Cross_cutting

2:58 and that all of us deserve to be loved and compassionate with each other because this world has plenty of hate. Only the devil rejoices in the suffering and confusion of others. God wants you to have enlightenment, entendimiento, understanding of compassion, and that's all I ask. All I ask is for God to walk with me and anybody else within the sound of my voice to welcome God to walk with them also. God bless you all. Thank you, Carmen. Okay, then let's move on to the roll call. Michelle? Councilor Young? Here. Councilor Balcott? Present. Councilor Fuentes? Here. And Chair Marshall? Here. And Councilor Little is out. Today. Right. Are there any amendments to the agenda? None today. Thank you. We'll move right on.

3:57 We have three public hearings. And just a reminder for folks, the public comment for each of these hearings is on the topic of each of those hearings. There will be an opportunity for open public comment where you can speak more broadly to anything related to the county. So let's start with the 2026 midyear budget. I'm going to give you a little bit of an update on the budget supplemental. Is there some -- Emily will come forward and explain this to us. Thank you. Good morning, Council. I'll be providing some of the information. But, yes, Emily is very important in this role as our budget director and everybody else who participated in this process getting us to this point. So just a quick summary. House Bill 2015. They're provided for a grant for long-justice. That resulted in the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission establishing a $100 million grant program,

4:56 which is available through the end of June of 2028. This grant can be used for hiring, retaining, and training law enforcement personnel, peer counselors, and behavioral health professionals in a co-response role. The first round, the county was successful in getting a grant just less than $5 million. This request before you provides the appropriation authority for 14 additional FTE, including one-time startup costs and operating expenses. More specifically, in 2026, this is a partial year, with the anticipated start date in August is just over $700,000. And based on the parameters of the grant, this grant will pay for 75% of the cost through the grant period, with the county paying 25% of the cost, which will be covered through the new criminal justice sales tax that council has adopted.

5:49 For 2027, it's about $1.8 million, with the same 75-25% split. Additionally, just over $1 million is allocated in the one-time startup costs for equipment, supplies, training, and overtime. When the grant expires in 2028, the ongoing expenditures will then shift to the new criminal justice sales tax. And if council recalls, you had prior discussions on all of these starting in July of 2025 and actually have approved staff reports in April and July of 2026. In April, the allocation was for 26 FTE in the sheriff's office, and 22 of them which are sworn personnel. 43 law and justice impacts, that's for the courts, the clerk, the jail, public attorney, and prosecution, or public defense. And that is the impact for having additional deputies, and then three central services, which include HR, budget,

6:49 and payroll. In July of 2026, council accepted the grant, again, tolling just under $5 million. And so 12 of the 26 sheriff's office personnel that you've already approved is part of today's allocation. 10 will be added in 2026, and two in 2027, including the startup cost, and also including four positions in the jail. So this is really taking what you've already approved and doing the appropriation so that we can get the technical piece done so that the sheriff's office and others can start hiring now and this year so that they have that budget capacity. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Are there any questions from council at this time? Go ahead. Just one question. I know -- I'm curious if any form of, like, a percentage of this grant is being used for admin at all?

7:48 Let me take a look. I think this is just for the 12 of the 26 sheriff's office positions and 10 -- I think it's just deputies at this point, and then four. I would have to ask -- or maybe you have that information. Do you mean admin, like administrative staff, or an admin percentage to manage the grant? Yeah, like an admin percentage, which is often the process. I don't think so. But Diane is here, and she could probably clarify that just for sure. We do have -- and we do have admin on the ongoing portion for moving forward. I just don't know if it's this year -- This year, okay. -- in this budget.