Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Everett City Council convened at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, in Council Chambers. The meeting included recognition of the water filtration plant's state award, unanimous approval of four consent items, a second reading for the Walter E. Hall Playground renovation, a first reading of the “Everett Forward” B&O tax reform package, and action to initiate the public hearing process for the proposed Everett Transit–Community Transit merger. All votes were unanimous; Councilmember Bader was excused from the final vote because his battery died.
Item 5: Walter E. Hall Playground Renovation (CB 2609-50) — 2nd Reading
Item 6: B&O Tax Reform — “Everett Forward” (CB 2609-51) — 1st Reading
Item 7: Everett Transit–Community Transit Annexation ILA (Initiation Action)
Good afternoon, residents of Everett Washington. I'd like to call the order of the city council meeting for September 30th, 2026. For information on our council meetings and how to participate, please visit Everett Wad.gov/slash city council. Please note that we do not allow comments of any kind of campaigning, whether for against ballot measures or candidates running for office. We also do not accept comments focused on personal matters that are unrelated to city business. For the record, Councilmember Bader may be coming in a little bit late online for us. Clerk, will you please take the role? Mayor Franklin here. Vice President Ryan here. Councilmember Brabano. Councilmember Tui here. Councilmember Weir. Here. Councilmember Zarlingo. Here. President Schwab. Here. At this time, I'd like to ask Councilmember Tui to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I would like to ask Councilmember Brabano to read the land acknowledgement. The city council we should knowledge, the original inhabitants of this place, the Stochovish people and their successors, the Tulalit tribes, since time immemorial, they have hunted, fish, gather, on and taking care of these lands and waters. We respect their sovereignty sovereignty, the right to self-determination, and honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water. We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes and bring about a future that includes their people, histories, and voices to form a more just and equitable society. Thank you. Well, good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon. First, I'm very excited to share that our water filtration plant has been recognized once again as a top performer by the Department of Health. And today, city staff will receive the treatment optimization program award for exceeding national standards for five consecutive years. Providing and maintaining safe and reliable drinking water is one of the most critical services we provide as a city. Our public works team prides itself on world-class drinking water that we provide to our city and more than half a million regional customers in Snohomish County and the Talelep tribes. Our water filtration team deserve every bit of the credit for this award. Their attention to detail and dedication to the critical role in protecting public health is exemplary. As a major regional water utility, the city is committed to investing in critical infrastructure to provide better public health protection for the people of Everett and all our water customers. So please join me in welcoming Laura McLaughlin, Regional Environmental Engineer with the Washington State Department of Health to present the award to Jeff Mars, Operation Superintendent, and Ryan Sass, our public works director, on behalf of our water filtration team. We're here to recognize the staff at Everett's Drinking Water Treatment Plant for their contributions to outstanding performance and treatment optimization. The Office of Drinking Water at DOH began the treatment optimization program. It's also called the TOP program in 2001 to recognize and improve performance of rapid rate filtration at surface water treatment plants. These are essential in ensuring the citizens of Washington State have safe and reliable drinking water. We all know that successful public health outcomes rely on effective cooperation and partnerships between regulatory agencies, utilities, and other agencies. Because turbidity is readily measured, it's a readily measured indicator of treatment performance for conventional and direct treatment plants. Our top program tracks finished water turbidity data for all direct filter plants in Washington state. The plants submit data reports every month that record turbidity and disinfection metrics, and we award systems that meet our optimization performance criteria, which go way above and beyond the required regulations. For the calendar years 20 to 25, Everett Treatment Plant's finished water turbidity was less than 0.1 in TUs, which is a measurement of cloudiness or particles, and 95% of the time, and they never exceeded 0.3 in to use, meeting TOPS turbidity goal. To receive this award, Everett also met other stringent criteria related to public health protection. There's a lot more to it.