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City Council Regular Meeting Auto captions

Monday, February 24, 2025

7:00 PM · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topics tracked across meetings:
King County Conservation Futures Interlocal Agreement Amendments 2 & 3 AB 9194 2/3
Inclusive Housing Investment n/a Pool (IHIP) Funding Recommendation AB 8953 5/5
City Council Regular Meeting · Dec 4, 2023 Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Jan 24, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting · Jan 28, 2025 Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Jan 28, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting · Feb 24, 2025
Franchise Agreement Renewal Management, LLC AB 8905 2/2
Franchise Agreement - Ezee Fiber Texas, LLC AB 8966 2/2
Newport Way Landslide Stabilization Project (TR 060) AB 8980 2/2
Informational Update: Windstorm Financial Recovery ID 1816 2/2
Section
Topic
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
4a
Accounts: Payables and Payroll of n/a Feb. 24, 2025, $5,622,284.42 ID 1785
Carried 7-0
Approve · packet pp.7–16
Topics: Budget
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 de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4b
Minutes: City Council Regular Meeting, Feb. 3, 2025
Carried 7-0
Approve · packet pp.17–20
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR b) 02-03-25 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Regular Meeting 7:00 PM Council Chambers February 3, 2025 MINUTES 135 E. Sunset Way
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4c
Franchise Agreement Renewal Management, LLC AB 8905
Carried 7-0
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.21–45
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
Comcast Cable is requesting a renewal franchise agreement for cable facilities within the City of Issaquah. Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC had a franchise agreement with the City from September 10, 2010 - September 10, 2020, under Ordinance 2589.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4d
Project Acceptance, SE 43rd Way Pavement Preservation AB 8933
Carried 7-0
Accept Project · packet pp.47–48
Staff report:
On May 6, 2024 (AB 8682), the City Council awarded the contract for the SE 43rd Way Pavement Preservation Project (TR 065) in the amount of $934,343.00 (including sales tax) to Lakeside Industries and authorized the Mayor to enter into and execute the related agreement; and the City Council authorized the inclusion of an additional $1,343.00 of expenditures and $537.00 of revenue from the Transportation Benefit District Sales Tax and $806.00 of revenue from the City of Sammamish for this project (for construction expenses) in a budget amendment.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4e
Project Acceptance, East Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE Pavement Preservation AB 8934
Carried 7-0
Accept Project · packet pp.49–50
Topics: Parks
Staff report:
On May 6, 2024 (AB 8591), the City Council awarded the contract for the East Lake Sammamish SE Pavement Preservation Project (TR 064) in the amount of $1,456,265.00 (including sales tax) to Lakeside Industries and authorized the Mayor to enter into and execute the related agreement; and the City Council authorized inclusion of an additional $8,265.00 of expenditures and $8,265.00 of revenue from Transportation Benefit District Sales Tax for this project in a budget amendment.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4f
Inclusive Housing Investment n/a Pool (IHIP) Funding Recommendation AB 8953
Carried 7-0
Authorize Funding · packet pp.51–69
Topics: HousingBudget
Staff report:
The Inclusive Housing Investment Pool (IHIP) policy document was adopted by City Council on December 4, 2023 (AB 8706). The policy guides the investment from IHIP for affordable housing, with the following priorities:  Preservation of existing affordable housing  Transit-oriented development  Community-based affordable housing projects
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4g
2024 ARCH Housing Trust Fund AB 8963
Carried 7-0
Approve Resolution · packet pp.71–96
Topics: HousingBudget
Staff report:
ARCH is a partnership of King County and 14 East King County Cities who have joined together to assist with preserving and increasing the supply of housing for affordable households in the region. Each year, ARCH's partner jurisdictions contribute funds toward the ARCH Housing Trust Fund (HTF) to aid in the development and preservation of affordable housing within the ARCH area of influence.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4h
Planning Policy Commission Annual Appointments AB 8964
Carried 7-0
Confirm · packet pp.97–98
Topics: Boards & Commissions
Staff report:
The City received 15 applicants expressing interest. Following the screening and interview process, the team recommended appointments as follows:
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4i
Franchise Agreement - Ezee Fiber Texas, LLC AB 8966
Carried 7-0
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.99–121
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
Ezee Fiber Texas, LLC is requesting a new franchise agreement for telecommunications within the City of Issaquah. Ezee Fiber Texas, LLC currently does not have a franchise agreement within the City, and is a new provider.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4j
Newport Way Landslide Stabilization Project (TR 060) AB 8980
Carried 7-0
Award Bid · packet pp.123–129
Topics: Transportation
Staff report:
On February 6 and 7, 2020, a large rainfall event occurred in the region, mobilizing a small landslide on King County Parks property adjacent to Newport Way NW. The slide spilled onto the roadway and resulted in the shutdown of a section of Newport Way NW for approximately one week. City, County, and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) crews responded to temporarily stabilize the slide for the short-term.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4k
Department of Ecology Local Solid Waste Financial Assistance Grant Amendment AB 8983
Carried 7-0
Authorize Agreement · packet pp.131–139
Topics: Critical Areas
Staff report:
Historically, the City has applied for and received LSWFA grant funds for implementation of curbside recycling, multifamily education, sustainable building, commercial recycling, compost education, and other similar types of waste reduction and recycling activities.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4l
Amending IMC Chapter. 3.71 AB 8987
Carried 7-0
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.141–151
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
Chapter 82.02 RCW authorizes counties, cities and towns to impose
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
4m
Amendment to 2025-26 Legislative Agenda AB 8993
Carried 7-0
Approve · packet pp.153–156
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. The legislative agenda consists of the Legislative Priorities (Exhibit A) and the Legislative Policy Manual. The legislative agenda is also shared with several partner agencies, e.g. the Sound Cities Association (SCA), Association of Washington Cities (AWC), Municipal Research Services Center (MRSC), Chamber of Commerce, Issaquah School District and neighboring jurisdictions.
Roll call:
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
5. REGULAR BUSINESS
5a
Mobility Action Plan Update AB 8887
Approve Resolution · 25 min · packet pp.157–232
Topics: Transportation
Staff report:
The Administration developed a Transit Study (2022-2024) to provide a framework to guide future multimodal transportation investments in alignment with the community’s transportation vision and goals. This study’s deliverables included: 1. Development and implementation of an inclusive and robust public engagement plan. 2. Analysis of existing and future anticipated transit service and access gaps. 3. Development of capital improvement projects to proactively address many anticipated gaps. 4. Development of a Light Rail Planning Guide (adopted by Council in March 2024) outlining best practices, key considerations, and next steps for Issaquah to prepare for future anticipated light rail service. 5. Updates to transit-related goals and policies within the City’s Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element. 6. Updates to transit-related actions within the City’s Mobility Action Plan.
8. INFORMATIONAL UPDATES
8a
Informational Update: Windstorm Financial Recovery ID 1816
Receive Report · 15 min · packet pp.233–252
Staff report:
The Administration is providing an update on the financial recovery efforts from the bomb cyclone on November 19, 2024. No City
8b
Informational Update: 2024 Economic Development Annual Report ID 1821
Receive Report · 15 min · packet pp.253–277
Topics: Economic Development
Staff report:
This informational update is to provide an overview of economic development staff activities in 2024. While we did not address all of the successes and struggles, the report is representative of efforts that have supported Issaquah’s business community. In addition, this report includes the Economic Vitality Commission’s annual report to City Council.
9. GOOD OF THE ORDER
9a
Upcoming Council Meetings
packet pp.279
Staff report:
Mobility & Infrastructure Committee Chair: CM Joe Member 2: DCP de Michele Member 3: CM Reh Planning, Development & Environment Chair: CM Hall Committee Member 2: CP Walsh Member 3: CM Jiang Services, Safety & Parks Committee Chair: CM Marts Member 2: CM Reh Member 3: DCP de Michele
9b
2025 City Council Appointments: Council Committees ID 1825
5 min
Topics: Boards & Commissions
10. EXECUTIVE SESSION
10a
Executive Session - Property Acquisition per RCW 42.30.110(1)(b) Action Anticipated to follow in Open Session ID 1829
20 min
0:00 [Music]
0:07 good evening everyone and welcome I'm
0:09 calling the February 24th city council
0:11 meeting to order and as a reminder we
0:14 continue to have a remote aspect to our
0:16 meeting so both staff and members of the
0:18 public may be participating in tonight's
0:20 meeting remotely via web act the first
0:23 item on our agenda this evening is the
0:25 Pledge of Allegiance and I invite you to
0:27 join us
0:30 I pledge alance to the flag of the
0:33 United States of America and to the
0:35 Republic for which it stands one nation
0:39 under God indivisible liy and justice
0:42 for
0:44 all thank you we are going to move into
0:47 the audience comments portion of our
0:49 meeting this is the time when members of
0:51 the public can address the council in
0:53 person or virtually those who signed up
0:55 in advance to make comments will be
0:57 called on first if you are joining us
0:59 virtually and would like to make
1:00 comments please raise your virtual hand
1:03 or send our host a chat message if
1:05 you're in the room and you did not sign
1:07 up I will ask for other speakers before
1:09 closing this portion of the meeting city
1:11 clerk has anyone signed up to speak for
1:13 General audience comments this evening
1:15 yes so for those making comments you're
1:18 invited to address the council regarding
1:20 matters that are directly related to
1:21 isqua's programs projects services or
1:24 events comments related to political
1:27 campaigns are not permitted please
1:29 direct your comments to the whole of
1:31 council and not individuals and while
1:33 this is not a question and answer
1:34 session we will contact you to follow up
1:36 if needed if you are with us virtually
1:39 unmute your microphone if you're here
1:41 with us in the room please step up to
1:42 that Lecter press the button to get the
1:45 red light on so that we can hear you
1:47 state your name address and relationship
1:48 to the city speak clearly and pause
1:51 frequently and please limit your
1:52 comments to 5 minutes if you are virtual
1:55 and do not respond we are going to have
1:57 to continue the meeting without you
1:59 please join if you are able again
2:02 personal attacks obscene language
2:03 derogatory remarks and disruptive
2:05 behavior will not be permitted public
2:08 comments written in verbal are an
2:09 important aspect of the public process
2:11 and the city takes comments seriously so
2:13 we thank everyone who's taking time to
2:15 address us this evening City cler can
2:17 you identify the first person who has
2:20 signed up to speak yes Kaa zacharov
2:23 however I don't see Kata in the room nor
2:26 online so we'll move to James markart on
2:36 James oh James can you push the button
2:39 in the center of the pad there you go
2:42 better good evening council members two
2:45 weeks ago uh I stood before you
2:47 describing a pattern of assaults uh on
2:50 city property including incidents
2:52 requiring medical attention I shared how
2:54 families are changing schools and are
2:56 leaving our city because they don't feel
2:58 safe since that meeting I've seen no
3:01 increased police presence in areas I
3:04 specifically identified these events
3:08 happening last Friday before winter
3:11 break I personally had to intervene in
3:13 one of these assaults because there was
3:15 no police presence anywhere to be found
3:19 this was the very spot I highlighted in
3:21 my previous comments I reported this
3:23 assault to the police yet the pattern
3:27 continues let me be clear I along with
3:30 at least one other concerned Community
3:32 member are now personally patrolling
3:34 these areas to protect our children
3:37 because no official action has been
3:39 taken as parents and community members
3:42 we shouldn't need to take on this
3:44 responsibility yet we feel compelled to
3:47 because our children remain
3:51 unprotected community members have been
3:53 sharing with me responses they've
3:55 received from the city from official
3:57 accounts uh they're often claiming that
3:59 action has been taken that additional
4:01 police presence will be put in location
4:04 X that additional programs will be put
4:07 in another place um however my continued
4:10 presence in these areas has been
4:11 necessitated precisely because no
4:14 visible action has
4:16 materialized this disconnect between
4:19 what is being promised and what is
4:21 actually happening on the ground is
4:25 extremely concerning to me and many
4:27 other people that I've been talking to
4:30 the predictable nature of these
4:32 incidents makes the lack of response
4:34 particularly
4:35 troubling we know where and when these
4:38 assaults are occurring we know children
4:41 are being harmed and yet nothing has
4:44 changed in the past month in the past
4:47 year since I've been aware of these
4:49 these
4:50 incidents protecting our children
4:53 shouldn't be a political issue however
4:58 many in our community have indicated to
5:00 me that they believe the only path to
5:02 change is through a radical shift in
5:05 voting patterns the sentiment is
5:08 palpable I would sincerely like to see
5:11 meaningful action before we reach that
5:13 point but community members are
5:15 increasingly
5:17 frustrated if we aren't keeping the
5:19 community safe for our children what is
5:22 even the point of all of
5:25 this our most fundamental obligation is
5:29 to protect our most vulnerable citizens
5:31 and we are failing at that basic
5:35 responsibility I respectfully ask this
5:38 Council what specific actions will you
5:41 take to keep my child and the child the
5:44 children of everyone else in this city
5:49 safe our children deserve more than
5:52 acknowledgments than prayers than best
5:55 wishes for hopes for their safety you
5:58 have the power to make things change and
6:02 I and many people in the city are
6:05 begging you to enact that change our
6:09 children deserve
6:11 protection I remain willing to work
6:13 constructively with the council and City
6:15 officials on Solutions but the time for
6:19 pledges for nicely worded letters
6:24 for promises to do something it's it's
6:28 not not now um now is the time for
6:33 Action please do something thank you for
6:36 your time thank you Mr
6:38 marot um next on the signin list city
6:41 clerk an
6:43 Fletcher on up
6:48 in is this still on yeah it is
6:52 great good evening I'm Anne Fletcher and
6:56 I am a
6:57 resident and uh
7:00 people for climate
7:01 action uh isqua chapter
7:05 member uh wanted to talk about the
7:07 transportation action
7:09 plan uh I think it has many excellent
7:12 aspects to it and it's the result of
7:15 outstanding staff Council committee and
7:18 Advisory board work I had hoped to see
7:21 more specific references to new climate
7:24 related actions especially mitigation
7:27 efforts to lower greenhouse gas
7:28 emissions in the plan but then I learned
7:31 after a little bit of investigation that
7:34 a decision was made to uh to make those
7:37 types of actions or put those types of
7:39 actions into the isqua climate action
7:42 plan um in its Transportation
7:45 section and uh the IAP is being updated
7:49 uh as we speak it's starting and it'll
7:51 be happening this year and so I'm really
7:53 eager to learn more about it and work
7:55 with the sustainability Department uh on
7:58 its development
8:00 uh uh transportation is responsible for
8:02 33% of our greenhouse gas emissions so
8:05 it's big chunk um and that's according
8:07 to our latest inventory um this is more
8:10 than all the other emissions combined
8:12 except for buildings and
8:14 energy and uh we are not yet on a
8:16 trajectory to meet our greenhouse gas
8:18 emissions goals we hope to be but uh we
8:21 have one coming up in 2030 that uh is
8:25 creeping quickly um and according to the
8:29 uh Transportation action plan um 2third
8:32 of our traffic is not passed through so
8:34 we do have quite a bit we could affect
8:37 um uh in terms of our the pollution and
8:40 the uh greenhouse gases that come from
8:43 from our cars um and we could work on
8:46 that while we're waiting for the light
8:49 rail given all that I think it would be
8:51 helpful to the community to know where
8:54 these different actions are happening
8:56 because um climate is in so many many
9:00 departments and so it would be great in
9:02 the introduction to plans if we could
9:03 have something to say this this part is
9:06 going to be in this plan this part's
9:08 going to be in this plan and that's how
9:10 we're going to address it um it would
9:12 also be helpful if the plan indicated
9:14 very specifically um how they are going
9:18 to uh work with uh for instance um uh
9:22 the transportation action plan uh how it
9:26 would eventually work with the IAP and
9:29 the Transportation part of the IAP and
9:30 how they would be
9:32 aligned transportation is a challenging
9:36 area to meet the greenhouse gas
9:38 emissions goals and um Creative
9:41 Solutions and targeted budget resources
9:45 um in the
9:46 2027 28 I think it is bium the next bium
9:51 will be needed to break through really
9:53 significant barriers in that uh area uh
9:57 I think collaboration and Grant and all
9:59 of the things that everybody's been
10:01 working so hard on they're doing a great
10:03 job but I think it is only going to get
10:05 us part of the way so really are going
10:07 to need to think about climate um uh
10:10 sustainability resources uh to reach
10:12 those challenging uh uh those
10:16 challenging goals especially when
10:19 difficult budget decisions have to be
10:21 made which I I know happened this year
10:24 um for example the transportation um
10:27 action plan it mentions the Met Flex Pro
10:30 program and very Innovative program to
10:32 encourage the use of public transit by
10:35 using the smaller Transit vehicles to
10:37 connect the neighborhoods and services
10:39 where the normal Transit doesn't go and
10:41 um I I would wanted to commend the city
10:44 council for um retaining the Metroflex
10:47 program um despite the tight budget and
10:51 um the transportation action plan I
10:53 understand provides um a a way um for a
10:57 similar type of program to be put in uh
11:00 if the Metroflex um when it it's when it
11:03 comes due and perhaps isn't here anymore
11:07 um and by the S same light the micr
11:09 mobility programs and the electric
11:10 vehicle charging um encouragement and
11:13 infrastructure are mentioned in the
11:15 transportation action plan um it just
11:18 seems like maybe it should be addressed
11:20 sooner than 2029 and its
11:23 implementation uh for this and all the
11:26 interdepartmental climate actions I
11:28 would encourage continued and increased
11:31 staff capacity collaboration and
11:35 futuristic thinking so that the
11:38 priorities that we have and they're
11:41 there they're like the elephant in the
11:43 room and the resources that we have can
11:47 be aligned with those thank you thank
11:50 you Ann city clerk is there anyone else
11:53 signed up for comments yes we have Peter
11:56 Walters who is a virtual attendee pet I
11:59 just made you a panelist so you should
12:01 have the option to unmute and can choose
12:03 to turn your camera
12:07 hello uh I will keep my camera off as I
12:11 don't think I have the bandwidth to turn
12:13 it on and keep good internet flowing um
12:16 but I'm from Life Enrichment options um
12:19 we have an application before the
12:20 council for the iHip funding um and we
12:24 just from the organization we wanted to
12:26 thank the city um and note that we're
12:27 grateful for the opportunity to apply
12:29 for these iHip dollars um to purchase
12:32 our sixth home um helping residents with
12:36 ID um and we really wanted to note that
12:38 we had amazing help navigating the first
12:40 time of these funds with Patrick Tippy
12:42 from Arch Jen Davis Hayes um and even
12:45 working with Hannah Roberts so we
12:47 appreciate everyone's time and
12:49 consideration in our application and
12:51 we'll keep it short and
12:52 sweet Peter this is the mayor Could you
12:55 um let you were talked about the
12:57 population that Leo support could you
13:00 use the words instead of the acronym
13:02 just to make sure everybody yes my
13:03 apologies um so ID intellectual
13:06 development uh intellectual and
13:08 developmental disability so most of uh
13:11 the people in our home are pretty high
13:13 functioning um as we expand homes like
13:16 with the pro or the um trail head uh
13:21 Transit which we're also working on to
13:22 secure a few rooms we're hoping that we
13:23 maybe can seek some higher needs so yeah
13:26 that is great thank you Peter thank you
13:29 city clerk is there anyone else signed
13:30 up for audience comments this evening no
13:33 I'm going to look to the room I know we
13:35 have several people with us tonight do
13:36 you want to raise your hand if you would
13:37 like to come up and address the council
13:39 and then I'll call on
13:41 you not seeing any other hands go up in
13:44 the room uh did you check if ktia is
13:47 available okay we'll skip her too well I
13:50 want to thank those who came tonight to
13:52 talk we heard about student safety on
13:54 city property after school comments on
13:57 Mobility action plan and the ISA climate
13:59 action plan and about the first iHip
14:02 funding that the city is going to be
14:04 hopefully awarding this evening so thank
14:06 you for everyone that came and talked uh
14:09 this evening as a reminder you can
14:11 always send your comments as well or in
14:14 addition to your city council at city
14:16 council isqua w.gov and the next item of
14:19 business this evening will be our
14:21 consent calendar I do have some remarks
14:24 this evening and then I will check in
14:25 with the committee chairs as well so on
14:28 the consent agenda for this evening is a
14:30 revision of our City's legislative
14:31 agenda for the
14:33 2025 State session the revision includes
14:36 two small changes both of which were
14:38 discussed at the December 18th
14:40 legislative dinner the first is an
14:43 amendment to the dollar amount requested
14:44 for jail safety devices the original
14:47 request was for
14:49 $250,000 from the capital budget for one
14:52 of two types of devices following a tour
14:55 of the score facility which is another
14:58 um Regional Jail the devices are
15:01 currently being used our Police
15:03 Department leadership determined that
15:05 the best fit devices for the isqua jail
15:07 would be the wearable risk devices these
15:10 are significantly lower cost than the
15:12 ceiling maned devices but they are more
15:14 effective given the setup of the jail
15:17 the dollar amount requested has been
15:18 lowered to $88,000 from the operating
15:21 budget for this request the second
15:23 revision to the legislative agenda is
15:25 the addition of a formal request for
15:27 funding from the state legislature to
15:29 address the city's cost incurred through
15:31 the November 19th bomb Cyclone event at
15:34 the meeting we discussed the cost with
15:35 our state legislators as an FYI but we
15:38 did not have a formal request at the
15:39 time since that meeting the city has
15:42 explored different options and is now
15:44 making a formal request of the
15:45 legislature to amend the current bill
15:47 requesting funding under the budget
15:49 stabilization account there are also
15:52 committee items on the consent calendar
15:54 are there any committee chairs or chair
15:56 designates who would like to report on
15:57 any of the consent calendar
15:59 items I am not seeing any microphones go
16:02 up the consent calendar was distributed
16:05 to Council in advance and if authorized
16:07 the items on the consent calendar will
16:09 be considered together and approved by
16:10 one motion have the payables and payroll
16:13 been reviewed they have they have thank
16:15 you does any council member desire to
16:18 remove any item from the consent
16:19 calendar and consider it under regular
16:21 business I'm not seeing any indication
16:24 is there a
16:26 motion council president I move to
16:28 approve Pro the consent calendar as
16:31 presented second it's been moved and
16:34 seconded is there any Council
16:36 discussion not seeing any indication of
16:39 discussion so hearing none the motion
16:41 before the council is to approve the
16:43 consent calendar as presented all those
16:44 in favor signify by saying I I those
16:49 opposed that carries 7 and0 our newest
16:53 council member Kelly Jang has just
16:55 registered her first vote on Council
16:57 welcome Kelly
16:59 the next item of business is a regular
17:01 business item it is the mo mobility
17:03 Action Plan update ab
17:06 8887 and the request before Council this
17:08 evening is to approve the resolution I'd
17:11 like to invite senior Transportation
17:13 planner Thomas FES to the par for his
17:16 presentation
17:18 welcome thank you mayor Paulie
17:30 good evening everyone I appreciate your
17:31 time tonight my name is Thomas Feld
17:33 senior trans Transportation planner
17:36 tonight I'll be talking about the
17:37 mobility Action Plan
17:39 update and the purpose of this item is
17:42 to seek Council approval for the
17:43 resolution adopting the mobility action
17:46 plan or Map
17:49 update just to provide some background
17:52 so if you'll recall Council approved the
17:56 uh comprehensive plan in December of
17:58 last year the comprehensive plan
18:00 includes the transportation element
18:02 which has the city's 20-year vision for
18:06 how the city would like to have their
18:08 transportation
18:10 Network the transportation element
18:12 includes goals and policies uh that are
18:15 directly implemented in the mobility
18:18 action plan which is the topic of
18:20 tonight so the mobility action plan has
18:23 strategies actions and resources that
18:26 achieve the specific policy and the goal
18:29 areas within the transportation
18:32 element you can see in this flowchart
18:35 the mobility action plans uh strategies
18:38 resources actions these all flow into
18:41 how we budget for different uh actions
18:44 how we construct projects how things are
18:46 programmed and the regulations that we
18:52 develop I just to summarize what's in
18:54 the mobility action plan it contains
18:57 three primary sections the first one is
18:59 background information and this sort of
19:01 level sets and makes sure that we're all
19:03 on the same page when we talk about
19:05 certain terms and we know the the issues
19:08 hand this also has goals and policy
19:11 areas that are directly from the
19:13 comprehensive plan so just one for one
19:15 these come from the comprehensive
19:17 plan there's seven sections that we talk
19:20 about there's safety climate and quality
19:23 life multimodal balance system we have
19:27 sections on various modes for walking
19:29 biking Transit and auto
19:32 travel each of these
19:34 sections has specific policies that we
19:37 then have specific strategies for each
19:40 policy and ways that we intend on acting
19:46 that the primary changes from the last
19:49 time we looked at the mobility action
19:52 plan are related to Transit and Transit
19:55 access and so the city we did the
19:59 transit study over the last two years
20:02 this developed Transit and Transit
20:04 access related goals and policies this
20:07 went in directly into the transportation
20:09 element that was approved in December so
20:12 now we're talking about the actions and
20:14 the analysis all the behind the scenes
20:17 information and how that analysis is
20:20 leading to the actions that we're taking
20:21 to implement the transportation
20:26 element the slide talks about at a very
20:28 high level all of the changes that are
20:30 happening since
20:32 2021 so the first change is updating the
20:35 name of the document changing the word
20:38 master from Mobility master plan to
20:42 remove harmful
20:43 language this uh term master has
20:47 historical connotations to slavery and
20:50 um as a standard practice the city is
20:52 moving away from harmful language and
20:55 replacing uh terms that are less charged
20:58 so this is a neutral term action um
21:01 would be the replacement
21:03 word there's also several uh General
21:06 housekeeping updates that we'd like to
21:08 make um revisions to Baseline
21:11 information uh that is new since
21:14 2021 as well as uh adding direct
21:17 references to the new Transportation
21:19 element and making new actions and
21:22 revised actions to support where we're
21:24 at uh with the transportation element
21:29 we did take this document to The
21:32 Advisory boards the transportation
21:34 Advisory Board is the primary board that
21:36 looks at this document they had a couple
21:40 uh actions that they'd like uh included
21:43 which are in the document the
21:45 transportation Advisory Board also
21:47 requested that we take this to the
21:48 equity board there are several areas
21:51 that um we are focusing on to improve
21:54 Equitable outcomes as they relate to
21:56 transportation and the equity board had
21:58 some really great comments that we are
22:02 incorporating lastly in January we took
22:06 this document to the mobility and
22:08 infrastructure Council committee who had
22:10 some really great feedback on this
22:12 document the uh acronym specifically was
22:15 changed from the mobility master plan to
22:18 the mobility action plan um through the
22:20 direction of the uh Council committee um
22:23 so map uh for
22:27 short and lastly uh the map uh all
22:32 references to Vision zero were updated
22:34 to the Safe Systems approach or
22:37 SSA this is standard practice in the
22:40 region and it really just describes how
22:43 we deal with um traffic safety and the
22:45 work that we do um on that
22:54 front so the administration tonight is
22:57 uh recommending adoption of the map uh
23:00 we we did receive an email um this past
23:04 weekend from council member Jong um
23:08 there were several really great points
23:09 that we received in that email
23:12 highlighting minor um scrier errors they
23:15 need to update a map that we have uh
23:17 related to the Transportation uh
23:19 functional classification uh there's no
23:22 Legend in it so um to an outside reader
23:25 it would be difficult to sort of
23:27 understand that um so we would like to
23:29 include a legend there there's also an
23:32 overall need to ensure references that
23:34 are connected throughout the document so
23:36 um with those changes we we would make
23:40 uh intend to make those uh prior to
23:42 publishing um but the administration is
23:44 recommending adoption of the map with
23:47 those updates so no change to the
23:49 recommended
23:50 motion no change
23:53 thanks nice to have a fresh set of
23:55 eyes very helpful for the community
23:59 um are we ready for
24:00 questions I'm ready mayor thank you and
24:03 thank you for addressing council member
24:04 Jen's uh concerns questions Deputy
24:07 council
24:09 president yeah thank you uh and again
24:12 Thomas thank you so much for the work
24:14 that staff has done on on this uh plan
24:17 we had some really good questions that
24:19 were brought forward and let me ask
24:20 those so that everybody can hear the
24:22 answers uh and that was you know why is
24:26 there no reference in the plan to
24:28 Electric uh vehicles and electric
24:31 vehicle
24:32 infrastructure um and the second one is
24:35 uh very there is a reference to
24:37 greenhouse gases but very small uh can
24:41 you explain the thinking behind how this
24:44 plan was constructed and why those
24:46 elements were um not emphasized as much
24:49 as the others were thank you absolutely
24:52 I appreciate the opportunity to respond
24:54 to that um so as we were developing the
24:57 comprehensive plan it became clear that
25:00 we really as a city wanted to uh have a
25:03 standalone section related to the
25:05 environment um and uh greenhouse gas
25:08 emissions are a major uh contributor
25:11 from to the transportation section um
25:14 you know transportation is a third of
25:16 emissions throughout the city so we
25:18 really wanted to emphasize that as a
25:20 standalone section in the comprehensive
25:22 plan um so references to greenhouse gas
25:26 emissions and electric vehicles which if
25:28 we were to switch uh more towards
25:30 electric vehicles that would reduce our
25:32 greenhouse gas emissions um so these two
25:35 sections are really more related to the
25:38 IAP implementation and just to
25:42 reference I love this slide it's great
25:44 um so if you were to just replace the
25:47 transportation element with the
25:48 environmental element you would see the
25:51 environmental element Vision goals and
25:53 policies flowing into the IAP the isqua
25:56 climate action plan so um that will then
26:00 have the strategies actions and
26:01 resources um to address those two um
26:06 areas thank you additional questions
26:09 council member Jen um thanks for your
26:12 work on this um so my question kind of
26:14 going back to the previous slide is
26:16 what's the Cadence for updating this
26:17 plan in the thing in the slide it showed
26:19 that it was you know 5 to 20 years um
26:22 but the you know actual action plan at
26:23 the end seems to have kind of a
26:25 four-year time Horizon so interested to
26:26 hear more about what that timeline looks
26:30 like great question uh the mobility
26:32 action plan was updated four years ago
26:35 um we tend to update it on a regular
26:38 Cadence as we update the transportation
26:41 element um so we we are expecting
26:45 another update to the transportation
26:46 element this year so we will have yet
26:49 another update to the mobility action
26:51 plan um as was mentioned previously the
26:55 isqua climate action plan um is also
26:58 related to the transportation element so
27:00 when that is updated likely there will
27:02 be another update to the mobility
27:04 Mobility action plan so it's really um
27:07 to answer your question it's related to
27:09 uh other functional plans and other uh
27:12 comprehensive plan updates and just
27:14 making sure that everything is
27:18 aligned thank you any other questions
27:21 from any other council
27:23 members okay uh committee chair is that
27:27 uh member Ray would you care to make a
27:30 motion I would love to um I move to
27:32 approve resolution number
27:36 2025 -06 adopting the mass Mobility
27:41 Action Plan update including the plan
27:43 strategies and actions excellent is
27:46 there a second council member all got
27:49 there pretty quick great so it's been
27:51 moved in second seconded is there any
27:54 conversation
27:55 discussion a council uh Council right
27:58 thanks chair um I think Thomas covered
28:02 much of what I'd like to say but the
28:04 mobility and infrastructure committee
28:06 did review the um Mobility action plan
28:10 on January 14th this year and we agreed
28:14 with the administration's recommendation
28:16 to rename the document and we felt that
28:18 the mobility action plan or map was a um
28:23 an appropriate name it um captured some
28:26 of the
28:28 um energy about moving forward it's not
28:31 just a plan but it's actually has a
28:34 driver behind it uh stealing a little
28:37 bit of the concept from the climate
28:39 action plan um plan provides a good map
28:42 um pun intended for implementing the
28:45 city's goals for dealing with um our
28:46 Mobility challenges we we found that uh
28:50 as we went through the document we had
28:51 many um many uh comments and questions
28:55 but very few uh things where we felt
28:58 that that it was lacking so we provide
29:00 some feedback and Direction um that's
29:02 been reflected in the plan as presented
29:04 tonight um you know and I think one of
29:06 the bigger things was uh renaming Vision
29:08 zero into the safety Safe Systems
29:12 approach um I think that uh Thomas and
29:15 team did an incredible job of updating
29:17 this document and I think we should move
29:19 forward and adopt this as our um road
29:23 map for Mobility for the short term and
29:25 I'll stop now great um looking at
29:28 council member Hall I think you want to
29:30 speak
29:33 excellent yeah thank you um Thomas and
29:37 our staff have done an excellent job on
29:39 this update um appreciate the deep in uh
29:43 engagement of tab and the equity board
29:45 on this that provided some great
29:46 feedback um that was incorporated into
29:49 this I think kind of in terms of where
29:51 we're at this is more useful than it's
29:53 ever been now especially that we have
29:55 align better alignment with some of the
29:56 work that we've done over the past year
29:57 including the transportation element
29:59 including um the transit study um I like
30:03 to see that we had the transition from
30:05 Vision zero to the Safe Systems approach
30:06 I think that just avoids any baggage
30:08 that exists with vision zero as a
30:10 concept um and I love that we're calling
30:12 it the map that was so perfect it just
30:14 kind of came out of natural conversation
30:16 in committee and it just worked out
30:18 perfectly um I I could go on and on
30:20 because the mobility um action plan now
30:24 um is one of my favorite plans of the
30:26 city I think it's a keystone plan uh in
30:29 terms of planning documents that we have
30:31 you get that right and so many other
30:33 things fall into place of course the
30:36 hard bit is is funding it all and
30:38 actually implementing it and and getting
30:40 it across the finish line so to speak
30:42 but the vision for the future that the
30:44 map sets is so exciting so again I just
30:45 wanted to thank you for all your work on
30:47 this thank you any other council members
30:50 Deputy council
30:51 president thank you um and uh I think
30:55 it's a great plan and I I will be
30:58 supporting it and voting in favor of it
31:00 I do think that um the question about
31:03 how do all of these plans go together is
31:07 a sort of a continuing communication
31:09 issue for us and it's it's not just in
31:12 this department and not just in this
31:13 area but uh we do have numerous plans
31:17 that are on the website and certainly uh
31:20 Anne Fletcher is very familiar with our
31:21 website and still she had trouble
31:23 digging out the information so going
31:25 forward not stopping not stopping in
31:28 this project and going forward with
31:30 supporting this but thinking ahead to
31:32 the future is how can we communicate
31:34 with our community so that they can find
31:37 those threads easily on the website and
31:40 maybe do some future thinking about uh
31:42 maybe the next time we revise this plan
31:44 or the next set of plans how do we show
31:47 that there's a thread that is is really
31:50 connecting all of them and flowing
31:52 through all of them uh from concept to
31:56 actual implementation so um so I think
31:59 the questions were really excellent and
32:01 I appreciate your your input and I will
32:04 be supporting this plan thank you
32:06 additional
32:08 comments I am not seeing an indication
32:11 so um the motion is to approve
32:15 resolution number
32:19 2025-the including the plan strategies
32:22 and actions all those in favor signify
32:24 by saying I I I those opposed
32:28 that vote carries s and0 it's a
32:30 unanimous vote thank you all and Thomas
32:33 thank you for your work on that the one
32:35 graphic that was referenced uh for your
32:38 Mobility one is a great graphic and I
32:40 think those are very helpful in in
32:42 helping um our community members
32:44 understand how all this ties together
32:46 well done uh the next item is committee
32:49 and Regional reports and um we all know
32:53 that council member Jang has now been on
32:54 the council for uh not a week a week two
32:58 weeks a week two weeks um do you have
33:01 any committee reports I do not okay I
33:03 didn't think so you will soon council
33:06 member Joe Madame mayor thank you um I
33:10 will be chairing the mobility and
33:11 infrastructure committee going forward
33:13 uh March 11th is our next scheduled
33:16 meeting um the agenda has not been set
33:19 yet the Cascade water Alliance board
33:22 will meet will be meeting on Wednesday
33:24 the 26th at 3:30 at the Cascade office
33:27 or by Zoom the Cascade water lines
33:30 public affairs committee will be meeting
33:32 on March
33:33 5th the lodging tax advisory committee
33:36 will be having a special meeting on
33:37 March 3rd uh we received eight
33:40 applications for funding and uh members
33:43 have been reviewing those applications
33:44 and filling out the Matrix for ranking
33:47 those uh different applications and
33:49 we'll be discussing those at the March
33:51 3rd
33:52 meeting lastly the chamber board um
33:56 briefing uh was scheduled for the 21st
33:59 of February but it was cancelled as
34:02 school was out for midwinter break that
34:04 concludes my report thank you thank you
34:05 council member Joe council member
34:08 Hall thank you okay so I have three
34:11 reports this evening starting with uh
34:12 East Side Fire and Rescue um so just in
34:15 case anyone's been living under a rock
34:17 Chief Lane of East Side Fire and Rescue
34:20 has announced his retirement uh at the
34:22 end of the year um earlier this month he
34:24 announced that um as a board we're sad
34:26 to see him go uh 31 years in the fire
34:29 service is certainly a long time and we
34:32 all admire his leadership and appreciate
34:34 what he's done for the agency during his
34:36 tenure um but we are also very excited
34:39 um to see what this new opportunity
34:41 could mean for the possibilities for our
34:43 future as as a partnership uh and chief
34:45 Lane completely agrees with that and
34:47 he's just you know he's made it really
34:48 clear he's going to finish strong here
34:50 at the agency uh and we'll have plenty
34:52 of more opportunities to embarrass and
34:55 praise him later he hates praise um so
34:57 we'll have to just make sure we bring
34:59 him to a council meeting or something
35:00 like that uh in terms of next steps just
35:02 to keep you in the loop the board has
35:04 appointed a fire chief ad hoc committee
35:06 that's director Karen how from samamish
35:09 director Alan goell from Northbend and
35:11 myself uh we were reviewing National
35:14 recruitment Consultants um now and uh
35:17 we'll make a recommendation to the full
35:18 board about what national consultant we
35:21 think we should go with uh at the March
35:23 meeting so stay tuned on that work uh
35:26 and also just a put your mindes whatever
35:28 consultant we choose will undoubtedly
35:30 include lots of Engagement and
35:33 stakeholder mapping so we will be
35:34 involved in that process regardless if
35:36 you're on the E board or not um and then
35:39 outside of those reports I'll be sure to
35:41 keep you updated via email kind of where
35:43 we're at but if you have any questions
35:44 please feel free to to reach
35:46 out uh in addition to forming that ad
35:49 hoc we also formed a long-term policy ad
35:52 hoc committee to tee up some of the
35:54 broader conversations that I've been
35:55 speaking to council about um the
35:57 objective really to refine what the
36:00 problems the problem statements are the
36:02 policy questions are getting into kind
36:03 of the more specifics to then present to
36:06 the full board so we can have a broader
36:07 discussion um obviously the focus has
36:11 now shifted to recruiting a new fire
36:13 chief but we still want to be moving the
36:14 needle where we can in this space
36:16 especially where it might influence our
36:17 decision around fire chief um and then
36:20 finally I was elected chair of the epher
36:22 board so I'm excited to kind of step up
36:24 and take on a little bit more stop it
36:27 wow stop that uh and take on a bit more
36:30 responsibility over there and our next
36:32 meeting is uh Thursday March 13th thank
36:34 you um I have two more reps sorry I just
36:37 wanted to say in case anybody's
36:39 wondering we've been hoping and waiting
36:40 for him to come chair for several years
36:42 so that is a big announcement well thank
36:45 you very much yeah two years as Vice
36:47 chair so I'm happy and ready to step
36:50 up um I'll also be taking over as chair
36:53 of the Planning Development and
36:54 environment committee this year I'm
36:56 excited about that lots of our big shoes
36:58 to fill um without going council member
37:01 hunt so just a quick announcement then
37:03 to say that our next meeting is next
37:04 Tuesday March 4th and we'll be looking
37:06 at the um proposed docket of comp plan
37:09 amendments so that'll be fun um and then
37:12 I had a quick report on City action days
37:15 so council president Walsh Deputy
37:16 council president D Michelle and I and
37:18 you've kind of alluded to some of this
37:20 already in my report but um we were in
37:22 Olympia for City action days and wanted
37:25 to share um some of what we did did so
37:27 the first day was really more of a
37:28 traditional conference setting uh we
37:30 have an overview of the state's uh
37:32 multi-billion dollar budget forall um it
37:35 sounds like they're working on kind of a
37:37 mix of of cost reductions and new
37:39 revenues to close that Gap but it is
37:41 certainly the issue overshadowing the
37:43 legislative session this year um we also
37:46 um heard that the feds are or the
37:48 federal government um someone is
37:51 considering uh getting rid of the option
37:53 for tax exempt municipal bonds so that
37:56 was a very concern
37:58 piece of information we learned and
37:59 something we'll definitely have to keep
38:01 uh a monitor on um I went to a couple
38:04 sessions on housing and Public Safety
38:06 lots of proposals around there around
38:08 increasing housing Supply or things that
38:10 the legislature thinks will increase
38:11 housing Supply and supporting local law
38:13 enforcement and so it'll be interesting
38:15 to see what kind of makes its way out of
38:17 uh the next few weeks and I know there's
38:20 a session on Transportation I think
38:21 either council president or Deputy
38:23 council president went to that or maybe
38:24 both
38:25 um uh and then of course we got to
38:27 connect with other council members and
38:28 Mayors that's the best part of AWC uh
38:31 and then the second day we were with
38:32 Shelly our lobbyist and Dale um from
38:36 staff who came all the way down to
38:37 Olympia to help us um Lobby the
38:39 legislature which is nice we had some
38:41 like you had mentioned some late
38:43 breaking updates to our legislative
38:45 agenda around the jail ask around the
38:47 bomb Cyclone recovery funding so it was
38:49 good to be able to fill them in on that
38:51 information um and then be kind of
38:53 strategic around two to three other
38:54 things with each legislator um and we
38:57 even got to see Victoria on the floor um
39:00 for some floor action and um so that was
39:03 really special and she really seems to
39:05 be thriving down there so happy to see
39:07 that uh thank you that concludes my
39:10 report that's great and again for those
39:12 who don't know who Victoria is council
39:14 member Jen is now sitting as our new
39:17 council member council member hunt was
39:19 elected to the legislature so Council
39:21 Ray uh no report this evening right
39:24 Council
39:25 Merz thank you madam mayor um the sound
39:28 cities Association public issues
39:29 committee uh did not have a did not have
39:32 a regular February meeting this month
39:35 the council services safety and Parks
39:36 committee will be meeting tomorrow night
39:38 at 6:30 here in council chambers we have
39:40 one agenda item uh Co 0089 flock camera
39:44 system and we'll be talking with Chief
39:47 Schwan on that topic this concludes my
39:49 report thank you council member Marts
39:50 Deputy council president thank you um I
39:55 attended the Eastside Transportation
39:56 partnership uh very short report it was
39:59 mostly administrative discussion about
40:02 the agreement that we all have to sign
40:04 every two years to be a part of East
40:06 Side Transportation partnership we had a
40:09 actually it turned out to be a very
40:10 robust discussion about that and then
40:13 approval of the uh 2025 work plan um the
40:17 regional transit committee meeting was
40:19 cancelled um in deference to the
40:22 association of Washington Ci's
40:24 conference uh since most of the members
40:27 our TC were actually in Olympia on the
40:29 day that was
40:30 scheduled uh and then I attended last
40:32 Thursday the Board of Health uh and uh a
40:36 really excellent uh and involved meeting
40:40 uh first of all we passed a new code for
40:43 septic tanks located in King County uh
40:47 related to septic tanks uh the main
40:49 concern of the opponents uh that uh
40:52 voted against it it was a split vote it
40:54 was not a unanimous vote is the cost
40:56 which averages about $50,000 per
40:59 household for either upgrading septic or
41:02 joining a sewer system and it's true
41:04 that there's no funding pool available
41:06 to homeowners with failing systems uh
41:09 which in turn becomes a threat to health
41:11 and environmental Integrity in our
41:13 region um I believe there are some
41:16 60,000 um septic systems that are 50
41:20 years or older and 50 years is kind of
41:23 the lifetime of a septic system so in
41:26 King County we have major problem
41:28 because uh these are soon or probably
41:31 are already
41:32 failing um the process of approving the
41:35 new codes took multiple years and
41:37 involved a huge community outreach
41:39 effort and I think the hope of the
41:41 public health staff is that the research
41:43 and Community concern demonstrated
41:45 through the process can leverage County
41:47 and state legislators to step up and
41:49 begin working on relief measures for
41:52 their
41:53 constituents uh in other topics we did
41:56 did take a unanimous vote uh to approve
41:59 a resolution praising Dr Jeff Duan who
42:02 you may remember from the covid pandemic
42:05 uh he is retiring after 40 years of
42:08 service to the public health of King
42:10 County amazing and so there were was
42:14 much much praise from many many of his
42:17 colleagues and uh shining lights in the
42:20 healthc care uh field uh from around the
42:23 county so that was really uh a very big
42:26 highlight of the meeting and then
42:28 finally we had a presentation um the
42:30 medic 1 EMS Levy renewal will be on the
42:34 November 20125 ballot uh so we had a
42:37 presentation about it uh it will and of
42:40 course that Levy supports our 911 system
42:43 and also pays for emergency medical
42:45 services and many other life-saving
42:47 device
42:48 Services the cost to homeowners will
42:51 average $212 per year which is down from
42:54 the last time that we renewed uh that
42:57 time it was
42:58 $269 as an average cost to King County
43:01 homeowners so uh there are more people
43:04 in the in the levy area and so the cost
43:06 is actually going down um it will be
43:09 renewed again for a six-year period
43:11 which would begin in 2026 and go through
43:15 2031 and we may want to at some point
43:17 have a more detailed presentation here
43:20 to talk about how important it is uh uh
43:23 in terms of uh a service that really
43:26 affects everybody's safety in King
43:28 County so again a very very interesting
43:32 meeting and that ends my report thank
43:35 you council
43:37 president thank you just a quick report
43:40 um that the two Regional committees that
43:42 I'm on the pjet sound regional council's
43:45 growth management policy board and the
43:47 King County affordable housing committee
43:49 will both meet on uh Thursday March 6th
43:52 and the agendas have not been released
43:54 yeah I get a busy once a week Thursday
43:57 all day just lovely policy meetings that
44:00 concludes my report thank you council
44:02 president the next item is the mayor's
44:04 report uh there will be an executive
44:06 session this evening to discuss property
44:08 acquisition per RCW
44:11 42301 one0 per n1r B the item is
44:14 expected to take approximately 20
44:16 minutes and action is anticipated to
44:18 follow an open
44:19 session um legislative session update
44:22 the 2025 legislative session is in full
44:25 swing and our team has been hard at work
44:28 advocating for our City's legislative
44:30 priorities as you heard we had a team of
44:33 your elected Council down there last
44:35 week uh with some of our city staff
44:38 discussing the city's legislative
44:39 priorities with each member of our
44:41 legislative delegation and I'm proud to
44:43 tell you that um our team is one of the
44:46 very few that met with every single
44:48 representative of the legislative
44:50 delegation so thank you for all your
44:52 hard work in doing that as the
44:54 legislative session continues I'll work
44:56 with City staff to continue to advocate
44:58 for the priorities that are listed in
45:00 our agenda at the December 2nd 2025 city
45:04 council meeting the council voted to add
45:06 a new second school zone safety camera
45:09 location at isqua Valley Elementary
45:11 School at this meeting two potential new
45:14 locations were being considered one at
45:16 isqua Valley Elementary School and
45:18 another at grandridge elementary school
45:21 along with the approval of the new
45:22 location at isav Valley Elementary the
45:24 full Council referred back for further
45:26 consideration of the potential Third
45:28 location at grandridge elementary back
45:30 to the services safety and Parks
45:32 Committee in q1 2025 to provide the
45:36 committee additional information to
45:37 consider a grandridge Elementary School
45:39 location the administration had planned
45:41 to gather data from the new location at
45:43 Ive confirm the projected rates of
45:46 violation from the study were accurate
45:48 and determine the impact on staff
45:50 capacity of launching a new location it
45:52 was also planned that the camera vendor
45:54 run another study at Grand Ridge to
45:56 understand the impact of the newly
45:57 installed digital speed reader signs
46:00 near Grand rdge Elementary School
46:02 following the state's legislator
46:06 ex many other jurisdictions have also
46:08 sought to expand their camera programs
46:11 in the past eight months and because of
46:13 this the need to work with Puget Sound
46:15 Energy to run electricity to the
46:17 location on Newport Way Northwest Vera
46:21 mobility's current timeline to go live
46:23 with the isqua Valley Elementary camera
46:25 is now June 202
46:27 this would not allow for that data
46:29 collection and Analysis until the start
46:31 of the 2025 2026 school year in
46:34 September so the administration is now
46:36 proposing Gathering the preliminary data
46:38 in the first months of the school year
46:40 and returning to services safety and
46:41 Parks Committee in late third quarter or
46:44 early fourth quarter with the results
46:45 for consideration of the adoption of a
46:47 third school's Zone safety camera
46:50 location and I'd like you to join me at
46:52 the spring business openhouse Tuesday
46:54 March 18th Dro in anytime between 8 and
46:56 9:30 a.m. at Blakeley Hall in the ISA
46:59 Highlands entrepreneurs and business
47:00 owners can speak one-on-one with City
47:02 staff about permitting public safety
47:05 light rail planning business resiliency
47:08 business assistance and more immediately
47:10 following the event co-working is open
47:12 from 9:30 a.m. to 1: p.m for business
47:14 owners and remote workers RSVPs are
47:17 optional but highly encouraged so visit
47:19 the city's calendar for more information
47:21 and that concludes the mayor's
47:23 report we are going to move into
47:27 informational updates there are two
47:28 updates on tonight's agenda um these
47:31 presentations are informational only and
47:34 Council will not um and no council
47:37 direction is requested this evening the
47:39 first of the two is ID 1816 a windstorm
47:42 financial recovery and I'd like to
47:44 invite emergency manager Jared Schneider
47:46 to the podium welcome
47:49 Jared understand you have a presentation
47:51 for us yes hello mayor hello Council
47:54 bear with me as I uh set up my screen
47:57 real
48:04 quick okay all right great great okay so
48:09 hello everybody I'm the emergency
48:10 manager for the city of isqua uh my name
48:12 is Jared Schneider but I'm also joined
48:13 today by Julian stra uh management
48:16 analyst for the executive office and Dan
48:18 hence our Urban Force supervisor who is
48:20 with us
48:21 virtually so the purpose of today's
48:24 informational meeting is to speak about
48:27 um really what's changed since um we
48:29 were here last November 25th to talk
48:32 about the Windstorm so we're going to
48:34 talk about some of the actions that City
48:36 staff have been doing to keep our
48:37 community safe and to recover from the
48:40 Windstorm and then we're also going to
48:41 be speaking about the financial element
48:43 and the cost recovery that some updates
48:45 have already touched but we're going to
48:46 get a little bit more into the details
48:48 on on what the situation is in the city
48:51 lastly we're going to be talking about
48:53 uh wildfire wildfire risk reduction and
48:55 you may be wondering uh why this item uh
48:57 in here with the Windstorm elements and
48:59 that's because well we're coming up on
49:01 Spring but we're also coming out of a
49:03 very devastating Wildfire event in our
49:05 country I'm sure you all remember in
49:07 January the LA wildfires that claimed
49:09 the lives of 29 people and destroyed
49:12 some 18,000 structures so so quite a
49:15 significant Wildfire event and and um we
49:18 don't need to tell you uh just how much
49:20 of a priority that is for us here that
49:22 we're ready for Wildfire so we're going
49:24 to take a little bit time to talk about
49:25 what we're preparing for for uh this
49:27 spring and the summer uh for the
49:29 Wildfire
49:31 season oops okay there we go so um the
49:34 first topic we want to talk about is
49:36 private property damage so the last time
49:39 that I was here um we had done a
49:41 community rapid impact survey so what
49:43 that was was a team of Public Works
49:45 engineers and building inspectors
49:48 driving around some of our uh routes and
49:50 major roads in the city evaluating homes
49:53 and businesses for damage to ensure that
49:55 they were safe right the buildings El
49:56 were safe for occupants so after um
50:00 after the height of the Windstorm and
50:01 the immediate response um trickled down
50:03 we have a much more Clear Vision of the
50:07 impacts so we had 17 homes businesses
50:11 that were yellow tagged if you're
50:13 unfamiliar with that terminology what
50:15 yellow tagged means is a building where
50:17 uh part of it is unsafe for occupancy so
50:20 for example take a take a home right if
50:22 a tree falls on one bedroom uh but the
50:25 rest of the structure is okay you know
50:27 um a building official would say you
50:28 can't use that one bedroom right but the
50:30 rest of the house is safe um red tagged
50:33 buildings of which we have nine had nine
50:37 in the city of isqua are structures that
50:39 are deemed too unsafe for anyone to
50:42 occupy so quite an extensive amount of
50:45 private property damage as a result of
50:46 the Windstorm and and you know Myriad
50:49 many many more cases of minor damage
50:51 right too that didn't meet that
50:53 threshold so uh it was quite the quite
50:55 the event
50:57 um we want to touch on Outreach so um
51:00 Outreach covered many many different
51:03 topics and through many many different
51:05 um sources and streams so uh information
51:08 is something that everyone was
51:09 interested in you know after this event
51:12 how can I recover how can I get access
51:14 to the resources in the immediacy and
51:16 then really you know what are the what
51:17 are the impacts to the community so we
51:20 used um our website uh we used Insider
51:23 we had a great interview with the mayor
51:25 if you didn't get a chance to to watch
51:27 that it's probably worth going back and
51:28 watching it was just fantastic uh we
51:30 used social media and we took many phone
51:33 calls uh from residents and and I want
51:35 to touch a little bit on some of the
51:36 main information that we were trying to
51:38 get out to the community and that's
51:39 about um options and resources made
51:42 available post storm so there was two
51:44 programs that were made available one
51:47 was the small business administration
51:49 loans so what those are are um they
51:52 loans that are low interest uh despite
51:54 the name they're available to um
51:56 homeowners and residents and members of
51:58 the community as well as businesses so
52:01 they were actually set up shop in
52:03 Belle's library and um a location in
52:06 South King County where they had open
52:07 hours where folks could come in and
52:10 apply in person um so it was U it was
52:13 something that we wanted to make sure
52:14 that isqua Community was aware of so
52:16 that was a major message we got out and
52:18 then the second thing was State
52:20 individual assistance so State
52:22 individual assistance is a program that
52:25 actually um supports the most vulnerable
52:28 members of our community uh based on
52:30 income they have to be 80% of medium
52:33 income to qualify and have um
52:36 substantial structured damage to to
52:38 receive this type of or to be eligible
52:40 in this program and that program gives
52:43 um just funds really and cost
52:44 reimbursement to to individuals now uh
52:47 you look at the amounts that that
52:48 program gives and it is uh not even
52:51 close to capture you know the actual
52:53 cost to to these individuals but it is
52:56 something and this is a relatively new
52:58 state program too it's modeled after uh
53:01 the federal program there's a federal
53:03 individual assistance program that
53:04 offers the same uh you may remember it
53:06 from covid and some other large
53:08 disasters where um certain funds were
53:10 allocated back to the community um we
53:12 unfortunately as a community as a county
53:15 as a state did not meet that threshold
53:17 to receive the the federal individual uh
53:20 assistance to meet that threshold we
53:22 need to have about a few hundred
53:24 structures completely destroyed so
53:26 tagged um and so we didn't quite make
53:29 that threshold in in Washington
53:32 unfortunately uh moving on bis removal
53:35 was something that uh continued much
53:37 much past that first update that um I
53:40 gave you all that we gave you all um to
53:42 date there has been 800 tons of debris
53:45 removed from city property um if you
53:48 have trouble visualizing what a ton is
53:50 right like me um think of like a small
53:53 sedan right that's about a ton so
53:55 imagine 800 small sedans worth of debris
53:58 right throughout the city that is uh
53:59 that's a tremendous effort right by by
54:02 uh city folks to get our to get our area
54:04 cleaned up and and there's still some
54:05 more to go um another major operation
54:08 that's going to happen have to happen
54:09 with our Parks folks is a stump grinding
54:11 and you know that could take much longer
54:13 and so you know it may be quite some
54:15 time till our community looks the way
54:17 that we're used
54:18 to um one other uh Major Impact that we
54:22 had in our community was log jams um so
54:25 in the process the Windstorm many trees
54:28 fell across isquat Creek specifically on
54:30 the East Fork of the creek uh some of
54:33 you may remember some significant
54:34 flooding that we had caused by a log Jam
54:37 um on the east on the East Fork that
54:39 flooded out front street and some of the
54:40 businesses there a few years back so in
54:43 this instant instant we had nine log
54:45 jams um identified through Public Works
54:48 parks and the state regulating entity um
54:52 they actually went around and and looked
54:53 at all these log jams seven of which
54:55 were deemed to be uh necessary for
54:57 removal as they were a threat to uh
54:59 Public Safety two of them remained and
55:02 you may be wondering you know why did we
55:03 keep some log jams in there well one
55:05 they weren't deemed to be a threat and
55:07 two log jams have a lot of ecological
55:09 benefit to to Creeks right I think uh we
55:12 love our salmon right and salmon love
55:14 Woody debris in the creek so there's
55:16 this mixed um interest right in Woody
55:19 debris now what makes this challenging
55:22 though is for those seven other log jams
55:24 that we did have to remove right we're
55:26 we're going to have to put those all
55:27 that debris that we took out back into
55:30 the Creek at some point and so uh that's
55:33 going to be a major project um it's
55:35 going to be a significant cost to the
55:37 city um but it's a it's a legal
55:40 requirement from the state and it's
55:42 matched with a federal requirement to
55:43 not raise the flood level you know in
55:46 isqua right so we have to have a
55:48 substantial project that will achieve
55:50 our environmental benefits as well as
55:52 our Public Safety um goals in the
55:55 community
55:57 so to take a look you know here's some
55:58 of the pictures from what we were up
56:00 against uh in the
56:03 city okay and with that I'm gonna turn
56:06 it over to Dan
56:08 Dan yeah can everyone hear me
56:12 okay um we're going to go to a yes we
56:14 can and we're going to go to a question
56:17 Council Mars yes
56:19 so can you say the thing again
56:21 everything that falls in the creek has
56:23 to has to stay in the creek because
56:25 because too much debris in the creek
56:27 isn't good for fish either right right
56:30 and so there is a actual a threshold for
56:32 for how much uh for the size of the
56:34 debris and the length of it um Dan might
56:37 also know the specifics of it Dan do you
56:40 want to speak to the specifics before we
56:41 yeah we'll get down to the SP want you
56:43 to know that we are working with uh
56:45 representative hunt on this very
56:47 conundrum that we face and looking for
56:49 assistance both from um U the state
56:53 agency and maybe legislative relief so
56:55 yeah there has to be be some
56:56 reasonableness to it so got it and I
56:59 assume the tribes would be involved in
57:01 that conversation as well yes for all
57:03 the Sal salonic pring streams yeah all
57:05 right thank you yes go ahead Dan yeah
57:09 thank you everyone thanks Jared thank
57:10 you Council sorry I can't be there I'm
57:12 out of out of state uh this week but um
57:16 quickly on the log jams I'll say yes so
57:18 if you want to know the definition of
57:19 large witty material or large we of
57:21 debris it is anything that is over 4 in
57:23 diameter and 6 feet long so that can be
57:25 big branches of course those don't pose
57:27 as much of a threat for flooding most of
57:28 the stuff we were looking at were one to
57:30 two to even three to four foot diameter
57:33 whole trunks of trees and you could see
57:35 that some of the photos that Jared
57:36 shared there I will add Jared you know
57:38 several of those sites actually do not
57:40 require mitigation as we are able to cut
57:42 and reposition the logs and allow the
57:44 creek to flow better through that way so
57:46 essentially maintaining some of the
57:47 habitat but mitigating some of the flood
57:49 risk but there are a few very
57:51 complicated projects with the amount of
57:53 wood that's technically supposed to go
57:54 back in the creek so I'm not trying to
57:56 dismiss that need or that concern but
57:58 several of those sites did uh not
58:00 require mitigation from the state for
58:02 the uh essentially repositioning of the
58:04 wood in the
58:05 Stream um so um happy to answer more
58:08 questions on that if anyone would like
58:10 to but I am here just for a quick slide
58:12 on tree Replacements I think you
58:14 probably heard at the last update Jared
58:16 gave that you know we estimated about
58:17 250 to 300 uh Street trees publicly
58:21 managed Street trees or trees in
58:23 maintained areas of parks lost you know
58:25 that was a we did right after the storm
58:28 I'll put a quick uh plugin for a public
58:30 tree inventory um something that you
58:32 know is one of the main goals from our
58:34 Urban Forest management plan uh would
58:36 really allow us to you know better
58:37 calculate tree size tree species
58:40 locations um but that 250 to 300 is a
58:43 pretty accurate estimate um for like I
58:45 said public uh rideways and maintained
58:47 areas of parks the number gets a lot
58:49 bigger if you get into our forested Open
58:51 Spaces that thousand plus trees on the
58:53 slide there is a very approximate
58:55 estimate it might be more we definitely
58:57 have not surveyed all of those and I
58:59 think I've talked a little bit that um
59:01 you know replacing those one to one is
59:03 not necessary I think mainly I talked to
59:05 this to the uh the SSP Council uh
59:08 committee um that you know a lot of
59:10 those trees and a lot of those
59:11 disturbances in Forest can actually be
59:12 good for Forest Health long term so we
59:14 are really focusing on the tree
59:15 Replacements in those uh Street trees
59:18 and park trees um so that leads to this
59:20 estimate of about
59:23 $275,000 uh or about $1,000 a tree that
59:26 might be a little bit high but as Jared
59:28 kind of alluded to there's a lot of prep
59:29 maybe more that goes into our normal
59:31 tree planting efforts uh stump grinding
59:33 is a big one we've mapped about a
59:35 hundred maybe not quite a 100 80 or so
59:37 uh stumps that need to be ground before
59:39 we can put trees back in especially
59:40 Street trees it's really tough to offset
59:43 and avoid the roots from uh the stumps
59:45 that the trees that came down uh from so
59:49 those are things that do need to happen
59:50 before we can get trees back in the
59:52 ground in those locations obviously
59:54 Jared talked about the debris cleanup
59:55 that's mostly complete but that was you
59:57 know obviously a huge First Step before
59:58 we talked anything about tree
1:00:00 replacement um and then you know we
1:00:02 probably removed another 25 to 30 trees
1:00:05 that were technically Still Standing but
1:00:07 leaning aggressively you know towards
1:00:09 targets or had major breaks or failures
1:00:12 and part of the canopy and and needed to
1:00:14 come down so that's really been the
1:00:15 focus on the urban forestry side uh
1:00:18 until about now where we are shifting to
1:00:21 focus on the tree replacement efforts so
1:00:24 um want to acknowledge that you know
1:00:26 that's that's a pretty high price tag
1:00:28 this is not something that's going to
1:00:29 happen overnight we'll have to be
1:00:30 creative about the funding um and we
1:00:32 will have to you know look at this as a
1:00:34 multi-year effort for sure too um but we
1:00:36 were really excited to kick off that
1:00:38 effort at Confluence Park as part of our
1:00:40 annual Arbor Day celebration on April
1:00:42 5th I encourage anyone that's interested
1:00:43 in joining to come join us um this is
1:00:46 celebrating our 32nd year so our 32nd
1:00:48 year as a tree City USA Community uh
1:00:51 we'll be replacing about 15 or so larger
1:00:54 ball and burlap trees uh either in
1:00:56 locations where trees were specifically
1:00:58 lost right there or areas kind of nearby
1:01:02 um including the weeping willow that
1:01:03 we've had a lot of people ask about so
1:01:04 we're going to do our best to get that
1:01:06 replaced there along the trail and
1:01:07 Confluence Park so that's kind of our
1:01:09 next big step and we'll continue to work
1:01:12 on you know replacement efforts as you
1:01:13 know time resources and and everything
1:01:15 kind of comes together there as well as
1:01:17 some of the last prep for those sites so
1:01:20 um I'll hand it back to Jared unless
1:01:21 there's any questions looking for
1:01:24 questions not seeing any Jared yes all
1:01:27 right and actually over to Jillian so
1:01:30 J welcome Jillian thank you thanks all
1:01:33 um I'm here tonight to talk a little bit
1:01:35 about the financial recovery aspect of
1:01:37 this work um talking through the FEMA
1:01:39 process our estimated costs as a city um
1:01:42 and what some of our recourse might be
1:01:44 so this slide walks through the
1:01:46 financial recovery process specifically
1:01:48 for FEMA's public assistance program
1:01:50 Jared covered some of the options for
1:01:51 individuals and businesses earlier this
1:01:54 program is specifically for cities and
1:01:56 local governments to recoup their costs
1:01:58 for recovery and response during
1:01:59 emergency events so typically the event
1:02:01 occurs um their repair and response work
1:02:05 begins um and we begin to assess costs
1:02:07 for the work already done such as time
1:02:09 tracked to the event um and estimated
1:02:12 future costs like those longer term
1:02:13 capital projects that we're looking at
1:02:15 with the creek um and then all of that
1:02:17 information is gathered up by the county
1:02:19 and state federal uh emergency
1:02:21 management groups um and they and FEMA
1:02:24 assess the Statewide need um for public
1:02:27 assistance there are different
1:02:28 thresholds at different County and state
1:02:30 levels to meet that this Windstorm event
1:02:32 did meet that threshold um and then
1:02:34 Governor Insley requested a presidential
1:02:36 presidential disaster declaration to
1:02:39 FEMA um and then now we're at this step
1:02:42 in the blue the president uh needs to
1:02:43 make a determination on the disaster
1:02:46 declaration um I want to point out that
1:02:48 for a lot of smaller or less covered um
1:02:51 in the media disasters it's not um
1:02:53 unusual for disaster declar ations to
1:02:56 take a couple of months uh to receive a
1:02:59 presidential signature so although this
1:03:01 was was submitted in January It's Not
1:03:02 Unusual that we haven't received one yet
1:03:05 um I will also say that uh it's only
1:03:08 after we get this presidential signature
1:03:10 that we can move on to the reimbursement
1:03:13 uh portion of the work with FEMA so this
1:03:15 is where we're at um right now in the
1:03:18 process and I'll talk a little bit about
1:03:19 our estimated costs and some of the
1:03:21 other options we have besides just FEMA
1:03:23 fma's public assistance program
1:03:26 so all of the work that Jared covered
1:03:28 and more um is summarized briefly on
1:03:31 this slide here and in December we had
1:03:33 estimated this would cost around $3.8
1:03:36 million this included all of the actuals
1:03:38 to date like labor um and debris removal
1:03:41 and Hauling that had occurred in the
1:03:42 community as well as future debris
1:03:44 removal and Hauling um and some of those
1:03:47 like long-term capital projects um as
1:03:49 you can see here all these costs things
1:03:52 like um street light and guardrail
1:03:54 repair are likely in different funds
1:03:56 than um items like our our Public Works
1:04:00 uh um and Park Street clearing so these
1:04:04 costs are spread across both year and
1:04:07 funds um and to that point this is what
1:04:10 we're estimating the breakdown looks
1:04:11 like so in
1:04:12 2024 costs were largely recorded in the
1:04:15 general fund due to some of those
1:04:17 emergency and debris clearing removal by
1:04:19 our Parks Crews and our street
1:04:20 operations Crews as well as uh emergency
1:04:23 like response um actions like the EOC
1:04:27 activation and Generator usage during
1:04:29 the event so that drove a lot of general
1:04:31 fund cost in 2024 in 2025 we're looking
1:04:34 at more costs in our storm water fund
1:04:36 largely due to those um Woody debris
1:04:38 Creek mitigation projects that we talked
1:04:40 about um those costs might bleed into
1:04:43 2026 as well um because of the nature of
1:04:46 the that kind of capital project um but
1:04:49 that's what we're looking at in terms of
1:04:51 costs distributed over year and over
1:04:53 funds we're updating this estimate as we
1:04:56 get actuals in um and as we better
1:04:58 understand what our costs are for the
1:05:02 event so with that um I wanted to kind
1:05:05 of ground this in what other cities in
1:05:06 our area experienced um these numbers
1:05:09 come from King County as they vetted um
1:05:12 a lot of different all the entities that
1:05:14 experience cost due to the event um I
1:05:16 pulled a couple of our neighboring
1:05:17 cities here the total cost for King
1:05:20 County were $17.5 million to public
1:05:22 entities and isqua was second among that
1:05:25 list second only to Seattle um so I
1:05:28 think there are a lot of ways to measure
1:05:29 impact of the storm and I think this is
1:05:31 just one of
1:05:33 them so with that there are a couple of
1:05:36 different reimbursement scenarios um
1:05:39 we'll start with frankly the scariest
1:05:41 right the the no reimbursement scenario
1:05:43 the $3.8 million if we don't receive any
1:05:46 federal dollars or any State dollars
1:05:48 we'll be looking at absorbing this in
1:05:50 fund balance across multiple funds
1:05:52 across multiple years um stepping
1:05:55 through a couple of different options
1:05:56 you see 25% reimbursement displayed on
1:05:58 the screen as well as 50% and then we
1:06:01 included 75% because this is the
1:06:03 historic cost share for FEMA typically
1:06:06 when FEMA has um had a when there's been
1:06:08 a presidential declaration and they've
1:06:09 provided assistance it's been at the 75%
1:06:12 level and then typically the state has
1:06:14 split the remaining 25% with local
1:06:17 municipalities given the state's um own
1:06:19 budget issues this year we aren't
1:06:21 anticipating that that's a guarantee at
1:06:23 all which is why we displayed here 75%
1:06:26 reimbursement scenario leaving the city
1:06:28 with about a million dollars in costs
1:06:30 spread over a couple of years to
1:06:33 absorb so with that I'm going to briefly
1:06:36 cover next steps and happy to answer any
1:06:38 questions so um like let's do to a
1:06:42 question Julian
1:06:44 M all right this is um this is too
1:06:46 obvious why is this cost so much worse
1:06:50 than any of our um surrounding neighbors
1:06:52 and for a a town of 10 square miles uh
1:06:55 compared to Seattle I mean it just it's
1:06:57 not even close I'm just curious why it's
1:06:59 so big I think I don't know if Jared has
1:07:02 anything to add to this but I think it
1:07:03 was just quite literally where the storm
1:07:05 hit um and where the effects were were
1:07:08 most pronounced um I don't know if you
1:07:10 have anything that you'd like to add to
1:07:11 that yeah that's we're 12 square miles
1:07:14 too yeah a little more 20%
1:07:18 reduction that really is it it's
1:07:21 honestly just our geography and and the
1:07:23 direction of this wind was a little
1:07:24 unusual and this Cascade Gap that isqua
1:07:27 hits itself and nicely paired with I90
1:07:30 honestly just led to this wind tunneling
1:07:32 effect that hit isqua particularly hard
1:07:36 yeah thanks and if I can just add one
1:07:38 thing uh your city staff counted every
1:07:43 penny yeah and so um while all that has
1:07:46 been said is absolutely true uh the
1:07:49 mayor's direction to us was count every
1:07:51 penny and we have counted every penny
1:07:57 and the the number is really I guess the
1:07:59 root of my question was it's a
1:08:01 reflection of the magnitude of the
1:08:03 damage I I didn't have any other uh
1:08:05 thing to to imply in that but it just
1:08:09 seems like for 12 square miles to be
1:08:12 such a large number is um is is either
1:08:16 mindboggling or really unfortunate or
1:08:18 wrong place at the wrong
1:08:20 time good
1:08:22 observation uh Council Merz yeah I just
1:08:26 want to share that I that that day I
1:08:29 took a picture of the outage map and it
1:08:31 we really were the bullseye I mean
1:08:33 there's no two ways to put it um no
1:08:36 other community was impacted the way we
1:08:38 were qualitatively and you can just see
1:08:40 that from the power outages um you know
1:08:43 we we're a city of mountains and uh
1:08:47 99.99% of the time that's a great thing
1:08:49 but uh on occasion it's not so um but
1:08:53 it's it's very obvious that they're
1:08:55 there it was just uh the nature of the
1:08:57 storm and not anything that has to do
1:08:59 with the way we conduct our uh services
1:09:03 or utilities thank you that's a that's a
1:09:05 very good point and we'll let Jillian
1:09:07 finish off but I think what we're really
1:09:09 wanting Council to think about is the
1:09:10 hard budget that you just went through
1:09:13 and the potential that 300 $3.8 million
1:09:16 might have to be found I mean that's a
1:09:18 that's just a really big ask for a small
1:09:22 Jillian yeah I'll know that there are a
1:09:23 couple of next steps that were
1:09:25 considered and one that's already been
1:09:26 taken so Governor Ferguson has
1:09:28 resubmitted the request for a
1:09:30 presidentially declared disaster to
1:09:32 president Trump with the support of FEMA
1:09:34 so that's on his desk and under review
1:09:37 again um and we are looking at all the
1:09:40 other options to to pay for this so as
1:09:42 mentioned previously there are a couple
1:09:44 of requests into the state legislature
1:09:45 from different parts of their budget um
1:09:48 to supplement some of the costs for us
1:09:49 and for our neighbors um across the
1:09:51 region so we're considering that um and
1:09:54 and lating all those options you Jan any
1:09:59 additional
1:10:00 questions sure Council M Hall I just
1:10:03 wanted to ask real quickly what the
1:10:05 breakdown or what the kind of ratio is
1:10:07 between capital and operating of the 3.8
1:10:09 million do we have like a general sense
1:10:11 of what that is yeah I think when you
1:10:14 consider Capital quite broadly that's
1:10:16 about $2 million in cost that does
1:10:18 include the creek mitigation projects
1:10:20 that are are the biggest estimate and
1:10:22 probably the place of most uncertainty
1:10:24 in our estim not knowing if there's
1:10:26 going to be legislative relief from that
1:10:27 item or really what design and
1:10:29 construction is actually going to cost
1:10:31 once's once's bid um
1:10:35 so thank you any other
1:10:39 questions excellent presentation thank
1:10:41 you very much thanks I'll hand it back
1:10:45 Jared alrighty whoops all right so
1:10:49 briefly um as I mentioned you know we're
1:10:51 moving to spring now so it's a good time
1:10:53 to talk about what we're doing about
1:10:54 Wildfire RIS production especially since
1:10:56 that's been such an interest you know
1:10:57 about not only Council but our community
1:11:00 um and really a a major priority for the
1:11:03 Emergency Management program here so we
1:11:05 have uh three major efforts that are
1:11:08 happening this spring early summer so um
1:11:12 the Wildfire evacuation study which you
1:11:14 have all heard me talk about before um
1:11:16 is coming to a conclusion so we had
1:11:18 about um 400 survey respondents um out
1:11:21 to this evacuation study to help us
1:11:23 better understand what our real scenario
1:11:27 is for for getting people out of our
1:11:28 community in a wildfire and just to
1:11:31 touch briefly on what this study does
1:11:33 and what it tells us exactly is um a few
1:11:36 things the first thing of interest is
1:11:38 it'll tell us if or it'll tell a
1:11:40 resident if you leave your home 15
1:11:43 minutes after we say hey there's a wfire
1:11:45 you need to evacuate now you know it'll
1:11:48 they could get out of the city and say
1:11:49 45 minutes and we'll see this
1:11:51 represented on a graph if they leave
1:11:53 about like an hour after after it could
1:11:56 be 2 and a half hours right um after
1:11:58 they get that notice to actually get out
1:12:00 of the city so one it gives us a great
1:12:02 public education tool right to to talk
1:12:05 about the importance of being prepared
1:12:06 to leave at a moment's notice during a
1:12:08 wildfire um we know evacuation is really
1:12:12 that's the number one priority right um
1:12:14 when we have a large Wildfire or any
1:12:15 Wildfire right close to one of our
1:12:17 residential areas so using that and
1:12:19 leveraging that as a education tool is
1:12:22 is great but really it also helps us
1:12:26 evacuate our residents quicker you know
1:12:28 while we're ready for an evacuation now
1:12:31 this plan will really bring us to the
1:12:33 next level if you will in our
1:12:34 preparation and the way that it does
1:12:36 that is it can give us suggestions or
1:12:38 will give us suggestions on things like
1:12:40 signal timings right so um it'll tell us
1:12:43 like just how to set them to move people
1:12:44 as quick as possible it'll give key
1:12:46 intersections that we could put police
1:12:48 officers at that could help expedite um
1:12:51 as well as a myriad of other suggestions
1:12:54 um so I'm very excited about that
1:12:56 element of it um we're actually going to
1:12:58 do some training and exercising based on
1:13:00 the results of our Wildfire evacuation
1:13:02 plan for for First Responders one last
1:13:05 thing to to point out about that
1:13:07 evacuation study is it'll also give us
1:13:09 the suggestions of of long-term capital
1:13:11 projects that we could Implement to
1:13:13 permanently increase the speed of our
1:13:15 evacuation so for example James Bush
1:13:17 Road I know is a uh Road that's of
1:13:20 interest to the tals community you know
1:13:21 it could actually model us like doing a
1:13:23 more robust upgrade to that Road and
1:13:25 seeing how much that would expedite our
1:13:27 evacuation time so um sorry that's more
1:13:31 Ms do you have any requirements in the
1:13:33 study about um what in engineering we
1:13:36 call one fault operative in other words
1:13:39 you take out a particular Road and uh
1:13:42 you still have the ability to get out
1:13:44 you mentioned James Bush Road which is
1:13:46 an which is an emergency alternate route
1:13:49 down out of Talis you know where my next
1:13:51 question is going to go Forest R Forest
1:13:53 Rim Yeah yes so how does force Rim
1:13:57 factor into this given that currently
1:13:59 there's only one way out yeah so that's
1:14:01 one of the beauties of this software is
1:14:03 so we could actually build a
1:14:04 hypothetical second Road from forest rim
1:14:06 and actually model that as well so the
1:14:09 the software to describe the process it
1:14:11 actually builds the whole city in a
1:14:12 virtual um environment and you could you
1:14:15 know build a hypothetical Road there too
1:14:17 but you can also do things such as you
1:14:19 know block off routes right and see how
1:14:22 long that would impact evacuation or the
1:14:24 or the potential time estimates you know
1:14:26 for Forest Rim you're exactly right you
1:14:28 know it's a oneway in and one way out
1:14:29 Community you know it doesn't have to be
1:14:31 it doesn't have to the city is working
1:14:33 on uh one of the water uh or a set of
1:14:36 water towers right now that would be on
1:14:38 a potential alternate route that is that
1:14:41 is even um platted um for an alternate
1:14:45 route down off off a forest rout so are
1:14:47 we going to take a look at that and
1:14:50 understand what we would or wouldn't get
1:14:52 for continuing that on and providing
1:14:55 those folks the same kind of redundancy
1:14:57 that we see in Talis albe it a much
1:14:59 Talis is much bigger Community than
1:15:00 Forest Rim but that road and that road
1:15:03 isn't and it isn't just well isn't just
1:15:05 fire at that road right there's been
1:15:06 slides on that road also it's
1:15:10 geotechnically challenging to get up the
1:15:11 forest Rim so will you be in you say you
1:15:14 could plot an alternate route does that
1:15:16 mean you will be plotting an alternate
1:15:18 route yes I should have used the uh the
1:15:21 yes action verb there yes we will be
1:15:23 plotting an alternate route there that
1:15:25 one that you described I remember in an
1:15:26 email um yeah some time ago so that's
1:15:29 one of our that's one of the cases that
1:15:30 we'll be studying as well as a few
1:15:32 others like the highlands is another
1:15:34 good example right there's that access
1:15:36 road you know that has the Bullards
1:15:38 there um so that's another area we're
1:15:39 going to be studying so we're going to
1:15:41 be taking a hard look at those
1:15:43 communities that do have that really
1:15:45 limited egress um options so Force Rim
1:15:47 being one of them thank you and Forest
1:15:49 room of course being surrounded by 5,000
1:15:51 Acres of of open space yes thanks
1:15:55 any other questions Jared let's keep
1:15:58 going okay great um one other effort is
1:16:01 East Side Fire and rescues Community
1:16:02 Wildfire protection plan um they are
1:16:04 kicking that off for isqua they just
1:16:06 wrapped it up in Northbend and now we
1:16:08 are up so a part of that is they're
1:16:10 going to be coming out to our
1:16:11 communities and hosting three different
1:16:13 workshops um around around town uh we're
1:16:16 still in the brainstorming session of
1:16:18 what those workshops are going to be but
1:16:20 Community input will be put into our
1:16:22 community Wildfire protection plan that
1:16:24 in the end will will give us a more
1:16:25 localized look at risk for our
1:16:27 neighborhoods so it'll help us
1:16:28 understand um an individual
1:16:30 neighborhoods risk of wildfire looking
1:16:32 at things like vegetation egress and the
1:16:35 other built environment factors that
1:16:36 contribute to Wildfire risk as well as
1:16:39 providing further prescriptive
1:16:41 mitigation actions that we could also
1:16:42 Implement at that neighborhood level um
1:16:45 and then U much like last year we also
1:16:48 are going to continue our Community
1:16:49 Education right so we're going to
1:16:50 promote some of our most important
1:16:52 programs one is alert King County that's
1:16:54 our emergency notification system right
1:16:56 we need to make sure every resident is
1:16:57 signed up for that system because that
1:16:59 is going to be the most Surefire way
1:17:01 that we can make sure that people get
1:17:03 information uh that they need to leave
1:17:05 during a wildfire we're going to be
1:17:07 promoting The Ready Set Go campaign
1:17:09 Ready set go is a uh initiative on
1:17:11 Western Washington communities and
1:17:13 counties where we're all getting on one
1:17:14 single terminology for Wildfire
1:17:16 evacuation so um we'll have one
1:17:19 universal language that residents can
1:17:21 can learn and that'll help you know make
1:17:23 sure it sticks we last year we even
1:17:25 created really nice magnets that uh for
1:17:27 fridges that we gave out at salmon days
1:17:28 and other places to help promote this
1:17:30 program but we'll continue pushing on
1:17:32 that um as well you know we're also
1:17:34 going to talk about and and continue to
1:17:35 promote Wildfire safe East Side East
1:17:37 Side Fire and rescues um program where
1:17:39 they will actually go to homes and
1:17:41 provide a personalized risk assessment
1:17:44 we actually submitted for a grant um in
1:17:46 partnership with e Side Fire and Rescue
1:17:48 and some of their other service cities
1:17:49 to expand that program adding hopefully
1:17:52 um four more years and two additional
1:17:54 employees to that to that program so
1:17:57 expand that Resource as well here's a
1:18:00 brief timeline of uh all these things
1:18:02 that I mentioned right so this in March
1:18:04 we're hoping to complete that Wildfire
1:18:06 evacuation study like I said you know
1:18:08 that'll give us a better understanding
1:18:10 of what evacuation would look like in
1:18:11 our community in April and May we're
1:18:13 going to share that data with uh the
1:18:15 council services safety and Parks
1:18:17 committee as well as the transportation
1:18:18 board uh that was recently scheduled
1:18:20 that we'll go to them with that
1:18:21 information and then you know we're
1:18:23 going to share that data and results out
1:18:24 with the community as well this spring
1:18:26 which will be really exciting uh and
1:18:28 this April and May time frame is when
1:18:29 we're expecting those East Side Fire and
1:18:31 Rescue workshops to occur and then
1:18:33 finally in June is where we're going to
1:18:35 have our first responder exercise based
1:18:38 on that Wildfire evacuation study really
1:18:40 going through the step-by-step process
1:18:41 of what it would look like to get us to
1:18:43 expedite evacuation as quickly as
1:18:45 possible um lastly you know we'll
1:18:48 debrief you de brief the city council
1:18:51 with um with up with our efforts on all
1:18:54 those preparedness
1:18:55 um items that I just mentioned and come
1:18:57 back for review so that is our plan for
1:19:03 Wildfire any coun questions councilman
1:19:05 Merz I I have a question you were you
1:19:07 were talking about a program it's not
1:19:09 called firewise anymore huh it's got a
1:19:11 different name yeah so firewise still
1:19:13 does exist um but this is uh Wildfire
1:19:16 safe east side which is just East Side
1:19:18 Fire and rescues branding on essentially
1:19:20 a firewise type program because the
1:19:23 problem with firewise is it works great
1:19:25 in flat terrain right but if you look at
1:19:28 anybody who lives on squawk Mountain
1:19:30 you're not going to clear a 100 foot um
1:19:32 area around your home because that would
1:19:35 be bad for many people's homes and their
1:19:37 neighbors homes who live below them uh
1:19:40 so what do we do um in our very our very
1:19:45 hilly terrain what what can we do I I I
1:19:48 I'll just give you personal example
1:19:49 right I'm on I've got critical slope
1:19:51 above my house I've got 30% grade below
1:19:54 my house I've got a path to my house um
1:19:57 but I can't I can't take any trees out
1:19:59 right so what what do you do for
1:20:02 homeowners like that that are on these
1:20:03 Hills that are at risk for wild done
1:20:05 Urban interface fires yeah absolutely
1:20:08 that's a great question and so you're
1:20:10 right um that there are more limited
1:20:12 options right just by the by the nature
1:20:15 of our ecology and our Westside Forest
1:20:16 that differentiate us from really much
1:20:18 of the rest of West and their dry
1:20:20 forests um so there is some things that
1:20:22 we still can do though so making sure
1:20:25 that branches right are pruned where
1:20:27 they're not overhanging your home or
1:20:28 coming into contact with any of your
1:20:30 structures up to you know a pretty high
1:20:32 height um making sure things like having
1:20:35 a metal roof or having you know a really
1:20:38 fine mesh in your attic vents and
1:20:40 underneath right into into crawl spaces
1:20:42 and areas making sure that Embers don't
1:20:44 get underneath um similarly boxing in
1:20:47 those areas like let's just say you have
1:20:48 a deck right in the area beneath your
1:20:50 deck if you can block those off that uh
1:20:52 stops um debris from accumulating under
1:20:54 underneath your deck which if there was
1:20:55 Embers could you know cause that to
1:20:57 start um to just name a few so there is
1:21:00 a lot um you're exactly right our
1:21:02 scenario is challenging in in West in
1:21:05 the west side of the mountains right um
1:21:07 but there rest assur there's quite a lot
1:21:09 of things that we can still do and that
1:21:10 is what that Wildfire safety site
1:21:13 program really does it's it's tailored
1:21:14 to our community which is great because
1:21:16 that was one of the issues that we had
1:21:18 with firewise and outright right it just
1:21:21 did not work for Western Washington
1:21:23 communities and so East Side Fire and
1:21:25 Rescue in partnership with King
1:21:26 Conservation District King County a few
1:21:28 others have really came up with some
1:21:30 great localized suggestions and for what
1:21:31 we can do in our in our communities
1:21:34 thank you that's that that's really good
1:21:36 news and I'm eager to see that
1:21:38 information get up more to focus thank
1:21:40 absolutely other
1:21:42 questions Council mayor Jen um thanks
1:21:45 for this presentation so one question I
1:21:46 had was about if there's potential for
1:21:49 other things like installing you know
1:21:50 home sprinkler systems to help mitigate
1:21:52 the risk of property damage from
1:21:54 Wildfire
1:21:55 I saw someone in La he was like the best
1:21:58 climate investment I ever made was
1:21:59 installing springco sister on my roof
1:22:01 and like three others in his
1:22:02 neighborhood that saved like you know
1:22:04 five structures in their neighborhood
1:22:05 and that was just from like increasing
1:22:07 the local humidity cuz the fire was
1:22:08 coming through there so quickly so I'm
1:22:10 curious if that's something that you
1:22:12 know is applicable to our climate yeah
1:22:15 you know that's actually a mitigation
1:22:16 strategy I'm not as familiar with I know
1:22:19 um in the past right if not knowing the
1:22:21 specifics of what that system looked
1:22:22 like there's been some concern right
1:22:24 about like the load on our water you
1:22:26 know resources right like you probably
1:22:28 also heard in the California wildf fires
1:22:29 that there was dry hydrants right and so
1:22:31 if people are turning on their
1:22:33 sprinklers right like just like their
1:22:34 home sprinklers that are attached to the
1:22:36 regular City Water System it could also
1:22:38 lead to like a water shortage for
1:22:39 firefighting efforts so I know
1:22:42 traditionally that's kind of that hasn't
1:22:44 been one of the suggestions but um
1:22:46 depending on what type like I think did
1:22:47 you say there was a sistern or something
1:22:49 like that that maybe they captured
1:22:50 rainwater or something like that to use
1:22:53 I I I'm not sure um about the specifics
1:22:55 but I'd be happy to look into that
1:22:57 more thank you council member yeah any
1:23:00 other comments or questions for Jared
1:23:03 for the
1:23:05 team do you have more slides or wow that
1:23:09 was a lot of information so thanks to
1:23:12 all three of you for being with us
1:23:13 tonight and presenting that right great
1:23:15 thank you everybody appreciate
1:23:18 it we have another informational item
1:23:22 this is ID 88 21 the informational
1:23:25 update on the 2024 Economic Development
1:23:28 annual report and economic and housing
1:23:31 development manager Jen Davis haes is up
1:23:33 at the podium for a
1:23:35 presentation good evening um mayor and
1:23:38 city council members uh my name is Jen
1:23:40 Davis Hayes economic uh and housing
1:23:43 development manager and I'm also joined
1:23:46 here tonight with Chris Richley the
1:23:48 chair of the economic Vitality
1:23:50 commission and so um this slide is
1:23:53 already out of date
1:23:55 um so tonight we are here to share some
1:23:57 of the highlights of last year um here
1:24:00 from the EVC chair the economic Vitality
1:24:02 chair why is it out a date and then look
1:24:06 at to 225 so um when we originally had
1:24:09 this uh presentation we weren't sure if
1:24:11 our Economic Development coordinator was
1:24:15 going to be able to make this uh evening
1:24:17 because today was her last day so she uh
1:24:20 got a great job at the city of Kirkland
1:24:22 as a management analyst she'll be
1:24:24 working with homeless you'll be
1:24:25 coordinating homeless um homelessness
1:24:28 and behavior health um policies and
1:24:30 programs so we're very very happy for
1:24:33 her but she had a conflict tonight so if
1:24:35 you but she does live here in in isqua
1:24:37 so if you ever run into her thank you
1:24:39 for her her um multiple years of service
1:24:41 here not only in the economic
1:24:43 development but also she started in the
1:24:44 mayor's office and she has just been an
1:24:47 amazing uh resource for us but we are
1:24:49 thank you to Administration we are
1:24:51 rehiring it is posted now and um the it
1:24:55 is open until the 2nd of March we uh are
1:24:58 getting quite a few applications and
1:25:00 lots of people interested so uh but
1:25:03 please encourage people to apply if you
1:25:04 know anybody who might be interested so
1:25:07 um so yeah so some of the things here um
1:25:09 we will again be continuing to do but it
1:25:11 may be um a little uh delayed depending
1:25:14 on how quickly we can get somebody on
1:25:17 board so um our largest
1:25:20 accomplishment on uh this past year year
1:25:24 in 2024 was the adoption of the economic
1:25:27 development action plan by the city
1:25:29 council in the beginning of the year and
1:25:30 then our work throughout that year and
1:25:33 so it helped us to prioritize our effort
1:25:36 efforts and when when our other Economic
1:25:38 Development coordinator uh Fel otino um
1:25:42 moved to Dallas in August it helped us
1:25:44 to use the The Guiding themes and the
1:25:48 goals along with conversations with the
1:25:50 economic Vitality commission to
1:25:51 determine how to prioritize our rior
1:25:54 retires our work and so
1:25:57 um it really serves as as a North star
1:26:00 and especially the access to
1:26:01 Opportunities so really trying to make
1:26:03 sure that all businesses have opport
1:26:05 have uh access to the resources that
1:26:08 that we're aware of convening and bring
1:26:10 bringing businesses together um and
1:26:13 networking just uh we did an event today
1:26:15 that was great to have businesses
1:26:16 sharing with each other how they did
1:26:18 things versus us saying how they should
1:26:20 do it and then of course Le leveraging
1:26:22 uh isa's assets we just talked about the
1:26:24 Windstorm and trees but outdoor
1:26:25 recreation is one of our assets as well
1:26:27 as cultural um industry so we're really
1:26:30 working hard on that and I am going to
1:26:34 invite up uh Chris Richley to speak
1:26:36 about the economic Vitality commission
1:26:38 and the annual report that is in our
1:26:40 report thank you
1:26:43 Chris good evening Council Madame mayor
1:26:47 and staff and community members my name
1:26:49 is Chris Richley economic Vitality
1:26:51 commission chair uh 2024 was awesome I
1:26:53 first one want to thank Jen Davis Hayes
1:26:56 and Juliana de Cruz for their work and
1:26:57 staff and the volunteer hours from the
1:27:00 commissions without boards the
1:27:01 commission as you guys know we wouldn't
1:27:03 have advisory to the council members and
1:27:06 input we have so what you're seeing on
1:27:08 the slide is just some of the many
1:27:09 things the economic Vitality commission
1:27:11 has gotten involved in from ribbon
1:27:13 cuting to business openings uh you see a
1:27:16 small word cloud that was what we kind
1:27:19 of used as our guidepost for the
1:27:20 economic development plan a lot of those
1:27:22 words were involved in the economic
1:27:24 development plan which was one of our
1:27:25 biggest accomplishments for 2024 so
1:27:28 thank you guys for approving that and
1:27:31 making sure that our Vitality of our you
1:27:32 know city is still alive with that
1:27:35 economic development
1:27:36 plan uh some of the other things that we
1:27:39 did this year we're actually the Pioneer
1:27:42 program working with uh planning and
1:27:44 policy commission we also partnered with
1:27:45 them we also was part of the Strategic
1:27:48 City strategic plan we had Insight on
1:27:50 that not only for myself being on the
1:27:52 task force but then our actual
1:27:53 Commission had Insight on that as well
1:27:55 went to Boards of commissions uh with
1:27:58 staff that they they put their Insight
1:28:00 in uh comprehensive plan as well as the
1:28:02 light ra planning I90 Crossing inclusive
1:28:05 housing investment pool application
1:28:07 review and the isqua Performing Arts
1:28:10 Center alignment letter we also
1:28:11 supported the isqua um that art center
1:28:15 alignment to offer additional options
1:28:19 from the high school to actually for
1:28:21 Performing Arts and different things as
1:28:23 well that Council heard additionally EVC
1:28:26 established subcommittees to focus on
1:28:27 specific initiatives like Jen Davis say
1:28:29 just mentioned analyzing David data from
1:28:31 the business survey addressing
1:28:33 commercial displacement and planning the
1:28:35 spring openhouse event which is on March
1:28:37 18th which I hope you guys can then
1:28:39 attend uh we did actually add business
1:28:42 resiliency with the re recent B
1:28:44 Windstorm jemy did agree to actually
1:28:46 have a table because we felt it was
1:28:48 important to look into our businesses as
1:28:50 well as our residents but then offering
1:28:51 that support to the businesses so that
1:28:53 he will be there talking to businesses
1:28:55 specifically about how to get through uh
1:28:58 a business continuity plan as well as
1:29:01 different ways to help support
1:29:02 businesses throughout and uh an impact
1:29:05 like that um also we members of our uh
1:29:09 commission attended the retail loss
1:29:11 prevention meetings to better understand
1:29:12 the issues facing our business and
1:29:14 property owners and getting the better
1:29:16 Insight of you know what they're facing
1:29:17 with loss mitigation and and theft and
1:29:20 Retail and we were able to make great
1:29:22 strides with staff just to make
1:29:24 recommendations on you know how to you
1:29:27 know secure their areas you know and and
1:29:30 it was a really a good turnout for the
1:29:31 businesses and support from the staff
1:29:33 that that we had for those loss
1:29:35 prevention meetings um again thanks for
1:29:37 all the uh committee uh Commissioners
1:29:39 that are there we actually had five new
1:29:40 Commissioners this year as well join our
1:29:42 staff as along with uh 16 new
1:29:44 applications so hopefully we're open
1:29:46 commissions right now so if anybody's
1:29:48 interested apply to any other the boards
1:29:50 of commissions including economic
1:29:51 Vitality thank
1:29:53 you thank you
1:29:55 Chris okay yes thank you for that plug
1:29:57 yes we are accepting uh commission
1:29:59 applications now um so uh this is a
1:30:03 little bit of the data that we had in
1:30:05 our action plan um that is one of the
1:30:07 things that we have uh continued to
1:30:09 provide but we uh as part of the action
1:30:12 plan we had a couple metrics that again
1:30:14 you see here but we do keep a quarterly
1:30:17 um dashboard updated and then in the in
1:30:20 the actual um quarterly or now it's I'm
1:30:23 sorry quarter report but the uh report
1:30:26 to council we will have a comparison of
1:30:28 those three sales tax items and so again
1:30:31 this just helps you may be getting the
1:30:33 similar information from very different
1:30:34 sources but but this helps um to connect
1:30:37 it to some of the things that we are
1:30:38 doing for businesses and um and then as
1:30:42 we share this out to the economic
1:30:43 Vitality commission the chamber and
1:30:45 other partners they're aware of the same
1:30:47 information we're looking at um as as
1:30:50 Chris mentioned one of the
1:30:51 accomplishments we're really excited
1:30:53 about this year was was uh creating the
1:30:54 central isqua Pioneer program the
1:30:57 inclusive housing investment pool I been
1:31:00 thank you for that uh approval this uh
1:31:02 in the consent agenda and then um you
1:31:05 know we know that those two programs are
1:31:07 not going to be this the um solution for
1:31:11 um Redevelopment and more housing units
1:31:14 and affordable housing to happen here
1:31:16 but we know that that will help to um
1:31:19 get things moving and again we are are
1:31:23 core efforts of meeting one-on-one with
1:31:25 businesses to have conversations with
1:31:27 them to connect them with other
1:31:29 businesses and develop new programs to
1:31:31 address needs will continue throughout
1:31:34 year um our proudest one of our proudest
1:31:38 things we did past last year and I say
1:31:40 proud of because it took a long time but
1:31:42 is to create this how to do business in
1:31:44 isqua booklet and I know that all the
1:31:46 council members previously had received
1:31:48 one I have this one for you Council Jang
1:31:50 at the end of the presentation I'll hand
1:31:51 it to you so this was a real great
1:31:54 partnership with the the isquad chamber
1:31:57 to really start thinking about those
1:31:58 questions we get asked all the time and
1:32:00 where can we go see those resources so
1:32:02 um this also expands and has some of the
1:32:05 things that are unique to isqua such as
1:32:07 our sustainability resources and our
1:32:09 sign requirements and who to contact so
1:32:13 um this is just a beginning we have this
1:32:15 online as well and so that's why there's
1:32:17 a QR code we have posted po uh posters
1:32:20 Flyers around town and um We are
1:32:23 continuing to add to that web page
1:32:25 whenever we get resources that are
1:32:26 appropriate and again our Chambers
1:32:29 promoting this other um of our Economic
1:32:31 Development partners are promoting this
1:32:34 well um this is where Juliana was going
1:32:37 to talk about the amazing things she's
1:32:38 she's done doing has done and will
1:32:40 continue to do in 2024 we um continued
1:32:44 the isaa loyal which is our shop local
1:32:48 um dining our Shopping Guide in the fall
1:32:51 but we added one in Spring as well and
1:32:53 so so that uh highlighted 64 unique
1:32:57 isqua businesses um as well as the
1:33:00 shopping centers and in general the
1:33:02 markets and other events that were
1:33:04 happening around shopping um the uh
1:33:07 startup 425 entrepreneurial walk we
1:33:10 actually uh did this as a test and so
1:33:13 people met at isqua coffee and then
1:33:15 instead of standing there with a coffee
1:33:17 and a networking event and you know
1:33:19 trying to get into people's
1:33:20 conversations um they ended up walking
1:33:22 around Confluence par and really having
1:33:24 a great time today we did one in the
1:33:28 rain um at Steelhead and we had um I
1:33:32 think there were eight people who showed
1:33:33 up and and did the walk and then came
1:33:35 back afterwards and did co-working in
1:33:37 Steelhead and again had this very robust
1:33:40 conversation among each other and we're
1:33:41 telling each other ideas about how to do
1:33:43 this and that um in 2024 again uh
1:33:48 LinkedIn workshops uh for artists and
1:33:50 looking at creative industri and how to
1:33:52 help them promote themselves um a lot of
1:33:55 artists may not think of themselves as
1:33:57 businesses and we worked with uh isal
1:33:59 Arts to get them to have some presence
1:34:02 on LinkedIn which helps to then you know
1:34:04 expand their networks and um think about
1:34:07 other business opportunities for them
1:34:08 that may beyond the their current
1:34:11 networks um things that are coming up
1:34:13 this year um is and and happen in
1:34:18 January are continuing to partner with
1:34:20 star 425 and so that's a program that we
1:34:23 started started in 2016 with four other
1:34:26 East Side cities Belleview Kirkland
1:34:28 Redmond Renton and ourselves um and have
1:34:32 re um reform how we do it used to be
1:34:36 workshops and libraries and now we're
1:34:37 doing very uh targeted customized uh
1:34:41 business assistance at different cities
1:34:43 and so we actually did a an amazing
1:34:46 panel with REI on the in January and we
1:34:49 had about 50 to 60 people show up and um
1:34:53 and again these these events are open to
1:34:55 people anybody throughout the region or
1:34:58 that find us in Seattle but that also
1:34:59 means that the events that are held in
1:35:01 Belleview and Redmond and Renton and and
1:35:04 others at Kirkland and now Bothel are
1:35:06 open to our businesses as well so um it
1:35:08 was a great opportunity um for people to
1:35:11 hear from our businesses in in the
1:35:13 outdoor recreation uh world not just REI
1:35:16 but some local businesses and uh we're
1:35:18 going to continue to do that uh continue
1:35:21 uh efforts with start our 425 throughout
1:35:23 the year
1:35:24 we completed um three mini commercials
1:35:27 at the end of last year um this picture
1:35:29 here is here you see is for adaptive
1:35:32 mountain biking and so we're going to be
1:35:34 working with visit issaqua to continue
1:35:37 to promote isqua as a location to not
1:35:40 just visit but thinking about um coming
1:35:43 here for those who may not be U aware of
1:35:47 that you can that you know our trails
1:35:48 are not just for really uh High
1:35:51 performing mountain bikers um there's
1:35:53 lots of trails for all all abilities and
1:35:56 then um very exciting uh opportunity for
1:35:59 homebased businesses that sell products
1:36:02 or Goods we're we are also in the middle
1:36:05 of uh collecting application for what we
1:36:07 are calling homegrown retail and so
1:36:11 that's going to give uh eight businesses
1:36:13 two opportunities in the Farmers Market
1:36:15 season to have a booth at the farmers
1:36:18 market but not just to sayy Great
1:36:20 congratulations you have a booth but
1:36:22 we're going to train them we're going to
1:36:24 have a a uh training on how to how to
1:36:26 set up how to think about your Des your
1:36:29 your uh design and setup um and really
1:36:32 coach them through this process um and
1:36:35 we're working with um Kelly Diane at the
1:36:37 farmers market to uh make sure that this
1:36:40 is something that is really cohesive so
1:36:42 this is intended for newer businesses
1:36:44 who maybe have been to one craft fair
1:36:47 here and there um if somebody's been to
1:36:49 a lot of these markets it's not really
1:36:51 as helpful but we are going to open up
1:36:54 the workshop to anybody so if you've
1:36:56 applied or not applied and just
1:36:57 interested to come to the workshop to
1:36:59 come and learn about what people are
1:37:01 saying about how you know how best to
1:37:02 proceed um with selling your goods and
1:37:05 products um to take that next step and
1:37:07 we hope that some of those businesses
1:37:08 then may grow over time into brick and
1:37:11 mortar here in
1:37:13 isqua um so overall economic development
1:37:16 is here in the good times and the bad uh
1:37:19 so we will continue to be uh we as in me
1:37:23 and then another person will continue to
1:37:24 be here but we work with a lot of our
1:37:26 city uh colleagues around Economic
1:37:29 Development so really the team is not
1:37:31 just Juliana and myself it is the
1:37:33 sustainability team it is our
1:37:35 Communications team it's it's uh you
1:37:37 know Public Works it's it's Community
1:37:39 Planning and Development so we are here
1:37:41 to help uh businesses and this picture
1:37:44 in the bottom is and you'll see our our
1:37:46 mayor in that picture as well was uh the
1:37:48 King County small King County Executive
1:37:50 Small Business Awards and um um
1:37:54 um Morgan Cosmetics was the the exporter
1:37:58 of the year at at that event and so we
1:38:00 he was right there in front next to uh
1:38:03 King County Executive Constantine and
1:38:05 our mayor so we're very excited to have
1:38:07 him as part of our community and and
1:38:09 just uh he he's won several awards from
1:38:12 different places because he's an amazing
1:38:13 business and just two weeks ago um
1:38:16 brought in um a uh colleague from not a
1:38:20 colleague but a uh Diplomat from baswana
1:38:23 to talk about uh trade and other things
1:38:26 that um he's doing some work with them
1:38:28 to to work with the natural plants there
1:38:30 in batswana for his products so you
1:38:33 never know what what a small office in
1:38:37 the corner of our community is doing but
1:38:39 we do have one person who's who's uh
1:38:41 working with batswana and there's plenty
1:38:43 more of stories out there so again we
1:38:46 appreciate your uh supportive Economic
1:38:48 Development and um when we have a new
1:38:51 coordinator we'll make sure to get them
1:38:52 introduced to you in the community thank
1:38:54 you Jen let's see if there's any
1:38:56 questions Council Merz sure um did you
1:39:00 did you present on the dashboard at all
1:39:03 in your presentation I was I just had a
1:39:05 quick oops wrong way sorry
1:39:09 um like a little screenshot yeah yeah
1:39:11 cuz you I mean you had you had an actual
1:39:13 dashboard in the in the actual material
1:39:16 for this and and the dashboard left me
1:39:17 with a lot of questions and and this
1:39:20 continues to be you know 16 years um
1:39:23 after we started um trying to get more
1:39:26 dashboards and and being more data
1:39:28 driven I I I just I found the four um
1:39:32 the four dashboard elements all left me
1:39:34 with more questions than they give me
1:39:35 answers on for instance the first of
1:39:37 them you had unemployment right is that
1:39:41 for the city how does that compare to
1:39:43 the region how do we compare to um you
1:39:46 know our comp cities just and I I'm not
1:39:48 expecting you to have the answers right
1:39:50 the second on the second one on retail
1:39:52 sales it of course doesn't include 2024
1:39:55 so I can't tell if 2024 continues the
1:39:57 slide that we saw in 2023 it also makes
1:40:00 me wonder about Costco and how much of
1:40:02 that retail is Costco and if you take
1:40:03 Costco out of it what what do the retail
1:40:06 sales look like then commercial rent
1:40:08 prices the the biggest question I would
1:40:10 immediately have is how do we compare to
1:40:11 other cities right how did Redmond
1:40:13 Kirkland Belleview how are other cities
1:40:16 doing and and how are we doing over time
1:40:18 and then finally I have no idea what to
1:40:20 make of the 8.8% vacancy rate I I
1:40:22 appreciate the the note that we didn't
1:40:24 see a large drop in our commercial rent
1:40:27 prices despite seeing vacancy rates
1:40:30 double but vacancy rates doubled right
1:40:34 is is is what your note says so that
1:40:36 seems like a big deal so you put all
1:40:38 four of those together and I just
1:40:39 continue to struggle with yes we're
1:40:41 taking these metrics but what are we
1:40:43 doing with them and what changes are we
1:40:44 making as a result of the numbers and
1:40:46 the trends that we see and how we
1:40:48 compare to other cities so I'm I'm
1:40:50 picking on you to make a point which is
1:40:52 this this whole thing with metrics we
1:40:53 have to we have to look at trend lines
1:40:55 we have to look at competitive cities we
1:40:57 have to look at what the programs that
1:40:58 we're doing the influ the impacts that
1:41:00 they're having because again all four of
1:41:02 those metrics none of them left me
1:41:04 feeling comfortable that I understood
1:41:06 how they were contributing to our
1:41:08 overall economics right sure council
1:41:10 member MZ rather than have jenu in that
1:41:12 tonight those are good questions and I'm
1:41:13 sure they're all captured because we're
1:41:15 recorded um would it be appropriate to
1:41:17 take those questions and any other ones
1:41:19 that are brought up and just have a memo
1:41:21 submitted to council for your receipt on
1:41:23 the consent calendar which means others
1:41:25 can read it as well that goes in deeper
1:41:27 and provides the kind of analysis that
1:41:28 you're looking for I mean the staff is
1:41:30 always great at answering our questions
1:41:31 like our newest council member had a
1:41:33 whole bunch of questions this week and
1:41:34 great answers to those questions but my
1:41:37 hope is that we have metrics that that
1:41:40 these these answers we don't have to go
1:41:42 poking for right because the metrics
1:41:44 show us the health right there so I I'm
1:41:46 happy I mean you know I I care a lot
1:41:48 about Economic Development and I would
1:41:50 be happy to get some more of those
1:41:51 specific answers but I'm really really
1:41:53 asking that our metrics um you know that
1:41:56 if we have four metrics that we care
1:41:58 about a lot that they're on the slides
1:41:59 and they're what we talk about and
1:42:01 they're the context that we give uh when
1:42:03 trying to understand the economics so
1:42:05 yes I would love that context follow but
1:42:07 I would also like our metrics to be more
1:42:10 uh self-evident right so that the public
1:42:13 can look at it and go gosh golly we did
1:42:15 great in these couple areas but you know
1:42:16 we we didn't do so great in these areas
1:42:18 sounds great thank you Deputy council
1:42:20 president
1:42:23 thanks Jen and uh and uh Chris Richley
1:42:27 as well thank you this is always one of
1:42:29 my favorite reports to get there's so
1:42:31 many good things going so right now um
1:42:34 just a reminder that nonprofit
1:42:35 businesses are indeed businesses and
1:42:38 that is one sector of our community that
1:42:40 is really uh first of all facing
1:42:43 challenges following the pandemic and
1:42:46 now in this last few weeks uh challenges
1:42:50 in terms of their funding models and so
1:42:52 forth
1:42:53 and so I'm just wondering if there is
1:42:55 any thought about uh you know reaching
1:42:57 out to our nonprofit businesses to see
1:43:01 uh you know how are they doing um is
1:43:04 there a way that the city could support
1:43:06 them uh just finding out what is going
1:43:08 on because I'm hearing uh from multiple
1:43:12 sources that it it's a very
1:43:15 fearful and scary time for nonprofit
1:43:18 businesses and there's a lot of uh
1:43:21 uncertainty which is is terrible for
1:43:24 business
1:43:25 development and and uh nonprofits have a
1:43:28 hard time at any any way planning well
1:43:31 into the future because of their funding
1:43:33 models so this is a very difficult time
1:43:36 for them so I'm just wondering and you
1:43:38 may already have been thinking of this
1:43:40 but I'm just wondering if there's uh
1:43:42 opportunities for us to reach out to our
1:43:43 nonprofits in isqua and see how they are
1:43:46 doing and and if there are ways that the
1:43:48 city could support them yeah I know that
1:43:51 um just a quick response to that but
1:43:54 it's probably there's probably more
1:43:55 depth information about because not only
1:43:57 economic development that works with
1:43:59 nonprofits you know there are human
1:44:01 services our sustainability Etc and we
1:44:03 have been in conversations and for
1:44:05 instance I received uh an email from a
1:44:07 colleague in another city that talked
1:44:08 about here's resources for nonprofits
1:44:10 and things to be thinking about forward
1:44:12 that on so we're trying to share a lot
1:44:15 of information because as you said the
1:44:16 uncertainty it feels a little bit like
1:44:18 the beginning of Co is like what's the
1:44:19 definition of a you know essential
1:44:21 business right and so so um we'll
1:44:24 continue to do that and um we do work
1:44:26 also with our chamber and they have a
1:44:28 lot of nonprofit members so let's um let
1:44:30 me give you know give uh the them a call
1:44:34 and and see if they are also doing
1:44:36 things that we can um leverage and
1:44:38 amplify all right I really appreciate
1:44:40 that and thank you thanks Jen council
1:44:43 president thank you thanks Jen for uh
1:44:46 this report I sent you a bunch of
1:44:48 questions over the weekend um I just
1:44:51 wanted to highlight the 500
1:44:53 98 new businesses in 2024 which I really
1:44:58 appreciate having that metric and then
1:45:01 showing what that was historically so it
1:45:04 looks like we are continuing to have
1:45:06 strong business license
1:45:09 um um strong new business license
1:45:12 application so that's really exciting um
1:45:16 this slide does highlight uh 12%
1:45:19 reduction in 2024 versus 2023 for
1:45:23 construction sales tax and so I noted
1:45:26 that it previously in one of the
1:45:28 previous reports was down 32% so yay
1:45:33 maybe maybe um but I would appreciate I
1:45:36 had asked for information from the F
1:45:39 interim Finance director about you know
1:45:41 I I think it's a good point is that just
1:45:44 timing or is that a real change and so
1:45:49 knowing that information I think would
1:45:50 be really useful but mostly just thank
1:45:53 you for uh all this highlighted
1:45:56 information additional
1:45:59 questions not seeing
1:46:01 any um so Jen thank you very much for
1:46:05 that I'll let you and Wally figure out
1:46:07 what and if you can do something else to
1:46:10 um answer some of those good questions
1:46:12 that council member Merz had the next
1:46:15 item on our agenda this evening is the
1:46:16 good of the order and there are uh some
1:46:20 upcoming Council meetings there is uh
1:46:24 Council meet C city council Retreat this
1:46:26 Saturday March 1st at 9:00 a.m. at the
1:46:28 isqua School District administration
1:46:30 building the March 3rd regular I know
1:46:34 everybody likes that meeting room a lot
1:46:37 uh the March 3rd regular city council
1:46:38 meeting has been cancelled uh March 10th
1:46:41 Committee of the whole meeting the
1:46:42 anticipated agenda item draft Light Rail
1:46:44 station area vision and guiding
1:46:46 principles and a utility rate study
1:46:49 introduction and revenue
1:46:51 requirements so um are there any other
1:46:54 good of the order items it looks like
1:46:55 council president you have ID 1825 to
1:46:58 talk about Yes actually I've got a few
1:47:01 things of note first I'll start on that
1:47:04 Retreat so again we're at the School
1:47:06 District administration building not at
1:47:09 Tibbits so that's really important I
1:47:12 will highlight that you'll be receiving
1:47:14 an email um with all of your good
1:47:17 homework assignment ideas um so we've
1:47:20 got as usual some Interac
1:47:24 um Concepts there where you're going to
1:47:27 put dots on priorities so that means you
1:47:29 need to look up the information so that
1:47:33 you have the your choices ahead of time
1:47:36 so just to highlight um I don't know if
1:47:39 you guys know this but we have a new
1:47:40 member um what yeah okay thank you um so
1:47:46 uh starting out we just wanted to start
1:47:48 out with a getting to know you so we're
1:47:50 going to ask you which Regional
1:47:52 committee you're on which commission you
1:47:55 know things you're on what your
1:47:57 interests are in the city how long
1:47:59 you've been serving where you're from
1:48:01 all of that and so that each of us can
1:48:04 provide that as background so that'll be
1:48:06 a starting point the administration is
1:48:07 going to provide an update on um 2025
1:48:10 issues and kind of some future budget
1:48:13 scheduling and then our two big media
1:48:16 items for the retreat are Communications
1:48:20 so defining what that problem is is what
1:48:24 we're currently doing and understanding
1:48:27 um how we might brainstorm some ideas
1:48:29 for the future and then as I said
1:48:32 priority setting so using our updated
1:48:34 strategic plan to talk through you know
1:48:39 what are our strengths and weaknesses in
1:48:40 each of the goal areas you know are we
1:48:42 seeing more success in mobility and less
1:48:46 success in another area or how do we see
1:48:50 it and then particularly as we may be
1:48:53 making some more difficult budget
1:48:55 decisions one of the ways that you do
1:48:57 that is by understanding what your
1:48:59 priorities are and so being really clear
1:49:02 about what our priorities are for each
1:49:04 of the objective areas and the actions
1:49:06 so that we can provide the
1:49:09 administration what things are really
1:49:12 important to us there so that just as a
1:49:15 highlight so again look for that
1:49:17 homework email later tonight so that
1:49:20 everybody can come to that meeting at
1:49:23 the School District administration
1:49:25 building in your calendar so before we
1:49:28 move to the ID are you still doing
1:49:30 Retreat uh go for it if you have
1:49:32 something on Retreat they've listed the
1:49:34 ID differently I just want to make sure
1:49:36 I have one item for good of the order so
1:49:38 once you're finished Retreat I'd like to
1:49:39 ask around and see who else has good to
1:49:40 order in case there's any additional
1:49:42 then we'll move on to appointments kind
1:49:44 of put those two together but they're
1:49:49 separate retreat's good awesome
1:49:53 um another item good really short update
1:49:58 on uh the US Conference of Mayors and a
1:50:01 conference that I was able to attend
1:50:03 with the mayor of Seattle and the mayor
1:50:04 of Kent over last weekend and last
1:50:07 Friday and um really just wanting to
1:50:10 send out a message to community members
1:50:13 businesses Etc that there are a lot of
1:50:16 communities in this country who want a
1:50:18 message of unity and who want to
1:50:21 understand what's actually coming out of
1:50:22 the federal government and its impact I
1:50:24 think it was council member Hall who
1:50:25 talked about the tax exemption for
1:50:28 municipal bonds may be leaving the
1:50:30 dollar value that would be added back to
1:50:32 City budgets to cover that lack of tax
1:50:34 exemption is
1:50:36 $825 billion that cities would be
1:50:39 expected to come up with if they do not
1:50:42 keep their tax exempt status the um
1:50:45 current administration's proposal is to
1:50:47 use that almost trillion dollars to back
1:50:50 bill so and message of unity is that we
1:50:54 do not want to balance the federal
1:50:55 budget on the backs of City budgets one
1:50:58 of the other interesting points that
1:50:59 came up is the lack of funding um
1:51:02 accessibility that's starting to become
1:51:04 apparent in capital projects and our
1:51:06 city has uh $24 million of projects um
1:51:11 project completion or project proposals
1:51:13 to start that are federally funded so a
1:51:17 message that the Mayors are bringing to
1:51:18 the federal government is that 85% of
1:51:21 all construction projects in the country
1:51:23 are local government County government
1:51:26 state government infrastructure projects
1:51:28 and so not uh funding those projects as
1:51:31 they have would have a huge impact on
1:51:34 contractors uh architectural firms
1:51:37 consulting firms it could have a huge
1:51:39 shock wave of um shock wave impact on
1:51:43 that so trying to find those messages
1:51:45 that cities can all rally around
1:51:47 together and make sure that they're
1:51:48 heard at the federal level so it was
1:51:50 quite a interesting conference and as
1:51:53 they get more specific with things that
1:51:54 they would like us to sign on to I'll
1:51:56 share with you so you know what our city
1:51:57 is doing to try and sort out the chaotic
1:52:01 environment that's out there right now
1:52:04 and now I'm going to hand it back to
1:52:05 council president she is going to talk
1:52:07 about ID 1825 the 2025 city council
1:52:10 appointments Council committees
1:52:13 excellent so um as you all know everyone
1:52:16 had submitted their committee and
1:52:19 Regional appoint seat appointment
1:52:21 preferences we did many of the regional
1:52:23 seat appointments previously but wanted
1:52:26 to wait for our new member um to be able
1:52:29 to express interest on committees and so
1:52:33 what we have ended up with and kind of
1:52:36 The Proposal in front of
1:52:40 us make sure I've got all the right um
1:52:44 is our chairs and membership for our
1:52:46 three standing committees and then
1:52:50 before I go into that just a few um
1:52:53 changes and updates to our dedicated
1:52:55 seats so Cascade water Alliance board um
1:52:58 we were given the correction from CWA
1:53:02 that because mayor Paulie is sitting as
1:53:04 Secretary of that organization she needs
1:53:06 to be primary council member Joe will be
1:53:09 the alternate so that's squared away for
1:53:14 um dedicated seats we just want to note
1:53:16 um two areas where council member Jen is
1:53:19 going to be joining us so as the
1:53:22 alternate for K forc the King County
1:53:24 City's climate uh collaboration so she
1:53:27 will be joining as the alternate there
1:53:29 and then also as the sound cities
1:53:30 Association public issue committee
1:53:32 alternate with council member MZ um so
1:53:37 that is that area for our standing
1:53:39 committee appointments as many of you
1:53:42 know we have um Council rules of
1:53:46 procedure and one of those was to
1:53:49 balance the membership between
1:53:52 um Council leadership and chairs and
1:53:55 memberships of committees and so in
1:53:57 order
1:54:00 to try and fit everyone in um once
1:54:04 again Deputy council president D
1:54:06 Michelle has volunteered to be on two
1:54:09 committees even though she is also part
1:54:10 of leadership so we need to start out by
1:54:14 just um recognizing that and so I would
1:54:19 like to move to approve an exception to
1:54:21 the city council rules of procedure
1:54:23 section 2.04 appointment standing
1:54:25 committees to allow a member of council
1:54:28 leadership to be appointed to two
1:54:30 standing committees in 2025 is there a
1:54:33 second second council member Ray any
1:54:36 Council discussion so if I can
1:54:40 just would yes and then we'll go to Zach
1:54:44 okay so just to not where this would put
1:54:47 us is for mobility and infrastructure
1:54:49 the chair would be council member Joe
1:54:51 and the members would be Deputy council
1:54:53 president D Michelle and council member
1:54:56 Ray for the Planning Development and
1:54:58 environment committee it would be
1:55:00 chaired by council member Hall with um
1:55:02 myself and council member Jen as members
1:55:05 and then services safety and parks would
1:55:07 be chaired by council member Marts and
1:55:09 members of council member Ray and Deputy
1:55:12 council president D Michelle and so I
1:55:14 will also note that um the clerk brought
1:55:17 up this point of hey this is what the
1:55:20 second or third year that we've had to
1:55:21 make this exception and so one of the
1:55:23 plans is to go back to our Council rules
1:55:25 of procedure and perhaps make an
1:55:27 adjustment since what we have done is it
1:55:31 was a really great idea but in
1:55:34 practicality it has become a little bit
1:55:36 difficult and so while we are putting an
1:55:38 exception here we are not suggesting
1:55:40 that that continue year after year after
1:55:42 year but rather that we revisit it great
1:55:46 council member Hall that's all I was
1:55:47 going to say cuz we we did that when I
1:55:49 was Deputy council president too so yeah
1:55:51 it would be good to maybe just Revis
1:55:52 pres specifically for Deputy council
1:55:54 president yeah any other Council
1:55:56 discussion on this before I call for the
1:55:58 vote it's been moved and seconded to
1:56:00 approve an exception to the city council
1:56:02 rules or procedures 2.04 appointment
1:56:04 standing committees to allow a member
1:56:06 ofip to be appointed to two standing
1:56:09 committees in 2025 all those in favor
1:56:11 say I I I those
1:56:18 opposed that carries unanimously s and0
1:56:22 thank thank you um at this point in time
1:56:25 we will be moving into executive session
1:56:28 and um ID 1829 is property acquisition
1:56:32 per RW
1:56:34 42.3 P1
1:56:36 penb this is an executive session this
1:56:39 evening to discuss property acquisition
1:56:41 and the item is expected to take
1:56:43 approximately 20 minutes action is
1:56:45 anticipated to follow in Open Session
1:56:48 and we will be going into executive
1:56:50 session
1:56:52 of course at
1:56:54 8:27 but we'll start off first with a f
1:56:57 minute break and pull you all back
1:56:59 together then I have a few more things
1:57:02 to read so the city clerk is going to
1:57:04 move the city council and any relevant
1:57:06 staff into the separate session within
1:57:07 this meeting anyone who's not part of
1:57:09 this closed session um online can remain
1:57:14 in the May meeting and you're welcome to
1:57:15 stay in the until the meetings Rec
1:57:17 convened if you're in the room you're
1:57:18 going to be asked to leave but you can
1:57:20 come back in during the regular session
1:57:22 we're called
1:57:27 back we are back in regular session at
1:57:33 9:34 and um um director did you want to
1:57:38 provide information on um our
1:57:41 acquisition strategy before we move into
1:57:45 motions yes would' be happy to thank you
1:57:47 mayor uh good evening Council Jeff
1:57:49 Watling parks and Community Services
1:57:51 director uh we've been discussing um in
1:57:54 executive session uh two potential
1:57:56 property Acquisitions that I will um
1:57:59 highlight here shortly um just to give
1:58:01 some additional context U thank you for
1:58:03 your work um as we've talked about
1:58:06 multiple acquisition strategies in the
1:58:08 coming years um our ability over these
1:58:12 past um couple years since 2018 to
1:58:15 create a acquisition fund has has really
1:58:19 given us the opportunity as staff to to
1:58:21 understand and begin working with
1:58:23 prospective sellers on what is often
1:58:25 multi-year
1:58:27 conversations um um it's allowed us to
1:58:30 look ahead the next four or five years
1:58:32 and as we're looking at these
1:58:34 Acquisitions and how we're going to fund
1:58:36 these Acquisitions and and allow the
1:58:38 city money to be leveraged with grant
1:58:40 money um um it will allow uh a balance
1:58:44 to continue in those in that fund and
1:58:47 that acquisition fund um should we
1:58:49 decide to acquire the two we're going to
1:58:51 talk about now now um it still gives us
1:58:54 opportunity for future Acquisitions in
1:58:55 the coming years that we've been talking
1:59:00 about and so with that I'm going
1:59:05 to talk through specifically uh two um
1:59:10 properties that we would like to present
1:59:12 to you um put on public record and seek
1:59:15 your action tonight the first one we're
1:59:18 calling the Kari property uh this map
1:59:21 gives a little bit of context this is on
1:59:23 the south and south side of of
1:59:28 Oldtown um um it is called kilari uh for
1:59:32 those familiar with this east side of
1:59:34 squawk Mountain uh this was property
1:59:36 proposed for a a another phase of
1:59:39 development um um for the kakari
1:59:42 development we've been in conver in in
1:59:44 discussions with um the owners of this
1:59:47 property for a little over a year now um
1:59:51 it's a 17 1.7 or 17.5 acre property um
1:59:56 it adjoins the re recently purchased
1:59:58 Waymouth property that the city bought
2:00:00 two years ago um that also um adjoins to
2:00:05 the south of it um squawk Mountain State
2:00:08 Park um in total these two properties um
2:00:13 represent about 35 acres and would
2:00:16 provide a very substantial Corridor um
2:00:19 allowing for Loop Trails for the
2:00:22 neighborhood but also direct Trail
2:00:24 multiple direct Trail connection between
2:00:27 isqua's Oldtown in the valley floor um
2:00:31 and up into uh the vast trail system um
2:00:34 around squawk
2:00:37 Mountain there's also uh potential um
2:00:40 given access uh directly from Sunrise
2:00:43 Place uh to consider uh there's been no
2:00:46 plans or design this would be much a
2:00:49 bunch of community outreach should we do
2:00:50 it but a does provide opportunities
2:00:53 unique opportunities for trail head um
2:00:56 um options um there are not a lot of
2:00:59 Trail heads uh for access to the vast
2:01:01 trail system um on squawk Mountain uh
2:01:04 that creates a bit of a um um higher use
2:01:09 um of visitors using West Tiger Mountain
2:01:12 um so there there could be opportunities
2:01:14 to uh diversify Trail use um obviously
2:01:18 this is a forested hillside uh that also
2:01:21 meets our goals within the comp plan and
2:01:24 within the park system Plan update of
2:01:26 preserving our forested
2:01:28 hillsides um purchase price terms of
2:01:31 this agreement um we're at in agreement
2:01:34 with the seller um would be a purchase
2:01:36 price of $2.5 million uh we would be
2:01:39 putting
2:01:40 $125,000 of earnest money um um and not
2:01:43 closing on this property until uh the
2:01:46 middle to end of March of 2026 of next
2:01:50 year um in terms of funding this allows
2:01:53 us the ability to seek Grant funds uh we
2:01:56 are currently in the grant cycle this
2:01:58 year with an application uh for 75%
2:02:02 funding of this acquisition through King
2:02:04 County Conservation Futures that
2:02:06 application cycle closed earlier this
2:02:09 year uh we would be informed of Grant
2:02:11 results and where we rank um by the end
2:02:14 of this year um so we'll we'll know um
2:02:18 in in good time before we um consider
2:02:21 closing on this property the other funds
2:02:23 would come from two of our acquisition
2:02:25 funds that I mentioned
2:02:29 earlier no questions we can pause for a
2:02:33 motion or yes council president if you'd
2:02:35 like to make a motion yes um I move that
2:02:39 we authorize the mayor to execute a
2:02:41 purchase and sale agreement and other
2:02:43 documents necessary to purchase the
2:02:44 property also known as King County tax
2:02:47 Parcels 3800 900120
2:02:52 comma
2:02:57 90080 comma
2:03:01 38900
2:03:03 90 and
2:03:07 38009 1
2:03:09 0 from Kari 2 Development LLC for the
2:03:13 amount of $2.5 million plus closing
2:03:18 costs
2:03:20 second it's been moved and seconded is
2:03:23 there any Council
2:03:25 discussion council
2:03:27 president yeah I I just want to make a
2:03:30 note that we don't make land purchases
2:03:33 for conservation easily you know and I
2:03:38 want to appreciate the fact that this is
2:03:40 an assemblage that this is a you know
2:03:44 area that we want to protect and create
2:03:46 Trail opportunities in um and also
2:03:50 really Rec recn that you're right we've
2:03:53 set ourselves up well by putting in um
2:03:57 acquisition money that we can use to
2:04:00 utilize and create these relationships
2:04:03 um and so I think this um gives us a
2:04:05 large opportunity to advance the ability
2:04:09 for trail access and conservation in the
2:04:14 city uh C home and and I'll just add on
2:04:17 that by saying thank you to our staff
2:04:19 for keeping an eye out for these
2:04:21 strategic opport opportunities where we
2:04:22 can um achieve the goals that we've set
2:04:25 out in environment in environment in
2:04:26 sustainability and stewardship and
2:04:28 Recreation so um could be happier to
2:04:30 support this any other
2:04:34 comments dang it now I have to read
2:04:35 those numbers
2:04:40 yes oh
2:04:43 great sweet um the motion has been moved
2:04:46 and seconded uh council members can all
2:04:48 read it it has been posted up on the
2:04:50 board all those in favor signify by
2:04:53 saying I I I those opposed that carries
2:04:57 unanimously 7 to no and thank you very
2:04:59 much for that that is another large
2:05:02 purchase of a property that had a uh
2:05:06 difficult chance of being anything other
2:05:07 than Parkland and so good choice um Jeff
2:05:11 would you like to con or sorry H direct
2:05:14 wat would you like to would you like to
2:05:16 continue with the next property I go by
2:05:18 the I go by all
2:05:20 names yes thank thank you for that
2:05:22 Council and mayor um yeah the next
2:05:24 property that we discussed uh that is
2:05:26 before you for a potential motion is the
2:05:29 canoon property uh this is a smaller um
2:05:33 tenth of an acre a little more 0.11
2:05:35 Acres um of property that is on the
2:05:38 opposite side of the East Fork of isqua
2:05:41 Creek from the Kora property um right on
2:05:45 Second Avenue just north of Veterans
2:05:47 Memorial Field and our compilation of
2:05:50 parks uh that make up that area the
2:05:52 senior center Veterans Memorial the
2:05:54 Depot Park pedestrian Park those areas
2:05:56 that we're doing current capital
2:05:58 Investments on um we find this um
2:06:02 opportunity to really look at Future
2:06:04 expansion of Kora Park um and it's um
2:06:09 really improve improving cor Park's
2:06:11 access and connectivity to um our other
2:06:14 properties um in Oldtown um providing a
2:06:17 a key East West Trail connection um also
2:06:22 um further ownership of um Creek Side
2:06:26 properties um that is a highly
2:06:29 channelized area of of the East Fork of
2:06:32 isqua Creek a tremendous opportunity for
2:06:35 um habitat and flood plane um
2:06:38 improvements uh with the the purchase of
2:06:40 this property certainly supports our
2:06:42 salmon recovery efforts um and education
2:06:45 efforts um and really again as I said
2:06:47 provide strong connectivity through
2:06:49 Oldtown and really further ing The
2:06:51 Creeks to Peaks vision for the system
2:06:54 much like the Kari uh property purchase
2:06:57 just did uh this too is an an an
2:07:00 assemblage I can stumble over that uh
2:07:02 meaning we're really looking
2:07:04 strategically at property Acquisitions
2:07:06 that adjoin properties that we currently
2:07:08 own that can improve function um both
2:07:12 environmental function and or
2:07:13 recreational function um in this does
2:07:16 that uh the purchase price uh for this
2:07:18 is $900,000 uh closing would be May of
2:07:22 this year um funding would be existing
2:07:25 funds that we have um in the Parks and
2:07:28 open space acquisition
2:07:33 fantastic uh is there a
2:07:36 motion council president I move to
2:07:39 authorize the mayor to execute a
2:07:41 purchase and sale agreement and other
2:07:43 documents necessary to purchase the
2:07:44 property located at 330 2nd Avenue
2:07:48 Northeast also known as King County tax
2:07:50 parcel
2:07:53 27246
2:07:55 9116 from the Canon living trust for the
2:07:58 amount of $900,000 plus closing costs is
2:08:02 there a
2:08:02 second second it's been moved in
2:08:05 seconded Council discussion council
2:08:08 president yeah just to add to this this
2:08:10 is not open space this is a different
2:08:14 approach to um land acquisition but this
2:08:17 represents a really important as you
2:08:20 said assemblage but also protection and
2:08:23 enhancement of the East Fork isqua Creek
2:08:26 and so it represents another portion of
2:08:29 our land acquisition strategy and
2:08:32 something that not only creates a nice
2:08:34 environment um within that neighborhood
2:08:36 of extending a park but protecting our
2:08:38 salmon habitats um and just doing so in
2:08:42 a way that as you said creates that
2:08:43 Creeks to Peaks environment and
2:08:46 something that um has that connectivity
2:08:48 so I think this is another one that we
2:08:50 as Council is a really good win-win so
2:08:54 thank you for uh that find any other
2:08:57 comments from
2:08:59 Council all right this motion is also
2:09:02 visible on the screen so I will just
2:09:04 call for the vote all those in favor
2:09:06 please signify by saying I I
2:09:09 I those opposed that carries unanimously
2:09:14 as well um thank you very much director
2:09:17 that is a great
2:09:19 presentation uh there is unless the city
2:09:22 manager anyone else has anything to add
2:09:24 it looks like we are adjourned at uh

Attendance

Council / Members (7)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Kelly Jiang
Russell Joe
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh
Staff (4)
Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator
Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator
Rachel Bender Turpin, City Attorney
Tisha Gieser, City Clerk

Motions and votes (1)

approve the consent agenda as presented. . a)
Moved by Walsh · seconded by de Michele
Carried 7-0
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall, Kelly Jiang, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh