City Council

MEETING MINUTES TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL November 3, 2025 CONVENE: 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Debbie Sullivan and Councilmembers Peter Agabi, Joan Cathey, Leatta Dahlhoff, Angela Jefferson, Eileen Swarthout, and Kelly Von Holtz Excused: Councilmember Michael Althauser Staff: City Administrator Lisa Parks, Assistant City Administrator Kelly Adams, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Deputy Police Chief Carlos Quiles, Jr., Information Technology Director Lance Inman, Transportation & Engineering Director Brandon Hicks, Community Development Director Brad Medrud, Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Crimmins, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer, Water Resources & Sustainability Director Dan Smith, Communication Director Jason Wettstein, Associate Planner Dana Bowers, Deputy Community Development Director Sharon Lumbantobing, Sustainability Manager Alyssa Jones-Wood, and Deputy City Clerk Tracie Core. SPECIAL ITEMS: PROCLAMATION: Councilmember Swarthout read a proclamation declaring the AMERICAN INDIAN month of November 2025 as American Indian Heritage Month. HERITAGE MONTH, The proclamation encourages people to celebrate the rich NOVEMBER 2025 culture of Indigenous people, honor their sacrifices, acknowledge the unique challenges Native people face, historically and in the present and recognize their continued significance in our community. Mayor Sullivan presented the proclamation to Chairman Peters, Squaxin Island Tribe. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 1 PROCLAMATION: Councilmember Jefferson read a proclamation declaring the NATIONAL VETERALS month of November 2025 National Veterans and Military families AND MILITARY Month. The proclamation honors the strength and sacrifices of FAMILIES MONTH our veterans and active military members whose service is essential to our national security and freedom, and the families, caregivers, and survivors of veterans during the month of November. Mayor Sullivan presented the proclamation to Brian Waananen, Lacey Veterans Service Hub Coordinator. ENERGIZE THURSTON Sustainability Coordinator Jones-Wood gave a presentation CLOSEOUT BRIEFING providing a program overview of the Thurston Climate-Mitigation Collaborative which offers subsidized and group purchase discounts for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters for income-qualified participants. PUBLIC COMMENT: Public comment was given by residents Turcotte and Ficker. CONSENT a. Approval of Minutes: City Council, October 21, 2025 CALENDAR: b. Approval of Minutes: City Council Work Session, October 28, 2025 c. Payment of Vouchers d. R2025-016, Small Works Roster e. ILA with the LOTT Clean Water Alliance for the Class A+ Reclaimed Water Demonstration Pilot MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff, moved, seconded by Councilmember Von Holtz, to approve the Consent Calendar as published. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING: ORDINANCE O2025- Director Niemeyer gave a presentation on Ordinance O2025-016, 016, AD VALOREM Ad Valorem Property Tax Levy 2026 prior to the public hearing PROPERTY TAX LEVY seeking to move the ordinance to the November 18, 2025, 2026 consent agenda for adoption. Mayor Sullivan opened the testimony for the public hearing at 7:36 p.m. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 2  No comments were given. Mayor Sullivan closed the public hearing at 7:37 p.m. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff, moved, seconded by Councilmember Von Holtz, to move Ordinance O2025-016, Ad Valorem Property Tax Levy 2026 to the November 18, 2025 consent agenda for adoption. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. COUNCIL CONSIDERATIONS: RESOLUTION NO. Associate Planner Bowers presented Resolution R2025-016, R2025-016: FOOD Food System Plan for adoption. The plan was developed to SYSTEM PLAN address the community’s concern for food insecurity. The plan was put on the work program for the long-range planning in 2024 -2025. A public hearing was held at the Planning Commission meeting on September 23, 2025, and brought before Council at the October 14, 2025, Work Session. MOTION: Councilmember Jefferson, moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to adopt Resolution R2025-016, Food System Plan. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. INTERLOCAL Manger Jones-Wood gave a presentation on an Interlocal AGREEMENT (ILA) Agreement (ILA) with Thurston County and the cities of Olympia WITH THURSTON and Lacey for the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative that COUNTY AND THE would function as a replacement for the previous agreement. The CITIES OF OLYMPIA updated agreement aims to simplify administrative tasks so that AND LACEY FOR THE more time can be devoted to implementing the collaborative’s THURSTON CLIMATE initiatives. MITIGATION COLLABORATIVE MOTION: Councilmember Swarthout moved, seconded by Councilmember Jefferson, to approve the Interlocal Agreement with Thurston County and the Cities of Olympia and Lacey for the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 3 RESOLUTION R2025- Administrator Parks presented Resolution R2025-014, City of 014, CITY OF Tumwater Strategic Plan. Administrator Parks gave a brief TUMWATER overview of the work involved in the plan. The Plan is oriented STRATEGIC PLAN towards helping to guide the community in both our budgeting processes and our day-to-day work plan. The following are focus areas of the plan: • Vibrant, livable and inclusive community; • Environmental stewardship; • Community mobility; • Health and safety; • Growth and development; • Tumwater excellence. After a brief discussion, it was recommended to place Resolution R2025-014, adopting the 2026-2032 Tumwater Strategic Plan on the consideration agenda for the November 18, 2025, City Council meeting. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff, moved, seconded by Councilmember Jefferson, to place Resolution R2025-014, City of Tumwater Strategic Plan on the November 18, 2025 City Council meeting on considerations. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. POOLING OPIOID Administrator Parks presented the Pooling Opioid Settlement SETTLEMENT FUNDS Funds with Thurston County, Lacey, and Olympia and had two WITH THURSTON questions for Council: COUNTY, LACEY AND OLYMPIA • Does the Council want to pool funds with Thurston County, cities of Olympia and Lacey for 2026 and 2027? • And if so, how much? After discussion and questions from Council, it was agreed to move forward with pooling of the funds. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PUBLIC HEALTH & The next committee meeting will be December 9, 2025. The SAFETY: Tuesday, November 11, 2025, meeting has been cancelled due to Peter Agabi the Veteran’s Day holiday. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 4 GENERAL The committee will next meet on November 12, 2025. GOVERNMENT: Michael Althauser PUBLIC WORKS: The next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 6, 2025, Eileen Swarthout and they will be discussing the following items: • Land License with Earthscope Consortium, Inc for GPS Station at Tumwater Hill Park • Supplemental Agreement No. 1 with SCJ Alliance for the I- 5 & SR 121-93rd Ave Se Interchange Improvements Study project • Service Provider Agreement Sargent Engineers for On-Call Services Amendment No. 1 • Service Provider Agreement with Stantec for the Pioneer Park Restoration Project Amendment 4 BUDGET & FINANCE: The committee met on October 23, 2025, and discussed the Debbie Sullivan following item: • Monthly Financial Update The next meeting is scheduled for January 23, 2025 due to cancelled meetings in November and December from the proximity to holidays. MAYOR/CITY Administrator Parks congratulated staff on receiving the ADMINISTRATOR’s Washington Festival and Events Association award for 2025 for REPORT: the 4th of July Festival at Tumwater Valley. She also shared staff is working on highlighting our utility assistance program on our website. Lastly, she shared Geographic Information System (GIS) day is November 19, 2025, and there will be paving that will close part of Littlerock Road on November 4th and 5th. Mayor Sullivan attended the Thurston County Economic Development Council board meeting, a change of command at Joint Base Lewis McChord and the Thurston County ballot processing center ribbon cutting. She also shared that we now have Planned Action EIS Committees. COUNCILMEMBER Councilmembers Agabi, Cathey, Dahlhoff, Jefferson, Swarthout REPORTS: and Von Holtz gave reports. Councilmember Althauser was excused and did not give a report. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 5 EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Sullivan recessed the meeting at 8:23 p.m. to discuss potential litigation pursuant to RCW 42.30.110(1)(a) for approximately 15 minutes. ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Sullivan reconvened the meeting and adjourned the meeting at 8:41 p.m. Prepared by Tracie Core, Deputy City Clerk TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL- NOVEMBER 3, 2025 6