CM Sarah Moore

CM Sarah Moore Burien Councilmember and current Mayor Sarah Moore (She/They)

05/23/2026

Burien’s fair labor standards ordinance, enacted by voters in March 23, 2025, created a new minimum wage law impacting all employees in Burien and provides part-time employees with fair access to additional hours. Recent action by the Burien City Council on May 18, along with the development of new administrative rules, are helping provide greater clarity for employers and employees. Learn more at burienwa.gov/MinimumWage.

Hello from Mayor Sarah,Last Monday was the first in a month that did not have some kind of Council Meeting, and I have e...
05/18/2026

Hello from Mayor Sarah,

Last Monday was the first in a month that did not have some kind of Council Meeting, and I have enjoyed the brief break to spend more time on my garden and with my family. Over the weekend, my two grown kids and several of their friends came over to sample ice cream and toppings. It is always a joy to have them come home, but it was also sobering to see the world they are inheriting, hear about their challenges which are so different than the ones I knew, and to talk about the current issues, such as a tragic killing of Juniper Blessing, a young trans woman in the U District where Noa lives. Often as a parent, I feel as though I have little wisdom that is relevant, but am always there for unconditional love and support.

This week, I will be presenting two proclamations, both of which have personal significance to me and my family; more notes on each one. We will also be hearing from the city’s economic development staff, who will share an update on plans for event activation, watch parties, community celebrations and visitor attraction efforts in June and July coinciding with the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

This week we have two proclamations and one presentation.

a) Brain Cancer Awareness Month Proclamation

Burien’s Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Smith will be receiving this award, and sharing how he has channeled ten years of resilience into his learning on this topic. Brain cancer has impacted several of my friends and loved ones, and awareness, funding and early detection can save lives.

b) Mental Health Awareness Month Proclamation

The subject of mental health care is personally important to me. I grew up believing many of the stigmas about mental illness, and it took me many years to seek help for my depression. Once I began to receive treatment, I experienced a profound sadness for the barriers to my own and others’ mental health, and I hope that talking about this experience can encourage others to address mental health with the same openness as we do physical wellbeing.

c) FIFA World Cup 2026 Celebratory Event Activations Presentation

This presentation will highlight the ways that Burien is uplifting soccer and our international community in the summer of 2026, as the region celebrates the World Cup.

COUNCIL REPORTS

CITY MANAGER'S REPORT

A few weeks ago, Deputy Mayor Garcia and I attended a class hosted by Highline High School Civics teacher David Ruby. Students in the class asked us about several topics that are highlighted in this week’s manager’s report: the planned updates to Chelsea Park, the proposed zoning changes to the North of NERA neighborhood, and the need for youth to have supported physical activity after school.

PUBLIC COMMENT

If you wish to speak, please be sure to sign up by 4:30 Monday.

You may speak either in person in the council chambers, or via Zoom. You have up to 2 minutes to speak; I always recommend saying your key points first and plan about 120 spoken words per minute!

The comment sign up portal offers an option to give written testimony, but these comments are sent to council very near the start time of the meeting, meaning there is not much time for members to read them. I strongly recommend speaking in person or on zoom, or emailing the council at [email protected] or individual council members well before the start of the meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA

BUSINESS AGENDA

a) Joint Business and Economic Development Partnership (BEDP)/City Council Meeting

Each year or biennium, each of Burien’s commissions and board creates a workplan which council reviews for approval, and which then guides the work the commission does, the products they send to council, and indirectly, the actions the city takes and how its budget aligns with our different community advisory bodies.

A few years ago, Burien’s BEDP requested annual meetings with City Council, to discuss their work plan in a more robust manner than could be achieved by delivering a report with Q&A. The hope was that by having a sit down discussion, they could leave with solid information on whether council liked the direction they were going, and could avoid the unpleasant surprise of learning late in a project that it was not going to be adopted.

This year’s discussion will include a run-through of the BEDP’s 2025-26 work plan with special discussion of curbside pickup parking, a call for sustaining or expanding our current budget for code enforcement, and a more extended discussion on our city’s marketing identity. This will focus on the work the BEDP has been doing around creating a recognizable identity in its business corridor, with a theme of the “Heart of Burien” and heart themed art installations in our business core area.

Additionally, we will discuss the process of planning events, and ways the BEDP proposes to streamline the process and make it easier for event planners to host.

b) Discussion of City Council Rules of Order

Our April 27th Study Session included a lengthy and detailed discussion of the Council Rules of Order. There are what I hope is a small number of outstanding topics to resolve, such as rules applying to remote attendance, some definitions of an abstaining vote that do not align with how that vote is interpreted in other jurisdictions, and a new question I will introduce, about how the mayor calls upon council members to speak. I would like to encourage everyone to speak, and give a greater chance for this to happen before giving a second turn to anyone, and will introduce language proposing this change.

c) City Council Planning Calendar

ADJOURNMENT

I very much appreciate the feedback you bring forward. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your ideas about how the city can make engagement better for you.

In Service,

Sarah

Hello from Mayor Sarah,At Monday’s meeting, we will formally welcome Bob Larson as Burien’s interim city manager. Bob st...
05/03/2026

Hello from Mayor Sarah,

At Monday’s meeting, we will formally welcome Bob Larson as Burien’s interim city manager. Bob started on Tuesday, April 28th and is rapidly familiarizing himself with city issues. Bob was selected (by unanimous vote of the council) to serve as our interim city manager because of his vast experience as City Manager in Snoqualmie and Gig Harbor, and in interim roles since 2021, including in Newcastle and North Bend. He is very familiar with city governance and the role of the city manager and I believe he will provide stability to staff, while keeping the wheels of government turning.

PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

This week we have two proclamations.

a) Provider Appreciation Day Proclamation
b) Public Works Week Proclamation

COUNCIL REPORTS

CITY MANAGER'S REPORT

PUBLIC COMMENT

If you wish to speak, please don’t forget to sign up before 4:30.

You may speak either in person in the council chambers, or via Zoom. You have up to 2 minutes to speak; I always recommend saying your key points first and plan about 120 spoken words per minute!

The comment sign up portal offers an option to give written testimony, but these comments are sent to council very near the start time of the meeting, meaning there is not much time for members to read them. I strongly recommend speaking in person or on zoom, or emailing the council at [email protected] or individual council members well before the start of the meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA

BUSINESS AGENDA

a) Opportunity Zones Application Presentation

An Opportunity Zone is an “economically distressed” census tract that is also well suited for business development. Cities are allowed to set tax incentives for specified types of businesses or housing developments in those areas.

Cities apply for Opportunity Zone designation, which are then nominated by their state, and approved in a federal process. Burien currently has two opportunity zones, but criteria will become more stringent starting in January 2027. The city will need to reapply, and is expecting to only be approved for one zone. After analyzing our city’s census tracts, on Monday staff will share information on the two that are most likely to qualify. We will apply for both, knowing that both will probably not be approved.

Lest you are in suspense right now, the two zones that best fit the criteria are the Downtown Core, which is currently already an Opportunity Zone, and the west side of North Ambaum between 128th and 148th streets.

b) Introduction to Ordinance No. 892, Repealing and Amending the Burien

Minimum Wage

Burien currently has two ordinances regarding minimum wage. One, “Chapter 15.5, MINIMUM WAGE ORDINANCE” was passed by Council in October of 2024. A second, “Chapter 15.6, FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ORDINANCE” was passed by a vote of the people in February 2025. A city does not have the option of declining an ordinance passed by citizen’s initiative, so Burien enrolled the Minimum Wage into its city code, but did not give direction to employers on how to enact it or make clear which ordinance the city would enforce.

There are significant differences between the two ordinances, and this has created confusion among workers and business owners. The discussion on Monday will center around repealing Chapter 15.5, MINIMUM WAGE ORDINANCE, passed by council, which will leave the city with a clearcut guideline, Chapter 15.6, FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ORDINANCE, the Citizen’s Initiative, which, again, the city does not have the legal authority to repeal. There are two areas in Chapter 15.6, FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ORDINANCE, that have caused confusion. One is that the basis for the wage paid by large businesses will be set based on the current minimum wage in Tukwila. The other is some language describing the city’s role in enforcement, which may not be something an initiative can direct. Council will discuss adopting language clarifying them without altering the intent of the ordinance.

Because this took place over a year ago, many people discuss the two ordinances without having recently read them, so I am sharing links to both of them here, and I strongly encourage anyone interested in the subject to read both, but especially to read the one I have bolded, which is the Citizen’s Initiative that will be discussed on Monday night. Without an understanding of what this says, an already fraught subject will be clouded by lack of clarity on the language of the ordinance.

https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Burien/ #!/Burien05/Burien0515.html

https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Burien/ #!/Burien05/Burien0516.html

The fact that the minimum wage for Burien’s largest businesses is initially calibrated to that of Tukwila is troubling to some, and the supplemental language is intended to set a fixed starting amount instead of one dependent on an adjacent community.

I have heard from a few people who have a perception that the ordinance adopts the entire wage structure of the city of Tukwila. This is not the case and I urge anyone who has heard this, to read Chapter 15.6 Fair Labor Standards Ordinance and confirm the details for themself.

c) City Council Planning Calendar

ADJOURNMENT

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need more information about city business.

In Service,

Sarah

Hello from Mayor Sarah,Monday’s meeting will be a study session with two topics: to review and make recommendations abou...
04/27/2026

Hello from Mayor Sarah,

Monday’s meeting will be a study session with two topics: to review and make recommendations about the council rules of order, and to review our current budget status and discuss possible ways to improve it.

Pre-Pandemic, Council routinely held one study session per month. This meeting was intended to be a deeper dive on one or two topics, without the pressure of having to put any of them to the vote. Washington state statutes do not make provisions for study sessions. That doesn’t mean it’s against the rules to have them - just that there are no specific rules telling us how to do it. I advocated for having these sessions, and I’m excited to see how they work out.

This meeting presents a great opportunity to appreciate staff. During agenda setting, they let us know that they are trying some new modes of presentation and intend to give us a great study session. I am excited to see the results of their innovation. For the last study session, I shared with staff that I liked sitting around a table but felt uncomfortable with my back to the community. Staff innovated a new arrangement with council seated at tables in a horseshoe shape instead of at the dais, and it worked so well we will be using it again. What other innovations will we see?

AGENDA CONFIRMATION

PUBLIC COMMENT

While public comment is generally open for any topic, during study sessions and public hearings, comments are limited to the topics on the agenda.

If you wish to speak, please don’t forget to sign up before 4:30.

You may speak either in person in the council chambers, or via Zoom. You have up to 2 minutes to speak; I always recommend saying your key points first and plan about 120 spoken words per minute!

The comment sign up portal offers an option to give written testimony, but these comments are sent to council very near the start time of the meeting, meaning there is not much time for members to read them. I strongly recommend speaking in person or on zoom, or emailing the council at [email protected] or individual council members well before the start of the meeting.

STUDY SESSION AGENDA

a) Discussion of Burien City Council Rules of Order

I am excited to review some of our council rules. I would like to reduce the complexity required to sign up for public comment, by eliminating the different categories of speaker (resident, business owner, employee, other). I believe this would have the added benefit of allowing the City Clerk to create a single list of speakers, to which people could be added up to the beginning of the meeting. I am also open to changes in the order of the meeting, changes in length of time for various types of speaking, and some calls to clarify language around conflict of interest and other definitions.

I also hope to hear from you about what would make it easier or more accessible to speak publicly. I have heard from a few people asking for a change in meeting time. This can be brought up, and set in motion, but because the time of the meeting is not covered in our council rules, this will be treated as a separate topic.

Our awesome City Clerk Heather has created a very readable chart to show the suggested changes council made for its rules; this is a welcome alternative to reviewing a marked up document. The suggested changes were all submitted by council last time we discussed this topic in January. I expect there may be additional changes submitted at the meeting.

Council will be doing something like thumbs up for staff to incorporate each proposed change. Staff will bring back a document based on those changes, for discussion and a voting. Final vote will be at a future meeting and we can always amend it before voting.

b) Discussion of City of Burien Budget Plan and Timing

The packet does not have a preview of the budget presentation. It sounds like several departments are collaborating on a presentation they are excited to share, that was not finished when the agenda was published on Friday. This will not be a singular presentation, but part of a series of “bite sized” budget discussions as we work on the difficult process of stabilizing our budget.

ADJOURNMENT

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or to all of council with your thoughts on tonight’s agenda. This is a very good time to be heard as we are in the beginning stages, working to understand how these topics impact community and staff.

In Service,

Sarah

04/21/2026

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Hello from Mayor Sarah,There has been a great deal of reporting and speculation this past week, after council held an em...
04/19/2026

Hello from Mayor Sarah,

There has been a great deal of reporting and speculation this past week, after council held an emergency executive session and upon returning to public meeting, voted to place the city manager on paid administrative leave. Because the laws around these types of sessions prevent me from discussing the information shared in this session, there is very little I can say about the content, but I can offer these two reflections. The first is that there is a lot of churn in Burien right now and we are in the middle of it, not the end. The second, which is related, is that City Staff thrive on stability, and this is no doubt a challenging time for them. There are some significant gaps in continuity, with our interim city Attorney and temporary City Manager still coming up to speed. You should probably expect some processes to take longer and require more discussion than usual. Please be kind to our hard working staff, and recognize that they are doing a great deal of change management on top of the fine work they do in their regular, challenging jobs.

An example of the work they are doing is this tour, which the Parks and Public Works departments offered to all Council members, and which was a lot of fun, but mostly gave us a snapshot of the work, planning, successes and challenges our city staff experience.

PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

This week we have two proclamations.

a) Small Business Week Proclamation

b) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Proclamation

COUNCIL REPORTS

CITY MANAGER'S REPORT

PUBLIC COMMENT

If you wish to speak, please don’t forget to sign up before 4:30.

You may speak either in person in the council chambers, or via Zoom. You have up to 2 minutes to speak; I always recommend saying your key points first and plan about 120 spoken words per minute!

The comment sign up portal offers an option to give written testimony, but these comments are sent to council very near the start time of the meeting, meaning there is not much time for members to read them. I strongly recommend speaking in person or on zoom, or emailing the council at [email protected] or individual council members well before the start of the meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA

BUSINESS AGENDA

a) 2026 Quarter 1 Preliminary Budget Presentation

One of the responsibilities of a city council is to review the budget quarterly to make sure it isn’t going seriously awry from where it’s projected to be. In the first quarter, there are some timing issues that mean the budget actuals do not reflect precisely one quarter of our revenue and expenses each quarter. I have set aside extra time tonight and tomorrow before the meeting to go over this report to ensure I either understand or know what questions to ask. If you are unable to tune in to the meeting, please feel free to follow up with me directly and I will share my thoughts with you.

b) Considerations for Establishing a Transportation Commission

Burien currently has five community advisory committees, boards or commissions, to help inform decisions around issues important to the city, and to gather community input to bring to council. We will be discussing a proposed sixth group; tonight is simply a check in on whether staff should bring back a more filled out proposal to create this commission - a yes vote will not create the commission, but bring us closer to deciding if one is needed. I generally support this idea. Transportation is essential to quality of life, to thriving businesses, and to regional connectivity. However we are also having discussions about an Immigrant Commission and I want to understand whether the city can support seven commissions. For this meeting, I would be interested in staff bringing back more details.

c) Discussion of Proclamations for Remainder of 2026

The city of Burien announces Proclamations celebrating or recognizing a variety of topics throughout the year. Some of these proclamations are contractual requirements, such as Arbor Day which is required for our status as a tree city, and helps secure certain funding. Others reflect community requests, requests from city departments, or the values and priorities of the city or of individual council members. At a recent retreat, there was council support for reducing the number of proclamations read out loud during meetings, and seeking other ways to recognize important issues when there was not a person or group who could receive the certificate of recognition at the meeting. We will be reviewing the recommended subjects which are based on a known or likely recipient, for the rest of 2026. Having recently experienced the difference between reading a Black History Proclamation at a council meeting for which the recipient was unable to attend, and delivering the same proclamation to the recipient at a highly energized High School assembly, I am a surprise supporter of limiting our proclamations to those that can be awarded to someone.

d) Draft of Ordinance No. 892, Repealing and Amending the Burien Minimum Wage

At the risk of creating a very long newsletter, I need to talk about this item. Burien currently has two competing minimum wage laws - one passed by council, and one passed by a vote of the people in a citizen’s initiative. A citizen’s initiative is not debatable by council, and we should implement it, but it has been mired in a lawsuit. This discussion is around creating a council-sponsored ordinance that would satisfy the criteria of the initiative, and allow workers and business owners to understand what the legal wage is in the city of Burien. The proposed ordinance has been marked up with comments from multiple council members. It is going to be a workout to read through it and make comments on the suggested edits, which can then be sent back to staff for a cleaned up copy. It is not impossible, but unlikely that we will take a final vote at this meeting.

e) Continued Discussion of Possible Violation of Executive Session

The agenda offers very little insight into this item, and I have little more to add. I understand and take my legal and ethical obligation of confidentiality in these matters seriously and have an expectation that others involved in Executive Sessions will do the same.

f) City Council Planning Calendar

EXECUTIVE SESSION

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.

ADJOURNMENT

Thank you all for staying engaged. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or ideas of issues you would like to see the city address. You can contact me directly by responding to this email or you can email all of council at once using [email protected].

In Service,

Sarah

Hello from Mayor Sarah,In late 2024, Burien City Council passed a minimum wage ordinance, giving the city its first offi...
04/05/2026

Hello from Mayor Sarah,

In late 2024, Burien City Council passed a minimum wage ordinance, giving the city its first official minimum wage above the state minimum. There were numerous carve outs and exceptions to this ordinance, and in February 2025, the voters approved an initiative minimum wage that eliminated these gaps, removing tips and benefits from inclusion as wages, and phasing in minimums for employers of all sizes. The city of Burien has not implemented this initiative-based wage due to legal issues. This leaves Burien in limbo, without an agreed upon city minimum wage or grievance process. At Monday’s meeting, council will consider an ordinance designed to redress this issue by implementing a minimum wage that closely follows the initiative, but resolves the legal issue around the dollar value of the minimum wage. The ordinance we will be looking at is lengthy, detailed, and has many proposed changes. It may need additional legal review and changes - but I am excited to start the process of setting a minimum wage policy that is unambiguous and reflects the will of the voters.

I am also excited about other parts of the meeting. As you will see - we get to talk about the environment and how Burien maintains its open spaces.

PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

This week we have two proclamations and two presentations. This means the part of the meeting prior to public comment is likely to be longer than usual, but these are all important topics:

a) Earth Day and Arbor Day Proclamation

b) Sexual Assault Awareness Month Proclamation

c) Urban Forestry Program Study

Last year, Burien received a grant to study its tree inventory and measured it against 100 success indicators in 16 categories such as biodiversity, impact on human health, community participation and tree/forest health. I will treat myself to a deeper reading of the full 95 page report as a reward for finishing this newsletter. But it can be summarized as: Burien has work to do, but has taken first steps in many areas of urban forest health, and has an engaged community that is happy with the city’s planting of new trees but concerned about enforcement of tree removal policies.

d) Green Burien Partnership Annual Report

The Green Burien Partnership and other Green Cities partnerships are collaborations between cities, public and private entities, and community volunteers, to restore, expand and care for open spaces, parks and urban forests. We will receive an annual report on its activities, and the large number of city staff in multiple departments who will be reporting, is a testament to how many ways green space can positively impact communities.

COUNCIL REPORTS

I am part of the Sound Cities Association’s Public Issues Committee (PIC) and will be using much of my council report time to ask for council guidance on policy issues impacting cities regionally throughout King County. Specifically I will seek support for writing a letter to King County Council expressing concern at rising sewer rates, and calling out that this is part of a general trend of rising utility rates, note that the April 8th PIC meeting will include a panel discussion of state legislative priorities, and report briefly on a meeting held by the Governor’s office to discuss the impacts and limits of the state’s legislation regarding Federal law enforcement.

CITY MANAGER'S REPORT

PUBLIC COMMENT

If you wish to speak, please don’t forget to sign up before 4:30.

You may speak either in person in the council chambers, or via Zoom. You have up to 2 minutes to speak; I always recommend saying your key points first and plan about 120 spoken words per minute!

The comment sign up portal offers an option to give written testimony, but these comments are sent to council very near the start time of the meeting, meaning there is not much time for members to read them. I strongly recommend speaking in person or on zoom, or emailing the council at [email protected] or individual council members well before the start of the meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA

BUSINESS AGENDA

a) Introduction to Ordinance No. 894, Recognizing External Funding for Public Works Programs, Amend 2025-2026 Biennial Budget

b) Introduction to Resolution No. 532, Adopting the City of Burien Plan Annex to the King County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan

c) Draft of Ordinance No. 892, Repealing and Amending the Burien Minimum Wage

d) City Council Planning Calendar

In Service,

Sarah

04/04/2026

The North of NERA Rezone Project aims to support new employment opportunities while respecting the existing residents within the area north of South 138th Street to South 128th Street along Des Moines Memorial Drive. The project is exploring ways to remove barriers for local small businesses, including artisans and entrepreneurs, to thrive while adhering to Burien's strong environmental and tree protections.

We want to hear from you! At this early stage, the City is gathering feedback from residents, property owners, and businesses to help shape the plan! Learn more, take a survey, and find upcoming events at burienwa.gov/nnz.

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Burien, WA
98148

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