2027-2028: Final Department Presentations from CED, Finance, HR, and Legislative Branch

During the November 2 Committee of the Whole, we continued department budget proposals beginning with the second half of the Community & Economic Development (CED) Department, along with presentations from Finance, Human Resources & Risk Management departments, and the Legislative Branch.

CED led by highlighting the success of Legacy Square, which recently received a Pacific Northwest Summit Award, and presented funding requests for preliminary design work on the planned Festival Street project and improvements to the city-owned 99 Burnett property to strengthen downtown connectivity and public spaces.

Discussion focused on multimodal transportation, downtown activation, permitting technology, and code enforcement.

The final portion of the proposals focused on the Finance Department, Human Resources & Risk Management Department, and the Legislative Branch.

The Finance Department is seeking continued funding for a limited-term senior finance analyst supporting the city's ERP implementation and a new accounting assistant position to support the return of solid waste billing to city management.

Human Resources requested no additional staffing beyond internal organizational adjustments.

Finally, the Legislative Branch proposed an additional position, a full-time administrative secretary, and an increase to their travel and training budget.

The meeting concluded with a review of the budget adoption schedule, with utility and solid waste rate ordinances moving forward immediately and final budget actions scheduled in the next few weeks.