good evening and welcome to the Tuesday
July 24th Issaquah City Council
committee of the whole council meeting
as I said council several times in that
sentence we're gonna start with I do to
6 4 which is the 2019 community fund
capacity grant recommendations from our
own Amy Dukes grants coordinator good
evening council members I am here
tonight to give you just an overview of
the 2019 of Community Fund grant
recommendations and this program
continues to evolve both in the process
by which we are reviewing the
applications and also by how we're
reporting on it to you so in previous
years we have gone with a separate
agenda bill and also the budgeting
process and this year we decided it was
more appropriate to bring it to you at
Council the whole and then you will see
the recommendations during the normal
budgeting process and these will be
within the mayor's budget and then all
of the nonprofit funding area so just to
highlight a couple of things that are
different this year based on some input
from Council last year we did create a
community advisory panel and we had that
advisory panel review all the
applications and make recommendations
much like we do for the arts grants or
the Human Services grants and then those
more afforded to the mayor for her
endorsement which she did actually
endorsed them all as they were
recommended so she made no changes to
their recommendations so then you will
see these again during budgeting time in
her budget
I can reiterate the criteria to you so
the the review panel used these
criterias their main basis for
evaluating the applications
they were looking for applications that
showed organizational learning
development and mission completion that
provided a compelling reason to engage
in capacity building work that were had
relevant technical managerial staff
ability and capacity demonstrated that
had a
regi for achieving and measuring the
impact that they provide and that their
proposed use of funds was detailed and
justified and that they provided
supporting cost estimates and and I want
to also remind you that in January the
groups that receive funding will come to
you and provide a presentation to let
you know exactly how they met the
objectives that they set out to meet so
if you have questions about the
individual applications I'm happy to
entertain any questions you have about
the overall funding recommendations come
to understand thanks Amy
or of a question about timing so the
they're gonna be in the 2019 budget
proposal and they are in they are what
they will be in the 2019 budget proposal
but they're gonna report to us in
January oh I'm sorry
so the the ones that were given this
year will report to you in January on
their outcomes the ones that are given
for 2019 will report to you in January
2020 so that's new I'm sorry this year
was the first year that we had them
actually come to you and a report about
how how what impact they made versus
presenting to you on the front end but
they're never coming back to you to tell
you how it went
so we have changed that okay thank you
that's my Ramos I'd like to compliment
the changes I think this is nice to get
a little more handle on a little more
transparency the the group review and
you got good folks on there as far as
the folks reviewing these and making
recommendations I like that process and
just have a few questions on how some of
them were I'm about and so forth so you
took two of them and decided to put them
under contract versus fund under this
system so well that funding then come
through like parks department and
and go to them under that budget that's
a great question actually they the
funding will still come through through
the mayor's the executive department
budget it will still be in the category
with nonprofits it's just a slightly
different way in which we contract with
the organization's so for 2018 we just
have a handful of groups like friends of
squaws Salmon Hatchery Mountains - Sound
Chamber of Commerce and the history
museums that we that we use contract for
service process with and those are
because they're more general operating
and support and they are we each year we
evaluate what services we need from
those organizations but they're more
ongoing the capacity fund the community
grants are really meant to be a one or
maybe two time infusion of cash to
really help them get to a new you know a
mission objective or to get over a hump
that you know they might have with
staffing or professional development
things like that so it's not really
intended to be more about ongoing
service that they're providing to the
community and I understand that and so
with that I'd ask the friends would like
some managed this is a fourth year
running it it's basically the same
project right and when we talked about
it first it was the first time we proved
that it was a one-time deal to get a
half funding of a person to become their
fundraisers so they could raise that in
the second year was kind of okay we'll
give them another year to basically
raise their own funds to be
self-supporting so and I love what they
do wrong but we're in the fourth year of
it seems like the same thing of getting
them started where they can raise their
own funding or expected that to be like
you mentioned a year or two right and
now in the fourth year so I'm just
questioning what it looks like and then
you put it into a contract for service
and it looks like that's just accepted
as an ongoing thing for quite a long
time
right so they the contracts for service
do get evaluated every year but the
panel recommended that if they were
going to continue to ask for general
operating support that it really
didn't make sense to be in this
competitive category because their
application is quite different they
weren't talking about a project they
were really talking about the entire
organization and the panel felt like
they provide a real service to the
community being an advocate for the
State Park so that was their
recommendation which the mayor endorsed
but you know it I know that it has come
up year to year so then I understand and
they do do great stuff I'm just trying
to figure out how this is ongoing into
the future as we're looking at that long
term because that's like you say it's
not it's not the goal of this funding
source right and you're putting it under
contract which makes sense but then it
looks like it's taking out of this and
now becoming just an ongoing cost so I'm
trying to figure out how that you know
so next year will they reapply again for
this funding I mean if we choose to and
still come under this funding stream but
again just instead of using a grant use
the contract right so the more
appropriate ask if they just as an
example if they were going to come back
to this fund next year would really be
to ask for the type of staffing support
that would enable them to fundraise so
that they can support staff it wouldn't
be to just keep funding the existing
staff that they have and so I guess this
kind of an annual you know decision
that's made and recommendation that's
made and this is the recommendation
that's being made for 2019 but you all
can certainly discuss that you say I'm
deputy council president patís thank you
thank you Amy for the I think that more
information about these the grants in
general and the community fund grants is
really important I know that over the
years we've we've had a lot of questions
that have come up between the Human
Services grants and now the grants that
fall under
this that used to be the mayor's grants
and being able to better and further
define the overview and the panel and
just having the information in front of
us early I think is is a great step
forward and I I to really I have I have
some similar questions to councilmember
Ramos in with the the two groups that
are that have come forward and are being
pulled out and moving over to contract I
mean I guess one of the and both both
groups do amazing work and so being able
to to put them in you know with the
contract that that would allow ongoing
is something that would be considered
but I think that one of the high-level
questions that gets lost a little bit is
maybe for groups as what is the
difference between the what I would do
to go forward with the grant but the
Human Services Commission and then the
community grants and then this seems
like it's opening a third pathway or
something new that there are a couple
groups that have applied over and over
and now there we need to contract
because could you just speak a little
bit well in the instance of both of
those organizations they are not ones
that really are very eligible for Human
Services or Arts Commission support
unless they're and in the case of
Friends of Lake Sammamish they actually
get some arts grants to do some arts
programming but there really isn't
another funding category available to
nonprofits that don't sort of fall into
the arts and culture or the Human
Services category and so that would be
one reasons like we do support Mountains
to sound through a contract for service
and so there's there are just kind of a
handful of these nonprofit organizations
that you know are felt like important to
the community providing services that
the city
once provided but does not provide
itself so but it's an interesting
collection of nonprofit support and
these were all funded through mayor's
discretionary grants previously so there
was in the past I'd say five years there
was some sort of parsing out which ones
are more like a contract for service and
which ones should really be put into a
competitive grant program so it's kind
of still evolving I would say and it
does change year to year for sure so it
sounds like as as the community grants
have become more defined than that has
also sort of pointed to these great
groups in the city that are falling
outside of yeah these two areas still
need to be and want to be able to apply
for help do the great work they do but
they're but they're outside really the
scope that's correct
you articulated that much better than I
did I'll ask so we have we look at our
dollars per capita into Human Services
right and we had previously a goal of
$10 per capita right so how is we create
this sort of third category how does
that factor into when do we win if if at
all do we take a holistic overview of
all of our human services spending and
understand what it looks like in total
and that's a good question I there is a
exhibit with the memo that provided sort
of table of which ones also received
funding from either arts or Human
Services so you can see that some of
them are receiving funding from multiple
categories the review panel did take
that information into consideration as
well when they were looking at the
requests they also wanted to know what
the groups were receiving other funding
from the city for
and so we definitely haven't kind of
added that to the per capita spending or
anything like that to blend the programs
but there was definitely an awareness of
their funding that they were receiving
and in some cases that did influence the
recommendation that the groups received
from this review panel so nominally what
does xx this time in at this point of
the year in 2019 what's it going to look
like for councils review of these two
new the two organizations are going to
go into this new path and if they were
to follow the same path as the other
organizations that have contracts for
service you would see them listed in the
proposed budget each year and that they
wouldn't necessarily come to you for you
know a formal presentation we can
certainly add all the nonprofit's that
receive any type of funding to that
presentation but currently so for
example in 2018 you all saw the groups
that received Community Fund funding you
didn't see the contracts for service
groups come to present to you but we
could certainly I would assume add that
so contracts for services are our
organizations that the city hires to do
specific things right correct
how is Friends of Lake Sammamish like
that well they're providing a connection
and their liaison with the city and with
the state park system and communicating
between us and it I know from arts
projects that I've worked on is very
challenging to reach the correct person
at the state park system so I know that
they have provided that sort of
communication channel and that advocacy
channel for the city but we have our own
communication is directly to state parks
right so it's not like they're acting as
our as our lobbyists with the state
parks right no but they are definitely
there for example the new playground
that was
built at the park really happened
because they were able to do private
fundraising and bring a large sum of
those funds to the table to make that
happen which if they did not do that I
imagine that playground would not have
been constructed councilmember Rea no
just a couple fun questions for you
interesting so I noticed and nobody got
everything that they wanted and in the
in terms of the amount requested versus
the amount granted but I did notice that
there was some disparity between a sum
that we got like 90 plus percent and
some that were in there 30 percent range
I'm just curious what the what the
criteria was used to say how much we
fund it of of each request so it was a
panel of humans so definitely more art
than science but the way that we did the
review this year was to have all of the
reviewer reviewers use the criteria to
come up with a funding amount that they
felt matched how well the application
addressed the criteria but they did take
other things into consideration so they
did take in that other support from
other city funding programs they also
scrutinized the budgets pretty
significantly and so some of them
actually had some things in their
budgets that really weren't fundable by
the city for example the Eastside
Friends of seniors only got half of
their request because half of their
request was for hotels and meals while
they're at this conferences so the
committee wanted to fund their
professional development but could
really only fund their attendance at the
conference registration part of that so
there's sort of a little story I guess
behind all of them and I'm happy to
provide it if that is helpful but if
they really looked at the budgets to
make sure that we could fund what they
were asking for and I don't know that we
need to go into a tight
I just think in the in being transparent
and fair so that you know someone says
wow I got 30% of what I asked for and
they got 90% of what they asked for
how come because it it'll just make it
easier for people to understand and then
one one final question for you and these
are capacity-building grants correct so
I think I'm picking up on where council
member Ramos was going which is if we
have things that are really contracts
for services are those really
capacity-building or are those ongoing
services and so should we find a
different funding mechanism than then
truly capacity building because in my
belief around capacity building we
should see it once or twice and then
they should they should build that
capacity and come back with something
new and fun and exciting for us to do
correct and that was why the panel
recommended that that was moved to the
contract for service and I mean they
certainly endorse both both of those
organizations as providing excellent
services that the the city desires and
but it was as much that as it was these
don't belong in this category and
therefore it need to be in that other
category so I actually kinda member we
just I'm so I have a question about sort
of the long-term trends in the asks
versus the amount that's being given
overall and thank you for answering the
questions I had emails but I think I
recall that when we were talking about
the human services grant there's this
increase as the population grows which
would be expected but there's an
increase in that asks over time and
there's increase also in the
organizations that are coming forward
and applying for grants and then that
doesn't seem to be the case with these
and so I wondered if you could talk
about that because the trend is actually
that this total amount asked is less
this year than these years it is less
this year I'm I think it's because the
nature of the funding it really is
intended to be capacity building so
there probably are a lot of organ
Asians that would love some funding but
they don't exactly have a project that
fits this at this moment in time we have
had we've turned away groups this is the
first year that everyone that requested
funding is being recommended for funding
we have had years where we've let groups
know that your request just simply
doesn't meet the capacity-building
funding pool so I think this may be this
is the fourth year that we've changed
the guidelines to be capacity building
specific and I think that some of that
decrease in request is just our
nonprofits starting to better understand
what this funding program is meant for
and so only applying if they have an
appropriate program okay and how do you
let the let organizations know that this
capacity grant is available how do you
communicate with them initially it is
communicated out through all of the
city's traditional channels of our
e-news and on our website as well as all
of the staff members that service
nonprofits and our communities send it
out to all of their list so Human
Services staff person would send it to
all the Human Services organizations
that have ever applied same thing for
arts for Parks for economic development
wasn't me understand thank you Amy
I appreciate your time here so the
contracts for service is so that does
have my attention and I I do agree and
you've already heard this evening and
thank you for the information that's in
the letter that talks about when we
first funded the Friends group and for
just I was I was highly involved with
that and beginning a matter of fact the
administration originally tight turned
them down and we asked them to come
anyway and make pitch directly to the
council and during that process they got
their nonprofit status and all of a
sudden they were alleged eligible and we
called upon Sammamish I said come on do
it now so let's get these guys off the
ground and that was always with the
strong
commitment that they would develop a
fundraising development capacity and and
and so that I'm disappointed that that
hasn't happened and I don't know the
reasons why or why not but this I
understand this recommendation it really
doesn't feel like the same contracts as
I think the chamber is down home fourth
of July
it's just specific to the very specific
so we used to run that parade and now
the chamber does it for us History
Museum is probably for because of the
archiving and just for the for the
preservation of historical artifacts and
Records I mean that's that work
contracting that service for them and
you said mountains to sound Greenway
what do you know what they are there's
is I don't know specifically so so
that's okay the details but but so this
it feels like a stretch to me to put
actually both of these organizations in
there I mean they're great organizations
that do things that we value I
personally value I know member many of
the community value and we hope with
their successful long term there's no
doubt about all that but this has gone a
little askew that we that it says right
in here for friends its organization's
operations in its entirety that is
that's not yeah I mean if if you at the
budget that they've provided in their
application there their budget is
primarily status stuff right is I'm just
saying that when I really compare it to
the I compare the history and kind of
what was the promise when we brought it
and we decided to fund them originally
this hasn't really worked out that way
and now to be in the contract for
service category well it's it's gone off
a little bit more so I am very
interested in learning hearing more
because it about their plans and whether
or not they're really going to develop
this development or fundraising
capability because without that and we
can't be though they they're they're a
Department of the city if we're
providing a hundred percent of their
funds and and and and so we have to have
some conversation here that doesn't
that's not quite what we envisioned and
the commitment we were trying to make
three years ago when we first funded
them I'm not as familiar with the trails
club but it says in the document serving
as a valuable link among the volunteers
trail users and the city and I
understand that lays on role but they
get it and it sounds like a slight
redefinition of the contract for service
when you consider parades and historical
stuff that the other groups do so I'm
just raising just a little yellow flag
for you so you know where my head is I
know that these are still going to come
through the budgeting process and it
would it would I would be happy to get
more detail maybe testimony from those
organizations about about you know about
their longevity going forward because
because this especially at a hundred
percent of operation that's that's
counter to kind of unwritten city policy
for nonprofits so this is actually not
100 percent of their budget but the but
the request would cover and the
recommendation covers operations it's
not a project or program okay so in the
memo it says operations operations in
organizations operations in its entirety
so I meant that I took that to be the
entire operation sorry that is not
completely clear it is not the the
amount would just cover basically
staffing and general operations but it's
not their entire budget okay thank you
so that the way that's written yeah not
their entire budget that's a big deal
and as far as the others in capacity
again I think this is I think it's a
great program that the city does I mean
it's very rare that a nonprofits had
access to public funds for capacity
building and we I mean it's a great
thing that our community does every one
of them benefit and I thought that the
the reports we got last January for what
happened in 2017 that was fantastic to
come in and afterwards and have people
tell us how they benefited from this and
I think that's a that's felt like a
valuable partnership for all of us so I
appreciate the way that's unfolding
glad and I'm looking forward to what
we're gonna hear January and January
after that and thank you
deputy council president batiste thank
you so I am as as I'm looking through
this just a couple of thoughts I I would
echo some of the questions and and
comments that councilmember winter Stein
had just made and to get more
information about that I know that you
know over the years as we've looked at
Human Services grants and then capacity
building and now we're talking about a
sort of this this third area is is just
really trying to understand from from
you know a 10,000 foot level what
everyone is applying for and and trying
to sort of bring that together I mean I
guess I'm constantly trying to bring all
of that together under one umbrella so I
can better understand it but I and and
we had also talked about the $10 per
capita which would my understanding
would be that that would only be
speaking about the Human Services grants
and so lots of questions that have come
up but the other comment that I wanted
to make is that over the years this has
gotten so much better I've watched
everything evolve on the Human Services
side in terms of how they are analyzing
all of the grants and the criteria
they're using and now this program is
also building out and we're getting so
much more information and questions are
are popping up as we do that but I feel
like all of these processes are getting
stronger and it's starting to kind of
come together under that umbrella which
is has always been important for me I've
always wanted to see it that way and the
last comment that I wanted to make is
that having the review panel I think is
really powerful and I and one thing that
I really love seeing is that we brought
together different Commission's to form
that panel which is something that
we've talked about in the past as is
just getting that connection between the
the Commission's of the city and that's
one way that we're doing that so I did I
think that there's a lot of good work
and things are evolving but as you've
heard from some of the questions we
probably I'm thinking more information
would be right in that area
that's remember Ramos thank you again I
said I love I love the process this year
for sure and I really like the one like
encompassed Northwest is a new one
coming in that's really capacity
building that's adding a location better
in town here that's that's the classic
one that really fits perfectly in this
this situation so I like that I'm going
back to the friends like Sammamish one
time and I have a suggestion because I'm
afraid if we put this under a contract
that it gets lost next year and I'd like
to keep it very visible and I'd say to
keep it under the grant form so the next
year if they come back they need to come
back through this process and somehow
doesn't get lost in some kind of you
know contract thing that we're not aware
of because it is turn in it is something
different to me
that is going to operations compared to
these coops trails Club that's me that's
a volunteer coordinator that's
coordinating things that that fits under
our parks department to work with them
to do all that that fits that that
definition for me under a contract but
the Friends of Lake Sammamish that just
doesn't quite get there for me so I like
to have you know reconsider keeping it
very visible in this project grant
process there are no way so if they come
back next year we can continue talking
about this because I do think this is
something I don't want to get lost also
ongoing funding somewhere that's just
really not visible every year that we're
looking at because it's the point of
this was very different and where it's
going and now it's just funding staff
that's not the point we originally
started with for sure I want to build
off that a little bit I think
holistically the subject of Human
Services grants and sort of community
grants I I would like to ask
councilmember Rey
what he thinks about the idea of maybe
asking the administration to bring this
back to services as sort of a larger
topic and talk about how we want to work
this in 2019 and I don't want to put any
words in your mouth but I would love to
hear your thoughts I think because I was
about to raise my hand your timing is
perfect I hear those things called grant
program integration we have a lot of
flat grant programs all very kind of
targeted in different ways I'd like to
see us find a way to manage them
holistically and in an integrated
fashion so we get the biggest bang for a
buck and so I would love to see the
administration come back to services and
have a discussion about how we can go
about making something like that happen
Thank You council president marks all
right so we don't take any action this
evening but certainly some
administration was looking for some
feedbacks and feedback was offered other
other questions comments
I'm so member hunt I think so we had
some discussion about what the - what
the - nonprofits that are recommended to
be moved to contract for service what
they and what their proposal would
actually have covered and I think it
might also be helpful in the bigger
discussion about what's being more
information about what is being covered
under these capacity grants I think it
might be helpful because my
understanding which is and based on this
graph that's on the screen right now is
that these were for specifically for
targeted staffing and then for friends
at Lake Sammamish also for marketing and
outreach I mean I think that depending
on how exactly that fits into their
operations that could be also capacity
so I think to see how they fit into the
recommendations it would be good to have
more information about those and then to
be able to compare them to the other
recommendations but overall I think that
my inclination based on the information
is that they do provide services for the
city and so they could be considered
under this contract for service and it
would just be helpful to have more
information to sort of
confirm that and then I I also really
appreciate the idea of looking at the
bigger bigger picture about how all of
the community grants fit together so
that will be I think a really good
conversation I think also I'll be
interested to see because as I mentioned
I think the Human Services grants there
was there's a trend increasing in those
asks and there's a trend increasing in
the community needs as our population
grows and then for this program for
whatever reason that asks have decreased
a little bit and so I wonder if there's
maybe a need also for more outreach so
the new nonprofits which are the ones
that we want to see come forward for the
first time with these capacity grants
would know about the program as was
pointed out capacity grants we want to
see we don't want to see the same groups
coming forward over and again with the
same projects we will kind of want to
see new what new projects coming
forwards and so I would think that that
would be increasing in sort of a similar
pattern and so it would be good to look
at them together and then see what the
options would be for how to make the
different programs work together in a
complementary way thank you other
questions or comments nope with that
I'll open it is there anyone in the
public that wishes to speak to this
issue mr. Kapler
David Kepler 255 southeast Andrews it's
too bad Stacy's not here she was the pro
bono attorney then we formed Friends of
Lake Sammamish State Park and could give
you a little more information about
their ongoing efforts and their
importance to the city in terms of the
trails Club it's kind of you know we
don't charge for our hikes we offer over
a hundred a year we give good it we have
good insurance to cover anybody that's
hurt on a hike we've never had a claim
but we still have that insurance so we
have a lot of costs and a lot of people
in the club just don't bother submitting
any costs that you have I forgot to
submit my one hundred and five dollar
you know booth fee from last year so
this year I might remember but you know
it's just that's how they are the
organization works in terms of
volunteering most of our work and has
been with King County and DNR to be
blunt the city has been in the past
harder to work with and I think that's
changing or changed but we have this
other pattern we do trail work all the
time for DNR and County especially DNR
and basically on the part you see from
Issaquah and Tiger Mountain we never
charge you know the great organizations
mountain to sound Greenway or other
trail groups and all our have contracts
for doing their trail work they use a
lot of volunteers to do it but they have
their contracts to pay for their their
staff so our work is with DNR and others
is always just we agree on it and do it
and there's no no cost we provide all
the tools the fuel for any power tools
or our own insurance and all of that so
it's you can't just say it's got to be a
certain percentage of the budget or
something like that
you got to figure out how it the
organization really works but I think
almost everything I heard tonight from
Council sounded good
and I think all of this needs to be
figured out a little bit better for sure
but hopefully the city will look at 2019
a volunteer coordinator like Sammamish
and other cities have to help get more
volunteer work thank you
Thank You mr. Kepler all right with that
we will move on now we're gonna talk
about ID oh three oh four Senior Center
update with Jeff Watling our parks and
recreation director sorry I sort of sped
through that Thank You council president
Mart's could even council yeah excited
to be here tonight providing you an
opportunity to hear a little bit of the
work a lot of the work that we've been
doing as we look at long term operations
of the Senior Center this year and then
in a lot of ways set the table and
better prepare for the more in-depth
discussion we'll be having on August
20th in in work session this discussion
will certainly help us to be best
prepared for that on the 20th and really
as we're marching towards and moving
towards this policy discussion and
ultimately a policy decision on long
term operation of that facility
so earlier this year at the January 16th
meeting we requested the ability to
pursue and explore if there's any
potential operating partners for the
senior center with that request we also
requested some additional resources that
you granted through that work we
interviewed a number of interested
candidates and consultants we ended up
hiring a consultants Wendy wants a Nabi
to partner with us in this work that
work really began in earnest in late
February she's been a great partner and
a great resource with her senior
services experience we spent a lot of
time both Brian and I and the parks
department in Courtney
at the senior center but also David
Fujimoto and some of our sustainability
staff reviewing the Senior Center
Advisory Group report taking a look at
vision and values of how we want to see
operation of the Senior Center long term
in a lot of ways Wendy's feedback was
very confirming it was very confirming
of the work that we were able to do with
the Advisory Group last year in terms of
setting the vision and values that came
out of that very public conversation
about long-term operation of the
facility if you remember from that
report I provided to you last year that
there was some real anchor guiding
principles that were set those guiding
principles really again in a lot of ways
were confirmed by the consultant and
will continue to be very foundational as
we move this conversation forward we
also began through the work with with
Wendy and Brian and I began a multitude
of exploratory conversations with
potential operating partners this is
both local nonprofit agencies that have
had an interest in the Senior Center
that have provided some degree of
seniors service support we also had
conversations with many regional
agencies and and perspective partners I
think it was really good important work
because it really helped us to get an
understanding of the lay of the land
who's out there who is in a position to
look at expansion what are some of the
issues that are facing really senior
service agencies we also took the time
and did a survey amongst our Senior
Center patrons and got some terrific
feedback there as we as I said earlier
those exploratory conversations I think
again we're helpful we're positive and
that it really helped us to understand
the lay of the land what it really told
us though the reality is there's not a
lot
of capacity there's not a ton of
interest there were aren't agencies
lining up at our city board are ready to
come in and and operate the facility
with that information it did help us to
frame what our more formal outreach was
going to be and so we put together a LOI
process a letter of interest with the
help of Wendy issued that that LOI
process really looked a lot like an RFQ
but really allows us to find the the
agencies that do have an interest in
pursuing operation and then allowing us
to have further conversation to vet what
that partnership may look like had a
chance in June on June 12th to update
the services and Safety Committee
meeting at that time the LOI process
hasn't closed we did close that a couple
of weeks ago we've had one we had one
response from that LOI and that was from
Eastside friends of seniors what we've
doing now is we've reviewed that is
we've scheduled a series of meetings
with them our first meeting is this
Friday the intent of those meetings over
these next few weeks is to learn more
about the operating model that they're
looking at learn more about their
capacity as an agency as well as budget
that what they're seeing and needing as
an operating budget this will give us a
much clearer picture to provide to you
on August 20th and understand what that
opportunity looks like congruently at
the at the same time we are also looking
and have been looking at what a
long-term city operating model would
look like we've been building only an
operational plan but what a budget would
look like around that around that model
we feel like on the 20th and what we
want to be prepared to do on the 20th is
provide a good comparison given that we
have the one LOI response just to allow
us to measure
what possible third-party operation
would look like versus what city
operation would look like all along as
we've been going through this process
our goal has been transparency really in
this 18 months of interim operation that
we've been under so far with the senior
center so we have been sharing news with
the senior center patrons as we've been
going along both as staff Cortney and
Brian doing a great job of that I've had
a chance to go over and join the seniors
for lunch and give updates from time to
time and Mary Mayor Polly has done so as
well our plan like I said on the 20th
would be to take a look at these two
long-term operating scenarios in a
little more detail be able to provide
and do some comparison work on what
programs and service models would look
like what staffing plans would look like
what budgets would look like more
specifically what city funding and in a
lot of ways what that net operating
level may look like would love in our
discussion when I'm done with a staff
report to get an idea if there's any
other information that you would feel
deem helpful as we start to dive a
little deeper into some specific
operating models on the 20th we also
anticipate as we're moving into this
decision process some public engagement
during this phase we would love the
opportunity to seek some feedback if if
there's residents who have preference on
on either of those operating models
again as we discuss this we could do it
either way I'd really want to know your
interest would you like to have that
information prior to the 20th or
following the 20th the plan schedule
wise would be following that
conversation on the 20th moving towards
some type of policy direction in
September that would allow us as we're
working with the mayor's office on
the budget that will be presented to you
in October we'd be able to take that at
least that direction and build the 2019
budget accordingly and then move right
into budget deliberations this fall
questions know there are some
councilmember Rey these are sort of
questions and sort of comments so it's
mayor Pauly's not here to tell me I
can't make comments I just wanted to say
I think the parks department and the
team at the Senior Center recovered from
a very difficult situation and from what
I understand the feedback from the
patrons of the the Senior Center is very
very high right now so you know kudos
horibe who jumped into that breach to
get that ship on an even keel so a
couple things that I think are really
important that we consider when looking
at the different options one is what are
the cost comparisons what's the absolute
dollars out-of-pocket if we run it as a
city service versus not-for-profit the
other one is one of the other funding
options that are available in terms of
grants for the city versus grants for
not-for-profits and then finally and you
touched on this Jeff a little bit ISM
how do we solicit patron the people who
actually use this Senior Center
how do we solicit their input and and
how do we ask them what they considered
their desired outcomes what do they want
this to look like and so instead of
getting you know a third party or the
city let's talk about the outcomes we're
trying to achieve and then you know what
are the factors you know the things that
would be critical to success in
achieving those outcomes and and I more
than anything else want to hear from
those folks about what success would
look like to them there wasn't a
question in there at all
other questions or feedback comes from
over Ramos yeah I agree with everything
he said and didn't really doing a great
job I love the Senior Center now and I
stopped by occasionally because I
actually qualify but will whisper that
now but the other thing I guess I'd like
to keep in mind those things like we're
nonprofits could fit more advantageous
in the city there's there's
consideration I also like to consider
what what the city is doing now of
considering public rental that facility
when it's not being used as a Senior
Center particularly weekends and so
forth because that is a wonderful
facility Issaquah is in dire need of
meeting spaces and where folks can get
together so when you're playing with
those models really try to consider that
keeping that option as open as possible
because I think it's a great service for
the community when the Senior Center is
not using it because it's a great place
and I think it our city is in dire need
of the places like that to be able to
use and to rent out for various folks so
keep that in mind as well don't remember
hunt thank you
I think thank you for the list of
information that that will be provided
at August 20th I think it's pretty
comprehensive list one thing that I
would be in addition I would
additionally like to see would be if
it's if there's a staffing model also so
how much how is that going to impact
operations so sort of a bigger picture
on how does this impact parks operations
at parks operations is staffing and what
does that look like in parks operations
if another entity is managing the Senior
Center so I think that would be that
would be the one sort of big question
that I have that isn't on the list
when you say Park operations more Park
Department impacted Department right in
terms of does this allow sort of
organization of different organizations
different people to take different roles
or any sort of adjustments like that I
must say I imagine that it is it well
it's a managing this would mean whether
you do that or it doesn't it affects how
the rest of the department operates I
would think it's a whole new service
unit that we'd be entering into yep
deputy council president batise so Jeff
thanks for for the presentation overview
I just this has been a long road and I
just wanted to thank the staff and
everyone who has who has been working
toward this toward this point because
it's been a lot of hard work and we just
get so many great comments back about
how everyone is feeling about the Senior
Center now so that that's fantastic and
I I think when we go forward to the 20th
just over views of the public
communication and outreach is important
and then you just sort of best practices
lessons learned how things would be
structured going forward so we would not
you know face any of the problems we've
had in the past so an overview of that I
think would be important Thanks
there are questions or comments so I'll
add that you know when I when we look at
things in August I really want the one
of the areas for me will be the
counterpoint to the cost of the various
options is going to be what if any
difference we see in potential service
delivery and that was something that
when we were looking at the operation of
the Senior Center previously was a
really important part of you know the
ultimate decisions that we made to bring
this in under temporary city oversight
and so it'll be part be a big part of
whatever the next stage is for us and
what things you know under under the OP
dozen of the various options what things
we think we would be able to do
internally what things we think we would
be able to partner with and so how that
would impact the users of the Senior
Center that's a real area of interest of
mine
so not just cost but sort of benefit
what kind of what kind of programs that
we expect offer
councilmember Rea no I I was listening
to my esteemed colleague at the end of
the dais have we looked at a hybrid
model so including both city staff and
not-for-profit working any in a
collaborative way to so you know a
little bit of a best explored operating
models yes even to the point of last
year
I think this LOI process and again I
don't meet you know these conversations
will be having with this prospective
partner it'll it'll be great to explore
what their interests are what their
capacity is right now we're looking at
one or the other but there's nothing
that to preclude if what comes out of
this is some type of partnered operation
and as you were as you were responding I
was being inspired you know there's
going to be some transition period if we
say do transition to a not-for-profit so
how would we operate in that transition
period and and kind of working through
that as we we look at the different
options about you know do we we can do a
full transition how long do we take to
transition work through those kinds of
questions I think would be really
interesting to explore in the 20th be a
careful part of either model is yeah
transition other questions
promise me more interest I'm thank you
Jeff this is only related to the
facility like Bill talked about weakens
and maybe evenings perhaps a year ago
some former staff of yours and some
former people from I think it was
Catholic Community Services who were at
conversations about the meals program
potentially using that facility I think
this is something Katie had had
conversations with them about and I know
it just it went that conversation just
never went anywhere and I don't know if
it was ever brought to your attention
but I if that is something that could be
maybe brought to a logical conclusion I
think it was never really concluded I
think it just fell off the plate I do
know that program over there many people
who've put it on did after understanding
and seeing what was that this other
building felt that that was a far
superior location so as put that in your
calculus please and if it's not to be
it's not to be but now since the time
you're looking at overall operations of
that building as well that would be one
that I would ask you to look at
absolutely I was aware of that
exploratory work we did respond and let
CCS know we felt in the in the interim
that we are right now in would be hard
to commit to anything long term as we
look at what the long-term operating
model looking at that programmatic piece
and what it would mean to be there what
it would mean I think it'll be
interesting to compare and just for for
preparation for the 20th even as we look
at city operating model that revenue
piece is an important one and council
member Ramos touched on those evenings
do we make evenings available for for
rental and capturing some rental to help
offset that net operating cost or do we
look at doing something programmatically
that might not be a revenue piece
there's a there's a cost benefit to that
that we'd want to certainly consider but
it is in the it's in the mix as thank
you something to discuss anything else
all right
well thank you very much we anything
else for you Jeff nope all right any
regional activities or issues that
anybody wants to bring up nope
I I'll bring up one roof well I'm sorry
we will take kind of you have some
thoughts on this mr. Caplin yeah yeah I
don't want to have to sue the city or a
new group like I had to do the last one
but when they were trying to give away
all the assets and we at least save one
bus and some other assets but anyway you
know people who at the senior center
when things were going really bad and
when the first city started taking it
over they went out to a lot of different
places to look and check them out and
some had already were pretty familiar
with other senior centers and
that they brought talked about I think
the most maybe it was was maybe a tie
with Redman was was can't which this
this young man here knows something
about and that was often talked about
and still talked about how great the
they can't Senior Center is so but I'm
sure it's not cheap and I'm sure if the
city running this is not going to be
cheap if it if it's some kind of hybrid
I'm even if it's almost a hundred
percent a different group running it
they're still going to be oversight I'm
convinced and not be like we had before
where there I felt the city had those
oversight but they chose not to exercise
it till way at the way at the end but I
think you know whichever way it goes the
people right now we're really happy when
you go over there and talk to him it's
gonna be hard for any group attempt to
to to be better than what the city's
been doing I would say but at the same
time it could be pretty the city city
pays well right its cities people are
not are expensive and there are high
quality people but in what how you
balance the needs of our senior citizens
with the cost is some is that's your job
so I I think we'll end up with something
really great or continue something
really great thank you very much mr.
captain thank you mister cap would that
made me think of one thing that I think
would help me with this conversation
which would just be case studies or a
couple examples of operating models from
other cities that would be that would be
helpful because I and I could see how
other success stories have worked out
thanks all right thank you anything else
I know I want to mention one thing
totally you do not have a Landon Shore
Committee meeting next month and hope
you saw that announcement
I did see so you won't miss that no all
right thank you I appreciate that
heads up I'll mention for the good of
order one one thing which is a little
bit serious there was news this weekend
that Burien mayor Jimmy Mata got
attacked at the old Berrian block party
and a lot of the details are still up in
the air but it looks pretty troubling
and all of us who are involved in
municipal government certainly have our
thoughts out for mayor Mata they did
actually arrest a suspect this evening
in that attack so I just thought I would
mention that and just mention our
thoughts are with mayor Mata and with
that we are adjourned
thank you very much
you