City Council Committee of the Whole · Monday, April 28, 2025 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Windstorm Follow-Up COM 0135

45 min · Jared Schneider, Emergency Manager · packet pp.5–19

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

On Nov. 19, 2024, a severe windstorm with straight-line winds caused extensive damage across Issaquah. The storm led to widespread power outages, downed trees, infrastructure damage, and significant debris accumulation. The entire City lost power for multiple days, with full restoration not achieved until Nov. 26. Internet outages persisted even longer, disrupting communications and City operations.

First Quarter Update COM 0136

60 min · Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator · packet pp.21–32

Open packet at p.21 ↗

Staff report:

City Budget update

2548 segments .txt ↗

0:07 ↗ Welcome everyone. Um, I, Council

0:09 ↗ President Walsh, call the April 28th

0:12 ↗ Committee of the Whole meeting to order

0:14 ↗ at 6:31 p.m. As a reminder, we always

0:18 ↗ continue to have remote aspect to our

0:20 ↗ meetings. So, we've got staff and

0:22 ↗ potentially members of the public

0:24 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:26 ↗ remotely via WebEx. There are multiple

0:29 ↗ public comment opportunities at

0:30 ↗ tonight's meeting. There's a general

0:33 ↗ public comment opportunity at the

0:34 ↗ beginning of the meeting or you can make

0:36 ↗ comments after the presentation and

0:38 ↗ council question and answer period on

0:41 ↗ tonight's agenda

0:42 ↗ items. So, with public comment, members

0:45 ↗ of the public may address council at

0:47 ↗ this time in person or virtually. Those

0:49 ↗ who signed up in advance to make

0:51 ↗ comments will be called on first. If

0:53 ↗ you're joining us virtually and would

0:55 ↗ like to make comments, please raise your

0:56 ↗ virtual hand. If you're on a phone,

0:59 ↗ press star three. If you've joined by

1:02 ↗ computer or smartphone, look for the

1:04 ↗ hand icon or send the host a chat

1:06 ↗ message. If you're in the room and did

1:08 ↗ not sign up, I will ask for other

1:10 ↗ speakers before closing this portion of

1:12 ↗ the meeting. And I will wait for a

1:15 ↗ moment. Do we have anyone

1:17 ↗ online? We do not. And does anyone in

1:20 ↗ person wish to make a comment? Thank

1:23 ↗ you. Okay. As a reminder, written

1:26 ↗ comments can be submitted at any time to

1:28 ↗ city council

1:31 ↗ atquawwah.gov. Okay. So, we've got two

1:33 ↗ items on our agenda tonight. We've got

1:37 ↗ comm0135, which is a windstorm followup,

1:40 ↗ and then com

1:41 ↗ 0136, a first quarter update. So, our

1:45 ↗ first item is the windstorm follow-up

1:48 ↗ presented by Jared Schneider, our

1:50 ↗ emergency manager. There you are, Jared.

1:54 ↗ Fantastic. Hello, everyone. And council

1:56 ↗ president, if I may just make some

1:58 ↗ introductory comments before we let uh

2:00 ↗ Jerry get on with his presentation. So,

2:03 ↗ uh we're here tonight uh to talk uh

2:05 ↗ emergency management u broadly and

2:07 ↗ specifically. specifically first uh to

2:10 ↗ talk about the bomb cyclone uh arguably

2:13 ↗ one of the larger um natural disasters

2:17 ↗ that we have faced in a community for

2:18 ↗ some time. Um we've asked Jared to come

2:21 ↗ this evening and talk uh about the

2:24 ↗ afteraction report that he has completed

2:26 ↗ and he's going to go through the

2:27 ↗ highlights of that of what was learned.

2:29 ↗ Uh the second piece of this uh comes out

2:32 ↗ of your retreat from several weeks ago

2:35 ↗ uh where the council identified five uh

2:37 ↗ top areas of focus for the year. One of

2:40 ↗ which was emergency preparedness. And as

2:42 ↗ the administration went through that

2:44 ↗ list after that meeting and kind of

2:46 ↗ assessed where we thought we were at in

2:48 ↗ uh meeting those uh uh challenges that

2:52 ↗ you all set forth for us this year. um

2:54 ↗ we kind of took some pause with

2:56 ↗ emergency management that uh with what's

2:58 ↗ going on uh what went on in Southern

3:00 ↗ California uh with the wildfires, what

3:04 ↗ has gone on since uh President Trump has

3:07 ↗ taken office and the changes there um

3:10 ↗ with his approach with emergency

3:11 ↗ management nationally. uh we thought it

3:13 ↗ would uh be useful to kind of talk a

3:15 ↗ little bit more about where we're at and

3:18 ↗ perhaps what additional resources we may

3:20 ↗ need in order to uh uh really address

3:23 ↗ the the issue as you would like it

3:25 ↗ addressed. We're not proposing this

3:27 ↗ evening to add staff members. We're not

3:28 ↗ proposing this evening to ask for more

3:30 ↗ money, but we are kind of just wanting

3:32 ↗ to get a temperature from you uh kind of

3:35 ↗ revisit the discussion that you had

3:36 ↗ several weeks ago. um hear from Jared

3:39 ↗ about what he thinks that if we were to

3:41 ↗ put additional resources toward this,

3:43 ↗ what those resources could accomplish,

3:45 ↗ and get some feedback from you. Um if

3:47 ↗ this is something you'd like us to

3:48 ↗ pursue, we'll come back at a future

3:49 ↗ meeting to talk some more. Um if given

3:52 ↗ everything else that we're facing,

3:53 ↗ certainly you'll hear later on from from

3:56 ↗ Andrea uh some of the larger issues

3:58 ↗ we're also facing. If this makes sense,

4:00 ↗ just to kind of keep an eye on as we

4:02 ↗ move forward, we can do that, too. But I

4:03 ↗ wanted to kind of set the stage uh first

4:06 ↗ before uh we let Jared move forward. So

4:09 ↗ unless council president there are any

4:10 ↗ initial questions um we'll uh let Jared

4:14 ↗ go forward. Jared, good evening.

4:17 ↗ All righty. Thank you, Molly. Uh thanks

4:19 ↗ for teeing up the conversation

4:20 ↗ perfectly. So I'm going to go ahead here

4:22 ↗ and share my screen. Um does that look

4:26 ↗ all right on everyone else's end there?

4:28 ↗ Yes, it looks good. Thank you. Okay,

4:31 ↗ great. And thank you everybody. I

4:33 ↗ apologize for being uh virtual tonight.

4:35 ↗ Of of course I would prefer to be there

4:37 ↗ in person as I as I usually am, but had

4:39 ↗ some family matters that actually pulled

4:41 ↗ me out of state. So I had to um pivot a

4:44 ↗ little bit with the virtual meeting. So

4:46 ↗ just appreciate your understanding. Um

4:48 ↗ but it's always a pleasure to talk to

4:50 ↗ you about emergency management, what

4:52 ↗ we're doing here at the city and um and

4:54 ↗ share some information. So, um, as Wally

4:57 ↗ mentioned, um, what we are currently

4:59 ↗ working on here is, or what we're here

5:01 ↗ to talk about today is additional

5:03 ↗ lessons learned from the bomb cyclone.

5:05 ↗ So, you know, I've had the opportunity

5:07 ↗ to speak to you about it a couple times,

5:09 ↗ but as Wally mentioned, we finished our

5:11 ↗ afteraction review, at least the first

5:12 ↗ draft, and we have some major highlights

5:14 ↗ that I would like to share with you all,

5:15 ↗ and then two to talk about what the

5:18 ↗ future of this emergency management

5:19 ↗ program at the city could look like,

5:21 ↗ especially given the um very quick

5:24 ↗ changing nature of of what uh national

5:27 ↗ disaster uh response looks like in our

5:30 ↗ country.

5:31 ↗ So with that to kind of set the table I

5:34 ↗ wanted to highlight some of our final

5:35 ↗ numbers from the windstorm. Uh the first

5:38 ↗ is about debris removal. So we have

5:40 ↗ approximately 800 or had approximately

5:42 ↗ 800 tons of debris removed through this

5:45 ↗ event. 114 tons were actually removed

5:48 ↗ through our community debris events

5:50 ↗ where there was 647 vehicle trips. Uh if

5:53 ↗ you'll recall, we had three events where

5:55 ↗ we partnered with Recology, Parks,

5:57 ↗ Public Works, our SER members, our

5:59 ↗ sustainability team to all come together

6:02 ↗ um to have one location where

6:04 ↗ individuals could actually bring some of

6:05 ↗ their debris and their and their

6:06 ↗ vehicles and drop it off and have it

6:08 ↗ removed. So that's a pretty solid

6:10 ↗ throughput for for those events and um

6:13 ↗ it really highlights, right, the

6:14 ↗ community need for this type of

6:17 ↗ offering. I want to talk about tree

6:19 ↗ damage. We had about 250 to 300 park

6:21 ↗ trees lost with another additional

6:23 ↗ thousand lost in open spaces. Uh for our

6:26 ↗ resilience hubs all total totaled we had

6:29 ↗ about 1,700 visitors sheltered and three

6:32 ↗ different locations. One being the

6:33 ↗ senior center, second being Pickering

6:35 ↗ Barn, and the third in partnership with

6:37 ↗ Isqua Isqua School District being Cougar

6:39 ↗ Mountain Middle School. Um and then also

6:42 ↗ an additional resilience hub site are

6:44 ↗ the Isqua Food and Clothing Bank. They

6:46 ↗ distributed about 500 um 500 to 500

6:50 ↗ people emergency food. And so that is a

6:52 ↗ significant number too. Also just

6:54 ↗ highlighting uh the the scale of the

6:57 ↗ event that we were under. In terms of

6:59 ↗ private property damage, we had nine

7:01 ↗ homes were red tagged. Uh as a reminder,

7:03 ↗ those are homes that are deemed

7:05 ↗ inhabitable by our building official.

7:07 ↗ And then 17 homes were yellow tagged,

7:09 ↗ which means they sustained some level of

7:11 ↗ damage, albeit like something, for

7:13 ↗ example, like one bedroom. So, you can't

7:15 ↗ use one bedroom of your house because a

7:17 ↗ tree came through it. We had 36 business

7:20 ↗ businesses reporting some level of

7:22 ↗ economic damage. Um, I would say that

7:24 ↗ number is probably much higher given the

7:25 ↗ loss of business to uh just disqual

7:28 ↗ businesses during the the windtorm, but

7:30 ↗ 36 officially reported. In terms of

7:33 ↗ survivor assistance, um, keep in mind

7:35 ↗ these are countywide numbers because we

7:37 ↗ weren't the owners of this data. Um, we

7:38 ↗ couldn't aggregate it just to Isqua. In

7:41 ↗ terms of Small Business Administration

7:42 ↗ loans, there was 518 applicants

7:44 ↗ submitted. Uh 185 loans totaling 12.8

7:48 ↗ million were offered and there was 168

7:50 ↗ dispersements totaling 6.4 million were

7:53 ↗ made. So uh as a reminder, those are

7:55 ↗ like low interest uh loans that that

7:57 ↗ that are available after any given uh

7:59 ↗ disaster meeting a certain threshold.

8:02 ↗ The second program was Washington

8:03 ↗ state's individual assistant pro

8:05 ↗ individual assistance program. Uh there

8:07 ↗ was 50 applicants for that program and

8:10 ↗ nine received funds. To qualify for that

8:12 ↗ program, you had to not only sustain

8:15 ↗ severe uh damage to your property, but

8:18 ↗ also be well below um income thresholds

8:21 ↗ throughout throughout uh the state. So

8:23 ↗ much below the the low income level. In

8:27 ↗ terms of city response and recover

8:28 ↗ costs, we have an estimated $3.8 million

8:30 ↗ in city damages. and we're hopeful that

8:32 ↗ number will come down given some as

8:34 ↗ we're starting to understand our

8:35 ↗ financial situation a little bit better

8:37 ↗ as we're uh getting really full full a

8:40 ↗ better picture with

8:42 ↗ recovery. So now to talk about our

8:45 ↗ afteraction review. So if you're

8:46 ↗ unfamiliar with this term, this is

8:48 ↗ really a standard practice for um for

8:51 ↗ cities, for fire departments, police

8:53 ↗ departments to to do following any

8:55 ↗ disaster emergency. And really what it

8:58 ↗ does is it just boils down our strengths

9:00 ↗ and areas for improvement following a

9:02 ↗ response. The way that we feed this

9:05 ↗ report is we collect data through

9:07 ↗ something called hot washes uh which is

9:09 ↗ where you get everyone together uh

9:11 ↗ usually pretty quick after the event's

9:12 ↗ over and you just you air it all out,

9:14 ↗ right? You talk about what went well,

9:16 ↗ what didn't go well and really identify

9:18 ↗ some of those preliminary areas. We're

9:20 ↗ like, you know what, when it comes to

9:21 ↗ the next event, we we want to be better

9:23 ↗ in this way. The next way is through

9:25 ↗ surveys. So a survey was sent to all

9:27 ↗ responders asking them for feedback for

9:29 ↗ similar areas, things that went well,

9:31 ↗ things that didn't, and suggestions on

9:33 ↗ how we can improve. And then uh

9:35 ↗ interviews. So I in some cases I would

9:37 ↗ sit down with a member from the city or

9:40 ↗ otherwise and and drill a little deeper

9:42 ↗ into a certain topic so we can get a

9:44 ↗ full understanding of what went well,

9:47 ↗ what didn't in in any given mission

9:49 ↗ area. In total, we identified 48

9:52 ↗ different items uh that were uh

9:54 ↗ identified for follow-up. So being ones

9:56 ↗ that you know something that we'll

9:58 ↗ revisit that we will uh come back to and

10:00 ↗ something called our improvement plan to

10:02 ↗ to highlight and to to really make sure

10:04 ↗ that when it comes to the next disaster

10:06 ↗ and emergency that same weakness ideally

10:10 ↗ will not happen again.

10:13 ↗ So to talk about our primary mission

10:14 ↗ areas and our scorecard if you will, uh

10:17 ↗ we had emergency coordination, debris

10:20 ↗ management, resilience hubs,

10:22 ↗ infrastructure and generators,

10:24 ↗ connectivity, public safety, rapid

10:26 ↗ impact survey, and public communication

10:28 ↗ as kind of the main areas that the

10:29 ↗ afteraction review highlighted. Um and

10:32 ↗ then there was really four different

10:33 ↗ potential um categories that that we can

10:36 ↗ grade ourselves with. One was performed

10:38 ↗ without challenge, second was performed

10:40 ↗ with some challenge, the third performed

10:41 ↗ with major challenges, and the last

10:43 ↗ unable to be performed. And and

10:45 ↗ ultimately, um, we performed all of

10:47 ↗ them, but with some challenges. So, uh,

10:50 ↗ it's it's maybe not the most interesting

10:52 ↗ scorecard since it's all the same, but

10:53 ↗ it's true of our response. You know,

10:56 ↗ there wasn't anything that we weren't um

10:58 ↗ that we were unable to do. You know,

11:00 ↗ most things we were able to do, but with

11:02 ↗ just a few minor areas or a few little

11:04 ↗ areas that we needed to improve on. So,

11:06 ↗ uh, frankly, I think, uh, that's that

11:08 ↗ that's pretty good for for our

11:11 ↗ event. I wanted to highlight five major

11:14 ↗ things from our afteraction review to

11:16 ↗ just, uh, bring them to your attention

11:18 ↗ to know specifically what our biggest

11:19 ↗ takeaways were from this event. And the

11:22 ↗ first one is utilizing our formal

11:23 ↗ emergency operations center structure.

11:26 ↗ So while everyone felt to some extent

11:28 ↗ that there was good coordination

11:30 ↗ happening between city departments,

11:32 ↗ external partners and other government

11:33 ↗ entities, uh we felt like there could be

11:36 ↗ some growth, right, and filling out some

11:37 ↗ of these key roles in our EOC that would

11:40 ↗ create uh less problems uh during our

11:43 ↗ response and and ultimately make things

11:45 ↗ run smoother. You know, the example that

11:47 ↗ I think of is uh lunch, for example, was

11:50 ↗ sometimes uh delayed. And when you have

11:52 ↗ public works and parks crews out there

11:54 ↗ cutting, you know, trees for 12 hours at

11:57 ↗ a time in some cases, right? Like making

11:59 ↗ sure that those individuals are fed,

12:00 ↗ especially when it's hard to find food

12:02 ↗ following a disaster like this is really

12:05 ↗ important. And so we were actually

12:06 ↗ missing a role within our EOC structure

12:08 ↗ that would have typically covered that

12:10 ↗ type of responsibility. So, so having a

12:13 ↗ more built out and formalized EOC um

12:16 ↗ will help alleviate some of those

12:18 ↗ issues.

12:19 ↗ The second is creating more resiliency

12:21 ↗ and backup power generators, fuel

12:22 ↗ acquisition and knowledge base. So as

12:25 ↗ you know the city relies on backup power

12:27 ↗ generators for powering critical

12:29 ↗ infrastructure, resilience hubs and uh

12:32 ↗ many other sites you know that really

12:33 ↗ keep the city running as as our

12:35 ↗ residents expect it. Um now this

12:38 ↗ responsibility is really handled out of

12:40 ↗ one division within our team and within

12:42 ↗ that division you know it it happens to

12:44 ↗ be there's one person or in one and a

12:46 ↗ half really who have good knowledge of

12:49 ↗ of our generators right and so that's a

12:51 ↗ potential single point of failure to

12:53 ↗ where if that individual couldn't make

12:54 ↗ it into work then in some cases you know

12:57 ↗ uh we we could be we could have

12:59 ↗ challenges in future events. So the big

13:01 ↗ takeaway from that um is that you know

13:03 ↗ we need to make sure that we have things

13:05 ↗ written down right standard operating

13:07 ↗ procedures and other information that

13:10 ↗ you know regardless of who's actually

13:11 ↗ able to make it into the city right we

13:14 ↗ can perform these necessary functions

13:16 ↗ and and you know we called out

13:18 ↗ generators in this event right but this

13:20 ↗ is really common across cities right

13:22 ↗ sometimes there is only one or two

13:24 ↗ people that you know know how to do

13:25 ↗ something in a in a smallish city to

13:28 ↗ mediumsiz city so um making sure that we

13:30 ↗ have good transfer of knowledge is

13:32 ↗ essential for future events. Next is

13:34 ↗ initiate a community rapid impact survey

13:36 ↗ post disaster earlier in the incident.

13:39 ↗ So, um this was the first time that I'm

13:41 ↗ aware that our building uh officials and

13:44 ↗ engineers actually did a community rapid

13:46 ↗ impact survey. As a reminder, this is

13:48 ↗ where we sent teams out to look at homes

13:50 ↗ following the disaster to identify um

13:52 ↗ any ones that may be potentially unsafe

13:55 ↗ or uninhabitable uninhabitable. That

13:57 ↗ kind of filled that red and yellow tag

13:59 ↗ numbers out. um you know it it should it

14:02 ↗ could have happened quicker. That's

14:03 ↗ something that we came away with. I

14:05 ↗ think it was something like 54 hours

14:06 ↗ after the event until when it was

14:08 ↗ initiated. And so we need to make sure

14:11 ↗ that whenever there's a disaster that

14:13 ↗ and it's safe to put our crews out onto

14:15 ↗ the road to look around and make sure

14:17 ↗ these um these homes and areas, you

14:19 ↗ know, are are safe for our residents. Um

14:22 ↗ it it just needs to happen earlier in

14:23 ↗ the incident. So that's a great takeaway

14:25 ↗ and one that we're happy to carry into

14:27 ↗ future events.

14:29 ↗ Next is better prepare our resilience

14:30 ↗ hubs for operations of this scale. Uh we

14:32 ↗ had done some initial planning for our

14:34 ↗ resilience hubs uh in leading up to this

14:37 ↗ event. But it was really quite a new

14:39 ↗ idea at the city. We had just finalized

14:41 ↗ some of our initial plans for it in uh

14:44 ↗ late September before the bomb cyclone.

14:47 ↗ And um man, those initial plans got

14:49 ↗ tested pretty quick after that. So uh

14:52 ↗ one thing that we learned though is that

14:54 ↗ uh there were some challenges right in

14:55 ↗ running these sites. And we had some

14:57 ↗ sites such as Blakeley Hall that wasn't

14:58 ↗ even able to open despite being a

15:00 ↗ resilience hub. So identifying things

15:03 ↗ like okay, you know, what's a potential

15:04 ↗ redundant power supply or power source

15:07 ↗ for Blakeley Hall, you know, what's an

15:09 ↗ operations plan, you know, for them.

15:11 ↗ Those are the types of conversations

15:12 ↗ that our resilience subs are having, you

15:14 ↗ know, and there's a whole slew of other

15:15 ↗ items for our city ran ones, you know,

15:17 ↗ that we're also having to to better

15:19 ↗ prepare and make sure that we're ready

15:20 ↗ for the next event. Uh, lastly, I want

15:23 ↗ to talk about debris management. So

15:25 ↗ while it was handled effectively, um

15:27 ↗ there's much more that we can do to

15:28 ↗ better learn about how to understanding

15:30 ↗ or to better understand best practices

15:32 ↗ when it comes to this topic, this event,

15:35 ↗ it really strained um not only the city

15:38 ↗ but the region when it comes to debris

15:40 ↗ removal, you know, and to be frank, this

15:42 ↗ was a fairly isolated event, right?

15:45 ↗ We're talking Isquas, Samish, portions

15:46 ↗ of unincorporated King County that were

15:48 ↗ really hit hard and it really um grinded

15:52 ↗ to a halt the regional system for a few

15:54 ↗ days. And so um that's just a that's a

15:57 ↗ huge area to highlight for for future

15:59 ↗ growth because you know take something

16:01 ↗ like a big earthquake, right? We're

16:03 ↗ going to have not only just trees and

16:05 ↗ woody debris, right? We're going to have

16:06 ↗ things like buildings and um other types

16:08 ↗ of debris that that we may need to find

16:10 ↗ a place to temporarily house or store or

16:14 ↗ uh keep sequestered in some cases if

16:15 ↗ it's like hazardous material following

16:17 ↗ an event uh to make sure that we can you

16:19 ↗ know um maintain public safety and and

16:22 ↗ get everything cleaned up. So, we're um

16:25 ↗ planning on updating our uh debris

16:27 ↗ management plan following this event

16:29 ↗ with some of the lessons that we've

16:30 ↗ learned from the bomb cyclone, but also

16:32 ↗ carrying in and seeking out um more

16:34 ↗ knowledge from other partners um and

16:36 ↗ other jurisdictions who've gone through

16:38 ↗ large-scale uh events in the

16:40 ↗ past. So, those are the highlights of

16:43 ↗ our after action review. As I had

16:45 ↗ mentioned, there is much more in that

16:46 ↗ report that we're going to be working on

16:48 ↗ behind the scenes to make sure that

16:49 ↗ we're better prepared for the next

16:50 ↗ event.

16:52 ↗ But what I wanted to shift to now is

16:54 ↗ really the changes uh that are occurring

16:56 ↗ in disaster response and preparedness at

16:59 ↗ a national level that's that's trickling

17:01 ↗ down to us here in the cities. And so um

17:04 ↗ you I'm sure you all aware are all aware

17:07 ↗ of FEMA's denial of our presidentially

17:09 ↗ declared disaster of which the state is

17:12 ↗ appealing. Um but this is um all

17:15 ↗ indications is this is this is going to

17:17 ↗ be the new normal for for local

17:19 ↗ jurisdictions. Um, keep in mind

17:21 ↗ everything we're still operating in a

17:23 ↗ lot of uncertainty. When I put together

17:25 ↗ this slide about a week and a half ago,

17:27 ↗ you know, um, we I put it together as

17:30 ↗ is, but just this morning, right, we

17:31 ↗ received a new memo with additional

17:33 ↗ details uh, saying that, you know,

17:35 ↗ FEMA's in uh, planning on increasing the

17:38 ↗ amount of damage that it takes at local

17:40 ↗ jurisdictions to get that disaster

17:42 ↗ declared, right? But, but everything is

17:44 ↗ changing very quickly. We're trying to

17:46 ↗ keep pace with all the changes, not only

17:47 ↗ here at Isqua, but at the county and the

17:49 ↗ state. Um, but we're trying to remain

17:51 ↗ responsive to this information and this

17:53 ↗ in this changing landscape. That being

17:56 ↗ said, one thing that we know for for

17:58 ↗ certain is that more responsibility is

18:00 ↗ going to be put on local jurisdictions.

18:02 ↗ That's what's been consistent across all

18:04 ↗ the messages and the communication that

18:06 ↗ we've heard about FEMA is that uh the

18:08 ↗ responsibility typically or historically

18:11 ↗ held by FEMA will now be shifted more to

18:14 ↗ state, county, and local jurisdictions

18:16 ↗ for disaster response and recovery. So,

18:19 ↗ um with that too, uh there's a

18:21 ↗ diminishing of federal grant

18:22 ↗ opportunities which we really tap into

18:24 ↗ to help better prepare, uh ISQA for

18:27 ↗ future events as well. and and really an

18:29 ↗ important part of what our emergency

18:31 ↗ management program uh tries to achieve

18:33 ↗ here, right? Um at the city, we're not

18:35 ↗ only responding and recovering from

18:37 ↗ disasters, right? We're we're preparing

18:39 ↗ for the next ones and trying to make our

18:41 ↗ city more resilient. And so the

18:43 ↗ diminishing of these federal grant

18:44 ↗ opportunities leaves some big question

18:46 ↗ marks, right, of where these projects

18:48 ↗ will will potentially be funded. So

18:51 ↗ that's kind of the landscape that we're

18:52 ↗ operating in. And so I found it um quite

18:55 ↗ um quite timely the council retreat

18:57 ↗ conversation about emergency management

19:00 ↗ staffing. And so given that this is the

19:02 ↗ backdrop right of our of our new normal

19:05 ↗ if you will around disasters and

19:06 ↗ emergencies, I wanted to highlight as

19:08 ↗ Wall-Ally said some of our potential

19:10 ↗ areas that we could uh potentially build

19:11 ↗ out our program and some of the um and

19:14 ↗ some of the ways that it would actually

19:15 ↗ play out in our community and the

19:16 ↗ benefits that it would bring. So what

19:19 ↗ you see here is the simple table for our

19:22 ↗ for an emergency preparedness

19:23 ↗ coordinator with 20 hours, 28 hours and

19:25 ↗ 48 hours. So um the first option that I

19:29 ↗ see is hiring an additional staff, a

19:31 ↗ part-time staff member at 20 hours. And

19:34 ↗ really what this individual would be

19:36 ↗ responsible for is increasing the

19:38 ↗ preparedness of our residents. Now we

19:40 ↗ all know um you take an event something

19:43 ↗ like a uh like an earthquake, right? it

19:45 ↗ could be quite some time for the city to

19:48 ↗ really be out on the streets responding,

19:51 ↗ helping individuals, right? So really

19:53 ↗ the most important thing that we can do

19:55 ↗ um as an emergency management entity is

19:58 ↗ make sure that our residents and our

19:59 ↗ community is prepared for disasters cuz

20:02 ↗ there can be a serious lurch in between

20:04 ↗ when we're able to provide services. So

20:06 ↗ what this would look like for this

20:08 ↗ individual is they would be providing

20:09 ↗ disaster skills training. So that's like

20:11 ↗ little miniature seminars where, you

20:13 ↗ know, individuals are taught the most

20:15 ↗ important things that um that they need

20:17 ↗ to to really survive these types of

20:19 ↗ disasters. Um taking advantage of our

20:22 ↗ community events, right? Is so many

20:23 ↗ community events. It's wonderful. And

20:25 ↗ and we want to make sure that we have a

20:26 ↗ presence um from emergency management at

20:29 ↗ these events to to make sure that this

20:30 ↗ information is available wherever people

20:32 ↗ are. Next is resilience hub awareness.

20:35 ↗ Right? I I still today will um talk to

20:37 ↗ residents that had no idea that our

20:39 ↗ resilience hubs were were open right

20:41 ↗ during the bomb cyclone or even knew

20:43 ↗ that this was something uh that the city

20:45 ↗ is investing um its time and energy

20:47 ↗ into. And so, you know, one of the

20:49 ↗ potential ideas is to have miniature

20:51 ↗ parties, if you will, at these

20:52 ↗ resilience hubs where people can get to

20:54 ↗ know their neighbors, get familiar with

20:56 ↗ the services available at these

20:57 ↗ resilience hubs, and ultimately, you

20:59 ↗ know, just help foster the sense of

21:01 ↗ community that that is so important

21:02 ↗ after a disaster.

21:05 ↗ And then uh one one other item to

21:06 ↗ highlight too is is we're doing so much

21:08 ↗ around wildfire now. Um as you all know

21:11 ↗ um we have our wildfire evacuation study

21:13 ↗ where we've just got the first initial

21:15 ↗ results from which I'm very excited to

21:16 ↗ share the results of soon. Um, but all

21:19 ↗ this information, right, is is going to

21:21 ↗ need to be shared with the community and

21:22 ↗ we need to really prepare our residents

21:24 ↗ for what evacuation looks like um for

21:26 ↗ something like a wildfire. And and since

21:28 ↗ that's a relatively new hazard that

21:30 ↗ we're having to plan for here in Isiqua,

21:32 ↗ that's something where, you know, um

21:35 ↗ many people are going to have to are

21:37 ↗ going to have to learn uh about. The

21:40 ↗ next step up is our part-time 28 hours

21:43 ↗ um position. And so this includes

21:45 ↗ everything you just heard me talk about

21:47 ↗ uh preparing uh the community, but it

21:49 ↗ also includes uh providing some advanced

21:52 ↗ search training. So uh our CERT teams

21:55 ↗ are our community emergency response uh

21:58 ↗ volunteer groups that have gone through

21:59 ↗ a um that have gone through a training

22:02 ↗ that is um sponsored by the city through

22:04 ↗ Isqua um civilian uh or Isqua civilian

22:08 ↗ council. And um they they uh have this

22:12 ↗ they help us out in disasters. They help

22:14 ↗ us out in emergencies, but they also

22:15 ↗ help spread the word about um about

22:18 ↗ disaster preparedness. I was at the last

22:20 ↗ class um recently and I was asking some

22:22 ↗ of the members who were taking the C

22:24 ↗ class like what brought you here? And

22:25 ↗ what they were saying was other members

22:27 ↗ that had already graduated were telling

22:29 ↗ them that they should take it, right?

22:30 ↗ Because now they feel so much more

22:31 ↗ prepared for disasters and emergencies.

22:33 ↗ So, keeping them engaged, giving them

22:35 ↗ the tools and uh capabilities to help

22:38 ↗ their community or their immediate

22:40 ↗ neighborhood following a disaster is is

22:42 ↗ really essential too, right? Um

22:44 ↗ residents are going to be the first

22:45 ↗ people impacted by a disaster or

22:47 ↗ community members will be. And so,

22:49 ↗ making sure that we have a high level of

22:51 ↗ training for them is is is essential and

22:53 ↗ a worthy investment.

22:55 ↗ Now, lastly, uh the full-time uh

22:57 ↗ position. Again, it includes everything

22:59 ↗ that you've already heard me talk about

23:00 ↗ with the 20 and 20 hour position, but

23:02 ↗ includes more frequent emergency

23:04 ↗ exercises for staff. And so, what this

23:07 ↗ looks like is bringing us up to probably

23:09 ↗ two annual emergency exercises where

23:12 ↗ they're, you know, either discussion

23:13 ↗ based or full-scale exercises where we

23:16 ↗ actually, you know, practice directly

23:18 ↗ the skills that are essential for

23:19 ↗ coordinating or operating in an

23:21 ↗ emergency. Uh but then also too, we want

23:23 ↗ to have more robust uh smaller bite-siz

23:26 ↗ drills where it keeps these uh these

23:28 ↗ skills sharp, right? So, we're talking

23:30 ↗ like lightning drills like 30 minutes

23:32 ↗ where you know responders get together

23:34 ↗ either virtually or in person and we

23:36 ↗ cover maybe one topic, right? To just

23:38 ↗ make sure that uh that emergencies and

23:41 ↗ disasters are front of mind since, you

23:42 ↗ know, they're they're happening

23:43 ↗ frequently and um they can happen at any

23:46 ↗ time. So, I see that as uh very

23:48 ↗ essential for the city and and making

23:50 ↗ sure that we can continue to to protect

23:52 ↗ our community as best as

23:54 ↗ possible. So, with that, um that pretty

23:58 ↗ much sums up everything that I was

23:59 ↗ planning on sharing today. And so,

24:01 ↗ again, to bring it up to the top is one,

24:03 ↗ are there additional lessons learned or

24:05 ↗ items you would like us to explore from

24:07 ↗ the bomb cyclone? And then, what level

24:09 ↗ of emergency management staffing should

24:11 ↗ the city uh pursue or consider future?

24:13 ↗ And I'm going to stop sharing my screen

24:15 ↗ here so I can get a better look at the

24:17 ↗ council chambers.

24:19 ↗ Thanks Jared. Um so council, any

24:23 ↗ question and answers before um public

24:26 ↗ comment and then to

24:29 ↗ feedback? No

24:31 ↗ questions. Council member Ray.

24:36 ↗ Oh, this this is

24:39 ↗ um related to the part-time position,

24:42 ↗ the 20 hours Jared. So, you bring

24:46 ↗ incredible knowledge and skill set

24:48 ↗ around disaster management to the city.

24:52 ↗ Um what level of skill would we need to

24:56 ↗ fill this kind of position? Is this a a

24:58 ↗ you know, mini Jared or is this

25:00 ↗ something where I can I could use

25:02 ↗ someone who had really great

25:03 ↗ organizational administrative skills? um

25:06 ↗ what's what's your take on the skill set

25:08 ↗ required to perform um particularly in

25:10 ↗ the 20our slot but you can you know go

25:13 ↗ up the chain if you want.

25:15 ↗ Yeah, thank you. Um so what I imagine

25:18 ↗ espec specifically for the 20our spot is

25:20 ↗ is someone who yes has good

25:21 ↗ organizational skills but one just

25:23 ↗ really has a heart and a passion for the

25:25 ↗ community and is good communicator

25:27 ↗ really. um you know that public

25:29 ↗ education piece right is mostly going to

25:32 ↗ be um or yeah element of that job is

25:34 ↗ mostly going to be interfacing with the

25:35 ↗ community right so uh being comfortable

25:38 ↗ in the situations and really I think in

25:40 ↗ some ways being empathetic to uh to the

25:43 ↗ situation how challenging that these

25:45 ↗ disasters and emergencies can be will

25:47 ↗ just really serve that that person well

25:50 ↗ and you know I think as you do move up

25:52 ↗ that chain right I think really at that

25:53 ↗ full-time position is where we're

25:56 ↗ looking for more of those hard and fast

25:58 ↗ emergency management skills, right? So,

26:00 ↗ you know, hopefully some level of

26:02 ↗ disaster and emergency response, I

26:04 ↗ think, would really bolster and serve

26:05 ↗ that individual well in that full-time

26:07 ↗ position, but really more in that

26:09 ↗ part-time, right? I I see as someone

26:11 ↗ who's passionate and a good communicator

26:14 ↗ as being the strongest skill sets that

26:15 ↗ that would require for success. That's

26:18 ↗ awesome. Thanks so much,

26:20 ↗ Council Member Hall. Uh, thank you. Um,

26:23 ↗ kind of similarly, I wanted to ask about

26:25 ↗ like partnerships with community groups.

26:27 ↗ Like I know of one and you do too with

26:29 ↗ like Lindsay Pinkson and Highlands

26:30 ↗ Council up in the Highlands have been

26:31 ↗ like super involved in like emergency

26:34 ↗ management and training and I think they

26:36 ↗ they're running a cert class or in

26:37 ↗ partnership with the city up there too.

26:39 ↗ I was wondering too if you could talk

26:40 ↗ about um uh kind of partnerships with

26:43 ↗ community groups in being able to um

26:45 ↗ like disseminate training and awareness

26:47 ↗ out in the community as well. Yeah,

26:50 ↗ thank you Council Member Hall. So, uh,

26:52 ↗ relying on our community, uh, partners

26:54 ↗ and groups is is something that we

26:55 ↗ absolutely do. And really the main

26:58 ↗ vehicle that we're doing that in right

27:00 ↗ now is through our resilience hub group.

27:02 ↗ Um, you know, we have all these

27:04 ↗ individual locations that serve as

27:06 ↗ resilience hubs, but our network is

27:08 ↗ actually much larger, right? So, so what

27:10 ↗ typically the community sees as a place

27:12 ↗ that's open, right? But we have groups

27:14 ↗ that are part of our uh resilience hub

27:16 ↗ um planning group and core team where

27:19 ↗ for example like the circle who they

27:21 ↗ translated our flyers into Mandarin and

27:23 ↗ Spanish during the bomb cyclone that we

27:25 ↗ could actually you know physically

27:27 ↗ distribute right so we're finding that

27:29 ↗ this like group of um group of partners

27:32 ↗ is is really helping us get the word out

27:35 ↗ and so post bomb cyclone this group has

27:38 ↗ been really growing. Um, we're looking

27:40 ↗ at it adding a couple additional

27:42 ↗ resilience hubs, but also we've had many

27:44 ↗ other partner groups approach us asking

27:46 ↗ us how they can be more involved within

27:49 ↗ the city's response in future disasters

27:51 ↗ and emergencies. So, what I imagine the

27:54 ↗ way that this would practically play

27:55 ↗ out, right, is and this is already kind

27:57 ↗ of happening to some extent. We have a

27:58 ↗ few things planned for this summer, but

28:00 ↗ you know, we'll get some information or

28:02 ↗ whether it's a program that we have that

28:03 ↗ we want to promote and we'll ask our

28:05 ↗ resilience hubs to either, you know,

28:07 ↗ have some of these, whether it's print

28:09 ↗ or whether it's just information or

28:11 ↗ whether it's partnership in some of

28:13 ↗ these programs to to see if they could

28:14 ↗ help us, right? Get the word out about

28:16 ↗ this, whatever it is. And they just have

28:19 ↗ a reach that far extends, you know, what

28:21 ↗ the city does by itself, right? Like our

28:23 ↗ comm's team does incredible work, right?

28:25 ↗ But, you know, not everyone's always

28:27 ↗ plugged into our communications, right?

28:28 ↗ But they may be plugged into, as you

28:30 ↗ mentioned, you know, Blakeley Hall, like

28:32 ↗ maybe they're up there for an event and

28:33 ↗ they see something about wildfire

28:34 ↗ evacuation and and so that's just that's

28:38 ↗ the dream, right? That's wonderful

28:39 ↗ because that just makes us, you know,

28:42 ↗ reach a much wider audience. So, it

28:44 ↗ plays a huge role and it's something

28:45 ↗ that yeah, we're actively investing in

28:48 ↗ and growing. Thank you. That's great.

28:50 ↗ Um, and then, uh, two more questions.

28:53 ↗ one clarifying um so like the part-time

28:55 ↗ role in particular um I love the focus

28:58 ↗ on like training and awareness that

29:00 ↗ seems just right um is um is the idea

29:04 ↗ that

29:06 ↗ um like this is kind of what you do now

29:09 ↗ because you do everything and this would

29:10 ↗ free you up to focus on kind of other

29:12 ↗ important priorities or these are things

29:14 ↗ that we don't have capacity to do right

29:16 ↗ now and bringing on a part-time staffer

29:19 ↗ would allow us to do this scope of work

29:21 ↗ now. Yeah. Um, great question. So, yeah,

29:24 ↗ currently our team really is it's me,

29:27 ↗ um, plus a 16-hour a week intern. And

29:30 ↗ so, what I would say is we do some of

29:33 ↗ those things a little bit, right? But we

29:35 ↗ don't do them enough, honestly. And so,

29:38 ↗ you know, um, and to be honest, I'm a

29:40 ↗ little spread thin when it comes to, you

29:43 ↗ know, all of these all of these events,

29:45 ↗ these plans, you know, and of course,

29:46 ↗ like whenever there's a response, right?

29:48 ↗ And so um there is some level of that

29:50 ↗ too right but really what this position

29:52 ↗ would bring is is much more right of

29:55 ↗ what you are seeing um and some of them

29:57 ↗ will be new some of them are things that

29:59 ↗ we wouldn't do otherwise right like

30:01 ↗ realistically our disaster skills

30:03 ↗ training is just something that we don't

30:04 ↗ really have time to to to really sustain

30:07 ↗ as as a division right but that's

30:09 ↗ something that we really need in our

30:11 ↗ community and so you know like while

30:13 ↗ we'll do a little bit of of everything

30:15 ↗ you know um in occasion it it would in

30:17 ↗ some cases is to create new programs.

30:22 ↗ Thank you very much. Um, is it okay if I

30:24 ↗ ask one more? Is that okay? Um, just to

30:26 ↗ clarify, and this might be a a question

30:28 ↗ for administration staff, too. Uh, did

30:30 ↗ we have any do you happen to know off

30:32 ↗ top of your head if we had any questions

30:33 ↗ in the community survey, the community

30:34 ↗ survey around emergency management or or

30:38 ↗ anything like that that might give us a

30:40 ↗ a good picture into what the community

30:41 ↗ is thinking around how we should think

30:44 ↗ about emergency management

30:46 ↗ resources? Seeing some potential head

30:48 ↗ nods,

30:51 ↗ I believe. So, I believe there was at

30:53 ↗ least one question around just emergency

30:54 ↗ response. Yep.

30:58 ↗ Okay. Um, council member Jiang, did you

31:01 ↗ have questions? Okay, I think you were

31:03 ↗ next and then deputy council. Great.

31:05 ↗ Yeah, thanks for this presentation. Um,

31:07 ↗ I really appreciate, you know, looking

31:09 ↗ um on the debris management piece. you

31:11 ↗ mentioned, you know, that's kind of that

31:12 ↗ was a bottleneck in the bomb cyclone.

31:14 ↗ And if we were, you know, the

31:15 ↗ potentially like biggest most

31:16 ↗ catastrophic disaster we could get is

31:18 ↗ like the magnitude 9 earthquake. Um, so

31:21 ↗ I'm curious like are there other areas

31:24 ↗ that could be constraints in that type

31:25 ↗ of situation? You know, we could get a

31:27 ↗ power outage that lasts more than 10

31:29 ↗ days. Um, so you know, what are some of

31:31 ↗ the areas there that maybe the bomb

31:33 ↗ cyclone made us realize, oh, you know,

31:35 ↗ we can survive 10 days, but that's kind

31:36 ↗ of the limit of it. Um, so yeah, curious

31:38 ↗ kind of about that.

31:40 ↗ Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think um

31:43 ↗ one other area, right, that I think

31:44 ↗ about is is getting staffed physically

31:47 ↗ to to location, right, in in a big

31:49 ↗ earthquake, our whole transportation

31:50 ↗ network is going to be so fractured. Um

31:53 ↗ part of one of our previous emergency uh

31:56 ↗ act or drills or exercises that we did

31:58 ↗ rather on one of our trainings for our

31:59 ↗ EOC, uh we had people count like the

32:01 ↗ number of bridges that they took to

32:03 ↗ actually get to the EOC and in some

32:05 ↗ cases it was like in the in like the 30s

32:07 ↗ I think for our furthest, you know. um

32:09 ↗ for our furthest employees. So that's

32:11 ↗ another area right. So like I just

32:13 ↗ identifying um those levels of

32:15 ↗ redundancy right and training and

32:17 ↗ expertise I think is is very crucial. Uh

32:20 ↗ communication was a huge one right. Uh

32:22 ↗ we lost uh internet not only internet

32:24 ↗ but T-Mobile right for for quite a while

32:27 ↗ too and cell coverage you know within

32:29 ↗ the city. So it really helped us

32:31 ↗ understand the resources available that

32:33 ↗ some of our cell providers um have

32:35 ↗ available. So um that was a huge

32:37 ↗ takeaway. you know, they actually

32:38 ↗ brought like a little uh mobile um

32:41 ↗ mobile radio or cell phone antenna

32:43 ↗ actually out to Isaqua and stationed it

32:45 ↗ right in front of the community center

32:46 ↗ to help, you know, support getting

32:48 ↗ residents back online uh and and have

32:50 ↗ phone service. But our whole

32:52 ↗ communication network is going to be

32:54 ↗ very fractured, you know, following a

32:56 ↗ big event like that. Um those are the

32:58 ↗ main ones that come to my mind, uh just

33:00 ↗ off the top of my head. But, you know,

33:02 ↗ following a 9.0 no earthquake, right?

33:04 ↗ We're uh we're not going to always have

33:06 ↗ also to the ability to rely and lean on

33:09 ↗ our neighbors like we like we did even

33:11 ↗ in this in in this event, right? We were

33:13 ↗ able to um rely on the city of Kent for

33:16 ↗ a few things and some and the county for

33:18 ↗ for some others, right? And so,

33:19 ↗ everyone's going to be in that

33:20 ↗ situation, right? And so, we're going to

33:22 ↗ be very isolated, which again, I think

33:24 ↗ just really stresses the need that, you

33:25 ↗ know, we need to make sure that our

33:26 ↗ residents are prepared, that we're

33:28 ↗ prepared to operate in a really low

33:30 ↗ resource environment.

33:35 ↗ Okay, Council uh Deputy Council

33:38 ↗ President DM Michelle. Thanks, Jared.

33:40 ↗ Um, I sent you an email and thank you

33:43 ↗ very much for your response and I I want

33:45 ↗ to ask the same questions in public so

33:48 ↗ we can possibly have this conversation.

33:51 ↗ Uh, if the federal government is no

33:53 ↗ longer going to support or or help local

33:56 ↗ communities to recover. Uh and in your

33:59 ↗ response, you also indicated that the

34:00 ↗ state is having a conversation about

34:02 ↗ also eliminating that uh support. Um,

34:06 ↗ can you discuss uh what, if anything, is

34:10 ↗ already in place or in motion to help

34:13 ↗ Washington cities recover from

34:14 ↗ emergencies? And how can we as a city,

34:18 ↗ as the city of Isiqua, explore creating

34:21 ↗ more buffers against severe emergency

34:23 ↗ costs? because this is a real blow to

34:27 ↗ our and this is really a relatively

34:29 ↗ small emergency but this is a real blow

34:32 ↗ to our to our budget and our financial

34:35 ↗ planning as a city. So if you could kind

34:38 ↗ of discuss what's happening and uh then

34:41 ↗ what might potentially happen as well.

34:44 ↗ Thank you.

34:45 ↗ Yeah, absolutely. So, um, what I would

34:48 ↗ say is, yeah, keep in mind, right, we're

34:50 ↗ still operating in this high level of

34:52 ↗ uncertainty when it comes to the future

34:54 ↗ of of things like federal funding for

34:56 ↗ disasters. Um, you know, the Washington

34:59 ↗ state itself has really looked into and

35:02 ↗ explored um creating a similar program

35:05 ↗ at the state level that's been left

35:06 ↗ unfended. So really what it would look

35:08 ↗ like is what we're used to um with the

35:10 ↗ federal government using the same

35:12 ↗ criteria for uh damages for impacts and

35:16 ↗ really you know the state would kind of

35:18 ↗ have this public assistance program that

35:20 ↗ could help local jurisdictions. Now

35:23 ↗ since uh it's gone unfunded in previous

35:25 ↗ state budget cycles but actually the

35:27 ↗ framework does exist and it is there

35:29 ↗ within the state emergency management

35:31 ↗ division. Um, you know, what I think a

35:34 ↗ lot of us local emergency managers are

35:36 ↗ really curious about is and kind of

35:38 ↗ waiting with baited breath is to see if

35:40 ↗ the state steps up to that role, right?

35:43 ↗ Like if they're going to actually try to

35:45 ↗ um and to what level, right, that

35:46 ↗ they'll try to fill that federal void in

35:48 ↗ in public assistance programming. And

35:51 ↗ right now, you know, we actually just

35:52 ↗ don't have answers because I think

35:54 ↗ they're also, you know, kind of waiting

35:55 ↗ in this level of uncertainty. And you

35:58 ↗ know, historically, as you mentioned to

36:00 ↗ uh Council Member DM Michelle, Deputy

36:02 ↗ President uh DM Michelle is that, you

36:04 ↗ know, the state uh historically has

36:06 ↗ funded 12.5% of of uh costs per

36:09 ↗ disaster, right? And and nothing's set

36:12 ↗ yet with their decision on that. You

36:14 ↗ know, we're still hopeful that they

36:15 ↗ continue to keep that precedent. Um but

36:18 ↗ that is another avenue that we

36:20 ↗ potentially have and and we'll have in

36:21 ↗ the future. Now, that's just a drop in a

36:23 ↗ bucket, right? leaving the city with

36:25 ↗ 87.5% of their remaining cost during

36:28 ↗ during uh an event. But it's something.

36:31 ↗ Um now the other now one other thing too

36:34 ↗ that I actually didn't mention in that

36:35 ↗ initial email is the state has actually

36:38 ↗ looked into passing some legislature too

36:40 ↗ that actually asks um insurance agencies

36:43 ↗ to charge a premium um to support post-

36:46 ↗ disaster costs. Um, this is something

36:49 ↗ that Florida and a couple other states

36:51 ↗ have done to help kind of ease the

36:53 ↗ impacts and and the burdens on the on

36:56 ↗ the federal um or on the disaster cost

36:58 ↗ recovery type frameworks that already

37:00 ↗ exist. And so I know there's some

37:02 ↗ exploration and rehashing of

37:04 ↗ conversations around that particular

37:06 ↗ legis piece of legislation. Um, but

37:08 ↗ again, you know, I don't have too much

37:10 ↗ details to share with that on that right

37:12 ↗ now. Um, all that to say, I think we're

37:15 ↗ all um we're all kind of coming to terms

37:17 ↗ with what you highlighted, right, is

37:19 ↗ that this insurance policy, if you will,

37:21 ↗ right, from the federal government is is

37:23 ↗ kind of going away, right? And so, I

37:25 ↗ think there's going to need to be some

37:27 ↗ serious conversations at the county and

37:28 ↗ state level of what the future of that

37:30 ↗ looks like. And, um, you know, anyone

37:33 ↗ else or Wally, I would also invite you

37:34 ↗ to add any other insights that you have.

37:36 ↗ you know, emergency management doesn't

37:38 ↗ always have a full comprehensive view of

37:40 ↗ everything that's that's going on

37:41 ↗ specifically in terms of of funding,

37:43 ↗ right? So, I I would say if there's

37:45 ↗ anything else to add, please do.

37:49 ↗ Okay. So, with that, I think that's all

37:53 ↗ of the questions that we have. So, we

37:55 ↗ have an opportunity for public comment

37:57 ↗ on this item. Do we have anybody

38:01 ↗ okay come up?

38:07 ↗ Um, if you would press the button on

38:10 ↗ there and state your name and your

38:12 ↗ comment. Thank you, ma'am. My name is

38:15 ↗ Kong Han. I'm living 1695 Pine View

38:18 ↗ Drive, Northwest Isakua. This one is my

38:21 ↗ third time today. Thank you for your

38:24 ↗ giving me time for five minute to

38:25 ↗ present my common public matters and I'd

38:29 ↗ like to speak very direct to the

38:31 ↗ prosecutors and the city of police

38:33 ↗ officers. I asking prosecutors please

38:36 ↗ provide the evidences. I look at the

38:39 ↗ file I find a few pictures and then one

38:42 ↗ of them you see this gentleman this one

38:45 ↗ is public record so I can show them in

38:47 ↗ the public record. I didn't see any his

38:50 ↗ faces face. smiling and he's joking and

38:55 ↗ then this gentleman too he speak about

38:57 ↗ is I twist his hand they have a four

39:00 ↗ different command one comment from the

39:02 ↗ Costco managers coco manager is no

39:05 ↗ physical contact and this man said I

39:08 ↗ touch his hand like this and this man

39:11 ↗ said I twist his arm but when I it

39:14 ↗ happened within 30 second or less than 1

39:18 ↗ minute I'm here this guy was here only

39:22 ↗ very good BJW is the right side but this

39:25 ↗ man was not there that Caucasian man was

39:28 ↗ there he said it's not worth it do not

39:30 ↗ argue so I walk away to the tire centers

39:33 ↗ and this man said that I twist his thumb

39:36 ↗ it's

39:38 ↗ lying lying is a big matter in public

39:41 ↗ especially lying to the police

39:43 ↗ department that's criminal when I was in

39:46 ↗ law school my professor told everybody

39:49 ↗ what world Make peace is not love. I can

39:53 ↗ love this guy. I can love this guy. What

39:57 ↗ what make world peace is contract. I got

40:00 ↗ this shirt because my son working at the

40:03 ↗ lifeguard has a clear line. Did I break

40:06 ↗ the law? No, I'm not. Did I touch him?

40:08 ↗ No, I'm not. I told prosecutors. Show me

40:11 ↗ the evidence. Did I touch him? No. They

40:14 ↗ give you all different files. I look at

40:16 ↗ everywhere. I didn't say anything. So I

40:19 ↗ asking city of Isakquas. So city of

40:23 ↗ policies is work for the this man or

40:27 ↗ city of policy is work for the public.

40:30 ↗ You know this one is big matter conflict

40:32 ↗ of interest. If the city of police work

40:35 ↗ for him that's not not right because

40:39 ↗ city of police is work for the public

40:43 ↗ public matter. This man called the

40:46 ↗ police office using his personal god and

40:50 ↗ accusing me to assault. Look at his

40:53 ↗ face. He's not victimized. He's smiling.

40:56 ↗ He's bigger than me. Young, strong. I

40:58 ↗ didn't touch him. And I told police

41:01 ↗ officer many times, "No, lying to the

41:03 ↗ public is a crime. I didn't touch him."

41:06 ↗ And he said then they're not going to do

41:07 ↗ anything say that. And I took the

41:10 ↗ prosecutors. They they said no if you

41:12 ↗ call the prosecutors it's against you.

41:16 ↗ So I don't have a

41:17 ↗ choice. I have a two kid. One kid is

41:20 ↗ going to the college is the fourth years

41:21 ↗ in P university. My daughters in

41:23 ↗ college. I can spend5 to $10,000 hire

41:26 ↗ the attorney but I'm double jeopardy

41:30 ↗ because I spend my money and spend all

41:32 ↗ my time prove I'm innocent. What do I

41:35 ↗ get? Nothing. That's not fair system.

41:38 ↗ What fair system is if lying to the

41:41 ↗ public if this man stand come here to

41:46 ↗ witnesses it means something but when he

41:49 ↗ talk to the police officers lying about

41:51 ↗ it and police officer take his speaking

41:55 ↗ as a evidences that's not I mean trial

41:58 ↗ is in May 6 is pre-trial and then at the

42:02 ↗ time courty will decide is it is going

42:05 ↗ to trial or not but I like to make sure

42:09 ↗ prosecutors or police officers charge

42:13 ↗ everybody. Charge me, charge him, charge

42:16 ↗ this guy because lying to the police

42:19 ↗ officer is a crime. And I told you last

42:22 ↗ time if I convicted

42:25 ↗ the if I touch him, if I break the law,

42:28 ↗ I will give million dollars donation to

42:31 ↗ city. I will stand jail less of my life.

42:35 ↗ I will swear I didn't touch him but I'm

42:40 ↗ was so sad

42:41 ↗ because city of Isaka police officers

42:46 ↗ walking is not

42:47 ↗ fairly if fairly they should charge him

42:52 ↗ charge this man as a lying to the public

42:55 ↗ char him as a lying to the public and

42:57 ↗ also this guy he almost tried to hit me

43:00 ↗ with the car that's I don't know that's

43:03 ↗ a very dangerous

43:06 ↗ assaulting. I'm not the legal

43:07 ↗ background. I'm a businessman. I never

43:09 ↗ threatening people with a car or any

43:11 ↗ weapon. He driving toward to me. That's

43:14 ↗ I got a video tape. I got push them. But

43:18 ↗ police officer did not charge him at

43:19 ↗ all. So I have a 20 second but I'm

43:23 ↗ humbly and clearly decisively tell the

43:27 ↗ prosecutors and the chie of policies CD

43:30 ↗ of police isa is not work for him work

43:33 ↗ for public work for public means people

43:38 ↗ can lying to the police office. Thank

43:40 ↗ you so much.

43:44 ↗ Thank you. Do we have anyone online?

43:46 ↗ Okay. So, no other public comments at

43:49 ↗ this time. So, getting back to the com

43:53 ↗ 0135, the windstorm followup. Um, we had

43:58 ↗ a few kind of questions. Um, Jared, do

44:01 ↗ you think you could put the questions

44:04 ↗ back up just so that we can reframe

44:07 ↗ that?

44:16 ↗ So I think I'd like to take conversation

44:18 ↗ in two areas. one is do we have any

44:21 ↗ feedback on the bomb cyclone emergency

44:26 ↗ kind of anything that we want to

44:29 ↗ reference for that and then we can talk

44:31 ↗ about larger emergency management how it

44:34 ↗ relates to what we said at um the

44:38 ↗ retreat and this potential proposal. So,

44:42 ↗ starting out with the

44:45 ↗ um kind of lessons learned or items

44:48 ↗ you'd like to discuss from the bomb

44:50 ↗ cyclone. Anyone have any comments or

44:53 ↗ thoughts

44:56 ↗ there? Council member Hall? Yeah, just

44:59 ↗ one. Jared, you had kind of mentioned

45:01 ↗ communications already in response to

45:04 ↗ your question too and we talked about a

45:05 ↗ little bit at the last um kind of

45:08 ↗ follow-up at council, but you know, I I

45:11 ↗ think that this is a a real opportunity

45:14 ↗ for focus or a real need for focus

45:15 ↗ around communication both with

45:17 ↗ community. I mean, I was lucky enough to

45:19 ↗ know a little bit about what's going on

45:21 ↗ because my city phone had service every

45:24 ↗ now and then. Like my phone, my real

45:25 ↗ phone didn't have any service like ever.

45:27 ↗ and and so things that were going out on

45:30 ↗ Facebook, on Twitter, I did, you know, I

45:32 ↗ didn't see any of that. So like like

45:34 ↗ what are what are the mechanisms? What

45:36 ↗ are the tools at our disposal? SER

45:37 ↗ volunteers paper the Oh, the what's the

45:41 ↗ thing the sign that we have with papers

45:43 ↗ that people can grab? Oh, word on the

45:44 ↗ street. Those like word on the street

45:46 ↗ things. I know there was one at Blakeley

45:47 ↗ Hall at least that people saw. So like

45:50 ↗ you know, I just wanted to say for the

45:52 ↗ record, you know, I I imagine this is

45:54 ↗ part of the afteraction report. Um, but

45:56 ↗ you know, I think this requires some

45:58 ↗ focus from the city in terms of what's

46:00 ↗ our infrastructure for really

46:01 ↗ communicating with the community during

46:02 ↗ something like this. So, that's my only

46:04 ↗ other thought.

46:06 ↗ Okay. Anybody

46:08 ↗ else? Deputy Council President D.

46:10 ↗ Michelle.

46:12 ↗ Yeah, thank you. Uh Jared, first of all,

46:14 ↗ I think uh I want to thank you for what

46:17 ↗ I would call a really professional

46:19 ↗ response and uh we've identified five

46:22 ↗ areas of weaknesses that we really need

46:24 ↗ to work on. So I appreciate that too. A

46:27 ↗ very uh straightforward and honest uh

46:30 ↗ assessment. Uh and I appreciate you

46:32 ↗ reaching out and getting feedback from a

46:34 ↗ lot of other people. Um, as I said, uh,

46:37 ↗ and I do take your point that we are in

46:39 ↗ a unknown territory right now and we

46:42 ↗ really can't make any decisions going

46:44 ↗ forward until we have a lot more data.

46:46 ↗ But I would hope that the city would be

46:49 ↗ looking for opportunities to mitigate

46:51 ↗ the financial blows that we took during

46:54 ↗ the bomb cyclone uh, and uh, realizing

46:57 ↗ that any future emergency could be

47:00 ↗ absolutely devastating to the city

47:02 ↗ financially. So, whatever we can do in

47:05 ↗ terms of advocacy, leadership um toward

47:10 ↗ developing an alternative to FEMA, I

47:13 ↗ think that the city should pursue that.

47:15 ↗ And I just um you know we've been the

47:18 ↗ leader on many different initiatives and

47:19 ↗ I think this is one area where we have a

47:22 ↗ perfect case study to show to other

47:25 ↗ cities and to the state uh and to the

47:27 ↗ region about how an event can

47:30 ↗ dramatically affect uh a city's budget.

47:33 ↗ So, I would just hope that we would take

47:35 ↗ the initiative to pursue uh alternates

47:38 ↗ to FEMA and see what we can do either

47:41 ↗ locally, regionally, or statewide to

47:45 ↗ replace that lost funding. So, thank

47:50 ↗ you.

47:53 ↗ Okay, I'll I'll go ahead and go on that.

47:58 ↗ Um Jared seconding the it was amazing

48:02 ↗ seeing you at work um during the

48:04 ↗ emergency management and the EOC ran

48:06 ↗ quite well. I like uh much that you've

48:09 ↗ highlighted of areas that we did have

48:12 ↗ success um having been at the senior

48:17 ↗ center resilience hub um for quite a

48:20 ↗ portion of that emergency. Some of my

48:23 ↗ thoughts there are yes food and

48:26 ↗ hydration we managed to succeed on um

48:31 ↗ both for the public and for the staff

48:34 ↗ but really only because we had

48:35 ↗ neighboring cities that had power. Um I

48:38 ↗ would like to really reference I mean we

48:41 ↗ had staff members that went out and got

48:43 ↗ Jimmy Johns for um some of our public

48:46 ↗ works staff because there were cities

48:48 ↗ where you could go and get that. I

48:51 ↗ really think we need to make sure that

48:54 ↗ we have a preparation plan not just for

48:58 ↗ the person who's going to provide the

49:01 ↗ food to our staff but also having um

49:04 ↗ potential food on hand. I I think that

49:06 ↗ is an area that as much as we can say

49:09 ↗ this

49:10 ↗ was some success on um it pointed out a

49:14 ↗ weakness to me and I think that's an

49:16 ↗ area that we need to be prepared for.

49:19 ↗ Um, similarly, uh, power adapters was

49:23 ↗ another one. I saw Gus Tijuana go out

49:26 ↗ and buy a bunch of power adapters for

49:29 ↗ the resilience hub, but again, only

49:31 ↗ because neighboring cities had power and

49:33 ↗ stores open. Um, another area that I

49:36 ↗ know we have talked about, um, and I

49:39 ↗ heard at the EOCC meetings, but I just

49:42 ↗ wanted to make sure we highlight here,

49:44 ↗ it feels like we really need a

49:46 ↗ centralized area where we can

49:49 ↗ communicate about closed roadways. Um,

49:52 ↗ and this not only to the public, but we

49:54 ↗ had requests from our partner agencies

49:57 ↗ with East Side Fire and Rescue, the

49:59 ↗ school district, King County, and

50:01 ↗ companies like PSSE and Comcast who

50:04 ↗ really needed a way to understand what

50:07 ↗ roadways were open and closed. And I

50:09 ↗ think that's an important aspect that I

50:12 ↗ learned from this emergency. And then I

50:14 ↗ will second the or third the

50:17 ↗ communications as a potential problem. I

50:20 ↗ would love to be able to identify future

50:23 ↗ areas where we're we would plan to put

50:26 ↗ word on the street notifications so that

50:28 ↗ we could communicate that to the public

50:30 ↗ ahead of time so that there's an

50:32 ↗ expectation of if there is an emergency,

50:34 ↗ this is where you go for power and

50:37 ↗ warming. This is where you go for

50:39 ↗ information. Um, and I think those types

50:41 ↗ of things would be

50:44 ↗ important. One more, Council Member

50:46 ↗ Hall. Yeah, one more thing.

50:48 ↗ Um, I think I was able to join like a

50:51 ↗ handful of the EOCC meetings on my phone

50:54 ↗ when Teams was working on my phone. And

50:55 ↗ I remember during, this is a question

50:57 ↗ for you, Jared. Um, I remember during

50:59 ↗ one of the first ones, you had talked

51:01 ↗ about how like everyone was on the

51:03 ↗ streets, like everyone had left home,

51:04 ↗ they were on the streets. It was making

51:06 ↗ it very difficult for first responders.

51:07 ↗ It was making it difficult for public

51:08 ↗ works to get to where they needed to

51:10 ↗ remove debris. Um, is that something

51:13 ↗ where we see um, training in awareness

51:16 ↗ programming with the community could

51:17 ↗ help in times of those kinds of crisis,

51:20 ↗ stay home if you can or in kind of the

51:23 ↗ field and space of emergency management?

51:26 ↗ Is that just kind of an accepted like

51:28 ↗ that just happens post emergency? Like

51:30 ↗ how how much do you think we can

51:31 ↗ actually affect people staying home so

51:33 ↗ that way we can respond to what we need

51:35 ↗ to within the city?

51:37 ↗ Yeah, that's a great question. You know,

51:39 ↗ I think I think we can one do a better

51:43 ↗ job at making sure that that is the

51:44 ↗ message, right? And making sure that

51:46 ↗ everyone is aware that, you know,

51:47 ↗ there's actually a public safety type

51:49 ↗ risk, right, when when people are on the

51:50 ↗ the streets driving around, right?

51:52 ↗ Trying to get wherever they are, when

51:53 ↗ signals are are darkened and and the

51:55 ↗ likes, right? I think that's that's

51:57 ↗ certainly a message that we should

51:59 ↗ include in our future preparedness type

52:01 ↗ u products. But you know I think we're

52:04 ↗ all you know pretty aware that you know

52:07 ↗ everyone is going to make their own

52:08 ↗ decisions right following a disaster and

52:10 ↗ emergency and so you know I think while

52:12 ↗ it's important that we include I think

52:14 ↗ it is there is some understanding that

52:16 ↗ you know no matter how much we say it

52:18 ↗ right there will be that interference or

52:20 ↗ that risk will probably accompany any

52:23 ↗ major disaster similar to the bomb

52:24 ↗ cyclone. Um but that's a great point

52:27 ↗ too. Thank you for highlighting that.

52:28 ↗ Thank you.

52:31 ↗ Okay. So, going on to the second

52:33 ↗ question which is posed here as what

52:35 ↗ level of emergency management staffing

52:37 ↗ should the city pursue? But I think as

52:39 ↗ city administrator Bob Kit said this

52:41 ↗ this isn't only about staffing. This is

52:45 ↗ about referencing back to our retreat.

52:48 ↗ Um it's about

52:50 ↗ recognizing what the needs are maybe for

52:53 ↗ the community and emergency management.

52:55 ↗ So, any thoughts here from

53:01 ↗ council? Council member Ray, I will get

53:04 ↗ us going. Um, I think from a staffing

53:07 ↗ level, I think that there is a need for

53:10 ↗ some additional emergency management

53:13 ↗ related services straight away. I'm not

53:16 ↗ 100% certain that we couldn't meet some

53:18 ↗ of that need with existing existing

53:20 ↗ capabilities, particularly related to

53:22 ↗ our communications team. Um that's why I

53:25 ↗ asked the question about on that 20% um

53:28 ↗ 20our model could those services be

53:31 ↗ provided with someone without heavy

53:33 ↗ emergency management uh capabilities.

53:35 ↗ Now in a perfect world um I would say

53:38 ↗ let's um let's invest heavily here

53:40 ↗ because um this is really important

53:42 ↗ public safety thing. Um unfortunately

53:45 ↗ for everything we invest in emergency

53:47 ↗ management means we have to not spend in

53:49 ↗ some other area and it is hard enough

53:52 ↗ right now um to figure out where we're

53:54 ↗ going to cut back. So I think um you

53:56 ↗ know in the short term I think there's

53:58 ↗ we can move the needle on the education

54:00 ↗ stuff using existing resources. That my

54:02 ↗ that's my first piece of of uh I don't

54:04 ↗ know if it's feedback or insight. My

54:06 ↗ second piece is

54:09 ↗ um with the exception of the bomb

54:11 ↗ cyclone which seems to just pick on

54:13 ↗ isqua most disasters are regional in

54:15 ↗ nature and not city specific. And so

54:18 ↗ what I would encourage us to look at

54:19 ↗ from a disaster management perspective

54:21 ↗ is not what is isqua going to do but

54:24 ↗ what is

54:25 ↗ isqua going to do as part of the region

54:28 ↗ to respond to a disaster. So, um, I'd be

54:32 ↗ thrilled if we can take the lead and we

54:33 ↗ can push this. Um, to Deputy President

54:36 ↗ D. Michelle's, uh, comments about, you

54:38 ↗ know, what are we going to do without

54:39 ↗ FEMA? I mean, FEMA is great because it's

54:41 ↗ a great risk sharing pool where we take,

54:43 ↗ you know, all 370 million people who

54:46 ↗ live in the United States and we create

54:47 ↗ a risk pool. So, when there's a disaster

54:49 ↗ someplace, we've got the resources to

54:51 ↗ help them. Um, we have 40,000 people. We

54:53 ↗ can't create that same kind of risk pool

54:55 ↗ um to respond. But the best I think we

54:58 ↗ can do is really to drive a regional

55:00 ↗ response planning and regional response

55:03 ↗ resources. And if we can take the lead

55:05 ↗ on that, I would be very proud of the

55:07 ↗ city of Isqua.

55:11 ↗ Council member Joe,

55:18 ↗ thank you. As I analyze the um uh

55:22 ↗ proposal potentially to look at uh

55:25 ↗ adding to the robust nature of our

55:27 ↗ emergency preparedness, one of the

55:29 ↗ things that comes to my mind is that

55:31 ↗ organizations or armies are always

55:33 ↗ trying to fight the last battle. Um and

55:37 ↗ uh in emergency management to me it

55:39 ↗ seems that we need to um kind of

55:42 ↗ anticipate what the the new battle is

55:44 ↗ going to be or the new disaster is going

55:47 ↗ to be. So, uh, while not making any

55:50 ↗ judgments on the

55:52 ↗ the preliminary proposal that's here, I

55:55 ↗ think one of the things that I'd like to

55:57 ↗ see is is how the new positions,

56:00 ↗ whichever one we do select, helps us um,

56:04 ↗ prepare for other emergencies that might

56:07 ↗ be outside of just the cyclone or just

56:11 ↗ this area. as as council member Ray

56:13 ↗ points out, we need to be a regional

56:15 ↗ partner potentially in uh a wider uh

56:18 ↗ disaster that hits the area. So, um I

56:22 ↗ know that Jared spends a great deal of

56:24 ↗ time thinking about the whatifs and

56:26 ↗ thinking about how we can best respond

56:28 ↗ with the resources that we have. um if

56:30 ↗ we're going to potentially think about

56:32 ↗ adding resources through any of these

56:34 ↗ three positions, um I would like to see

56:38 ↗ um how adding that position adds to our

56:41 ↗ ability to um fight that next war, so to

56:45 ↗ speak, and be prepared for that next

56:46 ↗ disaster in ways that perhaps we're not

56:49 ↗ thinking about right now. we probably

56:51 ↗ need to because the climate is getting

56:53 ↗ more um you know unstable and it does

56:57 ↗ lead to either wildfires or wind storms

56:59 ↗ or other big storms for us and so I

57:02 ↗ think we need to be thinking about the

57:03 ↗ next battle along the way. Thank you,

57:07 ↗ Council Member Jen. Great. Thank you. Um

57:10 ↗ yeah, I want to second some of the

57:12 ↗ points about, you know, we're just in

57:13 ↗ such a fiscally uncertain environment.

57:15 ↗ So any investments that we want to make,

57:17 ↗ we have to be really, you know, uh,

57:20 ↗ what's the word? Intentional about

57:21 ↗ those. Um, and looking at, you know, at

57:24 ↗ this 20our per week kind of staffing

57:26 ↗ level, things like disaster skills

57:27 ↗ training, community events, seems like

57:29 ↗ we h we do have a good network of folks

57:31 ↗ in the community who are trained by C.

57:33 ↗ Is there any way that we could

57:34 ↗ potentially tap into that volunteer

57:36 ↗ network to kind of, you know, get out in

57:37 ↗ the community and do those types of

57:38 ↗ things? Um, and also I know that

57:41 ↗ managing volunteers is also something

57:42 ↗ that takes time. So maybe that's not

57:44 ↗ something that's reasonable. you know,

57:46 ↗ just to take on with no additional um

57:48 ↗ funding. But I would like to see, you

57:50 ↗ know, because there's only so much that

57:53 ↗ like city staff can do and if we're able

57:56 ↗ to leverage volunteers and maybe that

57:57 ↗ would be part of, you know, the job

57:58 ↗ description of this 20our per week

58:00 ↗ part-time person. But um yeah, I'm

58:03 ↗ interested in learning more about how

58:04 ↗ we, you know, think about like

58:05 ↗ leveraging our community organizations.

58:07 ↗ Even you know, just leveraging people

58:09 ↗ who are in different neighborhoods who,

58:11 ↗ you know, are connected within their

58:13 ↗ communities. Like living up in Talis, we

58:15 ↗ don't really actually have a community

58:17 ↗ group like um the Highlands Council up

58:20 ↗ in the Highlands. Like we have our HOA,

58:22 ↗ but that's different. Um so you know I

58:26 ↗ think part of part of what kind of the

58:29 ↗ exercise in you know building the

58:31 ↗ community disaster resilience is also

58:33 ↗ you know the social aspect and building

58:35 ↗ those community ties and I think that's

58:37 ↗ going to have to I mean you know that's

58:39 ↗ not necessarily something that like the

58:41 ↗ city government can like impose from

58:43 ↗ above but you know how can we like

58:45 ↗ leverage our resources to do things like

58:47 ↗ that is something that I would want to

58:50 ↗ uh see a bit of emphasis on.

58:53 ↗ Council member Hull. Yeah. Um, very

58:56 ↗ similarly, um, I'm intrigued, Jared. I

58:58 ↗ mean, I think it's interesting. Um, I

59:00 ↗ think when, you know, where I was kind

59:02 ↗ of sitting at the council retreat when,

59:04 ↗ um, I, like many of us up here,

59:06 ↗ prioritized like emergency management

59:08 ↗ and public safety going in the future

59:09 ↗ was let's let's not make cuts here if we

59:12 ↗ need to make cuts in the future and

59:13 ↗ prioritizing that. But, um, I think

59:15 ↗ you've you've you've shown us some

59:17 ↗ interesting need here. um the uh

59:20 ↗ disaster training, community events, um

59:24 ↗ uh broader awareness around resiliency

59:26 ↗ hubs seem so spot-on and important

59:29 ↗ though um because especially in light of

59:33 ↗ like larger, more regional um disasters

59:36 ↗ like have been mentioned, like if those

59:38 ↗ happen at the end of the day, it's your

59:39 ↗ neighbors who are going to be taking

59:41 ↗ care of you, right? It's your neighbors

59:42 ↗ who you're checking on checking in on.

59:44 ↗ So you want to make sure everyone has

59:45 ↗ their kits, everyone knows basic CPR and

59:48 ↗ stop the bleed and these kinds of things

59:49 ↗ that are really important. So I see

59:52 ↗ immense value in this kind of skills

59:54 ↗ training. Um

59:56 ↗ um and and the bringing of people

59:59 ↗ together like you said, you know,

1:00:01 ↗ certain communities like like like was

1:00:02 ↗ said in the Highlands have the benefit

1:00:04 ↗ of having those kind of programming arms

1:00:06 ↗ that can bring people together, but not

1:00:07 ↗ everyone does. So perhaps that is a

1:00:10 ↗ reason to invest in um uh maybe starting

1:00:13 ↗ with a part-time worker um to be able to

1:00:15 ↗ bring more people together and and bring

1:00:17 ↗ everyone's awareness of how to respond

1:00:19 ↗ in emergency up. Um I don't necessarily

1:00:22 ↗ know if if the midby is the appropriate

1:00:24 ↗ time to make changes in staffing though.

1:00:26 ↗ So that that's like I think kind of

1:00:27 ↗ where I sit at the moment. I see that

1:00:30 ↗ there's a lot of value here. Would it

1:00:32 ↗ maybe make more sense to approach this

1:00:34 ↗ as we um move into the next bianium? I'm

1:00:37 ↗ not sure. I feel like I could I could

1:00:39 ↗ maybe be convinced either way, but

1:00:40 ↗ that's just where my head sits at the

1:00:42 ↗ moment.

1:00:43 ↗ Deputy Council President, Michelle,

1:00:46 ↗ uh, thank you. Uh, I agree with a lot of

1:00:49 ↗ what's been said and, um, I so I'll just

1:00:52 ↗ weigh in and say that in a perfect

1:00:55 ↗ world, as Council Member Ray said, uh,

1:00:57 ↗ we would, uh, we go with the full-time,

1:01:00 ↗ uh, person and, uh, but we're not in a

1:01:03 ↗ perfect world right now, um, at all. So

1:01:06 ↗ um sort of uh I I certainly see the need

1:01:09 ↗ and so I think that some kind of

1:01:11 ↗ increase in staffing I can support. At

1:01:14 ↗ this point I just can't commit to uh the

1:01:17 ↗ level until we have more uh data. Um I

1:01:20 ↗ like the idea of uh the regional um

1:01:24 ↗ sharing of uh of emergency management.

1:01:28 ↗ uh we have a model already in the

1:01:30 ↗ sustainability department where we are

1:01:33 ↗ cooperating with all of the east side

1:01:34 ↗ cities uh on sustainability and maybe we

1:01:37 ↗ can leverage off of that model uh and

1:01:40 ↗ see what we can do in the emergency um

1:01:42 ↗ management arena as well. Um and then I

1:01:46 ↗ like the idea uh the ideas that have

1:01:49 ↗ been brought forth that maybe um by

1:01:51 ↗ developing these emergency management

1:01:54 ↗ systems, there are other applications

1:01:56 ↗ for those systems internally as well as

1:01:59 ↗ externally that gives us uh more

1:02:01 ↗ rationale for going with a um a more

1:02:04 ↗ robust position there. uh if we could

1:02:07 ↗ figure out how some of these systems

1:02:09 ↗ could uh support other arenas in the in

1:02:13 ↗ the city um it would be I think then

1:02:16 ↗ very advantageous to be u adding uh a

1:02:20 ↗ full-time person. So again Jared thank

1:02:22 ↗ you so much for your careful analysis of

1:02:24 ↗ this and for the explanation about what

1:02:27 ↗ uh what this position would do. Thanks.

1:02:35 ↗ Nothing. Okay. So, when I look at this

1:02:40 ↗ information, I step back to what problem

1:02:42 ↗ are we trying to solve? And so, the

1:02:45 ↗ problem that I thought of that we were

1:02:48 ↗ trying to solve or address at the

1:02:50 ↗ retreat was not only, hey, we shouldn't

1:02:53 ↗ make cuts to emergency management, but

1:02:56 ↗ also I want to make sure that we are

1:02:58 ↗ better prepared for emergencies

1:03:00 ↗ throughout the community. One of the

1:03:02 ↗ things that the bomb cyclone showed me

1:03:04 ↗ was that we could maybe support one

1:03:08 ↗ resilience hub. Um, but that we didn't

1:03:11 ↗ have something that met everyone's needs

1:03:14 ↗ in the areas that they were at,

1:03:16 ↗ particularly if some of those bridges

1:03:19 ↗ were not to hold um, in those cases. So,

1:03:22 ↗ I think one of the outcomes I would want

1:03:25 ↗ to achieve from any additional funding

1:03:29 ↗ in the emergency management area isn't

1:03:32 ↗ necessarily community member

1:03:34 ↗ preparedness. Uh, I think that is key,

1:03:36 ↗ but it isn't the big thing that I have

1:03:39 ↗ on my mind after that emergency. It's

1:03:42 ↗ things like warming centers and more

1:03:45 ↗ locations throughout the city. it's

1:03:47 ↗ having emergency water and food for our

1:03:49 ↗ staff on hand and making sure that we

1:03:52 ↗ have those investments um that are

1:03:55 ↗ needed. And so that would be my

1:03:57 ↗ direction looking at what maybe some of

1:04:00 ↗ our needs are in this area. I also think

1:04:03 ↗ I agree with the concept of if we could

1:04:06 ↗ combine the concept of some of the

1:04:09 ↗ community engagement with other um

1:04:13 ↗ communications needs that I see in our

1:04:15 ↗ city. I think we could potentially meet

1:04:18 ↗ some of those needs um together with

1:04:21 ↗ that skill. I think the other thing for

1:04:23 ↗ me though is looking at this, we're in

1:04:25 ↗ just the first Q2 of a two-year budget

1:04:28 ↗ cycle and I would be have a very

1:04:32 ↗ difficult time agreeing to adding

1:04:35 ↗ a full-time or part-time staff member

1:04:39 ↗ between that portion of that timing in

1:04:41 ↗ the budget and the fact that we are $3.8

1:04:43 ↗ million in the hole. And so both of

1:04:46 ↗ those things I think you've heard a lot

1:04:48 ↗ of caution from the council right now in

1:04:50 ↗ recognizing what our financial situation

1:04:52 ↗ is. Um so any other thoughts, Councilman

1:04:57 ↗ Bhal? Just really quickly to to ditto

1:04:59 ↗ what you said around um an emphasis on

1:05:01 ↗ resilience hubs. Um I know this is

1:05:04 ↗ already a major emphasis of yours,

1:05:05 ↗ Jared. So, I was actually just wondering

1:05:07 ↗ if sometime in the future you could

1:05:08 ↗ provide council with kind of an email

1:05:10 ↗ update of where we're at in the process

1:05:12 ↗ of setting up the new ones and and all

1:05:14 ↗ that good stuff. Absolutely. Yeah, I'd

1:05:17 ↗ be happy to share all that information

1:05:18 ↗ with you all.

1:05:21 ↗ Excellent. Well, Jared, thank you very

1:05:23 ↗ much for taking time while you're out of

1:05:25 ↗ state to give us an update on the

1:05:28 ↗ windstorm follow-up and the fact that

1:05:30 ↗ you've done an excellent afteraction

1:05:33 ↗ report and uh communicated some of those

1:05:35 ↗ needs. Is there anything that city

1:05:38 ↗ administration needs? Seeing a headshake

1:05:41 ↗ from Wally. No, thank you very much. Uh

1:05:43 ↗ this is exactly what we were hoping for

1:05:45 ↗ this conversation. We'll take it under

1:05:46 ↗ advisement and move forward.

1:05:49 ↗ Excellent. Okay, Jared, we'll give you

1:05:51 ↗ the rest of your night and we are going

1:05:53 ↗ to move on to the next item, which is

1:05:55 ↗ COM

1:05:56 ↗ 0136, first quarter update, presented by

1:06:00 ↗ Andrea Snder, our deputy city

1:06:02 ↗ administrator.

1:06:27 ↗ Thank you, Council President Walsh. Hi,

1:06:29 ↗ I'm Andrea Snyder, deputy city

1:06:32 ↗ administrator, and um I want to uh

1:06:35 ↗ present what we're calling a first

1:06:37 ↗ quarter update. This isn't on our work

1:06:39 ↗ plan. It's really just looking at what

1:06:42 ↗ are some of uh the factors and

1:06:45 ↗ considerations at play as we think about

1:06:48 ↗ budget, as we think about financial

1:06:50 ↗ sustainability, which I know we've

1:06:51 ↗ already talked about a lot tonight. So,

1:06:53 ↗ we're kind of taking a step back from

1:06:54 ↗ the conversation we just had on

1:06:56 ↗ emergency management and looking at um

1:06:59 ↗ some of the things that were um that are

1:07:03 ↗ factors for our consideration as we look

1:07:05 ↗ at um what lies ahead for us. we think

1:07:09 ↗ about our budget because budget is

1:07:11 ↗ really a year- round activity. It's a

1:07:13 ↗ bianual budget but it something that we

1:07:15 ↗ manage throughout the year especially

1:07:17 ↗ given the fact that we had um such a

1:07:21 ↗ difficult budget uh that we recently

1:07:23 ↗ passed that included a lot of cuts um

1:07:26 ↗ this is something that we want to keep a

1:07:28 ↗ really good eye on moving forward uh

1:07:30 ↗ through the next bianium. So uh tonight

1:07:33 ↗ we'd like to talk a little bit about the

1:07:35 ↗ national landscape. What's going on in

1:07:37 ↗ the federal government? what are some of

1:07:39 ↗ these macro um conditions that are

1:07:42 ↗ affecting us more locally? State

1:07:45 ↗ legislative update. This uh legislative

1:07:47 ↗ session just concluded last night. So,

1:07:49 ↗ we have a small update from those

1:07:51 ↗ efforts and where the city

1:07:54 ↗ um where some of the city wins were as a

1:07:57 ↗ result of this legislative session.

1:07:59 ↗ Also, we're looking at a city budget

1:08:02 ↗ update. We don't have a lot of the first

1:08:04 ↗ quarter data yet. As you all know, that

1:08:06 ↗ data tends to lag, but we can give a

1:08:08 ↗ report, quick report about um how we

1:08:11 ↗ closed

1:08:12 ↗ 2024 and then looking at some of the

1:08:14 ↗ next steps and the future conversations

1:08:16 ↗ we'd like to have with council regarding

1:08:19 ↗ managing of the budget and what those

1:08:21 ↗ priorities

1:08:22 ↗ are. So, the direction that we're

1:08:25 ↗ looking for tonight is really discussion

1:08:28 ↗ um and any feedback that you may have on

1:08:30 ↗ exploring new revenue sources as enabled

1:08:32 ↗ by the state. those have been evolving

1:08:35 ↗ since when I wrote this presentation and

1:08:39 ↗ um we'll give some updates on those

1:08:40 ↗ tonight. And then any feedback you have

1:08:43 ↗ on potential budget additions to address

1:08:45 ↗ council priorities. I know we just had

1:08:47 ↗ that in-depth conversation about

1:08:49 ↗ emergency management. That's just one of

1:08:51 ↗ those components that um we're also

1:08:53 ↗ considering moving forward. So we'll go

1:08:55 ↗ into more depth about that a little bit

1:08:57 ↗ later.

1:08:59 ↗ So as we look at the federal and

1:09:01 ↗ national landscape, uh it's similar to

1:09:03 ↗ some of the things that we discussed

1:09:05 ↗ when we had our council retreat. So the

1:09:07 ↗ future of grants continues to be

1:09:10 ↗ difficult to predict. Uh we are getting

1:09:12 ↗ different stipulations on those federal

1:09:14 ↗ grants. Some of that guidance is

1:09:16 ↗ changing and we expect that guidance to

1:09:17 ↗ continue to change uh throughout the

1:09:20 ↗ year. So something that we're also

1:09:21 ↗ thinking up thinking about as we draft

1:09:24 ↗ our capital improvement plan and look at

1:09:26 ↗ funding sources for that. um also things

1:09:28 ↗ to think about for our

1:09:30 ↗ budget. Sound transit and light rail

1:09:33 ↗ also something that's heavily federally

1:09:35 ↗ um that heavily relies on federal

1:09:37 ↗ grants. And so while we continue to

1:09:40 ↗ prioritize light rail and continue to

1:09:43 ↗ try to um uh get as much regional

1:09:47 ↗ transit as possible, it's really

1:09:49 ↗ uncertain uh whether the level of

1:09:52 ↗ federal grants that has been available

1:09:54 ↗ for sound transit is going to continue

1:09:56 ↗ into our future. So something that we're

1:09:58 ↗ thinking about environmental regulations

1:10:01 ↗ are also uncertain. Uh we have been

1:10:04 ↗ participating with PAS cleanup. We have

1:10:07 ↗ a lot of robust environmental uh

1:10:10 ↗ protections and regulations in

1:10:11 ↗ Washington state especially here in

1:10:13 ↗ Isiqua. We're just uncertain what's

1:10:15 ↗ going to happen on a federal level as

1:10:17 ↗ that uh keeps changing and

1:10:19 ↗ interpretations of um federal law keep

1:10:22 ↗ changing as well. And of course, the

1:10:25 ↗ economy remains hard to predict. It's

1:10:27 ↗ not any clearer now uh than it was when

1:10:30 ↗ council met for the retreat what's going

1:10:31 ↗ to happen in the economy. So, we're

1:10:33 ↗ trying to be uh conservative with our

1:10:35 ↗ predictions for revenues and really

1:10:37 ↗ thinking about where sales tax is

1:10:39 ↗ headed, business and occupation taxes

1:10:41 ↗ headed. um and thinking that with our

1:10:45 ↗ conservative projections projections and

1:10:47 ↗ estimates when we um formed the 25 and

1:10:51 ↗ 26 budget, we're going to continue um to

1:10:53 ↗ be really conservative on those moving

1:10:55 ↗ forward because the economy is so hard

1:10:57 ↗ to

1:11:03 ↗ predict. And um quick state legislative

1:11:06 ↗ update, this is on Isiqua specific

1:11:09 ↗ items. I think you also have received a

1:11:12 ↗ legislative update um from our lobbyist,

1:11:14 ↗ Shelley Helder. Um our our lobbyist and

1:11:18 ↗ our staff person who usually works these

1:11:20 ↗ issues are both out today. So, if you

1:11:23 ↗ have specific questions, I will do my

1:11:25 ↗ best to try to answer them. Um but we

1:11:27 ↗ may have to come back with a little bit

1:11:29 ↗ more information um at a later date. So,

1:11:33 ↗ just to see where we left off with the

1:11:35 ↗ end of the legislative season, we have

1:11:40 ↗ um funding for SR18 and the widening and

1:11:43 ↗ safety improvements for 2527 as well as

1:11:47 ↗ uh 27 through 29. You can see there's

1:11:49 ↗ funding set aside for that. And there's

1:11:51 ↗ also future funding that was discussed

1:11:53 ↗ as part of this effort. So, that was um

1:11:56 ↗ successful. uh $88,000 for biometric

1:11:59 ↗ monitoring for incarcerated persons. Uh

1:12:02 ↗ that's a grant that we would anticipate

1:12:04 ↗ getting. So um we're successful with

1:12:07 ↗ that. Uh 2 point we had a request also

1:12:10 ↗ for 2.7 million for the e city gov

1:12:12 ↗ alliance digital permitting system

1:12:14 ↗ upgrade. Unfortunately that was

1:12:16 ↗ something that was not uh selected for

1:12:18 ↗ funding by the state legislature but um

1:12:21 ↗ a $100,000 for creeks to peaks. We got

1:12:24 ↗ uh that funding to support the bomb

1:12:27 ↗ cyclone recovery. This one was really

1:12:29 ↗ big for us, especially considering um

1:12:32 ↗ the recent denial for federal

1:12:35 ↗ assistance. And so we had asked the

1:12:37 ↗ state to help us with some of this. If

1:12:39 ↗ you recall, um we had requested uh $3.8

1:12:43 ↗ million

1:12:45 ↗ um from the federal government for

1:12:48 ↗ recovery efforts and um the state

1:12:51 ↗ legislature is providing us 1.4 4

1:12:53 ↗ million. So, doesn't quite cover the

1:12:56 ↗ entirety of what we um had wanted from

1:12:58 ↗ the federal government. There's some

1:12:59 ↗ limitations with what how we can spend

1:13:01 ↗ that 1.4 million, but certainly helps

1:13:03 ↗ decrease that gap that we're

1:13:05 ↗ anticipating. So, that's really good

1:13:07 ↗ news for us. We didn't know if we were

1:13:09 ↗ going to get that funding. We fought

1:13:10 ↗ really hard for it and um that's really

1:13:12 ↗ really good news for us. Also, uh

1:13:15 ↗ reappropriation for $3 million for the

1:13:17 ↗ Isiqua Opportunity Center. we were

1:13:19 ↗ successful in getting that and that

1:13:21 ↗ money um is also through a different

1:13:23 ↗ program so it's become a little bit more

1:13:24 ↗ flexible for us which is also really

1:13:26 ↗ good news and uh PAS mitigation funding

1:13:30 ↗ there's a reappropriation for 2 million

1:13:32 ↗ and also an additional $2 million that

1:13:34 ↗ was added to that so as we have our

1:13:36 ↗ partnership with East Side Fire and

1:13:38 ↗ Rescue and PAS cleanup we um have some

1:13:41 ↗ money available to both agencies the

1:13:43 ↗ city and Eastside Fire and Rescue to

1:13:45 ↗ help with that work over the next few

1:13:51 ↗ ers. Um, other items in the state

1:13:54 ↗ legislative update. Certainly, there are

1:13:56 ↗ many other laws in this. This is just

1:13:57 ↗ kind of a sampling of some of the of the

1:14:00 ↗ legislation that was passed. Um,

1:14:02 ↗ increased flexibility on REIT, a real

1:14:05 ↗ estate excise tax. That's the tax on

1:14:07 ↗ real estate that the city gets and uses

1:14:09 ↗ for capital funding and to help fund our

1:14:12 ↗ infrastructure. So, how we can spend

1:14:15 ↗ some of those funds has become a little

1:14:17 ↗ bit more flexible, including potential

1:14:19 ↗ use on maintenance um and other items.

1:14:21 ↗ So, that certainly helps us. Um but, uh

1:14:25 ↗ we still are being conservative in our

1:14:27 ↗ estimates for REIT. It'd be great if we

1:14:29 ↗ had more REIT to go around uh to help

1:14:33 ↗ with some of our city budget issues, but

1:14:35 ↗ it's um increased flexibility is always

1:14:37 ↗ going to be really helpful for local

1:14:38 ↗ governments.

1:14:40 ↗ We um also at the state legislature, I

1:14:43 ↗ know this is something that council has

1:14:44 ↗ discussed before, the condominium

1:14:47 ↗ liability reform and has been something

1:14:48 ↗ on our legislative agenda. Um that was

1:14:51 ↗ also passed this session. Preeemption on

1:14:54 ↗ parking minimums. Usually cities

1:14:56 ↗ determine the parking minimums in our

1:14:58 ↗ jurisdictions. This is something that

1:15:00 ↗ the state has decided. So, we will have

1:15:02 ↗ to revisit how this really affects our

1:15:06 ↗ um city code and we will likely need to

1:15:09 ↗ come back for revisions just to make

1:15:11 ↗ sure that we are up to date and reflect

1:15:13 ↗ what's requested by the state or what's

1:15:15 ↗ required by the

1:15:17 ↗ state. Also, uh transit oriented

1:15:19 ↗ development is the city of Isiqua had

1:15:22 ↗ asked for clarification on what a major

1:15:24 ↗ transit stop is and um we were able to

1:15:27 ↗ get that clarification. and it was

1:15:28 ↗ redefined um with the state legislature.

1:15:32 ↗ Any questions so

1:15:35 ↗ far?

1:15:37 ↗ Okay. Public safety sales tax was also

1:15:40 ↗ passed. Um this allows council to vote

1:15:45 ↗ in a tenth of a percent of sales tax and

1:15:49 ↗ dedicate those funds specifically to

1:15:50 ↗ criminal justice. Previously, a public

1:15:53 ↗ safety sales tax was permissible with a

1:15:56 ↗ vote of the people. Um but now it's

1:15:58 ↗ something that can be done

1:15:59 ↗ councilmatically. So, in addition to

1:16:01 ↗ that local sales tax revenue for the

1:16:04 ↗ city for criminal justice, there's also

1:16:06 ↗ a grant program that the state would be

1:16:09 ↗ starting that the city would um

1:16:11 ↗ potentially be able to tap into to help

1:16:14 ↗ pay for trainings um recruitment and

1:16:17 ↗ retention of officers and behavioral

1:16:19 ↗ health personnel um and all kinds of

1:16:21 ↗ stuff that I think we're still getting

1:16:22 ↗ some clarity on as that um language has

1:16:26 ↗ changed recently. We would anticipate

1:16:28 ↗ about $2.2 $2 million annual. This is

1:16:31 ↗ the same as the transportation benefit

1:16:33 ↗ district sales tax that council passed

1:16:36 ↗ um a few years ago.

1:16:38 ↗ Got a question, Deputy Council President

1:16:40 ↗ D. Michelle. Yes, just a quick question.

1:16:42 ↗ Would any of that money, and it's maybe

1:16:44 ↗ it's too early to know, uh be uh could

1:16:48 ↗ be applied to our community court?

1:16:51 ↗ Uh I believe that some of it could. It

1:16:54 ↗ depends on um what exactly those

1:16:58 ↗ expenses were, but we we can get more

1:17:00 ↗ clarification on

1:17:02 ↗ that. Do you have something else? Okay,

1:17:06 ↗ you're

1:17:10 ↗ great. So, those are some of the things

1:17:12 ↗ that um on a state legislature um on a

1:17:16 ↗ state level. Let's talk a little bit

1:17:18 ↗ about the city budget and where we ended

1:17:20 ↗ up in 2024 at the end of the year. So um

1:17:24 ↗ here we have uh the second column is

1:17:28 ↗ what was in the adopted budget. The

1:17:30 ↗ third column was what was in the revised

1:17:32 ↗ budget. And then if you recall we came

1:17:34 ↗ to you in October with a forecast of our

1:17:37 ↗ expenditures and our revenues and a lot

1:17:39 ↗ of cuts that we were making to the

1:17:41 ↗ revised budget. And then actual is of

1:17:44 ↗ course where we ended 2024. These are

1:17:46 ↗ unedited. I have to or I'm sorry

1:17:48 ↗ unodudited and I have to provide some

1:17:51 ↗ disclaimers here from our finance team

1:17:52 ↗ who always gets a little nervous about

1:17:54 ↗ showing numbers that are preliminary.

1:17:56 ↗ But

1:17:57 ↗ um so what I what I think the main

1:18:00 ↗ messages is especially as you look at

1:18:01 ↗ revenues and expenditures which is um

1:18:04 ↗ the second and the third rows in this

1:18:07 ↗ table under uh revenues for the adopted

1:18:11 ↗ budget you can see 64 uh and a half

1:18:14 ↗ million roughly. um we had anticipated

1:18:17 ↗ maybe that increasing a bit more in the

1:18:19 ↗ revised budget and then as we were

1:18:21 ↗ getting more revenue data in 2024 we

1:18:24 ↗ decreased that. So actual we ended up a

1:18:27 ↗ little bit better than what we had

1:18:29 ↗ forecasted but still uh 2 million 2.5

1:18:33 ↗ million less than what we had

1:18:34 ↗ anticipated with the revised budget and

1:18:36 ↗ that's a pretty significant change for

1:18:38 ↗ us also less than what we had

1:18:40 ↗ anticipated in fall of 2022 with the

1:18:43 ↗ adopted budget. So those revenues are

1:18:45 ↗ less what we what we realized and um I

1:18:49 ↗ want to make sure that we take note of

1:18:51 ↗ that expenditures also looking at that

1:18:55 ↗ we had anticipated with the increase in

1:18:57 ↗ some of the revenues with the revised

1:18:59 ↗ budget from the adopted budget that we

1:19:01 ↗ would increase some of those

1:19:02 ↗ expenditures

1:19:03 ↗ um with to 73 million. when we got more

1:19:07 ↗ and more revenue data and when that

1:19:09 ↗ revenue picture started to change, we

1:19:11 ↗ came back to you in October of 2024 and

1:19:13 ↗ we said, "We're going to decrease some

1:19:14 ↗ of our expenditures before the end of

1:19:15 ↗ the year. We're not going to spend

1:19:17 ↗ everything that we we had planned on

1:19:19 ↗ spending." And so you see that pan out

1:19:21 ↗ in our actual numbers. Um 69 million,

1:19:25 ↗ it's more similar to what was adopted,

1:19:27 ↗ but a pretty significant decrease from

1:19:30 ↗ what we had in the revised budget.

1:19:33 ↗ And what you see with all of these, the

1:19:35 ↗ adopted budget, the revised budget, um,

1:19:39 ↗ forecasted and actual, is that those

1:19:41 ↗ expenditures are greater than the

1:19:43 ↗ revenues that we anticipated. And some

1:19:46 ↗ of that was very intentional. We wanted

1:19:48 ↗ to spend down some of the reserves that

1:19:49 ↗ we had been building up and put that

1:19:51 ↗ money back to work for um, the

1:19:53 ↗ community. And that was under council

1:19:55 ↗ direction. But as you know, if we

1:19:58 ↗ continue to spend more than what we

1:20:00 ↗ bring in in revenues, that's going to be

1:20:02 ↗ a problem. And that's a trend that the

1:20:04 ↗ city cannot bear over the long term. And

1:20:06 ↗ that's one of the reasons why for the

1:20:07 ↗ 2526 budget, we had to make significant

1:20:10 ↗ cuts um including ongoing cuts and

1:20:13 ↗ staffing reductions as well as a small

1:20:15 ↗ tax increase. So those measures that we

1:20:18 ↗ took for 25 and 26 um as we get that

1:20:22 ↗ data from how we ended 2024 I think

1:20:25 ↗ shows that these were reasonable and

1:20:27 ↗ prudent measures that we took when um we

1:20:30 ↗ looked at the 2526 budget. So those are

1:20:33 ↗ things that I think we anticipate moving

1:20:34 ↗ forward with the uncertainty of the

1:20:36 ↗ economy, uncertainty of grants etc. Um

1:20:40 ↗ we remain concerned that uh revenues are

1:20:44 ↗ not outpacing our

1:20:50 ↗ expenditures. In addition, there's

1:20:52 ↗ always things that come up that cost

1:20:54 ↗ money. Um rarely do we get surprise

1:20:56 ↗ revenues, but certainly there are

1:20:58 ↗ surprise expenditures. Um so we've

1:21:01 ↗ talked already about the bomb cyclone,

1:21:03 ↗ $3.8 million. We are getting some money

1:21:05 ↗ from the state which decreases that

1:21:07 ↗ burden. That's very good news for us.

1:21:10 ↗ Jared did just talk about emergency

1:21:12 ↗ management, the potential of adding

1:21:14 ↗ money to that. We've already had that um

1:21:17 ↗ conversation. We've also talked recently

1:21:19 ↗ with council about uh flock cameras for

1:21:23 ↗ Isiqua Police. Those are those license

1:21:25 ↗ plate reader cameras that we've had a

1:21:26 ↗ discussion. Um that would be the initial

1:21:30 ↗ cost for the first year which would be

1:21:31 ↗ installation and the maintenance costs

1:21:33 ↗ or the operating costs 73,000 a little

1:21:36 ↗ north of 73,000 with $35,000 annually.

1:21:40 ↗ That's just another another cost. So at

1:21:42 ↗ some point um we will need to figure out

1:21:44 ↗ a way to pay for those if that's

1:21:46 ↗ something that council wants to continue

1:21:47 ↗ to pursue.

1:21:50 ↗ Got a question. Deputy council president

1:21:51 ↗ D. Michelle. Uh another quick question.

1:21:55 ↗ Um the cost

1:21:57 ↗ 73,500. How many cameras are we talking

1:22:00 ↗ about?

1:22:02 ↗ Uh great question. This was for uh

1:22:06 ↗ option one that was recommended in the

1:22:09 ↗ last presentation. I don't know that off

1:22:11 ↗ of the top of my head. There were a

1:22:13 ↗ couple of different options. I can get

1:22:14 ↗ back to you with that information. Yeah,

1:22:16 ↗ that'll be great. Thank you. Okay,

1:22:18 ↗ great.

1:22:23 ↗ Okay. Um, so as we think about these

1:22:26 ↗ anticipated additional expenses, how we

1:22:29 ↗ would fund these things that uh we

1:22:31 ↗ anticipate that being a conversation for

1:22:33 ↗ another time. The point of this evening

1:22:36 ↗ is just to bring awareness to council

1:22:39 ↗ and um our recommendation at this point

1:22:43 ↗ is that we keep monitoring these issues

1:22:45 ↗ that may affect the budget. come back to

1:22:47 ↗ you. Keep having these types of

1:22:48 ↗ conversations, bringing your awareness

1:22:50 ↗ to them, getting some feedback on where

1:22:51 ↗ your priorities lie, where your concerns

1:22:54 ↗ may be. Um, and we'd also recommend

1:22:57 ↗ analyzing additional revenue options,

1:22:59 ↗ which would be discussed at the July

1:23:01 ↗ 12th city council retreat. So whether

1:23:03 ↗ that would be the public safety sales

1:23:05 ↗ tax that the state legislature just

1:23:08 ↗ enabled uh for our consideration or

1:23:10 ↗ other revenue sources.

1:23:15 ↗ next steps that July 12th city council

1:23:18 ↗ retreat. We'd love to come back to you

1:23:20 ↗ and discuss a little bit more. We'll

1:23:22 ↗ have more information on the budget

1:23:23 ↗ update at that point with a few more um

1:23:27 ↗ data points on revenue that we've been

1:23:28 ↗ able to collect in the first quarter.

1:23:31 ↗ And uh we'd also be able to have more

1:23:34 ↗ information on bomb cyclone recovery and

1:23:37 ↗ what's happening at the federal level,

1:23:38 ↗ which I think Jared just shared uh

1:23:41 ↗ information that came out today. So, we

1:23:43 ↗ will look at potential ways to pay for

1:23:46 ↗ uh the remainder of those costs that

1:23:47 ↗ aren't covered by the state grant and

1:23:49 ↗ also provide more information on

1:23:52 ↗ potential new revenue sources like the

1:23:54 ↗ public safety sales

1:23:57 ↗ tax. We've only got one more slide.

1:24:01 ↗ Go for it. Deputy or council member,

1:24:04 ↗ right? Whoever the heck I am. Um I just

1:24:07 ↗ want to rewind a little bit to the

1:24:08 ↗ public safety sales tax. What are the

1:24:10 ↗ restrictions on that? um if we were to

1:24:12 ↗ impose that I mean public safety is a

1:24:14 ↗ very very broad topic are within that

1:24:17 ↗ context are there limitations on what we

1:24:19 ↗ can and can't spend that money on

1:24:21 ↗ there's there's all kinds of limitations

1:24:24 ↗ including requirements that we must meet

1:24:26 ↗ in order to um in in order to take

1:24:31 ↗ advantage of the tax end of the grant

1:24:33 ↗ program. So there's certain

1:24:34 ↗ certifications and trainings that our

1:24:37 ↗ police officers need to receive. Um but

1:24:40 ↗ you can see here what some of the

1:24:42 ↗ eligibility is especially around

1:24:45 ↗ recruitment, retention of staff members,

1:24:48 ↗ officers, um both corrections officers

1:24:50 ↗ as well as patrol officers. There's um

1:24:54 ↗ the monies can be applied to the things

1:24:56 ↗ you see under the grant program, but

1:24:57 ↗ also the public safety sales tax the

1:24:59 ↗ city would collect or um all of those

1:25:01 ↗ things are eligible expenses for us as

1:25:03 ↗ well.

1:25:06 ↗ Great. Thank you.

1:25:08 ↗ Okay, going on to that last slide of

1:25:11 ↗ what the feedback is that you're looking

1:25:15 ↗ for. So, uh, we're looking for feedback

1:25:18 ↗ on exploring the new revenue sources,

1:25:22 ↗ um, especially public safety sales tax

1:25:24 ↗ since that's a new one for council's

1:25:27 ↗ consideration and, um, any feedback that

1:25:30 ↗ you may have on the potential budget

1:25:33 ↗ additions. Okay, so we will start with

1:25:36 ↗ questions. Is that what we have, Council

1:25:38 ↗ Member Hall?

1:25:40 ↗ Thank you very much. I have uh two

1:25:42 ↗ questions. Um and one I see director

1:25:44 ↗ Dolly Walls on and so that might be uh

1:25:47 ↗ good for her. Uh the parking minimums

1:25:49 ↗ one from the state level. I know for

1:25:51 ↗ this bianium um when we were doing the

1:25:54 ↗ budget, we had kind of a list a scope of

1:25:56 ↗ work within CPD of the different

1:25:58 ↗ planning things that we would be going

1:25:59 ↗ through as a city over the year. Do we

1:26:02 ↗ have a sense yet of whether this parking

1:26:04 ↗ minimums

1:26:05 ↗ change means that we're going to have to

1:26:07 ↗ rep prioritize that list or anything or

1:26:10 ↗ or do I'm just curious um how much staff

1:26:15 ↗ time we're going to need to invest in

1:26:17 ↗ this and it could be way too early. If

1:26:18 ↗ it is just say Zach is is really early.

1:26:20 ↗ We'll find out later.

1:26:25 ↗ Sure. I could address that council

1:26:27 ↗ member Hall. Um so um this particular

1:26:30 ↗ bill that passed um gives cities of our

1:26:33 ↗ size about 3 years for implementation is

1:26:36 ↗ our understanding. So we'll be looking

1:26:38 ↗ deeply into this. In the meantime, we

1:26:40 ↗ have some other um items that got

1:26:43 ↗ approved by uh state legislature last

1:26:46 ↗ year uh that included you know not not

1:26:48 ↗ having more than 50% as structured

1:26:50 ↗ parking requirements and such. So we'll

1:26:52 ↗ we'll focus and prioritize those to be

1:26:55 ↗ adopted in our IMC in our municipal code

1:26:58 ↗ earlier and then work through some of

1:27:00 ↗ the the latest ones um subsequently.

1:27:04 ↗ Okay. Excellent. Thank you very much. Um

1:27:06 ↗ and then the public safety sales tax

1:27:09 ↗ authority. Now, I'm just curious, is

1:27:11 ↗ that similar to

1:27:13 ↗ um I I remember back to you the

1:27:16 ↗ affordable housing behavioral

1:27:17 ↗ health.1% sales tax that that we went

1:27:20 ↗ out on and it was like cities had until

1:27:22 ↗ X date to enact it and start to collect

1:27:25 ↗ revenue before the county could have the

1:27:27 ↗ authority over all the revenue. Is it

1:27:29 ↗ something like that or is it different?

1:27:31 ↗ Because I know I know King County has

1:27:32 ↗ already said that they're interested in

1:27:33 ↗ pursuing this.

1:27:36 ↗ Um, I believe that the city has the

1:27:39 ↗ ability to levy the tax um whenever. I

1:27:44 ↗ don't believe that there's a time limit.

1:27:45 ↗ I did I read the legislation um and I

1:27:48 ↗ didn't see anything referring to a city

1:27:50 ↗ time limit um that we had to get it in

1:27:52 ↗ before the county. Okay, good. Thank

1:27:54 ↗ you.

1:27:57 ↗ Any other

1:27:59 ↗ questions? No. Okay, we have an

1:28:01 ↗ opportunity for public comment. Um any

1:28:04 ↗ public comments on this item? Nobody

1:28:07 ↗ online. Okay. And um if we will go ahead

1:28:13 ↗ into feedback. So the feedback are

1:28:17 ↗ basically what is our interest in

1:28:19 ↗ exploring new revenue sources as enabled

1:28:21 ↗ by the state and any feedback on

1:28:24 ↗ potential budget additions to address

1:28:27 ↗ council priorities. Who wants to start

1:28:29 ↗ us off?

1:28:32 ↗ Council member Hall. Sure. I can start

1:28:34 ↗ us off.

1:28:36 ↗ Um, thank you again for the presentation

1:28:39 ↗ and for the the work and and for showing

1:28:41 ↗ us year end 2024 as well. I agree with

1:28:44 ↗ kind of the remain concerned picture

1:28:47 ↗ that you that you've painted and I'm

1:28:49 ↗ glad not glad but glad that we made the

1:28:51 ↗ changes that we needed to going into

1:28:53 ↗ this bianium. Um, starting with the

1:28:56 ↗ second one, I um, I think I would just

1:28:59 ↗ caution against any major changes in

1:29:01 ↗ spending in the budget, especially with

1:29:05 ↗ um, the uncertainty around whether or

1:29:07 ↗ not we'll find funding for the rest of

1:29:09 ↗ the bomb cyclone recovery.

1:29:13 ↗ Um, there's still a collective

1:29:15 ↗ bargaining agreement at Eastside Fire

1:29:16 ↗ and Rescue. We don't necessarily know

1:29:18 ↗ exactly where that will sit. So I I just

1:29:20 ↗ think as much as we can keep everything

1:29:23 ↗ the same and not make major changes in

1:29:25 ↗ my mind the better. Um the new revenue

1:29:30 ↗ source um that's been um that we've been

1:29:34 ↗ h or given the authority by the state is

1:29:36 ↗ interesting very intriguing. I think

1:29:38 ↗ it's something we should look into. I

1:29:39 ↗ have been thinking we should look look

1:29:41 ↗ into a public safety levy. Um, but any

1:29:44 ↗ kind of

1:29:46 ↗ having I'm open to having the

1:29:48 ↗ conversation around new revenue to to

1:29:50 ↗ support public safety needs in the city

1:29:52 ↗ and I'll leave it at that. So, if this

1:29:54 ↗ is part of that and and we look at it

1:29:56 ↗ that way, that sounds great to me.

1:29:59 ↗ Council member Ray,

1:30:02 ↗ um, I concur with Council Member Hall.

1:30:04 ↗ Let's not uh kind of do a whole lot of

1:30:08 ↗ resetting um four months into the

1:30:10 ↗ bienium. Um as it relates to new revenue

1:30:14 ↗ sources, I am intrigued by the public

1:30:17 ↗ safety sales tax potential. And I'm

1:30:20 ↗ intrigued

1:30:23 ↗ because there's a lot of uh well, we

1:30:26 ↗ spend an awful lot of money on public

1:30:28 ↗ safety right now and that is general

1:30:29 ↗ fund dollars. And if we can use this

1:30:31 ↗ sales tax to offset some of that general

1:30:34 ↗ fund spend, that not only gives us some

1:30:36 ↗ flexibility to expand our public safety

1:30:39 ↗ spend, but it also gives us the ability

1:30:40 ↗ to repurpose those dollars into general

1:30:42 ↗ other general fund areas. So that's why

1:30:45 ↗ I I was really curious about what the

1:30:47 ↗ restrictions are and and and it is it a

1:30:50 ↗ net new things only or is it um or is it

1:30:55 ↗ one where we can do new uh services and

1:30:59 ↗ there's a lot of great stuff in there

1:31:01 ↗ like like use of force training and

1:31:03 ↗ escalation. I think we should be doing

1:31:04 ↗ that anyway. Um, but also is there an

1:31:07 ↗ area where we can offset some of our

1:31:09 ↗ current spend with this the new sales

1:31:12 ↗ tax and then use those dollars and

1:31:14 ↗ divert them into other programs and

1:31:15 ↗ areas.

1:31:19 ↗ Council member Joe,

1:31:22 ↗ thank you. Um, I'm in favor of looking

1:31:25 ↗ at the uh sales tax increase of

1:31:29 ↗ uh 1%.

1:31:32 ↗ uh in uh September 23 when we were

1:31:35 ↗ considering the the uh benefit district

1:31:38 ↗ trans the uh transportation benefit

1:31:40 ↗ district uh it was pointed out that

1:31:42 ↗ we're a regional player and uh the

1:31:45 ↗ deputy city administrator Andrea Snder

1:31:47 ↗ pointed out that the sales tax will

1:31:48 ↗ ensure that the increase does not solely

1:31:50 ↗ fall on residents and was quoted as what

1:31:53 ↗ we understand is that Isiqua is a

1:31:55 ↗ regional hub that means we have a lot of

1:31:57 ↗ people passing through as they stop and

1:31:59 ↗ then go on to their final destination

1:32:00 ↗ Snder

1:32:02 ↗ a sales tax is the best way to get them

1:32:03 ↗ to contribute to help pay for the in

1:32:06 ↗ this case streets they use but in this

1:32:08 ↗ case we're

1:32:09 ↗ considering the protection that they are

1:32:13 ↗ uh have a benefit of as they shop and uh

1:32:16 ↗ visit our parks and our city. So overall

1:32:19 ↗ I think that um concept remains the

1:32:21 ↗ same. Um, and I think that, uh, as we go

1:32:24 ↗ forward, we should keep that in mind as

1:32:25 ↗ we look to have this tax potentially

1:32:27 ↗ raise around, um, $2.3 million or

1:32:30 ↗ somewhere in that area.

1:32:32 ↗ Um, appreciate the discussion on that

1:32:36 ↗ topic. Um, in terms of budget additions,

1:32:40 ↗ uh, I I think I'll lean on my comments

1:32:43 ↗ on the prior discussion with the

1:32:45 ↗ emergency management that if we can show

1:32:47 ↗ that the new position is going to enable

1:32:49 ↗ us to have additional capabilities or

1:32:52 ↗ enable us to plan for uh, additional uh,

1:32:56 ↗ emergencies that we may not have thought

1:32:57 ↗ of yet, but we think are coming. Um, I

1:33:00 ↗ think it's a good idea, but I'll wait to

1:33:01 ↗ see how that conversation turns out.

1:33:04 ↗ Thank you,

1:33:06 ↗ Council Member Jen. Yeah, I want to

1:33:08 ↗ ditto what everyone said about, you

1:33:10 ↗ know, definitely interested in exploring

1:33:11 ↗ this new revenue source. And I think if

1:33:14 ↗ my understanding is right, you know,

1:33:15 ↗ just exploring it at this time doesn't

1:33:16 ↗ mean that we're necessarily going to

1:33:18 ↗ approve it. But I think, you know, just

1:33:21 ↗ given how huge of a portion of our

1:33:23 ↗ budget, our public safety is, I think

1:33:24 ↗ definitely, you know, looking this with

1:33:26 ↗ this 2 million would be like less than

1:33:29 ↗ 20% of our overall public safety budget.

1:33:32 ↗ And so I think you know we and that's

1:33:34 ↗ something that our community really

1:33:35 ↗ prioritizes. So I think it's important

1:33:37 ↗ um to look into that at the very least.

1:33:40 ↗ Um and then on the potential budget

1:33:42 ↗ additions I concur with everyone else

1:33:44 ↗ that you know we're kind of you know

1:33:46 ↗ early in the bienium want to be very

1:33:48 ↗ cautious just cuz I mean the economic

1:33:50 ↗ uncertainty even within the last 3 weeks

1:33:52 ↗ has reached like new I don't I don't

1:33:55 ↗ want to see never neverbeforeseen

1:33:57 ↗ heights but it's it's been a while since

1:33:59 ↗ we've had this level of uncertainty and

1:34:01 ↗ you know we want to be pretty cautious.

1:34:06 ↗ Council member Mertz um thank you.

1:34:10 ↗ So, I don't want to uh douse the sales

1:34:13 ↗ tax with cold water, but I I want to

1:34:15 ↗ point out that we have one of the most

1:34:17 ↗ regressive tax structures in the nation

1:34:19 ↗ and that sales taxes are the poster

1:34:21 ↗ children of regressive taxes. Now, um if

1:34:25 ↗ it's the only levers that we have and

1:34:27 ↗ we've all seven of us plus our mayor has

1:34:29 ↗ said that public safety is super

1:34:30 ↗ important, then we do what we have to

1:34:32 ↗ do. Um, but I I would ask that the

1:34:35 ↗ administration continue to look for

1:34:36 ↗ other less regressive options as we as

1:34:39 ↗ we consider implementing the sales tax.

1:34:42 ↗ And I agree with everybody else that um

1:34:44 ↗ um new additions right now, I think we

1:34:46 ↗ should just tread cautiously. I don't

1:34:48 ↗ think that there's any anybody in

1:34:50 ↗ America who tells you they know what the

1:34:53 ↗ uh economic landscape's going to look

1:34:55 ↗ like in six months is is selling you

1:34:57 ↗ snake oil. So, uh let's just keep doing

1:34:59 ↗ the essential stuff and bat in the

1:35:00 ↗ hatches. Thanks,

1:35:04 ↗ Deputy Council President.

1:35:06 ↗ Yes, I agree with uh all of the comments

1:35:09 ↗ from my fellow council members. Um I uh

1:35:12 ↗ do uh want to explore the new revenue

1:35:16 ↗ for for public safety. Uh my interest um

1:35:19 ↗ as you might guess from the question I

1:35:21 ↗ asked would be the behavioral health

1:35:23 ↗ aspect of the funding and if that's one

1:35:25 ↗ place that we could spend that funding.

1:35:27 ↗ Um I definitely see a need there and uh

1:35:30 ↗ particularly at the community court that

1:35:33 ↗ would be a tremendous addition to our

1:35:35 ↗ criminal justice system. So uh I am

1:35:38 ↗ interested in that. But I totally agree

1:35:39 ↗ we're we're sounding very together on

1:35:42 ↗ this and that is uh we really need to

1:35:45 ↗ proceed with caution because it is just

1:35:48 ↗ such a volatile environment out there

1:35:50 ↗ right now. Thank you.

1:35:53 ↗ Thank you. And I will echo much of,

1:35:57 ↗ excuse me, much of what uh you have

1:35:59 ↗ heard here. Um, Council Member Marts,

1:36:01 ↗ very much appreciate you continuing to

1:36:04 ↗ remind us how much of a regressive tax

1:36:07 ↗ situation we are in in this state and

1:36:10 ↗ how sales taxes are one of the worst

1:36:14 ↗ burdens of that. And so very much

1:36:16 ↗ appreciate that as a portion um of the

1:36:20 ↗ commentary. Um, I will also add to what

1:36:22 ↗ council member Joe said about this being

1:36:25 ↗ a regional oh wait a second, a regional

1:36:31 ↗ um hub for shopping as um an

1:36:34 ↗ opportunity. Uh some of our most recent

1:36:37 ↗ reports showed that of the shoplifting

1:36:40 ↗ and the shoplifting uplift that we have

1:36:42 ↗ had only 16% of that was from Isiqua

1:36:46 ↗ residents. And so we are also

1:36:48 ↗ experiencing a regionalization of crime

1:36:51 ↗ and shoplifting in the area. And so

1:36:54 ↗ being able to have some of those costs

1:36:57 ↗ not go entirely on our residents, but

1:37:00 ↗ also on the regional um people that are

1:37:02 ↗ in the area and shop in our area is a

1:37:05 ↗ really important aspect to public safety

1:37:08 ↗ um funding. So I appreciate that aspect

1:37:11 ↗ of that as well. Um, I think it's

1:37:14 ↗ something that we should look at. Um, we

1:37:18 ↗ as a city are very limited on what new

1:37:21 ↗ revenue we can um, look at. And every

1:37:25 ↗ year our property tax ratio and the rate

1:37:30 ↗ that um, any of that does on people's

1:37:33 ↗ houses, it reduces each year. We only

1:37:37 ↗ get a 1% growth in that cost. And so

1:37:41 ↗ everyone pays a smaller and smaller

1:37:43 ↗ portion. So, um, any opportunity that we

1:37:46 ↗ have to look at something that funds

1:37:48 ↗ something that is so important to our

1:37:50 ↗ community such as public safety would be

1:37:52 ↗ of interest to me. And I will also

1:37:54 ↗ second the hey, I'm cautious to make any

1:37:58 ↗ changes right now. Um, in fact, I'm more

1:38:02 ↗ likely expecting something in July where

1:38:05 ↗ we're looking at either potential cuts

1:38:07 ↗ or just caution, particularly when we're

1:38:10 ↗ talking about our capital improvement

1:38:13 ↗ plan and projects. So, um, I would want

1:38:17 ↗ to have that information before we

1:38:19 ↗ looked at any

1:38:21 ↗ addition. Any other comments, Council

1:38:23 ↗ Member Jen?

1:38:25 ↗ Um, yeah, I think the comment that

1:38:27 ↗ council member Martz made about, you

1:38:29 ↗ know, the regressiveness of sales tax is

1:38:31 ↗ very important. And in terms of

1:38:33 ↗ exploring new revenue sources, you know,

1:38:34 ↗ council member Hall mentioned the

1:38:36 ↗ potential for doing a public safety

1:38:37 ↗ levy. Is that something that could be

1:38:39 ↗ explored as an option as you know, cuz

1:38:42 ↗ that's property tax, which is less

1:38:44 ↗ regressive than sales tax. And I know

1:38:46 ↗ that, you know, that would have to be

1:38:48 ↗ approved by voters as well, but is that

1:38:50 ↗ something that we could also include in

1:38:51 ↗ the exploration of revenue sources?

1:38:56 ↗ Sure. Yeah, we can include that. Thank

1:38:59 ↗ you.

1:39:01 ↗ Okay.

1:39:02 ↗ Yeah. Okay. Any other feedback on this

1:39:07 ↗ item? Okay. Does the administration have

1:39:09 ↗ what you need? Yes. Thank you very much.

1:39:13 ↗ And if I could just add, um, thank you

1:39:15 ↗ first of all for the discussion tonight.

1:39:17 ↗ Uh, July 12th is the next date. So,

1:39:21 ↗ we'll uh do all that we've talked about

1:39:23 ↗ this evening. Uh between now and then,

1:39:25 ↗ you get to do the capital improvement

1:39:27 ↗ program. And so, each of the standing

1:39:29 ↗ committees will have presentations uh

1:39:31 ↗ during the month of May on the CIP. Uh

1:39:34 ↗ not surprisingly, um there are lots of

1:39:37 ↗ challenges there as well. Um but we'll

1:39:39 ↗ be asking the committee some very

1:39:41 ↗ specific questions about programmatic

1:39:43 ↗ items within the CIP. Uh so, you'll hear

1:39:46 ↗ that. Uh at next month's committee of

1:39:48 ↗ the whole uh you will hear from Dale

1:39:50 ↗ Marky Crimp. She's completed her

1:39:52 ↗ analysis of jail uh jail operations.

1:39:54 ↗ That's a very another real key piece on

1:39:56 ↗ the operating side. Uh so you'll hear

1:39:59 ↗ from her on that. You'll also hear about

1:40:01 ↗ the uh city uh uh survey. Uh we've

1:40:05 ↗ gotten the results of the community

1:40:06 ↗ survey. So she'll be sharing that plus

1:40:09 ↗ performance measures. So piece by piece,

1:40:11 ↗ we're marching down the the calendar um

1:40:15 ↗ to get you to July um with some, you

1:40:18 ↗ know, perhaps more firmer

1:40:20 ↗ recommendations from the administration

1:40:22 ↗ on actions um to take through the end of

1:40:26 ↗ uh 25. So uh just want to put this all

1:40:29 ↗ in context. We appreciate the time that

1:40:31 ↗ you're spending to be thoughtful and

1:40:34 ↗ taking this all in in pieces rather than

1:40:36 ↗ us come to you in the fall and say,

1:40:38 ↗ "Whoops, the world's changed and we're

1:40:41 ↗ we're in trouble." So, thank you for

1:40:43 ↗ tonight and uh next month you'll be busy

1:40:45 ↗ with the CIP and other items at the

1:40:48 ↗ committee, the whole

1:40:50 ↗ indeed. Okay, with that, I think we've

1:40:53 ↗ got good of the order. Any announcements

1:40:56 ↗ coming up? Otherwise, I would close the

1:40:59 ↗ meeting at 8:12 p.m. Thank you.

1:41:05 ↗ Oh, I will mention that afterward.

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

Kelly Jiang

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh