2026-10-06 - City Council

00:08Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday,

00:10October 6, 2026 regular business meeting

00:13of the Olympia City Council. For the

00:16record, we have a quorum with Mayor Prom

00:18Wyn and Council Member Madron excused

00:20tonight and Council Member Green joining

00:23us by uh Zoom or Teams tonight.

00:28Uh, hi Council Member Green. Can you

00:30hear us? Okay,

00:32great.

00:34All right. So, before we adopt our

00:37agenda, I'd like to call forward our

00:39city manager for an announcement.

00:53>> Good evening, mayor, council members.

00:55For the record, Jay Bernie, city

00:56manager. Uh, I'm excited to welcome a

00:59new member to our team in the city

01:00manager's office and to our executive

01:02team. As the council is aware, we have

01:05two assistant city manager positions,

01:07and we've been recruiting these past few

01:09months for one of those positions that

01:10is vacant, and we have landed an amazing

01:13leader to join our team. I'd like to

01:15welcome Ally Kelly as our newest

01:17assistant city manager. Ally comes to us

01:20from the state of Washington where she

01:21most recently served in department of

01:23health as the deputy chief financial

01:25officer. Ally has a strong background in

01:28workforce development and employee

01:29engagement, change management, risk

01:32management, lean process improvement,

01:35strategic planning, and has been very

01:37effective at cross agency coordination.

01:40All of these skill sets that will serve

01:43her and all of us in her new role.

01:45Throughout the interview process, Ally

01:48demonstrated a clear alignment with our

01:49organizational values, a desire to serve

01:52the Olympic community, and a clear

01:54vision for the role. Alli's strengths

01:57and leadership experience are a

01:59fantastic compliment to Stacy and I in

02:01the city manager's office, and I'm

02:03excited for the council and our

02:04organization to get to know her and for

02:06her leadership to flourish. Please help

02:08me welcome Ally Kelly as our newest

02:10assistant city manager.

02:18Thank you. Thank you. I am so excited

02:20and grateful to be here. As Jay

02:23mentioned, I uh h I come from the state

02:25level. I've spent 22 years in public

02:27service at the state level. I am so

02:30excited to join at the local level and

02:32get to serve my community in this new

02:34capacity. I look forward to meeting you

02:36and and working and engaging with you.

02:39Thanks for having me.

02:47Well, welcome Ally. Are there any

02:49comments from council?

02:52>> Just welcome.

02:53>> Just welcome and uh we look forward to

02:56getting to know you more uh and to see

03:00um how you step into your role over the

03:03coming months and um thank you in

03:06advance for your service.

03:09All right. So, with that, I need a

03:11motion to adopt tonight's agenda.

03:14>> Motion to approve. Second.

03:16>> All right. All those in favor of the

03:18agenda as published, signify by saying

03:20I.

03:21>> I.

03:22>> We have an agenda. So, our first item

03:25tonight, um, I do just want to call our

03:27attention to the fact that we have three

03:29uh public hearings uh tonight before we

03:32move into our special recognition

03:34portion of our agenda. Um it's a bit

03:36unusual uh but tonight uh we have a

03:40little bit of a different agenda here.

03:42So we're going to begin with item 1 C on

03:44our agenda which is the consideration of

03:46a resolution expressing the city

03:48council's collective opposition to

03:50initiative to the legislature number

03:5226-001

03:54concerning parental rights relating to

03:56their children in public school.

04:05So, as I said, initiative 260001

04:09would reenact certain rights of parents

04:12and guardians of public school children

04:14set forth in initiative 2081 passed in

04:172024 and known as the Washington

04:20Declaration of Parental and Legal

04:21Guardian Rights, including the rights to

04:24review curriculum materials and student

04:26records, receive certain notifications

04:28about medical services being offered or

04:31provided, ED or law enforcement actions

04:33and permitting parental optouts of

04:36academic activities addressing

04:38sexuality, religion, and mental health.

04:42So, at this time, I am going to open the

04:45public hearing on the resolution uh

04:48expressing the city council's collective

04:50opposition to the initiative to the

04:52legislature number 26-001

04:55concerning parental rights relating to

04:58their children in public school.

05:02And I do have a list of a few people

05:04that are signed up in advance uh to

05:07testify for this hearing. You have three

05:09minutes for your comments here at the

05:11podium u to express your uh support or

05:14opposition to this resolution. Please

05:17please uh refrain from any politicking.

05:21Um so please don't have any signs or

05:24buttons or anything like that that

05:26expresses your support or opposition to

05:28any of the ballot measures. uh tonight.

05:31Um that is not a rule that I am making

05:33up. That is so that we are uh in keeping

05:36with our state law. So um at this time

05:39I'm going to call forward Alice

05:42Rosewater.

05:58Good evening, council. I want to first

06:01um introduce myself. So, my name is

06:02Alice Rosewater. I use she her pronouns.

06:04I am the regional field organizer for No

06:07Hayate in Washington State um the

06:09campaign to oppose um initiatives 001

06:12and 638. Um but my comments tonight are

06:15my own. Um first, I would like to speak

06:18in support of the council's resolution

06:20in opposition um to these res to these

06:23initiatives um being brought to the

06:25state. As many in this room already

06:28know, these initiatives were put forward

06:30by multi-millionaire hedge fund manager

06:33and MAGA donor Brian Haywood.

06:37This is a very blatant example of money

06:41in politics that we [snorts] don't want.

06:44Um 001 in particular and 638 are also

06:47incredibly misleading, poorly written

06:50measures. They frame themselves as being

06:53about parental rights, but in in fact

06:55they are anti-LGBTQ measures. 001 in

06:59particular would require adults at

07:03school such as counselors or teachers to

07:06out LGBTQ or questioning children to

07:09their parents even when they are known

07:11to be abusive. This is a huge danger to

07:14LGBTQ children and will further isolate

07:17them and push them into bad mental

07:20health outcomes. In addition to this,

07:23this initiative would in fact weaken

07:25parental rights in one regard, which is

07:28the right of parents to be informed when

07:30a crime has been committed against a

07:32child at school. This would weaken

07:34reporting requirements for this

07:36initiative. I mean, and this initiative

07:38would weaken those requirements. So that

07:41being all that being said, I think it is

07:43very clear-cut that the council

07:46expressed its opposition to these

07:47initiatives. Many other cities have so

07:50far and hundreds of organizations

07:52including the Washington Nurses,

07:55domestic violence prevention

07:56organizations, Planned Parenthood, and

07:59dozens of different unions across the

08:01state, including our local labor

08:03council. So, all that said, I just want

08:06to thank you, city council, one more

08:08time, um, and Paul, for bringing this

08:10resolution forward, and I hope that you

08:12will vote in support of opposing this

08:15these initiatives. Thank you.

08:19>> Thank you very much.

08:21Um, up next, I have Valentina Caraminez.

08:26And please forgive me if I am

08:28mispronouncing your name. Um, please

08:29correct it for the record if you need

08:31to.

08:31>> Kerinz.

08:32>> Caraminez. Okay, thank you.

08:41>> Uh, good evening. My name is Morgan

08:43Kerinus. My legal name is Valentina, but

08:46uh, I'm a non-binary resident of

08:48Washington who uses they them pronouns.

08:50Uh, for the past about a year now, uh, I

08:54and other members of my community have

08:56been opposing uh, 001

08:59uh, out of concern. uh for students who

09:05are vulnerable at home, vulnerable to

09:08their families in s in similar ways

09:11have various reasons to require some uh

09:15privacy from their families. Uh, as

09:18Alice said, this would open up LGBTQIA+

09:23students to a lot of

09:27possible discrimination,

09:29uh, loss of support,

09:32uh, from their families and communities.

09:36Um,

09:38more personally, uh, part of the reason

09:40that I'm here in Olympia is because

09:43Olympia, moving to Olympia, has provided

09:45me as a transgender person with a safe

09:49space, environment, and community in

09:51order to be able to live my life, to

09:53contribute to my community, to try to

09:56succeed in my goals in life. And

10:01the biggest reason I have for uh

10:04opposing 001 is to help make sure that

10:09that safety, those opportunities can all

10:12continue to be extended to any uh

10:16students who may be at risk due to 001.

10:20Uh I'd like to thank the council very

10:22much for bringing forth this resolution.

10:28Thank you very much. All right. So, that

10:31concludes our list of uh residents that

10:35are signed up in advance uh to testify

10:37for the public hearing, but it is our

10:39custom here at uh council chambers to

10:42open it up to anyone who is present in

10:44the room who wishes to testify in

10:47support or opposition to the council's

10:48resolution. Uh now is your opportunity

10:51to do so. Is there anyone who wishes to

10:54testify?

10:56Okay. Oh, I see someone approaching the

10:59podium. Um, please state Yes, please.

11:02And please state your first and last

11:04name for the record before you begin

11:06your comments.

11:13So, hello. Um, my name is uh Soap Khan.

11:17Um, I use they pronouns and I am a

11:20resident of Olympia. Um, I would like to

11:24strongly encourage the Olympia City

11:26Council to um encourage the um the uh

11:30resolution to oppose um uh 001 um as a

11:37transgender individual who found

11:39themselves able to um

11:44for the most part actually be able to

11:46explore my identity in the school space

11:49um because it was um a a safe area um

11:53outside of my home. Um

11:56it was really I mean it it was really

11:59really important for me um to be able to

12:01get through high school to um have a

12:03quality education where I was not um

12:07like specifically um focused um on

12:11feelings of um discomfort or dysphoria

12:14um in a way that would distract from my

12:16learning. Um but also I experienced

12:18having many many friends who did not

12:22receive um the support that they needed

12:25or were um at the threat of um abusive

12:30parents who were uh transphobic or um

12:32generally uh homophobic um who the the

12:36only space in which they they could um

12:38be themselves was at school and and in

12:41other social spaces um like walking home

12:44and those other spaces. And I I I I

12:46believe that um if this um

12:51if this um initiative were to pass um if

12:55if if it were if if I were in high

12:58school and and my friends were in high

12:59school during this particular time

13:00period, I think that many lives would be

13:02lost

13:04[snorts] like as a result of parental

13:07treatment. So, um, I urge you to, um,

13:11yes, support the resolution to oppose

13:15001. Thank you.

13:19>> Thank you, Soap. Uh, and my apologies.

13:22You actually were on my list. Um, and

13:24somehow I jumped the gun on that. So, my

13:26apologies. Um, all right. And as I said,

13:30um, it is open to anyone who wishes to

13:33testify, even if you did not sign up in

13:36advance. Is there anyone who wishes to

13:38speak? Going once. Going twice. At this

13:43point, I am now going to close the

13:46hearing on a consideration of a

13:47resolution expressing the council's

13:49collective opposition to the initiative

13:51to the legislature number 26-001

13:55concerning parental rights relating to

13:56their children in public school.

14:00Okay. So, next on our agenda is item 1D,

14:04which is also a public hearing on the

14:06consideration of a resolution expressing

14:09uh the city council's and I am going to

14:11stop myself because we need a motion to

14:15act and actually pass that last

14:17resolution.

14:19All right. So, do we have a motion?

14:23>> Council member Baron,

14:24>> I would like to move um that we

14:28uh I want to make get this motion

14:29correct. Um,

14:32uh, I

14:35want to, uh, I just pulling this up.

14:40Uh, I I'd like to move that we pass, uh,

14:45council, uh, resolution 2677

14:50in opposition to um, initiative 26-001.

14:58>> Second.

14:59We have a motion and a second. All those

15:01in favor of the motion signify by saying

15:03I.

15:04>> I.

15:06>> Opposed.

15:08All right. Motion passes. Thank you.

15:13>> All right. Now, we will move on to item

15:151D in our agenda, which is also a public

15:18hearing for the consideration of a

15:20resolution expressing the city council's

15:22collective opposition to the passage of

15:24initiative to the legislature 26-638

15:29concerning athletics at K through2

15:32public schools. So, at this time, I'm

15:35going to open the hearing.

15:43Initiative 26-638

15:46would require all female students and

15:48only female students who wish to

15:50participate in interscolastic athletics

15:53to provide as part of the required

15:55routine sports physical examination

15:58undertake additional physical, genetic

16:01or hormonal tests in order to be

16:03determined as not biologically male as

16:06defined by the initiative's language.

16:11So, the hearing is now open and we do

16:14also have a few people who are signed up

16:16in advance uh to testify uh to the

16:20council's uh resolution. So, at first

16:25first I'm going to call up Alexis Jansen

16:27followed by Peter Sabian.

16:41Good evening, council mayor. My name is

16:44Alexis Jansen. I'm a resident of Olympia

16:47um and a a mother of two teenagers and

16:51um

16:54sorry, I implore you to please pass this

16:56resolution opposing initiative uh 638.

17:01Um, when I grew up,

17:04[snorts] being transgender wasn't wasn't

17:06something people talked about. Um, all

17:09the kids knew I was different. Um, I was

17:11bullied. I hated PE. It was the only

17:14class I flunked.

17:16Um, and as a young adult, I transitioned

17:18and with some encouragement from

17:19friends, um, volleyball became a huge

17:22part of my life. So, um, now my daughter

17:25runs track and she loves it. It's, uh,

17:29she goes to athletic events with her

17:30friends. It's an experience that will

17:31positively shape her life forever.

17:34Uh, initiative 638 would take that

17:36opportunity away from kids like my

17:38daughter. Um, all girls would face

17:41problematic barriers that prevent or

17:43discourage them from participating in

17:45sports. Uh, those with the least would

17:48be excluded, unable to afford the time

17:50or cost of an invasive exam. Transgender

17:53girls would be uniquely singled out,

17:55ostracized, and legally discriminated

17:57against. I I know what it's like to be

17:59bullied in a world where most people

18:00don't really know what it means to be

18:02transgender. And I I can't imagine how

18:03terrible it is in this political

18:05climate.

18:06Um if you care about safety, you should

18:08agree that we we shouldn't give police

18:10yet another tool to abuse people with.

18:12And if you care about fairness, you

18:14should agree that we shouldn't target

18:15our most vulnerable girls with the most

18:17restrictive sports ban in the nation.

18:19And if you care at all about girls

18:21sports, then you should agree that we

18:22shouldn't make it harder and less safe

18:24for anybody to participate. Um so please

18:27pass the resolution opposing initiative

18:29638. Thank you very much.

18:34>> Thank you. Uh Peter Savian F followed by

18:38Valentina Keramis.

18:43[snorts]

18:44>> Good evening. My name is Peter Sabian.

18:45I'm a Olympia resident. I urge the

18:48council to oppose um initiative 638.

18:53[snorts]

18:55Um

18:57the measure would require uh student

19:00every student seeking to play in covered

19:02girls sports to obtain medical

19:04verification

19:06of their sex and that creates new

19:08privacy and medical hurdles for girls

19:10broadly and it targets transgender

19:12students that are already facing enough

19:14stigma. Olympia has affirmed its

19:17commitment to an equitable and safe

19:19community and opposing these measures is

19:21consistent with that commitment. We need

19:24to protect student privacy, preserve

19:25access to trusted support, and let young

19:28people participate uh in school life

19:30with dignity. Thank you so much.

19:36>> Thank you,

19:38Valentina Kumzenes, followed by Soap

19:40Khan, followed by Alice Rosewater.

19:52>> Uh, good evening. Speaking again as

19:54Valentina or Morgan Germinis,

19:57um I'm here to ask that the council

19:59oppose uh 638 as strongly or more

20:03strongly than 001

20:06for

20:12the initiative has no real purpose.

20:14There is no real benefit to uh enforcing

20:18these kinds of barriers, bans and

20:21restrictions on students who are

20:25just

20:27participating in sports as students have

20:29participated in sports for hundreds of

20:32years.

20:33Uh there's

20:37[sighs]

20:43it seems like a largely pointless

20:46initiative for the uh

20:50for the state of Washington

20:53to be trying to uh pass.

20:57Um and this is not a naturally occurring

21:03uh citizen initiative. This has been uh

21:06introduced and heavily bankrolled by uh

21:10Brian Haywood again uh millionaire and

21:14MAGA uh supporter who

21:19has basically co-opted our uh citizen

21:24initiative process in order to try to

21:26push through these discriminatory

21:29regulations.

21:31And I ask that uh city council take

21:35these points and all others into

21:37consideration. Uh and I ask that you

21:41greatly consider moving to oppose both

21:44these initiatives especially 68. Thank

21:47you very much.

21:50>> Thank you. So Khan followed by Alice

21:54Rosewater.

22:10Hello again. Um my name is uh Soap Khan

22:14again. Um and I would like uh to

22:17encourage uh the opposition of ballot

22:19initiative uh 638. Um

22:23so

22:25what is incredibly worrying about this

22:29um the particular ballot initiative to

22:31me um is the fact that it presents a a

22:35barrier to the ability to access um

22:40basically what is like a physical

22:43education setting um a social setting um

22:48like a a setting in which there can be a

22:50lot of like camaraderie built um between

22:52students. Um it it's it's creating a

22:54barrier to accessing that um for trans

22:57girls and actually all girls and all

23:00people who are assumed to be um female,

23:04right? Um,

23:08so

23:10when I think about the fact that this

23:13particular bill is attempting to or not

23:16bill, but this particular initiative is

23:18attempting to mandate uh genital

23:19inspections of minors. Um, I think about

23:22the kind of outrage that the discovery

23:25that um

23:28the

23:31the usage of genital inspections in um

23:35hiring people uh to be Playboy bunnies

23:38in the 70s was met with. And I am

23:41shocked as to like why this is being

23:45seen as

23:48reasonable by those proposing the

23:51initiative. I find it absolutely

23:53appalling. Um I it's it's incredibly

23:57invasive. It's abhorentt. It's um

24:02discriminatory. Um, and so, um, I urge

24:06you all to please, um, support the, um,

24:10the motion to oppose, um, ballot

24:13initiative 638. Thank you.

24:18>> Thank you. And last on my list is Alice

24:20Rosewater.

24:25>> Uh, good evening once again, council.

24:27Uh, once again, for the record, my name

24:28is Alice Rosewater, and my comments are

24:30my own. Um, most people have already

24:33said um about everything that I was

24:35going to say. Um, there's a few things I

24:38feel like are worth reiterating. Um,

24:41that again, a multi-millionaire is the

24:43reason why these initiatives are on the

24:45ballot. These are poorly written

24:47initiatives and they are anti-LGBTQ

24:51initiatives, plain and simple. Um, but I

24:54also want to bring folks attention. you

24:56know, it is, I think, important to

24:58emphasize that these are anti-LGBTQ

25:00initiatives, but folks not might not be

25:02aware of how much they can hurt all

25:05girls. Um, and I also, you know, want to

25:08mention, yeah, like, uh, has already

25:10been mentioned that boys are exempt from

25:12this, uh, from this ballot measure. Um,

25:15which is discriminatory in and of

25:17itself. Um, but think about any, you

25:20know, any girl that's stronger than

25:22other girls. Not even to say that trans

25:24girls are stronger, but just think of

25:26any sis girl that's stronger. Um, that

25:29may just naturally have more

25:30testosterone in her body or, you know,

25:33think of how many children are born

25:36intersects. More it's more common than

25:38being an identical twin. These this

25:40initiative would harm all of those girls

25:43even more. They would face even more

25:45hurdles than they already do to access a

25:48social setting like school sports. And

25:50again, it would lead to poor mental

25:52health outcomes among students. And it

25:55is just cruel, plain and simple. So, I

25:57am, you know, I'm I'm I'm very upset

26:00that these initiatives are on the

26:01ballot, but I am glad that our city is

26:03standing, and I hope you will stand

26:06against both of these initiatives, 001

26:08and 638, because we have to say, you

26:12know, no, no more. We can't have this

26:14any longer. Thank you.

26:19Thank you. And as I mentioned in the

26:21previous hearing, it is our custom to

26:23open it up to anyone who is present who

26:25is not signed up in advance who wishes

26:27to testify uh specifically for this

26:30hearing. Is there anyone present in

26:32chambers who wishes to testify?

26:37Okay. As you approach the podium, please

26:40state your first and last name uh for

26:42the record. And you have three minutes

26:44for your comments during a hearing.

26:46>> Thank you. [clears throat]

26:49Hello. Thank you, Mayor Council. Uh my

26:52name is Chad Kate. Uh I didn't come here

26:54particularly to talk about either of

26:56these and I don't know which way it

26:59should go. Uh I did come here to discuss

27:01something that I believe is uh very

27:03important that we address that's going

27:05on here in the city of Olympia uh

27:07involving our public school systems and

27:10our children and our families. Uh, I've

27:13received word of wind. Uh, and I'm going

27:16to just explain the story I've been

27:17told. Uh, I heard a story of someone

27:21named Mama Green who was arrested from

27:23Ever or Olympia High School. Um, who had

27:26essentially 150 kids muing drugs, guns,

27:31vapes, and whatever things that could

27:33create a market within the school. This

27:35went on for a while. uh the police or

27:38were aware of it and developed a police

27:41report and eventually after some time

27:43initiated um work on that. As of right

27:47now, we just started the school year and

27:50um a new supplier has been introduced

27:54into Olympia High School. Uh personally,

27:57I've only seen one news article

27:59discussing this and uh it was not in the

28:02KOMO for news. it wasn't in the national

28:05news and this is a pretty big deal uh as

28:08I received a lot of um chaos during that

28:12time from similar circumstances.

28:14Um what is going on now is something

28:18that I've never experienced before. Um

28:23if we've probably all seen the show on

28:25Hulu as well as Disney Plus called

28:28Dopick. Uh it explains the opioid crisis

28:31that went on from 1996 to 2014 across

28:35the United States. Uh currently what's

28:38going on is a new supplier has uh

28:41started supplying to Olympia High School

28:43and I'm assuming other schools and

28:46essentially are replacing vapes and

28:49other things with vapes that have

28:51fentanyl in them. Uh this is going to

28:54wipe our schools out. Uh if one kid gets

28:56a fentanyl vape and starts sharing it

28:58around, uh all of these homeless

29:00shelters that you guys are building and

29:02planning for will get filled, congrats.

29:04Uh we need to address this and uh tackle

29:07it together. Now, uh I think the only

29:10option that makes sense is the city and

29:13the state getting together and do an

29:15emergency rescheduling of nicotine

29:17products. Uh this is an illicit market

29:20that had not been available to the young

29:22adults and they are being predatorized.

29:24they are being taken advantage of and

29:27quite frankly it is going to destroy um

29:30the very wealthy families that live at

29:32Olympia High School. Um so I think this

29:35is the main course that we need to

29:37address on. Uh I am a recovering um

29:42similar situations and I have 10 years

29:44clean under my belt. Thank you very

29:46much. We need to act on this now. Uh

29:49watch that show. Thank you.

29:53>> Thank you very much. Is there anyone who

29:55wishes to testify um regarding council's

30:00resolution to the initiative?

30:03Okay. Going once, going twice. Um, at

30:07this time I'm going to close uh the

30:10public hearing on the consideration of a

30:13resolution expressing the city council's

30:15collective opposition to the passage of

30:17initiative to the legislature 26-638

30:22concerning athletics at K through2

30:24public schools.

30:28All right. And last but not least, our

30:30final public hearing.

30:32>> Mayor,

30:33>> I did it again. All right. We need to

30:35pass the motion uh to uh for the

30:39resolution.

30:40>> Thank you, mayor. Uh I move to adopt the

30:42resolution expressing city council

30:44opposition to initiative to the

30:46legislature number 26638.

30:51>> Second.

30:52>> We have a motion and a second. All those

30:53in favor of the motion signify by saying

30:55I.

30:56>> I opposed.

30:59>> All right. Motion passes. Thank you.

31:02All right. So, now that takes us uh

31:05actually before we move on to that, I

31:07just want to say um that um council

31:11hasn't spoken or or said anything about

31:13either of these two initiatives. Um and

31:16that's for a reason. There's a lot of

31:17parameters around uh holding public

31:19hearings on ballot initiatives

31:21specifically that are coming up for

31:23election. So, I will just say that uh

31:26council introduced these resolutions to

31:28oppose these initiatives and we will let

31:30our votes uh speak for ourselves. So,

31:33thank you.

31:35All right. Uh, so item one E is the

31:38consideration of a resolution expressing

31:40uh, collective city council support for

31:42the Timberland Regional Library District

31:45Levy Lid lift proposition number one.

31:49Uh, we do have a few people that are

31:52signed up in advance. Um, so, uh, the

31:57district has not had a full levy rate in

32:0125 years and revenue growth has not kept

32:04up with rising cost. If the measure is

32:07approved, the library levy rate would

32:10set would be set from 22 cents to 35%

32:14per $1,000 of assessed property value.

32:18So, at this time, I'm going to open the

32:20public hearing.

32:24and call forward Soap Khan as our first

32:28commenter.

32:44Um hello again and thank you for uh

32:47discussing this um very important um

32:50issue to the Olympia community. Um I

32:54would uh really encourage the Olympia

32:57city council to please um support the

33:00levy lid lift to fund our county library

33:02system and to um maintain the library

33:06workers that are frankly the lifeblood

33:08of our community in Thirstston County.

33:11Um,

33:14so

33:18there was a period of time in which I

33:20did not drive a car. I did not have like

33:23I only was able to use public

33:25transportation. Um, you know, I I've

33:28I've recently graduated from college,

33:30but this is throughout um my high school

33:32experience, my college experience. Um

33:36and and and I guess what what I

33:39discovered during that time period um

33:41was how absolutely important and

33:44integral it is for um libraries to be be

33:49available. Um they provide very very

33:51necessary um public services um that are

33:55only enabled um as being accessible for

33:58a wide range of hours by being staffed

34:01and um having employees present. Um

34:05so um you know it's it's very necessary

34:08for for all people in Olympia and all

34:10people generally to be able to access um

34:14drinking water, bathrooms, um warm

34:17spaces um you know ever increasingly

34:21internet um to be able to um you know

34:24apply to uh to jobs and um to keep up on

34:28necessary um bills and etc. But um

34:32I think even

34:35more than this um

34:38what I've found in in living in

34:40Thirstston County and in Olympia is how

34:44central um libraries are to the social

34:48life of so many Olympians

34:50um and to um people being able to

34:53educate themselves um on on different

34:56topics and different issues. Um I think

34:58that the um I can think of many times

35:01when I have gone specifically to

35:03libraries in Olympia to see um like a

35:07musical to see like oral history

35:09presentations to see different lectures

35:12that have been given and those have

35:14really significantly enriched the lives

35:16of myself and many other Olympians. So

35:19thank you.

35:22>> Thank you.

35:24All right. And now we're going to turn

35:26our attention to um we have one person

35:30that signed up in advance online uh who

35:33wishes to testify during the hearing and

35:35that is Jim Lazar.

35:40>> Thank you. I'm

35:43here

35:45uh to ask you to support the resolution

35:49uh in support of the Timberland Regional

35:52Library Levy Lid Lift. Our libraries

35:55serve everyone. I get books, videos, and

35:57ebooks there. Many people depend on the

36:00library for a computer and access to the

36:02internet.

36:05Uh to apply for most jobs now, you have

36:07to apply online. The libraries help

36:09people get up that first rung of the

36:12ladder of life. Our library system is

36:15extremely dependent on sales on property

36:17tax for about 95% of the budget. Since

36:21the passage of initiative 7047 in 2001,

36:25my library tax has only gone up 1% per

36:28year. Cities and counties have sales

36:31tax, business tax, and utility taxes.

36:34All of those go up with inflation. TRL

36:37has only property tax revenue and a tiny

36:39bit of timber tax. 1% per year increase

36:43is not working. 1% doesn't work when

36:46inflation is running at more like 3% a

36:49year. In the 25 years since the

36:52initiative passed, costs have gone up

36:54about 85% with inflation and TRL has

36:58lost about onethird of its buying power.

37:02The measure would increase property

37:04taxes on most homes somewhere between

37:07three and $6

37:10a month. Our libraries are in trouble.

37:13Open hours have been sharply cretailed.

37:15The ability to buy new books and other

37:18materials is sharply reduced.

37:21The cost of books and videos rises with

37:24inflation. The cost of electricity and

37:28heat from the libraries is going up

37:30faster than inflation. This measure will

37:33help a lot. This measure, if passed by

37:36the voters, will help restore operating

37:38hours, help pay for books, ebooks, and

37:41videos, and ensure that services are

37:45available to everyone.

37:47Please support the resolution before you

37:49in support of the TRL Lovey Lift. Thank

37:53you.

37:56>> All right. Thank you. Um, that concludes

37:59our list of public commenters who are

38:02signed up in advance uh specifically for

38:04this hearing. Um, as I mentioned before,

38:08now is your time to testify uh if you

38:12wish to do so in support or opposition

38:14um relevant to the subject of this

38:17initiative. Is there anyone who wishes

38:19to testify at this time?

38:23All right, going once. Going twice. I'm

38:26going to close the public hearing on the

38:29consideration of a resolution expressing

38:31the collective city council support for

38:33the Timberland Regional Library District

38:35Levy lid lift proposition number one.

38:39Uh and I need the motion to adopt the

38:42resolution.

38:42>> Mr. Mayor, I'll move to adopt the

38:45resolution expressing city council

38:47support for the Timberland Regional

38:49Library Levy Lift Proposition One.

38:52>> All right. Is there a second?

38:54>> Second. We have a motion in a second. Is

38:56there any uh discussion?

39:00All right. Seeing none, all those in

39:02favor of the motion signify by saying I.

39:05>> I.

39:05>> I.

39:06>> Opposed.

39:07>> Motion passes. Thank you very much.

39:12Okay. So that concludes our public

39:15hearing segment of our agenda for

39:17tonight. So we are going to move on to

39:20special recognition item 2A which is a

39:23proclamation recognizing indigenous

39:25people's day. Uh and we will begin with

39:28a shared reading of that proclamation

39:29beginning with council member

39:30Vanderpool.

39:33Whereas Indigenous People's Day was

39:35first adopted in 1977 by a delegation of

39:39Native Nations to the United Nations

39:41sponsored international conference on

39:44the discrimination against indigenous

39:46populations in the Americas.

39:49Whereas Indigenous People's Day is a day

39:51to recognize and celebrate rich

39:54indigenous heritage, culture, and

39:56history while honoring past and current

39:59and future generations.

40:02And whereas Indigenous People's Day is

40:05also a time to reflect on the strength,

40:08resilience, and determination of

40:10indigenous peoples who have carried

40:13their culture forward with fertility

40:16and pride despite incur enduring

40:20generational harms that continue to

40:23impact present- day indigenous

40:25communities. And

40:28>> whereas the city of Olympia honors and

40:30acknowledges the indigenous people who

40:32have stewarded this land since time

40:35immemorial and who still inhabit the

40:37area today. The stas band of indigenous

40:40people of the Squaxon Island tribe. And

40:43whereas today the stasquan people

40:47continue to steward these ancestral

40:49lands from the Dashuites watershed and

40:51what is now butt inlet. and the Squaxon

40:54continue to call themselves people of

40:56the water because of the bounty of the

40:59region's waterways and artisian waters

41:02which have sustained the people for

41:04millennia. And whereas both the Squaxen

41:07Island tribe and city of Olympia honor

41:10the Medicine Creek Treaty and have

41:12established a strong governmenttogoment

41:15relationship between the two sovereigns.

41:18And

41:19>> whereas on October 8th, 2026, the city

41:22of Olympia will resign and reaffirm

41:26their accord with the Skoxen Island

41:28tribe in the spirit of understanding and

41:31mutual respect and committed to the

41:34following long-term actions. Coordinate

41:36and cooperate to support economic

41:38infrastructure opportunities. Coordinate

41:41to protect natural resources and respond

41:44to climate change.

41:46create more opportunities for public

41:49art, education, community service that

41:52will promote a healthy exchange of

41:54cultures.

41:56Establish an intergovernmental work

41:58group between the two councils to

42:01advance these commitments. Develop an

42:04annual work plan and and consistent

42:06channels of communication.

42:09coordinate joint meetings of the Squaxon

42:11Indian tribe island tribal council and

42:15the Olympia city council at least once

42:18per year to maintain a shared vision.

42:21Address issues of mutual concern,

42:23develop strategies and agreements,

42:25provide updates to the joint work plan

42:28items and overcome obstacles.

42:31renew this accord every five years to

42:35celebrate our achievements, evaluate our

42:37processes, and update our priorities and

42:41action. And whereas the city of Olympia

42:44celebrates the thriving culture and

42:47immeasurable value of the Squaxen

42:49Island, Nesquali, Puallup, Shahalis,

42:53Suwamish, Dwamish, and other indigenous

42:56nations bring to our community and

42:59commits to walking together in healing

43:02and reconciliation and shared

43:04prosperity. And whereas the city of

43:06Olympia is proud to partner with the

43:09Squaxon Island tribe to host an

43:12indigenous people's day celebration on

43:14October 12th, 2026 at Squaxon Park to

43:18honor and highlight indigenous

43:20histories, stories, experiences, and

43:23communities. And

43:25>> now therefore, be it resolved that the

43:27Olympia City Council does hereby

43:28proclaim October 12th, 2026 as

43:32Indigenous People's Day in the city of

43:34Olympia, Washington, and encourages all

43:36Olympians to continue reflecting on the

43:39experiences and contributions of

43:41indigenous people and amplify their

43:44voices far beyond this day. Signed in

43:47the city of Olympia, Washington, the

43:49sixth day of dis October 2026. Olympia

43:53City Council. Dante Payne, Mayor.

44:05And at this time, I would like to call

44:08forward uh the chairman of the Squawk

44:11Island tribe, Chris Peters, uh for some

44:14comments.

44:16and he is joined by Joshua Whitner and

44:18Greg Layman as well.

44:28>> There's four of us. So, four of us from

44:30the tribal council. Um, but yeah, I'll

44:32just start. My name is Joshua Whitner.

44:33I'm the treasure of the Squawk Island

44:35tribal council. Um, I just I want to let

44:38the city know how much I appreciate and

44:40how much our tribal community

44:41appreciates the continued positive

44:42relationship we've had with the city. Um

44:44it really means a lot to have a healthy

44:46partnership. It means that as the tribe

44:48and the city both grow, we can grow

44:49together. Um you know, we we call it

44:53cultural education. We try and educate

44:55as much as we can. And um educating

44:57locals and tourists about the history of

44:59the Squawks people really empowers both

45:01our communities um as we move forward

45:03together. Um our ancestors have resided

45:06here for um ten tens of thousands of

45:08years and many generations and it means

45:10a great deal to have that history

45:12recognized. The city has uh time and

45:14time again shown its support for the

45:15Squawks people and all indigenous

45:17people. So, thank you guys.

45:22>> Good afternoon. [clears throat] My name

45:24is Taylor Christ. I serve as the vice

45:26chairman of our tribe and newly elected

45:29uh couple years ago. Um what an honor to

45:33be here. Thank you for uh everything uh

45:36you guys have um

45:38said to us and on this day. Um, but on

45:41the behalf of Squawk Island tribe, I

45:43just want to thank the city council and

45:46recognizing the indigenous people's day.

45:48Um, and for continuing honoring the

45:50indigenous people who have called this

45:52land their home since time of memorial.

45:55A recognition like this is very

45:56important and it honors not only our

45:59history, but our people, our culture,

46:01and our continued presence here today.

46:04We appreciate the relationship we have

46:06with the city council of Olympia and

46:08look forward to continue in

46:10strengthening it. Our hands are raised

46:12to each and every one of you. Thank you.

46:15[clears throat]

46:26Slash Chudalty Squid.

46:30Uh hello to all you people. Good day to

46:32all you people. My name is uh Quap Kohl,

46:35but my government name is Greg Layman.

46:37Uh and I am from Squawken and I reside

46:40in Squawken. And I just want to uh

46:43commend the uh city council for

46:45everything that you guys do and our

46:47continued partnership. And uh you know

46:50it's it's an awesome thing to be able to

46:52be here today to be able to bring my uh

46:54two daughters. I only got to bring two

46:56out of five, but uh I was grateful to be

46:59able to bring the two to witness this

47:01and uh you know because this is a big

47:03thing for us as people as First Nations

47:06people as indigenous people to uh have

47:08this day recognized not just for us as

47:10the tribe but for all indigenous people.

47:14and uh you know it's it's just a great

47:16[clears throat] honor to be able to be

47:17here and represent our tribe and I once

47:19again raise my hands to each each of you

47:21and say thank you from the bottom of our

47:23heart and from the Squawks people. Thank

47:25you.

47:36>> Chris Peters

47:39said Esquit. Um, good day to all of you,

47:42honorable people, honorable friends,

47:44honorable relations. Uh, my name is

47:46Klopp. My English name is Chris Peters.

47:48Um, I too am a citizen of the Squawk

47:50Island tribe and I come from Squawk and

47:52I'm grateful today. Um, I have the honor

47:54of serving the Squawks and people as

47:56their council chair and I'm honored to

47:58be here today among all of you. Uh, this

48:01relationship is so meaningful to our

48:03people and this proclamation is very

48:06meaningful, especially to the first

48:07peoples of this land. Um, as you stated,

48:11the Stas people u stewarded these lands

48:14for thousands of years. Um, I it's neat.

48:16I can actually trace my family line. My

48:19grandfather actually lived my great

48:22great great-grandfather lived in a

48:24village here uh in what's now Olympia. I

48:27have another grandfather who lived in a

48:29village over on Mud Bay. We call that

48:31Skuato. We call this Stutas. And there

48:33were all our ancestors of the Squaxen

48:35people. And we actually called this area

48:38Bastwoot.

48:40Bastwoot is actually uh translated as

48:42land of the black bears. That's what we

48:44know this is is land of the black bears

48:46or bastwoot. Um it's now Olympia. Um,

48:49but it's an honor. As you can see, we're

48:52still here and we're proud and we're

48:53strong as ever as a nation and as a

48:55sovereign. And I'm just so honored for

48:58the continued uh efforts and working

49:01relationship between our two sovereigns.

49:03And I'm so proud of the accord that we

49:05just signed. And I we're going to have a

49:07uh signing, actual official signing on

49:09Thursday, which I look forward to. Um be

49:12a really great event. Um and then

49:14obviously next week's Indigenous

49:16People's Day. Uh it's so honored to

49:19share that time with all of you. Um so

49:22with that, thank you again. Say how

49:23tubes. Thank you everybody. And I

49:26actually say I call you guys sa is

49:28relations and relations doesn't

49:30necessarily mean that we're blood

49:32related but we're connected in a good

49:34way and you are all my sia because we

49:37are friends and we're connected and so

49:39um we say also say oh is much love

49:43to you all. So thank you. Appreciate

49:44you. Hands are raised.

49:53>> [applause]

49:56>> Thank you all very much.

49:59>> Yeah, we're going to take a photo uh in

50:02a moment. Uh but I just want to see are

50:03there any comments from council? Uh yes,

50:06council member Gilman.

50:09Um, first I'm humbled that you'd

50:13consider us relations and I know if we

50:16go far enough back in the family true

50:18tree tree, it's true for sure. Um, but I

50:22was wondering if we might call Olivia up

50:26to describe the event on Monday since

50:28we're we're sort of aiming towards that.

50:31Could could you give us a little bit of

50:32a rundown of what will happen on Monday

50:34and where?

50:37>> Sure. Uh for the record, my name is

50:38Olivia Salasar Debra. I'm the cultural

50:41uh what is what is what is my culture

50:42and belonging manager? I'm like what is

50:44my title? Um thank you. Uh so on Monday

50:49is Indigenous People's Day. It is a

50:51joint celebration uh co-hosted by the

50:54Squaxon Island Tribe and the city of

50:56Olympia in Squaxon Park starting at

50:5911:30 a.m. and it goes till 2:30 p.m. Um

51:04it's really the program really is

51:06Squawken Island tribe and it's tribal

51:09members dancing, singing, speaking,

51:12sharing stories. We also have um the

51:17city council will be invited to share

51:19this proclamation and talk about how

51:21important our relationship is as a

51:23government to government. Um we also

51:26have a keynote speaker Michaela Schaefer

51:28who's a local artist and advocate and

51:31incredible person. Um and then we will

51:35end with a shared meal um around 1:00.

51:38So we welcome everyone. Um, parking is

51:41limited. So, we will actually be

51:43offering a complimentary shuttle every

51:46half an hour starting at 11 uh from the

51:48farmers market parking lot. So, thank

51:51you. Everyone is welcome.

51:55>> Thank you, Olivia. Um, are there any

51:58additional comments?

52:00>> All right. Um, I just want to say um I a

52:05few of you mentioned that it was an

52:06honor for uh you to be here um with us,

52:11but I'm here to say that it is an honor

52:13to be with you. every single year after

52:15year that we do this proclamation. And

52:18what I love about it is that it isn't

52:20just words and all throughout the year,

52:22we're engaging and talking about how we

52:24can chart a new path uh for this

52:27community and to be alive at this time

52:30and be a part of a moment in history

52:33where we get to repair and rectify a lot

52:36of the harm that has been done by people

52:38who came long before us is a huge honor

52:40for me and for us to be a part of that

52:43with you. So, thank you. And um at this

52:46time, I'm going to uh present you with

52:48the proclamations that are signed and we

52:50can take a photo here in front. And

52:53please, if there is anyone who wishes to

52:56join in the photo, whether you intended

52:57to come here or not, uh in observance

53:01and celebration of Indigenous People's

53:03Day, please feel free to come forward.

53:49Here

54:12we go. Everybody just relax.

54:24>> [laughter]

55:05>> Good to see all those littles, the

55:07future generations that are going to be

55:09doing this work after us.

55:12All right. So, uh, and next up on our

55:15agenda, item 2B is also a special

55:17recognition proclamation recognizing

55:19Walk to School Month. And we also have a

55:23shared reading of that proclamation

55:24beginning with Council Member Barren.

55:28Uh,

55:30whereas walking and rolling to school

55:32can help enhance ch a child's health,

55:34physical activity, and school

55:36performance. And whereas the path to

55:39healthy cities requires collaboration

55:42with public health, transportation,

55:44education systems, and whereas investing

55:47in pedestrian infrastructure can help us

55:50reduce vehicle miles traveled and and

55:54reach greenhouse gas reduction targets

55:56in the thirst and uh climate mitigation

56:00plan. And whereas the city of Olympia

56:04constructs sidewalks, enhanced

56:06crosswalks, and neighborhood pathways to

56:08help students safely walk and roll to

56:10school. And whereas in coordination with

56:13the Olympia School District, the city of

56:15Olympia will use a combination of city

56:17funds and safety levy funds to slow

56:20speeds near schools and refresh over 100

56:24crosswalk markings near schools. And

56:27whereas the city of Olympia adopted the

56:29transportation master plan, which

56:32prioritizes sidewalk and enhanced

56:34crosswalk projects based on how close

56:36they are to destinations like schools,

56:39parks, and transit stops. And

56:43>> whereas members of the Olympia Police

56:46Department and Olympia Fire Department

56:48join Olympia youth and walk and roll to

56:50school events. And whereas the city

56:54street safety plan prioritizes the

56:57safety of pedestrians and bicyclists.

57:00And whereas in the month of October,

57:03youth, family members, and community

57:05leaders around the world are joining

57:07together for walk and roll to school

57:09events. And

57:11>> now therefore, be it resolved that the

57:13Olympia City Council hereby proclaims

57:15the month of October 2026 as Walk to

57:18School Month in the city of Olympia and

57:21encourages families, school employees,

57:23and community leaders to show children

57:25that walking and rolling is a fun, safe,

57:28and healthy way to destinations in their

57:31neighborhoods. Whether they are in

57:33schools, parks, or other places,

57:36community leaders can when driving

57:39contribute to a culture of pedestrian

57:41safety by slowing down, especially in

57:43school zones, and by stopping for

57:46pedestrians who are trying to cross the

57:48street. Signed in the city of Olympia,

57:51Washington, the 6th day of October,

57:532026.

57:54Olympia City Council. Dante Payne,

57:56mayor.

58:06All right. And at this time, I'd like to

58:08call forward uh Ari Fuller, who is a

58:12walk-in roll program representative with

58:14Inner City Transit. Uh followed by

58:16Patrick Murphy, the superintendent of

58:18Olympia School District.

58:20>> Hello all. Good evening. My name is Ally

58:23Fuller and I work as a representative

58:24with Inner City Transit's walk-in roll

58:26program. And our program increases

58:28independence, improves safety, and

58:30inspires a healthy lifestyle by making

58:32walking, biking, rolling, and riding

58:34public transit more accessible to people

58:36in our community. And Walk to School

58:38Month serves as a reminder for us all

58:40about the importance of safe, healthy,

58:42and environmentally friendly ways to get

58:44the youth in our community to school.

58:49To Olympia families who can, we

58:51encourage you to try walking or rolling

58:53to school this month, like those

58:54pictured here from Garfield Elementary.

58:56Uh, doing so improves safety by reducing

58:58traffic congestion and air pollution

59:00around school zones. It also helps

59:02students show up ready to learn and

59:03builds physical activity into their day.

59:08So, Walker partners with local

59:09elementary

59:11schools to create fun and boost the

59:13safety of walking and rolling to school.

59:15and we may do so by supplying prizes

59:18on a monthly basis, provide safety

59:20equipment, also bike safety checks, and

59:22we occasionally bring the inner city

59:23transit bus along.

59:28So, in addition to walking to school,

59:30uh, Pioneer students have been riding to

59:32school every Friday morning this school

59:34year on the bike bus, and it only

59:37continues to grow in both size and

59:39enthusiasm. And that is largely due to

59:42the support of the Pioneer PTA. It's

59:45pretty fun. I've been a part of it every

59:46week and it's it's so much fun. I

59:49encourage you all to ride along if

59:50you're free Friday mornings.

59:53And currently we support six OSD schools

59:55with their walk and roll to school

59:57programs. Some participate weekly like

59:59Pioneer, others monthly like Garfield

1:00:02and others may just host one event per

1:00:05year like MLAN Elementary. And pictured

1:00:07here is their annual walk and roll to

1:00:09school day. And these events are only

1:00:11possible due to the widespread staff and

1:00:13community support. So we thank the

1:00:14Olympia Police and fire departments for

1:00:17their contributions.

1:00:19Also our youth and adult crossing guards

1:00:22um and the many parents, guardians, and

1:00:24other community members who chaperon

1:00:26walks and rides to school.

1:00:30And McKenna Elementary with their

1:00:32walking school bus day demonstrates how

1:00:33students may complete their full journey

1:00:35to school on foot or just a portion of

1:00:37it. Um, annually in May, volunteers

1:00:39support designated walking routes to

1:00:41school and the school buses park just a

1:00:43couple blocks away so that all students

1:00:45have the opportunity to complete that

1:00:47journey on foot.

1:00:50And students also have the ability to

1:00:53build bicycle and pedestrian skills

1:00:54during the school day through programs

1:00:56such as our mobile traffic garden, which

1:00:58features a car-free miniature

1:01:00streetscape.

1:01:03We also teach students about the

1:01:04significance of public transit by

1:01:06conducting bus visits and rolling

1:01:08classroom field trips.

1:01:12So finally to the city of Olympia, thank

1:01:15you so much for your efforts to develop

1:01:16Olympia into a more bicycle and

1:01:18pedestrian friendly city. And to the

1:01:20Olympia drivers, we use this opportunity

1:01:22to remind you to please slow down and

1:01:24remain vigilant in school zones and

1:01:26residential areas. Please stop for

1:01:28pedestrians at crosswalks and always be

1:01:30cautious around children as they are

1:01:32still learning how to be safe and

1:01:33courteous pedestrians and cyclists. And

1:01:36to all community members, uh please do

1:01:38learn how you can support students

1:01:39walking and rolling to school on the

1:01:41walk and roll website. We have all dates

1:01:43posted there. Um and in closing, just

1:01:45thank you so so much for once again

1:01:46proclaiming October, aka Walktober, as

1:01:50Walk to School Month.

1:01:59I like that walktober. You know, we can

1:02:02make the proclamation say that next year

1:02:04if we want to.

1:02:06>> Superintendent Murphy.

1:02:08>> Thank you, Mayor Payne, members of the

1:02:10city council. Um, I'm Patrick Murphy,

1:02:13superintendent of the Olympia School

1:02:14District, and really excited to be here

1:02:16to recognize walk to school month. So

1:02:18appreciate the city council and maybe

1:02:20before I say this, appreciate the

1:02:22recognition of the Squaxon tribe. Your

1:02:24partnership is inspirational. Uh we're

1:02:27building that up to better strength and

1:02:30what I heard tonight has given me lots

1:02:31of ideas to do more. So thank you for

1:02:33doing that. Um one of the most important

1:02:35partnerships is with Inner City Transit

1:02:37in the walk and roll program. Uh Ally

1:02:40talked about a lot of the things that

1:02:41they're doing, all the different forms

1:02:42it takes. Uh walking and riding bikes to

1:02:45school, um rolling classroom field

1:02:48trips. Some of our youngest students

1:02:50learn how to ride the bus. Um which

1:02:53explores our community and even practice

1:02:55using a bus bike rack. Um she mentioned

1:02:59pioneer students have that bike bus just

1:03:01keeps getting bigger and bigger.

1:03:03Principal Lang one year rode a unicycle

1:03:05on the bike bus.

1:03:07Um, we're really proud of the artwork on

1:03:10the signs on walk to school month and

1:03:12Avanti High School students were

1:03:14selected for previous walk and walk and

1:03:16roll signs displayed throughout our

1:03:18community. Um, the all of these

1:03:20experiences help students build

1:03:22independence, learn important safety

1:03:23skills, and I also want to mention

1:03:25another partner which is the Thirstston

1:03:27Regional Planning Council.

1:03:30um the develop recommended walking

1:03:32routes to our schools that are displayed

1:03:33on our on our website which are

1:03:35available uh for all of our families to

1:03:38access. Our community has supported this

1:03:40work through capital funding as was

1:03:42mentioned. Um that includes investments

1:03:44in improving walking and biking routes

1:03:46for our students to school just to make

1:03:47it safer. Um and I just want to double

1:03:50down on what Ally said, just a reminder,

1:03:53school's in session. just to slow down,

1:03:55watch carefully for students and

1:03:57families and observe those posted speed

1:03:59limits in and around our schools. Just

1:04:01grateful to Inner City Transit, to Walk

1:04:03and Roll, to the city of Olympia, to the

1:04:06Thirstston Regional Planning Council,

1:04:07and all of our community partners um for

1:04:10their continued support for our students

1:04:11and families. When we make it safer and

1:04:14easier for students to walk, bike, roll,

1:04:17and use public transit, we're helping

1:04:19them build confidence, independence,

1:04:22stronger connections to the community

1:04:23that they call home. So, just thank you

1:04:25for recognizing Walk to School Month and

1:04:27for your continued partnership with the

1:04:28Olympia School District.

1:04:37>> Thank you. Are there any comments from

1:04:39council?

1:04:40>> I have a council member Barry. Thank

1:04:42you. Just just very quickly, I had the

1:04:45uh uh pleasure last Friday of uh being

1:04:50at the intersection of North Street and

1:04:52uh Henderson, driving, running errands

1:04:55at the about the time school began. And

1:04:58there were about 30 kids coming south on

1:05:01Henderson and about 30 kids going north

1:05:04on Henderson, going both directions. And

1:05:06I thought, wow, what is going on here?

1:05:09[laughter]

1:05:10So, my hats off to you for uh a real

1:05:13successful program and uh I especially

1:05:16appreciate both of your comments about

1:05:18people slowing down. Uh Councilwoman

1:05:22Green who's on line uh with us. Sorry,

1:05:25Councilwoman Green. I just want to She's

1:05:27provided such leadership on this issue

1:05:29of slowing down on our streets and uh

1:05:33something that that that I hope to see

1:05:36the council working on more in the

1:05:38future. Thank you.

1:05:41Thank you very much. Are any additional

1:05:43comments?

1:05:45I just want to second uh those comments

1:05:47and express my gratitude to you. Look

1:05:49forward to seeing you every year uh to

1:05:52declare it Walktober. We're going to do

1:05:54that. Walktober. Um and uh really just

1:05:58my gratitude specifically as a parent um

1:06:02and I know for so many other parents and

1:06:04families across our city who sees that

1:06:07our school district and inner city

1:06:09transit and the regional planning

1:06:11council and every other partner that's

1:06:13involved in this is prioritizing the

1:06:15safety of our students and our families

1:06:17on their way to and from school. So

1:06:19thank you for such an emphasis and um

1:06:22and the work that you're doing to

1:06:23prioritize it for for our community. So,

1:06:25thank you very much. Um, and now I have

1:06:29uh also some signed copies of the

1:06:31proclamation. Um, you can come forward.

1:06:33We can take a photo. Um, and once again

1:06:36um even if you didn't come for this, if

1:06:38you wish to join for the photo, please

1:06:39feel free to come forward.

1:07:14>> [laughter]

1:07:17>> You know the drill. Here we go.

1:07:57All right. Thank you all very much.

1:08:00Uh, and I'm sure our public commenters

1:08:02are thinking, well, isn't that ironic uh

1:08:05that we're talking about that topic u

1:08:07for our proclamation? And we'll get to

1:08:09you in a moment. Um, so we uh do have a

1:08:14few people that are signed up uh in

1:08:17person uh for public comment this

1:08:20evening. Just a few housekeeping rules

1:08:22before we begin. There is a clock to my

1:08:25right, your left here on the wall that

1:08:27indicates that you will have two minutes

1:08:29of time for your comments. It's a little

1:08:31different than a public hearing which

1:08:32you just saw for three minutes. So you

1:08:35will have two minutes for your comments.

1:08:37There is a box there on the podium that

1:08:39indicates your green, yellow, and red

1:08:42lights. And once the light uh the yellow

1:08:44light turns and you will hear a ding,

1:08:46you have 30 seconds remaining for your

1:08:48comments. Please refrain from expressing

1:08:51your support or opposition to a

1:08:53candidate or ballot measure during your

1:08:55comments tonight. Uh so at this time, I

1:09:00am going to call forward Dana Mavoy.

1:09:04Mavoy, please. Makavoy. Uh, followed by

1:09:08Jeff Krooks.

1:09:14>> Hi, I'm uh Dana Makavoy and thanks for

1:09:18the mayor and the council member for uh

1:09:21uh receiving this tonight. Um I'm here

1:09:25to submit a petition to the city council

1:09:29to increase the uh traffic safety on

1:09:32East Bay Drive.

1:09:34We have over 160 signatures

1:09:38on this petition from residents of East

1:09:40Bay Drive neighborhood requesting

1:09:42immediate traffic safety interventions

1:09:45on East Bay Drive. Our concerns

1:09:49speeding

1:09:50along with our own observations

1:09:53speeding has been verified by the city

1:09:56speed data. Additionally, the street

1:09:59safety plan indic indicates East Bay

1:10:02Drive as having one of the highest

1:10:05incidents of actual speed versus posted

1:10:09speed limits in the city.

1:10:12Two, abuse of center turn lane.

1:10:16Drivers often use this center turn lane

1:10:20for passing vehicles,

1:10:24usually aggressively.

1:10:27Three, pedestrian safety.

1:10:31Drivers are not consistently stopping

1:10:33for pedestrians in the crosswalks.

1:10:36So, we respectively request the

1:10:40following measures.

1:10:42One, add speed limit signs with flashing

1:10:45perimeters.

1:10:47Remove divided highway signs, leaving

1:10:50symbol only signs.

1:10:53Three, install permanent RS speed signs.

1:10:57increase traffic enforcement, improve

1:11:00pedestrian infrastructure by raised

1:11:03crosswalks or pedestrian refuge islands,

1:11:07and six, add stop signs on East Bay

1:11:09Drive at intersections

1:11:12with San Francisco and Berry Street.

1:11:16>> Uh we believe these changes would make

1:11:19East Bay Drive, Mr. safer for all.

1:11:22>> Thank you. That that concludes your your

1:11:24time. Yeah. Um

1:11:25>> I've got copies of petitions for the

1:11:27>> Sure. If you could hand them to uh well,

1:11:30looks like our council member is getting

1:11:32up. Um and uh we will make sure that we

1:11:35review those. Um if you do not finish

1:11:38your comments in the two minutes

1:11:40allotted, feel free to email the

1:11:41remainder of your comments to the

1:11:43council.

1:11:44Thank you, Council Member Baron. Um so

1:11:47I'm going to call forward Jeff Krooks,

1:11:49uh followed by Andrew Manang.

1:11:52Uh yes, I'm another member of the East

1:11:54Bay Drive traffic committee. Uh I'm not

1:11:58going to repeat what was what's in the

1:11:59petitions, but I would like to uh

1:12:02highlight that there is a problem with

1:12:05people passing in the in the uh turn

1:12:08lanes. And you might think that would

1:12:10only happen when you get further out on

1:12:12East Bay, but it happens within about

1:12:14two blocks of downtown. Uh and it

1:12:16happens both going north and going

1:12:18south. Why somebody thinks passing you

1:12:21when you're already at Big Low Street is

1:12:23going to save them any any time, I'm not

1:12:26sure. Um, the other thing, stopping for

1:12:30pedestrians at crosswalks seems to be

1:12:33regarded as optional on a good deal of

1:12:35East Bay Drive. I live right at the San

1:12:38Francisco street where it comes in, so

1:12:40I'm observe that frequently. Um,

1:12:46one other thing, we tried to come up

1:12:47with improvements to suggest that

1:12:50weren't going to break the bank for the

1:12:51city. And I hope that you will be able

1:12:54to, um, take that into account in

1:12:58thinking about what we were requesting.

1:13:00And finally, um, I just would like to

1:13:03note that as a footnote perhaps to the

1:13:06Indigenous People's Day resolution, you

1:13:08could announce that anybody going up to

1:13:11the ceremony at Squawken Park that the

1:13:14speed limit really is 30 miles an hour

1:13:16all the way going up through the park.

1:13:18Thank you.

1:13:21>> Thank you. Up next, we have Andrew

1:13:24Manang or Manang U Merang. Okay, thank

1:13:29you. uh followed by Kathy Makavoy.

1:13:35>> Thank you, city council members. I live

1:13:37at 1819 East Bay Drive and I often

1:13:40bicycle downtown or bicycle north

1:13:42depending where I'm going. And I see

1:13:45people going by really quickly. If I'm

1:13:48heading south,

1:13:51I can usually bike within the parking

1:13:53lane and there's a bit of a buffer

1:13:54before I get to the traffic. But

1:13:57sometimes going north, you don't have

1:13:59much of that buffer. There's just a thin

1:14:00lane and cars go by and I can feel the

1:14:03draft pulling me along. So, it's really

1:14:06pretty treacherous the way some people

1:14:08drive there. So, I certainly would like

1:14:11some kind of action to slow down the

1:14:13traffic.

1:14:16And yeah, finally, that's all. Thank

1:14:18you.

1:14:21>> Thank you very much.

1:14:23All right, Kathy Makavoy, followed by

1:14:26Carol Robinson.

1:14:30>> I'm Kathy Makavoy. Thank you, council

1:14:33and mayor, for having us and listening

1:14:34to our comments this evening. I'm a

1:14:37member of the East Bay Drive

1:14:38Neighborhood Association, and I walk

1:14:40frequently along East Bay Drive and

1:14:43through the park. I live a block down

1:14:45below and I have observed personally

1:14:48driving where I get cut off and they

1:14:52take that center turn lane and they act

1:14:55as if it is a highway and pass me when

1:14:58I'm trying to turn down in my driveway

1:15:00and it's very harrowing. The other thing

1:15:02is I walk the Squawken Park frequently

1:15:05and I see cars just screaming through

1:15:08that park and I think of the off leash

1:15:10dogs and the children and people come

1:15:13from one path and just walk over across

1:15:16the street to get to the next path and

1:15:18I'm a I'm afraid someone is going to get

1:15:21hurt or killed on that street.

1:15:24We don't want to break the bank um with

1:15:26the city, but there are some cheaper

1:15:29alternatives like getting the sign down

1:15:31that says it's a divided highway, adding

1:15:34maybe a stop sign. The like on South

1:15:37Capitol, they have this your speed is

1:15:40and it's got lights around it and it

1:15:42gets your attention. And I think

1:15:44sometimes people don't realize how

1:15:46quickly or how fast they're going, but

1:15:48there they clocked a cyclist. This is

1:15:51the rumor down at the senior center. um

1:15:53they clock the um a cyclist,

1:15:56motorcyclist going a 100 miles an hour

1:15:59and we've spent the whole summer talking

1:16:02about that. So, thank you.

1:16:07>> Thank you.

1:16:09Next up, we have Carol uh excuse me, uh

1:16:12Mark Kittyashi, followed by Miles for

1:16:15Folks.

1:16:18Uh did I miss Carol Robinson?

1:16:21>> Oh, I'm my apologies. Carol Robinson

1:16:23followed by Mark Kitty Bayashi

1:16:38from the Crown Beverage Packaging Plant

1:16:40on Phones Road in East Olympia. The

1:16:44noise happens seemingly anytime, 24/7.

1:16:49Apparently, the plant never sleeps while

1:16:51the people in our community are

1:16:52desperately trying to sleep over the

1:16:54noise.

1:16:57I'm aware of at least one complaint

1:16:58about the noise um that was filed by a

1:17:02resident living not far from the plant.

1:17:05Um, I spoke with someone at the city who

1:17:09told me about it, said they checked the

1:17:11noise level, the decibel level, and that

1:17:13it complied with um the law,

1:17:18which is concerning to me. Um, I asked a

1:17:21neighbor um who lives next door to me if

1:17:24the noise bothered her, and she said

1:17:27yes. She said it drives me crazy some

1:17:29nights.

1:17:30Uh, I have a friend who used to live uh

1:17:33between LBA Park and Holman Road and she

1:17:38said she spoke with four other neighbors

1:17:39on her street who agreed the noise was

1:17:42bothersome.

1:17:44I also am autistic and I'm extremely

1:17:46sensitive to noise so it really grace on

1:17:48my nerves. I mostly notice it at night

1:17:51because there's less other noise. There

1:17:54have been times when I hear it when I go

1:17:56to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the

1:17:58night. It's I can hear it and wake up in

1:18:00the morning, I can hear it.

1:18:02Um, I encourage the city to strengthen

1:18:04existing noise regulations to put a

1:18:07higher priority on human health and

1:18:09well-being.

1:18:10Uh, surely it's possible for the for the

1:18:13Crown Plant to mitigate its noise

1:18:14emissions.

1:18:16Thank you for listening.

1:18:20>> Thank you, Mark Kitty Bashi, followed by

1:18:23Miles Folks.

1:18:26Good evening, Mayor Dante and council

1:18:28members. I'm Marcashi. I'm media past

1:18:31president of the Thirstston County

1:18:32Realtors Association. I'm here to uh

1:18:35give you a quick update on ATS home

1:18:38energy scores. And first of all, I'd

1:18:41like to thank the uh council and the

1:18:44staff of the TCMP for including us on

1:18:47the implementation uh discussion. But we

1:18:50have been uh very clear about the

1:18:54opposition of a mandatory home energy

1:18:57score. But we also uh believe that if we

1:19:01go and keep asking that we should

1:19:05consider your approach, we have a

1:19:08responsibility to bring you a

1:19:10alternative approach. And today we are

1:19:14on January 1st, 2027, TC County Realtors

1:19:18will launch a industry-led home energy

1:19:22score education program. Our realtor's

1:19:26membership uh represents about

1:19:28approximately 70% of the practitioner

1:19:31brokerage in thirst county and also

1:19:34non-realtors are joining our uh cost and

1:19:37will be right now we have about 81% of

1:19:41the brokerage and also the home that

1:19:43will be listed in the thirsten county as

1:19:45a part of this program. uh this

1:19:48participation affirms already uh what we

1:19:51do is we also have a commitment from the

1:19:54brokerage in Mason and Pierce County as

1:19:56well and the numbers are growing every

1:19:58day. So what we're asking to do is we're

1:20:01as a participant we will be educating a

1:20:04giving a standard form to the buyer and

1:20:06the seller explaining the home energy

1:20:08score and importance of energy savings

1:20:10and what our ask today is very simple.

1:20:14Please pause the implementation mandate.

1:20:17Let us do our work. We are willing to

1:20:19report what we find out and see if our

1:20:22program works or not. So we are not

1:20:24against the ATS or energy conservancy,

1:20:27but we are here to support and thank you

1:20:30very much for your time.

1:20:33>> Thank you. All right. Next up is my

1:20:35folks followed by uh Lana Kornstack or

1:20:39stock.

1:20:41>> Good evening. My name is Miles Folks.

1:20:43I'm in 1823 East Bay Drive. I'm the

1:20:45president of the East Bay Drive

1:20:46Neighborhood Association. We represent

1:20:48somewhere in the neighborhood of 23 230

1:20:51Highes.

1:20:53Number of my board members are here.

1:20:55Speaking about East Bay Drive, 27 years

1:20:58I've lived there. This has been an issue

1:21:01most of that time. We've had car wrecks

1:21:04in the center turn lanes. We've come to

1:21:06the city repeatedly. We put the board

1:21:09together, the board put together um the

1:21:12traffic committee

1:21:14and we've gotten virtually no responses.

1:21:18The latest thing is you probably saw in

1:21:19the newspaper were the rice rockets

1:21:22going down the street at 120 miles an

1:21:24hour. We complained for two months to

1:21:27OPD

1:21:29and then somebody on on uh the South Bay

1:21:32Road complained and the sheriff's

1:21:34department put a a speed trap out there

1:21:38and had them like that.

1:21:41We would like to have you respond to us.

1:21:45And that's all I need to say about that.

1:21:48We have a committee. We've put it

1:21:50together. We've presented it to you. We

1:21:52want to see some action. Thank you very

1:21:54much for your time.

1:21:58>> Thank you. Next, next up we have Lana

1:22:01Kornstack followed by Jolen William.

1:22:04>> Um, good evening, Mayor Payne and the

1:22:06council members. My name is Lana Comtock

1:22:09and I live in Southeast Olympia.

1:22:12I want uh pedestrian behavior included

1:22:15in the city's traffic sa safety work

1:22:18plan, not only vehicle speed and

1:22:20crosswalks. A few weeks ago, I saw a

1:22:23woman walk across Pacific Avenue

1:22:25midblock.

1:22:27She stopped directly in the roadway and

1:22:29traffic in both directions had to stop

1:22:31to avoid hitting her. In a second is

1:22:34incident this past April around 4:00

1:22:38a.m. I h I was returning with my husband

1:22:41home from the emergency room, traveling

1:22:43southbound on Lily Road after a visit to

1:22:46the to the emergency room. A man was

1:22:49dancing in the middle of the Lily Road

1:22:51and Martin Way intersection. So, we

1:22:53stopped and paused until he quit dancing

1:22:56and moved off the intersection so we

1:22:58could proceed safely.

1:23:01These two incidents are indicative of

1:23:03numerous events that I and family and

1:23:05friends have observed throughout the

1:23:07city. Vehicle pedestrian impacts often

1:23:10cause severe lasting injury. Someone in

1:23:13the lane midblock as traffic is

1:23:15progressing or in the middle of the

1:23:17street at night leaves drivers very

1:23:19little time to react.

1:23:22I'm asking the council to update the

1:23:24referral to the community livability and

1:23:26public safety committee to treat

1:23:28pedestrian compliance as part of the

1:23:31safety review already underway for

1:23:33speeding and possible speedy cameras.

1:23:37That includes enforcement of existing

1:23:39crossing rules for everyone and

1:23:41attention to places where people enter

1:23:42the roadway outside a crosswalk or

1:23:45remain for a prolonged period of time in

1:23:47the travel lane. The rules should

1:23:50protect pedestrians as well as drivers.

1:23:53Thank you.

1:23:56>> Thank you. Up next, we have Joel and

1:23:58Wilhham followed by Connie Buhov.

1:24:03Hello, I'm Joel and Wilhelm, a resident

1:24:06of East Side Olympia for 22 years. Um, I

1:24:09was glad to hear that council members

1:24:11got a chance to spend time abroad. Um,

1:24:14that's a great step to get outside of

1:24:16your normal circles and see a different

1:24:18way of living. I enjoy that as well. Um,

1:24:22this past summer I've sent numerous

1:24:24emails to council about experiences

1:24:26living in my neighborhood. Um we've been

1:24:31experiencing many li aboard vehicles,

1:24:34abandoned vehicles. Um the other impacts

1:24:38of the reality of what's going on in our

1:24:41city with an house people not having

1:24:44places to go. Um I hope in your time

1:24:47abroad that you saw different ways of

1:24:49handling the problems that exist

1:24:52everywhere. I often hear from leaders in

1:24:54our community at every level that we

1:24:57have intractable problems. a convergence

1:24:59of many problems from homelessness to

1:25:04addiction to mental health. And it's not

1:25:08solvable in many ways. And for residents

1:25:10who live with that every day and have to

1:25:13become crisis workers at their own home

1:25:16in front of their own house, that isn't

1:25:18an answer. And I hope that your time in

1:25:21other places where maybe you saw how

1:25:23this was handled differently or maybe

1:25:26that the problems weren't the same that

1:25:29you can come back with those ideas and

1:25:31do something different because residents

1:25:33need something different.

1:25:35I'm also grateful I was here for the

1:25:37past hour like you. I know you want to

1:25:40be home with your families, but it was

1:25:42interesting to hear the school district

1:25:44in partnership with you talking about

1:25:46the schools and the walk to roll

1:25:48program. One of the schools is also in

1:25:50my neighborhood and will soon be closed

1:25:53with the proposal at hand, leaving

1:25:55students not being able to walk and

1:25:58probably creating more spaces where

1:26:00people will converge where there's

1:26:02nowhere else for them to live.

1:26:08>> Thank you. Up next, we have uh Connie

1:26:11Buov followed by Chad Keat.

1:26:14I'm Connie Buov and I'm a resident of

1:26:16East Bay Drive. And I'm not going to

1:26:18repeat what everybody else has said, but

1:26:21I did call and talk to the police

1:26:23department about what about this person

1:26:26that traveled down our road and I was

1:26:30told that I could get his license number

1:26:32and call him back and maybe they the

1:26:34police would give them a phone call.

1:26:36I've later found out that there is no

1:26:39traffic management or enforcement by the

1:26:43police and there isn't anybody was who

1:26:44was going to come out and help us and I

1:26:47would like you all to take a look at

1:26:49that policy again and see if we can get

1:26:51some traffic enforcement.

1:26:53Thank you.

1:26:56>> Thank you.

1:26:58Up next, we have Chad Kate,

1:27:01who I believe spoke under one of our

1:27:04public hearings, and I don't see him

1:27:06now. Okay.

1:27:09All right. Uh, next we have uh Jill

1:27:12Wolf.

1:27:17>> All right.

1:27:19Um, looks Are you Jill?

1:27:22>> I'm Jill. Yes.

1:27:23>> Okay. Are you declining to comment?

1:27:28everything there is to say about the

1:27:31>> Okay, thank you very much. Uh just for

1:27:33the record, so uh it's on Mike. Uh Jill

1:27:36Wolf is declining her comments for the

1:27:38evening uh because she says her

1:27:40neighbors have already spoken to all of

1:27:42the things that need to be said. So

1:27:44thank you very much.

1:27:46All right. Um so that concludes uh our

1:27:50in-person public comment for the

1:27:51evening. Uh unfortunately I see your

1:27:54hand, sir. Unfortunately, we don't

1:27:55follow the same custom or practice for

1:27:57the public comment segment of our

1:28:00agenda, but feel free to email your

1:28:02comments to council if you wish to do

1:28:03so. All right. So, uh that concludes

1:28:06public comment for tonight, we're going

1:28:08to move on to the adoption of the

1:28:09consent calendar. Oh, I'm sorry. Before

1:28:12we do that, I am in a rush tonight as

1:28:14you can see. Um so, uh before we move

1:28:18on, there could be some uh response from

1:28:20council. Um, so I will just uh turn it

1:28:24over for comments

1:28:26beginning with council member

1:28:27Vanderpool.

1:28:28>> Um, I would like to first by thank the

1:28:31folks for getting all these signatures.

1:28:33This is um, as you probably know, um,

1:28:36um, I've met with many of you earlier

1:28:38this summer and we talked quite a bit

1:28:40and you've you've dug into our data. So

1:28:43you you know firsthand and also in the

1:28:45city data uh that uh where the street

1:28:48safety issues are where the speeding is

1:28:51where is the uh the speeding abuse of

1:28:54the center lane and the pedestrian

1:28:57safety which all um have to do with uh

1:28:59improvements and investments on uh East

1:29:02Bay Drive. Um, unfortunately our

1:29:05transportation we don't have

1:29:06transportation staff here tonight or and

1:29:08or our director of public works but

1:29:11however I will say I meet with them

1:29:13quite often and I will bring this to

1:29:15them and I will talk with them about

1:29:17this um these all seem ex you know

1:29:21considering the budget and I and

1:29:23understanding uh where we are. I think

1:29:26that these are very reasonable asks in a

1:29:28lot of ways. Um, this is not a street

1:29:31redesign, but this seems things like

1:29:34speed limit signs, uh, your speed,

1:29:37traffic, some traffic enforcement,

1:29:39pedestrian in investments here and

1:29:42there. These are all very, I think,

1:29:44reasonable asks in a lot of ways. This

1:29:46is not a multi-million dollar ask. These

1:29:49are in these are closer to the thousands

1:29:52rather than millions. And so I do

1:29:54appreciate you folks coming out and and

1:29:56uh bringing a very reasonable ask to us.

1:29:59Um uh I will talk with our

1:30:02transportation staff about that because

1:30:03we are um this is we are moving in the

1:30:06direction as a city um uh of doing the

1:30:10smaller investments and recently I

1:30:13discovered that um washd created a

1:30:16document I don't remember off top my

1:30:17head that is that enables local cities

1:30:21to and uh to look at smaller scale

1:30:24investments um which is good to see that

1:30:27the state is helping um create the legal

1:30:30and example for cities to start doing

1:30:33that work. Um so and again thank you for

1:30:37this. I will speak with them and um

1:30:39hopefully we can respond to several of

1:30:42these um folks who commented and and get

1:30:47a response hopefully soon. Um, and then

1:30:53let's see. Um, the noise on phone out in

1:30:56their phones are at the bottle pack uh

1:30:58packaging plant. I've been out there

1:31:00myself and I've I have uh actually um uh

1:31:05some folks have invited me over for

1:31:06coffee before and I've actually heard it

1:31:08myself and we've had code enforcement go

1:31:10out a few times now. Um it it is

1:31:14actually not it is much more noticeable

1:31:15if you are a little higher off the

1:31:17ground. I don't know what I don't know

1:31:20what other what else can be done at this

1:31:23point, but we've sent staff out before.

1:31:26I don't know if the city manager wants

1:31:27to respond to this one or uh Tim Smith.

1:31:32>> I'll ask Tim. Tim just provided me an

1:31:33update today, so I'll ask him to kind of

1:31:35provide an update of kind of the work of

1:31:36code enforcement out there on this

1:31:37issue.

1:31:37>> Okay. Thank you.

1:31:44>> Yeah. Good evening. Tim Smith, director

1:31:45of community development. Uh yeah, we

1:31:47received a complaint a few months ago

1:31:49and we did refer to code enforcement.

1:31:51They have been out this past summer at

1:31:53different points of the day and uh time

1:31:55of day in different locations uh testing

1:31:57for decibel levels and what we found is

1:31:59that uh the sound everywhere we test did

1:32:02fall within the code requirement for for

1:32:04decibb. And so is a situation where

1:32:06through code enforcement the the the

1:32:08sound is in compliance with our current

1:32:10rules. And so we'll continue to do the

1:32:12testing. that that was the outcome that

1:32:14that the our uh our lead enforcement

1:32:16officer did advise me of a couple weeks

1:32:18ago.

1:32:21>> Um so if we wanted to uh adjust how I'm

1:32:25actually you probably don't know this

1:32:26off the top of your head but it's

1:32:28probably been a long time since that uh

1:32:30code around uh noise pollution noise

1:32:33ordinance has been updated as a city

1:32:36>> probably. So, okay, it's it's codified

1:32:38within title 18, our development

1:32:40regulations. And so, it's something

1:32:42where we could we could move forward

1:32:43with a potential code change to address

1:32:45the issue and work with council on that.

1:32:47>> Okay. Thank you, Tim.

1:32:53>> Jay would like

1:32:55>> Yes, go ahead. Uh, city manager Bernie.

1:32:58>> Yeah, I just might recommend on that one

1:32:59that it might be something we talk about

1:33:01maybe land use work plan. That might be

1:33:03something where we could where we could

1:33:04dig in on kind of how other cities

1:33:06address noise and kind of levels and do

1:33:08a little little research there and then

1:33:09bring back maybe some recommendations to

1:33:11council on what a change might look like

1:33:13to our noise ordinances.

1:33:17Uh I'd like to add to that in addition

1:33:19to that I think may be a point of

1:33:21conversation for land use um into our

1:33:24next year's work plan is uh uh vehicle

1:33:26noise which is something that are uh has

1:33:29been a difficulty for many residents

1:33:31over the years. Um I know several folks

1:33:34down in uh not near Briggs Village off

1:33:36of Yum Highway who who have experienced

1:33:39lots of noise pollution over the years.

1:33:41Um yeah, thank you.

1:33:45Thank you. Uh, Council Member Barren,

1:33:48followed by Council Member Green,

1:33:49followed by Council Member Gilman.

1:33:51>> Thank you. I I I'll be very quick. I I

1:33:54just want to thank everyone uh from the

1:33:55East Bay community who showed up and uh

1:33:58testified this evening. I I did meet

1:34:01with Sophie Simpson, the the

1:34:03transportation director, uh uh and went

1:34:07over the six um measures that are that

1:34:10are recommending and she's starting to

1:34:12kind of delve into those. Uh other

1:34:15council members will be talking to her

1:34:17as well. And I just uh want to thank you

1:34:19for bringing this to to our attention.

1:34:22Speeding is the number one complaint I

1:34:25hear about in the city, not just on East

1:34:27Bay, but um in every neighborhood of the

1:34:30city. This is a real problem whether

1:34:31it's kids near schools or uh or um any

1:34:35of the thorough affairs that um where

1:34:38people can step on it. And uh I I I just

1:34:41think we need to uh step up to

1:34:45getting on top of this. Thank you,

1:34:51>> Council Member Green.

1:34:53>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I share my, uh,

1:34:57colleagues appreciation for the the

1:34:58folks from East Bay coming out tonight.

1:35:00Um, as Council Member Barrett alluded to

1:35:02earlier, uh, you know, this has been a

1:35:04particular area of interest for me and

1:35:06East Bay is actually um, you know, on a

1:35:08route that that I I drive typically

1:35:10multiple times a day between work and

1:35:13and, uh, kids and life and all the

1:35:15things. So, so I've definitely

1:35:16experienced a lot of um a lot of the the

1:35:19actions that the neighbors are talking

1:35:20about. So, I'm very um I have some

1:35:22follow-up questions for some of our our

1:35:24city teams around that. But I also just

1:35:26wanted to acknowledge the commenter who

1:35:27spoke about um our our community

1:35:31livability and public safety committee's

1:35:32work on traffic safety because certainly

1:35:35pedestrian behavior was not part of that

1:35:37conversation um and so is not on uh

1:35:41staff's current plan of what needs to

1:35:42come forward to council. But I think

1:35:44that's an interesting topic. So, just

1:35:46wanted to to note that I I'm going to

1:35:48send a note to see if um there can't be

1:35:50some conversation about that included in

1:35:52uh the next steps that those teams take

1:35:54before some of that work comes back to

1:35:56council in the spring.

1:36:01>> Thank you very much, Council Member

1:36:03Green. Council Member Gilman.

1:36:04>> Thank you, Mayor Payne. Um, first I I

1:36:08wanted to appreciate u the Thirsten

1:36:10County Realtors coming with their um uh

1:36:13their announcement that they want to

1:36:15make an alternative proposal to the home

1:36:16energy score. And I'm interested to

1:36:19learn more about what that um what that

1:36:22might be. Um and and how how it

1:36:27how it will or won't mesh with what

1:36:29we've got underway. Um, I'm I'm

1:36:34wondering if I might ask Chief Parker.

1:36:36Um I I I heard several folks express

1:36:40concern that we don't have a dedicated

1:36:42traffic unit, but my understanding is

1:36:46that um issues like reckless driving,

1:36:49school zone enforcement, that that those

1:36:52sorts of issues are are still um

1:36:56that that they're still part of of the

1:36:58work of Olympia Police even though we

1:37:00don't have a separate dedicated traffic

1:37:02unit. Is that accurate or could you

1:37:04speak to that a little bit, please?

1:37:06Thank you, Council Member Gilman, for

1:37:07posing the question. It's absolutely

1:37:09true. We prioritize traffic enforcement

1:37:12in between our calls for service. So,

1:37:15unfortunately, our dedicated traffic

1:37:18unit has not been filled for quite some

1:37:21time due to staffing challenges, but it

1:37:23does not mean that we're not engaging in

1:37:26traffic enforcement in between those

1:37:28dedicated calls for service from that

1:37:30are dispatched from TCOM. We've

1:37:32conducted, I believe, 3,000 traffic

1:37:36stops so far this year with about a 33%

1:37:39enforcement rate. So, a tremendous

1:37:41amount of education occurring. We often

1:37:44prioritize that enforcement based upon

1:37:47where our collisions are in the city.

1:37:50So, I certainly recognize that there is

1:37:52speed on East Bay Drive and that there

1:37:54are concerns. We'll dedicate staffing to

1:37:56those concerns. Uh again, our

1:37:59enforcement efforts are traditionally

1:38:01allocated to where the collision data is

1:38:03supporting that there's there's

1:38:05collisions.

1:38:06>> And if I may follow up, the um the

1:38:09outliers, we we actually had a a similar

1:38:12conversation to the a couple of

1:38:14motorcycles that were running out Boston

1:38:16Harbor Way on uh Cooper Point, a couple

1:38:18of cars that were making runs every

1:38:20evening. And um I I know that our our

1:38:24officers eventually identified who those

1:38:27folks were. Is that could you just

1:38:28describe what happens when you know

1:38:31somebody makes a 100 mph run through

1:38:34town every evening? Um

1:38:37how how do you pursue that?

1:38:40>> So when we're talking about those types

1:38:42of speeds, we're we're clearly talking

1:38:43about a criminal investigation. It's not

1:38:46just speeding, but it's it's criminal

1:38:48conduct. It does take a considerable

1:38:50amount of resources when you have

1:38:51somebody engaged in that type of

1:38:53behavior to identify them and apprehend

1:38:55them and that does take staff time. The

1:38:57Thirstston County Sheriff's Office right

1:38:59now does the have the staffing to

1:39:01support a dedicated traffic unit and

1:39:03that's where they were able to to

1:39:05allocate those resources into the county

1:39:07jurisdiction further north on East Bay

1:39:10Drive. I appreciate the partnership with

1:39:13Thirstston County. Um, but again, I I

1:39:16appreciate the emphasis on just because

1:39:18we don't have a current traffic

1:39:21investigation unit staffed, it doesn't

1:39:24mean that we are not conducting traffic

1:39:25enforcement in between our calls for

1:39:27service.

1:39:30>> Thank you, Chief Parker. I I really

1:39:32appreciate it. I just I I want to uh

1:39:35make sure that I and and the neighbors

1:39:38who are interested continue to

1:39:39understand what what what we are doing

1:39:43and and what it means to not have a a

1:39:46separate dedicated traffic unit.

1:39:48>> Absolutely. If I may, Council Member

1:39:49Gilman, we also do have a couple of

1:39:51other programs. So, we have our

1:39:53volunteers and policing services and

1:39:55they run a speed enforcement program

1:39:57where they will set up um a speed um

1:40:01indicator sign and they'll use a speed

1:40:04measuring device to measure the speed of

1:40:06vehicles passing. And then each of those

1:40:08individuals who are exceeding the speed

1:40:10limit, they'll receive a letter in the

1:40:13mail. It's not a citation, but it is a

1:40:16letter to let them know that they're

1:40:17engaging in conduct that's outside of uh

1:40:20permissible conduct. Uh it's a great

1:40:22program. It helps educate the public and

1:40:26um and it's been highly effective. We

1:40:28also do as a city uh have the speed

1:40:31signs that can educate the public about

1:40:33their speed. Sometimes folks just need a

1:40:35gentle reminder, though I appreciate

1:40:36what I'm hearing tonight is that that in

1:40:39isolation would not be enough.

1:40:42>> Thank you, Chief. And um the the one

1:40:46other comment I wanted to make was I I

1:40:48appreciated um Miss Wilhelm uh

1:40:51describing the the concerns

1:40:54and and what what other ways we might

1:40:57respond. And I I wanted to recognize

1:41:00that next Tuesday our study session is

1:41:03going to be sort of an update and what's

1:41:06next around the one community plan and

1:41:08we'll address those those conversations

1:41:12about um livabboards and the impacts of

1:41:15folks in various kinds of mental health

1:41:17or substance crisis out on the town. Um

1:41:21so I'm I'm I'm hoping to continue that

1:41:24conversation in more detail next

1:41:26Tuesday.

1:41:31Thank you. Additional comments,

1:41:34city manager Bernie.

1:41:36>> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just just

1:41:37one followup to the chief on around our

1:41:39traffic units. It's it's a staffing

1:41:41issue, not a desire to have the unit in

1:41:43place. I mean, last I talked to the

1:41:44chief, I think we're still down about 14

1:41:47officers. So, you might chief, could you

1:41:49just talk about that real quick? because

1:41:51I want to what I want to give you a

1:41:52sense of is having a traffic unit is

1:41:54important to us and right now we're in a

1:41:56a pretty rapid hiring phase to fill some

1:41:58vacant positions so the chief can

1:42:00fulfill all the positions and all the

1:42:02services that she wants to provide to

1:42:04this community. So maybe chief you just

1:42:05talk real quick about that.

1:42:07>> Thank you. City Manager Bernie I love to

1:42:09talk about our police department and

1:42:11we're short because I could go on for

1:42:12quite some time. We are in uh a period

1:42:16of rapid hiring within our police

1:42:18department. We are currently at about

1:42:2165% strength. So we have 88 commissioned

1:42:25positions in the police department. We

1:42:27currently have 11 vacancies.

1:42:29We have 11 people in training, whether

1:42:32that be waiting to go to the academy, in

1:42:34the academy, or post academy training.

1:42:37When we hire a police officer, it takes

1:42:39about one year until they are able to

1:42:42independently police in our community.

1:42:44We also have anywhere from 8 to nine

1:42:47people on various leave statuses. So

1:42:49that could be PFML, it could be injury,

1:42:52uh, and a variety of other statuses. So

1:42:54when you take those numbers and their

1:42:56totality, you can see where we go from

1:42:5888 commissioned officers to a

1:43:00significantly lower number. And that's

1:43:02where it becomes really critical to

1:43:04leverage our programs like volunteers

1:43:05and policing with their their speed

1:43:07monitoring program to take a look at

1:43:09technology and engineering. Uh but it's

1:43:12certainly not a lack of desire to staff

1:43:15the traffic unit. It's been a high

1:43:17priority and uh I didn't anticipate this

1:43:20national challenge that we're having

1:43:22around staffing law enforcement officers

1:43:24in our nation and it's it's significant.

1:43:27But again, we've hired um to date

1:43:3118 members into our organization just

1:43:34this year and that is a number that I'm

1:43:37incredibly proud of. So

1:43:40>> yeah, thanks chief. And then the other

1:43:41thing I want to add is I I did provide

1:43:43my business card to several of the

1:43:44members um that are here. And one of the

1:43:45things that I'll mention is um we have

1:43:48their names because they signed up on

1:43:49the list and you also have my card. I

1:43:52will do some work with the public works

1:43:53director and the chief and we'll reach

1:43:54out and um do some additional

1:43:56communication with the East Bay Drive

1:43:57neighborhood association, the folks that

1:43:59are here and then try to see what we can

1:44:01work u some of the things on the list

1:44:03that they mentioned kind of as immediate

1:44:04are a little more immediate and we might

1:44:06be able to get to on a quicker path and

1:44:07some of the other ones might need a

1:44:08little more time to work through. But

1:44:10I'm I'm interested in talking to public

1:44:11works crews about what we might be able

1:44:13to do sooner rather than later on some

1:44:15of the things on your list. So I will

1:44:16follow up or have the public works

1:44:17director follow up directly with all of

1:44:18you. Thank you.

1:44:22>> All right. Thank you, city manager

1:44:24Bernie. Uh so I won't belabor the point

1:44:26too much um other than I will just say

1:44:29that um I hopefully what you hear

1:44:31tonight is a commitment from the city to

1:44:33continue to work with you on the

1:44:34challenges that you're having in the

1:44:36neighborhood at East Bay Drive. um you

1:44:39are not the only ones that have dealt

1:44:40with this in the past. We've heard this

1:44:42uh similarly from other neighborhoods

1:44:44and we've worked with them as well and

1:44:46so we look forward to seeing uh what

1:44:48solutions we can come to together on

1:44:50this uh because certainly we want to

1:44:52make sure that we're protecting everyone

1:44:55uh those in vehicles and also

1:44:56pedestrians and our residents that are

1:44:58living in that area. Um, I will also say

1:45:02it looks like uh Miss Wilham left. Um,

1:45:05certainly we we share the concerns of

1:45:08those that are unhoused um having

1:45:11impacts on residential areas throughout

1:45:14our community. Um, that continues to be

1:45:16a challenge for not only for us but

1:45:18other communities as well. And you heard

1:45:20her mention that earlier. Uh, but we are

1:45:23committed to addressing those challenges

1:45:25not just to our residents but also to

1:45:27businesses. Uh and as you heard from

1:45:30council member Gilman, uh next week we

1:45:32will have a study session on an update

1:45:34of the one community plan which has

1:45:36several strategies on how we continue to

1:45:38work towards addressing homelessness uh

1:45:40in our community. And so I encourage you

1:45:42to uh check out that session uh and

1:45:45follow uh for updates. Um, and I also

1:45:49just uh want to mention as well that

1:45:51hopefully you hear a commitment to

1:45:53looking into the inquiry around noise uh

1:45:56and the noise ordinance that hasn't been

1:45:58reviewed it sounds like for some time.

1:46:01Uh, and so we are committed to looking

1:46:03into that as well to address uh those

1:46:06challenges. Um, so with that uh before I

1:46:10move on, I just want to check one more

1:46:11time if there are any additional

1:46:12comments from council or from the city

1:46:14manager.

1:46:16All right, seeing none, uh, thank you

1:46:18all for being here tonight and bringing

1:46:20it to our attention.

1:46:22All right, so uh, now we're going to

1:46:25move on to the adoption of the consent

1:46:27calendar. I am tracking that we have,

1:46:30um, one requested item for polls for,

1:46:34uh, questions and comments. Uh, so with

1:46:36that, I need a motion to adopt, uh,

1:46:38tonight's consent calendar.

1:46:40>> Move to adopt the consent calendar as

1:46:43published.

1:46:44>> Okay. Okay. And do we have a second?

1:46:45>> Second.

1:46:46>> All right, we have a motion and a

1:46:48second. Uh the requested pool for this

1:46:50evening is item 4D on our agenda. It is

1:46:53the approval of a bid award for the Yelm

1:46:55Highway Community Park phase 1

1:46:58construction project. This request was

1:47:01uh requested uh by council member Gilman

1:47:04for a poll. Um and we will invite up

1:47:06Sana Nihouser who is our director of

1:47:09parks, arts, and recreation uh for

1:47:12comment.

1:47:31Good evening. For the record, my name is

1:47:33Sana Nihouser and I'm the director of

1:47:35parks, arts, and recreation. And um I

1:47:38appreciate uh taking this opportunity to

1:47:40talk about an exciting moment in the

1:47:43project. And our um our design and

1:47:47planning manager, uh Melissa McFaden,

1:47:50who's been heading up this project, is

1:47:51also here. uh to answer any questions.

1:48:00>> Hello, my name is Melissa McFadden. I'm

1:48:02the planning and design manager for the

1:48:04parks arts and recreation department. Uh

1:48:06we're really excited to be moving toward

1:48:08moving forward with this legacy project

1:48:10that's been many years in the making.

1:48:12Um, you'll notice that we're calling the

1:48:14project Yelm Highway Community Park

1:48:16phase 1 construction and I'm very very

1:48:18aware that it has been renamed Jolene

1:48:20Unsold Community Park. Um, but

1:48:23unfortunately the way that design and

1:48:25construction and permitting move, we've

1:48:27sort of been pigeonholed ourselves into

1:48:30retaining the the old title for the time

1:48:32being. So that's why we're calling it

1:48:33that. Um, a word of the contract is a

1:48:36milestone that'll allow us to move into

1:48:38our next phase of construction. Uh

1:48:41construction of the park will provide

1:48:42some really exciting amenities to our

1:48:44community, including a full-size turf

1:48:46soccer field, pickle ball courts, 13

1:48:49pickleball courts, a playground,

1:48:51restroom, and dog park. And those are

1:48:53just a few of the most most exciting

1:48:55features. There will also be a

1:48:56maintenance facility located um at the

1:48:58park site.

1:49:00Um yeah, I I'm happy to answer any

1:49:03questions. We're just really excited to

1:49:04be to this point.

1:49:07>> Thank you, Melissa. uh comments or

1:49:10questions from Council Member Gilman.

1:49:13>> Thank you. Um I think inquiring minds

1:49:17would like to know when might this

1:49:19construction begin?

1:49:21>> Great question. Um awarding the contract

1:49:24is a really important step in moving

1:49:25forward. Once we've executed the

1:49:27contract with our low bidder, our

1:49:30selected contractor, um we'll receive a

1:49:32schedule from those folks and it'll lay

1:49:34out their plan for pursuing construction

1:49:36of the project. We expect construction

1:49:38to take about 18 to 24 months. Um, and I

1:49:41would guess that folks in the public

1:49:43will start to see activity on the site

1:49:45before the end of this year.

1:49:47>> Thank you. Thank you, Melissa. That's

1:49:49what I was hoping to hear.

1:49:50>> Great.

1:49:53All right. Any additional comments or

1:49:55questions?

1:49:57Seeing none. Thank you very much,

1:49:59Melissa.

1:50:01All right. That was the only item

1:50:03requested for polls for questions or

1:50:05comments for this evening. We have a

1:50:07motion and a second on the floor to

1:50:09adopt. This evening's consent calendar

1:50:11is published. All those in favor signify

1:50:13by saying I.

1:50:14>> I.

1:50:15>> Consent calendar is adopted. So, that

1:50:17takes us to our first uh business item

1:50:20for tonight, item 6A on our agenda, and

1:50:23it is the review of the proposed 2027

1:50:26special dedicated revenues program

1:50:29budgets, including the lodging tax,

1:50:31Inspire Olympia, parking and business

1:50:33improvement area, and housing and

1:50:35homelessness response. Uh, and at this

1:50:38time before I call forward our finance

1:50:40director, I'd like to turn it over to

1:50:42Council Member Gilman, who is the chair

1:50:44of our finance committee to speak uh to

1:50:46both uh this item as well as our next

1:50:49business item, item 6B as well. Council

1:50:52member Gilman.

1:50:53>> Thank you, Mayor Payne. And I I had a

1:50:56note to myself that I carefully put in

1:50:58this pile of papers here. So, but I I'll

1:51:01just explain briefly that um finance

1:51:05committee a couple of weeks ago heard

1:51:08both of these presentations or a very

1:51:11similar presentation both about the

1:51:14special dedicated revenue sources and

1:51:17about um our uh fees and rates.

1:51:23And we have great confidence that um

1:51:27that the the proposals that each of the

1:51:30departments have made to us will allow

1:51:32us to have a uh balanced budget for 2027

1:51:37and to continue the same high level of

1:51:39service to um to our community members,

1:51:43which is I think is really ultimately

1:51:46the goal, especially in a time when many

1:51:47other municipalities are are are facing

1:51:50bleeer prospects. So, I'm really proud

1:51:53of the effort leading up to this and um

1:51:57so I and and um and then I would here's

1:52:02a little backseat driving. I would urge

1:52:04in finance, we did a few sidetracks to

1:52:06get into deep conversations about

1:52:08program work and really we're not

1:52:11evaluating or reviewing individual

1:52:14programs right now, but we're

1:52:15considering um both the essentially the

1:52:19the big picture budget of the the

1:52:21revenue sources and and the the the

1:52:24broad budget for each of these

1:52:26departments. So, I just I would urge

1:52:28that, but just to say I was um finance

1:52:31committee was proud to recommend that

1:52:33these come on to council and um

1:52:37here they are.

1:52:41Thank you, uh Council Member Gilman and

1:52:43to the finance committee for for all of

1:52:46your work uh digging in this uh for

1:52:48quite the number of hours um so that the

1:52:51whole uh rest of the council didn't have

1:52:53to. So, thank you. [laughter]

1:52:56All right. So, uh, at this time, I'm

1:52:58going to invite forward Mike Given, who

1:53:00is our finance director, to kick us off.

1:53:03>> Hi, Mike.

1:53:04>> Hi. Thank you, Mayor Payne and council

1:53:06members. For the record, Mike Githans,

1:53:08finance director. Tonight, you'll be

1:53:10presented with the proposed 2027 special

1:53:13or dedicated revenue budgets and the

1:53:16recommended development fees, impact

1:53:18fees, parking, and utility rates. The

1:53:21rates and fees presented reflect

1:53:23preliminary staff recommendations for

1:53:26city council review and discussion.

1:53:29Staff will incorporate council direction

1:53:32for the final rate and fee ordinances

1:53:34for your consideration on December 8th.

1:53:37Updates will be provided to council of

1:53:40any preliminary to final changes as the

1:53:44budget is finalized.

1:53:46The finance committee, as stated,

1:53:48reviewed these budgets at their

1:53:50September 21st meeting and at that time

1:53:53recommended that for clarity, we divide

1:53:57this evening's presentation into two

1:53:59distinct parts. We believe this approach

1:54:02will help make the information clearer

1:54:05and more accessible to the public as you

1:54:08review it tonight. The first

1:54:10presentation will cover the revenue and

1:54:12expenses for our dedicated revenue

1:54:15programs. These include lodging tax,

1:54:18Inspire Olympia, the parking and

1:54:21business improvement area or PBIA and

1:54:24housing and homeless response. To keep

1:54:26the flow of the presentations moving

1:54:28smoothly, we'll transition from one

1:54:30speaker to the next and I will let the

1:54:33presenters introduce themselves. We'll

1:54:35begin this part of the presentation with

1:54:37the lodging texts.

1:54:46Thank you, council. Um, for the record,

1:54:47my name is Ameilia Leighton, senior

1:54:49program specialist. Um,

1:54:52as you know, lodging tax is a restricted

1:54:55resource to be used for tourism relating

1:54:58related activities. It's collected in

1:55:00two parts equaling 4% of um sales at

1:55:05lodging establishments. So when people

1:55:07spend the night, it's a tax added onto

1:55:09their bill.

1:55:11Both the 2%s will be part of the

1:55:14competitive application process this

1:55:16year with an estimated revenue of

1:55:19$1,50,000

1:55:21for 2027.

1:55:23The reserve is at about 500,000 and

1:55:27finance recommends holding 300,000

1:55:30or 20% um in reserve in case something

1:55:34were to happen. Um, applications closed

1:55:37last Friday. Just a heads up, we have 39

1:55:40applications at a $2.3 million ask. So,

1:55:44it's it was a competitive year and

1:55:46continues to be.

1:55:49Our timeline, we're right in the middle

1:55:51of it here. Um, and recommendations will

1:55:53be brought back to you in November um,

1:55:56with the final funding recommendation.

1:56:03This clicker hates me every time.

1:56:17>> Looks like we're having some technical

1:56:19difficulties over here. Um, is there a

1:56:22way to

1:56:22>> There we go. Thank you. Um, so what this

1:56:25does to the budget is a little unclear.

1:56:28uh we likely will use all of our

1:56:30estimated revenues. Um and ELTAC might

1:56:34recommend pulling from that uh reserve

1:56:38and more to come at the November council

1:56:41meeting. Any questions before I pass it

1:56:45along?

1:56:47>> Any questions from council? And can you

1:56:50please let me know if there's a hand up

1:56:52from council member Green?

1:56:54I can't see her. Council

1:57:02member Green, if you can hear me, can

1:57:04you just let confirm whether or not you

1:57:06have a question?

1:57:09>> You, mayor. I can hear you and I do not

1:57:10have a question.

1:57:11>> All right. Thank you.

1:57:14>> All right. Thank you, Amelia.

1:57:22>> Good evening, Mayor Payne and City

1:57:24Council. Mary Grace Gadoo, um, Inspire

1:57:27Olympia program manager. Um, and I'm

1:57:29here and I guess is this gonna work for

1:57:31me or not? Thank you.

1:57:34Fund 143 is the cultural access fund.

1:57:37Um, it supports the Inspire Olympia

1:57:39program. It's funded by onetenth of 1%

1:57:41of Olympia city sales tax authoriz

1:57:44authorized by voter initiative. The tax

1:57:46took effect starting January 1st, 2023

1:57:49and it's effective for seven years

1:57:51unless reauthorized.

1:57:53The income is projected to be 3.4

1:57:56million in 2027.

1:57:58The voter initiative to create the fund

1:58:00included a framework for the dedicated

1:58:03expenditure of these funds with 80% of

1:58:06the funding each year going to support

1:58:08expanded access to cultural experiences

1:58:10for Olympia residents primarily through

1:58:13grants to nonprofit organizations.

1:58:16Up to 10% of the annual revenue may be

1:58:18used to pay for transportation to uh

1:58:21move public school students Olympia

1:58:23public school students to attend infire

1:58:25inspire Olympia funded programs and an

1:58:28additional 10% is to be used for

1:58:30administrative costs of the program.

1:58:33While tax collection began in 20 in

1:58:35January 2023, our first grant cycle did

1:58:38not begin until July 2024,

1:58:41creating a fund balance that we have

1:58:43carried forward and begun to spend down.

1:58:46Um, so this is uh what you see here.

1:58:49You'll see the carryover from 2026 there

1:58:52at $3.3 million. And the city council

1:58:55has approved a gradual spendown plan for

1:58:57the program that distributes the

1:59:00carryover through increased granting

1:59:02levels over the next few years. And this

1:59:04is why the program's budgeted expenses

1:59:07are shown as higher than the revenues.

1:59:09And the next slide shows the effect of

1:59:11the spendown over time.

1:59:17The estimated carry forward into 2027 is

1:59:20$3.3 million and that's planned to

1:59:22gradually draw down by 2030 to an amount

1:59:25closer to 15 to 20% of program

1:59:28obligations which is the level

1:59:29recommended by finance staff. The

1:59:32projections from 2028 forward may change

1:59:35depending on program adjustments uh

1:59:37recommendations by the cultural access

1:59:39advisory board or changes by city

1:59:41council. And the projections for 2030

1:59:44which are the final two bars on this uh

1:59:47chart depend on program reauthorization

1:59:50by the end before the end of 2029.

1:59:56Program challenges on the next slide.

2:00:00Uh the first bullet here addresses the

2:00:01spendown plan which is really honestly

2:00:03more of an asset than a challenge

2:00:05because it helps ensure that Inspire

2:00:07Olympia can meet its program goal to be

2:00:10a reliable source of funding in our

2:00:12community

2:00:13uh for the for the cultural sector. The

2:00:16next two bullets relate to the program's

2:00:17mechanics as a public grant program. We

2:00:20have a high volume of uh grant contracts

2:00:22each year. We fund a high number of um

2:00:27smaller contracts uh providing support

2:00:29for many.

2:00:31>> I think we went two slides.

2:00:32>> Did we go two slides over?

2:00:36Uh we should be Oh, I'm sorry. Did I

2:00:39skip a page? No, we should be on

2:00:41challenges and then Are we there? Okay.

2:00:46Thank you. [clears throat] I'm looking

2:00:48at my notes and I'm not looking at the

2:00:49slides.

2:00:51Um so we have a high volume of of grant

2:00:54contacts as many as Tacoma which is a

2:00:56much larger city. Um we fund a higher

2:00:58number of smaller grants here providing

2:01:00support for many grassroots

2:01:02organizations and volunteer groups

2:01:05volunteer run groups as well as our

2:01:07large cultural institutions. And that

2:01:09leads to the challenge addressed in the

2:01:11in the next bullet which is that

2:01:13calibrating our granting opportunity to

2:01:16meet the needs of this community is just

2:01:18kind of an ongoing

2:01:20uh process of refinement and analysis

2:01:23and discussion. Um the program's goal

2:01:25was to ensure all along that small

2:01:28organizations get an equitable

2:01:30opportunity to uh to utilize this

2:01:32funding. um and we created separate

2:01:34grant categories to ensure that smaller

2:01:37organizations are not competing with

2:01:39those larger ones. So, we'll continue to

2:01:42look at that trend with the cultural

2:01:43access advisory board um so they can

2:01:46interpret and evaluate against the

2:01:48program's goals and values to recommend

2:01:50the right balance of funding

2:01:52opportunities for our community.

2:01:55And then uh a final challenge noted

2:01:57here, the Olympia school district

2:01:58budgets uh cut um arts programming last

2:02:03year and that really increases the value

2:02:05of the role that Inspire Olympia

2:02:07programs can have in serving public

2:02:08schools. So in response, our budget

2:02:11increases the amount of funding that's

2:02:13available for public school program

2:02:15year-over-year.

2:02:18And I think there's a final slide

2:02:19looking ahead.

2:02:22The competitive grants for public

2:02:23schools program will open in January

2:02:252027. It was discussed by city council

2:02:28in September at a study session. It's a

2:02:30change in the methodology for how we

2:02:32distribute the public access and public

2:02:34schools cultural access and public

2:02:36schools funding. There we go. Um the

2:02:39other item looking ahead is program

2:02:41reauthorization which may be done

2:02:43council manically. And if Olympia

2:02:45chooses to continue to collect a

2:02:47cultural access tax, the deadline to

2:02:49inform the Department of Revenue is uh

2:02:52October 18, 2029. So, we'll be working

2:02:56out a timeline coming backwards from

2:02:58that date to to get that uh on your on

2:03:02your agenda

2:03:04and I'm happy to answer questions.

2:03:08>> All right. Thank you, Mary Grace. Uh

2:03:10seeing a question or comment from

2:03:11Council Member Baron.

2:03:12>> Thank you, Mary Grace. I um being being

2:03:15newer to all of this, I just want to

2:03:17understand something on on CAPS. Um we

2:03:21had a discussion at this at our last uh

2:03:23study session.

2:03:25And when that grant money goes out, is

2:03:29that grant money to the school district

2:03:31or is it to the nonprofit organization?

2:03:34>> It's to the nonprofit organizations.

2:03:36>> Yeah. So, it's not really to the school

2:03:39district.

2:03:40>> No.

2:03:40>> Yeah. We can't give money to the school

2:03:42district except for transportation.

2:03:44>> Yeah. Yeah. The the slides kind of imply

2:03:48that it's a school related

2:03:52uh grant, but it's really a nonprofit

2:03:54organization grant.

2:03:56>> The funding goes to nonprofits

2:03:57specifically to serve Olympia public

2:04:00school students.

2:04:00>> Yes. So, so the nonprofit organization

2:04:03then pays the school district for

2:04:04transportation for their buses. How how

2:04:07does that work? That funding goes

2:04:08directly from Inspire Olympia to the

2:04:10school district

2:04:12to pay for the transportation.

2:04:15>> Oh, okay.

2:04:17>> Then I don't understand what you just

2:04:18told me.

2:04:19>> Okay.

2:04:19>> Yeah. So, um 10% of the money in Inspire

2:04:25is transportation money for the schools.

2:04:29Correct.

2:04:29>> Correct. We reimburse the school

2:04:31districts for bus trips that move public

2:04:35school kids to Inspire Olympia events

2:04:38and activities. So that's a direct

2:04:40reimbursement to the school district.

2:04:42But

2:04:42>> so so in the presentation before the

2:04:45study session a few weeks ago, you

2:04:48increased

2:04:51uh the eligibility from 10,000 to up to

2:04:54$50,000.

2:04:56um that that previously an organization

2:04:59could if they [clears throat] had been

2:05:01previously approved could could apply

2:05:04for 10,000 but now they could do 50,000.

2:05:07Correct.

2:05:08>> Correct. So, in the future, pending city

2:05:11council approval,

2:05:13um the plan is that we will have a

2:05:15competitive process for awarding funding

2:05:17to nonprofits who propose to do

2:05:21programming for Olympia School District

2:05:24kids during the school day.

2:05:26>> Right.

2:05:28But, uh I'm I'm I'm just trying to see

2:05:31how this money flows here. Okay. So

2:05:37uh of that increase from 10,000 to

2:05:4050,000 what is that as no percentage of

2:05:44that for the transportation from the

2:05:46school?

2:05:47>> It's separate from the 10% that is

2:05:49allotted. So, so actually if

2:05:54one of our great nonprofit organizations

2:05:56has been granted $50,000 for um

2:06:02for

2:06:04tons of kids to go tour a museum or go

2:06:08to a show at the Washington Center,

2:06:10whatever. Uh on top of that, there is a

2:06:16payment to the school district for the

2:06:19busing of the kids down to to well I

2:06:22I'll just say the busing of the kids. I

2:06:24don't know what what all that means, but

2:06:26how much is that? Well, the idea

2:06:29>> I I mean I I mean it it I understand

2:06:33when there's a cap of $50,000 on that,

2:06:36but I don't understand how much more the

2:06:39transportation costs are because

2:06:44frankly it the numbers can get pretty

2:06:48big for certain programs is is I guess

2:06:50what I'm what I'm what I'm what I'm

2:06:52talking about. And and I'm I also want

2:06:54to see equity among these inspire

2:06:57grantees.

2:06:58>> I agree.

2:06:59>> And um so I want to understand I don't

2:07:02want to see one or two programs kind of

2:07:04soop up all of the inspire money and uh

2:07:08and others be kind of left out in the

2:07:10cold because uh these bigger programs

2:07:13are are taking up so much of the

2:07:14resource. So explain to me that who what

2:07:18what the [clears throat] cost of the

2:07:19transportation is on on

2:07:23u on a grantee program or is that

2:07:27possible for you to do?

2:07:29>> Our total transportation budget is about

2:07:32is somewhere between 60 and $65,000

2:07:35and it's reim it's a reimbursement. So

2:07:38the school you know sends the kids off

2:07:41in buses and then they bill us. So

2:07:43that's the total amount. It's about

2:07:44$65,000 a year to just for

2:07:48transportation for those kids. And the

2:07:50idea is to remove that barrier so that

2:07:52teachers are not feeling like they can't

2:07:54do something for their kids because of

2:07:56the cost of transportation.

2:07:58>> Yeah.

2:07:59>> So that's transportation. Set that aside

2:08:02completely separate from the funding for

2:08:05the programming. Now this programming

2:08:08could occur at the Washington Center for

2:08:09the Performing Arts. It could occur at

2:08:11the hands-on children's museum or it

2:08:13could occur at um at Beroot Park or the

2:08:17port or lure beach out at in Squaly

2:08:20reach and um so this is a budget of

2:08:24about $160,000

2:08:27>> which will be available competit by in

2:08:30competitive grants. So with that much

2:08:33money we're not going to see a lot of

2:08:35grants at $50,000.

2:08:38No, I I I really we can't we can't

2:08:40because there's only

2:08:41>> there may be a few that get that that

2:08:43are that are valuable that that are

2:08:46worth that and you you can demonstrate

2:08:48the value in a competitive application.

2:08:51We expect most of the grants to be

2:08:53closer to currently to what they are now

2:08:55is somewhere between

2:08:57>> you know well anywhere from two to 50

2:08:58but mostly in the middle.

2:09:00>> Yeah.

2:09:02>> Great. Well, [cough]

2:09:04>> and just just to give you one more sense

2:09:06of perspective on it, there's about 11

2:09:08programs currently providing

2:09:11um p uh cultural access programming

2:09:14during the school day.

2:09:15>> Great. I and and my interest is to just

2:09:18make sure that money is distributed

2:09:20equitably and fairly and that it isn't

2:09:24certain entities that have a little

2:09:25political pull don't get all the money,

2:09:27you know, or whatever. But it is also

2:09:31enlightening because I don't think the

2:09:34anyone in the public or most people

2:09:36realize that you have um lodging tax,

2:09:40you have regular regular inspire grants,

2:09:44you have um now this other designation

2:09:48of cap grant funding. Then we've just

2:09:53discovered another one tonight which is

2:09:55the transportation cost designation

2:09:58which would go to supplement

2:10:01uh it doesn't go to the to the uh

2:10:04nonprofit organization but but it is an

2:10:07added cost and you know and you know

2:10:10we're going to be doing a a a direct

2:10:13grant consideration later on in the

2:10:15agenda tonight. So, um, it all kind of

2:10:19adds up and I I think it's important for

2:10:21the public to realize how many different

2:10:23pots of money. It's not just getting an

2:10:26Inspire grant. It's getting four Inspire

2:10:28grants for for some of these nonprofit

2:10:31organizations.

2:10:32And um, and if they're doing good work,

2:10:36hey, it's okay. But um but again, is it

2:10:39equitable and is it fair and is it uh

2:10:42really being distributed

2:10:45in in the public's interest is is kind

2:10:48of what I'm looking at. And these are

2:10:50just questions I'm raising, but thank

2:10:51you for uh indulging me with those

2:10:53questions.

2:10:56>> Thank you. Um they were gerine to the

2:10:59budget, so I let it go. It's getting

2:11:02close. Um but um Mary Grace, I think it

2:11:06what would be helpful maybe in the

2:11:07future is if we could see uh a list of

2:11:10our awardees who maybe have received

2:11:13more than one of these grants at a time.

2:11:15I don't believe that we have any

2:11:17organizations that have checked off

2:11:18every single grant that was just named

2:11:21uh and funded all in a single year. Um

2:11:23but it would just be great to know that

2:11:25and and see it just so we can maybe put

2:11:27that to bed.

2:11:28>> I am happy to follow up.

2:11:30>> All right. Thank you. and I am going to

2:11:32stay at the podium um for the parking

2:11:35business improvement district slides

2:11:37because Jennica unexpectedly was not

2:11:39able to be here tonight. So I'm going to

2:11:41read her slides for you.

2:11:42>> Great. Thank you.

2:11:43>> Um

2:11:46and we can go to the first slide. Uh the

2:11:48PBA's fund that's the parking and

2:11:51business improvement area is fund 135.

2:11:55It's derived from annual self

2:11:57assessments on downtown businesses. The

2:11:59PBIA did not collect funds this year and

2:12:03will not collect funds in 2027.

2:12:07Next slide, please. Thank you. There are

2:12:10some remaining funds that are available

2:12:12for the PBIA advisory board to consider

2:12:15allocating toward a project in 2027, but

2:12:18you'll see there are no budgeted

2:12:19revenues there.

2:12:21Next slide. Challenges. PBIA

2:12:25administration is noted as a challenge.

2:12:28revenues do not cover cover city

2:12:30administration and staffing costs.

2:12:34And the last slide, looking ahead, there

2:12:36are consultants at work now um to

2:12:39evaluate the PBIA to recommend uh

2:12:42funding structure, administrative

2:12:44processes, and implementation practices

2:12:47for the organization. That work should

2:12:50conclude by March 2027, and the outcome

2:12:53can guide potential changes in rates in

2:12:55administration in the future.

2:12:58And I'm hoping that someone maybe Tim,

2:13:00if Tim is still here, can help with

2:13:01questions if you have them.

2:13:08>> Are there any questions or comments from

2:13:09council?

2:13:13>> All right,

2:13:15hearing none. Thank you, Mary Grace.

2:13:18Okay.

2:13:24And up next we have Ashley Chambers, our

2:13:28housing director, approaching.

2:13:31Hi, Ashley.

2:13:35>> Good evening, um, mayor and

2:13:37[clears throat] council members. Thank

2:13:38you for having me. As mentioned, I'm

2:13:40Ashley Chambers. I'm the housing

2:13:41director overseeing all of our housing

2:13:43and homeless initiatives as a city. Uh

2:13:45tonight I'll walk through several of our

2:13:47funding and expense um expenditures

2:13:49related to housing and homeless and try

2:13:51to highlight what those key areas are um

2:13:53as well as some challenges and um

2:13:56opportunities we have in this next

2:13:57budget season.

2:14:00Um it's really important to note that in

2:14:03housing and homelessness, we do not have

2:14:04just one funding source. We have a

2:14:05plethora of funding sources and several

2:14:07of those are dedicated to very specific

2:14:10projects or purposes. Um and so our

2:14:12funding cycle and revenue and expense

2:14:14looks a little bit different and very

2:14:15complicated. So thank you for bearing

2:14:17with me.

2:14:19So a couple key points here is that we

2:14:21do have um uh four different funds. The

2:14:25general fund um which really goes to

2:14:27support um personnel administration and

2:14:30things that cannot be sort of attached

2:14:33to a restricted grant. Um and then I'll

2:14:36go through each one of these

2:14:37individually. Um but we also h receive

2:14:40HUD funds. Um we are entitlement

2:14:42community for CDBG and so we do receive

2:14:45376,000 this year um to be reallocated

2:14:48to our community partners and to our

2:14:50different housing and homeless

2:14:51initiatives.

2:14:59So fund 142 um for 2027 we're projecting

2:15:03approximately 5.3 million in um revenue

2:15:07and expenditures which means um we don't

2:15:09have too much of an off or excuse me

2:15:11we've balanced our budget essentially

2:15:13with a little bit overage which

2:15:15historically we've had a few expenses or

2:15:17things that um slightly go over budget

2:15:19particularly on homelessness because we

2:15:20just don't have the ability to predict

2:15:22some of the things that happen there.

2:15:24Um, our revenue sources for the home

2:15:26fund include sales tax, um, rental

2:15:28registry and other licenses and permits,

2:15:30state and regional intergovernmental

2:15:32grants and transfers, and one-time

2:15:34resources.

2:15:36This fund really does support a

2:15:37substantial port portion of the work

2:15:39that we do, including our day-to-day

2:15:41housing and homeless response system,

2:15:43including um, key staff, rental

2:15:45registry, tiny home villages, outreach,

2:15:47encampment work, and other contracted

2:15:49services. Um, a key budget issue that we

2:15:53have is that this fund really does rely

2:15:55on grants and as we're seeing and one of

2:15:57the challenges we'll talk about is um

2:15:59disappearing funds from grant

2:16:01opportunities um both at the state and

2:16:03federal level.

2:16:05Uh, next slide.

2:16:08Fund 318 is our home fund and our

2:16:10affordable housing capital fund. Um,

2:16:12this 65% of our home fund dollars is

2:16:15pulled with Thirstston County's home

2:16:16fund and other resources through our

2:16:18regional funding process. We'll have a

2:16:20little bit more highlighting those

2:16:21projects um on the 13th with our one

2:16:23community plan efforts. Um this really

2:16:25supports the development, acquisition,

2:16:27and preservation of housing units. Um

2:16:30and we are able to pull those funds

2:16:32regionally. So that is not only an

2:16:33effort with the city, but several

2:16:34community partners as well, which also

2:16:36allows us to leverage those funds for

2:16:38additional state and federal funding,

2:16:40tax credits, and other private and

2:16:42public financing for those projects.

2:16:44Um since we have combined those home

2:16:47funds in 2023, um we have seen

2:16:50approximately 750 units across 20

2:16:53different projects received funding

2:16:54through that program and additional 15

2:16:58nonprofit homeless service organizations

2:17:00have been funded.

2:17:03Next slide.

2:17:07So, our CDBG housing allowance or excuse

2:17:09me, our HUD entitlement um we've

2:17:11received since 1982

2:17:13and we receive annually between 350,000

2:17:16and 400,000. Um we never know the

2:17:19amount. It's based on a very specific

2:17:22HUD equation. Um however, we did just

2:17:24receive our allocation for the year and

2:17:26that was 376,000.

2:17:28Um the requirements of the funding is

2:17:30that it does have to um serve low-income

2:17:32residents at or below 80% AMI and

2:17:35eligible activities for those funds can

2:17:36include affordable housing, economic

2:17:38development, and eligible slum and

2:17:41blight activities in our community.

2:17:43Historically, we've directed a majority

2:17:45of those funds toward housing and

2:17:46homeless services. Um and approximately

2:17:5065% of our administrative um portion of

2:17:54that entitlement um funds our CDBG

2:17:56program manager salary.

2:17:59Next slide.

2:18:02As I mentioned, we do have several

2:18:03challenges facing housing and

2:18:04homelessness. One, there's never enough

2:18:06money, right? The work is vast and large

2:18:09and extensive. Um and so we do a lot of

2:18:11work with very little resources and are

2:18:14innovative. Um some key things that we

2:18:17um have identified in this last year was

2:18:19that our rental registry is still a

2:18:21relatively new program and so we're

2:18:23continuing to evaluate the fees that we

2:18:26charge, the revenue and the actual cost

2:18:28to manage that program. In 2026, we

2:18:31added a 1.5 FTE um to that rental

2:18:35registry program in an effort to make it

2:18:37more sustainable and also achieve the

2:18:40level of participation from the

2:18:41community that we had. Um the rental

2:18:44registry as you know supports rental

2:18:46housing oversight inspections,

2:18:47implementation of our rental housing

2:18:49code and broader tenant protection

2:18:51efforts. We also continue to see limited

2:18:54code enforcement capacity for rental

2:18:56housing code and um other efforts in

2:18:58that space. And so part of that FTE was

2:19:00to alleviate some of the administrative

2:19:02processes related to code enforcement.

2:19:05Some other key challenges we have is

2:19:06that our home fund sales growth has

2:19:08flattened um while remaining um even

2:19:12just if we're looking at um annual

2:19:16staffing costs and um cost to run our

2:19:19tiny homes, those things have increased.

2:19:21Um as you know, federal funding

2:19:23continues to carry uncertainty and so

2:19:25many programs um that we've historically

2:19:27funded may be in higher need than we

2:19:29have funding for or that will receive

2:19:30funding.

2:19:33Next slide. So looking ahead, um we

2:19:37anticipate that during the 2027 year,

2:19:39our rental registry revenues will

2:19:41continue to increase. Um and so we do

2:19:43hope that those completely cover all the

2:19:45staffing and administrative costs for

2:19:47the first year or excuse me, for the

2:19:49first time. Um we'll continue to use

2:19:53affordable housing development

2:19:54incentives to advance comprehensive plan

2:19:56and housing goals. And we'll be looking

2:19:58to leverage city dollars with outside

2:20:00investment. We'll continue to implement

2:20:03um council in the city's housing

2:20:05policies and tenant protections. Um and

2:20:07most recently we hired myself so there

2:20:09will be new strategic planning and

2:20:11efforts made in that space. It's weird

2:20:13to talk about yourself in this way so I

2:20:15apologize. Um our focus really is

2:20:18strengthening the systems. Um with

2:20:19limited funding comes um opportunities

2:20:22for uh innovation and also sort of

2:20:25looking at what we've been working on

2:20:26and how to improve those systems and

2:20:28efforts um and really maximize the

2:20:30resources that we have.

2:20:32Next slide. In our homeless response

2:20:35challenge, um again, funding is always

2:20:37the challenge. Um and the expenses

2:20:39outpace the challenge or the needs met.

2:20:42Um however, this community has done an

2:20:44incredible job um with the resources

2:20:46we've had. As I mentioned, we'll be

2:20:48talking about that next week in council.

2:20:50Um the biggest b the biggest budget

2:20:52issue is sustainability. We know that

2:20:54our um one of our primary funding

2:20:56sources, the ERP funding from the state

2:20:58is looking at some potential cuts this

2:21:00year. Um, and that's really where

2:21:01advocacy will be so incredibly helpful

2:21:03this year. Um, the ERP fund currently

2:21:07funds approximately 1.56 million for the

2:21:10Fron Anderson operations as well as some

2:21:12city outreach and administrative costs.

2:21:14So, it could really have a big impact if

2:21:16those funds were cut. Um, also the ERP

2:21:20funding for the Quint Street Village was

2:21:22eliminated and so we are relying heavily

2:21:24on the regional housing council and our

2:21:27funds to maintain those operations.

2:21:30We did see a loss of some tiny home

2:21:32capacity because of the closure of the

2:21:34Plum Street Tiny Home Village. Um, and

2:21:36we do include and predict that with the

2:21:38jungle transition plan being implemented

2:21:40that we'll see some increased costs

2:21:42around encampment cleanup, utility

2:21:44support, and an emergency hire FTE to

2:21:47support those efforts.

2:21:50Next slide. Some opportunities. Um,

2:21:53we'll continue street outreach. We've

2:21:55seen an incredible um uh first few weeks

2:21:58in our jungle transition plan. Um our

2:22:00team has been out there um almost daily

2:22:02for several hours completing assessments

2:22:04for housing. Um and has already received

2:22:07I believe to date the number is 33

2:22:09housing placements in a very short

2:22:10amount of time. Um a major focus will

2:22:14continue to be development and

2:22:15implementation of that jungle closure

2:22:17plan as well as um opportunities to

2:22:20increase housing units um across our

2:22:22community. Um and then we'll continue to

2:22:25meet with our regional partners as well

2:22:27as um state legislators and federal

2:22:30legislators to talk about those efforts.

2:22:32And then again, we'll continue

2:22:34evaluating what we're funding and how

2:22:35we're using those funds and really

2:22:37attempt to make efforts to increase

2:22:39sustainability and um efforts.

2:22:42Uh I believe that's all. Any questions?

2:22:47>> Thank you very much, Ashley. Um,

2:22:51is that your first time presenting to to

2:22:54council since you

2:22:55>> to council? Yes.

2:22:57>> Yeah. Well, well done.

2:22:59>> Thank you. [laughter]

2:23:01>> Um, are there any questions or comments

2:23:04for Ashley?

2:23:06>> Yes, Council Member Baron.

2:23:07>> I'm I'm sorry. You know, uh, I want to

2:23:11kudos to our finance committee members

2:23:13because I actually watched that entire

2:23:16presentation from a few weeks ago, so it

2:23:20prepped me well for this meeting. But I

2:23:22I have some questions regarding the

2:23:24rental registry. Um,

2:23:28and one of the first slides there was

2:23:30kind of a summary of of all of the grant

2:23:34uh uh money that comes in from the

2:23:37various sources.

2:23:40One more back. Yeah, that this one. Um,

2:23:44and one of the things I saw was this

2:23:45this 414,000 from the um the the you

2:23:51know rental registry and I didn't really

2:23:53think of that as a grant that that is a

2:23:55uh general fund allocation, isn't it?

2:24:00>> That is from the um cost of the rental

2:24:04registry to register your units. So I

2:24:06believe it's $35 per um unit. So that is

2:24:09the revenue that the rental registry is

2:24:11creating which really supports our

2:24:13administrative cost to run the program.

2:24:15>> So we have had $414,000 in revenue from

2:24:20the rental registry. Great. That that's

2:24:23very helpful and very clarifying and I'm

2:24:25happy to know that there is some revenue

2:24:28coming in. My my impression was that it

2:24:31was um just taking money from the

2:24:34general fund and and there there wasn't

2:24:36much revenue behind that. Um,

2:24:41so late last

2:24:44and I just want to make sure that's that

2:24:46is correct. Correct. Jay, is that that's

2:24:48that right?

2:25:01Jay, are you having uh technical

2:25:03difficulties?

2:25:06that one.

2:25:07>> There we go. So, so the rental registry

2:25:11does take in revenue and we've been a

2:25:13ramp up to cover the program. So, there

2:25:15has been some general fund offset as

2:25:18we've ramped up the program. You're

2:25:19going to get a presentation from the

2:25:20rental registry staff. I'm just looking

2:25:22on November 10th and one of the things

2:25:23that you're going to see is this year we

2:25:26actually are taking enough revenue to

2:25:28cover to to cover the cost of the

2:25:30program. So, it's something the

2:25:31council's been interested in and part of

2:25:33our update we're going to give you on

2:25:34the 10th is how we've grown the program

2:25:35and where we are revenues coming in

2:25:37versus expenditures. But up to this

2:25:39point, there has been a time as we've

2:25:40grown the program where they've had some

2:25:42general fund contribution to offset it,

2:25:43but we're at a tipping point now where

2:25:45we're taking enough revenue to cover the

2:25:47program, which is really great news.

2:25:49>> Thank you. I I saw that and I just

2:25:51wanted to make sure that that it wasn't

2:25:54a general um um appropriation.

2:25:59Um,

2:26:02so

2:26:05we added a 1.5

2:26:09FTEES kind of at the end of the year.

2:26:11This is before I was on the council to

2:26:12the rental registry

2:26:14um program.

2:26:16And

2:26:18in your presentation, I think it alluded

2:26:21to those or are were those more

2:26:25positions beyond the 1.5 they added in

2:26:28December of last year?

2:26:30>> Those were recently added, I believe.

2:26:32So, we added a permit support specialist

2:26:35as well as I can't remember the official

2:26:38title, but another um administrative

2:26:40specialist for that program. So, were

2:26:42those over and above what the council

2:26:44authorized in December or were those

2:26:48Yeah. No, I I I understand they may not

2:26:51have been hired until this year, but I

2:26:54just wanted to understand which it was,

2:26:55you know.

2:26:56>> Yeah. To to be clear, the 1.5 is what

2:26:58council authorized. So, that's the FT

2:27:01that Ashley's describing.

2:27:03>> Great. Thank you.

2:27:05Um,

2:27:08and you you said that the rental

2:27:10registry specialist will alleviate

2:27:12stress on code enforcement. That's in

2:27:15your presentation. Could you talk about

2:27:17that a little bit? What what is the

2:27:18problem that's going on?

2:27:20>> Most of it has to do with administrative

2:27:22processes. So, um, things like reaching

2:27:24out to people who maybe um, have not yet

2:27:27registered or reregistered, walking them

2:27:29through the permitting process. Um and

2:27:31so by having staff support those earlier

2:27:33administrative sides, we're alleviating

2:27:35the need for code enforcement

2:27:36involvement overall.

2:27:38>> Yeah. So the code code enforcement it

2:27:41would be an expenditure over and above

2:27:43the allocation for the rental registry

2:27:46currently. Is that right? Or um or is

2:27:49that viewed as a part of the rental

2:27:52registry budget?

2:27:53>> Code enforcement is its own um uh entity

2:27:57within the community development office.

2:27:59So like many other you know we work with

2:28:01planners, we work with code enforcement

2:28:03um for our portion of that process. So

2:28:05it is a separate budget line item.

2:28:07>> Great. I uh I it's just important to me

2:28:10to understand how this how this works

2:28:12and so I appreciate this.

2:28:13>> Yeah,

2:28:14>> those are all my questions. Thank you.

2:28:17>> Thank you, Council Member Barrett. Those

2:28:19um those are good questions, a lot of

2:28:21which were answered for the rest of

2:28:23council prior to your arrival when we

2:28:25had the study session on the rental

2:28:27street.

2:28:28>> Yes. Uh, Council Member Gilman,

2:28:30>> I I just I I just wanted to comment on

2:28:33the code enforcement issue. While um

2:28:37while it's not an additional cost, it's

2:28:39uh it's a finite resource, the number of

2:28:41people we have in code enforcement. So,

2:28:43it means that other sorts of code

2:28:45enforcement actions um other cases can't

2:28:48be resolved if the more time they're

2:28:50spending on helping people get

2:28:52registered. And so that's

2:28:54as much as a direct financial difference

2:28:57when we have FTEES that are are um

2:29:02already set and we're not getting any

2:29:04more code enforcement. Um that's why I

2:29:07want to preserve their time. So it looks

2:29:09like Tim's going to say it better than I

2:29:12can say it. So

2:29:14>> take

2:29:16just Tim Smith, community development

2:29:17director. I just wanted to add that in

2:29:182024 we did cut a code enforcement

2:29:20position due to budget constraints and

2:29:22so we have two and they support rental

2:29:24registry but also code enforcement

2:29:26across the city including public works

2:29:28department and others and so what

2:29:30Ashley's talking about in terms of them

2:29:31getting help from the rental registry

2:29:33program for the admin that's similar to

2:29:35how other departments help as well they

2:29:37kind of take the front line do the

2:29:38initial inquiry and engagement and code

2:29:40enforcement comes in uh when necessary

2:29:42to when we have to play hard ball so to

2:29:44speak and so that's consistent with with

2:29:47um what they carry out their work every

2:29:48day um for both rental registry and

2:29:51other programs.

2:29:53>> And mayor, one of the things I'd point

2:29:55out is, you know, Ashley highlighted

2:29:57that there is a stress and strain on

2:29:58code enforcement with the program. And

2:30:00so part of what we want to talk to you

2:30:01about on the 10th is a little bit of a

2:30:04deeper dive to some of Council Baron's

2:30:05questions around what are we seeing as

2:30:07challenges and what's the continued

2:30:09emphasis on revenue and kind of how do

2:30:11the revenues need to continue to come in

2:30:12as we grow the program that lead to a

2:30:15balance and we may need to add another

2:30:16code enforcement officer is a good

2:30:18example of that to help with some of the

2:30:20inspection work and then what's the

2:30:21revenue offset to do that. So we're

2:30:23going to dig in on some of those

2:30:24challenges on the 10th when we come back

2:30:26and give you a deeper dive in rental

2:30:27registry.

2:30:29Yeah, and we may need to do that to keep

2:30:32that revenue coming in for the program.

2:30:34Yeah. Thank you. All right. Additional

2:30:37questions or comments?

2:30:40>> All right. Seeing none. Thank you,

2:30:41Ashley.

2:30:42>> Thank you.

2:30:48>> The second portion of tonight's

2:30:50presentation will focus on rates and

2:30:52fees. Staff will present recommended

2:30:552027 updates to development fees, impact

2:30:58fees, parking rates, utility rates, and

2:31:01general facility charges. The utility

2:31:05advisory committee reviewed utility

2:31:07rates and general facility charges.

2:31:09during their October 1st meeting, so

2:31:12just last week. Given that timeline, the

2:31:15U utility advisory committee

2:31:17recommendation letter will be attached

2:31:20to the staff report for the 2027

2:31:23proposed operating budget at the first

2:31:26public hearing later this month on

2:31:27October 27th. The presentation in this

2:31:31section will begin with community

2:31:33development permit fees.

2:31:36>> Thank you. And just for the record and

2:31:38for those listening, I just want to

2:31:40mention that we are now on item 6B on

2:31:42our agenda.

2:31:46>> All right. Well, for the record again,

2:31:48Tim Smith, community development

2:31:49director. Uh, so I'm here to talk about

2:31:51community development permit fees. So,

2:31:53next slide, please. So, this is referred

2:31:55to as fund 006, our development fee

2:31:58fund. This is a fund that's supported by

2:32:00both permit fees and by what's called a

2:32:02general fund contribution. Uh this is a

2:32:04fund that supports 42 of our 55 staff

2:32:07within community development, primarily

2:32:09those associated with with permit uh

2:32:11review and inspections. Um in 2005, the

2:32:15city council set a goal for cost

2:32:17recovery of 85%.

2:32:19That means that 85% of the cost of

2:32:21processing a permit would be covered by

2:32:23fees. And so in 2021,

2:32:26um we did our third permit cost recovery

2:32:29study over the course of that time where

2:32:30the council reaffirmed that goal of 85%.

2:32:33The study also found at that time that

2:32:35we're currently at about 76% cost

2:32:37recovery. The study also recommended

2:32:39that we do annual increases to labor

2:32:41costs uh for labor costs. Um prior to

2:32:442021, we weren't doing typically

2:32:46increases every year. We started doing

2:32:47that in 2021. And so that's also um

2:32:51included within this proposal before you

2:32:53as well. The study also recommended that

2:32:55we do updates to the fee study every

2:32:57three to five years and we're at year

2:32:58five. And so our plan next year is to do

2:33:00a fee study update. That's going to be

2:33:02important because the study is out of

2:33:04date now. It doesn't account for a

2:33:05number of things including indirect

2:33:07costs that are charged to the department

2:33:09in addition to the class and comp study

2:33:10that was completed in 2024 that adjusted

2:33:13staff salaries.

2:33:14Um the general fund contribution to fund

2:33:17006 has increased over time. It's been

2:33:19increased to address the shortfall that

2:33:21we've experienced each year u where fees

2:33:23don't recover don't cover everything.

2:33:26Um, in addition to covering staff work

2:33:27that's not associated with permit review

2:33:29such as long range planning, their

2:33:31salaries come out of the general fund.

2:33:33So that contribution supports their

2:33:34work. In addition to that, the general

2:33:36fund supports the 15% um that fills in

2:33:39the gap of the cost recovery goal of the

2:33:4185%. So next slide, please.

2:33:45So this chart shows uh for 2027 revenues

2:33:48compares revenues and expenses during at

2:33:50least for the baseline budgets that's

2:33:52set right now. And so you can see in the

2:33:54green you have revenues where the

2:33:56revenue is primarily from permits from

2:33:59plan review and from transfers which is

2:34:01the general fund contribution of um

2:34:03$4.17 million for a total of $9.3

2:34:06million. Terms of expenses um personnel

2:34:10including salary and benefits takes up

2:34:12about $6.5 million. You have some

2:34:14operating expenses which include like

2:34:16training and supplies and that type of

2:34:18thing. And then in the last line there

2:34:20in the pink, you have the indirect or

2:34:21non-discretionary costs that are those

2:34:24fees associated with or the costs

2:34:26associated with things such as liability

2:34:27insurance, IT support, and rent for city

2:34:30hall space.

2:34:32Next slide, please. And so this chart

2:34:34shows um long range financial projection

2:34:36over time where you have green again

2:34:38being revenue and uh red or orange being

2:34:42uh expenses. You can see that the trend

2:34:44is to have um basically the expenses do

2:34:46out outdo the the revenues each year. I

2:34:49will note 2024 is the one exception and

2:34:51that's an example where you have a great

2:34:53permit year. Example we had two permits

2:34:55that really put us over the top that

2:34:56year. That's how you can things can

2:34:58change so quickly but typically revenues

2:35:01exp or increase about 3.1% versus

2:35:04expenses which are salaries benefits and

2:35:05indirect costs are increasing about

2:35:075.7%.

2:35:08So next slide please.

2:35:11So there couple things to consider for

2:35:13development fee increase scenarios. We

2:35:15want to do that again this year. Uh for

2:35:16the baseline budget, we put in a 4.5%

2:35:19increase. This is $178,000

2:35:22additional revenue. This is included in

2:35:24the preliminary base budget baseline. Uh

2:35:26the ma this matches the Seattle June uh

2:35:29consumer price index which we use for uh

2:35:31the cost of living adjustments for staff

2:35:33salaries. Um, but we're proposing to

2:35:36actually go to 8% and this matches the

2:35:38more accurately the total personnel cost

2:35:40increases with salary and benefits. This

2:35:42will bring an additional $138,000 in

2:35:44additional revenue to the current uh

2:35:46preliminary budget baseline.

2:35:49We wanted to do a comparison with other

2:35:51cities in terms of permit fees. And we

2:35:52just ran three different permit types.

2:35:54And we found in comparing to Everett,

2:35:56Lacy, and Thirstston County with

2:35:58building permits, uh, we're a little

2:36:00less than Everett, but a little higher

2:36:02than Lacy and Thirstston County for a

2:36:04conditional use or is a planning permit.

2:36:06Uh, we're kind of in the middle there.

2:36:07And for appeals, we're actually at the

2:36:09low end there compared to Lacy and

2:36:11Thirsten County in terms of the cost for

2:36:13someone to appeal a decision by staff.

2:36:17So, I want to talk a little bit about

2:36:19technology fees. We do charge a

2:36:21technology fee currently of 4.1% for

2:36:23every permit. This fee helps pay for a

2:36:26number of things, including staff that

2:36:27supports our um software. It pays for

2:36:30our annual subscription to SmartGov,

2:36:32which is our permitting software. It

2:36:34also helps cover some of our credit card

2:36:36fees that we get charged for uh the use

2:36:38of that. We are proposing to increase

2:36:41that 4.1 to 5% to help close the gap. Uh

2:36:44this would bring additional $36,000 in

2:36:46additional revenue in comparing to

2:36:48adjacent jurisdictions or those nearby.

2:36:50Then county currently charges 5% lease

2:36:53in Tom Water currently do not but they

2:36:55are considering uh adding a technology

2:36:57fee this year. Pierce County is at

2:36:59three. City of Lakewood's at four and

2:37:01Shelton's at six. So 5% is kind of kind

2:37:03of middle of the road there. In addition

2:37:05to that, we're also proposing to add an

2:37:07additional separate credit card fee of

2:37:093%. Um this would only apply to

2:37:11applicants that pay by credit card.

2:37:13Applicants do have the choice of paying

2:37:15by either check or echek, but we're

2:37:17finding we still need to close the gap

2:37:18on the charges we get for credit cards,

2:37:20and this would help close that gap.

2:37:23Next slide, please. There's some

2:37:24additional permit fee changes we just

2:37:26like to mention that you'll see in the

2:37:27ordinance coming forward. One deals with

2:37:29increasing the fee. This is a pass

2:37:31through fee that we pay to the building

2:37:33code council. This is a statewide

2:37:35organization that sets building codes

2:37:37that cities then adopt. um they require

2:37:40that we have a pass through fee and so

2:37:41we're going to be increasing those fees

2:37:43from 4.5 to 6.5% for residential permits

2:37:46and then $6.50 up to $25 for commercial.

2:37:50Currently, they're collecting those

2:37:51higher rates. We're just not collecting

2:37:53them from from the applicants and so

2:37:55we're paying out of pocket as a city to

2:37:56cover the difference. We also have a

2:37:58fire fee we want to add to our fee

2:38:00schedule. This is a new fee, but it's a

2:38:02code requirement where we do inspections

2:38:04for work that the fire department needs

2:38:06to inspect, such as welding and roof

2:38:08work that may require that type of

2:38:09thing. And so, we want to charge a fee

2:38:11to help recover cost for that

2:38:13inspection. We have a storm water

2:38:15utility permit review fee. We want to

2:38:16increase that by 8%. This helps pay for

2:38:18the storm water engineer that reviews

2:38:20our private development project for

2:38:22compliance with uh for compliance with

2:38:24our state and and local storm water

2:38:26requirements. We want to simplify the

2:38:28our critical area review fees.

2:38:29Currently, we have two different

2:38:30options. Either the city prepares a

2:38:33curricular report for an applicant,

2:38:34which we never do. We don't have the

2:38:35staff expertise to do. And so, we would

2:38:38like to remove that as an option. And

2:38:39the lower fees actually charged for

2:38:41those that pay the city just to review a

2:38:43project and a plan that an applicant

2:38:45submits. And so, we'd like to streamline

2:38:47that uh process. And then lastly, we'd

2:38:50like to add a fee in L tree fee. This is

2:38:52for downtown projects or any private

2:38:54development proposal where either

2:38:56preservation or tree planting is not

2:38:58possible. So, typically downtown where

2:39:00we don't plant trees on private

2:39:01property, we have developers then

2:39:04dedicate money per tree into an account

2:39:06that the city can use to plant street

2:39:07trees um around the community and

2:39:09specifically downtown.

2:39:13So, in terms of next steps, uh we kind

2:39:15of have the three options here we we

2:39:16tend to play with to help balance fund

2:39:19006. Um we have the fee changes there in

2:39:22in blue um which are both the fee

2:39:24increases in addition to the technology

2:39:26increase and the credit card fee

2:39:28increase um that helps fill the gap

2:39:30between the revenue and expenses for

2:39:32next year. Um and then where necessary

2:39:34we look for additional general fund

2:39:36contribution to to move us forward. The

2:39:39last option is potential reductions in

2:39:40reorganizations. At this point that's

2:39:42not on uh for consideration in 2024. We

2:39:45did do quite a bit of work around that

2:39:46that made this year a little more

2:39:49feasible in terms of um meeting a budget

2:39:51moving forward.

2:39:54And that's it for the presentation if

2:39:56you have any questions.

2:40:00>> Thanks Tim. Any questions or comments?

2:40:02Uh council member Gilman.

2:40:05>> Tim, this is sort of a comment that you

2:40:08can make into a question and better

2:40:09restate back to me. So, um, my

2:40:14understanding is that these the

2:40:16increases like the the 8% in the the

2:40:19basic permit fee is to try to keep up

2:40:23with inflation, but that we're not

2:40:25closing the gap all the way up to that

2:40:2785% cost recovery. And I I understand

2:40:31that there's there's some values or some

2:40:33decisions that we made as a city um in

2:40:36terms of the level of customer service

2:40:38that we provide and of the level of

2:40:40public engagement we provide that that

2:40:43makes it kind of acceptable that we're

2:40:45spending some general fund money to to

2:40:48do that permit work. Is that close to

2:40:51where we're at? Yeah, that's I mean the

2:40:53reason we only have an 85 and 100% cost

2:40:55recovery is because the city council

2:40:56found there is community benefit to the

2:40:58work we do in permit review and so they

2:41:01didn't want to go to 100% and that's

2:41:02been reaffirmed by the council. The

2:41:05strategies we're proposing tonight are

2:41:06the short-term how do we meet 2027

2:41:08budget. The permit study is really what

2:41:10we'll be working on next year that has

2:41:12us look forward to the years ahead and

2:41:14how we can make any adjustments to help

2:41:16us reach those that 85% or at least come

2:41:18in approximate to that what that goal

2:41:19would be.

2:41:25>> Any additional comments?

2:41:28>> All right.

2:41:28>> Okay.

2:41:30>> Yes. City manager Bernie.

2:41:31>> Yeah. I'll just say is Tim mentions

2:41:33[clears throat]

2:41:34a fee study. The other question will be

2:41:37is 85% still a reasonable number for

2:41:40cost recovery, right? So because if how

2:41:43we set our fees in terms of what we're

2:41:45looking for for cost recovery, we also

2:41:47Tim mentioned this, it's complicated

2:41:48because we're also trying to remain

2:41:49competitive in the market for the fees

2:41:51we charge. So, what I'm interested in is

2:41:53is both where should we be uh in terms

2:41:56of all the other things we hadn't

2:41:57considered last time we did a fee study

2:41:59and being realistic about what we think

2:42:02is the amount that we should be

2:42:04recovering through fees versus how much

2:42:05the general fund should support for some

2:42:07of the reasons that council member

2:42:08Gilman mentioned for some of the other

2:42:10programs that the that this department

2:42:12has taken on through council requests

2:42:14and community requests. And so 85% just

2:42:17may not be the right number for cost

2:42:20recovery. And if we try to shoot for

2:42:22that, what it may mean is trying to set

2:42:23our fees too high to rec to to get

2:42:25there. So I think there's a lot of

2:42:26conversation that that Tim's interested

2:42:28as we look at this fee study that I

2:42:29think the council will be interested in

2:42:31too about how do we what's the right

2:42:33size for this fund and how do we make

2:42:35sure we're we're as accurate as we can

2:42:37be and still competitive in the market

2:42:39with our with our uh partner

2:42:40jurisdictions.

2:42:43>> That's great. Thanks. Um, Council Member

2:42:47Vanderpool,

2:42:48>> I guess, uh, in addition to that, I when

2:42:50we went over this in finance committee,

2:42:51we uh, I talked about this in the

2:42:54utility rates, but I, um, I'll be wonder

2:42:57I'll be curious when we do that uh, that

2:43:01that uh, uh, fee rate study um, would be

2:43:05looking at I guess the equity of it,

2:43:08right? what type of housing are we

2:43:10trying to do as a city versus the type

2:43:12of housing that we're trying to move

2:43:13away from, right?

2:43:15>> Uh towards density and affordability. We

2:43:17do this with our affordability emergency

2:43:20and that has an impact on it. But I do

2:43:23think that uh um looking at that from

2:43:27that point of view may end up tearing

2:43:29out the costs in a lot of ways. It may,

2:43:32you know, I know that there are state

2:43:33laws behind what we can do. And I've

2:43:35asked the qu we're going to get to

2:43:37impact fees and I've asked the same

2:43:38question as in the past is are there

2:43:40alternatives to these types of systems,

2:43:43right? Um

2:43:45we may not find an answer to that

2:43:47because it seems to be what we do in

2:43:48Washington state, but um I do wonder

2:43:52about uh uh looking at our fee

2:43:55structures towards what we want as a

2:43:57city versus what we've traditionally

2:43:59done as a city and where we're going.

2:44:02Um, so that's just a initial thought on

2:44:04that. I look forward to that study

2:44:06probably next year. Thank you.

2:44:11>> All right.

2:44:12>> All right. Well, with that, I'll turn it

2:44:13over to Nicole Floyd.

2:44:14>> All right. Thank you, Tim.

2:44:17>> Hi, Nicole.

2:44:21>> Hi. I'm Nicole Floyd, director of

2:44:23planning here to talk to you about

2:44:24impact fees.

2:44:27Cool. So there are a few different types

2:44:30of impact fees that we are allowed to

2:44:32charge by state law. Um basically for

2:44:36schools, parks, transportation related

2:44:38ones, and fire. We do for the most part

2:44:41three out of four. For the school

2:44:43districts, North School District, hot

2:44:46off the press, they are not going to

2:44:48charge impact fees this year. I just got

2:44:49word today. Part of the reason for that

2:44:51is that impact fees really have to be

2:44:53based on a very specific population

2:44:56growth related um impact. And in this

2:44:59case, school populations are not

2:45:01growing. Neither uh North School

2:45:03District or Olympia School District. So

2:45:06um neither school district is going to

2:45:07charge the fees.

2:45:10So this that's the same thing here for

2:45:12Olympia School District. Um they're just

2:45:14not charging them. They were not last

2:45:16year and are not this year. They

2:45:17probably won't for quite a few years.

2:45:21for [snorts] parks impact fees. The city

2:45:23recently did a pretty major update for

2:45:27how those impact rates will be um

2:45:30calculated and those will stay

2:45:32predominantly the same as they as they

2:45:35were adopted a few months ago. There is

2:45:38a proposed change that would include

2:45:41focusing on accessory dwelling units and

2:45:44making sure that when we're figuring out

2:45:46what the primary residence is that it's

2:45:48the largest residence, not necessarily

2:45:51um just which one is or isn't the

2:45:53accessory dwelling unit. This chart that

2:45:55shows you the living space sort of shows

2:45:57you that there's there's a ballpark. So

2:45:59there's a minimum and a maximum of how

2:46:01much we can charge um based on square

2:46:03footage. And so we would want to figure

2:46:05out which unit we were charging the 50%

2:46:08off rate on.

2:46:11In terms of transportation, there is a

2:46:13request for a 10% increase due to

2:46:16increased cost of labor, construction,

2:46:18materials, and property. So here you can

2:46:20see that the current rate um is per trip

2:46:233,672

2:46:25and the proposed rate is 4,39.

2:46:30And here we have um the chart of what

2:46:34you would see in the code. So it gives

2:46:35you a bit of a flavor of what different

2:46:38types of uses uh are charged impact

2:46:41fees, those transportation impact fees,

2:46:43and what that per trip rate would

2:46:44increase to.

2:46:47And this is a another way to view very

2:46:50similar information, but we're looking

2:46:52at other jurisdictions and where we rank

2:46:54in terms of how much are we charging,

2:46:57are we similar, are we different? We did

2:46:59add Tumb Water in since the last time

2:47:01this presentation was provided. And so

2:47:03you can see that Olympia is we do charge

2:47:06more than Tumb Water. Lacy does not

2:47:08charge impact fees. They they get there

2:47:10through a different approach which is

2:47:11through mitigation fees. It's very

2:47:13similar but slightly different. But you

2:47:15can see that in in the ranking of

2:47:16different jurisdictions that charge

2:47:18transportation impact fees, we're

2:47:20actually relatively low on the on the

2:47:22lower end. So the increase of 10% would

2:47:26take us to about the same rate as

2:47:27Tacoma.

2:47:30Thank you. Questions?

2:47:34>> Uh Nicole, the 10% uh transportation

2:47:39increase, is that typical for it to be

2:47:42so significant?

2:47:44>> Yeah, it's it's based on the impact and

2:47:48and how much like inflation is growing

2:47:50and other kinds of costs are growing. So

2:47:53Dave Smith is actually here and he was

2:47:55saying that we could increase it

2:47:57significantly more than that based on

2:47:59the studies that he has, but we're

2:48:01trying trying to do it slowly over the

2:48:03course of time. We didn't increase rates

2:48:05during COVID and so there's a little bit

2:48:07of catchup that needs to be done.

2:48:09>> I see that explains it. Thank you.

2:48:13>> Any additional uh questions or comments?

2:48:17>> All right, seeing none. Thank you.

2:48:27Good evening, Mayor Payne, council

2:48:29members for the record and Gustavo

2:48:31Casillo, parking services supervisor

2:48:34with me tonight, Chelsea Baker to help

2:48:36me to respond any question that you may

2:48:38have at the end of my presentation.

2:48:41Um, we're here for recommendation for

2:48:44the parking rates and for 2027 we expect

2:48:48the parking fund to finish with a net

2:48:51close to $50,000.

2:48:53This is one of the reason we recommend

2:48:55to maintain or park parking rates as

2:48:59they are right now. uh keeping the rates

2:49:01the same give us our community stability

2:49:04especially since citation fees increase

2:49:06this year and we still adjusting to the

2:49:09transition to the Torson County District

2:49:11Court. Um we will continue watching

2:49:14parking demand and system performance

2:49:16before making any future uh change.

2:49:22Thank you. Um I'm going to briefly

2:49:24explain our uh parking expenses. As you

2:49:28can see, half all of our expenses goes

2:49:31to our staff and we also support four

2:49:34positions on community development. Um,

2:49:38and they support our program. And then

2:49:41the other half goes to operating

2:49:43expenses uh mostly to internal expenses

2:49:47as city hall rent and um IT services and

2:49:51others that support our program. And

2:49:54this essential cost help us maintain

2:49:56safe and real and reliable parking

2:49:58services for the community.

2:50:02Finally, um this is um we're proposing

2:50:06updates to the reservations to the

2:50:08parking reservation fees. Um,

2:50:12we haven't updated these fees since

2:50:152007.

2:50:17And as today the reservation, it's $10

2:50:22uh per meter per day and $5 for

2:50:27nonprofit um organizations and for

2:50:30community events. We're proposing uh

2:50:33increase to $20 per meter per day for

2:50:36short-term meters which are the

2:50:38three-hour meter mostly in the core of

2:50:40downtown and then $15 per um day per

2:50:45meter per day in the 9 hour meters which

2:50:47is mostly out of the core of downtown.

2:50:51And then for nonprofit organization,

2:50:53we're thinking about 750 per meter per

2:50:56day and shortterm and then $5 per meter

2:51:00per day uh will remain the same for 9

2:51:02hour meters. Um we also like to

2:51:06implement a $40

2:51:09um short notice fee uh when

2:51:14we have um permits that are requesting

2:51:17within two business days. That's part of

2:51:20our criteria. We ask for at least two

2:51:23business day notice and

2:51:26um in the last four years we notice that

2:51:2935% of the permits are uh requested

2:51:33within those two business day.

2:51:36What I did

2:51:38[laughter]

2:51:43>> see everyone's presentation all over

2:51:44again.

2:51:46>> There you go. Thank you. Um, even with

2:51:50these updates, our fees will still

2:51:52remain on the lower end within our

2:51:54region, uh, while better reflecting the

2:51:57war involved in managing reservations.

2:52:00Uh, thank you for your time and I'm

2:52:02happy to answer any question that you

2:52:03may have.

2:52:07>> Thank you, Gustavo. Any uh questions or

2:52:09comments from Council Member Gilman?

2:52:12Gustavo, I I saw an email go by that

2:52:15said Thirsten County is preparing to

2:52:18launch online processing for parking

2:52:21citations. Has that really coming true?

2:52:23Can you tell the world tonight?

2:52:25>> Yeah. Yeah. Um it's been actually two

2:52:28weeks already. We now accept um online

2:52:31payments and we create a link in our in

2:52:35our website and also yesterday we post

2:52:39some um advertising of this uh new

2:52:42payment methods in our in our social

2:52:44media. So yeah, this is really exciting.

2:52:46This is so helpful.

2:52:49>> That is such good news and I'm sure you

2:52:51will all rest a little better at the end

2:52:52of the workday now. So [laughter]

2:52:55>> thank you.

2:52:56>> Yeah, that's great news. No more

2:52:58punishing people who are trying to

2:52:59voluntarily comply.

2:53:01[laughter]

2:53:03All right. Uh, additional questions or

2:53:06comments?

2:53:09>> All right. Seeing none, thank you very

2:53:10much, Cassab.

2:53:28>> [clears throat]

2:53:29>> Well, for the record, I'm Barry Franks.

2:53:31I'm the water resources director and

2:53:33utility advisory committee liaison. Uh,

2:53:35with me tonight is our drinking water

2:53:37utility director, Mike Vesie, and our

2:53:38waste utility director, Ron Jones. Uh,

2:53:41before we just kind of get into the next

2:53:43slide, I just I was going to give a a

2:53:45little bit of a quick uh timeline recap.

2:53:48We started this budget process with our

2:53:50senior leadership team August 19th where

2:53:52we then went into our first utility

2:53:55advisory committee meeting September

2:53:573rd. At that meeting we shared the 2027

2:54:00to 2032 capital facilities plan, our

2:54:02proposed general facility charges and

2:54:04then the known budget drivers with the

2:54:06utility advisory committee. We had some

2:54:08last minute budget balancing and we

2:54:10really wanted to position ourselves to

2:54:12get some pretty good feedback from the

2:54:14finance committee. So, uh, as said

2:54:17earlier, September 21st, we we went to

2:54:20the finance committee. We shared our

2:54:22full, uh, 2027 proposed utility rates

2:54:25and GFC's and received, uh, overall uh,

2:54:29I'd say overall support on our approach

2:54:31to our utility package. We then went to

2:54:34the utility advisory committee on

2:54:35October 1st uh, where we shared our full

2:54:38rate proposal with them. The UAC uh

2:54:42unanimously voted to recommend the 2027

2:54:44operating budget, the proposed GFC's,

2:54:46and our 2027 to 2032 capital facilities

2:54:50plan. So, as uh Director Gifens pointed

2:54:52out, that will be attached to the staff

2:54:55report uh for the first public hearing,

2:54:57which is set for October 27th.

2:55:01[cough and clears throat]

2:55:06in terms of uh uh some some of the key

2:55:09expectations, some trends and drivers.

2:55:11Uh starting with some budget directives,

2:55:14in an effort to really uh keep rates

2:55:16down, we were directed to make sure if

2:55:19we have available fund balance that we

2:55:21use available fund balance to buy down

2:55:22our rates um and or uh reduce our

2:55:27capital facility budget reductions uh

2:55:29for our capital facility budgets uh and

2:55:32then essentially hold the line. So those

2:55:34were kind of our directives kind of

2:55:36going into the budget cycle. Some of the

2:55:38key operating budget expenses that

2:55:40you'll see across all four utilities. Uh

2:55:44that has increased. Of course, salary

2:55:46and benefits. That's across the board.

2:55:48We've seen uh rising fleet costs. Our

2:55:51indirect costs are up. And then most

2:55:53notably the Peterson Energy. Uh they

2:55:57submitted their general rate case with

2:55:58the Washington Utility Transportation

2:56:00Commission earlier this year. Uh, and

2:56:03they're recommending or proposing a

2:56:0513.7% rate increase for next year, a

2:56:083.17% rate increase for 28, and then an

2:56:128.53% rate increase in 29. That's a

2:56:16cumulative rate increase over a

2:56:18three-year period of 25.4%.

2:56:21Most notably hit is the drinking water

2:56:23utility and the wastewater utility for

2:56:25power and pumping. So, that that's a

2:56:27pretty big hit. And then the just last

2:56:30thing I want to say about uh some of the

2:56:32operating uh budget expenses. I don't

2:56:36see it here but oh there it is.

2:56:39[clears throat] Uh I don't see it on the

2:56:40slide but maybe my change didn't happen.

2:56:42That's okay. Uh just just briefly. So

2:56:45when you look at uh one of the data

2:56:47points that we look at in the utilities

2:56:48we look at the consumer price index for

2:56:50Seattle Tacoma Belleview. It's also what

2:56:52our barney agreements for uh labor wages

2:56:55is based on too. When you look at the

2:56:582015 cumulative CPI, we had modest

2:57:00inflation from 2015 to 2020, roughly

2:57:0414.1%

2:57:06cumulative CPI. If you take the CPI from

2:57:092021 to 2026,

2:57:11it's 29.9%.

2:57:14That is a a a dramatic increase in

2:57:17inflation that we've seen. All four

2:57:19utilities experienced that over the last

2:57:22uh three to four budget cycles.

2:57:25>> [clears throat]

2:57:25>> And then uh just in terms of other

2:57:27conditions regarding our budgets across

2:57:30all four revenue has not been pacing

2:57:32with expense um customer growth is flat.

2:57:35We don't have any scheduled annexations

2:57:38uh coming and the only silver lining is

2:57:41our liability and and property insurance

2:57:43is is has a slight savings.

2:57:52Good evening, Mayor Coun uh Mayor Payne,

2:57:54members of council. For the record, I'm

2:57:56Ron Jones, waste resources director. Um

2:58:00so for the waster utility, making sure

2:58:02the slide's correct. Uh for the waste

2:58:04utility expenditures are up dramatically

2:58:07as Gary mentioned the the drivers out

2:58:09there. So our budget um our expense

2:58:12budget 20.2 million projected while re

2:58:16revenues themselves remain relatively

2:58:18flat. So about 1% growth and that's

2:58:21really because of nominal growth within

2:58:23our customer base and within our four

2:58:25service classes of the residential

2:58:27commercial Dropbox and organics they

2:58:29scale a little bit differently anywhere

2:58:31from quarter percent to about 2%. Uh so

2:58:35this results in uh being out of balance

2:58:38revenue to expense by just over 2

2:58:40million. Um that's about um that would

2:58:44be about 11.6% 6% increase to to assume

2:58:47at all.

2:58:49Uh this includes separate from the

2:58:51budget drivers that Gary mentioned uh

2:58:53$630,000 increase by Thirstston County

2:58:56and that's part of their 2-year phased

2:58:57increase of tipping fees for both

2:58:59garbage and organic. So that's a big hit

2:59:01to our utility separate from the other

2:59:03utilities. Um so to manage that gap

2:59:07staff is uh proposing or recommending to

2:59:09reduce defer some of the costs uh cart

2:59:12container budget.

2:59:14Uh we'll freeze um an FTE for a good

2:59:18share of the year, threequarters of the

2:59:20year and then we will extend some life

2:59:22cycle on some smaller vehicles to avoid

2:59:25um an excess funding into the fleet

2:59:27reserve. And then no transfer to

2:59:29capital. We are doing well on our

2:59:31carpenter road capital fund at this

2:59:33point. So, we feel we're well positioned

2:59:35at this point to move forward and then

2:59:38we will use a projected um fund balance

2:59:41of $500,000 to buy down the rate and

2:59:43that's 500,000 above the minimum

2:59:45required reserve of 10%. So, and so that

2:59:49gets us to a point of where we have a

2:59:506.5% rate increase for the waste utility

2:59:54across the board on each of the surface

2:59:55classes.

2:59:58You have questions for that or you just

3:00:00want to go through

3:00:05Uh good evening. For the record, uh Mike

3:00:07Vessie, drinking water utility director.

3:00:09Uh the drinking water utilities

3:00:10recommending a 4.5% rate increase uh

3:00:13this year. Uh our main budget drivers

3:00:16were uh Gary Frank spoke about earlier,

3:00:18so I won't go over all of those because

3:00:19those were really all of mine. Also, uh

3:00:23the the reason for the 4 and a.5% rate

3:00:26increase uh is because of the

3:00:28expenditures are up 3% and like Gary

3:00:31mentioned earlier, revenue is not quite

3:00:32pacing. So, a combination of those two

3:00:34is where we're at the 4 and a.5. Uh 4

3:00:37and a half% rate increase will get us uh

3:00:40balanced. Uh to do that, we need about

3:00:41$818,000.

3:00:44So, that's that 4 and a.5%.

3:00:46One thing that we did do in the drinking

3:00:48water utility to get this number down,

3:00:50this 4 and a half% rate increase was a

3:00:52reduction of the transfer into our CFP,

3:00:55uh you can see that was supposed to be

3:00:571.6 million and and this year we reduced

3:00:59that down to 500,000 to keep that rate

3:01:01as low as we could. So, uh this 4% 4 and

3:01:05a half% sorry, uh rate increase does

3:01:07have a couple enhancements in it, but

3:01:09that's included in that four and a half

3:01:10percent. So, I think Gary stole a lot of

3:01:12my thunder with the slide earlier

3:01:14because that's where all of my costs

3:01:15are. So,

3:01:17any questions?

3:01:19Thank you.

3:01:26[clears throat]

3:01:28>> Okay. Uh for the storm and surface water

3:01:30budget, we're looking at an 8.7% rate

3:01:32increase. Uh revenue to expense, we're

3:01:35just we're out of balance by about 1.7

3:01:37million. uh in order to get down to the

3:01:408.7% that includes a use of fund balance

3:01:43of 486,000

3:01:45and also uh in combination a capital

3:01:48transfer reduction of 256,000.

3:01:51Uh some other things that are just sort

3:01:52of built into this budget, I guess one

3:01:54notable thing, the grant for the street

3:01:56sweeper that has pretty well dried up in

3:01:59June. So that money is not available

3:02:00next year. Um so that's just something

3:02:02to note. And then there's a few other

3:02:04things you can see that are built within

3:02:05the budget. I will say that in terms of

3:02:07the capital transfer reduction, we don't

3:02:09think like because you're seeing this

3:02:11across, you heard my peers just now. Uh

3:02:13in terms of risk and re resiliency, we

3:02:16don't think uh and we intend to do every

3:02:18project that we have in our CFP for

3:02:202027. Uh so we don't think it's going to

3:02:23impact that. We are uh in I guess almost

3:02:27about in the middle of a study uh with a

3:02:29consultant on a multi-year study looking

3:02:32at all three wet utilities, storm water,

3:02:34waste water, and drinking water. And so

3:02:36we're really kind of focused on 2028 and

3:02:38beyond. Uh so we're making some

3:02:41reductions here, but in order to get

3:02:43those back, that could come in the form

3:02:45of future rate increases. Uh so but in

3:02:48an effort to keep rates down

3:02:52uh for wastewater we're looking at 9.5%

3:02:55rate increase. Uh that budget's also out

3:02:57of balance by about the same amount. Uh

3:03:00here we're recommending a trans a

3:03:02capital transfer reduction of 746,000

3:03:05and then also a a capital transfer uh

3:03:08out of the capital budget 500,000 to

3:03:12fund balance. We're not sure if we're

3:03:13going to need all of that. the when we

3:03:16come through and and and when if the

3:03:17budget gets fully adopted at what we've

3:03:19recommended, we may not need the full

3:03:21500 to move from the capital, but we're

3:03:23trying to be conservative. It could be

3:03:24less than that. Uh we're still kind of

3:03:26monitoring expense to revenue as the

3:03:29year closes. So, that would be potential

3:03:31money we would have to move to fund

3:03:32balance to balance a budget. Um and then

3:03:36we've got uh some debt. Oh, no, I should

3:03:40say this one too. The the lot rate

3:03:42increase. So every year law raises their

3:03:44their uh their rates 3% that's sort of

3:03:48been on their trajectory. They came to

3:03:49the utility advisory committee uh in our

3:03:51last meeting as well. Every time they

3:03:54raise their their rate 3% it's almost

3:03:56it's a little less than a 1% rate

3:03:58increase for us to cover the the tax to

3:04:01the the municipal utility tax that we

3:04:02pay on that. That's money that we

3:04:04collect. We remit to law uh which is

3:04:07also part of a interlocal agreement. uh

3:04:09and it's set up that way, then there's

3:04:11not a lot we can do about that. But I do

3:04:13point it out because each year if we're

3:04:15not kind of thinking about that, it that

3:04:17can add up over a three-year period uh

3:04:18and culminate in rate increases.

3:04:22[clears throat]

3:04:23And then the other two things we had uh

3:04:25sorry, we just had the a debt payment of

3:04:27600,000 and then we also uh have

3:04:30affordable infrastructure grant transfer

3:04:32of 85,000. Drinking water has theirs set

3:04:35at 55,000. Uh this was an effort to help

3:04:38affordable housing developers with

3:04:39infrastructure improvements. This is

3:04:41specific to drinking water and

3:04:43wastewater, but that's also baked into

3:04:45our budget uh rate package for next year

3:04:47as well.

3:04:49In terms of the uh the utility rate

3:04:53proposal, so this is a typical bill by

3:04:55average by monthly bill which is based

3:04:57on single family uh uh sorry based on

3:05:01160 gallon water use a day and then a

3:05:0365gallon bi-weekly garbage service. So

3:05:06when you look at the 2027 rate

3:05:08proposals, you know, waste sitting at 6

3:05:111/2, drinking water at 4 1/2, waste

3:05:14water at 9.5, 3%, 8 and a half. If you

3:05:16go to the far right column, you can see

3:05:18what the increase is total. So you can

3:05:20see in red the $35,359.

3:05:23That's the total average by monthly

3:05:25bill. That is an overall increase of

3:05:28about 5 a.5%

3:05:30uh and an increase of $19.51.

3:05:34If you to break that out monthly, the

3:05:36monthly bill for those services would be

3:05:38$176.79.

3:05:41And the the uh the monthly increase to

3:05:44the average customer is going to see a n

3:05:46$9.75 increase uh on their utility bill.

3:05:52In terms of the uh proposed general

3:05:55facility charges uh GFC's and then also

3:05:58lots capacity development charge CDC's

3:06:01uh drinking water is recommending a 2%

3:06:04rate increase. Wastewater is at five.

3:06:07Storm and surface water is at five and

3:06:09lot is at three. That brings the average

3:06:11to four and a half% uh increase overall.

3:06:14If you look at the far right you look at

3:06:15the consultant recommendation. Those

3:06:18recommendations are from our our utility

3:06:21master plan. So if you look at the 2017

3:06:25stormwater plan, that's the number we

3:06:27were supposed to be at uh that was

3:06:29recommended in the financial chapter uh

3:06:31when that plan was adopted or uh

3:06:34approved, should I say. We're just now

3:06:37getting to the point where we're

3:06:38catching up that number. I did say we're

3:06:40in the middle of doing a new study, a

3:06:43multi-year rate study now. And so uh

3:06:45these are based on old numbers from

3:06:48master plan. So um the most recent one

3:06:50was drinking waters from 2022,

3:06:52wastewater 2019 and storm waters 2017.

3:06:55So we uh had made the decision several

3:06:58budget cycles ago to not go the full

3:07:00distance in one budget cycle, but to

3:07:02just chip away at it year after year.

3:07:04And so really that's that's that's what

3:07:07we've done. And again, we're really

3:07:08focused on 2028 and and beyond. Um so

3:07:19terms of affordability, this is

3:07:21something that we look at. Um and so

3:07:24there's there's a couple metrics that

3:07:26are out there that are um used in

3:07:28drinking water and wastewater and

3:07:30wastewater treatment. And so that's what

3:07:32these are really about. And it's really

3:07:34in drinking water. There's a it's a 2%

3:07:37metric. And that is uh so the US

3:07:39environmental protection agency the

3:07:41Washington uh state department of health

3:07:43and the Washington state department of

3:07:44commerce public works board they use an

3:07:46affordability index uh that your utility

3:07:49rate should not exceed 2% of the median

3:07:51household income for a service area. So

3:07:54if you go to the federal housing urban

3:07:56development site you can look at Olympia

3:07:58uh average median income of 122,800.

3:08:02So if you take drinking water and you

3:08:04say 2% of the average median income, the

3:08:08monthly bill for drinking water should

3:08:10not exceed $24.67.

3:08:13Of course, we're we're way under that

3:08:14for drinking water. And then with

3:08:16wastewater, uh it's it's not the EPA,

3:08:20it's the Washington State Department of

3:08:22Health and Department of Commerce's uh

3:08:24public works board. They have the same

3:08:25index that exists for wastewater as

3:08:28well. and that is uh not to exceed 2% of

3:08:31the average monthly income. So when you

3:08:33look at that um we're well under and

3:08:36then if you combine them we're just

3:08:38we're under again this metric is really

3:08:40for those two utilities which includes

3:08:42treatment. Um and then we've got uh I'll

3:08:46jump to the bottom real quick because

3:08:47that's an actual metric as well. The

3:08:50other one is an eight an eight uh called

3:08:52eight hour threshold metric that

3:08:55quantifies the amount of time someone

3:08:56would need to work while earning minimum

3:08:59wage in order to pay their monthly bill.

3:09:01And the goal is that folks should not

3:09:03exceed eight hours of work at minimum

3:09:04wage to pay their monthly bill for

3:09:06drinking water, wastewater or wastewater

3:09:09treatment. So when you look at that uh

3:09:12eight hours of minimum wage at $17.13,

3:09:14you can see uh $1374.

3:09:19Our combined proposed bill for 2027 is

3:09:22$119.71,

3:09:25which is at 6.9 hours somebody would

3:09:27have to work to to stay under the

3:09:29threshold. Uh I'll say this year we took

3:09:32uh kind of a step further outside of the

3:09:34just two metrics that exist. As part of

3:09:36this process, we also engaged with

3:09:39Tumbwater uh city of Tumbwater, city of

3:09:41Lacy and lot just about are there other

3:09:44metrics out there we're using? And this

3:09:45is something we've been asking our

3:09:46consultant what other cities are using

3:09:48as well. So those are the two metrics

3:09:51that pretty well exist that people are

3:09:52using. We did take and decide to go look

3:09:55at well how do we stack up on low income

3:09:57of a family of four which is 98,250.

3:10:01Now that is um 80% of the average median

3:10:04income. And this is just a data point

3:10:06for us to kind of see where we stack up

3:10:07against our bill. So if you took 2% of

3:10:10that uh for drinking water, you can see

3:10:12that we're under and then with waste

3:10:14water and lot we're under uh and yeah,

3:10:18so we're we're pretty well under um I

3:10:21guess time to wrap up.

3:10:24That's okay. It's been a long night. So

3:10:26So uh so those are the metrics that we

3:10:29look at. Um and so we'll just open it up

3:10:32at this point to any questions.

3:10:34>> Thanks, Gary. uh questions or comments

3:10:37from council member Vanderpool.

3:10:40>> Yeah. So, at at finance, I I kind of

3:10:42brought this up and I know that this

3:10:44would require a bit of a a study to

3:10:46figure this out. Um, I mean, one of the

3:10:48things I I hear quite a bit from um,

3:10:51well, folks on fixed income and and of

3:10:54is the they're right on the other side

3:10:58of what would be considered uh, lower

3:11:01rates and and and and they end up, you

3:11:04know, falling on the other side of that,

3:11:06especially with uh, social safety net

3:11:09going away and inflation hitting

3:11:11everything on here. Um, I did bring up

3:11:15the idea of uh do we do we add more

3:11:18tiers in the future for different rate

3:11:20levels and to kind of match our needs

3:11:23based on income level um uh which I

3:11:27think is something that I would be very

3:11:29interested in the future and obviously

3:11:31we're getting to the end of this year

3:11:33but I do think that um basing it on

3:11:37income level is something I'd be very

3:11:38interested in doing right looking at

3:11:41folks that have a higher income pay more

3:11:43and folks of a lower income pay less and

3:11:46how many tiers we can create along that

3:11:48or create a kind of flow along the needs

3:11:51because there are lots of folks out

3:11:53there that I I'm deeply concerned about

3:11:56will be you know they they they can

3:11:58barely afford rent or they're fixed

3:12:00income seniors and they've they're

3:12:02losing federal programs and the last

3:12:04thing I want them to do is uh get to the

3:12:08point where they're not turning on the

3:12:11power in their own home in the winter.

3:12:12or running the water when they need to.

3:12:15Right. So, um that's that that sits in

3:12:19my mind as we're looking at these rates.

3:12:21So, that's just just a thought I've had.

3:12:25>> Yeah.

3:12:26>> Yeah. Additional comments.

3:12:28>> Oh, yes, sure, Gary.

3:12:30>> Uh well, that is something I know we

3:12:32said this in the last meeting that we

3:12:33can we can surely ask our consultant uh

3:12:36if there are any models out there that

3:12:37exist like that. Um, I can say for

3:12:40drinking water and waste water, they are

3:12:41volumebased tiered rates. So, uh, I'm

3:12:44not sure how that kind of integrates or

3:12:46fits into that. Um, so we will

3:12:49definitely ask our consultant if there's

3:12:51any models out there that exist and if

3:12:53there are, we we'll look into it. We

3:12:54could definitely bring that back to you.

3:12:55I if it's okay, I'd like to just at

3:12:58least talk about the two programs that

3:12:59we do offer for folks. Uh, because this

3:13:01is a public meeting and folks that might

3:13:03be listening in, we we have two

3:13:05programs. Uh, one is our lifeline

3:13:07program and uh to qualify for that

3:13:10program um over 65 and low income or a

3:13:14senior and low-inccome or disabled and

3:13:16low income. Those two uh if if you

3:13:20qualify for that you get a 50% reduction

3:13:22on your bill and that is year round.

3:13:24That's something that we offer year

3:13:26round. In the last budget cycle, uh we

3:13:29had also changed some of the

3:13:32requirements around disability and some

3:13:34of the definitions and upgraded some of

3:13:36those definitions to reach an a a wider

3:13:39audience. I can say that we on average I

3:13:42know uh

3:13:44um that question's come up before about

3:13:46how many folks use it. The average

3:13:48participant for that particular program

3:13:50is around 350 people. that equates to

3:13:53roughly $250,000 a year of savings that

3:13:56gets passed on to folks. So, that's one

3:13:59program. And then our other program is

3:14:01our helping neighbors program. That's a

3:14:03professional services agreement. Uh

3:14:05that's a we have a five-year interlocal

3:14:07agreement with the community action

3:14:08council of Thirsten County, Mason, and

3:14:10Lewis counties. And they accept uh

3:14:12voluntary donations. So, that's

3:14:14something on the utility bill. And then

3:14:15the city matches that donation. Uh and

3:14:19so any customer that doesn't qualify for

3:14:20a lifeline program can apply. Uh their

3:14:24bill the the one qualification to be

3:14:26eligible is their bill has to be passed

3:14:27due. So if your bill is passed due, you

3:14:29can apply for a voucher, get uh which at

3:14:33the time that we did this, it was this

3:14:35is 24 2024.

3:14:38Um

3:14:39it was $300 voucher was kind of almost

3:14:43around the average utility bill. So, we

3:14:45just at our last utility advisory

3:14:47committee mentioned that this may be

3:14:49something that we now bring back and

3:14:51increase the voucher amount that

3:14:52somebody gets to match with the average

3:14:55utility bill because it should kind of

3:14:56raise with what our rates do. That's

3:14:58kind of the goal of that in mind. And I

3:15:01will say that um now that we've we've

3:15:04kind of because we had the program then

3:15:06we kind of renewed the ILA and then we

3:15:08raised the voucher amount. we have seen

3:15:10the the voucher

3:15:13uh the participants that use that

3:15:15program has doubled since the last

3:15:16budget cycle. So we've got we had 45

3:15:18people in 2025 use that program as well.

3:15:21So we do have those two programs and so

3:15:23we I think are uh

3:15:27wanting to talk to HDR more about you

3:15:29know how do we expand those programs and

3:15:31reach uh reach the participants that

3:15:32you're speaking about in a way that's uh

3:15:35e easier to administrate and oversee and

3:15:40um and so but we will also ask about you

3:15:43know are there models out there that

3:15:44exist because it I'm not aware of any I

3:15:47I don't know if uh other cities have

3:15:49those so something we're looking into.

3:15:54>> Thanks, Gary. Uh, city manager Bernie.

3:15:58>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to

3:16:00just give some recogn recognition to our

3:16:02utility management team. So, when they

3:16:05first proposed the rates to me early in

3:16:07August, they were a bit higher and they

3:16:09acknowledged that and they also had a

3:16:10good conversation with me and our

3:16:12finance team about affordability in our

3:16:14community. As we all know, it's

3:16:15something we've heard a lot about. And

3:16:17so, um, we challenge each other a little

3:16:19bit and they have worked really hard,

3:16:22um, and gotten really creative with ways

3:16:24to bring our rates down, um, as low as

3:16:25they possibly can. And even there, I bet

3:16:27if you asked all of them, they wish they

3:16:29could bring them down further. But what

3:16:30I want to assure you is even though they

3:16:32you see some movement around of of CFP

3:16:34dollars, um, and some movement of fund

3:16:37balance, all of our reserves are fully

3:16:38funded in these utilities and all of our

3:16:41critical infrastructure projects are

3:16:42going to move forward. So, we're

3:16:44reshuffling the CFP a little bit. Um,

3:16:46but there's nothing that's at risk and

3:16:48all the critical projects are going to

3:16:49get done. And so I want to assure you of

3:16:50that. I want to assure the community of

3:16:52that and I want to thank this team for

3:16:53all the work that they've done to just

3:16:55kind of really take a hard look at this

3:16:57and do everything they can to keep the

3:16:58rates as low as they possibly can for

3:17:00our community. So, um, it's really great

3:17:02work by them and a lot of creativity.

3:17:04So, I just want to give them a lot of

3:17:05credit and thanks.

3:17:08>> Thanks, Jay. Uh, Council Member Gilman.

3:17:11>> Well, I was similarly going to heap

3:17:14praise. I um I I appreciate that the

3:17:18three of you took a little more time to

3:17:20sort of peel back the curtain and

3:17:21explain some of the decision making

3:17:23because I I'm I'm very proud of the

3:17:27evolution of our management decision-

3:17:30making and our budget process.

3:17:33And I think what you illustrated that

3:17:35the three wet utilities worked

3:17:37collaboratively to um to come up with a

3:17:40a final rate increase that they thought

3:17:43was um uh in in the realm of affordable.

3:17:48and that they took a combination of rate

3:17:51increase, deferred contributions to

3:17:53capital projects, and some reserve

3:17:56spending and and some

3:17:59um holding back on staffing and and

3:18:03equipment. That would be great to have.

3:18:06Um, I I just think if if we wanted a

3:18:09case study to talk about what what we've

3:18:12evolved to in terms of collaborative uh

3:18:16budget planning and seeking synergies.

3:18:19You you really described it well. I'm so

3:18:22I'm super appreciative of your efforts

3:18:24and I think if we dove deeper with each

3:18:27of the departments, each of the staff

3:18:29teams that we'd be able to hear similar

3:18:31stories of this kind of sitting down

3:18:34together. Um, and I contrast it with

3:18:37earlier in my career where they'd throw

3:18:39a big piece of meat on the table and

3:18:40you'd see who got the biggest chunk. Um,

3:18:43which is another way to do budgeting.

3:18:46Um, and and it's pretty brutal. So,

3:18:49again, I I'm I'm just full of admiration

3:18:52and appreciation and really pleased that

3:18:55our our big projects are not at risk.

3:18:58They're going to move forward. our

3:19:00services will continue at the same level

3:19:02that our residents have have [snorts]

3:19:05come to expect and um and that you've

3:19:08prepared yourselves for with the longer

3:19:11range study to look at what is it going

3:19:14to take to continue because it's

3:19:16daunting to have 11 a 12% cost increases

3:19:20and 1% revenue increase and and then as

3:19:24you said if you sum the last five years

3:19:26and you look at almost 29%

3:19:29increase in costs that both consumers

3:19:31and us as an organization are facing.

3:19:34It's it's super tough. So, thank you so

3:19:38very much, Gary, Ron, Mike, and and um

3:19:41all of the folks who presented tonight.

3:19:43I I um think we're doing uh the best

3:19:48possible path through tough times.

3:19:49Appreciate it.

3:19:50>> Thank you.

3:19:53>> Well said. Uh Council Member Barrett.

3:19:56>> Thank you. I I I just want to echo this.

3:19:58I I know that these aren't easy

3:20:00decisions and I think you've uh done an

3:20:02excellent job of, you know, um analyzing

3:20:07each of these units and um

3:20:10and uh making sure that we kind of keep

3:20:14a lid on not getting too carried away

3:20:16with rate increases, but doing doing

3:20:18right by the city as well. So, thank

3:20:20you.

3:20:23>> Um

3:20:25Thank you.

3:20:26Um

3:20:29I I have to say though I'm sitting here

3:20:31thinking about the fact that um this

3:20:34council is as of late having several

3:20:36discussions about affordability and this

3:20:38is a bit ironic. Um I am, you know, I

3:20:42know that we're talking about uh those

3:20:44that um are having challenges with

3:20:47affordability specifically and you uh

3:20:50alluded to the fact that we are seeing

3:20:52increases in some of our programs um for

3:20:55people who need uh to to have access to

3:20:57those. Um, and I'm also thinking about

3:21:00the people who so-called I guess can

3:21:03afford it and $917

3:21:07increase on our general facilities

3:21:09charges um is significant.

3:21:13Um, and so for me, I, you know, I

3:21:18challenge us um to to think more about,

3:21:21you know, what are some of those ideas

3:21:24um that perhaps could be out there. Um,

3:21:27I trust that you're doing your due

3:21:29diligence. Um, but there this is, I

3:21:33think, a a time for us to really be

3:21:36innovative where we can um to try to

3:21:40provide some relief to folks. Uh,

3:21:42because this is uh I I'm sitting here um

3:21:47in a little bit of shock. Uh I'm not in

3:21:49shock given where we are, the current

3:21:51state of things, but it is uh

3:21:54significant and I want to acknowledge

3:21:56that because I don't want our community

3:21:57to misunderstand our gratitude for your

3:21:59work as as tonedeaf to not understanding

3:22:02the moment. Um this this is pretty

3:22:05significant. Um but I thank you for for

3:22:08doing all that you can. Um because my

3:22:11understanding from your presentation is

3:22:13you've done some mitigation up until

3:22:15this point already. Um, and it could be

3:22:17worse than what we see even now. Um, so

3:22:20I just want to thank you for that work

3:22:22and and I also want to say that I trust

3:22:24that you'll you'll continue to work on

3:22:26it.

3:22:28>> Yep.

3:22:30>> I could respond to the general facility

3:22:32charge if you want.

3:22:34>> Sure.

3:22:34>> We do offer a 50% reduction on the on

3:22:37this. So this is a one eru, one

3:22:39equivalent residential unit. So that's

3:22:42what it would cost if you're building a

3:22:43single family home. if you are building

3:22:47uh we do offer 50% reduction if it is

3:22:50affordable housing and we have code that

3:22:52was recently updated around that too and

3:22:54so there have been a few projects that

3:22:56are using that 50% reduction and when

3:22:59you're building you know one unit versus

3:23:02300 that does add up quite a bit of

3:23:04savings to developers so we do have that

3:23:07in place um I don't have the numbers in

3:23:10front of me but there have been five big

3:23:11projects that are all some are further

3:23:13along than others and have already

3:23:14received some of those reductions. Um,

3:23:17so I just want to at least offer that

3:23:20little nugget, too. But

3:23:22>> thank you. Yeah, cuz in my head I'm just

3:23:24picturing all this cost passing around

3:23:27and how it end it ends up um in the

3:23:30homes of the people who who need it

3:23:32most.

3:23:32>> They get passed on to the people buying.

3:23:34Yeah.

3:23:34>> Yeah. So, thank you.

3:23:38All right. Any additional comments?

3:23:40[clears throat]

3:23:41All right. Seeing none, great work,

3:23:43everybody. Thank you.

3:23:46All right. Uh, so that concludes our

3:23:48business items for tonight. Um, going to

3:23:52move on to council reports and begin uh

3:23:55with

3:23:57what?

3:24:00Oh, yes, we do. But council reports and

3:24:02referrals is all part of the same uh

3:24:05Yes. Yes. [laughter]

3:24:08Um, so I uh wanted to just uh speak

3:24:12briefly uh to our Kato Sister City visit

3:24:17um and just mention that it was an

3:24:19incredible trip. Um and I enjoyed uh the

3:24:23time with our delegation of the 15 of

3:24:27us. And um I that's all I will say for

3:24:30now because we have several council

3:24:31members that aren't here that don't get

3:24:33to hear more of a report out on that

3:24:36experience. But we are hoping to have a

3:24:38presentation in the coming weeks uh on

3:24:40the trip uh and what our experience was

3:24:43and what we've learned. And so I look

3:24:45forward to sharing more about that. Uh

3:24:48and then also I have you can see here on

3:24:51your agenda we have two referrals

3:24:55um items uh 8A and 8B. Uh we'll begin

3:25:01with item 8A, which is the consideration

3:25:03of a referral to approve funding to

3:25:06support the development of the Olympia

3:25:08School District student visitation

3:25:10program at the Olympia Arts and Heritage

3:25:13Alliance Museum. Uh so this request is

3:25:17for an allocation of $12,500

3:25:20from the council goal fund to support

3:25:23their staff capacity that's needed to

3:25:25develop uh a visitation program for our

3:25:28district students uh so that they can

3:25:31participate in programming and uh

3:25:33curriculum that can be developed uh with

3:25:36the OSD uh uh liaison uh for the school

3:25:42district. Um, and this is something I

3:25:45think will be great in terms of uh

3:25:48providing additional educational

3:25:49opportunities for the students in our

3:25:52district um for a minimal uh ask. And so

3:25:57uh this res uh referral was sponsored uh

3:26:01by me uh along with Mayor Prom Wyn and

3:26:04Council Member Vanderpool. Um so I'm

3:26:07happy to take any questions. Um or if

3:26:10not, if there aren't any questions, I'm

3:26:12happy to entertain a motion.

3:26:16>> Yes, Council Member Gilman.

3:26:18>> Um first, can I ask is Council Member

3:26:20Green still on the

3:26:22>> She's

3:26:22>> No, she is not. Council member Green is

3:26:24excused uh for the remainder of the

3:26:26evening. Thanks.

3:26:27>> Okay.

3:26:28>> And unless there's comments, may I make

3:26:30a motion?

3:26:31>> Okay.

3:26:32>> Sure. I would move to approve the

3:26:34allocation of $12,500 in city council

3:26:37goal funding to support OLEA staff

3:26:40capacity needed to develop the OSD

3:26:43student visitation programming and

3:26:45curriculum.

3:26:46>> Second. Thank you. Um all those in favor

3:26:50of the motion signify by saying I.

3:26:52>> I

3:26:53>> I

3:26:54>> oppose.

3:26:56All right. Motion passes. Thank you very

3:26:58much.

3:26:59Um, so that takes us to 8B on our

3:27:02agenda, uh, which is the consideration

3:27:04of a referral regarding the use of, uh,

3:27:07city council goal funds, uh, to support

3:27:10the Olympia Downtown Alliance downtown

3:27:12seasonal lighting program. Uh, in short,

3:27:16this is, uh, in reference to the holiday

3:27:19lighting that you see every year

3:27:21downtown. Um, the referral does speak to

3:27:25uh some additional practical uses as

3:27:27well in terms of public safety and what

3:27:29it does in our darker winter months and

3:27:32how uh there is an added benefit to

3:27:35increased lighting in our downtown at

3:27:37this time of year. Um, as well as it

3:27:40being aesthetically pleasing during the

3:27:42holiday season and it's something that

3:27:44our community appreciates. And so, uh,

3:27:47again, this is a referral that's

3:27:48sponsored, uh, by me along with Mayor

3:27:51Prom Wyn and Council Member Kelly Green.

3:27:54Uh, and once again, happy to take any

3:27:57questions and entertain a motion when

3:27:59ready.

3:28:03Are there any questions?

3:28:06Okay. Is there a motion?

3:28:17happy to uh provide the language that I

3:28:20have in front of me right here.

3:28:28>> I move to approve the allocation of

3:28:30$20,000 in uh city council goal funding

3:28:34to the Olympia Downtown Alliance ODA to

3:28:37support the 2026 through 2027 downtown

3:28:40seasonal lighting program.

3:28:42>> Second. Thank you. We have a motion and

3:28:45a second. All those in favor of the

3:28:47motion signify by saying I.

3:28:49>> I.

3:28:49>> I.

3:28:50>> Opposed.

3:28:52All right. Motion passes. Thank you all

3:28:54very much. I'm sure our community will

3:28:56be grateful this holiday season. All

3:28:58right. Uh and thank you to the ODA, of

3:29:01course, uh for continuing to to do that

3:29:03work as well. All right. So, um that

3:29:07concludes my report for the evening and

3:29:09I'll begin to my uh right with Council

3:29:11Member Vanderpool. I only have one item.

3:29:14So, I gave I wish I had all my council

3:29:17mates here to talk about this. I'll just

3:29:18have to email them. But, uh, a while

3:29:21ago, I had mentioned at a council

3:29:23dinner, um, the need to do a meeting

3:29:28between, uh, the South Capitol

3:29:30Neighborhood Association and folks that

3:29:32operate under, uh, the business of, uh,

3:29:36lobbyist, I guess would be the word for

3:29:38it. Uh, the, uh, meeting is called going

3:29:42forward. I have a I have a tenative date

3:29:44um for that. But uh one of the issues

3:29:48that uh Snags we ran into that I got

3:29:50emailed on last week is uh the dispute

3:29:53resolution center of thirst county um

3:29:56would need um $955 for the joint meeting

3:30:01between the two groups. Uh the council

3:30:04neighborhood associations does not have

3:30:05the funding for it. That would include

3:30:07the pre-prep for the meeting and then

3:30:09the meeting itself.

3:30:11Um, and uh, I told I emailed out the

3:30:16neighborhood association

3:30:18uh, or the CNA this this afternoon um,

3:30:21letting them know that I would ask my

3:30:23council mates if they feel comfortable

3:30:26with using council manic funding for

3:30:28that goal council goal money to help

3:30:31with work with that um, to help meet

3:30:34that need because they don't currently

3:30:36have $955 to meet that need. Um, again,

3:30:40I know that there'll be probably some

3:30:41questions about this from some of my

3:30:43council mates, so I'm just uh happy to

3:30:46have that conversation.

3:30:49>> What was the dollar amount that you said

3:30:51again?

3:30:51>> Uh, it's $955.

3:30:54>> Okay. I just wanted to make sure I heard

3:30:55that correctly.

3:30:56>> Yeah.

3:30:56>> Uh, city manager Bernie.

3:30:59>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a reminder

3:31:00that council has an ongoing contract

3:31:02with the dispute resolution center that

3:31:04we fund in the budget. So, you haven't

3:31:06utilized any of it this year. So, you

3:31:08could use the existing contract you have

3:31:10with DRC. It's set up, it was set up

3:31:12long ago, just to remind the council,

3:31:13you have a budget with DRC. It's a small

3:31:15amount of money that any council members

3:31:18could use if for some reason you were in

3:31:20dispute with each other and you needed

3:31:22some mediation to work through it.

3:31:25Um, and so we have set a budget up for

3:31:27that purpose um within within the city

3:31:29council's budget. Uh, it also could be

3:31:32to help with things like this that come

3:31:33up in in the community. So, you do have

3:31:34an existing contract you could draw from

3:31:36to use this if you'd like.

3:31:40Um, how I guess my followup question to

3:31:42that is uh well that's enlightening. I

3:31:45didn't know that we had that. Um, I'm

3:31:47wondering the last time we've had to use

3:31:49that between the members uh and why we I

3:31:53guess I'll have to have a followup

3:31:55question about that later on. But I'm

3:31:57curious about would it so it would cover

3:31:59something as this

3:32:00>> correct?

3:32:01>> Okay. And would I need to write a

3:32:02referral to use that?

3:32:04>> Nope.

3:32:05>> Oh. Um,

3:32:07>> so long as the majority of the council's

3:32:08comfortable with that expenditure, you

3:32:10have budget allocated for it.

3:32:12>> Okay. How does everyone feel?

3:32:16>> Sure. Let's let's do it. But let's make

3:32:18sure our colleagues that aren't present

3:32:20are up to speed on what's happening

3:32:22there.

3:32:23>> Appreciate it. Um, Jay, could you send

3:32:26me a little more information on that so

3:32:27I can

3:32:28>> Yep.

3:32:29>> reached out to everyone else about it.

3:32:30>> I've just I was just talking to Susan

3:32:31about it because she manages that

3:32:32contract. So, I'll ask Susan to send you

3:32:34some some details around that.

3:32:36>> Uh, that's uh fantastic. I'm I'm

3:32:40glad that that exists. Thank you.

3:32:45>> Yeah, I'm glad that exists, too, because

3:32:46I was up here doing the council goal

3:32:48fund uh money in my head and I think we

3:32:51have about 40,000 left and we just spent

3:32:53uh what almost 30. Yeah. So, all right.

3:32:58Thank you. [laughter]

3:33:00All right. additional uh or any

3:33:03additional questions or comments for

3:33:05council member Vanderpool.

3:33:07All right, seeing none. Thank you,

3:33:08Council Member Vanderpool. Council

3:33:10member Gilman.

3:33:12So, if if we go forward with this

3:33:14proposal from Council Member Vanderpool,

3:33:17it's on us that for the [clears throat]

3:33:18next three months, nobody can like stop

3:33:21talking to each other have so um just

3:33:26remember that um that we already spent

3:33:28that money.

3:33:29>> [laughter]

3:33:30>> So um you you already heard much of what

3:33:35we spent our last finance committee

3:33:37meeting on. So um

3:33:40that that was the last finance committee

3:33:42meeting and I will join in um sharing

3:33:46some of my learning and reflections from

3:33:48the trip to our sister city um uh Kato

3:33:52City in Japan in a couple of weeks when

3:33:54we make a council report. So

3:33:57>> that's my report.

3:33:59Thank you. Questions or comments for

3:34:01Council Member Gilman?

3:34:04All right, seeing none, Council Member

3:34:06Barrett,

3:34:07>> I just have a couple of things I wanted

3:34:09to share. Um, I attended the solid waste

3:34:12advisory committee. This is the

3:34:13interjurisdictional group with

3:34:15Thirstston County and other

3:34:16jurisdictions. And one of the things

3:34:18that was kind of interesting is they,

3:34:20you know, there is no county solid waste

3:34:23manager at this time. and they did a

3:34:26contract uh they hired a head hunter

3:34:29essentially to see if they could find uh

3:34:32someone to fill that position and it was

3:34:34what I would characterize as a failed

3:34:36search. They had did an extensive

3:34:40search. They came up came up with one

3:34:42candidate and that candidate um declined

3:34:46the an interview in the end. And uh I

3:34:50asked I said, "Well, how much are you

3:34:51paying this person?" I I just

3:34:55I wanted to know it was $134,000.

3:34:58This is the solid waste manager for

3:35:01county overseeing 25 26 employees. Um I

3:35:07I I thought it illustrated kind of a

3:35:10bigger problem kind of that all

3:35:12jurisdictions are facing that you know

3:35:15um it it isn't necessarily easy to hire

3:35:18to a lot of these

3:35:21these

3:35:22important positions that are that

3:35:26require strong management skills. And um

3:35:30I I just wanted to share this story with

3:35:32with my council members because I

3:35:34thought it was illustrative of what

3:35:36government is dealing with across many

3:35:39boundaries. Um I forwarded to everyone

3:35:41an EMS uh committee cardiac arrest

3:35:45presentation that I was just really

3:35:47impressed with it. It it it doesn't

3:35:49really deal with anything that we're

3:35:51dealing with directly, but Dr. uh Fanta

3:35:54Fantinella with um Thirsten County

3:35:58pulled this together and I thought it

3:36:00was just one of the most impressive

3:36:01presentations I had received in all of

3:36:03these interjuris of the six

3:36:05interjurisdictional committees I'm on

3:36:07and uh I if if you have a second you

3:36:10might just thumb through it it's really

3:36:12interesting about what's going on with

3:36:14people who have cardiac arrest and heart

3:36:16attacks in our community and uh my hats

3:36:19off uh Chief Flowers is gone now but uh

3:36:23to our own fire department because uh

3:36:25you know they're both county EMS and our

3:36:29fire department is stepping up to the

3:36:31the challenges here. Um I attended the

3:36:34Pritchard building grand opening. Um and

3:36:38it was great that that's a great amenity

3:36:41for the capitol and for people who u are

3:36:45visiting our community and uh I'd

3:36:48encourage everyone to get up there.

3:36:49There's a little cafe there and lot a

3:36:51lot of new meeting rooms and um uh

3:36:53member offices. Um the um I attended the

3:36:58combat for peace uh the day session.

3:37:01There was a morning session and there

3:37:02was a day session and evening session. I

3:37:04attended the day session. I know several

3:37:06people were attending the evening

3:37:07session. Uh this is something we

3:37:10supported and I uh I thought it was a

3:37:12very worthwhile endeavor. And finally,

3:37:15uh I you all honored me to um represent

3:37:18the city at the Gold Star Memorial

3:37:20dedication

3:37:22um that uh was uh the Olympia Garden

3:37:26Club has uh created a new Gold Star

3:37:30family's memorial at Squaxon Park. It's

3:37:34on in on the east um part of the park

3:37:37and it's very sweet uh uh memorial and

3:37:42they did just a beautiful beautiful job

3:37:45of honoring these families and u and

3:37:48that that memorial and they kind of

3:37:50rededicated the blue star memorial which

3:37:52is also there and uh I was very touched

3:37:56by it and uh I they really did a

3:38:00wonderful job. If you ever have a chance

3:38:02to see Garden Club, Olympia Garden Club

3:38:05members, please say thank you to them

3:38:07for uh the work they're doing in

3:38:10recognizing these gold star families.

3:38:15>> Thank you. Questions or comments for

3:38:17Council Member Barrett?

3:38:19Uh thank you for going at a garden club

3:38:21event. Um I was invited and so I'm glad

3:38:24you were able to attend. I I do want to

3:38:26say I I I've recognized you in my

3:38:29remarks just saying that you wish you

3:38:32could have been there and I I knew I

3:38:34know that how important this group was

3:38:36to you.

3:38:36>> Yeah. Thank you very much. Um and then

3:38:39also thank you for going to the

3:38:40Pritchard Building event as well. I

3:38:42didn't want to overdo it hours before

3:38:44leaving for Japan. So I appreciate you

3:38:46having a presence there, too.

3:38:49All right, city manager Bernie, take us

3:38:52home.

3:38:53>> I have nothing to report. All right.

3:38:56[laughter]

3:38:57All right. Well, with no further

3:38:58business before the Olympia City

3:39:00Council, we're adjourned.