City Council

MEETING MINUTES TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL November 18, 2025 CONVENE: 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Debbie Sullivan and Councilmembers Peter Agabi, Michael Althauser, Joan Cathey, Angela Jefferson, Eileen Swarthout and Kelly Von Holtz. Excused: Councilmember Leatta Dahlhoff. Staff: City Administrator Lisa Parks, Assistant City Administrator Kelly Adams, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Crimmins, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer, Information Technology Director Lance Inman, Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Denney, Police Chief Jay Mason, Deputy Police Chief Carlos Quiles, Sergeant Brandt Baker, Water Resources and Sustainability Director Dan Smith, Communications Director Jason Wettstein, GIS Manager Jennifer Radcliff, GIS Intern Nemo Paulson, and City Clerk Melody Valiant. Others: Lead Advocate with CFM Advocates Katie Whittier and Principal Brian Enslow with Arbutus Consulting. SPECIAL ITEMS: INTRODUCTION OF Chief Mason said that this was the first sergeant promotion in a SERGEANT BRANT long time and that they wanted to start getting back to introducing BAKER: new sergeants like they had before COVID. He introduced and talked about Sergeant Baker’s background with the City from when he started in 2016. He has had several positions in the department and five commendations and is a highly regarded officer. Sergeant Baker thanked everyone for the promotion and introduced his family who were in attendance. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 1 PROCLAMATION: Councilmember Swarthout read a proclamation declaring GIS DAY, November 19, 2025, as GIS day. GIS day recognizes that an NOVEMBER 19, 2025 understanding, use, and application of geospatial technology is crucial to operating the City’s infrastructure, sustaining our natural resources, and stimulating economic growth, thus, benefitting the welfare of the general public throughout the South Puget Sound region. Mayor Sullivan presented the proclamation to Intern Paulson. Intern Paulson encouraged everyone to attend the several GIS events they are planned for November 19, 2025, celebrating GIS day. BODY WORN Chief Mason introduced Deputy Chief Quiles who provided a CAMERA briefing updating the Council on the implementation of Body IMPLEMENTATION Worn Cameras for the City. He shared the steps that have BRIEFING: already been taken towards implementation including selecting the vendor Axon Video Solutions which is also used by the Cities of Lacey and Olympia which makes sharing data between each other much easier. Deputy Chief Quiles highlighted what will be included in the implementation with a target implementation date of no later than May 2026. Councilmembers asked clarifying questions about how the data will be stored and used and how the process will work once implemented. PUBLIC COMMENT: Public comment was given by residents Hunt and Nicandri. CONSENT a. Approval of Minutes: City Council, June 4, 2025 CALENDAR: b. Payment of Vouchers c. Ordinance No. O2025-016, Ad Valorem for Regular Property Taxes for the Fiscal Year 2026 d. Supplemental Agreement No. 1 with SCJ Alliance for the I-5 & SR 121-93rd Ave SE Interchange Improvements Study e. Service Provider Agreement with Sargent Engineers for On- Call Engineering Services Amendment No. 1 f. Service Provider Agreement with Stantec for the Pioneer Park Restoration Project Amendment 4 g. Land License with EarthScope Consortium, Inc for GPS Station at Tumwater Hill Park TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 2 MOTION: Councilmember Swarthout, moved, seconded by Councilmember Agabi, to approve the Consent Calendar as published. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. 2026 LEGISLATIVE Administrator Parks introduced the City’s lobbyists Katie Whittier AGENDA: with CFM Advocates and Brian Enslow with Arbutus Consulting. Advocate Whittier mentioned that they had presented the 2026 Legislative agenda at a previous work session in detail and this would be a high-level overview. She went over the City’s top priorities and funding requests in this legislative session which include: • Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) funding; • Planned Action Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Brewery District Future Redevelopment; and • E Street Design. Principal Enslow shared the Association of Washington priorities which the City also supports. He talked about what could be expected in the next legislative session. Assistant Administrator Adams presented the 2026 Legislative Agenda for approval. Councilmember Althauser said that since he is a legislative employee he will be abstaining from the vote. MOTION: Councilmember Swarthout, moved, seconded by Councilmember Jefferson, to approve the City’s 2026 Legislative agenda. A voice vote approved the motion. Councilmember Althauser abstained from voting for the 2026 Legislative Agenda. ALTERNATIVE Assistant Chief Crimmins presented the alternate response team RESPONSE TEAM grant agreement with the Association of Washington Cities GRANT AGREEMENT (AWC) which helps fund the community assistance referral and WITH THE education services (CARES) program and is tied to the other ASSOCIATION OF agreement for FD Cares on the council agenda. WASHINGTON CITIES: The grant will allow the current CARES position to be 40 hours a week rather than the current half-time position. The agreement is good through June 30, 2026, with the opportunity to extend it two more times through June 30, 2028. MOTION: Councilmember Von Holtz, moved, seconded by Councilmember Swarthout, to approve the Alternative response team grant agreement with the Association of TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 3  Washington Cities. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. FD CARES Assistant Chief Crimmins presented the FD CARES interlocal INTERLOCAL agreement with the City of Olympia amendment number one AGREEMENT WITH which will help fund our current CARES position to be full-time. THE CITY OF OLYMPIA AMENDMENT NO. 1: Assistant Chief Crimmins shared data about the work that position has being doing so far in 2025 including reducing the amount of 911 calls, educating adult care facilities and working in collaboration with the new Tumwater Mobile Outreach team that started in October. He also highlighted the types of support the position is assisting the community with. MOTION: Councilmember Jefferson, moved, seconded by Councilmember Agabi, to approve the FD Cares Interlocal Agreement with the City of Olympia Amendment No. 1. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. ORDINANCE NO. Director Denney presented Ordinance O2025-008, amending the O2025-008, Tumwater Municipal Code section 12.32 for Public Parks. The AMENDING ordinance has been before Council several times and is adopting TUMWATER the existing rules for parks and facilities and extending it to all city MUNICIPAL CODE properties. SECTION 12.32, PUBLIC PARKS: There was a lengthy discussion between Council and staff about a new addition to the ordinance which allows someone excluded from a City property to request a hearing through the Hearing Examiner and how those rules and new process would work. MOTION: Councilmember Swarthout, moved, seconded by Councilmember Jefferson, to adopt Ordinance O2025-008, amending Tumwater Municipal Code Section 12.32, Public Parks. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. RESOLUTION NO. Administrator Parks presented Resolution R2025-014 the City of R2025-014, CITY OF Tumwater Strategic Plan. Staff, Mayor and Council have had TUMWATER several meetings and worked for months on updating and STRATEGIC PLAN: finalizing the strategic plan. Councilmembers thanked everyone for their hard work and collaboration on it including the beautiful design and graphics of the plan. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 4 MOTION Councilmember Swarthout, moved, seconded by Councilmember Agabi, to adopt Resolution R2025-014, City of Tumwater Strategic Plan. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PUBLIC HEALTH & The committee did not meet last week due to the Veteran’s Day SAFETY: holiday. The next meeting is scheduled for December 9, 2025, Peter Agabi and they will be discussing the following items: • T-2 Remodel Update • Challenges/Opportunities for People Experiencing Homelessness in Tumwater GENERAL The committee met on November 12, 2025, and discussed GOVERNMENT: O2025-009 Final Docket for 2025 Comprehensive Plan Michael Althauser Amendments. There are currently no items scheduled for the December meeting. PUBLIC WORKS: The next meeting is scheduled for November 20, 2025, and they Eileen Swarthout will be discussing the following items: • Sustainability Division 2026 Work Program • 2025-2026 Stormwater Capacity Grant with the Department of Ecology • R2025-018, Fee Resolution Update • SPA with MTN2COAST for On-Call Services Amendment No. 1 • SPA with Materials Testing & Consulting, Inc. • Interlocal Agreement with the LOTT Clean Water Alliance for the Class A+ Reclaimed Water Demonstration Pilot BUDGET & FINANCE: The next scheduled meeting has been cancelled due to the Debbie Sullivan Thanksgiving holiday. MAYOR/CITY Administrator Parks talked about the GIS day activities in the ADMINISTRATOR’s Council Chambers on November 19, 2025. She also updated the REPORT: Council on how City staff have been helping the community through a Socktober drive that collected 1,613 pairs of socks and a current food drive for the Thurston County food bank. She also reminded Council of their upcoming meeting schedule and cancelled meetings due to holidays. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 5  Mayor Sullivan will have a Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC) meeting to attend tomorrow and otherwise had no report. COUNCILMEMBER Councilmembers Agabi, Cathey, Jefferson and Swarthout gave REPORTS: reports. Councilmembers Althauser and Von Holtz had nothing to report. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mayor Sullivan adjourned the meeting at 9:14 p.m. Prepared by Melody Valiant, City Clerk TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL– NOVEMBER 18, 2025 6