By Mellow DeTray

From imminent park renovations to evolving law enforcement technology and shifting community feedback, the Normandy Park City Council tackled a diverse agenda during its June 23, 2026 study session.

Key discussions centered on the upcoming summer closure of Marvista Park for improvements, alongside major updates from Police Chief Dan Yourkoski regarding a ten-year lease on AI-powered bodycams and the increasingly restricted use of Flock license plate readers under new state laws.

Additionally, the council analyzed a noticeable dip in recent Citizen Satisfaction Survey results, sparking a conversation on community engagement and transparency.

Marvista Park Improvements & Closure

Improvements to the popular Marvista Park have gone out for bids, and if all goes as planned construction will begin the second week of August. The work, which should be completed by the end of the year, will require closure of the playground. The community will be notified in advance of this closure. Deputy Mayor Sue-Ann Hohimer expressed concern about closing the shady park during the hottest part of summer, and suggested the city do a couple of sprinkler days to give kids a way to cool off.

New AI Bodycams

Police Chief Dan Yourkoski said the department’s five year lease on bodycams is expiring, and they are going with a new provider. The new body cams will be an upgrade, capable of using AI technology to instantly translate 75 languages. Chief Yourkoski said this will enable officers to communicate with local speakers of Vietnamese and Ukrainian, as well as Spanish and many other languages. The new bodycam lease will last for ten years, with automatic device upgrades every 2.5 years so the department always has the latest tech.

Flock Cameras

Chief Yourkoski also updated the council on the city’s use of Flock automatic license plate readers, in light of new state legislation that strictly limits their use. He said the department is in compliance with all new rules, to the extent that they are able. Each camera location must now be registered with the state. He mentioned that the attorney general still hasn’t created the portal required to properly register, but the department is ready to do so when that portal is available.

The license plate images are never looked at unless there is a specific reason to do so. In the past, they were automatically deleted after 30 days, but now they are required to be deleted after 21 days. Yourkoski said the ACLU was pushing to have the images deleted after just 3 minutes, but this obviously would make the whole system useless to officers. Officers use the images to help locate missing persons, stolen vehicles, and suspects wanted in crimes. According to the chief, the new state laws have made utilizing the images for solving crimes nearly impossible.

Chief Yourkoski said that, despite all the public fears currently being shared, he has not heard of ICE officers using Flock camera images to apprehend immigrants. He mentioned that automated license plate readers have been successfully used to aid law enforcement for around 20 years. He intimated that the cameras might no longer be worth utilizing, with all the new hoops that must be jumped through.

Dispiriting Citizen Satisfaction Survey Results

City Manager Amy Arrington reported that this year there was a big drop-off in the response rate for the Citizen Satisfaction Survey. This is the third year of running the survey, and the number of responses went from 370 in 2025 to 292 in 2026. This was attributed to either survey fatigue or a general dissatisfaction with the government.

Arrington mentioned wanting to create an action plan based on survey responses, but Councilmember Susan West expressed concern about making decisions based on such a small percentage of the population. It was also mentioned that the city is already doing most of the things called out in the survey, but perhaps there needs to be a better way of getting that information to the public.

One of the issues mentioned repeatedly in the surveys was traffic enforcement. There were complaints about not enough enforcement, as well as complaints about overenforcement. Officer Dan Yourkoski said that there are always going to be people who complain about some aspect of law enforcement. He said that police staffing has been down recently, but they are doing what they can to keep the roads safe.