City of Kent Committee of the Whole and Workshop - October 6, 2026

The City of Kent Committee of the Whole, followed by a council workshop, met October 6, 2026. The committee voted to authorize the mayor to sign a consultant services agreement with Universal Protection Service LP, doing business as Allied Universal Security Services, for one unarmed municipal-court security officer. The agreement formalizes the vendor’s existing service and provides coverage through June 1, 2029, at approximately $70,000 per year, subject to final terms acceptable to the court administrator and city attorney. The committee also adopted Ordinance 4551, raising hourly compensation for pro tempore judges and court commissioners from $70 to $80. Payment of bills and the September 15 meeting minutes were approved as well.

The workshop continued review of the proposed 2027–2028 biennial budget; no budget adoption or procurement vote was recorded. Budget items discussed included setting aside $2 million annually for automated water-meter readers, pending further analysis, and a roughly $65,000 upgrade to the existing meter-reading system; a remote mower purchase with ongoing maintenance costs of about $10,000 per year; and $150,000 for the Wreath Road path design grant match. The presentation also described shared-fund costs for a Cityworks cloud migration and system replacement, and a one-time $400,000 general-fund transfer for contracted right-of-way and encampment cleanups. These were budget proposals or updates, not recorded contract awards.