Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Redmond City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 6:15 PM to discuss the proposed creation of a new department for improved development service functions. The meeting was a continuation of previous study sessions on September 8 and October 13, 2026. The council heard from staff, asked questions, and debated the proposal's scope, cost, and process. Mayor Angela Birney presided, with Council President Melissa Stuart, Vice President Angie Nuevacamina, and Councilmembers Forsythe, Kritzer, Parsi, and Prakriya in attendance. Councilmember Soni was absent.
Department Structure and Silos: Councilmember Kritzer questioned why creating a new department and SLAs would be more effective than using SLAs in the current structure or simply giving authority to an existing director. Staff responded that a single decision-maker and unified team provide the best foundation for success, creating an "economy of time" for deconfliction. Councilmember Parsi shared concerns about creating new silos and fragmenting existing departments without fully addressing the root problems. She requested a smaller, scoped pilot program and analysis of alternative approaches from other cities. Council Vice President Nuevacamina pointed out that the 8 new FTEs were administrative or supervisory, not permit reviewers, questioning how this directly reduces permit times. Staff responded that current staff are under-supported and that adding supervisory and administrative support increases productivity.
Process and Transparency: Council Vice President Nuevacamina expressed frustration with the process, noting the council was not brought along during the four months between the matrix report and the proposal's introduction. She requested to know who championed and who opposed the proposal internally. Mayor Birney explained the iterative process, stating she changed the team and brought in a facilitator when progress stalled. Council President Stuart noted that the lack of alternatives presented impacted trust, though she viewed the direction as correct.
Startup Costs and Budget: Councilmember Prakriya questioned the $2.5 million one-time startup cost, noting it was higher than the annual cost of the 8 new FTEs. Staff explained it was a worst-case estimate incorporating potential fire negotiations and moving costs, and they hoped not to use most of it.
Performance Metrics and Accountability: Councilmember Prakriya asked about current and future data collection on permit times, wanting to be able to measure a specific percentage improvement (e.g., "14%") in the future to evaluate the department's success. Staff confirmed they can produce detailed reports from the permitting software.
Growth Management Context: Staff member Chris Singer contextualized the proposal against the Redmond 2050 plan, citing targets of 20,000 to 24,800 additional housing units and over 40,000 new residents by 2050. He argued the department would enable proactive coordination of public and private capital projects, preventing future infrastructure conflicts.
Councilmember Positions: Councilmember Parsi expressed ongoing concern that the investment felt "disproportionate" to the problem, stating "we have a flat tire, but we are replacing the car." Council President Stuart and Councilmember Kritzer indicated conditional support, emphasizing the need for careful change management and regular council updates.
I'm calling this meeting to order. This is a Redmond City Council special meeting held on Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, commencing at 6.15 p.m. Council members in attendance are Council President Stewart, Council Vice President Nueva Kamina, Council Members Forsyth, Kritzer, Parsi, and Prakria. This meeting is being held for the creation of a new department to support improved development service functions. And I have the team here to take questions from council. We don't have a presentation this evening, but we wanted to continue the conversation that you had last Tuesday and prior to that as well. So I'd love to open it up to council members to have your questions answered. I will remind everyone that we do have a hard stop at seven o'clock for our regular business meeting. So anyone uh with a question, and I will go around the table so everyone will have an opportunity to ask a question. Um I'll make sure everyone gets an opportunity before any second questions are asked. Councilmember Kritzer. I'll kick us off. Um thank you so much. I appreciated the the follow-up on the questions that we asked in the last uh meeting. A few questions that um kind of stood out to me um following up on some of those. Um, in particular, uh, you know, I um in the question that I had asked around how do we make sure we're not creating new silos and the response about the SLAs that that'll be set up in that that structure. I guess um one follow-up question that I had on that, um, and then maybe I'll pose a similar question related to it, um, is in moving to this structure. I guess the question is if we can create SLAs to address the um uh any silos that might get created, why don't we just use SLAs in our current structure to be able to address those issues instead of moving everyone together in one place and then creating a whole new set of SLAs going another way? Um and similarly, I think one of the other answers to a question around um uh you know the the importance of of moving to this new department and creating this new thing was specifically to have one director who could make decisions. And I guess my question is is also um related to that. Why couldn't we use our current structure and just give authority to someone, especially since we're currently hiring a new public works director and a new planning director? Could we hire for one or the other of those that has the skill set to be able to be the person to make those decisions? Um and and I really am asking this as a curiosity if you can explain why you think that that both of these things will be better with the new structure and with with uh with an additional leader on top of that. Jeff, would you like to answer that since you've had some history? I I can start. I think uh a partial answer to both questions is that you want to have the the foundational structure in place to give staff them the best chance possible of success. And I think having a uh a unified team under one director um is part of that. And and starting there, um you develop SLAs to address the cross-departmental coordination that is still going to be required in any in any setup. Um I think one thing that that I know from experience is that we have done reorganizations in the past and not set up service level agreements, and that has resulted in um a considerable amount of friction in process. Um and so it is in any scenario, I think important to set those up for all the cross-part departmental coordination, but fundamentally, I think you need to start with the organizational structure that is uh going to give you the best shot at success for for the work that needs to be done. I appreciate the question, Councilmember Kritzer. I think most importantly, we have to understand that uh overarchingly we're looking at the economy of time here. And when we have everything under one umbrella, we do have that single decision maker, and as things do get handled at lower levels, however, if there's something that needs to be deconflicted.