Des Moines City Manager’s Weekly Report for week ending Dec. 1, 2023

Des Moines City Manager’s Weekly Report for week ending Dec. 1, 2023

Tree Lighting

The City’s annual Tree Lighting ceremony will take place tonight, December 1, at the Big Catch Plaza (21640 Marine View Dr. S). Hosted by Destination Des Moines, with the assistance of City staff, this event starts at 5pm and features hot cocoa and cookies, holiday music, and photo opportunities with Santa. The tree lighting will occur at 6pm. Additional into can be found here.

Santa Breakfast

This Saturday, December 2, the City is hosting Breakfast with Santa at the Des Moines Activity Center. New this year — families (or singles) can drop in from 1-2 p.m. for photos with Santa without attending breakfast. Information and tickets can be found here.

Street Racing Emphasis

Starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and continuing over the holiday weekend, our DMPD was working with partner agencies regarding intel about the potential for “street takeovers” by a large group of racers. A DMPD Traffic Officer was assigned to assist with the Task Force. The Task Force located a large group of racers in Kent on Saturday night and disrupted the group, including making an arrest and impounding a vehicle. There were no incidents of illegal street racing in Des Moines as a result of the officers’ proactive enforcement and presence in known racing areas.

Comprehensive Plan Update

The Des Moines Comprehensive Plan serves as a roadmap that expresses our community’s goals and aspirations for how we want to grow as a City and prosper into the future. A full periodic review is currently occurring. This is a once in a decade opportunity to revisit our community vision. If you are a Des Moines resident, your input is crucial to the success of this plan. Please provide your input here to help inform the Comprehensive Plan Update.

Meetings of Interest

In addition to day-to-day administrative duties, this week I met with Consor (the City’s communication consultant) to discuss timelines and next steps for our Communication Study currently underway. We held our hi-weekly senior staff meeting. I met with our Legislative Advocate to prepare for Council consideration 01 2024 legislative priorities. I also held one on one meetings with Councilmembers Harris, Steinmetz and Achziger.

Emergency Operations Updates

On Tuesday, the City held a Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) Advanced Training. CERT Members were instructed by the City’s Director of Emergency Management and Workplace Safety, Shannon Kirchberg on how to use the Emergency Plan template “Get Ready King County.” The City will be holding additional classes in 2024 that will be open to the public as a whole.

City Council Meeting Summary

No meeting this week. Our next meeting is Thursday, December 14. A link to the agenda for that meeting will be posted in next week’s City Manager’s Report.

Sports Update

Although the Seahawks already lost this week, the undefeated Washington Huskies take on the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Championship game tonight at 5pm. Go Dawgsl No Cougar football this weekend. As of today, there are only 85 more days until the Mariners start Spring Training.

Have a great weekend,
Tim George
Interim City Manager