28, 28, 26 meeting of the King County Council, out of Sarah Perry chair of the Council this year joined by Vice-Chairs for Hepburn and Reagan Dunn and our Council colleagues today this meeting is called to order.
Before we begin, please join me in acknowledging that we are on the traditional lands of the Puget Seylish People's Pass from present. We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our communities.
I also want to take a moment to observe a moment of silence for the members of our community
who lost their lives in the tragic and sense of violence.
God and violence is past weekend that the bite of Seattle please join me in a moment of silence.
Thank you.
Claire Kaye, will you please call the roll?
Thank you.
Councilmember Bellditchie.
Councilmember Barron.
Here.
Councilmember Dindowski.
Here.
Councilmember Dunn.
Here.
That's my birthday.
That's my playlist.
Here.
That's my playlist.
Here.
That's my playlist.
Here.
Chair Perry.
Go ahead.
Thank you very much.
Next, please join me in the pledge of allegiance.
pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
to the Republic, by which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible,
liberty and justice for all.
Turning next to special item, which is the recognition of the
freedom, plain, documents that forged a nation, exhibit at Mell High. This will be presented
by both me and Councilmember Barone
on one moment. Councilmember Barone, are you ready to join me?
I'm ready.
Sure.
I don't have my colors here, so I'm going to go ahead and just start and we'll just
share.
I'm pleased to co-sponsor this proclamation with Council Member Dunn and supported in the reading
of it by Council Member Barone recognizing the National Archives exhibit to celebrate the
250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The exhibit is called Freedom Play, Documents that Forge D'Nation, and you can visit it.
Let me see, you can visit it from July 30th to August 16th at a very old museum of history and industry in Seattle.
King County is one of a few counties nationwide to host this historically significant exhibit,
which gives all of us a rare opportunity to view some of the foundational documents that helped shape our nation,
including an original engraving of the Declaration of Independence,
a secret printing of the Constitution in draft form,
and the Treaty of Paris and Bill of Rights.
It's really something to see.
Historical knowledge and deep understanding of our civic origins of our country
are essential to maintaining the strength of our Constitution,
the resilience of our democracy,
and the values of freedom and justice for all that we're and continue to be the vision for this great nation.
I hope that through this proclamation and through spreading the word about this exhibit,
you'll join me in taking time to reflect on the history and ideals of our nation,
including in one
moment.
And I hope you'll also join us in participating in civic life because we are all in the government,
guide for the government and our communities thrive when we all lean in and are engaged in our
neighborhoods, communities, and local governments. Councilmember Barron and I will now read
the proclamation and afterward, I'll invite Anthony Long from the Museum of History and Industry
low-high to share a few words.
Whereas the Museum of History and Industry has long served as the
interpreting the history of our region, fostering public understanding of the people, ideas,
industries and events that have shaped our communities in nation and.
Whereas in 2026, the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, marking historic milestone in the nation's ongoing pursuit of liberty,
self-governance, and democratic ideals, and.
Whereas the Freedom Plane documents that forged
a national tour organized in partnership with the national archives
will provide members of the public with a rare opportunity to view
foundational historical documents that helped shape the United States
and define the principles on PIT upon which the nation was established.
And
whereas King County has been selected as one of only a limited number
of host regions nationwide for this extraordinary exhibition
reflecting both the national significance of the tour and the leadership of the Museum of History
and Industry as a trusted steward of historical education and civic engagement and.
Whereas the Freedom Planning Exhibition will offer residents, students, families, and visitors
throughout King County and opportunity to engage directly with the nation's history,
deepen their understanding of the American Democratic Experiment and reflect on the enduring
importance of civic participation, constitutional governance, and the preservation of historical
memory, and where I said a time when civic understanding and historical literacy remain essential
to the strength of democratic institutions, exhibitions that connect communities with the nation's
founding history serve an important public purpose and help inspire future generations to participate
in civic life. And, oh, no, that's it.
Now, therefore, we, the Metropolitan King County Council,
recognize the Freedom Plane,
documents that forged a nation, national tour,
and celebrate the Museum of History and Industry,
for bringing this nationally significant exhibition,
two Seattle and King County during the 250th Anniversary
of the United States, dated this 28th day of July,
2026, and signed by all members of the King County Council.
Thank you very much for joining me in that, the council member Brown, and I'd like to now invite Anthony Long from the Museum of History and Industry to share a few words.
Thank you, Chair Ferry. Good afternoon, Chair Ferry.
Good afternoon, yes.
Council member Barron, Council member Dunn, the entire county council and French from across the county.
My name is Anthony Long and I am the Executive Associate and Board of Relations Manager at the Museum of History and History at Seattle.
Well, we are extremely honored to receive this part of nation and to be recognized by the county council.
Mohai is proud to offer this once in a lifetime opportunity for our community.
To experience our nation's founding documents before they return to the nation's.
The National Archives faults.
We are especially proud to have been recognized by the council for committing to our nation's founding history for America 250.
And to showcase the ideals of democracy and freedom in their original form.
We hope you all get the chance to visit us during the Freedom Plains.
It's in the run from July 30th to August 16th.
Thank you to the entire King County Council and most importantly, our community.
We are grateful for your support.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lung, for joining us and for hosting this and we're proud to be a part of this.
Thank you very much.
We'll now turn to reading of the items into the record into the hearing of public comments
before the clerk reads the items into the record by Stubborn.
May I please have a motion to relieve the employment and administration committee of item 12?
Simultia. Thank you. The motion is before us. All those in favor say aye.
Aye. All those opposed say nay.
Motion motion is approved. With that clerk,
Kaylee, please read the items into the record. Thank you, Chair Perry.
Item four is the recognition of freedom, plain documents that forged in ancient exhibit in
high. Item 6 is proposed to the King County Employee Code of Ethics. Item 7 is proposed
to our number of 26-01-89, proving that adopting the memorandum of agreement negotiate
a by-between King County and protect 17, representing engineering services manager employees
in the Department of Natural Resources and Parks and establishing the effective date of
adopting the coalition labor agreement agreement and negotiate a buy-in between King County and the King County Coalition of Union, representing employees and the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the Department of Local Services and the Department of Executive Services, and establishing the infected date of the agreements.
item that a lot in is proposed motion number 26, special 0, 1, 5, confirming the
executive's appointment of 1, caught out, residencing council district 2 to the Washington
State Major League Baseball Stadium, public facilities district 4 to directors, item 12 is proposed
motion number 26, special 0, 1, 9, 7, a motion improving the job description for the position
of the inspector general, then item 25 is Proclamation and Celebrating August 15, 2021, 26 is India's
80th Independence Day.
Thank you very much.
Do we have, we're going to turn now to public comment.
Do we have folks in the room or online with us to provide public comment today?
Yeah, both.
We have both.
Okay.
We'll now take public comment on those ordinances, motions,
proclamations and recognitions on today's agenda for action and any topics directly related to county business.
As this is the fourth Tuesday of the month.
Listening to public and taking into consideration the public
thoughts is an important part of our process and one that greatly enhances our deliberations.
In order to allow everyone equal time to provide comment, please recognize the following
chamber ground rules.
Please limit your comments to two minutes, remain seated until time for comment and do not
make audible noise during the meeting without being recognized.
It's also a reminder that public comment may not be used for the purpose of assisting a
campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition
to any ballot proposition speakers to address their commas directly to the chair per council rules,
destructive behavior, can or may lead to an audience member being asked to leave the meeting
or be muted. In addition to behavior already mentioned, the disruptive behavior would include
holding signs at the podium and the use of bull horns or noise makers, not allowed.
For online comment, press star 9 on the phone or click the raise band icon on the Zoom toolbar located at the bottom of the screen to notify the clerk.
The clerk will call the names or the last three digits of the phone numbers in order and will then unmute each line.
Lowering the hands then after the comment is completed.
With that clerk, please begin calling the names in person followed by those hands raised online for public comment.
Thank you, Jared, the first name on the list is Tamara.
Hello, my name is Tamara. I'm on the board of directors of the New Court Hill's
town homes located at 5,800-123rd Avenue, South East, Bellevue, Rigandine. This is your
district. We share a significant property border with the New Porter, it's the Harp and
Zone by King County on 19th Avenue, South East. On the New Porter side of the border is
intensely populated row of well-established can-ifrestries, but in my 13 years of living
in this immediate area, as never been crowned, nor had the overgrown English ID been cut
back.
These trees were planted about six feet apart, giving absolutely no consideration to the
adult size of the trees and their root system.
This neglect has unfortunately caused thousands of dollars in undo costs to the homeowners
of the privately owned town homes, which affects about 250 units, which were built in 1967.
So you can imagine we have a lot of cost going on right now with plumbing.
We've repaired sidewalks and parking lots over the years for problems we have not created
by root damage from your trees. We sent this cutter to King County Housing Authority on July 1,
already known to this situation and asking them to basically do the right thing and be responsible
neighbors.
Well, if you've ever heard the sound of crickets, you can insert that right here.
As if the tree damage is about enough, now we realize there is a rat in the station coming
directly from the new quarter onto our property.
We've seen them traveling and there are highways underneath that border property fence.
We've paid thousands to control the rat problem, we simply cannot continue to absorb your costs.
There's also several restaurant businesses at a strict mall nearby that appear to possibly be contributing to the problem as well by not limiting access to their dumpsters.
On behalf of the homeowners of the New Partial Town Homes, please do the right thing.
community striped and we all lean in and do the right thing. Please. Thank you. Was that the timer that I heard?
I'm sorry.
That is the timer for two minutes. Okay. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
What do you think of this?
It's my favorite.
Nothing in that T-kind concept member.
With my name's Mark Rosa Berger, I resided none of the corporation in Connie. Today I'm here again representing the Remington Home Motors Association, and the surrounding communities that have expressed their opposition to the redevelopment of the Drew's Glenn golf course, and primarily for the ecosystem impact that it will have for all of Connie residents. Today I wish to provide you a brief update and a thank you. When I speak of protecting the ecosystem within Drew's plans of referring to the local geographical area,
where the fours pawns, streams, plants, animals,
landscape, all that works together to shape this region
for King County.
Recently we have a community meeting focus
on protection of the environment as well as health.
It was well attended.
I currently we're in collaboration with the Greater Maple Valley
Unincorporated Area Council for their experience
in land development, with an unincorporated King County.
If the preliminary land development applications
to eliminate the golf course and develop a gated community of elite homes were to advance
to a development permit application. We call upon King County to declare a termination
of significance, which will require a full environmental impact statement, along with falling
all of the abortion to state environmental policies. Also note that in 1998, the King County
and granted it special taxation rights.
Therefore, we also call upon King County to address
all of the open land space penalties.
If there's a parcel of land worth to be redeveloped
into a housing community.
I'd like to spend a special thank you
to Council members, Reagan Dunn,
feedback on Rickfire and Stephanie Fain for their support.
Including again, I'd like to extend all of the Council members
an opportunity to visit.
The group, the Jews couldn't concourse and take into all
the environmental effects that I'm speaking about. If the same pictures worth a thousand words
and personal experience is worth a million words. Thank you for allowing me time today to
bring this to your attention. Thank you. The next name on the list is Marjorie Sigema.
Hello everyone. My name is Margaret Sigema. I'm a song say that is a third generation
immigrant from Japan. When I am able, I go to King County Airport, so this is about
deportations at the airport, which happened three to four times a week. Today, right now
as we speak, there is a second airplane bringing in prisoners from other detention centers to
ours that near Tacoma and taking 71 men and six women out and we're awaiting the second
arrival. I do this because I believe that something big is not witness, it does not happen.
It's as if the people who are being deported, thank you for your faces, our faceless
and don't count as human beings. In 1942, two sides of my immediate and extended family were
taken by us, and then by train to an unknown place, which happened to be minidoka on Indian land
in Idaho, where they were incarcerated for three years without due process, accused and
suspected of collaborating with the Imperial Army of Japan against United States, half of those
people who were taken in white war, as my parents were citizens of the United States. They
had lost all their civil rights, and that is happening today.
And what is, I am here most concerned is that people in Seattle in the United States
and the county don't know people are being disappeared, like they are in the third world
countries, but here in our beloved country, people are being disappeared by the scores daily
out of King County Airport.
We were promised that we could see it.
Witness it and we do not have clear access to those people.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Yes, thank you for your time.
Please make this right.
It breaks my heart and makes me furious.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you.
one for Shis County in America.
The only one for Shis County, what is it, Trump list?
What is freedom you talk?
10-year ago you changed roles,
so right now we can speak only one time per once,
for two minutes.
As with some freedom of speech,
you are more dangerous than,
get nothing to stop, I explain to you why.
Because get the nothing to stop,
but don't have Constitution for two hundred,
to you here in freedom of speech.
What is you talking about?
Freedom, freedom for who?
For fascist, what is live here?
But as I call them, then Nazik is type of fascist,
Junta, this exactly who you are.
You understand this and not?
Because I come to this place in speaking
Constell, Chamber of Commerce,
see that I will ever, at more than 45 years.
You are real fascist, you are real Nazik,
you more dangerous, I repeat, is that Hitler, Nazi-Gistapa,
Hitler don't have Constitution.
We have Constitution for 250 years.
For freedom of speech, for two hundred years.
You not care, you got everything.
One day, per month, for two minutes,
you give us freedom of speech.
You did this 10 years ago.
Remember, I remember, before people can come American citizens
can come and speak about everything.
But you don't want this because you not see bit, you want to ram you when you are American revolutions
Then that's left and happy cow how many second I have?
Okay, good guys, and I'm talking about these rules for many years from beginning when you start doing ten years ago
Can you explain to me why people like console ball douchey and console a good power for five six years never have a person speech?
Can you explain to me is this a parade them?
Not too big.
Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.
Yes.
Welcome.
My friend.
On the list is Glenn Stockwell.
Well, chair.
Well, I'm a council member.
When I'm at Glenn Stockwell, I've come before you today.
And I have a hand out there.
And when it represents it, I've given it to the clerk and also a company for project for you.
Annie Murray has the opportunity to bring our country's largest economic development and
job project to watch in the state in our history. And the project is our pre-funded. It was
a $1.3 trillion sign by Joe Biden. And the project we want to find is a complete
to the Columbia Aviation Project in Eastern Washington,
and also the expansion of the Park District
and Western Washington.
And this is an opportunity we've only had once before
during Governor Greg Wart's administration.
And it gives the Governor an opportunity to change his mind
and go into a special session and target is efforts into acquiring the money for this project.
And hopefully during the special session, you will rescind what has taken place on the
taxation and etc and on the income tax. And since he's a chess master, I think he's looking
other alternative, hopefully.
He thinks he's going to be re-elected, but I don't
understand how he expects to be re-elected.
But was your help, I'm asking you to send a letter
to Senator Baddimerry asking her to go out and try
to acquire the funds for this project.
You'll help each other in Western Washington
for the next 100 years, and they'll help save social security.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you.
I'm just thinking of you.
I'm going to supple civil.
I apologize in advance.
I am an observer of ice flights at King County Airport.
I'm here today to talk about safety at King County Airport.
I'm here to talk about ending the use of change on ice flights at King County Airport.
And your name, please?
Just Tina.
Guy, I.
Thank you.
It's happening right now.
I'm here to inform each of you that the King County Council has the ability to end the use of chains on ice flags at King County Airport.
You have the authority.
We gave you the authority to work on behalf of the people when we voted you into office.
Washington State RCW gives you their authority to regulate the airport.
FAA regulations exist that prohibit transporting people in change, shabbled at the ankles,
wrists and waist. King County Code Title 15 gives you the authority to take action.
You have the tools, the primary management compliance document and the supplemental rules and regulations
for King County Airport called out the King County Council's authority to supplement
a manned adopt rules or adopt rules regulations or directives.
The SRR calls out the primary purpose of the regulations as airport users safety.
That includes passengers, all passengers who fly in and out of King County, you have the
responsibility, no part of the FAA regulations with no part of the federal use agreement with
King County Airport allows the illegal and unsafe practice of transporting people in shackles.
The FAA recognizes the fact that people's loaning chains cannot take the required action to
save their own lives. The council needs to hold the Department of Homeland Security,
airport operations and pilots accountable for existing regulations.
I'm asking you to find the courage to stand up and stop the largest transport of people
in change since the end of slavery. It's what Dr. King would expect of you. It's
what the people of King County are calling for.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony.
I'm here to speak about my concerns related to deportation, blind observations at King County International Airport.
As a weekly flight of Zervon material, I can confirm firsthand that G.L. ISIS contractor purposely
parks their vehicles on the tarmac at angles that obstruct our limited camera coverage.
This is a very, very serious concern because this impedes our ability to observe and track
who is being detained and how they are being treated.
Our observations are critical to make sure that all the things are treated respectfully and humane.
We ask that you take steps to keep you from hiding their activities by making sure,
but as I've parked in a way, that does not obstruct blind of service view.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
The Amazing, for this, is called Lincoln's elements.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Obama Douglas Ellis, and I've been observing the IEC
portation flights since 2012, great.
I came here to say to talk about the Online Locke,
which the Nonigast which translates these flights.
The King County Airport Webseite states that,
by Order of King Counting Executive in 2023,
we are friendly to 26.
King Counting has maintains a lot of federal immigration
and customs enforcement's flights operating
to and from our airport. However, since the first executive order in 23rd past, we have never
had the numbers of people being brought in or out, shared with community members. This is mentioned
within the 2023 executive decree, and it has yet to happen. I find this a little ridiculous when
much more conservative counties like Yakima have been able to achieve the same, using their own
resources. In early of this year, March of this year, the executive office promised us that
new position would start and that this promise data would be shared. That has yet to happen.
I think that for the sake of transparency, the county needs to start sharing this information
and user resources so that the community can know what's happening at this airport.
Especially when we're seeing more than 4,000 people being moved in and out every year
hundreds of lives right there. And all increasing. Thank you.
Thank you.
It's very hard to hear the names when they're being called just strange.
Oh, yes. Oh, sorry.
This is my writing, I apologize.
Good evening.
Good afternoon, council members.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak in the port of battery energy storage system for the best.
My name is Michael Lee and I've lived in practice medicine and King County for 40 years.
I support best because it will decrease burning of fossil fuels.
Climate change is harming our health via extreme weather, heat events, and wildfires.
If we fail to expand clean sources of energy, these impacts will continue to worsen, including right
here in King County. Battery storage allows us to store excess clean energy for one son or wind
is not available. As a surgeon, I had to carefully weigh risk and benefits of surgery compared
to alternative treatments. We should carefully weigh the risk and benefits of best, which the
in 2024, Council framework did quite well.
We should also consider risk and benefits without that.
Major risk is that we could easily need to build more gas fuel
power plants that would definitely harm our health for 20 or more years.
There have to be places in King County where best would be reasonable.
I actually installed battery storage in my garage because my grid power has gone
out 35 times in two years.
Right in Belvie, I researched and used the safest type of batteries, the same type used in all new best facilities.
Remember how we used to worry about charging EVs in our projects?
Now with improved technology, we have over 100,000 EVs and other large batteries charging all over King County.
I strongly support battery energy storage in King County using the 2024 council framework.
It is absolutely needed to protect our health.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony.
The next thing on the list is Paul Lee.
All right.
Everyone, I was Paul Lee, and I strongly support more battery energy storage in King County.
A professional engineer with over eight years of experience in clean energy, personally I've worked
out over a dozen battery energy projects, and we're the use of the part of the energy,
so if we have Los Angeles, Texas, Massachusetts, this is the aim for you.
Batteries are a critical part of our clean energy transition.
They're proven to help lower electricity costs, improved reliability, drink outages, and
advance our climate goals.
Safety was paramount in my work, and of course there's always risks, but the industry has
overcome any of these with improvements in battery chemistries and standards such as UL-95-4E and NFPA-85.
As well as a long improvement track, we're going to have many successful battery manufacturers.
I support more best oscillations in King County across the board, and it's
already more energy storage adoption for the region. Thank you. Thank you.
The next name of the list is Nathan Hathch.
Hello council members. My name is Nathan Hathch.
I live in Seattle and the Fremont neighborhood and like I had Paul, I'm here to talk about battery energy storage systems.
Last time I was here, we heard a lot of concern from President of California about a thermal runaway for the proposed facility over there.
I do share their worry about what that might do surrounding air and water systems.
So I've spent many hours over the past two months learning about these issues.
And today I'm happy to report that the risk seems lower than I have feared.
Best facilities are designed and tested so that a fire in one container cannot spread to another container.
So even if a fire does occur, which is unlikely, only a small portion of the site will burn.
The air pollution would be comparable to any structural fires, such as the warehouse and ballot that burn down last month.
And of course as Mike said, if we don't build best, we're going to get 20 years of air pollution from the gas power energy crisis.
instead. So I hope this information sets the hearts of council members and the
qualmier residents at ease. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.
Listen on the list is Billy Harston.
There's like a time or somewhere to go. I just guess.
You got to talk. It's fast. It's possible. Hello, council members. Thank you for the opportunity
to present and speak. I'm standing you guys have a very difficult job and we appreciate all the work
that you do. My name is William Hirston. I am the opportunity to be one of the senior directors
of Center for Children and Youth Justice and in the little of recent events, I think it
was pertinent and I elevated some of the work that C.C.Y.J. does in the community violence,
intervention and prevention space, but on the we are a youth link program, a youth link program
at the C.C.Y.J. as a regional adaptation of the National Gang Center's comprehensive
of gang model, or CCYJ, coordinates and convenience partners to provide collaborative wraparound
case management and support for young people at the highest risk of violence or
system involvement.
Link brings together partners from multitude of disciplines such as law enforcement, education,
and D.C.I.A. for juvenile rehabilitation, community-based organizations, behavioral health,
housing, employment, and other service providers. Since 2020 today,
Lincoln served over 400 young people across King County,
2025 to date, those young people at Lincoln served
and accomplished over 300 individualized goals,
based off their individualized plans that they created themselves.
These goals include things such as meeting court order
probation requirements, re-engaging and education,
securing housing and basic needs,
gang assistance and violence intervention and appointment and other things that are
to stick lives and goals.
The amazing goals are in part thanks to our great collaborations and partnerships with
organizations such as Choose 180, Urban Family and Freedom Project Washington.
CCWJ will welcome the opportunity to share more about the League of Model or
Program and our partnerships as well as the impact of these collaborative efforts
throughout the county to cancel out more area of the subcommittees if you guys see that.
Thank you very much for your time and all the work that you do.
Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you.
All
right, everyone.
Thank you for letting me speak today.
My name is Lassie Webster and I want to I'm here to speak about the observation flights
at King County International Airport.
I've been observing for about a year, a little bit more, and I've learned a lot.
What I wanted to address specifically today is, I spoke with my microphones on.
I spoke as executive, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, last year, and I asked him this question,
are you willing to introduce a support legislation when you are our King County executive
to increase the safety of people in detention and designate the county's sees and requires
them to be treated as passengers as opposed to their current treatment by
I want to acknowledge that since that time, there has been a pledge added by the King County Executive Office.
The Office of the Executive Board continued to cap collaborate with the leaders from immigrant and refugee communities to establish a countywide strategy that enhances the staff health safety and well-being of the immigrants.
one can't problem with them who are writing at King County Airport.
From the standpoint of an observer who is familiar with the treatment of the immigrants
at King County Airport, I'd like to, I'd like you to know that while the intention of
this part of the statement is well-meaning, little has actually changed.
I think there have been attempts like we have a new forward new large monitors in our very
by the way, one of our volunteers was not able to continue volunteering to observe because it
caused such trouble to her neck, but I don't see any change really in the way that the immigrants
are treated. I think there needs to be more than good intentions. I think there needs
to be a deep felt heartful-hearted commitment to restore the dignity safety and health
to the people being transported in shackles.
Thank you.
Can I ask a question?
This is a statement, not a question and answer opportunity, but you can certainly send
to emails.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Council members.
And I'm in a Zack Penard.
I'm a King County resident and I'm speaking on behalf of clean and prosperous and strong
the court of King County's current battery energy storage system or best ordinance.
We at Thane Rosbris are concerns that our state is ranked dead last in the nation for
renewable energy growth.
However, after reviewing existing best ordinances at the city and county level, Queen of
Prosperos of the determined that King County currently has these single, most effective
ordinance for enabling well-sighted best in Washington state.
So once again, thank you, that's awesome.
As you heard, when at real-time solar and when generation cannot meet demand, best allows us to use stored clean energy instead of fossil fuel powered peak or plants to need those demand spikes.
We have been in prosperous, have identified 100 energy storage projects currently stuck in Washington's pipeline that could provide the grid with 10.72 gigawatts of clean energy capacity.
These storage projects represent tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of highly skilled and long-term jobs.
Ten of these projects are located in King County.
So, just want to thank you again for passing this ordinance.
It should remain in place so as to avoid delaying the grid reliability and the clean energy economy that we cannot afford to wait for.
Thank you for your testimony.
So, the next name on the list is Aaron Carter.
My name is Aaron Rick Carter.
I am one of the security leads for solidarity day.
That happens down at the detention center.
As a part of that, I try to create an environment that is safe by default, because that is what is required for safety.
If safe ear requires action on the part of the people involved, they cannot be reliably considered safe.
The ice flights are doing what are called hot fueling, which is fueling while people are on board.
They are shackled and they are unable to move at any kind of speed to keep themselves safe.
It's against FAA regulations and it is risking the lives and safety of thousands of people
that move through King County Airport every month.
These are people that could not get themselves out.
Fire safety requires clear access, requires people reasonably be able to escape the space they are in.
There are so many people that would die trampled and burning in the event of a fire during this.
I ask you to make the choice to create the safe environment, to design the safe environment,
So that we can treat people as people and not just things to be discarded.
Thank you for your testimony.
The next name on the list is Rick.
My
name is Rich Vogueit.
I am here to talk about the supporting the King County Battery Energy Storage System.
I'm not going to repeat what others folks have said.
My comments are more just in general with climate change.
Define climate change, we have to reduce fossil fuels, and that means electrifying everything.
To do that, we need more electricity.
And as was pointed out, we're dead last in the country in making new energy.
And that is because of geography, renewable energy works best in the eastern side of the state.
And giving transmission lines up over the cascades is expensive.
So the way out of that is with batteries.
So don't back down. Use your political will and don't cave into any of the folks who
think know to that. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.
Chair Barry, there are no further names listed on the in-person sign-up that we do have.
All right. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to speak?
that didn't have a chance to sign up.
Anyone else in the room who would like to make comments
that did not have a chance?
Anyone seeing anyone?
No check hurry.
Thanks very much.
Okay, let's go ahead and move on to online testimony.
Thank you, Chair Perry.
The first name online is Shilon Kong.
Hi, yeah.
My name is Shilon Kong, I'm 16 years old.
Craig has been one of the biggest parts of my life
as long as I can remember. It is shaped to I am not just as an athlete, but as a person.
Through Cricket, I've learned discipline, resilience, leadership, and the importance of working
together as a team. Every match teaches me something new, whether it's celebrating a victory or
learning from a tough loss. The lessons have helped me become more confident in school in my
community and everyday life. As a girl who plays Cricket, I've also seen how powerful this sport can
be. It gives young women a place where they can challenge themselves, build lifelong friendships,
and discover what they're capable of.
But one of the biggest challenges we face.
It is not having a dedicated place to play. We often have to adjust the fields that weren't designed for the sport, making it harder to grow the sport and welcome new players.
A cricket field and Mary Moore would change that. It would create opportunities for youth programs, school teams, community events and tournaments, while giving girls like me a place where we can train, compete and inspire the next generation.
It wouldn't just be a field. It would be a home for a growing community. I hope you support the cricket community park at Mary Moore because investing in cricket means investing in young people.
people. It means creating opportunities, building stronger communities, and giving future generations
a place where they can grow both on and off the field. Thank you.
Thank you, Shalam, for your testimony.
The next person online is Swamy.
My name is Swamy, and I'm speaking not as the
culture administrator, I say, I'm talking more like a father whose doctor has actually
picked up cricket, right? When she picked that because it was not just about playing any sport, right?
So cricket has even had a lot of resilience, discipline, confidence, and the teamwork.
But we have faced some challenges here. So first we have to actually try very long distance,
searching for similar to what she landed mentioned, right? Practices are often squeezed in
limited time slots, right? And the young athlete finds it difficult to actually compete
at the national tournaments with the lack of facilities available.
A dedicated cricket community park at the Marimoat would actually change that. It would give
a doctor's a safe, liable place to train, complete and dream. It would create an opportunity,
not just for today's players, but also hundreds of girls who are actually waiting to
go at this beautiful sport. This is just about building cricket fields. It's about investing in
youth, promoting healthy lifestyle and fostering inclusion and showing young girls that their
dreams matter just as anyone else is. As a father, my greatest hope is not that my daughter becomes
a famous character. It's more about how she goes into young women who believes, who can achieve anything
she walks hard for, I respectfully ask the King County and city of
believe to work together with our community to make sure that
the community park at Malmau becomes a reality and it will inspire the
generations of girls dream bigger work harder and proudly call this
community day home. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony,
Swamik. Next name is Swati Singh. Hello,
The concept members, my name is Sathism, I've been King County resident for 10 plus years now as previous Sismami and Shilan have also been talking in support of Seattle Ocas commitment to women's cricket and developing cricket facilities throughout the King County.
Actually I'm speaking to refer my own dream and the for girls who would pick up cricket bad after me.
I want them to have more opportunities, better facilities, and easier paths into the game than we had at our time.
The Seattle Orcas Women's upcoming T20 Tournament gives us hope because it puts women's cricket in spotlight throughout the international tournament coming up, which is a great sport.
I don't get it, women get it. It is the adult. I trust Seattle Archives to help deliver
the community path that does hope into a permanent opportunity.
So yeah, please think
county and city of Bellevue. Please work together with Seattle Archives and the
cricket community we have to move forward with this project. Thank you so much and you guys
have been great. Thanks again. Thank you. Thank you. If you test Mani Spathi.
Next online is iPhone.
Hi, my name is Seha Hoster and I'm 14 years old.
Cricket has given me role models, players who stay calm on their pressure, support their teammates, and compete with Kerch.
The little bit's T20 tournament being connected by the Seattle workers can remember those role models interview for girls like me.
role models and spires and but mentors and facilities help us take the next step.
At a pretty community park experience players could coach younger girls, teams could practice regularly,
and women's matches could become part of our community life.
By organizing a tournament for women, the Seattle Orcas are showing leadership.
I trust them to help deliver a park that keeps girls and women's prepared at the center of its plans.
I asked King County and Bellevue to support the Miramar project and work with the Seattle Orcas in our community.
Please create a place where inspiration can become instruction and where instruction can become achievement.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony, Sister.
Next on mine is the beer and a rain.
Hello.
My name is Beer and I'm 12 years old and I'm a budding cricket player.
Holding has taught me that real progress culture and patience, discipline and the ability to refine the skill through consistent practice.
Repeating the same motion again and again has shown me that improvement depends on balance, accuracy, and having the right environment to grow.
Young cricketers need that same environment.
To develop fully as bowlers, batters and fielders, we need proper run-ups, quality practice nets, and pitches maintain to recognize cricket standards.
These are essential for learning the complete game, not just fragments of it.
When given the right facilities, we are ready to show the dedication our community already has.
This is why I request King County Council to move forward with the cricket community park proposed at Marymore.
Building it as an international standard ground would place the Seattle region alongside other established cricket hubs across the country and allow us to host the same level of competition.
It is a rare opportunity to create a world-class venue for a sport that is already thriving here.
I am fully committed to cricket.
I practice several hours every week, and I play matches the often last seven hours of warm.
My cricket friends train just as hard.
Week after week, season after season.
Together, we are fully invested in the sport, and we are asking you to invest in our future.
We are ready to practice, learn, and talk and keep. All we need are the facilities that
allow our effort to become an achievement. Supporting this park means investing in the future
of cricket and in the potential of every young athlete in our community. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your testimony,
Vera. Next up is Bobanesh.
I hope you can hear me. My name is Bobanesh Rangarajan and I have probably called King County Home
more than 11 years now. I'm also a proud parent who's daughter has chosen cricket as a sporting
pathway, and I've also had the privilege of coaching many young cricketers and budding talent
across a community. I want King County to be recognized as a place where girls and women's cricket
can truly thrive. The Seattle Orcas Women's Tournament is an important milestone. It provides
women with a high quality, competitive platform while giving young girls the confidence to
bigger and believe that they have a place in the sport. But a tournament alone is not enough.
It is a part creating a permanent home for cricket community part, get married more, would provide
it here around opportunities for girls and women to train, compete and grow. It would strengthen youth,
development pathways, expand access to the sport and create our opportunity for women not
only as players, but also as coaches, mentors, officials and community leaders. The Seattle
workers have demonstrated a genuine commitment to growing women's cricket by partnering with
King County's a city of building, you and a vibrant cricket community.
We have the opportunity to create a lasting public, private partnership that will benefit
generations of residents while establishing King County as a leader in the growth of cricket
in the Pacific Northwest. I respectfully urge King County and city of Belvedere come together
and move this project forward. Please don't let this opportunity pass us by.
in a place where talent is nurtured, girls are empowered, women are celebrated, and future champions
begin their journey. Thank you for your time and consideration, everyone.
Thank you for your testimony, Bavanash.
Next up is Ben Jenkins.
Hello, good afternoon, Chair Perry and council members. My name is Ben Jenkins. I'm a resident of
unincorporated so calm. I've been here for the past five years. I've freely lived in Seattle for six.
I'm here to talk about the total land sale.
There's a $400 acres roughly a force above a fall city that's going on a sealed bid auction on August 5th.
I know Chair Perry or where this inside this land sale, there are three of the four parcels are have not like trails on them that have been there for over 20 years and they've been able to be able to be used by the public via permit system from the current land owner, which is a timber company.
There's also other recreational opportunities in that zone for gravel riding and hiking and things like that.
This region has switched from a logging economy, obviously, to a recreational tourism economy.
These trails and all of these recreation areas in the vicinity are really important for this community,
to have for the economy and for the residents and all that kind of stuff.
The area of total in particular is important because it has south-facing slopes and it's at a lower elevation and it drains well.
So it becomes a really big hub for mountain biking,
recreation, and winter months when the other areas
that are covered in snow are have condition problems.
So what I'd like the council to be aware of,
and I know that's been on the agenda a little bit here,
but this area is not protected.
And if it, you know, as soon as it gets sold to a new property owner,
the right to have access, that's probably going to go away.
So I'm asking that the county is hopefully actually working
on looking at carrying parcel C and D.
and minimum, which is 633 acres. Also, there's another parcel B, which would be great, but I know
it's at a higher price point. I'd also like to say that, because the way the auction is priced
in structure, they'll likely buyers and not going to be someone who's going to be looking for financial
return. So this, if this land ends up in tribal ownership, I'm really hoping that King County will
do everything in its power to work with that future owner, to purchase a recreation easement on these
trail corridors. Hopefully for parcels BC and D, just to wrap up here, this area is critical to
community for a recreation pub. It's right off the Silicon Valley Trail and it's a great resource for the community. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony, Ben. Next up is Jill Conzler.
Hi, Jill Conzler here.
It's good to see all of you. It's always a proof with an orange. We're just taking County Council,
although today is a tragic anniversary. As it is the 20th anniversary since the assassination of
Pam Wester, Zell, and the injury of five Jewish Federation of Seattle employees.
This is also tomorrow, we'll be to 16th anniversary of when I was home invaded by an
anti-Semitic felon in his nephew.
So I take anti-Semitism very seriously, and the statements, we're not supposed to address
previous commenters, but I will say to statements by previous commenter, I find is always
anti-Semitic, deeply offensive, and deeply inappropriate, and I wish they would stop.
I ask if this council and our yours continue to stand up against anti-Semitism for a more
inclusive community as well as stand-up against have Sloanophobia.
I think it's important that we all come together and address this kind of hatred that we see exhibited
public comment periods we see exhibited in the community.
I take to heart, you know, the
statements that have been issued by Jewish leaders, remembering the tragedy of July 28, 2006,
and I'm deeply grateful that one of the survivors decided to join gun responsibility and work
to close gun violence with polls like making sure to the background check on every single
fire arms transfer and assault weapons ban and other stuff that keeps the public safe.
And I just wanted to bring that to your attention and that hopefully explains why I find
this one individual who comes before you, so that's a thank you Mr.
Because
the next stop is Patrick Fry.
Good afternoon, Council.
I am here to follow up with Ben Jenkins.
About the total landfill.
So I won't repeat the things that he does.
Because he stated I'm all perfectly.
Tokos really important to the community.
And the fall city community and just surrounding mountain bike.
A question and trail running community.
What I will state though is that.
Those 422 or 4800 acres of recreational use are incredibly valuable and they actually already have access
That can county already has there's parking lots already constructed at the trail heads that are around and so there would be little infrastructure needed
to continue using these parks and so I'm hoping that
When sealed bids for these total either can count it can be a purchaser or if not, that they will work with the purchaser to secure access to those trails so that we can continue recreating and using those trails.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony, Patrick.
Next on the list is Eddie Espinoza.
Good afternoon.
Chair Perry, council members and members of the community.
I'm Eddie Espinoza, I'm the executive director of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance.
I live in Bottle, our offices in North Bend, and here to talk about Tockel.
I'll just add a little bit more to what folks have already said, and a little bit more
about us were the statewide non-profit advocates for mountain biking through education.
We need to be building in partnerships. We have a membership of close to 10,000, and we also speak on behalf of the almost 1,000,000,000 bike riders in the state of Washington.
Bound biking is an important part of the recreation economy in Washington, which is just as big in size as tech and aerospace.
And total, some of you may know, is a pretty important part of a region full of mountain bike trails and areas that have national if not oral recognition for the quality and access for these trails.
Also, thank you, Chair Perry for your work here, a little bit over a little bit over a year ago, thanks for that.
And we're a little bit late in the hour.
The auction is next month.
We spent a bunch of months this summer
without reach to organizational partners
to other land managers and also to other offices
within King County.
But to echo what everyone else has already said,
we would love to make sure that access is maintained
for whoever owns the property next.
And ideally, if it could be an acquisition, if the county could prioritize the acquisition itself in order for us to maintain that access and continue building on the economy and opportunity for mountain biking in this region, that would be amazing and would be hugely, hugely appreciative.
Thank you for your testimony.
Next on a list is Shupani Kaur.
Good afternoon council members.
My name is Shupani Kaur and my age is 25.
I'm from India and for me cricket is like a food if I need food to live.
I need cricket to survive as well.
And here in the United States I start playing cricket because as a fun sport.
But again it become part of my life and I want to continue
rather than represent my nation.
Most important part of my life is my teammates
who encourage me when I make mistakes
and celebrate with me when I improve.
It has helped me make friends
and feel connected to my community.
We practice everywhere wherever space is available,
but cricket needs as my companion said,
more than open pitches for grass.
We need a ball to bounce at certain point, but due to the grass, it is not able to bounce that much.
We really appreciate if King County will help us to build certain pitches that improve our game,
and we don't need to travel so far for that the ball matches like Lyndon and Northwell.
It would be great initiative and we really appreciate the moment that my remote part brings it to reality.
A dedicated home for cricket would give a team stability and give many more girls the chance to discover this sport.
Thank you for listening to my voice. Thank you so much.
Thank you for your testimony, Shibani.
Next on the list is Sushrabia.
Good evening, members of Kanzan. My name is Sushrabia and I'm 27 years old.
I'm here representing a passionate community of athletes,
teammates who train beside me and the girls who look up to us.
All of all of whom share a singular dream to see our sport
drive here at home.
Cricket has been the, has been defining
the passion of my life, a pursuit that has pushed me to test my limits.
We are fully committed to this game training for over 20 years.
as every single week to reach our goal.
However, even the greatest dedication is hampered
when you lack the infrastructure to support it.
The reality of my team is incredibly challenging right now.
To make do, we are constantly forced
to improvise attempting to convert various multipurpose
sports grounds just to make them even remotely
suitable for cricket.
This is not sustainable. Without a dedicated dependable cricket ground, it is nearly impossible
to properly simulate match conditions, develop a professional great pitch or even gain the
competitive experience necessary to grow.
For to often, we have had to travel great distances just to find adequate training,
losing valuable time and energy that should have been spent
honing our craft right here in our own community.
The proposed cricket community park at Marimoire represents more than just a field.
It is the infrastructure needed to create a legitimate sustainable pathway for all of us.
Within this facility, we could establish consistent practice routines,
access quality coaching and finally, both the tournaments that are that don't are collective potential.
Okay. Thank you very much for your testimony, Susha Vaya. Thank you.
Next up is Mitch Corey. Good afternoon council. My name is Mitch Corey.
I've lived in Washington all 36 years of my life and in King in Seattle for 32 of those.
And probably every weekend I travel on an anti-digo mountain biking and probably
one-half of those times I go mountain biking at Tockel and so I'm speaking on the
the total I'm going up for auction. I feel like I'm almost a resident of like total, and it's been
really important to me, but it's also really important to the mountain biking community in the
King County area. I think what's said before is that it's often used for bike riding when the conditions
further along I-90 are too cold or too snowy. So it's really important just for people that mountain
I think that the entire county and the city would benefit from the conservation of that land, especially for recreation, for not only for mountain biking, but I know that there's a quest for you in a trail running in that area too.
Like I said before, there's also, there's already infrastructure in place that would support the people that would use that, and that would continue to travel.
To fall city and some of the other kind of areas, almost like mesh fault in areas to support the businesses that are there.
And I'm thinking of coffee and restaurants and baked goods.
after I've done mountain biking. I do think that the
total area is very important for the mountain biking community in Washington.
And like others have said, I hope that the council, I mean,
whether it could be purchased by the city or whoever does purchase it,
there would be cooperation to allow continued mountain biking on the
Thank you for your testimony.
Next up is Ritual Duvedi.
Hello, everyone. My name is Ritual Duvedi and I'm 17 years old.
Grigit has genuinely been one of the greatest gifts in my life.
It's taught me resilience, discipline, teamwork, and confidence.
Some of my closest friendships have been built on the Grigit field,
and every match teaches me something new about myself.
Um, today, cricket is known as one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
It has more than 2.5 billion fans globally, if I remember correctly.
And it makes it the world's second most popular sport.
And it's returned to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, is helping fuel even more growth, especially
here in the United States.
A cricket community park at Mary Moore would allow our region to grow alongside that momentum.
It wouldn't just be another sports field, it would become a home for rapidly growing community.
It would create opportunities for youth programs, school teams, leagues, tournaments, and community events,
while bringing families from all backgrounds together through a shared love of the game.
As a girl who plays cricket, this park means even more to me,
cricket has traditionally been a male dominated sport,
but that is also changing.
More girls are stepping onto the field that ever before,
and women's cricket is experiencing incredible growth around the world.
I also believe that this park would become an incredible asset for King County.
Just as we proudly rally behind the seahawks, the mariners, the sounders and the storm,
we have the opportunity to build an equally passionate cricket community right here
in the Pacific Northwest.
We already have thousands of players and families who love this game.
We have a dedicated, I mean, a dedicated cricket park would help bring them together, attract
new players, and host regional and national tournaments, which would help establish King County
as a leader in one of the world's fastest growing sports.
For players like me, this park represents opportunity.
It's a place where lifelong friendships are formed, confidence is built,
and young people learn leadership.
Cricket has shaped me to the person I am today,
and I know it can do the same for countless others.
I hope you support the Cricket Community Park at Marymore,
and help create a space that will inspire generations of players
and girls for years to come.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony or tool.
Next up is Radha Shiram.
Hi, my name is Radha and I'm 16 years old.
One of my favorite moments in cricket is walking out to bat,
knowing that my team believes in me.
Batting takes focus, confidence, and courage.
And even when I feel nervous, I've learned to stress my preparation,
stay calm, and make good decisions one ball at a time.
But for girls to become strong,
We need regular opportunities to practice against different bowlers and play on proper creative fields.
Right now limited access to quality facilities means fewer chances to develop our skills.
Playflow matches and learn from both our successes and our mistakes.
A dedicated creative community park at Marymore would give girls like me the opportunity to practice consistently,
compete regularly and grow as players.
It could also host youth matches and tournaments that help us prepare for the next level of cricket while bringing our community together.
I respectfully ask King County and the City of Bellevue to work together to make this park a reality.
We're not asking for our dreams to be handed to us.
We're simply asking for a fair opportunity to work hard, improve, and pursue those dreams.
Thank you for your time, your support, and for investing in the future of Girls' Cricket.
Thank you, Madam, for your testimony.
Next on the list is Kevin Alfheimer.
Mr. Althamer are you there? We're not hearing you. Are you muted?
Can you hear me down? We can, sir. Go ahead ahead.
Okay. Yes. I think Sarah Perry and Council. I'm here in opposition to motion 20,
2601-97. I don't approve of it, but I don't have a problem if you decide to get an individual in this position.
And here's where my dissatisfaction with this ordinance, our potential ordinance under
this motion is, you still have a legal issue.
And your legal issue is that you have a constitutional issue, perhaps, under Washington State
versus actually state versus miles.
Now in that, there is a partion of the Constitution of Washington State article 1, Section 7,
that actually says that the state Supreme Court had already ruled, a citizen cannot be compelled
to be subpoenaed by an agency, and it seems like your legislation is still trying to push
that.
At the same time, Robin Bowsky was involved.
I have his email way back in October.
I found his email that came in today, where he was pushing for an Inspector General's position,
And that's why he wanted this to go to the office office and the office office had no
constitutional right to even be an investigate at potential prime, but when they don't
even have it under the constitution after they under their ordinance under the county.
What they have is the ability to investigate the agencies and investigate workers, but
they can't investigate contractors.
So you guys already went outside of that scope.
I couldn't believe of all you people who were involved in this low-investigation with Clark Newberg and getting him
But funded after he was already working from the executive office and robbed him Balsby since an email out to Shannon Braddock to ask him her to turn this over to
Jeremy Bill with the office office. There is so much evidence against this this this whole operation that
It's about to come out and I think that you guys know this
Thank you, Mr. Elfheimer.
Are there more?
Yes, yes.
There are.
Sorry.
I don't even know.
There's.
Three.
Okay.
Thank you.
Hello council members.
Thank you for having me today.
My name is Tom Reeves.
I've lived in the central district of Seattle for 11 years.
I'm an avid mountainbiker.
And I'm here to give my support for the total for
concerning the total riding area and fall city today.
Ever since I moved to Seattle,
I've spent a lot of time in total riding there.
On a consistent basis is great recreation
for my wife and I, I look forward to bringing my son there
when he's old enough.
It's also helped us to bring field great community
and get to know the people here,
while also supporting the local,
total community, the local community and fall city.
You know, as we go forward, I'd ask that you do everything in your power to conserve that area, it means a lot to us, a lot to our community, and thank you very much for your time.
Thank you for your testimony, Tom.
Next up is Kelly Amesbury.
Hi, thank you for letting me speak here today. My name is Kelly Amesbury. I am a mountainbiker, mountainbiker advocate, former youth coach, and sometimes trailbuilder at total.
Over COVID, I spent countless hundreds of hours building a trail and maintaining it, specifically for youth and youth sports training.
Therefore, youth cycling training.
And I would just like to encourage the council to do everything in their power to help maintain this wonderful asset for recreation, not only for mountain biking, but for equestrians, trail runners and other foreign enthusiasts.
I would also encourage you to look at the model that the city of Bellingham has followed
with the Gauberth Mountain Preservation, where the city is put together in consortium of
private land, Timberland,
protected, I think, forest pieces and also city park together into
a recreational easement that really protects that land and perpetuity for all sorts of recreational
activities and also for wildlife and environment. Thank you for my time really appreciate it and
hope you can move forward and help us protect this land. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony, Kelly.
And the last hand phrase on the list is Rachel Demion. Hi there. Thank you, council members,
for your time today. My name is Rachel Demion. I'm a 34 year old. I live in Bellevue since 2018,
and I board my horses in Fall City. I spent nearly half of my week for the past six years
at the barn, and Tockel is not just where I ride, it's part of my community, and it is my home.
Tockel is essential because many riders don't own a truck and trailer. With local access,
they don't have another convenient place to ride, they lose the opportunity altogether,
and horses are pivotal to our lives, so taking away that access takes away many slightly
hoods. Tockles also unique to horseback writers because of the soil. Even after
heavy rain, the infamous tockles soil drains quickly and it allows you around writing.
Previously in my life I was limited to only six years or six months of outdoor writing
and moving to Seattle means that my season is every day and that's incredible. I'd also
like to speak to the friendliness that I've experienced with mountain bikers there. I do
we believe that horseback riders and bikers can coexist on trails and total is a testament to
that. So I know it's a very challenging situation balancing the needs of urban and rural
and bikers and in questions but I do ask you to try and use with all of your resources
in your skills to try and keep our public access there. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony Rachel.
That was the last hand raised chair Perry that I see online.
All right, is there anybody else online that has not had a chance to speak who would like to.
If so, please raise your hand.
Again raise your hand if you haven't had a chance to speak and you would like to.
Are we seeing anybody raising their hands?
I am not.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Seeing no further requests.
I want to thank each and every person who showed up to testify in person.
And online today, we take your comments and your time very seriously and it matters a lot to our
deliberative process.
So thank you very much for being with us today with that.
We will close the public hearing.
Turning next to those ordinances on the agenda for discussion and action beginning with
item six, which is an ordinance concerning King County employee code of ethics.
Councilmember Ivonne Reichbar, would you please move ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero one two
six.
Thank you, proposed ordinance 2026-0126 is before us before we proceed.
I'll note that we have Randy Parabelo and Council staff available to brief the item or answer questions.
With that, I'd like to ask if Council member Duns as sponsor would like to offer any opening remarks or if you'd like the item briefed.
Yeah, I don't think we need to item brief.
We pass this unanimously up here from committee.
But just to remind my colleagues, as we continue to improve the functions of King County government,
as we continue to reform what we do delivering local services, this is another piece of that.
As you all know, we've done some audits and really worked hard to make our grant making process.
Greater accountability, moving forward with the tax dollars that we are bestowed by the taxpayers.
We've done things recently like streamline the homeless governance organization, working to make that more efficient, bringing employees back to work following the pandemic, and there are other things we've been working on as well.
This one is in the form of reforming our King County ethics code. It is always a work in progress.
New situations are uncover new technologies are uncovered. The ethics code is a living document.
And this, this piece of legislation seeks to continue reform.
It really came, I think, quite effectively from Seattle times investigation that many of you
remember that involved an employee who, according to Seattle times, had distributed grants
to five family members, and the nature of about $800,000.
and so this gives us the option and we have the legal authority to actually amend the
King County Ethics Code.
We can do that by ordinance which we are attempting to do here in this resolution.
The Ethics Reform package does a couple things.
It expands and clarifies the conflict of interest rules to very clearly prohibit close
relationships.
In other words, significant relationships is defined in the legislation.
It also requires that conflicts of interest be resolved before a distribution, not just
disclosed.
And right now, in this case, the disclosure, but no resolution, we need to have resolution.
So conflict of interest doesn't occur.
Finally, this clarifies the ethics code in a variety of ways to ensure consistency throughout
reading of the document.
there are a couple of amendments. Brandy might want to speak to those chair Perry, which I'm
happy to move with the right time. And that's the introduction and the forward to a discussion
on this issue. Thank you very much. Colleagues, are there any questions for staff or comments
for the discussion at this moment? Please say, please speak out if you do.
Okay, I also understand
there's a technical amendment. Councilmember Dunn, would you please move amendment one? Sure.
Councilmember Lewis is your hand up.
Thank you.
Councilmember Lewis.
Thank you, Vice Chair.
Thank you.
I just have a couple of pretty basic questions.
One being how will employees be notified of these changes and given the opportunity to comply with them.
And the other has to do with whether or not we should have a regular cadence to update the ethics code like we do with the charter.
and other regulations. Those may be questions for the executive. I'm not sure.
My brand, you want to take a cut at that, and then I'm happy to add in what I know.
Sure. Thank you, council members for the record. Brandy Parabolo with council central staff.
I can try to answer the first one, and I am not equipped to answer the second.
And the first one, there is no language in the ordinance that directs how any county employees
should be made aware of these changes that would be at the discretion of the executive
side on how they would prefer to do that.
Great.
Yeah, I think the work, this legislation changes the code, then once the code is changed,
We will encourage both the board of ethics as well as the executive to use their appropriate outreach channels to get the information to our employees.
Things like our regular trainings will be one method.
Newsletters, emails for managers will be another will certainly use the news media to enhance that,
but it's one thing to have a rule, but if it's not broadly known, it has no effect.
So we look forward to the next steps of this being that outreach process will, which will, since the overwhelming majority of employees are within the executive branch, we got to make sure that that that will happen moving forward.
With respect to the regular cadence.
First, let me say that Council Member Balducci has, I think, taken on a laboring or on some additional ethics reform that needs to happen, including pulling together a stakeholder group, which I think is wise.
It may be as part of that review that we look at a regular cadence of review to make sure that this code is updated from time to time.
The Board of Ethics did weigh in recently, maybe a little bit too late, but very helpful still nonetheless.
And then we want to continue review because we do have a board that's supposed to be making these recommendations.
Of course, nothing stops us from doing that as well.
Thank you, Vice your done. Great question. Council Member Lewis.
Council Member Dempowski has something.
Thank you, Chair, just adding to the discussion, and maybe April Sanders could supply some precision here, but in the last supplemental budget, we did increase the FTE authority for the executive ethics function and added some additional dollars, presumably to help educate and ensure compliance with this legislation that we knew was coming.
I think it was a couple of TEs or just shy of that.
Okay, thank you.
Council member,
Ambassador, any other questions from my colleagues?
For staff or comment.
Not seeing any.
The T.
So.
Technical amendment has been moved.
No, I have to get all moved.
Okay.
Would you please?
I think there's been one.
I think there's two amendments.
So I have to move amendment one.
Amendment one.
Okay.
Thank you, men.
What is before us?
Would you like to speak to men?
One.
Vice Chairman.
Just very generally.
It's a technical striker.
And what it does is it changes the language.
Since last meeting or meeting before last, we put language in regarding inspector general,
this added and acknowledges the existence of that office.
And so it's a technical striker and I urge your support.
Thank you.
Any discussions from my colleague on that amendment?
If I may.
Chief, do you have any?
Yes.
only one amendment and the technical amendment is related to a couple of suggestions by the board of ethics that really just cleans up the language a little bit to make it clear to read.
I'm not sure if council member done as another amendment that I'm not aware of, but the one that I have worked on is amendment one.
Will you brief amendment one for us?
I just did. I mean, that's all you have. Okay, that's all you.
I don't know what I mean.
My understanding was what Brandt just spoke to was amendment 2.
Sounds like amendment 1 is the technical striker that provides clarity,
is recommended by the Board of Ethics.
And I certainly support that as well.
So it doesn't change my motion for amendment 1.
I just want to make sure that what I'm putting forward is
properly labeled within the Council meeting materials.
It is properly labeled. So the additional materials packet that went out this morning from the clerk's office, it is labeled as a amendment one and it is the only amendment in that packet.
Very well, then that will be all we'll amend within less council members have an additional amendment as well.
Okay, all those in favor of amendment one say aye.
All right. All those opposed to nay.
Amendment one is adopted moving on to the underlying ordinance is amended.
Do my colleagues have any closing comments before we proceed?
Sure.
I'll just get council member.
Belducci. I think followed by council member Dimbalski.
Yes, you can said no.
Okay. Council member Belducci. Go right ahead.
Thank you, Chair.
I just wanted to speak in favor of the ordinance.
I will be voting in favor of the ordinance.
I think this is a very important change in clarification.
Is a key feature of ethics code ordinances in many, many places that individual government employees
should not and cannot work on contracts or other projects that financially benefit their
or relatives or business partners, and so this, in my view, closes an important hole that
should have been closed in our code probably long ago, and I'm glad we're doing it now.
I just wanted to quickly echo and update from what Council Member Duns said, it has been
brought to our attention as a council that the ethics code on the whole is really a need of
updating and clarifying. And I have indeed raised my hand to say that I will work on a larger project
to try to clean up the code. You'll be hearing from our office about this. We've had a kick-off
meeting with stakeholders. We have a science staff and both central policy staff and from the
omits office to help carry the water and putting this together. It's going to be a longer road
and more detailed progress projects.
And to Councilor Verluse's questions,
have spoken to the Executive's office,
they will be included in the work
because they have some interest, obviously,
and this as well.
And I really important need to have a clear enough code
to put together employee training
so that they can train the staff
and inform the staff of what they need to do.
And they are observing that the code in some places
is not clear enough to do a good job of that.
So they have a keen interest and implementation.
And in what the coach would be, so they will be part of it. The Board of Ethics will also be invited to participate and have already expressed an interest in participating. So much more to come, but this is a really important step, and I'm very happy to vote in favor today. Thank you chair.
Thank you, council member, bellie cheese. Seeing no further discussion, clerk, can we please close to close?
I was sorry about that, uh, answer to close face chair done.
Thanks very much and thank you, Chair Perry, for having this in an expedited form today.
And I want to thank, uh, my colleagues, Councilor Bellagin, Lewis, uh,
to Bowsky and others for their comments and, uh, and, and smithing this and making this better.
Uh, we have more of ethics, we should use them, continue to use them and, and listen to what they,
they have to say. We may not always agree with them, but they're certainly have very positive input.
that's important. We should have a regular update process. I want to thank investigative journalists
like Lulu Romadon and David Gutman and others for getting some information that helped
make this legislation better. It continued to believe the fourth estate is an important part of
our democratic process and this is an example of that. This is a good significant piece of legislation.
Obviously, you shouldn't be doing that public dollars to members of your family, it just doesn't
pass the the last test and it isn't appropriate and might be illegal and there's a lot
other things there.
And so we have to make sure that we make it clear up front through our own ethics codes that
that isn't something we're going to stand for or tolerate.
County has run into some challenging issues of perception.
And I think for good reason, and we've got a lot of work in reformary to continue forward on
I'll be driving that forward, other members of the council as well that I mentioned in these comments.
I want to thank care of our bright power for holding this important legislation in his committee and properly addressing it.
I urge my colleagues to support and let's take another step in making King County a great county running well and fully reformed and paying great attention to the tax dollars that we are given control over.
Thank you, guys, Chair.
Done seeing you for the discussion.
Claire, can you please call the roll?
Thank you, Chair Perry.
Councilmember Galducci.
Councilmember Burrell.
Aye.
Councilmember Dindowski.
Aye.
Councilmember Dindowski.
Aye.
Councilmember Lewis.
Councilmember Mosketa.
Thank you.
And I got Councilmember Bonach, now we're Chair Perry.
That is nine eyes and zero on us.
Thank you by our vote.
We've adopted proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0126 as amended.
Turning next item seven and eight, which concern labor agreements.
vice-chair of our own, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0189?
Thank you for proposed ordinance 2026 as dash 0189 is before us.
Before we proceed with discussion, I'll note that we have Angela Marshall, Labor Relations
Interim Director and John Woodcock, Labor Relations, Negotiator from the Executive
Office available to answer questions.
We also have use of L.A. Hamali, Union Representative for ProTech 17 available as well.
First, I'd like to ask Erica Newman from Council staff to brief the item.
Erica, please go ahead when you're ready.
You're on mute.
There we go.
I'm sorry about that.
Erica Newman Council Central staff, the proposed items, the proposed item for proposed
ordinance 20260189, the yellow on page 46 figure packet.
The proposed ordinance would adopt the memorandum of agreement that was negotiated
between Home County and Port of 17, which represents engineering services, manager, employees,
and the Department of Natural Resources and Park.
This is from a broader alignment within the Solid Waste Division, and the county info
took 17.
They engaged to the space operational concerns of operational structure of the engineering
and environmental compliance work.
Historically, these functions were consolidated under a single engineering services manager.
Under the proposed structure, the engineering service manager,
classification would be able to serve as the manager of an engineering unit
or the section manager responsible for environmental science and compliance.
The bargaining, the terms of bargaining include increasing the pay rate
to further engineering services manager.
What is, which is currently as a range 77 to range 78, and the King County square table.
If adopted, this agreement would be considered effective the first day of the first
school period following the effective date.
According to the fiscal note, the cumulative total of the duration of the agreement is
little over $5,000. That would be it's been a solid waste operating fund, executive staff,
note that there will be no supplement, no budget authority needed to implement the agreement.
Madam Chair, that concludes my remarks.
Thank you very much, Erica, with that I'd like to ask if there's any discussion from my colleague.
opening this up so I can see any hands or questions.
Okay, not seeing any questions from my colleagues.
Let's proceed with a clear. Okay, will you please call the roll. Thank you.
Council member. I'll do.
Aye.
That's my purple room. Aye.
That's number to investigate.
That's number done.
Aye.
That's number to me.
Aye.
It's member Lewis.
That's member Mosquita.
That's member Von Reikbauer.
Aye.
Chair Perry.
The vote is 9.
9 is 0.
Thank you.
Clear K by our vote.
We've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0189.
Turning next to item 8 proposed ordinance 2026-0196.
Vice-driver, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0196?
Thank you, the post-ordinances before us before we proceed with the discussion on note that we
have Maria Williams, President of the Director of Teamsters Local 1117 and Co-chair of the King
County Coalition of Unions, along with Michael Gonzalez, Senior Business Agent for Teamsters
Local 1174 and Co-chair of the King County Coalition of Unions, available to answer any questions.
First, I'd like to ask Eric and Newman from Council staff to brief the item.
Eric, please go ahead when you're ready.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Eric Miniman, Councilor Staff, the items of the proposed ordinance 2026-0167, you begin on page
with the opacket.
The proposed ordinance for the DOP, the four success, where I've mentioned about 21, 25,
probably.
Coalition labor improvements.
And between county and the coalition, unions, which represents employees from the
Department of Natural Resources and Part, Department of Local Services and the Department
of acceptable services. The change is our system with, I think, having labor policies,
carbon and began in June of 25, and agreements were reached by the end of May of 2021-6.
The agreement would be, if adopted, the agreement will cover the period of January 1,
26, 31 of 2008. This would be referred to as the PINLOTS, 1-60, which represents
employees, like I said, of department of natural resources and
local services and department of executive services.
These employees, you know, we hold the title of child driver, sign of marketing
specials, key divisions and road signing services.
There's some notable changes to the CLA, which you can
which includes a 2.5% soloyce polling of equipment,
premiums, hazardous material, endorsement,
premium increased from $70 in my 200 dollars a month.
And added theory to my pay, and poised report to Vashon,
will be compensated, they're normal pay for delay time,
when a schedule theory is canceled,
and there are no remaining all-tagged theory books available.
But then, one hour or less, after that canceled boat,
There will be changes to weather related such as known ice alert work over time will be played when weather events require automation of shifts without required advanced notifications.
There's going to be adding added bargaining reopening to establish.
to establish a discipline matrix, to cover instances of motor vehicle, and or you put like
accidents, property damages and safety violations, and then the other one is they were they're
going to pilot establishing a regular Friday and start time for solid waste division sharp
And yeah, there's we're going to also give you some of the seven 10 work schedules from Monday from a Monday to Sunday work.
You have to take the Monday work.
The cumulative total to implement the the cumulative total of the duration of the building.
There's a little.
It's almost a nine million dollars.
which are the expected from the solid way operating plan,
the county growth plan, and the hard-saving operating plan.
At the point of its executive staff,
there will be a couple of no budget
authority to implement this and for it.
Madam Chair, I think is my remarks.
Thank you very much, Cherica.
Do my colleagues have any questions, comments, discussion,
at this point?
Okay.
Mr. Perry?
Yes.
Thank you.
I would just like to say that I was really pleased to see the bilingual pay provision in the agreement.
I appreciate the teamsters and the county negotiating that.
Thank you.
Council member Lewis.
Seeing no further discussion.
Let's proceed to the vote.
Okay, we please call the roll.
Thank you.
Councilmember Bellditchie.
Councilmember Huron.
Aye.
Councilmember Dimbowski.
Councilmember Dunn.
Aye.
Councilmember Fain.
Aye.
Councilmember Lewis.
Councilmember Mosquita.
Councilmember Bonn, aye.
Aye.
Your Perry.
Aye.
Well, it is 990.
Thank you.
By our vote, we've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0196.
Thank you, turning now to hearing examiner consent agenda item sign in 10.
Quer Kay, will you please read the items into the record.
Thank you, Chair Perry.
Item 9 is proposed to the ordinance number 2026-0901,
concurring with the recommendation of hearing examiner to approve.
subject to conditions.
The application proposed another reading system.
assessment evaluation for open space, submitted by Debra Mallory and John Van Waring,
for property located in Inamquat, and I intend as proposed to order December 2026,
such as 0.001.20, offers an indication of a portion of county road, 393, S.J.
twist road in Inamquat, file number B, 2776, for petitioners, Alexis and Devon Jones and Garth Cook.
Thank you very much. Council member Fainley, you please move consent agenda item sign
10. It's the moved. Thank you consent to agenda item sign and 10 of
before us. Claire Kay, we please call the roll. Thank you.
Council member Felgucci. Aye. That's the number of a room. Aye.
That's the number of the empty. Aye. That's the number of
done. Aye. That's the number of pain. Aye. That's the number of
Louis. Aye. That's the number of mosquito. Aye. That's the number of
on right there. Aye. You're peri. Aye. That is my nice.
Thank you, by our vote. We've adopted proposed substitute ordinances 2026-0091 and 01200.
Turning next to the motion consent agenda by the Chevrolet, may you please move consent agenda item 11.
I move item 11.
Consent agenda item is before us. For K, we please call the roll.
Thank you. Council member Baldicci. Hi.
That's member Barone. Hi.
Let's remember to Bowsky enthusiastically, I.
For them.
Let's hand our fame.
I.
Let's remember the list.
I.
That's my normal skita.
I.
Let's remember about my power.
I.
Here, Perry.
All right.
Those nine eyes.
There are no.
Thank you, Biobo.
We've adopted proposed motion.
2026-00115. Turning the final action item on today's agenda item 12, which is motion improving
the job description for the position of Inspector General. Vice Chair Barron, will you please move
proposed motion 2026-0197. Thank you. Proposed motion 2026-0197. Thank you. Proposed motion 2026-0197 is
before us. Before we proceed, I will briefly share that the reason we relieved the committee
of this item to take action today was to ensure that we could begin the Inspector General
recruitment process in earnest.
With Council recess beginning next week,
the employment and administration committee,
EAC will not be meeting again until September.
This is where this conversation is usually held.
It's important that we begin this process
expeditiously so that the inspector general can begin the crucial work
of standing up the infrastructure of the office
as soon as possible.
With that, I will note that we as Stephanie Circavich,
Chief of Staff, on the Council,
available to answer any questions.
But before I open it up to my colleagues, I'd like to ask Councilmember Dembowski if you'd like to provide any other opening remarks.
Thank you very much, Chair.
And this is the follow on step following approval of the Office of Inspector General that we did a week or two ago.
I want to just express deep gratitude to our Council.
Chief of Staff, Stephanie Circavich, for accelerating the process here. We were looking at a couple of months through an EAC process and she really jumped on it and did a great bit of research looking around the country at inspectors general positions and scopes of work.
then the draft was shared out and a number of our colleagues provided some suggestions
I think all of which were included or will be and just really pleased to see the forward momentum
on this to get the recruitment going and I suspect we're going to have a lot of great candidates.
It's a really nicely done job description and I'm looking forward to seeing our applicant.
Thanks for your leadership chair Perry and as chair of the Employment Administration Committee
and the council and expediting this through
and making sure we got it before everybody today
appreciate you very much.
Thank you, council member, Dimbavsky,
for your sponsorship and leadership on this.
Is there any other any of the comments from my colleagues?
Okay, I just want to say thank you to the council member,
Bell Ducci.
Thank you, Chair.
I just want to say thank you to the sponsor
and your office for seeking and incorporating feedback.
We provided a couple of thoughts and they show up very beautifully in this current draft and that really makes it easy to move forward quickly, so really appreciate that effort.
And I agree with the support, the proposal and the expeditious nature of the process.
Thank you, Council Member Belditchi. Seeing no further, we have an amendment, which attaches the job description to the motion.
Council Member Domaski, please move amendment 1.
So moved.
Thank you, amendment 1 is before us. Any discussion from colleagues?
Seeing no discussion on amendment, let's proceed with the vote.
There's a paper of amendment 1, say aye.
All those opposed to a nay.
And then one is adopted and a final closing remarks before we proceed with the final adoption of the underlying motion.
Okay, seeing no further discussion for Kaylee, please call the roll.
Thank you. Can't remember Bellucci.
That's the number of our own.
Hi.
That's the numbered in basketball ski.
Hi.
It's the number done.
Hi.
That's the number of pain.
Hi.
That's the number Lewis.
Hi.
That's the number of mascara.
Hi.
That's a number of on-mic power.
You're Gary.
Aye.
I mean, we're meeting.
The vote is 9.
9.
and referral of ordinances and motions items 13 through 23 as listed and before we adjourn,
I'll note we have a Proclamation Celebrating India's Independence Day being presented in community
by Council Member Von Wright-Bauer. Additionally, I want to take a brief moment to announce
the names of the nominees to fill council-nominated at large vacancy on the conservation
from Futures Advisory Committee, Ellen Schiffer, Jamie Strubbel,
Masra Klemongu, Jane Boyz, before we move on,
I want to briefly recognize Vice Chair Barron
to say a few final words after the resettragity
at the bite of Seattle, Council Member Barron.
Thank you, Chair Perry, and I appreciate
you're taking a beginning of the meeting
with a moment of silence.
I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge
the horrific incident that took place this weekend in District 4 at the Biosciato event in Seattle
Center. I believe I speak for everybody here when I say that our hearts are with the victims
of the strategy, their families and loved ones and everyone who has been impacted and that
were grateful for the prompt actions. So for responders including Seattle police and fire departments
and the staff of our own county hospital, Harvey Medical Center. So thank you on everybody's
in our thoughts.
Thank you very much, Vice Chair Barron.
With that, I want to share a quick reminder to the public that the council will be observing
our annual August recess from August 3 through August 14th.
The council will not be meeting during this time and our next regularly scheduled council meeting
will be held on Tuesday August 8th.
With that, do my colleagues have any other business for the good of the order?
Seeing no further business before us, the meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.