City Council

TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 4, 2025 Page 1 CONVENE: 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Debbie Sullivan and Councilmembers Peter Agabi, Michael Althauser, Joan Cathey, Leatta Dahlhoff, and Eileen Swarthout. Excused: Councilmembers Angela Jefferson and Kelly Von Holtz. Staff: City Administrator Lisa Parks, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Assistant City Administrator Kelly Adams, Finance Department Director Troy Niemeyer, Acting Police Chief Jay Mason, Community Development Department Director Michael Matlock, Water Resources & Sustainability Department Director Dan Smith, Parks and Recreation Department Director Chuck Denney, Transportation and Engineering Department Director Brandon Hicks, Administrative Services Department Director Michelle Sutherland, Community Development Department Deputy Director Brad Medrud, Communications Manager Jason Wettstein, Police Lieutenant Carolos Quiles, and City Clerk Melody Valiant. PUBLIC COMMENT: Josh Fowler, 218 WD Street, Tumwater, asked several questions of the Council. He questioned the selection of Councilmember Dahlhoff to serve as Mayor Pro Tem and the appropriateness of the City to have preference for one candidate over another for Mayor. Mayor Sullivan advised that the City Council selects the Mayor Pro Tem, which occurred in January 2024. CONSENT a. Approval of Minutes: City Council Work Session, February 11, 2025 CALENDAR: b. Approval of Minutes: Special City Council Joint Planning Commission Tour, February 25, 2025 c. Payment of Vouchers d. Ordinance O2025-005 Amending Tumwater Municipal Code (TMC) 12.28, Public Events e. Service Provider Agreement with Fuller Designs for the Beehive Industrial Area Stormwater Retrofit Design Project f. Traffic Signal Controller & Detection Upgrade, Equipment Purchase g. Advisory Board Appointment of Wendy Moudy to the Civil Service Commission MOTION: Councilmember Swarthout moved, seconded by Councilmember Althauser, to approve the Consent Calendar as published. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. Mayor Sullivan reviewed the items approved on the Consent Calendar. COUNCIL CONSIDERATIONS: TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 4, 2025 Page 2 ORDINANCE NO. Deputy Director Medrud requested consideration of Ordinance No. O2024- O2025-004, 004, an amendment to Chapter 18.60 of the Tumwater Municipal Code as SUSPENDING recommended by the General Government Committee at its February ANNUAL meeting. In 2022, the City Council suspended the annual amendment COMPREHENSIVE process to accommodate the state mandated update of the Comprehensive PLAN Plan. In 2022, the deadline for completing the Comprehensive Plan update AMENDMENTS: process was June 30, 2025. Since then, the Legislature extended the deadline to December 31, 2025. Subsequently, staff recommends similarly suspending the annual amendment process to coincide with the state mandated update process. Additionally, any public requests for an amendment would be incorporated within the overall update of the Comprehensive Plan. The regular amendment cycle will restart in 2026. The process typically begins with a solicitation of amendments during the year with the Council determining which amendments and any additional amendments to move forward for consideration. MOTION: Councilmember Althauser moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to Adopt Ordinance No. O2024-004 amending Chapter 18.60 of the Tumwater Municipal Code, as recommended by the General Government Committee. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PUBLIC HEALTH & The next meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The agenda SAFETY: includes an update by the Thurston County Prosecutor. Peter Agabi GENERAL The next meeting is a special meeting on March 18, 2025 and includes a GOVERNMENT: review of the Climate and Housing Elements of the Comprehensive Plan and Michael Althauser briefings on the Food System Plan, several road annexation petitions, and conditions for acceptance of the Yorkshire Apartments. PUBLIC WORKS: The last meeting included briefings on the Water System Cost of Service Eileen Swarthout Report and an update on the City’s Utility Assistance Programs. The next meeting scheduled on Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 8 a.m. includes consideration of the First Amendment to the Service Provider Agreement with Fehr & Peers for the Transportation Plan of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update. BUDGET AND The committee’s meeting on February 28, 2025 included a year-to-date FINANCE: budget update and a review of employment agreements. The City Council Debbie Sullivan will receive quarterly updates on the budget moving forward. A review of employment agreements is scheduled for review and discussion during the Council’s next work session. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 4, 2025 Page 3 MAYOR/CITY City Administrator Parks introduced Kelly Adams as the new Assistant City ADMINISTRATOR'S Administrator. Assistant City Administrator Adams previously worked for REPORT: the City of Lacey on special projects in the City Manager’s Office. Assistant City Administrator Adams commented on the warm welcome she received from City staff. She worked for the City of Lacey for over seven years working on a variety of special projects including improving transparency and access to public information, building systems such as a 3- 1-1 system for Lacey, and assisting on other projects. She appreciates the opportunity with the City of Tumwater. City Administrator Parks updated the Council on the status of the Utility Lifeline Program, a utility payment assistance program. During the budgeting process, staff committed to increasing outreach to the community. At the end of last year, approximately 190 utility customers participated in the program to reduce utility bills by 50% for those who meet income qualifications. An outreach program was implemented to identify customers through Thurston County who qualify for reduced property tax due to income and/or age. Letters were mailed to those customers advising them of their potential qualification to participate in the City’s Utility Lifeline Program. To date, the City received 46 applications with 44 applications recently approved. Energize Thurston has been launched. The program enables low-income residents to take advantage of grant funds to assist in converting to more energy efficient appliances and heat pumps in their homes. Prior to qualifying for the program, applicants are required to attend an informational workshop, scheduled for March 20, 2025 at Tumwater High School from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Energize Thurston website includes dates for future workshops. Several of the workshops will be offered online as well as in-person. The City’s management team is working on preparing annual department reports. The Council will receive presentations during work sessions on the highlights of 2024 by each department director to include accomplishments and priorities in 2025/2026. With the recent approval of the Service Provider Agreement with the firm, DHM Research, an independent research firm, efforts will begin to administer a statistically valid survey followed immediately by a broad community engagement survey to the Tumwater community. The Council will soon receive an update on the workplan and schedule for updating the strategic planning process for next year with the goal to update the Strategic Plan with specific workplan items for 2026 when the Council is scheduled to initiate the biennial budget process for the 2027-2028 biennium. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 4, 2025 Page 4 Mayor Sullivan attended the February 19-20, 2025 Association of Washington Cities (AWC) Legislative Action Days. On February 21, 2025 Mayor Sullivan attended in conjunction with Mayor Pro Tem Dahlhoff and City Administrator Parks, the three cities and county meeting. Mayor Sullivan attended the Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC) Board of Directors. The Board added and welcomed two new members, David Iyall representing the Nisqually Indian Tribe, and Jasmine Vasavada representing the Port of Olympia. Members reviewed the EDC’s budget and received a briefing from the Vice President of Government Affairs with the Association of Washington Businesses. The briefing covered recent legislation benefitting both jurisdictions and businesses. Mayor Sullivan participated in the recent retirement celebrations for Police Chief Jon Weiks and Fire Training Lieutenant Jon Kalar. COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS: Peter Agabi: Future meetings include the Tumwater Public Health and Safety Committee on March 11, 2025, and the Transportation Policy Board Meeting on March 12, 2025. Leatta Dahlhoff: Future meetings include TCOMM 9-1-1 Administration Board on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, Tumwater Public Health and Safety Committee, Tumwater General Government Committee meeting, Thurston County Opioid Response Task Force Prevention Subgroup, and the Thurston County Opioid Abatement Council meeting. Joan Cathey:: There were no meetings and no report. Eileen Swarthout: Future meetings include the Tumwater Public Works Committee on Thursday, March 6, 2025, and the Thurston Regional Planning Council on March 7, 2025. Michael Althauser: Councilmember Althauser attended the Regional Housing Council meeting. Thurston County Commissioner Clouse was elected to serve as Chair and Councilmember Althauser was elected to serve as Vice Chair. Members reviewed two funding requests from the Homeless Services Advisory Board for an emergency funding request of $16,000 for harm reduction services for homeless individuals and request from the LOTT Affordable Housing Support Program offering connection fee credits to assist in facilitating the development of affordable housing projects. The request was for funding from the regional pool of funds of $175,000 for connection fee credits. The Council approved the credits for the Franz Anderson project providing TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 4, 2025 Page 5 affordable housing units. Members discussed details of a planned retreat scheduled on May 30, 2025. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mayor Sullivan adjourned the meeting at 7:28 p.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net