The Kent Committee of the Whole and City Council met on Nov. 3, 2026, where local leaders centered on state legislative advocacy, fiscal planning, and municipal infrastructure.
Front and center was the approval of the city’s top legislative priorities for the upcoming state session.
Alongside these legislative goals, the council passed the 2027–2028 biennial budget, previewed upcoming state-mandated changes to local parking requirements, recognized Environmental Engineer Melissa Dahl as November’s Employee of the Month, and approved key upgrades for the city’s indoor firing range.
Legislative Priorities
During the Committee of the Whole, the council approved legislative priorities for this next state legislative session. Top five priorities include seeking $5 million for a clean energy demonstration project. This would fund installing solar panels with a battery storage system at the new administrative services building.
Other priorities include offering more support for the aerospace industry, in order to ward off the increasingly generous offers from other states in an effort to take aerospace companies from Washington. In addition, lobbyists will ask that incentives for warehouses be removed, in order to favor more manufacturing jobs instead. They will also lobby for the state to cover ever increasing public defense costs, and repair liability issues that are growing more costly for cities.
Finally, lobbyists will ask for more sustainability regarding the local economy and sales tax. The state recently dropped sales tax on certain items, like diapers and over the counter medications, but they are making up the revenue loss with the new millionaire’s tax. However, cities no longer collect on that sales tax either, but aren’t directly benefitting from the millionaire’s tax. This leaves cities with a big revenue shortage.
Kent collaborates closely with surrounding communities on regional advocacy, but the city is taking charge on these top priorities because they deliver the greatest direct benefit to local residents and businesses.
Other Business
The council unanimously approved a slight property tax levy as well as the 27-28 biennial budget, after several hearings and presentations in recent months.
The council heard a presentation on mandatory changes to parking requirements that will be coming soon. In order to follow new state parking reform law, cities can no longer have parking minimums on residential units under 1,200 square feet, or for commercial spaces under 3,000 square feet. Affordable housing, senior housing, and childcare also will no longer require parking. Finally, residential developments near transit will not have parking requirements. This was a presentation only, but the changes will come before the council for a vote before the end of January 2027.
It was mentioned that parking issues are a sore subject for the council and city as a whole. Reduced parking requirements are meant to increase affordable housing while also increasing public transit ridership. However, Kent has very limited east-west public transit connections, and no control over transit issues.
November Employee Of The Month
Melissa Dahl is Kent’s November Employee of the Month. Dahl was first hired by the city in 2018 and has worked her way up to Environmental Engineer 3, earning her engineering degree along the way. She is very accomplished and has shown incredible growth over her career with the city. Mill Creek in particular has benefitted from the grants Dahl has procured, with improved fish and wildlife habitat as well as flood resilience.
Indoor Firing Range Upgrades
The council approved a $476,928 bid for acoustical upgrades at the indoor firing range, where Kent’s police officers receive firearms training. The bid includes the removal and replacement of existing sound-dampening panels, as well as lead abatement.
