Edmonds City Council Committee of the Whole - January 21, 2026

The Edmonds City Council Committee of the Whole met to review the 2026 Development Code Update work plan, the November 2025 financial report, a requested authorization to bid on a wastewater treatment plant truck enclosure and air scrubber, 2026 committee appointments, and a proposed ordinance amending ECC 1.04 on council meetings. No public comments were heard during the meeting. Two future action items were referred to forthcoming consent agendas. Note: The agenda and transcript identify the meeting as January 20, 2026, at 6:00 PM, while the supplied meeting timestamp is January 21, 2026, at 17:30 UTC.

2026 Development Code Update - Preliminary Work Plan

• Planning Director presented the department's 2026 work plan as a recovery year after an unusually busy 18 months.
• Planned work includes non-substantive cleanups to middle housing and design review codes, creation of a unified development code, and a broad tree code update covering the landmark tree interim ordinance, development tree code, private property tree code, and consistency with landscaping code chapter 20.13.
• The landmark tree interim ordinance expires at the end of April. Staff do not expect to finish the tree code work by then and plan to request an extension through the end of the year, with a public hearing and council touch point expected later in February.
• New staff include urban forest planner Deb Powers, who started January 6, and planning manager Brad Shipley, who started January 2. The unified development code timeline depends on filling two funded senior planner vacancies; if filled, the 2027 target is achievable.
• Other future work includes comp plan refinements for Westgate parcels and potential annexation work.
• A state-required code update adding residential uses to existing commercial buildings is expected in the second quarter of 2026.
• Council members expressed support for the plan, especially the tree code focus and unified code effort. Requests included early engagement with tree advocates, view advocates, the tree board, and other stakeholders; quarterly deliverable timelines; project team and FTE visibility; daycare code improvements to remove conditional use permit barriers; permit process streamlining; and evaluating AI-assisted code review tools. Director stated no AI tool or policy is currently built into the timeline.
• Councilmember Olson said the tree board should be unpaused to support the tree code work, and that lessons from a resident community engagement study should be used to avoid past failures.

November 2025 Monthly Financial Report

• Finance Director Richard Gould presented the November 30, 2025 financial report.
• Fund balances were up almost $14 million compared with the amended budget, primarily because capital projects were delayed, staffing was reduced, and some other expenditures did not occur.
• The amended budget had assumed a $17.2 million fund balance spend-down, mainly for capital projects.
• Notable variances included the general fund at $4.8 million above expectations, real estate excise tax fund up $2.9 million, gifts/catalog fund up $1.7 million due to a large donation, and the wastewater treatment fund up $4.4 million due to delayed capital projects.
• Sales tax for 2025 was essentially flat: November sales tax was up about 3% from November 2024, while December receipts were down 2.6% or $26,000, bringing the full year down 0.05% or $5,500.
• Labor costs were under budget by about 9%, or $3.2 million, mostly due to unfilled budgeted positions. Four general fund departments were trending over budget on salaries and benefits, largely because of retirement payouts; total payouts exceeded $500,000 against a $300,000 budgeted amount.
• General fund revenues were on budget, and expenditures were 7% under budget.
• Real estate excise tax received in November was $219,000, up 11.5% from the prior year, or about $374,000.
• The city's migration from Eden to Tyler Munis was delayed. The planned January 5 go-live did not occur, and the project is about 50% complete because 2025 numbers have not tied out. This affects accounts payable and financial reporting; December reporting may be delayed until mid-February, and no timeframe for January reporting is set yet.
• Council discussed the risk that roughly $10 million in delayed capital projects would roll into 2026, the need to analyze development services revenue overperformance and staffing capacity, red-light camera net revenue analysis, and long-term financial planning.
• Director Gould reminded council that the city borrowed $6 million and that the general fund would be near zero without it; he expected year-end spending to reduce the currently positive fund balance and projected the general fund balance would be in the $2 million to $3 million range through much of 2026.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Truck Enclosure and Air Scrubber

• Public Works Director Andy Room requested council authorization to call for bids, using the small works procurement process, for a truck enclosure and air scrubber at the wastewater treatment plant.
• The project was not listed in the capital improvement plan, although council had funded $1 million for wastewater treatment plant improvements.
• The plant has been trucking solids for about three years since its gasifier came online. The current setup has caused ongoing odor complaints. Director Room described the enclosure and air scrubber as a proven backup approach and an important redundancy measure.
• Capital and maintenance costs would be shared proportionally by plant partners: Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline, and Olympic View Water and Sewer District. The current estimated expense is about $280,000.
• Council asked about cost recovery; Director Room said the expense would be borne by Edmonds utility ratepayers and partner agencies for now, while other recovery options were discussed for executive session.
• Councilmember Payne asked about delivery timelines; Director Room said the bid process would establish delivery timing, but scrubbers of this type are often quickly available.
• Council raised no objection to placing the authorization on the next possible consent agenda.

Committee, Board, and Commission Appointments for 2026

• This item was informational only. It noted the newly elected council president's responsibility for councilmember appointments to boards and commissions, and Mayor Rosen's appointments to the disability board.

Ordinance Amending ECC 1.04 - Council Meetings

• Council President Dutch proposed changing the council meeting structure from Committee A/Committee B/Committee of the Whole to subject-matter committees plus monthly full-council study sessions, each held on a separate day to allow more focused discussion.
• The proposal was intended to create more touch points before action items, reduce last-minute questions at regular meetings, and improve communication between staff and council.
• Councilmembers expressed mixed views. Supporters valued subject-matter expertise, continuity, deeper policy dives, and the ability to hold joint study sessions with other jurisdictions, such as Snohomish County on annexation or Lynnwood on the wastewater treatment plant.
• Opponents of dropping the A/B structure noted that two committee meetings per month helped move routine contracts and police-related items quickly, that public works and parks contracts often need more than one hour, and that the city is not yet out of financial danger, making full-council financial discussion important.
• Several councilmembers objected to holding the proposed study session on Thursdays due to personal or professional conflicts. Council President Dutch said she was open to revisiting timing and suggested reviewing the structure after roughly four months.
• Councilmember Chan suggested considering one-year budgets for 2027 and 2028 rather than a biennial budget to avoid repeating the extensive 2025-26 budget revision process.
• An informal show of hands placed the proposed ECC 1.04 amendments on the next consent agenda; four hands were seen. Councilmember Payne cautioned that the public works/parks committee would need more than one hour for spring contracting.

Key Outcomes

• The committee directed that the wastewater treatment plant truck enclosure and air scrubber authorization be placed on the next possible city council consent agenda with no objections.
• The committee directed that the proposed ECC 1.04 council meeting ordinance amendments be placed on the next consent agenda by an informal show of hands, with four hands seen.
• Planning staff will return in February with more detail on the tree code update and a public hearing to extend the landmark tree interim ordinance.
• The November 2025 financial report was received; no formal action was taken.
• The 2026 committee, board, and commission appointments were acknowledged as informational.