Hey, good evening, everybody.

Welcome to Bellevue City Council regular meeting for June 24th, 2025.

Can we have the roll call, please?

Oh, I should say uh Councilmember Bahargava is um remote tonight, he's not feeling well.

Okay, go ahead.

Thank you.

Mayor Robinson here.

Deputy Mayor Malikutin.

Councilmember Bargava.

Here.

Councilmember Hamilton.

Here.

Council Member Lee.

Here.

Council Member Maywin House?

Here.

Council Member Simadovaria.

So Deputy Mayor, would you lead us in the flag salute, please?

To the Republic for which it is one nation under God and deliberate justice for all.

And then we have the Parks and Recreation Month proclamation read by Councilmember Hamilton and accepted by Tony Asparsa, the assistant director, uh City of Bellevue Parks and Community Services.

So can I ask Stephanie Walsh to come on up and come to the dais and whomever you want to bring with you, and we'll have Councilmember Lee start with the proclamation, and when we're done with the two procs, we'll come down and do pictures with everybody.

Okay, go ahead, Councilman.

ADA signed into law on July 26, 1990, as a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

And whereas Bellevue invests in ADA strategic planning and to strengthen a disability equality and equity across city departments, focusing on compliance, training and citywide efforts to remove barriers and deliver services that meet the needs of all employees and community members.

And whereas the City of Bellevue proudly promotes the nationally recognized disability pride the flag, these that designed by N.

McMagill and affirms the power of its symbolism to represent resilience, visibility, and unity within the disability community.

Now, therefore, I, Conrad Lee, on behalf of Lynn Robertson, Mayor of the City of Bellevue, Washington, and on behalf of its city council to hereby proclaim the month of July 2025 as Disability Pride Month in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the American with Disability Act.

We encourage all Bellevue community members to honor the ongoing work of disability advocates, uplift the voices and talents of people with disabilities, and join us in creating a more inclusive, accessible community for everyone.

Sign Lynn Roberts and Mayor, City of Bellevue.

Thank you, Councilman.

Welcome.

Thank you.

On behalf of the tens of thousands of parents and caregivers of children and youth and family members with disability in our city, I cannot thank you enough for this recognition and this proclamation today.

As any of us that have uh children, whether you're in the sticky, loud version of parenting of toddlers that I am or had graduation parties for your teenagers who are going out into the world, you know that the feelings of isolation, of being overwhelmed, of really wishing that these kids came with user manuals is a feeling that all of us as parents can identify with.

And when you're put on the unexpected journey of navigating, having a child with disabilities, those feelings of isolation, those feelings of being overwhelmed, just manifold in in immense ways.

She was a one pound one ounce, very little smaller than this computer when she was born.

And she had uh many, many different types of developmental delays and needed services.

The primary place that we received services for her disabilities was through Kindering, who I'm joined with today.

Um, Kindring is a nonprofit if you're not familiar, that serves thousands of children, children with disabilities throughout the county, throughout the state, and are headquartered right here in Belleville.

And at Kindring, we were able to find a community where our children and children like Maisie were not just accepted, but were valued and celebrated.

And a proclamation like this today really signals to us as parents, as families, that beyond just these miracle workers of service, people like Kindring and people like them, that it's our community as well that is celebrating and valuing, uh not just accepting our children and our beloved family members.

And having entire months set aside like Disability Pride Month just means the world to us.

This is such important visibility, and um it just shows us again as parents that our entire community recognizes that our children and our beloved family members uh deserve to be valued and accepted and celebrated.

So thank you so much for this.

Thank you so much for this time.

Great, thank you.

Did you want to speak too?

Yes, and I'll be super brief.

Um, so Mayor Robinson and uh council members, I just want to thank you so much on behalf of Kindring staff and board members as an organization.

Okay, as an organization that serves so many kids with disabilities, it's so important for us that this community is a place where they can grow up and know that they are accepted and included, and that's what this means to me.

And I also feel that it is so special that Stephanie was able to join us.

Um I have had the pleasure of meeting her beautiful family, including little Tiny Maisie, who's not so little anymore, um, and who is thriving and just blows me away.

So thank you so much for creating this moment for us.

Good evening, uh Mayor Council and City Council members, thank you very much.

My name is Sharon Seney, I'm the ADA Title VI Equal Opportunity Officers.

My pleasure to be here, and thank you so much and happy disability pride month.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Have a seat, and then we'll call you up for a picture.

Okay, next up we have the Parks and Recreation Month given by Councilmember Hamilton and Tony, thanks for coming up here and speaking to us after.