Yakima City Council Meeting Highlights for Tuesday, 10/13/26

We reviewed the whole Yakima City Council meeting from this week so that you don't have to. Here is the TL;DR version to give you all of the highlights of the meeting that you missed.

The meeting consisted of three main sections: Public Comments, approval of the Consent Agenda, and a presentation of the Proposed Budget for 2027-2028.

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Meeting Highlights: Flock Cams, Kratom Ban, and Proposed Balanced Budget

Yakima City Council Photo Credit The City of Yakima via Facebook

Public Comments

Several residents spoke about their desire to have the City of Yakima pass a ban on Flock cameras, citing concerns about the potential for misuse of the technology.

"We are not guinea pigs for you to test this technology on," said one Yakima County resident named Amanda.

Another public commenter asked the council to pass a ban on Kratom products to help prevent the potential for overdose and respiratory issues, and one speaker accused the council of discrimination for not responding to his pleas for an in-person meeting.

Another resident asked council to check on his case against City Manager Vicki Baker, and another was concerned about the abundance of campaign signs in the city and asked if they can be removed.

Consent Agenda

The consent agenda included items regarding construction engineering services for improvements on the Nelson Dam removal phase project. Council approved housekeeping items including approving funding for HDR Engineering Inc. $549,820 + $1,333,123.03 to Interwest Construction Inc.

2027-2028 Proposed Budget Presentation

City Manager, Vicki Baker told the council, "We have something to be proud of. I'm honored to present the proposed budget for 2027 and 2028. It's balanced, is fiscally responsible, and it does as much as possible to provide and preserve funding for essential services. It invests in critical infrastructure where we can, and it positions our city for growth."

Notable inclusions included:

▪ Lions Pool
▪ WA Fruit Center
▪ Park Bathrooms
▪ Fire Station 92

The proposal includes accepting RFP contracts to manage the Harman Center. It also includes moving funds for the Community Relations department (which has historically been funded by Public Access Channel cable franchise fees) into the General Fund.

While Tri-Cities' city councils are facing 11-13 million-dollar deficits, similar to what Yakima faced in last year's budget, Baker says Yakima is now able to balance the new budget while still keeping items that residents consider priorities, too, without using preserves.

She also says the city needs to consider reviewing its current 1% cap on property taxes because it creates a "math problem" every year due to the greater need for services from population growth.

You can view the City's entire Preliminary 2027/2028 Proposed Budget.