Welcome everyone. My deputy council
president Tom Martz call the January
27th, 2026 city council services, safety
and parks committee to order. I'm
hearing an echo. One of the something's
turned on that shouldn't be turned on.
Um, excused absences. Uh, Chair Walsh
has an excused absence this evening. And
we have a new committee member to my
right. Uh, Council Member Kevin Nichols.
Welcome to the party, pal.
All right. Uh, next item on the agenda
is public comment. Uh, this is an
opportunity to provide general comments.
There will also be an opportunity for
public comments uh on each agenda item
after the presentation and the
committee's question and answer period.
Comments can be made in person or
virtually. Those who have signed up in
advance will be called on first. If you
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I do not see any members of the public
in the room with us. Uh clerk, has
anyone signed up to speak or indicated a
desire to speak this evening?
>> Not at this time. Chair,
>> thank you very much. As a reminder,
written comments can be submitted at any
time to city council at isiquawa.gov.
That's not 12 squa because we're not
changing that. Just the isiqua.wah.gov.
Uh moving [clears throat] on.
Next up is uh approval of minutes. And
what we have been doing lately uh is
just sort of uh I think I don't know if
the technical term is asenting to them
um but just basically saying uh do we
have any concerns with the minutes as
presented otherwise we will just
consider them accepted. Any concerns?
No. Great. Clerk if you consider those
minutes accepted.
Uh we have three we have three items
this evening and the first item we have
is COOM0202
Isiqua Housing Investment Pool Funding
Recommendation and this is going to be
presented by Alexis Fitz Simmons our
economic development and housing
manager.
Welcome Alexis.
Also with me today is Patrick Tippy from
Arch. uh he's the investments manager
and he helps uh Arch helps the city um
go through this uh create this IHIP
program and also um go through the
process of the projects and evaluating
them.
So the purpose today is to review the
projects have submitted applications for
IHIP funding uh in 2025. Um, we're going
to present uh what the administration
awards uh award recommendations are uh
which are $383,000
to Leo Condominiums at at Trail Head
Project and 1.5 million to the KCHA
Trail Head project for the creation of
1633 units of affordable housing at or
below 60% AMI. And we'd also like to
receive input for any additional
information necessary regarding
recommendations and awards in the
contracting approach that we have for
you today.
So as far as direction needed um
questions or uh input requests from u
the administration uh to the committee
regarding these projects does if does
you do you have any questions on why we
did recommend the projects and why we
didn't recommend uh the park uh by
vintage project um and also any input in
um our recommendation to authorize ARCH
to enter into the um enter and manage
the award board contract um with uh the
direction uh with LEO. Um and then also
um does the committee request any
additional information to consider um
approval at the city council on February
24th?
Oh, I apologize. I thought we fixed
that.
Um
so just a reminder um IHIP um the IHIP
program is the inclusive housing
investment pool. Uh it was created in
December 2020 2023 by city council and
and adopted the following funding
priorities um which is the preservation
of existing affordable housing transit
oriented development near frequent
frequent transit service and community-
based affordable housing. Um also on
this slide you kind of see the housing
continuum of you know where we see the
need for housing uh in the city of
Isiqua and it goes everywhere every from
everything from emergency shelters also
all the way to affordable rental and
ownership.
So the funding requirements uh for the
program um it's to serve households up
to 60% AMI and um funds must serve the
following populations. persons with
behavioral health disabilities,
veterans, senior citizens, persons who
are homeless or at risk of being
homeless, persons with disabil
intellectual disabilities,
um or physical disabilities, and
domestic violence survivors.
As far as funding availability goes, um
in 2025 and 2020 2026, the affordable
housing adopted budget um with an annual
revenue of expected to be 2.3 million
and approximate expenditures to be 1.3
million. You can see in the chart below
um that every year between 2021 and
2024, we received more than $2 million
um from um from the 1590 and 1406 funds
that fund the IHIP program. um and
anticipated allocation in 2025 was uh a
million plus and the same in 2026.
To break down kind of a little further
um from 2023 to 2025, our actual
received revenue was over $7 million and
our actual expenses were just over 3.3
million. Um that's from 20 2023 to 2025.
Um these expenses uh included emergency
housing program um behavioral health um
and executive staff as well as the arch
funding trust fund.
In 2026, which is our current year, um
our revenue anticipated and what we have
budgeted for is 2.325 million and our
anticipated expenses that were budgeted
for is $68,388.
This does not include the projects that
you are being presented to today. Um,
these projects require an amendment to
the budget. The only known expenses that
we had uh for the 2026 budget were those
for executive staff and behavioral
health staff. So, that's what's included
in the budget.
As far as the application process goes,
um combined funders um from the east
side that support ARCH uh submit
applications um and ARCH staff reviews
those uh does an initial review of
those. Um the committee uh there's a
review committee um that includes uh the
economic vitality commission, city staff
and art staff. Uh we meet uh and discuss
the projects, make recommendations and
then it comes to the administration to
discuss uh more fully and then to you at
the services, safeties and parks
committee. Then moving on to city
council uh for the final uh decision.
The applicant applications
recommendations that we have this year
are for the KCHA trail head apartments,
which we are recommending for approval,
the Leo condominiums at the trail head
apartments, which we are also
recommending for approval, and the Park
by Vintage, which we are not
recommending for approval.
At this point in time, um, I'm going to
have, uh, Patrick come up and talk a
little bit about the projects.
Thank you very much, Alexis. Uh, Chair,
uh, Council Member Nichols, thank you
very much for having me here today. Uh,
really excited to bring these
recommendations to you all that were
reviewed and recommended by the Economic
Vitality Commission and the city
administration. I'm Patrick Tippy, the
investments manager at Arch and and work
to underwrite and help draft the staff
reports uh, to analyze the merits of the
projects against the priorities that
were adopted by council a few years
back. Uh the first project that we're
here to uh recommend here today is the
recommend the full funding request of
$1.5 million from the King County
Housing Authority to develop the trail
head apartments. This is a development
that's been uh under consideration for
many years now. uh in in partnership
with the city uh case King King County
Housing Authority has worked to relocate
telecom from the site across from the uh
uh central Isaqua Transit Center uh to
create this uh multi-phase development
and the building that KCHA will be
leading the development on will include
a ground floor called the opportunity
center that the city of Isakqua will own
and then above that will be 156 units.
Uh two of those are going to be for
on-site management, the rest would be
affordable. um and serving people from
40 to 60% of the area median income.
Uh King County Housing Authority has not
uh identified a specific IHIP target
population as required by statute at
this point in time. They are wanting to
partner with the city of Isiqua as
Isiqua's identifying who the tenant
would be of the opportunity center and
wanting to align uh target residents to
align with the services. So, if it ends
up being a service provider to serve
people with disabilities or uh people
that may need behavioral health
services, they would want to align that
service so that way there's on-site
connection for the services for folks.
Uh these units will be 1, two, and
threebedroom units. Um and a significant
amount of of uh parking available on
site, 172 stalls.
Uh the next uh slide,
>> can you wait just a second? Can you go
back? So on the subject, can you go back
one slide? So on the subject of target
population,
um so how I I understand the idea that
we want to wait until we see opportunity
center tenants and then see how we want
to meet the required target populations.
How how would that work timewise like in
the timeline of this development?
>> Yeah, great question. Uh so in the the
staff recommendation memo in front of
you there are uh special conditions
which we would put forward and those uh
and hopefully you all would adopt those
and then subsequently council would
adopt those. Those become contracting
conditions and within that we would
require they designate that before uh
the contract is drafted and and
executed. Uh so that would be the city
would uh be able to reserve its right to
move forward in advancing funds and
signing the contract until that was uh
designated and appropriately contracted
through a regulatory agreement.
>> Good. Just not not because I have any
concern that people won't keep it in
mind. I just wanted to see from a from a
uh project management steps where it
gets uh where it gets in in the system
and you just explained it. So thank you.
>> Yeah, do that. Uh so I I did mention
some of the uh special conditions. One I
wanted to point out that $ 1.5 million
award will be structured as a deferred
loan. Uh meaning that uh there'll be a
55-year term. It'll be advertised over
that 55-year period. And there's other
costs that they have to repay earlier in
that 55-year term. And so uh repayments
will begin in year 16 through that
55-year period. So, it's small payments
on that $ 1.5 million uh loan, but there
will be uh repayments coming back to uh
to the city uh for this fund. Uh wanted
to identify some of the rationale here
based on the priorities that council has
identified for this project. It's a
long-standing partnership with this with
the city uh uh and and proceeding right
across the street from the uh King
County Metro uh park uh uh transit
center here in central Isiqua. And so uh
this aligns with the transit oriented
development nature of the priorities.
It's also a partnership with many other
uh community partners. The city will be
the owner of the ground floor space. Uh
we'll talk next about the partnership
with life enrichment options known as
LEO to be providing uh a separate
ownership condo within that for people
with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. And so there is a lot of
partnership uh with uh with local
service providers and local agencies.
um they're committed to serving IHIP
aligned populations and it really
leverages a significant amount of money
uh from other sources which is just uh
goes to grow the impact of the IHIP fund
and I'll move on to the next uh
recommended project here. This is the
life enrichment opportunities
uh condominiums in the trail head. This
is within the the previous development.
Uh the LEO would own uh seven bedrooms
within that. Uh one for a live-in
caregiver. Six then would be for uh
individuals earning 30 and 40% of the
area income all with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. Leo focuses
on providing uh group homes for people
with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. Most of the programs to
date have been in single family homes
and they're really excited about this
opportunity to to be in a larger multif
family complex. They'll have uh
interchanging doors between them so they
can have shared meals as a community but
then also have some private space but
then also be in community with the other
156 families living in the apartment
building. So they're really excited
about this uh this opportunity here.
uh this project we we're recommending
that this would be uh the award would be
made uh in the form of a uh secured
grant meaning that so long as they
perform and serve households at the
income levels prescribed in the other
contract terms that the funds would not
be repaid uh whereas the housing
authority has a higher income level and
it has a more of ability to repay that
loan. Um, we're also recommending that
the uh funding award amount to be
$383,000
and that is uh more than they requested
from Isiqua through the IHIP program and
uh the the economic vitality commission
recommended that amount as uh we are
considering that the award. We learned
that King County was not going to be
able to fund the amount and so the uh
committee recommended that uh the IHIP
program fill the gap the county couldn't
fund to continue the project advancing
and it has been successful in receiving
I believe a $ 1.4 $4 million award from
the state department of commerce as well
to support those households with
intellectual and developmental
disabilities. So uh again another strong
uh piece of leverage uh to leverage the
IHIP program that uh the the city of
Isiqua has has advanced here. Um other
strengths of this is that it is again
aligned well with transit oriented uh lo
in a transit oriented location. It is uh
uh LEO is a it's a quaab based service
organization serving many uh individuals
with intellectual developmental
intellectual and developmental
disabilities. Uh and just really excited
to get this development uh kicked off
within uh within this larger KCHA
development.
Then the final project that we received
an application for and and the uh
committee administration are not
recommending for an award is the
development uh known as Park by Vintage.
They requested a million dollars. Uh the
location of this was to acquire two
existing uh office buildings that had
previously been Costco office space um
just to the north of I I90 there. Uh the
the intent would be to convert those two
office buildings into residential,
creating uh nearly 260 homes uh for
households at 50 and 60% of the area
median income. Uh the developers chose
the site for adaptive reuse uh based on
its proximity to retail and other stores
uh nearby to the state park.
Um however, the committee did not
recommend moving this project forward.
There's a few uh items there that u the
the developer is currently working
through a lawsuit with the state
attorney general's office uh along with
their property manager and uh that was
likely going to inhibit them from
securing the rest of the capital funding
needed to uh convert these uh office
buildings into residential in a timely
manner. And so uh that was one of the
rationale there. Uh
um and also the property did not the
owner operator didn't identify any local
service partners for this. They were
planning to serve veterans but didn't
necessarily have a referral plan or way
that they would be plugging in to serve
uh the Isokqua community.
Uh so we're here presenting to you here
uh today. If if recommended to move
forward, we'll be coming back February
23rd. Is that correct? the council
meeting. Um, and then, uh, if that's the
recommendation of this group and and and
council, uh, that resolution would
instruct, uh, city administration to,
uh, ask ARCH to administer the contract,
uh, through other contracting mechanisms
that we have and using the ARCH
investment staff to do the ongoing
compliance for for the awards.
>> Thank you, Patrick.
Um so again, so we're on our last slide
here. Um and what we need uh from you
today is just direction. We would like
for this um item to go on the consent
agenda at the council meeting on
February 23rd. Um and so we'd like to
entertain any additional questions or
requests for information that you have
now uh in order to make that happen.
>> Council member Nichols,
>> thank you. Um got quite a quite a few
questions. I saved them all to the end.
Um, so, um, I think I'll start with
questions about park since we just
discussed that. Um, on the face of it,
it looks like a a good interesting
project. Um, it's um, it it clearly
seems less welldeveloped, less mature
than the uh, the trail head project
naturally. So, the trail head project's
been around for a while. Um, a lot of
the problems that were identified seem
to me like they're essentially future
risks that may not may or may not
materialize. So, I've got uh two
questions on that. First is, are we
working with these folks in any
additional capacity to help them reduce
those risks? So, one of the risks was
identified was that they don't have a
partner um for some of the services they
want to offer. Um, that's something that
we have experienced with the DoD as
well. um do we have any experience or
expertise there that we could offer to
try to reduce that risk for them? Uh and
then the second question on park is um
when we structure these um as either
grants or loans I guess um
can they be contingent on other things
so such as for example resolution of
location securing of future funding etc
so that we could help that project to
appear more viable to other investors
who might want to participate without uh
unnecessarily
u assuming excess risk for public funds.
Yes. So, I'll answer the second question
first. Um, we have the ability through
the contract process to put any
stipulations on that funding. Um, that
as long as within the legislative
allowance. Um, and we have a pretty
pretty broad
birth to to be able to do that. Um, and
um, in the staff report, you'll see a
lot of the stipulations on some of the
other uh, the other two projects um,
that ARCH has helped us formulate. um
when we are looking at the analyzation
of those projects and what risks there
are um as far as um
expertise to be able to make connections
with developer uh to community
organizations. Yes, we absolutely do
have that and and would do that. Um I
think that the main risk that we saw
here was the state's attorney litigation
that was outstanding. Um
um and that was a bit untenable for the
community advisory board. Um and so
that's one of the major reasons why we
kind of push this this is if they're
able to resolve that they can reapply
next year. Um our rejection of their
project this year does not prevent them
from applying again in the future when
they have these other issues resolved
and in the meantime if they're amunable
to us uh participating and providing
expertise to help connect them uh with
community organizations uh we are much
very much willing to do that.
>> Okay. All right. Um,
next very specific question. Uh, for the
to how how is the 172 spaces parking
spaces number arrived at?
>> So, I believe that's probably a
requirement of zoning um and the number
of spaces required by our zoning.
>> Okay. So, no no variances were
requested. Do you know?
>> I don't think so.
I believe the development has a
development agreement.
>> Yeah, you can go to the mic.
>> Either one. Uh I I believe there's a
development agreement on the site uh
because there's a second phase there
that prescribes total number of parking
stalls between the two uh sites and it
it has been important for the housing
authority to have sufficient parking
available in order to have a strongly uh
competitive property for marketability
and achieve the the um occupancy that it
needs in order to service the the
permanent debt that they will have on
that property.
>> Okay. So this was this is a number that
the housing authority wanted and was
happy with. Is that fair?
>> I from my understanding they're happy
about that uh that parking stall count
and I think that it's important for them
especially having a number of two and
threebedroom units to make sure they've
got uh parking even though it is
adjacent to the transit center. It was
important for them to have at least a 1
to1 parking ratio.
>> Okay. All right. Um
let me back up. Uh let's see.
Um
uh going at the the funding stack for um
the LEO project. So there was 191,500
that was um not approved by King County.
Can you elaborate on what what the c
what why did King County decline that
and is there anything to be learned from
that? Yeah, the county really had
limited sources of funds and each uh
funding resource they had had very
specific eligible uses for those and
this uh development did not align well
with any of the eligible uses that they
had available for this year. They had
specific dollars that needed to be jail
diversion or needed to be spent in South
King County or to be uh debt uh
generating funds that uh their statute
required uh the bond that pays for them
to have debt service. And so this
project wasn't eligible because it
doesn't have ability to pay debt
service. And so that for those reasons
they didn't advance the project this
year. They have funded the LEO uh
project in the past including the
acquisition that I have supported a year
ago to purchase single family home in
central.
>> Okay, great. That's good. Um
see um
another detailed question on Leo. So I
saw in there so on the our staff report
page three there's a note that there's
earnest money due at capital finance
clearing. This is May. Um it's 120,000.
And then um it also notes that the
schedule is driven by the overall King
County Housing Authority timeline. Is
are there any kind of existential risks
here, especially for that earnest money
if King County Housing Authorities's
construction timeline slips? How how
dependent on how much how what risks are
associated with that that might impact
the ability of the project to proceed
and the and any funding that has been
committed here? Yeah, I think one of the
rationale why uh it's an earnest money
deposit and not a a purchase of the
condo is that the condominium will not
be formally declared creating those
three units until after the physical
structure is built and is able to be
surveyed and then have the meats and
bounds prescribed to it. So, we would
then want that legal description to be
included in our our uh our legal
documents to secure that space for them.
And so the structure and partnership
between LEO and KCHA is that earnest
money deposit is a good faith deposit
demonstrating LEO has all the sources
needed to purchase the whole of the
acquisition and they have secured those
sources through the state arch and isqua
funds and then those funds will be in
place ready to uh uh fulfill that
contract as the structure is completed.
And so Leo will take ownership when the
when the structure is completed of their
uh seven uh bedrooms in those three
condo units.
>> Okay. All right. I think I understand
that. Um,
next. Um, so switching gears to
the, uh, the tod. Um,
just trying to track kind of where the
money is flowing here. So, as far as I
can tell, there's no proceeds from the
market rate side that are put into the
funding stack. um for the affordable
side. I may have just misread it, so if
I'm wrong, just correct me there. Um but
is can you just at a first at a high
level kind of give me an overview of
what's the financial relationship
between these two phases? Um
and where where does that money get
accounted for if if there is a
relationship there? Yeah, the King
County Housing Authority provided to us
a third-party cost estimate for the
whole of their development of the
structure they're building as well as
the site costs and the design,
permitting, and other costs, including a
uh delineation of how those costs will
be attributed between the four different
ownership entities on the site. So those
being the KCHA 156 unit, the market rate
portion, the the 7bedroom uh LEO condo
and the city of Isiqua's opportunity
center. And so costs for site
development, permitting, design have
been uh based on total square footage uh
floor area ratio for those where and
then the cost for the um cost for the
building then is borne by each of the
individual owners. Uh so the the market
rate portion of the building is not
contributing uh to the the capital stack
for the King County Housing Authority
portion, but it is paying its full cost
for its building and its development.
>> Okay. And then
is it this is I'm sure the wrong word to
use, but is it subsidizing in some ways?
like what how what is how is the
if it's not directly in the capital
stack how is the market rate uh the sale
of those market rate units helping the
affordable side of things
>> yeah I think it it's help helping by
defaying the cost of the permitting of
the design to get to the place where
they can permit the whole of the site
and so there is some uh efficiency there
of having the same civil architectural
team doing the layout of the whole of
the site it's also reimbursing uh KCHA
they've been carrying the development
costs of this for the last eight years.
And so by the with the purchase of that,
they're being reimbursed for the upfront
working capital they've invested in the
development of the site, but it is not
paying for the market rate portion is
not subsidizing the vertical
construction of the KCHA affordable
units.
>> Can I just clarify on that? The market
rate side is as a project disconnected
from this, right? like it it could get
built in 24 months or 60 months or
whenever, right? Like it is not the the
development of the uh workforce housing
site is not dependent on the progress of
the market rate side, right?
>> The the affordable portion can move
forward on their own timeline. They are
not uh dependent on the the market rate
portion to advance. Uh however, there is
something in the permitting that has
vested the whole of the site. uh and I I
don't have all the details related to
that. So they are related in the
permitting but I uh the housing
authority portion now has the
entitlements they need to proceed on
their schedule and the market rate
portion uh can proceed on their schedule
and and I understand there is a a
partnership in the works uh to make sure
there's coordination and uh no conflicts
in the construction um time period but
we just have less uh insight into that
market rate developers uh schedule and
permitting status.
>> Sure. I just wanted to inject that into
the conversation you were having with
Congress with council member Nichols
about the financing that there there's
nothing on the affordable side that is
dependent on the timing of the market
rate side.
>> Yeah, that was that was helpful because
I was wondering if it's if it's going to
effectively need it. Um okay, last
question. This is mainly just for my own
education, but um you've got um so for
the for the TD there's a loan and Leo's
structures a grant. How do you decide
whether it's a grants or a loan?
>> Yeah, we look at the ability of the
projects uh operating perform to repay
the loans. Obviously, we like to uh as a
city support affordable housing and when
we can get the funds repaid uh because
the the uh Leo development is serving
households at the 30% area median income
level, the rents and the operating
subsidy that they're they're collecting
from that is enough to cover the
operating costs but not to service any
debt. And that's why they do need uh
capital grants from all the public
funders in order to create these units.
Whereas the uh rents that are collected
at the 40 and mostly 60% AMI level for
the King County Housing Authority does
allow them to generate enough revenue to
service uh tax exempt bond uh that's
covering a large portion of the project.
And then as the rents do escalate over
uh over 15, 20, 30, 50 years, which will
be the term of our loan, they will have
more ability to have cash flow to
service that debt. um which is a typical
financing tool used by housing
authorities and that's a typical loan
that ARCH administers uh with Isaqua and
all the other Arch member cities um
housing trust fund investments.
>> Okay. Yeah. Uh thank you. Appreciate
that. And uh that's all for me.
>> All right. I've already [clears throat]
asked my questions because I did not
wait until the end. Uh so we have four
questions in front of us as a group. Um,
if you are comfortable, council member
Nichols, we can just address all four if
you want to give me your thoughts on all
four right now. I don't think we have to
go item by item on this unless you want
to.
>> I think I have to go item by item.
>> Okay. Well, item one is, does the
committee have any questions or input on
the administration's recommendation to
fund $383,000 to Leo Condominiums at
Trail Head Project and 1.5 million to
the KCHA Trail Head Project for the
creation of 163 units of affordable
housing.
>> I think my This is
>> question one.
>> No, I do not.
>> Nor do I. Do we have any questions or
input on the administration's
recommendation not to fund the park by
vintage project?
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Um
I think my input would be to strongly
encourage
active collaboration with this uh
homebuilder to help derisk the project
and make it more viable for the up for
the next funding cycle.
>> Thank you. I think that's that's a great
recommendation. Yes, this fund will
continue to provide monies. So, um yeah,
I plus I plus one that. Does the
committee have any questions or input on
the administration's recommendation to
authorize ARCH to enter and manage the
award contract direction with LEO? Nope.
Nor do I. Does the committee request
additional information to consider
approval at city council on February
23rd?
No. I have a question about you. the the
administration has a preference for
consent agenda. Is that right?
>> It was on the consent agenda last year
and so
>> Oh, well, there we go.
I [snorts] I'm okay using the historical
precedent, but I'm open to thoughts.
Um,
yeah, I'm okay with that on the consent
agenda. I if some I will the full
presentation be included in the consent
agenda for anybody who's
>> not typically but it can be
>> please do because we have a new council
member and council member Adair um it
would be great to get those materials in
front of him. I I mean I'm sure he will
pour over this committee's you know
video and and watch it and everything
but on the odd chance that he doesn't it
would be great to have it in the full
packet for the 23rd. I mean, if the
council chooses, they can pull it from
consent agenda the day the day of the
meeting. So,
>> understood. But it'd be good to have it
in there and
>> point him to it.
>> Yeah. And I'm I'm not expecting this to
be contentious. It's more just for
information because it's there's there's
some useful background, especially for
something like park, for example, where
I think it might not be as well
understood.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Yes. Thank you. Uh, appreciate it. Uh,
Miss Fitzg Mitz, sorry. Mit Miss Fitz
Simmons uh for that.
>> Yep. Sorry about that. Uh COOM 0206 is
next. Oh, I did not. Do we have any
members of the public online?
>> No, chair, we do not. [snorts]
>> I dodged dodged one there. COOM 0206
park rules and regulations presented by
our own parks director, Jeff Watling.
>> Thank you, Deputy Council President
Marge. Uh good evening, Council Member
Nichols. Uh Jeff Watling here. Uh
forgive me as I
think I can do it. Let's see how it
works.
Awesome.
Is it sharing?
Share
again.
Shall I sing while I'm doing this?
All right. Thank you. And with that,
good evening. um here tonight uh to uh
really introduce um have an introductory
discussion with you all uh both of you
around uh the park rules and regulations
uh within our Isiqua municipal code the
IMC
um and the work plan uh somewhat
long-awaited work plan uh we have this
year of reviewing and updating those
rules and regulations.
uh some direction needed uh tonight is
really your initial thoughts and
guidance to help shape this work. Um uh
two main areas of guidance that that
we're seeking tonight. The first really
related to content um are the current um
and additional areas topics uh that
should be considered
are they uh enough or should we be
exploring some other areas or topics um
along with that content? uh uh would
appreciate any feedback or thoughts you
have on process and the work that we're
going to be doing with the P the park
board as well as general public outreach
um as we accomplish this work.
Did I just freeze?
Okay.
lag is lag is completed. All right, some
background um on this. Uh the park rules
that do exist within our IMC um reside
within title 9 um of the admissible
code. Um you'll notice these in two
sections. IMC 9.25 was last updated um
in 1985. Uh that was a little while ago.
Um u within that code if you look at
that uh there are um six rules uh that
that are addressed um in there ranging
from litter uh to livestock uh to
vehicles vandalism and alcohol um um one
section down um in IMC 9.26 26 that was
last updated in 2000. Uh that includes
two park rules uh pertaining to park
hours um as well as camping.
Um to to speak to the need or the
interest we have, this collection of
park rules within the IMC is is far from
complete. Uh when you look at all of the
vast array of uses uh that we're trying
to manage within our park system, um not
all current or emerging park issues um
are really addressed in uh that existing
um uh the existing content within those
two uh those two areas.
The opportunity this provides us is to
um really go about creating a more
complete set of rules um and be able to
have those rules codified um and
transparent um and able to support um
signage and park rules we have within
the parks to making sure we're we're
really communicating clearly uh what the
expectation is uh for visitors and
residents as they use our parks, trails,
and open space. Um this work will
certainly support in keeping our city
parks and trails the welcoming, safe and
clean spaces that we um all want them to
be.
um an opportunity we have to really look
ahead uh both addressing current needs
but um emerging park uses. Um this work
will be done both internally and
externally. Uh gives us a real
opportunity to collaborate uh not only
within park operations and recreation
staff but um our human services team
within the department. Um clear
obviously the police department, city
attorney will be very involved in this
work um to make sure that we uh draft
and bring back to you a more thorough
and updated set of of park rules and
regulations. Um I would note executive's
office will be part of that as well uh
with a current vacancy we have within
our department. Dale Marky is going
to be assisting me uh in this work as
well. Uh and then the opportunity we
really have externally uh to engage not
only with park board with with the
public as we develop um uh develop these
updated rules um through the upcoming
months.
Uh these next two slides are not meant
to be an all-inclusive list or absolutes
that we're going to have, but really
just wanted to share with you some
examples, some types of park rules that
we might want to consider and that we
will consider through this work. um uh
many of these uh that exist in some of
our neighboring cities um in their in
their park rules. Um areas of sales of
goods and services. This was in include
everything from concession air
agreements we might have within our
parks to food trucks and the allowance
of of food trucks. Uh permits um
everything from field rentals uh to um
community events um offered by you know
thirdparty uh partners. um rules around
animals and pets. Um a number of rules
around motor motor vehicles. Um where
parking is allowed, what the speed for
motor vehicles are within our parks. Um
where they're not allowed and allowed.
Um some rules around trail use. Um rules
that really support the broad use um and
uses we have on our on our many trails.
Rules around tents, shelters, and
camping. um everything from overnight
camping, but also just how tents and
shelters can be used uh throughout our
parks um on any given day. Uh just
making sure that we have um we're we're
providing again safe welcoming spaces.
Uh swimming and water access where
that's allowed and not allowed. Uh
litter or waste. um uh remote control
models uh things including drones, where
is that allowed and not allowed and how
are we managing uh those emerging and
growing uses. Uh rules around fireworks,
firearms weapons
some other areas that we really want to
consider and look at um amplification of
both music and just PA systems in
general. um how we're making sure um
one's one's use of our park is not
infringing on um other groups that are
using our parks uh park hours. Um um
interference uh with park or trail use
um damage uh to property um andor
wildlife, building fires, um removal of
pro of public property uh within our
park system. uh not only littering um um
sort of on our properties and on land
but also dumping and water. Um some
rules around solicitation we want to
consider. Um and then lastly rules uh
related to tobacco, alcohol and other
controlled substances within our parks.
Again, not all-incclusive
um not absolutes, but um certainly areas
that we think transparent um and clear
rules um would be really beneficial.
So, how do we want to go about this
work? Uh some some timing and next
steps. Uh these next two months,
February and March, uh we'll be digging
in a little deeper with the park board.
We already introduced this topic to them
last year. Um met with park board just
last night. um and reminded of them of
of of the work that we have coming up
these next few months where uh we really
want to uh start diving in um doing some
public outreach, reviewing other
municipal codes for best practices. Um
then spend the the following two months
in April and May, beginning to draft uh
some updated park rules again including
some engagement. Um our goal will be um
a park board recommendation by the end
of May um at their May meeting. Um and
then the opportunity to bring those
recommended park rules back to you uh
services safety and parks committee in
June uh for your consideration um and
moving those moving those forward.
So
>> I'm I'm sorry. Director, could you go
back for a second?
>> You bet.
And and then what?
>> And then what? So, um with your
recommendation, go to full council for
adoption um sometime this summer. Um and
then um
implementing those new rules.
>> Gotcha. So, uh so to full council
hopefully I mean if we move
expeditiously by July before the August
uh break.
>> Yep. Yep.
>> All right. Thank you.
Yeah, thanks for that. So, again,
>> I think I think Council Member Nichols
has a question just on the on the
timeline. Um,
this looks this looks overall this looks
great. Um, I'm glad some of these things
are being revisited. Um, timeline looks
pretty good and and fast. Um, I just
wanted to ask if you're there there is
some we're in the middle of a
legislative session and there is some
state level legislation specifically on
campaign. So, HP 2489.
Um, I'm not wouldn't want to predict
what will happen, but I just wondered if
you had taken that into consideration
because if that passes, it would likely
considerably change the the scope of
what could be discussed with regards to
camping and I would expect that to be a
considerable topic that would warrant a
lot of discussion. Um, so given that
that's
March 12th at the latest and that you're
talking about park boards in February
and March, um, does that timeline
or is that being considered or we just
cross that bridge when we come to it?
What's what's the thinking?
>> No, great great question. Uh, yes, our
lobbyists and executive office has has
uh made us aware of that. We're tracking
that. Um, myself and and the city
attorney have provided comment on that.
um we'll be prepared um should that um
move through um to make sure that our
park rules are consistent with with
whatever state legislation um comes
through. So I think what I what I'm
really trying to ask is I I suspect the
park board would want to weigh in on
that topic. Um and if they're preempted
by other legislation, their their uh
efforts in weighing in in February may
>> No, no. Thank you for that, Council
Member Nichols. Park board touch will
not just be in February. So even as we
go through April and May, park board
will be very involved in that. Okay. In
that work and then you know what we
would ask and really uh how we really
appreciate the work of the park board as
an advisory group. Um we'll get their
recommendation u there in May hopefully
before it comes back to you.
>> Okay. So that's okay. Thank you.
Appreciate that.
So again, um any direction or feedback
you can have in helping us shape this
work uh both related to content um you
know in regards to any current or
additional um areas or topics uh you'd
like us to address or play pay close
attention to and then lastly any
feedback on process which you already
gave us some. So thanks so much.
Other questions before we move to the
deliberative phase?
>> Uh, no further questions? No. Now I will
ask the clerk if there is anyone online
uh much less anyone online interested
potentially interested in providing
comment.
>> No sir, not at this time.
>> Thank you. Okay. So to deliberation
member Nichols, do you want to go first
or shall I? Um I have
around this. So I was having a
conversation with somebody the other day
and I said that every decision that we
make up here on the deis is always find
parsing the line between allowing the
community to manifest its will and
protecting the rights of the individual
and parks always winds up right in the
middle of that. you know, it's not the
classic things that, you know, people
tend to yell at each other over the
internet, but but they, you know, but
these are all very important topics,
right? And some of the things that
you've brought up are classic examples
of that, right? So, um, as we go to
deliberate this, um, I I am just going
to ask as an advance, I always like to
understand what neighboring communities
are doing. So I I ask your forbearance
that um as you see things that will be
potentially I can guarantee you there
will be things here that people will get
uh will feel strongly about and there
may be people who feel strongly that
we're making the wrong decision and when
that time comes I really want to
understand how you know our our peer
cities Kirkland Belleview uh Redmond
Renton you know Kent how they're all uh
addressing these things. So I'm just
putting that bug in your ear right now.
Um because I you know people people love
their parks in Isiqua, right?
>> Yep. Yep. Thank you for that.
Absolutely. Yeah. That that search for
best practices will be really important.
Thanks.
>> And and important in our if we have to
make a tough decision to say, you know,
that we understand how it's effectively
working or not working in in cities like
our own in the region.
Um, and then I'm looking forward to, you
know, the park board's input. You know,
it's a dirty secret that uh or a not so
secret that, you know, we take the
boards uh and under advisement and then
we make the decisions that we make. Um,
but I think that more times than not,
you know, we are heavily influenced by
uh how our boards work. So, I'm I'm
eager to see the the work output from
the park.
>> Great. Council member Nichols,
>> I would say one of the things I would
particularly like to see from the um
park board before they come back to us
would be a look at I think all of these
topics honestly that they're presented
with from an equity perspective. Our
parks are are our commons. um there are
many different people that they need to
serve and I would I would hope that we
can have some good deliberation on that
and and get some get some feedback uh
before it comes back to us. Um as far as
the overall topics that are up for
discussion themselves, I think that it
looks pretty comprehensive. I'm sure
that there will be others that will be
brought up and they'll be they'll have
that opportunity. Um so that's that's my
only
I suppose deliberative comment on that
>> and I will I will add one more shameless
self-plug. Um when the city of Snwalami
looked at their uh drone policies I
actually
>> went and worked with them on that
personally as as a uh FAA uh US UAS uh
license holder. um had had quite a bit
of familiarity with what the law says
and what's possible and and whatnot. So,
uh I I don't you know, I'm not going to
go sit on in on a parks board meeting,
but I just want to let you know that I I
have some experience at that if you ever
want to talk about how the the how it
works with the FAA and municipalities
and and what can and can't be uh done by
legislation. There's there's weird
combinations of of things.
>> That's fantastic. I will take you up on
that.
Do we have any other feedback on these
questions, Council Member Nichols?
>> Yeah, otherwise I'm good. Thank you.
>> Yeah, thank you for this presentation.
Yeah.
>> Um I Do you have everything you need
from us?
>> I do. This is terrific. Thank you. We
really look forward to rolling up our
sleeves with this work. So, thanks.
>> Great. I I'll just point out that the
last time that that first um set of
ordinances were addressed, I didn't have
a driver's license. So,
>> Okay. I think I just barely had one. So,
thank you.
>> All right. Um, thank you, Director
Watling. Uh, and the last item we have
this evening is COOM02072026
arts grant recommendations from uh,
presented by Amy Dukes, our arts program
administrator.
>> Oh my gosh, a tripping hazard for me.
>> Okay.
Good evening. Um, good evening. Council
member Nichols and uh Deputy Council
President Marts, thanks for having me.
I'm Amy Dukes, the cultural arts manager
for the city. Um, and I'm here tonight
to present to you the 2026 um, arts
grant recommendations straight from the
arts commission.
So my purpose here tonight is to present
the proposed arts grants
and the direction we need is just uh
your your um direction on the
advancement of the awards and allocation
for the 2026 arts grants.
So I wanted to give a little background
about the arts grants program. Um it has
some particular goals that I wanted to
share. Um the arts grants are intended
to provide meaningful arts engagement
for all ages and all abilities across
our community. Um we also hope that the
arts grants will help celebrate our
community's cultural diversity um
cultivate creative and a vibrant arts
community and support local arts and
culture organizations and artists. So
really um supporting our creative
economy and our creative um ecosystem.
And we are currently uh making arts
grants through two open um programs um
which the grant recommendations tonight
include both. Um, one is arts
partnerships and these are intended to
support our uh local nonprofit
organizations that are singularly
focused on arts and culture um and
heritage in our community. They may
request up to 10% of their operating
budget or um a maximum of $25,000.
And then arts projects are intended to
support um arts projects and programs
that are really to benefit the
community. Um, and they can be um
delivered by um arts organizations or
other organizations that don't have arts
as their primary focus, but that um want
to use arts as a tool to reach the
community. Um, and the max request for
those projects is $5,000.
So, as the uh applicants are filling out
our application and the arts commission
is evaluating the applications, they're
really focusing on three main criteria.
And the first one, um, which is really
the most important one and weighted the
most heavily is public benefit. Um, so
all of the applications really need to
demonstrate meaningful efforts to create
community participation in arts and
culture and to reach diverse audiences.
Um, the second criteria is artistic
value. Um, and we're um intentional in
saying value versus sort of quality. Um,
we want the program to be valuable to
the community. Um and so it should be
wellconceived and it should have art as
the primary component and it should
really be focusing focusing on creating
meaningful engagement.
And then the last criteria is
feasibility and managerial capacity. So
um you know it's not super duper easy to
uh contract with the city. So, we want
to make sure that um the groups that are
receiving grants are able to um contract
with the city, provide the materials
that we require to do that um and that
the budgets that they're um presenting
are very realistic and that they have
somehow shown that they are getting
community support or involvement in the
creation of their project.
So tonight, the grants um that were
included in the exhibit A with the staff
memo um show $125,000
worth of support for 22 arts and culture
projects and five arts partnerships.
Again, those are the ones that are
general operating support to our
cultural organizations. Um and
administration is recommending the
support of those recommendations as
proposed by the arts commission. And
then I just wanted to show you sort of
the breakdown. The arts commission does
consider this as they're um deliberating
um how the funding is spread among the
different types of arts engagement. So
you can see it's um pretty well
delivered across many different ways of
participating in arts and culture.
>> Miss Duke, can I ask a question? Um that
125, how did we arrive at 125 and what
did we do last year? So last year we
also um allocated 125,000. Um we arrived
at that number um partially because the
um admissions tax, which is what funds
the municipal arts fund, um has been
receiving about $200,000 worth of um
funding in the last couple of years. Um
especially a reduced amount since um we
went through the pandemic. And um we
still want to be able to support our
public art projects and um other
activities that the arts program does
like uh run the creative district. So
it's it was a large enough number that
we felt like could be supportive with
this program, but I will note it is
$50,000 less than we um provided in
2024.
Um and it is even more less than we did
pre- pandemic. So, this funding program
has taken a pretty large um um reduction
and we're just working our way through
it. [laughter]
Um fortunately, we do have additional
funding for arts and culture
organizations coming through at the
county level um through the doors open
legislation.
So, that has helped to some degree. It
certainly helped some of our uh local
groups, but it there are still groups
that are not eligible for those funds.
So, um yeah, just something to consider.
Thank you for asking.
>> Thanks for that explanation.
>> So, the 2026 arts grant u funding
recommendations to to be more a bit more
detailed. These are the uh the five that
are recommended for arts partnerships.
Um village theater, literary nights. Um,
I do want to call out Literary Nights.
It was a a program that was initially a
project and uh morphed into um a
partnership support um recommendation
and it actually is something where a
group of artists uh worked over a couple
of years to form a nonprofit. Um they've
received significant um for culture
funding um just this past year. And so
it this a nice success story of
something that kind of um germinated
from our arts project um support culture
tug also a brand new uh arts
organization and then the history
museums and master course east side
and then the uh project grants
lots of things there that hopefully
you're familiar with um as well as some
new um some new projects and we did
receive receive about 20% of the
applications were brand new to us. Um
there were many more that we wanted to
fund that we were not able to fund um
just simply because of that delta
between available funds and the um
amount requested.
>> Can you talk about the village theater
and uh that grant recommendation is I
think lower than I've ever seen for the
village theater. it it is um so uh last
year village theater received 22,500
or 750,000
um so this is um a reduction from that
um and at one time they were receiving
over $50,000 a year from um from the
city of Isiqua uh they do receive eltac
funding so they are getting additional
funds from the city um one of the
reasons and everyone had a lot of uh
deliberation about this and kind of
heartburn over it because they are such
an important cultural anchor for the
city and such an important part of our
creative district. Um, you know, they're
our largest arts and culture um employer
in the city, but um they are also
benefiting greatly from the doors open
funding. So um that's general operating
support and they have a very large
budget and that money is based on
budget. So, they are receiving hundreds
of thousands of dollars from the county
um through that program and um the
commission just felt like given the
trade-offs of funding more small
projects and hopefully incubating more
groups um it was worth it and that they
would understand. So, um it's hard hard
decisions. Um and so,
>> may I ask how much you get from Eltech?
>> You know, I don't know off the top of my
head, but I want to say it's like half a
million dollars and more. Okay.
>> Oh, from Oh, I'm sorry. From LTAC. I was
thinking doors open. You know, that's a
great question. I don't know the answer
to that. I think the maximum grants from
Eltech are
are they 25 or 15? So, they I think they
get one of the maximum grant amounts.
>> I'm happy to get that information to
you.
>> Yeah. I mean, I'm still I I realize this
is a literally a drop in the bucket of
their overall budget, but it's more
just, you know, we are incredibly lucky
to have them, as you say, an anchor in
the arts community locally. And there's,
you know, there's a hundred cities that
would give their eye teeth to have Yes.
>> You know, the Village Theater. So, I
always view this as a, you know, a
recommmitment of our, you know, uh, of
our engagement with them. And so it it
concerns me to keep dropping that number
down.
>> Yeah. And I I think again the the
conversation around this with the arts
commission was very robust this year and
there was a lot of concern and probably
this was one of the few that there was
um conflict over you know the decision.
So um yeah it was just a really tough
>> but I I assume you gave the the
commission a ceiling of 125 right?
>> Correct. But we as a council writing
checks and whatnot do not have that same
requirement, right? Like we could
>> if we wanted to.
>> That is correct.
>> Spend more than that. Okay. Thank you.
>> Um and then I can just go to
timeline.
Um so just to give you an idea of how we
arrived here, um the application was
released in September. Um and the
applications were due October 30th. Um
the arts commission because of the sort
of challenging decisionmaking decided to
take uh three instead of two meetings of
theirs to talk through um the
recommendations. And so they did review
in November, December, and January at
their meetings. Um then we're here this
evening um to provide those
recommendations to you. um hopeful to be
on an agenda in February to have them um
move forward and then uh we would
immediately start contracting. Um all
funded or uh projects, programs,
organizations get a site visit. Um and
also we collect a good amount of data.
Uh we ask organizations up front how
they conduct an evaluation um to show
success and then we um collect that
information from them.
So again, the direction that we're
seeking tonight is um for you to let us
know how to move forward on the award
and allocation of the 2026 arts grants.
And I'm happy to take additional
questions.
>> Council member Nichols, you look poised
with a question.
>> I'm ready. Yeah. Um and just
process-wise, help me. So we'll have a
deliberative phase after this for
>> correct. We are not at the deliberative
phase yet. I'd salute the question.
>> All right. Thank you. Um I have so first
question is if it would be possible to
when this is brought back to council and
as a as an ongoing practice um provide
the actual grants themselves unless
there's confidential information on
salaries or something. I don't know what
would be in there. Uh and two reasons
for that. One is um I think it's good to
be able to dig into the details if we
want to. And secondly, um, from the
perspective of someone who's written
many grants myself, uh, it's good to be
able to see examples of what gets funded
and what doesn't and have some good
examples to help you when you're
applying to see what types of things the
city likes to see funded and how it
likes that information, even just
structurally how to present these
things. I think that would be very
helpful to future applicants. Um, so is
is that broadly possible? I I appreciate
there's there's details, but
>> absolutely um in past years we have
included all of the grants with the
packet. Um each grant we had 38 this
year and each grant is five or six pages
long. So um just for
keeping the packet manageable, we didn't
include them. But I do get requests from
organizations. I also uh you know do
make phone calls to all the
organizations that are not funded to
have conversations and I do often
provide they are often seeking an
example of a of a successful application
that they might learn from. So we
provide all of that but happy to include
it. Um
>> great yeah I think it would be nice.
Disk space is cheap so um I don't think
anybody's printing these things anymore.
>> Um
>> true. Uh second is second question is
possibly related to that but um one of
the things I noticed is I I think that
there were no individual artists that
were funded. Um I believe those are the
individual artists can apply. It's a
little hard to tell from the list but I
think that's the case. So, I just wanted
to know is when you were reviewing
these, did you see any were there any
any structural issues as far as how the
the process was conducted that might
have precluded or made it more difficult
for individual artists to um
succeed, I suppose. Um, and is this a is
this a trend? Um, has this been the case
in in previous years as well? Um, or if
it it certainly could be a one-off, I
don't know.
Um yeah, it is actually a bit of a
one-off. We typically do support two or
three individual artist projects a year.
So um you know I think it's just the
particular group that we had this year.
Um and sometimes the organizations
[clears throat] are not actually
organizations. They are individual
artists doing work as something. So, um,
for instance, the youth art fair is not
an individual artist, but it is a youth
art team. So, those are all individual
artists that there's three or four of
them that are working together. Um, so
sometimes it's also hard to tell what is
an artist, artist team versus an
organization.
>> Okay, understood. Okay. Um, that's all
for my questions.
>> Great. Thank you.
>> I don't have any other questions. So
once again for third and uh third time's
a charm. Do we have any members of the
public online?
>> No, we do not.
>> All right, we can move to deliberation.
>> Council member Nichols.
Yeah, I I may need some help from a
process side of this, but um
I think it would be nice to see some
options presented to council that are at
slightly different budget levels um to
uh deput council me president Marks
Martz's um comments that uh you likely
wanted them with a a ceiling that seems
quite reasonable and probably the best
way to approach this. I suspect that
there were some runners up. It would be
nice to know who those are and what the
second set of uh proposals may be. Um
again, I may need help on the process
side of things with how how that
actually would how we would go about
that. But that's a that's something that
I would I think would be useful to see.
Um and I'm coming at that from the angle
that I I'm I'm concerned that our arts
funding is decreasing over time. I don't
really I I see these as
crit I mean many of these even you know
delve into human services frankly too
like there's there's crossover at some
point
>> absolutely and uh
>> I would hope that we can be deliberate
about that if we have to um and not
accidentally slide into that because of
previous budget decisions that were
made. And and if if I may just add to
that, um so uh we're just at this point
with the arts program trying to live
within our means. Um so um knowing that
our funding source is the municipal um
art the admissions tax that comes into
the municipal arts fund, we're um that
is our primary source of funding. um we
do seek additional grants um and we do
receive some but often they are for
specific things like the creative
district or doing um a recent example
would be doing the public art in the
plazas at the senior center and
pedestrian park. Um, so grants, you
know, are challenging to just put into
our sort of um operating um budget, but
uh we've been trying to live within our
means and unfortunately our revenue
stream is just decreased because of
movie attendance. Um people just don't
go to the movie as frequently as they
used to. Um so we are hopeful that we
can continue to find additional revenue
streams and um Jeff and I have been
exploring some other options. Um, but I
think we're kind of in a challenging
budget cycle right now and that's really
just kind of where we are. Um, prior um
to 2025,
the council did give additional gen um
general fund dollars to the arts fund uh
to help kind of boost the ability of us
to do programming and granting. But
right now, we're in just kind of an
austere moment.
>> Yeah. And I I respect that. Um I think
it my preference would be to have some
options presented based on your best um
best assessment of what would be the
next tier. Um and if possible some
options to fund that general fund or
otherwise. Um I would I would hate to
see a decline in movie revenues be
what kills art funding in the city. like
we we we may just need to think
creatively of other sources um and bring
that up for discussion.
>> Yeah, I mean I think I think that's a
very good point. Um I'm still struggling
a little bit to understand what the
total amount of revenue is into this
fund and its relationship.
You said that the difference between the
total amount in the fund and 125 is what
we want to spend on specific individual
art. Is that right? um on public art.
So, um for instance, we just wrapped
more utility boxes that has a cost. Um
and then we're planning to do a couple
of murals um this year. So, it's sort of
a balance. The program has um a a public
art portfolio. We also have to maintain
and repair public art as the year goes
along. Um so the budget is divided
between the public art piece and this
granting as well as um programming that
the arts commission does like the chalk
art festival in the summer. Um so it's
just sort of balancing those other
items.
>> Got it.
So [clears throat] this might be a good
topic to bring up at oh I don't know a
leadership retreat um as to the overall
health of our arts funding.
>> Agreed. Yeah. Thank you.
And and you're telling me basically that
if if I wanted to give the village
theater another 10, you'd have to take
10 away from
>> from somewhere else
>> from some public art.
>> Yeah. Which that's about the cost of a
mural, for example.
>> Got it. Autumn, you look like you have
something you want to say.
>> Just seeking clarity if you're looking
for options that stay within the budget
of the art fund that was adopted by
council or
I don't think I necessarily am.
>> Okay.
>> Now I'm confused because I thought the
dollar amount was based on what was
coming in through the uh the tax, but
now you're saying that this amount came
out of came from council direction.
Well, um it is a special fund and so it
is part of the annual or now by annual
budget package and we do have to do a
bit of estimating but the estimating is
based on um what the emissions tax has
been trending and it has been pretty
accurate.
>> So good faith effort to predict what
we're going to not because we
arbitrarily said
>> 125.
>> Right. Okay. Right.
>> It's my understanding too we've reduced
funding to the arts grants program by
60,000 in this current budget. Is that
correct? Each year
>> um in 2025
it was reduced. Yeah. because of those.
Um so during um during the pandemic and
prior to the pandemic, the arts program
had done a pretty good job of of um
maintaining a a robust fund balance. Um
which was one of the things that enabled
us to take part in the Northwest Trolls
project and actually have a troll. Um
and so we were keeping kind of a fund
balance, but then during the pandemic we
really kind of ate through our our fund
balance. So now we're just kind of
living off of our paycheck [laughter]
and our paycheck has decreased. So
>> Director Wley,
>> yeah,
>> I'm sorry. If I could just add great
conversation. Thank you so much for the
questions. I I guess I just would want
to put a a a finer point on this. Um, as
arts manager, um, Amy Dukes does an
amazing job of, um, as we've continued
to see these diminished revenues. Uh,
this has been a conversation that she
and I have had a lot of, um, we've had
some conversations as we've gone through
banial budget processes that we really
are increasingly concerned. Um, reliance
on one single revenue source that that
industry has fundamentally changed post
pandemic. um in terms of admissions tax
is something that we really um um I
guess robustly look forward to having a
conversation to say we we really um
think finding some alternative funding
sources and revenue sources to augment
and add to admissions tax would be
extremely beneficial. But I guess I'm
stating a little bit of the obvious
there. I just want to give a kudos to
Amy and the work she does with the arts
commission and knowing as we've had to
make reductions through some hard budget
cuts. Still really trying to find smart
um investments into this community for
arts even though we've had to do it in
in a diminished way.
>> Thanks.
>> Thank Thank you, Director Wh. And and
and thank you, Miss Dukes, um as always
uh for for marshalling this effort. Um,
I'll I'll [clears throat] just say,
yeah, I think we need to have um I will
say for Autumn um and and Jeff's
benefit, we need to have a conversation
about this. Um, you know, we we are a
city. We are not a suburb. We are not a
place where, you know, people just
happen to live, right? We're a real
city. And for me always, our commitment
to the arts is a big part of what makes
us a real city. Um and so you know
[clears throat] seeing these challenges
really makes me want to have that
conversation there. Things are tight
everywhere. Money is tight everywhere.
But um you know arts are one of those
areas where a small difference in
dollars can have a big difference. You
know it would be horrible to think if we
had you know two or three or four years
ago not been able to do the troll
because of you know a small difference
in dollars. something that brings so
much joy to people both in our town and
outside our town. So, um I, you know,
hope if as part of a conversation like
that, we fold in the conversation about
ELTC and we fold in the conversation
about the county funding and where
that's going and are we getting there's
always the question of are we getting
our fair share of county funding. Um so,
uh sounds like there's at least two of
us that would love to have that
conversation. Council member Nichols.
Yeah, and this might be asking for too
much, but uh even at a high level, it
would be it would be nice to understand
some of just roughly impacts of what we
think some of these funding are from an
investment perspective, even
financially. Um I would suspect that the
money that we spent on the troll for the
community, um this is a weird sentence
to say, but um that in terms of tourism
and additional business generated by
that, I I mean it's it's a good
investment, I think. Um, and that's
that's a a large visible example of a
single thing, but I think that same uh
concept likely applies to some of the
other things that I see that are in this
grant list. I mean, that are well
attended public events um that bring
people to our businesses on Front
Street. Um, and that likely generate
quite a bit of economic activity in of
themselves. Um,
>> I don't have a clear ask with that
statement because I don't want to make a
lot of work on economic analysis, etc.
But um if there's if there's some way to
communicate that um that doesn't require
a ton of
>> economics basically to to get there, it
would be nice to know.
>> I can provide I can provide some data.
Um we did participate in an economic
impact uh study for the east side um
that's just a few years old. So I can
certainly provide that and the numbers
are as you would guess quite impressive.
>> Great. That would be great to include
when we discuss.
Great. Uh for the issue at hand right
now, uh the plan that was presented for
us, are we uh good to move forward as as
recommended by the administration?
>> I am. Yep.
>> I am as well.
Autumn, anything else you need from us?
Do you need a motion? You know, I I I
also realized um we didn't we didn't go
we didn't do a motion on the on the
first measure either.
>> We have clarity on the first motion.
Yeah, we're just we're looking for
guidance. Typically, this is presented
on consent.
>> You want you you you want to you want to
say something in council, don't you?
>> I don't necessarily want to say
something, but I I do think it should be
brought up for discussion that we are
and that we should be aware. This this
is the kind of number that I think could
seem very small in a in a larger budget
discussion, but when discussed on its
own, I think the impacts of decreased
funding could be more visible and I
suspect alternate opinions may emerge.
So would it do you want to have a
discussion in council or do you want to
have like I can in my report in my
committee report I can specify um this
topic and the fact that we asked the
administration to bring it back at a um
a more broad conversation at a future
time or we can have this particular have
a discussion on this particular item.
>> Okay. Yeah. Thank you for that
clarification. I think yeah if if you if
you bring it up in the report and make
that clear and then that there will be
stuff brought back. Yeah, that's fine.
>> Okay. That's what I'll plan on doing.
Yeah. Yep.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. And with that, uh, that was
the last item on the agenda. Do you have
anything for good of the order, Council
Member Nichols? Well done on your first
committee meeting. Well, you you came
well prepared and you had lots of
questions. With that, we are adjourned.