The Yakima City Council held a regular meeting on June 2, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers, preceded by a 5:00 p.m. executive session to discuss pending litigation. The meeting included public comments, approval of a consent agenda, adoption of several resolutions, a first reading of a budget amendment, a detailed update on Franklin Pool repairs, and other business items. The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
Call the council regular meeting back into order. Uh clerk, roll call, please. Here. Brown. Here. Blenn? Here. Gonzalez? Here. Patrickus? Here. Roy? Here. All right. Stand with me for the play. And to the Republic. All right. Interpreter services. Uh, yes. If somebody needs the interpreting services, I have the radios. All right, thank you. Next up is uh item four, which is public comment. Um, if you would like to make public comment, there are forms in the back. And uh each person doing public comment will receive two and a half minutes per speaker in order to allow as much opportunity as possible for our audience participation. Um, state law does prohibit uh electionary net city facilities, so during public comment, speakers cannot campaign for or against candidates or support or oppose any ballot measure in any upcoming election. We do ask that you uh state your your name and the city you reside in when you come up. Sorry, there's a lot of papers here, is Andrina Rangel. I'm here tonight to ask the council to look at the data and redirect our resources towards what actually keeps our neighborhood safe. Right now, Yakima relies on motion censored cameras that capture audio and video to monitor our streets. While the technology was initially meant to help catch major offenders, our ALRP contract costing the city thousands annually creates significant ongoing liabilities. I asked the council to reconsider the ALRP program because automated license plate readers track innocent residents rather than actively stopping crimes. These funds should be reallocated to support community-based services and frontline first responders who provide direct assistance to our neighborhoods. True public safety comes from addressing the root causes causes of crime. By funding local youth recreation and mentorship programs, deploying unarmed mental health responders to crisis calls and investing in street light and park maintenance, we can actively prevent crimes before they happen. Cameras and mass surveillance tools do not stop a crisis or build a stronger community. People do. Let's shift our budget away from passive surveillance and toward the public services that will tangibly improve safety and well-being for every Yacoma resident. Thank you. Thank you. Next is uh Noemi Sanchez. Sorry, bro. Uh Noemi Sanchez, I'm a resident of district two. Uh I want to respond to a comment made by Councilmember Glenn last city council meeting. You said that it's easy for people to complain and that we should bring solutions. First, I want to point out showing up here is not easy, and we're not complaining. We are here because we are concerned about how the city is spending public funds and the priority and priorities those spending decisions reflect. People take time away from their jobs, their families, and other responsibilities to be here. Many of us spend spend many hours reviewing contracts, researching policies, analyzing budgets, and talking with our neighbors because we care deeply about Yakima. We have been bringing solutions. In fact, many community members have already repeatedly proposed investing in youth programs, community centers, re-creation, and other proven crime prevention strategies.