 Monday night’s council meeting was filled with goodness! Prior to the beginning of the meeting, we welcomed our newest councilmember Lisa Stirgus! Council Chambers was packed with friends, family and community members who all shared the common goal of celebrating Councilmember Stirgus' official addition to our already-stellar Auburn City Council.
 I said this during the swearing-in ceremony -- which you can watch on YouTube -- but Lisa is only the third councilmember to be appointed to our council in the last 20 years. Deputy Mayor Cheryl Rakes was appointed in 2023, and then you have to go all the way back to July 2003 -- when I was appointed to council.
 We had 45 applicants for this position -- a great problem to have because it means our residents are engaged -- but it also meant competition was steep! Lisa exudes confidence, character and integrity, and she cares deeply about the City of Auburn.
I know she is going to be an amazing addition to your City Council and she’s excited to get started!
 Saturday morning, I joined the residents of The Bridges for an Easter Egg Hunt in their park. The weather wasn’t exactly perfect, but the kids couldn’t have cared less. The basketball/tennis court was scattered with plastic eggs for the “Under three” residents, and the remainder of the park was for those over three.
 Once the countdown was completed, the kids ran for the brightly colored eggs, and in under a few minutes, the treasures had all been scooped up!
 Just a couple hours later, it was time to celebrate with a ribbon cutting at the Postmark Center For The Arts and the lower level -- please don’t call it a basement (thanks Daryl Faber)! In addition to the ribbon cutting, there were artists demonstrating screen printing and yarn weaving. It’s so exciting to see this beautiful and historic building brought back to life.
 The space will be a gathering place for all types of artists including jewelers, printmakers and others – along with classes for our community. If you didn’t get a chance to celebrate with us on Saturday, don’t let that stop you from coming by sometime very soon to check it out for yourself.
 If you've registered -- you already know where you're going!
If you haven't, meet us at the Community and Events Center for breakfast and then we'll see you out and about at Clean Sweep!
📅 Saturday, April 26
⏰ 8:30 a.m.
📍 Auburn Community and Events Center | 910 Ninth St. SE
 Lunchtime never looked so good!
Join us every Tuesday this spring and summer for Food Truck Tuesdays at City Hall Plaza in downtown Auburn. Each week brings a rotating lineup of some of the best local food trucks -- so there’s always something new to try! Grab your coworkers, friends, or family, and make it part of your weekly lunch tradition alongside Eat Local Mondays!
Enjoy good food, soak up the sun, and celebrate all that downtown Auburn has to offer. Parking is free and plentiful on city streets and garages.
No registration needed -- just show up hungry!
📲 Get the weekly truck lineup and menus here.
 Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation hosted its annual Peter Cotton Trail event last weekend. What started as a social-distancing event during Covid has turned into an annual tradition that has become beloved by the community.
 It’s a four-day scavenger hunt (looking for hidden paper bunnies) showcasing 16 parks & trails.
We estimate nearly 1,700 participants; with over 700 people of all ages submitting scorecards to be eligible for a prize.
One of the pieces of the event that is special is we receive so many positive comments when people submit their scorecard, and I wanted to share some of our favorites with you!
 “Thank you Auburn Parks for putting together the Peter Cotton Trail Event. We try to attend each year as it's so fun. This year we had a beautiful sunny day to search for the bunnies. Thanks for making some of the parks accessible so everyone can participate too! This is a great addition for families, people with disabilities, and kids with strollers and the like. Thanks for a fun event for the community and an opportunity to explore your amazing parks!”
“Thanks Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation for putting together the Peter Cotton Trail Event. It's a fun activity that is great for families and the community. What a great way to showcase the great park system you have available. Although it's fun to park hop, we appreciate the thought to make certain parks accessible for all! This works well for families that have small children, elderly adults, people in wheelchairs and walkers and still others with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Thanks for a great job thinking about full participation and inclusion!”
“MANY THANKS! IT was such a unique experience and made great fun time and was amazing to see other people walking around different ages looking for the bunnies such a great community!! Love City of Auburn, been great.”
“We had so much fun looking for bunnies. I love it's for all ages and abilities. The park was beautiful draped in pink flowers. Thank you for putting on this event.”
“This was a lot of fun and we found so many new parks, squirrels, actual bunnies, people larping, families spending time together and ours too. Thanks for a new tradition for our family!”
“This is the silliest thing for a 57-year-old to do, and I just love it! I go to the 4th of July Celebration, and I am one of the first to register for the 3K at Petpalooza each year, but I just love bunny hunting.”
“I loved looking for the bunnies with my family! It was kinda fun going through the park and trying to find them all and it gave us a chance to bond since we haven't done that in a while! 😃”
“I've always wanted to try out this event but this is our first year actually doing it. We love Auburn's annual Peter Cotton Trail and will be making this a traditional Easter activity for our family to enjoy from now on! Thank you!”
“We love this tradition, we bring the whole family 3 years in a row.”
“I had a fun time looking for the bunnies while also getting a bit of walking in & sunshine. It made my walk much more enjoyable. Thank you for putting on this event!!”
“Thanks for giving us seniors and the kids the fun of hunting in the parks !!!!”
“Such a fun experience to share with family and the community.”
“This was a fun adventurous walk with my husband, twin girls, and our dog Oreo. We all enjoyed it so much!”
“This was unexpected fun for me as an adult!”
“Really fun! I was curious about the bunnies on one of my favorite walking trails yesterday and ran into the sign while leaving. Went back today and spent some quality time in the sun looking for bunnies!”
“We had so much fun! Especially finding the new bridge at Game Farm!”
“Fun! And we got to explore new parks.”
“Super fun way to explore Auburn parks!”
“Really enjoyed this with my family and found a new park to explore.”
“That was fun, even for an octogenarian!”
“Our children had so much fun looking for the bunnies. It was our first time participating and we look forward to this next year!”
“This was a fun way to see some new parks! I plan on visiting more on the list today and tomorrow to look for more.”
“This activity is very interesting and fun, and can also touch the family's feelings and team spirit.”
“My 3 kids and I had a wonderful time walking through both parks and going on an adventure. Thank you for the memories.”
“Thank you for providing a fun and free activity to do with my child. We look forward to it every year.”
“Very engaging mini adventure. Had so much fun spending outdoor time with my boys!”
“We love to do this on Easter Sunday after church and before Easter dinner, it has become a tradition in our family. Thank you for providing this fun family event!”
“We had so much fun as a family!! We even went to some new parks we have never been to! Our dogs even had fun! Thank you so much for having this :)”
“This is so much fun! We love coming down to hunt for the rabbits every year!”
“My 2-year-old grandson absolutely loved searching throughout the parks for bunnies! This was a great activity for us to do together.”
 Also on Monday's council agenda was a proclamation for National Therapy Animal Day, and we had two guests join us -- Marjorie and Willow.
This holiday is an important day to recognize and celebrate the amazing work of therapy animals and their handlers in communities across the country, especially in South King County and Auburn.
But don't just take it from me -- shortly after the proclamation, Marjorie emailed us to share her and Willow's stories and the amazing work they do in the community. The following is pulled directly from biography information she shared.
 "Hello, My name is Marjorie and this is my partner Willow. We are a registered Therapy Animal Team with Pet Partners.
I’m a retired civil servant and have lived in Auburn most of my life. My partner Willow is a three year old Golden Retriever. She comes from a family of Therapy Animals who volunteer across three states. Her grandparents, her mother and her sister, so far!
We started visiting facilities such as Libraries, Police Stations, Senior Centers, Assisted Living and Memory Care Facilities, as well as participating in Work Place Wellness events in April of 2024. So far Willow and I have gone on 32 visits, driving over 550 miles in South King and Pierce counties, spending over 30 hours to share the love of Therapy Animals with almost 600 people. It is so wonderful to see the joy that these animals bring to people through the human animal bond!
There is a great need for more Therapy Animal teams to answer the many requests for visits in our community.
If you are interested in becoming a Therapy Animal Team, or volunteering go to petpartners.org and find out how!
Did you know that Pet Partners registers 9 different types of animals? Dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, birds, miniature pigs and llamas and alpacas."
Thank you Marjorie and Willow for all that you do!
 I am so proud to share that the City of Auburn has been recognized with the 2025 Public Works Project of the Year Award from the American Public Works Association’s Washington Chapter! This is a significant honor, with only nine projects across the entire state receiving this recognition -- and Auburn’s Coal Creek Springs Transmission Main Replacement Project was one of them.
 This project, which earned top honors in the Transportation category for projects under $5 million, is an incredible example of the innovation, hard work, and commitment to community that define our Public Works team. What began as a necessary upgrade to replace a nearly century-old section of Auburn’s vital water pipeline beneath the White River turned into so much more. The result isn’t just infrastructure -- it’s impact. This new utility bridge safeguards our city’s water supply while also enhancing public access by connecting Game Farm Park and Game Farm Wilderness Park with a new pedestrian trail.
 I want to specifically recognize Project Engineer Seth Wickstrom, whose leadership and technical expertise helped bring this project to life, and whose dedication to doing things the right way shines through in every step of this work. Thank you also to Public Works Director Ingrid Gaub and Assistant Director Jacob Sweeting for their steadfast leadership and vision, ensuring that projects like this serve not just today’s Auburn but tomorrow’s as well!
 Tuesday morning was so joyful as I joined Yo Soy Único Bilingual Child Care to celebrate Earth Day! Carmen Corbin is the CEO, and she has grown from one location to three with another set to open in Des Moines.
 They were recently honored with a Small Business Administration award and won Best Daycare in the 2024 Best of Auburn! The event began with a parade of flags, and then to skits about “Reduce-Recycle-Reuse”, water useage, and more. The children were having a wonderful time, as were the proud parents, teachers, and me! Whenever I get a chance to get out from behind my desk and get out into the community, it’s a glorious day, and this was no exception.
 Thursday was the Career Showcase at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent. The event attracts between 80-100 employers, including major organizations like City of Auburn, City of Kent, Sound Transit, Boeing, and Alaska Airlines.
 The event also had a great turnout for the Seattle Building and Construction Trades! Well over 1,000 students attend annually, and this year was no exception. I really enjoyed walking around – talking with some of the employers, and listening to the students as they walked around to the booths they were interested in.
 What I really love about this event is the fact that there are jobs/careers for everyone! I spoke with Ricky from the UA Local 669 Sprinkler Fitters of Seattle, who told me he wished that he’d got into the profession even earlier than he did! He was in the job market for ten years before he found his career, and now he works for the Local to help young people find their passions as early as possible. A big thank you to Billy Hetherington, Political Director for Laborers Local 242 and other members of the Career Showcase at the ShoWare Center Planning Team for a great event!
 Thursday was also Bring Your Child To Work Day, so we started the morning with a light breakfast, goody bags and then a chance to participate in a mock council meeting. They all did a great job – whether they decided to be mayor or councilmembers or members of the public who spoke to the mayor and council.
 The issues they spoke on were potholes, trails, and the desire for more waterparks. The council decided to vote to “fix the roads” and it was a unanimous decision! The kids also got to spend some time with their parent or grandparent to learn more about the jobs that they do. We met up again for lunch and photos, and then they were off for a tour of city hall and other areas of the City -- I think the old jail was their favorite!
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