I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of January 13th, 2026.

Clerk, we please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Present.

Councilmember Diaz.

Here.

Councilmember Hines.

Councilmember Palmer.

Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay.

Here.

Councilmember Scott.

Here.

Councilmember Walker.

Here.

Mayor Ibsen.

Here.

Please join me in listening to the land acknowledgement and flag salute led by Councilmember Walker, followed by a moment of silence in honor of George Russell.

Tonight we dedicate our moment of silence to George F.

Russell Jr., who helped shape a small family-run investment business in Tacoma into a global force managing hundreds of billions in assets now known as Russell Investments.

George was a leader shaped by this community and deeply committed to it.

He believed that success, whether in business or in public life, carried with it a responsibility to care for people and places.

His contributions to Tacoma and the many lives he touched will continue to be felt, even as we pause now to honor his memory.

Councilmember Walker.

We gratefully honor and acknowledge that we rest on the traditional lands of the Puellet people where they make their home and speak the Lachut seed language.

Please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence.

One nation under God.

We have modifications to the agenda tonight to remove ordinance two nine zero nine one from the agenda this evening and to add an additional resolution, resolution number four one eight four four to tonight's agenda as item 8A on the regular agenda.

We have a motion before us for consideration.

I move to remove ordinance number 29091 from the agenda this evening.

Move and second, are there any council comments?

Hearing none, I'll there are Councilman Sodake.

Yes.

Uh I just wanted just for sake of transparency, um, ordinance number two nine oh nine one was first uh was had the first reading last week.

We had a number of questions uh around system development charges.

We are in discussions uh about that, um, and that is why we're asking for just uh I was asking for a little extra time before we do the final reading.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Seeing no further comments, all those in favor of removing ordinance number two nine oh nine one from the agenda this evening, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, say nay.

The motion is declared adopted.

We have a motion before us for consideration.

I move to suspend Rule 4A of the Rules of Procedure of the Council of the City of Tacoma to add an additional resolution.

Resolution number 41844 relating to resources for immigrants, community members, and businesses to tonight's agenda as item 8a on the regular agenda.

Are there any council comments?

See none, all those in favor of adding resolution number 41844 to tonight's agenda, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, signify by saying nay.

Resolution is adopted.

Anyone wishing to comment on resolution number 41844 may do so during public comment.

Are there any additional modifications to the agenda this evening?

Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda.

I move to adopt the consent agenda, including resolution number 41842.

Second.

Move and seconded.

Are there any questions, comments, or corrections?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed signify by saying nay.

Consent agenda is adopted.

We have two ceremonials tonight.

For the Dr.

Martin Luther King Day uh Junior Day proclamation, I would like to invite Ashley Young, Special Event Coordinator from the Tacoma Venues and Events, Jessica Johnston, Chair of the City's Events and Recognitions Committee, Sydney Stevens, MLK subcommittee chair, Cities Events and Recognitions Committee, Taivo, committee member, City's Events and Recognitions Committee, Kwabi Amoa Forson, MC of the Dr.

MLK Junior celebration to the podium, as I read the proclamation.

May I ask for the um University of Washington Tacoma Black Student Union to come up if they're here.

Of course.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thanks for coming.

All right.

Perfect.

Well, good evening.

I'm sorry.

Oh, well, I just wanted to start talking.

So there we go.

We definitely definitely want to hear from all of you.

We'll just read this first and we'd love to hear what you have to say.

Um, starting off by saying, whereas the third Monday in January is designated as a federal holiday and a national day of service, honoring the birth of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

And whereas such recognition is a direct result of Dr.

King's contributions to the world through his deeds and words, and whereas he believed in a nation of freedom and justice for all and encouraged all people to live up to America's promise and potential by applying the principles of nonviolence to make this country a better place to live.

And whereas, through his perseverance, he led a movement that not only brought about changes in the law, but also in the heart and conscience of people throughout the world.

And whereas Tacoma has directly benefited from Dr.

King's contributions and remains committed to the ideals of an inclusive, open, free, and just society.

And whereas Monday, January 19th, 2026 marks the city's community-wide Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

celebration and the University of Washington Tacoma's Unity Breakfast.

And whereas these annual celebrations unite people of all ages, cultures, beliefs, and walks of life together to honor Dr.

King's legacy through action and service.

Now, therefore, I, Andrews Ibsen, mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim Monday, January 19th, 2026, as Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Day in the City of Tacoma, and invite all people to join us in honoring Dr.

King's memory and his achievements at UWT's Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Unity Breakfast and the city's annual Dr.

MLK Jr.

celebration.

Please say a few words.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor, members of City Council, City Manager, and City Staff.

My name is Jessica Johnston, and I serve as the chair of the City of Tacoma's Events in Recognitions Committee.

On behalf of the committee and in partnership with the University of Washington's Tacoma Black Student Union, it is an honor to accept this proclamation recognizing Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

In these trying times, it is more important now than ever that we pause together as a community, that we take a moment to reflect, to recognize, and to give honor to those who are doing meaningful work within our city.

This proclamation is not only about remembering history.

It is a reminder of our shared responsibility to one another.

On January 19th at 1 p.m.

at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center, we will gather for the City of Tacoma's annual MLK celebration.

At that ceremony, we will honor two outstanding community members whose lives reflect Dr.

King's legacy through service, courage, and compassion.

Dr.

King reminded us that peace is not merely in the absence of tension.

It is in the presence of justice.

Holding space for our neighbors, creating peace, and expanding opportunity for all is how we continue that work today.

Thank you to City Council, to our mayor, to our city manager, and the community of Tacoma.

We hope that we will you will all join us next Monday.

As chair.

As chair of the event, we will offer a number of volunteer opportunities as a poet and inclusion to opportunity to be in community with people actually doing the work.

It's a good opportunity to give back network and build kinship with those who are your neighbors, your doctors, your traffic street people, and even your uh committee members and council members.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is it was there on anyone else from the group who'd like to speak?

Please come forward.

Uh I would say thank you to everyone that will be attending the event.

Uh it will be a great event.

Please show up.

Uh it will be again on Monday, January 19th.

Doors open at 8 a.m.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry.

I am Matthew Ankerson.

I am the Black City Union president uh for 2025 to 26.

Uh then again, please come.

The doors open at 8 a.m.

The program starts at 9.

Our keynote speaker will be newly admitted city attorney Erica Evans.

She's a UWT alumni, so we want to represent her.

So thank you so much.

Wonderful.

Thank you for your part in this.

Are there any council comments?

Seeing none, well, I'd welcome you to come forward and accept your proclamation, and please join me in one more round of applause.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Of course.

Thank you, everyone.

It's your first one.

Two, three.

Two of three.

Are you guys ready?

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

I am going to everybody just get a little bit closer.

Yeah.

Um council member Palmer.

Can we come out this way just a little bit?

Perfect.

Um, everybody smile one, two, three.

One more one, two, three.

Thank you, Mossy.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

Of course, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our next presentation is from the associated students of the University of Washington Tacoma.

And for the presentation for the associated students of UWT, I'd like to invite Tyrell Stalworth, City Liaison, associated students of the University of Washington Tacoma to the podium to begin the presentation.

All right.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Terrell Stallworth, and I'm the City Liaison for the associated students of the University of Washington Tacoma.

I'm here with a couple other students and student government members and to speak not only about student needs, but the role that students hold within this community.

First, I want to briefly explain ASUWT's basic structure.

Our student government is made up of a board of executives, which handles decisions that are crucial towards our government's basic form.

Things such as approving our budget, managing staff and managing staff.

We also have a board of sanders who form the official opinions of the student body, and each standard represents the different schools at UWT.

All of those positions are elected by the student body outside of our hired staff positions, which work under certain executive members.

For example, as the city liaison, I work with the city to advocate for student needs and do outreach with political organizations in the area.

Given that the University of Washington Tacoma is very important to Tacoma, and students have a large footprint here economically and socially, we think that this is a great opportunity to build a bridge between the associated students and the city.

While we do recognize that the city council maintains positive relationships with UWT administration, uh we believe it is equally valuable to include student perspectives directly in these conversations.

With all that said, I did want to get into the data that we'll be presenting today.

The data comes from a student-led survey done for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, and it will go over our biggest issues on campus, uh, that being food, parking, and housing.

So just some context for this data.

Um it was conducted online and student-led, uh, as I said before.

It was incentivized through a raffle of UW merch.

We sent out emails and we conducted prizes.

It was about 11 to 12% student body response rate, which is about 500 students.

So let's look at student housing situations at UW Tacoma.

Um about 42% of students are in unstable unstable or unaffordable housing situations.

And on the graph on the left, we could see that many students are it's a very diverse housing situation that many of our students are in.

Since it's less of a traditional campus, um, we only have around 300 dorm units.

We see students in a variety of different situations.

Um 50% are living with relatives, and then we see uh 18% living with part uh with their partners or spouses and whatnot, and then you know, a variety of different distributions.

And then next, if we look at housing affordability, nearly 50% of students are paying a third of their income to rent or more.

Um, as I'm sure you all know, once you get around that 33% mark of paying your income towards rent, that's when things start to become unsustainable.

So I would love this city uh if we collaborate to like a solutions for that as well.

And then finally we have our interest in housing support programs.

Um 56, at least 56% of our students said that they would directly utilize new rental assist uh assistance programming.

And I would love to look at the programming and discuss the things that we already have on campus.

So we have something called the Husky to Husky Home Sharing Program.

This is essentially where people can rent out their their uh spare rooms to students, and students can go and apply and they conduct background checks as well to ensure the process is as safe as possible.

And then rent and other things are agreed on by the two parties as well.

We also have an off-campus housing portal, which is sort of like a marketplace where students can go and look for roommates or off-campus listings.

And then finally, we have some other miscellaneous things.

The Office of Student Advocate Advocacy and Support, which I'll call which I'll call OSAS for this presentation.

They can offer things like emergency grants, emergency aid, and then Court 17 does have a couple emergency units for students having issues as well.

To my knowledge, those right now are being occupied.

And then next, let's look at transportation access on campus.

Over 64% of students are affected by transportation cost.

71% of students are using personal vehicles.

So as a student government member, I definitely see the effect of this.

I've talked to students about participating in student government, uh participating in internships.

Many of them say that because transportation costs and transportation limitation that they don't want to participate.

I do think this is a larger scale issue, simply because many students are losing out on job opportunities from the loss of internships and the loss of participating in their community.

And then we could look at um where students are coming from as well.

About 40% of students reside in Tacoma.

Um the remaining 60%, we can see on this right side of the graph.

Uh we can see their their commute times, the biggest one being 21.5%.

Uh it takes 30 to 45 minutes to get on campus.

Uh, this is basically my commute, so I think it's fairly representative.

I live in university place, I take public transportation.

It takes about 40 minutes to get to school.

And we can also see on the bottom here where students are coming from.

So we see big distributions with uh P Wallop, Seattle, uh Federal Way, et cetera.

And if only for the transportation section, we said that 60, at least 69% of students would use gas vouchers, and at least 58% would use discounted parking permits as well.

Um I also would like to talk about the permits that we do have available for our school currently.

So members who are part of or students who live in court 17 have access to a permanent parking permit pass.

That's about 300 a quarter.

Um, that's 24-7.

Students can park there all day, all week.

And then we have separate parking permits as well.

Uh those are first come first serve.

Uh they do run out, and those can be for daily half a week for evening, uh, and they range from 70 dollars for the cheapest ones, which would be the evening passes, all the way up to 250 uh for the daily ones.

And then finally, let's look at food and security among students.

Um, 39% uh 39% of students couldn't afford to eat balanced meals.

I think the balanced meals part is a big thing to put emphasis on as well.

Uh I go down to court 17, I look at the food that we have available, a lot of is frozen, uh, you know, not produced food.

I do think that is something to look at.

And I'll talk about the food options that we have available here or the food support.

Um, we do have a food pantry, those are grocery store items that you know you could bring home to you and cook later.

Um, those can be visited once a week.

You could take up to 20 items.

Uh that's open a couple days a week.

And then we also partner with our Giving Garden, which is up the street on Fawcett.

Um, that also gives students uh volunteer experience and opportunities to work with producing fresh food.

We also have a food cover, which is more ready-to-eat food.

So if you like want lunch that day, you can go and get lunch and whatnot.

That's open around our husky hour, which is 12 to 1.30.

I've seen I personally seen with that that's a little bit less available.

And then finally, we have a nourish food truck as well, which comes every Thursday, Thursday evening, and that serves the community uh as well as UWT students.

And then just to end here, um, in conclusion, student issues are city issues, which is why increased collaboration between ASUWT and the city of Tacoma is so important.

Uh, we see this we see this work as a starting point for more consistent communication and partnership moving forward.

To support that goal, we are hosting a legislative reception on February 6th, and we would welcome the opportunity for members of the city council to attend if they are able.

Uh, this event is intended to create space for meaningful connection between students and decision makers and to help students better understand how local policy uh shapes their experience in Tacoma.

Uh thank you for your time consideration, and I am open to any questions.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

This is very thoughtful.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I just I have met with um your your um organization, and I I want to thank you all for being here tonight because I did get to hear you give this presentation before, and um just so everyone's aware.

This is in district two, and I know that we've talked with um University of Washington, Tacoma as well because they are aware of these issues.

And one of the things that I'm working on that we'll be working on in community vitality and safety is what does hunger look like and how do we fix these issues with the desert areas where there isn't food, but also looking at transportation opportunities and finding other ways that we might be able to use the use of parking permit to help create more opportunity for students.

So I just want to thank you so much for coming tonight.

I will be there on February 6th.

I appreciate how how eloquent you were, and all of this information is really important, and I think it is important for the city to work with the University of Washington to come where you're a really big part of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rombach.

Thank you.

Are there any other council comments?

Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, and thank you to all and everybody on in the group for for the work that you've done.

It it takes a lot of time and effort to put together these types of surveys, and uh it really uh shines through in this presentation how much effort you put in.

Um questions uh is in relation to um the the food situation as councilmember Rumba had mentioned.

Um, how do you see uh the uh student association's role and the city's role in helping collaborate to kind of rectify that situation as well as obviously partner with UWT?

Yeah, so I really think that the role that we were thinking with the our student government is to create a point of contact so we could eloquently communicate what the city has available to students and help get students um to that point back and forth.

So that's the main point which I the main role I want the student government to function as for that.

Great.

Thank you for that.

And then that would be one topic, but I'm sure there's many other topics that we could discuss as well.

So absolutely appreciate the presentation.

I'm looking forward to joining you on the sixth.

Thank you.

I appreciate thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Um I'm excited that you guys are here.

I think it's we have such a huge resource in our universities and our colleges that we're not utilizing enough, and I really I really appreciated the language around collaboration because it's not just like coming to the city and asking for help.

Like you you know that you have valuable things to add to, and that we can work together towards uh these things.

So I'm I'm hoping you know, this isn't just a presentation that this actually goes somewhere, and uh I'm looking forward to following up to see how we can help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any further council comments?

Well, Mr.

Stalwart, thank you again so much for all of your invaluable work.

We look forward to supporting your efforts.

And uh please come forward for group photo and let's give these folks a round of applause.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to public comment.

On tonight's agenda, there are two opportunities for people to comment.

Under public comment, you can speak about motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

Under community forum, which is held at the end of this meeting, you can speak about items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

These forums are intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making, and it's not meant to be a back and forth dialogue.

Your remarks should be directed to the city council and not at individual staff members.

If you want to speak under the public comment period, press the raise hand button if you're remote near the bottom of your Zoom window or asterisk nine on your phone now, so we can see the number of people wishing to virtually testify this evening.

If you're speaking in person, please sign up at the back of the room if you have not done so already.

Your name or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out when is your turn to speak.

Um, I'm gonna go a little bit off script here because we know the reason most of you are here, it is on our minds too.

So, in order to get ahead of that and to proactively address what's on the mind of the community and frankly us, uh, I'd like to call on our city manager, uh, interim city manager Xun Kim to talk about why I suspect a lot of you are here to talk at us today, which is what we're doing in relation to protecting the rights of our residents and what we're doing to ensure safety in our community, what this council and previous councils have done already, what we're uh within current constraints looking to do right now.

So, with that, um, with the caveat that there is much more to do, and that this is not an exhaustive list, but it's the higher level overview and a starting point.

Um, Mr.

Interim City Manager, can you please give us an overview?

Thank you very much.

Um, Mary Epson, um, Deputy Mayor members council and for the public as well.

Um, you are asking for an update.

Um from a staff perspective, I do want to just candidly speak to the fact that we have much to do to communicate with our public as far as the actions upon which this council has taken actions with our limited authority.

Um that's not to say that there are not actions that we can continue to take on.

I just wanted to give you an update on a few resolutions as well as I will start from a um an update on a legal action that we have joined.

Um the city of Tacoma continues to look for ways within our limited authority to address federal actions that have concerned many of our constituents, our residents or visitors here in the city of Tacoma.

Um recently, the city of Tacoma has joined a lawsuit filed by the state of California.

This case is Newsom v.

Uh Trump.

Uh the lawsuit, an amicus brief, um, uh asserts that the president, the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense acted unlawfully by deploying National Guard and Marines, U.S.

Marines to the city of Los Angeles in response to riots, uh perceived riots against ICE enforcement actions.

It is the city's position that the president's actions are unprecedented and left unchecked, could lead to federalized national police force with a political agenda.

We believe this is a significant threat to the state, our local autonomy, uh, which is why the city of Tacoma has joined this lawsuit, which is called uh once again for reference for our public that's listening tonight, uh, Newsom v.

Trump.

We will continue to look for ways to express our concerns whenever legally possible, and we'll share a uh response and update to the our public in including additional uh legal uh actions that the city council will be taking potentially in the coming days.

Um additionally, uh, Mayor Ibsen, uh members of council, I'd like to update the council on some actions that have taken place in directing uh the city manager um myself to move forward with staff resources wherever possible.

About a year ago, the city council um passed resolution 41627.

Um this is a policy alignment in terms of ensuring that uh federal immigration uh activities are not uh taken up by the city and more importantly, our Tacoma police department.

And um I am proud to share with you that we adhere to the law, state law to keep Washington working.

We are not deputized for federal immigration activities, our local uh police department, Tacoma Police Department does an admirable job every day, and we are adhering to the fact that we are for public safety, and that is what we're trying to do.

Additionally, another update on a recent uh resolution that was passed in the last 90 days.

Resolution 41817.

Um, this was a pointed resolution asking staff to look towards ways in which we can identify city parcels uh for potential signage uh for public properties to not be used for the purposes of federal immigration enforcement mobilization activation.

Um my update to you this evening is that our public works department has determined that our there are over 600 city parcels that could fall within uh the auspices and scope of resolution 41817.

Um, however, not all city parcels would probably be conducive for utilization by federal uh ICE officials, ICE agents for staging purposes.

So, public works is right now uh developing a criteria to determine which of these city parcels could be used for utilized for postage and signage that we are looking at this from the standpoint of um posting for a prohibition on potential actions for uses in the public right-of-way, the public parcels, not public right-of-way.

Um, and I want to share this candidly from the standpoint of what the city staff is doing in support of the council's directive.

Um, we are watching and monitoring additional legal um legal actions that are taking place in this country, in our great country.

Um, and we are watching upon which we are most likely going to be joining additional legal actions.

And I want to share and preface this to our public that's listening and that's in the audience today.

Um local government when it comes to federal actions, the use of city property will most likely fall to the courts, and we must stand ready, and staff is prepared, and our city attorney and his office is uh standing ready to defend our potential actions as we bring this back to you.

Uh additional updates on the signage uh for our public from an expectation management standpoint.

We're looking at having mock-ups prepared for council consideration.

Um I think it will behoove us to probably speak in study sessions in the coming coming days ahead for council to give direction for staff to perhaps uh elicit uh community input as well from an expectation management.

I do want to share that our signage and enforcement of federal agents using public parcels for the purposes of um staging or mobilization.

Once again, that that enforcement will most likely fall uh to the courts to assert whether or not we have that right.

And I think the clear directive from the council through this resolution is clear that we want to actually see if this is something that we have the right to do.

Um, additionally, um as far as um and I want to just read one passage from 401817.

It's it pointedly requires that the city manager review and assess potential for legislation to prohibit uh United States immigration and customs enforcement from using city owned property.

Additionally, this may require additional um council actions in the coming days, and so I just wanted to give an update.

There are additional things that the council has done behind closed doors under the auspices of those privileges that you have when it comes to uh litigation and potential litigation.

Um, perhaps with your potential resolution that comes after the uh after this um uh opportunity for our public to discourse.

Um, you may be working towards tonight directing additionally this information to be collated and readily available for the public.

Um, and your staff stands ready to prepare for those um uh directives.

And so, Mayor Ipson, I return it back to you.

These are just a brief, it is not all all encompassing, but I would share that with you tonight.

Thank you.

Really crucial information.

Uh, what one last uh point of information before we start um calling people up to speak is uh this council has appropriated additional money for legal assistance to community organizations uh that are providing legal assistance to detainees.

Uh and I I believe that was done last year.

And do you know the approximate amount of additional money that was allocated?

The city council through the mid-modification standpoint.

I believe it was 25,000.

Okay, additionally.

There have been other um dollars that you have budgeted in previous years as well.

Thank you.

All right, so with that, we're gonna start taking public comment.

Clerk, please read.

This is the time set aside for public comment.

Speakers are asked to identify the specific legislation they wish to address.

Okay.

I'd like to remind everyone to please keep your comments respectful, relevant, focused, and on topic.

We strive to provide a comment period where people can feel respected while sharing a wide variety of viewpoints and acknowledge that we may hear comments that conflict with our values to ensure our speakers that all speakers can express their first amendment constitutional rights.

We ask that you refrain from being disruptive.

You will have 90 seconds to make your remarks.

Please be mindful of the time frame.

As always, you are not required to use all your time to make your point.

If you cannot remain on topic, you'll be given two warnings.

If you remain off topic, we will have to move on and end your time.

Clerk, have you received any written public comment for tonight's meeting?

We have not.

Okay.

And we so far have two people signed up virtually to speak.

I'm going to start by calling on our first speaker, which is Michelle Reich, followed by Barb Church.

Michelle Reich.

I'm speaking to uh Martin Luther King Day proclamation.

Um Martin Luther King was for human and civil rights.

He also spoke to nonviolence, and he was killed uh at the outset of the Vietnam War.

He didn't see what would transpire for the next eight years at that war, in which two million Vietnamese were killed, 67,000 Americans, 200,000 Cambodians, and thousands of others uh allied troops.

So uh he was for nonviolence and currently um with uh ICE facility there.

What would he say about the ICE facility?

Uh he wouldn't condemn it there as being violent.

And knowing what happens in that facility, I know that there's human rights violations.

Uh the guards there are not trained well to as professional guards should be.

And so when they're not trained in supervised, there's room for abuse, and I know it happens a lot, and um nothing's been done about that there because it's uh private corporation, and the IS has little oversight over that corporation as long as there's not any big incidents.

Uh they allow Geo Holiday to do what they want there.

And uh I spoke about that earlier too.

I told you to close that down a long time ago.

I'd written to you to make it a homeless shelter.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Moving on to Barb Church.

Moving on to Barb Church, followed by Carol Kent.

Hi.

Oh, I can hardly see this.

Hi, Mayor and Council, and welcome new council people.

Um I'm here to speak to resolution 4184, and thank you for joining in the lawsuit as well, and for especially for listening to the residents in Tacoma.

I want to talk to you about resolution 4062 that declares Tacoma an anti-racist city, and I'll talk to you about some of the racial profiling that ICE has been doing here in the city.

Um what they're doing is they're looking at people to see what color their skin is, if they're black, they're brown, if they're Hispanic.

I talk to people from the detention center, in and out.

Um they so they follow them in a car, especially leaving Lowe's or Home Depot.

Um they come with an administrative warrant.

That warrant isn't legal, they need a legal warrant signed by a judge.

They're they don't even have a name on them, and they go in and they they grab them in the in a car.

Now, this this is fairly recent.

This is happening here, this is happening in Tacoma.

That's racial profiling.

They didn't even have a name for some of these people.

And then they have people surrounding, they aren't even ICE agents, but they're surrounding a car just to uh capture somebody.

We want ICE to identify themselves.

We want them to have a warrant signed by a judge.

Thank you.

And just uh just a friendly note to everyone, just to respect folks' time.

Uh, definitely uh with you on the passion, but if we can refrain too much from clapping, just to respect folks' time, because a lot of people are turned out, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to have their voice heard.

Uh thank you for coming forward.

Please uh make your comments.

Hi, I'm Carol Kent.

Welcome, Mayor and uh City Council.

I want to speak to resolution number four eight four one eight four four.

I do applaud um the creation of this resolution.

I just like to make two short points on it on the third paragraph, whereas page one.

Whereas today immigrant communities are under threat of mass deportations in anyone, and I want to include with or without secure immigration status.

The fourth paragraph down, whereas these immigrant populations experience unique risks to health, including pre-migratory trauma, unsafe and stressful.

I want to include detention and immigration experiences.

I'll reserve the rest of my comments for uh community forum.

Thank you.

Our next comment is going to come from Norma Ramirez, followed by Tanya Ramirez.

Thank you, Mayor Mayor and City Council members.

I am Norma Ramirez, and I'm here to just let you know I support resolution 41844.

I think it's a basic first step towards helping all of us, all communities feel so some support a measure of support and maybe some safe feeling, a feeling of safety.

And I will go on with my other comments at the community forum.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tanya Ramirez, followed by Melanie Roar.

Hello, members of the Tacoma City Council.

We appreciate you taking the time to listen to us tonight.

My name is Tanya.

We stand before you today as representative of the Tacoma community at large and the Pierce County Immigration Alliance to deliver a joint statement requesting immediate action to oppose immigration terror.

We come before you with a resolution bill for our community, failed needs.

It's time to demand and end the federal overreach and the extra extrajudicial assaults, abduction, and even murder that have been taking place from LA to Minneapolis and even in our own backyard.

We will first give you the justification for this resolution, as has played out on a national and local scale.

We will then give the demands and intentions or then pinning our proposed resolution.

Finally, we will read our proposed language into the record.

This language will all be sent to you digitally for review.

We understand you may not be able to pass a resolution on the first lease, or that the resolution language we use as the may need to be altered to be more accurate for city purpose.

But we hope to return and see a resolution that meets the demands.

On January 20, 2026.

Thank you for your time.

And we look forward to reading it, and thank you for your service too.

Thank you.

Moving on to our next speaker, who's Melanie Rohr, followed by uh Mikeleev Gonzalez.

That would be Melanie Moore.

I don't know where you all came from.

Okay.

Um across the nation, ICE is raiding workplaces, homes, and even daycare facilities.

This is not news to anyone.

The amount of people held in detention by ICE has hit a record high, a dozen away from 68,000 people, according to the ICE data.

Over 350,000 have been deported.

I couldn't believe that, under the Trump administration.

In the last two weeks, another 23,000 people were arrested by ICE.

Of the people currently in detention, 24,000 have no criminal record.

Another 16,000 are flagged with what the administration calls pending charges, but no convictions whatsoever.

In a country whose laws says that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

This means that at present they also have no criminal record.

The records of another 10,000 people currently in detention are not accounted for in our government statistics.

They're probably getting paid for though.

In the United States, at least 35 people have died in ICE custody in 25 in 2025 alone.

In 2024, two people, Jose Manuel Sanchez Castro and Charles Leo Daniel, died at the NWDC Northwest Detention Center, less than two miles from where we sit, within months of each other.

Thank you for your comments, and please feel free to send anything else in writing.

Our next speaker is Mikolaev Gonzalez, followed by Amy Shepherd.

Thank you.

Welcome.

We do not know yet how many have died in a foreign country after being deported due to medical medical neglect, injuries suffered during their arrest, or the conditions of the subcontracted concentration camps in which they were held.

We do not yet know how many have disappeared.

We do know that the Miami Herald has identified 800 people whose whereabouts are unknown after being sent to so-called uh alligator Alcatraz in Florida.

We are grieving not only lives lost inside detention, but also those who have been shot and killed in our communities.

Just this past week, both Luis David, Nino Moncada, and Yorlenis Betzabeth, Zambrano Contreras were shot in Portland, and thankfully are still with us.

But other shootings from ICE officers have been deadly.

On New Year's Eve in Northridge, Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old father was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent.

Days later in Minneapolis, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a mother and activist, was fatally shot by an ICE agent while observing an ICE raid.

Federal authorities have defended both actions as self-defense, and yet the evidence tells us otherwise.

Other cities are facing National Guard deployment to enforce these raids.

This is not public safety.

This is mass terror and state violence.

We must join other cities in saying enough is enough.

Thank you for your comments.

Amy Shepherd, followed by John Staub.

Based on statements by Christine Um that this violence, this violence is not an exception, but official ICE policy.

Our top federal officials lie about the legal capabilities of ICE and refuse to acknowledge community accountability.

Jonathan Ross should never have been allowed to leave that scene.

The people of Minneapolis should be able to hold him accountable.

We have seen similar ICE actions in Tacoma.

ICE has been lying to people about having judicial warrants and intimidating them from going to work.

But we've been building relationships with day laborers, and they have said you don't understand what we go through because you don't live like we do.

And we don't live like they do, showing up every day looking for work without a guarantee of finding it, putting themselves at risk for being harassed, detained, mistreated.

We shouldn't speak for these men, but at this time fear is keeping them in the darkness and isolation.

So we must speak in their support.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next uh speaker is Mr.

John Staub, followed by Talison Crosby.

Thanks.

Uh the day laborers at the Home Depot we visited.

Uh, they see the head hunters driving through the Home Depot parking lot more and more frequently in the last few days, hunting for their friends, maybe even hunting for them.

They know what these officers look like from the way that they move in packs in tinted cars.

They can tell when they're being stalked.

And it's not just at Home Depot.

ICE stalks people at the Winco, at Walmart, at gas stations.

Imagine being stalked and kidnapped at your place of work for a civil offense for the crime of having dark skin.

Imagine being afraid to purchase food or get gas out of fear that you will have your dignity and your rights violently and publicly stripped away from you.

There is so much misinformation about white ICE is allowed to do.

And we spend hours talking to people about how they can protect themselves, reminding them of their rights, and walking people through their own hypothetical nightmares.

Right now, there's a feeling of what next.

On December 10th, four Guatemalan migrants were taken from the Home Depot parking lot right here in Tacoma.

Dozens of day laborers who normally come to Shelton or come from Shelton to find work in Tacoma have simply disappeared.

They were detained.

People are wondering if they are next.

They want to believe that people are good, that things will work out, but every day they see fewer and fewer of their friends coming to work.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker after John is Tallison Crosby, followed by Caitlin Henyon.

Thank you.

Although these men are not weak, right now they are vulnerable.

They're simply trying to feed their families and find the work that is available to them.

We cannot delude ourselves into the narrative that they are criminals.

They are our friends and neighbors.

We are all despairing and condemning the ice terror we see happening across this country.

But that is the easy part.

It is our responsibility to take action here now to ensure that our community is one that truly prioritizes and rights prioritizes the rights and dignity of those who are most vulnerable.

And the horrors of immigration enforcement have plagued Tacoma even before the recent militarization of ICE.

The Northwest Detention Center has been a stain on the pride of Tacoma since it was built.

The company that manages this facility, Geo Group, has refused any accountability and has denied health department officials from conducting inspections.

Most recently, they had been using restrictions on medical care to force people to self-deport.

Kuyu G had to get his toes amputated due to the medical neglect faced at the detention center.

Even under poor health, ICE tried to deport QUG to the place where there is even less medical chances.

People had to stand up and speak on his behalf to inform medical officials on his detention flight of his conditions.

When the doctors learned of his conditions, he was deemed unsafe to fly.

In light of these depraved and disgusting human rights abuses happening right here in Tacoma.

Thank you for your comments.

In response to the ongoing ICE repression, the community has the following demands.

And neither should we.

We demand that Tacoma City Council make additional resources available that materially support its promise to be a welcoming city.

As declared in the Tacoma Resolution number 39116.

We demand that ICE abductions be considered unlawful.

People who are kidnapped off the streets in our community are rarely, if ever, given officers' identification as required by law, and are being taken into unmarked vehicles by masked men.

A situation that is completely indistinguishable from an armed kidnapping to the affected person in the community.

We demand a condemnation of the Northwest Attention Center and a promise from the city council that all opportunities to cease its operations in our community be pursued.

We demand clarity on the city's policy around employees' collaboration with ICE, that these include firm and required disciplinary action up until including termination.

We demand a timeline be provided for the plan referenced and resolution number 41817, and that this plan be made public.

We demand that the city be swift in its response to these crimes against our community.

The following resolution language is being proposed to City Council to meet these demands.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Ms.

Marilyn Kimmerling, followed by Wendy uh Badajo.

And that's Pantoha.

Oh, Pentel, I apologize.

Go ahead, Maryland.

Um good evening.

Thank you for making a start.

I really appreciate that, and all of us do.

But there's more.

So I'm going to continue to read from the resolutions that we would like to see.

We, the community.

Okay, a resolution condemning the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE operations within the city of Tacoma and demanding their immediate cessation, clarifying the legal position of abduction, exploring all opportunities to cease operations of the Northwest ICE Processing Center, investing additional resources and efforts to materially welcome immigrant community, and clarifying city policy with regard to employee collaboration with immigration enforcement activities.

Whereas a approximately 7% or 22.8 million people of the United States population are non-citizens, with nearly 260,000 people seeking asylum within the United States in 2017.

And as of 2022, over 12% of the city's population was born outside the United States, and nearly 20% speak a language other than English at home, and whereas today immigrant communities are under threat of mass deportations, and anyone without secure immigration status may be subject to enforcement efforts and thank you.

And please feel free to forward it to the clerk.

Um we'll uh we'll take our next comment from uh Ms.

Wendy Pantoha, followed by Sybil Lancer.

And resolution number two, whereas on December 31st, 2025, and of duty ICE IN SOT shot and kill Kit Potter on Los Angeles, California.

Janet Sabin, an active duty agent shot and killed René Gott, a legal observer during a right in Minnesota in Minnesota.

On January 9th, Ice again shot a wound there are two people in Portland, Oregon, our neighbors.

Whereas it has been subsequently requested by the mayor of Minneapolis and the mayor of Portland that ICE have all operations within that their respective cities until full investigation or these incidents can take place.

And whereas this council is aware of reports from members of community that ICE agents are participating on unidentifying immigration enforcement activities, including wearing masks during the rise, and not providing law enforcement identification upon request, making such actions indignistible from illegal and violent criminal activity, including kids.

Thank you so much, Wendy.

Our next speaker is Sybil Lancer, followed by Rachel Osteller.

Whereas RCW 9A.16.110 states that no person in the state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting by any reasonable means necessary himself or herself, his or her family, and or his or her real or personal property, or for coming to the aid of another who is in imminent danger or of or the victim of assault, robbery, kidnapping, arson, burglary, rape, murder, or any other violent crime as defined in RCW 9.94A.030.

And whereas it is the express interest of the city and its residents to reduce violent encounters that are demonstrated to destabilize community, traumatize families, and create potentially hazardous situations that threaten the safety and security of bystanders.

And whereas on February 17th, 2015, the City Council adopted resolution number 39116, which declared itself a welcoming city and established participation in the welcoming cities initiative, which encourages communities to create more welcoming immigrant-friendly environments that maximize opportunities for economic growth and cultural vitality, and further that the city council supports all efforts to make the city more vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming for all people, including its immigrant community and thank you so much, Sybil.

Our next speaker is Rachel Osteller, and the speaker after that is Matthew Carras.

Welcome.

Whereas RCW 739510 states that all people confined in prisons and detention facilities in Washington deserve basic health care, nutrition, and safety.

And whereas the Northwest ICE Processing Center, NWIPC, commonly referred to as the Northwest Attention Center, is a 1,575 bed facility, privately owned and operated by Geo Group Inc.

on behalf of ICE and is located in the city of Tacoma, inside a port maritime industrial district that is not currently zoned for long-term residents or detention.

And whereas the NWIPC has repeatedly refused state, county, and city officials inspect inspection requests to determine this compliance with regulatory requirements under RCW Chapter 7395 since 2023, while local regulatory bodies have received hundreds of complaints regarding its hygiene, health care, safety, nutrition, and sanitation conditions.

And whereas on August 4th, 2020, the City Council found in resolution number 40636 that ICE operations are rooted in systemic racism and are dehumanizing to immigrant communities throughout the nation and should therefore be eliminated.

Thank you so much for your comments.

All right.

So again, just to be respectful, we're trying to respect the time of others.

Let's try our best to refrain from clapping or loud outbursts so we can hear from everyone.

Our next speaker is Matthew Carras, followed by Paul Kavanaugh.

And whereas stated in resolution 41627, everyone has a right to live peacefully and without fear, and the city of Tacoma condemns the persecution of many others around the world who face extreme barriers and inequitable treatment on account of their race, ethnicity, education level, economic status, gender, immigration, status, sexual orientation, skin color, religion, political opinion, and other identities.

Thank you so much for your testimony.

Our next speaker is Paul Kavanaugh, followed by Riley Guerrero.

Excuse me.

Hi, uh resolution six says whereas the inclusivity of our immigrant and refugee community members aligns with the city's equity and empowerment framework, which strives to give everyone equitable access to the opportunities necessary to assert their human rights, satisfy their essential needs, advance their well-being, and achieve their full potential.

And whereas the immigration enforcement activities undertaken by ICE and the conditions described by detainees in the NWIPC, absent evidence to the contrary, do not align with state regulations, the city's position on the promotion of human rights and the right to live without fear, nor the city's intention of creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for immigrants.

And whereas, by adopting a policy that demands the cessation of federal immigration enforcement activity, the city council will be making clear that the city of Tacoma will not participate in or silently condone these actions.

Thank you, Paul.

It looks like we're moving on to Riley.

Yes.

Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Tacoma, that the City of Tacoma demands the immediate cessation of immigration enforcement activity by the Department of Homeland Security within city limits.

Section two, that it is the policy of the City of Tacoma that unidentified and armed individuals detaining residents, removing residents from their homes, workplaces, or vehicles, and or ordering residents into private or government vehicles without providing evidence of both one status of law status as law enforcement and two, the validity of their jurisdiction to detain the event the individual in question, such as a judicial warrant, is unlawful.

Unlawful activity in the city of Tacoma will be responded to by law enforcement.

Section three, that the City of Tacoma condemns the alleged human rights abuses and alleged regulatory noncompliance at the NWIPC and demands full and immediate inspection access for local and state officials.

The city further resolves to explore all avenues to curtail and/or cease the continuing operation of this facility in accordance with the city's values.

Thank you, Riley.

Our next speaker is Jules Telford.

Followed by Chiharu Garcia.

Thank you.

Section four, that the city manager is directed to take appropriation action to make additional resources available that will create a more welcoming immigrant family environment in accordance with resolution number 39116, operating with consideration to the ongoing and material harm being committed against immigrant communities, which undermines this work.

A preliminary public report on this matter matter will be expected by February 28th, 2026.

That this section five, that the city will provide a port on its policies regarding penalties for city employees collaborating with immigration enforcement and make public policies regarding disciplinary action for collaboration up to and including termination.

Section six that the city will provide a timeline for its plan regarding the use of city facilities in immigration enforcement activities referenced in resolution number 41817, and we'll make that plain public when available.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jules.

Our next speaker is Jihara Garcia, followed by Holden Whitson.

Now, we will be as clear as possible.

It is time our demands are met.

The people will not stand for half measures, false claims, or legal hand wringing anymore when it comes to our neighbors' safety.

We have provided to you all a written document of our demands.

We understand that the council may need time to review this document.

So we will be back here next week at the next city council, and we we want to hear how you plan to meet these demands.

We will hold you accountable to your to your word or to your lack of it.

We are here because the government, because you all are supposed to represent the interests of the people of Tacoma and legislate in accordance with those needs.

You have heard our voice.

Now we call on you to take action.

Thank you so much for your time and for your service to our community.

We will be back here next week.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Jules.

Thank you, Tahara.

Our next speaker is Holden Whitson, followed by Eugenia.

My name is Holden Whitson.

I'm a member of Malaya Movement Tacoma.

I'm here in solidarity with Pierce County Immigration Alliance to demand an end to the fascist attacks on our community that are facilitated through ICE.

Our neighbors are dying, 14 deaths in detention centers in 2025.

Kuyaji suffering grave medical neglect and violence, which led to an amputation.

ICE tried to deport him mere weeks after his life altering surgery.

Then only after the community rallied together at the 11th hour, his deportation was stopped.

Then they attempted to deport him again the very next day.

Should he return to the hospital to receive the care that he needs.

With the increasing violence of these attacks, I can't help but think about the people that I met in the Philippines whose children, siblings, and parents have been either killed or disappeared.

Countless organizers and civilians have been killed by the fascist Philippine state who carries out these attacks in direct collusion with the United States.

For decades, the leading fascists, the bureaucrat capitalists, have been relentlessly attacking the Filipino people, kidnappings, aerial bombings, extra-judicial killings.

Let's not get it twisted.

The murder of Renee Good was an extra-judicial killing.

You must pass this resolution and meet the demands of the people.

Justice for Kuya G, justice for Renee Good, and justice for all those who have been killed fighting for a free Philippines and a free world.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Our next speaker is Eugenia, followed by Gemini.

Welcome.

Thank you.

As you know, people are being racially profiled, harassed, and beaten up and kidnapped on the streets.

I remember a time not long ago when that was called a hate crime.

Today that is called immigration enforcement.

On behalf of the immigrant community that has helped Tacoma be the thriving city that it is today, I am here to demand that Tacoma City Council takes meaningful action to put an end to the terror and violence that Donald Trump's terrorists are inflicting in our lives.

I'm here to demand that they utilize every available resource and piece of legislation to defend and protect migrants in Tacoma.

I'm here to demand that all law enforcement officers identify themselves when interacting with the public, that they are held accountable, that Tacoma City upholds the Keep Washington Working Act, and that they seize all illegal detentions of people based on race, skin color, and country of origin.

I'm here to demand that the Northwest Attention Center is shut down and that all detainees are released to their families.

And most importantly, I'm here to demand eyes out of Tacoma.

I'm also here to make sure that this body understands the urgency of this work.

This isn't a street light or a new budget item that can be pushed until next month.

We are talking about people's lives.

Every minute that passes, another one of our children is left without their father.

We do not have the luxury of time.

I ask that you do not look away, that you don't walk away from their responsibility of taking the powers they be.

Let today be the day, let this be the room where action is taken.

Let these people be the witness to the change the country needs.

Let this be the moment where we collectively say no more.

And let this be the body that finally stands out to the bully administration.

You can let Tacoma lead the nation in honoring the dignity of all people.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Eugenia.

I appreciate your comments.

And thank you so much.

Just again, another friendly reminder, just so we can respect the time of other people speaking.

Our next speaker is uh Gemini, followed by Justin Racing.

Hi Dahe, my name is Gemini.

I'm a proud founding member of the Climate Alliance of the South Sound, uh proud member of the Osage Nation.

I'm here with my eight-week-old baby Mirin.

Um, she's been coming to these meetings since before she was born.

Uh and I want to talk about Renee Good.

Renee Good was a mother, just like me.

She was a lesbian or a woman-loving woman like myself, and and she had a family, she had children.

You know, I'm here with my wife and my sister and my baby, and I know that that that could be me, right?

As an indigenous woman, as a light-skinned woman, none of us are safe from immigration terror.

It spills over, it hurts all of us.

And forgive me if I um am hesitant to believe that if I was gunned down in the street by the ice uh or by any police officer, that this city would not do what it needs to do to get justice for my murder.

And I think you know why I think that.

When Manny Ellis was murdered in the street, we did not get justice for Manny.

We did not.

That fight continues.

That fight continues right now while we continue to stand up against ice, and that's you have the opportunity.

Now, I know many of you were out there on the streets uh fighting for justice for Manny Ellis.

I met some of you doing that, right?

Hold true to that fight.

Stand up, fight back, do what's right, shut down the Northwest Attention Center, listen to your constituents, uh pass this resolution uh with the language that the fighting language is needed to keep us safe.

Uh and I'll give you the last second to clap.

Thank you so much, Gemini.

Our next speaker is Justin Reese and followed by Kathy Laharn.

I'll be honest, my dad moved to Tacoma a long time ago due to him retire from the military.

He's been in call for Afghanistan and Iraq.

And yet, when he finished his Iraq duty, he actually did pretty good for himself.

He's enjoying his retirement very well.

And he's been a great cook and a great friend to a lot of people I've known him made.

That was not the guy who sought Renee Good.

That was not the person who was out there literally instigating her.

And yet when she was calm and saying she had no hate for him, that's what motivated him to pull the trigger.

I think it made it clear.

We cannot say it is what it is to these nightmares that we let pass us by.

We cannot say it is what it is.

To what happened to Renee Good, Keep Porter, Manny, anyone that has been a victim of people like this since our country's founding, unfortunate as it is to admit.

But most of all, I just want this council and its mayor to understand this from the bottom of my heart.

Don't let them make you believe that siding with these types of people will guarantee your safety.

Don't act like just siding with them will make sure you're the last one on the hit list.

It doesn't work.

You could say it is what it is to all this.

You can say you won't suffer.

But that ain't the point.

The point is we have to stop eyes where we can, else their future crimes will be more heinous, more brutal, and more against our constitutional rights.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Our next speaker is Ms.

Kathy Lawhorn, followed by Lori Lee.

Let's refrain from that, please.

Kathy, can you please refrain from that?

I'd love to hear your comments.

Hi, Andrew's long time no see.

Um City of Tacoma.

Um, so I thought I should test it.

Um Welcome Tasha.

ICE sucks.

I can say that, right?

Um back in the South, you know, before the corporations bought up the farm, then a dog was sucking eggs, they shoot the dog.

But Christy No wouldn't need an excuse to shoot her dog.

Define IC, you find GHS.

Stop it.

Um I realize y'all have limited power, but I I want to see you, and I appreciate what's happening.

I want maximum pressure, everything you can throw at it.

Do not be intimidated.

We will not be intimidated.

We will not be intimidated.

And that's what's going on right now.

It's the fascist playbook.

And I've been saying that you know from the beginning.

Well, maybe it's not so crazy now.

Right?

Right.

But by the way, um I'd like the city attorney to prove that it's not a violation of the First Amendment to keep camping down or curing or whatever it is.

We're over it.

We had two terms of that with Mayor Wooders.

Please stop telling us not to express ourselves.

Give us our time back.

Thank you for your time.

I appreciate your speaking.

Our last uh our second to last speaker who's live is Lori Lee, followed by Anita Arnold.

Uh hello, I'm Laurie Lee.

I'm a disabled veteran, and um I'm just wondering if the city attorney and oh the state attorney general can't.

I I know they are already fighting using the 10th Amendment, seeing as um the uh sheriff swank thinks that the 10th and Fifth Amendment don't even exist anymore.

So the 10th Amendment protects us from the overreach of federal government, but you also know what else does.

The second amendment.

And it says right here in DC versus Heller, reflecting the founder's fear of overreaching power alongside concerns for national defense and individual self-defense with interpretation evolving from military focus to include individual rights.

Um armed enough to resist potential potential federal overreach, seeing armed citizens as a check on government power.

And I say we arm up.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lori Lee, and thank you for your service too.

Our last live speaker is Anneta Arnold, and then we have two virtual speakers who signed up.

Hello, um, and welcome, new members.

So I didn't really prepare anything, but I have been going to rallies.

Um I think I know that you have limited power, but I think how you present yourself, and thank you for this resolution.

How you present yourself uh in Pierce County is really important because we have a sheriff who is uh renegade.

Um there our federal government is so radical right now.

Uh no one's has any protections right now.

Uh it's very obvious what's happening on the streets with ice.

Uh other things that are happening are not so obvious.

We have to be aware of all of that.

I'd I'd like to know how the city is working with the uh police to police department and also the public schools uh to make uh sure that the police department is operating under the rules they're supposed to and not engaging or supporting ice, and also that the schools are have some protocol to protect the uh children and the families who are afraid to go to to school or to work or to stores.

Uh and I think that's where uh I can see the city having some uh um some uh a position or power, but I think it's how you present yourself in general.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Anita.

We do have one last live speaker.

Her name is Nicole.

Nicole, please stand up.

Hi, I'm Nicole Eidesmo.

I hadn't intended to speak till I heard some of the opening stuff.

Um and everyone showed a lot of appreciation, which is great, but like it feels like this is definitely not enough.

Acting like 25,000 extra to lawyers for local nonprofits is nothing.

My custody case cost more than that just for the retainer to act like we're not past the point of signage.

Like, why aren't there people out there protecting our citizens?

Not signs.

Like, I see some of you out there, but you all hold the most power in this room, and you are not doing the most with it.

There are people behind us that go to work every day that have families that they take care of that have a disabled families they take care of, and they are still out there fighting, and you are acting like $25,000 in some signs is something to be proud of.

It's not, it's embarrassing.

It's it's shameful.

The you're not doing anything.

Like the it's nothing.

And your lack of anger, visibly is so disappointing.

It's infuriating to just see you come up here and say, like, yes, we're all thinking about it.

We're all upset.

Like it does, there's not action behind that anger.

You hold more power than anyone.

Use it.

Look, I'm done.

All right, thank you, Nicole.

That was our last live speaker.

Thank you for your comments.

We have one, uh excuse me, we have three virtual speakers.

The first of which is Ifa.

Did you say Jude?

Eva.

Ifa.

Oh.

Is there an IFA who signed in?

Hello.

We can hear me.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, okay.

Sorry, I think it they unmuted the wrong person.

Yes, I'm ready.

Please proceed.

All right.

Uh thanks for saying my name right, by the way.

The other mayor never did that even once.

Um, anyway, uh, thank you, everyone in chambers.

Um, like everyone in the overflow rooms, both rooms were full.

Everybody online also, and people were still rallying outside when I left.

And um, that's so powerful.

In the last two years I've been coming to city council meetings.

This is I'm just so proud of our community, how much we're willing to fight back.

And to be real with you, I hate these council meetings.

It's dehumanizing to beg for our lives every week.

And some of you, you know what I'm talking about.

And I'm so glad that we're still here, still fighting, getting stronger every single day.

And I'm proud to see like new speakers coming up, people who are willing to sign up outside to share a long comment.

I'm just, I'm so fired up.

And uh, you know, like the the last person said, we need to keep pushing.

We have to keep fighting, we need to take our power back.

Um, and I I would love to see everyone out in the streets with us marching against Trump on Saturday, January 24th, 1 p.m.

Fireman's park, just a few blocks away from the city council building.

We're going to march against Trump, march against IC, and uh fight against immigration terror and fight for the people's interests.

And I I want to see every single one of you there and keep fighting.

And uh, yeah, let's give let's give them hell.

Thank you so much, Afa.

We have one more virtual speaker who's signed up.

Do we have a name?

Um Mayor, we have Jude followed by Sterling.

All right, Jude, please proceed.

Thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Excellent.

I do appreciate that you've started working on this and reiterating that TBD will not be supporting ICE since we know they are not to be trusted after murders without justice, like Manuel Ellis, and also running people over in their cars.

Um I agree with and reiterate all demands and resolutions brought before you by my neighbors ahead of me as they put everything more eloquently than I can today.

I personally watched our council not only call our efforts vitriolic last year, but decidedly sidestep our demands for the NWDC since 2018.

In addition to what's been mentioned tonight, I'd like to see our new council make more direct action for getting inside the facility itself.

Show us your work.

Make it loud.

Find out why these demands are so important, and tell everyone else who doesn't know yet.

And since some of you are new here, I'll just say this.

No justice, no peace.

Until we see you actionably begin prioritizing human rights and safety, we're gonna go ahead and say, fuck your decorum.

Thank you.

I yield the all right.

We have our last speaker.

Please proceed.

Um, hello, yeah.

Uh my name is Sterling Peel.

I live in the South End.

Um, and I'm just speaking here as a concerned citizen.

Um it's really nice to see some new faces on the council.

And um I'll be brief.

Uh I don't have too much to say.

I just want to say thank you for hosting this public comment and allowing the people to um give their input.

Uh I just want to say you guys are um you are our elected officials, and so it is your responsibility to keep the community safe.

And ICE is not keeping the community safe.

In fact, quite the opposite.

So um it is your responsibility to do everything you can to uh prevent ICE operations in Tacoma.

And the people are watching.

So uh it's it's your choice what you do with it.

Thank you so much for your comments, and thank you to everyone who's shown up.

So, with that, it looks like no one else is signed in to speak, so I'm gonna close public comment.

So there may be some people who are here for the first time.

So, just to explain how this all works, uh this is absolutely on our minds, and we will be addressing these directly, both through resolution 41844 and at the end of the meeting after community forum.

Uh, there may be comments that members of the council wish to say to say additionally as well.

So our this is not a back and forth.

What we do absolutely want to continue hearing from you.

That will be addressed later on in this public meeting, but we do want to make sure we're clear about that.

Um, thank you so much for your presentation.

We will absolutely work to address that.

Moving on to the next part of our meeting, um, appointments.

This is item number eight.

Clerk please read.

Resolution 41843, resolution appointing and reappointing individuals to the Board of Ethics.

I move to adopt resolution number 41843.

Second.

Yes.

Um, I'd like to call them Councilman Rhines.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, the December 16th, 2025 government performance and finance committee meeting, the committee conducted interviews and recommended the appointment and reappointment of the following individuals to the Board of Ethics.

Terry Phillips and Nelson Raskin.

I just want to say uh we had a great slate of people that interviewed for the Board of Ethics, and we were deeply impressed by all the applicants that came through.

Um, and I very confident in both these people to serve in that role in this capacity.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41843, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed to say no, the resolution is declared adopted.

Uh, we've invited the individuals being appointed and rep and reappointed tonight to attend the city council meeting virtually or in person.

Whether you are attending, uh attending virtually or in person, I'd like to thank you for volunteering and continuing your service on the Board of Ethics, and we really appreciate your willingness to serve.

Please join me in a round of applause for these people.

We now have a motion before us for consideration.

Mayor, I move to approve the following statement on behalf of the city council.

We, the city council, condemned the senseless killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week.

We extend our deepest condolences to her family and community.

Over the last year, the federal administration has continued to promote actions and policies that sow fear and anxiety in our communities.

This fear has become so pervasive that many of our neighbors now share their concerns only in whispers, afraid that speaking out or even being seen could put their families at risk.

The shooting of Miss Good is the latest consequence of U.S.

immigration and custom enforcement's reckless tactics.

We're deeply alarmed by reports documenting the far-reaching damage of these operations, including the tragic accounts of individuals who have died while in federal custody.

Independent media investigations, including recent data published by ProPublica, indicate that these tactics have resulted in wrongful detainment and mistreatment for over 170 U.S.

citizens.

And combined with reports of deaths and cut ICE custody, this statistic underscores a chaotic approach to enforcement that endangers everyone, regardless of immigration status.

Whenever safe and feasible, the city of Tacoma's use of force policies require de-escalation that is available and appropriate and mandates my warnings before the discharge of a weapon.

Everyone in Tacoma deserves to live safely, with dignity, and without fear.

A year ago, that commitment guided the uh Tacoma City Council to adopt resolution 41627, a City of Tacoma policy aligned with the state's Keep Washington Working Act.

The uh Washington State Keep Washington Working Act restricts how law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

And this resolution further prohibits all other city resources from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement with civil immigration duties when not required to do so by state or federal law or in response to a lawfully issued court order.

We deepened that commitment with the passage of resolution 41817 directing the city manager to clarify the policies governing the use of city-owned properties is about ensuring that our public assets assets remain dedicated to the public function for which they were established.

Tacoma is a city that champions and celebrates diversity.

Our strength comes from standing up for and in solidarity with our neighbors, no matter their identity, race, religion, immigration status, or national origin.

Tacoma will continue to work within its legal authority to defend democracy and protect due process rights for every resident.

As a council, we will continue to expand protections for immigrants and refugees who call Tacoma home, and everyone seeking their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness here in the future.

The statement is further adds a link to community resources.

Thank you for your statement.

Is there a second?

There has been a second, right?

Please proceed.

I need a I think there's a second.

Second.

Okay, now there's a second.

I'd like to further call on Councilman Slodagi to comment on this.

Thank you.

My co-sponsors and I created this statement in recognition of the importance of this tock topic given the national dialogue and specifically its effects on residents in Tacoma.

I'm a foreign-born immigrant.

And I know the fear and anxiety I wrote about.

And quite frankly, to be honest with you, the first draft started with a statement that was on one of these signs that I cannot repeat.

But I also want to talk about the fact that I am proud that I live in this city and that I have this seat on this dais.

Because Tacoma is a welcoming city.

And we are a city that values and affirms the fundamental dignity that everyone, including immigrants and refugees, have.

And words are important, but actions are more important.

And we're gonna get into a resolution that I wrote as quickly as I possibly could.

And I know some of you are not gonna be happy because it's not enough, but it is something, and we are doing something.

And I want to thank each and every one of you that came to make comment, and I am more than happy to come in and talk to each one of you and explain to you the anger that I feel.

Thank you, Councilman Soldagi.

Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and thank you, Councilmember Sidalke, for um kicking us off here and for taking the first stab at the draft of the statement.

Um, and for making helping make sure that we all um got here today.

I think what people don't realize is that this council is actually um very progressive on this specific topic, and so one of the harder things to juggle around it is actually getting everyone's feedback and input into it because everybody kind of wants their hands on it, so that we're able to get it before you today is actually kind of a feat in and of itself.

So I'm grateful for that.

Um, but uh as the council's first and now only Latina um and uh a queer woman.

I think this shooting has really hit me and in the feelings and the emotions in a in a deep way.

Um, not just because of the identity of the person who was killed, but um, because it's literally anybody, it's everybody.

Um, we're all under attack.

My community is particularly under attack right now.

Um, nowhere is safe for us.

Um, and it's really hard to both have the weight and the pressure of being an elected official and knowing that we can't do enough, we can't do as much as everyone would like us to do.

And I am still waking up and living in this body in this identity in this space and showing up here and doing the work anyway.

So I just I I wanted to iterate that because it's um while I love the energy and I really appreciate the um the candor that folks have, and I'm really looking forward to everyone keeping that momentum up.

There's a lot of elected officials who do have power directly over ice.

So I would ask that folks reach out to their members of Congress, get them to defund iCE, get them to hold these people accountable.

They brought them here.

We'd like to make sure that they get out of here.

Um, I also am hoping that folks are paying attention to the legislative session that started yesterday.

There's a ton of bills this year because we've done a lot of work as a state to get a lot more by BIPOC members, a lot more immigrants down there.

There's no less than 10 bills that I can think of off the top of my head that are looking at how we can fight ICE as a state.

And those tools are really helpful to us as a city because once they give us more authority, we can move more.

Um, and so I I really encourage folks to get involved with that.

It's a six-to-day session, it's gonna go really fast.

But if you look at the legislative website, you can really follow along, see what's happening.

The city shares a lot of the priorities that community has.

We're monitoring, we'll probably be testifying on some of those bills as well.

Our staff will be monitoring, but I really encourage folks to take some of this energy that you're you're sharing with us, keep it on us, but keep it on these other folks too, because they don't get a pass.

Um, and they're not governing every Tuesday that we that we are and living, and we're all part-time up here besides the mayor.

So we're doing our best, and I appreciate y'all doing your best because everybody out here works really hard.

Um, and I I really am so grateful for my colleagues for the work that we're doing on this statement, on the policies that we've done to get to this place, and on the next resolution that we're gonna bring forward next.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so I have a few remarks to share that um about the senseless killing of Renee Good, uh, both to share my perspective um with our community, but also to let community members who have reached out know that we you are not alone in your frustration and your anger.

Uh, while Minneanapolis is far from Tacoma, Renee Good's story resonated with me.

Um, and although we know she she wasn't the first victim, right?

And she's unfortunately probably not going to be the last.

Uh, she was a mom, and uh being a mom of my three kids is if for those who know me is the biggest joy of my life.

Um, so it was really heartbroken um when I heard about what happened in um the orphan that was left um after this tragedy.

Um, and then I learned also that the father of Renee's children was a veteran.

Uh, my children's father father, who was a child of immigrants, also served in the military, and similarly to him, uh, the father of Renee's children suffered from PTSD after his service, and that led to the first parent's death.

Losing a loved one to this carelessness and even contempt by our federal government is a devastating experience.

As an American, we should be able to expect that the federal government will uphold our rights and protect us when the federal government instead plays a role in harming the public and our loved ones, we have to continue to raise questions and we have to act and thank you all for doing that and continuing to do that.

We have to come together to hold fast to our values and our rights because we are stronger together and we know this.

My personal experiences have taught me that we need to learn and lean on each other uh during these challenges because we know that we are all we have, and I want to say this clearly when our systems cannot protect us, we will always be able to still protect each other.

Let's be real.

The steps that were taken tonight as a council, they don't resolve the unprecedented challenges we are facing today, but I do believe that it builds on uh the steps that the council has taken in this past year to navigate through this craziness.

Um I'm grateful for Councilmember Diaz and Councilmember Sidalgi for taking the lead on this, and I'm proud that I'm able to join in and that they allowed me to join in.

Um, I'm also grateful that our mayor did not hesitate to speak out on this issue.

I hope that in the face of all the federal actions taking place uh that we can all work to come together in solidarity and and we're we're getting there.

Um, as a council member, I want our community to know that I stand in solidarity with everyone who is being impacted directly, as well as the families and businesses that are attempting to navigate this chaotic time with bravery, compassion, and love, even while we are mitigating the anger and sadness of this moment.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much to my three colleagues for bringing this forward.

I'll reserve my own comments towards the actual resolution itself.

Are there any further counsel questions or comments on this?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting uh the media statement in front of us, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed to say no.

The statement is approved.

Thank you for bringing this forward.

Moving on to resolutions.

Item number 8A.

Clerk, please read.

Resolution 41844, a resolution directing the city manager to create a web page to share resources for immigrants, community members, and businesses related to immigration issues impacting residents of the city to include background on the city council legislation and support of cities of the city's immigrant and refugee community and the city's advocacy to restrict the use of for-profit detention centers and directing the city manager to create outreach materials and share this information with affected community members.

I move to adopt resolution number 41844.

Second.

Moving and seconded, I'd like to call on Councilmember Saldagi.

Thank you.

As I said, statements are important, action is also important.

It was important that we have something meaningful.

No matter how much you may think it's not enough.

We had to do something.

And I uh thank um uh councilmember Diaz uh when we were talking about it on coming up with this.

So this resolution is directing the city manager uh to create a single web page that shares the resources to those that are affected uh while adding a lot of background in what we as a city have done um uh over the years um um around these issues.

Um but the part that's really important to me is it also further stresses that we as a city go out intentionally in sharing this information with the affected community members.

That's the part that's important.

And I know it's not enough, right?

I feel the frustration of the legal limits that the city has.

And that does make me angry, like I said, because we respect the rule of law, and this federal administration does not.

And that's unfair.

But that does not mean that we lose sight of that fundamental principle.

And when I was thinking about this, it took me a while to get over or at least move past in my thinking of the anger, because I still feel it.

And in crafting this resolution, what I'm actually asking my colleagues to do is to support my co-sponsors and I in choosing to prioritize getting this information out to those who are affected because I want to have an action rooted in helping.

And I hope all of you also help us by finding the community members who are right now in fear and not here, because there is a privilege that you have feeling documented to be able to make the comments you are and helping share those resources because we as a community have that power.

And whether it is here, I hope that the next place you're all going is down in Olympia because there's a lot of bills that could really help us.

Right?

I lost my place, I'm sorry.

It's okay.

Um I want to give time for for uh my co-sponsors to to talk.

So I I do want to dearly um uh thank them, and I do at this point want to recognize the really hard work of staff.

It takes a long time to get a lot of this legal stuff done.

And they were up uh, I mean, they were there were calls on the weekends, uh, and we got this together really fast.

Um, and I do appreciate all that uh work on staff.

Uh it is no small feat um uh in order to get to where we are right now.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing this forward, Councilman Sodagi.

Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I also wanted to express my gratitude for staff, particularly our legal staff who I joked with earlier today.

Um, part of the reason why we want to make sure that these resources are available for folks online, and a lot of the resources will point to third parties rather than anything the city can do is quite frankly, you don't want a municipal land use lawyer helping you figure out your immigration case.

That's not it's not a great idea.

It's like asking a cardiologist to look at your toe.

It's not um they're great, but it's just not it's not gonna line up real well.

Um, so a lot of this is is in the hope of this web page being more transparent for community, um, so that it stays a little bit more evergreen because some of these organizations that we'll link to will be um more um their full-time day day jobs, day um advocacy is keeping these resources up to date because quite frankly, with the Supreme Court and with the changes that happen, they're they are changing every day.

Because quite frankly, with the Supreme Court and with the changes that happened, there they are changing every day.

My citizenship is in in the Supreme Court right now.

I have birthright citizenship.

We all are just out here trying to make sure that people have the information they need as soon as they can they can get to it.

Um and so I'm really grateful to my colleagues for their support of this, and really really grateful to the city staff for how quickly they move.

It's actually really unusual that we come up with an idea over a weekend and then it happens on Tuesday.

It's highly unusual.

And quite frankly, we may not do it too often because I I like labor rights.

I like making sure people have weekends and time off.

Um, but when it's important, we're gonna make sure we do that.

So I want to thank the staff and the colleagues for for their support in this.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Palmer.

I think uh my co-sponsors said a lot of what I would have said, but I I just wanted to reiterate what I said earlier at um at study session that you know I was kind of in a place this weekend.

I think probably where a lot of us were, is like, okay, what do I what do I do?

Um and I, you know, staff was super helpful.

I'm brand new, as all of you know, and so I wasn't quite sure um what my resources were or how to get this thing going.

And um I put in calls to my colleagues, and um uh uh councilmember Scott was said, yeah, let's do it.

But also we had you know, my co-sponsors Diaz and Sidalga, um, when I called them, they said we're already on it, and that just felt so good to know that they were taking the lead and I could I could follow.

So I wanted to thank them.

And then also uh as they stated, staff, you know, they have lives and they they but they understood, and I think they felt the urgency of what needed to happen, and so they they got right on it as well.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Palmer.

So, what I'll say besides thank you again to all of you for caring, and for all of my colleagues for your support of this, is a few things.

For one, don't take the lack of palpable outrage and heartbreak, and and even then, I mean, listen to what we've heard already from the council, as any lack of enthusiasm on our part.

What we're elected to do as leaders is first and foremost to be effective, it's to care for our people.

And one of the biggest balancing acts that we have to do from our vantage point is we have to be both bold and smart.

We have to be forceful because what we've just talked about, our past resolutions that we've done.

Um, and you're right, 25,000 is a drop in the bucket in terms of the real need.

I've visited people and spoken with with detainees, most of the council has uh at GEO.

That's a drop in the bucket.

This is the floor, not the ceiling.

We are actively looking at different things, whether they're legal policy or otherwise, partnerships with other um agencies in the area and absolutely advocating with our state and federal delegation to look at all available options for protecting the rights of Tacoma, because public safety, first and foremost, has to be your constitutional liberties as a resident of Tacoma, not just a citizen.

Furthermore, the other thing that we have to balance as elected leaders, which uh I can only imagine how frustrating it must be being here right now, maybe turning out for the first time, is what may seem as a as a lack of the same kind of urgency that you are bringing.

Um, what may come across is restraint or or even timidity.

And what we have to keep in mind, and and something that I myself have to uh sometimes be reminded of or remind myself, is that our actions, our words as elected leaders have far more consequences.

Uh, I mean, anything that we say can and will be used against us, and as my colleague, Councilman Soldagi put it, we are fighting at a handicap because we respect constitutions and the rule of law, and they don't.

And so we have to be very, very careful and strategic in terms of how we do this, in terms of how we really move the needle, both in terms of immediate relief for the people of our community and the people uh in our broader um community as a whole, how we provide that immediate relief and also longer term, how we fight for justice, how we work with our state and federal partners, our law, our lawmakers at the state and federal level and also regionally, how we can do a better job of of making sure that we're holding folks accountable and also protecting the rights in the physical lives of people.

So this is the beginning of a conversation.

We are absolutely not celebrating or resting on our laurels because there is nothing here we're celebrating.

This is about managing pain, it's about doing better, and it's about leading.

So, with that, I'm I'm not happy to support this because this is not a cause for happiness.

This is a part, this is a cause for righteous anger.

This is a cause for demanding that we do better, but it's a start.

We commit to starting, not ending.

So, with that, um, I'm gonna call for a roll, excuse me, before I call for a vote.

Uh, Councilman Scott, uh, councilmember Scott has um a comment on this.

Thank you, Mary.

I was gonna wait until later, but I figure since we're on the topic, I might as well just do it now.

Please.

Um, and then I also thought maybe I won't say it because the things that I have on my heart to say have been already said so eloquently by my colleagues up here as well.

But um, I figure the more of us uh sharing our thoughts and our intentions and um just where we are with this is better than not saying anything at all, even if it feels repetitive.

And so um uh I just wanted to start by being honest with everybody that as a city we are doing everything we legally can and with the resources that we actually have.

Um I say that because clarity is what protects us better than any false promises or big statements or fancy words.

Um and so you know, we don't control the federal immigration enforcement.

So, as it's already been stated, please make sure that the same energy that everybody is bringing here tonight, take that to the state, um, keep sharing that um that energy um in chambers wherever you're it you go, do it at the county level, do it at the state level, do it in the streets.

Um but you know, we it's hard for us to do the work to stop federal overreach by ourselves.

There are a lot of things that we are are limited to, and so what we can do is make sure that Tacoma doesn't participate in the harm and that our resources aren't misused, that due process is respected uh where the law allows, and that people have access to clear and accurate information, um, especially when there's so much fear and anger and things are changing at such a rapid, rapid pace.

Um we're also in the middle of, you know, I I I hear you all when you say 25,000 isn't enough, or uh $50,000 isn't enough, or $500,000 isn't enough.

Um, but we are at real limits with what we have as a city as we work to figure out our budget deficit, as we work to figure out um how can we place things uh, you know, people know that budgets are moral documents.

So how can we make sure that we're putting our money where our mouth is and we're putting money into the places that um we know are essential, that we you know we have people here who work every day and that costs money.

We have people who um you know need help from us in the city, and that costs money, and so figuring out how we make sure we manage that, and we're not you know, unfortunately, sometimes it it would be nice to be able to put all of our eggs in one basket, but we we can't do that, and our job up here is to look at all the things that are needed from us as a council and make sure that we're doing what we can where we can with that.

Um we're up against a lot.

We're dealing with a federal regime that respects the law only when it serves them to do so.

Um and they selectively recognize people's rights, and there's not really a statement or a resolution or an ordinance that can fully protect people from that reality, which is why the truth of this matter is that community is and has always been that first line of defense, it's not government.

Um I say that sitting up here, but I want you to know that I'm also your community.

So when I say that is the first line of defense, I'm standing with you.

Um I have put my body on the line for the city.

I've been yelled at, I have been have I've had to jump out of the way of cars, I have been arrested.

Um I I love this city, and I I have a hard time often seeing myself as an elected official because I see myself as the community, I see myself as your guys' neighbors, as your friend, as a confidant, as somebody who wants what's best for you, sometimes even at the expense of what's good for me.

Um so I just want to remind everybody to keep educating yourselves, keep educating your neighbors, uh call people in when they're misinformed, call people call people out when harm is happening, stay vigilant, make sure you take care of yourselves because this is a very, very long fight.

Um I'm sure people are feeling tired already, and I'm sure you are all aware of the long road we have left to uh run.

So please take care of yourself and take care of each other.

And again, we all are trying to do what we can.

We appreciate when uh you feel comfortable enough.

Um our rights are being decimated, you still all feel comfortable coming here and using your right to speak up to tell you, tell us how you feel, to tell us what you need, um, and to do so with passion, with heart, with compassion, with empathy.

Um, you know, it's been said already, and just to reiterate it, but that that community is what matters when all of these other things are crumbling, when it feels like you are siloed and left out and scared and alone.

Um it's having that ability to look at the person next to you and know that they'll be there.

Um, and without having to look behind you, know that somebody is standing there to catch you, and know that if you look up that there's somebody standing in front of you to lead.

And so just a reminder that community is the most important part of this, and I consider myself part of your community.

I hope you all feel that you're part of my community, and I'm sure a lot of my colleagues feel the same in that in that respect.

So yes, we are those elected officials, but please also see us as your community, and we really are working hard on your behalf.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott.

Are there any further comments from the council?

Seeing that, I'd like to call Rovell.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Aye.

Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Heinz.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmer.

Councilmember Rumba.

Aye.

Councilmember Sidalgay?

Aye.

Councilmember Scott?

Aye.

Councilmember Walker.

Aye.

Mayor Ibsen.

Aye.

Motion is declared passed.

Resolution.

Moving on to final reading of ordinances.

Item number nine.

This item was removed from the agenda earlier in the meeting.

So we are going to move on now to unfinished business.

Is there any unfinished business?

Seeing none, moving on to community forum, during which you may speak about items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

As a reminder, these forums are intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making and is not meant to be back and forth dialogue.

Your remarks should be directed to the city council and not at individual staff members.

At this time, I'd like to ask attendees if you'd like to speak under community forum.

Please press the raise hand button near the bottom of your Zoom window or pound nine on your phone now, so we can see the number of people wishing to testify this evening.

If you're speaking in person, please sign up at the back of the room if you've not done so already.

Your name or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out when it is your turn to speak.

So with that, we have some people sign up now.

I'd like to first call on Alice Phillips, followed by Michelle Reich.

Good evening.

Mayor Ibsen, Deputy Mayor, Council members.

I come to you tonight as the president of the Pierce County Central Labor Council, and I would like to talk to you about your process for hiring a city manager.

Um and I know that you addressed this at the study session, but we're at an important moment in Tacoma.

The choices made in this city manager process will shape how boldly our city meets the challenges ahead.

And as you can see by tonight, we have many.

This sets this role sets the tone for Tacoma, leads too often to fear of risk, has slow slowed innovation and cost us real opportunities.

Tacoma needs a city manager who understands that value-driven leadership means moving forward.

One who is willing to make thoughtful, courageous decisions in the service of the public good.

Strong partnerships are built on trust and trust is built through accountability.

Tacoma City Manager should treat legislative direction and community comments as promises to be kept so that ideals approved by the council are implemented fully, transparently, and with accountability and trust.

Tacoma doesn't succeed alone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alice.

Moving on to our next speaker, Misselle Reich, followed by Carol Kent.

Um Michelle Reich.

Um there's a 99-year lease on Guantanamo.

President Fidel Castro, every year when he got the rent check from the US, put it in a cigar box.

Guantanmal has been designated a backup ice facility with 5,000 bids brought in.

And I have a burning question.

Or how much taxes do you get?

And what do you do with that money?

Yeah, if you get all that money to whether it's the port or the city, or taxes or lease or rent from the Northwest Intuition, that's blood money, and you should uh donate that money to a charity and not put it with the city money because if you accept that money, you're condoning this facility.

That's what Castro didn't want to accept the lease money.

He put it in a cigar bus, and there's it's been there for all these years.

And if the city takes one centes from the North, you're part of the problem.

Thank you, Michelle.

Moving on to Carol Kind, followed by Jordan Rash.

Good evening again.

Carol Kent.

Um I want to expand on the earlier remarks.

I do commend the members of council who drafted the resolution, and I understand that this council has no authority unilaterally to close down the Northwest Detention Center.

At the same time, I want to find out.

Please exercise your free press rights under the First Amendment while we have a First Amendment to not only get these comments and your statements, your resolutions, sorry, in the press, as far wide as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carol.

Moving on to Jordan Rash, followed by Kelly Brickhouse.

Is Jordan Rash here?

Yes.

Okay, seeing none.

Uh moving on to Kelly Brickhouse, followed by Norman Ramirez.

Hi, thank you, Mayor Ibsen, Deputy Mayor, City Council members.

My name is Kelly Brickhouse, and I am a resident of the amazing district two.

I'm here to ask that the city of Tacoma commit to a transparent, inclusive, and forward thinking process for the hiring of our next city manager.

This role really sets the tone for how we lead, how we innovate, and how we build trust for the people who call Tacoma home.

For too long, many of our systems, intentionally or not, have operated with a scarcity mindset.

A mindset that assumes limited capacity, limited resources, and limited voices at the table.

But Tacoma is not a city defined by scarcity.

We are rich in community leadership, lived experience, creativity, and resilience.

The time is now for change.

We need a hiring process that reflects the future we say we want.

One that is open, clearly communicated, and invites meaningful community engagement.

A process that values innovation, collaboration, and the ability to lead across systems while centering the people most impacted by the city decisions.

Tacoma is ready to move forward.

Our community is ready to grow, not in silos, not behind closed doors, but collectively.

Thank you, Kelly.

Moving on to Norman Ramirez, followed by Trevian Parrish.

Thank you again.

And including the woman who was shot in the chest in Oregon, who arrived yesterday, I think, at the detention center, that they all receive the medical care that they need in a timely manner, either through the local or state health department, somehow that they get their the care they need.

And I'm also here to ask that you direct Chief Jackson to require all Tacoma police officers to ask to see the judicial warrants signed by a judge when they see an ICE agent stopping people and to ask those agents to leave if they cannot show them a judicial warrant.

Thank you.

Thank you, Norma.

Moving on to Trevion Parish, followed by Kathy Laharn.

Hello, City Council.

Um I'm here today to talk about ICE in the uh the community.

Um I'm not here to talk about bus 63, the runner of Pierce Transit.

And so, yeah, again, my name is Trayvon Parish.

I have a background as a youth civic engagement activist and organizer, and I've worked with uh communities across Washington State that are diverse and under uh underrepresented.

I feel as though it's imperative for me to say that young people are scared.

There's a deep fear that looms across multiple communities because of the actions of ICE.

I live in District 2, and with the omnipresent implications of having a detention center in district two, it is made organizing in the community uh hard, very hard.

And I believe that the actions of ISIS further turning America into a stretocracy.

Young people are the life of democracy, and with young people's growing fear of wanting to get involved in participating in democracy due to ICE, we are all slowly pulled down.

And I ask the council to please take every action and step possible to come up with actual steps towards condemning ice, every resource and innovative policies integral towards becoming a leader and standing against ice and showing that you care about not only young people but everyone within the city of Tacoma.

Um thank you so much for your time and have a great day.

Thank you, Mr.

Parrish.

Moving on to Kathy Lahan, followed by uh over New Year.

Over now, excuse me.

Just kidding.

Um while this depravity, this evil is going on in American cities.

We're invading Venezuela, threatening Colombia, threatening Cuba, and there we've heard many of those already by sanctions over decades.

Usually, you know, I guess oil and gas having peaking contests with each other.

Um oh, Canada, yeah.

My friend in Australia is wondering what the hell is wrong with us, or we haven't impeached him.

Um all of that is being oh yeah, um Gaza.

Um all the aid uh workers that were let in for a minute and in the fake um she's fire.

Kathy, is there a topic related to the city?

I'm not there anymore.

Say what?

Uh is there a topic related to the city of Tacoma?

Uh well, you know, I don't know.

So um you know, I only get 90 seconds, right?

So give me a break, Andrews.

Um we have to keep our eye on all of it.

And it's all out regular, so we need to be in the streets every night at seven.

If they cut off our internet and our phone, we need to be in the streets every night at seven.

Appreciate your comments.

Moving on to Oven Nile.

Is Ovin Io in the audience?

Good evening.

Uh yeah, so addressing the Gestapo, I'm not gonna call them ICE.

That is ridiculous.

Uh, they are killing us in the streets, they are stealing our neighbors.

Uh they are walking door to door on Pacific Avenue and Hosmer.

If y'all didn't know that, snatching up our neighbors, uh, abusing the youth.

Uh so much more.

Jesus.

And I mean, last year alone they killed 32 people.

This year already they've killed ten.

And the years just started.

And these terrorists are in our streets in our neighborhoods, our neighborhoods, hurting our friends, our families, our neighbors.

I wouldn't wish that upon any of y'all or anybody else, even my worst enemy.

I do encourage uh the community to learn to defend yourself.

It's getting a little bit slippery out there.

Uh you know, we offer self-defense classes if you want to come learn with us.

Uh if you don't feel stable in that, I do advise you to arm yourself at the very least and learn how to use it.

Uh keep the escapo as far away from you and yours as you can.

Don't open the door for them, don't answer their questions.

They have no authority over you.

I'm almost done.

Uh with that, uh, I I really lost my point there.

That's okay.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your comments.

And with that, it looks like uh we have no further people signed up.

Barb.

Oh, apologies.

Um we have uh in Barb looks like you're the last speaker, but we have a few people before you.

So uh Barb, I'm so sorry.

We have Rachel Osteller, followed by Wendy Pintill.

I got a little ahead of myself.

First community forum.

Apologies.

Go ahead.

Sorry, I was a late minute sign up, so um the reason I decided to talk is because I heard a lot today about um rules and limitations.

And you say that well, the bad guys, ICE and the opposition, they don't play by the rules, and that you have to.

Well, when you're playing a game and half the players are playing different rules with no consequences, those aren't the rules.

You say that they're breaking the rules, but the reality is look what you can do within our system with when you actually care.

And if they're willing to cross the line for racism and profit, but we're not even willing to hold a line for a life.

Woo!

So I don't want to see hand wringing about how the opposition breaks the rules.

I would like to see you stand up and withhold the rules and uh uphold the rules.

And we talked to you tonight about how what they're doing now is in direct violation of the city council's rules and regulations.

The Northwest Attention Center is in direct violation of our requirement for basic health and safety.

So uh I would like to see you pass the resolution we brought you today, show up at their door and bring legal action against them for breaking the rules.

You do have the power to make the change.

You're some of the only people who do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

Moving on to Wendy Pentelha, followed by Marilyn Kimmerling.

Thank you, everybody.

My name is Wendy Pantoja, and I would like to talk about different issues.

So one of the issues is like uh are not only ICE agents who are like taking people, also kidnappers and kidnappers are like um working with ice.

I can't say that because I personally went to interviewing Site Catacoma detention center, people and they say was taken from Portland for people who are not ICE.

I don't know, identifies.

We know in this state is illegal, illegal, but that don't mean it's not happening, still happening, and we need to be regulating and observing these people, but because they are not identifying.

ICE is not identifying itself, and the kidnappers are not identifying, they are like kidnapping people.

And some of these arrests involve kids, and we have uh uh people who was arrested with uh six years old, and they leave the kid inside the car alone.

And we have author who was in Tacoma, who was arrested, um the father, and inside was the mother who don't know to read and write, at 13 years old and eight years old.

This kid uh when they take the father, and they left the car with the mom who don't know how to drive.

The 13 years old drive the car to this school and advice to to the teacher is how we know about this case.

Thank you, Wendy.

If you have if you have further comments, you're welcome to submit them to the clerk.

Yep, I have thank you so much.

Our next speaker is Marilyn Kimmerling, followed by Karina Grillardo.

Good evening, counsel, and good evening, Mayor, and all new council members, and God knows when I disagree with something that's going down, I tell you guys, and you know.

But tonight, I am very dumbfounded by the transparency that I saw tonight from council and the willingness to explain the thinking and the thought process and the effort, even as you say, Mayor Ebsen, that that it's minimal, at least it's a start, and I definitely want to acknowledge you for that.

There is a lot of work to be done in this area in the area of ice.

And it would be helpful, and I don't know if this is asking too much, but you said that there are bills coming up.

There are at least 10 of them.

If you would send out an email to notify us when a bill is coming up, so we can get down there and testify.

I would really appreciate it.

Because I'll go down there, and I'm sure most of us will.

There are gonna be times in the future when we are going to disagree, and I will continue to push on matters of climate change and despoiling our beautiful PewDiePie Sound with polluting industries.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marilyn.

Moving on to our final two speakers, Karina Grillardo, followed by Barb Church.

Listening to that conversation, and there's a lot about uh was happening, some other places, and many people is watching the news.

But what happened in our city wasn't in the news, at least what happened in my neighborhood.

Some people didn't even know that a of my neighbors were taken away.

Um the reason why I'm here is because I want to know if you know, I want to make sure they're staking some uh measures will be taken if ice presence increase.

I would like to know where we can count on our authorities and our neighbors.

I'm very grateful to see all these people here supporting my community.

Thank you, you all.

There's a lot of things going on that people doesn't know.

Um, if immigration increase increases the cases or increases the agents here.

Um I don't know if we're gonna be able to call our police because I just saw uh a woman in Minneapolis calling uh the police because they're trying to take this woman and she's just asking to let her go and get her kids from from her apartment because she was doing Doordash work, and they just tried to arrest her when she's doing the delivery, and she's just saying, Yeah, I'll go, but let me go get my kids, let me go get my kids, and nobody's listening to her.

And I understand her precision.

I mean, if I might have my kids at home, I want to make sure you know they're gonna be taking care, like somebody's gonna be taking care of, but a lot of people here, they don't have family members, they don't have other people, just husband, wife, and the kids.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Our next our next speaker is Barb Church, and we have one final speaker, Alice Cooper.

So thank you, and thank you for recognizing the urgency in the city of Tacoma.

And we do feel it it is very urgent.

We are the only city in the state of Washington with a detention center, so we feel really fragile.

So I'm wondering since you talked about having a resource page, if you if some of us asked a lot of questions, and and if there's some common questions, if you could answer them on your resource page.

The other thing is is just along with what Wendy had talked about, people being kidnapped, people are being assaulted.

I mean, I just talked, I talked to some uh person who um because of how he looked, um, what the ice agent came, tried to pull him out of the car, he was in his seat belt.

That's assault, you know.

He he didn't identify, uh he didn't have any uh any legal papers to to be able to do that, and then with other people around who aren't even ice agents, I don't even know who they're working for, but they were there.

This is what was told to me.

Um so anyway, those are all important, but I also wanted to invite all of you to the conversation 253's MLK event this Sunday at Evergreen Tacoma from two to four.

Aaron Jones will be our uh our um a keynote speaker, and she is in intern uh national, international, and especially local uh speaker.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, it's from two to four Sunday.

Okay, thank you, Barb.

All right, uh Alice Cooper.

Even Gospel members, my name's Alice Cooper, and I am so fed up with this, you know.

I'm saying I'm part of the LBT plus community, and I'm I know the cole good, Renee Good.

She was my godmother.

Um being black, Polynesian, and LBT Plus, it's been hard.

You know, and I saw people getting kidnapped in our dang streets, and I'm tired, we gotta be quiet.

We I'm tired listening to some cairns and kin's.

And I'm sorry.

And you know, I feel like I feel like doing this.

Please forgive me.

Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs are angry men?

There's the people who would not be slaves again, would it be to not be hard, echoes the beats and other drum, or did you join our cassette, send up and make a state up and stay in chance and bear.

And it feels like we need to start marching like lame as Rob for real in the streets.

And I feel like we need to be strong as one.

You know, uh quote unquote Malcolm X said the people the government want us to be divided.

If we as one, we're strong together.

We need to be strong together.

LBT plus everybody.

And we need to fight.

Thank you so much for your comments.

It looks like there's one more.

There's one more person who signed in.

Mayor, it's um Crystal Newton.

Okay, please step forward.

Oh so uh very new to public speaking and the first time I've been to a city council.

But I do want to say, City Council members, you cannot obey or comply your way out of fascism.

Tacoma and the people in it, we are your neighbors, and those neighbors are being kidnapped, killed, and traumatized.

If we don't do what is right, there won't be a Tacoma community.

There will just be power, corruption, and exploitation.

Last point, um slave catchers and slave patrols had legal authority at one time too.

So remember that when you say that you do not legally able to do anything.

Thank you for your comments.

All right, and with that, I'm gonna close a community forum.

And it looks like we have a comment from Councilmember Diaz on one of the issues that a lot of people brought up.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I wanted to speak to one of the earlier comments, uh questions, rather, about the geo group group contract here in Tacoma.

Um, I will maybe pivot to the city manager in case I am missing some of the details or some of the particulars.

Um, but I just wanted to highlight that Geo Group is a federal contractor, so they run the ICE detention facility here on the Tide Flats, and the City of Tacoma does not have a contract with them.

Their contract is with Department of Homeland Security.

And as folks who might be following might know, um they have probably the most money in the federal budget right now.

So their um budget or they're because they have all of this money, they were able to renew their contract because DHS likes what Geo Group does.

So I believe that happened in the summer or fall, but I just wanted to clarify that the city of Tacoma does not have any contracts with Geo Group.

We do not work with them.

Um they barely let our health department in there to even check the food situation.

So um just I just wanted to clarify because folks, there are other cities in other parts of the country who do contract with Geo Group or with detention facilities, and Tacoma is not one of those cities.

Um I will I will pivot in case the city manager had anything that they wanted to add for real official clarity, but that is my understanding that I've been trying to help educate the community on because it is a really common question, and to one of the other questions, it might be something we add to that that web page for information.

Thank you.

There's nothing to add to that.

Um the contract expired and uh was tentatively slated to to expire between the federal government and geo group um September of 2025.

So nothing to add.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz, Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, sir.

That was my question, comment.

Okay, uh Mr.

City Man interim city manager.

I have a couple of questions as well relating to comments I heard tonight.

So um uh one of them actually was the contract, so thank you for answering that.

So uh under the Keep Washington Working Act, health departments have the legal authority to conduct inspections.

Can you talk about how that works and what we've seen that in that um that arena so far?

So uh that um thank you, Mayor uh Mayor Ibsen, uh members of council.

That question is probably more uh pertinent for our city attorney from the standpoint of um legislation that was passed and tested through our courts.

Um there is access for the state uh for access to the facility, the private facility, the detention facility that we know as North Northwest Detention Facility, um, and then pertaining to our health department for uh food quality, those things very limited.

Um, but that is something that we are aware of.

Um, does the city of Tacoma participate in those inspections?

We are trying to clarify that from the standpoint of um assistance that is being requested of the city um from either the state or from the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department.

Okay, don't know if the answers.

We could probably expand a little bit more before we sure and what we've seen from the health department as well, not just the city.

Yes, sir.

Kate, can you elaborate on what we've seen from the health department in terms of conducting those inspections?

I mean, yes, sir.

So um, so I'm privy to the fact that uh our various departments when it comes to the health department and looking at it, there has been pointed inquiries regarding the water quality.

Um, one of our speakers tonight um spoke to the uh the notion of uh the sighting of that federal facility without getting into the implications of what that looks like.

There has been matters of inquiries for the expansion areas for Northwest Attention Facility and how it's been cited as well as uh water quality.

There has been matters of inquiries for the expansion areas for Northwest Extension Facility and how it's been cited as well as uh water quality, um, and that is something that they have uh requested assistance from the city of Tacoma, and we've used our uh government relations team to clarify with the federal government with um with the state government on trying to get in there, and I don't have an update for you, Mayor.

I can come back at another time as far as all actions we've taken in support of the Tacoma Chris County Health Department.

That's something that I can come back to you, Mayor.

Thank you.

And uh, we have a question from uh uh one of our council members before uh before we move in that direction.

Uh one other quick question.

Uh we had we had heard from the audience about the interest in learning more about when bills are coming up, or are there opportunities for making your voices heard in uh places like Olympia, for example, for bills that the city has signed on in support.

Um is there a way that we can broadcast that more broadly?

Is there a way to get information out to the community about, for example, when when there's public comment on bills, or uh what are some options there for making that more um accessible for people to do that?

Thank you, Mayor Ipson.

That is a matter in our purview that we can actually share with uh state legislation that might be actually forming.

Let me work with the teams in the morning.

Um, I think this is probably something that I'll just be dynamic to from the standpoint of what's um been directed through your CAM, directing uh city staff to work towards having a central repository to a website.

We can also uh potentially work with our GR team to make sure that we're actually also noticing the public on further potential actions.

So let me let me work with the team in the morning um and then report back to you on that one as well.

Thank you.

It's appreciated.

Councilmember Rombaugh.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I just had a question, I think, for this for the city um for our interim city manager.

Um there was it was kind of alluded to, but maybe more of a like concern from the public about city staff working with ICE.

And I just want to hear from our city.

What are how are we interacting at all with ICE?

And um, what is our policy or what do we have set up to make sure that doesn't happen?

Thank you, Councilmember Rumba.

I can be emphatic.

Um both we adhere to state law when it comes to keep Washington working, but the policy and the resolution that was passed by council was very clear.

It's not just that TPD does not interact or deputize for immigration, it's all city staff and it's all city resources.

We do not work with uh federal immigration uh to support that is not something we're doing today.

And how do we know that?

If I'm a citizen, how do I ask about that?

Um you can hear and hold me accountable from what I'm sharing sharing with you tonight that we take all duty and care.

Um, from the standpoint of is there intangible um areas upon which there may be some other things.

That's something that we're gonna have to keep monitoring.

But our city, our teams, our departments are very much aware of the fact that we are not working, we're and quite frankly, it's not a a mainstay um service that we offer.

Um we just do not interact with um federal immigration uh agencies, IECDH on this matter, um, and the law is very clear.

It is not ambiguous for us.

We do not use our resources.

Thank thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Ronville.

Council member walker.

Um thank you.

Uh your uh comment, Mayor, about getting word out to um constituents about what we're working on in Olympia.

Thank you, Marilyn, for bringing this up or asking the question.

Um, I just wanted to add that most of us have newsletters if folks want to be added to that, and we often send out alerts when there are important issues, whether it's at the state, federal uh, or local level.

So just wanted to add that in.

Thanks.

Of course, thank you.

All right, any further uh comments or questions from the council pertaining to uh the remarks we heard tonight.

Thank you so much.

And oh, Councilmember Diaz, I apologize, go ahead.

Uh thank you.

Um thank you, Councilmember Walker.

I was gonna bring it up, so I'm glad that you did.

Um I was chatting with my council staff from up here that we are gonna try to get that list out to my email list, and I'm sure that we can share that with my colleagues so that they can also share on their email list.

Um, and I feel like um I'm not assigning an assignment, but my guess would be that MCO, um, our central communications office has plans to just share in general when we testify on bills, because that has happened in years past.

Um they're not all gonna have to do with immigration, they will often have to do with city other city issues.

So I would just plug for for keeping up to date on all of our um either the city social media or the general city communications, and then everybody has their own newsletters where they were often talk about a bill that they testify on, like some folks are really interested in domestic violence or police accountability, and we we have historically done that and share that.

And I will say um it's really helpful for community to sign up for um anyone's newsletter.

They are all very different.

We all email at different cadences and we all have very different audiences, so you can get a flavor of the different kinds of things and activities that we work on by signing up for those.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

With that, um, there'll be opportunities for further council comment, but uh pertaining as timely as we can to your comments.

So we it we felt it was really important to do so.

Uh moving on, there are no planned reports uh from the city manager.

Um so moving on to comments and committee reports of the city council.

So I'd first like to call on uh Councilmember Heinz, Chairman of the Government Performance and Finance Committee for his committee report.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

The government performance finance committee has convened three times since the last update.

The November 18th agenda contained four briefing items.

Staff provided an update on the sales tax uh and include a proposed amendment change to Tacoma Municipal Code uh to align with new state different definitions related to sales tax.

Uh the second item was presented by staff to discuss an ordinance for a telecommunications franchise agreement with F SQL C.

Uh these requests were negotiated based on terms of the state local law, which requires telecommunication providers to have a franchise agreement to operate in the city of COVID right-of-way.

The third briefing item was an informational briefing by staff on the city's cybersecurity efforts, and the last briefing item was uh update on the city's monthly year to date planned and actual revenue collections and expenditures.

Uh on December 2nd, we held interviews for municipal court judge number two position, which we appointed uh Sergio Flores to that position last week at the council meeting.

And on December 16th, we uh did interviews for the Board of Ethics, of which we appointed those two individuals to the Board of Ethics at the earlier this meeting.

Uh the next GPFC meeting is scheduled for February 3rd uh at 10 a.m.

in room 248.

Uh the items on that agenda are a committee, the selection of the chair and vice chair, a proposed updates to Coma Municipal Code tax uh municipal tax code 6A to amend utility tax rates and an update from Tacoma Power on their open access transmission tariffs.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

That is my report.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Are there any final council comments?

Seeing none, um, I would like to remind everyone that January 20th, 2026, City Council Study Session and Business Meeting and the Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting have been canceled due to the Dr.

Mark Luther King Jr.

Day holiday.

There are no motions to excuse.

So is there a motion to adjourn?

I move to adjourn.

Second.

Moved and second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say no, we are adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.