Edmond City Council meeting of July 5th, 2022, at 7.01 p.m. Will you please join me for the flag salute?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for nation.
Thank
you. Next item is the land acknowledgement. I've asked councilmember Payne to read the acknowledgement.
Oh, do I need to do this? There we go. Let's see. We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Snohomish people, and their successors, the Tulalip tribes,
who, since time immemorial, have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.
We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred
spiritual connection with the land and the water.
Thank you.
Next is roll call.
Mr. City Clerk, Council Member Chris Gianna Johnson, and I've tried to promote her
to panelists a few times here, and she keeps slipping back into the attendees list,
so I think she's here.
Council Member Chen, Council Member Tibbet, Council Member Bukshanus, Council
President Olson, Council Member Payne, Council Member Lara Johnson, and
Council Member Chris Gianna Johnson. Can you hear me?
Yes, I'm here. All right. All
Council Member and Mayor Nelson. Here, all elected officials are present with the
exception of Council Member Tibbet. Very good. I move to excuse Council Member Tibbet.
Second.
Moved, excused, Councilor Tibbet, and seconded discussion.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion passes.
Next item on the agenda is the Municipal Court Annual Report.
Happy to introduce the Honorable Whitney Rivera.
All right.
Good evening, everyone.
I'm here with Unique Mailer, our Court Administrator, excited to present to you our annual
report.
I'm going to jump right into it.
Wanted to start with the court operations update.
Last time that Unique and I were here speaking to you all, we were still kind of in the midst
of just emerging from suspending jury trials, hadn't restarted our community court yet.
We've now restarted that.
We restarted in January of this year at our temporary home, which was at the Community
Health Center there on Highway 99.
We really owe a debt of gratitude to the people at the Community Health Center.
I mean, that is a place where lots of people go to access medical care, dental care,
and they allowed us to come into their lobby and use that space to help bring our services to our court-involved users.
We moved to our new space on Highway 99, the new community court space.
We're just getting settled up there.
And it's pretty, it's pretty amazing in that we have all the exact same functional capacity that we have here so we can run our in custody jail calendar from up in that space.
So we're really trying to continue thinking innovatively about different ways that we can use that space moving forward.
We began processing passports again in November of 2021 so in terms of court operations we are fully up to speed and working at full capacity as we were pre COVID.
We're still working back towards some of our numbers the same way in terms of passport
processing, but in terms of jury trials, motions, practice, we're operating at the same capacity
as pre-pandemic levels.
We completed multiple jury trials safely.
I talk a little bit more about our jury trials a little bit later in this presentation.
This is more of moving forward for processing infractions for individuals who did not
respond during COVID.
So under the court rules applicable to infractions,
individual has 15 days to respond to an infraction,
otherwise they're noted as a failure to respond
that's noted on their record
and it's reported the Department of Licensing.
We weren't processing those failures to respond
during the pandemic.
And that was something that Judge Coburn
and Unique decided prior to me coming on.
We're now, especially in light of the Senate bill
that passed during the last legislative session,
giving all individuals who have not responded
to a ticket an opportunity to request an ability
to pay hearing to request a payment plan, community service, one last opportunity before we start
processing those again and reporting those to Department of Licensing. So our staff are working
on notifying those individuals that they have an opportunity to submit a written request
or have a hearing to come before this court to get before adverse action starts getting taken
against them. We have our legal financial obligation relief programs and our up payment
program fully implemented and we're still in hybrid models so we're still having
anyone can appear via zoom today on our in custody calendar we had a number of
domestic violence arraignments where alleged victims and protected parties
were able to appear via zoom from their homes or from work to communicate to the
court their desires in terms of bail settings on cases whether no contact
order's issues on cases and so that's been a really important part of access
that it's not just defendants who it's also really important that they're able
to access our courtroom but also victims, witnesses, family members who are in
support of people who are victims, witnesses or defendants. So we've
really been able to increase access with that hybrid model. Here we have
new members of our team. We were here last year asking the City Council to
We'll prove our restructure that has been monumental
in helping impact our workload at Edmunds Municipal Court.
On the right here, we have Virginia
who's joined our team just recently.
On the left, we have Tracy, who was a court clerk
when our probation officer, Mr. Sherman Ma, retired.
Tracy then applied and transitioned
to be our probation officer.
She's really focusing on our community court right now
and developing relationships with some of our probationers.
And so we're really excited about
our probation team moving forward.
This is just the rest of our team.
We're a small, little boutique court here in Edmunds.
But I do find that compared to courts I worked in as an attorney,
there is a really high level of communication
with the public, a really high level of communication
with the people who need to use our court.
And so we're really proud of our team here.
I added this slide in in terms of just numbers.
And in terms, there's so many different ways
is to look at the work that we do.
But if we're just looking at case filings,
these are broken out into traffic, non-traffic,
DUI physical control, other criminal traffic,
so other criminal traffic might be driving
while licensed suspended, hit and run attended or unattended.
And then non-traffic, those are gonna include
your theft charges, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct,
to show our filings.
As you can see, the 2021 filings
are lower than they were previously.
And, you know, there are some explanations.
I think that when Judge Coburn was presenting a lot, and I know Kathleen Kyle from the Public
Defender Association talked to you a lot in past years about driving law license suspended
third and what a large proportion they were.
In this court with the city code resolution that was passed in 2019 and then with
a case called Department of Licensing v. Pierce from 2021, which was litigation
in Thurston County.
The litigants' name was Pierce, challenging driving law license suspended for inability
to pay on equal protection grounds is that we've really seen those driving on suspended
charges have almost not completely stopped.
So that's one impact.
Another impact would be State v. Blake, which I think we talked about a lot last year,
the Supreme Court's ruling finding that Washington's drug possession law was unconstitutional.
What happened was the legislature then went back and passed the Senate bill called
that they refer to as the Blake Fix.
It made no longer a crime for possession of drug paraphernalia
for much of personal use.
And so that probably also is accounting for this.
As you can see by case type, though,
there are some reductions in filings.
This life cycle of a case kind of just
shows the work that the court is doing throughout a case.
So when someone's charged with a crime,
we have their arraignment or first appearance.
We set them a pretrial hearing.
those determination as to whether there's probable cause, which triggers whether I can
impose conditions of release a person has to abide by.
And we said pre-trial hearing, it then kind of is in the attorney's hands at that point
to investigate and negotiate and litigate.
When they come back for a court hearing, they can do what's on the left, a disposition.
Frequently that might be a guilty plea.
They waive their right to a jury trial, admit guilt.
It could be what's called a pre-trial diversion or stipulated order of continuance, whereby
by they agree to abide by a number of conditions
for a period of time,
if they do so successfully, the case will be dismissed,
or they can choose to litigate,
which is the side on the right,
which is doing suppression motions,
having hearings about whether statements
made to law enforcement are admissible,
and having a jury trial.
If there's a verdict of guilty,
whether that's by plea or by a jury,
as the judge, I don't wanna impose sentence,
which can be as five years,
as the maximum of five years for domestic violence
or driving under the influence,
maximum of two years for most other crimes. So really once we have an adjudication of
guilt, that is the start of the process. As far as our probation team goes, I have a lot of
people on probation appearing before me that were sentenced by Judge Coburn or Judge Fair,
just because the life cycle of that case is really long. We devote every Monday afternoon
to dealing with our probation matters, and a lot of our community court cases are probation
matters. People that we're finding continue to become court involved, and we're trying to
address this underlying issues that are causing them to land themselves in our
court.
We resumed jury trials in April of 2021. There was a lot of COVID pauses. I
know the district court resuspend in trials again in that late summer. We
continued on and we found that we were able to do so safely. We really
tried to take a generous posture with jury service if people were not
comfortable serving, letting them be excused, not putting people in
situations where they would be uncomfortable. We had 171 cases set for
trial. So just when we do an arraignment and someone enters a non-guilty plea, we
don't automatically set that case for trial. The parties request when a case
needs to be set for trial. Of those 171 cases, they don't all go. Frequently,
that's kind of where the rubber meets the pavement in terms of things getting
done, witnesses being lined up, negotiations taking place. So since we
resumed, we've completed five jury trials and one bench trial. So if you
think about that that's a lot of citizens from our community coming into
this room, going through the jury selection process, making it to our
jury box, deliberating to a verdict. And then I just included a list of the types
of cases that have gone to trial since we resumed jury trials in 2021. So we
had a reckless driving, we had a driving on suspended third with a reckless
driving, we had two counts of stalking, a DUI trial, a non-domestic violence
assault in the fourth degree, so just means that the alleged victim was not
a member of the person's family or household and then a violation of a no
contact order.
Community court, this was our old home at the community health
center up on Highway 99. Our staff were amazing. They just took all our
computers, all our printers, everything that we need and hauled it up there.
Every time we had a community court session, this is our new home and as
you can see we have a lot more technological equipment in there. So
So we're still allowing people to appear by Zoom.
I make a good cause finding if someone
needs to appear in person.
So if someone needs to access services
and we have substance use disorder providers,
mental health treatment providers there,
I can make a finding they need to appear in person.
If someone is there to check in,
just checking on the status to make sure
they did what they were supposed to do,
we'll say, hey, if you're in compliance,
you can appear by Zoom.
Just trying to make that easier.
We're finding a lot of our individuals
who come to the courthouse are people
without any ability to appear by Zoom.
So we're trying to figure out a way
to make that Highway 99 location a little more used more frequently just for purposes
of making it easier for people to get to the court.
Don't worry, it's not you, it's us.
I didn't figure I made the TV go out, but yes, please.
We had an individual who appeared at the wrong courthouse last week.
He went to South District Court up by Edmunds Community College and he was so scared
of missing his court hearing he sprinted here and had a medical situation in our
lobby, which you need handled very nicely by getting him snacks and a bus
card to get back to where he needed to go. Okay, I think we're up and running
behind me now.
Okay, I
think I mentioned this all to you when we received the
grant, but as part of that Blake bill, the legislature provided money for
courts of limited jurisdiction, what they never had before for therapeutic
courts. So we received a grant from the administrative office of the courts
to help prop up and fund our community court.
So we're really trying to look towards best way
to provide services to individuals.
We're working towards trainings,
making sure we're trained in best practices
for therapeutic and drug courts.
And so that's something that's exciting,
that's something that's gonna be ongoing.
We're hoping that that will become
an ongoing allocation of funds from the state
so that we can continue having state funding
to help our community court program.
We're still working with our vendors, we've been working, talking a lot with Mindy Woods
and Shannon Burley and their new Compass Health Outreach person to try and partner with human
services to make sure we're not duplicating efforts on any front in terms of providing
services.
There are some things that we can do that it seems they can't do, there are some
things they can do that we can't do just in terms of like for example our AOC grant
out of Senate bill 5476, we can't gift anything because we can't gift public funds.
So we can use that money to help.
We're trying to get a bus ticket to go to their evaluation, but we cannot hand out stocks
to them. And so trying to partner with human services is something we're trying to really
keep moving towards as we go forward. And again, our main goal there is just to connect people
with the underlying services. We've had some really nice success stories of people who
have been struggling that we've been able to help either get mental health treatment,
substance use disorder treatment. I'm sure you all know the public different funders
have social workers that frequently get involved.
And so it is a very team collaborative effort
in terms of dealing with some of these individuals.
And it's pretty exciting and heartwarming
when you see someone sort of come out of that adversity
and address those issues and feel really proud
that they were becoming a productive member of society.
This slide, I just kind of wanted to point out
that between unique Omar Gamazar probation officer
and I, that were really just involved
in a lot of statewide organizations.
When I came into this position, that was something I wanted to do because Judge Comern had done
it. She really encouraged me to do it, but it's actually in this changing landscape been really
important for us to stay on top of all the changes.
Unique, I mean I'm not going to list her accolades here. She's working with the Minority
Injustice Commission on Jury Demographics. She's an executive board member.
What she's really so monumentally helpful to us
is that we're going to a new case management system next year and everyone
across the states kind of freaking out but Unique's like on that committee doing
all those things so I am not freaking out because I know that she's gonna have
it handled.
Again we've talked about this before our DV MRT our MRT program a
lot of studies about reducing recidivism, talking about moral
recognition therapy, helping people understand why they made choices and
and how to make better choices in the future.
And so Omar Gamma is our long-time probation officer here.
He helps train people with that.
He's on the deferred prosecution revision work group.
And then I'm working this year.
I'm the co-chair of the legislative committee
for the DMCJA.
So there is just a lot of things going
through the Washington legislature.
This next legislative session that are gonna impact courts
of limited jurisdiction.
I'll talk about a couple in a few minutes.
But it's just, it's been neat to see the way that our city is represented in these statewide
organizations for court administrations.
Court administrators, judges, and probation officers.
Looking forward, so 5476, which was the Blake fix, it's sunsets in July of 2023.
So I expect that legislators are going to be scrambling.
When that sunsets, if they don't have new bill, then we go back to post-Blake
pre-Senate bill 5476 which means that none of nothing is illegal that these
cases won't come through our courts. So there are a lot of different ideas
floating around there. I know that one senator is looking about doing something
kind of like civil commitment which was the involuntary treatment to hospitals
for mentally ill people for substance use disorder. People are trying to
come up with creative ways to come at this but we're assuming that as long
if something replaces it, it will be coming through our courts. But we will see. We're
trying to update our jury summons process. So our jury trial terms are every first and
third Thursday and Friday. When I got here, I was like, where are the bar codes for processing
everyone? There's no bar code. It's not like every other court in Snohomish County.
They're handwritten. I get a binder with handwritten information on them. It's a
ton of work for our staff. I think it's a lot of work for the people responding.
So we're hoping to update that process sometime soon just to make it easier for people having
to report for a jury duty as well as our staff.
Unique's been really focused on the language access plan through AOC and interpreter services
trying to make sure that we are providing access to individuals who don't speak English
as their primary language, making sure that we have a plan in place that we're all in
compliance with.
The change in the law, I think I talked about this last year for driving law license to
spend in the third degree.
This is such a big change in that before if you got a ticket, it said, I'll pay it, I'd
like a mitigation hearing, I'd like a contested hearing, there's now I'd like a hearing on
an ability to pay.
And so people will be able to come in and say, here are my finances, here's what
I can do, I can set monthly payments, I can convert to community service.
So that'll go into effect next year, but and a lot of people are doing a lot
of work, getting ready for that change.
There's potential, and we're trying to keep our eye on this
as we get through the next legislative session,
for state funding for pretrial services
that impact public safety.
So there was a report that came out of the Supreme Court
a couple years ago that said basically courts should not
be passing on the cost of pretrial monitoring
to court users.
So for example, I frequently impose
as a condition of release if someone
has a prior DUI, an ignition interlock device.
You can't drive your vehicle without blowing into it
to ensure that you haven't been consuming alcohol.
I order what's called a scram device which is a transdermal sensor to
determine if someone's been consuming alcohol. If someone's violating a no
contact order, I might order them to be on a GPS device so that my probation
officer can see where they are and that they're not within a hundred yards of
an address. Those all cost money and so we're hopeful that the state is
going to provide some funding to pay for those pretrial services. And those
are things that really impact sort of our confidence that people will
follow-through with the conditions that get imposed on them if I find probable
cause to believe that a crime has been committed and if I find that those are
conditions that will help assuage any concerns that I might have about this
person being in our community while this case is pending. We're going to
transition to our new case management system in 2023. My life is in
unique hands with that. I trust her with it. And then we're hoping that
there may be some legislation coming through and we're going to look in
our own way of doing this potentially. If the legislation doesn't come
through about funding to expand pre-trial services, so including text and email reminders
about upcoming court dates, probation appointments. You get them from your dentist. I feel like
you can get them from your court too. So those are things that we are looking at moving
forward. Those are my updates for the municipal court. Anybody has any questions? We'd be
happy to entertain them.
Council Member Bultons.
Thank you very much, Judge Rivera and Unique. And thank you for adding those numbers
to the PowerPoint, because I know many people were asking me about that.
It is noticeable that some of the infractures in DUI and everything have gone way down.
Do you correlate that to also with the fact we may have staffing issues with our police
department?
You know, I would guess that.
It's so, being sitting in a court position is interesting because we don't control
what comes in or really what the attorneys do with it, but I'm assuming that is
part of it. I'm assuming that COVID had some things to do with that. Do you have
any thoughts on the correlation? I think it has to do with staffing. Well, because I
mean if you think about it, it doesn't just miraculously, these issues don't
miraculously go away. No, I don't presume that people are speeding less or
driving less after consuming alcohol. I think it is sort of a where you
have, where that you have the bodies to go. And especially some of those
those things are proactive measurements. So I think that that is very likely a correlation
in the drop.
Great. Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks again for answering my email and providing the
numbers for us.
Happy to do so. Thank you for sending that to me.
Thank you.
Councillor Payne.
Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Always the fun part of the year when we
get to hear from you all.
So, I was going to ask you, what is SCRAM, and I knew some of the other, you know, language
there, but it's really great to hear that you are working on pretrial issues and hoping
to make sure that we do keep people out of jail as much as we can, and still minding
community safety.
I guess, you know, what are the biggest challenges going to be with putting in
the new case management system?
The biggest challenges with the new case management system?
That's great.
Well, as you know, we've been on, because of your background,
with the courts.
We've been on the same case management system since 1983.
And I explained today in a meeting
that that means our printer is as large as my first car.
And our system is a black screen with dots on it.
So it's going to be a huge change with how
the judge looks at the file, the papers processed internally, building mechanisms for people to
respond by the web, which is not available currently. We will be able to add our recording
immediately to our website based on it. You'll be able to access your documents
faster. Some of the biggest problems is that we still do have some paper files of the old
cases prior to going electronic during COVID. And so we do have many shelves of
paper that we need to get all of those documents processed into the system
before we launch. And then also getting everybody trained and on board. This is a
system everybody has been trained in in the whole state. So every court going
live and learning how to work a new system and the functionality and with
staffing hard across the state. It's gonna be it's just gonna be a shock
everybody but it's going to be very exciting because we're we're opening
the doors to having the public be able to access their documents and respond
and hopefully the access to justice will improve throughout the state. I think it
will make it so that I can see what a no-contact order looks like in Whitman
County, which is something I can't do now. So I think it's going to give
judges better information and then it's going to allow the public to be
able to also look at the information simultaneously. So I think it's just
gonna help with transparency and then uniformity across courts to make sure
that we're all seeing the same things. I think that's great news. Where are we
storing our backup drives? I assume it's off-site, so if there's a power failure
here. So we all of our backup drives are through the administrative office of
the courts, so our judicial information system GIS or DISCIS is stored
through AOC, our physical files through laser fish I believe are stored through
the IT department of the city of Edmunds and I have no idea if they have
backup generators but I would assume a government agency would have a second
set of backups for our electronic files but the data that we put in regarding
criminal histories or Department of Licensing is backed up through Olympia
and they have multiple ways of backing that up. I'm only asking because I was
in the courtroom. So we had the Cascadia earthquake and we had just switched over and so all of
the we were able to access our stuff because it was stored out in Grant County. So yeah just
lived experience. Good luck with everything. It sounds like you're going to have a fun year.
Thank you.
Councilor Lawrence. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and thank you for the updated
slides. My question for you is you mentioned some of the changes that came with COVID and
going virtual. So with what you learned, what will be continued, you know, either in term
or that you hope to make permanent going forward?
Yeah. I mean, I think the hybrid appearances will stay. That will stay. So people who
have court, there are certain statutes that don't allow people to appear, that require
people to appear in person. You have an arraignment for a domestic violence offense. You have
for a DUI statute says you have to be here in person.
Otherwise, and the Supreme Court's modified
some court rules that you can appear via Zoom.
And I see people with hard hats who take their hat off
and walk away from their construction
to do their court hearing and walk back to it.
And that should stay.
Looking backwards pre-COVID, people
spent so much time finding childcare,
taking time off work, finding transportation
to come to a court hearing that last 30 seconds
because their attorney is asking for continuance. So that's all going to stay.
When there's something that really substantive that needs to be addressed
in court, court rules give me the authority to say, I'm setting this
hearing over and you need to be here in person. So we're going to keep all that.
And the rules evolved really quickly. Partly it was from the Supreme Court's response to
pandemic. They can pass rules. They can pass emergency orders. Some of those
emergencies orders are still in place, but they evolved really quickly as well
for it to allow attorneys if they say I've communicated with my client they know their
next court date to waive their presence also.
So I think those are all going to stay.
It was a really nice confluence that Judge Coburn had lined up going to paperless system
with the pandemic happening so that we were able, Edmond's Municipal Court and this was
under her, not me, I'm not taking any credit for this, really was a leader in this
area in terms of transitioning to remote proceedings and all of that.
And so I think we've learned a lot about the amount of obligations we put on people already
struggling just to come to court.
And I don't think that very many courts are going to be moving back to the old ways of
doing that.
Did that answer your question?
Boy, was that okay?
No, that's good to hear.
I mean, I think, you know, in a lot of businesses, courts, city council, many things, we've
learned, there's been a silver lining in things that we've learned through this.
So it's good to hear that you're keeping, you have the ability to keep some of those in place.
Final question, I remember going to, it was like a kudos presentation, I believe Omar Gomez put that on, probation officer, are we going to see that again?
Is there one schedule? Because I found that to be very thought provoking and educational.
It let me kind of get a peek inside and see and hear from people that were struggling previously,
maybe still having gone through the court system, where they were today, what their
struggles were, what they were still struggling with, but also how proud they were of the
work that they had done.
So I enjoyed that.
Yeah, you know, we don't have a kudos schedule.
I think that that's something that kind of actually fell a little bit by the wayside
during COVID, but we can talk to Mr. Gammes, and we get to see that pretty regularly.
Coming to court and sort of wanting to tell you, like, I have visitation with my daughter
again and I haven't seen her in years. And it is so moving. And so we should come up with
a mechanism to share that with other members of our community because it is really special
and like gives you a lot of faith in the resiliency of human beings in those moments
to see someone come before you who is struggling with substance use disorder, mental health,
poverty and you're right it's sort of like how proud they are to show you what
they've done and so it's it's we will we will add that to our list of things to
follow up on. Thank you I think it really puts you know a human face to
something we you know usually what we hear about is the worst of it and or
statistics or something like this this really put a human face to it. Yeah I
agree with you. Thank you for that suggestion.
Council President. Well it's
really fun to have you guys back. I know we were waiting a while for the
reorganization and then you are flexible and I really appreciate that when we've
had to move you on the schedule. So thank you for being here today and for your
responsiveness. I found that to be a consistent treat. Then when we've had an
agenda item and there have been questions or, you know, an ask for something
more that you always come through really quickly and I really appreciate
that. Specifically on your chart today, you know, really just I think the
community is looking for a little bit more of a feedback loop between the
courts and the police and the staff. I'm thrilled to hear that you're working with
human services directly. I think that's wonderful, but just to if everybody can
get out of their silos, kind of that principle of public safety being
everybody's issue and working together on it as community. Yeah,
absolutely. And any time we are we are happy to provide any of that
information that as we go it doesn't even have to be at our state of the
court and you're right I think that like in terms of many overlapping circles that
are not always aware of how overlapping that are communicating about their
overlaps probably is maybe the way to put it. So thank you and thank you.
Council Member Chen. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you Judge Ribola and
for your informational update and the chat was very helpful. I do want to
I do have a comment that we received complaints from the community that traffic is a problem.
But from the numbers, it seems like the cases were very low.
In terms of traffic, is it a problem in terms of speeding or people driving poorly?
Yeah.
But I do have a question related to ordinance 4261 that took effect on June 19.
I know it's still pretty rickson, just wondering if there's any cases come or close your court
because of the ordinance?
We have not seen any yet.
So no.
I'm not sure if and when that's coming, but not yet.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you.
All
right.
Not seeing any other lights blinking.
Thank you.
Judge Rivera, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Nice to see you.
I appreciate you having us.
Next
item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve?
Is there a second? Moved and seconded. Discussion?
Councilmember Lord Johnson?
Yes, I would like to move that we move up discussion of council response to Supreme Court
decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Up to be item number two.
Is there a second?
I would second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion?
Make or the motion?
Oh, there are many in the audience here to hear that.
And they don't necessarily need to sit through the OPMA training that we are doing.
And so I think that is most respectful of those who came today.
I know all the lights are.
Okay.
Any other discussion?
Councillor Payne. I would totally support this motion mainly because of the
reasons stated and although I enjoy the OPM a training all the time really it's
the best stuff ever I do want to recognize that people who have come here
specifically to listen or speak on behalf of the resolution that's
before council that I think that they do need to you know that out of
respect for our community that we we move it up to item number two. Okay. I'm
seeing in there discussion all those in favor move item four to number two please
say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Amendment passes. Any other?
Okay back to the main
motion to the agenda approval agenda as amended. All those in favor please say
motion passes. All right, next item is audience comments. I do have a long list here which
is great. I do have a port commensurer that did ask if he could go first because he's
under the impression as I am too that he's probably not going to be talking about what
most people are here hot talking about. So Mr. Commissioner Jay Grant could come up
and do a quick port update and then we'll kick off the rest of the audience comments.
but he only gets three minutes like everybody else.
Thank you.
I'm Mr. Mayor, Council President and Council Members.
I am Jay Grant.
I am a commissioner at the Port of Edmunds
and as you know, I am the liaison to the city
of Edmunds and Woodway.
I just want to update you on a couple of things.
And again, as a new commissioner elected this year,
I'm always fascinated by the questions I get,
which a lot of it is the fact that
the Port is a separate government.
It is under Washington state law.
Works to help bring value and economic value to the community.
And some of that I'd like to talk about a little bit tonight.
I'm sorry I'm going to miss the OPM update.
So I think I've been through it a couple of times already.
Some of the things that happen at the port that directly affect the city of Edmunds
is the fact obviously the businesses in the port do not we there's no property
tax because it's government land and so there's a leasehold tax at the state of
Washington charges it's nearly 13% and the City of Edmonds gets about 30% of
that so it's rather a significant and the other part is that the sales tax
that we generate most of it goes to the Edmonds City of Edmonds and to give
you an example, Jacob, someone they sell a $300,000 boat, about $12,000 goes to the
city, almost 4%.
So again, it's rather significant.
And speaking of significant, one of the things I wanted to update you on is that sometime
next week we will formally announce and start building a new port headquarters.
that port headquarters cost about eight million dollars and with the taxes and
fees that the port will pay the city that amounts to about four hundred thousand
dollars so rather rather significant. One of the reasons that we're building the
new port building other than the fact the other one's fallen apart after it's
built. We will demolish the old port building and we will work on constructing the north
side of the port walk because of its age and the life cycle. We have less than five years
left, so about 900 feet. Basically from where the port building is all the way down to the
fishing pier will be reconstructed and let's see what else. And then after that
basically because there'll be no building in place of it will be a park. So
that's all I have to say tonight and thank you for the time. Have a good
evening. All right now for audience comments you've got a little taste of
that but folks who haven't been here before you'll have three minutes
you'll get you'll see the little green light light up and then the
yellow lightbrinks when you have 30 seconds left and then the red flashing is when your
three minutes expired. We really want to stick to that time frame because we have a lot of
people signed up. We want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to be heard. We'll then
transition from in-person audience comments to virtual audience comments and they get
the same three-minute limit except they get to do virtual raising of hands. And
I will go through those rules when we get to that point. So first person I,
And I'll call each person and then the person following up so that you can either if you'd like choose to sit or
Be near the podium. So I have first Joan Longstaff followed by Rebecca Anderson
Good evening mayor city council
First of all, I would like to say a thank you to the city council
For making a very special and Edmunds kind of a day with our with our parade
It's wonderful the way that we're able to honor in our parade
Our police, our fire, our service organizations, that's what makes Edmunds very, very special.
You know, when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we say one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.
Well, we're almost in a civil war again in our country.
scary, so divided, and it is so scary. And there's so many issues that you're dealing
with as a city council. Look at the shooting that happened in the Chicago parade. We have
all these issues that are very, very important to us, to our community. But I also definitely
I only want to tell you that I think it is very inappropriate that our council is addressing
the women's rights and abortion.
Fortunately, we live in a state where it is very pro-women's rights, and that voice
is very being heard.
And so I want to speak about those of us who are for pro-life and we are your
constituents and I think the population of Edmunds is like 43,000, 580 or
something and so there are thousands and thousands of people who you represent who are pro-life.
So I think it's very inappropriate that this is an issue.
There are some very, very big issues that we need to work on and certainly you have
a voice in this state and I approve us exercising that. But I do tell you that there are thousands
and thousands of people in Edmunds that are pro-life and hopefully they're going to address
you tonight. So thank you for your time.
Next is Rebecca Anderson, followed by Denise Alvarado.
Thank you, Council. It's with a heavy heart. I've spent the last several days reflecting
on the reproductive freedom resolution before counsel this evening, and as I pondered I kept
asking myself, are we really going to spend taxpayer time and resources discussing a resolution
that will endorse abortion so Edmonds can claim to be an abortion sanctuary? Does Edmonds
need to be an abortion sanctuary? Washington State has very liberal abortion laws. In
fact, abortion is legal in our state, was illegal years before the Roe decision
in 1973. During our state's last legislation session, a law was passed that no longer requires
only doctors to perform abortions and replaces the word woman with person. So now in our state,
it is legal for not just a woman, but a person to get an abortion and it no longer has to be
done by a doctor. Women, I mean people in our state, have very few barriers to obtain an
abortion. Why does Edmunds need to be an abortion sanctuary? And what about those in our
The city who have been wounded physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually by abortion
has anyone stopped to think about them?
With almost half a century of abortion on demand in our country, resulting in the death
of 63.5 million children, many of us probably know at least one woman who has had an abortion.
These are grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunties, nieces and cousins in
our families, and the loss they feel needs to be acknowledged, it would be callous to
do otherwise as we talk about our city declaring itself a safe place that encourages women
to have abortions.
What happens in an abortion?
A life of a tiny human being ends.
Not all women want to kill their unborn children.
Not all women who have had, aborted their children are glad they did it.
Many women who have had abortions deal with regret and great loss.
If you have been directly or indirectly affected by abortion, I am sorry.
I am so very, very sorry.
Our culture failed you when you needed life-affirming support and love for you and your unborn child.
Please be consoled that you are not alone.
I pray that you have encountered the healing mercy of God, and if you haven't, I pray you do.
If you started on that path, I pray you continue.
There are several beautiful ministries specifically for women who have experienced the hurt and
sorrow of abortion, including Project Rachel.
It doesn't matter how long it's been since you were born.
There is healing help available if you want it.
I'll finish by quoting Mother Teresa when she spoke at the 1982 Harvard commencement.
It is something unbelievable that today a mother herself murders her own child,
afraid of having to feed one more child, afraid to educate one more child,
a nation, people, family that allows that, that accepts that,
that are the poorest of the poor.
They are the poorest of the poor.
For the good of admins, please let no one this resolution.
The women of admins deserve better.
Thank you.
Denise Alvarado, followed by Janet Way.
I'm Mayor and Council Members.
Admins is considering a very divisive resolution that has been handled already at the state and federal levels.
A nonpartisan council should not be making such a resolution.
It is very inappropriate and does not reflect the views of many admin citizens.
Washington State has had abortion rights in place even prior to 1973.
Certain council members are fear mongering with this resolution in what appears to be
a knee-jerk and incredibly partisan reaction.
I do not want funds, my taxes, going to pay for any support for an already well-endowed
Planned Parenthood.
There's discussion for protection or an escort for people going into the Planned Parenthood
here on 196.
I'm not very well-informed, but I don't think there has ever been need for any protection.
I would like to point out that there has recently been vandalism and threatening graffiti at
our local pregnancy center that serves and supports women who are seeking help while they're
pregnant and after they're pregnant.
I'm just questioning also that Planned Parenthood is outside of the city council city limits.
So it is our pregnancy center. If any consideration is given to Planned Parenthood protection, I would also like it to be given to the pregnancy center.
I want to let you know I have personal experience. I gave birth to a 26 and a half year old, 26 and a half week old baby and cared for that baby.
I know what a preterm infant looks like.
Washington State currently allows abortion up to 24 to 28 weeks.
My son is now 26, and he is, I never mind.
About 97% of biologists recognize that life does begin at conception.
This is science.
Abortion is killing a genetically unique human being, and 800,000 abortions happen in this country a year.
It's very divisive what you're considering. There are many of us who don't support it.
And I wish the City Council would consider just wipe off this resolution. Thank you.
Next is Janet Way, followed by Marilyn Chase.
I'm Ganna Way. I'm actually from Shoreline, one of your neighbors, and I'm excited to
be here to speak to you, and I'm very excited to hear that this resolution is coming before
you. I support the proposed resolution because women's rights are human rights, and reproductive
Reproductive rights are health care and we need to support women's health care.
I appreciate your willingness to take up this resolution.
It will benefit families, the economy and the human rights of women, children and men.
I ask you that you please vote yes to support access to reproductive choice.
It matters, I suspect, to the majority of your voters.
Thank you very much.
Folks, so I would expect courtesy from all of you when you're speaking to let those people speak uninterrupted.
So please keep the noise down to a minimum.
Thank you.
Next is Marilyn Chase, followed by Tony Shapiro.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council.
I want to commend you for bringing this very important issue that threatens our democracy
to the public policy discussions.
The U.S. Supreme Court just recently overturned the constitutional rights of young women,
the right to control one's own body, but that is only the beginning.
The U.S. Supreme Court has seriously challenged the First Amendment to the Constitution mandating
the separation of church and state.
This country was established as what the first time in the history of the world without
a religious official religious doctrine.
We have a total separation of church and state.
that's being challenged. The state of Washington has struggled, I'd like to
address now that the hospital mergers issues just briefly. We're struggling
with the idea of the hospital mergers. 49% of our hospitals in this
state are owned and managed by the Catholic Church. They are managed
according to the ethical and religious directives of the Catholic health care
services of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. If you go to a Catholic
hospital, that's 49% of them in this state, everyone is treated as if they
are a Catholic and can only receive medical care that adheres to the
Catholic religious directives. The religious directives governing hospital policies in half
of Washington hospitals prohibit a full range of reproductive health services, even if the
woman's life is in danger, including ectopic pregnancies. These hospital directives prohibit
death with dignity. That's sort of a direct challenge to the constitutional
rights of old people.
And it also prohibits contraception. It can prohibits
in vitro fertilization. The only way some families can have access to building
in their families, and they prohibit care for LGBTQ patients and more.
We have a serious public policy issue here.
Again, I thank you for the opportunity to raise these important public policy issues
that I believe threaten fundamentally our democracy.
Thank you very much.
Next, we have Tony Shapiro, followed by Colleen Tracy.
Good evening.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts on this matter.
One would hope that the primary and overriding objective of members of this council and any
council for that matter is to focus on the challenges and issues which affect the efficient
management of our city.
This council recently exemplified this objective when it denied permission for camping on public
property and I applaud the council for taking this matter up and solving this problem before
it became an overwhelming issue and I saw that it is difficult to stop once it is permitted
on government property.
Yet to take up the issues outside of the parameters that in many regards are counterproductive
in the efficient use of your time and detracts from constructive efforts to move the
city in a positive direction. Having this discussion focuses the issues which are outside
of the legal parameters that this council has the authority to govern. Additionally,
by bringing this issue to the forefront, effectively divides our citizenry in a fashion
that does no objective good for the overall well-being of our community.
This was
abortion. Morally, I am opposed to abortion and deeply believe that God does not look lightly
or kindly upon the taking of innocent human life. And for anyone to argue that abortion
is not the taking of life is not looking at the facts. The DNA of the fetus in a woman
is not her DNA. The heartbeat within the woman is not her heartbeat. She is the caretaker
of that baby being formed and knitted together in within her room and the
responsibility of the woman and subsequent mother to care for and cherish
that life. Abortion does neither of these things and I believe degrades all
individuals involved bringing the stain upon womanhood and upon our society
and country. Thank you.
I support the strongest resolution possible to protect and keep abortion access safe, legal,
and available.
For example, I also have concerns regarding access to other health resources such as birth control, family planning, and general health care that could also go down with the ship.
Access is imperative. It's vital. I had a couple men shout to me the other day as I was out in support of pro-choice. It's still legal here.
And I thought, well, for how long?
The people, some in this room, who want women and many other minorities to have fewer and
fewer rights are never going to stop chipping away until, well, I don't want to find out.
I am so saddened and sickened and feeling very unsure for our country.
I cannot imagine the feelings of horror for women in those states with Stone Age
abortion laws now and in the near future. So sad. My request is that you protect our rights
and keep us out of the Stone Age with whatever is in your power to do. Reach deep. It's absolutely
appropriate for you to do this. Not inappropriate. It's appropriate. It's important. We can't
do it alone. We need help. We need our allies near, far.
We need you. The young people need
you. It's not just a women's issue. Young men will pay for this, too. This lack of access.
Yeah, sure, it's legal here. But again, for how long?
We just need to protect ourselves.
We need to protect each other.
There's a lot of people in this room that say,
I heard forced abortion.
It's not forced abortion.
Nobody's forcing anybody to have an abortion.
Get over it.
The reality is that some people need to have them.
But whatever their choice is,
it doesn't matter.
It's their choice.
It needs to be their choice.
Thank you so much.
Next is Karen Chase,
followed by Patty Whitmarsh.
Good
evening, Council. It is, I really appreciate, my name is Karen Chase, I'm a proud Edmunds
resident, an active community member, and I appreciate the time that you're going to
be taking today to discuss the Roe, the, I believe you call it the Council response
to the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. I'm also coming to you as
one of the majority of the women in our country and community members that support the protections
that were afforded by Roe v. Wade. And I am terribly, terribly angry and disappointed
that now, the first time in our history, the generations of young women now have fewer
rights than their mothers. This makes me so angry, so angry and disappointed in the leadership
that's been shown at our highest court. So when I saw that this resolution was being
brought forward by Council Member Johnson and Council Member Payne, it gave me faith
in our elected officials and I am so pleased that right now this resolution is going
to be talked about tonight, and that this council has an opportunity to show the leadership
that we need in our community. We need this. We need to know that our leaders have our
back, that they recognize that our rights are under attack, and that I'm urging everyone
in our discussion to support this resolution that's been brought forward. I'm particularly
thrilled to be able to be here and read into the record the actions of this resolution because
I don't believe many of us here have had a chance to read it.
So with your permission,
therefore, be it resolved.
The City Council of Edmunds, Washington, that. The Edmunds City Council adopts this resolution
to express its official position in support of amendments to the Washington State and United
States Constitution to codify an individual's right to comprehensive, safe and accessible
reproductive health care, including abortion, contraception, gender-affirming health care
care and marriage equality and urge our federal and state legislators to act in support of
said rights.
The Admin City Council also directs copies of this resolution to be sent to the Governor
Inslee and representatives as a means of showing support of a constitutional amendment
guaranteeing full access to abortion care services and increasing oversight of hospital
mergers that have often interfered with the reproductive health services for all
people. Edmunds is a supportive community and we welcome people from other
states coming to the area for full support of legal and safe reproductive
services. And we also direct that this policy by the City of Edmunds that the
police department will not commit any of their police services to the
pursuit of any investigations related to those people who are seeking or
providing abortion. Please conclude your marks. Thank you. I'm just reading your
resolution into the record. And that's if you could do that under three minutes.
You're great. Otherwise, we'll let all the other folks go next. Thank you very much.
I appreciate your leadership. Please make us proud Edmond City Council. Next is
Mark Ibsen, followed by Ruth, I apologize if I mispronounce, Pairi.
Excuse me. Hi. Am I next Ms. Patty Whitmarsh? Yes. Thank you so much. My
My name is Patty Wittmarsh.
I live here in Edmunds.
And I oppose the resolution entitled
Reproductive Freedom.
The Supreme Court of the United States
is the final arbiter in law of the land of the Constitution.
They have corrected the error after nearly 50 years
in the death of over 63 million unborn babies.
As the city council, you swore an oath
to uphold the Constitution.
And if you do not, you are in violation.
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say abortion is a right.
Using your city council position to further your opinion or ideological view to what
the Supreme Court of the United States has already determined is outside of your jurisdiction
and does not represent myself nor the many Edmunds citizens.
No city council should ever deny an unborn baby its life or right to live.
You can better serve the citizens of Edmunds by dropping this resolution immediately.
Our country has been in the state of great division and moral decline.
By pursuing this resolution of reproductive freedom, we'll only further hostility
and prevent our City of Edmonds from being a place of nonpartisan, wholesome, and quality
living. On July 1, 2022, I sent each of the City Council members of Edmonds an email stating
my concerns. I want to thank Vivian and Diane and Neil for their prompt responses. Unfortunately,
Certainly, I never heard from the others.
In closing, I am asking each of the Edmunds City Council members to search your hearts.
Stay within the parameters in which you vowed and oath, and I ask you to seek godly wisdom,
discernment, prudence, and righteousness as you strive for peace and unity in this
great city of Edmunds.
Thank you for your time.
Next
is Mark Gibson, followed by Ruth.
Hello, Edmund City Council. Thank you very much for having the opportunity to speak to you today.
As an Edmund citizen for over 25 years, I'd like to register my opposition for the resolution regarding abortion freedom.
Briefly, this is primarily a state issue and should not be taken on by a small city.
I think it's been said before. There are other issues to be concerned with.
Its impact will actually be very small and will be seen to be just purely partisan and will divide our city.
The unborn citizens are the most vulnerable and need our voices too.
In regards to my detractors, respect for the rights of human life knows no specific gender.
I respectfully request that the council votes no to this resolution.
Thank you very much.
Good evening, council.
My name is Ruth Johnson-Peary.
And I want to thank you first for the many ways that you serve our community.
Thank all the citizens as well for what they do to bake Edmunds a beautiful place to be.
I'm here also in support of the opposition for this resolution.
I hear that we need respect to women that have chosen abortions.
I have many friends that have done so and I understand the reasons why because of choices
I have made myself.
But looking back at the choices, there's also a choice for a life that we as women must
consider a life of a human being that was placed inside of our home.
And I want to take this time to plead to women, to speak to you.
There was a reason why a human being was placed in a room for us to nurture and to protect.
You were one of those.
My mother, in 1974, when abortion was legalized in Sweden, was told because of medical reasons she should have an abortion.
She chose not.
28 years later after my, the day before my sister was to marry, my mom had a massive heart attack and we needed a cardiac arrest.
And who was there to revive her but that daughter, my sister Rebecca?
That woman has gone on to be a math and science teacher to advocate for the poor and the needy.
She's an immigrant, she lives there in France, and she works with orphan children, and works
with children abroad.
She's lived in Africa, she's gone to Thailand.
My mother sits here as an evidence of life in the, reaching out to people, drug addicts
that we grew up with in our home, that we reached out, that we saw life change.
So does life matter?
Absolutely.
And I urge you as a city council to put this resolution aside and consider life and consider
the men that also have stake in this issue.
They also need to have 50% of the vote.
There are plenty of women here.
I don't see enough men.
And we need to also respect that it is their child just as much as I.
If we decide that they're going to pay for it after the child's born, so does it matter
that we let them have a choice when the child is in the room.
Thank you very much, Kansan.
Tiffany Mecca, followed by Cassie and Fredo.
Thank you.
It's more that I can't read the handwriting, not that I couldn't pronounce it, but no,
you're good.
There's more I can't read, so yeah.
Hi, my name is Tiffany Mecca.
I live in Edmunds.
And I'm here today to ask this council,
well I'm here today to speak in support of the resolution
in opposition to the Supreme Court decision
that overturned Roe v. Wade.
I'm asking, or I'm here to support the most,
the strongest version of that resolution,
which is option number one.
And somebody who's grown up her entire life knowing
that I had this protection if I needed it.
And what it did for me as a young woman growing up was it told me that my life, what I wanted,
my dreams, who I was mattered, whether or not I wanted to be a parent or not, mattered.
And that my existence mattered independently of whether or not I was going to be a mother
or bear a child.
And I went to bed on Thursday night a little over a week ago
and I had that right and I felt, I knew it was coming but it was still there. And
when I woke up on Friday morning at like 8, 10 a.m. it was just gone. And I've
watched years and years of this right being chipped away at the federal
level and in other states.
And it's terrifying. I was terrified and so angry
that Friday.
It felt like an emergency. I went to bed having rights. I woke up
and they were gone. And I think a lot about this issue as a person who can
get pregnant who doesn't want to and also as a person who has a lot of
privileged in that decision. I've always had the ability to access birth control. I've had parents
who were understanding and understood the full implications of what it can mean to be pregnant
when you're not ready. My mom was 19 and always had frank conversations with me about that.
I've always had access to healthcare. I have a partner who I can trust who doesn't hurt me
and in case I needed to have an abortion or be on birth control, I could get it.
I didn't have any sort of health condition that would make being on birth control dangerous
to me.
I mean, it was very, everything aligned for me.
Most, well, not everybody has that.
And I think it is absolutely the place of this county council and for the city
admins to support this resolution because if we're not going to do it on a
local level, I mean this is where it is. This is what I'm constantly telling my
younger siblings that you have to get involved at the county level and that
you have to be in support of other people's rights. And I guess the other
thing I just wanted to add very briefly is I think about this in the
extent of all the other medical decisions that people can't force me to
do to even help another person like give blood, donate a kidney.
If you could please conclude your marks.
Wear a mask.
But yet we're going to force women to bear a child.
Next is Cassie Freedle followed by Megan Wolf.
Let the record show that I am wearing the wings and blood red color depicted in a handmaid's tale.
The late and great Ruth Bader Ginsburg said,
Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.
I was nine years old and in the fourth grade when I got my period.
Let that sink in.
At nine years old, I was fertile. At nine years old, I could have had a child, a fetus that would have killed me as I tried to carry something that I couldn't comprehend.
I would have been carrying a death sentence. How many of you council members have daughters or mothers, aunts, grandmothers or granddaughters?
Would you have stood by and watched a handful of cells rupture your daughter's uterus and watched her die?
No, you wouldn't you would do everything in your power to save your loved one. If you are thinking it's God's plan
I would have let her die. You are lying to yourself
No one should have to be forced to be an incubator because it's God's will
Yet across the nation women of all ages are being forced to carry a handful of cells that could kill them
They are carrying stillborns and having etopic pregnancies that will cause sepsis or a ruptured fallopian tube
that will surely kill them. In North Carolina last week, patients with lupus
and rheumatoid arthritis were denied life-saving medication because they are
a viable fertility age. Across the nation doctors are being forced to break
their sacred oath of doing no harm because of four men and one woman who
swore to protect our Constitution. For those of you that say, oh it will never
be outlawed in Washington, why are we fighting? We shouldn't have to have it
happen to ourselves or loved ones for us to care. As elected representatives, you
are elected to follow your constituents will. Edmunds demands that you protect
its daughters and push forward in securing reproductive rights in this
city. If you let your personal views or grudges overrule your duty as our
representatives, then shame on you. You may not see the repercussions of your
actions right now or even in five years, but believe me that myself and
your constituents will do everything in our power to unseat you and someday soon
you will realize that you were a coward but it will be too late too late for a
nine-year-old girl I am June.
Megan Wolf followed by again tough time with
reading this I want to say Soutiz maybe Maria Contillo. Thank you go
Hi, I'm Megan Wolfe, live in Edmunds, and I want to express my gratitude to
councilmember Payne and Johnson for putting this forward at a time when it
feels like everyone in power is doing a lot of awful things. It is nice to know
local officials have our back. I echo a lot of what has been said about having
our rights taken away. I feel like I am now all of a sudden seen as a vessel
to have babies, and I am much more than that, as are all people who can
become pregnant. We deserve equal easy access to basic health care, which is what abortion
is. And I think that for me, one of the things that I really struggle with in this very emotional
topic is the hypocrisy of people who claim that they're for life that aren't out here
fighting for things that would actually save lives. Easier access to health care, better
sex education at all ages, things that would actually prevent the need for more
abortion, but also abortion is something that should be easy to access as needed.
It saves lives and I can say as someone who has had a miscarriage that what came out of
my body when I had a miscarriage in no way resembled a human life and the fact that people
are fighting for that sack of cells over a human being that's living and breathing
and contributing to society is really hard for me to wrap my brain around.
I strongly support this resolution.
I think the local level is where we can actually have a very big impact because you're telling the constituents that live here that you
Care about them and you see them as whole human beings, and I very much appreciate the work you're doing. Thank you
So just want to apologize in advance for not be mispronouncing your name or not be able to read it
My name is Sophia Murray, and I'm a high school student and a resident of Edmunds
I support this resolution because it supports me my peers and many others
The council should also know that the U.S. was remarkable when it formed because we're
not religiously affiliated.
And thank you for coming together.
Don Moulson, followed by Stephanie Smith.
Don,
yes.
Followed by Stephanie Smith.
My name is Don Madsen.
I live in unincorporated Edmunds.
to be moving into incorporated admins and as such hoping to be able to vote for any and
all of you.
The past week for me, as somebody of baby making age, as somebody with baby
making hormones has been an absolute nightmare. Yes, we live in Washington, but what they
did with gun rights recently in the Supreme Court, they could also do here in Washington.
So I would like to know, I would like each of you to go on the record and state what
you believe by voting or against this resolution. Thank you.
So
we have Stephanie Smith, and then I think Lisa, and I can't read the last name.
So it's Lisa. Okay, go ahead.
Hi, I'm Stephanie Smith. I'm a third generation Edmunds resident.
And I'm here to ask you to support human rights in the strongest possible form of the resolution.
I think the elected officials need to stand up for basic bodily autonomy and for protecting
citizens and residents' rights, by one, ensuring that city resources are not used to assist
other jurisdictions investigating and prosecuting individuals accessing basic healthcare, and
using the city's cloud to ensure people's rights at the national and state level.
Thank you.
Hello, I'm Lisa Adder and I'm a resident of Linnwood but very active in Edmunds as well
and we're on a number of issues and in a number of activities.
I am glad that the council members have taken it upon themselves to look at this issue.
I find it really appalling that people are, like, focused on potholes, not human rights.
That just strikes me as absurd, and I will remind you all that you all took an oath to
protect people, I mean, to protect the Constitution, and you did pass a resolution supporting human
rights, as I hope that every council member should do, and every council throughout the
state.
And I encourage you to pass this resolution.
Thank you.
Gracelyn Sabayama and Denise, followed by Denise Cooper.
Hi there. Thank you for all that you do for Edmunds and I want to encourage you to vote yes on this resolution.
It is near and dear to my heart. I have been struggling a lot over the past few weeks knowing that my rights have been stripped from me
and knowing that the city I live in cares enough about me and my friends and my nieces and my sisters
to put this forward, to think about us, to protect us is so important.
You have to do this for people of my age, for people younger than me.
You have to be a welcoming, encouraging city
And in order to let our young girls thrive and flourish in this city, we need to be seen.
So please vote yes on this resolution.
Hi, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm Denise Cooper.
City Council choosing to make abortion part of the discussion has placed a division in our community.
I am pro-life. I am in support of the born and the unborn.
and so is my heavenly father.
I think what counsel Payne and Johnson did by
bringing abortion to the Edmund City Council was reckless move. To bully
fellow council member into
saying that they support something
possibly that they don't.
I think the answer to prevent babies from coming
into this world is safe sex or sustaining from sex.
Killing babies is not
birth control.
Check twice. Make sure you have your, you're taking your pills. Make
sure you wear that rubber so you don't get the woman in that
predicament. That she has to choose to kill her unborn child.
I'm not sure
why the Catholic Church was brought up tonight, but their pro-life, they also
offered child services, family services, adoption, elder care, and spiritual care.
I asked the city council to leave this as a federal decision. This isn't a
decision. This isn't a city,
it shouldn't be a city statement because not all of
your citizens agree.
We're not all pro-abortion. Some of us choose life. Thank
you.
So I have no one else signed in. If there's anyone else who wish to make an
audience comment that has not signed in, if you could please approach the podium.
I encourage City Council to vote to remove the special event permit item from tonight's
consent agenda.
If City Council wants to review the special event permit code, please initiate a policy-making
process.
Please task the planning board with it as a first step.
Please do not add more new problems to City Code.
At a minimum, please correctly define the following terms in our city code.
Easement.
Right away.
Opened public street.
Opened public alley.
Unopened public street.
Unopened public alley.
I encourage city council to clearly identify who has maintenance responsibilities for all portions of both opened and unopened streets and alleys.
Where did the idea come from that the city can issue a special event permit to use a
ride-away that the city has never used, plus issues such a permit without the fee owner's
approval?
The city of Edmunds has experienced a property owner taking legal action to establish adverse
possession of a city easement.
The city won that 1989 case because the property owner's construction and maintenance
of a fence in the easement area was not considered adverse or hostile to the city's easement.
The law allows the fee owner to use their land before the city opens a street or alley,
so the construction and maintenance of the fence was not adverse or hostile to the city's easement.
However, if the city brings a third party into this and allows permits to be issued to third
parties for use of unopened streets and unopened alleys, the situation changes.
If the city does so, a property owner's use of their property may now become adverse or
hostile to the city's right-of-way.
Have you considered this?
Please give this deep thought.
If you decide to go forward with this, I strongly recommend that all permit applications
to make use of the unopened streets and unopened alleys require the signed approval
of the fee owner. Approval by both parties with legal rights to the property might protect the city
from opening the door to adverse or hostile use of a city easement by the fee owner. I also think
the fee owner should be involved in the permit process if somebody wants to use the part of an
open street or alley that the fee owner is required to maintain. Please take time to get
this right. Please allow the property owners with land subject to an unused right-of-way
or with maintenance responsibilities and opportunity to be heard on this important topic starting
at the planning board level. Thank you.
So if you could just state your name for the record. Thank you.
Yes, sir. Yes, my name is Bill McClain and I'm a resident of Shoreline who spends a fair amount of time here
because this is really a fun town to be in with a great waterfront.
And, speaking of the water, I was fishing out off Eggline back in the 80s.
And we had a, we'd bagged seven silvers, but one of them,
the hook almost went through
the fish's eye.
And that got to me.
Can you imagine a hook going through your eye and then being dragged into a boat like that?
I mean, awful. Absolutely awful.
And the same thing about boiling crabs.
And I'm not saying that people shouldn't fish or eat crab, but you think of the pain that gets inflicted.
Well, with the unborn, when they undergo an abortion, and the abortionist comes in and
he crushes the baby's skull while it's alive, or he cuts off the arms and legs while it's
alive and struggling, it's feeling that it's fighting against what the abortionist is doing.
Yes, having an unplanned child is hard on a woman. I don't argue against that at all.
But think of what the baby is going through.
The mother can have the child. It can be adopted.
But this is the baby's one chance for life.
And certainly the torture that these children go through is unimaginable.
I can't imagine it being done to me.
Back in the 1800s, slavery was abolished
in spite of the inconvenience to the slave masters,
to plantation owners, as well as to the country.
It costs us half a million lives, roughly,
to put an end to slavery, but we did it.
And the overriding reason was because the slaves
were people or the unborn are people too and they need protection under the law.
Thank you for listening to me hearing me out.
Hi my name is Mary Jennings and I'm
a new resident from the state of California I moved in 2017 and to the
city well actually it's a it's a small county island but across the street is
City of Edmonds, but across the street on the other side is Espion.
That's where I live. But I do a lot of business. I bring a lot of, you know, business down here
to the city and the community. I feel I have a little bit of a voice to speak what I feel
about this particular subject. I was very young, a very young mother, and I'll just
get straight to the point. I was 15 when I was taken advantage of. Excuse me. I was
told I'd never graduate from high school. I was told to abort. I was told, you know,
not to bring an unwanted child into this world and thank God and thank the heavens above
that I had my daughter. My daughter is now 49 years of age. My daughter was an
executive with Nordstrom. She had worked with that company for 18 years. Very
successful as a buyer. Used to travel a lot. I went on to college. I graduated
from high school at the top of my class. Actually I was in the top percentile.
high B average and I went on to Fresno State University. I'm a retired law
enforcement officer. I spent 25 years as an undercover investigator for State of
California. This is a great place for me to retire to be closer to my daughter.
I'm thankful I went ahead and had my child regardless of what they said. I
raised my child as a single mom until she turned 16 years of age. So I'm extremely
pro-life and thank God my daughter also texts me recently to thank me for giving
birth to her. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
Well I don't know what to say
about this, such a great subject. It's not only that we have a lot of young children.
To give your name first. Oh, my name, yes. It is still Christine Johnson. Now, I'm a
rights mother. Now, this subject is so incredible big. We can't just take an hour or two because
Because it is much greater than this.
Not only the slaughtered children that we have allowed to die, but the women that suffered
intensely in so much because of what they did, and it usually comes back maybe after
a few years.
I never have had to do that.
I brought them forth, and it was my youngest daughter that God used to command my heart
to begin to be in that mighty name that we never hear about, or we don't even dare to
discuss it because that's forbidden in our society.
But I speak quite freely because I have seen the greatness of his power in so many ways
for so many decades. I could stand here for hours telling you all that our body is so
fantastically made that if we understood it we wouldn't handle what we're going
through the way we do and have done. And I want to encourage you to look at who we
We are a living miracle in ourselves with hearing, with eyes, with vocal cords, with
lungs, everything is so fantastically put together and here we are killing our offspring
that maybe today could have been doctors, higher scientists, and in every area because
I see my grandchildren, grandchildren, how incredibly smart they are.
You know, we got to take a second consideration about why we are alive.
Now I'm 88, and I've had little bit difficulties with my knees recently, never before, but recently
I've had it, and it's pretty tough.
And I even talk to young people, do you know why you have knees?
because they are very important if we are going to walk or run or do things.
People, you that are here tonight, consider your life is eternal
and because we are here to reign and rule with the Creator,
whether we talk about it or not, if I had not had that vision
and seeing God's greatness the day before Rebecca was married in France,
I am here as a mighty testimony. May God richly bless everyone that heard my voice tonight.
Thank you so very, very much.
And Heather Dameron, I wasn't going to speak tonight, but I feel compelled after hearing audience comment this evening.
What I'm struck by is the obviousness that the stripping of our rights doesn't stop here.
they won't stop. We are one that election away from what is happening federally happening
here. We must keep church and state separate. We must codify Roe at the state level and we
must encourage our legislators to do so as soon as possible. Please vote yes to approve
the most strongly worded resolution possible. Thank you.
Okay, seeing there's no one else in the audience wishing to speak, we'll now go ahead to the
virtual world and the same time requirements apply, however, you'll get a 30-second warning
from our city clerk, Mr. Scott Passy, and a final warning from our city clerk.
You can raise your virtual hand on your smartphone computer laptop, or if you have a landline
you can press star nine and the first person I see is Don Seaworth or Seaworth.
I apologize. Seaworth, excuse me.
Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, wonderful. Thank you
for your time. My name is Don Seaworth. I am the Director of Edmunds Lutheran
Learning Center. Just very briefly, I'm proud that Edmunds is taking up the
the Roe vs. Wade discussion, but I'm actually here to discuss the approval of an update
to Edmund City Code to include an impact fee waiver for early learning facilities.
This came about from my center specifically because we have been trying to change the
use of our fireside room to be able to accommodate being an educational space
for children. And the fee for child care is quite a lot. It's about $36 a
square foot to change the use of this space. And right now at a time when
childcare is so important to so many families and being able to have this
space or allowing other centers to have a reduced in this fee would allow many
more childcare spaces to open up. And so I'm just urging all of you to please
please approve this fee waiver amendment. The two attachments that were there I
I did look through them and I just wanted to mention that the child care collaborative
task force report, that is from 2019, November 2019.
So take all of that information in there and then multiply it by COVID.
I really want to uplift all the hard, hard work child care teachers, directors, staff
have been doing over the last two years of through the pandemic. We've been in
person with the kids taking on an immeasurable amount of stress but also
just trying to keep it as normal as possible for these little kids that
some have only been alive during COVID. I have probably about 15 kids right
now that have only only know COVID, only know seeing their parents wearing
masks and so just being able to open up more spaces as families are really
trying to be back to work. Please I'm really urging all of you to please vote
yes on this. Thank you so much for your time. Next is Linda Frikingstad.
Hello I'm Linda
Frikingstad. Britain's restrictions and fees for cutting pine trees
motivated the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. Property rights
continued to motivate immigration to the U.S. My parents were five years old when
400 Nazis occupied their tiny island in Norway, doubling their population. For
five years, Nazis kicked families out of their homes in the dark of night, moved
in and took their food supplies. When supplies ran out there, Nazis moved to
the next homes. Every home housed either two families or Nazis who took
what they wanted, making families buy back their own supplies, their own property.
In 1965, my parents immigrated to Seattle with their children, and we were proud to
become naturalized when they were sworn in as American citizens.
Our father employed hundreds, served on museum, charity, and hospital boards, volunteered
thousands of hours at Ballard Food Bank, Nordic Heritage Museum, and supported those
in need.
They brought drug-addicted and alcohol-addicted employees and paid for their sobriety.
Our sweet mom supports him and us five children and everything, inspiring us to give what's
needed and expect nothing in return.
In 2017, we purchased 1.2 acres in Edmunds to downsize and live beside each other.
Inexperienced, we first got to go ahead from the geotech and planning department, but
then got the runaround.
After five years, we're now close to a permit for division.
Shockingly, 82 years after the terrifying Nazi occupation,
it's happening to them again in the United States of America.
We can't live on our property until we've paid Edmonds for our own trees.
Edmonds has permanently seized rights to all trees on our property without just compensation.
Permits for removal for three homes are denied until $107,000 is received in tree fees.
In addition to the probably $100,000 we have to pay in permits.
And Edmunds' permanent seizure of rights to all trees is recorded on our property titles within the county.
Our Ukrainian neighbors have to pay $64,000 in tree fees to build a home for their parents.
A South Asian family can't build homes without paying hundreds of thousands.
Retired couples can't afford to divide and sell or have their property for their retirement.
Immigrant families and senior citizens are forced to compensate for tree canopy loss
from 100 years of development.
Admin seizures and excessive fees restricting the use of vacant properties has decreased
values and honors equity.
We are denied constitutional protections that all citizens benefit from.
Will you honor the pledge you make at every meeting, liberty and justice for all?
Will all citizens be free to live peacefully and productively without interference from the government?
Please place this on next week's agenda.
Immediately rescind the illegal three ordinance and prioritize our constitutional rights. Thank you.
Next is call in user one. I don't have a name listed.
Good
evening. This is Cynthia Schoedlum. People speaking tonight from Linwood and Shoreline.
I'm sorry, but you don't have a say in our Edmunds politics. And I'm appalled at the remark by an audience member to quote, get over it.
The resolution is an overreach and in essence overrides our state's authority. The state of Washington has already decided to keep women's rights in place.
So for any of the fear mongers who are talking about you're not going to be able to get your birth control, get over it.
Actually, you will.
I would like to point out for anyone who utters the words, my body, my choice, I want to remind you we're the same people who were telling unvaccinated people what to do with their bodies along with the government.
You shamed others for not being vaccinated.
You shamed others who were around you who didn't wear a mask.
So when it comes to my body, my choice, you believe it when it's convenient for you.
And Laura Johnson, you were one of those people telling others to get vaccinated.
So there are two sides to every story, and I think it's important for you to know.
There are many women who regret their abortions.
In an article by The Daily Caller, there is a message that needs to be shared.
This is what these are women who regret their abortions, who want other women to know.
I can only cover a couple of those if I have time.
Former state lawmaker Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and media personality
Karine Kimball spoke about their abortion stories.
And how the experience changed their lives.
A, quote, abortion is a civil wrong, said Alveda King.
Quote, life is a civil right.
King stated her OBGYN coerced her into getting her first abortion
and recommended that she obtain her second one due to struggles
within her marriage and the age of her first child.
She stated her OBGYN referred her to Planned Parenthood.
With the advice, don't talk with your family or church
about these women health matters, Planned Parenthood would be a friend to talk to.
King had two abortions and an abortion related miscarriage before she began to look more closely
into the issue, before she, quote, experienced the reality of the sanctity of life. If I, quote,
if I told my grandfather he would have helped me choose life, he convinced my mother not to
let me in 1950.
And Connie Kimball, she's a pro-life advocate
and media personality.
And her story was one of involving pressure
from her family and her boyfriend
that their whole lives would be changed
and it would affect their careers.
She said, I was being tugged in every direction.
I would sit on the floor in my bathroom
and just cry hysterically because I couldn't think
about going through with an abortion.
She wishes Planned Parenthood had been honest with her
about the pain, the guilt, and especially the options.
They weren't trying to help me, she said.
They were pushing abortions.
There was no information given about adoption.
She said she had expected Planned Parenthood to be a safe place for women.
Please do not pass this resolution.
Thank you.
Next is Mary Kimball.
Hey,
my name is Mary Kimball.
I'm a three-year resident of Edmonds.
I'm also a queer woman.
This past weekend, or rather, I guess two days ago, technically,
yesterday, what is time?
I got to experience the Edmunds' Fourth of July parade for the first time, which the Chamber of Commerce did a very great job hosting.
And I was heartened to see so many pride flags out.
And one of the things that's so heartened to me about the actions that council members, Laura Johnson, Susan Payne and Vivian Olsen did with this resolution concerning reproductive rights
is that it includes all people who might need access to reproductive rights and reproductive health care.
I recognize it's incredibly unusual for city council to be taking up a matter that doesn't really practically impact the city.
As others have noted, we don't really have places that are performing abortion in the city of Edmunds.
Unfortunately, I normally hate using this word, but it's suited here.
We are in unprecedented times.
Roe v. Wade has been overturned.
it is no longer set of law, and access to comprehensive reproductive care and other forms
of healthcare in this country, including those affecting the LGBTQIA plus community, are
under threat. Therefore, I urge the City Council to vote yes on either one of the resolutions.
I like the first one, but honestly, they're both fantastic. And please, vote your support.
These are unprecedented times that demand unusual, comprehensive solutions to protect
our democracy and our civil rights. Thank you.
Next is Charlie. I don't have a last name.
Lou. This is Charlie Lou. My name is Charlie Ann Lou. I'm a long-time Edmunds resident,
and I want to thank the council for your willingness to take on the resolution on abortion
and reproductive rights. Before I begin my prepare remark, I just want to notate to those
opposing the resolution that while I consider myself pro-choice, I'm also pro-life. A human
life that begins at viability and not at conception. Please respect that all people believe fertilized
eggs are babies. And since some of you have cited science, let me just notate that as a published
scientist by the strictest biological definition, an embryo is actually a parasite unable to sustain
itself without a host. And women as a whole should not be forced, or to use some of your
words enslaved to become a host to a parasite.
And then so many of you also reference women who regret their abortion.
But if you look at science, a landmark study at UCFF recently showed that 95% of women
do not regret their decision, and an overwhelming majority had either positive feelings or
none at all.
I myself had a life-saving abortion in my 20s, and the only trauma I've ever experienced
are by people who accuse me of murder.
Despite that trauma, I have become quite open with my own story.
And because of that transparency, I've
spent the last 25 years advising other people
on their reproductive decisions.
While I don't always agree with every case in which a person
chooses an abortion, I do strongly
believe that every individual must have the freedom
to control their own reproductive autonomy.
And neither I nor the government
should compose our own views, subjective
as it is on other people's medical decisions.
Therefore, I support the council's resolution on abortion and reproductive rights in its strongest form.
This is especially important in the context of Edmond's commitment to equity
since restrictive reproductive choices disproportionately harm people of color
and those who are economically disadvantaged.
Edmond's is small but mighty and with this resolution we could signal to the governor,
the Senators of Representatives that we are in strong support of women, people of
color, and others who are economically disadvantaged. Please. So, yes. Thank you.
Next is Natalie Sites.
Are you able to hear me? Yes. Thank you. I'd like to take
night and subsequent meetings to read my comments. Previously provided council on
the most recent version of the pro spam into public records. The current
Council is not able to make commitments for improvements in the next round of the
PROS plan. That would like a durable public record of the feedback you receive
and ultimately disregarded. Page 17. The outcome of the community tabling the
events in SR 99 is only identified by a few sentences on that page and includes
no separate write-up and appendix C. This is the only right outreach for which
this is the case. If the city wants to build relationships with underserved
communities, the city needs to do a better job of documenting the
feedback received from the community and directly connect it to policy, CFPCIP and new inserted
action plan. Please include a separate write-up of the feedback received from the tabling events.
Figure five, map one. The city erroneously counts land owned by the PUD in the SR99 area as a
special use park. Please refer to the email provided to council on June 26 from the PUD
identifying that there is no access or agreement between the city and the PUD for areas south of
the park and that these locations are signed post with no trespassing. Please adjust all figures
and tables to remove this area from the depictions and calculations of city services. Page 74 through
76, open space. Greater attention should be paid to equity and access as well as the revised
definition of open space to focus on restoration of forest land and wetlands that can be
or are located in all areas of the city.
The city is going to change the definition of open space
to better accommodate acquisition of the marsh
and that concept of restoration
and not just site and open space where natural features
exist need to be applied throughout the city,
including under served areas.
Additionally, the city included a walkability analysis
to open space within the maps
that provides no text analysis of that accessibility gap
when the open space within the open space section.
Please include a text analysis of where significant access gaps are located.
Page 75, wetlands.
The Unicale property identified within the wetland section is primarily upland and contaminated fill pad,
and provides very limited potential for direct wetlands restoration, only the stormwater pond and ditch.
Many other properties within the city provide a greater ability to directly provide wetland habitat.
Please eliminate the Unicale property from the wetland section or expand discussion to include any property within the 30 seconds.
It would provide equivalent proportions of land that could be restored to wetlands.
This would include, but it's not limited to the entire area north of the marsh west of 104 and south of Dayton, as well as the properties along Lake Ballinger.
You functionally didn't consider these comments, so I can't thank you.
Next week I will pick up in Chapter 6.
I did want to take a few moments to say that the Supreme Court said this is not a
federal issue and so it's entirely appropriate in my view for the Council
to take this up and provide with all point of view to the state. There's no
such thing as an unborn citizen. We have birthright citizenship in this
country. I do ask for your support. Thank you.
Next is Susan H.
Susan, if you can hear us so you can unmute and begin your audience comments.
Yes, I'm sorry. This is Susan Hughes. I believe I'm under mute now. Thank you.
Lots of members are allowing me to speak.
Edmund City calls the members, Susan Payne and Laura Johnson, posted in my Edmunds
news that they had drafted a resolution in support of abortion.
Now they want the Edmunds City Council to adopt it.
What they did not say, in such parts of this resolution,
is copied from Resolution 3054,
submitted by Marxist Seattle City Councilwoman,
Kashama Suwan.
Suwan is openly Marxist and has been no less such on
CNN, New York Times, Seattle Times, et cetera.
Payne and Johnson distributed the resolution to local news
media before even disclosing it to their fellow council members.
So the council member is pro-life, will they send protesters to their homes?
We remember, Suant brought protesters to Seattle, Mayor Dickens' home, and unlocked
Seattle City Hall for protesters to attend.
Is this what we have to look forward to in Edmunds?
And the city council knows that some people who live in, work in, or visit Edmunds
support the United States Supreme Court decision.
The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returns authority to regulate abortion to the people and their elected representatives.
City Council knows that others strongly oppose the United States Supreme Court decision that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
People of both viewpoints are free to have their own opinion and those who are citizens of Edmunds all deserve representation from Edmunds City Council.
The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the nation for all cases and controversies
arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States.
As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people
the promise of equal justice under law and thereby also functions as guardian and interpreter
of the Constitution.
Edmunds City Council members have taken an oath of office to support the Constitution
and laws of the United States. The City Council code of ethics states the chief function of local
government at all times is to serve the best interest of all the people. And the City Council
is foisting opposition to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which has exposed citizens of Edmunds
to choose between staying silent out of fear or risking harm if they publicly oppose the
resolution. Pro-choice and pro-life people deserve to be safe and to feel invited in
our community. Large parts of the proposed resolution was written by
Marcia City Councilwoman Suwan. This resolution should not be a
part of Edmond City government. Payne and Johnson should be censored for
violating their oath of office, violating the City of Edmond's Code of Ethics, and
violating the Council Code of Conduct. Thank you.
I have no one else raising
their virtual hands. So next item on the agenda is approval of the Consent Agenda. Is there
a motion to approve? Is there a second?
Moved and seconded discussion. Council President?
Yes, I had a conversation with Clerk Passe prior to the meeting and there's something that we
want to discuss on item 8.8 the special events permit fees so we'll be
pulling that fraction and I'd like to put it at 9.3. It actually is 8.7 the
ordinance.
Okay then it's pulling 8.7 and making that 9.3. Is there a second?
Second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion.
Let me just go ahead and just do this one since we're already there.
So motion to move 8.7 to 9.3, all those in favor please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion passes.
Is there a motion to approve the remainder?
Been moved and seconded.
Discussion.
All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, I'm sorry, approving the remainder
the consent agenda please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. All right. Next
item is council business. First item, proof update to Edmund City Code Chapter 3.36 to
include impact fee waivers for early learning facilities. Mr. Rob English, come on down.
Good evening, Council Mayor Bob English, City Engineering and Acting Public Works Director.
I'm joined tonight by Jeanne McConnell, the engineering program manager.
And we're here to speak on the impact fee waiver for early learning facilities.
And it's an update to the City Code 3.36.
projects. And so City Code 3.36 regulates street and park impacts fees related to private
development projects. And 3.3604 provides, currently provides an exemption for low income
housing related to again street and park impact fees. And so in your packet I attached
to report from the task force that was created at the state level.
It's the Child Care Collaborative Task Force.
And in 2019, they prepared a report, and the purpose of the task force is to incentivize
employer-supported child care, as well as improve child care access and affordability.
And so they, in this 2019 report, provided many recommendations to act on improving those
two areas for childcare facilities.
And one of the recommendation was to partner with entities and jurisdictions to limit or
eliminate local construction impact fees.
And I believe that was part of the reasoning for the potential change in RCW 8202.060,
which it allowed for the exemption in July of 2021.
And so what we're proposing
to do tonight is a code update that would allow an 80% exemption with the
remaining 20% paid at the building permit by the proposed property owner
or business owner. And there would be a covenant that would be recorded with
the property that would require 25% or more of the children and families that attend beyond
state subsidized child care in order to maintain that 80% exemption. An annual report would
be filed with the city with the supporting documentation showing that 25% threshold.
and an exempted portion of the fees would be paid if the child care facility did not comply with the
covenant. And again, if the use changes in that facility down the road in the future, the full
fees related to street transportation and park impact fees would have to be paid by the property
owner or business owner. And so we are recommending this change and we did prepare
this with the city attorney so I'm to see if Jeff had anything to add to the
presentation. Nothing to add but happy to answer questions if there are any.
That concludes my presentation. Alright
we'll start virtually with
the
And the Parks and Public Works Committee reviewed this and supports the staff recommendation.
We brought it to council because it needs to be a change in the code, but we support
this and we think that it will be an asset to the child care and learning facilities
in this city and we can certainly do without those impact fees and could
recover them if the condition.
You just went muted in the middle of your
sentence, Council Member.
Well I concluded my comments. Okay, thank you. I was just
saying that we could recover the fees if the conditions were not met in the
annual reports.
Yeah, I wanted to thank you for the complete package.
I thought it was really well done and covered everything pretty exhaustively.
Just for the public's sake, I wanted to mention that the permit system will be used to track
receipt of those annual reports because it's going to be important that we make sure that
there's compliance so that we go back after them for those development fees that were
waived based on use if it changes use.
so thank you very much. Councilor Payne. Thank you Mayor. I just want to say I
really appreciate this coming to council and we have our former student rep
for Roberts to thank for this. He's the one who had been contacted by the by
Ms. Sievert and he's he brought this forward and got it nudged along and I
was glad to be as some assistance there. I understand that this child care
facility is going to be right next door to the Housing Hope property up near
the Safeway up near the Lutheran Church. Is that right?
It's the Lutheran
facility. Jeannie's on board. Scott is Jeannie? She's here and she is nodding
and affirmative. Yes. Your microphone is oh yeah you can if you want to speak
to a journey. Okay great sorry hard hard to mix in with zoom but thank you and
yes the the gal that spoke earlier Don operates a business within the Edmunds
Lutheran Church which is adjacent to Housing Hope or the future Housing Hope
site location. Right I I just I totally support this this change in our code I
think having child care adjacent to the Housing Hope project is going to be
very helpful for all the families there. It's going to be, you know, the apartment
sizes are going to be large enough to have families there, so it's going to be
really important to have nearby child care access as a parent who had to pay
for child care. It's expensive, so I'm glad to see that will they'll be able to
offer more child care services to their families next door. Thank you.
Councilor Buksha. I too want to thank you for the complete packet. It read
really well. And with that, I would like to make a motion to approve an ordinance of the
City of Edmunds, Washington amending Section 3.36.040 of the Edmunds City Code to add
a partial impact fee exemption for early learning facilities.
It's been moved and seconded. Discussion?
Not seeing any. All those in favor, please
say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you Rob. And with
that there's been a request to take a quick five minute recess. So we'll recess
for five minutes and we'll see folks back at 9.14.
I'd like to call a meeting back
to order.
Please have order in the council chambers.
Thank you. Now call a
Moving back to order, next item on the agenda is, we've moved this to item number two, which
is region number four, discussion of council response to Supreme Court decision to overturn
Roe versus Wade.
Council President?
Yes.
Before we discussed the merits of one set of language or another, I wanted to be clear
that we as a council actually want to be making a statement on this issue.
So, I move that we abstain from making a statement and would open conversation with that if there's a second.
I move that we abstain from making a statement as a city council.
No, yes, abstain, meaning that we would not be taking action.
Is there a second?
Second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion?
Maker of the motion?
I didn't come to this role as a city council member to be a politician.
I came to serve my community in a nonpartisan role, and we are in fact in a nonpartisan role.
Whenever we act, we should like that process no matter what the subject matter is and that it would work for everything,
and I feel like this process doesn't work for anything, and I would like us to not be weighing in on national issues.
For starters, this is promoted as a part-time job.
And in my experience, being both an activist in this role and doing the city's business
makes it a full-time job plus.
And I'm not willing to stop doing the work of the city to be an activist in this role.
I'm not saying that I should be silent or that anybody else should be silent on
this matter.
I'm just saying that I shouldn't be speaking on behalf of the community on this matter,
and I would prefer not to, and I would be prefer not to be put in the position of doing
so.
I will also say that if this becomes a resolution, and the body does not accept this, that I
will be making a vote tonight.
And the reason for that is because I have already and will be on the record for what my stand is on this issue.
However, the nonpartisanship is also part of our charter.
And I want you to know as Council President that I attend a monthly meeting of all of the other South County City Council presidents.
and we are the only ones who are taking up this action and and all of the
others are saying that this isn't the fact their city chooses not to get
involved in those because they have this nonpartisan charter. So when
we ask
ourselves the question of what's best for Edmonds, which is really the only
any decision basis that we need to have in this role.
I would say that those who think that choice is important and a lot of people do would
say that protecting that choice is something that they have to do.
I have looked at this issue very exhaustively this week and last, and I feel very strongly
that we are secure in Washington State, very secure. And we don't need to further make
a statement in Edmonds because we are in the same situation whether we do or whether we
don't.
Councillor Paine.
Thank you, Mayor. Well, I am not in favor of doing nothing. As one of the authors
and of the resolution, I would just like to point out to the entire community that
but for the ruling of the Supreme Court that we have that everything has
changed. We've lost decades of case law regarding privacy, regarding access to
medical care with this ruling. This has changed everything. Hearing our voice, it
has been delegated to the states and that's what has happened. What we're
going to do and what I hope that our council will do is to be able to stand
up and send a resolution to our state representatives and the governor to add
reproductive care to the state constitution. We've heard everybody's
stories tonight. We have emails talking about their stories. These are lived
experiences that we don't want to ignore or treat lightly. I believe in choice and
I and as a parent you know I chose to have my daughters but that's not
everybody's you know that's not everybody's path so I think that this is
going to be absolutely a good vote for us to take so that we can stand up for the
people who have absolutely lost a right this you know a week and a half ago we've
gone backwards so with that I will not be endorsing that the motion to do
nothing councilor Laura Johnson thank you ma'am I too am not in favor of
doing nothing. I don't accept the argument that we as council should not speak out
because this is a device of issue.
It should not be divisive to protect freedom, equality, human health, and human rights.
And to those who say that this is a partisan issue, are you stating that one party does not support religious freedom, equality, and human rights?
I respect the rights of others to their personal religious beliefs, as it pertains to their individual choice.
This resolution is about supporting, protecting, codifying individual choice
and human rights. That's what we're here for. I mean,
I am not here to protect
people's feelings or desire to control the rights and choices of others. I am
here to protect the right to choice, bodily autonomy, freedom, and that comes
in so many different forms. And as many have said, this is unprecedented. So many have
had the rights threatened or stripped. And for that, I cannot do nothing.
Councillor Bukshanis. First of all, I want to thank Council President
Wilson for putting together an agenda packet so that everybody can look at it and read
it. I've been on Council for the longest. This is extremely highly emotional topic
In fact, I think it's probably one of the longest comments we've had from citizens on
this.
Obviously, you saw it was on both sides.
It is a very emotional issue.
It is church versus state.
I'm a very religious person.
People know that.
Kerry Rosary in my purse.
People gave me a bad time about that.
The fact of the matter is it's important to realize that as a city council, we have
looked at state issues before and we've looked at state issues and provided
opinions on them and I went ahead and went back over the 12 years and we've
done like I would say I didn't count them all but eight to eight maybe eight to
ten different issues. So from a process standpoint this is something that we
have done in the past but from a technically from a you know if you want
to say partisan standpoint it is very divisive and if you think about it
like my friend Joan said, I mean, our country is extremely divided. And do we want to come
out and say something and continue the division? That's something I really don't know. I'm
still processing it because it's very real to me. I used to teach self-defense for
the Portland police. And because of my size, I was like the man, unfortunately. And I
I heard women time and time again talk about incest, abuse, rape, date rape, all of the
issues that you don't want to hear about because you don't want to admit that these things
happen.
And yet, you know, the woman is the one that has to do the issue and there's nothing
ever done to the man for the offender or the repeat offender or anything like that.
So really, if you think about it, it is an onus put on women, and there's never anything
to, you know, the man, because it takes two.
You can't have, you know, you can't have an immaculate conception unless you're married.
But the fact of the matter is, it's very difficult to process this, and I can hear
both sides completely.
So I just want to say that the City Council has looked at issues like this.
I want to thank everyone that sent me letters and some people were very angry with some of the responses
because I was too quick in my response of saying very thoughtful letter and they wanted to know why.
And so I just want to say I do hear you, but it is something that we have done in the past
And I just think that we will be thoughtful in our comments, but are thoughtful in our decisions.
But right now I'm still processing. So thank you very much.
Council Member Chen.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I want to thank the community for coming out, writing us, speaking up, letting us know where you're staying.
And this is a very important issue and people are very compassionate about it.
So I think this issue now is becoming a local issue.
It was a national issue.
Now it has become a local issue.
It has become a state to determine abortion rights and choice, and also I want to point
out that choice of abortion is a freedom to choose, it's not a forced abortion.
And let me tell you, I was born and raised in China. I was born in the 70s.
My family, my sisters, my relatives had to went through the fourth abortion because of the one trial policy.
In our state, we are talking about choice, we are talking about women's freedom to choose.
So that's a difference, that's a key difference, is a freedom to choose.
And our forefathers, our founding fathers, have found this country based on the concepts
of seeking for freedom. The freedom for religious freedom,
and that's a key point, is a freedom
to choose, is not a force. A force or person is wrong.
A freedom to choose is the way
that we have come to pursue and treasure.
I myself immigrated as a first-generation to this country
with the idea of pursuing freedom.
So for that reason,
I think we need to send a message
to our lawmakers in the state that we want freedom.
Thank you.
Thank
you, Mayor.
I support this resolution for the desire to take no action for several reasons.
First of all, the Supreme Court is the determinant of our Constitution.
They made a ruling and deferred it to the states for further action.
That upset a lot of people, I can see, from those who commented tonight.
And others who commented said that this is not a role of local government.
This is for the states to decide and not for local government to make comments.
And no one else in Snohomish County, South Snohomish County, is involved in this action.
action. I think that this is a very divisive issue. I believe that it's up to our person's
personal beliefs to take action, and they have the avenues to contact their state legislators,
the governor, anyone that they choose. But I do not think that this is an appropriate
role for the City of Edmunds and as a representative government I don't know
how we can promote just our our progressive agendas without taking into
account that we have over 40,000 people who are not being represented fully by
this decision because as we've seen tonight it's a divisive issue not
that everyone is in agreement so we can't just go with the roles that certain council members wish to take.
Okay, so we have a motion on the floor to abstain. All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
No.
Roll call, Mr. Secret.
Council Member Christiana Johnson.
Yes.
Council Member Chen.
No.
Council Member Bucianis.
Council President Olsen.
Council Member Payne.
No.
Council Member Lara Johnson.
Yeah.
The vote is 2 yes, 3 no, 1 abstention.
I think the motion fails.
Council Member Lara Johnson.
Yes, I would like to move that we accept a resolution of the Edmund City Council in support of access to a full range of reproductive rights.
including abortion services and urging federal and state elected officials to
codify these rights. Is there a second? I would second. Moved in seconded discussion.
Maker of the motion?
Thank you. Yes, so what I have moved is the copy that was
handed out. Yes, and this updated resolution is a
combination of the
two resolutions that were in the packet. I appreciate the improvements that came
with the opportunity to update the resolution and so and you know specifically
adding more information about Washington State and what Washington State has
done to date. And so you know Council Member Payne and I undertook this
resolution and yes it is it is wording is borrowed from five different cities
Minneapolis, San Diego, Morro Bay, Pasadena and yes San Diego, State of
Washington Governor's Office. A lot of the statistics and additional wording
come from the American Psychological Association, the ACLU, as
well as the
rabbinical assembly. I mean, I could go on. It goes on. So instead of reinventing the wheel,
we did our research. We used language from other places. There is original stuff in here
that comes from both us and from other council members. I'm proud of what we put forward.
And the reason for this is, you know, we are a country founded on the principle
of separation of church and state. And last week, 168 million persons who may become
pregnant had the fundamental right to reproductive freedom and privacy stripped away and the door
actually more like a flood gate was opened allowing individual bodily autonomy and reproductive
choice to be dictated by others religious beliefs. If a constitutional right that was
long established by law can be stripped away like this, what's next? The right for couples
to use contraception? Marriage equality? Protection from criminalizing the private
conduct of LGBTQ persons. You know we as a council in 2007 unanimously resolved
that it is our utmost responsibility to uphold the rights and freedoms of
families and individuals we represent and that we believe that as elective
representatives of the people of Edmunds we have a special responsibility to
speak out against discrimination against any of our residents and we choose to be
a leader in protecting human rights equity public safety and social
well-being. After Friday, many in our community were terrified about their safety and well-being
and the safety and well-being of their family members, friends, and neighbors.
Now more than ever, as stated in the Safe City Resolution, we as elected representatives
of the people of Edmunds have a special responsibility to speak out against discrimination
against any of our residents. And we choose to be a leader by protecting human rights,
equity, public safety, and social well-being. We owe it to those who are
terrified about the loss of human rights to use our voice to call upon state and
federal governments to codify these rights into the Washington State and
United States constitutions so that going forward the right to bottle the
autonomy and reproductive freedom is protected at the highest level and not
threatened in the future. So this resolution, we are standing by those commitments and using
our collective voice to advocate for the restoration and preservation of reproductive freedom and
choice.
Councillor Payne.
Thank you. I'm also going to speak in favor of this resolution. This is a resolution
as has been talked about that has direct impacts on the most intimate decision making
that any family makes. This is stuff that happens at kitchen tables, on the phone, everywhere.
These are conversations you need to have with your medical provider and those who you trust to have access,
you know, to access their thoughts and their opinions.
These are not discussions that need to come forward.
From legislators who are telling people that you don't have this choice any longer.
With the ruling from the Supreme Court, they have undone the ability for people seeking clinical
care because Casey, the Planned Parenthood, got taken away.
We also lost Roe v. Wade where the access to safe legal abortion care was taken away overnight.
And not having the ability to get good counsel puts everybody at risk.
Nationally, there's been discussion that as soon as, you know, maybe this next election,
that there's going to be a national outlawing abortion.
That has been out there, and that has been spoken.
There's, you know, the Supreme Court has been, you know, packed with people who don't
believe in choice.
Having a state constitution, having the federal constitution, recognize reproductive rights
and reproductive freedom is absolutely essential so people can continue to have access to the
clinical care that they need for their reproductive services that they need.
And it's nobody else's business.
So I don't believe that what we've proposed is outrageous.
I don't believe that what we're proposing is out of line with what existed two weeks ago.
So with that, I'd like to make sure that we do support the people, and we heard from a lot.
We've had all of the comments from here tonight, and we've had probably an equal or more number of emails on this topic.
It has been overwhelmingly representative of the state's position of 80-20.
Sometimes it felt like 90-10 in favor of preserving the rights for women to have access to care.
So with that, I'd like to ask council members to continue to support this.
I'd like to say finally, and our council member Bucks just talked about it tonight, domestic
violence is an issue, and that sort of abuse of the family dynamic also is a part of what
we need to talk about.
So, you know, when you have a coercive partner and violent, you don't have that choice.
So it's, you know, what she talked about was real.
So I want to make sure that we can preserve these rights for the future, for all the families,
for all the people.
Thank you.
Councillor Murni, I'd like to make an amendment and remove section 4, which engages the
Edmunds Police Department in pursuit of, you know, investigations relating to the
people seeking or providing abortion. I think this is overreach and therefore I
would like to have it removed. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded.
Discussion?
Again. Make a motion. Thank you.
This is very difficult for me.
I'm
have made in a hotel and I saw what happens when someone tries to self-abort and it wasn't
pretty. And so I'm old enough to know that. And like I said, it's very difficult. I've
prayed a lot on it. I just think that it's important that we understand the implications
that what has happened and why it is important for us to maybe make a statement from a city
level to our state legislators. And I believe that this section 4 is too overreaching. So
thank you.
Councillor Moore-Lawry, Johnson?
Yes. I believe that this section is important and I also believe that the state of Washington
has already set the ground for this with issuing something similar with respect to
the Washington State Patrol. So, you know, since we have our own police department, I
believe that it is appropriate that we make a statement with this as for the policy of
the Edmunds City of Edmunds Police Department and, you know, not committing services
in pursuit of any investigations related to those people who are seeking or providing
abortion care or reproductive health care services and that it is it is not
current public safety priority for Edmunds community.
Councilmember Payne. Thank you
mayor. I agree as you know the state of Washington the governor Inslee said
that he has putting this together for Washington State Patrol. Each community
has their own police department and it's and I don't believe this is over
each and all by making this the lowest priority in our police department then
that's not inappropriate for us to decide that policy so I would encourage
others just to support that this is you know that that we're declaring that
that pursuit of people who have come to our community seeking reproductive health care
services, abortion care services, or those investigations around that, that's not an
appropriate test because that's not a public safety issue for Edmonds.
Thank you.
Council President. That was one of the clauses that I had looked to rewrite. It
seemed like it was very much ordering, directing the police, and my first thought
was that that was more of an administrative thing and that when we talk
about being a welcoming community for people who live here and people who
visit, I felt like the administration could make that decision about how it went.
But furthermore, the section that I had included in one of the versions I had worked on was
that the Edmund City Council and Edmunds Police Department recognized and agreed to
the restrictions in RCW 9.02100 prohibiting local law enforcement from penalizing, prosecuting
or taking any adverse action against patients, exercising their reproductive rights.
So basically instead of, you know, our council ordering anything, it's our council and the
EPD supporting what's already a state law.
And I just like the tone of it better.
So I guess I would be in favor of voting no with a subsequent motion to add the alternative.
Council
Member Chen. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I think I need some help from a city
attorney. On section number four here, it's important to state that our police
will not engage in criminalizing anybody who seek abortion services, but we want to make
sure that our language is clear and no confusions between those people who seek abortion services
versus other coins that sometime there's a borderline. So can we add some kind of
languages to distinguish those seek for abortion services and other
crime who might be known a clear cut or sometimes use.
There are all kinds of
situations where people might use these claws as a shelter for ill actions or
coming out of claims.
A shelter for what? The last part, do you repeat the last part?
Use it as a shelter for what? For other wrongdoing. Oh, other wrongdoing. Okay.
Well,
I'm not sure how to answer the question. I think, you know, one thing to note is that
One option here would be to reference the state laws that protect these rights that are
set forth in Chapter 9.02 RCW.
Of course, because those rights are set forth in 9.02 RCW, if you simply reference that
chapter maybe the statement isn't then saying very much. I'm not sure if the
the drafters of section four are intending for section four to go in some
way above and beyond what the state is protecting in 9.02 so maybe the
drafters would address that. But you don't need to tell your police to protect
a right
when state law already protects the right. I mean, the state law specifically says the
state may not deny or interfere with a pregnant individual's right to choose to have an abortion
prior to viability of the fetus or to protect the pregnant individual's life or health.
That's from 9.02.110, just as an example.
I'm not going to read the entire chapter, but...
So the state law is already saying that.
So I'm not totally sure that I...
looking at Section 4 again to try to see how it kind of fuses with the state law.
The only way that I can, the only possible ambiguity that I see is that the state law
protects up to the viability and
also to protect the pregnant individuals life or
health.
The section four there is
not limited in that way, but could easily be made to be
limited in that way. But again, if you do that, then I'm not sure if it serves the purpose
that it's drafted for. I'm sorry if I'm not sure if I'm answering in a helpful way,
Council Member Chen. If I haven't answered your question, maybe try again.
And yes, you have, I think maybe that substitution will work better.
Yeah,
so also, President, would you read that substitution clause for the records, please?
We have other folks in line, so we can, she's whatever, whoever's in the queue next will go,
and then at that appropriate time we'll do that.
Okay.
Council Member Laura-Johnson.
Thank you.
So, I appreciate Council presidents bringing up the Directive of the Governor, 2212.
This directive is to the Washington State Patrol and it is a strong directive and I support
the wording in it.
I would very much support taking that wording and applying it to the City of Edmunds Police
Department.
And so I would very much be in support of that.
Councillor Payne.
Thank you, Mayor.
I too would support the inclusion of the Governors Directive and then the RCW 9.02.
And I would just have it stop at RCW 9.020 because it's just recently been revised this past year by the State Legislature
and it's made the abortion care access a lot broader and it does do a lot more coverage
across the medical providers that are listed prior in versus the previous legislation.
So I would be supportive of that.
Council President.
So Mr. Teridea, as a point of clarification, when we were going back and forth on this
today.
Isn't it true that that directive that we're discussing did apply to local law enforcement
as well?
No, I'm looking at the actual press release from the governor's office, the June 30th press
release, and one of the paragraphs in that says, though the governor does not have jurisdiction
over local law enforcement agencies, state law prohibits anyone including all
state and local enforcement from penalizing, prosecuting, or taking any
adverse action against patients exercising their reproductive rights. So
even though the governor's press
release is expressly stating that
that does not have jurisdiction over local enforcement
agencies.
OK, but then it went on to say, but it penalizes and prohibits
that state law does that.
But state law does that, yeah.
I'm not understanding how you could have both of those things
happening at the same time.
Well, the question that it raises for me
is that if state law already prohibits
anyone including all state and local enforcement from penalizing, prosecuting, or taking any
adverse action against patients exercising their reproductive rights. And I believe that's
consistent with my reading of state law, subject to the limitations that I was just describing.
It's not clear to me what the purpose of the governor's directive is. I mean it describes
what it does, but it's not clear to me if this is a real-world impact or a symbolic thing.
For example, the order says, again, I'm reading from the press release, the order directs
the Washington State Patrol to decline cooperation with most subpoenas, search warrants, or
court orders from states with laws that ban or significantly restrict abortion access.
Washington State Patrol must review and process such requests in conjunction with the office of
the Attorney General and Governor's General Counsel.
I guess my suggestion would be
that if you want to do something similar to what the governor's order does,
that you more closely copy the language that the governor's order is using
in the way that it references search warrants or court orders from states with laws
that ban or significantly restrict abortion access.
That's the meat of what the governor's order is doing.
And that may be what was intended by section four here, but section four doesn't exactly
say that.
So I'm not sure.
And I don't want to presume the intent of the authors.
Thank you.
Council Member Lord-Johnson.
Yes.
As one of the authors of section number four, I will say that what the Governor has written
up here does a much better job of encapsulating.
Point of order.
The intent.
Council Member Kristiana Johnson?
Council Member Laura Johnson has already spoken twice on this subject.
This is, I believe, a motion to amend, correct?
Not yet.
There's a motion to remove, right.
So this is, I don't believe there's been two times spoken on this motion to remove.
To be fair, yes, I have.
You have, okay.
I was clarifying the intent of the authors, and I will stop there.
Thank you.
Oh, maybe we can motion to extend 15 minutes.
We'll have someone else do that.
Is there a motion to extend?
All right, so there's a motion to extend until 10.15.
Is there a second?
Second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion.
All those, all those in favor, extend until 10.15.
Please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion carries extended until 10.15.
So I have nothing, no one else?
Okay.
Mr.
Patsy, can you remind me what the motion is, the current motion is?
I believe the motion is to strike section 4.
Correct.
So we have a motion to strike section 4.
All those in favor?
Councilor Lord Johnson.
With the motion to strike section 4, I would amend it to take the directive
of the governor, 22.12,
and to take the verbiage that applies to the Washington State Patrol and adopt
that to apply to the City of Edmond's Police Department. Is there a second?
Oh, a second. Moved and seconded discussion on this amendment.
Councilor
Abukchus? Can I have that restated since I have that it's very confusing with
so many versions that we have?
I am amending the motion to strike section
for, to have it be that we will then take the directive of the governor, directive 2212
and take the verbiage of that, which is written to the Washington State Patrol, and take it
to adopt to the Edmunds City Police Department, and that would include, you know, that includes
the RCW that's been cited a few times are within this directive. Any
more
discussion? All those in favor please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? No. We'll call
Mr. Secret. Council Member Christiana Johnson. No. Council Member Chen. Yes.
Council Member Bukshanis. Yes. Council President Olsen. Yes. Council Member Payne.
Yes.
Council Member Lara-Johnson.
Yes.
The vote is five to one, motion carries.
So we still have a motion on the floor.
Mayor, can I ask some clarification?
Because the last amendment that was voted on
was not a full insertion of language
that I can copy down, is the idea
that this would come back next week on consent so that I could draft something
that's consistent with the spirit of that motion and then have the council see
it before they actually take a final vote on it. If not, I think we might need
to do more work on that to make sure that I've got the language right.
Council President? Yes, next week is committee night. Would it be possible to
just take a few minutes and work on it now.
But that wording would be?
Yeah, I mean, one possible version would be to do this.
And again, I don't wanna presume anything,
but I'm trying to capture the spirit of the discussion.
And I'm also mindful of the distinction
that here we have a legislative body
speaking to a police department.
And in the governor's situation,
we have the executive branch speaking
into their, to its own law enforcement agency.
And so for that reason,
I'm going to change the language slightly.
And this is what I would suggest that it say,
with the passage of this resolution,
the Edmunds City Council requests,
not directs, but requests,
and that's because of the legislative,
executive distinction,
request the City of Edmunds Police Department to, and then I'm going to switch over to the
press release here, to decline
cooperation with most subpoenas, search warrants, or court
orders from states with laws that ban or significantly restrict abortion access.
Folks need to hit their microphones there. Councillor Laura Johnson?
Yeah, so when I'm reading it, there's further language there, and it says, you know, refrain
from providing any cooperation or assistance whatsoever to any out-of-state law enforcement
agency, public entity or private party, if the matter concerns abortion-related conduct
or other reproductive health, and it goes on, establish a process in conjunction,
that would need to be changed.
you're probably looking at the actual directive and I'm looking at the press
release which is probably a shorthand version of that. Yeah the actual
directive is I believe that it does a thorough job of encapsulating the
intent of the original section number four and so it you know my motion was
to take the language from that and adopt it for the City of Edmunds?
Would it work to reference the directive as Directive 22-12 and just say something like
requests that the Edmunds Police Department follow the directions provided in Directive
of the Governor 22-12 and just do it that way?
to me. We'd have to ask the rest of the council.
Council President? I think that
that was simpler and a better one. Thank you. Councilor Payne? Thank you. Councilor
Buksius? Since we voted on this already, are we pulling it and re-amending it or
what is the actual parliamentary procedure that we're doing? Because
I'm very confused. We already voted on something that started. So do we do we pull it and reamend
or do we what are we doing here? Well, I think that's a fair question. I think just to get clarity
I would suggest that there be another motion to another motion to amend to just tighten up
vote, the spirit of what was previously voted on by either expressly referencing 22-12 and
requesting that the Edmunds Police Department, which I think now that I'm hearing Council
Member Johnson, I think that may be more consistent with what her motion was that you all voted
on.
Councillor Lord Johnson?
Yeah.
I mean, I referenced the directive, not the press release.
You did.
And so we voted on the directive not the press release and it was to have the
directive taken and worded to apply to the City of Edmunds Police Department
and so that's what we voted on.
So does that mean that the mayor that is this
a request that the mayor issue such a directive to his police department because
that would be if I was translating that directly that's what that's what
that would be.
I was trying to make the analysis. I appreciate that you're asking for clarity
on this and that makes complete sense. I think that would be one that is acceptable to me
but I believe we need to vote on that as well. So I guess I can make the motion that section
for.
Councilor Buksius. Would this now not be considered a reconsideration because we are
definitely changing the content of what we voted on even though you have a spirit of the original
amendment that we all voted on. Would this not be considered a reconsideration so that we can
actually have a clean amendment that we can all vote on and know what is being said? Yeah I
I suppose you could characterize it as a motion
for reconsideration if someone in the moving party
wanted to move, if someone in the prevailing party
wanted to move the motion and characterize it that way,
that would probably work.
At the end of the day, I'm not sure
what you all just voted on.
That's why I'm bringing it up.
So if we could just get to a motion
that makes sense for our city attorney,
I think that would help everybody.
I'd be glad to do that.
Councilor Payne. Thank you Mayor. I would like to have a motion for reconsideration
regarding Section 4 of this resolution.
How this would be stated is with the
passage of this resolution the Edmunds City Council requests of the Edmunds
Police Department to refrain from providing any cooperation or assistance
to any out-of-state law enforcement agency, public entity, or private party if the matter concerns abortion-related conduct or other reproductive health care or services that are lawful in Washington, including but not limited to declining to cooperate with an out-of-state subpoena, search warrant,
Court order that has not been domesticated in Washington.
In order, Mr. Mayor, Mr.
Parliamentarian, on our reconsideration, don't we vote on having
a reconsideration and then we have a new amendment? In other words, we're reconsidering and removing
the old amendment. I believe that's correct.
Okay, so shouldn't we just reconsider and vote AMA and then have a new amendment?
That's probably what should be done in that order.
Council Member Payne, would you like to restate your motion?
I think we need to vote on it first, on the reconsideration.
Okay.
Any more discussion on this reconsideration motion?
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
motion passes.
I'll restate the the motion for reconsideration. Would the
council
members please wait till I call on you. Councilor Payne. Thank you. With
the passage of this resolution Edmonds Council requests of the Edmonds Police
Department to refrain from providing any cooperation or assistance whatsoever to
to any out-of-state law enforcement agency,
public entity, or private party,
if that matter concerns abortion-related conduct
or other reproductive health care
or services that are lawful in Washington,
including but not limited to declining to cooperate
with an out-of-state subpoena search warrant
or court order that has not been domesticated
in Washington.
Second?
Moved and seconded.
Discussion?
Councilmember Buksius?
Thank you for that reconsideration. I don't know where this language is coming from. I haven't read it in any of my materials
So I'm not going to support it.
Council President.
I think the city attorney had made a comment about asking the mayor to ask staff instead of having it worded as the council asking the police department.
But do they understand that correctly?
Well, as I heard the motion that Council Member Payne just made, it did contain the word request
and not the word direct, and I think that's the key distinction that I'm seeing because
the Council really shouldn't be directing employees to do anything, really.
I think in the earlier version it said something about city of evidence policy, and I think
that would be maybe a way of being more appropriate, but also a little stronger.
Would the maker of the motion want to make that change?
I'm sorry.
Just instead of asking the police department that it would be to...
This happened last meeting too.
Sorry, I think the brain cells turn off at 10.
Mr. Tarity, do you remember what I was asking you?
Yeah, I think what you're suggesting, if I'm following, is that the motion be amended
to say so.
Oh, just the amendments policy.
Right.
Yeah.
That.
Council Member Christiana Johnson?
Yeah, some concerns about that language as well.
I was wondering if we should direct the mayor to ask the police department because
Because we can't tell the Mayor what to do, but we can't tell his staff what to do.
So I wonder if that is a correct distinction.
Well, as the Executive Mayor, I believe that you take direction from the Council.
This is City Attorney.
Yeah.
The Council adopts policy, and so certainly the Council can adopt policy.
And where that policy is, you know, in the form of a law, the mayor is tasked with enforcing
the laws of the city.
But it's not as if the mayor is a city manager that reports to the city council.
That's not quite the relationship that an independently elected mayor has.
Thank you.
Should we then make it a policy of the city in
order to fit in that chain of command?
There's,
yeah, I think that was similar to the motion that Council President Olsen was
contemplating as well by folding the word policy into the motion.
Well,
can you craft that for us?
An
option would be with the passage of this resolution,
it shall be the policy of the
City of Edmonds to refrain from providing any cooperation or assistance whatsoever to any
out-of-state law enforcement agency, public entity, or private party if the matter concerns
abortion-related conduct or other reproductive health care or services
that are lawful in Washington, including but not limited to declining to
cooperate with an out-of-state subpoena search warrant or court order that has
not been domesticated in Washington.
I'm not quite sure where we are in the
amendment process, but I would offer that as language to use to keep the city council
and mayor and staff in its proper order.
It's been moved and seconded.
We'll put that on hold because it's 10-14.
There's a motion to extend to 10-30.
Is there a second?
Second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion.
All is in favor, extend until 10-30.
Please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
No.
I see that as one opposed, majority yes, so motion passes, extended to 1030.
Back to the amendment,
it was moved and seconded.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
Okay,
I think the pending motion would be to amend section four to read as follows.
With the passage of this resolution, it shall be the policy of the City of
Edmonds to refrain from providing any cooperation or assistance whatsoever to
any out-of-state law enforcement agency, public entity, or private party if the
matter concerns abortion related conduct or other reproductive health care
or services that are lawful in Washington, including but not limited to declining to cooperate
with an out-of-state subpoena, search warrant, or court order that has not been domesticated
in Washington.
So now that everyone's clear in what they're voting on, all those in favor, please say
aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion passes.
So we still have a main motion on the floor.
or any other, not hearing anything else.
So the main motion as amended.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion passes.
Roll call, Mr. City Clerk.
Member Christiana Johnson.
Council Member Chen.
Yes.
Council Member Bucciness.
Yes.
Council President Olsen.
Yes.
Council Member Payne.
Yes.
Council Member Lara Johnson.
Yes.
The next
item on the agenda is the City of Linnwood, Mededale Park, ILA 2002, 2022 Expenditure
Request.
I don't think we're getting to that.
Actually, I think it's our ordinance that we pulled.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Ordinance repealing or amending certain chapters of ECC Title IV licenses and adding a new
Chapter related to special events permits? Yes, I actually asked Council President
to pull this because I received some late-breaking information from our
Development Services Department that they would actually like to retain a
Chapter 4.80 which actually relates to aircraft landing permits. So the motion
we're requesting is the adoption of the proposed ordinance but striking the
repealer of 4.80.
It's moved and seconded.
Second discussion.
Councilor Payne.
Oh, sorry.
I forgot to unclick.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed.
I have a question.
Councilor Cristiano Johnson.
Mr. Pastry, does that have to
relate
those and health aviation devices?
You know, I don't know specifically what it relates to.
All I know is that apparently the code references that chapter 4.80 in a few places and staff
felt like just to be safe, they wanted to keep it in the code for the time being.
and then if later on they they'd like to strike it they'd like to take an
opportunity later.
So if we could do that again all those in favor of this
amendment or motion please say aye.
All those opposed? Motion
passes. Thank you.
Council President. I just had one additional comment that I wanted to
make before we do the vote on the main motion.
I'm sorry. There's another
of the council member, who is?
Council member Kristian Johnson,
unfortunately there's a lag when you speak.
It's delayed here from what we're hearing
and it's also speaking very slowly.
It sounds like you're speaking very slowly as well.
Aye.
There's an aye to that, okay.
Thank you.
Council President.
So, Mr, we had a citizen who had made a comment
about unopened right of ways
and offhand I actually wasn't remembering that.
I'm guessing it may have been in the fee schedule.
We've had this on the agenda no fewer than six times, I think, and that hadn't been one
of the things that came up.
So I just want to acknowledge the fact that we heard that and we can take a look at those
comments that were made and we can bring it back for a moment if we need to.
So I would like to be supporting this and I'm ready to vote on the main motion.
Councilor Payne.
I don't believe that we've moved to adopt this ordinance.
That's correct.
So, I'd like to make a motion to adopt an ordinance of the City of Edmunds, Washington,
providing for the repeal of or amendment to certain chapters of Title IV ECC licenses
and for the adoption of a new chapter to Title IV ECC relating to special event permits
providing for severability and setting an effective date as amended.
Is there a second?
Second.
Moved and seconded.
Discussion?
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed?
Motion passes.
Ordinance passes.
Ordinance number?
I think this is going to be ordinance number 4269.
Very well.
Now with nine minutes left,
City of Lindwood, Meadowdale Park,
ILA 2022 expenditure request.
That is going to be taking up at a future meeting, Council President?
Yes, actually one of the committee members had expressed to me an interest in this going back to committee.
So, it's going back to the committee.
If there's no objection from the council to remand effect committee. That was, and I was
only speaking because councilmember Christiana Johnson was having a lag with her speech, but
it was her. She's able to speak to it.
Let's see. We have Angie Fesser here.
Yeah. Honestly, I don't think we could do it justice tonight. And it's pretty complicated,
So it may be best to take it back to the committee
and I would actually recommend that we probably take a look
at it in a bigger sense of the anticipated a renewal
of the 2025 deadline on the entire in a local agreement.
So I think that would probably the best thing to do
at this time, that's staff's recommendation.
Thank you.
Okay, so moving on to next item,
Public Meetings Act of PMA training. That's obviously not happening tonight.
So next we'll move on to Mayor's comments. I just wanted to thank everyone who turned out to our 4th of July Parade.
Thank you to the Evans Chamber of Commerce for putting it all together and for the city staff and supporting that.
It was great to see the new police bike patrol out there as well as the South County fire bike patrol.
There was maybe even an unofficial race although I won't say who won.
And thank you to all those who refrained from lighting off fireworks.
I know that folks were disappointed that we didn't have official authorized fireworks this year.
As folks know, we're redoing Civic Field.
But don't worry, I'm very confident next year with the field done.
At Civic Park done, we will have a fireworks next year.
With that, we'll do council comments. We'll start with councilmember Chen.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I just want the community to know that I really appreciate everybody's input in this process.
And as we celebrate the birth of our nation, remember that we all are here because of one
idea. One idea that we treasure of freedoms. And Fourth of July is a big
celebration and carry on with this spirit. Have a good night.
Councilor Buctions. I too want to say it was a great party at the Fourth of July.
Everyone had a good time. I do want to say that I was shocked to hear what
happened in Highland Park because I have been, I used to visit that place when I examined
in Chicago and it's unfortunate that shooters will shoot up a 4th of July parade, so it was
very, very saddening to me.
But I do want to say I do appreciate all the people that did contact me about the row
versus weight, and it is a very complicated issue, extremely complicated.
There's financial implications, there's, you know, the fact that there's, like I said,
there's issues relating to abortions that really deal with domestic violence or incest
or domination, things of that nature.
And I really appreciated everyone that wrote to me and I do take it to heart.
So thank you very much.
Councillor President.
I'd like to recognize the different times that different members of our society have
gotten their freedoms.
And I look forward to a day when we can really celebrate the Fourth of July as being freedom
for all of us and all of us appreciating all of us being free.
I do know that there were a fair amount of fireworks going off in spite of the ban.
I do hope that as a community that we'll embrace that more going forward, it's super
dangerous and a fire hazard. And lastly, I'd like to thank Director Fesser for being dressed
and ready to go for her professional entree tonight, Tim Tonite's meeting. She was still
in her professional garb and I appreciate her staying up to do this.
Councillor Payne.
Thank you. I just want to say thanks for the great celebration for the 4th of July.
It's a wonderful time. It's great to have the parade back.
And it's also great to have everybody join us down in town.
It did sound a bit like a war zone on the 4th of July.
And I would much prefer that we have a more silent sort of 4th of July celebration
and not all the booming and banging, particularly after all of the semi-automatic gunfire
that that community in just outside of Chicago Highland Park experienced during
their Independence Day parade.
There's got to be something better for people to do
and we need to get better hold on on how people can be treated for doing all
this stuff. Anyhow, thank you. That's it tonight.
Customer Laura Johnson. Thank you. I would like to thank everyone, everyone
who came out tonight who also emailed us to share their concerns, their fears and their
personal stories. This was not an easy topic for anyone tonight. And I appreciate those
who were willing to be vulnerable and to come out to share and to advocate for what they
believe is right.
I also want to share my feelings of deep sadness for the six that were shot and killed in
Highland Park at a parade that was celebrating the idea of freedom from an oppressive rule.
And I say the idea because we are not all free, but it
speaks volumes about the state of our
nation and the work that we have left to do when people can be shot and killed, mowed
down while celebrating freedom.
And we have a lot of work to do.
Thank you.
Good night.
Councilor Christiaan-Johnson. I'm no comment tonight. And with that, we are adjourned at 1029.