Latest / The City of Tacoma Podcast Network / Tacoma City Council Study Session - March 24, 2026

Transcript

Tacoma City Council Study Session - March 24, 2026 · The City of Tacoma Podcast Network

• 0:00
  I'd like to call the Order of City Council Study Session on March 24,
• 0:04
  2026. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Deputy Mayor Bushnell. Present.
• 0:08
  Council Member Diaz. Council Member Hines. Absent Council Member Palmer.
• 0:12
  Council Member Rumba. Here. Council Member Sedalge. Here.
• 0:16
  Council Member Scott. Here. Council Member Walker. Here. Mayor Ibsen. Absent.
• 0:23
  All right. Thank you. And just Council Member Sedalge, you're really light on
• 0:27
  the mic, and I'm not sure if that's us or you. So just a heads up on that.
• 0:31
  All right. Thank you. Perfect. There we go. Thank you.
• 0:34
  Our first agenda item is Tacoma Creates Spending Plan. I want to call on Arts
• 0:39
  and Cultural Vitality Division Manager, Rebecca Sulverson, to begin the presentation.
• 0:43
  Thank you. Deputy Mayor, Council Members, thanks for talking to us today.
• 0:48
  My name is Rebecca Sulverson. I'm the Division Manager for the Arts and Cultural
• 0:52
  Vitality Division within Community and Economic Development.
• 0:56
  Good afternoon. I'm Lisa Jarrett, Program Manager for Tacoma.
• 1:00
  Oh, thank you. I'm the Program Manager for Tacoma Creates, Lisa Jarrett.
• 1:04
  We're excited to be here today to share an overview of our proposed spending
• 1:07
  plan for the upcoming Tacoma Creates program year, which will run from July 2026 through June 2027.
• 1:15
  As a reminder, Tacoma Creates is the city of Tacoma's cultural access program
• 1:19
  that funds nonprofit arts, culture, heritage, and science organizations.
• 1:23
  Each year, we also bring a year-in-review presentation to Council through the
• 1:28
  Economic Development Committee to report back on the incredible work that's
• 1:31
  supported in the community through this funding, and we'll be doing that presentation in the fall.
• 1:38
  Today's presentation is focused on the upcoming year's proposed spending plan.
• 1:43
  And this is a new presentation we're making today. I wanted to share,
• 1:47
  I wanted to start by sharing why we're bringing this to you.
• 1:50
  So you can see this will be the most boring slide, I promise,
• 1:54
  that we share, maybe, hopefully.
• 1:56
  When the code was updated last October, the section on the screen was added.
• 2:01
  This new code language directs us to present our spending plan for the year
• 2:04
  ahead, including any one-time funds.
• 2:06
  So we're sharing this prior to allocating funds to cultural organizations this year.
• 2:11
  This presentation is meant to share information with council and the general
• 2:15
  public, and no council action is required by code.
• 2:18
  As a reminder, Tacoma Creates funds are very restricted and can't be spent for
• 2:23
  any purpose other than what's outlined in the code.
• 2:26
  And I'm going to hand it over to Lisa to share some brief background and our
• 2:31
  spending plan and some great photos of the amazing work that we support. that we support.
• 2:37
  Tacoma Creates was launched through a community effort in 2018 and a very successful
• 2:44
  public vote with a 67 percent approval.
• 2:47
  And then our second seven years was secured just last October with the councilmanic vote.
• 2:53
  The primary use of funds is to contract with eligible local non-profit organizations
• 2:58
  with the primary purpose of arts, culture, heritage, or science.
• 3:02
  Our funding goals are around supporting public programs and youth education programs in arts,
• 3:07
  culture, heritage, and science, with a focus on increasing access and supporting
• 3:12
  programming by and for historically underrepresented communities,
• 3:16
  and supporting the sustainability of the cultural sector.
• 3:20
  Funding to organizations is approved by the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board,
• 3:24
  and we have a couple of key partnerships that I wanted to mention here.
• 3:28
  Tacoma Public Schools and Tacoma Public Library really expand the reach of the
• 3:32
  programming and amplify the impact of this funding.
• 3:36
  In our most recently completed program year, which was July 2024 to June 2025,
• 3:42
  we contracted with 69 cultural organizations for a total of about $6 million.
• 3:48
  This includes Tacoma's major well-known cultural organizations with multi-million
• 3:52
  dollar budgets, and it also includes a majority of organizations are smaller
• 3:58
  community-based organizations with budgets of less than $250,000.
• 4:03
  These organizations reached over a million participants through nearly 1,500
• 4:08
  programs and events, most of which were free.
• 4:11
  The ones that aren't free usually have some kind of reduced price or scholarship option.
• 4:16
  If you're interested in more details on last year's program,
• 4:19
  our full annual report is on our website.
• 4:24
  Our funding comes from a sales tax, one-tenth of one percent.
• 4:28
  And we have a deferred income model, a deferred spending model,
• 4:32
  where the revenue received in one program year is spent in the following program year.
• 4:38
  And we have a reserves and fund balance policy. Over the first couple of years
• 4:42
  of the program, we built up reserves with guidance from finance and in alignment with city practices.
• 4:48
  And these funds are protected for emergency use only.
• 4:52
  The reserve amount is 20% of projected revenue. When there are underspent funds
• 4:58
  at the end of a program year, they go to what we call our fund balance above reserves.
• 5:03
  These funds are intended to be spent to sustainably support the cultural sector.
• 5:08
  And we're sharing these one-time expenditures as part of our spending plan.
• 5:11
  And based on code updates last fall, the key focus will be on capital funding starting next year.
• 5:19
  Our current program year, this chart shows projected allocations by cost center.
• 5:24
  The cost center allocations are based on code.
• 5:27
  The great majority of the revenue goes right back out to the community,
• 5:31
  to cultural organizations.
• 5:33
  The 84% shown here, the dark blue on the circle, is higher than the minimum
• 5:39
  required allocation of 78%.
• 5:41
  The funding to organizations is based on a competitive funding application process,
• 5:46
  which includes reviews by community members serving on review panels in addition
• 5:52
  to being approved by the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board.
• 5:55
  In this current year, we're managing 79 contracts with cultural organizations,
• 6:00
  which represents a 15% increase over the previous year.
• 6:04
  So here is our proposed spending plan for 2026 to 27.
• 6:09
  It's a similar chart showing similar projected allocations by cost center.
• 6:14
  Again, it's aligned with code and again, support for cultural organizations
• 6:18
  is higher than the minimum.
• 6:19
  For 26-27, we are allocating $500,000 from the fund balance above reserves to
• 6:26
  support sustainability for cultural organizations.
• 6:29
  We are anticipating some increases in our capacity building expense line,
• 6:35
  largely to support out-of-school time programs, as well as capacity building
• 6:39
  for organizations in the areas of equity and access, Nonprofit Management and Youth Development.
• 6:44
  And a reminder that capital funding will be in next year's spending plan for 27-28.
• 6:52
  Looking at the proposed allocations in another way, I mentioned that the cultural
• 6:56
  org allocation was higher than the minimum.
• 6:59
  And so this slide shows how the allocations in code are compared to our proposed
• 7:04
  allocations, and it shows how the dollars from the fund balance above reserves impact the spending.
• 7:10
  So the first column shows the category of revenue or expense.
• 7:14
  The next column shows the percentage of allocations in code.
• 7:18
  And then the column after that shows what the dollar amount would be if we applied
• 7:23
  those percentages to the amount of anticipated revenue from sales tax.
• 7:29
  Note that the funding to cultural organizations shows up as a minimum percentage
• 7:33
  and the other three categories are a maximum.
• 7:36
  So the next two columns shows on the funds available side, it shows the addition
• 7:42
  of the $500,000 from fund balance above reserves, and then the proposed allocations in expenditures.
• 7:48
  The anticipated expenses are lower in some of the areas, so we can allocate
• 7:54
  more funding towards the cultural organizations.
• 7:57
  And so the final column shows what the proposed allocations are by percentage.
• 8:02
  One more chart to look at, which is a side-by-side of the current year projected
• 8:07
  and next year proposed with the dollar amounts for each line and the percentage change.
• 8:13
  Overall, we're budgeting for a 5% increase in both funds available and expenditures.
• 8:20
  And so that you know where we are in our process, our application deadlines are in March.
• 8:26
  In fact, the second of our two deadlines was last night.
• 8:29
  Our application review panels work between now and May.
• 8:33
  They make funding recommendations that go to our advisory board.
• 8:37
  The Tacoma Creates Advisory Board reviews and votes on those recommendations in May.
• 8:42
  And then staff takes it from there with the contracting process in May and June,
• 8:47
  and then programming happening from July of 2026 through June of 2027.
• 8:53
  So to close, here are just a few more of the dozens of arts,
• 8:57
  culture, heritage, and science organizations that benefit from and are stronger
• 9:01
  because of the City of Tacoma's cultural funding program.
• 9:04
  Thank you all for your time and engagement, and we are happy to answer any questions.
• 9:09
  Thank you very much. This is very exciting. All right, we have first up,
• 9:13
  Councilman Rubbaugh. I want to say thank you so much for coming with this.
• 9:16
  And I really appreciate everything you had to say.
• 9:19
  Could you talk a little bit about what it means by reserves and if there's a
• 9:23
  like a required amount that we have to keep in reserves?
• 9:27
  Sure. So based on our consultation with finance, they are advising 20 percent
• 9:32
  based on expected sales tax revenue. Okay.
• 9:36
  All right. Thanks. That was really helpful. And then I know this is not about
• 9:40
  this, but I know that we had approved capital.
• 9:43
  And how are we planning to get funds into the capital bucket at some point?
• 9:47
  Could you just talk a little bit about what that might look like?
• 9:51
  Yeah, so according to code, that'll be an amount equal to 6% of the amount that's
• 9:57
  allocated towards cultural organizations.
• 9:59
  And so that amount will be slightly different each year because it's a percentage.
• 10:04
  And that will come from the fund balance above reserves if available.
• 10:08
  Okay, that's kind of what I was going to ask about. Yeah, exactly.
• 10:11
  Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Yeah.
• 10:13
  Thank you. Next up, we have Councilman Palmer. Thank you for all of the information.
• 10:19
  This is the first time right you guys are doing this so
• 10:22
  just maybe a suggestion for
• 10:25
  next year you pointed to the full report online that I didn't know it was there
• 10:31
  and so maybe just next year we point to that for council to look at maybe prior
• 10:38
  and then so community can take a peek too And then, yeah.
• 10:44
  Could you please define cultural organizations? What does that mean?
• 10:49
  Sure. We use that umbrella term to cover arts, culture, heritage,
• 10:54
  and science organizations.
• 10:56
  We have really specific definitions that are in our guidelines and in the code
• 11:00
  that sort of broaden what those definitions are to be really specific in the
• 11:05
  types of public programming that they present. Okay.
• 11:09
  And then could you talk a little bit more about the panel review process as
• 11:14
  far as, like, how folks are picked for the panel? And is there certain,
• 11:18
  like, criteria that they create these organizations on?
• 11:22
  Yes. The review criteria is super important.
• 11:25
  Thank you for asking about that. It's in our published guidelines,
• 11:28
  so it's available to the public.
• 11:30
  The review panelists use the exact same criteria that we tell the organizations
• 11:35
  applying for the funding to look at.
• 11:37
  And there are four or five criteria areas depending on which program they're applying in.
• 11:43
  But they include programming merit, equity and access, community impact,
• 11:48
  and capacity and feasibility are sort of the primary areas.
• 11:52
  And then there's a lot of sub-bullet points under those areas.
• 11:55
  The panelists are seated by staff. We network with different community members
• 12:01
  to get different panel members to try to have a really diverse panel.
• 12:05
  We always have members of our Tacoma Crate's advisory board serving on panels
• 12:09
  as well, so that they are sort of representing the advisory board to the panel,
• 12:13
  and then they can represent the panel process back to the advisory board.
• 12:17
  We also have, there is a forum online for community members that are interested
• 12:22
  in serving on a panel, so that's an open opportunity. And there's often panelists selected through that.
• 12:28
  And we also invite members of organizations that are currently funded to serve
• 12:34
  on the opposite panel. So they're not serving on the same panel where their
• 12:37
  application is being reviewed.
• 12:38
  So we do that as well to support both more information for the panel as well
• 12:43
  as a learning opportunity for those staff members of funded organizations.
• 12:48
  That's great. Sounds like we're reaching out to a diverse group of folks.
• 12:52
  And so that's super important.
• 12:55
  I'll say, you know, coming in as a recent normal resident, maybe Tacoma Creates
• 13:02
  was one of the ones that I just didn't know much about.
• 13:06
  And I think you guys do like such great work. Like I'm hoping that we can get
• 13:10
  more of a spotlight on kind of some of the stuff that you guys are doing.
• 13:13
  And so community knows, like, you guys are going through this amazing process
• 13:17
  in order to, you know, pick the programs that you guys are doing and that sort of thing.
• 13:22
  So thank you. Thank you for answering the questions. Thank you.
• 13:26
  Thank you, Council Member Palmer. Next up, we have Council Member Walker.
• 13:29
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor. And thank you, guys.
• 13:31
  I really appreciate it. I know we added this this last year,
• 13:35
  but really appreciate this presentation to council. And this is really great.
• 13:38
  You may have said this, and I apologize. I need to step out for a minute.
• 13:41
  But can you talk a little bit about the difference between the code and the guidelines?
• 13:48
  You referenced the guideline document a couple times. And the guideline document,
• 13:52
  as I understand it, can be updated year to year.
• 13:54
  The code is a seven-year commitment, roughly.
• 14:00
  And I would also say we also have state law that allows that.
• 14:04
  So we have the state law and then the municipal code that guides what we do.
• 14:09
  And then the guidelines are the administrative document that are that guide
• 14:13
  the criteria, what we're looking for.
• 14:15
  Get really into that nitty gritty detail of the funding.
• 14:18
  Does that answer your question? Yeah, definitely. So if the guidelines were
• 14:22
  to be updated, that would be at the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board, right?
• 14:25
  And staff, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Great. Thanks.
• 14:30
  All right. Any additional questions or comments? All right.
• 14:34
  Seeing none, just want to thank you both so much for all the work that you've
• 14:37
  done on this and getting this overview put together.
• 14:40
  I'm really excited for all the programs that are going to be funded next year
• 14:43
  and participating in them.
• 14:46
  So that's it. Thank you so much.
• 14:50
  All right. Next up, we have other items of interest. And our second agenda item
• 14:54
  is the Council Action Memorandum, a resolution supporting Proposition No.
• 14:57
  1, Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma. Park and Recreation Facility Improvement
• 15:02
  and Safety Upgrade General Obligation Bonds. I would like to call in Councilmember Walker to begin.
• 15:06
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Councilmember Sedalgay, Councilmember Bushnell,
• 15:10
  Mayor Ibsen, and I are excited to bring forward a resolution tonight in support
• 15:17
  of Proposition 1. This is the 2026 Parks Bond.
• 15:20
  If approved, Prop 1 would allow Parks Tacoma to invest up to $155 million in
• 15:25
  more than 100 projects across the city.
• 15:27
  This is not an increase in current taxes. is it's a renewal.
• 15:31
  Specifically for parks. I'm really
• 15:32
  excited about this bond because of our partnership with Parks Tacoma.
• 15:36
  They have spent a great deal of time working with our community to identify
• 15:39
  projects that reflect values and priorities of our residents.
• 15:42
  And I also want to make a note, Council Member Stalge and I serve on the parks policy boards.
• 15:48
  We've been digging into a lot of these things lately and kind of pushing on some of those.
• 15:52
  The equity of all the projects and I've been really impressed with what Parks
• 15:56
  Tacoma has put together for the bond project or the bond package.
• 16:00
  Some of the projects include environmental sustainability projects,
• 16:04
  playground and spray ground upgrades, natural areas and trail improvements,
• 16:07
  community center redevelopment and renovations, waterfront and zoo improvements,
• 16:11
  ADA upgrades, and much more.
• 16:13
  And again, that partnership piece that we're always looking for with the city.
• 16:16
  The improvements that they hope to undertake represent long-term community-driven
• 16:22
  investments and really responsible stewardship of Tacoma's natural and cultural assets.
• 16:28
  As you all know, we are very fortunate to have some of the most beautiful parks
• 16:31
  in Washington State, including Point Defiance, but near and dear to all of our
• 16:36
  hearts are smaller neighborhood pocket parks like Katherine Ishka's Gas Station
• 16:39
  Park are such important parts of every neighborhood.
• 16:42
  So this is a fairly standard thing that we do in supporting our agency partners,
• 16:47
  but you can see the details of the bond in your packet and encourage you to
• 16:53
  support this. Happy to answer any questions if I can.
• 16:56
  Awesome. Thank you, Councilmember Walker. Any questions or comments?
• 17:01
  Council Member Scott. Sorry. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. No specific questions.
• 17:05
  I will just say that I've had multiple opportunities to see just presentations
• 17:12
  from parks staff on the potential projects they outlined.
• 17:17
  They have a really cool map that kind of lays out where all the projects are.
• 17:21
  It really hits every part of the city.
• 17:24
  I'm particularly excited about the money that is being dedicated towards the
• 17:28
  People Center on the hilltop. They're currently working on a feasibility study.
• 17:31
  And so I think it's exciting to think about the future of not only that space,
• 17:36
  especially thinking about how the Eastside Community Center really,
• 17:38
  you know, transformed that area and giving them a really great resource,
• 17:43
  but also just a lot of these really cool spots that we have that will be enhanced
• 17:48
  by this project. So I'm super excited about this.
• 17:50
  Thank you. Councilmember Sedolge.
• 17:53
  Hi, thank you. I'll try to keep it brief. I'm just more than happy to be a co-sponsor on this.
• 18:01
  Our community vitality...
• 18:04
  Is really enhanced by Parks Tacoma and having a continuation of a bond.
• 18:10
  So this is not a total increase in any taxes to maintain what we've been doing
• 18:15
  is going to be really beneficial to so many neighborhoods, especially with you, Deputy Mayor,
• 18:22
  the South End and the ability to conceptualize and design additional resources.
• 18:28
  But I'll let you talk about that.
• 18:29
  I'm sure you have comments on that yourself, and just to aid in the infrastructure
• 18:34
  we need to really support our growing communities.
• 18:38
  So more than happy to be a sponsor on this. Thank you.
• 18:42
  Thank you. Councilmember Rumbach. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
• 18:46
  And I want to just echo both all of my council members and how supportive we
• 18:51
  are of this, but also just how impactful it will be to every neighborhood in Tacoma.
• 18:56
  And I'm just going to talk about Northeast Tacoma because I was at the Co-Create
• 19:00
  to Recreate event recently.
• 19:02
  And it was really great to have all of these people that live in Northeast Tacoma
• 19:06
  gather because it seems like no one lives there. But there's a lot of people who live there.
• 19:10
  And people are excited about a dog park at Norpoint Community Center.
• 19:14
  They're excited about an upgrade to our community center that hasn't been upgraded for 30 years.
• 19:18
  I can't believe it's been that long, but it has. And then also just how Parks
• 19:23
  Tacoma doesn't just stay within the boundaries of our city.
• 19:26
  It kind of moves a little bit out into Pierce County. And one of the projects
• 19:29
  that will be benefited is the dock at Dashpoint City Park, which I think is
• 19:35
  a really great asset to our community.
• 19:37
  It's a place where a lot of people do fishing, and they've had to come with
• 19:40
  other ways to go fishing still.
• 19:42
  And so it's going to be exciting that people can utilize that dock again.
• 19:45
  So I just want to thank my council members who came forward with this.
• 19:49
  I'm very excited to vote for it tonight. Thank you.
• 19:52
  Thank you, Councilman Ruff. I'll just ditto everything that my colleagues have said.
• 19:57
  And then as to Councilmember Soudalga mentioned, really excited about potential
• 20:01
  community center in the south end.
• 20:03
  A lot of folks utilize Eastside Community Center and the Star Center,
• 20:07
  but they're very far from a lot
• 20:09
  of population that could certainly use a community space of that nature.
• 20:13
  I-5 is basically like a wall, so it's very difficult to get to Star Center,
• 20:17
  and then the distance to Eastside is not a small thing.
• 20:21
  So really excited to support this, and all the other projects all across the
• 20:23
  community. I've had the chance to, as a young child, use the Northeast Tacoma
• 20:27
  Community Center many times.
• 20:29
  So I'm glad it's long overdue for an update and upgrade.
• 20:33
  Any additional questions or comments? All right. Seeing none,
• 20:37
  we'll move on to our next CCR, which is Tacoma Create. Oh, sorry.
• 20:41
  Oh, it is. Our third agenda item is our Tacoma Creates Funding Spending Plan.
• 20:46
  I'm calling Councilmember Walker.
• 20:48
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I think actually Councilmember Scott is going to kick us off on this one.
• 20:54
  Thank you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Councilmember Walker, Mayor Ibsen,
• 20:58
  and I are excited to bring forward a resolution regarding Tacoma Creates Underspent Dollars.
• 21:03
  Last year, we all put a great deal of work into reauthorizing Tacoma Creates
• 21:07
  for an additional seven years, and we became the first city council in Washington
• 21:11
  to reauthorize a cultural access program with councilmanic action.
• 21:15
  Tacoma Creates has helped our nonprofit cultural organizations provide more
• 21:20
  than 5,000 programs and events, reaching more than 4 million participants.
• 21:23
  I think we all agree that our nonprofit cultural organizations play a vital
• 21:27
  role in our community. Their programs remind people about our deeper connections
• 21:32
  to each other and to the world around us.
• 21:34
  They bring us joy and foster friendships.
• 21:36
  They expand our perspective and teach us new skills, and they are especially
• 21:40
  important to Tacoma, where creativity is a cornerstone of our community.
• 21:45
  While we worked on reauthorizing Tacoma Creates last year, we spent a great
• 21:49
  deal of time talking with various organizations that have received Tacoma Creates
• 21:53
  funding. And during these conversations, we consistently heard that many of
• 21:56
  them are concerned about losing federal and state funding.
• 21:59
  That is part of the reason why we worked hard to keep the programming bucket
• 22:02
  of funding robust last year.
• 22:04
  We now have a great opportunity in front of us to provide some additional temporary
• 22:07
  relief for our nonprofit cultural organizations to help them sustain operations
• 22:11
  in this climate of uncertainty.
• 22:13
  And I'm going to turn it over to Councilmember Walker to share those details.
• 22:17
  Thank you. So, as we have just heard, Tacoma Creates awards every year funding
• 22:23
  to eligible organizations, and some funding every year as it's gone has been underspent.
• 22:30
  So, since 2019, Tacoma Creates has accumulated about $2.5 million in underspent funds.
• 22:37
  Under state law, this money can only be used to support eligible nonprofit organizations
• 22:41
  through Tacoma Creates. So just to be very clear, we cannot use these dollars
• 22:45
  to fix potholes or plant trees or anything else that we would want to do.
• 22:49
  It needs to stay in the mandate of Tacoma Creates.
• 22:54
  Already at study session, you heard Rebecca and Lisa present their recommendation
• 22:57
  for these underspent dollars or fund balance above reserves.
• 23:01
  It's the same thing for the 26-27 program year.
• 23:04
  So the resolution that we have put together is putting $500,000 back into the programming bucket.
• 23:12
  This would enable Tacoma Creates to provide one-time support that can help fund
• 23:15
  more organizations at a higher amount and potentially increase the number of
• 23:19
  eligible organizations that receive funding.
• 23:22
  We, Council Member Scott and I, support this recommendation because it aligns
• 23:26
  with what we heard from the community last year when we spent a lot of time
• 23:29
  working with them to renew the code.
• 23:32
  And the number one thing we heard from everybody is get the money back into the community.
• 23:37
  So that is what we're proposing. And because we have a large amount of underspent
• 23:41
  funds, we're also endorsing adding an additional $500,000 in one-time spending
• 23:45
  for the 27-28 year, just to fully commit to the community.
• 23:50
  That we're going to put all this back into the community. So $500,000 in this
• 23:53
  programming year and $500,000 in the next programming year.
• 23:57
  This bucket still leaves a robust amount of funding to cover the new capital
• 24:01
  budget bucket for many years.
• 24:03
  And then any new underspent dollars still come back to Tacoma Crete's every year.
• 24:07
  So Councilmember Scott and I want to thank Mayor Ibsen for joining us on the
• 24:10
  resolution to support the plan. And we're looking to bring this forward next week for a vote.
• 24:15
  So March 31st. Happy to answer any questions.
• 24:18
  Thank you both. Councilmember Wumba. I want to thank both Councilmember Scott
• 24:23
  and Councilmember Walker for bringing this forward.
• 24:25
  I think this all makes sense to me. I think I have a question for staff.
• 24:28
  I just want to understand, can we approve both $500,000 this year and $500,000
• 24:35
  for next year today in this resolution or not?
• 24:39
  So we worked closely with staff on that, and yes, we can. Okay.
• 24:44
  All right. Thank you. Do you have additional context? Okay.
• 24:48
  Any additional questions or comments? Customer Palmer. I think this is very cool, too.
• 24:55
  I'm curious about, I guess, is there some kind of criteria for what the organizations
• 25:03
  could spend, like the 500?
• 25:05
  I mean, obviously, it's going to be split between works. So this goes back into
• 25:09
  the same bucket that we do the process with.
• 25:13
  So it's the same criteria, the same guidance that the staff walked through.
• 25:16
  So we're not creating anything new. We're just putting more money in the pot. Oh, okay.
• 25:21
  Has there, to our knowledge, been like any kind of concern about,
• 25:25
  you know, because as we know, there's less and less funding for things like this.
• 25:29
  Has there been concern about, okay, how am I going to maintain the work that we're doing?
• 25:36
  And so I guess my worry is, like, the $500,000 that goes out now,
• 25:42
  can we make sure that that's in some kind of way going towards, like.
• 25:47
  Resilience for these organizations so that, you know, when it's not,
• 25:52
  if it's not there in the future, they're able to kind of bulk up now to prepare for that. Wonderful.
• 26:00
  I mean, I would just say that they're aware that this isn't a forever thing,
• 26:07
  that there's a potential that maybe in a few years it's less that goes to it,
• 26:12
  or maybe if we're lucky, there's more that can go to it.
• 26:16
  The funding goes to their operational
• 26:19
  costs, or whatever they are applying specifically for it to go to.
• 26:24
  And you can chime in if you want, or if there's any other need for staff to as well.
• 26:28
  But I think there's other support that is offered just in general that kind of helps people to,
• 26:36
  you know, as they're facing these struggles, whether it's potentially connecting
• 26:39
  them with other resources, finding collaboration, things like that,
• 26:43
  that we can guide them to.
• 26:44
  I don't know that we can specifically, when they've applied for this money,
• 26:48
  tell them that they have to use it in some specific way to kind of help ensure
• 26:53
  their long-term stability.
• 26:54
  If that is what they choose to
• 26:56
  do in some way with it, as long as it falls within the parameters of what.
• 27:01
  When they applied for the funds and what they, when they get it,
• 27:03
  how it's allowed to be spent and allocated, they can, if it is,
• 27:07
  if they find some way that they're able to kind of ensure their longevity by
• 27:13
  using these dollars now,
• 27:14
  then I think that that's kind of where that lies rather than,
• 27:17
  and then just the broader network of CED,
• 27:21
  the advisory board and things like that, being able to provide any like other
• 27:25
  resources if some, if one of our funded organizations were to come to us and
• 27:28
  say, having these troubles,
• 27:30
  you know, maybe it's on a clerical side, administrative side that we can help with.
• 27:33
  If it's like, you know, I'm looking for other grants, maybe that's connecting
• 27:36
  them with somebody that can help them through that grant process and things like that.
• 27:40
  Hopefully, let me know if that answered the question. I think it does.
• 27:44
  I guess maybe I'm hoping for like, because we have the criteria that we look
• 27:48
  for, or I guess the panel, right, is the one who decides.
• 27:53
  And so maybe there's an option to like encourage that type of building into
• 28:00
  what the funds are being used for as that being like a weighted thing that we
• 28:04
  look for when we're looking into the orgs. I don't know.
• 28:09
  I mean, I think part of the piece of criteria is the feasibility of it.
• 28:14
  So hopefully when people are applying, they're applying for a program that they
• 28:18
  can feasibly do with some amount of the money that they might be offered.
• 28:21
  Because even when they apply, they don't know that they're going to get the
• 28:23
  full amount that they applied for if they're going to get less. So I don't.
• 28:27
  I'm not 100% sure, especially now because the application process for this has
• 28:32
  already, people have already submitted their applications. I think the deadline
• 28:35
  for the last bit of applications was this week.
• 28:37
  And so it might be something, if there is some language in there that can be
• 28:41
  added maybe in the future, that can, I'm sure maybe staff would be happy to
• 28:46
  kind of talk about what you're hoping to aim at.
• 28:49
  But I think that because the underfunding of arts and cultural things throughout
• 28:56
  not just our area, but in general, are seeing less infusion of dollars,
• 29:00
  I think people are kind of already in that mindset.
• 29:02
  And so hopefully, you know, with what we have and the partners that we have
• 29:06
  and how we and the resources that we're connected to, we can kind of continue
• 29:09
  to foster people to think in the mindset of longevity and sustainability. But.
• 29:16
  I would say that piece about feasibility and as such is in the criteria that they are looking for.
• 29:22
  So I think people are, hopefully that's encouraging people to think about the
• 29:25
  programming they're offering, what they're applying for, and like what the actual
• 29:29
  value of the potential dollars are getting.
• 29:31
  Because I know with the arts and especially like in that creativity mindset,
• 29:37
  you think that, you just think big sometimes and you want to do the most to
• 29:43
  kind of bring a vision to life.
• 29:45
  But that piece in there, that the criteria is looking at the feasibility of
• 29:49
  it, hopefully it's keeping people to really stay grounded in what is possible
• 29:53
  in this funding cycle with these dollars that may be available to them.
• 29:57
  That's helpful. Thank you.
• 29:59
  All right. Next up, we have Councilmember Diaz. Thank you.
• 30:02
  I apologize if this was stated by one of the presenters and I just didn't hear it the way I'm asking it.
• 30:07
  But since the application deadline was last night or last week,
• 30:11
  is the amount that is unable to be funded with current funding 500K or is it more than that?
• 30:21
  I guess I'm wondering, do we know that answer yet?
• 30:25
  Really what I'm getting towards is why is there 500 in this proposal for this
• 30:29
  year and 500 for next year?
• 30:32
  I'm wanting to make sure we're not leaving anybody out who's already applied for this year.
• 30:36
  So the amount of funding that we are budgeting for, we made that budget before
• 30:45
  applications came in, right?
• 30:47
  So we're going to be looking at the application amounts over the next couple of weeks.
• 30:51
  We are already funding at really high percentage of the request.
• 30:56
  And typically speaking, we are able to fund a majority of applicants at a pretty
• 31:02
  high percentage of their request.
• 31:04
  And so this enables us to continue to do that in a sustainable way.
• 31:08
  I'm not sure if that's answering your question. So we don't know the total amount
• 31:12
  that was requested in the current application period that just closed? Not yet. Okay.
• 31:17
  It closed yesterday, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's fair.
• 31:20
  We don't know it yet. So I guess my question then, I think, for the sponsors
• 31:23
  is, would you want to wait to find out what that amount is so that you can adjust
• 31:27
  the allocations so we're not leaving anybody out this year to save money for next year?
• 31:32
  So thank you for asking this because we talked about this at length.
• 31:36
  I wanted to put all $2.5 million out there. Like, let's get everything out to the community.
• 31:41
  And staff said, based on past years, this is a pretty accurate request. Yeah.
• 31:46
  Are over, if we only need $400,000, that can roll over to next year.
• 31:52
  That would be considered underspent dollars again.
• 31:54
  If there's wildly above $500,000, could we revise this?
• 31:59
  I think that's within our authority to do. So maybe that's just a request to staff to let us know.
• 32:06
  If by some reason there's $3 million over this year, we could look at funding more.
• 32:12
  Okay. But this felt like accurate to past years, kind of roughly. Thank you.
• 32:18
  Great. Thank you. Great questions. I'm happy to support this.
• 32:22
  I think it makes a lot of sense. I don't want to leave dollars on the table,
• 32:25
  especially as a lot of organizations are currently struggling,
• 32:27
  especially given a lot of the changes across all kinds of different arts and
• 32:33
  culture programming across this nation.
• 32:35
  All right. Any other final questions or comments?
• 32:38
  Seeing none. Next up, we have committee reports and committee.
• 32:45
  Yes. Oh, excuse me. Sorry. Sorry, it is not committee reports.
• 32:50
  I'm a little turned around here.
• 32:51
  Next up, we have a council consideration request, and I'll be calling on Councilmember
• 32:55
  Diaz. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
• 32:58
  And I want to thank everyone in advance for taking a look at my council contingency
• 33:03
  fund requests in more attached materials today.
• 33:07
  The one I am presenting today is for $1,500.
• 33:13
  $15,000 for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to be a sponsor of their
• 33:22
  work through their upcoming 2026 Gala and to do a public declaration of our
• 33:27
  solidarity with their core values.
• 33:29
  And I would like to thank Council Members Hines and Palmer for co-sponsoring this request.
• 33:35
  This council contingency fund request will help the city of Tacoma make very
• 33:41
  clear to the community and to
• 33:43
  NERP that we stand in solidarity with our immigrant and refugee community.
• 33:46
  It really builds on the work that the council and our city has done since,
• 33:52
  I think, before this time.
• 33:53
  But in 2020, in 2015, the city
• 33:56
  named itself a welcoming city and has since been working closely with NERP to
• 34:04
  make sure that we have tangible resources to them as they're helping folks navigate
• 34:09
  the immigration process and help those who are detained in the Northwest Ice Processing Center.
• 34:15
  NERP has been a really vital partner in that work. By sponsoring this upcoming
• 34:22
  gala, the City of Tacoma will make a really public declaration that we stand
• 34:27
  in solidarity with NURB's values.
• 34:29
  I'll go ahead and read those values so folks know what they are.
• 34:32
  They stand for dignity, so that we all deserve to have our human dignity and
• 34:37
  fundamental rights respected.
• 34:39
  Fairness. Laws and policies should
• 34:41
  be fair and equitable when liberty or fundamental rights are at stake.
• 34:44
  All people are entitled to meaningful due process and competent legal representation.
• 34:50
  Solidarity. We are connected by our common humanity, by global forces that affect
• 34:55
  our lives, and by historic patterns of oppression, discrimination, and inequity.
• 34:59
  For society to be just and whole, we must work together to undo systemic oppression
• 35:04
  in its many forms. Self-determination.
• 35:07
  Society thrives when all people have opportunities to live their lives to their fullest potential.
• 35:13
  And safety. People and communities thrive when all feel and experience safety.
• 35:19
  Safety should never be used to justify oppression and inclusion.
• 35:24
  We see diversity and inclusiveness as a source of our strength,
• 35:27
  and I think that these values really do align with the City of Tacoma's values
• 35:31
  and all of our work and policies.
• 35:34
  NERP will promote the City of Tacoma's shared values by including the city's
• 35:38
  name in the event program and slideshow and in pre-event recognition on the
• 35:44
  website and emails reaching over 40,000 people statewide and in their social media posts.
• 35:49
  This item is going to come before us next Tuesday, March 31st.
• 35:53
  And for those who don't know, I just wanted to make sure it was clear.
• 35:56
  The Northwest Immigrant Right Project is a local nonprofit that promotes justice
• 36:01
  by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services,
• 36:06
  systemic advocacy, and community education.
• 36:08
  So they help all folks in the community from all walks of life getting legal
• 36:14
  services through their attorneys or by helping folks navigate the network and
• 36:18
  give referrals out to private lawyers as well.
• 36:22
  I should have started there with what they are and then end with thanks and
• 36:26
  hoping folks will consider this and welcome any questions folks might have.
• 36:30
  Thank you so much for bringing this forward, Council Member Diaz.
• 36:33
  Council Member Sidalgo, did you? Yeah, I see you, Henry. Go ahead.
• 36:37
  Hi, thank you. And I want to thank Council Member Diaz and the rest of the sponsors
• 36:41
  for bringing this forward.
• 36:43
  I am really proud that I sit on a council that is 100% unanimously in agreement
• 36:50
  in things around immigrant protections.
• 36:54
  I think that's really important because we live in a region where not everyone is.
• 36:59
  And whatever your opinions are, at the end of the day, legal representation.
• 37:06
  Unfortunately, in the world in which we live, you have an orders of magnitude
• 37:11
  increased ability to be released and to continue your cases out of detention
• 37:19
  When you have legal representation,
• 37:21
  that's one of the most important things that the Northwest Democracy Rights
• 37:24
  Project brings by providing this legal representation.
• 37:30
  I'm more than happy to and proud that we are a city that is willing to do something like this.
• 37:37
  So once again, I want to thank all my colleagues who sponsored this.
• 37:41
  I cannot wait to vote for it. Thank you all.
• 37:45
  Thank you, Council Member Sedolgate. Council Member Palmer. I just wanted to
• 37:49
  thank Council Member Diaz for bringing this forward and allowing me to co-sponsor on this.
• 37:55
  I think community has been asking us, you know, show us, put your money where
• 37:59
  your mouth is. And I think this is an opportunity for us to do that.
• 38:03
  You know, we're looking for trying to get creative and looking for every opportunity
• 38:07
  to support these groups that are supporting immigrants in what they're dealing
• 38:11
  with at these detention centers. So thank you again.
• 38:17
  Thank you, Councilmember Walker. Yeah, just quickly kind of ditto what other folks have said.
• 38:22
  Thank you, Councilmember Diaz, for bringing this forward and for continuing to support.
• 38:26
  I know you've led on a couple other things over the years to support particularly
• 38:29
  this organization and the great work they do.
• 38:31
  So happy and excited to support it, hoping we can all attend and support their
• 38:37
  work in other ways. Thanks.
• 38:39
  Thank you. The last thing I
• 38:41
  would add is I think something Council Member Sidalgo said helped make it,
• 38:45
  helped bring back the concept to my mind that folks may not be aware that in
• 38:51
  this country we have rights as citizens to due process and to civil legal aid,
• 38:57
  but if you are undocumented in this country, you do not have those rights or access.
• 39:01
  So folks are being held for longer than normal times because they are not guaranteed
• 39:06
  due process in a timely manner, and folks are not guaranteed a lawyer.
• 39:10
  So one of the biggest gaps that NERP helps fill in our state is that legal aid
• 39:15
  for folks who don't have it otherwise.
• 39:19
  And I wanted to highlight that the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project does also
• 39:23
  have an office here in Tacoma. So they do often have local events.
• 39:27
  A lot of the lawyers are here and live in our community because of the proximity
• 39:30
  to the detention center and because they are just folks in our community.
• 39:33
  And so I think it really does have a local tie for us, even though the gala
• 39:36
  and the organization is based in Seattle.
• 39:39
  They do have a really big flagship here in our city.
• 39:42
  All right. Thank you, Councilmember Diaz, for bringing this forward.
• 39:45
  I'm enthusiastically in support and just really want to echo all the sentiments.
• 39:50
  You know, as a child of a refugee, this is very near and dear to my heart and
• 39:54
  trying to support everywhere we can.
• 39:55
  I mean, I know we've been doing a lot of work around this space for years,
• 39:59
  even beyond both our times on council as a city.
• 40:02
  And so I'm really excited to continue that effort in solidarity with our immigrant
• 40:06
  and refugee folks out in the community.
• 40:09
  That is it. Any final questions or comments? All right.
• 40:13
  Thank you so much. Next up, we have community reports, and I will call on Deputy Mayor Bushnell.
• 40:19
  So I would like to provide an update from our special OSAC meeting,
• 40:23
  the Operational Strategies Administrative Committee, for those that are unfamiliar with the acronym.
• 40:28
  At OSAC on Friday, the 20th, Interim City Manager Kim provided an overview of
• 40:33
  his draft work plan, which included key performance indicators in the areas
• 40:36
  of organizational performance, community safety, housing and homelessness,
• 40:40
  and business friendliness.
• 40:41
  OSAC members provided preliminary input in a draft of the work plan,
• 40:45
  was sent to council via email from Ben Thurgood on Friday the 20th at 1147 a.m.
• 40:51
  Interim City Manager Kim is working to update the work plan for an additional
• 40:55
  review at OSAC this Friday and before the work plan goes before the full council
• 40:59
  next Tuesday, March 31st.
• 41:02
  Council members are encouraged to provide feedback they would like to incorporate
• 41:06
  it into this Friday's updated version to interim City Manager Kim.
• 41:09
  Well, it should be City Manager Kim.
• 41:12
  Directly or to connect with one of their colleagues who serves on the OSAC community.
• 41:17
  All right. I think that's the final part of my report.
• 41:21
  I do know that we had a really robust conversation and we really wanted to make
• 41:26
  sure that we're getting valuable input from our colleagues.
• 41:29
  Obviously, the city manager works for all of us.
• 41:31
  And so we kind of got together and did a preliminary talk about what that work
• 41:36
  plan looks like, had a lot of really great feedback.
• 41:39
  And I would also encourage you guys, if you have the opportunity,
• 41:42
  to sit down with the city manager and really talk about that work plan as well
• 41:45
  and where he thinks it might go,
• 41:47
  because this is a partnership between the council and the city manager.
• 41:50
  If there are any additional questions or comments, Councilman Walker.
• 41:54
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor. And second, your comments about the robust conversation on Friday.
• 41:58
  Did you say when the latest draft will be available? Do we know that yet?
• 42:04
  Ben, or maybe, well, I'm going to call city manager down because we're working with him together on it.
• 42:10
  So, thank you, W. Mayor, members of council. For the record,
• 42:14
  Hyun Kim, you're interim city manager.
• 42:15
  Council Member Walker, I am working right now to solicit feedback from other
• 42:19
  non-OSAC committee members.
• 42:22
  I look forward to talking with as many folks, not on a serial meeting,
• 42:27
  Caden's standpoint, just directly what was sent to you on Friday.
• 42:30
  I plan to have something for OSAC on Friday, the day of, if not Thursday,
• 42:35
  if I can get enough feedback.
• 42:37
  At this point, I can tell you dynamically, I am getting some feedback directly
• 42:41
  tied to the homelessness areas.
• 42:42
  The feedback I've received from an individual council member is the nature of
• 42:47
  where does the policy lay with the administration of the city's operations?
• 42:51
  And, you know, URA conversations being a council function, does that belong
• 42:56
  in your work plan? So I'm thinking about these things.
• 42:59
  I am. So I hope to have something for OSAC by Thursday, if not the morning of.
• 43:06
  That's a great, great insight and way to think about it. Hold tight there.
• 43:10
  Maybe there's more questions. Councilmember Rumbaugh.
• 43:12
  Thank you very much. And I think that I agree. The unified regional approach
• 43:16
  is something that we're working on with the county. So I don't really see that
• 43:20
  as your bucket of work. But I'm just curious.
• 43:25
  You called yourself interim city manager. Can you explain how it works that you get your contract?
• 43:30
  I mean, I thought we'd do a contract and then a work plan.
• 43:34
  I don't understand what's happening. Thank you for that prompt,
• 43:38
  Council Member Rumba. I am your interim city manager.
• 43:41
  Council has taken an affirmative vote to enter into contract negotiations.
• 43:44
  I would share with you that there is a desire amongst perhaps some of the council
• 43:50
  on buttoning up a work plan to go along with a employment agreement.
• 43:54
  And as your city manager soon to be, my share in the sentiment of being more
• 44:00
  transparent with the community.
• 44:02
  Part of the charge here and opportunity for the city of Tacoma is anything we
• 44:07
  can do to demystify the city manager role and having a robust work plan for
• 44:13
  this next year to go along with that employment agreement makes a lot of sense.
• 44:18
  So I'd share that with you, that we are working hard, I think,
• 44:22
  to have OSAC bring something as soon as the 31st to the broader council in a
• 44:27
  study session to get that buttoned up.
• 44:30
  And then I do expect that the employment agreement would come after that point.
• 44:37
  I'm going to interject a little bit. Thank you, Councilmember Ron, for bringing that up.
• 44:41
  At least from my perspective, I agree that having a transparent,
• 44:44
  robust work plan is really essential to a part of this.
• 44:47
  But I do think that predicated on an employment contract and bringing you on
• 44:51
  board as the full city manager.
• 44:53
  So I, at least from my perspective, I think it's really important that we try
• 44:57
  and get that buttoned up and nailed down as soon as possible as we continue
• 45:00
  to work on the work plan and make sure that.
• 45:02
  But what I would like to see is actually on the other side of it is where we
• 45:06
  button up, close out your interim work plan and see what needs to be rolled
• 45:10
  over into the new work plan as a permanent.
• 45:13
  And then, you know, where the status of things are on that, because we did have
• 45:16
  very specific goals in mind during your interim period.
• 45:20
  And from my perspective, it should be employment contract and we can refer to
• 45:26
  a work plan and then work on the work plan.
• 45:28
  So that's just my perspective. I'm happy to hear from other colleagues that
• 45:32
  they have a different idea on that. But I'm sorry, I jumped the gun ahead of
• 45:35
  Council Member Deuce. Go ahead.
• 45:37
  I just want to be clear what my instructions are as a non-OSAC member.
• 45:42
  I should talk to the interim city manager about what I would be interested in in your work plan.
• 45:47
  That is the prompting that I've received from OSAC, is that from Friday's meeting
• 45:51
  that I would work with non-committee members to make sure that you're aware.
• 45:55
  So you've received that from Ben on Friday as the draft.
• 45:58
  My staff also has received my interim work plan on Friday, and I just padded
• 46:04
  my partner in PDS and just said, hey, I know this is the first time you're seeing this as well.
• 46:08
  I'm asking them also to bring me feedback, too. So we're moving this ahead in
• 46:12
  the spirit of trying to land this plane with both a employment agreement and a work plan.
• 46:18
  I relish this opportunity. I would say it that way. I know this is tough because
• 46:22
  there is the chicken and egg conversation of, sir, deputy mayor,
• 46:27
  you're mentioning of even the interim work plan.
• 46:30
  For the record, I am your interim city manager. I am under contract with the city of Tacoma to June.
• 46:36
  And so closing that out is a desire that I have as well.
• 46:40
  We have for the staff as far as what the staff has been able to do.
• 46:42
  I want to come celebrate some of the things.
• 46:45
  And actually, we do have some good news as well as some feedback of here's where
• 46:48
  we didn't land this pilot program or this.
• 46:51
  So, yeah, I would love to hear about all that. So that's the intention that
• 46:56
  I would work directly with you from here to Friday. It's like an hour or so.
• 47:01
  I know that's difficult. So I will try to get something on the books with all of you.
• 47:07
  Thank you. I just wanted to be sure. I don't watch OSAC. I don't subscribe,
• 47:11
  so I just wanted to make sure that I am well on my directions and marching orders. Thank you.
• 47:17
  Thank you, Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Sedolga. Hi, thank you.
• 47:20
  Yeah, I share some of the same questions and concerns that Councilmember Maha
• 47:25
  had, and I actually agree with you, Deputy Mayor, about closing out the interim.
• 47:31
  We'll plan a new one. and also want
• 47:34
  to point out that that shouldn't be stopping a contract from
• 47:38
  being signed to move to terminate and another
• 47:41
  thing again is a non-OSAC member you know maybe it's a chicken and egg i don't
• 47:46
  see it as a chicken and egg i think a work plan is intimately tied to a budget
• 47:53
  budget work and i think a work plan may take a little while to really button down based on.
• 48:00
  Initial discussions that we have as policymakers and run on the budget.
• 48:04
  Because at the end of the day, if we have things on that plan and they're effectively
• 48:10
  unfunded mandates, then they really shouldn't be there.
• 48:14
  And then I got to see at least that first draft.
• 48:17
  I do want to also think about the fact that the city manager is our single employee
• 48:25
  that is managing the organization and the employees that are the city of Tacoma.
• 48:31
  And I'd like to see a little bit more on that work, what are we doing about
• 48:36
  not just a survey, but more on the management, welfare,
• 48:42
  and consideration for leadership and for individuals that work for this,
• 48:49
  for our city that do the good work every single day as well.
• 48:54
  So again, all of those things are intimately related to the budget.
• 48:58
  So a part of me thinks that this should be an ongoing conversation as we go into the budget season.
• 49:06
  Thank you very much, Councilmember Sedolgay. Councilmember Scott.
• 49:10
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
• 49:11
  I was wondering, so as far as like closing up the interim city manager work plan.
• 49:19
  How long would it take you to kind of like kind of assess where those things,
• 49:24
  I mean, last time we got an update, you kind of gave us a progress report on where you're at.
• 49:27
  Well, does it take much time? And I, forgive me, sometimes my,
• 49:32
  you know, the thing that was in my head yesterday is not there today because
• 49:34
  now there's a bunch of new information.
• 49:35
  But when we talked about the draft of the work plan, I thought I remembered
• 49:42
  seeing some of those things that were in your interim plan that are in this work plan.
• 49:45
  So it seems as though you've already kind of started moving some of those things
• 49:48
  that you know won't necessarily be wrapped up or that you know the work is continuing
• 49:52
  into this new draft that you have. Yes, ma'am.
• 49:55
  I could be as ready as even next week to speak to my interim work plans.
• 49:59
  As you saw from the visualization of the start, stop, go of the end.
• 50:05
  So balancing a mid-mod complete, you know, that's council's done that.
• 50:10
  We've gone to a place where we're at right now. Some of the pilot programs we've
• 50:13
  launched, those are still in process.
• 50:15
  I would like to make sure that to tether those and bring those along,
• 50:17
  especially with the concurrent, the missing middle pilot program for permitting
• 50:23
  for residential multifamily.
• 50:25
  I'd like to bring those along. There's some other programs when it comes to
• 50:28
  council staffing. That was an element in my interim work plan.
• 50:31
  That's not going to be ready for you all because you have not made a decision
• 50:34
  as far as where we're going with that.
• 50:37
  And that's also to council members that always went, that's predicated on the budget as well.
• 50:42
  I can bring that and incorporate that into the discussion with the council in
• 50:46
  a study session, a robust dialogue.
• 50:48
  And then I guess I just wanted to understand that so that I could,
• 50:52
  I think I get that people are wanting to get the contract negotiated, and I appreciate that.
• 51:00
  I think we have an interesting advantage because the person we're negotiating
• 51:05
  the contract with is already under contract with us.
• 51:07
  And so it's not like, like, I think part of the reason is, you know,
• 51:13
  that I heard my colleagues say is that it helps that transition because you're
• 51:16
  already here doing the work and you're going to be continuing to do the work.
• 51:18
  And so I think that we, and knowing that we have the opportunity,
• 51:23
  like as we saw with the other work plan, you came back to us and you're like,
• 51:25
  this is going to take longer or this is going to, and we need to adjust here.
• 51:28
  So it's not like whatever we, if we were to agree on something by next week
• 51:34
  on Friday, that that thing still couldn't be shifted and adjusted even after
• 51:39
  your contract is completed.
• 51:41
  So I think that it's okay for us to work knowing that you are kind of integrating
• 51:47
  interim work plan stuff into this
• 51:49
  ongoing work plan, that we do have the ability to shift the work plan.
• 51:53
  And also that I think it really is important, again, as you mentioned,
• 51:57
  like demystifying your role to the community.
• 51:59
  But also I think that it provides you with some clarity going forward.
• 52:02
  It provides staff some clarity. It gives us an understanding of like where our
• 52:06
  starting place is. Obviously there are things that are going to have,
• 52:10
  you know, budget things aligned to that.
• 52:12
  I think, you know, we can say that these things are contingent upon budget and
• 52:16
  that obviously would trigger a time where we need to come back and maybe adjust some things.
• 52:20
  But ultimately what I'm saying is that I think we can continue on this process and continue.
• 52:27
  Because I think it's going to be important for the community as well to know
• 52:32
  that this contract comes with
• 52:34
  some sort of specific accountability of things that we're looking for.
• 52:39
  Not saying that, you know, want to avoid changing it for the sake of like.
• 52:44
  Oh, well, we're thinking he's failing.
• 52:47
  We're trying to obscure it. You know, not like that. But as we get more data
• 52:52
  and more understanding, I think it's okay to shift as long as we're being clear
• 52:57
  why that shift is happening.
• 52:58
  So I guess I'm speaking around a lot of things, but I think mostly what I'm
• 53:02
  saying is that I actually think that having this piece in there,
• 53:07
  it makes me feel more comfortable coming to that point of signing that final
• 53:13
  contract because it gives everybody a clear starting place.
• 53:17
  It clarifies that obviously there are things that can change over time,
• 53:22
  but I think when you start a contract with specific expectations,
• 53:25
  it's clearer for everybody.
• 53:28
  And I think it also does that piece of providing that transparency for the community.
• 53:33
  And again, if we, I've said it in other situations, if people have to ask for
• 53:39
  transparency, if they have to ask for accountability, it kind of defeats the
• 53:43
  purpose and it doesn't really help us build that belief and trust.
• 53:46
  And so I think as long as we are being very clear and open about how this can
• 53:52
  shift, I don't see a problem.
• 53:54
  And because you are already under contract with us doing this work,
• 53:58
  I don't see the problem with trying to make sure that this is worked out,
• 54:02
  especially if you agree that this is something that you'd like to get done in
• 54:06
  conjunction with that contract.
• 54:08
  So yeah, I would just say that I'm okay with that. I don't think we need to
• 54:11
  do one before the other. I think that we can work on them both and land the plane, as you say.
• 54:17
  Customer at Palmer. Thank you, deputy mayor. Can you please help clarify what
• 54:24
  the work plan is and what it is not?
• 54:27
  Because there was, we got kind of like an update after OSAC about for us to
• 54:32
  look over and give our opinions on, input on, but it was a little bit confusing
• 54:39
  to me as far as it was like,
• 54:40
  this isn't like in-depth thing, but it's like a overview, but we need as much, much details.
• 54:48
  So, please. Yeah, absolutely. Councilmember Palmer, a traditional work plan
• 54:52
  upon the city manager is a it's a document.
• 54:56
  It's a dynamic document to the point of it's not a static. Here are the things
• 55:00
  that you're going to get accomplished. It's essentially the destination.
• 55:03
  And so your city manager, I guess the visualization I would share with you is
• 55:06
  for the community that's listening as well.
• 55:08
  A work plan is essentially the one year or whatever the predefined timeline
• 55:14
  would be is here's where we're going.
• 55:16
  You know, what's not in constant and does not need to be in the work plan is
• 55:21
  the things that are predicated of a city manager, operating the day-to-day operations of the city,
• 55:26
  balancing a budget that's in constant state law, as well as that is what the
• 55:30
  city manager should be doing with the department directors, supporting our staff.
• 55:33
  Those elements that council members talk, those also could be the destination.
• 55:37
  If you want to see a more vibrant workforce upon which we provide more resources,
• 55:41
  even devoid of the context of hard, you know.
• 55:45
  Hard things that are coming from a decision standpoint, work plan is the things
• 55:49
  that are the performance elements that you would like me to concentrate my efforts
• 55:53
  with my staff on for that giving timeline, traditionally a year.
• 55:58
  The work plan, usually in sequence, it lines up with your efforts on a council priority setting.
• 56:05
  That started in February, and Director Colon has been supporting facilitating those conversations.
• 56:10
  That's also somewhat in flight still, and that's also a dynamic thing.
• 56:15
  Many of the elements, there are seven proposed measurables that I propose in
• 56:21
  my work plan for your consideration. This is a starting point.
• 56:24
  I would share with you some of the conversations I've had with the mayor,
• 56:28
  who is at another appointment for the city representing the city of Tacoma at another venue.
• 56:34
  He wants less to do from the standpoint of be really laser focused on accomplishing,
• 56:40
  you know, three, four, five, I'm used to seven to ten elements.
• 56:46
  Because when you add too much into that work plan, I then have to start ordinarily
• 56:50
  ranking weights into where I spend our resources, our staff time to try to address those things.
• 56:57
  So that's, I'm going on a tangent here. A work plan is a set of performance
• 57:02
  measures upon which you would like me to concentrate my efforts.
• 57:06
  In return, I work for the city council at your pleasure.
• 57:09
  That work plan is what you would be grading me on in six months,
• 57:14
  a year from now, as to how that performance, how I did on that performance.
• 57:19
  That's notwithstanding, there are other things that come up that would be used
• 57:23
  as well to evaluate the performance of your city manager as well. Thank you. Thank you.
• 57:28
  Councilman Romba. Thanks. I just have one more question based on what you just said.
• 57:33
  So, you know, I kind of think of it as like an ILA, this work plan.
• 57:36
  So that's supposed to be more general.
• 57:37
  And then the MOU would be the more detailed part or how we figure out.
• 57:42
  I just want to make sure that this is something that we feel makes sense to
• 57:47
  get done this quickly, that we're not rushing.
• 57:50
  And I also want to recognize that, yeah, you're the interim,
• 57:53
  but we hired you as the city manager, and that's a different pay scale.
• 57:57
  And that means there's several, like a month or two months maybe,
• 58:01
  that you're going to go with the same, just what I'm seeing.
• 58:06
  I just want to know that we're doing this in good faith and treating you the
• 58:10
  way we should be treating you.
• 58:11
  And I don't know how they do it at other cities because I haven't done this
• 58:14
  before, but I just want to make sure this makes sense and that this is how they
• 58:19
  would do it in another city, that they would hold you to the,
• 58:21
  I feel like kind of, it feels a little,
• 58:24
  I don't know, like just a little prescriptive right now.
• 58:27
  So I'm just trying to understand that because it seems like we're expecting
• 58:31
  you to do something quickly that might have taken more time and we would have
• 58:36
  more input from everybody.
• 58:39
  Whereas it kind of feels a little bit rushed is all.
• 58:42
  Because I think we want to get you that contract.
• 58:44
  I'd like to see your contract happen right now and have it say the work plan
• 58:48
  and then have that work plan be much more inclusive of the whole council rather
• 58:53
  than just OSAC and then us having to like talk to you. That's all.
• 58:57
  Just it seems that's my question and just or a statement.
• 59:03
  Thank you, Council Member Mambaugh. And, you know, I, I, well,
• 59:08
  we talk about transparency and accountability that, that really comes through in our annual review.
• 59:13
  And one of the questions I have is when does that annual review process start, right?
• 59:19
  Because I want to be starting now and getting to our object,
• 59:24
  build out the work plan, get it done so we can have something to review you
• 59:27
  on. And does that annual review timeline start after you sign the contract?
• 59:33
  Or was it when we voted to go into negotiations? Or are we backdating it to
• 59:38
  when you started as interim?
• 59:39
  So that's kind of where I'm trying to think of, like, at what point are we going
• 59:43
  to hold you accountable for the work product, right?
• 59:46
  And what does one year look like? Right.
• 59:49
  I would—that's also a statement that you don't need a response.
• 59:52
  But I would share with you, you'd probably look towards your colleagues here
• 59:56
  as far as how you want to set that. Traditionally, what I'm,
• 59:58
  and I can't give you advice here from the standpoint of this is a potential
• 1:00:02
  employment agreement for me and the city of Tacoma through the council.
• 1:00:07
  So I'd look towards your city attorney here today if that's something you want.
• 1:00:10
  Traditionally, what I experience is within the employment agreement,
• 1:00:13
  it would specify how the evaluation period would be handled.
• 1:00:17
  That is fairly, that's what I'm accustomed to. Again, that's not something that,
• 1:00:21
  that's something you want to do. And then to Councilmember Rumbaugh's statement,
• 1:00:25
  I'm going to try to deploy some brevity here.
• 1:00:27
  This is, I've been a city administrator, I've been a city manager.
• 1:00:31
  I've never been an interim city manager. Quite frankly, I have not really understood the distinction.
• 1:00:37
  So in a lot of ways, I am operating as your city manager right now.
• 1:00:41
  I am working with the staff from the standpoint of what we're trying to do here.
• 1:00:44
  And I have felt the support of this council in partnership, as well as the support
• 1:00:49
  of our department directors. so I will keep doing what I'm going to do and you'll
• 1:00:54
  hold me accountable to that from the standpoint of this transition as well.
• 1:00:58
  Understand that and that is both on us
• 1:01:01
  to figure this out yep i i absolutely
• 1:01:04
  appreciate that you know that being said
• 1:01:07
  i think it's just like i well i think
• 1:01:09
  it's at least the contract is it's an employment contract it's not rocket science
• 1:01:14
  and so i don't know i just i'm struggling to understand why is this becoming
• 1:01:20
  such a big deal when the real performance and transparency measures just through
• 1:01:24
  the work plan and our annual review goal setting as a council.
• 1:01:27
  And that could happen in June after your current contract expires or we can
• 1:01:32
  just go ahead and get the employment contract done and work through all of this regardless. And so...
• 1:01:37
  We don't have to be in a rush, but at least from my perspective,
• 1:01:40
  I think it's really important to show that we are committed to making sure that
• 1:01:44
  your employment contract is done in a timely fashion and we get to work.
• 1:01:49
  And I would expect that of anybody, any city employee or any employee generally,
• 1:01:53
  you know, get the contract done, let's get to work.
• 1:01:56
  So that's just my perspective. Thank you. Any additional comments or questions?
• 1:02:01
  All right. Next up, we have Councilmember Walker.
• 1:02:05
  Go ahead. Let's just take it away. Yeah, thank you, Deputy Mayor.
• 1:02:09
  This is something I plan to walk on tonight. It is a letter of support for one
• 1:02:14
  of our community organizations, Thrive Center of Tacoma, or Thrive International.
• 1:02:18
  They are looking to purchase their building, the one that they are in now,
• 1:02:23
  and renovate that to preserve the 115 units of deeply affordable housing for
• 1:02:28
  refugee, asylum-seeking, and immigrant families in Pierce County.
• 1:02:32
  They have been a great partner. We have been a great partner with them.
• 1:02:34
  They're looking to stay here and keep their roots in Tacoma and obviously supporting
• 1:02:39
  a vulnerable population that we care deeply about.
• 1:02:42
  This is a letter to Senator Murray, and there is one for Representative Strickland
• 1:02:47
  as well, and I'll be bringing both of them forward.
• 1:02:50
  Many of you or all of you may have gotten this already in your inbox directly from Thrive.
• 1:02:54
  I talked to them about getting one letter with all of our names on it,
• 1:02:57
  which, of course, means we need to bring it forward at an official council meeting.
• 1:03:00
  I will forward the email that I received and Deputy Mayor Bushnell,
• 1:03:04
  I know, already signed on to one for Senator Cantwell.
• 1:03:08
  So this is hopefully relatively familiar, but I'll send it so you have the specific
• 1:03:12
  language and hope we can all support that to send that off to our federal delegation. Thank you.
• 1:03:19
  Thank you so much for bringing this up, Council Member Walker.
• 1:03:21
  I did send this exact letter from my office specifically to Senator Murray's and Cantwell.
• 1:03:26
  I didn't realize that they, it was my understanding that they were on a timeline.
• 1:03:30
  So I was like, okay, let me get it out there as quick as possible.
• 1:03:32
  But it sounds like we have a little bit more time, but the Murray deadline is tomorrow.
• 1:03:37
  So it's normally we don't walk things on. We try to give people ample opportunity
• 1:03:41
  to a week prior, but sometimes emerging issues happen.
• 1:03:45
  So I just appreciate you bringing this forward. And I think it would mean a
• 1:03:48
  lot for this organization not to have to reach out to all of us individually
• 1:03:51
  to send letters, but we can jointly send a letter together to our federal delegation
• 1:03:56
  to support them in the great work that they're doing. Councilmember Sedolge.
• 1:03:59
  I just want to thank you, Councilmember Walker, for recognizing the timing issue
• 1:04:05
  and walking it on tonight. You and I have both been to Thrive,
• 1:04:09
  as well as with Deputy Mayor Butchnell over there.
• 1:04:14
  They do some wonderful, phenomenal work in our community and more things that
• 1:04:18
  pay to support. Thank you.
• 1:04:21
  All right. Any questions or comments on that? All right.
• 1:04:25
  Thank you very much. Next up, we have item number five, agenda review and city
• 1:04:29
  manager's briefing report. I'd like to call on Deputy City Manager Allison Griffith.
• 1:04:33
  Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Just running you through the agenda for the evening.
• 1:04:36
  There are no ceremonials on tonight's agenda, however, there will be a presentation
• 1:04:41
  by Parks Tacoma this evening.
• 1:04:43
  There are no modifications to tonight's agenda, although you just heard from
• 1:04:47
  Councilmember Walker that she will be walking an item on.
• 1:04:53
  There is one opportunity for public comment this evening. That opportunity is
• 1:04:57
  under regular public comment regarding motions, resolutions,
• 1:05:00
  and ordinances on tonight's agenda.
• 1:05:02
  Please let me know if there's any questions related to tonight's agenda so that
• 1:05:05
  staff can be prepared to respond accordingly.
• 1:05:07
  And for your review, attached to the, excuse me, study session agenda is the
• 1:05:13
  City Manager's Weekly Report to Council. Thank you.
• 1:05:16
  Thank you, Deputy City Manager. All right. Any questions or comments on that?
• 1:05:20
  Seeing none, next we are moving into executive session potential litigation
• 1:05:25
  and pending litigation.
• 1:05:26
  I'll retain a motion to convene in an executive session RCW 42.30.110,
• 1:05:30
  PRIN 1, PRIN I, PRIN I, and PRIN II to discuss potential and pending litigation
• 1:05:35
  not to exceed 30 minutes. So moved. Second.
• 1:05:38
  It's been moved in second. All those in favor to convene in an executive session
• 1:05:41
  signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.
• 1:05:44
  Those opposed signify by saying nay. The motion is declared adopted.
• 1:05:49
  After this executive session, no additional action will be taken, so we stand in recess.
• 1:05:55
  Opening back up the council study session to just go back into executive session
• 1:06:00
  for an additional 30 minutes. Thank you.
• 1:06:03
  Calling back to order the city council meeting just to extend for an additional
• 1:06:06
  15 minutes. We stand in recess.
• 1:06:08
  Calling back into session the study session just to extend for an additional 10 minutes. Thank you.
• 1:06:14
  I'd like to call back to order this city council study session to adjourn.
• 1:06:18
  Thank you, everybody. Have a great day.