I'd like to call to order the city council study session of January 27, 2026.

Clerk, please call the roll.

You're good.

I apologize, I left my roll call sheet behind.

I'm gonna do my best.

Okay.

Deputy Mayor Bushau.

Present.

Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Rumba here.

Councilmember Hines.

Here.

Councilmember Walker.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay.

Here.

Councilmember Daniel, or not Daniels.

Councilmember Scott is absent.

And our new council member.

I'm blanking on your name.

I'm really sorry.

Palmer, Councilmember Palmer.

Here.

Thank you.

Councilmember is your materials we're sent to you at 11 a.m.

Thank you.

That's okay.

So our first agenda item is um interim police chief Jackson's vision for the city and the Tacoma Police Department.

I'd like to call on interim city manager Kim for opening remarks.

Welcome.

Thank you very much.

Mayor Ibsen, uh, members of Council Deputy Mayor.

Um I am immensely proud on behalf of the executive team here to bring before you our interim chief of police who is going to lay out her vision for the department as well as a little bit about herself.

Um we are in the process, and I'd like to share for the public who's watching this meeting.

Um, we've gone through a process of a sole incumbency recruitment process for the chief of police.

We've had two public meetings as well as an internal um uh panel interview with Chief Jackson, and just today we're wrapping up uh individual meet and greets with members of council.

Um with the schedule, I'd like to just lay out as I turn the time over to Chief Jackson uh for her presentation.

Um, the process at this point is our next step would be uh for a potential confirmation vote at our next public meeting on February 3rd.

So I just want to share that with you all and turn the time over to Chief Jackson.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

How's that?

Okay.

Good afternoon, and thank you for your time.

I very much appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today.

Again, my name is Patty Jackson, and I've been serving as the interim chief of police for the Tacoma Police Department since March of last year.

I want to share one thing up front.

At times during you know our discussion today, you're gonna hear me speaking the eye frame.

And I want to make sure that that I'm really recognizing that's not because this job is done alone, because it isn't.

It's because leadership requires accountability.

And when I speak about direction, expectations, or responsibility, I own that.

For most people, contact with the police happens on a hard day, often during a highly emotional experience, whether they're a victim, a witness, or a suspect.

That reality is why I believe it's important for you to get to know us, for you to get to know your Tacoma Police Department before you need us.

I want you to know the Tacoma Police Department is made up of professionals who have taken an oath to serve this community.

Any progress I reference is the result of their work, their commitment, and their professionalism.

Throughout my career, I've focused on doing the work the right way, especially when conditions are demanding.

I don't practice headline-driven leadership.

That works the work that lasts most isn't flashy.

It's doing the same things consistently in making decisions you don't end up walking back.

I've led during staffing shortages, cultural change, including times when there are a lot of uncertainty.

In those moments, what mattered most was staying steady, not overcorrecting, and working directly with labor leaders, with county and city leadership, and community partners to really land on solutions that people can actually live with.

And therefore the work is much better.

When I stepped into the interim chief role, the department was under real pressure.

Staffing, morale, and questions from the community.

Standing still was not an option.

What was needed was steadiness and some clear direction.

I showed up.

I was honest about where we were, and I was clear about what it would take to move forward.

While being careful not to promise more than we could deliver.

And that remains the foundation of how I approach this job today.

Since then, we've made meaningful progress.

We spent time steadying the ship, getting executive leadership stabilized and tightening up how our organization runs day to day.

Staffing has been intentional.

In some areas, that meant opening doors, and in others, it meant adding resources so we could move people through the process more efficiently.

Always, always with the goal of bringing in and keeping the right people in a way that's sustainable.

We've reviewed policies and processes to make sure they still make sense in practice and continue to meet CLIA standards, which is essential to maintaining accreditation.

That work isn't just about checking boxes.

It's about ensuring consistency, fairness, and professionalism across our whole organization.

We've tried to be clearer about decisions when questions came up because transparency matters most, and that's how this department is really experienced.

We've put more focus on officer wellness.

When people are supported, the work holds up better, especially over time.

None of this happens without the men and women of the Tacoma Police Department.

They show up every day, often in difficult and changing circumstances, and continue to serve this community with professionalism and care.

My responsibility is to support that work.

It's to set clear expectations and apply standards fairly, the same way every time.

Everything I'm going to share next is grounded in our mission and how we translate that mission into action.

So I'm going to start with our core responsibility.

Safeguarding our community, right?

So what this slide is intended is to put that core responsibility into clear terms, to be clear about what the Tacoma Police Department is responsible for and where our role fits among other systems, and then how we stay focused on public safety.

Safeguarding our community requires focus and it requires follow through.

Crime reduction isn't about a single program or tool.

It's about reducing violence, preventing harm, and making neighborhoods safer.

In community forums, I've consistently shared that safeguarding public safety is the core duty of the Tacoma Police Department.

Today I want to focus on how that message is being put into practice.

Every day, our officers are dealing with the impacts of homelessness, of mental illness and addiction in our community.

Those are very complicated issues, and policing alone doesn't solve them.

I want to be clear when I say that our role is public safety.

That's being visible, enforcing the law when needed, and maintaining order.

But I want to make sure that I'm showing here that it is our responsibility.

So we've talked about our role, but we also need to talk about our responsibility, and that's to work alongside partners who are better positioned to reduce harm and connect people to support.

Since those conversations, we have continued to strengthen coordination with our partners who specialize in behavior health, addiction, and outreach, allowing our officers to remain focused on public safety while ensuring people are connected to the appropriate support whenever possible.

As reflected in the headlines and rankings, there is real concern about crime in our community.

While those snapshots don't always capture the full picture, they do reflect valid concern.

Okay.

Staying focused on our core duty rather than reacting to every headline is how we make measurable, sustainable progress.

Our responsibility is to stay focused on the core work of the Tacoma Police Department.

Again, reducing violent crime and improving safety on our streets.

That responsibility shapes how I lead this department every day.

Safeguarding our community depends on how we lead, the culture we set, and how we consistently show up.

How we carry out that responsibility depends on leadership, culture, and stewardship, and how consistently those show up day to day.

Culture isn't created in policy manuals or mission statements.

It's created by what we allow, what we address, and where we choose to show up.

It's shaped by daily behavior, not written intent.

Showing up matters in neighborhoods, in community meetings, and especially after mistakes.

Presence signals accountability, and accountability builds credibility, both inside our organization and with the community we serve.

That presence has been intentional and visible, and it has helped build more productive, two-way engagement with our community.

We have leaned into difficult conversations, increased visibility, and addressed conduct when it was not aligned with our mission, because accountability really protects the integrity, the integrity of our profession and the trust in our community.

The work isn't one off, it's ongoing.

I know words like accountability and transparency don't land the same for everyone.

Sometimes they're heard as fault finding.

That's not how I see it.

When accountability is done well, it reinforces standards, protects good officers, and strengthens trust.

Accountability is something the community expects and deserves.

Recognizing professionalism and good work is part of earning that trust.

So I really love to give that recognition to our department members when they're doing great things, and then they strive to do more great things.

That's why I work closely with our bargaining units to strike that right balance.

One that supports shared accountability, respects the profession, and allows meaningful partnership with our community.

Engagement matters.

Lived experience matters too.

But policing decisions still have to be informed by training, standards, and professional judgment.

Our responsibility is to listen carefully, take that input seriously, and then make the call.

I want to make sure that I'm telling you that listening doesn't replace leadership.

It helps us make better decisions.

Culture change can't be forced, it has to be chosen.

It grows faster when trust is mutual.

Trust grows when expectations are clear, processes are fair, and people understand how decisions are made.

Engagement doesn't mean everyone gets to make a decision.

It means people are kept informed about what that decision is and treated with honesty and respect.

I want to just share how I think about leadership.

I think of leadership as stewardship, stewardship of people, of public trust, and an organization that belongs to this community.

That means setting clear expectations, applying them fairly, and supporting our people and meeting them.

Stewardship requires consistency.

The same standards apply at every level, and leadership shows up not only when things go well, but when they don't.

This is a big part here for me.

We are intentional about investing and training and making sure that that investment is used to grow the agency from within.

That investment shows up in stronger leadership, it shows up in better judgment, and officers who choose to stay and continue serving the communities they know.

When we do this well, it creates continuity for the community and stability for our organization.

Taken together, this is how I approach leadership.

Culture as behavior, accountability as protection, and engagement as listening with leadership and training as investment with a return.

When leadership, culture, and stewardship are steady, they create the conditions for trust, and that brings us to what it looks like to be clear about our role as we look ahead.

As we look ahead, our focus remains steady, moving forward with practical approach, focused on staffing, stability and trust, and positioning the department for the next several years while also staying right responsive as our community needs evolve.

Public safety remains our priority, reducing crime, preventing harm, and supporting our people with training and systems that hold up in real situations.

We pay attention to crime trends, and we pay attention to how the work is done because professionalism and fairness directly affect community trust.

Both outcomes and process matter.

That focus means ensuring our department is fully staffed and positioned to grow responsibly, keeping pace with the city's growth and demands placed on our officers.

Filling current vacancies and planning for measured growths are critical to maintaining service level and officer wellness over our next several years.

Staffing is not just a numbers issue, it's a safety and sustainability issue.

At the same time, lasting public safety requires partnership.

Community engagement is not separate from accountability.

It's how accountability works best.

When people who live with a problem help inform the solution, trust strengthens and outcomes improve.

This is how I'm viewing this how I view engagement, not as oversight alone, but shared responsibility for safety.

Clear roles make that partnership work.

That engagement must also start early, building trust with young people, starting uh that shows up in schools, in neighborhoods, and in everyday interactions.

Those early connections shape expectations and relationships long before enforcement is ever part of that picture.

Again, getting to know us before you need us.

I know one of the questions that many people are carrying right now has to do with immigration and the role of law or local law enforcement.

It is important to be clear and consistent about that role.

Clarity here is essential to trust.

The Tacoma Police Department does not enforce federal immigration law.

Immigration is a civil federal matter, not a criminal issue handled by local police.

Our responsibility is public safety, protecting life, protecting harm, and responding to crime for everyone who lives in, works in, or visits Tacoma.

That position is clear, it's consistent, and it's longstanding.

When our officers encounter situations involving federal agencies, they act within the law and our department policy.

Our response is driven by criminal activity or public safety concerns, not by immigration status.

Immigration status alone is not a basis for local police action.

That boundary is not negotiable.

Clarity matters.

When people understand our role and our boundaries, trust grows.

That trust allows officers to do their job and it allows communities to engage without fear.

That clarity supports confidence, both within our department and across our community.

We will continue listening because public safety works best when the community stays involved.

Listening strength and solutions when roles are clear.

Our role is public safety.

Our responsibility is partnership.

In closing, I want to let you know that I don't see the role of your chief of police as who I am.

I see it as how I serve.

Service has always been the center of my leadership.

This role isn't owed to me.

It's entrusted to me.

And I recognize the weight that comes with being asked to lead an organization that carries such an important responsibility for our community.

Public safety is shared responsibility.

I agree with our community that accountability matters when we get it right and when we get it wrong.

And I welcome being held accountable for how this work is done.

What you will see from me is steady, consistent leadership and an agency that is trained, supported, and expected to serve this community with professionalism, fairness, and care.

Thank you for your trust.

Thank you for holding us accountable, and thank you for partnering with us.

Because again, public safety works best when we move forward together.

TPD strong, not as a slogan, but as a commitment that I take seriously every single day.

Thank you.

Councilmember Soldogett.

Thank you, Mayor.

First of all, uh thank you.

Um we've interacted a lot in this last was it March, really?

That was that long ago.

Um I had a couple of comments.

Um I've had the um opportunity to go through the sorry, excuse me.

Community public police academy and met a lot of officers.

Uh one of the things that I've learned that quite frankly was eye-opening to me is how different we are today as a professional force uh with modern um uh training.

Um, and I do want to point that out as we move forward because every new officer is one that's coming into the new culture of the Tacoma Police Academy of Police Department, excuse me.

Uh I was gonna ask a question that you um you know uh hit on in your remarks, and I think it's really important uh topically today.

We have a national conversation about enforcement in general that is adding uh fear, anxiety, and distrust.

And I really do appreciate that not only did you make the policy of the city and of the department clear around federal immigration enforcement, but that you have couched your entire presentation on increasing and continuing to uh talk about trust and transparency with community because we're gonna need a lot of that for at least three more years.

Um I want to thank you uh uh for adding that.

And then I do want to this is more I I don't really have a question for you, I suppose.

This is more of a comment in general.

Uh and something I do want to point out to the rest of the council is I have personally seen you show up in my community.

And I think it's really important and telling that when you have a leader that shows up, then the rank and file shows up.

And I have absolutely seen that happen.

And that is a culmination of all the reasons why I do support your uh your your appointment and your vision for this department.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Sodogi.

Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I really think I just need to say ditto to everything Councilmember Sidalge said, I don't need to repeat it, but thank you for building trust in the community and internally, it's made a difference.

And um, I think this presentation has just been a great overview um of what we've already seen.

So thank you, really appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Hines.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh thank you, Chief Jackson, for the presentation.

Um kind of vision going forward.

Something you said in our individual time that I'd love for you to talk a little bit more about was this idea when we talk about growing the organization, it's not just about adding people, it's like growing the capacity of the organization, investing in the folks that do the work, attracting the right people.

Just give a chance to talk a little bit more about that.

I thought it was very insightful, and I thought that was a really good vision to have as we think about um Cole Police Party going forward.

Right, so I I very much appreciate all the kind comments, and I want to make sure that that and I was so proud when I heard Councilmember Sadalogy talk about that the rest of our team's showing up.

That is, I want to make sure this is not just me.

I mean, there are people that that um probably you know that they they have families, they have things to do, but but they're showing up and not showing up for Patty Jackson, right?

They're showing up for our community.

And they're showing up because the community is welcoming them, but it is an honor to go to work every day, and I mean that.

And I want to make sure that I'll go back and talk to our training division.

It kind of loops back to what you're talking about.

They're doing a phenomenal job, not only with the men and women that are new, right?

That are coming in as you know, entry-level uh police officers, peace officers, but coming in and lateraling over to this department.

They are wanting to do so, they're wanting to grow with a department that has that vision.

How can we get back to being more engaged with the community?

How can we be more accepted in the community?

And so that is something that that is um really because of you all that that are here, those people that that took votes to support us to grow.

And we will continue to do that, and we're not just gonna do it the way we've always done it, sir, like we talked a little bit earlier.

It's not just to bring numbers in, it's to make sure that that the type of policing that that we are serving our community with is something that's measurable, it's valuable, and we're really sticking with that mission that we showed you.

Yeah, I think what there's a comment, there's a consideration around what does it mean to be say the biggest department, what is made to be the best in some time, and how do we figure the next.

I just would take this opportunity since everybody's saying good things about you, Chief Jackson.

I'd say, you know, when we brought you on as interim, which I was very happy that you chose to come work with us in the city of Tacoma, um, I don't think we really set like really clear expectations, like here's what we want you to do with a year.

But if you would ask me at the time when I said I want you to do three things, I'd say I want you to fill the open officer positions, of which I think you've done a phenomenal job of that, and your team and their creativity around doing that.

I'd say I want you to boost morale within the organization, and from everything I've seen, that's happened.

And then number three, I'd say I'd want you to be more present in the community, and from what my colleagues have said, and for what I've seen, I think you've have done that very well.

And so I think if I had expectations when you started, um, if I had publicly stated my expectations when you started a year ago, I'd say you've by far exceeded them.

And I thank you for your willingness to serve our city.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Councilmember Scott.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I think a big part of that is folks being able to see beyond the uniform and for our you know, our officers like to also see beyond like you know, the the immediate call and the the you know the anxiety that folks might be having and um having those important touch points in the community where um before you ever have to make a call for help, before you have are ever on the you know, maybe the person that call is being, you know, the call is being made about or whatever it might be.

But before you get to that point where you have what possibly could be described as a negative or unwanted, like you know, where you're like, I don't I didn't love to have this experience, but just having those experiences of meeting each other as community members and being able to see beyond the badge and the stars and the insignia and all the other things, and be able to see that you know obviously you're chief, but being able to say like that's also that's Patty, and um I think that it's really helpful for folks in the community to have that, especially at a time when there just there really is just so much distrust, and there's so much um, you know, and why people distrust, why people are fearful um on either end of things, like there are plenty of reasons for people to feel how they feel.

Um, but I think that it's you know super important, and as a kid who grew up in Tacoma, having had plenty of positive experiences with the local police department before I had um you know anything else of like seeing them coming to our school field day, of seeing them at National Night Out, of just um you know being in neighborhoods, handing out stickers, being there for dare programming, things like that.

Um, you know, really helps kind of continuing to build that community and building community is what really goes into is a really key piece of building that overall sense of safety here.

So I appreciate uh how you show up.

I appreciate how our officers have been showing up in the community.

Um obviously we all have things to grow and change and learn from each other.

Um, but I appreciate the willingness to be open to that.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chief.

Uh, really appreciate your presentation and and the vision you're casting for the future.

And I can already see the direction you're heading based on the work that you've done in the last year.

Um, I've been really excited to be able to walk with you along the Pacific Avenue.

We've had some challenges out there.

Um and I know that you're more than ready and willing and able to go to all the different locations and you lean into challenges.

I just that's one of the things I really appreciate.

You know, you lean into it.

Um, there's no challenge too big, no child too small that you're not willing to take uh a role in, or be able to have the right people in the room to engage in those roles.

Uh, our community liaison officers, our different um, you know, outreach folks, and I really appreciate also the the partnership role that you feel that the department uh should be a part of, and I agree, uh, because community safety is not just a police response issue, it is a holistic approach to um addressing safety, and it's how we feel in our own neighborhoods, it's how we interact with each other.

It's every department has a role in public safety, and uh, I'm really happy to see that the police department is taking a very active and lead role in that, and then you're helping lead the way on that.

Um, so just appreciation to you, the rest of our officers out there doing the hard work and um really looking forward to your continual leadership and um the work on the ground, and I'll be out there with you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Um I don't know that I have a ton um in sort of the positive thank you realm to add from my colleagues.

I would say everything that they said and then some.

Um, one of the things that I wanted to touch on and just make sure that I think the community knows and that you sort of hear reinforced, because I think you tell us, and so I just I wanted to reinforce it back to you that I am really appreciative of the culture that you're creating.

I think that as um as as a person who is um not inherently trustful of all folks in uniforms, um, just based on history, not any one interaction.

I think you've done an incredible job of making the whole profession very approachable, and you're building the culture, and you're doing the work that is beyond um anything that we could do at a labor negotiating table or an accountability committee or any of that work, you're just actually making the folks trust you and trust our community, and you're building that together, and I think that that's what's gonna get us the furthest, and it is really really heartening to see, especially in light of ice and all the other things that are going on.

I think people are starting to really get that when TPD shows up, it's very significant and different than when other PDs or other um uniformed folks show up, and I think that that really matters for us as a community.

I think it's really helpful, and I'm really excited about that.

And I think one of the pieces that I'm more excited about is how many officers you have brought in.

And I think people forget that because you have a badge and a gun, it is a job.

Um, and it is like any other job.

If you're annoyed about something, you're gonna take that out in the community.

And I think that you're doing a really good job of making sure that people's work culture is really good, so that they are showing up their best selves, and I think that that's one of the best things we can do is support our our staff, no matter what badge or what uniform they're wearing at the city.

I think it's really helpful that you're building that that staff culture there.

Um to be trust trusting of each other, trusting of our community, and um trusting that we're gonna keep guiding it towards um a place of good resources and supports to do the work that they do because it's hard.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

And uh, I myself will just echo my colleagues' comments that we're we're very excited about the new direction with the police department, uh both in terms of relief to the community because public safety is basically our foremost duty, and it's on the minds of everyone, uh, but also from within the organization too, because good customer service begins with employee morale.

And one of the very positive developments that I myself have heard, besides community members, block watch group participants, is from frontline officers themselves about the culture change they have felt about uh the relief and uh with the additional conversation about funding in the upcoming budget.

So that's definitely something I'm looking forward to uh discussing as well is the capacity to serve more Tacoma families, absolutely, uh, but also to to give our officers a break to make sure that they're not in constant burnout mode, which is unfortunately been the norm throughout the recent era.

So that's something that's very welcome and definitely looking forward to that conversation too.

Uh one quick question, and this is this is very high level, uh, but definitely something I'd love to visit as as we embark on the budget conversation over the next few months.

Is um can you talk really really briefly high level about your vision for uh the community safety action strategy and as we begin to make sure that uh TPD has adequate resources and that we're building that capacity, uh, how you envision fleshing out the uh the TPD portions of that plan and uh we can talk more specifics through the budget, but just overall your impressions of that, please.

Right.

I think that it's really important to to make certain that that we we go back to you know, kind of what our core responsibility and it's that public safety, and there's no tool or no one person that can do that.

We have to make sure that we are you know, with going with best practices across the nation, and that that we're we're utilizing like our crime analysis, we're looking and we're figuring out where crime is happening and trying to respond to that, right, so that we can disrupt criminal activity and then you know be prepared, not then once you get in there and kind of stabilize it, be prepared for the next thing.

I think that it's important that we grow our agency, like you said.

It's important that we grow it responsibly and that that we do things that we can maybe put more engagement in so that people take more ownership.

I feel like people are safer when they have that.

We've we talked a little bit about in our one-on-ones, right?

They've got that that connection to those officers that are coming in, rebuilding you know the community liaison, rebuilding the student engagement, right, so that we can get people in there and starting with our youth.

And I think just the strategy is really looking and listening, right?

I can tell you all day long what I think you need, but if I'm not hearing what the community is saying, or I'm not responding to what we're actually seeing and going through, I'm doing you no good.

Um, I think having somebody here at the chief's position uh that that really likes their job is what makes that difference that I've heard.

Uh, I love coming to work, and um I make the individuals that that uh I work for tell me that they love me right back, and I'm gonna continue doing that.

And so I think that that is really something it is kind of high level.

I could get down into the but I I don't yes, to be continued, most definitely.

That's really appreciated.

Thank you, Chief.

And uh, I for one am definitely excited about next week's vote, and uh, we look forward to continuing our our good work together.

Thank you.

It's my privilege.

Really appreciate it, Chief.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, we're gonna move on to item number two.

Our second agenda item is a uh departmental update from media and communications.

Um, I'd like to call on Amy Clancy, director of the media communications office.

Good afternoon, Amy.

Good afternoon, good to see you.

Thanks for having me, Mayor and Deputy Mayor and Council.

Great.

Okay, let's see if this is working.

You'll do it?

Okay, great.

I'll just give you the the look.

Okay, this is a departmental overview.

This is a departmental overview.

You're hearing from the departments, and I appreciate the opportunity as I always do to tell you what we're up to.

Go ahead, Ashley.

First of all, I want to introduce who we are.

You know many of these people already, but if you don't, these are the faces that you see covering study sessions, council meetings, community events.

This is MCO, and we're here to help you, we're here to serve.

And like Chief Jackson said, we love our jobs too.

So we're glad to be here.

Some within the past quarter, some within the past year, some since I got here.

But some of the things that we have done recently, the launch of the new website, Tacoma.gov.

Golden is currently working on the immigration resources web page that we hope will be ready by Friday, if not sooner.

We're constantly improving department web pages since we launched the new website.

I've been encouraging departmental relationships.

I'm definitely a person who believes if you want to have a conversation, pick up the phone or go to somebody's office.

Let's not do everything by email.

Let's build those relationships, have coffee, and talk about things.

Media relationships, this is something that Maria Lee is so good at.

She has, even if they don't always agree on every issue when she's dealing with reporters, they have respectful, engaging conversations.

If there's a headline or a fact or perspective that's included that she does not believe is accurate, she'll pick up the phone and she'll talk with them.

And these relationships are really important to foster.

So that's one of the things I appreciate immensely.

We created an intake form and report templates, so everything we do is the same as it comes out.

We want to make sure that all the departments follow the same procedures to get equitable service from MCO.

I created a backup PIO position, which we never had because Maria works 24-7, and when she's on PTO, she should be allowed to be on PTO.

Also created a TFD PIO position.

TFD Tacoma Fire Department never had a PIO, and it was something that Chief Green and I worked on, and now we have that position.

We've made great gains in social media, and I will be bringing those to you quarterly as I always do.

I put TV Tacoma partnership and digital first in here because MCO and TV Tacoma were all one office, but we are constantly working together to make sure that content that they create is also shared digitally.

Not everybody has cable television.

Not everybody has access to TV.

Not everybody has access to a cell phone.

So we want to make sure that we're sharing as much content in as many places as possible so that as many people as possible can see what we're doing.

And podcasting.

You've been hearing about that.

We're getting close.

They actually finally took our money, and so we should be uploading soon, which is really good.

Next page.

And how we support council goals.

Next slide, if you could please.

How long are people watching videos?

What are the most important posts?

What are people engaging with?

How are they engaging?

We're still going to cast as wide a net as we possibly can, but it does help us make decisions when we know that something has been successful or when we know that something has not been as successful as we hoped.

So we use data to analyze that information.

And I consider us a high performing internal service.

We often work 24-7.

Like I said, Golden worked over the weekend on the immigration resources page.

Maria is available 24-7, our fire PIO.

She worked nearly 40 days straight without a day off because that's how much information is being sought from the fire department.

Same thing with Maria.

Media inquiries have, as I've shared with you in our quarterly updates, have gone up exponentially.

And she's not turning off her phone.

She is still continuing to answer those questions, and it's just a big lift, and she's happy to do it.

Our department priorities, MCO is focused on informing the public about what the City of Tacoma is doing for the people of Tacoma each and every day.

And what relevant means to us is reaching people through the platforms that they use, which is why I have been talking about digital first.

More and more people are using the platform that they carry in their hand.

That is where they want their information, they want it quickly, they want it accurately, and they want it from us.

Our current projects, as you know, Golden is currently working on website improvements.

She's working on the immigration resources web page.

She works with departments to clarify, streamline, and make information easier for the public to find.

And she's working with the web stewards citywide to improve our CMS fluency.

So they understand the new system we're using and how best to use it.

That's a picture of Leah Butterfield, our graphic art specialist.

She is working on branding consistency along with everything else.

So when you see a new template for your report or a department's report, that is created by Leah, our graphic artist.

And then finally, that's Manny Brown in the podcast launch picture, but I want to make sure that you know that everybody in MCO is working on the podcast.

We haven't hired anybody to create content, produce it, or do anything.

We are all working on this together because we all feel it's really important and we're really excited about it.

Our current critical issues, as you know, we're working on your immigration resources webpage, and we'll have more information about that in the coming days.

Golden's making great progress on it.

She's working with Sonia Hallam and working with uh you council members, and she's making sure that it includes content that will be helpful for the community.

Um we're working on website improvements and fluency, as I mentioned.

We have a new website, we want to make sure we use it correctly, we want to make sure that it engages with people.

And we're working on consistent branding.

And just want to remind everybody, this is an effort that's been ongoing since the summer of 2024.

And Ashley, if you could go ahead to the next slide.

We are working to go from this to next slide, please.

As close to this as we can possibly get.

Granted, um, TFD, TPD, they're gonna have their own logos, they have a badge and a shield.

But the purpose of branding consistency is not so that the people who work with us every day and the people who understand who we are and the people who may directly benefit from our funding, know what we do.

It's for the people who aren't as closely engaged to be able to instantly recognize hey, this is a city of Tacoma effort.

And this is something that not only do I benefit from, but I finance.

And that's really important when it comes to branding consistency.

We want to make sure that people know who we are and what we're doing.

So, how to work with us.

Um, contact the city manager, your policy analysts, your office administrators, um, and we can help in any way that you you know that you feel would be helpful.

We engage with all departments, council staff, all the PIOs citywide, including TPU comms.

We have regular meetings, so we're all on the same page, so we know what kind of posts somebody might be sharing that we can help elevate and get out into the public.

And the public can reach us via the city's website, TV, social media platforms.

Everything that we put out is available to the public.

Everything we do is a matter of public record.

And opportunities for engagement.

Um, as you know, I come and present to you quarterly.

We love to keep track of how people are engaging with us, and I'll bring that information data to you.

Resources specifically for council members, your Tacoma.gov web pages, your Gov Delivery newsletters, Hub, TV Tacoma programming, all social media, Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, LinkedIn, X, YouTube Live, media interviews, um, and resources for external, same thing, Tacoma.gov, Gov Delivery, they're all listed there.

We try to cast as wide a net as possible, like I said, we want to reach everybody, and we want them to find what we have to share.

And last, I'll go over the financials.

Um, our funding sources come from two places.

We have uh 44% comes from the general fund, 56% comes from the internal services fund, um, and we also collect franchise fees and peg fees.

So I just want to point out that we have a biennial budget of about what 8.9 million from the general fund that covers about uh 3.98 million per biennium.

Internal services fund covers about 4.96 million per biennium.

But the revenue that I mentioned from franchise fees, we bring in approximately 4.5 million per biennium, and so that those franchise fees go back into the general fund.

So when people talk about the future of cable television, we don't know what it is, but as long as we are a revenue source, it makes sense to continue to make content available via cable television because we are getting revenue from our cable television relationships.

And we want to make sure that that uh continues to serve the people of Tacoma.

We also get um revenue from Peg fees, which is approximately one to 1.5 million per biennium.

And we use this for capital related uh projects, i.e.

our new podcast studio, if we need any studio upgrades, it's very limited what we can use Peg fee funds for.

Um, and it's something that um we're glad that we continue to collect, but again, we don't know how long these funding sources are going to continue, which is one of the reasons why we are building a podcast studio that will be as up to uh up to snuff and um and as advanced as possible because we want to do it right and we want it to last for a while.

And so that is uh my presentation, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

And I want to thank my team for being here.

Um we are small but mighty, and we um we like to be here to help out.

Thank you, Amy, for your presentation, and thank you to our staff from MCO too.

Are there any council questions?

Councilman Brumbo.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Amy, for all of this information and all this incredible work that you're doing.

I'm just really impressed.

This is a huge list of different things associated with the city.

Um is the Tacoma Public Library going to be able to keep their Yes, Tacoma Public Library is separate, and that's why I said we want to get as close to this logo as possible.

Tacoma Fire, uh Tacoma PD, Tacoma Library, definitely they will stay the same.

But things that are city of Tacoma, so anything that's general government, anything that's general government, we're hoping to get to the City of Tacoma logo as close as possible.

Okay, I really appreciate that.

Thank you.

Um I also want to just say thank you so much for um working on the PIO for to Tacoma Fire Department.

I remember sort of the history of when we've had some really severe um incidents in the port, and there was no one to respond to those concerns, and my neighborhood was really upset.

Um, and there was like this issue with the county, and so I really appreciate that that is something that we've added.

Could you talk a little bit about the kind of um questions they're getting for their PIO?

I'm just curious.

Chelsea gets um a ton of media questions every time there's a fire, um, she responds.

Um, she often shoots video pictures, she sends it out on social media.

As you know, media is segmented, uh, not every media outlet has the staff to show up at every um incident that Tacoma Fire responds to.

And so by creating that content and sharing it and uploading it, they can download it and share it.

Um so you name it, uh crisis response, fire reports.

It seems like it's worth it that we have that position.

Oh, I believe it is.

So that's really where I was going with that.

Absolutely.

Yeah, and the fact that she hasn't had a day off in weeks, that's crazy.

Um, you know, it would be nice someday when we're in a different position to maybe hire somebody else uh to help her out.

But we know we knew that when we created this position that when Chief Green and I first started chatting about it in 2023, we knew that initially it was going to be a very time-consuming job.

And um, hopefully someday she'll be able to get some help.

All right, well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just quickly, I know you mentioned the website that we just passed the resolution on with all the images.

Web page the page.

Um, can you I know your team's working really fast.

Do we have an estimated date on that?

Um definitely by Friday.

Okay.

Um potentially as early as tonight or tomorrow.

Um we just need to get some last minute things clarified.

But um as soon as possible, because we know that the public really needs it, but the important thing is with digital communications, um, we can always add to it.

We would like to get it posted um as quickly as possible, especially with the climate currently, and and we know there are going to be a lot of people at the council meeting today who are looking for information and answers and resources.

So hopefully as soon as possible.

Great.

Um, and then secondly, um, I know that various departments send things out, um, snail mail.

Um, I get a lot of alerts for the street sweepers and if there's um construction uh street work in my area.

Is does that all come through you?

Is there a centralized location for mailings or is that department by department?

Department by department, but they work with their MCLAs on on the graphic design, the content, that type of thing.

Okay, great.

Um, and is there any capacity to do more with that more general mailings?

I know like TPU puts out like the monthly thing that people love.

People talk about it all the time.

Um and I know we've talked about it, but is there capacity to do a general government version of that with like good news stories?

Sure, there's a capacity, but it's also a cost.

So the to print out the mailers and then to mail the mailers, there is a cost.

And so the question would be do the departments sending it have the money to do it, and if it was a general government thing, what budget would it come from?

Happy to look into that to figure out who would be paying for that, but absolutely we can always explore things for sure.

Okay, we'd love to chat about that offline.

Sure.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Council Rice.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mary.

Thank you, Amy, for the presentation.

Um the question I have Tacoma Public Police Department also has a PIO, or they completely outside of this chain of command.

They're outside, but we work closely together.

Um so we have regular PIO meetings, and Shelby definitely attends those.

But our back at PIO is also a liaison to both Tacoma Fire and Tacoma Police.

So he works very closely with Shelby and her team, um, so that we're providing help to the chief, to TPD, um, anywhere they need it.

So, yes, MCO is definitely working closely with all city PIOs.

Oh, I I have figured that would be the answer.

I you know, I I think that's probably really important when it comes to the idea of message discipline, right?

Speaking as one voice, um, and just understanding all the different players in there.

Uh but those are the only so our PIO of TFD and TPD are only three on the general government side of the house for two.

No, um TVE has um a media person as well.

Um TPU obviously has its own uh PIL and comms team.

Library has its own PIO.

Yeah.

So um and and we do meet monthly, all of those different groups, um, so that we can coordinate messaging, but also so we know what each other is doing, and so we can help elevate.

Yeah, I I think one of the broad I bring that up because it's one of the broader initiatives around the branding conversation is uh even I think myself don't understand everything the city's doing at a given time, which means that I know the public doesn't understand everything the city's doing at the point in time, and not only is it just us, but we have multiple governmental organizations communicating to the public at the exact same time.

So I think as I'm glad to hear that because I think is part of our branding work to have consistency of communication, I would hope that that internally is happening along who's speaking for the city, quote unquote, because I think when the the TPU PIO speaks or the TPD PIO speaks, the public is not separated out.

Oh, this person speaks for this organization versus this one.

Correct.

You're you're not wrong.

We have a great relationship with TPU comms.

Um we get together not only as PIOs, but um I get together with their digital staff.

Golden and I meet with our digital staff every month also to talk about that.

When we have an all-city message, if it comes out from um Hyun and Jackie, MCO typically drafts it, but we get it approved by TPU so that you know it can go out on behalf of both of them.

Um if we have a an incident, we are talking back and forth.

Absolutely.

You're right.

And and and that's one of the reasons for the branding consistency, is that people don't know what the city of Tacoma does.

And we found that oftentimes people are saying, well, how come you never X?

Well, we do X, but because you don't recognize this logo as a city of Tacoma, department division, program, whatever, people don't instantly equate it with City of Tacoma work.

Um, if you look at other cities, municipalities, they have a single identity, and there's no question what is being done for the people by the city.

Um the city of Tacoma has had um very segmented branding.

It's one of the reasons why when we built the new website, we wanted to make sure we had a consistent color scheme, fonts, branding guidelines, because we want we wanted people to know all the work that you and city employees are doing for them.

It's hard to know that if you don't instantly recognize the brand.

No, and and I think you know, there is a strategy of let a thousand flowers bloom, right?

Of you know, a free-for-all of which communication just is pervasive, um, where I think there's some messages that's part of it.

I do though want to temper on the other side of that of like not stifling certain, you know, like making sure we do have our arranged diversity of voices speaking from the city of Tacoma and working for the city at all times, and so a way that we can I mean I'm looking, you're doing I think a good job of you know highlighting this, but I think continuing to find ways to make sure people know it is a city, but make sure they know that the city represents a lot of diverse perspectives and that they're all kind of working together, which I think is very reflective of our community.

Yeah.

Um, my only other question uh was around, or actually I have two questions.

Uh one was just around do you all do so back to my point about multiple people in the organization speaking, right?

So we currently try to limit, not I don't want to say limit.

We have certain people that do speak to the media.

We also speak to the media, but they're also employees that speak too.

Do you all do any training for folks about like what it's like to be like if you're called for a media interview?

Because I see a lot of news reports where it's like we talk to the staff person.

Do you all help them with this process?

As a matter of fact, we're having a media training tomorrow.

Um, and I've been talking with continuous improvement about um creating two trainings that will go on Docebo so that way we don't have to schedule it.

Um, for example, we'll have media training for the mayor and the council members that will put on Docebo so you guys can just download it and watch it at your leisure.

Um we'll have uh media training for department uh directors as well as subject matter experts so that they'll also be on the same page.

Absolutely.

We do provide media training whenever somebody needs it.

Um and we're having one tomorrow for uh directors, new employees, anybody who has not had the training before.

And we talk about you know what the media potentially will ask and how important it is to um to just to just make sure that what you're saying it represents the city of Tacoma and just be thoughtful about it and not to be afraid of the media.

We can be, I mean, I was a media member for a long time, and I know how aggressive they can be.

Um it's important just to take a beat and feel confident in your messaging.

Okay.

Uh and then my last point, sorry, uh Mr.

Mayor, but uh I would just uh agree with Councilmember Walker.

I'd love to talk about what it look like to do some more communications out from the organization.

Um because I do I do think that's something where we could be putting more information in front of the public, and I know people are will say actually well, let's talk.

Because I think people will say things are dead, like things things in the mail are dead, but like I look forward to every letter I get from someone who like is a friend of mine or something that's like cool or interesting as nothing else is coming through my mail except for bills.

So I mean, if we can break that up a little bit, I'd love to talk more about what that looks like for funding-wise.

I don't think it's dead, and I think some people really look forward to the uh postal delivery coming every day, but we do have to make sure that we look at what are we supplying and how much is it costing the city, and we can definitely have those conversations.

If it's something you think would be helpful, we can absolutely pursue it.

Yeah, and I I do sorry, um, but I I'd like to talk about it because I think there's also a way that the thing that comes in the mail also gets shared on social media, also becomes part of a video, also gets people commenting and talking about it.

Um, that is it has uh amplification effect.

Absolutely, happy to explore for sure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, thank you, Director Clancy, for all your work as well as the team.

Uh I see the Small of the Mighty team every single day.

I'm following you guys all on the socials, and um, I know there's a lot of really good work going out there, and you guys have been fantastic partners for the council as well as the different city departments uh to really highlight their stories and the things that they are doing every day for the residents of Tacoma.

Um, kind of along uh council member Heinz's uh thinking about branding.

Um what kind of uh feedback have you been receiving from folks out in the community or in the different parts of the organization about trying to bring some consistency to our branding and what kind of feedback have you received?

Well, this effort has been in the works for more than a year and a half.

Um, and most departments in summer of 24, uh 2024 um just started to integrate into the new branding.

And didn't hear much initially because it's not unusual to want to have consistent branding.

Um there are some divisions and groups that are a little bit more resistant because they um might be more identified with their personal brand.

But the question is, is that personal brand recognized as the city of Tacoma?

And so, yes, absolutely.

I get emails from people saying, why are you doing this thing?

Um I do believe it is the right thing to do to make sure that we are consistent.

If you look at other cities, um they are very consistent with their singular logo for everything they do because they want people to know what it is they do.

And um the city of Tacoma, in my opinion, allowed far too many things to be created for many years that had no city of Tacoma identity.

So not everybody loves it, and you know, that's to be expected.

Change is hard.

But what do we what are we really trying to accomplish here?

We're trying to accomplish a singular identity for the city of Tacoma.

Doesn't mean the diversity of the city of Tacoma is changing, and doesn't mean the work is changing.

We are continuing to provide services for the people in Tacoma, but not everybody in Tacoma recognizes that work is City of Tacoma work.

So we just want people to know what it is we're doing for them.

Yeah, I and I completely agree with you.

I really appreciate the trying to get us into a single uh noticed brand because it helps redouble the efforts that we're already doing by telling the stories of our um our residents telling the stories of our city workers, uh telling stories all across the city, but a lot of those efforts, many of those efforts are directly related to work that the city of Tacoma is doing, and if you cannot recognize that through the branding, then you might as well have been doing nothing because you need that connection.

So, to your point earlier, um, why why isn't the city of Tacoma doing this because of X?

But it's we are, and you're just not identifying the logo and the branding with that connection, even though we are.

It is city funded, um, it is city employees that are doing the work, um, but people aren't making that connection, it's really important for us to do that.

Um, how does that compare to our our partner organizations like Tacoma Public Schools and our Parks Tacoma?

A lot of folks um conflate City of Tacoma also with those organizations, and I know that they have some branding consistency as well based on what I've seen out in the ether, but are there larger conversations about kind of making sure folks are able to identify ah that's a Parks Tacoma thing, or ah, that's a Tacoma Public Schools thing.

Well, when when Parks Tacoma changed to Parks Tacoma and changed all its signs, they did it all at once.

And we chose not to do it that way, um, specifically for cost.

We wanted the the rollout to be slow so that it was more it was just easier for people to do.

As you're buying new business cards, use the new logo when you buy them.

When you need new gear, when you have a new vehicle, um, just roll it in because we recognize that the city of Tacoma did not have a lot of money to spend on this type of work.

So as you're looking to purchase something new, that's when you should roll in the new logo.

So that's why it's been ongoing since summer of 2024.

Okay.

That's no problem there.

Well, I again I really appreciate the team.

I appreciate you and everything you've done so far.

Um, really looking forward to the next years and um looking forward to seeing our logo all over the place.

We're getting there, it's gonna take a while.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Mary.

Very good.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmer.

Hey Amy, thank you for the presentation.

Lots of information.

I think we've talked a couple times over the last week or so, so um, this was good to have it all in one's one place, though.

Um, we did talk a bit about the the branding and that and the importance of it, and it makes absolute sense to me to have the folks know, you know, knowledge is power to know what the city does and what it isn't doing, and branding is a big tool for that.

Um I am, you know, as with everything in politics, it seems like there's always like a happy medium.

So if if folks are wanting um to maybe express themselves a little bit more than what our log our original logo um offers, then maybe there's a happy middle ground.

I'm just I'm looking at council member Walker's computer, you know, and we have the logo, but we have something pretty cool and original next to it too.

So, you know, is there a way to kind of mix those two worlds together?

Is what I'm curious about.

Um, and then my other question was um I appreciate on the the priorities that relevance is on the list.

So reaching people through platforms they use, and you know, we all know that you know communications and media is just moving so quickly these days.

And so I'm curious about like the strategy to like future proof against changes.

Are we researching, hey, what's the next thing, and and making sure we take advantage of that?

Yep, I I believe that we are constantly looking at what the next thing is.

For example, when we talked about Blue Sky, a lot of people are are dumping Twitter for Blue Sky and other platforms, and we do have those names reserved, but we can't use them because they have no archiving.

So, yes, we're looking at where people might be going, doesn't mean that everybody's on Blue Sky.

Um, but we also have to make sure that whatever we engage in is something that there's a record kept so that we can um respond to public disclosure requests.

That's really the reason why we're getting into the podcast space.

It's taking a heck of a lot longer than I would have liked.

Um, but that's just the way things go.

We had to get a contract, it had to be approved by legal, then we had to, you know, put it out and and have them finally invoice us.

It will be a a slow ramp up.

Um we'll explore that space and how people are utilizing that content, and we'll make changes as we go.

We'll explore that space and how people are utilizing that content, and we'll make changes as we go.

It's one of the reasons with the new website.

Golden and the MCO liaisons to departments, Stacy and D are working with those departments to see what are those web pages like.

How can we simplify?

How can we make it better?

It's one of the beauties of digital communications.

It can be updated.

For example, with the immigration resources page.

If we don't hit the ground running with everything on it that absolutely needs to be on it, we can add it.

We can if it's not easily understood or it's not having the impact that we want it to have.

We can adjust it.

We can make it better.

And yeah, we're always looking at things.

And any ideas you have, we would love to explore because we want to be as many places as we possibly can.

And if it is something like a mailer in the mail, um, absolutely we can explore it.

One of the questions we're always having to deal with is um what are our capacities as a staff?

But I can tell you that everybody in MCO, I mean, they're sitting here right now because this work is so important to them, and doing it the way the people of Tacoma want us to do it is really important to them.

We want to be where people want us to be.

We want to share what we're doing.

We know that the city of Tacoma is doing great things for the people of Tacoma, and we want to share it.

So absolutely we're paying attention to what what the future holds.

Who knows where it's gonna go, but hopefully we'll go wherever it goes because we owe that to the people of Tacoma to be where they need us to be.

Thank you, Amy.

Seeing no further council questions or comments, really appreciate your consideration and looking forward to fleshing this out further.

Thank you.

Always appreciate it.

We'll see you in March.

See you then.

Our third agenda item today is future street livy options.

I'd like to call on interim public works director, Curtis Kingsolver for opening remarks and introductions.

And Corey Newson, assistant public works director, will also be joining us.

Good afternoon, team.

This is my first time in this new format, so thank you, Mayor.

Again, my name is Curtis King Solver, and I'm the interim public works director.

Um I want to introduce who I have with me.

To my right is Joe Franco, he's the special assistant to the director's office, and then to his right is Corey Newton, who is the assistant public works director and city engineer.

Um, our plan today is to kind of walk you through a little bit of the background of what the original streets initiative was back in uh that was passed back in 2015.

It'll contain a little bit about what it was, what was promised, and what we accomplished with those revenues.

If you recall it was a 10-year package.

Um then we'll talk a little bit about streets initiative two that went to the voters last April.

That's the initiative that didn't pass.

Um we'll discuss what that initiative was as well, uh, and a little bit about lessons learned from what from the initiative.

Uh we'll follow that up with uh how the eventual sunset of streets initiative won.

Again, it was a 10-year package, and so it sunsets uh this year.

Um, but how that'll impact public works, and then we'll close with our thoughts on how we may want to consider going to the voters again, possibly this year with a different package and a little bit about what that might look like.

And I'll note that that today we won't have a recommendation at all for the council as far as how we want to move forward.

We're still collecting data.

We're still looking into that, and we hope to have more information for you really probably pretty soon, probably within mid-February.

So, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Corey.

He'll get started.

All right, next slide, please.

So, good afternoon, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council members.

My name is Corey Newton.

I'm the assistant public work director and city engineer.

And as we were researching a future street levy, one of the things that the city manager charged us to do was to make sure the package was community focused.

So, one of the themes you'll see throughout this presentation is a lot of efforts on broad community engagement.

So, for background, in 2015, voters approved both Prop 3 and Prop A.

This included a 0.1% sales tax, a 1.5% gross earnings tax, as well as a 20 cents per 1,000 assessed value property tax.

Those propositions raised or were projected to raise about 325 million dollars.

Recent projections show that generating over 397 million dollars in revenue, and actually uh the most recent projection I saw shows us generating over 400 million dollars in revenue.

That revenue is used to fill potholes, resurface streets, but most importantly, it's really used to help uh in some of our transformational efforts.

So, like vision zero, crossing beacons, uh pedestrian safety, sidewalks, stuff like that.

Next slide.

All right, so one of the things I want to do was kind of highlight some of the street initiative successes.

Uh, and the top bullet is one of the most important ones for me.

So uh we have been extremely successful at leveraging both state and federal grants.

For every one dollar approved by Tacoma voters, we've received an additional two dollars in state and federal grants.

That's a total value of three dollars for our residents.

That is absolutely amazing.

In addition to that, amazing statistics, we have built some awesome partnerships with both environmental services and Tacoma Public Utilities.

And so just thinking about one of their piper replacement projects.

So when they replaced pipe, they basically trenched through half the street.

And so they have limited uses on what their rate dollars can do, and so they basically put back half a street.

So prior to 2015, when you saw a pipe replacement project going in, you would see half the street getting replaced.

But with this partnership, we've been able to leverage street initiative dollars and partner with them and basically pave the whole street.

That saves our residents a whole lot of money.

So you talk about uh efficient use of government resources.

We basically save on mobilization costs and a lot of other costs associated with the projects by allowing us to partner like that.

Not only have we been able to partner with some of our public utilities, but we've also been able to partner with a lot of our private agencies and not only private agency, but also private developers.

So I can think of quite a few project examples where we've been able to leverage a contribution from a private entity and basically complete a whole street with that.

So the next bullet is really uh focused on the the you're just highlighting again our success at receiving state and federal grants.

This bullet right now shows 135 million, but actually uh the most recent data shows we'll we'll be well over that number.

As we were advertising this package, we told voters we'd leverage about 90 million dollars, and we've well exceeded that goal.

A little bit about belief and trust and performance.

Uh we uh told voters that we anticipated doing uh maintenance on about 5,600 blocks of residential streets, and in context, there's a little over 8,000 blocks of streets in Tacoma.

Uh and so we actually anticipate we'll probably top out at over 6,000 blocks before we're done with this.

One of the important things to highlight for our uh private development or our private contracting community is 60% of the expenditures have been utilized on contracted maintenance and capital projects.

Uh and actually, when you add in all the direct, indirect and other support, it's really closer to 80% of our expenditures have been used for private contracting.

And then just one of the other things that I thought was really important to highlight is uh if you guys you guys all know about uh government financing, we often have to go through the state auditor office's audits.

Uh and a program this size, 400 million dollars.

The fact that we in the last audit did not receive any recommendations or finding is absolutely incredible.

And then one of the things you'll hear me talk about a little bit later is just from an engineering standpoint the ability to really change the condition of our infrastructure for this from this package.

We we increased the condition uh of our streets by about 10%, and overall that has led to about a 2% for all our streets.

Next slide.

All right, so just again, a little bit more on performance.

Um, so right now, uh at the end of 2015, we have done maintenance on about 5300 blocks of our streets.

Our goal was 5600 blocks.

Uh we're 94% towards our goal, and like I mentioned, we anticipate uh achieving that 5600 block target this year, and definitely and we'll probably exceed 6,000 blocks once we uh uh use the rest of the street initiative funding.

And just uh to clarify what some of these uh graphs mean.

So a preventive maintenance is is really like a crack seal uh or a pothole repair, something like that.

The surface treatments are chip seals or slurry series or other things like that, and then the overlays are basically grind and overlays uh or full reconstructions.

And then just to tie it again to the private track contracted community, we have supported 81 capital projects with this street initiative levy, and that's in various phases of construction.

So from you know, design to construction to completed.

But that dollar or that 81 projects really represents 190 million plus dollars, uh, which is absolutely incredible for our contracting community.

Uh, and then just the pictures we wanted to include these because I think it really highlights uh some of our transformational efforts.

When you think about complete streets, vision zero, the the vision, the goals that we want to go towards, those pictures really highlight uh, I guess that that making things happen portion of it.

Next slide.

Thank you, Corey.

Um so good afternoon, council.

My name is Joe Franco.

I serve as special assistant to the director.

Um, as you're aware, the streets initiative that is currently existing is scheduled to expire this year.

Um, in anticipation of that, the department conducted community outreach in May of 2024 to gauge voter support for a potential successor measure.

Uh, based on community outreach and survey results, consultants advise that a future ballot measure could be viable with a robust communications and engagement effort.

Proposition shown on the slide reflects that initial concept a combined 2% utility tax and 25 cent per 1,000 dollar assessed value property tax with no expiration date.

At that time, it was estimated that this package would generate approximately $375 million in new tax revenue over a 15-year performance period.

It's important to clarify that proposition one did not include the transportation benefit district.

Proposition A was approved by voters in 2015 as part of this first streets initiative, established the transportation benefit district, and funds transportation through a one-tenth of one percent sales tax.

That revenue source was renewed by council in December of 2024 and remains in place regardless of any future ballot measure.

When combined with TBD revenues, total street related funding was projected at approximately $540 million over the same period.

With additional grant funding and external partnerships, the total estimated investment in Tacoma Street system could have exceeded $900 million.

Those investments were intended to support arterial street preservation, multimodal and safety enhancements, residential maintenance, and a limited amount for program administration.

Ultimately, voters did not approve Streets Initiative 2 in April 2025.

Post-election feedback identified several contributing factors, including confusion around property tax impacts, household affordability, overall tax burden, the absence of an expiration date, and limited understanding of what had been delivered under the original streets initiative.

Next slide.

Overall, the city and the public works department learned several important lessons from the April 2025 ballot outcome.

Following the election, the department conducted post-election focus groups in July 2025, engaging voters who did not support the measure as well as residents who did not participate in the election.

One of the strongest themes that we heard was a lack of belief and trust in city government, combined with significant economic pressure across all income levels.

Many residents expressed concerns about affordability and tax impacts.

Another key takeaway was a low level of awareness about what the streets initiative is and what has been delivered over the past decade.

Many participants were unfamiliar with the program or could not readily connect completed projects back to the streets initiative itself.

However, when prompted, many did recall seeing street construction at work in their neighborhoods.

They just did not associate those improvements with the program.

That feedback is important context.

Residential streets were the primary focus of the first streets initiative, and that focus was intentional.

At the time, we heard clearly from the community that residential streets were priority, and the department responded accordingly.

The results of that investment are why you see stronger conditions on residential streets today.

An example of that work is shown on your screen to your right, which is the South Junette Street overlay, where the city completed pavement preservation by grinding the existing service surface and placing a two-inch overlay of asphalt.

This type of work represents the core of what the previous streets initiative delivered in response to community direction.

An upcoming slides will show the measurable impact that sustained investment has had on pavement conditions, and at the same time, feedback from 24, 2024, and 2025 makes it clear that community priorities are evolving, and any future street levy will need to reflect that shift.

Specifically, residents express a desire to see greater emphasis on arterial maintenance, traffic calming, and road safety improvements aligned with the city's vision zero goals, stronger neighborhood and transit connections.

We also heard clearly that grant match funding matters.

Voters want the city to remain competitive for state and federal funding and to continue leveraging partnerships to maximize local dollars.

Taken together, we've learned that there's a need for broader community engagement before packages finalize.

We need to be better communicators about what residents would see and experience in their own neighborhoods, and then an alignment with affordability concerns and current economic realities.

Next slide.

So we're going to go over the public works budget.

This slide shows the 2025 adopted budget, broken out to clearly highlight what portion of our funding is ongoing and what portion was tied specifically to the streets initiative.

About 45% of the 2025 adopted budget, which is approximately 46 million there, represents ongoing street-related funding that does not include streets initiative revenue.

This includes capital projects adopted through the regular budget process as well as transportation benefit district sales tax, which continues to provide dedicated transportation funding.

The remaining 35% or approximately 36 million represents non-street related programs within public works.

This includes our fleet and facilities and real property services.

And finally, here you see an additional 20%, the roughly 20 million dollars, which reflects the streets initiative funding that is now ended.

This portion represents the annual streets initiative revenue stream, excluding the TBD, and helps illustrate the immediate funding gap created by the 2025 election outcome.

Nearly one third of the department's budget is reduced with the loss of streets initiative funding.

That reduction would have been even greater had council not renewed the TBD.

Taken together, this slide shows that while the department continues to have ongoing funding to support street work, a significant portion of what previously supported pavement preservation and maintenance is no longer available.

The impact of that loss is substantial.

Ongoing transportation revenues allow the department to continue basic maintenance and operational work, such as patching, limited overlays, striping, and spot safety repairs.

But they do not support system-wide preservation.

And as a result, service levels are significantly reduced.

The department will continue to do work, but the magnitude and scale of that work changes dramatically.

Fewer lane miles are treated each year.

Increased deferral of preventative maintenance.

We'll also see streets that more will frequently reach failure condition.

And at these funding levels, the department has no capacity to deliver on our capital street projects without grants or external partnerships.

Larger corridor improvements, arterial rebuilds, and multimodal investments will become increasingly unlikely and less predictable.

And this is not a temporary slowdown.

It will represent a fundamental shift in how we're able to manage and deliver projects here in Tacoma's street system.

Next slide.

All right, thanks, Joe.

From an engineering perspective, one of the reasons I wanted to include this slide is basically it shows the impact on our street infrastructure.

So just a little bit about the pavement condition index.

So every four years or so, the city of Tacoma, we do a pavement condition assessment.

And that pavement condition assessment is really just a visual overview of the condition of the road.

So each block is then rated.

So we look for you know cracks, alligator cracking, um, fatigue cracking, you know, uh depressions, retting, stuff like that, and we assess each block individually.

So the goal for the system overall is really to have a 70% rating across the system.

And as you can see, in 2015, we we were below that goal.

Uh but we've definitely improved over the course of this this street levy, SI1.

Uh so one of the important things is to really see, and the reason I want to include the slide is what would happen without a street levy.

And it really highlights the importance of a street levy.

So uh payment condition index, the goal of 70, like I mentioned before.

Anything from 60 to 40 is really what I consider at risk and in need of maintenance.

So we got to do some sort of preventative maintenance on that 60 to 40 roads.

Anything really below a 40 isn't a completely failed situation.

It's it's almost impassable at that point.

And so basically, without a levy, the condition of our our streets will begin to deteriorate and it'll deteriorate at such a rapid rate that over 10 years we'll be close to a failed condition.

Next slide.

So building on Corey's uh overview of pavement condition, uh, this slide helps translate that data into scale impact and outcomes.

When we look across the entire street network, Tacoma's current street backlog totals approximately 2.1 billion dollars.

This total reflects primarily pavement maintenance and reconstruction and grows larger when you add in components like sidewalks, curb and gutter, et cetera.

Of that total, about $680 million is in deferred maintenance, which roughly affects 76% of our network, and then 1.4 billion accounts into reconstruction needs, which is about 24% of the remaining system.

That backlog directly intersects with many of the council's priorities.

So access opportunity belonging, uh, reliable streets support access to jobs, schools, transit, health care, and other services here in the city.

When maintenance is deferred, impacts are not evenly distributed, and that disinvestment disproportionately affects certain neighborhoods here in Tacoma.

For complete streets, we know that streets are more than just pavement.

They are our sidewalks.

Uh they include ADA ramps, bike facilities, transit uh access and freight movement.

Even preservation focused projects allow us to incorporate ADA and sidewalk improvements where conditions require them.

For our climate action goals, uh, street investments also support our city's climate goals.

Projects create opportunities to integrate green infrastructure and climate resilient design.

As you can see to your right there, the Larchmont 84th and A Street Project is a pretty good example.

Uh this project includes impervious pavement improvements designed to manage stormwater more fleck ref more effectively and reduce runoff impacts.

Um it was delivered through a partnership between public works and our partners over at Environmental Services with streets initiative funding covering a portion of the work in environmental services contributing funding toward the stormwater components.

Um then for vision zero, uh council recently passed vision zero uh a few years ago.

We know that poor pavement conditions increase crash risk, uh, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

Uh this risk is increased on arterials, which currently have the lowest uh pavement condition scores in the city and carry the highest traffic volumes.

Um the first creek safe routes of school hawk beacon, which is shown here also is here right, demonstrates how street investments can directly support safety outcomes by improving crossings and reducing risks for students and families.

Altogether, this slide shows that addressing the street backlog is not just about pavement, it's about foundational to advancing safety, climate resilience access opportunity belonging across the city.

Next slide.

All right, thanks, Joe.

Uh now on to the future levy or the possibility of a future levy.

So uh as I mentioned previously, we're really looking to do some broad community engagement efforts.

And I look at our community engagement efforts for this future levy in two components.

So the first component is direct stakeholder engagement.

So we plan to go out and reach out to a lots of individual stakeholders.

As part of those discussions, we really want to ask hey, get feedback, what's concerning you, what are you looking at, and then even identify some specific projects.

So the previous street initiative uh the or the I guess the uh street initiative two uh included a huge project list, and so we'll definitely use that as part of our material to help have those conversations.

So that's one uh component.

The second component is is what we intend to do, is something called a community levy committee.

That community levy committee is gonna be made up of various stakeholders.

There's certainly going to be uh council appointed uh stakeholders as part of that community levy committee, but that community levy committee will definitely be more of a technical nature.

And we'll have guardrails on that.

So, from an engineering standpoint, we kind of know what our street system needs, and so we'll have some guardrails built into that to make sure that uh that the most important areas of need for our infrastructure is met.

But that community levy committee is really intended to be the technical committee that makes up, or I guess defines the makeup of that package.

And so if that community levy committee focuses on arterials or residential street or active transportation project, we'll definitely use that feedback to help build a package.

So after we have the community levy committee meetings, and then we have our direct stakeholder engagement meetings, we plan to put forth a package and bring that package to council.

Next slide.

Did you want to say something, Curtis?

Oh.

Next slide.

All right.

So as I mentioned previously, the overall makeup is going to be dependent on the community engagement effort.

So, how much arterial, how much residential, how much active potential transportation projects or any other type of projects, that overall makeup will be developed based on our community engagement efforts.

The one thing that staff are definitely going to recommend to council is a 10-year performance period.

So we do want to put a limit on whatever uh levy we put forth.

The reason is we really do want to build that belief and trust.

So we are committed to providing year-over-year reports and to show that uh belief and trust uh can be met.

And then just overall funding levels.

Um, we have done some preliminary research, and we are anticipating putting forth a package that is very similar to the original street initiative funding level.

There's a few different opportunities and a few different ways to make up that funding, and uh we'll likely discuss that in the April time frame.

Next slide.

All right, so there's really two different processes uh and council decision points.

So uh as I mentioned, the first thing that we really plan on doing is having those community levy committee.

So we plan to form the first meeting in February.

That's a very quick timeline.

We're recognized in that, but we have a consultant on board and they're making recommendations right now, and so we anticipate having that first meeting in February.

They will meet in February, March, and April.

And then in April, we're hoping the community levy committee meeting in April, they actually recommend the makeup of the package to us.

Throughout that process, February through April, we'll continue to meet with our other community stakeholders and really listen to their concerns and hear those direct project feedback.

We plan to come to study session in mid-April with a fully built-out package, both the recommended projects and makeup of the package to council mid-April, and then for council, there would be some decision points.

So if an August vote is anticipated, the county has basically told us that we need to have a resolution passed by May May 1st.

So that means council will need to adopt a resolution no later than the last two days, Tuesday in April, which is like April 28th.

And then that would allow for a potential vote in August.

Next slide.

And with that, we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for presentation.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you for the presentation.

As far as the last levy that didn't pass, I know you kind of mentioned trust being belief and trust in government being one of the reasons why it could have not passed.

I think there was from what I heard from community members, there was a little bit of a idea that a lot of the money wasn't going to go towards streets.

I'm wondering how we address that this time.

So I think that's something we're going to be looking for guidance from the council a little bit on.

You know, and that's on me, right?

I was the one who was involved in the original streets initiative, and I made those promises.

And you know, again, it doesn't really matter what I think, it matters with the public thinks.

So we've got to find a better way.

We have a we have a website that we can point people to that shows the body work, and we've updated it, you know, throughout the years.

Um, but we've got to find a better way of explaining to the public, you know, what work we're doing.

I think I will say that in 2015, when this passed, social media wasn't what it is today, right?

And we certainly didn't use it that way.

And you know, look working with with Amy and her team will be something that we have to do when we're starting projects, when we're looking for more uh input, we're gonna have to use that.

And so I think that'll be a big component of it.

But I think we'll be looking for guidance from the council because we missed the mark.

And when I say we are that's me.

I mean, again, I own that.

I made those commitments and and we didn't meet it.

Thank you.

And then just one more question about you might have answered it already, but the the community levy committee, who is going to be on that committee.

I I might add a little bit to the last question, and then I'll I'll uh answer that one.

So um just on the last question, uh I love data, I really do.

Uh I'm an engineer, I love numbers.

Uh so metrics is really important to me.

So, from a transparency standpoint, I think one of the best things that we can do to build belief and trust is be as transparent as possible.

So, one of the initiatives that Public Works is working on right now is a metrics initiative.

So, Joe and I are working to put together various metrics, and we want to share those metrics broadly.

Public works staff do an amazing job.

Uh, you know, I'm recent to this recently.

Um I've been in the department a few months now, uh, and I'm absolutely blown away by the level of commitment that Public Works has.

And I think if we just start being more transparent and highlighting some of those successes, I think that really goes a long way.

So uh the second question, uh, the community levy committee formation.

So, you know, we're still working with our consultant to finalize the details, but I will say uh we kind of know some you know broad answers to that question.

So we want stakeholders from a lot of different areas, um and not to get into specifics, uh, but um it it's gonna be basically think of the whole Tacoma economy, and we're gonna make sure that's kind of represented uh as much as possible on that committee.

But one of the things that we want to make sure um is represented is I kind of mentioned that earlier is is definitely there'll be um public works will definitely welcome suggestions from council, and there will likely be you know an opportunity for council to recommend staff for that community levy committee.

And if if I could add a little bit to that, I mean broadly, you know, we want to hear from the transportation community, um, a non-motorized community, the Port of Tacoma, um, the chamber, you know, just your kind of typical group, but then we're gonna be looking to you on others on what we'd want from the community as well.

I mean, I think you have a better pulse on some of that than we do, and so we'll be looking for some guidance.

Councilmember Rumbo.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you so much.

I'm so glad he's on your team.

I really really like him.

Um I just want to say that I think um it's really I'm curious about um we this committee we're putting together because I think it's really important to include the people who were no's on this because getting a person from no to yes is like really strong.

Um, is a strong like that sends a good message that you had someone who said, I didn't support this last time, but now I'm supporting this.

So I hope that we're kind of looking more broader at who we add to this committee.

And then the second thing was um I'm just curious about how we're going to educate the community because one of the things the school district is doing, they have a levy out right now, and they've been just sending information out about what the levy is.

It's not a yes or no, it's just information.

And I think like for me, I think it's really important that we're educating the community.

And the best way to educate our whole community is sending a piece of mail, which sounds silly.

They get it in the mail, they see it for a second, maybe some people throw it out.

Other people like myself who are kind of geeky, read everything.

Um I'm hoping that there's more ways to meet reach more people because we didn't didn't die on this levy.

It just didn't pass.

And that's you know what I mean?

It's like the little bit, and so it just means that if we found more ways to reach people, possibly it would have passed.

Um the other thing I was wondering, I have two more things.

One was um, what do other cities do?

I know that Spokane did something to redo all of their streets at one point that meant they were poor in other ways, but I would just like to know what other streets are doing to deal with their issues.

I'm sure that they use LIDs and other tools, and we've been kind of slow to get to some of these things.

But if you could just talk a little bit about what other cities have done, that would be great to hear.

So it's it's been a while, and I'll have to defer these folks think more about that.

It's been a while since I've looked at that.

Um tell you back when we were doing streets initiative one, Spokane had a pretty large initiative that went out as well.

They did a little bit different.

We thought it was really important to do pay as you go.

Um, they raised quite a bit of money and then leverage that money and then paid it back over time.

Um I still a big believer in pay as you go, you know.

Uh but cities are struggling with this, you know, as as costs have gone up, and you all know this bridge maintenance and things of that are really expensive and resources are very limited.

Um, we're all struggling with this.

I think the hard thing is that some cities, you know, we get a lot of people will say, like to the you know, university place is their streets are in way better condition than ours, and and they are.

They've actually not old enough to cycle through what we have on having to replace streets, and so they'll get there, but their streets are just newer, you know, and they haven't had to go through it.

Um but we can look into that, council member, and provide a written response.

I can't talk because my there's too many people.

So council member, I just do want to also mention um you know, thank you for all for bringing up the education portion of this.

We know that many people get their information from many different sources.

Uh we've been working with uh our uh our partners over at MCO to uh see what are the best ways for us to communicate out into the community.

Uh recently the department started a new uh work zone newsletter.

So folks visit the public works page, they can subscribe there.

Just an ad, in my opinion.

Um but you know, we that's one of the ways that we're keeping folks up to date on what's going on within the department.

We're providing project updates monthly um to folks.

So if they uh would like to hear from us on you know that media front, we are uh posting information there.

We're also using and utilizing social media as well.

So um we're starting to do a weekly post about the streets initiative talking about where their levy dollars are going.

Um, and then almost at every street initiative funded project, we are posting signs at that project site to say this was funded by your streets initiative dollars, and that's how people are getting some of that message as well.

So um, so we're utilizing a lot of the electronic media out there uh because that's also one place where a lot of people get their news, but we will also look into uh leveraging out you know postal mail and and getting in front of folks that we can do.

We just think it's really great to share as many ways as we can.

Absolutely the great work we're doing.

So we're currently working on including more streets initiative information on our project uh postcards that we send out to the community to let them know that this was also funded by the city.

That's very helpful, especially out in my neighborhood, which can be a little negative about taxes.

So I also want to shout out Tacoma Mobility and you know our mobility folks also have a great account too.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Yep.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumbach, Deputy Mayor.

Or excuse me, uh, Councilmember Soldagi, followed by Deputy Mayor.

Uh thank you.

Um I have a real cool question on your on your pie chart on uh slide seven there where we mentioned that uh the streets initiative represents 20 percent or 20 million dollars.

That 20 million dollars doesn't include the matching funds, right?

So yeah, I think uh I can explain the 20 million dollars.

So, first off, uh 20 million dollars is a 2025 adopted budget number.

Uh that comprises uh basically uh you know approximately 17 million in the SI funding, so uh street initiative funding, 1085 funding.

Uh yeah, but it doesn't matter.

Three million dollars we get for all the projects we do, the two dollars correct.

Oh, I'm sorry, copy number, yes, correct.

Effectively it's really almost 40 percent of our entire budget, like in experience, but you can't do that because it's not gonna budget the it what I'm trying to get is it's a lot higher than 20 million dollars.

It is, and and it it's um probably the most important part of what we do is able to leverage those dollars, right?

And that's what you're getting at.

I mean, without the streets initiative, it limits our ability.

So in the grants that we apply for, uh, both state and federal, right?

We have a matching requirement, usually anywhere from 13 and a half percent to 20 percent, sometimes zero, but usually say 13 and a half percent.

And so if we have a that's how much we have to put it.

Exactly.

If we have a 10 million dollar project, we gotta come up with 1.35 you know, million dollars.

Sure.

And this is free.

Yeah, that's where a lot of this money went is to those large capital projects.

And I would say, council member, to your point, um, in this next initiative, it's gonna be even more important.

You know, we had focused on residential streets at the beginning for the first streets because that's where the voters wanted us to go, right?

This one's gonna be primarily our trials.

We're we're gonna refocus, at least based on what we heard through all the outreach work that was done in in uh prior to the second streets initiative, and we don't want to lose sight of that.

And so we're gonna need this matching money to try to meet that demand.

And and we're uh to say we're aggressive at grants is probably an understatement.

Um we we go after a lot, and we are incredibly successful.

I've heard from neighboring jurisdictions they don't like applying that we do because we're better.

They're not happy with this.

But I I will raise one other point with that, and and this is how we built uh Lincoln Avenue or Lincoln District, is there are times you score higher because you can overmatch, and so you get more points.

It's a it's a highly competitive environment.

And so we will you know we know what grants we're applying for, and there's a scoring criteria, we will take our projects, we have people on those committees, so we're very well we we know very well how those are scored, and we'll score that.

And if we get points for overmatch, maybe we'll match at 30 percent because we have the ability to do so.

So if the council we have priority projects that we want to do, it's one way that we can try to promote that and get it funded.

And that that's hard to do when you don't have the funds to do to provide.

No, thank you for all that um um additional context.

I think this is one of the most important aspects that needs to be hit over and over and over again, and is to explain to people that this is an investment that gets us a large return, right?

That we get a lot more money back for every dollar that we're uh putting in, and that's a really important aspect of it.

Um when I've been out in community and I've talked to people about why they didn't vote for it.

There are two things that came up.

One, it was put on in hindsight, probably in the worst time we could have done last year, right?

We went out in April, right?

When the state is doing its budget, and for months and weeks and months and weeks, every single voter was hearing rumors of a new tax from the state.

A new one, all sorts of them.

None of them actually happened, right?

But you had this uh uh verbal barrage of all the state new taxes coming in.

Then you couple it with this uh tax, and and what I found was difficult for me to try to talk to our uh uh community member members was I couldn't even say it's the same tax, right?

In one hand, we were saying it's the same thing you've paid for for 10 years, but it's not it wasn't because there was no expiration date and there was an increase, right?

And that's where trust and transparency was lost in the context of a time in which every resident in this city is is you've just felt the effects of increase uh costs, you've felt the effects of um all the rhetoric on on the state level um on cuts and having to raise revenue.

I think going forward with exactly the same package that was actually uh voted on 10 years ago, allows us the at least the ability to say it is what we've paid for, uh what we have already been paying for voters and resident residents are are more amenable.

Oh, wait, we've already been doing this for 10 years, right?

And we have gotten something back for it, and these are new ways so to me, those are the two major things that were that kind of led to you know, it wasn't a massive defeat, but it was, you know.

Yeah, and councilman right, I couldn't agree with you more.

You know, and I I we talk about lessons learned, that's certainly what we heard as well.

Um when we talk about kind of we're still collecting information, a lot of that's just about what the pack is not so much about um uh if we're too far away from what we what we did in streets and district one, it's just what makes up those dollars, right?

There's gross earnings tax, there's property tax, and and what that mix might look like.

But the idea is to be as simple with our message and to really go back to to what was successful.

Um I would like to add to just what we were talking about before.

I think we miss this sometimes is you know, when we're talking about you know, substantial 81 major capital projects that we put out last year, and it's gonna continue to grow because we are still have money from what we've collected that we'll build building more projects.

It's a lot of jobs, it's a lot of jobs, and construction jobs matter.

Um, they're important for our economy.

And you know, if you think of the benefits that have happened by that, I I think that's another thing that we need to focus on.

I think it's really important.

Thank you.

Uh the last thing uh point I had was um what has resonated when I talked to residents is not just a new like cover to a street, not just repaving the street, but also talking about ways that we can leverage these monies with these grants to add real safety on our streets because ultimately that's what people want.

Sure, yeah, it'd be great if I didn't have potholes on my street, but if you fix the road and you got people speeding on it, I'd rather keep the potholes.

People have literally said that to me.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, and you know, I I think Councilmember Walker's gonna roll our eyes because I say this a lot.

You know, I was trained as an engineer a long, long, long, long time ago to it was like to build roads as wide as they are long, right?

I mean, that is that is old design, it's not what we do today.

You know, they are built to move vehicles, but they're built to move pedestrians, bicyclists, and others.

And and a lot of the streets I hope you've seen that we built the last several years are vastly different than what you would have seen years ago.

Um, our focus with vision zero, it's not only gonna help what the design of our street system looks like, but it helps prioritize what we're looking at doing as well.

You know, and I think a lot of great work has been done uh with some pretty important groups that have uh over the years that help us with transit um uh uh non-motorized, and that's where we're headed.

And so I I think we're gonna get there.

I think you'll see that in our design.

You know, back in the day we didn't include a lot of pedestrian amenities, we certainly do now, pedestrian crossings.

Um certainly don't want to have strategic potholes, but I get where you're coming from.

Um but but that's the type of stuff that we now do in our design.

So you'll see that.

Uh my suggestion is just to make sure that we have that as a as a talking point when we go out and talk to people.

In fact, you'll probably hear us talk not about streets initiative two, but how we rename this that tells what it really is, which is some type of safety package.

Thank you, Curtis.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Hines.

Uh Mr.

Mayor.

Uh I'll make this relatively brief because we've talked about this before.

Uh, just a couple of pieces.

If when we start thinking about um the community levy group, I think really focusing on high-leverage folks is really important.

So people who not only represent themselves, represent larger groups of people that can then organize, mobilize, and get people engaged with the process.

I think it is important to find us a single person who voted no on the process on the project, but I don't think that's as valuable as finding someone who's like a part of an organization, has some leadership.

So I think I'm happy to help talk through like who are those people that are connected to these larger groups that we can use as leverage for further to build further support, I think is important.

Um things as we go ahead.

I think one critical point, and Curtis, maybe you could speak to this, but um, the choice of why residential streets and not arterials in the first package meant that the street that I drive on got fixed, but the street I drive on every day, or people drive through in their neighborhoods did not, and so it's this weird dichotomy where people are like, well, my the street in front of my house is fine, but once I get out on Orchard Street, or once I get out on Sixth Avenue, it's falling apart.

And so it it maybe explain why we went down residential streets versus kind of doing arterials back in 2015.

I think I know why, but I'd love to hear why.

No, I I'd be happy to, you know, when similar to what we do today, right?

We did a lot of community outreach, and um, you know, there was actually initiative that was on the ballot that didn't pass, uh you know, and then the second time it did.

And part of what we heard was we did not focus near enough on residential streets.

And in fact, at that time, you know, we had I I don't remember the numbers, but we had quite a few schools that needed pedestrian flashing beacons.

We we uh we we focused effort on that um in the initiative, and we heard from people that's not what they wanted.

This is again years ago.

They wanted their residential streets fixed, and they actually said we'd pay more to get that done, and so that became the focus.

Um, I think we were a little short-sighted because we actually narrowed it down too much, and that's why we weren't able to do a lot of the sidewalk work and other things that we should have been doing.

Uh, we did a lot of ADA ramps because every project in resident streets we added ADA ramps.

Um, but we weren't able to do some of the things that I think we should have been able to do.

We restricted ourselves too much, but that's really how that happened.

I just and I I think there I've also heard there's grant match funding for larger arterials that's not available for residential streets is driving it.

There they're absolutely there are literally no grant funds for residentials unless you're uh there were at time, I don't know if they're still available, but go into like a green road type standard.

But no, there are no grants for that.

So I think as part of the further conversation with Street Senship 2.1, because I guess we're not at 2.2 anymore, is like explaining that to the public of like here's why we made that decision, because I felt myself explaining that.

Um, and I think the more we can be forefront on that and kind of explaining why.

I said this before during the earlier process, but explaining to people the life cycle of a road idea, right?

Because you can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is like a road that gets to such a level requires us to rip it completely off, and that's a multi-million dollar investment versus chip sealing or crack sealing a road that's in relatively okay condition.

And I only say, and you know, my only say that is the public will come to me and say, Well, why are they spending all this money chip sealing this road that seems fine, but this arterial out in the name of my neighborhood's falling apart, it's full of potholes.

Like, why are they wasting time here versus here?

That's a good point.

I actually hadn't thought of it that way.

We can we can do a better job at that.

And I because I I think one of the things I've heard from you all is that you know there are failing roads, and when you get to a root period of failing roads, it's like you gotta rip it apart completely.

And I just I I think I asked during the process, I said, Well, do how do I know I live on a failing road?

Like at what point do I I mean who's telling me like, hey, John, um, your road is so bad that it's a multi-million dollar project that's gonna need to be done later, but this street over here, we can do it with like low relatively minimal interventions.

Um, and we can actually do more of the roads if we just did the the roads like yours that are falling apart, we would get less.

You know, I think there's just an explanation that was missing for why we made choices that we did.

Yeah, and council member, I think we can communicate those ideas.

Uh I worked with our pavement manager last week to figure out what the numbers were in terms of reconstruction versus maintenance.

We learned that reconstruction roughly costs 12 times more uh than just preservation.

Yeah.

And so uh I think we can use that in messaging to educate the public.

I mean, I've often used the analogy of like, you know, many of us homeowners, rent or you know, anyone who's had moss on their roof, right?

You sprinkle some moss dust on top of it.

I don't know what that stuff is called, but moss.

Just moss killer moss killer.

You know, my root my roof can go for 40 years.

But if I don't do that, and it the moss gets so bad, at some point I just have to rip the whole roof off.

And the it would be much cheaper if I just did the moss killer every year versus waiting till the roof gets to the point that it needs to be ripped completely off my house.

Yeah, and it's well said.

And we can certainly talk a lot about that.

It's a it's an important part of what we do is the maintenance piece of it.

That was just something I noticed when I talked to people, that was something that came up.

My my last point I'm I uh or is to one, we put multiple variables into the equation, sorry to take out some personal gay's math analogies, but with the new second value initiative, we put multiple variables in the equation.

Not only did we make it up more, we took away the sunset, we changed a bunch of pieces.

So I don't really know what it was in the equation that made people say no.

We tested a bunch of pieces.

So as part of this conversation, pulling those variables apart with the public, like was it that it was permanent?

Was it that it was more?

Was it just it's a get tax?

Was it because it's property taxes to understand maybe what was the issue?

Because I was wrote here that um people will pay more if they think more is gonna happen, but I think people have a hard time saying I'm gonna pay more for the same thing.

No prices have gone up, but we all see that people get really upstraight, frustrated at the grocery store that eggs cost more than they did before, um, and just telling them it's inflation doesn't help them feel better.

So I if more means more sidewalks, more pedestrian improvements, I think as long as we're making the payment, I think we can ask people for more, but there has to be they have to see more.

It can't be we're paying more because it just costs more to give you the same thing.

That's all.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Deputy Mayor, followed by Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I'll try and keep it brief.

Uh thank you, Curtis, uh, Joe and Corey.

Thank you for you all.

And I I just want to, before I get into it, I just want to emphasize that um, even though we're talking about the the streets initiative um and it it not passing this last go-around.

I don't think that takes away from the the work that the public work employees had done uh with that money, and that as you had said, you know, more than doubled um the the efforts out there, and uh I see them out there every day very diligently doing very hard work, very hard labor on behalf of our community.

They've done a phenomenal job out there.

I wouldn't just say it's on you uh for us to be able to tell that story and communicate it.

As as Director Clancy would say, we need to show our work.

Um and um, you know, I'm really happy we have a great media team that that wants to lean into stuff like this.

Um, and we need to go out there and show our work because um time and time again I did talk to residents and they're like, well, what has actually been done been done?

And then I turn around and look down the street, and I'm like, they literally just did a street down here, but they did not connect the dots.

Um, and so we need to help them connect the dots, and uh it's really incumbent upon all of us together as a team to make that happen.

So I appreciate you wanted to take it, you know, take it for the team, but I think it's it's all of us together making sure that we're telling that story um and that that we're um we're showing the public that we're good stewards of this money and we're making things happen.

Um with that being said, um one of the questions I had is and I often get uh feedback from community members regarding construction products that are are occurring.

Um, and one of those is uh uh you know things showing up that they were unexpected.

Do you guys do any sort of like post-construction feedback with like streets or neighbors that have been impacted by road construction and how and if not, then is that something that we could look at?

I I think about it in a way that like what's what's a way to close the loop with the neighborhood, and like here's here's what the money was spent on, uh, here's what or where it came from, and could you provide us some feedback?

Was it difficult for you to get to your home?

Yes, no.

What could have been improved?

What are things you noticed?

Because I think it holds us accountable and it shows that we're closing the loop with the community, it helps build that trust when these projects are completed.

So just wanted to throw that out there.

Um I know we did for a period of time.

I we still do.

Yeah, I apologize.

I've been out of it for a little bit.

Go ahead.

Yeah, but uh I would say that on our uh more on our capital projects, and I'm hoping our streets operation folks do, but we do send a postcard out to the neighborhood that was affected by that project.

So they're able to give us feedback post construction.

Um some folks take us up on that, some folks don't.

And so uh you know, we do leave it up to them.

I believe that there is a QR code they could scan and give us some feedback on how they were affected.

Um but uh we don't send a team specifically out there knocking on each door to get feedback on projects.

Yeah, no, I think those postcards are are great, and I'm glad that's happening.

When when we do send those postcards, do we give them any additional information about the project completion or anything like that, or just more it's like just a basic solicit feedback?

Because it might be another touch point opportunity to share information with folks that might be unfamiliar with how things were funded and things like that.

I I would say that well, I know we did, but I don't think we did a very good job of it.

You know, it we it was a small postcard and we had limited you know space to put something on there, and and it was probably more focused on just there's a project coming and we want to minimize those impacts, and this is how we can stay in touch.

And then it was really how it impacted you after construction or during construction.

Those are the things that we missed, council member.

I think is was opportunities that we missed of how we really connected the project to the work into the funding.

And I I think that's what we missed.

Great, thank you.

Um, and then just on a high note, uh, I talked with a lot of residents around the Larchmont neighborhood uh with all the great partnerships that happened out there with environmental services.

Um some of the feedback I personally received was you know uh before I remember that it was just uh I was walking on the moon because of how many potholes there were, there was no sidewalk.

Um a lot of speeding vehicles uh when they're passing through even the potholes, they would just dunk dunk right through it.

Um but one of the one of the big pieces of feedback and why I think this is so important is um once those sidewalks came in, once the street was paved, uh we had neighbors talking to each other out on the sidewalk.

They're walking their dogs, they're seeing each other, they're building community amongst each other.

We had kids riding their bikes, which had never been seen before in that in that neighborhood.

And so it really changed the environment there.

It really built community.

I think that's a really a poster child for what we can do for the whole city uh when we are effective and making sure our streets are safe, um, that uh we have sidewalks in curb and gutters taken care of, and when we can permeable uh pavement, but it really does impact our communities in a positive way, and I think that's a story worth telling, and I think that's something that we can definitely hopefully uh leverage into additional funding for our streets in the near future.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, Council Murrawker.

Thank you.

Um, and I don't think I can um add to what has already been said.

I think we've covered it in detail.

Um, but really thank you for coming and giving this presentation so that we're really starting to think about it now.

Well ahead of when we need to take that vote.

Joe, thank you for all that follow-up you did to the last one and and incorporating all that stakeholder feedback.

I think that's really helpful.

Really looking forward to the community levy committee.

I think that'll get valuable information, agree with what my colleagues have said in terms of how we use that information and and really asking the right questions and sort of picking the pieces apart from the the last levy and how we can um put together a package that the public really believes in.

So I think I think we're um in good shape to move forward.

I'm looking forward to the next couple months of conversation before we make that final decision, but um really appreciate all the work that you've all done to get us this far.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember.

And I uh I definitely echo the the large emphasis on safety.

That that's very consistent with what I've heard from community members is just making the clear connection between infrastructure not simply as a means of cleaning up the moonscape, as one of my colleagues put it, but but just very in simple concrete language, um, curbing illegal activity like street racing, for example, and just making people feel safer uh in regards to schools, parks, and so forth.

Uh definitely also interested in having uh a greater selection of people with the leverage of organizations or community groups when it comes to the levy committee, and and just in general the focus on arterials that's also very consistent, so definitely supportive of that.

Uh, a couple of questions here.

One is there's a sidewalk utility pilot project being discussed right now in Olympia, which would um I'm not sure the current status of it, but that potentially would be additional local dollars we could generate for specifically for getting more sidewalks in the community, either for pay-go or for leveraging it like our other utilities do.

Uh, if that was the case, um, and you don't have to have the exact figures on you uh right now, Curtis, but would that measurably bring down the cost of arterial projects if we had a dedicated additional source to leverage for sidewalks?

Um I I guess I would answer it this way, Mayor, is I I don't think that's how it would be used.

And what I get what I mean by that is you know, when we're applying for grants, one of the most important criteria is multimodal in sidewalks, bike lanes, um, pet crossings, those are all part of almost every grant that we go after today, and I doubt they would sit, you know, move that out of those grant opportunities.

So we would what we'd want to do is is focus those resources on our missing link sidewalks and areas that connect to transit corridors, you know, in our business community that has damaged sidewalk.

I mean, those that would be a real win for us because we have a huge need for sidewalk.

The numbers that Joe talked about in the presentation about just the the amount of uh kind of how far behind the 2.1 billion dollars for our roads didn't include sidewalk.

You know, we you've heard us give presentations and and probably back when you were on the council too about how significant our backlog of the sidewalk is, and and that causes a whole lot of issues with litigation as well.

All right, and lastly, on the partner agencies in that one slide that you pulled up, you talked about examples such as the schools, obviously with safe routes to schools, Pierce Transit for potential transit-oriented development type corridors.

Uh, there's one agency that was missing there that I think might be really pertinent to bring up, and that's parks.

Uh, there's there's a real interest in uh at least some of the commissioners and and staff leadership I've spoken to about a safe routes to parks type approach, and parks and schools and other amenities are often co-located or so close by anyway.

And the other thing too is that we're currently in the middle of discussing our interlocal agreement with Parks Tacoma.

So if there could be some synergy there, some some opportunity for cost savings for both of us uh for just making our arterials and greenways more green, and also linking that to our tree canopy goals.

I I think there's just a lot of opportunity there.

Yeah, and and again, I would agree, and you know, to parks credit, you know, they've been kind of moving, you know, they are heavily focused on just maintaining parks for many years, and they've they've done a lot of outreach of their community who they serve, and and it's that's what's came up is is better connections to parks or better connections to parks and and trails.

Um, so we've been working a lot with them on that, and we'll continue to do that.

I don't think because we left them out that that's not relevant to us, it's just something we'll have to work on.

Yeah, and that was really encouraging in my discussion with Parks Tacoma was the notion of the corridor as a park, basically.

So trees in the right of way, medians and so forth.

So definitely great opportunity there.

Um seeing no further comments or questions, so this is the beginning of uh of a conversation.

Thank you so much.

We look forward to continuing it.

Thank you.

All right, wonderful.

All right, uh very robust conversation and a lengthy session afterwards.

So a couple of quick um items of interest before we move on.

Uh, two uh updates I'd like to provide, one on the city manager recruitment process update.

Uh I wanted to remind council that as part of the city manager recruitment process, we were putting together names for the two community panels that will interview our finalists that are selected in um late February.

You should have received those draft names from HR staff last Friday.

The OSAC committee will be having a special meeting this Thursday, January 29th, 10 a.m.

During that time, we will take feedback from our peers and put put together a draft list of names for the panels to present to the full council next week.

Please share any uh top picks that you have for the committee with uh HR with Cheryl and Keith.

And uh the second uh excuse me, item of interest relates to the Pierce County Resiliency Hub.

Last Friday, my staff and deputy city manager Allison Griffith attended a Pierce County resiliency hub meeting.

This is the third meeting convened by Executive Mellow and Speaker Jenkins, focusing on how Pierce County's public nonprofit and private sector leaders will use reliable data to collaboratively plan for, respond to, and influence policy, budget, and system opportunities that ensure enduring support for Pierce County residents.

The conversation also focused on identifying near-term disruptions and opportunities and aligning organizations on how to begin collecting data for this purpose.

Um script, but there's a lot of great opportunity for marrying this to the unified regional approach too.

This conversation is young and continuing to develop, and I believe this is an important space for the city and the council to be involved.

As I begin attending myself, I will share with the council during our study sessions or by email as appropriate, and I definitely welcome council uh input and participation if you like.

Are there any other items of interest?

Council Member Saldug.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I did want to point out something.

Um with this national conversation around immigration enforcement, uh, I wanted to point out uh something I'd shared with at least one constituent N of S staff to prepare uh a one-cheater for tonight, which is the sheer amount of legislation the state is taking up in Olympia this week uh around uh both uh immigration enforcement, uh expanding our ability to uh hold um federal uh um federal agents accountable, as well as a number of bills uh designed um to also hold uh the Northwest Detention Center and other detention centers to um the highest uh health and safety standards.

Um of that information will be available tonight uh for those that are coming for community forum, and um we look forward to well, I look forward to sharing it with community um to get the word out too.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Seeing no further council questions or comments, we're gonna move on to item number four, which is agenda review and the city manager's weekly report.

I'd like to call on Deputy City Manager Alison Griffith to begin the presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, for your awareness, there is one ceremonial this evening and one presentation on tonight's agenda.

Our ceremonial is proclaiming January 2026 as firefighter cancer awareness month.

And the presentation is on the city manager recruitment update.

There are no modifications to tonight's agenda.

There are three opportunities for public comment this evening.

One is that uh following that presentation we just talked about, there will be a special public comment period immediately after the city manager recruitment presentation.

The second is regular public comment, and the third is community forum.

Please let us know if you have any questions on tonight's agenda so we can be prepared for you.

And the uh weekly report was attached to your uh study session agenda.

Thank you.

Thank you, Allison.

Um, our next agenda item is a motion for executive session to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment and pending litigation.

I will entertain a motion to convene to an executive session for RCW 42.30.110 sections 1G and RCW 42.30 point 110 section one I to discuss the qualifications of an applicant for public employment and pending litigation not to exceed 99 minutes.

So moved.

Second.

Movement second.

All those in favor uh to convene to an executive session, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed signify by saying nay.

Motion is declared adopted.

Reconvene the regular city council study session.