Town hall event explores a range of Federal Way issues

Published 2:46 pm Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Federal Way city leaders invited community members to a town hall on April 30 at Olympic View K-8.

Mayor Jim Ferrell announced the town hall after a heated special Federal Way City Council meeting where public commenters shared strong views about immigration, student protests and the removal of Councilmember Martin Moore as council president.

Several months later, the focus of the town hall included a more broad array of topics, both from city staff in presentations and in comments from community members.

Federal Way opened the town hall meeting with a welcome from Ferrell and a greeting from the council shared by Council President Susan Honda.

Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang then shared an overview of crime statistics, highlighting positive progress on violent crimes, and open-air drug use.

While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was addressed as a topic during the town hall, there were no statements in particular about the needs or challenges of immigrant communities in Federal Way. Instead, the city focused on the issue through a law enforcement lens.

FWPD Deputy Chief Kyle Sumpter shared an overview of three topics on the subject of immigration.

These included how the police department works with ICE (they are legally not allowed to, and do not), whether ICE can access Flock cameras (the FWPD doesn’t share data) and how new laws impact the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), specifically the widely known brand Flock.

Sumpter confirmed the police department has turned off the ALPR devices that were in use on police vehicles, but that the few Flock cameras in the city will remain on.

Later during the town hall in response to a community comment on the question, Ferrell addressed unconstitutional actions by ICE officers in other areas of the country for the first time.

“Probably the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen is law enforcement in masks. It’s absolutely outrageous. It’s un-American, and I do not support that,” Ferrell said.

“There is probably nothing more important in the Constitution than the right of people to be secure in their persons, especially in their homes. The Fourth Amendment in Article One, Section Eight of the state constitution, that is sacrosanct. When I heard that there were invasions into homes by ICE, into private homes without a warrant, that is a clear demarcation line,” Ferrell continued.

“What I want to be careful about is that we would certainly not stand by and watch our people be brutalized. If we were aware that non-warrant entries were occurring in homes, we would show up to that location, and do everything we could to say, ‘stop that.’”

Ferrell then clarified that issues of legal violations of constitutional rights should be dealt with in the courts, and that federal supremacy still applies when it comes to law enforcement actions.

Other FW issues

Federal Way community members brought a wide variety of other questions, including specific requests for updates about the Commons Mall and the former Jack in the Box that was damaged by a car and subsequent fire, as well as inquiries about crime, youth violence, and celebrating diversity through a flag policy.

On the subject of the mall, Ferrell said that while the city has been trying to work on a development agreement with owner Merlone Geier, they are currently at a stalemate because of the company’s request to waive wastewater standards.

“There has been, unfortunately, a real slippage with the Commons. It’s a private business. We have done everything we can to incentivize [changes], but we’re not going to look the other way with regard to ecology standards,” Ferrell said.

The city shared other updates on the downtown area, including progress on the civic plaza next to the Performing Arts and Event Center.

The plaza includes a turf lawn, shipping containers that can be utilized for pop-up vendors and event equipment storage, and more. This will be the site for the upcoming three-day Kickin’ It Federal Way festival.

Another community member asked for an update on a Jack in the Box location on South 312th Street and Pacific Highway South that suffered damage when a car ran into it and caused a fire a few years ago.

Ferrell said that the fast-food restaurant has taken a lengthy amount of time to reopen because of disputes around the extent of the fire damage and what could be covered. Then an out of compliance roof was installed, which had to be replaced. But ultimately the plan is for the location to reopen as a Jack in the Box as soon as possible, Ferrell said.

Other comments focused on community safety. And while many accomplishments around reduction in crime in the city were celebrated, several youth in attendance asked about youth violence that they said is not decreasing.

Ferrell’s first response was that accountability needed to be increased, but added that “it’s also important to engage youth in the community and making sure that we’re supporting organizations that really help youth before that decision ever gets made.”

FWPD Chief Hwang added that restrictions on police officers’ ability to interview minors without a lawyer add to their challenge of addressing situations involving youth. These laws were put in place to protect vulnerable minors from self-incrimination or coerced confessions, but can also cause investigative roadblocks for law enforcement, he said.

Several community members highlighted the importance of investing in local youth engagement and diversion programs. Community member Allison Fine said that “if we are getting kids who are high risk into programs where they don’t ever end up with a gun in their hand or they voluntarily put it down, then we don’t have to put them in jail the first time, because there is no first time.”

She added that “there are only a handful of programs that I know of in this community that serve youth outside of the schools, and our schools are broke, so those programs that are here. I hope we’re funding them.”

Other community members brought up personal grievances that they said they had not been able to get a response about through any other medium, while others shared comments and observations about the city.

Overall, the event provided space for a back-and-forth dialogue and in-depth discussion of pressing community issues that is often not possible at council meetings or other city forums.

City leaders stayed a half hour past the advertised end of the town hall to approximately 8:30 p.m. to hear all the public comments.

The full recording will not be released, but the city will share highlights of the event on its YouTube channel.