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So the Spokane Valley City Council regular meeting formal B format of Tuesday, July 7, 2026 is now called to order. We will start with an invocation from Mike Drew from Valley Assembly Church. If you please stand.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us unalienable rights that don't come from men and they don't come from government, but they come from you. And Lord, you also give us responsibilities. And Lord, as those that lead our city

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today, we pray that you would give them wisdom, that you would give them insight, Lord, as

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they deal with difficult challenges and interesting problems, that you'd give them the very

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mind that they need and the insight, Lord, to see beyond their natural wisdom. We ask for

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your blessing and we need it. So today we unite together in this chamber, Lord, to ask for the very

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Every blessing of God who gives us those unalienable rights and Lord then helps us in the responsibilities

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that you've entrusted to us in Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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Thank you.

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And please join in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag

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and to the public

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and to the people.

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Will the clerk call the roll, please?

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Mayor Patton, here.

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Deputy Mayor Hattenberg.

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Here.

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Council Member Yeager.

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Here.

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Council Member Haley.

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Here.

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Council member Kelly, present. Council member Wic. Here. Council member Merkel. Here.

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Thank you. We now have the approval of agenda. Move to approve the agenda.

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All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The agenda is approved. We have a number of special guests and

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presentations here today. And the first is Fire Chief Soto Jr. Talking about ambulance transport costs.

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Good

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evening, Councilmembers, Madam Mayor,

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of the dignitaries and our citizens of Spokane Valley.

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Thank you for having me this evening.

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To talk about the ambulance or the cost of an ambulance ride.

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Recently I had a great conversation with Council Member Yeager

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and was trying to kind of bring her up to speed about the cost.

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I realize right now the cost currently is $5,400 for a ride with our contract and ambulance company, which is AMR American medical response.

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However, I want to really explain and help you understand what all this means because there's a lot of moving parts.

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and generally speaking, most people only see the price tag and its instant panic.

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And I want to say, don't go there yet.

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So first, a little bit of background.

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As you know, the last two years, we've seen the cost of an Ambo ride here in Spokane County go up by just over 400%.

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And another, I believe, 100% ish on the rides.

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But again, what I really want to explain is, currently right now, most people that we transport are not paying $5,400.

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So here's the whole misinformation.

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I know that people are running around going or paying $5,400 or paying $5,400, but we're not.

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In fact, in the last two years since we've had our own contract with AMR, we've received zero complaints about the cost of an ambulance ride.

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Now, why is this?

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That's a great question.

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Back in 2020, the state of Washington introduced the original balance billing act.

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And that came into effect at the same time as the No Surprises Act for the Federal Government also in 2020.

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The problem with both these acts is neither one of them covered out-of-network ambulance

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transports, ground ambulance transport. And that's what we're talking about. So in 2024,

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at the legislative session, it was introduced out-of-network ground ambulances were brought into,

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as an addendum, to the original RCW. And it passed in 2024 during the legislative session.

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went into effect January 1st, 2025, and the reason that this is hugely important is because

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what that does is it takes away the $5,400 if you will to a point.

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So anybody who is not self-insured but has fully insured, if you are fully insured,

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you have Medicaid, you have Medicare, you are only paying your portion,

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your copay, your deductible, your co-insurance, your only paying that amount.

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The rest of that bill, the ambulance service has to eat, we're not paying that.

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That's what the Balance Billing Act is for, and that's why it's covering the ambulance trip.

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Now, there is a small percentage, so to give you a specific number,

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over the last two years, the Spokane Valley Fire Department has transported just over 27,000 patients.

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Of the 27,000 patients, 9% only 9% would fall into the category of potentially paying the $5,400.

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So that's roughly 2,400 customers that went to the hospital and may receive the whole bill.

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and why? Because most of those people, 1800 of them have no insurance. They're just not

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insured, so they could potentially receive the whole bill. The other remaining number

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are non-contracted insurance, so meaning their company may have an insurance.

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This is an example, a large company like your Amazon that would be paying 80 to $100 million

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dollars a year for insurance decides to be a self-funded insurance. In that case, they have to

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sign on with the state or sign a contract in order to reduce that amount that you may or may not

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pay if you are contracted with them. That number, though, of our transports is 2.7%. So we're talking

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about a very, very small number. Most of our transports are covered under the balanced billing

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act, so I just want to assure you that even if they continue to go up, they're not going

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to get any more out of the insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare, those numbers are set,

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and that's it, period. They pay what they pay, and you are not going to get a surprise bill with

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what's left.

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Questions?

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Well, you know, actually, before I go into that, as an example, that's why I put this here

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so you can kind of see what I'm talking about versus a transport charge.

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I put 5,000 just to keep it simple.

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Insurance paste 2,500, you could pay 100.

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There's $2,400 left on this, but you cannot be billed for it.

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And the reason that this is important is because if that was the case,

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then I'd probably have about 27,000 complaints, and we have not received any of them.

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And many of the people that I've talked to, I've openly asked them to send me your complaints,

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and we will get to the bottom of that.

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We will fight for our patients, and not one.

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I have not received one from anyone.

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Now, I'll open it up to questions.

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Questions from council, council member Kelly?

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So I'm just curious if this 5400 doesn't really reflect what they're receiving and what's

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the purpose is?

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Do you feel that that actually represents what it truly costs them and it still outcomes

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escalates so much in just two years?

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So I don't want to get into a, I can't speak for DMR.

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I'm going to take you back, though, back in 2010, the cost was $941 in 2024.

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for it was still only about 1,000, just over 1,000.

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Now, obviously it's 5,400.

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I can tell you that the cost of paramedics and EMTs

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have gone up.

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I know that they negotiated several contracts.

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I also know that they lost arbitration

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and had to pay a large number there.

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But AMR was up front with all the fire departments

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in this county and told us all back in 2024,

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we cannot operate at $1,000.

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So we're going to have to significantly raise it, at least they started off with, I believe it's $3,200, it's going to have to go to that amount period.

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Now, understand from the fire department perspective, there's only, at the time, there's only three actual teeth at the back.

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There's only two agencies transporting in this county.

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In comparison to other large counties out there that have, you know, double digit

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transport agencies, we had to Deer Park and AMR.

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Since then we've added Fire District 4 and obviously Fire District 9 that just started

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on July 1st.

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And we couldn't get anybody, we reached out all across the country asking for other agencies

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to want to come in for an RFP process and nobody was interested and so it was pretty much either

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try and start your own ambulance company or you're going to have to raise the prices. The prices

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are going to come up and essentially that's what they have and every agency in the county is paying

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the $54 with the exception of D4 and D9.

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Council Member Merkel. Yeah, thanks so much. Kind of answered

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some of my questions about the procurement process and who negotiated this contract?

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That being said, you know, were we able to show any price comparisons? What would have happened

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if we would have just said, okay, we're not going to contract with you?

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Pandora's Box, Sir. Pandora's Box. So let's say we did, let's play the what if game. I'm

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not a fan of it because you can pretty much go down whatever rabbit hole you want, but if we did,

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you would not have any firefighters. You would have ambulance transport providers.

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So in this county, I'm going to pick on the hospitals for a second.

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And I don't mean to, but it is what it is. There is a large weight at our hospitals for our patients.

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The ambulance is going to go there and it's waiting an hour, it's not uncommon waiting much more than an hour, it is the norm.

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So, if we don't contract with EMR, we have to provide that service, the fire department is counting.

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and I don't have any money to hire a hundred new ambulance transport providers.

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I'm going to have to put my firefighters on those units when they go on those calls,

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which means if they're sitting at the hospital for hours on end,

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there's nobody covering for fires or other emergencies.

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So it's one of those situations where you have to dance with the one that brought you,

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Yeah, because there's nobody else.

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That's my re-eager.

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Thank you.

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So, if I'm understanding correctly, I go to the hospital and I need an aspirin.

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The aspirin costs $10.

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If Blue Cross contracts to pay for that aspirin $100, an Etna contracts to pay $90, but the

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hospital's only charging $10.

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Those two insurance companies, well, I think I'm reversing this, but they're basically the

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The hospital's losing out if they're not building it, those appropriate rates.

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Is that's what we're kind of talking about for the ambulance rise?

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If we're comparing that to an aspirin, so the hospital could charge Blue Cross $100 for that $10 aspirin. So if they don't bill that, they're actually effectively losing money based on their contract, which I think is kind of where this is at. If Blue Cross is going to pay $3,000 for an ambulance ride, but they're only charging $1,000, they're losing out on $2,000.

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Absolutely, but if you're going to compare it, I think it's weird, but I compare it to

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your car insurance.

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If you own the car a lot of times, actually, let me take that out.

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Let's do home insurance.

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You don't own your home, so you pay insurance.

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And if there's a fire that happens at your house, who pays for it, your insurance company

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at whatever rate you have set.

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If you own the house, like many do, and they choose not to pay home insurance anymore

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because they're saying, you know, I own it, I don't want to pay anything, and there's

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a fire than the homeowners on the hook for the entire rebuild, if they want to rebuild.

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And that's kind of, that's where we're at with self-funded versus fully insured.

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And that's the 8% we talked about, the 9% sorry, that we talked about, that's the

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self-funded.

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But there's a portion of that, there's 5% or sorry, 2.7% of that, that they could still

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negotiate it, or they come in and they say this is what you pay and that's it.

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But as for the cost that I couldn't tell you, because the bill, there's two different

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bills when you go to a hospital, right?

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There's the ambulance bill, and then there's the hospital bill, so there's two different

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animals there.

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So I couldn't tell you from the hospital side.

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Could you tell us the difference between what's going on in Fire District 9 that they can

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provide some kind of these, some of these services and what we have here?

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I'm

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trying to figure out how to answer that and not step on any toes at big feet and I've been around a long time so I know I know the dances but I'm not good at dancing.

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Fire District 9 is now providing all transports within their area, the response area.

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What we're talking about is 3,300 transports a year, that's roughly where they're at.

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And they've only been in service for a week, not even a full week, but they're certainly,

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based on what I can see, they're feeling it, they're going on calls, and they're waiting

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in hospitals, but as for the cost of those transports, I couldn't tell you, I mean,

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I know how much they're charging, I have it right here in front of me, is it less than

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the 5400? Yes. But again, as long as they're, what they're charging is a buff Medicaid, Medicare

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and what your fully insured insurance will pay, then they're taking home the same amount as AMR would

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be charging 5,400. It's smoking mirrors. That the people that will fill it, the difference are the

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non-insured or people who have a non-contracted insurance. Then potentially, yeah, they could be paying a lot

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But understand, if you are non-contracted, self-funded with an employer, it's the employer that's paying the amount, not you, but you could be on the hook for some of it, if the insurance has some sort of deal with you as their employee.

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I appreciate what you're saying that, you know, a lot of this cost gets passed through to insurance, but I'm understanding correctly that actual insurance cost has gone up quite a bit.

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And so that would be reflected in people's insurance rates on private insurance.

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I'm not debating that one bit, there's no way the cost of insurance right now is the

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same five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, certainly.

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So is there anything we can do to, you know, now that we're here, is there anything we

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can do to head this off of the pass going forward?

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could AMR continue to bring their cost up? Yes. Does that change anything? No. Because everything is

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capped because of balance billing. So it's only as you're insured. If you're not, I know that they do

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have a forgiveness, but that's between them and the citizens. So I don't know what those

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percentages or numbers are. But what I can ask is, I've met recently with the Washington

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State Office of Insurance Commissioner and I've met with the Washington Department

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of Health and both are in agreement that they have some problems that they just didn't

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anticipate, and with the price of AMR raising the prices has brought all that to light.

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For instance, there's no cap in the state of Washington, so they can raise it to $40,000

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to transport.

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There's no cap, there's nobody policing that, which is unheard of coming from other states

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that I've operated in. It's beyond me that there's nobody directly over that. Does that

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mean that all these insurance companies have to pay that amount? No, but those who want

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to contract it for those amounts would have to. So that of that 8%, that would potentially

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those people would be paying that amount. So again, I've asked that they do an internal

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review and start looking at that and coming up with a better way to police all of this,

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to include why does it take an act of Congress to get a fire department to transport patients

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in this state. There's a lot of things that we are very progressive in the state and

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And there are some things that we are very, the system is very antiquated.

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And this is one of those areas, they are going to look at it and see what they can do.

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Councilmember Kelly.

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What have you directed?

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My assumption that Fire District 9 now has to implement billing insurance billing.

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You are correct, sir.

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Is that something that they outsource third party then?

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I couldn't tell you, sir.

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But yes, they have to do all the billing collections, the whole nine yards, but I mean, we call it today more like soft billing because of the balanced bill actor.

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You can only get what you can get, so you just be chasing your tail, trying to get more.

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Council member Merkel.

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Yeah, since we're contracted with AMR, is there anything that prevents like, say, one of the private insurance companies from starting their own ambulance service for their covered individuals?

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Yes, sir. There's tons of problems. So let's

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say the city of Spokane Valley said, hey,

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we want to start a third-party ambulance company. It would require, it would require you

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first to go to the Spokane County EMS Council and get approval there. They'd take that to

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the state gets state approval, and then you would still have to do a needs assessment

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and proven need. That's part of the problem with Valley Fire. We've looked at all this,

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I can't prove a need, and the state of Washington has already told me the cost of a transport

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is not a need. So our hands are tied because AMR is meeting all of our needs. In any case,

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if you can still somehow prove a need, then at that point, it goes out to bid worldwide.

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Whoever wants to apply for it. Well, with 14,000 transports a year, we're talking about

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multi-million dollars, right? So we're talking about generating 17 million dollars.

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roughly plus GMT money or not, because that's a whole other dance to talk about.

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But you could potentially have a different ambulance company come in and they take it

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from you because they have lobbyists that have a whole lot of money that you don't have.

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And now you have competition which is good but you could also make things worse.

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So yeah, and part of that is now you have to stand up, you know, you have to get your own medical

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doctor. There's a whole bunch of different, you got to get your billing, all that stuff. So

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there's a lot to it. It will take a while. You can see District 9 took a long time and we're talking

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about something that is a small area. There are big area, but a small amount of transports and it's

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still took a while for them to get it.

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Any other questions, comments?

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There's a comment.

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Yeah, Council Member Wick.

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Just really appreciate you taking the time.

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It was pretty confusing the way the newspaper

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are left it, so I appreciate you taking the time

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to come and explain it to us and share that it's not

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quite as scary as what it sounded like.

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No problem, and I get it.

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I, you know, there's so many different moving parts

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when I talked to Council Member Yager, I explained it.

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the man, there's just, I've been in this business for 30 years and it's still state to state

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it's different and then it's just, there's so many different parts and pieces to it

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that it's just, it's very frustrating. To me, the most frustrating part is we just, we don't

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have the different companies here, and I don't know how to get them here, so that they can

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compete. Now, if they compete and bring the prices down, is that change any of the

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revenue that they're receiving? Not really, because again, we're talking about 8 to 9 percent

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of the population, and of those how many, if you don't have, if you're not insured at all,

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How many of those people are even paid?

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Council Member Kelly.

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I appreciate that explanation.

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I think that you have implied and I certainly feel like I can recognize that this lack of

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competition is probably one of the reasons why we have such high prices.

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But I think it's important to remember that even though the reimbursements are capped contractually,

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I mean, those agreed contract prices are probably, you know, they started from this 5400 number.

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So that's whatever that is, is probably going to be higher than it would need to be if

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we had additional competition.

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And those costs are going to be reflected in the insurance premium, so people continue

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to pay.

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It's just pretty much spread out amongst everyone who has health insurance, which is part

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of the purpose of health insurance is spread those costs out.

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But we could kind of contain these prices if we had greater competition.

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And so that would be my comment, it would be nice.

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All right, great, thank you so very much.

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We appreciate your expertise and the input you have on a very current topic of concern.

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Yes, ma'am, thank you, thank you Council members.

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We now have another presentation on transportation improvement program with John Holman.

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Good

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evening, Mayor and Councilmember John Homan, City Manager, here to celebrate big news,

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20.8 million reasons to celebrate.

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So we were notified officially today, unofficially at the end of last week, that the US DOT has selected

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the Sullivan Trent project for a 28.8 million dollar build award. So we wanted to reflect

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on that a little bit, make the announcement celebrate, but also congratulate this team

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that we have built.

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If you think about what this has meant just to these three large projects,

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So if I go back in time to 2017 and Barker was a grade at grade crossing, it was about

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a big of a nightmare as pines.

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We were successful in the Tiger program at that time.

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So that was a $9 million award in 2022, then we received a $21.7 million award during

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the RAIS program or through the RAIS program for the Pines project, which is currently under construction

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and then to have this announcement is just phenomenal. It's hard to describe how difficult it is

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to receive even one of these awards and to have our projects selected year over year or within

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in the 10-frame 10-year program is really something to celebrate and how did we get here?

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A lot of hard work, about a decade ago, the council really wanted us to elevate our transportation

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implementation improvement program and

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And so we spent quite a bit of time working collectively together to do that. And from the council's advocacy on these projects, from the different trips that we take to Olympia and Washington, D.C., to our contracted lobbyist, which we have our state lobbyist in the house tonight, which we appreciate. These all contribute to making these projects aware at the state and federal level.

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to our legislators, and makes it attractive for them to consider our projects moving forward.

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But we don't get there without having the implementation team as well.

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And so we have bar none, the finest staff that we can assemble just from the planning part

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through the engineering part, through the inspection piece,

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these, everybody working together to make sure that these projects move forward as best

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as they can and meet all the state and federal requirements so that we can pass any audit

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and make sure that we stay in the great favors or the good favors of these granting programs.

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I also want to focus on our planning grants individuals, so you all recognized Adam Jackson.

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Recently, Kristen Armstrong is now coming on board with that.

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These are two individuals that really help navigate us, the council and staff, and what

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programs to look at how to position our projects.

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And all of that works together to create the results that we have here.

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$51.5 million for just these three projects,

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just looking at it real closely, all of our projects are heavily grant funded.

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We leverage some initial city investment to bring back a significant amount of money, mostly on the federal side, some on the state side to get these projects done.

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And so, Barker Road, this was the cost breakdown there.

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Pines, raise, was the majority, or almost the majority, almost about half of that funding,

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the Fed, other Fed's make up the rest of that majority funding.

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And you see the city had a significant amount of money in it, but still a minority share

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of that project as it moves forward.

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We're still working on the Sullivan Trent funding, but the most difficult piece I think we've hit, which is this build award and we are still seeking about 9.8 million to complete it.

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The reason it's at that is we need to have matching funds. So we've pretty much maxed out all of the federal funds that we can put on this project and we need some additional matching funds.

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And so that could be their city or state.

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My understanding staff had a great call with the Transportation Improvement Board today,

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so that could be an option that we'll talk to you about in a couple of weeks.

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And also we've had conversations with the Council Member Wick.

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He's on the board of the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board.

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And there is a placeholder there that we will try to work through and make that happen

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as well.

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So a lot of the granting agencies like to be last one end, so this is really a good

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story to have and to go forward with.

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And really, what are these grant programs?

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So it's all of the gas taxes and other taxes that our residents pay go to the state and

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feds, and this is how they distribute it back to the communities.

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and we need to be competitive at this and we are and but we also want to be

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thankful to all of our friends in high places as well and we'll get to that in

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just a minute but this is an incredible record if you think about over the last

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ten years and I really like how we change this slide. This is a slide that we're

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preparing for the state of the city and it's already out of date so now we're

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correct it and make sure you have the right information mayor. Almost the

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$180 million that we've brought in over the last 10 years. Over 90 different

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projects is incredible and I really wanted to thank the City Council. I wanted

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to thank our staff and all the hard work that they've done but we also want to

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I think our state and federal delegations will concentrate on the feds right now.

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And hopefully if we get some state money, we can have them in and thank them as well.

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We did reach out to each of the two senators offices as well as the congressman's office.

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Unfortunately, the senators' individuals were not able to come tonight, but

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that I am very grateful that Congressman Baumgartner has sent former Senator Mike Padden

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to say a few words.

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So I would ask Mike to come up and address the council.

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Well, thank you very much, John, and I know Congressman did issue a press release, excuse

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me today, indicating congratulations to the City of Spokane Valley and its transportation

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team whose responsible planning and hard work put this project in a strong position to

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compete for federal funding. Earlier this year, I supported Spokane Valley, suffered

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with a letter to the appropriate agencies. And it's just very exciting. And you think

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of the location and you know we all know our area but what's going on along that Sullivan

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corridor north of the river north of I-90 we've got the ice rink being built we've got the

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course that is actually an operation and it's got a whole bunch of meats plan we've got

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I just love seeing all that steel in the sky when you're going to solve it and see the

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solstice expansion, $200 million, the largest expansion construction project in Spokane

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County right now.

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We got Kaiser that is continuing to have 1,000 or so employees, I believe that's right Dan

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Wilson's here. And we got the industrial park busting at the seams of the congressman

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and I visited a company called DAV, which makes mining equipment. They're in the industrial

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park. They are expanding, got a new building. They went, they started with three employees.

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If 55 now, they're going to be adding additional ones. And through the efforts, also the city

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that North Park or a corridor has got all these warehouses that are being filled.

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So, I mean, there's a reason that, you know, this federal money, our tax dollars coming

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back to us are here, and that's because of the growth and dynamism of the valley.

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They're not going elsewhere.

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We're seeing the growth, the economic development, everything else, so certainly a great day,

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and I commend the city along with the congressman and look forward to seeing these things being

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completed over the next few years and certainly congratulate all of you, the entire council,

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for supporting these efforts. So on behalf of congressman Bungarner,

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he congratulates you. Thank you very much.

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Thank you, senator. We appreciate your comments.

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Just really want to congratulate Council for your steadfast interest in this, your commitments

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to go to Olympia and to Washington, D.C. to advocate for these projects.

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And again, thank you for all the hard work to make it happen and to keep us moving forward on these projects.

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I also want to thank the community for their patience as we work through these construction projects

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because that's the other big piece of this, is there's some temporary pain that seems to go on for quite some time, but once that's through and the construction opens up, this community's way better off.

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So what we did tonight, I want to thank Julie and the other staff for putting a few cupcakes out there.

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So the audience members, please feel free, council, please feel free to grab a snack and then we'll take a little

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intermission potentially and then move on.

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Well, are there any comments from council?

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Council member Yeager?

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Well, John, I just want to say that really is you and your staff that are, you know,

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supporting and doing the hard lifting. We're here to support those initiatives and you have an incredible

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team, so I just on behalf of all the rest of us just want to thank you for everything

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you guys do for our community.

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Councilmember Haley?

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Thank you.

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Yeah, I want to say thank you too.

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I mean, yes, we can wish that bridging the valley happened, but the staff is who makes

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it happen.

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And I know Adam said very humbly that it would have nothing to do with him, but the only thing

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that is always the same, and the reason we are always first one with SRTC and first with

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the federal government is because he's amazing.

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Deputy Mayor.

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I'd like to echo the part on Adam, the last two or three years that I've gone back to

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DC with him and part of the team.

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They know who he is.

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We've had the Federal Transportation Department actually say you might want to hang on to the

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sky because everybody knows the kind of job he does, and that's right from them.

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And not only that, or to you as Senator or Congressman and our Congressman before, that they've

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supported it.

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I realize the importance of these projects, and I understand that this project was number one on the appropriations committee's list, and that was with Senator Murray, if not mistaken, so they recognize they talk about they represent the whole state of Washington and it's happening here, so thank you so much.

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Council Member Kelly.

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I have been on the council a short period of time, but I have recognized in that time that

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the staff does work hard and is very sincere in their efforts to bring progress and growth

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to the city and do so in a way that makes sense, and so I acknowledge that and appreciate

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that.

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Council Member Wood.

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And just a hearty congratulations, I mean that project is long overdue, I feel like it

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should have been a big, low-gold phase 16 or whatever it was or a big, low-gold from

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the county.

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But I just really appreciate all the hard work and the effort into that and also just

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a good cadence that we have.

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I remember when we had Barker under construction, I kind of challenged us to see if we can't

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figure out how to fund pines before Barker got done and we accomplished that and now here

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we are funding, I mean 90% of Sullivan before we even get pines done.

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So just looking forward to continuing that cadence and keeping these great projects moving forward and then also the

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We actually had a project before that which was the Sullivan West Bridge or the river which was a $20 million project as well

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So we've had a great number of success in our program

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Council member Merkel, would you like to say something or not?

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I think I'm okay. Everything's been said

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Possibly take over the north-south freeway

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We actually took their construction manager away from them.

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Well, in my comment is, it's really a tribute to the long-term relationships that we've

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had particularly with Senator Murray's and Catwell and are shorter, but just as productive

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relationship with Congressman Baumgartner.

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But it says volumes about your leadership on the city and on the projects and the ability

423
00:42:56,900 --> 00:43:03,080
to get things done and also volumes about the capability and talents of the rest of the staff

424
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:09,560
to do the job and to create the reputation that this city has in terms of transportation projects

425
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,220
and, you know, when we say we're going to do something, we get it done and get it done on time

426
00:43:14,220 --> 00:43:21,240
and within budget. And I think we need to say it's also a tribute to the vision of those who came

427
00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:27,320
before us and saw these possibilities and the needs and the growth and then to the persistence

428
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:32,700
of everyone who came after them to keep moving and moving forward and keep in the ball rolling.

429
00:43:32,980 --> 00:43:35,680
So congratulations all around.

430
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:42,760
So we can take a 10 minute break and enjoy some cupcakes and then we'll get back to business.

431
00:43:43,220 --> 00:43:43,960
Thank you.

432
00:45:46,900 --> 00:46:16,760
And Valley, Washington, parks, and recreation month. Whereas parks and recreation activities provide opportunities for citizens of all ages to grow and develop into contributing members of their communities, and whereas parks and recreation programs strengthen the community foster individual growth and increase cultural diversity. And whereas parks and recreation programs provide outlets for physical activities

433
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:25,060
socialization and stress-reducing experience, and whereas parks playgrounds, natural trails,

434
00:46:25,540 --> 00:46:31,820
open spaces, aquatic facilities, senior and event centers make our community an attractive

435
00:46:31,820 --> 00:46:39,220
and desirable place to work, play, and visit which contributes to our economic vitality,

436
00:46:39,220 --> 00:46:47,120
And whereas Parks, Greenways, and Open Spaces provide a welcome respite from our fast-paced

437
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:51,980
high-tech lifestyles while protecting and preserving our natural environment.

438
00:46:52,460 --> 00:46:59,360
And whereas thousands of Spokane Valley children, adults, and seniors benefit from the wide range

439
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:05,340
of services, facilities, and programs provided by the Spokane Valley Parks and Recreation

440
00:47:05,340 --> 00:47:12,060
Department. Now, therefore, I, Laura Padden, Mayor of the City of Spokane Valley. On behalf

441
00:47:12,060 --> 00:47:17,940
of the Spokane Valley City Council and the citizens of the City of Spokane Valley, do

442
00:47:17,940 --> 00:47:26,180
hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month. And I encourage all citizens

443
00:47:26,180 --> 00:47:33,400
to participate in and support the many recreational programs and facilities provided by public and

444
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:38,600
private agencies dated this seventh day of July 2026.

445
00:47:47,190 --> 00:47:48,970
Good evening, Mayor and members of council.

446
00:47:49,090 --> 00:47:53,530
I'm Kendall May Recreation Coordinator and I am here to introduce Devon Weissman. She's one of our

447
00:47:53,530 --> 00:47:59,310
two recreation interns that we hire on for the summer to help run all the programs and events

448
00:47:59,310 --> 00:48:04,130
that we have going on. So she is a student at Eastern Washington University getting a degree in

449
00:48:04,130 --> 00:48:09,190
recreation management and completing this internship will complete her degree. So she's going to come up

450
00:48:09,190 --> 00:48:11,470
and accept the proclamation and tell you how we're going to celebrate.

451
00:48:17,860 --> 00:48:23,800
Hello, council. I'm Devon Weisman, and I'm honored to accept this proclamation on behalf of the

452
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:30,780
Parks and Rec Department. One of my goals for my internship this summer is to plan and host

453
00:48:30,780 --> 00:48:36,980
an event to celebrate Parks and Recreation Month. And so I'm proud to invite you to our Parks

454
00:48:36,980 --> 00:48:42,620
and Recreation Month's trivia showdown, which will be on July 24th from 4 to 7 p.m. It's going to be

455
00:48:42,620 --> 00:48:48,520
hosted at the scale house market through our Spokane Valley Farmers market and it's going to be

456
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:52,520
an event where community members can test their knowledge about parks and recreation,

457
00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:59,080
our department, general parks knowledge, all of that good stuff, challenge their friends and family

458
00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:05,700
to attribute a showdown and earn prizes all while enjoying the ability to shop locally with all of

459
00:49:05,700 --> 00:49:10,340
our amazing vendors. And then after the market at Mirabu Meadows we're going to be having an outdoor

460
00:49:10,340 --> 00:49:15,320
movie with lots of activities and programming for kids and families before the movie starts and

461
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:22,140
then we're going to be showing up the movie and so I invite you all to join us on July 24th for

462
00:49:22,140 --> 00:49:27,340
those special events for Parks and Recreation Month as well as just wanted to point out that July

463
00:49:27,340 --> 00:49:34,920
17th is also National Parks and Recreation Professionals Day so a great day to show our love and appreciation

464
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:42,860
for all of the parks and recreation staff out there serving their community and providing awesome parks and recreation experiences for us all.

465
00:49:43,500 --> 00:49:45,760
So, thank you again and we hope to see you there.

466
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:49,560
Very good. Thank you.

467
00:49:57,350 --> 00:49:59,170
Yeah, question. What time?

468
00:49:59,750 --> 00:50:01,310
Would that be on the 24th?

469
00:50:05,180 --> 00:50:08,680
So, it's going to be an ongoing event during the farmers market.

470
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:14,320
So, any time between 4 and 7 you can show in and we're going to have a quick short round.

471
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:18,560
So opportunities for everyone to play any time from 4 to 7.

472
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:19,980
Great, thank you.

473
00:50:24,660 --> 00:50:27,380
And tonight we do have a mayor's statement.

474
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:33,620
So from time to time, the presiding officer takes a few minutes to offer explanations

475
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,780
or correctness information and factual discrepancies.

476
00:50:38,500 --> 00:50:43,980
Today, I will speak about the rules around interrupting another council member during meetings

477
00:50:44,340 --> 00:50:46,840
which is allowed under certain circumstances.

478
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:48,200
I

479
00:50:50,660 --> 00:50:56,060
have actually gone over this before in another mayor's statement, but it appears that for

480
00:50:56,060 --> 00:50:58,920
everyone's benefit, I will say some more about it.

481
00:50:59,940 --> 00:51:06,900
First, the bias is not a soapbox on a street corner where one can expound for hours on end.

482
00:51:07,720 --> 00:51:15,340
Here we are engaged in a formal meeting run by rules and protocols, mostly determined by

483
00:51:15,340 --> 00:51:21,040
Roads Rules, but also by our governance manual and certain RCWs in the state.

484
00:51:22,700 --> 00:51:32,080
These rules are in place to guarantee an orderly and respectful discussion of agenda items and the timely progression of the meetings.

485
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:41,720
According to Roads Rules, the presiding officer, tonight it's me, is obligated to interrupt any council member

486
00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:47,120
or when the presiding officer proceeds that there is a violation of the rules.

487
00:51:48,260 --> 00:51:54,060
Council members can interrupt another council member when they perceive a violation

488
00:51:54,060 --> 00:51:59,840
of the rules and feel the presiding officer has failed to see and address that violation.

489
00:52:00,740 --> 00:52:08,060
For council members the procedure is to call out point of order and can interrupt the potential

490
00:52:08,060 --> 00:52:15,180
defender. The providing officer replies, speak to the point. The council member who called

491
00:52:15,180 --> 00:52:23,260
the point explains what they feel the alleged violation might be. And the deciding officer

492
00:52:23,260 --> 00:52:30,380
renders his or her decision. These are non-debatable. There's no arguing, no comments.

493
00:52:32,850 --> 00:52:34,070
The offending

494
00:52:34,070 --> 00:52:41,610
meeting council member, if they feel the ruling is an error, can appeal the decision to

495
00:52:41,610 --> 00:52:49,890
the entire council. It must be seconded. So if the entire council votes, they can either

496
00:52:49,890 --> 00:52:57,210
uphold the presiding officer's ruling, or they can overturn it. And this prevents any

497
00:52:57,210 --> 00:53:03,070
kind of tyranny from the presiding officer and goes along with the idea that majority

498
00:53:03,070 --> 00:53:11,070
rules. For the presiding officer, he or she does not call out the point of order or carry

499
00:53:11,070 --> 00:53:17,570
on a dialogue with themselves. For example, I would not say point of order and then speak

500
00:53:17,570 --> 00:53:22,670
to the point. And then I'll say my point is blah, blah, blah. And then I would say, this

501
00:53:22,670 --> 00:53:30,330
is my decision. You will not see that anywhere. It's an unrealistic expectation. The presiding

502
00:53:30,330 --> 00:53:35,650
officer simply politely, hopefully, but with authority, interrupts the council member

503
00:53:35,650 --> 00:53:37,550
and begins to explain the reason.

504
00:53:39,070 --> 00:53:44,310
Last week, I interrupted a council member, but before I could explain my rationale,

505
00:53:45,290 --> 00:53:50,690
the council member immediately violated Robert's rules around points of order and decorum

506
00:53:50,690 --> 00:53:59,470
by complaining hurling accusations and declaring that the presiding officer did not have the

507
00:53:59,470 --> 00:54:00,770
authority to interrupt.

508
00:54:01,510 --> 00:54:10,550
In the end, by the behavior, what was effectively denied all council members their chance to

509
00:54:10,550 --> 00:54:17,630
comment on the admin report while he demonstrated his ability to speak loud enough to cover the entire room.

510
00:54:19,030 --> 00:54:21,530
So, that is my comment.

511
00:54:22,190 --> 00:54:24,710
We will now go on to general public comments.

512
00:54:24,710 --> 00:54:26,150
General

513
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:40,600
public comment opportunity is an opportunity for the public to speak on any subject except agenda action items as public comments will be taken on those items were indicated.

514
00:54:41,260 --> 00:54:45,280
Please keep comments to matters within the jurisdiction of city government.

515
00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:49,460
This is not an opportunity for questions or discussion.

516
00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:55,460
The first points of view are welcome, but please keep remarks, remarks, civil.

517
00:54:57,040 --> 00:55:02,900
Remarks will be limited to three minutes, I'm sorry, will be limited, yeah, no, just

518
00:55:02,900 --> 00:55:04,000
three minutes per person.

519
00:55:04,580 --> 00:55:11,180
If a person engages in disruptive behavior or makes individual personal attacks regarding matters

520
00:55:11,180 --> 00:55:17,260
unrelated to city business, then the council and or mayor may end the person's public comment

521
00:55:17,260 --> 00:55:22,660
time before the three-minute mark. Is there anyone on Zoom?

522
00:55:23,060 --> 00:55:23,640
No, there is not.

523
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:45,980
I believe the first one is Ben Lund.

524
00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:05,700
Well, we live in one of the greatest cities in all of Washington.

525
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:13,140
Thank you. Good evening, Mary Pan, Debbie, and Mary Hanbert, City Council, City Leadership,

526
00:56:13,540 --> 00:56:15,740
Ben Lund, Spokane Valley resident.

527
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:20,660
Councilman Merkel, in one respect, you have made history.

528
00:56:20,660 --> 00:56:27,120
because of this case, the Washington Legislator enacted House Bill No. 1934,

529
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:34,240
strengthening the privacy protection for citizens responding to public records act

530
00:56:34,240 --> 00:56:39,780
request. Your case will also be studied by elected officials across Washington,

531
00:56:40,260 --> 00:56:44,940
not as an example to follow, but on a lesson in government accountability.

532
00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:49,400
Thank you. Unfortunately, Spokane Valley taxpayers have paid the

533
00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:51,960
significant price for that.

534
00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:59,820
The city has publicly reported $100,000 in legal costs related to workplace harassment

535
00:56:59,820 --> 00:57:04,940
matters and approximately $500,000 related to the Public Records Act.

536
00:57:05,220 --> 00:57:08,120
That's about $600,000 spent already.

537
00:57:08,860 --> 00:57:15,420
Eurasian recently wrote on Facebook, thank you all, just going to keep fighting for freedom,

538
00:57:15,420 --> 00:57:20,460
lower taxes, and to keep Spokane Valley a nice place to live, unquote.

539
00:57:20,860 --> 00:57:25,280
Councilman Nortel, this issue is no longer whether you have the right to appeal.

540
00:57:25,820 --> 00:57:33,120
The issue is how much more Spokane Valley taxpayers should pay, expected to pay for that decision.

541
00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:35,280
This is for illustration only.

542
00:57:35,740 --> 00:57:39,800
If an appeal adds another year of litigation, approximately $200,000.

543
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:48,640
And if the court decides decisions were resolved in additional public record penalties,

544
00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:53,340
the taxpayers could be exposed to over $1 million.

545
00:57:54,780 --> 00:57:57,620
These are estimates, not predictions.

546
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:00,880
But they raise one simple question.

547
00:58:01,300 --> 00:58:07,580
How does spending potentially another several hundred thousand dollars

548
00:58:07,580 --> 00:58:14,380
on litigation lower taxes. Leadership is measured not by conviction, but by the

549
00:58:14,380 --> 00:58:20,180
stewardship of taxpayer dollars. In my opinion, the best solution for everyone

550
00:58:20,180 --> 00:58:25,720
involved, the city, the taxpayers, fellow council members, and even you is to

551
00:58:25,720 --> 00:58:33,060
resign and allow Spokane Valley to move forward. Councilman Merkel, we're begging you.

552
00:58:33,060 --> 00:58:34,300
I'm going to restate that.

553
00:58:34,620 --> 00:58:40,020
In my opinion, the best solution for everyone involved, the city taxpayers and fellow council

554
00:58:40,020 --> 00:58:45,820
members, and even you, is to resign and allow Spokane Valley to move forward.

555
00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:49,520
Your case has already changed, watching to state law.

556
00:58:50,020 --> 00:58:53,680
Now let it become a lesson, not another year of litigation.

557
00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:58,140
The people deserve accountability, and they deserve closure.

558
00:58:58,700 --> 00:58:59,280
Thank you.

559
00:59:00,600 --> 00:59:03,100
The next one is Kyle Mattson.

560
00:59:13,110 --> 00:59:17,990
Council members, I wanted to bring up a situation that has appeared in our community.

561
00:59:20,050 --> 00:59:27,890
On Friday, our neighbors informed us that a House 607 University has had a new tenant

562
00:59:27,890 --> 00:59:32,750
moved in and it seems to be that that house is being used as what we heard from our neighbors,

563
00:59:32,950 --> 00:59:37,690
a drug rehab home, or maybe a long-term care home.

564
00:59:38,690 --> 00:59:46,270
The flyers were passed out on Friday that a convicted state and federal pedophile rapist

565
00:59:46,270 --> 00:59:48,450
was moved into this home into our community.

566
00:59:49,250 --> 00:59:55,990
He is currently within sight of six girls under the age of ten.

567
00:59:58,100 --> 00:59:59,380
How this came to be?

568
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:28,860
I don't understand. I don't know. I'm asking for clarification as to how something like this could happen that without any notice, any word, someone with this history was placed into our community within a mile of an elementary school. I'm just flabbergasted that this situation could even exist. I'm coming here asking for some help to protect the youth of this community.

569
01:00:28,860 --> 01:00:36,900
from this person that was just plopped in without any notification, right next door.

570
01:00:37,480 --> 01:00:38,380
Thank you.

571
01:00:40,590 --> 01:00:41,370
City Manager.

572
01:00:42,410 --> 01:00:47,930
Yes, we appreciate the comment and are appalled at the situation.

573
01:00:48,710 --> 01:00:55,070
I'm speaking to the larger issue of the kind of group homes that we've been talking about

574
01:00:55,070 --> 01:00:58,290
for a bit and will double our efforts in moving forward.

575
01:00:58,290 --> 01:01:05,210
But I think if the mayor is okay, we can bring Deputy City Attorney BD forward with

576
01:01:05,210 --> 01:01:10,090
police chief Dave Ellis to give a further explanation on this issue.

577
01:01:10,670 --> 01:01:11,610
Yes, please.

578
01:01:21,180 --> 01:01:21,480
Thank you.

579
01:01:22,500 --> 01:01:25,380
Tony BD, Senior Deputy City Attorney with Chief Ellis here.

580
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:33,000
And there's really nothing that I'm going to say that's going to assure members of the

581
01:01:33,000 --> 01:01:37,400
community, we obviously empathize and are appalled at the situation as city manager,

582
01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:43,520
home and stated, the reality of the situation, the state of Washington is that local governments

583
01:01:43,520 --> 01:01:51,120
are restricted in what they can do with regards to limitations on offenders and specifically

584
01:01:51,120 --> 01:01:52,020
sex offenders.

585
01:01:52,440 --> 01:01:58,820
There was a statute passed in 2006 by the state legislature limiting local governments

586
01:01:58,820 --> 01:02:06,960
from passing any laws regarding the residents or locations of sex offenders convicted at any time.

587
01:02:08,140 --> 01:02:15,800
So there would be no law on the books in the city of Spokane Valley, nothing in Spokane County.

588
01:02:16,260 --> 01:02:22,980
If there is someone who's on Department of Corrections custody, they would have restrictions or

589
01:02:22,980 --> 01:02:24,800
or their judgment incentives would have restrictions,

590
01:02:25,580 --> 01:02:29,180
but from our standpoint and from what we can do here,

591
01:02:29,560 --> 01:02:30,760
it's very limited.

592
01:02:31,540 --> 01:02:34,760
That's another mandate from the state preemption issue.

593
01:02:37,310 --> 01:02:41,010
I would add, certainly we feel the concern of the community

594
01:02:41,010 --> 01:02:44,530
as well, and the Deputy City Attorney is correct

595
01:02:44,530 --> 01:02:46,910
in that this is at a state issue

596
01:02:46,910 --> 01:02:50,570
as far as regulating where convicted sex

597
01:02:50,570 --> 01:02:58,370
of interest going to live, post, DOC supervision from a law enforcement perspective, that is

598
01:02:58,370 --> 01:03:04,210
where we came in to send out a press release to the community to notify them that this

599
01:03:04,210 --> 01:03:10,190
person is living there. So at least the community can be advised and be aware of the situation.

600
01:03:10,190 --> 01:03:21,520
And Mayor, if I may, because this would tend to be a state level discussion.

601
01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:29,200
Later on near agenda, we have our state lobbyist, Brianna Murray, that will speak to us.

602
01:03:29,380 --> 01:03:37,320
And we should bring this up during that point and see if there's any opportunity to include this on our state.

603
01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:44,860
Agenda legislative agenda to see if there are some changes that can be made to this, because it is just terrible.

604
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:51,320
Yeah, Councilmember Kelly.

605
01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:59,320
So I'm just curious. It's not clear to me from your comments. Are these individuals still under DLC supervision or custody?

606
01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:03,920
Are they post-present in maybe community corrections now or are they completely off supervision?

607
01:04:04,500 --> 01:04:05,820
Minor signs are off supervision.

608
01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:11,740
And then do these homes have to operate with a business license?

609
01:04:15,360 --> 01:04:25,500
These homes would have, well, yes, they would be required to follow all regulations in the city and in a business license.

610
01:04:26,420 --> 01:04:32,920
I don't know exactly what specific business license this would fall under, what the category would be.

611
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:36,440
But we can certainly look at that.

612
01:04:37,240 --> 01:04:42,060
Yeah, I'm just wondering if we can require some level of supervision as a condition of maintaining that business license.

613
01:04:42,060 --> 01:04:48,380
And those are some of the options that we would be looking at as we move forward with potential

614
01:04:48,380 --> 01:04:51,040
code changes for those business licenses.

615
01:04:52,760 --> 01:04:58,040
We looked at this last year from the standpoint of if there was a chronic problem that some

616
01:04:58,040 --> 01:05:05,860
of these homes can, and you heard Mr. Horner talk about that a couple of weeks ago, seems

617
01:05:05,860 --> 01:05:13,060
to be Mr. Dan Allison talked to the mayor yesterday about this issue as well, another

618
01:05:13,060 --> 01:05:19,600
youth home in his neighborhood. So it is proliferating throughout our community. And we do need

619
01:05:19,600 --> 01:05:24,060
to look at every option for trying to restrict those, but it will be a fight with the state.

620
01:05:24,220 --> 01:05:25,700
But I know you're up to that fight.

621
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:34,140
Yes, and we have already started some of that last year with the group homes. So it's just

622
01:05:34,140 --> 01:05:38,320
It's going to be completing the fight or finishing the fight, I guess, Council Member Merkel.

623
01:05:39,100 --> 01:05:42,260
You know if this location needed a conditional use permit.

624
01:05:43,380 --> 01:05:45,980
I do not know about the specific location.

625
01:05:51,920 --> 01:05:52,320
Thank you.

626
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:53,240
Thank you.

627
01:05:58,930 --> 01:06:00,970
And next we have Joseph Godsee.

628
01:06:10,940 --> 01:06:14,440
Thank you, Mrs. Mayor and honorable members of the Council.

629
01:06:15,060 --> 01:06:17,940
My name is Joseph Godsee, a resident here in Spokane Valley.

630
01:06:17,940 --> 01:06:26,420
Again, I was not playing non-speaking tonight, but I heard something that I am quickly becoming an expert in natural monopolies

631
01:06:27,580 --> 01:06:33,720
Monopolis naturally occurring a water district one that I'm a commissioner of is considered a natural monopoly

632
01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:41,200
I can't have two water lines going to every house to compete on prices. That's what is known as a hard regional monopoly

633
01:06:42,060 --> 01:06:44,300
I am currently writing a

634
01:06:44,300 --> 01:06:52,860
paper to submit for peer review at Gonzaga University. Under in it I outlined five different types

635
01:06:52,860 --> 01:06:58,980
of natural monopolies, one of which include first responders. There were to know as at least

636
01:06:58,980 --> 01:07:08,560
I classified them as competition abhorrent natural monopolies. For those of us who are familiar

637
01:07:08,560 --> 01:07:15,040
with the history of firefighting here in America, fire departments used to be privatized. Fire

638
01:07:15,040 --> 01:07:20,560
departments would fight over jurisdiction and fight over who would get paid to put out a fire.

639
01:07:21,220 --> 01:07:26,720
They would pull up in front of a burning building and sometimes get into fist fights with each

640
01:07:26,720 --> 01:07:34,140
other to determine who could put out the fire and get paid for it. That's and we also had privatized

641
01:07:34,140 --> 01:07:40,220
police departments. They would show up outside of a crime scene and slash each other's tires

642
01:07:40,220 --> 01:07:45,400
and sabotage their equipment and fight over jurisdiction because they wanted to get paid for it.

643
01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:53,440
These were solved by making them a public good. It decreased the cost, it increased the public good,

644
01:07:53,700 --> 01:07:59,040
it increased the amount of value that the government and the city brings to the citizens here in

645
01:07:59,040 --> 01:08:07,580
America. It is standard operating procedure here in America to make first responders a

646
01:08:07,580 --> 01:08:15,580
public good minus for some reason ambulances, ambulatory services in almost every nation

647
01:08:15,580 --> 01:08:21,360
on earth ambulatory services are considered a public good because they do qualify as a

648
01:08:21,360 --> 01:08:25,660
natural monopoly, as a competition abhorrent natural monopoly.

649
01:08:26,320 --> 01:08:33,120
If we are struggling to bring in competition for ambulatory services, perhaps the best

650
01:08:33,120 --> 01:08:40,380
thing we can do is create our own. Have the city run it. Have it be part of our emergency

651
01:08:40,380 --> 01:08:49,380
first responder systems? It has worked overseas and it very well will work here. I know he's

652
01:08:49,380 --> 01:08:53,680
saying it's not that big of a deal because it's not that expensive. While that 10% of people

653
01:08:53,680 --> 01:08:58,640
People who are paying the full price are the people who are just wealthy enough to

654
01:08:58,640 --> 01:09:03,640
not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, but not wealthy enough to be able to afford

655
01:09:03,640 --> 01:09:04,420
health insurance.

656
01:09:05,080 --> 01:09:11,220
That money is a hesitation for most of the people I know to call an ambulance.

657
01:09:11,860 --> 01:09:12,500
You break a leg.

658
01:09:12,500 --> 01:09:15,340
The first thing you think is great how am I going to get to the hospital.

659
01:09:15,740 --> 01:09:17,840
That's what most of my friends think.

660
01:09:18,380 --> 01:09:19,060
Thank you.

661
01:09:19,760 --> 01:09:20,460
Thank you.

662
01:09:20,460 --> 01:09:26,120
All right, there's no one else on the list, but anyone else like to make public comment?

663
01:09:29,770 --> 01:09:34,090
All right, we will close public comment and move on to our action items.

664
01:09:37,460 --> 01:09:41,160
The first is a RCO grant application with John Botelli.

665
01:09:42,140 --> 01:09:48,360
Move to authorize staff to apply for an RCO, PRA grant to develop a renovation master plan

666
01:09:48,360 --> 01:09:51,680
for Edgecliff Park with a letter of support from council.

667
01:09:52,300 --> 01:09:52,600
Second.

668
01:09:53,580 --> 01:09:55,260
Will the clerk read the title?

669
01:09:56,620 --> 01:10:00,740
Motion consideration, RCO planning grant for Edgecliff Park.

670
01:10:02,040 --> 01:10:03,420
Thank you, Mayor.

671
01:10:03,620 --> 01:10:06,600
Members of Council, John Batelli, Parks and Recreation Director.

672
01:10:07,200 --> 01:10:13,440
I was here on June 23rd and gave administrative report about this RCO grant opportunity,

673
01:10:14,160 --> 01:10:21,600
which I don't plan to go back through in detail, but highlights to point out, this is a no

674
01:10:21,600 --> 01:10:26,380
No match requirement program, so this is not a financial ask at this time.

675
01:10:26,380 --> 01:10:34,220
This would be an application to receive funding to develop a renovation master plan for Edgecliff Park.

676
01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:39,980
No matching funds would be required from the city to apply for or receive the grant.

677
01:10:40,400 --> 01:10:48,900
If we were successful in getting the grant, it would help set us up for a future development grant application to give a facelift to the park.

678
01:10:48,900 --> 01:10:57,860
And if awarded, the value of the grant could actually be a component of whatever match might be required for that future development.

679
01:10:58,120 --> 01:11:03,600
So it's a good opportunity for the city on the heels of updating our Parks and Rec master plan.

680
01:11:04,220 --> 01:11:12,700
You know that they were several life cycle replacement needs and Edge Cliff Park was in particular called out as in need of some renovation.

681
01:11:12,700 --> 01:11:16,080
And so as a reminder for other folks in the room,

682
01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:19,180
Edgecliff is in the southwestern portion of our city.

683
01:11:19,220 --> 01:11:22,520
Kind of west of Ditchman Hills and south of Appleway Boulevard.

684
01:11:22,940 --> 01:11:24,580
It's a rather diverse neighborhood.

685
01:11:24,700 --> 01:11:32,720
There's over 5,000 people living right near the park with about 23% of households living below the poverty line.

686
01:11:33,100 --> 01:11:38,460
It's a population they need and I think sets us up well to potentially compete for grant funding.

687
01:11:38,460 --> 01:11:44,340
So I'm just here tonight for the formal step of a motion to authorize us submitting the application.

688
01:11:44,720 --> 01:11:46,220
We have it to answer any questions.

689
01:11:46,700 --> 01:11:47,680
Questions from Council?

690
01:11:48,640 --> 01:11:49,580
Council member Kelly?

691
01:11:50,900 --> 01:11:51,740
Yeah, I'm just curious.

692
01:11:52,220 --> 01:11:58,120
It's not really practical for the council to be familiar with the details of all of these potential grants.

693
01:11:58,360 --> 01:12:05,240
But I guess I'm curious, are you aware in the past, do these types of grants come with any conditions that would be?

694
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:09,660
I don't know, counter to maybe our principles or our traditional practices here in the valley.

695
01:12:09,980 --> 01:12:17,800
And as an example, I mean, would the money come with the condition that we paint all the park benches and rainbow colors or something extreme like that?

696
01:12:18,080 --> 01:12:34,340
No, they would, there are certain conditions like keeping other recreational resource available in perpetuity or having to maybe do a conversion if you wanted to, for example, change the park to something else you, having received grant funds might need to replace it somewhere else.

697
01:12:34,340 --> 01:12:36,940
nothing of the nature that you've mentioned.

698
01:12:37,480 --> 01:12:39,360
And I'll also point out which I did a couple weeks ago

699
01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:43,200
that we've received several grants from this funding source.

700
01:12:43,200 --> 01:12:44,900
It's a very well vetted program

701
01:12:44,900 --> 01:12:46,800
and familiar to staff and legal here.

702
01:12:47,320 --> 01:12:47,600
Thank you.

703
01:12:47,940 --> 01:12:48,200
Thank you.

704
01:12:48,860 --> 01:12:49,720
Council Member Merkel.

705
01:12:51,340 --> 01:12:53,840
Yeah, just so I understand a point you just made

706
01:12:53,840 --> 01:12:58,000
about grant funds and keeping the park use and perpetuity.

707
01:12:59,180 --> 01:13:01,720
How does that fit in, you know, in this RCA,

708
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:07,140
we talk about how this park is at the end of its life cycle or past the end of its life cycle.

709
01:13:07,380 --> 01:13:12,000
So what happens at the end of the next life cycle? Are we not able to change it to something

710
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:17,620
else if we receive these grants? Well, again, for this planning grant, I don't think that there'd

711
01:13:17,620 --> 01:13:23,000
be any obligation because there's no work on the ground. So we could certainly, oh, there we go.

712
01:13:23,160 --> 01:13:27,860
We could look at those details if we were awarded development funding or chose to use development

713
01:13:27,860 --> 01:13:33,100
when funding for the grant but I wouldn't think that we would have any expectation of removing

714
01:13:33,100 --> 01:13:37,220
a park that's been here for so long and serves a critical role in our community.

715
01:13:37,380 --> 01:13:42,880
This is a location where our park program is there throughout the summer, free meals given

716
01:13:42,880 --> 01:13:49,380
out, youth baseball on top all is played on the field in the park, numerous shelter park

717
01:13:49,380 --> 01:13:55,240
reservations for family events and gatherings, it's a critical component of the cultural

718
01:13:55,240 --> 01:13:56,580
fabric in that part of town.

719
01:13:58,240 --> 01:13:59,300
Other questions?

720
01:13:59,940 --> 01:14:00,580
From council?

721
01:14:01,420 --> 01:14:07,860
Okay, there's an opportunity for public questions and comments, actually, public comments.

722
01:14:08,100 --> 01:14:13,300
So on this particular topic, so is there anyone in the public who would like to comment

723
01:14:13,300 --> 01:14:14,320
on Edgecliff Park?

724
01:14:20,060 --> 01:14:20,740
Thank you.

725
01:14:20,920 --> 01:14:22,540
Joseph Godsee, Spokane Valley.

726
01:14:22,860 --> 01:14:24,920
I live right next door to Edgecliff Park.

727
01:14:25,320 --> 01:14:26,240
I love it dearly.

728
01:14:27,300 --> 01:14:34,540
I am a PCO for the Democratic Party for a zone 4401, but there's not a lot of other

729
01:14:34,540 --> 01:14:35,680
PCOs in the area.

730
01:14:36,200 --> 01:14:44,140
As such, I'm trying to, before the 15th deadline, create a canvassing team to go throughout

731
01:14:44,140 --> 01:14:44,680
the area.

732
01:14:45,020 --> 01:14:48,380
And so I'd like to reach out to any established like the Republican Party.

733
01:14:48,640 --> 01:14:51,500
If you guys have anyone there, go ahead and speak to the point.

734
01:14:51,500 --> 01:14:56,440
I hate interrupt, but this does feel a little bit like campaigning.

735
01:14:57,160 --> 01:14:59,820
But I am trying to work with anyone in the

736
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:28,480
Public and party or any other group to get canvassing for the signature list so that we can improve the park for this grant. So you're saying it's a nonpartisan effort. I'm trying to just work with any established groups in the area to gather signatures and a nonpartisan way. Right now it's limited. I wouldn't draw. Go ahead. Signatures for what?

737
01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:37,460
I've been reaching out to him and talking with him regularly and he requested that something

738
01:15:37,460 --> 01:15:40,760
that would help the grant is before the 15th of this month.

739
01:15:40,940 --> 01:15:47,200
We go out Canvas the area and gather signatures in order to make sure that the community is behind

740
01:15:47,200 --> 01:15:47,600
it.

741
01:15:48,180 --> 01:15:52,840
I have started building a team but I wasn't planning on hitting the streets until August.

742
01:15:53,240 --> 01:15:58,060
Since I have a week to establish this, I'd like a lot more help.

743
01:15:58,060 --> 01:16:04,920
So, if anyone here is willing to help out, it's completely non-political, I'm not in charge of it.

744
01:16:05,220 --> 01:16:09,460
I just want every door knocked and every signature gathered as possible.

745
01:16:10,080 --> 01:16:16,360
I love the park dearly, and whether I'm involved in the project or not, it is not an ego thing for me.

746
01:16:16,680 --> 01:16:17,760
I just wanted improved.

747
01:16:18,080 --> 01:16:22,160
My daughter plays there daily, and the children of the neighborhood do as well.

748
01:16:22,600 --> 01:16:23,280
Thank you.

749
01:16:23,640 --> 01:16:25,580
If you're interested, please talk to me.

750
01:16:25,820 --> 01:16:26,980
I'll be out in the hallway.

751
01:16:26,980 --> 01:16:40,900
Thank you. Any other comments from the public? Anybody on Zoom? No. Okay. So we can close the public comment on this council comments.

752
01:16:42,620 --> 01:16:47,820
Deputy Mayor Hanover. You know, it took the opportunity on the 4th of July, probably around noon.

753
01:16:47,940 --> 01:16:54,540
You say decide is going to go around check out all the parks, which I love to do on a regular basis.

754
01:16:54,540 --> 01:17:01,040
And Edgecliff was teeming with people, so I don't know if I would say it's at the end of his life cycle.

755
01:17:01,440 --> 01:17:05,340
There is a church group from all places, dorsal can, and off a market.

756
01:17:05,520 --> 01:17:09,560
They said they'd heard about this really quaint park that had been around.

757
01:17:09,760 --> 01:17:14,020
So they said they low income community, they wanted to come and

758
01:17:14,020 --> 01:17:14,720
shoulder support.

759
01:17:15,200 --> 01:17:16,080
I thought that was pretty neat.

760
01:17:16,420 --> 01:17:18,220
So not a lot of the parks were doing great also.

761
01:17:19,020 --> 01:17:22,980
And as the improvements are needed, the park is used quite often.

762
01:17:24,230 --> 01:17:27,850
other comments? Council Member Wake?

763
01:17:28,550 --> 01:17:33,210
I just want to appreciate the fact that I feel like our parks master plan is still warm

764
01:17:33,210 --> 01:17:38,770
hasn't even really been, I mean months since its implementation or adoption and already

765
01:17:38,770 --> 01:17:43,850
we're putting it to action and adopting some of the recommendations so I appreciate that

766
01:17:43,850 --> 01:17:47,230
quick turnaround. Council Member Merkel?

767
01:17:48,950 --> 01:17:56,550
I agree with Deputy Mayor Hattenberg and I guess I highlighted the fact that it said

768
01:17:56,550 --> 01:18:02,550
that this park has passed at the end of its life cycle because it kind of stood out

769
01:18:02,550 --> 01:18:07,730
to me that do parks have life cycles? Is this like a thing? Do we, you know, at some point

770
01:18:07,730 --> 01:18:12,330
after 20 years, do we just close the park, put a ribbon around it and say that's it? End

771
01:18:12,330 --> 01:18:16,830
of the life cycle shut down the bathroom. That, to me, didn't really make sense.

772
01:18:16,830 --> 01:18:33,970
So I just wonder, you know, I guess I feel that by including something like it's the end of the life cycle, it makes me think like, well, we should stop funding it because it's done, but, you know, maybe we should rethink how we determine life cycles for parks.

773
01:18:35,790 --> 01:18:36,590
All right.

774
01:18:39,350 --> 01:18:39,970
All those in favor?

775
01:18:40,970 --> 01:18:45,330
No. The other comment I would add is that the RCA referenced a letter of support.

776
01:18:46,250 --> 01:18:55,650
With the application different from other grant applications for development, where there's a formal resolution required to submit the application.

777
01:18:56,310 --> 01:19:01,350
There is no requirement for that for council, but there's the option for a letter of support.

778
01:19:01,350 --> 01:19:08,570
So, if you guys would like to consider that as a part of the motion, we can take that with us as well.

779
01:19:08,950 --> 01:19:08,950
So,

780
01:19:11,350 --> 01:19:18,750
I think we need to amend the motion to include the letter or by, it's part of motion.

781
01:19:19,330 --> 01:19:20,010
Oh, there it is.

782
01:19:20,470 --> 01:19:20,650
Awesome.

783
01:19:21,210 --> 01:19:23,150
All those in favor of the motion?

784
01:19:23,630 --> 01:19:24,050
Say aye.

785
01:19:24,330 --> 01:19:24,710
Aye.

786
01:19:25,170 --> 01:19:25,590
Opposed?

787
01:19:26,210 --> 01:19:27,250
It is unanimous.

788
01:19:27,690 --> 01:19:28,530
Thanks very much.

789
01:19:28,530 --> 01:19:29,230
This

790
01:19:35,210 --> 01:19:48,770
brings us to our non-action items, and we're going to change the order slightly, so we will start with the admin report on the EWU economic trends with Terry Stripes and guests.

791
01:20:01,850 --> 01:20:05,110
Council, mayor, I have an extra guest today.

792
01:20:05,750 --> 01:20:08,050
I have Kyle Knutzen with me.

793
01:20:08,270 --> 01:20:16,350
Kyle is going to be your new, well, he is your new economic development specialist taking on the role that I once held.

794
01:20:16,350 --> 01:20:22,810
So, I wanted to make certain that I introduced him and get him some experience with counsel

795
01:20:22,810 --> 01:20:25,470
before he starts bringing his own items forward.

796
01:20:25,930 --> 01:20:31,130
So, Kyle will attend with me tonight, as well as next week, when we're talking about

797
01:20:31,130 --> 01:20:36,270
auto-row and the tourism promotion area opportunity fund.

798
01:20:36,810 --> 01:20:44,130
So, tonight, I want to make certain that I introduce Dr. Jones and Dr. Kelly Cullen, who

799
01:20:44,130 --> 01:20:50,690
are becoming quite regular here at City Council, they again have included in your packet a very

800
01:20:50,690 --> 01:20:58,410
detailed long report on the economic trends for Spokane Valley, the region as well as the state.

801
01:20:59,030 --> 01:21:03,650
Now, one of the things that we're not going to do is we're not going to go through each and every

802
01:21:03,650 --> 01:21:09,310
slide. Today we're going to focus on some of those newer trends that you've asked us to include.

803
01:21:09,310 --> 01:21:19,230
So we're going to dive deeper on the permit data for commercial properties as well as residential properties.

804
01:21:19,710 --> 01:21:27,430
We're going to talk a little bit about some more missing data that the state hasn't provided regular updates for.

805
01:21:27,970 --> 01:21:29,750
And what else are we going to talk about?

806
01:21:30,630 --> 01:21:32,210
A little bit about population.

807
01:21:32,850 --> 01:21:34,370
Yes, thank you.

808
01:21:34,370 --> 01:21:36,490
So we'll go ahead and we'll dive in.

809
01:21:36,610 --> 01:21:38,530
You've got the clicker to move us on through.

810
01:21:39,090 --> 01:21:39,570
Thank you.

811
01:21:40,650 --> 01:21:44,830
Mayor Patten and members of the council, it's a pleasure to be back in front of you and

812
01:21:44,830 --> 01:21:50,350
bring our quarterly update about the way we see life in the City of Spokane Valley.

813
01:21:51,390 --> 01:21:53,610
And see if it tells some stories to you.

814
01:21:54,750 --> 01:22:00,150
As you heard from Cherry, this is a bit of a different presentation than we've done in the past,

815
01:22:00,150 --> 01:22:12,650
because we depend on, especially my part of this depends on the state to deliver the information and they've been a bit slow this spring and getting the information out.

816
01:22:12,830 --> 01:22:23,190
So, you're going to see some slides that we're going to cursor through real quickly because we're going to have to bring these messages to you another time.

817
01:22:23,710 --> 01:22:32,290
I think you've seen this enough about why we're doing this and what we cover and this is

818
01:22:32,290 --> 01:22:39,290
where Dr. Colin usually steps in after I've given a bit of an introduction to a demographic

819
01:22:39,290 --> 01:22:40,050
trend or not.

820
01:22:40,790 --> 01:22:43,090
But what I thought I'd do today is talk about population.

821
01:22:43,850 --> 01:22:51,810
Usually we present this in a picture and a graph and you should know that Cherry is a good

822
01:22:53,070 --> 01:22:59,450
of your deadlines. And she said, if you don't have this to me by Tuesday, I can't put it in the packet.

823
01:23:00,050 --> 01:23:03,510
Well, I didn't get the information from the states to marketers until Wednesday.

824
01:23:03,890 --> 01:23:09,910
But I'm going to wave my hands and tell you a little bit about population instead of showing you some slides.

825
01:23:11,530 --> 01:23:16,070
Population is estimated as of April 1 every year by OFM.

826
01:23:16,070 --> 01:23:25,870
So it gives a nice look at the very contemporaneous, very current data point for our communities.

827
01:23:26,470 --> 01:23:27,570
It was just three months ago.

828
01:23:28,270 --> 01:23:37,030
And the bottom line for the City of Spokane Valley is you didn't grow by very much between 2025 and 2026.

829
01:23:37,030 --> 01:23:46,370
In fact, the count went up by 600 souls, from 110,200 to 110,800.

830
01:23:46,870 --> 01:23:51,930
This is the slowest growth that we have seen from the City of Spokane Valley, almost

831
01:23:51,930 --> 01:23:55,350
since your inception, and you are not alone.

832
01:23:55,990 --> 01:24:03,050
The state actually is growing much more slowly than it did up to recent times.

833
01:24:03,050 --> 01:24:09,310
But on a percentage basis, that's only a half a percent per year growth rate, which

834
01:24:10,050 --> 01:24:14,490
is very different than what you've experienced over the last six years where it's been

835
01:24:14,490 --> 01:24:16,670
tripled that, almost tripled that.

836
01:24:17,430 --> 01:24:22,730
So a big slowdown there and this may have some revenue implications to the road because

837
01:24:23,350 --> 01:24:28,410
what drives spending, of course, is income and the number of people who have that income.

838
01:24:32,100 --> 01:24:37,440
The interesting thing to me, though, was that your market share, if you want to look at in

839
01:24:37,440 --> 01:24:42,460
that way in terms of the population of the county that you claim, remains the same, about

840
01:24:42,460 --> 01:24:50,020
one-fifth, a little less than one-fifth, 19%. So the rest of the county grew slow as well.

841
01:24:50,940 --> 01:24:56,940
In particular, your big brother, just to the west here, grew more slowly than the city's book and

842
01:24:56,940 --> 01:25:04,400
value. But I do want to comment that the growth seems to be taking place on the periphery of

843
01:25:04,400 --> 01:25:13,500
our county. So the highest percentage growing community in our county was deer park. Over

844
01:25:13,500 --> 01:25:22,420
the last six years it's grown by nearly 25%. The second highest growing fastest growing community

845
01:25:22,420 --> 01:25:33,040
is liberty late. And the third fastest is airway heights. So just a bit of population

846
01:25:33,040 --> 01:25:39,920
breakdown, I'll talk a bit about where that's coming from next time we have the data and

847
01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:43,660
we'll be able to submit it in a timely manner, the Terry, so you'll have it in a timely

848
01:25:43,660 --> 01:25:52,360
manner in your packet. Let me end my brief foray into population to say that you are still

849
01:25:52,360 --> 01:26:00,500
Still, the number eight largest city in the state, despite that slowdown, you are still

850
01:26:00,500 --> 01:26:03,320
number eight in the state of Washington's ranking.

851
01:26:04,260 --> 01:26:08,400
So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Cullen and she's going to talk about your

852
01:26:08,400 --> 01:26:09,600
own labor market.

853
01:26:10,480 --> 01:26:10,680
Awesome.

854
01:26:11,120 --> 01:26:11,760
Well, thank you.

855
01:26:12,580 --> 01:26:14,360
Thank you all for having us here again.

856
01:26:14,660 --> 01:26:19,700
I'm just going to quickly go through the employment-related measures, what we did get

857
01:26:19,700 --> 01:26:25,980
Q1 of 2026 data in, and so that is the farthest blue bar on the right.

858
01:26:26,640 --> 01:26:32,600
This first slide here shows the civilian labor force, so this is the labor force, and

859
01:26:32,600 --> 01:26:36,920
I've highlighted the same Q1 from the previous three years as well.

860
01:26:37,460 --> 01:26:38,740
So this goes back to 23.

861
01:26:39,720 --> 01:26:43,760
And you can see, although we had a dip that orange line shows the rate of change, and you can

862
01:26:43,760 --> 01:26:50,220
You can see the dip that we had, the last quarter of 25 and then through 25, the labor

863
01:26:50,220 --> 01:26:55,280
force fell slightly, but you can see a nice rebounding, and so it has continued to rebound

864
01:26:55,280 --> 01:26:56,260
the last four quarters.

865
01:26:56,760 --> 01:26:59,820
We're back up to about over 53, almost 54,000.

866
01:27:00,560 --> 01:27:05,480
Overall if you look across, I put the bars and the numbers there for you, the data labels,

867
01:27:05,820 --> 01:27:07,900
to show you it's pretty flat, it's pretty level, right?

868
01:27:08,640 --> 01:27:14,700
So, 53, 765, not that much difference from 53, 250, which was three years ago, right?

869
01:27:15,140 --> 01:27:21,780
So, good news, it's not down too much, it's in fact pretty flat over the last three years.

870
01:27:22,480 --> 01:27:27,940
So then, that's the civilian labor force, that is everybody who wants to work, right?

871
01:27:28,100 --> 01:27:29,020
And it's able to work.

872
01:27:29,580 --> 01:27:33,360
And then, this is jobs, this is the level of employment.

873
01:27:33,920 --> 01:27:38,340
And so you look at this, and this is who is working.

874
01:27:39,160 --> 01:27:46,180
And so again, the most recent data is Q1 of 26, and on the far right, we're over 53,

875
01:27:46,680 --> 01:27:47,180
765.

876
01:27:47,420 --> 01:27:54,660
We are almost at our relative peak, nearing 54,000, or let's see, I'm on the CLF still

877
01:27:54,660 --> 01:27:58,040
hold on, hold on, I got the right numbers, there we go, let me look at it here.

878
01:27:58,960 --> 01:28:00,700
So yeah, 51, we just went over 51, sorry.

879
01:28:00,700 --> 01:28:02,920
Again, you can see the similar trend in orange.

880
01:28:03,060 --> 01:28:05,900
We did have that dip in 25, but we've rebounded,

881
01:28:06,200 --> 01:28:10,900
growing at about 2.7% in the first quarter of 26.

882
01:28:12,000 --> 01:28:16,500
And at 51 over 51, it's higher than the last three,

883
01:28:17,080 --> 01:28:19,220
in the same quarter of the last three years.

884
01:28:19,640 --> 01:28:22,580
So looking pretty good in terms of jobs.

885
01:28:23,380 --> 01:28:26,160
And so what that means then, if you look at the next slide,

886
01:28:27,300 --> 01:28:28,780
let me go to my next slide.

887
01:28:28,780 --> 01:28:31,860
Nope, so I'm trying to do it on my screen, there we go.

888
01:28:32,340 --> 01:28:33,700
And this is the unemployment rate.

889
01:28:34,080 --> 01:28:37,220
So this is out of that civilian labor force, the first slide.

890
01:28:37,620 --> 01:28:41,660
This is the people who do not have a job or who would like a job, right?

891
01:28:42,140 --> 01:28:43,600
So this is the unemployment rate.

892
01:28:43,800 --> 01:28:49,840
And when you look at this trend, obviously you can see that again, we rose a little bit

893
01:28:49,840 --> 01:28:54,320
in 25, but since January, this is monthly, by the way.

894
01:28:54,320 --> 01:29:06,500
So this does go through May of 26 as opposed to just the first quarter we've got the first five months right you can see a steady falling from January at 5.2.

895
01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:17,100
We're now down to 4.2 and that 4.2% unemployment rate in May is pretty similar to the county the county is in purple there and

896
01:29:18,360 --> 01:29:19,720
What do they want to say on that?

897
01:29:20,400 --> 01:29:26,140
So you can see that compared to the state, we are below the state, the state is about

898
01:29:26,140 --> 01:29:31,100
4.8 as of May of 26th, and we're right about the national average.

899
01:29:31,580 --> 01:29:34,980
So 4.2 is about where the nation as a whole is.

900
01:29:35,380 --> 01:29:38,240
So doing better than the state about the same as the county.

901
01:29:38,800 --> 01:29:43,260
County, I'll just say 4.2% is pretty close to full employment.

902
01:29:44,000 --> 01:29:48,200
So, you're running on all cylinders at 4.2% unemployment rate.

903
01:29:49,480 --> 01:29:52,220
Yep, definitely. That's a most economist would agree.

904
01:29:53,180 --> 01:29:55,900
So, yep, I'll try to back over to Dr. Jones for a little bit more.

905
01:29:56,740 --> 01:29:59,960
So, there's a summary, and I'm just going to cursor through these and say...

906
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:13,780
I didn't have the, this is one of those data points that came out after Terry had given me the deadline and it had passed. So I wasn't able to include that, you'll see it next time. So, not much to say here.

907
01:30:15,970 --> 01:30:30,470
Endows in again, Dr. Colton. Hi again. All right. So back to the permitting data. So I get a lot of the permitting data from the city Spokane, city Spokane Valley. Terry is very good at securing and sending over. So this is

908
01:30:30,470 --> 01:30:36,810
is Single Family Residence, and this is including, again, this is first quarter, so through March

909
01:30:36,810 --> 01:30:41,210
of 2026, I did include that dotted trend lines.

910
01:30:41,210 --> 01:30:47,410
You can see a slight cooling off in terms of these are just the permits that have been submitted

911
01:30:47,410 --> 01:30:47,830
and approved.

912
01:30:48,370 --> 01:30:50,750
So this is the permitting activity, Single Family Residence.

913
01:30:51,590 --> 01:30:56,270
I've highlighted the darker, I've shaded in darker blue, the first quarter of the previous

914
01:30:56,270 --> 01:30:57,330
years as well.

915
01:30:57,330 --> 01:31:04,650
So, you can see it's down a little bit 35 from where it was two years ago, but it's still

916
01:31:05,250 --> 01:31:08,890
on par with what we've seen in the other years as well.

917
01:31:09,190 --> 01:31:16,570
Overall, since Q1 of 22, the farthest left on the graph, right, a slight cooling off in

918
01:31:16,570 --> 01:31:17,950
terms of our single-family units.

919
01:31:19,070 --> 01:31:23,930
And then this is multi-family, sorry, thank you, multi-family permane.

920
01:31:23,930 --> 01:31:28,850
And you said the huge peak that we had in a second quarter of 25, right?

921
01:31:29,430 --> 01:31:33,590
So not surprising, the following quarter, right after that, there were absolutely no,

922
01:31:33,810 --> 01:31:39,530
literally zero that space there, no multi-family permits in Q3 of that year.

923
01:31:40,290 --> 01:31:48,390
And then Q4 and Q1, because this does include Q1, we're down a little bit in terms of where

924
01:31:48,390 --> 01:31:53,850
they were, you know, the year previous and a couple years previous to that as well. So,

925
01:31:55,690 --> 01:32:01,490
oh yeah, the Q1 actually, not a lot of permitting activity is going on in the Q1s typically.

926
01:32:02,210 --> 01:32:09,770
So Q1 is up a little bit in terms of that. So in terms of looking forward, we might be seeing a

927
01:32:09,770 --> 01:32:15,070
little more permitting activity coming up in 26, if there's anything to look forward to.

928
01:32:15,070 --> 01:32:26,070
Then looking into it a little bit more in terms of what are the values of those permitted units going back to single family, we are seeing a slight dropping in the permitted values.

929
01:32:27,470 --> 01:32:37,230
And this is when the permit was filed. This is the beginning of the process. This is the permanent value as the permit was filed.

930
01:32:37,230 --> 01:32:43,250
And you are seeing a slightly down from the previous year, right?

931
01:32:43,830 --> 01:32:48,190
So looking at from 404 down to 385, right, in terms of that.

932
01:32:48,890 --> 01:32:52,590
So a little relief in terms of the single family home values.

933
01:32:53,210 --> 01:32:56,270
And then, oops, I went the wrong way, oops.

934
01:32:57,390 --> 01:32:58,370
Multi-family, sorry.

935
01:32:58,670 --> 01:33:00,190
Yeah, multi-family is next, right?

936
01:33:00,770 --> 01:33:04,750
And so give me a second here, oops, permanent values, okay.

937
01:33:04,750 --> 01:33:07,170
So then the same thing with the multi-families.

938
01:33:07,730 --> 01:33:12,050
And this is, again, the average valuation of the permits

939
01:33:12,050 --> 01:33:14,910
for the multi-family units, keeping in mind

940
01:33:14,910 --> 01:33:18,470
that the multi-family, you can file a permit for a duplex,

941
01:33:18,610 --> 01:33:21,590
a triplex, a quadplex, or an apartment complex,

942
01:33:21,590 --> 01:33:23,330
basically five or more units, right?

943
01:33:24,070 --> 01:33:27,510
So this is a Hodgepodge, this one, saying, okay,

944
01:33:27,610 --> 01:33:29,510
well, all the permits that were filed,

945
01:33:29,930 --> 01:33:33,310
this is the average value of what they are.

946
01:33:33,310 --> 01:33:42,270
So this could be that we're seeing more apartments and less duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes which are typically higher values, right?

947
01:33:44,410 --> 01:33:55,590
Now you guys had asked me, the council had asked me to say, to show if I could, what are the number of units as they're hitting the market, right?

948
01:33:55,590 --> 01:34:04,470
So not the, as the permit was filed, perhaps, but as the houses are completed, as the building permit is marked as completed.

949
01:34:04,850 --> 01:34:07,210
And so this is a new slide that I've brought to you.

950
01:34:07,730 --> 01:34:09,870
And we're still working out some of the kinks of the data.

951
01:34:09,950 --> 01:34:18,550
There was some missing data that I'm going to have to go back and track down from Terry's office, I believe, the miscommunication for perhaps, in that case.

952
01:34:19,150 --> 01:34:20,550
That's great. We do have a question.

953
01:34:20,770 --> 01:34:21,170
Oh, sure.

954
01:34:21,390 --> 01:34:22,190
Council Member Merkel.

955
01:34:30,430 --> 01:34:36,090
I'm curious if you guys could tell us, you know, with this, so this is the permitted value

956
01:34:36,090 --> 01:34:37,370
of a unit, right?

957
01:34:37,670 --> 01:34:38,410
I think a family, yeah.

958
01:34:38,570 --> 01:34:38,730
Yeah.

959
01:34:38,970 --> 01:34:43,990
If you guys could tell us, like, how is it possible that they've gone down?

960
01:34:44,130 --> 01:34:47,870
Like, is it that the market has found a way to make units cheaper?

961
01:34:48,430 --> 01:34:51,190
Is it that prices of inputs are cheaper?

962
01:34:51,190 --> 01:34:53,650
or size.

963
01:34:54,250 --> 01:34:54,370
Okay.

964
01:34:55,470 --> 01:35:02,910
So this is because the sizes of the units themselves has decreased which then decreases the cost of the unit.

965
01:35:03,550 --> 01:35:10,090
Don't know for sure, but that would be the most logical conclusion to what we're seeing.

966
01:35:10,690 --> 01:35:12,890
Because the price of input certainly hasn't gone down.

967
01:35:13,310 --> 01:35:13,390
Right.

968
01:35:14,010 --> 01:35:15,190
Nor is the price of land.

969
01:35:15,810 --> 01:35:15,930
Right.

970
01:35:16,550 --> 01:35:17,190
Interesting.

971
01:35:17,710 --> 01:35:18,470
Other questions?

972
01:35:18,470 --> 01:35:37,210
I would add that at the real estate market forum that we had back in February, the builders were reporting similar data that the cost of development is going down and it is based upon the scale of the number of units in the size of the units being built.

973
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:48,380
Why were they being built larger before and now smaller?

974
01:35:49,920 --> 01:35:56,280
I'm not a housing economist and expert, but if you just look at single family housing

975
01:35:56,280 --> 01:36:03,400
today versus 10 years ago, smaller lots, smaller footprints in general, I just think that's

976
01:36:03,400 --> 01:36:11,400
the new norm for physical family housing and undoubtedly that has some impact on the multi-family market.

977
01:36:12,100 --> 01:36:18,100
So, would you say that this is responsive to cost demand as in people want less cost or

978
01:36:18,100 --> 01:36:23,540
is this responsive to people just don't want that much space? I would say a mixture of both.

979
01:36:24,140 --> 01:36:30,140
One of the things that we've been talking about across the state and here in our own community

980
01:36:30,140 --> 01:36:38,500
is what we call missing middle housing. It's a housing type that is smaller unit. It is also

981
01:36:38,500 --> 01:36:49,520
fewer in location. So for example, single-family entry-level housing, the median price is too high

982
01:36:49,520 --> 01:36:55,740
for the typical entry-level household. So they want a smaller lot, a smaller piece of property,

983
01:36:55,740 --> 01:37:03,040
something that's going to cost less for them to enter into, and we're seeing that same demand play out in multi-family, too.

984
01:37:03,560 --> 01:37:04,520
Smaller spaces.

985
01:37:08,140 --> 01:37:09,840
Council member Kelly.

986
01:37:10,980 --> 01:37:17,420
I was wondering if we could back up to the presentation, portion of the presentation on employment.

987
01:37:18,000 --> 01:37:27,080
So we have what you provided us was the labor market force or the labor force.

988
01:37:28,240 --> 01:37:49,800
But I'm curious about the labor, what you call what the labor participation rate, which is the number of people, the percentage of actual people who could work that are, but you're excluding those who made it for whatever reason are not looking for work, so what is that percentage, do we know that percentage in Spokane County, we don't have it for the city of Spokane Valley is below 60% now.

989
01:37:49,800 --> 01:37:53,320
It's close to 55% in the county.

990
01:37:54,020 --> 01:38:01,520
A few years ago, it was 61-62% before you think that people are just putting their feet

991
01:38:01,520 --> 01:38:04,760
up on the table and saying, I don't want to work anymore.

992
01:38:05,260 --> 01:38:08,280
You got to remember, most of this is caused by demographics.

993
01:38:10,280 --> 01:38:18,860
Boomers are retiring and they're counted in the denominator in the calculation of the participation rate.

994
01:38:18,860 --> 01:38:36,420
So, and what is that age range? I mean, obviously, you're not counting people maybe prior to 16 and what after 65 and the only way you can do it at the local level, this count, the entire population, the adult population, so that's 16 plus to wherever, to centenarians.

995
01:38:37,060 --> 01:38:53,720
So at the federal level, you're able to slice and dice this to see 25 to 44 year olds or 25 to 25 to 54 year olds and get a better grasp of that prime working age population.

996
01:38:54,420 --> 01:38:56,340
But this just refers to the entire population.

997
01:38:56,340 --> 01:39:02,500
So, the gentrification of the adults is just causing that number to get lower because

998
01:39:02,500 --> 01:39:04,460
there's more people that are old and retired.

999
01:39:04,680 --> 01:39:04,800
Right.

1000
01:39:05,040 --> 01:39:06,140
We're an aging community.

1001
01:39:06,280 --> 01:39:12,120
I think I've showed that graph, the median age keeps on creeping up.

1002
01:39:13,540 --> 01:39:14,380
Well, I'm the old part.

1003
01:39:14,500 --> 01:39:16,240
I'm not yet the retired part, but thank you.

1004
01:39:17,500 --> 01:39:18,280
Council Member Merkel.

1005
01:39:19,140 --> 01:39:26,320
Just as a quick follow on to that, what would you say an optimal rate would be like what

1006
01:39:26,320 --> 01:39:30,360
are there communities out there that are at 70% or?

1007
01:39:30,680 --> 01:39:35,980
There are the, it's interesting, the central Washington communities have had participation

1008
01:39:35,980 --> 01:39:38,440
rates of over 70%.

1009
01:39:39,650 --> 01:39:45,580
They have strong immigrant communities, and I think that plays a big role, and just

1010
01:39:45,580 --> 01:39:54,020
the agricultural emphasis there, they employ people from their teens to their 70s or 80s.

1011
01:39:56,060 --> 01:40:04,420
So we're not unhealthy, we're not healthy, which I think long term, 67% would be two thirds.

1012
01:40:04,760 --> 01:40:05,540
Does that make sense?

1013
01:40:05,980 --> 01:40:09,620
So I would think historically, that would be if you're looking at a benchmark.

1014
01:40:10,240 --> 01:40:15,320
So being too far below 67, you know, a little different, it's different.

1015
01:40:17,560 --> 01:40:18,380
Thank you.

1016
01:40:21,510 --> 01:40:22,030
Okay.

1017
01:40:22,450 --> 01:40:22,730
Kelly.

1018
01:40:23,450 --> 01:40:25,150
You were back to my permitting data.

1019
01:40:26,670 --> 01:40:28,390
Yep, so there we go.

1020
01:40:28,830 --> 01:40:35,190
So now, again, so this is now not looking at when the process was started with a permitting,

1021
01:40:35,430 --> 01:40:37,530
but looking at when the permit closes.

1022
01:40:38,190 --> 01:40:42,950
So these are permits as they are closed and then become available to rent, right?

1023
01:40:43,350 --> 01:40:45,250
If these are multifamily residents, right?

1024
01:40:46,290 --> 01:40:49,650
And so here you can see there is a lot in that middle section.

1025
01:40:49,770 --> 01:40:50,990
We're missing the most recent data.

1026
01:40:51,090 --> 01:40:53,070
We'll go back and fill that in for next time, next quarter.

1027
01:40:53,070 --> 01:40:55,290
have a more complete, more recent picture.

1028
01:40:55,710 --> 01:40:59,110
But you can definitely see a good, healthy amount

1029
01:40:59,110 --> 01:41:03,170
of multi-family apartments coming online.

1030
01:41:03,450 --> 01:41:05,770
The stats bar does show the differences

1031
01:41:05,770 --> 01:41:08,570
between the duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes,

1032
01:41:08,670 --> 01:41:09,230
and the apartments.

1033
01:41:09,690 --> 01:41:14,750
So a lot of apartments did come available in those quarters.

1034
01:41:16,310 --> 01:41:19,530
And then the values of those on the next one.

1035
01:41:19,970 --> 01:41:23,670
And so this is, that's the housing values, right?

1036
01:41:24,130 --> 01:41:24,230
Right.

1037
01:41:24,570 --> 01:41:26,230
And so, I'm trying to find out.

1038
01:41:26,230 --> 01:41:27,150
That's your single family.

1039
01:41:27,170 --> 01:41:27,670
Yeah, there we go.

1040
01:41:27,910 --> 01:41:28,110
Okay.

1041
01:41:28,570 --> 01:41:31,570
I zoom in on my screen here so I can see it a little bit better for you guys.

1042
01:41:32,690 --> 01:41:34,210
Oh, that's apartments.

1043
01:41:34,730 --> 01:41:35,170
Dang you.

1044
01:41:35,530 --> 01:41:35,910
Come back.

1045
01:41:36,230 --> 01:41:36,570
There we go.

1046
01:41:37,050 --> 01:41:37,410
All right.

1047
01:41:38,070 --> 01:41:42,670
So, yeah, this is back to single families and this is the closing value of the permit.

1048
01:41:42,810 --> 01:41:44,190
So this is when it hit market.

1049
01:41:44,590 --> 01:41:46,450
Not necessarily what it's sold for.

1050
01:41:46,590 --> 01:41:47,310
Does that make sense?

1051
01:41:47,310 --> 01:41:52,370
So this is just what they're saying, what it costs, perhaps, in terms of recording that

1052
01:41:52,370 --> 01:41:53,130
at the office.

1053
01:41:54,070 --> 01:41:56,710
And so you can see a wide variety, which is good, right?

1054
01:41:57,090 --> 01:42:03,630
You see these ups in these downs, it's not just one type of single-family housing that's

1055
01:42:03,630 --> 01:42:07,930
dominant, which is I think it's healthy, you want a housing stock that's got a variety

1056
01:42:07,930 --> 01:42:09,170
of housing options, right?

1057
01:42:09,250 --> 01:42:14,790
So some lower, more affordable housing, perhaps some more upper end housing, perhaps.

1058
01:42:14,790 --> 01:42:23,970
So this is showing I think pretty good and robust availability of single families to have been hitting the market and also that

1059
01:42:24,750 --> 01:42:29,170
That has been hitting the market steadily. It's not they're all not getting completed in the same month, right?

1060
01:42:29,530 --> 01:42:35,230
So we've got this constant, you know, these houses are coming in a few this quarter a few the next quarter a few the next quarter

1061
01:42:35,230 --> 01:42:38,330
Kind of idea. So I think that's good for your housing market

1062
01:42:38,930 --> 01:42:42,630
Then the apartments in terms of this again a little bit of missing data, but

1063
01:42:42,630 --> 01:42:48,390
But in terms of this most recently, you can see that decline we were talking about, right?

1064
01:42:48,610 --> 01:42:52,050
See that decline in the apartment offerings hitting the market.

1065
01:42:52,690 --> 01:42:59,530
And again, to get to the point about why could that fall on the supply side, if a builder is faced with rising costs,

1066
01:43:00,210 --> 01:43:05,010
one of the things they could do is make the units smaller, add in a few more apartments, does that make sense?

1067
01:43:05,490 --> 01:43:09,650
So this is because, you know, it's divided by the number of units in the denominator,

1068
01:43:09,650 --> 01:43:12,750
you increase that number of units, same cost, right?

1069
01:43:13,250 --> 01:43:16,490
And you're going to see that decline going on there as well.

1070
01:43:16,830 --> 01:43:21,370
So it's not necessarily incongruent to have rising or stable costs

1071
01:43:21,370 --> 01:43:24,030
and a falling value of those apartments.

1072
01:43:24,310 --> 01:43:26,970
Because what we don't know, perhaps one of the missing pieces,

1073
01:43:26,970 --> 01:43:30,990
is in those apartments, we don't know how many are, you know,

1074
01:43:31,330 --> 01:43:32,890
one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom.

1075
01:43:33,310 --> 01:43:35,790
And that we don't know the distribution or studio apartments.

1076
01:43:35,970 --> 01:43:38,790
There could be a bunch of studio apartments that are smaller, right?

1077
01:43:38,790 --> 01:43:41,110
So, so that's what's going on there.

1078
01:43:41,610 --> 01:43:44,930
So, and then this is just what was I showing?

1079
01:43:45,330 --> 01:43:49,410
Oh, this is the average permit looking at the multi-family,

1080
01:43:49,430 --> 01:43:52,370
a little bit disaggregated instead of just saying

1081
01:43:52,370 --> 01:43:54,170
all multi-family notice.

1082
01:43:54,390 --> 01:43:56,510
You can see the apartments or the values are smaller

1083
01:43:56,510 --> 01:43:59,810
and then the duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes, obviously.

1084
01:43:59,950 --> 01:44:02,750
So I think that one I might have shared with you before.

1085
01:44:03,570 --> 01:44:05,250
Oh, here's the commercial stuff.

1086
01:44:05,510 --> 01:44:05,910
This is new.

1087
01:44:06,470 --> 01:44:10,550
So I went and I got the commercial permits and it was fun.

1088
01:44:10,810 --> 01:44:14,310
It was fun seeing the descriptions of all the commercial products.

1089
01:44:14,630 --> 01:44:16,470
You have to know it's a wide, right?

1090
01:44:16,650 --> 01:44:17,590
It is not homogeneous.

1091
01:44:17,970 --> 01:44:20,510
The heterogeneity in these projects, right?

1092
01:44:20,730 --> 01:44:26,910
You know, everything from coffee stands to converting warehouses to uses for the hockey team, you know,

1093
01:44:27,050 --> 01:44:29,910
for the junior chiefs to practice on dry land kind of thing.

1094
01:44:30,290 --> 01:44:32,010
All these unique neat projects.

1095
01:44:32,010 --> 01:44:45,770
So I would say that was a lot of fun seeing all the activity, the economic activity that's going on the new building, as well as I have this separated by the blue, which is the remodel or the renovate or the change of use.

1096
01:44:46,350 --> 01:44:53,890
There was a lot more of that activity perhaps than brand new construction. The red is the legitimate brand new construction.

1097
01:44:53,890 --> 01:44:58,750
But even the brand new construction is up. You can see this red bars trending upward, right?

1098
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:29,860
I think things are looking great. I think, as you can see, on the right side of the graph, a lot more activity than the left side, right? So I think there's in terms of at least the permitting activity going on on the commercial side. There's a lot of economic development in the city of Spokane Valley right now. So it was kind of cool. Question? Yeah, got some overwork. This is completed projects, not permits. So all the major construction projects that we see up here right now. Oh, sorry. Oh, you're right.

1099
01:45:29,860 --> 01:45:41,220
This one I'm looking at a little bit more now. Yes, you're right. This is they have been completed. So that permit. It was closed. These are closed. Yes. Yeah. So those are ones close and on the market. Yeah. Yeah.

1100
01:45:42,160 --> 01:45:48,640
Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. I forgot. Not closed because they didn't finish. Right. Because they finished completed.

1101
01:45:49,740 --> 01:45:55,920
But I'm just saying it's it's even rosier because we see so many active construction projects in the commercial right now. Exactly.

1102
01:45:55,920 --> 01:45:57,660
You can see the trend, right?

1103
01:45:57,780 --> 01:45:59,120
If I have to put the trend line in there,

1104
01:45:59,220 --> 01:46:00,640
you'd see the clear upward trend, yeah.

1105
01:46:01,120 --> 01:46:01,820
For sure, I agree.

1106
01:46:02,580 --> 01:46:02,800
Okay.

1107
01:46:03,240 --> 01:46:03,360
Yep.

1108
01:46:06,400 --> 01:46:08,320
Got one more slide here.

1109
01:46:09,920 --> 01:46:12,680
Oh, this one, of the valuations, yeah.

1110
01:46:13,000 --> 01:46:16,920
Yeah, and as well, the valuations are strong on this one.

1111
01:46:17,020 --> 01:46:20,040
Again, these are ones that are recently completed.

1112
01:46:20,400 --> 01:46:22,040
So let's go back, because you guys had asked for,

1113
01:46:22,380 --> 01:46:23,780
you know, not necessarily when it was filed,

1114
01:46:23,820 --> 01:46:24,760
but when it was completed.

1115
01:46:24,760 --> 01:46:26,820
So these projects have been completed.

1116
01:46:27,600 --> 01:46:32,840
and then you can see the valuation of these. Again, it's hard because the project's very,

1117
01:46:33,260 --> 01:46:38,860
you know, if you looked at the range, min-max, it's a much wider than just the average here, perhaps.

1118
01:46:40,020 --> 01:46:46,000
But still, a lot of solid construction coming to market, especially in the last four quarters.

1119
01:46:47,000 --> 01:46:48,840
It is what we're seeing on that one right there.

1120
01:46:50,300 --> 01:46:54,100
Good news on affordability. I just want to fly through these pretty quickly. Just give you the update.

1121
01:46:54,100 --> 01:47:01,040
we did get the 26 Q1 data in, affordability is improving in terms of median home buyers

1122
01:47:01,040 --> 01:47:06,360
and then next as well as first time home buyers see the little red arrows way on the right those

1123
01:47:06,360 --> 01:47:12,180
are good. In this case trending back to that black line which would be perfectly normal. The average

1124
01:47:12,180 --> 01:47:18,520
would be great we want to get to that 100 index mark and then next renting as well, renting

1125
01:47:18,520 --> 01:47:24,900
have been becoming more affordable. This is the average renter continuing to go up, right?

1126
01:47:25,480 --> 01:47:31,680
So affordability continuing for all renters. And then the next slide, this is good news for our

1127
01:47:31,680 --> 01:47:38,760
lower income renters. These households have now hit the black line. So this means that they are

1128
01:47:38,760 --> 01:47:46,580
spending on average, on average, the lower income renters are spending right about what they should

1129
01:47:46,580 --> 01:47:51,380
be spending on housing, 30% of their income is going towards housing on average.

1130
01:47:52,220 --> 01:47:52,240
Okay.

1131
01:47:52,240 --> 01:47:53,980
Here all interrupt just a little bit.

1132
01:47:54,260 --> 01:48:00,060
So earlier when Dr. Cullen was talking about the permit valuation coming down and the

1133
01:48:00,060 --> 01:48:06,980
valuation when the project comes to market coming down, that's directly correlating to affordability.

1134
01:48:11,440 --> 01:48:19,240
And so then this is a vacancy rate.

1135
01:48:19,880 --> 01:48:25,780
is the city of Spokane and so you can see you guys have a big jump in your vacancy

1136
01:48:25,780 --> 01:48:30,020
rate and that was during the COVID period and but you have stabilized around

1137
01:48:30,020 --> 01:48:37,360
that red line there and that's between about 5 and 6% and with about 5.7% in

1138
01:48:37,360 --> 01:48:42,780
the most recent quarter so that's a vacancy rate for your apartments is about

1139
01:48:42,780 --> 01:48:48,060
on average 5.7% are not being currently rented, so.

1140
01:48:48,320 --> 01:48:55,260
Now, I'll just say that a vacancy rate between 5% and 6% is considered to be in balance supply and demand.

1141
01:48:56,340 --> 01:49:01,760
If you look at this chart during part of the pandemic where it slipped,

1142
01:49:02,520 --> 01:49:04,880
dip down to 2%, that is not in balance.

1143
01:49:05,340 --> 01:49:09,520
That's a market that definitely has a lot more demand than supply.

1144
01:49:10,920 --> 01:49:16,820
At any point in time you definitely want to have a small amount of apartments that are available in case you have new workers coming into the area.

1145
01:49:17,100 --> 01:49:20,480
They only need to find a place to live to start a new job, something like that.

1146
01:49:20,740 --> 01:49:28,100
So it's always good to have a pool reserve units and so around five percent is a good rate to be at. So five to six is great.

1147
01:49:28,960 --> 01:49:37,080
And then what's next? Oh, she had home resale, so not looking at the new houses, but in fact the resale prices and it's flattening.

1148
01:49:37,500 --> 01:49:45,160
And so you can see that red line there at the end. And in fact in the last quarter, this does have 26Q1 on it.

1149
01:49:45,760 --> 01:49:52,060
And in that last quarter was around 400,000. So little falling off, it's been between 4 and 450, right?

1150
01:49:52,180 --> 01:49:54,480
But starting to see a little leveling off there.

1151
01:49:54,480 --> 01:49:59,080
So, little relief in the resale market there.

1152
01:49:59,860 --> 01:50:05,540
In terms of then going back to our ventures, you know how we said that you should be spending

1153
01:50:05,540 --> 01:50:12,120
30% or less of your income on housing that comes from a standard from the federal government in fact.

1154
01:50:12,500 --> 01:50:17,300
In terms of defining what does it mean to be extremely housing burden or just housing burdened.

1155
01:50:17,300 --> 01:50:23,020
People are extremely housing burdened when they find themselves in a situation where

1156
01:50:23,020 --> 01:50:26,800
they're spending 50% or more of their income on housing.

1157
01:50:27,160 --> 01:50:34,080
We do have people in the valley, unfortunately, that would qualify for this, that are extremely

1158
01:50:34,080 --> 01:50:35,280
housing burdened.

1159
01:50:35,360 --> 01:50:38,480
That number is what, just over 30% now, I believe?

1160
01:50:39,380 --> 01:50:40,100
Yeah, 30.

1161
01:50:40,360 --> 01:50:40,660
30.

1162
01:50:40,780 --> 01:50:41,100
34.

1163
01:50:41,340 --> 01:50:41,440
Yeah.

1164
01:50:41,680 --> 01:50:41,920
Oh, yeah.

1165
01:50:41,920 --> 01:50:47,220
But this is from the census data, so the most recent data we have is the 2024 update.

1166
01:50:47,340 --> 01:50:48,920
We'll get the 2025 in September.

1167
01:50:49,840 --> 01:50:56,500
But yeah, you can see the uptick in the most recent quarters or years, sorry, in the last

1168
01:50:56,500 --> 01:50:57,100
four years.

1169
01:50:57,460 --> 01:51:03,300
This is annual data because it's the census, has been rising and so 30% three out of every

1170
01:51:03,300 --> 01:51:11,720
10 of our renters are in the situation where they are in fact paying 50% or more of their

1171
01:51:11,720 --> 01:51:17,160
income towards that rent still? That could be an indication that it does not seem to be the rents

1172
01:51:17,160 --> 01:51:21,300
or that it could be the choice of their income, so just not keeping up with the rents.

1173
01:51:21,440 --> 01:51:26,900
But I will say that we will see what the 2025 data looks like. If the recent trends that you see

1174
01:51:26,900 --> 01:51:34,820
here from local information persist, then this will look a little bit better. We hope in September

1175
01:51:34,820 --> 01:51:37,160
when we get the 2025 estimates from census.

1176
01:51:39,790 --> 01:51:41,850
Then this, unfortunately, there was not much new data.

1177
01:51:41,850 --> 01:51:46,710
This is older data, and we're still waiting for the update on these ones.

1178
01:51:47,390 --> 01:51:48,830
Also, also in the fall.

1179
01:51:48,870 --> 01:51:49,310
Exactly.

1180
01:51:49,770 --> 01:51:54,130
So, yes, unfortunately, I don't have anything new to say in terms of those regional

1181
01:51:54,130 --> 01:51:56,970
priorities for you, but we'll bring that as soon as that data drops.

1182
01:51:58,150 --> 01:52:02,490
Before I just make a quick comment about this, I just want to compliment the city of

1183
01:52:02,490 --> 01:52:07,130
Spokane Valley for your data, transparency and data expertise.

1184
01:52:07,130 --> 01:52:13,450
I've been doing these dashboards now for 20 years at the Institute and I've always gotten

1185
01:52:13,450 --> 01:52:20,410
the willies or shy away if I have to use local data because it's somewhat unreliable.

1186
01:52:20,750 --> 01:52:25,630
People move, people change and they don't remember what file that was in as opposed to

1187
01:52:25,630 --> 01:52:33,990
a state or census data and this has been incredibly easy to do with the quality of data we're

1188
01:52:33,990 --> 01:52:35,390
getting from Terry and her team.

1189
01:52:35,790 --> 01:52:40,610
So I just want to thank you all for that level of transparency

1190
01:52:40,610 --> 01:52:43,450
because it makes our reports a lot easier.

1191
01:52:44,430 --> 01:52:45,930
And with that, we'll wrap up.

1192
01:52:46,450 --> 01:52:49,570
I'd hope to be able to show you a lot on retail sales,

1193
01:52:49,770 --> 01:52:53,870
sales, tax activity, but as of this morning still,

1194
01:52:54,570 --> 01:52:57,270
they had not released the data, we're a month late.

1195
01:52:58,050 --> 01:53:03,970
And in fact, one of our interns, I don't know

1196
01:53:03,970 --> 01:53:06,670
We just had the gumption to write Olympian say,

1197
01:53:06,850 --> 01:53:07,590
where are those numbers?

1198
01:53:08,950 --> 01:53:11,270
So you will see this when we're up here

1199
01:53:11,270 --> 01:53:12,830
before you and September.

1200
01:53:13,470 --> 01:53:14,770
And with that, I think we're done.

1201
01:53:15,290 --> 01:53:15,530
We're done.

1202
01:53:16,290 --> 01:53:17,990
Great, thank you so very much.

1203
01:53:18,010 --> 01:53:19,830
It's always an interesting presentation

1204
01:53:19,830 --> 01:53:22,750
and we enjoy having you here and taking your brains.

1205
01:53:23,610 --> 01:53:24,570
Our pleasure to be here.

1206
01:53:25,030 --> 01:53:25,470
Thank you.

1207
01:53:25,710 --> 01:53:26,570
Thank you.

1208
01:53:37,700 --> 01:53:42,240
So next is another admin report on Hazard Mitigation Plan.

1209
01:53:42,240 --> 01:53:44,680
That's the update with Virginia Clove.

1210
01:53:48,880 --> 01:53:56,160
You're in Council Virginia Clove, I'd like to say to policy coordinator and project manager and Mark Conrad from Spokane County Emergency Management.

1211
01:53:56,160 --> 01:53:59,800
I hope to join us tonight, but he had a family emergency, so he sends his regards.

1212
01:54:00,760 --> 01:54:06,480
And as mentioned, this is an admin report on the 2026 Spokane County hazard mitigation plan.

1213
01:54:06,600 --> 01:54:12,060
We also call that the HMP and that includes the community wildfire protection plan.

1214
01:54:12,060 --> 01:54:26,660
This plan guides our city's and partner agencies efforts to reduce or mitigate the potential for loss of life and property damage from natural or human caused hazards.

1215
01:54:27,540 --> 01:54:40,080
The last plan was adopted in 2020 and this effort kicked off a year ago May and the city's team included myself, Robert Blagan, Jenny Nicherson, and Steve Robert.

1216
01:54:41,620 --> 01:54:46,440
We've spoken about the plan many times during emergency management discussions,

1217
01:54:46,440 --> 01:54:50,560
including during the continuity of operations plan conversation.

1218
01:54:50,920 --> 01:54:56,760
And then last fall, we provided an information only memo that kind of detailed the process,

1219
01:54:57,080 --> 01:54:58,740
including tonight's steps.

1220
01:54:59,300 --> 01:55:07,280
You may also recall that the September community conversations event focused on this plan,

1221
01:55:07,280 --> 01:55:10,180
including the sharing out the hazard rankings.

1222
01:55:11,120 --> 01:55:13,460
And we participated in a county's event as well.

1223
01:55:14,280 --> 01:55:20,660
Your RCA lists the five phases of the HMP effort including the city's outreach efforts and

1224
01:55:20,660 --> 01:55:21,200
notifications.

1225
01:55:22,200 --> 01:55:28,160
And the city is one of 16 agencies with a chapter in the larger county plan.

1226
01:55:28,400 --> 01:55:31,040
And each agency's plans were submitted to the county.

1227
01:55:31,880 --> 01:55:36,940
And they worked with their consultant to pile those into one very large document.

1228
01:55:37,800 --> 01:55:44,020
The document was submitted to the State Department of Emergency Management in FEMA Region 10 for a pre-approval.

1229
01:55:44,780 --> 01:55:51,280
And the next step and final step is for each agency to formally adopt the plan by resolution.

1230
01:55:52,040 --> 01:56:02,180
And it's important to know that having a FEMA-approved mitigation plan is also a prerequisite for accessing funding through several state and federal programs.

1231
01:56:02,700 --> 01:56:08,040
So we sent out the draft plan to you last week via email to give you some time to look

1232
01:56:08,040 --> 01:56:08,480
at it.

1233
01:56:09,120 --> 01:56:14,620
And we're looking for consensus tonight to come back next week with that resolution

1234
01:56:14,620 --> 01:56:16,420
that would formally adopt the plan.

1235
01:56:17,420 --> 01:56:18,440
And do you have any questions?

1236
01:56:19,120 --> 01:56:21,040
Questions from Councilor Caldwell-Memberi-Ager?

1237
01:56:21,980 --> 01:56:23,300
Thank you for this, Virginia.

1238
01:56:23,300 --> 01:56:33,960
Yeah, so on, gosh, what page 137, 6.4, it talks about hazard event history, and it talks

1239
01:56:33,960 --> 01:56:41,260
about the county, but then it has in there like Hurricane Katrina, and I'm not sure why

1240
01:56:41,260 --> 01:56:45,080
we're referencing Hurricane Katrina when it's talking about the county hazards.

1241
01:56:46,040 --> 01:56:47,640
I'm just curious about what that is.

1242
01:56:47,640 --> 01:57:01,160
Yeah, I do recall some discussion about past events and how they impacted us during this process and I'm trying to recall Robert. Do you recall that conversation? I don't came in up in one of our team meetings.

1243
01:57:02,720 --> 01:57:11,580
And I'm trying to I'm really drawn a blank, but I remember we asked the same question and there was a logical reason I can actually ask it and bring it back next week.

1244
01:57:11,580 --> 01:57:17,400
not a big deal, maybe people in the area because there's no hurricanes, I don't know, thank you.

1245
01:57:18,000 --> 01:57:18,920
Council Member Merkel.

1246
01:57:20,380 --> 01:57:24,280
Yeah, thanks for that. This is actually probably more for the city manager.

1247
01:57:24,980 --> 01:57:29,140
Is this another one of these things that the county is not building us for, that they should be

1248
01:57:29,140 --> 01:57:29,800
building us for?

1249
01:57:35,670 --> 01:57:41,890
So the hazard mitigation plan is adopted by the emergency management department

1250
01:57:41,890 --> 01:57:44,610
of emergency management, we do contract with them

1251
01:57:45,070 --> 01:57:46,890
for emergency management services.

1252
01:57:48,150 --> 01:57:52,650
They have not billed us at least for 25 and 426 as well.

1253
01:57:53,010 --> 01:57:55,510
So it is another of the public safety services

1254
01:57:55,510 --> 01:57:58,350
that we continue to work on getting more

1255
01:57:58,350 --> 01:58:00,030
updated financial information.

1256
01:58:01,570 --> 01:58:05,770
Do we have any kind of information as to what this plan

1257
01:58:05,770 --> 01:58:08,090
activity has cost or will cost?

1258
01:58:08,370 --> 01:58:10,070
I mean, I know they haven't provided anything

1259
01:58:12,810 --> 01:58:18,870
We would be included in the cost of the manpower contract that we have with them.

1260
01:58:19,150 --> 01:58:21,210
So I don't think there's an additional charge.

1261
01:58:21,510 --> 01:58:25,770
Yeah, we can provide next week that I don't have it off the top of my head.

1262
01:58:26,370 --> 01:58:31,770
What the 26 budget is and what the 25 budget amount was, but we do try to build that in.

1263
01:58:31,850 --> 01:58:36,610
It is based on their total budget for the year on a pro-radar share.

1264
01:58:36,610 --> 01:58:41,650
where emergency management is one where we are expecting cost increases because Spokane

1265
01:58:41,650 --> 01:58:46,010
did pull out in the last couple of years, but we'll have those numbers next week as well.

1266
01:58:47,190 --> 01:58:49,210
And see if we can get any clarity on this.

1267
01:58:49,650 --> 01:58:56,370
Our costs for emergency management have been under or around $100,000 with Spokane pulling

1268
01:58:56,370 --> 01:59:03,410
out, we're projecting and estimating a higher jump into the close to $200,000 and even higher

1269
01:59:04,070 --> 01:59:05,090
for 2027.

1270
01:59:05,090 --> 01:59:06,230
other

1271
01:59:09,360 --> 01:59:18,300
questions comments so we have consensus to bring it back it is unanimous thank you thank you

1272
01:59:18,300 --> 01:59:19,160
okay

1273
01:59:28,860 --> 01:59:36,400
now we will move on to our 2027 state legislative agenda discussion with Virginia staying and

1274
01:59:36,400 --> 01:59:38,260
Brianna joining thank

1275
01:59:42,100 --> 01:59:47,040
you again Mayor Virginia cloth still here and with me tonight is our state lobbyists

1276
01:59:47,040 --> 01:59:53,680
Ms. Brianna Murray from Gordon Thomas Honeywell, government relations, and we're providing an admin report on the

1277
01:59:53,680 --> 01:59:59,840
with a preview of the upcoming state legislative session as well as the first glimpse at the draft.

1278
02:00:02,280 --> 02:00:29,900
It should look pretty familiar with the capital budget request and some transportation requests to discuss. And then a review of the policy section. And after the presentation, we invite council to provide feedback. And we will be back tentatively. I believe August 18 is our plan. And with that, I'll toss it over to Brianna. Good evening, mayor and council. Thank you so much for having me here this evening.

1279
02:00:29,900 --> 02:00:49,860
I do want to note that I am here earlier than usual and that is because I think it's important I'm giving this advice to all my clients to establish your legislative priorities earlier rather than later, especially because we're not anticipating large shifts in our overarching political environment.

1280
02:00:50,620 --> 02:00:56,680
I'll explain a little bit more about that, but given how the governor's office is developing the budget,

1281
02:00:56,680 --> 02:01:02,380
legislators are developing their priorities. I'm finding that the earlier that you all as my client

1282
02:01:02,380 --> 02:01:08,400
can give me direction the more effective I can be on your behalf. So it's nice to see you when

1283
02:01:08,400 --> 02:01:09,100
it's worn out.

1284
02:01:11,270 --> 02:01:14,970
This evening we're going to just very quickly review some prior successes that

1285
02:01:14,970 --> 02:01:21,890
look fairly piddly after all of your celebration earlier this evening and provide you with an overview

1286
02:01:21,890 --> 02:01:27,650
of the 2027 session so you can have some context as you start thinking about your legislative agenda

1287
02:01:27,650 --> 02:01:33,510
review some guidance that I have for you all to consider and then review a draft legislative agenda.

1288
02:01:34,250 --> 02:01:38,850
Again, these are our measly, piddly successes that we've had in this deal.

1289
02:01:41,410 --> 02:01:47,590
But I do want to note that one of the things that we've been successful at doing from biennium to biennium

1290
02:01:47,590 --> 02:01:55,110
is maintaining success year after year and finding a good cadence for bringing dollars in on a pretty consistent basis.

1291
02:01:55,770 --> 02:02:01,010
So this last legislative session, we saw a second installment in funds for the Spokane

1292
02:02:01,010 --> 02:02:07,470
Valley Sports Courts, $1 million for the Regional Traffic Management Center, and then

1293
02:02:07,470 --> 02:02:11,450
as we think about it holistically across the whole biennium, we were successful in getting

1294
02:02:11,450 --> 02:02:17,590
legislation passed related to document recording fees, which was no small task, no small fee

1295
02:02:17,590 --> 02:02:18,030
at all.

1296
02:02:18,990 --> 02:02:26,290
So, let's continue that success, and as we aim to do so, let's do so with the political

1297
02:02:26,290 --> 02:02:27,330
context in mind.

1298
02:02:27,550 --> 02:02:32,550
I think a key part of being successful in advancing our priorities is putting forward

1299
02:02:32,550 --> 02:02:39,390
requests that are consistent with or feasible within the political environment that we're

1300
02:02:39,390 --> 02:02:40,070
working in.

1301
02:02:40,870 --> 02:02:48,830
So the 2027 session will mark the beginning of a new legislative biennium, so the beginning

1302
02:02:48,830 --> 02:02:50,210
of a new two-year cycle.

1303
02:02:50,630 --> 02:02:55,970
The first year of the legislative cycle is always a long session that's 105 days with the

1304
02:02:55,970 --> 02:02:59,310
second year of the biennium being a short year that's 60 days.

1305
02:02:59,810 --> 02:03:03,490
So we just finished the short session, we're going back into a long session.

1306
02:03:03,490 --> 02:03:11,090
In the last 105 consecutive days starting the second Monday in January, it's almost

1307
02:03:11,090 --> 02:03:11,930
like I know that.

1308
02:03:13,750 --> 02:03:18,670
We are expecting Democrats to continue to have the majority in both the House of Representatives

1309
02:03:18,670 --> 02:03:20,010
and the State Senate.

1310
02:03:20,330 --> 02:03:23,530
However, as much as that will be the same, there will be changes.

1311
02:03:23,870 --> 02:03:24,730
It will be different.

1312
02:03:25,390 --> 02:03:26,730
Let me explain that a bit more.

1313
02:03:27,610 --> 02:03:31,910
We had over a dozen legislators announced that they are not seeking reelection.

1314
02:03:31,910 --> 02:03:39,130
and they will no longer be in office as of December 31, which means regardless of whether

1315
02:03:39,130 --> 02:03:43,870
a member of the same party or a member of the different party follows in their footsteps,

1316
02:03:43,870 --> 02:03:49,270
we will have over two dozen new legislators wandering the halls of Olympia trying to figure out

1317
02:03:49,270 --> 02:03:50,770
how the legislature functions.

1318
02:03:54,230 --> 02:03:59,210
Within those that are seeking re-election on both the Republican

1319
02:03:59,210 --> 02:04:02,990
and on Democrat side, we are seeing challengers from inside the party.

1320
02:04:03,290 --> 02:04:06,170
So a lot of established incumbent Democrats or

1321
02:04:06,170 --> 02:04:12,090
established incumbent Republicans seeing challengers that are formidable who have raised

1322
02:04:12,090 --> 02:04:16,670
funds and have backing from other members of the party run against them.

1323
02:04:17,090 --> 02:04:21,390
This is making the August primary that's just around the corner a bit more exciting.

1324
02:04:22,030 --> 02:04:25,050
It also means that the results of these primaries and

1325
02:04:25,050 --> 02:04:31,250
other races are more likely to impact the dynamics within each of the respective caucuses.

1326
02:04:31,710 --> 02:04:39,730
By caucuses, I mean the House Democrats, Republicans, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans.

1327
02:04:40,570 --> 02:04:45,650
Within each of those groups, there's sort of a dynamic of which does the group as a whole

1328
02:04:45,650 --> 02:04:50,470
lean more liberal, does it lean more moderate within that party?

1329
02:04:50,470 --> 02:04:58,070
Some of these primary races and intraparty races will impact that over-argene dynamic within

1330
02:04:58,070 --> 02:05:03,490
the caucuses and will certainly shape how policy is likely to advance through the process.

1331
02:05:04,550 --> 02:05:10,690
After the November general election, the legislature will embark on a reorganization process

1332
02:05:10,690 --> 02:05:17,170
that it conducts every two years where legislators get assigned to committees, committee chairs,

1333
02:05:17,170 --> 02:05:22,050
and ranking members are selected, and leadership for the four caucuses are identified.

1334
02:05:22,910 --> 02:05:29,590
The every two years there are committee changes, which means that if one of our local legislators

1335
02:05:29,590 --> 02:05:35,310
served on a committee this past biennium, it's not necessarily guaranteed, or maybe even

1336
02:05:35,310 --> 02:05:39,850
likely that they'll continue to serve on that same committee, moving forward.

1337
02:05:41,950 --> 02:05:49,910
The reorganization process is also not limited to just what legislator, what committees, what legislators are serving on.

1338
02:05:50,290 --> 02:05:56,870
The legislature can choose to just make up whole new committees or combine committees or change the names of committees.

1339
02:05:57,630 --> 02:06:03,830
We saw that happen just prior to 2019 where the legislature separated out local government from housing,

1340
02:06:03,830 --> 02:06:11,150
which is why we saw a large number of land use mandates passed through the housing committee to get around a lot of the

1341
02:06:11,150 --> 02:06:15,990
legislators who had chosen to serve on the local government committee because they had city background.

1342
02:06:17,310 --> 02:06:20,330
We'll be watching those committee changes very closely.

1343
02:06:21,230 --> 02:06:26,390
The other component is that we are beginning to hear rumors of leadership changes and

1344
02:06:26,390 --> 02:06:34,350
And most publicly, the Speaker of the House, Lori Jenkins, has had a member of the caucus,

1345
02:06:35,390 --> 02:06:39,470
Representative April Berg, who chairs the House Finance Committee very publicly announced

1346
02:06:39,470 --> 02:06:44,930
that she's planning to challenge the Speaker for that position. On the Senate side,

1347
02:06:45,050 --> 02:06:51,230
the Senate Democrat majority leader is Jamie Peterson from Seattle. He has a formidable primary

1348
02:06:51,230 --> 02:06:58,130
opponent and there's some question as to whether or not he'll be able to retain his seat and if he

1349
02:06:58,130 --> 02:07:05,230
doesn't retain his seat, he can't continue to be a majority leader. So, Democrats are likely to

1350
02:07:05,230 --> 02:07:10,430
be in control of both chambers, but it's very possible that Olympia and the dynamics of how all

1351
02:07:10,430 --> 02:07:14,050
of the caucuses are interacting with one another could be very different.

1352
02:07:17,240 --> 02:07:18,640
We are beginning to see some

1353
02:07:18,640 --> 02:07:21,140
Some of the major themes emerge for this upcoming session.

1354
02:07:22,190 --> 02:07:26,660
The budget is likely to be the most significant discussion this session.

1355
02:07:26,800 --> 02:07:32,040
The legislature is tasked in a long session with developing the biennial operating capital

1356
02:07:32,040 --> 02:07:33,320
and transportation budgets.

1357
02:07:34,020 --> 02:07:40,460
The fiscal years for those budgets run July 1 of 2027 through June 30 of 2029.

1358
02:07:40,800 --> 02:07:46,400
They pretty much spend the first part of 2027 developing those two-year budgets.

1359
02:07:46,400 --> 02:08:06,920
The operating budget is the one that's facing the most significant challenges, the budget development process kicked off last month with the governor's budget office, the office of financial management sending a memo to state agencies asking them to submit their changes to their budget proposals.

1360
02:08:07,700 --> 02:08:15,720
The memo that was sent said it's the most challenging budget and recent memory that's facing an over $4 billion shortfall.

1361
02:08:15,720 --> 02:08:28,320
Let's driven by 39% inflation, 14.2% population growth, increasing cost due to court, settlements, and a series of federal funding cuts.

1362
02:08:29,260 --> 02:08:38,260
I think there's a lot of debate over the genesis of the deficit that the legislature is facing.

1363
02:08:38,260 --> 02:08:43,800
and there are a lot of stakeholders who are publicly stating that it's a spending problem,

1364
02:08:44,120 --> 02:08:50,620
not a revenue problem. The governor has been very public in the last three weeks saying he is

1365
02:08:50,620 --> 02:08:57,720
not interested in increasing taxes. He is interested in looking at making cuts to programs with a

1366
02:08:57,720 --> 02:09:05,340
honing in on programs that have been newly enacted since 2019 and programs that are not

1367
02:09:05,340 --> 02:09:09,940
existing in other states. In other words, what is Washington doing that other states are not?

1368
02:09:10,960 --> 02:09:15,760
State agencies will submit their budget proposals to the Office of Financial Management and

1369
02:09:15,760 --> 02:09:21,880
the governor will develop his proposed budgets and release those in mid-December. The legislature will

1370
02:09:21,880 --> 02:09:28,900
use the governor's budget proposal as the first draft for beginning their work in developing their

1371
02:09:28,900 --> 02:09:36,900
respective budget proposals. The second budget that is very constrained is the transportation

1372
02:09:36,900 --> 02:09:43,660
budget, which is a budget that you all have made requests of in prior years and is a budget

1373
02:09:43,660 --> 02:09:48,940
that funds a lot of programs that you all rely on, like the freight mobility strategic investment

1374
02:09:48,940 --> 02:09:54,780
board or the transportation improvement board. The revenue forecast for that budget came

1375
02:09:54,780 --> 02:10:01,700
now at the end of June, and it was indicated a decline in revenues that was steeper decline

1376
02:10:01,700 --> 02:10:03,180
than what was forecasted.

1377
02:10:03,640 --> 02:10:09,120
Primarily because fuel tax revenues are coming in lower than expected, even though the

1378
02:10:09,120 --> 02:10:10,540
fuel tax has gone up.

1379
02:10:11,060 --> 02:10:17,480
The reason for that is because vehicles are becoming more fuel-efficient, and the adoption

1380
02:10:17,480 --> 02:10:22,460
of electric vehicles is more widespread and more significant than what's been anticipated.

1381
02:10:23,820 --> 02:10:45,080
transportation budget writers are contemplating how to address that. There's been a lot of proposals thrown out in recent years, whether that's a road usage charge or vehicle miles traveled or a highway use fee, which is a fee that is paid when you register a vehicle and it's based on the miles per gallon that the vehicle gets.

1382
02:10:46,060 --> 02:10:51,460
All that to say, those two very constrained budgets will receive a lot of attention this

1383
02:10:51,460 --> 02:10:56,400
next session, while the capital budget, which is the most stable budget, will continue

1384
02:10:56,400 --> 02:11:01,300
to plot along being developed in a bipartisan fashion, making investments in community

1385
02:11:01,300 --> 02:11:02,060
projects.

1386
02:11:04,020 --> 02:11:07,720
The legislature is likely to continue to be talking about tax policy.

1387
02:11:08,240 --> 02:11:11,340
The millionaire's tax will be on the ballot this November.

1388
02:11:12,120 --> 02:11:14,740
It is also facing a court challenge.

1389
02:11:14,740 --> 02:11:28,140
The legislature has a lot of unfinished business related to the millionaires tax, particularly as it relates to the sales and use tax exemptions that were included in that bill that actually have an impact on your all's budget.

1390
02:11:28,960 --> 02:11:35,320
Those sales and use tax exemptions have a net negative on local collections.

1391
02:11:35,320 --> 02:11:46,840
The legislature has committed, promised, indicated, and I'm not sure what the right verb is to allocate 200 million dollars to cities and counties to offset those impacts.

1392
02:11:47,340 --> 02:11:57,320
This next legislative session would be when they make that tax policy and decide whether they're going to allocate that 200 million, will it grow with time, how it will be distributed?

1393
02:11:57,960 --> 02:12:00,840
And so that will be a robust tax policy discussion.

1394
02:12:00,840 --> 02:12:07,160
The other tax policy discussion we're anticipating is that the state is likely to consider

1395
02:12:07,160 --> 02:12:14,760
or proposals to move away from a BNO tax system on gross profits, for an emergency tax or

1396
02:12:14,760 --> 02:12:22,360
a corporate income tax, where the tax being imposed is on just the profit and oversimplifying,

1397
02:12:22,700 --> 02:12:29,660
but not gross profits, just profits. We're hearing legislators start to talk about a jobs package

1398
02:12:29,660 --> 02:12:36,060
that would not cost the state any money, so different policy changes that could be made

1399
02:12:36,060 --> 02:12:41,700
to help support jobs. And there's a pretty consistent theme that legislators are concerned

1400
02:12:41,700 --> 02:12:49,720
about over-arching affordability, whether it's housing, utility rates, fuel tax. We're hearing

1401
02:12:49,720 --> 02:12:54,920
it pretty consistently on both sides of the aisle. Those are some of the major themes that

1402
02:12:54,920 --> 02:13:00,700
that we see emerging and the status of each of the three budgets at a very high fast level

1403
02:13:00,700 --> 02:13:01,940
about as fast as I could do.

1404
02:13:04,870 --> 02:13:09,510
So to lead into my guidance for you all as you think about your legislative agenda,

1405
02:13:10,390 --> 02:13:16,130
you will, for those of you who have been on councils for some time, this is very similar

1406
02:13:16,130 --> 02:13:21,010
to what you hear from me every year, especially the top one, which is I encourage you to be

1407
02:13:21,010 --> 02:13:27,530
as focused as possible, identify your top three to five priorities. Your legislators only have

1408
02:13:27,530 --> 02:13:33,150
so much bandwidth to move issues forward on your behalf, and so the more we can focus their attention

1409
02:13:33,150 --> 02:13:37,950
on three to five top priorities, the more success we are likely to have.

1410
02:13:41,530 --> 02:13:46,950
I recommend that among those three to five top priorities that you include a capital budget

1411
02:13:46,950 --> 02:13:51,970
request because that is the budget that is most stable and presents the biggest funding opportunity.

1412
02:13:52,350 --> 02:13:57,830
I think this goes again to making sure your requests are aligned with the political realities

1413
02:13:57,830 --> 02:14:03,530
and budget realities that we're facing. There's limited transportation and operating budget

1414
02:14:04,070 --> 02:14:10,150
funds. I encourage you to acknowledge the political feasibility of policy requests in

1415
02:14:10,150 --> 02:14:15,870
light of Democrats having a majority in both chambers. It's probably not the year to ask for

1416
02:14:15,870 --> 02:14:20,330
items that are just going to be completely non-starters in this partisan environment.

1417
02:14:21,190 --> 02:14:26,450
And finally, I encourage you to keep the legislative agenda as city-centric as possible.

1418
02:14:26,730 --> 02:14:32,590
I recognize that you all are representing your community and the community as a whole

1419
02:14:32,590 --> 02:14:35,430
is interested in a whole variety of policy topics.

1420
02:14:36,070 --> 02:14:40,930
But our advocacy in Olympia is most effective when it is focused on things that are within

1421
02:14:40,930 --> 02:14:49,050
our lane where the city plays a role in regulating or has some expertise in or providing service in

1422
02:14:49,050 --> 02:14:54,090
the items that we're weighing in on. This is my way of saying please don't put K through 12

1423
02:14:54,090 --> 02:14:59,270
education policy on your legislative agenda. I'm not the expert in that. I'm the expert in city

1424
02:14:59,270 --> 02:14:59,650
government.

1425
02:15:00,050 --> 02:15:08,770
And all of the school district lobbyists will look at me pretty funny if I show up saying city of so-and-so would like you to do X, Y, or Z.

1426
02:15:11,570 --> 02:15:29,150
So with that guideline guidance in mind, we have a very draft legislative agenda for 2027 for you all to review. I know there are already some modifications to make before this draft comes back to you in August, for example.

1427
02:15:29,150 --> 02:15:35,230
where it says Spokane Regional Transportation Management Center, we actually mean Spokane Regional

1428
02:15:35,230 --> 02:15:41,410
Traffic Management Center. So there are some modifications that need to be made to this draft.

1429
02:15:42,970 --> 02:15:47,070
But we wanted to get it in front of you to get your feedback.

1430
02:15:47,990 --> 02:15:53,290
To maintain the focus that I've talked about in recent years, what we've done is we've separated

1431
02:15:53,290 --> 02:15:58,970
our funding requests out on the front page. And we've had policy issues on the remaining

1432
02:15:58,970 --> 02:16:04,990
pages with the idea that where we really want our legislators to focus on is on our funding

1433
02:16:04,990 --> 02:16:11,750
requests and bringing dollars back to the community. Over the years, the list of policy issues

1434
02:16:11,750 --> 02:16:17,990
that you all have had on the second page has gotten quite long. Essentially, what we've done

1435
02:16:17,990 --> 02:16:23,370
is anything from the prior year has just carried over and then we've added to it and then carried

1436
02:16:23,370 --> 02:16:31,490
over and added to it. So the draft that you have before you is streamlined. It's been slightly

1437
02:16:31,490 --> 02:16:36,990
restructured so that there's a broad policy statement at the top of each section that should

1438
02:16:36,990 --> 02:16:42,930
cover many of the different policy statements that were in previous drafts. And then there's a list

1439
02:16:42,930 --> 02:16:49,330
of bullets that are carried over from the previous drafts that speak to active policy proposals

1440
02:16:49,330 --> 02:16:54,510
that are being considered, or likely to be considered, by the legislature, or being advanced by stakeholders.

1441
02:16:55,610 --> 02:17:02,110
The draft before you is our effort to make the legislative agenda more succinct,

1442
02:17:02,550 --> 02:17:10,210
but still capture a lot of council's intent and policy guidance that's been communicated over multiple years.

1443
02:17:11,110 --> 02:17:17,950
I do think that while this is not just three to five items in a single page,

1444
02:17:17,950 --> 02:17:23,530
I think what we're doing is a really good job of balancing the need for prioritization

1445
02:17:23,530 --> 02:17:29,750
by putting funding requests first, with the fact that the legislature is doing a lot

1446
02:17:29,750 --> 02:17:34,750
of policymaking that touches on city business and balancing those two needs out.

1447
02:17:38,940 --> 02:17:42,160
So we have the draft legislative agenda up on the screen.

1448
02:17:42,560 --> 02:17:46,660
The goal of this evening is for you all to provide your feedback.

1449
02:17:46,660 --> 02:17:53,300
I'll go over the funding requests but I'm not planning to otherwise read through all the policy issues.

1450
02:17:58,300 --> 02:18:04,000
So the capital funding requests that we have included on the draft legislative agenda

1451
02:18:04,000 --> 02:18:10,040
is a $600,000 request for the Flora Park Riverview Trail and Wildfire Risk Reduction.

1452
02:18:11,100 --> 02:18:20,140
This project is ready to go, which is one of the criteria we look at is can it be delivered within the fiscal biennium?

1453
02:18:20,540 --> 02:18:25,920
It builds on a lot of the work that we've done with legislators in prior years around funding the course,

1454
02:18:26,420 --> 02:18:33,940
and is the right dollar amount to have success in the environment that we're working within with constrained budgets.

1455
02:18:33,940 --> 02:18:40,720
I think I'll pause there to see if there are any questions about the project.

1456
02:18:41,980 --> 02:18:44,360
Questions? Councilmember Kelly?

1457
02:18:45,340 --> 02:18:53,260
So I'm curious, so you indicate here that this is state land that we're looking to do this modifications to.

1458
02:18:53,920 --> 02:18:54,420
Is that correct?

1459
02:18:57,560 --> 02:18:59,980
Yes, City Manager, a moment.

1460
02:19:00,520 --> 02:19:05,860
Yes, it's state property and what I'll do is I'll get the current layout.

1461
02:19:05,860 --> 02:19:12,560
out of the trail and email it out to Council so you guys can see it graphically how it connects

1462
02:19:12,560 --> 02:19:17,200
to the park and where it lies proximity to the cross-country course.

1463
02:19:17,500 --> 02:19:21,200
So we are working through the shoreline permitting process.

1464
02:19:21,560 --> 02:19:27,080
That's where some of this wildfire mitigation comes through that.

1465
02:19:27,760 --> 02:19:34,400
We are also working on an agreement with state parks to utilize the property for this point.

1466
02:19:35,000 --> 02:19:45,460
Part of the original reason for purchasing this property is to try to get access and visibility on the river, and that's very difficult right now.

1467
02:19:45,560 --> 02:19:55,300
There's not an easy way, you know, there's kind of trails through there, but there's not a graveled pathway going to that.

1468
02:19:55,300 --> 02:20:15,420
So that's what this would be, it wouldn't be another loop of the cross-country course separate from that more of a park amenity that would be narrower compacted gravel and ADA compliant with some benches and park tables that kind of thing out there.

1469
02:20:15,840 --> 02:20:18,280
So did I hear you suggest that we're looking to purchase this land?

1470
02:20:18,280 --> 02:20:24,400
No. No. No. We would get an agreement to utilize this land for this purpose.

1471
02:20:25,520 --> 02:20:29,200
Okay, and I see a mention here of wildfire mitigation.

1472
02:20:30,560 --> 02:20:36,780
And this can't be the only place in the city where we have that concern or need.

1473
02:20:37,320 --> 02:20:42,820
So would this be the best place to focus? That or should we be considering other places to also

1474
02:20:42,820 --> 02:20:47,820
So ask for wildfire risk mitigation or reduction work to be done or funded.

1475
02:20:48,420 --> 02:20:51,120
So some of that work is already being done.

1476
02:20:51,360 --> 02:20:56,100
If you're familiar with Department of National Resources has been working up in the Dishman

1477
02:20:56,100 --> 02:20:56,460
Hills.

1478
02:20:57,120 --> 02:21:05,140
They did some thinning of the trees, pruning of the trees out at our property at Bates

1479
02:21:05,140 --> 02:21:06,060
in 44th.

1480
02:21:06,780 --> 02:21:12,440
So there's other aspects or other properties around, but this was pretty unique.

1481
02:21:12,440 --> 02:21:18,320
it's pretty dense. As part of the development of this, we will be removing some vegetation,

1482
02:21:19,120 --> 02:21:24,700
but there does need to be some fire risk mitigation done out here. We wouldn't want a fire

1483
02:21:24,700 --> 02:21:30,640
to start and spread into the industrial area. So I think this is a high priority to tackle this.

1484
02:21:30,760 --> 02:21:34,900
And as I said, it's part of the requirements for utilizing the property.

1485
02:21:35,540 --> 02:21:41,240
Council Member Kelly, part of putting together a successful legislative agenda is also making

1486
02:21:41,240 --> 02:21:49,620
that as we're developing these requests that we're packaging them with compelling messaging that's going to make them more competitive within the legislative environment.

1487
02:21:50,300 --> 02:22:00,140
So the framing of this as a trail and wild risk reduction is really trying to hit on some of the priorities that we're hearing the legislature articulate.

1488
02:22:00,700 --> 02:22:03,400
Like, oh, you want to make investments in that?

1489
02:22:03,580 --> 02:22:06,900
Oh, we've got a project that fits right in that bucket.

1490
02:22:06,900 --> 02:22:15,560
And so some of the messaging is less about what the big picture while fire risk reduction

1491
02:22:15,560 --> 02:22:21,580
looks like citywide and more about, okay, how do we make this request as compelling to

1492
02:22:22,360 --> 02:22:23,960
capital budget writers as possible?

1493
02:22:25,900 --> 02:22:27,720
Yeah, and I certainly appreciate that.

1494
02:22:27,880 --> 02:22:32,300
You would definitely be the expert on how to market this, so to speak, right, or how to

1495
02:22:32,300 --> 02:22:32,880
package it.

1496
02:22:32,880 --> 02:22:38,000
I'm just thinking I mean we're just being presented with one option and and you know

1497
02:22:38,000 --> 02:22:45,440
I don't know what other options there are and what we might decide as a city would be more important I suppose but

1498
02:22:45,440 --> 02:22:50,080
So I guess I'm just trying to maybe open that conversation or you know

1499
02:22:51,640 --> 02:22:56,940
Get some clues to like what else is out there if council likes

1500
02:22:57,980 --> 02:22:58,800
We could

1501
02:22:59,320 --> 02:23:00,840
talk about other potential

1502
02:23:00,840 --> 02:23:07,160
So, the difficulty with lining these capital asks out, it's not like you can ask for multiple

1503
02:23:07,160 --> 02:23:12,160
millions of dollars, we've done that in the past at limited success, so we always try

1504
02:23:12,160 --> 02:23:21,180
to come in to a reasonable ask, and so that really limits the options out there for a variety

1505
02:23:21,180 --> 02:23:27,420
of different park improvements or other improvements that you might want to do throughout the community.

1506
02:23:28,280 --> 02:23:33,660
But again, if the council would like a discussion on that, we can put something on an agenda

1507
02:23:33,660 --> 02:23:34,340
and do that.

1508
02:23:34,740 --> 02:23:34,940
Yeah.

1509
02:23:35,380 --> 02:23:36,140
I'll just expand.

1510
02:23:36,580 --> 02:23:42,800
Like, the criteria that Capital Budget Writers look at is, you know, it's under a million

1511
02:23:42,800 --> 02:23:47,320
dollars in the past and some of your fellow council members could probably speak to this.

1512
02:23:48,140 --> 02:23:51,260
Council's not adhered to that guidance, asked for far more.

1513
02:23:51,900 --> 02:23:56,960
Anytime you ask for, like, if you were to ask for $3.5 or $4 million, what the legislature

1514
02:23:56,960 --> 02:24:03,140
isn't inclined to do is choose a smaller dollar amount that fits their budget realities and

1515
02:24:03,140 --> 02:24:06,560
you don't get to pick that dollar amount, and yet you still are expected to deliver

1516
02:24:06,560 --> 02:24:07,120
the project.

1517
02:24:07,500 --> 02:24:13,020
So you could ask for $4 million and they'll say, here's $500,000, and you're like, ah, what

1518
02:24:13,020 --> 02:24:13,640
do I do with that?

1519
02:24:13,760 --> 02:24:15,720
When the project name was really $4 million.

1520
02:24:16,500 --> 02:24:21,500
So by asking for a dollar amount that fits within their budget realities, you're more

1521
02:24:21,500 --> 02:24:24,140
likely to get the dollar amount you ask for.

1522
02:24:25,220 --> 02:24:32,440
they are always going to be the last dollar in and they want to see the project delivered

1523
02:24:34,140 --> 02:24:39,180
by within the fiscal biennium. So in this case that means June 30th of 2029.

1524
02:24:39,920 --> 02:24:45,600
Can you start applying those criteria in that financial limitation to the various projects across

1525
02:24:45,600 --> 02:24:50,980
the city? It kind of narrows down pretty quickly. Well that's helpful, I appreciate it and I think

1526
02:24:50,980 --> 02:24:55,760
maybe it's a conversation that we can have separately before we bring anything forth so that's not

1527
02:24:55,760 --> 02:24:57,200
necessary at this time but thank you.

1528
02:24:59,480 --> 02:25:03,760
That's my re-eager. I was just going to say thank you that with

1529
02:25:04,880 --> 02:25:11,960
this park and the cross-country facility it's been a real focus of what we've been having

1530
02:25:12,460 --> 02:25:18,500
talks about lately and so I'm supportive of keeping it here because they see that obviously we have

1531
02:25:20,000 --> 02:25:25,440
We have delivered on this project and it is a huge economic driver and I believe it was

1532
02:25:25,440 --> 02:25:33,630
our number one in our list of things we should complete in order to bring economic development.

1533
02:25:33,950 --> 02:25:40,290
So I'm okay leaving it there and especially if what we saw with AWC, you know, people are

1534
02:25:40,290 --> 02:25:44,370
starting to hear about our course and I think adding a little bit of something to it would

1535
02:25:44,370 --> 02:25:47,410
would be great as another amenity to our community.

1536
02:25:48,910 --> 02:25:50,050
Council member Merkel.

1537
02:25:51,470 --> 02:25:54,050
Yeah, I definitely agree with Council member Kelly

1538
02:25:54,050 --> 02:25:55,870
in terms of having options.

1539
02:25:56,170 --> 02:25:58,270
I like to look at at least a few things.

1540
02:25:58,270 --> 02:25:59,330
This might be the best option,

1541
02:25:59,330 --> 02:26:02,230
but I think that there could be other projects

1542
02:26:02,230 --> 02:26:04,870
that could still meet those criteria that you listed out.

1543
02:26:06,430 --> 02:26:08,930
I do think that wildfire risk reduction

1544
02:26:08,930 --> 02:26:10,210
is really, really important.

1545
02:26:10,670 --> 02:26:12,930
I understand that the state has done a few things,

1546
02:26:12,930 --> 02:26:18,950
But I would love to have that as a big policy item, like a number one policy item,

1547
02:26:19,010 --> 02:26:23,950
especially given the fire we recently had just above Millwood,

1548
02:26:24,170 --> 02:26:27,090
and along with the fires that we've had a few other times.

1549
02:26:27,770 --> 02:26:32,810
And the fact is that most of the forest had land that surrounds the city is state owned.

1550
02:26:33,310 --> 02:26:35,410
So they need to be maintaining that.

1551
02:26:35,510 --> 02:26:38,710
They need to be emphasizing, focusing on maintaining that.

1552
02:26:38,710 --> 02:26:44,090
Maybe even working with local companies who might be able to take those trees and

1553
02:26:44,090 --> 02:26:50,570
utilize them for a better purpose because this idea of never cutting any trees down has led to,

1554
02:26:50,710 --> 02:26:51,850
well, we don't cut them down.

1555
02:26:51,990 --> 02:26:56,150
They just all burn at the same time and then nothing happens from that except House's burn.

1556
02:26:56,790 --> 02:27:01,510
So I would really like to see us put that forward in some sort of policy focus.

1557
02:27:01,510 --> 02:27:01,690
Yes.

1558
02:27:02,070 --> 02:27:03,030
Council Member Wake.

1559
02:27:04,170 --> 02:27:06,330
Yeah, kind of coming back to the cap of request.

1560
02:27:07,030 --> 02:27:08,790
I really like this project.

1561
02:27:08,910 --> 02:27:11,210
I think it's getting a lot of synergy right now with our,

1562
02:27:11,510 --> 02:27:12,950
and we can show a lot of success.

1563
02:27:13,790 --> 02:27:16,030
Thinking of other possibilities in my own mind,

1564
02:27:16,030 --> 02:27:17,890
it's like, well, we just heard earlier

1565
02:27:17,890 --> 02:27:20,350
we were applying for Edgecliff Park Master Plan.

1566
02:27:20,350 --> 02:27:22,290
So it's like, okay, that would have been a great one,

1567
02:27:22,530 --> 02:27:23,410
but we're not ready yet.

1568
02:27:23,910 --> 02:27:25,570
The pools in my mind are another one,

1569
02:27:25,930 --> 02:27:26,850
but we're not ready yet.

1570
02:27:27,750 --> 02:27:30,090
The park across the street, the next elements,

1571
02:27:30,090 --> 02:27:35,790
not ready yet and so just to me it seems like it it makes perfect sense to be

1572
02:27:35,790 --> 02:27:39,950
our capital request and I also appreciate that we're pushing Brianna a little

1573
02:27:39,950 --> 02:27:45,150
bit harder and if she likes to target us like 300 or 400 tons and so it's nice

1574
02:27:45,150 --> 02:27:52,650
that we're pushing her a little bit harder on that one so city manager yeah just

1575
02:27:52,650 --> 02:27:57,390
want to clarify councilmember Merkel's comment about wildfire mitigation

1576
02:27:57,390 --> 02:28:04,950
councilmember Kelly's. A question as well. I was clarified by Deputy Manager Lamb who

1577
02:28:04,950 --> 02:28:12,430
said that the wildfire mitigation is actually part of the short-line development permit process

1578
02:28:12,430 --> 02:28:19,930
and that was negotiated with the Department of Ecology. Typically whenever we remove vegetation,

1579
02:28:19,930 --> 02:28:46,770
were required to replant it somewhere else, so they are allowing us to not replant that those trees removed or the vegetation removed in lieu we can then do this fire mitigation, which is a much better deal for us and I think allows us to not get into over planting, creating the problems that you are all concerned about.

1580
02:28:46,770 --> 02:28:52,890
So, it's a bit separate from a large overall fire mitigation throughout the city.

1581
02:28:53,070 --> 02:28:59,050
I think that's still on as one of our policy pieces that Mariana and I spoke about earlier

1582
02:28:59,050 --> 02:28:59,470
today.

1583
02:28:59,810 --> 02:29:05,470
But we'll keep that in mind, but I did want to clarify that distinction that this was a

1584
02:29:05,470 --> 02:29:08,450
good thing as part of our permitting process on the trail project.

1585
02:29:12,500 --> 02:29:12,660
Okay.

1586
02:29:14,340 --> 02:29:18,360
Moving on to transportation requests and I want to set appropriate expectations.

1587
02:29:18,360 --> 02:29:24,220
I noted that the transportation budget is one of the two budgets that's facing significant

1588
02:29:24,220 --> 02:29:25,300
revenue challenges.

1589
02:29:26,420 --> 02:29:32,680
Despite that, I would recommend that you continue to bring forward requests, particularly

1590
02:29:32,680 --> 02:29:36,300
given the conversations around how to replace the fuel tax.

1591
02:29:37,860 --> 02:29:46,480
As this document evolves before you see it in August, I may be recommending sort of a reframing

1592
02:29:46,480 --> 02:29:54,600
on which are most urgent from a timeliness standpoint, just because we do have multiple

1593
02:29:54,600 --> 02:29:59,880
transportation requests on the list, and we don't want to be competing with ourselves.

1594
02:30:00,720 --> 02:30:30,700
So the first request is continuing some work that we started last legislative session in securing $1 million for the Spokane Regional Traffic Management Center, or TMC. Historically, the TMC has been partially funded with local funds through your regional RTPO. The $1 million from the state would ensure that those RTPO funds can remain local. The $1 million that was allocated in last year's

1595
02:30:30,700 --> 02:30:35,800
budget was not identified as being ongoing, which means we have a little bit more advocacy

1596
02:30:35,800 --> 02:30:41,820
to do in order to make sure that it really gets embedded into the budget for future years

1597
02:30:41,820 --> 02:30:48,780
moving forward. We kind of got the first look in and now we need to really make sure that it's

1598
02:30:48,780 --> 02:30:57,540
going to be there in perpetuity. So that's the first request. The second request is $2.9 million

1599
02:30:57,540 --> 02:31:04,780
A $1 request to complete the design phase for Barker Road I-90 interchange from Mission to Appaloi.

1600
02:31:05,560 --> 02:31:12,220
And then the third request is a $7.5 million request for the Sullivan Trent interchange,

1601
02:31:12,700 --> 02:31:19,960
which could look like asking for the FIM-SIB funding to be appropriated to the project,

1602
02:31:19,960 --> 02:31:26,140
either on its current timeline or a different timeline, or could be asking for that $7.5 million

1603
02:31:26,140 --> 02:31:28,520
and through another bucket or mechanism.

1604
02:31:29,260 --> 02:31:32,560
And I think the good news that you all celebrated earlier,

1605
02:31:32,660 --> 02:31:35,420
this evening helps provide some momentum to this request.

1606
02:31:36,000 --> 02:31:37,780
And one of the things I hope to dig into

1607
02:31:37,780 --> 02:31:41,620
a little bit more with Adam is when do we need

1608
02:31:41,620 --> 02:31:44,480
to have state dollars matching those federal dollars

1609
02:31:44,480 --> 02:31:47,520
to ensure that you are able to deliver the project

1610
02:31:47,520 --> 02:31:51,000
on the timelines required by the federal grant.

1611
02:31:51,480 --> 02:31:53,260
And hopefully using that timeline

1612
02:31:53,260 --> 02:31:57,640
as some momentum or urgency to get a state investment.

1613
02:31:58,800 --> 02:32:07,600
The last item related to funding is that there are a series of grant programs where the city applies for the grant program.

1614
02:32:08,160 --> 02:32:19,980
The granting agency evaluates the various applications and ranks them on a like this is our first, second, third, fourth, fifth project list

1615
02:32:19,980 --> 02:32:28,120
And then the legislature chooses how far down the project list to fund and how much funding to appropriate to the grant program.

1616
02:32:28,920 --> 02:32:33,980
Your excellent staff have been active in applying to several of those programs.

1617
02:32:34,520 --> 02:32:45,480
So we have them noted here so that when the legislature goes to decide how far down the list to fund, we can advocate to make sure the grants that we competed for can be funded.

1618
02:32:46,660 --> 02:32:49,980
So that's the, that's the tunnelist that's, yes.

1619
02:32:50,100 --> 02:32:56,620
So going back to the, to the transportation on the TMC request.

1620
02:32:57,100 --> 02:33:03,200
So last year, I remember the discussion and they felt they, I don't remember who they are.

1621
02:33:03,400 --> 02:33:09,940
But anyway, that the continuation of the funding was while not a slam dunk was really a reasonable

1622
02:33:09,940 --> 02:33:17,560
request and pretty, you know, our expectation could be that it would be granted, maybe.

1623
02:33:18,400 --> 02:33:24,700
Do you still feel that way or with the budget problems? Is this a heavier lift now?

1624
02:33:25,260 --> 02:33:27,740
I think you can never take anything for granted in Olympia.

1625
02:33:29,020 --> 02:33:35,720
I mean, there's been commitments made that there's going to be $200 million in mitigation

1626
02:33:35,720 --> 02:33:39,240
to offset the sales and use tax exemptions and the millionaires tax.

1627
02:33:39,920 --> 02:33:43,980
I mean, that budget has a multi-billion dollar deficit,

1628
02:33:44,860 --> 02:33:47,180
though I wouldn't take that for granted either,

1629
02:33:47,400 --> 02:33:50,840
and I'd encourage you not to take it for granted as you develop your 27-budget.

1630
02:33:53,760 --> 02:33:59,480
So, yeah, I mean, I think it is, I think we've got really good momentum.

1631
02:33:59,600 --> 02:34:02,640
We've got really positive indications that you can't take it for granted.

1632
02:34:02,640 --> 02:34:06,380
Okay. Thank you. Council Member Kelly.

1633
02:34:07,100 --> 02:34:11,160
Yeah, and on this TMC are we coordinating with other local governments then in our request?

1634
02:34:11,800 --> 02:34:17,400
We are, yeah. I would say we're leading the way and they are the chorus behind us.

1635
02:34:18,740 --> 02:34:19,340
Yes.

1636
02:34:20,940 --> 02:34:25,960
All right, thank you. Any other feedback you all have?

1637
02:34:28,870 --> 02:34:29,470
Council Member Wood.

1638
02:34:30,650 --> 02:34:37,910
Yeah, so I know what's leader in your in the agenda, but just wanted to raise the TPA sunset.

1639
02:34:39,170 --> 02:34:43,530
I know it's under fiscal management, but I'm finding that in my discussions across the

1640
02:34:43,530 --> 02:34:48,890
state there's only about three entities that are using that. And so it's not really raising to other

1641
02:34:48,890 --> 02:34:55,810
people's priorities. And so if we really want to be concerned about utilizing that, it might have to

1642
02:34:55,810 --> 02:34:57,110
be a higher party for us.

1643
02:34:57,530 --> 02:34:57,670
I

1644
02:35:09,700 --> 02:35:13,280
will have to do some research on how many jurisdictions are using it.

1645
02:35:13,760 --> 02:35:17,800
Amongst my clients, it is on several drafts, legislative agendas.

1646
02:35:19,200 --> 02:35:19,460
Okay.

1647
02:35:19,680 --> 02:35:20,740
I had just heard from Mars.

1648
02:35:21,420 --> 02:35:22,760
The visit to a can.

1649
02:35:22,880 --> 02:35:27,420
There's only three of us across the state that have utilized that new provision.

1650
02:35:31,200 --> 02:35:36,320
Are there other thoughts from council on that particular item and prioritization?

1651
02:35:44,570 --> 02:35:45,230
Council member Kelly.

1652
02:35:46,350 --> 02:36:13,490
Yeah, well, I wasn't quite sure where we are in your presentation, so I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but I was noticing that the housing affordability, some of the policies, we seem to be basically just advocating for additional funding to offset the costs and I'm wondering if it is feasible to just be asking for something more organic like loosening building requirements to actually lower the cost, not just subsidize them. What are your thoughts on that?

1653
02:36:15,230 --> 02:36:23,930
Yeah, I think the goal is to draft the broad statement at the beginning to cover that, but we can do some words methane to make sure that's more clear.

1654
02:36:24,910 --> 02:36:32,610
Yeah, I mean, I would think every city might be an advocate for that. So hopefully that might, you know, might be something that would catch on and

1655
02:36:33,730 --> 02:36:39,730
gain a little momentum. Yeah, so it says the city promotes policies to reduce the cost of constructing new housing.

1656
02:36:41,910 --> 02:36:53,570
Yeah, such as offering incentives. So in other words, you know, more money. So reducing regulations and offering incentives, maybe perhaps. Yes. Okay.

1657
02:36:56,760 --> 02:36:57,560
Council Member Merkel.

1658
02:36:57,560 --> 02:37:02,260
Yeah, I can I ask a question about councilmember Wicks proposal.

1659
02:37:03,680 --> 02:37:11,340
So my so your understanding is is that this sunset provision makes it so that we cannot

1660
02:37:11,340 --> 02:37:16,740
reenact that $3 fee after it sunsets ever again.

1661
02:37:18,120 --> 02:37:24,420
Right, it was I'm sure we're only can talk about it but we we have the current law had two

1662
02:37:24,420 --> 02:37:30,700
and then they gave the ability for hoteliers to go up to $5, but had a sunset window in it.

1663
02:37:30,840 --> 02:37:34,480
And so once the sunset passes, then it goes back to the original $2 amount.

1664
02:37:35,260 --> 02:37:38,300
Oh, I see. So it's not that it goes to zero, it goes back to two.

1665
02:37:40,260 --> 02:37:47,180
And would it be possible for us to push for that to not necessarily be a sunset as much as it is,

1666
02:37:47,180 --> 02:37:51,480
like a reauthorization where we have to vote on it again? I don't like to have permanent taxes.

1667
02:37:51,480 --> 02:38:00,060
Well, I think this is an item where there's a large group of stakeholders who are working

1668
02:38:00,060 --> 02:38:04,760
on developing and advancing the proposal and we're in a position of supporting that larger

1669
02:38:04,760 --> 02:38:08,380
group rather than, so like, we don't hold the pen.

1670
02:38:11,620 --> 02:38:17,400
Fair enough, I would still, I would be supportive if it was, instead of a total sunset, if it

1671
02:38:17,400 --> 02:38:23,180
was like a reenactment, give the Council an option, I wouldn't be supportive if it was

1672
02:38:23,180 --> 02:38:27,360
Just to make it permanent because again, I don't like permanent taxes.

1673
02:38:30,390 --> 02:38:31,390
Council member Wick.

1674
02:38:32,030 --> 02:38:38,150
I would just share that the TPA dollar amount is actually established by the petition from the hoteliers.

1675
02:38:38,850 --> 02:38:42,130
Not from the city council, so this is our hoteliers coming together.

1676
02:38:42,730 --> 02:38:47,110
And more than 50% of them had to sign a petition establishing the dollar amount threshold.

1677
02:38:47,590 --> 02:38:47,910
Fair enough.

1678
02:38:48,150 --> 02:38:50,050
And so I just wanted to highlight that.

1679
02:38:50,590 --> 02:38:51,690
That sounds great.

1680
02:38:51,770 --> 02:38:53,530
I would just have them do that again.

1681
02:38:55,490 --> 02:39:10,910
Councilmember Haley. Thank you. Yeah, I would support Councilmember Wick's statement. I think that we've been able to utilize that money to bring a lot of economic development to our area and that's good for everybody. So I think that that should be important.

1682
02:39:13,100 --> 02:39:15,000
Move to extend the meeting to 920.

1683
02:39:15,820 --> 02:39:16,340
Second.

1684
02:39:16,340 --> 02:39:17,540
All in favor.

1685
02:39:18,000 --> 02:39:18,160
Aye.

1686
02:39:18,680 --> 02:39:19,100
Opposed?

1687
02:39:20,860 --> 02:39:21,640
I get to vote.

1688
02:39:22,580 --> 02:39:24,720
I get to vote.

1689
02:39:24,720 --> 02:39:24,840
No.

1690
02:39:26,790 --> 02:39:27,790
Council Member Wood.

1691
02:39:28,230 --> 02:39:33,690
So another one that I keep bringing up and different arenas, but it would love to hear

1692
02:39:33,690 --> 02:39:37,430
your input into, is the public safety sales taxes.

1693
02:39:37,690 --> 02:39:42,990
There was three different regulations and not a lot of harmony across those regulations.

1694
02:39:42,990 --> 02:39:52,710
And in my mind, it's the harmony of not only what gets charged the sales tax or thinking of how we enacted it with the vote of the people.

1695
02:39:53,670 --> 02:39:55,470
It doesn't apply to auto sales.

1696
02:39:56,490 --> 02:40:01,770
If you do it councilmatically under the niece 2015, it does include auto sales.

1697
02:40:02,370 --> 02:40:10,030
Auto sales are a pretty large portion for us, but then also the way we enacted it, we share 30% of the county 2015.

1698
02:40:10,030 --> 02:40:13,110
2015, the county doesn't have to share with us if they implement.

1699
02:40:14,110 --> 02:40:20,770
So, as just trying to raise it or consider some sort of legislation to harmonize the three

1700
02:40:20,770 --> 02:40:22,430
different laws a little bit more.

1701
02:40:25,930 --> 02:40:36,460
We can certainly explore that. I think when we have raised the

1702
02:40:36,460 --> 02:40:44,060
conversation with the sponsors of House Bill 2015 about making potential revisions, adjustments,

1703
02:40:45,040 --> 02:40:51,060
because there's been a variety of different concerns or inconsistencies that have come up since it was passed into law.

1704
02:40:51,680 --> 02:41:01,500
There's been a pretty strong resistance with a desire to just give it more time to work.

1705
02:41:03,840 --> 02:41:09,800
I think the question in my mind then is like, okay, is it been enough time now?

1706
02:41:12,080 --> 02:41:18,780
And I think AWC is also having that same, like, could we maybe?

1707
02:41:20,060 --> 02:41:24,980
So I think that's helpful to know whether that's a priority for you all,

1708
02:41:25,400 --> 02:41:28,380
whether it would rise to level of a higher priority.

1709
02:41:28,400 --> 02:41:30,760
I'd want to do some more due diligence on.

1710
02:41:31,200 --> 02:41:34,120
And then have that reflected in what we bring back in August.

1711
02:41:34,120 --> 02:41:34,380
Yes.

1712
02:41:35,220 --> 02:41:41,500
And if it's 2015 is too recent to change, the maybe the one before that which we utilized

1713
02:41:41,960 --> 02:41:49,120
is more like 2015 because 2015's, they include auto sales and ours does not.

1714
02:41:49,380 --> 02:41:55,080
So if 2015 is the golden child, the auto sales or the distribution, like I think the auto

1715
02:41:55,080 --> 02:42:00,420
sales might be more feasible than changing the distribution formula.

1716
02:42:00,420 --> 02:42:08,900
And then your voters approved, yeah, let me do some thinking and come back with a recommendation.

1717
02:42:16,090 --> 02:42:19,490
Are there others that share that interest in that topic?

1718
02:42:20,810 --> 02:42:26,030
Yeah, I would share that addressing that and trying to make them like the word was harmonizing,

1719
02:42:26,030 --> 02:42:29,430
but it certainly consists in across those different pieces of legislation.

1720
02:42:40,540 --> 02:42:41,080
There's a feedback.

1721
02:42:48,110 --> 02:42:48,970
Otherwise looks perfect.

1722
02:42:52,800 --> 02:43:01,640
So, next steps are that we will continue to make revisions to the draft that we reviewed

1723
02:43:01,640 --> 02:43:09,300
this evening and bring it back to you all on August 18th and then the goal is to adopt

1724
02:43:09,300 --> 02:43:16,780
a legislative agenda in September so that we have all of the ball to be advancing it forward.

1725
02:43:16,780 --> 02:43:27,960
If issues do come up as things get more solidified as we get into session, you all can do a legislative agenda amendment.

1726
02:43:28,460 --> 02:43:32,800
If something comes up at the last minute, just in case you were worried about doing things too early.

1727
02:43:33,420 --> 02:43:43,040
But I think getting this framework and establishing what your funding requests are in particular is very helpful, particularly with governor's office and committee chairs.

1728
02:43:43,040 --> 02:43:48,620
So, thank you for indulging me and having me in the lie.

1729
02:43:50,200 --> 02:43:51,560
Well, thank you for coming.

1730
02:43:51,820 --> 02:43:55,540
We appreciate that and look forward to seeing you again soon.

1731
02:43:56,560 --> 02:43:57,400
Any other questions?

1732
02:44:09,560 --> 02:44:13,700
That brings us to our second general public comment opportunity.

1733
02:44:14,380 --> 02:44:15,480
The rules are the same.

1734
02:44:16,280 --> 02:44:17,940
Is there anyone on Zoom?

1735
02:44:22,120 --> 02:44:24,140
There's no one on Zoom and no one has signed up.

1736
02:44:24,140 --> 02:44:26,500
All right, anybody in the room wish to comment?

1737
02:44:28,410 --> 02:44:32,550
Seeing none, we will close the second general public comment.

1738
02:44:33,210 --> 02:44:35,430
And that brings us to council comments.

1739
02:44:39,760 --> 02:44:44,260
So council comments, the purpose of this item is to allow council members an opportunity

1740
02:44:44,260 --> 02:44:50,920
to report on recent activities, issues that require immediate action or to report on topics connected

1741
02:44:50,920 --> 02:44:54,980
with their role as a council member, which have recently transpired.

1742
02:44:54,980 --> 02:44:59,920
It is also an opportunity to bring up topics for clarification or to

1743
02:45:00,000 --> 02:45:07,140
We address other upcoming concerns. Council member comments shall not exceed three minutes, and we shall start with councilmember Merkel.

1744
02:45:10,910 --> 02:45:32,450
So tonight I'd like to share a little bit of a timeline of my own. November of 2023 after I was elected. I chose to try and meet with all the current council members, including then Mayor Haley, supposed to be a friendly meeting talking about what the agendas were for the upcoming year turned into a bunch of threats, including

1745
02:45:32,450 --> 02:45:36,030
we're going to use lawyers to stop you from being on next door.

1746
02:45:36,790 --> 02:45:44,170
December of 2023, the Council included a newly minted social media policy,

1747
02:45:44,410 --> 02:45:54,430
which was interesting considering that the Governance Manual Committee had not met that entire year due to a harassment issue that occurred on the committee.

1748
02:45:54,610 --> 02:45:57,310
So where was that social media policy generated from?

1749
02:45:57,810 --> 02:45:58,990
Those are excellent questions.

1750
02:46:00,110 --> 02:46:09,210
November of 2023 also, this staff chose to contract for the work here on City Hall that later somehow was said to be because of me.

1751
02:46:09,950 --> 02:46:11,950
Again, I had not taken my seat yet.

1752
02:46:12,770 --> 02:46:25,510
December of 2023, City staff had a safety meeting where several staff members feared that I presented a danger and would be a shooting risk to the city.

1753
02:46:25,510 --> 02:46:35,410
I'd been to over 3,000, 10,000 homes here in Spokane Valley, knocked on all those doors, but somehow I was a safety risk.

1754
02:46:36,210 --> 02:46:44,730
February of 2024, just about four or five weeks after I took office, staff initiated this witch hunt against me,

1755
02:46:44,730 --> 02:46:54,490
accusing me of all kinds of things, though eventually I was found to not have committed any wrongdoing, but somehow that's not the story that gets told.

1756
02:46:55,190 --> 02:47:05,170
May of 2024, Councilman Higgins and some of his other accolades hire a private investigator to harass my family, June of 2024.

1757
02:47:05,170 --> 02:47:11,950
for. Councilmember Yeager accuses me of violating the PRA. Ironic because over the next

1758
02:47:11,950 --> 02:47:18,730
16 months she goes on to commit the same actions that I did and to be found in violation.

1759
02:47:20,980 --> 02:47:28,780
So December, January and February, in protest, I still try to comply. I provide all of my next

1760
02:47:28,780 --> 02:47:38,280
I agree to connect all of my social media to page freezer and still that's not enough and the city decides to sue me.

1761
02:47:39,560 --> 02:47:45,060
Finally, we have come to a place where, you know, a draft order has appeared.

1762
02:47:45,920 --> 02:47:51,780
And what's very interesting about this draft order is throughout this process, the city has maintained we're not trying to silence Al.

1763
02:47:51,780 --> 02:47:57,880
Well, this draft order specifically says that I'm not allowed to speak about the city except through official channels.

1764
02:47:58,400 --> 02:48:05,400
How do I campaign, one must wonder, when I can't talk about the city in any way, except using city resources.

1765
02:48:06,040 --> 02:48:08,380
But I can't campaign using city resources.

1766
02:48:08,780 --> 02:48:10,420
What an interesting catch, 22.

1767
02:48:11,340 --> 02:48:13,420
I think that the truth is now on the table.

1768
02:48:14,900 --> 02:48:18,440
Thank you, Council Member Wick.

1769
02:48:21,020 --> 02:48:23,400
Okay, so I'll just pull up my notes from last week.

1770
02:48:24,220 --> 02:48:28,460
So on the Municipal Research and Services Center board, we had a long discussion about

1771
02:48:28,460 --> 02:48:29,600
fees for next year.

1772
02:48:29,880 --> 02:48:33,160
I just wanted to kind of highlight because I know we're a user of the Small Works Roaster

1773
02:48:33,900 --> 02:48:38,200
and they're using a CPI, actually based at a Seattle, so that's where their office is.

1774
02:48:38,300 --> 02:48:43,480
So it will be a 4.9% increase in the Small Works Roaster fees for municipalities.

1775
02:48:44,400 --> 02:49:00,300
on the ADBC legislative committee, we heard a survey and so we met last week at the conference or was it the week before, but anyway, the 2027 budget survey amongst city councils across the state 75% were concerned with a budget shortfall.

1776
02:49:01,020 --> 02:49:10,460
38% project revenue losses in 2027 and more than half of those expect between a five and 15% budget reductions.

1777
02:49:11,380 --> 02:49:19,280
and almost a majority were the most anticipated revenue declines across the state was actually sales tax.

1778
02:49:20,520 --> 02:49:25,340
So I'm kind of glad we're at, but it just kind of paints a little bit of a scary picture for cities.

1779
02:49:26,140 --> 02:49:31,680
At the conference, some highlights, congratulations to Mayor John Nearing from the City of Mary'sville,

1780
02:49:32,280 --> 02:49:37,920
who is elected our new AWC president and came up with a theme of the conference,

1781
02:49:37,920 --> 02:49:40,840
which was Washington, United, kind of playing on the soccer theme.

1782
02:49:42,600 --> 02:49:46,740
The land use, there was actually a land use policy discussion, and it was very interesting

1783
02:49:46,740 --> 02:49:53,320
up for the slides out in the email to counsel, but only about 2% of the state's land is

1784
02:49:53,320 --> 02:49:55,700
actually designated within the urban growth boundaries.

1785
02:49:56,020 --> 02:50:01,000
And so as we talk about supply versus demand for driving costs, it was very interesting to

1786
02:50:01,000 --> 02:50:07,900
have that highlight across the state, only about 2% of the buildable land is within the

1787
02:50:07,900 --> 02:50:15,540
safety sessions. I just wanted to highlight that grant for part of HP 2015. Only the grant window,

1788
02:50:15,880 --> 02:50:21,580
which I know the county has applied for their status to be able to be accommodated to the grant,

1789
02:50:21,580 --> 02:50:28,060
which we can kind of piggyback on, that grant window is only open for 45 days and that started your life first.

1790
02:50:28,500 --> 02:50:34,560
So if we are going to apply, we do have to act very quickly on that to get in line.

1791
02:50:35,500 --> 02:50:39,320
They did make it very clear that there will be no third round opening for that.

1792
02:50:40,040 --> 02:50:43,880
If there's any money, and of course it's kind of a first come, first serve, and those

1793
02:50:43,880 --> 02:50:47,920
that applied in the first round will be served before anybody in the second round.

1794
02:50:48,840 --> 02:50:54,140
The session also keynote speaker, great session on 13 ways to kill your community.

1795
02:50:54,280 --> 02:50:57,360
I don't know if anybody's got the book or not, but I have an extra copy in case we need one.

1796
02:50:58,220 --> 02:51:01,320
The 2027 session will be in Tacoma, everybody's invited.

1797
02:51:01,320 --> 02:51:06,560
I was actually elected the President of the Municipal Research and Services Center

1798
02:51:06,560 --> 02:51:08,860
Board, so I served as their current President for the year.

1799
02:51:09,500 --> 02:51:14,400
And on the AWAC State Board, we established a committee for recruiting city council members

1800
02:51:14,400 --> 02:51:15,160
for state boards.

1801
02:51:15,400 --> 02:51:17,120
And so I served on that committee for AWAC.

1802
02:51:17,780 --> 02:51:24,200
And then was selected as a part of the Washington State Collaborative Leaders' Elected Leaders

1803
02:51:24,200 --> 02:51:24,760
Institute.

1804
02:51:25,420 --> 02:51:26,660
So I'll be doing a leadership program.

1805
02:51:27,540 --> 02:51:28,260
Thank you.

1806
02:51:28,620 --> 02:51:29,380
Council Member Haley.

1807
02:51:30,180 --> 02:51:30,980
Thank you.

1808
02:51:30,980 --> 02:51:38,980
Yes, that keynote speaker was amazing. I didn't make it to get the book in time so I ordered it on Amazon. I recommend it to everybody. It's great.

1809
02:51:40,260 --> 02:51:44,740
So anybody who knows, I wasn't going to say anything because it's late and we should pay by the minute, right?

1810
02:51:45,000 --> 02:51:52,920
And it's mostly staff and I hate to keep you guys here, but those of you who know me know two things about me.

1811
02:51:52,920 --> 02:52:01,920
I'm not a social media fan, I'm not on social media hardly at all and I had never even heard of next door until the issue came up

1812
02:52:01,920 --> 02:52:07,620
to the council member Merkel after he was on council. So that clearly did not happen.

1813
02:52:09,200 --> 02:52:19,900
I'm not sure where he got that or what happened. We did have a meeting. We went for coffee and he became belligerent and started telling me all the things I was doing wrong.

1814
02:52:19,900 --> 02:52:25,640
so I ended the meeting. It had nothing to do with Nextor. Again, I had never heard of it before.

1815
02:52:26,140 --> 02:52:32,060
I have very minimal knowledge of Facebook, but nothing else. So I have none of those other things.

1816
02:52:33,120 --> 02:52:41,340
I thought it was interesting that he almost said that Jessica violated the PRA just like he did.

1817
02:52:41,940 --> 02:52:46,300
But he stopped himself and said, oh there was no founding on him.

1818
02:52:46,300 --> 02:52:53,580
The PRA is not a complicated law, it's pretty obvious, even at AWC, they were just like,

1819
02:52:53,740 --> 02:52:56,340
you know, you just shouldn't have social media when you're on the council.

1820
02:52:57,540 --> 02:53:00,580
So what can you do when you're campaigning?

1821
02:53:00,900 --> 02:53:06,380
You can campaign, but you can't talk about city business, and more importantly, you can't

1822
02:53:06,380 --> 02:53:12,600
sign your name, Pam Haley, city council position 5, which is something that council member Merkel

1823
02:53:12,600 --> 02:53:12,960
did.

1824
02:53:12,960 --> 02:53:19,520
So I just want to make sure that the untruths and strange misleading statements that come

1825
02:53:19,520 --> 02:53:24,880
out of him, everybody understands is not something I would have done, could have done,

1826
02:53:25,080 --> 02:53:28,000
or like I said, had even heard of at that point in time.

1827
02:53:28,340 --> 02:53:28,780
Thank you.

1828
02:53:30,720 --> 02:53:31,880
Council Member Kelly.

1829
02:53:33,320 --> 02:53:38,500
I'd like to attended the Association of Washington City's conference here in Spokane.

1830
02:53:38,620 --> 02:53:39,700
I found it very educational.

1831
02:53:39,700 --> 02:53:51,840
I want to thank Council Member Wick for introducing me to a number of individuals, and kind of given me a little bit of orientation, but learned a lot and looking forward to next year in Tacoma.

1832
02:53:53,720 --> 02:54:00,260
Yeah, just a lot of hard work and folks that are there trying to improve policy and improve the process and so it was good to be a part of it.

1833
02:54:01,280 --> 02:54:02,800
Thank you, Council Member Yager.

1834
02:54:04,320 --> 02:54:15,380
So, I will agree on Council Member Elie's position as to the belligerent behaviour and why I stopped having coffee with my counterpart here.

1835
02:54:16,820 --> 02:54:21,760
What I would have said is somewhat of what I would have been able to say last week, I guess.

1836
02:54:22,280 --> 02:54:27,700
So, one of the most important responsibilities of an elected official is knowing when to rely on the experts around you.

1837
02:54:27,700 --> 02:54:38,620
None of us are experts in every field, and that's why City's higher attorney's professional staff independent investigators and hearing examiners to provide objective guidance on complicated legal matters.

1838
02:54:39,660 --> 02:54:53,100
Council member Merkel is not an attorney, yet through this process he chose to reject the advice of City's legal counsel, the findings of an independent investigator in the conclusions of a hearing examiner and ultimately the ruling of the Spokane County Superior Court.

1839
02:54:53,100 --> 02:54:58,480
The Court granted summary judgment in favor of the city, finding that there was no genuine

1840
02:54:58,480 --> 02:55:02,080
issue of material fact and ordered him to comply with his legal obligations.

1841
02:55:03,080 --> 02:55:05,480
The case wasn't the result of one disagreement.

1842
02:55:06,360 --> 02:55:10,820
According to the Court's findings, there were repeated opportunities to comply, training

1843
02:55:10,820 --> 02:55:15,720
before taking office requests for compliance, and independent investigation, and such.

1844
02:55:16,380 --> 02:55:21,640
Instead, the valley taxpayers have spent nearly $600,000, which turns my stomach.

1845
02:55:22,460 --> 02:55:27,780
The money belongs to our residents, could have prepared roads, supported public safety,

1846
02:55:27,960 --> 02:55:32,380
improved parks, or remained in the pockets of hardworking families, instead it was spent

1847
02:55:32,380 --> 02:55:37,020
defending the city in a dispute that the court unultimately resolved in the city's favor.

1848
02:55:37,820 --> 02:55:39,660
Leadership requires humility.

1849
02:55:40,180 --> 02:55:45,000
It requires recognizing when the evidence is no longer on your side, and when continuing

1850
02:55:45,000 --> 02:55:49,140
to fight comes at too great a cost to the public of which we serve.

1851
02:55:49,140 --> 02:56:01,260
In my opinion, it was not responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars when an elected official repeatedly rejects expert advice, loses in court, and leaves taxpayers with an enormous bill.

1852
02:56:01,860 --> 02:56:03,280
Accountability is appropriate.

1853
02:56:04,300 --> 02:56:10,560
And as of about three or four days ago on Facebook, he's still not compliant unless he's finally connected to page freezer.

1854
02:56:10,560 --> 02:56:20,320
So I'm not sure what he's learned if anything at all, but I would continue to ask him to consider the tax payers and what's coming out of their pockets and resign.

1855
02:56:22,600 --> 02:56:24,200
Deputy Mayor Handenberg.

1856
02:56:24,360 --> 02:56:25,980
I don't have anything further to add, thank you.

1857
02:56:26,720 --> 02:56:27,620
All right, thank you.

1858
02:56:29,980 --> 02:56:39,040
So the Superior Court judge has reviewed all the documents, files, depositions, and oral arguments, and handed down her decision.

1859
02:56:39,940 --> 02:56:43,200
She granted the city's request for a summary judgment.

1860
02:56:44,040 --> 02:56:49,760
The following is not my thoughts or opinions, but what the court has found and ordered.

1861
02:56:51,750 --> 02:56:57,850
The court has found that the facts are not in dispute and that the law is abundantly clear

1862
02:56:57,850 --> 02:57:03,850
and that the court can reach the conclusions of law that were listed later without going to trial.

1863
02:57:03,850 --> 02:57:14,250
And they listed also 35 points of fact and the timeline of events, which somehow did not correspond to Council Member Merkel's.

1864
02:57:14,870 --> 02:57:23,250
The list of 14 conclusions of laws are referenced by the court has found and I will only go through a couple of them.

1865
02:57:24,410 --> 02:57:37,070
The court has found that council members have the council member has a mandatory duty to act in compliance with the governance manual, in particularly the social media policy.

1866
02:57:39,010 --> 02:57:41,810
He also took an oath to do just that.

1867
02:57:44,320 --> 02:57:47,440
And yet he continues, the court says, to violate this duty.

1868
02:57:47,440 --> 02:57:54,000
The Court has found that the City's interest to ensure compliance with the Public Records

1869
02:57:54,000 --> 02:58:02,420
Act is to avoid liability under the PRA and this also ensures that the government has

1870
02:58:02,420 --> 02:58:09,380
transparency, accountability and access to public records and this is one of the arguments

1871
02:58:09,380 --> 02:58:15,280
that we have been using all along in our progress up the ladder to the Superior Court.

1872
02:58:16,260 --> 02:58:23,680
The court has found that the city has exhausted all other avenues to compel compliance.

1873
02:58:24,420 --> 02:58:27,520
And I will add that's at considerable expense.

1874
02:58:28,340 --> 02:58:33,460
The court has found that the city is entitled to a court order.

1875
02:58:34,480 --> 02:58:42,040
So this commands the government official, our council member, to perform the duty required

1876
02:58:42,040 --> 02:58:51,940
by law when they have failed to act. In this case, it is to comply with his mandatory duties under the social media policy.

1877
02:58:53,990 --> 02:59:10,450
The Court has found that the city has well-grounded fear that the continued use of next-door and violation of the Public Records Act is resulting in or will result in actual or substantial injury to the city.

1878
02:59:10,450 --> 02:59:14,690
Again, this was one of the reasons why we continued with our litigation.

1879
02:59:16,470 --> 02:59:23,430
The court is ordering the council member to comply with his mandatory duties under the

1880
02:59:23,430 --> 02:59:30,150
city as well as the government's manual and the court has ordered that the city is entitled

1881
02:59:30,150 --> 02:59:37,590
to a permanent injunction which is a court order to have the council member comply with

1882
02:59:37,590 --> 02:59:42,870
the duties under the Public Records Act to search, segregate, preserve, and produce

1883
02:59:42,870 --> 02:59:48,770
such records to the city. And in depositions, he admitted he spent a total of two seconds

1884
02:59:48,770 --> 02:59:56,610
doing just that. This decision appears to be a total and complete win for the city.

1885
02:59:56,610 --> 02:59:59,970
The Superior Court Judge came to the Senate.

1886
03:00:00,000 --> 03:00:26,680
The same conclusion put in stronger language and with more authority than the ability, I'm sorry, authority and more ability to impose penalties than the hearing examiner before her. And then the independent investigator already also ensure me before the hearing examiner. And then the city attorney Kelly concrete before the investigator.

1887
03:00:27,520 --> 03:00:34,400
actually in baseball terms the council member is now batting zero for four and it seems to be more

1888
03:00:34,400 --> 03:00:43,120
than time for a change in behavior. City manager comments. Thank you, Mary Padden, council members.

1889
03:00:44,960 --> 03:00:51,340
Before we get to the thank you letters and the letter of support on the water line, I did want to

1890
03:00:51,340 --> 03:00:58,180
address a follow-up comment to some of the council members responses to council member

1891
03:00:58,180 --> 03:00:59,180
Merkel's statement.

1892
03:01:02,320 --> 03:01:08,220
It's difficult to sit here and listen to his form of reality and all the misinformation

1893
03:01:08,220 --> 03:01:09,660
that he puts out there.

1894
03:01:10,520 --> 03:01:12,500
I can tackle each and every one of those.

1895
03:01:12,720 --> 03:01:17,420
We don't have time for that tonight and we've addressed those over the last two and a half

1896
03:01:17,420 --> 03:01:17,660
years.

1897
03:01:17,880 --> 03:01:18,380
It's unbelievable.

1898
03:01:18,820 --> 03:01:19,460
It's been that long.

1899
03:01:19,460 --> 03:01:25,920
I do want to address, and I'll go back to my statements of last week on the personnel

1900
03:01:25,920 --> 03:01:33,580
investigation, the finding was that he didn't violate the existing policy that discriminates

1901
03:01:33,580 --> 03:01:40,520
against gender, race, sexual orientation, or any protected status.

1902
03:01:40,840 --> 03:01:48,920
He basically treated everyone poorly in a hostile manner, and you've all seen it.

1903
03:01:48,920 --> 03:01:56,360
the public has seen it. Last week was the display of that hostility. That's the type of behavior that the staff

1904
03:01:57,540 --> 03:02:01,680
experienced on multiple occasions over multiple multiple weeks.

1905
03:02:02,580 --> 03:02:10,020
There were steps that were necessary to protect the staff that I took to resolve the situation

1906
03:02:10,020 --> 03:02:17,700
and they greatly did resolve the situation but I had a responsibility to step in and make sure

1907
03:02:17,700 --> 03:02:24,320
that we retained the quality of staff that we have and that they feel protected and that

1908
03:02:24,320 --> 03:02:30,860
they feel that this is a safe environment. That was not the case prior to the actions

1909
03:02:30,860 --> 03:02:37,460
that we took to separate him from that space. There was lots of misinformation put out

1910
03:02:37,460 --> 03:02:42,220
there about his workstation being in the basement. It is not in the basement. It is just behind

1911
03:02:42,220 --> 03:02:51,860
the store. And these are continual misstatements, miscommunication, all trying to create, and I guess,

1912
03:02:51,880 --> 03:02:58,760
an alternate reality than what really exists. So I just wanted to take a moment to correct that

1913
03:02:58,760 --> 03:03:05,320
record and appreciate the rest of the council members allowing me to do that. So let's jump in to

1914
03:03:05,320 --> 03:03:14,240
back to business. And we have a variety of thank you letters, three going to the delegation,

1915
03:03:15,580 --> 03:03:22,880
our two senators and our congressman, and then also one to the Secretary of Transportation,

1916
03:03:23,820 --> 03:03:32,460
Sean Duffy. I did receive at the break some corrections and some additions, which I appreciate,

1917
03:03:33,640 --> 03:03:46,120
Leading to the thank you letters to the delegation, Council Member Wick, and I appreciate your longevity on the council that you remembered that this is actually the fourth USDA OTA award.

1918
03:03:46,660 --> 03:03:57,300
We did receive the Chrissy award on, and I think around 2019 for the Pines Great Separation Project, it was over, I think a million or a little over that.

1919
03:03:57,300 --> 03:04:01,900
So we will include that, and thank you very much for that piece.

1920
03:04:02,560 --> 03:04:10,420
And then also on the letter to the Transportation Secretary adding some language.

1921
03:04:10,960 --> 03:04:19,740
So if I was to read the second paragraph for you with Ben's addition or council member Wix additions in there.

1922
03:04:19,740 --> 03:04:49,720
So, the second paragraph starts, the project replaces one of the city's oldest and lowest rated bridge over a state highway expands capacity of an underutilized class one rail bridge to support long term growth of BNS, BNS, F railways, Northern, Transcon route, and the great Northern corridor, which is important because that's a whole different initiative that has been created.

1923
03:04:49,720 --> 03:04:52,320
was created by the Rails and a bunch of groups,

1924
03:04:52,480 --> 03:04:54,400
and there was multiple meetings on that.

1925
03:04:54,580 --> 03:04:56,800
So I think that's an important distinction.

1926
03:04:57,880 --> 03:05:00,020
Dramatically improved travel time reliability

1927
03:05:00,380 --> 03:05:04,720
on a high volume freight connecting Chicago to the coast.

1928
03:05:05,060 --> 03:05:07,400
And so I think that's an important thing

1929
03:05:07,400 --> 03:05:10,500
to include freight arterial by rebuilding

1930
03:05:10,500 --> 03:05:15,240
and antiquated diamond signalized interchange

1931
03:05:15,240 --> 03:05:17,820
with more efficient to round about configuration.

1932
03:05:17,820 --> 03:05:26,120
And so we didn't have any changes after that, but I'd wanted to at least get that out there for you City manager also kind of a grammatical thing, but

1933
03:05:27,180 --> 03:05:31,680
It says the project replaces one of the city's bridge

1934
03:05:31,680 --> 03:05:37,640
Lowest rated bridges bridge. Yeah bridges, but it just says bridge. Yeah, okay. We'll make that change to

1935
03:05:39,300 --> 03:05:47,080
So if you would take an additional moment and make sure that we didn't miss anything else or if you're okay with this

1936
03:05:47,080 --> 03:05:51,680
we'd like consensus from the council to have the mayor signness and send these on.

1937
03:05:52,320 --> 03:05:57,820
But a very important process that we don't want to lose track of is once we have received

1938
03:05:57,820 --> 03:06:04,640
these large federal awards, we absolutely have to provide the thank you letters back to those

1939
03:06:04,640 --> 03:06:05,140
individuals.

1940
03:06:07,350 --> 03:06:08,930
Do we have consensus to?

1941
03:06:10,950 --> 03:06:11,510
Great.

1942
03:06:11,510 --> 03:06:28,390
Okay. And then lastly, we have a letter of support to the Public Works Board, Washington State Department of Commerce, about the Hutchison Irrigation District number 16 Vista Road Waterline Replacement.

1943
03:06:28,690 --> 03:06:34,670
So these are letters of support that we have routinely done for different projects.

1944
03:06:35,410 --> 03:06:37,850
There's a lot of information in here.

1945
03:06:37,850 --> 03:06:45,130
I'll try to stumble through it, but if need be, we can pull up Director Blagan to explain

1946
03:06:45,130 --> 03:06:45,970
this a lot more.

1947
03:06:46,570 --> 03:06:51,830
But this would be a water line replacement to replace aging, leaking water lines between

1948
03:06:52,450 --> 03:06:55,550
111 North Vista Road and Broadway Avenue.

1949
03:06:57,750 --> 03:07:01,630
Significantly improving water system reliability beneath our city streets.

1950
03:07:02,170 --> 03:07:05,530
Vista is also on our six-year tip for replacement.

1951
03:07:05,530 --> 03:07:34,390
So whenever we are able to work with a water district, they will compensate the city for whatever the requirement is of the trench width for whatever they're working on, or sometimes we will add some additional funds to their project, depending if it's our project or their project and do a curb to curb pavement replacement, which is really the only way to go on these types of projects.

1952
03:07:34,390 --> 03:07:40,350
So, if you take a moment to read the letter and see if there's consensus to have the

1953
03:07:40,350 --> 03:07:41,950
mayor sign it, I'd appreciate it.

1954
03:07:48,120 --> 03:07:49,640
And that's all I have for you tonight.

1955
03:07:49,780 --> 03:07:50,040
Thank you.

1956
03:07:50,600 --> 03:07:51,360
Move to adjourn.

1957
03:07:51,580 --> 03:07:51,760
Second.

1958
03:07:52,780 --> 03:07:53,400
All those in favor?

1959
03:07:53,700 --> 03:07:53,860
Aye.

1960
03:07:54,460 --> 03:07:54,860
Opposed?

1961
03:07:55,360 --> 03:07:56,040
We are adjourned.