City Council Committee of the Whole · Monday, October 28, 2024 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

2025-26 Proposed Budget 2 hrs. Overview COM 0038

Andrea Snyder, Interim Chief Financial Officer & Deputy City Administrator · packet pp.5–143

Topics: Budget

▶ Watch from 1:43 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

2025-2026 Proposed Budget Overview O C TO B E R 2 8 , 2 0 2 4 | C I T Y C O U N C I L C O M M I T T E E O F T H E W H O L E A N D R E A S N Y D E R , D E P U T Y C I T Y A D M I N I S T R ATO R A N D INTERIM CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

3631 segments .txt ↗

0:06 ↗ welcome everyone I council president

0:08 ↗ Walsh call the October 28th Committee of

0:11 ↗ the whole meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

0:15 ↗ as a reminder we continue to have a

0:16 ↗ remote aspect to our meeting so both

0:19 ↗ staff and members of the public may be

0:21 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:23 ↗ remotely via

0:25 ↗ WebEx um there are multiple public

0:27 ↗ comment opportunities at tonight's

0:29 ↗ meeting there is a general public

0:30 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

0:32 ↗ the meeting or you can make comments

0:35 ↗ after the presentation and Council

0:36 ↗ question and answer period on tonight's

0:38 ↗ agenda

0:39 ↗ item um so members of the public May

0:42 ↗ address council at this time in person

0:44 ↗ or virtually those who signed up in

0:45 ↗ advance to make comments we be called on

0:47 ↗ first if you're joining us virtually and

0:50 ↗ would like to make comments you go ahead

0:52 ↗ and raise your virtual hand if you're on

0:54 ↗ the phone you're going to press star

0:56 ↗ three if you're on a smartphone or a

0:58 ↗ computer look for the hand icon or you

1:01 ↗ can send the host a chat message if

1:04 ↗ you're in the room and did not sign up I

1:05 ↗ will ask for other speakers before

1:07 ↗ closing that portion of the meeting so

1:09 ↗ I'm going to wait a moment see if anyone

1:11 ↗ wishes to raise their hand and I will

1:15 ↗ ask the clerk if anyone has signed up to

1:17 ↗ speak or indicated a desire to speak

1:19 ↗ this evening we don't have any virtual

1:21 ↗ members of the public with us tonight

1:23 ↗ and no one has signed up in advance to

1:24 ↗ make

1:25 ↗ comments anyone in the room we've got

1:29 ↗ one member the public and a bunch of

1:31 ↗ Staff members so you know just just do

1:33 ↗ the

1:34 ↗ checkin okay so as a reminder written

1:37 ↗ comments can always be submitted email

1:40 ↗ city council isqua

1:43 ↗ wa.gov so we have one agenda item um on

1:49 ↗ our agenda this evening Comm

1:52 ↗ 0038 the 2025 2026 proposed budget

1:56 ↗ overview and I believe we are starting

2:00 ↗ with mayor Paulie on that

2:10 ↗ one thank you council president and good

2:12 ↗ evening to the city

2:14 ↗ council my name is marily PA I'm the

2:16 ↗ mayor of the city of isqua and I'll open

2:18 ↗ up the presentation tonight with some

2:20 ↗ comments so dear community members and

2:23 ↗ dedicated city council I'm pleased to

2:25 ↗ present my 2025 2026 proposed budget the

2:29 ↗ city of isqua second ever banial budget

2:32 ↗ this budget was challenging to produce

2:35 ↗ as the fiscal outlook for the next two

2:37 ↗ years is declining many hard choices

2:40 ↗ were made to deliver a proposed budget

2:42 ↗ that is balanced in revenues and

2:43 ↗ expenditures while also maintaining

2:46 ↗ healthy reserves I'm grateful to all of

2:49 ↗ the city staff who contributed to this

2:51 ↗ budgeting process with creative ideas

2:52 ↗ for reducing

2:56 ↗ cost while some general fund revenues

2:58 ↗ including property tax and bno business

3:01 ↗ and operation tax remain strong this

3:03 ↗ proposed budget forecasts on reductions

3:06 ↗ in construction sales tax and permit

3:08 ↗ revenues which are Trends we've already

3:11 ↗ been observing in

3:13 ↗ 2024 this proposed budget also supports

3:15 ↗ substantial increases in public safety

3:18 ↗ costs including jail fire and emergency

3:20 ↗ services and the provision of Justice

3:23 ↗ through isqua Municipal Court Rising

3:25 ↗ Insurance costs are also creating

3:27 ↗ significant pressures on our financial

3:29 ↗ pi

3:31 ↗ my budget which totals 193. million in

3:34 ↗ expenditures for

3:36 ↗ 2025 and 22.6 million in for

3:40 ↗ 2026 respectively across all funds

3:44 ↗ includes a proposed 66.7 million for

3:48 ↗ 2025 and 68.3 million for 2026 in

3:52 ↗ general fund

3:54 ↗ expenditures the 2025 2026 proposed

3:57 ↗ budget represents 54.1 million 50 or a

4:01 ↗ 15.8% increase from the 2023 2024

4:05 ↗ adopted budget with the general fund

4:08 ↗ budget uh at 7.6 million or 5% lower

4:13 ↗ than in the previous

4:15 ↗ bium despite these significant general

4:17 ↗ fund reductions my proposal remains

4:19 ↗ shaped by our community's priorities

4:22 ↗ this plan makes investments in public

4:24 ↗ safety it preserves Transportation

4:26 ↗ Investments as much as possible and

4:28 ↗ maintains isqu commitment to

4:32 ↗ sustainability the top priority of my

4:34 ↗ proposed budget is clear essential

4:36 ↗ Public Safety Investments this includes

4:39 ↗ changes to the management structure of

4:41 ↗ our Municipal Jail creating two new

4:43 ↗ correction

4:45 ↗ surgeons as well as reclassifying two

4:48 ↗ current corrections corporals to

4:49 ↗ sergeants while eliminating the jail

4:51 ↗ manager position this will enhance jail

4:54 ↗ support and safety at all hours of the

4:57 ↗ day I'm also proposing new invest ments

4:59 ↗ for isqua Municipal Court which is

5:01 ↗ currently located at City Hall South

5:04 ↗ building that you're

5:06 ↗ in this was originally designed as a

5:09 ↗ fire station this aging structure was

5:12 ↗ never well suited for court operations

5:13 ↗ and lacks the appropriate space

5:15 ↗ accessibility and security features

5:17 ↗ needed to operate a modern Court in

5:20 ↗ addition recent evaluations of this

5:22 ↗ building have revealed it requires

5:24 ↗ significant maintenance

5:25 ↗ Investments thankfully we found a

5:27 ↗ potential new location at the King

5:29 ↗ County District Courthouse which can

5:30 ↗ lease us space collocating with the King

5:33 ↗ County court is more efficient and

5:35 ↗ enables better customer service and

5:37 ↗ enhanced safety to ensure the provision

5:40 ↗ of Justice my proposed budget includes

5:42 ↗ market rate compensation increases for

5:44 ↗ our city prosecutor and public defenders

5:47 ↗ we are also anticipating a state Supreme

5:50 ↗ Court ruling that would require isqua to

5:52 ↗ Triple the number of its public

5:54 ↗ defenders in total the annual cost

5:56 ↗ increases for our prosecutor and public

5:58 ↗ defender contracts is

6:00 ↗ $400,000 in addition I propose changing

6:03 ↗ a Judicial specialist position from

6:05 ↗ part-time to full-time in order to keep

6:08 ↗ up with growing case loads as well as

6:10 ↗ increases to interpretation

6:12 ↗ Services expenses for eastside fire and

6:15 ↗ rescue which is our contracted fire and

6:17 ↗ emergency service agency also continue

6:20 ↗ to grow to support Staffing and capital

6:22 ↗ Investments this budget reflects about

6:24 ↗ $3.3 million increase during the next

6:27 ↗ biennium which is almost 20% from what

6:30 ↗ was originally adopted in the 2023 2024

6:34 ↗ budget even though our financial rest

6:36 ↗ restraints require reductions of some

6:38 ↗ Transportation Investments I am grateful

6:40 ↗ the city council adopted a dedicated

6:42 ↗ Revenue stream in

6:44 ↗ 2023 this proposed budget invests 1.2

6:48 ↗ million each year for improved traffic

6:50 ↗ management and congestion control last

6:53 ↗ year we piloted Metroflex in isqua which

6:55 ↗ is an OnDemand carpooling and Transit

6:57 ↗ connection service partnership with met

6:59 ↗ Transit and the response from our

7:01 ↗ community was encouraging this program

7:04 ↗ works and it meets many of our Transit

7:07 ↗ goals now that the demand in isqua is

7:10 ↗ clear I look forward to working with my

7:12 ↗ fellow elected leaders to encourage

7:13 ↗ Metro transit to fund this service

7:15 ↗ without City assistance like it does for

7:18 ↗ other communities over the long term

7:21 ↗ isqua cannot afford to fund services

7:23 ↗ that are offered by other levels of

7:25 ↗ government as a result my proposed

7:27 ↗ budget does not continue funding for

7:29 ↗ this this most popular program meanwhile

7:32 ↗ isqua made historic investments in

7:34 ↗ Street and sidewalk maintenance during

7:35 ↗ the past several years I'm proud that

7:38 ↗ these projects increase the safety and

7:40 ↗ usability of our paved surfaces across

7:42 ↗ the city while we can now rep prioritize

7:45 ↗ some of those maintenance funds

7:47 ↗ elsewhere my proposed budget continues

7:49 ↗ to support higher service levels than

7:51 ↗ before the pandemic in addition recent

7:54 ↗ equipment purchases will facilitate

7:56 ↗ bringing more of this work inhouse

7:58 ↗ during the next B

8:01 ↗ thanks to the revenue increases in our

8:03 ↗ sustainability fund I am proud that my

8:05 ↗ proposed budget invests in key

8:06 ↗ initiatives that further implement the

8:08 ↗ isqua climate action plan including

8:11 ↗ reducing residential and Commercial

8:13 ↗ emissions through electrification

8:15 ↗ incentives and Energy Efficiency

8:17 ↗ programming decreasing C City facility

8:20 ↗ and Fleet emissions through renewable

8:22 ↗ energy and

8:23 ↗ electrification supporting Solid Waste

8:25 ↗ diversion and food waste prevention

8:27 ↗ initiatives and enhancing the resiliency

8:30 ↗ of city and Community

8:32 ↗ facilities in order to develop a

8:34 ↗ balanced budget in all Department all

8:37 ↗ departments excluding those that support

8:39 ↗ Public Safety and Justice provided

8:41 ↗ recommendations that would reduce their

8:43 ↗ expenses by at least

8:44 ↗ 12% I couldn't be prouder of our city

8:47 ↗ team for their thoughtful and thorough

8:49 ↗ approach to reducing costs while also

8:51 ↗ maintaining the highest service levels

8:53 ↗ possible to the community our approach

8:56 ↗ to budget reductions includes the

8:57 ↗ following reducing professional service

9:00 ↗ costs and bringing more services in

9:02 ↗ house anything from planning studies to

9:04 ↗ traffic control for construction

9:06 ↗ projects this will create more

9:08 ↗ limitations on what we can get done and

9:11 ↗ when we can get it done by using some

9:14 ↗ onetime ending fund balances some

9:16 ↗ special City funds had accumulated extra

9:19 ↗ ending fund balances over time as

9:21 ↗ projects came in under budget or Grant

9:23 ↗ funds were realized my proposed budget

9:25 ↗ puts these one-time dollars back to work

9:27 ↗ for the community

9:29 ↗ we are delaying or reducing capital

9:31 ↗ projects with fewer staff and less

9:33 ↗ Reliance on Professional Services or

9:35 ↗ Consultants the capacity from my

9:36 ↗ Administration to implement these

9:38 ↗ projects is also reduced these projects

9:41 ↗ still need to get done in order to

9:42 ↗ maintain and appropriately provide

9:44 ↗ infrastructure but they must happen in

9:46 ↗ future years and last but probably the

9:49 ↗ most painful for me personally and

9:51 ↗ professionally is that this budget

9:53 ↗ proposes reducing or reassigning staff

9:55 ↗ this propos budget includes eliminating

9:57 ↗ 18 positions seven of which were vacant

10:01 ↗ positions that people currently have and

10:02 ↗ are doing a great job in but we can no

10:04 ↗ longer afford to have along with my

10:07 ↗ internal departments I'm also asking the

10:09 ↗ Community Partners we fund to share in

10:11 ↗ cost cutting measures this proposed

10:14 ↗ budget includes a 12% reduction in

10:16 ↗ funding to several nonprofit

10:18 ↗ organizations starting in the year

10:21 ↗ 2026 this gives our valued organizations

10:24 ↗ a year to prepare for reduced city

10:25 ↗ funding anticipating an influx of local

10:28 ↗ Arts funding through the du K count King

10:30 ↗ County doors open program I also

10:33 ↗ recommend a 35% reduction to the city's

10:35 ↗ Arts grant

10:37 ↗ program due to State imposed

10:39 ↗ restrictions on Revenue collection most

10:41 ↗ cities in Washington are experiencing a

10:43 ↗ structural deficit isqua is no different

10:47 ↗ in order to address this deficit while

10:49 ↗ still preserving a level of service that

10:50 ↗ isqua residents expect we most we must

10:54 ↗ both cut expenses and raise revenues my

10:57 ↗ proposed budget includes increas ining

10:59 ↗ water sewer storm water and cable

11:01 ↗ utility taxes from 3% to 4.5% in 2025

11:06 ↗ and to 6% in

11:08 ↗ 2026 this would generate approximately

11:10 ↗ $1.4 million of ongoing additional

11:13 ↗ Revenue in 2026 and Beyond while staying

11:17 ↗ in step with tax rates of isqua peer

11:20 ↗ cities other increases to revenue

11:22 ↗ include an update to our contracts with

11:24 ↗ neighboring cities for jail and court

11:25 ↗ services to better ensure isqua's cost

11:28 ↗ recovery in total these contract updates

11:31 ↗ would generate an additional $600,000

11:33 ↗ each year I'm also proposing a small

11:35 ↗ increase from 5% to 6% to cover growing

11:38 ↗ technology costs for the community

11:40 ↗ Planning and Development this fee is

11:42 ↗ applied to permit applications and will

11:44 ↗ raise about $140,000 each year to help

11:47 ↗ pay for permit software and Associated

11:51 ↗ technology it's extremely important to

11:53 ↗ maintain Fair compensation for our city

11:55 ↗ employees I'm proud to work with an

11:57 ↗ exceptionally talented staff and retain

11:59 ↗ Ming such a great team translate to

12:01 ↗ consistent and quality services for our

12:03 ↗ community my proposed budget includes a

12:06 ↗ 3.8% cost of living increase for

12:08 ↗ non-represented employees which matches

12:10 ↗ the Consumer Price Index for workers or

12:12 ↗ the CPI W in our area bargaining is

12:15 ↗ ongoing for some of our Union

12:17 ↗ represented teams in addition the

12:20 ↗ proposed budget includes some salary

12:21 ↗ adjustments determined necessary to keep

12:23 ↗ salaries within our organization within

12:25 ↗ market rate of our region and meanwhile

12:28 ↗ equity remains a key focus of my

12:30 ↗ Administration I am proud to have formed

12:32 ↗ the city's first Equity board but our

12:35 ↗ work is not done ensuring isqua is a

12:37 ↗ fair and welcoming Place requires

12:39 ↗ ongoing dedication my proposed budget

12:41 ↗ includes $50,000 toward an equity

12:44 ↗ assessment which will help establish

12:45 ↗ isqua Futures goals and identify areas

12:48 ↗ for

12:49 ↗ improvement our long-term Financial

12:51 ↗ sustainability remains a challenge as

12:54 ↗ our proposed budget was largely balanced

12:56 ↗ this time with one-time measures as

12:59 ↗ costs for Public Safety maintenance of

13:01 ↗ our aging infrastructure and insurance

13:03 ↗ continue to rise the city must examine

13:05 ↗ additional opt options to increase

13:08 ↗ ongoing revenues at the same time we

13:10 ↗ must also continue exploring funding

13:12 ↗ options for the replacement enhancement

13:14 ↗ of our aging infrastructure this

13:16 ↗ includes notable Transportation parks

13:19 ↗ and facility projects in the upcoming

13:21 ↗ years that are currently unfunded I look

13:23 ↗ forward to working with the city council

13:25 ↗ and the entire

13:27 ↗ community on implementing this budget

13:29 ↗ and developing a long long-term

13:32 ↗ solutions to and developing long-term

13:35 ↗ solutions to our financial

13:36 ↗ sustainability so that together we can

13:39 ↗ ensure isqua continues to deliver an

13:41 ↗ exceptional quality of life thank

13:47 ↗ you thank you mayor Paulie and I think

13:50 ↗ we've got Andrea Snider coming up give

13:55 ↗ us presentation and the details

14:15 ↗ thank you mayor paully good evening

14:17 ↗ members of city council and uh members

14:19 ↗ of the community who may be watching my

14:21 ↗ name is Andrea Snider I'm the deputy

14:22 ↗ City administrator and I am serving

14:25 ↗ currently as the interim

14:26 ↗ CFO um before we get into our budget

14:29 ↗ presentation for you tonight I just want

14:31 ↗ to thank all of the staff who were

14:34 ↗ involved in the drafting of the uh

14:37 ↗ budget as mayor Paulie noted this year's

14:39 ↗ budget was more challenging than budgets

14:42 ↗ that we've done in the recent past so

14:44 ↗ really wanted to thank uh Nathan Lisa

14:48 ↗ Susie um they're all in the chambers

14:50 ↗ right now as well as um Jillian Dale

14:54 ↗ Steve some of them are online so um

14:56 ↗ thank you to all the staff who've been

14:58 ↗ working really hard to bring bring this

14:59 ↗ together

15:00 ↗ tonight

15:05 ↗ um so as we get started a couple of

15:09 ↗ things for you this evening it is going

15:10 ↗ to be a long presentation we'll we'll

15:12 ↗ make it as quick as we possibly can for

15:14 ↗ you so there should be plenty of time to

15:16 ↗ ask questions but um we do have some

15:18 ↗ policy questions that you're going to

15:19 ↗ see throughout Council deliberations

15:22 ↗ then we'll go into the budget priorities

15:24 ↗ for this budget um some of the forces on

15:26 ↗ the budget this year that were unique uh

15:29 ↗ and that we Face throughout 25 and 26

15:32 ↗ and perhaps Beyond an overview of the

15:34 ↗ general fund the general fund is the big

15:36 ↗ fund that most of the government

15:38 ↗ operating uh Services come out of and

15:41 ↗ then um the proposed new revenues that

15:43 ↗ mayor Paulie summarized we'll talk a

15:45 ↗ little bit about those and household

15:46 ↗ impacts and then um departmental budget

15:49 ↗ highlights and impacts and we have um

15:51 ↗ the almost the entire senior leadership

15:53 ↗ team here to present on their

15:55 ↗ departmental budgets then we'll go over

15:57 ↗ next steps

15:59 ↗ so first those policy questions does

16:02 ↗ council agree with the budget priorities

16:05 ↗ reflected in the proposed budget these

16:07 ↗ are some high level questions for you to

16:09 ↗ consider throughout the

16:11 ↗ deliberations and then is Council

16:13 ↗ supportive of increasing the revenues as

16:15 ↗ proposed as mayor Paulie said that's a

16:18 ↗ utility tax rate from 3 to 4 and a.

16:20 ↗ half% in

16:22 ↗ 2025 and um up to 6% in

16:25 ↗ 2026 also looking at the property tax

16:29 ↗ would be um in the proposed budget

16:31 ↗ includes a 1% increase that the city

16:33 ↗ would collect on property tax uh and

16:36 ↗ then for Community Planning and

16:38 ↗ Development they have a tech fee that

16:40 ↗ they apply to permits um any permits

16:43 ↗ that folks uh apply for that would

16:46 ↗ increase from 5 to 6% to help cover

16:48 ↗ software

16:50 ↗ costs as a reminder our budget process

16:53 ↗ is related to the Strategic plan this

16:55 ↗ year it is a little awkward as Council

16:57 ↗ has yet to adopt the Amendments or any

17:00 ↗ amendments to the Strategic plan we've

17:02 ↗ gone through this process through this

17:04 ↗ year of trying to update the Strategic

17:06 ↗ plan and gathered some Community input

17:08 ↗ task force um input and so we've taken

17:11 ↗ that feedback from that task force in

17:13 ↗ that process and tried to incorporate it

17:15 ↗ into the budget um and uh certainly use

17:19 ↗ the Strategic plan as guidance for where

17:21 ↗ Cuts should come from where they

17:23 ↗ shouldn't come from

17:26 ↗ Etc budget priorities so first and

17:29 ↗ foremost priority on the proposed budget

17:32 ↗ is Public Safety we've been talking a

17:34 ↗ lot with Council over the past couple of

17:36 ↗ months about needs and police and uh

17:40 ↗ jail corrections as well as Justice

17:43 ↗ Municipal Court as we look at those

17:45 ↗ prosecutor contracts public defender

17:47 ↗ contracts contracts and um even the

17:50 ↗ Municipal Court facilities itself and

17:53 ↗ Eastside fire and rescue and we've been

17:54 ↗ talking with Council about that as well

17:56 ↗ so all of those um are Public Safety

17:59 ↗ needs whose costs are increasing and

18:01 ↗ have been increasing we'll talk a little

18:03 ↗ bit more about that later in the

18:04 ↗ presentation to give you an

18:05 ↗ understanding of um what those increases

18:08 ↗ have looked

18:10 ↗ like other priorities included in this

18:12 ↗ proposed budget are preserving

18:14 ↗ sustainability initiatives as mayor

18:16 ↗ Paulie said uh the sustainability fund

18:19 ↗ is largely funded by an administrative

18:22 ↗ fee that's applied to the Recology

18:24 ↗ contract this is a general fund Revenue

18:27 ↗ the city of isqua has typically in the

18:30 ↗ past taken that revenue and applied it

18:32 ↗ all towards sustainability initiatives

18:35 ↗ um Council may recall recently

18:37 ↗ increasing that fee by 3% and applying

18:39 ↗ it all towards sustainability

18:40 ↗ initiatives but it doesn't have to be

18:43 ↗ and so what the administration has

18:44 ↗ chosen uh is to continue to preserve

18:47 ↗ sustainability initiatives as much as

18:48 ↗ possible and not try to take the rest of

18:51 ↗ that revenue and funnel it towards other

18:53 ↗ um other

18:55 ↗ uses um also enhancing Equity there's

18:58 ↗ some

18:59 ↗ um Equity project that we'll talk about

19:00 ↗ a little bit later in this

19:03 ↗ presentation as mayor paully said we're

19:05 ↗ looking at maintaining Investments and

19:06 ↗ transportation as much as possible you

19:08 ↗ heard a summary of those cuts we'll go

19:10 ↗ into that a little bit deeper into the

19:11 ↗ presentation later another priority was

19:14 ↗ to continue to compensate staff fairly

19:17 ↗ and this was important because um while

19:19 ↗ we did have to lay off staff in order to

19:21 ↗ balance this budget uh we wanted to make

19:24 ↗ sure that the staff that remain are paid

19:28 ↗ commensurate to to what the market would

19:29 ↗ suggest so that means there is money in

19:31 ↗ this budget for 3.8% Cola or cost of

19:33 ↗ living increase and um as well as money

19:37 ↗ to continue to pay fair market wages

19:40 ↗ based on our salary surveys that we've

19:42 ↗ conducted and finally we wanted to make

19:45 ↗ sure to cover obligations like our

19:47 ↗ insurance obligations which is a major

19:49 ↗ driver on this budget and we'll explore

19:50 ↗ that in a little

19:52 ↗ bit our approach to budget balancing I

19:55 ↗ think mayor Paulie already went over

19:56 ↗ this in her opening remarks so I'm not

19:58 ↗ going to spend to much time on this

19:59 ↗ slide but really we left no stone

20:02 ↗ unturned and what I want to emphasize

20:04 ↗ from here yes we looked at professional

20:06 ↗ service costs and trying to bring more

20:08 ↗ of those services in house um we looked

20:11 ↗ at delaying or reducing capital projects

20:14 ↗ and the general fund contribution to

20:15 ↗ those projects spending down ending fund

20:18 ↗ balance across other funds to save on

20:21 ↗ the general fund contribution to those

20:23 ↗ funds um Staffing reductions we've

20:25 ↗ already talked about and an increase in

20:27 ↗ in um Reven news but what I really want

20:30 ↗ you to take away from the slide is how

20:31 ↗ many of these measures are onetime

20:34 ↗ savings versus uh something that's

20:37 ↗ ongoing and that's going to be a big

20:39 ↗ theme of this presentation tonight is

20:41 ↗ talking about the structural deficit

20:43 ↗ that we have that we need to um continue

20:46 ↗ to work on and this issue of onetime

20:49 ↗ cost savings versus ongoing something to

20:51 ↗ keep in mind throughout the

20:52 ↗ deliberations process as

20:54 ↗ well a quick uh summary of the Staffing

20:57 ↗ reductions that we had to perform seven

21:00 ↗ of those uh reductions were vacant

21:02 ↗ positions that we've eliminated in the

21:04 ↗ proposed budget that includes planning

21:06 ↗ manager the jail manager mayor paully

21:09 ↗ talked about um adding in other staff to

21:11 ↗ the jail instead of the jail manager we

21:13 ↗ can talk more about that later tonight

21:15 ↗ as well a recreation aord coordinator

21:18 ↗ for the senior center Labor Relations

21:20 ↗ and risk manager Economic Development

21:22 ↗ coordinator Human Services Supervisor

21:25 ↗ and uh a part-time Parks maintenance

21:28 ↗ worker we've also had a transfer so

21:30 ↗ we've tried to look at things like well

21:31 ↗ if there's this position that we need to

21:34 ↗ cut do we have other needs um that won't

21:36 ↗ impact the general fund that um maybe we

21:39 ↗ have other needs and utilities and so

21:40 ↗ that's what we've done with this

21:41 ↗ transfer here um we have two limited

21:45 ↗ term employee assignments that were

21:48 ↗ scheduled to end at the end of this bium

21:50 ↗ and that were not extending and that

21:52 ↗ includes the transportation program

21:54 ↗ coordinator who manages the Metroflex

21:56 ↗ project that mayor Paulie talked about

21:58 ↗ earlier this evening as well as a

22:00 ↗ Communications coordinator um and then

22:02 ↗ we had seven layoffs uh unfortunately

22:05 ↗ that were build positions those staff

22:08 ↗ are affected and that's across different

22:10 ↗ departments that are general fund funded

22:13 ↗ that includes an ENC accountant shop Aid

22:16 ↗ uh several cuts to community Planning

22:19 ↗ and Development you'll see as we talked

22:21 ↗ about at the July city council Retreat

22:23 ↗ we do anticipate declines in

22:26 ↗ construction sales tax and per revenues

22:29 ↗ and so that's why you see a few more

22:30 ↗ Cuts in community Planning and

22:32 ↗ Development as we see construction is

22:34 ↗ declining a recreation manager and a

22:37 ↗ senior Park planner planner both in the

22:39 ↗ Parks and Community Services

22:41 ↗ departments so coming off of those

22:43 ↗ layoffs um wanted to look at what is the

22:48 ↗ Personnel ratio for per resident and

22:51 ↗ look at that effect so there's a lot

22:53 ↗ going on on this graph I understand we

22:56 ↗ can look at the green bars on the bottom

22:58 ↗ and that shows Trends over time from

23:00 ↗ 1999 all the way through 2026 with the

23:03 ↗ proposed budget and those green bars on

23:05 ↗ the bottom show that uh really since

23:09 ↗ about 2010 we've been mostly holding

23:11 ↗ steady in terms of FTE per capita and

23:15 ↗ you can see on the orange line that's

23:18 ↗ total FTE line or full-time employee uh

23:22 ↗ you can see some events kind of

23:24 ↗ punctuated to help make sense of the

23:26 ↗ graph so um

23:30 ↗ any questions on this slide or so

23:33 ↗ far okay

23:36 ↗ great wanted to talk a little bit about

23:38 ↗ some of the forces on this budget that

23:40 ↗ are different from years

23:43 ↗ past so we know and we've talked about

23:46 ↗ this a lot with Council the structural

23:48 ↗ deficit that most cities in Washington

23:50 ↗ face and that's including isqua and we

23:53 ↗ see here how um the green line is our

23:56 ↗ revenues over time from 2019 through the

23:59 ↗ 2029

24:01 ↗ forecast and the red line is our

24:03 ↗ expenditures we see those um pretty much

24:06 ↗ meet in 2022 and then again in

24:10 ↗ 2025 um and so this is looking at

24:12 ↗ actuals of course until the 2024 year

24:16 ↗ and then it's uh or and then it's what

24:18 ↗ we have

24:19 ↗ budgeted we can see that over time

24:23 ↗ holding things constant not adding to

24:25 ↗ our expenditures just thinking about

24:27 ↗ what does inflation look like to for

24:28 ↗ existing expenditures in the proposed

24:30 ↗ budget compared to how much our revenues

24:33 ↗ typically um increase that we do expect

24:36 ↗ um a deficit in future

24:42 ↗ years and then as we look at the primary

24:45 ↗ drivers of this deficit uh some things

24:47 ↗ that are unique in this budget we've

24:49 ↗ talked in the past about personnel as

24:51 ↗ one of those drivers but we wanted to

24:54 ↗ pull out some of the other Trends so

24:55 ↗ looking at our Public Safety which is

24:58 ↗ our number one priority that we talked

24:59 ↗ about in the budget Police Court fire so

25:03 ↗ police is that Top Line in blue we can

25:05 ↗ see how much that budget is over time in

25:08 ↗ relation to these other priorities for

25:10 ↗ example and the cost increases from 2020

25:13 ↗ to

25:14 ↗ 2023 um and and increasing even beyond

25:17 ↗ that a lot a large part of that is

25:20 ↗ Personnel related but also as we look at

25:22 ↗ insurance and other cost drivers and

25:25 ↗ then we have East Side Fire and Rescue

25:26 ↗ and you can see um that is fairly level

25:29 ↗ until we get to 2024 where we see those

25:31 ↗ costs

25:33 ↗ increasing um next slide is going to

25:36 ↗ paint perhaps even a better picture on

25:38 ↗ this which is the increases by

25:40 ↗ percentage and the impact of the budget

25:43 ↗ based on percentage and when you look at

25:46 ↗ things like police Municipal Court uh

25:50 ↗ this does not include

25:53 ↗ um uh so this does include the

25:55 ↗ prosecutor and public defender contracts

25:57 ↗ and some of their um space needs but

26:00 ↗ East Side Fire and Rescue Insurance uh

26:03 ↗ facilities Etc this is the percentage

26:05 ↗ increase since 2023 so you have an

26:08 ↗ understanding of what is that increase

26:09 ↗ from the last BM to the end of the next

26:12 ↗ BM and it's pretty substantial when

26:14 ↗ through the same period of time the CPI

26:18 ↗ or the Consumer Price Index is 12% over

26:20 ↗ the same time period so when you look at

26:22 ↗ things like

26:23 ↗ 129% 84% you can see the dramatic

26:27 ↗ increase in Impact is going to have in

26:28 ↗ our budget also during this time sales

26:32 ↗ tax which we're going to talk about as

26:33 ↗ one of our major Revenue sources sales

26:36 ↗ tax during the same time period has

26:38 ↗ decreased by

26:43 ↗ 2% so I've talked about one-time

26:46 ↗ solutions to ongoing

26:49 ↗ problems it's important to understand

26:51 ↗ that this budget was difficult to

26:53 ↗ balance and about 40% of those

26:56 ↗ adjustments to that deficit that we're

26:58 ↗ predicting for 25 and 26 40% were

27:02 ↗ ongoing adjustments that includes the

27:03 ↗ layoffs and the revenue proposals but

27:07 ↗ 60% are onetime adjustments so that's

27:10 ↗ spending down of ending fund balance

27:12 ↗ that's delaying capital projects that's

27:15 ↗ um Etc and so what that means is that in

27:18 ↗ the future those one-time adjustments

27:20 ↗ are not available to us anymore so as we

27:22 ↗ look to even the next bium um unless we

27:26 ↗ solve some of our ongoing deficit issues

27:29 ↗ it may be more difficult to balance the

27:30 ↗ budget over the next

27:33 ↗ bium looking at the general fund

27:35 ↗ specifically again this is the fund that

27:37 ↗ funds most of our government services on

27:39 ↗ an ongoing

27:40 ↗ basis uh here is a summary of our

27:43 ↗ expenditures for the 25 26 proposed

27:46 ↗ budget as you can see police municipal

27:48 ↗ court and fire those Public Safety

27:50 ↗ related departments provide a bulk of um

27:54 ↗ or certainly a large share about 43% of

27:57 ↗ the expenditures out of the general

28:00 ↗ fund sources of revenue um we can see

28:04 ↗ sales tax is 31% a major source of

28:07 ↗ revenue for the city of isqua it's been

28:09 ↗ great for us other cities don't have

28:11 ↗ such a large um sales tax as a

28:14 ↗ proportion of their total funding um but

28:17 ↗ certainly it's a volatile source as

28:20 ↗ well revenues per capita this shows

28:24 ↗ again Trends over time from all the way

28:26 ↗ from 2003 to to the 2026 proposed so you

28:30 ↗ can see what that tax burden is per

28:32 ↗ person and um how that has gone down and

28:35 ↗ remained relatively stable over time uh

28:39 ↗ with slight increases in uh the proposed

28:43 ↗ years expenditures per capita again from

28:46 ↗ 20 uh 2003 through uh 2026 and you can

28:50 ↗ see how those are a little bit more

28:52 ↗ volatile than the uh revenues

28:58 ↗ looking at our revenue and um major

29:01 ↗ sources of revenue and how those have

29:02 ↗ trended over the past few years you can

29:04 ↗ see that Top Line in Orange is sales tax

29:08 ↗ that's a major component of revenue for

29:10 ↗ us um the next line is our departmental

29:14 ↗ revenu so that can be uh the permit fees

29:18 ↗ or parks and wreck fees other grants as

29:21 ↗ well um and other fees that the city

29:23 ↗ would charge and then let's um also want

29:27 ↗ to identify utility tax that's the

29:29 ↗ yellow line on the bottom there the

29:31 ↗ reason why you see that increase from 24

29:33 ↗ to 26 is of course reflected in The

29:36 ↗ Proposal is that increase the utility

29:38 ↗ tax

29:39 ↗ rate looking at sales tax in particular

29:43 ↗ there's various types of sales tax um so

29:46 ↗ we wanted to break this down for you

29:48 ↗ since it is such a large Revenue source

29:49 ↗ for the city as we look at that Top Line

29:52 ↗ That's the retail trade tax and that we

29:55 ↗ see it going up it's going up because

29:58 ↗ businesses are overall succeeding the

30:00 ↗ city's local economy is strong um that's

30:02 ↗ exactly what we want to see it's good

30:04 ↗ news for the community let's look at

30:06 ↗ that ugly red line down on the chart so

30:10 ↗ these are Trends from 2013 through the

30:12 ↗ proposed budget you can see that red

30:15 ↗ line is construction sales tax it goes

30:18 ↗ way up in 2021 as a lot of projects were

30:21 ↗ shut down in 2020 from the pandemic and

30:24 ↗ then they were finished off in

30:26 ↗ 2021 and then you see the decline from

30:29 ↗ 2021 to 2023 and then continued we're

30:33 ↗ forecasting that this is somewhat

30:36 ↗ influenced by the national um uh uh

30:40 ↗ rates for borrowing um but at this point

30:43 ↗ it's something that we know that there's

30:45 ↗ a trend across other cities in

30:46 ↗ Washington state as well as the nation

30:49 ↗ and it's something that we're concerned

30:50 ↗ about one of the things so you can see

30:52 ↗ this impact from the decline in

30:54 ↗ construction sales tax at the same time

30:57 ↗ again expenditures are rising so this

30:59 ↗ has a very big impact on our budget and

31:01 ↗ was a huge driving force in the

31:04 ↗ predicted deficit that we

31:09 ↗ have general fund historical Trends as

31:12 ↗ we look at I think there was a question

31:13 ↗ from a council member earlier wanting to

31:15 ↗ see a breakout in departments and

31:17 ↗ looking at Department budgets over time

31:20 ↗ so this is from 2018 this Loosely tracks

31:23 ↗ to some of our departments you may know

31:25 ↗ that we've made some changes in

31:27 ↗ departments some Services going from one

31:29 ↗ to another over time so this isn't you

31:31 ↗ know exact but just taking a step back

31:34 ↗ and looking at um Trends in departmental

31:37 ↗ budgets and changes you see police and

31:39 ↗ Public Safety um up there uh with the

31:42 ↗ yellow line um and then changes also in

31:46 ↗ Parks uh some of these are reflective of

31:48 ↗ grants that we've received you see that

31:50 ↗ giant spike in uh non-departmental from

31:54 ↗ 2018 to 2020 that's the bergsma purchase

31:57 ↗ um

31:58 ↗ large purchase of land that the city

32:00 ↗ made and also received some grants

32:03 ↗ for I'm moving pretty quickly here so

32:06 ↗ any

32:07 ↗ questions okay

32:10 ↗ great uh looking at the five-year

32:12 ↗ forecast for the general fund budget um

32:15 ↗ we can see evidence of the structural

32:18 ↗ deficit so you see in 2025 it says

32:20 ↗ undesignated fund balance as a

32:22 ↗ percentage of expenditures this is

32:24 ↗ slightly different from what you'll see

32:25 ↗ in the budget document and that's only

32:26 ↗ just because of rounding and how it was

32:28 ↗ rounded across different charts um but

32:30 ↗ it's it's um 15 to 16% undesignated

32:34 ↗ ending fund balance and then um with uh

32:37 ↗ that continued in 2026 it was also a

32:40 ↗ priority of the mayor that we maintain

32:42 ↗ that

32:43 ↗ 15% uh ending fund balance as part of

32:45 ↗ this proposed budget so that we can

32:47 ↗ ensure we have enough reserves if

32:49 ↗ there's another downturn or something

32:51 ↗ else were to occur so we wanted to make

32:53 ↗ sure to keep that 15% ending fund

32:55 ↗ balance it is a best practice for cities

32:57 ↗ like ours looking forward to 2027 and

33:01 ↗ Beyond you see that ending fund balance

33:03 ↗ decrease to 5% in 2029 and again it's a

33:08 ↗ function of that graph we saw earlier

33:10 ↗ where expenditures are rising um at a

33:13 ↗ faster rate than our revenues holding

33:16 ↗ everything else

33:18 ↗ constant so let's talk about

33:21 ↗ revenues utility tax is our major yes I

33:25 ↗ see we have a question go ahead if

33:28 ↗ that's okay I have a couple questions

33:29 ↗ about the expenditures part thank you by

33:31 ↗ the way appreciate thorough presentation

33:34 ↗ um on the slide that describes the

33:37 ↗ primary drivers list um one of the

33:41 ↗ ones was facilities and it said non-

33:44 ↗ Capital so I was just curious what makes

33:45 ↗ up non- Capital facilities expenditures

33:48 ↗ there examples there go back to that um

33:52 ↗ so this is great question thank you this

33:54 ↗ is related to maintenance of our

33:57 ↗ facilities so this doesn't include for

33:59 ↗ example we've been talking about uh a

34:01 ↗ new fire station we've been talking

34:03 ↗ about what do we do for um City Hall

34:06 ↗ none of those um assumptions are

34:09 ↗ included in the budget this is really

34:11 ↗ just looking at rightsizing our

34:13 ↗ maintenance and um Council may recall

34:17 ↗ you received a report earlier this year

34:19 ↗ on trying to understand what the

34:21 ↗ maintenance needs and the conditions are

34:22 ↗ of the various facilities that we manage

34:25 ↗ and um we need to invest a lot more in

34:27 ↗ facilities that was really the

34:28 ↗ conclusion of the report this budget

34:31 ↗ tries uh to do some of that but does not

34:33 ↗ meet the expectations of the report

34:35 ↗ which I think included over a million

34:37 ↗ dollars a year in additional maintenance

34:39 ↗ than what we've typically provided so we

34:41 ↗ have increased some of that operating

34:43 ↗ I'm sorry some of that maintenance uh

34:45 ↗ budget but it's not to what was

34:47 ↗ recommended in the

34:49 ↗ report facilities maintenance got it um

34:53 ↗ then a few slides later let's see Ral

34:56 ↗ actually the general fund historic

34:58 ↗ Trends on Revenue the where you show

35:00 ↗ property tax sales tax B tax and utility

35:03 ↗ tax um I just wanted to clarify so we

35:06 ↗ are are we are anticipating a decrease

35:09 ↗ in bno tax revenue over the bium is that

35:12 ↗ over the next bium is that correct um

35:14 ↗ yeah and I think that this is really

35:16 ↗ related to what was adopted and what we

35:19 ↗ discovered in the 2324 B anym budget is

35:24 ↗ that the bno tax was anticipated to be

35:27 ↗ higher than what we've seen in actual

35:29 ↗ receipts so that could be an error in

35:32 ↗ forecasting that was made in 23 and 24

35:35 ↗ as we see from the chart um it's it's

35:39 ↗ holding pretty steady from 2022 levels

35:41 ↗ so I think what we're seeing is more of

35:43 ↗ a difference in what was forecasted over

35:46 ↗ actuals and I think there was an error

35:47 ↗ in forecasting for 23 24 so we've

35:49 ↗ decreased it from the adopted budget of

35:53 ↗ the last

35:54 ↗ bium okay thank you

35:58 ↗ one more go ahead since there was a

36:00 ↗ break in the action um on the ending

36:02 ↗ fund balance slide I am curious because

36:05 ↗ the total ending fund balance from 25 to

36:08 ↗ 29 goes down slightly but the

36:12 ↗ unrestricted ending fund balance goes

36:14 ↗ down precipitously so what are the

36:16 ↗ restricted funds that are being

36:19 ↗ reflected here restricted funds include

36:22 ↗ the affordable housing sales

36:25 ↗ tax uh so that's something that we have

36:27 ↗ amassed a very large budget in for

36:30 ↗ Capital

36:31 ↗ purchases um and other things we haven't

36:33 ↗ been spending that down uh this proposed

36:36 ↗ budget does include using that

36:39 ↗ affordable housing sales tax to uh cover

36:42 ↗ the arch trust fund contributions for

36:44 ↗ example that are capital we've also

36:46 ↗ included more allocations of Staff

36:49 ↗ behavioral health staff to that

36:50 ↗ affordable housing sales tax revenue

36:53 ↗ source so you see a spending down of

36:55 ↗ that budget over time because we have

36:56 ↗ accumulated such a large ending fund

36:59 ↗ balance so is that um I mean I I'm just

37:03 ↗ looking at just really quick numbers so

37:05 ↗ in 25 it's it's $9 million and then it's

37:08 ↗ $9 million and then it's $10 million and

37:11 ↗ then it's um $1 million is the

37:14 ↗ difference and now then it's 13 million

37:16 ↗ so it's it's it's creeping up so is that

37:19 ↗ just a result primarily of the 1% 1%

37:24 ↗ sales tax I I believe so okay I'm

37:28 ↗ getting nods from Susie our budget

37:30 ↗ manager so yes I I think that's accurate

37:32 ↗ okay

37:34 ↗ thanks good Ahad really and is the TBD

37:37 ↗ the transportation benefit district

37:38 ↗ sales tax is that also technically

37:40 ↗ restricted revenue or does that go to

37:42 ↗ general fund it is restricted

37:48 ↗ Revenue

37:49 ↗ great new

37:52 ↗ revenues uh we are proposing an increase

37:54 ↗ in the utility tax uh it's a stepped

37:58 ↗ increase from 3% to 4.5 in 2025 and then

38:03 ↗ to 6% in

38:05 ↗ 2026 so you see here on this table

38:08 ↗ highlighted in green font is our current

38:11 ↗ tax rate it's 3% for water seus storm

38:14 ↗ water and cable TV there are other

38:17 ↗ components of utility tax that are

38:18 ↗ already at 6% so this increase in 2026

38:22 ↗ would make us 6% across the board of the

38:25 ↗ various utility tax types you can see a

38:27 ↗ comparison of isqua against other cities

38:30 ↗ and a proposal to increase it to 6% um

38:34 ↗ might be on par with other cities it's

38:36 ↗ kind of all over the map in terms of

38:38 ↗ what cities

38:40 ↗ do we anticipate the impact of raising

38:45 ↗ the utility tax to be um about

38:50 ↗ $27 in 2025 on the average household so

38:54 ↗ for every 1 and a half% that the utility

38:56 ↗ tax would be raised there would be an

38:58 ↗ impact to a single family home typical

39:01 ↗ single family home of about

39:04 ↗ $27.3 that would equate to additional

39:07 ↗ Revenue raised about $633,000 in 2025

39:12 ↗ and then a total of

39:14 ↗ $1.26 million in 2026 and that would be

39:17 ↗ an ongoing

39:22 ↗ revenues another part of our Revenue

39:25 ↗ proposal within this budget is

39:27 ↗ increasing our jail contracts the city

39:30 ↗ operates a Municipal Jail we contract

39:32 ↗ with other cities for jail services and

39:36 ↗ you can see that top row is our current

39:39 ↗ rate that we charge $115 a day for

39:41 ↗ guaranteed beds um versus what our

39:45 ↗ proposed rate is in upcoming contracts

39:48 ↗ that's highlighted in red $150 a day

39:51 ↗ with additional booking fees that would

39:53 ↗ be added to this Con to these contracts

39:55 ↗ we don't have booking fees at this point

39:58 ↗ but it is um somewhat common in the

40:00 ↗ industry um this would raise

40:04 ↗ approximately half a million dollar per

40:06 ↗ year and would put us on the higher end

40:08 ↗ there's a lot of things that we've

40:10 ↗ considered uh within establishing this

40:13 ↗ rate including how much it costs to run

40:15 ↗ a jail and provide these Services we

40:17 ↗ have a lot of insurance costs that have

40:19 ↗ been increasing food and Medical

40:20 ↗ Services have been increasing as well uh

40:23 ↗ and we want to make sure that the isqua

40:25 ↗ taxpayer is not reimbursing jail

40:26 ↗ services for for other cities so um

40:29 ↗ there's other things to consider you can

40:30 ↗ see other rates for Lynwood and score um

40:33 ↗ are also uh well Lynwood's higher but

40:36 ↗ scores at 143 per day but they also

40:39 ↗ offer a lot more services than isqua

40:41 ↗ jail does and so um for more complicated

40:44 ↗ cases people with higher medical needs

40:46 ↗ Etc um so that's another factor in how

40:49 ↗ we set the rates for the

40:52 ↗ jail and the police chief is also here

40:54 ↗ to answer any questions you might have

40:56 ↗ about this

40:58 ↗ um other Revenue proposals one we've got

41:00 ↗ a question um on the last slide yeah um

41:04 ↗ it says score and that has in

41:05 ↗ parenthesis isqua rate does that mean

41:08 ↗ they charge different rates for

41:10 ↗ different um jurisdictions they

41:14 ↗ do that might be good to since we're

41:16 ↗ comparing against that and that one

41:18 ↗ looks like it's comparable to our

41:21 ↗ proposed rate it might be good to know

41:24 ↗ um what other rates how how much it

41:26 ↗ varies for other jurisdictions if that's

41:28 ↗ only a successful okay that's

41:31 ↗ information we can provide at a future

41:33 ↗ date thank

41:37 ↗ you Court contracts similar thing we

41:39 ↗ want to make sure that uh that the court

41:42 ↗ services that were providing other

41:44 ↗ jurisdictions are reflective of the

41:46 ↗ increase in cost that we've seen for the

41:47 ↗ courts and so we've redone the cost

41:50 ↗ recovery model by looking at percent of

41:53 ↗ filings previously there was a minimum

41:56 ↗ base charge for for these other cities

41:59 ↗ um but a decline in filings demonstrates

42:01 ↗ the base charge is too low for cost

42:03 ↗ recovery and we're seeing a decline and

42:05 ↗ filings not necessarily because crime is

42:08 ↗ reducing but because um fewer arrests

42:11 ↗ are being made perhaps it's a shortage

42:14 ↗ of police officers to make those arrests

42:17 ↗ that's that's more of the reason why we

42:19 ↗ predict we're seeing a decline in

42:20 ↗ filings from these other

42:24 ↗ cities um the anticipated additional Vue

42:27 ↗ from this adjustment to those contracts

42:29 ↗ is about $100,000 a year and um again

42:33 ↗ with the attempt to make sure that isqua

42:35 ↗ not subsidizing the court costs of other

42:40 ↗ cities other Revenue adjustments

42:43 ↗ Community Planning and Development has a

42:45 ↗ tech fee a technology fee that they

42:47 ↗ apply to permits we are proposing to

42:50 ↗ increase that fee from 5 to 6% in order

42:52 ↗ to help pay for permit software our

42:54 ↗ permit software track it is um

42:57 ↗ living past its useful life and needs

42:59 ↗ replacement in the next couple of years

43:01 ↗ and it's a very expensive and

43:03 ↗ complicated Software System the

43:05 ↗ anticipated additional revenue from this

43:07 ↗ is about $140,000 per year you can see

43:09 ↗ how isqua's rate Compares with other

43:12 ↗ cities again um this would put us at

43:15 ↗ about at a higher range for a technology

43:18 ↗ fee applied departments but still not as

43:20 ↗ high as

43:25 ↗ samamish okay now um any questions

43:28 ↗ before we move on to Department budget

43:33 ↗ presentations okay great well with that

43:36 ↗ then I would like to welcome Chief

43:48 ↗ Schwan good evening thank you for having

43:51 ↗ us the council members um first of all

43:53 ↗ our priorities for the police department

43:55 ↗ are maintain our full Staffing

43:57 ↗ over the last three years I've have over

43:59 ↗ 220 Chiefs interviews to getting to the

44:02 ↗ point where we have some good staff in

44:04 ↗ our department as you know we don't have

44:05 ↗ that many people in our department um

44:07 ↗ and it's a process to get people through

44:09 ↗ and we want to have good people that are

44:10 ↗ working here and so we want to maintain

44:13 ↗ that as much as possible we are

44:14 ↗ currently fully staffed in dispatch we

44:17 ↗ are almost fully staffed in Patrol we're

44:20 ↗ only down three at this time and we have

44:23 ↗ interviews a full day or two half days

44:25 ↗ coming up with 10 um spots already full

44:28 ↗ um for those interviews so we're hoping

44:30 ↗ to get full in the next time and we also

44:33 ↗ have um two in backgrounds so we have a

44:35 ↗ good possibility of that being close and

44:37 ↗ then we have two that are down in

44:40 ↗ Corrections right now with the hopes of

44:42 ↗ this proposed budget possibility of two

44:44 ↗ more um as far as Insurgent positions

44:46 ↗ moving

44:48 ↗ forward our another priority would be

44:50 ↗ our jail operations including the

44:52 ↗ contract updates which we've expressed

44:54 ↗ to you as far as our fees go um we're

44:56 ↗ going with within market and the biggest

44:59 ↗ piece for that is in we haven't moved

45:00 ↗ those very much in the past and we've

45:02 ↗ never had a booking fee to my knowledge

45:03 ↗ in the past and so that's helping with a

45:05 ↗ lot of the different fees that are

45:07 ↗ moving forward and what all our other

45:08 ↗ agencies that are comparables are

45:11 ↗ definitely doing at this time um

45:13 ↗ comparatively to what we were like had

45:16 ↗ been mentioned um those with mental

45:19 ↗ health issues and medical issues those

45:21 ↗ are the ones and why we would ship out

45:22 ↗ to other places or why other people

45:24 ↗ might go to other locations we're also

45:26 ↗ increasing our people that show up um it

45:30 ↗ used to be $180 fee it wasn't on the

45:32 ↗ chart but it used to be $180 if someone

45:35 ↗ for example got a DUI in Spokane but

45:38 ↗ lives over here and they want to do

45:39 ↗ their time here in our jail they can

45:41 ↗ just show up and do so but they have to

45:43 ↗ pay per day and we've changed that up to

45:45 ↗ $225 per day for someone that's doing

45:48 ↗ that um so that's another fee that's

45:50 ↗ been increased and last year

45:51 ↗ approximately we had about 160 that

45:54 ↗ actually were booked in our jail for

45:55 ↗ that specific piece

45:58 ↗ um we also want had renewed our PR

46:00 ↗ programming that we've had in the past

46:02 ↗ because we've put people as our

46:03 ↗ community resource officer back in

46:04 ↗ Specialties we have someone that's now

46:06 ↗ in that position officer Helms we also

46:09 ↗ have um someone in our Traffic Division

46:10 ↗ we've moved Corporal filb to that

46:12 ↗ position and we hope to move another

46:14 ↗ traffic officer um soon and soon as we

46:17 ↗ get a couple more people off field

46:18 ↗ training and we have a couple more

46:20 ↗ graduating in the next couple of months

46:22 ↗ from the academy um so the some of those

46:25 ↗ programs that we're going to be doing

46:26 ↗ doing our our

46:29 ↗ community um Academy used to be called

46:32 ↗ the Citizens Academy now it's we do the

46:34 ↗ Community Academy and as well as our

46:37 ↗ parent project and maybe our p on patrol

46:40 ↗ but those are some of the other projects

46:41 ↗ that we had programming before that

46:43 ↗ we're going to try and reestablish and

46:45 ↗ be moving forward with in the near

46:48 ↗ future also we're improving productivity

46:50 ↗ through datadriven um predictive

46:53 ↗ policing um that's kind of a fancy word

46:55 ↗ for our crime analyst is basically

46:57 ↗ figures out where the stuff's happening

46:58 ↗ at a lot and we can Target more of our

47:00 ↗ resources in the spaces where things are

47:02 ↗ we we're not where our perception is

47:04 ↗ that they are but where they actually

47:05 ↗ are happening and so that's what our

47:07 ↗ goal is really focusing towards in

47:09 ↗ having our crime

47:15 ↗ analyst the 25 26 proposed um the

47:18 ↗ Staffing reduction the jail manager um

47:21 ↗ and the over hires we have one overhire

47:24 ↗ and that's currently in dispatch but

47:26 ↗ that's um not look we're not going to

47:28 ↗ have any Cuts necessarily uh but that's

47:30 ↗ to maintain because right now as it was

47:33 ↗ in the past when someone took a time off

47:36 ↗ just regular days off that was automatic

47:38 ↗ filled with some other person had to

47:40 ↗ then come in and fill and it was

47:41 ↗ automatic overtime we were ending up

47:43 ↗ paying more in overtime than we were to

47:45 ↗ have an actual another person on staff

47:47 ↗ so it made more sense to have that extra

47:49 ↗ body there and it also helped with all

47:51 ↗ that Staffing and the services because

47:53 ↗ then we had three people in the center

47:55 ↗ and someone could take breaks while

47:56 ↗ people people are still managing the

47:57 ↗ radio and the phones at the same time

47:59 ↗ which is more of a model that other

48:01 ↗ larger agencies also handle for our call

48:03 ↗ volume and as it

48:04 ↗ increases um as far as the other

48:06 ↗ Staffing the jail manager it was decided

48:09 ↗ that we had one person that was doing

48:10 ↗ the job of what four people could be and

48:12 ↗ the oversight as many of you are in

48:14 ↗ other businesses and know that span of

48:16 ↗ control um one in charge of 14 is not

48:18 ↗ realistic so now we would have one in

48:21 ↗ charge of three which three uh span of

48:23 ↗ control of 1 to six is actually ideal

48:25 ↗ and so that's more of what they'll be

48:27 ↗ doing so it made sure we also modeling

48:30 ↗ what the patrol schedule works right we

48:31 ↗ have one Sergeant for every Squad it

48:33 ↗ would be exactly the same in the jail

48:35 ↗ it's worked very well on patrol for many

48:37 ↗ many years and so that's what we were

48:39 ↗ trying to attempt and model with that

48:40 ↗ spin of control and

48:43 ↗ supervision and then Professional

48:45 ↗ Services for social media and wellness

48:47 ↗ um we've decreased that we had someone

48:49 ↗ that was on staff for wellness we are

48:52 ↗ still having them as a resource and they

48:53 ↗ are a need based now instead of having

48:55 ↗ them just in the building

48:57 ↗ so they still are available for our

48:58 ↗ staff when needed they've helped a lot

49:00 ↗ with debriefs um critical debriefs

49:03 ↗ theyve helped a lot with our peer

49:04 ↗ support program they are still available

49:06 ↗ to come and do some of those trainings

49:07 ↗ as we need them and we'll pay as as

49:09 ↗ necessary and they're needed versus

49:11 ↗ having them just be on contract and

49:13 ↗ paying for their services to be in house

49:14 ↗ on a regular basis so we wanted to look

49:16 ↗ at that and they're still available also

49:18 ↗ if an officer was in need of that and

49:20 ↗ needed to have someone to reach out to

49:23 ↗ um and that's another process that's

49:24 ↗ still available but again we're not

49:26 ↗ paying on a a contract that's a flat

49:29 ↗ rate and the summary of additions we're

49:32 ↗ our goal is to have two more correction

49:33 ↗ sergeants as I express so we've added

49:35 ↗ four one on each Squad we' move the two

49:37 ↗ that are corporals now up to sergeants

49:39 ↗ and then we would have two more added

49:41 ↗ sergeants for that span of control one

49:42 ↗ on every Squad four and they would all

49:45 ↗ be doing all the rest of those jobs of

49:46 ↗ billing contracts with the other jails

49:49 ↗ medical with dealing with hospitals all

49:51 ↗ those other pieces in the

49:53 ↗ jurisdictions upgrade the corrections um

49:55 ↗ we Corrections Corporal evidence Tech

49:58 ↗ from fulltime or part-time to full-time

50:01 ↗ she right now currently is working 30

50:03 ↗ hours and has full benefits so it would

50:06 ↗ be just increasing her by 10 hours um

50:08 ↗ our goal would be also um in the event

50:10 ↗ that we increase we do not have to have

50:12 ↗ a sworn person that now does our speed

50:14 ↗ cameras so we would have the ability to

50:17 ↗ use that person with the proper training

50:19 ↗ and credentials to also fulfill a lot of

50:21 ↗ those hours instead of being an officer

50:23 ↗ off the street so if we do have that

50:25 ↗ opportunity to add those cameras they

50:26 ↗ would be able to work on that as

50:28 ↗ well U we would like to increase um we

50:31 ↗ did talk about increase of jail costs

50:33 ↗ added in that booking fee is for

50:35 ↗ insurance as well as some of those other

50:38 ↗ parts to what it's going to cost for

50:40 ↗ upgrading and um increase to uh Fleet

50:44 ↗ fund um being we need those cars for the

50:46 ↗ take-home vehicles in that process

50:48 ↗ because that's not um inexpensive

50:52 ↗ so any questions I can answer for you

50:58 ↗ I'm not seeing any thank you

51:04 ↗ Chief and chief Lane is joining us

51:07 ↗ remotely and chief Lane I'm happy to

51:09 ↗ control the slides for

51:10 ↗ you okay I think I just have one slide

51:13 ↗ so that should be pretty easy uh good

51:15 ↗ evening members of council Ben Lane far

51:17 ↗ a chief of East Side Fire and Rescue uh

51:19 ↗ thank you for the opportunity to speak

51:20 ↗ with you

51:21 ↗ tonight um I just want to Echo the

51:24 ↗ statements of uh Deputy City

51:26 ↗ administrator Snider early on um the

51:28 ↗ challenge that the city of isqua has

51:30 ↗ gone through in this budget process

51:32 ↗ Eastside fire and rescue has also gone

51:34 ↗ through a significant budget challenge

51:36 ↗ this year and so we've had adjust some

51:38 ↗ of our priorities going into 25 and

51:40 ↗ 26 uh our top priority and again thank

51:44 ↗ you to the city for also supporting uh

51:46 ↗ emergency services so our top priority

51:48 ↗ going into 25 and 26 is to maintain our

51:51 ↗ emergency services and our critical

51:53 ↗ non-emergency service levels uh our

51:55 ↗ emergency service

51:57 ↗ would certainly be Fire EMS and our

52:00 ↗ technical rescue response hazardous

52:02 ↗ material material spills um and and such

52:06 ↗ uh critical non-emergency service levels

52:08 ↗ that would be our mobile Integrated

52:10 ↗ Health our our Wildfire mitigation

52:13 ↗ Specialists and our fire Marshall's

52:16 ↗ office specifically our plan reviews and

52:19 ↗ our fire

52:20 ↗ inspections uh given the challenging

52:22 ↗ nature of this budget process one of the

52:25 ↗ things that we'll be focusing on in 25

52:27 ↗ and 26 is to explore alternate funding

52:30 ↗ structures um I look at this really in

52:32 ↗ two phases one um as you as you know or

52:35 ↗ may not know Eastside F and rescue has

52:38 ↗ no tax taxing Authority so our ability

52:40 ↗ to generate revenue is very very limited

52:44 ↗ um one of the revenue sources we do have

52:46 ↗ is our fee for transport and the board

52:48 ↗ did support increasing our fee for

52:50 ↗ transport rate going into 25 and 26 so

52:53 ↗ we're projecting a slight increase in

52:55 ↗ Revenue there to offset our partner

52:57 ↗ costs um and then we're also looking at

53:01 ↗ um reaching out to our partner cities uh

53:03 ↗ the city of isqua mamish North End and

53:06 ↗ see if we can do some work around

53:08 ↗ aligning our fire fees our plan reviews

53:11 ↗ and inspections so we we believe that

53:13 ↗ there are some uh ability to capture

53:15 ↗ some Revenue there that would also

53:17 ↗ translate to a reduction in the partner

53:20 ↗ contributions bigger picture uh

53:23 ↗ long-term sustainability would be

53:25 ↗ looking at maybe a different

53:27 ↗ funding structure um for eastside fire

53:29 ↗ and rescue some of the things that have

53:31 ↗ been discussed would be um at other

53:33 ↗ cities of

53:35 ↗ discussed a public safety Levy um

53:38 ↗ looking at annexations into a fire

53:40 ↗ district or a regional Fire Authority so

53:44 ↗ I see this as a a quite robust

53:46 ↗ discussion um but it's something that

53:48 ↗ we're hoping to accomplish over the next

53:50 ↗ couple of years I just given how

53:52 ↗ challenging this particular budget cycle

53:54 ↗ was and the goal is for the organization

53:56 ↗ to not be in the same position in the

54:00 ↗ future and then last priority is to

54:03 ↗ address the critical apparatus and

54:05 ↗ facility needs um there was a prior

54:08 ↗ policy decisions that were made um at

54:11 ↗ the time to address uh the critical

54:13 ↗ nature of all of our partner cities and

54:15 ↗ districts um unfortunately we were we

54:18 ↗ got off track in our ability to properly

54:20 ↗ fund and replace our fire apparatus so

54:23 ↗ we're looking to get that back on track

54:26 ↗ we we' adopted a new policy practice

54:29 ↗ instead of purchasing those outright uh

54:31 ↗ the board has supported a finance model

54:33 ↗ um this allows for more of a smoothing

54:35 ↗ method to reduce a uh a quite volatile

54:40 ↗ um pricing structure for a purchasing

54:43 ↗ apparatus and then lastly is uh our

54:46 ↗ critical facility needs um as you know

54:49 ↗ there's been discussions between East

54:50 ↗ Side Fire and the city to address uh

54:53 ↗ fire station

54:54 ↗ 71 um but uh in the building that I'm

54:57 ↗ currently sitting in here at HQ just a

54:59 ↗ couple blocks away uh there's arguably

55:01 ↗ quite a few things that we need to

55:03 ↗ address so this budget process starts us

55:07 ↗ down the path of working towards

55:09 ↗ whatever that long-term term solution is

55:12 ↗ um and again I just wanted to express my

55:14 ↗ appreciation for the epher board

55:16 ↗ directors from uh the city of isqua and

55:19 ↗ deputy director or Deputy City

55:21 ↗ administrator Andrea Snider for their

55:23 ↗ engagement and involvement in our budget

55:25 ↗ process uh certainly was a challenge um

55:28 ↗ but I do appreciate their support

55:29 ↗ through that and I'm happy to answer any

55:35 ↗ questions I'm not seeing any questions

55:37 ↗ Chief Lane thank you thank you

56:03 ↗ there we go thank you Christy Sha Court

56:06 ↗ Administrator and judge Stewart's here

56:08 ↗ to help answer any questions tonight um

56:11 ↗ while our Cas load has steadily

56:13 ↗ increased um we've utilized State

56:16 ↗ funding to help build a community Court

56:18 ↗ program we've been Incorporated

56:20 ↗ technology that allows us to be 100%

56:23 ↗ electronic and we now offer Court

56:25 ↗ customers and community Court um

56:27 ↗ Partners a hybrid courtroom model all

56:30 ↗ completed with a very lean but

56:32 ↗ experienced team of Court professionals

56:35 ↗ we have five FTE three part-time team

56:37 ↗ members and a part-time contracted

56:40 ↗ security officer our t top priorities

56:43 ↗ are to streamline interpreter scheduling

56:46 ↗ and bring down costs I'll expand more on

56:48 ↗ this in the next slide but there's

56:50 ↗ currently a national shortage of

56:52 ↗ certified Court interpreters that is

56:54 ↗ steadily driving the market for language

56:56 ↗ access to higher and higher hourly

56:58 ↗ ratees we are implementing a new

57:00 ↗ software program and app that we hope to

57:02 ↗ help steady the market our next um

57:05 ↗ priority will be to on board a new

57:07 ↗ Statewide case system the administrative

57:10 ↗ office of the courts is upgrading their

57:12 ↗ 30 plus year old system with a Tyler

57:15 ↗ Technologies product there have been

57:17 ↗ several project delays so much so that

57:20 ↗ our probation officer Melanie vanck has

57:22 ↗ been on the project steering committee

57:24 ↗ for over a decade the first two pilot

57:27 ↗ courts on boarded late last year and

57:28 ↗ nine Eastern Washington courts on

57:31 ↗ boarded today however the project has um

57:35 ↗ courtroom processing shortfalls that we

57:37 ↗ currently handle with our o Court

57:38 ↗ software

57:40 ↗ program we are one of four state courts

57:43 ↗ currently providing business

57:44 ↗ requirements to the state to build an

57:46 ↗ integration platform with an API between

57:49 ↗ ortt and the new state CMS system there

57:52 ↗ will be significant training and mapping

57:54 ↗ requirements and it support needed to

57:57 ↗ make sure we have a successful

57:58 ↗ transition in

58:01 ↗ 2026 as mentioned earlier the city is

58:04 ↗ considering moving the court to lease

58:05 ↗ space at King County District Court we

58:08 ↗ will be working closely with it for a

58:10 ↗ smooth transition to bring all our

58:12 ↗ technology efficiencies to the new

58:15 ↗ facility including video and remote

58:17 ↗ hearings we'll also be prioritizing

58:20 ↗ Communications with the public Our

58:21 ↗ Community Partners and core customers

58:24 ↗ regarding the potential move

58:26 ↗ as mentioned in earlier slides this

58:28 ↗ evening the court will work closely with

58:30 ↗ the city in

58:31 ↗ 2025 to implement an updated cost

58:33 ↗ recovery model for court services with

58:35 ↗ our partner

58:39 ↗ cities the court has no significant

58:42 ↗ budget reductions but has captured All

58:44 ↗ State funding in the budget this budget

58:47 ↗ um

58:48 ↗ dium as as an emphasis is placed on

58:50 ↗ Public Safety additional resources will

58:52 ↗ need be needed to sustain Port

58:55 ↗ operations we heard earlier tonight that

58:57 ↗ isqua Police Department is nearly fully

59:00 ↗ staffed as additions are made to law

59:02 ↗ enforcement the impacts within six

59:04 ↗ months to a year have a downstream

59:07 ↗ effect on Justice Services and there is

59:09 ↗ a significant need for additional

59:11 ↗ resources to support the judicial

59:14 ↗ branch since 2019 there has been 133%

59:18 ↗ increase in DUI filing and a 27%

59:21 ↗ increase in criminal non-traffic filings

59:24 ↗ such as domestic violence and S charges

59:27 ↗ in the city of

59:28 ↗ isqua also impacting the Court's case

59:30 ↗ load are changes in drug possession laws

59:34 ↗ that now have charges once filed as

59:36 ↗ felonies now being filed in court based

59:40 ↗ on the trends and filings the court is

59:42 ↗ requesting our current part-time point6

59:45 ↗ judicial judicial assistant position who

59:48 ↗ has been with the city for 14 years to

59:50 ↗ move into an FTE specialist

59:54 ↗ position in a comparison study conducted

59:57 ↗ earlier this year the court is

59:59 ↗ processing three to four times the

1:00:01 ↗ annual case filings per staff member

1:00:03 ↗ than surrounding

1:00:05 ↗ jurisdiction so to continue meeting

1:00:07 ↗ Court mandated mandated requirements and

1:00:10 ↗ to to support therapeutic

1:00:13 ↗ recovery and um the court is

1:00:15 ↗ recommending a staffing increase in

1:00:17 ↗ hours to help reduce filings process for

1:00:20 ↗ staff in a different budget climate the

1:00:23 ↗ court would be requesting additional

1:00:24 ↗ Staffing ads to both probation

1:00:26 ↗ and judicial support to align with

1:00:28 ↗ Staffing levels in neighboring cours our

1:00:31 ↗ request in this budget is to help narrow

1:00:33 ↗ the Gap to allow reassignment of

1:00:36 ↗ workload

1:00:39 ↗ Demand by far the largest increase in

1:00:41 ↗ the past several years to the Court's

1:00:43 ↗ budget has been language access costs

1:00:46 ↗ interpreter related expenses have nearly

1:00:48 ↗ doubled in the past two years as

1:00:51 ↗ mentioned we are in the process of

1:00:52 ↗ adding software to streamline

1:00:54 ↗ interpreter

1:00:56 ↗ um scheduling and to reduce costs the

1:00:59 ↗ state reimburses the city for a portion

1:01:01 ↗ of The Interpreter expenditures but

1:01:02 ↗ interpreter reimbursements have not kept

1:01:04 ↗ pace with the increases in hourly rates

1:01:08 ↗ and the number of

1:01:10 ↗ assignments next is alcohol and drug

1:01:13 ↗ testing um we are requesting a budget ad

1:01:16 ↗ in response to increases in Du VII

1:01:19 ↗ filings and du the opiate and Fentanyl

1:01:22 ↗ prices some of the testing costs will be

1:01:25 ↗ covered annually with opiate settlement

1:01:27 ↗ funded funding received by the

1:01:31 ↗ city um this program is essential and

1:01:33 ↗ complying with court rules to provide

1:01:35 ↗ less restrictive pre-trial alternatives

1:01:38 ↗ to jail while still protecting the

1:01:40 ↗ community for the moderately at risk

1:01:42 ↗ individuals before the

1:01:44 ↗ court we appreciate the city and Council

1:01:48 ↗ continued thank

1:01:50 ↗ you I'm not seeing any questions here so

1:01:54 ↗ thank you very much

1:02:04 ↗ good evening Stacy Vin mckinstry

1:02:05 ↗ sustainability manager for 25 and 26 our

1:02:09 ↗ focus of investment for the

1:02:11 ↗ sustainability funds are on reducing

1:02:13 ↗ greenhouse gas emissions to advance

1:02:15 ↗ progress towards our climate action plan

1:02:17 ↗ targets Investments include programming

1:02:20 ↗ projects and incentives we will continue

1:02:23 ↗ and expand programs that reduce missions

1:02:26 ↗ from the built environment including

1:02:28 ↗ Energy Efficiency and cleaner fuel

1:02:30 ↗ sources for commercial and residential

1:02:32 ↗ buildings we know we must lead by

1:02:34 ↗ example as a city and therefore we

1:02:37 ↗ propose to invest in our own buildings

1:02:38 ↗ and Fleet to reduce emissions through

1:02:40 ↗ renewable energy and to transition to

1:02:43 ↗ Electric wear

1:02:45 ↗ feasible while waste is not a

1:02:47 ↗ substantial contri contributor to

1:02:49 ↗ emissions in our community the impacts

1:02:51 ↗ on the environment and human health are

1:02:53 ↗ significant waste reduction efforts are

1:02:55 ↗ are very visible and our community is

1:02:58 ↗ Desiring more programming for the most

1:03:01 ↗ part there are actions that our res

1:03:03 ↗ residents can take with the proper

1:03:05 ↗ resources our other major area of focus

1:03:08 ↗ is a proposed investment focused on

1:03:11 ↗ enhanced resilience in partnership with

1:03:13 ↗ our emergency manager and our community

1:03:15 ↗ organizations this includes supporting

1:03:18 ↗ the continued development of resilience

1:03:20 ↗ hubs exploring opportunities for micro

1:03:22 ↗ grids and advancing the resilience of

1:03:24 ↗ our own facilities

1:03:28 ↗ for reductions we have pulled back from

1:03:31 ↗ one of our large program asks around

1:03:33 ↗ residential

1:03:34 ↗ electrification while we will continue

1:03:36 ↗ some investment in this area due to it

1:03:39 ↗ being one of our largest greenhouse gas

1:03:40 ↗ contributors we anticipate pursuing

1:03:42 ↗ grants and Partnerships to fill the

1:03:44 ↗ funding gaps we reduced investment in a

1:03:47 ↗ tree giveaway program which is

1:03:49 ↗ supporting progress towards our tree

1:03:51 ↗ canopy targets however we have grant

1:03:53 ↗ funding we can pursue as well as commit

1:03:56 ↗ staff time to advancing that

1:03:58 ↗ program and then in terms of um

1:04:01 ↗ advancing or uh supplementing our budget

1:04:04 ↗ we are very fortunate that we have Grant

1:04:06 ↗ funds available that we can use to cover

1:04:08 ↗ some of our staff costs our Civic spark

1:04:10 ↗ fellow as well as some of the

1:04:12 ↗ programming that was originally proposed

1:04:14 ↗ in the sustainability fund

1:04:19 ↗ budget no questions at this time thank

1:04:22 ↗ you oh excuse me we've got one slow on

1:04:25 ↗ the draw um and I know we've talked

1:04:28 ↗ about this before but um if um 2117 is p

1:04:34 ↗ I'm presuming we have a plan B for this

1:04:37 ↗ budget so maybe go into that a little

1:04:39 ↗ bit Yeah so as of now we have full

1:04:43 ↗ funding that we need for our programming

1:04:45 ↗ in 25 and 26 through the proposed budget

1:04:48 ↗ if

1:04:49 ↗ 2117 um does pass and the climate

1:04:51 ↗ commitment Act is repealed we anticipate

1:04:54 ↗ less access to grant funding in the

1:04:57 ↗ future um that would be add-ons to what

1:04:59 ↗ we proposed this year so more solar

1:05:01 ↗ projects more um resilience programs

1:05:05 ↗ more incentives that go directly to

1:05:07 ↗ community members but right now um our

1:05:10 ↗ budget we see as whole for the

1:05:11 ↗ programming that we anticipate moving

1:05:13 ↗ forward in 25 and

1:05:17 ↗ 26 thank you

1:05:26 ↗ good evening city council Emily Moon

1:05:29 ↗ Public Works

1:05:30 ↗ director there are six divisions in

1:05:33 ↗ public works so we've given you seven

1:05:36 ↗ priorities from those divisions our

1:05:38 ↗ first is to continue our work to

1:05:40 ↗ implement our new asset management

1:05:44 ↗ system we went live recently with that

1:05:47 ↗ system it's uh helping us to track our

1:05:50 ↗ efforts and to schedule our resources

1:05:53 ↗ better and to forecast future needs

1:05:56 ↗ needs second is to ensure compliance

1:05:59 ↗ with mpds which is the national plant

1:06:02 ↗ discharge elimination

1:06:04 ↗ system and that's our regulatory

1:06:07 ↗ environment for all things storm

1:06:11 ↗ water third is to construct the Newport

1:06:14 ↗ sewer relocation which is the first

1:06:17 ↗ project and a series of projects uh

1:06:20 ↗ related to fish passage from wash do and

1:06:24 ↗ so we hope to be underway with that um

1:06:27 ↗ we're we're starting design uh this

1:06:31 ↗ year number four is to perform water

1:06:35 ↗ reservoir rehab this year we did an

1:06:37 ↗ evaluation of water reservoirs and we

1:06:40 ↗ now have a list of things to do to uh

1:06:43 ↗ improve each of those critical

1:06:45 ↗ infrastructure sites and that will

1:06:48 ↗ include a variety of tasks including

1:06:51 ↗ improving security doing some uh

1:06:54 ↗ replacement of age infrastructure adding

1:06:56 ↗ some decoris etc etc it's a very long

1:07:00 ↗ list at multiple

1:07:02 ↗ facilities number five is to complete

1:07:04 ↗ and Implement our utility rate study we

1:07:07 ↗ have that underway right now we

1:07:08 ↗ anticipate being back before you at the

1:07:11 ↗ end of q1 early Q2 next year to provide

1:07:15 ↗ you with those

1:07:17 ↗ recommendations number six is to update

1:07:20 ↗ our scada and its related Communications

1:07:23 ↗ skada is our water sewer in storm water

1:07:26 ↗ brain it's our control system that

1:07:28 ↗ allows us to uh operate certain features

1:07:32 ↗ remotely and to monitor their

1:07:36 ↗ performance number seven is to complete

1:07:38 ↗ the I90 Crossing study city council

1:07:41 ↗ knows we're in our early phase of

1:07:43 ↗ exploration on that project but we hope

1:07:45 ↗ this will culminate with a

1:07:47 ↗ recommendation of a future location for

1:07:49 ↗ an I90 Crossing that will feature

1:07:52 ↗ multimodal functionality

1:07:58 ↗ summarize the reductions in public works

1:08:01 ↗ first we have some staffing impacts

1:08:03 ↗ prositions are being reduced uh we

1:08:07 ↗ talked a little bit in the opening about

1:08:09 ↗ the uh Transportation program

1:08:11 ↗ coordinator which is a limited term

1:08:13 ↗ position that was to end at the uh end

1:08:16 ↗ of this year it is not being renewed or

1:08:19 ↗ converted a senior engineer from

1:08:21 ↗ Transportation were fortunate to have a

1:08:23 ↗ vacancy at the same time and utilities

1:08:25 ↗ engineering so that engineer will move

1:08:27 ↗ over to that Division and then a shop a

1:08:30 ↗ position which Services both Public

1:08:32 ↗ Works operations divisions and our Fleet

1:08:36 ↗ shop Metroflex mayor paully spoke about

1:08:39 ↗ Metroflex in her opening remarks this is

1:08:41 ↗ the on demand transportation service

1:08:44 ↗ that started this past year or year ago

1:08:47 ↗ and was due to be a 2-year

1:08:51 ↗ pilot Professional Services we have

1:08:54 ↗ reduced substantially in our engineering

1:08:59 ↗ Transportation division uh for a variety

1:09:01 ↗ of projects including the concurrency

1:09:03 ↗ policy and traffic impact fees update

1:09:07 ↗ and we've completed the technical update

1:09:10 ↗ on Transportation concurrency our next

1:09:13 ↗ phase was to evaluate our current policy

1:09:15 ↗ and make some recommendations if

1:09:17 ↗ warranted uh for any adjustments to that

1:09:19 ↗ policy we're now going to do what is

1:09:22 ↗ required minimally by state law

1:09:25 ↗ in order to make sure that we have um

1:09:28 ↗ addressed any policy gaps under state

1:09:31 ↗ law and we're going to do that work in

1:09:34 ↗ house we're also hoping that the

1:09:37 ↗ Washington State Department of Commerce

1:09:39 ↗ may have future grants that would allow

1:09:42 ↗ us to do some additional scope in a

1:09:45 ↗ future year to address the uh State's

1:09:48 ↗ requirements under the P plan for

1:09:51 ↗ 2029 for

1:09:53 ↗ multimodal and then Bennett is going to

1:09:57 ↗ talk soon about streets maintenance so

1:09:59 ↗ I'm not going to dive into that right

1:10:03 ↗ now some yes before we're going on go

1:10:09 ↗ ahead thanks um if you could go back to

1:10:12 ↗ the previous slide please so in regards

1:10:14 ↗ to Metroflex have we talked to King

1:10:17 ↗ County about um what we can and can't do

1:10:21 ↗ going forward and uh attempting to

1:10:23 ↗ maintain this service we have not yet

1:10:25 ↗ yet started those conversations we had a

1:10:27 ↗ conversation months ago uh about future

1:10:32 ↗ service

1:10:33 ↗ expansion uh we talked about the level

1:10:37 ↗ of City contribution in comparison to

1:10:41 ↗ other municipalities we have not yet had

1:10:44 ↗ a conversation with them about what it

1:10:45 ↗ means to reduce a portion of the overall

1:10:48 ↗ service budget city is contributing

1:10:52 ↗ roughly about 1/4 of the cost of this

1:10:55 ↗ service right now got it and I

1:10:58 ↗ understand that there are other

1:10:59 ↗ communities that are not having to

1:11:01 ↗ contribute that quarter uh is

1:11:06 ↗ there in absent to anything else

1:11:08 ↗ assuming that we don't have uh

1:11:11 ↗ productive conversations with King

1:11:13 ↗ County when will this service

1:11:14 ↗ end at the end of 2025 it was due to

1:11:19 ↗ end the budget for 2025 only includes a

1:11:23 ↗ portion of the city's contrib bution

1:11:25 ↗ there's a requirement that we provide

1:11:29 ↗ 100 days 180 days notice prior to the

1:11:32 ↗ next scheduled service change by Metro

1:11:35 ↗ which has not yet been announced and

1:11:37 ↗ then we have some pro-rated costs as

1:11:39 ↗ well so how much runway do we have right

1:11:42 ↗ now I I would say we have about six

1:11:45 ↗ months planned in the budget for

1:11:47 ↗ 2025 so we have six months to either

1:11:51 ↗ figure something out with the county or

1:11:53 ↗ shut this service I would say we have

1:11:55 ↗ less than that to figure out about

1:11:57 ↗ Runway sure so I would say we have a

1:12:00 ↗ couple of months to figure this out and

1:12:03 ↗ then provide that notice and not miss

1:12:06 ↗ the next scheduled change in that 180

1:12:09 ↗ day window thank you

1:12:15 ↗ sure so I wanted to also highlight some

1:12:18 ↗ additions that we have on the Utility

1:12:20 ↗ Fund side uh the public works department

1:12:23 ↗ is supported both by the general fund

1:12:25 ↗ and the Utility Fund and a variety of

1:12:28 ↗ special

1:12:29 ↗ funds in the Utility Fund we have

1:12:32 ↗ proposed some additional positions to

1:12:35 ↗ maintenance workers in storm water

1:12:37 ↗ utilities and all of these additions are

1:12:39 ↗ spread across uh the two years so two

1:12:42 ↗ maintenance workers in storm water an

1:12:45 ↗ mpds inspector that would provide some

1:12:49 ↗ assistance to both operations and

1:12:51 ↗ engineering and then a sewer maintenance

1:12:54 ↗ worker and also a utilities Tech and

1:12:58 ↗ maintenance workers provide our

1:13:00 ↗ day-to-day Service uh maintaining all of

1:13:02 ↗ our infrastructure the mpds inspector

1:13:06 ↗ would also help us to make sure that we

1:13:08 ↗ are performing the necessary compliance

1:13:11 ↗ inspections um in storm water in

1:13:13 ↗ particular we have had a huge increase

1:13:16 ↗ in the number of detentions treatment

1:13:19 ↗ and flow control devices in town uh for

1:13:22 ↗ example in 2018 there were 228 of those

1:13:27 ↗ devices and today we have approximately

1:13:31 ↗ 425 new regulations are constantly

1:13:34 ↗ changing mandating that we build more

1:13:36 ↗ facilities that we also design them to

1:13:39 ↗ be larger require them to have more

1:13:42 ↗ inspections Etc so our storm water fund

1:13:45 ↗ is in need of more assistance to keep

1:13:48 ↗ up on the the same is true on sewer in

1:13:52 ↗ terms of uh we are not meeting our

1:13:55 ↗ targets for inspection goals and

1:13:57 ↗ maintenance schedules and then on the

1:13:59 ↗ water side uh with the proposed

1:14:01 ↗ utilities tech there have been a lot of

1:14:03 ↗ changes in water regulations over the

1:14:05 ↗ last several years our last utilities

1:14:08 ↗ Tech was added in 2016 and if you think

1:14:11 ↗ about all the changes with lead copper

1:14:13 ↗ rules and pasas and a required amount of

1:14:16 ↗ sampling reporting Inventory management

1:14:19 ↗ and the customer service that comes with

1:14:22 ↗ our water utility all of those things

1:14:24 ↗ have grown in terms of the time

1:14:28 ↗ demands and with that I'm going to ask

1:14:31 ↗ if Bennett ashot before you go we've got

1:14:34 ↗ a question can we talk about the

1:14:37 ↗ additions

1:14:38 ↗ to utility Staffing and I guess I'm

1:14:40 ↗ really curious about two things one is

1:14:44 ↗ when when are we scheduled to do another

1:14:47 ↗ um rate study because I mean we we

1:14:50 ↗ fixate a lot or talk a lot about the

1:14:51 ↗ general fund but the Enterprise funds

1:14:53 ↗ are just as significant um and and

1:14:56 ↗ particularly since we're looking at

1:14:57 ↗ raising utility taxes I'm I'm just cons

1:15:01 ↗ curious about what the next rate study

1:15:05 ↗ would look like and what do we think the

1:15:07 ↗ impact of these new positions might be

1:15:11 ↗ yeah so the new the rate study is

1:15:14 ↗ underway right now we plan to bring

1:15:15 ↗ recommendations back to you at the end

1:15:17 ↗ of first quarter beginning of the second

1:15:19 ↗ quarter city council has adopted it's in

1:15:22 ↗ our ordinance currently the 202 5 rates

1:15:25 ↗ we have tried to balance to that uh 2026

1:15:29 ↗ proposes the same sort of year-over-year

1:15:31 ↗ increase just as a way to hypothesize

1:15:34 ↗ what we will need and to uh make sure we

1:15:37 ↗ don't have um irregular spikes in that

1:15:40 ↗ utility rate we know for certain utility

1:15:43 ↗ rates aren't going to go down um the

1:15:45 ↗ cost of services continues to go

1:15:48 ↗ up so we will be back with some updated

1:15:51 ↗ numbers about long-term costs and uh how

1:15:55 ↗ sufficient the proposed rate for 2026 is

1:15:58 ↗ when we come back in uh at the end of

1:16:02 ↗ q1 and just for this banal budget

1:16:07 ↗ where we've got

1:16:09 ↗ sufficient head Headroom in in the

1:16:13 ↗ utility budget and fund balances Etc to

1:16:17 ↗ cover

1:16:18 ↗ this we do but that's a short-term

1:16:21 ↗ picture uh we have outstanding and um

1:16:26 ↗ very large capital projects that are

1:16:28 ↗ coming in some funds uh that will drive

1:16:32 ↗ rates or our need to borrow ands

1:16:36 ↗ rates and uh certainly uh our operating

1:16:40 ↗ costs have continue to go up so we are

1:16:43 ↗ expending fund balance in 26 25 and 26

1:16:48 ↗ in order to uh make our uh expenditures

1:16:53 ↗ align with that forecast Ed and adopted

1:16:57 ↗ rate increase great

1:17:03 ↗ thanks okay now we can move on Street

1:17:05 ↗ operating ashb street operations

1:17:17 ↗ manager good

1:17:19 ↗ evening uh first I want to say thank you

1:17:22 ↗ guys for the past years of investment in

1:17:25 ↗ uh and Trust into the roadway

1:17:27 ↗ maintenance we made huge strides in our

1:17:29 ↗ mobility and Ada access um make more

1:17:33 ↗ visible Crossings and safer

1:17:35 ↗ roadways uh while we are looking at this

1:17:38 ↗ graph of street operations and

1:17:41 ↗ Engineering

1:17:42 ↗ operations uh along with the concrete

1:17:44 ↗ maintenance program and the pavement

1:17:46 ↗ Management program uh you're going to

1:17:48 ↗ see some uh decline in uh budget uh for

1:17:53 ↗ the 2025 and 26 proposed budget um the

1:17:58 ↗ reductions in the street operations and

1:18:00 ↗ Engineering lines uh mainly refers to uh

1:18:03 ↗ a reduction in stock

1:18:05 ↗ supplies um will'll make some changes to

1:18:08 ↗ some less durable

1:18:09 ↗ materials um will extend the life of

1:18:12 ↗ certain

1:18:14 ↗ facilities um and we are going to reduce

1:18:16 ↗ the outsourced work um that help

1:18:19 ↗ supplement our program during the summer

1:18:21 ↗ season uh as you guys are well aware we

1:18:23 ↗ have a you uh a very defined period of

1:18:29 ↗ dry weather in Washington and we have to

1:18:31 ↗ get a lot of work done on the Street

1:18:32 ↗ Maintenance side during that during that

1:18:34 ↗ time um so to get that to get all of

1:18:38 ↗ those tasks done in a reasonable amount

1:18:40 ↗ of time and get more done we have hired

1:18:43 ↗ out flagging

1:18:44 ↗ operations um Trucking operations and

1:18:47 ↗ other things like that we're going to

1:18:48 ↗ bring that back inhouse now that we have

1:18:51 ↗ a full staff um and we're going to

1:18:54 ↗ hopefully get that same amount of work

1:18:56 ↗ done um over the past years uh we have a

1:19:01 ↗ relatively new crew um we hired seven

1:19:04 ↗ individuals on our street maintenance

1:19:05 ↗ crew out of eight in the last uh three

1:19:09 ↗ years um over the last three years

1:19:12 ↗ they've really Advanced their skill uh

1:19:14 ↗ their skill level and their production

1:19:16 ↗ rate uh their production has gone up

1:19:19 ↗ drastically um so I'm confident that

1:19:22 ↗ with the reduced budget and with the uh

1:19:26 ↗ with the reduced budget and the street

1:19:27 ↗ operations that we can still maintain

1:19:28 ↗ the city um in a safe and reliable

1:19:32 ↗ way

1:19:34 ↗ um on CMP the concrete maintenance

1:19:37 ↗ program the orange line on the bottom um

1:19:41 ↗ you'll see that there is a pretty large

1:19:43 ↗ strike in the 2023 and 2024 uh or spike

1:19:47 ↗ in budget that was the uh arpa funding

1:19:51 ↗ increase um that was a huge investment

1:19:54 ↗ for the city we were able to not only

1:19:57 ↗ support the pavment management program

1:19:59 ↗ by updating ramps regulatory ramps that

1:20:02 ↗ were required to do um we were able to

1:20:05 ↗ uh make large investment in updating the

1:20:09 ↗ drainage along those roadways in the

1:20:10 ↗ curbing Gutter and then we were also

1:20:13 ↗ able to get a highedge mitigation

1:20:15 ↗ contract for concrete panels that are

1:20:17 ↗ lifted um and that contract was able to

1:20:21 ↗ mitigate 29% of our known High edges

1:20:24 ↗ throughout the city um that's a huge

1:20:27 ↗ number for us and we'll be conducting a

1:20:29 ↗ new a new inspection in 2025 to see

1:20:32 ↗ where we sit based on

1:20:34 ↗ that

1:20:36 ↗ um

1:20:38 ↗ so I'm going to talk about PMP so the

1:20:41 ↗ payment Management program um is the

1:20:44 ↗ green line there you can see we had um

1:20:48 ↗ we started off around 900,000 2019 we

1:20:51 ↗ had the covid impacts in 2020 uh and

1:20:54 ↗ then in 2021

1:20:57 ↗ 2022 you guys and administration chose

1:21:00 ↗ to fully fund that program um over the

1:21:03 ↗ last four years we have been able to

1:21:06 ↗ make huge strides in the uh pavement

1:21:09 ↗ condition index now I want to talk about

1:21:12 ↗ that so the pavement condition

1:21:17 ↗ index is a numerical rating from 0 to

1:21:20 ↗ 100 um that the worst possible condition

1:21:23 ↗ being Z and the best being 100 you can

1:21:25 ↗ kind of look at it as grades in the in

1:21:27 ↗ in uh in school so in 2019 we had a scan

1:21:32 ↗ done and our PCI was a

1:21:35 ↗ 69 general practice throughout the uh

1:21:38 ↗ throughout the industry throughout the

1:21:39 ↗ country is you want to shoot between

1:21:41 ↗ that 70 to 75 range as a cyia to have a

1:21:45 ↗ reliable

1:21:46 ↗ Network now that does that does change

1:21:49 ↗ based on that Rogue class right so in

1:21:53 ↗ 2022

1:21:55 ↗ we got another rating and our PCI jumped

1:21:58 ↗ to a

1:21:59 ↗ 76 and the reason for that is we did a

1:22:03 ↗ huge focus on arterial roadways um

1:22:06 ↗ arterial

1:22:08 ↗ roadways uh our rating was a 66 on

1:22:11 ↗ average and as you guys may have been

1:22:14 ↗ able to tell we've done Sunset and all

1:22:17 ↗ sorts of roadways throughout the city

1:22:18 ↗ and we also um were able to secure two

1:22:21 ↗ grants the help of engineering the NHS

1:22:23 ↗ grants um we were able to do Southeast

1:22:25 ↗ 43rd which is one of our worst artill

1:22:28 ↗ roadways and East Lake

1:22:31 ↗ samamish um so all of these different

1:22:34 ↗ the street operations the concrete

1:22:35 ↗ maintenance program the pavement

1:22:37 ↗ Management program all are tied together

1:22:40 ↗ um in a lot of

1:22:41 ↗ ways so um we're in a position if you

1:22:46 ↗ look at the red line on the on the graph

1:22:49 ↗ that's at the 25% that's what we've been

1:22:52 ↗ focusing on we've been focusing on the

1:22:54 ↗ arterior that are in poor condition to

1:22:55 ↗ try to raise that overall PCI the 75% is

1:23:00 ↗ keeping the good good roads good and

1:23:02 ↗ that is an integral part of the pavement

1:23:04 ↗ condition program so as we reduce

1:23:08 ↗ budget as needed um we are able to

1:23:12 ↗ switch our focus on that 75% because

1:23:15 ↗ we've made such an investment on the on

1:23:17 ↗ the arterial side so a perfectly

1:23:20 ↗ balanced payment Management program is

1:23:22 ↗ 75% keeping the good roads good and 25%

1:23:25 ↗ keeping the bad getting the bad roads

1:23:27 ↗ better right so we are now going to move

1:23:30 ↗ into that with surface seals crack seal

1:23:34 ↗ other preventative maintenance

1:23:36 ↗ activities that are really you have to

1:23:38 ↗ do to maintain the system as a ho um

1:23:43 ↗ we're that is a a surface Seal program

1:23:46 ↗ can run between eight and $10 a square

1:23:48 ↗ yard and overlay is going to run between

1:23:50 ↗ 35 and 45 so we can do a lot more and we

1:23:54 ↗ have communities that were all built at

1:23:56 ↗ once so we have Talis all built at once

1:23:58 ↗ all the roadways are built at once uh

1:24:00 ↗ Highlands you have two different groups

1:24:02 ↗ built there at once we need to start

1:24:04 ↗ breaking those roadways up so we can

1:24:07 ↗ have a manageable program we're not

1:24:09 ↗ going to be able to do a full investment

1:24:11 ↗ of many millions in those in those

1:24:13 ↗ neighborhoods all at once as they all

1:24:15 ↗ fail at the same rate so that that is

1:24:18 ↗ where we're going to move to uh in the

1:24:20 ↗ 25 26 Season we're going to focus on

1:24:23 ↗ preventative Main M and we still have a

1:24:26 ↗ few um roadways that we are fortunate

1:24:29 ↗ enough with the arpa funding to get

1:24:30 ↗ ahead on we've already performed all the

1:24:33 ↗ concrete on Talis drive for example we

1:24:35 ↗ performed all the concrete on 9th and

1:24:37 ↗ Highlands Drive so those are prepped and

1:24:40 ↗ ready for us when we need to perform

1:24:42 ↗ those

1:24:43 ↗ overlays so that's our that's the plan

1:24:45 ↗ moving forward um it's all part of the

1:24:50 ↗ program as we have fluctuations in

1:24:52 ↗ budgets we can make adjustments and it

1:24:54 ↗ will feed to good roadway

1:24:57 ↗ system any

1:25:01 ↗ questions oh I waited long enough go

1:25:05 ↗ ahead I would imagine that uh there's an

1:25:09 ↗ optimal if you look at the

1:25:11 ↗ cost like let's say I look at this and I

1:25:15 ↗ see that a road typically lasts 20 years

1:25:17 ↗ before it's basically so cooked as to be

1:25:20 ↗ very poor so you could

1:25:23 ↗ do certain amount of improvements every

1:25:25 ↗ single year or you could do a certain

1:25:28 ↗ different amount every four years or a

1:25:31 ↗ different amount every five years or

1:25:32 ↗ different amount every 10 years to cover

1:25:34 ↗ that 20-year interval um is there an

1:25:37 ↗ optimal from a cost standpoint like I

1:25:39 ↗ assume that um you know earlier is less

1:25:43 ↗ degr the degradation is nonlinear uh to

1:25:47 ↗ the system so uh more frequent early or

1:25:50 ↗ or more frequent smaller uh maintenance

1:25:53 ↗ is better than uh waiting 10 years yeah

1:25:57 ↗ so the degradation curve is this graph

1:26:01 ↗ so you know it platto in that good

1:26:03 ↗ category and then it just Dives really

1:26:05 ↗ hard uh down so the payment condition

1:26:09 ↗ index is proportional to the cost of of

1:26:11 ↗ getting it back up uh I mean it's all

1:26:13 ↗ tied together uh so yeah as you get

1:26:16 ↗ further down in the fair and poor

1:26:18 ↗ categories you're going to have to do

1:26:19 ↗ extensive patching to be able to just

1:26:21 ↗ put two Ines of asphalt on top

1:26:24 ↗ right so you're going to have to do

1:26:26 ↗ structural repairs once you get into the

1:26:28 ↗ poor and very poor and at this point in

1:26:31 ↗ time that's also ster uh triggering some

1:26:33 ↗ pretty significant storm water upgrade

1:26:36 ↗ requirements as well so we want to stay

1:26:38 ↗ ahead of them we want to break them up

1:26:40 ↗ as much as we can um but yes the optimal

1:26:44 ↗ time to do anything on the road and to

1:26:46 ↗ extend that life further would be in the

1:26:49 ↗ good the very top of the fair category

1:26:52 ↗ unfortunately our system is is doing

1:26:55 ↗ really well at the time because of our

1:26:57 ↗ investment thank you that's a that helps

1:27:00 ↗ me

1:27:03 ↗ understand thanks

1:27:07 ↗ Bennett who's

1:27:20 ↗ next me good evening Council I'm autumn

1:27:23 ↗ monah and I'm the administrative

1:27:25 ↗ Services director my department includes

1:27:27 ↗ several divisions it Fleet facilities

1:27:31 ↗ Emergency Management and

1:27:33 ↗ Communications priorities for uh this

1:27:35 ↗ proposed budget include as mentioned

1:27:37 ↗ before facilities maintenance following

1:27:39 ↗ our facilities condition assessment last

1:27:41 ↗ year long-term space planning which

1:27:43 ↗ we've talked a lot about um recently uh

1:27:47 ↗ we are now searching for a consultant

1:27:49 ↗ and have just um put out an RFP looking

1:27:51 ↗ for assistance to help us with a

1:27:53 ↗ community task force and some

1:27:54 ↗ recommendations on what's next for City

1:27:56 ↗ Hall and for uh the police building as

1:27:59 ↗ well as fire station

1:28:01 ↗ 71 uh in addition as you've heard too

1:28:04 ↗ are plans for moving the Municipal Court

1:28:05 ↗ over to the King County District Court

1:28:07 ↗ in at least space in addition uh

1:28:10 ↗ enhanced Fleet Maintenance more

1:28:12 ↗ resources are needed for that division

1:28:14 ↗ um we have had the same Staffing level

1:28:16 ↗ since 2004 but in that time we've added

1:28:20 ↗ 78 licensed vehicles to our Fleet and

1:28:23 ↗ more than 220 pieces of equipment so uh

1:28:26 ↗ more resources are needed to keep up

1:28:27 ↗ with maintenance of our

1:28:29 ↗ Fleet for it our priorities include

1:28:32 ↗ cyber security as always as well as

1:28:35 ↗ supporting the skada project uh that

1:28:37 ↗ Public Works has already

1:28:38 ↗ referenced and in Emergency Management

1:28:41 ↗ uh we remain focused on building

1:28:43 ↗ resiliency both internally as uh we

1:28:46 ↗ prepare for a response for any

1:28:47 ↗ emergencies as well as getting our

1:28:49 ↗ community ready as

1:28:52 ↗ well as for the reductions it includes a

1:28:56 ↗ uh limited term position as a

1:28:57 ↗ Communications

1:28:58 ↗ coordinator um some emergency management

1:29:01 ↗ funds that have been helpful for us as

1:29:02 ↗ we have attained state Grant matches and

1:29:06 ↗ some capital projects for

1:29:08 ↗ it a summary of additions include a

1:29:11 ↗ fleet mechanic um more uh resources

1:29:14 ↗ toward facilities maintenance to start

1:29:15 ↗ making some Headway on that uh condition

1:29:18 ↗ assessment and then the relocation of

1:29:20 ↗ Municipal Court and potentially council

1:29:21 ↗ chambers

1:29:24 ↗ any

1:29:29 ↗ questions okay we'll go Deputy council

1:29:32 ↗ president um so I had I had quite a few

1:29:35 ↗ questions about fleets so um just for my

1:29:38 ↗ own clarity about what I'm reading here

1:29:41 ↗ it looked like there was a substantial

1:29:43 ↗ increase in the Fleet Maintenance B

1:29:45 ↗ budget maintenance and as I understand

1:29:48 ↗ it now uh Fleet comes from many

1:29:51 ↗ different departments each department

1:29:53 ↗ has its own Fleet so this is a way of

1:29:57 ↗ putting all of those expenses together

1:29:58 ↗ into one account that correct what

1:30:01 ↗ you're seeing as far as the The

1:30:02 ↗ increased costs are mostly Capital costs

1:30:05 ↗ or or acquisition of replacement

1:30:07 ↗ vehicles um and a lot of those are also

1:30:10 ↗ driven by um other funds like utility

1:30:12 ↗ funds that can support them so it's not

1:30:14 ↗ all general fund so we can provide a

1:30:16 ↗ breakdown to that too for you yeah that

1:30:18 ↗ would be great really helpful to uh

1:30:21 ↗ understand um why there's such a

1:30:24 ↗ substantial increase in what's happening

1:30:26 ↗ there and uh I would appreciate a lot

1:30:28 ↗ more information about that thank

1:30:34 ↗ you any other questions okay I um also

1:30:38 ↗ had one trying to understand with the

1:30:41 ↗ Fleet Services let me find the line um

1:30:45 ↗ it looks like so you get cost

1:30:48 ↗ allocations from other City departments

1:30:51 ↗ and I'm showing in the 2023 202 for

1:30:54 ↗ adopted revenues was 5.4 million for the

1:30:57 ↗ fleet fund and then in 2025 2026

1:31:01 ↗ proposed revenues is 9.4 million that's

1:31:04 ↗ a huge increase so I'd love to know more

1:31:07 ↗ about that and whether it's coming from

1:31:10 ↗ any particular department and how we

1:31:13 ↗ better understand that sure definitely

1:31:16 ↗ thanks

1:31:35 ↗ good evening Council I'm here to talk

1:31:38 ↗ about Community Planning and Development

1:31:40 ↗ budget um in terms of our priorities of

1:31:44 ↗ course the number one priority is um

1:31:47 ↗ permit efficiency um so we've briefed

1:31:50 ↗ you before uh in terms of the findings

1:31:52 ↗ uh of our

1:31:54 ↗ consultant work that we did um which

1:31:57 ↗ outlined 12 different uh tasks that we

1:32:00 ↗ we plan we have already undertaken all

1:32:03 ↗ our staff has formed different groups

1:32:06 ↗ and and um is looking at holistically

1:32:09 ↗ all our process and procedures of course

1:32:11 ↗ this is coming at the heel of doing a

1:32:13 ↗ code update um also you know uh doing

1:32:17 ↗ all our paper records into digitization

1:32:21 ↗ and having them all on the SharePoint so

1:32:23 ↗ having those two large efforts underway

1:32:26 ↗ uh now the time is for all the

1:32:28 ↗ nitty-gritty implementation piece which

1:32:30 ↗ is no small task and feast to to get

1:32:34 ↗ into all the nuances of Permitting um so

1:32:37 ↗ we'll be spending a lot of our time uh

1:32:39 ↗ and that will be in addition to all the

1:32:42 ↗ permits that we'll be processing during

1:32:44 ↗ that time to the order of uh and all the

1:32:47 ↗ emails and the phone calls because CPD

1:32:50 ↗ is one division of the city that

1:32:52 ↗ actually brings in Reven Revenue into

1:32:54 ↗ the general fund uh we also support

1:32:57 ↗ direct interaction with community in

1:33:00 ↗ terms of all their questions about

1:33:02 ↗ growth and development what's happening

1:33:03 ↗ next to my neighbor's property what is

1:33:05 ↗ all of this uh why are these trees

1:33:07 ↗ coming down to uh you know uh all of

1:33:11 ↗ that um in addition to all the permits

1:33:14 ↗ that we process which um the last we

1:33:17 ↗ checked for 2024 we had 7,000

1:33:20 ↗ inspections we had 4,000 review line

1:33:23 ↗ items so all of the permit process

1:33:25 ↗ enhancement work is happening while

1:33:28 ↗ we're also doing all our permit process

1:33:30 ↗ which our team is excited uh you know

1:33:33 ↗ looking at holistically all our process

1:33:35 ↗ and procedures uh the second list uh

1:33:37 ↗ item in here that is currently underway

1:33:40 ↗ is the midal housing study uh so we've

1:33:43 ↗ had multiple meetings with the planning

1:33:45 ↗ and policy commission we had a tour last

1:33:47 ↗ Thursday we're planning a tour for

1:33:49 ↗ Council um that comes from um the state

1:33:52 ↗ bill that you know um wants us to allow

1:33:56 ↗ uh all the duplexes triplexes and cages

1:33:59 ↗ in all our single family zones um so

1:34:02 ↗ there's a lot of community conversations

1:34:04 ↗ around that topic uh a lot of practical

1:34:07 ↗ implications that we need to study that

1:34:09 ↗ work is funded by grant that we applied

1:34:12 ↗ for uh Department of Commerce uh in the

1:34:14 ↗ last bium and that is funding uh the

1:34:17 ↗ remainder work is uh staff supported uh

1:34:20 ↗ the third one on this list is um active

1:34:24 ↗ Transportation study that we have a

1:34:26 ↗ phenomenal senior Transportation planner

1:34:29 ↗ he took it upon himself to apply for

1:34:31 ↗ this funding uh to the order of $200,000

1:34:35 ↗ if we are successful in getting that

1:34:36 ↗ Grant uh there is a matching uh fund uh

1:34:40 ↗ of about $60,000 uh but it would bring

1:34:42 ↗ in

1:34:44 ↗ $240,000 uh to look at all the you know

1:34:47 ↗ our um our infrastructure or a Walk and

1:34:51 ↗ Roll plan that was done in 2015 is

1:34:53 ↗ establishes some of the things so this

1:34:55 ↗ would update a lot of the stuff for

1:34:57 ↗ mobility and and have Community

1:34:59 ↗ conversations about prioritizing the

1:35:01 ↗ elements on Transportation but again if

1:35:04 ↗ we don't get the grant then this work

1:35:06 ↗ will not

1:35:08 ↗ happen um in terms of reductions um our

1:35:11 ↗ department has uh some staffing

1:35:14 ↗ reductions of not only vacant positions

1:35:17 ↗ but um staff that fill those positions

1:35:20 ↗ uh the current um um list here is the

1:35:24 ↗ department operations specialist Uh

1:35:26 ↗ current planning manager which is

1:35:28 ↗ currently vacant uh associate planner

1:35:30 ↗ and an engineer position um and then

1:35:34 ↗ also Professional Services uh for all

1:35:37 ↗ these studies um which housing and

1:35:39 ↗ parking study was in our budget from

1:35:41 ↗ last year uh transfer of development um

1:35:45 ↗ Rights was also part of the last year's

1:35:47 ↗ bayum uh but those are not reauthorized

1:35:50 ↗ in the next in the next banian budget um

1:35:53 ↗ we were contemplating a light rail

1:35:55 ↗ station analysis and design study that

1:35:57 ↗ was informed by the Light Rail planning

1:35:59 ↗ guide that Council uh adopted uh so that

1:36:02 ↗ will be deferred as well

1:36:05 ↗ um uh in terms of additions uh the first

1:36:08 ↗ one is we've asked our long-range

1:36:10 ↗ planning manager to take on current

1:36:11 ↗ planning manager duties um a senior

1:36:14 ↗ planner Position will transition from

1:36:15 ↗ part-time to full-time and in your

1:36:18 ↗ budget you also see a permit Center

1:36:19 ↗ coordinator

1:36:21 ↗ position I think that's it for before

1:36:25 ↗ you go yes um Deputy council president D

1:36:29 ↗ Michelle so I know that we're in the

1:36:31 ↗ process right now doing visioning for uh

1:36:34 ↗ the Light Rail station and what that is

1:36:37 ↗ going to look like and then so how does

1:36:40 ↗ this reduction of a analysis and design

1:36:43 ↗ study fit with the process that we're

1:36:46 ↗ already in if we're going to reduce in

1:36:49 ↗ other words is what we're doing now

1:36:51 ↗ going to go forward into the next step

1:36:55 ↗ or are we reducing that we will be

1:36:57 ↗ reducing

1:36:59 ↗ that okay thank you for that

1:37:06 ↗ information

1:37:16 ↗ okay good evening Council Jeff Watling

1:37:18 ↗ parks and Community Services uh director

1:37:21 ↗ uh here to to talk about the Department

1:37:24 ↗ uh real quickly um some of the top

1:37:26 ↗ priorities for 25 26 for us across all

1:37:29 ↗ lines of um work uh within the

1:37:32 ↗ department um comprised of of five

1:37:34 ↗ divisions um first um and thank you um

1:37:39 ↗ as well um Park open space and Trail

1:37:41 ↗ maintenance remains a high priority for

1:37:43 ↗ us um I say thank you I think over the

1:37:46 ↗ last couple of years uh with additional

1:37:49 ↗ resources um including General Park

1:37:51 ↗ maintenance um as well as Urban forestry

1:37:54 ↗ um our green isqua program we've seen um

1:37:57 ↗ significant um improvements in the level

1:37:59 ↗ of service uh within uh within the park

1:38:01 ↗ system and um as we now look at

1:38:04 ↗ absorbing reductions uh we're going to

1:38:06 ↗ do all we can to to not go too far

1:38:09 ↗ backwards um another priority remains

1:38:11 ↗ Park capital projects and Investments uh

1:38:14 ↗ with our Park planning team uh two

1:38:16 ↗ capital projects currently underway a

1:38:18 ↗ third one uh that we'll have underway

1:38:20 ↗ early next year so we anticipate in

1:38:22 ↗ completing those three projects projects

1:38:23 ↗ by the end of 2025 that's our Hillside

1:38:26 ↗ Park project um and new Wetland uh that

1:38:29 ↗ are near completion um the arpa funded

1:38:33 ↗ pedestrian Park Senior Center pla Plaza

1:38:35 ↗ project that's about to get underway

1:38:37 ↗ constructionwise and then the Rainer

1:38:39 ↗ Trail Dog Park uh we also have

1:38:41 ↗ priorities uh for continued Capital

1:38:44 ↗ planning uh for um other Investments uh

1:38:47 ↗ that communi certainly identify as as

1:38:50 ↗ high priorities and having a a high

1:38:53 ↗ functioning

1:38:54 ↗ well performing Park

1:38:56 ↗ system uh next priority uh continued

1:38:59 ↗ emphasis in human services and how we

1:39:02 ↗ serve this community um serve uh those

1:39:05 ↗ in need in this community uh really

1:39:07 ↗ through a mix of um outstanding Grant

1:39:10 ↗ Administration and making sure those

1:39:12 ↗ grants are achieving the outcomes we

1:39:13 ↗ want um as well as our investments and

1:39:16 ↗ excellent staff in Behavioral Health um

1:39:19 ↗ and homelessness Outreach which again is

1:39:21 ↗ programs we've seen uh mendous progress

1:39:24 ↗ in over the years so that remains a

1:39:26 ↗ priority another priority within human

1:39:28 ↗ services will be uh seeking a new model

1:39:32 ↗ um and a new partner uh for our

1:39:34 ↗ emergency housing program within the

1:39:36 ↗ proposed 2526 budget uh we propos

1:39:39 ↗ keeping some funding in there um as you

1:39:42 ↗ know we just completed our pilot

1:39:44 ↗ emergency housing program with a

1:39:45 ↗ partnership with Motel 6 and saw some

1:39:47 ↗ very successful outcomes with that uh

1:39:50 ↗ with that project and program

1:39:54 ↗ uh next priority is continuing to

1:39:56 ↗ provide excellence in Recreation

1:39:58 ↗ programs and services and events uh this

1:40:01 ↗ is really through constant evaluation of

1:40:03 ↗ those programs uh making sure we are

1:40:06 ↗ meeting Community needs um through a

1:40:09 ↗ variety all four of our facilities um

1:40:12 ↗ and a wide variety of of programs um I

1:40:15 ↗ would want to note um this work includes

1:40:18 ↗ some proposed fee increases um you heard

1:40:21 ↗ some of the fee increases mentioned

1:40:22 ↗ earlier so as we get further into budget

1:40:24 ↗ deliberations the proposed fee increases

1:40:26 ↗ we have in Recreation uh will will most

1:40:29 ↗ likely be part of that conversation as

1:40:31 ↗ well uh last priority um is the

1:40:34 ↗ Arts um and U more specifically uh

1:40:38 ↗ identifying an additional Revenue Source

1:40:40 ↗ or sources uh to support the art fund uh

1:40:44 ↗ you know from prior conversations we've

1:40:46 ↗ had with you um over the last couple of

1:40:48 ↗ years um one of the um recognitions

1:40:51 ↗ we've seen coming out of the pandemic is

1:40:53 ↗ the movie industry the entertainment

1:40:54 ↗ industry has changed uh the primary

1:40:56 ↗ funding source of the art fund is the

1:40:58 ↗ emissions tax uh that's a different rate

1:41:00 ↗ right now uh coming in at a different

1:41:02 ↗ rate and so knowing general fund is not

1:41:05 ↗ in a position to uh support uh that art

1:41:08 ↗ program on an ongoing basis currently um

1:41:11 ↗ Amy dukes and I will be taking it upon

1:41:14 ↗ ourselves and and leading an effort to

1:41:16 ↗ uh seek some additional um external

1:41:19 ↗ Revenue sources that could help um that

1:41:22 ↗ um priority

1:41:25 ↗ program as I now shift to um identifying

1:41:29 ↗ just talking through the reductions I

1:41:31 ↗ just want I want to give some context um

1:41:33 ↗ as stated earlier U the general fund is

1:41:36 ↗ certainly a a big portion of this budget

1:41:39 ↗ reset we're looking at in

1:41:41 ↗ 2526 um the department of parks and

1:41:43 ↗ Community Services um its primary um

1:41:47 ↗ operational fund is the general fund uh

1:41:49 ↗ so um as those reductions are made uh

1:41:53 ↗ just just again for context uh we're

1:41:56 ↗ absorbing through these reductions uh

1:41:58 ↗ just over a million dollar a year uh

1:42:00 ↗ reduction in the in the general fund

1:42:02 ↗ investment level um into the department

1:42:04 ↗ and so that really translates to uh some

1:42:07 ↗ pretty significant impacts into uh the

1:42:10 ↗ service levels um um to the community so

1:42:15 ↗ going down this list and and really I'm

1:42:17 ↗ highlighting this by division uh within

1:42:19 ↗ the within the department uh within our

1:42:21 ↗ Park planning team um

1:42:23 ↗ these reductions include the elimination

1:42:25 ↗ of a senior Park planner position

1:42:28 ↗ leaving us with one um Park planner for

1:42:31 ↗ that U group to continue to do um

1:42:34 ↗ important um Capital planning and

1:42:37 ↗ capital Investments within um the parks

1:42:39 ↗ and open space system um it's just going

1:42:41 ↗ to result in a diff a decreased rate um

1:42:44 ↗ of of work and projects that we're able

1:42:46 ↗ to get done uh within the park

1:42:48 ↗ Operations Division uh the elimination

1:42:51 ↗ of a 75 full-time maintenance worker 2

1:42:55 ↗ position as well as some reductions in

1:42:57 ↗ part-time seasonal staff we're also

1:43:00 ↗ looking at the expenditure expenditure

1:43:02 ↗ wise within that division reducing uh

1:43:05 ↗ some of our watering our irrigation um

1:43:08 ↗ and our turf maintenance practices

1:43:09 ↗ throughout uh the the park system uh

1:43:12 ↗ this is going to result in come

1:43:14 ↗ summertime U some of our street Scapes

1:43:17 ↗ uh some of our turf areas um taking on

1:43:19 ↗ more of a a brownish tint uh throughout

1:43:22 ↗ the the summer months

1:43:25 ↗ uh within

1:43:27 ↗ Recreation um the proposed reductions

1:43:29 ↗ include the elimination of one of our

1:43:31 ↗ Recreation coordinator positions uh this

1:43:34 ↗ will result in reduced programming

1:43:35 ↗ levels um throughout our four facilities

1:43:40 ↗ namely um as the the rest of the

1:43:43 ↗ coordinating team the rest of the

1:43:44 ↗ programming team um absorbs that absorbs

1:43:47 ↗ that

1:43:48 ↗ loss uh within Human Services uh we are

1:43:51 ↗ looking at uh proposing to resize the

1:43:53 ↗ leadership team within that division um

1:43:56 ↗ with the elimination of the behavioral

1:43:58 ↗ health supervisor position um uh

1:44:02 ↗ previously in the 2324 budget the

1:44:04 ↗ leadership team within the human

1:44:06 ↗ services division was Monica Nilla as

1:44:08 ↗ manager uh Brenda as the behavioral

1:44:11 ↗ health supervisor and Hannah as the

1:44:14 ↗ human services coordinator uh this

1:44:16 ↗ budget would resize that group to two

1:44:18 ↗ individuals uh it would be Brenda and H

1:44:21 ↗ and Hannah um again two incredibly

1:44:24 ↗ capable professionals uh but I would

1:44:26 ↗ note it reduces our capacity um within

1:44:30 ↗ that uh within that group and and within

1:44:33 ↗ our ability to respond uh to to Human

1:44:36 ↗ Services needs as they as they

1:44:39 ↗ arise within Arts as was mentioned

1:44:42 ↗ earlier a reduction in our grant program

1:44:44 ↗ in 2526 by

1:44:46 ↗ 35% um I would note in this um along

1:44:50 ↗ with um just General Grant reduction

1:44:53 ↗ um this

1:44:54 ↗ 35% um reduction is really

1:44:57 ↗ representative and reflective of what

1:44:59 ↗ the admissions tax can afford uh so what

1:45:01 ↗ we're proposing in 2526 while we're

1:45:04 ↗ going out and seeking additional Revenue

1:45:06 ↗ sources uh we're proposing a 2526 budget

1:45:11 ↗ that is able to live within the

1:45:13 ↗ admissions tax um revenues so it will

1:45:16 ↗ not um though not directly benefiting

1:45:19 ↗ the general fund uh we're positioning

1:45:21 ↗ that arts program and that Arts fund not

1:45:23 ↗ to be reliant on the general fund for

1:45:27 ↗ 2526 and then last uh reduction as we

1:45:31 ↗ look at um all of our divisions

1:45:33 ↗ absorbing a pretty sizable reduction

1:45:35 ↗ within the department uh we took a look

1:45:36 ↗ at the department leadership team um and

1:45:40 ↗ reduce the size of that group with the

1:45:42 ↗ elimination of the the recreation

1:45:44 ↗ manager position um as we again absorb a

1:45:47 ↗ 15% reduction uh we wanted to make sure

1:45:50 ↗ that we were not

1:45:51 ↗ disproportionately uh cutting reducing

1:45:54 ↗ all Frontline Services um in um what we

1:45:58 ↗ do in the services we do across those

1:46:00 ↗ five divisions in um to in and for the

1:46:05 ↗ community this will reduce our uh

1:46:08 ↗ Department leadership team the rest of

1:46:10 ↗ of U the managers and myself will um um

1:46:14 ↗ work at um absorbing that and making

1:46:16 ↗ sure that the our Recreation team and

1:46:20 ↗ those

1:46:21 ↗ Recreation uh facilities excuse me still

1:46:24 ↗ get the quality leadership um and

1:46:26 ↗ management that they um need and that

1:46:28 ↗ they uh they

1:46:32 ↗ deserve lastly uh two additions I wanted

1:46:35 ↗ to note um both of these would be um

1:46:39 ↗ requested expenditure increases that

1:46:41 ↗ also bring with them grant funding um

1:46:43 ↗ being proposed for both of them so first

1:46:45 ↗ with the success of green isqua uh we're

1:46:48 ↗ proposing to um increase that from a 0.5

1:46:51 ↗ FTE to a 75

1:46:53 ↗ um FTE position we've had such great

1:46:55 ↗ response from the community um residents

1:46:58 ↗ and business Community to our green

1:46:59 ↗ isqua program we want to increase the

1:47:01 ↗ capacity of that coordinator again that

1:47:03 ↗ would be Grant funded um the next um

1:47:07 ↗ addition also Grant funded um as the

1:47:11 ↗ we've been working on the urban Forest

1:47:12 ↗ management plan that um services safety

1:47:15 ↗ and Parks committee will be seeing next

1:47:16 ↗ month uh one of the recommendations not

1:47:19 ↗ to to spoil it uh will be uh completing

1:47:22 ↗ a tree in ventory we would like to do

1:47:24 ↗ the first phase of that tree inventory

1:47:26 ↗ in 2526 and again um go get some grant

1:47:29 ↗ funding uh to be able to get that

1:47:33 ↗ done

1:47:38 ↗ questions all right I've waited long

1:47:40 ↗ enough thank

1:47:42 ↗ you I believe Andrea going back to you

1:47:53 ↗ thank you Jeff uh so last slide because

1:47:56 ↗ there are smaller departments thought

1:47:58 ↗ we' just combine them and provide a high

1:47:59 ↗ level summary uh for the exec Department

1:48:03 ↗ uh HR and finance so um we have

1:48:06 ↗ reductions we've already talked about

1:48:08 ↗ those positions unfortunately uh then um

1:48:11 ↗ we also similar to what director Watling

1:48:14 ↗ was just talking about with a reduction

1:48:16 ↗ to the Arts grants um we've looked at

1:48:19 ↗ those Community groups um like friends

1:48:22 ↗ of Lake s fish uh Isa history museums

1:48:26 ↗ and the city provided grants to those

1:48:27 ↗ Community groups were decreasing by 12%

1:48:30 ↗ in 2026 the reasons behind this is that

1:48:33 ↗ in order to balance the budget for 25

1:48:35 ↗ and 26 we asked our departments to

1:48:38 ↗ provide recommendations for reductions

1:48:40 ↗ around 12% and so we wanted um while we

1:48:44 ↗ had to do layoffs and cut back costs we

1:48:46 ↗ felt it only appropriate to ask our

1:48:47 ↗ Community Partners to do the same this

1:48:51 ↗ allows them 2025

1:48:53 ↗ to figure out how they would deal with a

1:48:55 ↗ decrease in funding from the city

1:48:57 ↗ whether that means changes to their

1:48:59 ↗ operations or other ways to fund raise

1:49:01 ↗ for their

1:49:04 ↗ organizations also uh reductions among

1:49:07 ↗ these budgets the the three departments

1:49:10 ↗ right sizing legal costs so in the past

1:49:12 ↗ we've paid a lot more for legal costs

1:49:14 ↗ we've had large uh litigation budgets

1:49:17 ↗ for example so the budget includes the

1:49:20 ↗ proposed budget includes right sizing

1:49:21 ↗ those legal costs to

1:49:23 ↗ um more of what our actuals were in 24

1:49:27 ↗ and what we predict moving forward and

1:49:29 ↗ then our training costs we've had large

1:49:31 ↗ unspent budgets in HR and training and

1:49:35 ↗ so we're right sizing those to about

1:49:36 ↗ what we had

1:49:38 ↗ anticipated summary of additions to

1:49:41 ↗ these budgets we talked before about the

1:49:43 ↗ public defender and prosecutor contract

1:49:45 ↗ increases while that's a cost-free

1:49:47 ↗ municipal court it comes out of the

1:49:50 ↗ exact Department budget

1:49:52 ↗ and then um also the equity assessment

1:49:55 ↗ so we had said in the beginning that

1:49:57 ↗ Equity was one of the budget priorities

1:49:59 ↗ for mayor pully for this proposed budget

1:50:01 ↗ the equity assessment you may recall we

1:50:03 ↗ discussed as a priority from the

1:50:05 ↗ administration in the city council

1:50:07 ↗ Retreat back in July at that time we had

1:50:10 ↗ identified the equity assessment uh to

1:50:13 ↗ be very robust and thorough and cost uh

1:50:17 ↗ $250,000 in the proposed budget we

1:50:19 ↗ reduced that amount to $50,000 so that

1:50:21 ↗ we can continue to kind of make progress

1:50:24 ↗ on Equity we hope for this Equity

1:50:26 ↗ assessment is that we come together uh

1:50:29 ↗ use that Professional Service 50,000 to

1:50:31 ↗ establish goals for equity and identify

1:50:34 ↗ areas of needed Improvement to uh reach

1:50:37 ↗ those

1:50:39 ↗ goals that's it on the department um

1:50:43 ↗ specific budget

1:50:46 ↗ breakdown any questions at this point

1:50:48 ↗ before we move on to next steps with the

1:50:50 ↗ budget

1:50:55 ↗ not seeing any right now great thank

1:50:59 ↗ you so there's a lot that we did not

1:51:02 ↗ solve with this 2526 proposed budget and

1:51:06 ↗ there's a lot of future work that we

1:51:08 ↗ want to um discuss as we move on uh past

1:51:13 ↗ this budget adoption process one of

1:51:15 ↗ those things I'm going to go back to the

1:51:17 ↗ structural deficit and we've talked

1:51:20 ↗ about how those expens ures are rising

1:51:24 ↗ um faster than our revenues are and uh

1:51:27 ↗ we believe that this is a revenue

1:51:29 ↗ problem because Washington State

1:51:31 ↗ restricts our growth in revenues and so

1:51:33 ↗ what we would like to do is the

1:51:34 ↗ administration is come back and talk to

1:51:36 ↗ council about how to address the

1:51:38 ↗ structural deficit uh especially as we

1:51:42 ↗ progress through 2025 and 2026 in

1:51:45 ↗ advance of that creation of the 2027

1:51:48 ↗ 2028 budget so looking at the structural

1:51:50 ↗ deficit is something that we want to

1:51:51 ↗ continue those conversations with you on

1:51:54 ↗ also as part of addressing the

1:51:56 ↗ structural deficit we would like to come

1:51:58 ↗ back and talk about revisions to our

1:52:00 ↗ financial management policy to address

1:52:02 ↗ the construction sales tax in the past

1:52:05 ↗ the city of isqua has balanced our

1:52:08 ↗ operating needs off of what we've

1:52:11 ↗ received in construction sales tax and

1:52:14 ↗ while that's a it's a volatile Revenue

1:52:16 ↗ Source the city has experienced great

1:52:18 ↗ growth over the past couple of decades

1:52:20 ↗ it was less volatile than what we see

1:52:23 ↗ today and what we're predicting in the

1:52:24 ↗ future and so we need to shift and

1:52:27 ↗ change our relationship with this uh

1:52:29 ↗ source of funding so that we don't end

1:52:30 ↗ up in a position where we have to make

1:52:32 ↗ dramatic Cuts just because construction

1:52:35 ↗ has

1:52:37 ↗ fallen another uh item that we'd like to

1:52:40 ↗ solve in future work that isn't resolved

1:52:42 ↗ with this proposed budget is capital

1:52:43 ↗ funding we've been talking with Council

1:52:46 ↗ about needed Public Safety facilities

1:52:48 ↗ funding as I said earlier those

1:52:51 ↗ assumptions are not in this budget

1:52:53 ↗ we've talked in the past about what

1:52:54 ↗ could that funding source be is that a

1:52:56 ↗ is that a bond or what is that those

1:52:58 ↗ discussions we'd like to continue with

1:53:00 ↗ city council we've also talked as you

1:53:02 ↗ recall with the uh Community uh task

1:53:06 ↗ force Capital financing task force

1:53:09 ↗ long-term funding for parks and

1:53:10 ↗ transportation which are also big um

1:53:13 ↗ expenditure areas in our budget last

1:53:15 ↗ year city council passed the

1:53:16 ↗ transportation benefit district sales

1:53:18 ↗ tax on Transportation that's been really

1:53:21 ↗ helpful we've put that to good work in

1:53:22 ↗ the proposed budget but we have

1:53:24 ↗ continued needs in transportation that

1:53:26 ↗ are very expensive and um we'll need to

1:53:28 ↗ address that sometime in the

1:53:31 ↗ future and before we move on question go

1:53:35 ↗ ahead um in terms of future work um we

1:53:39 ↗ have a presidential election in a little

1:53:41 ↗ couple of weeks um could you talk about

1:53:44 ↗ how the administration game theories or

1:53:46 ↗ kind of plans for potential financing

1:53:50 ↗ through grants depending on which

1:53:52 ↗ Administration might win or which party

1:53:54 ↗ might win and I've heard a lot from

1:53:56 ↗ staff tonight about positioning

1:53:59 ↗ themselves for these grants and um you

1:54:01 ↗ know to to make sure that we get that

1:54:03 ↗ funding if you could talk a little bit

1:54:05 ↗ about that in general I'd appreciate

1:54:07 ↗ it well the city's been very fortunate

1:54:10 ↗ with grants we've gotten pretty good at

1:54:12 ↗ applying for them and that's great um we

1:54:15 ↗ also with grants for capital projects um

1:54:18 ↗ it may be that if we don't achieve

1:54:20 ↗ funding for certain capital projects

1:54:22 ↗ then we push those projects into future

1:54:24 ↗ years um so those are some of the

1:54:27 ↗ options but I don't know if City

1:54:28 ↗ administrator Bob quit wants to add

1:54:30 ↗ anything I haven't said much tonight I

1:54:32 ↗ want to contribute to the cause

1:54:36 ↗ um clearly on the national level there

1:54:38 ↗ are two very different views of the

1:54:40 ↗ world and I think as those views of the

1:54:43 ↗ world are measured by voters over the

1:54:45 ↗ next week or so uh they will have an

1:54:48 ↗ impact uh I think one view uh shows that

1:54:50 ↗ there'll be continued investment uh by

1:54:53 ↗ the federal government and a whole

1:54:54 ↗ variety of things we've talked about

1:54:56 ↗ tonight um I think there's another view

1:54:58 ↗ where that investment is discontinued or

1:55:01 ↗ certainly discontinued in parts of the

1:55:02 ↗ country that may be viewed as not

1:55:04 ↗ needing it or not using it in in an

1:55:08 ↗ appropriate way so um it's difficult to

1:55:11 ↗ have tea leaves and and look at this as

1:55:14 ↗ carefully as we would like um but uh um

1:55:18 ↗ you know the role of the Federal

1:55:19 ↗ Government in supporting uh local

1:55:21 ↗ governments is is certainly on the

1:55:23 ↗ ballot in a week and a

1:55:28 ↗ half thank you I appreciate that I I

1:55:31 ↗ have great trust that the administration

1:55:33 ↗ is is um planning for that and you're

1:55:36 ↗ positioning

1:55:37 ↗ yourselves uh depending on how this

1:55:40 ↗ election comes out and uh I know that

1:55:42 ↗ you'll do your very best to give us all

1:55:45 ↗ the opportunities to have budget

1:55:47 ↗ flexibility so thank

1:55:50 ↗ you thank you council member

1:55:53 ↗ other things that are not addressed in

1:55:55 ↗ the 2526 proposed budget that we'd like

1:55:58 ↗ to continue conversations with Council

1:56:00 ↗ past this budget process or jail

1:56:02 ↗ services so you heard us say earlier

1:56:05 ↗ that we are adjusting some of the

1:56:06 ↗ contracts to try to make sure that we

1:56:08 ↗ are um covering the cost of jail

1:56:11 ↗ services but this is something that we

1:56:13 ↗ feel needs further analysis the cost for

1:56:16 ↗ jail is increasing greatly the insurance

1:56:19 ↗ the medical costs Etc and uh we would

1:56:23 ↗ like to take this opportunity to do an

1:56:25 ↗ analysis to really understand what are

1:56:26 ↗ those costs to isqua taxpayers um are

1:56:30 ↗ there better ways to do it Etc so we

1:56:32 ↗ think this is going to be an ongoing

1:56:33 ↗ conversation we'll have in the next

1:56:34 ↗ bayum with

1:56:36 ↗ Council then we talked

1:56:39 ↗ to one more thank you um when we look at

1:56:43 ↗ that jail service analysis um do we put

1:56:47 ↗ in the some type of accounting for the

1:56:50 ↗ fixed costs that we as citizens have put

1:56:53 ↗ forward to build that jail and maintain

1:56:56 ↗ that facility uh along the way and um I

1:56:59 ↗ know that when we do contract sometimes

1:57:00 ↗ it's just the cost of the service to get

1:57:03 ↗ UPS to deliver our package or what have

1:57:05 ↗ you but you can comment on that that' be

1:57:07 ↗ much

1:57:09 ↗ appreciated certainly facility costs

1:57:11 ↗ need to be part of this analysis when

1:57:13 ↗ we've done a back of the envelope

1:57:15 ↗ analysis for the preparation of this

1:57:18 ↗ budget we did include some estimates for

1:57:20 ↗ facilities um the jail facility needs a

1:57:23 ↗ lot more Investments moving forward as

1:57:26 ↗ well just like the rest of our

1:57:28 ↗ facilities and infrastructure and so

1:57:30 ↗ that is part of the total cost of

1:57:32 ↗ providing this service is is the

1:57:35 ↗ facilities cost and is something that we

1:57:37 ↗ would be sure to include in further

1:57:43 ↗ analysis um other things that we uh

1:57:45 ↗ talked about I know Council had some

1:57:47 ↗ questions about this evening is Fleet

1:57:48 ↗ fund we have provided a a fleet study

1:57:52 ↗ over the past year or so to better

1:57:54 ↗ understand um what the costs are of

1:57:57 ↗ managing the city fleet moving forward

1:58:00 ↗ and while there is a large jump as was

1:58:03 ↗ preserved in this Fleet fund budget um

1:58:07 ↗ our Fleet study would suggest it's not

1:58:09 ↗ large enough and so there are we

1:58:12 ↗ anticipate additional contributions we

1:58:14 ↗ will need to make in the future in order

1:58:16 ↗ to rightsize the fleet fund with um the

1:58:20 ↗ the assets that we have replacement of

1:58:22 ↗ of those assets maintenance of those

1:58:23 ↗ assets and of course future purchases

1:58:25 ↗ according to our needs so that is

1:58:28 ↗ something that we do anticipate coming

1:58:30 ↗ back it is uh a liability that we have

1:58:32 ↗ not fully resolved in this proposed

1:58:35 ↗ budget and of course we will come back

1:58:37 ↗ to council with more information as

1:58:38 ↗ requested on the fleet fund and what's

1:58:40 ↗ driving those

1:58:41 ↗ costs in addition I believe director

1:58:44 ↗ Watling already talked about the art

1:58:45 ↗ fund with uh the revenues declining and

1:58:49 ↗ certainly not growing with related

1:58:51 ↗ expenditures that's a future

1:58:52 ↗ conversation we would like to have with

1:58:54 ↗ Council to understand uh what's the

1:58:56 ↗ council's will with the future of this

1:58:58 ↗ fund uh similar but to a less degree

1:59:01 ↗ cable TV fund the rules around cable TV

1:59:05 ↗ fund have changed with the FCC and what

1:59:08 ↗ we can do and what we can't we may just

1:59:10 ↗ absorb that into the general fund we can

1:59:12 ↗ talk about that in the future but that's

1:59:14 ↗ something that we'll want to resolve in

1:59:16 ↗ the next couple of years and then labor

1:59:18 ↗ contracts we have a couple of Labor

1:59:21 ↗ contracts that are coming to council

1:59:23 ↗ this fall the next month really uh those

1:59:26 ↗ are each one-year labor contracts so

1:59:29 ↗ they don't cover the entire bium of this

1:59:31 ↗ budget those labor contracts uh

1:59:34 ↗ anticipate a 3.8% cost of living

1:59:36 ↗ adjustment U just like our

1:59:38 ↗ non-represented employees but it remains

1:59:41 ↗ to be seen what that liability would be

1:59:43 ↗ a year from now as we need to go into

1:59:45 ↗ renegotiations and how that would affect

1:59:47 ↗ 2026 so that's still something to think

1:59:49 ↗ about over uh the next BM 25 and

1:59:55 ↗ 26 now as we get uh past those big

1:59:58 ↗ Concepts and things we need to resolve

2:00:00 ↗ on the budget just looking at

2:00:01 ↗ forthcoming legislation and Council

2:00:03 ↗ action on the proposed 2526 budget of

2:00:06 ↗ course we have the list of ordinances

2:00:08 ↗ that we always do with every budget just

2:00:10 ↗ wanted to make sure that you were aware

2:00:12 ↗ of what those approvals that would be

2:00:13 ↗ looking to council for the budget

2:00:16 ↗ schedule here we are on the 28th that's

2:00:19 ↗ highlighted on this slide we have uh

2:00:22 ↗ public hearings on the budget and the

2:00:24 ↗ property tax on the November 4th city

2:00:27 ↗ council meeting plenty of opportunities

2:00:29 ↗ for Budget deliberations between now and

2:00:32 ↗ when we would anticipate adoption on

2:00:34 ↗ December 9th uh if council is ready to

2:00:37 ↗ adopt the budget on December 3rd we

2:00:40 ↗ won't wait for December 9th we can we

2:00:42 ↗ can do it early if Council chooses but

2:00:43 ↗ we wanted to just highlight all of the

2:00:45 ↗ opportunities for Budget discussion and

2:00:47 ↗ deliberation moving

2:00:49 ↗ forward and just a reminder what some of

2:00:52 ↗ those overarching policy questions are

2:00:54 ↗ for city council during this

2:00:55 ↗ deliberations process does the city

2:00:58 ↗ council agree with the budget priorities

2:01:00 ↗ reflected in the proposed

2:01:02 ↗ budget and is the council supportive of

2:01:05 ↗ increasing revenues with the increased

2:01:07 ↗ utility tax property tax and the CPD

2:01:11 ↗ technology

2:01:13 ↗ fee that concludes our presentation

2:01:15 ↗ tonight are there any

2:01:16 ↗ questions great so we'll start with

2:01:19 ↗ Council questions and then we can go to

2:01:21 ↗ public public comment I know we had a

2:01:23 ↗ lot of questions that we're able to ask

2:01:25 ↗ during the presentation but does anybody

2:01:27 ↗ have anything outstanding at this

2:01:39 ↗ point you look like you're about to

2:01:42 ↗ raise your

2:01:43 ↗ mic yeah well I just I have lots of

2:01:46 ↗ questions but I don't know if I should

2:01:47 ↗ we also have like the question portal so

2:01:49 ↗ I was thinking maybe they might be more

2:01:51 ↗ appropriate there great yeah any

2:01:53 ↗ detailed questions Council may have we

2:01:56 ↗ have in the past we're going to do it

2:01:57 ↗ again uh I believe uh sus just sent out

2:02:00 ↗ something to council where you can go

2:02:02 ↗ ahead and type in your questions and we

2:02:04 ↗ will um provide those answers through uh

2:02:07 ↗ the information at the next council

2:02:09 ↗ meeting or as that information becomes

2:02:11 ↗ available during the deliberations

2:02:17 ↗ process okay so with that we have been

2:02:20 ↗ reminded that we can ask questions at

2:02:22 ↗ the portable and then those will

2:02:25 ↗ definitely come back to us um in future

2:02:27 ↗ packets as well as interim as well um

2:02:31 ↗ okay so we have an opportunity then for

2:02:34 ↗ public comment so I will again remind

2:02:37 ↗ anybody if they are online on the phone

2:02:40 ↗ you can hit star three or on a

2:02:43 ↗ smartphone or computer raise the hand

2:02:45 ↗ icon or send the host a chat message and

2:02:49 ↗ those in the audience just get to raise

2:02:51 ↗ their physical hand because we need to

2:02:53 ↗ do a little bit of work around here um

2:02:56 ↗ do we have anybody indicating desire

2:02:58 ↗ speak nope nobody

2:03:00 ↗ online nobody in the audience that would

2:03:02 ↗ like to speak okay so Council any levels

2:03:08 ↗ of feedback or any indication of kind of

2:03:12 ↗ conversations that you'd like to have I

2:03:14 ↗ mean I know we are very early in this

2:03:17 ↗ process um but we are having a much

2:03:21 ↗ later start start to our budget season

2:03:24 ↗ this year and so it's going to be

2:03:26 ↗ important for us to get focused on what

2:03:29 ↗ we see as the policy questions and kind

2:03:32 ↗ of how we're going to approach our

2:03:34 ↗ deliberations here pretty shortly so go

2:03:38 ↗ ahead council member

2:03:40 ↗ Mars

2:03:42 ↗ so pardon me I assume that we're uh

2:03:45 ↗ looking for feedback on the two

2:03:47 ↗ questions that were listed uh in front

2:03:49 ↗ of us so does the Council agree with the

2:03:52 ↗ budget priorities reflected in proposed

2:03:54 ↗ budget um generally yes um I have

2:03:59 ↗ specific concerns around

2:04:01 ↗ Metroflex um that's the piece of it that

2:04:04 ↗ uh I want to see us try to work a

2:04:06 ↗ solution with the county uh I don't want

2:04:09 ↗ us to give up on that merely because

2:04:11 ↗ right now we're at a financially

2:04:13 ↗ disadvantaged position let's get let's

2:04:16 ↗ get a good conversation going with the

2:04:18 ↗ county other than that um I like what

2:04:21 ↗ I've seen in in terms of priorities

2:04:23 ↗ there are some bigger long-term capital

2:04:25 ↗ questions that are really part of a

2:04:27 ↗ separate conversation that we've been

2:04:28 ↗ having in parallel to this but in terms

2:04:31 ↗ of the operating budget um I was very

2:04:34 ↗ very happy to see when I looked at the

2:04:36 ↗ uh per capita expenditures in real

2:04:39 ↗ dollars not we had we had in recent

2:04:42 ↗ years been slowly creeping up in that

2:04:44 ↗ number and it hadn't been growing

2:04:47 ↗ rapidly but I hadn't liked the direction

2:04:48 ↗ it was going in and this upcoming budget

2:04:51 ↗ what's been submitted it's completely

2:04:52 ↗ flat for both revenues and expenditures

2:04:55 ↗ and I think that's really important as

2:04:57 ↗ I've said before to the public you know

2:05:00 ↗ there's a perception out there that

2:05:01 ↗ government grows to fill the space

2:05:03 ↗ available and we can just

2:05:05 ↗ demonstratively show that that's not the

2:05:07 ↗ case that we're being careful uh we're

2:05:09 ↗ being uh judicious stewards with the

2:05:12 ↗ Public's precious tax money and so I

2:05:15 ↗ think that those uh the general

2:05:17 ↗ priorities and the general size of what

2:05:20 ↗ we're looking at um this process that

2:05:22 ↗ we're going to be going over in the next

2:05:24 ↗ month or so uh I'm very comfortable with

2:05:27 ↗ and then uh the revenues I'm also

2:05:29 ↗ comfortable with uh the proposed um

2:05:32 ↗ increased revenues I think these are uh

2:05:35 ↗ again looking at an overall model that

2:05:37 ↗ we are U keeping the size of government

2:05:40 ↗ reasonable I think these are um a a a

2:05:44 ↗ reasonable and um spread of regressive

2:05:48 ↗ and Progressive ways to um

2:05:52 ↗ uh attach this and and the regressive

2:05:54 ↗ ones tend to be uh fees rather than uh

2:05:58 ↗ you know what I think it was a head tax

2:06:00 ↗ or a flat tax so I'm I'm comfortable on

2:06:02 ↗ both of these policy questions generally

2:06:05 ↗ yes on the priorities and and yes on the

2:06:08 ↗ funding thank

2:06:09 ↗ you I don't think that will be the last

2:06:11 ↗ time we hear about Metroflex so um thank

2:06:14 ↗ you for starting that out uh council

2:06:16 ↗ member Hall I actually did think of a

2:06:18 ↗ question I want to ask that might

2:06:19 ↗ influence um how I think about the

2:06:22 ↗ second policy question on revenues so I

2:06:24 ↗ noticed when we were looking at the

2:06:26 ↗ utility tax spread among cities um there

2:06:30 ↗ was a lot of variety in terms of whether

2:06:32 ↗ it was the same across all the different

2:06:34 ↗ utilities or if there was different

2:06:37 ↗ someone like Seattle had much more in or

2:06:40 ↗ higher in like water as opposed to like

2:06:42 ↗ cable TV or something like that so I was

2:06:44 ↗ just wondering in kind of our analysis

2:06:46 ↗ of where we should set um utility tax

2:06:49 ↗ rates did we consider um something other

2:06:52 ↗ than kind of uniform 6% across the Grid

2:06:55 ↗ or some sort of staggered um arrangement

2:06:58 ↗ of percentages or walk me through that a

2:07:01 ↗ little um we we that's a lot so if we

2:07:04 ↗ need to revisit that question we can't

2:07:06 ↗ too sorry great great question thank you

2:07:08 ↗ council member um we were we were really

2:07:11 ↗ trying to look at what um was uh easy to

2:07:16 ↗ implement what um didn't put a

2:07:19 ↗ particular strain on one type of utility

2:07:21 ↗ over another um and so I think in the

2:07:25 ↗ past Council has chosen to keep utility

2:07:28 ↗ tax rates for city-owned utilities

2:07:31 ↗ rather low compared to the other

2:07:33 ↗ categories of utilities which we did not

2:07:35 ↗ really discuss tonight um so you see

2:07:38 ↗ some of that that thought behind what

2:07:40 ↗ you see in the other City rates you also

2:07:42 ↗ saw some cities had really high for

2:07:44 ↗ something like say water but not as much

2:07:46 ↗ for sewer or storm water and I think

2:07:49 ↗ it's it's just kind of dependent on what

2:07:51 ↗ the philos ophy is at the time we were

2:07:52 ↗ really looking at how how can we make

2:07:55 ↗ something that seems reasonable keeps

2:07:57 ↗ the tax rate about on par with what we

2:08:00 ↗ see as other cities in some cases less

2:08:03 ↗ and is also um easier to implement and

2:08:11 ↗ understand and I'll just jump in on that

2:08:15 ↗ um is the 6% the

2:08:19 ↗ Max uh this 6% across most utilities is

2:08:24 ↗ a Max I believe with city-owned

2:08:27 ↗ utilities we could go higher if we want

2:08:29 ↗ to other types of facil of utilities

2:08:32 ↗ we'd need to have a public

2:08:43 ↗ vote Deputy council

2:08:46 ↗ president um thank you um yes I do

2:08:50 ↗ support the priority prorities as they

2:08:52 ↗ were presented and yes I do uh support

2:08:56 ↗ increasing the revenues as presented so

2:08:59 ↗ I've just selected some things I'd like

2:09:01 ↗ to talk about a little bit more um in

2:09:04 ↗ the area of those that I support and I I

2:09:07 ↗ certainly support the um proposal that's

2:09:10 ↗ put forward for Public Safety um we've

2:09:13 ↗ had a a lot of work go into uh

2:09:17 ↗ increasing our police department and

2:09:19 ↗ making sure that we're fully staffed and

2:09:22 ↗ um I think that investment that we've

2:09:24 ↗ made in the last few years should be

2:09:26 ↗ continued and so I'm very happy to see

2:09:29 ↗ that I'm very happy to see the proposal

2:09:31 ↗ for the court uh and we've heard uh

2:09:34 ↗ especially at the um service of safety

2:09:37 ↗ and Parks committee uh about the dire

2:09:40 ↗ needs that uh the court has and so I'm

2:09:42 ↗ very happy with that

2:09:44 ↗ proposal um I do agree with the

2:09:46 ↗ administration on the metr flex proposal

2:09:48 ↗ that was put forward and you know I'm a

2:09:50 ↗ big quter of Metroflex but I totally

2:09:54 ↗ agree that we need to talk to Metro and

2:09:56 ↗ see if they uh certainly can fund that

2:09:59 ↗ the way they are funding it for other

2:10:01 ↗ communities I don't know why isqua

2:10:03 ↗ should be paying and and other

2:10:06 ↗ communities are not so uh I hope I'm

2:10:09 ↗ keeping my fingers crossed that we keep

2:10:11 ↗ it because it is a popular service and

2:10:14 ↗ uh also meets a lot of our

2:10:16 ↗ transportation goals but the funding of

2:10:18 ↗ that definitely needs to be transferred

2:10:21 ↗ um pavment Management program Bennett

2:10:23 ↗ thank you so much for explaining that

2:10:27 ↗ graph I did could not read that graph so

2:10:30 ↗ now I think I understand it a little bit

2:10:32 ↗ better so thank you and I also wanted to

2:10:35 ↗ comment on the commitment to uh making

2:10:38 ↗ sure that the Personnel that we do have

2:10:41 ↗ uh are well paid and compensated

2:10:44 ↗ appropriately uh we are a place where

2:10:47 ↗ many many of our employees have to

2:10:48 ↗ commute because the cost of living here

2:10:50 ↗ is so high and so uh I think that we

2:10:55 ↗ need to recognize that by uh making sure

2:10:57 ↗ that the compensation they receive is is

2:11:00 ↗ appropriate and uh covers uh the

2:11:02 ↗ additional costs that they have of of

2:11:04 ↗ coming here to work and we certainly

2:11:06 ↗ appreciate the employees that we have so

2:11:09 ↗ I do have some concerns that I want to

2:11:10 ↗ talk a little bit about um uh and this

2:11:14 ↗ is no surprise but let's talk about the

2:11:16 ↗ Human Services reductions I appreciate

2:11:19 ↗ that uh we're giving some of our um uh

2:11:23 ↗ our uh organizations are nonprofits in

2:11:26 ↗ town a year to adjust for it but there's

2:11:29 ↗ I just want us to Think Through we have

2:11:32 ↗ some nonprofits that are really dealing

2:11:35 ↗ in basic Services food housing

2:11:38 ↗ clothing um and the their ability to

2:11:43 ↗ serve the poorest Among Us um is also

2:11:47 ↗ preventive in in in that it helps people

2:11:51 ↗ will not fall out of below the Crocs or

2:11:55 ↗ not uh become in more severe trouble

2:11:58 ↗ than they're already in and so I'm

2:12:01 ↗ thinking we have a year for them to

2:12:03 ↗ accommodate it but I'm wondering if we

2:12:05 ↗ can also use that year to think about uh

2:12:08 ↗ if we can mitigate that blow and uh when

2:12:11 ↗ we talk about Equity um we're not always

2:12:14 ↗ talking about treating everyone equally

2:12:17 ↗ and so I'm wondering if we can look at

2:12:19 ↗ those organizations that deal with basic

2:12:21 ↗ services and see if we can really

2:12:24 ↗ mitigate the blow to them because every

2:12:26 ↗ dollar that we can return to those

2:12:29 ↗ groups will be helping someone stay uh

2:12:32 ↗ maybe in their housing or be more food

2:12:35 ↗ secure or those kinds of things so I'd

2:12:38 ↗ like us to look at that um I appreciate

2:12:42 ↗ the approach to the Arts um I am sorry

2:12:45 ↗ to see the 35% cut but I realize that

2:12:47 ↗ we're going to be looking at King

2:12:49 ↗ County's uh Open Door funding and I

2:12:52 ↗ would just ask that we monitor that and

2:12:54 ↗ make sure that our strategy there is

2:12:56 ↗ working um and if it appears that it's

2:12:59 ↗ not then we really double down on that

2:13:02 ↗ Arts fund review um I just want us to

2:13:05 ↗ keep a close eye on that and just make

2:13:07 ↗ sure that we're not setting up a a a s a

2:13:12 ↗ a situation of failure for that for that

2:13:14 ↗ uh for the Arts because they're

2:13:16 ↗ important to our community I am

2:13:18 ↗ concerned about reduction in the Light

2:13:20 ↗ Rail station analysis and designed

2:13:23 ↗ because again we've invested a lot in

2:13:26 ↗ studies um to get ready for that light

2:13:28 ↗ rail station and I I would hate to see

2:13:30 ↗ us get a lot of work done and then come

2:13:32 ↗ to a full halt so again maybe let's

2:13:35 ↗ revisit that one more time before we do

2:13:38 ↗ the final budget proposal and then when

2:13:41 ↗ I look at that undesignated ending fund

2:13:43 ↗ balance in 2026 of 4% my hair sort of

2:13:47 ↗ stands on end so so that is wores some

2:13:51 ↗ to me um and I i' well first of all

2:13:54 ↗ thanks to everybody who worked on this

2:13:56 ↗ budget this was really really hard work

2:13:59 ↗ and so I realized that a lot went into

2:14:02 ↗ coming up with that final uh projection

2:14:06 ↗ but that to me is scary so uh let's look

2:14:09 ↗ at that again and then I want to call on

2:14:12 ↗ our city administrator because he said

2:14:14 ↗ something at the All City meeting that I

2:14:16 ↗ thought needed to be repeated about

2:14:19 ↗ we're not going to do more for less

2:14:21 ↗ we're going to do less with less you

2:14:24 ↗ want to talk about that uh because I

2:14:26 ↗ think that's an important thing if we're

2:14:28 ↗ going to reduce our uh expenditures and

2:14:32 ↗ our

2:14:33 ↗ Personnel we just can't the public just

2:14:37 ↗ cannot expect us to do the same job that

2:14:39 ↗ we've been doing so I'll turn that over

2:14:42 ↗ to you for a little pep

2:14:45 ↗ talk well I think you you said it um you

2:14:49 ↗ know we we are fortunate to have

2:14:50 ↗ excellent staff you've heard you know

2:14:52 ↗ your leadership uh this evening under

2:14:55 ↗ mayor Paulie's Direction um but they all

2:14:59 ↗ we all work with extraordinarily

2:15:01 ↗ talented people uh we want to keep them

2:15:04 ↗ here we want them to feel that they have

2:15:08 ↗ an opportunity to to be their best

2:15:10 ↗ professional selves that they have

2:15:12 ↗ opportunities to accomplish things and

2:15:15 ↗ part of our responsibility as management

2:15:18 ↗ is to make sure that we don't ask too

2:15:20 ↗ much of them we balance those resources

2:15:23 ↗ uh and you know sometimes we have to say

2:15:25 ↗ no and we'll have to say no to you we'll

2:15:29 ↗ have to say no to members of the

2:15:30 ↗ community uh you and your colleagues uh

2:15:33 ↗ we will have to say no to members of the

2:15:35 ↗ community um and that's hard been doing

2:15:38 ↗ this a long time no one ever wants to

2:15:39 ↗ hear no uh but I think that's part of uh

2:15:43 ↗ your charge as a council uh as as

2:15:46 ↗ stewards of the budget it's the mayor's

2:15:48 ↗ role as the leader of the organization

2:15:51 ↗ uh to you know provide that policy

2:15:52 ↗ guidance uh uh dayto day uh and it's my

2:15:56 ↗ role to help say

2:15:59 ↗ no so we're committed to that we hear

2:16:02 ↗ from our employees uh you know that they

2:16:06 ↗ want to stay here they want to be uh

2:16:08 ↗ well compensated but they also want to

2:16:10 ↗ know that they can succeed with the work

2:16:12 ↗ that they do and not be overwhelmed by

2:16:14 ↗ taking on tasks beyond their their scope

2:16:18 ↗ or beyond the 40 hours a week or so we

2:16:20 ↗ pay for them

2:16:25 ↗ okay so we're starting to hear some

2:16:26 ↗ themes some ideas coming out um council

2:16:30 ↗ member H you have your more say go ahead

2:16:35 ↗ um thank you yeah let me just also Echo

2:16:38 ↗ oh both you came up now um me also Echo

2:16:40 ↗ Deputy council president in just saying

2:16:43 ↗ thank you to staff for your incredible

2:16:45 ↗ professionalism and stewardship really

2:16:47 ↗ over your departments and your budgets

2:16:48 ↗ and helping us get through this process

2:16:50 ↗ so just thank you for everything thank

2:16:52 ↗ you of course for uh Andrea and

2:16:54 ↗ everything that you do for the city I

2:16:56 ↗ just think of the emotional labor of

2:16:57 ↗ some of this work that you all have been

2:16:59 ↗ involved in and I imagine it so just

2:17:01 ↗ thank you for

2:17:03 ↗ for for doing everything you've done and

2:17:05 ↗ for being here with us as we make some

2:17:07 ↗ of these hard decisions as well um so

2:17:10 ↗ going through the um policy questions

2:17:13 ↗ the first one agreeing with budget

2:17:16 ↗ parties uh in agreement with what's been

2:17:19 ↗ said before I think focusing on police

2:17:22 ↗ fire court jail sustainability Equity

2:17:25 ↗ Transportation as much as possible

2:17:27 ↗ paying staff fairly these kinds of

2:17:29 ↗ things seem exactly the kind of feedback

2:17:32 ↗ that we gave you in the original Council

2:17:34 ↗ Retreat back in the summer so to me it

2:17:37 ↗ seems that the priorities are on track I

2:17:40 ↗ also am concerned with um Metroflex

2:17:43 ↗ reduction um I think if we're unlucky

2:17:46 ↗ with having conversations with Metro

2:17:48 ↗ over the next few months this kind of

2:17:50 ↗ two Monon Runway we have um I would like

2:17:53 ↗ to see what funding at ourselves

2:17:56 ↗ maintaining the funding ourselves would

2:17:59 ↗ look like and what kind of impact that

2:18:00 ↗ might be so we as a council can kind of

2:18:02 ↗ Judge whether or not that's worth

2:18:05 ↗ continued investment from the

2:18:07 ↗ city um other than that again agreed

2:18:11 ↗ with budget priorities um I also support

2:18:13 ↗ I also just wanted to say for the record

2:18:14 ↗ support maintaining the 15% general fund

2:18:17 ↗ ending fund balance so thank you for

2:18:18 ↗ making that a priority through this

2:18:20 ↗ process

2:18:21 ↗ um for the revenue increases for the

2:18:23 ↗ most part yes I agree with um all three

2:18:26 ↗ I think for the CPD Tech fee I would

2:18:28 ↗ like to understand what that really

2:18:31 ↗ means in terms of the a average impact

2:18:33 ↗ on a permit and whether or not it could

2:18:35 ↗ be seen as kind of a barrier to to our

2:18:38 ↗ customers um trying to receive permits

2:18:40 ↗ so I think just a little bit more

2:18:41 ↗ information I will submit that through

2:18:43 ↗ the the question portal so I see you

2:18:45 ↗ franly scribbling notes I'll make sure

2:18:47 ↗ to get it in there so don't worry um as

2:18:50 ↗ for just other comments to um for the

2:18:54 ↗ future work slide to I mean one thing

2:18:56 ↗ I've really been thinking about I've

2:18:57 ↗ talked with you about this before is

2:18:59 ↗ whether or not we need to have um um a

2:19:02 ↗ levy or a levy lid lift here in Isa

2:19:05 ↗ specifically for Public Safety and

2:19:07 ↗ recognizing the uh importance of Public

2:19:10 ↗ Safety in our community and also the

2:19:12 ↗ ever increasing costs of Public Safety

2:19:14 ↗ including Court um in our community um I

2:19:17 ↗ think that that's a conversation that is

2:19:19 ↗ worth having sooner rather than later um

2:19:23 ↗ and I just want to put that on the

2:19:24 ↗ record um I

2:19:26 ↗ think probably important to have in

2:19:29 ↗ tandem too with whatever our facilities

2:19:31 ↗ if whatever our facilities conversations

2:19:33 ↗ are with fire station 71 because if you

2:19:36 ↗ asked me between having dedicated

2:19:39 ↗ funding for Public Safety or fire

2:19:41 ↗ station 71 I I need to think about that

2:19:43 ↗ a little bit more so I think we need to

2:19:46 ↗ have kind of a more involved

2:19:47 ↗ conversation with that next year um and

2:19:50 ↗ I just wanted to make sure to say that

2:19:51 ↗ for the record I have lot a lot of other

2:19:53 ↗ questions that I'll be uh concerns based

2:19:55 ↗ on some questions that I have that I'll

2:19:57 ↗ be adding into the um form because I

2:20:01 ↗ don't know if they're necessarily

2:20:02 ↗ concerns yet but mostly about um well

2:20:05 ↗ and you you recognize this many times

2:20:06 ↗ throughout uh how we think about

2:20:08 ↗ construction sales tax in the future

2:20:09 ↗ also onetime adjustments versus ongoing

2:20:12 ↗ adjustments um so it sounds like we are

2:20:14 ↗ planning on kind of have getting more in

2:20:15 ↗ depth and having those conversations but

2:20:17 ↗ also concern about the light rail um

2:20:21 ↗ uh losing the Light Rail station

2:20:22 ↗ analysis and design study the housing

2:20:24 ↗ and

2:20:25 ↗ parking study and um a reduced

2:20:29 ↗ irrigation um also kind of having Brown

2:20:31 ↗ bushes around the city also kind of

2:20:33 ↗ concerns me because that is a very

2:20:34 ↗ visible thing that the community seees

2:20:36 ↗ same with potholes right so um these are

2:20:39 ↗ other things I'd like to ask questions

2:20:40 ↗ about and get more in depth

2:20:42 ↗ conversations with C about um again

2:20:44 ↗ thank you to everyone um thank you for

2:20:46 ↗ the long presentation today and yeah

2:20:48 ↗ lots more work to come

2:20:51 ↗ we have dueling microphones and I didn't

2:20:53 ↗ see okay uh council member hunt then you

2:20:57 ↗ go

2:20:59 ↗ ahead thank you thank you for all of the

2:21:01 ↗ information that you provided tonight I

2:21:04 ↗ I firstly wanted to start off by

2:21:06 ↗ recognizing um the the unfortunate

2:21:09 ↗ layoffs that are in this budget and the

2:21:11 ↗ mayor's comments about you know these

2:21:13 ↗ were folks that were doing a good job

2:21:14 ↗ for the city and it was the position

2:21:16 ↗ that we found ourselves with the budget

2:21:18 ↗ this year that that those layoffs um

2:21:20 ↗ were necessary and I wanted to recognize

2:21:23 ↗ the hardship um those folks but also

2:21:25 ↗ their service to the city um in the on

2:21:29 ↗ the first question about the priorities

2:21:31 ↗ I do um agree with the prior priorities

2:21:34 ↗ especially the um the newer Focus or the

2:21:39 ↗ uh increased focus on equity and on

2:21:42 ↗ sustainability um were things that we've

2:21:45 ↗ recently focused on more in our

2:21:47 ↗ comprehensive plan as well to make sure

2:21:49 ↗ that we're addressing um equity and

2:21:51 ↗ sustainability there and it was also

2:21:53 ↗ something that we talked um quite

2:21:55 ↗ extensively about during the update to

2:21:58 ↗ our city strategic plan in that group

2:22:02 ↗ making sure that we are thinking more

2:22:04 ↗ about um about climate change for

2:22:07 ↗ example um as that has increased in the

2:22:10 ↗ community's awareness about um the

2:22:12 ↗ impacts of that and then also with the

2:22:14 ↗ new Equity board making sure that we're

2:22:16 ↗ um including that in our overall

2:22:18 ↗ planning um

2:22:21 ↗ I have several things that I think uh I

2:22:24 ↗ would like to talk more about with my

2:22:25 ↗ fellow council members um Fleet and so

2:22:30 ↗ for Fleet there is this large increase I

2:22:33 ↗ I would like to understand that more and

2:22:36 ↗ understand our options more for

2:22:37 ↗ potentially smoothing that out or

2:22:39 ↗ phasing that in just what are the

2:22:41 ↗ options for that large increase that

2:22:43 ↗ we're seeing in Fleet um tenant

2:22:46 ↗ improvements we have uh a million

2:22:49 ↗ dollars in the current budget for tenant

2:22:52 ↗ improvements over the next two years to

2:22:54 ↗ a space that we as the city would not

2:22:56 ↗ own um for the Municipal Court

2:22:58 ↗ relocation so I'd like to understand

2:23:00 ↗ that more and and think about that from

2:23:02 ↗ a policy perspective as investing a

2:23:05 ↗ large amount of money in a building that

2:23:07 ↗ the city the city will not

2:23:09 ↗ own versus um making improvements to a

2:23:12 ↗ building that we we currently

2:23:14 ↗ have um on utility tax uh I would like

2:23:20 ↗ more information and like to have a

2:23:22 ↗ conversation just to make sure that we

2:23:23 ↗ fully understand the impacts to

2:23:26 ↗ Residents information about how many

2:23:29 ↗ people would be impacted um by the

2:23:31 ↗ different rate changes and what the

2:23:33 ↗ average household um accumulated rate

2:23:36 ↗ would be or the overall amount of impact

2:23:39 ↗ to different residents for example we

2:23:41 ↗ have a 6% cable uh Fe utility packs and

2:23:45 ↗ I don't know how many residents are

2:23:47 ↗ actually um currently impacted by by

2:23:50 ↗ that um so just to get a sense of that

2:23:52 ↗ for our for our

2:23:54 ↗ residents uh Human Services I would like

2:23:58 ↗ to better just fully wrap our arms arms

2:24:02 ↗ around what that um will mean if we are

2:24:05 ↗ uh cutting some of those services or

2:24:07 ↗ some of that funding and then the two

2:24:10 ↗ studies that have been mentioned the

2:24:11 ↗ light rail um but also the housing and

2:24:13 ↗ parking study would like us as as people

2:24:16 ↗ that would uh be using the information

2:24:18 ↗ from the studies and policy to think

2:24:20 ↗ about what the impacts are for our

2:24:22 ↗ future policym um to not have that

2:24:24 ↗ information that we would gain from

2:24:25 ↗ those studies and uh and think through

2:24:28 ↗ that pavement management one thing I

2:24:31 ↗ wanted

2:24:33 ↗ to posit is that we had such a big um a

2:24:37 ↗ big investment from arpa and over the

2:24:40 ↗ last couple years uh very visible very

2:24:42 ↗ appreciated improvements um to a number

2:24:45 ↗ of our roadways as was mentioned um and

2:24:48 ↗ so I think potentially with all the

2:24:50 ↗ other Cuts in the budget thinking about

2:24:53 ↗ how we might um use that as maybe to to

2:24:58 ↗ have we had so many improvements that

2:25:00 ↗ maybe we would you take a break or slow

2:25:04 ↗ down on some of the pavement management

2:25:06 ↗ if we are looking for areas to balance

2:25:08 ↗ out other parts of the

2:25:11 ↗ budget and then lastly uh I so I do

2:25:15 ↗ agree with the the overall themes of the

2:25:18 ↗ budget as I as I think I said um

2:25:21 ↗ especially sustainability and Equity it

2:25:23 ↗ seems to me that when we did our Equity

2:25:24 ↗ training we we were taught to think

2:25:27 ↗ about the whole

2:25:29 ↗ um all of the policies with this Equity

2:25:32 ↗ lens and we've been trying to do that as

2:25:34 ↗ a city and it seems to me that the

2:25:37 ↗ Metroflex is a really important Equity

2:25:39 ↗ program that we as the city have adopted

2:25:41 ↗ as well as a sustainability program and

2:25:44 ↗ so if we are focusing on that um I would

2:25:46 ↗ like to make sure that we're thinking

2:25:48 ↗ about that cut um as really impacting uh

2:25:52 ↗ folks that don't have access to a car um

2:25:56 ↗ or are benefiting from it um and it's

2:26:00 ↗ also important from the sustainability

2:26:02 ↗ perspective so I would like more

2:26:03 ↗ information about the likelihood I would

2:26:05 ↗ like to get those conversations started

2:26:06 ↗ with Metroflex Metroflex to get

2:26:08 ↗ information about the likelihood of um

2:26:12 ↗ this of the plan that they might funds

2:26:14 ↗ this so we can factor that in um but I

2:26:17 ↗ would definitely like to have that

2:26:18 ↗ conversation

2:26:21 ↗ thank

2:26:23 ↗ you go ahead um thanks uh just a couple

2:26:27 ↗ things I'll try and be really brief um

2:26:29 ↗ I'm trying to rationalize a couple

2:26:31 ↗ things and one is the statement that

2:26:33 ↗ we're having fewer filings from contract

2:26:35 ↗ cities and yet we're anticipating the

2:26:37 ↗ court uh the court workload to increase

2:26:40 ↗ and I'm I'm trying to figure out what

2:26:42 ↗ we're doing different than other these

2:26:43 ↗ cities that we're seeing an increase in

2:26:44 ↗ filings while other cities are seeing a

2:26:47 ↗ decrease in filings so um something to

2:26:49 ↗ help me wrap my brain around that um I

2:26:52 ↗ am as others still concerned about um

2:26:55 ↗ the increases in Fleet and facilities

2:26:57 ↗ and I'd really like a further

2:26:58 ↗ explanation on what's built into

2:27:01 ↗ that um and then I'm going to be a bit

2:27:03 ↗ of a contrarian um on Metroflex and

2:27:06 ↗ light light rail St station I think

2:27:09 ↗ Metroflex may be a good program um but

2:27:12 ↗ given our budget constraints I'm not as

2:27:14 ↗ sure it's one that that we need to

2:27:16 ↗ continue if we're going to um pick up

2:27:19 ↗ the whole load and then think I really

2:27:20 ↗ want to understand the demographics of

2:27:22 ↗ who's using it and how effective it's

2:27:24 ↗ been in reducing trips because I'm not

2:27:27 ↗ sure that um that is really it is

2:27:30 ↗ providing clearly a service to those in

2:27:34 ↗ need but I think it's also providing a

2:27:35 ↗ service for those who are not in need

2:27:37 ↗ and I'm not sure that that's something

2:27:39 ↗ I'm I'm super excited about funding the

2:27:41 ↗ Light Rail station design can wait it's

2:27:43 ↗ still a long ways out we've done some

2:27:45 ↗ work the world is going to change a long

2:27:47 ↗ ways between here and when light rail

2:27:49 ↗ arrives and so I guess given our tight

2:27:51 ↗ budget constraints I think it makes

2:27:52 ↗ sense to push this out and then the one

2:27:56 ↗ thing that really struck me on the

2:27:57 ↗ priorities as identified specifically

2:28:00 ↗ was this is in quotes but maintain

2:28:03 ↗ investment in transportation as much as

2:28:06 ↗ possible um the as much as possible

2:28:09 ↗ strikes me as well tell me what is

2:28:11 ↗ possible then um it's a it's a it's a

2:28:13 ↗ kind of a weasel phrase there and I

2:28:15 ↗ don't know what it means then so kind of

2:28:17 ↗ like is it a priority or isn't a

2:28:18 ↗ priority so I need some help in in

2:28:20 ↗ wrapping my brain around what we think

2:28:23 ↗ is an important priority around

2:28:26 ↗ Transportation um and then I'm going to

2:28:28 ↗ kind of Riff a little bit on uh Deputy

2:28:30 ↗ president D Michelle's um comments

2:28:33 ↗ they're all good um no this is you know

2:28:35 ↗ the things that we choose to um fund or

2:28:38 ↗ or to reduce fundings in really um this

2:28:41 ↗ budget is a manifestation of our

2:28:43 ↗ priorities and so what we're saying is

2:28:46 ↗ these are the things that we want to

2:28:47 ↗ make sure we maintain and and as as the

2:28:51 ↗ city administrator said there are some

2:28:52 ↗ things we're just not going to be able

2:28:53 ↗ to deliver at the same level because we

2:28:56 ↗ just don't have the resources so I think

2:28:58 ↗ as we go through this process you know

2:29:00 ↗ it's not just dollars and cents it's

2:29:01 ↗ actually um services and not services so

2:29:05 ↗ um that's you know what it all comes

2:29:06 ↗ down to U looked at the revenue stuff

2:29:09 ↗ I'm perfectly fine with that I like the

2:29:11 ↗ idea of staging in the increases over a

2:29:13 ↗ couple of years in the bay

2:29:17 ↗ any council member Joe thank you you uh

2:29:20 ↗ first thank you to City administrator

2:29:23 ↗ Bob ktz and uh mayor Paulie for your

2:29:27 ↗ leadership during this difficult time I

2:29:29 ↗ know that um great deal of work was done

2:29:32 ↗ a lot of late nights with with uh your

2:29:34 ↗ staff and the leadership team like to

2:29:36 ↗ acknowledge the entire leadership team

2:29:38 ↗ for proposing a budget that um allows us

2:29:41 ↗ to to continue to focus on our

2:29:43 ↗ priorities as we go forward I know that

2:29:45 ↗ all of you did a great deal of work to

2:29:48 ↗ try to find the the the cuts that would

2:29:50 ↗ still keep the priorities of Public

2:29:53 ↗ Safety fire Poli and Courts at a

2:29:55 ↗ Forefront and also have the

2:29:57 ↗ environmental emphasis emphasis and the

2:30:00 ↗ other uh programs that are in there

2:30:01 ↗ including Transportation so thank you

2:30:04 ↗ for all of your hard work um I won't

2:30:07 ↗ belabor too long but just uh focusing a

2:30:11 ↗ little bit on what council member Ray

2:30:13 ↗ said our our budget uh emphasizes what

2:30:16 ↗ our priorities are and in isqua we have

2:30:18 ↗ a a uh both focus a laser focus on

2:30:23 ↗ environmental issues and if we look at

2:30:25 ↗ the sustainability programs that we're

2:30:27 ↗ doing um it that directly impacts the

2:30:31 ↗ environment we also need to think about

2:30:32 ↗ the other environmental things that

2:30:33 ↗ we're doing whether it's tree canopy

2:30:35 ↗ buying open space for around around the

2:30:38 ↗ streams to to keep The Greenery in in

2:30:40 ↗ the city um uh reservoir infastructure

2:30:44 ↗ for water supply and large CA uh catch

2:30:47 ↗ basins for storm water um as the climate

2:30:50 ↗ gets more severe in terms of the the

2:30:53 ↗ storms etc etc there's more runoff that

2:30:55 ↗ needs to be accounted for and properly

2:30:57 ↗ taken care of so these are other

2:30:59 ↗ environmental priorities that are hidden

2:31:02 ↗ in the budget but are all part of the

2:31:04 ↗ green emphasis that we have in isqua and

2:31:07 ↗ I want to really thank staff for making

2:31:09 ↗ sure those elements were not um left off

2:31:13 ↗ the uh the list because that

2:31:15 ↗ infrastructure is so important to make

2:31:17 ↗ sure that we're deing things the green

2:31:19 ↗ right right way uh for our our

2:31:21 ↗ environment and also the fish passage

2:31:24 ↗ work of course is is going to be an

2:31:26 ↗ important element going forward so um

2:31:29 ↗ those are all just kind of hidden green

2:31:31 ↗ things that are in there we talk about

2:31:32 ↗ all the visible green things that are

2:31:34 ↗ out there but the budget does have these

2:31:36 ↗ other elements in there that um I know

2:31:38 ↗ our citizens see as a priority and we've

2:31:41 ↗ got to make sure that um we're

2:31:43 ↗ accounting for them in the budget and we

2:31:44 ↗ can talk to our citizens about those

2:31:46 ↗ other elements that are there when we're

2:31:48 ↗ out in the public

2:31:50 ↗ um I'll just briefly talk about the uh

2:31:53 ↗ reduction in the Light Rail station

2:31:55 ↗ analysis um certainly

2:31:58 ↗ 2043 is a ways off but I would just ask

2:32:01 ↗ it that the uh Light Rail station

2:32:04 ↗ analysis continue to coincide and be

2:32:07 ↗ coordinated with the uh construction of

2:32:10 ↗ the I90 overpass perhaps leading that by

2:32:13 ↗ a year or year and a half so that they

2:32:15 ↗ work together in time and um are ready

2:32:18 ↗ about the same time for uh presentation

2:32:22 ↗ implementation and a conversation uh in

2:32:25 ↗ our city for our citizens to take a look

2:32:28 ↗ at that project uh uh in depth and they

2:32:31 ↗ can help uh form that vision for that

2:32:34 ↗ Terminus um finally on the uh uh sales

2:32:38 ↗ tax revenues I definitely think the

2:32:40 ↗ enhancements proposed are appropriate uh

2:32:43 ↗ I would generally agree with them as as

2:32:45 ↗ they're put together um just one last

2:32:48 ↗ thing for the future of of construction

2:32:50 ↗ sales tax I'm certainly am interested in

2:32:52 ↗ hearing the proposals by the mayor and

2:32:55 ↗ the administration on how those funds

2:32:57 ↗ would be used I know you're going to

2:32:58 ↗ come up with a creative idea as you

2:33:00 ↗ always do to make sure those funds um

2:33:03 ↗ from construction go to support uh the

2:33:06 ↗ same U type of programs that that make

2:33:09 ↗ isqua a great place to live work and

2:33:11 ↗ play thank

2:33:15 ↗ you well gosh we're already in it aren't

2:33:19 ↗ we I wasn't sure if everybody was going

2:33:21 ↗ to come in and you know bring all of

2:33:23 ↗ these great policy questions but you can

2:33:25 ↗ see we obviously have a conversation to

2:33:28 ↗ be had so we'll look forward to working

2:33:31 ↗ with the administration on that we are

2:33:34 ↗ reminded once again that we can uh ask

2:33:37 ↗ our questions to the portal and get them

2:33:40 ↗ over to Susie and the budget

2:33:43 ↗ team letting your way it will be

2:33:46 ↗ exciting um is there anything the

2:33:49 ↗ administration needs other than that

2:33:50 ↗ from

2:33:51 ↗ us no thank you very much Council okay

2:33:55 ↗ well I will also throw another thank you

2:33:57 ↗ in to our senior leadership team and

2:33:59 ↗ staff and department heads who have come

2:34:02 ↗ and uh shared with us and struggled

2:34:06 ↗ along with us on this lovely fun budget

2:34:10 ↗ um situation so very much appreciate

2:34:13 ↗ your contribution as we sort through all

2:34:17 ↗ of these pieces so thank with that

2:34:21 ↗ um yes let's see we've already done a

2:34:24 ↗ community comment so going back to uh

2:34:29 ↗ we've got good of the order any good of

2:34:30 ↗ the order

2:34:32 ↗ items okay well then I will note that we

2:34:35 ↗ are adjourned at 9:05 p.m. thank you

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Staff (3)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Tisha Gieser, City Clerk