The Edmonds City Council meeting went along in smooth fashion for most of Tuesday night, with councilmembers voting to accept a property donation from the will of longtime resident Shirley Johnson and postponing to future meeting dates additional discussions on changes to the city’s stormwater code and plans for adding bicycle lanes.

But the tone changed when it came time for councilmembers’ comments at the end of the meeting.  Councilmember Vivian Olson began by taking Councilmember Adrienne Fraley-Monillas to task for what she called “two blatant code of conduct violations.” Olson said later the violations of the council’s code of conduct involve two incidents: In the first, Fraley-Monillas was seen on camera during a virtual Aug. 24 council meeting drinking wine, and in the second, she was observed during the Sept. 7 virtual meeting flashing a “loser” sign while a resident was commenting on the councilmember’s Aug. 24 behavior.

As Olson began her comment, Fraley-Monillas interrupted with a point of order, stating the council comment period “is an inappropriate place to be talking about individual councilmembers. If Ms. Olson wants to bring me up on charges, there’s always executive session to do that,” she said.

Olson then asked Mayor Mike Nelson — who as mayor runs the council meetings — if Fraley-Monillas had a valid point of order. In response, Nelson suggested that Olson “refrain from identifying specific councilmembers in their comments.”

Councilmember Diane Buckshnis then called her own point of order, stating that “the purpose of a council comment is to allow a councilmember to provide whatever information she or he would like to say.” Buckshnis then added that in the years that she and Fraley-Monillas have been on council, “we have named names” during council comments.

After Fraley-Monillas again interrupted, telling the mayor that the comments by her fellow councilmembers are “against our code of conduct,” Nelson replied: “It’s up to you. If you want to use this as a forum to go after each other, then you are going to go after each other. I’m not going to tell you not to. It’s common sense how you want to use your time. I’m not going to rule on how or what your council comments should be.”

Olson then continued, without using names: “I don’t really understand the refusal to own them (the code of conduct violations) and then render a sincere apology to the public for both. And with that being the case, where is the council majority — this is my message to full council — with sanctions for this councilmember, snubbing the public and our code?”

During her comments, Buckshnis reiterated she was “in full support” of Olson’s statements, at which point Fraley-Monillas introduced another point of order, stating “I am not going to bring my medical issues in front of this full council. And I understand this is election season.”

In an interview the day after the Aug. 24 council meeting, Fraley-Monillas said the wine had been left over from her dinner before the meeting, and she absent-mindedly sipped it during an on-camera vote. She also stated she was “in an extreme amount of pain” due to an infection, which she was going to have surgery for the next day.

Fraley-Monillas is running for her fourth council term, and will face former councilmember Neil Tibbott in the Nov. 2 general election.

During the meeting Tuesday night, councilmembers held a public hearing on the city’s stormwater management code, but agreed to continue it to next week because no one showed up virtually to offer public comment. Both Councilmembers Olson and Buckshnis noted they had received several emails from residents expressing opinions on the code changes, and they worried that some people may have had technical difficulties commenting via the Zoom platform. Continuing the meeting, they argued, would give them an additional opportunity to do so.

The city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit with the Washington Department of Ecology requires that the city maintain adequate stormwater management code for new development in order to protect surface waters. Each five-year cycle of the permit requires an update to the city code to remain compliant with the most current guidance from the ecology department. You can learn more about the proposed code changes here.

The council also had a lengthy discusion about a city plan to add over six miles of bicycle lanes in various Edmonds neighborhoods, funded by a $1.85 million Sound Transit Access grant.After collecting and analyzing parking and traffic data in the affected areas, followed by community outreach that included virtual open houses to gather residents’ input, staff and consultant Blueline presented a set of alternatives to the city council in May. 

The project was further discussed last week by the council’s Parks and Public Works Committee.

The project would install bike lanes in the following areas — 100th Avenue West/9th Avenue South from 244th Street Southwest to Walnut Street, Walnut Street/Bowdoin Way from 9th Avenue South to 84th Avenue West and 228th Street Southwest from 78th Avenue West to 80th Avenue West. However, most of the discussion Tuesday focused on just one project — the busy intersection of 100th Avenue West and Highway 104.

Two alternatives have been proposed — Alternative 1 provides bike lanes in both directions but would eliminate one through lane for vehicle traffic, which staff said would create traffic delays and driveway blockages during the peak afternoon commute. Alternative 2 would include a northbound bicycle lane crossing the intersection, while the southbound lane would be a sharrow (a marking to indicate a shared lane with vehicles). Alternative 2 also provides ramps so that southbound cyclists can exit on to the sidewalk, walk through the intersection and re-enter the roadway south of the intersection.

Councilmembers Luke Distelhorst and Laura Johnson reiterated earlier concerns, expressed during last week’s council committee meeting, that the delay for motorists — estimated at an average of 28 seconds during peak PM traffic — under Alternative 1 was insignificant when compared to the safety that a two-way bike lane would provide to bicycle riders.

“Basic mobility is a human right and designing only around vehicles is not sustainable for our climate or our safety or for just our future,” Distelhorst said.

Councilmembers Buckshnis and Kristiana Johnson said they weren’t happy with either Alternatives 1 or 2 for the intersection, and Councilmember Olson said that the delays caused by Alternative 1 would be “completely unacceptable.”

After more than an hour of discussion on the matter, which was scheduled to take just 15 minutes, the council agreed to postpone further debate about it until the Oct. 5 meeting.

In other action, the council voted unanimously to approve $320,500 in Edmonds Rescue Plan Fund grant awards — money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act — for the following nonprofit organizations:

Art Start Northwest: $18,000
Cascadia Art Museum: $50,000
Edmonds Center for the Arts: $50,000
Edmonds Driftwood Players: $50,000
Edmonds Waterfront Center: $50,000
Olympic Ballet Theatre: $45,000
Phoenix Theater: $27,500
Rotary Club of Edmonds: $30,000

The council also unanimously agreed to accept a property donation from the estate of longtime resident Shirley Johnson, with the understanding the land will be used as a community garden or park.

And it heard an annual update from the Snohomish Health District. You can view that presentation here.

You can watch the video of the Sept. 21 council meeting at this link.

— By Teresa Wippel