Council Retreat: Day 2

Budget

Council opened with a continued session on the budget and an attempt to reach the recommended 7-0 consensus on which revenue option to move forward.  A public safety tax, if they choose that option, has to be in place by 2028.  The current budget gap is equivalent to 23 full-time employees, or almost 30% of our current staff.

CM Adman continued to voice support for the public safety levy lid lift. CM O’Cain expressed concern about spending $100k on a consultant to assess policing during a budget crisis; she would like to see revenue stabilized first.

CM Loutsis continued to champion the Metropolitan Parks District, and said we need to make a good-faith effort to reduce if we are asking for money. He cited the survey that shows MPD with the most support, but recognized the concern other councilmembers have over timing.  He alluded to the acquisition of athletic spaceas the winning coalition in our community.  CM Marshall inquired if the MPD could also fund items such as a Senior Center or Community Center. This was also noted by CM Loutsis as one of the top items in polls by our residents.CM Culver says that ballfields are anti-environmental and they will fail. DM Sasson and CM Adman shared a sense of urgency in creating a new revenue source.  Mayor Herbig reiterated that outreach is important in getting anything to pass. 

CM O’Cain pointed out that when we did Walkways and Waterways the economy was better; she recognizes that the timing here is different and people are feeling more stressed.  We need to put something on the ballot that people want. CM Marshall would like to see a community center in the MPD.  

Mayor Herbig noted that the tools that the state gives us for revenue “stink” as they are all regressive.  Sales tax is too high.  He is going to be doing some work on progressive revenue options going forward. 

Staff is working on public safety sales tax and transportation tax (both .1%) options to bring to the April 6 meeting. City Manager Killgore said that in terms of public messaging, the public safety levy lid lift is straightforward because it’s to pay a contractually-obligated amount that we don’t have control over.  The other two are more complicated. 

E-Motorcycles

DM Sasson would like to collaborate with the Sheriff’s office, NSD, and cascade bicycles potentially to create a safety program for kids. This was a citizen idea that came to coffee with council.  Mayor Herbig said that Bellevue brought forward a bill, and there is work happening on this at the state level. DM Sasson will do outreach to see if she can do preliminary research on this. 

A representative from Lime Scooters reached out to Mayor Herbig and asked to operate in Kenmore. CM Marshall has concern about the scooters strewn about sidewalks. CM Loutsis said that Shoreline has created neighborhood corrals, and they’re fairly good at geolocating scooters.  Staff will outreach to Lime. 

Light and Noise Pollution

Legislation is in place for a certain number of pilots for sound cameras. Kenmore could be a pilot. There are budget implications for us; they can’t yet ticket, but they can send warnings to people whose emissions are too loud. 

CM O’Cain would like to have a safe lighting ordinance to reduce light pollution; this is an environmental issue. 

Housing

DM Sasson brought up social housing; this type of housing appeals to her, 50% of the population of Vienna lives in social housing.  The best resource is “House our Neighbors.” Mayor Herbig said this likely won’t work in Kenmore.

CM Loutsis said that Bellevue has pooled housing fund.  Mayor Herbig says he thinks this is because Bellevue kept their 1% for health and housing fund.

At NHUSA there was a speaker from MODUS who is making transitional emergency housing modular units. CM Culver says social housing makes total sense and King County may do it; we should throw more money to ARCH to support.  He also thinks this would be a great thing for a levy. 

Artificial Intelligence 

DM O’Cain talked about the isolation that many feel that is being exacerbated by AI; we need to be a place where we foster connection and community.  CM Culver said AI will create a problem that necessitates a universal basic income as it takes jobs.  CM Loutsis asked about AI-related policies since we can see that it hallucinates and creates flawed outcomes.  City Manager Killgore flagged that we can inadvertently create public records while using AI for “brainstorming sessions.”  CM Loutsis would like a policy on AI. 

Bastyr

DM Sasson said that we would like to continue using the ballfields there. 

Youth Council

CMs Loutsis and Marshall brought this to the retreat.  Some cities use their councils as a youth volunteer group; Mountlake Terrace uses them to plan events.  CM Loutsis’ vision is that this is a way to involve and incorporate ideas and perspectives from people that we don’t hear from; he was involved in city government starting at age 16.  This helps involvement but also youth retention in the community.  

One proposal is to prioritize one seat on each committee and commission for a youth representative. This allows youth to have a voice and input on something that they’re interested in. Council has heard from the DM of Newcastle and from local youth on the desire for a youth council. They would have a standing meeting so they could also talk to each other about experiences, and he would encourage a representative from the council to be present there.  CM Loutsis would volunteer to do this. 

Mayor Herbig supports; CM Marshall is supportive, and would also support a free-standing youth council. CM O’Cain said that this is a good way to open the door, and if we don’t get the engagement we want then we can open it to a separate council.

City Manager Killgore and CM Loutsis will work on the tweaks to the policy for council approval. 

Single-Agenda Items

Tree ordinance downtown: DM Sasson wants to plant a bunch of trees. 

Parking enforcement: Mayor Herbig said that we have time-limited parking but no enforcement. Shoreline has an internal, city-led parking enforcement. He would like this addressed.  CM Loutsis supports if this creates revenue/offsets cost of a new full-time employee.  CM Marshall would like it expanded to include placement of cars (blocking fire hydrant, for example). CM O’Cain says signs without enforcement don’t make sense; pull the signs. CM Adman said leave the signs because some people will follow them. CM Culver says it’s not a top priority for him; his car got towed. 

Sammamish River Dredging:Mayor Herbig is setting up a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers. Folks are having trouble getting boats in and out, the river in desperate need of dredging. This is a public safety issue because our water rescue is having trouble navigating it. The mouth of the river hasn’t been dredged since the 1960s. DM Sasson wants an interlocal agreement about lake/river issues. 

Naming: CM O’Cain wanted to follow up on something Rob Karlinsey proposed; naming the boathouse after David Baker. He was a standout in his contribution to the boathouse. Baker was on council for 20 years, including 16 as mayor. CM O’Cain also noted that Baker was instrumental in Kenmore “punching above their weight” with a seat at the table in statewide funding, he was also a major advocate with Sound Transit. Mayor Herbig doesn’t believe in naming things after living people. CM Culver said we should pay for the boathouse before naming it.  CM Marshall is in favor of naming it after people while they’re here. Council agreed to review the existing policy before discussing specific place-naming. 

Process Decisionmaking/ STEP

CM Culver is concerned about some of the “about facing” that we’re doing, citing tree code and Plymouth, and wants metrics of success. CM Loutsis reminded council that they are a public body and have to be responsive, and sometimes new people are elected to change things and not keep them the same. City Manager Killgore said that setting some of these metrics will be very difficult for staff because we don’t have enough data available. 

Mayor Herbig sees this as a solution in search of a problem; we need to be flexible in checking in with the policy that we pass and revising in the future.  CM O’Cain echoed this. DM Sasson pointed out that this is what the retreat is for, City Manager Killgore said that it also happens at the Council Kickoff in January. 

DM Sasson says that there is a tendency to relitigate.  We have to go with what we’ve got, and move forward.  We have to be careful about getting mired in the desire for remedies for relitigation. 

CM Culver pointed to Plymouth and the Boathouse as failures of Kenmore’s process.  Mayor Herbig reminded him that both of those had multiple check-ins and changes through the process that they had to do their best to navigate. 

Priorities

CM Culver pushed to have “fund” added to the climate action priority. Other members of council pushed back since funding is determined during budget, not priorities, and no other priorities include this language. 

DM Sasson brought up removing Lakepointe off of the priorities list since it’s incorporated into other priorities.  Mayor Herbig and City Manager Killgore cautioned that this could jeopardize funding and opportunities for this site. Killgore said that if Lakepointe doesn’t happen in 2027 or 2028 it should come off the list. 

CM Culver added “promote social justice reform” back to the list.  CM O’Cain requested to have “Century Agenda” on the list. 

Council went through a ranking process which put environment first and financial sustainability second. Council discussed the importance of financial sustainability to support other goals, including indicating to the community that it’s top priority if we’re going to voters for a revenue bill.  DM Sasson suggested council re-vote on the order of the top two priorities; the vote came in 5-2 to re-vote. Then, the council voted 5-2 to make financial sustainability the number one priority. CM Culver became vocally upset, said he didn’t know what was happening, gathered his things and left the meeting while the others continued discussion. 

Council and City Manager Killgore had closing discussions. The #1 priority for 2027 will be financial sustainability.