July 13 City Council Meeting

Cait’s Council Comments - July 13 2026

SPECIAL MEETING 

Council started with an executive session.  When they returned, Mayor Herbig requested a motion to “rescind the motion that passed on on June 22 and instead authorize staff to submit comments regarding proposed federal rule amendments.”  CM O’Cain made the motion, CM Loutsis seconded.  Motion passed with CM Culver “voting negatively”.

REGULAR MEETING 

Where’s the Fun?  City Manager Teri Killgore talked about the 4th of July celebrations. 

Two public commenters spoke about upcoming stream buffers changes, and a mapped “stream” in their yards that does not actually exist. 

CONSENT AGENDA

CM Adman pulled Item D from the consent agenda due to a conflict.  Consent agenda passed unanimously; Item D passed with CM Adman abstained. 

PUBLIC HEARINGS 

Public Hearing #1: STEP Housing

Tracy Banszynski. testified in support and thanked the Council for their work on this. 

Pubic Hearing #2: Park Impact Fee

Tracy Banaszynski, Planning Commission Chair (speaking in her individual capacity), urged Council to set park impact fees at 90% of the maximum rather than the proposed 75%, and not below 80%. Addressing the argument that higher fees make new homes less affordable, she said the cost passes to a buyer either way. 

SALARY COMMISSION

Michelle Kang provided a brief review.  Kenmore’s code allows the Mayor to appoint three commissioners every five years who recommend salaries for City Council. The members cannot be city officers, officials or employees (or family members).  The RCWs or KMC do not have any direction on how to appoint; in the last three commissions, only the 2021 appointments involved an application process. 

Once the commission is appointed, they move forward independently with staff.  They have 45 days to compare salaries and benefits among other cities in King and Snohomish counties.  The meetings are open to the public, and when they decide on the salaries, they have to allow public comment.  Once the commission has determined the salaries, Staff will present these to Council for information only.  Council cannot approve or disprove these. 

Mayor Herbig explained his rationale behind the appointments and said that he wanted one person who had been on Council and understood the work involved, one person who understood the City’s finances, and one person from the business community. 

CM Culver said he would like to see this to be open as an application process for equity considerations.

MOTIONS

DM Sasson made a motion to approve salary commission; CM Loutsis seconded. 

CM Culver moved to amend to open this to an application process for three weeks; CM Marshall seconded. 

DISCUSSION

CM O’Cain said the Mayor put great thought into who he selected, and she sees no harm in going out for an application process.

Mayor Herbig said that even if there is an application process he’s still the one that picks them. The previous mayor had his picks apply and appointed them; the application process was performative. 

CM Adman asked if there was a deadline. Mayor Herbig said it’s only the KMC five-year window.

CM Loutsis said this is important info to have as we enter the budget cycle. 

Vote on CM Culver’s motion: CM Loutsis, DM Sasson and Mayor Herbig opposed.  Amendment passed.

Council and Staff discussed logistics on when this would come back to Council for approval in August. 

STAFF REPORTS 

City Manager Killgore thanked the community for their patience on FIFA restrictions for construction.  

PRO/CON COMMITTEE - Proposition 1

Mayor Herbig asked CMs for suggestions on how to approach the Proposition One pro/con committee applications next week. 

CM Adman asked if they just submitted their names.  He believes that they should just tally three for each side and see if that yields results.

CM Loutsis said that for previous planning commissions they do a first round of thumbs and then select among those.  He would be OK with ranked choice voting. 

DM Sasson said that the applicants should be split into pro/con teams, and then the teams should nominate the slate and that council should vote them in. 

CM Culver would caution against the caucus approach; he would be open to slates or ranked-choice voting. 

CM Marshall said he favors an Adman/Loutsis hybrid.

CM O’Cain supports ranked-choice. 

Mayor Herbig asked staff to prepare ranked-choice ballots.  

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS

CM Marshall, with reference to future conversations on supportive housing, said that Danny Westneat had an interesting summary of Seattle vs. San Francisco when it comes to homelessness.  SF has a requirement of treatment, and has made modest improvements.  King County itself released data that said PSH decreased legal system contacts with people involved. 

CM Culver said they’ve gotten feedback from the community on construction things.  He stumbled upon works in progress from staff that can help with this and said more good things are coming. 

CM Loutsis attended the 4th of July celebration and it was awesome.

CM Adman participates in the Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee. He covered a few recent items such as the King Co. Transportation district .1% sales tax to fund King Co. road services, 12.5% of which comes back to cities (starting Jan 1, 2027).  King Co. solid waste will be increasing rates, and there’s a comment letter from SCA saying that they want to be involved.  King Co. is proposing a regional affordable housing initiative, and they are looking at what involvement they may have. There is also a King Co. behavior health sales tax and they’re coming up with a new plan on how to implement the program. 

DM Sasson appreciates everyone. 

Mayor Herbig said that the fireworks were great, and the summer concert series kicks off on Thursday the 16th at St. Eds.