City Council Regular Meeting · Monday, October 18, 2021 · City Council Digest

1. CALL TO ORDER

First for Roll Call Vote: Walsh

5. INFORMATIONAL UPDATES

Visit Issaquah Update ID 0980

packet pp.7–14

Topics: Tourism

Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

This presentation from Visit Issaquah serves as an annual update of the organization, as required in their 2021 contract.

7. CONSENT CALENDAR

Accounts: Payables and Payroll of Oct. 18, 2021, $ 4,002,641.51 ID 0894

Approve · packet pp.15–44

Topics: Budget

▶ Watch from 34:04 Open packet at p.15 ↗

Staff report:

Finance Department P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 PH: 425-837-3050 www.issaquahwa.gov

Minutes: City Council Regular Meeting, Sept. 20, 2021

Approve · packet pp.45–49

▶ Watch from 34:48 Open packet at p.45 ↗

Staff report:

CONSENT CALENDAR b) 09-20-21 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Regular Meeting 7:00 PM Virtual Meeting September 20, 2021 MINUTES

Recreation & Conservation Office Expansion AB 7939

Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.51–85

▶ Watch from 35:33 Open packet at p.51 ↗

Staff report:

Page 51 of 432 CONSENT CALENDAR c) The Administration recommends adopting the applicant authorization attached as Exhibit A to accompany grant submission to the the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board (RCFB), Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) Urban Wildlife Habitat (UWH) for acquisition funding for the Harvey Manning Park Expansion project (also known as the Bergsma Acquisition) and authorizing the Mayor to execute the authorization.

FY 2021 Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) AB 7963

Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.87–154

▶ Watch from 36:18 Open packet at p.87 ↗

Staff report:

The City has not applied to King County for Federal CDBG grants in the recent past. Given the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, the Administration proposes using grant funding to assist micro-enterprises in their recovery efforts.

National Highway System (NHS) Asset Management Program Grant AB 8097

Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.155–181

▶ Watch from 37:02 Open packet at p.155 ↗

Staff report:

The Washington State Department of Transportation's Local Programs is awarding National Highway Performance Program (NHPP) funds for preserving roadways that are part of the NHS. The City owns several NHS routes including: • NW Sammamish Road/ SE 56th Street Pavement Preservation Project - 17th Avenue NW to East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE. • East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE Pavement Preservation Project - SE Black Nugget Rd to SE 50th Street • SE 43rd Way Pavement Preservation Project - East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE to 222nd Pl SE

King County Flood Control District Grant (East Lake Sammamish Parkway West Ditch Conveyance Project and Pickering Ditch Flood Control Project) AB 8176

Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.183–193

Topics: ParksWater

▶ Watch from 37:47 Open packet at p.183 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends City Council authorize submittal of the 2021 King County Flood Reduction Grant applications for the East Lake Sammamish Parkway West Ditch Conveyance Project and Pickering Ditch Flood Control Alternatives Analysis.

Eastside Transportation Partnership Interlocal Agreement AB 8240

Authorize · packet pp.195–203

Topics: Transportation

▶ Watch from 38:31 Open packet at p.195 ↗

Staff report:

The Eastside Transportation Partnership (ETP) is a forum for inter-jurisdictional cooperation to implement coordinated, prioritized transportation plans and programs in King County. The County recognizes the ETP as the transportation board for the area East of Lake Washington in King County, to share information, build consensus, and provide advice on plans, programs, policies and priorities for countywide, regional, state and federal transportation decisions.

Appointment of Municipal Judge AB 8242

Confirm · packet pp.205–211

Topics: Boards & Commissions

▶ Watch from 39:16 Open packet at p.205 ↗

Staff report:

Judge N. Scott Stewart is currently the Judge of the Issaquah Municipal Court, and his term expires on Dec. 31, 2021.

Appointments to Equity Board & Human Services Commission AB 8255

Authorize Submittal · packet pp.219–222

Topics: EquityBoards & Commissions

▶ Watch from 40:01 Open packet at p.219 ↗

Staff report:

The Equity Board is a new community board formed by the City in August 2021, following adoption of Ordinance No. 2948. This board consists of nine regular positions and up to three alternate positions.

2021 FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance Sub-Application Grant AB 8269

Authorize Submittal · packet pp.227–228

Topics: Water

▶ Watch from 40:45 Open packet at p.227 ↗

Staff report:

In August 2021, the Emergency Management Division of the Washington State Military Department announced the Annual Hazard Mitigation Grant Programs FY2021 funding opportunity. The program includes two types of sub-grants: the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant. This City Council authorization request is for the FMA grant. The City applied for an FMA grant last November for the 2020 Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant round to elevate five structures but was not awarded a grant. Based on feedback from FEMA, the City has a better idea of how to make this grant application more successful. The City will be applying for a grant to elevate the same structures as the previous 2020 grant application plus an additional structure that has recently been identified.

2021 FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Sub- Application Grant (Black Nugget Wall) AB 8270

Authorize Submittal · packet pp.229–233

▶ Watch from 41:30 Open packet at p.229 ↗

ITS Traffic Camera Upgrade AB 8272

Accept Project · packet pp.235

Topics: Transportation

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Mar 2, 2020

▶ Watch from 42:15 Open packet at p.235 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends acceptance of the ITS Traffic Camera Upgrade project and release of the retainage to the contractor.

American Tower Asset Sub, LLC AB 8273

Authorize · packet pp.237–244

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · Mar 2, 2020

▶ Watch from 42:59 Open packet at p.237 ↗

Staff report:

American Tower has leased City owned property located at 2285 Squak Mountain Loop and 6104 221st Place S.E., Issaquah, Washington to provide telecommunication services.

American Tower Asset Sub, LLC Facilities Lease for Telecommunications Facilities at 6104 221st Place S.E AB 8275

Authorize · packet pp.273–297

Topics: Housing

▶ Watch from 43:44 Open packet at p.273 ↗

Staff report:

The City acquired the Premise from DELS Investment in July 2015. As part of the sale, the City inherited the underlying lease agreement between the DELS Investment (the original property owners) and Verizon to lease space on the Premise for Verizon’s telecommunications facilities.

2021 Visit Issaquah Contract AB 8278

Approve · packet pp.299–319

Topics: Tourism

▶ Watch from 44:29 Open packet at p.299 ↗

Staff report:

In 2021, City staff discovered that previous Visit Issaquah contract funds were unspent during the year allocated. In 2018, the $172,000 provided up-front for set-up and operations of Visit Issaquah was not fully spent that year. The funding was carried forward and spent in 2019 and 2020 on categories outlined in the 2018 invoice. This carry-forward was not an allowable use of funds under the contract. There is no evidence that Visit Issaquah misspent the 2018-2020 funding provided, but rather carried a reserve of City funds for future expenses. The City was unaware of this reserve and once discovered, began to work with Visit Issaquah to identify solutions to return the reserve funding to the Lodging Tax Fund.

8. REGULAR BUSINESS

Interlocal Agreement with the City of Redmond for Mutual Aid Dispatch Services AB 8268

Carried 6-0

Authorize · packet pp.351–366

▶ Watch from 45:13 Open packet at p.351 ↗

Staff report:

Issaquah Police Communications provides public safety communications services to the City of Issaquah and the Cities of Snoqualmie and North Bend. This includes answering 911 calls, dispatching police services as necessary and referring medical emergencies to the fire department for all three cities.

Roll call:

Moved by HUNT · seconded by REH

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

9. GOOD OF THE ORDER

Upcoming Council Meetings

▶ Watch from 21:43

4430 segments .txt ↗

0:06 ↗ 19 emergency and open public meetings

0:08 ↗ this meeting is being held remotely

0:11 ↗ i have one correction to the agenda

0:13 ↗ before we begin it's a minor one agenda

0:16 ↗ item five informational updates is

0:18 ↗ intended to be placed after the mayor's

0:20 ↗ report

0:21 ↗ for the city council's order of business

0:23 ↗ so item five will be done after the

0:25 ↗ mayor's report is provided

0:27 ↗ and at this point we'll take a moment to

0:30 ↗ roll call take a roll call of the

0:32 ↗ council members in attendance

0:33 ↗ please stay here when i call your name

0:35 ↗ and council member marx has an excused

0:37 ↗ absence this evening councilmember d

0:40 ↗ michelle here

0:41 ↗ thank you councilmember goodman here

0:44 ↗ thank you councilmember hall here

0:47 ↗ thank you council president hunt

0:49 ↗ here

0:51 ↗ uh deputy council president ray here

0:54 ↗ thanks and council member walsh

0:57 ↗ here

0:58 ↗ that is six of our seven council members

1:00 ↗ this evening

1:02 ↗ the next item on the agenda this evening

1:03 ↗ is the pledge of allegiance and i would

1:05 ↗ like you to join me but please make sure

1:07 ↗ to put your microphones on mute

1:10 ↗ i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

1:12 ↗ united states of america and to the

1:14 ↗ republic for which it stands one nation

1:17 ↗ under god indivisible with liberty and

1:20 ↗ justice for all

1:22 ↗ thank you

1:23 ↗ next item on our agenda this evening is

1:25 ↗ audience comments and for those of you

1:27 ↗ who submitted the online form to make

1:29 ↗ comments your name will be called

1:30 ↗ shortly

1:31 ↗ and for those who have joined us tonight

1:33 ↗ and would like to make comments but did

1:34 ↗ not sign up in advance please raise your

1:36 ↗ virtual hand

1:38 ↗ and if you are on the phone press star 3

1:41 ↗ and if you have joined by computer or

1:42 ↗ smartphone look for a hand icon this can

1:45 ↗ vary by device but one option may be to

1:47 ↗ go to the participant panel and choose

1:49 ↗ the raise hand icon in the lower right

1:51 ↗ hand corner

1:53 ↗ declare has anyone signed up to speak

1:54 ↗ for general audience comments or

1:56 ↗ indicated a desire to speak this evening

1:59 ↗ yes

2:01 ↗ thank you so for those folks who are

2:03 ↗ joining us tonight to make comments

2:05 ↗ please make sure to direct those

2:06 ↗ comments to the whole council and not to

2:08 ↗ individuals and while this is not a

2:10 ↗ question and answer session we will

2:12 ↗ contact you to follow up if needed

2:14 ↗ when you are recognized please unmute

2:16 ↗ your microphone state your name address

2:18 ↗ and relationship to the city

2:20 ↗ speak clearly and pause frequently and

2:23 ↗ limit your comments to five minutes

2:25 ↗ please remute your microphone when

2:26 ↗ you're done

2:27 ↗ if you do not respond after your name or

2:29 ↗ phone number is called or if your

2:31 ↗ connection is lost unexpectedly the

2:33 ↗ meeting will still need to proceed and

2:35 ↗ you are encouraged to rejoin the meeting

2:37 ↗ if able

2:38 ↗ personal attacks obscene language and

2:40 ↗ derogatory remarks and disruptive

2:42 ↗ behavior will not be permitted

2:44 ↗ resident comments written and verbal are

2:47 ↗ an important aspect of the public

2:48 ↗ process and the city takes these

2:50 ↗ comments seriously and we thank you all

2:52 ↗ for taking the time to address this this

2:54 ↗ evening

2:55 ↗ uh city clerk can you please identify

2:57 ↗ the first person who has signed up to

2:58 ↗ speak tonight

3:01 ↗ yes the first person who signed up to

3:03 ↗ speak is jennifer fitzpatrick

3:07 ↗ at this time i don't see the number

3:10 ↗ jennifer provided listed here jennifer

3:13 ↗ if you are on the call and wish to speak

3:15 ↗ if you're on the phone please press star

3:17 ↗ 3

3:18 ↗ to raise your hand

3:21 ↗ and i'll monitor this list for jennifer

3:24 ↗ after her we have danielle

3:27 ↗ clark signed up to speak

3:30 ↗ me locate danielle's number here

3:34 ↗ danielle in just a moment here you'll be

3:37 ↗ unmuted

3:41 ↗ you have the floor

3:43 ↗ can you hear me

3:45 ↗ yes

3:46 ↗ okay great

3:47 ↗ um my name is danielle clark i

3:50 ↗ worked for city of visiqua's public

3:53 ↗ works

3:54 ↗ operations team

3:56 ↗ as a hard-working dedicated maintenance

3:58 ↗ worker

3:59 ↗ up until earlier today when i received

4:01 ↗ my letter of termination

4:03 ↗ for not complying with the vaccine

4:05 ↗ policy that was mandated by our married

4:08 ↗ mayor mary lou pauli

4:10 ↗ i'm currently heartbroken

4:13 ↗ this has created more turmoil disarray

4:16 ↗ sadness and grief for all of us

4:19 ↗ please excuse me this is

4:21 ↗ very hard

4:25 ↗ more than you can even begin to fathom

4:27 ↗ or understand

4:28 ↗ the city has and will continue to go

4:30 ↗ downhill fast with these administration

4:33 ↗ decisions and my heart goes out to the

4:35 ↗ ones that are forced to stay

4:37 ↗ because you've pushed them so far up

4:39 ↗ against a wall

4:41 ↗ they have no other option because they

4:42 ↗ need to provide for their families and

4:45 ↗ put food on the table

4:47 ↗ you have given us an ultimatum not a

4:49 ↗ choice and i have learned that

4:50 ↗ ultimatums and relationships are

4:52 ↗ destructive and it has shown

4:55 ↗ the city of issaquah has already lost to

4:57 ↗ some of the greatest humans and

5:00 ↗ co-workers i have ever come in contact

5:02 ↗ with and sadly this loss is and will

5:04 ↗ continue

5:06 ↗ i felt like a sheep at a slaughterhouse

5:08 ↗ and i know my day my i knew my days

5:10 ↗ there were numbered

5:12 ↗ i hope this when i hope when this is all

5:14 ↗ over you don't look back and wish you

5:16 ↗ did things differently

5:18 ↗ the damage has been done brett heath

5:21 ↗ spent 40 plus years of his life to

5:23 ↗ create this amazing public works

5:25 ↗ department

5:26 ↗ and it only took two years since he was

5:28 ↗ pushed into retirement early to

5:31 ↗ absolutely destroy it

5:33 ↗ none of the employees want to be there

5:35 ↗ right now there have been more issues

5:37 ↗ than just covet related things to cause

5:40 ↗ this and it's causing an intense amount

5:42 ↗ of distress to everyone at public works

5:45 ↗ most of us have been here for a

5:46 ↗ substantial amount of time and we all

5:49 ↗ have been excited to spend the rest of

5:51 ↗ our working years for the city of

5:52 ↗ issaquah

5:54 ↗ and yet

5:55 ↗ we're being stripped from those benefits

5:57 ↗ and values that were so much appreciated

5:59 ↗ there morale is at all time low and your

6:02 ↗ plan of retaining employees

6:05 ↗ actually you don't have one that was

6:07 ↗ that was stated to us

6:10 ↗ them the salmon values that we strive

6:12 ↗ for and have been

6:14 ↗ ripped from our fingertips by the very

6:16 ↗ people and an administration that

6:18 ↗ created them the foundation of trust our

6:21 ↗ integrity of having respectful honest

6:24 ↗ transparent actions

6:26 ↗ the aspect of leading with respect has

6:28 ↗ now turned to a dictatorship

6:30 ↗ understanding that there are different

6:32 ↗ communication styles supporting each

6:35 ↗ other with actions and being engaged to

6:37 ↗ your employees have been completely

6:39 ↗ thrown out the window

6:40 ↗ our livelihoods are getting stepped on

6:42 ↗ and spit on by the same people we plow

6:45 ↗ snow keep our roads safe provide clean

6:48 ↗ drinking water and excellent service for

6:51 ↗ 24 hours a day seven days a week

6:53 ↗ we have worked tirelessly through this

6:56 ↗ entire pandemic tying up our boots every

6:58 ↗ day coming in to work

7:01 ↗ for the city

7:02 ↗ and for you to terminate

7:05 ↗ employees almost two years later over a

7:07 ↗ vaccine that doesn't kill nor stop the

7:09 ↗ spread of covet at this point is just

7:11 ↗ pouring salt on our wounds why are you

7:14 ↗ forcing me to use an umbrella when it

7:17 ↗ rains to keep you dry it simply does not

7:20 ↗ work like that

7:21 ↗ why are you forcing me to vax up when

7:23 ↗ your odds of catching covet are still at

7:25 ↗ risk regardless of my vaccination

7:28 ↗ umbrella

7:29 ↗ i'm a strong and healthy person that

7:31 ↗ believes in my immune system and i'll be

7:33 ↗ damned if i let someone who doesn't even

7:35 ↗ know the color of my eyes or someone

7:38 ↗ that can't recognize me in a public

7:40 ↗ setting enforce or dictate what i put

7:43 ↗ into my body we are all entitled to our

7:46 ↗ morals and belief

7:47 ↗ beliefs why can't we keep it that way

7:50 ↗ whether this goes in one ear and out the

7:52 ↗ other maybe it can help with future

7:54 ↗ change or helping have a little bit more

7:56 ↗ heart and human element and this matter

7:58 ↗ towards your employees

8:00 ↗ thank you

8:03 ↗ thank you danielle

8:04 ↗ city clerk who who is up next

8:07 ↗ the next person signed up to speak is

8:09 ↗ christy triple

8:15 ↗ christie you've been unmuted

8:18 ↗ thank you thank you

8:19 ↗ good evening council members and

8:23 ↗ those in attendance at the meeting this

8:24 ↗ evening

8:26 ↗ that's hard to follow

8:28 ↗ and my heart goes out i know these are

8:30 ↗ difficult times and difficult decisions

8:33 ↗ to make

8:35 ↗ so i wanted to acknowledge that

8:37 ↗ i'm christy triple with rally properties

8:40 ↗ at 1595 northwest gilman boulevard suite

8:44 ↗ one here in its class i'm also a

8:45 ↗ resident

8:48 ↗ council has already heard from us in

8:50 ↗ writing but i wanted to save the time to

8:52 ↗ summarize and usually i'm rushing trying

8:55 ↗ to finish my dinner and wondering if

8:59 ↗ a spinach in my teeth when i'm on video

9:01 ↗ so i thought i would call in today

9:03 ↗ um

9:05 ↗ we uh

9:07 ↗ you know

9:08 ↗ we've already shared with councils

9:10 ↗ but we want to share with our community

9:12 ↗ as well just how much we appreciate the

9:14 ↗ isquad police department and its

9:16 ↗ civilian staff as well

9:19 ↗ one can never truly imagine what one

9:21 ↗ faces on a daily basis until you walked

9:24 ↗ a mile in their shoes

9:26 ↗ it's quite truly fortunate to have the

9:27 ↗ feeling of safety it does and that is

9:30 ↗ due to the commitment and integrity of

9:32 ↗ the ipd that they deliver

9:35 ↗ day in and day out on

9:37 ↗ there are things that the ipd does on a

9:39 ↗ daily basis so that our lives are better

9:42 ↗ not so many communities are blessed as

9:45 ↗ we are

9:46 ↗ in the past three months alone we've met

9:48 ↗ officers matt jordan and zach

9:51 ↗ as they have assisted us in a variety of

9:53 ↗ incidents from smashed car windows

9:55 ↗ break-ins to a drunken individual

9:58 ↗ who simply refused to leave our office

10:00 ↗ property despite our trying to assist

10:02 ↗ them

10:04 ↗ all the ipd officers we've worked with

10:07 ↗ and staff were extremely helpful

10:09 ↗ respectful approachable professional

10:12 ↗ responsive

10:14 ↗ we place a very high value on the

10:16 ↗ partnership we have with the ipd to keep

10:18 ↗ our community safe and prevent crime

10:21 ↗ it is not lost on us just how hard a job

10:24 ↗ it can be especially with all the

10:27 ↗ scrutiny and questioning we've seen in

10:29 ↗ the past couple of years

10:31 ↗ over many decades and on many many

10:33 ↗ occasions we've personally met and

10:36 ↗ worked with most of our police officers

10:38 ↗ at one time or another

10:40 ↗ and witnessed firsthand the ipd in

10:42 ↗ action

10:44 ↗ issaquah would not be the special place

10:46 ↗ it is without the caring officers and

10:49 ↗ individuals who protect and serve our

10:51 ↗ community

10:52 ↗ issaquah police department please know

10:54 ↗ how grateful we are for your service

10:57 ↗ thank you for all of us from rally

10:59 ↗ properties

11:01 ↗ and

11:02 ↗ thanks to the council for the thumbs up

11:04 ↗ on the ipd and human services budget

11:07 ↗ proposed for 2022

11:10 ↗ and while i'm on the line i wanted to

11:13 ↗ share a thumbs up and a big thank you

11:15 ↗ for

11:16 ↗ the funding sought on

11:18 ↗ projects on tonight's agenda i know many

11:22 ↗ people had a hand in what's on

11:25 ↗ the council docket for discussion to now

11:28 ↗ tonight

11:29 ↗ great agenda

11:30 ↗ these types of decisions and actions

11:33 ↗ truly do make a difference and some of

11:35 ↗ those items on the agenda tonight are

11:37 ↗ the micro enterprise grants for small

11:39 ↗ businesses

11:41 ↗ the king county flood control grants

11:43 ↗ that were received and also proud

11:46 ↗ unlimited's work on stormwater

11:49 ↗ improvements

11:50 ↗ the submittal of a grant for the black

11:53 ↗ nugget retaining wall which is

11:55 ↗ in need of some

11:56 ↗ some assistance and the small business

12:00 ↗ flex fund and also working with hope

12:02 ↗ link to

12:04 ↗ support issaquaz residents

12:06 ↗ so thank you for your continued support

12:08 ↗ also

12:09 ↗ visit isqua and the number of entities

12:11 ↗ to include the chamber

12:13 ↗ with the salmon days

12:15 ↗ that everyone in the community shows up

12:17 ↗ to help make happen

12:18 ↗ and the visitor information centers that

12:21 ↗ all support tourism initiatives for our

12:23 ↗ community

12:24 ↗ so thank you for all that you do council

12:27 ↗ and the city and have a great evening

12:31 ↗ appreciate the opportunity to comment

12:34 ↗ thank you christy city clerk who has

12:36 ↗ signed elsa signed up this evening for

12:38 ↗ comments

12:39 ↗ yes we do have someone else signed up to

12:41 ↗ speak and we have a number of people

12:43 ↗ attending the meeting tonight so if

12:44 ↗ anyone um on the phone or who's joined

12:46 ↗ by computer would like to make comments

12:48 ↗ and didn't sign up please let us know if

12:51 ↗ you're on the phone please press star 3

12:53 ↗ if you've joined by computer please

12:55 ↗ raise your virtual hand look for the

12:57 ↗ small hand icon or you can send me the

12:59 ↗ host a chat message

13:01 ↗ and with that the next person signed up

13:03 ↗ to speak is shane nicholson

13:06 ↗ saying in just a moment here i'll be

13:08 ↗ making you a panelist so that you can

13:10 ↗ unmute you can also choose to turn your

13:12 ↗ video on

13:20 ↗ hello can you hear me

13:22 ↗ yes yep

13:23 ↗ hi yeah shane nicholson again i was on

13:26 ↗ the last city council meeting just

13:28 ↗ discussing the uh or

13:30 ↗ speaking my opinion on the vaccination

13:33 ↗ mandate and uh

13:35 ↗ and it

13:36 ↗ tonight i also have opinions on that as

13:39 ↗ well but also

13:41 ↗ i have

13:42 ↗ some questions about

13:44 ↗ uh the ratifying of the mou for the

13:46 ↗ teamsters um

13:49 ↗ just kind of curious how

13:51 ↗ [Music]

13:53 ↗ that mou can be ratified

13:55 ↗ without agreement upon with the union

13:59 ↗ seeing that we're in an impasse

14:01 ↗ so it's kind of i'm just curious about

14:03 ↗ that but

14:05 ↗ also i just wanted even though you know

14:07 ↗ my

14:09 ↗ i wasn't actually terminated today my

14:11 ↗ day of slaughter is actually now

14:13 ↗ december 15th since um

14:16 ↗ i did do a religious exemption and

14:23 ↗ just how i feel about the vaccination

14:25 ↗ mandate

14:29 ↗ i just want to just

14:31 ↗ to the council you know i really hope

14:33 ↗ that

14:34 ↗ you guys

14:36 ↗ in ratifying this bill if you do

14:39 ↗ um

14:39 ↗ i really hope that it's like

14:41 ↗ actually part of your values and you

14:43 ↗ guys are not just

14:45 ↗ doing something because you think it's

14:47 ↗ going to make you look good or you know

14:49 ↗ try to advance your political career or

14:53 ↗ anything like that because that at the

14:55 ↗ end of the day and especially now with

14:57 ↗ how times are

14:58 ↗ you know this stuff is very very

15:00 ↗ important and uh

15:03 ↗ you're you know you have people's

15:05 ↗ livelihoods in your hands and if it's

15:07 ↗ something you guys don't believe in

15:10 ↗ i really would hope that you guys would

15:11 ↗ stand up and you know

15:15 ↗ disagree if that's

15:19 ↗ you know whatever i just want to make

15:21 ↗ sure that

15:22 ↗ i hope that you guys are really really

15:25 ↗ taking all this into consideration and

15:28 ↗ the amount of people that this is

15:29 ↗ affecting

15:30 ↗ and

15:31 ↗ [Music]

15:32 ↗ making a decision true to your heart not

15:34 ↗ something that

15:36 ↗ um

15:38 ↗ you know you think is going to advance

15:39 ↗ you in the future or something like that

15:41 ↗ i don't know but

15:43 ↗ um

15:44 ↗ but yeah i mean

15:46 ↗ my last day is december 15th because

15:49 ↗ apparently my

15:51 ↗ um religious

15:52 ↗ accommodations can't be uh

15:56 ↗ can't be upheld because of an undue

15:58 ↗ hardship to the city which i don't know

16:00 ↗ how that works because i've been working

16:02 ↗ the entire time without complaint

16:06 ↗ showing up to work

16:09 ↗ every day

16:10 ↗ every day without one complaint of the

16:13 ↗ supposed dangers or

16:20 ↗ shane are you still with us we're not

16:22 ↗ really hearing anything right now

16:25 ↗ and uh and it just

16:28 ↗ this

16:28 ↗ baffles me that

16:30 ↗ all of a sudden you know not all of a

16:32 ↗ sudden but just putting a hard date on

16:36 ↗ um something of this significance

16:40 ↗ can happen like this so

16:43 ↗ but yeah you know

16:45 ↗ i just wanted to uh

16:47 ↗ share that so thank you

16:49 ↗ thank you shane

16:50 ↗ city clerk is there anyone else that's

16:52 ↗ indicated a desire to speak this evening

16:56 ↗ mayor i'm just taking one last look and

16:58 ↗ i don't see anyone else that's indicated

17:00 ↗ a desire to speak

17:02 ↗ okay

17:03 ↗ thank you so we did have four um

17:06 ↗ people come in this evening we had some

17:09 ↗ employee comments about

17:11 ↗ questions about how an impasse in

17:14 ↗ negotiations can result in council

17:16 ↗ ratification of an mou and other

17:18 ↗ concerns about city staff morale and the

17:21 ↗ vaccine mandate

17:23 ↗ we also had

17:24 ↗ some speakers on

17:26 ↗ business members supporting council

17:29 ↗ funding for actions that are on your

17:30 ↗ agenda this evening so thank you

17:32 ↗ everyone who came in

17:33 ↗ if there is additional information or

17:35 ↗ other ways that people would like to

17:36 ↗ contact their council you can submit a

17:38 ↗ comment at any time the city council is

17:41 ↗ gov and i'm going to flip it over now to

17:44 ↗ council president hunt to see if she has

17:46 ↗ any email comments to summarize on any

17:48 ↗ of tonight's agenda topics

17:52 ↗ thank you mayor paulie

17:54 ↗ we do have several emails that

17:57 ↗ specifically address items that are on

17:59 ↗ our agenda this evening and while we've

18:01 ↗ been having virtual meetings i have been

18:03 ↗ summarizing emails that specifically

18:05 ↗ refer to agenda bills on our agendas

18:09 ↗ for this evening we had three emails

18:12 ↗ that addressed

18:13 ↗ ab-8258 the mou were memorandum of

18:16 ↗ understanding for teamsters

18:19 ↗ 763

18:21 ↗ and

18:22 ↗ these

18:23 ↗ emails in these emails there were asks

18:26 ↗ to have options for testing

18:29 ↗ concerns about the vaccine mandate and

18:32 ↗ also expressing concerns

18:34 ↗ regarding the effects on public works of

18:36 ↗ the city

18:38 ↗ then we have an email from a resident

18:41 ↗ that expressed

18:42 ↗ comments and questions on multiple items

18:44 ↗ that are on our agendas this evening

18:47 ↗ on

18:48 ↗ ab-8-272

18:50 ↗ regarding the its traffic camera upgrade

18:54 ↗ asks that we prioritize routes used by

18:57 ↗ commuters or pass through traffic on

19:00 ↗ ab-8240 eastside transportation and our

19:03 ↗ local agreement had comments and

19:04 ↗ questions

19:05 ↗ on

19:06 ↗ ab-8268

19:08 ↗ um

19:11 ↗ wrote that this was

19:12 ↗ important to keep services internal and

19:15 ↗ ab8268

19:19 ↗ so i can have the full

19:21 ↗ name

19:29 ↗ 7901 which is the forest carbon credit

19:31 ↗ program supported acquisition

19:36 ↗ acquisition of this is critical habitat

19:38 ↗ but did not feel that this should divert

19:40 ↗ funds from the park system and then

19:42 ↗ ab-8-254

19:43 ↗ which is the arpa allocation american

19:45 ↗ rescue plan act funding allocation

19:48 ↗ supported rental assistance and this

19:50 ↗ resident did not support the small

19:52 ↗ business flex fund assistance

19:57 ↗ um and i that concludes comments that

19:59 ↗ specifically reference items on

20:01 ↗ tonight's agenda

20:03 ↗ thank you council president hunt the

20:05 ↗ next item of business tonight is

20:06 ↗ committee and regional reports and we

20:09 ↗ will start with council member hall this

20:10 ↗ evening

20:13 ↗ thank you very much mayor paulie this is

20:15 ↗ councilmember hall let me pull up my

20:17 ↗ notes real quick

20:20 ↗ all right a couple reports this evening

20:22 ↗ first uh the next wednesday october 27th

20:25 ↗ is the next meeting of the cascade water

20:27 ↗ alliance board of directors

20:29 ↗ uh there's no agenda that's been set for

20:31 ↗ this meeting yet that i've seen

20:33 ↗ and then next wednesday november 17th is

20:36 ↗ the next meeting of the growth

20:38 ↗ management planning council's affordable

20:40 ↗ housing committee

20:41 ↗ at this meeting we're going to consider

20:43 ↗ adoption of our legislative priorities

20:44 ↗ for the 2022 legislative session in

20:47 ↗ olympia

20:48 ↗ at our

20:50 ↗ meeting at our last meeting a few weeks

20:52 ↗ ago we were presented with draft

20:54 ↗ priorities which the city administrator

20:56 ↗ shared out via email about 10 minutes

20:59 ↗ ago

21:01 ↗ the committee's draft overarching

21:03 ↗ priorities are one to increase capital

21:05 ↗ resources for affordable housing uh two

21:08 ↗ to support local jurisdictions and their

21:10 ↗ planning for increasing affordable

21:11 ↗ housing in their cities and three to

21:14 ↗ support housing stability through tenant

21:16 ↗ protections and covet 19 recovery

21:19 ↗ there are also a handful of more

21:21 ↗ specific priorities that fall under each

21:23 ↗ of those overarching priorities

21:25 ↗ so if you have any

21:26 ↗ feedback on those priorities

21:28 ↗ i would ask that you please let me know

21:30 ↗ by wednesday november 3rd that's a few

21:32 ↗ weeks from now

21:33 ↗ so the sca caucus sound cities

21:35 ↗ association caucus and committee staff

21:37 ↗ have time to work through amendments and

21:41 ↗ i'll also be sure to bring this up again

21:43 ↗ at good of the order at our next regular

21:45 ↗ city council meeting on monday november

21:47 ↗ 1st in case anyone on council would like

21:50 ↗ to discuss further and with that mayor

21:52 ↗ paulie that concludes my report

21:54 ↗ thank you councilmember hall

21:55 ↗ councilmember d michelle

21:58 ↗ thank you mayor paulie

22:00 ↗ on october 7th i attended the healthier

22:03 ↗ here governing board

22:04 ↗ the highlight of the meeting was a youth

22:06 ↗ panel discussing how king county

22:08 ↗ healthcare systems can better serve

22:10 ↗ young people especially those in

22:12 ↗ marginalized and rural communities

22:15 ↗ then on october 13th i attended the

22:17 ↗ connect to community advisory group and

22:19 ↗ this is

22:20 ↗ part of the healthier here governing

22:22 ↗ board

22:24 ↗ this group is focused on the technical

22:25 ↗ work of developing a bilateral

22:28 ↗ behavioral health communications network

22:30 ↗ for king county

22:32 ↗ at the october 13th meeting i and

22:35 ↗ modester chatta who is a board member of

22:38 ↗ the association of zambians in seattle

22:42 ↗ we were elected co-chairs of the group

22:45 ↗ the agenda that day focused on two items

22:47 ↗ including tribal representation and

22:49 ↗ incentives for involvement in the

22:51 ↗ network

22:52 ↗ and then my other report is that on

22:54 ↗ october 8th i attended the east side

22:56 ↗ transportation partnership

22:58 ↗ catherine bowman who is a port of

22:59 ↗ seattle commissioner provided an

23:01 ↗ overview of the challenges faced by the

23:03 ↗ port

23:04 ↗ during this covid recovery period

23:07 ↗ as well as the transportation needs of

23:08 ↗ travelers trying to get to seatac

23:11 ↗ etp members expressed support for better

23:14 ↗ communications with east side cities and

23:16 ↗ passengers

23:17 ↗ and better coordination between the port

23:19 ↗ and metro sound transit buses and

23:21 ↗ link-like rail

23:23 ↗ we also proposed that

23:25 ↗ the port of seattle host and eastside

23:29 ↗ conference are convening

23:30 ↗ to

23:31 ↗ better learn about our needs

23:34 ↗ with uh related to

23:37 ↗ getting to um seatac from the east side

23:40 ↗ and that concludes my report

23:43 ↗ thank you councilmember dean michelle

23:44 ↗ councilmember walsh

23:47 ↗ thank you mayor paulie this is

23:48 ↗ councilmember walsh i have three reports

23:51 ↗ on thursday the 14th i attended the

23:54 ↗ king county city's climate collaboration

23:57 ↗ k4c elected officials work session there

24:00 ↗ we heard about the puget sound regional

24:03 ↗ emissions analysis project which is

24:05 ↗ actually going to be really useful for

24:07 ↗ us in our climate planning it's going to

24:09 ↗ provide city level geographic and

24:12 ↗ consumption

24:13 ↗ uh greenhouse gas inventories as well as

24:17 ↗ new analysis on how each of those cities

24:19 ↗ can help reach our shared greenhouse gas

24:23 ↗ reduction targets and we can expect that

24:25 ↗ data to arrive in mid-2022

24:28 ↗ we also heard from representative joe

24:31 ↗ fitzgibbon with a preview of the 2022

24:34 ↗ legislative assession

24:36 ↗ there were three bill topics that he

24:38 ↗ discussed the first was building

24:40 ↗ decarbonization

24:42 ↗ then methane reduction and finally

24:45 ↗ having a climate planning element as a

24:47 ↗ required part of comprehensive plans

24:50 ↗ as a group we also adopted the k4c state

24:54 ↗ legislative interest which we noted can

24:56 ↗ also help inform our city legislative

24:59 ↗ agendas and finally we discussed how the

25:01 ↗ cities can build climate resilience

25:04 ↗ using their comprehensive plans

25:07 ↗ noted that comp plan update season is

25:09 ↗ coming up so king county asked how they

25:11 ↗ could help the cities with that and

25:13 ↗ answers included providing model code a

25:16 ↗ regional preparedness inventory and an

25:19 ↗ ask for king county staff to present to

25:22 ↗ city planning commissions

25:24 ↗ so that was the first and then later

25:27 ↗ that evening also on thursday the 14th

25:29 ↗ council member d michelle and i attended

25:31 ↗ a community dinner on police crisis

25:34 ↗ response that was attended by local

25:36 ↗ elected officials police chiefs social

25:39 ↗ workers community members and headlined

25:42 ↗ by county council president claudia

25:43 ↗ balducci

25:45 ↗ we heard from three groups first of all

25:48 ↗ bellevue with our cares program which

25:50 ↗ launched in 2012

25:53 ↗ that started out as a casework

25:55 ↗ management program which included 12 to

25:59 ↗ 15

26:00 ↗ masters of social work students from

26:02 ↗ local colleges supervised by two

26:04 ↗ full-time

26:06 ↗ mental health professionals mhps

26:09 ↗ and it also included a newer pilot that

26:12 ↗ just ended in august which trialled

26:15 ↗ integrating the mhps with

26:18 ↗ highly trained police officers for

26:20 ↗ crisis response and they didn't release

26:23 ↗ the results of that pilot yet because

26:25 ↗ they promised it to the bellevue

26:26 ↗ community first but we are looking

26:29 ↗ forward to hearing how that um went we

26:31 ↗ also heard this time from hospitals

26:33 ↗ which included an er doctor and a social

26:35 ↗ worker about their experience with

26:38 ↗ people in mental health crisis chemical

26:40 ↗ dependency in the unhoused and their

26:42 ↗ wish list asked

26:44 ↗ for more inpatient mental health beds as

26:46 ↗ well as sobering beds and we also heard

26:49 ↗ from the deputy city manager of kirkland

26:52 ↗ about a community responders program

26:54 ↗ they're launching

26:56 ↗ which includes the addition of six mhps

27:00 ↗ and four new police officers with their

27:02 ↗ upcoming budget and interestingly enough

27:04 ↗ our own beth goldberg will be in charge

27:06 ↗ of that program kirkland uh so we wish

27:09 ↗ her well

27:10 ↗ we want to hear all about it

27:11 ↗ um and then finally on friday the 15th i

27:14 ↗ attended the escort chamber of commerce

27:16 ↗ board meeting for their first in-person

27:18 ↗ meeting since march 2020

27:21 ↗ um they're meeting quarterly in person

27:23 ↗ as well as the other ones online which i

27:25 ↗ thought was a great uh

27:27 ↗ meeting of

27:29 ↗ all the benefits from the pandemic or

27:31 ↗ the things we've learned i should say

27:33 ↗ and at that meeting i shared a few items

27:35 ↗ of note to the chamber including this

27:37 ↗ meeting's discussion of the arpa funds

27:40 ↗ for the small business flex grant

27:44 ↗ also our budget thumbs up of the police

27:46 ↗ and human services positions

27:48 ↗ and our upcoming city legislative agenda

27:50 ↗ discussion um and while we were there

27:53 ↗ wally our city administrator also

27:55 ↗ updated the chamber on our city's

27:56 ↗ approach to employee vaccination

27:58 ↗ mandates and that concludes my report

28:02 ↗ thank you

28:03 ↗ councilmember walsh councilmember

28:04 ↗ goodman

28:05 ↗ um thank you madam mayor council member

28:07 ↗ goodman here uh eastside fire and rescue

28:10 ↗ board of directors met last thursday um

28:12 ↗ and uh primary items on our agenda were

28:15 ↗ some budget amendments and one of those

28:19 ↗ had to do with

28:20 ↗ vacancies

28:21 ↗ and before the vaccine mandates

28:24 ↗ the agency had 10 vacancies

28:27 ↗ and tomorrow

28:29 ↗ it was anticipated last week that

28:30 ↗ tomorrow there will be an additional 15

28:34 ↗ vacancies

28:35 ↗ so one of the adjustments was 900 000

28:37 ↗ that will be used to select

28:41 ↗ train and

28:42 ↗ spend on overtime um for vacancies and

28:45 ↗ that which will impact the agency until

28:48 ↗ uh june 22 and then the invade vacancies

28:50 ↗ will i'm anticipated to be felled and

28:53 ↗ that's my report thank you

28:56 ↗ thank you councilmember goodman uh

28:58 ↗ deputy council president ray thank you

29:00 ↗ mayor paulie i have no report this

29:01 ↗ evening

29:02 ↗ thank you and council president hunt

29:06 ↗ thank you um

29:08 ↗ thank you madam mayor firstly i wanted

29:10 ↗ to give the full name of that one bill

29:12 ↗ that i just had the a b number for on

29:15 ↗ under the email comments and so that was

29:17 ↗ with regards to 88 268 which is

29:20 ↗ interlocal agreement with the city of

29:22 ↗ redmond for mutual aid dispatch services

29:24 ↗ and again that resident's emails

29:26 ↗ comments to us were

29:28 ↗ summarized as that it was important to

29:30 ↗ keep those services internal to the city

29:33 ↗ so just wanted to give that additional

29:35 ↗ information on that then regarding my

29:36 ↗ regional reports king conservation

29:38 ↗ district advisory um committee met on

29:43 ↗ on october 12th um we welcomed the new

29:46 ↗ executive director of the king

29:48 ↗ conservation district um she is director

29:51 ↗ rosa mendez perez we also received a

29:53 ↗ financial

29:55 ↗ and program update and we also discussed

29:58 ↗ um

29:59 ↗ work on election reform which has to do

30:02 ↗ with that the election for king

30:04 ↗ conservation district for their board

30:06 ↗ currently occurs at a

30:08 ↗ odd time of year when there are no other

30:10 ↗ elections occurring and it results in

30:12 ↗ very low turnout for these

30:14 ↗ elected positions there is a prospect

30:16 ↗ that that could be taken up by the state

30:18 ↗ legislature this year it does require a

30:21 ↗ state action to

30:23 ↗ allow for a king conservation district

30:25 ↗ to have this election

30:27 ↗ concurrent with other elections which

30:28 ↗ would presumably increase participation

30:31 ↗ in this election so

30:34 ↗ we are working on aligning on advocacy

30:37 ↗ for that but that may potentially be

30:40 ↗ taken up by the legislature in this next

30:42 ↗ session

30:44 ↗ then um the title 18 ad hoc committee

30:46 ↗ met on october 14th this is a group of

30:50 ↗ city council members

30:52 ↗ and councilmember

30:54 ↗ goodman and i were in attendance at this

30:55 ↗ meeting we are working on the title 18

30:58 ↗ which is our municipal land use code

31:01 ↗ overhaul um

31:04 ↗ and in this meeting we primarily

31:06 ↗ discussed new state requirements for

31:08 ↗ emergence for um

31:11 ↗ or

31:12 ↗ code around emergency shelters and

31:14 ↗ indoor emergency housing so we discussed

31:17 ↗ the

31:18 ↗ recommendation

31:20 ↗ from the development

31:22 ↗ department and then

31:23 ↗ we

31:24 ↗ discussed the information that will be

31:26 ↗ provided to pbc for their

31:27 ↗ recommendations so that recommendation

31:29 ↗ will ultimately come back to council for

31:30 ↗ discussion

31:33 ↗ and that concludes my report thank you

31:36 ↗ thank you council president the next

31:38 ↗ item on the agenda this evening is the

31:39 ↗ mayor's report

31:41 ↗ there will be an executive session this

31:43 ↗ evening to review the performance of a

31:44 ↗ public employee per rcw

31:48 ↗ 42.30.110 for n1 for ng

31:51 ↗ and the item is expected to last 15

31:53 ↗ minutes there is no action that is

31:55 ↗ anticipated

31:56 ↗ to follow in open session

31:59 ↗ hispanic heritage month earlier this

32:02 ↗ month i issued a proclamation that

32:03 ↗ recognizes and celebrates the

32:05 ↗ contributions of americans whose

32:07 ↗ ancestors came from spain mexico central

32:09 ↗ america

32:11 ↗ south america and the spanish-speaking

32:13 ↗ nations of the caribbean

32:15 ↗ our hispanic latinx community in

32:17 ↗ issaquah makes up nine percent of our

32:19 ↗ local population

32:20 ↗ hispanic heritage month pays tribute to

32:22 ↗ hispanic heritage through education

32:25 ↗ acknowledgement and celebration within

32:27 ↗ our community

32:28 ↗ this year's theme esperanza

32:30 ↗ hope

32:31 ↗ invites us to celebrate hispanic

32:33 ↗ heritage and reflect on all of the

32:35 ↗ contributions hispanics have made in the

32:37 ↗ past and will continue to make in the

32:39 ↗ future

32:41 ↗ want to provide a little update on the

32:42 ↗ capital finance community task force the

32:45 ↗ capital finance ba task force has met

32:47 ↗ twice discussing topics related to

32:49 ↗ public outreach

32:50 ↗ lessons learned from previous levy and

32:52 ↗ bond measures

32:54 ↗ and new revenue options that would help

32:56 ↗ fund the more than 78 million dollars of

32:58 ↗ unfunded infrastructure projects in the

33:01 ↗ city's capital improvement plan

33:03 ↗ for this task force i have pulled

33:05 ↗ together council members city

33:06 ↗ commissioners and board members and

33:08 ↗ other members of the public and i have

33:10 ↗ asked them to provide me with

33:11 ↗ recommendations on how we should

33:12 ↗ prioritize

33:14 ↗ amongst our infrastructure needs and how

33:16 ↗ we should consider funding those

33:17 ↗ priorities

33:19 ↗ even after only two meetings i have to

33:21 ↗ say i am really impressed with this

33:23 ↗ group and very very grateful for their

33:25 ↗ time

33:27 ↗ the city is addressing the abandoned

33:29 ↗ shopping carts that are collecting

33:30 ↗ around the transit center

33:32 ↗ code compliance and economic development

33:34 ↗ staff have contacted the stores to

33:36 ↗ retrieve the carts and the police chief

33:38 ↗ and i

33:39 ↗ will meet with the store and direct

33:40 ↗ representatives from target next week to

33:42 ↗ discuss the cart retrieval issue but

33:44 ↗ also to discuss how to prevent prevent

33:46 ↗ this from occurring in the future

33:48 ↗ the city does not have an ordinance

33:50 ↗ addressing shopping carts and we are

33:52 ↗ hopeful that partnerships with target

33:54 ↗ and other stores will result in a

33:56 ↗ solution

33:57 ↗ here's an update on our resource

34:00 ↗ conservation office grant agreement

34:02 ↗ ab-7939

34:04 ↗ as part of tonight's consent agenda

34:06 ↗ is a grant agreement with the state

34:08 ↗ recreation and conservation office for

34:10 ↗ funds that support the acquisition of

34:12 ↗ the 33-acre harvey manning park

34:14 ↗ expansion also known as the bergsmore

34:16 ↗ property

34:17 ↗ the grant award from the state

34:18 ↗ represents the final piece of the

34:20 ↗ funding strategy identified at the time

34:22 ↗ of the acquisition approval in december

34:24 ↗ 2018.

34:26 ↗ at that time the goal was to obtain 6.82

34:29 ↗ million dollars in regional and state

34:30 ↗ grants with the remaining 3.82 million

34:33 ↗ of the purchases purchased being the

34:36 ↗ final contribution by the city of

34:37 ↗ issaquah

34:39 ↗ with the 2.6 million identified in the

34:41 ↗ rco grant agreement tonight the actual

34:44 ↗ total in regional and state grants

34:45 ↗ awarded for this key land acquisition

34:47 ↗ edison's gateway to cougar mountain was

34:50 ↗ 7.98 million and that brings the actual

34:53 ↗ final contribution of the city of iskwa

34:55 ↗ for these 33 acres to 2.69 million a

34:59 ↗ reduced amount of 1.15 million so

35:02 ↗ congratulations to city council the

35:04 ↗ community and staff for all taking the

35:06 ↗ lead on this regional effort the courage

35:08 ↗ and trust of city council and the

35:10 ↗ professional work of administration and

35:11 ↗ staff to obtain these grant funds was a

35:14 ↗ partnership to recognize and when to

35:16 ↗ applaud

35:17 ↗ trail design on this site has been

35:19 ↗ underway this year where construction

35:20 ↗ proposed to begin next year

35:22 ↗ harvey manning park will serve as the

35:24 ↗ gateway and key trail connections from

35:26 ↗ the central issaquah area into the vast

35:28 ↗ trail system of the cougar mountain

35:30 ↗ regional park

35:31 ↗ it took a bold effort

35:33 ↗ they prepared a plan and then they

35:35 ↗ accomplished it

35:36 ↗ i also wanted to talk a bit about the

35:38 ↗ newly forming equity board under the

35:40 ↗ consent calendar this evening we have

35:42 ↗ the appointments of the new equity board

35:44 ↗ we had 23 outstanding community members

35:47 ↗ from a wide variety of racial ethnic

35:50 ↗ social and economic backgrounds stepped

35:52 ↗ forward to serve on the board

35:54 ↗ i wish we had a seat for everyone that

35:56 ↗ had applied and i'm very grateful to

35:57 ↗ have such an amazing community support

35:59 ↗ for this work

36:01 ↗ i'm honored to present you tonight the

36:02 ↗ newly appointed members of the equity

36:04 ↗ board which consists of nine regular

36:06 ↗ members and three alternates

36:08 ↗ part of the 12-member board our two are

36:10 ↗ youth representatives

36:12 ↗ the majority of the members are from the

36:14 ↗ diverse communities within our community

36:16 ↗ and this group brings a wealth of

36:18 ↗ knowledge and expertise both personal

36:20 ↗ and professional related to equity

36:22 ↗ diversity and inclusion and i'm pleased

36:25 ↗ to present them to the city council for

36:26 ↗ confirmation this evening the new board

36:29 ↗ will begin meeting in november

36:32 ↗ we're also having a virtual job fair

36:34 ↗ many businesses are struggling to find

36:36 ↗ employees and we've responded by

36:38 ↗ partnering with worksource and other

36:40 ↗ east side cities to host a virtual job

36:42 ↗ fair on november 18th from 10 a.m to 2

36:45 ↗ p.m

36:46 ↗ bisque businesses can sign up for a

36:48 ↗ no-cost virtual booth on the city's job

36:50 ↗ fair webpage

36:52 ↗ issaquah.gov jobs

36:56 ↗ the job fair is just one way that our

36:58 ↗ economic development team is helping

36:59 ↗ businesses in the past three months

37:01 ↗ they've helped over 25 existing and

37:04 ↗ potential businesses with city-related

37:06 ↗ questions on licensing and permits

37:08 ↗ as well as made referrals to resources

37:11 ↗ workshops and one-on-one advisor

37:13 ↗ services

37:14 ↗ they've provided data on property and

37:16 ↗ tax trends on the recently updated

37:18 ↗ dashboard and whether you are an

37:21 ↗ inspiring entrepreneur aspiring

37:23 ↗ entrepreneur or long-established

37:25 ↗ business in our community they are here

37:27 ↗ to help you so subscribe to the business

37:29 ↗ e-news to keep current on business

37:31 ↗ resources and you can contact them at ed

37:35 ↗ gov

37:37 ↗ that concludes the mayor's report

37:39 ↗ the next item of business this evening

37:41 ↗ is some informational updates and we'll

37:43 ↗ be starting with id 0980

37:45 ↗ visit issaquah update and i'd like to

37:48 ↗ invite visit issac board member patty

37:50 ↗ hagar to present this item

38:00 ↗ hi everyone can you see and hear me

38:05 ↗ just begin

38:07 ↗ terrific thank you so much for

38:10 ↗ having me on the agenda tonight um i'm

38:12 ↗ actually sitting in for will parkinson

38:15 ↗ who's on vacation um so it's good to be

38:18 ↗ here and nice to see you all um so

38:20 ↗ presenting our 2021 annual report for

38:22 ↗ visitors aqua starting off with the next

38:25 ↗ slide please

38:33 ↗ i thought i'd just recap our 2021

38:35 ↗ activities so this year we could pretty

38:38 ↗ much divide in half the first half of

38:41 ↗ the year um we were focused on our b2c

38:45 ↗ outreach and messaging highlighting all

38:47 ↗ that isawa has to offer directly to

38:48 ↗ consumers we had some really high

38:51 ↗ quality media highlights including

38:53 ↗ national plan for vacation day

38:55 ↗ the al fresco on front and we even

38:57 ↗ participated in a virtual taste of

38:59 ↗ washington

39:00 ↗ um we focused a lot on community and

39:02 ↗ business outreach again with the

39:04 ↗ customer directed messaging focus

39:07 ↗ we had some highlights in social media

39:09 ↗ our instagram account alone actually

39:11 ↗ increased by 4 000 followers year over

39:13 ↗ year

39:15 ↗ about halfway through the year we had

39:16 ↗ some pretty major changes to our

39:19 ↗ organization

39:20 ↗ we had the departure of our executive

39:22 ↗ director beth jabins she did move on to

39:24 ↗ another dmo

39:26 ↗ we also had some significant changes in

39:28 ↗ our board with key departures and a few

39:30 ↗ new additions uh because of that we did

39:33 ↗ uh pause or slow down on a lot of our

39:35 ↗ consumer direct messaging

39:37 ↗ and uh for the balance of this year we

39:40 ↗ are focused effective september 1st

39:43 ↗ with a guidance and support from the

39:46 ↗ city

39:47 ↗ to change our messaging and objectives

39:49 ↗ to be more b2b

39:51 ↗ with outreach to groups events and

39:54 ↗ meetings and industry organizations

39:57 ↗ the team will be will be working with

40:00 ↗ our hotel our local hotel sales managers

40:02 ↗ to identify

40:04 ↗ and plan pitches to opportunities to

40:06 ↗ bring large groups to the city and our

40:09 ↗ website and social media will follow

40:10 ↗ soon

40:12 ↗ next slide please

40:18 ↗ i'm predicating these changes of course

40:19 ↗ we did have some major challenges in

40:21 ↗ 2021 um as we all know kobe 19 did

40:25 ↗ continue to have tourism impact not just

40:27 ↗ for issaquah but really nationwide

40:29 ↗ globally

40:30 ↗ the first half of the year in issaquah

40:32 ↗ we only had two hotels open we had the

40:34 ↗ spring hill suites and the homewood

40:36 ↗ suites fortunately at the end of april

40:38 ↗ our hilton garden inn was able to reopen

40:42 ↗ industry indicators do show an increase

40:45 ↗ in leisure travel however there is still

40:47 ↗ consumer maybe a lack of confidence

40:50 ↗ about what sort of travel and activities

40:51 ↗ are truly still safe

40:54 ↗ as previously mentioned halfway through

40:56 ↗ the year we did have an unexpected staff

40:58 ↗ departure and also the restructuring of

41:00 ↗ the visit issaquah board because of that

41:03 ↗ we did have a reduced capacity to be

41:05 ↗ strategic and proactive

41:09 ↗ next slide please

41:11 ↗ so because of that we are focusing now

41:12 ↗ that for the balance of this year two

41:14 ↗ and a half months we're going to make

41:15 ↗ some adjustments in 2021.

41:18 ↗ the first major change would be board

41:20 ↗ leadership um at any time we had

41:22 ↗ somewhere from eight to eleven board

41:24 ↗ members and we'll be going down to three

41:26 ↗ maybe four

41:27 ↗ um that will absolutely include a city

41:29 ↗ staff member on the board

41:32 ↗ because of the staff departures and

41:33 ↗ operational um changes we did actually

41:36 ↗ reduce expenses expenses in 2021 by

41:40 ↗ about 65 000

41:42 ↗ um looking forward we are changing focus

41:45 ↗ and setting up for that pivot this year

41:48 ↗ working we have worked with the city

41:50 ↗ staff to revise our statement of work

41:53 ↗ and we are also pivoting our messaging

41:55 ↗ and outreach to be directed at industry

41:57 ↗ organizations and meeting and event

41:59 ↗ planners our website and social media is

42:02 ↗ also changing course as well

42:04 ↗ next slide

42:08 ↗ so for 2022 our primary focus is going

42:10 ↗ to be to hire a new sales manager and

42:13 ↗ that is a shift from an executive

42:14 ↗ director this new member this new visit

42:17 ↗ disappoint employee would be

42:20 ↗ specifically focused on sales on

42:23 ↗ identifying outreaching pitching and

42:25 ↗ closing large groups that would require

42:28 ↗ room nights from multiple hotels in the

42:30 ↗ issaquah area

42:31 ↗ if not um also partnering with our

42:34 ↗ neighbor communities

42:36 ↗ we will work within the industry and

42:38 ↗ with meeting and event planners to

42:40 ↗ identify these opportunities and work

42:42 ↗ with the sales managers to pursue

42:44 ↗ this will all be in coordination and

42:46 ↗ with the support of the city staff on

42:48 ↗ the full spoke on the full scope

42:52 ↗ and next slide which is the last slide

42:55 ↗ that's the update the annual report from

42:57 ↗ visit a supply if you have any questions

42:58 ↗ i will certainly try to answer otherwise

43:00 ↗ you can email us and i will send answers

43:02 ↗ to you

43:04 ↗ thank you patty um i am going to

43:07 ↗ uh nice pictures i loved a lot of those

43:09 ↗ scenes

43:10 ↗ those are some of my favorites

43:12 ↗ i am going to look in the chat and see

43:15 ↗ if we have any council members with the

43:18 ↗ comments or questions

43:20 ↗ and also let the council know that ben

43:22 ↗ chen koblenz is also here this evening

43:25 ↗ and is available for questions

43:28 ↗ so

43:31 ↗ me one second

43:33 ↗ and at this point in time i'm not seeing

43:36 ↗ anything in the chat so patty i think

43:38 ↗ we're good

43:39 ↗ thank you for the presentation this

43:41 ↗ evening and just a reminder to those

43:42 ↗ that are watching that there is no

43:44 ↗ action requested of the council this

43:46 ↗ evening and the next item of business on

43:49 ↗ our calendar is the consent calendar

43:51 ↗ it was distributed to council in advance

43:54 ↗ and if it is authorized the items on the

43:56 ↗ consent calendar get considered together

43:58 ↗ and approved by one motion

43:59 ↗ i'd like to uh turn the floor over to

44:01 ↗ council member dean michelle now who

44:03 ↗ would like to make a statement before we

44:05 ↗ make a motion and take a vote councilman

44:06 ↗ councilmember michelle

44:08 ↗ thank you mayor paulie

44:10 ↗ i would like to state for the record

44:12 ↗ that i am currently employed with an

44:14 ↗ entity that is included in the city's

44:16 ↗ payables influence the choice i

44:18 ↗ currently fill the role of temporary

44:20 ↗ executive director of influence of

44:22 ↗ choice the city serves as a fiscal agent

44:25 ↗ for this agency in the disbursement of a

44:28 ↗ federal grant

44:29 ↗ grant funds are being disbursed under

44:31 ↗ this month's accounts payable i have

44:34 ↗ asked for advice from the city attorney

44:36 ↗ as to whether this warrants a conflict

44:37 ↗ of interest and have been informed that

44:40 ↗ i am not legally required to be excused

44:42 ↗ from voting as the city is carrying out

44:44 ↗ a decision that was previously made by

44:46 ↗ the council

44:48 ↗ however for the sake of transparency i

44:50 ↗ would like to declare this employment

44:52 ↗ and have my statement entered in the

44:54 ↗ minutes thank you so much

44:58 ↗ thank you very much councilmember d

44:59 ↗ michelle uh question have the payables

45:02 ↗ and payroll been reviewed

45:07 ↗ and thank you very much does any council

45:09 ↗ member desire to remove any of the items

45:11 ↗ from the consent calendar and

45:13 ↗ consider it under regular business and i

45:16 ↗ will keep an eye on the chat to see if

45:18 ↗ anyone wants to do that

45:25 ↗ if not does somebody care to make a

45:27 ↗ motion

45:28 ↗ council president huh

45:30 ↗ thank you and move to approve the

45:31 ↗ consent calendar as it appears in this

45:33 ↗ evening's agenda

45:34 ↗ that sounds great and deputy council

45:37 ↗ president right

45:40 ↗ so it has been moved and seconded and

45:42 ↗ i'm going to hand this over to the city

45:43 ↗ clerk for her too called role

45:47 ↗ starting with council member walsh

45:51 ↗ aye

45:53 ↗ council member d michelle

45:54 ↗ aye

45:56 ↗ council member goodman aye

45:58 ↗ council member hall

46:00 ↗ aye

46:01 ↗ council president hunt

46:03 ↗ aye

46:05 ↗ council member martz is excused deputy

46:08 ↗ council president ray aye

46:11 ↗ that's 6i zero nays thank you that um

46:15 ↗ passes six to zero

46:17 ↗ and the next item of business is under

46:19 ↗ regular business this evening and that's

46:21 ↗ starting with

46:22 ↗ ab8258 a memorandum of understanding for

46:25 ↗ the teamsters 763

46:28 ↗ the question before the council this

46:30 ↗ evening is to ratify the mou and i'd

46:32 ↗ like to invite hr director stephanie

46:34 ↗ johnson to present this item

46:39 ↗ thank you madam mayor good evening

46:40 ↗ council stephanie johnson the city's

46:42 ↗ human resources director

46:44 ↗ uh the purpose of my presentation

46:46 ↗ tonight is to provide the city council

46:48 ↗ an update on the mayor's vaccination

46:51 ↗ mandate and staff statistics

46:54 ↗ and i'm going to pause there while

46:56 ↗ clergy is getting our presentation up

47:01 ↗ and tisha if you could advance that'd be

47:02 ↗ great

47:03 ↗ so i'll just repeat that the purpose

47:06 ↗ of my presentation tonight is to provide

47:08 ↗ the city council an update on the

47:09 ↗ mayor's vaccination mandate and also to

47:12 ↗ provide the council with information in

47:14 ↗ order to make a decision to ratify or

47:16 ↗ not the memorandum of understanding with

47:19 ↗ our teamsters 763 employees representing

47:22 ↗ public works operations staff regarding

47:25 ↗ the mandatory vaccine mandate and

47:27 ↗ related incentives next slide please

47:32 ↗ i thought i'd start tonight's

47:33 ↗ presentation with a background over the

47:35 ↗ last six months as it relates to staff

47:38 ↗ vaccinations as we continue

47:40 ↗ to navigate the challenges in the

47:42 ↗ workplace of the coven 19 pandemic

47:45 ↗ with safety

47:46 ↗ of our public and our staff the mayor's

47:49 ↗ highest priority through this

47:52 ↗ going back six months to june 2021 as we

47:56 ↗ were preparing to reopen city facilities

47:59 ↗ to the public after many many months of

48:02 ↗ halting uh many in-person services for

48:05 ↗ many operations

48:07 ↗ and after vaccinations became available

48:10 ↗ uh largely to the working population

48:13 ↗ the city proposed a vaccination

48:15 ↗ incentive to our staff at that time

48:17 ↗ prior to a soft reopening july 6.

48:22 ↗ as a result of

48:23 ↗ that incentive that we put in place

48:25 ↗ that moved our staff vaccination

48:28 ↗ percentage from about 55

48:31 ↗ in may and towards the beginning of june

48:35 ↗ um to about 75

48:38 ↗ as we look to reopen uh city facilities

48:41 ↗ july 6.

48:43 ↗ i would be remiss if i did not mention

48:45 ↗ that about 50 of our workforce still

48:48 ↗ provided services in person each day

48:51 ↗ even when city facilities were closed

48:54 ↗ that included police public works parks

48:56 ↗ and community services to name a few

49:00 ↗ as we encourage staff to vaccinate we

49:02 ↗ also put a new hire requirement to do so

49:05 ↗ in place

49:06 ↗ or that individuals would need to seek a

49:08 ↗ medical or religious exemption effective

49:10 ↗ july 1st

49:12 ↗ that meant that any new hire coming into

49:14 ↗ the city was required to be vaccinated

49:17 ↗ as a condition of employment

49:20 ↗ fast forward just one month to august we

49:23 ↗ saw the delta variant arrive

49:27 ↗ rising covered case counts

49:28 ↗ hospitalization and deaths became very

49:31 ↗ prevalent

49:32 ↗ we saw our nation at large have

49:34 ↗ flattening vaccination rate rates

49:37 ↗ including amongst city staff

49:40 ↗ on august 9 the state of washington king

49:42 ↗ county and city of seattle announced

49:44 ↗ mandatory vaccine policies and the

49:47 ↗ following day august 10th mayor paulie

49:50 ↗ announced a mandate for the city of

49:51 ↗ issaquah employees to comport with the

49:54 ↗ state king county and seattle

49:56 ↗ that required that our staff be uh

49:59 ↗ vaccinated mandatorily by uh today's

50:02 ↗ date actually october 18th

50:05 ↗ tisha if you could advance this slide

50:07 ↗ please

50:09 ↗ so in hr we began to impact bargain with

50:11 ↗ our six

50:12 ↗ employee unions we reached our first

50:15 ↗ tentative agreement with our afscme

50:17 ↗ group who represent our general

50:19 ↗ employees across all city departments

50:21 ↗ as a result the city council ratified

50:24 ↗ the mou with afscme the evening of

50:26 ↗ october 4th just two weeks ago

50:29 ↗ three of our four police unions have 100

50:32 ↗ vaccination rates we continue bargaining

50:34 ↗ with ipoa

50:36 ↗ but they represent only one unvaccinated

50:39 ↗ member with a granted religious

50:40 ↗ exemption

50:42 ↗ that brings the conversation tonight

50:44 ↗ with a focus on teamster 763

50:46 ↗ representing our public works operations

50:50 ↗ the city and teamster 763 engaged in

50:53 ↗ good faith negotiation through august

50:55 ↗ and september

50:57 ↗ after exchange of a number of proposals

50:59 ↗ movement on both sides of the

51:01 ↗ negotiations and fair and consistent

51:04 ↗ consideration of teamsters 763 proposals

51:07 ↗ the city and the teamsters have agreed

51:09 ↗ that the parties are an impasse

51:12 ↗ under washington state collective

51:13 ↗ bargaining law the city has the ability

51:15 ↗ to implement its last best and final

51:18 ↗ proposal upon reaching impasse

51:21 ↗ the terms of the city's last best and

51:23 ↗ final proposal to teamster 763 are

51:25 ↗ before you tonight and mirror those

51:27 ↗ approved by council for afscme

51:31 ↗ slide please

51:35 ↗ here on the slide deck you will see the

51:37 ↗ essential components of the city's last

51:39 ↗ best and final offer with teamster 763

51:43 ↗ um the proposal includes that employees

51:45 ↗ must be vaccinated or receive medical or

51:47 ↗ religious accommodations by today

51:50 ↗ october 18th

51:52 ↗ to offer incentives for employees to

51:54 ↗ vaccinate we were offering up to eight

51:57 ↗ hours of vaccine incentive time off

52:00 ↗ up to 40 hours of leave in case of

52:03 ↗ vaccine side effects

52:05 ↗ up to 80 hours of leave in case of

52:07 ↗ mandatory quarantine

52:09 ↗ we also had a provision that allowed

52:11 ↗ leave without pay available if employees

52:13 ↗ work towards vaccination by october 18th

52:16 ↗ but could not finish their series

52:19 ↗ before they actually were intended to

52:21 ↗ lose their lose their position

52:24 ↗ the proposal also included

52:27 ↗ in or the mou includes that the city and

52:29 ↗ the teamster 763 would work jointly on

52:32 ↗ health and safety protocols so that

52:34 ↗ we're ensuring

52:35 ↗ that both both staff and managers are

52:38 ↗ are making sure that the health and

52:40 ↗ safety of our employees are at the front

52:43 ↗ of the work that we do

52:45 ↗ so i want to give some stats um on where

52:48 ↗ we are today citywide

52:50 ↗ being that today is october 18th the

52:53 ↗ date of the mayor's mandatory vaccine

52:56 ↗ mandate

52:57 ↗ this evening i'm able to share

52:59 ↗ even more up-to-date information than

53:02 ↗ went in the council packet as of friday

53:04 ↗ because we've been really trying to give

53:06 ↗ staff every opportunity to provide us

53:09 ↗ vaccination data by today before we move

53:12 ↗ to make decisions about future

53:14 ↗ employment

53:16 ↗ today our vaccinated staff include 201

53:18 ↗ individuals and i'm pleased to report

53:20 ↗ that 92 percent of our city staff

53:23 ↗ population is vaccinated as a result of

53:25 ↗ the mandate

53:27 ↗ uh two employees have started their

53:29 ↗ vaccination series we're working with

53:31 ↗ those individuals because they've made a

53:33 ↗ good faith effort to do so

53:35 ↗ 16 full-time employees are not currently

53:38 ↗ vaccinated

53:39 ↗ today one employee

53:41 ↗ did tenure their resignation to the city

53:44 ↗ and today two employees were provided

53:46 ↗ notices of intent to separate

53:48 ↗ we continue to work with 16

53:52 ↗ excuse me 14 individuals

53:54 ↗ with religious and uh

53:57 ↗ excuse me medical or religious exemption

54:01 ↗ and accommodation requests

54:04 ↗ a slight advance please

54:10 ↗ so tonight uh the mandatory vaccination

54:12 ↗ policy including provisions regarding

54:15 ↗ covet testing were issued under the

54:17 ↗ mayor's personnel management authority

54:19 ↗ uh the city council tonight is being

54:22 ↗ asked

54:22 ↗ for the authority requested to approve

54:25 ↗ the vaccination incentives included

54:27 ↗ herein in the mou

54:30 ↗ slight advance please

54:32 ↗ the city and teamsters were able to

54:34 ↗ reach agreement on many of the vaccine

54:36 ↗ incentives presented in the mou but

54:38 ↗ ultimately we're not able to reach

54:39 ↗ agreement regarding weekly covid testing

54:42 ↗ in lieu of vaccination

54:44 ↗ tonight the recommendation of the

54:45 ↗ administration is to ratify the

54:48 ↗ memorandum of understanding between the

54:50 ↗ city and teamsters local 763

54:52 ↗ representing public works um so that the

54:55 ↗ mayor can authorize and execute that

54:58 ↗ memorandum of understanding and so that

55:00 ↗ we can uh incentivize those employees

55:03 ↗ who have chosen to stay and vaccinate as

55:06 ↗ a result

55:08 ↗ thank you stephanie

55:10 ↗ i'm looking in the chat to see if there

55:13 ↗ are any questions

55:15 ↗ for stephanie

55:18 ↗ and i will give it a few seconds

55:26 ↗ i am not seeing any questions come up uh

55:30 ↗ would someone care to make a motion

55:38 ↗ council president hunt

55:41 ↗ thank you this is council president hunt

55:42 ↗ i move to ratify the memorandum of

55:45 ↗ understanding between the city and

55:46 ↗ teamsters local union number 763

55:49 ↗ regarding mandatory covid19 vaccinations

55:52 ↗ and authorized the mayor to execute the

55:54 ↗ memorandum of understanding

55:56 ↗ thank you deputy council president ray

55:58 ↗ second

56:01 ↗ it's been moved and seconded um

56:05 ↗ looking for

56:06 ↗ comments

56:10 ↗ and i'll keep an eye on the chat let's

56:12 ↗ see

56:16 ↗ council president hunt

56:19 ↗ thank you

56:21 ↗ i will be supporting this um the

56:25 ↗ proposal that we

56:26 ↗ have before us is

56:28 ↗ the best uh is what's been

56:32 ↗ negotiated in good faith between the

56:33 ↗ city and teamsters um 763 and i do

56:38 ↗ understand it to be the last best and

56:40 ↗ final proposal for incentives regarding

56:42 ↗ the vaccination

56:45 ↗ mandates and

56:47 ↗ i i think

56:49 ↗ that because this is the best and last

56:51 ↗ final offer

56:54 ↗ i am in support of

56:56 ↗ lady taking this step thank you

56:59 ↗ thank you council president uh hunt and

57:01 ↗ it looks like council member hall is up

57:03 ↗ next

57:05 ↗ thank you mayor paulie this is

57:06 ↗ councilmember hall um i echo the council

57:08 ↗ president's comments and just want to

57:10 ↗ thank staff for their diligent work with

57:12 ↗ the union and coming up with the last

57:14 ↗ best and final offer thank you very much

57:17 ↗ for your work um i wanted to

57:20 ↗ acknowledge a comment that we heard

57:22 ↗ earlier um to

57:24 ↗ ensure that people

57:27 ↗ feel and understand that we are taking

57:30 ↗ their feedback into this um very

57:32 ↗ genuinely and very authentically we

57:34 ↗ heard please make sure if you ratify

57:36 ↗ this that it's part of your values make

57:38 ↗ sure that it's true to your heart not

57:40 ↗ necessarily about it advancement or

57:42 ↗ vanity or because other organizations

57:44 ↗ are doing this

57:45 ↗ and i can say right now with a true

57:47 ↗ heart that i believe this to be

57:51 ↗ good public health policy and good

57:53 ↗ public safety policy um and i again just

57:56 ↗ want to thank members of staff for their

57:58 ↗ diligent work on this thank you and i'll

58:00 ↗ be voting yes

58:02 ↗ thank you council member hal

58:03 ↗ councilmember walsh

58:05 ↗ thank you this is councilmember walsh

58:07 ↗ the two before me have said it very well

58:10 ↗ so i will echo very much what um has

58:13 ↗ come from council president hunt and

58:15 ↗ council council member hall

58:18 ↗ this is a tough situation anytime you're

58:20 ↗ dealing with employment anytime you're

58:22 ↗ dealing with personally held beliefs

58:26 ↗ it's incredibly difficult and my hurt

58:28 ↗ goes out to

58:30 ↗ those who are affected by this

58:32 ↗ i know we are

58:34 ↗ at this point ratifying or you know

58:37 ↗ discussing ratification of one

58:40 ↗ um set of modifications here but that's

58:43 ↗ not the only

58:45 ↗ labor union um and group of employees

58:48 ↗ that we have gone through and i want to

58:49 ↗ thank our

58:51 ↗ hr staff just for all of this

58:54 ↗ amazing extra work that has gone into

58:56 ↗ this

58:57 ↗ i appreciate all of the

58:59 ↗ employees and unions who have come

59:01 ↗ together to discuss what is a very

59:04 ↗ difficult situation and i too am

59:07 ↗ in support of this both in uh providing

59:11 ↗ some incentives for the

59:14 ↗ vaccination and as well as ultimately

59:17 ↗ the decision on our administration to

59:21 ↗ put forth a mandate so thank you very

59:23 ↗ much

59:24 ↗ thank you councilmember walsh i am not

59:26 ↗ seeing anyone else

59:29 ↗ wanting to provide comment but i'll keep

59:30 ↗ my i in the chat for another second and

59:33 ↗ do really appreciate that you've chosen

59:35 ↗ to speak to this tonight

59:37 ↗ in my 40 years of association either

59:40 ↗ volunteering or working for cities

59:42 ↗ the best way to describe where we are

59:44 ↗ sometimes right now is just horrible

59:47 ↗ um

59:48 ↗ i

59:49 ↗ never in my career had to listen to so

59:52 ↗ many people on both sides of this issue

59:55 ↗ in tears

59:56 ↗ over something that is they strongly

59:58 ↗ feel about no matter which side

1:00:00 ↗ of the decision they're on in this

1:00:02 ↗ vaccination conversation so

1:00:05 ↗ it's really difficult times

1:00:07 ↗ i'm not saying that anybody else is

1:00:09 ↗ wanting to provide commentary at this

1:00:11 ↗ time and if i could have somebody make a

1:00:13 ↗ motion

1:00:18 ↗ mayor the motion's been made and

1:00:20 ↗ seconded oh sorry calling for the vote

1:00:23 ↗ thank you so glad we have a city clerk

1:00:25 ↗ and that i'm not a city clerk

1:00:27 ↗ i will have the city clerk call for the

1:00:30 ↗ vote thanks

1:00:36 ↗ beginning with council member d michelle

1:00:39 ↗ aye

1:00:40 ↗ council member goodman

1:00:42 ↗ bye

1:00:44 ↗ council member hall

1:00:45 ↗ aye

1:00:47 ↗ council president hunt

1:00:49 ↗ aye

1:00:50 ↗ deputy council president ray aye

1:00:53 ↗ council member walsh

1:00:55 ↗ i

1:00:56 ↗ at 6i zero nate

1:00:59 ↗ that passes six to o and we'll be moving

1:01:02 ↗ on to the next item of business

1:01:04 ↗ this is

1:01:05 ↗ ab-8268 an interlocal agreement with the

1:01:08 ↗ city of redmond for mutual aid dispatch

1:01:10 ↗ services and i'd like to invite police

1:01:12 ↗ chief scott bierbaum and police

1:01:13 ↗ commander lauren truscott to present

1:01:15 ↗ this item

1:01:26 ↗ good evening we're trying to have a

1:01:27 ↗ little uh audio trouble here thank you

1:01:29 ↗ my name is scott bierbaum chief of

1:01:30 ↗ police for the city of izzaqua um thank

1:01:33 ↗ you council thank you

1:01:34 ↗ mayor uh

1:01:36 ↗ commander truscott is here with us

1:01:38 ↗ tonight to also help uh take us walk us

1:01:40 ↗ through

1:01:42 ↗ ab8268 our interlocal agreement with the

1:01:44 ↗ city of redmond for dispatch services

1:01:46 ↗ i'm going to turn it over to

1:01:51 ↗ good evening thank you for having me

1:01:52 ↗ mayor thank you for having me city

1:01:54 ↗ council i'm happy to be here can you

1:01:56 ↗ hear me

1:01:57 ↗ okay um

1:01:59 ↗ so i'm going to talk about the

1:02:00 ↗ interlocal agreement between the city of

1:02:02 ↗ issaquah and the city of redmond for

1:02:03 ↗ redmond to provide mutually dispatched

1:02:05 ↗ services

1:02:06 ↗ for the issaquah police department and

1:02:08 ↗ also for snoqualmie north bend

1:02:11 ↗ who we provide dispatch services for so

1:02:12 ↗ go ahead and start the slideshow please

1:02:14 ↗ chief

1:02:20 ↗ and chief this is tisha i went ahead and

1:02:22 ↗ started it

1:02:25 ↗ okay so we can go ahead to the first

1:02:27 ↗ slide please

1:02:38 ↗ so for some background um

1:02:42 ↗ the city of issaquah we provide dispatch

1:02:44 ↗ services for issaquah and then

1:02:46 ↗ snoqualmie and north bend

1:02:49 ↗ and we also

1:02:50 ↗ patched those folks to

1:02:52 ↗ fire and medical services as needed

1:02:55 ↗ uh the

1:02:56 ↗ issaquah police department dispatch

1:02:58 ↗ center has been experienced

1:03:00 ↗ experiencing a significant shortage

1:03:03 ↗ in staffing which has resulted in an

1:03:05 ↗ ability to

1:03:07 ↗ inability to maintain normal operations

1:03:10 ↗ we currently have two full-time

1:03:11 ↗ dispatchers and one communications

1:03:14 ↗ supervisor who also fills in and does

1:03:16 ↗ dispatching who are tasked with

1:03:18 ↗ providing public safety dispatch

1:03:20 ↗ services 24 hours a day

1:03:22 ↗ seven days per week to these three

1:03:24 ↗ cities

1:03:25 ↗ so the city is seeking support from the

1:03:27 ↗ city of redmond's police communications

1:03:30 ↗ team

1:03:31 ↗ and the redmond police department will

1:03:32 ↗ assist in answering 9-1-1 calls

1:03:34 ↗ dispatching police services and also

1:03:37 ↗ training new issaquah police dispatchers

1:03:40 ↗ the interlocal agreement began on

1:03:42 ↗ september 1st and will terminate on

1:03:45 ↗ january 31st of 2022

1:03:49 ↗ next slide please here's a broad

1:03:51 ↗ overview of the estimated financial

1:03:53 ↗ impacts um

1:03:56 ↗ if you guys want to just look at the

1:03:58 ↗ numbers i don't

1:03:59 ↗ need to read all of them to you but

1:04:01 ↗ you can see the estimated total cost is

1:04:03 ↗ uh on the low end 202 000 on the high

1:04:06 ↗ end

1:04:07 ↗ 355 000

1:04:10 ↗ some of these costs will be covered by

1:04:13 ↗ savings that are in the budget from

1:04:15 ↗ vacancies and then also some of these

1:04:18 ↗ costs will be

1:04:19 ↗ reimbursed to us from the e911

1:04:22 ↗ the king county e911 escrow fund that's

1:04:25 ↗ available to us

1:04:30 ↗ so we recommend that uh

1:04:32 ↗ administration

1:04:33 ↗ recommends authorizing the mayor to

1:04:34 ↗ enter into and execute the interlocal

1:04:36 ↗ agreement with the city of redmond so

1:04:38 ↗ that we can continue providing dispatch

1:04:40 ↗ services

1:04:41 ↗ to issaquah

1:04:43 ↗ snoqualmie and north bend

1:04:47 ↗ thank you commander truscott chief

1:04:49 ↗ bierbaum i'm looking into the chat to

1:04:51 ↗ see if there are any council members who

1:04:53 ↗ have questions

1:04:54 ↗ and i will give that a

1:04:57 ↗ a minute or so

1:05:02 ↗ uh councilmember hall followed by deputy

1:05:04 ↗ council president ray

1:05:06 ↗ uh thank you this is councilmember hall

1:05:08 ↗ first and foremost thank you uh for the

1:05:09 ↗ presentation i just have a quick um

1:05:12 ↗ question and curious um

1:05:15 ↗ uh what our communications with our

1:05:17 ↗ contract cities with north bend um we're

1:05:20 ↗ like in developing this

1:05:22 ↗ proposal

1:05:23 ↗ thank you

1:05:27 ↗ what was their involvement in developing

1:05:29 ↗ the ila

1:05:31 ↗ how or

1:05:32 ↗ i guess framing another way what was our

1:05:34 ↗ communication like were they a part of

1:05:36 ↗ the process or was that just notifying

1:05:38 ↗ them it's just a clarification for me

1:05:40 ↗ yes they've been uh part of the process

1:05:42 ↗ since we started um

1:05:45 ↗ reaching out for assistance with

1:05:46 ↗ dispatch services they've actually even

1:05:48 ↗ provided some dispatch aid to us because

1:05:50 ↗ two of our former dispatchers are

1:05:52 ↗ employees there but yeah

1:05:54 ↗ we're in daily communication almost

1:05:55 ↗ daily communication with captain amquist

1:05:57 ↗ who's one of the commanders there and

1:05:59 ↗ then the chief's been in constant

1:06:02 ↗ communication with chips

1:06:04 ↗ very good thank you

1:06:06 ↗ thank you commander truscott uh deputy

1:06:08 ↗ council president ray thank you mayor

1:06:10 ↗ paul this is chris ray um i'm curious

1:06:13 ↗ about the variable cost line because it

1:06:15 ↗ is significantly um large spread what

1:06:19 ↗ are the factors that will determine

1:06:21 ↗ what the variable costs are

1:06:23 ↗ in that in the agreement

1:06:26 ↗ i i can take a crack at this chief and

1:06:28 ↗ if you uh want to step in and provide

1:06:30 ↗ any input that would be helpful as well

1:06:33 ↗ the

1:06:34 ↗ main factor is employee overtime

1:06:37 ↗ that we cannot

1:06:39 ↗ predict

1:06:40 ↗ and also redmond is going to assist in

1:06:45 ↗ providing training with new dispatchers

1:06:47 ↗ as they are hired and onboarded and so

1:06:50 ↗ we don't know how many employees

1:06:52 ↗ hopefully there'll be a lot that we hire

1:06:54 ↗ and how many hours that will take

1:06:57 ↗ and so those are the two main factors

1:07:00 ↗ that are just out of our control

1:07:04 ↗ chief do you have anything to add

1:07:08 ↗ yeah i can add just a little bit more um

1:07:10 ↗ it does really truly depend upon how

1:07:12 ↗ many hours that they are going to be

1:07:14 ↗ fulfilling out on their side of the ila

1:07:18 ↗ it depends on how many of our staff are

1:07:20 ↗ able to fill in the

1:07:22 ↗ dispatching portion for issaquah and

1:07:24 ↗ then how much they will be assisting

1:07:26 ↗ with the field training as well um it

1:07:28 ↗ also depends upon the timing of how

1:07:31 ↗ quickly we

1:07:32 ↗ are able to get our staff up to the

1:07:34 ↗ appropriate numbers and then

1:07:37 ↗ not have to rely upon redmond for

1:07:39 ↗ assistance so

1:07:41 ↗ that's why there's a large amount of

1:07:42 ↗ variables

1:07:44 ↗ thank you chief

1:07:47 ↗ deputy council president ray did you

1:07:48 ↗ have a follow-up question no i think i'm

1:07:50 ↗ good thank you

1:07:51 ↗ okay

1:07:52 ↗ i am not seeing any other questions at

1:07:55 ↗ this time is someone prepared to make a

1:07:57 ↗ motion

1:08:02 ↗ council president

1:08:04 ↗ thank you i moved to authorize the mayor

1:08:07 ↗ to enter into and execute the interlocal

1:08:09 ↗ agreement between the city of redmond's

1:08:10 ↗ and the city of issaquah for mutual aid

1:08:13 ↗ dispatch services

1:08:15 ↗ thank you deputy council president ray

1:08:19 ↗ it has been moved and seconded is there

1:08:21 ↗ any discussion

1:08:23 ↗ and again i'll keep my eye on the chat

1:08:31 ↗ at this point in time i'm not seeing

1:08:35 ↗ anything so i will go to the city clerk

1:08:38 ↗ and have her do the roll call vote

1:08:42 ↗ starting with council member goodman

1:08:44 ↗ aye

1:08:46 ↗ councilmember hall

1:08:48 ↗ aye

1:08:50 ↗ council president hunt aye

1:08:53 ↗ deputy council president ray

1:08:55 ↗ hi

1:08:56 ↗ councilmember walsh

1:08:58 ↗ aye

1:09:00 ↗ councilmember d michelle

1:09:02 ↗ aye

1:09:03 ↗ that's six i zero nays thank you that

1:09:06 ↗ passes unanimously and i want to thank

1:09:08 ↗ um both commander truscutt and

1:09:11 ↗ chief bear bomb for again working under

1:09:14 ↗ these difficult circumstances and again

1:09:16 ↗ working in kind of a brave new world

1:09:18 ↗ that we've never had to do this before

1:09:20 ↗ so thank you for your work on that

1:09:23 ↗ thank you mayor

1:09:25 ↗ the next item on our agenda this evening

1:09:28 ↗ is ab7901

1:09:30 ↗ forest carbon credit program application

1:09:33 ↗ harvey manning park acquisition and i

1:09:35 ↗ would like to invite parks director jeff

1:09:37 ↗ watling to join us and present this item

1:09:39 ↗ jeff

1:09:41 ↗ mayor thanks so much good evening

1:09:43 ↗ council jeff watling parks and community

1:09:45 ↗ services director uh

1:09:47 ↗ pardon me while i

1:09:49 ↗ share my screen here

1:09:55 ↗ take it you can all see that

1:09:58 ↗ yes we can hear me great

1:10:01 ↗ again well good evening uh tonight um

1:10:04 ↗ excited jeff i'm just gonna tell you

1:10:06 ↗ you're kind of in um

1:10:08 ↗ the presenters mode where we can see all

1:10:10 ↗ your slides is there something you want

1:10:12 ↗ to click on to

1:10:14 ↗ there we go thanks oh all right great

1:10:18 ↗ thanks mayor

1:10:20 ↗ all right so tonight we're bringing back

1:10:22 ↗ uh a topic that we uh discussed um

1:10:27 ↗ boy seems like a long time ago a quarter

1:10:29 ↗ q1 about january of 2020 prior to the

1:10:32 ↗ pandemic

1:10:33 ↗ uh joining me tonight i'm going to give

1:10:35 ↗ the broad

1:10:36 ↗ overview in the staff report but also

1:10:39 ↗ here tonight are liz johnson and mark

1:10:42 ↗ mcpherson from city forest credits

1:10:45 ↗ they're our non-profit partner who we've

1:10:47 ↗ been working with so closely on this as

1:10:49 ↗ well jennifer fink is here

1:10:51 ↗ uh jennifer is our park planner with the

1:10:53 ↗ city of issaquah also serving as staff

1:10:55 ↗ lead in this

1:10:57 ↗ application process

1:10:59 ↗ as i mentioned we had discussed this in

1:11:02 ↗ early

1:11:03 ↗ 2020

1:11:04 ↗ just prior to the pandemic

1:11:06 ↗ throughout the pandemic we've continued

1:11:09 ↗ uh some really hard and important work

1:11:11 ↗ with

1:11:12 ↗ our partner city force credits as well

1:11:14 ↗ as a number of other agencies in

1:11:18 ↗ sort of preparing and aligning this

1:11:20 ↗ opportunity

1:11:21 ↗ what we have tonight is a request

1:11:25 ↗ by you city council to authorize us to

1:11:27 ↗ submit the city's first carbon credit

1:11:30 ↗ application

1:11:34 ↗ some background first

1:11:36 ↗ talking a little bit about

1:11:38 ↗ that meeting we had in february of 2020

1:11:41 ↗ where we talked about and i took the

1:11:43 ↗ opportunity to to introduce you as to

1:11:46 ↗ what the carbon credit market is and the

1:11:48 ↗ opportunities we have before us

1:11:51 ↗ as i said earlier mark mcpherson with

1:11:53 ↗ city force credits was there as well had

1:11:56 ↗ a chance to introduce mark mark gave

1:11:58 ↗ some excellent background work on what

1:12:01 ↗ this

1:12:02 ↗ opportunity is and presents

1:12:05 ↗ at that time

1:12:06 ↗ in february of last year we

1:12:08 ↗ uh proposed uh pursuing a pilot project

1:12:11 ↗ and focusing on a planting project

1:12:14 ↗ um and an application

1:12:17 ↗ [Music]

1:12:18 ↗ with the potential of revenues that

1:12:20 ↗ would be used to support green our

1:12:22 ↗ greenish squash for steward program

1:12:25 ↗ you'll hear a little bit later in the

1:12:26 ↗ staff report we're actually proposing a

1:12:29 ↗ slight pivot

1:12:30 ↗ to having our pilot

1:12:32 ↗ project pilot application be an

1:12:34 ↗ acquisition i'll touch on that in a

1:12:36 ↗ little bit

1:12:37 ↗ at that meeting in in february through

1:12:40 ↗ feedback with you as council members you

1:12:43 ↗ provided us some great feedback as well

1:12:45 ↗ as support and direction to

1:12:47 ↗ continue to explore this program and

1:12:50 ↗ this opportunity for us in issaquah

1:12:54 ↗ a little bit that you heard at that

1:12:56 ↗ meeting and also just a refresher

1:12:59 ↗ as to

1:13:00 ↗ why why should we pursue this

1:13:03 ↗ opportunity

1:13:06 ↗ part of this was again presented in

1:13:07 ↗ february carbon credits have been a

1:13:10 ↗ market

1:13:11 ↗ for a number of years now 25 plus years

1:13:14 ↗ there's a growing history as to

1:13:18 ↗ what this commodity looks like in the

1:13:21 ↗ open market

1:13:22 ↗ what has been missing is the opportunity

1:13:24 ↗ for cities like ourselves

1:13:27 ↗ and

1:13:28 ↗ the urban forests that we own

1:13:30 ↗ to be able to tap into this market and

1:13:32 ↗ that's where uh the work of city force

1:13:35 ↗ credit

1:13:36 ↗ seattle-based non-profit group has

1:13:38 ↗ really created this vehicle and it's

1:13:40 ↗ opportunity for

1:13:42 ↗ cities and towns to

1:13:44 ↗ be represented by city forest credits

1:13:46 ↗ and jump into this uh into this market

1:13:50 ↗ it's a potential

1:13:51 ↗ um

1:13:52 ↗ funding source for for our urban forest

1:13:55 ↗ work uh these next two slides give a

1:13:58 ↗ really

1:13:59 ↗ [Music]

1:14:00 ↗ broad and i will state broad example of

1:14:03 ↗ how this carbon credit process works for

1:14:05 ↗ us as a city where we're not going

1:14:07 ↗ directly to market

1:14:09 ↗ and where this interface and partnership

1:14:11 ↗ with city forest credits really makes it

1:14:13 ↗ possible

1:14:15 ↗ and that we

1:14:16 ↗ look and consider

1:14:18 ↗ a project that project could either be

1:14:20 ↗ tree planting or

1:14:22 ↗ acquisition based we then work with city

1:14:24 ↗ forest credits we follow their protocols

1:14:29 ↗ their directives their expertise

1:14:31 ↗ through that work city forced credits

1:14:34 ↗ then issues us

1:14:37 ↗ the number of credits that would be

1:14:38 ↗ related to that

1:14:40 ↗ project

1:14:41 ↗ and how those

1:14:43 ↗ projects could then in turn in the

1:14:45 ↗ second step

1:14:46 ↗ uh be

1:14:47 ↗ brought to market and and sold to

1:14:50 ↗ potential buyers

1:14:51 ↗ as a buyer purchases those specific

1:14:54 ↗ credits that we worked with city forest

1:14:56 ↗ credits to create

1:14:58 ↗ that in turn creates

1:14:59 ↗ revenue

1:15:01 ↗ for

1:15:02 ↗ the city

1:15:06 ↗ a little bit as to the benefits why

1:15:08 ↗ would we do this why would we consider

1:15:10 ↗ it doing this

1:15:12 ↗ [Music]

1:15:13 ↗ one is

1:15:14 ↗ that it connects

1:15:17 ↗ our city forests

1:15:18 ↗ [Music]

1:15:20 ↗ to these new funding opportunities these

1:15:22 ↗ new opportunities to

1:15:26 ↗ utilize the the land that we already

1:15:28 ↗ steward

1:15:30 ↗ to generate some revenue to help us

1:15:32 ↗ steward and invest right back into

1:15:35 ↗ those

1:15:36 ↗ essential

1:15:37 ↗ urban forests

1:15:40 ↗ in that sense it really is a win-win

1:15:42 ↗ carbon buyers those that are purchasing

1:15:45 ↗ get valuable credits that they're

1:15:46 ↗ seeking

1:15:47 ↗ in

1:15:48 ↗ the city

1:15:49 ↗ infrastructure the city properties where

1:15:52 ↗ in many cases their customers and

1:15:54 ↗ employees live

1:15:56 ↗ the cities

1:15:57 ↗ as i said earlier get funding get

1:15:59 ↗ revenue to help maintain those trees and

1:16:02 ↗ and maintain the function of those

1:16:04 ↗ critical urban forests

1:16:06 ↗ and in the end

1:16:08 ↗ we all really achieve

1:16:10 ↗ so much of what the mission value and

1:16:13 ↗ goals that we have here in issaquah

1:16:15 ↗ striving for a greener healthier

1:16:18 ↗ more equitable

1:16:19 ↗ community and city

1:16:24 ↗ as i said earlier

1:16:26 ↗ there are two types of projects that we

1:16:29 ↗ can

1:16:30 ↗ take to market if you will and work with

1:16:32 ↗ city forest credits on one really

1:16:34 ↗ focuses on plantings where we are

1:16:38 ↗ through

1:16:39 ↗ planting efforts are creating a new

1:16:42 ↗ capacity carbon storage capacity

1:16:45 ↗ another type of project that can be

1:16:47 ↗ taken to market are acquisition

1:16:49 ↗ preservation projects where

1:16:51 ↗ there's a recent acquisition that helped

1:16:54 ↗ to preserve

1:16:55 ↗ in perpetuity

1:16:58 ↗ carbon

1:17:00 ↗ capture within those trees

1:17:03 ↗ as i said earlier when we were initially

1:17:05 ↗ exploring this we thought this

1:17:07 ↗ and it still does

1:17:09 ↗ dovetail nicely with a number of the

1:17:11 ↗ planting efforts that we

1:17:13 ↗ do

1:17:14 ↗ year after year in terms of creating

1:17:17 ↗ succession plantings for our urban

1:17:19 ↗ forest

1:17:22 ↗ with that type of project though there

1:17:24 ↗ are a number of factors that

1:17:27 ↗ are a little more dynamic and a little

1:17:29 ↗ bit more complex

1:17:31 ↗ as we continued our work with city

1:17:33 ↗ forest credits through the pandemic

1:17:35 ↗ we felt that as a pilot project

1:17:39 ↗ utilizing an acquisition and

1:17:42 ↗ our most recent acquisition of

1:17:45 ↗ um the harvey manning park expansion the

1:17:48 ↗ bergsman property those 33 acres

1:17:50 ↗ um were really a strategic opportunity

1:17:53 ↗ to have that become our pilot project

1:17:56 ↗ also over these last this last year and

1:17:58 ↗ a half

1:17:59 ↗ there's a lot of really important work

1:18:01 ↗ that has happened with the grant

1:18:03 ↗ providers

1:18:04 ↗ namely the recreation conservation

1:18:06 ↗ office at the state

1:18:08 ↗ we

1:18:09 ↗ uh spent a number of hours in a number

1:18:11 ↗ of meetings working with rco

1:18:13 ↗ with the tremendous help of mark and the

1:18:15 ↗ city forest credit group

1:18:17 ↗ to make sure that rco themselves

1:18:20 ↗ understood

1:18:21 ↗ what

1:18:22 ↗ the carbon market meant and what it

1:18:24 ↗ meant for

1:18:26 ↗ a partnership like this a sale like this

1:18:29 ↗ means on

1:18:31 ↗ land that we have received grants for

1:18:34 ↗ and through that work rco

1:18:37 ↗ now

1:18:39 ↗ certainly sees the benefit of this and

1:18:41 ↗ has really created the opportunity now

1:18:43 ↗ for us to consider

1:18:45 ↗ that acquisition to be the pilot project

1:18:47 ↗ to pursue

1:18:51 ↗ so with that the the proposal before you

1:18:53 ↗ tonight is

1:18:56 ↗ requesting your authorization for us to

1:18:58 ↗ submit an application uh for the harvey

1:19:01 ↗ manning park acquisition

1:19:03 ↗ preservation those 33 acres and to

1:19:05 ↗ authorize

1:19:06 ↗ the mayor to execute all necessary

1:19:08 ↗ documents to secure

1:19:11 ↗ this as the city's first carbon sale

1:19:14 ↗ i'll note as we worked with finance the

1:19:17 ↗ finance department revenues from this

1:19:20 ↗ sale

1:19:21 ↗ would be deposited in the general fund

1:19:24 ↗ with the

1:19:25 ↗ benefit of the new

1:19:27 ↗ tracking system we have

1:19:29 ↗ these revenues would

1:19:30 ↗ be closely tracked and would be used

1:19:33 ↗ and it could be identified

1:19:35 ↗ to

1:19:36 ↗ fund solely

1:19:38 ↗ the green issaquah force management work

1:19:41 ↗ recognizing

1:19:42 ↗ that would

1:19:44 ↗ certainly help that program and assist

1:19:46 ↗ the needed

1:19:47 ↗ expenditures over the next number of

1:19:49 ↗ years

1:19:51 ↗ i feel there's a really important nexus

1:19:53 ↗ obviously with this revenue and then the

1:19:57 ↗ expenditures

1:19:59 ↗ from this carbon sale directly

1:20:00 ↗ benefiting

1:20:02 ↗ the ongoing stewardship of

1:20:04 ↗ not only those 33 acres but our urban

1:20:07 ↗ forest

1:20:09 ↗ should you uh authorize and approve this

1:20:11 ↗ tonight uh next steps would be

1:20:14 ↗ the submittal of our application

1:20:16 ↗ documents to city forest credits

1:20:18 ↗ they

1:20:19 ↗ in turn would represent us and once a

1:20:21 ↗ buyer is found we would then execute all

1:20:24 ↗ those necessary documents

1:20:26 ↗ including the purchase and fail

1:20:28 ↗ agreement

1:20:29 ↗ as we have been working with city force

1:20:31 ↗ credits on the number of credits that

1:20:34 ↗ that 33 acres of

1:20:37 ↗ property would yield we're looking at

1:20:40 ↗ revenue in the neighborhood of 200 000

1:20:44 ↗ like i said those funds would then

1:20:47 ↗ allow us to

1:20:48 ↗ invest those proceeds back into the

1:20:50 ↗ urban forest

1:20:52 ↗ that we're managing

1:20:54 ↗ we anticipate project completion at the

1:20:56 ↗ end of this year or early next year

1:21:01 ↗ within our agenda bill staff report

1:21:04 ↗ as we look at alternatives certainly

1:21:07 ↗ an alternative you have before you

1:21:09 ↗ tonight would be

1:21:11 ↗ to not authorize this submittal in this

1:21:14 ↗ application at this time

1:21:16 ↗ i would note the impact if if we don't

1:21:18 ↗ do that

1:21:20 ↗ we would probably won't need we would

1:21:22 ↗ need to look at a different pilot

1:21:23 ↗ project as

1:21:25 ↗ the opportunity window for

1:21:27 ↗ acquisition preservation projects

1:21:31 ↗ is

1:21:33 ↗ time sensitive to when that actual sale

1:21:36 ↗ happens

1:21:37 ↗ so

1:21:38 ↗ we would need to consider another

1:21:40 ↗ another option should we not uh pursue

1:21:43 ↗ the harvey manning park expansion

1:21:46 ↗ opportunity tonight

1:21:49 ↗ and with that uh thank you so much for

1:21:52 ↗ listening this quick staff report again

1:21:55 ↗ the recommendation before you by staff

1:21:57 ↗ and administration is to authorize the

1:21:59 ↗ middle of this

1:22:00 ↗ application and

1:22:03 ↗ pursuit of our first city forest carbon

1:22:05 ↗ sale thanks so much

1:22:08 ↗ thank you director watling i remember

1:22:10 ↗ the afternoon you invited me into the

1:22:12 ↗ first meeting to talk about this and you

1:22:14 ↗ were

1:22:14 ↗ you were giddy you were so excited that

1:22:17 ↗ isco could participate in something like

1:22:19 ↗ this

1:22:19 ↗ um

1:22:20 ↗ are there any questions from council

1:22:22 ↗ members on the presentation

1:22:24 ↗ keep my eye on the chat

1:22:31 ↗ if i

1:22:33 ↗ do not have any and i don't see them do

1:22:35 ↗ we have somebody able to make a motion

1:22:38 ↗ what's the president

1:22:40 ↗ thank you i moved to authorize the

1:22:42 ↗ middle of a carbon credit application

1:22:44 ↗ for the harvey manning park acquisition

1:22:46 ↗ preservation project and authorized the

1:22:48 ↗ mayor to execute all necessary documents

1:22:50 ↗ including a purchase and sale agreement

1:22:53 ↗ to secure the city's first carbon sale

1:22:56 ↗ and deputy council president ray

1:23:00 ↗ it's been moved and seconded um comments

1:23:03 ↗ would anybody like to speak to it let's

1:23:04 ↗ start with council president hunt

1:23:06 ↗ followed by council member hall

1:23:08 ↗ thank you madam mayor

1:23:10 ↗ i

1:23:11 ↗ appreciate that carbon credits have been

1:23:14 ↗ around for a while i think the carbon

1:23:16 ↗ accounting is also a complicated area

1:23:18 ↗ and our understanding of what really

1:23:20 ↗ makes a difference in the space is is

1:23:22 ↗ evolving and changing

1:23:25 ↗ and there are new best practices around

1:23:27 ↗ it so i do appreciate some of the

1:23:30 ↗ materials that were provided in our

1:23:32 ↗ packet about how we are adhering to

1:23:34 ↗ those best practices one is the no

1:23:36 ↗ double counting

1:23:38 ↗ attestation that's one of the issues

1:23:40 ↗ around carbon counting is you can sort

1:23:42 ↗ of get um you have to avoid getting

1:23:44 ↗ credit for the same thing multiple ways

1:23:47 ↗ and

1:23:48 ↗ i also appreciate that the funds

1:23:51 ↗ the revenue generated from this will be

1:23:53 ↗ used to

1:23:54 ↗ maintain our forest health because one

1:23:57 ↗ of the other issues around carbon

1:23:59 ↗ credits is that

1:24:01 ↗ they're really only sequestering carbon

1:24:03 ↗ and

1:24:04 ↗ um

1:24:05 ↗ they're really only valuable if we

1:24:07 ↗ maintain those forests in a healthy

1:24:09 ↗ state so i do appreciate that we are

1:24:10 ↗ using that revenue to that end and i

1:24:13 ↗ will be supportive thank you thank you

1:24:16 ↗ council president councilmember hall

1:24:19 ↗ uh thank you this is councilmember hall

1:24:21 ↗ um

1:24:22 ↗ you know this was actually one of the

1:24:24 ↗ first policies that i reviewed as a new

1:24:26 ↗ council member back in january of last

1:24:28 ↗ year and i have been

1:24:31 ↗ so eager and excited to implement ever

1:24:34 ↗ since

1:24:35 ↗ even though we have a little bit of a

1:24:36 ↗ delay

1:24:37 ↗ i think this is an

1:24:38 ↗ outstanding opportunity

1:24:40 ↗ for the market to purchase carbon

1:24:42 ↗ credits here in this squad for business

1:24:43 ↗ and organizations to um

1:24:46 ↗ offset their carbon footprint and

1:24:48 ↗ support you know our community's

1:24:49 ↗ environmental values

1:24:51 ↗ and because of that support the revenues

1:24:53 ↗ we collect we'll be able to go right

1:24:55 ↗ back into the

1:24:56 ↗ to the environment and forest management

1:24:58 ↗ in meaningful ways that um

1:25:01 ↗ are clear to me are in line with our

1:25:03 ↗ city's mission and vision and of course

1:25:05 ↗ our strategic plan

1:25:07 ↗ um i also think that this is an

1:25:09 ↗ excellent project to pilot the policy so

1:25:12 ↗ i commend director watling

1:25:13 ↗ administration for for going with going

1:25:15 ↗ this way um and i also want to thank

1:25:18 ↗ city forest credits for their

1:25:19 ↗ partnership in this work and of course

1:25:21 ↗ director watling for his leadership in

1:25:23 ↗ the space too

1:25:24 ↗ and with that i will be supporting the

1:25:26 ↗ initiative this evening

1:25:28 ↗ thank you councilmember hall

1:25:30 ↗ i do not see any others requesting to

1:25:32 ↗ comment so just give it a few seconds

1:25:35 ↗ longer and keep my eye on the chat

1:25:40 ↗ and

1:25:41 ↗ we will now t at the city clerk to do

1:25:43 ↗ the roll call vote

1:25:49 ↗ starting with council member hall

1:25:51 ↗ aye

1:25:53 ↗ council president hunt

1:25:54 ↗ aye

1:25:56 ↗ deputy council president ray aye

1:25:59 ↗ council member walsh

1:26:01 ↗ aye

1:26:03 ↗ council member d michelle

1:26:05 ↗ aye

1:26:07 ↗ councilmember goodman

1:26:08 ↗ aye

1:26:09 ↗ at 6i zero nays

1:26:12 ↗ that is great thank you very much that

1:26:15 ↗ passes six to no and i i just want to

1:26:17 ↗ thank this whole team here this evening

1:26:19 ↗ um jennifer mark and jeff and not sure

1:26:23 ↗ if liz is also with that group that's

1:26:25 ↗ gonna throw her name in anyway um thank

1:26:26 ↗ you for doing this uh really exciting

1:26:29 ↗ really forward thinking um pilot this is

1:26:32 ↗ really great we are very appreciative

1:26:34 ↗ that we're able to take advantage of

1:26:36 ↗ this class so thank you all very much

1:26:39 ↗ we will move on to

1:26:42 ↗ the next item of business which is

1:26:44 ↗ ab-8254 the american rescue plan act

1:26:47 ↗ funding allocation

1:26:49 ↗ this is about small business flex fund

1:26:51 ↗ and the ithaca rental assistance program

1:26:54 ↗ the action before council this evening

1:26:55 ↗ will be to authorize it and i'd like to

1:26:58 ↗ invite benton coleman's recovery

1:27:00 ↗ coordinator and monica negria human

1:27:02 ↗ services manager to present this item

1:27:06 ↗ wonderful good evening thank you madam

1:27:08 ↗ mayor members of the city council my

1:27:10 ↗ name is ben coblins and i'm presenting

1:27:13 ↗ to you

1:27:13 ↗ tonight in the guise of recovery

1:27:16 ↗ coordinator for the city so

1:27:18 ↗ and i will be joined in just a minute by

1:27:21 ↗ monica negrilla

1:27:23 ↗ human services manager for the city of

1:27:25 ↗ issaquah

1:27:27 ↗ so

1:27:30 ↗ our purpose here tonight is uh twofold

1:27:33 ↗ um first is to provide funding

1:27:36 ↗ recommendations

1:27:37 ↗ to fill some of the urgent needs in our

1:27:40 ↗ community with

1:27:42 ↗ funding through the american rescue plan

1:27:44 ↗ act allocation for the city in

1:27:46 ↗ particular

1:27:48 ↗ an investment in the small business flex

1:27:50 ↗ fund and the creation of a 2021-2 iscore

1:27:54 ↗ rental assistance program

1:27:57 ↗ the second purpose is to discuss and

1:27:59 ↗ update the city council on support for

1:28:01 ↗ other local issaquah governmental asian

1:28:04 ↗ agencies performing essential work so

1:28:08 ↗ i'll just make at this point two uh big

1:28:11 ↗ caveats um so the first is that future

1:28:14 ↗ long-term investments um will be

1:28:16 ↗ considered through a more comprehensive

1:28:18 ↗ process in 2022

1:28:20 ↗ so tonight we're really trying to

1:28:23 ↗ present and talk about some of those

1:28:24 ↗ urgent needs and how we can fill them

1:28:26 ↗ before the end of this year

1:28:29 ↗ the second is of course that hindsight

1:28:32 ↗ will be 2020. so we see the urgent needs

1:28:35 ↗ as they present themselves right now

1:28:38 ↗ but it's of course no guarantee that

1:28:41 ↗ you know the the situation won't change

1:28:43 ↗ as as we know from our experience over

1:28:46 ↗ the past year and a half conditions on

1:28:48 ↗ the ground can change quite rapidly and

1:28:50 ↗ we hope that um

1:28:52 ↗ you know the situation will only get

1:28:54 ↗ better from here but staff are prepared

1:28:56 ↗ to continue

1:28:57 ↗ our work in

1:28:59 ↗ updating our knowledge and continuing

1:29:01 ↗ our outreach to make sure we don't miss

1:29:03 ↗ future future urgent needs as they

1:29:06 ↗ present themselves

1:29:09 ↗ so

1:29:10 ↗ a little bit of background about the

1:29:13 ↗ process around the allocation of the

1:29:15 ↗ city's american rescue plan act fund so

1:29:17 ↗ of course um uh the american rescue plan

1:29:20 ↗ act was signed was passed by congress

1:29:23 ↗ and signed into law by president biden

1:29:25 ↗ back in march of 2021

1:29:28 ↗ the city council had a study session

1:29:30 ↗ back in april of 2021 and there were

1:29:33 ↗ quite a few different findings and and

1:29:35 ↗ conclusions in that study session but

1:29:38 ↗ one of the major ones was a need

1:29:40 ↗ to investigate those urgent needs that

1:29:42 ↗ are in the community

1:29:44 ↗ and so in june of 2021 the

1:29:46 ↗ administration proposed and the city

1:29:48 ↗ council

1:29:49 ↗ approved the creation of the position of

1:29:52 ↗ recovery coordinator which i stepped

1:29:54 ↗ into in june as well

1:29:57 ↗ with the express purpose of

1:29:59 ↗ investigating those urgent needs and

1:30:01 ↗ making recommendations to try and fill

1:30:04 ↗ them

1:30:05 ↗ so in august

1:30:06 ↗ early august i made an initial update to

1:30:10 ↗ the city council

1:30:12 ↗ which we'll talk a little bit more about

1:30:15 ↗ as background about some of those urgent

1:30:17 ↗ needs that i had found

1:30:19 ↗ over the course of the summer

1:30:22 ↗ but i promise to return and that's why

1:30:24 ↗ we're here tonight is to talk about

1:30:27 ↗ kind of some of those next steps and how

1:30:29 ↗ to allocate some of our funding to fill

1:30:31 ↗ those urgent needs

1:30:33 ↗ and as we begin the new year

1:30:36 ↗ of course we'll be taking additional

1:30:38 ↗ steps and doing additional outreach

1:30:40 ↗ and starting on the process of making

1:30:43 ↗ some decisions around those future

1:30:44 ↗ long-term investments

1:30:49 ↗ so as a reminder that outreach back in

1:30:51 ↗ the summer and these are the summer

1:30:53 ↗ figures and they're larger now today um

1:30:56 ↗ but these were the ones i i had to

1:30:59 ↗ had available to add so talked with more

1:31:02 ↗ than 20 now non-profits in our community

1:31:05 ↗ more than

1:31:06 ↗ 20 then local small business owners in

1:31:08 ↗ issaquah presented in front of several

1:31:11 ↗ boards and commissions for the city and

1:31:13 ↗ of course

1:31:15 ↗ have continued

1:31:16 ↗ conversations with the city's vision

1:31:18 ↗ partners

1:31:19 ↗ all about the needs that there are in

1:31:22 ↗ our community

1:31:24 ↗ and so

1:31:27 ↗ that outreach

1:31:29 ↗ resulted in these five identified urgent

1:31:32 ↗ needs

1:31:33 ↗ a lack of workforce

1:31:36 ↗ which continues to present itself to

1:31:38 ↗ small businesses and non-profits alike

1:31:41 ↗ access to capital which we're here to

1:31:43 ↗ talk a lot more about tonight um

1:31:45 ↗ nonprofit capacity which was devastated

1:31:48 ↗ by the pandemic and economic crisis

1:31:52 ↗ access to mental health

1:31:54 ↗ which continues to present itself as an

1:31:56 ↗ urgent need and of course connection to

1:31:58 ↗ human services

1:32:00 ↗ so those five needs are what i talked

1:32:02 ↗ about back in early august

1:32:05 ↗ and in continuing uh outreach and

1:32:08 ↗ conversations with

1:32:09 ↗ community members

1:32:11 ↗ those five needs have only

1:32:14 ↗ been reinforced

1:32:15 ↗ as as still urgent needs that are

1:32:17 ↗ present in the community

1:32:20 ↗ but of course um many of them uh take

1:32:23 ↗ more than just one investment and so

1:32:25 ↗ we're continuing to work on figuring out

1:32:28 ↗ ways to address them

1:32:30 ↗ but we think we have two of them tonight

1:32:33 ↗ that will help make a big dent in the

1:32:35 ↗ gap

1:32:36 ↗ so our proposal

1:32:39 ↗ is again twofold so one is an investment

1:32:41 ↗ in the state's small business flex fund

1:32:43 ↗ which i'll start off with and then the

1:32:45 ↗ other is the creation of an isquad

1:32:47 ↗ rental assistance program which i'll

1:32:50 ↗ invite monica to step up to talk about

1:32:52 ↗ but first about the small business flex

1:32:55 ↗ fund so the small business flex fund is

1:32:58 ↗ a statewide loan fund that provides

1:33:00 ↗ flexible working capital loans to

1:33:03 ↗ small businesses across the state

1:33:06 ↗ those loan amounts can range all the way

1:33:09 ↗ up to 150 000

1:33:11 ↗ but the estimate for average loan amount

1:33:13 ↗ is about 50 to 80 000

1:33:17 ↗ those loans would come with low interest

1:33:20 ↗ rates so for small businesses they would

1:33:22 ↗ be four to four and a half percent um

1:33:24 ↗ and for non-profits they would be three

1:33:26 ↗ to three and a half percent

1:33:28 ↗ which um depending on how many of you uh

1:33:31 ↗ you know did a refinance on your

1:33:32 ↗ mortgage i it might or might not seem

1:33:34 ↗ like a low interest rate but uh for

1:33:37 ↗ these small business owners and

1:33:38 ↗ non-profits the the

1:33:41 ↗ interest rates that they would get on

1:33:42 ↗ the private market if they could get a

1:33:44 ↗ loan

1:33:45 ↗ would be much much higher than this

1:33:47 ↗ north of 10 or north of 12

1:33:51 ↗ and so this is a big improvement

1:33:54 ↗ on those private market loans

1:33:58 ↗ the loans would have a majority of 60 to

1:34:00 ↗ 72 months

1:34:02 ↗ and eligibility for this program would

1:34:04 ↗ be

1:34:05 ↗ small businesses with fewer than 50

1:34:07 ↗ employees with annual revenues of less

1:34:10 ↗ than three million dollars that

1:34:12 ↗ experience the direct economic hardship

1:34:14 ↗ through the covet 19 pandemic um and

1:34:16 ↗ then we're in business prior to june

1:34:18 ↗ 30th of 2021

1:34:20 ↗ the overall goal of the small business

1:34:23 ↗ flex fund is to provide access to

1:34:25 ↗ capital for businesses that otherwise

1:34:28 ↗ wouldn't have that access so in

1:34:30 ↗ particular for women and minority-owned

1:34:33 ↗ businesses um that don't have access to

1:34:35 ↗ traditional capital um

1:34:38 ↗ that's their goal and that's the that's

1:34:40 ↗ the goal that they've had in mind when

1:34:42 ↗ they've designed the parameters of this

1:34:44 ↗ program and are have designed

1:34:47 ↗ kind of the outreach that they've that

1:34:49 ↗ they've implemented and the partners

1:34:51 ↗ they've chosen

1:34:54 ↗ so um

1:34:56 ↗ that's the goal and design of the

1:34:57 ↗ program but it comes with some

1:34:58 ↗ additional benefits

1:35:00 ↗ for us as we consider an investment so

1:35:05 ↗ first off since we're in the early days

1:35:07 ↗ yet of the flex fund they are able to

1:35:10 ↗ promise us a two to one match on any

1:35:13 ↗ investment that we make

1:35:15 ↗ and so

1:35:17 ↗ if we

1:35:18 ↗ were to make an investment of 300 000

1:35:22 ↗ um the state would match um with an

1:35:24 ↗ additional six hundred thousand dollars

1:35:27 ↗ for a total um

1:35:29 ↗ capitalization of 900 000

1:35:32 ↗ um they're able to do that because they

1:35:34 ↗ have access to private um funds and and

1:35:38 ↗ state funds from across the state

1:35:41 ↗ they're well well underway in in in

1:35:44 ↗ distributing loans already um

1:35:46 ↗ but they still have plenty

1:35:48 ↗ available to provide this match to us um

1:35:52 ↗ and that match would be for um

1:35:54 ↗ a conglomeration of east side cities um

1:35:58 ↗ which the east side cities that that do

1:36:02 ↗ invest would would have that match

1:36:04 ↗ available to them

1:36:06 ↗ and so

1:36:07 ↗ the 300 000 base would get um

1:36:11 ↗ allocated directly to issaquah

1:36:12 ↗ businesses the six hundred thousand

1:36:14 ↗ dollars in match uh would be promised at

1:36:17 ↗ least to east side businesses but we

1:36:19 ↗ think that with our outreach and their

1:36:21 ↗ outreach um issaquah businesses should

1:36:23 ↗ be able to take full advantage hopefully

1:36:26 ↗ of that 900 000

1:36:30 ↗ so that's one additional advantage the

1:36:32 ↗ second

1:36:33 ↗ of course is in administrative capacity

1:36:36 ↗ um and so the state and the flex fund

1:36:40 ↗ has a lot of capacity that if even a

1:36:43 ↗ group of

1:36:44 ↗ local governments or

1:36:47 ↗ one

1:36:47 ↗ government certainly um if they were to

1:36:50 ↗ do it on their own they couldn't uh they

1:36:52 ↗ couldn't do this program even at their

1:36:55 ↗ own local level um and so by

1:36:58 ↗ investing in a larger fund um the city

1:37:01 ↗ is able to take advantage of that

1:37:03 ↗ additional administrative capacity

1:37:06 ↗ but the last additional advantage and i

1:37:09 ↗ think is

1:37:10 ↗ one of the the most important for us

1:37:13 ↗ are those partners that the flex fund

1:37:16 ↗ has chosen so the community development

1:37:18 ↗ financial institutions

1:37:21 ↗ which are organizations

1:37:23 ↗ that provide the actual loans to small

1:37:27 ↗ businesses and to nonprofits

1:37:30 ↗ and many of those work here

1:37:32 ↗ locally on the east side

1:37:34 ↗ many of them are familiar with issaquah

1:37:37 ↗ and many of our businesses and those who

1:37:38 ↗ need it and they're also able to provide

1:37:41 ↗ technical assistance so it's not just

1:37:44 ↗ access to capital that these

1:37:47 ↗ organizations are able to take advantage

1:37:49 ↗ of but it's also the technical

1:37:51 ↗ assistance to take better advantage of

1:37:53 ↗ the loan itself and to work through the

1:37:55 ↗ full process of application approval and

1:37:58 ↗ repayment

1:38:00 ↗ so not only is it a lower interest loan

1:38:02 ↗ but small businesses are able to

1:38:04 ↗ you know reap higher rewards from the

1:38:07 ↗ loan itself

1:38:09 ↗ so

1:38:10 ↗ um

1:38:11 ↗ all in all uh the flex fund we've seen a

1:38:15 ↗ big need for it

1:38:17 ↗ in our community

1:38:19 ↗ and from our small

1:38:20 ↗ local

1:38:22 ↗ business owners

1:38:23 ↗ who've asked for and and expressed the

1:38:26 ↗ need for that access to capital and we

1:38:29 ↗ think that those

1:38:30 ↗ that the flex fund itself provides a

1:38:33 ↗ number of benefits

1:38:35 ↗ that make this investment worth it

1:38:37 ↗ tonight so

1:38:39 ↗ that's my portion of tonight's

1:38:42 ↗ recommendation and so i'll turn it over

1:38:44 ↗ to monica to talk a little bit more

1:38:46 ↗ about the rental assistance program

1:38:51 ↗ thank you very much benton

1:38:53 ↗ good evening madam mayor and members of

1:38:55 ↗ the council and this is monica gorilla

1:38:58 ↗ human services

1:39:00 ↗ tonight i'm joined also here by lucy

1:39:03 ↗ pyatt who's the director of energy and

1:39:05 ↗ financial assistance at hopelink

1:39:08 ↗ following the presentation both lucy and

1:39:10 ↗ i are available to answer further

1:39:12 ↗ questions you might have

1:39:15 ↗ so to begin first i would like to

1:39:17 ↗ provide a brief overview of the rental

1:39:19 ↗ assistance program we are proposing

1:39:20 ↗ tonight and then next in a few minutes i

1:39:23 ↗ would like to dive a little bit deeper

1:39:25 ↗ and provide a summary of the identified

1:39:27 ↗ needs and gaps we noticed in in our

1:39:29 ↗ community

1:39:31 ↗ um but to begin uh the goal of the

1:39:34 ↗ program that we are proposing in front

1:39:36 ↗ of you tonight is to really assist

1:39:38 ↗ community

1:39:40 ↗ documenting in recovering from the

1:39:42 ↗ negative economic impacts of the kovite

1:39:45 ↗ 19 pandemic

1:39:47 ↗ by supplementing the current assistance

1:39:49 ↗ programs in place such as the king

1:39:52 ↗ county eviction prevention rental

1:39:54 ↗ assistance program

1:39:55 ↗ and also

1:39:56 ↗ other assistance available and provided

1:39:58 ↗ by our local non-profit partners

1:40:01 ↗ um so

1:40:03 ↗ what we are proposing in front of you

1:40:04 ↗ tonight would be a program developed in

1:40:07 ↗ partnership with hopelink

1:40:10 ↗ one of our current non-profit rental

1:40:12 ↗ assistance providers

1:40:13 ↗ um and here i would like to make a brief

1:40:15 ↗ note to to mention that isoqua community

1:40:19 ↗ services and saint vincent de paul the

1:40:21 ↗ issaquah and joseph conference

1:40:23 ↗ were really strongly considered for

1:40:25 ↗ these options and we know that they have

1:40:27 ↗ been faithful local partners in

1:40:29 ↗ distributing financial assistance for

1:40:31 ↗ many many years

1:40:33 ↗ however

1:40:34 ↗ preference in the end was given towards

1:40:36 ↗ the agency with capacity to meaningfully

1:40:40 ↗ manage and distribute federal funds in

1:40:42 ↗ particular arpa funds

1:40:44 ↗ um all agencies that we work with have

1:40:46 ↗ been vetted by the human services

1:40:48 ↗ commission during the 2020 fund

1:40:50 ↗ allocations and our current recipients

1:40:52 ↗ of the human services grants

1:40:56 ↗ so back to our

1:40:58 ↗ proposal

1:40:59 ↗ our program would provide up to three

1:41:01 ↗ months of overdue rent per household

1:41:04 ↗ and eligibility for the program would be

1:41:06 ↗ limited to of course current issaquah

1:41:09 ↗ residents and households meeting income

1:41:12 ↗ requirements at or below 80 percent of

1:41:15 ↗ the media of the area median income

1:41:19 ↗ which is for a household of four in 2021

1:41:22 ↗ it's about 90 000 and 500 per household

1:41:27 ↗ and of course eligibility would be also

1:41:29 ↗ limited to those with demonstrated need

1:41:31 ↗ of temporary financial assistance due to

1:41:34 ↗ a covet impact

1:41:36 ↗ um next slide please ben then

1:41:40 ↗ thank you um

1:41:42 ↗ as i mentioned next i'm gonna

1:41:44 ↗ provide a brief summary of the

1:41:46 ↗ identified needs and gaps and i would

1:41:48 ↗ like to

1:41:50 ↗ highlight as we all know the moratorium

1:41:52 ↗ is set to expire at the end of this

1:41:54 ↗ month

1:41:56 ↗ um and financial assistance providers in

1:41:58 ↗ the city has seen an increase in the

1:42:00 ↗ number of community members requesting

1:42:02 ↗ help

1:42:03 ↗ i do want to acknowledge that really

1:42:05 ↗ estimating an exact number for the needs

1:42:07 ↗ in our community has been challenging

1:42:10 ↗ i think the main main reason as bentham

1:42:12 ↗ mentioned earlier also information has

1:42:14 ↗ been changing from month to month

1:42:16 ↗ rapidly sometimes from week to week

1:42:19 ↗ and it's really really hard

1:42:21 ↗ to to really identify the true gaps

1:42:25 ↗ um and so to try to do our best estimate

1:42:28 ↗ of the gap we reached out to king county

1:42:31 ↗ and requested an update of the eprap uh

1:42:34 ↗ the

1:42:36 ↗ eviction prevention rental assistance

1:42:38 ↗ program

1:42:39 ↗ as it applies to issaquah residents we

1:42:42 ↗ also reached out to our local rental

1:42:44 ↗ assistance providers and local landlords

1:42:47 ↗ um next slide please bandan

1:42:51 ↗ so from king county uh we confirmed that

1:42:54 ↗ residents with incomes between 50 and 80

1:42:57 ↗ percent ami which is roughly those for a

1:43:00 ↗ family of four those with incomes

1:43:03 ↗ between fifty seven thousand and ninety

1:43:06 ↗ thousand dollars

1:43:07 ↗ uh do not qualify for the prep program

1:43:10 ↗ or the you know king county rental

1:43:12 ↗ assistance programs available

1:43:16 ↗ and also from

1:43:18 ↗ local rental assistance providers

1:43:21 ↗ we

1:43:21 ↗ got an updated information on how much

1:43:25 ↗ of their current budget have spent

1:43:27 ↗ and then from local landlords our human

1:43:30 ↗ services staff big thanks and shout outs

1:43:32 ↗ to our human services coordinator henna

1:43:34 ↗ who contacted landlords individually via

1:43:37 ↗ phone and emails

1:43:38 ↗ to inquire about the overdue rent

1:43:41 ↗ so as of last week

1:43:43 ↗ we had learned that in 12 apartment

1:43:46 ↗ complexes

1:43:48 ↗ overdue rent was mounting to about 1.2

1:43:50 ↗ million dollars as of today that number

1:43:53 ↗ was up to 1.5 million dollars as we

1:43:56 ↗ heard from additional apartment

1:43:57 ↗ complexes

1:43:59 ↗ and so we estimate that about two-thirds

1:44:01 ↗ of this amount is for residents with

1:44:03 ↗ incomes between 50 and 80 percent ami

1:44:07 ↗ we know and we acknowledge that the

1:44:09 ↗ needs are always larger than the

1:44:10 ↗ resources

1:44:12 ↗ and we also know that this is a

1:44:13 ↗ temporary relief program that we hope

1:44:16 ↗ can provide a bridge as we enter the

1:44:18 ↗ holiday season and the end of the

1:44:20 ↗ moratorium

1:44:21 ↗ and people return to work

1:44:24 ↗ so therefore um tonight we are here

1:44:26 ↗ proposing three hundred thousand dollars

1:44:28 ↗ uh to help cover some of the needs and

1:44:31 ↗ supplement the existing programs in

1:44:33 ↗ place

1:44:35 ↗ so with that

1:44:37 ↗ and then i'm gonna hand it back to you

1:44:47 ↗ yeah so

1:44:48 ↗ thank you monica so

1:44:50 ↗ um that is the the recommendation

1:44:53 ↗ tonight is to authorize um a total of

1:44:56 ↗ six hundred thousand dollars in

1:44:58 ↗ allocations from the city's american

1:45:00 ↗ rescue plan act funding um to go to

1:45:04 ↗ an investment in the small business flex

1:45:07 ↗ fund and the creation of um

1:45:10 ↗ an issaquah rental assistance program to

1:45:13 ↗ fill those two

1:45:15 ↗ big gaps in our community

1:45:19 ↗ and if if approved tonight

1:45:24 ↗ contracting for both programs would take

1:45:26 ↗ place

1:45:27 ↗ over the course of november so we would

1:45:30 ↗ return to the city council with um with

1:45:32 ↗ contracts um with implementation to

1:45:35 ↗ start around december of 2021 so we'll

1:45:39 ↗ still be working um

1:45:41 ↗ in particular to find figure out the

1:45:44 ↗ last final details about arpa

1:45:46 ↗ eligibility and how to ensure that these

1:45:49 ↗ uh comport with um the federal

1:45:51 ↗ guidelines

1:45:52 ↗ and then these investments would

1:45:53 ↗ continue through 2022 and beyond

1:45:59 ↗ so

1:46:00 ↗ that's the timing next steps for

1:46:03 ↗ for those two recommendations we'll also

1:46:05 ↗ want to

1:46:06 ↗ provide an opportunity tonight to

1:46:09 ↗ discuss support for other local issaquah

1:46:11 ↗ governmental agencies performing

1:46:13 ↗ essential work

1:46:17 ↗ and

1:46:19 ↗ that update

1:46:21 ↗ is that there are there are essentially

1:46:23 ↗ two

1:46:24 ↗ local governmental agencies um

1:46:27 ↗ serving issaquah residents

1:46:30 ↗ who

1:46:31 ↗ are not in the category of

1:46:33 ↗ agency to receive direct american rescue

1:46:36 ↗ plan act

1:46:38 ↗ allocations um so that is some amish

1:46:41 ↗ plateau water and sewer district and

1:46:43 ↗ then east side fire and rescue um so

1:46:47 ↗ the city um

1:46:49 ↗ has started to consider what um those

1:46:52 ↗ kinds of um investments and partnerships

1:46:55 ↗ might look like using american rescue

1:46:57 ↗ plan act dollars

1:46:59 ↗ and so we'd like to ask for the city

1:47:02 ↗ council's input on that tonight

1:47:06 ↗ and then we'll just note um that there

1:47:07 ↗ are future opportunities for investment

1:47:10 ↗ as well um so as we start those

1:47:13 ↗ conversations about long-term

1:47:15 ↗ investments we're also thinking about

1:47:17 ↗ the other urgent needs that have yet to

1:47:21 ↗ be filled and so we're talking about a

1:47:24 ↗ resident resource center and what a

1:47:26 ↗ model like that to connect issaquah

1:47:28 ↗ residents with human services and to

1:47:31 ↗ fill the

1:47:33 ↗ wide number of gaps that there are for

1:47:35 ↗ human services

1:47:37 ↗ connections in issaquah so we're working

1:47:40 ↗ on that

1:47:41 ↗ model

1:47:42 ↗ also a parks program expansion

1:47:45 ↗ to help provide some before and after

1:47:48 ↗ school

1:47:49 ↗ care expanded

1:47:51 ↗ in 2022 and then also

1:47:54 ↗ working on

1:47:56 ↗ understanding a little bit more what a

1:47:59 ↗ non-profit relief program might look

1:48:00 ↗ like with these dollars in particular so

1:48:03 ↗ working through the eligibility and

1:48:05 ↗ reporting requirements of those um and

1:48:08 ↗ so we hope to return um with some

1:48:10 ↗ updates about that in the future

1:48:13 ↗ but um i will just leave it off here um

1:48:16 ↗ with um uh

1:48:18 ↗ that twofold purpose um to uh get your

1:48:22 ↗ input um

1:48:23 ↗ on on the proposals tonight um and the

1:48:27 ↗ the update about local governmental

1:48:29 ↗ agencies so thank you all for your time

1:48:32 ↗ and

1:48:33 ↗ monica i and and hope link are here to

1:48:36 ↗ answer any questions

1:48:38 ↗ that is great thank you benton i'm

1:48:40 ↗ wondering if for the purposes of um

1:48:44 ↗ focusing in

1:48:45 ↗ questions into different buckets if we

1:48:48 ↗ don't first take questions on your

1:48:51 ↗ business flex fund and go through

1:48:53 ↗ anything that council might have on that

1:48:54 ↗ and then a separate round of questions

1:48:57 ↗ or clarifications on the rental

1:48:58 ↗ assistance program and do you want to

1:49:00 ↗ get the advice on the third party

1:49:03 ↗ um

1:49:04 ↗ agencies before they act on the agenda

1:49:08 ↗ bill or do you want to get it after they

1:49:10 ↗ act on the agenda bill

1:49:12 ↗ um

1:49:15 ↗ which whichever is preferable to you

1:49:18 ↗ i'll defer to the council as they go

1:49:19 ↗ through their questions so

1:49:21 ↗ we already have some folks in the queue

1:49:25 ↗ uh so let's start with the small

1:49:27 ↗ business flex fund and council member g

1:49:30 ↗ michelle do you have a question on that

1:49:32 ↗ or is your question on the rental

1:49:33 ↗ systems

1:49:35 ↗ uh my question's on the rental

1:49:36 ↗ assistance so i'll wait

1:49:38 ↗ i will hold you then council member

1:49:40 ↗ walsh thank you i have questions on both

1:49:44 ↗ so i'll start with the business um so

1:49:47 ↗ i think in the presentation

1:49:50 ↗ i got a pretty clear sense of what the

1:49:53 ↗ need was on the rental assistant side

1:49:56 ↗ but i'm not sure i got a sense of the

1:50:00 ↗ need on the business side

1:50:02 ↗ um and

1:50:04 ↗ in particular you know we're looking at

1:50:08 ↗ budget than average sales tax and so

1:50:14 ↗ either the

1:50:15 ↗ financial needs of businesses

1:50:18 ↗ or the number of businesses that you've

1:50:21 ↗ talked to

1:50:22 ↗ um that have expressed a need and kind

1:50:27 ↗ of that as a sense and then how does

1:50:29 ↗ that relate to the three hundred

1:50:32 ↗ thousand that you proposed

1:50:35 ↗ repenting

1:50:37 ↗ yeah that's a really good question um

1:50:41 ↗ so

1:50:41 ↗ um

1:50:43 ↗ i would say um

1:50:45 ↗ of course

1:50:46 ↗ both in a purposeful outreach about the

1:50:51 ↗ american rescue plan act funding

1:50:54 ↗ as well as my day-to-day work as the

1:50:56 ↗ economic development coordinator as well

1:50:58 ↗ um i've spoken with um

1:51:02 ↗ quite a few probably maybe

1:51:04 ↗ i i would estimate about uh three dozen

1:51:07 ↗ businesses or so um and about a third of

1:51:10 ↗ those have expressed um some need for

1:51:13 ↗ um

1:51:16 ↗ many of course ask for a reiteration of

1:51:19 ↗ a grant program

1:51:20 ↗ um

1:51:22 ↗ which um because they they have need for

1:51:25 ↗ for capital to make their investments or

1:51:28 ↗ to make their payments so to keep their

1:51:30 ↗ staff um kind of a variety of different

1:51:33 ↗ needs

1:51:34 ↗ and so the flex fund you know

1:51:37 ↗ the the flex fund provides that kind of

1:51:41 ↗ fills that gap in terms of capital so

1:51:44 ↗ it's not a grant program but it's the

1:51:46 ↗ next best thing from it um and i'll say

1:51:49 ↗ the the kind of official estimates that

1:51:52 ↗ that we've been utilizing are based on

1:51:54 ↗ the idol program and so um there were

1:51:58 ↗ there are about 1800

1:52:00 ↗ businesses in issaquah based on official

1:52:03 ↗ statistics that could take advantage of

1:52:05 ↗ the idle program and again they're about

1:52:07 ↗ a third

1:52:08 ↗ interestingly enough have taken

1:52:10 ↗ advantage of the idol program

1:52:13 ↗ which is somewhat similar

1:52:16 ↗ in at least

1:52:17 ↗ purpose if not

1:52:19 ↗ design

1:52:20 ↗ and so

1:52:22 ↗ so we estimate that there's um

1:52:25 ↗ about a third of businesses that that

1:52:27 ↗ still need access

1:52:29 ↗ to capital or would take advantage of

1:52:32 ↗ that

1:52:33 ↗ if given the chance

1:52:35 ↗ and so we think that

1:52:37 ↗ one we think that this investment

1:52:40 ↗ paired with the match will certainly be

1:52:42 ↗ taken advantage of by issaquah

1:52:45 ↗ businesses

1:52:47 ↗ but we also think

1:52:50 ↗ kind of arriving at the or trying to

1:52:52 ↗ arrive at it from a different angle as

1:52:54 ↗ well so some of our peer cities here on

1:52:57 ↗ the east side um are thinking about so

1:53:00 ↗ in particular rent the city of renton

1:53:02 ↗ has made an allocation of a million

1:53:04 ↗ dollars um into the small business flex

1:53:07 ↗ fund um and the city of bellevue is

1:53:09 ↗ considering something about the same

1:53:11 ↗ scale

1:53:12 ↗ um

1:53:13 ↗ and so when you uh

1:53:16 ↗ assume that the kind of contours of the

1:53:18 ↗ need are the same in issaquah as they

1:53:21 ↗ are in those cities which we honestly

1:53:23 ↗ have good reason to believe um

1:53:26 ↗ uh you get a figure about

1:53:28 ↗ one third of what they invested so about

1:53:31 ↗ 300 000 and so

1:53:34 ↗ um

1:53:35 ↗ so that's that's how we kind of arrive

1:53:37 ↗ at

1:53:38 ↗ understanding what the need looks like

1:53:40 ↗ as well as on this specific uh proposal

1:53:43 ↗ tonight that'll make sense and answers

1:53:45 ↗ your question

1:53:47 ↗ ben i wonder if you could um add a

1:53:49 ↗ little bit more um council member walsh

1:53:52 ↗ was talking about the

1:53:54 ↗ increase in sales tax revenue as an

1:53:57 ↗ indicator of health

1:53:59 ↗ um

1:54:00 ↗ not all of the businesses that you are

1:54:02 ↗ thinking would do capacity loans

1:54:04 ↗ necessarily are in the retail area they

1:54:07 ↗ may be other kinds of businesses so

1:54:09 ↗ um is that

1:54:11 ↗ how how do you use the metric of

1:54:13 ↗ increased sales tax when you think

1:54:15 ↗ things like this

1:54:16 ↗ yeah certainly yeah thank you mayor

1:54:18 ↗ paulie um

1:54:20 ↗ yeah i think that's exactly right that

1:54:22 ↗ many of the businesses that we're

1:54:23 ↗ thinking about wouldn't be reflected in

1:54:26 ↗ those increased sales tax figures um so

1:54:29 ↗ in particular i'm thinking about um

1:54:32 ↗ businesses that have pro-l have kind of

1:54:35 ↗ a prolonged experience through the covet

1:54:37 ↗ 19 pandemic so like those businesses

1:54:40 ↗ that um

1:54:41 ↗ you know are involved in um you know

1:54:43 ↗ international

1:54:45 ↗ trade endeavors there's there's a couple

1:54:47 ↗ of small businesses that we've talked

1:54:49 ↗ with here

1:54:51 ↗ you know that get their materials from

1:54:53 ↗ abroad

1:54:54 ↗ and they've had a really prolonged

1:54:57 ↗ experience as

1:54:59 ↗ the pandemic of course continues to

1:55:01 ↗ affect

1:55:02 ↗ international um endeavors like that um

1:55:05 ↗ or certainly businesses that um uh you

1:55:09 ↗ know have prolonged effects from

1:55:12 ↗ the uh from the supply chain constraints

1:55:15 ↗ so

1:55:15 ↗ um and um and of course um now as we do

1:55:20 ↗ enter um

1:55:22 ↗ this period where there's the

1:55:24 ↗ vaccination verification mandate as well

1:55:26 ↗ we're uncertain about kind of what

1:55:28 ↗ effects that might have for for many of

1:55:30 ↗ our local restaurants in particular and

1:55:32 ↗ so

1:55:33 ↗ um so yeah there's there's a number of

1:55:36 ↗ businesses whose um

1:55:39 ↗ where the the increased sales tax

1:55:41 ↗ revenue might be

1:55:43 ↗ um kind of a red herring for what many

1:55:47 ↗ especially small businesses

1:55:49 ↗ are experiencing here in our community

1:55:52 ↗ thank you ben uh councilmember walsh

1:55:54 ↗ does that answer your question and do

1:55:56 ↗ you have any additional questions on

1:55:59 ↗ the business side of us

1:56:01 ↗ yes and yes

1:56:03 ↗ thank you yes um okay so next this is a

1:56:06 ↗ new question yup new question great

1:56:09 ↗ question so um you've talked about this

1:56:12 ↗ as an

1:56:13 ↗ investment that i believe i heard is

1:56:17 ↗ going to be combined with other east

1:56:19 ↗ side cities and then matched by a state

1:56:22 ↗ fund and so is that just a big bucket

1:56:26 ↗ that all of these side city businesses

1:56:29 ↗ would pull from is there no allocation

1:56:33 ↗ between the cities of a certain size

1:56:37 ↗ and then similar along that

1:56:40 ↗ if we don't invest does that mean that

1:56:42 ↗ issaquah businesses cannot apply for the

1:56:45 ↗ business flex fund or if we invest in a

1:56:47 ↗ lower amount

1:56:49 ↗ can fewer businesses access that flex

1:56:52 ↗ fund

1:56:55 ↗ yeah um

1:56:58 ↗ so there's i think there's multiple

1:57:00 ↗ um parts to that question um

1:57:03 ↗ so overall the

1:57:05 ↗ the

1:57:06 ↗ small business flex fund is capitalized

1:57:08 ↗ at something like 100 million dollars

1:57:10 ↗ for

1:57:12 ↗ all the businesses across washington

1:57:14 ↗ state um

1:57:16 ↗ and so what this investment would would

1:57:18 ↗ mean is that we would get

1:57:21 ↗ our share for sure right um and so there

1:57:24 ↗ wouldn't be

1:57:25 ↗ so

1:57:26 ↗ uh

1:57:26 ↗ local businesses could take advantage of

1:57:29 ↗ it um but by making this investment um

1:57:33 ↗ we ensure that at least three hundred

1:57:35 ↗ thousand dollars goes directly to our

1:57:38 ↗ community

1:57:39 ↗ and then the state in addition is

1:57:42 ↗ uh promising that um an additional 600

1:57:46 ↗ 000 of that much larger

1:57:48 ↗ pool of funding would go to our

1:57:51 ↗ sub-region

1:57:52 ↗ and so to

1:57:54 ↗ those cities on the east side that

1:57:57 ↗ that make this investment and so would

1:57:59 ↗ essentially be a promise of 900 000

1:58:02 ↗ to our

1:58:04 ↗ our our subregion allocated directly to

1:58:07 ↗ us um

1:58:08 ↗ if that makes sense um

1:58:11 ↗ and so what this ensures is that we

1:58:14 ↗ that our community doesn't

1:58:17 ↗ is able to take full advantage of it um

1:58:20 ↗ and able to

1:58:22 ↗ um

1:58:23 ↗ you know to actually um participate in

1:58:25 ↗ the process that makes sense

1:58:29 ↗ follow-up question councilman watch yeah

1:58:31 ↗ now i'm more confused

1:58:33 ↗ so

1:58:35 ↗ is is any of the money either the 300

1:58:38 ↗ 000 or the 900 000 that you're promote

1:58:41 ↗ proposing

1:58:42 ↗ allocated specifically to issaquah or

1:58:45 ↗ does it all go into a bucket for east

1:58:48 ↗ side cities

1:58:50 ↗ yeah specifically the 300 000 is

1:58:52 ↗ allocated directly to us they've

1:58:55 ↗ they've promised and so um yeah so that

1:58:58 ↗ is the component that is

1:59:01 ↗ okay

1:59:02 ↗ and then i appreciate that then my

1:59:05 ↗ follow-up question becomes

1:59:08 ↗ if the money of that 300 000 is not

1:59:11 ↗ granted out to businesses at a certain

1:59:15 ↗ point does it get returned to the city

1:59:19 ↗ yeah that's a really good question um

1:59:23 ↗ so we don't think that that would happen

1:59:25 ↗ um just for one um but if it did it it

1:59:30 ↗ would in theory

1:59:32 ↗ be returned to us um and there's

1:59:34 ↗ actually some

1:59:35 ↗ um

1:59:37 ↗ because of some very technical ways um

1:59:39 ↗ where the of how the flex fund is set up

1:59:43 ↗ as well as arpa eligibility there's some

1:59:45 ↗ ways that um the 300 000 might return to

1:59:48 ↗ us even if it was taken full advantage

1:59:50 ↗ of by our local community as well um and

1:59:54 ↗ so

1:59:55 ↗ um

1:59:57 ↗ so yes

1:59:58 ↗ is the answer

2:00:00 ↗ i'm sorry what

2:00:02 ↗ the money could be

2:00:03 ↗ returned to us

2:00:05 ↗ okay um

2:00:06 ↗ do you want to

2:00:08 ↗ expand yeah yeah so um

2:00:11 ↗ the uh

2:00:13 ↗ yeah and the it's kind of a it would be

2:00:17 ↗ a strange scenario because of the way

2:00:19 ↗ that the arpa eligibility um influences

2:00:22 ↗ this investment and so

2:00:24 ↗ the um our funding would go towards

2:00:28 ↗ the costs of loans

2:00:31 ↗ and they would set aside

2:00:33 ↗ the equivalent amount

2:00:35 ↗ for our community

2:00:37 ↗ and so

2:00:39 ↗ in kind of a very strange circumstance

2:00:42 ↗ if um the costs that it takes which

2:00:45 ↗ includes kind of the subsidization that

2:00:48 ↗ from that 10 percent down to 4

2:00:51 ↗ if for whatever reason that was smaller

2:00:53 ↗ than what they expected it they might

2:00:55 ↗ still return even though they had given

2:00:57 ↗ the equivalent amount to issaquah local

2:00:59 ↗ businesses um and so we're working on

2:01:02 ↗ kind of on

2:01:05 ↗ making sure that that

2:01:06 ↗ works out properly just for arpa

2:01:08 ↗ eligibility um

2:01:10 ↗ but it would be a very strange

2:01:12 ↗ circumstance

2:01:15 ↗ thank you

2:01:17 ↗ deep and dived into this i appreciate

2:01:20 ↗ that

2:01:20 ↗ i'm wondering if he's regretting being

2:01:22 ↗ the recovery manager with all this

2:01:25 ↗ new uh you know let's try something like

2:01:28 ↗ this and how's it gonna work but yeah

2:01:30 ↗ lindsay do you have any other questions

2:01:33 ↗ on the business side before i start to

2:01:35 ↗ move through to the

2:01:37 ↗ housing side

2:01:39 ↗ yeah just um one other question um

2:01:42 ↗ benton you had stated that we're

2:01:44 ↗ investing early in this program and

2:01:46 ↗ that's what one of the reasons why

2:01:49 ↗ we're being offered a two to one grant

2:01:53 ↗ match

2:01:54 ↗ so

2:01:55 ↗ i'm wondering

2:01:56 ↗ if there's a deadline or an urgency on

2:02:00 ↗ putting this fund in kind of what that

2:02:02 ↗ timeline looks like and if we have any

2:02:04 ↗ sense when that two to one match

2:02:06 ↗ might go away

2:02:10 ↗ yeah um

2:02:12 ↗ it had originally been so it's based on

2:02:17 ↗ how fast the rest of the fund gets

2:02:19 ↗ depleted right

2:02:21 ↗ and so the original estimate had

2:02:22 ↗ actually been by november 1st i learned

2:02:25 ↗ this week that that's been

2:02:28 ↗ loosened a little bit

2:02:30 ↗ and so it's unclear exactly when um kind

2:02:33 ↗ of they'll hit that threshold where they

2:02:35 ↗ can no longer make those promises but i

2:02:38 ↗ think it's fair to say that um

2:02:41 ↗ by the end of the year

2:02:49 ↗ we're having a little bit of issue with

2:02:51 ↗ your videos sometimes it's freezing but

2:02:53 ↗ it's still pretty good uh council

2:02:55 ↗ president hunt on the business side

2:02:58 ↗ thank you this is council president hunt

2:03:01 ↗ i

2:03:02 ↗ wanted to make sure that i tracked some

2:03:04 ↗ of the

2:03:06 ↗ questions that councilmember walsh had

2:03:08 ↗ asked so my understanding is that the

2:03:12 ↗ 300 000 would be specific to businesses

2:03:15 ↗ in issaquah so it would only be eligible

2:03:17 ↗ for businesses in issaquah to apply for

2:03:19 ↗ that at the interest rates that you

2:03:22 ↗ mentioned

2:03:23 ↗ um

2:03:24 ↗ but then

2:03:25 ↗ the

2:03:26 ↗ the match would be eligible to issaquah

2:03:28 ↗ but also eligible for other cities in

2:03:32 ↗ our sub-region which is the east side

2:03:34 ↗ but we would also then issaquah cities

2:03:36 ↗ would also be eligible for the match for

2:03:38 ↗ say bellevue and for renton and other

2:03:41 ↗ cities so that would be a much larger

2:03:43 ↗ pool that issaquah would also be

2:03:45 ↗ eligible for is that all

2:03:46 ↗ tracking

2:03:48 ↗ yes exactly yep

2:03:51 ↗ okay and would would issaquah residents

2:03:53 ↗ be eligible for the

2:03:56 ↗ issaquah businesses be eligible for the

2:03:59 ↗ subregions

2:04:01 ↗ broader funds in any event even if we

2:04:03 ↗ didn't put in the 300 000

2:04:07 ↗ it would be smaller because it wouldn't

2:04:08 ↗ have the match from its spot but we

2:04:11 ↗ would this square residents would be

2:04:12 ↗ eligible for a smaller amount in that

2:04:14 ↗ case

2:04:15 ↗ yeah um

2:04:17 ↗ unfortunately i don't have a definitive

2:04:20 ↗ answer on that i bel i believe the

2:04:22 ↗ answer is no however based on my

2:04:24 ↗ understanding of the current kind of

2:04:26 ↗ negotiations with the flex fund

2:04:29 ↗ okay thank you

2:04:33 ↗ any other questions on business i have

2:04:35 ↗ some folks lined up on the housing site

2:04:38 ↗ as well okay seeing no others let's

2:04:40 ↗ start with council member d michelle

2:04:42 ↗ and council member walsh and then

2:04:44 ↗ council member hunt

2:04:47 ↗ councilmember dean michelle

2:04:49 ↗ thank you that was a really interesting

2:04:51 ↗ discussion there so

2:04:53 ↗ thank you ben

2:04:54 ↗ um

2:04:56 ↗ my question was

2:04:57 ↗ so the

2:04:58 ↗ eviction moratorium ends on october 31st

2:05:03 ↗ and we're thinking it would be in

2:05:04 ↗ december before we would get the

2:05:07 ↗ rental assistance program up and running

2:05:10 ↗ so monica do we have uh

2:05:12 ↗ um are we working with landlords in

2:05:14 ↗ tenants for that gap month or

2:05:17 ↗ what's what's the plan for helping um

2:05:22 ↗ people who are in distress over their

2:05:24 ↗ rent um

2:05:26 ↗ as we have that gap period where we

2:05:28 ↗ maybe don't have anything to help them

2:05:31 ↗ thank you so much councilmember michelle

2:05:33 ↗ my personal hope is that first we are

2:05:35 ↗ not gonna have a whole month gap however

2:05:38 ↗ i do want to defer to benton because he

2:05:40 ↗ knows more about arpa funding i think in

2:05:43 ↗ normal conditions it wouldn't take us

2:05:45 ↗ more than a week to to enter into a

2:05:47 ↗ contract with hopelink we might have a

2:05:49 ↗ little bit extra time just because of

2:05:51 ↗ our power requirements we are trying to

2:05:53 ↗ learn from local other

2:05:55 ↗ neighboring jurisdictions and the city

2:05:57 ↗ of bellevue and kirkland are a little

2:05:59 ↗ bit ahead of us so we are trying to

2:06:00 ↗ implement their forms and so speed up

2:06:02 ↗ the process so first and foremost i

2:06:05 ↗ think that's going to be our goal not to

2:06:06 ↗ have a one month gap

2:06:08 ↗ on the other end though we are working

2:06:10 ↗ with the other local rental assistance

2:06:12 ↗ providers including hope link who

2:06:14 ↗ hopefully currently still has some funds

2:06:16 ↗ and our local providers also have some

2:06:19 ↗ additional funds they spend about 70 to

2:06:22 ↗ 80 percent of their funds for the year

2:06:24 ↗ so we hope that that you know gap then

2:06:27 ↗ we are going to promote heavily the

2:06:29 ↗ existing resources until the new program

2:06:32 ↗ will be set up so i think that's our

2:06:34 ↗ plan and hope for the next few weeks

2:06:37 ↗ thank you monica councilmember d

2:06:39 ↗ michelle

2:06:40 ↗ i just wanted to add that

2:06:42 ↗ i would prefer if we did the i do have a

2:06:45 ↗ comment about the other agencies and i

2:06:48 ↗ you know my preference would be that we

2:06:49 ↗ take this up and vote and then take

2:06:52 ↗ those comments

2:06:54 ↗ thank you for that

2:06:56 ↗ uh and councilmember walsh that was a

2:06:58 ↗ similar question that she was asking so

2:06:59 ↗ we'll go to council president hunt

2:07:04 ↗ thanks um

2:07:05 ↗ monica you specifically mentioned that

2:07:07 ↗ we were

2:07:10 ↗ considering

2:07:11 ↗ contracting with hope link because of

2:07:12 ↗ the capacity that they were able to

2:07:15 ↗ provide and i wondered um and

2:07:17 ↗ potentially this is a question for the

2:07:18 ↗ hope link representative

2:07:20 ↗ wondered about the capacity as far as

2:07:23 ↗ a larger amount such as 500 000

2:07:27 ↗ um

2:07:28 ↗ because we also have data

2:07:30 ↗ today

2:07:31 ↗ presented about the extensive need and

2:07:33 ↗ it is more than 300 000. so i wondered

2:07:35 ↗ if somebody could speak to the

2:07:37 ↗ capacity of hope length

2:07:40 ↗ for a larger probably would be best to

2:07:42 ↗ be lucy so let's have lucy on you

2:07:45 ↗ hi everyone and thank you all for

2:07:47 ↗ letting me join you this evening um and

2:07:50 ↗ monica and the entire team for uh

2:07:53 ↗ considering rental assistance for

2:07:55 ↗ for this fund um

2:07:57 ↗ yeah so for hope link right now

2:08:00 ↗ capacity-wise we would have some

2:08:02 ↗ capability to take on additional funds

2:08:04 ↗ with additional funds would mean

2:08:06 ↗ additional staff and so we would want to

2:08:09 ↗ look at proportional

2:08:10 ↗ admin rates for the contract to be able

2:08:13 ↗ to

2:08:14 ↗ uh consider adding additional staff we

2:08:17 ↗ have as of uh two weeks ago added 17 new

2:08:21 ↗ team members to my department

2:08:24 ↗ in rental and energy assistance and so

2:08:27 ↗ um seven new team members five brand new

2:08:29 ↗ positions i should say six brand new

2:08:32 ↗ positions for rental assistance um

2:08:35 ↗ and uh

2:08:37 ↗ continue to look for where the need is

2:08:40 ↗ to add that staff i'll say that with the

2:08:42 ↗ caveat that hiring is

2:08:45 ↗ we are not exempt from the challenges of

2:08:47 ↗ the hiring environment right now and so

2:08:49 ↗ there is some time that is added to that

2:08:52 ↗ but

2:08:53 ↗ uh we are open to that discussion

2:08:57 ↗ thank you lucy council president hunt

2:09:01 ↗ well done

2:09:03 ↗ okay um

2:09:05 ↗ i did not see any additional questions

2:09:08 ↗ on the

2:09:09 ↗ housing

2:09:11 ↗ is there someone who would care to make

2:09:13 ↗ a motion

2:09:19 ↗ let's go to council president hunt

2:09:22 ↗ i moved to authorize the allocation of

2:09:24 ↗ 600 thousands of the city's american

2:09:26 ↗ rescue plan act arpa funding as follows

2:09:30 ↗ three hundred 000

2:09:32 ↗ for an investment in the state's small

2:09:34 ↗ business flex fund and 300 000 for the

2:09:36 ↗ creation of an issaquah rental

2:09:38 ↗ assistance program and to direct the

2:09:41 ↗ finance director to include the revenue

2:09:42 ↗ and related expenditures in a subsequent

2:09:45 ↗ 2021 budget amendment

2:09:48 ↗ uh deputy council president ray second

2:09:52 ↗ so it's been moved and seconded open for

2:09:54 ↗ discussion

2:09:56 ↗ council president did you want to speak

2:09:57 ↗ to the motion first

2:10:00 ↗ yes

2:10:02 ↗ yes thank you

2:10:03 ↗ um

2:10:04 ↗ i appreciate the additional information

2:10:06 ↗ on the small business flex fund i think

2:10:08 ↗ what is particularly

2:10:10 ↗ compelling to me is that um

2:10:14 ↗ that we the

2:10:16 ↗ businesses and non-profits um that will

2:10:19 ↗ be eligible if we approve this funding

2:10:21 ↗ would not be eligible at all for

2:10:23 ↗ these loans if we were to not

2:10:25 ↗ um approve this funding so eligible

2:10:29 ↗ for some that are restricted to issaquah

2:10:31 ↗ but also to a much larger pool that

2:10:33 ↗ wouldn't otherwise

2:10:35 ↗ that they wouldn't otherwise be able to

2:10:36 ↗ access so um for that reason i i do

2:10:39 ↗ think this funding makes sense um i

2:10:42 ↗ think

2:10:43 ↗ going forward it's

2:10:44 ↗ very important i think to

2:10:46 ↗ continue to assess the urgency of needs

2:10:50 ↗ particularly in this

2:10:51 ↗ area

2:10:54 ↗ then regarding the

2:10:57 ↗ rental assistance

2:10:59 ↗ i

2:11:00 ↗ think we were provided with some very

2:11:02 ↗ compelling evidence about the extent of

2:11:05 ↗ need here

2:11:07 ↗ which is is good information for us to

2:11:09 ↗ have and which i believe we should

2:11:11 ↗ absolutely use

2:11:14 ↗ uh benson spoke to putting a dent in the

2:11:16 ↗ gap which i think is a good

2:11:19 ↗ metaphor here i don't expect that we

2:11:20 ↗ would be able to completely

2:11:22 ↗ address this gap that has been

2:11:24 ↗ identified for

2:11:26 ↗ rental assistance needs for

2:11:28 ↗ 50

2:11:29 ↗ and 50 to 80 ami but i do think we

2:11:32 ↗ should

2:11:33 ↗ address

2:11:34 ↗ um what i think of as a

2:11:39 ↗ more of a dent in the gap i would like

2:11:41 ↗ to see us address more of the dents in

2:11:43 ↗ the gap

2:11:44 ↗ also there was more information today

2:11:47 ↗ as far as

2:11:48 ↗ we are on track to

2:11:51 ↗ have a gap here of about 1.5 or 1.7

2:11:56 ↗ million dollars in overdue rents if if

2:11:59 ↗ all of the um

2:12:01 ↗ if all of the

2:12:04 ↗ people that

2:12:05 ↗ were

2:12:06 ↗ that

2:12:07 ↗ the human services tried to contact it

2:12:09 ↗ to get back so we got more information

2:12:11 ↗ that led us to have a higher

2:12:13 ↗ amount of overdue rents as the estimate

2:12:15 ↗ from 1.2 to 1.5 if that trend continues

2:12:18 ↗ it would probably be 1.7

2:12:21 ↗ and i expect that that might also not be

2:12:23 ↗ the correct number because

2:12:26 ↗ we are approaching an eviction cliff

2:12:28 ↗ that we've known about for a long time

2:12:29 ↗ and that has papered over

2:12:31 ↗ a lot of need for a long time and i

2:12:33 ↗ think now we're finally seeing what that

2:12:36 ↗ need really looks like

2:12:38 ↗ um

2:12:39 ↗ so

2:12:41 ↗ to that end i would like to

2:12:44 ↗ do that ends in because i feel strongly

2:12:47 ↗ that this eviction

2:12:51 ↗ lift has been something that we should

2:12:53 ↗ address now um is i would like to make

2:12:57 ↗ a amendment to the motion so i would

2:13:00 ↗ amend to change the

2:13:04 ↗ 300 000 for the creation of the issaquah

2:13:07 ↗ rental assistance program to 500 000

2:13:12 ↗ and looking for a second

2:13:17 ↗ council member g michelle

2:13:21 ↗ i suck at that motion

2:13:23 ↗ it's removed and seconded and i wonder

2:13:25 ↗ lucy if you might be able to provide

2:13:28 ↗ commentary for the council um

2:13:31 ↗ this is an interesting concept and

2:13:34 ↗ as benton said earlier and monica things

2:13:36 ↗ are changing daily

2:13:38 ↗ sometimes

2:13:39 ↗ so it really it is really hard to be

2:13:42 ↗ super concrete if the city worked and

2:13:45 ↗ maybe it's a venting question i'm not

2:13:46 ↗ sure if the city were to increase the

2:13:48 ↗ amount of arpa funds to

2:13:50 ↗ um

2:13:51 ↗ the non-profit hope link

2:13:53 ↗ and those funds were not expended

2:13:56 ↗ uh inissaqo

2:13:58 ↗ what is the process if

2:14:01 ↗ if the if it's if it's already been

2:14:04 ↗ allocated or um

2:14:07 ↗ you know uh allocated for hope link and

2:14:09 ↗ rental systems what would the process be

2:14:15 ↗ what i can begin by saying is uh we've

2:14:18 ↗ had this experience as kind of the cures

2:14:21 ↗ funds were coming down from the various

2:14:23 ↗ cities and we were watching the the ebb

2:14:25 ↗ and flow of of uh those spin downs and

2:14:28 ↗ we did successfully spend everything

2:14:30 ↗ down

2:14:31 ↗ and we do commit to adapting where we

2:14:35 ↗ can however if that should not occur

2:14:38 ↗ um we have our finance team and we track

2:14:41 ↗ our spending you know weekly at this

2:14:44 ↗ point um as well as monthly and

2:14:46 ↗ quarterly we'll be sharing those reports

2:14:48 ↗ with the city

2:14:50 ↗ uh with the number of people that we

2:14:51 ↗ serve and if we get to towards the end

2:14:54 ↗ of the term of the contract and have

2:14:56 ↗ concerns uh we would be in con

2:14:59 ↗ conversation with with the city to say

2:15:01 ↗ uh what are our options um

2:15:04 ↗ and giving

2:15:06 ↗ adequate uh preemptive notice that we

2:15:10 ↗ see these obstacles to the spin down and

2:15:12 ↗ this is what we've tried to do to

2:15:13 ↗ overcome it and this is where we're at

2:15:16 ↗ so that hopefully you have a lot of

2:15:17 ↗ flexibility with considering other

2:15:19 ↗ options um that's very helpful thank you

2:15:22 ↗ so much lucy

2:15:24 ↗ benton or monica and your understanding

2:15:25 ↗ of the arpa interpretations of the rules

2:15:28 ↗ as they exist today

2:15:30 ↗ is there the chance that um there is the

2:15:33 ↗ possibility for the agency to be able to

2:15:36 ↗ not only identify that not all the funds

2:15:38 ↗ were spent but allow them to come back

2:15:39 ↗ to israel to be repurposed

2:15:43 ↗ yeah in fact

2:15:45 ↗ sorry monica

2:15:47 ↗ in fact i believe that would actually be

2:15:48 ↗ required of us to monitor um that they

2:15:51 ↗ expanded them all properly so

2:15:54 ↗ that is great monica

2:15:56 ↗ and i just wanted to add that by default

2:15:58 ↗ all of our city contracts with all of

2:16:01 ↗ our non-profits are on a reimbursement

2:16:03 ↗ model which means that the agency first

2:16:05 ↗ needs to spend the money and then they

2:16:07 ↗ request the reimbursement from us so

2:16:09 ↗ again like lucy mentioned if they notice

2:16:12 ↗ that they don't have the request then

2:16:14 ↗ they would just not reimburse us for

2:16:16 ↗ that money and then we would the money

2:16:18 ↗ we would re-allocate that and put it

2:16:19 ↗ back in in the budget thank you for

2:16:22 ↗ clarifying that for everyone it looks

2:16:23 ↗ like we have a question from deputy

2:16:25 ↗ council president right actually i have

2:16:27 ↗ a couple of questions one of them is i

2:16:29 ↗ think for monica

2:16:31 ↗ how did we arrive at the the three

2:16:32 ↗ hundred thousand dollar number initially

2:16:36 ↗ and then my second question um

2:16:39 ↗ is sort of more of a kind of a process

2:16:41 ↗ question which is if we were to spend

2:16:44 ↗ down the three 300 000

2:16:46 ↗ um would there be any barriers to us um

2:16:50 ↗ putting together another tranche of

2:16:52 ↗ funding from

2:16:54 ↗ the arpa funds

2:16:56 ↗ at some future date so

2:17:00 ↗ thank you deputy council president for

2:17:03 ↗ those questions i think i'm gonna start

2:17:04 ↗ with answering the second question first

2:17:07 ↗ um because i think for the second

2:17:09 ↗ question we are only limited by i

2:17:11 ↗ believe the

2:17:12 ↗ um the dates that council meetings

2:17:16 ↗ happen

2:17:17 ↗ so i think especially if we have now

2:17:19 ↗ already a proposal putting together

2:17:21 ↗ another proposal would not be

2:17:23 ↗ difficult we would just need to get on

2:17:25 ↗ on the council calendar

2:17:27 ↗ just knowing that

2:17:28 ↗ um perhaps a week or two in advance

2:17:31 ↗ notice we would need and then another

2:17:32 ↗ couple of weeks for contract amendments

2:17:34 ↗ so kind of like we would need to keep an

2:17:36 ↗ eye on things and and

2:17:38 ↗ plan for a month ahead

2:17:40 ↗ um in terms of how we came up with the

2:17:42 ↗ three hundred thousand dollar

2:17:44 ↗ um really that that was a difficult and

2:17:46 ↗ i think it it was more of an unwanted

2:17:48 ↗ internal conversation conversation with

2:17:50 ↗ hopeling initial also first when we

2:17:52 ↗ reached out to our rental assistance

2:17:54 ↗ providers because we really reached out

2:17:56 ↗ to all three whole playing support

2:17:58 ↗ community services and saint vincent and

2:18:00 ↗ we also try to kind of engage their

2:18:02 ↗ capacity and what can they

2:18:04 ↗ take on and what makes sense um

2:18:07 ↗ so

2:18:08 ↗ also looking at what's available out so

2:18:10 ↗ really i don't think that it was a

2:18:12 ↗ um

2:18:14 ↗ magic formula it was more of like what

2:18:17 ↗ makes sense based on what we know at

2:18:19 ↗ this time um and knowing that you know

2:18:21 ↗ we also want to save some of the

2:18:23 ↗ resources for later so

2:18:25 ↗ i'm sorry if i disappoint you with the

2:18:27 ↗ answer but it's a little bit like that

2:18:29 ↗ no um but i can you talk a little bit

2:18:31 ↗ about the capacity that when you talk to

2:18:34 ↗ the

2:18:34 ↗ our partners and about with their

2:18:36 ↗ capacity and kind of what the discussion

2:18:38 ↗ sounded like

2:18:39 ↗ there and how that influenced

2:18:41 ↗ you know our decision making

2:18:44 ↗ yes so on one end um i want to say that

2:18:47 ↗ actually the other two agencies would

2:18:49 ↗ have some capacity to take on some some

2:18:51 ↗ dollars that would be perhaps let's say

2:18:53 ↗ around fifty thousand dollar per agency

2:18:56 ↗ up to 75. the challenge with those

2:18:59 ↗ agencies are that they are 100 volunteer

2:19:02 ↗ based organizations so they don't have

2:19:04 ↗ any paid staff everything is done by

2:19:06 ↗ big-hearted volunteers and so then that

2:19:09 ↗ added the challenge to arpa funding

2:19:12 ↗ because um because these are federal

2:19:14 ↗ dollars and any agency that we would

2:19:16 ↗ contract with would become a

2:19:17 ↗ sub-recipient they would basically sign

2:19:20 ↗ their life away and have to have all the

2:19:22 ↗ requirements that we have as a city from

2:19:24 ↗ title six um

2:19:26 ↗ mandates and requirements to all the

2:19:28 ↗ labor laws and all of the things that

2:19:30 ↗ when you are just a volunteer based

2:19:32 ↗ organization it's just not fair to to

2:19:34 ↗ add that that burden to them so i think

2:19:36 ↗ that that's kind of like that was our

2:19:38 ↗ discussion and conversation with them

2:19:40 ↗ and then hope link has proven record for

2:19:43 ↗ many many years in handling federal uh

2:19:45 ↗ contracts and so it was kind of like a

2:19:48 ↗ a nice conversation that like they said

2:19:51 ↗ lucy mentioned they can take on things

2:19:53 ↗ but at the same time on their end too

2:19:54 ↗ they will have i'm sure a limit where

2:19:57 ↗ they they feel like they're gonna have

2:19:58 ↗ to hire new staff if if there's a

2:20:02 ↗ certain amount allocated so does that

2:20:04 ↗ help a little bit more would oh no this

2:20:06 ↗ is great um and now i have a question

2:20:07 ↗ for lucy and um and i love hope like i

2:20:11 ↗ think they're amazing organization so uh

2:20:13 ↗ great to partner with them

2:20:14 ↗ but what what's the impact to hopelink

2:20:18 ↗ of of

2:20:19 ↗ of a larger sum and

2:20:22 ↗ potentially a faster

2:20:25 ↗ depletion rate i i don't i don't know

2:20:26 ↗ what the impact on you and your team

2:20:28 ↗ would be

2:20:30 ↗ yeah um

2:20:33 ↗ essentially i would say

2:20:35 ↗ we're somewhat already prepared um a lot

2:20:38 ↗ of the changes that we've put in place

2:20:40 ↗ over these past several months have been

2:20:42 ↗ to address capacity because that has

2:20:45 ↗ been our limit

2:20:46 ↗ thus far

2:20:47 ↗ in in holding us back from serving more

2:20:50 ↗ was just staff capacity

2:20:52 ↗ and so we've changed our management

2:20:54 ↗ structure

2:20:55 ↗ we've added a rule to just do file

2:20:57 ↗ compliance and review our files and then

2:20:59 ↗ we have new team members coming on as

2:21:01 ↗ well

2:21:03 ↗ and so at this point

2:21:05 ↗ additional funding would just mean we

2:21:07 ↗ would add an additional team member i

2:21:09 ↗ will say one

2:21:11 ↗ one thing to note is that our our new

2:21:14 ↗ team members who are coming on it is a

2:21:16 ↗ one year contract because these are the

2:21:18 ↗ funds and coveted funds um

2:21:20 ↗ are are

2:21:22 ↗ limited and so um

2:21:24 ↗ we're we're bringing on temporary team

2:21:26 ↗ members

2:21:28 ↗ um and that that allows us to have a

2:21:30 ↗ level of flexibility as well so at this

2:21:33 ↗ point i really think

2:21:34 ↗ um it comes down to just the specialists

2:21:37 ↗ to do the work and our infrastructure is

2:21:39 ↗ kind of uh it's been the work of the

2:21:41 ↗ past several months and we're ready to

2:21:43 ↗ go with that

2:21:45 ↗ all right thank you so much

2:21:48 ↗ any other questions or comments before

2:21:51 ↗ we vote on the amendment

2:21:55 ↗ i'll keep an eye on the chat

2:22:00 ↗ that's a member hall

2:22:03 ↗ uh thank you this is councilmember hall

2:22:06 ↗ um i just wanted to say um

2:22:10 ↗ you know thanks to monica and to benton

2:22:13 ↗ and to um

2:22:14 ↗ many others i'm sure that worked

2:22:17 ↗ um on collecting data and worked on in

2:22:19 ↗ this proposal in this space we know now

2:22:21 ↗ that there's a gap

2:22:23 ↗ in financial supports for ischool

2:22:24 ↗ renters between that 50 to 80 percent

2:22:27 ↗ ami range

2:22:28 ↗ with unpaid rent due to the coven 19

2:22:30 ↗ crisis

2:22:31 ↗ thankfully um we know

2:22:34 ↗ renters below 50 ami

2:22:37 ↗ are being supported by king county's

2:22:39 ↗ rental assistance program but

2:22:41 ↗ um the fact that we know and there's

2:22:44 ↗ been updated data even today

2:22:46 ↗ that there are over 200 isqua units with

2:22:50 ↗ overdue rent

2:22:51 ↗ and approximately two-thirds of that fit

2:22:53 ↗ into that 50 to 80 ami space

2:22:56 ↗ therefore

2:22:58 ↗ not qualifying for the king county

2:22:59 ↗ assistance program

2:23:01 ↗ um

2:23:04 ↗ and with

2:23:05 ↗ updated feedback like i said even today

2:23:07 ↗ from our rental providers you know we

2:23:08 ↗ know that 1.2 million estimate of total

2:23:11 ↗ overdue rent is actually

2:23:13 ↗ more like 1.5 to 1.7

2:23:16 ↗ million um so i guess i see three

2:23:19 ↗ hundred thousand dollars is what made

2:23:22 ↗ sense when we had that lower estimate

2:23:25 ↗ for overdue rent

2:23:26 ↗ um five hundred thousand dollars uh

2:23:28 ↗ seems to be

2:23:30 ↗ it's nowhere near the the full need of

2:23:33 ↗ that range but it's getting getting much

2:23:36 ↗ closer

2:23:37 ↗ um and if

2:23:38 ↗ uh hopelink has the capacity to deliver

2:23:41 ↗ those dollars

2:23:42 ↗ um and we're able to do that and

2:23:46 ↗ we're able to

2:23:49 ↗ help

2:23:50 ↗ meet

2:23:52 ↗ more people with

2:23:54 ↗ the services that they need to help keep

2:23:55 ↗ more people housed in our community to

2:23:57 ↗ support

2:23:58 ↗ more people who have been impacted by

2:24:00 ↗ the kobe 19 crisis i think it makes

2:24:02 ↗ sense to support this larger

2:24:04 ↗ distribution

2:24:07 ↗ of arpa funds for rental assistance

2:24:11 ↗ council member

2:24:13 ↗ deputy council president ray looks like

2:24:15 ↗ you have an additional question

2:24:17 ↗ i'm just trying to figure this out thank

2:24:19 ↗ you um i think this is uh maybe monica

2:24:22 ↗ and uh benton

2:24:24 ↗ um if we do the additional 200 000

2:24:28 ↗ what will we not be able to do

2:24:30 ↗ um you know recognizing that that all

2:24:34 ↗ all resources are finite um and if they

2:24:36 ↗ weren't we would just say yes let's do

2:24:38 ↗ it so what can't what are we not going

2:24:40 ↗ to do

2:24:44 ↗ you want to go first benson

2:24:46 ↗ would you like yeah well and i i'm not

2:24:49 ↗ sure if city administrator bob quits can

2:24:51 ↗ maybe speak to the larger

2:24:53 ↗ picture

2:24:56 ↗ uh thank you ben uh deputy council

2:24:58 ↗ president

2:24:59 ↗ members of the council good evening um

2:25:01 ↗ that's a great question um and i think

2:25:04 ↗ as we've talked uh at the beginning of

2:25:06 ↗ benton's presentation uh we're still in

2:25:08 ↗ the first steps of our response

2:25:11 ↗ we have 11 million in change that we've

2:25:13 ↗ received

2:25:15 ↗ we are looking to spend

2:25:17 ↗ 1.25 million in the current budget we

2:25:20 ↗ have these requests before you

2:25:23 ↗ there's still the lion's share of that

2:25:24 ↗ money left so

2:25:25 ↗ i think as the mayor has said uh as

2:25:28 ↗ benton has gone through the history of

2:25:29 ↗ the last six months or so we're really

2:25:31 ↗ focused tonight on those immediate needs

2:25:34 ↗ um that is what this fund is for that

2:25:37 ↗ whether the vision of the president and

2:25:38 ↗ the congress was really to take that

2:25:40 ↗ kind of action so from the

2:25:42 ↗ administration standpoint

2:25:44 ↗ if the need is there the council agrees

2:25:46 ↗ by all means let's spend the money uh

2:25:48 ↗ when we come back to you in in 2022

2:25:52 ↗ kind of turn the page and look at how we

2:25:54 ↗ build back better um two or three

2:25:56 ↗ hundred thousand dollars in the scope of

2:25:58 ↗ what will be six or seven million

2:26:00 ↗ dollars plus all the other things we're

2:26:02 ↗ looking to leverage with the capital

2:26:04 ↗ financing community task force

2:26:06 ↗ other things um i think comes out in the

2:26:09 ↗ why but really what we're most concerned

2:26:10 ↗ about are those issaquah residents in

2:26:12 ↗ need today that's what arpa was

2:26:15 ↗ asked for and certainly from the

2:26:16 ↗ administration's standpoint if the

2:26:18 ↗ council thinks a few hundred thousand

2:26:19 ↗ dollars more will make an immediate

2:26:21 ↗ impact then we're all supportive of that

2:26:23 ↗ and we'll deal with the balance of those

2:26:25 ↗ dollars when we talk more next year

2:26:28 ↗ thank you administrator um i'm going to

2:26:31 ↗ go back for a comment to councilmember

2:26:32 ↗ hall

2:26:35 ↗ uh thank you councilmember hall here uh

2:26:37 ↗ thanks everyone for letting me comment

2:26:38 ↗ twice i just had another thought too

2:26:41 ↗ and just kind of

2:26:43 ↗ wanted to come from a place of uh

2:26:45 ↗ what i was thinking um even last week

2:26:48 ↗ during our last city council meeting and

2:26:49 ↗ then over the weekend you know the last

2:26:52 ↗ city council meeting i was certainly one

2:26:53 ↗ of the people

2:26:54 ↗ to advocate that we'd be conservative

2:26:56 ↗ with our arpa funding allocation because

2:26:59 ↗ because of the buildback better agenda

2:27:01 ↗ because there are so many different

2:27:03 ↗ things in the works where those dollars

2:27:05 ↗ can be used

2:27:06 ↗ um

2:27:07 ↗ to leverage

2:27:08 ↗ other pro like priorities in the

2:27:10 ↗ community um i guess over the weekend

2:27:14 ↗ the discovery um and

2:27:16 ↗ thanks again to the staff for providing

2:27:18 ↗ this data but the data that that we're

2:27:20 ↗ seeing and the number of people that i

2:27:22 ↗ didn't realize would not be covered by

2:27:24 ↗ the king county rental assistance

2:27:25 ↗ program to me is staggering

2:27:27 ↗ i assumed that because king county does

2:27:30 ↗ have a pretty healthy amount of money

2:27:32 ↗ that they're going to be getting out to

2:27:33 ↗ rental assistance program it's taken a

2:27:35 ↗ while for them to stand up the program

2:27:37 ↗ but i'd assumed that that would

2:27:39 ↗ meet the need for

2:27:41 ↗ all levels of ami in the king king

2:27:44 ↗ county and

2:27:45 ↗ we found out this weekend that that's

2:27:46 ↗ certainly not true here in issaquah and

2:27:49 ↗ there is a large number of um ischool

2:27:52 ↗ residents that could fall into housing

2:27:55 ↗ and stability

2:27:56 ↗ post october 31st

2:27:59 ↗ so i think a modest increase of 200 000

2:28:02 ↗ to rental assistance program makes sense

2:28:04 ↗ in that grand scheme of things but i am

2:28:06 ↗ certainly um

2:28:08 ↗ still thinking of arpa allocation

2:28:11 ↗ funding more broadly and what we can do

2:28:13 ↗ to build back better what we can do in

2:28:14 ↗ larger potentially capital projects

2:28:17 ↗ but i again i just think that the data

2:28:19 ↗ that we see now um and that has evolved

2:28:22 ↗ even today

2:28:23 ↗ should tell us to maybe fund a little

2:28:26 ↗ bit more in rental assistance i

2:28:27 ↗ appreciate thank you council member

2:28:29 ↗ thanks

2:28:30 ↗ thank you very much

2:28:32 ↗ i am not seeing anything else and so i'm

2:28:34 ↗ going to have the city clerk do a roll

2:28:37 ↗ call vote on the amendment which is to

2:28:39 ↗ change the three hundred thousand

2:28:40 ↗ dollars for rental assistance in the

2:28:42 ↗ proposed baby to five hundred thousand

2:28:44 ↗ dollars city clerk

2:28:48 ↗ starting with council president hunt

2:28:50 ↗ i

2:28:52 ↗ deputy council president ray aye

2:28:55 ↗ council member walsh

2:28:57 ↗ aye

2:28:59 ↗ council member d michelle

2:29:01 ↗ aye

2:29:03 ↗ council member goodman aye

2:29:06 ↗ council member hall

2:29:07 ↗ hi

2:29:09 ↗ that's six eyes zero

2:29:12 ↗ so the amendment carries six to no back

2:29:14 ↗ to the main motion are there any

2:29:16 ↗ additional

2:29:17 ↗ comments did i miss you uh no i got

2:29:20 ↗ councilmember hall sorry i was looking

2:29:21 ↗ at the wrong list

2:29:22 ↗ any additional comments before we call

2:29:24 ↗ for the vote on the main motion

2:29:26 ↗ so please indicate in the chat

2:29:33 ↗ okay

2:29:34 ↗ i am not seeing any and so i'm going to

2:29:38 ↗ scroll up and

2:29:40 ↗ read the main

2:29:42 ↗ motion

2:29:44 ↗ excuse me uh this is a clerk here i just

2:29:47 ↗ posted the amended motion in the chat

2:29:51 ↗ though the verb tense of the first word

2:29:53 ↗ needs to be modified

2:29:56 ↗ so it's not coming through on the chat

2:29:58 ↗ yet

2:30:01 ↗ i bet i bet i sent that to someone

2:30:03 ↗ privately let me send it to the group

2:30:05 ↗ give me just a moment here

2:30:07 ↗ sure thank you

2:30:11 ↗ i was gonna fake my way through it and

2:30:13 ↗ change the tenses myself but i'm really

2:30:15 ↗ glad that you did it

2:30:18 ↗ okay

2:30:20 ↗ so the main motion

2:30:22 ↗ is to authorize the allocation of eight

2:30:24 ↗ hundred thousand dollars of the city's

2:30:26 ↗ american rescue plan act or arpa funding

2:30:29 ↗ as follows three hundred thousand

2:30:31 ↗ dollars for an investment in the state's

2:30:32 ↗ small business flex fund and five

2:30:35 ↗ hundred thousand dollars for the

2:30:36 ↗ creation of an issaquah rental

2:30:38 ↗ assistance program

2:30:39 ↗ and direct the finance director to

2:30:41 ↗ include the revenue related expenditures

2:30:43 ↗ in a subsequent 2021 budget adjustment

2:30:46 ↗ and i'll turn it back over to city

2:30:47 ↗ correct for the roll call though

2:30:49 ↗ beginning with deputy council president

2:30:51 ↗ ray hi

2:30:53 ↗ council member walsh

2:30:54 ↗ aye

2:30:56 ↗ council member d michelle

2:30:58 ↗ aye

2:30:59 ↗ council member goodman aye

2:31:02 ↗ councilmember hall

2:31:04 ↗ aye

2:31:06 ↗ and council president hunt

2:31:08 ↗ aye

2:31:09 ↗ up six i zero nays

2:31:11 ↗ so the main motion passes six to zero

2:31:13 ↗ thank you all for the great questions

2:31:15 ↗ and the great conversation i'll go to

2:31:17 ↗ the third part of the ask tonight was

2:31:19 ↗ which was to gain some feedback

2:31:22 ↗ on the funding of other agencies through

2:31:24 ↗ the city's allocation of arpa funds

2:31:27 ↗ um

2:31:28 ↗ i have council member dean michelle s

2:31:30 ↗ first but i wonder benton if

2:31:33 ↗ if you uh well i guess first of all to

2:31:36 ↗ the council so you're being asked to

2:31:38 ↗ provide some feedback are you ready to

2:31:40 ↗ go to feedback or do you have any

2:31:41 ↗ additional

2:31:42 ↗ questions for benton

2:31:44 ↗ so it does look like we have a couple

2:31:46 ↗ folks with questions so let's do the

2:31:47 ↗ questions first let's start with council

2:31:49 ↗ member hall

2:31:51 ↗ thank you councilmember hall here a

2:31:52 ↗ quick question um

2:31:55 ↗ i do believe and correct me if i'm wrong

2:31:58 ↗ that eastside fire and rescue has

2:31:59 ↗ expressed interest in arpa

2:32:02 ↗ funding support from the city of

2:32:04 ↗ issaquah do we know if there's been a

2:32:06 ↗ direct ask for support

2:32:08 ↗ in any of your conversations with

2:32:10 ↗ samara's plateau water district water

2:32:11 ↗ and sewer district or

2:32:13 ↗ um is are they included on the list

2:32:15 ↗ simply because they weren't an art

2:32:16 ↗ eligible

2:32:18 ↗ recipient

2:32:20 ↗ yeah you're exactly right so he said

2:32:23 ↗ fire and rescue has expressed um

2:32:26 ↗ a specific request um but we have yet to

2:32:31 ↗ initiate conversations with some amish

2:32:33 ↗ plateau water and sewer district

2:32:36 ↗ and benton i'm just going to add into in

2:32:39 ↗ meetings that i've had with some amish

2:32:41 ↗ facto water district they have not made

2:32:43 ↗ a specific guest they have asked whether

2:32:45 ↗ the city would consider a specific ask

2:32:48 ↗ and i saw the city administrator turned

2:32:50 ↗ his camera on as well did you want to

2:32:51 ↗ add to that one molly

2:32:54 ↗ no ma'am um

2:32:56 ↗ you've got it

2:32:57 ↗ okay

2:32:58 ↗ uh let's see deputy council president

2:33:00 ↗ ray with a question

2:33:04 ↗ what is the nature of the ask from east

2:33:08 ↗ side fire and rescue what are they

2:33:09 ↗ asking for i can't find

2:33:11 ↗ it anywhere so

2:33:13 ↗ maybe i missed it but what do they want

2:33:16 ↗ and and why

2:33:19 ↗ yeah so

2:33:20 ↗ um

2:33:22 ↗ i the

2:33:23 ↗ um

2:33:24 ↗ [Music]

2:33:25 ↗ i the specific request i think comes

2:33:28 ↗ from um

2:33:29 ↗ kind of a funding gap in general for

2:33:32 ↗ them um and the

2:33:35 ↗ specific way that we would provide

2:33:37 ↗ support

2:33:39 ↗ would depend on some arpa eligibility um

2:33:43 ↗ constraints

2:33:44 ↗ as well

2:33:45 ↗ but the initiation is from kind of that

2:33:48 ↗ that overall funding gap

2:33:51 ↗ when i see administrator bob quiz also

2:33:53 ↗ has his camera on

2:33:55 ↗ yes thank you madam mayor deputy council

2:33:56 ↗ president

2:33:58 ↗ the

2:33:59 ↗ if you may recall the city council

2:34:00 ↗ received a communication several months

2:34:02 ↗ back from eastside fire and rescue

2:34:04 ↗ asking for a specific dollar amount

2:34:06 ↗ that was based on

2:34:08 ↗ additional costs that they had in

2:34:11 ↗ responding to the pandemic over the

2:34:12 ↗ course of i think at that point it was

2:34:14 ↗ probably 12 months

2:34:16 ↗ we have met with the staff at eastside

2:34:18 ↗ fire and rescue uh taken our knowledge

2:34:20 ↗ of what is reimbursable under the

2:34:22 ↗ american recovery act and have found

2:34:24 ↗ that there's a disconnect between those

2:34:27 ↗ expenses and what we're hearing from the

2:34:29 ↗ us treasury

2:34:30 ↗ as would be eligible uh costs for arpa

2:34:33 ↗ so we continue to work with the site

2:34:35 ↗ fire and rescue to try to find

2:34:38 ↗ uh expenses that they have that would be

2:34:40 ↗ eligible

2:34:42 ↗ and that's i think big part of the

2:34:43 ↗ challenge so the reason we're bringing

2:34:44 ↗ up these other agencies tonight is that

2:34:46 ↗ we really are looking to turn the page

2:34:49 ↗ on the discussion of how to spend these

2:34:51 ↗ dollars uh we're we're hoping to make it

2:34:53 ↗ as clean as possible but what the

2:34:55 ↗ discussion is this evening but quite

2:34:57 ↗ frankly we can't

2:34:58 ↗ because i think uh the administration

2:35:00 ↗ certainly would like to pursue uh what

2:35:03 ↗ opportunities there may be with these

2:35:04 ↗ head fire and rescue certainly to

2:35:06 ↗ continue the conversation with samantha

2:35:07 ↗ plateau i know in

2:35:10 ↗ seeing some questions from councilmember

2:35:12 ↗ d michelle she's concerned about the

2:35:13 ↗ esqua school district um

2:35:15 ↗ do they have any additional requests so

2:35:18 ↗ really this evening we're not in a

2:35:19 ↗ position uh for dollars but we would

2:35:22 ↗ like at least to get some feedback from

2:35:23 ↗ the council are these discussions you

2:35:25 ↗ would like us to continue with

2:35:27 ↗ and if so we'll come back to you

2:35:29 ↗ probably right at the beginning of 2022

2:35:31 ↗ and continue uh this discussion after

2:35:34 ↗ we've had an opportunity to talk to the

2:35:35 ↗ agency smart

2:35:37 ↗ great thanks molly

2:35:39 ↗ i'm not seeing any more questions so

2:35:40 ↗ thank you for that let's start with

2:35:42 ↗ comments and we'll go to council member

2:35:43 ↗ demichelle

2:35:45 ↗ well i will thank you that was a great

2:35:47 ↗ segue

2:35:49 ↗ so um i was in a presentation about a

2:35:53 ↗ week ago

2:35:55 ↗ from superintendent of schools

2:35:57 ↗ thiele

2:35:59 ↗ talking about the funding they did

2:36:00 ↗ receive school districts have received

2:36:03 ↗ federal funding

2:36:05 ↗ but as

2:36:06 ↗ often happens with

2:36:08 ↗ issaquah school district and eastside

2:36:10 ↗ school districts

2:36:13 ↗ the issaquah school district received

2:36:15 ↗ many multiples

2:36:17 ↗ less

2:36:18 ↗ than similar size school districts and

2:36:21 ↗ the superintendent used the example

2:36:23 ↗ uh and compared

2:36:25 ↗ the 7 millions i believe that they

2:36:27 ↗ received to the highline school district

2:36:30 ↗ which is a very similarly sized district

2:36:33 ↗ and highline received

2:36:35 ↗ 126 million dollars

2:36:38 ↗ so um

2:36:39 ↗ and as superintelli said

2:36:42 ↗ uh the business expenses um school

2:36:45 ↗ districts are in the business of

2:36:47 ↗ education and they are businesses the

2:36:50 ↗ business expenses that those two

2:36:52 ↗ districts

2:36:53 ↗ had uh were uh probably exactly the same

2:36:57 ↗ because they had to stand up a lot of

2:36:59 ↗ things during covet

2:37:01 ↗ now there's no way you know that our

2:37:03 ↗ arpa funding can make them whole or even

2:37:06 ↗ come close but what i hope would be that

2:37:08 ↗ we would open up a dialogue with the

2:37:11 ↗ school district

2:37:12 ↗ uh to see if we can identify uh projects

2:37:15 ↗ or programs or

2:37:17 ↗ places where

2:37:19 ↗ something that would very much benefit

2:37:21 ↗ the school district would also benefit

2:37:23 ↗ the residents of issaquah and a couple

2:37:25 ↗ of things to come to mind is the

2:37:28 ↗ district struggled with broadband we did

2:37:30 ↗ too

2:37:31 ↗ there might be a one place where we

2:37:33 ↗ could find an overlap or a

2:37:36 ↗ mutual mutually beneficial a project of

2:37:39 ↗ some kind and then one of the other

2:37:41 ↗ urgent concerns that's been identified

2:37:43 ↗ is mental health services and the school

2:37:46 ↗ district already has a way of providing

2:37:48 ↗ mental health services to a great number

2:37:51 ↗ of students is there a way that we could

2:37:53 ↗ supplement that program and broaden it

2:37:55 ↗ to to support uh people uh in our

2:37:59 ↗ community so

2:38:01 ↗ what i'm just asking is let's open up

2:38:02 ↗ the dialogue let's talk

2:38:05 ↗ find out if there are places where

2:38:08 ↗ we could do something mutually

2:38:09 ↗ beneficial with the federal funding we

2:38:12 ↗ have

2:38:12 ↗ that would help to supplement um

2:38:15 ↗ what uh what the district is uh facing

2:38:19 ↗ in terms of challenges so

2:38:21 ↗ that's that's my comment thanks

2:38:23 ↗ thanks city administrator bob quits for

2:38:25 ↗ giving me an intro

2:38:29 ↗ thank you councilmember d michelle so

2:38:32 ↗ going down the list i believe it's

2:38:33 ↗ deputy council president ray followed by

2:38:35 ↗ council president hunt

2:38:37 ↗ thank you mayor paulie um

2:38:40 ↗ so i'm not like

2:38:43 ↗ opposed to

2:38:45 ↗ doing this

2:38:46 ↗ um i would want to see

2:38:50 ↗ um one of two things that

2:38:52 ↗ they're funding for

2:38:54 ↗ these non-eligible entities be the

2:38:56 ↗ school district or

2:38:57 ↗ um

2:38:58 ↗ east side fire rescue or sem platt

2:39:01 ↗ that

2:39:02 ↗ there was some direct connection between

2:39:06 ↗ the cost of the

2:39:08 ↗ service um or the the cost incurred and

2:39:12 ↗ people in issaquah and if not that then

2:39:16 ↗ that there is um

2:39:19 ↗ a

2:39:20 ↗ uh

2:39:22 ↗ consensus amongst all of the partners um

2:39:25 ↗ you know eastside fire rescue has the

2:39:27 ↗ five partners we're one of five um sam

2:39:30 ↗ platt touches both um city of sammich as

2:39:32 ↗ well as

2:39:33 ↗ the city of esqua and i maybe uh also

2:39:36 ↗ parts of unincorporated king county and

2:39:39 ↗ um

2:39:40 ↗ so i would want to see the other

2:39:42 ↗ entities

2:39:43 ↗ participating in that too so

2:39:46 ↗ from my perspective

2:39:48 ↗ if if not focused on issaquah

2:39:51 ↗ if everybody doesn't participate then

2:39:54 ↗ issaquah is

2:39:55 ↗ would be in essence

2:39:57 ↗ subsidizing other cities uh other

2:40:02 ↗ fire districts other parts of king

2:40:04 ↗ county and i don't think that's a really

2:40:06 ↗ good business for us to be in

2:40:09 ↗ thank you deputy council president for

2:40:11 ↗ that feedback um

2:40:13 ↗ council president hunt

2:40:20 ↗ thank you

2:40:21 ↗ okay there we go yeah um

2:40:23 ↗ i

2:40:25 ↗ was going to say in response to

2:40:27 ↗ councilmember d michelle's um comments

2:40:30 ↗ uh there is a leadership meeting with

2:40:32 ↗ the esqua school district leadership and

2:40:34 ↗ the city leadership

2:40:36 ↗ tomorrow so

2:40:38 ↗ we could

2:40:40 ↗ we could

2:40:41 ↗ use that opportunity to uh discuss i

2:40:44 ↗ think part of your comment was to have

2:40:46 ↗ that discussion um so i would be

2:40:49 ↗ happy to um to raise that at that

2:40:52 ↗ meeting as far as the um

2:40:55 ↗ and i i also my mind went directly to

2:40:57 ↗ broadband um so i think that is an area

2:41:00 ↗ where

2:41:01 ↗ clearly

2:41:03 ↗ clearly they have

2:41:04 ↗ needs that are much larger in terms of

2:41:06 ↗ funding so you know

2:41:08 ↗ that's not

2:41:10 ↗ i think a good use of of our funds but i

2:41:13 ↗ do think where we have mutual um

2:41:15 ↗ where there's a mutual interest and

2:41:18 ↗ would benefit the public both from the

2:41:20 ↗ school district and our side that that

2:41:22 ↗ could be a useful conversation to have

2:41:25 ↗ as far as the other organizations it's

2:41:27 ↗ really hard to know without knowing what

2:41:28 ↗ their ask is i do think that council

2:41:31 ↗ deputy president ray brought up a good

2:41:33 ↗ point which is these are

2:41:36 ↗ entities that serve

2:41:38 ↗ multiple

2:41:39 ↗ regions or multiple cities and those

2:41:42 ↗ cities are likely also receiving

2:41:44 ↗ recovery funds so i i think

2:41:47 ↗ um

2:41:48 ↗ i think that's important to consider as

2:41:50 ↗ we consider asks from these different

2:41:52 ↗ agencies and also the

2:41:55 ↗ connection to recovery from economic

2:41:58 ↗ hardship around covid but i am also very

2:42:01 ↗ open to

2:42:02 ↗ to that and i think one of the

2:42:04 ↗ points of this arpa funding is to help

2:42:06 ↗ recovery across

2:42:08 ↗ um across the whole economy and the

2:42:11 ↗ whole

2:42:13 ↗ public and so i think it's it's

2:42:15 ↗ important that we consider if there are

2:42:16 ↗ unmet needs if those are unmet needs

2:42:18 ↗ from other organizations thanks

2:42:20 ↗ thank you council president we have

2:42:22 ↗ three more uh council members um either

2:42:25 ↗ wanting to comment or just to confirm

2:42:29 ↗ what you've heard from other council

2:42:30 ↗ members that you agree with or don't

2:42:32 ↗ agree with so let's do council member

2:42:34 ↗ walsh followed by council member hall

2:42:37 ↗ thank you

2:42:38 ↗ um i think at this point having a

2:42:41 ↗ conversation is great and understanding

2:42:44 ↗ the needs of the other organizations

2:42:47 ↗ that

2:42:48 ↗ we partner with that did not receive

2:42:50 ↗ these funds is important i don't think

2:42:52 ↗ that speaks anything to

2:42:55 ↗ our

2:42:56 ↗ interest

2:42:57 ↗ to

2:42:58 ↗ provide that funding or not to provide

2:43:00 ↗ that funding it just speaks to

2:43:03 ↗ a sense of wanting more information and

2:43:05 ↗ wanting to understand the scope of the

2:43:08 ↗ challenges so that when we are making

2:43:11 ↗ strategic decisions we can better

2:43:13 ↗ understand what um some of the potential

2:43:16 ↗ areas of funding are so that would be my

2:43:18 ↗ thought

2:43:19 ↗ thank you councilmember welsh

2:43:20 ↗ councilmember hall with a question and a

2:43:22 ↗ comment

2:43:23 ↗ uh thank you uh this councilmember hall

2:43:25 ↗ um a clarifying question did i hear

2:43:27 ↗ correctly

2:43:28 ↗ that administration would

2:43:31 ↗ come back early next year

2:43:34 ↗ after this discussion so early 2022

2:43:37 ↗ with updated information on what those

2:43:40 ↗ agency asks would be and then also

2:43:41 ↗ recommendations on that was that right

2:43:43 ↗ city administrator balkwitz

2:43:45 ↗ that yes councilmember hall members of

2:43:47 ↗ the council that's our current plan

2:43:49 ↗ okay

2:43:50 ↗ then i guess my comment is yeah i i'm

2:43:52 ↗ happy moving forward with collecting

2:43:54 ↗ more information by then we will also

2:43:56 ↗ have

2:43:57 ↗ i hope i think

2:43:58 ↗ recommendations from the capital finance

2:44:00 ↗ community task force um to consider as

2:44:04 ↗ well and they may

2:44:07 ↗ um well um

2:44:08 ↗ advocate that some of those funds be

2:44:10 ↗ used for

2:44:11 ↗ capital needs in the city as well so i

2:44:13 ↗ think as long as we're getting all that

2:44:15 ↗ information together and we'll be able

2:44:17 ↗ to

2:44:18 ↗ kind of see it side by side we'll have

2:44:20 ↗ the information we need to make the best

2:44:22 ↗ decision with those dollars

2:44:25 ↗ thank you councilmember hall

2:44:26 ↗ councilmember goodman do you have

2:44:28 ↗ anything to add

2:44:30 ↗ uh councilmember goodman here um

2:44:32 ↗ nope

2:44:33 ↗ i don't disagree with any of the

2:44:35 ↗ comments i don't have anything

2:44:37 ↗ um

2:44:37 ↗ [Music]

2:44:38 ↗ i don't have anything interesting to add

2:44:40 ↗ so thanks for all the comments

2:44:42 ↗ thank you

2:44:43 ↗ uh benton and i'm assuming you have

2:44:46 ↗ everything you need to move forward

2:44:51 ↗ yes thank you so much

2:44:54 ↗ well thank you for uh thank you for all

2:44:56 ↗ the presentations this evening

2:44:58 ↗ and bringing along your guests that was

2:45:00 ↗ much appreciated

2:45:02 ↗ so we have completed our work

2:45:04 ↗ on ab8254

2:45:07 ↗ thank you for all the information

2:45:09 ↗ and we are going to good of the order

2:45:11 ↗ and i will keep an eye on the chat to

2:45:14 ↗ see if any council members have

2:45:15 ↗ something to bring up for good of the

2:45:16 ↗ order

2:45:18 ↗ and

2:45:19 ↗ um

2:45:20 ↗ councilmember goodman did i miss

2:45:22 ↗ something from you

2:45:26 ↗ no you did not

2:45:27 ↗ okay thanks

2:45:28 ↗ hard to see with the script and

2:45:30 ↗ everything all over the page so as i

2:45:32 ↗ look to see if councils have anything i

2:45:34 ↗ will go through some upcoming council

2:45:36 ↗ meetings there's a city council study

2:45:38 ↗ session for tuesday october 26 with

2:45:41 ↗ potential agenda items including the

2:45:43 ↗ 2022 legislative agenda the 2022 budget

2:45:48 ↗ deliberations and the november first

2:45:50 ↗ regular council meeting the potential

2:45:52 ↗ agenda items include performance

2:45:54 ↗ measurements and three items related to

2:45:56 ↗ the proposed 2022 budget

2:45:59 ↗ revenue sources number one is the

2:46:01 ↗ proposed levy number two is amending

2:46:03 ↗ computing community planning and

2:46:05 ↗ development fees

2:46:06 ↗ and number three is utility attacks for

2:46:08 ↗ some amish plateau water district

2:46:10 ↗ customers

2:46:11 ↗ and i see councilmember d michelle has

2:46:13 ↗ something for good of the order

2:46:15 ↗ uh just very quickly uh saturday morning

2:46:18 ↗ i attended the virtual open house that

2:46:20 ↗ sound transit put on for the link light

2:46:22 ↗ rail um it was a really really good

2:46:25 ↗ session i believe there's going to be

2:46:27 ↗ another one

2:46:28 ↗ on wednesday but

2:46:30 ↗ if you can't make either of those

2:46:32 ↗ there is a survey online and i would

2:46:34 ↗ urge everybody to take it and i will

2:46:37 ↗ send you i'll try to send you the links

2:46:39 ↗ to both of those things so that if you

2:46:41 ↗ want to take advantage of them you can

2:46:43 ↗ it was really a really good session so

2:46:46 ↗ um i would urge you to do that thank you

2:46:49 ↗ thank you very much no other items the

2:46:53 ↗ last thing on our agenda this evening is

2:46:55 ↗ an executive session and as earlier

2:46:57 ↗ announced there will be a session held

2:46:59 ↗ this evening to discuss the performance

2:47:01 ↗ of a public employee

2:47:03 ↗ for rcw 42.30.1

2:47:06 ↗ per n1 for ng and the item is expected

2:47:08 ↗ to last 15 minutes there is not any

2:47:11 ↗ action anticipated to follow in the open

2:47:13 ↗ session so just as a reminder executive

2:47:16 ↗ sessions are closed to the public and we

2:47:18 ↗ will now recess into executive session

2:47:21 ↗ at 9 47 pm

2:47:23 ↗ i'm asking the city clerk to move the

2:47:25 ↗ city council into a separate session

2:47:26 ↗ within this meeting and anyone who's not

2:47:29 ↗ part of the closed session will remain

2:47:30 ↗ in the main meeting you are welcome to

2:47:32 ↗ stay in the meeting until it is

2:47:33 ↗ reconvened

2:48:18 ↗ you

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (6)

Barbara de Michele

Stacy Goodman

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Excused

Tola Marts

Motions and votes (6)

Ratify the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Teamsters Local Union No. 763 regarding mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, and authorize the Mayor to execute the Memorandum of Understanding. . b)

Moved by HUNT · seconded by REH

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Authorize the Mayor to enter into and execute the Interlocal Agreement between the City of Redmond and the City of Issaquah for Mutual Aid Dispatch Services. . c)

Moved by HUNT · seconded by REH

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Authorize submittal of a carbon credit application for the Harvey Manning Park Acquisition Preservation Project, and authorize the Mayor to execute all necessary documents, including a purchase and sale agreement, to secure the City's first carbon sale. . d)

Moved by HUNT · seconded by REH

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Authorize the allocation of $600,000 of the City's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding as follows: 1. $300,000 for an investment in the State's Small Business Flex Fund; and 2. $300,000 for the creation of an Issaquah Rental Assistance Program; and Direct the Finance Director to include the reve…

Moved by HUNT · seconded by REH

Amend the motion to: Change $300,000 for rental assistance to $500,000 . The main motion as amended was before the Council: Authorize the allocation of $800,000 of the City's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding as follows: 1. $300,000 for an investment in the State's Small Business Flex Fund; an…

Moved by HUNT · seconded by DE MICHELE

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh

Main motion as amended: Amend the motion to: Change $300,000 for rental assistance to $500,000 . The main motion as amended was before the Council: Authorize the allocation of $800,000 of the City's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding as follows: 1. $300,000 for an investment in the State's Smal…

Moved by (main motion as amended) · seconded by

Carried 6-0

In favor: Barbara de Michele, Stacy Goodman, Zach Hall, Victoria Hunt, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh