Committee of the Whole - Planning and Public Works - January 6, 2026
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Committee of the Whole - Planning and Public Works - January 6, 2026
The Planning and Public Works Committee of the Whole met on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 4:30 PM at Redmond City Hall. All council members were present, joined by Mayor Bernie. The committee reviewed four items: a resolution documenting completion of the Redmond 2050 Comprehensive Plan update, a quarterly Capital Investment Program (CIP) status update, a proposed fifth amendment to the Gallagher services contract, and the 2026 pay plan updates for executive and non-represented employees. The meeting focused on collecting feedback for upcoming consent agenda and study session items, with substantial discussion on the equity alignment of a new executive position.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution Documenting Completion of Redmond 2050: Staff recommended adoption at the January 20 business meeting. Councilmember Kritzer suggested adding a 'whereas' clause commemorating the number of residents engaged (thousands). All council members supported the addition, and no objections were raised to placing the item on the consent calendar.
- Fifth Amendment to Gallagher Services Contract: Staff requested approval for a $160,200 contract (up to 12 pay periods at ~$13,350/period) to provide payroll consulting and backup processing during extended staff leaves. Funding will come from existing HR professional services budget. No objections were raised to placing the item on the January 20 consent calendar.
Discussion Items
2025 Q4 Capital Investment Program (CIP) Update and 2026 Look-Ahead
- Staff (Brendan Bueller, Steve, Tess Wilkinson) presented draft materials for a January 27 study session. Tess requested council input on which projects to feature, noting Evans Creek would be covered separately on February 17.
- Councilmembers requested deeper dives on: Bell-Red Corridor (updates with Bellevue), Reservoir Park sports court replacement (budget overruns), City Hall lighting improvements, teen center project (funding sources and next steps), and the Municipal Operations Campus (MOC) rebuild (capacity and space needs).
2026 Pay Plan Updates (Executive, Non-Represented, General Supplemental)
- Director Laird presented the proposed ordinances effective January 1, 2026, including a new Assistant Chief Operating Officer (COO) and a Deputy Executive Department Director (working title: Strategy and Performance).
- Councilmember Kritzer emphasized that the deputy position should be the senior DEI role budgeted in the previous biennium and requested adding 'equity' to the working title to signal community commitment. Councilmember Prakriya raised concern that including 'equity' could jeopardize federal funding under the current administration. Mayor Bernie noted the city already has a DEI program advisor position with those terms, and the comprehensive plan and website embed equity values.
- After discussion, council reached consensus: the working title will be refined collaboratively to reflect DEI expertise without altering the pay plan structure. Councilmember Stewart proposed monthly updates on hiring progress via the Finance, Administration, and Communications (FAC) committee until the positions are filled. Councilmember Kritzer suggested this aligns with FAC given executive oversight. No objections were raised.
Key Outcomes
- Redmond 2050 Resolution: Placed on consent calendar for January 20; council supported adding engagement statistics as a 'whereas' clause.
- Gallagher Contract Amendment: Placed on consent calendar for January 20.
- CIP Study Session: Staff to feature Bell-Red Corridor, Reservoir Park sports court, City Hall lighting, teen center, and MOC at the January 27 study session.
- Pay Plan Updates: No amendments made to the ordinances. Council and Mayor Bernie agreed to develop a working title for the Deputy Executive Department Director that includes 'equity' components. Monthly updates on hiring will be provided through the FAC committee.
Note: The meeting included no public testimony. All items are scheduled for action or further discussion at upcoming business meetings (January 20 and 27, 2026).
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and happy new year, everyone. Today is Tuesday, January 6th, and I'm calling to order the Committee of the Whole for Planning and Public Works. All council members are in attendance, including uh Councilmembers Forsyth, Nueva Kamina, our new colleague, Councilmember Sony, uh, Councilmember Kritzer, and our newest colleague, Councilmember Procrea. Welcome everyone. We're so excited to be here. We are also joined today for this meeting by Mayor Bernie. Thank you for being here, Mayor Bernie. Uh, we have four items on the agenda today, and we'll get started with planning and public, excuse me, planning and community development. The first item is a resolution documenting completion of Redmond 2050, the periodic update of the comprehensive plan. Introducing the item will be Deputy Director Serafie Allen. Happy New Year, Deputy Director. Uh Happy New Year and good afternoon, Council. Uh, this is a little bit of a funny item. Um, it is to truly make sure that we have um completed the Redmond 2050 periodic update of the comprehensive plan. Um, and I'll turn it over to Glenn to provide a little bit more information about why we are needing to complete this resolution. Hello and happy new year's council members. I am Glenn Coyle, a senior planner on the long-range planning team in the plan and community development department. Staff is requesting that council adopt a resolution on the consent agenda at the January 20th business meeting, declaring the Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan periodic update is complete. So, for some context, the Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan was adopted on November 19th, 2024 by ordinances 3181 through 3190. A 10-day notice of adoption was submitted to the Washington Department of Commerce on November 27th, 2024. In November of 2025, Commerce staff notified the city that per Washington state law, the city must also take legislative action declaring that the periodic review is complete. Also, if the city took multiple legislative actions as part of the periodic update process, the final ordinance or resolution should reference all prior legislative actions. With this in mind, this resolution formally declares the Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan periodic update complete and references all legislative actions taken to complete the periodic update. That's it. All right. Well, this item is um under consideration for consent at our January 20th meeting. Are there any questions from the council on the reason for this resolution? Council member Kritzer. Not a question. Thank you. Um not a question on the reason for the resolution, but um, and I think overall this is pretty straightforward. Um, one thought I had just reading through the resolution is I know when we celebrated the passage of 2050, one of the things that we um talked about was the total number of residents that were engaged in the process. And it doesn't show up in the details in this resolution. I just thought since we talk about all the different ways that we engage people, it might be nice as part of this resolution to commemorate the number of people since I think it was in the thousands that we engaged across the city as part of the process if we wanted to add that detail. Yeah, I believe that's something we can pull from our engagement materials and add as a whereas statement in the resolution. Great. Thank you. Can I just get a quick thumbs up on council members who are in support of adding this? Seeing thumbs up all around. Great. Thank you so much. Other questions about the resolution. Some good not good jobs and head nods around the room. So um for our new colleagues, the next question I'm about to ask is the question that we word it in this particular way because the next time that you'll see this item, it will be in our consent agenda. And um as best we can. We like to not have to discuss those items individually. It's really an efficiency mechanism. So the question now for this item is are there any objections to this item going into the consent calendar on uh January 20th. All right, seeing no objections, we'll have this one back. Thank you, team.
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