Edmonds City Council PSPHSP Committee Meeting – July 22, 2026
Edmonds City Council PSPHSP Committee Meeting – July 22, 2026
The Public Safety, Planning, Human Services, and Personnel (PSPHSP) Committee met on July 22, 2026, from 4:30 PM to 5:07 PM to discuss three agenda items: an ordinance correcting recitals in a previously adopted critical areas ordinance, a revision to the wastewater treatment plant maintenance supervisor job description, and a policy clarification on minor job description changes. The committee forwarded two items to the consent calendar and provided direction on the third.
Ordinance Amending Recitals in Ordinance 4424 (Agenda Item 2.1)
- City Attorney Jeff presented a draft ordinance to strike two recitals and insert three new ones in Ordinance 4424 (the Critical Areas Ordinance update) to align the legislative findings with the council’s actual action. He stated there is no substantive change to regulations. Committee members expressed support and agreed to forward the ordinance to the consent calendar for the next council meeting.
Wastewater Treatment Plant Maintenance Supervisor Job Description Revision (Agenda Item 2.2)
- New WWTP Manager Joseph Carter and staff described replacing the assets and projects supervisor role with a dedicated maintenance supervisor to strengthen plant operations and better align with traditional wastewater practices. They noted the position would coordinate with engineering on capital projects. The committee unanimously agreed to schedule the job description revision on the consent agenda for the July 28, 2026 council meeting.
Personnel Policy Clarification for Approval of Job Descriptions (Agenda Item 2.3)
- HR Director Lisa Takich presented examples of minor job description revisions (e.g., updating certifications, removing obsolete duties, correcting grammar) that she believes fall under the mayor’s existing authority per Section 3.10 of the personnel rules. She requested the committee’s agreement on this interpretation to streamline recruitment. Committee members concurred with the interpretation and recommended that Ms. Takich consult with the city attorney to determine the appropriate formal action (e.g., a motion or resolution). Councilmember Vivian also suggested providing a summary report of minor changes as a receipt for filing to ensure transparency.
Key Outcomes
- Forwarded the ordinance amending recitals in Ordinance 4424 to the consent calendar for full council approval.
- Forwarded the revised WWTP Maintenance Supervisor job description to the consent calendar for the July 28, 2026 council meeting.
- Directed HR Director Lisa Takich to work with the city attorney on next steps to formally codify the committee’s interpretation of “minor revisions” in the personnel policy, and to consider providing a periodic summary report to council.
Meeting Transcript
Hello, I'd like to call to order the July 21st meeting of the Edmund City Council, Public Safety Planning, Human Services, and Personnel Committee known as PSPHSP. We would like consensus from the committee to move item 2.3 ordinance amending ordinance number 4424 to correct and clarify legislative recitals from item 2.3 to 2.1. Okay, please take it away, Jeff. Okay. So this item is an ordinance that would um simply amend the whereas clauses of a previously adopted ordinance. Um and in the packet, there's an explanation of how all this happened. But but basically, in a nutshell, um, when the council packet was prepared for the um periodic update of the critical areas ordinance, it was drafted, the ordinance was drafted in such a way that would have um comported with the staff recommendation. And with respect to the CARE aspect of the critical areas ordinance update, the staff recommendation is not the recommendation that was ultimately taken and adopted by the city council. Um and so because of that, uh, because an amendment was made during the council meeting. Uh some of the whereas clauses that had already been in that draft ordinance in the council packet uh were not amended at the time of the uh substantive amendments. And so which what we ended up with was um an ordinance that uh substantively did one thing. Um while the whereas clause is describing uh the action taken were not really consistent with the action taken. And so um, in specific, this has you know has to do with the care regulations. And um, because the council adopted certain care regulations, um the whereas clauses that had described those were not consistent with the council's ultimate action. So uh working with the council president, um, I put together an ordinance to simply modify those recitals. Um, not all of them, just two of the original recitals are being stricken and and three new recitals are being uh essentially inserted. There's no actual substantive change to the you know operative portions of the ordinance. Um, in terms of, you know, does this actually change a city regulation? No, it does not. Um, it just changes the story being told about the city regulation. Okay. Are there any questions from the committee or the executive members? Not from me since I was one that helped move this along. I just want to ask, was this intended to go to consent then? So the yeah, the committee the committee can always move something to consent. Um pretty well explanatory. Yeah, I um thank you first of all, Jeff and Michelle for bringing this forward and I appreciate your diligence. And I thought that we should um follow the recommendation to adopt the ordinance as presented. Um, is that what you would your preference would be, Jeff and Michelle? And forward it to consent. Yeah, I think it would to forward a consent. And that's a second touch. Is there uh can we just forward it to consent at the next meeting, Jeff, or would you prefer it to move it out later? Oh, I I think if it the committee can put it on the next consent calendar, there's no there's no there's no reason to uh if it's the committee's recommendation that it should go to consent, there's no reason to delay that happening. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you, Jeff. Okay, so then for oh, is there anything else? I just wanted to I just wanted to parent what um you had said, Jenna. Um, I appreciate uh this coming forward. So thank you, Council President and Jeff. Okay, wonderful. Well, um, thank you and have a great afternoon. All right. I will I will let you guys get on to the rest of your committee and I'll sign off. Have a good afternoon. Okay. So then we are now on to what it was previously listed as item 2.1, but is now um item 2.2, the wastewater treatment plant maintenance supervisor job description revision, which will be presented by Joseph Carter, our wastewater treatment plant manager. Please take it away, Joseph. I think Ray Ann is also helping with this.
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