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City Council Regular Meeting Auto captions

Monday, March 20, 2023

7:00 PM · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topics tracked across meetings:
COM 0126 - Capital Improvement Plan COM 0126 1/6
Newport Way SR 900 to SE 54th Street Improvements Design Contract Amendment AB 8797 1/2
Newport Way NW Landslide Stabilization Local Agency Agreement Supplement #1 AB 8784 1/2
2022 Storm and Surface Water Master Plan Approve Resolution No. _______ , adopting the 2022 Storm and Surface Water Master Plan. Approve Resolution AB 7879 10/11
Amendments to Title 18 re: Diversity of Housing Adopt Ordinance AB 8618 1/4
WSDOT Local Bridge Program Grant (NW Gilman Bridge Seismic Retrofit) Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement AB 8479 2/3
Cougar Mountain Zoo Week Proclamation [05 min.] ID 1472 1/2
Issaquah Police Support Services Association Collective Bargaining Agreement AB 8612 1/2
Gibson Hall Lease Addendum No. 7 (Kiwanis Club) AB 8614 1/2
2023 Community Center Roof Replacement Award Bid AB 8615 1/2
Pickering Barn HVAC System Improvements Award Bid AB 8616 1/2
Amendment to 2023 Salary Ordinance Adopt Ordinance AB 8627 1/2
Amendments to IMC 10.34 re: Vehicle Impound Regulations Adopt Ordinance AB 8634 1/2
Emergency Rental Assistance AB 8583 3/3
2022 Budget Reauthorizations AB 8549 2/2
First 2023-24 Budget Amendment AB 8586 2/2
Section
Topic
6. CONSENT CALENDAR
6a
Accounts: Payables and Payroll of March 20, 2023, $5,008,799.37 ID 1333
Approve · packet pp.5–34
Topics: Budget
Staff report:
Finance Department P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 PH: 425-837-3050 www.issaquahwa.gov
6b
Minutes: City Council Special Meeting, Dec. 7, 2022
Approve · packet pp.35–36
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR b) 12-07-22 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Special Meeting – Legislative Breakfast 8:00 AM Tibbetts Manor December 7, 2022 MINUTES 750 17th Ave. NW
6c
Minutes: City Council Special Meeting, Dec. 12, 2022
Approve · packet pp.37
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR c) 12-12-22 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Special Meeting 6:30 PM Council Chambers December 12, 2022 MINUTES 135 E. Sunset Way
6d
Minutes: City Council Special Meeting, Jan. 3, 2023
Receive Report · packet pp.39
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR d) 01-03-23 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Special Meeting 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. January 3, 2023 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
6g
Newport Way NW Landslide Stabilization Project Design Contract Supplement No. 4 AB 8529
Award Bid · packet pp.47–60
Topics: Transportation
Staff report:
On February 6 and 7, 2020, a large rainfall event occurred in the region, mobilizing a small landslide on King County Parks property adjacent to Newport Way NW. The slide spilled onto the roadway and resulted in the shutdown of a section of Newport Way NW for roughly one week. City, County, and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) crews responded to temporarily stabilize the slide for the short-term.
6j
King County Human Services Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy Grant Amendment (Senior Center Transportation) AB 8571
Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.151–157
Topics: TransportationBudgetEquity
Staff report:
In 2019, the City Council approved entering into an agreement with King County to receive funding annually from 2019- 2023 through the Department of Community and Human Services (DSHS) Veterans, Seniors and Human Services (VSHSL) grant for enhancing senior services and transforming senior centers into senior hubs, providing additional programming and services for seniors.
6k
2023 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Funding Recommendations AB 8581
Confirm · packet pp.159–224
Topics: BudgetTourism
Staff report:
In the 2023-24 budget approved by the City Council in Nov. 2022, the Council approved an allocation of $50,000 from the Lodging Tax Fund to go toward funding for tourism-related initiatives in Issaquah in 2023. These funds are for services provided and do not need to be repaid. The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee created a funding initiative information document (Exhibit A) which outlines the application requirements and process.
6m
Highlands Signal Pole Painting Project (TR 056) AB 8585
Award Bid · packet pp.239–242
7. REGULAR BUSINESS
7a
Emergency Rental Assistance AB 8583
Authorize Funding · 40 min · packet pp.243–260
Topics: HousingPublic SafetyBudget
Staff report:
Although Governor Inslee has lifted the COVID-19 state of emergency and many crisis response programs have been successfully completed, long-term COVID-19 impacts continue to be visible in the community. Following the end of the moratorium on rent increases and evictions, as well as more recent worldwide events contributing to economic instability, a series of post pandemic related financial impacts and needs have been reported in the community. The following includes a
7b
2022 Budget Reauthorizations AB 8549
15 min · packet pp.261–274
Topics: Budget
Staff report:
In each year's budget, funding is provided to complete a series of projects and programs. It is not unusual for a government entity to not complete all of those projects and programs in that particular fiscal year - whether that be because there was an unanticipated delay starting said project or program or because a project or program takes longer to complete than originally anticipated. In the case of the proposed 2022 reauthorizations, many projects faced setbacks due to supply chain or staffing shortage-related delays.
7c
First 2023-24 Budget Amendment AB 8586
Adopt Ordinance · 15 min · packet pp.275–296
Topics: Land UseBudget
Staff report:
Budget amendments are required when the expenditures of a fund are forecast to exceed the adopted appropriation level or when changes are needed to interfund transfers - or transfers between funds. This budget amendment includes 12 items adjusting 6 of the City's 22 financial funds. In total, these adjustments account for $8,998,295 in increased revenues and $7,647,283 in increased expenditures. The amendments to the General Fund total $720,140 of the increased expenditures.
8. GOOD OF THE ORDER
8a
Upcoming Council Meetings
0:02 foreign
0:05 good evening everyone I'm calling to
0:07 order the March 20th city council
0:09 meeting and as a reminder we continue to
0:11 have a remote aspect to our meetings
0:12 both staff and members of the public may
0:15 be participating in tonight's meeting
0:16 remotely via WebEx and council member D
0:19 Michelle is attending tonight's meeting
0:20 remotely
0:22 the first item on the agenda is the
0:23 Pledge of Allegiance and I welcome you
0:25 to join us
0:40 strong
0:47 the next area on our agenda this evening
0:49 is audience comments members of the
0:51 public May address council at this time
0:52 in person or virtually those who have
0:55 signed up in advance to make comments
0:56 will be called on First and if you are
0:58 joining us virtually and would like to
1:00 make comments please raise your virtual
1:01 hand or send the host a chat message
1:04 if you're on the phone press star 3. if
1:07 you are joined by computer or smartphone
1:08 look for a hand icon if you're in the
1:11 room and did not sign up I will ask for
1:13 other speakers before closing this
1:14 portion of the meeting
1:15 city clerk has anyone signed up to speak
1:17 for General audience comments or
1:19 indicate a desire to speak this evening
1:20 yes thank you
1:22 for those making comments please direct
1:24 your comments to the whole Council and
1:26 not individuals and while this is not a
1:28 question and answer session we will
1:29 contact you to follow up if needed
1:31 when recognized please unmute your
1:33 microphone or step up to the lectern
1:36 state your name address and relationship
1:38 to the city please speak clearly and
1:41 pause frequently and limit comments to
1:43 five minutes if you're attending
1:45 virtually and do not respond after your
1:46 name or phone number is called or if
1:48 your connection is lost unexpectedly the
1:51 meeting will need to proceed and you are
1:52 encouraged to rejoin the meeting if you
1:54 are able
1:55 personal attacks obscene language
1:56 derogatory remarks and disruptive
1:58 behavior will not be permitted
2:00 citizen comments written in verbal are
2:02 an important aspect of the public
2:03 process and the city takes these
2:05 comments seriously we thank you for
2:07 taking the time to address us city clerk
2:09 can you please identify the first person
2:11 who has signed up yes we have one person
2:14 in the room and two virtual attendees
2:16 who'd like to make comments the first is
2:17 in the room Lori Burrell
2:21 come on up there and you'll have to push
2:23 the button on to get a red light you
2:25 should be good to go
2:27 okay can you hear me okay okay good
2:31 evening my name is Lori Burrell and
2:34 first of all
2:35 um good evening mayor Polly Council
2:37 people Wally Trisha and all you guys in
2:41 the room
2:43 my name is Lori Burrell I'm the
2:45 president of Issaquah Community Services
2:48 we are one of the organizations that
2:51 will benefit from the decision that is
2:53 made tonight
2:54 we have served the Issaquah and the
2:57 surrounding areas
3:00 and as a non-profit for the last 50
3:03 years
3:03 so we've been around a long time our
3:06 mission is to provide rent rent and
3:09 utility assistance to local families
3:11 when they encounter a financial bump in
3:14 the road that could be a single parent
3:17 at work getting a call from the school
3:19 saying sorry you need to come pick up
3:22 your children and because they're sick
3:24 so they miss out on all that work time
3:27 we also have several adult
3:31 residents that are not back to full time
3:34 workout
3:35 their 40-hour work week is something
3:38 like 26. so they're just not full-time
3:41 yet
3:42 our all-volunteer
3:45 organization will continue to work very
3:48 hard making sure that the neediest
3:50 living in Issaquah will receive these
3:54 funds
3:55 ICS fully supports the recommendation
3:58 from the ICS City Administration to help
4:02 our Issaquah residents recover from the
4:05 pandemic issues as well as help with the
4:09 increases due to cost of living
4:12 thank you council members mayor for your
4:15 consideration of The Proposal we are so
4:18 grateful for your ongoing support for
4:20 all these years thank you
4:24 thank you Linda city clerk who's next
4:30 Dia executive director is the next
4:32 speaker let me make you a panelist now
4:39 you have the floor
4:44 uh can everybody hear me yes we can
4:49 um so um I just wanted to
4:52 um say hello for this evening and I
4:54 wanted to update uh both the city
4:56 council and the city on some of Diaz
4:59 programming for the second quarter
5:02 um this year uh so we have our Farm
5:05 Fresh Market uh on Saturdays that starts
5:08 this Saturday uh goes from 9 until 2 p.m
5:10 and we've expanded it with uh live music
5:13 and specialty food stalls and Artisan
5:17 booths and that runs March 23rd 5th
5:20 through April 29th
5:22 um the spring fair uh we're calling the
5:25 last one of these uh April 29th uh which
5:28 we'll have country music as well as a
5:30 downtown Issaquah Discovery walk uh keep
5:34 his quad beautiful day it's Earth day
5:36 which is April 22nd it's a Saturday from
5:38 9 to 12 and people come beach at the
5:41 Shell for that or they can lead a
5:45 neighborhood cleanup in their own
5:46 neighborhood
5:49 um we've also got uh open mic night
5:51 Issaquah open mic night is every
5:53 Wednesday from 6 to 8 30 at the train
5:57 depot so that's uh happens each month uh
6:01 our first wine and artwork is Friday May
6:04 5th from 6 to 9. and finally uh fenders
6:09 on Front Street is coming back uh it's
6:11 always on Father's Day and that is June
6:13 18th which is a Sunday from eight to
6:17 three and finally I'd just like to uh
6:21 um thank the city and the ltech
6:22 committee for uh providing uh fun Studio
6:25 this year for fenders on Front Street
6:27 thank you very much
6:29 thank you Mark
6:30 City Clerk
6:35 next is Connie Marsh Connie I'm making
6:38 you a panelist now
6:47 I heard I'm making you but
6:50 I hope you can hear me we can hear you
6:53 perfect so I'm Connie Marsh I live up on
6:57 squawk mountains and I have a
7:01 generalized topic today
7:03 of what you know but we out here in the
7:09 world
7:09 can't see or find
7:14 the major projects this the active
7:17 projects lists the links to the meetings
7:21 that are held
7:23 uh make it almost impossible to find the
7:27 information
7:29 to know what's happening in the city
7:31 it's it's super hard for the public
7:35 to understand and actually it's gotten
7:38 worse the active projects list is is
7:42 very difficult the major projects list
7:46 on the front page of the website often
7:49 lags and is in a format that's
7:51 incredibly difficult to negotiate and I
7:54 think difficult for people to use
7:56 so at the last uh subcommittee meeting
8:00 on Title 18
8:02 Council those people were willing to
8:05 sort of push this
8:09 difficulty off into the future and I'm
8:14 unwilling to just let that stand
8:17 I have for the last three weeks tried to
8:21 excavate what should be public
8:23 information out of the website and it's
8:26 just too difficult for me and that means
8:30 a normal human who is not absolutely
8:33 crazy is going to have a really really
8:35 really hard time and I don't think that
8:37 is the point of our town I think we're
8:39 supposed to be trying to be transparent
8:40 and I'm here to to tell you that it's
8:43 it's not happening I was just trying to
8:46 figure out your topic of the Newport Way
8:49 Landslide is that going to impact
8:52 private property is that going to impact
8:55 uh land that that you don't already own
8:59 I don't know I was unable to ascertain
9:01 that in any way shape or form
9:04 um so here's my challenge
9:07 pretend you are not on City Council
9:10 and on some of these topics
9:12 try going in to what is only available
9:17 to the community and see how far you get
9:21 and if you can find everything then
9:24 ignore me because I I'm just not getting
9:27 it right but if you find yourself in the
9:30 same places in normal Community member
9:32 who doesn't get the inside scoop which
9:35 is sort of left out then I I would ask
9:39 you to take action and and require
9:42 something immediately to at least get us
9:45 back to where we were two years ago so
9:49 I'm hoping somebody has the time and is
9:52 is crazy enough to actually take me up
9:54 on this challenge because the community
9:57 is Reliant upon you to represent us in
10:01 things like this otherwise it's very
10:03 hard to make it better
10:05 so uh moroccon have fun I of course will
10:09 talk to you soon
10:11 thank you Connie City Clerk
10:20 we're just checking to see if anyone
10:21 else is online yes we do have a few more
10:23 individuals online but no one else is
10:25 indicating a desire to speak
10:27 thank you City Claire also thank you for
10:30 those that made comments tonight we
10:32 heard about one of our items that of
10:34 businesses this evening which is on
10:36 rental assistance some great programming
10:39 coming in the second quarter from our
10:40 Mean Street group downtown and about the
10:43 difficulty reading interpreting major
10:45 projects list active projects lists so
10:48 that residents can easily follow us
10:50 through the website so thank you all for
10:52 doing that as a reminder written
10:55 comments can be submitted at any time to
10:57 city council it is gov and council
10:59 president Walsh do you have any email
11:01 comments to summarize on any of
11:02 tonight's agenda items thank you madam
11:04 mayor we did not receive any email on
11:07 the items on tonight's agenda thank you
11:09 so we will go into Canadian Regional
11:11 reports and we'll start with council
11:12 member Joe
11:13 thank you madam mayor March 21st the
11:17 Cascade water lines finance committee
11:20 will be meeting March 22nd the Cascade
11:22 water Alliance board will be meeting and
11:26 March 29th uh sounds
11:29 cities Association I will be having
11:32 their monthly or quarterly social
11:35 elected meeting in Renton if anyone
11:38 would like to attend I will be going
11:41 and then on your agenda for the consent
11:44 agenda AB 8581
11:46 um the lodging tax advisory committee I
11:49 think was mentioned in the public
11:51 comments that will be coming back to you
11:53 for review reflecting our February 28th
11:56 work as we reviewed all the ltch
11:58 applications that concludes my report
12:05 and one upcoming meeting on Thursday
12:09 March 16th the salmon Recovery Council
12:12 of wyra 8 met wyra 8 is the name of our
12:15 Watershed and we had only informational
12:18 items so no decisions were made we did
12:21 have one item that I wanted to flag for
12:23 my colleagues on the council which is
12:24 that we one of the items that we are
12:28 supporting at the state level in the
12:29 state legislature is a 365 000 budget
12:33 thousand dollar budget Proviso for
12:36 continuing a pilot effort on Lake
12:38 Sammamish to address impacts from
12:41 artificial light pollution on salmon
12:43 survival and to continue to expand that
12:46 work and to build on the work that was
12:48 done last year and this also ties into
12:51 our Title 18 or land use code work
12:54 because we have an ordinance there that
12:57 will improve the lighting standards for
13:00 docs to improve salmon survival and many
13:05 cities are looking looking forward to
13:06 using that using that standard as well
13:09 and incorporating incorporating it into
13:12 their own code and this budget provides
13:15 are at the state level would help us
13:16 expand the program so outside of like
13:18 Sammamish as well other other Lakes
13:21 other people would be able to use our
13:24 code as well and also take additional
13:26 items take additional actions to reduce
13:28 light pollution so that is exciting and
13:31 that is work that is happening in close
13:33 partnership with representative Ramos
13:35 who has been a big supporter of salmon
13:38 recovery in our area
13:41 then I have one upcoming meeting the
13:44 Planning Development and environment
13:46 subcommittee of this Council will meet
13:48 on March 28th we have two item items one
13:51 is id1340 public projects code of
13:55 conduct and the other is id1394 which is
13:58 the comprehensive plan periodic update
14:00 scope
14:01 and that concludes my report thank you
14:04 councilmember Ray oh thank you mayor
14:06 Paulie the city council mobility and
14:09 infrastructure committee met on March
14:11 14th at 6 30 pm
14:14 we had two items on the agenda the first
14:16 was ID 1387 which is the an update on
14:20 Northwest
14:23 Sammamish Road Project
14:25 we looked at different alternatives for
14:29 the cross-section of road if we built
14:31 for building out the non-motorized
14:33 transportation from South Lake Sammamish
14:35 to the
14:37 State Park we also got an update on the
14:42 washdot Culvert project which is going
14:44 to unfortunately have an impact on the
14:46 timeline for the um
14:50 South Northwest Sammamish project
14:53 this is coming back to the council full
14:56 Council on April 17th for more
14:58 discussion we had a a very large crowd
15:03 and we had about 25 people show up for
15:05 this one had a good discussion I think
15:07 by and large people weren't really
15:10 thrilled with the news but understood
15:12 the constraints that we're dealing with
15:14 we also took on ID 1291 intelligent
15:18 transportation system Capital project
15:20 and we received an update on the its
15:23 project we
15:26 were given kind of three pieces of ask
15:29 for guidance and three directions one
15:32 was there's a need to further invest in
15:35 infrastructure so that we can fully
15:37 benefit from intelligent
15:40 systems and the council was supportive
15:44 of that
15:45 and we also were supportive of alignment
15:48 with the goals of the plan to include in
15:51 the next CIP and with that I we're
15:54 expecting to see
15:56 um Public Works comes back with the CIP
15:59 with funding to take the first steps in
16:02 terms of building out infrastructure for
16:04 intelligent transportation
16:06 system
16:08 and that concludes my report this
16:09 evening thank you councilmember marks
16:11 thank you madam mayor the council
16:13 services safety and Parks committee is
16:15 going to meet tomorrow night 6 30 here
16:18 in council chambers ID 1245 Community
16:21 Broadband assessment we're going to
16:24 speak with Gene Paul and Dave nower and
16:27 Andy Fox Dave and Andy are Consultants
16:29 with the Timmins group we are going to
16:31 discuss a recommendation from Venus from
16:34 the administration
16:35 that has elements of requesting
16:38 potentially requesting Issaquah internet
16:40 service providers to replace existing
16:42 internet plans as recommended in the
16:45 report and to work with Issaquah isps to
16:48 build or improve Broadband
16:49 infrastructure and identified
16:51 underserved neighborhoods and then
16:54 potentially developing an education
16:55 program to educate residents on methods
16:58 to reduce internet speed losses as well
17:00 as accessibility to available internet
17:02 discount programs available to
17:04 low-income residents so this is very
17:06 exciting and a topic that has been much
17:09 out of my mind in recent years
17:12 that's the only Topic at services and
17:15 safety tomorrow night the sound cities
17:17 Association public issues committee did
17:19 meet online on March 8th at 7 pm and as
17:23 anticipated no action or potential
17:25 actions were taken later this evening
17:27 I'll be talking about a previous bill
17:30 that was in front of services safety and
17:32 Parks ID 13.
17:35 88 emergency rental assistance but I
17:37 will save that for when that item comes
17:39 up on regular business this concludes my
17:41 report thank you Deputy council
17:42 president
17:43 looks like I'm the outlier tonight no
17:45 report this evening oh and actually I'm
17:47 going to jump to council member D
17:48 Michelle who I missed councilman
17:49 Michelle
17:52 uh thank you mayor Paulie
17:55 um on March 10th I attended the Eastside
17:57 Transportation partnership meeting we
18:00 received reports on the ultra High-Speed
18:02 Rail study which is mapping out the
18:05 feasibility of High-Speed Rail
18:07 connecting Portland Seattle and
18:09 Vancouver BC and I shared the slides
18:12 from that presentation with the council
18:14 we also received a report on the status
18:17 of Safe Streets and Road Grants
18:19 on March 15th I attended the regional
18:22 transit committee we received an
18:24 overview of Metro's collaboration on
18:27 local comprehensive plan revisions as
18:30 well as an update on rapid ride routes K
18:32 and R and if it helps the K line we'll
18:36 be going through Kirkland and North King
18:38 County and the r line goes south through
18:42 Rainier Valley replacing a route with
18:44 the highest ridership in the system
18:47 so those were both very interesting
18:49 reports on March 16th Eastside Human
18:52 Services Forum held its first meeting of
18:54 the year and the group reviewed plans
18:58 for several public forums and we're
19:00 starting a strategic planning discussion
19:02 and we also did around Robin's sharing
19:05 and that concludes my report thank you
19:08 thank you we'll go to council president
19:11 thank you very short report on the
19:13 affordable housing committee met last
19:15 week we elected leadership a County
19:18 council member belducci is continuing to
19:21 lead the group and discussed our work
19:23 plan and how we'll follow the
19:25 legislative priorities that we had set
19:27 after the session since it seems there
19:30 may be many potential bills coming out
19:32 of the legislature that have some sort
19:35 of impact on affordable housing so we
19:37 want to keep track of those as they go
19:38 that concludes my report thank you
19:40 council president the next item is the
19:42 mayor's report
19:44 there will not be an executive session
19:46 this evening and I invite everyone to
19:49 join me on March 30th for the state of
19:51 the city address so as mayor I will have
19:53 the honor to recognize accomplishments
19:55 and review the city's current standing
19:57 and preview and preview the year ahead
20:00 our new superintendent of viscua school
20:03 district will also be present to share
20:05 highlights from the past year and her
20:07 outlook on the future of Issaquah
20:08 schools Julie Hartwig the CEO of the
20:11 Issaquah Chamber of Commerce will be
20:13 recognizing incoming and outgoing
20:15 chamber board members as well to learn
20:17 more visit the greater issquad Chamber
20:18 of Commerce website at
20:20 issaquahchamber.com
20:23 stop by the atlas Apartments Lobby on
20:25 March 30th from 6 30 to 8 30 pm to chat
20:28 with city council members and staff on
20:30 all things Central Issaquah topics will
20:32 include parks and the green necklace
20:34 development and the central Issaquah
20:36 plan police Safety City Council and
20:39 upcoming events
20:42 we are currently seeking nominations for
20:44 the Hall of Fame they are now open and
20:47 it is a top honor for making a lasting
20:50 contribution to our community each year
20:52 the mayor and council president select a
20:54 person to induct into the Issaquah Hall
20:56 of Fame for their exemplary record of
20:57 inspiration leadership and service the
21:00 award will be presented virtually at the
21:02 Chamber of Commerce annual Issaquah
21:04 Community Awards event on May 24th
21:06 nominations can be submitted at
21:08 issaquah.gov
21:10 slash nominate and the deadline for
21:13 nominations is 5 PM on April 28th but
21:15 don't wait start thinking about it now
21:18 there's going to be a community transit
21:20 survey we'd like to hear your thoughts
21:21 on the future of transit in Issaquah
21:23 please provide your feedback by going to
21:25 escuelwa.gov Transit study survey
21:29 tell us how often you currently use
21:30 Transit and your priorities on service
21:32 frequency Transit connections bus stop
21:35 amenities and more your impel will help
21:38 shape our Transit study questions
21:40 related to the transit study or survey
21:42 can be emailed to Thomas baldry's our
21:45 senior Transportation planner at Thomas
21:47 V at iskawa.gov and there are a couple
21:50 of upcoming events on March 22nd which
21:53 is the beginning of Ramadan it's an
21:55 Islamic holiday that is recognized in
21:57 our religious and cultural calendar
22:00 there is a Farm Fresh Market in downtown
22:01 Issaquah and I don't have to go into
22:03 details because our executive director
22:06 gave them but it it starts this March
22:08 and it goes through April it's a really
22:10 fun thing to do on a Saturday and that's
22:12 all for the mayor's report
22:17 the next statement business on the
22:19 agenda this evening is the consent
22:21 calendar and it was distributed to
22:23 Council in advance if authorized the
22:25 items on the consent calendar will be
22:27 considered together and approved by one
22:28 motion have the payables and payroll
22:30 been reviewed they have they have thank
22:34 you does any council member desire to
22:36 remove any item from the consent
22:37 calendar and consider it under regular
22:39 business
22:43 if uh can I get emotion yes um I moved
22:48 to approve the consent calendar as
22:49 written
22:51 second
22:52 thank you it's been moved and seconded
22:55 is there any Council discussion
22:58 hearing none uh the motion before
23:00 council is to approve the consent
23:01 calendar as presented all those in favor
23:03 signify by saying aye
23:05 aye
23:08 those opposed
23:10 that passes 7-0 unanimously
23:13 now we're going to move into the regular
23:15 business portion of our meeting and
23:16 we'll start with
23:18 ab8583 emergency rental assistance the
23:21 request before Council this evening is
23:23 to authorize the funding
23:26 ab8549 and ab8586 will be presented
23:29 jointly and I see that our human
23:31 services manager Monica negrela is
23:34 already up at the podium so let's start
23:41 thank you madam mayor good evening
23:43 council members this is Monica Human
23:46 Services nice to see you all tonight as
23:49 mayor noticed we are seeking City
23:51 council's authorization tonight to
23:54 approve a one-time funding allocation of
23:56 two hundred thousand dollars for
23:58 emergency rental assistance and we
24:01 propose to utilize uh the 0.1 percent
24:04 affordable housing sales tax revenue
24:06 funds for this purpose this is also
24:09 known as HB 1590.
24:12 so before I go into detail on how we
24:14 propose to allocate those funds I would
24:16 like to give you a brief background on
24:18 why are we here tonight and how did we
24:20 come up with the proposal in
24:24 collaboration with our non-profit
24:26 partners and one of whom you heard from
24:28 tonight we really identified a few
24:31 Trends in the post-pandemic era in our
24:34 community on one end we noticed that
24:37 needs continue to arise and we continue
24:40 to see those needs in particular one of
24:44 our affordable housing providers in
24:46 Issaquah Highlands the YWCA continues to
24:49 see 42 percent of their units with rent
24:52 with overdue rent
24:55 um we also noticed a few other Trends
24:57 reduce donations for our nonprofit
25:00 Partners this is not unique just to our
25:03 emergency financial assistance providers
25:05 or to Issaquah it's actually a
25:08 nationwide Trend uh due to the inflation
25:11 last year a lot of donors have stopped
25:14 providing donations or donations
25:16 decreased in amount
25:19 I mentioned inflation it's no news to
25:22 anyone last year was really really
25:23 difficult in June of last year we hit an
25:27 all-time 39-year high in inflation of
25:31 nine percent we ended the year with a
25:33 seven percent inflation this really had
25:35 an impact on affordability rent rent
25:38 increases and last but not least the
25:41 other trend is definitely at the end of
25:43 the moratorium rightfully so land
25:46 landlords had to readjust the market and
25:49 so we hear about rent increases anywhere
25:51 between three and twenty percent
25:54 so with that background and that's the
25:57 reason for us being here tonight we
26:00 mentioned that we would like to seek
26:01 your approval to allocate two hundred
26:04 thousand dollars we propose as you see
26:06 on the screen to
26:09 um to allocate those to three of our
26:12 local non-profit agencies the first two
26:15 would go to Issaquah community services
26:18 and Saint Vincent De Paul the Saint
26:19 Joseph Issaquah conference as our local
26:23 100 volunteer based non-profit providers
26:27 so 60 to ICS not 60. 60 000 to ICS forty
26:33 thousand dollars to Saint Joseph
26:35 Issaquah conference and we propose a
26:38 hundred thousand dollar direct
26:39 allocation to the YWCA in the Issaquah
26:43 Highlands this relates to create more
26:45 efficiencies rather than asking the
26:47 volunteer based organizations to process
26:50 one by one additional applications
26:54 we would just work directly with the
26:56 employer and make sure that the overdue
26:58 rent is being that the funds that we
27:01 provide will will go towards the
27:03 overrent overdue rent I'm sorry
27:06 um for those units in the highlands
27:09 before I move on from this screen I
27:12 would like to also highlight that if
27:14 Council
27:15 um decides to approve utilizing the
27:19 house bill 1590 the affordable housing
27:22 sales tax dollars there's a requirement
27:25 a stipulation that funds need to be used
27:28 for residents at or below 60 Ami area
27:32 medium income we checked in with the
27:34 organizations they have no problem
27:36 meeting that requirement in fact 90
27:39 percent of everyone that they serve is
27:42 at or below 50 percent of Ami so there
27:45 are no concerns on that
27:47 and and last but not least also you see
27:49 on this screen in Orange the Human
27:52 Services Grants allocations that the
27:54 organizations currently receive
27:57 um from from the city so just you see
28:00 where they're at and then in green what
28:02 we are proposing to add to their current
28:05 allocations
28:07 moving on next I'm gonna just start
28:10 briefly the conversation on the 0.1
28:13 percent affordable housing sales tax
28:15 revenue will go a little bit in detail
28:17 in just a few minutes but just as a
28:20 brief reminder city council adopted at
28:23 the end of 2020
28:25 um the ordinance through which
28:30 0.1 percent of the sales tax would go
28:33 towards the affordable housing program
28:37 um again based on state legislation up
28:41 to 40 percent of the revenues in that
28:43 fund could be used for operations and
28:46 services for Behavioral Health Services
28:48 and housing related services so this is
28:51 kind of like the the pot of money that
28:54 we we would use for this purpose
28:57 um a brief overview from 2021 and 2022
29:01 taxes we currently have a little bit
29:04 over 4.4 million dollars in that fund
29:07 and for 2023 we are forecasted to add
29:11 another 2.4 million dollars so it's a
29:14 pretty healthy fund and we'll talk a
29:16 little bit about that just in a few more
29:18 minutes
29:19 before though again I would love to give
29:22 you a little bit of background on the
29:24 feedback that we received from the Human
29:26 Services Commission and also from the
29:29 council committee on on this topic so
29:32 back in mid-February we went to the
29:33 Human Services Commission we saw their
29:36 input and we received great support from
29:39 the Human Services Commission to
29:40 increase funds and to their suggestion
29:45 was for staff to focus on
29:47 disproportionately impacted communities
29:49 prioritizing by Park population by
29:52 pockets in brown indigenous and people
29:54 of color
29:55 next week we went to the services safety
29:58 and Parks Council committee meeting and
30:01 there too the committee was supportive
30:03 of bringing this item forward to the
30:07 city regular city council meeting for
30:09 further discussion and elaboration
30:12 and we received a few other
30:14 recommendations and questions for which
30:17 we are going to provide answers in the
30:19 next few minutes I'm gonna highlight two
30:22 of those here one was to consider
30:24 increasing the funds to 250 000 and the
30:28 other one was to provide additional
30:30 information on the affordable housing
30:34 sales tax utilization
30:37 so I'm gonna go now in a little bit more
30:40 depth on this you have actually more
30:43 information in your staff report in the
30:45 presentation I just highlighted a few
30:48 numbers
30:49 um what you see on the screen is
30:51 actually thank you Susie Mansell our
30:54 finance manager for providing all this
30:56 great information
30:58 the the committee asked for a breakdown
31:01 between the operations and capital funds
31:04 so what you see on the screen a really
31:07 nice breakdown between those funds for
31:09 the actuals and also for the forecasted
31:11 numbers I want to highlight those here
31:14 and ask your permission as the
31:16 administration we would like to return
31:18 to city council to a committee of the
31:20 whole meeting in April and really dive
31:22 deeper into discussing the long-term
31:26 planning for these funds so tonight you
31:29 just receive a brief overview we are
31:31 happy to answer questions we also have
31:33 our Chief Financial Officer here if
31:35 needed however we would really love to
31:37 focus this conversation in more depth at
31:39 the future Council committee of the
31:42 whole meeting so currently tonight we
31:44 are proposing just a small expense to
31:46 meet the immediate needs and I would
31:49 also like to highlight that based on
31:51 Council discussion from last during the
31:54 last year's budget process we also have
31:58 allocated for this year's budget and for
32:01 next year funds to include the Motel 6
32:04 pilot project and also set aside money
32:07 for the staffing for the affordable
32:09 housing planner position those are
32:13 described in detail in your staff report
32:15 I don't have them pulled up on on the
32:17 screen here what I do have done on the
32:19 screen is really a fund balance that
32:23 includes the total revenues broken down
32:25 by operations and capital funds and also
32:29 should we consider the two hundred
32:32 thousand dollars tonight and the two
32:34 other
32:35 expenses that I just mentioned for Motel
32:37 6 and for the staffing we still have a
32:40 pretty healthy balance remaining of a
32:42 total of over seven point million 7.3
32:45 million dollars
32:48 so with that just a few more additional
32:51 responses to the feedback and questions
32:54 that we received from the council
32:56 committee meeting in February
32:58 and one of them you have seen perhaps in
33:01 your report a great response from the
33:03 city's attorney
33:04 on the question regarding there was a
33:09 question at the committee meeting on
33:11 whether we could use potentially as a
33:14 city all the funds towards capital
33:16 projects because you you have seen the
33:19 Bro the the legislation says that 60 can
33:23 be used for Capital and up to 40 could
33:26 be used for operations the question was
33:28 could be if we wanted could we use all
33:30 the money for Capital the short answer
33:32 is yes our City attorney is online if we
33:36 need further discussion again I would
33:39 recommend that we leave more detailed
33:42 conversation on this topic in particular
33:44 for the council committee meeting in
33:46 April but the short answer is yes there
33:48 are some caveats and exceptions but I'm
33:51 gonna stop there another question was
33:53 how many households that will receive
33:57 rental assistance through this program
33:59 will be families with school-aged
34:01 children we can safely say that anywhere
34:04 between 60 and 90 percent of of those
34:06 benefiting from the funds will be
34:09 families with children we base the
34:11 numbers based on actual 2022 numbers
34:13 received from Issaquah community
34:15 services and Saint Vincent De Paul and
34:18 from actual 2023 numbers current units
34:22 behind in rent at the YWCA
34:26 um then uh one of the the other
34:29 proposals and recommendations was to
34:31 consider increasing the funding
34:33 allocation to 250 000 and provide a list
34:36 of pros and cons
34:38 the administration would like to
34:41 um remain and propose the two hundred
34:43 thousand dollars that were originally
34:44 proposed for this fund
34:47 um and consider continue the discussion
34:50 once city council had a chance to really
34:53 plan for the long term
34:55 use of these funds in conversations
34:58 without our partners the two hundred
35:00 dollars will nicely supplement their
35:03 current needs and will leverage what
35:05 they exist and they have currently and
35:07 so as did as the administration we chose
35:10 to remain at the more conservative level
35:12 to allow city council to have the
35:15 long-term conversation
35:16 and last but not least we received a
35:19 suggestion to consider hiring a
35:20 consultant in the future to really
35:23 evaluate the impact of the Human
35:24 Services funds in the community and so
35:27 staff will take that into consideration
35:28 for a future strategic plan development
35:30 and we will consider hiring a consultant
35:34 so with that
35:37 next
35:38 the options in front of you council
35:40 members tonight are on one end to
35:43 approve the administration's
35:45 recommendation to allocate the two
35:48 hundred thousand dollars for rental
35:49 assistance utilizing the house bill 1519
35:53 funds the second option is you may
35:57 direct the administration to consider
35:59 funding at a different level or even
36:02 considered a different Revenue source
36:04 and then last you may decide to take no
36:07 action at this time
36:13 and to summarize the administration's
36:16 recommendation really is to
36:19 put in front of you the approval of a
36:21 one-time funding allocation of two
36:23 hundred thousand dollars utilizing the
36:25 sales tax revenue funds and
36:29 um having the three programs we
36:31 mentioned Issaquah Community Services
36:32 Saint Vincent De Paul and YWCA being the
36:36 three organizations that will distribute
36:38 These funds
36:39 should city council approve our
36:42 recommendation staff will proceed to
36:44 enter into contract agreements and we
36:46 expect that all funds will be
36:48 distributed in 2023
36:50 so this concludes my presentation you
36:53 have the recommendation on the screen
36:54 again and I'm available for questions
36:57 thank you Monica are there any questions
36:59 by council members before I hand it over
37:01 to committee chair Martz who might want
37:03 to provide some additional information
37:04 questions
37:08 not far by there straight to you council
37:10 member
37:11 thank you madam mayor so at that
37:13 February meeting
37:15 we asked basically
37:20 I'm trying to remember if it was um
37:21 there's a difference in in my notes I
37:23 remember if it was one of a result was
37:24 that all three of us or was it just one
37:27 okay uh no
37:31 um what's that it was all three of us
37:33 okay
37:34 um uh to look into this uh potential
37:37 amount of 250 000 we had identified the
37:40 idea of moving the YWCA YWCA amount from
37:44 100 000 to 125 000 the ICS amount from
37:48 forty thousand uh to
37:52 um sorry the ICS amount from 60 000 to
37:55 75 000 and the Saint Vincent De Paul
37:57 amount from 40 to 50. but I I had also
38:00 asked for a bunch of additional
38:03 information on basically the health of
38:06 the the 40 amount and the 60 amount and
38:10 some idea of what our plans were for
38:12 those amounts
38:14 um so
38:16 uh and then we asked about the potential
38:18 consultant and uh so some some of that
38:22 information is here this evening and
38:23 some of it sounds like the
38:24 administration would like to have uh at
38:26 a future time but that was the that was
38:28 the amount that the three of us uh
38:29 discussed thank you for that that's a
38:32 good summary um I just wanted to point
38:34 out that when the council has their
38:36 additional conversation in April there's
38:38 always the potential for us to bring
38:39 back you information on what this
38:42 Administration proposal has accomplished
38:44 and we would be able to see if the need
38:46 was greater than what was done so there
38:48 is opportunity this is considered to be
38:51 urgent and not necessarily regular
38:52 business but we definitely need some
38:54 more information and we can bring stuff
38:56 back in April as well if that's helpful
38:58 because you did ask for a lot of
39:00 information yeah sure did
39:03 uh we if we have questions great
39:06 otherwise let's go for a motion
39:07 questions yeah a quick question I just
39:10 wanted to hear the summary of the
39:11 committee meeting first do we know if
39:13 the county is still provided just out of
39:14 curiosity are they still providing
39:15 rental assistance dollars and are we
39:17 most of the most of the so thank you for
39:20 that question most of the support
39:21 services have been expanded at this time
39:25 um and yes from local Regional yeah
39:27 there are still those who have signed up
39:29 last year there might still be some that
39:32 they're Distributing but nothing new is
39:34 being
39:35 there are no new applications that
39:37 they're being processed right now okay
39:39 thank you
39:40 get more questions
39:43 emotion
39:48 sure uh I moved to authorize a one-time
39:52 funding allocation of two hundred
39:54 thousand dollars for emergency rental
39:56 assistance utilizing 0.1 percent
39:58 affordable housing sales tax funds to be
40:01 distributed by local emergency financial
40:03 assistance and housing support programs
40:05 as follows Issaquah Community Services
40:07 sixty thousand dollars Saint Vincent de
40:10 Paul St Joseph conference forty thousand
40:13 dollars and YWCA Issaquah Family Village
40:16 one hundred thousand dollars and direct
40:18 the Chief Financial Officer to include
40:20 the two hundred thousand dollar funding
40:21 allocation in a subsequent
40:24 2023-2024 budget amendment
40:27 second it's been moved and seconded and
40:29 I missed that council member D Michelle
40:31 had her hand up so before going to the
40:33 motion maker maybe we can see if she has
40:35 a question
40:37 uh no question I was going to second if
40:42 that is still really hard to do in a
40:45 hybrid meeting to catch that flow okay
40:48 um to the motion maker
40:49 uh thank you madam mayor so uh I I
40:53 certainly understand uh the argument
40:55 that this is an emergency action and um
40:59 given the the sort of inability to get a
41:02 holistic view of what we what our
41:04 long-term plans are for that 40 and that
41:07 60. I do understand the argument to do a
41:09 smaller amount right now I think that um
41:12 you know we have built up an
41:14 extraordinary reservoir of money and uh
41:17 but there's a number of things uh down
41:19 the road that we want to think about you
41:21 know I I mentioned uh uh you know
41:24 Fentanyl and some of the uh impacts in
41:26 our community of opiates and of course
41:29 there's a conversation about the uh
41:31 Opportunity Center associated with
41:33 Transit art and development and so I'm
41:35 eager to have all those conversations
41:37 and and I understand and and support the
41:40 administration's position that uh we
41:43 should start with this emergency amount
41:45 get it get it out the door get it out to
41:47 people and help them and perhaps revisit
41:49 this is part of the larger conversation
41:51 about the very large nest egg that has
41:54 developed thank you
41:56 any other comments uh councilmember Joe
41:59 thank you first I'd like to complement
42:03 the administration and um Monica and
42:06 negrilo for coming tonight and adding
42:08 color to this agenda bill
42:11 um I think it's great that we are giving
42:13 money to organizations that have been
42:15 long time Community pillars and those
42:18 organizations are giving money directly
42:20 to people that they have screened and
42:22 have a relationship with and those that
42:24 need funding right away so if we can
42:28 continue to keep that at the Forefront
42:30 as we look at all this funding and the
42:32 future whether it's with a consultant or
42:34 one of our Human Services people I think
42:37 keeping a focus on getting the money to
42:40 the people that really need it and that
42:42 we have a relationship and that are part
42:44 of our community here is very important
42:46 from my point of view
42:49 I think that the breakdown is is great I
42:54 would ask that we also kind of give some
42:56 thought to the homeless youth that we
42:59 have in our community though at the same
43:00 time the school administration School
43:03 District estimates that there are 95
43:05 homeless students in the district
43:09 I would venture to say that number is
43:10 probably a lot higher than that people
43:12 that are couch surfing or are in unsafe
43:17 situations in housing as well and
43:19 um the the people who are not housed in
43:23 our school district have to go to either
43:24 Kirkland or to Auburn or to Seattle and
43:28 we're a growing Community we're getting
43:29 bigger we have a wonderful population
43:32 that cares about what goes on here at
43:35 the same time we need to step up and be
43:37 cognizant of our responsibilities as a
43:39 community to all the members that live
43:41 here so I'm just a
43:44 Over the Horizon a goal or aspiration
43:47 that I have but I would just pass on to
43:49 the administration the human services
43:51 department as we go forward looking at
43:54 the holistic picture of how we're going
43:55 to use this funding in the future thank
43:58 you thank you councilmember Joe
44:00 councilmember Dean Michelle and then
44:01 council president
44:02 uh thank you mayor Paulie
44:06 uh well first of all I want to thank
44:10 um Monica and uh the team for putting
44:12 together a lot of information in a short
44:15 period of time and I still think that we
44:18 uh have some additional questions but I
44:21 do appreciate the information that was
44:23 assembled for tonight I had advocated
44:26 for the larger amount for the 250 000
44:30 based on my reading about the number of
44:34 young people who are
44:36 currently truant from schools or the
44:40 dropout rate in this country has also
44:42 been soaring and so my specific concern
44:45 was making sure that we targeted
44:48 families with children and made sure
44:52 that those children were able to
44:54 complete the school year because we're
44:56 we're only four months away from the end
44:58 of the school year and it would be
45:00 really tragic to have families evicted
45:03 and their children actually lose a year
45:06 of schooling uh because they couldn't
45:08 finish the school year but I feel like
45:10 the statistics that came back to us are
45:13 very helpful and it appears that a lot
45:17 of families will get help through this
45:20 uh process and I thoroughly agree with
45:24 the administration that we need to have
45:26 a plan for the 590 funds that is turning
45:32 into a large amount of money and I think
45:36 we need to stop and pause and figure out
45:38 exactly what we want to do with it and
45:40 there are many many excellent uses that
45:43 we could put that money to so I'm sure
45:45 it will be a really interesting
45:46 conversation
45:49 so in short I will support the motion
45:54 that's on the table tonight and I would
45:57 hope that when we have the
46:01 topic come back to us with a little bit
46:04 more meat around the uses of that fund
46:07 that we can also do kind of a check-in
46:10 make sure that we're meeting the needs
46:14 in our community and if we do need to
46:16 add to the 200 000 that we could do it
46:19 at that time but for now I am I am ready
46:23 to support the motion tonight thank you
46:26 council president
46:29 thank you
46:30 um I will take what I've heard from the
46:34 other council members just a step
46:36 further
46:38 um I am very eager to have this planning
46:40 conversation about how we use this large
46:45 amount of money what the highest and
46:48 best use of that is what the needs are
46:50 for our community and I have to say I'm
46:54 a little bit frustrated that this is
46:56 coming back to us knowing that one that
46:58 conversation is supposed to happen next
47:01 month and two that this isn't the first
47:04 time that we've said okay we understand
47:07 there's an urgent need but we really
47:09 want to make sure that we're having a
47:12 conversation about planning so that we
47:14 are utilizing those funds to the best of
47:17 our abilities so I will Express a little
47:20 bit of frustration absolutely appreciate
47:23 that the information is getting to us
47:25 about the need appreciate that we have
47:28 great organ organizations in our
47:30 community that are able to have those
47:33 relationships but I really want to have
47:36 those conversations about our homeless
47:38 youth about what whether building and
47:43 utilizing one of maybe our city-owned
47:46 properties to build something versus a
47:49 temporary short fix of rental assistance
47:52 is the best use and so I come at this
47:55 with a little bit of frustration that
47:57 being said it's two hundred thousand
47:59 dollars for a very urgent needed I will
48:02 support it and I'm very much looking
48:04 forward to that future conversation
48:05 councilman Brad
48:08 um thank you well I want I was
48:11 interested in hearing the perspective of
48:13 the committee I do think rent can rent
48:16 assistance will be a part of the future
48:18 need as well we clearly are not
48:21 addressing that whole need and in fact
48:23 as was presented today a hundred
48:26 thousand dollars was the difference
48:28 between last year's budget for ICS and
48:31 and this just based on people donating
48:33 less so I think we are um
48:36 nowhere near addressing the need I
48:39 realize this addresses some of it but I
48:41 would I will look forward to having more
48:43 conversations about that rental
48:44 assistance because it seems that the
48:46 committee that did the Deep dive on this
48:48 I would like to respect their work seems
48:50 every every Committee Member is
48:52 comfortable with this recommendation at
48:54 this time thank you any other comments
48:59 okay if there's no further discussion
49:01 the motion before council is to
49:03 authorize a one-time funding allocation
49:04 of two hundred thousand dollars for
49:06 emergency rental assistance utilizing
49:09 0.1 percent affordable housing sales tax
49:11 funds to be distributed by local
49:13 emergency financial assistance and
49:16 housing support programs as follows
49:18 issqua Community Services sixty thousand
49:21 dollars St Vincent de Paul St Joseph
49:22 conference forty thousand dollars and
49:25 YWCA Issaquah Family Village a hundred
49:27 thousand dollars and to direct the Chief
49:30 Financial Officer to include the two
49:31 hundred thousand dollar funding
49:32 allocation in a subsequent
49:35 2023-2024 budget amendment all those in
49:38 favor signify by saying aye
49:41 aye
49:44 those opposed
49:47 that's great that passes unanimously 7-0
49:50 and the next item of business tonight
49:51 thank you Monica is
49:54 ab8549 2022 budget reauthorizations and
49:58 ab8586 the first 2023 budget amendment
50:02 and
50:03 ab8549 and 8586 will be presented
50:06 jointly and I'd like to invite our CFO
50:08 Robert hamoud to present this item hi
50:10 Robert
50:12 okay
50:13 thank you mayor good evening
50:16 Council so we just have a brief slide
50:19 presentation to summarize
50:22 the information that's in the packet in
50:24 front of you this evening
50:28 next slide sorry
50:33 so tonight again we're requesting the
50:35 city council to reauthorize certain
50:37 funds previously budgeted in 2023 for
50:40 expenditure in the 2023 and 24 budget
50:43 cycle
50:45 and the request is to adopt the proposed
50:47 ordinance amending the
50:49 2023-24 adopted budget
50:51 next slide
50:55 so the 2022 reauthorizations it's an
50:58 annual housekeeping manner
51:01 the budget reauthorization reallocates
51:03 unspent funding Authority for an
51:04 unfinished project into the next fiscal
51:06 year to allow completion of the project
51:10 new this year is the biennial budget so
51:12 what that means is there will not be a
51:14 2023 reauthorization because we're going
51:16 into the first
51:18 biennial budget cycle for the city
51:22 and so there's four rationale buckets
51:26 that are hypothetical here for the
51:28 reauthorizations one is the staff
51:30 capacity a lot of the projects as you
51:33 know we were starting the construction
51:34 season staff capacity was a concern so
51:37 it did delay some of the projects but a
51:39 lot of that has been alleviated so we do
51:41 have a spending plan for those
51:43 reauthorization
51:45 items and projects as well this for the
51:49 2023-24
51:51 number two is a supply chain delays they
51:53 are improving but they're still
51:54 continuing so that they delay some of
51:56 our projects
51:57 three are external delays so this is
51:59 anything from the timing of a contract
52:03 any external pressures grant funding
52:06 other items federal agencies state
52:09 agency authorizations those delays also
52:12 factor into some of the reauthorization
52:14 requests and then for just simply
52:17 multi-year projects where we do have
52:18 several CIP projects for example that
52:21 transcend fiscal years
52:27 and so the reauthorization summary you
52:30 can see the the total on the expenditure
52:33 side is approximately 26.4 million total
52:37 revenues 8.1 million again this is all
52:40 funds in the city
52:42 but again uh some of these projects
52:45 again were carried over year over year
52:47 as part of a routine and some of these
52:49 were active projects so they were
52:51 already anticipated to have a
52:53 reauthorization for the multi-year
52:54 projects
52:55 and um next slide any questions on this
52:59 slide so far
53:04 so the first
53:06 2023-24 budget amendment that you're
53:08 also considering tonight will have the
53:10 previously approved request by Council
53:12 five of them one budget correction and
53:15 seven budget adjustments
53:20 it's at the budget amendment summary on
53:23 the revenue side
53:24 8.998 million across all funds 7.64 in
53:29 expenditures so about a 2 million or 2.1
53:32 million dollar increase in the budget
53:34 amendment summary and again this is for
53:36 a two-year period not a one-year period
53:41 in any questions
53:45 seeing Andy Robert
53:53 back to mine script you are at the end
53:56 of your presentation yes that's all
53:58 thanks uh Council questions and if no
54:02 questions is somebody prepared to make a
54:04 motion
54:05 it's a president
54:07 um questions I'm trying to find my
54:10 information because I wasn't expecting
54:12 it to go that quick at this point so
54:15 with the budget amendments uh uh let's
54:21 see
54:22 can you talk me through the budget
54:25 amendments on the arpa project how each
54:30 of the expenditures are coming through
54:32 and
54:34 what they're pulling from
54:38 yes I can I believe it's I'm just making
54:40 sure I got the right page here
54:43 it should be
54:46 is this a budget adjustment number 10
54:51 page 273 of your past thank you
54:55 so just to summarize here
54:59 I just briefly read the description
55:01 maybe a48a approved the allocation of 4
55:03 million of arpa dollars to two Capital
55:05 Park Improvement projects Confluence
55:08 Park and Veterans Memorial Field
55:10 pedestrian Park in addition to these
55:12 funds the administration proposes
55:14 shifting to other Parks capital projects
55:17 to appropriate adequate funding
55:19 to ensure the completion within the time
55:21 frame for the arpa funds so again what
55:24 this adjustment is doing the intention
55:26 of it is to make sure that we are
55:28 shifting the arpa dollars to make sure
55:30 that we're spending that money by the
55:32 2024 deadline for the affordable or for
55:36 the American Rescue plan act funding
55:38 and so that's what the the allocations
55:41 are on the site as well
55:45 um and some of the other
55:47 detail on that the Tippets Valley Park
55:49 had 427 000 budgeted 357 350 000 was for
55:53 the park impact fees 77
55:57 000 was from Reed so I think that was
55:58 answering your question the amendment
56:00 reappropriates the 427 000 of unspent
56:03 funds
56:04 and again shifts 376 000 to PK 41 50 000
56:09 to PK 10.
56:11 and we also have the Creek Quarter had
56:13 the 200 000 of refunds budgeted so again
56:15 that that was an arpa it was refunds and
56:18 that amendment reappropriates that 200
56:20 000 of unspent funds from the creek
56:22 Corridor interests them to the capital
56:25 project 41.
56:27 quite the puzzle and then I have kind of
56:30 a follow-up on that and I see Jeff has
56:32 uh come up on the screen so I'll key in
56:36 my question for you on that
56:38 um the creek Corridor I from my
56:40 understanding Creek Corridor is an
56:43 acquisition project but this talks about
56:46 it as a design project can you talk me
56:50 through what that 200 000 is and whether
56:54 that would impact the money that would
56:57 go into an acquisition fund
57:00 absolutely thanks for the question I'll
57:03 answer that one directly and then maybe
57:05 I can also give some some context to
57:07 Robert's overview but to your question
57:09 first uh this is not an acquisition
57:12 project uh PK 45 the creek Corridor is a
57:18 continuation of it is a planning and
57:21 eventually a construction project that's
57:23 a continuation of some of the the
57:25 community engagement work we did before
57:27 the pandemic
57:29 the acquisition budget which is PK or
57:32 fund which is PK 12 Valley Creekside
57:35 Valley and Creekside Acquisitions
57:37 remains whole
57:39 so what you have before you tonight is a
57:42 proposal that doesn't touch or impact
57:45 the ability that we have to act on
57:49 strategic Acquisitions uh that that
57:52 might support the creek Corridor
57:54 these are planning dollars that just to
57:58 give some additional context to Robert's
58:00 feedback to you all you might recall the
58:03 conversations we had last summer in Fall
58:05 with these Opera projects where even
58:08 even as we are identifying potential
58:10 projects U.S Council stated your real
58:13 your goal to to find a way to make sure
58:15 the arpa funds paid for construction and
58:18 not design and so you may recall we
58:21 talked about strategically at that time
58:23 we might need to bundle design dollars
58:26 we already have in a capital budget to
58:29 fund the design of this Opera work
58:32 or the projects that we decide upon so
58:35 that the federal arpa funds could go
58:37 towards construction what you have have
58:39 before you deny it is a budget
58:41 adjustment that follows through on that
58:43 commitment it doesn't mean Tibbetts
58:45 Valley Park nor the creek Corridor are
58:47 no longer priorities those remain super
58:50 high priorities but this was just a way
58:52 of of taking existing design dollars
58:56 have these fund the design contract you
58:59 approved a couple months ago for The
59:02 Pedestrian Park Senior Center Plaza and
59:05 neck housework so that that those arpa
59:09 funds again could go towards
59:11 construction and not the soft costs of
59:13 design
59:15 additional questions
59:20 and Barb does not have her hand up
59:22 either
59:24 okay is anyone prepared oh Deputy
59:27 council president thank you and just
59:29 quickly to clarify this I mean it's not
59:31 to say that now we're going to spend 200
59:34 000 Less on Creek Tour all right that
59:36 will be backfilled eventually with other
59:38 dollars is that correct
59:41 yeah that would be the goal right you
59:43 will have the the 2024 through 2029
59:45 six-year CIP before you here in a couple
59:48 months uh we also are going to be doing
59:50 pretty extensive Community engagement
59:51 around the park strategic Plan update uh
59:54 this summer that's going to be before
59:55 you in 2024 I know both the green
59:58 necklace as as a council priority and a
1:00:00 community priority as well as the creek
1:00:03 Corridor this Seven Mile North South
1:00:06 spine all the way through town will
1:00:09 remain Community priorities and and
1:00:11 probably be spoken to in both that CIP
1:00:13 and that Park strategic plan
1:00:20 check for more questions I see council
1:00:22 member hunt do you need to speak before
1:00:24 do you want to print some information
1:00:25 out let's go to councilmember hunt
1:00:29 thank you so the creek Corridor project
1:00:32 in the
1:00:33 2022-2027 CIP it has the two hundred
1:00:36 thousand dollars spent in 2022 which is
1:00:40 behind us now then it has
1:00:43 um a hundred thousand in 2024 for design
1:00:47 but it also gets into Construction in
1:00:49 2024. and
1:00:51 um I am wondering and this is the
1:00:54 multi-phase project that would create
1:00:56 the series of parks trails and green
1:00:57 spaces that would stretch from like
1:00:58 Sammamish to the southern edge of the
1:01:00 city at squawk Valley Park so I'm
1:01:02 wondering since we already are past 2022
1:01:05 and we're talking about using that
1:01:07 funding for something else
1:01:09 how does this impact that timeline and
1:01:12 also shouldn't this conversation
1:01:13 probably be in the CIP
1:01:16 um that's I it seems like a CIP
1:01:18 conversation but since we're here I'm
1:01:20 wondering how it affects the timeline
1:01:21 thanks and I'll uh go to City
1:01:24 administrator Bob kowitz but first just
1:01:26 want to remind the council that the arpa
1:01:28 projects were being discussed at the
1:01:30 same time as the budget last year and we
1:01:33 only have so many bodies so sometimes we
1:01:35 can we have to shift things around just
1:01:36 to support the work that we can do state
1:01:38 administrator
1:01:40 uh thank you Madame members of the
1:01:42 council uh I'll let Jeff uh you know
1:01:44 pick up on on on this point but I wanted
1:01:47 to just remind the Council of the
1:01:49 discussion we did have during the budget
1:01:51 deliberations where the administration I
1:01:53 think made it very clear that we were
1:01:55 uncomfortable with the resources that we
1:01:56 had not only to work on the the green
1:01:59 necklace and the and the creek Corridor
1:02:01 but a lot of other projects and so we
1:02:03 asked the council to add a capital uh
1:02:06 projects manager for Parks and
1:02:08 Recreation uh which you were kind enough
1:02:11 to do our challenge has been hiring the
1:02:13 position and so we went through a
1:02:15 recruitment process that failed
1:02:17 um just in the last month we are trying
1:02:20 to sort through next steps for that so I
1:02:24 think as much as having dollars
1:02:26 allocated we need people resources too
1:02:29 even to go through the process of
1:02:32 Contracting for additional work right
1:02:34 now it is Jeff and one additional staff
1:02:37 person to do all of our Park projects
1:02:40 work and so by adding this additional
1:02:42 staff person I think that gives us a
1:02:43 little bit more leverage we heard the
1:02:45 council out and clear we agree with you
1:02:47 uh but I think as the mayor said
1:02:50 um there's only so much money and
1:02:51 there's only so much time and the
1:02:53 council's discussion regarding the arpa
1:02:55 project was that that was a priority to
1:02:57 get out the door given the uh or federal
1:02:59 requirements on that funding so Jeff I
1:03:01 don't if you want to elaborate anymore
1:03:03 on on resources and focus go right ahead
1:03:08 now thank you to the administrator
1:03:10 bachowitz really appreciate that that
1:03:12 overview
1:03:13 um very very real I think to your
1:03:15 question too council member Honda is a
1:03:16 really good one you know when that CIP
1:03:19 the 2022 CIP was being created in 2021
1:03:22 we were still in a pandemic uh we were
1:03:26 hoping to be able to launch into the
1:03:28 really really important visioning work
1:03:30 and Community engagement work uh for the
1:03:33 creek Corridor that didn't happen we
1:03:35 made a conscious decision not to really
1:03:37 try and engage in that kind of public
1:03:39 engagement work during the pandemic
1:03:41 um and then to the city administrator's
1:03:44 Point as we started crafting the budget
1:03:47 and priorities with with you last year
1:03:50 it was pretty clear that completing
1:03:54 capital projects that were already in
1:03:56 design was the priority for 23 and 24
1:03:58 budget and we wanted to stay true to
1:04:00 that so even along with the completing
1:04:03 this arpa investment really is a first
1:04:06 phase of
1:04:09 um our our Old Town Parks we also have
1:04:12 on our work plan completion of Hillside
1:04:14 Park have completion of our first dog
1:04:18 um have
1:04:20 um completion of uh the eckhouse project
1:04:24 um have the start Park strategic plan
1:04:27 updates
1:04:28 um I could keep going down the list but
1:04:29 just to say that we we have a pretty
1:04:31 full dance card
1:04:34 um so I you know as
1:04:36 the CIP conversation here in a couple
1:04:39 months I think we'll continue to show
1:04:41 that that Creek pre-corridor visiting as
1:04:44 well as Tibbetts Valley Park visioning
1:04:45 which would which also has design
1:04:48 funding proposed to go to the Opera
1:04:50 project both of those remain really
1:04:53 really high priorities and and we
1:04:54 certainly hope
1:04:56 um with Staffing Resources that thank
1:04:58 you you've been able to to provide us
1:05:00 with we're able to continue to move
1:05:03 forward on on all of these
1:05:05 um important efforts both planning
1:05:07 efforts acquisition after and and
1:05:09 development efforts
1:05:11 additional questions
1:05:14 not seeing additional questions Barb has
1:05:16 not cut her hand up would someone care
1:05:18 to make a motion
1:05:22 council president
1:05:24 um I moved to adopt ordinance number
1:05:26 3009.
1:05:29 reauthorizing remaining 2022 funds for
1:05:33 certain projects and amending the
1:05:35 2023-2024 budget as set forth in
1:05:39 ordinance number 2994 concerning
1:05:42 revenues expenditures and fund balance
1:05:44 for various funds
1:05:47 second it's been moved and seconded is
1:05:49 there any Council discussion
1:05:56 councilmember hunt thank you well there
1:05:58 is a lot of material here and I think it
1:06:02 is well explained I think the each
1:06:06 budget item has information about it so
1:06:07 I appreciated that of all of that
1:06:10 information of the millions of dollars
1:06:13 here the one thing that doesn't make
1:06:16 sense to me is this Creek corridor
1:06:19 project having the design funds
1:06:22 reallocated to the arpa project and so I
1:06:26 have two reasons I think it doesn't
1:06:29 makes sense for me one is I don't my
1:06:34 intent when we had those conversations
1:06:36 about arpa which is true they were
1:06:38 fast-paced conversations and we may not
1:06:40 have been able to cover
1:06:43 um everything and so now we're we're
1:06:45 continuing to make sure that we're
1:06:47 crossing all the t's and dotting all the
1:06:49 eyes and I understand that I think from
1:06:51 my intent to clarify that which I think
1:06:53 is important at this point
1:06:55 I wanted to make sure that we had
1:06:57 projects that we
1:06:59 were able to do the construction on with
1:07:02 the arpa funds and have a place for
1:07:04 people to go to at the end so they knew
1:07:06 this project was done and they could
1:07:08 enjoy it and it was it was
1:07:11 um a public benefit that was a tangible
1:07:15 benefit at the end which meant that
1:07:17 construction had to be part of that
1:07:19 funding and completed with that and that
1:07:23 is I think what my intent was in in
1:07:25 comments that I made that we wouldn't
1:07:28 that I don't think we would be as well
1:07:31 served if we had a really great design
1:07:33 at the end using the arpa funds a really
1:07:37 great design for a project and then we
1:07:39 needed to go have funding additional
1:07:42 funding to support it I wanted instead
1:07:44 to make sure that we had funds that
1:07:46 covered the improvements and they got
1:07:47 done so that wasn't to say at least for
1:07:50 me and I would be very interested to
1:07:52 hear my colleagues but I that wasn't to
1:07:54 say for me that I thought zero dollars
1:07:57 would go to design or to planning or to
1:08:01 other I'm sure the many other
1:08:03 aspects that need to go into these very
1:08:06 complicated infrastructure projects so
1:08:09 this is two hundred thousand dollars
1:08:10 it's not
1:08:11 um it is within the scope of this entire
1:08:15 budget amendment and even within the
1:08:16 scope of the arpa project it is a
1:08:20 relatively small percentage but for the
1:08:22 Creek Quarter project it's the design
1:08:24 and planning for that project and like I
1:08:26 said this is the project that connects
1:08:28 Lake Sammamish all the way down to the
1:08:30 South edge of the city so I think it's
1:08:32 very important I think if we want to
1:08:34 talk about re-prioritizing or moving
1:08:35 timelines and I understand about the
1:08:37 dance card I think the dance card is a
1:08:40 very important conversation but it
1:08:41 really feels like a CIP conversation to
1:08:44 so I think um
1:08:47 I think I wanted to clarify that because
1:08:49 I don't actually my intent wasn't
1:08:51 actually aligns with the way the uh
1:08:55 the way the answer was characterized as
1:08:56 far as not using any of the funding for
1:08:59 design
1:09:00 we're using it all for construction
1:09:03 and then for arpa and then the other
1:09:06 thing is uh
1:09:08 with the timeline I don't think that we
1:09:12 I don't feel comfortable assuming that
1:09:15 the funding is decoupled from the timing
1:09:18 timeline and the planning I think we
1:09:20 should have a conversation
1:09:22 about funding as well as about resource
1:09:24 allocation and I think that should be a
1:09:27 conversation but for now I'm not
1:09:30 comfortable moving this money out of a
1:09:33 really important project that Council
1:09:34 has identified is really important and I
1:09:36 would like to make sure that we have the
1:09:38 funding there going into the next
1:09:40 conversations about how to make sure
1:09:42 that we can make progress on it so um
1:09:44 with all that said and like I said
1:09:46 everything else I uh I appreciate the
1:09:49 information and I agree to but I would
1:09:50 like to make an amendment I move to
1:09:53 amends the ordinance Exhibit C budget
1:09:56 adjustment descriptions budget
1:09:57 adjustment 10 to not shift unspent two
1:10:00 thousand two hundred thousand dollars of
1:10:03 planning design funding within the creek
1:10:05 Corridor project
1:10:06 pko45 to pko 41. and to instead
1:10:10 reauthorize those funds for the creek
1:10:11 Corridor project for 2023.
1:10:15 we had a clarification
1:10:17 that would not provide enough money for
1:10:21 the arpa project so can your
1:10:24 recommendation include where the 200 000
1:10:26 can come from
1:10:27 uh I have a motion here to do one thing
1:10:31 I do think I imagine that there will be
1:10:33 additional funding needed for the arpa
1:10:35 project and so I would request a
1:10:37 different funding be
1:10:39 um be identified by the administration
1:10:42 I went through I had a conversation with
1:10:46 director Watling earlier today it's
1:10:48 difficult from Council side to look
1:10:51 through where there are funds that are
1:10:52 unspent and try to crosswalk it against
1:10:55 the CIP because the CIP says new
1:10:57 requests so I attempted that but I think
1:11:00 probably much better to have if council
1:11:03 is interested which
1:11:05 just a second clarifying question if we
1:11:08 don't have the Staffing to do the Creek
1:11:11 Court or planning this year you still
1:11:13 want the funds to remain in
1:11:16 allocated I I think that that to me is
1:11:19 is a CIP conversation about
1:11:22 planning and resourcing that's my
1:11:25 opinion do we have a second
1:11:28 second
1:11:29 conversation
1:11:32 council president
1:11:34 thank you um yeah I I really appreciate
1:11:38 all of the detailed information in this
1:11:41 um in the entire information this was
1:11:45 the one thing that kind of stood out to
1:11:47 me that said well wait a second that's
1:11:49 making a decision about a project that
1:11:53 we included in the CIP
1:11:57 this isn't just
1:12:00 a moving money from one year to the
1:12:04 other it feels like it's a decision
1:12:07 about a project and
1:12:10 um somehow downgrading a project by
1:12:12 removing the money for it I appreciate
1:12:15 the information that there are Staffing
1:12:18 challenges there are resource challenges
1:12:21 um but I don't think that a budget
1:12:23 reauthorization and amendment is a time
1:12:26 to have that type of conversation
1:12:30 I would be open to having that and
1:12:33 understanding well where are our
1:12:35 priorities according to what the
1:12:37 resources we do have from both the
1:12:39 funding and the Staffing standpoint but
1:12:42 at this point I would much rather the
1:12:44 two hundred thousand dollars come out of
1:12:47 a capital fund or a general fund or
1:12:49 whatever that is rather than making a
1:12:53 decision to
1:12:55 basically defund the planning portion of
1:12:58 the Creek Court checked so that would be
1:13:01 my preference and I will be supporting
1:13:03 the amendment other comments
1:13:06 Council Marie
1:13:07 actually it's not a common it's a
1:13:09 question and and the question is
1:13:12 um there's a lot of moving Parts here
1:13:14 what's the implication of this I mean
1:13:16 um it sounds very interesting and I
1:13:18 agree with the council president it
1:13:20 seems like an odd place but I don't
1:13:21 understand if we do this what it means
1:13:23 to you what it means to get work done
1:13:25 because it's all about getting work done
1:13:26 right
1:13:27 so here's our best take on that if this
1:13:32 motion passes then the arpa project is
1:13:34 two hundred thousand dollars in arrears
1:13:36 uh and we are not we do not have a
1:13:39 substitute for that uh if the motion
1:13:41 passes I guess we will have to go and
1:13:43 look for 200 000 to take away from
1:13:45 another project and we would come back
1:13:47 to you
1:13:48 um the project is pretty quick and again
1:13:51 I think it's important as you there's
1:13:52 been discussion about budgeting uh the
1:13:54 council passed a budget uh for fiscal 23
1:13:57 that did not have this funding in it and
1:13:59 so from the administration's perspective
1:14:01 we've already had this discussion with
1:14:03 you and the money was not included in
1:14:05 the budget so now there's a request to
1:14:07 put it back in the budget using the
1:14:09 carryover we do not believe we have the
1:14:11 resources to work on this project during
1:14:14 23. uh we hope that at some point we'll
1:14:16 be able to fulfill this position and so
1:14:19 perhaps that work could happen in 24. so
1:14:23 um again if the promotion passes our
1:14:26 first priority is we have a consultant
1:14:27 working today we need to pay those bills
1:14:29 we'll need to come back to you with
1:14:30 those those dollars
1:14:32 um so that would be the first priority
1:14:34 but we really as I think Jeff did a
1:14:38 great job of explaining there's a lot of
1:14:40 things on our dance card a dance card
1:14:41 that the city council approved when you
1:14:43 adopted the fiscal 23 budget
1:14:46 um we want to do we want to do
1:14:47 everything we truly do but we also feel
1:14:50 an obligation to be honest with you with
1:14:52 resources
1:14:54 foreign I'll come back to you Council
1:14:56 memberhead I just want to make a little
1:14:58 quicker yeah quick around the room any
1:14:59 other questions
1:15:02 a comment okay well let's go to the
1:15:05 question then uh councilmember hunt
1:15:07 question and then we'll do comments
1:15:10 um so this I I had my questions about
1:15:13 this today
1:15:15 this is a budget amendment
1:15:17 so why would this be a required budget
1:15:20 amendment if it was already approved
1:15:24 it's the carryover from the fiscal year
1:15:26 so again we had projects that carried
1:15:28 over year over year 22 ended so we're
1:15:31 asking to reauthorize reauthorize these
1:15:33 projects as far as our budget Authority
1:15:34 for the 2324 biennial budget year will
1:15:37 you take a second explain the difference
1:15:39 between a reauthorization versus an
1:15:41 amendment
1:15:42 sure the reauthorization is a list of
1:15:46 items that you're carrying over year to
1:15:48 year the amendment's actually funding
1:15:50 those items so you have the list of
1:15:52 items you're identifying you're saying
1:15:53 these items these projects are carrying
1:15:55 over year over year the amendment is any
1:15:57 adjustment to the current appropriation
1:15:59 to accommodate those items so again
1:16:02 unspent funding from the last year you
1:16:04 could have a
1:16:06 an adjustment that says we're still
1:16:08 working on this project but it's going
1:16:09 to be within the current fiscal year
1:16:11 funding the appropriation takes care of
1:16:13 anything that's above and beyond what
1:16:15 was already appropriated in 2324 meaning
1:16:17 the unspent money reprogramming that
1:16:19 unspend money for the current fiscal
1:16:21 year so let me say it back to you in the
1:16:23 2324 budget there was not a line item
1:16:26 for two hundred thousand dollars for
1:16:28 this project in 22 there was it was
1:16:30 unspent what you're asking to do is
1:16:32 reauthorize it towards a different
1:16:34 project yes for the entire project
1:16:36 budget yes
1:16:38 more questions more questions and if not
1:16:40 we'll go to comments look at Chris's
1:16:44 did that not make sense either
1:16:47 go ahead ask a question
1:16:49 no no I I think it makes sense I just
1:16:52 don't know what to do with it
1:16:56 any more questions otherwise councilman
1:16:58 Mertz wants me to comment
1:17:01 looks like you're up
1:17:03 so the the thing at the heart of this
1:17:06 for me I I don't really know what to do
1:17:09 with this this evening it kind of feels
1:17:11 to me like maybe I just missed it that
1:17:13 it wasn't that the Creekside stuff
1:17:16 wasn't in the 2023 budget I mean I think
1:17:19 at some point we need to have a really
1:17:21 strategic conversation about what's at
1:17:24 the heart of our Parks plan I always
1:17:26 thought it was the creek and Confluence
1:17:28 Park those are the two pieces that are
1:17:31 at the very very heart of what we have
1:17:35 going on Parks wise in our city and if
1:17:37 we've gotten distracted from that by
1:17:40 arpa dollars and conversation about what
1:17:43 we could or couldn't do in certain other
1:17:46 Parks I think I've been consistent in
1:17:48 saying that I want to focus on the spine
1:17:50 of the parks which is Creekside and and
1:17:54 or I mean the the creek Corridor and uh
1:17:58 Confluence Park so I don't really know
1:18:00 what to do today because this is an odd
1:18:03 top topic other than maybe correct or
1:18:05 wrong and that I should have seen this
1:18:08 not in the 2023 budget because I just I
1:18:10 want us to make progress we have we we
1:18:13 do things on the creek Corridor we may
1:18:15 we have made some progress but we're
1:18:18 still not we've done we identified this
1:18:20 a long time ago uh both this and the
1:18:23 central the centrality of Confluence
1:18:26 Park and neither have had the progress
1:18:28 that that I would love to see with
1:18:30 distractions and other other Park areas
1:18:32 so I like I said I don't know what to do
1:18:34 today other than highlight I think that
1:18:36 at the heart of this whole conversation
1:18:38 is really needing to have a check
1:18:41 sometime after today on where we're
1:18:44 focusing our Park efforts and are we
1:18:46 putting it where our our major strategic
1:18:49 plans have said we should be focusing
1:18:51 thank you any other comments
1:18:55 a deputy council president well and just
1:18:57 real briefly that sounds like a
1:18:58 fantastic conversation during the CIP
1:19:01 process to tee up for Council to kind of
1:19:03 have that structured conversation about
1:19:04 parks in general
1:19:06 um and for that reason I think I'm I
1:19:08 think I'm I love the intent of the
1:19:11 amendment and would love to get behind
1:19:13 it but I think I'm more convinced by
1:19:14 just the reality of us not having the
1:19:15 staff capacity to get it done that's a
1:19:18 problem in and of itself that that we
1:19:19 should just have a discussion with
1:19:21 during the CIP so I won't be supporting
1:19:23 the amendment tonight this reminds me a
1:19:25 lot of a conversation we recently had at
1:19:27 the mobility and infrastructure
1:19:28 committee too which is just given all of
1:19:31 these rationale buckets essentially that
1:19:34 we have for reauthorizations or or just
1:19:37 not being able to do work like staff
1:19:39 capacity or supply chain issues and
1:19:41 stuff like that that we need to kind of
1:19:43 have a more grounded conversation as a
1:19:45 council of what we can actually
1:19:47 accomplish given the resources that we
1:19:49 have whether they be staff or people
1:19:51 resources or money resources and that's
1:19:54 a tough one because I think we're pretty
1:19:56 lofty Council and wanting to get things
1:19:58 done to get you know better outcomes for
1:20:01 the future here in Issaquah but we only
1:20:04 have so much that we can do in each area
1:20:06 I mean even in the consent agenda
1:20:10 earlier today was talking about some of
1:20:12 the great progress that we've been
1:20:13 making in equity in the equity framework
1:20:15 there are so many different hats that we
1:20:17 wear as a city and some new ones
1:20:19 affordable housing we haven't really had
1:20:21 that conversation about what is our role
1:20:23 with those dollars so this is a tough
1:20:26 conversation I'll be not the first to
1:20:28 admit that but for that reason I won't
1:20:30 be supporting the amendment tonight but
1:20:32 do support having that conversation and
1:20:34 potentially writing a wrong if there is
1:20:37 one during the CIP discussion thanks any
1:20:40 additional comments or questions
1:20:44 um I'm seeing none so we'll go to Wally
1:20:46 thank you I'd like to ask Jeff to come
1:20:49 back on uh and talk about two points one
1:20:52 is the council's funded process for the
1:20:56 park master plan uh reluct in that
1:20:59 process that is currently underway and
1:21:02 then anything else you want to talk
1:21:03 about as far as what our recent
1:21:05 Investments have been in the Creek
1:21:06 Quarter
1:21:09 sure thanks for that I really appreciate
1:21:11 hearing Council discussion on this and
1:21:13 sorry get emotional uh no just I've my
1:21:17 voice
1:21:20 really the priority that is the the
1:21:23 creek Corridor I I want to point out one
1:21:25 thing that you know as as the park board
1:21:29 as we discussed with you and looked at
1:21:32 where we make these potential arpa
1:21:34 Investments I just want to point out
1:21:36 that both the conglomeration of parks in
1:21:40 Old Town that make up pedestrian Park
1:21:42 and the senior center and that is a
1:21:44 pearl on the necklace of the creek
1:21:45 Corridor Confluence Park and that
1:21:48 investment is also a pearl on the
1:21:50 necklace of the creek Corridor so I I
1:21:52 just I want to give you credit and
1:21:55 applaud you that even these arpa
1:21:57 projects are investments that are going
1:22:00 to be long benefiting
1:22:03 um this Creek Corridor in the planning
1:22:05 effort
1:22:07 and that comes really from the community
1:22:09 engagement we did last summer as we
1:22:11 started to pour over maps with residents
1:22:13 and said what is this spine what is this
1:22:15 Northwest or north-south spine that is
1:22:18 the creek Corridor and there's an
1:22:19 understanding that the Rainier Trail as
1:22:21 part of that and these parks in Old Town
1:22:24 are very much part of it I think as we
1:22:26 continue the engagement now with this
1:22:28 summer for the park strategic Plan
1:22:30 update
1:22:31 as I said earlier I think tightening the
1:22:35 vision for the green necklace beginning
1:22:37 to really coalesce the vision for the
1:22:40 creek Corridor begin to do some trail
1:22:43 planning and prioritize where those key
1:22:45 gaps are that works just gonna we're
1:22:47 gonna get that much more
1:22:49 detailed into that work so a little bit
1:22:53 more context there but really appreciate
1:22:55 your just support of the creek Corridor
1:22:57 as a high priority it remains a high
1:23:00 priority for administration too thanks
1:23:02 councilmember Ray
1:23:05 oh thanks this is really hard I mean
1:23:07 it's really hard for me to wrap my brain
1:23:09 around it so I'm I've got a couple
1:23:10 points I want to make one is it's weird
1:23:13 to do a budget adjustment and be moving
1:23:15 dollars not from like to light year over
1:23:17 year so I get that but it also leaves us
1:23:20 in a jam because if we don't do it then
1:23:23 we've got some unfunded work that we
1:23:25 agreed we need to do
1:23:27 so those those are the kind of my kind
1:23:30 of processing of all the information
1:23:31 I've gotten tonight
1:23:32 and then I want to layer on top of that
1:23:34 is this is a CIP problem I mean we this
1:23:38 is something we should be addressing
1:23:39 when we take on the CIP and this is a
1:23:41 CIP year and the one thing that I'm
1:23:44 going to advocate for tonight and every
1:23:46 time we talk about this is I'm tired of
1:23:49 hearing we got a full dance card and we
1:23:51 can't you know we can't chew everything
1:23:52 that's on our plate mixed metaphor I'm
1:23:54 sorry but
1:23:56 um then let's not put it on our plate
1:23:58 we've got to do a better job as a
1:23:59 council and as a city government of
1:24:02 saying we only have the capacity to do X
1:24:04 so let's stop talking about why and so
1:24:07 um I I think I want to go ahead with the
1:24:10 budget amendment as presenter the budget
1:24:13 amendment as presented not the amendment
1:24:16 is presented
1:24:18 um because I think that moves us forward
1:24:20 but I want to have this discussion I
1:24:22 think this is what councilmember March
1:24:24 talked about too I want to have this
1:24:26 discussion and I'm just tired of oh we
1:24:29 just don't have the capacity to do that
1:24:31 so fine then what do we have the
1:24:33 capacity to do and that's what we'll do
1:24:35 but we can't keep saying
1:24:37 um you know we're at the buffet and
1:24:38 we're putting too much on our plate so
1:24:40 let's be real with each other
1:24:42 so councilmember Ray thank you for that
1:24:44 and I think you guys did a very good job
1:24:46 of that in the fall
1:24:47 the part of the capital plan that ends
1:24:50 up in the budget is not necessarily the
1:24:52 first year of the CIP and I think that's
1:24:54 the really important part to talk about
1:24:56 in this what are we going to do with our
1:24:57 CIP process because this is the constant
1:25:00 source of frustration but we are staffed
1:25:02 to do what was in the budget and this
1:25:05 project wasn't there so we really do
1:25:07 have to focus in on that conversation
1:25:09 um I believe it's council president
1:25:12 thank you can someone talk me through
1:25:15 budget amendment number one it says
1:25:18 ab8487 approved the allocation of 1.591
1:25:22 million in arpa funds in the
1:25:25 2023-2024 budget for the following
1:25:27 projects there's a list of projects and
1:25:29 then toward the end of that it also says
1:25:31 the remaining 409 thousand dollars will
1:25:34 be kept in reserve in the capital
1:25:36 project fund until after these projects
1:25:38 have completed the bidding process this
1:25:40 will ensure that sufficient funding is
1:25:41 available would it be a possibility to
1:25:44 take two hundred dollar thousand dollars
1:25:46 from that rather than unfund a project
1:25:52 that we had previously allocated since
1:25:55 that remains in the capital project fund
1:26:01 yeah everybody wants to jump in on this
1:26:04 um in your current approved budget you
1:26:06 don't have this 200 000 funding it's not
1:26:09 in your budget it is in your Capital
1:26:11 plan that exact project did not end up
1:26:14 in the approved budget by Council
1:26:18 um next I don't know who wants to chime
1:26:21 in and answer if that's a Robert or a
1:26:22 Wally question
1:26:26 I was good go ahead sorry council
1:26:28 president Walsh uh to the mayor's point
1:26:31 on that with the arpa funds we've
1:26:34 already identified
1:26:36 you know funding as far as the city
1:26:38 funds and other funds to match the arpa
1:26:41 projects and we've reported that to the
1:26:43 federal government so any changes at
1:26:45 this point on arpa would probably be
1:26:47 pretty restricted and shifting arpa
1:26:51 funds from one project to another we
1:26:53 could not guarantee but we could run
1:26:56 afoul of of the feds for that at this
1:26:58 point
1:27:00 okay thank you any additional questions
1:27:05 any additional comments
1:27:09 okay the amendment to the motion on the
1:27:10 table
1:27:11 is to amend the ordinance Exhibit C
1:27:14 budget adjustment descriptions budget
1:27:16 adjustment number 10 to not shift
1:27:18 unspent two hundred thousand dollars of
1:27:20 planning design funding within the creek
1:27:22 Corridor project pko45 to pko41 and to
1:27:27 instead reauthorize those funds for the
1:27:28 creek Corridor project for 2023. all
1:27:31 those in favor say aye
1:27:33 aye aye
1:27:34 all is opposed
1:27:38 the amendment fails two to five and
1:27:42 going back to the main motion
1:27:44 there's been a lot of questions so I'm
1:27:46 assuming there may be a few more
1:27:48 questions or comments before we vote one
1:27:50 more opportunity council president
1:27:53 yeah I will just come back to this I
1:27:56 really appreciated some of the Creative
1:27:58 Accounting that I saw in there that
1:28:00 really truly did stay true to our goals
1:28:05 you know I saw money from the temporary
1:28:09 fire station that wasn't going to be
1:28:10 spent being put toward the permanent
1:28:13 fire station and so I can see in
1:28:16 everything except for this one little
1:28:18 area that Finance was really taking the
1:28:22 meat of what we were trying to do and
1:28:25 putting it forward and I really
1:28:27 appreciate all of the detailed
1:28:29 information in that memo about why
1:28:32 something was carried over whether it
1:28:34 was because we had supply chain issues
1:28:37 or just the project was intended to go
1:28:40 multiple years that really helped me
1:28:41 understand it so I wanted to put out
1:28:43 that appreciation on the information
1:28:45 thank you council president thumbs up
1:28:47 from Deputy council president any more
1:28:49 comments before I read the main motion
1:28:53 council member D Michelle's hand is not
1:28:57 the motion is to adopt ordinance number
1:29:01 3009 reauthorizing remaining 2022 funds
1:29:04 for certain projects and amending the
1:29:07 2023-24 budget as set forth in ordinance
1:29:10 number
1:29:10 2994 concerning revenues expenditures
1:29:14 and fund balance for various funds all
1:29:16 those in favor signify by saying aye aye
1:29:21 those opposed
1:29:23 that carries unanimously 7-0
1:29:26 the next item of business this evening
1:29:28 is good of the order so looking around
1:29:30 to see a couple one going up Deputy
1:29:33 council president
1:29:34 uh thanks I just had one thing I wanted
1:29:36 to add we had a really great
1:29:39 informational update from Stephanie
1:29:40 Johnson our HR director in our consent
1:29:42 calendar about the equity framework so I
1:29:47 just wanted to give her a huge shout out
1:29:49 and everyone else on our internal Equity
1:29:50 team for all the work that they're doing
1:29:52 the memo really highlighted kind of the
1:29:56 The Challenge and how time consuming
1:29:59 this work is and I also just wanted to
1:30:00 say too from you know um what I've been
1:30:04 learning in my own MPA program we talk a
1:30:06 lot about this and how jurisdictions are
1:30:08 applying an equity lens and it is a
1:30:10 challenge and a lot more than many
1:30:12 policy makers
1:30:14 um appreciate right away and so much of
1:30:18 it ends up really being a product of
1:30:19 organizational culture which takes a lot
1:30:22 of time and a lot of nurturing so I just
1:30:25 wanted to just take a step back and and
1:30:28 make sure that Stephanie and everyone
1:30:30 else who's involved in equity in the
1:30:32 city is
1:30:34 thoroughly acknowledged and appreciated
1:30:36 and honored and this council is just
1:30:39 tremendously proud of you and keep up
1:30:41 the great work I mean somewhere in the
1:30:42 packet it was just one line towards the
1:30:44 end it said that
1:30:46 diversification of our Workforce has
1:30:48 increased by six percent in the last
1:30:50 year that's not something to bury at the
1:30:51 end of a memo that's amazing like that
1:30:53 is incredible work City of Issaquah
1:30:55 congratulations and like I said keep up
1:30:57 the good work
1:30:58 great comments um council member Joe
1:31:01 thank you
1:31:04 I would just like to pass on compliments
1:31:07 to our council president for hosting our
1:31:09 fifth district Senator Senator mullet
1:31:12 Our House Representatives
1:31:14 Ramos and Callan
1:31:17 on Sunday it was a well-attended event
1:31:19 we had Mayors from Maple Valley North
1:31:22 Bend Snoqualmie all participating in the
1:31:26 Forum along with quite a robust uh
1:31:28 audience of various community members
1:31:31 from all over the district so council
1:31:33 president did a great job hosting and
1:31:36 moderating the conversation and you made
1:31:39 Issaquah a Proud by by represent as well
1:31:42 thank you
1:31:48 one foreign
1:31:51 last item I'm not sure council president
1:31:53 if you saw but there was an email from
1:31:55 the public that was on tonight's items
1:32:04 not not sure if you want to kind of add
1:32:06 that into the record
1:32:08 yeah I will have to look through back
1:32:11 through the emails I admit I am a little
1:32:15 bit behind
1:32:17 um while you're looking I'll do a couple
1:32:18 of meetings so Thursday March 30th is a
1:32:22 special city council meeting there are
1:32:25 two of them one in the morning and one
1:32:26 at night 7 30 a.m state of the city
1:32:29 address at the Hilton Garden Inn 6 30 PM
1:32:32 the council's community listening
1:32:34 session at the atlas Apartments
1:32:36 and on Monday April 3rd the city council
1:32:39 meeting with anticipated agenda items
1:32:42 including Public Works Staffing
1:32:44 Resources and just one other good of the
1:32:47 order item I'll share for now is I will
1:32:49 be heading to Washington DC on Saturday
1:32:51 as part of the National League of cities
1:32:53 thousands and thousands of council
1:32:56 members and Mayors from around the
1:32:57 country attend this event and so it's an
1:33:00 opportunity I believe I have a
1:33:01 one-on-one with our congresswoman and
1:33:03 I'm in some group meetings with our
1:33:05 Senators so it should be exciting and
1:33:08 I'll report out when I get back
1:33:10 any luck with it council president
1:33:12 well um I see the email that this
1:33:16 Community member has mentioned I had not
1:33:20 recognized it as related to the budget
1:33:23 update
1:33:24 um but I will say there are some
1:33:26 questions in the email about
1:33:29 the effectiveness and what the impacts
1:33:33 are on tr073 the Mountain Park Boulevard
1:33:36 Southwest safety Elements which is two
1:33:39 hundred thousand dollars which I guess
1:33:41 is going into a reauthorization and that
1:33:44 fed into the comments about having a
1:33:47 tough time finding the current tip and
1:33:50 major projects list so that I guess was
1:33:54 the email thank you elated thank you for
1:33:57 sharing any other items for good of the
1:33:59 order
1:34:01 huh then there being no further business
1:34:03 we are adjourned at 8 34.
1:34:06 foreign

Motions and votes (2)

Approve Resolution No. 2023-11, adopting the Capital Improvement Plan for 2024-2029, including the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. . AB 7879 - 2022 Storm and Surface Water Master Plan
Moved by WALSH · seconded by HALL
Carried 6-0
Approve Resolution No. 2023-12, adopting the 2022 Storm and Surface Water Master Plan. .
Moved by HUNT · seconded by WALSH
Carried 6-0