City Council Regular Meeting · Monday, November 20, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. SPECIAL BUSINESS

Small Business Saturday Proclamation ID 1384

5 min · packet pp.5

Topics: Economic Development

▶ Watch from 1:01 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

CITY OF ISSAQUAH Mayor's Office

5. CONSENT CALENDAR

Accounts: Payables and Payroll of Nov. 20, 2023, $7,863,511.04 ID 1483

Carried 6-0

Approve · packet pp.7–38

Topics: Budget

▶ Watch from 10:12 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

Finance Department P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 PH: 425-837-3050 www.issaquahwa.gov

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Minutes: City Council Regular Meeting, Aug. 7, 2023

Carried 6-0

Approve · packet pp.39–42

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Mar 30, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting · Apr 24, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting · May 1, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting · May 22, 2023

▶ Watch from 10:13 Open packet at p.39 ↗

Staff report:

CONSENT CALENDAR b) 08-07-23 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Regular Meeting 7:00 PM Council Chambers August 7, 2023 MINUTES 135 E. Sunset Way

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

2023 Unclaimed Property Report, Cancellation of Unredeemed City Checks AB 8707

Carried 6-0

Approve Resolution · packet pp.43–47

▶ Watch from 10:14 Open packet at p.43 ↗

Staff report:

On an annual basis, the City of Issaquah is required to report to the Washington DOR as well as any other applicable state(s), all checks that meet the definition of unclaimed property (RCW 63.30). In Washington State, prior year abandonment periods ranged from one to three years depending on the purpose of the check. Effective January 1, 2023, the abandonment period for all unredeemed checks was reduced to one year. The 2023 reporting year is considered a "catch up" year and includes an abandonment range of July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Amendment to Interlocal Agreement with King County for Public Safety Answering Point AB 8709

Carried 6-0

Authorize · packet pp.49–70

Topics: Public Safety

▶ Watch from 10:15 Open packet at p.49 ↗

Staff report:

The state of Washington emergency services communication system is a multi-county communications network including an enhanced 9-1-1 (911) system, which provides rapid public access for coordinated dispatching of services, personnel, equipment, and facilities for police, fire, medical, or other emergency services. This system is referred to as the King County E-911 Program.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Surplus City Equipment AB 8714

Carried 6-0

Approve Resolution · packet pp.71–75

▶ Watch from 10:17 Open packet at p.71 ↗

Staff report:

The City has determined that the items listed on the Surplus Equipment List 231025, which includes vehicles and equipment, are no longer useful or necessary. One of these vehicles is a City asset that was assigned to duty within Eastside Fire and Rescue (EFR). EFR Board of Directors declared asset #1834 as surplus on May 14, 2020. It is included within this proposed resolution to comply with City financial polices so that EFR can dispose of the asset in accordance with Washington State law.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Hearing Examiner Contract (Alex Sidles) AB 8721

Carried 6-0

Confirm · packet pp.77–91

▶ Watch from 10:18 Open packet at p.77 ↗

Staff report:

The Hearing Examiner is an independent office of the City that conducts hearings on land use actions required by ordinance, including preliminary plats, final plats, variances and appeals. Cities can either hire or contract for these services.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Octagon Towers Lease Amendment #5 (1901 NE Park Drive) AB 8729

Carried 6-0

Authorize · packet pp.93–122

Topics: HousingParks

▶ Watch from 10:19 Open packet at p.93 ↗

Staff report:

The City entered a lease agreement with New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC, on May 1, 2010, for constructing, operating, repairing, replacing, and maintaining telecommunications facilities at the Issaquah Highlands Central Park Reservoir. There have been four amendments to this lease in the past, and the current lease is with Simplicity Towers, LLC (d/b/a, Octagon). City Staff discovered that the method that Octagon had been paying the City under the lease agreement did not match the language of the lease itself. The original lease agreement stated subleasees were to pay the City directly. This became an issue for the City's Finance Department trying to track down the correct payment, and created confusion between subleasees to the site, Octagon, and the City. Subsequently, the City and Octagon discussed the prospect of matching the lease language to reflect actual current and past…

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Establishing Financial Policy Ad Hoc Committee Establish AB 8735

Carried 6-0

packet pp.123–155

Topics: Boards & Commissions

▶ Watch from 10:21 Open packet at p.123 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration is seeking revisions to the Financial Management Policy to facilitate more efficient procurement and contracting and address existing ambiguities. At the Nov. 13, 2023 City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, draft amendments were presented to the City Council (Exhibit A).

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

6. PUBLIC HEARING

Transportation Benefit District Councilmanic Sales Tax AB 8670

Conduct Public Hearing · 30 min · packet pp.157–175

Topics: TransportationBudget

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Jun 12, 2023

Open packet at p.157 ↗

Staff report:

The City Council approved an ordinance, forming a Transportation Benefit District (TBD) in 2018 (IMC 12.70.010). The formation of the TBD allows for a new, dedicated funding source for transportation and mobility projects within the City. To date, however, the City has not approved a new revenue tied to the TBD.

2023-24 Mid-Biennium Budget Adjustment AB 8662

Conduct Public Hearing · 30 min · packet pp.177–210

Topics: Budget

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Nov 7, 2022

Open packet at p.177 ↗

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 is the result of the mid-biennium budget forecast and adjustments, incorporating changes for both years of the biennium. This budget amendment includes 35 items adjusting 13 of the City's 22 financial funds. In total, these adjustments account for $5,614,404 in increased revenues and $7,621,371 in increased expenditures. The amendments to the General Fund total $1,078,877 of the increased revenue and $5,746,321 of the increased expenditures.

2024 Property Tax Levy AB 8672

Conduct Public Hearing · packet pp.211–233

Topics: Budget

Open packet at p.211 ↗

Staff report:

The City's authority to impose a property tax is derived from the Washington State Constitution and described in the Revised Code of Washing (RCW) Chapters 84.52 and 84.55. The revenues from property tax are considered general government revenues, meaning that this money is placed in the General Fund and can be used for any basic governmental service or goods such as public safety, planning, parks, or administration.

7. REGULAR BUSINESS

2023-24 State Legislative Agenda, Priorities and Policy Manual Update AB 8683

Approve · 30 min · packet pp.235–250

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · May 15, 2023

▶ Watch from 20:07 Open packet at p.235 ↗

Staff report:

The legislative agenda is a tool that communicates priorities and policy positions externally to the State Legislature and the Governor, as well as internally to the Administration and City lobbyists. This document is also shared with several partner agencies, e.g. SCA, AWC, MRSC, chamber, school district and neighboring jurisdictions.

High Street Collection Development Agreement AB 8704

Carried 6-0

Adopt Ordinance · 20 min · packet pp.251–718

Topics: Land UseTransportation

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Nov 13, 2023

▶ Watch from 33:24 Open packet at p.251 ↗

Staff report:

Shelter owns an approximately 21.46 acre parcel in the Issaquah Highlands (the Property) (Parcel No. 2724069208). On June 19, 1996, the City and Shelter’s predecessor-in-interest executed the former Grand Ridge Annexation and Development Agreement, more commonly known as the Issaquah Highlands Development Agreement (“IHDA”). The Property is currently vested to the IHDA, inclusive of all amendments and supplements thereto. On October 4, 2023, Shelter submitted an application for the High Street Collection Development Agreement (the “Agreement”), a copy of which is attached as Exhibit A. A Notice of Application and Public Hearing was issued by the City on October 6, 2023.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Abstained: Russell Joe

Amending City Council Rules of Procedure Re: Public Comments AB 8734

Carried 4-2

Approve Resolution · 20 min · packet pp.719–773

Topics: Boards & Commissions

▶ Watch from 42:14 Open packet at p.719 ↗

Staff report:

Over the past few months, city councils in Washington and other states have seen a concerning trend in which public comment periods are used by individuals or groups to make antisemitic, racist, or other hateful remarks. Such commentors usually make their remarks off-camera and utilizing what appear to be fictitious names. Sometimes the same speaker will sign up to speak multiple times using different names. The comments are deeply disturbing, causing distress to elected officials, staff, and other members of the public participating in the meetings.

Roll call:

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

In favor: Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Lindsey Walsh

Opposed: Barbara de Michele, Chris Reh

10. GOOD OF THE ORDER

10a

Upcoming Council Meetings

▶ Watch from 1:35:47

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION

11a

Executive Session Pending/Potential Litigation ID 1554

45 min

▶ Watch from 1:37:40

12. RECONVENE OPEN SESSION

12a

Take Action on Executive Session Item

2455 segments .txt ↗

0:17 ↗ good evening everyone and welcome I'm

0:18 ↗ calling the November 20th city council

0:20 ↗ meeting to order uh Deputy council

0:23 ↗ president Hall has an excused absence

0:25 ↗ this evening as a reminder we do

0:27 ↗ continue to have a remote aspect to our

0:29 ↗ meetings and staff members uh staff and

0:32 ↗ members of the public may be

0:33 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:35 ↗ remotely via webx first item on our

0:37 ↗ agenda this evening is the Pledge of

0:39 ↗ Allegiance and I invite those who would

0:40 ↗ like to

0:42 ↗ join I pledge allegiance to the flag of

0:46 ↗ the United States of America to the

0:49 ↗ Republic for it

0:51 ↗ stands God indivisible with liy

0:58 ↗ and next item on our agenda this evening

1:01 ↗ is special business ID 1384 is small

1:05 ↗ business Saturday Proclamation and I'd

1:07 ↗ like to invite Chris Richley the chair

1:09 ↗ of our economic Vitality commission to

1:12 ↗ the lectoring with me over here and Jen

1:14 ↗ if you'd like to come up as well our

1:15 ↗ econom economic development manager that

1:17 ↗ would be

1:28 ↗ great and for El

1:29 ↗ [Laughter]

1:33 ↗ you guys are showing off those isaquel

1:35 ↗ loyal shopping bags um just coming in

1:38 ↗ around Thanksgiving we always like to

1:40 ↗ kind of really give a shout out to our

1:42 ↗ local businesses we're doing our

1:43 ↗ Proclamation this evening and then

1:45 ↗ you'll get to hear from Chris as well

1:47 ↗ whereas the Saturday after Thanksgiving

1:49 ↗ every year is recognized small as small

1:51 ↗ business Saturday and whereas the city

1:54 ↗ of isqua celebrates our local businesses

1:56 ↗ and the contributions they make to our

1:58 ↗ local economy and community and whereas

2:02 ↗ according to the United States small

2:03 ↗ business administration there are

2:06 ↗ 33.2 million small businesses in the

2:08 ↗ United States and these small businesses

2:11 ↗ are responsible for 62% of net new jobs

2:14 ↗ created since

2:16 ↗ 1995 whereas most consumers understand

2:19 ↗ the importance of supporting the small

2:21 ↗ businesses in their community on small

2:23 ↗ business Saturday and report that the

2:25 ↗ day encourages them to want to shop

2:27 ↗ small all year long and whereas

2:30 ↗ merchants and vendors that do business

2:31 ↗ in the city of isqua bolster our

2:34 ↗ community's vibrancy and support

2:36 ↗ economic vitality and whereas our vision

2:39 ↗ partners the collaboration of economic

2:42 ↗ development organizations supports the

2:44 ↗ success of small businesses throughout

2:46 ↗ the year now therefore I Mary Lee paully

2:49 ↗ the mayor of the city of isqua be

2:51 ↗ recognized November 25th

2:53 ↗ 2023 to be small business Saturday in

2:55 ↗ the city of isqua and invite the

2:57 ↗ community to join me in shopping isqua

2:59 ↗ Loyal by supporting small businesses and

3:03 ↗ Merchants and Chris invite you up to the

3:05 ↗ microphone

3:12 ↗ thanks good evening Madam mayor and

3:15 ↗ council members my name is Chris Richley

3:16 ↗ I'm the chair for the economic Vitality

3:18 ↗ commission uh active partner in The

3:20 ↗ Vision Partners group and uh actually

3:23 ↗ Harborstone Credit Union branch manager

3:25 ↗ up in the highlands I'm also a resident

3:27 ↗ of isqua Highlands for over eight years

3:30 ↗ wow thank you for this wonderful great

3:33 ↗ Proclamation the proclamation truly

3:34 ↗ supports our esqua small business

3:36 ↗ community and shows the importance how

3:38 ↗ important it is to the city to recognize

3:40 ↗ that um I come from a small business

3:42 ↗ family and I know small business is big

3:44 ↗ business it's supports the community as

3:46 ↗ far as the economic development it also

3:49 ↗ shows that the money spent in the

3:51 ↗ community stays within the community it

3:53 ↗ also supports a lot of initiatives

3:55 ↗ Beyond just tax revenue right it

3:58 ↗ supports all the all the families right

4:00 ↗ we have families to go to um offering a

4:03 ↗ diverse amount of products along with

4:05 ↗ Services loyal customers squal likes to

4:07 ↗ shop loyal that's our theme of the of

4:09 ↗ the isqua shop loyal you all each got a

4:11 ↗ bag so thank you for your support on

4:13 ↗ that um with that it shows on you know I

4:16 ↗ I encourage everyone to stay loyal and

4:18 ↗ Shop local on Saturday September 25th

4:21 ↗ there's the isqua loyal Shopping Guide

4:22 ↗ that also shows all our local businesses

4:24 ↗ that are open and what they have to

4:25 ↗ offer as well as just knowing that when

4:29 ↗ we shop local majority of money again

4:31 ↗ stays in the community so I encourage

4:33 ↗ you guys all to do that thank you again

4:35 ↗ for the proclamation and have a good

4:37 ↗ night thank

4:38 ↗ you yes

4:41 ↗ absolutely

4:58 ↗ let

5:01 ↗ we are very lucky to have the great

5:03 ↗ small businesses that we have in

5:13 ↗ town we do have a very uh beefy agenda

5:17 ↗ this evening so we're going to move on

5:19 ↗ to the next item which is audience

5:21 ↗ comments and this is the time where

5:22 ↗ members of the public um can address

5:25 ↗ Council whether you are in person with

5:27 ↗ us or virtual those who signed up in

5:30 ↗ advance will be called upon first and if

5:32 ↗ you're joining us virtually and would

5:34 ↗ like to make comments just please raise

5:35 ↗ your virtual hand or send the host a

5:37 ↗ chat message you're on the phone you can

5:39 ↗ press star three and if you've joined by

5:41 ↗ computer there's likely a hand icon if

5:44 ↗ you're in the room and you did not sign

5:46 ↗ up I will ask for other speakers before

5:48 ↗ closing this portion of the meeting

5:50 ↗ there are also some public hearings

5:52 ↗ tonight AB 8670 the transportation

5:55 ↗ benefit District Council manic sales tax

5:58 ↗ and a joint hearing on AB

6:00 ↗ 8662 the 20232 24 mid bym budget

6:04 ↗ adjustment and agenda Bill

6:07 ↗ 8672 the 2024 property tax levy comments

6:11 ↗ on these items should be made under

6:12 ↗ those respective public hearings that

6:14 ↗ occur later in the meeting city clerk

6:16 ↗ has anyone signed up to speak for

6:18 ↗ General audience

6:20 ↗ comments

6:22 ↗ yes so for those making remarks make

6:24 ↗ sure you direct your remarks to the

6:26 ↗ whole Council and not to individuals and

6:28 ↗ while it's not a question and answer

6:30 ↗ session uh we will contact you to follow

6:32 ↗ up if needed uh when you are recognized

6:35 ↗ if you are virtual please unmute your

6:37 ↗ microphone and if you're in the room

6:38 ↗ please step up to the Lecter at the

6:40 ↗ center of the room state your name and

6:42 ↗ address and relationship to the city

6:44 ↗ speak clearly and pause frequently and

6:46 ↗ please limit your comments to 5 minutes

6:48 ↗ if you're attending virtually and do not

6:50 ↗ respond after your name or phone number

6:52 ↗ is called or if your connection is lost

6:54 ↗ unexpectedly the meeting will still need

6:56 ↗ to proceed you're encouraged to rejoin

6:58 ↗ the meeting if you are able

6:59 ↗ personal attacks obscene language uh

7:02 ↗ derogatory remarks and disruptive

7:04 ↗ behavior will not be permitted and

7:06 ↗ public comments written and verbal are a

7:08 ↗ very important aspect of the public

7:10 ↗ process the city takes comments

7:12 ↗ seriously and we thank all of those who

7:13 ↗ have joined us tonight to address the

7:16 ↗ council um city clerk can you please

7:18 ↗ identify the first person who signed up

7:20 ↗ to

7:21 ↗ speak yes it's a virtual attendee Randy

7:24 ↗ Baner Randy I'm making you a panelist

7:26 ↗ now so you should have the option to

7:28 ↗ unmute and choose to turn your video

7:33 ↗ on audio working you sound

7:37 ↗ great thank you uh Randy bancker uh

7:40 ↗ thank you uh uh mayor Paulie and members

7:43 ↗ of the city council I'm Randy Baner here

7:46 ↗ on behalf of the Seattle King County

7:47 ↗ Realtors and and speaking tonight to

7:50 ↗ encourage you to remove the real estate

7:52 ↗ excise tax new local option from the

7:55 ↗ city's 2024 legislative agenda now

7:58 ↗ there's no question that providing

8:00 ↗ housing for those earning 80% or less of

8:03 ↗ median household income is a tremendous

8:05 ↗ challenge we recognize the tools with

8:07 ↗ which to provide that funding are

8:09 ↗ limited the Reit is not a tool to fund

8:12 ↗ affordable housing because it draws from

8:14 ↗ a small section of the community just

8:17 ↗ sellers home sellers property sellers um

8:20 ↗ to correct a CommunityWide problem an

8:23 ↗ additional reate for uh counties and

8:26 ↗ cities to levy on every sold property

8:29 ↗ will further burden median income

8:32 ↗ families in isqua and neighboring

8:34 ↗ communities by eroding their Equity

8:36 ↗ leaving them with fewer dollars for the

8:38 ↗ next chapter of their lives be that

8:40 ↗ another house or condo or a senior

8:42 ↗ living community Reit is most harmful to

8:45 ↗ families with little equity in their

8:47 ↗ homes because the tax is levied on the

8:49 ↗ sales price not their net profit please

8:52 ↗ keep in mind that the legislature

8:54 ↗ increased the reate in 2020 for

8:56 ↗ properties over $1 million the median

8:58 ↗ price for a single family home on the

9:00 ↗ east side is more than 1.4 million the

9:03 ↗ seller already pays more than

9:05 ↗ 25,000 again regardless of their Equity

9:08 ↗ another increase on top of this is

9:10 ↗ neither warranted nor defensible It

9:12 ↗ ultimately increases the price of

9:14 ↗ housing for everyone renters and

9:16 ↗ homeowners alike we would welcome the

9:18 ↗ opportunity to work with you on State

9:19 ↗ and Regional solutions to housing

9:21 ↗ affordability that are more fairly

9:23 ↗ assessed thanks very much for your

9:25 ↗ attention to this matter good evening

9:27 ↗ thank you Randy city clerk is there

9:29 ↗ anyone else that has signed up or raised

9:31 ↗ their

9:33 ↗ hand there's one other virtual attendee

9:35 ↗ with us but they aren't indicating a

9:37 ↗ desire to speak and no one else has

9:38 ↗ signed up just want to check in the room

9:41 ↗ if is anybody here tonight wanting to

9:43 ↗ come up and speak during General

9:44 ↗ audience comments please raise your hand

9:46 ↗ let me

9:47 ↗ know not seeing anybody um so uh thanks

9:51 ↗ to Randy for coming in tonight uh

9:53 ↗ generally his comments were a proposal

9:55 ↗ to remove the re new local option from

9:58 ↗ the proposed osed legislative agenda

10:00 ↗ that the council will be considering

10:02 ↗ this evening so thank you everyone also

10:05 ↗ remember that at any time you can submit

10:07 ↗ comments to the city council at isqua

10:10 ↗ wa.gov the next item of business this

10:12 ↗ evening is the consent calendar I do not

10:14 ↗ have any remarks on tonight's calendar

10:16 ↗ items however I would like to announce

10:18 ↗ that AB8 553 public records policy and

10:22 ↗ fee schedule and the new business

10:24 ↗ request credit card processing fees cost

10:27 ↗ recover have been rescheduled to return

10:29 ↗ to the city council at this meeting but

10:31 ↗ have been delayed to the December 4th

10:33 ↗ 2023 city council meeting so now I will

10:36 ↗ look to committee chairs are there any

10:38 ↗ committee chairs or chair designes who

10:40 ↗ would like to report on any of the

10:41 ↗ consent calendar

10:42 ↗ items not seeing any uh the consent

10:46 ↗ calendar was distributed to the council

10:47 ↗ in advance and if authorized the items

10:49 ↗ on the consent calendar will be

10:51 ↗ considered together and approved by one

10:53 ↗ motion have the payables and payroll

10:55 ↗ been

10:56 ↗ reviewed they

10:57 ↗ have thank you than you does any council

11:00 ↗ member desire to remove any item from

11:02 ↗ the consent calendar and consider it

11:04 ↗ under regular

11:05 ↗ business I'm not seeing any

11:07 ↗ indication um is there a

11:10 ↗ motion council president I move to

11:12 ↗ approve the consent calendar as

11:14 ↗ presented

11:16 ↗ second uh it's been moved and seconded

11:19 ↗ is there any Council

11:20 ↗ discussion not seeing any indication of

11:23 ↗ stuff of uh discussion all those in

11:26 ↗ favor signify by saying I I

11:30 ↗ those opposed that carries 6 and0 uh the

11:34 ↗ next item of business we'll start with

11:36 ↗ the public hearing AB 8670

11:38 ↗ Transportation benefit District Council

11:40 ↗ manic sales tax and the action this

11:43 ↗ evening will be to conduct the public

11:45 ↗ hearing I'm going to invite Chief

11:48 ↗ Financial Officer Robert hammood to make

11:50 ↗ a presentation Robert

11:54 ↗ welcome thank you mayor members of the

11:57 ↗ council go ahead and

11:59 ↗ here

12:22 ↗ just so tonight's public hearing AB

12:26 ↗ 8670 is to

12:29 ↗ is for the transportation district sales

12:32 ↗ tax and just to review the sales tax

12:35 ↗ proposal the tax would increase from

12:37 ↗ 10.1% to 10.2% again the city share is

12:40 ↗ just going that 0.1 to 0.2% is the city

12:43 ↗ share or the TBD sales tax be generate

12:46 ↗ about $2.2 million annually it would

12:49 ↗ sunet in approximately 10 years and it

12:52 ↗ distributes costs to transportation

12:54 ↗ system users not just residents and the

12:57 ↗ average impact act for an individual in

13:00 ↗ the city is approximately $36 or $100

13:04 ↗ per household and again it's based on

13:06 ↗ spending habits but that's the rough

13:07 ↗ estimate that we have and um we will

13:10 ↗ present a few slides tonight about the

13:12 ↗ public Outreach that we received but

13:14 ↗ there's no evidence right now of impacts

13:16 ↗ to businesses nor consumer shopping

13:18 ↗ habits with the 0.1%

13:22 ↗ change so a little bit of background in

13:26 ↗ 2021 mayor pully appointed the capital

13:28 ↗ finan Community task force and it

13:30 ↗ recommended increased investment in

13:32 ↗ infrastructure prioritizing

13:34 ↗ Transportation infrastructure and

13:36 ↗ pursuing additional revenues such as a

13:38 ↗ trans sales tax for

13:42 ↗ transportation and the need for the TBD

13:45 ↗ sales tax um what we've seen in our

13:47 ↗ community surveys and what we've seen

13:49 ↗ with public feedback in the past and

13:50 ↗ what well with Council feedback is that

13:52 ↗ improving transportation is consistently

13:54 ↗ one of isqua residents and business's

13:56 ↗ top concerns the despite reallocating

13:59 ↗ existing Rec resources to fund more

14:01 ↗ Transportation projects many of the

14:03 ↗ transportation projects in the capital

14:05 ↗ Improvement program remain unfunded a

14:07 ↗ lot of that is just changes in the

14:09 ↗ funding available to the

14:11 ↗ city and one of them again

14:14 ↗ is funding that comes from the general

14:16 ↗ fund of the real estate excise tax both

14:19 ↗ of those tax revenue sources have

14:21 ↗ experienced declines over the past year

14:24 ↗ and state and federal funds for Local

14:25 ↗ transportation projects have also

14:27 ↗ declined and continue to do for example

14:30 ↗ the gas tax has declined over the past

14:32 ↗ few years and other sources available to

14:35 ↗ the city which requires the need of this

14:38 ↗ new tax to pay for uh certain programs

14:41 ↗ that are Transportation

14:44 ↗ projects local sales tax rates right now

14:47 ↗ we currently 10.1% in isqua and again

14:50 ↗ that includes state county and local tax

14:54 ↗ that's weaved into that

14:55 ↗ 10.1% you can see bellw and Kirkland and

15:00 ↗ Redmond is not on this list but I wanted

15:02 ↗ to talk about those cities so Redmond

15:04 ↗ and Belleview are also considering in

15:06 ↗ the near future tbz sales tax and

15:08 ↗ Kirkland is actually considering a $20

15:10 ↗ car tab fee for their TBD for their

15:14 ↗ residents and so again this is in line

15:17 ↗ with what other cities in the region are

15:19 ↗ at and what they're

15:20 ↗ doing and just also to recap so you see

15:23 ↗ Northbend snowy and Covington those

15:25 ↗ cities are outside of the Sound Transit

15:28 ↗ project area so they do not have that

15:30 ↗ additional tax at Sound Transit

15:36 ↗ levies and just a reminder here as I

15:38 ↗ said in the beginning it's about $100

15:40 ↗ per household or $36 per individual as

15:43 ↗ far as the average impact but that could

15:45 ↗ that's based on your spending habits if

15:47 ↗ you're spending most of your money in

15:48 ↗ the city of isqua or outside that would

15:51 ↗ determine it and also what types of

15:53 ↗ products you're buying but again if

15:55 ↗ you're buying a car for example $40,000

15:57 ↗ car would be $40 increase with this 0.1%

16:00 ↗ tax or a $500 television you buy a

16:03 ↗ Target or Fred Meyer would be 50 cents

16:06 ↗ and again most gas and grocery items

16:08 ↗ you're thinking everyday products you go

16:10 ↗ to the story by medana that's not

16:12 ↗ subject to sales

16:16 ↗ tax so potential projects funded with

16:18 ↗ TBD funds so there's several Pro we

16:21 ↗ talked about the unfunded projects I

16:23 ↗ know at previous meetings and during the

16:24 ↗ CIP we've also spoke about some of the

16:27 ↗ projects that could be funded with this

16:28 ↗ Revenue source and again just to review

16:32 ↗ those projects that have been identified

16:34 ↗ near term Northwest St mamish Road

16:36 ↗ non-motorized Improvement project and

16:38 ↗ also the intelligent transportation

16:40 ↗ system implementation in future years

16:43 ↗ there's several other projects um that

16:45 ↗ could be funded with at least a portion

16:48 ↗ of this tax revenue could be its

16:50 ↗ maintenance squa mult squawk Mountain

16:53 ↗ multimodal Improvement construction

16:55 ↗ pavement Management and Concrete

16:56 ↗ maintenance and other identified

16:58 ↗ priorities ities as they

17:01 ↗ arise so public Outreach completed on

17:04 ↗ sales tax and Deputy City administrator

17:07 ↗ Anda steer uh gathered a lot of feedback

17:11 ↗ during meetings and also online comments

17:14 ↗ and so just to highlight here the

17:16 ↗ development of the TBD informational web

17:18 ↗ page for the sales tax which is on the

17:20 ↗ website social media outreach including

17:22 ↗ the city newsletter Outreach to

17:24 ↗ businesses including emails to the

17:26 ↗ largest taxpayers and presentation to

17:28 ↗ the chamber and business groups and

17:30 ↗ Council listening sessions and Presence

17:32 ↗ at salmon days and other City

17:35 ↗ events online public engagement and this

17:38 ↗ is um through today I believe 9,000 over

17:42 ↗ 9,000 residents and Unique Individuals

17:46 ↗ have seen post about the tax 378 points

17:50 ↗ of engagement on social media meeting

17:51 ↗ reactions comments shares link

17:55 ↗ clicks and you could see through

17:58 ↗ different platforms such as Facebook 336

18:01 ↗ unique visitors to the web page 22

18:04 ↗ submitted comments and feedback on the

18:05 ↗ web

18:07 ↗ page and some of the feedback received

18:10 ↗ and general support from the business

18:11 ↗ Community as long as the tax rate

18:13 ↗ remains competitive which neighboring

18:14 ↗ cities and our proposal does that uh

18:17 ↗ there's been excitement over the its

18:18 ↗ projects because that directly impacts

18:20 ↗ traffic flow mixed comments about

18:22 ↗ support or opposition to funding pincho

18:25 ↗ or Northwest samamish non-motorized

18:26 ↗ improvements uh with the proceeds of

18:29 ↗ this Revenue Source also a desire for

18:31 ↗ the city to demonstrate reallocating

18:33 ↗ funds before the new tax is

18:37 ↗ adopted and now I recommend opening the

18:40 ↗ public

18:42 ↗ hearing thank you Robert um so I will

18:45 ↗ now be opening the public hearing at

18:49 ↗ 818 718 jumping way ahead there um and

18:54 ↗ just as a reminder again if you're

18:55 ↗ joining us virtually and you'd like to

18:57 ↗ make comments please make make sure to

18:58 ↗ raise your virtual hand or send the host

19:00 ↗ a chat message uh and again if you did

19:03 ↗ not sign up and you're in the room I

19:04 ↗ will definitely ask for people city

19:06 ↗ clerk has anyone signed up for public

19:08 ↗ comments no one has signed up we do have

19:11 ↗ now three members of the public joining

19:13 ↗ us virtually so let me just sure monitor

19:17 ↗ that real quickly so if you're attending

19:18 ↗ virtually and would like to speak on the

19:20 ↗ transportation benefit district sales

19:23 ↗ tax please raise your hand press star

19:26 ↗ three if you're on the phone or send me

19:27 ↗ a

19:31 ↗ chat not seeing any interest from our

19:34 ↗ virtual attendees thank you is there

19:36 ↗ anyone in the room that would like to

19:37 ↗ speak to this item just raise your hand

19:39 ↗ give a wave and we'll invite you

19:42 ↗ up not seeing anyone in the room as well

19:45 ↗ city council do you have any objection

19:46 ↗ to my closing the meeting at 7:19

19:49 ↗ p.m. not seeing any objection does

19:53 ↗ council have any

19:55 ↗ questions on this

19:57 ↗ item okay the item will return to the

20:00 ↗ December 4th city council agenda for

20:02 ↗ Action does the city council have any

20:04 ↗ direction on whether they would like

20:06 ↗ this to return on the consent calendar

20:07 ↗ or under regular business any thoughts

20:09 ↗ on

20:11 ↗ that council president um I I think

20:15 ↗ budget items should be on regular

20:16 ↗ business so thank you looking seeing

20:19 ↗ head nods everywhere regular business

20:22 ↗ thank you very much the next item of

20:24 ↗ business this evening is AB8 662 ab6 72

20:29 ↗ this is the 2023 24 mid banian budget

20:32 ↗ adjustment and 2024 property tax levy

20:36 ↗ the um work this evening is to conduct

20:38 ↗ the public hearing so these items will

20:40 ↗ be presented jointly and the public

20:42 ↗ hearing on these items will be conducted

20:44 ↗ jointly and Robert hammood is back up at

20:46 ↗ the

20:57 ↗ microphone

21:06 ↗ thank you mayor members of the council

21:09 ↗ again this is a combined public hearing

21:11 ↗ for the 20232 24 midb budget adjustment

21:14 ↗ and the 2024 property tax

21:18 ↗ levy and so for the budget adjustments

21:20 ↗ we're going to discuss this first the

21:22 ↗ budget process the 2023 24 ban budget

21:25 ↗ was adopted in November 202 2 given the

21:29 ↗ nature of the budget the administration

21:31 ↗ does not have to prepare a full budget

21:33 ↗ for the second year of the bium and

21:34 ↗ inste we're evaluating adjustments if

21:37 ↗ needed or assumptions of the time of the

21:38 ↗ budget are still accurate so this is a

21:40 ↗ review process budget staff conducted

21:43 ↗ this work throughout the summer and fall

21:44 ↗ of 2023 including a full 20232 24

21:48 ↗ revenue forecast that was presented to

21:50 ↗ Council in

21:52 ↗ August and the administration recommends

21:55 ↗ several adjustments to 2023 and 24 those

21:57 ↗ are recommendations were presented to

21:59 ↗ the council at the October 30th

22:01 ↗ Committee of the whole meeting Council

22:03 ↗ action on this item will amend the 20232

22:06 ↗ 24 Bal budget with approved changes to

22:08 ↗ revenues and

22:11 ↗ expenditures and just a followup uh to

22:14 ↗ some feedback received uh from Council

22:17 ↗ on October 30th so Recology contractual

22:21 ↗ position this was actually the the

22:24 ↗ contract that we had compared to the

22:27 ↗ proposed position in house

22:30 ↗ and I'm not going to go through all of

22:32 ↗ it but just putting this out there if

22:34 ↗ there's any questions on it we do have

22:36 ↗ Emily moon is here and she could answer

22:38 ↗ questions if

22:49 ↗ needed the 2024 Capital Project true up

22:53 ↗ um and again I will have Susie would be

22:56 ↗ happy to answer any questions that you

22:58 ↗ have on this

23:03 ↗ page not seeing any council members

23:05 ↗ indicting questions at time although

23:07 ↗ they may not giving up their right they

23:09 ↗ may at the

23:12 ↗ end so just adjustments just two small

23:14 ↗ adjustments since October 30th there's

23:17 ↗ two municipal court Grant items we just

23:20 ↗ adjusted the amounts in the narrative

23:22 ↗ and there's a therapeutic Court Grant

23:24 ↗ that's new since October 30th so we want

23:25 ↗ to incorporate this in here and again

23:27 ↗ just side note

23:29 ↗ this budget amendment that we're

23:32 ↗ presenting for approval on December 4th

23:34 ↗ doesn't preclude or prevent the council

23:37 ↗ from passing any budget amendments or

23:38 ↗ adjustments needed obviously in 2024

23:41 ↗ that

23:43 ↗ arise and so next steps again this is a

23:46 ↗ regular meeting and with the public

23:48 ↗ hearing and then December 4th will be

23:50 ↗ final Council deliberations and

23:52 ↗ anticipated

23:55 ↗ adoption and now I'll hand it to Susie

23:57 ↗ on sale or budget manager for the

23:59 ↗ property tax

24:07 ↗ levy thank you um I'm going to do the

24:10 ↗ second half of this presentation on the

24:13 ↗ 2024 property tax levy so the we are not

24:16 ↗ technically required to do a public

24:18 ↗ hearing for the mid by anym budget

24:20 ↗ updates but we are required to do one

24:22 ↗ for the property tax levy and the RCW

24:25 ↗ that requires it is listed here um it'll

24:27 ↗ follow the same track as the midby Anum

24:30 ↗ adjustments so we'll do the public

24:31 ↗ hearing tonight and then the anticipated

24:33 ↗ adoption um at the December 4th

24:36 ↗ meeting um so state law allows

24:39 ↗ jurisdictions to increase the amount of

24:40 ↗ property tax received annually by 1%

24:43 ↗ plus the value of new construction So

24:45 ↗ based on our 2024 Levy information that

24:48 ↗ was provided by the King County

24:49 ↗ assessor's office um we are looking at

24:52 ↗ about

24:53 ↗ 118,000 um as the value of new

24:55 ↗ construction um should the city elect to

24:58 ↗ take the 1% increase that would result

25:00 ↗ in about

25:02 ↗ 104,000 um for a total of about 10.6 uh

25:05 ↗ million if we compare that to the 23

25:08 ↗ Levy it's about 251,000 uh more than

25:13 ↗ 2023 so the value of median residents

25:16 ↗ has decreased pretty dramatically the

25:18 ↗ median value of the median residential

25:21 ↗ household let me clarify that piece so

25:23 ↗ the property values uh in 2024 dropped

25:27 ↗ about 18 % over 2023 values um I should

25:31 ↗ note 2023 was an all-time high that

25:34 ↗ we've ever seen so this could be a

25:35 ↗ little bit of a course correction the

25:38 ↗ median residential value um is projected

25:41 ↗ to decrease from about

25:42 ↗ 1.375 million from last year to 1.125

25:47 ↗ million um and based on that sorry I

25:50 ↗ thought we corrected that difference so

25:52 ↗ the estimated regular Levy due to the

25:54 ↗ city decreases from uh by about that

25:56 ↗ should be 75 sorry not 91 91 uh reflects

26:01 ↗ both the regular Levy and the excess

26:03 ↗ Levy difference which I will get to here

26:07 ↗ so the administration's recommendation

26:09 ↗ is to take the 1% increase over

26:12 ↗ 2023 um so the impacts to various median

26:16 ↗ or property values is shown here um as

26:19 ↗ that median value of about 1.125 million

26:23 ↗ um would be a total property tax bill of

26:25 ↗ about

26:26 ↗ $828

26:28 ↗ I should clarify that's to the city

26:29 ↗ portion not all of the property tax bill

26:32 ↗ um and then if the city elects not to

26:35 ↗ take the 1% increase over 2023 for that

26:38 ↗ median household it's only about a $7

26:43 ↗ difference um so as I mentioned the city

26:46 ↗ Only in uh covers a small portion of the

26:49 ↗ Total Property Tax Bill to the typical

26:51 ↗ household we account for just under 9%

26:55 ↗ of the total bill and as you can see

26:57 ↗ there most of it is either the local

26:58 ↗ school district or the state state

27:00 ↗ school district or the

27:03 ↗ county and with that um we recommend

27:06 ↗ opening the public hearing thank you

27:09 ↗ Susie so again uh this is a combined

27:12 ↗ public hearing on both the 2023 24 mid

27:14 ↗ banian budget adjustment and the 24 2024

27:17 ↗ property tax levy if you have comments

27:20 ↗ on either item this would be the time to

27:22 ↗ make them and I will open the public

27:25 ↗ hearing at 72 8 um not sure have we had

27:30 ↗ anybody new join us online or are we

27:32 ↗ still with the same

27:33 ↗ fol uh we're up to four virtual

27:36 ↗ attendees okay then I'll repeat the

27:38 ↗ instructions so if if you've joined us

27:41 ↗ virtually um you can send the host a

27:43 ↗ chat message if you want to provide

27:46 ↗ comment it could be pressing star three

27:48 ↗ on your phone or looking for the hand

27:50 ↗ icon on your computer or smartphone and

27:53 ↗ if you're in the room again I will also

27:55 ↗ ask if there's anybody else who did not

27:57 ↗ sign up that would like to speak before

27:58 ↗ the close of the meeting C cler has

28:00 ↗ anyone signed up to

28:02 ↗ speak no one has signed up and I'm not

28:05 ↗ seeing any of the virtual attendees

28:06 ↗ indicate a desire to speak under the

28:09 ↗ hearing is there anyone in the room that

28:13 ↗ would like to speak on these two

28:16 ↗ items not seeing any hands come up and

28:20 ↗ the city council have any objection to

28:21 ↗ Me closing the public hearing not seeing

28:24 ↗ an objection so I'll close the public

28:26 ↗ hearing at 7:2 9 uh Council are there

28:29 ↗ any questions on these two

28:32 ↗ items again not seeing any questions um

28:36 ↗ these items will return on the December

28:38 ↗ 4th city council agenda for Action um

28:41 ↗ Direction uh consent calendar regular

28:44 ↗ business I think I heard earlier regular

28:46 ↗ business on kinds of things great thank

28:48 ↗ you for that direction and we'll move on

28:51 ↗ to the next item of business uh which is

28:53 ↗ regular business this is AB

28:55 ↗ 8683 the 2003 324 State Legislative

28:58 ↗ agenda priorities and policy manual

29:01 ↗ update the request before you this

29:03 ↗ evening is to approve this document and

29:06 ↗ I'd like to invite the city's lobbyist

29:07 ↗ Shelley Helder to make the presentation

29:09 ↗ welcome

29:11 ↗ Shelly good evening good evening mayor

29:14 ↗ and Council hopefully you can hear me

29:17 ↗ okay you you sound great great okay well

29:21 ↗ thank you um I continue to have the

29:25 ↗ privilege of serving the city as your

29:27 ↗ lobbyist in Olympia and this evening

29:30 ↗ going to spend a little bit of time um

29:32 ↗ talking about how we are going to

29:33 ↗ prepare for the upcoming 2024 State

29:36 ↗ legislative session next

29:40 ↗ slide so I'm going to provide an

29:43 ↗ overview of what we expect to happen in

29:45 ↗ the 2024 session um we'll review the

29:48 ↗ city's draft 2024 legislative agenda and

29:52 ↗ I'll wrap up by talking about next steps

29:56 ↗ um it's a a little difficult for me to

29:58 ↗ see you all when I have my um notes up

30:01 ↗ so feel free to hold your questions and

30:03 ↗ I will gladly um answer any questions at

30:06 ↗ the

30:07 ↗ end so the 2024 session is a short

30:11 ↗ 60-day session it is the second of the

30:13 ↗ banum the legislature's primary

30:16 ↗ objective during a short session is to

30:18 ↗ adopt supplemental operating capital and

30:21 ↗ transportation

30:22 ↗ budgets and supplemental budgets are

30:25 ↗ designed to make small changes to the

30:27 ↗ Bal budgets um account for changes in

30:30 ↗ Revenue projections and um program

30:34 ↗ costs the the three budgets um kind of

30:37 ↗ the status of each of them as of today

30:40 ↗ um the most recent revenue forecast

30:42 ↗ shows the state has roughly a billion

30:45 ↗ more than what was forecasted when the

30:47 ↗ budget was adopted there are different

30:50 ↗ ways of calculating that number um often

30:53 ↗ the

30:54 ↗ state reports on the revenue projection

30:58 ↗ from the most recent forecast so if you

31:01 ↗ hear that number is different that's

31:02 ↗ because they're comparing it to the

31:03 ↗ September forecast as opposed to the

31:05 ↗ March forecast which is what was used

31:07 ↗ when the budget was written um and I'll

31:10 ↗ note that that number does not factor in

31:13 ↗ climate commitment act revenues um those

31:16 ↗ are are

31:17 ↗ separate um the transportation budget um

31:21 ↗ is a very different picture uh

31:23 ↗ Transportation revenues continue to

31:25 ↗ decline and project costs for

31:28 ↗ transportation um major transportation

31:31 ↗ projects around the state um are

31:34 ↗ continuing to come in higher than they

31:35 ↗ were estimated as well as higher than

31:38 ↗ what they have received um State funding

31:40 ↗ for in the current budget um so that's

31:42 ↗ going to be a challenge for

31:44 ↗ transportation budget writers um to

31:46 ↗ determine how to manage those costs and

31:48 ↗ just for a little bit of context um

31:51 ↗ Washington State Department of

31:52 ↗ Transportation is estimating that

31:54 ↗ projects are costing upwards of 30% more

31:58 ↗ than what was

32:00 ↗ appropriated the final budget the

32:02 ↗ capital budget um the remaining bonding

32:04 ↗ capacity is roughly 95 million um so

32:08 ↗ that's a little bit of uh context um for

32:11 ↗ the the size of what the capital budget

32:13 ↗ will

32:15 ↗ be um on the policy side every bill that

32:18 ↗ was introduced in the 2023 session that

32:20 ↗ did not pass will be automatically

32:23 ↗ reintroduced and of course legislators

32:25 ↗ can introduce new bills as well well um

32:28 ↗ committee assignments will remain the

32:30 ↗ same as last year um the one um

32:33 ↗ exception that I'll note to that is

32:35 ↗ former Senator Christine Rus who was the

32:38 ↗ chair of the Senate Ways and Means

32:39 ↗ Committee um took an appointment to the

32:42 ↗ Kitsap County Commission and so her

32:44 ↗ position as the lead operating budget

32:46 ↗ writer in the Senate um has been

32:48 ↗ replaced by Senator June Robinson from

32:51 ↗ Everett um it is uh noteworthy since

32:54 ↗ we're midby anym of course Senator

32:56 ↗ Robinson as the Vice chair last year was

32:58 ↗ um a key member of the budget team um

33:01 ↗ but she's taking over Midway through the

33:03 ↗ budget as the lead budget writer in the

33:06 ↗ Senate typically in a short session or

33:09 ↗ an even numbered year we don't see the

33:11 ↗ legislature take up controversial issues

33:14 ↗ um both because there's limited time and

33:17 ↗ because following a short session um

33:20 ↗ every member of the House and half of

33:22 ↗ the Senate is up for reelection in

33:25 ↗ November um that being said some of the

33:28 ↗ major themes we expect to see in

33:30 ↗ proposals are similar to some of the

33:33 ↗ things we've seen in the last few

33:34 ↗ sessions so we continue to anticipate

33:38 ↗ housing policy and funding um although

33:41 ↗ 2023 was a it's been described as the

33:44 ↗ year of housing because there was such

33:46 ↗ substantial progress made um we do know

33:49 ↗ that there's going to continue to be a

33:51 ↗ push for a dedicated Revenue source for

33:53 ↗ affordable

33:55 ↗ housing um on the land use and

33:58 ↗ development regulations front um as you

34:01 ↗ all know the legislature passed over a

34:03 ↗ dozen bills um directing changes in

34:06 ↗ local land use and development

34:08 ↗ regulations um with the goal of

34:10 ↗ prompting more housing and through the

34:13 ↗ implementation of a lot of those laws um

34:16 ↗ legislators and some stakeholders have

34:18 ↗ identified technical issues um that will

34:21 ↗ be proposed in the form of trailer bills

34:23 ↗ which are not intended to change the

34:26 ↗ policy but um just kind of clean up what

34:28 ↗ was

34:29 ↗ intended um we do expect a really robust

34:33 ↗ discussion on Transit oriented

34:35 ↗ development and lot splitting those were

34:38 ↗ two topics that were considered in

34:40 ↗ 2023 um have been part of conversations

34:42 ↗ over the interim and um have already

34:45 ↗ seen some Bill drafts come

34:48 ↗ forward another area of focus will be

34:50 ↗ the climate commitment act um which is

34:53 ↗ of course Washington's version of a cap

34:55 ↗ invest program um

34:57 ↗ um the in the first few auctions of the

35:00 ↗ year it has generated substantially more

35:03 ↗ Revenue than was anticipated and so the

35:06 ↗ legislature may consider policy changes

35:08 ↗ um to limit the revenue moving forward

35:12 ↗ um as well as allocation of the

35:14 ↗ unanticipated

35:17 ↗ revenue um it's expected the legislature

35:20 ↗ will continue ongoing discussions on

35:21 ↗ Public Safety uh perhaps with a focus on

35:25 ↗ law enforcement uh Recruitment and

35:29 ↗ Retention and then finally um the new

35:31 ↗ chair of the Senate Ways and Means

35:33 ↗ Committee Senator Robinson um has said

35:36 ↗ that the biggest fiscal challenge she

35:38 ↗ sees facing lawmakers in this

35:39 ↗ supplemental year is the state's

35:41 ↗ Behavioral Health System um there have

35:44 ↗ of course several different lawsuits

35:46 ↗ that the state is facing in this front

35:49 ↗ um so they they have their work cut out

35:51 ↗ for them in short it is a short session

35:55 ↗ but there's not a shortage of ISS issues

35:57 ↗ uh for the legislature to

35:59 ↗ address next

36:02 ↗ slide so with that context um I want to

36:05 ↗ quickly remind you all of the structure

36:07 ↗ of the city's legislative agenda we have

36:10 ↗ two documents that guide our engagement

36:12 ↗ in Olympia the first is the legislative

36:15 ↗ priorities document it lists the city's

36:18 ↗ um top issues for um the upcoming

36:22 ↗ session and we adopt our legislative

36:24 ↗ agenda on a banial basis so since this

36:27 ↗ is the second year of the state's vium

36:30 ↗ we recommend that the city focus on

36:32 ↗ items that were not accomplished in the

36:34 ↗ first year and or lay the groundwork for

36:37 ↗ the upcoming vium the purpose of the

36:40 ↗ legislative priorities document is to

36:42 ↗ focus City resources both City staff

36:45 ↗ time as well as legislators time on the

36:48 ↗ issues that will most directly benefit

36:50 ↗ the

36:51 ↗ city and our second document is the

36:54 ↗ policy manual and this lists the various

36:56 ↗ policy areas that impact City business

36:59 ↗ where we anticipate legislation may be

37:02 ↗ introduced and the purpose of this

37:04 ↗ document is to have advanced direction

37:07 ↗ from the city on major policies to allow

37:10 ↗ for more timely engagement during the

37:12 ↗ very fast-paced legislative

37:15 ↗ session next

37:18 ↗ slide so let's um review the draft

37:21 ↗ priorities and these are um also listed

37:24 ↗ in the council packet in more detail so

37:28 ↗ the first is a policy statement about

37:30 ↗ housing availability and affordability

37:33 ↗ this is a carryover from the first year

37:35 ↗ of the banum and it directs engagement

37:38 ↗ in housing policy um that allows for

37:41 ↗ local solutions to housing availability

37:44 ↗ and affordability challenges um as I

37:48 ↗ previously mentioned Transit oriented

37:49 ↗ development and lot splitting are two

37:52 ↗ housing related policies that um are are

37:56 ↗ being pushed for in the 2024 session

37:59 ↗ we've already seen uh Bill drafts and

38:02 ↗ have shared those with City staff for

38:04 ↗ review um and Analysis on how those

38:07 ↗ align with current city policies um and

38:10 ↗ our objective is to help develop and

38:13 ↗ support policies that will result in

38:16 ↗ more housing both in isqua primarily in

38:19 ↗ isqua um as well as around the

38:21 ↗ state and um closely tied to housing is

38:25 ↗ transportation

38:27 ↗ and the city has a three pred priority

38:30 ↗ when it comes to

38:31 ↗ Transportation the first is uh more of a

38:34 ↗ policy and operational request of the

38:37 ↗ state recognizing that isqua is divided

38:40 ↗ by a major Interstate in One Direction

38:43 ↗ and a heavily used State Route and the

38:44 ↗ other um City staff have to coordinate

38:47 ↗ with the Washington State Department of

38:49 ↗ Transportation on a variety of issues um

38:53 ↗ whether it's coordination for the super

38:56 ↗ bundle Culvert project on I90 or

38:59 ↗ maintenance and preservation of State

39:01 ↗ Route 900 the process is easier um not

39:05 ↗ easy easier when wash doot is

39:08 ↗ sufficiently staffed um this has been a

39:11 ↗ point of tension between the legislature

39:14 ↗ and wash doot uh because over the years

39:17 ↗ the legislature has allocated funding

39:18 ↗ for positions that have remained

39:21 ↗ vacant in the current Transportation

39:24 ↗ budget the legislature op Ed to

39:26 ↗ reallocate funding for vacant positions

39:30 ↗ to other areas and expressed an intent

39:33 ↗ to restore that funding if Staffing

39:36 ↗ levels were

39:37 ↗ achieved and this was referred to as

39:39 ↗ vacancy

39:40 ↗ savings um the governor ended up vetoing

39:44 ↗ many of the sections of the budget that

39:45 ↗ would have otherwise reduced Staffing

39:47 ↗ for transportation related agencies and

39:51 ↗ I share all this simply to make you

39:52 ↗ aware of the discussions occurring in

39:54 ↗ the broader context and to highlight

39:57 ↗ that it is important for legislators to

39:59 ↗ hear that Staffing at wash do is a city

40:04 ↗ priority the second component of the

40:06 ↗ city's Transportation priority is the

40:08 ↗ central issaqua multimodal I90 Crossing

40:12 ↗ and this is a longer term priority both

40:14 ↗ because the city is currently working to

40:17 ↗ identify the preferred alternative and

40:20 ↗ because 2024 is a supplemental budget

40:22 ↗ year with limited to no funding

40:25 ↗ opportunities uh for Transportation

40:27 ↗ projects so our objective in having this

40:30 ↗ on the list of priorities this year is

40:33 ↗ to keep it top of mind for our

40:34 ↗ legislators um for the upcoming

40:39 ↗ vium the final Transportation request is

40:43 ↗ continued messaging around the timely

40:45 ↗ delivery of uh the State Route 18

40:47 ↗ widening and safety

40:49 ↗ improvements as I mentioned earlier the

40:52 ↗ transportation budget is already facing

40:54 ↗ a

40:55 ↗ deficit uh because of cost increases

40:57 ↗ from other Mega projects in the region

41:00 ↗ and the legislature has allocated nearly

41:03 ↗ 666 million dollar for the design and

41:06 ↗ construction of sr18 from Deep Creek to

41:10 ↗ isqua Hobart Road and the earliest that

41:14 ↗ construction would begin for this

41:16 ↗ project is

41:18 ↗ 2025 um which is following completion of

41:21 ↗ the new interchange at I90 and sr18 and

41:24 ↗ and the corresponding widening

41:26 ↗ um of 18 from I90 to Deep

41:31 ↗ Creek the final and only new priority

41:34 ↗ for the 2024 session is a capital budget

41:36 ↗ request of

41:37 ↗ $250,000 for the support of the Cougar

41:40 ↗ Mountain Zoo and as you all know the zoo

41:43 ↗ is a nonprofit that operates based on

41:45 ↗ memberships and donations um and they

41:48 ↗ have a vision to transform one of the

41:50 ↗ rooms into an indoor exhibit that could

41:53 ↗ be

41:54 ↗ multi-purpose um it would allow for

41:56 ↗ animal demonstrations with school groups

41:58 ↗ in the winter months um for private

42:01 ↗ events for potential meeting space um we

42:05 ↗ we do know that the capital budget has

42:07 ↗ limited capacity this year um and

42:09 ↗ representative Kalen has shared that

42:12 ↗ there are a few other requests for

42:13 ↗ funding within the district um but she

42:16 ↗ did tour the zoo and um saw the

42:19 ↗ potential for the project um so

42:22 ↗ advancing this priority would mean that

42:24 ↗ the city supports the zoo in developing

42:27 ↗ the messaging and the necessary forms to

42:30 ↗ submit this request to the

42:33 ↗ legislature next

42:37 ↗ slide so um the city's

42:42 ↗ um second document is the policy manual

42:45 ↗ and so we are recommending some minor

42:47 ↗ updates to reflect things that have

42:48 ↗ changed in the last year and as a

42:51 ↗ reminder these are not items that we are

42:52 ↗ proactively advancing these are topics

42:55 ↗ that may come up during the session that

42:57 ↗ we would support or oppose in alignment

43:00 ↗ with the council's direction and I do

43:02 ↗ want to um note that these are

43:05 ↗ statements organized alphabetically for

43:07 ↗ ease of reference not in

43:09 ↗ priority so the only new proposed policy

43:12 ↗ statement um urges the legislature to

43:15 ↗ ensure that Washington state does not

43:16 ↗ leave any federal covid relief funding

43:19 ↗ on the table and expresses the city's

43:21 ↗ desire to assist in that area if

43:23 ↗ needed and then there are three

43:25 ↗ statements that have updated language um

43:28 ↗ we've adjusted the anticipated

43:30 ↗ construction timing of the Opportunity

43:31 ↗ Center from 2025 to

43:34 ↗ 2028 uh We've cleaned up the language on

43:37 ↗ vehicular Pursuits to recognize that the

43:39 ↗ legislature did make some progress on

43:41 ↗ that topic in the 2023 session and we

43:44 ↗ modified the language on the Public

43:46 ↗ Works assistance account to acknowledge

43:48 ↗ the legislature um ended the diversions

43:51 ↗ from that account that were um that

43:53 ↗ began years ago and then finally finally

43:56 ↗ we removed a statement regarding

43:57 ↗ allowing local businesses to continue

43:59 ↗ outdoor alcohol service um that was a

44:01 ↗ temporary policy that was put in place

44:03 ↗ during covid that was really valuable to

44:05 ↗ local businesses so um we previously

44:08 ↗ allocated that that policy remain in

44:11 ↗ 2023 the legislature made that Authority

44:13 ↗ permanent um along with like specific

44:16 ↗ guidelines and so that statement um

44:18 ↗ that's been removed is no longer

44:20 ↗ relevant next

44:22 ↗ slide so to close um here are the next

44:25 ↗ steps as we look ahead to the 2024

44:27 ↗ session following tonight's meeting um

44:31 ↗ or at tonight's meeting you'll have the

44:32 ↗ opportunity to approve the legislative

44:35 ↗ documents um either with the changes

44:37 ↗ you'd like to see or as

44:39 ↗ presented uh the Senate has legislative

44:42 ↗ committee days on November 30th and

44:44 ↗ December 1st and the house has committee

44:46 ↗ days on December 4th and 5th this is

44:49 ↗ when legislators um meet in Olympia and

44:53 ↗ they hold meetings to receive briefings

44:55 ↗ on the the major issues for the upcoming

44:57 ↗ session um committee days are an

45:00 ↗ informal start to the legislative

45:03 ↗ process and especially in a short

45:04 ↗ session are a really critical um really

45:07 ↗ critical step in the

45:09 ↗ process on December 12th we are

45:12 ↗ scheduled to meet with the 5th and 41st

45:14 ↗ District legislators for our annual

45:16 ↗ breakfast where you all um discuss the

45:19 ↗ city's top priorities for the coming

45:21 ↗ year and then the 2024 session begins on

45:24 ↗ January 8th

45:28 ↗ and with that I am happy to take any

45:31 ↗ questions or comments about the draft

45:34 ↗ priorities thank you Kelly for the

45:36 ↗ session that is great I am looking at

45:39 ↗ the city council to see if anybody's

45:40 ↗ indicating a desire to ask some

45:42 ↗ questions of

45:45 ↗ Shelly you've laid a lot of groundwork

45:47 ↗ for this and there have been discussions

45:49 ↗ so thank you I'm not seeing any uh

45:51 ↗ indication that there's questions is

45:53 ↗ there a desire to make a motion council

45:56 ↗ president thank you I move to approve

45:58 ↗ the 2023 2024 legislative agenda as

46:02 ↗ presented

46:04 ↗ second thanks it's been moved and

46:06 ↗ seconded to approve it as presented is

46:08 ↗ there any Council discussion council

46:10 ↗ president and then uh council

46:14 ↗ member help me

46:18 ↗ hunt it's too early for that tonight way

46:21 ↗ too early okay um I would like to start

46:25 ↗ by saying that I support the adoption of

46:27 ↗ our legislative agenda this year even

46:30 ↗ though we haven't had another touch

46:32 ↗ Point um prior to this primarily because

46:35 ↗ I have trust in our city lobbyist uh we

46:38 ↗ have strong direct connections with our

46:41 ↗ legislators and we as council members

46:44 ↗ remain involved in engagement

46:47 ↗ opportunities to testify down at Olympia

46:50 ↗ um that being said I would just

46:52 ↗ encourage us next year um I'd really

46:55 ↗ like like us to take up the legislative

46:57 ↗ agenda earlier in

46:59 ↗ Q3 and take it up in a committee of the

47:02 ↗ whole meeting we had previously

47:04 ↗ discussed that it would be very helpful

47:07 ↗ for our legislators to have our agenda

47:09 ↗ earlier before the session and really

47:13 ↗ like I said we haven't had a recent

47:14 ↗ opportunity to really dig in to our

47:17 ↗ legislative agenda and I could see us

47:19 ↗ taking another stab at this and having

47:21 ↗ it say aligned to our strategic plan or

47:24 ↗ something else that really gives us a

47:26 ↗ moment to stop and pause and think about

47:29 ↗ okay what are the important areas for us

47:31 ↗ rather than necessarily being reactive

47:34 ↗ though I understand that is a lot of

47:36 ↗ what a lobbyist has to do um so those

47:39 ↗ are my comments thank you thank you

47:41 ↗ council member H thank you uh great

47:44 ↗ comments I support those um ideas for

47:46 ↗ the next time that we look at our

47:49 ↗ legislative agenda I had a couple

47:51 ↗ specific comments one is there's a

47:53 ↗ policy in our legisl agenda that is is

47:57 ↗ not new it's a um a long-standing policy

48:00 ↗ and it is that isqua supports Statewide

48:02 ↗ efforts to achieve meaningful salmon and

48:04 ↗ orca recovery through funding of

48:05 ↗ strategic actions including habitat

48:07 ↗ conservation and funding um and I wanted

48:10 ↗ to point out that the salmon Recovery

48:12 ↗ Council for our Watershed recently

48:14 ↗ adopted their legislative agenda um they

48:17 ↗ have a they um and I I represent the

48:20 ↗ city in that group have a very similar

48:22 ↗ policy um supporting state agency budget

48:25 ↗ request for monitoring salmon

48:27 ↗ populations and for studies including

48:29 ↗ specifically artificial light at night

48:31 ↗ which is known to impact salmon

48:33 ↗ populations um and I wanted to flag that

48:36 ↗ for us because in um several of the last

48:39 ↗ legislative sessions and I believe the

48:40 ↗ work will be continuing we have worked

48:43 ↗ with representative Ramos on um on

48:46 ↗ securing funding for our Watershed to uh

48:50 ↗ study and take action to reduce the

48:52 ↗ negative impacts of artificial light or

48:54 ↗ light pollution

48:56 ↗ at night um and the impacts that that

48:58 ↗ has on our salmon population so I wanted

49:01 ↗ to um thank representative Ramos for his

49:03 ↗ continued focus on our salmon that are

49:06 ↗ so important to us and um flag that for

49:08 ↗ Council that that work will will

49:10 ↗ continue um and I also wanted to uh

49:15 ↗ express my support for the request from

49:17 ↗ The Cougar Mountain Zoo and I think it

49:19 ↗ is excellent that representative Ken was

49:21 ↗ able to go and see the potential I as a

49:24 ↗ as a mother who goes all the time with

49:27 ↗ my kids I certainly see the potential

49:28 ↗ for having that indoor accessible space

49:30 ↗ and all the community benefit that they

49:32 ↗ would have that families could go um

49:36 ↗ could go and uh spend time in an indoor

49:39 ↗ space when there's inclement weather as

49:40 ↗ there often is and I also very much

49:43 ↗ support the continuing focus on working

49:44 ↗ with our state legislature on housing

49:47 ↗ availability and affordability and the

49:49 ↗ focus on our long-standing

49:51 ↗ transportation priorities so um thank

49:53 ↗ you Shelly as always for a great recap

49:56 ↗ and um I will be supporting this item

49:58 ↗ this evening any other Council comments

50:01 ↗ this

50:03 ↗ evening not seeing any uh so if there's

50:06 ↗ no further discussion the motion before

50:08 ↗ council is to approve the 20232 24

50:10 ↗ legislative agenda as presented all

50:12 ↗ those in favor signify by saying I I

50:16 ↗ those

50:17 ↗ opposed that carries six and0 um and

50:20 ↗ thank you Shelly great job um you always

50:23 ↗ bring such wonderful background uh for

50:25 ↗ us so super thank you so much for

50:27 ↗ joining us

50:29 ↗ tonight the next uh item of business is

50:31 ↗ AB 8704 the High Street collection

50:34 ↗ development agreement and the request

50:36 ↗ before Council this evening is to adopt

50:38 ↗ the ordinance the staff presentation and

50:40 ↗ public hearing on this item was

50:41 ↗ conducted at the November 13th 2023 city

50:44 ↗ council special meeting this item is now

50:47 ↗ before the city council for action and

50:49 ↗ I'd like to invite City attorney Rachel

50:51 ↗ Bender Turpin to provide some

50:54 ↗ comments

50:57 ↗ good evening thank you for the record

50:59 ↗ Rachel Bender tpin City attorney and I

51:02 ↗ am here this evening uh to

51:05 ↗ discuss uh the agenda item which is an

51:08 ↗ ordinance authorizing and approving the

51:11 ↗ High Street development uh High Street

51:13 ↗ collection development agreement which

51:15 ↗ is an agreement between the city of

51:17 ↗ isqua and IH ifcr commercial doing

51:22 ↗ business as an easier to say shelter

51:24 ↗ Holdings a public hearing on this

51:27 ↗ proposal was uh held at the November

51:30 ↗ 13th 2023 meeting a total of six

51:33 ↗ speakers attended that meeting and gave

51:35 ↗ testimony some speakers raised concerns

51:38 ↗ that the proposed development would

51:39 ↗ result in too much competition for

51:41 ↗ existing retail in the highlands others

51:45 ↗ spoke in support of addition additional

51:47 ↗ retail in the

51:50 ↗ highlands um there were also comments

51:53 ↗ about the importance of having high

51:54 ↗ quality outdoor amenities to serve the

51:57 ↗ Greater isqua Community exhibit B of the

52:00 ↗ agenda Bill includes responses to

52:02 ↗ written public comments that were

52:04 ↗ received between when the agenda bill

52:05 ↗ for the November 13th meeting was due

52:07 ↗ and when the agenda bill for this

52:09 ↗ meeting was due um this the

52:12 ↗ administration is recommending that the

52:14 ↗ city council approve the ordinance

52:16 ↗ adopting the development agreement and

52:19 ↗ with that I'm happy to take any

52:21 ↗ questions thank you Rachel council do

52:23 ↗ you have any questions

52:26 ↗ not seeing any questions uh would

52:28 ↗ somebody be prepared to make a

52:30 ↗ motion Mr President I move to adopt

52:33 ↗ ordinance number

52:36 ↗ 3035 approving and authorizing the mayor

52:38 ↗ to execute the High Street collection

52:40 ↗ development agreement is there a second

52:43 ↗ second it's been moved in seconded is

52:45 ↗ there any Council discussion council

52:48 ↗ president thank you um I just want to

52:51 ↗ take a moment and comment to the

52:54 ↗ community

52:56 ↗ I want you to recognize that this

52:58 ↗ development agreement came out of a long

53:01 ↗ litigation situation which needed to be

53:03 ↗ resolved to remove legal and financial

53:05 ↗ risks to the city but as a council we

53:09 ↗ really worked hard to make sure that

53:12 ↗ what came out of this agreement would

53:14 ↗ benefit the community and that included

53:17 ↗ additional retail public spaces

53:20 ↗ Recreation options including maybe a

53:23 ↗ splash pad or something like that that

53:25 ↗ the community has wanted for a long time

53:29 ↗ um and affordable housing uh we also

53:32 ↗ work to set aside a portion of the

53:35 ↗ housing as either smaller units or

53:38 ↗ senior housing so that there would be a

53:40 ↗ more limited impact to our schools and

53:44 ↗ from here I really look forward to

53:47 ↗ working with the ihca Architectural

53:49 ↗ Review Committee who have always done a

53:51 ↗ wonderful job of having the community's

53:53 ↗ best interests in mind when reviewing

53:56 ↗ potential development thank you thank

53:59 ↗ you council president I'm blanking again

54:02 ↗ council member

54:04 ↗ hunt I know and it's so

54:07 ↗ early thank you um I have comments on a

54:11 ↗ few points one is that um over the last

54:15 ↗ several months I've had conversations

54:17 ↗ with residents in the highlands um at

54:19 ↗ their doors including in parts of the

54:21 ↗ Highlands where there is currently

54:22 ↗ construction or where there has recently

54:23 ↗ been construction and Dev velopment and

54:26 ↗ have heard uh Community concerns for

54:27 ↗ example regarding noise from

54:29 ↗ construction and I wanted to um comment

54:33 ↗ on that so this agreement sets

54:36 ↗ development standards for the project

54:37 ↗ and the review process to ensure

54:39 ↗ consistency with those standards but

54:41 ↗ nothing in the agreement restricts the

54:42 ↗ city's ability to require compliance

54:45 ↗ with its other codes or to otherwise

54:47 ↗ exercise its police powers or authorizes

54:49 ↗ the developer to engage in any um

54:52 ↗ nuisance type behaviors so for example

54:54 ↗ the app applicant would still need to

54:56 ↗ comply with the city's noise code and

54:57 ↗ the garbage regulations and any

54:59 ↗ contractors working on the project would

55:01 ↗ need to comply with the city's

55:02 ↗ contractor code of conduct so I think um

55:05 ↗ I think that's important for the

55:06 ↗ community to know I also wanted to

55:09 ↗ clarify for the community that um under

55:12 ↗ the agreement the developer will comply

55:14 ↗ with all construction and Technical

55:16 ↗ codes in effect in the city and state of

55:18 ↗ Washington on the date that they file a

55:20 ↗ complete application for a building

55:22 ↗ permit and so this would include the

55:24 ↗ Washington State energy code and the

55:26 ↗ sustainability requirements included

55:28 ↗ therein this is important to our our

55:30 ↗ community and I've heard um and I I know

55:33 ↗ that those

55:34 ↗ environmental um codes are important to

55:37 ↗ the extent that the agreement uh does

55:39 ↗ not establish a development standards

55:41 ↗ covering a certain subject then the IMC

55:44 ↗ that is currently in effect will be

55:45 ↗ applied and the agreement reserves the

55:46 ↗ authority to impose new or different

55:48 ↗ development standards to the extent

55:50 ↗ required by a serious threat to public

55:51 ↗ sa public health and safety I also

55:54 ↗ thought that was important to point out

55:59 ↗ um there are Community amenities in this

56:01 ↗ development agreement as as was

56:03 ↗ mentioned and um I believe it's

56:05 ↗ important that the community will have a

56:06 ↗ voice in what those amenities are um so

56:09 ↗ that they can best meet the needs of the

56:11 ↗ community following our actions tonight

56:13 ↗ there will be a dialogue with the

56:15 ↗ community and at least a at least one

56:17 ↗ community openhouse so I really

56:19 ↗ encourage the the um Community to

56:23 ↗ participate in that and have your voice

56:25 ↗ her there will also have to be a a

56:27 ↗ licensed landscape architect in this

56:29 ↗ process um so we really have taken steps

56:32 ↗ and um there will be a public

56:34 ↗ participation in that process so again

56:36 ↗ really encourage the community to

56:37 ↗ participate in

56:39 ↗ that

56:41 ↗ um there are other amenities as as I

56:43 ↗ think was very well covered by council

56:46 ↗ president Walsh um and in light of the

56:49 ↗ context which was also covered by

56:50 ↗ council president Walsh and previously I

56:53 ↗ do believe that in light of this the

56:54 ↗ agreement and the project is in the best

56:57 ↗ interest of the city thank you thank you

56:59 ↗ council member H any other council

57:00 ↗ members wanting to make a comment

57:03 ↗ council member

57:04 ↗ Joe thank you um I just wanted to let my

57:08 ↗ fellow council members know that I will

57:10 ↗ be abstaining from the vote tonight um

57:12 ↗ as many of you know uh I work for master

57:15 ↗ billers of King and snowman County and

57:18 ↗ we filed an amus brief in connection

57:20 ↗ with this uh litigation and so just to

57:23 ↗ have uh full transparency and um

57:28 ↗ openness to the public I'll be

57:30 ↗ abstaining tonight from the vote thank

57:32 ↗ you thank you council member Joe any

57:33 ↗ other council members wishing to make

57:36 ↗ comment okay I'll reread the

57:38 ↗ motion uh if there's no further

57:40 ↗ discussion the motion before council is

57:42 ↗ to adopt ordinance number

57:44 ↗ 3035 approving and auth authorizing the

57:46 ↗ mayor to execute the High Street

57:48 ↗ collection development agreement all

57:51 ↗ those in favor signify by saying I I

57:57 ↗ those

57:58 ↗ opposed

58:00 ↗ abstaining thank you so that carries

58:03 ↗ with a 5 and0 vote thank you very much

58:06 ↗ um I'd really like to thank our City

58:08 ↗ attorney and I know our community

58:09 ↗ planning and development director here

58:11 ↗ this evening as well thank you so much

58:12 ↗ for working on this agreement we're

58:15 ↗ going to move to the next item of

58:16 ↗ business which is AB

58:18 ↗ 8734 amending the city council rules of

58:21 ↗ procedure with respect to public

58:23 ↗ comments and the requests before for the

58:25 ↗ council this evening is to approve the

58:27 ↗ resolution and she's staying right up

58:29 ↗ there City attorney Rachel Bender Turpin

58:31 ↗ is going to provide a brief presentation

58:33 ↗ hello again Rachel Turin City attorney

58:37 ↗ I'm here with you on this agenda item um

58:40 ↗ it's a it's a little sadder topic here

58:42 ↗ to

58:43 ↗ discuss I'm here um with a proposal that

58:47 ↗ would amend the city council rules of

58:50 ↗ procedure regarding General audience

58:53 ↗ comments to require that those comments

58:55 ↗ be relevant to City business directly

58:59 ↗ related to uh City program Services

59:02 ↗ events the reason for this

59:05 ↗ recommendation is a really sad series of

59:10 ↗ incidents that have occurred throughout

59:12 ↗ Washington and the country as a whole

59:15 ↗ where City Council meetings uh are what

59:19 ↗ has been referred to as zoom zoom bombed

59:22 ↗ by individuals who are like not

59:25 ↗ affiliated with the community at all in

59:27 ↗ fact uh appear to be coordinated groups

59:29 ↗ of individuals uh working together and

59:33 ↗ they're simply to

59:35 ↗ make hateful speech during the public

59:39 ↗ comment

59:40 ↗ period And when I say hateful speech I

59:43 ↗ mean it pretty pretty severely hateful

59:46 ↗ speech this goes far beyond uh folks

59:50 ↗ offering up differing viewpoints or uh

59:53 ↗ opinions on very on political issues I'm

59:56 ↗ talking about uh racial and anti-semitic

59:59 ↗ slurs I'm talking about uh very extreme

1:00:04 ↗ white nationalist conspiracy theories uh

1:00:07 ↗ it's pretty harmful stuff it's the kind

1:00:09 ↗ of thing that um you know many of my

1:00:11 ↗ colleagues have reported has have left

1:00:14 ↗ audience members in tears staff upset

1:00:16 ↗ council members in tears it's it's it's

1:00:20 ↗ um I'm a person I think have has pretty

1:00:22 ↗ thick skin and it's pretty disturbing

1:00:24 ↗ stuff to

1:00:25 ↗ hear the first people enjoy uh

1:00:29 ↗ protections for their speech under the

1:00:31 ↗ First Amendment as I'm sure you're all

1:00:32 ↗ aware that includes a protection for to

1:00:36 ↗ uh for against hate speech hate speech

1:00:38 ↗ is is allowed under the first amendment

1:00:40 ↗ is what I'm trying to say and because of

1:00:44 ↗ the strong protections that the First

1:00:47 ↗ Amendment provides any regulation of

1:00:51 ↗ speech that is put in place by a

1:00:53 ↗ government has to be um a time place and

1:00:56 ↗ manner restriction it has to be uh

1:00:59 ↗ reasonable and it has to be content

1:01:03 ↗ neutral the content neutral

1:01:06 ↗ requirements means that we can't just

1:01:09 ↗ prohibit HS speech outright as much as I

1:01:12 ↗ think we probably would all uh like to

1:01:14 ↗ do that so to the extent that um we want

1:01:18 ↗ to impose any sort of restrictions here

1:01:21 ↗ that would pre that would prevent these

1:01:23 ↗ types of incidents from from happening

1:01:25 ↗ we have several options we have um what

1:01:28 ↗ some cities are doing is they are

1:01:29 ↗ eliminating the general audience

1:01:32 ↗ comments all together and they're

1:01:33 ↗ requiring people to only comment on

1:01:35 ↗ items that are on the agenda another

1:01:38 ↗ option I've seen folks take is to

1:01:40 ↗ eliminate the opportunity for virtual

1:01:43 ↗ public comment because most of these

1:01:45 ↗ incidents are are occurring with people

1:01:48 ↗ virtually another option that similar to

1:01:51 ↗ that that I've seen is requiring people

1:01:53 ↗ to have their cameras on because most of

1:01:55 ↗ the kind of comments that are being made

1:01:56 ↗ are not things that people would want

1:01:59 ↗ associated with their face um probably

1:02:01 ↗ the kind of things that would get people

1:02:02 ↗ fired from their job so uh that's

1:02:06 ↗ another approach here

1:02:09 ↗ uh there so there's obvious you know

1:02:12 ↗ another approach here would be just to

1:02:13 ↗ allow it and then to you know strongly

1:02:15 ↗ condemn those types of comments should

1:02:18 ↗ they occur I just want to make sure that

1:02:20 ↗ everyone here is aware of the these

1:02:23 ↗ incidents that are that are going on and

1:02:26 ↗ aware of what your options are and that

1:02:28 ↗ if we don't take any action to amend the

1:02:30 ↗ rules and we have an incident like this

1:02:33 ↗ we will we will have to sit here and and

1:02:35 ↗ listen to this content so with that I'm

1:02:38 ↗ happy to answer any questions that you

1:02:41 ↗ have thank you Rachel questions council

1:02:44 ↗ member D

1:02:45 ↗ Michelle uh thanks

1:02:47 ↗ Rachel this feels really rushed to me

1:02:51 ↗ and I'm just wondering why we are bring

1:02:53 ↗ you're bringing this

1:02:54 ↗ what's the urgency of this is the

1:02:56 ↗ question I have for you well honestly I

1:02:59 ↗ probably should have brought it to you a

1:03:00 ↗ month ago however because that's when

1:03:02 ↗ these incidents started they started

1:03:04 ↗ probably 6 weeks ago however I I am a

1:03:08 ↗ firm believer in First Amendment uh

1:03:11 ↗ rights and in government transparency

1:03:14 ↗ and I really hoped this kind of thing

1:03:16 ↗ would blow over I didn't want to make a

1:03:18 ↗ big deal out of this I wanted to see if

1:03:20 ↗ maybe this was the kind of thing that

1:03:21 ↗ was just happening a few times here and

1:03:23 ↗ there and was you know um was going to

1:03:27 ↗ just die off that has not been the case

1:03:30 ↗ in fact it has um ramped up

1:03:32 ↗ significantly my my Professional

1:03:34 ↗ Organization list serves have have you

1:03:37 ↗ know

1:03:38 ↗ multiple uh incidents about the they

1:03:40 ↗ write in about incidents like this every

1:03:43 ↗ week so we're seeing a lot more of this

1:03:46 ↗ which is why I think it's becoming more

1:03:49 ↗ and more it's it's just becoming much

1:03:51 ↗ more likely that I think we'll have an

1:03:53 ↗ incident like this I mean I'll tell tell

1:03:54 ↗ you that I was holding my breath during

1:03:56 ↗ public comment today because I was not

1:03:58 ↗ sure what was coming we you just you

1:04:00 ↗ never know when it's going to be your

1:04:03 ↗ turn these groups tend to Target the

1:04:06 ↗ cities that don't have that do allow

1:04:08 ↗ comment on any topic because they know

1:04:10 ↗ that they won't be they've learned

1:04:12 ↗ enough to know what they can and can't

1:04:14 ↗ do Under the First Amendment themselves

1:04:16 ↗ so um it's Rush simply because I think

1:04:19 ↗ you need to at least be aware that this

1:04:22 ↗ is an issue I don't want to get in a in

1:04:24 ↗ situation where these comments are

1:04:25 ↗ coming in and we're you know we're

1:04:28 ↗ inappropriately muting people when we

1:04:29 ↗ shouldn't everyone's looking at me going

1:04:32 ↗ why don't you shut this down City

1:04:33 ↗ attorney and I have to tell you all you

1:04:35 ↗ know with tears in your eyes that I'm

1:04:38 ↗ sorry you just have to listen to this so

1:04:40 ↗ that's that's why it's coming before you

1:04:43 ↗ in this

1:04:44 ↗ manner any other

1:04:49 ↗ questions uh okay anybody want to make a

1:04:52 ↗ motion council president

1:04:54 ↗ thank you I move to approve resolution

1:04:57 ↗ number 2023

1:04:59 ↗ d17 amending section 4.08 of the city

1:05:03 ↗ council rules of procedure to require

1:05:05 ↗ that General audience comments directly

1:05:07 ↗ relate to City programs projects

1:05:10 ↗ services or

1:05:12 ↗ events second it's been seconded Council

1:05:15 ↗ discussion council president thank you

1:05:19 ↗ um is this a perfect ordinance and

1:05:22 ↗ process for amending our rule related to

1:05:24 ↗ public comments no is this the ordinance

1:05:28 ↗ we need right now to keep our community

1:05:30 ↗ safe from hateful speech

1:05:33 ↗ Yes um I don't know how many of you guys

1:05:36 ↗ watched and stomached through the Lake

1:05:39 ↗ Forest

1:05:40 ↗ Park okay I

1:05:43 ↗ did 17 minutes of people making vile

1:05:49 ↗ vile

1:05:51 ↗ comments and that was just one instance

1:05:54 ↗ and seeing that I have to say that our

1:06:00 ↗ responsibility more than anything is to

1:06:04 ↗ keep our community safe from that type

1:06:07 ↗ of

1:06:09 ↗ commentary being out there and so I

1:06:13 ↗ think it's really important to recognize

1:06:16 ↗ that this

1:06:17 ↗ ordinance would only enable us to stop

1:06:21 ↗ comments if they're both

1:06:24 ↗ unrelated to the city programs as

1:06:27 ↗ written and they Cause A

1:06:29 ↗ disruption and so that that to me says

1:06:33 ↗ this is enough as a stop Gap um to take

1:06:37 ↗ care of this and so I think because we

1:06:41 ↗ are not considering a response that

1:06:43 ↗ limits comments to only items on the

1:06:46 ↗ agenda which could be a possibility um

1:06:49 ↗ this is really the appropriate one that

1:06:51 ↗ we need to make to keep our community

1:06:53 ↗ safe

1:06:55 ↗ thank you council president um I didn't

1:06:57 ↗ see the order did you two probably know

1:07:00 ↗ council member hun council member D

1:07:02 ↗ Michelle we'll go with that

1:07:06 ↗ order um so first of all this I wanted

1:07:09 ↗ to make it clear that this isn't in

1:07:10 ↗ response to anything that happened here

1:07:13 ↗ um we got some concerned comments from

1:07:16 ↗ um people in the community wondering

1:07:18 ↗ about you know why this why this was

1:07:21 ↗ taking place and it is it is that other

1:07:24 ↗ neighboring communities have seen this

1:07:25 ↗ and actually I was recently at the

1:07:27 ↗ National League of cities conference and

1:07:29 ↗ um there were city council members and

1:07:32 ↗ Mayors from cities all across the United

1:07:34 ↗ States and they were also seeing this

1:07:37 ↗ and several of that those cities had

1:07:39 ↗ taken actions um that are considerably

1:07:42 ↗ more restrictive than what we're doing

1:07:44 ↗ tonight for example removing the option

1:07:47 ↗ for virtual public comment and so um I

1:07:50 ↗ would really that that I would be

1:07:53 ↗ opposed to the if we were to consider

1:07:55 ↗ removing public comment the virtual

1:07:58 ↗ option because I think that gives

1:08:00 ↗ people that makes our public comment

1:08:03 ↗ much more accessible um for people that

1:08:06 ↗ have different schedules or have uh

1:08:08 ↗ Child Care needs or any number of other

1:08:10 ↗ issues and so I think I think what we're

1:08:14 ↗ doing tonight is um in response to

1:08:18 ↗ recent events we do sometimes take

1:08:21 ↗ action quickly when there are recent

1:08:23 ↗ events um and so one thing that I that I

1:08:28 ↗ know um others have also thought about

1:08:32 ↗ is perhaps we could take action and then

1:08:34 ↗ we could revisit this shortly and think

1:08:36 ↗ through what what is the long-term

1:08:39 ↗ policy that we want um we have done we

1:08:42 ↗ have done things in like that in the

1:08:43 ↗ past where we feel we need to have

1:08:45 ↗ something now and it's it's maybe not

1:08:50 ↗ 100% perfect and then um and then think

1:08:54 ↗ through and make sure that we have a a

1:08:56 ↗ long-term policy that meets our needs

1:08:58 ↗ that has um that we've been able to work

1:09:01 ↗ on more so I would be supportive of

1:09:04 ↗ taking this action tonight but I also

1:09:06 ↗ would very much be interested in um in

1:09:10 ↗ staff talking about what we could do to

1:09:13 ↗ make sure that we revisit this ordinance

1:09:16 ↗ and

1:09:17 ↗ um and make sure that the long-term

1:09:21 ↗ version um is not something that was

1:09:23 ↗ quite so reactive to a near-term

1:09:26 ↗ need you council member H uh council

1:09:29 ↗ member marz and then council member Ray

1:09:32 ↗ oh sorry D Michelle Marts Ray There we

1:09:35 ↗ go yeah thank

1:09:37 ↗ you so thank you for bringing this for

1:09:40 ↗ discussion because I think it's a really

1:09:42 ↗ important uh topic so a series of

1:09:45 ↗ incidents uh at City Council meetings

1:09:48 ↗ all over the country uh did not arise SP

1:09:51 ↗ spontaneously this is an organized

1:09:53 ↗ effort that we're seeing the goal is

1:09:56 ↗ first to spread hate and

1:09:58 ↗ fear uh their second goal is to

1:10:00 ↗ undermine democracy and replace it with

1:10:03 ↗ authoritarianism they want to erode the

1:10:06 ↗ people's trust in duly elected

1:10:08 ↗ government the stand up for the

1:10:10 ↗ principles and values this country was

1:10:12 ↗ founded on freedom of speech freedom of

1:10:15 ↗ religion freedom of Association freedom

1:10:18 ↗ of the

1:10:18 ↗ press in 2016 a little book came out

1:10:22 ↗ it's called on Ty it was written by

1:10:25 ↗ Timothy Snider who is a professor who's

1:10:28 ↗ spent his career studying

1:10:31 ↗ authoritarianism and his first principle

1:10:33 ↗ number one is do not obey in advance

1:10:37 ↗ most of the power of authoritarianism is

1:10:39 ↗ freely given in times like these

1:10:42 ↗ individuals think ahead about what a

1:10:44 ↗ more repressive government will want and

1:10:47 ↗ then offer themselves without being

1:10:49 ↗ asked a citizen who adapts in this way

1:10:52 ↗ is teaching power what he could do and

1:10:55 ↗ the first sentence in that chapter is

1:10:58 ↗ anticipatory obedience is a political

1:11:01 ↗ tragedy so why would we voluntarily

1:11:05 ↗ capitulate to this effort to erode

1:11:08 ↗ Democratic Values by restricting the

1:11:10 ↗ Free Speech rights of isqua residents

1:11:13 ↗ residents by the way who have been

1:11:15 ↗ unfailingly respectful towards us even

1:11:18 ↗ when they disagreed with our actions and

1:11:20 ↗ even our motives our residents should be

1:11:23 ↗ free to come before us and speak on any

1:11:25 ↗ topic without we who are the government

1:11:29 ↗ deciding whether it is acceptable or not

1:11:32 ↗ and just to be clear of course these

1:11:34 ↗ incidents we are discussing are

1:11:36 ↗ disgusting and reprehensible I sit

1:11:39 ↗ through one every time I go to Regional

1:11:41 ↗ Transit committee I have done that for a

1:11:44 ↗ year and a half now uh council president

1:11:47 ↗ Walsh has the same

1:11:48 ↗ experience um but as one of our

1:11:51 ↗ correspondents pointed out if we

1:11:53 ↗ restrict those forms of speech we also

1:11:55 ↗ restrict the opportunity for others to

1:11:58 ↗ rebuke and correct them in public so

1:12:02 ↗ thus Begins the famous slippery slope

1:12:04 ↗ into

1:12:06 ↗ authoritarianism um I would be very

1:12:09 ↗ interested in discussing this further

1:12:11 ↗ when I said earlier I think this has

1:12:12 ↗ been rushed I think there are things we

1:12:15 ↗ could do such as making sure that people

1:12:17 ↗ turn on their cameras and have to

1:12:19 ↗ identify themselves and make sure that

1:12:21 ↗ we know that they are who they say they

1:12:24 ↗ are I think all of that's very

1:12:25 ↗ reasonable I would really uh support

1:12:29 ↗ going back to the drawing board and

1:12:30 ↗ really looking at this before we adopt

1:12:32 ↗ it but tonight I have to vote no on it I

1:12:35 ↗ think it's way too broadly stated and I

1:12:39 ↗ think it sends the wrong message to our

1:12:43 ↗ resident um and uh I think it's

1:12:46 ↗ important for at this moment in our

1:12:48 ↗ history for our residents to have trust

1:12:51 ↗ in their government thank you thank you

1:12:54 ↗ council member D Michelle uh Mars then

1:12:58 ↗ Ray so I'm going to be supporting this

1:13:02 ↗ this evening because I think that it's

1:13:05 ↗ important what the council president

1:13:08 ↗ said about how this is particularly

1:13:10 ↗ parsed um I think in general it's

1:13:13 ↗ important to listen to arguments that we

1:13:15 ↗ find upsetting I think the idea that we

1:13:17 ↗ should Shield ourselves from anything

1:13:19 ↗ that's upsetting is is is a bad idea um

1:13:23 ↗ and we've had we've had speech here in

1:13:24 ↗ this chamber no nobody except for myself

1:13:27 ↗ was on the council we had a gentleman

1:13:28 ↗ early on who um I believe had some

1:13:31 ↗ mental health issues who was uh said a

1:13:33 ↗ bunch of racist stuff and uh we survived

1:13:37 ↗ and he looked foolish and uh the

1:13:39 ↗ business went of the community went on

1:13:42 ↗ we have folks you know it's been

1:13:43 ↗ mentioned we have Folks at the county

1:13:45 ↗ level uh they are local and uh and they

1:13:48 ↗ call us fascists and criminals and

1:13:50 ↗ that's okay um they get they have the

1:13:52 ↗ right to do that um that's part of our

1:13:54 ↗ job to hear that um but uh what we don't

1:13:58 ↗ have to do is is provide a venue for

1:14:00 ↗ people who have no connection to the

1:14:01 ↗ community in any way shape or form who

1:14:04 ↗ are merely trying to sort of co-opt the

1:14:07 ↗ mechanisms of democracy to to just find

1:14:10 ↗ another venue to spew nonsense uh that

1:14:12 ↗ has nothing to do with our community

1:14:14 ↗ that's not part of our job and so uh we

1:14:16 ↗ can say that that we don't want to do

1:14:17 ↗ that so I very much understand um as a

1:14:21 ↗ card carrying member of the ACLU I

1:14:23 ↗ understand the arguments um of of the

1:14:26 ↗ concerns around this issue um but I

1:14:28 ↗ really do feel that the specific parsing

1:14:31 ↗ uh of this bill is such that it will not

1:14:34 ↗ prevent folks in the community from

1:14:36 ↗ saying things we don't want to hear uh

1:14:37 ↗ but we'll rather just uh keep the

1:14:40 ↗ business of the city as the business of

1:14:42 ↗ the city however residents and and uh uh

1:14:45 ↗ and local folks may see fit to come for

1:14:47 ↗ us thank you thank you councilor Merz

1:14:49 ↗ Council mayor

1:14:50 ↗ Ray thank you this is this is really

1:14:52 ↗ hard because

1:14:53 ↗ I prepared a bunch of uh really cogent

1:14:55 ↗ notes about what I was going to say and

1:14:57 ↗ then council member D Michelle um

1:15:00 ↗ changed my mind um so I'm going to kind

1:15:03 ↗ of cherry-pick my notes but um

1:15:05 ↗ maintaining civil discourse is an

1:15:06 ↗ important part of good governance and I

1:15:08 ↗ think we all agree to that and it's

1:15:09 ↗ actually a Hallmark of this Council I

1:15:10 ↗ think one of the things that makes this

1:15:11 ↗ Council extremely effective is that

1:15:14 ↗ civil discourse and so something that

1:15:17 ↗ undermined civil discourse to me just

1:15:19 ↗ rips at the fabric of of what I believe

1:15:21 ↗ good governance should be um

1:15:24 ↗ but one of the other Hallmarks of this

1:15:25 ↗ Council has been we are very

1:15:29 ↗ um um strong Believers in in the value

1:15:31 ↗ of public comment and encouraging it and

1:15:34 ↗ creating a forum where everybody has a

1:15:35 ↗ chance to speak and and so this is where

1:15:38 ↗ I'm going to diverge from my original

1:15:39 ↗ comments which was you know I think you

1:15:42 ↗ know in the interest of of civil

1:15:44 ↗ discourse we move forward with this

1:15:46 ↗ rules change and then I think it was um

1:15:49 ↗ council member hunt who said and then we

1:15:51 ↗ can come back and review it later

1:15:53 ↗ and I guess I'm now kind of coming to

1:15:55 ↗ the mindset that no let's get it right

1:15:58 ↗ let's find out what the uh find a

1:16:00 ↗ solution that that allows us to um

1:16:03 ↗ balance the fact that we want to

1:16:05 ↗ encourage people to be here we want

1:16:07 ↗ people to tell us things that we don't

1:16:08 ↗ want to hear because that's important

1:16:10 ↗ and to if what we have to do is to put

1:16:13 ↗ up with um some hate speech and I listen

1:16:17 ↗ to uh I listened to it too and it wasn't

1:16:19 ↗ pleasant um but you know that's part of

1:16:22 ↗ it and so I'm I'm kind of falling down

1:16:25 ↗ on the know let's let's look at the

1:16:27 ↗ rules let's figure out a way where we

1:16:29 ↗ can get um protect First Amendment

1:16:32 ↗ rights because I think we have to do

1:16:33 ↗ that but also um where we can um

1:16:38 ↗ maintain our

1:16:40 ↗ um real strong interest in in um

1:16:45 ↗ Effective Government and civil discourse

1:16:47 ↗ thanks thanks Council M Ray any other

1:16:49 ↗ comments uh council member Joe thank you

1:16:52 ↗ uh we might might have our first 33 tie

1:16:55 ↗ depending on how the chips fall um I'm

1:16:58 ↗ supportive of this measure um as many of

1:17:01 ↗ you know I'm an attorney still licensed

1:17:03 ↗ to practice in the state of Washington

1:17:05 ↗ so far um right now I think that this uh

1:17:10 ↗ Amendment to the rules is narrowly

1:17:13 ↗ tailored uh it's reasonable it's thought

1:17:17 ↗ out in a in the time that we had it was

1:17:20 ↗ thought out well um we always have the

1:17:23 ↗ chance or the opportunity to come back

1:17:25 ↗ in a minute if we need to I think we

1:17:27 ↗ just need to have something that's in

1:17:29 ↗ case of danger break glass is available

1:17:32 ↗ to us should something arise

1:17:35 ↗ um my biggest concern I think is we want

1:17:39 ↗ people to watch our meetings and learn

1:17:42 ↗ and

1:17:43 ↗ see what we do as much as possible and

1:17:46 ↗ participate as well but if we have a

1:17:49 ↗ channel 21 video playing over and over

1:17:52 ↗ again that is this hate speech and it's

1:17:54 ↗ on YouTube now permanently and we don't

1:17:58 ↗ edit it or what have you then I think

1:18:00 ↗ we're doing a diservice to our community

1:18:02 ↗ by putting it out there and perpetuating

1:18:04 ↗ it in a way that's not positive I know

1:18:07 ↗ we have to balance all the all the

1:18:09 ↗ Second Amendment First Amendment um

1:18:12 ↗ excuse me second amendment's okay right

1:18:14 ↗ now so far uh First Amendment uh

1:18:17 ↗ concerns along the way and um as we put

1:18:21 ↗ this in place and we see what other

1:18:22 ↗ communities do will'll be able to

1:18:24 ↗ hopefully make changes if we think

1:18:26 ↗ they're necessary and use the best

1:18:27 ↗ practices that we see in other

1:18:28 ↗ communities so I'll be supporting this

1:18:30 ↗ motion to this Bill thank you thank you

1:18:33 ↗ council member Joe Council hunt got you

1:18:36 ↗ right on first time this time yes this

1:18:39 ↗ is uh thank you for letting me speak

1:18:42 ↗ again um just a few comments uh in

1:18:44 ↗ response to some of my fellow council

1:18:47 ↗ members comments um one is I we have

1:18:50 ↗ always had the wording in our guidelines

1:18:53 ↗ which we read at every public comment

1:18:56 ↗ opportunity that we do not um allow for

1:18:59 ↗ personal attacks obsy and language

1:19:01 ↗ derogatory remarks or other um

1:19:03 ↗ disruptive comments such as shouting

1:19:04 ↗ booing that that has that language has

1:19:06 ↗ always been consistent and we have

1:19:08 ↗ always said it to let people know that

1:19:10 ↗ we don't allow that and so the way I see

1:19:13 ↗ it is we don't this is a tool that this

1:19:18 ↗ um what we're considering tonight is a

1:19:20 ↗ tool to actually allow us to enforce

1:19:24 ↗ that but that's really the intent is to

1:19:26 ↗ if if that happens it gives us a tool to

1:19:30 ↗ um to follow through on what we've

1:19:32 ↗ always said is our rule um and also I I

1:19:37 ↗ don't feel compelled to allow a platform

1:19:41 ↗ for unlimited number of people to give

1:19:45 ↗ five minute comment that's going to

1:19:46 ↗ replay as as um council member Joe very

1:19:50 ↗ aptly said you know to have that to give

1:19:53 ↗ them that platform um and so I I do

1:19:56 ↗ support this I think it gives us a tool

1:19:58 ↗ to enact a policy that we that we've

1:20:00 ↗ always had and that our community has

1:20:03 ↗ always um in my time on Council has has

1:20:05 ↗ almost always you know respected and so

1:20:08 ↗ it's not again it's not in response to

1:20:10 ↗ something that we've seen recently in

1:20:11 ↗ our community but I think it gives us a

1:20:14 ↗ chance to enact our

1:20:16 ↗ policy should we see this sort of

1:20:19 ↗ disruptive behavior that our neighboring

1:20:20 ↗ cities have thanks R you want to try

1:20:25 ↗ mitigate I think you can thank

1:20:29 ↗ you so I'm struck with the language you

1:20:31 ↗ know which is really um the the the Crux

1:20:34 ↗ of this so is directly related to City

1:20:35 ↗ programs projects services or events and

1:20:39 ↗ my only concern is I well I only have

1:20:42 ↗ one concern I have two concerns and

1:20:43 ↗ they're they're they're opposite SES of

1:20:45 ↗ the coin one is that we discourage

1:20:48 ↗ people who want to come here and share

1:20:50 ↗ something that they're not sure is

1:20:52 ↗ related to a City program project

1:20:54 ↗ service or event and so they don't um

1:20:57 ↗ but the other thing is if somebody

1:20:59 ↗ really wants to spew a lot of hate

1:21:01 ↗ speech at us they can very easily tie it

1:21:03 ↗ to a city program project service or

1:21:06 ↗ event and then we're kind of in a box

1:21:09 ↗ and I'm really a big fan of the First

1:21:11 ↗ Amendment um and I don't want to see our

1:21:14 ↗ City attorney having to provide um

1:21:16 ↗ constitutional guidance for us because

1:21:18 ↗ we think that this doesn't um doesn't

1:21:21 ↗ belong in they think it does and so it's

1:21:25 ↗ um I think it's a a protection without

1:21:27 ↗ protection um and and so

1:21:31 ↗ I'm the goal I think everybody here is

1:21:33 ↗ on board with the goal of what we're

1:21:34 ↗ trying to do I but the question is is

1:21:37 ↗ this the answer and I I don't I

1:21:39 ↗ mean I got to hand it to my good friend

1:21:41 ↗ here is um I really um kind of had to

1:21:45 ↗ kind of stop and think about this a

1:21:47 ↗ little bit more than um than I had and

1:21:50 ↗ it's like yeah it's not it's not going

1:21:52 ↗ to make a difference we're going to get

1:21:53 ↗ it anyway um we're we're setting

1:21:56 ↗ ourselves up for difficulties by

1:21:58 ↗ violating someone's First Amendment

1:22:00 ↗ rights um let's take a step back and see

1:22:03 ↗ what we can do to make this um come up

1:22:05 ↗ with something that's a little bit

1:22:06 ↗ stronger so um not a big fan right now I

1:22:09 ↗ think we need to do something that I

1:22:11 ↗ want us to do it right any other

1:22:15 ↗ comments council member D Michelle I had

1:22:18 ↗ written down a group of

1:22:21 ↗ examples hopefully they're not really

1:22:24 ↗ crazy but um for example Larry Franks

1:22:27 ↗ used to come and talk to us every

1:22:29 ↗ council meeting about his little fishy

1:22:31 ↗ friends not really related to anything

1:22:34 ↗ specific but he would talk to us uh we

1:22:37 ↗ had a uh we had Cyrus cron come a week

1:22:40 ↗ the last meeting to ask us to uh

1:22:43 ↗ participate in Jewish heritage month

1:22:45 ↗ again not something that we were doing

1:22:48 ↗ at the time not you know so the way that

1:22:50 ↗ that it's written it is it says to me

1:22:53 ↗ that it's going to shut down those kind

1:22:54 ↗ of people who come to us and say I'd

1:22:56 ↗ like you to do this I'd like you to to

1:22:58 ↗ do that and real frankly if someone in

1:23:01 ↗ the city is experiencing

1:23:03 ↗ discrimination and it has nothing to do

1:23:05 ↗ with City business I still want to hear

1:23:07 ↗ about it I want them to come and talk to

1:23:09 ↗ us is um you know if they're unhappy

1:23:12 ↗ about something going on in the

1:23:13 ↗ community not directly related to

1:23:15 ↗ something I'd like to hear about it just

1:23:18 ↗ um you know I think the language that is

1:23:22 ↗ there

1:23:23 ↗ I feel is too restrictive um and we've

1:23:26 ↗ had good commentary from people about

1:23:29 ↗ things that are not directly related to

1:23:32 ↗ our program Services etc etc ET so I'm

1:23:35 ↗ going to let the um City attorney chime

1:23:37 ↗ in as well but I do want you to remember

1:23:38 ↗ these are your rules you are the

1:23:41 ↗ chairs so the folks that have to decide

1:23:45 ↗ whether or not Larry Frank's fishes are

1:23:47 ↗ okay is you it's you all so um just

1:23:51 ↗ reading it I think I think it's actually

1:23:53 ↗ very Broad and I think it gives a lot of

1:23:55 ↗ authority to

1:23:57 ↗ just prevent the kind of uh organized

1:24:01 ↗ disruptive behavior but um let's have

1:24:04 ↗ the City attorney chime in I I do want

1:24:06 ↗ to that's a great point of uh

1:24:07 ↗ clarification I I do think that and

1:24:10 ↗ perhaps my capitalization of city is

1:24:13 ↗ what throw this off but I I never

1:24:15 ↗ intended these words to

1:24:19 ↗ mean city of isqua the Municipal

1:24:22 ↗ Corporation entity programs project

1:24:26 ↗ Services I mean city of isqua related to

1:24:30 ↗ this city to this community um I hope

1:24:33 ↗ that provides a little more information

1:24:36 ↗ to you um so in my my view the the the

1:24:39 ↗ fishies if they were in isqua would be

1:24:42 ↗ relevant to City business so that I that

1:24:46 ↗ that's that was at least the intent

1:24:48 ↗ there I'm sorry if that didn't land one

1:24:50 ↗ other point of clarification I wanted to

1:24:52 ↗ make um council president Walsh

1:24:56 ↗ the the way it's drafted the topic

1:25:00 ↗ require requirement would be separate

1:25:03 ↗ from the disruption in the conduct

1:25:05 ↗ so it would be things have to be related

1:25:09 ↗ once again to you know small C city of

1:25:12 ↗ isqua rather than the entity um those

1:25:15 ↗ programs project services or events

1:25:17 ↗ occurring here you would also then be

1:25:21 ↗ able to cut off comments that were

1:25:23 ↗ related to City business but became so

1:25:27 ↗ obscene derogatory Etc that they're

1:25:30 ↗ disruptive the reason that I don't

1:25:33 ↗ recommend just using the disruptive

1:25:37 ↗ um catch for everything is that the

1:25:40 ↗ standard for an actual disruption is

1:25:42 ↗ pretty high and so we're talking about

1:25:45 ↗ um like you're in the chambers and you

1:25:46 ↗ think a fight is going to break out kind

1:25:48 ↗ of thing which doesn't I have seen that

1:25:51 ↗ happen before and had to do the the opma

1:25:54 ↗ disruption protocol but that was back

1:25:56 ↗ before remote meetings um I I find now

1:26:00 ↗ that more of the people that cause

1:26:02 ↗ problems are doing it remotely where

1:26:04 ↗ they may be upsetting folks but it's

1:26:06 ↗ harder to show that there was an actual

1:26:08 ↗ threat of

1:26:10 ↗ violence um just a reminder to that the

1:26:13 ↗ election is over so we know who you all

1:26:16 ↗ are for the next two years and you do

1:26:18 ↗ have your annual opportunity uh or

1:26:21 ↗ actually any opportunity that you desire

1:26:23 ↗ to review your rules so so this is uh

1:26:27 ↗ this is what it is presented as

1:26:29 ↗ tonight any other questions or

1:26:34 ↗ comments okay I'm going to reread the

1:26:37 ↗ motion the motion is to approve

1:26:39 ↗ resolution number 20237 amending section

1:26:42 ↗ 4.8 4.08 of the city council rules of

1:26:46 ↗ procedures to require that General

1:26:47 ↗ audience comments directly related to

1:26:49 ↗ City programs projects services or

1:26:51 ↗ events

1:26:53 ↗ um and it's moved in uh let's see call

1:26:57 ↗ for the

1:26:59 ↗ vote um all those in favor signify by

1:27:01 ↗ saying I I I those

1:27:08 ↗ opposed passes 4 to two thank you and

1:27:14 ↗ the next item of business this evening

1:27:15 ↗ is going to be our committee and

1:27:16 ↗ Regional reports and we'll start with

1:27:18 ↗ council member Joe thank you originally

1:27:21 ↗ there was a Cascade water Alliance board

1:27:23 ↗ meeting scheduled for December 20th that

1:27:26 ↗ has been cancelled um in lie of that

1:27:30 ↗ they are going to have a special meeting

1:27:32 ↗ on December 11th um the 11 meeting on

1:27:36 ↗ the 11th concerns the negotiations that

1:27:39 ↗ are going on with the city of Seattle

1:27:41 ↗ and the City of Tacoma for long-term

1:27:43 ↗ water purchases and so the meeting

1:27:46 ↗ starts at 10:00 a.m. for a high level

1:27:48 ↗ briefing uh from 10: to 11:30 there'll

1:27:51 ↗ be a lunch break and then from 12:30 to

1:27:53 ↗ 3:30 there's a deep dive on the issues

1:27:56 ↗ so um if anyone would like to attend um

1:28:00 ↗ I'm unable to attend because of work but

1:28:04 ↗ um I just want everyone to be aware of

1:28:05 ↗ that the Cascade water liance public

1:28:08 ↗ issues uh committee uh meeting is also

1:28:11 ↗ cancelled as well as a finance committee

1:28:13 ↗ meeting that concludes my report thank

1:28:15 ↗ you thank you next is council member D

1:28:17 ↗ Michelle thank you mayor Paulie uh I

1:28:19 ↗ have no report tonight thank you council

1:28:22 ↗ member

1:28:24 ↗ hunt um there was a meeting of the

1:28:26 ↗ salmon Recovery Council of uh wira 8

1:28:29 ↗ which is the name of our Watershed on

1:28:31 ↗ November 16th I was not able to attend

1:28:34 ↗ because I was at the National League of

1:28:35 ↗ cities conference but I do have the

1:28:37 ↗ readout of actions taken um the salmon

1:28:40 ↗ Recovery Council approved the

1:28:42 ↗ Cooperative watershed management grant

1:28:44 ↗ program funding guidance and Community

1:28:46 ↗ grant funding recommendations as well as

1:28:48 ↗ our um 2024 Federal and State

1:28:50 ↗ Legislative priorities which I'm I

1:28:52 ↗ mentioned earlier includes um working

1:28:54 ↗ continuing work on reducing uh light

1:28:57 ↗ pollution and um this was the last

1:29:00 ↗ meeting of the year for the salmon

1:29:02 ↗ Recovery Council and the schedule for

1:29:04 ↗ 2024 is not yet set um on November 8th

1:29:09 ↗ there was a meeting of the Planning

1:29:11 ↗ Development and environment committee

1:29:12 ↗ which is a subcommittee of this Council

1:29:15 ↗ we had two items the first one was ID

1:29:18 ↗ 1494 diversity of housing types policy

1:29:21 ↗ and regulation

1:29:22 ↗ um this was a discussion and mostly we

1:29:25 ↗ focused on the proposed housing work

1:29:29 ↗ plan um there was a graphic that was

1:29:31 ↗ provided and I would encourage my fellow

1:29:33 ↗ council members to check it out it laid

1:29:34 ↗ out um how we would work through the

1:29:37 ↗ Pioneer project um we would have the

1:29:40 ↗ comp plan update and then the Pioneer

1:29:43 ↗ project um in Q3 of 2023 into q1 of 2024

1:29:48 ↗ and then the missing middle housing

1:29:49 ↗ strategy update for HB 1110 and then um

1:29:54 ↗ there would also be con consideration of

1:29:57 ↗ a number of different policies including

1:29:59 ↗ multif family tax exemption inclusionary

1:30:01 ↗ zoning development regulations um and

1:30:04 ↗ then the parking study all kind of at

1:30:06 ↗ the same time so that uh tradeoffs or

1:30:10 ↗ policies that would go together could be

1:30:12 ↗ considered make to make those changes at

1:30:14 ↗ one point after everything had been

1:30:17 ↗ thoroughly examined um so we we talked

1:30:20 ↗ through that we did

1:30:22 ↗ generally um support the timeline and

1:30:25 ↗ the and the actions that were laid out

1:30:28 ↗ we did suggest moving we we talked about

1:30:31 ↗ moving things earlier and so we also

1:30:33 ↗ wanted to make sure that if we did that

1:30:35 ↗ we um made recommendations for moving

1:30:39 ↗ things later as well so we weren't just

1:30:41 ↗ um putting more work uh earlier in the

1:30:44 ↗ timeline and so we did suggest moving

1:30:46 ↗ the housing strategy work plan update

1:30:49 ↗ later this also would allow us to take

1:30:51 ↗ take advantage of changes that were made

1:30:54 ↗ for example in response to HB 1110 and

1:30:56 ↗ to see how those were impacting things

1:30:59 ↗ and um and include that in our update

1:31:01 ↗ and we also felt like the work that the

1:31:04 ↗ um consultant had done uh to look at our

1:31:09 ↗ missing middle and to look at strategies

1:31:11 ↗ just recently that we got grant funding

1:31:13 ↗ to do the happy Grant um we thought that

1:31:16 ↗ that was also providing us Direction on

1:31:19 ↗ that housing strategy work plan and so

1:31:21 ↗ we thought we could move that later and

1:31:23 ↗ then um we talked about ensuring that

1:31:26 ↗ the multif family tax exemption part of

1:31:29 ↗ those many strategies that were

1:31:30 ↗ considered that that was something we

1:31:32 ↗ wanted to have um an emphasis on and a

1:31:35 ↗ really thorough Community conversation

1:31:37 ↗ um because it's something that is in the

1:31:40 ↗ other communities that were considered

1:31:42 ↗ by the contractor that looked at at um

1:31:45 ↗ different policies that have allowed

1:31:46 ↗ other neighboring communities to get the

1:31:48 ↗ kind of affordable housing they need um

1:31:50 ↗ and it it's not something it's very

1:31:51 ↗ limited currently in our community um we

1:31:55 ↗ also looked at id1 1541 comprehensive

1:31:58 ↗ Plan update draft environment uh

1:32:00 ↗ stewardship and climate resilience

1:32:03 ↗ element um we had one question that we

1:32:06 ↗ grappled with which was should the City

1:32:08 ↗ established stronger language to phase

1:32:09 ↗ out natural gas as a priority or in in a

1:32:13 ↗ supporting role of the utility companies

1:32:15 ↗ in the

1:32:16 ↗ state um this is something that the

1:32:19 ↗ environmental board proposed to us we

1:32:22 ↗ ultimately wanted them to take a look at

1:32:25 ↗ that and and make a suggestion back to

1:32:28 ↗ us so we could consider what their

1:32:31 ↗ suggestion would be on stronger language

1:32:34 ↗ um apparently they they wanted that

1:32:37 ↗ conversation but they didn't have they

1:32:39 ↗ didn't come to a specific recommendation

1:32:41 ↗ and so we felt that that would be a good

1:32:44 ↗ role for the environmental board to to

1:32:47 ↗ take to provide that recommendation and

1:32:48 ↗ then we as a committee could consider

1:32:50 ↗ that

1:32:52 ↗ um the wording from the current climate

1:32:54 ↗ action plan is in the comp plan so this

1:32:57 ↗ would be new wording which is another

1:32:59 ↗ reason why we felt like it should come

1:33:01 ↗ from a from a volunteer board that looks

1:33:04 ↗ at it and provides a

1:33:06 ↗ recommendation

1:33:08 ↗ um we also talked about wanting where we

1:33:11 ↗ wanted to lead as a city in this

1:33:13 ↗ environmental stewardship and climate

1:33:15 ↗ resilience element we wanted to lead by

1:33:17 ↗ example for example in the municipal

1:33:18 ↗ buildings and there were statements to

1:33:20 ↗ that effect and we also o wanted to make

1:33:22 ↗ sure that we um were making a push in

1:33:24 ↗ areas where we know we want to improve

1:33:26 ↗ like the solid waste sector and

1:33:27 ↗ recycling sector and um then there were

1:33:30 ↗ a few other a few other requests for

1:33:34 ↗ clarity which will probably come back

1:33:36 ↗ when we get specific wording but for

1:33:37 ↗ example there was wording about wanting

1:33:40 ↗ to comply or needing to comply with

1:33:42 ↗ requirements on making a circular

1:33:45 ↗ economy so things like that where it

1:33:47 ↗ would be good to have a little more

1:33:48 ↗ policy guidance for us once we actually

1:33:51 ↗ look to this for for that guidance um so

1:33:55 ↗ we were generally supportive and and we

1:33:57 ↗ look forward to getting the specific

1:33:58 ↗ wording back for these because we were

1:34:00 ↗ considering it more at that higher level

1:34:03 ↗ and that concludes those reports I will

1:34:06 ↗ just briefly mention that we also

1:34:08 ↗ several of us went to the National

1:34:10 ↗ League of cities um it was a a very

1:34:13 ↗ informative conference thank you for the

1:34:15 ↗ opportunity to go to that conference uh

1:34:17 ↗ I took a lot of notes and so I'll will

1:34:18 ↗ be typing those up and sharing those

1:34:20 ↗ with the council thank you thank you for

1:34:22 ↗ doing that council member Ray uh thank

1:34:24 ↗ you mayor Paulie the council's mobility

1:34:26 ↗ and infrastructure committee met on uh

1:34:29 ↗ November 14th we had one item on the

1:34:31 ↗ agenda which was ID 1455 the Sewer

1:34:34 ↗ Master Plan policy this is the second

1:34:36 ↗ time we have seen this um we provided uh

1:34:39 ↗ input to staff on the plan it is now

1:34:43 ↗ going through a review process that will

1:34:46 ↗ take it on a long journey um over to um

1:34:50 ↗ both uh King County for for their review

1:34:52 ↗ as well as um the department of ecology

1:34:55 ↗ at the state and we are expecting to see

1:34:57 ↗ it back for a second touch um another

1:35:00 ↗ touch with the committee in the April

1:35:03 ↗ time frame and um all goes as currently

1:35:06 ↗ planned it should be back from the state

1:35:08 ↗ uh with their stamp of approval for the

1:35:11 ↗ city to formally adopt in the June time

1:35:13 ↗ frame this year and that concludes my

1:35:14 ↗ report thank you council member Council

1:35:16 ↗ M Merz thank you Madame mayor the sound

1:35:19 ↗ cities Association public issues

1:35:20 ↗ committee me meeting of Wednesday

1:35:23 ↗ November 88th did not happen because we

1:35:25 ↗ did not reach Quorum which is the first

1:35:27 ↗ time in 13 years that I've ever seen

1:35:30 ↗ that happen uh that was unfortunate

1:35:33 ↗ however one of the one of the things

1:35:34 ↗ that was uh in the packet is the 20124

1:35:38 ↗ draft legislative priorities so in an

1:35:40 ↗ abundance of uh uh planning wonkiness uh

1:35:45 ↗ I have fored it to you all and I hope we

1:35:47 ↗ can discuss it in for good of the order

1:35:49 ↗ on the December 4th meeting um such that

1:35:52 ↗ uh whether we whether pick um moves it

1:35:56 ↗ in December or moves it the month after

1:35:57 ↗ I have feedback from the body and since

1:36:00 ↗ as the mayor points out we all know

1:36:01 ↗ who's we going to be here uh next year

1:36:05 ↗ and then the council services safety and

1:36:07 ↗ Parks committee uh meeting for November

1:36:09 ↗ is still canceled this concludes my

1:36:11 ↗ report thank you and count Deputy

1:36:14 ↗ council president Hall as we mentioned

1:36:15 ↗ earlier has an excused absence this

1:36:17 ↗ evening so we'll go to council president

1:36:18 ↗ Walsh thank you madam mayor uh the King

1:36:21 ↗ County affordable housing committee met

1:36:23 ↗ last Thursday we adopted our 2024 work

1:36:27 ↗ plan and legislative agenda and then we

1:36:31 ↗ also got to review updates to the

1:36:33 ↗ regional affordable housing dashboard

1:36:36 ↗ and so now it shows 2022 data with all

1:36:40 ↗ of the regional affordable housing that

1:36:43 ↗ has been built um it also shows all of

1:36:45 ↗ the policies that other cities have

1:36:49 ↗ adopted and I have to say

1:36:51 ↗ we got a 100% score of uh all of the

1:36:55 ↗ different policies that we have put into

1:36:57 ↗ place and many of the other cities we're

1:37:00 ↗ only at like 50 or 60% so whether or not

1:37:03 ↗ our policies are effective or not I will

1:37:07 ↗ agree there are questions there but we

1:37:09 ↗ have adopted them um and so if you are

1:37:13 ↗ interested uh that is available on the

1:37:15 ↗ King County website uh always really

1:37:18 ↗ interesting to compare neighboring

1:37:20 ↗ cities and see

1:37:21 ↗ both what they're producing and um also

1:37:24 ↗ what it shows you know what percentage

1:37:26 ↗ of households are cost burdened at each

1:37:29 ↗ of the different income levels so lots

1:37:31 ↗ of really useful data there and that

1:37:34 ↗ concludes my report thank you council

1:37:36 ↗ president the next item on the agenda is

1:37:38 ↗ the mayor's report and there will be an

1:37:40 ↗ executive session this evening to

1:37:42 ↗ discuss pending litigation for RCW 42.3

1:37:46 ↗ 0.110 per1 per I the items are expected

1:37:50 ↗ to take approxim imely 45 minutes and

1:37:53 ↗ action is anticipated to follow an open

1:37:55 ↗ session just a couple of upcoming

1:37:57 ↗ community events because we are in that

1:37:59 ↗ season the city hall will be closed for

1:38:02 ↗ Thanksgiving this Thursday and Friday

1:38:04 ↗ and will reopen on the next regularly

1:38:05 ↗ scheduled business day the ISA Turkey

1:38:08 ↗ Trot is back the it is a fun and Casual

1:38:11 ↗ 5K RunWalk Trot Thanksgiving morning

1:38:14 ↗ through downtown isqua it is a beloved

1:38:17 ↗ local tradition that brings the

1:38:18 ↗ community together during the holiday to

1:38:20 ↗ help provide free food and basic

1:38:22 ↗ necessities for all of those in our

1:38:23 ↗ community in need all the ages are

1:38:26 ↗ welcome and the event will begin at 9:00

1:38:27 ↗ a.m. Thursday morning we encourage

1:38:30 ↗ Thanksgiving costumes and accessories

1:38:32 ↗ and proceeds of the event benefit the

1:38:34 ↗ isqua food and clothing bank there's

1:38:36 ↗ more information on our website if you

1:38:37 ↗ need it there's also the historically

1:38:40 ↗ hip Artisan Market in the isquad train

1:38:42 ↗ depot Museum it's uh an artisan Market

1:38:46 ↗ as we approach winter time and the

1:38:47 ↗ market will be hosted at the Depot this

1:38:49 ↗ Saturday and Sunday from 11: a.m. to 400

1:38:51 ↗ p.m. it is filled with handmade arts and

1:38:55 ↗ crafts for that perfect holiday gift and

1:38:58 ↗ the last uh item under um events is the

1:39:02 ↗ final day of the downtown isqua story

1:39:05 ↗ stroll so this year the story stroll

1:39:07 ↗ hosted by King County library system and

1:39:09 ↗ isqua Library Friends of the isqua

1:39:12 ↗ library and the Downtown isqua

1:39:14 ↗ Association featured we came to America

1:39:16 ↗ written by faith Ringold um you can

1:39:19 ↗ check out the downtown business windows

1:39:20 ↗ for the next chapter in our Story troll

1:39:23 ↗ with the book with that book we came to

1:39:26 ↗ America the story stroll starts at the

1:39:27 ↗ esqua library and heads North on Front

1:39:29 ↗ Street the story stroll is a creative

1:39:32 ↗ way for children and adults to enjoy

1:39:33 ↗ reading while spending time Outdoors

1:39:35 ↗ itself self-guided open to the public at

1:39:37 ↗ any time it's on about a 6 Mile uh

1:39:41 ↗ stroller friendly walk and it takes

1:39:42 ↗ about 30 minutes to complete final day

1:39:45 ↗ for this event will be Thursday November

1:39:47 ↗ 30th so please be sure to read this in

1:39:49 ↗ incredible story that's it for the

1:39:51 ↗ mayor's report um good of the order any

1:39:54 ↗ items for good of the order council

1:39:56 ↗ member

1:39:57 ↗ Joe thank you um I want to thank the

1:40:00 ↗ administration for putting together the

1:40:02 ↗ Oldtown neighborhood meeting on November

1:40:05 ↗ 16th uh Park director Watling uh Public

1:40:09 ↗ Works director Moon Chief Swan and many

1:40:12 ↗ other staff members were there to talk

1:40:14 ↗ about the uh lighting improvements that

1:40:16 ↗ are going on in Oldtown uh the uh

1:40:19 ↗ lighted crosswalk that's going into

1:40:21 ↗ place on second and Bush that was a

1:40:24 ↗ highlight of the mean that many of the

1:40:25 ↗ citizens that I spoke to were really

1:40:27 ↗ appreciative of of having come in it was

1:40:30 ↗ a great opportunity for staff to inform

1:40:34 ↗ the neighborhoods that uh you know this

1:40:36 ↗ step is being taken and then this step

1:40:38 ↗ is being taken to improve your

1:40:40 ↗ neighborhood along the way um it was

1:40:42 ↗ well attended with over over 25 to

1:40:45 ↗ perhaps 30 people that were citizens

1:40:48 ↗ there on top of the staff members that

1:40:49 ↗ were already there so uh I would

1:40:51 ↗ encourage uh continuing these

1:40:54 ↗ neighborhood meetings and the citizens I

1:40:56 ↗ think really appreciate the effort uh

1:40:58 ↗ that we're making to reach out thank you

1:41:01 ↗ thank you very much Council m d

1:41:03 ↗ Michelle so uh originally I was

1:41:06 ↗ proposing to take comment tonight on the

1:41:08 ↗ east side Transportation partnership

1:41:10 ↗ legislative priorities and due to the

1:41:12 ↗ length of the meeting uh that will also

1:41:14 ↗ be done under good of the order on

1:41:16 ↗ December the 4th so we'll have a

1:41:18 ↗ legislative priorities good of the order

1:41:20 ↗ night I guess so but look forward to

1:41:23 ↗ that thank you any other good of the

1:41:26 ↗ order not seeing any microphones a

1:41:29 ↗ couple of notes on upcoming Council

1:41:31 ↗ meetings November 28th is a special city

1:41:33 ↗ council meeting it is the holiday social

1:41:36 ↗ Gathering it's at 6:30 at Enzo Enzo

1:41:39 ↗ beastro uh I want to make sure guests or

1:41:41 ↗ significant others are known to be

1:41:44 ↗ welcome and if you haven't already RSVP

1:41:46 ↗ please RSVP Council uh use Jared

1:41:50 ↗ Aldridge as your your RSVP point of

1:41:51 ↗ contact December 4th is the regular city

1:41:54 ↗ council meeting and the anticipated

1:41:55 ↗ agenda items include the 2024 city

1:41:58 ↗ council calendar public records policy

1:42:01 ↗ and fee schedule central isqua Pioneer

1:42:04 ↗ program final action on the 2024

1:42:07 ↗ property tax levy and the 2023 2024

1:42:10 ↗ midby Anyan budget adjustment and

1:42:12 ↗ transportation benefit district sales

1:42:14 ↗ tax uh and the new business requests

1:42:17 ↗ credit card processing fees cost

1:42:19 ↗ recovery there won't be a second regular

1:42:22 ↗ city council meeting in

1:42:24 ↗ December uh we have an executive session

1:42:26 ↗ this evening ID um 554 it's pending and

1:42:30 ↗ potential litigation and as I mentioned

1:42:33 ↗ earlier uh it is being held per RCW

1:42:37 ↗ 42301 P1 p i the item is expected to

1:42:40 ↗ take approximately 45 minutes an action

1:42:43 ↗ is anticipated to follow an open

1:42:45 ↗ session um please note that executive

1:42:48 ↗ sessions are closed to the public and we

1:42:50 ↗ will recess in at

1:42:54 ↗ 8:43 I'm going to get the city clerk to

1:42:56 ↗ move the council and any relevant staff

1:42:59 ↗ into well that's if for separate session

1:43:02 ↗ sorry anyone who's not part of this

1:43:04 ↗ closed session will can remain in online

1:43:07 ↗ in our main meeting and you're welcome

1:43:08 ↗ to stay in the meeting until it is

1:43:10 ↗ reconvened and city clerk are we ready

1:43:12 ↗ to go

1:43:13 ↗ in mayor I'd like to ask that we take a

1:43:16 ↗ short recess to clear the room that

1:43:19 ↗ sounds great 5 minute recess

1:43:29 ↗ awesome

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (6)

Barbara de Michele

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Excused

Zach Hall

Motions and votes (5)

Approve the 2023-24 Legislative Agenda as presented.

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Adopt Ordinance No. 3035, approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute the High Street Collection Development Agreement. Councilmember Joe announced that he will be abstaining from voting on this item. (Abstaining: Joe).* *Per the Issaquah Municipal Code, abstentions are counted as "yes" votes (IM…

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Abstained: Russell Joe

Approve Resolution No. 2023-17, amending Section 4.08 of City Council Rules of Procedure to require that general audience comments directly related to City programs, projects, services, or events. (

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

Carried 4-2

In favor: Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Lindsey Walsh

Opposed: Barbara de Michele, Chris Reh

Approve the Settlement Agreement and Release as discussed in Executive Session. .

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED

Moved by WALSH · seconded by MARTS

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh