City reports $500,000 playground grant, 61 ADA ramp installations and cybersecurity grant submission

City Manager Matt and department staff briefed the council on a series of operational updates and grant actions. Parks and Recreation received notice of a $500,000 Recreation and Conservation Office grant award for the Margaret Kerner playground. Public Works reported 61 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramps are being installed around the city under a Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) award that produced roughly $705,000 for sidewalk and ramp work along Washington Street; the city said the current contractor work will continue over the next six weeks. IT and public works staff also prepared and submitted an application for a state cybersecurity grant of about $300,000 to improve firewall, authentication and password protections; staff said they expected to learn results by September. Staff highlighted the city’s summer engagement in parks: Sequim’s parks program ranked third nationally in the Puget Sound area for utilization of the Agents of Discovery children’s app and staff reported a creative summer program and strong public participation. The city manager also described ongoing coordination with state legislators on a multi-year SIMDARS project and improvements to the annexation process with Clallam County to streamline development reviews. IT staff noted they are piloting new firewall protections and single-sign-on/password management for staff and council, and asked councilors to expect rollout materials and optional device support.