Welcome everyone. We will call the March
16th city council meeting to order. And
the first item of business is the pledge
of allegiance. I welcome those who are
able to please stand.
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 the next item is special business ID
1954,
the Arbor Day proclamation. And I would
invite urban forest supervisor Dan Hints
to lectern along with Milo Armstrong and
Quinn Felo from Gibson. and I will meet
you over here.
Okay. Arbor Day proclamation. Whereas in
1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the
Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a
special day be set aside for the
planting of trees. And whereas this
holiday called Arbor Day was first first
observed with the planting of more than
a million trees in Nebraska. Whereas the
anniversary of the holiday and Arbor Day
is now observed throughout the nation
and the world. Whereas treat trees
produce life, giving oxygen, provide
habitat for wildlife, beauty for our
city, increase property values, and
enhance economic vitality. Whereas the
city of Isqua has been an active Tree
City USA design for 33 years. And
whereas the city of Isqua celebrates
Arbor Day year round with many events to
enhance and expand our tree canopy. And
whereas the city of Isiqua is
celebrating its annual Arbor Day
Saturday, April 4th, 2026 at Confluence
Park. Now therefore, I Mark Mullet,
mayor of the city of Isqua, do hereby
proclaim that Isqua celebrate Arbor Day
and carry that spirit through our
activities, policies, and priorities all
year long. And I urge all residents to
celebrate and support efforts to protect
our trees and our forests.
>> Yeah. Proclamation.
>> Thank you.
>> Where's Oh, here's our photographer.
Hang on a sec. Let's do this and then
we're going to have you make comments.
>> Okay. Mic is yours.
>> Thanks, Mayor Mullet. Thanks, council.
Um, I'm going to keep this short and
sweet. Hopefully you all received a uh
email update from me last Friday uh with
some updates since we adopted our forest
management plan just over a year ago. Um
obviously if there's uh follow-up
questions on that, I'm happy to meet,
chat, have conversations, but I think
it's been a really uh productive year
working on our now 34th year as a Tree
City USA community. I would love to
invite anyone that would like to join us
the morning of April 4th for our Arbor
Day celebration at Confluence Park. will
be doing a bunch of tree planting and
other restoration and maintenance out
there. Um, and I did just want to take a
minute to uh reintroduce or or kind of
highlight uh Quinn and Milo who have
been our two urban forestry interns from
Gibson. Quinn for two years now, which
is awesome. Milo for about a year. Um,
and they've been huge for our program
and in really neat. I think most folks
are familiar with the internship program
at Gibson, but brings a lot of capacity
to the work we're doing with volunteers.
uh they were both instrumental in
planting and developing our Miwoki
forest on Dogwood Street. And actually
both of them were stipened summer
interns with us doing a bunch of
watering, weeding out there and leading
volunteers. So, uh brought them along
with me tonight and just want to give
them kudos and um yeah, been a really
really uh neat program to work with and
hopefully y'all are learning stuff too.
So, um yeah, if anyone has any
questions, anything, happy to chat, but
uh hopefully the report I sent over
provides a lot of what we've been
working on here the past uh 12 months
since I think I've spoken to the full
council. So,
Appreciate it.
And the next item of business is ID1961,
the 2026 Transportation Advisory Board
work plan. We're going to invite Andrea
Leonard and the transportation advisory
board chair Erica Boyd
>> to present this item.
>> You can't back there, Erica. You have to
come up.
>> Good evening, mayor. Good evening,
council members. I'm Andrea Leonard,
deputy city administrator, currently
serving as the staff liazison to the
transportation advisory board. And with
me is also Erica Boyd, chair of the
Transportation Advisory Board or TAB as
we sometimes call them. And um we'll we
have a short item for you tonight on the
TAB work plan. Uh the transportation
advisory board was established in 2017.
Uh the purpose of the board is to advise
the mayor, city departments, and council
on the city's transportation system and
goals. It is a mayorapp appointed board
like our other boards and um council
confirms the board members. So we have
nine regular members, one youth member
and three alternate members on tab.
The tab annual work plan per code is
required to come to council on an annual
basis. So that is why we are here and
it's a non-binding list of topics that
we think um are going to be brought
before tab for the year. And um
typically it's drafted and reviewed in
January. Um we'll receive some any of
your comments this evening on the work
plan. Um and look for tab to adopt it at
their meeting later this month.
And of course we do some mid-year
reviews of the work plan to make sure
we're on target and if we have any other
items that come up throughout the year
to add to it. But so far, this is our
best um guess as to what we will be
covering this year with the
transportation advisory board. Of
course, there's some administrative
items uh including establishing the work
plan, why we're here tonight, as well as
doing training like we do with other all
advisory boards, election of officers.
These are standard items for us, but it
is part of board business. And I invite
Erica to talk about more exciting things
that is coming for TAB.
Hello everyone, Mayor Mullet, um,
Council President Martz, and Deputy
Council President Jen. Uh, I'm Erikica
Boyd. I am the, uh, transportation
advisory board, uh, chair. I've been in
this role a little less than a year, but
elected twice due to some, um, moving
around of the election dates. Uh, and,
um, we other things that we'll touch on.
Um, we've, uh, already, uh, discussed
the adaptive signal control technology
feasibility study. I believe where we
talked about the um adaptive signals
earlier this year in January as well as
the uh transportation improvement
program. Um really looking forward to
digging into the central Isqua station
alignment study touching on that
multiple times this year. Um I know I've
seen u some of our or I know our TAB
members have um done grassroots advocacy
um with the encouragement and leadership
of you all um advocating for our light
rail. Um we've discussed uh um I think
good bolder um more robust policy uh
proposals with the Isqua climate action
plan. Um updated that a couple months
ago now I think um per uh I think you
all spurring us uh to dig a little
deeper and uh move bolder. Um we'll
further discuss microtransit services.
Um uh uh and then we'll talk about trail
standards some streamlining there. Uh
and uh I'm really looking forward to
digging into the calming uh traffic
calming report uh per a uh revision a
couple years ago that the TAB did uh and
our uh mobility action plan report um
which I think this is the second one
maybe we'll have um and um as that plan
uh comes on its 10 about 10 years um
into play. I think that's a really great
uh milestone we'll be looking at.
Uh and as I said, next steps for the
work plan is uh tab adoption later this
month. So at this point, we take any
questions from council.
>> Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I love seeing a lot of the
things on here, but I know this is the
transportation advisory board. I wonder
though, um I don't see anything related
to pedestrians or bike. And so I wonder
how that can be incorporated whether TAB
is the right place for that or not. Um
but particularly as we are trying to
build up our transit, one of the things
that enables transit is that last mile
walkability, bike ability. And so I
wonder if that might be something that
the transportation advisory board would
want to look at and maybe come up with
areas where our walkability and
bikeability could be improved.
Uh thank you council member and I'll
just speak to a couple of ways that we
anticipate TAB to be touching on bike
and ped mobility in Isiqua. One of them
is the tip update or the transportation
improvement program update which has uh
projects that improve pedestrian and
bike safety across the city. So they'll
be looking at those. Um also trails
standards is another way uh to encourage
walking and some of those trails uh help
connect intra city not just our you know
in the in our parks and and forests but
are a real way for folks to kind of get
around from point A to point B. Um and
then commute trip reduction program.
That is a program uh that requires all
employers across the state including
those in Isiqua above 100 employees to
figure out other ways and other modes
for their um employees to get to and
from work that's other than single
occupant vehicle trips. So there may be
some things with that. Um
and um I think part of it too is going
to be looking at that report card. So
the the master I'm sorry. The mobility
action plan um also has a number of
policies and items related to pedestrian
and bike safety. So, we want to take a
look at those. So, those are some of
kind of the ways that we're touching on
it. But what I hear you saying is maybe
wanting more of a focus on where
improvements can specifically happen in
Isiqua. And that may be something we can
take a look at later this year,
especially as we're gearing for another
CIP update next year, a bigger CIP
update.
>> Yeah, I appreciate that. I think there's
just an opportunity to really look at
what are our gaps, what are the things
that aren't helping our full
transportation system and I think a
board like this could bring a lot of
perspective into that and have a good
conversation.
>> Council,
>> uh just a small thing and probably
probably include I just wanted to touch
on it for the when when you do the
microransit services. I wanted to make
sure that the because we discussed
briefly during that meeting about having
like fixed route shuttle options as
potential in that and I just wanted to
make sure that got covered when you get
to that because that is something I'm
curious about as an option with that
whole issue. So just wanted to make sure
included
>> did deputy president Jen put you up to
that comment.
>> No council member council member Adair
has independently come to the same
conclusion as me which is great.
>> Deputy Deputy President J. Go ahead.
>> Yeah. So, um, my understanding was that,
u, Mayor Mullet, you were proposing
doing some kind of, um, bonding of our
TBD funding source. And one of the
things that you'd mentioned was, you
know, for us to come up with some
projects that might be in the$1 to2
million range. Um, I would love to see
if that's something that we could have
TAB do as well, because, you know, it's
a broader group that might have ideas
based on, you know, where they live in
the community of things that we might
not know. Um, I think that would
definitely be a good way to get some
input from the community about what
types of projects we might want to
include in that bond. So, um, would be
great if we could add that to the
workpoint as well.
>> Thank you. We anticipate those questions
as part of the TI or those discussions
as part of the TIP updates. The first
draft of the TIP uh, update is going
before TAB later this month so we can
start looking at what some of those
projects are.
>> Great. And then is there going to be an
opportunity for committee members to
provide input about additional projects
that could potentially be included?
>> Uh, they may they may provide input
about those projects. We'll have to see
what that discussion generates. Um, our
list of projects come from another a
bunch of different sources. One of them
includes accident data. Some of it
includes it definitely includes the
reports from the community about where
there's unsafe intersections or where
the community would like to see as they
submit report of concern requests. Um,
those projects come from our uh mobility
plans and our uh IAP as well. So, we
usually pull from all these different
sources, including community input um
directly from those reported concerns uh
to form the project list. So, we'd love
to hear if if TAB has any other
priorities that are very urgent. Of
course, we'll um want to hear that
feedback.
>> Great. Thank you,
>> Council Member Joel. Morning. Your
microphone looks very confused right
now. I cannot tell. Oh, there you go.
Less confused.
Okay. There is no action necessary on
this item tonight. And seeing no other
questions, thank you very much. We will
now move on to audience comments. And
audience comments,
for those in the room, we will call on
you. For those on the checking in via
the internet, please raise your virtual
hand. For those coming in via the phone,
please use star three. We please state
your relationship to the city. Please
keep your comments in that 3 to 5 minute
range and please be respectful and
courteous. And with that, city clerk
Tisha, is there anybody signed up for
audience comments?
>> No one has signed up in advance. We do
have a few members of the public with us
virtually, so I'll monitor see if any
hands are raised.
>> We are waiting for virtual hands.
>> No one's indicating a design to desire
to speak. Okay. So, not seeing anyone
wishing to speak for audience comments.
You can submit written comments to the
city at city council atisquawwa.gov
at any time. That takes us to our next
item of business, which is the consent
calendar. I do not have any remarks on
the consent calendar, but I will ask
committee chairs if you have any like to
report on consent calendar items.
Looking going once, going twice. Not
seeing any. I will now look for a
motion.
Um, Mr. Mayor, the the warrants and the
accounts payables have been reviewed.
>> Excellent.
>> I've reviewed them as well.
>> Okay. Does any council member wish to
remove any item from the consent
calendar?
>> Okay. Not seeing any items. Is there a
motion?
>> Mr. Mayor, I I move we uh adopt the
consent agenda as published in this
evening's uh
uh
packet. Thank you.
>> Second.
>> Okay, there's been a motion and a
second. All those in favor, please say
I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay. And that passes
unanimously. That now takes us on to our
next item of regular business, which is
agenda bill 9159 2026, lodging tax
advisory committee funding. And we'd
like to invite economic development
coordinator Jack Pedlo to present this
item. Come on down, Jack.
Good evening, council. Good evening,
mayor. It's a pleasure to be in front of
you all tonight. My name is Jack Pedllo.
I am the economic development
coordinator here with the city of
Isiqua. Joined with me is Alexis Fitz
Simmons, our economic development and
housing manager.
Uh we are here to give a brief overview
of our 2026 lodging tax advisory
committee funding recommendations.
The purpose of this presentation is to
give you all an overview of the lodging
tax advisory committee, which I'll be
referring to as ELTAC, and get a council
decision on the funding recommendations
that ELTAC proposed at our February
23rd, 2026 meeting.
Staff recommendation is to approve the
allocation of $55,000
to fund business and nonprofit tourism
related activities as recommended by
ELTAC and authorize the inclusion of
$3,500
in a subsequent 2026 budget amendment
that will get us to that $55,000 total.
Uh to start with a brief overview of how
the ELTAC is composed, this is all
guided by Washington state law. Uh,
ELTAC is composed of two members who are
representing hotels. That is John Perzac
of the Hilton Garden Inn and Billy
Rossman of Spring Hill Suites. We then
have at least two members who are
eligible to receive ELTAC funding. Uh,
for full-time members, we have Julie
Hartwig of the Isqua Chamber of Commerce
and Heather Barry of Village Theater.
And then we have Rachel Wright of Isqua
Arts as an alternate. And then lastly,
we have one member who is an elected
official of Isiqua, who is our chair,
and we are chaired by council member
Joe.
In terms of the ELTAC income and usage,
our ELTAC revenues are from a 1% excise
tax on the sale of the charge made on
the furnishing of lodging within Isiqua
city limits. And then those funds can be
used for the below purposes. So, first
off, we have tourism marketing that can
be directly by a municipality or
indirectly through a destination
marketing organization. Here in Isiqua,
we do use ELTAC funds on a destination
marketing organization, visit Isiqua.
Then the next three are the three that
were eligible for the grants in which we
were discussing at our February 23rd
meeting. First off is the marketing and
operations of special events and
festivals designed to attract tourists.
That is normally the bulk of
applications. And then the next two are
supporting the operations and capital
expenditures of tourism related
facilities either owned by the
municipality itself or owned and
operated by nonprofit organizations.
I wanted to give a brief overview of the
finances of the ELTAC. So first off,
this is the ELTAC revenues over the last
three years. So you can see in 2023
coming out of COVID, it started to kind
of get back to normal levels at
$240,000, just about 241,000 there. And
then there was a large jump of just over
$50,000 between 2023 and 2024. This
allowed last year that ELTAC was able to
disperse uh 40,000 additional dollars of
grants above budget for a total of
$90,000 in grants. From 2024 to 2025,
there was a decrease in $10,000 of
revenues.
Looking at that month by month, you can
see that 2025 started off above the 2024
levels for January and February, but
then throughout the year they were at or
below those levels. And you can notice
kind of a larger um gap between 2024 and
2025 through fall and heading into
winter.
As I pull up our ELTC balance sheet
here, you can see that 21 2021 through
2024 completely finalized. 2025 has an
asterisk there. Um the state releases
the ELTAC um dispersements on a two and
a half month delay. So the ELTAC
revenues for December aren't quite yet
in the system. So you can see here that
the revenues are at 288,000, but I just
showed you guys they're at 283,000. So
that gap is because December was
projected to be higher than what it
ended up coming in as. Otherwise, you
can see here in 2026, those budget
numbers were based on the estimates at
the beginning of this budget cycle. Our
beginning fund balance would be based on
the end fund balance at the end of 2025.
That also being decreased by $5,000 is
$316,000.
Then the 2026 projected revenue is at
$275,000.
We have some optimism that may be higher
due to increased hotel costs and ideally
some increased visitor numbers from this
summer's upcoming FIFA World Cup. We
also have some hesitancy around that
number because Motel 6 is closed, so
there's a few less hotel rooms on the
market. Um then going down to
professional services there you can see
that that's at 223. The actual figure
for that which is our visit isa contract
is at um $23950.
So just below $240,000.
That brings us to our grant total which
was budgeted at $51,500
but we had we are hoping that it can be
$55,000.
That figure um is a product of
professional services and grants
normally adding up to be pretty close to
the figure of the revenues the year
before to maintain that consistent
practice. Uh that's why we stayed at
that 55 number. And then as you can see
at the bottom, the ending fund balance
has always remained around that $300,000
level. We worked with finance today to
figure out that that's been pretty
consistent since COVID. And so for
consistency sake, we wanted to remain
around that number as well
going into our 2026 application cycle.
This was a big reason as to why we asked
to increase it from $51,000 to $55,000
because we got a lot of applications
this year. It was a very competitive
process. So you can see on the left
that's number of applications over the
last three years. We significantly
outpaced 2025 and 2024. Same with the
total financial ask. we were at $235,000
which last year in 2025 is at $110,000.
There is a bit of an asterisk there in
2025. For 2025 the elac ruled that only
applications during shoulder season
which is the lull and tourist season
between October and April were eligible.
This year that was revised that projects
in shoulder season were eligible to get
bonus points so that good projects while
there aren't many tourists in Isiqua can
be funded. But we were allowing projects
during the summer and these other months
where a lot of great projects in ISQUA
take place to still be eligible for this
funding.
You can see here, this is the full list
of the 2026 and 2027 applicants. When I
say 26 and 27, I'm referring to the fact
that they're also eligible to apply if
you're in the first four months of 2027
as this process goes into March and
April. And on the left, you can see the
organization who applied. In the middle
is the project that they're applying
for. And then on the right is the
funding requested to decide who would
get funding. Uh Alexis and I sent over
all of the applications, the same ones
that are in your packets to the
commissioners on ELTAC. They then used a
scoring matrix that they were sent to
internally rank their top five based on
project impact, organizational
capability, commitment to DEI
principles, partnership and
collaboration, and then give bonus
points based on shoulder season aligning
with core missions, multi-day events,
and multi-organization
project applications.
During the meeting, the commissioners
came to a consensus of their top five
projects, which are listed here. You can
see on the right the funding that was
recommended for each project totaling
that $55,000 mark. You can see here that
aircraft put on by Clown Garage, which
will be a first of its kind paragliding
festival here in the United States, was
recommended $15,000. We then have the
Nutcracker Residency at the Longman
Performing Arts Center in its second
year to receive 10,000. The 2026 Isiqua
Film Festival, which moved from summer
to November to receive 10,000. Village
Theater Mainstage Productions to receive
10,000. and then salmon days to receive
10,000.
From there, the options for you all, um,
you could approve the recommended
funding or select different
organizations from the list or change
the funding amount for any of those
given organizations. Just as a heads up,
making a change to the recommendation
would require the following procedural
requirements. And submitting that change
proposal to ELTAC for review and comment
at least 45 days before final action by
the city council. Elac can then submit
comments on the proposal and city
council has the final authority on all
of these decisions. To wrap up here
before I take any questions, the staff
recommendation is to approve the
allocation of the $55,000 to fund
business and nonprofit tourism related
activities as recommended by Eltac and
authorize the inclusion of those extra
$3,500 in a subsequent 2026 budget
amendment.
>> Uh, Council Member Nichols,
>> thank you. Um question on the scoring
rubric uh that the individual commission
members made. Is that available in the
packet? I didn't see it but uh it's a
long packet so I might have missed it.
>> It it is not. So those were shared with
them just to use internally so that they
could score them. But then during the
meeting we just asked each uh
commissioner to tell us their top five
with the score not attached. So that we
went around the room and everyone said
their top five and then from there the
five that had the most tallies we
proceeded with. In years past, the
process was that you'd go through the
top five, rank them, decide your funding
amount, and if there was any money left
over, you continued to go down the list.
Last year, because there was 90,000,
they went down the list to seven
projects. But this year, we stopped at
five because that allocated the total
amount of funding.
>> Okay.
>> Before we go to other questions, council
member Joe, you chair this committee. Do
you have any comments for the council
before we go to the rest of questions?
>> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate
that. Um, first I'd like to thank Alexis
and Jack for the hard work that they've
done on this committee. Um, many council
members have never seen this agenda bill
because in the past it was on the
consent agenda. This year it is being
brought up um because we are asking for
a little bit more in terms of $3,500 in
additional funding. And um
I'd like Jack just to touch upon the the
um efforts that were made to reach out
to the finance department to talk about
that additional $3,500 going up to
$55,000
and their assessment of uh how we could
uh fit that in or how we could finance
that this year.
>> Yeah, I will. First off, I'm just going
to bring this page back up. I think
that's most the most useful backdrop. So
we just wanted to talk with finance to
make sure that any additional funding
especially after last year there was a
lot of additional funding um maintained
a healthy and fund balance in reserve
and also was in line with former
practices as this was our first go at
elac. So finding out that with our 2025
revenues being 283,000
it wouldn't make a major change in terms
of the consistency and consistent
practices that have been going on we
that was something we were comfortable
with staying at.
>> Thank you Jack. appreciate that. Um, as
Jack highlighted, there were $235,000 in
requests that came to us. Um, the
committee did a uh fairly uh detailed
and long process to get the projects
down to 50 and then $55,000 total um for
this. And um I I really want to just
thank the committee members that are
there. um they give their time and they
really do their homework to come to the
meetings prepared and the conversations
that we have uh are quite detailed and I
think that uh the recommendations that
they're bringing forward were well
thought out and I'm certainly happy to
answer any questions or Jack can answer
questions if uh anyone has those. But
the one that's different from years past
is the the festival that will be uh
coming to bring in um paragliding in as
a festival for us. It's the first one in
the United States. They do hold one in
France, but because of our geography,
our special geography with the mountains
and the wind. There's no other place in
essence in the United States that can
put on this type of festival. Um it's
going to be uh of course they'll be
launching from Poo Poo Point. There'll
be landing spots both at the high school
uh potentially at um the community
center potentially and then uh
paragliders could also go all the way
into the state park and land there
during the festival. Um we think it's
going to be an exciting event and are
are uh ex are um looking forward to
seeing that this summer as part of the
um ELTAC package. The last thing I'll
talk about is the the way that we
stacked these projects. So you see that
Salmon Days is in October and then you
see that the film festival is in
November and then in December we have
the the Nutcracker coming. So each month
toward the end of the year during that
holiday season, we have a different
event that Eltac is sponsoring in an
effort to bring in um outside visitors
and overnight stays to the city of
Isiqua during that season that is not as
um well utilized as other seasons of the
year. So um we'll take any questions or
hopefully Jack will answer the questions
uh if anyone has them. Thank you.
>> Okay, we're going to go down the line
this way. I may be out of order, but
Council President Marts,
>> um, so, um, what sticks out to me in one
of the other slides that you had is that
we're carrying a an entire year's ending
fund balance. So, can somebody explain
to me, um, you know, as a council, we
carry a 15-ish% and I know there are
various arguments for carrying uh, other
ending fund balances. Why why why do we
want to carry an entire year's ending
balance?
>> Yeah, thank you, Council President.
That's a great question. That's been a
pretty consistent practice since COVID.
We were looking back through the numbers
to fully understand exactly why that
figure. There's no specific policy that
says it needs to be one year's worth of
um revenues, but that's just been the
practice. Uh I think there was some
concerns, especially 2020 and 2021 with
such low revenues of keeping those on
hand. And in 2021, in fact, there were
no grants dispersed because of all the
revenues needing to go to professional
services. So, I believe that was some of
the background, but we're certainly
happy to follow any guidance on what
that should be going forward or now. And
uh yeah,
>> and I see our city administrator is
ready to comment.
>> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of
the council. U this fund balance was
almost twice that uh just a few years
before the pandemic and so uh I think it
was Mayor Paulie's feeling at the time
that that was too much. Uh but again, as
I think Jack's just described, we then
had the unthinkable and that was almost
no revenue in the course of one year. So
um we hope that never happens again. Uh
but that is the explanation for the one
year.
>> Can I have a followup? Um you know, this
is good work and I'm not suggesting
changing this work, but I think we
should probably have conversations about
ending fund balances. Um I certainly
think that this the the revenue is
nowhere near strong enough to keep like
a 15 to 20% ending fund balance but you
know if we had had a 50% ending fund
balance 2021 would have been essentially
okay right it would have been I mean we
would have depleted um funds but it
would have done its job so um I I would
like us to put you know to to file um uh
on the wall for future conversation um
when we where we have opportunities to
have an ending fund balance that's a
little bit tighter because I I think
that there's been a um position from a
number of us for a long time that um we
should carry a robust and cautious
ending fund balance but not an excessive
Thank you.
>> Could I respond to that? Um the $50,000
that was allocated to ELAC was put in
the budget by the council. So when we
review the budget this year, we can put
a higher amount in there if we want to
to lower that ending fund balance. I
look forward to that discussion during
the budget uh process. Thank you,
>> Deputy President Jane.
>> Okay, I have a few questions, so bear
with me here. Um, so do any of the
members of the lodging tax advisory
committee have any kind of affiliation
or business relationship with any of the
applicants to the lodging tax funds?
>> Jack, can I answer that? The um state
law allows for the applicants that
receive the money can also be on the
committee. It's a special law. So the
chamber can receive money and have a
chamber representative on there and so
can Salmon Days and so can visit
Isaakiqua or not visit Isiqua but DIA
and other organizations. It's a special
RCW.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um yeah, I guess I'm
just asking that because I've heard I
mean basically three organizations that
applied and did not get the money
reached out to me and asked you know
what happened and so you know upon
looking at the different applications
like I don't I just on their merits I
think the ones that did win probably
were the ones that had the best benefit
towards tourism but it is notable that
of the pe of the organizations that won
awards you know the chamber of commerce
organizes salmon days the CEO of the
chamber is on the lodging tax advisory
committee and Their request was funded.
Village theaters director of operations
is on the lodging tax advisor committee.
Their request got funded um at the Isqua
film festivals organized by Isiqua Arts.
The CEO of Isiqua Arts is an alternate
on the committee. Nutcracker is a
partnership with Isiqua Dance Theater
Ensemble and Isiqua Arts. Um, and
aircraft. I think that one uh I don't
think they necessarily have someone
who's on the committee, but like when
four out of five of the applications
that have someone who's on the committee
get funded and then like 10 other ones
don't, I do think, you know, other folks
in the community have questions and I
think it would probably be helpful, you
know, in the interest of transparency to
publish some of the actual scoring so
that there's more insight into, you
know, how these things were determined.
Um because there's definitely been a lot
of, you know, questions about that. Um
>> yeah, I mean this year was certainly a
little bit different in how competitive
it was. Last year being able to grant
90,000 of the $110,000,
it was great that so many of the
organizations were able to receive
funding. This year it was just at about
23 and a half%. So it's a bit of a
bummer to have to tell so many
organizations who have these great
projects that we weren't able to fund it
this year. Um, but for every single
project, it was only able to be
discussed or we only were proceeding
with it and seeing if it was viable if
they had enough votes within people's
top fives that it was moving on. So even
if everyone voted for their own, it
still had to have three or four other
people who believed that they were one
of the top five projects based on their
ability to bring tourists to Isiqua and
their ability to get people in hotels
overnight. But I certainly hear that.
>> And council member Joe, do you have any
comments having done this process on
that?
Yeah, the only comment I would have is
to point out that while Village Theater,
Salmon Days, the Nutcracker, and the
film festival all requested $15,000,
they only got 10. We took $5,000 off of
each one of those. They weren't fully
funded. And that was part of the robust
debate that we had in terms of trying to
find a way to fund as many different
projects as we could in a meaningful
way. It doesn't do uh an organization
any good, for example, to get just
$1,000 and spread the peanut butter too
thin. That doesn't enable them to get
their project off the ground. So, we
reduced each one of those by $5,000
during our conversation um as part of
the debate. um but still wanted to make
sure that there was an impact from those
dollars to those organizations so that
they could bring outside visits to
Isiqua and have people stay overnight
because they're traveling from more than
50 miles outside of the area. So, um
that was the reason for that um
dispersement uh for those particular
funds uh projects. Thank you.
>> Great. Um thank you. I guess in the
interest of you know h potentially
dispersing more funds um I'm noticing
the professional services line is a very
sub substantial portion of the total
revenues that we're bringing in my
understanding is that's primarily
visiqua and the amount has grown by over
60% between 2021 and 2025. Um so could
you speak a bit more to how that
contract size is determined and you know
what goes into that?
>> Yeah, so that contract was determined in
the last budget cycle. So, that was on a
two-year um contract and they cover both
that that is inclusive of all of their
costs. So, that is broken down into the
salary and benefits as well as their
marketing, outreach, and then
operational costs. So, those are kind of
the three buckets that that money is
going into for them. And uh that's
that's why they've been receiving that,
but that was in the budgeted for them.
Is there any kind of like evaluation of
their performance with I mean given that
that's like 80% of our ELTAC funds?
>> Yeah, we have them they they owe the
ELTAC committee as a whole a quarterly
update on their operations, what they're
doing, their metrics, and how their
performance has been. So, we we do get
to hear from them for four out of our
five meetings a year on um any of their
new happenings and their performances.
>> Um okay. Okay. And I don't know, Jack,
if you necessarily have the answer to
this, but um I'm curious uh would you be
able to explain why is Kawaii uses a
destination marketing organization
rather than doing some of that work
inhouse? Because my understanding is the
RCW allows us to, you know, it says
lodging tax revenues may be used
directly by municipality or indirectly
through destination marketing
organization.
>> Uh Mr. Mayor, members of the council,
council member, deputy council president
Jang. Um, there's a little bit of his
Oh, I'm Can you not hear me? Okay. Okay.
>> I was on Okay, I'll speak up. Um, uh,
there's history here. Um, the, uh, the
city and Elac entered into a, uh, a
study, um, a few years before my
arrival. So I would say that was
probably 2015 2016ish time frame. Uh
community involvement involvement with
the various uh organizations that uh uh
raise the tax the the hotels. Um and the
recommendation came to the council that
uh a lodging uh group would make sense.
Uh there was then a study funded uh and
recommendation was made to create what
is now known as visitisqua. It started
in
2018
I think um and has been in place ever
since. Um during the pandemic there was
a kind of rethinking of what Visiqua V
isqua would be doing. Um and then since
then that has grown as you can see by uh
the dollar amount. So the contract is
reviewed by the city council um uh every
two years when it comes up. uh the
council has the ability to approve or
disapprove or ask for additional
information. Um so that's just some of
the background. Uh and direct answer to
your question there is nothing uh
special about having such an
organization. Uh many communities do,
many communities don't and uh and those
that don't have it uh these funds could
be used by city staff or another
organization. Chambers of commerce for
example are often contracted uh to do
this kind of work instead of having a
separate destination marketing
organization. And so those are all
issues that uh the council could discuss
in the future that Eltac itself I know
has discussed in the past could discuss
again in the future but there are
multiple ways to do this.
>> Great. Thank you.
>> And council member Adair.
>> Um I there uh one just real quickly I
did also want also highlight that
aircraft festival that I actually been
hearing about it months ago and I'm
excited to see it coming around and I'm
very excited for it. Um, but my question
is actually a financial one actually on
this page that I'm curious about that
hasn't quite been addressed is that I
don't understand the ending balance of
2025 being 321, but the beginning of 26
being 282. You mentioned a $5,000
difference, but where's the other
30,000?
>> Yeah. So, on that one, the 2026 budget
was based on the estimates at the very
beginning of the budget cycle. Um, so
the 5,000 was actually the difference
between the ending fund balance listed
on here and the actual ending fund
balance as those December projections
were a little higher than what we ended
up taking in. So the 2026 beginning fund
balance is that $321,000
or $316,000,
but that was just listed as the
estimates that were initially in the
budget cycle. So that's why that 2026
budget number was like that when it was
pulled from UNUNICE. It was just what
was projected to be there. So the ending
fund balance or I suppose the beginning
fund balance in 2026 is actually higher
than it was projected to be by quite a
bit.
>> So there's going to be essentially
another 30,000 available for 2026 that
is just not been budgeted into this yet.
>> Okay. That could potentially go to some
>> potentially we still are collecting
revenue so depending on what happens
>> being locked down with revenue.
>> Okay. All right. So but that basically
when you get to the actuals that number
will be increased and then we'll these
things will actually match.
That's a reasonable assumption but again
we still have what nine months left in
the the year
council presidents.
>> So I just want to be clear that I'm
understanding right this is a bianual
process and it's coming up this year
right
>> the visit is to contract.
>> Yes.
>> Yes. That's my understanding. So, this
will be part of our budget deliberations
this year or separate from our budget
deliberations or
>> uh it's usually separate at least the
last few cycles. I'm looking and no
one's here who's been here before. Uh it
it it it has been separate but
cerminous. So, um I'll look at the city
clerk's been here. Um it's been usually
uh in the fall around the budget sign.
It seems to me like these contracts have
maybe been either on the the date the
council's adopted the budget or near
that. Is that you're off the top of the
head recollection or not?
>> Okay. Well, we'll go we'll go back and
look and see what the approval uh
history has been.
>> Okay.
>> But it it'll be something you know in
the ballpark of when we're doing our
correct annual budget process this fall
if not part of it adjacent to it.
>> That's correct.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Council member Nichols,
>> if it's under the approval threshold,
will it still be in that discussion?
>> The clerk had the answer. I'll let her
say it out loud rather than me rather
than me parro it.
>> I sort of bespoke there. The ELTAC
funding recommendation does require
council approval. So even if the
contract is under the threshold, you'd
still be allocating the money. And it's
happened both independently of the
budget process but sort of in tandem and
also embedded in the budget process the
last bianium
>> everything.
>> Council member Joe if I can make a
motion. I'd move to approve the
allocation of 55,000 to fund business
and nonprofit tourism related activities
as recommended by the lodging tax
advisory committee and authorize the
inclusion of $3,500 in a subsequent $226
budget amendment utilizing lodging tax
funds.
Second.
>> Okay, there's been a motion and a
second. Is there any further discussion?
Council member Joe,
>> thank you. Uh just a couple of pieces of
information for the council. We approved
uh an alternate process uh an alternate
for both the hotel years and the
community organizations. We haven't
found a third hotel year but the person
that does the funding allocations um
Rachel has been a great addition to our
debates and discussions having another
point of view in our discussions and
talking about the allocations and the
different distributions of funds. Um, so
I want to thank the council first for
um, making that change to the rules and
procedures for Eltac. Uh, I think it was
a year a year and a half ago. Um,
secondly, uh, I would just again thank
Jack and Alexis for the hard work. I
love this committee because we're able
to think about
how we attract people to Isiqua from
beyond our borders. What kinds of of
programs or events can we put on that
will have a flare and an attraction to
people 50 miles away or people that want
to stay overnight in our towns? Um it
makes uh our committee and all the
members think what are we doing uh as a
city to make sure that we are being uh
robust in our efforts to connect with
people on the outside and be attractive
uh as a destination city for all the
different activities that we do. So, um,
I thank council leadership for
appointing me to that committee and I do
enjoy the work quite a bit and I'd hope
that, uh, this recommendation gets
approved this evening. Thank you,
>> Member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um, really appreciate these
recommendations and the work of the
committee. I'd like to take a moment to
really think about this funding from an
abundance mindset because this is one of
the areas um if we think about our city
funding, if one portion of our funding
comes from sales tax revenues, then by
putting money out in this area and
generating
revenue for the business or the event or
whatever that is, we are also generating
revenue for ourselves and so it's a
virtuous cycle in that way. It also
gives experiences to our residents. Um
so I would really like us as we or I
would like the Eltech committee as we
are thinking about this really to put an
extra focus on what is new or what
wouldn't happen here without this
funding. And I think the aircraft
festival is a really good example of
that. Um, so I would put more in the
scoring model related to multi-day
experiences and events which could
relocate to other cities.
Um, I think those are really important
because they act as net new revenue for
the city, for the um, tourism related
businesses and for Eltech itself because
those types of
events are things that aren't
necessarily going to happen. Whereas, as
much as I fully and thoroughly love
Salmon Days and Village Theater
mainstage productions, those are things
that are very much isiqua centric.
They're not going to go someplace else.
And so I think thinking about the way
that we put this funding out into things
that create net new revenue and net new
visitors for the community is a really
important element of understanding that
these funds
um have the ability to generate revenue
um in many ways. So that would be my
thought process.
>> Okay. saying, "Oh, Council President
Marks.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I'm going to
be supporting this um this evening, and
I appreciate the work uh of ELTAC. Um I
share the the deputy council president's
um comment about you know in a process
where only five of 22 um you know get
accepted um I think more transparency is
is a good idea just because you know it
always sucks to you know put some put
hard work into applying to the city and
and not getting it. So I I think in the
future seeing that a little bit more
would be great. I also think in the
future this seems like a classic case of
the foursquare impact versus investment
right where on the one side you have
what's the impact of the investment and
the other side what's the magnitude of
the investment right and you do the high
impact low cost and then you do the uh
uh high um then you think about the high
impact high cost and then you think
about the other two if you have room for
it but I mean I shared like salmon days
you know this is a rounding error for
salmon days
versus it's going to make this uh
aircraft festival. So, uh I'm not
suggesting going back and changing what
we've done for for this year, but for
upcoming I I think your rubric um
council member Walsh is is uh is well
poised. Thank you.
>> Oh, C Deputy President Jane.
>> Yeah, definitely want to echo those
comments in terms of making sure that,
you know, the money that we're putting
in is really like moving the needle on
some of these projects. I think also,
you know, towards that end, I think
re-evaluating just the breakdown of
ELTAC funding. You know, should it
really be that only 20% of it is going
to these types of events and 80% of it
is going towards a destination marketing
organization? I don't know that that's
the best breakdown and I look forward to
having that discussion later this year.
And I will be supporting this tonight.
Um, and thanks for the committee for all
their work on this. Council member
Nichols,
I
>> think echoing the general sentiment of
um it would be interesting to see in
future years um some additional
information both from a transparency
perspective just what what was the
thinking behind some of these. I think I
I I trust the the good intentions of
everyone, but it would be really nice to
know some of the the the details behind
that and what the motivations are as I
also think that could help guide us and
help us understand better uh what's
important to this community. Um, another
framing on a point that was already
brought up is just looking at these as
far as things that um, from a marginal
um, improve investment perspective. What
are the things that are probably going
to happen anyway um, versus the things
that as was pointed out might not happen
at all if they're not funded. Um, I
don't think anyone is going to sit on
this DAS and say anything against salmon
days. Um, but it's it's again it's an
event where um, we have very limited
grant funding. um it's a large enough
event that it I would expect it should
be able to pay for itself in most
respects um versus some of these smaller
ones that uh well if they don't get some
grants they're not going to exist at
all. Uh so it would be something that
would be interesting to look at in the
future. Though I will also be supporting
this this motion,
>> right? I will say 18 years ago I get to
get certified as a paraglider. So I
promised to bring my glider out of the
garage and there will be a mayor glider
landing at some point between August
13th and 16th. And
and I I think we hear you loud and
clear. I think in and my commitment to
the council is we will have a discussion
on these topics not lumped into the
whole overall entire budget process but
we will make sure there is time so we
can have these conversations and I think
to council member Walsh's point I think
one thing as an option going forward is
definitely we can increase the grant
amounts not if if we feel like the
ending fund balance isn't right I think
it's not like you have to correct it all
in one year I think it can give you time
so you could support some of the ongoing
ing programs people love like salmon
days and village cedar but also expand
some additional opportunities for other
people who haven't traditionally been
able to get grant awards because of the
finite funding. So it could I think
there is good opportunities as we have
this discussion going forward with that.
If there's no further discussion, the
motion before the council is to approve
allocation of $55,000 to fund business
and nonprofit tourism related activities
as recommended by the lodging tax
advisory committee and authorize the
inclusion of $3,500 in a subsequent 2026
budget amendment utilizing lodging tax
funds. All those in favor, please say I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay.
And that passes unanimously. The next
item of business is new business ID
1993. This is a new business request. So
this is public reporting on immigration
enforcement activity. I'm going to read
kind of a brief background of how the
new business request process from the
council works and it's outlined in the
city council rules. Council member
Nichols submitted a new business request
for tonight's meeting. Now is his
opportunity to introduce the item.
Following the introduction, the city
council will decide whether they'd like
to move this item forward to allow the
administration to provide input on the
proposal. This is done by a motion and a
vote. If this item receives support from
majority of the city council, then it
will be scheduled for a future council
meeting where the administration will
share their recommendations. The council
will then be asked whether a majority
supports adding the item to the city
work plan and scheduling it for a future
committee or council meeting for review
or action. I think at this point in
time, our best guess is that future
meeting would not be the next meeting on
March 30th, but rather the meeting after
that, which would be on Monday, April
20th. And I now invite Council Member
Nichols to introduce this item.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I am
bringing forward a new business item
tonight regarding public reporting on
federal immigration enforcement activity
in Isqua. Um, first just a a brief bit
of background over um on March 2nd uh
the administration sent us uh a very
goodformational memo that clarified
steps our police department would take
uh when federal im enforcement activity
occurs in the city and u I I really
appreciate that memo. Uh I believe our
staff and our officers are making good
faith efforts here and from what I've
heard they have been really helpful in
getting information to many people and
connecting residents with services.
That memo uh just for those in the
public that might not have read it uh
outline specific commitments that
already exist within policy uh in
summary, our officers would make
reasonable efforts to verify arresting
agents are federal agents with valid
warrants. They would attempt to confirm
whether someone has been taken into
federal custody. They would secure a
residence left open after enforcement
activity. They would coordinate care for
unattended children through CPS or
Family Connections. uh and they would
respond to 911 and non-emergency calls
from residents reporting in enforcement
in their neighborhood. Now the the
difficulty which I have heard expressed
is that knowing what has really happened
in practice is difficult. Um how many
events have occurred in Isqua? What did
Isiqua residents ask for when they did
when they did make those calls and what
did we as Isiqua do? Right now it's
difficult to answer those questions
cleanly and easily. This new business
item asks the staff to come back with a
draft ordinance that establishes
periodic public reporting on these
categories of activity. The reporting
categories would follow what the IM
administration has already committed to.
I do want to be upfront with this that I
don't expect this reporting to
necessarily be easy uh clean or even
complete uh especially at the start. I
think this will be difficult and some of
this information will be hard to capture
and I think that's okay because the goal
is to build the best shared picture of
what we of we can of what's happening in
our city so that this council, the
administration and the public are
working from the same set of facts,
imperfect as they may be.
I also think it's worth stating that it
is unfortunate uh that municipal
governments are in the position that
they're in where we are effectively the
front line of communication on many of
these issues. Um,
people call the city because they trust
us and they have nobody else. And
whether we asked for that role or not,
uh, we do have it. So, if we have it, I
believe we owe it to our residents to
communicate what we know, even when that
knowledge is inherently imperfect.
I also want to note as a new business
item, this does not bind anything
tonight. It just ask the staff to bring
forward a draft with their best
assessment and their best perspectives.
So, I ask my colleagues for your
support.
Council Walsh,
>> is it are we looking for a motion then
now or is the next point asking
questions
and
assessing in that way?
>> There would be a motion and a second and
a vote I think is my understanding. Is
that correct?
>> Okay. Yeah.
>> And can the person who introduced the
new business request make that motion?
>> 100%.
>> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh well, um I
move to forward the public reporting on
immigration enforcement activity new
business item to the April 20th city
council meeting for a preliminary staff
response.
>> Second.
>> Okay, there's been a motion and a
second. Further discussion?
>> Council member Walsh.
>> Thank you. Um I appreciate hearing from
this. I think this is obviously an area
of interest to the community as um we
saw with um the immigration
meeting that was held. And so I I think
this is an interesting idea. It's
something where you're right, we don't
have the we're not the ones doing the
enforcement activity. So, we're not
reporting on what we are doing, but it
is an area where the community has
interest and the transparency
of information
um can help increase trust in local
government and local law enforcement.
And so I'm interested to hear what the
uh city staff have as they bring this
back. I support the idea of bringing it
back. It's just a uh it's a very
interesting concept of putting ourselves
forward into this area
when there isn't a lot of either
legislation or um requirement. And so
I'm interested to hear what other
council members have to say.
>> Okay, I lost track. Um, when I lose
track, the default goes to council
president Mart. Oh, wait. Okay, we're
going to council member Adair. We're
going to go the other way this round. So
I I will alternate when I lose track of
which and I go to on the dis.
>> Uh, yeah, my comments are I do support
this. Um, I've discussed previously that
this issue is important to me and I've
had a lot of conversations with
community members who have these
questions who, you know, I acknowledge
that, you know, administration has done,
you know, that the immigration town hall
we did and the website have been
helpful, but I don't think kind of the
work is done. um because there's a lot
of people still scared, still organizing
groups, still hearing about incidences
in nearby towns and wanting some
information, wanting to know what the
city is doing, wanting to know what is
happening in their community. And I
think this is this could be a good tool
to help get it down that line because I
do think we need to be very um vocal of
what is happening here and what we are
doing about it. Um because there's still
a lot of fear in this community. Um, and
I'm um I think this is a good idea.
Obviously, there's a lot to work out
about it, but I think this could
potential to be helpful towards that
issue and us continuing that
conversation with people because I think
there's more work to be done and I do
think there are
there's more threat potential down the
line. So, I do think we need to be
prepared for that.
>> Deputy President Jane.
>> Yeah. So, um I will be supporting this
as well. I think, you know, as council
member Nichols mentioned, the city of
Isiqua amongst all government agencies
that are out there right now, we
actually enjoy very high trust from our
community. And I think one of the key
components of that trust that we I think
generally have done a good job of, but
can continue to strive to be better at
is transparency.
Right now, the way that people find out
about immigration activity is from
social media, Facebook, Reddit, etc. And
that's, you know, there's rumor mills
that start. And so without having a
trusted entity able to say you know this
is what's h this is what happened this
is what we know this is what we don't
know then you know just all bets are
off. Um, I'll also talk a bit. So, um,
I'm also on the board of Isqua Alps
Trails Club and we sometimes have to do
these types of communications where
there's rumors about things like logging
sales and so in those types of
situations,
not saying anything is actually the
worst possible option because then
people, you know, there's just all sorts
of rumors. And there's a recent logging
sale that, you know, it's like still
very early in the process, but we
basically published an article saying,
okay, this is what we know. We can't
really actually share any other
information at this time because we
don't know anything but once we have
information then we will share it and
that I mean basically after that you
know people saw the logging sales signs
on tiger they searched it up they found
the article they're like oh well you
know they will tell us when there's more
information and that's actually
something that you know builds trust in
the community I think saying we don't
know is a perfectly acceptable thing to
say as long as the community also trusts
that we are working to figure out that
information and we'll share it as soon
that's available. Um, so I do think that
this is, you know, really important for
to maintain trust with our community
and, you know, obviously there's
considerations with how exactly to do
this, what's reasonable for us. Um, this
is a particularly sensitive topic, but I
definitely support um, bringing more
transparency on this issue.
>> Council President Marks.
So, of course, federal immigration
policy is an extraordinarily complicated
and contentious topic and also wholly
not within our baywick to decide, but
but the safety of our residents is our
responsibility and I agree both with uh
the sentiment that this is um an
opportunity for us because of the
public's confidence in our police
department and in our public safety as
as well as the idea of I'm I'm going to
plus one what I call reality based
governance. Um Philip K. Dick said real
reality is that which when you stop
believing in it doesn't go away. Right?
So um it is it is important that we
understand what is happening in our city
and um this will be a step in that
direction. I think that regardless of
where people sit on the political
spectrum on the subject of federal
immigration policy, I would hope
everyone would agree that understanding
what's happening in our city um to our
residents is uh important and so of
course I will be supporting this.
>> Okay, not seeing any other discussion.
So, the motion before the council for
this vote is to forward the public
reporting on immigration enforcement
activity, a new business item to the
April 20th city council meeting for a
preliminary staff response. I think we
have our city attorney Rachel here and
we have Chief Schwan here. So, I think
they heard kind of I think the gist of
what was being asked and that's why they
were in attendance tonight so they can
help figure out what that first response
will look like. All those in favor,
please say I.
>> I. All those opposed? No. That passes
unanimously. So, this item will be
discussed again at the April 20th city
council meeting. That takes us to the
committee regional reports. And we're
going to start with council member
Adair.
Uh I only have a brief thing. Um I had
an informal meeting with the uh Wyra 8
Salmon Recovery Council and the Kokani
Salmon Recovery Committee just to get up
to speed. Um we just kind of had kind of
a collective uh meeting. Um but then uh
the Monx official meeting will be on
March 19th.
>> Excellent. Council member Nichols,
>> very briefly, the East Side
Transportation Partnership met uh last
Friday, though I will defer for the
committee report to the uh committee's
vice chair.
>> Council member Joe.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Cascade Water
Alliance Board will will be meeting on
um March 25th, 3:30 p.m. and the Cascade
Water Alliance Public Affairs Committee
will be meeting on April 1st at 9:00
a.m. That concludes my report. Thank
you,
>> Council Member Walsh.
>> Thank you. I have three reports um going
in reverse order. Um the ARCH, which is
a regional coalition for housing, has
started up their new council of elected
officials, and we have our first meeting
um next Thursday on March 26th at the
Together Center at 5:00 p.m. And that's
just an introductory um piece just to
try and understand what that uh group of
individuals is going to be doing in the
work for ARCH and what our understanding
is of that. Um, we also have started up
our own council rules of procedure ad
hoc committee which I am chairing and we
just got a few meetings on our calendar.
Our first meeting is next Tuesday, the
24th, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. And that is
three of our members just discussing
what are rules for things like the new
business request item and other things
and how we might better organize
ourselves. And so looking forward to
those pieces. And then um we've just had
a shuffling of leadership. And so now
I'm taking over the planning,
development, and environment committee.
And so as chair, so uh they meet
tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. And we have two
agenda items,
which is both related to the IscoQA
climate action plan. One is the proposed
policies and actions. Coming back from
what the committee said in the last
meeting, asking for more information.
And so really more of a thorough look
into what the greenhouse gas um
emissions are and how what things we
could do to move the needle there. And
then also the pathway and timeline for
the IAP plan adoption um to better
understand between all of the boards and
commissions um and city committees where
it might best lie for the next review.
And that concludes my report.
>> Right. and our own city administrator
played a very large role in Arch
encouraging more elected official
involvement in distributing housing
dollars. So we can give Wallally a
thanks deputy president Jen.
>> Great. Um two reports for me tonight. So
first off, as council member Nichols
mentioned, we had an East Transportation
Partnership meeting last Friday. We
talked about the Eastlink connections
which is basically you know the
reshuffleling of bus routes once the
light rail over the lake opens as well
as the Sound Transit cross lake
connections celebration on March 28th.
Very exciting. Um it does appear based
on people's expressions that there will
be potentially uh a majority of or
quorum of council members. So maybe
should be noticed as a public meeting.
Um, it will be starting at the Judkins
Park Station which is in Seattle because
that's where they have a big enough
space to accommodate everyone that they
expect will attend. Um, and then there's
like different events at all the
different light rail stations on the two
line on the east side. So, should be fun
for the whole family. Um, and there's
also a pre-ride on March 27th. So, it's
the day before the official opening. You
should have received an invitation from
the CEO of Sound Transit to uh get to
ride the train early. So, if you didn't,
let me know. Um, so that should be very
fun. Um, and then, uh, the King County
Regional Homelessness Authority has an
upcoming meeting on Friday, March 27th.
And that concludes my report.
>> And Deputy President Jen, I heard you're
also going to be wearing a purple shirt
in Tacoma on Wednesday. Is that true?
>> This is right. I will be wearing a a
purple shirt, but not the um the
official one because apparently there's
only size extra large.
>> Okay. Council President Mart.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, I do want
to mention as as briefly alluded to
earlier in as in my first act as um
Council President, I did um move to a
new baseline of committee assignments
that would be compliant with our rules
of procedure um as well as spreading uh
leadership opportunities around. So,
mobility and infrastructure will
continue to be chaired by council member
Joe, but I will be returning to it after
a decade's uh uh
absence for mobility and infrastructure
as well as our to be determined council
member. And then planning, development,
and environment committee will be
chaired by council member Walsh uh with
deputy council president Jen and council
member Nichols also on that committee.
service. My old favorite. I tearfully
left services, safety, and parks and put
it in the capable hands of council
member Adair with Council Member Nichols
and our new to be determined council
member also on that. And then the rules
of procedure ad hoc continue to be
council member Joe, Council Member
Nichols and Council Member Walsh. And
then uh East Side Fire and Rescue will
be uh council member Walsh and Council
Member Adair moving up from alternate.
Um a new alternate will be determined
shortly. So this should spread uh the
opportunities for both leadership and
membership around uh within the
organization and again not require uh an
exemption on the uh or or a waiver on
the rules of procedure. I will also
mention SCA public issues committee um
did address the county ride revenue
proposal for King County transportation
dis uh transit district um
transportation district. I want to say
that the conversation that we had here
actually had an influence on how it
turned out because people wanted to put
a specific number in and because we had
had a conversation around the idea of 20
to 25%. What I could say was I know and
and in consultation with with um council
member Deer who was um who was the
alternate on SCA pick I was able to say
you know and because there was really
quite a bit of debate there were a
number of cities that really wanted to
peg that number a lot higher than 20 or
25%. And it was it was at least uh 20 to
25%. Right. Um so I said, you know, I
can support uh 20 to 25%. I can't
necessarily in good conscience support a
higher number because I haven't heard
that from my council. And there was a
concern my council expressed about the
state of roads in unincorporated King
County. And so um I and others, you
know, basically got this 25% number in.
So, if you ever wonder whether these
conversations that we have here in this
room about SCA pick actually have an
influence, they do. Um, also, uh, we
were supposed to talk about potential
affordable housing regional initiative,
but the, uh, transit, uh, transportation
district took the entire two hours. So,
we'll be having that one next. It's not
as time critical. Then sea board uh will
be looking at the appointment of members
and alternates this upcoming Wednesday
as well as um considering adoption of
that SCA policy position from pick. PIC
makes a recommendation to the board and
then the board actually determines
whether that's going to be SCA policy.
There will also be a discussion of the
equity and inclusion cabinet u that is
being revitalized right now. This
concludes my report.
>> All right. Excellent. Uh for the mayor's
report, we are now accepting Isiziqua
Hall of Fame nominations. Nominations
are open for the Isqua Hall of Fame.
It's one of the community's highest
honors recognized individuals who have
made a lasting impact on Isiqua each
year. The mayor and council president
select one individual whose record of
inspiration, leadership, and service has
made a meaningful difference is
community. The award will be presented
at the Chamber of Commerce's annual
Isqua Community Awards night on May
14th. Everyone should mark their
calendar. The nominations are due by
5:00 p.m. on April 17th and can be
submitted through the city's website. In
case you're wondering, our beloved Barb
Michelle is already in the Hall of Fame.
So, we are uh we are planning a
proclamation for Barb Michelle day in
the spring and that'll come forward
completely separate from this whole
event and more to come on that later. In
terms of say visquas light rail, yes,
there is a budget gap and we are
encouraging folks to attend the retreat
in Tacoma at the Tacoma Art Museum this
Wednesday from 10:00 to 3:00. There will
not be public comment at this, but we
are encouraging folks to show up in
their purple shirts. Evidently, we need
to put a lot of purple shirts into the
dryer and shrink some of the purple
shirts. I wasn't aware of this issue,
but it sounds like uh yes, we need some
shrinking of our SAS quad light rail
shirts. There is actually a bus. It's
going to leave right here from city hall
at 8:30 a.m. and you can RSVP to Andrea
Leonard and we have I think I don't know
three four spots still left on the bus
if if folks are interested. And that'll
be this Wednesday. And the following
week on March 22nd at downtown at the
401 South Jackson Street from 1:30 to 4,
we have the actual monthly Sound Transit
Board meeting where they do take public
comment. And so at that meeting, once
again, we're encouraging folks to show
up and talk about the importance of
Isiqua's light rail line. In terms of
upcoming events, council applicant info
session, this is on March 21st. So, the
city council currently has a vacancy and
is accepting applications for this for
the position right now. That actually
opened up last Friday on the 13th. And
if you are interested in serving your
community in a bigger way, consider
attending to learn more about this role.
The event is this Saturday, March 21st
from 11:00 to noon at Gibson Hall and
you can find more information on isqua
isquawwa.gov council vacancy village
Theater Greece is opening on March 24th
and
I want to I would love to see our
council's attempt to do a Greece
rendition. I don't think that's in the
cards for selling any tickets, but uh I
would encourage folks to attend the
actual village theater performance of
Greece. I know my wife and I are going.
Uh, Lake Samamesh Outdoor Festival is
March 28th. Celebrate the outdoors at
Lake Samish Outdoor Festival. The
family-friendly event highlights
recreation, nature, and outdoor wellness
around Lake Seamish with activities,
demonstrations, and opportunities to
connect with local outdoor
organizations. It is free to attend. And
our final event is the underwater egg
hunt at the Julius Bone Pool on March
29th. So, dive into a unique spring
tradition of the underwater egg hunt.
Julius Bomb. Kids can splash, swim, and
search for eggs in the pool in this fun
twist on a classic egg hunt. Perfect for
young swimmers looking for memorable
holiday activity. Register for this
event through the city website. And that
concludes the mayor's report. And
that takes us to go to the order is up.
Council member Joe. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor. I'd like to extend a thank you to
the city. Um the power was out on Friday
night and yet um you kept the barn lit
up with a generator so the Kuanas could
hold their event and um while it wasn't
um attended to the rafters there were
still a number of people that were there
and a good time was had by all and some
money was raised for nonprofits and uh
please keep in mind I'm saying this
thank you not as a member of the Kuanas
I am a Rotarian um but I just want to
thank the city for making that possible
in a situation that was quite um I
wouldn't say desperate, but was was a
little bit hairy for everybody. I would
also like to thank uh the city for their
great communication during the power
outage um letting us know what was going
on and where the challenges were and um
appreciate that the power was back on in
time for everyone to enjoy their
Saturday and the rest of their weekend.
Thank you. Well, let the record show the
Rotarian mayor also went to bat for the
Kuanas event at at Pickering Barn. Uh
there was lots of love between the
Rotarians and Quantis. It's not the UDub
versus the Cougars. It's a it's a very
different relationship. Uh any other
good of the order.
Okay. Not seeing any of the upcoming
meetings. Monday, March 30th, we'll have
a regular council meeting. Anticipate
agenda items. The 2026 legislative
session report out is Qua History Museum
track use and trolley funding amendment.
On Monday, April 6 committee the whole.
We will discuss the park bond renewal
and facilities update. Tuesday, April
7th is our special council meeting year
presentations from those who have
submitted city council vacancy
applications. Those applications are due
on Thursday, April 2nd. There is no
executive session tonight. And with that
at 8:18
we are journ.