it hurts second Foster
good evening welcome to the Tuesday
September 6th City Council regular
meeting like to call the meeting to
order
first up Pledge of Allegiance I'd like
to ask those in to join the council
myself in the Pledge of Allegiance
please stand next item on today's agenda
is special business ID 0 3 3 5 mayor's
month of concern for the hungry
Proclamation and I'd like to invite
Corey Walters to join me at the lectern
to receive the proclamation
whereas our King County cities
recognized adequate nutrition as a basic
goal for each citizen and whereas no
parent should have to send a child to
school hungry
no baby should be without the comfort of
the feedings needed for mental and
physical growth no elderly person's
health should be jeopardized by lack of
appropriate foods and whereas food banks
emergency and hot meal programs working
with our cities local churches social
service agencies and hundreds of
volunteers are striving day in and day
out to stem the rising tide of hunger
however still more help is needed and
whereas we believe that when citizens
hear of the especially desperate needs
of the hungry as winter approaches and
how their low incomes must stretch to
cover increasing fuel electricity and
rental costs leaving even less money for
monthly food purchase and outpouring of
community assistance will follow and
whereas the emergency feeding program of
Seattle and King County coordinates an
annual food drive to help support the
efforts of their program and the area's
food banks in fighting hunger which will
be held at grocery stores throughout
King County on each Saturday on
September of 2008 team and whereas the
cities of Kirkland Redmond Bellevue
Issaquah Sammamish and Mercer Island
would like to extend this effort into an
entire month of concern for the hungry
beginning on September 1st 2018
now therefore I Mary Lou poly mayor of
the city of is squad do hereby claim
September 2018 to be mayor's month of
concern for the hungry in the city of
Issaquah and strongly urge all citizens
to join the emergency feeding program
it's the Kraft Food Bank and other area
food banks to share what they can to
nourish those who are hungry in witness
thereof I here on to set my hand and
seal to the city of Ithaca this fourth
day of September 2018
and I'm sure Cory would love to talk to
you about the first Saturday we've
already had the first Saturday and it
was pretty awesome great thank you so
yes we kicked off mayor's not the
concern drive on list last Saturday and
we were at the Fred Meyer crochet store
down the street here and we brought in
over three thousand pounds of food for
our food bank and this coming Saturday
we're gonna be at six different grocery
stores between Sammamish and issaquah so
we just appreciate everybody support and
buying a little extra food when you're
at the grocery store this Saturday and
if you're interested in volunteering and
helping we could use some more support
soliciting donations out the grocery
stores so thank you Mary Lou Pauley for
coming on Saturday it was very fun thank
you so much for your support
[Applause]
next item on our agenda this evening ID
0 3 1 1 homeless response system and
regional affordable housing efforts I'd
like to introduce sustainability
director David Fujimoto to the lectern
to introduce the next item great Thank
You mayor good evening Council again
David Fujimoto director of the Office of
Sustainability I'm happy to join you
here tonight and to introduce a couple
of guest speakers who will be sharing a
little more information about the
regional homeless emergency response
system and affordable housing efforts
that are happening in the region we have
Curos ill stroke who's the acting
director of all home as well as mark
eller Brooke who's the Regional Housing
and Community Development Manager with
King County and we're bringing this
presentation to Council so that all of
council can hear some of this content
really because there are it's a topic of
interest to the City Council it's one
that touches upon various facets of
cities investments and policy decisions
and it's really to provide a kind of
regional context for some of our local
conversation so I think we've
intentionally shaped this as a
broad-brush of what's happening in the
region and there's quite a bit that's
happening in the region currently so we
want to get you all up to speed on that
but then also kind of provide a
introduction into some of these so that
if there is interest in diving further
into any of these topics we can do so as
well and so I believe Kara and Mark both
also have quite a bit of time available
where they slide some time so that you
can answer ask some questions as well so
with that I will turn it over to Kira to
get us underway
good evening thank you for having me
David said my name is Kiera Zylstra I'm
acting director for all home I'm gonna
start by just telling you a little bit
more about who all home is and the work
that I do in particular really glad that
mark Ella Burke can be here with me
though because this is truly a community
effort and there's a lot of work
happening in the community that even
just two of us won't be able to cover
all of it but we'll do our best tonight
to give you that broad brush and further
context about the work of our community
and ending homelessness and again leave
time for questions for you so all home
if you aren't familiar or as a refresher
we are the continuum of care lead for
Seattle King County that that comes
along with a certain set of federal
designations or requirements to bring to
our community together to be inclusive
and our planning efforts to ensure that
all people experiencing homelessness
providers funders government partners
are all participating in our efforts to
plan around what we are doing to address
the crisis of homelessness this is a
visual of the strategic plan that we
currently have in place a few of the
other before I dive into that though a
few of the other regulations that all
home is charged with coordinating beyond
the strategic planning is really the
system components of how we are
addressing the crisis specifically the
point-in-time count which I will
actually go into more detail in tonight
as well as overseeing the system
functions of data collection the
homeless management information system
the county actually does the day-to-day
management of that an all home is the
governing body doing the oversight and
making policy decisions around how we
collect data and how we use the data to
inform our decisions and then the
coordinated entry system as well and
that we have a system again that King
County manages from day to day but our
Coordinating Board for all home is
making the policy policy decisions to
ensure that that system is operating as
equitably as possible to meet the needs
of people experiencing homelessness in
our community and lastly the core
responsibilities of all home is
overseeing the federal dollars that come
into our community to address the crisis
of homelessness
that's the continuum of care funding
explicitly and we right now receive
about 36
million dollars annual annually we are
actually just in the final stages of
preparing our annual application for
that competition we have been a
tremendously successful year over a year
though and maintaining that funding and
even increasing what we receive from the
federal partners and that's thanks to
staff at King County at the city of
Seattle and many many others that are
regularly involved in that process and
again this is an overview of our
strategic plan as it stands now folks
may also be familiar with what preceded
this which was the 10-year plan to end
homelessness we do not say that that
plan was a failure many say well what
happened in that ten years more than
40,000 units of housing was created
during that time more than 8,000 people
were housed a tremendous amount of work
happened as the community came together
around establishing a true plan for how
we addressed this crisis we did make
some changes as we completed the 10-year
plan and launched into a new four-year
plan one is making it a four-year plan
to make it more actionable and be able
to adapt as we go we are in the third
year of that plan so actually just now
cross over into the fourth year of the
plan so we are really seeing the
progress of this work we've become more
data-driven so really these underlying
factors are really ensuring that we are
making decisions based on the
information that we have available to us
getting better about collecting
information and ensuring that it is
accurate again I'll dive into the point
in time count aspect of that but also
the day-to-day data collection through
the homeless management information
system but the broad goals here are to
make homelessness rare ensure that as
few people as possible or experiencing
homelessness over the course of a year
and year after year that we're making
homelessness brief in one time that when
someone does experience a crisis that
we're able to address that crisis
quickly and get folks back into housing
quickly and that we are also creating a
community to end homelessness and again
over all of these things one of the
other overarching principles is
addressing racial equity we know that
there are tremendous disparities in the
experience of homelessness and so we're
looking to directly address those when
it pertains to race LGBTQ people living
with disabilities there's many
disparities in our homeless system that
we must address if we are going to end
the crisis now I'm going to dive a
little bit into the numbers I want to
start the information about the point
I'm count by expressing that this is
only one source of information about the
scope and scale of homelessness in our
community what the point in time count
tells us is what is happening on one
given night in the King County area we
have made some changes to how this count
takes place hopefully some of you have
participated in the count either in the
last year and years prior to that we
have in the last couple of years now
it's there the 2018 was our second year
of doing this we moved from doing what
we called a hot spot counting or known
area count to a full census enumeration
of people experiencing homelessness in
the community this is still an
estimation so we know that there are
people that will not be counted that are
not invisible locations but we make sure
to be as respectful as possible on the
count as accurate as possible and we
have a few ways we've gone about doing
that one to be as accurate is to make
sure that we're not just relying on
known areas and do that full census
track count another is to include people
with lived experience in the process of
counting so we have teams that are going
throughout the county this is happening
between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 5:00
a.m. on a Friday morning and we have
people with lived-experience assigned to
those teams so they can use their
experience from the past use their
expertise to help guide the teams and
again continue to do that in a really
respectful way so with that context in
mind this is the information that we
found from this last 2018 count that on
one given night in King County 12112
people were experiencing homelessness
and this is both sheltered and
unsheltered so that means there were
approximately this year 50% just over
50% people living unsheltered this is
people in tents in vehicles people not
in a safe placement for human habitation
the other half just under 50% of the
people in that 12,000 number were in
sheltered locations but not permanent
locations so that means emergency
shelter transitional housing or safe
havens a little bit about what we found
this particular year and that we did see
some tremendous successes that we really
want to build off of and learn from this
year we saw a 31 percent decline in
veteran homelessness
and this is a tremendous success and we
have not seen this kind of drop in a
number of years but we do feel like we
know why this is happening with veteran
homelessness in particular we have a
very coordinated process where we have
people working across sectors providers
funders and system partners that are
working together and actually meeting on
a weekly basis and they're using the
data they're looking at a by name list
going person by person understanding the
needs and names of every single veteran
known to be homeless in our community
and connecting them with the resources
that they need and that third prong the
third component that really leads to
success is the resources that they need
that for veteran homelessness we've had
tremendous investment from our federal
partners and from our local partners
that veterans seem seniors and Human
Services levy locally in King County all
of that the targeted increased
investments along with the coordination
and person-centered process has led to
this 31 percent decline and we aim to
continue that kind of progress for youth
and young adult homelessness as well we
saw steady numbers in terms of overall
youth and young adults experiencing
homelessness however for minors under
the age of 18 there was a 22% decrease
these are smaller numbers than among the
veterans but at the same time we also
saw that kind of continued coordinated
focus and we have a lot of attention to
minors under 18 from the state level and
new investments that have come from the
awesome office of homeless youth and so
we do continue to see knowing why that
progress is happening and wanting to
recreate that and replicate that for
other populations of course when the
numbers are rising which we did see an
overall increase in the number this year
people experiencing homelessness on one
night that means that there are some
some areas where we see increases and
the the primary increases are truly
among single adults unsheltered in our
community and a 46 percent increase in
people living in vehicles so that is
really the most tremendous number that
we've seen and I don't make strong
assumptions or predictions about this
number as I did for veterans because we
need to learn a lot more about the
people that are living in vehicles the
particular needs that they have the
characteristics and typology of this
population at the same time we saw a
slight decrease in the number of people
in tents and in camp
that isn't something we should be
celebrating because of the number
alongside of it and this really tells us
that there's a changing unsheltered
population and we need to continue to
adapt to make sure that our response is
changing to recognize this need other
things that the point in time count
tells us that we also know from
annualized data is that people of color
experience homelessness at higher rates
than their peers
52% of people experiencing homelessness
are people of color and they own that
people of color only make up 33 percent
of the overall population the highest
disparities are seen among black
african-american communities as well as
American Indian Alaskan native and
Pacific island Pacific Islanders are
Asian Pacific Americans and these are
consistent across the community and over
time so I want to make it known that
this is something that is not new this
is not unique to our community across
the country we see these kinds of
disparities and that is because of years
of oppression and that is why we must
make that part of the overarching goals
of our work other things that the data
tells us and this is where we really
want to tie this together to again not
see this as one source of data and then
tell the story along with other sources
of information in our community I've
mentioned the homeless management
information system multiple times that
is the the system that we're using to
track data about people experiencing
homelessness the programs that they're
receiving the characteristics and needs
that they have and what the services in
our community are actually doing to
create change in the community one thing
that we've seen from the resources that
we do have in the community is a
tremendous increase in the number of
people that are housed year after year
so this shows a doubling of the number
of households that were housed last year
in 2017 as compared to just four years
ago in 2013 we're doing more and more
with the resources that we have but the
story that this tells us is that we have
far more people falling into
homelessness over the course of a year
than we have the resources to serve so
we continue to see these rising numbers
in the point-in-time count
annually again that's just one point in
time what we know over the course of a
year is that 30,000 individuals are
experiencing homelessness over that full
course of a year that is far more people
than the resources that we have
are able to house as you can see we have
approximately 6,800 households it's
about 20,000 and individuals but it's
still far fewer than the number of
everything homelessness so we need to do
better at matching the resources to the
need that we see I think this actually
yes pivots us so that larger spectrum
and scope I think pivots us to
information that Marc's gonna share
great thank you very much again my name
is Mark Ella Brooke and I manage the
housing in community element program for
King County and just so folks know that
is the program that does kind of five
areas that we work in affordable housing
homelessness housing repair Community
Development and then we also operate the
coordinated entry system so that kind of
touches all areas that Kyra talked a
little bit about and so Kure did a great
job of really drilling into the numbers
around homelessness and what we see and
so I'm gonna take a step back and talk a
little bit about the one table effort
that went on over the first half of this
year and then also the regional
affordable housing task force and I kind
of walked through this relatively
quickly and then want to leave folks an
opportunity to ask questions so Kyra
touched a little bit about this when she
just mentioned the 30,000 number but
it's worth repeating and I'm sorry the
colors are not great on this slide but
when we started the one table
conversation it really was to look at
the root cause of homelessness and it is
this graphic that really sort of drove
home the point of trying to get to root
cause if Kyra pointed out on one single
night we count a little over twelve
thousand homeless people on the one
night in January but if you look at the
bars and it's the kind of the clear bars
that are to the left of each year in
2017 we counted over 30,000 people over
the course of the year experiencing
homelessness so we know that are the
actual magnitude of the problem that we
see is much higher than that one number
that we report every year that I think
within the community and people who I
talk to and friends are like well it's
12,000 people can't you just solve
homelessness for those P
but homelessness is dynamic the people
who we counted in January and not the
people who are necessarily homeless now
and it is kind of a revolving or an
evolving number of people so but the
interesting thing also is that in the
course of a year we have 30,000 and
change people who experience
homelessness in 2017 we actually had
over and I'm sorry I don't have my wife
about 25,000 people exited homelessness
through the HMI and were able to track
through our HMIS system so in fact
actually the system that we have either
through actions of our own or through
the resiliency of people and in on their
individual actions we actually have a
lot of people who are able to address
their homelessness as well the issue
that we have is that we just have more
people coming into homelessness than the
emergency response system and people's
own actions are able to address and so
the actions and the plan behind one
table was if we're able to bring down
the number of people becoming homeless
if we can reduce that 30,000 number to
some amount below what the emergency
response system is able to do then we
will actually be able to begin to bring
down on the number and the prevalence of
homelessness in our community so that
was the effort of one table and how we
sort of looked at that so when we kicked
this off in January 2018 there were it
very quickly became a very large one
table we had 80 community members from
government nonprofits the private sector
philanthropy that were interested in
participating in this and as Kyra
pointed out this has become really a
community effort and a community
conversation the number of people that
certainly I engage with but that I have
conversations around homelessness has
really increased over the last number of
years and I think we were able to garner
a lot of people's expertise as we work
through the one table effort what we did
really is looked at root causes and
these were when we got the groups
together and we said what are people's
sense of the root causes of homelessness
it is these
five issues that are up here affordable
housing behavioral health exits from the
child welfare system the criminal
justice system and people's access and
ability to sustain employment and so I
think largely if you talk to people who
experience homelessness and if we look
at some of the survey data that came
from the point in time count that we did
in January
folks would identify one or multiple of
these root causes for why they have
become homeless and so we tried to look
at these as areas where we could come up
with high-level strategies or actions on
the that one table could look to address
the way the one table process worked was
that we actually because we had so much
interest in even beyond the eighty
people who sort of volunteered we
actually ended up with even larger
groups we actually broke it into
subgroups so as a working group we had
Community Action workgroup members and
these were people who either are people
with lived experience to some degree or
represent some of the nonprofit's
working in this area government entities
multiple representatives from Sound
City's Association all of that these are
the people who did the week to week work
looking at root causes strategies
actions to be taken in addition there
was an elected leadership group with I
think 12 to 15 folks from city council
SCA and other members who were kept up
to speed with the work that the
Community Action workgroups we're doing
and helped sort of guide that similarly
there was a civic leadership group that
looked at that and these were
representatives from philanthropy from
business and for for-profit companies
that sort of helped guide that work and
then we actually started after the sort
of first set of meetings we actually
started a group which was leaders with
lived-experience
often people who have had limited
experience who have been homeless are
more than willing to participate in
large groups and have those discussions
on the flip side sometimes those folks
for obvious reasons feel either
tokenized or marginalized and don't
necessarily want to participate and be
that one person that everybody looks to
and says how come this half
to you so we looked and created a
leaders with lived-experience group that
really helped guide some of the
recommendations and said you know if
this if we took this action would that
have helped you that sort of piece and
so it became a safe place for people to
have that conversation all of that over
the course of months really took the
place and came away with sort of action
statements and what I don't have and I
can provide it to Emily to give to all
of you is the link to the website that
actually has a lot of in-depth
information under each root cause as far
as the various strategies I think if you
looked at just affordable housing there
was something like 3435 strategies that
just the affordable housing group came
up with four actions to help a Druce
address the root cause but I think these
were sort of the overarching action
statements that came out of each of
those groups so not surprisingly
preserving an increasing affordable
housing and creating is was one action I
think one of the main root causes that
we learned and I think if there was any
that was sort of the most pervasive an
obvious one it is the loss and the
sustainability of affordable housing in
all of King County and I think that was
a very strong statement that we need to
work and I'll talk even more about this
in the next piece on the Affordable
Housing Strategy Group where we're going
with that
the second is create a housing
Stabilization Fund it is dramatically
more efficient and cheaper to help
somebody stay in their housing than it
is to address their homelessness once
they become homeless they become more
marginalized it's just more challenging
so if we can take and create
Stabilization Fund with flexible funding
to help somebody stay in the housing
that they have even if that is a couple
thousand dollars to help with a behind
the rent payment or an action like that
it is way more expensive than ultimately
having somebody going to the shelter
system and has worked with them on
housing and employment in those sorts of
actions and so the housing Stabilization
Fund is another area where we are very
excited to do work and
actually we're both philanthropy and
business is interested in potentially
participating because of sort of the
economic argument on that on demand
behavioral health services is a big
action for our department what our
largest division is the behavioral
health division within department
community and Human Services what we
know is that when people need behavioral
health services they need it right at
that moment it's no different than any
other acute illness that people have and
to say that you have to wait or to say
that you well we need to send you to
Yakima
because we don't actually have any
mental health beds in King County
ultimately doesn't address people's
behavioral health conditions and can
lead to homelessness if we are sending
people out of the county out of the
state even for their behavioral health
services and then they reenter often
they've lost their housing at that point
and have become homeless so on demand
Health Services is a key for behavioral
health is a key for us the foster youth
is another place we see if you go
through the foster care system you are
three times more likely to experience
homelessness then if you have not and
for foster youth who age out that number
is even higher so what we know is we
need to have alternative housing options
for youth that age out of the foster
system so that they don't simply exit
out at 18 and are sort of left to their
own good luck within sort of our region
so that's an area again where we are
doing a lot of work the zero bookings
for charges that are direct result of
homelessness this sounds complicated but
frankly it's actually pretty evident
when you think about it the biggest
booking for people who are homeless is
failure to appear at their court hearing
if they are homeless
they have no address to receive their
hearing notice they fail to appear they
end up with additional bookings on their
record and then when they apply for
housing often they are screened out
through landlord screening processes so
this is one where
frankly through some through some
inefficiencies of the system we can
actually help not exacerbate people's
homeless condition if we can not send
them charge them for failure to appear
notices so that's another one and then
the last one I think is the employment
pieces we've seen housing costs go up in
this community what is the housing wage
for people has gone up and it is around
$25 an hour to afford a one-bedroom
apartment throughout the county in
certain areas likely Issaquah Seattle
and some of the other Eastside
communities it's even higher and so if
we want to have a diverse set of people
living in our communities we have to
increase wages for people it plain and
simple and we want to have those people
able to live in the county so this is
again an area where we are working to
integrate our employment programs across
the county directly in a lot of our
homeless shelter system so the people
who enter in can receive their
employment services as part of that so
that is quick overview of six months
worth of work for one table the other
work that's going on that started last
year is the regional affordable housing
task force and this was led and it's
continuing to be led by councilmember
Balducci and there is a 12 member group
elected officials plus one ex officio
member who are going through and looking
at actions really around affordable
housing and as I mentioned the
affordable housing piece is a very close
tie between one table and the root cause
around affordable housing and the work
that Claudia and this committee are
doing on affordable housing if you look
out into the future which what seemed
like a long time into the future but
actually is only 23 years away we as a
region and this is based on PSR C data
Edo need to create over 240,000
affordable homes so that would be from
80 percent median income and below to
meet the knee the existing need plus the
growth need in King County
and that frankly is a really big bite
and so the work of the regional
affordable housing task force is to say
well how are we gonna do that what
actions can we recommend both land-use
actions preservation actions additional
financial resources that we can use to
fund affordable housing are their
legislative needs at the state or local
level that we need to really help make
that effort a reality and the task force
at this point is at the point of having
come up with a draft action plan and now
beginning to walk that through various
community meetings that are happening
this this month and then ultimately
going back to the task force by the end
of the year to come up with that final
set of recommendations you can see and I
can walk through here what are sort of
the original action plan that is out for
comment it includes things not
surprisingly around regional
collaboration additional preservation
for units at our below 50% of meeting
income the trying to prioritize housing
around transits we know that there's a
very close connection between the cost
of transit and how you get to your work
and affordable housing we also know that
around particularly fixed transit light
rail to a lesser degree bus rapid
transit the value of land goes up
dramatically in those locations as
compared to other areas but I think as a
policy matter we really feel as though
and the task force really feels that
there should be the ability for all
income levels to live near transit so
that they're able to take advantage of
that so how do we work with transit how
do we work with local land use to help
prioritize and make sure there's equal
access for affordable housing around
tant transit locations tenant
protections is another one again it kind
of relates a little bit back to the one
table recommendation around keeping
people in their home
similarly if there is a way for people
who are largely renters to have a
process by which they're able to stay in
their home before increasing rents or
other changes that landlords make that's
another action that the task force is
looking at a variety of housing types
think we are very you know historically
have been stuck in sort of apartment
buildings and single-family homes and
what we know is that the amount of land
available to us throughout the region is
becoming more and more restricted so are
there alternative housing models that we
can use in this community to develop
affordable housing that is more
cost-effective accessory dwelling units
or something that people are familiar
with and I know a number of these site
communities have looked a lot at that
there's micro apartments and I think the
challenge that this task force is
wrapping their brain around a little bit
is and for all of us is sort of
challenging a little bit our assumptions
of what housing and homes are and what
they may need to become in this
community if we are gonna hope to meet
the 240,000 units we need in the next 20
20 years and then I think the other
piece is and this relates to what
curious said as well on homelessness
this is an important community
conversation I think I have never have
been doing this work for 15 years I've
never been more involved with just
person on the street talking to me about
homelessness person on the street
talking to me about affordable housing
it makes the work very challenging but
it is the path to success for us we need
to be able to have good positive
conversations in our community about
what affordable housing is and needs to
be for us to meet the goals where we
need to be at and so I think the task
force is also trying to think about how
do they set up a structure that can
continue to have those conversations
once the task force has kind of finished
their work so that is kind of where we
are going with those two pieces and then
I think they well separate action
are married together in a lot of
conversations that the Kira mentioned as
well around governance around how do
affordable housing efforts and
homelessness overlap how do we
effectively have those conversations and
that is really the next step of both of
those works as both of those bodies of
work as they sort of evolve and mesh and
I think that is where I am going to stop
and leave time for folks to have
questions thank you very much thank you
Mark thank you Kira council questions
have either of our guests this evening
that's why every winter saying thank you
thank you thank you Kira thank you mark
for this very informative presentation a
lot of material there to talk about
policy that would be fascinating and fun
at least for me I mean this is a topic
that's dear to my heart and it is
difficult it is a very difficult nut to
crack and but so I have two specific
questions for you and and one of the one
of your slides mark you you talked oh
yeah it was under what it was under one
table and my question would be if we run
into somebody or anybody in this room or
listening runs into somebody on the
street or and what a local meals program
or you know we have a food bank and they
and they maybe haven't they may be on
the verge of becoming homeless or they
may need behavioral health services like
right now what can that what can a
citizen do to get them connected with
the programs that you listed up here now
we have local resources and we have
local nonprofit very civic-minded groups
that try to do those same things but but
how can someone connect to your programs
yeah so what I would the the thing that
we say is the action to take is for
people to call 2-1-1 and connect that
person to services I think there that's
a phone number that's available all the
time for people to get references for
housing behavioral health services if
it's an acute behavioral health moment
for somebody then
that is a 911 call as well so I mean I
think that's those are kind of the
actions that we would say I'm not sure
care if you would change that or add
anything to that know if this is maybe
someone who may is already enrolled in
your system I know you're maintaining a
system of trying to track there's
there's got to be some way to connect
the dots right from someone who may be
enrolled already and so when I may be
talking with yeah so if if somebody you
know so if you you know council member
you run across somebody on the street
and you say okay can you you know you
should connect to one one and they say
oh I've called them I can't you know
they don't have services for me or they
say I'm on a waitlist or you know pick
your thing I would I had experienced
that all the time and I say well it's
still important for you to call you can
get reconnected with the person who is
familiar with your situation as you
point out council member all of that
information whenever somebody touches
the homeless system it goes into the
homeless management information system
HMIS so we're able we collectively are
able to look in there and see where that
person is where are they in for housing
all of those sorts of things so it you
know we are unfortunately in a system in
a period of time where we don't have
resources for everybody who experiences
homelessness but that doesn't mean that
we don't have information on where they
are within that system or moving towards
housing so that's what I would say okay
my second question real quick thank you
for that is we like many jurisdictions
do a legislative agenda and I know you
didn't mention specifically like the
housing trust fund for example yeah but
it's just one of the things that we can
put in front of our elected down in
Olympia or maybe at the federal level
with HUD or what have you could what I
think I've heard some things that maybe
that fund level may be rising again mark
I don't know if it's I think it's it's
gone down it's been really suppressed
but yeah what would you have to say for
this council as we're in the our city is
in the process of developing our
legislative agenda about actions that we
could take there
in in alignment with what you're doing
here sure so thank you for that I think
one thing to point out both the one
table and it's sort of evolution and the
regional affordable housing task force
are both going to have legislative
slates or agendas that will be public
and so that can be shared as actions
that any other jurisdiction can take
owner or adopt so that's one thing to
sort of be on the lookout for I know for
certain that the regional affordable
housing task force is talking a fair
amount about that because this takes
resources from all levels to your point
on the affordable housing side the
Housing Trust Fund is the State Housing
Trust Fund is probably the single
biggest piece to advocate for from a
state from a local jurisdiction level to
the state because ultimately the way
that we build affordable housing much of
which goes to support people who are
homeless is by marrying together
multiple resources and without any one
of those resources either we we don't
end up with as much housing so we do a
lot of leveraging and the trust fund is
a critical component several years ago
five six years ago it was a 200 million
it has fallen over time it is it is
being slowly built back up but it has
not reached the 200 million dollar for
the biennium yet so I don't know if you
would add the only thing I would add is
just kind of what might be helpful in
that conversation I think this is
actually the perfect slide to aid that
that we need to push for more housing
everywhere we look that we cannot do
more and more with the resources that we
have and I think that is really
demonstrated in these numbers that we
know that there are far more people
experiencing homelessness than over the
course of year then we have the
resources to serve and it is critical
that housing be a major component to
that solution thank you any other
council member questions council deputy
council president batiste
thank you for their presentation that
was a lot of really important
information I was wondering particularly
about the increase in homeless
homelessness and living in vehicles and
does that correlate to programs that are
allowing people to come and stay in
their vehicles or or is that where do
you have an answer for so the number is
demonstrated here are captured actually
through a specialized count effort so in
the point-in-time count we have a few
subpopulations that we use specialized
efforts for for encampments for youth
and young adults for families and for
vehicles to make sure that we're taking
special measures to address the ways
that we need to count this population to
be as accurate as possible so we have
actually had vehicle teams that were
deployed in parts of the county they
were deployed in addition to the regular
count teams that were in every track so
we used information from research
experts locally about when to count a
vehicle when not so this did include
anyone that was in a safe parking
location as well as vehicles that are
parked throughout the county that had
indication of people living there
whether it was steamed up windows or you
could see a lot of belongings but they
we had a set of guidelines to really
guide that team so that we were as
accurate as possible I mentioned there's
a lot more to learn about this
population because this isn't
necessarily information we can glean
from the homeless management information
system the way that it's collected and
tracked and a lot of the what we're
relying upon is the surveys that are
conducted in the community and the the
surveys that are accompanied with the
point in time count there was only a
small sample of them that were people
living in vehicles and so we we need and
want to learn more and we'll be digging
in further and I would add that
partially a result of seeing this rise
in vehicle you know people living in
their cars who are homeless we put in
our upcoming one of our upcoming request
for Proposal round specifically set
aside money to help address the vehicle
residency question there are has been
often on a number of
religious communities on the Eastside
who have talked about using their
parking lots as places where people
living in vehicles can come park their
vehicle maybe use a shower inside the
building sometimes they can leave it
there during the day sometimes they have
to leave it they have to exit during the
day and can come back at seven o'clock
at night so we're interested in seeing
trying to gather some proposals about
how that model can be expanded and that
we can eat we can help support that as
well as services to the people living in
those vehicles because we would we would
like to if we get a group staying at a
church or wherever we would then like to
have a housing navigation team be able
to talk with the people living in that
car how do we you know how do we help
you is there you know can we connect you
to housing that sort of thing so we're
hoping to start to see some proposals
from nonprofits or or others to help
address that number Thank You
councilmember hunt thank you for that
information I had a question about the
action statement create a housing
Stabilization Fund to me because it says
create that implies that there isn't
currently housing stabilization funds
the rationale that you gave for why this
is necessary it was very clear to me and
so I wondered if there are other
services that fill partially this need
either in our region or in other regions
other counties other examples and how do
those how do those other examples work
yeah so that's a very good question and
actually in some ways that maybe this
should say scale up a housing
stabilization fund we have a couple
different things that already do this
work but at a smaller level so the best
starts for kids levy passed a couple
years ago has a youth family homeless
prevention initiative and it is designed
for people who are kind of families with
children who are sort of on the edge
either an apartment or or whatever for
them to connect through the county and
local and very some of them very very
grassroots nonprofits to get that sort
of flexible resource and it's been
everything from paying to have
somebody's car repaired so they can
continue to go
work to connecting folks with families
out-of-state anything like that so we
have an example where that's already
working and frankly been very effective
in the first 18 months of that program
we've actually prevented homelessness
for fourth the way that we're able to
count that for our estimate is around
four thousand households so that's been
effective we also have diversion
programs that we use out of our regional
access points that also do this to a
slightly lesser degree just because of
how much funding is available so I think
we've seen positive impacts of it and I
think nationally people have seen
positive impacts of this it's frankly
sort of how do we bring it to scale for
the 30,000 households and all the many
more who sit on the cusp of homelessness
I think your question brings up an
important theme across all of these
action statements for the one table for
the regional affordable housing task
force that also tie back to the
information I gave about the success
among veteran homelessness there's a
theme of needing to target and scale up
that we need to be more refined about
what we're offering in to whom and we
just need more we need to scale up
what's working and scale up the housing
response and I think that's what you see
throughout the themes of all this any
more questions
none Karen mark I want to thank you for
coming tonight and David for arranging
this the council had asked for an update
so that they could really understand the
big picture and for providing us some
suggestions on how we can be advocates
for success in this area as well so
thank you very much for coming tonight
thank you thank you
the next item on our agenda this evening
is audience comments I want to thank all
of those members of the public who have
come here to speak this evening because
we know it's hard to stand up at the
microphone and on camera so there are
some rules for public participation that
tisha is putting up on the overhead for
us this is a great time for you to talk
with your council those who signed up on
the speaker sheet will be called forward
first and if you didn't sign up don't
worry I will ask for other speakers
before closing this portion of the
meeting if you are here representing a
group if you are here on your own or as
part of a group please identify yourself
as a spokesperson for the group and
those that are here to support a speaker
please raise your hands when they're
speaking if there are certain points
that you want to let your council know
that you support has anyone signed up to
speak this evening tisha
yes Robin Kelly
[Applause]
thank you my name is Robin Kelly I
presided at 4:45 Mountain Park Boulevard
southwest I'm here tonight on behalf of
the Issaquah sister City Commission and
I'd like to introduce two other
commissioners Heather and Mary tonight
we'd like to share and celebrate a
recent accomplishment possible due to
many efforts
you might remember last year's artists
from our sister city and sundal Norway
the reception that the city hosted and
the ribbon-cutting unveiling the utility
wrap that's located at 2nd and sunset we
passed this international award
officially on madam mayor if we could
present this to you please again Robin
yes I'm sorry
so this is for communities of up to
100,000 people for innovation innovation
with arts and culture award from the
Sister Cities International Conference
that was held in August of 2018 so thank
you and we have a representation of the
art work here so you can recognize it
and I'd like to also thank our liaison
on our Commission is Tina and she's
invaluable to us so although she's not
up here with the Commission I want to
make sure that we share our appreciation
for all of her hard work and all of your
support with us we the city staff and so
many citizens make this possible
including the arts commissioners the
other commissioners who aren't here
tonight and we worked very closely also
with Amy Dukes and the Arts Commission
so the sister city Commission and the
Arts Commission both made this possible
and we want to share this officially
with you and look forward to working
with another artist this year thank you
Elizabeth Taylor
good evening Council and mayor Polly my
name is Elizabeth I live in 34:25
Northeast Monterey Lane Issaquah
Highlands and on behalf of all who have
worked on the campaign to save Cougar
Mountain I want to thank the three
council members for their recognition we
have often wondered if our efforts we're
doing any good or if we should continue
or for how long we should keep trying
when Jerry Potter and I gather petition
signatures had trail heads we talked to
so many hikers who feel so lucky to have
these mountains and miles and miles of
trails many hikers are from out of town
or even out of state we look forward who
look forward to visiting here because of
the many trails that are so close hike
friendly and accessible many often
wishing they had the same recreation
facilities close to their homes we
greatly appreciate your resolution 2018
and now know we have been heard and
shall keep on in our efforts to preserve
this valuable mountain thank you thank
you Elizabeth
no one further has signed up to speak I
see some hands though let's start with
Ken and then yes okay Ken you're up next
and then we'll have Tom single-use oh
you were just signaling support nicely
done cougar Mountain Tom come on
microphone I see I see a lot of new
faces over the last last year my name is
Tom Harmon and live for 3 6 9 240 third
Avenue southeast and claw honey and I'm
here as a commissioner of the Sammamish
plateau Water and Sewer District and
what I want to talk to you about a
little bit is some some comments that
we've made on
here on your water plan and I have
copies basically we we I've been a been
a commissioner by the way two months
it'll be it'll be nineteen years
so certainly Ivan I've enjoyed the job
and I've enjoyed working with the city
of is achill over over all these years
our concern in our main our main comment
is that is of assumption of the the
areas there now inside the city of
Issaquah butter butter being served by
other entities us being being one of
them our district was created in 1948
with the idea that Issaquah would assume
the south end of the plateau from
southeast 8 south and redmond would
assume the north end of the plateau and
the reason the reason i mention it is we
have very few lines crossing south east
8th we didn't dream I think in 1942 even
in the 1970s when a lot of this was when
the district was really put together
there'd be something like the city of
Sammamish and then all of a sudden areas
like like Providence point or kahani are
these areas that Issaquah would would
not ultimately annex the whole south end
of the plateau but only part of it and
when you're dealing with water and sewer
and I know guys do on a regular basis is
you're dealing with geography elevation
and so forth it ends up being a little
tougher nut to crack
assumption was created to handle the
problems of East Bellevue where every
subdivision had a water district there
were there were there were 19
assumptions with Bellevue as they took
that areas there wasn't a
another city being formed in in that
Plateau like like it is with ours that's
why we have the difference in in the
plan I'm basically going to talk about
three point six point two which says the
city shall assume municipal and
special-purpose district water utilities
to provide retail service within the
city of is across corporate limits work
cooperative when they bring
municipalities in special-purpose
district during the assumption within
this within the city limits it's my
belief that assumption is probably the
worst solution I weave understand over
the years named the district understands
that providing water and sewer to you
two-year residents and citizens is part
of is akua's DNA we know that's where
you want to go and it's a very important
goal and then we try to say what is the
best way to accomplish it that's why we
talk about all these various agreements
and attach to a copy of our comments
letter is the agreement we've made we
will sit down and talk about this and
end up with the best solution mate I
don't think it'll be assumption because
assumption is the most most costly
millions of dollars the the tanks that
supply Providence point are in our in
our district but they're in Sammamish
know do you have to build a tank to do
it water lines to get water from music
waa up there I know in looking at the
last assumption running another line
down south east 48th that's expensive in
cost money in most cases like Coal Creek
Coal Creek is still supplying water to
the Bellevue part that was assumed by
the City of Bellevue so we we recognize
what it that there's that the ways that
we can talk about it that's why we we
put in the in the agreement we'll talk
about later on in the letter we talk
about both serve
delivery in governance may I make a
friendly suggestion 23.62
I forgot to say at the beginning this is
Mary though we have five minutes for
public comments but I know you have a
lot of information in your letter so
give you a little bit of time if you
could wrap it up y'all know I'm I'm 30
to 40 more seconds perfect three point
six point two I would say and I and I
was getting to the the last paragraph of
I would say that the city strive to
provide direct retail service within the
city of Issaquah corporate limits
working cooperatively with neighboring
municipalities and special-purpose
districts within the city limits or
potential annexation I think that's
where we want to go getting this
assumption is one of the solutions but
it's a chance of working together to
solve that problem that's my comments on
on your plan but thank you very much
thank you for sharing that in writing
and leaving it with the clerk that's
super helpful okay well that's what I
wanted to okay thank you so much Tom
okay anyone else too looking forward to
I see Elizabeth's hand go up
hello my name is Lizabeth moped and
tonight I'm here primarily as the
Secretary of the Board of Preserve
Providence Heights I've been a resident
of Isikoff since 1982 I think you're
aware that preserve Providence Heights
challenged the city's decision to grant
a demolition permit on that site and
there was an appeal and the Hearing
Examiner did not for the most part
support our appeal but his decision did
include a stipulation that no further
demolition at the site might occur until
the site is assessed for the presence of
hazardous substances especially PCBs in
a manner consistent with ecology
requirements as adopted under RCW 70
point 105 D if hazardous substances are
determined to be present a detailed
cleanup and disposal plan consistent
with ecology requirements as adopted
under our CW 70.1 o5d shall be prepared
by the applicant approved by the city
and ecology prior to any disturbance of
PCBs or other hazardous substances
however when Donna Musa searched the
Department of Ecology databases she has
found that no one has contacted them
regarding Providence Heights and I think
that's something that you need to know
apparently nothing as being as far as we
can find out nothing is being done about
the PCBs on the site or any other
hazardous substances so I hope that
something can happen about that we would
love to preserve that sight see it
reused in ways that will be helpful to
the community and if in the end what
happens to that sight is that all of
what is probably the most beautiful
historical site in the city is
demolished and a school is put there
those substances if they are still
present in the soil are a danger to our
youngest citizens we don't want that to
happen
whoever uses that site it's important
that that work be done and properly
through the Department of Ecology thank
you very much thank you Elizabeth anyone
else Steve come on up
I could even steeper or Oldtown and by
10 years so part of that was just hands
up in recognition and support for
Elizabeth comments as well so just
sharing that do you want to segue though
I appreciate the council listening to
the presentation on the whole all home
and it is kind of a deep topic dive
inside preciate you all taken time to
want to pay attention to that there is
obvious segue to preserving Providence
Heights I wonder if it's more beneficial
if we could take a look at I guess both
within as gwon larger communities stock
that is at risk of being lost and steps
can be taken to preserve that rather
than building new affordable housing as
an opportunity I think that's worth some
serious consideration I think we keep
existing stock maintains the less than
the cost of building new housing as far
as Providence Heights it seems like when
I read the the decision there were a
couple comments that were made that I
didn't understand I think this council
should be worth considering one was
there was testimony that said that it
wasn't part of Issaquah code was to
consider historic preservation as far as
something to be maintained that
something should be reviewed and
maintained that we should consider
historic preservation ordinance and
deciding whether not to issue a
demolition permit another was that it's
not part of the city code currently to
look at the release of stored energy
from existing Holmberg karbix maybe that
she'd part of the strategic plan as well
has one for that something should be
considered as part of legislation that
would like to see somebody move forward
I still want to keep the idea that we
can preserve Providence Heights I just
want to keep these other things walls
move moving at the same time next topic
was I haven't had a chance to go to any
of the the Tuesday concert in the park
I'm sure if I did I'm sure I'd say that
those were well done but didn't get a
chance to sadly I did go to the Jazz
concert on
influence park that scene wall attended
and well done so thank you for that last
issue was an issue it will be on the
regular business I'm not gonna have a
chance to stay it's the traffic
enforcement issue that's coming up and I
support the idea but I think there needs
to be a better mechanism for engaging
the way we talk about with community
members this maybe gets hopefully people
who obey the laws but we need to talk
about this these are children our
families our friends our neighbors to
engage that public conversation that
doesn't happen because that's the goal
is to get the behavior that we want not
to raise revenue but we need to talk
about it in a way that these people
whether they are local people to live
here to passing through have a job here
whatever reason respect and obey the
laws that's the goal on the outcome and
I don't see that having happened yet I
see missed opportunity for that so
that's all I wanted to say for a night
thank you thank you Steve anyone else
wishing to speak tonight Corey
Corey Christensen if you want to mail me
something 1420 Gilman Boulevard I'd like
to talk about last week's parks
department
dog park introductory meeting before I
really dive into that I'd like to just
compliment the parks department I do
think that they're open friendly and I
do think they work hard I think there's
a lot of things they do that goes
unrecognized and I think especially some
of the things related to growth because
I don't think that I think parks are one
of the things that have been left behind
in growth and they're having it's
difficult both in the money they get and
to work with what they're handed which
is insufficient I think that said I was
utterly disappointed with the dog park
meeting a matter of fact I was sitting
there and I wasn't seething mad but I
was frustrated so why was I frustrating
the first reason I was frustrated is
that they didn't give any scope to this
project second reason there was no no
criteria laid out for what they were
going to do what would constitute a good
dog park and what would and I as far as
the users and then also what would be a
good dog park as far as a location so
they didn't give that they also didn't
do any kind of user needs assessment in
other words looking at what people in
Issaquah need and what their dogs need
and what their expectations are they
clearly did not do their homework
they also ended up with a survey which
you can take online and then one of the
classic here's a bunch of pictures and
you put stickers on it sort of thing but
absent of any criteria or scope or
anything like that it's basically a
beauty contest but you have no idea what
you're voting on and the problem is the
eight locations they gave us basically
seven of them are fatally flawed in one
way or another and one is maybe a maybe
so
where would I have started and do I
really expect that they needed to start
some grandiose process no but I do
expect that they would have given us
some indication of again criteria and
all of this sorts of things so I looked
online and of course dog parks aren't
something new matter of fact there's
something that's been in communities
large communities 20 years 25 years and
interestingly maybe 10 years ago many of
these communities were re-evaluating
what they had done in that first 10 or
15 years so if you look online there's
probably between fifty or a hundred
different sorts of master plans or this
is or that's that are very nice Studies
on dog parks so I found one I liked from
Denver and I will send you this to look
at and it was their master planning
process for dog parts the first thing
they did is they had a kind of a game
plan session which is essentially I
think a scoping which is what you sort
of directed them does the parks
department to do as a City Council the
next thing was they had a public input
survey now Bellevue matter of fact they
redid their robins wood dog park ten
years ago they did a public input survey
that's online and it's and maybe instead
of our Parks Department doing a survey
they could have at least read Bellevue
survey because there's a lot of
similarities between Bellevue residents
and us and the similar needs and that's
also ten years into their dog park so
they could look forward and not make the
same mistakes the next step was they
were going to examine and evaluate
Denver's needs for fill their existing
facilities and those needs of the people
we didn't do that either the next step
study and evaluate local and national
best practices that's going out and
looking at what other communities are
doing and trying to do the best you
possibly can by not making the same
mistakes the last step
develop a draft or recommended sites
well that was our first step and so and
that's the problem that's our first step
so now let's move to a minute to another
study about about what some of these
criteria should be the city of Atlanta
they have a guidebook
just a few pages creating off-leash dog
parks a step-by-step guide so
identifying site for an off-leash type
dog park number one area must be a
minimum of two acres sites must be
divided for large and small dogs they
must be accessible to all park users and
if you look at some of the other studies
we're talking about 88 children seniors
all that sort of thing it has to have
water it has to be habitable topography
that's well-drained and shaded it should
be graded so it begin prevents standing
water and muddy areas on it goes well am
I done very much if you can summarize
quarry that would be great if you can
leave us a copy I know I will send you
that quick conclusion it's very easy to
look to see what some of these design
criterias are most parks at a minimum
are 2 acres and and one other point I
wanted to quickly add is that most parks
are not in the proximity of where people
live two of the parks on the list Muir
wood and Bernsen are right across from
residents most of these studies say
don't put them by residents and
absolutely all the parks that are
adjacent to us are all parks in parks
they are not they are not parks in
residence so anyway I hope you send them
back to the drawing board because I'm
especially concerned that this study or
their survey is going to end up with
flawed information and something that an
out an outcome that they treat is gospel
but that is based on absolutely nothing
that means much thank you thank you Cory
anyone else wishing to address Council
this evening anybody else wishing to
address Council this evening
last call for audience comments seeing
no hands we'll move to committee and
regional reports starting with
councilmember hunt thank you madam mayor
no report this evening thank you it's a
member a Thank You mayor Polly the
services and Safety Committee will meet
on September 11th at 6:30 here in
Council Chambers the agenda will include
agenda bill 7605 a 2018 first budget
amendment agenda bill 76 31 visit
Issaquah bylaws agenda bill 76 54 Puget
Sound Energy Green District two
amendments agreement excuse me
agenda bills 76 58 amendments to the
medical plan for 2019 and agenda bills
76 64 amendments to IMC 5.02 business
licenses because of the popular demand
on services and safety this month we
will have a second service as a safety
meeting on on the 18th also here in
council chambers and we will be hearing
agenda bill 76 40 amending school impact
fees Eastside Fire and Rescue Board did
not meet in August and the board will
meet on September 13th at 4 o'clock p.m.
at headquarters
the state auditor has completed their
audit of efer and an exit interview was
held on August 29th the eeper board
president our Board Chair attended the
exit interview to represent the board
and a full report will be provided on
the audit at the regularly scheduled
board meeting on September 13th and the
balance of the board meeting agenda has
not yet been sent set and that concludes
my report this evening thank you
council member Ramos thank you the
Council on Infrastructure Committee
meeting will be on the 20th this month
at 6:30 in this chamber no agenda set
yet into my report Thank You
councilmember winter Stein thank you the
Puget Sound regional councils growth
management policy board next meeting is
this Thursday September 6th at 10:00
a.m. at PSR C headquarters in Seattle
the entire meeting will be dedicated to
vision 2050 there will be one discussion
between the board and PSR C staff about
the vision outcomes and objectives and
another about the regional growth
strategy there will also be a breakout
session for more intimate discussion and
brainstorming about these topics then
the lodging tax advisory committee our
next meeting is this Thursday September
13th at 9:00 a.m. in a conference room
at the Hilton Garden Inn I don't have
the specific room this is
the first time we've met in a number of
months on the agenda we'll get an update
on the work of the destination marketing
organization board selection committee
and there is information about that
because the bylaws issue there is an
agenda bill in today's packet and some
of the information about that committees
work can be found in that agenda bill
also get a report on the association of
volleyball professionals or AVP
tournament that was held here in in June
at Lake Sammamish State Park and we'll
hear about the prospects for the
tournament
returning in 2019 and Beyond we're also
going to get a presentation from
Jennifer Frank from the parks department
on wayfinding and branding both topics
have been priority issues for the LTAC
for many years now and using both
lodging tax funds and recommended by
LTAC and the general fund the City
Council funded the branding effort
number of years ago but that project did
not get started so I think this
represents a potential restart and as
for wayfinding LTAC has advocated for a
comprehensive citywide plan while
recognizing that there is a large and
diverse group of stakeholders and that
its development and rollout will be
expensive likely well over a million
dollars knowing this is why LTAC has
held the majority of the lodging tax
funds in reserve the past few years so
that the committee could offer
substantial funds for both the branding
and wayfinding initiatives and the last
agenda item will be about the 2019
recommended budget now what we're hoping
to do is have the LTAC recommendation to
the administration finance department in
time that you can include that in your
draft budget that you release in October
we really want the committee's input to
get to the council in your first public
budget so that'll we're going to be
taking that up all of that this Thursday
the 13th that concludes my report before
going to councilmember Goodman city
administrators notice
there's an additional item on services
and safety it didn't get no say it ain't
so
so what did I miss the item that we
added to September 18th is a
presentation on the various ways the
city contributes to nonprofit and other
types of entities so it's a follow up
conversation to help provide a little
bit more information on scholarships
grants contracts for services various
ways we contribute thank you for sure to
let us in yes you're worried you're
gonna have a short meeting so we're not
gonna shorten me okay member Goodman
Thank You mayor Poli the council's land
in short committee will meet this
Thursday September 6th at 6:30 here in
Council Chambers we have two items on
our agenda agenda bills 73 26 Old Town
sub Area Plan Update pending referral
from tonight's consent agenda and agenda
bills 76 61 proposed amendments to a
central standards table 4.3 be permitted
land uses that concludes my report
Thank You deputy council president
batiste thank you madam mayor just an
announcement that tomorrow a Wednesday
September 5th from 2 to 4 p.m. the
Eastside Human Services forum board has
put together a panel in an overview on
the opiate and heroin crisis and it's
called next steps to make a difference
basically King County formed a task
force to address the issue and offered
the recommendation back in 2016 and so
this is a look at what has been
accomplished in the past 20 months
especially on the east side there the
forum is looking to receive feedback
from attendees to inform and address the
work going forward so a really important
topic and if any council members can
attend that would be fantastic thank you
thank you council president Mertz thank
you madam mayor
the sound studies association public
issues committee will be meeting on
Wednesday September 12th at 7 p.m.
in written cityhall the agenda is still
to be decided and the king county growth
management policy council GMP c will be
meeting Thursday September 27th at 4
p.m. in PS RC chambers and that agenda
is also to be lost that concludes my
report thank you I'm moving on to the
mayor's report this evening I summer is
a little bit lighter for most of us so I
put up on the tisha put up on the
overhead some of the regional meetings
and the community outreach that happened
but I wanted to focus tonight's report
on just some announcements and a pretty
significant update on where we are with
our strategic plan it was an executive
session held this evening before the
regular council meeting in addition to
the proclamation that I presented
earlier this evening I also issued two
additional proclamations for the month
of September Childhood Cancer Awareness
Month encouraging all citizens to join
in the activities that will increase
awareness and prevention of childhood
cancer and recovery month urging
citizens to join me in observing this
month with appropriate programs
activities and ceremonies supporting
increase in awareness and understanding
of mental and substance use disorders
and celebrate the people who recover so
the strategic plan we were out in the
community quite a bit earlier on in the
year and it now seems to have gone quiet
but a lot is going on and I thought I'd
provide you some information in the
mayor's update following the
confirmation of six strategic priority
areas by the City Council in July staff
have begun to work on the next phase
which is focused on goals and objectives
the six strategic priority areas are
mobility growth and development social
and economic vitality core
infrastructure environmental stewardship
and city leadership and services staff
have attended a strategic planning
design charrette
informed six strategic priority
workgroups work groups have been meeting
throughout August they have been
reviewing results of community
engagement the community Charette and
local plans applying knowledge and
expertise in considering council
feedback to refine the draft goal
statements and develop a set of draft
objectives for each of the goals next
steps will be seeking input from the
community
the draft vision mission and guiding
principles look for these announcements
in social media on the city's website or
in the insider and the project
leadership team including the mayor's
office senior leadership council
president Mart's and deputy president
batiste will be meeting next week to
review initial drafts of goal statements
and objectives council work session on
the strategic plan will take place on
September 24th the council will make a
final review and adopt the vision
mission and guiding principles an
initial look at the draft objectives
will be presented and these will be
discussed more fully at an October 15th
work session starting in late September
we'll be seeking input from the
community on the goal statements and
draft objectives so we look forward to
your input the last thing I had on my
mayor's report today is an announcement
on our agenda this evening I have added
agenda bill 7-6 7-3 under regular
business it was prepared for Council to
consider confirming my appointment of
Emilie moon to the position of city
administrator and pleased to announce
this tonight as part of my mayor's
report and to present the bill to
council when it comes up under regular
business and that concludes my report
the next item on the agenda is the
consent calendar consent calendar was
distributed to council in advance if
authorized the items on the consent
calendar will be considered together and
approved under one motion of the
payables and payroll for August 20th
been reviewed you have thank you
does any council member desire to remove
any items from the consent calendar and
consider it under regular business being
none would you care to make a motion
madam mayor I move the adopted consent
calendar is listed in this evenings
agenda thank you second the moved and
seconded all those in favor signify by
saying aye hi as opposed motion carries
unanimously
next item on the agenda is regular
business first a bee app is a bee seven
six five five expedited traffic
enforcement pilot project summary report
and extension you'll be hearing this
presentation
evening it's a report out of the pilot
program provided by Council at the March
19 2018 council meeting and this is the
first time this agenda bill has been
before council I'd like to invite Police
Chief Scott bierbaum to make a
presentation
good evening i'm chief scott peer bomb
with the police department here to
follow up on the conversation we had
back in March about our expedited
traffic enforcement pilot project first
off I want to start by thanking
commander Paula chuan she was the the
main person driving this project within
our Police Department and coordinated
with Washington State Patrol as well and
also our city communications team as
they were a big component of acquiring
the information regarding the surveys on
the pre and the post incident or from
the project as well again just a
reminder back in March 19th we
implemented that limited term traffic
emphasis project to increase traffic
enforcement during the new staff
implementation we collaborated with
Washington State Patrol to focus on our
kind of our four major corridors through
our downtown area stereo 900 Northwest
Gilman front Street in Newport Way
Northwest and we wanted to focus on
driving behaviors that impacted mobility
throughout our city such as blocking red
blocking intersections running red
lights improper lane travel distracted
driving etc throughout that in
coordination with the enforcement we
also conducted the pre and post surveys
to get the community's input on what
they are observing and how they felt
traffic and mobility was happening in
the city of Issaquah start right off
with the the data collected during the
pilot project initially we had been
authorized for 39 traffic emphasis
shifts of about six hours long which
equally equated to about two hundred
thirty-four hours of traffic emphasis
what we actually achieved was 33 shifts
with about 214 hours
emphasis overall there was about 370
infractions issued during that timeframe
the reality of it was it was really
condensed down to two months of May and
June for once we were had obtained
authorization we had to acquire the
contract with Washington State Patrol
which closed our window of enforcement
time just a little bit but we were able
to accomplish that within that two-month
period a lot of the types of violations
that we observed during the next I'm
going to go back one slide here we
really tried to in focus on
red-light violations blocking the
intersections speeding distracted
driving illegal passing crosswalk
violations and in seatbelt as well a lot
of other citations were issued during
that enforcement period just depending
upon but we really tried to capture and
focus on the ones that had been
identified by previous conversations in
the pre survey but also some of the
community input I kind of want to
provide a little bit more information
related to this when we examined the
data and we looked at kind of May versus
June to see if we've been having any
sort of an impact on the violations or
on potential violations or return
violations interesting enough in May we
had about 297 contacts or 2.7 contacts
per hour for violations that's like a
traffic stop we had to hire 96 citations
this is the State Patrol data so we're
kind of compiling the State Patrol data
her 96 citations which averaged about
one point seven eight citations per hour
in June although we saw a few less hours
we also saw less violations so we had to
earn 24 contacts during 57 and a half
hours which equates to about 2.15
contacts per hour or traffic stops per
hour and about seventy three citations
overall which is about one point two
seven citations per hour so we saw
approximately 0.5 citations per hour
for you no citations but we also saw
over a half of a contact per hour of you
know observed violations from May to
June as well now that didn't necessarily
carry across all types of violations
when we looked at some of the when we
group red-light violations and blocking
intersection we saw actually an increase
of that those type of violations from
May to June from about 0.67 per hour to
about 0.8 distracted driving we saw just
a really small drop from 0.59 per hour
to about 0.53 and then we actually saw a
large drop in seat by seatbelt
violations about 0.4 8 down to 0.1 L so
I think most of the time when people see
in law enforcement they kind of think of
some of the major campaigns that are out
you know in in the media about like
click it or ticket things like that so I
think when they see the presence that
that has a little bit of an impact on
that now overall can I say that it was
absolutely because of that because the
enforcement we're not sure but at least
the data that that we collected during
that time frame in those specific
locations showed a little bit of drop in
violations from May to June but then we
had some changes in behaviors on some of
the citations so we're only looking at
about a two month window though you know
sample size so again just kind of
looking at percentages of the main
violations that were issued during our
emphasis we're looking about 21% of
distracted driving 17% of like blocking
intersection 7% of red-light violations
and then 4% of improper turning those to
again these are the violations that we
had identified during the surveys kind
of asking input from our asking input
from our community some of the
expenditures during this time frame we
were authorized 34,000 $125 we only
expended about 23,000 735 as you can see
we had to rely on Washington State
Patrol contracting services to
accomplish this and again this is about
that
hiring of positions and getting our
staffing up and running so we hired five
new positions and July 1st and this is
just after this had actually concluded
so we're I'm in the process of getting
those people trained and hope to have
them up and running by the end of 1st
quarter 2nd quarter
of 2019 but so I want to go into our
survey results now again we sent out a
pre survey to try and get a little bit
of input from community as we started
off this project to get a feel for what
kind of violations were they seen and
maybe where they were seeing them we
also want to get some input on what they
saw as some of the contributing factors
to our traffic issue our pre survey
consisted of two separate surveys and we
utilized peak democracy and we use
Survey Monkey and the intent of that was
to hopefully be able to push out the
Survey Monkey to some of our commuters
or some of the communities outside of
our community just to try and get their
input a little bit more and to hopefully
get just more participation by giving
them a couple of different venues to
reach out to so we had about 363
participants in the pre survey and we
had a club about 13 questions in the pre
survey I've captured a few of them just
to include in in the presentation
tonight just to kind of talk about it I
know if you do the numbers in rock and
all add up butts because the people had
opportunity to choose me on multiple
selections for at least for this one for
this description of how they typically
commute but it's it's pretty
overwhelming about single occupancy
vehicles as opposed to maybe some of the
other choices I've tried to we've
captured both surveys provide them and
similar the next two columns and then
some of the other ones we've provided
some averages as well we want to get a
feel for what their feeling was on their
average daily commute and what we saw
was they we had over
over fifty percent are claiming that
it's difficult or very difficult to have
their commute through our community next
we want to get a feel for what they felt
was contributing factors and as you can
see again multiple responses you know
opportunities here but there was a
overwhelming response for a traffic
volume and then they went down on to
focus on road design or traffic signal
timing and then unsafe driver behavior
we wanted to get a feel for what their
thoughts were in addition to just these
questions some of the participants also
provided additional comments through a
lot of these answers as well and they
are included in a link in your guys in
your packet as well just to kind of look
at it but there was definitely outside
of the mobility issues or how the
factors are talking about the violations
as well it's a majority are focusing on
sometimes often or almost always have
seen violations during their commute so
this table shows the violation frequency
observation by our you know survey
respondents showing a at least the
blocking intersections there was a heavy
focus on blocking intersections and not
following signs and distracted driving
and that kind of actually goes in touch
with our citations as well that we that
we issued in the amount of contacts that
we had during this pilot project that
they were more focused on blocking
intersections and distracted driver the
locations varied for where they saw but
Front Street was the highest observation
location and as a result a lot of our
initial enforcement was focused on Front
Street and of course Gilman and 900 with
a little bit focused on Newport that's
where we tried to apply
resources based on where some of our our
the complaints or the response were
focusing their observations and again
the pre survey there was a statement of
that there was this was interesting to
see looking at the Survey Monkey we see
we it appears that Survey Monkey was
more for people outside of our city or
community and the and the peak democracy
was more inside our community as well so
it's interesting that you see a little
bit more of a focus on internally on the
not enough enforcement in the more of
the the local comments and respondents
versus the external survey the survey
monkey said 73% were neutral on this and
you find that actually throughout some
of these is the the variances on between
the the kind of the external and the
local responses now we get to the post
project survey results we had a few less
participants but a majority of those
were emailed directly with the survey
because when they had the opportunity to
sign up for the original survey they
were provided that saying would they
like to be able to be contacted to
provide it and so we had 214 total
participants of that about a hundred
eighty eight were residents of that
responded in the last so when asked the
question about if they've noticed on
during this pilot project if there
hasn't been any sort of increased about
25 percent stated that they noticed an
increased and then 73 percent said that
they did not did not notice it so again
if you're talking about 39 shifts over a
period of a few months for six hours so
three times a week for about six hours
and if it's not on your commute location
you may or may not have that come in
contact with it on the violations
concerning traffic violations did did
our community notice
a change in driving behavior 84% did not
really notice a change in traffic
violations
they did not again most of the just
blocking intersections or distracted
drivers there was not a significant
change so when asked for some of our
community members if they felt the
traffic enforcement was a right amount
or not enough there still is a 60 per
majority stating there's not enough and
although that 31% did feel that there
was a small difference that was made or
there was an impact there's still 66%
and say that there is no difference when
asked specifically if they felt that if
they would like to see continued traffic
enforcement emphasis in the downtown
area there was a bad overwhelming
response again of 84 percent saying that
they would like to see it and then of
course the continued notification of any
continued enforcement projects or if
there is any sort of an intention to
look at additional enhanced enforcement
there was a an interest as well that
concludes the overall presentation and
update on the pilot project if you have
any questions that's members questions
all good you can go home Scott they're
thinking and digesting it's an awful lot
of data and it's very interesting
there's no questions are we ready for
emotion I'd like to I'd like to make a
motion wait ahead I'd like to move that
we were fir abies 7655 to the September
18th 2018 council services and Safety
Committee for review and recommendations
returning the full council for
consideration and possible action on or
before October 15 2018 I think this
gives us an opportunity to do a little
bit more second I think this gives us an
opportunity to
spend some time with the numbers and to
really look at what was working what
wasn't working whether or not we need to
do more of this broader and also as we
bring our new officers online in 2019
how best to apply them to meet the needs
of the community either councilmember
comments as president Mertz I want to
thank the member the very busy members
of the services and Safety Committee
meeting if this goes through for their
service never a dull moment I would also
ask in your in your evaluation of this
data I would be interested you know some
of you who know I was the president of
my students against drunk driving
chapter in high school my junior and
senior years and spent a lot of weekends
giving kids rides home from ride homes
from parties we had these little
keychains that people would call in and
get a boy and a girl team that would
take them home but you know seeing the
very small number of DUIs that makes me
really happy if in fact we were looking
for it and we can't find it but I would
love it if you would make sure that
we're leaving every stone we're leaving
no stone unturned I guess would be the
way I've been sit because I have no
sympathy at all for those folks thanks
to provide some comments the services
and safety might want to dig further
into councilmember interesting thank you
in the original bill back from March
there were four outcomes identified
increased presence at traffic emphasis
locations increased traffic stops
reduction in behind driver behaviors
that impact traffic flow and local
mobility and fourth increased mobility
in traffic emphasis locations and in
today's bill the first two questions are
addressed right in the primary body of
the bill as well and I know it's a
little bit more difficult because we
didn't have empirical data it was based
upon survey information so my ask of the
committee would be to dive into those
last two outcomes and
and to get a good understanding we could
spend more time of it now I'm really I
like the idea of taking it to committee
I think that's that's a good form for
this when we originally adopted this
there were a big part of the presumption
was that due to driver behavior
especially at certain intersections they
were contributing to decrease mobility
because of intersection light violations
and and improper turning and that this
increased enforcement would reduce those
behaviors and hopefully improve the the
traffic flow at through those locations
I realize that's a pretty difficult task
that's a big ask to make and may be
difficult to measure and really do but
those are the since that was a key part
of the justification for this in the
first place I would ask the committee to
really investigate those parts to the
best of their ability and I know that
Commander bierbaum and his staff and
others in the and the administration you
know how Scott thank you this for this
evening bringing the kind of the trend
information that I had asked and sharing
that with us I think it is there's just
a couple data points and and some of the
trends look like Wow some of these
behaviors that maybe contribute to poor
traffic flow actually got worse during
that time and I'd like to look deeper
dive into that and can we really make
any polisseni conclusions from that or
should we be considering further policy
questions of addition extending or in
funding it further so that we can get
some more data
those are my interests and ass in the
committee thank you thank you any other
councilmembers council member Ramos yeah
that you've just definitely thank you
for this designing this project as you
did so we could get a good sample on a
little bit of what increased enforcement
would become which our community is
asking for it's a great start I really
appreciate this I myself saw a few out
there a couple times so
yeah nice to see folks out there and and
and how that reacts again community
we'll take a deeper dive I believe that
and and look at how we're going to deal
with this in the future but I think it's
a great start and thank you for your
work and putting this pilot together
great other council members being none
I'll call for the vote the motion was to
refer a be seven six five five to the
September 18th 2018 council services and
Safety Committee for a review and
recommendation returned to the full
council for consideration and possible
action on or before October 15 to 2018
all those in favor say aye
motion carries unanimously
Thank You chief the next and last item
under regular business is a b7 673 city
administrator appointment I will be
presenting a brief summary to the
Council of the agenda bill and then
taking questions this agenda bill seeks
counsels confirmation of the mayor's
appointment of Emilie moon to the
position of city administrator it also
asks for direction for the council to
direct the mayor to execute the
employment contract and authorize the
mayor to retain retained recruitment
services to fill the vacant deputy city
administrator position the miss moon has
been filling in as interim City
Administrator since January 2nd
she was formerly our deputy
administrator that position has remained
vacant during this time on my first two
quarters in office I spent a lot of time
reviewing the work in progress and
looking at the projects underway and
also considering options for how to fill
the city administrator position so I
considered three different options
continuing with an interim City
Administrator completing a national
search or appointing a qualified
internal candidate I looked at several
of the significant projects underway
that that really are taking a lot of the
executive and senior leadership team and
focus and want to really make sure that
these projects are come
cleated the development of our first
ever city strategic plan and the
implementation of some new budget new
budget tool for 2018 as well as an
overhaul of most of the city's financial
systems I did not consider continuing
with the interim city administrator role
because it's been providing a strain on
resources in that we have been unable to
completely stop the executive office
during this at this time completing a
national search was also an option
having gone through that and serving on
the site Fire and Rescue Board two years
ago I really I understand the
significant lift that that can be in the
amount of time and attention that it can
take it would be about a nine-month
process which means that the mayor's
office would not be fully staffed for
quite a long time I felt that that could
complicate our abilities to get our
priority projects listed priority
projects completed so I went with the
option of appointing a qualified
internal internal candidate interim city
administrator moon has 21 years of
service in public administration and has
held positions and cities and agencies
around the country
she is the training the experience and
the qualifications to perform the city
administrator role and I'm recommending
to Council this evening to confirm this
appointment it's required by the code i
am c 2.0 2.0 8.01 o states how this
process works and while the mayor makes
the appointment I do bring it forward to
the council for our confirmation which
is what I'm doing this evening I've
provided some financial information also
in the agenda bill since the candidate
is currently acting as interim City
Administrator and compensated for those
duties and it does not anticipate that a
deputy City Administrator will be on
board till early to 2019 the increase
for the salary and the appointment can
be a calm
in the current approved budget there is
a typo in the next paragraph of the
agenda bill and I can see people I
already found it do it there's two
potential typos the request for funding
to complete recruitment for a deputy
City Administrator is estimated at
$30,000 not $30.00 this funding was not
included in the 2019 approved budget and
if approved it may require a future
budget amendment to be authorized by
Council
so my recommendation this evening is for
council to confirm the appointment of
miss moon as an internal candidate
fulfill the position of city
administrator question are we ready for
a motion
[Applause]
deputy council president batiste
I would move to confirm the Mayoress
appointment of Emilie moon as the city
administrator authorized the mayor to
enter into and execute the employment
contract and authorize the mayor to
retain recruitment services to fill the
vacant deputy administrator positions
let go and frantically scribbling
something down here so it has been moved
and seconded actually I realized that I
wanted to propose an alternate motion so
if I may add some comments and have you
consider them I would like to add to the
second bullet authorized the mayor to
enter into an execute the employment
contract I'd like to add in as directed
in the executive session as we didn't
have a discussion on this contract in
session shall I read that again
actually they take the tisha do we have
to withdraw the other motion just a mint
you're gonna offer as amendment thank
you so as amended meeting I read one
more time that would be good I would
move to confirm the mayor's appointment
of Emilie moon as the city administrator
authorized the mayor to enter into and
execute the employment contract and
authorized the mayor to retain
recruitment services to build the vacant
deputy administrator position as amended
[Music]
as directed in executive session okay I
I'm sorry I thought I could just say as
amended at the end I'm gonna do this one
more time I would move to confirm the
mayor's appointment of Emilie moon as
the city administrator authorized the
mayor to enter into and execute the
employment contract as directed in
executive session and authorized the
mayor to retain recruitment services to
fill the vacant deputy administrator
position thank you
second degrees I'm missing questions
councilmember Bates I just have a
procedural question and to start with
and that is can we do that making that
contract amendment change an executive
session and not disclose what it is here
actually no I was just thinking about
that the directed an executive session
the council did not give any direction
and an executive session and can't do
that
so you do need to either make the
amendment here or you can could say with
the amendments discussed an executive
session I think it might be cleaner just
to make the amendment here cuz it's
pretty tight I think so too
I'd be happy to make that amendment so
in motion oh well I'm not mending the
motion it's pending motion
so I think to amendment I I move that we
amend the motion on the floor to change
section 12 severance me excuse me I I
think that you should dispose you should
take a vote on the current an amendment
which was to add the phrase so maybe you
haven't taken that vote yet there to
incorporate Mariah's language so she
could with move to withdraw the language
she offered and that would put that
first motion back before council and
open it for amendments council president
batiste
you think that's clean way of doing it
motion would be dispositive when I would
remand would be disposed of okay I would
move to withdraw Yemen and the second
degree is read there back to the
original motion that's a member right
I'd like to move to amend the motion
under consideration to change section 12
severance of the employment contract
section a and delete the last sentence
in that paragraph that reads this
severance shall be paid out in a lump
sum basis can you please restate I doubt
it
I would move to amend the employment
contract section 12 severance section a
subsection a and strike the final or the
last sentence in that paragraph this
severance shall be paid out in a lump
sum basis second it moved and seconded
so if add some clarifying comments for
the council the reason this came up is
because of a difference in one
employment contract to another and the
intention is to make it then the same
I'm not sure if council members raised
wording changes makes them the same
as in the previous contract but I know
that is his intent so well so my intent
and I think this does do it is the first
part of that section says if the
employee terminates by the city for any
reason other than set forth in
Subsection e below the employee shall be
entitled to severance payments equal to
6 months of annual base salary down
below in section in the subsequent
sections it talks about the fact that
this would be paid out over a period of
6 months and in the event that
employment was gained during that six
months the payment would stop so if we
pay it out in one lump sum we don't have
the ability to retroactively we boat
back and get it so I think by just
striking that the other sentences or
other subsections stand on their own
it's good comments questions on the
amendment okay
excuse me oh sorry I guess I would just
look for a nod before our city attorney
that that striking that sentence works I
think it the the appropriate thing would
be to change that sentence to read that
the severance shall be paid in equal
monthly installments and then to change
to make sure that in well you can either
do that or you can simply direct the
city attorney and the mayor to amend the
contract as per the intent stated by mr.
Rey we have a question
that's um madam mayor I would request at
this point we've taken a couple of
whacks at this I would request that we
take a five or your discretion 10-minute
bio break and the administration came
back with language that has worked with
Jim and these confident addresses the
question it
agreed five minute recess
you
we are returning from our recess and I'm
going to councilmember Rea for a
replacement motion I'd like to offer a
replacement motion say I would like to
replace the motion I made earlier with
an amendment to change section twelve
severance subsection a on the last
sentence to read this severance shall be
paid in six equal monthly installments I
would also like to amend section
subsection D inserting in the first
sentence after the severance and
deferred compensation benefits shall be
reduced by the salary and benefits of
said other employment second it's been
moved and seconded to change section
twelve severance as noted in red on the
screen do we have any questions this is
an amendment not the main motion
councilmember winter Stein just to be
extra special careful
councilmember Rey read that and I'd like
to hear from the administration if
indeed this language now is consistent
and makes the intent with what your
objective was sure so I'll check I'll
check
I'll give you my opinion but also this
is an employment contract and I want to
make sure that miss moon agrees that
this is what we had talked about so the
language up here is what I had thought
our contract was going to capture which
is a language we have used some language
we have used Bevers which is not
language this captures the intent from
previous contracts and that was how I
thought this contract would be written
so yes this is what I expected intent to
be Ms moon I concur
thank you sessions okay I think to be
clear you need me to read everything
tisha or can I just refer to okay so an
amendment to the motion has been made it
has shown up on the overhead it is the
red text that you see been moved and
seconded all those in favor say aye I
oppose the amendment carries back to the
main motion
any discussion questions further
amendments that's a member right so this
is a very obviously important and
long-range decision that we're making
this evening there's a number of pieces
of information that I don't have that I
think are important for me personally to
make this decision so I'm gonna abstain
from this vote
other comments or questions just deputy
counsel extension will be a vote in
favor
deputy council president the teeth so I
I just wanted to speak to the motion I
am very supportive of this confirmation
I've had the pleasure of working with
Emily moon for a few years now and we
have a strong and talented person in the
interim role for City Administrator
right now someone who has many years of
targeted experience in this area
and has served as both the deputy deputy
counsel I'm sorry
the deputy city administrator and then
the interim city administrator so we've
we have an internal candidate who has a
very strong working relationship with
the existing city staff the city
workload that we have right now is
immense and the agenda bill mentions
many
of the important projects that that this
role would be involved in and helping to
oversee including the strategic plan and
overhaul of the city's financial systems
and new 2018 budget tool that on top of
the day-to-day workings of the person
that's in the city administrator role a
national search is something that could
take up to a year and then the the time
that would be spent for that person to
come in the learning curve and the ramp
up really can I think could end up
taking another year and right now we're
sitting with someone who is an
incredibly strong experienced candidate
who would also be incredibly adept at
bringing in a deputy City Administrator
and training them and so for me this
makes really good sense to go forward
with the appointment and confirmation of
Emily moon thank you any other comments
or questions very confident
councilmember winters time thank you
I was on council when there was an open
deputy city administrator position it
was a competitive process Emily was one
of a number of applicants and she was
selected for that process for that
position then in my capacity as a
council member both as a regular member
but also a number of years in council
leadership had lots of opportunities to
work directly with Emily but also with
many members of her staff and so I have
direct experience that I'm drawing from
also in my own personal experience
outside of the city I have worked with a
number of executives in organizations of
about the same size in terms of
personnel and some even smaller
organizations that we have here at the
city and there's a lot that goes into
getting the top administrator getting
the right person for that rule and I
think we're in a very unique position
here with Emily as a candidate for being
familiar with and through my own
observations having very effective and
professional working relationships with
the staff leadership already with the
city my own personal experience is are
that I have found Emily to be very
knowledgeable very when asked for her
opinion and input
she always has provided I think very
strong strong input good fact-based
arguments when asked for her opinion I
have found them to be very reasonable
and many times very acceptable and I
think the overall kind of performance
that I've witnessed with the staff and
with my own interaction and you look at
the duties that this job requires for
this city there is it's very difficult
for me to imagine that there is another
candidate out there who would be better
than Emily for this position I care very
much what happens to the city and within
with Issaquah and having the right
people in the right place is very
important it's difficult and disruptive
to go through such a search I think
we're in a very unique position right
now to make this offer to Emily I think
it's the best thing that we can do
long-term and back at the beginning of
the year when there was change at the
administration I told a number of people
I thought you know one of the key things
that we have to do over these next few
months is make sure that we retain Emily
moon at the city and I think this is the
right long-term step and I'm grabbed
gladly going to support this proposal
via comments let's remember good
riddance all of my council president
Mertz well I just wholeheartedly agree
with
both of my fellow council members here
who spoke before me and I'm enthusiastic
ly support confirmation of Emily moon as
our city administrator and just really
really glad that you're gonna be here to
help continue with the important
projects and I really do also feel like
you're the right person for this
position right now thank you
that's president Mertz thank you madam
mayor so sometimes fate reaches out and
unexpectedly bestowed oh ship I'm
thinking here of George the sixth who
had no expectation of being king of
England in the 30s but lo and behold
Edward the eighth inexplicably abdicated
and there he was in World War Two to
provide sort of this staunch quiet
leadership that was the counterpoint to
Churchill's brilliant oratory 40 years
later Corazon Aquino when her husband
was assassinated was launched into the
spotlight in the Philippines and three
years later led the peaceful and
bloodless revolution that overthrew her
husband's killers and and to use a less
martial example Kate Winslet got the
role of ROS and Titanic because Gwyneth
Paltrow turned it down
so as deputy City Administrator Emily
showed her leadership early she's
shepherding many important city projects
through the council process always
representing the mayor's office with the
highest professional standard she's
handled the interim appointment
gracefully she's been the mayor's chief
advocate all the while building and
expanding her relationship with us
individual council members I'm so glad
Emily was there when fate reached out
this year to put her in that big chair
and if we confirm her appointment
tonight I have no doubt she'll continue
to serve the city and her mayor and this
council without standing in
conscientious leadership and I am so
looking forward to continuing to work
with her thank you
any other comments that's member hunt
I I think that the city has a lot of
really big challenges right now and I
think the confirmation of Emily moon to
this position will allow us to address
some of those challenges more
efficiently and with continuity that I
think is important I I think one of
those challenges and also a really big
opportunity right now it's the city's
strategic plan and so I'm I'm really
excited that we will have continuity of
leadership as we develop that plan and
for that reason I am in support of the
confirmation thank you
any other comments councilmember almost
yes when you're at this level the wood
really matters me is is how you work
with people and how you get people to
work and that's what really matters in
this position and I'll be supporting
Emily thank you
any other comments I'm going to read the
motion main motion moved to confirm the
mayor's appointment of Emily moon as the
city administrator authorized the mayor
to enter into and execute the employment
contract as amended and authorize the
mayor to retain recruitment services to
fill the vacant deputy administrator
position as directed in executive
session all those in favor all those
opposed abstentions yes the motion
carries six in favor
none opposed and one abstention and as
mayor I want to thank you for the
confirmation I cannot imagine what it
feels like for miss moon to sit there
and hear us have our deliberations and
talk about her like she's not even in
the room even though it was very nice
stuff that was said I would like to give
her the opportunity to address the
council for a few minutes or less
whatever she's comfortable with
thank you very much mayor poly and city
council members I do want to thank you
for this privilege in 2014 when my
family decided to return to the Pacific
Northwest I was very fortunate to have
the opportunity to compete in a national
search for deputy City Administrator and
be selected here I have found an
organization that shares and
demonstrates my values public service
dedication and a passion for building
community my family found a community of
unparalleled attributes and quality of
life which is why we chose to live here
I'm proud to be both a part of this team
and this community mayor Polly's
appointment in the council's
confirmation enables us to move forward
with clarity thank you again I look
forward to continued collaboration with
staff City Council and community members
on all of our shared goals as many of
you have expressed the meant the work is
immense and we have lots to accomplish
over the next year plus and so I'm eager
to get to work on that thank you thank
you the next item on the agenda is good
of the order does anybody have anything
for good of the order this evening I
have a couple Oh deputy counts the
president parties so I just wanted to
first of all I'm very excited and just
wanted to say that about Emily moon
being a new city administrator the other
thing is I talked about the opiate and
heroin crisis the next steps to make a
difference which is tomorrow
it's September tomorrow September 5th
from 2:00 to 4:00
I believe unfortunately I have a
conflicting board meeting and being a
member of the board it's something that
if there is anyone who can attend that I
would love to have somebody from these
Qwest City Council there if possible so
just let me know thank you
eight a couple of items I just wanted to
remind you about the mayor's month of
concern and volunteering that we're
doing for the food bank there are lots
of locations in Issaquah it is the next
four Saturdays I had an awesome time
doing it
last Saturday and I'm going to be doing
it this Saturday plus the fifth Saturday
of the month so anybody who wants to
join me it was super fun it's very fun
the other thing I wanted to do is give
you a little bit of a look ahead the
September 10th council work session has
three agenda items on it right now water
system plan you've been getting a lot of
updates on this this is another step in
that process of reviewing the
information facility space study the
2019 legislative agenda on the September
17th regular council meeting the
potential agenda items include a public
hearing for the first budget amendment
2018 and the 2019 legislative agenda
that's a look ahead does anybody have
anything else I do yeah thank you for
the mention of the mayor's month of
concern and similarly for many years now
my wife and I have participated in the
meals program and we provide one meal a
month over there the second Thursday and
we do this with a group of friends but
due to job conflicts and people moving
out of town where I'm kind of down a few
families so I'm gonna extend this open
invitation
if anybody listening this evening in the
audience on TV or here at the Dyess or
elsewhere in the room may be interested
in maybe trying that out and
participating or joining us and others
please contact me and it's a good
opportunity to meet many existing
Issaquah residents that are dependent on
whatever limited resources they may have
this program helps them go those
resources go further and it's also an
excellent opportunity for young adults
and children who otherwise maybe
wouldn't have the same type of
interaction with with with people at a
meals program a chance to have that
life interaction and in a very safe and
very helpful environment so if anybody
else anybody would think they might be
interested in joining me give me a call
or send me an email or talk to me and we
can talk about that program it's opened
extending this to anybody I need I need
really about three more families to be
joining my party so anyway there's my
recruit statement thank you and could
you say what time that meal is provided
so people know well it's always provided
at 5:30 on Monday through Friday at the
community hall which is adjacent to the
to the fire station and that's when it's
that's when it's served there's a little
bit of preparation time before that as
Emily well knows your second Thursday of
the month that's when I am there there's
actually a meal served every weekday and
even on another group does it on
Saturday so there are many opportunities
for people in the community to perhaps
get involved I'm just one of about
20-some volunteer groups that do these
meals thank you
anything else we're good at the order so
the executive session was held during
prior special meeting before today's
meeting and if there's no further
business we are adjourned at 9:28
you