Tacoma City Council Study Session: Strategic Priorities, Budget, and UW Campus Plan - March 25, 2025
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Tacoma City Council Study Session: Strategic Priorities, Budget, and UW Tacoma Campus Plan - March 25, 2025
The Tacoma City Council held a study session on March 25, 2025, starting at 12:00 PM. The meeting featured three major briefing items: an update from the Center for Strategic Priorities (covering the Climate Action Plan, Community Safety Action Strategy, and Office of Equity and Human Rights), the 2025 Budget Calendar and Revenue Strategy, and the University of Washington Tacoma Campus Master Plan. The session concluded with a motion to enter a closed session to discuss labor strategy.
Center for Strategic Priorities Update
- Climate Action Plan (CAP): Christy Lynett (Environmental Planning & Sustainability Officer) presented an update to the 2030 CAP, focusing on reorganization and prioritization. The plan now includes 20 near-term high-priority actions, long-term actions, departmental actions, and supporting actions organized under seven objectives, including a new category for climate adaptation. Council members expressed support for the streamlined layout and asked about alignment with other city plans (e.g., South Tacoma groundwater district) and the impact of federal funding changes. Staff noted they will return for a joint study session with TPU in late May.
- Community Safety Action Strategy (CSAS): Jacques Colon (Chief Strategy Officer & OEHR Director) presented the strategy, developed from extensive community input. The strategy is organized under four goals: safe places and neighborhoods, people receiving right services at the right time, effective response with care, and repair and healing. Near-term actions align with existing initiatives such as Vision Zero and Tidy Up Tacoma. Council members praised the clarity and community focus, and emphasized the need for measurable metrics and formal council adoption. Staff will develop a companion document with metrics and return for further discussion.
- Office of Equity and Human Rights (OEHR): Jacques Colon outlined the shift from foundational equity work to providing centralized support and guidance across all city departments. OEHR will offer training, consultation, coordination, and reporting services to embed equity in all city operations. Council members noted the progress in embedding equity citywide and requested periodic updates, including on human rights commission activities.
2025 Budget Calendar and Revenue Strategy
- Reid Bennion (Interim Budget Officer) presented the budget calendar for the odd-numbered year, including the reappropriation process and budget modification (mid-biennium update) scheduled for later in 2025. He also presented a revenue strategy overview, citing a projected $15 million structural deficit for 2027-2028 and listing revenue options (e.g., B&O taxes, property tax levy lid lifts, excise taxes). Council members discussed the need for comparisons with surrounding jurisdictions, consideration of community economic strain, and the timing of state legislation. Bennion will return in April to discuss parameters and considerations for a revenue strategy.
University of Washington Tacoma Campus Master Plan
- Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange and staff presented a 35-year vision for the UW Tacoma campus, built on a 2008 plan and extensive community engagement. Key features include new student housing (400-500 beds via a P3), a dining hall, expansion of green space (creating one of downtown Tacoma's largest parks), and activation of campus edges, especially along Tacoma Avenue to connect with the Hilltop. The plan aims to transform the campus from a commuter to a 24/7 campus and support growth to 10,000 students. Council members expressed unanimous and enthusiastic support, pledging to champion the plan at the state level and through city partnerships. The next step is a P3 RFP expected to be approved by the Board of Regents in November 2025.
Key Outcomes
- The Council directed staff to bring forward formal adoption proposals for the Climate Action Plan update and the Community Safety Action Strategy at future meetings.
- Staff will develop metrics for the Community Safety Action Strategy in consultation with the Council and return with a companion document.
- The Budget Office will return in April 2025 with a discussion on considerations and parameters for a revenue strategy, including comparisons with neighboring cities.
- The Council committed to supporting the UW Tacoma Campus Master Plan through legislative advocacy and streamlined city permitting processes.
- The Council approved a motion to enter a closed session (60 minutes) under RCW 42.30.140(4)(a)(b) to discuss labor strategy.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the city council study session of March 25th, 2025. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Bushnell. Present. Deputy Mayor Daniels. Absent, Councilmember Diaz. I heard it here. Yes, she's she's online. Councilmember Hines. Absent. Councilmember Rumba here. Councilmember Sidalgay. Here. Councilmember Scott. Absent. Councilmember Walker. Absent. Mayor Woodards. Here. Mayor and Council members of study session materials sent to you at 1105. All right. Our first agenda item today is an update from the Center for Strategic Priorities. And I'd like to begin by calling on interim deputy city manager Sonia Howland to begin the presentation. Thank you, Mayor. Council members. I'm Sonia Hallum, Interim Deputy City Manager with the Center for Strategic Priorities. All right. There we go. Thank you. With me today are Jacques Cologne, Director of the Office of Equity and Human Rights, and the Chief Strategy Officer, as well as Kristen Lynette, who is the Environmental Planning and Sustainability Officer. We are very excited to be here today. So we are going to be presenting our first ever center update, talking about the work that we are doing with the Center for Strategic Priorities. Next slide, please. So by just by way of a little bit of background on the center. The center includes four different offices the Office of Equity and Human Rights, the Office of Environmental Planning and Sustainability, the Office of Strategy, and the Government Relations Office. Now, while these offices may seem like they have very different areas of work, and they do, there are some consistencies that run through our office that make the fit together work very well. So the first is that all of the work involves strategic priority areas that you all have decided are priorities for the city and the organization. Also, the work that we are doing is all designed to support the council, the city, and our departments to prioritize and move these important priorities for the city further faster. I also want to call out that one of the things that we have found as we've come together as a center is that equity is an incredibly important part to all of these bodies of work and that are important components that underlie all of the initiatives and work. And I think you're going to see that as we discuss the work that we've been doing thus far. So we launched our office November 4th of 2024, and the first phase of the work that we have been doing is the formation of our office. Learning about each other, the work that we're bringing in, and really developing a team and an organizational culture for our office that created the foundation that allowed us to move forward into our next phase, which was really focusing on looking at the work that we are doing and developing our plans and priorities. We'll be actually working on developing the plans for the implementation of this work. Today, um, first I want to acknowledge that in the back you will see in the back of our office. Uh we have a large contingent of our office here in support and to hear the presentation. It's again very exciting for us to be here today to present the work that our office has and the all of the individuals in our office have done to get to this point today. So what we're going to be doing is sharing the climate action plan, the CAP, with the updated actions and our new organizational structure, the community safety action strategy with the updated plan and organizational format, the uh OEHR, the Office of Equity and Human Rights Framework, and uh give a status update for that work. And what you will hopefully see through all of the plans and the things that we talk about are first clarity. One of the things we are really trying to provide in the plans and the initiatives that we are presenting is to identify those things that we can focus on in the near term that are that are actionable and achievable for you to be able to prioritize and elevate and enhance over this the short-term period of time. The second thing that we are hoping that you will see that we have been prioritizing is alignment.
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