Tacoma City Council Study Session on September 30, 2025
Tacoma City Council Study Session on September 30, 2025
The Tacoma City Council held a study session on September 30, 2025, covering eight briefing items and ordinance discussions. Highlights included an informational briefing on the municipal court's structural relationship with Pierce County District Court, quarterly updates on media and communications, Home in Tacoma implementation, and alternative response programs. Councilmembers also discussed proposed amendments to the Tacoma Creates ordinance and the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program, and considered two sponsorship requests for community events. No formal votes were taken; actions are scheduled for upcoming council meetings.
Discussion Items
1. Tacoma Municipal Court Informational Briefing
Judge Steven Krupa presented that the Tacoma Municipal Court is actually a municipal department of the Pierce County District Court under RCW 3.46 (a "346 court"), the only one in Washington. This structure existed for 60 years but was not formally recognized. To address this, the court created a municipal judicial committee, with Judge Krupa serving as committee chair, delegating day-to-day operations. No due process rights were violated. Councilmembers Walker, Rumbaugh, and Hines raised questions about drug court, resource sharing, probation services, and the authority of the Pierce County presiding judge over city-funded personnel. Judge Krupa noted that the city pays salaries and that further conversations with the county are needed.
2. Media and Communications Quarterly Strategy Update
Director Amy Clancy reported on Q3 2025 metrics: the new Tacoma.gov had over 800,000 page views, 273,000 new users, and 3.95 million events since June. Social media grew 26% on Facebook and 80% on Instagram. TV Tacoma won four NATOA awards. New initiatives include brand consistency, a podcast planned for early 2026, and exploring AI chatbots. Councilmember Bushnell asked about Gov Delivery open rates and SMS costs; Councilmember Diaz inquired about logo consistency with TPU and libraries, and ADA compliance. Walker thanked the team for their work.
3. Home in Tacoma – Early Implementation Update
Planning and Development Services managers Brian Boudet, Philip Gal, Robin Bolster-Grant, and Corey Newton provided a six-month update. Since February 2025, over 150 applications have been received, 48 permits approved. Most were ADU/single-unit projects, with a recent uptick in multifamily. Challenges include overlapping design requirements (the "Jenga effect"), alley access, front-facing garages, and parking. Staff are developing director's rules and planning code amendments. An enhanced middle housing permitting program will be presented on October 21. Deputy Mayor Daniels asked about director's rules and accountability; Councilmember Hines questioned utility coordination and garage orientation policies.
4. Alternative Response Quarterly Update
Deputy City Manager Alison Griffith introduced updates from the HEAL team, Hope team, and Community Service Officers (CSOs).
- HEAL Team (Javon Carlisle): Placed 51 individuals in shelter from June–August; closed 98.34% of 311 requests on time. Noted increased drug use and housed individuals visiting encampments.
- Hope Team (Alicia Morales): Celebrated two years of service. Dispatches up 51% year-over-year; served 435 unduplicated people. Average three calls/day. Challenges include staffing shortages and lack of a county crisis stabilization center.
- CSO Program (Capt. Darlington, Lt. Meyer): Fully staffed with five CSOs; handled 2,264 calls since inception. Response time reduced 24% for low-priority calls. Goal is to expand to swing shifts and eventually 8–10 CSOs. Councilmembers asked about cleanup responsibility (311 is best route), substation hours, CSO treatment by community, and Hope's call volume.
5. Tacoma Creates Ordinance Amendments Discussion
Councilmember Rumbaugh introduced two amendments co-sponsored by Councilmembers Diaz and Sidalgave:
- Capital Funding: Change from "six percent being budgeted" to "up to six percent" and remove the rollover requirement, allowing more flexibility for programming.
- Emerging Leader Alignment: Align the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board youth seat with other CBC youth positions. Councilmembers Walker and Scott opposed the first amendment, arguing the original language already provides flexibility and that changing "will" to "may" reduces certainty. Bushnell wanted a specific capital allocation. Sidalgave noted the difference is between "will" and "may." Mayor Woodards suggested further discussion. First reading was set for that evening; second reading next week.
6. Property Tax Exemptions for Multi-Family Housing Ordinance Amendments Discussion
Councilmembers Sidalgave and Bushnell proposed returning the 8-year MFTE minimum units to four but limiting it to owner-occupied homeownership projects to incentivize affordable rental housing via the 12- and 20-year MFTE programs. Councilmember Hines expressed concerns: the 8-year MFTE is used for larger projects (average 100 units vs. 12-year average 10 units), and removing it could reduce housing production given economic uncertainty. Sidalgave argued it's a policy choice to prioritize affordability. First reading was that evening.
7. Council Consideration Request – 2nd Cycle Bike Stories Sponsorship
Councilmember Walker requested $2,500 from council contingency to sponsor Second Cycle's Bike Stories 2025 fundraising event, supporting youth cycling programs. Co-sponsors: Rumbaugh and Sidalgave. No questions. Vote scheduled for October 7.
8. Council Consideration Request – Trick or Streets Sponsorship
Councilmember Hines (presented by Walker) requested $7,500 to sponsor Safe Streets for piloting "Trick or Streets" – residential street closures on Halloween weekend (Oct 31–Nov 2) to improve pedestrian safety. Co-sponsors: Rumbaugh and Walker. No questions. Vote scheduled for October 7.
9. City Manager's Weekly Report
Interim City Manager Hyun Kim noted two proclamations (Arts Month, Walk and Roll School Month), no proposed agenda changes, and a special Transportation Benefit District board meeting immediately following the council meeting for a public hearing on budget modifications.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken during the study session. First readings of the Tacoma Creates and MFTE amendments occurred at the regular council meeting later that evening, with second readings and adoption expected the following week.
- The two sponsorship requests (Bike Stories and Trick or Streets) are scheduled for votes on October 7, 2025.
- Staff will continue developing director's rules for Home in Tacoma and present an enhanced middle housing permitting program on October 21, 2025.
- The council postponed the executive session item to the next meeting.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the study session on September 30th 2025 to order. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Bushnell. Present. Deputy Mayor Daniels. Absent. Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Hines. Councilmember Rumba. Councilmember Sidalgay. Here. Councilmember Scott. Absent. Councilmember Walker. Here. Mayor Woodards. Here. The study session material sent to you at 1103. All right. Our first agenda today is a briefing. I'm from the Tacoma Municipal Court, and I'd like to call on Tacoma Municipal Court presiding judge Krupa to begin the presentation. Judge, thank you so much for joining us. All right. Well I hit this just once, right? There we go. Okay, thank you so much. All right. So I'm here today because I want to talk to you about some recent uh disclosures that are uh important about the structure and the operation of our court. Um and you know, to do that, um, first I need to talk a little bit about the historical background. So our court was formed in uh 1962. Um before that we were called a police court, and uh Tacoma formed this court to take advantage of the uh municipal uh well it was called the Justice Court Reorganization Act, which was designed by uh the legislature, the state legislature to sort of modernize the courts. So what happened back then in 62 was the city of Tacoma decided, hey, you know what we're gonna do and what this law allows us to do is to become a municipal department of the Pierce County District Court. It wasn't called that back then, but that's what they did. So Tacoma opted to have a municipal court, but that court would operate as a municipal department of the district court. And frankly, uh the big news is that that's actually been the case for over 60 years. Uh we didn't know that, or we kind of knew that, but we weren't sure what that meant. And so uh it changes some fundamental things. So let's go to the next slide, please. So, like all uh briefings, we need to uh talk about the law. So Alison, could you hit the next slide, please? Thank you. Okay, and I'm gonna talk about uh these three statutes. Uh basically, um, what I talked about when I said Tacoma form the court as a uh municipal department of the Pierce County District Court. Municipal departments are governed by uh RCW chapter 346. So we're called a 346 court. Um we're the only three forty. Oh, we're the only three forty-six court in the state of Washington. Okay. So uh next slide, please. Now, as I told you, uh there's some big things that being a 346 court and being a municipal department of the Pierce County District Court uh entail.
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