The Burien City Council will consider a draft ordinance repealing and amending the city’s minimum wage law, review a preliminary first quarter budget presentation, discuss the possible creation of a transportation commission and more at its regular meeting on Monday, April 20.
This will be the first regular council meeting with acting City Manager Rod Steitzer since Adolfo Bailon was placed on paid administrative leave at the council’s April 13 special meeting.
The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Burien City Hall (map below), and can be viewed live on Comcast TV Channel 21, via Zoom here and via live-stream here.
Download the full agenda packet here.
Agenda Highlights
PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
- a) Small Business Week Proclamation: Councilmember Alex Andrade
- b) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Proclamation: Councilmember Alex Andrade
COUNCIL REPORTS
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
PUBLIC COMMENT: Notice to all participants: Pursuant to RCW 42.17A.555, campaigning for any ballot measure or candidate in City Hall and/or during any portion of the Council Meeting – including the public comment period – is prohibited.
BUSINESS AGENDA
- a) 2026 Quarter 1 Preliminary Budget Presentation: Casey Headley, Finance Director
- b) Considerations for Establishing a Transportation Commission: Rod Steitzer, Public Works Director & Acting City Manager, Liz Stead, Community Development Director
- c) Discussion of Proclamations for Remainder of 2026: Devin Chicras, Communications and Public Engagement Manager
- d) Draft of Ordinance No. 892, Repealing and Amending the Burien Minimum Wage: Ann Marie Soto, Interim City Attorney, Rod Steitzer, Public Works Director and Acting City Manager
- e) Continued Discussion of Possible Violation of Executive Session: Ann Marie Soto, Interim City Attorney
- f) City Council Planning Calendar: Rod Steitzer, Public Works Director & Acting City Manager
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
- a) Executive Session per RCW 42.30.110(1)(i), to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency matters relating to agency enforcement actions, or to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency, with potential action to follow.
- b) Executive Session under RCW 42.30.110(g), to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment, with potential action to follow.
Public comment and hearing sign-up deadline is 4:30 p.m. on 4/20. Interpretación en español estará disponible. https://t.co/8VYr8AHmPu 2/2
— City of Burien, WA (@Burien) April 17, 2026
This new city council is partisan and not thinking what’s best for all members of Burien. They ve been looking for a way to fire the city manager who has a done a decent job of navigating through trying times. Rescinding the latest minimum wage that took hours to craft in order to find balance among employees, businesses and citizens of Burien is another activist move. Do the citizens of Burien want this? Do they want businesses to stay in Burien to make their lives easier…has the current city council met with all stakeholders? I await answers.
The citizens of Burien voted for the minimum wage law that they wanted after the past city council botched the one they tried to put forward. It was essentially a complex algorithm that business owners were unclear how to follow.
By repealing the botched one, the one that the PEOPLE voted for will go into effect and it will make things clearer.
As for the city manager, if the council can’t legally share the details of what’s going on as is the case in any employment action in any business, it seems like we don’t know whether or not he was a good employee. I personally prefer to wait until I have the whole story before I make a judgement on whether it was the right decision or not.