As the power flickered and the windstorm approached during Mercer Island City Council’s Nov. 19 regular meeting, councilmembers unanimously adopted the Island’s 2025 state legislative priorities.
According to the city, the six priorities will “guide advocacy and support for issues important to the Mercer Island community.”
City senior management analyst Robbie Cunningham-Adams rolled through the priorities at the meeting, listing them as: Capital funding for emergency replacement of city’s sole water source; support for public safety; increase resources for behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment and prevention; support for affordable housing; sustainable funding preservation and maintenance of critical transportation infrastructure; and preserving and protecting the environment.
Cunningham-Adams provided some insight into the priorities, which are adopted each year: “The purpose of legislative priorities are to allow the city and you, council, to engage on issues with legislators directly, quickly and efficiently. So hopefully, this document will provide high-level goals of the city and that allow us to widely engage with the really specific language and bill writing that we’ll be working on in the coming months.”
A “long” 105-day legislative session awaits in 2025 and will run from Jan. 13-April 27, according to the Washington State Legislature site. To bring the city’s legislative priorities to fruition, MI city council and staff worked to prepare the draft priorities and strategy; part of the process included staff attending the Association of Washington Cities prep session.
One of the city’s major legislative priorities listed in Cunningham-Adams’ presentation includes: Seeking $3 million in emergency state funding to cover 15% of the cost to undergo emergency replacement of the damaged water supply pipeline, relocate the pipeline to a safer location and upgrade it with earthquake-resistant materials. Documents add that, “This will ensure the city is able to reliably provide safe drinking water and sufficient water pressure for fire response.”
Other priorities include: Increasing capacity at regional law enforcement academies; increasing prevention and intervention resources targeting opiates and other substances of abuse, specifically those disproportionately impacting youth and young adults; transit-oriented development that prioritizes housing and infrastructure investments near major transit infrastructure and walkable jobs; advocacy for fully funding and prioritizing maintenance of critical state transportation infrastructure; supporting legislation, partnerships and funding opportunities that advance the implementation of the city’s adopted Climate Action Plan (initiatives focus on clean energy, emissions reduction and more).
“I want to thank the staff in advance because it’s going to be a long session, obviously, but I know we appreciate all the work that you do to keep abreast of everything going on down there and give us the opportunity to engage with the right stakeholders and build coalitions,” said Deputy Mayor David Rosenbaum.
For more information, visit: https://www.mercerisland.gov/citycouncil/page/2025-legislative-priorities
PICKLEBALL SCENE
Last month, the city opened the Luther Burbank Park sport courts after contractor crews completed a major renovation project. It’s now pickleball time again for local enthusiasts on the eight new courts.
The city said that in order to give the aging courts a fresh look and needed repairs, crews rebuilt and replaced the court’s subgrade, installed new asphalt surfacing and marked temporary court lines, and completed various upgrades to the surrounding infrastructure.
City Manager Jessi Bon said at the Nov. 19 city council meeting that when warmer temperatures arrive in the spring, crews will return to install final surfacing and lines.
“Thank you to the community for their patience as we worked through some of the twists and turns with this project and we hope you enjoy playing pickleball in the rain for a few months,” Bon said with a smile.
A previous Reporter article noted that the project — which has a total budget of $1,186,102 — is funded by a $193,000 grant from the King County Parks Capital and Open Space Program, the city’s Capital Improvement Program fund and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
