I would like to call to order the city council study session of November seventeenth, twenty twenty five.

Clark, will you please call the role?

Council Member Schnell.

Deputy Mayor Daniels.

Councilmember Diaz.

Council Member Hines.

Here.

Council Member Rumba here.

Council Member Sidal Day.

Council Member Scott.

Here.

Council Member Walker.

Here, Mayor Woodards.

I believe she's online.

Uh the May material is sent to you at eleven oh one.

Super quick clarification.

It is uh the study session of November eighteenth for the record.

Uh we have one modification on today's agenda.

We will first be entering an executive session.

Uh once complete, we will re we will resume our first agenda item.

Um I will entertain a motion to convene to an executive session.

RCW for two point three zero point one one zero one I I and I I to discuss potential impending liquid litigation not to exceed fifteen minutes.

So moved.

Second.

All right, all those in favor to convene to an executive session.

Signify by saying aye.

All those opposed signify by saying nay.

The motion is declared adopted.

All right, I would like to call the study session back to order.

Our first item on the agenda is the Tacoma 2035 10-year strategic plan.

For that, I would like to call on the director for strategic priorities, Jacques Collon and Ted Richardson.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, members of council.

My name is Jacques Cologne, and I serve as the director of the Center for Strategic Priorities.

With me today, I have Ted Richardson, who serves as our strategic initiatives coordinator.

And I have the pleasure of bringing Tacoma 2035 our new 10-year strategic framework to you today.

And before I jump into the presentation, I want to take a moment to thank you all as a council for your leadership and guidance in helping to shape this.

I hope as we go through this, you'll see that it reflects your priorities and gives us a really strong foundation for moving into 2026.

As a quick reminder, about a year ago, we combined three offices, the Office of Strategy, Equity and Human Rights, and Environmental Planning and Sustainability, into the Center for Strategic Priorities.

In doing that, we have been rethinking and refining our approach to addressing those critical issues.

And that has included thinking about how we do consulting as our Office of Equity and Human Rights.

We're currently engaged in a pilot project with public works.

Similarly, thinking about guidance, putting out guidance around community engagement, serving residents with disabilities, and more.

For environmental policy and sustainability, thinking about how we continue to best implement our climate action plan that you took action on most recently in the summer of 2025.

And in our Office of Strategy, rethinking how the strategic plan can help advance your priorities.

And that's what we'll be talking to you about today.

So, how we got here, 10 years ago, there was a citywide engagement effort to really capture what the vision of the Tacoma community was.

That broad vision covered not just the work of the city but also the other jurisdictions that overlap with us to provide the services that folks want.

So things like parks and schools were also part of that broad vision.

Synthesizing all of that engagement led to seven focus areas and 20 indicators.

Those indicators included things like increasing the percentage of Tacoma residents spending less than 35% of their income on housing and transportation, and things like increasing the percentage of Tacoma high school students graduating.

As we implemented Tacoma 2025, there were other strategies and plans that came from it, such as the Affordable Housing Action Strategy and the Climate Action Plan.

And through these plans, we have been implementing the direction of Tacoma 2025.

Now, COVID was a major disruption to everything, including our strategic planning.

But as you look to the next box in the middle, council priorities, which were passed in 2020, you'll see that council refined those 20 indicators to their six highest priority indicators, which we have shorthanded into the six that you see here community safety, housing and homelessness, access to facilities and services, health, livable wage jobs, and belief in trust.

For engagement, because a vision like this requires that we get a lot of community engagement and really ground truth, whether the direction we're moving meets the needs of our community.

We did uh something a little different this time, which was we partnered with planning and development service and other departments on a combined one Tacoma engagement effort.

And this was really intended so that all of the work that we did throughout the city to figure out what was the community's vision wasn't separated by project or department, but was really approached holistically.

In addition to that, we've been doing deep work with our actual departments to figure out what strategies what strategies and plans are they implementing to move this forward.

And by doing that, you'll see in Tacoma 2035 that has really become the bulk of the structure for how we are moving goal areas forward.

More on that later.

When council refined those to the council priorities in 2020, they took the first step in actually refining what the city's role in achieving these goals was.

We want to take that even further and really make sure that we're reflecting the city of Tacoma's roles and responsibilities in helping to achieve this vision.

And then finally, one of the things that we are really really optimistic is going to make this a useful tool moving forward is that we have made it flexible to council direction.

So while the document that you will be looking at today reflects the current guidance and direction that we have been given by you, moving forward, we know that shifts will happen, and this has been designed specifically to allow for shifts in your guidance to be reflected in our strategic plan.

So when we think about what the purpose of Tacoma 2035 is, I want to start with saying that the city has more than 40 strategies and plans that are currently being implemented across our organization.

With that number of plans and strategies, it can be challenging to even track all of those efforts happening, let alone to align and coordinate them.

So as we think about the purpose of 2035, one of the North Star's guiding us is how do we best align these 40 plus strategies and plans.

Secondly, we're going to use this opportunity to update our vision, mission, and values as a city.

We're living in a different world than we worked even 10 years ago, and so thinking 10 years into the future, we want to have a vision, mission, and values that reflect our current state as we move forward.

I'll tell you more about the vision and mission on the next slide.

And so moving to the next box there, communicating better.

The same thing in terms of the challenge of tracking that many strategies and plans occurs with communication.

It's hard to communicate effectively on that much stuff going on.

And so by using 2035 as a tool to better communicate, we hope that that'll improve not just communication with council but also with the community.

And then when you track, align, coordinate, and communicate all of these strategies, plans, and priorities better, that puts you in position as a council to have better resources and tools for your decision making processes, including the budget development process.

And finally, I mentioned the flexibility of this plan to be able to reflect and advance both current and future council direction.

So as goals shift, so too will 2035.

If a new strategy or plan is passed or adopted by council, that will be reflected in 2035.

And so that is how it will shift.

And for the more detailed changes, like changes to specific actions or measures, those will actually happen within the plans and strategies that we'll be talking to you about that 2035 acts as the umbrella for.

And one more note on flexibility.

As we think about changes to council and future direction, those are important to consider, but even independent of any changes on council, things change over time.

And so a few examples of change that may happen over the next 10 years.

There are some clear and defined examples, like the World Cup, the UWT Master Plan expansion, the Light Rail, and then there are some less well-defined trends that we'll see in the next 10 years, like climate impacts, AI, and population growth.

So being nimble and flexible to all of those is crucial to this being successful long term.

Alright, so vision and mission.

You'll see on the left side of this slide what a vision and mission are intended to accomplish.

The vision is really meant to describe the future state that we want to achieve, and the mission is meant to describe the role that we will play in achieving that vision.

Now, I mentioned that the vision has been constant for more than 10 years.

Our vision was actually developed back in 1992, more than 30 years ago, and has been updated several times since then with some tweaks, but has remained largely the same.

Since we live in a different world, it makes sense that we should look at what folks are telling us today in terms of their vision.

And so that one Tacoma engagement that I referenced earlier, when we synthesized all of the engagement that we did throughout the city, there really were six things that came up, and those are the six words that you see in the vision: safe, housed, connected, working, sustainable, and thriving.

Each of these words actually corresponds to one of the six goal areas of Tacoma 2035, and we'll walk you through those in just a moment.

The mission is simplified.

It's meant to be clear about what we do as a city, but also to stress that what we do serves all Tacoma residents and not just residents, but all Tacoma community members, which includes not just residents, but businesses, visitors, students, workers, and anyone else that chooses to make Tacoma a part of their life.

Similarly, our values are currently what you see on the left side here on the bottom left with integrity, service, excellence, and equity.

And values are intended to say what will drive all of the city's programs, policies, partnerships, and ultimately platform.

And so, as a reminder to council, we've worked in past council workshops with the four Ps, partnership, policy, programs, and platform, to really think about all the roles that the city plays in addressing the goals that you want to help achieve.

And specifically, as we think about partnerships, incredibly important to recognize that as we are more defined about the city's role, so too must we be intentional about building partnerships that are going to be effective moving forward.

And that means organizational partnerships, jurisdictional partnerships, and also how we partner with the community itself in terms of residents and what they're telling us and businesses and what they need.

So what you see here are the four values that we are proposing.

You'll see belief and trust first, and belief and trust was a council priority.

We have shifted that from a goal area to a value because everything that we do as a city ultimately has an impact on belief and trust.

So how we respond in the police or fire department has an impact.

How fast we respond to a 311 call has an impact.

How we fill potholes has an impact.

So when you think about all of these things impacting belief and trust, it's not really a thing that we do, it is a value that should be embedded in everything that we do.

Because really, to build belief and trust, you do have to act with integrity, service, and excellence.

Similarly, when we look at equity in practice, what are we actually trying to do?

We're trying to build access, opportunity, and belonging for all of our residents.

So as we think about what would equity in practice look like, that is the value that we see on the top right of access, opportunity and belonging.

On the bottom left, you'll see fiscal responsibility.

As we continue to operate in trying to address the great needs of the community with constrained resources, how we manage that tension is going to be crucial to how effective we are moving forward, and so fiscal responsibility has to be a key consideration for us.

And finally, resilience to be able to continue and be effective despite stresses and shocks is crucially important, and they could come in many forms.

So thinking about climate impacts, financial shocks, or even natural disasters, how we build our systems to be resilient to all of those will be crucial.

Alright, so now I get to introduce you to the six goal areas of Tacoma 2035.

As I mentioned, the vision has six words that each correspond to one of our goal areas, which are climate and environment, community safety, housing and homelessness, jobs and economy, placemaking and experiences, and transportation and mobility.

What you'll see as you look at these six goal areas is that there are far more than six departments.

We have about 16 departments in the city, but there are six goal areas.

What does that mean?

That means that no one goal area is the responsibility of one department, and no one department is responsible for just one goal area.

So as we think about what the contribution of all of our departments are to these, it's important to note that while you may associate a department with a particular goal area, their work does extend to contributions in other areas.

Just a quick example because they have the same words in them: environmental services and climate and environment.

While that might be the first link that you make, tidy up Tacoma, which is an environmental service program, is really intended to clean up our neighborhoods and improve perceptions of safety.

So there are impacts in community safety as well.

And that's just one of the many, many examples of how departments are addressing multiple goals simultaneously.

What you should have in front of you in your packet is a one-pager summarizing all of the six goal areas and the strategies and plans underneath them.

As the author, Antoine de Sanaxuppery once said, a goal without a plan is just a wish.

And so for these six goal areas to be addressed effectively, we have to think about all of the plans and strategies that are implementing them and how they relate to each other.

When you look at all of these, and I should note that these are organized mostly alphabetically, and so as you look at them, that's that's the direction that they will be heading.

These reflect current council direction.

So all of the plans and strategies that you all have sponsored and pushed forward are reflected in this in how we are approaching these goals.

What you will also notice is that some plans show up in more than one goal area.

This is because some plans actually contribute to more than one goal area.

So for example, vision zero.

While vision zero is something that is specific to improving our transportation and mobility, it is about the safety of those systems, and so improving the places where people cross streets and walk is going to have an impact on perceptions of safety in addition to transportation and mobility.

So with that, I'm gonna pass it to Ted to walk you through each of our six goal areas.

Thank you, Jack.

So before I go into the goal areas themselves, I'm going to go over the structure that you'll see on the slides for the goal areas.

So first you'll see the description of the goal area.

Then you'll see three to five bullet points that are what the city aims to achieve over the next decade.

And then there will be another slide that is the that are the plans and strategies that are within that goal area.

And then you'll also see some photos that show city work uh that fall within that goal area.

And I'm not going to go into detail about each of the photos, but I might reference a few.

So this is climate and environment, and it is how the city aims to both adapt to climate change and mitigate the effects of climate change.

And it's also our environmental services utility that is how we manage stormwater, wastewater, and solid waste.

And the five bullet points here, three of them, uh, numbers two through four, come from the recent climate action plan update that you all passed this summer.

Uh so adapting to sea level rise, reducing the effects of urban heat islands, and reducing air pollutants, and then the first and last bullet points relate directly to our environment environmental services utility, which is protecting the health of our uh water systems and uh managing our solid waste.

Oops.

So on this slide, you see the plans and strategies under our climate and environment goal area.

So I'll I won't go into detail about all of them, but I will call out a few.

So about five bullets down, you can see the climate action plan, and that is the umbrella plan for this goal area.

And there are quite a few underneath the climate action plan, and you can see at the very bottom, we couldn't actually fit all of the plans and strategies under on this slide.

So, for example, the building decarbonization strategy is not on this slide but falls underneath the climate action plan.

You'll also see the comp plan referenced on every one of these slides.

The comp plan uh falls under every one of the Tacoma 2035 goal areas.

Um, so instead of just referencing the comp plan in general, we decided to break it out into the chapters of the comp plan so you can align what chapter of the comp plan aligns with what Tacoma 2035 goal area.

So in this case, it's the comprehensive plan environment and watershed uh chapter that aligns with the climate and environment goal area.

And then as Jacques said, there are a few plans and strategies that will show up in multiple goal areas.

So in this one, home and tacoma and the green economy strategy, you'll see in other goal areas.

So in this case, for example, home and tacoma, as we densify the urban core of our city, we will reduce the uh carbon emissions per capita of our residents.

So that will all while it'll also increase the housing units of our city, it will have positive impacts on the emissions of our city.

And then I included this photo as a call-out to our urban forest management plan and our goal of getting to a 30% tree canopy.

So our next slide is community safety.

So this includes the traditional public safety departments of police and fire, but then it goes beyond that to include what what else the community said that makes them feel safe.

So the four bullet points you see here are uh defined as in the new community safety action strategy that will be brought forth for adoption as part of Tacoma 2035, and I'll go into some detail about those.

Um the first is create safe places in neighborhoods.

So that includes eliminating traffic deaths and injuries, which you'll see also as part of the transportation and mobility goal area.

It also includes supporting litter cleanup and trash.

And then it also includes improving access to safe and vibrant gathering spaces.

And you can see those two photos on the right reference that first bullet point, improving pedestrian crossing points at 64th and Pacific and our tidy up Tacoma program to pick up trash in the city.

The second bullet point is serving people with specific safety needs.

So that includes reducing homelessness, supporting individuals who are experiencing behavioral health challenges, and supporting youth with services and resources to reduce youth violence.

The third bullet point, which is reducing responding effectively with care is specifically reducing violent crime and property crime, responding to emergency, responding to medical and fire emergencies, providing emergent providing alternative response programs, and furthering the city's work to provide transparency to and accountability in our police department.

And the last bullet point is promoting healing and repair, which is improving the relationship between the community and our police department, and supporting city employees that respond to emergencies.

And here are all the plans and strategies within our community safety goal area.

I won't go over all of them, but a few call-outs are that there are two related to traffic and transportation safety.

There are two related to working with specific populations, specifically the homelessness strategy and Brave, which is the building resilience against youth violence and exploitation.

There's one about policing, one about alternative response, and the community safety action strategy, as I mentioned, is the encompassing plan over all of these.

And then just to mention these photos, to reiterate while the community safety goal area goes beyond police and fire.

Police and fire are still a very important part of this goal area.

The next goal area is housing and homelessness.

So this is everything the city does to meet the housing needs of our community members from immediate shelter all the way to building market rate, building more market rate development, and everything in between.

So supporting affordable housing developers with different types of support from grants and loans to surplus land to tax incentives, supporting uh renters and landlords through our rental housing code and landlord tenant program.

And you can see these three bullet points here that come from the affordable housing action strategy, the first two, and the last one comes from our homelessness strategy, and they are about creating more housing, preventing displacement, and minimizing the effects of homelessness.

And some of the major work that's occurred because of the affordable housing action strategy includes passing the one-tenth of one percent sales tax dedicated to affordable housing development, the rental housing code that was passed in 2019, and this has since been updated several times, and home and Tacoma, which was passed last year by council.

Um, and then the homelessness strategy, which I've mentioned a couple times, uh was passed in 2022 in response to the uh emergency declaration that was declared a few years earlier.

Uh the next goal area is jobs and economy, and this is about supporting workers and businesses in Tacoma already, and bringing new workers and businesses to Tacoma in the future.

Um there are five bullet points here.

Uh the first and fourth are specific to workers, so giving them the skills to get the jobs that they seek, and then ensuring that they have a wage that they helps them have the uh life that they want in Tacoma.

And then the second and third are in reference to businesses to help them thrive, to help them grow in Tacoma, and then to attract new businesses to Tacoma.

And all of that is uh ultimately will help grow the local tax space for our city.

Oh, and I'll just mention this photo here are uh jobs 253 construction workers.

Um to call out a few plans and strategies here.

Uh the specifically the council's been working on the Tide Flat sub-area plan has come to you recently, the community and economic development strategic plan has come to the economic development uh council committee, and then the quality jobs framework is one that the mayor has been leading.

And then I couldn't resist including this slide.

This is uh five different business districts, one from each council district.

Uh our fifth goal area is placemaking and experiences.

So this is everything that the city does to contribute to making Tacoma the unique city that we all love.

Um it includes our arts and culture uh arts and cultural vitality division, our libraries, all of the venues that are managed and overseen by our Tacoma venues and events department, and our historic preservation office.

And you can see there are four four bullet points there, and so each one of those relates to one of those four offices or departments.

Uh I will say though that there while one of them relates to each one of the four, um, they are uh they do overlap.

Um so an example would be that while the second one providing welcoming spaces is from the library strategic plan.

Uh the library also hosts events, some of which are artistic.

So you can see that there are is overlap.

Um and here are the plans and strategies.

There are four, again, because there are four uh departments or offices.

And then here is another slide of just photos simply because of the breadth of work done by the different departments and offices.

I couldn't include it on just two slides.

And then the last goal area is transportation and mobility, which is about improving different types of street infrastructure.

Um, and you can see the list of those types of street infrastructure on the slide.

I won't read them all.

Um, and it is also a major point of intersection intersection.

Uh, sorry, the pun.

Um, but uh between the comp plan and the transportation and mobility plan in creating 15-minute neighborhoods, which is uh referenced in both of those plans vision statements.

Uh, and that's where the 15-minute neighborhood shows up in the uh Tacoma 2035 framework.

Um so you can see the three bullet points here are about creating access, safety, and connectivity for Tacoma's transportation users.

Um, access is it all users regardless of age, ability, or need should be able to access Tacoma's transportation system.

Safety is a nod to the vision zero goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and injuries, and connectivity is that it should be easy to get to wherever you're going in Tacoma, regardless of what form of transportation you're using.

Uh and here are the plans and strategies within transportation and mobility.

The transportation and mobility plan here is the umbrella plan.

Um, it's also the transportation chapter within the comprehensive plan.

Um I'll say that the uh bulk of this work is done by our public works department, uh, but we included the growth strategy here or the growth chapter within the comprehensive plan here.

Um in acknowledgement that as the city grows and our transportation and mobility needs change over time.

Uh there will be planning needs that occur in terms of housing and businesses and other types of infrastructure.

Uh, and so uh how we adjust the street and road infrastructure will involve some other departments.

Um it won't be entirely public works is involved in managing this goal area.

And with that, I'll pass it back to Jacques.

Thank you, Ted.

Um, before I go any further, I just want to take a moment as you all look at your one pager of the umbrella to nod to our media and communications office.

One of the things the council's been directing us to do is to ensure that the look and feel of our branding stays consistent so folks know what the city is doing.

And so they've really done a great job with these.

Um these icons will carry forward, and the colors and branding all reflect our city of Tacoma branding.

So this should be very clear to everyone as we publish these exactly how they relate to the rest of the city.

Now, that said, um, there's a great great quote that plans are only good intentions unless they immediately shift into hard work.

And so as we think about having this plan, it's nice, it's great, but it's only as effective as it is a tool in your hands, and as you choose to use it.

So with that said, there are many opportunities for us as a city to incorporate this framework into how we take action moving forward.

And of course, all of these are with the caveat should council choose.

So we could use this to help inform the council workshop process and priority setting or budget proposals and development, an organizing framework for our legislative agenda, different indicators within the equity index, how we set up your council action memorandum, independent uh department strategic plans, and then things like end-of-year reporting and communications.

You'll see in the bottom right-hand corner that we are we're really looking forward to updating our website should council choose to adopt this so that the one pager that you see will have all of these plans linked to, so it'll be a one-stop shop for folks to be able to not just see how they all relate, but to be able to get to each of these independent strategies and plans on your own time and pace.

So moving to our last slide, uh, should council choose, staff will bring forward a resolution for adoption at the December 9th council meeting, and that will include uh adoption of the community safety action strategy as a component of Tacoma 2035.

As I mentioned on the last slide, moving forward, implementation of this can include uh incorporation into the 2026 council workshop process, and then there will be ongoing work to ensure that it is not only incorporated but is up to date.

I've mentioned several times now that it's intended to be flexible and a living document so that it can be responsive to any change in guidance, and that work will have to be ongoing to ensure that it does in fact reflect as things change.

And then finally, as we look forward to our next biannual budgeting process, the 27-28 budgeting process, looking forward to working with council to see how this can be a tool for you or a helpful framework as you look to inform your budget decisions moving forward.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions and thank you again for your leadership in getting us to this point.

All right.

Thank you.

Okay, I'll start with questions and comments from my colleagues.

Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, thank you both for the presentation.

So many things that I love and hear.

Uh and one of those things is in many places things tie back together.

And so I think we have, as you've said multiple times, there are so many plans at the city in any city, and this is really helping pull it together into things we care about, but also connecting it back to how we communicate with the public, and that's been a thing that this council and previous councils have said we need to do a better job.

We hear that all the time from the community, and I think this will not only help us do better work but help us communicate it out better.

So thank you for all the work.

I know you all have had so many meetings just with council, so I'm sure I don't even know half of them.

Um couple questions.

You mentioned the community safety action strategy is coming forward at the same time.

Um, and maybe I haven't looked far enough ahead.

Are we getting a briefing on that before that date?

You will not be getting a formal briefing at study session, but if you would like a refresh briefing, we're happy to follow up with you.

Okay, awesome.

Yes, please.

I would like that.

Um, and then um I would love to sponsor that resolution and um help put that together as it comes forward.

Um, one of the things we did with the climate action plan was to put together like a preamble from the council, and I think just reaffirming that we believe in this and we're gonna follow it is really helpful for the community to see this isn't just a pile of good work that was put together by staff, but it's also something that we truly believe in, and I I know that to be true, so I want to make sure the public knows that too.

Um I think that the other thing that I would love to oh, I the using it for the council workshop.

I just wanted to make a note, and I think somewhere I'm giving a report on this later in the meeting from our operation strategy administrative committee, the OSAC.

Um, we did start talking about our council workshop um in February of next year, but I love the idea of using this as a framework.

So I think that's a great tool.

So just wanted to say that out loud.

Um, there are a number of plans that are that say in progress in here, and I don't know all of them, obviously.

The ones some of the ones I'm familiar with are very close to being finished, some I've not heard of yet, maybe they go to other committees.

How do we know or where do we track the um timelines of all those?

Is that is that something that you all are tracking or could track or that could could be reported back to the council without too much uh not too heavy of a lift.

I don't ask for hours and hours of time.

Absolutely.

Thank you for the question, Councilmember Walker.

Our what we would anticipate would be that we would make those changes when it is formally adopted.

So we will keep that in progress, and we will certainly track to your point so that if and when it is it is adopted, we'll then put in parentheses the year that it was adopted.

So for should you decide to adopt the community safety action strategy, that will be a 2025 adoption, and we will keep track of all of the other ones in progress in the same way.

And when you say we'll add that, is that on the website?

Yes.

Okay.

Um thank you.

That's great.

And I thought of one other question as you were talking in now.

I have forgotten.

So thank you.

Oh, I know what it is.

Um you mentioned how a lot of these um plans are in multiple buckets under the umbrella, they're in in different places and priorities.

Do departments have the list of all of where all of their things go too, like what is the internal piece of this and how it all fits together?

Because I they don't necessarily silo either, which is good.

But how did how do we do that internally?

No, that's a great question.

We'll be working with council in the coming year to figure out what kind of reporting structure meets your needs best.

Um, but as we think about how departments are capturing those measures and actions, we want to make sure that this isn't taking them in a direction that's not going to actually allow them to capture the right data that they know better than we do, how and what.

Um, so that will be an ongoing conversation that we'll be happy to work with you on on how to make sure that is designed to meet your needs.

Okay, great.

And I also want to meet their needs too, right?

I don't want us to be asking for things that are changing the way they do business in a way that's not helpful, right?

As you said, they know best.

So I I want it to be a back and forth and not just think, oh well, the council needs this data point, so now we have to do this.

So I don't know how that how we make that happen, but I feel like it's you two, probably that that have the position and the um knowledge of all of these things to make that happen.

So maybe that's an ongoing discussion, but appreciate that.

Thank you both.

Um Mayor Woodards.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, and um uh thank you for the presentation.

We have had the honor of seeing it at Cup things.

This is my third time now, so Jacques and Ted, great job.

Um, I still love the umbrella.

Um, I I think it is, and so uh shout out to MCO, um, just because I think it is just so easy to read, and you know, it's something I've been pushing a lot.

Um and and Councilmember Walker, thank you so much um for wanting to be a sponsor.

Thank you so much for asking about the uh the community safety action strategy is something we've been working on now in almost um two years when we went to Newark together and learned what they were doing.

And I'm so excited about the partnership with the COMA Community College and the Anchor Network and how we are bringing them into this conversation with 2025 and our and our and our community strategy um community safety action strategy.

Um just just for clarification around and well, let me back up and say, and I'm also excited.

Um I I'm excited to get this done this year.

This is the end of 2025, and it would be great to have the new plan in place before 20 before the other plan expires, and so we have an opportunity, so I look forward to getting this on either the second or the 16th, or the second or the ninth agenda, not the 16th, but the second or the ninth, um, if there aren't a ton of questions and people feel comfortable with it.

Um Jacques, just um just so that we we understand, obviously, um I think we've talked about this, there's a set of um priorities that come from the community, and then there are those things that come up that sometimes as council members we shift our priorities either to something in a particular district um or a particular neighborhood, and so as we think about those things, and and I love having an overall strategy that continues to point us in a direction of meeting some goals.

Jacques, for those things that come up in between time, um how do they affect 2025 and how do we incorporate them?

Because I love the fact that you're gonna have a website and have all of this in the same place, but how do we incorporate those things or leave room for those things so people can actively see that we're working not just on the 2035 goals but also on the things that come up in between?

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for your leadership throughout this process.

To answer your question, um, there probably is going to have to not just be one approach.

And I would defer to you as the policymakers in terms of how you would like that to happen moving forward.

Um but I think as long as we are able to continue to track and report, we can make sure that the reporting cadence and structure allows for any community uh themes that that are emerging to be reported back to you.

And similarly, um, you're representing your constituents, and so if you are bringing back themes that you are seeing within your constituency, um, we want to design a process that is able to incorporate that.

So, as you can probably tell, we don't have the full process fully fleshed out.

What we have is this framework and this uh this strategy um that should allow you as council to guide us uh moving forward where you would like it to go.

So uh that's the long way of saying I'm really looking forward to working with each of you on figuring out how that reporting structure can do that.

Thanks, Jacques.

And I would just say I think that's I think that's really good that we're talking about it now, you know, kind of on the front end instead of in the middle.

Um, because I do think it's I I you've put so much work into this, and it's gonna be a document that we're gonna refer to so much it'd be great to develop a strategy where it can all be in the same place.

So thank you.

And and again, thank you to you and your team for doing such an incredible job bringing forward 2025 and the community safety action strategy.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, up next is uh Councilmember Bushnell.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, and thank you for the presentation.

I'm really happy to see this.

Um Councilmember Walker covered a lot of what I had thought about also a lot of the tiebacks back to the strategy and especially how it um goes with everything else.

I agree the preamble, I think it's a really great idea.

Um, my question is more centered on um the strategy and the plans are part of like a larger plan of action and a direction, and who executes on that direction is the city manager.

So I'm curious as how the city manager role uh fulfills these plans and strategies, and and especially as we talk about um you know expectations and duties of a city manager, how do we incorporate this into that body of work?

Another great question, Councilmember Bushnell.

We uh we will work with both HR and the city manager to figure out how does it uh mesh with things like the city manager review process, which would speak directly to what you're talking about.

Um but outside of that, um, I think we we are looking forward to figuring out um kind of how to capture council direction and feeding that since you are ultimately who is guiding the city manager and in their implementation of this, you're weighing trade-offs all the time.

And a lot of those trade-offs come within these goal areas in terms of how you are actually moving different plans and strategies forward or de-emphasizing them.

And so your expectations are going to likely differ based on what the goal area is and what the issue you're trying to address is, and so we'll have to be intentional about figuring out you know, how can we make sure that your guidance on those fronts gets reflected to the city manager in such a way where it's clear and you're able to um press for accountability over time that you want?

All right, thank you for that.

And I think about that as uh and in reflecting back on the council and our role in trying to implement the plan and the strategy and the policies that we bring forward and how it may um may help um in some areas or maybe maybe not help as much in other areas, um, and thinking about and talking about OSAC, our council action memorandums, finding ways to tie back those two to strategies and goals, and so we can talk about those trade-offs in a in a frank and transparent manner, and then what our duty and expect and how we expect the city manager also to carry out those duties based on the policy direction of the council as well.

So thinking about that kind of circular um conversation there.

Thank you.

Okay, I thought yeah, okay.

Okay, um, council member Hines.

Uh wait, is it you?

That's oh, they updated this.

Okay.

Sorry.

There you go.

Uh no, thank you for very much the presentation.

Um, and great to see.

Um, and I appreciate all the conversation ahead of time.

I just had a couple questions, just was when you probably can't answer this question, so I'm gonna ask you the question, but I think it probably comes back to all of us, right?

It's supposed you're creating this wonderful graphic here.

So a lot of plans that are listed here, some that are predate anyone who's currently the diocese time here on the council.

Um none of us were here in 2018.

Um so when you were going through this, did you all collect at the end of the day?

These are the council's plans and staff plans, so it's not your place to say this one is outdated, this one is boo-boo we've done, this one's over here.

Did you all collect data around that as you were going through?

Is you like something you could share with the council saying, hey, we've listed all these plans here, but here are some that need to be updated, here's some that may need to be sunsetted, here's some that need to be merged into someplace else.

Thank you for the question, Councilmember Heinz.

Yes, we did consider that in thinking about this.

And um, you know what?

Actually, I'm gonna let Ted answer this question.

There we go.

Uh we didn't have a specific year that was a cutoff date.

Uh we did hear from some staff when talking about the plans that they thought that some were outdated, and in have in putting this together, it was an impetus for them wanting to update their plans or strategies.

Um then there were some that were back to 2013 or 14, like other sub-area plans that are still of some use.

Um, but we didn't have any like metrics or uh specific criteria for which plans or strategies were outdated and need to be updated and would look for counsel if certain ones you wanted to update.

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, I think that the answer that you gave is when I was thinking, which is I would just encourage my colleagues as we think about the year ahead, we may probably want to spend some time going through all the plans that are highlighted here and think about which ones are ones we want to continue to be part of this, which ones we may think have been folded into something else, which ones may have lived past their useful date and time.

Um I think about for AHAS, which is a great plan, but we've we've taken off a lot of items off of that list.

So does that is what's remaining still enough, or should you know, can we refocus it a little bit?

Uh was a question I had.

Um the other part I was just coming back to, right?

So I I can't hesitate but say that um I get stopped every once in a while about what Tacoma Ma Tacoma's motto is, right?

And there's people that remember America's number one wired city from like 1993 that still have that burn in their brain, and it's over 30 plus years ago.

Um, and so I think when I think about this, something for I think are my colleagues, not you all done a wonderful job of encapsulating everything we do, and I think this does a great, very visually clear things.

I think for us as a council to maybe think through like what is our tagline, like what is the thing that we want everyone saying that we want staff telling the public that we want public talking about.

I mean, it could be something as simple as the vision of Tacoma as a safe house connected working and sustainable and thriving, like that could, but even that's a lot for maybe someone to roll off their tongue.

Uh so that's just not nothing reflective.

I think this work is wonderful.

I think it does though set us up for some important conversations next year and heading into the retreat and beyond.

So thank you all.

Okay, thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Um thank you for this.

This is so well put together.

Um, I think it's really clear.

Um, not my first time seeing it, obviously.

I love that the the fish is not just a random fish from the other side of the country.

I love that it isn't ORCA.

Um, I think this is for and it's well, that could be any bridge, but I know what bridge that is.

Um, I the only question I think I have this time around is there's a couple of plans in here.

So, like the so that I haven't seen yet, and so for like for the committee um action strategy, I feel like I was really involved in helping with that so I know where the feedback loops kind of were.

Um, but this the climate ready urban habitat and landscape strategy, and then the stormwater comprehensive plan.

I guess I have two questions.

Um where do those live, like where do those feedback loops exist?

So, like who's informing those, and then also how are they because those two I could easily put in the housing strategy, and I wonder how they talk to each other and how they inform each other to make sure that what is being required or put on this end is also in alignment with our goals on the other side.

And that might be like a uh bigger question, but it didn't come up the first time when I saw this, but now that I'm thinking about the larger plan, it is so I'll I'll respond to that comment if I may, and say that we um we really feel like if you are able to just see all of the plans, and this responds to council member Heinz question as well.

If you're evil even able to just see all of the plans and when they were passed, that gives you at least a step up to be able to say, here's a priority of mine, there is a plan in place, but it hasn't been updated since 2016.

I, as council member, feel like this needs to be updated because it's a priority of mine and it's out of date.

I am going to ask the city manager to help me find a path forward to updating that.

And we know that different plans will have different pathways forward, but simply by having that information available to you, especially in one spot, we think that'll make it a lot easier for you to use it as a tool in figuring out where do you want your energy to go?

That's really helpful because sometimes, because we don't have this currently, I'm kind of like always wondering like where do we get this?

Like, where did this come from?

How do some of the policies and amendments that either that we're not bringing up or maybe that staff is bringing up?

I don't know what what what's guiding and what like is the the impetus for that.

So this is good, that is going to be super helpful because I can just look and say, oh, this is what we're working on.

This is how we're getting through that.

And I apologize if the question that I was asking is granular.

I truly just didn't know if it was your office putting, I know you guys do the overarching strategy, but are you also doing each of the individual strategies that go into this plan, or is that held in department?

And if so, how can I find those feedback loops?

Go ahead.

Uh so we are certainly not the experts on all these plans.

So both on the website that we publish uh we'll have hyperlinks to all of these plans, um, or any one of them that has a website on the city will have a hyperlink too, so that if you want, you can go and find more information about that plan or strategy.

Okay.

Then we will have multiple ways of working with departments to ensure that that's seamlessly done over time, right?

So it's not that this gets published, we go back to our space, they do their thing.

We're gonna be in constant communication with departments to ensure that the feedback loop between council, city manager, and departments is happening in a way that works for everybody.

That's great.

I think I would just add then um as you develop the website and a place for people to look is who is responsible for carrying that plan through, because I don't know that it's obvious.

Um it might not be obvious of like who can I go to talk about this piece of the plan or who where can I find more information if I want to talk to somebody about a piece of it or other?

Um I think I can find the questions to my answers somewhere else to the the granular pieces, but I really appreciate the overarching view.

Very well organized.

Okay, if there are no other questions or comments from my colleagues, I will move us forward.

Thank you so much.

Okay, all right.

Umor, are you still on the yes?

I am sorry.

Okay.

Um I have got a council consideration request for you.

Is this an appropriate time for you?

Give me go to the next thing and I and come right back to me and I will be ready.

Cool, cool, cool, cool.

Okay, so we'll we're gonna skip to our skip to our third agenda item.

And our third agenda item is a council consideration request, amending chapter 1.100 of the municipal code, uh, the landlord fairness code initiative.

For this, I would like to call on Council Member Rumbaugh to begin the presentation.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, and I want to apologize, Mayor, because this is gonna take a little bit of time.

So I'm bringing forward um this is a I have a fact sheet um based on landlord fairness code initiative proposal that was brought forward from CBS on November 6th, 2025, the community vitality and safety committee voted to advance code changes for the landlord fairness code initiative for full council consideration.

Council myself, Sarah Ramba assembled answers to the below questions to inform dialogue when this proposal is shared today at study session.

So um, how is the landlord fairness code different than the rental housing code and state law?

The community vitality and safety committee received an informational briefing from the rental housing code and landlord fairness code initiative overview, which provides materials comparing the three laws.

Um, why did CBS recommend the city council consider making these changes?

Since the Landlord Fairness Code initiative of implementation in 2023, council members have received numerous requests for amendments to the policy.

As chair of the community vitality and safety committee, I spent the um this year meeting with stakeholders seeking data to inform policy changes.

Collected data showcase the severe impact the landlord fairness code has had on low-income housing providers and highlighted the need to urgently address concerns.

All proposed changes support the landlord fairness code initiative's goals to protect families, promote community, stabilize the rental market, and reduce homelessness.

To continue its long-term commitment to maintain vibrant and diverse neighborhoods within the city and to balance the needs of the landlord, tenant, and Tacoma while creating a partnership to ensure safe, healthy, and thriving rental housing in Tacoma.

How is the definition of deed restricted affordable housing set?

The rental housing code outlines exemptions to relocation assistance and rent notice requirements for any dwelling unit owned or managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority or held as deed restricted affordable housing.

Deed restricted affordable housing means real estate that is required to be used as affordable housing for a period of time of at least 30 years, pursuant to a restrictive covenant or similar enforceable recorded instrument with income targets that are no higher than 80% of area immediate income.

This language captures the broad range of affordable housing providers operating in Tacoma, including organizations like Mercy Housing and the YAWCA.

I forgot to mention that I sent this document to everyone at noon.

It's in your emails, and so if you want to find it in your on your computer, you can.

What is the low income housing tax credit?

They call it how do you say it?

LITEC LIH TC LITEC program.

The LITEC program provides housing for low to moderate income renters in exchange for tax credits for the developers.

The LITTEC program was created in 1986 and is the largest source of new affordable housing in the United States.

In Washington State, the LITEC program is overseen by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and that provides highlights of the program's success in Washington.

LITEC rents are not based on a rent's tenant's income.

Instead, rent is set by the use restriction tied to the unit.

This means that a tenant's rent will not change even if the family's income significantly increases or decreases.

LITTEC rents are set at 30% of the income of the AMI tied to the unit and are calculated to include a utility allowance for tenant paid utilities.

Though Washington State Housing Finance Commission 2025 rent charts are published online, so you can find them there.

HUD clicks, LITTEC data at the property level and the tenant level.

Then there's a website that provides access to the property and tenant level data and also to data and qualified census tracts and difficult data delve and areas designated by HUD.

How can a tenant access support if they have landlord tenant questions?

And I feel like this is here because I've heard a lot about possibly these units being owned by people who are private property owners who might be out of state, and there's concerns about how the units are taken care of.

If a tenant has a landlord tenant concern and needs assistance, they can contact city specialists through the Tacoma First 311 system by calling 311 from a 253 area code by dialing 25351500, so they can do that.

What codes does the city landlord tenant staff enforce and on what penalties are they there?

Are there?

A landlord shall be subject to the following penalties for the first violation for each affected dwelling unit, it's a $500 for each affected dwelling unit for each subsequent violation within a three-year period, it's a thousand dollars for a violation.

And there's a whole bunch of TMC information about disdistribution of information that's required, deposit requirements and installment payments, notice requirements, notice to increase rent requirements and late fees.

A landlord shall be subject to the following penalties for each violation from the date the violation begins for the first 10 days of noncompliance.

There's like a 250 dollar fee.

This just goes through all the different fees that we have in our in the city's rental housing code.

Are landlords allowed to inspect units?

According to RCW 5918.150, this is really important.

The tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the landlord to enter into the dwelling unit in order to inspect the premises, make necessary or agreed repairs, alterations or improvements, supply necessary or agreed services, or exhibit the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchases, purchasers, mortgages, mortgagees, tenants, workers, or contractors.

There was a lot of conversation about whether or not someone could enter unit to check the qual the how the unit was being taken care of.

CVS's proposals state that a significant economic hardship should include if an owner determines they need to sell the unit.

Under this recommendation, does the owner need to be selling the unit because of some kind of economic duress?

The proposal allows the landlord to determine if the cost of maintaining the unit is an economic hardship.

Should an owner elect to sell the unit, the owner must make reasonable attempts to sell the dwelling within 30 days after the tenant has vacated.

And then there's also the within the 30 days after the tenant has vacated, the owner does not list the single family dwelling, then there's going to be there'll be issues with that.

And then within 90 days after the date the tenant vacated or the date the property was listed for sale, whichever is later the owner withdraws the rental unit from the market, then there's there's um penalties to that.

Okay.

What is the rationale for deferring to the rental housing code notice to increase rents instead of the landlord fairness code notice and requirements?

So any time that we could kind of try to realign things with the rental housing code, we tried to do that.

The City of Tacoma has taken a leading role in the establishment of legally enforceable rental housing protections in Washington State, and the rental housing code approved by the Tacoma City Council has stronger notice requirements for rent increases than state law.

The rental housing code has a 120-day notice requirement, whereas state law has 90 days.

The landlord fairness code requires two written notices to increase rent.

The first notice is 210 to 180 days, and the second is 120 to 90 days.

These notice requirements provide narrow and flexible windows to share information with tenants, our administratively burdensome on landlords who do not have full-time staff or property manager supporting them and don't allow landlords to adjust their rents to increased cost outside of their control.

So we just felt like realigning it with the rental housing code was one of the suggestions we made.

Do we have AMI requirements on low income assistance programs at the city?

Well, we do.

The Tacoma Public Utilities and City of Tacoma Environmental Services offer a bill credit assistance plan and a discount rate program to help people who need assistance with TPU payments, and it outlines income requirements for this program and also shares how to apply if you're currently a received SNAP or WIC benefits.

How many affordable housing units are there in Tacoma?

The city does not maintain a database of low income housing units in the city.

According to the head data on the low income housing tax credit program, there's 5,0696 units in the city.

This includes both nonprofit and privately owned properties.

The largest affordable housing provider in the city of Tacoma is the Tacoma Housing Authority, which provides a little under 2,000 units in Tacoma.

What which just cause eviction can a landlord use to evict a tenant causing damage to a unit?

Under Washington law, a landlord must provide a tenant with a written 10-day notice to comply or vacate before starting a court proceeding for eviction based on a tenant not following the rental agreement, lease or other rules and obligations applying to tenancy.

To be valid, a notice to comply or vacate must inform the tenant of the specific rental agreement terms or rules that the tenant has not followed.

The notice must also inform the tenant of which actions the tenant can take to cure the problems alleged in the notice.

The notice can not include any monetary damages owing, such as unpaid rent, late fees, or attorney fees.

And then I have some examples of how this tool can be, in fact.

That is important.

Neither the landlord fairness code initiative nor CVS's proposals and amendments include these options as exemptions to the school year or cold weather moratorium.

See, how will additional landlord tenant policy items be reviewed?

CVS committee will include further conversation on landlord tenant policy in the 2026 work plan, including the following topics.

Trying to bundle the landlord fairness code initiative into the rental housing code.

Review exemptions to eviction moratorium for when tenants damage the units, school year eviction moratorium.

So these are all things that we decided not to look at this time.

We're waiting till 2026.

Tenant rights, outreach and education, landlord education and licensing requirements, predatory landlords, health and safety conditions and units, accessible income restricted housing options, programs to support landlord tenant conflicts, tools for renters to end a lease early should they lose income, rental assistance, and landlord insurance for damaged units and unpaid rent.

What is substantially different for a landlord under these changes?

So there's several substantive differences.

Any dwelling unit owned or managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority or held as deed-restricted affordable housing is exempted from the landlord fairness code initiative.

Deed restricted affordable housing means real estate that is required to be used as affordable housing for a period of time of 30 years pursuant to a restrictive covenant or similar enforcement, recorded instrument with income targets that are no higher than 80% of area meeting income.

Exemptions from the landlord fairness code eviction defenses are refined and will include broader exemptions that allow for evictions due to criminal and nuisance activity, terminating tenancy in an ADU or a single family dwelling unit next to an ADU when the owner resides in the other dwelling unit on the same lot, allows the landlord to terminate tenancy in order to sell their unit.

Guidelines added to what constitutes an undue and significant economic hardship.

Landlords with four units or fewer in the city of Tacoma are exempt from the cold weather eviction moratorium but not the school year moratorium.

Other changes to the cold weather eviction moratorium, but not the school year moratorium include eviction defense only applies to tenant households at or below 80% AMI changes from November 1st to April 1st for the winter ban to December 1st to March 1st, which is in alignment with Seattle.

Late fees and notice of rent increases requirements are removed.

And we are going to defer to the rental housing code requirement.

What is substantially different for a tenant under these changes?

There are several substantive changes for tenants.

Who the tenant rents from matters.

Any dwelling unit owned or managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority are held as deed refracted deed restricted affordable housing exempted from the landlord fairness code initiative.

If the landlord lives on a lot with a single family home and an ADU, the rented unit is exempt from the moratoriums.

Landlords with more ownership interest in four units or less within the city limit are exempted from the cold weather eviction moratorium, but not the not the um school year eviction.

The landlord will have more opportunities to evict due to economic hardship.

There's more guidance provided on how to consider if a specific situation creates an undue and economic hardship for the landlord.

And landlord can decide to evict in order to sell a unit.

Change in the rent increases notification requirement.

The proposal eliminates the landlord fairness code initiative section on notice of rent increases requirements in order to defer to the rental housing code.

So we have our own set of um standards based on that.

Um the new requirement is 120-day written notice before increasing rent, which is 30 days more notice than required by state law.

And the change in the late fees, the proposal eliminates the landlord fairness code initiative section on late fees in order to defer to the rental housing code.

Um so instead of it being $10 a month, um, if you're um paying a thousand dollars monthly, rent would it allow a late fee of $15 per month.

If you're paying $2,500 monthly, it would allow for a late fee of $3750.

So it's all based on the 1.5% of the monthly rent, and that's what is in our rental housing code.

So those are some things I brought up, and as you see attached, we have the handout that goes through all of the changes um that we've done based on what we brought forward as a proposal from CVS.

So I'm willing to take I'd love to take some questions and hear um what your thoughts are and things that you support and things that you'd like to see us talk about more.

Okay.

And council member, you the what you're reading, the the frequently asked questions.

Did you send those?

You sent those to us at noon, and they're on your computer.

Oh, okay.

So we are already here.

Okay.

Yeah, but it's all it's all based on in here, everything that's in here.

Okay.

Yeah.

I just didn't want never mind.

I'll check it out.

Um, okay, I'm gonna start with you all.

So I'll go to council member Scott first.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Uh, and thank you, Councilmember Rumba.

Uh I am I'll start off by saying that I'm also on the on community safety and vitality committee, but I wasn't able to attend the special meeting that we had on November 6th, where these recommendations were finalized in advance.

So I have, if you'll bear with me, some comments and adjusted adjustments to propose that I would like to have a chance to raise since I was not at that meeting.

Um I'm just gonna go through them in the order that Councilmember Rumba outlined in her chart.

Um, and then I'm gonna just go through all of them, and then if there are any questions that come up as you're talking about either what Councilmember Rumba has proposed or what I have shared, I am happy to either talk about it here or offline as necessary.

Um, first on the uh cold weather and school year eviction moratorium.

I appreciate that um that you're adding in additional instances where relocation assistance is required.

I also appreciate the removal of the means testing as a requirement for receiving locate relocation assistance.

I think the the format that you've articulated for relocation assistance is going to be effective, so I support that.

Um the deed-restricted affordable housing exemption.

I think it's important, and so I'm also glad to see this in the proposal.

Um I do think that we should consider expanding the language beyond just the housing authority and perhaps something along the lines of um any deed restricted affordable housing dwelling unit that is owned or managed by a nonprofit entity.

Um regarding the ability to evict in order to sell the unit.

Uh I have a few concerns that I want to outline with that one.

Uh I appreciate the work to define uh undue and significant economic hardship, but it still isn't clear to me how we would verify or measure significant economic hardship.

I raise this because I want us to guard against a situation where a landlord falsely claims they want to sell their property just to evicted a tenant.

And the chart mentions that the landlord must make a reasonable attempt to sell within 30 days, and that we'll have some kind of guidelines for identifying owners who did not intend to sell.

And I'd like to have a closer look at those guidelines before deciding whether I support the change overall.

Can I say something really quick?

Sure.

Um, just you said that it was okay if I jumped in for a second.

Um I want to get you more information.

I think your questions are really valid question about the um selling unit, and there is a lot of data, like a lot of information about how to protect for that.

But the other part is for the economic hardship, that was like challenging for us too, and it's challenging for the courts, and so that's why we're trying to tackle it.

So if you have any ideas, we're very open to that.

Um I appreciate that.

Um the cold weather fiction defense.

Um I'm glad that we are at least keeping part of it.

Um, so but I have a few changes that I'd like to see.

I'd like to start with the dates of the cold weather um moratorium time timeline.

The LFC has the ban between November 1 and April 1.

Your proposals December 1 to March 1.

Um, I think going from five months down to three is a little stark.

Um, so I would propose that we set the range at November 15th to March 15th.

And I'm suggesting that because the weather data shows that these are the dates most act that these dates more accurately capture our cold season here in um in Tacoma, but in the region in general.

Uh second, I would like to propose removing the means testing approach that allows only tenant households at or below 80% AMI to be eligible for cold weather eviction defense.

Um means testing places and unnecessary and often complex administrative burden on the tenant, which can result in eligible eligible individuals not participating.

It can also inadvertently discourage tenants from increasing their income or savings so that they can maintain access to the benefit.

And perhaps most importantly, we simply don't see wealthier tenants halting rent payments because they feel protected under the cold weather eviction ban.

Um I believe we should keep the defenses as a universal defense uh while continuing to moderate monitor it for signs that wealthy tenants are exploiting it.

And just a few more.

Um the proposal notes that landlords with ownership in four units or less within the city should be exempt.

I'm not entirely convinced by the exemption.

Uh becoming a landlord is a business decision that people make, and just like any other business decision, sometimes you generate revenue and sometimes you don't.

Uh, we have other types of small businesses such as restaurants that fail to earn money and need to close their doors.

While I don't think landlords should receive extra benefits, I also know that we are advancing several policies aimed at encouraging single family homeowners to build DADUs or ADUs on their property that could be rented out, and that this is a vital part of our affordable housing strategy.

Because of that, I would like to consider adjusting the exemption language to target landlords that rent out part of the property they live on, such as a DADU or ADU, rather than landlords with ownership interests in four units or less.

On late fees, I agree that limiting fees and charges for late rent payment to $10 per month is not necessarily sufficient to motivate compliance.

Um, but I'm also not comfortable putting a robust financial penalty on a tenant who is most likely already already struggling.

So I'd like to propose that along with the 1.5% limit, we use an escalating model for the maximum amount.

We're in the first month cannot exceed $10.

Uh, the second month cannot exceed 40, and the third and any additional months cannot exceed 75.

Um finally on the notice of rent increases.

I don't support shifting to only one notice.

I haven't yet heard why sending two notices is burdensome from for landlords.

Uh communicating with tenants is simply a key part of a landlord's job.

And we want to set people up for success and stability in their housing, and I believe that many people do need extra time to plan and prepare for those rent increases, uh, and that an extra um notification is more helpful than harmful.

So I would like to join you know the CVS colleagues as a supporter of the policy if we can incorporate these proposed changes.

Again, I'm um open to talking about um how they can look if there are certain things that either you have questions about, don't make sense, feel a little bit too stark, whatever it may be.

Um, and I'm happy to talk about that as soon as possible as folks need what again, whether it's here at the table today or offline, but sometime so we can still do it in time for the December 2nd meeting.

Thank you.

Okay, there's a lot here.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott.

Uh councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, thank you, Councilmember Rumba for the overview and also for all the work um that went into all these um CVS meetings, and I know you and Linda did a ton of work um outside of those meetings too.

So um this, I guess is the sixth time I've interacted with this information, and I feel like I'm finally just wrapping my head around it.

So it's a lot.

And I we had a good conversation at our last CVS meeting, and I am supportive of moving this forward.

But I do think there's some detail that still needs to be worked out, and I know that's sort of the purpose here.

Um, but just to be clear, I'm not 100% sure on everything.

Um, even though super supportive of moving this forward uh as we work through the details of the code.

Um council member Scott, I think I support all of your notes and thank you for the very specific um edits.

I had one question on the very last one, the notice of rent increase.

Are you suggesting one 20 day is okay and just to keep the second notice in there, or you want to keep it take that whole one out and leave it the same?

Uh I think it's best to have two notices.

Yeah, for folks, yeah.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I like the 120-day notice um to match with the rental housing code, but it doesn't seem like an additional hardship for the second day notice.

I'm willing to hear from people that if that's different, but um I like I like that.

Um I did have a question that I think maybe in listening.

I think I've maybe sorted it out, but Councilmember Rumba, do you mind reiterating what your proposal says about ADUs?

Are the so it says on the front page if the owner resides in the single family dwelling or the ADU, they're completely exempt from landlord fairness?

Is that what the proposal is?

Yes, so that we can continue to increase um all the work that we've done to get people to want to build ADUs.

So if you live in either the ADU or you live in the single family and you're the owner, the other unit is exempt from the landlord fairness code.

Okay.

Um again, thank you.

I think this is we're at a good place to keep moving this forward.

I I appreciate digging into it.

I just some overall comments about the the work or sort of where we are now.

I think one of the things that I continue to hear from public is that um these changes on the landlord fairness code initiative are taking away all of our rental housing code, and we already had rental housing code before the landlord landlord fairness code.

So the rental housing code is not being touched by this proposal.

So we still have things in place, and um I'm hoping that staff can help when we present to the public.

There are so many things in that rental housing code that we can really help tenants, and I think that there's some misinformation about about what we already do and how we can help.

Um, I'm really encouraged by a lot of you know, doing this work has has forced me to ask more questions about where we can support and we really can support renters in helping with bad landlords, and so I want to make sure that the public knows that they're we're dealing with state code and two city codes.

Um and the piece that we are working on is just the landlord fairness code.

So I think that's just something we need to all continue to educate on.

And then I also um I appreciate that we there were some pieces that felt like they needed to go to 2026.

So we have this long list of things that we want to study.

These items are already in landlord fairness code, and we're not touching them until a future until future work, or are these also items that maybe we want to add.

So, first off, it's a land of each.

I want to correct something I said the ADU single family thing, it's only the moratoriums that they're exempt from.

Everything else in the landlord fairness code that we don't change, they would be um they would have to follow.

But um, yeah, the idea of the list on the back is things that we still had questions about, things that we were still looking at.

And so there are things that are in the code now, or they're things we have questions about potentially adding.

How do I looking for my list?

I'm I'm pretty sure there are things that were in the code that we are not gonna touch now, but I just want to be.

Well, we're not we're not so they're not necessarily things that are in the landlord fairness code, like tenant rights, outreach, and education.

That's just something that we think we might need to do more of.

So, like on the back page where it says landlord tenant topics outside the landlord fairness code initiative scope to be put on the 2026 CBS work plan.

These are all things that that aren't really in the scope of the landlord fairness code initiative, but they're things that we think we should look at.

And there might have been things based on definitions, like health and safety conditions and units.

Like we know that there are some, there is some law on that, but we don't have enough information and definitions on where that would fit and what we were talking about.

So getting more information about that predatory landlords, we definitely want to get more information about that.

So these were things that we kind of brought up and we decided to kind of set aside.

They aren't part of this.

I'm trying to make it less complicated.

It's really complicated.

I know.

So I appreciate that.

And I just maybe it's in the communication when we bring this forward is whether or not these things are already in and we're not taking them out, or they're not they're not in here.

So I but I think um I I hear you.

And I think maybe we can work on that together and how we present it when it comes to the case.

Maybe they maybe they aren't on, maybe they're just here for this conversation.

Sure.

Yeah.

Um and then the last thing, um so many of our conversations have been around definitions and uh vagueness that has been either complicated for tenants or complicated for the courts.

Um and I'm wondering, do we have and this might be a question for staff?

Do we have an existing um set of definitions that we that goes along with our rental housing code, or is this something that we could create in the future?

I just think definitions continues to be a sticky point.

This is my call.

Hello, um, I'm Linda Foster, senior council policy analyst um in the city manager's office.

Um I will say that one of the things on the list is technical changes, and that does include reviewing definitions.

So we are looking at every definition in the landlord fairness code initiative.

Is if there is a course corresponding definition on the rental housing code or state law, Councilmember Ramba has asked me to make the shift to the existing definitions.

That work is ongoing.

Um and we're we're not striving to make up new definitions.

We are striving for legal clarity matching existing law.

Great, thank you.

Um that's all.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Councilmember Walker.

Council Member Hines.

So thank uh thank you.

And thank you for all your work, uh Council Rumbaugh and the CBS committee.

Um my questions were to Councilmember Scott's point, Council Romba, why wasn't why was it just called Housing Authority and a deal restricted affordable housing units, why not take nonprofit?

It is not, it's nonprofits like Mercy Housing.

We just didn't list them all.

It's but they're deed restricted 30 year and they it's a definition.

And so if we listed them all, we wouldn't be able to fit them all on here.

That's why they're not listed.

It's just too long a list.

Or hell by okay.

But the definition fits all of those stuff.

Yeah.

It's a good question.

That would yeah, no.

Thank you for thank you for answering that.

Um was a question I had.

The second question was the coal weather and eviction defense, it says match Seattle's winter eviction protections.

So the dates, the AMI protections and exemptions for under four units that come directly out of the Seattle Code.

Correct.

Okay.

That was kind of I just want to make sure we're making it.

We we tried to match Seattle's.

Um, and they were just so you know, there was a I don't know what their lawsuit it definitely was, but when somebody took them to court, they were these stayed in place.

So that's why we were trying to stick to Seattle's.

Yeah.

No, I just was wondering if these were crafted as part of your policy or if they were drawn from the Seattle ordinance, which they were drawn from Seattle.

Yeah.

So or from the state if there's something to update from the state because it's more um yeah, prescriptive.

Yeah.

The only other question I have is if the current landlord fairness code requires two notices, it's I'm not allowed to issue one notice of 210 days for a 4% increase, and then in my second notice is it for a 5% increase, it has to be the exact same number for both of them, correct?

Correct.

Yeah.

So I guess while I understand giving people as much time as possible and the two notices, I I guess I'm more inclined to having one notice, but maybe moving the date earlier because you can't change the amount you're raising the rent by.

So if we just said you have to give one notice 210 days ahead of time.

I mean, well, I think this is set up to be cumbersome to make it difficult for people to want to do the landlord to change the rent.

That's what and it has actually done that.

So people if you've noticed there haven't been many rent increases.

When you when we've done when we did the research, there hasn't been, and that was what the data said from the survey that we read that they there hadn't been really rent increases.

Yeah, I think my point is just more broadly around the one notice versus two.

If the notice can't change, wouldn't and and we want to give people as much time as possible, wouldn't it be better to have a longer runway on the notice time, but just give one notice.

So what were you thinking?

180 days, one notice, 180 days versus 120.

I mean, that gives us that gives us on the high end for if people need enough time to plan for it, but also it's just one notice.

I guess if you could change the what you're noticing people, if you at one could say it's six percent or what can't be say what's the state law, seven percent and landlord fairness code is five percent unless you want to go for 4.99 unless you want to go with relocation systems.

So to use numbers that were actually applicable.

You couldn't give a notice for a three percent increase at 12210 days and then give a second notice for 4% 120 days because you can't you don't look at notice for there's you can't the first notice sets the value.

So I guess my point would be if why not just one notice?

Um, unless there because legally you do have to make sure the person gets it correctly, yeah, yeah.

I could understand having two notices if there was somehow a way that you couldn't verify that the person received the first notice, but you have to document that you've given them the notice for the rent increase to take effect.

So I I just in my mind, I would rather land on a one notice.

I don't know if 120 is the right number.

I don't know if 180 is the right number, but I don't I don't see a reason why we need to give two notices if you cannot change the notice.

And if you're verifying that the person who's getting who's occupying the units is getting the notice.

That's you don't need a response to that because we're just that my I'm just thinking through this out loud.

Um but otherwise, no, I I mean I just be really clear.

You know, we've heard a lot specifically why I'm interested in some of these conversations.

We've heard a lot from our nonprofit housing developers and housing providers that it's becoming increasingly less likely that they're able to provide housing for the people we critically believe need housing.

I mean, when this was passed, um, and I take the the I take the c the people who brought it forward at their word that one of their critical things they want to do is make sure that people who are on the most in the bars in our society have access to housing, and I'm really concerned about some of the impacts that this current code is written as having on some of the most marginalized people in our community and their ability to find housing.

I think a lot of things out of the housing authority's database where we have a list that's years long for people to get into units and 40% of the units and some of their projects are people who aren't paying rent.

Um really gives me like very concerned about the ability for the housing authority and other nonprofits like the YWCA, which I was on the board of when we built the 54 unit affordable housing project, um, have in order to provide housing for some of the most marginalized people in our community.

So while I'm I'm happy to continue to talk to my colleagues about kind of these changes, I think this is a good start for how we kind of get to that specifically.

Thank you.

Okay, uh council member Diaz.

Thank you.

Um I think I'll start with this notice of rent increase piece because I cannot remember if there is a cap on the amount um a landlord can raise the rent.

It's 4.9%.

Is that in the landlord fairness code or is it the rent?

It's in the landlord fairness code.

Okay, so we're not changing that.

Nope.

Okay.

I'm wondering if there is a mechanism to make it so that we can cap the amount of times they can increase rent, say over a 10-year period, a cap of two or three times.

My concern being that I think landlords at this point can just raise it every every year if they want to, because they're giving all these notices.

We're not allowed to do that.

I don't know if we have a mechanism to do that, but I guess that's my question, maybe for staff that we can follow up on later.

We're not allowed to um at the city level, we're not allowed to navigate rent um in any way other than what has already been done by the state.

So that would be a state uh regulations.

Does that make sense?

So we're preempted on that piece?

So there's not a cap on how to raise rent.

There's a relocation assistance tied to if they raise it more than five percent questions.

Okay, okay.

And then um I guess my question, or maybe my directive for staff that I've talked about.

I think I mentioned it in committee, but um, I will mention it here again.

I am not comfortable with moving the late fees up to this, potentially up to 75%, 75 dollars a month number.

And so I'm wondering if we can get that drafted for me to essentially remove that piece of this of this amendment to say we're gonna limit the amount of the late fee to 1.5% of the monthly rent.

Because moving anything up from ten dollars makes me uncomfortable.

But 1.5 feels like 1.5%.

Yeah, and we can change the way it's written.

So your question is um you want to take out the the high number of 75 dollars.

Yes.

So what number do you want it to go to?

1.5%.

So but it's one percent five percent of whatever the rent is.

Yes.

So if it's five thousand dollars, it's still seventy-five.

Five thousand dollars a month is still seventy-five dollars a month.

Yeah, but if they're paying five thousand dollars a month, they can probably afford seventy-five dollars a month.

Yeah, so it's based on one point five percent is what I'm saying.

Yes.

So yeah, and that's my point is the 75 dollars makes it look okay.

Like we are letting people charge an average amount of money when we can change reality.

Yeah, what can change?

1.5% is just one point five percent.

The average rent in Tacoma that is 2500 a month is only 37, which is still a hardship and is more than $10, but I don't like this $75.

Got it.

I think that that implies that folks who pay very little are going to be paying $75, and I don't think it's unclear.

Yeah, I agree with you.

Thank you.

An option.

the 75 dollars makes it look okay like we are letting people charge an a greatest amount of money when we can reality yeah what can change 1.5 percent is just 1.5 percent the average rent in Tacoma that is 2500 a month is only 37 dollars which is still a hardship and is more than 10 dollars but I don't like this 75 dollars got it I think that that implies that folks who pay very little are going to be paying 75 dollars and I don't think it's unclear yeah I agree with you thank you an option um and then I wanted to daylight that I've been talking with staff about um sort of narrowing this deed restricted affordable housing exemption to either known um non nonprofit providers or known affordable housing consortium members or whichever one of these gets us to the least amount of exemptions um particularly around any landlords who are known to be um in different violations of city city code in terms of how they're taking care of their tenants or their properties so I'm I'm working on the language around that so I'll bring that forward at um whenever we're next bringing stuff forward thank you okay um I've got a couple kind of just overall questions thank you for uh uh diving into this body of work I think that this is a huge body of work um and I think each each of these could be their own individual amendment because they have so much in each one um but I guess I'll kind of just go with kind of my first overall question so that um because I I feel like I need to dive deeper into each of these um okay so let's see um in general as it relates to the the fairness code and the amendments how I heard you I know you said that you did some stakeholdering um but I work especially as it relates to housing one of the things that's really helpful to see is data um and I know that we are leaning a lot on Seattle's um code and I'm curious I would be curious as I am thinking about how we're looking to them I assume it's because of the legal um precedent that has been set there but do we have any data that shows that their policy is better for their the people in their community that would just be like one like piece of the data question that I'm I'm curious about um and then as it relates to our code in general um I think it's really critical to understand how this policy has impacted um how it how it relates to homelessness how it relates to um units that we have one of the things that's really important in our in our housing continuum is not just um having housing that is deed restricted to low to people that are low income but also naturally occurring um affordable housing and we have a lot of that in Tacoma and a big piece of our AHAS plan is to preserve naturally occurring housing and I wonder how it would be really nice to number one have data on what are the naturally occurring units that we had prior to this and what do we have now because I think it's really helpful to see those impacts and I appreciate the um the the the rationale of trying to exempt our deed restricted uh landlords uh or or deed restricted housing but the critical piece there is not who's providing the housing in my opinion the critical piece is the the housing in and of itself it's the unit that we're trying to protect to make sure that we have room for more and we have so many units and I think doing just a uh an exemption carte blanche has impacts as it relates to or I I think it doesn't get at the actual issue here and that's the unit in of itself and I and I I think that doing a plain exemption um takes a really critical group of people out of the conversation um and I'd like to see us have really good policy that works more broadly for all that's not to say I wouldn't support an exemption um but I don't think exemptions are the best way to create policy that is good um I see it as like a temporary um means and so what I would suggest is doing a moratorium um on or like a temporary exemption for those so that they can figure out their units now until we can figure out what is what we are going to do that that would be my suggestion so that way we can still keep them at the table and they still have a stick in the game um the other piece I guess the the question um that I have it we mentioned small landlords as a uh stakeholder in this and I am curious what when we say small landlord what is the what is the value add that we are expecting as it relates to a small landlord and if it is it are is there an expectation or um yeah is it an expectation that small landlords are contributing or the the biggest contributors to affordability or the units that we really need outside of the um nonprofits.

So I have an answer for that.

Yeah, um so what I do know is that the small landlords are a large part of the of affordable housing for like for the housing authority uses them for vouchers, and when they go off the market, there isn't a unit for multi-generational families, and so they have seen a loss in being able to actually help families find housing because part apartments don't have enough um bedrooms necessarily for families.

We have a shortage of three bedroom or larger apartments that really make bigger than three bedrooms.

So it's been having those houses have to be sold and go off the market.

It's great that it gets bought by someone because we want people to have housing, but it means it's a unit that's not available to rent, and that is what is necessary is really missing in our communities, those small landlords.

And I I just used a definition that was um in Seattle was four units or less, and it has a um basically you you can't own it's four units, just like one unit, you know.

Um, so that's why we looked at that in particular because it does fill a hole for a certain type of family looking to have housing.

Okay.

I guess that that question is in direct alignment with what I would ask about ADUs.

I guess there's some kind of assumption that people that have ADUs are providing affordability, like that we don't have that.

That's not a rule here.

It's that they're units and they're great that we have them, but I don't know that I see I don't know that assuming that they because there is an owner living in the front that they are again, this is where I need data to understand like of the IDUs that we have, are they more affordable?

Are they providing what we need to be protecting as far as this this tenant situation goes?

Our most vulnerable population, I'm not there yet.

I'm not, I don't haven't seen that data, so I can't really support that.

I'm not done yet, hold on, I got some more.

Um another question that I have as it relates to the ownership interest.

Typically, when someone is an owner of a unit and they're they're renting it out, they put those units in separate um LLCs, and that makes it really difficult for a city or a state to know exactly how much interest a person has or an entity has in a unit.

So they're owned individually.

So if I have so and so properties, each of my properties might have a different LLC.

Therefore, my L one LLC is not connected to the other, and that's what makes it really difficult in in creating state policy of like how to there's not really a way to count, and we don't make people release that information to us.

And so I guess my question is how do you plan on solving the problem of identifying ownership in or who's a small landlord and who is not that's a question.

Okay.

Well, we have it set up that it's um I think it's like there is a way to do this, and we had it in our co in our code that we're writing up.

It's like 40 percent.

Can I ask Linda to come up and explain it exactly?

Or do you want to do it later?

Um we'll put it in the FAQ.

There was significant conversation about this at CVS.

Um, so I'll find that language and I'll include it in the follow-up.

Okay.

It's a definition.

Yeah, I have, yeah.

Okay, I just I have a bunch more questions here, but I don't want to um it sounds like we're gonna have some more processes about this, and I don't want to um drag this on longer than it needs to, but it sounds like uh we have some legal issues that we are working through, and that there is things at the state level that are out of our hands that have to do with this code in general, and so my suggestion would be to wait and see what sticks at the state and figure out how we make amendments there because it feels like people have amendments that are separate for each one of these, and it doesn't feel like it's ready to go as a whole.

Um, and I would suggest that probably people have amendments that are outside of just these proposals or just these proposal of amendments that they might want to bring forward.

And again, I think that this is a tremendous body of work that you have taken on, and I think it really should be considered uh with the whole of us and um or who whoever is to come.

And again, I think that this is a tremendous body of work that you've taken on, and I think it really should be considered uh with the whole of us and um or who whoever is to come, and I and I do think we should be seeing what the state is gonna say so that we are not going over this and changing um month after month with our with the folks that are providing housing, they don't have any um means of uh predictability at this point, and so if we're bringing forward things that are not gonna stick with the state, and then they then point of order, I don't know what you're doing.

Point of order.

I don't know what we're talking about.

We're just talking about we're just talking about this thing here today.

That's all I'm talking about right now.

Well, I'm talking to you about yeah, but I'm just saying I'm only talking about what's in here that I brought for it.

That's all.

Oh, I'm not sure.

Anything that's coming, nothing else.

Okay, that's fine.

Yeah, okay.

Well, that the that still exists, and that still is a thing, and there it that is at the state, and it does impact this.

It's not on the agenda, well, but it that is that's that is our reality, and so that would be my suggestion, and I'm allowed to suggest that councilmember Bushnell.

Uh thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, just really appreciate uh councilmember all for all your work on this.

Uh it is uh, as been said, a lot of work, and I know you've been talking and having conversations with a lot of folks all across this the board on this.

Um I've heard many concerns from a lot of our affordable housing providers and how this makes it difficult for them to be able to provide the affordable housing that our community desperately needs.

Um one of the questions I had, and you might not have an answer right now.

I'm just curious as to when it comes to the the exemptions.

Um, sometimes there are public-private partnerships, um, sometimes there's public nonprofit partnerships, sometimes there's private nonprofit uh partnerships.

How does that impact who gets the exemption or not?

Because sometimes um would it be like who is who's the end user of it, who's owning the property of it, because it could be a private entity that might own the property, but a non-profit runs it.

So I'm just kind of curious of like does that all of a sudden because they're who owns the building changes who the exemption applies to?

Because I so I'm just that's where I'm kind of hung up a little bit on because there's a lot of ways that affordable housing can be created, and I don't want to uh staunch the ability for more affordable housing to be uh available.

Um, and so this might be a calculus private entities might have in not partnering with nonprofits to create the affordable housing that we need.

Okay, so the proposal as it is um tied to the deed restriction, not type of provider.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, so if you have um if you have a housing voucher, it's tied to the unit that is a low-income unit, it's not tied to the fact that you have a housing voucher.

So you can like the I you know, people that's what the Tacoma Housing Authority also has, people who use the section eight, that's like at a house, like I was suggesting, and they can use it there, but that's not they wouldn't be part of this, they wouldn't be covered under this.

But if they lived in a low-income housing unit, that was part of that unit that was in, say, like a that was a low-income unit, that that's the unit that they would be able to.

This would be this would exempt them there.

Does that make sense?

I think so.

Yeah, it's a little confusing.

Uh I'll let me I'll talk with you in a little bit so you can explain it to me a little bit better.

But okay, thank you.

Thank you for that.

I this is obviously it's very confusing uh space, you know, both legally and how it structures out, but I think that also goes to the point of like how confusing it is for us.

It's also confusing for landlords and also very confusing for tenants, and so folks that are trying to navigate this on the regulatory side, so we just have to be very very clear, and I appreciate the updates of definitions and trying to find consistency there because I think it's um you know, if someone moves from from Tacoma uh or from from out of the city to Tacoma, uh the definitions might be different from city to city, even um, so there's just a lot of confusion, I think, for tenants and and landlords and even folks trying to you know go through these processes.

So thank you for that.

Okay, any other council comments or questions for councilmember Rumba Deputy Mayor.

Oh, sorry, Mayor.

Yes, please jump in.

I'm sorry, I didn't no, oh no problem.

It happens to me all the time.

Just a quick comment.

I think most of my questions were answered.

Um, and this may be for Chris.

Um, because I've heard people propose several potential amendments, and since this hasn't been since this is just a draft, Chris, instead of everybody bringing separate amendments to the council meeting, um if if if council member Rambaugh is open to it and everybody's okay with it, can we just actually put those amendments in the draft as opposed to bringing individual amendments to the meeting?

That will be up to council member Rumbaugh, but it's certainly a process that could be used.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

And so one thing I would suggest talking about being confusing, is that the policy is confusing enough.

If there are amendments that were expressed today, Councilmember Rambah, that you um that you are in support of, and I heard you speak very positively to some of the um some of the amendments that came forward.

It would be great if we could incorporate those into your documents so that what we finally give to the public has most of that incorporated, so they're not trying to figure out where these amendments fit in what you've already provided.

Just the suggestion ultimately it is it is it is your choice as the um as the developer of the policy, but just wanted to share that with you.

Um, and um, so that's it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um super quick, Mayor.

While I have you, do you want to go to this your second part?

Uh the second item on the agenda, or do you want to wait?

No, I could do our I I have several items, are they all together?

Which item, I unfortunately I don't have my agenda in front of me.

Which item are you referring to?

Uh the the council rules.

Oh, sure, I can I can take that now.

Um, you all got this in your packet.

Um, there was a little bit of a mix-up when I was talking to um the goal for me.

Sorry, the goal for me was to get the council rules changed that were administrative in nature that were the things that were that we just need to update.

Um, it was not my um my intention um to include all of the amendments that may require more work.

So um what I was hoping for is that our clerk's office had proposed a couple of cleanup items um to the rules and have collected proposed changements from council staff and incorporated them into the red line rules in our materials.

While there are some cleanup items and some items I wanted to bring forward to match our practices and charter approved changes, they do not need to happen this year.

Um, some of the things that other council members have proposed will require more conversation, and I think that they um those conversations would be better had in the um OSAC committee.

Um so I would suggest that we postpone and pull this off the agenda, refer it to OSAC, and let OSAC take up all the other proposed changes as well, um, and then they could be set over for January for you all to um to look at then.

And so I'm I'm proposing that today, and I'd love to hear from any of you who um have thoughts about it.

If not, I would just ask staff to remove it from the agenda.

Okay, do we need to do anything formal for that?

No.

Okay.

All right, it made it to the study session agenda, it didn't make it to the council agenda.

So there's not there's no motions or anything we need to do not to continue to bring it forward.

Okay.

Was there any um comments or questions on that from Mayor from OSAT committee or otherwise?

I just want to confirm we're we're basically saying that this is just gonna go to OSAT and come back to us later.

I think so.

Okay, yes.

Okay, all right, Mayor, then I'll move us to the second or excuse me, our fourth agenda item.

Um, and that is a council consideration request, um, and that is canceling the fund allocation for a labor standards task force.

And for that, I would like to call back to you, Mayor, for that presentation.

I think I'll leave myself off mute for a second.

Um, wonderful.

Um, so you all uh back on August 12 at the August 12th council meeting, we adopted resolution 41735 authorizing a council contingency fund expenditure in the amount of 50,000 for staffing and facilitation of the labor standards task force.

Um, this task force was intended to review various labor standards, some of which were included in the initiative petition prior uh to the end of the year.

With the changes in the timeline and the shift in how we are addressing labor standards this year, we no longer need to allocate this funding for a formal task force.

This CCR would return the $50,000 to the contingency fund so that we can allocate it for other processes.

I want to thank council members Bushnell and Heinz for their support of the CCR.

And if there are no comments or questions, this item will this item will be on our December 2nd agenda to formally to formally return the $50,000 back to the council contingency fund.

Okay.

Any comments or any comments or questions?

Okay, Councilmember Scott.

I was just going to make a note.

I imagine this maybe because this was originally written when um Elizabeth Pauley was still here, but it says copies were sent to Elizabeth Pauley, City Manager, and Chris Blacher.

So I just figured maybe we want to update that.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Scott.

Yep, no problem.

Okay.

Councilmember Walker.

Sorry, late entry.

Um, Mayor Worders, I just want to make sure that when we do bring this forward at the council meeting that we are clear with the public that this doesn't mean that we're not still looking at labor standards.

It's just that the formal task force and the the dedicated work from this year is not happening.

Absolutely.

I will make sure that makes it in my talking points.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Okay, Mayor.

Um, our fifth agenda item is will be back to you, and that is for a council consideration request uh for support for a holiday on the Broadway and downtown revital licensation efforts.

Okay, so um I guess you all can tell that um that I am um coming to the end of my term.

I'm doing a whole lot to wrap up the year.

But um what you have before you is the CCR for downtown activation.

I'm asking you to support a council contingency um for $35,000 to support holiday on Broadway and the plan to enhance the activation of Broadway and other areas of downtown.

This initiative is built on the efforts of our partnerships with the downtown business owners, property owners, and organizations over the last 18 months.

Um that was facilitated by Blocks Hub, a Nordic collaboration focused on sustainable urbanization strategies.

The Blocks Hub framework, um, they provided focuses on integrating design activation and partnership strategies to strengthen Tacoma's urban core.

The program will unify the city's traditional marquee holiday events under a cohesive seasonal identity, introducing new components that enhance the vitality, accessibility, and visual appeal of the downtown environment.

This will also set a stage for ongoing framework for the future downtown activations, using the holiday on Broadway as a pilot and um and learning opportunity for how we can better align with downtown partners to activate our urban core.

I want to thank council members Rumbaugh and Walker for their support on the CCR.

Um, and I would entertain any council comments or questions.

Um, and as long as you all are okay, this will be on our December 2nd agenda as well.

Okay, any comments or questions for Mayor?

All right, seeing none, we will go on to our sixth agenda item, and that is a council consideration request for a sister city sign installation.

Mayor, this is again you.

All right.

So this is something, this is something that I talked about doing uh eight years ago when I attended the first sister cities um retreat.

Um, and this I this this was a request from them, and I think they figured out I was leaving and wanted to hurry up and make sure we got it done before I left.

So this request will support a permanent sister cities signed project that celebrates and visually represents the city's long-standing international partnerships.

The project is designed is designed to highlight each of the city's sister city relationships through an attractive durable sign installation placed in a prominent civic location.

Um we will be working with them to finalize the central location on Tulson Plaza or on the UWT campus along 17th Street and support them as they pursue any applications or permitting requirements.

They have already worked with their own vendor to get an initial to get initial designs for this sign, um, and they will be reaching out to our city council and the public for feedback on the design to incorporate in the final design before installation.

Um, I'm sure several of you have visited others on, and you'll come upon a sign that that points in different directions and it can be a directional sign, um, a standing up sign, it could be on the ground, but I've seen lots of cool ways that people are um that people are um highlighting their sister cities.

Um this request also um will provide funding for public works to cover any initial maintenance needs um in the short term while an agreement is put in place for the sister city council to take on future maintenance and changes to the installation.

If things go smoothly, the intent would be to have this installed next year.

And I want to thank council members with Schnell and Walker for their support of this request.

And I'll open it up for comments, and if not, this too will be on December 2nd council.

Okay.

Um any comments or questions for mayor on this proposal or this council consideration request.

All right, seeing none, I will move us to our seventh agenda item.

Um, and this is actually mine.

It is a council consideration request for the Tacoma Rescue Mission Youth Program.

My notes here.

All right, I am excited to bring forward a council contingent contingency fund request to support expanded services uh for the Tacoma Resh Rescue Missions Youth Program.

Uh we had a chance as council members uh to as uh some of our council members had a chance to go and check out the youth programming that consistently happens at the rescue mission.

Uh but while we were there, we um understood that they have um some funding can uh constraints as they um have expanded their services and um they have got a lot more going on that they've had to take on, and this is one of the things that um they haven't quite figured out um how to um to do all of these things at the same time.

Um but what we found while we were there is that it's such critical programming for young people that are going in through uh what will probably be the hardest time of their life, um, and they rely solely on um volunteers uh to make it uh all come together.

Uh the Tacoma Rescue Mission is a vital institution serving our um folks without homes, and they do incredible work supporting unhoused adults with shelter and a wide variety of services.

Each year, the rescue mission provides more than 10,000 hours of supportive nurturing guidance and educational experiences to more than 350 young children who are who have been traumatized by homelessness and um are considered vulnerable in our one of the most vulnerable in our community.

Um children enrolled in the TRM's youth program have shown measurable improvement in their academic performance and social well-being.

Many of my colleagues and I have put together opportunities to work closely with them.

Um Councilmember Hines, the pictures of hope to decorate the oh, sorry, that was a different picture.

This is pictures of hope, but also with the other pictures that we did a couple years ago.

Uh, we so we've seen firsthand the tremendous importance of engaging in engaging with children impacted by homelessness.

Um this fund will help the rescue mission um expand their support services such as tutoring games, sports, activity nights that help young people um build important social skills, engage in teamwork collaboration, and establish positive relations with adults.

I want to thank Councilmember Woodard, Council Member Wooders and Mayor Woodards, Councilmember Scott, and Councilmember Walker for co-sponsoring this 10,000 dollar request.

I hope that you will all join us in bolstering one of the most vital programs in our city.

Um that's that is helping to create a brighter future for the most vulnerable in our community.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Walker.

Um thank you, Deputy Mayor, and just want to thank you for bringing this forward.

Um, and I'm very excited to support it.

And I love that it has a financial impact, but also the opportunity to continue to connect with the various events that you have been leading and that other folks are invited to do.

So I I just love the combo and really excited about the the um proposal in general.

So thank you.

Okay, so this will come forward um next week.

Oh, council member Bush now.

Thank you.

Um, this is I appreciate this, and I am happy to support.

Uh, I just wanted to clarify on our contingency commitments.

Um, so that way we're all tracking the same numbers and based on what I'm seeing in it.

Uh, I'm not sure who's been paying attention to this.

Um, so uh uh we are we're putting back 50,000 into the contingency fund request uh by removing the uh the uh Tacoma labor task force standards allocation.

So we're adding back in for the holiday on Broadway support and the sister cities sign installation and then this TRM support.

So if my math is correct, then that leaves us with a balance of just a little over $9300.

I just wanted to uh confirm that.

I would probably have to ask staff to confirm that.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, or Deputy Mayor.

Um, I will get back to you with that with a full accounting.

We are working on that as well in process, but that is fairly close to exhausting your council contingency's uh dollars for 25.

So okay.

I just wanted to uh just daylight that for folks that are thinking about other things in the future.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no other comments or questions, I will move us on to our slides.

I missed that doing the math back on the NAFCA.

Yeah, I I missed it.

I missed that the TRM thing was uh or above that, so it it could be 19,000 or so.

So just but yeah, full accounting would be great.

Thank you.

Council member, council members now and city manager.

I do believe that um Bakota has that number and has already done the math.

Okay.

All right, the one of the one additional item on our agenda is the operational strategy and administrative committee update from OSAC.

And for that, I would like to call on council member Walker.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

And um, we talked about at OSAC last week um providing these regular updates to the rest of the committee, and so I'm not sure exactly how often we'll do them, but we're um uh adding it to the rotation but keeping it at study session because these are sort of working items.

So um since establishing the operational strategy and administration committee, OSAC in June of this year.

Um, I'm excited to share that the committee has been primarily focused on three major initiatives.

So the first one is the city manager's work plan, and we finalized that work plan and um on 1014, October 14th and October 21st.

The city manager reported the interim work plan to the full council.

Um the second piece and the thing that has been uh top of mind for all of us is the city manager recruitment process.

And we all know what an important role the city manager plays.

So we're putting a ton of work into this.

Um, and all of the pieces as we worked through them come to the the full council.

Um we did um approve the strategy.

We selected the executive recruiting firm and then selected the competencies um to report to support the recruitment process, and that was with input from all of you.

Um now we are continuing to provide guidance on community engagement, recruitment timelines, and general process of the recruit or general oversight of the recruitment process.

Um you should have received an email about the extension of the survey, the public survey that's continuing through the end of the month after our meeting on Friday.

Um, and then lastly, the city council staffing.

So city council staffing is a critical issue, and it has been exciting to start reviewing options for how our staffing model could be adjusted to meet our council member needs.

We've been exploring potential costs and implementation considerations for staffing, and we'll resume um the discussion in 2026 to align with the 2728 biannual budget development process.

So you'll be hearing more about that soon.

Our next steps as a committee will be to continue support and oversight of the recruitment process for the city manager, and the committee will continue to provide direction to city staff and the contracted executive recruiting firm, but all candidate reviews and decisions regarding the selection of the permanent city manager will be brought to the whole council.

At the December 12th meeting, the committee will begin planning for the council retreat that is tentatively scheduled to occur in February 2026.

One of our goals is to get that date on the calendar.

And the committee has asked staff to develop a menu of activities that could be included in the council retreat, such as team building, priority setting, and discussion, and various process training or and informational components.

Madam Deputy Mayor, that concludes my report.

Happy to answer any questions.

Okay.

Seeing none, um, I would like to call on interim city manager Kim to be for an agenda review and city managers meeting to be report.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, tonight uh council for the agenda for the council meeting.

We have two ceremonials on on the agenda.

The first pro claiming Thursday, November 20th as transgender day of remembrance, and the second proclamation proclaiming Saturday, November 29th as small business Saturday.

Uh no uh proposed changes or modifications to tonight's agenda, and just one note for public comment.

We have public comment tonight, no public form.

So that is my report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, I see your hand up, and I don't know if that was from earlier or if it is from now.

Oh no, I have one more.

Oh, got it.

Um I have one more under item of the vintage.

I'm sorry, I didn't I didn't get my hand up quick enough.

Um, I forgot it wasn't actually on the my name wasn't on the agenda.

Um I I wanted there there's there is it was on tonight's agenda.

There will be a motion coming forward on tonight's agenda, but I just also wanted to make sure that I let you all know.

I think I've spoken to some of you, but I didn't get to everyone.

Um you will all of you got notice um earlier this year um that Judge Drew Hankey would be retiring on December 31st.

She is um our Tacoma Municipal Court uh judge.

Um and so we want to begin the process for seeking applicants for the appointment.

Um the seat won't be vacant until January 1, 2026.

Um, and we'll not have an elected judge filing that seat until January 1st, 2027.

So um in talking with uh Judge Krupta and Judge Sontag, um we they certainly want us to move this process along as quickly as possible.

As you all know, when they were in front of us not too long ago, um they um they have a lot of cases and really need everyone on the bench.

So the motion that you'll see tonight will direct the city manager to begin accepting applications this week and and um to close the application items by 9 a.m.

on the morning of Monday, December 1st.

Um, following that I've spoken with um council member Hines and the GPSC committee is going to uh take um do interviews um on the meeting on December 2nd at 10 a.m.

And they will recommend um final candidates.

So it might be two, it might be one, but they'll decide which candidates they're recommending for consideration.

Um I then will propose a candidate for appointment to the full council, um, and it will be on the first agenda in January.

That way they're only missing a couple days.

The reason we can't do it this year is because Judge Hankey doesn't actually vacate the seat until December 31st, and you can't make an you can't make an appointment until the seat has actually been um vacated.

Um and so uh that's the process that I'm proposing and would answer any questions or comments.

And let me just also say thank you.

Um thank you, Councilmember Heinz, for uh reacting so quickly and being able to take this on in GPSC.

Okay.

Um any comments or questions?

Okay.

All right, thanks, Mayor.

Okay, I'm really done this time.

I don't have any more to offer during this study session.

Okay, cool.

We well though with that, I guess I will take the final motion.

Move to adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed signify by saying nay.

The motion is declared adopted.

We stand adjourned.