which is the language in
front of you today. Um,
in public comment, we had um somebody
from the local sales of uh electric
bicycles speaking in favor of the
proposed ordinances and clear messaging,
education, and signage regarding ebike
usage and restrictions. Uh in addition
uh we stress the importance of local
constituency in ebike regulation uh
local const consistency I'm sorry in
ebike regulations and the need to
include ebike regulation in the city's
legislative agenda for the state
legislature. Um ensuring regulations are
communicated and education offered to
the public. Uh care taken to balance the
public's need for e bike transportation
with safety. Um and thanks to the staff
for working on this item.
>> This concludes my report. Thank you. And
now we'll go to council questions.
>> I am not seeing any questions. Would uh
council member Marts, would you care to
make a motion?
>> Yes, I would. And um boy oh boy, got it
up to
>> Got it up there. We Okay, thank you.
We've been struggling with these
monitors over here. They weren't
actually on a few minutes ago, so
they're working now. Uh
uh I propose adopting ordinance number
>> 3129
>> adopting chapter 10.48 48 of the Isiqua
Municipal Code to regulate the use of
electric assisted bicycles and electric
motorcycles and adopt ordinance number
>> 3130
>> amending chapter 10.34 of the Isiqua
municipal code abandon unauthorized and
junk motor vehicles to modernize the
chapter authorizing impound without
notice for vehicles operated illegally
and authorizing in-person notice of
impound and notice by first class mail.
>> Second.
>> Thank you. It's been moved and seconded.
How about council discussion?
Council member Nichols, then deputy
council president.
>> So, I'm going to need some help with
this, but uh my intent here is to offer
a motion to
strike 10.48.30
and 10.48.40A.
Um the context there is these are the um
authorities that that give basically
give the parks director the authority to
uh ban class one and class 2 ebikes on
city-owned parks, open space or
pedestrian pathways, shared use paths or
park trails within them. Um and 10.48.4A
is referencing back to 10.48.30. So I
think it's also relevant to include
those both. Uh my comment is um
>> Oh, let's get a second.
>> Oh, sorry.
>> It's been second. Second. There we go.
It's been seconded. And um
have a comment. I also want to have
staff talk about what removing that
language does to the director as well.
>> Thank you.
>> So,
>> go ahead.
>> Comment first.
>> Sure.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um, so yeah, my my
commentary is uh my my question to uh
the director was intended to get at
whether the uh the parks department
already has the authority to remove
bicycles from areas where bicycles
should not be utilized. I I think
there's it's it's very reasonable to not
have bicycles be allowed everywhere.
There there are places where they could
clearly not be safe. Um I see class one
and class 2 ebikes as essentially
equivalent to bicycles in almost every
way. They have speed limitations. Um, as
a regular class one ebike user, um, I
would see myself as in the same category
as any other bicyclist. Uh, and I think
that we should be very careful and, uh,
judicious about any sort of ban that we
place on ebikes because they are a key
part of our mobility framework for the
future. Um, and they have a great deal
of utility. Um, so with that, I I would
I would urge caution in
preemptively banning them from places or
preemptively allowing the ban of ebikes
separate from bicycles um on in any area
at all. Um, and that would include, as
was brought up in public comment, the
Rainer Trail is a good example of that.
Um, and that we should be treating class
one and class 2 ebikes essentially
equivalent to any other bicycle. Class 3
ebikes uh and e- motorcycles I think are
of in a different category. They can go
much faster. Um they don't necess class
3 ebike does not necessarily require any
pedaling at all. They have a throttle
that can make the thing go up to 30 mph
basically. Um it's and in e- motorcycles
I think are also a very different
category. So, I think um the work that
staff did to harmonize this uh ordinance
with other jurisdictions for class 3
ebikes as well as e motorcycles makes a
great deal of sense and is the the
primary safety consideration that's at
work here. Uh but I I I would uh
appreciate some discussion on
removing the uh restrictions on class
one and two ebikes separate from
bicycles alone.
>> So, I'm I'm assuming our lawyer would
like to comment on on that. I just want
to clarify that I don't believe there is
anything in the IMC currently that does
authorize the director to ban bicycles
generally from various parks or trails.
It they are not allowed on various parks
and trails, but director Watling is not
aware of the history behind how that
came about. So that may have been a
council decision years ago. It may have
been something that a director did years
ago. So, um it's but it's not something
that is in the code right now. So,
>> so in terms of a couple of questions
that were asked, if pedestrian park were
to be a no bicycle zone, that would just
mean dismount and walk your bike through
it. It doesn't mean you can't go on it.
It just means you can't ride it,
>> right? Um and then the second part of
the question was, does this uh as
currently written represent uh equate
bicycles with class one and class two?
I believe that I mean I think did we add
a definition of bicycle Jillian? Do you
remember? No, we already have one that
we didn't so we didn't have to. Um it
doesn't equate them for purposes of
other IMC provisions.
Other IMC provisions regarding bicycles
would apply because these are types of
bicycles. So bicycles is the big
umbrella. Exactly.
>> Mhm.
these these specific provisions to class
one bicycles, class 2 would not apply to
all bicycles. They would be specific to
the electric bicycles. Does that make
sense? Think
>> so. Um so let's do some comments or
questions. Council President, Council
Member Hall.
So, I'm tempted to agree with um this
concept because I think anything that we
are looking at as a way to limit class
one and class 2 electric assisted
bicycles um should just run under a
general bicycle provision. Um, and so I
I don't see the use of this. If we do
have a lack of the ability for the parks
director to limit bicycle use, then
let's take that on as some other
ordinance. Um, but as far as I can see,
I think I was going to make a similar
motion. Um, so unless somebody can
create a reason why this needs to be in
here, I think this actually takes away
from our emphasis on limiting e
motorcycle use um in this way.
>> Council member Hong,
>> thanks. Yeah, just that I'm getting Did
you want to looks like maybe you were
wanting to respond to something first?
>> Well, I just wanted to also make a
comment then.
>> Yes. then we would be one of the the
shop owner that sells the ebikes in the
area did comment at say services safety
is that one of the issues that they have
is the inconsistency from one
jurisdiction to the other and by
changing that I'm just putting it out
there that we would be different than
those that are um in those other
jurisdictions and the reason that
becomes problematic is let's say some of
the trails all run together in the
different jurisdictions whether it be
King County or into Belleview or those
different locations The problem then
there in lies with us having something
different. Where does that stop? Where
what how do they sometimes know what
jurisdiction they're in versus not? So,
I just wanted to make sure that that was
a comment that was brought up by the
shop owner. Um they love the extra
education piece and that was whenever
there are those trails or where they can
and cannot but sometimes when they run
together it makes it really difficult.
So, I just wanted to make sure that was
also aware. It'd be interesting to hear
from any of the three committee members
as well that consistency seemed to be
important.
Council
>> Marks.
>> Yeah. I just want to ask the chief. I
want to understand better. If we strike
10.48.30
and 10.48.040A.
How is that different from Belleview or
Seamish? What where's the inconsistency?
>> Because consistent the mayor's right.
Consistency was a big part. We wanted to
simplify things such that particularly
children um who are involved in riding
these bicycles have really clear
regulatory guidance from our city.
>> Yeah. Jillian Straw, management analyst.
So this is a portion that we really
borrowed heavily from the King County
park system in order to kind of align
the two park systems that are really
active in our in our city. So this is
one of those alignments with a different
jurisdiction, not necessarily a city.
Um, I believe that Belleview also has
provisions in their code allowing their
parks director to uh ban bicycles or
ebicycles on certain parks and trails.
Part of the reason that you see these
two provisions included 030 and 040A is
because we don't have a comprehensive
parks code chapter yet. Um, when that's
created, things like these powers and
regulatory authority will be de
delegated there. In the meantime, we
wanted to have the ability to create
that alignment with other jurisdictions
and be really consistent in that way.
So, likely this is something that might
come back before the council um when
there is a parks code created um to pull
that into the park system and make it
really easy for folks to find there.
>> I think deputy council president and
then council member Hall or deput Oh,
were you next? Okay. Council member
Hall,
>> go ahead.
Council member Hall, Council President,
Deputy Council President,
>> you're first.
>> Yeah.
>> Um Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Going back to
my um question, although it does sound
like we need to talk to those pesky
legislators. So, um
>> um um I'm getting kind of confused over
the different classes. So, um there's
been some discussion up here about like
one and two. Are we equating that with
bikes? But class 2 is the one that you
can ride without pedaling, right? Class
3, you still have to pedal. Isn't that
right? At least that's how it's written
in the current presentation
uh and in the code. Isn't that right? Um
the difference is class 3 goes to 28 m
an hour and it has a speedometer. Isn't
that right? So is that like the
the edge there that makes class 3 more
dangerous or prohibited in these
particular zones? In our the
administration's opinion,
>> the speed specifically is what makes it
more dangerous is because the class 3es
go a faster speed and have higher
wattage and that essentially is what
changes that big difference and jumps
that.
>> Okay.
>> So,
>> but you are correct that class 2 can
operate without being pedled.
>> Okay. Okay. Thank you.
>> Um, council president, deputy council
president or I'll let you two decide.
I'll just go quickly. Um, I looked at
Belleview's code, um, at least what's
references off of their ebike and
electric motorcycle safety page, which
references their Belleview BCC 3.43.160,
um, which designates it's unlawful to
ride, propel, drive, or direct any
motorized vehicle over through any park.
So, that's how they handle it. not
specific to something that is class one,
two, or three. Um, just as a note, I'm
still looking up King Counties.
>> Deputy Council President.
>> So, part of the discussion that we had
uh that evening, um, I had just
participated in East Side uh,
transportation partnership and, uh, we
were working on our legislative
priorities. Um and really the only new
thing that was added this year because
it is a short session was um uh urging
the legislature to step up and make some
general rules um because the um interest
there among the 21 cities that uh
participate in that particular
organization was to have consistency
across the east side. So that again is
as as the chief said um the trails tend
to run in and out of different
jurisdictions and it makes it really
difficult if there's no consistency
which there isn't right now. Um so using
uh this ordinance to make ourselves
consistent with the parks with the King
County parks with Belleview and so other
uh adjacent um jurisdictions I think is
an important point. Uh we obviously need
to do something about the umbrella
legislation uh so that the parks
director knows knows what authority he
has or he or she has. But uh uh I that
that was a big part of our discussion um
at the committee meeting was the
consistency and the importance of the
enforcement ability to enforce across
jurisdictions.
Um, we've heard from our parks director
that the need for banning uh bikes would
be assessed prior to that happening and
it looks or it sounded to me as though
um they're not looking to ban except in
exceptional uh situations
uh and otherwise they would like to
encourage the use of ebikes and all
kinds of bikes. So, um I'm inclined to
think that uh consistency uh if we can
be consistent with our adjacent
jurisdictions that that would be helpful
to the enforcement.
>> Thank you. Um additional com and can I
just check in with council member Joe?
He hasn't had a chance. And then I'll go
to council Marts.
>> Thank you. Um I just wanted to know if
the uh parks director did put a
restriction on a particular segment of
the trail system. Uh is there an appeal
process? In other words, uh you know, if
council decides something, there's an
appeal process perhaps to the superior
court. Is there an appeal process
administratively? Would it go to the
administration or would it go to city
council? Was there any discussion about
um that type of process? I'm gonna throw
that one at Rachel.
If it's an administrative decision to
ban in a certain location, is there a
process for administration appeal of a
decision by the parks director?
>> There is no formal administrative appeal
process in the code for that. Um the
appeal process would be to come to your
legislators and complain that you were
unhappy about it and then you know the
council clearly has uh authority to cut
parks budget and do other things that
would greatly impact the parks director.
So I imagine that he would uh would
reverse decisions if if council took
great
>> Okay. And then my follow-up question for
the parks director would be um what
criteria would he use to uh make a
decision for banning on a particular
segment of u trails? Um what type of
factors would he consider um in his
decision-m
>> hi Jeff Watling said parks director
Um great question about criteria. I
would again go back to um intent in
recognizing this language that it would
be extremely rare circumstances. So I
think these criteria would be um is
there a path or a trail that has um is
is meandering through a congregation
space um or a space where um within our
parks where we're intending people to
gather. And so, um, speed would become
that much more of a of a conflict. Um,
there are not too many situations where
that exists, um, in in our town. Um, so,
um, yeah, that's that's probably the
biggest one. Speed speed and conflict of
uses, avoiding that.
>> Okay. Thank you. And um one of the
criteria we use for you know putting a
stoplight up or stop sign would be the
number of accidents on a particular
segment of road. Um would we be keeping
those type of stats with either our
police department or parks department so
that we could kind of um make those
decisions with a little bit of knowledge
and and information?
>> Can I
I would say that for we could keep those
stats. Uh I think it would be based on
if we get complaints uh in certain
areas. I think there would be also a
collaboration with the parks director
and the police department before that
decision typically would be made to
understand why there or if there had
been more of a dangerous or danger
factor um in that specific area before
it would be banned. And we wouldn't
enforce something like that unless it
was posted and um conversations were had
as well.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. appreciate
the information.
>> Thank you, Council Member Joe, Council
Member Mertz, and Council Member Hall.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, what a what
a Gordian knot. Um, we have So, my
primary concern is public safety. These
are powerful new technologies in the
hands of our most vulnerable and least
sophisticated residents, our kids. So,
um, by that metric, I think that you've
got on the one hand, you've got the
issue of consistent trails, um, at the
edges of our city. At the other, you
have the idea that class one and class 2
electric bicycles be treated like other
bicycles. And I think tonight at 8:53
um if I have to choose between those two
options, I think I choose the that
electric bicycles class one and class 2
should be treated like other bicycles.
So, uh, I believe I'm going to support
this amendment this evening and then if
we want to have a discussion about where
we regulate bicycles, I just want the
simplest regulatory environment for our
kids so that as they use these new
technologies, um, they have the ability
to be uh, good, safe residents. Thank
you,
>> Council Member Hall, you took your
microphone down.
>> Um,
yeah, I was going to ask a general
question, but then I remembered we're in
we're in an amendment right now. So, can
we actually clarify the amendment
language again?
>> Sure. It's uh amend the ordinance to
delete section 10.48.030
and subsection 10.48 04
A regarding class 1 and two electric
assisted bicycles.
>> Okay. Thanks.
>> Any other comments or questions on the
amendment?
Deputy Council President.
Uh oh, this is probably a silly
question, but if we remove this language
and there's no other language, are we
taking uh the park director's ability to
restrict bicycles everywhere away?
I don't think he has any authority to
restrict bicycles anywhere all already
under the code. How they were restricted
in the past, I don't know. There's no
code authority for that. So you would be
taking away his authority to restrict
electric assisted bicycles. He doesn't
have any authority to restrict other
bicycles.
>> City administrator.
>> It is amazing the number of communities
that are having these discussions. I
mean the numbers are astonishing. Um we
are dealing with past practice. the
parks director, every parks director
around America uh has been able to put
signs up on parks and trails when there
have been specific instances uh that
needed to be addressed and they haven't
required city council action, haven't
required committee action. It has just
been an administrative process. Um the
world has gotten more complicated. Those
administrative processes uh are not as
reliable and for the circumstances we're
facing. And so I think at this point the
parks director will continue to put up
signs when he thinks there's a problem.
Uh as has been mentioned a few times, uh
one of the things that the city attorney
has identified is the need for a parks
uh code within the the municipal code.
And so as we work on that in the next
year or so, we'll be able to address
some of this stuff. Um but again I think
we're we're at this crossroad of what
has been just sort of administrative
practice uh to keep everybody playing
okay uh becoming something more than
that. So I think at this point if the
council wants to take away that language
from the ordinance that's fine. Uh I
think the administration we just need to
move on with this. We need to continue
to be able to uh to the best of our
ability working with our partners and
staff and parks and police uh to keep
the peace quite honestly with all of
this. There's lots happening at the
state level. There's things happening at
the national level. Uh we will be back
and talk some more about this. Uh but
but again I think this evening if you
take away that specific authority uh
know that the parks director is going to
continue to do his job and if all of a
sudden we have bikes ripping up
playfields he will put up signs there uh
and we will all visit him in park
director jail if there if there is a
problem.
>> Well and just to be clear it wouldn't be
illegal for him too either. I mean he
can has authority to regulate parks to
some extent. The problem is it would
just create enforcement issues for
tickets and things like that. So you can
we could put up signs that say don't
ride your bike here. But if there's a,
you know, he something that says you
won't ride a if we have a law that says
you won't ride a bike in areas marked to
not ride bikes. If there wasn't some
sort of process to establish that, then
it becomes a
evidentiary issue for trying to pursue
those tickets. you could still do it, I
guess, as um you know, a deterrent, but
you know, and I will say that that
delegating that authority to the parks
director is certainly a best practice
throughout communities, but it is
something that could be easily addressed
in the parks code that we are working on
>> which we commit to doing uh because uh
we are learning from other communities
that people are latigious in these
matters and people have feel they have
god-given rights to operate motorized,
non-motorized partially motorized
vehicles and how dare a city uh do this.
Um, as you know, I took a few days off.
I caught up on some reading. There's an
article in the Economist magazine about
this and the article said that people
were engaging in communities when they
were land owners and now people are
engaging in their communities because of
ebikes. that people are more
attuned to their rights today with this
sort of thing than they were about quiet
enjoyment of property. Um, and so this
is all changing. Appreciate everybody's
work on this. I I think at this point
though, Madame Mayor, members of the
council, uh, if you'd like to have the
amendment be voted on, if it's removed,
we will move forward and do our best to
regulate this moving forward.
>> Any other comments or questions?
Okay. So I will reread the amendment
that has been moved and seconded. Amend
the ordinance to delete section
10.48.030
and subsection 10.48.048A
regarding class 1 and two electric
assisted bicycles. All those in favor
say I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed. That passes 6 and0.
And back to the main motion. Is there
any additional council discussion?
>> Okay. Seeing none, it's been moved and
seconded to adopt ordinance number 3129.
adopting chapter 10.48 of the Isiqua
Municipal Code to regulate the use of
electric assisted bicycles and electric
motorcycles and to adopt ordinance
number 3130 amending chapter 10.34 of
the Isiqua Municipal Code abandoned
unauthorized and junk motor vehicles to
modernize the chapter authorizing
inbound without notice for vehicles
operated illegally and authorizing
in-person notice of impound and notice
by first class mail. All those in favor
signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed. That carries unanimously.
Six and no. The next item of business on
regular business. Thank you all tonight.
Thank you for that Jillian
and Chief and Jeff. Uh I'd like to move
on to AB9089
city council vacancy process council
position number two. The ask before
council tonight is to approve. Uh, and
I'm going to have city clerk Tisha Gizer
to present this item. Welcome, Tisha.
Thank you.
Give me just a moment here.
Okay.
Feels like a big one to follow. Um, so
Tisha Gizer, city clerk, I'm here to
talk to you about the city council
vacancy process for council position
number two.
Council position number two is looking
very for Lauren right now.
Um, so uh tonight I have a couple things
to to run by you and get your feedback
on. And we do have a proposed motion as
well. So like to get your feedback on a
proposed timeline. Uh like your quick
review of the application questions.
Would like to know if you have any
specific outreach you'd like us to do.
And then uh we'll be talking briefly
with you and would like to hear any
input you have on the verbal
presentations and the question and
answer session that are a standard part
of our vacancy process. So just as a
reminder, you have 90 days to fill the
vacancy. Um those 90 days would start
January 1st as uh council member Hall
gave notice of his vacancy effective
December 31st.
Uh there is a process in the city
council rules of procedure that covers
many aspects of filling a vacancy and
the council did recently amend uh
aspects of that process in May of this
year after receiving some feedback and
and going through the experience with
council position number six in January
and February of last year. Uh so again,
we heard from council member Hall at the
I believe the November 10th council
meeting of his plans to resign his seat
due to his being appointed to serve in
the state legislature. Uh the person who
was appointed to fill his position
could serve immediately um and they
would stay in office until the
certification of the 2027 general
election.
So, uh, I put together a proposed
timeline which is on your screen here
for filling the vacancy. A couple of
things to note about this timeline. It's
more, uh, aggressive than usual. Uh,
this is because with uh, new terms
starting for council members, our mayor,
we have an important meeting scheduled
for the council on January 31st, which
is the first city council retreat. Also,
typically the council president makes
their appointments in January and the
sort of newly formed standing committees
sort of start functioning in February
with their new membership. So, getting
someone on board in January seems that
it would offer some value um to that new
new person to be able to relatively
seamlessly join the council. So, because
of that, this is a faster timeline of
note. The application period has
typically been closer to 7 weeks and in
this uh timeline would be four. Another
note here is that uh one of the
questions I have for you tonight is if
you want a special event scheduled as
part of this process. Usually that's
been a meet and greet or an elected
information elected officials
information session which is something
that mayor Paulie provided leadership on
last year and many council members
attended and there was excellent turnout
and that event was offered uh similar to
as is proposed sort of midway through
the vacancy process maybe a little on
the earlier side. Uh council leadership
did uh share with staff that they would
like to see a similar event this year.
So I have slotted it in uh for next
Saturday at Gibson Hall.
Uh one other thing of note before
getting your feedback. I would like to
stop and get your feedback on the four
elements of the process that uh I need
direction on tonight. So we'll be
pausing here in a minute to hear from
you. Um but another note here that these
um this schedule uses the your regular
meetings in January that we'll be
sharing with you at the January 5th
council meeting when we share the uh
2026 calendar. The one exception is that
January 26 meeting which I uh thought
might be a useful um kind of release
valve if you needed some more time to
work through this. So with that uh I'd
appreciate hearing any feedback you have
on the proposed timeline. Any
comments, Deputy Council President?
>> Yeah, just a note. I think a lot of this
depends on how many applications we
receive and um so if we had a smaller
number, it might be possible for us to
actually make a decision on January
12th. Um uh again, uh depends on the
conversation, depends on who applies.
So, it's difficult to project the
timeline at this point, but I I would
just like to bring that up that uh that
we could possibly complete our work that
particular evening. So,
>> um Council Member Mertz,
>> could we complete our work at the
committee of the whole? Could we make a
decision at the committee of the whole?
>> I don't think there's anything that
precludes you from doing that. I'm
trying to remember the specific wording
that identifies the question having a
question and answer session. There is
wording in the rules about that.
However, you also can all suspend your
rules. So, I think that um we would
maybe want to notice the meeting in such
a way we t as you know you typically
don't take action at your committee of
the whole meeting. So I guess that's the
other thing
>> that's where I was in my mind
>> and I think part of it is special
meeting they're not only answering quest
you know presenting to you the public
gets to see them and it gives you time
to hear back from the public about who
they saw and who they might want to
write a letter for recommendation or
poke you by email council president
>> I wasn't I wasn't
>> sorry councils
>> um so how would this process work if
because I I I share um deputy council
president's concerns concerns about
this. This is going to depend on how
many people we see. How would this work
if we needed two rounds of uh uh
decision-m? What would the what would
the how would this timeline work? Thank
you.
>> And council member Martz, um do you mean
sort of at that final stage or do you
mean as you're potentially narrowing? uh
two stages of narrowing down. The the
way if we had a large enough applicant
pool, we might decide that we wanted to
go from the full applicant pool to a
subset of applicant pool. And how would
these dates in front of us work in that
situation?
>> Yeah, I think uh I think they they could
work. I think this is pretty closely
aligned with what occurred for the
position six appointment. So you could
narrow after the January 12th
presentations. you could narrow after
the January 20th Q&A and then you could
bring them back on the 26th. We could
also add a meeting. You know, the goal
tonight is to get sort of a framework
for this process, but it it wouldn't
preclude you from adding a meeting if
you get one into step one or two and
feel you need more capacity.
>> Thank you,
>> Council President.
Thank you. Um, so just on a personal
note, I will be gone on the 26th. So I'm
hoping that we uh don't have to do that
and I don't have to call in from
vacation in nice warm spot. Um, but I
will if we need to. Uh, uh, looking at
January 12th, considering that is a
committee of the whole, just note that
the mayor wouldn't be involved in that.
And so if there was a need for breaking
a tie, that wouldn't be
Yeah. never we never have to uh break a
tie or end up with many many three three
votes. Um so that would be something to
note. So if there's a way to potentially
utilize that meeting as um all members
rather than committee of the whole so
that we could potentially have that um
in place. I think that would be good.
Um, the other thing I will note is as I
was going through all of this, um, and
looking at all of the other cities that
have had, um, openings and vacancies,
um, I will note that Redmond does use a
different, um, tactic that I wanted
everybody to kind of consider, which is
they actually bring in applications,
um, have all of those given out to
council members, and council members
don't rank them, but rather give them a
score of 1, two, or three. Um, meaning
they would be a great candidate, an okay
candidate, or not somebody that they
would consider. That goes to HR. HR then
blindly without names utilizes that and
um narrows the list down at that point
um in a certain way. In their case,
narrows it down to a maximum of 15 so
that they're doing interviews. So, I
just wanted to point out that there are
other ways that if we feel like we had
too many members um wanting to apply and
do applications that there are other
opportunities for some initial narrowing
if that was our desire.
>> I have a question for Rachel. Is it do
we have anything in our rules about
participating in executive session
remotely? I was at another organization
that doesn't allow it, but do we allow
it? Okay, great. and and we did it for
this council member who was otherwise
disposed.
>> Indisposed.
>> Great. Uh, council member Joe question.
>> Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um,
I wanted to talk about the application
questions on page 11 of 15 in the
presentation about three slides later.
>> Um, uh, is there anything else on just
the schedule? We're going to go through
the rest of the presentation still.
We're going to kind of take you through
one question at a time.
>> Okay. So, let's talk about the slide
that's right there. in terms of elected
official information session. Um
last time we had this we didn't talk
about um the assistance that you could
get for income if you um you know this
job has certain
privileges that you can
if you have certain privileges you're
able to do it. If you're not working a
9-to-f5
40-hour work week as a server in a
restaurant or
um at a gas station, um you you don't
have the ability to necessarily do this
job. So, just wondering if at the
official information session we could
talk a little bit more specifically
about the financial assistance that's
available for you for doing this that's
in the code.
>> Thank you. certainly
>> during that presentation. That sounds
great.
Um any um council member Nichols
>> uh question on um the comment about um
other cities processes that council
president brought up. How would that
work in practice? Is there time to
propose other
processes other process that would allow
something like that to happen?
>> Well, it's something we could look into.
One thing we haven't done before is use
staff resources. So, it's hard for me
without having staff here to ask them if
this is something that just fits in
because cities like Redmond, Bel, and
Kirkland have many more staff people
than we do. So, if we're doing
collective bargaining or a lot of stuff,
you know, that is already on the
calendar, it could be hard for them to
carve out whatever it is needed to do
it. So,
>> okay.
Um the deputy council president.
>> Yeah. Just a a small thing. Can we call
that uh uh council applicant information
session?
>> Uh yeah, I think that describes it a
little bit better. Dave,
>> any other questions on this proposed
timeline slide?
I think Tisha, you're good to move on to
your next portion.
>> Okay, great. And I made note of your
feedback. The one so significant change
I see here is um calling that January
12th meeting a special city council
meeting which because you often have an
executive session we would really want
to do anyway. So that was a great great
change. Okay. So the next piece of
feedback I'm hoping to get from you is
regarding the application questions. We
have a form on the website with these
questions. The city council provided a
lot of feedback in December of exactly a
year from now almost to the day of 2024.
We initially had 10 questions that had
been used for the previous vacancy from
2019 and you distilled them down to six.
You private provided a lot of feedback
to the meeting. Council leadership um
also reviewed the questions. So I have
them in front of you tonight and would
like to know if you have any proposed
changes to the questions. I'll move you
to the next slide here in a minute to
review the last two. And then also if
you have any particular outreach uh
specific outreach you'd like us to do
once the form is posted online. Me move
you to the next slide
>> and we'll go to council member Joe. Is
this the question slide that you wanted
to make a comment on?
>> Thank you madam mayor. Yes. Um number
six. Um, I wanted to confer with my
co co-atriots in crime to see if that
adequately described our commitment. Um,
4 to six evening meetings per month,
regional meetings
and occasional weekend retreats and
community engagement opportunities. Um,
looking at my calendar for the last six
months, um, I I think that the four to
six is accurate.
Um there probably
maybe two or three regional meetings and
um community engagement opportunities. I
don't know if we want to be more
specific about those. It's kind of pick
your own path for council engagement, if
you will. Some of us um like to go to as
many as we can and try to be everywhere
if we can and others it's not possible
because of work or because of uh other
commitments to to kind of circle back to
my other comment. Um perhaps the
community engagement opportunities could
be stressed as a little bit optional.
And then in that question and then um
also uh perhaps talk about um the equity
issue again that I touched on in my
earlier comment somehow in that and that
you do get some assistance if your AMI
is is low. So, so that we open the
opportunity for as many people as
possible so that we can hear all the
voices in our community would be a
couple of suggestions um for this.
Thanks.
>> Thank you. Um other council member
comments or questions on these six
application questions,
council president,
thank you. Can you go back to the first
um the first set of questions there?
There's one.
Thank you. Um I think reflecting back on
our previous applications, um I'm not
sure that I got much out of questions
three and four. Um at least as far as
differentiating people. I think there is
certainly ways that we can have those
conversations with people in maybe
individual interviews or something like
that. Um, so I would potentially be
interested in looking at other ways that
we could find something that would
differentiate people. Again, looked over
Redmond's um, stuff. Um, one thing,
there's a few questions they asked that
I thought might be useful for us. One
said, "What unique skills and
perspective do you bring to the council
member position? Um, please tell us
about a your community service
experience." And so that's something
that allows somebody to reflect on
different ways of community service, not
just boards and commissions. Um, and so
I thought that would be a good um way to
indicate any other volunteer um
experience. Um, there was one on what do
you believe is the role of local
government and if selected as a council
member, how will you ensure you are
prepared for the role and
responsibilities? So that talks about
how they view their ability to prepare.
Um and then if appointed, what do you
anticipate will be the most challenging
aspect of serving in this capacity for
you personally? So some of those things
I think speak more to their personal
experience um on an application than
necessarily these questions which in
some ways to me speak to what do you
think we want to hear? Um, so I would
just ask that we reflect um on that and
then
referencing kind of what uh council
member Joe said about kind of making
sure that we are able to convey
all that is required of this um but also
all of the benefits. Again, sorry
Redmond's doing this very well. And at
the same time, um Redmond has a job
application provided and it lists out,
let's see where it is. Um it lists out
the roles and responsibilities including
attending regular meetings, serving on
regional committees. And so it has a
whole list of those. Um, but then it
also provides benefits and you know they
provide things like medical insurance
that we don't. But we could um list
other things such as um the
uh different benefits that we have for
different income levels. So I would like
to see that as part of our outreach to
be a little bit more
ausive about what the application is,
what the benefits and what the
requirements are.
Uh, council member Hall or Deputy
Council President and Council Member
Hall.
>> Uh, and I I agree with Council
President. Uh, I think both question
number three and question number four.
Um, they're almost too theoretical. Um,
I had taken the uh privilege of
rewriting uh number four. Let me see if
I could find it here. Uh
uh have you ever had to had to find a
compromise between competing visions or
opinions in your family, at work, or
within an organization, and how did you
find a solution? In other words, tell us
very specifically what experiences
you've had. I think the uh council
president was exactly right. We got a
lot of uh responses that uh were what
they thought we would want to hear. And
same thing for question number three. I
like some of the questions that Redmond
has and so maybe we can take out
question three and four and get more
specific and I can send you the wording
uh for that question if you want to play
with that. So the other thing is on the
outreach uh you had I believe uh
outreach to our social service providers
which absolutely I think we should do
but I'd like to broaden that to our
nonprofits.
uh the chamber for example, some of our
other civic organizations I think would
be great places to find people who would
be interested in running for city
council. So that would be my suggestion
on outreach.
>> Thank you,
>> Council Member Hall.
>> Uh thanks. You know, I was also thinking
about question three and four and not
necessarily that we were um
getting told necessarily what we wanted
to hear, but that and I think council
president, you would kind of mention
this too, like it was kind of hard to
distinguish the answers like they're
very much the same question and
sometimes the answers that we got were
too similar. So, I would like to see us
eliminate one of those questions or
combine it into one. in which case I
would be comfortable adding an
additional question but like no more
than than one. I think six is already a
lot and now we give them more space to
write to which is helpful and some of
the things um uh other questions from
jurisdictions that you were mentioning
too like I might even expect them to try
to address in that first question. So
maybe there's a tweak in that first
question or something too just to the
second part of that. Um the last two
questions, question five, um if I
remember right, did we just share the
link to the SCA appointments and like
what are your kind of interests
regionally? Is that is that right?
>> And the strategic plan
and I'm trying to remember if there was
there were two links that were included
in total, but the strategic plan link
would have been associated with an
earlier question.
>> Um I was just wondering if we could have
a kind of a comprehensive list of
potential appointments. There are quite
a few that the city makes that aren't
associated with SCA too and if they're
interested in those issue areas I'd be
interested in that so like Cascade comes
to mind epher comes to mind is Rya 8 a
sea thing
>> so that's that's direct city so it's the
coin work group the chamber
>> eltac yeah things like that
>> um and then question six
um I thought uh council member Joe I
thought your question around um the
specifics in question six was
interesting and and I remember during
the salary commission meetings they did
a survey of the council members, right,
of like average hours that we spend per
week. I just wonder if maybe we can pull
some of that data. I imagine it would be
in the final report, right?
>> So maybe that would maybe that would
help.
And those are my thoughts on the
questions. Otherwise, I think I think
they're fine.
>> Any
>> but they're all for you, of course, not
for
>> any other comments.
Y um did you get everything you need on
that one, city clerk?
>> Yes, I heard your input. I would like
someone to review the final set of six
questions. So last year the council had
this conversation and then I shared what
I came up with with council leadership
who blessed
>> I think that was a good plan. Share it
with council leadership. Okay.
>> Okay. Great.
>> All right. And just a note here uh that
we do also ask them to upload a cover
letter that it is optional and letters
of interest. So you sometimes will see
those as part of the application.
Uh one other note here that I will plan
to send the council um
keep you a breast of how many
applications have come in at the halfway
mark and then towards the end which
brings us to the next step which is the
verbal presentations. So, the council
did, you changed your rules because you
had 12 applicants um at this last
vacancy, which was great, but it made uh
10 minutes a person a challenge. So, the
rules now say that um basically I'll
inform council leadership of the number
of applicants, and they'll they'll let
me know the number of minutes they think
is reasonable for the verbal
presentations, and I will share that
with all of the applicants 3 to 5 days
prior to the verbal presentations. on
the 12th. I then do a random drawing of
their names and include that order in
the agenda materials for the meeting on
the 12th. Uh something that you you
talked about a bit uh at times during
this process was whether or not to give
the applicants any guidance on what to
include or how how to consider their
verbal presentation. So that's really my
question here. Is there any guidance? We
have not allowed visuals. So, that's one
question we've gotten occasionally. Uh,
but again, my only question to you is,
is there any other guidance you'd like
them provided?
>> Council President,
>> um, I'm not sure that's really
necessary. Oftent times, as long as we
are encouraging applicants to contact
council members and reach out, they're
going to get um, that type of
information. Um, at that point, the only
thing I will note is from the last time
that we do want their presentation to be
right there. Yes, I know you remember
that, but I wanted to make sure
everybody knew we had heard that uh
feedback from last time.
>> Uh, council member Martz,
>> I want to suggest maybe something maybe
it's a bad idea. I don't know. um this
variable length of presentations. Can we
just say five minutes? Um five minutes
is such a wonderful quanta because we
sit here all the time and hear
five-minute presentations, right? And we
heard them tonight and we'll hear them
at every single council meeting we'll
ever have. And so I feel like if
somebody comes in and knocks our socks
off with a 5-minute presentation, and
I've been thinking about this because
I'm actually going to be the officient
at my daughter's wedding in May, and I
had to fight for five minutes because I
felt that three minutes you do not have
enough time to get an important point
across, but five minutes you do. So
rather than doing a whole thing, um I
might suggest that we just think about
five.
Any additional comments or questions on
this slide?
I am not seeing any.
Okay, then I will move along. Um, just
to note that the rules do say that
council leadership will make that
determination, but I think you you were
hurt. You were hurt.
Um, all right. The question and answer
session. This this is the element of the
vacancy process that was a little um
less firmed up at the last vacancy. Um
and so wanted to well I think you all
experienced that and so your rules now
prompt me to ask you these questions. So
uh first who should determine the
questions that are asked? This would be
at the January 20th meeting. Uh the two
questions listed here are the two
questions that were determined
beforehand. They weren't shared with the
applicants. And then if you recall after
these two questions were asked and they
went in order of how they were seated in
the room and the poor person who
answered the question last also answered
the next question first. So that's one
of my other questions here for you. Um
they were not provide I'm sorry I lost
my train of thought. Uh a few of you
then offered your own questions. I think
there were around three after these
initial two were asked. So, a a couple
things. Yes. Would you like to delegate
who determines these questions? Again,
you could delegate that to council
leadership. I suppose you could have a
discussion about it uh at another
meeting or you can give me input
tonight. And then uh do you have
opinions about whether the questions are
provided in advance or whether the
questions should be varied among the
applicants? uh anything you would like
to see done differently in terms of the
order they're answered. And then the
last question is sort of on the format
of the room, but it is occurring to me
that your January 20th meeting is a
regular council meeting. There's not
much on the agenda yet. There could be
some proclamations or such. So, it might
be a little harder to accommodate on the
floor seating. Um but if the council
feels strongly about that, we'll we'll
do what we can to make it happen. So,
with that, uh welcome your input. Um,
who was first? Council member Martz and
then council member Hall.
>> I feel strongly that somewhere in the
process we should ask people questions
that I haven't had time to think about
ahead of time because one of the
defining characteristics of what will
make a successful council member is the
ability to think on their feet. I mean,
tonight I came in not knowing anything
about o well, I shouldn't say not
knowing anything, not knowing that there
would be a move to strike 030 and 048,
right? but had to um parse my thinking
on it on the fly. And that happens to us
all the time. And if somebody can't do
that um they're going to be less
effective. So I really really want to
see one way or the other questions that
people have not had time to go chat GPT
ahead of time. Thank you,
>> Council Member Holm.
>> Um yeah, two things. You know, one of
the issues with the Q&A
is it already last year when this
happened?
>> Oh, no. This year? It was this year. Oh,
>> I have no I have no sense of time right
now. Um, when we would ask a question of
one person, everyone else would repeat.
I mean, it was very difficult for like
the last person in the line to answer
the question. And so I just wonder if we
can't shuffle people in and out of the
room and that would add a substantial
amount of time to the Q&A session, but
it might be valuable to hear uh a
candidate's response without just saying
I echo that
>> and maybe I can pull something else out
of nothing to answer this question which
might color how we think about their
response. Right? So um that would be my
feedback there. The second is I agree
with council member Martz. I think it's
a mix though. It's important to be able
to think on your feet and have questions
to be able to understand that. But at
the same time, we also have all weekend
with our packet. And so what I mean as
as a when in the last process for me,
what was most important is like can you
really articulate and think clearly
about the issues because we have access
to all this information, right? And and
can formulate our our thoughts on it
over a long period of time. So if you
don't then it then it tells me that
maybe you didn't do that kind of due
diligence as well. So, I think it's a
mix. Um, and there's value in having
both. Those are my thoughts.
>> Great. Any other thoughts on the
question and answer session?
>> Uh, deputy council president.
>> Uh, I'll just add that uh I talked to a
Belio City Council member who uh uh sent
me a text about their process and they
do have a rule where they narrow the
finalist down to three. uh and uh
something for us to consider again
because a smaller number lends itself to
individual questions.
>> Um you can tailor them. You've got the
time to do that where uh you know if we
have quite a number uh then it makes it
more difficult and we get into let's
have a standard question. So, at any
rate, something for us to consider when
we're in executive session if we want to
narrow it narrow it down to uh a maximum
of three or
we might decide right there that we want
to narrow it down to one. So, that's
always a possibility as well. Just a
thought, not a suggestion actually.
Council President.
>> Um, so I agree with the idea that they
should not be provided these questions
in advance because they will have had an
earlier option to uh respond to their
application questions which with a lot
of thought and so this is an alternative
form of being able to be responsive on
the fly. Um
I
I recognize that like King County's
process um for many of their um various
appointments has been to have the other
members leave the other applicants leave
the room. And so I can definitely see
that benefit um as a possibility.
Um, if not, I think being able to
change the order of responses is
important as any of us who participated
in campaign forums um, understood. Um,
and then
I think as far as who determines the
questions, I think probably council
leadership at that point. And I would
even be comfortable at that point in
allowing council leadership depending on
the number of applicants to decide
whether or not the same questions were
asked of each
or not. I don't know how everybody else
feels about that.
But if we only had three folks and I
could see maybe doing individual
questions if we had more on a final
round
maybe varying out
but either way I don't think we should
be discussing those potential questions
now because I think we want to keep them
quiet. I certainly have some ideas in
here and so I can send that to new
leadership etc. Council member Mertz,
>> I just want to play the historian card
as I always like to do and as as we're
talking about the potential in front of
us. Uh Stacy was part of a group of
nine. Joe Forner was part of a group of
seven. Nina Milligan was part of a group
of seven. Mariah got it easy. She had
five. Victoria had 14. Lindsay had five.
And of course, Kelly had 12. Just to
give some context of of you know, we're
probably not looking at less than five.
If you say historically,
>> deputy council president,
>> uh I just really wanted to say I like
that idea of having them uh the other
applicants uh removed and maybe if we do
it here like go upstairs or uh just so
that uh it I watched when Zach was
appointed as the state representative
and I thought that was a really good
process and the fact that uh the two
other applicants were not there, then
they were able to get the same questions
and then you could do an applesto apples
kind of of comparison. So, just putting
my thumb on the scale for perhaps doing
it that way.
>> Mayor, if I might, I do have some
concerns about our ability to to do that
here just with our open meetings
requirements. I mean we might be able to
request but I would also note something
else which is that there is no sound
barrier between even with those glass
doors shut especially if we have anyone
participating virtually or have a
virtual element to our meetings they
will hear what is said in this room and
so we have some just practical
considerations
do you have anything
>> is that something maybe you could ask
the the King County Council because yeah
they they required us to be sequestered
in a different room
>> I they can request I I don't think they
require you. You can request it and
someone would be pretty foolish.
>> Yeah, I was about to say so so maybe I
could have been like no and then
>> wouldn't have got it.
>> I' I've had this come up multiple times
and we've made the request and always it
was always uh honored.
>> Council member Joe
>> um just suggestion perhaps we could
coordinate with the court to use a
probation office. That way we have at
least two doors uh where we can
sequester people and perhaps have some
sound barrier.
>> Thank you. Anything else on question and
answer session? And city clerk, do you
have everything you need?
>> Uh so what I heard was a willingness to
have the council leadership determine
the questions uh that they should not be
provided in advance. That was what I
heard from a slight majority of those
who spoke. uh that council leadership
could also determine whether the same
questions or unique questions were
asked, vary the response time and
explore whether we could request that
the that those who aren't being
questioned in that moment sit go
somewhere else in the building.
>> Great. Okay. Uh is there anything else
to add for this slide?
Okay. I'm seeing headshakes. No.
Okay. So the next steps here are to uh
post the application
that will happen on Friday uh if you
proceed to make the approve the motion
approving the timeline and then we'll
begin outreach. Uh we'll start with that
Friday e-news that goes out and uh use
our social media outreach. We'll do some
of the direct outreach that uh I listed
in the packet and we can certainly
broaden the outreach to other nonprofit
organizations. We'll also begin noticing
the December 13th uh council applicant
info session. We've been looking for a
good title for that. So, thank you. Um
so, it doesn't give us a real a long
time frame, but we'll do our best to get
the word out about that. And then, as I
mentioned, uh I'll be providing updates
at least every two weeks on the
applications that have come in so we can
get get underway.
Um all right. So you've
>> provided one question, city, council
president.
>> Um just one point. I believe last time
um council leadership wrote a letter to
our city boards and commissions to
encourage them specifically to apply.
And so I was wondering if that was
something that we were interested in
this year and then potentially expanding
that out and having that letter or a
similar letter go to many of our
nonprofits um and human services
organizations as a way to encourage
those volunteers and members um to
apply. So any sense of whether or not
that would be a useful portion of
community feedback
>> just in addition to our the outreach
that's going to happen with those groups
like
>> yeah in addition to whatever social
media or um pieces that are out there
just a kind of personal please consider
applying reach out to us if you have any
questions etc. Yeah,
>> I'm also we will share this with the
board and commission members. I can also
craft something on behalf of the city
council. I mean, we can sort of phrase
it in that way. City council encourages
you to consider. Um, that's another
thought. I I do realize it's a tight
it's a tight turnaround.
All right, that concludes my remarks. If
anyone has uh any anything else I didn't
cover that you want to weigh in on
certainly feel free. And then there is a
proposed very general motion but just um
that
authorizes uh me to proceed with the
timeline we discussed tonight
>> as amended.
>> Yes. As amended to recognize that
January. There were a number of elements
that I received feedback on tonight. So
we can call that as amended. Yes.
>> Council member Hall.
Uh, I was actually going to make the
motion if that's all right with the rest
of the council since it's my very last
one. Um,
>> I move to approve the process and
timeline for filling the 2026 city
council vacancy of position number two
as amended.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any council discussion?
I am not seeing any. All those in favor
signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> I. Those opposed. That carries six and0
unanimously. We're going to move to
commit. So, thank you very much, city
clerk. We're going to move to committee
and regional reports. And uh council
member Nichols, I'm guessing you don't
have a report.
>> Correct. Thank you.
>> Okay. Council member Joe.
>> Thank you. Uh Elac will be having a
special meeting on December 8th uh at uh
Tippetsz Manor. uh chamber board liaison
will be meeting with the chamber board
on December 19th. The mobility and
infrastructure meeting for December has
been cancelled and all CA Cascade Water
Alliance meets have also been cancelled.
That concludes my report. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Council Member Hall.
>> No report.
>> Oh wow. Council member Marts.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh
the Let's see. I don't think I've
reported the services, safety, and parks
meeting. Um, but all we had was the
COM182.
This was on Tuesday, November 18th. All
we had was the E Motorcycle and Ebicycle
ordinance that I spoke of earlier. Um,
the SCA annual meeting is this
Wednesday, December 3rd. Once again, it
is here at Pickering Barn in Isiqua. So,
if you have not registered, there's
probably a mechanism uh to be able to
still do that. Uh, and then there is an
SCA pick regular meeting on Wednesday,
December 10th. Uh it will be held at 7
pm virtually and the agenda has not been
set yet. This concludes my report.
>> Thank you, Deputy Council President.
>> Uh thank you, Mayor Paulie. On November
17th, I attended the regional transit
committee and we received the transit
safety task force recommendations with
multiple recommendations and actions
underway to increase safety on Metro
buses and bus shelters. Uh we also
approved the 2026 strategic plan and
system evaluation.
The December RTC meeting is cancelled.
And then on November the 18th, I
attended the King County Board of
Health. We approved a new configuration
of Board of Health membership which
increased sound cities association
representatives from four to six. So
there will now be three voting members
and three alternates. Uh we also
approved the 2026 legislative priorities
and discuss possible items for the 2026
work plan. The December board of health
meeting is cancelled and that concludes
my report.
>> Thank you, council president.
>> No report.
>> I will move to the next item which is
the mayor's report. There will not be an
executive session this evening and
tonight I just wanted to talk about the
Rainer Trail off leash dog park bid
award. Uh council approved the bid for
the new Rainineer Trail Off leash dog
park located just east of the Isiqua
Community Center. Once the former skate
park area site uh once the former skate
park site, this area will be transformed
into a fully fenced dog park with small
and large dog areas, ADA access, double
gated entries, seating including covered
areas and a concrete entry plaza way and
plaza and drinking fountains. 13 bids
were received with Fury site work
selected as the lowest bidder. and
weather permitting, the project will be
completed in early 2026, adding a
muchneeded recreational space along the
Reineer Trail and supporting the city's
long-term plan for multiple
moderatesized dog parks throughout
Isiqua.
Our sustainability and communication
staff collaborated to develop a
community-f facing end of the year
climate action report. This report was
with developed with the community in
mind to share stories, major milestones,
and actions that we can take in our
everyday lives. We accomplished a lot in
2025, including surpassing 800 heat pump
by heat pump installations by Energy
Smart East Side, installing 17 fleet
chargers, and planting over 2,800 trees.
Our staff will share more with the
council in early 2026, including an
updated greenhouse gas inventory,
highlights from the 2025 report, and
likely updates for the 2026 climate
action plan. And the last item I have in
the mayor's report is just a expression
of gratitude to the council members that
I have gotten to serve with over the
years. I think there's been 14, which
makes me feel like I've been here an
awfully long time. Um, but also to our
professional administrative staff. It
has been an absolute pleasure to work
with both teams, elected and
administrative, over these years and to
get a lot of things done. I feel really
good about the work that we've done and
excited for our new leadership coming in
and new council members coming in and I
wish you all the best. But it has been
an honor and a pleasure to serve this
community alongside all of you. We're
going to move to good of the order. I
have a couple of meeting announcements
but does anybody else have council
member Hall?
Council President and then council
member Hall.
>> Okay. Um, so first off, I just wanted to
kind of make an announcement and make
sure there wasn't any um concerns. Um,
but with uh East Side Fire and Rescue um
we are asking so that I can effectively
apply for um the vice chair position
since uh Council Member Hall will be
stepping down. He is currently um one of
the active members. I'm an alternate. We
are hoping for this next month to just
swap that out and then there will be the
traditional January um council
leadership um choosing who is actually
in those spots etc. But just wanted to
make sure there was no concerns with
that type of swap at that point. Um, and
I just wanted to take a moment um, just
to recognize the time that I've served
with, um, Council Member Hall. um
as starting out, you know, 2020 was a
really hard time to run for office and a
really hard time to start in office and
just to kind of come into place, not
only in a time when we weren't all
together, but when the need for service
and the needs of the community was so
high. um just recognizing how much you
really
jumped in at that point and really took
on um that role um and then seeing you
continue on with the leadership in East
Side Fire and Rescue um has been really
inspiring and I really appreciate what
you've done and contributed to that
organization. Um
I will note you are always somebody who
has come to council very well prepared,
maybe overprepared.
you sometimes overthink things after the
meeting. Um, and as I said to you
earlier, um, I will miss your last
minute, oh, questions, um, at the end of
a debate, but it really goes to show
that you are constantly thinking and
constantly looking through the ways of,
you know, how can I make sure that
everything is to its utmost best. And so
I just wanted to say thank you for that
time. I've really enjoyed serving with
you.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, Council Member Hall and then Deputy
Council President.
>> Um, I was also going to share some kind
of parting remarks. I probably should
have shared this earlier during special
business, but um,
some comments that I wrote down that I
wanted to share. Um, so of course, as
you all know, I had the great privilege
of growing up here in Isiqua. So, uh,
serving the community in this way has
been a very, very special experience for
me. Um, incredibly proud of what we've
been able to accomplish over the last 6
years. Um, I just want to start I want
to thank the Isqua community for, uh,
putting their trust and confidence in me
in in 2019 and again in 2023. Um, I want
to thank them for staying engaged with
us and for just choosing to live, work,
and play right here in Isiqua. Um, I am
also incredibly grateful to have had an
opportunity to work with such
dedicated and collaborative leaders like
yourselves and such
talented and innovative professionals um
that who choose to work here, who choose
to spend their careers in service to the
people of Isiqua, which has always just
been truly remarkable to me that the
spirit that lives inside each city
worker that I've ever met no matter the
department or division um has always
been that like service to community and
it is the most remarkable thing when you
see it um so I thank them as well but
that shared commitment that teamwork
that I have felt as a member of the
council with us as policy with
administration as implementation us
coming together defining problems doing
all the stuff that you you talked about
um
that is a treasure measured experience
that I will not soon forget. I I I want
to
>> Yeah, that's Yeah. Um but you know, also
of course this isn't really goodbye,
right? So um
>> um and I'm honored to continue serving
this community now in the state
legislature. The only difference is now
my Monday evenings will be free.
>> Um
>> uh and and I joke about that, but
honestly, Monday evenings coming down
here has become kind of my favorite part
of the week. you know, being here in
this room with you all. Um, so yeah, it
was a really tough decision for me, but
it comes from a place of comfort and
confidence that this council is in very,
very good hands. I am quite happy with
our new council members and with the
current council and um I am feeling good
about stepping back uh about where you
and I'm very also very excited to see
what you get up to next. I'll be
watching on YouTube, so don't do
anything I wouldn't do.
Uh anyways, thanks for a wonderful six
years and uh here's to many more working
together in new ways.
>> Thanks,
>> Deputy Council President. Did you want
to say something?
>> Yes. So, uh and I hope that I get
through this without the need for
Kleenex. So,
>> so um so Mayor Paulie, I wanted to
highlight uh I thought today, you know,
what what is the the u impact of your of
your time in office? And I wanted to uh
talk about a time that seems almost like
it is uh in a different era. Um but we
were it was 2020 and we were in the
midst of COVID and you were providing
wonderful leadership through there and
then George Floyd was murdered by a
police officer in Minneapolis and for
days we had protesters uh occupying the
steps at the police and city
administration building and Mayor Paulie
was there every single day uh along with
the chief of police and city council
members but talking to protesters and
listening to the lived experiences of
Isiqua residents of color.
The city quickly approved a Black Lives
Matter march that was led by local civil
rights leaders, but Mayor Paulie was
there again, the chief of police was
there again, the city council was there
again, and several hundred community
members participated. It was a
fantastic, memorable day. Um, and again,
your leadership was on full display.
Not too long after that, the council
received the mayor's proposal for a
police accountability, equity, and human
services plan, which we quickly
approved.
And out of that plan, we established an
equity board. The council and staff all
participated in equity training. Equity
was embedded in all city departments. We
now adhere to an equity calendar that
recognizes and respects over 25 cultural
and religious holidays of city
employees. We increase the number of
behavioral health specialists embedded
in the police department. Uh we have a
truly diverse police department now. Um
and they are honored for their community
engagement. We have a community
relations officer and IPD has one of the
best social media accounts in the Puget
Sound region. We are known for our
transparency. All of this came out of
your leadership during that really
horrific time in 2020. And I this is
what we call transformational
leadership. And I thank you from the
bottom of my heart
>> for what you did
>> for what you did at that perilous time
in our city's history. So thank you so
much. And uh it's not goodbye.
>> No, that's beautiful. Yeah, it's not
goodbye,
>> but thank you. And I didn't think I
would get a chance it to say this long
piece any at any other of the
celebrations we're going to have. So,
>> no, I'm glad you did say it tonight.
>> Very, very, very kind.
>> Yeah,
>> I forget all the stuff that we've done
actually
>> a lot of time. Council member Mertz,
>> thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um,
I I I'll keep I'll keep it brief. Um,
you know, there's a lot happens over
over many years and uh, you know,
passionate people don't always agree and
we're all passionate up here and
sometimes the the council has a
collegially adversarial relationship
with the administration, which I know
Mary Lou doesn't like that term, but
I'll say it anyhow. Um, but I but I
think leadership, one of the things
about leadership is um, sometimes it's
what you do when the cameras aren't on
you. And it, you know, it's easy for
maybe maybe easy for all of us to to
come up with articulate things to say
here, but one of the memories I I will
always have of of Mayor Paulie is when
the uh Muslim Association of Puet Sound
uh was attacked up in Redmond and Mary
Lou was one of the people um she and I
and and uh Bill Ramos went up there to
support those folks. And there was
nothing there was no cameras on us.
there was no uh you know it was it
wasn't there was nothing political about
it. It was just the right thing to do
and so I think leadership is made up of
the integrant of all those things over
time. So Marylu thank you so much for 30
years of leadership.
>> It's very kind. Thank you. Anything
else? I have a couple of meetings to go
through. Okay. Just cut it off. Um, just
a reminder for you all, tomorrow night,
December 2nd, at 6 PM, the council's
having a special social gathering at the
Flat Iron Grill, uh, seasonal get
together, and the city council does not
have any other city council meetings or
committee meetings this year. You're one
of the first councils to get through all
of your work by December 1st. So, that's
pretty impressive. So there is no
executive session this evening and we
are adjourned at 9:55. Thanks