Normandy Park Town Hall: Dialogue, Community Building – and News People Need

Major topics: legislative agenda, education and public safety on Feb 4. Five elected officials and 20 more residents participated.

A Well-Attended Normandy Park Town Hall

The city of Normandy Park is hosting quarterly town halls. The town hall on February 4 was the first I’ve attended - but definitely will not be the last. The meeting was an outstanding experience at dialogue, discussion, and community-building. Plus I learned about something likely to save me a speeding ticket…. And much to my surprise, since this was a city meeting, one of the most prominent topics was education. More on this below.

There were 25 attendees - a mix of community members, city staff including the city manager, police chief and parks manager, and four city council members (permissible since there was no council action being taken). Newly elected King County Councilmember Steffanie Fain, a resident of Normandy Park with kids in the local schools, was one of the attendees.

To put the number of attendees in context, 25 attendees is about one percent of the Normandy Park voters who vote in a typical election, and one-half of one percent of all registered voters in the city. This was a significant turnout for a city the size of Normandy Park.

Attendees were from a wide range of ages and stages. There were some people who moved here very recently, while others have been residents for decades. Some have children who are  just a few weeks old, while others had kids in schools many years ago.

A Practical Takeaway: Speed Enforcement Is Increasing in Summer 2026

So what did I learn that will help prevent a speeding ticket?

Some big news from the police chief: this spring, a new officer will be joining the police force, bringing the total to 10 officers. At that time, there will be sufficient staff to add a motorcycle officer. Police Chief Dan Yourkoski says that motorcycles are much less visible, and much more effective at catching speeders. So, if you’re driving along First Avenue in between 160th and 216th, be sure you know the speed limit!

How Education Became a Central Topic

How did education come up at a town hall?

At least six attendees have children who are age 15 or younger. Deputy Mayor Sue-Ann Hohimer mentioned the school district strategic plan update, including the meeting on Feb 9 at Madrona Elementary School. (Highline Journal has written other stories about this). She pointed out that 60% of the property tax dollars we pay are going to the state or Highline for education, and that the city receives a very small part of the property tax total.

One of the attendees then gave a meeting report from the Feb 3 meeting that she had attended. Her comments were similar to the story we published about the Feb 3 meeting.

An Uncommon, Open Conversation About Academic Performance

Parents then brought up the issue of  “what do we do to get better academics? Should we put our pre-school kids in Highline when they are old enough for kindergarten?” 

We had quite a discussion, notable both for the passionate wishes of the parents and the free-flowing nature of the discussion. In 25 years of community involvement related to education, most discussions have been structured within a frame set by Highline district administrators who set the meeting structure and are all too willing to close down anything attendees want to discuss unless it fits with the district’s agenda or what the district’s talking points to attendees. 

Legislative Priorities

More than half the meeting was on topics related to the current legislative session. The city council votes on a legislative priority list each session with five or so key requests. The council’s 2026 Legislative Agenda includes: Public Safety, Homelessness, Local Road Safety, Environmental Enhancements, and Local Revenue.  We discussed these goals and current bills.

Here is the Legislative Agenda 2026 handout shared at the meeting. Look for it soon on the City of Normandy Park website. 

A very hot legislative topic is homelessness. One of the bills the city is closely watching would set very strict limits on how cities can address homelessness. The bill HB 2489  is of concern to many cities because it imposes very draconian requirements on what cities can and can’t do to assist homeless people. Normandy Park provides financial support to the South King County Homeless Project, and has a very gentle approach to dealing with cars and RVs that are parked in the city. But the parks close at night, and the bill could create some real problems for many cities. 

A request is to permit cities to raise property taxes by up to 3% each year instead of the current one percent limit. We discussed the police levy lift that funds more than half the police force, this is needed because of the one percent limit.

One of the attendees said he emails legislators but rarely hears back. He asked if others have had the same outcome of non response and many in the audience, including several electeds, said yes they often do not hear back.

City Facilities 

Other topics included city hall building condition, possible updates to the building, parks and public safety. The city hall building is in reasonable condition, but the council will be looking at some updates and renovations to keep the building usable for many more years. There are no plans for a new city hall, or even work towards developing a plan. 

Public Safety: Technology, Policing, and Community Response

One of the public safety topics was license plate readers. There are two in the city, and they have been a tool for catching a number of stolen cars. Now some thieves are removing plates, but when that happens the police are very likely to pull over that car without a plate. And speaking of police, we discussed 911 and non-emergency calls. Chief Yourkoski stated that often they wished they would get MORE 911 calls! Example: if someone sees a car without plates, it may well be stolen so give 911 a call.

Blockwatch and Community Preparedness

To close, one of the initiatives being launched this summer is a Blockwatch program. There are 12 “provinces” created in the city, each with a block watch captain. There are some training materials and a planned rollout.

I’ve always thought of Blockwatch as a way to help with crime prevention, but we learned there’s also a strong component of community emergency preparedness. This could include guidance at a neighborhood level in major storms, earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Why This Format Matters

Overall, this type of dialogue was a WELCOME antidote to all the negativity we can find online and on TV broadcasts. We covered a number of topics where there’s not space in the City Scene Magazine or the weekly city manager email. It was great to meet some neighbors, and great to be able to ask questions and get answers in real time. 

Normandy Park’s next Town Hall should be in early May. The quarterly town hall meetings started in 2024 and this was the sixth one. Dates are not set far in advance because they want to work around other events, for example, they learned the hard way not to have a meeting at the same time as a major Mariners game. 

Future meetings will be announced on the city web site events page, emails, magazine and yard signs posted around the city.