The City Council held a study session led by Mayor Woodards, who noted this would be her final study session in her term. The meeting covered the Media and Communications Quarterly Update, an amended joint use agreement with the Museum of Glass, a proposal for a public safety sales tax under House Bill 2015, and resolutions regarding friendship city designations and charter review processes. Council members expressed support for the initiatives while emphasizing the need for thoughtful implementation regarding branding consistency, parking impacts, tax equity, and alternative community safety programs.
Note: No specific public comments were transcribed in this session; the discussion was limited to Councilmember inquiries and staff presentations.
Media and Communications Quarterly Update: Director Amy Clancy presented data showing 1.6 million unique page views since the Tacoma.gov launch, a 134% increase in social media engagement, and a shift toward high-volume, complex media inquiries regarding homelessness and shelter funding. Staff confirmed they monitor misinformation across all platforms and are exploring AI integration. Councilmember Bushnell and Councilmember Diaz inquired about social media moderation and coordination with Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) on Nextdoor postings.
Museum of Glass Joint Use Agreement: Director Steve Victor and Dylan Harrison explained the agreement allows the Museum to apply for permits to improve the parking garage (protecting against king tides, removing barriers) and convert some parking stalls into wood/metal shops and storage spaces. Councilmember Walker and Councilmember Rumba supported the motion, noting that parking utilization is low (filling only a few times a year). Councilmember Walker requested parking utilization data and suggested coordinating with transit services, while Councilmember Rumba highlighted the economic benefit of the Museum's expanded storage capabilities.
Public Safety Sales Tax (House Bill 2015): Finance Director Andy Chirillo and City Manager Kim presented the option to pass a 0.1% sales tax, projected to generate $7–7.5 million annually. Staff noted this revenue could address the $15 million projected structural deficit. Councilmember Sidalga expressed strong concern regarding the regressive nature of the tax and the hardship on constituents, urging staff to consider alternative revenue sources. Councilmembers Bushnell, Scott, and Rumba supported the measure but collectively expressed a position that the funds should be prioritized for preventative care, community safety officers (CSOs), the Hope Team, and alternative response programs rather than solely supplanting the general fund budget. Deputy Mayor Daniels emphasized the legislature's direction that cities must utilize such tools to support the social safety net.
Friendship and Sister City Resolutions: Councilmember Sidalga expressed support for the Kochi, India designation, citing the large South Asian population in the region. Councilmember Scott noted the successful transition from Hvar to Split, Croatia, following Hvar's withdrawal.
Rental Housing Code Amendment (Relocation Assistance): Councilmember Hines proposed an amendment to clarify that if a tenant stays in a unit or re-signs a lease after receiving relocation assistance (triggered by rent increases), they must repay the funds within a specific timeline. Councilmember Diaz and Councilmember Bushnell supported the clarification to avoid ambiguity. Councilmember Sidalca opposed the amendment, expressing a position that it creates a "perverse incentive" for landlords to terminate leases to avoid paying relocation fees, potentially exacerbating displacement.
Charter Review Process: Councilmember Hines proposed a resolution to direct the City Manager to begin facilitating a conversation on the 2034 charter review at least two years in advance to ensure future Councils are prepared.
I would like to call to order the City Council study session of December 9th, 2025. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Bushnell. Present. Deputy Mayor Daniels. Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Hines. Councilmember Rumba. Here. Councilmember Sidalgay. Here. Councilmember Scott. Here. Councilmember Walker. Here. Mayor Woodards. Here. The study session material sent you at 11. Wonderful. As we move into our first agenda item, let the record reflect that unless something changes within the next week that this will officially be my last study session. So with that, our first agenda item is the Media and Communications Quarterly Update, and I'd like to call on Media and Communications Director Amy Clancy to begin the presentation. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good to be with you in the city council today. I'd like to also introduce Golden Doles, our digital manager, and we look forward, as I've said before, to this every quarter because it's good for us to tell you what's going on. So we're going to start first of all by talking about what's new. You've been hearing us talk about podcasts. We're getting very close to signing the contract. Soon as the contract is up and signed, then Golden's going to start exploring ways to integrate it into the website and everything else. But I just wanted you to get a look at. We are currently building a studio, or at least when we get all the permitting and everything else through. Because peg fees can only be used for cable television content. So we are using those fees for the build out of the podcast studio. Also want to let you know that since it's been not quite three months since our last update, we're going to be giving you our year-to-year social numbers instead of quarterly social numbers because the data is basically only two months old. So, first of all, as we discussed, we're continuing our efforts for consistency in branding. Secondary logos, most of them are being retired at the end of the year. We're also, when it comes to consistency and branding, moving forward with a new report template, and you saw it in the Tacoma 2035 report. That was the first to use it. And so we will have consistency there as well. And just a reminder the purpose of this is to go from this for the City of Tacoma as close to this as we can possibly get. Obviously, there are going to be some exceptions, fire, police, and others, but this is where we're going. And to that end, we've created a brand resources page on SharePoint so people know where to find all this content. Moving to Tacoma.gov. It's been um oh golly, uh how many months? Seven months. Seven months since our launch on April 30th. And since that time, we've had 1.6 million total page views, more than 550,000 unique users, and a 12 million event count, which means how many times people clicked on something, watched a video, filled out a form, whatever. Um, and in we've got some more website news that um just to give you some perspective on what we're doing with this. Golden and her team are making enhancements to the back end of the front. And for example, when there was a suggestion regarding a community resources page when the federal government was on a shutdown, Golden and her team stood something up where we shared information from our state, county, city, and private partners so that we could refer people to where community resources could be found. We know that we can't help everybody in every situation, but we do have partnerships with um different organizations, and so we can refer people in one area.