Councilwoman Largo Wales wanted the City to sound its municipal yawp for a sustainable funding source for public health over the dome of the state Legislature.

Councilman Bill Peloza suggested that Auburn push the federal government to do something about the danger posed by the daily passage of oil trains through the city.

And Councilman Rich Wagner renewed his request for a new post office.

“We’re at 75,000 and the post office was built for a town of 20,000. … We need to figure out a way to partner with the post office, not just go in there and beg and say, ‘Build us a new one.’ Let’s figure out a way to give them some land downtown, to do something to move forward on a post office that fits the size of our city,” Wagner said.

Prompting the comments at Monday night’s study session was City leaders’ initial look at the first draft of Auburn’s legislative priorities at the state and federal levels.

Director of Administration Dana Hinman put the list together after talking with the City’s legislative consultants, with Mayor Nancy Backus, the Association of Washington Cities and with Auburn Police Chief Bob Lee.

“It is a work in progress,” Hinman cautioned.

Here are a few of Auburn’s priorities at the state level:

• Ask the state Legislature to continue to support the construction of a mental hospital via the partnership of MultiCare and Franciscan Health, and to make more dollars available to shelter and reintegrate the homeless;

• Provide funding for stormwater and flood control infrastructure;

• Recognize the need of cities like Auburn for tools to resolve conflicts outside the courtroom and the authority to charge a reasonable fee for electronic and commercial records requests, and to address the impact changing technology has on public records.

Wales observed that the City had not prioritized its wish list, and that there was nothing in the list about funding for public health.

“I do think mental health is big, big, big, big, but we need to continue to work on public health. We do not, at the state level, have a sustainable funding source for public health, and we, if anyone, have suffered,” Wales said.

Even though the City stands to receive public health funding through the recent voter-approved Best Starts for Kids levy in King County, that still won’t be enough, Wales said.

“Remember,” Wales said, “we have a significant portion of our community that is in Pierce County.”

Among the priorities at the federal level:

• Close the online sales tax loophole;

• Invest in local transportation priorities;

• Funding to continue to advocate for programs that provide employment, health and housing services to veterans.