Welcome everyone. I'd like to call the
February 23rd city council meeting to
order. Council President D. Michelle is
joining us remotely and council member
Nichols is excused. For those curious
about the presence of marshmallow fluff,
this is victory fluff you're seeing on
the dis. We will get to this later in
the meeting, but yes, 12 Aqua won its
bet with the city of Somerville in
Massachusetts, and we're very proud of
our fluff. Let's open tonight with the
pledge of allegiance. I welcome you to
join me in the pledge of allegiance.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
And for proclamations tonight, we can
proclaim that there are no
proclamations, which will move us
straight to special business. ID1963 is
quite youth advisory board update, is
being delayed to a future council
meeting, which gives us our next item of
business, IB1980, the 4th of July
commission update. I'd like to invite
the Fourth of July commission executive
director Jamie Boom to present this
item.
I learned from the last time.
Yeah. Okay. Good evening. Uh my name is
Janie Bub and I am the executive
director of the Fourth of July
Commission. Thank you, mayor, and
council members for having me tonight. I
am presenting to inform the city council
of updates regarding the 4th of July
commission.
You can do the next one. Thank you.
There we go. Okay. So, some background.
To celebrate Isiqua 250 and foster and
strengthen community pride, the
commission has decided to turn what
normally is a one-day event into a 3-day
event.
The Chalk Art Festival, which is
normally at the end of July, has been
moved to Thursday, July 2nd. And we're
adding a new event on Friday, July 3rd,
which I'll mention in just a second. And
we're continuing with Isiqua's tradition
of the Fourth of July parade on
Saturday, July 4th.
We are also doing an art project um and
this is to commemorate the 250th and we
have commissioned a glass mosaic artist
Cheryl Smith who has created other
beautiful pieces around Isiqua. As you
can see here there are three pieces
demonstrated.
Um she will create a mosaic experience
that will engage the community through
several outreach events uh around
Isiqua. And we're hoping to in that the
inviting of participation truly helps us
create a piece that represents Isiqua's
people and place to highlight the 250th.
And the artwork will then be placed in a
location that is viewable by the public
for years to come and will be determined
later.
The Chalk Art Festival. This event will
kick off the weekend of festivities.
People of all ages come together to
express creativity by drawing with
sidewalk chalk on the pavement around
the community center. And we decided to
move this event to encourage the
community to stay locally and stay in
Isiqua and to enjoy a weekend of outdoor
fun. And we're hoping that this will
create a buzz around the 4th of July and
really keep people here.
The wagon maker space. This is a new
event for this year and something that
I'm personally very excited about. Um,
we wanted to create a new element for
the parade that encourages participate
participation and is sustainable for
future parades. This is instead of
making a vehicular float, we're
promoting a handheld pole wagon like
what you would see a family taking to
the beach.
We are hoping that these wagons reduce
the barrier for participation and we
invite all individuals, businesses,
organizations, companies, nonprofits to
decorate a wagon representing their
personal history and is aqua 250. The
wagon maker space event is a place for
people to come to work on their wagons,
meet the judges for the wagon contest,
and network and socialize with fellow
community members. This will either be
at the senior center or community
center. And that's also going to be
determined later. And on the next slide
here, you can see um photos and examples
of what other cities have done for
different events, different parades, but
around the uh country to really engage
the community and get in this case a lot
of kiddos involved.
For the 4th of July day of um we are
expanding what we have offered in the
past. It's very exciting that the parks
department is um allowing the farmers
market to be on that same day and to be
um moved to Memorial Field. So, the
market and the vendors, food vendors
will be in Memorial Field that day. The
parade will be its usual time 10 to
11:00 um starting at Confluence Park and
then ending at Pedestrian Park. This is
a slightly longer route than last year
and we're hoping to have many more
participants and elements in the parade
this year. um continuing with the idea
of a band. So having a band, horses, the
wagons I had mentioned, and then other
performers and other elements. Uh there
will also be a family fun event and
picnic again after the parade and the
programming for that is still being
determined. And then um later in the
evening at Vasa Park, they will be
hosting their illuminating hope
fireworks show which is free to the
public in Belleview.
So for sponsorships, we are looking for
sponsorships this year. We have four
levels available. We'll be reaching out
to the community to do this starting in
March. And the lowest level is at 250
and the highest is at 5,000. And then
today we slightly changed the mid
levels. So um or we slightly changed the
gold and platinum. So gold is now 1,000
and then platinum is now 5,000 instead
of 10,000. So if you had seen the
presentation earlier, note those
changes, please.
Then participation. So we're looking for
um parade entries, we're looking for
wagon entries, we're looking for
volunteers Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday all three days. And then of
course sponsors. So many different ways
to participate.
And what's next? Starting in March, we
are organizing meetings with all the
departments and major players to stay on
top of all the logistics and the
details. And we will start reaching out
to sponsors in March. We're hoping to
finalize our budget in March as well.
And then the wagon and parade entries
will open in April.
And there's still many details to work
out and there's still a lot of um
different logistics, but we're really
excited to have turned this one-day
event into a 3-day event to particularly
celebrate the 250th year of United
States. So then is aqua.
>> Uh thank you and if you have any
questions I can answer them.
>> Are there any questions for Janie?
>> All right that was excellent. Thank you
very much.
>> Thank you.
>> Curious if is the council going to have
a council wagon? No, not decided yet.
Okay.
It's now time for public comments.
Council made in person or virtually.
Those of you signed up in advance will
be called on first. If you're joining
virtually, please raise your virtual
hand or send the host a chat message.
Those on the phone can do star three.
And if your room did not sign up, there
will be an opportunity for you to raise
your hand if you'd like to speak before
we close this portion of the meeting.
And city clerk, is there anyone signed
up to speak for general audience
comments?
>> Yes, David Banks, who's here in the
room?
>> All right, come on up. And please state
your name and relationship to the city.
Thank you very much, David.
>> Okay. Hi, I'm David Bangs. I live in the
South Cove neighborhood and um I have
been looking forward to the opening of
the Tesla Chargers on Gilman Boulevard
in front of the Barnes & Noble. And I'm
noticing here that the permit for that
uh facility was filed in May of 2023.
They started construction in 2024. They
finished construction in 2025. And the
there's no sign that they're ever going
to open this place. And so I've been
just waiting because it's one of the
little things that could tip me into
getting an electric car. I'm excited
about them, but I'm thinking there
aren't enough chargers. And Isiziqua
doesn't inspire any confidence because
for example, the chargers over at the
Fairfield are overnight chargers. And uh
the other ones are just one here and
there. But this Tesla station, they're
the absolute best Tesla chargers they
make. Um, they support all kinds of
vehicles at super high speeds and
they're never going to open them. How do
I know? Because I I went to the
Northwind band uh version of the
charging station and a Tesla employee
was there who I said, "What's going to
happen in Isiqua?" And he said, "We're
probably going to yank them out because
we can't work with the permit process."
It had to do with the city of Isiziqua
and Puget Sound Energy. But I'm super
disappointed because I've been looking
forward to an electric car future and it
feels like well from his attitude that
the cities are are just out to block
them and because they process of getting
them approved and getting the power
connection done is so difficult that it
wouldn't be worth the effort to try
again to install an electric charging
station in Isiqua. And um I I don't
know. I I just want to make sure that
that's out there on the table. If
there's anything as aqua can do to
salvage this project, um I would
appreciate um I have nothing to do with
it. I'm just an observer. So, thank you.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much. And if
you wouldn't mind, David, maybe leave
your contact information up here so we
can follow up with you tomorrow and uh
that'd be really helpful from our
>> Okay. All right.
>> Okay. Um,
>> there are a few folks, members of the
public who are with us virtually. Um, if
you are interested in making comments,
if you could use your little that little
hand icon on your screen. All right. So,
it looks like Corby Castler would like
to make comments. Corby going to make
you a panelist now. You should be able
to unmute and can choose to turn your
video on.
Hi. Hi. I'm Forby. I'm the executive
director of the Downtown Isqua
Association, and I apologize that my
video camera does not work, but I just
wanted to say thank you for allowing me
to to comment tonight. We do have an
open house this Wednesday from February
25th. Um, starting at 3:00, we have an
annual meeting from 3:00 to 4:00, a
joint committee meeting from 4:15 to
5:30, and then a volunteer meetup from
6:00 to 7:30. And all of these events
will take place in the Isqua Library
meeting room. So, we'd love to have you
for any or all of these opportunities.
The annual meeting will be more about
accomplishments from 2025 and what we're
planning to do in 2026 as well as just a
few exciting announcements that we will
be making. Um, and opportunity to answer
any questions. The committee is more
about roll up your sleeves and talk
about what we're going to be doing
around our four main street pillars. And
the volunteer meetup is all about
getting to know more volunteers, people
who want to sign up or want to be
trained in Main Street Approach or about
DIA. Um we're happy to accommodate them.
So we're hoping that to see some of you
or all of you um on Wednesday the 25th
again from 3 to 7:30 and there's more
details on our Facebook page. So thank
you very much. I appreciate your
listening.
>> Thank you very much Corby.
City Clicker, how are we looking for
other folks?
>> Yeah, it looks like we have one other
commenter. Um Rick, in response to your
message, um we do not read public
comments received by email aloud. So, if
you'd like to address the council, you
can certainly do that. I'm going to go
ahead and give you the ability to unmute
if you'd like to make comments.
>> Hi, thank you for uh allowing me a
chance to speak. Um, thank you uh, Mayor
Mulla and city council for your time. My
name is Rick Shu. I'm the pastor of
Faith United Methodist Church located in
the Kahani neighborhood and I'm a
resident of Isiqua with children in the
Isqua school district. I apologize that
I can't be present with you this
evening. I'm actually traveling out of
town. Um, but first I want to say thank
you. I came before you all last fall
with an appeal for greater care for our
community in light of the fearinducing
actions of immigration and custom
enforcement agents. Um, I asked you to
be present at the Dea Delos Muoss
celebration at the community center and
it was really encouraging to see you and
so many of our broader community there
along with rapid response volunteers
surrounding the event and uh so just
thank you for listening and responding
with care for your community. Um,
secondly, I want to address what
happened at the studentled protest that
took place in our city on February 9th,
especially since my name and image has
been shared online. Strangely enough, to
be both thanked and ridiculed by the
critics of the studentled protest. I was
observing the protest on the steps of
the city hall as a parent and a
community member. I did not see the two
women confront the teenagers with
multiple cameras, but I've seen the
videos since, as many have. Uh, when the
confrontation escalated from bumping to
shoving to hands and hair pulling, I
quickly ran across the street to
deescalate and to separate. I initiate I
initial initially attempted to move the
woman at the center of the melee to the
other side of the street, but she
insisted to go back into the crowd to
look for her phone. I went with her in
order to keep my body between her and
the students until I convinced her to
leave the phone behind and walked her
down the sidewalk to where a police
officer was approaching. Uh the whole
episode took about 90 seconds. Um not
one student hit me or touched me in any
way. I did receive a little collateral
silly string, but I was able to recover
uh with minimal effort.
I was disappointed to learn a day later
that the women who confronted the
students were online political content
creators. I had witnessed a well-led
peaceful protest for nearly an hour
until they were confronted by these
women. After the altercation was over,
the protest went on peacefully for more
than another hour. In fact, many of the
students had no idea that the
confrontation even happened until videos
were being shared online. But as a
result of this confrontation becoming
the central story of the day, people who
are not a part of our community are now
interlocked in a vicious cycle of online
doxing, harassing, and violent threats
with children in our community. And the
result of all this is simply more and
more fear.
And I understand what it is to be
afraid. I've shared with you before how
I was beaten by a state trooper during a
traffic stop for a failure to appear in
court for a literally for a littering
case. I couldn't understand why an armed
officer was continually slamming my head
into a car for what was ultimately a
mistake in paperwork. It wasn't until
later that another police officer saw my
situation, apologized, and told me that
it was because of the color of my skin
that I suffered such a disproportionate
and violent reaction from that state
trooper. That happened 20 year over 20
years ago in another state. But a part
of me will always be afraid. That fear
is exactly why our students were
practicing their first amendment right
that day. They were speaking out because
their friends, classmates, family, and
community are afraid that they will not
get equal treatment under the law
precisely because of the color of their
skin. They are speaking out against ICE
and the lack of due process for our
neighbors because they know fear. And
this is the message that should not be
missed in all of this. I stand behind
our students and their right to assemble
and to voice their fears and their
concerns. Finally, I want to say thank
you to the police department who acted
that day. Thank you for your patience
and presence. As we know, the actions of
one heckler or bad actor does not
invalidate the first amendment right of
all those present. I was glad to see
that the protest was not disrupted by
law enforcement. Uh, this is my
community. As best as I can, I will
continue to show up for my neighbors and
my community. I will always act to help
deescalate and bring peace. I love this
community and I love my neighbors. I do
not know how to alleviate all of our
fears, but I know that we cannot do it
without deep commitment to each other
and to building stronger relationships
in our community. And I am so committed.
Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you very much, Rick.
City clerk, is there anybody else?
>> No one else online is indicating a
desire to speak.
>> Anyone else in the room want to speak?
Not seeing anybody. That will close
audience comments. If just as a
reminder, you can submit written
comments to city council. It is qua.gov.
That moves us to the next item of
business, which is the consent calendar.
I do not have any remarks on the consent
calendar, but committee chairs, uh, any
want to have any remarks on the consent
calendar items or any member of the
council.
Okay, not seeing any. The consent
calendar is distributed to the council
in advance. If authorized, the item
items on the consent calendar will be
considered together and approved by one
motion. Have the payables and payroll
been reviewed?
>> Yes,
>> they have.
>> Right. Does any council member want to
remove any items from the consent
calendar and consider it under regular
business?
Not seeing any, I will ask for a motion.
>> Thank you. Uh, Mayor Mullet, I will move
adoption of the consent calendar as
presented.
>> Second.
>> There has been a motion and a second.
All those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> I. All those opposed? Nay.
And that passes unanimously. The next
item of business is regular business.
It's agenda bill 9137, amendments to
council rules and procedures. Our city
clerk, Mr. Gizer, is going to present
this item.
Hello, city council.
Just share my screen real quick.
All right.
Yes. So, I'm Tisha Gizer and I'm here to
present AB 9137, which is amendments to
council rules of procedure.
All right. So, uh there's a twofold
purpose tonight. One is uh we are
suggesting that the council form an ad
hoc committee to consider some revisions
to your rules returning to the full
council with a recommendation at the May
4th meeting. And then the second uh
purpose is to give you a sense of uh
some of the things on the list we've
compiled to be considered for amendments
to your rules and see if you have any
other areas you'd like considered or if
you have any, you know, strong
viewpoints that you'd like to share
about um in advance of the committee uh
diving into these potential amendments.
So, a little bit of background. Uh the
city council sort of overhauled their
rules in 2018. at that time a ad hoc
committee was convened to help you know
kind of give a a a look at the entire
rules. Um since that time so they were
adopted in 2019 there have been two
additional ad hoc committees one in 2021
and one in 2022 and typically an ad hoc
committee has been formed when there are
either significant changes or many
changes. Um as you know the council has
also periodically made minor changes to
the rules. Most recently, you made some
revisions to your appointment process
when there's a vacancy. Um, and what I
think is wonderful about this is I think
the rules by and large um are being
followed and are consistent with how you
work and you've uh done a really nice
job of keeping them current and
maintained. Um, but we do think there
are a few things to take a look at this
year. So, uh, and these have come from
the city council, a few of them, and
then there are a few, um, staff
suggested areas as well. So, in your
council packet, there was a list of 23
items um that were sort of either things
the council has brought up or uh I sort
of maintain a list of things just uh
that come up from time to time where
we're maybe a little misaligned with the
rules or could provide some better
clarity. I'm going to go over the first
nine because they are what I would
consider more significant and then
there's many kind of lower level items
that are about clarification or
alignment with current practice. So, uh
on this slide here we have the first one
is um looking at community listening
sessions. Uh this was something that
council was really um interested in when
the rules can't recall if they were if
this was the initial draft or if this
occurred during one of those ad hoc
committees, but it seems like it might
be worth just relooking at those um and
seeing if there should be changes made
that uh is a a staff suggestion. The
second item is the new business request
process. Uh this is a council motivated
item. We heard at your January 31st
retreat there was some interest in
relooking at that process which is is
very spelled out in the rules. Uh the
third item is uh regarding committees.
So during the um mid bienium budget
adjustment there was some discussion
around forming an ad hoc committee I'm
sorry an audit committee of the council
as a standing committee. And so uh we'd
like to get some additional council
input on whether that warrants formation
and what that might look like. Number
four, uh we heard at the council retreat
some interest around a social media
policy. That is very uh a very relevant
thing to include in your council rules,
but there's not anything currently in
them addressing that. Number five, uh
the council has a travel policy, but
it's in a resolution from 2008, which
makes it difficult for both staff and
council members to re remember. And so
uh I think it could be beneficial to
review that policy and then consider
adding it to the council rules.
Moving to the next slide, a few more
here. Uh number six, agenda placement.
This is really consist
relates to the new business request
process. They kind of go hand in hand.
So I think it warrants if we're going to
look at if the council's going to look
at the new business request process, I
think it makes sense to look at how
items are added to the agenda.
Number seven, audience comments. um the
city attorney uh and I uh are do have
some concerns over the current
guidelines and feel that some of that
could be challenging to enforce. Um as
well you some other local agencies have
gone away from requiring folks uh state
and address and actually the council's
practice is to not really require that.
So suggest some minor changes to true
that up. Number eight, uh we'd like to
revisit how seniority is determined for
the council. And number nine, uh, the
council has also a unique provision in
the rules that when you abstain from
voting, it's considered a yes vote. And,
uh, I I think that could be of interest
for the council to review and consider
if, uh, that's something you'd still
like to keep in place. And then, as I
mentioned, there's a number of other
items that are more minor in nature that
I'm not going to go over tonight.
So, again, uh, we're suggesting an ad
hoc committee be formed to provide input
on the rules. uh the per your rules an
ad hoc committee can be appointed by the
council president or a majority of the
council. I think it would be beneficial
to if the council approves establishing
a committee to consider making the
appointments tonight. Uh in the past so
as you saw there have been three ad hoc
committees on the rules. Typically we
haven't had public comment at these
committee meetings which means that they
haven't had to fully comply with the
open public meetings act. this has given
us a little more flexibility in uh
meeting locations and timing. Uh so that
is what I'm suggesting tonight. We've
been very diligent in documenting the
decision-making and recommendations that
have come out of those groups and would
be committed to doing that again. Uh but
wanted to make you aware and if council
wants to do something differently, you
could specify that in the motion. Uh my
uh
best guess is that this would take about
two to three meetings to work through in
March and April with a final
recommendation by April 30th. And then
as with uh really any ad hoc committee,
the committee would be dissolved after
making their final recommendation.
Uh a note here that the chair of the
committee could be determined tonight or
could be determined by the committee at
their first meeting. So again, tonight
we're looking for two things. One, uh,
council's consideration to establish an
ad hoc committee, and the motion is is
in that beige slide. And then also, if
there are any additional areas of the
rules you'd like the committee to look
at, or again have any anything you'd
like the committee to consider regarding
any of these uh areas I've covered
tonight, um, please share. And that
concludes my presentation.
>> All right. Are there any questions for
Tisha?
Okay, not seeing any. I think the
sequence here is first we're going to
ask for a motion to create the
committee. If that motion passes, then
we'll then move for who might be on said
committee.
Is there a motion?
Council President D. Michelle.
>> Uh, thank you, Mayor Mullet. I am
looking for the the motion. Sorry.
>> Deputy President Marks. Um Barb, if you
don't mind, I'll move to establish a
council rules ad hoc committee to
consider changes to the council rules of
procedure as identified in agenda bill
9137
returning to the full council at the May
4th city council meeting with a formal
recommendation.
>> Thank you.
>> There's been a motion council president
>> and council member Walsh.
>> Second.
>> All right. There's been a motion and a
second. Is there any discussion?
Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I highly support this and
would be interested in serving on it as
I have discussed with council
leadership. I would like to propose two
additions. Um based on my experience on
the council, the first is to section
2.04 appointments. Um, we continually
have council make an exception to our
rules in order to appoint council
members to standing committees because
we have been very structured on whether
or not leadership can be on multiple
committees, who can chair, whether or
not chairs can be on other committees
and I think we have uh over many years
uh realized that maybe that is a little
bit too strict. So I'd like uh the
committee the ad hoc committee to look
at that. And then the other point that I
think would be interesting to look at is
6.01 the standing committees. Um we had
mentioned an interest in a finance and
audits committee but we haven't decided
whether it's separate or included an
existing committee and thus it hasn't
been added to our rules. And then
another thing I've discussed with other
um city council other cities city
council members is that um some of them
provide a legislative advocacy
committee. And I think that might be
something that as maybe an ad hoc or a
temporary committee could be interesting
to um council members. And so I wanted
to propose both of those as we are
looking at potentials for what our
standing committee makeup might be. All
right. Excellent. Any other discussion?
Council member Adair.
>> I just want to echo since obviously I
was not here before when was originally
thought, but an audit and finance
committee as the CPA I think is very
wise uh to form and just wanted to voice
my support for such a committee. Um
because I do think especially as budget
cycles are coming up that would actually
be a very wise thing to consider.
Council
>> member Jen.
>> Yeah, I want to echo what council member
said. I also really like council member
Walsh's suggestion of having a
potential, you know, state legislative
advocacy committee. Um, I know, you
know, it seems like given the nature of
the way that our state legislature
works, it's very short and very quick.
And I think to the extent that, you
know, there might be certain council
members who would like to be more
engaged with that process rather than
simply just being, you know, informed by
our uh government affairs person once a
week. Um, I think it would be great to
have, you know, a group for those folks
who are interested in that.
All right. Is there any other
discussion?
Okay. Not seeing any motion for the
council's establish a council rules ad
hoc committee to consider changes to the
council rules and procedures as
identified in the agenda bill 9137
returning the full council at the May 4
city council meeting with a formal
recommendation. All those in favor,
please say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay. And that passes
unanimously. The next item of business
is
>> Yes, we're doing that next. That's
sorry. The next item of business is
looking for a motion to nominate
members. And I'm going to look to Deputy
President Mark.
>> I didn't know if we needed to do it as a
vote. Tisha is shaking her head. No. So,
we we had a process whereby we solicited
um people to uh who are interested in
potentially being on this committee and
I know uh the council president has some
thoughts on the on the membership and
leadership of the at our committee.
>> Council President Dashelle,
>> thank you so much. Yes, I appreciate the
fact that we had uh three people very
interested in serving on this committee,
but um I am uh as the council president
and with in consultation with the deputy
council president recommending that
myself be appointed to the committee
along with uh council member Walsh and
council member Nichols.
And if she is willing, I would love to
have council member Walsh chair this
committee.
We're seeing nods.
Affirmative nods.
Okay, I think that is done.
So, moved and voted on successfully
by moving it. Okay, we're going to now
go to committee reports and we will
start with council member Adair. Uh, I
don't really have reports yet other than
to note I have been named as alternate
on the SCA public issues committee and
east side fire and rescue board.
>> I think council member Derry, you should
take credit for within 3 weeks of you
getting on the council, the Seahawks won
the Super Bowl. You should claim that
was
>> that was that was me very much. Yes,
>> Council Member Jen.
>> Great. Okay, I have three reports, so
buckle up. Um, so the first one was the
Planning, Development, and Environment
Committee. We had our first meeting of
the year on Tuesday, uh, February 3rd.
There were three items. The first one
was impact fee waivers for childcare
facilities. We're proposing exempting
childcare facilities from traffic impact
fees because these fees can be quite
ownorous. Um, we heard from a uh
business owner who's facing a $400,000
traffic impact fee for a childare
facility serving 180 students. They're
converting an existing office building
to childcare facility. So, um, this is
going to come back on regular business
in the next, uh, council meeting. The
committee unanimously agreed to, um,
wave 80% of traffic impact fees for all
childcare facilities and 100% of traffic
impact fees if at least 25% of the
students served by that facility receive
state subsidized childare. Um, the next
item was reviewing the docket of
comprehensive plan amendments. This is
basically just an administrative thing
um, updating our comprehensive plan
that's going to come back on consent in
the March 2nd meeting. Um, and then this
the last item was reviewing the 2024
greenhouse gas emissions inventory and
the 2026 climate action plan update. In
summary, we are not on track to meet our
greenhouse gas emission goals. As a
city, our world is not on track to meet
our greenhouse gas emissions goals. Um,
but as a city this year, we're going to
be looking at what types of climate
policies we can pass locally that could
move the needle. So, it's going to come
back to the planning, development, and
environment committee for review, which
is our next meeting in March. that's
been rescheduled to March 17th. Um, and
there's also gonna probably it's
probably going to come back to the full
council um for review probably in May.
Um, so it's going to be a big topic of
conversation for this year. Um, the next
meeting uh regionally, so there's the
East Side Transportation Partnership
meeting on Friday uh February 13th. We
got updates from the Puget Sound
Regional Council on State and Federal
Transportation Priorities as well as a
presentation from WASHDOT about the
state's transportation resilience
improvement plan or trip which is a
great acronym. Um especially in light of
increasing extreme weather events. You
know, we saw recent flooding, trees
falling on cars in the Snowqualami
Valley, wildfires, etc. So, there's
going to be public comment opportunities
as they work through that later this
year. Um, and finally, there was a
governing board meeting for the King
County Regional Homelessness Authority
this past Friday, uh, February 20th.
This was basically like some business
that they were supposed to do in
December that got postponed to this
year, including passing the budget for
2026, as well as some administrative um,
you know, minor edits to the strategic
plan. Um, a lot. It's not just me who's
new. It's like all new, you know,
Seattle City Council members who,
Seattle mayor, new King County
Executive. Um, and so the majority of
the governing board is new. Um, and
there was actually some really excellent
conversation about like what the role is
of the regional homelessness authority
and how we can be strategic in, you
know, figuring out how to use our funds
towards uh, strategies that are
effective at moving the needle on
homelessness. Um, it was great to hear,
you know, the new chair of the governing
board, Mayor Wilson, actually really
pushing for like what types of
quantitative metrics are we going to try
to achieve as a group. Um, so more to
come there. We're having our next uh
governing board meeting on Friday, March
27th, and we're having an in-person
board retreat in April. So, should all
be very interesting. And that concludes
my report.
>> All right, Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The uh Cascade Water Alliance will be
having a board meeting on uh the 25th.
Um the Cascade Board oversight committee
is starting to form and the first
meeting will be March 6th. Uh that
oversight uh committee will be looking
at how um decisions are made as Cascade
Water Alliance considers spending uh
millions or billions of dollars on a
pipeline uh that will connect the the
infrastructure from Tacoma's water
system to Cascade Water Alliance's
system. Uh that meeting is March 6th. Uh
lodging tax advisory committee met
today. Uh the committee uh reviewed 17
proposals which requested $235,000
in spending. We had $50,000 in funding
available. Uh the recommendations will
be coming back to council later this
year. Um
the mobility and infrastructure
committee will next be meeting on March
10th. Uh, currently on the agenda are
amendments to the street standards
utility facilities and street standards
landscaping update. That concludes my
report. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much, Council Member
Walsh.
>> Thank you.
Excuse me. The services, safety, and
parks uh committee will meet tomorrow
with a starting time of 7 p.m. to allow
for the SAS light rail meeting from 5:30
to 6:30. Um, our topic for SSP is
emergency management and the hazard
mitigations report. Um, East Side Fire
and Rescue met on February 12th and
adopted our four board priorities for
2026,
excuse me. That includes uh adopting the
2027 2028 budget since our previous
budget was such a difficult situation to
handle. um long-term funding and
governance strategy,
uh reserve and fund balance policies,
and long-term facility needs and
assessment. As you can see, we are
taking on some really big items there.
Um so looking forward to seeing that
move forward. Uh the next Epher meeting
will be March 12th and the agenda has
not been established and the ARCH
regional coalition for housing council
of elected officials is getting
launched. Members have been appointed.
We've gone through our initial
interviews and the first meeting is set
for March 26th at the Together Center
and that concludes my report.
>> All right. And Deputy President Marts.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have three SCA
related items. SCA PIC met on Wednesday,
February 11th. It was really essentially
an orientation session for all the new
PIC members and there were a lot of new
PIC members. Huge turnover, probably
biggest turnover ever in my 16 years on
PIC. Uh so no actions were taken. SCA
board of directors has its annual
retreat tomorrow uh February uh 24th and
it's actually going to be at the uh
Virginia Mason Athletic Center,
otherwise known as um Seahawks uh
headquarters. So that'll be that'll be
fun. And then finally for this body, the
SCA networking event is Wednesday, March
4th from 5:30 to 8 and it's actually
going to be on Mercer Island. So it's
really easy to get to. This is not one
of those ones that's going to uh break
your back as a commute. Um 5:30 to 8:30
on Wednesday, March March 4th, and you
can be fiscally prudent. Early bird
pricing is available through this
Wednesday. I will be there and I hope to
see everyone else there. That concludes
my report.
>> Thank you very much. And Council
President D. Michelle.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um
let's see. On February the 18th, I was
able to attend the regional transit
committee. Um, let's see.
And um, in the caucus meeting prior to
the meeting, uh, we elected uh, Ron
Council President and Mayor Pro Tim, and
he won the award for the longest title
as the caucus chair. and uh and council
member Neil Black as our vice chair. Uh
and so those elections took place. Uh
the regional transit committee is also
under new leadership with uh newly
elected council member Feain as our uh
chair of the of the uh regional transit
committee. And it being our first
meeting of the year, we received an
overview of the RTC charter and then we
discussed and developed the work plan
for 2026.
So that ends my report. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you very much. Uh the
mayor's report. We'll start with our
Seahawks victory over the New England
Patriots and happy report that we did
win our friendly wager with the mayor of
Somerville, Jake Wilson. So, the
agreement was that we would get a case
of the infamous marshmallow fluff, which
was founded many, many moons ago in the
town of Somerville. And that package has
arrived. It's currently on the dice. You
can see it in front of you. And when we
have executive session later tonight, I
am promising every council member a a
fluffern nutter, which is peanut butter
and marshmallow fluff. And council
president D. Michelle, I will bring you
a fluffern nutter myself on Friday. So
you you will get a fluffern nutter
delivered by the mayor. Uh isqua save
isqua's light rail community meeting
will be tomorrow. So, Sound Transit is
considering cutting this qualite rail
line to address budget challenges. Even
though our taxpayers have been paying
into this expansion for over a decade,
so join us tomorrow evening for a
community meeting to learn what's at
stake and discuss ways you can help save
Isiqua's light rail connection. A little
spoiler alert, there are purple
t-shirts, Save Isqua's light rail, that
folks who are going to be willing to
show up and testify at a Sound Transit
board meeting will get a t-shirt. And
that meeting will be in the east council
chambers tomorrow from 5:30 to 6:30. And
the Sound Transit Board meeting will be
February 26th from 1:30 to 4:00. And so
if you can't make the meeting here
tomorrow night, you can always go
directly to the Sound Transit Board on
Thursday afternoon. And the state of the
city address will be Thursday, February
26th. We'll share updates on the
progress we made over the past year and
outline priorities for the year ahead.
Our chief of police, Paula Schwan will
provide an update on local community and
police efforts and superintendent
Heather Talyek will share the state of
Isqua schools and a recording of this
address will be posted to the city's
YouTube channel following the event.
Hope we can see folks there to discuss
our accomplishments and the challenges
that lay ahead of us and that will be on
Thursday morning at the East Ridge
Community Church I believe is the
location. And is there anything for the
good of the order?
Looking, looking, looking. Not seeing
anything. The next council meeting will
be March 2nd, regular city council
meeting. Yes, that is only one week
away. And on that item, we'll have the
Newport Maple to Sunset improvement
project, the early learning facility
waiver fee we heard about from council
member Jen along with the blue fern
development fee in lie of frontage
improvement agreement. We will then have
a March 9th committee of the whole
meeting to talk about update our permit
process improvements and removing
barriers to home building and other
projects. And we will now discuss
executive session ID1984 executive
session property acquisition per
RCW42.30.110
hyphen parenthesis 1 parenthesis B. The
council will now go into executive
session to discuss property acquisition
and executive sessions are closed to the
public. Um we are expecting this
executive session to last roughly 10 to
15 minutes. It may be extended. The city
council is planning to act after the
close session as part of the open
meeting. And I'm looking at the council
if they need a break or we should just
go straight into executive session. We
are being efficient with our time. We
will go straight into executive session
at 7:49
p.m. And we will see you back here at
roughly 8:00.
All right. And for those of you who are
with us virtually, I'm going to move us
into the practice session now. The
council's
Makes me feel like I'm back in like
school.
>> This is going to be small enough
portion. It's going to leave you wanting
more.
>> You're going to be craving additional
fluff.
>> Do we have to like film us eating it?
Yes.
Hey, we are back in open session at 8:05
p.m. I'm going to invite parks director
Jeff Wling to make a short presentation.
Jeff, it's all you.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council.
Um, yes. Before you tonight is a request
uh to seek your authorization to enter
into a purchase and sale agreement for a
uh park property. Uh, this would be uh
known as the Hailstone property. Um, it
is uh directly um south of Bernston Park
um and near Confluence Park. Um this is
a 39 acre parcel. Um um we have been in
negotiation with the sellers and have um
agreed upon terms. Those terms um would
be a sale of this property for $750,000.
Um the purpose of this property would be
um for a future trail connection and an
opportunity to expand Confluence Park
and connect it to Bernston Park um
Salmon Run as well as the Juniper Trail
uh system um here in the Siquad. also
provides opportunity for further
riparian habitat along the main stem of
Isiqua Creek. Uh supporting our salmon
recovery efforts and our education
efforts as a community uh and really
strengthening our goals for trail
connectivity um throughout Oldtown and
the valley floor um and really
furthering our creeks to be vision of of
connecting our entire park system. Uh
the purchase price uh will be funded uh
with two funding sources. Uh we were
successful in obtaining a grant uh from
King County Conservation Futures to
assist us in this effort. Uh that would
provide roughly $560,000 of funds uh
leaving $190,000 of funding coming from
our um um parks and open space
acquisition fund.
>> Are there any questions for Jeff?
Not seeing any. Is there a motion?
Council President D. Michelle.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I moved to
authorize the mayor to execute a
purchase and sale agreement and other
documents necessary to purchase the
property located at 320 Northwest Holly
Street, also known as King County Tax
Parcel 202241900728
from the Hailstone Revokable Trust for
the amount of $750,000
plus closing costs.
>> Second. Okay, there has been a motion
and a second. Is there any council
discussion?
Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I just want to take a
moment on the record just to recognize
how much effort this takes in order to
um pull together some of these deals and
the recognition that this is a great
opportunity to connect Confluence Park
to Bernstein Park and um all of the
added benefits of that. So, just kudos
on
working this toward Yep. toward um
toward what our council goals and our
city goals are. Thank you,
>> Council Mang. Yeah, I want to echo
everything that council member Walsh
said and also, you know, give kudos to
um director Watling and all of the work
of him and also people, you know, for
the past three plus decades who have
really made acquiring land in the flood
plane of Isqua Creek a big priority. So,
you know, we had recent flooding last
year and uh you know, driving around
after that, we saw in Confluence Park
there's giant pools of standing water
and that's really a testament and
actually not that much flooding
elsewhere in the city and that's really
a testament to how you know our city's
strategy of acquiring land for flood
plane restoration is actually, you know,
a resilience to extreme weather events.
So, it's really exciting to see, you
know, one more piece of that puzzle
coming together. This is something that
takes sustained effort over years and
decades. our council, you know, uh, for
the last probably 10 years or so has
really been like saving money for these
types of acquisitions so that we're able
to act quickly when they come up. So,
very very excited to see this happening.
Um, and hope to have uh more uh of these
types of executive sessions soon. I've
had like three of these in my time on
council. So, it's it's been it's been
great.
>> This was your first one with a fluffern
nutter, though. Uh, council member
Adair, uh, I also want to echo the same
of, you know, amazing work that you've
all done with your team. And just the
only thing I would add is additionally
your work in terms of getting grant
funding and finding outside sources to
help pay for these. Obviously, it helps
the budget, but it's just I know how
hard that work is and just also want to
commend you for the success you've done
there as well.
>> All right. Excellent. Not seeing any
other discussion. The motion before the
council is to authorize the mayor to
execute a purchase of the sale agreement
and other documents necessary to
purchase the property located at 320
Northwest Holly Street, also known as
King County Council tax parcel
202404190000728
from the Hailstone Revocable Trust for
the amount of $750,000
plus closing cost. All those in favor,
please say I.
>> I. I.
>> All those opposed, nay. And that passes
unanimously. And that does conclude our
business today and we are now adjourned
at 8:10 p.m.
>> Good night, Council President.