Redmond Council Finance, Administration, and Communications Committee Meeting - April 14, 2026
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Finance, Administration, and Communications Committee of the Whole - April 14, 2026
The Redmond City Council's Finance, Administration, and Communications (FAC) Committee of the Whole met on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 4:30 PM at City Hall. All council members were present. The agenda included seven items: introduction of the new deputy city attorney, two consent items, and four informational updates. The committee also held an unposted discussion on data governance. Two items were advanced to the April 21st consent agenda. Several council members expressed concerns about community engagement sufficiency, representation, and the need for deeper council involvement.
Consent Calendar
- Introduction of the New Deputy City Attorney: City Attorney Rebecca Mueller introduced Anthony, the new deputy city attorney, noting that the in-house city attorney office staffing is now complete. Anthony shared his background in public law, including previous work with the City of Morgan Hill. This was an informational item.
- Approval of Contract for Purchasing Process Improvements: Deputy Finance Director Haritha Nara presented the selection of RAF Tellus Financial Consultants through a competitive process from a pool of 16 qualified agencies. The contract cost is $75,000, within a $200,000 total budget. The study will assess internal controls and risk, strengthen procurement, and support future contract management software implementation. Council members asked about duplication with recent APWA accreditation and cost reduction opportunities. The item was moved to the April 21st consent agenda pending email responses to council questions.
- Adoption of Ordinance for 2025-2026 Budget Adjustment #6: This ordinance recognizes expenditure transfers needed to redeem the LTGO Bond Series 2015 and 2016. Funds from business tax and transportation impact fees will be moved to the debt service fund. The item was moved to the April 21st consent agenda.
Discussion Items
- 2027-2028 Budget Process Update: Community Engagement: Deputy Finance Director Nara reported that the city partnered with Fulcrum Strategy Group to conduct two online focus groups on March 31st, with 7-8 participants each (12-14 total), selected through a screening process to ensure a mix of ages (18-84) and backgrounds, while excluding those with potential conflicts. The cost was approximately $40,000 total (about $20,000 per focus group). Initial feedback indicated residents love Redmond, feel safe, appreciate parks and environmental goals, but have concerns about traffic. Council members raised significant concerns: Council President Stewart noted discrepancies between the packet (report expected in May) and the verbal update (July), questioned how participants were selected, and stressed that the city promised better engagement after the previous civics results team only reached four participants. Councilmember Prakriya asked about the marginal cost of more focus groups and stated he was willing to bear the cost given the city's $1.2 billion budget. Council Vice President Nueva Camina called the effort "highly performative" given only 12-14 participants for 88,000 residents, questioned geographic, income, language, and family composition representation, and noted the evening timing excluded caregivers and shift workers. Director Cochrane acknowledged the gap and proposed integrating budget elements into upcoming neighborhood conversations. The committee agreed to discuss this further and bring back options.
- Respect, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Program Update: Assistant Chief Operating Officer Lisa Maher introduced Zach Hoovener, the new Executive Deputy of Equity and Strategic Services. Hoovener reported that REDI facilitator training occurred in early April, mandatory citywide training will be completed by the end of the year, and the REDI Program Administrator position will be posted next week with a three-week recruitment period and interviews the week of May 25th. Council Vice President Nueva Camina raised concerns about community consultation in leadership decisions, noting community-based organizations were disappointed not to have input, and shared that three residents of color are leaving Redmond due to discrimination. Council President Stewart asked for more alignment with the REDI strategic plan and council principles on seeking missing voices. Hoovener stated his goal is to ensure community access to city services and belonging.
- 2025 Grants Management Overview: The first semi-annual grant report established a baseline for future updates. Staff reported that in 2025 the city submitted 19 grant applications and received 15 awards totaling just over $2.9 million. Of that, state and local funds accounted for approximately $2.5 million (86%) and federal funds just over $400,000 (14%). State and federal earmarks were reported separately due to legislative cycles. Council Member Prakriya asked for the state/federal breakdown; Council President Stewart requested table formatting for easier comparison; Councilmember Soni asked about additional baseline metrics and grant categories; Council Vice President Nueva Camina thanked staff for the foundation.
- 2026 City Council Communications Investment Update and Engagement: Communications Manager Kelly Schutz presented updates on investments from the last budget cycle: a fourth Focus newsletter, two limited-duration communications specialist positions (Ryan Hoover for World Cup and high-demand departments, Ethan Wong for graphic/web design), the "Redmond is Ready for the World" campaign, the weekly City News Now video program, and expanded media outreach. She outlined 2026 engagement opportunities, including council conversations (May 21 at Idlewood Park) and a potential fall town hall. Council members discussed multilingual communications, noting the 2025 community survey drew 536 responses, of which 99.5% were in English. Councilmembers Forsyth and the Chair asked for more council participation in communications, such as newsletters and City News Now features. Council President Stewart said the fall town hall idea originated with him and is still an open question. Councilmember Forsyth suggested shifting May council conversations to budget-focused topics to gather community input.
- Data Governance Follow-Up (Unposted Item): Chair Kritzer added a discussion that was accidentally omitted from the agenda, focusing on follow-up from a prior data governance conversation. Councilmember Parsi prioritized data privacy, protecting civil liberties, limiting sensitive data uses (e.g., facial recognition), and regulating third-party/vendor use and AI training models. Councilmember Forsyth seconded this and added the need for city policy on internal AI use (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude). Council President Stewart requested a written version of the director's prior verbal report and noted that the data governance work began while reviewing public safety technology contracts. Director Marshand clarified that data governance is primarily an internal process for data reliability, consistency, and legal compliance, and suggested some council interests may be better suited for a separate work stream. He agreed to provide more information.
Key Outcomes
- The purchasing process improvement contract and the budget adjustment ordinance were moved to the April 21st consent agenda.
- Council directed staff to provide additional details on budget focus group selection, demographics, and recordings, and to explore expanding engagement through neighborhood conversations with a budget focus. A follow-up discussion will be scheduled.
- The REDI Program Administrator job description will be shared with council, with input from community-based organizations to be considered.
- Future grants management reports will include table formatting for year-over-year comparison and additional metrics.
- Staff will follow up on council participation in communications, including newsletters, City News Now features, and social media.
- On data governance, Director Marshand will provide a written report and clarify scope; council will prioritize privacy and AI policy topics for future discussion.
Meeting Transcript
I'm calling this meeting to order. This is the meeting of the Finance Administration and Communications Committee of the Whole of the Redmond City Council on Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, commencing at 4 30 p.m. All council members are in attendance. Before we uh start this agenda, which uh currently has seven items on it, I wanted to note to the council that originally when we set this agenda, there was an eighth item, which was to be able to share some additional questions and feedback with our uh I our TIS director, Mike Marshander around um some of the item we touched last time on data governance. Um somehow it did not get included in this agenda. So if there is time at the end of the agenda, I'd like to add that as the final item so that there's time for council members to bring in discussion if there's no objection. Great. Thank you. And we will have some follow-up of an actual more robust item of that on the agenda at our next committee meeting as well. But I I did want to let council members know that that was the intention, and it was a clerical error that it did not end up in the agenda. Um so the first item on our agenda is introduction of the new deputy city attorney. Come on up. Um and uh welcome. Um I will turn it over to our city attorney, Rebecca Mueller to introduce this item. Go ahead. Thank you, council. Good afternoon. Before I turn it over to Anthony, I just wanted to share that with him coming on board as the new deputy city attorney. Our city attorney office staffing is now complete. Um, as most council members and new council members may know, this was approved the for the in-house city attorney um office to come in-house as part of the 25-26 budget package, and um we have now fulfilled all three of those roles with myself, our paralegal, and now Anthony on board. So I will turn it over to him to introduce himself. Thank you. Um can everyone hear me? Okay, great. Um my name's Anthony. Obviously, I'm the uh newest uh attorney in the de in the city attorney's office uh operating as a deputy city attorney. Uh, want to thank Rebecca. It's been a great transition uh from private practice over to public law practice. Um that being said, I do have a background in public law. I started uh practicing in California about 16 years ago and started uh actually with the city of Morgan Hill working to almost do what we've done here and implement an in-house uh city attorney's office and started as a deputy city attorney. So uh looking forward to getting back into public law as a personal note. Uh my dad served as a mayor and a city council member when I was young from I guess the age of six all the way up through high school and into college. So I'm uh very involved and know personally the the time and expense uh that you all put into this professionally, personally. So uh it's something that I uh public law that I care for, appreciate doing and look forward to helping all of you. So thank you. Thank you so much, really. Well wonderful to have you here in our city and welcome. Are there any brief questions from the council? This is meant to be just a very brief introduction. All right, well, thank you so much and in advance for serving our city. Thank you. Um the next item on our agenda is the approval of a contract for purchasing process improvements, and we have our deputy finance director Haritha Nara here to present. Go ahead. Good evening, council. Um, I'm here today to just briefly introduce the item on um the contract and also request council to move this item to the April 21st uh consent agenda for approval. Um just to let you know the process on how we selected this contract or this agency after um going through the competitive selection process, we have selected RAF Tellus Financial Consultants uh to do our performance improvement plan study. Um this is they have been selected uh from a pool of 16 uh qualified agencies. That's a lot of uh um I guess resumes that we got, RFPs that we got. Um they have been uh we have also included internal stakeholders for the selection of this contract, including TISS staff and also public work staff and finance staff. Um so as you can see in the contract, they have an extensive experience with supporting local governments and new Ts.
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