City Council Special Meeting · Monday, May 4, 2026 · City Council Digest

1. Tentative

Save Issaquah Light Rail Rally @ Council Chambers, 6-6:30 PM ID 2023 Tentative

30 min · Andrea Lehner

Topics: Transportation

4696 segments .txt ↗

0:03 ↗ This is where we just wave at our city.

0:08 ↗ Aha.

0:09 ↗ That is our our magic red light. So we

0:12 ↗ will call this meeting to order. It is

0:15 ↗ May 4th. Uh is Quas City's meeting? Yes,

0:17 ↗ we will acknowledge May the 4th be with

0:19 ↗ you. And we are going to open with the

0:21 ↗ pledge of allegiance. Please join me.

0:26 ↗ Pledge to the flag of the United States

0:29 ↗ of America and to the republic for it

0:32 ↗ stands. One nation under God,

0:36 ↗ indivisible, with liberty and justice

0:38 ↗ for all.

0:43 ↗ >> Okay, we are going to now

0:46 ↗ go in to proclamations. I'm looking out

0:49 ↗ in the audience to see who's currently

0:52 ↗ here.

1:11 ↗ The first proclamation is for dedicated

1:14 ↗ correction officers. Uh, Andrew Albert,

1:18 ↗ come on up. and

1:30 ↗ whereas the city of Isqua's dedicated

1:32 ↗ correction officers are essential to our

1:34 ↗ justice system and where as much is

1:36 ↗ expected from the men and women who

1:37 ↗ every day supervise offenders and

1:39 ↗ correctional facilities without whose

1:40 ↗ daily hard work and sacrifice we could

1:43 ↗ not operate. Whereas correction officers

1:45 ↗ are skilled professionals who must act

1:47 ↗ as counselors, communicators, educators,

1:49 ↗ and experts

1:51 ↗ as crisis intervention and must protect

1:54 ↗ our safety while maintaining their

1:55 ↗ professional demeanor, often in a

1:57 ↗ challenging environment. And whereas

1:58 ↗ correction officers must possess the

2:00 ↗ intuitive sense to resolve conflict and

2:02 ↗ support restorative activities while

2:04 ↗ housing offenders in a humane

2:05 ↗ environment, often to the risk of their

2:07 ↗ own well-being. And whereas all are

2:09 ↗ committed to a common goal, the secure,

2:11 ↗ safe, and humane operation of our jail

2:12 ↗ facility facility where employees work

2:15 ↗ to reduce future crime and change an

2:17 ↗ individual's criminal behavior. Now

2:19 ↗ therefore, I, Mark Mull, mayor of the

2:20 ↗ city of Isqua, do hereby proclaim the

2:22 ↗ week of May 3rd to May 9th to be

2:24 ↗ correction officers week in the city of

2:26 ↗ Isqua and invite the community to join

2:28 ↗ me in thanking the city's correction

2:29 ↗ officers for their service and

2:31 ↗ outstanding contributions.

2:37 ↗ So, we're going to let you you do your

2:39 ↗ comments and then we'll do the photo.

2:45 ↗ >> All right. Well, thank you, mayor, and

2:46 ↗ and city council and uh citizen, those

2:50 ↗ that are here. Uh good evening. On

2:51 ↗ behalf of the dedicated men and women

2:53 ↗ who serve in our correctional facility,

2:55 ↗ I am honored to accept this proclamation

2:57 ↗ recognizing National Corrections

2:58 ↗ Officers Week. This occasion invites us

3:01 ↗ to pause and reflect on a work that is

3:02 ↗ often unseen yet deeply important. Those

3:05 ↗ who serve in corrections carry a quiet

3:07 ↗ and steady responsibility,

3:09 ↗ one that requires vigilance, integrity,

3:11 ↗ and compassion each and every day. At

3:13 ↗ its heart, this work is about people. It

3:15 ↗ is about protecting our communities

3:17 ↗ while also recognizing the worth and

3:19 ↗ potential every day of everyday

3:21 ↗ individual. It is about creating an

3:23 ↗ environment that is safe, orderly, and

3:25 ↗ humane while allowing space for change,

3:27 ↗ growth, and accountability. Those who

3:29 ↗ serve in this profession do so with a

3:31 ↗ sense of duty and purpose. They strive

3:33 ↗ to act with fairness, to lead by

3:34 ↗ example, and to uphold standards even

3:36 ↗ when the work is difficult and

3:37 ↗ demanding. These are not just

3:40 ↗ professionals professional

3:41 ↗ expectations. They are reflections of

3:42 ↗ character. To those who lead and support

3:45 ↗ recognition, thank you for your

3:46 ↗ acknowledging the value of this work and

3:47 ↗ the individuals who carry it forward.

3:49 ↗ And to our correctional staff, those

3:50 ↗ present, and those continuing their

3:52 ↗ duties this evening, please know that

3:53 ↗ your efforts matter. The work you do

3:55 ↗ makes a difference in ways that are not

3:57 ↗ always visible, but are deeply

3:59 ↗ meaningful. Thank you for your

4:00 ↗ commitment, your steadiness, and your

4:02 ↗ service not only to the city, but to me.

4:04 ↗ Thank you.

4:08 ↗ Oh wait wait

4:25 ↗ >> Rabbi. You guys want to come on up?

4:28 ↗ Okay.

4:43 ↗ Our next proclamation. Whereas Jewish

4:46 ↗ American Heritage Month is celebrated

4:48 ↗ every May to honor the significant

4:49 ↗ contributions and rich history of Jewish

4:52 ↗ Americans to the fabric of our nation.

4:54 ↗ And whereas Jewish Americans have played

4:55 ↗ a vital role in shaping the cultural,

4:57 ↗ economic, scientific, and social

4:59 ↗ landscape of the United States,

5:00 ↗ contributing to the advancement of arts,

5:02 ↗ education business medicine and

5:04 ↗ public service. And whereas the Jewish

5:06 ↗ community in Isqua has been an integral

5:08 ↗ part of our city's diverse and vibrant

5:10 ↗ culture, bringing with them a deep

5:12 ↗ commitment to family, faith, and

5:14 ↗ community. And whereas while

5:16 ↗ anti-semitism anti-semitism has been

5:18 ↗ rising in an alarming rate in our

5:20 ↗ country and community, we must let it be

5:22 ↗ known that anti-semitism has no place in

5:25 ↗ Isiqua nor anywhere in the United

5:27 ↗ States. We must continue to create an

5:29 ↗ environment that fosters mutual

5:31 ↗ understanding of tolerance and respect

5:33 ↗ for everyone. And whereas the

5:34 ↗ celebration of Jewish American history

5:36 ↗ month provides an opportunity to reflect

5:38 ↗ on the historical struggles and

5:40 ↗ achievements of Jewish Americans and to

5:41 ↗ celebrate the enduring spirit of the

5:43 ↗ Jewish community in Isiqua and beyond.

5:46 ↗ Now therefore, I Mark Mullet, mayor of

5:47 ↗ the city of Isqua, do hereby proclaim

5:49 ↗ the month of May 2026 to be Jewish

5:52 ↗ American Heritage Month in the city of

5:53 ↗ Isiqua and urge all community members to

5:56 ↗ join in special observation and

5:57 ↗ celebration of Jewish American heritage.

6:08 ↗ Thank you, Mayor Mullet. Thank you, city

6:11 ↗ council. And thank you, community

6:14 ↗ representation. here. We uh as a Jewish

6:19 ↗ community leader at Isiqua for the last

6:21 ↗ 22 years under four mayors

6:25 ↗ starting from Mayor Fryinger all the way

6:27 ↗ to Mayor Mullet we have always felt the

6:30 ↗ welcoming loving openhearted connection

6:34 ↗ with the Jewish community celebrating

6:37 ↗ the Jewish holidays together

6:39 ↗ um achieving a tremendous feeling of

6:44 ↗ safety

6:45 ↗ that necess necessary for the Jewish

6:47 ↗ community, especially in in times like

6:50 ↗ this, knowing that the city,

6:55 ↗ the city council, the officers in the in

7:00 ↗ the Isqua police district, uh, everyone

7:04 ↗ always looking out to make sure that the

7:06 ↗ Jewish community feels safe here, feels

7:08 ↗ at home here. And by proclaiming the

7:13 ↗ month of May as the Jewish heritage

7:15 ↗ month, it's an invitation to every

7:18 ↗ member of the community to become

7:20 ↗ knowledgeable on the gifts,

7:22 ↗ contributions,

7:24 ↗ all the wonderful things that the Jewish

7:25 ↗ community has given not just to the

7:27 ↗ community in Isiqua as far as social

7:29 ↗ services and holiday celebrations, but

7:33 ↗ also as active members in the education

7:36 ↗ systems and hoping And God willing, the

7:42 ↗ rest of the community will continue

7:45 ↗ seeing the light that the Jewish people

7:47 ↗ are bringing to this community. And as

7:50 ↗ we celebrate this month, every member of

7:53 ↗ the Jewish community living in Isiqua,

7:55 ↗ uh, reading this proclamation, knowing

7:58 ↗ of this proclamation feels

8:01 ↗ a lot safer and a lot more at home. So,

8:04 ↗ thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

8:08 ↗ Right.

8:13 ↗ Let's go out here. We can do the

8:34 ↗ Okay. Commander Nice.

8:37 ↗ Close your arms.

8:50 ↗ Whereas in 1962, President Kennedy

8:53 ↗ proclaimed May 15th as National Peace

8:55 ↗ Officers Memorial Day and the calendar

8:57 ↗ week in which May 15th falls is National

9:00 ↗ Police Week. And whereas the members of

9:02 ↗ the law enforcement agency of the city

9:04 ↗ of Isqua play an important role in

9:05 ↗ safeguarding the rights and freedoms of

9:07 ↗ our community members. And whereas it is

9:09 ↗ important for Isqua residents to know

9:11 ↗ and understand the duties and

9:12 ↗ responsibilities of our police

9:14 ↗ department as well as the problems they

9:16 ↗ may face in the line of duty. And where

9:18 ↗ is that all members of our police

9:19 ↗ department recognize their duty to serve

9:21 ↗ the people by safeguarding life and

9:23 ↗ property, protecting them against

9:24 ↗ violence or disorder, protecting the

9:26 ↗ innocent against deception, and the weak

9:29 ↗ against oppression or intimidation. And

9:31 ↗ whereas Isqua Police Department has

9:33 ↗ grown to be a modern and scientific law

9:35 ↗ enforcement agency, which increasingly

9:37 ↗ provides a vital public service. Now

9:39 ↗ therefore, I, Mark Mullet, mayor of the

9:40 ↗ city of Isiqua, do hereby proclaim the

9:42 ↗ week of May 11th to the 17th to be

9:45 ↗ police week in the city of Isiqua and

9:47 ↗ invite the community to join me in

9:48 ↗ thanking the Isqua Police Department for

9:50 ↗ their outstanding service and

9:51 ↗ contributions to the Isqua community.

9:54 ↗ >> Thank you very much.

10:04 ↗ >> Good evening everyone. Uh today I'd like

10:07 ↗ to take a moment to recognize Police

10:08 ↗ Week, uh a time dedicated to honoring

10:10 ↗ the courage, service, and sacrifice of

10:12 ↗ law enforcement officers across our

10:13 ↗ nation. Police Week traces its origin

10:17 ↗ back to 1962 when John F. Kennedy signed

10:19 ↗ a proclamation designating May 15th as

10:21 ↗ Police Officers Memorial Day and the

10:23 ↗ week in which it falls as National

10:24 ↗ Police Week. Since then, communities

10:26 ↗ across the country have come together

10:27 ↗ each year remembering the officers who

10:29 ↗ have lost their lives in the line of

10:30 ↗ duty and to show appreciation for those

10:31 ↗ who continue to serve. This week is

10:34 ↗ important because it reminds us that

10:35 ↗ every badge is a person, someone who has

10:37 ↗ chosen a life of service, often facing

10:39 ↗ danger and uncertainty to keep others

10:41 ↗ safe. It is also a time to support the

10:44 ↗ families who stand behind them, sharing

10:46 ↗ in both the pride and the sacrifice.

10:48 ↗ Here in Isquar, recognizing police week

10:50 ↗ gives us the opportunity to connect as

10:52 ↗ community and express our gratitude to

10:53 ↗ the officers who protect our

10:54 ↗ neighborhoods, respond in times of

10:56 ↗ crisis, and work every day to build

10:57 ↗ trust and safety. So this week, let us

11:00 ↗ pause to remember those we've lost,

11:01 ↗ honor those who serve, and reaffirm our

11:03 ↗ support for the men and women who

11:04 ↗ dedicate their lives to protecting ours.

11:06 ↗ Thank you.

11:23 ↗ Here.

11:31 ↗ Come on.

11:50 ↗ Okay, here's our fourth and final

11:52 ↗ proclamation of the day.

11:55 ↗ Whereas Asian-American, Native Hawaiian,

11:57 ↗ and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is

11:58 ↗ an annual celebration that recognizes

12:00 ↗ the historical and cultural

12:01 ↗ contributions of Asian-Americans, Native

12:04 ↗ Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in

12:05 ↗ creating the American story. Whereas, we

12:07 ↗ celebrate the growing diversity of

12:09 ↗ Isiqua with the second largest race

12:11 ↗ being Asian-American residents

12:12 ↗ representing 28% of our population.

12:15 ↗ Diversity brings richness, opportunity,

12:17 ↗ and growth. And whereas we acknowledge

12:19 ↗ those contributions of Asian-Americans,

12:21 ↗ Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

12:23 ↗ to our local arts, education, sciences,

12:25 ↗ and to our economic, social, and

12:27 ↗ democratic institutions that strengthen

12:29 ↗ our city. And whereas we admit the past

12:31 ↗ and current hardships for Asian and

12:32 ↗ Pacific Islander Americans and strive to

12:34 ↗ foster inclusion to ensure all people

12:36 ↗ have an equal opportunity to live and

12:38 ↗ prosper. whereas we come together as a

12:40 ↗ community in a spirit of unity to

12:42 ↗ celebrate the invaluable contributions

12:43 ↗ that enrich our city with Asian and

12:45 ↗ Pacific Islander heritage. Now

12:47 ↗ therefore, I Mark Mullet, mayor of the

12:48 ↗ city of Isqua, to hereby proclaim May

12:50 ↗ 2026 to be Asian-American and Pacific

12:53 ↗ Islander Heritage Month in the city of

12:54 ↗ Isiziqua and I urge a community to join

12:56 ↗ in special observance and celebration of

12:58 ↗ Asian-American and Pacific Islander

13:01 ↗ heritage.

13:08 ↗ Thank you to Thank you to Mayor Mark

13:11 ↗ Mullet and the city of Isiqua for this

13:13 ↗ meaningful AAPI month's uh proclamation.

13:17 ↗ The circle truly appreciate the city of

13:19 ↗ Isakqua for recognizing and celebrating

13:22 ↗ the rich diversity and contribution of

13:25 ↗ our AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander

13:28 ↗ communities. On behalf of our community,

13:31 ↗ I would like also like to warmly invite

13:34 ↗ all of you to our AAPI celebration on

13:38 ↗ May 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Isakqua

13:42 ↗ Community Center. This event will

13:44 ↗ feature cultural performances

13:46 ↗ representing communities from China,

13:49 ↗ India, Pakistan, and Filipinos, Japan,

13:52 ↗ and Pacific Islanders along with

13:55 ↗ interactive cultural stations

13:58 ↗ highlighting traditions from China,

14:00 ↗ Korea, Japan, India, and Hawaii. We are

14:03 ↗ also excited to launch a Chinese history

14:06 ↗ reflection project in partnership with

14:09 ↗ Isaakqua History Museum. the um during

14:13 ↗ these events helping to deepen our

14:16 ↗ shared understanding of our local

14:18 ↗ history. We would be honored to have all

14:21 ↗ of you in joining us celebrating

14:24 ↗ cultural community and connection. Thank

14:27 ↗ you again for your support. Thank you.

14:31 ↗ >> We're going to do a we're going to do a

14:32 ↗ photo, but we're going to get you the

14:34 ↗ shift kit later on.

15:20 ↗ The next item of business is audience

15:22 ↗ comments. And for those of you who

15:24 ↗ signed up in advance, you'll be called

15:25 ↗ on first. If you're joining us

15:27 ↗ virtually, you can raise your virtual

15:29 ↗ hand. You can press star three if you're

15:31 ↗ on the phone. And we will ask people

15:35 ↗ when you do speak, please state your

15:38 ↗ name and your connection to the city of

15:40 ↗ Isiziqua. That could be your home

15:41 ↗ address or your business address or just

15:43 ↗ whatever it is that connects you to

15:45 ↗ isqua. And please be respectful. And

15:48 ↗ madam clerk, you want to go ahead and

15:50 ↗ call up the first person.

15:57 ↗ We have the sheet coming.

16:03 ↗ And I I had Maddie on here first. Is

16:05 ↗ that still right?

16:07 ↗ Oh, Dave is Dave. You got in ahead of

16:09 ↗ Maddie.

16:11 ↗ The the veteran has outdone you.

16:17 ↗ >> Good evening, council. My name is uh

16:19 ↗ David Wagner and I live uh at 22529

16:24 ↗ Southeast 42nd Terrace. That's in

16:27 ↗ Providence Point. and I'm probably the

16:31 ↗ oldest is aqua here tonight. I've lived

16:34 ↗ in Isiqua since 1945.

16:38 ↗ Um,

16:40 ↗ gone for 26 years serving our country.

16:43 ↗ Want to say congratulations to Erica.

16:46 ↗ Erica and I served on a couple of boards

16:49 ↗ together in the city. So, it's nice to

16:51 ↗ see you up there. Um,

16:57 ↗ wow. I'm down to one second already.

17:01 ↗ >> Time flies when you're having fun.

17:02 ↗ >> There we go. Um, this will be the formal

17:06 ↗ invitation for our Memorial Day service,

17:09 ↗ which will be held on the 25th of May,

17:12 ↗ and we're going to change it up a little

17:14 ↗ bit this year. In past years, we've

17:18 ↗ always had that service up at the

17:20 ↗ cemetery.

17:21 ↗ However, as your cemetery board chairman

17:24 ↗ for 12 years, I would always see the

17:27 ↗ damage after we had that service and I

17:30 ↗ would watch people and not on purpose

17:34 ↗ drive over gravestones. We don't want to

17:36 ↗ do that anymore. So, we are moving this

17:41 ↗ service to the senior center thanks to

17:44 ↗ the city for letting us do that. and

17:46 ↗ it'll be 10:00 on uh Monday morning, May

17:51 ↗ 25th. Flintto's funeral home will

17:54 ↗ provide refreshments. The service

17:56 ↗ probably won't last more than 45

17:59 ↗ minutes. Our illustrious mayor will be

18:02 ↗ our speaker and uh we look forward to

18:06 ↗ you coming down. I think parking will be

18:08 ↗ better here downtown than it uh is up on

18:12 ↗ the hill.

18:13 ↗ We're going to still have volunteers

18:15 ↗ from the community uh when we set the uh

18:19 ↗ cemetery up on Saturday morning

18:22 ↗ beginning at 9:00. So, I want to say to

18:26 ↗ the city, come on out, enjoy it. Again,

18:29 ↗ Flint Off Funeral Home will have

18:31 ↗ refreshments for us to set up flags and

18:34 ↗ crosses. and uh take down will be uh

18:38 ↗ Monday night at 6:00 p.m. need the same

18:42 ↗ help there. Mayor, I want to report that

18:45 ↗ uh the numbers from flag retirement. Our

18:49 ↗ mayor attended our flag retirement on

18:51 ↗ the 25th, Saturday the 25th. It went

18:55 ↗ from 8:00 in the morning till 3:00 in

18:58 ↗ the afternoon and we retired 800 to a

19:02 ↗ thousand flags just on that Saturday.

19:05 ↗ Thanks to uh East Side Fire and Rescue

19:08 ↗ for being up there. That fire was hot.

19:12 ↗ We want to make sure the kids were safe.

19:15 ↗ We had uh

19:18 ↗ an Eagle Scout project which was

19:20 ↗ completed. 60 scouts trained in proper

19:23 ↗ flag etiquette for disposal and

19:26 ↗ wonderful camaraderie between the

19:29 ↗ community and East Side Fire and Rescue.

19:32 ↗ Um to date uh I think we're closer to

19:38 ↗ 10,000 flags that we have uh disposed of

19:42 ↗ for the city of Isiqua since 2006.

19:46 ↗ That's a lot of flags.

19:48 ↗ And the last thing uh tonight

19:57 ↗ flag

19:59 ↗ that flag represents uh

20:02 ↗ six new flags that we're presenting to

20:05 ↗ the city of Isiqua. Just so you know,

20:08 ↗ we've lost 13

20:11 ↗ soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines

20:15 ↗ since this Iran war has started, and we

20:19 ↗ don't want to forget them. So, between

20:21 ↗ East Side Fire and Rescue and the city

20:23 ↗ of Isiqua, we on Memorial Day will be

20:27 ↗ flying brand new flags in their honor so

20:30 ↗ that they are not forgotten. That's all

20:33 ↗ I have. Thank you. Hope to see you at

20:35 ↗ Memorial Day.

20:37 ↗ All right, thank you very much. And

20:40 ↗ here's a public service announcement. I

20:42 ↗ didn't know this until I became mayor.

20:43 ↗ If you have an old flag at your house

20:44 ↗ outside of the senior center, there is a

20:47 ↗ box. Looks kind of like a mailbox where

20:48 ↗ you can actually put in your old flag.

20:50 ↗ And I will say being at this event, I

20:53 ↗ saw flags with 48 stars on them. Hence,

20:55 ↗ flags that were obviously made pre-1959.

20:58 ↗ So, there were some old flags that were

21:00 ↗ retired. And it is actually a very

21:02 ↗ effective way to retire flags by

21:04 ↗ bringing them down to the senior center.

21:06 ↗ Uh madam clerk, next

21:08 ↗ >> Maddie Coats.

21:22 ↗ Excellent. Good evening, Mayor Mullet,

21:24 ↗ council members, and city staff. Thank

21:27 ↗ you for the chance to speak today. My

21:29 ↗ name is Maddie Coats and I live in North

21:31 ↗ Isiqua. I'm the editor of the Isiqua

21:33 ↗ Spotlight and I'm here to share some

21:35 ↗ exciting details about the future of

21:37 ↗ local news in Isiqua. In 2017, the

21:40 ↗ Isiqua Press shut down after 117 years,

21:43 ↗ leaving behind its legacy as a trusted

21:45 ↗ so source of local news coverage.

21:49 ↗ For generations, that paper documented

21:51 ↗ the stories, decisions, celebrations,

21:53 ↗ and challenges that shaped this

21:54 ↗ community and helped residents stay

21:56 ↗ informed and connected. In the years

21:58 ↗ since its closure, Isiqua has become

22:00 ↗ known as a news desert, a place with

22:03 ↗ limited access to consistent, locally

22:05 ↗ focused reporting.

22:07 ↗ As our city has continued to grow and

22:09 ↗ evolve, there's been no dedicated

22:10 ↗ newsroom regularly covering the issues

22:13 ↗ that directly affect daily life in

22:15 ↗ Isiqua.

22:16 ↗ The loss of local news didn't just mean

22:18 ↗ fewer headlines. It meant fewer

22:20 ↗ opportunities for civic engagement,

22:22 ↗ accountability,

22:24 ↗ and shared understanding. We know that

22:26 ↗ communities are strongest when residents

22:28 ↗ have trusted information about what's

22:30 ↗ happening around them. That's why I'm

22:32 ↗ proud to introduce a new chapter of

22:34 ↗ local journalism that's about to begin

22:35 ↗ in Isiqua. The Isqua Spotlight is a new

22:38 ↗ digital newspaper launching in June

22:40 ↗ 2026. This is an independent

22:42 ↗ community-led effort to deliver

22:44 ↗ meaningful news and information to the

22:46 ↗ greater Isiqua area. It's entirely free

22:49 ↗ to subscribe. All you need is your email

22:51 ↗ address. Every Friday, subscribers will

22:53 ↗ receive three to five stories in their

22:55 ↗ inbox dealing detailing the topics that

22:57 ↗ matter most to our community. In

22:59 ↗ surveying residents, we've heard that

23:01 ↗ people want to read about local

23:02 ↗ government schools businesses arts

23:05 ↗ and culture, transportation, history,

23:09 ↗ human interest stories, and of course, a

23:11 ↗ police blotter.

23:13 ↗ Our coverage of Isiqua City Council will

23:15 ↗ focus on breaking down complex issues in

23:18 ↗ a clear, accessible way for residents.

23:20 ↗ This ties into our mission of delivering

23:22 ↗ independent local news that helps Isiqua

23:25 ↗ residents understand their community and

23:27 ↗ feel empower empowered to participate in

23:29 ↗ civic life.

23:32 ↗ I do want to address some test content

23:34 ↗ that briefly appeared on our live

23:36 ↗ website several weeks ago. Um we want to

23:38 ↗ set the record straight that what we're

23:40 ↗ building is a serious professional

23:42 ↗ newsroom for Isiqua. Our content is

23:44 ↗ nonpartisan, fact-based, and distinct

23:47 ↗ from existing blogs and opinion-driven

23:49 ↗ content. Our publisher, Adam Pinkinsky,

23:52 ↗ started building the foundation for the

23:54 ↗ Isqua Spotlight almost exactly one year

23:56 ↗ ago. Um, as a 30-year subscriber to the

23:58 ↗ Isqua Press, he missed having a local

24:00 ↗ source of news coverage in the greater

24:02 ↗ Isqua area. In the early days, Adam

24:05 ↗ partnered with a group of volunteers to

24:07 ↗ research similar startups across the

24:09 ↗ country and better understand what makes

24:10 ↗ community journalism successful today.

24:13 ↗ With support from the Isizakiqua Kuanas

24:15 ↗ Club, um he hosted community input

24:17 ↗ meetings to gather feedback on what

24:19 ↗ residents value in local news and what

24:21 ↗ they felt was missing. Ultimately,

24:24 ↗ community members voted to select the

24:25 ↗ isol spotlight as the name of this

24:27 ↗ publication last year, last fall. Since

24:30 ↗ then, we've hired a reporter and editor,

24:32 ↗ established a board of directors, many

24:34 ↗ of whom are sitting behind me, launched

24:36 ↗ our website, and built a clear financial

24:38 ↗ plan. Our team has submitted an

24:41 ↗ application to the IRS to become a 501c3

24:44 ↗ nonprofit and until that's approved,

24:47 ↗ we're fiscally sponsored by the Isqua

24:48 ↗ Kuanas Club. We rely on donations, grant

24:51 ↗ funding, and sponsorships to succeed.

24:54 ↗ Over the next month, we've scheduled

24:55 ↗ three community public community

24:57 ↗ meetings to hear feedback from Isiqua

24:59 ↗ residents. Our first meeting is

25:01 ↗ Thursday, May 21st at Blakeley Hall. Our

25:04 ↗ second one is online via Google Meet on

25:07 ↗ Wednesday, May 27th. And our third one

25:10 ↗ is um on Tuesday, June 2nd at the KCLS

25:14 ↗ service center. And each meeting is from

25:16 ↗ 8 7 to 8:00 p.m. We encourage you all to

25:19 ↗ attend. Um and this will be an

25:21 ↗ opportunity to meet our team, share

25:23 ↗ story ideas, ask questions, and learn

25:25 ↗ how to subscribe and support our launch.

25:28 ↗ We ask that you all continue spreading

25:29 ↗ the word about this fresh era of news in

25:32 ↗ Isiqua. Please subscribe and encourage

25:34 ↗ your new networks to do the same. Um,

25:36 ↗ more information you can find at

25:38 ↗ isakqualpotlight.org

25:40 ↗ and I welcome the opportunity to meet

25:42 ↗ with each of you before our launch to

25:44 ↗ share more details about our coverage

25:45 ↗ strategy. Thank you for listening.

25:49 ↗ >> Thank you very much. I was with Adam at

25:51 ↗ Timber Ridge today and we we had Timber

25:53 ↗ Ridge all excited about an online

25:56 ↗ newspaper coming back and Kashif, you

25:58 ↗ get the award for best sneaker game at

26:00 ↗ the May 4th council meeting. is very

26:02 ↗ impressed with the purple sneakers. Uh,

26:04 ↗ madam clerk, next

26:06 ↗ >> John Perisc.

26:12 ↗ >> Mayor, council, thank you for having me

26:14 ↗ tonight. Uh, my name is John Pzik. I'm

26:16 ↗ the general manager of the Hilton

26:17 ↗ Guardian at 1800 Northwest Gilman, as

26:20 ↗ well as I'm the board chair for Visit

26:22 ↗ Isiqua. Uh, I'm here today to talk about

26:24 ↗ just tourism in the city, as well as

26:27 ↗ the, uh, annual report you receive for

26:30 ↗ Visit Isiqua. I do urge that you spend

26:32 ↗ some time to read it. It was a very good

26:34 ↗ report of what we've done last year and

26:37 ↗ with Christy and Kimberly in their

26:39 ↗ positions, they have moved um Isqua as a

26:42 ↗ tourist destination so much. Um with the

26:45 ↗ destination stewardship project

26:47 ↗ gathering local companies together that

26:49 ↗ didn't realize that they were part of

26:51 ↗ tourism. Um, one of the things we love

26:53 ↗ about Isiqua is, you know, the

26:55 ↗ restaurants, the shops, Gilman Village,

26:57 ↗ Front Street, the high school,

26:59 ↗ everything is related to tourists, not

27:01 ↗ just the hotels. Um, tourism is based on

27:05 ↗ people wanting to have fun experiences,

27:06 ↗ and Esqua is here for that. Also,

27:09 ↗ there's a few fun things coming up with

27:11 ↗ tourism. Uh, last year, we were able to

27:13 ↗ do a feasibility study for the upcoming

27:15 ↗ aircraft paragliding festival, which

27:17 ↗ will be the first in the US. It's based

27:20 ↗ off of one in France and has never

27:22 ↗ occurred in the US before and we're very

27:24 ↗ excited for that to happen. Um, other

27:27 ↗ thing that I just want to mention is if

27:29 ↗ anyone ever has questions about what

27:30 ↗ Visa is doing, what we're doing with

27:32 ↗ tourism, how we're growing the city,

27:34 ↗ making money, feel free to reach out.

27:36 ↗ We're always here. We love talking about

27:39 ↗ um just what is happening, what we're

27:41 ↗ doing. It's a lot of fun. For those

27:44 ↗ who've not worked in a hotel, we bounce

27:46 ↗ around. We're bartending. We're cleaning

27:48 ↗ rooms. We're at the desk. We're all over

27:49 ↗ the place at the council meetings. Um,

27:52 ↗ we really enjoy being out and talking to

27:54 ↗ people. That's what we do. So, I thank

27:57 ↗ you for your quick time. Reach out if

27:59 ↗ you guys ever have any questions and do

28:01 ↗ please read that report because it'll

28:03 ↗ answer everything you need.

28:05 ↗ >> Excellent. Thank you very much, John. I

28:07 ↗ will I will be starting that aircraft

28:09 ↗ festival landing on a paraglider on

28:11 ↗ August 15th at 1:00. Yes.

28:15 ↗ uh could be the end of my mayor term.

28:18 ↗ Uh Madam Clerk,

28:20 ↗ >> the next speaker is a virtual attendee,

28:22 ↗ Joe Kler. Joe, we're going to make you a

28:25 ↗ panelist now. You should then see the

28:27 ↗ option to unmute and can choose to turn

28:29 ↗ your video on.

28:34 ↗ Hello. Can everyone hear me?

28:37 ↗ >> Yes.

28:39 ↗ >> Thank you, clerk. Thank you staff for

28:40 ↗ getting the technical issues worked out

28:42 ↗ so we could have some virtual public

28:44 ↗ comment tonight. Some moral support for

28:46 ↗ Isaakiqua as you well 12 Isaakqua as you

28:48 ↗ go for your uh Sound Transit Link

28:50 ↗ competition. Huge supporter of this

28:52 ↗ community uh winning over Kirkland uh

28:54 ↗ for several reasons. Number one, you

28:57 ↗ actually proclaimed Jewish American

28:58 ↗ Heritage Month. That's important. Uh,

29:00 ↗ number two, you unlike Kirkland, are

29:03 ↗ going to deal with the threat of Alex

29:05 ↗ Zimmerman and other anti-semmites coming

29:07 ↗ and hurling hate and drawing a line in

29:09 ↗ the sand. That is very much appreciated.

29:11 ↗ Um, not looking forward to the

29:13 ↗ conversation with Kirkland tomorrow

29:14 ↗ night. Um, I'll leave it at that. Uh,

29:17 ↗ because they haven't done the work that

29:18 ↗ Redmond's done, Belleview's done, 12 has

29:21 ↗ done. And uh number three, I'm really

29:23 ↗ excited for Thursday morning uh where we

29:25 ↗ can make our case for the right

29:26 ↗ communities that accept sound transit

29:29 ↗ values such as inclusion and integrity

29:33 ↗ and community and environmentalism

29:37 ↗ and accountability

29:39 ↗ uh to be be placed ahead and uh complete

29:42 ↗ these projects because Sound Transit

29:44 ↗ isn't just a a mass transit provider.

29:46 ↗ It's also a community builder. And when

29:49 ↗ you lay light rail down somewhere, you

29:51 ↗ are making an a statement that that is

29:52 ↗ where when you put light rail and

29:55 ↗ stations together, you're making a

29:56 ↗ statement. That is where community is.

29:58 ↗ That is where community matters. And I

30:00 ↗ am rooting for you 110% as much as ever

30:05 ↗ and the great north uh and at some point

30:07 ↗ Tacoma. Um and I just want you to know

30:11 ↗ you've got support uh out there. And uh

30:13 ↗ I know Thursday is going to be a tough

30:15 ↗ day. We're still waiting on Sound

30:16 ↗ Transit to drop the draft resolution. On

30:19 ↗ that, I'm uh refreshing the Sound

30:20 ↗ Transit website and uh like you all

30:23 ↗ probably are and

30:25 ↗ just uh hoping for the best possible

30:27 ↗ outcome out of all this so we can build

30:29 ↗ back better from uh the past few years.

30:31 ↗ Want to thank you all for your public

30:32 ↗ service and go get them. Go 12 visiqua.

30:35 ↗ Thank you.

30:36 ↗ >> Thank you, Joe. We like the Seahawk

30:38 ↗ encouragement. It's uh this is awesome.

30:41 ↗ Madam clerk,

30:42 ↗ >> no one else uh has signed up in advance

30:44 ↗ to speak.

30:45 ↗ >> Is there anybody else in the audience?

30:46 ↗ This is your chance. Raise your hand.

30:48 ↗ All right, come on up.

30:58 ↗ Good evening. My name is Aur Kamaria. I

31:01 ↗ am 13 years old and even though I don't

31:03 ↗ live in Isiqua, I live in Samish.

31:06 ↗ I want to start by telling you something

31:07 ↗ personal. I have a congenital heart

31:10 ↗ condition. It was never

31:11 ↗ life-threatening, but I know what it

31:13 ↗ feels like to be a kid going through

31:15 ↗ something, something that feels bigger

31:17 ↗ than you, something that makes the world

31:19 ↗ feel heavy and uncertain and hard to

31:22 ↗ navigate alone.

31:24 ↗ And I looked around and I thought, there

31:26 ↗ are so many kids going through something

31:28 ↗ hard. Not just kids in hospitals, kids

31:31 ↗ dealing with loss, kids going through a

31:34 ↗ family divorce, kids carrying weight

31:37 ↗ that no child should ever have to carry

31:39 ↗ alone. Nobody was asking these those

31:42 ↗ kids what they imagined. Nobody was

31:44 ↗ asking them what they dreamed about.

31:47 ↗ Nobody was asking them what they would

31:48 ↗ create if they could create anything.

31:51 ↗ That silence is what started Printable

31:53 ↗ Dreams.

31:55 ↗ Printable Dreams is a nonprofit I

31:56 ↗ founded that turns children's drawings

31:58 ↗ into real 3D printed objects. A kid

32:02 ↗ draws something, a dragon, a rocket, a

32:04 ↗ garden creature, a superhero, anything

32:06 ↗ their imagination can conjure up. And we

32:09 ↗ bring it to life as something they can

32:11 ↗ actually hold in their hands. Something

32:13 ↗ that is entirely, completely, uniquely

32:16 ↗ theirs. Every single print is made

32:19 ↗ specifically for that child. No two are

32:21 ↗ ever the same. Principal Dreams is not

32:24 ↗ just for sick children. It is for every

32:27 ↗ child going through something hard.

32:29 ↗ Every child deserves a moment where the

32:31 ↗ world stops feeling heavy, where their

32:33 ↗ imagination becomes something real and

32:35 ↗ joyful that belongs entirely to them. I

32:39 ↗ believe that when a child holds an

32:41 ↗ object made from their own imagination,

32:43 ↗ something shifts inside them. It tells

32:45 ↗ them that their dreams are real, that

32:48 ↗ their ideas have power, that even in the

32:50 ↗ hardest, darkest moments of their young

32:53 ↗ lives, their creativity belongs to them.

32:55 ↗ And nobody, nobody can take that away.

32:58 ↗ I've seen what happens when a child

33:00 ↗ realizes their imagination can become

33:02 ↗ something tangible. Their eyes change,

33:05 ↗ their posture changes, something in them

33:07 ↗ wakes up. That moment, that one single

33:10 ↗ moment is worth everything. I am funding

33:13 ↗ this entirely myself. From June to

33:16 ↗ October of last summer, I spent every

33:18 ↗ weekend helping an elderly vendor at the

33:20 ↗ Redmond Farmers Market seller products.

33:23 ↗ Week after week, I showed up. I stayed

33:25 ↗ the entire day. Every time I earned

33:27 ↗ $300. That $300 is what is backing

33:30 ↗ Principal Dreams today. Not my parents,

33:33 ↗ not a loan, not a donation. Months of

33:35 ↗ work I did with my own two hands because

33:38 ↗ I believed in this before anyone else

33:40 ↗ did. My teacher at my school, Englewood

33:43 ↗ Middle School, Mr. Henderson, has been

33:45 ↗ gracious enough to let me use the

33:47 ↗ school's 3D printer with my own

33:48 ↗ filament. I have a mission. I have my

33:51 ↗ teacher support. I have my parents

33:53 ↗ support. I have a website and I bought

33:55 ↗ the raw material from the money I

33:56 ↗ earned. Here is my dream. I do not want

33:59 ↗ principal dreams to say in Samish or

34:02 ↗ even in Washington. I want to build a

34:04 ↗ global network of 3D printing

34:06 ↗ volunteers, people all around the world

34:08 ↗ who sign up. And when a child anywhere

34:10 ↗ in a hospital in Seattle or a clinic in

34:13 ↗ rural rural Kenya or a children's ward

34:16 ↗ in Tokyo sends in a drawing, I match

34:18 ↗ them with a volunteer nearby who can

34:20 ↗ print it and deliver it directly to

34:22 ↗ them. Free. Always free because this

34:24 ↗ will never be about money. This is

34:26 ↗ always about making a child feel seen.

34:29 ↗ I'm asking tonight for your support,

34:31 ↗ your connections, and your help in

34:33 ↗ growing printable dreams into something

34:35 ↗ that reaches every child on this planet

34:37 ↗ who needs a moment of joy. Because every

34:39 ↗ child deserves to see their imagination

34:41 ↗ be real, be become real. If you want to

34:43 ↗ learn more, my website is

34:44 ↗ printabledreams.com.

34:47 ↗ >> Thank you.

34:49 ↗ >> That was really impressive. Uh,

34:51 ↗ >> thank you.

34:52 ↗ >> You get the award for most profound

34:54 ↗ 13-year-old testimony of 2026. And I

34:57 ↗ think we're all glad that at least

34:58 ↗ there's one election cycle where he

35:00 ↗ could run for office and beat all of us.

35:01 ↗ So,

35:04 ↗ anybody else wishing to testify?

35:07 ↗ No. Audience comments. Okay, we are now

35:11 ↗ going to end audience comments and the

35:13 ↗ next item of business is the consent

35:16 ↗ calendar. I do not have any remarks on

35:18 ↗ the consent calendar items. Committee

35:20 ↗ chairs or chair doesn't any reports on

35:22 ↗ consent calendar items. Looking looking

35:27 ↗ not seeing any. Uh I think madam clerk

35:31 ↗ you might have a minor update.

35:32 ↗ >> Yes. I just wanted to let everyone know

35:34 ↗ per your policy that there was a

35:36 ↗ correction made to the April 27th

35:38 ↗ meeting minutes. Uh that was circulated

35:40 ↗ to you a few hours ago. It was just

35:43 ↗ better clarifying the location of an

35:46 ↗ item of discussion at last Monday's

35:48 ↗ special meeting. With approval of the

35:50 ↗ consent calendar, you'll be approving

35:51 ↗ the revised version.

35:53 ↗ >> Okay. So the consent calendar was contri

35:56 ↗ was distributed to the council in

35:57 ↗ advance. If authorized cassette calendar

35:59 ↗ will be considered together and approved

36:01 ↗ in one motion. Have the payables and

36:02 ↗ payrolls been reviewed?

36:04 ↗ >> They have.

36:07 ↗ >> That is affirmative. Does any council

36:09 ↗ member want to remove any items from the

36:11 ↗ consent calendar and place them in

36:12 ↗ regular business?

36:14 ↗ Not seeing any. Is there a motion?

36:16 ↗ >> Mr. Mayor, I move the consent calendar

36:18 ↗ as listed in today's uh packet.

36:23 ↗ >> Second.

36:23 ↗ >> There's been a motion and a second. All

36:25 ↗ those in favor, please say I.

36:27 ↗ >> I. I.

36:28 ↗ >> All those opposed? Nay. And that passes

36:32 ↗ unanimously. The next item of business

36:33 ↗ is regular business. ID 2018

36:36 ↗ informationational update on the Q4 2025

36:38 ↗ year end report. I think we have Kristen

36:42 ↗ Garcia coming up to present this item.

36:49 ↗ >> Yes. Thank you, mayor. Uh, give me just

36:50 ↗ a moment to get my screen.

36:59 ↗ Let's see. Okay, we can. All right.

37:03 ↗ Thank you, mayor. Good evening, members

37:04 ↗ of council and for those members of the

37:07 ↗ audience um here tonight and maybe

37:09 ↗ viewing online. I'm Kristen Garcia, the

37:11 ↗ finance director here and here to give a

37:14 ↗ 2025 year end financial update. Um, I do

37:17 ↗ want to take a moment to thank council

37:20 ↗ for all the questions um that were

37:22 ↗ received on this report. It's helping to

37:25 ↗ inform me and our new budget manager of

37:27 ↗ some of the information that you're

37:28 ↗ interested in, the level of detail that

37:30 ↗ you're looking for. Um, and so that'll

37:33 ↗ help inform and direct on future

37:35 ↗ reports. So, thank you for uh providing

37:37 ↗ that feedback. I've also been trying to

37:40 ↗ expand the information that's been

37:42 ↗ presented to council so you have a more

37:44 ↗ holistic view of um all city finances. I

37:47 ↗ know historically we've tend to focus on

37:49 ↗ the the general fund, what we call the

37:51 ↗ big four revenues and the refunds. And

37:53 ↗ so um hopefully the expansion of the

37:56 ↗ information that I'll share will be

37:57 ↗ helpful as you move forward with some of

37:59 ↗ your decision- making. And the last item

38:01 ↗ that I want to note before I get started

38:03 ↗ with the presentation is that we do have

38:04 ↗ a new budget manager. His name is

38:06 ↗ Michael Blunt. and you will all get the

38:08 ↗ opportunity to meet him as he's invi

38:10 ↗ been invited to attend our council

38:11 ↗ retreat this Saturday.

38:16 ↗ >> Michael's from Goodyear, so our

38:18 ↗ icebreaker is going to be who's seen the

38:19 ↗ Goodyear blimp and you'll have to share

38:21 ↗ Goodyear blimp stories.

38:22 ↗ >> Yes, that was a fun exercise.

38:26 ↗ All right. Uh so the purpose of tonight

38:28 ↗ is to um intended to provide city

38:30 ↗ council with an overview of the

38:32 ↗ preliminary unodudited 2025 year

38:35 ↗ financial results. Um, I do want to make

38:37 ↗ note that the amounts in the document

38:39 ↗ are subject to change pending final

38:42 ↗ review, internal review of the financial

38:44 ↗ statements and then of course pending

38:46 ↗ final outcome of the audit. I don't

38:47 ↗ expect there to be any changes. Um, but

38:50 ↗ the CPA and me wants to make full

38:51 ↗ disclosure that if there are any

38:53 ↗ changers if there are any changes I do

38:56 ↗ expect they would be very minor and not

38:58 ↗ material.

39:01 ↗ So the general fund started uh 2025 with

39:04 ↗ fund balance of uh 17 million uh 48% of

39:09 ↗ which was restricted and related to the

39:12 ↗ affordable housing sales tax. Uh

39:14 ↗ beginning I do want to note that

39:16 ↗ beginning in 2026 the city did create

39:19 ↗ the affordable housing sales tax. We

39:21 ↗ have moved all of the restricted fund

39:23 ↗ balance out of the general fund into the

39:25 ↗ new fund. So now going forward all

39:27 ↗ revenues and expenses will be accounted

39:29 ↗ for in that fund. So that should

39:31 ↗ eliminate or significantly reduce u the

39:33 ↗ amount of stricted u monies reported in

39:35 ↗ the general fund. Um I want to note that

39:38 ↗ the city also received 9.6 million in uh

39:41 ↗ from the sale of the capital assets of

39:42 ↗ the uh northwest city hall northwest and

39:45 ↗ the food bank and this is a one-time

39:47 ↗ source of income. So that's why it was

39:49 ↗ noted separately in the report and uh

39:52 ↗ removed from fund balance calculations.

39:55 ↗ The total ending unrestricted fund

39:57 ↗ balance at the end of 2025 was 8.1

40:00 ↗ million or 12% of total unrestricted

40:03 ↗ expenditures. A reminder that city

40:06 ↗ financial policy requires unrestricted

40:08 ↗ fund balances to be between 15 and 20%

40:11 ↗ of unrestricted expenditures. And um if

40:15 ↗ you might recall during the mid uh

40:16 ↗ bianium process last fall we were

40:19 ↗ targeting to hit the forecast was

40:20 ↗ targeting to hit about 10% at the end of

40:22 ↗ 2025 and 12% by the end of 2026. So

40:27 ↗ we're actually ahead of where we

40:28 ↗ forecasted last fall.

40:32 ↗ The city has four main revenue sources

40:35 ↗ um in the general fund. Uh property tax,

40:37 ↗ sales tax, business and occupation tax

40:40 ↗ and utility tax. We historically have

40:42 ↗ referred to these as the big four

40:44 ↗ revenue. So if you hear that term, um

40:46 ↗ that's typically what we're referring

40:47 ↗ to. Um collectively, these four revenue

40:50 ↗ sources comprise about 69% of all

40:53 ↗ general fund revenue. And this chart is

40:55 ↗ comparing the 2025 budget to Q3 2025

41:01 ↗ forecast and then year-end actuals. Uh

41:04 ↗ property tax revenues came in at about

41:06 ↗ 10.8 million uh both aligned with budget

41:09 ↗ and forecast. Sales tax revenues at year

41:12 ↗ end were aligned with budget both at 20

41:15 ↗ million but the forecast was indicating

41:17 ↗ that we would come in a bit higher at

41:19 ↗ about 21 million. Uh we looked back at

41:22 ↗ the forecasting model and the historical

41:24 ↗ forecasting methodology was based on an

41:27 ↗ average percentage of total revenue

41:29 ↗ rather than the change from year to

41:32 ↗ year. So I think that's might what be um

41:35 ↗ driving the higher forecast. So, um the

41:38 ↗ new budget manager and I going to take a

41:40 ↗ look at our forecasting models for 2026

41:42 ↗ just to see if any adjustments might

41:44 ↗ need to be made and um to make sure that

41:46 ↗ we're trying to forecast as accurately

41:48 ↗ as we can. Uh BNO taxes, those are a

41:52 ↗ little bit harder to predict. Our

41:53 ↗ actuals came in about 7.5 million versus

41:57 ↗ 6.75 million uh for budget. Actuals

42:01 ↗ though were actually within about 45 or

42:04 ↗ 46,000 of what we forecasted. So that

42:06 ↗ actual forecast was a little bit closer.

42:09 ↗ Um I did notice in the last um couple of

42:11 ↗ years the budget has been quite a bit

42:13 ↗ lower for BNO tax. Um so that's

42:16 ↗ something that I want to take a look at

42:17 ↗ as we start begin developing our 2728.

42:20 ↗ >> Kristen, I'm going to go ahead and I'll

42:22 ↗ do questions as you go. So council

42:23 ↗ president Marks.

42:24 ↗ >> Yes.

42:24 ↗ >> Thanks. So we're we're gonna I mean

42:27 ↗ there's information in this packet. I'm

42:30 ↗ I'm confused about these numbers a

42:31 ↗ little bit because there's information

42:32 ↗ in the packet that says for revenue

42:34 ↗ general fund uh 2025 revised 67 million

42:39 ↗ 2025 actual 79 million over under 12.4

42:43 ↗ million. So how do those numbers relate

42:45 ↗ to the numbers on this slide?

42:48 ↗ >> So the you're referring to um probably

42:52 ↗ this

42:53 ↗ >> this chart.

42:54 ↗ >> Yeah, there we go.

42:54 ↗ >> Yeah. So the 12 million 9.6 Six of that

42:58 ↗ was the sale of the city hall northwest

43:00 ↗ and then 3 million of that was from

43:02 ↗ other changes um related to let's see I

43:07 ↗ have that in there um we have investment

43:09 ↗ interest park rentals and recreation

43:11 ↗ classes BNO taxes I just talked about um

43:14 ↗ plan check Bes so other miscellaneous

43:18 ↗ but the the the $12 million difference

43:19 ↗ 9.6 six was from the sale of city hall

43:22 ↗ northwest.

43:24 ↗ >> I see. Okay. So, I'm just Okay. It just

43:29 ↗ It wasn't obvious why they would be

43:31 ↗ different.

43:32 ↗ >> Why that didn't connect. So,

43:33 ↗ >> no, just why they would be different,

43:34 ↗ but Okay.

43:37 ↗ All right. Thank you.

43:39 ↗ >> Okay.

43:44 ↗ Okay.

43:49 ↗ And then um as for utility taxes, the

43:52 ↗ budget of 8.3 million uh was projected a

43:56 ↗ little bit too high. We looked at the

43:59 ↗ projections for the incremental tax

44:01 ↗ increase that would have been received

44:02 ↗ when we increased the tax rate. So the

44:05 ↗ change in the utility tax rate uh was

44:07 ↗ overestimated. Um so the the forecast

44:10 ↗ was also um affected by that. Uh and

44:14 ↗ that's something else that we'll need to

44:15 ↗ address as we look at the 20 27 and 28

44:19 ↗ budget is that I think historically um

44:21 ↗ because of that change we've been

44:22 ↗ budgeting a little bit too high. So we

44:24 ↗ want to bring that into an alignment.

44:27 ↗ Okay. So this chart is referring just

44:29 ↗ very high level at um the general fund

44:32 ↗ the utility funds kind of rolling in a

44:34 ↗ high level view of all the city funds.

44:36 ↗ Uh total revenue uh collections across

44:39 ↗ all city funds for the city were about

44:41 ↗ 181 million. Um, as I mentioned, the

44:44 ↗ general fund, uh, the variance is 12.3

44:48 ↗ million. 9.6 of that was the revenue

44:50 ↗ from the sale of City Hall Northwest and

44:52 ↗ the food bank. And then other items that

44:54 ↗ contributed to that I just mentioned,

44:56 ↗ um, investment interest, park rents,

44:59 ↗ recreation class, BNO tax, um, and plan

45:01 ↗ check fees. That list is not all

45:03 ↗ comprehensive, but those were some of

45:05 ↗ the big variances that contributed to

45:07 ↗ that. uh water and sewer revenues came

45:10 ↗ in over budget because of us user

45:12 ↗ charges. Uh there was a rate increase

45:15 ↗ per the ordinance that affected 2025

45:18 ↗ rates. So that impacted revenue and we

45:20 ↗ did have a a slight increase in the

45:23 ↗ number of customers being built. So that

45:24 ↗ would also contribute to the increase in

45:26 ↗ revenue. Uh storm revenues came in under

45:29 ↗ budget. Um that was because of the

45:31 ↗ Laughing Jacobs Creek project. So I'll

45:34 ↗ I'll talk a little bit in a few slides,

45:36 ↗ but the enterprise funds do account for

45:39 ↗ both operating and capital revenue

45:41 ↗ expenditures. And so it it's not just

45:43 ↗ user charges. Any capital grants or um

45:46 ↗ connection fees would be included in

45:48 ↗ that. So I wanted to point that out. Uh

45:50 ↗ we did budget in the the storm fund to

45:53 ↗ receive a grant of about 995,000 related

45:56 ↗ to that Laughing Jacobs Creek project.

45:58 ↗ Uh but we had very little expenses

46:00 ↗ related to that. So we didn't seek uh

46:02 ↗ reimbursement so we wouldn't have had

46:03 ↗ revenue to compare against the budget.

46:06 ↗ Uh REIT came in over budget because of

46:07 ↗ the sale of the Anthology apartments.

46:10 ↗ That was a very large transaction. Um

46:12 ↗ quite an anomaly, not uh not something

46:14 ↗ that we typically see. So that drove the

46:17 ↗ uh revenues up and came in quite a bit

46:19 ↗ over budget. Uh mitigation revenues also

46:21 ↗ came in higher than budget. We received

46:24 ↗ about 600,000 more in traffic impact

46:26 ↗ fees, about 148,000 more in bike

46:29 ↗ pedestrian impact fees, and about

46:31 ↗ 117,000 more in fire impact fees. Um the

46:36 ↗ other category is kind of a combination

46:38 ↗ of all the other city funds rolled in

46:40 ↗ together. Um the biggest piece of that

46:43 ↗ about half is the capital projects fund.

46:45 ↗ Uh we also have other uh funds, internal

46:48 ↗ service funds, the debt service fund,

46:51 ↗ the other special revenue funds like

46:52 ↗ school zone safety, lodging tax and

46:54 ↗ cemetery. Uh but the biggest difference

46:57 ↗ um the $5 million variance is related to

47:00 ↗ the capital project fund. Um and that's

47:02 ↗ really related to the timing between

47:04 ↗ grants. So in the capital project fund

47:06 ↗ that doesn't generate its own revenue.

47:08 ↗ revenues typically come from transfers

47:10 ↗ from other funds like mitigation or REIT

47:13 ↗ or the TBD fund or grant funding. Um

47:17 ↗ sometimes the timing between uh when we

47:20 ↗ plan for a project and when the project

47:22 ↗ occurs sometimes uh that timing is

47:25 ↗ shifted or when we might expect to see

47:27 ↗ the revenue um because they're typically

47:29 ↗ reimbursement based. So the biggest

47:31 ↗ difference is uh as an example we have a

47:34 ↗ project TTRO96 the northwest Samameish

47:37 ↗ road project. We budgeted about 3.1

47:40 ↗ million to receive for that project. Um

47:43 ↗ but as of year end we only received

47:45 ↗ about 4,000. That's probably because we

47:48 ↗ haven't expended enough to seek

47:49 ↗ reimbursement. So that would be an

47:50 ↗ example of why that variance would be so

47:52 ↗ big.

47:55 ↗ Okay. uh total general fund expend

47:57 ↗ expenditures came within about 500,000

48:00 ↗ of budgeted expenditures. Uh police and

48:02 ↗ parks are the largest departments in

48:05 ↗ terms of budget. Um in the undefined

48:08 ↗ category, the biggest piece of that is

48:10 ↗ the east side fire and rescue services.

48:13 ↗ And then um the next largest category

48:15 ↗ within undefined would be transfers out.

48:18 ↗ Um that would primarily be the general

48:20 ↗ fund support transfers to the street

48:23 ↗ operating fund. Uh there were some

48:26 ↗ departments that had overspends, some

48:29 ↗ that had under spends, but a reminder

48:31 ↗ that we budget at the fund level and

48:34 ↗ 2025 is year 1 in the bianium. So this

48:37 ↗ is kind of our midbian checkpoint and we

48:40 ↗ look at expenditures between 25 and 26.

48:43 ↗ So overall for bianial budgeting

48:46 ↗ purposes, expenditures coming within

48:48 ↗ 500,000 is pretty aligned with budget.

48:51 ↗ So no concerns there.

48:54 ↗ >> Council President Marts,

48:56 ↗ >> thank you. So at at the highest level,

48:58 ↗ so setting aside uh the sale of City

49:02 ↗ Hall Northwest,

49:04 ↗ I I I think what you said was that we

49:07 ↗ exceeded our budget for revenues, right,

49:12 ↗ by something like three million.

49:14 ↗ >> And you said our expenditures were

49:16 ↗ within 500,000 of budget. So why did our

49:19 ↗ ending fund go down? I would have

49:21 ↗ thought that our ending fund would have

49:22 ↗ been up by something like two and a half

49:24 ↗ million.

49:26 ↗ And part of this is because we don't

49:28 ↗ have line item on expenditures the way

49:30 ↗ we do on revenues,

49:32 ↗ >> right? Um so we have

49:36 ↗ >> plus 3 million minus 500,000 is plus 2

49:38 ↗ and a half million, right? What am I

49:40 ↗ missing?

49:40 ↗ >> Well, you're looking at actuals. I'm

49:43 ↗ comparing bud budget to budget. So our

49:46 ↗ actuals, our beginning fund balance was

49:48 ↗ 17 million and then our ending fund

49:50 ↗ balance was 17 million. So that's actual

49:53 ↗ to actual. So it we actually increased

49:55 ↗ our fund balance.

49:59 ↗ >> I'm sorry. We increased our fund balance

50:00 ↗ by how much?

50:02 ↗ >> By 800,000.

50:04 ↗ But that was total restricted and

50:06 ↗ unrestricted. See that's that's one of

50:08 ↗ the complications of when we're coming

50:10 ↗ co-mingling restricted and unrestricted.

50:12 ↗ So if we look at unrestricted, let me

50:15 ↗ move my screen here.

50:16 ↗ >> I'm just trying to understand, it seems

50:17 ↗ like we had a good year for revenues and

50:20 ↗ if we towed the line on expenditures,

50:22 ↗ why didn't we have a good year in ending

50:24 ↗ fund as big as big of a good year?

50:27 ↗ If we were really like plus three

50:28 ↗ million,

50:32 ↗ >> I would have to dig into that more

50:34 ↗ because I guess I'm not that's the big

50:36 ↗ that's the big question, right? What?

50:38 ↗ >> Yeah, I guess I'm not understanding

50:39 ↗ because I'm showing the fund balance did

50:42 ↗ increase. So,

50:43 ↗ >> but if it increased by 800,000, you

50:46 ↗ showed that we were our actuals in 2025

50:50 ↗ were 12.4 million over and you said

50:52 ↗ roughly nine of that was the sale of

50:54 ↗ City Hall Northwest.

50:56 ↗ >> Right.

50:56 ↗ >> Right. So, that should mean um three and

50:58 ↗ a half million. Right. We were we

51:01 ↗ overperformed on revenue by about three

51:03 ↗ and a half million dollars. Right.

51:04 ↗ Right. And then we overexpended as well

51:07 ↗ >> by about 500,000.

51:08 ↗ >> Mhm.

51:09 ↗ >> 3.4 minus 500,000 is not 800,000. But

51:14 ↗ again, because we're not seeing the

51:15 ↗ expenditure numbers, it's hard for me to

51:18 ↗ guess, but I'm just trying to

51:19 ↗ understand. It seemed like we had a good

51:21 ↗ year on revenue, and if we to if we held

51:23 ↗ the line on expenditures, we should have

51:24 ↗ had a really good year on ending fund

51:26 ↗ balance. Is that wrong?

51:28 ↗ >> That's not wrong. I I'll need to look

51:31 ↗ into it a little bit more detail. I

51:32 ↗ think you want to see the line item

51:34 ↗ detail. Also, I think it's better.

51:35 ↗ >> I want to see the big picture, right? If

51:37 ↗ the big picture to the community is we

51:39 ↗ did better than expected on revenues, I

51:42 ↗ would hope we would do better than

51:43 ↗ expected on ending fund balance. If if

51:46 ↗ we held the line on expenditures, if you

51:47 ↗ told me that, oh, expenditures were also

51:49 ↗ three and a half million high, then I

51:51 ↗ would see then I would understand why

51:52 ↗ the ending fund balance was, you know,

51:54 ↗ within the margin of error the same as

51:56 ↗ before. But that's not what I I think

51:59 ↗ that you're saying. It's really the big

52:02 ↗ picture on revenues versus expenditure

52:04 ↗ on the general fund, right? Which I

52:06 ↗ think we have control,

52:07 ↗ >> which is what I think I'm providing, but

52:09 ↗ happy to have an offline conversation so

52:12 ↗ I can continue the presentation and dig

52:14 ↗ into the information a little bit

52:16 ↗ further for you.

52:17 ↗ >> I I think starting with having line item

52:20 ↗ on expenditures the way we have on

52:22 ↗ revenues would be a good start.

52:24 ↗ >> Okay, that sounds great. Well, and I in

52:27 ↗ the very bottom of the general fund

52:29 ↗ balance slide does because it's 15.3

52:33 ↗ million 2025 Q3 forecast and then 2025

52:36 ↗ actuals end up being the 17.8. So it

52:39 ↗ lines up. I don't know, but I I

52:41 ↗ understand kind of what you're saying,

52:43 ↗ but that's the only point on this chart.

52:45 ↗ So, uh, Deputy President Jen and then

52:47 ↗ Council Member Walsh.

52:49 ↗ >> Yeah, I was I was going to ask. So my

52:50 ↗ understanding is the last the last two

52:54 ↗ lines on here relate to the total ending

52:56 ↗ fund balance and then or is the like

53:01 ↗ increase in revenues by 3.6 million was

53:04 ↗ that like between the Q3 forecast versus

53:06 ↗ the actuals essentially

53:09 ↗ >> that was between budget to actuals I

53:12 ↗ believe.

53:15 ↗ Okay, because I guess I am slightly conf

53:18 ↗ Okay, anyway, whatever. We don't we

53:20 ↗ don't need to dwell on this point for

53:21 ↗ too long now, but it does seem like

53:23 ↗ there's a pretty big gap between the Q3

53:25 ↗ forecast versus actuals on um

53:27 ↗ unrestricted ending fund balance, which

53:28 ↗ is

53:29 ↗ >> So, if you look at this chart that's on

53:32 ↗ the screen, that's comparing the 2025

53:34 ↗ revised budgetary numbers to 2025

53:37 ↗ actuals. So, that was the the 12

53:39 ↗ million. So, 9.6 Six of that was the

53:42 ↗ sale of city hall northwest and then the

53:43 ↗ rest was those miscellane miscellaneous

53:45 ↗ items that I talked about. So that was

53:47 ↗ comparing revised budget to actuals.

53:51 ↗ >> Okay, that makes sense. Then I think

53:53 ↗ then on this slide the difference

53:54 ↗ between Q3 forecast and actuals is you

53:57 ↗ know at least in the same ballpark as on

54:00 ↗ slide five.

54:01 ↗ >> Yeah, council member Walsh.

54:03 ↗ >> Yeah, I was just going to follow up on

54:05 ↗ what I was hearing from Council

54:07 ↗ President Marts. um where is that

54:10 ↗ 500,000 coming from? Because when I read

54:13 ↗ slide three, if you'll go back to it,

54:16 ↗ the difference between unrestricted

54:19 ↗ expenditures,

54:21 ↗ um that 66.359

54:23 ↗ million on the budget and the 68.036

54:29 ↗ on the actuals is actually 1

54:33 ↗ almost 1.7 million.

54:39 ↗ So, I'm not sure where the 500,000

54:42 ↗ came from. Maybe it was another part of

54:44 ↗ the document, but at least if I'm

54:47 ↗ looking at, you know, the revenue was up

54:51 ↗ 2.6 million between budget and actuals

54:55 ↗ there on unrestricted,

54:57 ↗ ignoring the sale of capital assets, and

55:00 ↗ the expenditures is up 1.7 million. So,

55:05 ↗ if I'm reading that correctly, then I

55:08 ↗ want to take on your question, which is

55:11 ↗ why were our expenditures $1.7 million

55:16 ↗ over budget

55:19 ↗ on unrestricted funds?

55:22 ↗ >> So, you're comparing

55:24 ↗ >> I'm comparing the budget of 66.4

55:29 ↗ million.

55:30 ↗ >> Yes. Okay. I think

55:31 ↗ >> and the actuals.

55:32 ↗ >> Yes. So I think I see where the

55:34 ↗ confusion is coming from. So um this

55:38 ↗ make sure you can see. So this column

55:40 ↗ right here was the original budget. Um

55:43 ↗ and I I thought this could cause some

55:46 ↗ confusion. So that's my apologies. So

55:48 ↗ this is the 2025 original budget. We use

55:51 ↗ the original budget because we didn't um

55:54 ↗ have a breakdown of restricted and

55:55 ↗ unrestricted. But in this other section

55:58 ↗ right here, we're actually comparing the

56:00 ↗ modified budget. So that's so we

56:03 ↗ actually modified the budget. So that's

56:05 ↗ why the budget to actions were a little

56:06 ↗ bit closer. So um I think I need to

56:09 ↗ provide that detail. So my apologies

56:11 ↗ that that is I caused that confusion.

56:16 ↗ >> So the the charts the budget columns

56:19 ↗ aren't apples to apples if that makes

56:20 ↗ sense. We started the first piece with

56:23 ↗ comparing original budget original

56:25 ↗ forecast and then went into modified

56:28 ↗ because we didn't have the original

56:29 ↗ breakdown. So would it be safe to say

56:32 ↗ that while the difference between the

56:35 ↗ original 2025 budget and 2025 actuals

56:38 ↗ for unrestricted expenditures is large

56:42 ↗ some portion of that is expenditures

56:45 ↗ that we approved

56:47 ↗ >> correct

56:48 ↗ >> during the bianium.

56:49 ↗ >> That is correct.

56:50 ↗ >> Okay. Yes. I would like to understand

56:52 ↗ what those were compared to how did we

56:57 ↗ you know did we overspend to our

57:01 ↗ modified budget?

57:04 ↗ >> We came we overspent by the 500,000.

57:08 ↗ >> That's the difference. So

57:10 ↗ >> do you get that?

57:12 ↗ >> Uh Council President Marts, she was just

57:15 ↗ explaining the 500,000. Yeah. I I we're

57:19 ↗ we're using some some different terms

57:20 ↗ here. This Q this Q3 sometimes we say Q3

57:24 ↗ sometimes we say revised. I'm I'm

57:28 ↗ choking over the terminology. Um

57:31 ↗ >> I think what I am hearing is that uh

57:36 ↗ all I care about at the end of the day

57:38 ↗ is when the voters and our residents

57:40 ↗ stop if somebody stops me on the street

57:42 ↗ and they say how are we doing? Are we

57:45 ↗ spending like we said we were going to

57:46 ↗ spend and are we are we matching that to

57:49 ↗ the revenues? Are we being good stewards

57:50 ↗ of their money? What I look for in these

57:53 ↗ reports is the ability to answer that

57:54 ↗ question. So, so the extent to which we

57:58 ↗ blow out expenditures or blow out

58:00 ↗ revenues is is the bit that I want to

58:02 ↗ understand. So, this is a helpful

58:04 ↗ conversation and I will go back and

58:05 ↗ watch this video again um to make sure

58:07 ↗ that I understand. I I think the answer

58:10 ↗ is that um our expenditures compared to

58:14 ↗ original budget were on the order of

58:17 ↗ increased to the extent that revenues

58:20 ↗ increased and so um that's why the

58:22 ↗ ending fund balance doesn't change as

58:23 ↗ much as we thought it would. So thank

58:25 ↗ you for your help and thank you for your

58:27 ↗ help

58:27 ↗ >> and we have 90 minutes on May 9th to

58:30 ↗ this topic.

58:30 ↗ >> Thank you. Yes. Well, no this is very

58:33 ↗ helpful um for me to understand you know

58:35 ↗ terminology. I know we do think do use

58:39 ↗ things interchangeably. So it helps

58:41 ↗ provide more clarity for me. So my

58:43 ↗ apologies if I um caused any confusion,

58:46 ↗ but I I have a better understanding

58:48 ↗ going forward on how to better meet your

58:50 ↗ needs. So hopefully it'll be better next

58:52 ↗ time.

58:54 ↗ Um okay, I think we left off with um

58:58 ↗ going into the enterprise funds and I

59:00 ↗ think this is something maybe newer that

59:02 ↗ we haven't seen before. I believe um

59:06 ↗ maybe quarter two or quarter three we

59:08 ↗ might have kind of dipped our toe a

59:09 ↗ little bit into the enterprise funds but

59:12 ↗ um again this is just a highle

59:14 ↗ broadbrush overview what this chart was

59:17 ↗ um trying to indicate. So I guess I

59:19 ↗ should stop so I should stop just to

59:21 ↗ make sure everyone understands. So the

59:23 ↗ city has enterprise funds which are

59:24 ↗ comprised of water sewer and storm water

59:27 ↗ revenues. Those funds are a little bit

59:30 ↗ unique in that they do account for all

59:34 ↗ operating revenue, operating expenses,

59:36 ↗ and capital revenue and capital expenses

59:39 ↗ um unlike some other funds. And so the

59:41 ↗ next three charts are going to show the

59:43 ↗ inflows and the outflows of those funds.

59:46 ↗ Um again, which include both operating

59:48 ↗ capital. And um I did want to note I

59:50 ↗ mentioned it into in the memo that the

59:53 ↗ enterprise funds are designed to be

59:54 ↗ self-supporting and structurally

59:56 ↗ balanced in that over the long term the

1:00:00 ↗ rate should be set to generate enough

1:00:03 ↗ revenue to cover both the operating and

1:00:06 ↗ capital. Um what that also means is that

1:00:09 ↗ I have an expectation that fund balance

1:00:11 ↗ may go up as we're accumulating revenue

1:00:14 ↗ because we might be saving money to pay

1:00:16 ↗ for a future project. But then fund

1:00:18 ↗ balance might go down because now we've

1:00:20 ↗ planned for that big project that we've

1:00:22 ↗ been saving for. Um so I I think you'll

1:00:24 ↗ the a question came up um in the report.

1:00:27 ↗ So I did kind of want to explain that

1:00:28 ↗ that um just because you see a dip in

1:00:31 ↗ fund balance does not mean that there's

1:00:32 ↗ a structural fund balance. It it's the

1:00:35 ↗ funds are structured to operate that

1:00:37 ↗ way. Um so in the case of the water fund

1:00:40 ↗ uh the overall revenues were more than

1:00:42 ↗ um expenditures and so in this case that

1:00:45 ↗ added to the ending fund balance.

1:00:48 ↗ Um in the case of the sewer fund the

1:00:51 ↗ total expenditures exceeded total

1:00:53 ↗ revenue. So here's where you're going to

1:00:54 ↗ see that the fund balance um actually

1:00:56 ↗ went down but it was used for capital

1:00:59 ↗ outlay. Um but if you look at the ending

1:01:01 ↗ sewer fund balance, it's still about 1

1:01:04 ↗ million more than what the sewer

1:01:07 ↗ revenues um generated. So in 2025, as an

1:01:10 ↗ example, there was total expenditures

1:01:12 ↗ which included the uh Newport sewer

1:01:15 ↗ relocation project and that project cost

1:01:18 ↗ was about 4.8 million. So again, that's

1:01:21 ↗ why you would see a reduction in fund

1:01:22 ↗ balance. Um, and then, uh, the fund

1:01:26 ↗ balance for storm water, it increased

1:01:28 ↗ just slightly. There wasn't any, uh,

1:01:30 ↗ major fluctuations or any additional

1:01:32 ↗ items that I needed to talk about there.

1:01:35 ↗ Um, but again, based on feedback that

1:01:38 ↗ I'm hearing and in future reports, I

1:01:40 ↗ think it might be helpful we can also

1:01:42 ↗ provide a more of a breakdown for this.

1:01:45 ↗ um because it's hard to see kind of how

1:01:46 ↗ it's how the u utility funds are

1:01:49 ↗ operationally functioning because of the

1:01:51 ↗ coing co-mingling between the operating

1:01:54 ↗ capital. So if council would like in

1:01:56 ↗ future reports we can provide a better

1:01:57 ↗ breakdown for those funds as well so you

1:01:59 ↗ can kind of better understand how

1:02:01 ↗ revenues are performing on the

1:02:02 ↗ operations side. Uh so in summary again

1:02:06 ↗ just a reminder this is year one of the

1:02:09 ↗ bianium so this is kind of a mid

1:02:11 ↗ checkpoint. Um generally I would say

1:02:14 ↗ revenues are steady with moderate growth

1:02:16 ↗ and uh from my perspective the financial

1:02:18 ↗ results are generally aligned with

1:02:20 ↗ forecast and budget and I I don't have

1:02:23 ↗ any major concerns with how we're we're

1:02:26 ↗ performing financially at this point and

1:02:29 ↗ then our next steps will be to bring

1:02:31 ↗ forward a quarter 1 2026 update.

1:02:35 ↗ Council President Mortz,

1:02:39 ↗ >> did it surprise us that our revenues

1:02:41 ↗ turned out fine? Because I feel like

1:02:43 ↗ we've had a lot of conversations where

1:02:46 ↗ like grim tidings are coming and we need

1:02:48 ↗ to tighten our belts and we need to be

1:02:51 ↗ careful. And um we are always careful,

1:02:56 ↗ but this this feels like maybe revenues

1:02:59 ↗ did better than we had been fretting for

1:03:03 ↗ the last six months. Is that true?

1:03:06 ↗ >> I would say that is true. However, I

1:03:09 ↗ would also say that based on what things

1:03:13 ↗ are happening nationally or even

1:03:16 ↗ statewide indications, I think we were

1:03:20 ↗ accurate in taking a pause and

1:03:23 ↗ evaluating where things were to

1:03:25 ↗ understand how things would h be

1:03:26 ↗ happening locally. So, while I'm

1:03:29 ↗ pleasantly surprised to see that we did

1:03:32 ↗ outperform,

1:03:33 ↗ um, I still think there's things out

1:03:35 ↗ there that I'm seeing at the state level

1:03:37 ↗ and nationally that we still should be

1:03:40 ↗ in a a period of caution, not

1:03:42 ↗ overreaction.

1:03:43 ↗ >> So, too soon for a giant disco party is

1:03:46 ↗ what you're saying.

1:03:46 ↗ >> Correct.

1:03:47 ↗ >> Okay.

1:03:47 ↗ >> Yes.

1:03:48 ↗ >> Thank you,

1:03:49 ↗ >> Council Member Adair.

1:03:51 ↗ This is probably kind of outside the

1:03:53 ↗ scope of this, but a number I've been

1:03:55 ↗ after is after the the recent the

1:03:57 ↗ millionaire tax with the decrease in

1:03:58 ↗ sales tax that's going to hit cities. Is

1:04:00 ↗ any number that we have yet to assess

1:04:03 ↗ what isqua's feeling of that is because

1:04:04 ↗ obviously sales tax was the biggest bit

1:04:07 ↗ of revenue in our column here and I know

1:04:09 ↗ that's still a couple years away but

1:04:11 ↗ like some idea of what that's going to

1:04:14 ↗ be. I c I just be very so I can tell you

1:04:18 ↗ we did see a small uptick when the new

1:04:22 ↗ taxable services did come online. Um it

1:04:25 ↗ wasn't significant to maybe change our

1:04:30 ↗ whole financial picture. Um but I

1:04:32 ↗ imagine now that the millionaire tax

1:04:34 ↗ with the changes in that we'll we'll see

1:04:37 ↗ that reduction again. But again, it

1:04:40 ↗ wasn't it was only one month, so I I

1:04:43 ↗ can't give you any kind of a trend or an

1:04:45 ↗ estimation, but I can just tell you we

1:04:47 ↗ did see a slight uptick. I'm fairly

1:04:50 ↗ certain it was attributable to that um

1:04:53 ↗ taxable change. Well, and I think

1:04:55 ↗ council member Dere would say at the AWC

1:04:57 ↗ legislative affairs committee last

1:05:00 ↗ Friday, I think we heard from the

1:05:02 ↗ legislators who were there that yes,

1:05:03 ↗ this sales tax like on IT services,

1:05:06 ↗ which is like I think one of the things

1:05:07 ↗ that Starbucks is now shifting their IT

1:05:09 ↗ to Nashville so they don't have to pay

1:05:11 ↗ sales tax on their IT services. They

1:05:13 ↗ made it very clear that that is going

1:05:15 ↗ away at some point. So, we're all going

1:05:18 ↗ to get this small kind of lift in sales

1:05:20 ↗ tax from that. But I think in the back

1:05:22 ↗ of the envelope guess for us I think on

1:05:24 ↗ diapers, overthec counter medicine, like

1:05:26 ↗ hygiene products, we're probably losing,

1:05:28 ↗ you know, a few hundred,000 I think in

1:05:31 ↗ sales tax uh from that. That will go

1:05:33 ↗ away. But right now, those haven't gone

1:05:37 ↗ away yet. But we are getting additional

1:05:39 ↗ sales tax revenue from service sales

1:05:42 ↗ tax. But like I said, I think the the

1:05:45 ↗ back fill we're going to be asking from

1:05:46 ↗ the legislature is for the ones that we

1:05:48 ↗ expect to stay around. and they made it

1:05:51 ↗ very clear they're not going to backfill

1:05:53 ↗ the IT sales tax. We should treat it as

1:05:54 ↗ kind of one-time revenue that we

1:05:57 ↗ shouldn't expect to be ongoing because

1:05:59 ↗ they're saying after 2028 assume it's

1:06:02 ↗ going away. So, I think they're trying

1:06:04 ↗ to manage city expectations that the

1:06:07 ↗ short-term sales tax from the service

1:06:09 ↗ expansion

1:06:10 ↗ is not something we should be relying on

1:06:12 ↗ and we should treat it as one-time

1:06:14 ↗ revenue. So, that'll be our challenge, I

1:06:16 ↗ think, as we prepare the two-year budget

1:06:18 ↗ is to do exactly that and try to strip

1:06:20 ↗ out that sales tax on service expansion.

1:06:27 ↗ >> Okay, that concludes my presentation.

1:06:31 ↗ >> Other questions?

1:06:32 ↗ >> Thank you. Um, are we ready for feedback

1:06:35 ↗ or just Yeah. Okay, great. Um I did find

1:06:39 ↗ the um whatever inflows outflows charts

1:06:44 ↗ um that you provided for enterprise

1:06:46 ↗ really useful. I would like to see those

1:06:49 ↗ as you said for operation versus capital

1:06:51 ↗ just to have an understanding that you

1:06:54 ↗ know that will show the picture of we're

1:06:57 ↗ saving for certain capital pieces but

1:06:59 ↗ we're covering all of our operations

1:07:01 ↗ needs.

1:07:01 ↗ >> Yes. I would love to be able to create

1:07:04 ↗ that story for our general fund and be

1:07:09 ↗ able to really understand. I think we've

1:07:12 ↗ we've had a hard time telling the story

1:07:16 ↗ and creating a visual picture of what

1:07:19 ↗ our general fund health is and what the

1:07:22 ↗ inflows and the outflows are compared to

1:07:24 ↗ expectation. Um and so I think that type

1:07:29 ↗ of picture if it's possible could be a

1:07:32 ↗ useful way to show look this is the um

1:07:35 ↗ balance the fund balances

1:07:38 ↗ this is the revenue this is the

1:07:39 ↗ expenditures and the result because

1:07:42 ↗ another piece that I think we're all

1:07:44 ↗ cognizant of is trying to understand

1:07:47 ↗ that we are growing that fund balance

1:07:50 ↗ >> because we recognize that the 10% we

1:07:54 ↗ thought we were going to be at and the

1:07:55 ↗ 12% you're now saying we're at is not

1:07:58 ↗ where we want to be. And so being able

1:08:00 ↗ to show that we were able to grow that

1:08:04 ↗ is really important. I think also

1:08:06 ↗ recognizing that

1:08:09 ↗ maybe telling a story over the last few

1:08:12 ↗ years of some of the mid budget cycle

1:08:18 ↗ additions that we've had. How what

1:08:21 ↗ percentage of our expenditures that is?

1:08:24 ↗ How how are we trending on that so that

1:08:27 ↗ maybe we can utilize that to create a

1:08:30 ↗ little bit of you know fiscal restraint

1:08:33 ↗ during the mid bienium so that you know

1:08:37 ↗ because it's very easy to say yes to

1:08:40 ↗ something that's presented to us as a

1:08:42 ↗ need when it's a one-off

1:08:44 ↗ >> right

1:08:44 ↗ >> but when I have to balance it against

1:08:48 ↗ our staff members and whether or not in

1:08:50 ↗ a budget cycle we are going to be

1:08:52 ↗ cutting staff

1:08:54 ↗ that is much harder. And so recognizing

1:08:57 ↗ when we make these changes what the

1:09:00 ↗ impact is to our overall budget, I think

1:09:02 ↗ would be a really good story for us to

1:09:05 ↗ have in our back pockets as we um are

1:09:09 ↗ presented with those opportunities.

1:09:11 ↗ >> Okay. Yeah, that's great feedback. Thank

1:09:13 ↗ you,

1:09:17 ↗ >> Council Member Boyd. Uh I why is a BNO

1:09:20 ↗ tax I think you mentioned earlier it's

1:09:22 ↗ like kind of harder to um plan around

1:09:26 ↗ >> because that's based on businesses

1:09:28 ↗ revenue and so we're really not privy to

1:09:32 ↗ that level of detail on how an

1:09:34 ↗ individual business is performing other

1:09:36 ↗ than when we get the tax return. So we

1:09:38 ↗ can really just rely on trends and the

1:09:41 ↗ best we can kind of pay attention again

1:09:44 ↗ to the local economy to see if we're you

1:09:47 ↗ know sensing that a particular business

1:09:49 ↗ might be struggling or performing really

1:09:51 ↗ well. Um but but that's why it's um yeah

1:09:55 ↗ we're not privy to that level of detail

1:09:56 ↗ on how individual businesses are

1:09:58 ↗ performing.

1:10:00 ↗ Does that

1:10:00 ↗ >> And I think Kristen too in the BNO tax

1:10:02 ↗ we felt like some of the forecasts were

1:10:04 ↗ just deviating from actuals in a way

1:10:07 ↗ where I think going forward we're going

1:10:09 ↗ to try to make sure the BNO forecast

1:10:11 ↗ lines up really closely to what we've

1:10:13 ↗ actually been getting. So I think we had

1:10:15 ↗ some forecast

1:10:16 ↗ >> correct

1:10:17 ↗ >> and that's in the

1:10:19 ↗ >> this is forecast I think coming from pre

1:10:21 ↗ Christristen. So I think going forward I

1:10:23 ↗ think our goal is to have forecasts that

1:10:25 ↗ we think are going to be more accurate

1:10:26 ↗ what the actual BNO revenue has been

1:10:29 ↗ >> correct. Thank you.

1:10:34 ↗ >> Okay. I think you're off the hook.

1:10:37 ↗ >> Okay. Thank you so much.

1:10:38 ↗ >> May 9th we get we get this times three.

1:10:41 ↗ We get 90 minutes of uh

1:10:44 ↗ Okay. So next

1:10:48 ↗ ID 2001 public records and open public

1:10:50 ↗ meetings act training. I did make a

1:10:52 ↗ request to have this as the committee

1:10:53 ↗ the whole item. I was told that I too

1:10:55 ↗ need said training and and so that was

1:10:58 ↗ not an option and here we are. Rachel,

1:11:05 ↗ >> sorry. We'll we'll try to make it as

1:11:07 ↗ painless as

1:11:08 ↗ >> make it spicy. Yeah, you got to spice up

1:11:09 ↗ our training here.

1:11:12 ↗ >> All right. Good evening everyone. Rachel

1:11:15 ↗ Bender Turpin. I am here to talk to you

1:11:17 ↗ about the um P and the Open Public

1:11:21 ↗ Meetings Act. Sorry, just a second. I

1:11:23 ↗ lost it on my screen here.

1:11:28 ↗ >> And you can ask questions as we go.

1:11:29 ↗ It'll keep us engaged.

1:11:34 ↗ >> All right. So, we're going to start by

1:11:36 ↗ um well, a little overview of the

1:11:39 ↗ evening. We're going to talk about,

1:11:40 ↗ surprise, surprise, the public records

1:11:42 ↗ act and the OPMA. And we're going to

1:11:45 ↗ have a special emphasis on social media

1:11:47 ↗ because I understand that the council

1:11:50 ↗ rules of procedure are before the

1:11:53 ↗ council this evening as well, including

1:11:55 ↗ a social media component. So, this is

1:11:57 ↗ very uh timely and topical.

1:12:06 ↗ Sorry, getting used to the remote. So,

1:12:08 ↗ what's the the P and why should you

1:12:10 ↗ care? The Public Records Act is a it's

1:12:12 ↗ the Washington State Sunshine Act.

1:12:14 ↗ Essentially, it's a strongly worded

1:12:17 ↗ mandate for broad disclosure of um of

1:12:21 ↗ public records and access to public

1:12:23 ↗ records, which is um essentially in the

1:12:26 ↗ interest of keeping government open and

1:12:29 ↗ transparent.

1:12:34 ↗ It requires agencies to make records

1:12:37 ↗ available for inspection and copying to

1:12:40 ↗ anyone who requests. And it also

1:12:43 ↗ requires that we you know retain set

1:12:45 ↗ records in um conjunction with other

1:12:48 ↗ separate local government retention uh

1:12:51 ↗ schedules that set how long those have

1:12:53 ↗ to we have to keep those. It's important

1:12:56 ↗ because um first of all you all have to

1:13:00 ↗ have this training. it's required by

1:13:02 ↗ statute. So, by law, you have to learn

1:13:04 ↗ about these things. But also, public

1:13:06 ↗ records act violations, um, they can be

1:13:10 ↗ really expensive. And so, it's good for

1:13:14 ↗ everyone to know a little bit about the

1:13:17 ↗ Public Records Act so that not only we

1:13:19 ↗ can comply with it, but we can um, you

1:13:22 ↗ know, understand how important it is to

1:13:24 ↗ comply so we can avoid lawsuits.

1:13:31 ↗ The definition of public record is very

1:13:34 ↗ broad. It includes any writing that

1:13:37 ↗ contains information relating to the

1:13:39 ↗ conduct of government or the performance

1:13:42 ↗ of government that is prepared, owned,

1:13:45 ↗ used, retained by um the government

1:13:49 ↗ agency and it's regardless of the

1:13:52 ↗ physical form or characteristics. So

1:13:54 ↗ essentially they define writing to be

1:13:57 ↗ very broad to include um pictures

1:14:01 ↗ uh

1:14:02 ↗ audio recordings basically any any type

1:14:07 ↗ of record you know writing is not just

1:14:10 ↗ written words let's put it that way maps

1:14:12 ↗ you know anything like that it includes

1:14:15 ↗ emails and other uh digital documents it

1:14:18 ↗ also includes any of course any paper

1:14:20 ↗ files it includes recordings your web

1:14:23 ↗ content content. Um, it also includes

1:14:25 ↗ public records that are created in your

1:14:27 ↗ personal accounts or on your personal

1:14:30 ↗ equipment. So, that's um an important

1:14:33 ↗ thing for us to think about and discuss

1:14:35 ↗ this evening because um you know there

1:14:38 ↗ are challenges with that and it may also

1:14:39 ↗ include uh social media posts which

1:14:41 ↗ we'll talk about more.

1:14:46 ↗ I've already kind of talked about this

1:14:48 ↗ but these are some examples of public

1:14:50 ↗ records. Um, it includes things like

1:14:53 ↗ draft documents. It includes phone logs

1:14:57 ↗ for um, you know, any sort of city cell

1:15:00 ↗ phone and potentially

1:15:03 ↗ maybe even personal phone logs to the

1:15:05 ↗ extent you're using personal phones for

1:15:07 ↗ city business. That's kind of a a gray

1:15:09 ↗ area one. Voicemails, text messages, and

1:15:12 ↗ it can also include social media posts.

1:15:15 ↗ um but also the comments that are made

1:15:17 ↗ on posts either on a council member's

1:15:20 ↗ post or on someone else's post um

1:15:22 ↗ depending on the circumstances and what

1:15:24 ↗ exactly is said. Location and format

1:15:28 ↗ don't matter. So that's kind of the the

1:15:30 ↗ most important thing.

1:15:36 ↗ Now we'll talk about some tick. You're

1:15:38 ↗ gonna

1:15:39 ↗ >> before

1:15:41 ↗ me

1:15:42 ↗ >> before you go on um just uh that piece

1:15:45 ↗ there you've listed you know potentially

1:15:48 ↗ um notes or anything like that. Can you

1:15:52 ↗ talk about the difference between

1:15:53 ↗ something that gets typed up but doesn't

1:15:56 ↗ get saved versus um otherwise because I

1:15:59 ↗ know there's just this if something is a

1:16:02 ↗ temporary piece um and gets immediately

1:16:06 ↗ gotten rid of. Yes, great question. So

1:16:10 ↗ yes, if a document is transitory then it

1:16:14 ↗ doesn't generally have any retention

1:16:16 ↗ value and it can be disposed of as soon

1:16:20 ↗ as it's no longer needed. So, um, often

1:16:23 ↗ folks maybe just write themselves little

1:16:25 ↗ notes to during a meeting or something

1:16:28 ↗ to just sort of, you know, keep track of

1:16:30 ↗ things. Uh, if if that document truly

1:16:34 ↗ doesn't require any sort of retention

1:16:36 ↗ and you'd have to look at the, you know,

1:16:37 ↗ retention schedule to see what the

1:16:39 ↗ retention was for that particular

1:16:41 ↗ document, then yes, you could get rid of

1:16:43 ↗ it legally under the retention schedule.

1:16:47 ↗ However, to the extent you didn't, let's

1:16:50 ↗ say you had it, you would have to

1:16:52 ↗ provide it in a public records uh

1:16:54 ↗ request response if you had it. So,

1:16:56 ↗ that's kind of a that's actually one

1:16:57 ↗ that I had it come up with a a different

1:16:59 ↗ uh client earlier this last week. Um

1:17:03 ↗ they was confusion about a document that

1:17:07 ↗ didn't have any retention value. It was

1:17:09 ↗ actually um

1:17:12 ↗ um browser information, browser history

1:17:15 ↗ for various users. And yes, that can,

1:17:18 ↗ you know, there is no real retention for

1:17:19 ↗ that. You just need to keep it as long

1:17:20 ↗ as the agency needs it. And so if you

1:17:23 ↗ don't need it, it can be, you know,

1:17:25 ↗ gotten rid of, but the request came in

1:17:27 ↗ before any of that had been deleted. So

1:17:30 ↗ you have to give it all up. So that's

1:17:31 ↗ kind of how that works.

1:17:38 ↗ Council President Martz.

1:17:41 ↗ >> So, so I I have a confusion.

1:17:44 ↗ >> Yeah.

1:17:44 ↗ >> So, text messages.

1:17:45 ↗ >> Yes.

1:17:46 ↗ >> Um, I assume obviously like text

1:17:50 ↗ messages between me and fellow council

1:17:52 ↗ members. Text messages between me and my

1:17:55 ↗ son-in-law like what what constitutes

1:17:58 ↗ depends. I mean, if they're about city

1:18:00 ↗ business, if they're We'll get a little

1:18:02 ↗ bit more into that when we talk about um

1:18:05 ↗ social, you know, the the idea of it

1:18:07 ↗ being created, it has to be created

1:18:11 ↗ sort of to further the interests of

1:18:13 ↗ government. It has to relate to the

1:18:14 ↗ conduct of government. But if you are

1:18:16 ↗ actually, you know, it doesn't, it

1:18:18 ↗ doesn't matter if you're talking to a

1:18:20 ↗ member of the public or a council

1:18:22 ↗ member. If it is

1:18:25 ↗ about city business and you're sending

1:18:27 ↗ it in your capacity as a council member,

1:18:31 ↗ then it is probably a public record.

1:18:34 ↗ >> So, my son-in-law who lives in New York

1:18:36 ↗ City is a trolley affeionado and has

1:18:39 ↗ asked me about

1:18:40 ↗ >> uh the trolley and and getting the

1:18:42 ↗ trolley back up. That's potentially

1:18:45 ↗ a a discoverable record with my

1:18:47 ↗ son-in-law about the trolley.

1:18:48 ↗ >> Potentially. It depends, I think, on

1:18:50 ↗ exactly what the messages say.

1:18:52 ↗ >> All right. Thank you.

1:18:56 ↗ >> All right.

1:18:58 ↗ So, now we're going to talk about some

1:19:00 ↗ local government responsibilities and

1:19:01 ↗ challenges under the public records act.

1:19:05 ↗ So, the agency has a lot of lawful um

1:19:09 ↗ statutoily mandated requirements. We

1:19:12 ↗ have to adopt and publish a P policy

1:19:15 ↗ which Isakqua has done. We have to

1:19:18 ↗ appoint and publicly identify our public

1:19:20 ↗ records officer. This is our city clerk.

1:19:23 ↗ And uh we have to ensure that the public

1:19:27 ↗ records officer as well as all of the

1:19:29 ↗ members of the governing body uh

1:19:31 ↗ complete P training which you are doing

1:19:34 ↗ this evening. We also have to publish

1:19:36 ↗ and maintain a list of exemptions that

1:19:38 ↗ are outside the P. Um, that one's tough

1:19:42 ↗ because they kind of change all the

1:19:43 ↗ time, but we try to do the best we can.

1:19:46 ↗ We have to maintain a public records

1:19:48 ↗ index. Um, and we also have to adopt

1:19:51 ↗ some sort of fee schedule, at least if

1:19:53 ↗ we want to be able to charge fees. And

1:19:55 ↗ then we have also additional statutory

1:19:57 ↗ requirements to track and log and report

1:20:00 ↗ on our public records request

1:20:02 ↗ information.

1:20:03 ↗ >> Council member Boyd.

1:20:05 ↗ >> Yes. Um the this training how of is

1:20:08 ↗ there a recurrence is it like if I this

1:20:11 ↗ is just it no matter if I'm on

1:20:13 ↗ >> every four years. Yeah. You don't have

1:20:15 ↗ to it's not annual thankfully. So

1:20:20 ↗ >> and then of course we have to keep them

1:20:22 ↗ for as long as the retention schedule

1:20:24 ↗ says we have to keep them.

1:20:25 ↗ >> Can we set the fee schedule or is that

1:20:28 ↗ there's it's in statute as well?

1:20:29 ↗ >> We can set the fee schedule but within

1:20:31 ↗ parameters that are included in the

1:20:33 ↗ statute. So we, you know, we had to do

1:20:36 ↗ like a kind of a study in order to

1:20:38 ↗ charge fees that are different than what

1:20:41 ↗ the standard statutory fees are.

1:20:46 ↗ Uh challenges that the agency often

1:20:49 ↗ faces and we keeping up with technology.

1:20:52 ↗ It's hard to um find ways to capture and

1:20:56 ↗ retain that are public records that are

1:20:58 ↗ created on new platforms. So um you know

1:21:01 ↗ anytime I mean co you know posed one

1:21:04 ↗ example you know we had to move to a lot

1:21:05 ↗ of online uh platforms for a while and

1:21:09 ↗ uh we had to figure out how we keep all

1:21:12 ↗ these records and what we need to keep

1:21:14 ↗ of these various meetings and things

1:21:16 ↗ like that. Some some apps are easier to

1:21:20 ↗ capture the data from than others. We

1:21:23 ↗ have to keep up with the volume of

1:21:24 ↗ records and in particular the volume of

1:21:26 ↗ digital records. Um, email in particular

1:21:29 ↗ is really challenging because people

1:21:31 ↗ send emails all the time, all day long.

1:21:33 ↗ And um, it's not only uh timeconuming

1:21:37 ↗ for us to have to search all the emails

1:21:38 ↗ during when we get a public records

1:21:40 ↗ request, but it's also just expensive to

1:21:42 ↗ store all of those records. So, the city

1:21:44 ↗ actually has implementing new um

1:21:47 ↗ procedures for deleting records so that

1:21:49 ↗ we're not just holding all emails um in

1:21:52 ↗ our server for ever indefinitely because

1:21:54 ↗ that's just not really necessary or

1:21:57 ↗ really useful. Uh a huge problem for

1:22:01 ↗ every city that I work for is uh funding

1:22:05 ↗ and staffing levels. you know, it's, you

1:22:07 ↗ know, these are not really um these are

1:22:09 ↗ not positions I think that the public

1:22:13 ↗ really necessarily sees a lot of value

1:22:15 ↗ in just on the, you know, it's not it's

1:22:17 ↗ not somebody out on the street

1:22:18 ↗ performing a service. It's really

1:22:20 ↗ internal and so um you know, it's just

1:22:22 ↗ not as is not as uh cool looking to to

1:22:26 ↗ fund these positions, but it's very

1:22:28 ↗ important. There's also um sometimes

1:22:30 ↗ serial or difficult requesters. We're

1:22:32 ↗ fortunate that we don't really have any

1:22:34 ↗ here, but you know, I've seen agencies

1:22:36 ↗ that were almost um brought to

1:22:38 ↗ bankruptcy by public uh records

1:22:41 ↗ requesters who um continue to sue the

1:22:44 ↗ agencies um in frivolous lawsuits.

1:22:49 ↗ And then it's also just, you know,

1:22:50 ↗ timeconuming to keep up with those

1:22:52 ↗ requests even if they're not suing you.

1:22:55 ↗ And then of course, you know, we have to

1:22:57 ↗ keep this consistent documentation. And

1:23:00 ↗ then oh and then we have to um acquire

1:23:03 ↗ and then maintain records from various

1:23:06 ↗ third parties in some instances. So not

1:23:08 ↗ every contractor that the city contracts

1:23:10 ↗ with is someone that we would have to

1:23:12 ↗ potentially uh keep that we'd have to

1:23:15 ↗ produce public records for. If they're

1:23:17 ↗ truly an independent contractor and

1:23:18 ↗ they're not performing as the functional

1:23:21 ↗ equivalent of a city employee, then we

1:23:23 ↗ would not have to go, you know, ask them

1:23:27 ↗ to search their records. But we do have

1:23:29 ↗ a lot of staff here or a lot of um

1:23:32 ↗ consultants here for the city that do

1:23:34 ↗ actually act as a functional equivalent

1:23:36 ↗ of a city employee. So that can raise

1:23:39 ↗ issues as well.

1:23:49 ↗ >> All right, Tisha Gizer, city clerk. I'm

1:23:51 ↗ going to take a few slides here. Um so

1:23:54 ↗ responding to public records requests.

1:23:56 ↗ Yeah, this is a little slow. Um, so this

1:23:58 ↗ is something that, uh, Hannah Haver, who

1:24:00 ↗ is here with us tonight, uh, shadowing

1:24:02 ↗ as city clerk, is our public records

1:24:04 ↗ analyst in the clerk's office, um, and,

1:24:07 ↗ uh, is handling a lot of, uh, these

1:24:09 ↗ requests and provided this information.

1:24:11 ↗ Thank you, Hannah. Um, I skipped over a

1:24:13 ↗ slide here that I want to cover. Um, so

1:24:15 ↗ some of the agency's obligations when we

1:24:17 ↗ get a public records request, um, is to,

1:24:20 ↗ uh, respond within 5 days. If it's a

1:24:23 ↗ straightforward request, we try and get

1:24:24 ↗ the records out to people within that 5

1:24:26 ↗ days. But regardless if we can uh get

1:24:29 ↗ any records together for them, we have

1:24:30 ↗ to provide them a response. And this has

1:24:33 ↗ become challenging as we are getting uh

1:24:35 ↗ requests in all sorts of different ways

1:24:37 ↗ including sort of things that are going

1:24:38 ↗ into junk email that are going to

1:24:40 ↗ employees that you wouldn't expect.

1:24:42 ↗ People are really creative um and I

1:24:44 ↗ would say and sometimes maybe even

1:24:45 ↗ trying to sort of catch agencies um

1:24:47 ↗ missing these requests. So that in

1:24:50 ↗ itself is a challenge. Uh so if uh

1:24:53 ↗ records are available, we'll provide

1:24:54 ↗ them. If not, we'll pro we're required

1:24:56 ↗ to provide an estimate of when the

1:24:58 ↗ records will be ready. We'll then search

1:25:00 ↗ for the records and provide responsive

1:25:02 ↗ records uh which often for larger

1:25:04 ↗ requests includes providing them in

1:25:05 ↗ batches which we call installments. Um

1:25:08 ↗ this sounds very straightforward but can

1:25:10 ↗ be very complex um especially if a

1:25:12 ↗ request deals with a lot of sensitive

1:25:14 ↗ information that might need to be

1:25:15 ↗ closely reviewed and potentially

1:25:17 ↗ redacted.

1:25:19 ↗ And as uh Rachel said, we deal with high

1:25:21 ↗ volumes of records here. I was just

1:25:22 ↗ taking a look at some numbers we

1:25:24 ↗ compiled last year. Um, outside of our

1:25:26 ↗ thirdparty systems, we have about 40

1:25:28 ↗ terabytes of data and we currently have

1:25:29 ↗ 80 million emails around 80 million

1:25:32 ↗ emails. As Rachel said, we are taking

1:25:34 ↗ some steps to significantly reduce those

1:25:36 ↗ to help limit our liability and time

1:25:38 ↗ spent reviewing them.

1:25:41 ↗ All right, so these are just some

1:25:42 ↗ numbers I thought you might be

1:25:43 ↗ interested in. Um Hannah has just

1:25:45 ↗ compiled um the reporting that we're

1:25:48 ↗ required to submit to the state for 2025

1:25:50 ↗ and our public records requests are up

1:25:52 ↗ uh 56% from last year. We'll be

1:25:55 ↗ providing you a more detailed report on

1:25:56 ↗ this once we fully flesh out um some

1:25:59 ↗ additional information and cities around

1:26:00 ↗ the state will be reporting. So it's

1:26:02 ↗ always interesting for us to do some

1:26:03 ↗ comparisons. Um this is showing you a

1:26:06 ↗ breakdown of common requests. As you can

1:26:08 ↗ see, police tends to be our largest

1:26:11 ↗ um type of records that are being

1:26:13 ↗ requested. So, I wanted to provide you a

1:26:16 ↗ couple of um current recent uh email

1:26:20 ↗ request examples um just to give you a

1:26:22 ↗ sense of the types of requests that

1:26:24 ↗ we're um fielding from dayto-day and

1:26:27 ↗ also to just really emphasize to you

1:26:28 ↗ that it is important that our records

1:26:30 ↗ are centralized in city systems which

1:26:32 ↗ includes your records um because Hannah

1:26:35 ↗ here um is querying uh the city's email

1:26:38 ↗ repository on a daily basis um to

1:26:40 ↗ respond to public records we get that

1:26:42 ↗ include communications. And when people

1:26:45 ↗ request communications, we uh sometimes

1:26:48 ↗ need to do some clarifying with them,

1:26:50 ↗ but typically we're thinking of things

1:26:52 ↗ like Rachel mentioned, text messages,

1:26:53 ↗ emails, um phone messages, whatnot, and

1:26:58 ↗ uh we're searching our city repositories

1:27:00 ↗ and making an assumption that in general

1:27:02 ↗ that our records are in those places. So

1:27:04 ↗ that's why we really want you using your

1:27:06 ↗ city email, your city cell phone so that

1:27:07 ↗ when we're doing these queries, we have

1:27:09 ↗ confidence we're getting all the records

1:27:11 ↗ um that we need. So this is a request

1:27:14 ↗ here on screen that I know has taken

1:27:15 ↗ many I think this is still in process.

1:27:18 ↗ This has been a many many many month uh

1:27:20 ↗ request.

1:27:22 ↗ One more example here um that actually

1:27:24 ↗ called out specifically communications

1:27:26 ↗ between city staff, elected officials

1:27:28 ↗ and the police department. And you know

1:27:30 ↗ it might be that in certain cases we're

1:27:32 ↗ reaching out to you to get affidavits to

1:27:34 ↗ confirm that you don't have any of these

1:27:35 ↗ records on a personal device. But again

1:27:37 ↗ as part of this training just really

1:27:38 ↗ want to emphasize the value of

1:27:40 ↗ centralizing

1:27:43 ↗ Uh so searching we're required to

1:27:45 ↗ conduct an adequate search and this

1:27:47 ↗ means thinking about all the all the

1:27:49 ↗ places a records records might be all

1:27:51 ↗ the people who might have them um which

1:27:54 ↗ could include personal devices and

1:27:56 ↗ providing responsive records. Um we need

1:27:58 ↗ to be resourceful. Often when we start

1:28:00 ↗ searching for records we get leads we

1:28:02 ↗ find other names we get sort of tips to

1:28:05 ↗ other places we need to be looking and

1:28:06 ↗ so it can become a bit of a research uh

1:28:09 ↗ project. Um and then uh as I mentioned

1:28:13 ↗ uh if you are uh called out as as your

1:28:15 ↗ records being um desired as part of a

1:28:17 ↗ request, we might reach out to you to

1:28:19 ↗ have you attest search any uh locations

1:28:21 ↗ you might have records and let us know

1:28:24 ↗ through an a formal affidavit. Thank

1:28:26 ↗ you.

1:28:32 ↗ All right, we're going to talk about

1:28:33 ↗ exemptions. So when we get a public

1:28:35 ↗ records request, we have to release the

1:28:37 ↗ document uh essentially in its entirety

1:28:40 ↗ unless

1:28:41 ↗ the document is exempt in part or whole.

1:28:46 ↗ So what is an exemption?

1:28:54 ↗ Exemptions are um statutory

1:28:57 ↗ allowances to withhold records or

1:29:01 ↗ statutory um

1:29:04 ↗ demands I guess comp like their

1:29:06 ↗ requirements that a record be held as

1:29:09 ↗ confidential. Sometimes exemptions are

1:29:12 ↗ uh kind of up to the agency's discretion

1:29:15 ↗ and then sometimes it's unlawful to

1:29:18 ↗ release a particular

1:29:20 ↗ p piece of information or data.

1:29:23 ↗ Exemptions are to be narrowly construed.

1:29:25 ↗ So um you basically go by the plain

1:29:27 ↗ language of the exemption. This can be

1:29:30 ↗ really challenging at times because

1:29:31 ↗ exemptions are usually the result of

1:29:34 ↗ lobbying activities and it will be a

1:29:36 ↗ very specific request to the legislature

1:29:39 ↗ for an exemption. So you may see an

1:29:43 ↗ exemption that is for certain personal

1:29:46 ↗ information in the RCW, but it will be

1:29:49 ↗ for information that information as held

1:29:52 ↗ by the Department of Health. And so we

1:29:55 ↗ might have the same information, but

1:29:57 ↗ we're not the Department of Health. And

1:29:58 ↗ so obviously that puts us in a pretty

1:30:01 ↗ awkward position because we know that

1:30:03 ↗ there is that at least the legislature

1:30:05 ↗ is saying that there's some sort of you

1:30:08 ↗ know privacy interest in this

1:30:10 ↗ information but at the same time the

1:30:12 ↗ statute has to be narrowly construed and

1:30:14 ↗ if it doesn't say any agency can

1:30:17 ↗ withhold on that basis then that's the

1:30:19 ↗ way we have to operate. Um the general

1:30:22 ↗ rule is that we withhold only the exempt

1:30:26 ↗ information and we release the rest

1:30:28 ↗ which basically results in us redacting

1:30:32 ↗ most of our records. It's very rare that

1:30:35 ↗ we withhold a record in its entirety.

1:30:38 ↗ There's only a few potential statutes I

1:30:40 ↗ think where um it would we'd have a

1:30:42 ↗ plausible case for doing that. So it can

1:30:44 ↗ be a really timeconuming because for

1:30:46 ↗ instance um applications for public

1:30:49 ↗ employment are exempt but we wouldn't

1:30:51 ↗ redact the form that they're on. So then

1:30:53 ↗ you're just going through and redacting

1:30:55 ↗ everything that's in each little text

1:30:57 ↗ box. It's a lot of fun. You can ask

1:31:00 ↗ Hannah

1:31:02 ↗ common exemptions. Um there's the

1:31:05 ↗ attorney client privilege uh and work

1:31:07 ↗ product exemptions which are honestly

1:31:09 ↗ probably some of the more common ones uh

1:31:11 ↗ for the records that we we deal with and

1:31:14 ↗ certainly the most common ones that I

1:31:16 ↗ have to personally handle. But then

1:31:19 ↗ there's also um a few others that we see

1:31:21 ↗ a lot for uh such as personal

1:31:24 ↗ information in personnel files. the

1:31:26 ↗ statute actually describes what that

1:31:28 ↗ personal information is and uh that's

1:31:31 ↗ one where I think we have gotten gone a

1:31:33 ↗ long way in the last 10 years on in

1:31:36 ↗ terms of the legislature kind of

1:31:37 ↗ expanding that and having a little bit

1:31:39 ↗ more protection for employees and what's

1:31:41 ↗ in their files. Uh also investigative

1:31:44 ↗ records um can be withheld when they

1:31:48 ↗ when the non-disclosure is essential for

1:31:52 ↗ effective law enforcement or if a victim

1:31:55 ↗ or witness requests it and or if it

1:31:59 ↗ would endanger someone's life to priv uh

1:32:01 ↗ life or um right to privacy. But I think

1:32:04 ↗ the one that's really interesting here

1:32:06 ↗ is that basically anyone who reports

1:32:09 ↗ something to the the police as a victim

1:32:11 ↗ or witness, they can request

1:32:13 ↗ non-disclosure. And regardless of

1:32:15 ↗ whether we think that their life would

1:32:17 ↗ be in jeopardy by releasing that

1:32:19 ↗ information, their request uh governs

1:32:22 ↗ and so we wouldn't be able to release

1:32:24 ↗ their information. And then of course

1:32:26 ↗ things like financial accounts and

1:32:28 ↗ social security numbers are fortunately

1:32:30 ↗ exempt from uh release. So, we don't

1:32:33 ↗ give those out. This is just a sampling

1:32:35 ↗ there. I mean, I have a key that I use

1:32:37 ↗ when I help process public records

1:32:40 ↗ requests. And, you know, it's it's

1:32:43 ↗ probably 10 pages long full of, you

1:32:45 ↗ know, single space. It's it's very long.

1:32:47 ↗ There's probably hundreds of exemptions

1:32:49 ↗ total. They're not hundreds that we use

1:32:52 ↗ on, you know, a regular basis, but there

1:32:54 ↗ are quite a few. And they're not only in

1:32:57 ↗ the public records act. They're they can

1:32:59 ↗ be in other statutes. can be in federal

1:33:02 ↗ statutes and rigs. So, it can be pretty

1:33:04 ↗ complicated to figure them out.

1:33:08 ↗ All right. Now, we'll talk about social

1:33:11 ↗ media and texts and other electronic

1:33:15 ↗ records that I think are probably the

1:33:18 ↗ most commonly created records for

1:33:20 ↗ council members. Um, that can be kind of

1:33:23 ↗ the also the trickiest to deal with

1:33:26 ↗ under the public records act. I mean,

1:33:28 ↗ your emails are easy. they're in your,

1:33:30 ↗ you know, city email archive and, you

1:33:32 ↗ know, we can pull those up um ourselves.

1:33:35 ↗ But these kind of records can be a

1:33:37 ↗ little bit more challenging because of

1:33:39 ↗ where they're held and uh the tests that

1:33:42 ↗ we have to use to decide whether they're

1:33:43 ↗ public records.

1:33:45 ↗ So, text messages and and social media

1:33:49 ↗ uh posts on your personal devices and

1:33:51 ↗ accounts may constitute an agency's

1:33:55 ↗ public records and be subject to the

1:33:58 ↗ disclosure under the P if two things are

1:34:00 ↗ met. The record has to relate to the

1:34:03 ↗ conduct of government and it has to be

1:34:06 ↗ prepared within the scope of employment

1:34:08 ↗ or official capacity or when the

1:34:11 ↗ position requires it, the agency directs

1:34:14 ↗ it or when it furthers the agency's

1:34:16 ↗ interests. Obviously, that's not a very

1:34:19 ↗ clear test. Um, I I'm a lawyer and I do

1:34:23 ↗ a lot of public records work and I'm not

1:34:25 ↗ even uh very clear on it that that this

1:34:28 ↗ test came from a case um a couple of few

1:34:31 ↗ years ago and um it's what we'd call

1:34:35 ↗ kind of a resultsoriented decision where

1:34:37 ↗ maybe I think the court was probably

1:34:40 ↗ trying to do the right thing but in it

1:34:43 ↗ they they created a very complicated

1:34:45 ↗ test that's very hard for us to sort of

1:34:48 ↗ apply in practicality.

1:34:50 ↗ So, um, kind of as you'll hear

1:34:53 ↗ throughout the evening, my my my

1:34:56 ↗ recommendation is always just sort of

1:34:58 ↗ air on the side of caution and retain

1:35:01 ↗ various texts, social media posts and

1:35:04 ↗ what what have you that you are creating

1:35:07 ↗ sort of, you know, as a council member

1:35:10 ↗ and have to do with city business. I

1:35:12 ↗ would probably just air on the side of

1:35:13 ↗ caution and keep those and consider

1:35:15 ↗ those to be public records. And we may

1:35:17 ↗ you may be asked at some point to fill

1:35:19 ↗ out what we call a Nissan affidavit. So

1:35:21 ↗ don't be alarmed if that happens. That

1:35:24 ↗ is just an affidavit that says that you

1:35:27 ↗ searched your personal devices and you

1:35:30 ↗ know either says what you found on the

1:35:32 ↗ personal device or that you didn't have

1:35:34 ↗ any public records on those personal

1:35:36 ↗ devices.

1:35:38 ↗ And another thing that's just kind of

1:35:40 ↗ important to keep in mind here is that

1:35:42 ↗ judges can order um review of your

1:35:46 ↗ personal devices too, which is just

1:35:47 ↗ another reason to not use personal

1:35:50 ↗ accounts to the extent you can or if you

1:35:53 ↗ are going to use a personal account like

1:35:54 ↗ I know I've talked to a few of you about

1:35:56 ↗ um maybe having like a separate Gmail

1:36:00 ↗ account so that you can send various

1:36:02 ↗ things to your yourself um that are

1:36:04 ↗ related to your job as a council member.

1:36:08 ↗ I you know I strongly recommend that you

1:36:10 ↗ have it be solely for though you create

1:36:13 ↗ a separate personal account that's

1:36:15 ↗ solely for city work because it is

1:36:18 ↗ possible that you would have to just

1:36:20 ↗ open that like just sit give it all

1:36:22 ↗ access to a judge and I don't think most

1:36:24 ↗ people would want to do that with all

1:36:26 ↗ their entire um email archive.

1:36:39 ↗ way.

1:36:41 ↗ All right. Okay. So, let's um talk about

1:36:44 ↗ text messages a little bit. So, the city

1:36:46 ↗ has adopted a text message policy and uh

1:36:50 ↗ one of the things that we say in the

1:36:51 ↗ policy is we encourage staff to not use

1:36:54 ↗ text too much. So, obviously we need

1:36:57 ↗ everyone to be able to function. We need

1:36:58 ↗ you to be able to function in your role.

1:37:00 ↗ But I will tell you querying text

1:37:02 ↗ messages is very challenging. there's

1:37:04 ↗ not a lot of context as you can imagine

1:37:06 ↗ it's number to number. So we just say as

1:37:09 ↗ a best practice just just think about

1:37:11 ↗ that. Um if you are going to have a more

1:37:13 ↗ lengthy dialogue in writing certainly

1:37:15 ↗ email is is going to be preferred and

1:37:17 ↗ then always a phone call a meeting um

1:37:21 ↗ and inerson conversation are are

1:37:23 ↗ wonderful um methods to communicate as

1:37:26 ↗ they don't produce records or minimal

1:37:27 ↗ records. Um however certainly texting is

1:37:30 ↗ something that we have to acknowledge

1:37:31 ↗ happens. This is why you have your city

1:37:33 ↗ cell phones. And as part of our text

1:37:35 ↗ message policy, we're capturing, we're

1:37:36 ↗ archiving the text messages of all of

1:37:39 ↗ our senior level staff, our entire

1:37:41 ↗ police department, the city council,

1:37:43 ↗ mayor, and uh supervisors in most of our

1:37:46 ↗ departments. And uh those so your phone

1:37:49 ↗ you when you uh got your city cell

1:37:52 ↗ phone, you at some point got a message

1:37:53 ↗ from the clerk's office letting you know

1:37:54 ↗ that your phone was archiving. So we can

1:37:57 ↗ now query your text messages um if we

1:37:59 ↗ get a public records request. Um, and

1:38:02 ↗ the copies on your phones are therefore

1:38:04 ↗ copies. Uh, I'll tell you in a minute

1:38:08 ↗ why we felt very motivated to to do

1:38:10 ↗ this. A comment that uh your phone your

1:38:13 ↗ photos may or may not be syncing to your

1:38:15 ↗ one drive. If you're someone who takes

1:38:16 ↗ photos a lot as is part of your role, um

1:38:19 ↗ maybe reach out to us and we can work

1:38:21 ↗ with it to just make sure that's

1:38:22 ↗ happening. Um if you're not using photos

1:38:25 ↗ often, don't don't worry about it.

1:38:30 ↗ All right. So, um you know, just some

1:38:33 ↗ comments about your personal phone. Um

1:38:36 ↗ if you end up I I know carrying two

1:38:38 ↗ phones is probably a a huge hassle. So,

1:38:41 ↗ let's just acknowledge that. Um but

1:38:43 ↗ also, let's acknowledge that if you are

1:38:45 ↗ using a personal phone for texting

1:38:46 ↗ related to your role as a council

1:38:48 ↗ member, you have a responsibility to

1:38:49 ↗ retain those records. Um I know recently

1:38:52 ↗ I'm reaching the end of my uh iCloud

1:38:55 ↗ storage and so one of the things I was

1:38:56 ↗ suggested to do was change my text

1:38:58 ↗ message retention to 30 days. So, if you

1:39:00 ↗ have uh council related texts on your

1:39:02 ↗ phone, just be mindful of that and

1:39:04 ↗ consider getting us uh text messages of

1:39:07 ↗ substance um which you could screenshot

1:39:09 ↗ or we can uh work with you on exporting

1:39:12 ↗ them. Um as Rachel said in earlier

1:39:14 ↗ questions, some of those text messages

1:39:16 ↗ if they're things like running late,

1:39:18 ↗ I'll meeting you here, you know, things

1:39:20 ↗ like that, those can be deleted.

1:39:21 ↗ Anything that has any more substance

1:39:23 ↗ than that um we should be preserving

1:39:26 ↗ because in your roles there's a high

1:39:27 ↗ value on your records and a long

1:39:29 ↗ retention period for your communication

1:39:31 ↗ records. Um so as I mentioned at this

1:39:34 ↗ last point here if you know you have

1:39:36 ↗ some text

1:39:37 ↗ >> one second.

1:39:38 ↗ >> Yep.

1:39:38 ↗ >> There's a deputy president Jen.

1:39:40 ↗ >> Yes.

1:39:40 ↗ >> Um you mentioned there's a long

1:39:41 ↗ retention period. Out of curiosity what

1:39:43 ↗ is that period exactly? So for uh the

1:39:46 ↗ archives, I'm I'm not pleased with uh

1:39:49 ↗ how how they've construed this, but they

1:39:51 ↗ say for your records, anytime you're uh

1:39:53 ↗ communicating with stakeholders, which

1:39:56 ↗ can be community members, each other,

1:39:58 ↗ other elected officials, um the records

1:40:01 ↗ have to be kept as long as you're in

1:40:02 ↗ office, and then they have to be

1:40:04 ↗ appraised by the state archives for

1:40:05 ↗ potential transfer and archival

1:40:07 ↗ preservation. We have not yet attempted

1:40:10 ↗ to transfer text messages and I suspect

1:40:13 ↗ that when we go to they may not be

1:40:15 ↗ interested which might change our

1:40:16 ↗ approach but at this point we're just

1:40:18 ↗ following that advice.

1:40:21 ↗ >> Great. Thank you.

1:40:23 ↗ Uh so one of the reasons we were

1:40:24 ↗ motivated to put this policy in place

1:40:26 ↗ and pay for this archiving tool, as you

1:40:28 ↗ might have seen in the news, there was a

1:40:29 ↗ pretty significant lawsuit that the city

1:40:31 ↗ of Seattle had to pay because um some of

1:40:33 ↗ their staff, including their mayor's

1:40:35 ↗ text messages, were accidentally, you

1:40:37 ↗ know, deleting or or not accidentally,

1:40:40 ↗ they were deleting. Um and so we just

1:40:42 ↗ really wanted to provide some protection

1:40:44 ↗ to um our council members and staff in

1:40:46 ↗ this area.

1:40:50 ↗ All right. So, I'm going to transition

1:40:51 ↗ and we're kind of doing a preview uh uh

1:40:54 ↗ presenting the council's draft social

1:40:56 ↗ media policy that is technically part of

1:40:59 ↗ your next agenda item, but we thought it

1:41:01 ↗ the context fit well here. So, I'm going

1:41:03 ↗ to go ahead and talk to you about the

1:41:05 ↗ council rules ad hoc committee and then

1:41:06 ↗ the work they did to uh create the

1:41:09 ↗ council's first social media policy. So

1:41:12 ↗ in general, the social media policy is

1:41:14 ↗ very flexible and encouraging and

1:41:17 ↗ acknowledging that council members may

1:41:18 ↗ choose to use social media platforms. Uh

1:41:21 ↗ and but does say that you know the

1:41:24 ↗ contact and tenor of uh those

1:41:26 ↗ communications in your role as a council

1:41:28 ↗ member should um be professional.

1:41:34 ↗ Uh there's also uh some suggested uh

1:41:38 ↗ disclaimers that council members can use

1:41:41 ↗ that talk about the fact that the

1:41:43 ↗ viewpoints that you are relaying are

1:41:46 ↗ yours and not those of the city council

1:41:48 ↗ and also uh kind of disclosing to anyone

1:41:51 ↗ who's interacting with you on that

1:41:53 ↗ platform that those communications may

1:41:54 ↗ be subject to the public records act. Um

1:41:57 ↗ there will be a a URL provided with this

1:42:00 ↗ information if you choose to use it.

1:42:02 ↗ uh also the the second part of the

1:42:04 ↗ policy. So in general the policy is

1:42:08 ↗ offering some guidelines on the use of

1:42:09 ↗ social media but it's also acknowledging

1:42:11 ↗ there are some legal requirements to be

1:42:12 ↗ aware of and this um is a list that if

1:42:15 ↗ you've taken a look at the council rules

1:42:17 ↗ there's a little more information

1:42:18 ↗ provided with each of these as to some

1:42:20 ↗ of the uh things that you should be

1:42:21 ↗ considering when you're using social

1:42:23 ↗ media. The training tonight is covering

1:42:25 ↗ the first two and and really the

1:42:27 ↗ confidential and sensitive information.

1:42:29 ↗ Um is just thinking about information

1:42:31 ↗ you're sharing on those public

1:42:32 ↗ platforms, potentially public platforms

1:42:35 ↗ um ensuring it's not confidential or

1:42:36 ↗ sensitive. And then quasi judicial

1:42:38 ↗ matters are um things that come up from

1:42:41 ↗ time to time and shouldn't be shared

1:42:44 ↗ or shouldn't communication shouldn't be

1:42:46 ↗ occurring outside of meetings. Um, so

1:42:48 ↗ the the policy also says, well, it wants

1:42:52 ↗ to have a very open-ended approach um to

1:42:54 ↗ council members using social social

1:42:56 ↗ media, but also encouraging some best

1:42:57 ↗ practices. And these are a list of best

1:42:59 ↗ practices that Madrona put together. Um,

1:43:01 ↗ our commitment is to work on um building

1:43:04 ↗ this out a little bit as well as some

1:43:05 ↗ FAQs to provide council members as

1:43:07 ↗ they're onboarded and then just sort of

1:43:09 ↗ maybe periodically as some friendly

1:43:11 ↗ reminders and as um technology changes.

1:43:14 ↗ So, this includes avoiding co-mingling,

1:43:16 ↗ as Rachel said, and we talked to staff a

1:43:18 ↗ lot about this. We really want a bright

1:43:20 ↗ line between your personal devices and

1:43:22 ↗ accounts and your official accounts. I

1:43:24 ↗ will add here, if you have um things

1:43:27 ↗ that you're using uh in your uh

1:43:28 ↗ employment or systems or um calendaring

1:43:32 ↗ tools, I don't know what it might be,

1:43:33 ↗ and it's something you're interested in

1:43:34 ↗ using in your council member role, reach

1:43:36 ↗ out to us because it our IT department

1:43:38 ↗ has licenses for a lot of different

1:43:40 ↗ software systems. And if it's something

1:43:42 ↗ that you would like to use in your role

1:43:43 ↗ as a council member, we want to try and

1:43:45 ↗ help you and we want to try and get a

1:43:46 ↗ city account for you. So, um please

1:43:48 ↗ reach out. Uh then the second point here

1:43:51 ↗ is back to those disclaimers we talked

1:43:53 ↗ about and then um understanding if you

1:43:55 ↗ have authority which you are you are not

1:43:57 ↗ issued uh sort of city sponsored

1:43:59 ↗ accounts but certainly as council

1:44:00 ↗ members you have the ability to

1:44:02 ↗ communicate about city issues. Um so

1:44:04 ↗ some other best practices trying to keep

1:44:06 ↗ an open forum so avoiding blocking other

1:44:09 ↗ users avoiding removing or hiding

1:44:12 ↗ comments on posts for these platforms

1:44:15 ↗ and then directing people to and to and

1:44:18 ↗ that's towards your uh protecting first

1:44:19 ↗ amendment rights. Then also directing

1:44:21 ↗ people to official methods of

1:44:23 ↗ communication trying to help ensure that

1:44:25 ↗ people are getting consistent messaging.

1:44:26 ↗ So pointing people to the city website

1:44:28 ↗ when able. As Rachel explained, another

1:44:31 ↗ best practice that we will be using on

1:44:33 ↗ occasion is requesting an affidavit,

1:44:36 ↗ ensuring that you've searched any

1:44:37 ↗ platforms you're using. Um, don't be

1:44:39 ↗ scared of using social media, but be

1:44:41 ↗ mindful about it being the message

1:44:43 ↗ there.

1:44:46 ↗ So, a few um I'm concluding this section

1:44:49 ↗ with a few just uh practices in general.

1:44:52 ↗ >> One second, Council President Mart.

1:44:54 ↗ >> Um, can we go back a slide? Um I am

1:44:59 ↗ surprised that this is not more

1:45:01 ↗ restrictive. Um I it was my

1:45:04 ↗ understanding that like if I go post in

1:45:08 ↗ Facebook to uh my friends and I say to

1:45:13 ↗ my friends something about the city

1:45:15 ↗ that's a meeting is it not?

1:45:18 ↗ >> You are jumping ahead. There are some

1:45:20 ↗ definite open public meetings act

1:45:22 ↗ considerations if a quorum of you are

1:45:24 ↗ interacting on a social media platform

1:45:26 ↗ including commenting on each other's

1:45:28 ↗ posts that Rachel is going to touch on.

1:45:30 ↗ So that is a problem

1:45:31 ↗ >> more coming there there there's more

1:45:33 ↗ coming about social media beyond this

1:45:34 ↗ slide.

1:45:35 ↗ >> Well not we're w we're wrapping up um

1:45:38 ↗ social media but as far as open public

1:45:40 ↗ meetings act. So four of you or if

1:45:42 ↗ you're on a committee two of you

1:45:44 ↗ >> no I I was I wasn't talking about any

1:45:46 ↗ other council members. Okay. just me and

1:45:48 ↗ my set of friends, right? And let's say

1:45:50 ↗ my let's say I'm not friends with any of

1:45:52 ↗ these people. Um for the sake of

1:45:55 ↗ argument, uh my understanding is if you

1:45:57 ↗ have a if if you have a social media um

1:46:00 ↗ list that is closed, that is a violation

1:46:03 ↗ of OPMA, is it not?

1:46:05 ↗ >> Uh I would say that is not a violation

1:46:07 ↗ of the OPMA if you're the only elected

1:46:09 ↗ official in Isiziqua that's that's on

1:46:11 ↗ it. that would be permissible under the

1:46:13 ↗ policy recognizing folks including

1:46:16 ↗ friends and family who are commenting on

1:46:17 ↗ your post. Those posts could be subject

1:46:19 ↗ to the public records act. Um you would

1:46:22 ↗ need to figure out how to preserve which

1:46:23 ↗ we'll I'm about to talk about preserve

1:46:25 ↗ that record. Um which could be tricky

1:46:28 ↗ but no this policy wouldn't preclude

1:46:30 ↗ that.

1:46:30 ↗ >> All right. Thank you. It it it's easy to

1:46:35 ↗ >> it does create a situation where it's

1:46:36 ↗ easy to

1:46:38 ↗ uh inadvertently violate the OPMA

1:46:41 ↗ though, but it isn't in it in it of

1:46:44 ↗ itself. The post is not a

1:46:46 ↗ >> OPMA doesn't care if I were to get like

1:46:48 ↗ physically if I got a hundred people in

1:46:50 ↗ the community together. I said I'm going

1:46:51 ↗ to invite persons ABCD EFG but only

1:46:54 ↗ those people and I'm going to have a

1:46:56 ↗ conversation about isqua policy and

1:46:58 ↗ everyone else is excluded from that

1:47:00 ↗ meeting. That's not a violation of OPMA.

1:47:02 ↗ Well, technically if you are just the

1:47:04 ↗ only council member there and there's

1:47:06 ↗ not a quorum then it's not a meeting

1:47:09 ↗ because it has but

1:47:10 ↗ >> all right

1:47:11 ↗ >> you know it is a problem if you are

1:47:13 ↗ friends with other council members and

1:47:15 ↗ they might be interacting on your post

1:47:17 ↗ >> right thank you

1:47:22 ↗ >> all right so first first point use city

1:47:26 ↗ stuff uh second point avoid forwarding

1:47:29 ↗ emails to and from your personal

1:47:31 ↗ accounts when possible. As Rachel said

1:47:33 ↗ as well, just thinking about the fact

1:47:35 ↗ that just because you're doing something

1:47:37 ↗ on your personal email doesn't preclude

1:47:38 ↗ it from being city record. It doesn't

1:47:40 ↗ really matter where it's at. It's more

1:47:41 ↗ about the content. If you're unsure if

1:47:43 ↗ you should be using city email for

1:47:45 ↗ something, you can always reach out to

1:47:46 ↗ us um for some clarification there. But

1:47:48 ↗ like Rachel said, we would heir on the

1:47:50 ↗ side of being conservative in um using

1:47:53 ↗ your city account for things that might

1:47:55 ↗ be perceived as city business. also um

1:47:58 ↗ using for note takingaking and just

1:48:00 ↗ other records you're generating as part

1:48:02 ↗ of your council work. You all have a

1:48:03 ↗ city one drive account. Um so we I'd

1:48:06 ↗ encourage you to you you know I don't

1:48:07 ↗ know if you are OneNote users but

1:48:09 ↗ certainly in one drive you can save any

1:48:11 ↗ type of um file and those are those

1:48:14 ↗ records are all searchable when we're

1:48:16 ↗ search doing eiscocovery in Microsoft

1:48:18 ↗ purview. If you don't know how to use

1:48:20 ↗ your one drive account or and would like

1:48:22 ↗ a little refresher on that um let us

1:48:24 ↗ know. We're happy to show you that. Um,

1:48:27 ↗ if you're using a third-party tool,

1:48:28 ↗ which would include a social media

1:48:30 ↗ system or a or something else, um, if

1:48:34 ↗ it's something that you need in your

1:48:35 ↗ role as a council member, let's talk and

1:48:37 ↗ see if we can get you a license to

1:48:38 ↗ something. If you're uh generating

1:48:41 ↗ records in this new uh in this in the

1:48:45 ↗ social media area on a social media

1:48:48 ↗ platform, um, we would encourage you to

1:48:50 ↗ be pro proactive about capturing those

1:48:53 ↗ records. So, you know, it's easy to

1:48:55 ↗ think, okay, I I know where all of these

1:48:57 ↗ posts are. Um, but years down the road,

1:48:59 ↗ it could become challenging for you to

1:49:01 ↗ retrieve those. And while we have been

1:49:03 ↗ fortunate in the last few years to not

1:49:05 ↗ have a high volume of council focused

1:49:07 ↗ public records requests, they can come

1:49:10 ↗ at any time and they can be ownorous.

1:49:12 ↗ And so, um, we'd encourage you to save

1:49:14 ↗ content to your one drive account.

1:49:15 ↗ Again, if you'd like some assistance

1:49:17 ↗ with knowing how to best preserve um

1:49:19 ↗ some of your social media content, we're

1:49:21 ↗ happy to provide some advice. Another

1:49:23 ↗ best practice would be making content

1:49:25 ↗ publicly available. So, if something's

1:49:26 ↗ easily available with no login, we can

1:49:28 ↗ just point people to the records. We

1:49:30 ↗ don't have to actually provide them. So,

1:49:32 ↗ that's something to consider when you're

1:49:33 ↗ generating content. And then tracking

1:49:35 ↗ dates. So, if you have a blog or you're

1:49:37 ↗ on a social media platform, I would

1:49:40 ↗ strongly suggest making some notes about

1:49:43 ↗ that time frame. So, if we get a request

1:49:45 ↗ and you get that Nissan affidavit, you

1:49:47 ↗ know, you didn't have a Blue Sky account

1:49:49 ↗ or a Reddit account at the time period

1:49:52 ↗ that's being um requested. So, this is

1:49:54 ↗ something we're trying to train staff on

1:49:56 ↗ as well.

1:49:58 ↗ With that, I'm going to turn it back

1:49:59 ↗ over to Rachel.

1:50:02 ↗ >> Council member Walsh,

1:50:04 ↗ >> just a question on that. it um if you go

1:50:08 ↗ back a slide suggested something about

1:50:11 ↗ um not forwarding emails to and from

1:50:13 ↗ your personal accounts. If someone did

1:50:17 ↗ send something city related to a

1:50:19 ↗ personal account then it does make sense

1:50:22 ↗ so that we can create the record in our

1:50:25 ↗ city email. Correct.

1:50:27 ↗ >> Absolutely. Okay. Yes.

1:50:29 ↗ >> Thank you.

1:50:32 ↗ But it would also still be a record in

1:50:34 ↗ your personal account that you would

1:50:35 ↗ have to keep. Just a sad aside on that.

1:50:39 ↗ Okay. Thank you, TA.

1:50:44 ↗ Legal challenges and penalties. The

1:50:46 ↗ really fun part of this. So, the public

1:50:49 ↗ records act is judicially enforced.

1:50:52 ↗ However, cities can adopt an

1:50:55 ↗ administrative review process, which is

1:50:58 ↗ not quite an appeal process, but it's a

1:51:01 ↗ mechanism for requesters to ask you to

1:51:04 ↗ reconsider your decision under the

1:51:06 ↗ public records act or relook at

1:51:07 ↗ something that they think maybe you got

1:51:09 ↗ wrong. Is aqua does have that in their

1:51:11 ↗ policy. Um, but someone doesn't have to

1:51:14 ↗ use that. So, it's not like other

1:51:16 ↗ lawsuits where you have to um exhaust

1:51:19 ↗ your administrative remedies. uh a

1:51:21 ↗ person who is feels they are agrieved

1:51:23 ↗ under the public records act can sue and

1:51:26 ↗ the act is enforced by the courts. The

1:51:29 ↗ penalties as I mentioned previously they

1:51:32 ↗ can be very hefty. Uh a court can award

1:51:36 ↗ penalties up to $100 uh per record per

1:51:41 ↗ page per day. It's not common. you would

1:51:44 ↗ you'd have to be um it would have to be

1:51:47 ↗ a pretty egregious violation to see $100

1:51:50 ↗ per page. Uh but it it does happen. The

1:51:54 ↗ requesttor is also uh entitled to

1:51:57 ↗ attorney's fees and costs if they

1:51:59 ↗ prevail. Note that the agency is not

1:52:02 ↗ entitled to their attorney's fees and

1:52:04 ↗ costs if they prevail. So unfortunately

1:52:07 ↗ that's just a cost that we have to bear

1:52:09 ↗ and um then we would have to bear it for

1:52:11 ↗ the requesttor if we ended up losing the

1:52:14 ↗ case.

1:52:16 ↗ The um court can also review records in

1:52:20 ↗ camera which means that they you know

1:52:22 ↗ privately review the records and they

1:52:24 ↗ can decide whether or not they the

1:52:26 ↗ exemptions apply and whether or not they

1:52:27 ↗ should have to be disclosed.

1:52:30 ↗ There can also outside of the P there

1:52:32 ↗ can be potential criminal liability for

1:52:35 ↗ willful destruction or alteration of

1:52:38 ↗ public records and uh then there there

1:52:42 ↗ actually it's potential that you could

1:52:44 ↗ um forfeit your your office if you were

1:52:47 ↗ to have found to have engaged in that.

1:52:51 ↗ There's a one-year statute of

1:52:52 ↗ limitations on P lawsuits and it starts

1:52:55 ↗ to run from the date that the agency

1:52:57 ↗ claims the exemption or when we last

1:53:00 ↗ produced records as our final definitive

1:53:03 ↗ response. And so we actually put in a

1:53:06 ↗ little disclaimer that says when this is

1:53:08 ↗ occurring so that there's no um

1:53:10 ↗ confusion in court as to whether or not

1:53:13 ↗ the statute of limitations has begun.

1:53:19 ↗ Oh, and another thing on the penalties

1:53:21 ↗ is that um the court can look at

1:53:25 ↗ aggravating or mitigating factors, and

1:53:28 ↗ they do the um and I won't go through

1:53:32 ↗ all of them, but essentially, you know,

1:53:34 ↗ if you there are

1:53:36 ↗ factors that make the city look bad,

1:53:38 ↗ like it looks like you intentionally

1:53:42 ↗ took too long, you intentionally were

1:53:44 ↗ messing with a requesttor, you were

1:53:46 ↗ deleting records, then you're going to

1:53:48 ↗ see um larger penalties than if there

1:53:51 ↗ was just a truly inadvertent error or

1:53:53 ↗ someone just dropped the ball, which

1:53:55 ↗ does happen from time to time. So,

1:53:57 ↗ courts tend to try to be a little bit

1:53:58 ↗ more lenient about that.

1:54:08 ↗ You want me to just keep going? Yeah.

1:54:09 ↗ Okay. So, we already talked a lot about

1:54:11 ↗ retaining public records. They have to

1:54:14 ↗ be retained in accordance with the local

1:54:16 ↗ government's uh retention schedule. As

1:54:18 ↗ Tisha said, your records in particular

1:54:21 ↗ have a a pretty long retention. Uh it's

1:54:26 ↗ it's not uncommon for records to have to

1:54:28 ↗ be reviewed by the archives to decide

1:54:30 ↗ whether or not to keep them. I'm glad I

1:54:32 ↗ don't have that job. And if they decide

1:54:35 ↗ they don't want them, then we can

1:54:37 ↗ destroy. Or if they've met the retention

1:54:39 ↗ and there's no review by the archives uh

1:54:41 ↗ required. If you've ever been to the

1:54:43 ↗ archives, it's very interesting. It's

1:54:45 ↗ already really full, so I don't know how

1:54:47 ↗ they keep all of this stuff, but that's

1:54:50 ↗ their problem, not ours. All right.

1:54:52 ↗ Finally, we're going to talk about the

1:54:54 ↗ Open Public Meetings Act or the OPMA as

1:54:56 ↗ we like to call it. So, as you're aware,

1:54:58 ↗ all meetings of the governing body are

1:55:02 ↗ um must be open to the public and

1:55:05 ↗ accessible to all.

1:55:09 ↗ What is the governing body?

1:55:13 ↗ That's you. That's um or it could be

1:55:16 ↗ other groups too, but it's the

1:55:18 ↗ multi-member

1:55:19 ↗ board committee commission council

1:55:22 ↗ or other policy or rulemaking body of a

1:55:24 ↗ public agency or a committee thereof,

1:55:26 ↗ which um important to note that it does

1:55:29 ↗ apply to council committees here.

1:55:37 ↗ And what is a meeting? A meeting is uh

1:55:42 ↗ means any it's one of those really

1:55:45 ↗ circular definitions. A meeting means a

1:55:47 ↗ meeting. A meeting means a meeting where

1:55:49 ↗ any action is taken. Well, action is

1:55:51 ↗ very broadly defined under the OPMA to

1:55:54 ↗ basically mean um any deliberation, any

1:55:58 ↗ discussion, any decision or uh making a

1:56:02 ↗ final decision is final action. But just

1:56:05 ↗ talking about something is a meeting

1:56:07 ↗ technically under the OPMA.

1:56:17 ↗ So we already kind of talked about this,

1:56:18 ↗ but you know, receiving public

1:56:21 ↗ testimony, things like that, all of

1:56:23 ↗ these things include these all fall

1:56:25 ↗ within the broad definition of action

1:56:27 ↗ under the OPMA.

1:56:33 ↗ Yes. Council member Derek.

1:56:35 ↗ >> Yes. So it's like the committee's one is

1:56:37 ↗ the one where I often have question and

1:56:40 ↗ concern. So like as part of you know

1:56:42 ↗ safety services and park in terms of

1:56:45 ↗ what I can talk about and is it really

1:56:47 ↗ like with my other council members of

1:56:50 ↗ anything that could fall into that

1:56:52 ↗ committee? Is it only stuff that might

1:56:54 ↗ be on an agenda? It's like I'm not quite

1:56:55 ↗ sure what we can talk about with that

1:56:58 ↗ specific committee since that's only two

1:56:59 ↗ of us and suddenly that could be a

1:57:01 ↗ quorum.

1:57:03 ↗ You're right that that does pose a

1:57:05 ↗ really tricky thing. I would say that at

1:57:08 ↗ the very least don't talk about anything

1:57:10 ↗ that you know is going to be discussed

1:57:13 ↗ in the committee. Um it's kind of an air

1:57:16 ↗ on the side of caution thing there. I

1:57:19 ↗ think that

1:57:21 ↗ obviously

1:57:23 ↗ if something comes up, you know, weeks,

1:57:25 ↗ months down the road and you happen to

1:57:27 ↗ talk about that, I I don't think we're

1:57:29 ↗ talking about serious risk there. But um

1:57:32 ↗ no like it it it does make it difficult

1:57:35 ↗ for a committee to operate because I

1:57:37 ↗ think you know it would be great if you

1:57:38 ↗ know two members of the committee could

1:57:40 ↗ sit around and talk together about what

1:57:42 ↗ should what we should bring forward to

1:57:44 ↗ the committee. What are topics to add?

1:57:46 ↗ And unfortunately that's just those are

1:57:48 ↗ conversations that just should be held

1:57:50 ↗ in a committee meeting because otherwise

1:57:53 ↗ I think you're potentially you know we

1:57:55 ↗ treat our committees as subject to the

1:57:57 ↗ OPMA and that means that if you know a

1:58:00 ↗ quorum of of that committee is two

1:58:02 ↗ people so it is better to air on the

1:58:05 ↗ side of caution and have those

1:58:06 ↗ conversations publicly but I do know

1:58:07 ↗ that it's hard and you know really does

1:58:10 ↗ pose some logistical challenges to the

1:58:13 ↗ functioning of the committees.

1:58:19 ↗ Um, a meeting can be t over email. A

1:58:22 ↗ meeting can be out in the parking lot

1:58:25 ↗ after a regular city council meeting if

1:58:27 ↗ you're continuing to talk about city

1:58:29 ↗ business. If you're talking about, you

1:58:31 ↗ know, your kids and personal things, not

1:58:33 ↗ a meeting. But once again, if you were

1:58:35 ↗ talking about uh matters that are effect

1:58:40 ↗ of to that are related to your role as a

1:58:43 ↗ council member, it's probably a meeting.

1:58:48 ↗ >> Deputy President Chen,

1:58:52 ↗ >> Council President Marts,

1:58:53 ↗ >> people confuse us all the time. So, um I

1:58:56 ↗ just for the newer council members, I

1:58:58 ↗ just want to provide a little context on

1:59:00 ↗ the subject of of committees. Um, this

1:59:03 ↗ was a this was a thing that we really

1:59:05 ↗ went back and forth before any of you um

1:59:09 ↗ well well Russell was off council and

1:59:11 ↗ before I think any of you except uh

1:59:13 ↗ Lindsay uh the we went through a phase

1:59:17 ↗ where we didn't have committees right

1:59:19 ↗ and we had you know fiveour committees

1:59:21 ↗ in the whole and we had all seven of us

1:59:24 ↗ digging into every issue and so this you

1:59:27 ↗ know if the the the challenges

1:59:29 ↗ associated what what you are hearing is

1:59:31 ↗ the real challenges is associated with

1:59:32 ↗ committees and it's why we tried going

1:59:34 ↗ away from committees for a while. And if

1:59:36 ↗ it feels awkward um in and and you feel

1:59:40 ↗ hamstrung at all by have by how things

1:59:42 ↗ have to work, just recognize that this

1:59:44 ↗ is the lesser of two evils. The large

1:59:47 ↗ larger of two evil was was having five

1:59:49 ↗ hour cows every month. So thanks.

1:59:54 ↗ Now, we're going to talk about serial

1:59:56 ↗ meetings because when you're talking

1:59:57 ↗ about the OPMA, I think it's really

1:59:59 ↗ important to talk about them because I

2:00:01 ↗ think they're probably the biggest

2:00:02 ↗ source of inadvertent

2:00:05 ↗ uh OPMA violations. So, what is a serial

2:00:07 ↗ meeting? It's a meeting that occurs when

2:00:10 ↗ a majority of the governing body has a

2:00:12 ↗ series of smaller gatherings amongst

2:00:14 ↗ themselves or communications

2:00:17 ↗ um that ends up resulting in a majority

2:00:21 ↗ of the governing body taking action

2:00:24 ↗ which once again can just be discussion

2:00:26 ↗ or deliberation um even if the majority

2:00:29 ↗ isn't actually ever a part of this

2:00:32 ↗ communication. So it can it can um

2:00:35 ↗ occur, you know, by forwarding emails

2:00:37 ↗ around or just by playing games of

2:00:39 ↗ telephone where a couple people talk to

2:00:41 ↗ someone or talk to each other and then

2:00:43 ↗ someone calls another person and says,

2:00:45 ↗ "Oh, so and so and I talked about this

2:00:48 ↗ and what do you think of this?" There's

2:00:50 ↗ multiple ways that it can occur. It does

2:00:53 ↗ require the collective intent to meet.

2:00:56 ↗ Um, so you know it's it there is there

2:00:59 ↗ does have to be some sort of measure of

2:01:01 ↗ intent there. However, as you probably

2:01:04 ↗ you know you saw my email communication

2:01:06 ↗ regarding the Burian case last week. Um

2:01:09 ↗ that collective in you know you council

2:01:11 ↗ members can potentially

2:01:14 ↗ you know submit declarations to the

2:01:16 ↗ court saying they didn't have the

2:01:17 ↗ collective intent to meet and it could

2:01:19 ↗ be potentially found that they they did.

2:01:21 ↗ So there still is a risk there. passive

2:01:24 ↗ receipt of information is not a

2:01:26 ↗ violation, which is why the council is

2:01:27 ↗ able to be copied on, you know, emails

2:01:30 ↗ that the um council president and deputy

2:01:33 ↗ council president send out to the

2:01:34 ↗ community. Um as long as, you know, it's

2:01:37 ↗ just important that people aren't

2:01:38 ↗ replying all and having a conversation

2:01:40 ↗ there. But um that's that's okay.

2:01:51 ↗ executive sessions. Uh, as you know, the

2:01:54 ↗ the OPMA has several or exceptions to it

2:01:57 ↗ and the the main one is for executive

2:01:59 ↗ sessions or closed sessions, which are

2:02:02 ↗ technically a little bit different, but

2:02:03 ↗ we won't get into that. But, um,

2:02:06 ↗ executive sessions can only be held for

2:02:09 ↗ the limited purposes that are set forth

2:02:11 ↗ in statute. Obviously, uh, pending or

2:02:15 ↗ potential litigation is a really common

2:02:16 ↗ one. also real estate acquisitions or

2:02:18 ↗ sales. Executive sessions um may only

2:02:21 ↗ occur if the before the executive

2:02:24 ↗ session the presiding officer announces

2:02:26 ↗ the purpose of and the time the

2:02:28 ↗ executive session um is going to be over

2:02:32 ↗ and then the discussion can take place

2:02:34 ↗ behind closed doors. But then any

2:02:36 ↗ decisions have to take place in the

2:02:39 ↗ public meeting and of course we can't

2:02:41 ↗ vote or use secret ballots.

2:02:45 ↗ So what is the test for an OPMA

2:02:48 ↗ violation?

2:02:49 ↗ So it occurs when a majority of the body

2:02:52 ↗ meets with the collective intent to

2:02:55 ↗ transact official business and once

2:02:57 ↗ again business you know is it's a broad

2:03:00 ↗ definition here. Um and during the

2:03:03 ↗ meeting the council members take action

2:03:05 ↗ which is also of course um broadly

2:03:08 ↗ defined.

2:03:11 ↗ So,

2:03:13 ↗ what happens if someone violates the

2:03:15 ↗ OPMA? The penalties,

2:03:19 ↗ the court can impose $500 civil

2:03:21 ↗ penalties. Those are a personal

2:03:24 ↗ liability. That's against each council

2:03:26 ↗ person that is found to have committed a

2:03:29 ↗ violation. If there are subsequent

2:03:31 ↗ violations, the civil penalty increases

2:03:34 ↗ to $1,000. The court will also award

2:03:37 ↗ costs and attorneys fees to a successful

2:03:39 ↗ party. Um, and that's I mean a

2:03:42 ↗ successful challenger. Once again, this

2:03:44 ↗ is another one where the city does not

2:03:45 ↗ get its attorney's fees generally for

2:03:47 ↗ these. Uh, but that I would say that's

2:03:50 ↗ the the biggest source of risk for the

2:03:52 ↗ city at least as an entity. Um, because

2:03:54 ↗ those attorneys fees can be really

2:03:56 ↗ costly. Not that $500 or $1,000 isn't

2:03:58 ↗ also costly, but it's not 20,000 or

2:04:02 ↗ $50,000. So, it's less than that. They

2:04:05 ↗ can also find that the action is

2:04:07 ↗ declared null and void. Um, but we we've

2:04:10 ↗ see cases where folks sue even when

2:04:13 ↗ there was no action to be declared null

2:04:15 ↗ and void. You know, they just sort of on

2:04:17 ↗ principle want to say that there was a

2:04:19 ↗ violation and they can do that and the

2:04:23 ↗ um court can award them their attorney's

2:04:26 ↗ fees for that.

2:04:33 ↗ Come on.

2:04:37 ↗ Now, we're going to talk just briefly

2:04:39 ↗ about best uh practices for not

2:04:42 ↗ violating the OPMA.

2:04:44 ↗ Meet more frequently. Use the committee

2:04:48 ↗ system like we have here even though it

2:04:49 ↗ is sort of limited and uh so that you

2:04:53 ↗ don't have to have you know cows as

2:04:54 ↗ frequently. Use the city administrator

2:04:56 ↗ or another staff person to filter your

2:04:59 ↗ information or questions through. Don't

2:05:02 ↗ discuss uh city business with more than

2:05:05 ↗ two other council members outside of a

2:05:07 ↗ open meeting. And of course, be more

2:05:09 ↗ careful when it's a committee. Uh don't

2:05:11 ↗ discuss really committee business with

2:05:13 ↗ other members of the same committee

2:05:15 ↗ outside of a committee meeting.

2:05:18 ↗ Uh and if you have discussed something

2:05:21 ↗ as a group of three, just all three of

2:05:23 ↗ you be cognizant about that and don't go

2:05:26 ↗ talking to a fourth person about the

2:05:28 ↗ same thing because that can be an issue

2:05:30 ↗ there too. And when in doubt, discuss it

2:05:32 ↗ in a public meeting.

2:05:36 ↗ Be careful with executive sessions. This

2:05:38 ↗ is why we stay on topic. We don't

2:05:39 ↗ overuse them. They have these like the P

2:05:43 ↗ exemptions have to be narrowly

2:05:44 ↗ construed. So, um, you know, that's why

2:05:47 ↗ we have to be kind of careful and we

2:05:49 ↗ can't talk about everything related to a

2:05:50 ↗ real estate acquisition, only certain

2:05:52 ↗ things. Don't uh dis make sure that you

2:05:55 ↗ discuss matters publicly after the

2:05:57 ↗ executive session prior to voting. So,

2:05:59 ↗ it makes it clear to the public that you

2:06:02 ↗ weren't making a decision in the

2:06:03 ↗ executive session. And then, of course,

2:06:05 ↗ don't discuss what happened in uh an

2:06:08 ↗ executive session with anyone else

2:06:10 ↗ outside of that executive session

2:06:12 ↗ because um it's illegal to disclose this

2:06:15 ↗ type of confidential information that

2:06:17 ↗ you obtain as a part of your role at in

2:06:20 ↗ your position. And there's actually a

2:06:22 ↗ $500 penalty and the potential for

2:06:24 ↗ forfeite of office for that. Council

2:06:26 ↗ President Martz.

2:06:27 ↗ >> So this um Can can you go back?

2:06:30 ↗ >> Yes.

2:06:31 ↗ >> Um so this um

2:06:35 ↗ confident So we're going to have a

2:06:36 ↗ conversation later as part of rules of

2:06:38 ↗ procedure about confidential

2:06:40 ↗ information. Does RCW42.23.070

2:06:46 ↗ section 4 define confidential

2:06:48 ↗ information?

2:06:49 ↗ >> No, it does not. H

2:06:53 ↗ >> so

2:06:55 ↗ we have to sort of

2:06:59 ↗ it's a good question of is is anything

2:07:01 ↗ that you discuss in executive session

2:07:04 ↗ confidential. This does come up from

2:07:05 ↗ time to time. I would say

2:07:08 ↗ the fact that you discussed it in the

2:07:11 ↗ executive session is confidential. So

2:07:13 ↗ you wouldn't want to say we discussed

2:07:16 ↗ XYZ

2:07:17 ↗ in the in an executive session. you

2:07:19 ↗ wouldn't want to tell that to to a

2:07:21 ↗ public member of the public. However, if

2:07:24 ↗ X was something that is public

2:07:28 ↗ information, you're not suddenly then

2:07:30 ↗ procluded from sharing that information.

2:07:32 ↗ You just wouldn't want to tell the

2:07:35 ↗ person that you just were discussing

2:07:36 ↗ that in the executive session. Does that

2:07:38 ↗ make sense?

2:07:38 ↗ >> Does RCW42.23070

2:07:41 ↗ cover only executive sessions? No, I'

2:07:44 ↗ I'd actually

2:07:46 ↗ that one that's let me look at that one

2:07:49 ↗ really fast. That is does look like it's

2:07:51 ↗ within the OPMA

2:07:52 ↗ >> conversation we're going to have later.

2:07:54 ↗ >> There are

2:07:57 ↗ generally I do think that No, this is

2:08:00 ↗ within the code. Yeah, this is this

2:08:01 ↗ covers everything. This is not within

2:08:04 ↗ that. This is just it's it's actually

2:08:06 ↗ part of the code of ethics for municipal

2:08:08 ↗ officers. And so this would uh apply to

2:08:11 ↗ like an email. If I send you a

2:08:13 ↗ privileged email, you can't you are

2:08:15 ↗ putting yourself at risk of forfeite of

2:08:17 ↗ office if you share that with publicly.

2:08:20 ↗ So any confidential information that you

2:08:22 ↗ obtain as a

2:08:25 ↗ >> Okay.

2:08:25 ↗ >> Part of your role.

2:08:26 ↗ >> I'm going to I'm going to come back to

2:08:27 ↗ this topic later.

2:08:28 ↗ >> Absolutely.

2:08:28 ↗ >> Thank you.

2:08:35 ↗ Um, avoid situations that can uh present

2:08:39 ↗ an appearance of an OPMA violation.

2:08:41 ↗ Texting during meetings is one of those.

2:08:44 ↗ Uh, the people can see you kind of, you

2:08:46 ↗ know, on your phone leaning over doing

2:08:47 ↗ that from time to time. Your situation

2:08:49 ↗ up here is a little bit better than some

2:08:51 ↗ of the dases that I've seen before. But

2:08:54 ↗ um I've I've sat in meetings where I saw

2:08:56 ↗ the governing body text each other and

2:08:58 ↗ it was very obvious they were texting

2:09:00 ↗ each other during the meeting and it did

2:09:02 ↗ result in um some distrust in the

2:09:06 ↗ community. So that's something that's

2:09:08 ↗ just something to be careful of. And

2:09:10 ↗ obviously even if you're texting other

2:09:11 ↗ people, no one knows who you're texting

2:09:13 ↗ and people can be, you know, they can

2:09:15 ↗ kind of make bad assumptions. So be

2:09:17 ↗ careful about that. Um,

2:09:21 ↗ just remember that your text messages

2:09:23 ↗ are regarding the city business are open

2:09:26 ↗ to disclosure. So, just be careful what

2:09:28 ↗ you put in text. Be careful when you're

2:09:30 ↗ using social media. Um, make sure that

2:09:33 ↗ you, like we talked about previously, if

2:09:36 ↗ you are posting, um, make sure that you

2:09:39 ↗ are watching the comments and making

2:09:41 ↗ sure that four council members aren't

2:09:44 ↗ engaging in a discussion. you you just

2:09:46 ↗ have to be kind of more mindful of those

2:09:48 ↗ those things. I've seen other agencies

2:09:50 ↗ have really complicated procedures for

2:09:52 ↗ that like having a social media

2:09:54 ↗ ombbudsman who's the only person who's

2:09:56 ↗ designated to respond in comment strings

2:09:58 ↗ and things like that. I don't think you

2:10:00 ↗ necessarily need to do anything like

2:10:01 ↗ that but you know you just have to be

2:10:04 ↗ kind of mindful that you're not

2:10:07 ↗ having multiple people engage in a

2:10:10 ↗ conversation online.

2:10:14 ↗ There's some additional resources that

2:10:16 ↗ you'll have in your packet if you need

2:10:17 ↗ them. And I think with that, that's it.

2:10:19 ↗ Anyone has any questions? Otherwise,

2:10:21 ↗ we'll move on.

2:10:23 ↗ >> I think we asked them as we went. Oh,

2:10:25 ↗ Council Ral.

2:10:27 ↗ >> I don't have any questions. I would just

2:10:29 ↗ say as someone who came on council

2:10:32 ↗ before we had city cell phones and had

2:10:35 ↗ to deal with a public records request on

2:10:38 ↗ our personal phones and personal emails.

2:10:41 ↗ Uh thank you very much for having us

2:10:45 ↗ trained and getting us the resources so

2:10:48 ↗ that we don't have to do that other than

2:10:52 ↗ in very rare cases.

2:10:54 ↗ Thank you. Well, we just wait until they

2:10:57 ↗ ask for your data with with for the the

2:11:00 ↗ uh records in native format with

2:11:02 ↗ metadata. Then that becomes a real

2:11:05 ↗ nightmare if it's on your personal

2:11:06 ↗ device. So yes, good word of caution.

2:11:12 ↗ Okay, I think this takes us to agenda

2:11:15 ↗ bill 9137, amendments, council rules of

2:11:18 ↗ procedure. And we're going to have our

2:11:20 ↗ city clerk, Tesha, come back up.

2:11:34 ↗ All right, Tisha Geyser, city clerk. I'm

2:11:36 ↗ going to make this real quick and then

2:11:38 ↗ um turn it over to the committee to talk

2:11:40 ↗ further. Um but I am speaking to AB 9137

2:11:43 ↗ amendments to council rules of

2:11:45 ↗ procedure.

2:11:55 ↗ Trying to There we go. Okay.

2:11:59 ↗ Okay. So, uh, at your February 23rd

2:12:02 ↗ council meeting, there were 23 proposed

2:12:04 ↗ review areas to the council rules, and

2:12:06 ↗ the council decided wisely, um, to

2:12:08 ↗ appoint an ad hoc committee to take a

2:12:10 ↗ look at those areas. Uh, council council

2:12:14 ↗ president D. Michelle at the time had

2:12:15 ↗ been appointed to the committee, but

2:12:16 ↗ ultimately the committee membership was

2:12:18 ↗ council members Walsh as chair and

2:12:21 ↗ Nichols and Joe. Uh, the committee was

2:12:23 ↗ tasked with making recommendations on

2:12:25 ↗ amendments to the rules in time for this

2:12:27 ↗ meeting. And I say the committee was

2:12:30 ↗ timely in their reporting. So the

2:12:32 ↗ committee met uh four times starting on

2:12:35 ↗ March 24th ending last Tuesday. Um the

2:12:38 ↗ majority the committee did request the

2:12:40 ↗ first meeting was not in a in an open

2:12:42 ↗ forum and the committee did request that

2:12:44 ↗ the remainder of the meetings be held in

2:12:45 ↗ an open space and the materials be uh

2:12:47 ↗ publicly available. Uh the committee

2:12:50 ↗ reviewed those 23 review areas that were

2:12:53 ↗ included in the February 23 packet and

2:12:55 ↗ then added uh five additional review

2:12:58 ↗ areas. A few of those were staff

2:12:59 ↗ motivated, a few of those were committee

2:13:01 ↗ motivated. Those additions were included

2:13:03 ↗ in your packet but were special

2:13:05 ↗ meetings, virtual attendance,

2:13:06 ↗ confidentiality, use of staff time and

2:13:09 ↗ correspondence.

2:13:12 ↗ So the uh committee recommended uh many

2:13:15 ↗ changes throughout the rules, many of

2:13:16 ↗ which were fairly minor. These are the

2:13:18 ↗ eight areas uh the committee felt it

2:13:20 ↗ would be useful to uh briefly cover

2:13:22 ↗ these items with the council. So I'm

2:13:24 ↗ going to walk through these pretty

2:13:26 ↗ quickly here. So the first one regarding

2:13:28 ↗ standing committee appointments um the

2:13:31 ↗ council committees as council president

2:13:33 ↗ Mart stated were reinstated in 2022 and

2:13:36 ↗ in the years 2023 24 and 25 the council

2:13:40 ↗ waved this struck out provision in the

2:13:45 ↗ council rules and appointed in all those

2:13:47 ↗ cases the deputy council president to

2:13:49 ↗ two committees which was precluded in

2:13:51 ↗ the rules. And so the committee

2:13:53 ↗ recommended removing that sentence which

2:13:55 ↗ the effect of that is that um the three

2:13:58 ↗ committee chairs can only serve on one

2:14:01 ↗ committee but if this is removed the

2:14:02 ↗ other four council members including

2:14:04 ↗ council leadership could serve on two

2:14:06 ↗ committees.

2:14:10 ↗ >> Council President Mart.

2:14:11 ↗ >> Yeah. Could the folks on the committee

2:14:13 ↗ explain a little bit why they wanted to

2:14:14 ↗ uh change this policy?

2:14:17 ↗ >> Yeah. Um, I brought this up uh because

2:14:20 ↗ as council president um previously it

2:14:23 ↗ was often very difficult based on

2:14:25 ↗ council members schedules to find a way

2:14:29 ↗ to make this work and so we wanted to

2:14:32 ↗ provide the flexibility. I think it's

2:14:35 ↗ still a best practice to try and

2:14:38 ↗ distribute that out. Um but we felt that

2:14:42 ↗ both it gives the flexibility and by the

2:14:45 ↗ fact that we had had to make the

2:14:47 ↗ adjustment uh three years in a row that

2:14:50 ↗ it was a needed um bit of flexibility.

2:14:54 ↗ >> Thank you. I appal

2:14:58 ↗ comments. Um,

2:15:00 ↗ >> this council has been kind of boxing

2:15:03 ↗ above their weight in terms of committee

2:15:06 ↗ commitments at SCA or other regional

2:15:08 ↗ committees as well. And we're finding

2:15:10 ↗ that because we're doing so much outside

2:15:12 ↗ of Isiqua itself to balance the

2:15:14 ↗ workload, often times it's important to

2:15:17 ↗ have more people on the bench, so to

2:15:19 ↗ speak, fill those spots for our internal

2:15:22 ↗ committees. So this allows the

2:15:23 ↗ flexibility to do that outside work and

2:15:26 ↗ still have a robust uh bench to fill the

2:15:29 ↗ committees here internally.

2:15:33 ↗ >> Thank you. I appreciate that uh

2:15:34 ↗ explanation.

2:15:37 ↗ >> The next item is virtual attendance. Uh

2:15:39 ↗ the committee is recommending more

2:15:42 ↗ increasing the flexibility for attending

2:15:45 ↗ virtually. This policy was added when

2:15:47 ↗ the council came back in person

2:15:48 ↗ following uh COVID and I think it does

2:15:51 ↗ make sense that it would be looked at

2:15:53 ↗ again a few years down the road. So the

2:15:55 ↗ changes so there's these two

2:15:56 ↗ classifications of why you might attend

2:15:58 ↗ virtually if it's for medical reasons.

2:16:01 ↗ There weren't uh really changes there.

2:16:03 ↗ There might have been a little softening

2:16:04 ↗ of the language but there's no

2:16:06 ↗ restriction on the number of meetings

2:16:07 ↗ you can attend virtually. No approval

2:16:09 ↗ needed. Um, what the committee requested

2:16:12 ↗ changes to is if you're attending

2:16:13 ↗ virtually for another reason, they

2:16:15 ↗ wanted to change it from requiring

2:16:17 ↗ approval of the council president to

2:16:19 ↗ just notifying the council president.

2:16:21 ↗ And then there had been a limit of four

2:16:23 ↗ meetings per year by which a council

2:16:25 ↗ member could attend virtually for

2:16:26 ↗ non-medical reasons. They wanted to

2:16:28 ↗ increase that to five and then add a

2:16:30 ↗ process if a council member uh wanted to

2:16:33 ↗ attend or or needed to attend more than

2:16:36 ↗ five council meetings a year virtually

2:16:38 ↗ whereby they could request it from

2:16:40 ↗ council leadership and council

2:16:41 ↗ leadership would provide sort of

2:16:42 ↗ approval in writing.

2:16:47 ↗ Council member Boyd,

2:16:49 ↗ >> more of a comment and I'm not supposed

2:16:51 ↗ to really make that should be a

2:16:52 ↗ question, but I just uh as someone who

2:16:55 ↗ commutes during a particular season uh

2:16:57 ↗ of the year for my day job, I sincerely

2:17:00 ↗ appreciate this proposed switch.

2:17:05 ↗ All right, the next section is

2:17:07 ↗ confidentiality. Um this was something

2:17:09 ↗ that was brought forward by the

2:17:11 ↗ administration. So the council rules do

2:17:13 ↗ talk about uh council members

2:17:15 ↗ responsibility to maintain information

2:17:17 ↗ confidentiality confidential in the

2:17:19 ↗ context of executive sessions. But there

2:17:20 ↗ wasn't anything more in the rules about

2:17:23 ↗ other information the council might be

2:17:24 ↗ receiving such as Rachel said related by

2:17:27 ↗ email attorney client priv privilege

2:17:29 ↗ information

2:17:30 ↗ about active police investigations. Um

2:17:34 ↗ information you might be provided in

2:17:35 ↗ advance of an executive session in

2:17:37 ↗ writing by phone. Um and so there is a

2:17:40 ↗ section in the proposed rules. This is

2:17:42 ↗ just one excerpt. There is more there.

2:17:45 ↗ Um the committee had uh there was a

2:17:47 ↗ minority report on on this item and the

2:17:50 ↗ council member council member um may

2:17:53 ↗ want to speak to that. Um, but there was

2:17:55 ↗ some concern that there could be some

2:17:57 ↗ subjectivity here and there was a

2:17:59 ↗ sentence that was added basically saying

2:18:01 ↗ the administration needs to be

2:18:03 ↗ responsible to identify to the council

2:18:05 ↗ members when they're conveying something

2:18:07 ↗ that needs to remain confidential. Um,

2:18:09 ↗ so that you know um so that language was

2:18:12 ↗ added but there was um still some

2:18:14 ↗ disagreement on this point.

2:18:19 ↗ >> Council President Marts. So, so I've

2:18:22 ↗ I've looked at section 311

2:18:25 ↗ and it specifically talks about

2:18:28 ↗ information that's exempt from

2:18:30 ↗ disclosure under the public records act.

2:18:33 ↗ So my question for the administration is

2:18:37 ↗ uh

2:18:38 ↗ do is there anticipated I mean I I guess

2:18:43 ↗ I want confirmation that that is the

2:18:45 ↗ definition that we're going to use on

2:18:47 ↗ confidential information especially

2:18:49 ↗ after hearing tonight that the penalty

2:18:50 ↗ for sharing confidential information is

2:18:52 ↗ potential uh you know relinquishing of

2:18:56 ↗ office. So that's how it's worded here.

2:18:59 ↗ If if we get two weeks into it and the

2:19:03 ↗ administration says they have some

2:19:05 ↗ information that they consider

2:19:06 ↗ confidential, but it doesn't uh meet the

2:19:09 ↗ exemption from the public records act,

2:19:13 ↗ um then then then we're not in

2:19:15 ↗ compliance with what's in section 311.

2:19:19 ↗ So I think it's important. So I just

2:19:21 ↗ want to ask um is that the

2:19:23 ↗ administration's understanding? because

2:19:25 ↗ that's how it's written in 311. And it's

2:19:27 ↗ fine if that's what it is. But if it's

2:19:29 ↗ then what the administration decides is

2:19:32 ↗ confidential and it's not um exempted by

2:19:36 ↗ the uh public records act, then we have

2:19:38 ↗ a problem.

2:19:43 ↗ I'm looking at Wally or Rachel to see

2:19:45 ↗ who wants to take the first.

2:19:50 ↗ I think that's a pretty safe and broad

2:19:54 ↗ enough definition of confidential to

2:19:56 ↗ meet everything that we would want to

2:19:59 ↗ keep confidential. I feel pretty

2:20:00 ↗ comfortable with it. I'm sitting here

2:20:02 ↗ and I can't think of anything that

2:20:04 ↗ wouldn't fall within that. Once again,

2:20:07 ↗ my only caution would be, you know, to

2:20:09 ↗ the extent it's executive session, just

2:20:11 ↗ don't talk about what you talked about

2:20:12 ↗ there, period. Even if it there's a

2:20:14 ↗ little, you know, non-confidential

2:20:17 ↗ information scattered within it. But um

2:20:19 ↗ no, as far as a definition goes, this

2:20:22 ↗ should cover everything. It's going to

2:20:23 ↗ cover attorney client privilege. It's

2:20:25 ↗ going to cover work product. It's going

2:20:26 ↗ to cover all sorts of sensitive

2:20:28 ↗ information about people in the city.

2:20:30 ↗ So, I think we should be good.

2:20:32 ↗ >> Thank you, Council Walsh.

2:20:35 ↗ If that isn't our interpretation of

2:20:37 ↗ that, is it possible to change that

2:20:40 ↗ chapter number from 46.56

2:20:44 ↗ to the actual portion in there that

2:20:48 ↗ um defines exemption or confidentiality

2:20:52 ↗ because that is a big honken chapter.

2:20:58 ↗ >> I mean there's literally like hundreds

2:21:01 ↗ of exemptions under the public records

2:21:03 ↗ act. So I don't think there's any way to

2:21:04 ↗ site

2:21:07 ↗ them all.

2:21:11 ↗ >> Okay.

2:21:11 ↗ >> Council member Dair.

2:21:15 ↗ >> Uh so yeah, my question with this uh

2:21:18 ↗ section is like I read it as that

2:21:20 ↗ essentially if you know we're talking to

2:21:22 ↗ city staff and a city just tells us this

2:21:24 ↗ is confidential, it just becomes

2:21:25 ↗ confidential and we're not allowed to

2:21:27 ↗ relay that. which to me then makes me

2:21:30 ↗ just wonder it's like if the city just

2:21:32 ↗ feels something is embarrassing and it

2:21:33 ↗ just doesn't want it out and it tells us

2:21:34 ↗ it's confidential, we now can't talk

2:21:36 ↗ about it anymore. And so I'm curious if

2:21:38 ↗ there is any kind of if one if I'm

2:21:41 ↗ misunderstanding that that it really is

2:21:42 ↗ only very specific things or how this

2:21:44 ↗ confidentiality is decided from the

2:21:46 ↗ administration for us of what we're

2:21:48 ↗ allowed or not allowed to say. I would

2:21:51 ↗ say from the administration's

2:21:52 ↗ perspective here that we would be we

2:21:56 ↗ would only be telling you to keep

2:21:57 ↗ information confidential to the extent

2:22:00 ↗ that it is ex essentially something that

2:22:04 ↗ would be exempt from public disclosure.

2:22:06 ↗ That's been our background conversation

2:22:08 ↗ here is that if you know we want you to

2:22:12 ↗ have information you know and we'll even

2:22:14 ↗ give you all of this information but if

2:22:16 ↗ something is if something is not

2:22:19 ↗ information that we would release to

2:22:20 ↗ just anybody our I think the intent of

2:22:24 ↗ this section is that we would indicate

2:22:26 ↗ that you know in our communication to

2:22:29 ↗ you and why

2:22:32 ↗ >> and and I think the practical

2:22:33 ↗ application is it's almost easier for to

2:22:36 ↗ share just the entire email with all the

2:22:39 ↗ information cuz to create the public

2:22:41 ↗ records version takes a fair amount of

2:22:43 ↗ staff time to redact. And so I think our

2:22:46 ↗ initial response and open transparency

2:22:48 ↗ is to try to just share but then I think

2:22:51 ↗ any council member does have the option

2:22:53 ↗ of saying well I do want to be able to

2:22:55 ↗ share this information so please give me

2:22:57 ↗ the redacted version and and so I think

2:23:00 ↗ that's kind of I think the vision of how

2:23:03 ↗ it would play out.

2:23:06 ↗ Correct.

2:23:08 ↗ And you know just also just something to

2:23:10 ↗ keep in mind just to make yourself feel

2:23:13 ↗ better here on this point. A court would

2:23:15 ↗ never if we said well this is

2:23:18 ↗ confidential just because it's you know

2:23:20 ↗ embarrassing. A court would not be using

2:23:22 ↗ our definition of confidential when they

2:23:25 ↗ when they were deciding whether or not

2:23:27 ↗ to assess you a $500 penalty for

2:23:29 ↗ disclosing confidential information. And

2:23:32 ↗ for you know you would there would have

2:23:34 ↗ to be a legal basis for us to consider

2:23:36 ↗ it confidential for the purposes of that

2:23:41 ↗ >> council Walsh.

2:23:44 ↗ So if the concept is that information

2:23:48 ↗ can be provided to us that might be

2:23:51 ↗ confidential

2:23:53 ↗ but if we wanted to request it we could

2:24:00 ↗ get a redacted version. Does that

2:24:05 ↗ isn't

2:24:07 ↗ mentioned in here. um that isn't

2:24:11 ↗ uh referenced as a a concept or

2:24:17 ↗ a solution and what then makes something

2:24:21 ↗ not

2:24:23 ↗ confidential. So I'm still having a hard

2:24:26 ↗ time with that.

2:24:29 ↗ I mean, I would think like it's

2:24:33 ↗ and correct me if I'm saying this wrong,

2:24:35 ↗ but I think you as a council member can

2:24:38 ↗ request information. We you would get

2:24:41 ↗ two versions. You would get like the one

2:24:42 ↗ that you would get. It's just an Isqua

2:24:44 ↗ resident, which would be what is how you

2:24:47 ↗ release your public records with

2:24:48 ↗ redactions to honor all the stuff. you

2:24:51 ↗ as a council member, the way our

2:24:53 ↗ administration is pursuing it is is

2:24:55 ↗ willing to give you all the information

2:24:57 ↗ but then say this is confidential. So

2:25:00 ↗ now you might know names of people who

2:25:02 ↗ specifically I think to Rachel's point

2:25:04 ↗ can say like I consider myself a victim

2:25:07 ↗ of this situation. I do not want my name

2:25:09 ↗ released. And so now their name is

2:25:11 ↗ sacred through public records. It does

2:25:13 ↗ not it cannot be released through public

2:25:14 ↗ records. you as a council member in our

2:25:17 ↗ current situation is we are sharing that

2:25:20 ↗ name, but then we're putting the

2:25:22 ↗ disclaimer like we're giving you

2:25:24 ↗ confident confidential information cuz

2:25:26 ↗ this person said they were a victim in

2:25:27 ↗ this situation and because they said

2:25:30 ↗ that we're not allowed through any

2:25:32 ↗ public records request to reveal their

2:25:34 ↗ name because they have that right. And

2:25:36 ↗ so I think that's

2:25:38 ↗ >> and I get that. I guess I coming from

2:25:41 ↗ the rules ad hoc, uh, one of the points

2:25:44 ↗ we were trying to create is clarity that

2:25:47 ↗ both someone who reads these rules

2:25:50 ↗ maybe as a future council member can

2:25:53 ↗ understand how they handle confidential

2:25:57 ↗ information and what the remedy might be

2:26:00 ↗ for a situation. So, we did try and put

2:26:03 ↗ in there, you know, something related

2:26:06 ↗ to, hey, if you disagree, this is how.

2:26:09 ↗ But I think that additional information,

2:26:12 ↗ I guess I'm I would ask um our city

2:26:16 ↗ clerk, is that an adjustment that we

2:26:19 ↗ could potentially make in order to

2:26:21 ↗ reference

2:26:23 ↗ um a possible way to address the receipt

2:26:28 ↗ of confidential information that

2:26:33 ↗ we still feels

2:26:36 ↗ bears information that could go out to

2:26:38 ↗ the public.

2:26:45 ↗ I'm sure we could come up with some

2:26:46 ↗ language to achieve what you're um

2:26:49 ↗ talking about. And you know, it's always

2:26:51 ↗ um an interesting balance with the rules

2:26:53 ↗ kind of figuring out what level of

2:26:54 ↗ detail to include. Um so yes, if the

2:26:58 ↗ body would like to have some language

2:27:00 ↗ explaining how council member might

2:27:01 ↗ approach I from my understanding, a lot

2:27:03 ↗ of this is really about timing and

2:27:05 ↗ you're getting information early in some

2:27:07 ↗ cases. So,

2:27:09 ↗ Wally, do you have anything to add?

2:27:11 ↗ >> You know, we'd be happy. I I would just

2:27:13 ↗ hesitate to do this on the floor

2:27:15 ↗ tonight. So, if this is something you'd

2:27:16 ↗ like us to continue working on, we can

2:27:18 ↗ take that as a to-do. We can can finish

2:27:21 ↗ the presentation if there's anything

2:27:22 ↗ else and then bring this back. I mean,

2:27:24 ↗ we would like to wrap this up, but

2:27:26 ↗ there's no great urgency if it takes

2:27:28 ↗ another meeting to do that. So, we'll be

2:27:31 ↗ happy to work through some language and

2:27:33 ↗ come back at a future meeting.

2:27:39 ↗ All right. Oh,

2:27:40 ↗ >> council member Nichols.

2:27:42 ↗ >> Uh, go back for a second. So, yeah, I

2:27:45 ↗ thought it'd be useful just so I was the

2:27:46 ↗ dissenting council member on this one.

2:27:48 ↗ So, I wanted to give the my rationale

2:27:50 ↗ for that. And it's it's not on on the

2:27:52 ↗ face of this. I think this is a very

2:27:54 ↗ reasonable

2:27:55 ↗ part of any rules. There's often times

2:27:58 ↗ confidential information that will come

2:27:59 ↗ up. Um my concern was that as on is on

2:28:03 ↗ part um related to what council member

2:28:05 ↗ Walsh brought up about um it if if we're

2:28:09 ↗ going to add this in there we should

2:28:11 ↗ have it should be complete in a sense

2:28:13 ↗ that it should also give some advice to

2:28:15 ↗ people of how to respond in certain

2:28:17 ↗ situations and part of that is because

2:28:18 ↗ this is this is truly a hypothetical. I

2:28:21 ↗ think we have a a good um situation at

2:28:24 ↗ the moment where we are able to share

2:28:25 ↗ confidential information and that seems

2:28:27 ↗ to be working fine. Um I did ask the

2:28:30 ↗ question if there was that this had ever

2:28:32 ↗ been a problem and there weren't any

2:28:34 ↗ examples given of this being a problem

2:28:35 ↗ with the council. So I think if we

2:28:37 ↗ knowing that it is purely a hypothetical

2:28:40 ↗ um

2:28:42 ↗ the utility of this becomes in guidance

2:28:45 ↗ for future council members to understand

2:28:47 ↗ here's some norms written down a little

2:28:49 ↗ more explicitly as well as here's some

2:28:52 ↗ expectations for or our expectations of

2:28:55 ↗ the administration in terms of what

2:28:57 ↗ paths are available when there is a

2:28:59 ↗ disagreement or some sort of pathway to

2:29:03 ↗ have this not be the the final

2:29:06 ↗ um act so to speak that ends with a

2:29:09 ↗ reference to

2:29:10 ↗ bindings and removal from office.

2:29:14 ↗ So um I I would also

2:29:17 ↗ I I would say I would prefer to to

2:29:19 ↗ strike this for the moment come back to

2:29:20 ↗ it. I think it's something that is

2:29:22 ↗ reasonable to have in there in some way,

2:29:23 ↗ but to slightly clarify um

2:29:30 ↗ both escalation pathways if we do

2:29:32 ↗ disagree with something as well as an

2:29:34 ↗ understanding that public records are

2:29:36 ↗ always requestable by anybody and they

2:29:38 ↗ should understand that and it's it's

2:29:40 ↗ also something you can do as a council

2:29:41 ↗ member as well. And I would say just as

2:29:43 ↗ a I mean my plan was to give council

2:29:45 ↗ member Walsh as the chair of the

2:29:46 ↗ committee a chance to kind of explain

2:29:47 ↗ the committee recommendations. And so

2:29:49 ↗ why don't we get into those nuances, but

2:29:51 ↗ let's try to get through the rem of this

2:29:53 ↗ presentation and then I think I'm going

2:29:55 ↗ to turn it over to council member Walsh

2:29:56 ↗ as the chair to kind of share comments

2:29:58 ↗ and then I think we can have council

2:29:59 ↗ discussion.

2:30:00 ↗ >> Okay. All right. So the next uh policy

2:30:04 ↗ much more benign, travel and meals. Uh

2:30:06 ↗ council basically has a really old

2:30:08 ↗ resolution that got a bit lost there for

2:30:10 ↗ a while from 2008. So uh the committee

2:30:13 ↗ recommended uh repealing the resolution,

2:30:16 ↗ moving the council's expenditure policy

2:30:18 ↗ into the rules and made some changes.

2:30:20 ↗ There used to have to be council

2:30:22 ↗ president approval if you were going to

2:30:23 ↗ spend over $250 on travel or training.

2:30:26 ↗ The committee recommended increasing or

2:30:28 ↗ just going with a $500 threshold, which

2:30:31 ↗ uh is also consistent with the past

2:30:33 ↗ policy. The $500 threshold would require

2:30:36 ↗ uh council approval under good of the

2:30:38 ↗ order at a council meeting. And in other

2:30:41 ↗ regards, the council would be looking to

2:30:43 ↗ the city's internal uh travel and meals

2:30:45 ↗ policy for the nuances of travel and

2:30:48 ↗ pdium and reimbursement and all of those

2:30:50 ↗ things.

2:30:52 ↗ The social media policy we covered in

2:30:55 ↗ the uh training earlier, so I wasn't

2:30:58 ↗ planning to discuss that uh further.

2:31:01 ↗ Uh the committee spent a lot of time

2:31:03 ↗ talking through the new business

2:31:04 ↗ process. Uh the new business process has

2:31:07 ↗ been used a few times recently and it

2:31:10 ↗ does have multiple steps uh three steps

2:31:13 ↗ before an item gets added to the

2:31:15 ↗ planning calendar. the committee

2:31:17 ↗ discussed what has emerged as a bit of a

2:31:20 ↗ um practice which is for items in

2:31:23 ↗ recently and actually looking in the

2:31:26 ↗ past I've saw a few examples of for

2:31:28 ↗ example a resolution supporting a ballot

2:31:30 ↗ measure. Um council uh member Walsh

2:31:33 ↗ brought one up where uh she had an

2:31:35 ↗ intention to amend a resolution the

2:31:37 ↗ council had previously adopted. Um, in

2:31:41 ↗ these cases, council members made a

2:31:43 ↗ motion under good of the order and these

2:31:44 ↗ items got put on uh typically was the

2:31:47 ↗ next meeting agenda. And so the

2:31:49 ↗ committee agreed to enshrine that

2:31:50 ↗ process and distinguished those items as

2:31:53 ↗ um not requiring significant staff time.

2:31:56 ↗ So they're things that really are

2:31:58 ↗ council um motivated and led. And then

2:32:01 ↗ uh they also took a look at the uh

2:32:04 ↗ current new business process which

2:32:07 ↗ requires the form introduction by a

2:32:09 ↗ council member then another meeting for

2:32:10 ↗ the staff response and they wanted to

2:32:13 ↗ compress that and so they basically

2:32:15 ↗ compra recommend compressing that

2:32:17 ↗ council member introduction with the

2:32:19 ↗ staff response and that happening at one

2:32:21 ↗ meeting. And then they wanted to reduce

2:32:24 ↗ the overall threshold to add new items

2:32:28 ↗ to the planning calendar and subsequent

2:32:30 ↗ agendas to three council members instead

2:32:32 ↗ of currently it takes a majority of the

2:32:35 ↗ council and that's just a majority of

2:32:36 ↗ the members present.

2:32:40 ↗ Uh the next change uh was recommended by

2:32:44 ↗ uh staff. The council rules uh currently

2:32:47 ↗ say that if you abstain from voting it

2:32:49 ↗ counts as a yes vote. That is not a

2:32:51 ↗ common understanding of what an

2:32:52 ↗ abstension is. Typically abstaining is

2:32:54 ↗ not voting. So we recommend uh changing

2:32:57 ↗ that. Um but council members intending

2:32:59 ↗ to abstain, you do need to say something

2:33:01 ↗ because we do voice votes here. It's

2:33:03 ↗ really difficult to know if someone

2:33:04 ↗ abstains. So you under discussion would

2:33:06 ↗ clarify that. A reason you might choose

2:33:09 ↗ to abstain. Abstensions are strongly

2:33:10 ↗ discouraged in the municipal code and in

2:33:13 ↗ the rules still. But a reason you might

2:33:15 ↗ choose to abstain is if you have a

2:33:17 ↗ perceived conflict of interest, but it's

2:33:19 ↗ not significant enough to be a

2:33:21 ↗ full-fledged conflict of interest, but

2:33:23 ↗ you just can't get comfortable voting.

2:33:25 ↗ That might be a reason you choose to do

2:33:27 ↗ that. Another change to this section was

2:33:29 ↗ currently the rules say that a majority

2:33:31 ↗ of the council has to agree that you not

2:33:34 ↗ vote if you have a legitimate conflict

2:33:36 ↗ of interest, which was just confusing.

2:33:38 ↗ So, if you have spoken with the city

2:33:40 ↗ attorney and understand you truly have a

2:33:42 ↗ conflict of interest under state law, we

2:33:43 ↗ do not want you voting and the rules

2:33:45 ↗ would say that you would actually leave

2:33:46 ↗ the room for that portion of the

2:33:48 ↗ meeting.

2:33:51 ↗ Um the last change and this actually was

2:33:53 ↗ a no change but it was something that

2:33:55 ↗ there was some attention on before the

2:33:57 ↗ um committee met. though uh we thought

2:33:59 ↗ it warranted mentioning is the committee

2:34:01 ↗ did discuss for some amount of time this

2:34:04 ↗ concept of a potential audit committee

2:34:06 ↗ or financial committee and ultimately

2:34:08 ↗ felt comfortable with the council's

2:34:10 ↗ existing processes of designating one to

2:34:12 ↗ two council members to participate in

2:34:15 ↗ the city's annual audit entrance and

2:34:17 ↗ exit meetings with the state auditors

2:34:20 ↗ and using the committee of the whole

2:34:22 ↗ meetings and the retreats to kind of

2:34:24 ↗ discussing those bigger financial

2:34:26 ↗ picture issues. Um so ultimately in your

2:34:28 ↗ rules you do not see um any kind of new

2:34:30 ↗ committee being formed as was that idea

2:34:33 ↗ had been tossed out um last year. So uh

2:34:37 ↗ again thank you to the ad hoc rules

2:34:39 ↗ committee again four meetings a lot of

2:34:41 ↗ review a lot of thoughtful um review and

2:34:44 ↗ consideration of these ideas. Um there

2:34:47 ↗ are some proposed amendments in your

2:34:48 ↗ packet and I'll turn it over to you

2:34:50 ↗ mayor. Thank you.

2:34:51 ↗ >> Okay. I'm going to turn it over to

2:34:52 ↗ council member Walsh. Oh. Oh council

2:34:55 ↗ president Marts first. Can um uh clerk

2:34:58 ↗ Geyser, can you mention one topic you

2:35:00 ↗ did not cover uh was around rules for

2:35:04 ↗ public participation

2:35:05 ↗ and it there were some changes there pro

2:35:10 ↗ proposed changes.

2:35:12 ↗ >> Thank you. Yeah, there were some

2:35:14 ↗ proposed changes there and that was

2:35:15 ↗ really to better clarify the rules had

2:35:17 ↗ some language that the city attorney and

2:35:19 ↗ I both felt mildly uncomfortable with

2:35:21 ↗ because it implied that the chair could

2:35:25 ↗ um remove someone from the chamber or

2:35:28 ↗ cut them off um because they had sort of

2:35:31 ↗ dispar disparaging comments and weren't

2:35:34 ↗ having what we might consider

2:35:35 ↗ appropriate conduct. But uh we know um

2:35:38 ↗ that first amendment protections are

2:35:40 ↗ strong and actually the recommendation

2:35:41 ↗ is and and we've had this experience

2:35:43 ↗ here where unfortunately we've had to

2:35:45 ↗ listen to some pretty um terrible public

2:35:47 ↗ comment but unfortunately um we feel

2:35:50 ↗ that it's uh in the agency's best

2:35:52 ↗ interest to go ahead and and endure um

2:35:56 ↗ the public comment. So it it draws a bit

2:35:58 ↗ more of a line between just saying

2:36:00 ↗ something that might not be appropriate

2:36:02 ↗ versus truly disrupting the meeting in

2:36:04 ↗ which case if someone is truly allow

2:36:06 ↗ preventing the council from moving

2:36:08 ↗ through their meeting in those cases we

2:36:10 ↗ could have someone removed legitimately.

2:36:14 ↗ >> Yeah. My eye actually caught a little

2:36:15 ↗ bit different part of it. It was an

2:36:17 ↗ addition that said um and to set an

2:36:20 ↗ overall maximum duration for the public

2:36:22 ↗ comment period. Maximum duration is set.

2:36:24 ↗ Efforts will be made to ensure there is

2:36:26 ↗ equal opportunity for individuals to

2:36:28 ↗ speak in support of and opposition to an

2:36:30 ↗ issue.

2:36:31 ↗ >> Sorry, thank you. Um, yes. So, that was

2:36:34 ↗ another uh recommendation. So, the

2:36:36 ↗ council has a limit of 5 minutes of

2:36:39 ↗ public comment and there is some

2:36:40 ↗ discretion by the presiding officer, but

2:36:42 ↗ there's nothing in the rules saying that

2:36:44 ↗ there can be any cap put on public

2:36:46 ↗ comment. I think not in the real recent

2:36:48 ↗ past, but the council has seen some

2:36:50 ↗ issues come here where the room is full

2:36:53 ↗ and we have 50 people wanting to make

2:36:55 ↗ public comments. And so this was

2:36:57 ↗ recommended to the suggested to the

2:36:59 ↗ committee as a potential tool to be used

2:37:02 ↗ sparingly and thoughtfully, but to if

2:37:05 ↗ the council has a busy agenda to allow

2:37:07 ↗ some parameter to put in place. Maybe

2:37:09 ↗ it's two hours of public comment. Um, so

2:37:11 ↗ that's why the addition was suggested.

2:37:15 ↗ Committee members might have other

2:37:16 ↗ thoughts, but that was the

2:37:18 ↗ administration's thought.

2:37:20 ↗ >> I would love to know what the committee

2:37:21 ↗ thought about that.

2:37:22 ↗ >> Well, Council Member Walsh, this leads

2:37:24 ↗ to a good segue. Go ahead.

2:37:26 ↗ >> Um, this was a staff recommendation and

2:37:30 ↗ we did mention that it was important to

2:37:34 ↗ make sure that we were hearing um from

2:37:37 ↗ um both sides of an issue and not just

2:37:40 ↗ necessarily in the order um at which

2:37:43 ↗ people signed up. So that that could not

2:37:45 ↗ be used to silence a group um and that

2:37:49 ↗ it be used uh sparingly but that um it

2:37:54 ↗ was a tool that we were comfortable

2:37:57 ↗ adding into our rules.

2:38:00 ↗ >> Thank you.

2:38:03 ↗ >> Council Robert Nichols.

2:38:04 ↗ >> Yeah. And just to to second that, um I

2:38:07 ↗ think sparing is a the the key word and

2:38:10 ↗ if it ever became a problem, I think we

2:38:11 ↗ would want to address that perhaps

2:38:14 ↗ immediately even at that same meeting we

2:38:15 ↗ could. Um the uh to be take effect the

2:38:19 ↗ next meeting perhaps. But the um the the

2:38:22 ↗ thought here is that there there are

2:38:23 ↗ going and um some regional board

2:38:26 ↗ meetings come to mind where there are

2:38:28 ↗ you know 100 people that have signed up.

2:38:30 ↗ something that happens frequently at

2:38:31 ↗ those is just to reduce the total amount

2:38:33 ↗ of time people have to speak

2:38:34 ↗ individually so everybody can still

2:38:35 ↗ speak um but overall compressed to a

2:38:38 ↗ more reasonable amount of time uh and I

2:38:40 ↗ I think there there is also looking at

2:38:42 ↗ that charitably there is a public

2:38:44 ↗ benefit to that in some sense and that

2:38:47 ↗ people have busy lives and if they if

2:38:49 ↗ they want to make their comment but

2:38:50 ↗ they've got to wait four hours that's

2:38:51 ↗ also somewhat problematic. Um, I don't

2:38:54 ↗ that that's there's a there's a very

2:38:56 ↗ careful balance that has to be struck

2:38:57 ↗ there and I would generally much rather

2:38:59 ↗ weigh on the side of increase public

2:39:01 ↗ participation whenever possible. But as

2:39:03 ↗ long as we were reviewing this rule, I

2:39:05 ↗ was okay with giving the chair some

2:39:07 ↗ additional flexibility to be used very

2:39:09 ↗ sparingly um and have that be a part of

2:39:11 ↗ our culture that it would be very

2:39:12 ↗ sparing as well.

2:39:15 ↗ >> Thank you. And council member Walsh, did

2:39:17 ↗ you want to give a broader macro kind of

2:39:19 ↗ explanation or do you feel comfortable

2:39:20 ↗ that everyone has it based on the

2:39:22 ↗ presentation

2:39:23 ↗ >> uh with just everything that we did?

2:39:25 ↗ >> Yeah.

2:39:26 ↗ >> Yeah. No, I I wrote down just a few um

2:39:30 ↗ comments in that, you know, there were

2:39:33 ↗ three of us tasked with this um initial

2:39:36 ↗ scope was six primary areas, four minor.

2:39:41 ↗ When we got started, there were five

2:39:43 ↗ additional items, three added by staff,

2:39:45 ↗ two by committee members. So, 28 total

2:39:48 ↗ areas of review. Um, we did end up uh

2:39:52 ↗ first of all moving our meetings to a

2:39:54 ↗ public location, which we thought was

2:39:57 ↗ great. Um, and providing online access.

2:40:00 ↗ We did have two members of the community

2:40:02 ↗ who did end up joining us for one of the

2:40:05 ↗ meetings and so that was great as well.

2:40:08 ↗ Um, I think Tisha did a wonderful job

2:40:11 ↗ just covering um, all of the pieces. I

2:40:15 ↗ will add in there along with the new

2:40:17 ↗ business request process, there was a

2:40:19 ↗ request from uh, staff on council member

2:40:23 ↗ use of staff time. And we did decline to

2:40:27 ↗ pursue limits on um use of staff time

2:40:31 ↗ believing that it's both our job to

2:40:33 ↗ provide oversight um but also that staff

2:40:37 ↗ already has the tools that they need to

2:40:39 ↗ provide the limitations so that we are

2:40:41 ↗ not taking over um the um staff time

2:40:46 ↗ that we've already allocated via budget

2:40:48 ↗ and pieces of that. Um the new business

2:40:52 ↗ request item really came to us because

2:40:55 ↗ it had been very rarely used um in the

2:41:00 ↗ previous um council. And so we wanted to

2:41:03 ↗ make sure that we reviewed and reduced

2:41:06 ↗ barriers there. And I think we

2:41:07 ↗ accomplished that both in creating a

2:41:10 ↗ single touch um item for minimal staff

2:41:12 ↗ time and uh reducing the number of

2:41:17 ↗ touches for larger non uh new business

2:41:20 ↗ request items and reducing the vote

2:41:23 ↗ threshold from a majority to three

2:41:25 ↗ council members. that ensures that

2:41:28 ↗ something that is of interest but we

2:41:30 ↗ don't have the full information on yet

2:41:33 ↗ um if it's of interest to at least three

2:41:36 ↗ council members it can then go onto a

2:41:39 ↗ planning calendar in a future agenda. It

2:41:42 ↗ does not require the interest of a

2:41:44 ↗ majority of the council in order to hear

2:41:47 ↗ um all of the information related to

2:41:49 ↗ that. Um, and then as we've touched upon

2:41:52 ↗ here, the confidentiality was really the

2:41:54 ↗ only area where we had a minority

2:41:56 ↗ opinion. Um, and Council Member Nichols

2:41:58 ↗ has spoken to that a bit. Um, but

2:42:02 ↗ overall it was a very successful

2:42:04 ↗ committee and I will just note that

2:42:07 ↗ after we do the approval, the committee

2:42:10 ↗ will be disbanded until there is any

2:42:12 ↗ future use. And we have tended to do

2:42:15 ↗ this every year or two just as items

2:42:19 ↗ have come up over time.

2:42:22 ↗ >> Council member Joe,

2:42:25 ↗ thank you. I'd like to thank uh Council

2:42:27 ↗ Member Walsh for her leadership during

2:42:29 ↗ this this process. Uh the meetings were

2:42:32 ↗ uh robust and the conversation was

2:42:34 ↗ lively. Uh just one thing for council to

2:42:38 ↗ keep in mind is these are rules that

2:42:39 ↗ we're setting to kind of manage our own

2:42:43 ↗ behavior and our conduct. However, uh

2:42:46 ↗ always keep in mind that these rules may

2:42:48 ↗ be suspended by a majority vote when

2:42:51 ↗ situations arise that may be unusual or

2:42:54 ↗ may uh require us to take extraordinary

2:42:56 ↗ action or um you know to to address a

2:42:59 ↗ specific situation. So, while these are

2:43:02 ↗ rules that we're agreeing to all abide

2:43:04 ↗ by, um they're by no means a straight

2:43:06 ↗ jacket. They're just a guideline for us

2:43:08 ↗ and then we can suspend the rules if the

2:43:10 ↗ situation should arise. Um and the

2:43:12 ↗ flexibility is still there for us to

2:43:15 ↗ address situations that I think our

2:43:16 ↗ citizens would want us to address in

2:43:18 ↗ either an emergency situation or a

2:43:21 ↗ situation with some um expediency

2:43:23 ↗ required. So, just please keep that in

2:43:25 ↗ mind as we're approving these or

2:43:27 ↗ considering these this evening. Thank

2:43:28 ↗ you. Council member Nichols,

2:43:32 ↗ >> very briefly at the high level. Yes, I

2:43:33 ↗ also want to thank our chair. Uh thank

2:43:36 ↗ my fellow committee members overall. Uh

2:43:38 ↗ I agree we had some good discussions and

2:43:40 ↗ uh also thank you to the staff. Uh I

2:43:42 ↗ appreciate this is a lot of work um with

2:43:44 ↗ many many many red lines um to get

2:43:47 ↗ through a very long document and

2:43:49 ↗ condense those opinions both from the

2:43:52 ↗ the council and the staff into a a good

2:43:55 ↗ overall compromise. So thank you.

2:43:59 ↗ Can I ask uh

2:44:02 ↗ is there are we going to do a motion and

2:44:04 ↗ then do amendments? Is you said that you

2:44:06 ↗ mentioned amendments I guess or

2:44:09 ↗ >> Yes. Yeah. The uh you you could do that

2:44:13 ↗ and also as Wally shared if there was

2:44:16 ↗ the desire to add some more thoughtful

2:44:18 ↗ language that might be difficult to come

2:44:20 ↗ up with at this time the item could also

2:44:22 ↗ be postponed and language could be

2:44:23 ↗ brought back at a subsequent meeting.

2:44:26 ↗ >> Got it.

2:44:36 ↗ So, council member Nichols

2:44:38 ↗ >> question. Um, would it be advisable to

2:44:41 ↗ accept to to strike one session with an

2:44:44 ↗ understanding that that might be brought

2:44:45 ↗ forward and otherwise vote on this as is

2:44:48 ↗ or would it be better to bring it back

2:44:49 ↗ in its entirety later?

2:44:54 ↗ given the the extensive nature of the

2:44:56 ↗ revisions, probably just be good to have

2:44:58 ↗ one revised copy of this versus adopt

2:45:01 ↗ this and then revise it in two weeks.

2:45:03 ↗ So, we could come back uh as early as

2:45:08 ↗ the 18th of May. The city clerk won't be

2:45:10 ↗ here. Um the next regular meeting after

2:45:13 ↗ that is this June 1st. So,

2:45:17 ↗ I look to the chair of the committee if

2:45:18 ↗ you have a preference.

2:45:21 ↗ Yeah, I think I am interested uh and I

2:45:26 ↗ think I've heard from several council

2:45:27 ↗ members here on the dis that um

2:45:30 ↗ postponing is potentially a good idea.

2:45:33 ↗ Uh were you just suggesting June 1st

2:45:35 ↗ >> just so we have adequate staff support?

2:45:38 ↗ June 1st might be appropriate.

2:45:40 ↗ Yeah, I if somebody is out of town that

2:45:43 ↗ would provide uh staff support, we I

2:45:46 ↗ think are perfectly fine to

2:45:49 ↗ wait on that.

2:45:51 ↗ >> So, we'd recommend June 1st then.

2:45:52 ↗ >> June 1st. If you'd like to get it done

2:45:55 ↗ tonight, I do have some language that I

2:45:57 ↗ can offer for your consideration.

2:45:59 ↗ >> I think the administration would

2:46:00 ↗ appreciate the council's generosity to

2:46:02 ↗ give us some extra time.

2:46:04 ↗ >> Yeah. So, do we need to make a motion to

2:46:06 ↗ table or

2:46:08 ↗ >> um

2:46:09 ↗ >> date certain?

2:46:10 ↗ >> There there's not a motion pending right

2:46:12 ↗ now. So, I think it's fine if we're

2:46:14 ↗ hearing that there's no objection to

2:46:16 ↗ bring this item back at the June 1st

2:46:19 ↗ meeting with some suggested revisions to

2:46:21 ↗ the confidentiality section to talk

2:46:23 ↗ about remedies to providing redacted

2:46:27 ↗ information. There's not an objection to

2:46:29 ↗ that. We can just proceed.

2:46:30 ↗ >> Okay.

2:46:30 ↗ >> So, I have a question um for clerk

2:46:32 ↗ geyser. First of all, I I I just I even

2:46:35 ↗ though we don't have a motion in front

2:46:36 ↗ of us, I want to thank you, Clerk

2:46:37 ↗ Geyser. I I did this last time we we did

2:46:40 ↗ this update and your leadership on this

2:46:42 ↗ is great and the materials today.

2:46:44 ↗ There's a like it was extremely well put

2:46:47 ↗ together and extremely easy for me

2:46:49 ↗ sitting on an airplane flying over

2:46:51 ↗ Minnesota um to understand as as I was

2:46:54 ↗ reading this. But I do have a question.

2:46:55 ↗ If a council member wanted to consider

2:46:58 ↗ potential amendment language um on the

2:47:01 ↗ first, would you like to know that now?

2:47:04 ↗ Okay. So, I I will be suggesting on the

2:47:07 ↗ first that we strike this new language

2:47:09 ↗ and to set an overall maximum duration

2:47:11 ↗ for the public comment period. If a

2:47:12 ↗ maximum duration is set, efforts will be

2:47:14 ↗ made to ensure there is equal

2:47:15 ↗ opportunity for individuals to speak in

2:47:17 ↗ support of and opposition to an issue.

2:47:19 ↗ So, I will be proposing that amendment

2:47:21 ↗ on the first, just so you know.

2:47:25 ↗ I like it. Okay. Uh

2:47:27 ↗ >> we don't have to de we we can't can't

2:47:29 ↗ debate it now, but I wanted you to know

2:47:30 ↗ that that's something I will be

2:47:32 ↗ suggesting.

2:47:34 ↗ >> Okay. So, this one's coming back on June

2:47:36 ↗ 1st. So, this will take us to committee

2:47:39 ↗ and regional reports and we're going to

2:47:41 ↗ start with council member Boyd.

2:47:48 ↗ >> Um no report. I am not on any yet. So, I

2:47:52 ↗ think this is maybe next time

2:47:54 ↗ >> you get the brevity award. Council

2:47:56 ↗ member Adair.

2:47:58 ↗ >> Uh, I just have that tomorrow, May 5th

2:48:00 ↗ at 6:30 is the services, safety, and

2:48:02 ↗ parks committee meeting here where the

2:48:04 ↗ agenda items are equity goals and

2:48:06 ↗ evaluation and an update on the

2:48:07 ↗ potential park bond renewal.

2:48:09 ↗ >> All right, Council Member Nichols.

2:48:11 ↗ >> Okay. Uh, I'd like to note that the East

2:48:13 ↗ Side Transportation Partnership uh will

2:48:15 ↗ be meeting this Friday, May 8th, at 8

2:48:17 ↗ a.m. I will be the sole representative

2:48:18 ↗ for the city on what is normally a very

2:48:20 ↗ wellrepresented committee u by Isqua. Uh

2:48:23 ↗ in that meeting, we will be discussing a

2:48:25 ↗ letter of support for the four line uh

2:48:26 ↗ with a vote u scheduled. Uh this is a

2:48:29 ↗ letter that our vice chair has been

2:48:31 ↗ working on with several other members of

2:48:32 ↗ the committee to, as the title of the

2:48:35 ↗ letter says, express the East Side

2:48:37 ↗ Transportation Partnership's broad

2:48:39 ↗ support for the four line. Uh we will

2:48:40 ↗ also be receiving a report out on the

2:48:42 ↗ FIFA men's World Cup transportation

2:48:44 ↗ panel. Um which I hope to get some uh

2:48:47 ↗ good information back on what to expect.

2:48:49 ↗ Um and uh we'll report out after that.

2:48:52 ↗ >> Can we submit the four-line letter on

2:48:53 ↗ purple card stock?

2:48:56 ↗ >> Uh I can I can try to make that motion

2:48:58 ↗ and see how the what the body's uh

2:49:00 ↗ opinion is.

2:49:01 ↗ >> Okay. Council member Joe.

2:49:03 ↗ >> Thank you. Uh Cascade Water Alliance

2:49:06 ↗ will be holding a special meeting on

2:49:07 ↗ tomorrow, May 5th. Um I believe you're

2:49:10 ↗ attending mayor uh concerning a

2:49:11 ↗ personnel matter. Um the mobility and

2:49:14 ↗ infrastructure committee will be meeting

2:49:16 ↗ on May 12th at 2:30 May 12th. Um we'll

2:49:20 ↗ be looking at the amendments to the

2:49:22 ↗ street standards for utility facilities

2:49:24 ↗ and a transportation improvement update.

2:49:27 ↗ Um in the monthly report for Cascade, I

2:49:30 ↗ apologize for jumping around. They

2:49:32 ↗ didn't indicate uh that that report will

2:49:35 ↗ be sent out to you, but in the outreach

2:49:37 ↗ report, I would just note that they did

2:49:39 ↗ report that 409 people visited the

2:49:41 ↗ Cascade Water Alliance booth at the

2:49:43 ↗ recent Isiqua Sustainability Fair on

2:49:45 ↗ April 26. So, they are out in the

2:49:48 ↗ community. They're out in in Isiqua um

2:49:50 ↗ doing outreach for us. So, just a note

2:49:52 ↗ when you review that report, it should

2:49:55 ↗ be coming to you in the next day or so.

2:49:57 ↗ May 15th, uh we'll have a chamber board

2:49:59 ↗ liaison meeting. Uh, Wally, uh, Bob

2:50:03 ↗ Quitz and I will be attending that to

2:50:04 ↗ keep the chamber informed on what the

2:50:06 ↗ city is doing. That concludes my report.

2:50:08 ↗ Thank you.

2:50:09 ↗ >> Excellent. Council member Walsh.

2:50:10 ↗ >> Thank you. Uh, the rules ad hawk met.

2:50:13 ↗ I'm not going to give you a summary of

2:50:15 ↗ that because we just did. Uh, the

2:50:17 ↗ planning development environment

2:50:19 ↗ committee. Our meeting that was supposed

2:50:20 ↗ to be tomorrow has been moved to May

2:50:23 ↗ 19th as a um change with SSP. Our agenda

2:50:27 ↗ includes review of a goal and outcomes

2:50:30 ↗ chart for our housing work. Um plus our

2:50:32 ↗ progress on code amendments thus far. Uh

2:50:35 ↗ east side fire and rescue still big

2:50:38 ↗ topics. Um we meet May 14th. The agenda

2:50:42 ↗ includes a presentation from Puet Sound

2:50:45 ↗ Fire Authority um their chief. Um and so

2:50:50 ↗ we are hearing because they went through

2:50:52 ↗ the process of starting a regional fire

2:50:54 ↗ authority 15 years ago and they are just

2:50:57 ↗ now adding the um fire district around

2:51:01 ↗ Maple Valley. They're also of similar

2:51:04 ↗ size to East Side Fire and Rescue and um

2:51:09 ↗ when they include uh Maple Valley, they

2:51:11 ↗ will butt up to us. So they will be one

2:51:14 ↗ of a few potential

2:51:17 ↗ uh fire authorities that we could um

2:51:20 ↗ they could annex us as a potential

2:51:24 ↗ um

2:51:26 ↗ and then we will get the remainder of

2:51:27 ↗ our presentation on possible funding

2:51:29 ↗ models. So just to be very clear on an

2:51:33 ↗ update, we are hoping to get feedback

2:51:35 ↗ from uh the board at our June meeting

2:51:38 ↗ about whether the idea of

2:51:43 ↗ pursuing

2:51:44 ↗ a planning committee to pursue the idea

2:51:49 ↗ of a regional fire authority is

2:51:51 ↗ something we want to go for. If so, the

2:51:54 ↗ next step after that June meeting would

2:51:56 ↗ be for the chief to contact all of the

2:51:58 ↗ cities and districts and schedule a

2:52:01 ↗ meeting with each of those councils

2:52:04 ↗ because in order to take that next

2:52:07 ↗ official step to create a planning

2:52:10 ↗ committee, we need to write a letter to

2:52:13 ↗ all of the other municipalities and

2:52:15 ↗ organizations um that would potentially

2:52:18 ↗ be merging together um in order to

2:52:22 ↗ invite them into a planning committee.

2:52:24 ↗ That would also require us to appoint

2:52:26 ↗ three elected officials from our

2:52:29 ↗ organization into that. So if we are

2:52:31 ↗ talking about nine different

2:52:32 ↗ organizations, that would potentially be

2:52:34 ↗ a lovely planning committee of 27

2:52:37 ↗ members, which is not going to make

2:52:39 ↗ anything easier. Um, but that planning

2:52:42 ↗ committee would potentially take a year

2:52:46 ↗ to two years to do all of the work of

2:52:50 ↗ what levy should we set, what fire

2:52:53 ↗ benefit charge, what should be the

2:52:55 ↗ governance model, who should be

2:52:57 ↗ represented on the future board, all of

2:52:59 ↗ those things. So, giving you a sense

2:53:02 ↗ that this will potentially come back to

2:53:04 ↗ council in September

2:53:07 ↗ to ask for that.

2:53:10 ↗ um letter to start a planning committee.

2:53:13 ↗ I am more than happy to brief anyone,

2:53:16 ↗ talk to you all. I just know this is a

2:53:18 ↗ big thing. Finally, the King County uh

2:53:21 ↗ affordable housing committee meets this

2:53:23 ↗ Thursday at 3:30 p.m. virtually. The

2:53:26 ↗ agenda includes revisions to our 2026

2:53:28 ↗ work plan, feedback on the five-year

2:53:31 ↗ action plan, and an update on our

2:53:34 ↗ dashboard data.

2:53:37 ↗ health president words.

2:53:38 ↗ >> So I I have a question about the epher.

2:53:40 ↗ So when when do we know when we're going

2:53:43 ↗ to know when we're going to make a

2:53:44 ↗ decision?

2:53:46 ↗ >> So the hope is that the the east side

2:53:49 ↗ fire and rescue board of directors will

2:53:52 ↗ have all of the information they need by

2:53:54 ↗ June to figure out if this is ready to

2:53:57 ↗ go to the cities.

2:53:59 ↗ >> Okay. If all of the nine cities and fire

2:54:02 ↗ districts agree and write a letter and

2:54:05 ↗ appoint people, that would start a

2:54:07 ↗ planning committee. The planning

2:54:09 ↗ committee would then go through all of

2:54:12 ↗ this full process

2:54:15 ↗ and that would potentially take a while.

2:54:18 ↗ And so I think at this point we are

2:54:21 ↗ looking at like a 2028

2:54:24 ↗ potential for an election.

2:54:28 ↗ So we as a body have an option

2:54:31 ↗ opportunity this summer to uh impact

2:54:36 ↗ that trajectory and then that's kind of

2:54:40 ↗ it. Then it

2:54:41 ↗ >> and then it would be up to the three

2:54:43 ↗ elected officials from Isiqua to

2:54:48 ↗ represent our views on that planning

2:54:50 ↗ committee and come back and provide

2:54:53 ↗ updates on what it is. you know, maybe

2:54:56 ↗ get feedback from council. I'm sure we

2:54:59 ↗ can provide, you know, regular updates

2:55:02 ↗ and a sense of the big decision points

2:55:05 ↗ so that we can make sure, much like you

2:55:07 ↗ do for pick, if there's a decision

2:55:09 ↗ coming up, we want to make sure that

2:55:12 ↗ council

2:55:13 ↗ agrees with those ideas and can then

2:55:16 ↗ bring that back to the planning

2:55:17 ↗ committee.

2:55:19 ↗ So, so it would be essentially the train

2:55:24 ↗ would leave the station this summer.

2:55:26 ↗ >> The Okay. So, the train would

2:55:28 ↗ potentially leave the station on

2:55:30 ↗ creating a planning committee. A

2:55:32 ↗ planning committee at any point can be

2:55:35 ↗ dissolved

2:55:36 ↗ by any of the members by writing a

2:55:39 ↗ letter

2:55:40 ↗ >> any of the members. So, it's a unanimous

2:55:42 ↗ decision. Uh, I believe any of the

2:55:45 ↗ members can choose to leave,

2:55:48 ↗ but that would bring in all these

2:55:50 ↗ questions about how do we fund East Side

2:55:52 ↗ Fire and Rescue if eight of the members

2:55:55 ↗ were to continue with a regional fire

2:55:57 ↗ authority and one decided not to. That

2:56:00 ↗ will be also a topic of conversation

2:56:03 ↗ amongst the planning committee because

2:56:04 ↗ we would need to also determine how

2:56:07 ↗ someone leaves a regional fire authority

2:56:11 ↗ once it was created. There are a lot a

2:56:14 ↗ lot of decision points and

2:56:17 ↗ conversations. Um I guess what I would

2:56:20 ↗ say from a starting point is East Side

2:56:23 ↗ Fire and Rescue is way ahead of the

2:56:26 ↗ times in that we created a regional

2:56:32 ↗ fire

2:56:33 ↗ organization

2:56:35 ↗ before such a thing existed at the state

2:56:38 ↗ level. And so this regional fire

2:56:40 ↗ authority is something that the state

2:56:43 ↗ created because there was a need for

2:56:45 ↗ regionalization here and it gave us some

2:56:48 ↗ funding levers that we cannot currently

2:56:52 ↗ take advantage of. But it does come with

2:56:54 ↗ a lot of decision-m

2:56:56 ↗ >> I'm just trying to understand where the

2:56:57 ↗ gates are. Yes. Like I realize it's a

2:56:59 ↗ complicated decision and we need a lot

2:57:01 ↗ more data and all that kind of stuff.

2:57:03 ↗ I'm just trying to understand where the

2:57:04 ↗ decision points are where we get to say

2:57:07 ↗ yes or no. Understanding that a no can

2:57:09 ↗ get complicated if we get very far down

2:57:11 ↗ the process.

2:57:12 ↗ >> Yeah. And I will bring that feedback

2:57:14 ↗ back to the chief in that we need to be

2:57:17 ↗ very clear when he is doing those

2:57:19 ↗ presentations in September where the

2:57:22 ↗ gates are and what the opportunities of

2:57:25 ↗ each of our organizations is to provide

2:57:27 ↗ feedback throughout the process.

2:57:29 ↗ >> Thank you. I appreciate that.

2:57:30 ↗ >> Yeah.

2:57:31 ↗ Deputy President Jen.

2:57:33 ↗ >> Great. Okay, two updates for me. Um, so

2:57:35 ↗ the King County Flood Control District

2:57:37 ↗ Advisory Committee uh had our first

2:57:40 ↗ meeting of the year on Friday, April

2:57:42 ↗ 24th. We discussed the flood control

2:57:44 ↗ district budgets and the process for

2:57:45 ↗ projects to move from proposed to

2:57:47 ↗ prioritized to funded to implementation.

2:57:50 ↗ Notably, there is an additional $40

2:57:51 ↗ million in spending allocated to help

2:57:54 ↗ with recovery from the major floods that

2:57:55 ↗ happened in December 2025. And also, you

2:57:58 ↗ know, there's kind of a discussion on

2:57:59 ↗ just budgeting for the flood control

2:58:01 ↗ district in general. Um, the flood

2:58:02 ↗ control district is quite underfunded

2:58:05 ↗ relative to the need. Basically, they're

2:58:06 ↗ like, if we implemented all the projects

2:58:08 ↗ that people have applied for, we would

2:58:09 ↗ have a balance of negative $200 million.

2:58:12 ↗ Um, and I I mean, just given where we're

2:58:15 ↗ trending with the climate, I think the

2:58:16 ↗ need for that will continue to increase.

2:58:18 ↗ So, we'll be interesting to see how that

2:58:20 ↗ goes. The other uh very interesting

2:58:22 ↗ meeting that I attended that day was the

2:58:24 ↗ King County Regional Homelessness

2:58:25 ↗ Authority governing board meeting. Um we

2:58:28 ↗ met in person at the Seattle Library and

2:58:30 ↗ we had to move to a different room to

2:58:33 ↗ have space for the members of the media

2:58:34 ↗ that were there with us. Um which was

2:58:36 ↗ very interesting. So uh as you may have

2:58:38 ↗ heard, we reviewed the results of a

2:58:40 ↗ forensic audit. Um an accountant from

2:58:42 ↗ Clark Newer, which is an accounting firm

2:58:44 ↗ based out of Belleview spoke with us.

2:58:46 ↗ You may have read about this in the

2:58:47 ↗ news. If you have any questions, feel

2:58:49 ↗ free to reach out to me directly. Um,

2:58:51 ↗ but basically the main action that was

2:58:53 ↗ taken in that meeting was creating a

2:58:54 ↗ finance committee to provide oversight

2:58:57 ↗ as well as institute a hiring freeze

2:58:59 ↗ unless specific exemptions are granted

2:59:01 ↗ by the finance committee. I will be the

2:59:04 ↗ representative from Sound Cities

2:59:05 ↗ Association on this finance committee

2:59:07 ↗ along with two representatives from

2:59:09 ↗ Seattle, two representatives from King

2:59:10 ↗ County, and one lived experience

2:59:12 ↗ representative. So, more to come on

2:59:15 ↗ that. That concludes my report.

2:59:17 ↗ >> Council President Mart,

2:59:18 ↗ >> how can I follow that? Um there is an

2:59:21 ↗ upcoming SCA pick meet Sun Cities

2:59:23 ↗ Association Public Issues Committee

2:59:25 ↗ meeting Wednesday, May 13th. Uh it's

2:59:28 ↗ relatively juicy, not that juicy, but um

2:59:30 ↗ we're going to have a discussion on a

2:59:32 ↗ potential affordable housing regional

2:59:33 ↗ initiative. Uh we're going to so a start

2:59:37 ↗ point, but no no um uh no action

2:59:41 ↗ anticipated. Uh there is an action

2:59:43 ↗ anticipated on the 2027 proposed sewer

2:59:46 ↗ rate response letter. There have been a

2:59:48 ↗ number of potential amendments and so I

2:59:50 ↗ have just forwarded you all. I don't

2:59:52 ↗ think you were necessarily on the

2:59:53 ↗ original note from I think it was Laura

2:59:55 ↗ Belmont. Um but please take a look. Uh

2:59:58 ↗ there's no guarantee that all those

2:59:59 ↗ amendments will be supported um by pick

3:00:02 ↗ but if you if you have strong feelings

3:00:04 ↗ one one way or the other please let me

3:00:05 ↗ know um before the 13th because that is

3:00:07 ↗ the second touch on this issue. So this

3:00:10 ↗ is when we will um make a recommendation

3:00:12 ↗ to the full board uh which I am on um

3:00:15 ↗ but that occurs after the next full

3:00:17 ↗ council meeting. Uh so I will have

3:00:19 ↗ information at the next regular council

3:00:20 ↗ meeting on how that goes and what's

3:00:22 ↗ going to be going to the board. Uh

3:00:24 ↗ there's also potential action on a Sound

3:00:26 ↗ Transit Enterprise initiative. Uh I

3:00:28 ↗ don't know anything about that yet, but

3:00:30 ↗ that's another one of those two-step uh

3:00:32 ↗ two-touch processes. So I'll have more

3:00:33 ↗ information on that after the meeting.

3:00:35 ↗ This concludes my report.

3:00:38 ↗ >> Okay. As you heard from council member

3:00:40 ↗ Joe, uh, Cascade Water Alliance will

3:00:43 ↗ have a meeting. We will choose a new

3:00:45 ↗ executive director tomorrow's meeting.

3:00:46 ↗ And so I will share the name of that

3:00:49 ↗ individual at May 18th, our next council

3:00:52 ↗ meeting. I will also share it by email

3:00:53 ↗ after the selection is public. Uh, I am

3:00:56 ↗ confident there's good plan for

3:00:58 ↗ leadership for Cascade Water going

3:01:00 ↗ forward. In terms of community events

3:01:02 ↗ coming up, the Isqua Rotary has their

3:01:05 ↗ Grape Escape at Pickering Barn. That's

3:01:07 ↗ 5:30 this Wednesday. It is a great

3:01:10 ↗ fundraiser. All the money they raise

3:01:12 ↗ goes into the scholarships for various

3:01:14 ↗ Isiqua School District High School

3:01:16 ↗ students. The Sound Transit Board

3:01:18 ↗ Meeting is this Thursday at May 7th. We

3:01:21 ↗ are encouraging our amazing community

3:01:23 ↗ who has been so active and engaged in

3:01:25 ↗ this process this entire year to meet

3:01:28 ↗ outside of City Hall here at 9:00 a.m.

3:01:31 ↗ The bus leaves at 911, I think. Uh and

3:01:36 ↗ and for those who want to just drive

3:01:38 ↗ down, they can also just meet downtown

3:01:40 ↗ in Seattle at at the building where the

3:01:42 ↗ executive board meets. And the final we

3:01:44 ↗ do expect the Sound Transit overall

3:01:45 ↗ board to take action right now, we're

3:01:47 ↗ told of the May 28th meeting. So I think

3:01:50 ↗ the understanding is that there will be

3:01:53 ↗ a executive from Chair Summer's proposal

3:01:57 ↗ on Thursday morning right before this

3:01:59 ↗ meeting starts at 10:30. And so we will

3:02:01 ↗ digest that proposal when it comes out

3:02:03 ↗ and and at this point in time that's

3:02:06 ↗ when we'll find out if it's aqua on the

3:02:08 ↗ ST3 light rail map or if our plans have

3:02:11 ↗ been changed. U it's called farmers

3:02:13 ↗ market. First uh kickoff event was last

3:02:17 ↗ Saturday over 3,700 shoppers attended

3:02:20 ↗ and it will be every Saturday from now

3:02:23 ↗ through December 26th. So coming out to

3:02:26 ↗ Pickering Barn and it's an amazing

3:02:28 ↗ event. Down home fourth of July is quad

3:02:31 ↗ community mosaic creation. So there's

3:02:33 ↗ two upcoming opportunities to join local

3:02:34 ↗ artist Cheryl Smith to create a

3:02:36 ↗ beautiful mosaic piece to celebrate

3:02:37 ↗ America's 250th anniversary. Uh first

3:02:40 ↗ will be Saturday, May 9th from 5 to 8:00

3:02:42 ↗ p.m. along Front Street in Oldtown in

3:02:44 ↗ conjunction with Iska Arwalk and music

3:02:46 ↗ stroll. And then there'll be a second

3:02:47 ↗ one on Saturday, May 23rd at the farmers

3:02:50 ↗ market. uh participants will have a

3:02:52 ↗ chance to engage in a collaborative

3:02:53 ↗ artwork that become part of the city of

3:02:55 ↗ Isqua's permanent public art collection

3:02:57 ↗ and that should be fun. The Isqua annual

3:03:00 ↗ community awards is going to be next

3:03:02 ↗ Thursday evening, May 14th from 5:30 to

3:03:04 ↗ 8:00 at the Fairfield in uh and that is

3:03:09 ↗ coming up next week. In terms of

3:03:13 ↗ uh obviously the ALPR discussion has

3:03:16 ↗ been in front of this council this year.

3:03:19 ↗ Uh, I think just so folks have an update

3:03:21 ↗ of where we're at right now is I think

3:03:23 ↗ council member Walsh and Council Member

3:03:24 ↗ Nichols will meet with Del Marie

3:03:27 ↗ when she is back from vacation on May

3:03:28 ↗ 11th. I think the the sense I've gotten

3:03:31 ↗ from the council is to pursue pass in

3:03:33 ↗ the space where you have a different

3:03:37 ↗ a less likelihood of potential data

3:03:39 ↗ breaches where you have a local server

3:03:41 ↗ where if information if you are using

3:03:43 ↗ any sort of camera technology it's it's

3:03:45 ↗ being stored on a local server. I think

3:03:47 ↗ the the sense is that council member

3:03:49 ↗ Walsh and Nichols will give Dale

3:03:51 ↗ guidance in this space which then she

3:03:54 ↗ can take that guidance and see what's

3:03:56 ↗ available on the open market and then

3:03:58 ↗ come back to council with uh potential

3:04:01 ↗ options that that could be pursued uh in

3:04:04 ↗ June and so we will but Dale is on

3:04:07 ↗ vacation this entire week. Uh with that

3:04:09 ↗ that concludes the mayor's report. Uh we

3:04:12 ↗ will now go to good of the order and I

3:04:14 ↗ want to make sure at some point during

3:04:16 ↗ good of the order we try to nail down a

3:04:19 ↗ July meeting time. So let's go to

3:04:22 ↗ council president Martz first followed

3:04:24 ↗ by council member Walsh.

3:04:26 ↗ >> Yeah. I just want to say thank you to

3:04:27 ↗ city attorney Turpin for the public

3:04:29 ↗ records and open public meetings act

3:04:31 ↗ training this evening. Um, it's it's dry

3:04:34 ↗ but important material and it's also

3:04:36 ↗ hurting cats and it's also I'm always

3:04:40 ↗ struck how impressed I am that so many

3:04:42 ↗ council members get their questions in

3:04:43 ↗ early. I'm not like that and so um what

3:04:47 ↗ to the extent that staff fields all my

3:04:49 ↗ ad hoc questions that come up. Um it was

3:04:52 ↗ really important this evening and and

3:04:54 ↗ thank you so much because it really did

3:04:55 ↗ then inform um the conversation that we

3:04:57 ↗ had about rules of procedure. So it was

3:04:59 ↗ it was deeply appreciated. Thank you. I

3:05:02 ↗ can share the AWC legislative affairs

3:05:04 ↗ committee last Friday. The most common

3:05:05 ↗ agreement on cities was we need to have

3:05:07 ↗ some fix on the public records side. I

3:05:10 ↗ think it's uh it definitely came up that

3:05:12 ↗ I think there's a lot of people building

3:05:14 ↗ AI models that'll send requests to

3:05:16 ↗ cities which are very timeconuming and

3:05:20 ↗ very burdensome. And so I think there is

3:05:22 ↗ kind of a sense that going into the 27th

3:05:25 ↗ legislative session we might have to

3:05:26 ↗ come up with some sort of proposal

3:05:28 ↗ acknowledges the importance of the

3:05:30 ↗ public knowing what we're doing but

3:05:31 ↗ doesn't let people you know from

3:05:34 ↗ elsewhere in the country who are just

3:05:35 ↗ trying to build AI functionality just

3:05:38 ↗ overwhelm our public records

3:05:40 ↗ departments. Council member Walsh.

3:05:42 ↗ >> Yeah. I just want to provide just a

3:05:44 ↗ little bit of clarity on the ALPR

3:05:47 ↗ portion that you had mentioned. Uh,

3:05:49 ↗ council member Nichols and I, I think,

3:05:51 ↗ are very willing to talk to Dale Marky

3:05:54 ↗ Crimp um about that, but I don't think

3:05:56 ↗ there was necessarily agreement among

3:05:59 ↗ council that we are looking for a

3:06:01 ↗ particular solution that provides more

3:06:05 ↗ limitations. I'm happy to look for it,

3:06:07 ↗ but I don't want the public information

3:06:09 ↗ out there suggesting that we've had any

3:06:12 ↗ conversations or that there's a sense of

3:06:15 ↗ agreement more that we heard the

3:06:19 ↗ public that they want to make sure that

3:06:24 ↗ whatever you know if we do something

3:06:26 ↗ that they have um transparent

3:06:28 ↗ information on it. So I I just want to

3:06:31 ↗ make sure there is nothing out there

3:06:32 ↗ suggesting that we already know where we

3:06:35 ↗ are going with something or that we have

3:06:39 ↗ a sense of where we would like to go.

3:06:42 ↗ >> Okay. Council member Nichols.

3:06:44 ↗ >> Yeah, I'd like to second that. Um and I

3:06:46 ↗ also think that other things that of

3:06:48 ↗ course will be on the table and that

3:06:49 ↗ always are on the table will be the

3:06:51 ↗ adoption by council of various

3:06:52 ↗ ordinances that could put guard rails of

3:06:54 ↗ varying degrees on anything that might

3:06:57 ↗ be uh pursued. So that's that's

3:06:59 ↗ something that I think the public should

3:07:00 ↗ also be aware of is is always a

3:07:02 ↗ possibility um and and something that we

3:07:04 ↗ can investigate not simply looking at

3:07:07 ↗ systems but also what are some what are

3:07:09 ↗ guard rails that um

3:07:12 ↗ would come back to council that could be

3:07:14 ↗ that could for example take the form of

3:07:16 ↗ an ordinance.

3:07:19 ↗ >> Any other good of the order before I go

3:07:21 ↗ through my good of the order items? Uh,

3:07:25 ↗ okay. The upcoming council meetings, uh,

3:07:29 ↗ this Saturday, uh, May 9th, we have a

3:07:32 ↗ city council retreat, Gibson Hall, 9:00

3:07:34 ↗ a.m. to 2 p.m. Topics are economic

3:07:36 ↗ development plan update, 2026 citywide

3:07:38 ↗ work plan, 2025 performance measures,

3:07:40 ↗ potential park bond renewal, 2728,

3:07:43 ↗ budget planning. That is we then have

3:07:46 ↗ the committee of the whole uh on May

3:07:48 ↗ 11th, next Monday with anticipated

3:07:50 ↗ agenda items of the Isqua climate action

3:07:52 ↗ plan, the Isqua Police Department

3:07:54 ↗ congressional community appropriations

3:07:56 ↗ grant. Uh before the council meeting on

3:07:58 ↗ May 18th, we will have council photos

3:08:00 ↗ taken outside Mario Field before the

3:08:03 ↗ meeting. And also that evening at 6:30

3:08:06 ↗ p.m. we have a reception right here in

3:08:07 ↗ council chambers uh for council member

3:08:09 ↗ Barbie Michelle and our retiring police

3:08:11 ↗ chief Schwan. Council member Boyd, I see

3:08:13 ↗ you with a question.

3:08:15 ↗ >> Council photos are on the 11th or the

3:08:16 ↗ 18th.

3:08:17 ↗ >> Oh, they're on the 11th.

3:08:19 ↗ >> Oh, okay.

3:08:20 ↗ >> Sorry. Yes.

3:08:21 ↗ >> Just checking.

3:08:22 ↗ >> Good fact check, Council Member Boyd.

3:08:24 ↗ Well played. Uh the

3:08:28 ↗ and Oh, the regular I think we may have

3:08:31 ↗ a resolution on self-p permanent

3:08:32 ↗ agreement with Sound Transit would not

3:08:34 ↗ be it would just be a a resolution. And

3:08:37 ↗ I think the the nuances of how that

3:08:39 ↗ plays out is through some sort of

3:08:40 ↗ interlocal agreement, which is actually

3:08:42 ↗ fairly complicated. But I think we may

3:08:44 ↗ we'll see how things go on May 7th. But

3:08:46 ↗ if things on May 7th are fairly

3:08:47 ↗ positive, then I think we may bring

3:08:49 ↗ forward a resolution just to kind of

3:08:51 ↗ indicate that the city's open-minded to

3:08:52 ↗ this to this process. And with that, I

3:08:56 ↗ hope people brought their calendars cuz

3:08:58 ↗ I think our goal

3:09:00 ↗ appreciating that summers in Seattle,

3:09:03 ↗ summer weekends are very finite. And so

3:09:05 ↗ I think our our suggestion is to shift

3:09:07 ↗ the July financial planning update to an

3:09:11 ↗ evening in the second half of July

3:09:14 ↗ between 5:00 p.m. and kind of 8 or 8:30

3:09:19 ↗ p.m. sort of thing. And I think we

3:09:23 ↗ are looking at potential dates. So

3:09:26 ↗ Tisha, you can help me out here. We have

3:09:31 ↗ I think Thursday July 23rd was one

3:09:35 ↗ option and I think another option

3:09:38 ↗ correct me if I'm wrong is I don't think

3:09:40 ↗ there is any meeting on Monday July 27th

3:09:43 ↗ right now. So I think Monday because the

3:09:47 ↗ one downside of the meeting if we do it

3:09:50 ↗ on Thursday July 23rd was that there is

3:09:54 ↗ a lot of other meetings in the evening

3:09:56 ↗ that week already.

3:09:58 ↗ If we did it on Monday July 27th

3:10:02 ↗ we don't think there's really another

3:10:05 ↗ council meeting in the evening that

3:10:06 ↗ entire week. Is that correct? And so I

3:10:11 ↗ just don't know if folks are available

3:10:13 ↗ on Monday, July 27th, 5:00 pm to

3:10:17 ↗ potentially do our kind of Council

3:10:20 ↗ Walsh.

3:10:22 ↗ >> I will just note that I have a regional

3:10:24 ↗ coalition for housing uh committee of

3:10:27 ↗ electeds meeting on that Thursday the

3:10:29 ↗ 23rd from 5 to 7 p.m. So I would prefer

3:10:34 ↗ not to have to meet one or not to have

3:10:36 ↗ to miss one of only four meetings.

3:10:38 ↗ >> Yeah. But Monday the 27th for you is

3:10:42 ↗ open. We're saying thumbs up on Monday,

3:10:45 ↗ July 27th at 5:00 p.m. So, we're going

3:10:49 ↗ to

3:10:53 ↗ have an appointment on my calendar that

3:10:55 ↗ just says appointment at 3:00. So, at

3:10:58 ↗ 3:00,

3:10:58 ↗ >> I'm sure it'll be fine. That's great.

3:11:00 ↗ >> That's a 3:00 appointment. This is 5:00.

3:11:03 ↗ You your other appointment, you have to

3:11:05 ↗ be highly efficient. Uh, okay. So why

3:11:08 ↗ don't folks put a hold on that? We will

3:11:10 ↗ get back to you with some sort of

3:11:12 ↗ council member Boyd.

3:11:13 ↗ >> Sorry. Is it like it starts at 5 or

3:11:15 ↗ we're doing like a normal council time

3:11:16 ↗ like seven?

3:11:17 ↗ >> It starts at 5. I think the thought is

3:11:20 ↗ sometimes it's 3 hours. It can stretch

3:11:23 ↗ to 3 and 1 half or 4 hours. Uh and so I

3:11:26 ↗ think if we start at 5 that makes sure

3:11:28 ↗ we're out of here at a more reasonable

3:11:30 ↗ time. But if there is a request to move

3:11:32 ↗ back to a later start time,

3:11:33 ↗ >> would you entertain 5:30?

3:11:36 ↗ >> We can entertain 5:30. I'm seeing nods

3:11:38 ↗ from the council. 5:30.

3:11:39 ↗ >> Thank you.

3:11:40 ↗ >> Okay. So, we will pencil in kind of 5:30

3:11:42 ↗ tonight. Council Walsh,

3:11:44 ↗ >> can I just ask that the clerk send us

3:11:46 ↗ out a hold for our calendars? Okay.

3:11:48 ↗ Thank you.

3:11:49 ↗ >> Yes, we will do that. There is no

3:11:53 ↗ executive session this evening. And

3:11:55 ↗ saying no further business before this

3:11:56 ↗ council, we are adjourned at 10:13.

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