Some bits of business…

About the cover

Apparently, when you hire a strategic planner, you get dinner and a show. One of the three facilitators’ job was white-boarding raised to the level of collectible pop art. My preview of the meeting (below) is somewhat mixed, but her ‘lists’ and drawings were really something.

Highline Journal

I want to give a periodic shout out to the Highline Journal, the other digital news source for the area. Their coverage of last week’s 33rd Town Hall was exceptional.

Earthquake Preparedness

Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the Nisqually Earthquake. Where were you when this happened?

Moi? I was running out into a Burien street with a small child like complete eejits, of course! 😀 There was a 2-3 second warm up. Then a period where the world looked and felt like a belt sander. It got so intense, we stumbled and couldn’t move. And then… it simply stopped. No slowing down. Someone flipped a switch on the cosmic belt sander. Ya know how they say “time slows down” during an accident? My memory says it was several minutes of me yelling at our dogs, “GET THE F… OFF THE PORCH YOU STUPID M…F..! Which is my pet love language. 🙂 But apparently it was less than 60 seconds. And in case you’re concerned, it was so loud they couldn’t have possibly heard me to be ‘traumatised’. 😀

There were no aftershocks. So, when we realised we weren’t going to die that day, we started giggling and happily walked down to Seahurst Park for our afternoon constitutional. And… Opaleta! Several beautiful split-level houses on the hillside had simply… well… split. 😀 The top halves having collapsed onto their bottoms.

In the aftermath, there were efforts at rebuilding better. Retrofit grants. You could even take home classes (for free!) on how to do them.

But with the passage of time, I’m struck by how few homes actually got upgraded. And even more, how many people have still not signed up for Code Alert and ShakeAlert. Which you should do right now! Because relentless nagging is my other love language. 🙂

Although the Nisqually ‘wave’ seemed to be very selective in what it damaged, we have a lot of very similar structures here along some very nice hillsides. Hint, hint.

That’s the problem. Memories are short. Even something that devastating? If it didn’t happen in your neighbourhood, it’s easy to ignore.

In short, for realz earthquakes do happen here and the Nisqually event was expected. And there’s an even bigger one predicted for the next few decades.

I don’t want to oversell this. The best warning you can expect is 30 seconds. But it’s still worth doing because 30 seconds is the difference between getting out of the garage in yer very nice split level… or not.

Code Alert, ShakeAlert.

Highline Mast Live Stream

The underwater camera at the MAST in Redondo is back online. It’s not exactly the most riveting show, but they say it will be moving soon closer to where divers usually hang out. So perhaps that will have more EXTRATERRESTRIAL SIXGILL SHARKS! (from Maury Island, no doubt). Until then, if yer one of those people who put on “sounds of the shore” to fall asleep? This works. 🙂

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports! February 27, 2026

This Week

Not much other than, yet another five hours of City Council Meetings! This one gets the Action Packed Seal of Approval! A perfect opportunity to call me (206) 878-0578 and let me know every little thing on your mind… well… Des Moines-wise. 😀

Thursday

Committee of the Whole/Study Session

March 05, 2026 City Council Study Session Agenda Packet

The COW

Surface Water Management Tree Preservation Program Update (25 min)

Depending on your level of cynicism you can view this in two ways.

• On the one hand, it is a forward-thinking move to create a real long term plan for managing our tree canopy and watershed.
• On the other hand, it is also a tax increase, pure and simple. Because our General Fund sucks so hard, we’re doing everything possible to shift costs that, in previous eras, would have been ‘GF’, into fee-for-service revenue sources (utilities). Does this thrill me? Absolutely not. And as much as my colleagues have talked up the ‘regressive’ nature of utility taxes, we keep leaning into them.

Draft 2027–2046 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) (25 min)

We’ll talk about adding a ‘last mile option’ for the southern half of the City, something I strongly favour. However, the packet indicates that the City looked at Redondo — where potential ridership is super-low and that data should also have been the essential part of the discussion. The east west connectivity we need is more like 240th, 260th, where people who actually use transit, especially workers and potential visitors to downtown, currently are. That said, there is a system called MetroFlex, which offers on-call service that I am a big fan of, and which would be very helpful for Redondo. But the next spot we obtain east/west funding for should be where we will offer the most opportunities to connect people both to Light Rail and to the downtown.

City Council Study Session (6:00 – 10:00 PM)

Proclamation Recognizing March 7, 2026 as a Day to Remember Master Police Officer Steven J. Underwood (5 min)

Local Road Safety Plan Update (25 min)
I’m being a bit flip, but at bottom, this is the speed cam discussion, something I’ve been going on about for a couple of years. The item also has a lot of very good info on pedestrian safety which, if you walk as much as I do, know is a big problem. You take your life in hand on many of our roads and I very much appreciate this update–which has been needed for a while.

Back when the City did that thing to create a (cough) ‘park’ at Redondo in order to install speed cams, I noted that the law also allowed for three other placements based on a safety study. Do I enjoy speed cameras? Not so much–especially red light cams. But (see above), more and more we need fee-for-service to cover our costs. Wait, I did not say that. It’s all about safety. 🙂 Actually, in the right place, the speed cams are useful.

Apparently, a few states are working on pilot Automated Crosswalk-Cams. When the tech gets fully baked, I want that!

Amenity Rentals Discussion (40 min)

Appointive Committee Code & Citizens Advisory Board Code Update (30 min)

Like a lot of things in our Municipal Code, the language concerning ‘committees’ has been out of whack for a very long time. We totally rejiggered our Citizen committees last year with the Citizens Advisory Board, and as the packet says, there are some ‘ambiguities’. My first read is that this is all common sense. But there are a suprising number of teeny, tiny redlines, which tells me I need to re-read vewwwy carefuwwy, as Elmer Fudd might say. 😀

Last Week

Monday

Police not-ride-along with GPS Monica. I’ve been wanting to get a sense of some of the work our dedicated ‘Getting People Services’ officer does. You can’t really do a traditional ‘ride-along’ for this but I’ve been a big supporter of Behavioural Health in public safety since forever. The concept gained traction after George Floyd, but the interesting thing is that there are so many different types of programs. When I became aware of the concept, it was called ‘mental health co-responders’. Many cities do operate in teams (or even units of three) in purpose-built vehicles.  But GPS Monica often works on her own. It also took our City a couple of tries to find the right person. We still don’t have ongoing funding, although I am certain that there is no going back. Thankfully, the concept of having behavioural health professionals on staff is now the proper standard of service.

When I first ran for office, a certain number of residents told me, very directly, that the solution to people on the street, was “a one-way bus ticket to…” 😀 Or some form of compulsion. You can certainly try. But regardless, if you’ve ever had a friend with an addiction or serious mental health problems, it often takes 2, 5, 10, 20 tries, over a very long period, to turn things around. Ultimately, someone has to be available, with the right services at the right time.

It takes a special kind of person to meet people where they’re at and recognise that this is a long game.

Tuesday

Port of Seattle Commission (agenda) The non-airport item of interest is Order 2026-03 which re-states their longstanding de facto policy: they do not intend to use any of their property for civil immigration enforcement, eg. ICE. This means the Des Moines Creek Business Park. The airport is required to provide a limited facility for the purposes of deportation (flights), but their other properties cannot be compelled to do anything. And they have no intention of leasing properties to ICE.

UWDEOHS/Governor’s Council in Tumwater. Dr. Elena Austin, who is supervising our upcoming Air Quality Monitoring Station, will be presenting on aviation fuel pollution.

Wednesday

10am – 2pm Commercial Aviation Work Group (CAWG). This is the ‘second airport committee’. This one was in SeaTac and I was glad to see a couple of people from our Airport Committee. 🙂 People who are not airport specialists (OK, even people who are airport specialists 😀 ) find them tedious. But the reason we tend to do so poorly with the airport, is that we don’t know how airports really work.

For example, I saw a couple of reporters there, furiously scribbling away and this was their story…

Aviation group raises possibility of high-speed rail link to SEA Airport | king5.com

Hoo boy. In a four hour meeting, the group spent maybe two minutes on ‘high speed rail’. I feel confident betting that a high speed rail will not be built within 100 miles of Sea-Tac in my lifetime. (And if you can collect after I’m dead, well done to you.) It makes for a very nice story. And it’s just enough of a distraction to get people away from doing something useful for us now.

Thursday/Friday

February 26 and February 27, 2026 Strategic Plan Workshop (below)

February 26, 27 Strategic Plan Workshop spoilers…

Video/audio not available yet. When available I encourage people to watch/listen carefully, because in the moment it felt as though City Manager Caffrey was putting her thumb distinctly on the scale as to what she thinks the City’s top priority is for the next 3-5 years. Spoiler alert: it isn’t developing a healthy balance sheet, which is my #1. And #2 and 3 don’t count. But you may love it. 🙂

The first day was about something called ‘governance’. I would call it more like marriage counseling. 😀 The second day was labeled ‘strategic planning’ but was actually goal setting. Valuable, but not the same thing.

It seems like nitpicking, but some of my colleagues really focus on language: using the text, the agenda, to drive the meeting. We’ve spent entire meetings ‘wordsmithing’ things like our Mission Statement.

Fair enough. Language does matter. For example, every word of the US Constitution really matters. I don’t mean that in a chest thumping way. If you want some real inspiration about how great the USA can be? Read a few pages from the Federalist Papers. They argued over almost every sentence for years. And you can actually read that argument as it’s happening. They took the job, and each other, very seriously.

At the local level, said it before, say it again, a major reason the Port of Seattle is now so successful is that they started acting more like what they really are: a business. Like any serious business, their mission statement (The Century Agenda) is well-crafted, has measurable goals, and they use it as an active filter, meaning this: if you were nosy enough to look at their internal emails, everyone is required to specify how policy (x) hits target (y) on the Century Agenda. Mind blowing! A for realz plan!

Get it? Their ‘plan’ actually guides policy. I don’t want to oversell it, but you can’t propose (oh, I dunno ‘Steps’ or a ‘ferry’ 😀 ) and make up any rationalisation you want for doing it. You have to have numbers to make your case. Their plan actually creates accountability. They do regular check-ins to see if they’re hitting their targets.

Frankly, we don’t do either of those kinds of serious wordsmithing. But to be fair, almost no city does. It’s mostly one form or another of motivational-speak blather.

But it doesn’t have to be.  For me, a for realz strategic plan would include language saying that we will leave the City in financially better shape than today–and here is our strategy for doing it with measurable goals. We’ll check in periodically and if we aren’t hitting those marks? We are required to change course based on facts. It should be that non-negotiable.

That did not seem to be the consensus. But I will leave you with some slides that stuck out to me.

That is who we really are now. We’re much younger, more diverse and economically challenged than when I moved here. But if you looked at the survey, the one with close to 1,000 respondents, or the town hall, or the composition of almost everyone in civic life? Let’s just say those demographics do not match up. At all.

Here are some other slides as to who we really are:

What I’m driving at is that you can either govern based on the few people who engage in civic life, you can try to govern based on all the people who are here now we never hear from, or you can try to govern for the people who will be here ten years from now.

I think more about the future than anything else because the timeline to ‘transform’ is measured in decades. The Marina Steps and Redondo Fishing Pier are only being done ‘fast’ (meaning 7-9 years) because we owned the property, we worked for years to get a credit card (which we promptly maxed out), and those projects were not constrained by what developers actually want to build.

Projects like The Des Moines Theater (which has taken eleven years to fully come on-line) are more typical. And even that required a lot of City help. As  happy as I am to see the place open, it is unlikely we will ever any financial return on that.

Looking at the state of the world right now, do you have any idea where things will be in eleven years? Me neither. Frankly, I marvel at the confidence previous electeds have had that they could choose wisely so far in advance. I try to focus on providing good basic services, but I’d prefer to leave the future people the resources to choose for themselves. (The Gift Card theory of government. 😀 )

Earlier, I went on a bit on transportation funding to get to this point. Over the years, there have been any number of opportunities the City has had to do projects that were very cool which you don’t know about. Or you’ll hear rumours, many of which are not true. And that is because they were/are discussed briefly in Executive Sessions, which never go anywhere, because there’s never any money to do them. It’s absolutely maddening to not be able to talk about all these ‘roads not taken’.

Reserves are freedom. Having money you don’t spend gives people down the road more and better options than we have today. Patience is the best gift we can give to residents. That is not anti-growth. It is exactly the opposite. It is the ability to do the really cool thing rather than wasting money just to do something.

I want a future Council to see a great opportunity in one of those Executive Sessions and be able to say ‘Yes!’ rather than return to the dais and sigh.

And if your reply is, “Why not both?”, that is exactly the reason we never achieved our (cough) ‘potential’.

Some bits of business…

About the cover

This image is the second word cloud from the Strategic Plan Survey. This is “what’s the first thing you think of when you think of Des Moines?” kind of deal. Tune in Thursday and Friday to see how we put that survey into action.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports! February 20, 2026

This Week

Monday

Police not-ride-along with GPS Monica. I’ve been wanting to get a sense of some of the work our dedicated ‘Getting People Services’ officer does. You can’t really do a traditional ‘ride-along’ for this but I’ve been a big supporter of Behavioural Health in public safety and this is a chance to learn more.

Tuesday

Port of Seattle Commission (agenda)

UWDEOHS/Governor’s Council in Tumwater. Dr. Elena Austin, who is supervising our upcoming Air Quality Monitoring Station, will be presenting on aviation fuel pollution.

Wednesday

10am – 2pm CAWG: This is the ‘second airport committee’. They’re meeting in SeaTac so if you have time, come speak on behalf of airport communities. 🙂 People who are not airport specialists (OK, even people who are airport specialists 😀 ) find them tedious. But the reason we tend to do so poorly with the airport, is that we don’t know how aiports really work.

I got puzzled/angry looks for not wanting to renew our lobbyist’s contract just for this year and this is the reason why. In this year of the SAMP, it would have been faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar better for Des Moines to have someone who attends every Port and CAWG and essentially and ‘airporty’ meeting and develop some sense of ‘strategy’ because for WA, airports, and specifically our airport, are the economy. Truly, they drive everything.

Thursday/Friday

February 26 and February 27, 2026 Strategic Plan Workshop

• Thursday: 5:30 – 8:00pm
• Friday: 9:00am – 3:00pm

8.5 hours with our City Council,  takeaway food, and no drinks? What could possibly go wrong. 😀 I kid because I love. I would note that the previous Council never sat for a group photo, so perhaps these group events evoke progress.

The majority of this event was pre-selected by the Staff. The first day is apparently the Mayor’s idea. The objectives are chosen by Staff. The Values are chosen by Staff. Day two focuses on 5-6 Strategic Focus Areas. But even those are pre-selected by the Staff.

One could wish that they were simply called ‘goals’ and avoid the word ‘strategy’ altogether. This meeting should really be called ‘goal setting’, which I thought we did at our last ‘Mission/Values/Whatever’ things.

The frustrating thing is that these meetings should include hard data. We’re past the vague stuff. The public gave us their survey, great. But the public  wants the same things it has always wanted since I’ve lived here. That’s not being cynical. The essential value proposition of Des Moines is still the same. But the public has no idea what is reasonable to expect. And neither does the City Council.

We gather a bunch of data. But we present it at separate meetings so it never becomes part of something one can do anything with strategically. I object to paying people a ton of money to do another not serious exercise when the City’s future really is at stake.

For example, survey respondents say that ‘Budget’ and ‘Small Town’ are their highest priorities. But at the same time, also want to avoid larger businesses in favour of local business–despite knowing they provide less revenue. If that is what people want, fine. But that also means higher taxes and we should be clear about that.

People grouse endlessly about the gaps in the downtown. Me too. They want more amenities. Me too. But: how many restaurants can Des Moines support atm? We currently have three restaurants downtown one might call fine dining. A family restaurant. Four coffee shops. How many such places can thrive unless we start actively encouraging (wait for it) more traffic–which is something a majority of respondents said they do not want.

Here’s the thing: if you really want a sustainable budget, you’d know what the revenue potential of (a,b,c,d,e) are and then choose based on those. 

That’s for realz planning. Think of any strategy game. You put all the variables, specific numbers and goals, out on a table, make your choices, and then let the team run the play. That’s not what this is.

It’s the airport, stupid

It is disappointing to me that the airport is nowhere in there, when in fact, it’s the 9,000lb gorilla in every room. Some think me ‘obsessed’ by it. But it drives everything here. You just don’t notice it. Like the airplane noise. It sets the ceiling on what will ever be possible here.

People tend to forget a couple of things about COVID in Des Moines:

• It was genuinely quiet. People noticed.
• The City’s budget was literally the best since I’ve lived here.

So, in a very real sense, if you lived here, were not in school, did not get sick, and were not anxious about the million or so people who died, it was fantastic.

In fact, services and staff counts were never better. Sales tax was also never better. Get it? That was the financial high point.

But that ARPA funding was not used for long term stuff. It was used to provide service levels (eg. police) that the public assumes we can always provide.

What people would have noticed if we weren’t so distracted by, you know, a once in a century pandemic, was that the financial challenges we’re having now were already in place before COVID hit. They weren’t caused by COVID, they were delayed and masked by all that juicy ARPA money.

The airport (and the noise) roared back to record levels within a few months of the end of the state of emergency, but our budget did not. Instead, we borrowed $25,000,000 at exactly the wrong time–because we were still on the sugar high of ARPA.

It did not occur to people that the reason we had to borrow to do any Marina Steps project was because we literally received no legit proposals for the private development concept. Why? Same reason we still have all those gaps on MVD.  It’s easy to blame ‘land bankers’. And if nothing else, there is definitely a need to (finally) figure out how to address the aesthetics. But on the other hand, if we were so darned desirable, wouldn’t you think there would be at least a few developers falling all over themselves to build in these spaces at the Marina or along MVD?

It’s the airport, stupid. The airport lowers property values. That makes it less expensive to age in place, or retire here or to obtain a first home. But it has also been punishing to our tax base–the services people say they expect in that survey. It also creates a ton more negative impacts–not just noise and pollution–and that makes it far less desirable for developers. People who can afford to live elsewhere, people with disposable income, live elsewhere. Having used pretty much every marina in WA, I can assure you: the one thing Puget Sound does not lack? Waterfront communities. I didn’t make this up. It was predicted 30 years ago before the Third Runway was built and was used as an argument to stop it. But rather than use that information to obtain relief after it became clear that stopping it was impossible, people moved or simply tried their best to ignore it.

Many people, including our staff, tell me that when they go away on holiday, they come back and have to sort of re-adjust. I’ve lost count of the number of visitors who get distracted by the noise. The look on their face says, “How do you live with this?” No matter how much you love Des Moines, there is no need to be defensive–you know exactly what I’m talking about.

There are outliers (like moi)! who are welded to a church and boating, or who really need to live near the airport. But fewer and fewer as time goes on.

The airport should have been on that Shared Strategy list because it is number one with a bullet. We just can’t see it (hear it?) because if you live here, you likely self-selected. You’re (mostly) OK with this. The question is: can we broaden our appeal, and if not, what kind of compensation can we obtain for the millions in annual hits to revenue we take from the airport.

Last Week

Wednesday

Regional Transit Committee – RTC is, essentially, ‘buses and water taxis’. This was our first full meeting of year with new chair our own new District #5 King County Councilmember Steffanie Fain taking over from Jorge Baron.Agenda/Work Plan-Ideas.

Transportation is a zero-sum game. What most people don’t realise is just how ginormous King County is. Its budget is larger than at least ten states. It’s geography is also huge. I appreciate all my colleagues who really try to see the big picture and not just advocate for their turf. I certainly nudge for more east/west connectivity for Des Moines. Still, here is something to think about: there are still large swaths of KC with no transit. Zero, zilch, nada, bupkis. It’s hard not to feel slightly petty for asking for more service for Des Moines before other areas get any. But…. Well…. 😀

Some bits of business…

About the cover

This image is from last week’s meeting. It is a ‘word cloud’ of the one-word responses people were asked to provide at last year’s Town Hall. More votes, bigger fonts. These are lovely sentiments and I appreciate every one of them.

Now what? 🙂 We’ll find out as we move into our STRATEGIC PLAN (dun, Dun, DUNH!) in two weeks.

Federal Way and Social Media

If you live anywhere in the south end, you may have heard that Martin Moore was just removed as council president in Federal Way for making a social media post as Council President, showing support of a high school ‘ICE’ protest.

I saw a social media post calling him, “libtard” and I just had to laugh. I’m like Martin Moore? Nobody who knows him would confuse Martin with ‘the radical left’.

But it’s also worth noting for a couple of ‘civics’ reasons. Federal Way has a very different system than Des Moines. They have a strong mayor system, where the president of their council acts as their leader and their mayor acts more like our City Manager.

Moore expressed his opinion using a social media page identifying himself as ‘Council President’. His colleagues took that as an implication that he was speaking for the entire council.

From one point of view, their reaction is understandable. It should never be the case that somebody in official leadership expresses a personal opinion that might be confused as expressing the will of the entire group.

For example, I have railed when previous mayors here claiming to speak for our City Council. Because our mayor is not the leader of our City Council. That’s not how our form of government works. Here, in Council/Manager Government, we are all just ‘one of seven’.

I have this blog because I’m speaking as one vote. I’m not speaking for the Council or the City.

However, in this current, highly polarised world, where people seem to get upset about every damned thing? One might wish for less dramatic responses–on all sides and to everything. But that is their business.

What I found just as interesting was Mayor Jim Ferrell’s statement in the Federal Way Mirror

Ferrell stated that he is not aware of any excessive force by ICE agents except when “people are interjecting themselves into actual ICE actions,” explaining that “that’s where I think the danger was. That’s where the violence is coming from, where people are injecting themselves into that.”

I would suggest that might also have been a comment better left unsaid. And for exactly the same reasons.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports! February 13, 2026

This Week

Wednesday

Regional Transit Committee – RTC is, essentially, ‘buses and water taxis’. This is our first full meeting of year with new chair our own new District #5 King County Councilmember Steffanie Fain taking over from Jorge Baron.Agenda/Work Plan-Ideas.

Last Week

Tuesday

Port of Seattle Commission – More and more, the Commission is supporting communities to our north–both the Duwamish and now with the creation of Beacon Hill Roundtable. This makes sense for them. It’s something of (cough) ‘envy’ to note that, frankly, their communities have shown more of an ability to advocate for their interests than ours. Here, we’re still drinking the Kool-Aid on ‘jobs and growth’. Coverage from STNI.

Wednesday

Emergency Management Advisory Committee – This was EMAC’s first in-person meeting of the year. We’re doing exercises to prepare for FIFA. One thing I learned is that international cell phones still do not all work the same. Travelers (using Sea-Tac) are depending almost exclusively on a phone app from FIFA to get around. Sure hope it works or we may have a few more people than we expected wandering around from Iran/Qatar/Belgium/Australia wandering around.

On the way back, I (finally) took some piccies of the Jimi Hendrix Memorial — also located in Renton. For those of you who also like to turn it up to eleven? Worth a visit. 🙂

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Meeting Recap below

Friday

Ferry Consultant briefing. We obtained a grant last year to (again) ‘study’ the economic benefits of a ferry. This time to/from Seattle and Bell Harbor (the Port of Seattle/Pier 66.) The group has a draft and unless the final version changes radically, the results will be the “Neener, neener, I was right and you were wrong!” report. Will we have the courage to say so? I don’t know.

2022 Ferry Pilot Contract

The problem is this: Even after Ms. Caffrey was hired, the City continued to say that the project ‘only’ cost $242,000 and talked about how ‘successful it had been. It should not require a paid study and seven years simply to tell the truth. We’ve wasted over $700,000 dollars on a program that was insane from the beginning. I wish we could have that money back now to provide real value for our residents. I could say the same wrt to Drones, Steps, and above all the airport.

You should care because I know you do want something better for the future. But you cannot get there if management avoids telling Council the unpleasant facts; by constantly passing off these kinds of mistakes as ‘politics’ and avoiding any accountability.

The only difference? All those other instances where we shoot ourselves in the foot, are unfortunate, but have become acceptable as the ‘normal’, silly, politics mistakes many towns make. The airport is fundamentally different. It’s the one unforgivable policy mistake because it never ends. You can get snookered into a bad relationship once. Happens to most of us. But choosing the same bad relationship year after year and decade after decade? Oy. That’s not ‘politics’. That’s an illness.

February 12, 2026 City Council

February 12, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda Packet

Public Comment

There was a great comment noting the presence of The Roadhouse at Angle Lake Station. The venue hosts music events and the ones I’ve been two have been great. Check it out!!!

There were several comments on Flock. One mentioned the tracking ability. Again, having worked in the Soviet Union, I am truly shocked at how quickly Amerikansis adapted to (and now seem to appreciate) being constantly watched. Honestly, with all the ‘freedom’ jazz that seemed so baked into American culture, it is truly surprising to me how quickly it became nbd.

City Presentations

• Presentation from Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce
• Update from Citizens Advisory Board on Strategic Plan Public Engagement
• Update on the City’s Automated License Plate Reader System (Flock)

I’ve gone on about Flock enough, but it really does bother me that people do not see the long-term risks. It comes down to personality. If you like your City Manager, your Chief of Police, your mayor, Why, why How dare you suggest! 😀

Business

Density Bonus for Religious Properties Ordinance – 1st Reading

This is yet another new thing under State law where we have no choice but to approve. Frankly, cities are rarely transparent about land use issues for a very simple reason: it stirs up trouble. If you print out a map with colours for wherever any low income housing might go, or a treatment clinic might go, or a shelter might go, people do go mental. 😀 So… we say things like “We can’t possibly map that.” And leave things vague. 🙂

Honestly, I have no idea what this means, if anything. But I have ‘structural revenue’ on the brain lately, and basically any square foot of land that sounds like it might not be paying for itself causes heartburn.

Establishment of a Salary Commission 

I voted no because it’s stupid. 🙂 This city needs another commission like a fish needs a bicycle. Electeds can simply vote for (x)% increase, save staff time, and move on. Instead, we created yet another new commission with five members, with no requirements, and who may also serve on multiple other committees. Sounds legit to me. 😀

Planning Commission

• Of the fifteen applicants, two were former councilmembers, and five were serving on other committees–despite the fact that the ordinance clearly stated that Planning Commissioners may not serve on any other boards/committees. They knew it and chose to apply anyways. To solve this little problem, I voted for everyone else. 🙂

It was also not the most transparent process I’ve ever seen. Don’t believe me? Congratulations to ¹Applicants 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and… how could I forget 11? 😀

(Don’t bother comparing with the spreadsheet in the agenda packet. The list we voted for used a different number system. Tricky, no?)

Again, this is not some ‘woke philosophy’ as someone wrote me. You get better results in group situations by widening the pool. That’s what all the research says.

One applicant who is currently serving on a City commission, withdrew after learning of that. For that, very civic-mind person, there is a very nice Valentines Day Gift on its way.

New Items for Consideration

I proposed bringing forward a discussion of downtown parking to a study session. It got support, but surprisingly not unanimous. Merchants throughout Des Moines constantly grumble about various issues. The challenge is that business owners tend to be the last entities to complain. Literally every merchant I’ve spoken to along MVD is unhappy with the parking situation. What that means specifically? No agreement. What solution? Not that either. But they all agree–something needs to happen. Especially if we are sincere about increasing business activity. You know “Destination Des Moines”. 🙂

¹Danielle Anderson, Traci Buxton, Charles Coleman, Michelle Curry, Barton DeLacy, Colleen Gants and Nicole Gunkle. I voted for Anderson, Curry and Gunkle.

Some bits of business…

About the cover

Every year about this time, I post something about Black History Month. Usually involving some cultural event from a 100 years ago. And then it occurred to me… BET is Black History. I know some people have a notion of ‘American’ culture as one thing. But speaking as someone with passport stamps from 37 countries, this is what America really exports. This BET special was basically on continuous loop in millions of homes for years. You might think that Johnny Cash or Aerosmith or now Taylor would be what people elsewhere think of as ‘America’. But in my experience–Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Morocco, Israel, Sweden, Brasil, Argentina, etc… the songs, the dances, everyone knows? Motown, Stax, Earth Wind & Fire, Prince….

Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Yolanda Adams, Andrew Gouche — 2006 BET Awards

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports! February 6, 2026

This Week

Sunday

As most of you know, my idea of football is more like the Sounders and FIFA. But, in honour of the Council’s recent Seahawk’s proclamation, I did watch the game-and they made it look easy. The real surprise? All politics aside, if you didn’t see it, I gotta o say–Bad Bunny may have been the best half-time show I’ve ever seen. I’m not a fan of the guy’s music, but what got me is that it was almost a for-realz Broadway musical–in miniature. It actually told a story I wouldn’t mind watching again.

Monday

4:00pm Airport Committee. No agenda at this time. Which is not great since meetings are supposed to post agenda 24 hours in advance (sigh).

Tuesday

Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) The commission put off a decision on the ongoing Flight Corridor Safety program (tree cutting around the airport) for this meeting.

Coverage from STNI

Wednesday

Fish Delivery! The Coho salmon will be pumped into the now assembled pen, across from the Quarterdeck. Here is a short video showing what the process looks like.

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Meeting: February 12, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda Packet

Highlights

City Presentations:

• Presentation from Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce
• Update from Citizens Advisory Board on Strategic Plan Public Engagement
• Update on the City’s Automated License Plate Reader System (Flock)

• Density Bonus for Religious Properties Ordinance – 1st Reading

The idea is to make it easier for houses of worship to provide housing. I don’t think it will impact us much, however it’s been somewhat controversial. That said, it is also another of those ordinances we are required to approve under state law. So… read up. Or not. It’s happening. 🙂

• Establishment of a Salary Commission 

I will likely vote no unless it is amended a great deal. First, we should be compensated for actual time and expenses, not one-size-fits-all. And frrankly, girl-friend, I’ve gotten committeed/commissioned-out on outsourcing things the Council should do itself. Note that, for all the grousing about the ‘length’ of our meetings, we no longer have formal committees, and, even with the COW, every meeting so far this year has adjourned in plenty of time for Must See TV. We are working less; not more.

• Planning Commission

This is a bit awkward. We’re to approve seven commissioners to re-start the Planning Commission. As you know, I’ve wanted this since it was disbanded in 2012-2013. However…

• Of the fifteen applicants, five seem to already serve on other boards/committees–despite the fact that the ordinance clearly states that Planning Commissioners may not serve on any other boards/committees. I hope they withdraw. I suggest that because since one can’t do both, if chosen it will leave big holes on the CAB. Not. Ideal.
• Two more applicants are former members of the Council. I have no objection per se and the next paragraph is not about any individual.

Last Week

Thursday

City Council February 5, 2026 Study Session Recap Below

Saturday

Coho Pen Assembly at the Marina. Next phase? Fish delivery on Wednesday @ 10:30am. Come on down to watch. It’s fun. 🙂

The Des Moines Chess Club is now holding forth at the Des Moines Theater–both inside on rainy days, and Al Fresco. The initial meeting seemed well attended and it looks like a perfect spot to further a great game. Des Moines Chess Club desmoineschessclub@gmail.com

City Council Study Session

Timmy’s fallen down the well edition…

City Council February 5, 2026 Study Session

Committee of the Whole (5:00–5:50 pm)

Long story short? Drones are gone. However, as much as I did not enjoy them, I have to point out the lies, damned lies, statistics, which everyone tends to do.

The City stated that it costs $61 per visitor for the Fourth of July. True. But, tying that into ‘inflation’ as as the Waterland Blog implied? Not true. Not helpful. It was always that much money. And saying that the show costs ‘$6,000 a minute’? Also not helpful. That’s not the point. Any Fourth of July event is expensive. It was a question of (wait for it) bang for buck. 😀 We indulged ourselves in something we could never afford–in order to look cool. It was never sustainable.

At the risk of sounding snippy, I wish I could get that money back to do some real environmental work, economic development, you name it. But the main thing? It was never sustainable.

Parks Projects & King County Parks Levy Update
We got a recap of  2025 engineering accomplishments and one piece of good news: parks money almost doubled. I have to give Upthegrove and von Reichbauer some credit for this. In recent decades, the County shifted to what was supposed to be a more ‘equitable’ funding model–but it tended to flow money elsewhere. In a number of areas, they were able to shift the needle back to sort of a guaranteed amount for each District–which turns out to be more equitable in the long run.

One sentence: We’ll be getting our first soccer pitch–at Midway Park near the PSE transformers. It’ll likely be shorter–for youth leagues. But that’s fine–most adult leagues play 6,8,9 a side.

Study Session (6:00–10:00 pm)

We decided to yank the band-aid and have staff prepare permits to demolish the Founders Lodge. Severe structural and environmental issues (rehab estimated at $6–7M vs. demolition at ~$300–400k)!

What gets on my last nerve is that this was a knowable problem twenty years ago when the other buildings were remodeled and then when the Dining Hall had to be hoiked up.

Again: Why do stuff like this that is not sustainable?

Long-Range Budget Forecast (FCS Group)
This was billed as a

This was billed as a ‘detailed financial outlook for the General Fund, Surface Water Management Fund, and Marina Fund through 2040’

FAKE NEWS! 😀

It was a follow-up to the original report done by FCS last year. And in preparation, I hope my colleagues (old and new) watched that meeting and read that report. Because otherwise, it’s like watching Dune II without watching Dune I. And not realising that there is no Dune I or Dune II. It’s one story. (How they can yank three movies out of one book? Now that’s creativity.)

• Weekly Update 09/14/2025 – video from FCS presentation
• FCS Presentation Part #1 – Regular Meeting – 11 Sep 2025

Let’s break that down…

The basic spread of expenses of a ‘bedroom community’ tends to remain constant over time. The amounts change, but not this balance.

However, it was almost by definition that a ‘bedroom’ community would be powered by property taxes. Part of the reason people feel ‘taxed to death’ is because we still expect that the majority of revenue we use still comes from that. It. Does. Not. It hasn’t for a very long time.

Since I’ve lived here, the percentage of our budget from property taxes has gone through the floor. We have not explained that to people clearly–to reset expectations–and we haven’t called out this as a systemic problem. We now obtain the lion’s share of our revenue from utilities, sales tax, and fees. Not property tax.  We blame COVID, inflation, DC, whatever, but it’s a trend that is unfair and unsustainable.

Some of it is definitely the 1% cap. But a lot of it has been choice. Time and again we’ve chosen to allocate land for non-revenue generating purposes, or to spend on various things we simply could not afford–essentially assuming that future ‘growth’ of some sort would make up for it, eventually.

Councilmember Blosse asked if that the shortfall was $6 million every year and was quickly corrected. Except that, in my opinion, his question was actually not that far off reality. Saying we’re $1,000,000 short every year only put a band-aid on the problem for 4-5 few years, tops. Unless something really dramatic (in a good way dramatic) happens, we really need more like $3.5M a year. What is ‘good dramatic’? No idea. That was what the FCS discussion was supposed to consider. And the Strategic Plan. And the economic development consultant. TBD.

It also assumes that nothing bad dramatic happens. That inflation stays low. That retail stays where it is (or gets better) and doesn’t continue to decline. That there isn’t another financial crash, war, pandemic, space aliens, whatever.

You can make up that delta with a property tax–the one we voted down last year. That is what I’m pretty sure we’ll get to (again) sooner or later because that is what we will need–unless we change our investment rules and start investing in crypto, baby1 😀

However, it gets even better. Even with a Property Tax increase, that only retains current service levels.

It takes money to make money

What we really need is more like $5-6 million a year. Not. Kidding. We need that kind of money to actually provide the services people tell us they want. The ones we had back in the golden age of bedroom community. If we don’t? This–what we are experiencing now, is as good as it gets.

Revenue Enhancement Options Update

In a first, the Finance Director did a live Excel demo to show the effect of various options. Frankly, I was hoping for one of those confetti displays like on yer phone when someone sends you a happy message. 😀

But we will do them all. Because we need them all: car tab fees, parking rates, utility taxes, traffic cameras, impact fees, etc.

I honestly don’t think it’s the money people resent. It’s the sense that everything has a toll. I’m noticing it more and more every day. Things that used to be ‘free’, from various TV channels to whatever, now have some toll. My bank statements now have so many tchotckes I can’t remember half of them. All these little fees become exhausting. And what I’m trying to encourage the City to do is this: don’t grab for every possible fee just because you can. Only charge fees when it really matters. Because if we don’t take it easy, if we jack everything up to the max, when it comes time to talk about the real money we need–where people actually have a vote–they will punish for all the nickel and diming.

Some bits of business…

About the cover

I spent some time in Olympia last week lobbying for a couple of bills and this is one of several photos I took of public art around the Capitol I thought you might enjoy. Washington State Capitol 2026

Shark!!!!!!!!!

There is a bill in Olympia to make the Sixgill Shark the ‘state shark’. HB2447. I am less enthusiastic than some because I’m not sure they’re as common as people think. But perhaps that adds to the mystery! 😀 Watch this and let me know what you think… The Mysterious Sixgill Sharks of Seattle 🦈 | Cascade PBS. Anyhoo… this actually seems more legit than attempting to draw tourists for space aliens.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports! January 30, 2026

This Week

Thursday

City Council February 5, 2026 Study Session

Committee of the Whole (5:00–5:50 pm)

Council will give direction on whether the City should:

• Continue focusing most event funding and staff time on a single large 4th of July event, or
• Shift toward multiple signature-level events spread throughout the year.

Parks Projects & King County Parks Levy Update
An early briefing on 2025 accomplishments, levy spending, and upcoming park priorities, continued in more detail during the study session.

Study Session (6:00–10:00 pm)

Parks Projects & King County Parks Levy (full presentation)
Staff will review:

• * 2025 completed projects (parks, playgrounds, marina and waterfront work).
• Use of King County Parks Levy funds (~$541k spent in 2025).
• 2026–2031 levy outlook (~$485k per year).
• Major upcoming decisions, including possible demolition of Founders Lodge** due to severe structural and environmental issues (rehab estimated at $6–7M vs. demolition at ~$300–400k)!

This is informational, but Council input will shape future project priorities.

Long-Range Budget Forecast (FCS Group)
A detailed financial outlook for the General Fund, Surface Water Management Fund, and Marina Fund through 2040:

• The General Fund faces a structural deficit and will require $1–2 million per year in new revenue to maintain existing services and reserves.
• Surface Water and Marina funds are stable for now but have major capital obligations ahead.

Revenue Enhancement Options Update
Staff will review:

• What revenue tools have already been implemented.
• Which options are still under consideration (car tab fees, parking rates, utility taxes, traffic cameras, impact fees, etc.).

Saturday

Coho Pen Assembly at the Marina. Here’s a short video on what fish delivery looks like!

Last Week

Monday

Back in Olympia to testify on SB6240, a bill to provide funding to help mitigate a number of airport impacts, including Port Packages, noise and air quality. Coverage from STNI:

SB6240 Hearing Ways & Means Committee

Tuesday

Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) The commission put off a decision on the ongoing Flight Corridor Safety program (tree cutting around the airport) but there was also some important news on tourism grants and PFAS.

Coverage from STNI

Wednesday

Highline Forum (Sea-Tac Airport) This was most people’s official introduction to new Airport Director Wendy Reiter.

Citizens Advisory Board Agenda/Video

Some bits of business…

About the cover

After looking at so many property buyout deals with the Port of Seattle, I’ve become a sucker for land transactions. 😀 In particular, I like seeing how a parcel has evolved since King County started keeping records.

In this case, the Council will vote to purchase two parcels as right-of-way in order to finish the North Hill Elementary Walkway Improvements project. (Item #4 on consent–see below.)

City Manager Stuff

The City Manager Reports are back! January 15, 2026

Planning Commission

Speaking of land use, one highlight is that applications are being taken for the Planning Commission.

This Week

Monday

As usual, we’ll be attending the Northwest African American Museum annual celebration honoring King’s legacy. The theme for 2026 is “Forward Together, with Courage as Our Compass” NAAM

Wednesday

Goin’ to Olympia to support a couple of bills.

Thursday

City Council Meeting January 22, 2026 Agenda

Some highlights:

• Police Promotions: The Council will recognize the promotion of two officers within the Des Moines Police Department, with Sergeants Eric Morric and Shay LaMarsh.
• Community Recognition: The Council will recognize the Rotary Club of Des Moines and Normandy Park for their work on the Burning Boat event..
• Unfinished Business: The Council will consider re-establishing an Ad Hoc Franchise Committee to assist with negotiations for utility franchise agreements that are set to expire in June 2026. The City Attorney will present background and rationale for the committee.
• New Business – Airport Advisory Committee Workplan: The Council will review and consider approval of the Airport Advisory Committee’s 2026 workplan. Community Development Director Rebecca Deming will present the proposed workplan and outline its priorities for the coming year.
• New Business – Public Defender Contract: The Council will consider approval of a new contract for indigent public defense services covering February 2026 through January 2028. The Finance Director will present the contract terms and service scope.
• Executive Session: The Council will meet in executive session to discuss pending litigation, as authorized under state law, with no action expected in open session.

Last Week

Monday

Flock Demo: Along with Mayor Grace-Matsui, I received a demo of the Flock software from Chief Boe. As I previously wrote, I also attended a Q&A with the Flock CEO a few weeks ago and asked for, and receoved some further info on how they work. Flock will be discussed by the full Council in February. And there will be legislation proposed at the State to address one of the main concerns–data retention–how long can any agency hold onto information about anyone. Flock has a standard. The State will have a standard. But my hope is that we have a standard on how long our City can hold onto downloaded images (yes, they can be downloaded independent of the system.) Just have one number.

I’ve been told by the Chief that it can be a low number (30-60 days) and not lose any law enforcement efficacy. That being the case, this should be simple.

Tuesday

Korean American Day. I was again honoured to be invited to this event. The Korean community is one of the best run cultural organisations I’ve ever seen.

Wednesday

I had my first regional transit committee meeting of the year. The thing about Metro is that it’s odd in several ways. In the bad ol’ days, the Metro budget was divvied out essentially by geography, with each area obtaining a baseline of funding. Around 2010, when the Rapid Ride A-Line was built on Pacific Highway, that system changed to the current system, which considers funding according to metrics like crowding, with adding new service implicitly at the bottom. This was supposed to take ‘the politics’ out of those decisions. The awkward discussion is that, using those metrics, cities like Des Moines never rise to the top. In addition to the A-Line, one of the best east-west connections is the 635 Shuttle. If routes were allocated today as they back in the less ‘fair’ days–before 2010, I doubt either would be funded.

Friday

I attended a concert at Wesley–a string quartet consisting of members of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra.

Some bits of business…

About the cover

There are generally three kinds of work the City Council does–fluffballs, maintenance, and the future.

I just invented ‘fluffballs’. 😀 You know what I mean–ribbon cuttings, events, selfies, speechifyin’. Then there’s the stuff most of you care about– maintenance: safety, roads, storm water. You know–city stuff. That’s all about now. The present. But then there’s ‘the future’, which is often goes without notice. Last year, the Council covered a ton of really good ‘future’ stuff involving zoning–ADUs, middle-housing. This is a continuation of that. I’m not sure I’ll be around long enough to see the fruits of this work. It’s certainly not exciting. But at bottom, cities are places for people to live and making it easier to subdivide is .

Masonic Home Demo Appeal

FYI, there has been an appeal of the appeal on the Masonic Home demolition permit. My understanding is that it may not be decided until June. And for the umpteenth time, the current City Council has nothing to do with this.

City Manager Stuff

The City Manager Reports are back! January 2, 2026

Planning Commission

Speaking of land use, one highlight is that applications are being taken for the Planning Commission.

Flock

As many of you know, the Police uses Flock cameras (‘license plate readers’). The company has come under scrutiny recently for privacy concerns. I attended a Q&A with the Flock CEO a few weeks ago and asked them for some further info on how they work. I’m attending a ‘demo’ with Chief Boe in a few weeks and I will withhold comment until then–except to say that I see both sides to this. In the meantime, it looks like there will be legislation proposed at the State to address one of the main concerns which has always been data retention–how long can any agency hold onto information about anyone.

This Week

Thursday

First City Council Meeting of the year! The big highlight? We will choose a mayor and deputy mayor. City Council Agenda January 8, 2026

This is probably either a bigger deal than you think or not nearly as a big a deal as you think. In Council/Manager Government, ‘mayor’ is supposed to be ‘ceremonial’. It used to be. Unfortunately, over time it has accreted a lot more ‘authority’ than it really should have. Eg. the mayor sets the agenda for meetings–and ends up having an order of magnitude more contact with the City Manager and staff than other Cms. Over time this has led, more and more to activist mayors and the politicisation of the City Manager’s office. It’s hard to keep these things separate.

Some other items:

Unit Lot Subdivision, Lot Splitting, and Substandard or Nonconforming Lot
Regulations Update -1st Reading (covered above)

Planning Commission (covered above)

Calendar: For the first time, the City has put on the agenda discussion of a ‘calendar’. That gives me one more chance to note that although we are theoretically scheduled for 40 meetings, we’ve usually only had roughly 32–including taking off the month of August. I continue to disagree with this because it leads to terrible load-balancing. Just giving the Council a chance to make this official doesn’t make it any better.

The better approach would be more meetings with less to do at each. And, at the very least, doing what many other cities do–actually have the Council weigh in on that Futures Calendar.

Last Week

My understanding is that the Seahawks defeated the no-account, good for nothing, 49ers. Well done. There, I just covered about 50% of the political interests of Des Moines. 😀

Some bits of business…

About the cover

So…. I’m walking past the Theatre last week, the door is open and there’s a photo shoot with a little dog, Lori from A Dog’s Dream and Santy! She sees me snoopingg at the door and tells me it’s a thing she does at all her locations–$20 for a piccie and the proceeds go to the local Pregancy Aid. And I’m like, well how can I get in on that? And she says the next appointment is delayed, so I hand over the twenty and this is what came out.

My cousin said this one looked about as festive as “American Gothic” — which I thought was an outrageous thing to say at Christmas. Two out of three participants knew where the camera was. I consider that a roaring success!

Another outrageous remark? I sit down next to St. Nick and he says to me, “I bet you use this for a re-election photo.” 😀 Wrong-o, St. Nick. I’m usin’ it now. 😀 It’s Rhonda that’s testing the waters for congress.

City Manager Stuff

I did not see a report from the City Manager this week.

This Week/Last Week

Speaking of taking a break, the Council doesn’t meet again until January 8. At one of my first meetings with the City Manager she remarked on what seemed like a relentless stream of meetings. I made the mistake of pointing out that this was somewhat self-inflicted. 😀 In fact, although the ‘official’ schedule was always three meetings a month–with a maximum of forty a year, I never witnessed the Council doing anything close to that. It could be a coinkydink, but since then we’ve reverted to a much more ‘leisurely’ schedule. I’m not sure that’s better, but it’s definitely more normative.

In fact, I would much prefer more meetings with less to do at each–it makes for better decisions. But clearly I’m outgunned on this. Both my colleagues and staff like the breaks. Hell, we don’t even bother with ‘committees’ anymore so in a very real way our workload is less than in any era since I’ve been watching (2008).

As always, I’m working on various airporty things. One thing I hope to get done before I shuffle off this low-rent elected office is this: a better understanding of what the airport means for Des Moines.

Whether you love it or not, the uncomfortable truth about the airport is that, its biggest ‘benefit’, by far is the ‘airport discount’ — depressed property values. We know it’s true. People scream about it! But on the other hand? It means lower taxes. That’s the discount. A comparable home near the water somewhere else is worth more and the taxes are higher. That’s a big reason people live here. We want to have it all. High property values! Low taxes! Waterfront Destination!

It never seems to occur to people that the reason our properties are assessed lower is the same reason it’s been hard to attract economic development: desirability. Frankly? A lot of people–including developers–prefer to go somewhere else. Waterfront, schmawterfront.

Which makes you a two time loser, because the airport discount robs the City from the money it should have to provide the services you have a right to expect–the services you would obtain in a similar location without the airport.

People don’t understand that the ‘airport discount’ has been harming our city overall for a very long time. Even if it isn’t bothersome to you, personally, the airport’s negative impact on the City has been a ceiling on improving the City writ large.

It’s the reason I tend to push back on things like the Steps or a Ferry. It’s not that I’m against ‘splurging’ on fun amenities. It’s just that we don’t even have money for freakin’ animal control and some Christmas Lights!

That’s the airport discount. It’s the result of years of eating away at the tax base. I keep working to get both our City to (finally) recognise this and push back.

One final thing that may also get me into trouble. There was a recent article in the various local blogs on a new bill, sponsored by Congressman Smith, to provide updates to sound insulation. Almost. But not quite. Rubbish. The bill is a potential step forward. But it’s a tiny step. It will affect only a small number of homes. And even those that do qualify won’t obtain relief for at least a couple more years. If you want to understand what it really says, go here:

Pilot program for sound insulation repair and replacement passes in Defense bill – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

I’m not picking on any local outlet. They do their best. But it’s a hard conversation because, frankly, there was about zero interest in sound insulation until STNI started working the issue. However, it begs the question in any news coverage. The issues here are just as complicated as at the state or national level. But often times it’s not even possible to get good coverage anywhere. But honestly: how do you get people engaged in complicated issues if there is no deeper coverage?

I can’t blame our local outlets. Nobody has the bandwidth to provide good coverage on most issues. But I do have to point out when it happens because if you just read those kinds of articles you’ll get the completely wrong impression. In that case, it was a press release and not ‘the story’.

If you care about airport issues, the only place to go: Sea-Tac Noise.Info

It’s all uphill from here

I guess I should end on a happy note–especially with that dour piccie. 😀  Repeating what I said a couple of weeks ago: although the shortest day of the year was technically around Christmas, here in the PNW, the time of sunset has already been increasing for a month. 😀

And since I’m watching TV ¹as I write this, I gotta say: Pluribus? Best show I’ve seen in a long while. And… PBS just started doing promos for the next season of All Creatures Great & Small. Woo hoo! So, in addition to lots of stuff to be grateful for this year, I’ve got something warm and fuzzy to look forward to soon.

I hope you can say the same. And if there is anything I can do to help in the coming year? Please let me know.

It continues to be my absolute honour to serve you.

Happy New Year Des Moines!

¹Don’t hate me for multi-tasking. You always have my full attention when I do these Weekly Updates! 😀

Some bits of business…

About the cover

For this week’s cover image, I added something for all the Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD-nerds out there. Although the shortest day of the year is technically next week, here in the PNW, the time of sunset starts to increase after Thanksgiving. We just don’t notice it because that increase is super-slow–picking up speed after the Super Bowl.

I made this chart perhaps for the same reason governments do them for budget presentations. Even if we can’t feel things are getting better (yet), we have a graph to look at which says so. 😀

Hannukah

On most holidays, I place an image and some little joke. But as has become all too common, today is no joke for Jewish people everywhere. If your family celebrates Hannukah, I hope it is safe and filled with light.

Masonic Home Appeal Denied

Without going into the sad details, the appeal to the City over the Masonic Home demolition permit was denied. This is one of the most challenging aspects of being a low-rent elected. For the appeal to have been successful it would have meant that the City would have been found to have done something very wrong. There was no way to push back on the project; only on the City and its staff. This is a failure of politics as much as process. More than a decade ago, your City Council failed to make it a priority, instead focusing on projects like the Marina Steps and a passenger ferry. Cities only have so much energy. I am sorry I have been unable to do more. Truly. The Masonic Home has always been, literally, my navigation point whenever I’ve returned home to Des Moines.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports – December 12, 2025

This Week

Monday/Tuesday

Meetings w Senator Tina Orwall and Adam Smith’s office on airport legislation. Here is an article concerning one bill about to be signed on Port Package Updates from STNI.

Wednesday

StART last meeting of the year (agenda/signup).

Last Week

Monday

4:00pm Airport Committee The committee seems to be interested in developing a public outreach program? 😀 I was not thrilled with their last meeting so that ’emoji’ was me trying to be light-hearted. How’d I do?

Tuesday

12:00pm Port of Seattle Commission

The Port’s last meeting of the year mentioned Senator Orwall’s proposed legislation. And also seemed to go hard on spending. It’s a funny thing: the current Commission is by far the youngest and most diverse in decades. And yet, it’s approach to airport communities has become increasingly conservative. The concerns and flexibility that seemed to be in play before COVID are now absent. Concerns about paying for the SAMP seem to have taken over.

6:00pm-8:00pm Town Hall Des Moines Elementary School

In case you hadn’t noticed, I tend to be somewhat skeptical of all these sorts of things because they ask what people want rather than what is actually possible. I walked in and was like, “Please no stickers. Please no stickers. Please no stickers!” And of course, there were stickers. 😀

On the plus side, this was the first such Town Hall I’ve seen anywhere outside of the Marina or 216th–and that matters. The ‘center’ of the City is no longer where it was when we incorporated in 1959. Having these events where more people are is important. Turnout was still the same small basic cast of characters that always tend to show up–it will take multiple attempts to draw more people. But credit where credit is due.

That said, the best comment I heard was this: “Why didn’t the Survey ask about the airport?” Why, indeed. It’s the one thing everyone notices when they visit. My guess is that we are all so used to it we don’t even think about making it better. Which is why it hasn’t gotten better. You can’t get if you don’t even think to ask.

Wednesday

Emergency Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) last meeting of the year. The in-person meeting got canceled because the Emergency Operations Center had to be activated because of the flooding! I just want to continue to remind people to sign up for Code Alert.

6:00pm Citizens Advisory Board (Agenda) The main discussion seemed to be about that Town Hall and many of the comments were excellent. I was less thrilled by some comments scolding people on social media who complain about the Town Hall not being convenient or properly advertised or whatever. Here is my scold: Grow a thicker skin.

If the group is going beyond ‘advisory’ into ‘customer service’, never blame the customer. Of course people kvetch. That’s what people do! They will always make unreasonable demands, not be as grateful as you’d prefer, have a bad day. Who. Cares? And it’s always disappointing to hear my colleagues do that. We’re here to serve everybody.

I was also not jazzed about a possible plan I heard concerning placing corporate logos on utility box wraps!? I hope that’s not true. That is public art.

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Regular Meeting – 11 Dec 2025 – Updated (recap below)

Friday

10:30 Flock Camera Security Q&A There have been numerous articles and law suits over the license plate reading cameras. These are not frivolous. However, the police say that the benefits–especially in reducing auto theft–are unquestionable.

I was part of a Zoom call with Harry Steinmetz, Katherine Caffrey and several members of law enforcement, including Tukwila. I did not walk away alarmed, but I remain concerned.

To a large extent Flock’s argument is that “you own your data.” Which strikes me as like how Facebook has strong legal shields by not being a ‘data publisher’. They claim that they only retain data for as long as your city requests it. In our case, 30 days. But I’m not sure that means the data ‘disappears’.  I don’t know what our data retention policy is. What portion of their data can we copy and retain indefinitely?

There is also the question of what they capture. Obviously, the cameras capture a lot more than license plates. They told me that when the image is captured, surrounding people are scrubbed. OK, buthat about other identifying objects?

There should be rules. The problem is: a lot of people don’t care about privacy. In the case of social media and shopping, people gave up their personal data years ago. And in the case of public safety, a lot of people will say that any mention of ‘privacy’ sounds anti-public safety. For them, data should be retained forever–just in case.

There seems to be a bill being shopped in Olympia to set firm limits on data retention for all public safety agencies–including ours. I can imagine the arguments. However, if our policy is 30 days, I would have no problem with a law saying the same thing.

City Council December 11, 2025

Last meeting of the year and the current Council–the 412th since the incorporation of our fine City. 😀 No, actually I think it’s 35th.

Public Comment

There were two comments concerning Flock (see above) and also several to congratulate Traci Buxton and Matt Mahoney for their service, notably Senator Tina Orwall and former Mayor (and now Port legislative liaison) Dave Kaplan.

City Manager Caffrey made a speech and handed out award pieces to them both, sort of like the Spirit of Des Moines pieces we used to do.

Consent Agenda: Many of the items were very substantial, but may have seemed anti-climactic since they were voted on together. For details check last week. They included the restoration of a (slimmed down) Animal Control contract with Burien Cares, and the re-instatement of the Public Planning Commission.

We approved the second year of our first biennial budget. As I wrote last week, I am not happy with the reporting, and said so, because it does not adequately convey our poor long term outlook.

Wesley Terrace Redevelopment Over the past decade, the campus has slowly but steadily expanding. This next phase concerns some of the oldest portions along the north side of 216th St. known as The Terrace. It goes back a lot further than many people realise and will interact with Des Moines Creek so I asked a lot of questions about environmental issues–trees, wetlands, etc. All that said, the Gardens buildings (on the west side) have turned out smashing, so I look forward to this next phase being just as cool.

Port of Seattle Economic Development Grant/Dan Eernissee, Economic Development Consulting: (1-6) Some of you remember Mr. Eernissee was a finalist for the job of City Manager in 2024. This year he is back as a consultant to do a ferry economic benefits study which has now expanded into a city-wide economic development study. Am I thrilled at any of that? No. Which is why I voted against both items. None of the two previous Port ‘economic development grants’ turned out well. One was for a ferry. Every independent study has made clear that this is a terrible idea. So hiring another paid-consultant to study that is just another way to resurrect the same insane idea.

The other grant involved building a hotel at the Marina.

Maybe third time’s the charm. But Mr. Eernissee used Wesley as an example of economic development. I hope someone reminds him that all their properties are tax-exempt.

Valedictory

First, Councilmember Matt Mahoney and then Mayor Traci Buxton made farewell remarks after eight years on the Council.

Mahoney read a lengthy speech in which he took the high road. Not. 😀 Sorry. I would not have written anything except that he remained consistent in his feeling that ‘some’ are constantly spreading misinformation. If so, he certainly contributed his share. What I tried to say to him a long time ago is this: Many people seriously disagreed with most of your agenda. But in spite of that, you accomplished a lot. Nobody likes a sore winner. Be gracious.

Ms. Buxton was far more brief–and gracious. It is unfortunate that she chose to conclude her remarks with a Christian prayer. I did not wish to rain on her parade, but I thought that completely inappropriate. And if City staff had advance notice, I would find that very concerning.

The SAMP: Plan B

Over Tnanksgiving I wrote the essay Pay, value, the SAMP, and the future. Over the past two weeks I’ve published the first two excerpts–my opposition to pay increases for City Council and then my opposition to a very large pay increase for the City Manager. Here is the last third–the airport expansion (the SAMP) and our City Manager’s pivotal role in that successful (or not successful) outcome.

During the SAMP ILA discussion, Councilmember Mahoney definitely got one detail right (perhaps due to his participation in the PSRC.) 1994.

1994 was by no means the beginning or end of the Third Runway war. But that was the year every regional government came together at the Puget Sound Regional Council to abandon any search for a second airport – despite having identified three potential sites.

Unfortunately, even in 1994, opposition to the Third Runway was already so all-or-nothing, none of the communities paid attention to the absolutely crap mitigation plan offered at the same time–the consolation prize you may know of as ‘Port Packages’. Beyond that? There was never any real Plan B — ie. what we should get if we can’t stop the Third Runway.

Highline Schools came away with $150,000,000 in construction money from the Port/FAA. If you appreciate any of the new schools built since then, you have that conflict–and your City’s legal fees, in part, to thank for it.

Des Moines, Burien and Normandy Park ended up footing the bill for massive, mostly ineffective, legal challenges. But almost as a side note, did obtain a huge win in terms of water quality improvements, which the Port (falsely) claims as some heart-of-gold effort. That was us. And if you enjoy any portion of the Des Moines Creek Trail, or clean drinking water, or salmon recovery, give your City a pat on the back.

SeaTac, in contrast, refused to fight, and thus obtained yet one more of a long series of ongoing and ever-increasing paydays. And also obtained all those environment benefits. For free.

In a better world, one could have imagined obtaining the same environmental benefits, at far less cost, and getting paid. If we had gone down that road, this City would now be much different. At the time, we had a City Manager who considered that–having a real Plan B. But as so often happens with politics, they got canned.

If you think cockamamie ideas like having a self-funded ferry are anything new? Let me tell you about former Mayor Don Wasson, whose Council did the aforementioned canning. Personally, I liked Don. But his idea was to build a conveyor to move contaminated fill-dirt, barged in Vashon Island, from the Beach Park up to 200th. He thought that, rather than ‘fight’ the Port, helping to build the Third Runway would be the real pay day for Des Moines.

We have a history of small-town blindness and all-or-nothing thinking. Even when the Des Moines Creek Business Park opened, we were so thrilled to get something, we neglected to obtain the taxes we should have had. Fortunately, the now defunct Finance Committee (you’re welcome) proposed that six months before our new City Manager arrived. And in its first year (2025) it will bring in $515,000. I cannot imagine how any new City Manager could ask for any raise had that not happened. It’s good to be lucky.

Our former city manager/economic development genius missed that one. Perhaps because he (and the Council) focused all their energies on the miracles of self-funded ferries and Steps. But…if we had thunk of that in 2016, we’d have generated over $3,000,000 as of today. I came across it because I am constantly attending various regional meetings about the airport (for which I get nothing.) Warehouses in Kent and Auburn are one of many essential pieces in the airport eco-system. That wasn’t luck. One way or another, everything has to do with the airport.

We can do much better. But we need leadership that actually pays that attention — to what was always possible — even if the Council doesn’t.

Unfortunately, the SAMP ILA discussion before that Executive Session was terrible. To date we’ve shown none of the proper concerns we should for this once in a generation opportunity. Currently we are phoning it in. Checking a box.

My hope is that, now armed with a fresh sense of financial security (and appreciation), the City Manager will do better in 2026.

But not to end too harshly, the SAMP ILA discussion in Burien was even worse. Oy. They didn’t even know Normandy Park had dropped out when they voted! Awkward. 😀

Who did have the better discussion? Why SeaTac. Of course. And I strongly encourage readers to follow STNI for their excellent coverage of all three cities on this.

And from there, in the category of ‘irony of the week’, comes a comment from SeaTac Councilmember James Lovell. His concern seemed to be that… wait for it… by backing out of the ILA, Normandy Park might end up free riding on any benefits SeaTac might obtain in challenging the SAMP.

Perish the thought. 😀

If you care about the health and financial futures of Des Moines, I hope you will encourage the City Manager to make 2026 about  the SAMP. Again, do not listen to what anyone says. What we’ve done on airport issues for the past 20 years has always been lip service — including last Thursday. Currently, we don’t know how to succeed.

But a truly great CEO can learn — break through that sludge and get us where we’ve always needed to go.

Doing something really meaningful — what our City has always deserved — about the SAMP would be utterly transformative for all of Des Moines. That should be the ‘resume builder’ of a career — and hopefully  the 2026 Annual Performance Review.

¹Same year as the Masonic Home came on the market, if memory serves?

Some bits of business…

Strategery

The City is taking community input on the first Strategic Plan since our founding in 1959! Take this ten minute survey and let us know what your long term vision is for Des Moines. There will also be a town hall at Des Moines Elementary on December 9. Deets to follow soon. But for now? Fill out the survey!!!!

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports – December 5, 2025

The highlights are several holiday events and a special Camp Khaos for during the school break!

This Week

Monday

4:00pm Airport Committee The committee seems to be interested in developing a public outreach program? 😀 I was not thrilled with their last meeting so that ’emoji’ was me trying to be light-hearted. How’d I do?

Tuesday

10:30 Flock Camera Security Q&A There have been numerous articles and law suits over the license plate reading cameras. These are not frivolous. However, the police say that the benefits–especially in reducing auto theft–are unquestionable. This is a chance to talk with Flock management. My question is very simple, and it’s one I haven’t been able to get to for six years: data retention. At this moment I have no idea how long our police keep any personal data on file. I want Flock–and every public safety agency–to make it clear that they eliminate all traces of data after a certain, public, length of time.

12:00pm Port of Seattle Commission

6:00pm-8:00pm Town Hall Des Moines Elementary School to lay out our Strategic Plan. I have absolutely no idea. But the City Manager says there will be ‘kids activities’. And in addition to being a geezer, I’m also just a big kid at heart. See you there. 🙂

Wednesday

Emergency Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) last meeting of the year. Here’s a short video on the Emergency Operations Center doing a practice session for FIFA!

6:00pm Citizens Advisory Board (Agenda) The main thing seems to be a discussion of their Draft Plan for 2026.

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Agenda

Last meeting of the year and the current Council–the 412th since the incorporation of our fine City. 😀 No, actually I think it’s 35th.

Highlights

Many of the items are final votes on things we discussed last week–see below for the Meeting Recap. But of special interest.

We will approve the second year of our first biennial budget. As I wrote below, I am not happy with the reporting, which does not adequately convey our long term outlook. It’s tough because all administrations need to put forward a positive face. There has been very little interest in this since the demise of the Finance Committee. Hopefully next year.

Animal Control. This will be better than what we have. Not as good as the original CARES contract. And not the full ACO. But given the slow uptake of the new pet licensing program, it’s the best we can do. Hopefully we’ll be able to get another upgrade once that revenue improves.

Planning Commission. After a dozen years, it will be back. It will not contain the Comp Plan element I’d hoped for. But again–hopefully it’s just REV1.

Dan Eernissee, Economic Development Consulting. Some of you remember Mr. Eernissee was a finalist for the job of City Manager. This year he is back as a consultant to do a ferry economic benefits study. Am I thrilled at any of that? No. The last time we ‘studyied’ the subject it enabled something really bad. But since every independent study has made clear that this is a terrible idea, if it turns out different, I will not be happy. 🙂 Also, his contract seems to include some money for a separate scope of work on economic development ideas in the rest of Des Moines. Again, I hope it is kept well-away from the ferry idea. Speaking as a recovering consultant it’s tough not to conflate two such tasks and for that reason it’s generally always better to hire separate people. But we do need that kind of work. Hope springs eternal.

(It’s the season of hope. 🙂 )

Last Week

Wednesday

I attended the Light Rail preview and schmoozed with any number of big shots. I wrote about it on Facebook so no need to repeat.

However, I was taken to task for saying that “kids and geezers like me ride free, Free, FREE!” 😀 Unfortunately, my informal humour, spelling, sartorial accoutrement, and manner of social discourse will always strike a few as both uncouth and not a ton of laughs. Which is fine. 🙂

But whether or not you embrace the geezer in me, what matters is that ORCA cards are great, and the discounts even better. There are several sources for details which do not over-simplify as I did, but unfortunately, they all make it a bit more complicated than it should be. Nevertheless…

How to pay | Fares | Sound Transit

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Meeting

Regular Meeting – 04 Dec 2025

Recap below.

Friday

Jurassic Parliament. This is a parliamentary procedure class I took when I was first elected. There are no requirements for getting elected. No tests. You’re only ‘required’ (which isn’t some enforceable law, btw) to attend a four hour training–essentially on not breaking the law in such a way that gets your city in trouble. You? Well, good luck. 😀 Anyhoo, most electeds also take this class, which teaches you how to conduct a meeting.

When I first got on the Council, I asked that the class be brought here. Crickets. To her credit, our new (it’s been a year so that’s not true) City Manager, made it happen and I appreciate it.

But in a slight bit of irony, this was the first time in six years I’ve been late., tardy, unavoidably delayed, for any City event. 😀

December 4, 2025 City Council Meeting

Highlights:

5:00 PM – 5:50 PM COW

Item 1: Wesley Master Plan Introduction – In case you hadn’t noticed, Wesley has been rebuilding and expanding the entire campus over the past decade. This is the next phase.

Item 2: City Currents – Well, I got that wrong. I thought we had agreed to shift the quarterly magazine from print to mostly digital. Apparently, the only change is that the City will be doing the preparation in-house and then outsourcing the postage. This will save some money (good) but it doesn’t address any of the issues with printing and mailing a bajillion copies to people who never see them. It also does not expand our reach. It should be our goal to get every person in town on our mailing list. But (sadly) a small number of people just cannot see the value of focusing on digital. It’s weird to me because every person I know, has a cell phone, so the nostalgia leaves me cold.

This makes me wonder how much better our new web site will be. It means that we are not actually embracing digital. We’re still having to be dragged, kicking and screaming to it.  One other thing: the previous electronic version was not disabilities-friendly. I literally could never read it–that’s why I always request PDFs.

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Regular Meeting

Public Comment

There was a passionate comment concerning our Flock Cameras. See above.

City Manager

3rd Quarter Financial Report. I had one of my little ‘moments’. As I just said, I’m losing my sight. I cannot see the presentations on the Big TV so I look at the version the City provides in the packet. I referred to a mistake in the packet which always provokes one or two snickers. My hope is that next year the City will start locking down the packet when it is issued–as I first asked for six years ago. 🙂

That said, I’ve had some internal bickering over the quality of the financial reports. One issue I have is that the next round of dock replacements were scheduled for 2032. The financial forecast only goes out to 2031. How can you plan for the future when electeds never have to even see what it looks like. Get it? The report shows that we’ll spend a crap ton of money on the Marina in 2025-2026 and then it will look to you as though it’s ‘profit’ out into the future. Which would be lovely except that the various Marina repairs and upgrades are only half done. We simply haven’t put them on our financial reports. That’s why we never save for the future here.

Consent Agenda

• Item 4: Co-Living Housing Ordinance – 2nd Reading
• Item 5: Adoption of 2026 City Council State Legislative Priorities
• Item 6: Collective Bargaining Agreement – Police Guild – the agreement seems to give us three more years, which is good, because it’s felt like one bargaining session after another since I’ve been on the Council. Because public safety is always over 50% of the budget, we need some kind of ongoing certainty if we’re ever going to get more officers.
• Item 7: Boundary Line Adjustment with Normandy Park — Check out the maps. When you visit the Beach Park, I bet you didn’t know that you’ve been ¹trespassing on Normandy Park land all these years!

Public Hearing

Item 1: Planning Commission Ordinance – 1st Reading – I’ve wanted this since it was abandoned in 2012-2013. Now that it’s ‘back’ I’m a bit wistful given that we’re doing this (like so many things) in the wrong order. My sense is that it will be tough to know an effective scope of work until we have the Strategic Plan in place.

Item 2: Amended Transportation Improvement Plan (2026-2045) – this item is to add more support for ‘ferries’ writ large. I was the lone no vote. After talking with every real transporation planner, the response was unanimous: we need a shuttle bus service in the south end; not ferry.

That’s the difference between policy and politics. The correct policy is shuttle service. What my colleagues have been successful at is convincing the County not to do that. Frankly, it comes down to this. They have to do what our Council asks; whether it’s the right policy or not. Democracy.

Unfinished Business

Item 1: City Council Compensation Framework and Survey Discussion — I was the lone vote against creating a new Salary Commission. See essay below.

Keen-eyed observers will note that the first meeting of the month would normally be a COW followed by a Study Session. This was one of those load-balancing issues I go on about all the time.

Ironically, the Council discussion about ‘salary’ was cut short without highlighting one detail. We budget–and schedule for–forty meetings a year (a bit more than three a month.) Residents ask me all the time where is the third meeting? The fact is, we never have ‘three a month’. This year will end with 32, I think? Which is typical. The reason the meetings get so jammed is because we don’t even follow that schedule. And we ended all our committees. Over-worked my heinie. 😀

New Business

Item 1: Animal Control Discussion Regarding Potential Contract with Burien CARES – the much-desired ‘return of animal control’. It never completely left. But it has been terrible. IMO, this simply brings it back to a passing grade. However, I want to remind readers why it went away: our budget. And so far, DocuPet, which is supposed to provide some of the dough, does not seem to be delivering. Here’s the deal: We stopped actively collecting seven years ago. And when you don’t collect? People stop paying. It will take a while to get the woid out and make people understand: everyone needs to license their doggies and kitties!

Item 2: Creating a Public Safety Sales Tax Fund – 1st Reading – speaking of which, this is the other piece of the funding pie for Animal Control and GPS Monica long-term. We’re going ahead as if it’s a done deal, but as of this writing, there is still some question as to whether our implementation plan, which requires state approval, is a go. Hope so. 🙂 😀

Executive Session

Pending Litigation RCW 42.30.110(1)(i) – 10 Minutes. Nothing to talk about since it’s both secret and like most ESs, a complete non-event. 😀

The CEO

Over the holiday I wrote the essay Pay, value, the SAMP, and the future. Last week I excerpted the first third–my opposition to pay increases for City Council. Here is the second third–my opposition to the City Manager’s pay increase.

For years there have been grave concerns over transparency across multiple domains. One was the 2016 hiring process for City Manager. To address that, last year’s process was really protracted. The entire Council wanted to make sure the public was fully informed and involved in that decision – including compensation.

But last Thursday, we sat for forty minutes in executive session, came out to an empty room, and in five minutes, approved three motions to increase compensation; not even waiting until the next meeting for the scheduled vote to to give the public a chance to weigh in. The desire to move this forward quickly and quietly was so obvious, the Mayor asked for a motion to end the meeting — forgetting to have a final vote authorising the City to prepare the contract. To his credit, the City Attorney did the right thing and double-checked to see if the Council really wanted to do it this way. Write-up and signatures. 10:00pm. All in one night. No one watching.

That is not transparency.

After one year (original agreement), the City Manager’s pay jumps from $245,000 to $269,000. And $6,000 more per year retirement funding until 2030. And three months extra severance (about $67,500.)

Earlier in the meeting, during our Budget discussion, our Finance Director acknowledged something many of you already know: the State of Washington is in a recession. Again, in my opinion, the optics are terrible.

How many of us get those kinds of boosts after one year? In this economic climate? In an organization that may well be losing as much money next year as in 2025?

During the hiring process, one of my colleagues wanted any reference to CEO—chief executive officer—changed to ‘chief administrative officer’. To say that I disagreed would be an understatement. I don’t even like the word “manager” for this role.

To me, a “manager” of 160 people connotes running a Safeway, not a complex organization representing so many long-term strategic interests. More than one of my colleagues refer to themselves as fellow employees.

I don’t think most people really think of their electeds as ’employees’ or would say it serves the public well. Though we often disagreed, former Mayor Pina used the metaphor of the coach of a professional team—with seven owners representing shareholders (you the voters.) That sounds closer to the mark. The Council sets goals. But the coach leads and develops the winning strategy. They’re not managing a store.

And we’re not employees. We’re the oversight. We must stand apart. I’ve been saying that since I ran for office. Frankly, it’s disturbing to hear newer Cms still calling ourselves ’employees’.

One truth is that, in her initial contract, the Council gave Ms. Caffrey almost everything she asked for. Another is that she got thrown into the deep end and could not possibly know ahead of time what she was getting herself into. I am extremely sympathetic. But I have to represent the interests of the residents who told me very clearly: be more cautious going forward.

The changes she has made thus far are great, but they are reactive, not proactive. That is no disparagement. On the contrary, her tasks during this first year have been neither ‘easy’ or painless. But though hard they were straightforward for any skilled manager: cut costs, rebuild customer experience.

The leadership—the CEO part—really begins in 2026. There must be new revenues. There is the SAMP. These are issues that are not easy. They are Mortal Kombat Level 23. And she needs to handle those effectively, sometimes despite the Council. Because frankly? We’ve had decades to act on various systemic issues and rarely had the will to do so.

(Note that the SAMP was announced in ¹2012 — and yet we literally waited until two weeks before an appeal deadline to act. And then act poorly.)

In other words, I see a great manager. But there has not been enough time to see a great CEO.

Nobody wants seven bosses. But City Councils generally do want leadership. Because, again, we are part-timers. We try, but truthfully, we are not always as well-prepared as we would hope to take on these challenges. We should come to grips with the reality that we are not a ‘small town’. We are often required to make decisions as complex as those of towns 2-3 times our size.  The danger, of course, is that is why we’re so easily bamboozled. When you make big-town decisions with a small-town mindset you are asking for trouble.

A leader is the person who gets to the airport solutions we should have had decades ago. A leader is someone who implements better accounting practices that help both the public and the Council see information they don’t know they need–so we can finally stop deluding ourselves. A leader is a mentor, one who doesn’t control, but helps decision makers see all the possibilities—not just the ones inside the bubble.

But we are gushing so hard to have a better communicator, we can’t see we’re engaging in exactly the same irrational exuberance as last time. People really should read the reviews of Mr. Matthias. Right up until the end, they were just as gushy.

We are, after one year, giving her larger increases than the ones people used to get so upset about. Discuss.

Not to sound snippy, but when he got his big pay days, (the ones that seem so much smaller now) the Council could at least try to justify it by saying that he’d put in several years and (cough) proven his economic genius. And at least then, everyone was required to vote in a full room. Not like people trying to slip one by at 10:00pm.

We always talk about wasteful spending at the federal government, the state government. During Ms. Caffrey’s hiring and in her initial review, the Council directly addressed salary inflation at the director level. These kinds of decisions make that even more challenging.

Look at what we do, not what we say. Last Thursday we seemed on the verge of giving ourselves automatic raises, during a financial crisis. We used the same rationale to give our City Manager about $100k in extra compensation — after one positive year.

(One other thing. Perhaps one reason some colleagues jones so hard for increasing the property tax cap is not because we can’t simply go to the voters. More likely it is because they like the word ‘automatic’. Automatic means “we can do it without having to convince anyone.” Get it? “It’s not us. It’s just automatic.“)

As with her predecessor, my colleagues have expressed concerns about her feeling appreciated. Perhaps even using Des Moines as a quick ‘resume-builder’ before jumping ship. This year was the resume builder? Have you seen our books?

But OK, taking those concerns seriously, perhaps this example might prove instructive – for all parties.

Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg took a much smaller initial package than his ill-regarded predecessor—recognising he had some serious trust building to do. But the board also included some pretty sweet, and specific, performance bonuses for future years. To my mind, that is a better way to compensate and show commitment to a leader you want for the long haul.

Better communication is great. But if you want someone who leads, you have to treat them like a leader–and then have the courage to evaluate them like a leader—not a manager. Both sides should have some skin in the game.