Several items were approved at the Lynnwood City Council’s July 22 business meeting, including one new employee position. During the council’s July 15 work session, Lynnwood Municipal Court Judge Valerie Bouffiou requested one full-time employee to process an increasing number of photo-enforced tickets because the current staffing was not adequate to handle the workload. The council unanimously passed the request, which was one of several votes that did not require much deliberation. The position, legal specialist II, will pay $60,000-$76,000 annually, excluding benefits.

Most of the evening’s conversation focused on how the council intended to disperse the city’s remaining $137,312 of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Prior to Monday’s meeting, the city had three funding requests, totaling $187,300:

1. Finance Director Michelle Meyer requested $87,000 to extend the term of the part-time accountant currently managing the funds, saying that the work was heavily specialized and required specific legal knowledge that other finance department staff did not have.
2. The Lynnwood Police Department asked for $50,000 for 10 tasers to be distributed to new officers, which were also funded by the ARPA allocation. Previously, Meyer told the council that the department actually needed more equipment than it asked for, but this request was specifically designed to fit the remaining ARPA budget. Receiving this allocation would ease financial pressure for the department, which is seeking to fill other equipment needs.
3. In response to the July 3 Alderwood Mall shooting that killed 13-year old Jayda Woods-Johnson, councilmembers reconsidered ways to use ARPA funds to confront youth violence and gang activity in Lynnwood. In a follow-up work session, councilmembers heard about work that the ACCESS Project – founded by community leader Wally Webster II – has been doing since it received its initial $75,000 allotment. Webster asked for an additional $50,000 to continue spreading the youth engagement initiatives the nonprofit has undertaken to connect with and help at-risk youth.

Council President George Hurst was the first to make a motion, stating that the council begin by allocating $50,000 to the ACCESS Project.

Councilmember Josh Binda moved to amend the motion, proposing to allocate $40,000 to the ACCESS Project while giving $10,000 to other community organizations with a focus on youth engagement, such as Project Girl Mentoring Program. Binda’s motion to amend did not receive a second and did not move forward. Councilmember Derica Escamilla asked for and received additional information about previous ARPA allocations and requests. While no councilmembers objected to providing the ACCESS Project with funding, they had differing ideas about how to divvy up the funds.

Councilmember David Parshall moved to amend the motion to allocate $50,000 to the ACCESS Project, $50,000 to the Lynnwood Police Department and the remainder – $37,312 – to fund the ARPA accountant. After some conversation about whether Parshall’s amendment was technically valid, councilmembers voted 4-3 to approve the amendment. Those in favor were Parshall, Hurst, Councilmember Nick Coelho and Council Vice President Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, while Escamilla, Councilmember Patrick Decker and Binda voted against.

After a series of votes, councilmembers voted 6-0–1 to pass the amended motion, with Binda abstaining.

In other business, the council:

• Unanimously passed a motion to update the city staff sick leave policy that will realign the Lynnwood Municipal Code with state law.
• Unanimously passed a motion to amend the Lynnwood Municipal Code to allow racquet sports and playgrounds in additional commercial zones. While there was little conversation about the motion itself, Hurst asked that staff return to the council with information about why housing was not permitted on the Highway 99 corridor.
• Held an executive session pertaining to potential litigation, which was closed to the public.

–By Jasmine Contreras-Lewis