start the week.
>> We're preparing for the
>> Oh, wait.
>> Welcome everyone.
>> Welcome everyone. I call the Jan 20th
city council meeting to order. There are
no excused absences tonight. And the
first item in the agenda is the pledge
of allegiance. So you're welcome to join
us in the pledge of
>> allegiance
to the flag
of America and to the republic for which
it stands. One nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
>> The next item on the agenda is audience
comments. And tonight we have both a
public hearing and then the general
meeting. And so the first audience
comments are for the general meeting and
then we'll have more audience comments
related to the public hearing. Uh those
of you who signed up in advance will be
called on first. If you're joining us
virtually, you would like to make
comments, please raise your virtual hand
or send the host a chat message. And if
you're on the phone, star three is the
magic number to get you in. Uh if you're
in the room, do not sign up, there will
be an opportunity for you to raise your
hand if you'd like to speak before I
close this portion of the meeting. The
public hearing agenda bill 9134 about
school district 2026 levies for the
February 10th special election. Comments
on that item will be made during the
public hearing later on this meeting.
And so first clerk, are there anyone
signed up to speak for the general
audience comments?
>> Yes.
>> Right. Go ahead. you can start calling
up who you have.
>> Okay. The first is Errol I'm sorry, Earl
Pigot.
Is Earl here in the room?
Okay. And he is not with us virtually.
Uh so next we have Kaylee Jake.
>> Okay. And Kaylee, I think you know the
drill, but you know if if you get out of
line, I will start waving at you
>> as you should. Um so I'm Kaylee Jake.
I'm the executive director and founder
of the garage, which is what brings me
to you today. I was here a couple weeks
ago for the um signing in, no, the
swearing in of the council and the new
mayor, and it made me very nostalgic um
for all the council meetings that I've
attended. So, I just wanted to give you
a little snapshot of the garage and what
you all have done for us um these last
10 years since we started planning, 7
and 1/2 years since we've been open.
Um so, we have served more than 1,900
unduplicated teens. We've had more than
80,000 visits. Our case manager who
started in January of 23 has served more
than 114 teens
and our therapists have served more than
95.
So this is an incredible impact and I
just I was thinking back on the first
time I presented to you all and I was so
nervous and dear to Tola said you can
sit at the table and I said oh thank god
I don't have to stand at a podium. So,
I've gotten better. But I just want to
say that um you know the the partnership
that we have had these last 7 and 1 half
10 years has been amazing. The teens
that you've impacted with your support
is a lasting impact and I just could not
be more proud to be in this city doing
this work with you all. So, I just want
to say thank you.
Thank you very much
and clerk. And the comments we're
targeting for those who aren't as
experienced as Kaylee is is three to
five minutes for the comments. But go
ahead, cler.
>> Um, mayor, we had someone join us from
the public virtually, and I just want to
make sure that is not uh Earl Pigot, who
is the person who' signed up to speak
first tonight. If that is you, Earl,
please press star three, which will
indicate to me that you'd like to make
public comments.
Otherwise, no one further has signed up
in advance
and I'm not seeing any indicators from
our phone and caller.
>> Okay. Is there anyone else in the room
who wants to speak the general portion,
not the public hearing? Okay. Not seeing
any. So, now we're going to move on to
the consent calendar. I do not have any
remarks on the consent calendar. Are
there any committee chairs or chair
designs who would like to report on any
of the consent calendar items?
Not seeing any, the cons consent
calendar was distributed to the council
in advance. If authorized, the items on
the consent calendar will be considered
together and approved in one motion.
First, have the pay payables and payroll
been reviewed?
>> They have.
>> That's affirmative. Does any council
member desire to remove any items from
the consent calendar and consider it
under regular business?
Not seeing any. So, that brings us to
that time for a motion.
Uh, Council President D. Michelle. Go
ahead.
>> Thank you, Mayor Mullet. I move that the
council adopt the consent agenda as
presented.
>> Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor say I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay. And that passes
unanimously.
The next item of business is the public
hearing. This is agenda bill 9134
district levies 2026 February 10th
special election. and we're going to
have city clerk Tisha Geyser Geyser
present this item.
>> All right. Uh, city council, this is
Tisha Geyser, city clerk. I'm here to
just provide a very brief uh
introduction to the resolution that you
have in your agenda packet. Um, so as
you know, as elected officials, you have
limited ways that you can um weigh in on
ballot items, but one of the allowable
ways is to pass a piece of legislation
at an open meeting. And the important
thing at this open meeting is that uh
both opponents and proponents of the
ballot items have an equal opportunity
to speak. And that applies to um the
public and that also applies to you as
members. Um which is why we've noticed
this item as a public hearing tonight.
So at your last council meeting, Council
Member Nichols made a motion directing
the administration to prepare a
resolution in support of the Isiziqua
School District's three levies which are
on the February 10th special election
ballot. Uh, and so that is what is in
your packet and what is before you
tonight. Um, as I just mentioned, um,
there are three propositions on the
ballot in February. Um, I was briefly
trying to pull up the summary titles of
them. They were included in your agenda.
So, proposition one is the replacement
for educational programs and operations
levy. Proposition two is the replacement
capital projects levy regarding
technology and crit critical repairs.
And the third one is proposition number
three, which is the school bus levy. The
first two propositions are four-year
levies. The third one is a one-year
levy. And uh I understand that the
school district estimates that the
combined total of these levies would
equate to $39 per $1,000 of assessed
valuation. Uh with that, uh I am open to
questions. However, I think more
fittingly, we do have some um school
district representatives here tonight.
if the council has questions following
the public hearing. Thank you.
>> Okay, we're now going to open the public
hearing at 7:08.
And so the same rules we mentioned
before, if you're joining us virtually,
you can send a message via chat. And if
you're in the room and did not sign up,
you will be have a chance to speak after
we call on the first few folks who did
sign up early. And so Tisha, do you want
to call up the first of the signes?
>> Sure. The first person who signed up in
advance is Seviva Kierleti.
Is Seviva here?
Okay. The next person is Dona Uzel.
Coming up, Dona. Thank you. Met my wife
many times and Kelly. She's spoken
highly of you.
>> Hi, I'm Donna Uzel and good evening
council members, mayor. Uh while I serve
as the president of the Isiqua Education
Association, I actually am here tonight
as a resident of Isiqua Highlands and a
proud parent of a student at Isqua High
School. Four years ago, my family uh
decided to move to Isiqua specifically
because of the reputation of our
schools. Like so many of my neighbors, I
moved here because this community
prioritizes its children. And I'm here
tonight to urge the council to vote in
favor of the resolution pre before you
supporting the renewal of the school
district's three levies on the February
ballot.
Our students need a well-rounded quality
education now more than ever. These
levies are not just extras, they are
essentials. They secure the resources
our children rely on every day like our
school nurses, critical building
repairs, classroom technology, dual
language programs, special education,
transportation, and so much more.
State funding alone does not cover the
reality of our modern education.
Families move here for our schools and
our property values and community health
depend on their success. We cannot
maintain this standard of excellence
without community investment. So I ask
tonight the council to stand with our
students and educators by officially
supporting the renewal of these levies
in the resolution. Thank you. Thank you,
>> Janet Kelly.
>> Janet witnessed Indiana Hooer fans
taking over the Sunset Hill House last
night, which was fun.
>> Go Hooers.
Good evening, mayor and council members.
My name is Janet Kelly, and I'm here
tonight to express support for renewal
of the Isiqua School District three
levies. By way of background, I have two
children, one here tonight in the Isiqua
School District. I'm involved in
volunteers for Isiqua Schools. I serve
on the board of two organizations that
have endorsed the levies, the Isiqua
Schools Foundation and the Isiqua
Chamber of Commerce.
I've served on numerous advisory
committees for development of the school
bond and levy proposals for the last
halfozen years. And like Dona, I moved
here for the school system. My husband
actually went to Challenger and um
Beaver Lake Middle School. So really
rooted in this uh community and I feel
passionately as well about funding our
schools. While I was not part of the
levy committee this time around, I did
do my own homework to understand how
these levies would improve education for
our students and teachers in the
classroom. And I'm here tonight for
three primary reasons that I believe
will make a difference should the levies
be passed. The first is academic
opportunities are expanded. I think over
the last few years we've been asking
more and more of our educators and our
students um and the school facilities
themselves and we've kind of lost sight
of the core value of the educational
system which is academic opportunity. So
these levies will allow for a seven
period classroom in the high schools.
And I think if the we want our kids to
get jobs either right out of high school
or go to colleges that they want to go
to, we need to focus on more academic um
opportunity at the schools.
The capital levy is necessary for
critical repairs. And speaking more from
a community perspective, our kids
deserve safe, dry, and warm places to
learn every day, right? We can't speak
on behalf of all the people out there
that don't um may not be paying
attention to this, but I think from just
a core value perspective, this community
should be supporting our teachers and
our students in those classrooms, and
critical repairs are funded as that
levy. And then lastly, from really more
of a business perspective, I think the
transportation levy is critical,
employers in this community rely on
dependable transportation to help ensure
that their employees can make it to work
on time and buses are a critical part of
that. just like us as business owners in
the community that need to make
investments in our own maintenance um
for whether it's our fleet or
businesses. I think the school district
is doing the same by investing in the
transportation system. So, I would
encourage you to um support the uh
ordinance tonight. Thank you.
Next, we have uh Christy Santa Domingo.
Hello. Uh, good evening, mayor and
council members. My name is Christy
Santa Domingo and I've been a public
school teacher for 20 years and I
currently teach in the Isiqua school
district and I have two kids who attend
Skyline. Uh, I'm here tonight to ask for
your endorsement for the Isiqua School
District levies. These levies are
essential to the day-to-day operation of
our schools and to the well-being of our
students and staff. As you know, the
state does not fully fund public
education, leaving a gap that requires
local levy funding. That funding
supports hundreds of staff positions
that directly affect instructional
support, student safety, health service,
and clean functioning schools. As an
educator, I see the positive impact of
the EPNO levy firsthand. I see it when
students have access to counselors, when
they need to see the school nurse, when
they receive special education services,
and when students can participate in
athletics, clubs, and activities that
keep them connected and engaged. The
capital levy maintains our existing
buildings, funding critical repairs,
safety upgrades, and technology, not new
construction. The transportation levy
ensures students can get to and from
school safely and reliably.
If these levies do not pass, the outcome
would be catastrophic for our schools,
resulting in deep cuts to staff,
services, and programs that students and
families rely on every single day. These
are renewal levies. They maintain the
current tax rate. Ballots are arriving
this week. Election day is February
10th. A yes vote means stable schools,
supported educators and staff, and safe,
welcoming learning environments for our
students. I respectfully ask the Isiqua
City Council to endorse these levies and
stand with our students, families, and
educators. Strong schools mean strong
communities. Thank you for your time and
for your commitment to public education.
Thank you.
>> Thank you very much,
>> Kurt Strickland.
Council, good evening and mayor.
Uh, I'm here to oppose the referendum on
the schools. I'm curious in terms of
decision making of
where I've I've heard that there's 12%
less students than we had 5 years ago.
If that's the case, then why are we
applying all our funds, whatever, to a
new high school, uh when possibly we
should be looking at other alternatives.
Um I I know this is rather quick on my
side, but uh uh I know there's a lot of
other homeowners I've spoken with that
increases in taxes, of course, is
something they're definitely looking at
during this time period. Um, I I don't
doubt the uh ability and the uh of the
Isiqua school system to produce good
students. My kids went through it and I
uh wish to say that that's all I'm here
standing for is that there's other
people out there, residents who are
going to be the burden of this tax
increase. That's all. Thank you.
Appreciate it.
>> Thank you very much. And just this was
my mistake but do please state your name
and your relationship to the city with
your like your address where you live
for the comments as well. Thanks.
>> Yeah.
>> Got it. Thank you.
>> No one further has signed up in advance
to make comments.
>> Is there anybody else in the audience
who would like to make comments? Harlon,
come on up.
We're city council. We don't do
homework. Haron, come on. Well,
>> then you can look at it and know instead
and they don't have to listen to me. Uh,
so my name's Harlland Gallinger and I am
speaking here tonight on behalf of this
school board and I am a resident
address. It's 1316 235th Place Southeast
Smamish.
So in your packet tonight, there are a
couple of items. uh and we were are
requesting your support and partnership.
I think this is a one of the rare
opportunities for us to publicly talk
about our partnership because as you've
heard other of your residents speak,
most people move here for our schools
and it's a privilege to work together uh
to have an outstanding school system. I
would argue based on our current
graduation rates and test scores, the
best school system in the state of
Washington. And uh that should be
something that this city is very proud
of.
This current tax rate is uh 309 today in
2026. This is a renewal levy. There is
no increase to the tax rate. What's also
important to know is uh there is nothing
for a high school building in this. This
is a renewal levies for uh our 400 plus
staff positions that we staff above what
the state provides us for
school counselors, for school nurses,
for security. You'll see in the critical
repairs levy are the top items that were
part of the bond from a couple years ago
that are the safety measures that our
community has asked for at our high
schools. If you walk into any one of our
elementary schools, you have to be
buzzed in to get in or middle schools.
Our high schools are uh freely open. And
what we want to do is bring the same
level of access to our high school
campuses that exist currently in our K
through8 buildings.
And then uh lastly, uh this community
has uh had very uh keen interest in
electric buses, and this investment in a
one-year levy would allow us to further
those investments. uh in order to uh add
that to our fleet. So u I'm happy to
answer any questions that may come up at
this point.
>> Thank you.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much. And we
will if the council has questions, we'll
do that after we close the public
hearing. Is there anybody else in the
room who would like
Okay. Oh, Jay, come on up.
My name is Jay Sternoff. I live at 22611
Southeast 44th Place in uh Isiqua.
My uh first experience in uh the uh
Isqua school district goes back some 50
years and uh I four of my five children
went to school in Isiqua. So I know the
reputation of this district.
With that said, uh
many things have changed within this
cross school district, but most
importantly,
some of you are new members to this
council. Some have been on the school
board and believe definitely in public
service. I believe that this forum that
we have tonight uh presenting the school
uh levy uh is very important. I believe
the community should have a discussion
pro and con. However,
all of you ran as nonpartisan
candidates. The school board is
nonpartisan candidates. The uh school
levy is nonpartisan. And therefore, it
is my belief, even though it might not
be technically illegal, by endorsing one
side or another, it may shut out some of
the citizens of the city of Isqua.
And similar to that, the city of Seamish
has stated, at least some of the council
members, there is not going to be an
endorsement pro or con. uh Newcastle is
not going to make a endorsement pro or
con and I just ask all of you as public
servants I absolutely appreciate your
presentation and of allowing pros and
cons to speak on the issue but that
should be kept to yourselves. If any of
you who've been involved in the past or
currently want to get involved in this
school levy, I suggest you do so. But
doing it as part of the city of Isiqua
is just is not appropriate for a
non-partisan
ballot measure. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jake. Is there anybody else
in the room who would like to speak?
Going once, going twice. Not seeing any
at this point. We will close the public
hearing
and got to go back at 7:23.
Um,
okay. Now we're to city council. Uh,
does the council have any questions they
want to ask at this point in time?
Uh seeing any there's no questions I
will then say is there a motion?
Thank you. I move to approve resolution
number 2026-04
supporting the Isiqua School District's
levies propositions
excuse me proposition number 1 2 and
three scheduled for the February 10th
2026 special election.
Second.
>> Okay, there is a motion and a second. Is
there any council discussion?
Council member Nichols.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, first of
all, I would like to be direct about
what is on this ballot. This levy is
entirely unrelated to the construction
of a new high school, and I think that's
important to to recognize and actively
communicate to the public. These three
levies fund operations, maintenance, and
transportation for the schools we
already have. These are not the measures
measures from last year concerning the
construction of a new high school. Uh
the EPO levy covers 17% of daily
operations. These are teachers, nurses,
counselors, the seven uh period high
school day, and the state mandated
mandated special education services that
are currently underfunded by
approximately $10 million a year. And
this levy closes that gap.
The capital levy fixes aging
infrastructure. Capital does not mean
new construction. It means critical
repairs. I have stood in a portable
classroom during dropping off my kids,
felt something dripping on me. Uh I've
looked up and realized the roof was
leaking. These things happen. These are
old buildings. It's understandable that
they happen, but we have to pay to
continue to repair them. The
transportation levy, the third of the
three levies, keeps buses running
safely.
I also want to be uh direct about the
role of city councils in supporting
these kinds of measures. RCW42.178555
specifically empowers and encourages
municipal bodies to weigh in on ballot
measures that affect our communities.
Our schools are our community. Their
success is success.
These renewals are at a stable tax rate
below our 20-year average. They are not
a tax increase. and I support this res
resolution.
>> Thank you very much. And we're not going
to call on people as I thought I saw the
microphones go up. I maybe sadly have
our council president D. Michelle.
>> Thank you so much. Um uh I won't repeat
what council member Nichols said uh
about the um about the levies. Uh they
are renewal levies. Uh they do not raise
the tax rate at at any uh uh by any
means. And they are really really
important. and they are 17% of the
annual funding coming from local levies
that support our schools. I do want to
address the question that's been raised
about why uh the city council is uh
weighing in on this uh measure and I
just lost my talking points. Just a
moment here. Um
let's see.
There we go. Um the question is always
raised why is the city engaged in
supporting uh school funding? And my a
answer is simple but twofold. First, in
the city of Isiqua, between five and
6,000 residents are students in Isiqua
public schools. They are our
constituents even though they don't
vote. Uh and we need to attend to their
well-being as we do with all other
residents. Second, the city and all of
its residents benefit from having a
highly sought-after, excellent school
system. It attracts new families, new
businesses. It attracts a highly
educated citizenry, which we all benefit
from, a strong tax base, and community
health. And though we may not see these
benefits uh on a daily basis, they are
there adding so much to the vibrancy of
our community. It is very well
documented that healthy schools are
important for healthy cities. It's been
documented over and over again. And I'd
like to think that healthy cities are
important for healthy schools. The
partnership between the city of Isiqua
and the Isiqua School District has been
in place for over a hundred years and
it's added immensely to making the city
a special place where people care. I too
will support the resolution. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Deputy Council President
Marks.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, um, I think this
question of why city council should be
involved is important, so I'm going to
take a different stab at it. Short
answer is nobody lives here because of
the weather.
Long answer, um, I'm from White Bear
Lake, Minnesota, and in 1980, um, you
could buy a just a beautiful house in
White Bear Lake, or maybe you buy a
house on the southwest side of the Twin
Cities, a dino. In the intervening
years, White Bear made the transition
from a growth city to a sustainable
city. Um but it it got off the ball for
the school systems. The school system
stopped uh voters stopped funding um
school levies. When that happened, young
parents stopped coming to the town. And
now, while White is still a beautiful
city, um the suburbs on the southwest
side, like Adina, if you know anything
about the Twin Cities, even though it's
the same older housing stock, um it's
much uh it's much healthier community
because you still had an influx of young
parents. And that's what this is really
about for me. I moved to this city
specifically because of the education
system. I was in Minnesota, public
education snob. I was in the best school
district in the best state in the
country and I wanted a great education
for my kids and boy did I get it. Um, so
now it's my responsibility to help bring
that for future generations. So I'm
going to support this levy. Thank you,
>> Council Member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Gosh, going after these uh
three speakers, you've said it
beautifully that this is a city
responsibility to understand that our
community thrives not just because of
the roadways and the parks and the sewer
infrastructure that we provide as a
city, but also the things that we do to
draw in new residents um and to educate
our future workers And so I I will just
uh echo many of those things, echo the
idea that many of us moved here because
of the great schools and that that is a
commitment that we need to um continue
to make. And then from my perspective as
a parent of a student at Gibson who
which is directly funded um by this levy
and the school district CTE programs. I
just really recognize that the state
level of funding does not provide what
our community expects in the quality of
education. And if these levies
do not pass and other similar funding
does not pass, I think our community
would be absolutely shocked at the
losses that our students would have to
go through and thus um that would hurt
our reputation as a community and our
ability to um bring those in. So I
recognize the importance of these three
levies and I will support this
resolution.
>> Thank you, Council Member Jen.
>> Great. It is very hard to go after such
amazing speakers. But I guess I'll talk
a bit about my experience with this
levy. So I had the opportunity to serve
on the community levy advisory committee
with council member Nichols. And through
that process really you know we dove
into detail over six long meetings into
what exactly is in the levy. And you
know the capital repairs it's like
there's a roof on a school that is 30
years old that is leaking. You know the
kids are getting dripped on or they have
to put buckets in the classrooms. That's
not a good learning environment. that is
not what our community expects and we
need to fund those. There are also
things in the original proposal that we
removed. For example, having Wi-Fi on
school buses that seemed a bit
extraneous. That's not in there anymore.
And so, um there's also things that
would be really great that were not in
there because of the focus on fiscal
sustainability and staying within that
$39 uh per,000 of assessed value tax
rate. for example, expanded bilingual
education I think would be awesome, but
you know, in this levy, that's not
something that was able to be included
due to the other pressing priorities. So
I think you know based on those
discussions that we've had in that group
with dozens of other members of the
community representing educators,
community members, um you know elected
officials, I think what we ultimately
came to was a good compromise of you
know making sure that we have the
educational opportunities that our
community expects of why folks moved
here for our kids. Um and I also want to
mention you know what uh director
Gallinger mentioned which is the
partnership between the city and the
school district. I think you know for
those of us who are in local government
you know sometimes we can get into this
mindset of oh this is a school district
thing or this is a city thing but to the
average member of the public people want
local government that works. We want
kids to be able to go to school. We want
kids to be able to go to school and stay
safe warm and dry in their buildings and
learn and all those types of things. And
so for us as as a city and school
district, you know, I think there's a
lot more opportunities to work together
to get um outcomes that serve our
community in the best way possible. And
I think in this way, you know, showing
support for funding our most important
educational priorities that are not
sufficiently funded by the state is a
key part of uh maintaining that
partnership and I look forward to
working more closely with our
schoolboard members moving forward on
other topics of interest. So, I will be
voting to support this as well.
>> Thank you, Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you. Um I'm going to talk about
the um educational programs and
operations levy. Um I have uh two kids,
two young adults that are in the system
right now. One's 19 and one is 16 and um
uh both of them have struggled with uh
mental health issues and have needed
counseling and support during their time
in schools. And we struggled as parents
to get them the support they needed in
the schools. And what the school
district had was basic,
but it was enough. It was enough to get
things
settled down, diagnosed so that we as
parents could then help our kids. Um, my
eldest had to go through the alternate
program of going to Running Start,
Belleview College, rather than going
through the high school system. Um, but
the support system was there to help her
launch with that. Um, and I owe a great
debt to the the school district for
doing that. My youngest has a a
condition which zaps his energy daily.
Um it's called POTS. And the school
district has been very accommodating for
his health condition as well as his
ADHD.
Um the education programs and operations
levy is not enough. We heard from Kaylee
Jake this evening that the garage
provides mental health programs for
students and they went through the
numbers and the people that go through
counseling. Um what she didn't mention
is that the garage now has one of their
counselors in the school at the high
school in Gibson on a regular basis
working with the school because that
program needs to be augmented and the
two need to work together. Um this
education programs and operations levy
um will then allow that to continue to
happen. Um will give the basic
foundation for people that are having
trouble. Um, and I think it's very
important that we continue to do that.
Also, the the zero the the seven um
period school um
capacity is is very important. My my
youngest um loves to sing and it's the
only thing that's kept him grounded in
school and allows him to still go to
school. um he goes to zero hour for his
choir and we have to get him there at 7
in the morning um four days a week and
it is a pain but because he's doing that
because he's been in the program in the
high school for two years I've seen him
grow in different ways that he wouldn't
get from a sports program or from any
academic program. So, um, these added
things, what we think is added things in
this in this levy are so important to
allow our school district to maintain a
high level of service and a great level
of education for all of our people, all
of our children, all of our young people
growing up in this community. And I hope
that uh everyone would vote for it as I
am this evening. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much, Council Member Joe.
With no further discussion, the motion
before the council is to approve
resolution number 2026-04 supporting the
Isqual school district levies
proposition numbers 1,2 and three
scheduled for the February 2026 special
election. All those in favor, please say
I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those oppose? Nay. And that passes
unanimously. And thank you Martin from
the school district for being here to
answer questions. But you didn't they
did not need to phone a friend tonight.
though, but we appreciate you taking the
time to show up just in case. We'll now
move on to regular business,
ID1956,formational
update from WASHDOT on the fish passage
project. And here's a spoiler alert for
the council. There is road misery ahead
for Isqua residents in 2026. So, I would
advise you pay attention so you can
understand the level of road misery
that's coming. And public works director
Emily Moon.
We need to get it music we can play in
the background while we try to figure it
out. Something calming and relaxing.
>> That's right.
>> There we go.
>> Good evening. I am Emily Moon, the
public works director. I'm joined this
evening by a few people on the project
team. Uh Matt Ellis, our utilities
engineering manager, is with me. We also
have a representative Matt Rue from
Atkinson, the construction company that
is the contractor for WASHDOT.
And we have Chris Brown who is our city
liaison. uh that's the best title I can
come up with for him. But he's he's our
primary conduit with wash, a city
contract um entity that is helping us
facilitate this project.
I have a new laptop and it's just not
happy.
Okay. So, tonight we're just going to
give you a status update on the fish
passage project. We were here months
ago. Uh it gave you an overview of the
entirety of the project. This is
multi-year, multi- roads that are
impacted and um some work that the city
has to do in advance of the project.
We'll give you an update on that.
And uh we will talk about road closures
as the mayor suggested. There are many
that are coming. We are at a very
critical point in this project. This is
a pivotal moment where the city is
wrapping up its kind of precursor work.
Matt will talk about that in a moment.
And we're ready for wash to uh start
their construction activities. You may
have noticed some work already in the
I90 median to prepare for that. More is
coming on either side of I90 on local
roads and we'll talk about those impacts
shortly. But just a reminder, this
project is being undertaken as a result
of the federal injunction. All the work
needs to be completed by 2030. So we
have many years of disruption in our
community ahead of us.
Again, a refresher on the project
locations. The two primary locations
that wash out will be working in are in
the vicinity of the crossing for Lewis
Creek by Lakemon
and in the vicinity of uh West Village
Park and Schneider Creeks as they're
being combined before they cross I90 and
uh go across Northwest Mammoth Road into
the lake.
And with that, I'll have Chris come up
and talk through the next slides.
All right, thank you very much. Um, I'm
just going to quickly talk about uh what
we're looking at for construction. Uh,
as Emily mentioned, it's going to be a
couple years of fun. Um, four new
bridges. Uh, we're going to have a new
roundabout, and I'll show you a picture
of all this stuff here in a minute so
you can understand what we're talking
about. Um, we are going to have detours
in place, especially when we do the
local road work. Um, there'll be some
local street closures at the same time
to get that done. And there are some
utility impacts um on the Lewis Creek
side. Those are going to be uh done by
Washcott. And then also they're going to
relocate uh one of the BIP lines for the
uh CWA out of Belleview as that runs
through the through the Newport work.
So, thank you for letting me be the
expert at this, getting the right
button. Um, so this is a photograph of
the area. So, you can see starting from
uh Lankmont, there's going to be a new
connection at that point. And then
you're going to cross over uh the first
bridge there at Lankmont, that white
parag parallelogram there you see on the
page. And then further to the east is
the new roundabout that's going to be
built. Um so that takes care of the
roundabout in one of the bridges. Uh the
next two bridges are up on I90 eastbound
and westbound which is the work that
Atinson's currently preparing for. And
then the last bridge uh in this sequence
is on Westlake Seamish Parkway and uh
the relocation of the uh Isqua waterline
will take place in that location.
>> Are there any questions on that slide?
People
>> sure go back.
>> Deputy President Marts.
>> Thank you. Lewis Creek, you're showing
that in the new system, it's going to
run underneath the on-ramp. It's going
to cross underneath the on-ramp twice.
It doesn't currently do that, right? It
runs between the on-ramp and the loop to
the west.
>> That is correct.
>> So, what tell me why we're making it
more complicated and what that's going
to do to make things better. So, we
moved it further to the east to give
space for the riparian corridor.
Basically, to give us a bigger footprint
for a better stream. In its current
configuration, it's too close to that to
one of the on-ramps that you see there.
And if we would have come in and done uh
the width of stream that we needed to uh
meet the needs for the riparian
corridor, we would have had to take out
parts of that ramp as well. So, it was
just the least impactful place to put
the stream and get the biggest benefit
that we could. So it'll be a better
salmonic bearing stream when it's done.
Is that That's the That's the
>> That's the goal. Yes.
>> Thank you,
>> Council Member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I know on the north side
when we're talking about the uh further
down on Northwest Seamish, there was
conversation about how that bridge
height is going to be quite a bit higher
than the um existing roadway. Is that
also happening on the Westlake Seamish
Parkway? Um, at that point, is that
going to be a up and down basically much
higher?
>> Uh, it will be raised a little bit. Uh,
it's about six feet, I believe. And the
purpose of that was just to to increase
that distance. So, um, as you're coming
around that corner, you can you can see
better. Um and again as you mentioned to
get the stream up high enough to where
that uh there's enough passage
underneath
>> so that there's light underneath the
bridge. Okay. So that even that small of
a bridge on that Westlake Samesh Parkway
is going to raise six feet and then
reduce back down.
>> Yep. And then goes back down.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Oh, Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you. Um couple questions.
>> Sure. one, as I recall, there was uh
some concern about the ownership of the
bridge or the jurisdiction along that
that road there. Has that been talked
about and resolved?
>> Uh you're talking about on Newport?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Um we're currently talking to
WashDOT about that. Um the roundabout
location is um eventually going to be uh
owned and maintained by uh WashDOT.
That's what the city would like
obviously since they're building their
roundabout there. In terms of uh the
transfer of property, uh we worked
through some uh access rights only at
this point, but the acquisition of the
property and the acquisition of those
access rights is still being worked on.
>> So, just so the audience at home can
understand, we're talking about the
section of road between Lakemont and the
roundabout. Is is that correct in terms
of whether that was going to be uh city
owned or whether that was going to be
controlled and owned by the state? Is
that correct?
>> Yes. In this in this area right here.
>> Okay. Okay. And there is there is uh
certain sections especially right where
the roundabout ties in with the entrance
to the to the development there where uh
some of that rightway is current
currently city of Isiqua rightway and we
would uh desire to transfer that over to
uh the state so that they're responsible
for maintaining it um and not the city.
>> But that has not been resolved up to
this point. Is that correct?
>> Uh no it is not. As I mentioned, uh
access rights along here because they
wanted to limit access rights just to
make sure that uh the roundabout could
operate safely and that process is is
ongoing, but we still have yet to hear
from the state on the acquisition of the
of the particular parcel.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> When I was looking for an apartment, I
uh looked at the nice apartments that
are right there just to the south of the
roundabout. How do people that live
there still get access during
construction?
>> Um, so for this construction, the lanes
are just going to be shifted. Uh, there
will be no permanent lane closures. So
the two lanes in each direction will be
maintained and they'll build the
roundabout in and the bridge in phases
to keep those open. Uh there will be
obviously some uh slowdowns. You know,
people drive through, oh look what's
going on. They're going to be looking.
But in terms of roadway capacity, it's
going to remain the same.
>> Thank you. One last question.
>> Um
I'm the liaison to the Chamber of
Commerce and they've been a little
concerned about the traffic Armageddon
that could be coming if we were to shut
down both the north and the south access
lanes around I90. Um could you um just
let the public know in terms of what's
in the materials that you'll be keeping
one of those lanes, either the north
lane or the south lane open at all times
during this construction and kind of
shift them around so that um we're not
causing both a backup on 90 and a backup
on the side roads.
>> Um yeah, so the the I90 work is all
going to be done through lane shifts. Uh
that's going to be happen later uh or
I'm sorry in early February is planned
right now. Um if you have more specific
questions I'll ask Matt but uh it's a
little weather dependent right because
we have to tie in striping and sort that
sort of thing but all that work will be
done with shifted lanes. Um the work on
the on the Newport side will also be
done through shifted lanes. So there'll
be no no permanent lane closures. There
may be some intermittent night closures
just for critical stuff, but uh nothing
during the day.
>> Okay. So, just in general, if if people
wanted to go not on the freeway, they
could either take the north road that
goes toward the state park if you're
heading east or the road with the
roundabouts on, but they both will not
be closed at the same time. Is that
correct?
>> That's correct.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Mhm.
Oh, Council Member Nichols,
>> go ahead.
>> Oh, sorry. Can you go back to Matt for a
second?
>> Yep.
>> Okay. Uh, this is a very detailed
question. If you don't know the numbers,
it's okay. But, um, the on looking at
Westlakes Mammish Parkway Southeast. Um,
I I wanted to know if you know how wide
that section is. And the the context for
this is that I am I'm very interested in
understanding the the impacts of this
particular project on rel on the related
multimodal transportation improvements
that we would like to do in that area,
specifically bike and pedestrian
improvements. Um and the phasing
associated with that and just
understanding the magnitude of how big
is this thing. Um do we really need to
delay some of those improvements for
this in particular or do we not? uh
understanding just physically how big is
this thing would I think be helpful for
that conversation.
>> Um yeah and are sure you're talking
about in terms of the width of the
bridge there in its final configuration
or the current width of the road?
>> Yeah. So left right in the orientation
of this photo um what's what what kind
of real estate are we talking about
there on the in the very top section?
>> Yeah. Um, so on Westlake Sams Parkway,
you've got uh a lane in each direction.
I'm not sure how wide it is. My guess is
probably around 11 ft. And then you've
got four to six foot shoulders on either
side of the roadway in that area. Um, in
uh further to the um sorry, further to
the east on Northwest SAM is where those
multimodal improvements at least in the
near term are going to be occurring
right after this project is over. But I
think you're probably referring to uh
future improvements, correct? To the to
the section of road between north on
Westlake Center property. Is that
correct?
>> Uh really any improvements. And I I
don't want to have to I don't want to
make it go there right now, but just so
so how long of length of roadway is this
that we're talking about? So
>> Oh, that we're modifying here.
>> Yeah,
>> it's fairly short. So it starts it
starts right at this at this
intersection basically and that's where
the the road starts to be be lifted up a
little bit. Um the sorry let me get it
to the right spot. I can't see it on my
screen. So from this intersection here
um and then uh you go over the bridge
and then basically the road ties back in
uh just before the driveway of this
house right there. If you can see that.
>> Yeah. It it would be if I again I don't
want to put you on the spot right now. I
appreciate you probably don't have this
number but since it's this is a a
infrastructure project that may be
delaying some multimodal transport
improvements. Uh it would be good to
understand the magnitude of that if
that's 50 ft long 100 ft long etc. Um we
can maybe address that at a future time.
>> Yeah I can I can follow up with Emily
with me to some exact numbers if you
want.
Council member, we have done our best to
try to make sure, especially on the
eastern portion of this project, that
there's forward compatibility to the
city's northwest Seamish non-motorized
improvement project. Further to the
west, this is not within the project
locations for that same uh multimodal
project that has uh been designed at
this point. Certainly future we are
hopeful that we can extend those
non-motorized improvements all the way
to the city boundary on the west side.
So we have an eye toward that. Uh we
have what real estate we have to work
with but as we working with Atkinson and
wash dot we have expressed to them what
our desires are for that segment and we
hope to have uh preserved enough space
to provide for that non-motorized
mobility in the future.
But we can get you some uh exact
cross-sections so that you'll have a
better sense.
>> Okay. Go ahead, Chris. You can keep
going to the next slide.
>> Okay. So, we'll jump to the next slide.
Again, I'll talk to this stuff on the
picture as well. Um again, it's about a
two to three year process. This is for
West Village Park in Schneider. Uh this
includes three bridges and we'll show
you the stream alignment. And this also
includes a local road bridge, Northwest
Sam Road. Again, we're going to have uh
we will have a full closure on Northwest
Sam, and I'll talk about that in a
minute. Uh and there will be detours in
local streets, closures as well. Um
there will be uh there was utility
impacts. Um that sewer was uh is and is
nearly relocated on Matt's project,
which we'll talk about in a minute. And
then uh the city water on the northwest
sand bridge will be uh relocated by wash
and then just ongoing coordination with
the non-motorized project which will
follow on the heels of this project when
the after the bridge is built.
Um, so this is the other project. You
can see, um, and I'll try to put this on
the You can see the the stream coming
down here. And then all this blue line
that you see is going to be, uh, rebuilt
stream bed. So, the the West Valley West
Village Park stream here and the one
coming in from Schneider over here, if I
can get the mouse to slow down, uh will
be combined and then the two uh orange
sections that you see there. Uh and then
the last bit of orange here on the top
are the three bridges on I90. So, you've
got one for I90 eastbound, one for I90
westbound, and then a new bridge on
Northwest SAM. Um, similar to the work
on Lewis Street, the I90 work, bridge
mainline work will be done uh in lane
shifts, similar to what you're going to
see on the uh at Lewis Creek. Um, so
those will be moved over. Um, so traffic
will just be shifted there on the
Northwest Sand Bridge. Um, that will
require a full closure and right now
that's planned for about 120 days. Um a
as you mentioned the the road on the
other side will remain open. So that
that is those two uh routes are not
closed at the same at the same time.
And then there's a new stream alignment
uh basically from the top of the Jordan
section there uh all the way down to all
the way down to the lake.
>> Council member Joe.
>> Thank you. Um
I'm one of the representatives to
Cascade Water Alliance and uh the
Belleview is pipeline uh runs through
that area. Could you talk about the
impacts to that pipeline and what's
being done to help mitigate them?
>> Um there's no direct impacts on the on
the um Schneider side of the of the
crossing. The only impact there is one
of the city's water lines. Uh but the uh
VIP line is being relocated on the
Newport Bridge and that's uh currently
in design with them and we're working
with their team to wash is working with
that team to to get that redesigned and
again that will happen uh in the second
phase essentially of the bridge
construction at Newport with the shifted
lanes. Obviously, we have to have a
bridge to put it on and then it'll get
put on that bridge and then they'll
they'll build the other half. But no no
no direct impacts on the on the
Schneider side of things.
>> Okay. And um one of the other pieces of
the conversation was um who was
responsible for moving that pipeline and
who was going to be paying for that?
Have we sorted that out?
>> Um yeah, for the for the one on Newport
that has been that has been s sorted
out. Uh the other section of Newport
that was uh more controversial uh that
was uh removed from the project and
that's still an ongoing discussion with
the state and that is for the bridge
that we're not going to actually build
and that's this little uh white section
right here. So that's an ongoing
discussion with the state that's yet to
be resolved.
>> Okay. Thank you for the information. I
appreciate it. Mhm.
>> Council member Jane.
>> Um, going off council member Nichols
question earlier. So, I was trying to
figure out where exactly on the map this
is, and I think it it's a little tilted,
so I got briefly confused. But so to
clarify this orange section is the one
that is basically the barrier test doing
the northwest seamish motorized
improvements because or not sorry
non-motorized improvements because that
project is basically going to go until
you know east from 193rd PL southeast.
Is that correct? And then this other
Lewis Creek one it's farther to the
west. So that's not related to the non
northwest improvement. Okay, that was my
only question. I was just making sure
that my understanding of that was
correct.
>> You are correct.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. I think we can go next slide.
>> Um that's my last one and I'll and
>> Oh, you want to pass it? All right.
>> I failed to introduce Tom Pierce from
WASHDOT. Tom is part of their
communications staff. I want to thank
Chris for stepping in and presenting.
This is a washd project. Um the city is
very active in helping to facilitate uh
especially communication efforts but
this is a moment in time where we are
switching from city's precursor
activities like relocating the Newport
sewer and handing it over to wash to
make sure that wash can carry forward
the rest of the project. But as you have
seen Chris has been a phenomenal liaison
for the city. So, with that, I'll pass
it to Matt
>> and Tom. We have an auto forward on all
complaints. They're just going to go
directly from our city email to yours.
>> All right. Good evening. And I apologize
in advance. My part of the presentation
is going to get a little geographically
confusing. So, just remember Newport is
to the south and that part of the work
is by exit 13 and northwest Mammish Road
turns into West Lakes Parkway. West
Lakes Mish Parkway is the part near exit
13 and northwest Mammish road is between
13 and 15.
All right, this is the project that uh
this is the Newport sewer relocation
project. And this is the project the
city needed to complete to support the
fish passage project at Schneider and
West Village Park Creek. And to give a
very brief summary, the sewer line
collects all sewer for properties in the
southwest quadrant of the city,
including Montro, uh the Lakemont
Orchards condos, and Spamish Hills
condos. The sewer line originally
traveled through the wash dot ride
ofway. Uh wash dot plans to reroute West
Village Park Creek as Chris showed on
the last slide uh and required the
realignment of the sewer line. Uh the
sewer needed to be routered to city
rideway within Newport Way.
Unfortunately, due to the depth of the
sewer main, challenging soils and
presence of a hill that we needed to go
through, we needed to utilize a special
boring process to complete the work.
This included boring pits that were 30
ft deep, as you can see in the picture.
uh and utilizing a special boring
process that used a much larger boring
machine than the sewer mane that we
installed. So, for context, we used a
54inch casing pipe to carry a 12-in
sewer main. And you can kind of see the
guy at the bottom of the pit there, uh
driving that boring machine, and there
was a guy inside scooping things out.
Uh, all right.
So, the new Newport sewer project is on
track. All boring is complete, and the
sewer pipe is in. Uh they are completing
they just completed the p uh pouring
grout between that carrier pipe and the
sewer main and are presently starting to
back fill around the deep manholes that
are being installed. The closure will
last until fe February 15th as they
complete all punch list items, complete
the back fill and restore the roadway.
The wash fish passage project is in the
middle of design and beginning to do
some work on the freeway to shift
traffic into a new alignment as the
bridges are installed.
Work is progressing in the design of the
two uh stream crossings at Schneider
West Village Park Creek and Lewis Creek.
And I will present on a later slide the
schedule for each of these. Uh at the
same time, the city is working on the
design and preparation for construction
of both the new Northwest Famish Road
non-motorized improvement project and
phase one of the Newport SR900 to 54th
Street project. Utility improvements are
currently undergoing uh for the design
of both roadways uh including a new
water line on Newport Way and the
replacement of water and sewer in
preparation of the SR900 phase one
project and those are city utility
projects. Uh the city is actively
coordinating with washd and all
thirdparty franchise utilities that need
to be relocated for all the above
projects. One challenge that I will be
highlighting in a few slides is the
traffic impacts necessary for these
utilities to relocate and coordinate to
ensure simultaneous closures don't occur
at the same time, potentially stranding
residents without a safe and clear point
of ingress or egress from their
neighborhood. As I mentioned, the I90
median preparations are set to occur in
the next couple weeks to shift traffic
over so's design builder Atkinson uh can
come in and build their bridges. This
will require exit closures and lane
reductions on the freeway, but that's
only overnight for like one night. And
that'll happen in midFebruary for the
two times that they shift things over.
So the uh as we look at specifically at
uh local street impacts, there will be
quite a bit of activity in 2026 on both
Newport Way and Northwest Mish Road. We
have made a requirement that a full
closure and detour cannot occur on both
Newport Way and Northwest Mammish
Road/West Lakesmesh Parkway at the same
time. However, there will be impacts on
both. Uh on Northwest Mish Road, utility
impacts are projected to start in midfe
February right after we finish the
Newport sewer project and extend through
May. This work will commence once the
Newport sewer project is has been
completed. uh util utility impacts again
are not city facilities but the dry
utilities such as telecommunications and
Puget Sound energy gas and power. Uh
this work will require a combination of
single lane closures and one full
closure uh of Northwest mesh road for
about six weeks as one of the utilities
for under the the new bridge
foundations. On the heels of this wash
dot's design builder will close the road
between July and November to construct
the bridges.
Uh this is not the only time that the
road will be closed. In 27 and 2028,
work will occur in the Lewis Creek
crossing requiring a full closure uh
closer to exit 13 uh near the Timberlake
Park neighborhood for the West Lakes uh
on West Lakes Me Parkway. The road will
be closed between December 27 and June
2028.
The franchise utilities are focusing all
their attention on the Schneider and
West Village Park Creek crossing
presently and have not started design
for the for uh the location at Lewis
Creek yet. So, we don't know the level
of impacts or duration. Staff continue
to engage and be in meetings so we can
provide the most accurate information uh
regarding th those impacts in the
future. Uh as all these as all this goes
on, work will occur on Newport Way at
the Lewis Creek crossing near exit 13.
Utilities are scheduled to begin in
February uh and last through June 2026
and construction on the bridge is
anticipated from July 2026 through
November 2027. This work is planned to
occur through lane shifts and shoulder
closures and presently no long-term lane
closures is anticipated at this
location, though short duration lane
closures will probably be needed as
traffic is flip-flopped at different
locations.
All right.
So, uh, here's a visual chart of
closures and traffic impacts for both
Northwest Mammoth Road and Newport Way
for 2026.
Green are city projects. Orange is
washinson
uh, fish passage work and red/ammon
uh, are uh, the franchise utilities. And
then uh light color slash the stripes if
you can see that are lane closures and
dark colors are full closures. Uh this
shows the Newport sewer project ending
in February followed by utility impacts
on both Newport Way and Northwest West
Smeamish Road. The work on Newport is
primarily in shoulder and as I mentioned
before the work on Northwest Semeish
Road will require lane closures from
February through May uh with one
projected six-week closure uh in March
and April. Uh, one thing to highlight is
the work on Schneider Creek at Northwest
Meish Road will occur at the same time
as the work on Lewis Creek at Newport.
However, Newport work uh is a lane shift
as I mentioned.
All right, next slide. And for long-term
uh long range construction impacts, uh
here's an expanded look at uh impacts to
Northwest Meish Road/Westlakes Meish
Parkway and Newport Way. Um, I want to
highlight the city's planned projects
and how those slip in with the work that
uh, wash is doing as well as the utility
work. In mid 2027, Newport Way SR900 to
54th phase 1 will begin. This has a
federal grant and must occur during this
timeline. Phase one starts at SR900 and
heads west for approximately 1,000 ft.
Uh most of this work will require a
single lane closure but will have a
short duration full closure uh as they
work on a culvert. Before that work
begins the city needs to relocate water
and sewer facilities out of the way. We
also plan to extend water at a different
location on Newport and this work will
require lane closures. Uh as this work
occurs, work will occur on the wash fish
passage work at Lewis Creek on Westlakes
Parkway near the Timber Timberlake
neighborhood. This will be a full
closure uh from December 27 through June
2028.
As at this time, we do not know the
extent of the impacts for franchise
utilities. Uh but we'll put that
information in in 2027. Presently, we're
showing that from July through November.
Uh and once the Lewis Creek project on
Westlake Center Parkway is installed and
the road is open, the city plans to
start construction on the Northwest Sam
non-motorized improvement project uh
from the state park to SR to 193rd place
in mid 2028. We're still figuring out
the traffic control for this part of the
project. And then again one thing to
note is uh this just represents uh
impacts to city streets and not freeway
which will have again lane shifts not
clo not lane reductions but will have
some impacts
>> because it's safe to say the main point
I think for our community in this
calendar year is full lane closure
northwest Samish road and for basically
six weeks in March and April and then
closed again from July
through November. So obviously for those
communities south of Lake Seamish,
that's going to be the really big impact
that's going to hit them very soon.
Correct.
>> Okay. Matt talked a little bit about
this, but just to underscore, there's a
lot that we are trying to orchestrate.
um utility replacements for our own road
projects and other projects, pavement
management on uh Newport Way Southwest,
and then phase one of the Newport Way
SR900 to 54th project. So, um we are
keenly aware of our own timetables and
are working very closely with Atkinson
and Wash DOT to make sure that we can
achieve all of our goals on the
construction front.
Wanted to also
share that we are doing all that we can
to try to get the word out. Um it is a
complex picture. We've given you all the
nitty-gritty ugly details tonight. Um we
are going out into community and trying
to give simplified picture. Try to give
as much uh certainty about when things
are happening so people can plan. One of
the ways that we are doing that, we're
holding our next neighborhood meeting on
the north side of I90 for South Lake
Seamish neighborhood on February 5th at
Sunset Elementary. We are using all of
our available resources to push out uh
that notice and we really encourage
community members whether you live
adjacent to I90 or not to sign up for
notify me alerts on the city's website.
You can also check out the city's web
pages about city projects. Follow us on
social media, look at the Isqua Insider
newsletter, and also wash has their own
alerts that you can sign up for. But we
just highly encourage everyone to try to
uh access as much information as you can
because timetables change, some are
weather dependent, and we'll do our best
to get the word out. But uh as much as
people can also help self-service a
little bit that that would be great.
And with that happy to take any
additional questions.
>> Any questions? And I think Nichols I
think it's very clear once the window in
mid 28. I mean the plan is to definitely
do the non-motorized improvements from
you know the state park to 193rd. I
think that is full steam ahead and it
will happen I think as quickly as we can
try to make it happen given all this
other work that's going on. Council
member Joe,
>> thank you. Um Director Moon, could you
give just a little uh preview of um the
parties that will be at the meeting at
Sunset Elementary? Uh will it be washed
out? Will it be staff? If you could just
kind of um let the community know.
>> Absolutely. So, we will have
representatives from WashDOT, from
Atkinson, uh, and then city staff will
be there. And we'll be talking not only
about the fish passage project, but
about city projects that might be of
interest to that neighborhood in
particular, and that would include the
Northwest Sam nommotorized project.
>> And will it just be a lecture where you
guys are just talking about things or
will there be displays of each of the
projects where people can ask questions
and talk with the principles? Yeah,
we're we're doing it our typical
openhouse style. So, there'll be a
presentation at the very beginning to
make sure everybody has basic facts
about the projects and then we will
allow time for people to mingle, answer
questions of the subject matter experts,
take a closer look at maps, etc.
>> Great. Thank you very much.
>> Okay, I don't see any other questions.
So, this isformational only. We're not
taking any action. Like I said, when
people complain, we will send them to
wash.
And with that, thank you very much,
Emily. And we'll move on to Jenna Bill
9133, the city council vacancy position
number two. So, at the January 12th
special city council meeting, the city
council heard presentations from 12
residents who applied for the vacancy
council position number two that was
previously held by Zack Hall, who is now
representing us in the state
legislature. We're going to see Zack
tomorrow. That should be nice. After the
presentations and deliberations, the
city council will move four finalists
forward to the second round of
interviews which will occur tonight.
Tonight's meeting, each of the remaining
applicants will be interviewed one at a
time and ask the same series of
questions. Applicants, we like to
request that you step into the side room
off the lobby until it is your turn to
be interviewed. So, you do not hear the
questions in advance. Don't move yet.
We're going to finish the Once you've
completed your interview, you are
welcome to stay in the room. After the
interview, city council will go into
executive session which is a closed
session where they can discuss the
qualifications of the applicants. After
the closed session, we will reopen the
public meeting. The city council is then
expected to vote to make the
appointment. That person will then be
sworn in and take their seat at the dis
right in real time. And council
president, uh, would you like to discuss
the questions or interview timing with
the city council before we begin the
interviews?
>> Uh, yes. We'd like to have that
discussion. uh and we'd like to ask the
candidates to uh be sequestered before
we have that conversation and uh uh
we'll discuss uh the questions uh
briefly and then uh begin the
interviews.
>> Should I share them with the order of
the interviews yet or should we wait?
>> Uh I think that's okay.
>> Yeah, go ahead and share. We we had the
city clerk do a completely random draw
of what the order would be and it came
up with Katie Hurt, Paulair, Landon
Halverson, Jeff Newell is the order of
the four. But we will ask I think as
council president D. Michelle said if
all four can step out now so we can chat
about these questions and then we'll get
you back in as quickly as possible.
Council
President D. Michelle.
>> So, I'll just give you a little preview
of how we got to the questions that we
have and then uh we wanted to give time
for uh discussion or changes. Uh so
deputy council president uh Martz and I
worked on these based on questions that
were asked uh a year ago u at our last
appointment and uh we um talked about
timing as well. Uh we're thinking that
uh we're proposing that we uh provide 20
minutes for each candidate and uh that
there are five questions. They should be
able to answer that in uh the 20 minutes
because there are five questions and
there are six of us. Uh I'm suggesting
that we start with council member
Nichols for the first candidate and go
to here and then we'll start with uh for
the second candidate uh council member
Jen and that way we'll just rotate
around so everybody gets a chance to ask
questions. Um and so that's the proposal
in front of you. If you would like to
make suggestions for changes to the
questions or um the timing, uh uh now is
the time.
>> Council member Joe,
>> I had a question about number five. Um
after hearing from the other candidates,
why should we pick you? If they're
sequestered, how are they going to hear
from the other candidates?
>> Oh, I think it meant after we are
hearing from uh in other words, how
after hearing from the under Why should
we pick you? that we've heard from the
other candidates and why should we pick
you? That's my understanding of it.
>> I see. So after we've heard from all the
candidates, we're asking each of them to
come back and ask that question.
>> No. Uh it's uh after we have heard from
all the candidates, why should we pick
you? Yeah, we're we're asking that to
the candidate. Um maybe it needs to be
rewrote, rewritten. I mean, having heard
from the other candidates, why should we
pick you up, you know, in in in totality
of because they've heard from each other
earlier in the process as well. So, it's
just in the order that they're coming.
We're not hearing from all the
candidates first before we ask that
fifth question.
>> Right.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Right. Yeah. Good clarification. Any
other council
>> question?
>> Yeah. I think we heard a little bit of
feedback from the candidates last time
that they did not like the idea of
trying to compare themselves to each
other um and that thought that that was
our responsibility. So I would prefer
the fifth question not mention the other
candidates and just um ask them to
summarize why we should pick them.
Great.
>> Um
>> okay thank you.
>> That seems to be approved. So the fifth
question
>> okay
>> will be changed to why should we pick
you? Yeah, that sounds good.
>> Anything else?
>> You got to watch it out for Council
President D. Michelle. She is a pen
thief. So, I've learned this. I will
bring two pens the next meeting.
Okay. And
oh,
>> this is this is just Sorry, Council
Member Nichols.
>> This is just process. So, there's six
questions, five questions, and six of
us. you want from a process standpoint.
>> Are we rotating? Sorry. Like
>> I'm sorry. So there's only five
questions, but there's six of us. So
we'll start with you for the first
candidate and go to uh Deputy Council
President Marts. And then for candidate
number two, we'll start with Council
Member Jen and go to me.
>> Okay. Got it.
>> Candidate number three, we'll start with
Council Member Joe and so forth. Right?
So we all end up being able to ask
questions. We just don't have enough
questions for each one of us to ask.
>> Council member Jane.
>> Um, can I propose another wording
change?
>> Sure. Um, so for number two, the
currently reads, "One of the issues that
is at a crisis point is housing and the
affordability and cost of living." Um, I
feel like that
is a bit of a leading question and I
would prefer if we could say it in a way
similar to number three which is
something like you know one of the big
issues in our region is housing
affordability and cost of living. How
would you address this or you know how
do you propose that we address this? Um,
so could we also change the wording on
that one?
>> Right. How about uh the public has told
us that housing just just the same
wording as number three. The the public
has told us that housing and
affordability uh and cost of living are
important
>> challenges for the city.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Great.
>> Is everyone writing down those changes
in real time?
>> No.
>> Oh, I think Tisha is going to print them
and redistribute.
>> Wow. Wonderful. Here we go. All right.
>> I'm getting a thumbs up from that. Nice.
>> Thank you. Uh, any other changes,
suggested changes or
I'm not seeing any.
>> Okay. And so, we want to bring in Katie
her for
>> Yes. And, uh, to clarify, would you like
me to set the timer for 20 minutes and
have that visible to them? Is thatable?
>> Yes. Let's set the timer for 20 minutes
and we'll just explain like
>> there's Yeah.
>> Okay. And Oh, do you want to give each
candidate a little bit of a preview like
20 minutes, five questions? Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> You want them to stand there?
>> Yeah.
>> Or do you guys want
to do that?
>> Yeah, I'll do that.
Yep. I think K you were just discussing
your location. I think the the first
vote we made was over there.
Uh and so
you're going to have a 20 minute timer.
There's going to be well there's five
questions and so just keep in mind the
goal is to get through all five
questions and so you can kind of pace
yourself I guess as we go through and we
are going to start with council member
Nichols.
Oh, yes. Go ahead, Katie.
>> Briefly, u
five questions. Are each of you going to
be asking a separate question or am I
getting all five questions?
>> You're going to get us, you're going to
get them one at a time. That's a really
good question. So,
>> okay. And then the 20 minutes starts as
soon as the first question is going to
start it. Yeah. So, we're just going to
ask the first question. After you answer
that question, we'll go to the next
council member and keep going through.
And I think we think it should fit
within the within the time aotment.
>> I will do my best.
>> All right. Hey, I like it.
>> First off, thank you so much for your
time and your effort and your
thoughtfulness in preparing and for
coming to us with your application and
your your desire to serve. Um, our first
question for you, uh, there are a lot of
issues in front of the city council and
none of us can know everything. What is
one issue facing the city that you don't
know very well and how will you learn
more about it?
I will say that there's plenty of issues
in front of the city council that I
don't know very well and how I will
learn more about it. Um but one in
particular that came up today was um the
u the mobility plan. Um mobility u
nonmotorized mobility is something that
is incredibly important to me. I think
I've mentioned it to a number of you in
our conversations. Um both my my
husband's a a bike rider. He has an
electronic bike, uses the bus system. Um
my uh younger brother is somebody who
will never drive and uh requires use of
alternative forms of mobility in order
to uh get around town and get around
town safely. So that that is something
that
is something that I definitely want to
learn more about. Some of the more
nitty-gritty things like you were
talking about like how many feet and I'm
like yeah that's a really good question.
Um, obviously looking at the actual
plans, um, talking with people, the uh,
Cong, uh, Council Member Nichols and
Council Member Yang, and I know that
both of you have been involved in those
things, talking with the two of you
more. Um, but yeah, I'm going to reserve
some more of my time because I'm nervous
I'm not going to get through everything.
>> Oh, you're good, Council Member Jane.
>> Great. Thank you. Um, the public has
told us that housing, affordability, and
cost of living are important challenges
facing the city. Speak to what you know
about housing, what you see as the
problems, and any ways you would want to
address that while in council.
>> Absolutely. Um,
when I was looking to purchase a home in
2017, I don't know if any of you, the
rest of you, were trying to purchase a
home in 2017, but people were coming in
with all cash offers and waving
everything. and all cash offers hundreds
of thousands of dollars over asking. Uh,
Isiqua is obviously an incredibly
desirable place to live. Um, increasing
the amount of housing that we have is
the most clearly economic way to meet a
demand is to increase supply. As you
increase supply and you have to look at
what are the roadblocks to why is supply
not increasing? So, by having
conversations with developers, what was
the thing that stopped you from uh not
bidding here? Uh we I've talked with
some of the council members about uh
feedback that they have gotten as like
stepbacks and things that is this
actually a something that is a purpose
like is there a purpose behind the
roadblock or is it something that Yeah.
you know what, we really don't need this
part of um in the permitting process or
we don't there's not really a need for
this thing. Um
and
removing some of those barriers to
development. Um doing it of course with
a purposeful way. Usually if there is a
rule in place, there was a reason for
that rule at some point in time. I would
like to know what the reason for that
rule is. Does that reason exist anymore?
A lot of times it doesn't exist anymore.
So, um
increasing supply, talking with
developers as to why um supply is not
increasing.
I I now I'm talking in circles, so I'm
going to go ahead and move on.
>> You're doing great. Okay, Council Member
Joe. The public has told us that traffic
and mobility are critical challenges for
the city. How do you see the problem?
And in a time of reduced city revenues,
how would you prioritize city mobility
investments?
>> Yeah.
Yeah. Traffic sucks. I mean, but traffic
is traffic is people. So are people try
every car, every vehicle, every um
bicycle is a person who's trying to get
somewhere. And that's often times what I
tell myself when I'm struck in traffic.
I am also part of traffic.
So is there a way to get more people
into less vehicles such as um through
bus systems? Um my younger brother uses
the bus system a lot. Um, my husband
uses the bus system every single day.
Um, how do we get
what is the problem? Is it the problem
people traveling through isqua that's
our primary issue when we're talking
about it? Um, or is it people trying to
get around Isiqua? I live on Squawk
Mountain and I was trying to get to uh
Tibbitz Creek Manor for the strategic
planning committee and it took me
30 minutes. I could have walked faster.
I probably should have. In fact, once
the uh once the weather got better and
it wasn't pitch black, I did end up up
walking because it's significantly
uh quicker.
That was an issue of 900 um because and
people trying to get just to turn on to
Newport Way. But I'm getting into the a
microcosm of um to explain a larger
problem.
How can we get more people to
transition towards other alternative
forms of transportation? Uh
speaking of the multimodal, the thing
that I want to learn more about that
from uh uh council member Nichols
question.
So
yeah it when we when we are addressing a
traffic problem not all traffic problems
are the same. So
to try and have one solution for traffic
is not
really a solution. It is looking at
different addressing them as different
problems. separating them out as
different problems to see if we can
start making
pushing different levels um
to affect the whole.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Excellent. And Council Member
Walsh,
>> thank you. You're doing great. I know
this is nerve-wracking. It's a scary
idea. I'm going to say the question. If
you need me to repeat it, let me know.
>> Sure. Thank you. Um, if you were given a
million dollars, not personally, but to
spend on a community project and were
told that the project had to be
completed by the end of your 2-year
term, what would you choose to spend the
money on?
Uh, wow. Million dollars. See, a million
dollars sounds like a lot of money until
you actually start looking at budgets.
And then
because I'm just I
as referenced earlier I do not know
everything. I know many things about an
inch an inch thick. So
if given a million dollars
honestly one that just pops into mind is
what can you actually complete? also in
a year. So there's there's many parts of
this problem. Uh or complete in two
years. Two years isn't a lot of time. A
million dollars sounds like a lot of
money. It's not a lot of money. If I
wanted to really be able to say like
stamp something and be like, I did this
with a million dollars in two years.
Honestly, probably like a dog park. A
dog park serves a lot of of serves a lot
of people. Lots of people have dogs.
My mother and I share a dog because, you
know, that felt like the responsible
thing to do when we both travel often.
Um, and dog parks honestly bring people
together. It sounds like a it can sound
like a silly thing, but when I'm at a
dog park, I talk to my neighbors. I do.
And I get to know oftentimes I come away
knowing the dog's name and a lot about
the dog a lot more than I know the
person. But I'm trying to do better with
that.
Um,
but yeah, if given given two years and a
million dollars, that's probably what I
would do. Would that be my number one
priority as a council member? Probably
not. But given the confines of the
question, I think in law school they say
don't fight the hypothetical. So that's
what I'm going to do.
>> Hey, I have three dogs. We love our dog
parks. And Council Member Marks,
>> thanks. And Katie, your final question.
Why should we pick you?
Why should you pick me?
And I realized that I really sped
through those first questions because
>> you're doing fine. No, brevity is a
positive thing, not a negative thing.
>> Yeah. And actually, that's one of the
reasons to pick me. I feel like I say
what needs to be said and then I stop
talking. I don't particularly enjoy
hearing myself speak. I would rather
listen to people and then not repeat
what has already been said. One of the
benefits of going first. Um
I'm pleasant to work with. I would say
um
I like to be efficient. Having
two young kids has increased that desire
to be efficient. There is only so much
time in life and there is only so much
sleep to be had. I do not want us our
meetings to go well into the night.
Sometimes that's necessary. I am fine
with that. I have pulled many
all-nighters.
But I didn't pull many all-nighters. I
really try to manage my time efficiently
and well, and I also have no problem
saying the words, "I don't know. I don't
know, but I would like to find out." I
have to say it to my clients often, and
it's not a particularly fun thing for an
attorney to say, "I don't know." But I
will say it saves a lot of time and it
saves a lot of mistakes.
And
if you have any other questions for me,
>> I think that's great. I will say someone
with six kids, I also efficiency is very
important. The more you have
>> six kids have to be
>> the I think that was excellent and I
think we're all set and you are more
than welcome to stay. Oh, really?
>> Yes, you're allowed to stay. I think
once you go, you can stay. I think the
the goal is we don't so everyone
basically is hearing the questions for
the first time. It seemed unfair last
time that the people who went later
already heard the questions and so with
that we're going to go ahead and bring
in Paulair. Thank you very much.
>> I'm going to go grab my stuff though.
Okay, Paul, I think we we decided this
was the designated spot over there. And
so
the rough format as Katie just learned
is there is five questions. Each council
member is going to rotate through.
Obviously there's six council members,
so we're kind of going through our own
special rotation to kind of spread the
wealth. And you'll have 20 minutes in
total. You do not need to take the full
20 minutes, but we just wanted to make
sure people felt like they weren't
rushed to answer the questions. But we
will go ahead and start with Council
Member Jane.
Great. Thank you, Mayor Mullet. Paul,
thank you so much for all the time and
effort you've dedicated to this process
thus far. Um, and I'll just jump
straight into the questions so as not to
eat up too much of the 20 minutes. Um,
so first question is, there are a lot of
issues in front of the city council and
none of us can know everything. What is
one issue facing the city that you don't
know very well and how will you learn
more about it?
>> Thank you for the time and the question.
I'd say um the strongest thing is going
to be a lot of the specifics of things
that have been done in a lot of
different areas. I'll focus specifically
on traffic because obviously that's one
of the biggest areas of concerns in our
community and their surveys and
obviously the mechanics and the science
of traffic is extremely complicated in
terms of the flows and how you deal with
the different um systems to keep cars
moving but people safe. And obviously
since it is so important to this
community, a lot of work has been done.
And getting into the where I would feel
weakest is getting into the history of
what has been tried and what has maybe
worked or not worked and wanting to
really dig into that. Whenever I've, you
know, kind of started this process,
there was a lot of me trying to look at
the past and trying to get a good sense
of of in a lot of different topics what
what this council has attempted, what
this city has attempted, and what has
worked and what has failed because I
think those are some of the best
teachers, you know, in terms of the work
we do. And so how I would, you know,
progress with that is obviously go to
the experts, go to the people who have
been here, but really dig in like I mean
I'd already started that process of
trying to like go back through city
councils and focus on a topic and try
and find the best you know discussions
that happened to get that um you know I
am as an accountant I'm very much a
researcher. I part of my job is every
day going in and digging into things and
so that you know I would apply those
skills to this and that is I'd say the
area I'm weakest in but where I would
probably then dive in first because if
that's where I see a weakness I'm
wanting to go um expand on my knowledge
on that.
>> All right, that's excellent. Uh Council
Member Joe,
>> thank you. The public has told us that
housing and affordability and cost of
living are important.
speak to what you know about housing,
what you see as a problem and any ways
you would want to address that on the
council.
>> Yeah, housing, you know, as you know,
someone who fought the housing to get
into this community have seen it. You
know, housing is a global problem at
this point. You know, I feel we've
gotten to this point where, you know,
there was a sense, you know, post World
War II of this expansion. and the
suburbs and you know the world got very
very widespread but we got very very car
focused and what we've done is we've
spread our footprint so wide that
without really increasing quantity and
now everybody needs a house and anywhere
that's desirable it's expensive no
matter the age of the house the status
of the house people are just uh have to
spend ridiculous amounts to get into
anywhere they actually want to be and so
I think how you This is obviously
something that no one city can deal
with. It is going to involve partners.
You know, I appreciate, you know, the
work that the city is doing regionally
um with ARCH and things of that sort,
but we have to tackle I feel the biggest
thing is getting more supply and more
density is the only way you can start
tackling this problem is that people,
you know, people want to live in Isiqua
but can't. You know, I literally wasn't
sure I would be able to and I had more
resources than a lot of people. And so
the simple fact of the matter is you
need uh a quantity of houses in a
certain area in order to be successful
at that. You know, where I would tackle
it here is that, you know, I believe in
constantly having a good flow and a a
cycle of people into a community and you
need a wide and diverse range of people.
So you need not just people with huge
resources, you need the young families
who don't have much, you know, so you
need, you know, affordable housing, you
need apartments, you need town houses,
you need single family homes. And so I
would want to put in efforts to uh
increasing that supply here and whatever
tools we could use to do that. You know,
I understand that there have been, you
know, there's a lot of this city is has
a lot of character and a lot of charm
and we have certain uh codes and stuff
like that that are important to us, but
I would want us to really make sure
we're focused on like what the intent of
those of those regulations were and not
necessarily the letter so that we can
allow more diverse housing and more
things to actually get accomplished. And
that's where my goals would be is to
actually get things developed in this
town while still obviously meeting the
spirit of what this town is.
>> Excellent. Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um let me know if you need
anything repeated. Uh the public has
told us that traffic and mobility are
critical challenges for the city. How do
you see the problem? And in a time of
reduced city revenues, how would you
prioritize city mobility investments?
>> Um, as far as I see the problem, I mean,
I already briefly touched on it. You
know, it is the biggest problem in the
city and it affects everyone so
directly, you know, everyone has to
drive at some point during the day. Um,
but the solutions to traffic are not
just in widening the road and things
like that. While there are, you know,
different technologies and things like
that you can do, uh, it's a multi-prong
approach you have to do. You know,
housing ties into traffic because the
more people that can live that can work
and live here, the less they have to
drive, you know, downstart to go to
where they live. And so you have to
tackle traffic is not just looking at
roads, not just not looking at uh, you
know, intersections and things like
that. you have to address the full you
know you have to do a lot of different
things to reduce cars to focus on public
transportation to do a lot of different
aspects so you know in terms of how and
in terms of a limited resources I would
apply it's like I would be looking at
our resources across the board like I
said housing could reduce traffic other
areas can reduce traffic as well um I do
think you know mobility is important and
it always needs to be a factor in our
decisions but I think we need to be sure
we're looking at it in a broad diverse
way and not just a single road, a single
closure, a single traffic point. Um, you
know, other areas even involve if we can
encourage more, you know, remote work,
you know, because it's, you know, those
tight specific times where things get
bad. So, there are lots of areas we can
tackle it that's not just budget
focused, that's not just construction
focused, I feel.
>> Excellent. And Deputy Council President
Marts.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Paul, if you were given a million
dollars to spend on a community project
and were told that the project had to be
completed by the end of your two-year
term, what would you choose to spend the
money on?
As you know, a million dollars is tricky
on a large budget like this. It's not,
you know, huge. you know, we can't, you
know, uh, build, you know, we can't
build the new city hall or fund, you
know, the police station, which is what,
you know, if we had a large sum of money
is what I would like to do. Uh, so when
you have a million dollars, um, the
areas I think
I would want to do it to, you know, it's
the same kind of when you have a
personal budget of you have some sort of
influx, kind of the wish list type of
item, something that the city was not
expecting and would not normally get to
do. Uh so as far as which I'm trying to
moment to think of I think I had a
specific project of you know I care a
lot about community spaces. I care a lot
about parks. I care a lot about the
creeks to peak system that wants to
connect the park system and you know as
a where my personal votes would be is
into something like that something very
community focused and that the community
could get a real tangible benefit out
of. So perhaps it's a, you know, it's a
park improvement, a connection
improvement, it's a um it's something
the community could really see that we
would not normally be able to do in a
standard budget is where I would like
something like that to go.
>> Excellent. And I think our last question
goes to Council President D. Michelle.
>> Great. Thank you, Paul. And our last
question is very short. Uh why should we
pick you?
Uh why should you pick me? Uh I feel um
that you know it's important to have a
you know well-rounded city council that
can represent a lot of different
viewpoints and a lot of different skill
sets. And the viewpoints and skill sets
that I feel are maybe unique to me or at
least the unique mix to me. One is
obviously, you know, I'm a CPA. I love
spreadsheets and numbers. I'm not scared
to dig into stuff. While I don't do
government accounting, you know,
government budgets is something I
studied and had to create myself. And I
feel I could dive in quite well and give
a lot of insight into our own budgets or
anything that dealt with any kind of
financial or you know dense you need a
spreadsheet type matter. The other skill
I have in that regard though too and not
just in the terms of the digging in the
analysis and stuff like that is that in
my job I think where I've excelled in
terms of my peers is in the how I can
relate that to my clients how I can
explain that to my clients. My clients
regularly come to me because they're
very stressed out by their prior
accountants and they hear that I can
make them feel calm and that's what I
do. And so I feel that I would also have
a skill at relating that to the people
of what their government and what the
money and what the budgets are doing for
them. And that is a skill that I feel
that that is unique to me. In addition
to that, uh I am a Mexican-American and
that is a cultural group that often is
gets rather underrepresented and even in
this day and time could be a useful
perspective to have on this council. Uh
I am
a uh person that is this is probably the
highest level of office I would ever
seek. I am here for Isiqua and here for
Isiqua in the long term. I I care about
making sure the isqua of 2050 is great
and that's my entire goal with being
here. Uh so I think those skills plus
some of the others that have been
discussed in terms of my written
materials make me uh a great addition to
this group and could give a unique
perspective that would be helpful in the
future decisions being made.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much Paul. Uh
well done. And I think same offer to you
that we gave to Katie is you are more
than welcome to stay and watch as
>> and
you guys are both getting brevity
points. So this is good. Everyone's
being very efficient. Who says
government's not efficient and who works
in his Okay. Landon Halverson will be
the next one to come in. They just seem
to know magically. Oh, you have a secret
system. I like it. Your secret system is
working quite well.
I can do that.
>> That's Landon. The vote is you're over
here.
>> Here.
>> There.
>> And the format
is No, you're standing up there.
>> Sorry.
>> Oh, you're good.
>> So, there will be five questions. We're
going to rotate through the council of
And we have six council members. So, we
have a little system to make sure
everyone gets to share the wealth. And
so, you will get five questions. You
have 20 minutes total. You not obviously
need to use the 20 minutes. Other people
have not been using the 20 minutes, but
we didn't want anyone to feel that they
are rushed. And we're going to go one
question at a time. And we're going to
start with Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you, Mayor Mullet. Uh Landon,
first, thank you for taking part in this
process. It's uh not an easy process,
and we appreciate all the effort that
you've done to fill out the
questionnaires and meet with us along
the way. So, thank you for uh devoting
this time to the city of Isiqua on these
important issues. There are a number of
issues uh in front of the city council
and none of us can know everything. What
is one issue facing the city that you
don't know very well and how will you
learn more about it?
That's a great question. First of all,
uh members of council, Mr. Mayor, uh
city staff, thank you so much for
facilitating this this evening. Thank
you for for taking the time to hear me.
Um absolutely you know there are there
are many things about all sorts of
different city issues that I am not
particularly um knowledgeable on. One
thing in particular that I would really
like to take a deep dive into this year
um is uh water and sewage. Uh I
understand that that is something that
is uh really integral to our city um
whether that be planning um just
day-to-day operations um and I really
would like to understand that better um
uh on a variety of different fronts. Um
I would also like to understand um a
little bit of infrastructure planning uh
better as well. I found uh the
presentation um from Wadot tonight very
informative, very high level. Uh and
there were some things there uh where I
certainly would have had questions if I
had had the opportunity to ask
questions. Um so I would say on some of
those um nitty-gritty infrastructure
type questions, I would really like to
better understand that um and how it
integrates into city planning.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much, Council
Member Walsh. Did that work better with
the mic off? No. Okay, good. Okay,
Council Member Walsh.
>> Great. Thank you. Let me know if you
need anything repeated. Um, but the
public has told us that housing
affordability and cost of living are
really important. Uh, speak to what you
know about housing, what you see as the
problem, and any ways that you would
want to address that on council.
Absolutely. Uh for most families in
Isqua, housing will be the single
biggest expense uh that they have in any
given year, if not one of the top three
biggest expenses that they have in in in
any given year. Generally speaking, the
recommendation is that households spend
30% of their income on housing. Um most
people of course, especially in our
area, spend more than that. Um and are
of course they're considered rent
burdened or um cost of housing burdened.
Um we have a mix of housing here in
Isiziqua. We have one of the most
diversified housing mixes here in Isiqua
uh relative to our peer cities in the
region. Um mix of uh different types of
single family, multif family, but also a
mix of renters and owners. I personally
am a renter. I have rented here in
Oldtown for uh 7 years now. Um and I
believe that we need a diversified
housing mix uh to serve both current
residents and future residents. I think
it's important that um we create transit
oriented development um so that our
housing and our transit systems are in
alignment with one another. Um something
that I talk about frequently is that um
the cost of a car is also very expensive
um for families. Um AAA says about
$1,000 a month. Um which is why it's
really important that we have transit
options near housing and that that's
integrated as part of the discussion. Um
that's not to say that there's not a
place um at all for single family homes
in Isqua. There absolutely is. Um but we
need to ensure that um future
development uh is conducive to um the
the plans that the city has put forward
whether that be central isqua plan or
others ensuring that we're meeting our
our 2044 housing targets housing goals
uh and ensuring also that we're creating
the type of density that will be
conducive to light rail when it comes to
our city.
>> Excellent. And I thank Council President
Marts.
>> Thank you. Now, the public has told us
that traffic and mobility are critical
challenges for the city. How do you see
the problem? And in a time of reduced
city revenues, how would you prioritize
city mobility investments?
>> Absolutely. Um, I'm very passionate
about getting traffic moving. It is
something I care about and something
that I have cared about for a long time
as a city resident who lives off Front
Street and regularly experiences the
traffic backups that we have in the
city. Uh, I would say uh there's a
couple of things. Um there are uh
limited things that we can do within the
bounds of current infrastructure. Things
like smart lights um that are are
marginally helpful. But really um it
goes back to what I was saying about
transit oriented development. Ensuring
future development uh is accessible or
close to transit uh and ensuring that we
have multimmodal um uh transportation
options for residents here in Isiqua.
Last year uh 2025 I was able to
participate in a grant program through
the Washington State Department of
Transportation to get an ebike. Um prior
to that I was not very familiar with um
our multimmodal transportation options
here in Isiziqua. Since then um my views
not necessarily on multimodal
transportation but on the ways that our
city what what our city is currently
doing and the ways they can be better
has very much changed. Um I use those
trails those routes every single day. um
and and want to ensure that we can show
more residents, especially young
residents like myself, um that we have
options, things like ebikes, um that are
faster ways to get around. And
especially when we talk about things
like the road closures that are coming
up, residents are going to have
questions. What can I do? What can I do
to ensure that I can get to and from the
places I'm going? Um and showing them
options like an ebike, I think, is
really important. So, talking about an
ebike library, working with our local
businesses um to potentially get some
sort of ebike sharing program, I think
that all of that goes into the traffic
mitigation. Finally, I would also say
that um I want to continue to uh work
with King County um and other uh
regional transportation coalitions to
see what we can do about creating
additional ride share programs,
additional um uh um uh additional bus
stops where where people can can park
their cars, um parking rides um and
additional options so that people can
get around.
>> Excellent. And Council President D.
Michelle,
>> thank you. Uh, London, if you were given
a million dollars to spend uh on a
community project and you were told that
the project had to be completed uh by
the end of your two-year term, uh what
would you choose to spend the money on?
>> Gosh, that's a great question. Um I
think well, the first thing I would do
is try to understand why exactly voters
approved that million dollars. Uh and uh
and do my best to stick to that. Um, but
in the event it just popped out of thin
air and uh it was truly a serendipitous
situation, uh, I suppose I would
probably invest on multimodal options on
Gilman, um, I really think that that is
something that I would like to see for
the future of Isiqua, um, for a couple
of different reasons. One, I think that,
um, you know, with Gilman Village, all
of the other shopping that we have
there, that is a really great avenue to
connect, um, east and west. I know that
some people take Newport. Um there's a
whole bunch of reasons why I would say
as someone who both bikes and drives, I
prefer Gilman. Um also with light rail
coming, um ensuring that we have
infrastructure set up so that as soon as
people are getting off light rail,
wherever that is, um somewhere in
central Isqua, they're able to walk and
access other neighborhoods. Um so I
would definitely invest in that. I bike
down that route pretty much every day or
near every day. The big issue is that on
Gilman, um especially as you're getting
down towards Newport, there there are no
bike lanes. Um so I currently bike on
the sidewalk. Um which is fine, but it's
not a great solution. Um so I would say
that uh that would be one thing that I
would try to do if I had a million
dollars.
>> Nice. And Council Member Nichols, you
get the last question.
>> Thank you. And uh my question is very
brief. Um why should we pick you?
>> It's a great question. Uh, I believe
that the council should strongly
consider my application because I deeply
care about this city. I deeply care
about its residents and I deeply care
about making an impact. We're living in
uncertain times and we need leaders who
are really genuinely committed to
listening to residents, putting the
needs of people first, and ensuring that
we're really fighting for every single
person who lives in our city. Uh, I love
Isaakqua. I've had the opportunity to
experience it um through many different
facets whether that be through a student
uh or as a student as a recent college
graduate as a young professional um I've
experienced had the blessing of
experiencing isqua um in many different
capacities um and uh would definitely
want to bring those experiences to
council. Um and finally I would just say
um kind of continuing on with that my
passion for service uh I would take this
role seriously. I would show up each day
um with the goal of doing my very best
work recognizing that uh it's it's city
residents uh who are counting on high
quality work every day. Uh and I would
would seek to take this as seriously as
I possibly could to ensure that our
residents uh have really strong good
representation like they currently do.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much. Well
done. And as you get the same offer, you
can stay and and watch as we bring in
our final candidate, Jeff. I'm looking
at Tisha, a worker magic system here.
Come on in, Jeff. And I think the the
vote was it's the podium over there with
a little red light on. Yes. And the
format is there's going to be five
questions. We're going to rotate through
the council of where they start. I think
council member Walsh is starting this
one. And there's 20 minutes total. No
one is using the 20 minutes. We didn't
want anyone to feel rushed in their
answers, but you you will. So I think
you'll feel like you have plenty of time
to answer the five questions. And we are
going to start with Council Member
Walsh.
>> Yes, thank you. I will start with just
genuinely appreciating the fact that you
put yourself out there. Um we really
understand that this is not an easy
situation to stand up in front and be
pelted with questions. Um so thank you
very much for coming out and doing this
and committing.
>> I appreciate you guys uh learning and
adapting. I think this format is much
more conducive. Uh
>> fantastic for a discussion.
>> We will definitely take the uh input
afterward. You know, we learn from uh
all of this. So, um I will give you the
question. If you need me to repeat
anything, please let me know.
>> Okay.
>> Um there are a number of issues in front
of the city council and none of us can
know everything.
So, we want you to talk about one issue
facing the city that you don't know very
well and how will you learn more about
it?
>> That's a good one. I think
I I I know the one because I was driving
around the other day. I don't I don't
understand
um the in depth for lack of a better
term zoning and permitting as far as
what's allowed in what areas of Isiqua.
We we have a lot of challenges like
where are we going to put sound transit
and where can we put the affordable
housing and why don't we do this and
people are always you know we're talking
over coffee hey how come we're not doing
this and why is this building there and
why can't we do more this year and and
recently that was something I thought I
need to I need to spend some more time
with Wall-E or whoever that is get a
crash course on how do we determine what
is the land land use for Isiqua. So, for
something like that, that would be
definitely put the reading cap on um and
and do a crash course, both learning the
the rules and the RCWs and the
ordinances that dictate what those may
be, but then also talking about what
that really means and how do they get
changed and and how do they fit into the
strategic plan. I I got a feeling a lot
of it falls back hopefully to well this
is the strategic plan and from that
everything should stem from that based
upon where we want the new uh evergreen
forward and where we want to put this
type of facility or this type of
housing. So, I think that's the the area
that I think about like I need to get
more up to speed on that both out of
curious curiosity as a citizen, but
especially um being part of a
decision-making board um that's going to
come across those types of land
development issues.
>> Excellent. Now, Deputy Council President
Marks.
>> Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The public
has told us that housing and
affordability and cost of living are
important. speak to what you know about
housing, what you see as the problem. In
any ways you would want to address that
on the council.
>> Um, for me, thank you, Councilman March.
Um, for me, it it and I think I might
have mentioned it last week. I want my
daughter to be a teacher. Well, she's
going to be a teacher. I want to be able
to to move here and afford to be here.
Um, I want folks that live that work in
Isiqua, whether it's our police force,
whether it's a small business owner, um,
I want them to be able to afford to live
in a reason in reasonable accommodations
in our community. And I'm not as
confident that that is going to be as
easy as it's been in years in years
past. Um I think that is it's it's so
integral to keep our community vibrant
that we have folks that are here that
are spending here that are working here.
All those things are going to support
each other. Uh how we go about doing it
is we is we use data is the first thing
and that would be an answer to a lot of
the things that I think will come across
is let's look at the metrics and the
data. I know we don't always have it,
but when we do, like the dashboard on
the website that I went down a rabbit
hole in last week, uh there is a lot of
information out there, and I think we
leverage that. I think we talk to
experts. I think we look at what our
neighboring communities are doing, good
and bad, for examples, uh um of what we
can prioritize and what we can work on.
And then we we listen to both the
constituents. We listen to developers. I
think it was it was council member Walsh
talked about uh developer roundts and
other communities doing um I think any
type of those types of dialogues that we
can have are going to hopefully bring
about the wisdom of crowds and we'll
come up with some ideas to to make it so
our next generation our kids uh our
folks that we want to move into this
area can afford to do it reasonably.
>> Excellent. Council President D. Michelle
There we go. Thank you. Um, the public
has told us that traffic and mobility
are critical challenges for the city.
How do you see the problem? And in a
time of reduced city revenues, how would
you prioritize city mobility
investments?
>> I I I thank you, council member um de
Michelle. Um,
again, we go back. Let's let's figure
out the most efficient programs that we
have out there through King County
Metro, through through ride share,
through the other programs that we have.
Let's look at the data. If we have to
prioritize and we've got a finite budget
for that, which I know we do, let's get
the information that we know we have.
Let's look at the data. Let's talk to
the experts to understand where this is
working, where the investment is paying
off and getting the best return on
investment and start from there. uh as
far as um determining where our our
limited budget should go. Could you
repeat the second part? I want to make
sure I cover that as well.
>> Thank you. Um and in a time of reduced
city revenues, how would you prioritize
city mobility investments?
>> Okay, it's it's and and I and and thank
you for restating it. It helped me
refocus. Um I I think it's important and
something that I was thinking about when
we talked about um what committee
positions are open based upon the new
the new council member. I think almost
everything we look at from our strategic
plan to the guiding principles of
Isukqua mo it all comes back to
mobility. It really dawned on me. I
think there's other things we talk about
and we all we all advocate for strong
public safety and our support of our
incredible community police force and
all those things, but really when you go
back to all of it, the mobility that
allows people to get here to work at
Costco headquarters, to work at Arya
headquarters, to get to school, to get
to small businesses, um and and those
things that enables everything else um
on the guiding principles in the
strategic plan, we have to start with
the ability of people to get in and
around Isiqua, whether it's by bike,
whether it's by foot, whether it's by
metro, whether it's by um vehicles,
those types of things. That has to be
the priority. And I think maybe if we're
wondering about another policy or
another ordinance or things that we're
looking at, we should fall back to that
and and look at what can we do to make
sure that there is mobility enabling
whatever that might be.
>> Excellent. And Council Member Nichols
Thank you. Um, if you were given a
million dollars to spend on a community
project and we're told the project had
to be completed by the end of your
two-year term, what would you pick to
spend the money on? That's like, well,
this is going to be Thank you, Council
Member Nichols. This is going to I'm
biased. Uh, and Paul and Paul probably
maybe said some of the same. I'm on the
parks board. So, I think I I would
definitely uh lean towards
um
a place or a
structure or for lack of a better word
that brings the community together,
brings all the different aspects of our
community together. Um I know there are
dramatic needs in other areas, but the
first thing that came to mind when I
thought about if we had that, what could
we do? if we could enhance an ability to
where we bring when I think of the the
concerts on the lawn or I think of
Tibetz Park or or uh all the different
aspects or Timberlake those things. I
think something that was a benefit for
the community that brings people
together that you could have an economic
aspect as well to bring revenue back
into the community from outlying areas.
Um I think something of that effect
would be the uh would be the uh the
right answer. I would of course normally
say let's get our mobility path finally
done from uh South Lake Seamish, but I
know that that's in there and it's been
funded. Uh but I think something to that
effect would be would be uh where I
would want to place that.
>> Excellent. And I think our last question
of the night goes Council Member Jen.
>> Great. And this one is very short
question. Why should we pick you?
>> Um thank you, Council Member Jen. Um,
you know, right now I think we just, uh,
if I have to boil it all down, I think
we just saw it on that presentation. Um,
I want to be the first member from South
Lake Seamish community, the 1300
households. Um, the 3,000 people that
live in the eight neighborhoods that
make up South Lake Seamish that were
annexed 20 years ago that were dying for
the mobility path. We know it's coming
and I'm glad Council Member Nichols
asked about it. Um, but boy are we going
to be disrupted in the next two years. I
did some quick math during that
presentation and I think the average
ride from my neighborhood's going to add
15 minutes to get to the city each way.
So that's a half hour. If you've got a
kid going to school, that's going to be
two and a half hours a week. That's 10
hours a month. um this is going to be a
big deal to everybody that's in that
area that already feels a little
disconnected quite frankly due to the
lack of representation over the last
couple decades due to just the it's not
willful it's just what what is that
thing over there what is that place way
out there um I think it's just uh so I
think the the main thing I want to bring
is I want to represent all those folks
that live in that area all those
households I don't think they're our
needs are that much unique from Sycamore
or Talis or Montro any of those areas
But I think there is a distinct nature
to them and I want them to be able to
have that. I want to possibly be um like
uh Mayor Mullet was. Mayor Mullet was
the first council member from the
Highlands and the floodgates opened up
and involvement followed and many of and
some of you are from the Highlands that
then are on the council. Same thing has
happened in Talis the last 1015 years.
One council member gets on the gets on
the council and others follow. I'd like
to be that person to not just give them
the voice uh but also even encourage
even more involvement than that
community already has right now. Um I
think it's going to be a a very busy uh
uh two years with all the issues but
then especially the impact that's going
to have in those areas. Um, I think
that's that's probably the main why I
why I, uh, got excited about this, uh,
when I heard again, um, ironically, um,
former council member Hall, he grew up
in the in in, uh, in South Lake, uh, but
then he moved once he became a council
member out of there. So, it's it's kind
of maybe it's fitting that it's his
spot. And when I heard that it was
opening, I thought uh, we have an
opportunity, the community, to get a
little bit louder voice, I think. And
it's going to be two-way. I think
there's going to be a lot of
communication that the city can do and
myself as a as a council member could do
to help communicate uh and walk us
through what's going to be a real
challenging two years for all those
residents.
>> All right. Excellent. Thank you very
much. And that concludes all of our
questions. And I think for
>> folks
who were watching on TV at home, I think
it is what you just saw is once again,
I'm sound like a broken record from the
meeting last week, but how fortunate we
are. I think we just saw four candidates
who did an impressive job under pressure
answering questions they did not have in
advance. And we did learn from the last
time around that everyone had to kind of
answer them on the spot this time
because nobody did get an advanced
preview from being in the room as others
answer the questions. But everyone did
an excellent job. I mean, I'm just going
to say that was really impressive. And
kudos to everyone for putting in all the
time and effort. We will now go into
executive session, discuss
qualifications of the appointment per
RCW42.30.110
uh1H. The close session is expected to
take approximately 20 minutes. If it is
extended, uh it may be extended. If it
is extended, uh Tisha will come out to
make that announcement that we're
extending it. The city council is
planning to act after the close session.
It's part of an open meeting to make the
appointment. And uh executive session is
closed to the public. Uh the council,
it'll be held upstairs where we did in
the same place last week. And we are now
going to go into executive session at
9:10 p.m. The at 9:10 p.m. the session
will start in roughly the next 5 or 10
minutes. Uh so we have time to move
upstairs. And with that we are at
recess.
>> I'm sure I'm sure he did as well.
Hi Rachel.
We are back in open session at 9:41
p.m. At this point, the city council can
nominate individuals to the appointment.
Are there any comments before the
nominations are made?
Deputy Council President Martz.
>> Thank you. Uh I will go to the as the
longest serving member on the council I
I keep a running total of uh this
process. This is the ninth version of
this. And so I just want to tell the
applicants in 2011 Joe Forner, Nina
Milligan, Mary Lou Paulie, and Paul
Winterstein were not appointed to the
city council. In 2013, Mary Lou Pauly uh
was again not appointed to the council
along with a fellow named Bill Ramos. In
2014, Bill Ramos was again not appointed
to the city council. In 2016, Justin
Walsh was not appointed to the city
council. in 2018 with 14 applicants,
Lindseay Walsh and Zack Hall were not
appointed to the city council. So, uh
just consider that um because for for
three of you, this will be an an
interesting chapter in your uh
engagement with the city. Thank you.
>> Right. Thank you. And are we ready to
make nominations? As a reminder,
nominees need to be made by one council
member and seconded by another. Council
member Walsh.
>> I would like to nominate Paul Adair.
>> Second.
>> Okay, there's been a motion and a
second.
Are there any other nominations at this
point in time? Not seeing any. The
nominations are closed. Are there any
discussion?
Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um really tough decision with
12 members who went through um
interviews, 14 who applied four who were
bravely came back to us and stood up
there and answered questions that were
peppered at you that you had no previous
experience with. um as looking at these
candidates, you know, I think one of the
things we were looking for is um someone
who adds some experience. And so, one of
the things that spoke to me about Paul's
experience um as a CPA and the ability
to look at some of the numbers, as much
as I am a spreadsheet geek myself, uh I
am not necessarily a budget or numbers
person. And so, um, that spoke to it. I
also just very much appreciated your
ability to speak to the needs of the
community on housing and mobility,
um, parks and connectedness. Um, all of
those things I think just very well
represents, um, the needs of the
community. And so, very much wanted to
appreciate and thank you for applying.
All right. And with that,
all those in favor of Paulair as the
nominee, please say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay, that is
unanimous. And Paulair is appointed as
the next member of the Isqua City
Council.
[Applause]
And and before we swear in Paul up here,
I do want to once again say to the other
candidates that we are very appreciative
of all the time and effort you put into
this process and it is quas a very
blessed community to have this many
people who are willing to put in the
time and effort you guys have done. I
really appreciate it.
Yeah. Okay.
>> I state your name. Oh, wait. Please
raise your right hand and repeat after
me.
>> Okay.
>> I state your name.
>> I Paul Agnosio Rodriguez Adair.
>> Having been duly appointed the city of
Esqua council position number two.
>> Having been duly appointed to the c to
the council position number two. do
solemnly swear
>> do solemnly swear
>> that I will faithfully and impartially
>> that I will faithfully and impartially
>> discharge the duties of this office
>> discharge the duties of this office
>> according to the law
>> according to the law
>> and to the best of my ability
>> and to the best of my ability
>> that I will support
>> that I will support
>> the Constitution of the United States
>> the Constitution of the United States
>> and the Constitutional Ls of the State
of Washington
>> and the Constitutional Laws of the State
of Washington
>> and all local ordinances
>> and all local ordinances this.
>> Congratulations.
[Applause]
We are going to take a brief fivem
minute recess so we can get council
member Adair set up. Why don't we do a
photo?
>> Let's do a photo.
Okay, we are back in open session at
9:50
p.m. We're now going to go to the next
order of business with the committee
regional reports. And council member
Adair, do you have a committee report?
I'm just kidding.
We all have 38 seconds. So, we're going
to go to Council Member Nichols.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a very
brief report. Uh, two things to note.
So, I was appointed to the East
Transportation Partnership. Uh, and, uh,
I was pleased to support the election of
our new vice chair, Council Member Jen.
Uh, she has the, uh, the full report on
that. And also, uh, appointed to, uh,
King King Conservation District. Uh, no
meetings yet thus far, but I will report
on that out on that next month.
>> All right. Excellent. Council member
Jay.
>> Great. Thanks, Council Member Nichols.
Um, as he mentioned, I was voted as the
new vice chair for the East Side
Transportation Partnership. We had our
first meeting of the year on Friday,
January 9th. Um, the three topics that
we did were first discussing some of the
potential topics for 2026. I think one
of the ones to keep an eye on is that
there's potentially going to be a ballot
measure to support King County Metro.
And I think one of our priorities as a
you know east side transportation
partnership is to get some you know some
of our local priority bus routes in that
ballot measure because you know as we've
seen with Metroflex we really do not
have funding at the local level to
support this and so kind of tacking that
on to regional ballot measure is going
to be a huge priority for me as vice
chair. We also approved a letter on our
federal priorities which is going to be
sent to our congressional delegation. Um
and then we also received an update on
the regional transportation plan from
PSRC the Puet Sound Regional Council.
So, there's some um you know,
opportunities to provide public comment
on that which I can forward along. Um I
was also appointed to be a member of the
governing board for the King County
Regional Homelessness Authority. Um so
that's very exciting. I met with the new
or I guess she's been there for like a
year now, but the CEO, um Kelly Kinson,
and we're going to be having a full day
board retreat sometime in February. The
date has not been set yet. Um, I was
also appointed as an alternate for the
King County uh flood district advisory
committee. So, more to come on that as
well. That concludes my report.
>> Council member Joe,
>> thank you. Um, with tonight's
appointment as an alternate for the
Cascade Water Alliance. Um, their next
board meeting is January 28th, 3:30 p.m.
U February 4th, the public affairs
committee will be meeting. I will
continue on the public affairs committee
going forward into 2026. Um,
city administrator Bob Quitz and I met
with the chamber board uh last Friday.
Um, just one thing to note on your
calendar. I'm sure you already have on
there is the state of the city address
on the 26th of February. Um, the chamber
will be putting that together and I hope
everyone can attend to hear the vision
that our mayor will have for this
upcoming year.
uh lodging tax advisory committee will
be meeting on February 23rd. Grant
applications are open right now to get
funding for shoulder season activities.
So that's not the high summer season,
but um the the time before and the time
after where we have uh low attendance or
low uh um uh occupancy in our hotels. So
um if you're interested in applying for
those, reach out to um our economic
development department. they can help
you with that. And u if the that
concludes my report. Thank you.
>> Excellent. Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I've been appointed to the
new regional coalition for housing or
ARCH elected officials council. So I
will learn what those meetings are and
how we can contribute as elected
officials to um an organization that
does a lot of our affordable housing. Um
and then I'm also on the affordable
housing committee for King County. That
um committee because we had a previous
year's where we were very focused on
comprehensive plans. This year um
because all of those have gone through,
we only meet quarterly so we're not
meeting until March. And then the third
piece is Eastside Fire and Rescue. Um I
am the vice chair there. And uh really
in the last meeting we talked about um
board priorities trying to get a set of
understanding of what our priorities
were. The um administration talked about
a few things such as the budget,
long-term financing or funding
strategies including um potential
transition to an RFA model, the facility
needs for headquarters, regional growth,
etc. So that was just um presenting the
ideas. We're going to get the feedback.
So, if you have any ideas of what you
think the priorities should be for East
Side Fire and Rescue Board, I would love
to hear that. Um, and then that is going
to be decided at our next meeting in
February. And that concludes my report.
>> Excellent. Deputy President Marks.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Sound Cities
Association public issues committee will
not be or did not meet in January, but
the Sound Cities Association Board of
Directors will be meeting um at a
unusual time tomorrow morning at 9:00
a.m. Uh it's going to be a remote
meeting due to the AWC city action days
and so many uh uh board of directors
participating in that. Um and it's
really housekeeping uh appointments and
assignments. uh the services, safety,
and parks committee. Um I suspect that
after good of the order this evening, I
will no longer be the chair. U but I
believe uh if all goes uh to fruition, I
will be subbing for the chair. Uh it's
actually a pretty full agenda. COOM202
is housing investment pool funding
recommendation. Uh COOM206
park rules and regulations codification
introduction. And finally, always one of
my favorites, uh, 0207 arts grant
recommendations. This concludes my
report.
>> Council President, President D.
Michelle.
>> Thank you so much. Um,
uh, I have been appointed as an
alternate to the Pugesan Regional
Council Transportation Policy Board and
we had a meeting on January the 8th. Uh,
we received a legislative update. It was
a pretty typical January meeting. uh we
had an overview of the TPB and we
conducted some administrative business
and talked about items for the 2026 work
plan. Uh but one thing I would like to
bring to your attention is that the
Putisan Regional Council is holding its
annual meeting on May the 28th and I
hope you'll put that on your calendar. I
attended last year. It was really
informative and the focus uh this coming
year is going to be on transportation.
So, um they're they will have a regional
transportation plan that they'll be
presenting to the body. So, I hope
everybody will put that on their
calendar. Uh I was also appointed to the
regional transit committee. This is my
fourth year, I believe, on that. And uh
I currently serve as the vice chair of
the regional transit committee and chair
of the sound cities association caucus.
Um the meeting however this month was
cancelled because of the AWC conference.
Uh there was a conflict. So, we will not
be meeting until February. And then
finally, I was appointed to my second
year on the Seattle King County Board of
Health. And uh last year I was an
alternate alternate and this year I'm a
voting member. And our meeting was uh
rescheduled to January the 29th. So I'll
report on that at our February meeting.
And that concludes my report.
>> Thank you. The next item of business is
the mayor's report. I did attend the
Peterson Regional Council Growth
Management Planning Board meeting this
month and next month we will be up for
our regional center designation to have
it re-uped. And so staff I've already
seen has prepared that they the meeting
we went to last week there was 12
cities. Eight kind of got reapproved
recommendations without any changes and
four were told the things they wanted to
see different. So, I think our goal is
at the February meeting to fall into the
the group that gets suggested
reappointed based on what we've
submitted. Um, boards and commissions
applications are open and if you're
interested in making a difference in our
community or looking for a volunteer
opportunity, consider applying to serve
on a city board or commission. We are
accepting applications to positions on
13 advisory boards that provide policy
input on issues ranging from equity to
transportation. Those applications are
open up until 11:59 p.m. Not midnight.
Midnight's a minute too late. 11:59 p.m.
on February 15th, 2026. And you can get
more information on the city's website,
isquawa.gov.
The community meeting this Saturday, uh,
January 24th, 11:00 a.m. at Gibson Hall
is to discuss recent events related to
immigration officials return to Isukqua.
I'll be joined by King County Council
Chair Sarah Perry, some members of the
Isqua City Council, members of our state
legislative delegation. We're going to
share available information and answer
residents questions. This meeting will
be held at Gibson Hall, 150 Newport Way
Southwest by the hatchery. And that will
begin at 11:00 a.m. And that concludes
the mayor's report and our final item of
business is good of the order. ID1 1957
2026 city council appointments. Council
President D. Michelle, would you like to
announce the appointments?
>> I do. I don't have them in front of me,
but I think I know them by heart at this
point. So, um uh and then I will have a
motion uh to uh approve. So, the
appointments at uh uh at this point are
uh for the planning, development, and
environment committee. Uh chair would be
council member Jen and the other members
will be council member Barts and Council
Member Nichols. Uh for the mobility
committee, the chair will be council
member Joe. uh myself and council member
Adair.
Thank you for your service.
And then for the services, safety, and
parks uh committee, uh council member
Walsh will be the chair and council
member Barnes uh will be serving on that
uh committee and council member Nichols.
Um and so uh because of the uh rules
that we currently have regarding um uh
the deputy council president uh not
serving in on two committees and and he
is willing to do to serve on two
committees. Uh I am going to move to
approve an exception to the city council
rules of procedure section 2.04 04
appointment standing committees to allow
a member of council leadership to be
appointed to two standing committees in
2026.
>> Is there a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by council member Joe. Is there
any council discussion?
Not seeing any.
>> Oh, Council President E. Michelle.
>> Okay. First of all, thank you to
everybody. Uh I I it is just such a
pleasure to work with uh this group of
individuals and uh it took uh a lot of
discussion and talking of where do
people want to serve and so forth but we
arrived there and I really think we've
got a very strong lineup for this year.
Uh I also wanted to mention that uh we
have approved uh um an audit committee
and we did not seek members for the
audit committee because um the city
clerk and I are going to work on a
charter for that committee. uh what
exactly are they going to do? How many
times are they going to meet? And when
we get that charter uh ready for your
approval and after we've approved it,
then we will seek members to the audit
committee. Um and so uh I know that
there will be some um we we will be
working on some word smithing for the
council rules of procedure in addition
to the audit committee. There are some
other adjustments that need to be made.
Um, so, uh, anyway, thanks to everybody
and, uh, we're looking forward to a
really great year. Thank you,
>> Council Member Walsh.
>> Yeah, I will just note this is, I
believe, our fourth year, um, with these
rules. It's our fourth time um, having
this exception and so I hope that we
will have a chance to address this,
which I'm sure we will, just noting that
this has historically been our practice
um, by right, not by rule. So
>> very good point. Uh there's no further
discussion. The motion for the council
is to approve an exception of the city
council rules and procedure section 2.04
appointment standing committees to allow
a member of the council leadership to be
appointed to two standing committees in
2026. All those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed? Nay. That passes
unanimously. Does anyone else have
anything else for good of the order?
Deputy President Marks.
>> Sure. I I just want to say I was really
impressed tonight hearing so as a
longtime SCA member um hearing so many
of you and the new appointments that
people have and uh I'll be excited as
Paul gets opportunities. Um Isiqua we
are back up to punching above our weight
so to speak. um so many of us involved
in so many critical regional um
committees and and you know thinking
back historically over the years and and
back to Mayor Fryzinger um who got us on
on this path of of of always being well
represented regionally it just warms my
heart so much. So I just wanted to I was
just really moved to hear it from so
many people and to think about um Paul
joining that uh that rich tradition.
>> I could not agree more. It's it's a good
future ahead. Okay. So, I'd like to
announce the next upcoming council
meeting will be February 2nd at 7:00.
The anticipated agenda items are the
2025 Arch Trust Fund. And with there
being no other further business before
this council, we are adjourned at 10:04.