Governance and Utilities Committee 5/14/2026

Okay, good morning.

The May 14th meeting of the Governance and Utilities meeting will come to order.

It is 9.35 p.m.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle.

Vice Chair Juarez?

Here!

Councilmember Rivera?

Present.

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Here.

Chair, there are four present Councilmembers.

And Councilmember Kettle is excused until he gets here.

I know he's on his way.

We're going to now consider the agenda, and if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Awesome, hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

With that, we're gonna open up the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should be related on two items on today's agenda.

I know we have folks signed up online.

Looks like we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven folks signed up online.

And we have more people signing up in chambers.

We'll be one second.

Everyone's gonna get two minutes.

Clerk, will you please read the instructions for the public comment?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

Speakers will be called on in the order they registered on the council's webpage and the signup sheet available here in council chambers, starting with in-persons first.

If you have not registered to speak, but you would like to, you could sign up before the end of the public comment period or on the council's website.

Link is listed on today's agenda.

When speaking, please begin by stating your name and the item you were addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

If the speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next person.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

And we will start with in-person speakers first.

We're getting that list.

And if you are online, we will come to you right after our in-person speakers.

Awesome, and we'll start with those speakers.

Thank you, Cam.

You're all good.

All right, first we have Jeremy, followed by Logan, then we have David, Keith, Jennifer, and then Susan.

Jeremy, welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you, chair and council members.

I am here to provide comment on CB121190, the revision- Hold on, we're going to restart your time.

I'm sorry, we didn't have the clock up.

My apologies.

Do I need to restate the- No, you can just start with, yeah, do a deep dive.

Okay, let's restart.

and then when he starts talking, when Jeremy starts talking.

All right, go.

All right.

Thank you.

Jeremy Phoebus, professional engineer, licensed in the state of Washington, been practicing in the city of Seattle for almost 30 years now.

I'm here to comment on CB 121190, proposed revisions to the stormwater code.

Right now, we are at a pretty meaningful moment in our region where there are serious considerations for zoning and land use regulations to provide greater affordability and accessibility to housing.

That effort is incomplete without also looking at infrastructure regulations and reform of infrastructure regulations and recognizing the role that they play in housing on affordability.

in this region.

In my opinion, the code as presently written and the changes as proposed are a missed opportunity at reform that they largely pit the environment and housing in opposition to each other, that those should not be and are not adversaries, but that the opportunities exist.

to actually provide enhanced environmental benefit without added cost to housing.

The code as proposed will increase the amount of bioretention required on structures fourfold.

It will require substantial additional investigation and implementation of infiltration in our dense glacial soils in this area.

all at the cost of housing while legacy pollution problems are ignored in the public right of way.

So there's a missed opportunity.

I think we can do a lot more.

I provided written comments as well to the council today and at your service if you would like to discuss further at any time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeremy.

Next we have Logan followed by David, Keith, Jennifer, Susan.

Morning Chair Hollingsworth and members of the committee.

My name is Logan Schmidt with the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties commenting on Council Bill 121190. We wanna thank SPU and SDCI staff for their sustained engagement over the past year and the committee for working through this legislation We strongly support the flow control threshold increase.

That is sound policy that reflects the realities of urban infill construction.

We do also recommend raising the standard drainage review threshold to at least 1,200 square feet to align with Seattle's ADU allowance, something we've been in conversation with over at SPU as well.

Our most significant ask is this.

We urge the committee to direct the city to open long-term dialogue with the Department of Ecology to develop a stormwater guidance that actually fits Seattle's dense, built-out urban context, not framework designed for greenfield suburban development.

We've submitted written comment with Habitat for Humanity, NAOP, and the Washington Society of Professional Engineers.

And if there's anything else that you need to review and discuss on that, we're happy to.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Logan.

Next we have David, welcome, followed by Keith, Jennifer, Susan.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Dave Gloger, and I live in District 5. I'm here to comment on the proposed challenges to the Stormwater Code.

The Department of Ecology has prepared a list of recommendations, but for some reason, STCI and SPU has proposed a set that is below these minimum standards.

The state recommends that we use trees, as they are a natural way to manage stormwater runoff.

STCI and SPU have ignored this free tool.

What is not free is all the fines and legal settlements that Seattle has paid because of stormwater runoff.

A simple online search reveals much of this.

In 2023, the city was fined $117,000 by the State Department of Ecology.

In an article in the Medium, in 2024, the city was fined another $71,000.

In legal settlements, the city paid Madison Valley $2.5 million because of stormwater issues and settled with the Squamish tribe for another $2.5 million.

So the city will probably, or the departments will tell you, well, we're going to take care of that.

Well, just three weeks ago, King County announced that they're going to raise our stormwater rates by 11% next year, and that's probably going to have double-digit increases for the next several years.

So if our stormwater needs to be improved so much, why are we making the stormwater requirements lower?

And yesterday, when I looked at the King County website that shows sewer overflow, it shows two instances of overflow.

This is in the middle of May.

What are we going to do in the winter?

You can probably guess how many instances we'll have then.

We should be making our stormwater code stronger to prevent stormwater overflow and these excess expenses like lawsuits and fines and increased utility bills for Seattle residents.

Please fix this faulty code and prove our stormwater.

Thank you, David.

Next, we have Keith, followed by Jennifer, then Susan, and then we'll jump to you online if you are ready.

Good morning, Council.

Good morning.

I'm here to speak on the Stormwater Code 121190. I just want to say that the equivalency with the state requirements of the code is assumed.

We know that the city has run the changes to the stormwater code through the state rubric, so to speak, for equivalency with the requirements, the regulations, and so that's assumed.

I'm here just to speak about the stormwater code being basically the last defense against the recently approved One Seattle plan and what some people think is an inadequate environmental impact statement.

So this stormwater code is like one of the last chances or last line of defense to protect the environmental resources of the city And one of those in particular would be trees.

And I think that the stormwater code has kind of cut it short on the trees as a best management practice.

They should be ranked higher up on the list and given more consideration and more weight.

And I don't think that the changes to the stormwater code are really speaking to that adequately.

And then, really just a question, and obviously the answer will come later, but what was the driver for the change from 2,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet?

Because the 2,000 square feet has been in place since 1979, and there was some motivation, some driver to change that, and I just don't understand it.

So I guess that's it.

Thanks.

Thank you, Keith.

Next, we have Jennifer, followed by Susan.

Welcome, Jennifer.

Thank you so much.

First, I would like to recognize the magnitude of work that has gone into this update from SPU and Council.

So thank you all so much.

As a board member of the American Cetacean Society of Puget Sound and the Trees and People Coalition, I am concerned about the unprecedented increases in impervious surfaces between the SEPA thresholds and the comprehensive plan.

I feel that this should be met by unprecedented increases in polluted runoff reductions.

SPU does great work, as I'm sure we will hear more about, and I'm grateful for that.

However, I am concerned about the reduction in flow control regulations.

I would love to see calculations supporting the statement that these code changes will improve water quality for aquatic life.

And if not, I would propose amending to institute and share performance metrics citywide regarding runoff that can inform policy changes at intervals within the five-year code.

Our environment, I would love to see the environment be out of the construction department, like the city of Snoqualmie, for example.

They have trees and stormwater in its own department.

As the world watched J35 Talakwa carry her second deceased daughter on her rostrum for weeks, CDOC researcher Dr. Giles said, we have to try something massively different, even if only on a trial basis.

Puget Soundkeeper found increased mortality in salmon just last year at this 2025 survey.

and the link between impervious surfaces and harm to aquatic life is well documented.

And Seattle being the largest city in the state and the largest city on Puget Sound, we're likely the largest contributor to polluted runoff.

And the county recognizes that the largest source of pollution in Puget Sound is polluted runoff.

So I think if we want to see any chance at recovery in the endangered salmon and orcas, it would be great to have performance metrics on polluted runoff if possible.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Next we have Susan.

Welcome.

Good morning.

Echoing the thanks for all the effort on the stormwater manual updates, because it's a big one.

The flood drought cycle is emblematic of a degraded ecosystem.

In December and February, we had catastrophic flooding and are now faced with another severe drought advisory.

During the flood events, four different friends and neighbors of mine had sewer mains burst, costing between $22,000 and $34,000 to repair.

They were not alone.

It's now widely known that our sewer infrastructure is failing and ratepayers are shouldering the cost.

The continued and significant loss of our mature tree canopy is a major factor.

All of those lost trees once mitigated stormwater flow for free, and that loss is only exacerbated by a heavy increase in impervious surface.

As the largest city situated on Puget Sound, we have a duty and obligation to ensure long-term health for those waters and the marine life that inhabit them.

Combined sewer overflows have now become common.

I have documented more than 15 separate events since December alone, which runs counter to King County's own stated commitment of controlling frequency of no more than one event per year to comply with state and federal law.

So while construction continues on the $700 million sewer upgrade, please implement the Department of Ecology's parametric stormwater guidelines without delay.

In general, I strongly urge SPA to align regulations with Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington.

Please emphasize performance metrics if it's not possible to produce specifics about how the code changes will help or harm aquatic life or enhance public benefit.

allow trees to be accurately weighted as stormwater managers as other cities have done to exercise best management practices.

All the data needed to implement this is contained in the arborist reports.

Please don't rush these critical updates.

I strongly urge you to request an extension without penalty from the Department of Ecology to formulate effective science-based stormwater codes that ensure a healthy, resilient, and more helpful future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll go online and we first have Ruth, followed by June and then Ruth Williams.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

Ruth Deit, star six.

We see you online.

Hello.

Hello.

Hi.

My name is Ruth Dite.

I'm with Friends of Queen Anne.

I recently heard about these code changes.

I don't know the code changes extensively, but the one change that I was made aware of concerns me very much, which is changing the threshold for onsite stormwater retention from 2,000 or 2,500 square feet to a proposed 5,000 square feet.

Again, why are we doing this while we are simultaneously increasing density and impervious surface area coverage?

I have to ask myself, who saves with this change and who pays?

My guess is the developer saves, and my question is, will his savings be passed on to the consumer?

I believe I know who pays, and that will be us and all the creatures in Tuget Sound.

I have one of these retention, whatever you call it, in my backyard, a gravel pit where all my storm water from my roof goes into, and that was there when we bought the house in 1991, and I really wonder why we are changing this decades-old policy It just very much concerns me and somebody else has asked the same question and I hope you've asked the same question as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ruth.

Next we have June followed by Ruth Williams.

Welcome, June.

Star six, unmute yourself.

Hello, I'm June Bruce Bruce, a board member of the Trees and People Coalition.

I want to thank Chair Hollingsworth, the committee, and the staff at SPU for working to make the stormwater code update meet the moment we are in.

There is more to do.

When Council approved the Comp Plan and CB 121093, you approved an unprecedented increase in impervious surfaces throughout Seattle.

You also provided some protection for existing trees, but not nearly enough.

As a result, we need stronger stormwater regulations.

Existing mature trees are the most effective stormwater managers that exist, and they are free.

With many fewer trees and many more paved surfaces, polluted runoff will increase, further endangering salmon and orcas.

Extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent in climate change will be much more likely to overwhelm stormwater management infrastructure.

Please consider an extension without penalty from ecology to improve the code update.

Clean water is worth it.

In addition, please add binding language to the amendments that will go into effect before 2031. Remove the statement that trees should be, quote, compatible with construction, unquote, when other parts of the code address where to plant trees in relation to construction.

Add temperature changes from the state model code.

Allow trees as stormwater managers on all property types.

Remove this SEPA checklist sentence, quote, because much of Seattle has been previously developed and its original habitats significantly altered or eliminated, The potential for threatened or endangered animal species to be present in Seattle is low, unquote.

This is simply false.

Reject removal of requirements for slow polluted runoff close to small lakes and underserved areas.

With increased lot coverage, there will be no room for on-site mitigation planter beds, increasing flooding, and combined sewer overflows or CSOs.

The people of salmon and orcas, which are an essential part of our ecosystem, deserve clean water.

Thank you.

Thank you, June.

Next we have Ruth Williams, followed by Howard Gale, Irene, Wall, Richard, and David.

Hello.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak today.

My name is Ruth Williams.

I'm speaking on behalf of Thornton Creek Alliance concerning Council Bill 12-1190.

We also appreciate everyone's time and effort in responding to our concerns.

We have a couple of comments on the proposed amendment.

Amendment 1, first comment, exclusions from the definition of stream.

Please be careful not to exclude the condition of an artificially created water course that was created as mitigation for environmental impacts.

And there are a few.

This was already in the code somewhere.

Let's make sure it stays.

Next comment, table A, key A, paraphrasing.

Rain gardens cannot be used for projects with areas of 5,000 square feet or more hard surface infiltrating on the project site.

We consulted rain garden expert, Roseanne Barnhill, co-owner of Dirt Corps.

Installing multiple rain gardens for larger projects can't effectively meet run-up control requirements.

As to Amendment 2, thank you for working to free our waterways of 6 PPDQ.

and then recital 13, the role of trees in stormwater retention.

As written, this opens the door to delay of another five years or more when there's quite a lot of scholarship on the subject already and I have emailed you some resources on that and thank you for your consideration today.

Thank you, Ruth.

Next we have Howard Gill followed by Irene Wall.

Council President Hollingsworth, can I ask for clarification before my time starts?

Yeah, we'll pause.

We'll restart your time.

Go ahead, Mr. Gill.

I don't want to violate rules.

You requested comments only on agenda items, but on the published agenda, it does say also within purview of the committee.

That is correct.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, you can start.

Good morning.

Howard Gale, member of 36 legislative district Democrats.

I am asking this committee to amend the general rules and procedures of the Seattle City Council to include a rule to inhibit or sanction any council member who, in their official capacity at a council meeting, might target a member or members of the public for opprobrium, condemnation, or embarrassment, except in cases where laws or the general rules and procedures of the Seattle City Council are violated.

Last Tuesday, Council Member Strauss did this in calling me out and further did so with unquestionably false claims.

I have documented this in the letter emailed to all council members earlier this morning.

Here, I will simply point out that Council Member Strauss' claim that I have, quote, a pattern of behavior targeting a certain- Pause time, Mr. Gill.

Stuff that's directly in the purview of this committee and not targeting a council member.

Thank you.

No, this is, I'm sorry, is my time paused?

I'm addressing the need for a change.

No, we're going to keep running your time.

We're going to keep running your time.

I've just, I made the request.

Go ahead.

Now your time is starting.

And that's what I'm doing.

Okay.

Councilmember Strauss's claims were observed in that the record clearly shows in the last 14 months I have called out Councilmember Kettle 10 times, Councilmember Rink five times, Councilmember Solomon four times, former Councilmember Nelson one time, and even Councilmember Strauss himself two times.

In Tuesday's attack on me, Councilmember Strauss falsely claimed that I impugned the motives of Councilmember Juarez.

I public comment that day implied nothing.

Pause.

That is your second warning, Mr. Gale, purview of the committee, not targeting Councilmembers.

You can talk about the rules that you're- I'm not.

This is about the reason- Mr. Gale, I'm not going to go back and forth with you, okay?

Go ahead.

Your time is continued.

Go ahead.

Councilmember Strauss's comments were an abuse of power and trust granted to him by the voters and a possible- Pause, we're taking off this.

We're done.

Thank you.

Next person up, we have- This is grossly inappropriate.

Next, we have Irene Wall followed by Richard Ellison and David Haynes.

Okay.

Good morning, council members.

I cannot possibly articulate as clearly as Jennifer has the concerns about the stormwater code amendments, but I would say that the amendment concerning consulting tree experts should happen before you approve any code amendments, and if that requires getting yet another extension from ecology, so be it.

The increasing small lot areas in the city to be redeveloped.

You know, it's interesting how I did a calculation some time ago, like half the lots in the city in the neighborhood commercial zones are under 5,000 square feet.

And they're going to be redeveloped too.

And many of them include large trees.

I happen to live on one of those 3,200 square foot lot with a hundred year old cedar.

You know, I do think that we need to protect the trees and we need to have a stormwater code that is consistent with the desire increase our tree canopy, at least preserve it.

And small lakes should be protected, too.

I don't know why increasing the potential for stormwater runoff into Green Lake and Haller Lake is such a great idea.

So please consider the multi-millions of dollars that we've already spent and will spend to deal with CSOs and SSOs in the city and improve our stormwater code to put flow control in everywhere we possibly can.

Thank you.

Thank you, Irene.

Next person, we have Richard Ellison, followed by David Haynes.

Hello.

I am Richard Ellison, a retired community college adjunct professor of biology and environmental science, and I live in District 4. I also have two 800-gallon rain-smart water cisterns installed free by the City of Seattle on my property as the city tries to reduce its stormwater runoff.

The critical impact of trees and canopy to improving water quality and urban stormwater runoff cannot be understated.

Our rural forests play a critical role in statewide flood control.

Urban areas are a major source of toxic pollution to the Puget Sound.

While our local whale and salmon populations are in danger of extinction and the city glorifies its cultural ties to salmon, orcas, and native tribes, the salmon populations are crashing and orcas are dying of starvation and pollution impacts.

If the city and development industry cherry picks its data, like the Trump administration does defending its bad environmental policies, it needs to wake up to the scientific literature that's dense with research articles on stormwater and trees.

Are you still there, Richard?

You still have- Urban tree canopies, I'm sorry.

Urban tree canopies and the role in stormwater management from the University of California in 2025. Urban tree canopies are essential tools in managing stormwater, particularly dense urban areas like those dominated by impermeable surfaces such as pavements and rooftops.

The benefits of urban tree canopies for reducing runoff and improving water quality include pollution filtration.

Trees and the soil around them act as natural filters, capturing and breaking down pollutants such as heavy metals, nutrients, and sediments that would otherwise enter storm drains and waterways.

Rainfall interception.

I will send a letter in regarding more information.

but please, it must be done.

Changes must be done to the stormwater.

Thank you.

Thank you, Richard.

Next we have David Haynes.

You're going to have to do two minutes.

You have to reset the timer.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

Is there any way I can convince council that tearing up the side streets that create heat islands and then redevelop with greenery and like detached units would be a little bit more beneficial to community that's worried about like global warming and like all the asphalt and concrete that seems to like radiate most of the heat.

And is there any way y'all can realize that doubling the shifts when you're working on infrastructure, like if you've got a public private partnership or stormwater water and it's like a $700 million project, are these guys working eight hours, 10 hours, or do they have two shifts getting the job done and being paid proper?

and to all the people that passive-aggressively come into council and want to weaponize their privilege and try to quell future development, whether it's claiming that you've got to keep your tree on your lot as they drive through the road or they want to increase the cost of development by weaponizing the stormwater.

You all are emotionally like being ridiculous when you're acting like you're going to save the orcas and the salmon by purposely denying somebody a better built back home.

You know, it's like, I hear all these people that called in and come in here and it's like, oh, I have my home and I don't want you to build back better.

I want to drive through your neighborhood, keep tabs on what you're up to, but I never want to take the side roads away.

I just want to weaponize the trees.

I want to weaponize the character of Craftsman Sears Roebuck Housing.

You all are cheating future generations with all of this Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

Is there any additional public commenters?

I want to first take this time to thank everyone

that came in chambers today to give us your comment, people that have been working behind the scenes and working with everyone on codes and everything that's in the agenda today.

Just really appreciate your time and then also the people that called in as well.

This is a friendly reminder, everything is friendly around here, that agenda items Public comments have to stay within the purview of agenda items, specifically targeting certain council members outside of those agenda items.

That is why I warned Mr. Gale numerous times.

And so just trying to make sure that we stay within the purview of this committee.

So just wanted to state that for the record.

Thank you.

Now we're gonna transition into our items on the agenda.

Clerk, will you please read agenda item number one and two into the record?

Agenda item one and two, appointment 3495 and 3496. Appointments of Stan Didams and Gabrielle Navarro to Seattle Public Utilities customer review panel for a term ending in July 31st, 2028 for briefing discussion and possible votes.

And also before we get started, Council Member Kettle has joined us today.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

and joined us because you're part of the committee, so thank you.

Please introduce yourself and then you can start your presentation.

Thank you, General Director Lee, or General Manager Lee, General Director, General Manager.

Thank you, Andrew Lee, General Manager, CEO for Seattle Public Utilities.

Justin Champ, Business Planning and Policy Advisor for SPU.

Gabriel Navarro, new member.

Hello, I'm Stan Didhams and I'm here to be appointed to the CRP.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Director Lee.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth and members of the committee.

The first item we have for you this morning is the appointment of two new members to SPU's customer review panel.

We have Gabrielle Navarro and Stan Didhams.

Gabrielle and Stan represent the customer review panel's strong tradition of community representation and technical expertise.

They also reflect our ongoing work to engage more with neighbourhoods and to include voices of youth that have often been historically underrepresented and are most impacted by our city's utilities.

At this point I'll hand it off to Justin Chan who will do further introductions.

Good morning, Council Members.

Justin Chan, again, Business Planning Policy Advisor at SPU.

The Customer Review Panel was formed in 2013 and became permanent in 2018 and advises the Mayor and the City Council on our rates and business plan.

I'll provide a little bit of context about each of our nominees here.

So Gabriel Navarro resides in Capitol Hill District 3 and is being recommended to fill one of the CRP's newly created young adult seats.

Thank you so much for that.

Dedicated position to design to lift up the perspectives of younger community members.

And we also plan to introduce the next young adult nominee at your upcoming committee meeting next month.

Gabriel is a University of Washington master's student in infrastructure and planning and management.

who will actually be graduating pretty soon, right?

And a first-generation Mexican-American leader and is a lifelong Washingtonian with deep roots in this region.

His research focuses on decentralized clean energy and utility investments as tools for community resilience and economic equity.

He currently serves as a Local Pathways Fellow through Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

He's also pursuing a certificate in ecological restoration, bringing environmental stewardship and civic engagement together in his work.

Stan Didams resides in Green Lake, District 6, and is a retired banker with decades of financial experience at Bank of America, CFRS, where he managed corporate accounts, including utilities.

A lifetime resident of Seattle, Stan brings deep financial insight He currently serves as the treasurer for Refugee Immigrant Support Organization and sits on the Seattle College's Foundation Board.

Stan has deep experience balancing fiscal responsibility with equitable service delivery.

So we're grateful for their willingness to serve on the customer review panel.

We look forward to the committee's consideration.

I'd like to now invite our nominees to briefly introduce themselves.

Good morning, council members.

I'm Stan Didhams, and I'm grateful to Mayor Wilson for appointing me to serve on the customer review panel for SPU, subject to approval by the council.

As Justin said, I'm recently retired after a career of more than three decades in banking, mostly with Bank of America here in Seattle.

In that work, I served middle market companies, led regional banking teams, worked on complex financial solutions, and spent a lot of time helping organizations think carefully about capital, strategy, risk, and long-term stewardship of their assets.

I have also tried to make service a consistent part of my life.

I served as director and president for many years with North Seattle College Education Fund and the Foundation for Seattle Colleges, including work to establish the Pacific Tower Health Education Center because I believe deeply in educational access for everyone.

I've also served as a volunteer or board member with organizations focused on refugees, homelessness, churches, and community development, both locally and internationally.

My wife and I and our four kids lived in Shoreline for 23 years, and for the past five and a half years, we've lived in Seattle.

Since retiring in 2022, I've been looking for meaningful ways to serve the city more directly.

This opportunity is especially important to me because Seattle Public Utilities touches the lives of every resident of Seattle through essential services.

I understand the customer review panel's role as helping to bring community perspective to SPU's strategic business plan, its rate path, and key policy decisions with attention to equity, affordability, sustainability, and service to the community.

I hope to bring the panel a combination of financial experience organizational judgment, community commitment, a passion for justice and willingness to listen carefully.

My desire is simple, to help make Seattle a better city and to serve the public well through this role.

I would consider it a privilege to contribute whatever experience I have to the practical and important work of helping Seattle steward its essential public utilities.

And I thank you for your consideration of my appointment.

Thank you, Stan.

Really appreciate that.

And then Gabriel, and then we'll have some comments at the end.

Absolutely.

Good morning, Council.

Thank you for the privilege, pleasure and opportunity to be here.

I also want to give thanks to Seattle Public Utilities for your service to our residents and, of course, our community that's here and provided comment.

My background spans a few different areas, but what I hope to bring to the panel and of service is to include more of our communities in our civic engagement process.

I deeply believe that development and our environment don't have to be in conflict with each other, that we can develop sustainably and create synergies between ourselves, our neighbors, and the land we live on.

And so that value and those kind of goals are what I want to bring to the panel through involving different community groups such as people of color, younger people, and people that have been historically excluded from these conversations and types of work.

So I hope to elevate these voices and work in collaboration with you all as our City Council and provide harmonious benefits to our entire city.

I think it's possible and I I'm not willing to give up, so I'm willing to do the work together and be here of service, so thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Gabriel.

Thank you, Stan.

Colleagues, I want to see if anyone has any questions or comments about the appointments, if any.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth, Council President.

really appreciate the, you know, it's interesting, you know, looking at the backgrounds and so forth.

You know, a banker, you know, I've been in shoes of sitting on boards or, you know, community kind of groups, and anytime you have somebody with the banking, you know, okay, this is your treasurer, you know, so you're in high demand.

If you weren't here, you would be in high demand in many locations.

But having that background of, you know, working with industries, it mentions that, You know, your clients over the years, you know, being in the, you know, in business, in the industry, you know, in this world as well is helpful giving you an insight.

And so I thank you for volunteering because it does take time.

And then conversely, with Gabriel, Ms. Navarro, you know, one of the things that caught my attention in your package, and I said this last night in community, Too often in the political world, we have these short-term fixes, short-term kind of approaches.

It's the put out the fire of the day kind of approach.

And you mentioned the long-term planning piece.

And that's what these communities need in terms of who you're looking to represent.

Because it took a long time to get to where these communities are in terms of not being in, it's like South Park, the water and these different issues.

It's going to take a long time to overcome that too.

And so the piece that caught my attention in yours is long-term planning because we do need to do that.

We have to have like a strategic long-term approach to our issues because otherwise we're just reacting to the crisis of the day.

And so that's something I caught in your background.

And so I appreciate both of you to stepping up and volunteering to support our city.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, council president and chair.

And I just wanted to thank both of you for your service.

I always say these are volunteer positions and very important ones.

and I really appreciate your dedication and wanting to step into these roles.

And I want to say, Gabriel, and I'm going to say that you are correct, or not that I need to validate what you're saying, but I've been doing this for many decades and I feel like we're not where we need to be to make sure that are all places of government are representative of all the people that live in this city and across the country for that matter.

So I really appreciate your words about inclusivity both for people of color and also young people.

And so I really appreciate the focus on that.

You both talked about it.

I appreciate the focus on that and I very much appreciate your willingness to serve.

Thank you, Chair.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Councilmember Juarez.

I believe I'm your vice-chair.

Pardon me?

Yes, I believe I'm your vice-chair.

Vice-chair Juarez.

That's right.

We like to have a little humor now and then.

So, first of all, thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank Stan Didams for stepping up and a particular thank you on same lines with Mr. Navarro, Gabriel Navarro.

I was really intrigued with your commission or your packet that we received on both of your backgrounds.

and in particular for you, Mr. Navarro, it's not too often that we see young men like you, first generation Latino graduate pursuing a master's in infrastructure planning and management and your willingness to serve on the Seattle Public Utilities customer review panel.

I know it's not the sexiest panel to be on, but when folks like you, young men like you, young people like you step up, it really means a lot because it looks like your term or your position is good until July, 2028. And I just thought it was very intriguing and I was very pleased to read that what they stated about you, that you offer insight on system resilience.

flooding and long-term planning along with a strong commitment to proactive customer engagement and building trust with historically underrepresented communities.

I don't know if you wrote that or if Mr. Lee wrote that, but I think this really nails who you are and your commitment to this great city and this community and along with Council Member Rivera and Council Member Kettle and Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, both of you, for stepping up and agreeing to be and accepting this appointment after we vote on the Seattle Public Utilities Customer Review Panel.

And again, there's a lot of talk about water and culverts and storm and it is important.

So thank you again.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you, Vice Chair Juarez.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to take the moment to thank everyone for their volunteer service to the City of Seattle, to all of the residents in whom we serve.

We know that the work and the expertise that you bring to us is on a volunteer basis.

Just wanted to take a moment to recognize that and recognize you and your service to our city.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Well said, Councilmember Strauss.

And well said to the rest of my colleagues.

I don't need to add more because they have said it so eloquently.

Thank you, Stan Didens.

Did I say Didens?

Yes.

Mr. Didens.

And Gabriel Navarro.

Thank you so much.

Are you the angel, Gabriel, that's going to give divine messages from God to the people?

So you can do that from the heavens above to SPU, which is great.

My favorite angel in the Bible.

All right.

Mine too.

That's my favorite angel too.

Really?

The angel Gabriel with the trumpet.

Okay.

That's my dad's name.

I'm going to move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointments 3495 and 3496. Is there a second?

I'm going to second.

Awesome.

It's been moved and second to confirm appointments.

Are there any comments with the appointees?

Awesome.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointments?

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Vice Chair Juarez.

Aye.

Chair Rivera?

I'm sorry.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Five in favor, zero opposed.

Motion carries.

Committee's recommendation will be sent to the May 19th City Council meeting.

Thank you, Stan.

Thank you, Gabriel.

Really appreciate your time.

Thank you, Justin.

And thank you, Director Lee as well.

Thank you.

Next item number three.

Clerk, will you please read item number three into the record?

Agenda item three.

Appointment 3494. Reappointment of Andrew Lee as general manager, chief executive officer of Seattle Public Utilities.

Rebriefing, discussion and possible vote.

Awesome, thank you, General Manager Lee.

Looking forward to this process, colleagues.

We had presented some questions to Council, Council, I was gonna say Council Member Lee, I'm sorry, to Director, I'm sorry, I don't wanna scare you, to Director Lee, who answered those really well, but would like to go to you for opening comments, and then we'll start the process.

Thank you.

Council President Hollingsworth and members of the committee, I'm humbled and honored to be sitting here with you today in consideration of my reconfirmation as the SPU General Manager and CEO.

I want to thank all of you and our prior mayoral administration for placing your trust in me the past four years to lead our drinking water, drainage and wastewater and solid waste utilities.

I also want to thank Mayor Wilson and her team for the confidence to put me forward in this reconfirmation process.

I'm incredibly proud of the work that we've been able to do the past four years as the largest combined water and waste utility in the Pacific Northwest.

We've reliably served safe drinking water to over 1.6 million people in the Greater King County area.

And even with successive years of low snowpack and extremely dry summers, we've managed our drinking water resources responsibly and delivered enough water for both people and fish in our region.

and in a time when many utilities are worrying about forever chemicals, like PFAS or PFOA, our water supplies in the Cedar and the Tolt remain free from those harmful chemicals.

In our drainage and wastewater utility, we finished construction of an 18-foot diameter tunnel between Wallingford and Ballard to reduce sewage overflows into Lake Union and the Ship Canal.

The entire project, which will include a smaller microtunnel and pump station in Ballard, is on track to be substantially complete by the end of 2027. We also finished our second season of construction for sediment cleanup along the upper reach of the Lower Duwamish River this past year.

That effort is addressing years of historical sediment contamination and environmental justice issues along the Duwamish.

And in our solid waste utility, we continue to lead the country in our efforts to achieve zero waste.

Just last week, we had the grand opening for a salvaged lumber warehouse down in South Downtown that was funded in partnership with a $4 million EPA grant.

That project will seek to create a circular economy where we are reusing wood from older buildings instead of sending it down to a landfill down in Oregon.

What I am most proud of, however, is that we've done all this while being incredibly mindful of affordability and cost.

When you remove the impact of the King County wastewater treatment rates, the six-year average annual rate increases that SPU is responsible for are in the 3.5% per year range.

That is very much in line with the cost of living increases for the region.

These achievements are the result of an amazing team and an amazing organization.

We're so fortunate to have one of the most dedicated staff in the region, from the frontline workers who fix our water and sewer pipes, to our meter readers, customer service staff, accountants and our engineers and scientists.

Their dedication, incredible work ethic, and outstanding technical and strategic minds are the reason that we are in such a strong position today as a utility.

We have many challenges and opportunities ahead of us, like the continuing change in climate, significant increases in regional wastewater treatment rates, and the ongoing threat of cybersecurity incidents.

I'm confident, however, that our team will rise to meet those challenges, and I'm excited to provide leadership to this utility as we strive to continue providing the best utility services to our customers.

With that, I want to say thank you again, and I'm happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

Awesome.

Thank you, Director Lee, for that opening statement.

And colleagues, I will pause here to see if you all have any questions or comments.

It could be a comment, question, Vice Chair Juarez.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to thank Director Lee for coming back and staying, and I want to thank the Mayor for reappointing Andrew Lee.

And I'm just going to be a little bit nerdy here because on the stormwater issues and some of the stuff we heard in public comment, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with Director Lee on the stormwater and all the issues, particularly in the Duwamish and with tribal communities.

We've worked with you and your staff, tribal leadership regarding the litigation in the culvert case and what happened with United States Supreme Court when they upheld the district court's order that the culverts were affecting salmon and stream and runoff and passage and your office has always been so great about responding and also just another shout out to I know that you have some references here and you know two stellar ones who I work closely with since 2016 and then it was Mamihara, phenomenal, worked lovely.

We all worked triage together on these issues, particularly the water issues.

And of course, Marco Lowe, who I adore and work well with.

And I don't know if the public sees us.

Thank you for answering the questions.

We went through your, I think it was like 17 or 20 pages of your questions and your responses.

I won't give you a hard time for going to Stanford, but I just wanna say it's good to see you.

I've always respected the work that you guys have done, and more importantly, Mr. Lee, Director Lee, I've always appreciated how astute you are and how intelligent and how thoughtful you were when you were just talking about the runoffs and the stormwater and what this means for communities and chemicals in our water, the environment, and also my discussions with tribal leadership, not just on the Duwamish, but just statewide, and I'm always proud to say when I would be in these circles, that I was on Seattle City Council and I had the opportunity to work with you.

So I'm very, very happy to see you back.

And I will be voting yes for you, of course.

So thank you.

Thank you, Vice-Chair Juarez.

Councilmember Kettle followed by Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

First, I have to say, given Vice Chair's comments and the fact that my wife went to the same school, I just have to say, fear of the tree.

I have to show my support for Stanford.

It's a little bit easier now that they're not in the same conference as UW, by the way.

Yes, so through the tree.

No, Dee, I really appreciate this opportunity.

I appreciate your opening statement.

I have three strategic priorities.

One is obviously public safety, and as a district rep, the constitutional affairs, all the issues that impact D7 and really the city.

But my third one is the maritime, us as a maritime city.

And it's so important in so many different ways.

One of my goals is to ensure that our port is viable 100 years from now.

but it's also our maritime space.

And I've been engaging with the Port of Seattle and other entities on this, the labor unions and across the board.

It's incredible how big the ecosystem is.

And I bring this up because your role is so important to this.

And I appreciate the work that's been done.

I appreciate the tour of the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Facility and talking about the SOTO Wet Treatment Facility that we need to proceed because we're under a consent decree.

The issues related to other CSOs, the work in Ballard at that one, also going to the waste treatment facility, the pieces, the efforts that go into that are incredible.

And I really appreciate the work that SPU has been doing under your leadership and with the team that you have, to include Mr. Hennessey behind you.

But it's so important, because this isn't gonna change.

we're gonna remain a port city, we're gonna remain a maritime city.

Natural deep water ports don't happen like this.

And so it's our responsibilities.

It goes back to what I was talking about earlier, having that strategic long-term view is so important.

So thank you for your work on that.

Second, and along those lines, and you spoke to it in different ways, is climate change.

We have to be ready.

We have to be ready.

You know, I just, you know, I apologize to you.

I was at late.

I was taking my daughter to a dental appointment first thing in the morning, and a good dental appointment, by the way.

And, you know, 50 years from now, when she's my age, you know, where are we going to be?

and the decisions that we make today, just like the decisions that were made a century ago, have served us well in this area, like with the water, drinking water and so forth, it's crucial.

And so this is the kind of leadership that we need today to ensure that our tomorrow is set.

And if you think of it that way, it's a bit of a heavy burden, Director Lee, but I feel that you have the ability to do it based on the experience of working with you over three years, and so I wanna thank you for that.

And I'll be blunt too, I wanna thank you, but I also wanna thank the mayor.

to making this call, because clearly I haven't agreed with other decisions she's made, but when she's made a great choice, I should also at the same time thank her for this decision, because it's so important for the reasons that I spoke to.

And that's it, Chair, so thank you for, again, your service, public service, and your soon-to-be, no doubt, continued public service, so thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Cato.

Councilmember Rivera, followed by Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

One of the benefits after going after two of, to follow my two esteemed colleagues, as they've said, many of the things that I would have said, so I won't reiterate the importance of the role and the importance of the work, but I will say a couple things about my personal experience with you and your leadership style.

I very much have appreciated getting to work with your staff and in particular, Martha Newman, who's retiring.

We're so sad to see her go and so happy for her that she's going to be enjoying a retirement.

But she staffs me on the Waira 8, which is the salmon recovery work that the city is engaged in with the region and how important that is.

And as part of that, getting to be with you at Beersheva Park where you daylighted the creek there in support of salmon recovery and seeing salmon return to that area.

That is really important work and not just that, but the work that you do there with community and stewarding the park and that newly daylighted creek there is really important and I've so appreciated that.

I also very much have appreciated the fact that when there's been legislation coming through committee that I have concerns with, you've personally sat down with me to talk about how this will impact residents.

Like when we were doing cost sharing and I was worried about retirees and impacts, you sat with me and we figured out a way to make an amendment work and support of my constituents and our constituents across the city that would be impacted by that rate increase.

And even, you know, more recently when purchasing Teleris and meeting with constituents to talk about daylighting of the creek there that we're gonna have to do, the city's gonna have to engage in and you're gonna be doing that work.

and in general even if I ask you to please meet a constituent you have done so personally.

And I say this because constituents don't always know as the head of a very large utility not only do you have the expertise in all these areas and you also very much care about constituents individually and ensuring that you have touch points with constituents and being a great partner with us in order to have those touch points with constituents is something that I highly value in addition to all the work that my colleagues have already talked about today.

So I just want to thank you for that.

I feel like the city is very lucky to have you.

as our general manager and CEO.

I think that might be your official title, although I always mess it up, because I always call you director.

But the point is, you're head of Seattle Public Utilities, and I've so appreciated working with you, and we're in good hands with you at the city, and so I will be supporting you today.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you chair I'll be brief because I have to attend my sound transit committee that started about 4 minutes ago and so I just wanted to say on the record how much I appreciate general manager Lee and all of the employees in our city every time I give a compliment to general manager Lee.

he responds that it is because of his team and that's true leadership, number one.

Number two, I think we have to rename the brand for SPU to getting the job done for you because out of all of the departments in our city, have a favorite necessarily, but what I can say is that the customer service and the responsiveness that the Seattle Public Utilities Department is above and beyond everyone else.

And so just saying on the record, thank you for your leadership.

Thank you for your staff doing a great job.

And thank you to everyone who works at SPU for getting the job done for Seattleites.

Thank you, Chair.

Awesome, thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Is that an old hand, Councilmember Rivera?

Yes.

Okay, awesome.

Before we take the vote, General Manager Lee, just wanted to reiterate exactly what my colleague said.

It's been a pleasure working with you for the past two and a half years.

I really appreciate all of the answers that you did just really I know we submitted a lot of questions so we appreciate that but to work with you to understand about our drinking water when I was going through your answers some of the stuff that was highlighted talking about drinking water about the regional approach with King County and wastewater understanding didn't realize learning how that impacts as Seattle Public Utilities and ratepayers and then also the affordability piece.

So very grateful for that.

And I know we're getting to time because I want to make sure Council Member Strauss can get to a sound transit meeting.

So just really appreciate all of that.

And I don't know if you have any final comments as well.

No, I just incredibly appreciate the Council Member's statements and your support and really appreciate the partnership working together with this Council.

Also, and besides, we will give you a pass for going to Stanford.

That's okay.

Every time we played basketball and we played Stanford, I don't know if I've said this before, the tree was always drunk on the side, just waving, and always had white chucks on.

So that was like the thing I remember about Stanford is a drunk tree in the corner with white chucks on, so.

So that's what we feared.

But thank you.

But also too, besides you being intelligent and all these things, I think we can all agree on this, you're just a kind human being.

And you do not find that often for people or just kind people.

And the basis of you being a human and understanding connection and being nice to people, and how you can be the smartest person in the world doesn't really matter.

But if you are not a kind human being, you don't get a lot of stuff done.

And I think that's why we've seen the progress at Seattle Public Utilities under your leadership for you just being a kind human being.

And I just wanted to make sure I said that, so.

Okay, I'm going to move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointment 3494. Is there a second?

Second.

Awesome, it's been moved in second to confirm the appointment.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Vice Chair Juarez.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Five in favor, none opposed.

Motion carries.

Committee of recommendation to confirm the appointment will be sent to the May 19th City Council meeting.

Thank you, General Manager Lee.

Looking forward to confirming you at our full council meeting as well.

So thank you so much.

Madam Chair, may I just- Vice Chair Juarez, yes.

Just briefly before Director Lee Lee and we bring this to full council, I just want to follow up on what you said and your leadership about sometimes it's just nice to work with respectful, kind people and that we don't often see that a lot.

And I've been here almost 10 years in City Hall.

So when you get a director that actually is kind, intelligent, straightforward, honest and transparent, it's a real gem.

and it's a real gain for our city.

And I wanna again thank Mr. Lee for that.

And also Council President, I wanna thank you for your leadership in that vein as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

I'll read item number four into the record.

It's Council Bill 121202, an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities authorizing the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Seattle Public Utilities to execute an amendment to the interlocal agreement between SPU and King County Flood Control Zone District for South Park for briefing discussion and possible vote.

You may now present your presentation.

Again, Andrew Lee, General Manager, CEO for Seattle Public Utilities.

Good morning.

Chris Hilton, Utility Resilience Advisor at Seattle Public Utilities.

And Brian Goodnight, Council Central Staff.

So, two years ago, the Council approved an interlocal agreement with King County Flood Control District allocating to SPU just over $2 million to reimburse costs related to our flooding response in the South Park neighborhood.

Today, we have an amendment to the agreement for your consideration, which would provide an additional $2.6 million to pay for that work.

This is incredibly important work, obviously, that we're doing to protect our community in the South Park neighborhood from flooding.

Chris Hilton is a climate adaptation advisor at SPU, and she'll provide you with more information about this legislation.

Thanks, Andrew.

Good morning, council members.

Thank you for the chance to present to you today.

As Andrew mentioned, I am here to request authorization to amend an interlocal agreement between the city and King County Flood Control District that provides funding for flood prevention in the South Park neighborhood along the Lower Duwamish River.

This interlocal agreement is part of the follow-up work related to the Duwamish River overtopping that occurred in 2022. As you may recall, on December 27th of 2022, the river overtopped its banks due to very high tides, storm surge, and other weather factors.

It flooded 49 homes and businesses in the South Park neighborhood.

In the immediate days following the flood, the city responded, providing mobile water facilities, including toilets, sinks, showers and laundry for the community, provided emergency housing and recovery support for 20 families.

This recovery involved nearly a year of cleanup and home repair for those 20 families in the South Park neighborhood.

In order to prepare for and hopefully prevent future events, SPU has worked with the King County Flood Control District and secured their support for these funds that support preparedness through temporary infrastructure that protects the community while the city and SPU and others work on long-term solutions for the Lower Duwamish.

The original ILA, approved in 2024, provided $2 million to pay for SPU's South Park interim flood preparedness program.

That covered 2022 and 2024 expenses.

And this amendment I'm bringing before you today provides an additional $2.6 million, which will cover our expenses for 2025 and 2026. What this pays for is construction and maintenance of the interim sandbag wall that protects the neighborhood, the pump and bypass equipment that allows our crews to pump water out of the neighborhood if it does flood, as well as SPU labor for the flood response team, the crew that maintains the wall and is prepared to deploy the pump system if a flood should occur.

So with that, I have completed my presentation and happy to respond to any questions.

Awesome, thank you.

Brian, good night.

Anything about this?

No additional comments, yeah.

I think it was covered well.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you, Brian.

Colleagues, I will pause here to see if there's any questions regarding the King County Flood Control Zone District for South Park.

I see everyone saying no.

I'll just pause here real quick.

Well, thank you.

so currently I know I serve on the King County Flood District Control Advisory Committee I'm learning a lot about water all these committees about water which is great and I don't see any questions that's pretty straightforward so I feel comfortable voting on this day I had a briefing I just want to check with other council members if they feel comfortable voting on this Councilmember Kettle.

Chair, yes, thank you.

I was just, you know, reviewing this as well, and this is where, by the way, having like the, you know, our tour, our water side tour is really helpful.

When you see South Park from the water side, you see the vulnerabilities, and then and then also seeing those different areas where, because we've, this is not the first thing we've done in terms related to South Park and Duwamish more generally and seeing those pieces and then going to the climate change that we talked about earlier, it is really vulnerable.

Has there been any pushback at all?

I mean, this seems to be straightforward, but anything, you know, any questions, you know, second, third order effects kind of questions from community or, because I'm not seeing anything.

And so I just wanted to, you know, in terms of outreach and the like, either from the communities, the neighborhood's affected or more professional or, you know, those groups that follow these things.

Has there been any questions or thoughts related to this project or in general?

Yeah, honestly, this has been in complete partnership with community.

And so community is very, very engaged with us, both on the short term action, which is this is primarily a short term action to cover us until we have a more permanent solution in place.

but they've also been engaged with us on the longer-term solution, which, you know, we are excited to actually present, you know, potentially in the next year or so, some more permanent solutions that we're looking to put in play.

That being said, again, this is really about providing peace of mind right now for community.

And so the incredible opportunity that this provides for people to go to sleep easy, you know, when there's a king tide, which happens about four times per year, You can't quantify the benefit of that for community.

And so we expected these types of events to occur at some point in time, but not in 2022. And so this is providing that peace of mind until we're able to get something permanent in place.

And yes, community is incredibly supportive of this.

What I will say is that there have been, you know, things that we've had to work out with some of the industrial customers that are located on the waterfront, because if you build a large wall there of sandbags, that is gonna potentially impede traffic into and out of those waterfront sites.

But we've been able to work very much hand in hand with those industrial business owners to make sure that they have access outside of those king tide events when we need to fully deploy everything.

Thank you for that.

The first thing that comes to mind is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of pure.

You know, the more outreach that's done on the front end is so much better related to dealing with the challenges on the back end, like working constituent affairs.

So thank you for that.

And then also highlighting the industrial users piece of this, too, because that is and something that was also seen in the tour and so forth.

So thank you for that.

All set, Chair.

Yes.

All right.

Awesome.

Thank you for those.

Thank you for those questions.

And I looked to the left and right and up on the screen and I feel like council members are pretty confident in voting today.

So I'm gonna move that the committee recommends passage of Council Bill 121202. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and second to recommend the passage of the bill.

Are there any final comments?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Vice Chair Juarez.

Aye.

Council member Rivera.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Bill will be sent to the May 19th city council meeting.

Awesome.

All right.

Will the clerk please read none.

I know we're just going through agenda item number five into the record.

Agenda item five council bill 121190 an ordinance relating to the 2026 stormwater code update updating stormwater control requirements for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Awesome, thank you.

The heavyweight fight, agenda number five.

Y'all didn't like the fight word, I'm sorry.

the heavyweight conversation.

Come on.

I like it.

Okay.

Do it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Awesome.

Thank you.

We are going to jump right in.

We read item number five into the record.

We have the presentation up.

We will jump right into the discussion.

Thank you.

Let's do introductions.

Oh yeah.

Introductions again.

I'm sorry.

Andrew Lee, General Manager, CEO for Seattle Public Utilities.

Kevin Burrell, Policy Manager for Seattle Public Utilities.

And Brian Goodnight, Council Central Staff.

Thank you.

So at the committee's last meeting on April 9th, SPU provided a briefing on the contents of this bill, Council Bill 121190, which would update the city's stormwater code.

For today's meeting, I'll just briefly provide some high-level background, describe two of the significant changes that are contained in the proposed updates, and then describe the two amendments that are attached to the agenda for today.

After that, I'll turn it over to SPU, who we've asked to be here again to recap the public engagement process that they've undertaken for the stormwater code update and to summarize some of the major themes that they've heard during that process.

And then, of course, we're obviously all here to answer questions.

So jumping in, as you heard at the last meeting, the city stormwater code is intended to protect people, property and the environment from damage caused by stormwater runoff.

The City's Code and its companion technical document, which is known as the Stormwater Manual, must comply with state and federal regulations.

In 2024, the Washington State Department of Ecology issued a new stormwater permit to the City, and many of the proposed updates that are contained in the legislation are in response to that permit.

The Council last amended the Stormwater Code in 2021, which was through Ordinance 126336, following the last update to the City's Stormwater Permit.

So in terms of the significant updates, in addition to responding to state requirements, it also contains updates to align with the city's updated land use code and city policies around housing development, as well as changes to improve clarity and predictability.

There is a central staff memo that's attached to the agenda, and it goes into more detail regarding changes that are in the legislation.

and I'll just describe two of those briefly.

The first change would revise the definition for closely related projects.

It would move that definition from the technical stormwater manual into the Seattle Municipal Code and it would create a new definition for common plan of development or sale that is equivalent to the city's permit.

These changes are in response to direction from ecology and their intent is to ensure that the impacts of projects that have shared elements or are being coordinated together, that those impacts are actually considered together rather than being evaluated as separate and distinct projects.

The next change that I'll describe relates to flow control requirements for small sites, and that was the topic of much of this morning's public comments that you've heard.

So the change would soften detention requirements for projects located within small lake basins or capacity-constrained systems, which are basically areas of the city that only have ditches and culverts.

So the existing code requires projects that equal or exceed 2,000 square feet of new plus replaced hard surface to comply with certain limits on peak stormwater rates.

The proposed update would raise this threshold to only apply to projects that equal or exceed 5,000 square feet.

The higher threshold would align with changes made in the 2021 stormwater code update that set flow control thresholds for other areas of the city at 5,000 square feet, and it would remain more restrictive than ecology's threshold of 10,000 square feet.

A related change addresses how projects across all, excuse me, projects across the entire city perform onsite stormwater management.

Projects that exceed or equal 1,500 square feet of new plus replaced hard surface are required to provide onsite stormwater best management practices.

The 2026 updates proposed to increase the applicable sizes of one of the commonly used methods of onsite management that provides both flow control and stormwater treatment.

These are known as non-infiltrating bioretention facilities, and I will definitely refer you to Kevin for any technical details, but my understanding is that these are basically onsite planter boxes.

Overall, SPU believes that, taken together, the updated sizing requirement and the use of other stormwater management practices provides comparable environmental benefits to the existing requirements on small projects.

Lastly, I'll describe the two amendments that are available today for your consideration, both of which are sponsored by Council President Hollingsworth.

Amendment number one was requested by SPU staff and is intended to correct technical drafting errors that were identified after the introduction of the bill.

These changes include the addition of underlines to propose new code language, removing errant punctuation, and adding a comma.

And then amendment number two would add three new recitals to the bill to highlight the city's advocacy and its intent for future updates.

So the first new recital recaps the city's effort in this year's state legislative session for a bill that would have prohibited the sale of tires containing a chemical called 6-PPD.

Although the bill did not pass in 2026, the city intends to continue advocating for the prohibition of 6-PPD and other similarly harmful chemicals in tire sales statewide in future legislative sessions.

The second new recital states the city will continue to collaborate with leading researchers and academics prior to the next stormwater code update to explore the proper role and function of trees and stormwater management requirements.

And the third new recital states the city will continue to implement the best available science, incorporate effective stormwater management techniques from other jurisdictions, and consider climate resilience in its efforts to improve environmental protections in future updates.

And that concludes my remarks, and I'm happy to turn it over to Kevin if there's no questions.

Awesome.

Thank you, Mr. Goodnight.

I want to see if there are any questions for central staff before we turn it over to SPU and Kevin and Director Lee.

Okay.

Awesome.

Kevin.

Thanks again for having me here this morning.

It's a pleasure to return.

At your request, we're back to talk about sort of the summary information based on stakeholder engagement process and also cover the response to comments to just give you a flavor of kind of the effort, level of engagement, and time that we spent trying to describe all the changes that we've made to the code.

But can I first start with some levity?

I want to thank the folks who have attended here today, spent time taking time out of their schedule to join us.

I think based on what I've noted down from the comments, mostly no one is happy, which means that we're probably doing our job really well.

We've found, I think, the right tools to get to the outcomes that we're trying to support across the city, which is managing drainage for clean water and also supporting other policies for the city.

So I do want to remind us by stating that the stormwater code is only one tool in our toolbox.

Seattle's stormwater requirements for the better part of 50 years have always been more stringent than the Department of Ecology's.

That will continue to be a true fact after this code update is adopted.

Also, one thing to highlight here is that we're also investing in our future.

We're nearing the end of planning for a 50-year drainage and wastewater investment plan.

We've worked with the community to help develop a vision which will be the steering body for driving the kinds of investments that we're doing.

As a result of this work, we will see more resilient infrastructure that will adaptively manage runoff and also work to mitigate the impacts of climate change over time.

One thing that's really fun to celebrate is that we're rapidly approaching managing a billion gallons of runoff through green stormwater infrastructure.

The fun part of this story is that Seattle as a leader began this endeavor in using nature-based solutions to address stormwater beginning, I think, in the late 90s.

and over time the first big projects were designed and constructed by the city and also the county.

But today the stormwater code annually, year after year, is managing more and more runoff from our urban landscape than the capital projects alone.

And that trend will continue for years to come.

Another fun fact that I wanted to share more generally is that we do other programmatic initiatives and activities.

Seattle is the leader in Western Washington in removing toxics from busy streets through street sweeping.

I just want to clarify that an ancillary benefit of doing street sweeping is it makes the streets beautiful, but that's not what's driving the program.

We're there to remove toxics from the roadways.

So as a result of this work, we sweep over 26,000 miles of roadways every year.

over 1,000 tons of debris including 120 tons of sediments are removed on an annual basis.

Other things to highlight as part of our tools, in addition to the stormwater code, is where we're adding resilience and community benefits through voluntary retrofit programs.

I think audience members during public comment touched on the benefits of what I think they described as the RainWise program, adding rain gardens and cisterns in people's yards.

We have other programs that partner with development to retrofit the rights of way and private property to capture and treat rain through natural systems and so on.

And so we'll continue to do those which will add benefit and community resilience moving forward.

And then the last two things I'll touch on as far as other tools.

One is a long arc, but it's an important arc of the story.

General Manager Lee talked on finishing our Ship Canal Water Quality Project here substantially next year.

Since the 1970s, through separation and control projects, citizens of King County and City of Seattle have invested heavily in combined sewer overflow technologies and control.

So as a result of that, Seattle has eliminated roughly 230 billion gallons annually of combined zero overflows every year.

We have more work to do, but we're nearing the finish line.

OK, so back to, I think, the questions that I heard at the conclusion of the last briefing.

Kevin, come back and talk to us about your engagement process and the efforts that your team put forward in making sure that people were heard.

And so, for grounding in context, if you haven't done your homework yet, there isn't a quiz, but the stormwater code manual represents over a thousand pages of material.

It's a huge lift to work on this every five years.

But the code provides the authority for the city, and the manual provides the technical details for the users of the code.

and it's important to note that everyday users are architects, engineers, and consultants that work on private development projects, right away projects, and that includes city and agency projects.

Our own staff uses frequently as a tool.

So what does engagement look like?

We just want to leave you with the sense that everyone has a chance to comment and weigh in on these public regulations.

So again, the city's permits were issued every five years by the Department of Ecology, and within those five years, we start up a three-year process of collecting input, revising the code and manual, and doing engagement.

but it first starts, as you note in the slide, in 2023 when Ecology issues the permit to the public.

This is to get public comment on the new rules that they're promulgating to Seattle, King County, Snohomish County, City of Tacoma, and so on.

So that's the public's first pass at describing what they're concerned about and giving Ecology ideas on how to make the document better, which will then be passed on to the local jurisdictions.

Following that, Ecology issues the permit to Seattle in 2024 for which we then get busy, start writing down our ideas collectively and what we think we need to change and engage the public for their ideas and comments.

And I'll talk about the different kinds of ways that we've done that in the next slide.

Any questions so far?

I'll keep moving.

Yeah, I think we'll save them to the end, so yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So just in terms of, like, number of touch points, I mentioned early in 2023, the college issues the permit, they do their own road show.

There's actually a public comment period, and folks can weigh in with, you know, any ideas or opportunities that they think that could enhance the regulations in Western Washington.

That's followed by our own initiative and effort to do public meetings, and so there's been a series of those, including these committee meetings and the councils, your consideration now.

So what that looked like is over 800 comments from stakeholders from throughout Western Washington.

Participants in different forums include residents, our environmental partners and NGOs, the development community, engineers, architecture firms and consultants, partner agencies like the Port of Seattle and of course our sister departments who help us make these codes more effective for all of the city.

The tools that we use are similar to what we've done with the building department's notices too.

We use listservs, bulletins, and newsletters.

We've hosted workshops, meetings, and listening sessions.

And again, the focus of a lot of that is about making sure that the code and manual are clear, that the users understand how to get from point A to point B if they have clarifying questions on what we mean or how to make it better as a throughput document.

We also accept by way of email other comments and suggestions, and have had listening sessions with the public to accept their comments, which is what's resulted in a huge number of comments.

Staff has spent time responding to those.

There's almost 100 pages of responses, so we've really worked hard to make sure that all comments have been considered, and for those that have made our codes better, we have incorporated them in ways that fit within the stormwater permit context.

Okay, so maybe just a final point here is that we've summarized, posted the responses on our website, and then we've also addressed the questions from this new administration, your offices, as well as the Department of Ecology, which is our partner in this effort.

So as Brian mentioned, there's a couple of key themes.

I did prepare some slides towards the end at your discretion if you'd want to work through them, but that's, again, talking about closely related projects and common plan development.

the question around flow control thresholds and changing those and then trees and stormwater management.

So the last slide here is about our schedule and we are at the finish line essentially after a couple of years of doing work at the city and then the following year with the Department of Ecology.

So as a part of our permit requirements we need to be have this adopted by and effective by July 1 to meet our regulatory permit.

So with that I'll take questions or if you'd want to go into more detail about a couple of the technical issues I've prepared slides.

Awesome.

Thank you, Kevin, for that.

I will pause here because I do see some hands.

We'll start with Vice Chair Juarez, followed by Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to just go back to the summary and fiscal note that you prepared, Brian.

So thank you.

I know it's like 13 pages and then we have a PowerPoint.

And in the summary and fiscal note, it does span six city departments besides SPU.

It's SDCI, SDOT, Seattle Parks and Rec, Seattle City Light, and FAS.

So I obviously have Seattle Parks and Seattle City Light in my committee.

So I kind of focused in on the stormwater code and the effects.

So I just had a few questions regarding, and I know that you guys have this in front of you as well, regarding page seven under Seattle Parks and Rec.

This is, and I actually have another question, but this is the one that I'm most concerned about.

Under Seattle Parks and Recreation, about future capital projects, you talk about as a result of the 2026 Stormwater Code update, Seattle Parks and Rec may see cost increases in a wide variety of project types.

You list many, but the one that caught my eye that I was a little concerned about as I was looking at this was the construction of new facilities.

So I'm wondering if the construction of new facilities includes or whether these projects are in jeopardy or the capital projects, such as some of our housing projects that are coming online.

and what effects, if any, are any of these costs offset or have can be backfilled, if you will.

If I'm using the wrong terminology, please correct me by the Metropolitan Park District money.

That's on page seven.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

I think maybe Kevin and Andrew can jump in also.

I don't have detailed information on parks, for instance, but I can say a couple things about it.

So when capital projects are planned, right, they work in all the different costs, including stormwater code.

Projects that are in the pipeline right now should be vested under the 2021 stormwater code update, which means those projects, there are deadlines and things when they have to start construction.

but those wouldn't have to be revamped in order to meet new requirements.

What would happen is projects going forward would need to incorporate the 20, comply with the 2026 stormwater code update.

So I don't have specifics, but they, parks is always just like other city departments and other, you know, constructors of projects have to comply with whatever code is in time when their project vests.

Kevin, did I get that close or?

So my focus is this basically, as you know, we have new community centers coming up at Green Lake and up here in Lake City Way and I'm guessing some other parks and capital projects are going to be coming up.

So if they're vested in so basically they're safe till after 2026, if they happen before 2026.

Yeah, if they're already in the permitting pipeline, I would expect that to be true.

It's also noteworthy that the SPR staff didn't identify these specific projects as being impacted by this legislation that's in front of you.

And then just one quick question on page nine again and on the Seattle City Light future operation and maintenance.

And I know that you listed this, Brian, but if you can just touch a little bit on it.

The last sentence again is ongoing costs are unknown and depend on the level of frequency of maintenance and wastewater treatment necessary.

Will we be getting an update when, if indeed those ongoing costs will be known?

I think we could certainly ask for it.

Both FAS and City Light, and I believe SPU itself, and parks even maybe, are impacted by this requirement that they collect and treat stormwater from buildings that are washed that have identified PCBs, I believe.

Better stated than I could have.

So I think we certainly could ask the departments to provide updates on either some frequency or during the budget process, we could ask them how much they're budgeting for these activities.

None of the departments in this legislation submitted their estimates of how frequently that occurs or how many buildings it's applicable to.

Hey, Bryn, I also want to thank you because I see you took a page out of my book on page 10 and 11 and you did a lovely chronology.

So thank you for that.

That is all on SPU staff.

Thank you.

I didn't do that.

Oh, that's SPU staff.

Means that somebody's been listening to me after 10 years.

Thank you.

I just need the dates and the facts and what y'all did and have it written down so the public can see it.

Link on it.

We can see it.

Go back into 2024. So that's what we're going to do right up until January, 2026. So thank you for that, SPU.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

We have, was it Council Member Kettle next and then Council Member Rivera?

Okay, Council Member Kettle, then Council Member Rivera.

Thank you for the briefing.

I was not at the previous committee meeting for this.

And with the Vice Chair going first, I want to thank you for your slide numbers for the briefings.

That's usually what the Vice Chair says, so I thought I'd just note that.

Starting on slide four, additional highlights, the first bullet.

Unfortunately, by the way, I used to be on the Regional Water Quality Committee, and I used to get monthly updates in these meetings from the staff, half of the team is behind you, and so I'm a little bit more removed now that I'm no longer doing that, and so things are more public safety for me.

So, for example, I know that we have a goal of reaching one 1,258 officers by the end of the year.

I know we had goals with the fire department, but I'm not as up to date on SPU in terms of your assets and your capacity to like removing toxics from busy streets through streets sweeping.

And I bring this up because before I became a council member, I was a stay at home dad and like clockwork, I live in Ontario, like clockwork every Thursday morning, the street sweep would come by.

Then the pandemic hit and all those things happened.

And now it's kind of hit and miss.

And so my question is, you know, because this is really important, you know, it's so important to your first bullet on here.

And what is the capacity to really accomplish this goal?

And, you know, how does it impact the neighborhoods throughout the city, you know, and your ability to do this?

And you can use my antidote.

It's actually more than an antidote.

You know, I see it.

in terms of the capacity to actually do the street sweeping.

Yeah, I'll take a good cut at this.

You may have seen a change in service during COVID where a lot of public agencies, municipal utilities were having challenges with workforce.

And so your street sweeping frequency may have changed because of our partner We partnered with SDOT to implement that program, so that might describe what you've observed.

Today, the market is going to increase demand for the kinds of sweepers that local jurisdictions want to buy, because this is one of the best tools to remove pollutants from our urban landscapes.

And ironically, we'll be competing with local jurisdictions, I would project in the next decade, for those same vehicles to be able to do more of this.

but our partnership with SDOT's been long going.

We're going to be building out more facilities, places where we can store material from the street sweeping, decant them and properly dispose of them to keep growing the program.

And I think we have proposed investment to add to that work plan through our six-year strategic business planning process.

So it's already on our notepads to do more of.

But collectively, I think I took a swing at this last time and I forgot to check with staff, but I think we do more sweeping than probably most of Western Washington combined.

Okay.

That's my benchmark.

It's the early Thursday morning.

And I hope we do that.

I understand the competition, because this is not, this is across the board.

In the back of my, you know, I was just thinking as you were saying, oh boy, you know, next thing you know Waymo's going to come out with a Waymo street sweeper because of these pieces.

It's really important too, though, in terms of the water piece, but as someone who lives in Ontario, I see the effects of the street, the tires primarily, on our house.

And we talk about this in terms of like, You know, the pollution along, you know, transit-oriented, you know, passageway, you know, arterials and so forth.

And it's a, you know, it's a very important topic.

And I recognize the challenges in terms of having the assets to carry it out.

But it is important, not just for like runoff and for the water, but also for the air and just what's happening, you know, and adjacent to our streets.

and I do think it's probably more the tires.

I live in a little bit more of an affluent neighborhood.

A lot of cars are, I mean, there's a million Teslas and other electronic EVs and so forth.

And so I look at this and I see this, but I'm still concerned based on these other factors and the mitigating action is the street sweep.

And I'm not seeing it to the way I saw it before.

And so I just encourage, you know, to whatever we can do to build that capacity.

It's really important.

Again, knowing that there are competition and, you know, everybody, you're not the only department facing that challenge.

The other question that I had is, it kind of goes to the, you know, the cycle.

Every five years, this process.

One thing I'm noting, like for example, we're making major changes with the comprehensive plan and so forth.

And it seems like we do the comprehensive plan and then the systems can catch up like this, like every five years.

I'm a little bit concerned because essentially we're doing a mid-cycle, major mid-cycle change to the COMP plan coming up.

And so it's, you know, I wonder if that's gonna make it harder to do these storm, for example, the storm water, you know, updates.

because of essentially a moving goalpost piece.

And I've gotten input from people, and as it relates to this briefing, somebody had reached out to me and says, these regulations help slow polluted runoff and reduce flooding and sewer overflows in vulnerable and underserved neighborhoods.

Now that Seattle allows over 95% of all lots in the neighborhood residential zone to be covered with hardscape, there is no room left for effective onsite stormwater mitigation like planter beds.

There's a lot, there's different pieces to that, but one of them is we are changing.

We just had a major com plan change that we just passed.

And what's gonna be the effects of that?

Is that gonna make your job harder, for example?

We don't necessarily know.

And a little bit of a concern I have is that now we're gonna go through another, which is not normal, another cycle essentially and that's gonna change things again and it's gonna make it hard.

I just say this in a more bigger picture piece and so can you speak to that point in terms of trying to catch up or stay a pace to all these changes that we're going through?

What I will say is that the code before you has been specifically designed with the comp plan update in mind.

And so we recognize that there are changing development patterns in the city, and we've tried to adjust the stormwater code to consider not impeding the growth that is desired in that, but obviously making sure that they're still mitigating for the stormwater impacts that they're creating.

This code is required to be updated for consistency with Ecology's Stormwater Manual every five years, but it doesn't prevent us from making sort of mid-cycle changes.

and so one of the issues that was brought up by the master builders was this idea of the drainage review threshold.

Currently it's 750 square feet and there is a desire to increase that to allow for additional ADUs and DADUs in the city.

So that is something that we are going to be looking at, right?

And so I know there is a desire to do over-the-counter permitting, for example, for ADUs, a single ADU.

And so that, again, we can do a mid-cycle evaluation of that and potentially propose a change to that in the mid-cycle.

We'd have to wait another five years to do that.

And so that is generally how we would approach this.

That being said, I mean, your general point is, you know, effective stormwater treatment relies on space a lot of times.

And so with increased densification, it does get more challenging for us to do effective stormwater management and mitigate impacts.

Parcel by parcel addressing of stormwater code requirements is not our only toolkit, though, right?

And so in some cases, we might want to do a regional approach to stormwater treatment, and this code allows for that.

And so in that situation, for example, in Aurora, we might not necessarily want to require stormwater treatment on every single parcel, but we could put in a situation where developers have the opportunity to contribute to a regional solution, that we purchase land, for example, to create that regional solution, and then each of the developments pay for that.

And so those are the kinds of things that we have flexibility to do within this code to make sure that we're taking into consideration the tightening of the land that's occurring through the new densification in the city.

Do you want to add anything to that?

Just maybe more background.

The rules from the state are intended to be adaptive.

In fact, the state permit's been challenged by our partners in the environmental community multiple rounds over the last 25 years.

And each time the State Pollution Control Hearings Board has said, we appreciate your input and concerns.

However, Ecology is going to continue to adaptively manage runoff from the changing hydrology and runoff from Western Washington over time.

And that's what their expectation is.

So as we talk as a team, it's with staff, and when we hear comments today from our kind colleagues in the room, it gives us opportunities to incorporate new ideas into the next update develop new studies that will help us figure out new ways of incorporating trees that don't yet have a framework to fit into the permit cycle and all kinds of other things.

But it is meant to be an adaptive management strategy as land use changes as well as our system outcomes and performance change too as well, as well as climate change and driving kind of our system performance.

and hopefully I've addressed your question.

It does.

You know, I'm actually happy I asked that question the way I did, because I like the answer.

Mr. Lee, I like your answer, talking to these different pieces, because it kind of goes to the concerns, and your answer, too, also goes to, you know, this evolving piece.

and it's important.

In effect, Mr. Lee, you almost created like with your Aurora example, you're talking about MHA for stormwater.

And so very interesting.

By the way, if we were to square MHA, that would do more for building and so forth than a lot of these changes that we're talking about.

We need to make some movement on that.

Chair, I just want to close on one last thing is on slide nine.

Trees as stormwater management.

I just want to foot stomp that.

Love the trees.

And can I say, because this is what I say all the time, what makes Seattle unique, different from all the other cities in the country where we have like Sim City, you know, oh we need, everything's kind of bland and it's kind of repetitive.

Seattle is unique for many ways, our geography and so forth, a lot of local businesses, but I always say two things.

One is our native community, the pieces, and we've seen this on the waterfront, we're gonna see it with Elliott Bay Connections and we're trying to do it with Portal Park and Belltown and bringing those aspects in, very unique compared to other parts of the country.

and evergreen trees.

And so I just want to foot stomp trees at Stormwater Management and say we need to maintain our heritage because that's what makes Seattle's our evergreen trees.

I understand that some diversification, but we really need those evergreen trees.

So thank you, Chair, for that opportunity.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Cattle and Councilmember Rivera.

And just so you all know, there is a agenda item number six, but we are going to push that to our June meeting, because I think this warrants a large conversation and making sure people are comfortable and understand what's going on.

So I know we always have a loaded agenda because we meet once a month, So just if there's no objection, we're gonna move the, I don't even know if I need to say if there's no objection, but if no one has any issues, item number six is going to be moved to our next committee meeting, June 11th.

And that is about AI was a slide.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

and she brought it and so it's a response to some AI information.

So that will be moved to June 11th, June 12th.

June 12th?

11th, June 11th.

Okay, awesome.

So we're going to say on that this is our last agenda item for today.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair, and I'll be brief because I know we're running out of time, but I will say and will acknowledge that post the last committee meeting we had in response to some folks that came from public comment.

I did reach, or I had requested from the days that I'd love a briefing on how the department responded to that public comment.

I did get that briefing from the department.

And I also see that behind the, after slide 10, there is, although they're not numbered, a number of slides that, slides that talk about the department's response to the public commenters, including I was happy to see information about trees and the acknowledgement of the importance of trees in stormwater and managing stormwater.

And we had a lot of conversation about that, General Manager Lee and his staff.

I mean and you know in the context of the comp plan I was very appreciative that some of my colleagues did support and it did pass an amendment related to trees that is an important one and so we do it signals our mine and some other of my colleagues strong support for trees across the city and I appreciated all that you presented in terms of the acknowledgement of the importance in trees and then what SPU does including your tree program.

So appreciate all of that.

I only had one question about something a public commenter raised in terms of performance metrics on this work and if you could talk a little bit about that because it's not something that I acknowledge we didn't talk about really and I'm not sure how that is incorporated into the plans.

I heard the question, but I think there'd need to be additional conversation with the audience to talk about exactly what they mean by performance.

Well, I'm taking it to mean as we're doing this, and I could be wrong, but I'm going to say my question related to performance metrics, because I always think it's important to know how well we're doing is what is the department doing?

You may already be doing this.

I just, it hasn't come up in the context of this conversation is how do you track how we're doing, how well we're doing on stormwater impacts, you know, mitigating for in the city?

And is there a way, you know, do you have performance metrics that you use in evaluating that?

How do you evaluate how well we're doing in order to determine what more we need to do?

Yeah, I would say the two primary metrics we look at are one related to stormwater alone and the other one related to combined sewer overflows.

The combined sewer overflow piece is a little bit simpler.

It's the performance metric is no more than one overflow per site per year.

We've got I want to say 83. It might be 82 combined sewer overflows at this point in our city.

and roughly about two-thirds of those are completely controlled.

So they're down to the one overflow per site per year.

The remainder are still overflowing in excess of that.

The Ship Canal Water Quality Project that we've talked about will control our, I want to say our six most egregious overflowing sites, and that will be by the end of 2027. And so, and those sites, just to give a number, those sites are overflowing up to 50 times per year.

and we're gonna reduce it down to one.

And so it's a huge, huge performance gain.

The remainder of our sites overflow, I'm gonna say max 10 times per year or less.

And so we will have a significant reduction just by that one overflow or that one project.

With respect to the stormwater side of things, the way we generally measure it is number of kind of acreage in the city that's going through some sort of stormwater treatment.

and it's either treatment that it might be installed for the stormwater code, but it's also treatment that we've proactively installed at end-of-pipe treatment, for example, for roadways or other sort of structures.

And I don't have it off the top of my head what percentage of the city is managed through that.

We do have some metrics, like how many billions of gallons are we managing through green infrastructure, and just last year.

we had a benchmark of managing more than 700 million gallons through green infrastructure.

So we're making significant headway on this.

And I could give, again, follow up with a little bit more of an idea, but we definitely track performance overall.

Yeah.

Thank you, General Manager.

And I'd love to get a briefing and get more information about this, because I know this is something that we all very much care about in the public as well.

And I think that's important.

And I know that, for instance, at South Lake or North Lake Union, we were under a consent decree and there was some work there that was being done because of a sewer overflow into the lake, I believe.

And so are we, you just described something that is a little, gives me some pause.

I understand you're managing for that, so I'd love to hear more about that and whether we can expect to be under a consent decree for any of these other sites.

or whether we already are and how we're managing for that.

Yeah, we already are under consent decree.

And so that's why we're finishing some of these projects.

The one consent decree is for all the sites, not per site.

Thank you for clarifying.

Okay.

What I will just add is Kevin made a point of this earlier that the stormwater code is just one tool that we have to manage water quality and Puget Sound and our lakes and Lake Washington, et cetera.

We've got, again, a, you know, I'm going to say roughly a billion dollar combined sewer overflow program that is, you know, part and parcel of improving water quality.

We have a green stormwater infrastructure program as well.

We've got our codes.

We have programs like street sweeping, et cetera.

And so all of it is working together in addition to the code, right?

And so it's not our only tool.

Thank you.

And the bioswells and some of the other things, and I'll say there's a business in the district that's put some bioswells in, and you and I were together at an event, and I appreciate that and more of that, please, if we can partner with our businesses and developers to do more of that, that'd be really great as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

We'll follow up on the other.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

I do want to thank So first off, this code is very complex.

Let me just lead with that.

And I definitely wanna thank the people that came to public comment today as well, and the folks that also have sent in their online comments and folks that have said, hey, can you look at this and just had different requests and we're trying to balance all of that and also too with understanding coming up against a certain deadline and implementation process and just trying to manage everything.

And so I've learned a lot and just really appreciate that.

I know I have two amendments.

One, as Mr. Ganyte talked about, the first one was a technical change at the request of Seattle Public Utilities.

And the second one is adding some recitals to the bill regarding exploring the role of trees and consideration of best available science in future stormwater code updates as well.

6PPQ, I don't even know what, what is that?

Tire dust.

Pardon me?

It's the byproduct of tire wear.

Tire wear, thank you.

All right, we need to put that in there, because I was like, what is that?

You said tire, I know it was tire, but I didn't, thank you.

Okay, awesome.

But so I know that we had added those and some people had...

requested, is it strong enough, is it not?

I know there's a middle ground here, but I do feel comfortable moving forward and continuing conversations with folks to see if there's additional information, recitals that we can add as well.

And so, because I know that I've received some feedback today as well, obviously with public comment and then some people that have emailed some questions.

So we'll work with SPU on that just to make sure that there's an understanding, people know what's going on and see if we can find some solutions around that.

And I know that you all have been amenable to that as well.

So I will just check with my colleagues if they feel comfortable voting this and then us continuing to work on this before it goes to full council.

I'm looking left, right, yes.

Councilmember Rivera, go ahead.

Thank you.

Yes, Chair, I appreciate that.

What I'm hearing you say is there's, as there have been some comments that have we've heard from today, not just in chambers, but in writing, passing this out of committee if we need to make changes as we bring it to full council is what I'm understanding you to say.

Am I correct?

Yeah, well, that was correct.

That is my intent.

to, yes, to, I know we like to do the work in the committee, but I also know that there is a certain deadline to implement these as well.

And so I want to be respectful of that, but I also want to feel very comfortable where I'm at in supporting this and making sure the public knows my position as well.

And, you know, that's where I'm at.

Agreed.

Council President, I do, I was negligent in not acknowledging and thanking General Maner General Manager Lee and SPU for giving me that briefing and really addressing the public comments that we heard last time and in general, some of the things that have come up and some of the changes that they made in response to that.

So thank you for doing that.

And yes.

Okay, awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So we're gonna have to move these.

I'm gonna have to move the bill first and then I'm gonna have to move the amendments as well.

So I'm gonna move that committee recommends a passage account.

So Bill 121190, is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and second.

Second.

Oh, thank you.

That was very loud.

Move and second as the bill presented amendment number, wait.

Yes, it's been moved to amend.

It's been moved in second, excuse me, it's been moved in second to recommend passage of the bill.

I'm now gonna move to amend the bill as presented on amendment one.

Is there a second?

Second.

Austin, it's been moved in second to amend the bill as presented on amendment one.

Central staff, can you please provide an over, you already talked about it, but can you just quickly just Tell us again what it is.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Chair.

So this bill is just, or sorry, this amendment, amendment number one, is just technical corrections that were identified by SPU.

So it's just underlining some code, some new code that wasn't underlined in the bill, fixing some errant punctuation, removing a superscript that was in there inadvertently, and adding a serial comma.

Okay, awesome.

Are there any questions about amendment number one?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of amendment number one.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Vice Chair Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Motion carries.

Amendment number one is adopted.

We're now going to consider amendment number two, and I'm going to move to amend the bill as presented on amendment number two.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and second to amend the bill as presented on amendment number two.

Brian, good night.

Would you give us a quick overview?

Thank you.

Absolutely, Chair.

So this amendment is the one that adds three new recitals to the bill.

Recital four, renumbering the rest of the recitals, and then adding two at the end, recitals 13 and 14. The first highlights the city's advocacy to prohibit this chemical and other harmful chemicals in the sale of tires.

The second states the continued collaboration with researchers on the role of trees and stormwater management.

And then the third details consideration of the best available science, successful techniques from other jurisdictions, and climate resilience in future stormwater code updates.

Awesome, and thank you for that.

And I know that we had a lot of, we have a lot of people had sent in comments regarding us trying to figure out a good solution here.

So would also pause here to see if any council members have any questions.

Council member Rivera?

Just a comment and a note of gratitude to you, Chair, for including these recitals in this bill.

really, to me, it feels like just a doubling down of what we've been doing, which is advocacy at the state level, and then acknowledging in recital number 13 in particular, appreciate, including the note about the trees and the continuation of the work on both exploring the role and also how we can do more on trees in order to support this particular stormwater management function.

It's not the only benefit to the trees.

And I know that we do many things, but that is really important, as you know, to my constituency and to me.

So I appreciate you adding it in there as a continued- Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

We're gonna look at it.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Are there any other comments regarding amendment number two?

No.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Vice Chair Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Four in favor and not opposed.

Did you count Vice Chair Juarez?

Yes.

Okay.

Awesome.

Motion carries.

The amendment number two is adopted.

Okay.

So before we vote on the bill, just a clarification.

So there are some other, oh, Council Member Kettle.

Did you want to?

On the final bill?

Yeah.

Yes, Chair, thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you for this.

And to your point, it is complex, but it's also very interesting.

And to be frank, this is local government 101. I mentioned some city earlier.

Some cities get it right, some don't.

And we need to do better, and I think we are doing better.

And it's interesting because the work that's done here is so important.

We were talking about South Park earlier, but it's not just South Park.

I was talking about my own neighborhood.

The work that we do here in this committee and this topic area within the mission of SPU is fundamental, and so thank you for the work on this bill.

To include our central staff, Mr. Goodnight, our backstop for us, much like Mr. Hennessey's a backstop for a lot of issues, so central staff's work here is super important too.

I just wanted to note that this is local government 101, this is really important, and this really can make a difference in people's lives over term.

And people won't necessarily know That's the other thing about it.

So it's really too important to acknowledge it right now.

So thank you, Chair.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Cattle.

Councilmember Rivera.

I just, a special note of thank you again to the Department, General Manager Lee and his staff, but also to you, Chair, for your leadership of this work and for listening to community and making sure your attempt to put those recitals in to make sure we're listening to community is really important to me.

And I really thank you for that leadership.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

And thank you to the department as well for your engagement.

And I will say just so you all know that this bill gets referred to the May 19th City Council meeting, but I wanna make sure I feel comfortable with it.

I know there were some comments today.

We've got some emails.

So I wanna see if there's something more that can be done before the 19th and just feel comfortable with that.

There is a meeting that is canceled on Tuesday, the 26th, which is, is it the 26th?

We're not having a council meeting on the 26th?

Yes.

Correct, the 26th, thank you.

The 26th, so our next council meeting is June 2nd.

Just so everyone knows, I had asked the department to see is there some leeway of extending that to the 2nd to figure out some other additional work that we can do.

So just so we know, so it could be the 19th or it could be the June 2nd as well.

But I think that we can get there for full council with some other additional stuff.

So we'd like to work with the people in the audience that came today and the folks that sent emails as well to get to a place of You know, feeling decent.

As you said, Kevin, when everyone's mad at you, you must be doing something right.

I don't know because that's not where I'm at in my life.

I just want to let you know.

When everyone's mad at you, maybe you're doing something wrong.

So anyways, I'm just fine.

I'm just fine, but it's a nice way to look at it.

Okay.

Okay.

Honestly.

Um, okay.

So, uh, we're going to vote on this.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the bill as amended.

Council member Kettle.

Aye.

Vice chair, Juarez.

Aye.

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

bill passes out of committee and it will be sent to either the May 19th or the June 2nd City Council meeting.

So, thank you all.

Thank you General, thank you for your reappointment.

Congratulations.

We're looking forward to that getting sent to full council.

We will not hold that.

And then Kevin, thank you for all your work on this as well.

We know it's a lot and just really appreciate your time and energy to this and expertise.

And then Mr. Goodnight, thank you as well for your analyzing everything as well.

So thank you.

And I'll give Bob a shout out just because he's Bob.

Thank you, Bob Hennessy.

Bob!

I do want to state he did go to Seattle Prep, so he does have something I like about him.

Okay, so with that, colleagues, thank you for staying over time with us.

I really appreciate all your work on this process, and this brings us to the end of our May 14th Governance and Utilities meeting.

Thank you, everyone, and the committee colleagues for all your work today.

Before we adjourn, Wait, oh, I wanted to share a quick update earlier this month.

I know I circulated a letter to full council regarding King County's proposed sewer water rate increases to two point or two point, I wish it was two point, but 12.75 in 2027. I want to thank SPU, your leadership and your partnership in helping us craft that letter.

The entire council signed it and including the mayor at the May regional water quality committee meeting.

We discussed the letter and proposed rate package.

So thank you, council member Lynn for being there to discuss that.

We must, obviously we have to do better, be better for King County and Seattle residents alike to help keep Seattle affordability at, you know, not blown out of the quote unquote water.

And so really appreciate that.

Seattle Public Utilities and engaging with King County on such a thoughtful process and also thinking about the future and planning and locking in systems that will make sure that we're keeping our water rates at a reasonable level because as people know those rates impact and Seattle Public Utility ratepayers.

And then everyone blames SPU, not understanding the entire system.

So I just wanted to state that.

Thank you all for your partnership on that as well.

So thank you.

This concludes our May 14th meeting of the Governance and Utilities Committee.

Our next meeting is going to be June 11th at 9.30 a.m.

Thank you.