Council members discussed coordinating trips to Olympia to meet state legislators during Association of Washington Cities (AWC) action days and to conduct separate visits organized by the city lobbyist.

Deputy Mayor Fertani outlined both the AWC schedule and the option of arranging a separate city delegation. Members reviewed date options (including Jan. 28 and several February dates) and debated whether to travel as a single group or in smaller delegations. Fertani noted that lobbyists arrange short meetings with legislators and that an overnight stay can make scheduling easier.

“We had 15, 20 minute meetings with all 3 of our legislators,” one councilor recalled of a recent trip, describing those meetings as effective for securing funding. The mayor said in a prior visit legislators “did end up putting in about 1,000,000 line item for the lakefront park for us,” and councilors cited that as an example of how in-person advocacy can yield results.

Council members asked the clerk to circulate availability and the city’s lobbyist to help schedule meetings. No final travel list or dates were decided at the work session; members agreed to coordinate offline and have the city clerk send emails to gauge interest.

Next steps: the clerk will gather council availability and the lobbyist will propose meeting slots with legislators; any formal delegation or travel policy considerations will be finalized before travel arrangements are made.