City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Wednesday, June 22, 2022 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Board & Commission Consolidation ID 1088

30 min · Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager Hannah Roberts, Human Services Coordinator · packet pp.5–29

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

Proceed to dissolve the Cable TV Commission in 2022 and recommend the Cemetery Board consider a potential sunset or consolidation in 2022, returning with a

4547 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ oh

0:01 ↗ there we go

0:02 ↗ olin are we ready to start the meeting

0:06 ↗ well we are live all right

0:09 ↗ welcome everyone i council member tola

0:12 ↗ martz called the june 22

0:14 ↗ 2022 city council services safety and

0:18 ↗ parks committee to order

0:20 ↗ the first services safety and parks

0:22 ↗ committee meeting

0:23 ↗ since we have reconstituted

0:24 ↗ subcommittees so it's very exciting

0:27 ↗ council member demichelle

0:28 ↗ will be participating remotely this is

0:30 ↗ council member ray to my right

0:33 ↗ a couple of uh

0:35 ↗ points about the meeting

0:37 ↗ uh public comment there are multiple

0:38 ↗ public comment opportunities at

0:40 ↗ tonight's meeting

0:42 ↗ there's going to be a general public

0:43 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

0:45 ↗ the meeting or

0:46 ↗ you can make comments uh for each of the

0:49 ↗ three topics that we have this evening

0:50 ↗ you can make comments after the

0:52 ↗ presentation and council question and

0:54 ↗ answer period

0:55 ↗ but before we deliberate on those issues

0:58 ↗ in each of these situations i'm going to

1:00 ↗ offer

1:01 ↗ folks up to five minutes to make their

1:03 ↗ comments

1:04 ↗ both for the comments at the beginning

1:06 ↗ and during individual issues

1:08 ↗ members of the public may address

1:10 ↗ council

1:11 ↗ at this time in person or virtually

1:13 ↗ those who signed up in advance to make

1:15 ↗ comments will be called on first if you

1:17 ↗ are joining us virtually and would like

1:19 ↗ to make comments please raise your

1:20 ↗ virtual hand the way you do that is if

1:23 ↗ you're on the phone press star 3 if

1:25 ↗ you've joined by computer or smartphone

1:27 ↗ look for a hand icon this varies by

1:30 ↗ device one option may be to go to the

1:33 ↗ participant panel and choose the raise

1:35 ↗ hand icon in the lower right hand corner

1:38 ↗ if you're in the room and did not sign

1:40 ↗ up i will ask for other speakers before

1:43 ↗ closing this portion of the meeting

1:45 ↗ i will wait for a moment to see if

1:47 ↗ anyone wishes to raise their hand

1:50 ↗ clerk has anyone signed up to speak or

1:52 ↗ indicated a desire to speak this evening

1:57 ↗ yes council member

1:59 ↗ thank you citizen comments are an

2:00 ↗ important part of the public process we

2:02 ↗ take them seriously and factor them into

2:04 ↗ the decisions we make

2:05 ↗ please direct comments to the whole

2:07 ↗ council and not individuals while this

2:09 ↗ is not a question and answer session we

2:11 ↗ will contact you to follow up if needed

2:14 ↗ when recognized uh unmute your

2:16 ↗ microphone

2:18 ↗ if you're remote or step up to the left

2:19 ↗ turn if you're

2:21 ↗ physically here state your name address

2:23 ↗ in relationship to the city speak

2:25 ↗ clearly and pause frequently limit

2:27 ↗ comments to five minutes

2:29 ↗ if you're attending virtually and do not

2:31 ↗ respond after your name or phone number

2:32 ↗ is called or if your connection is lost

2:34 ↗ unexpectedly the meeting will need to

2:36 ↗ proceed you are encouraged to rejoin the

2:38 ↗ meeting if able personal attacks obscene

2:41 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

2:43 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

2:44 ↗ permitted

2:45 ↗ clerks can you identify the first person

2:47 ↗ who has signed up to speak

2:49 ↗ yes council member marks the first

2:50 ↗ person signed up to speak is kfunt

2:58 ↗ and that's uh virtual

3:00 ↗ no that's in the room oh

3:02 ↗ okay if you want to come up to the

3:04 ↗ lectern

3:08 ↗ or not

3:09 ↗ huh

3:11 ↗ i believe k font is not in the room

3:14 ↗ alright has anyone else signed up

3:18 ↗ yes

3:20 ↗ doug schlepp

3:26 ↗ uh

3:27 ↗ doug is referring to the next person on

3:29 ↗ the list who's

3:30 ↗ who's next

3:34 ↗ we have no more people signed up on the

3:36 ↗ sign-in sheet

3:38 ↗ and we have a couple of virtual

3:40 ↗ attendees

3:42 ↗ uh before we go virtual doug did you

3:44 ↗ want to speak to us or not are you going

3:45 ↗ to speak at the

3:47 ↗ individual

3:50 ↗ you're going to wait till we get to the

3:51 ↗ third topic okay thank you

3:54 ↗ uh so virtually

3:58 ↗ among our virtual attendees uh

4:00 ↗ councilmember martz i do not see any

4:01 ↗ virtual hands raised at this time

4:04 ↗ we'll ask again

4:06 ↗ now would be the time to indicate

4:08 ↗ uh both here in the room

4:10 ↗ uh and uh

4:12 ↗ virtually if you wish to speak now and

4:14 ↗ again this doesn't preclude you from

4:16 ↗ speaking on the individual issues that

4:18 ↗ we have three topics this evening

4:22 ↗ closing it out still no no indication no

4:24 ↗ virtual hands all right

4:27 ↗ then we will move on to our advice

4:30 ↗ first up this evening on our agenda is

4:33 ↗ id 1088 boarding commission

4:36 ↗ consolidation this is going to be

4:38 ↗ presented by uh city clerk keyser

4:44 ↗ hi chairmartz and committee members it's

4:47 ↗ a pleasure to be here let me just share

4:49 ↗ my screen

4:55 ↗ give me just a minute here tim smith our

4:57 ↗ media production specialist will also be

4:59 ↗ presenting with me tonight in just a few

5:01 ↗ moments

5:05 ↗ thank you

5:16 ↗ okay so i am here to talk to you about

5:18 ↗ one of the city's 2022 work plan items

5:21 ↗ which is to evaluate the effectiveness

5:24 ↗ and portfolio of the city's boards and

5:26 ↗ commissions

5:28 ↗ tonight we have three questions to ask

5:31 ↗ for the committee's recommendation on

5:33 ↗ the first is regarding some action we

5:36 ↗ are ready to take to sunset the cable tv

5:38 ↗ commission

5:40 ↗ the second is whether to

5:43 ↗ pursue sort of an evaluation by the

5:45 ↗ cemetery board of some possible

5:47 ↗ opportunities for consolidation or a

5:50 ↗ sunset or a change of scope to the

5:52 ↗ cemetery board and our third question is

5:55 ↗ just whether there are any other

5:57 ↗ advisory boards that the committee

5:58 ↗ thinks are worth looking into more

6:00 ↗ closely in the year ahead

6:04 ↗ so the city currently has 14 advisory

6:07 ↗ boards covering a very wide range of

6:09 ↗ topics they provide very valuable input

6:13 ↗ and expertise to the city council and to

6:15 ↗ the mayor

6:17 ↗ when all of the boards and commission

6:19 ↗ seats are filled

6:20 ↗ it constitutes 130 volunteers in our

6:23 ↗ community which i think is

6:25 ↗ pretty amazing

6:27 ↗ also

6:28 ↗ staff we have a dedicated staff person

6:31 ↗ for each of these 14 advisory boards one

6:33 ↗ of their key responsibilities is to

6:36 ↗ caretake support train

6:39 ↗ and provide work plan items to these

6:41 ↗ advisory boards

6:45 ↗ so over the years

6:46 ↗ there have been changes to the city's

6:48 ↗ advisory boards that really reflect i

6:50 ↗ think the

6:51 ↗ sort of the development of the community

6:54 ↗ and the issues in the community

6:56 ↗ so this slide shows you some of the

6:59 ↗ changes that have been made in the last

7:01 ↗ six years so we've let go of some boards

7:03 ↗ that have served their primary purpose

7:06 ↗ and we've also created some new boards

7:08 ↗ that cover some issues that are very

7:10 ↗ important to our community like

7:12 ↗ transportation equity and the

7:13 ↗ environment

7:16 ↗ so as part of of part of this change

7:18 ↗ that's why we're here tonight just we've

7:20 ↗ sort of looked at the portfolio of the

7:22 ↗ city's current boards and commissions

7:24 ↗ and identified one board that we think

7:26 ↗ has served its primary purpose and

7:29 ↗ another board that we think is worth

7:31 ↗ revisiting in 2022

7:35 ↗ with that i'm going to ask tim smith to

7:37 ↗ come up and cover the next few slides

7:44 ↗ evening council members tim smith media

7:46 ↗ production specialist for the city of

7:47 ↗ israel also the staff liaison for the

7:49 ↗ cable tv commission

7:51 ↗ so i'm going to start off with a little

7:52 ↗ background for the cable tv commission

7:55 ↗ starting in 1980 the city of israel

7:57 ↗ formed the cable tv commission to

7:59 ↗ negotiate and regulate cable tv

8:00 ↗ franchises within with cable providers

8:03 ↗ in issaquah

8:05 ↗ this authority included cable tv

8:07 ↗ franchise negotiations implementation

8:09 ↗ technical review of cable systems the

8:12 ↗ resolution of resident complaints by

8:14 ↗ working with the cable tv companies

8:16 ↗ through negotiation and imposing fines

8:19 ↗ in 1991 the cable tv commission started

8:22 ↗ the government access tv station we all

8:24 ↗ know as ictv channel 21.

8:27 ↗ they ran and operated that from 1991

8:30 ↗ until 1999 when they hired a um

8:34 ↗ an independent contractor to come in

8:37 ↗ take over running it and upgrade the

8:39 ↗ systems at that point

8:41 ↗ in 1996 the telecommunication act

8:45 ↗ was passed by the federal government

8:47 ↗ this changed local regulatory authority

8:49 ↗ to a certain extent um

8:51 ↗ with it with the telecommunication act

8:54 ↗ of 1996 the fcc federalized much of the

8:57 ↗ local regulatory authority that

8:58 ↗ municipalities once held over cable

9:01 ↗ providers

9:02 ↗ in 2001 the city hired a full-time cable

9:05 ↗ operator to run its government access

9:07 ↗ channel and that reported directly to

9:09 ↗ the cable tv commission concerning

9:11 ↗ channel operations content and franchise

9:14 ↗ issues

9:17 ↗ so to kind of review what the what their

9:19 ↗ initial purview was so negotiating camp

9:21 ↗ negotiating cable franchises and

9:24 ↗ overseeing it on a day-to-day basis

9:27 ↗ also technical reviews so they would

9:28 ↗ meet with cable uh and they still do

9:30 ↗ they would meet annually with all cable

9:32 ↗ providers

9:33 ↗ they would view they would get cable

9:35 ↗ plants they would review the cable

9:37 ↗ systems they could do a technical audit

9:39 ↗ if it was required and then they would

9:42 ↗ resolve residence complaints

9:45 ↗ so over the years the role has changed

9:48 ↗ for the cable tv commission

9:50 ↗ and starting as i said previously the

9:53 ↗ fcc regulations changed and it really

9:55 ↗ reduced it down to mostly concerning

9:57 ↗ with right-of-way issues and customer

9:59 ↗ service levels

10:01 ↗ secondly uh technology advances um have

10:04 ↗ changed the need for cable over the

10:05 ↗ years in 1980 if you lived in issaquah

10:08 ↗ and you lived on squawk mountain you

10:10 ↗ really needed cable

10:12 ↗ and you really needed it on the co on

10:14 ↗ the on the floor the top pocket if you

10:16 ↗ made it really really important to have

10:18 ↗ a strong regulatory board

10:20 ↗ but as technology has advanced

10:22 ↗ and people have cable cut

10:25 ↗ and you can get media in different ways

10:27 ↗ as where you were just stuck with your

10:29 ↗ cable company back in the day now you

10:31 ↗ have other options

10:32 ↗ also increased staff support so

10:35 ↗ city staff now operates ictv and handles

10:38 ↗ all programming and media production

10:40 ↗ decisions

10:41 ↗ also the city staff handles all

10:43 ↗ day-to-day cable

10:44 ↗ customer complaints so previously a

10:47 ↗ cable complaint would come in it would

10:49 ↗ come to the staff liaison the liaison

10:51 ↗ would con

10:51 ↗ contact the cable tv commission and the

10:54 ↗ commission would would uh decide a path

10:57 ↗ of resolution now it comes into the

11:00 ↗ staff and staff deals with it directly

11:02 ↗ has a relationship with all cable

11:04 ↗ providers has contacts there and gets

11:07 ↗ resolution and then those resolutions

11:08 ↗ are reported back to the cable tv

11:10 ↗ commission unless it's a systemic issue

11:12 ↗ that rises to a major level

11:15 ↗ then it would go to the cable tv

11:16 ↗ commission

11:18 ↗ directly we haven't had a situation like

11:20 ↗ that in over a decade

11:22 ↗ and then

11:24 ↗ last but certainly not least there's a

11:26 ↗ decree pub decreased public interest in

11:28 ↗ serving on the ctc

11:30 ↗ so right now we have two members on the

11:33 ↗ ctc

11:34 ↗ we don't we can't even do a quorum the

11:36 ↗ ctc cannot meet at the beginning of the

11:38 ↗ ctc there was nine members seven regular

11:41 ↗ two alternates

11:42 ↗ as interest waned in 2015 we lowered

11:45 ↗ that number to five and two and lowered

11:48 ↗ the meanings from monthly to as needed

11:53 ↗ so that brings me to the recommendation

11:57 ↗ the final two ctc members

11:59 ↗ after discussing this agree with agree

12:02 ↗ with this is to adopt an ordinance

12:04 ↗ sunsetting the ctc and delegating

12:06 ↗ existing duties and responsibilities to

12:08 ↗ staff the mayor and city council

12:10 ↗ and i'm open to any questions

12:14 ↗ council member ray

12:16 ↗ you you have a quizzical look on your

12:17 ↗ face

12:19 ↗ i do and i have some questions uh thanks

12:21 ↗ tim that was really interesting

12:26 ↗ i think you touched on this but what is

12:27 ↗ the view view of the two members that we

12:30 ↗ have on the

12:31 ↗ commission today of the future the

12:33 ↗ commission do they see a role do they

12:35 ↗ want to evolve the role is there

12:36 ↗ somewhere to grow it something to do

12:38 ↗ with it what's their take on it

12:40 ↗ currently their their uh opinion is that

12:43 ↗ it's time to sunset the commission there

12:45 ↗ was a time uh back in 2014 2015 the

12:49 ↗ commission created a white paper of and

12:51 ↗ one of the options was to expand the

12:53 ↗ board into a technology board and lower

12:56 ↗ their role

12:57 ↗ uh lower the cable role and um and then

13:01 ↗ the other option was to decrease and

13:03 ↗ that or or eliminate this was back in

13:05 ↗ 2015 and so it landed on the decrease so

13:08 ↗ i think that time has passed

13:10 ↗ um especially because of the lack of the

13:12 ↗ interest in the board currently

13:16 ↗ um just uh two follow-up questions um

13:18 ↗ when's the last time the board met

13:20 ↗ august 6th of 2020

13:23 ↗ okay and um

13:25 ↗ have there been any

13:26 ↗ need for

13:28 ↗ the board to deal with customer service

13:30 ↗ or complaint issues um in the last

13:32 ↗ couple years no i mean the main issue

13:35 ↗ that we had during kovid was internet

13:37 ↗ and the cable tv commission just does

13:40 ↗ not regulate the internet we cannot

13:42 ↗ regulate the internet now we reached out

13:44 ↗ directly to comcast during that time and

13:47 ↗ um we worked with them city staff worked

13:50 ↗ with them and they were as responsive

13:51 ↗ they were fairly responsive it was a

13:53 ↗ long haul i don't know if you remember

13:55 ↗ but it was it was tough we had some

13:57 ↗ areas in squawk and montro that had a

13:59 ↗ really hard time

14:00 ↗ but we worked with comcast and and uh

14:03 ↗ the cable providers and got and got it

14:05 ↗ fixed but the cable tv commission was

14:07 ↗ not involved in that process at all

14:09 ↗ right so you just said something

14:11 ↗ interesting um so it's not cable per se

14:13 ↗ it's cable television it's cable

14:15 ↗ television okay great yeah thank you

14:19 ↗ councilmember michelle did you have any

14:21 ↗ questions before we move to the next

14:23 ↗ facet of this presentation

14:25 ↗ i i do have a question if that's okay

14:28 ↗ can you hear me all right yep

14:31 ↗ okay uh tim last night uh at last

14:34 ↗ night's council meeting we we did have

14:36 ↗ uh some testimony

14:38 ↗ and uh which i appreciated very much but

14:41 ↗ um the

14:42 ↗ um

14:44 ↗ commentator uh

14:46 ↗ said that there are places around the

14:47 ↗ country that are losing their cable tv

14:50 ↗ stations

14:51 ↗ um and that we needed to keep an eye on

14:53 ↗ that so my question for you is has there

14:56 ↗ been any indication at all that

14:58 ↗ in the area or

15:00 ↗ you know in your in your knowledge

15:02 ↗ of

15:03 ↗ communities losing their cable tv

15:05 ↗ stations

15:08 ↗ not that i know of all the local

15:10 ↗ cities all still have their cable

15:12 ↗ channels

15:14 ↗ they haven't removed them and um and and

15:17 ↗ to be honest we are the only city in our

15:20 ↗ area that has a cable tv commission that

15:22 ↗ i have knowledge of

15:24 ↗ but yes but there is no threat of losing

15:27 ↗ channels that i've noticed locally at

15:28 ↗ all

15:30 ↗ uh thank you very much

15:33 ↗ did you have a follow-on question

15:36 ↗ uh no i did not thank you and i think

15:38 ↗ city administrator would like to add a

15:40 ↗ comment

15:41 ↗ uh yes thank you committee chair members

15:43 ↗ of the committee a little bit more

15:44 ↗ information from my experience

15:47 ↗ what some communities are finding is

15:49 ↗ that their local government access

15:50 ↗ channels currently are on good channels

15:53 ↗ they are low in the spectrum um and what

15:56 ↗ some cable providers are doing is you

15:58 ↗ move from 21 to 2021 um and so there

16:02 ↗ have been communities that have been

16:04 ↗ concerned that yes the channel continues

16:06 ↗ to exist but it's extraordinarily hard

16:08 ↗ to find

16:09 ↗ so

16:09 ↗ i would think that

16:12 ↗ again as tim has said the technology has

16:14 ↗ kind of changed i think it's less of an

16:15 ↗ issue but certainly a few years ago

16:18 ↗ communities were losing their position

16:20 ↗ and again many communities also uh use

16:23 ↗ the cable company at one point for

16:25 ↗ studio

16:26 ↗ facilities for technical support all

16:28 ↗ that has gone away throughout the

16:30 ↗ country so again as tim has mentioned

16:32 ↗ we're in i think a very good spot to

16:34 ↗ continue video programming and i think

16:36 ↗ the administration's feeling is that

16:39 ↗ with with dedicated staff good equipment

16:42 ↗ part-time staff as needed uh for the

16:44 ↗ production of video because certainly

16:46 ↗ not only do we do the meetings we do

16:48 ↗ things with social media i think that's

16:49 ↗ all very right and appropriate but when

16:51 ↗ there are customer complaints uh staff

16:54 ↗ has those uh

16:55 ↗ connections that really are separate and

16:57 ↗ apart from the commission so that's why

16:59 ↗ we're here this evening recommending

17:01 ↗ that we sunset the commission

17:03 ↗ thank you state administrator bob quits

17:05 ↗ uh so there are three parts to this id

17:08 ↗ and we're going to continue on with the

17:09 ↗ presentation and questions and again we

17:11 ↗ will take public comment uh when we

17:13 ↗ transition from presentations and q a

17:16 ↗ into

17:18 ↗ deliberation thank you for your time

17:26 ↗ and i just have a few more quick slides

17:28 ↗ here that i'll move through

17:31 ↗ um so as i mentioned the other board

17:33 ↗ that uh we would like to take a look at

17:35 ↗ in the coming months is the cemetery

17:37 ↗ board

17:38 ↗ we have not done the the thorough

17:41 ↗ background and research that tim just

17:43 ↗ shared with you on the cable tv

17:45 ↗ commission but we do feel that because

17:47 ↗ of our robust park board and our robust

17:50 ↗ parks department that it's worth

17:52 ↗ evaluating whether the cemetery board

17:56 ↗ could somehow be consolidated

17:58 ↗ i think at a minimum it's a healthy

18:00 ↗ thing to look at the scope of any board

18:03 ↗ it looks as if the cemetery board scope

18:06 ↗ was last revised in

18:08 ↗ 1983

18:10 ↗ so what we are proposing is that the

18:13 ↗ cemetery board be tasked with looking

18:16 ↗ into

18:17 ↗ their role more specifically

18:19 ↗ sort of reviewing their current scope to

18:22 ↗ see if it's actually what they are doing

18:24 ↗ in practice and whether having a

18:26 ↗ dedicated cemetery board is indeed still

18:30 ↗ critical

18:31 ↗ this board is also having some

18:33 ↗ recruitment challenges that it has over

18:36 ↗ time and is currently

18:38 ↗ so again that is our recommendation we

18:41 ↗ would be returning

18:42 ↗ let me

18:44 ↗ move to the next slide here we're

18:46 ↗ proposing that the cemetery board take

18:47 ↗ the rest of 2022 to

18:50 ↗ sort of

18:52 ↗ carry out some some research and

18:54 ↗ evaluation provide a recommendation to

18:57 ↗ the mayor and we would be bringing that

18:59 ↗ recommendation to this committee in

19:01 ↗ early 2023 prior to the annual

19:04 ↗ recruitment

19:05 ↗ of the boards and commissions

19:08 ↗ and then the third part of our question

19:10 ↗ to you tonight was just whether there

19:12 ↗ were other areas that the committee felt

19:14 ↗ uh the administration should be taking a

19:17 ↗ closer look at this is just um just a

19:19 ↗ visual display of our other boards and

19:22 ↗ commissions

19:23 ↗ that are currently serving

19:27 ↗ thank you and i'll ask if any of my

19:28 ↗ fellow council members have questions at

19:31 ↗ this point

19:32 ↗ you council member ray

19:34 ↗ thanks um

19:36 ↗ chair martz um

19:39 ↗ what does the cemetery board do

19:42 ↗ so the the cemetery board i probably

19:45 ↗ won't hit every point here but the

19:47 ↗ cemetery board is tasked with looking at

19:49 ↗ potential expansion of the cemetery

19:51 ↗ which could include acquiring land

19:55 ↗ it is also tasked with looking at use of

19:57 ↗ the existing land that the cemetery

20:00 ↗ occupies so sort of maximizing or

20:03 ↗ enhancing

20:05 ↗ what's there currently they

20:08 ↗ review use of the cemetery fund dollars

20:12 ↗ they provide

20:15 ↗ management

20:16 ↗ guidelines

20:18 ↗ of the cemetery so uh certain

20:21 ↗ requirements for the location uh or not

20:24 ↗ the location but

20:26 ↗ the uh

20:29 ↗ what's the word i want to use it's not

20:30 ↗ the landscaping the maintenance and care

20:33 ↗ of the area around the grave so they

20:35 ↗ have a document that they review and

20:38 ↗ approve i mean is filed with the city

20:40 ↗ clerk's office so those are some of

20:42 ↗ their key responsibilities jeff is also

20:44 ↗ here if i've wildly missed something but

20:46 ↗ i think that's a decent summation

20:50 ↗ super thank you

20:54 ↗ councilmember g michelle do you have any

20:55 ↗ questions

20:57 ↗ no questions chairman

20:59 ↗ i have a question

21:01 ↗ in listing off the roles and

21:03 ↗ responsibilities of the cemetery board

21:07 ↗ the public may not know but we have

21:10 ↗ we have a partnership program with a

21:12 ↗ local funeral home

21:14 ↗ around low-cost uh access to the

21:17 ↗ cemetery and this was something that i

21:19 ↗ personally

21:21 ↗ experienced in minnesota when my mother

21:23 ↗ passed away

21:24 ↗ oh gosh wow uh

21:26 ↗ 14 years ago now

21:28 ↗ and it can be extraordinarily expensive

21:30 ↗ and so we have we have this partnership

21:33 ↗ does the cemetery is the cemetery board

21:35 ↗ involved in managing that partnership

21:39 ↗ well i will mention to you as you just

21:41 ↗ touched on that they are responsible to

21:42 ↗ review the fees and i am familiar with

21:45 ↗ the burial assistance program i believe

21:47 ↗ that action involved tasking the city to

21:49 ↗ work with flintoffs directly um to

21:52 ↗ to develop and manage that program so it

21:55 ↗ doesn't sound like they are directly

21:57 ↗ involved

21:58 ↗ it's being run through the parks

22:00 ↗ department

22:04 ↗ hey good evening chair and other members

22:06 ↗ jeff watling parks and community

22:08 ↗ services director tish is correct the

22:10 ↗ the burial assistance program is

22:12 ↗ overseeing directly from the parks

22:14 ↗ department and flintoffs through our

22:15 ↗ management agreement that council

22:17 ↗ adopted a couple years ago

22:19 ↗ thank you that's very helpful

22:22 ↗ so

22:23 ↗ uh there not being any other questions

22:26 ↗ before we move to deliberation on this

22:28 ↗ id and what we want to recommend back to

22:30 ↗ the full council

22:31 ↗ i would like to offer an opportunity if

22:33 ↗ any members of the public either

22:35 ↗ physically present with us right now or

22:37 ↗ online would like to speak to this issue

22:39 ↗ before we deliberate now would be the

22:41 ↗ time to come to the lectern or indicate

22:43 ↗ so online

22:45 ↗ clerk do we have any indication of

22:47 ↗ anyone wishing to speak to this issue

22:51 ↗ chair marks we don't have anybody online

22:52 ↗ that has indicated a desire to speak on

22:54 ↗ this topic

22:56 ↗ all right well uh let's start with

22:59 ↗ question one

23:01 ↗ should we

23:02 ↗ recommend that the council dissolve the

23:04 ↗ cable tv

23:06 ↗ commission council member right no all

23:09 ↗ alpine first um i think that um the

23:12 ↗ cable commission played a vital role in

23:15 ↗ the early days of cable television and

23:17 ↗ we all remember those days when you had

23:19 ↗ no reception in the valley

23:22 ↗ i think that

23:24 ↗ it's been overtaken by events um it

23:26 ↗ seems like all of the functions and

23:28 ↗ features that it was intended to perform

23:31 ↗ are performed quite admirably by city

23:32 ↗ staff

23:34 ↗ and i think the biggest thing um

23:36 ↗ is would we lose our channel and i don't

23:38 ↗ see how having a commission has any

23:40 ↗ bearing on whether or not we would uh

23:41 ↗ have a channel we still have an

23:43 ↗ opportunity to influence our cable

23:45 ↗ companies

23:46 ↗ even without a citizen commission so um

23:49 ↗ i i see no reason to

23:52 ↗ retain it

23:54 ↗ at this time

23:55 ↗ councilmember jim michelle

23:59 ↗ uh i concur with uh councilmember ray

24:01 ↗ and

24:02 ↗ he said that very very well i think

24:05 ↗ the telling point for me

24:07 ↗ is the fact that we can't recruit anyone

24:10 ↗ to be on it and

24:12 ↗ um

24:13 ↗ that always says to me that

24:16 ↗ a commission or board's work is done

24:19 ↗ and the two members of the current

24:22 ↗ commission uh apparently agree with that

24:24 ↗ i also want to thank staff i thought it

24:26 ↗ was uh

24:28 ↗ the

24:30 ↗ conversation points were laid out very

24:32 ↗ very clearly and it was a good a good

24:34 ↗ piece of work uh to explain what was

24:37 ↗ going on so

24:38 ↗ i absolutely concur that we should

24:40 ↗ sunset that

24:42 ↗ commission

24:44 ↗ thank you and all plus one the the uh q

24:47 ↗ a the attached q a on the functions of

24:51 ↗ the cable commission and how those

24:53 ↗ functions would be managed by the city

24:55 ↗ was extremely helpful

24:56 ↗ um i i support this as well it's a

24:58 ↗ little frustrating for me because

25:01 ↗ the cable commission did a great job on

25:03 ↗ the on the task that they were assigned

25:05 ↗ 40 years ago

25:06 ↗ in the meantime we have a different

25:08 ↗ problem that they can't really help us

25:09 ↗ on which is data equity and the fact

25:12 ↗ that some parts of our city have

25:15 ↗ you know low cost extremely high

25:17 ↗ throughput data and other parts of our

25:19 ↗ city struggle

25:20 ↗ to get good data either

25:23 ↗ either terrestrially or

25:25 ↗ wireless but unfortunately that's beyond

25:27 ↗ the purview of this body uh i mean of

25:30 ↗ the cable commission but you know i for

25:33 ↗ one would like to

25:34 ↗ just mention

25:36 ↗ to the administration that i would like

25:37 ↗ it i would love at some point if we

25:38 ↗ could

25:40 ↗ have a conversation around data equity

25:42 ↗ and how to make sure that the whole city

25:44 ↗ enjoys the kind of uh

25:47 ↗ data access that the highlands have and

25:49 ↗ i i think talos says

25:51 ↗ i'm getting a i'm getting a maybe but

25:54 ↗ like like many things i i covet the

25:56 ↗ highlands and one of the ways that i

25:57 ↗ covet the highlands living over on

25:58 ↗ squawk is their data access so just as a

26:01 ↗ thought for the future

26:03 ↗ um

26:04 ↗ uh city administrator bob putz yes thank

26:07 ↗ you chair uh march just to remind the

26:09 ↗ committee that the council did fund uh a

26:13 ↗ some additional work on that very

26:15 ↗ subject in this your current year budget

26:17 ↗ and so we are thank you for that we have

26:19 ↗ gone out for an rfp uh there are firms

26:22 ↗ that help cities evaluate their uh

26:25 ↗ connectivity uh internet connectivity in

26:27 ↗ various neighborhoods and so i uh autumn

26:30 ↗ i don't know if you know the latest on

26:31 ↗ that

26:32 ↗ but i believe the rfp's out i don't

26:34 ↗ believe we have awarded it yet

26:36 ↗ so that will include a survey of all

26:38 ↗ residents a technical survey of the

26:40 ↗ infrastructure available and then

26:42 ↗ recommendations back to the city so that

26:43 ↗ was funded in the current year budget

26:45 ↗ and we hoped i think to come back to the

26:47 ↗ council probably in the fall

26:48 ↗ with additional information fall

26:51 ↗ late late in the year

26:53 ↗ but we're moving forward with that at

26:54 ↗ the council's direction thank you so

26:56 ↗ much and i apologize for having

26:57 ↗ forgotten that we

26:58 ↗ had done that

26:59 ↗ uh okay so it sounds like three thumbs

27:02 ↗ up uh for supporting the

27:03 ↗ administration's recommendation

27:05 ↗ uh question two i can't read it it's so

27:08 ↗ small on the screen

27:11 ↗ cemetery yes cemetery board right

27:14 ↗ um

27:15 ↗ let's start with council member g

27:16 ↗ michelle to mix it up

27:19 ↗ oh i'm sorry wait

27:20 ↗ uh did we oh no we already took sorry i

27:23 ↗ already took public comment i'm just i

27:24 ↗ just want to make sure yeah nobody had

27:26 ↗ commented on any of these three sorry uh

27:29 ↗ council member to michelle

27:31 ↗ thank you chairman um

27:33 ↗ so with regard to the cemetery board i

27:37 ↗ support the idea of asking the board to

27:39 ↗ review and offer a suggested path

27:42 ↗ forward

27:43 ↗ which might include sunsetting i i need

27:46 ↗ to say that when i was first elected to

27:47 ↗ the council i had a goal of visiting

27:50 ↗ every board in commission during my

27:52 ↗ first year in office and it turned out i

27:54 ↗ didn't meet that goal because of covid

27:56 ↗ but one of the boards i did get to visit

27:58 ↗ was the cemetery board

28:00 ↗ i was really impressed by the amount of

28:03 ↗ knowledge and caring expressed by the

28:05 ↗ members at that time

28:08 ↗ we we remember that the hillside

28:10 ↗ cemetery contains a lot of our

28:12 ↗ community's history

28:14 ↗ everybody on the board at that

28:15 ↗ particular time had a family or a

28:18 ↗ historic connection to the cemetery

28:21 ↗ uh i just felt like there was

28:23 ↗ you know a very very caring uh presence

28:26 ↗ in that in that board

28:28 ↗ and also it's uh it's

28:30 ↗ sad to think that it started in 1915

28:34 ↗ and here we are in 2021 thinking about

28:37 ↗ uh sun setting it but

28:39 ↗ um

28:40 ↗ i think it would be a really good

28:42 ↗ discussion for the cemetery board

28:43 ↗ members to have i'm wondering if we

28:45 ↗ could possibly do something that's a

28:47 ↗ little less than a commission but

28:49 ↗ possibly

28:51 ↗ a little bit more involved with

28:54 ↗ volunteer involvement or

28:56 ↗ just recognizing the historic importance

29:00 ↗ of that cemetery but i think that's a

29:02 ↗ discussion that the cemetery board

29:04 ↗ members could have

29:05 ↗ and uh come back to us with a productive

29:08 ↗ suggestion

29:09 ↗ um

29:10 ↗ and uh yeah this one this one was a

29:13 ↗ little bit more of a heart tug

29:15 ↗ uh in terms of discussing ending it so i

29:18 ↗ look forward to hearing the results of

29:20 ↗ that discussion thank you

29:22 ↗ thank you councilmember ray

29:26 ↗ thanks um i think the cemetery um is one

29:30 ↗ of the really

29:31 ↗ um unique things about issaquah that we

29:33 ↗ as a city have this

29:35 ↗ wonderful cemetery and i think it is

29:37 ↗ what it is because the cemetery board

29:39 ↗ over the years has nurtured it and

29:40 ↗ guided it and i remember a couple years

29:42 ↗ ago when we were looking at rate

29:43 ↗ increases and the thoughtful

29:45 ↗ thoughtful thinking

29:47 ↗ that the cemetery board did to

29:49 ↗ put together a strategy for moving

29:51 ↗ forward with

29:53 ↗ rates was was very helpful

29:55 ↗ i think there's a role to be played i

29:57 ↗ don't know that maybe we need a cemetery

29:59 ↗ board

30:01 ↗ but we definitely need

30:03 ↗ citizen direction and involvement

30:06 ↗ in guiding that and so my thinking is

30:08 ↗ the parks board would probably

30:10 ↗ um if we were to um dissolve the

30:13 ↗ cemetery board the parks board

30:16 ↗ could pick up

30:17 ↗ that role because i think it's vital i

30:19 ↗ think it's important and we're very

30:21 ↗ lucky to have a municipal cemetery here

30:22 ↗ in in in this town and i um it's it's

30:25 ↗ weird um but i really love cemeteries i

30:28 ↗ think they're amazing places and my only

30:30 ↗ disappointment is i after i was off

30:32 ↗ council i was kind of hoping for an

30:33 ↗ appointment to the cemetery board so i'm

30:36 ↗ a little bit

30:37 ↗ clumped if it goes away between then and

30:39 ↗ now but um i think asking them how to

30:41 ↗ move it forward and then asking them if

30:44 ↗ there's a way to integrate it with the

30:46 ↗ park sport would be very helpful

30:49 ↗ yeah i mean i think this is what you're

30:51 ↗ hearing from all three of us is the

30:54 ↗ uh recognition of the importance of our

30:56 ↗ cemetery and

30:57 ↗ the request that as the as the cemetery

31:00 ↗ board looks at its options that we see

31:03 ↗ about how to make sure that that

31:05 ↗ unique special character of our cemetery

31:08 ↗ is continuing to be maintained i love

31:10 ↗ our cemetery i have a good friend who's

31:12 ↗ buried there um i sort of think i hope

31:15 ↗ to be buried there myself at some point

31:17 ↗ um it's just it's it's wonderful and

31:20 ↗ that i love that we have our ongoing

31:22 ↗ program for uh

31:24 ↗ folks who need help

31:25 ↗ so that you know at the end of life

31:27 ↗ families aren't horribly burdened um

31:30 ↗ and so uh i'm confident that the

31:33 ↗ cemetery board will take that into

31:35 ↗ account as they look at their options

31:37 ↗ going forward so it sounds like three

31:39 ↗ thumbs up on that recommendation

31:42 ↗ uh and then evaluating potential sunset

31:45 ↗ or consolidation of any other existing

31:47 ↗ boards or commissions councilmember ray

31:50 ↗ i i looked at the list i didn't see

31:52 ↗ anything else that like leaped off the

31:53 ↗ page when i did look at the website it

31:55 ↗ still has the recovery task force as a

31:58 ↗ thing um i don't know if that's a border

32:00 ↗ commission it wasn't on your list so i

32:02 ↗ don't know if it still has a mission and

32:03 ↗ a role but i you know think that's time

32:06 ↗ to start looking at that and i think

32:07 ↗ maybe we're through recovery um but

32:09 ↗ beyond that um i i think the 12 that you

32:11 ↗ presented still perform a vital role

32:15 ↗ council member g michelle

32:18 ↗ um thank you

32:20 ↗ chair martz um

32:22 ↗ i did have some

32:24 ↗ when i looked at the list

32:26 ↗ i'm looking thinking about the future of

32:28 ↗ the sister cities commission

32:30 ↗ and i noticed that that was mentioned as

32:32 ↗ a possible

32:34 ↗ commission that might we might want to

32:36 ↗ review

32:37 ↗ um

32:38 ↗ i was a delegate to sunderl norway back

32:42 ↗ in 1992 when we established the sister

32:45 ↗ city relationship and the commission at

32:48 ↗ that time uh was very active and

32:51 ↗ um and of course then we

32:54 ↗ had the uh addition of a moroccan

32:58 ↗ relationship and that was very active

33:00 ↗ but it seems like it's been a long time

33:03 ↗ since we've had any official activities

33:06 ↗ between either of our two sister cities

33:09 ↗ and any outreach to other possible

33:14 ↗ relationships now

33:16 ↗ last night's council meeting was kind of

33:18 ↗ eye-opening i thought it was wonderful

33:20 ↗ that we had an international exchange

33:22 ↗ with representatives from japan

33:25 ↗ and so

33:26 ↗ possibly there is a future there but

33:28 ↗ again i think it's worth a discussion

33:31 ↗ as to whether the current configuration

33:35 ↗ is really

33:36 ↗ what we want to go forward with and

33:39 ↗ i'm not even clear about whether uh the

33:42 ↗ sister cities that we have if we still

33:44 ↗ have relationships with with anyone in

33:46 ↗ those cities so

33:48 ↗ um i think this is absolutely overdue

33:51 ↗ for a discussion thank you

33:56 ↗ yeah i mean i

33:57 ↗ i would i would rather see the sister

33:59 ↗ city commission re-energized rather than

34:02 ↗ you know dismantled but i mean i think

34:04 ↗ there's probably a question on how they

34:07 ↗ i mean i'd be interested to know how

34:08 ↗ they feel about how things are

34:10 ↗ proceeding i think there's been more

34:12 ↗ with chef xiao in morocco in the last 10

34:15 ↗ 15 years than there have been with the

34:16 ↗ other sister cities

34:19 ↗ but but even that has there hasn't been

34:21 ↗ much in in the last decade i think there

34:23 ↗ may have been some private uh groups

34:25 ↗ that did some work with chefchaouen but

34:28 ↗ anyhow um so i guess i'm i'm with that

34:31 ↗ as well i i would be entrusted to ask

34:34 ↗ the sister city commission

34:36 ↗ if they felt that there was a potential

34:38 ↗ for a different direction for them to

34:40 ↗ take i guess would be mine and i see

34:43 ↗ heads

34:44 ↗ acknowledging from the other council

34:46 ↗ members on the committee so clerk geezer

34:49 ↗ do you have the information you wanted

34:51 ↗ from us on this item

34:53 ↗ yes i certainly do and we will be

34:55 ↗ planning to bring the cable tv ordinance

34:58 ↗ to the full city council at the july

35:00 ↗ 18th council meeting thank you so much

35:03 ↗ thank you for for the presentation and

35:05 ↗ and all the information with that we're

35:07 ↗ going to move to id 1169 human services

35:10 ↗ strategic plan grants program and

35:12 ↗ emergency housing options monica

35:14 ↗ negrilla with human services is going to

35:16 ↗ be speaking with us

35:19 ↗ as well as

35:20 ↗ others

35:21 ↗ mr chair before we move on to the next

35:23 ↗ item

35:25 ↗ tim smith is in the audience and

35:28 ↗ tim doesn't come to council meetings at

35:29 ↗ least doesn't come as a participant very

35:31 ↗ often uh and i really want to just take

35:34 ↗ a moment to thank him for his leadership

35:36 ↗ uh certainly through everything we've

35:38 ↗ done with the pandemic and then the move

35:40 ↗ back into this room um

35:42 ↗ you know we as we all know had a sort of

35:45 ↗ a turn on a very quick dime to continue

35:48 ↗ to produce council meetings uh through

35:51 ↗ his leadership and the work with our it

35:53 ↗ staff we made that a transition pretty

35:55 ↗ seamlessly uh when we moved back into

35:58 ↗ this room

35:59 ↗ over the last few months you know he

36:01 ↗ helped us be very strategic

36:03 ↗ really understanding that this is a

36:04 ↗ television studio as much as it is a

36:07 ↗ community meeting room and i think

36:09 ↗ you've noticed although i don't know

36:10 ↗ that we've ever talked about it

36:12 ↗ the lights

36:14 ↗ in the room have been upgraded a little

36:16 ↗ bit we've cleaned things up so that

36:19 ↗ the whole general appearance looks

36:20 ↗ better he's also worked very closely

36:22 ↗ with the court because of course the day

36:24 ↗ job for this room is of the court

36:28 ↗ and they have been a hybrid throughout

36:30 ↗ and are one of the few

36:32 ↗ municipal courts in the state of

36:33 ↗ washington to have done that all really

36:35 ↗ with tim's leadership so before we move

36:37 ↗ on to the next item mr chair members of

36:39 ↗ the committee i just wanted to take an

36:40 ↗ opportunity since he's here uh not

36:42 ↗ running around connecting cables and

36:45 ↗ making sure everything's working

36:46 ↗ properly here on the more of the policy

36:47 ↗ side of what he does and certainly uh

36:50 ↗ thanks go to him for the work with

36:52 ↗ comcast over the pandemic and the issues

36:55 ↗ there

36:56 ↗ he's cultivated the relationships we

36:57 ↗ need as a community um you know that all

37:00 ↗ was done uh based on this kind of pokken

37:04 ↗ uh they had no contractual obligation

37:07 ↗ nothing we could hold over them other

37:08 ↗ than saying we had residents who needed

37:10 ↗ better service and tim help makes that

37:12 ↗ all happen so thank you for letting me

37:14 ↗ just spend a moment to recognize him

37:16 ↗ before he runs off with the rest of his

37:18 ↗ evening

37:19 ↗ [Applause]

37:25 ↗ thank you he's also one of the genuinely

37:27 ↗ nicest people that i know i don't recall

37:29 ↗ ever seeing tim in a bad mood and i've

37:31 ↗ been working with him for many many many

37:33 ↗ years

37:37 ↗ ms nigrila

37:38 ↗ thank you good evening council members

37:40 ↗ and um i have an internal joke with him

37:43 ↗ i always ask him before meetings to make

37:45 ↗ us look smart and pretty so i always

37:47 ↗ appreciate that

37:50 ↗ good evening thank you so much for

37:52 ↗ having us i'm monica negrilla human

37:54 ↗ services manager here at the city

37:56 ↗ we bring a few human services items for

37:59 ↗ you tonight for discussion

38:02 ↗ and we have a few guests with us

38:04 ↗ from the king county regional

38:06 ↗ homelessness authority kcrha

38:09 ↗ we have online alexis mercedes rink

38:12 ↗ she's a sub regional planning manager

38:15 ↗ and then we also have mallory evan

38:17 ↗ she's the east king county sub-regional

38:19 ↗ planning manager

38:21 ↗ in addition we have human services staff

38:23 ↗ here in the room and online

38:26 ↗ we have a couple of human services

38:27 ↗ commissioners and as always our fearless

38:30 ↗ leader jeff watling parks and community

38:32 ↗ services director so we have a nice big

38:35 ↗ crowd tonight we appreciate that

38:38 ↗ so um beginning with the

38:40 ↗ two of the items that we would like your

38:42 ↗ feedback on tonight

38:44 ↗ one is um

38:46 ↗ a returning item to you tonight i

38:49 ↗ apologize that i'm trying to move with

38:51 ↗ my uh slides

38:53 ↗ so one is a returning item to you um

38:56 ↗ following your recommendation from the

38:58 ↗ council study session in april

39:00 ↗ discussing the human services grants

39:02 ↗ funding allocations and then second we

39:05 ↗ are introducing a new item for you

39:07 ↗ tonight and we are proposing a pilot for

39:10 ↗ an emergency housing program

39:12 ↗ and we would love to explore that with

39:14 ↗ you

39:16 ↗ and so you might ask why are we bringing

39:18 ↗ these two items together um we really

39:20 ↗ believe that um they both fall under the

39:23 ↗ broader framework of human services

39:25 ↗ initiatives and so really it seemed

39:27 ↗ disingenuous for us not to bring them

39:29 ↗ together um so um with that we would

39:32 ↗ like to start with the human services

39:34 ↗ grants funding allocations with your

39:37 ↗ permission we can stop at any point for

39:39 ↗ questions then we'll move to the second

39:41 ↗ one and hopefully deliberations at the

39:43 ↗ end if that's okay with you chair mart

39:45 ↗ sounds great okay thank you so much

39:48 ↗ so while there are multiple variables

39:50 ↗ and options um we have a few more

39:53 ↗ specific questions for you tonight

39:56 ↗ regarding the human services grants our

39:58 ↗ main question is are you supportive of

40:00 ↗ having a formula for the human services

40:02 ↗ grants funding allocations

40:05 ↗ for the pilot emergency housing program

40:08 ↗ again just simply is this committee

40:10 ↗ supportive of piloting this program

40:12 ↗ where we can go and further explore come

40:14 ↗ back to you with additional information

40:17 ↗ or would you like to propose something

40:19 ↗ different would you like to us to do

40:21 ↗ some more research do something

40:22 ↗ different

40:23 ↗ or lastly

40:25 ↗ what type of information should we bring

40:27 ↗ back to you

40:28 ↗ especially when discussing these two

40:30 ↗ items

40:33 ↗ next just to provide a little bit of a

40:35 ↗ context and placing these two items

40:37 ↗ within the human services strategic plan

40:40 ↗ you may recall from a few months ago

40:42 ↗ when we were discussing the

40:44 ↗ strategic plan

40:46 ↗ we categorized the initiatives based on

40:48 ↗ the funding needs into three buckets

40:51 ↗ one we had initiatives that we believe

40:53 ↗ that we can implement with existing

40:55 ↗ human services staffing these would be

40:57 ↗ connections that we provide to residents

40:59 ↗ supporting non-profits providing

41:01 ↗ technical assistance

41:03 ↗ perhaps conducting trainings and

41:05 ↗ educational sessions and then we had a

41:08 ↗ second bucket with initiatives that

41:10 ↗ could be funded through the human

41:11 ↗ services grants and then third we

41:14 ↗ identified a few initiatives

41:16 ↗ that would require additional

41:19 ↗ funds one-time or ongoing funds so

41:21 ↗ that's why tonight we would like to

41:23 ↗ address those last two

41:26 ↗ buckets

41:27 ↗ in particular the human services grants

41:29 ↗ and then

41:30 ↗ a new program project that requires

41:32 ↗ additional funds

41:35 ↗ and so on to the human services program

41:39 ↗ what we hope to do as as we are

41:40 ↗ returning to you

41:42 ↗ from the study session in april

41:45 ↗ we would love to review and address the

41:46 ↗ feedback that we received at that study

41:49 ↗ session

41:50 ↗ we would like them to discuss the

41:52 ↗ formula that we were proposing for you

41:54 ↗ tonight and then also discuss the

41:56 ↗ alignment with the other

41:57 ↗ investments

41:59 ↗ so on your screen here you have a

42:01 ↗ summary of

42:03 ↗ what our understanding is of the

42:04 ↗ feedback that we received back in april

42:07 ↗ um so from identifying funding gaps and

42:10 ↗ needs and opportunities to make a

42:12 ↗ difference

42:14 ↗ to really

42:15 ↗ prioritizing local services in the

42:17 ↗ community

42:18 ↗ considering increasing funding and

42:20 ↗ average grant levels

42:22 ↗ to

42:24 ↗ focusing on the goals what we did again

42:26 ↗ we just

42:27 ↗ tried our best to understand and

42:29 ↗ summarize all the feedback that we

42:31 ↗ received from you

42:32 ↗ and

42:33 ↗ we try to organize them in two buckets

42:37 ↗ items that we can work on and address

42:40 ↗ with the human services commission and

42:42 ↗ these would be again just ensuring that

42:44 ↗ gaps from the strategic plan are

42:45 ↗ considered prioritize local services

42:49 ↗ identify programs that yield more

42:51 ↗ strategic results

42:53 ↗ and a bucket of items that we would love

42:54 ↗ to discuss with you tonight

42:57 ↗ and those include

42:58 ↗ in particular presenting information on

43:01 ↗ other jurisdictions

43:03 ↗ proposing a formula for consideration

43:06 ↗ discussing funding needs

43:09 ↗ and then again including

43:12 ↗ other human services items for

43:14 ↗ consideration

43:16 ↗ so i'm going to go down the list

43:18 ↗ starting with information on neighboring

43:20 ↗ jurisdiction

43:22 ↗ we certainly reached how to

43:25 ↗ our neighboring

43:26 ↗ cities but we also reached out to all 16

43:29 ↗ cities that we are in the collaborative

43:30 ↗ with the human services grants

43:33 ↗ what you have on the screen is just an

43:34 ↗ example of

43:36 ↗ what processes and some of the cities

43:38 ↗ have and

43:39 ↗ for example the city of kirkland and

43:41 ↗ sammamish they don't have a specific set

43:44 ↗ process they usually re-evaluate every

43:46 ↗ two years

43:48 ↗ their funding what the needs are

43:51 ↗ they look at

43:53 ↗ what resources exist and they might

43:55 ↗ allocate one-time finding need funding

43:58 ↗ funding

44:00 ↗ the city of belvin redmond they have a

44:03 ↗ more

44:03 ↗ [Music]

44:04 ↗ organized process

44:06 ↗ that includes typically a

44:09 ↗ cpi increase

44:11 ↗ and the population growth percentage

44:14 ↗ and then the city of snoqualmie and

44:17 ↗ actually shoreline as well

44:19 ↗ they assign a portion of their general

44:22 ↗ funds to human services

44:24 ↗ this last process we learned that

44:26 ↗ actually

44:29 ↗ some other cities

44:30 ↗ are trying and recently

44:34 ↗ have moved away from assigning um a

44:37 ↗ percentage of their general funds to

44:38 ↗ human services

44:40 ↗ because the

44:41 ↗ what they learned was that in times of

44:43 ↗ crisis when general fund dollars um

44:46 ↗ decrease that's typically when human

44:48 ↗ services needs are higher and so then

44:51 ↗ then what that would impact human

44:53 ↗ services

44:54 ↗ allocations

44:56 ↗ so that's just a summary of examples of

44:58 ↗ what other jurisdictions are doing

45:01 ↗ similar to that we also looked at the

45:04 ↗ per capita locations for the cities in

45:06 ↗ the region and there's quite a large

45:09 ↗ range and variety

45:10 ↗ we have cities that that have a five

45:13 ↗ dollar per capita allocation and then we

45:15 ↗ have cities that go up in the mid 20s

45:17 ↗ upper 20s so our city it's really kind

45:20 ↗ of like in the middle um

45:23 ↗ and then also comparing our city size

45:25 ↗ with other cities again we are we are

45:27 ↗ kind of in that mixture of um

45:29 ↗ in the middle

45:30 ↗ um certainly i can pause for more

45:34 ↗ questions as as you might have them but

45:36 ↗ i'm going to move forward to

45:39 ↗ share with you

45:41 ↗ the really the the

45:44 ↗ one formula that we would like to

45:46 ↗ propose to you tonight which includes um

45:50 ↗ adding a cpi consumer price index um

45:56 ↗ to to our existing baseline

45:58 ↗ especially

46:01 ↗ now when the inflation

46:03 ↗ rate is is so high

46:05 ↗ this may be important to look at we also

46:08 ↗ understand that the cpi

46:10 ↗ may fluctuate from year to year

46:13 ↗ as you can see

46:14 ↗ on the screen and in your report right

46:16 ↗ now it's an at all time

46:18 ↗ high

46:20 ↗ certainly we looked at other formulas we

46:23 ↗ would like to present this really as a

46:25 ↗ mid-step or as an intermediate step

46:29 ↗ until we

46:31 ↗ gather more information from

46:33 ↗ the human services strategic planning

46:35 ↗ implementation as our city has been

46:37 ↗ moving more and more to gather data and

46:39 ↗ the metrics

46:41 ↗ we would love to

46:44 ↗ perhaps

46:46 ↗ start with with this and then consider

46:48 ↗ and look into once we have more data

46:51 ↗ to to consider other options

46:54 ↗ some of the other options that we looked

46:56 ↗ into include um adding a population

47:00 ↗ growth as well um that for for issaquah

47:03 ↗ for now it's a 0.7

47:05 ↗ percent for example but we also looked

47:08 ↗ at something maybe unique that no other

47:10 ↗ cities are doing and that would be

47:12 ↗ let's say if we maintain the same per

47:14 ↗ capita level uh we could consider adding

47:17 ↗ an increase

47:18 ↗ um just for a certain population like

47:21 ↗ for example if our poverty lady rate

47:23 ↗ it's 7.7

47:25 ↗ we can consider a higher per capita rate

47:29 ↗ for that population but we don't have

47:30 ↗ enough data and it would be nice for us

47:32 ↗ to continue um with the human services

47:34 ↗ strategic planning implementation gather

47:36 ↗ more data before we go in depth on those

47:40 ↗ options certainly those are options

47:43 ↗ and then last but not least of course we

47:45 ↗ cannot talk about a formula without

47:47 ↗ talking about the needs and rightfully

47:49 ↗ so you brought them up at the last

47:51 ↗ meeting as well

47:52 ↗ and and here i would like to make the

47:54 ↗ distinction between the community needs

47:56 ↗ and the funding needs right we identify

47:58 ↗ the community needs in the human

48:00 ↗ services strategic plan but that's quite

48:02 ↗ different from from the funding needs

48:05 ↗ and

48:07 ↗ certainly

48:08 ↗ there are multiple ways to go about

48:10 ↗ identifying what is the funding needs

48:12 ↗ and i think the more we look deeper the

48:15 ↗ more we realize uh just as you

48:17 ↗ rightfully also mentioned

48:19 ↗ in april is that as a local government

48:22 ↗ it would be very very difficult for us

48:23 ↗ to make a real impact if you look at the

48:26 ↗ real needs and funding needs even just

48:28 ↗ for example if we look at the wage gap

48:30 ↗ we would start probably at minimum 30

48:32 ↗ million dollar investment

48:34 ↗ to really make an impact so it would be

48:37 ↗ difficult for us as a small jurisdiction

48:39 ↗ unless again we leverage other resources

48:42 ↗ we look at what else is in the region

48:44 ↗ and so forth and so um

48:47 ↗ that's why

48:48 ↗ we would love as i mentioned let's

48:50 ↗ continue implementing the strategic plan

48:52 ↗ let's look for opportunities for us to

48:54 ↗ find

48:56 ↗ targeted funding and opportunities to

48:58 ↗ make impact

49:00 ↗ and go from there so that actually takes

49:03 ↗ me to i'm ready to continue with the

49:05 ↗ next uh item

49:07 ↗ it's a good segue but i will pause in

49:09 ↗ case there are questions here before

49:13 ↗ councilmember d michelle do you have any

49:15 ↗ questions at this point

49:17 ↗ i do not thank you

49:20 ↗ please please continue okay thank you so

49:22 ↗ much

49:25 ↗ so as mentioning we would love to look

49:27 ↗ for opportunities for targeted

49:29 ↗ investments and and opportunities to to

49:31 ↗ leverage resources and make an impact

49:34 ↗ this takes me to our second item and

49:36 ↗ that is piloting an emergency housing

49:39 ↗ program that we would like to propose to

49:41 ↗ you tonight

49:43 ↗ this is just a visual again on kind of

49:45 ↗ like where it falls within the human

49:47 ↗ services strategic plan

49:49 ↗ um

49:50 ↗ and so i think the first question you

49:52 ↗ might might be asking us is why this

49:54 ↗ project and why not uh why now right and

49:58 ↗ so i would love to start with the fact

50:00 ↗ that

50:01 ↗ we now have enough data to really

50:04 ↗ confidently say that this is an

50:06 ↗ identified need in our local community

50:09 ↗ as you may recall last year we

50:13 ↗ started a homeless outreach program

50:15 ↗ we hadn't we took the year and the

50:17 ↗ opportunity to really

50:19 ↗ dive deeper and learn

50:21 ↗ what's the face of homelessness in

50:22 ↗ issaquah

50:24 ↗ what are the real needs what are the

50:26 ↗ challenges so we have quite a few

50:28 ↗ information there

50:30 ↗ but in addition to that we also

50:33 ↗ identified a few opportunities

50:35 ↗ during the emergency

50:38 ↗ weather sheltering events we build a

50:40 ↗ really strong connection with our

50:41 ↗ partners at motel 6

50:44 ↗ they really understand the work that we

50:46 ↗ are doing

50:47 ↗ they understand this model they are very

50:49 ↗ supportive of us

50:50 ↗ in addition to that

50:52 ↗ we also identified timely opportunities

50:55 ↗ for certain funds and funding

50:57 ↗ options that i'm going to discuss in

50:59 ↗ just a minute

51:00 ↗ and then as the regional the regional

51:02 ↗ level we are always looking on how are

51:05 ↗ we aligned with other regional entities

51:08 ↗ and so in our collaboration with uh the

51:11 ↗ king county regional homelessness

51:12 ↗ authority um then we identified some

51:16 ↗ opportunities to collaborate there as

51:17 ↗ well so

51:19 ↗ um these are a few of the reasons why we

51:22 ↗ would love to bring this to you

51:25 ↗ tonight

51:26 ↗ and

51:27 ↗ with that

51:28 ↗ i'm going to pause a little bit to

51:30 ↗ invite

51:32 ↗ our

51:34 ↗ guests from kcrha

51:37 ↗ they would like to provide an update on

51:39 ↗ where they are

51:40 ↗ as a regional jurisdiction and um a

51:43 ↗ little bit about our collaboration with

51:45 ↗ them so

51:47 ↗ alexis mercedes rink and mallory welcome

51:53 ↗ hello

51:54 ↗ um so thankful to be with you all

51:56 ↗ tonight our apologies for not being

51:58 ↗ there in person i know we want to get

52:00 ↗ out there soon again to see you all um

52:02 ↗ but thank you so much for having us

52:03 ↗ tonight

52:04 ↗ my name is alexis mercedes rink i'm the

52:06 ↗ sub regional planning manager valerie do

52:08 ↗ you want to introduce yourself

52:10 ↗ absolutely good evening my name is

52:12 ↗ mallory van alma i am the east king

52:14 ↗ county sub-regional planning specialist

52:15 ↗ with kcrha thank you so much for

52:17 ↗ allowing us some space this evening

52:22 ↗ welcome thank you so much for being here

52:23 ↗ this evening

52:27 ↗ so i know that you've had an opportunity

52:29 ↗ to hear from kcra j in the past but this

52:32 ↗ is my first opportunity to interface

52:33 ↗ with you all so i just wanted to provide

52:36 ↗ a very high level overview of who we are

52:38 ↗ our foundational guiding principles

52:41 ↗ and and our governing mechanisms before

52:44 ↗ we shift into some pieces that are kind

52:46 ↗ of neatly woven into this proposed pilot

52:48 ↗ program that we're extremely excited

52:50 ↗ about the city of issaquah potentially

52:52 ↗ taking leadership on so

52:54 ↗ kcra jay's mission is to significantly

52:56 ↗ decrease the instant incidences of

52:59 ↗ homelessness throughout the entirety of

53:01 ↗ king county we do that by evoking equity

53:04 ↗ and social justice principles our work

53:06 ↗ is guided by our theory of change and

53:09 ↗ the theory of change is if we create a

53:11 ↗ homelessness response system that

53:13 ↗ centers customer voice or the voices of

53:15 ↗ the people with lived experience of

53:16 ↗ homelessness

53:17 ↗ then we will be able to focus on

53:19 ↗ responding to needs eliminating

53:21 ↗ inequities in order to end homelessness

53:23 ↗ or all

53:29 ↗ thank you

53:30 ↗ so our founding inner local agreement uh

53:34 ↗ from the city of seattle and king county

53:36 ↗ describes the role and scope and purpose

53:38 ↗ of kcrha is intent on unifying planning

53:42 ↗ and coordination of funding and services

53:43 ↗ for folks experiencing homelessness

53:46 ↗ oversight on policy and contract

53:48 ↗ management and performance management

53:49 ↗ and then we are also our regional

53:51 ↗ continuum of care we've assumed the

53:53 ↗ responsibility as the continuum of care

53:55 ↗ agency

53:56 ↗ receiving funding directly from the

53:58 ↗ department of housing and urban

53:59 ↗ development

54:01 ↗ to directly invest back into the

54:03 ↗ homelessness response system and get

54:04 ↗ folks the services and resources that

54:07 ↗ they need

54:08 ↗ we are also tasked with creating an

54:09 ↗ umbuds office which is a resource for

54:12 ↗ folks accessing the homelessness

54:14 ↗ response system for providers for people

54:16 ↗ in the community

54:18 ↗ a broad resource to ensure that we are

54:20 ↗ remaining accountable on our work and

54:23 ↗ that folks have a very clear pathway

54:25 ↗ to elevate concerns as they are either

54:27 ↗ personally navigating or working

54:29 ↗ alongside someone who is navigating the

54:31 ↗ system or observing

54:33 ↗ some hang-up or bottleneck or concern

54:35 ↗ within the homeless response system

54:37 ↗ we're also tasked with establishing

54:40 ↗ clear metrics and milestones for

54:42 ↗ measuring the success of a

54:44 ↗ transformation of a region-wide

54:46 ↗ homelessness response system ensuring

54:48 ↗ that all of that is uh

54:50 ↗ maintaining accountability and

54:51 ↗ transparency and then finally we have

54:53 ↗ three different governing entities so we

54:56 ↗ have our governing committee uh this is

54:58 ↗ 11 members

55:01 ↗ we have eastside representation um but

55:03 ↗ they are essentially in charge of our

55:05 ↗ high level guidance so approving our

55:07 ↗ budgets holding our ceo accountable

55:11 ↗ and then we also have an implementation

55:13 ↗ board which functions quite similarly to

55:15 ↗ a board of directors

55:17 ↗ and then finally we have our coc our

55:19 ↗ continuum of care advisory board which

55:21 ↗ is comprised of providers

55:23 ↗ folks with lived experience and they are

55:25 ↗ really helping us

55:27 ↗ ensure that as the coc agency for the

55:29 ↗ region that we are doing the best work

55:31 ↗ that we can and holding us accountable

55:33 ↗ in that space as well

55:38 ↗ i think

55:39 ↗ next is

55:41 ↗ just a quick visual on what we do and

55:44 ↗ don't do

55:45 ↗ as a new agency recently launched

55:49 ↗ i think there's been

55:50 ↗ the need to just ensure clarity around

55:52 ↗ what kcra is and isn't involved in we're

55:56 ↗ closely partnered with the city of

55:57 ↗ seattle and with king county

55:59 ↗ but kcra j is not in the business of

56:02 ↗ housing capital and development on the

56:04 ↗ infrastructure side but we do manage all

56:06 ↗ of the continuum of care funded programs

56:09 ↗ including shelters and then all of the

56:11 ↗ programs you see here diversion rapid

56:13 ↗ rehousing the coordinated entry system

56:15 ↗ which is where folks

56:17 ↗ actually enter and are able to access

56:19 ↗ resources that meet their needs that the

56:21 ↗ best resources available that can

56:23 ↗ adequately meet their needs

56:25 ↗ we also manage the homelessness

56:26 ↗ management information system

56:28 ↗ which is a region-wide database of folks

56:31 ↗ that are accessing services

56:34 ↗ that are that are funded by us and also

56:36 ↗ participating in hmis

56:38 ↗ and we also manage outreach efforts uh

56:41 ↗ through certain providers across the

56:43 ↗ region so just a quick visual on what we

56:46 ↗ do and don't do

56:47 ↗ and if that i think that

56:49 ↗ i'm going to hand it over to alexis to

56:51 ↗ talk a bit about kind of our longer term

56:52 ↗ designing work

56:54 ↗ well thank you mallory and so we wanted

56:56 ↗ to talk about two uh longer-term

56:58 ↗ planning pieces and just uh starting

57:00 ↗ with the five-year plan and then going

57:02 ↗ into our proposed budget so we wanted to

57:04 ↗ preview a little bit of the work around

57:05 ↗ the five-year plan because it's likely

57:07 ↗ you'll be hearing some things

57:08 ↗ potentially in community especially

57:10 ↗ since this is a big focus area right now

57:13 ↗ within our founding legislation we have

57:15 ↗ a requirement to deliver upon a

57:20 ↗ there we go which really delivers upon

57:22 ↗ uh the high level vision for the agency

57:26 ↗ and so just to ground you into what

57:27 ↗ needs to be included in the five-year

57:29 ↗ plan we need to account for a theory of

57:31 ↗ change um which we uh luckily have one

57:34 ↗ already and that is centering the voices

57:36 ↗ of those with live experience so we can

57:38 ↗ check that box off

57:40 ↗ the second piece is around specific

57:42 ↗ measurable outcomes and goals so really

57:44 ↗ getting clear on what are our goals for

57:46 ↗ the next couple of years as a system

57:49 ↗ and also how are we going what are the

57:50 ↗ outcomes we're going to be looking for

57:52 ↗ the next pieces around some regional

57:54 ↗ planning activities we would love the

57:56 ↗ opportunity to come back and talk to you

57:57 ↗ all about how that work is shaping up

57:59 ↗ specifically um for the east side and so

58:01 ↗ we'd love to come in person and be able

58:03 ↗ to talk a little bit more about that

58:05 ↗ beyond tonight

58:07 ↗ and following the sub regional

58:09 ↗ activities piece

58:11 ↗ we have requirements to share

58:13 ↗ procurement processes we've had a team

58:15 ↗ working around equitable procurement

58:17 ↗ working in partnership with small

58:19 ↗ providers by and for community based

58:21 ↗ agencies um around

58:23 ↗ putting together an equitable

58:25 ↗ procurement process that would be

58:26 ↗ included in the five-year plan

58:28 ↗ um the next area is around consistent

58:31 ↗ consistent terms and conditions for

58:34 ↗ contracts um so getting really clear

58:36 ↗ around what um what is required by hud

58:39 ↗ that we need to report on what's

58:40 ↗ required by the state and the various

58:41 ↗ fund sources that we kind of manage and

58:43 ↗ also where's the room for flexibility

58:45 ↗ and how can we um create contracts that

58:48 ↗ are

58:49 ↗ able to uh be reasonably implemented

58:52 ↗ upon and have folks reporting um at a

58:55 ↗ reasonable level of information and

58:57 ↗ valuable information that helps us make

59:00 ↗ system level uh decisions

59:02 ↗ the next piece is tied to that and

59:03 ↗ that's really around consistent

59:04 ↗ standards for data collection monitoring

59:06 ↗ and evaluating our systems and program

59:08 ↗ performance um so really getting clear

59:11 ↗ on what kind of performance metrics and

59:13 ↗ things are we going to be looking at as

59:14 ↗ we know performance metrics drives uh

59:17 ↗ the activities and so this is a real

59:19 ↗ chance to reimagine and rebuild what um

59:21 ↗ how we evaluate success

59:23 ↗ um and the last piece um is kind of a

59:26 ↗ catch-all category you could tell um

59:29 ↗ that when there was

59:30 ↗ a uh

59:31 ↗ the deliberation in setting up the

59:33 ↗ authority this is kind of the catch-all

59:34 ↗ area which really is focused on

59:36 ↗ internally how will the kcra work on

59:39 ↗ continuous improvement evaluating our

59:42 ↗ community engagement especially with

59:43 ↗ folks with lived experience how we

59:45 ↗ remain compliant with the continuum of

59:47 ↗ care guidelines set by hud

59:50 ↗ how do we work upon improving

59:51 ↗ accountability through our ombuds office

59:53 ↗ and data collection

59:55 ↗ so that's a bit about the five-year plan

59:57 ↗ i'm gonna go a little bit into about our

59:58 ↗ proposed budget um in just the year of

1:00:01 ↗ operations that we've been going going

1:00:04 ↗ through um really with only six months

1:00:06 ↗ fully operational and having taken over

1:00:09 ↗ the contracts from state of seattle and

1:00:10 ↗ king county we've already identified

1:00:13 ↗ just through practice a variety of needs

1:00:15 ↗ in our current system

1:00:16 ↗ we have gaps in our current services

1:00:18 ↗ around high acuity shelter high acuity

1:00:20 ↗ referring to folks who have a variety of

1:00:22 ↗ complex health and behavioral needs and

1:00:24 ↗ experiencing homelessness

1:00:26 ↗ we've highlighted that there's a need

1:00:28 ↗ for emergency housing so looking at more

1:00:30 ↗ indoor spaces that are non-congregate

1:00:32 ↗ for folks to be as we know uh the

1:00:34 ↗ waitlist currently for a sectioning

1:00:36 ↗ housing voucher is about five years we

1:00:39 ↗ have many folks who are outdoors who

1:00:42 ↗ have been

1:00:43 ↗ essentially determined eligible for

1:00:45 ↗ a housing voucher but know where to be

1:00:47 ↗ um and so looking at what do inter

1:00:50 ↗ interim solutions look like through

1:00:52 ↗ developing a program like emergency

1:00:53 ↗ housing

1:00:55 ↗ we are also looking at the fact that we

1:00:57 ↗ have a gap in state parking programs

1:00:58 ↗ around the the region um we have needs

1:01:01 ↗ around us addressing severe weather as

1:01:03 ↗ well

1:01:04 ↗ both for heat and smoke and colds

1:01:08 ↗ we're looking at addressing the ongoing

1:01:09 ↗ effects of covid um from uh looking at

1:01:12 ↗ provider wages which we'll get into

1:01:14 ↗ momentarily and then further looking at

1:01:16 ↗ our own operations and trying to make

1:01:18 ↗ sure we have the staffing support to

1:01:19 ↗ fully support all the work

1:01:21 ↗ and

1:01:22 ↗ um with that that translates into our

1:01:25 ↗ budget request um and so we are looking

1:01:27 ↗ at um a budget additions to account for

1:01:30 ↗ exactly these things and so when we're

1:01:32 ↗ looking at um

1:01:34 ↗ really looking at

1:01:36 ↗ safe parking uh this budget house would

1:01:38 ↗ allow for us to serve 194 folks living

1:01:41 ↗ out of vehicles annually um for daytime

1:01:43 ↗ community spaces we could be serving

1:01:45 ↗ additional uh an additional 1400 people

1:01:48 ↗ every year um our emergency housing ask

1:01:51 ↗ of 20 million would allow to create

1:01:53 ↗ 345 additional beds

1:01:56 ↗ and our ask around high acuity shelter

1:01:58 ↗ would allow for 55 high acuity shelter

1:02:00 ↗ beds

1:02:02 ↗ and so we also recognize that our system

1:02:05 ↗ as i know has i've heard council members

1:02:07 ↗ do michelle talk about i think the last

1:02:09 ↗ time i was um in a meeting with you all

1:02:11 ↗ we have a tremendous need uh to be

1:02:13 ↗ accounting for the amazing service

1:02:14 ↗ providers that do these services and we

1:02:16 ↗ have accounted that into our budget

1:02:18 ↗ request so being able to provide for

1:02:20 ↗ increases for front-line staff um to

1:02:23 ↗ hold steady the sys our system um and

1:02:26 ↗ and be able to maintain so folks can

1:02:28 ↗ continue to do the good work and also be

1:02:30 ↗ able to live good lives when they go

1:02:32 ↗ home from work

1:02:33 ↗ and live in this community

1:02:35 ↗ um we're

1:02:36 ↗ in in summary we're also looking at

1:02:38 ↗ being able to provide additional

1:02:40 ↗ compensation for folks that lived

1:02:41 ↗ experience and smaller bypark agencies

1:02:43 ↗ to participate in regional planning and

1:02:45 ↗ then always seeking out technical

1:02:47 ↗ assistance for smaller providers as well

1:02:51 ↗ and so what we're trying to move from

1:02:53 ↗ this is our kind of current system we

1:02:54 ↗ have folks who are experiencing

1:02:56 ↗ unsheltered homelessness they get

1:02:57 ↗ connected either through a rapid free

1:02:59 ↗ housing program which provides for a

1:03:01 ↗ temporary like rental assistance and

1:03:03 ↗ support um for a period of time i know

1:03:06 ↗ mallory's own experience she was a rapid

1:03:08 ↗ rehousing case manager for a period of

1:03:10 ↗ time and could probably speak better to

1:03:12 ↗ even that program um and

1:03:15 ↗ but we also have another pathway where

1:03:16 ↗ folks are in um congregate shelter

1:03:19 ↗ spaces and they get entered into the

1:03:21 ↗ coordinated entry for all system and go

1:03:23 ↗ into

1:03:24 ↗ um a housing placement cea will match

1:03:26 ↗ them with um a permanent housing

1:03:28 ↗ solution that best would meet their

1:03:30 ↗ needs but we have very limited options

1:03:32 ↗ in permanent housing

1:03:34 ↗ what we want to move to and what our

1:03:35 ↗ budget is actually seeking to do is to

1:03:38 ↗ acknowledge that the journey from

1:03:39 ↗ unsheltered homelessness and into

1:03:42 ↗ permanent housing needs to be nuanced

1:03:43 ↗ and needs to actually account for the

1:03:46 ↗ folks the fact that many folks have a

1:03:48 ↗ variety of different needs

1:03:50 ↗ and we want to create additional

1:03:52 ↗ options for those folks so we still have

1:03:54 ↗ rapid rehousing included at the top

1:03:56 ↗ there and shelter included in the middle

1:03:58 ↗ there but we've created two additional

1:04:00 ↗ options one emergency housing again

1:04:02 ↗ looking at spaces that are

1:04:04 ↗ non-congregate

1:04:06 ↗ non-time limited

1:04:08 ↗ and so single room setting spaces and

1:04:10 ↗ investing in that type of model um and

1:04:13 ↗ then we're also looking at high acuity

1:04:14 ↗ shelter to account for the fact that we

1:04:16 ↗ do have a a

1:04:17 ↗ portion of our unhoused community that

1:04:19 ↗ is in need of a higher level of service

1:04:22 ↗ and um looking at how we can create

1:04:25 ↗ models that

1:04:26 ↗ are fully support the needs of those

1:04:28 ↗ folks and so once in that inter interim

1:04:32 ↗ space

1:04:34 ↗ through cea being able to adjust cea so

1:04:36 ↗ we can account for the appropriate

1:04:38 ↗ housing for that person's stage of life

1:04:40 ↗ and create a better spectrum of

1:04:42 ↗ supportive housing models whether that's

1:04:44 ↗ that's light touch or something that's

1:04:45 ↗ along the term along the lines of longer

1:04:48 ↗ term assisted living wanting to

1:04:50 ↗ invest in these types of housing models

1:04:52 ↗ so

1:04:53 ↗ we can better stabilize folks in their

1:04:56 ↗ path for stability my apologies

1:05:03 ↗ sorry about that

1:05:04 ↗ the choice of working from home and with

1:05:06 ↗ that that takes us to the end she was

1:05:08 ↗ ready for me to be done

1:05:11 ↗ and we're happy to take any questions

1:05:13 ↗ you have

1:05:17 ↗ so

1:05:19 ↗ monica can you explain for our benefit

1:05:21 ↗ and for the benefit and why we're

1:05:23 ↗ getting an overview on kcrha

1:05:26 ↗ yes thank you so much

1:05:28 ↗ councilmember mart and thank you so much

1:05:31 ↗ for

1:05:32 ↗ our guests for their presentation

1:05:35 ↗ i think we wanted to to show and discuss

1:05:38 ↗ with you um

1:05:41 ↗ the idea that we are trying to propose a

1:05:43 ↗ local

1:05:44 ↗ um

1:05:45 ↗ service here a local option

1:05:48 ↗ however

1:05:50 ↗ we don't want to just be in a silo and

1:05:52 ↗ isolate it we want to integrate it and

1:05:54 ↗ make sure that we align with other

1:05:56 ↗ regional plans um so we thought that

1:05:58 ↗ this is a good opportunity to

1:06:00 ↗ invite

1:06:01 ↗ king county regional homelessness

1:06:03 ↗ authority to provide an overview of the

1:06:05 ↗ work that they are doing and for us to

1:06:07 ↗ discuss on how our work may or may not

1:06:09 ↗ align with their priorities um so that

1:06:12 ↗ was the intent

1:06:14 ↗ all right so with that in mind do we

1:06:16 ↗ have any questions before we move on to

1:06:18 ↗ discussing the actual proposed emergency

1:06:20 ↗ housing program

1:06:22 ↗ council member di michelle

1:06:25 ↗ i do not that was a very comprehensive

1:06:28 ↗ presentation thank you

1:06:30 ↗ all right

1:06:31 ↗ thank you so much and so i'm gonna

1:06:33 ↗ continue and and uh move i have a few

1:06:36 ↗ more slides here to go in diving a

1:06:38 ↗ little bit deeper into our proposal

1:06:41 ↗ my next two slides are borrowed from

1:06:43 ↗ kcrha

1:06:45 ↗ this is a slide that you just saw in

1:06:47 ↗ their presentation and i just added

1:06:48 ↗ there a yellow star that this is where

1:06:51 ↗ our

1:06:52 ↗ proposed emergency housing model would

1:06:54 ↗ fit in in their continuum in the larger

1:06:56 ↗ continuum in the region

1:06:59 ↗ and then next i liked this video because

1:07:01 ↗ i really believe that our um you know

1:07:04 ↗ project

1:07:05 ↗ what we are proposing really um um i

1:07:09 ↗ think this is a nice visual that

1:07:10 ↗ explains on how what we are proposing

1:07:13 ↗ really is meant to bridge the gap

1:07:14 ↗ between

1:07:16 ↗ the shelter system and

1:07:18 ↗ folks who are unsheltered in the streets

1:07:21 ↗ and really permanent housing

1:07:23 ↗ here i would like to add that

1:07:25 ↗ as you you know and you're familiar with

1:07:27 ↗ our homeless outreach program since last

1:07:30 ↗ year when we started the program this

1:07:32 ↗ was a really big surprise for us um our

1:07:34 ↗ team engaged with 112 unduplicated

1:07:37 ↗ homeless folks in issaquah and i think

1:07:40 ↗ what's different and what we notice that

1:07:41 ↗ is different in in here our locally in

1:07:43 ↗ issaquah is that about 50 of those

1:07:46 ↗ really live unsheltered either in camps

1:07:49 ↗ or on the street and this is quite

1:07:52 ↗ different from the rest of east king

1:07:54 ↗ county when we looked at the 2020

1:07:57 ↗ point in time count we just didn't have

1:07:59 ↗ the most recent one

1:08:01 ↗ only 11 percent of the folks who are

1:08:03 ↗ homeless on east king county live in

1:08:06 ↗ camps or in the street the other ones

1:08:08 ↗ the vast majority are in some sort of

1:08:10 ↗ shelter and so i think that is that is

1:08:13 ↗ something concerning for us because we

1:08:14 ↗ really just do not have enough services

1:08:16 ↗ to um to connect these folks to

1:08:20 ↗ uh so now on to um what are we actually

1:08:23 ↗ proposing so what we were thinking is to

1:08:26 ↗ start

1:08:27 ↗ with a pilot in our partnership with

1:08:30 ↗ motel 6 we were thinking about

1:08:33 ↗ renting for one year a dozen rooms

1:08:37 ↗ to turn them into an emergency housing

1:08:39 ↗ program

1:08:40 ↗ we would also love to work with a

1:08:43 ↗ service provider who would monitor

1:08:46 ↗ services and would provide the on-site

1:08:49 ↗ services for folks who are there from

1:08:51 ↗ making sure that people have meals and

1:08:54 ↗ they have their basic needs covered that

1:08:56 ↗ stability that that is so much needed

1:08:58 ↗ but really into providing that case

1:09:00 ↗ management if there are like employment

1:09:02 ↗ services educational services life

1:09:05 ↗ skills that long-term connection

1:09:08 ↗ we would hope to to provide that with

1:09:10 ↗ with a service provider

1:09:13 ↗ and then we would also love to continue

1:09:15 ↗ to work with mont hall 6

1:09:18 ↗ you know where they would provide all

1:09:19 ↗ the other supports from utilities uh to

1:09:22 ↗ parking to nighttime security services

1:09:26 ↗ um um so it would be like a three-way

1:09:29 ↗ collaboration um between us multisex and

1:09:33 ↗ the shelter provider

1:09:37 ↗ there are certainly other variables here

1:09:39 ↗ we can discuss as you might have and we

1:09:41 ↗ can certainly bring back additional

1:09:43 ↗ information but since this is just a

1:09:44 ↗ very initial first time when this is in

1:09:47 ↗ front of you just wanted to provide that

1:09:49 ↗ high level

1:09:50 ↗ information

1:09:52 ↗ as we started thinking about budget

1:09:54 ↗ needs and funding needs

1:09:56 ↗ some of the areas that we identified as

1:09:59 ↗ possible funding sources

1:10:01 ↗ one of them and i think the the main one

1:10:04 ↗ for us would be possibilities through

1:10:06 ↗ the

1:10:07 ↗ tax dollars that our city uh chose to

1:10:09 ↗ receive through house bill 1590

1:10:12 ↗ if you remember

1:10:14 ↗ i believe last year our city decided to

1:10:18 ↗ add those sale taxes to our budget and

1:10:21 ↗ those are allocated especially for

1:10:23 ↗ affordable housing that includes also

1:10:25 ↗ mental health services so this program

1:10:27 ↗ would fall

1:10:28 ↗ under

1:10:29 ↗ those eligible

1:10:31 ↗ categories

1:10:32 ↗ of course we would love to and that's

1:10:34 ↗ actually the second reason why we wanted

1:10:36 ↗ to have kcrha here as well because we

1:10:39 ↗ would love to explore

1:10:40 ↗ funding opportunities for services

1:10:43 ↗ should those become available

1:10:45 ↗ and so we would love to consider

1:10:47 ↗ applying for a grant from the king

1:10:49 ↗ county regional homelessness authority

1:10:51 ↗ so we would love to continue exploring

1:10:53 ↗ those options

1:10:55 ↗ not sure how much we would love to dive

1:10:57 ↗ deeper and how realistic it is but we

1:11:00 ↗ could at some point we discussed

1:11:01 ↗ possible arpa allocation american rescue

1:11:04 ↗ plan act allocations this may or may not

1:11:06 ↗ be realistic at this time but also we

1:11:09 ↗ would love to explore um other sources

1:11:12 ↗ as well we would love to look to see if

1:11:14 ↗ there are any state dollars or private

1:11:16 ↗ donations as well that we could access

1:11:19 ↗ and next i would like to just provide a

1:11:21 ↗ brief high-level initial

1:11:24 ↗ preliminary budget details

1:11:28 ↗ we broke down

1:11:30 ↗ the budget into two categories

1:11:33 ↗ facility and operation cost we are

1:11:35 ↗ looking at around three hundred thousand

1:11:37 ↗ dollars and the program and service

1:11:40 ↗ costs we would look at another depending

1:11:41 ↗ on

1:11:44 ↗ how

1:11:46 ↗ the program

1:11:47 ↗ gets identified we can go as low as 250

1:11:50 ↗ 000 to

1:11:52 ↗ 400 dollars here it depends on the

1:11:54 ↗ number of staff support that we would

1:11:57 ↗ have

1:11:58 ↗ so the total cost of the project would

1:12:00 ↗ be anywhere between five hundred

1:12:02 ↗ thousand and seven hundred thousand uh

1:12:04 ↗ under those um

1:12:06 ↗ um

1:12:07 ↗ details that i just mentioned

1:12:11 ↗ in terms of

1:12:12 ↗ what are the options next or a proposed

1:12:15 ↗ timeline

1:12:16 ↗ if

1:12:18 ↗ this committee considers that

1:12:21 ↗ we can further explore this

1:12:23 ↗ program and project we would love after

1:12:25 ↗ this committee meeting to begin some

1:12:27 ↗ community conversations

1:12:29 ↗ get feedback from the community we would

1:12:31 ↗ love to gather information based on your

1:12:33 ↗ feedback perhaps come back to a

1:12:35 ↗ committee a meeting in july

1:12:38 ↗ continue community conversations

1:12:40 ↗ we could with your permission then

1:12:42 ↗ consider coming back in august

1:12:44 ↗ to a committee of the whole

1:12:47 ↗ perhaps come to a full council meeting

1:12:49 ↗ in september and again if

1:12:52 ↗ all the details work out then perhaps to

1:12:54 ↗ include all the details into the budget

1:12:57 ↗ process that you're going to go through

1:12:59 ↗ in the fall

1:13:00 ↗ with an estimated

1:13:03 ↗ requests for proposals for a service

1:13:06 ↗ provider in late fall and perhaps again

1:13:09 ↗ if everything works out starting the

1:13:11 ↗ pilot in january

1:13:13 ↗ again just high level we are very open

1:13:15 ↗ to feedback

1:13:17 ↗ and discussion questions from you

1:13:20 ↗ and before i'm just going to pause i

1:13:22 ↗ just have a couple of more details to

1:13:24 ↗ add this is just a visual on how it fits

1:13:26 ↗ within again the strategic planning you

1:13:28 ↗ have on the screen again the questions

1:13:30 ↗ that we are proposing for you tonight

1:13:34 ↗ and

1:13:35 ↗ you know as far as options

1:13:37 ↗ we can come back with a proposed formula

1:13:39 ↗ for human services grants we can

1:13:42 ↗ continue exploring the emergency housing

1:13:44 ↗ options

1:13:45 ↗ we can take a totally different approach

1:13:47 ↗ based on your feedback or

1:13:49 ↗ take no further action

1:13:51 ↗ if if that is

1:13:53 ↗ your

1:13:55 ↗ input our recommendation certainly would

1:13:58 ↗ be to on one end implement a formula for

1:14:00 ↗ the human services grants but also we

1:14:02 ↗ would love to pilot

1:14:04 ↗ the emergency housing

1:14:06 ↗ model as a targeted investment in human

1:14:08 ↗ services funds

1:14:12 ↗ and so that concludes my presentation

1:14:14 ↗ and on the screen again you have the

1:14:16 ↗ questions are you supportive of

1:14:18 ↗ establishing a formula for human

1:14:19 ↗ services grants are you supportive of

1:14:21 ↗ piloting the emergency housing model

1:14:24 ↗ would you like to

1:14:27 ↗ recommend something else or what type of

1:14:29 ↗ information

1:14:30 ↗ would be helpful for us to bring back to

1:14:32 ↗ you

1:14:33 ↗ thank you

1:14:36 ↗ and i will see

1:14:38 ↗ first off if there are any questions

1:14:39 ↗ from my fellow council members and i see

1:14:41 ↗ councilmember reyes ready with at least

1:14:43 ↗ one question at least one question thank

1:14:45 ↗ you chair marge monica thank you for

1:14:47 ↗ that um and

1:14:49 ↗ alexis and mallory thank you for the

1:14:51 ↗ presentation on

1:14:53 ↗ kc

1:14:54 ↗ rha because that was great context but

1:14:57 ↗ it really leads me to my first question

1:14:58 ↗ which is

1:14:59 ↗ how is what we're talking about here

1:15:02 ↗ different than the mission and scope of

1:15:04 ↗ kc

1:15:05 ↗ rha

1:15:08 ↗ i don't believe it's necessarily

1:15:10 ↗ different i think it's just a local

1:15:13 ↗ response um

1:15:21 ↗ i'm trying to go back and look at them i

1:15:22 ↗ think city administrator bob quits would

1:15:24 ↗ like to

1:15:25 ↗ uh thank you uh chair marks

1:15:28 ↗ we've spent a lot of time thinking about

1:15:31 ↗ next steps

1:15:32 ↗ certainly uh

1:15:34 ↗ council member ray other members of the

1:15:36 ↗ council really challenged us over the

1:15:37 ↗ last many months

1:15:39 ↗ to look at what our role in all this is

1:15:42 ↗ that

1:15:43 ↗ i think the council has said we want to

1:15:45 ↗ make sure that those individuals in this

1:15:47 ↗ community are served but we also want to

1:15:49 ↗ make sure that the services we're

1:15:51 ↗ providing

1:15:53 ↗ are complementary to other services do

1:15:55 ↗ not duplicate other services

1:15:58 ↗ because there is certainly

1:16:00 ↗ need everywhere

1:16:01 ↗ there's lots of resources but there's

1:16:03 ↗ probably not enough resources and i

1:16:04 ↗ think as you've heard this evening

1:16:07 ↗ from the kc rha staff

1:16:10 ↗ you know they are still looking for

1:16:12 ↗ resources significant resources

1:16:14 ↗ from our

1:16:15 ↗ larger brother and sister jurisdictions

1:16:18 ↗ king county the city of seattle

1:16:20 ↗ so with that we've said what can we do

1:16:22 ↗ to help people and i think as monica has

1:16:24 ↗ indicated

1:16:26 ↗ we have now in place

1:16:28 ↗ with our behavioral health specialists i

1:16:29 ↗ think a very good program to identify

1:16:32 ↗ issaquah residents in need to provide

1:16:35 ↗ help for them but we're discovering that

1:16:37 ↗ the one piece that we cannot provide and

1:16:39 ↗ there are no others that can provide is

1:16:41 ↗ the shelter that temporary shelter

1:16:44 ↗ as additional services are provided to

1:16:46 ↗ help people get to the point where they

1:16:48 ↗ can

1:16:49 ↗ shelter hopefully shelter themselves so

1:16:51 ↗ that's where this proposal comes from as

1:16:53 ↗ we've worked with the regional homeless

1:16:55 ↗ authority

1:16:56 ↗ this is their goal too however

1:17:00 ↗ it's a big county with lots of people in

1:17:02 ↗ need um and there are limited outside

1:17:05 ↗ resources i think as was referred to

1:17:07 ↗ by alexis there's a 20 million dollar

1:17:09 ↗ ask to the city of seattle just for

1:17:12 ↗ their piece of of this puzzle let alone

1:17:15 ↗ the rest of the county so we think this

1:17:16 ↗ is very complementary quite honestly the

1:17:18 ↗ administration is

1:17:20 ↗ as proud of the work that our staff has

1:17:22 ↗ done

1:17:23 ↗ to say we have a need here we cannot

1:17:25 ↗ wait any longer

1:17:27 ↗ let's come up with something that we

1:17:28 ↗ think makes sense uh we have a funding

1:17:31 ↗ source uh through the sales tax the

1:17:34 ↗ one-tenth the one percent sales tax

1:17:35 ↗ which has been in place now for what a

1:17:37 ↗ year and a half

1:17:38 ↗ um and that those dollars in the bank

1:17:41 ↗ are

1:17:42 ↗ uh

1:17:43 ↗ 1.5 million dollars we expect it to be

1:17:46 ↗ close to 2 million

1:17:47 ↗ by the end of the year and no designated

1:17:50 ↗ um purpose for that with an asterisk

1:17:53 ↗ that the trans the transit oriented

1:17:55 ↗ development

1:17:56 ↗ project will likely need some additional

1:17:58 ↗ funding and so i think we all recognize

1:17:59 ↗ that that serves as a potential pot too

1:18:02 ↗ so

1:18:03 ↗ i think we're excited about what we have

1:18:05 ↗ here we think it's very complementary to

1:18:07 ↗ what the regional homeless authority is

1:18:09 ↗ doing

1:18:10 ↗ they have a very very tough assignment

1:18:12 ↗ and that is the rest of the county we

1:18:14 ↗ think we have a plan that will be

1:18:16 ↗ complementary to the work that we're

1:18:18 ↗ already doing with our behavioral health

1:18:19 ↗ specialists that will continue to help

1:18:22 ↗ issaquah residents and as we understand

1:18:24 ↗ the policy direction from the council

1:18:26 ↗ that is your desire for the focus that

1:18:28 ↗ we continue to help issaquah residents

1:18:31 ↗ hopefully that at least begins to answer

1:18:33 ↗ your questions i think that i think that

1:18:34 ↗ um answered my question um but i won

1:18:36 ↗ follow-up because there was one thing

1:18:38 ↗ that i really really resonated with me

1:18:40 ↗ in the kc rha when i really have a hard

1:18:43 ↗ time getting that acronym out but kcrha

1:18:46 ↗ presentation that was specific and

1:18:48 ↗ measurable outcomes and goals

1:18:50 ↗ and how do you measure success so have

1:18:51 ↗ you given a thought to

1:18:52 ↗ how we'd do that if we were to create

1:18:54 ↗ our own you know mini-me

1:18:57 ↗ program how would we

1:18:59 ↗ go about measuring success

1:19:02 ↗ thank you so much for that question

1:19:04 ↗ we always start with that and

1:19:06 ↗ for homelessness it's very very

1:19:07 ↗ difficult but one of the items that we

1:19:09 ↗ are looking at or one of the ways in

1:19:11 ↗ which we want to measure success is is

1:19:13 ↗ really to be able to see less

1:19:16 ↗ individuals who are homeless on our

1:19:17 ↗ streets in our parks um

1:19:20 ↗ [Music]

1:19:21 ↗ so then we can see them successfully

1:19:23 ↗ connected with the services they need to

1:19:25 ↗ begin their journey out of homelessness

1:19:28 ↗ um and back into society so that's our

1:19:31 ↗ biggest

1:19:32 ↗ way to measure success in this case

1:19:36 ↗ and also our biggest challenge right now

1:19:38 ↗ when we engage with them and we just

1:19:40 ↗ don't have a place to connect them to

1:19:44 ↗ and if i could just amplify the very

1:19:46 ↗ last point

1:19:47 ↗ we are measuring it and we are measuring

1:19:49 ↗ failure

1:19:50 ↗ on that last point that we have the

1:19:53 ↗ service we have the resources to

1:19:54 ↗ identify people in need we have the

1:19:56 ↗ resources to triage what those needs are

1:19:59 ↗ we have partnerships with other

1:20:01 ↗ providers

1:20:02 ↗ to help those individuals but it comes

1:20:05 ↗ to the point where if they do not have a

1:20:07 ↗ roof over their head it makes all the

1:20:09 ↗ other services that we're providing it

1:20:11 ↗ does not allow that continuum to move

1:20:13 ↗ forward so

1:20:15 ↗ i don't want to say we're failing but i

1:20:17 ↗ think as we are measuring the work that

1:20:19 ↗ we're doing we have clearly identified

1:20:22 ↗ this as the number one piece of a puzzle

1:20:24 ↗ that we're not able to to to provide

1:20:27 ↗ nor is anyone else we go currently to

1:20:30 ↗ other providers it's nokwami north bend

1:20:32 ↗ for housing bellevue for housing

1:20:35 ↗ many times our

1:20:36 ↗ very real specialists know exactly who

1:20:38 ↗ to call and they call and they find out

1:20:40 ↗ there is no room

1:20:42 ↗ and so then we're left in some cases i

1:20:44 ↗ know from talking to the staff

1:20:46 ↗ that we have to tell the individual yes

1:20:48 ↗ you have appointments with appropriate

1:20:50 ↗ mental

1:20:51 ↗ health professionals but you need to

1:20:53 ↗ remain on the street because there's no

1:20:55 ↗ place else for you to go so i think that

1:20:57 ↗ is a measure

1:20:59 ↗ certainly of a need for improvement and

1:21:01 ↗ i think really one of the drivers that

1:21:02 ↗ brings us here this evening is that we

1:21:04 ↗ have that data we know the people we we

1:21:07 ↗ know that we have other resources it's

1:21:09 ↗ that piece of providing a roof over

1:21:11 ↗ their head while they're getting on

1:21:12 ↗ their feet that we just don't have

1:21:16 ↗ councilmember ray do you have other

1:21:17 ↗ questions at this point not at this

1:21:19 ↗ moment thank you councilmember di

1:21:20 ↗ michelle

1:21:25 ↗ no questions at this time thank you

1:21:27 ↗ chair mart

1:21:29 ↗ i have a couple

1:21:30 ↗ that the one tenth of one percent uh

1:21:32 ↗ sales tax that we enacted a while back

1:21:36 ↗ what's the annual revenue on that

1:21:40 ↗ it's been estimated in this year's

1:21:42 ↗ budget is estimated eight hundred

1:21:43 ↗ thousand dollars okay so it would cover

1:21:46 ↗ the anticipated cost that anticipated i

1:21:48 ↗ think was 550 to 750. is that the total

1:21:52 ↗ anticipated cost of this program that is

1:21:54 ↗ the total anticipated cost with um

1:21:57 ↗ what we were proposing with having a

1:21:59 ↗ daytime service provider and support

1:22:02 ↗ from motel 6 for nighttime services and

1:22:04 ↗ for the dozen rooms yes

1:22:07 ↗ and i have a third question have we

1:22:10 ↗ talked

1:22:11 ↗ um at all to so this is

1:22:15 ↗ you're all in the parks department

1:22:18 ↗ have we talked to ipd or any other

1:22:19 ↗ departments about the practical side of

1:22:23 ↗ running this program

1:22:25 ↗ yes we did touch base early on with

1:22:28 ↗ our partners in ipd

1:22:30 ↗ i know that one of the challenges that

1:22:32 ↗ they brought on early on was

1:22:34 ↗ on weekends and evenings when they need

1:22:37 ↗ to sometimes they they really have a

1:22:39 ↗ high need to

1:22:41 ↗ provide a shelter to someone and

1:22:44 ↗ nobody's available and nothing's

1:22:45 ↗ available so i think this could be a

1:22:47 ↗ good resource for them as well

1:22:49 ↗ sometimes they interact with people in

1:22:51 ↗ the middle of the night that are fleeing

1:22:52 ↗ domestic violence situations and they

1:22:54 ↗ need to find a place for them right away

1:22:56 ↗ and they don't have it so that is one

1:22:58 ↗ area for in which i know ipd is is very

1:23:04 ↗ open and excited to have some resources

1:23:06 ↗ available

1:23:07 ↗ so they're generally supportive of this

1:23:09 ↗ particular proposal

1:23:11 ↗ yes from initial conversations with them

1:23:13 ↗ yes okay thank you thank you

1:23:16 ↗ well i don't think there's any other

1:23:18 ↗ questions right now this is a point

1:23:19 ↗ where

1:23:21 ↗ i would ask if any members of the public

1:23:22 ↗ either present or and i see at least one

1:23:25 ↗ hand going up but i will also mention

1:23:27 ↗ if you're remote and

1:23:29 ↗ you want to participate in this

1:23:31 ↗ conversation please indicate

1:23:33 ↗ as we as we said earlier raise your hand

1:23:35 ↗ or other mechanisms but we do have one

1:23:37 ↗ individual here so i'll ask you to come

1:23:39 ↗ forward and give your name and

1:23:40 ↗ address in relationship to the city and

1:23:42 ↗ you've got five minutes

1:23:45 ↗ uh my name is

1:23:57 ↗ there we go so we can record your

1:23:58 ↗ comments for possible

1:24:00 ↗ my name is doug schlepp and

1:24:02 ↗ i

1:24:03 ↗ work here in the city i live in smamish

1:24:06 ↗ i work at work lofts off gilman and have

1:24:09 ↗ been a long time consultant to the city

1:24:11 ↗ but i'm not acting in that capacity at

1:24:14 ↗ this moment

1:24:15 ↗ and i just want to

1:24:17 ↗ thank the

1:24:19 ↗ city for the work that they're doing

1:24:23 ↗ this

1:24:24 ↗ my wife and i have been

1:24:26 ↗ doing street outreach

1:24:28 ↗ for the past year working with the

1:24:31 ↗ isquad food bank the city we've been

1:24:33 ↗ attending uh regular meetings with the

1:24:36 ↗ city regarding this issue

1:24:38 ↗ and i i second the

1:24:41 ↗ um

1:24:42 ↗ comments made by the city administrator

1:24:45 ↗ and monica and staff

1:24:47 ↗ and the efforts um

1:24:50 ↗ this is

1:24:52 ↗ uh to put a face on it

1:24:55 ↗ we probably met over 100 people over

1:24:57 ↗ this last year

1:24:59 ↗ know them by name

1:25:01 ↗ got to know their history

1:25:05 ↗ some of them are third generation

1:25:07 ↗ residents of issaquah

1:25:10 ↗ this is

1:25:13 ↗ i i used to think that this was a you

1:25:15 ↗ know seattle's problem

1:25:18 ↗ but reality um and i don't know if

1:25:21 ↗ problem is a good word for it but this

1:25:23 ↗ is a concern i think of the city and i

1:25:25 ↗ think the city is recognizing that

1:25:28 ↗ in addition to

1:25:30 ↗ residents we also have seen

1:25:33 ↗ people who work

1:25:35 ↗ here in the city

1:25:37 ↗ and then are living on the streets

1:25:39 ↗ and i think some of the issues that

1:25:43 ↗ they face are

1:25:45 ↗ [Music]

1:25:48 ↗ security

1:25:50 ↗ if you're

1:25:51 ↗ living

1:25:52 ↗ on the street or in a tent

1:25:55 ↗ and you want to get a meal that's being

1:25:57 ↗ provided across town

1:26:00 ↗ you either take all your possessions

1:26:02 ↗ with you or leave them behind and

1:26:04 ↗ they're subject to being looted and so

1:26:08 ↗ security and finding a safe place

1:26:11 ↗ that's secure

1:26:12 ↗ excuse me secure

1:26:14 ↗ reliable

1:26:16 ↗ and you can lock the door behind you

1:26:18 ↗ things that we take for granted

1:26:20 ↗ are really critical to

1:26:23 ↗ the next step and i think the the

1:26:25 ↗ successes that

1:26:27 ↗ what we

1:26:28 ↗ saw over this past year

1:26:30 ↗ were things like

1:26:32 ↗ getting a an id

1:26:34 ↗ and getting an id could take months

1:26:37 ↗ and it's just that that um

1:26:40 ↗ the challenge of uh having a safe place

1:26:44 ↗ to

1:26:45 ↗ lay your head at night

1:26:47 ↗ and then

1:26:48 ↗ being able to

1:26:50 ↗ then take that next step towards uh

1:26:53 ↗ normalcy and i think the one thing that

1:26:56 ↗ um

1:26:57 ↗ that i

1:26:59 ↗ learned over this last year is i used to

1:27:01 ↗ approach

1:27:02 ↗ this

1:27:04 ↗ from my perspective

1:27:06 ↗ and my perspective is one where i have a

1:27:09 ↗ home

1:27:11 ↗ i have a stable environment i have a job

1:27:14 ↗ and i would impose that on the people i

1:27:16 ↗ would see on the streets you know why

1:27:18 ↗ doesn't that person just get a job

1:27:20 ↗ and it's really unfair because they are

1:27:22 ↗ coming from a place that i can't even um

1:27:26 ↗ fathom

1:27:27 ↗ and i just i really want to

1:27:30 ↗ encourage the

1:27:31 ↗ council

1:27:33 ↗ the city to move forward with this

1:27:34 ↗ program i think it's important

1:27:37 ↗ and

1:27:38 ↗ i heard the

1:27:40 ↗ representatives from the king county

1:27:43 ↗ agency talk about ending homelessness

1:27:46 ↗ and that would be incredible if we could

1:27:48 ↗ do that and i think that's the ultimate

1:27:50 ↗ goal

1:27:51 ↗ but

1:27:52 ↗ the

1:27:53 ↗ steps forward are going to be

1:27:54 ↗ incremental and i really applaud the

1:27:57 ↗ city in making that effort to make that

1:27:59 ↗ a reality

1:28:01 ↗ thank you

1:28:03 ↗ thank you for your comment uh is there

1:28:05 ↗ anyone else either in the room or remote

1:28:07 ↗ who wishes to speak to this issue before

1:28:09 ↗ we deliberate it

1:28:12 ↗ yes chair martz we have next up wishing

1:28:15 ↗ to speak erin longchari

1:28:18 ↗ aaron i am now making you a panelist you

1:28:20 ↗ should see the option to unmute and you

1:28:22 ↗ may also turn on your video

1:28:30 ↗ erin

1:28:31 ↗ yes thank you so much i'm having issues

1:28:33 ↗ with my video um

1:28:35 ↗ well we can hear you we can hear you

1:28:37 ↗ just fine so

1:28:38 ↗ great

1:28:40 ↗ thank you thank you um city

1:28:41 ↗ administrator and and the council and

1:28:44 ↗ alexis monica thank you guys all so much

1:28:47 ↗ for for your wonderful presentation um

1:28:49 ↗ i'm erin longchari i am the director of

1:28:52 ↗ operations and programs at the issaquah

1:28:54 ↗ food and clothing bank

1:28:56 ↗ i would like to

1:28:59 ↗ extend our full support of the city's

1:29:02 ↗ emergency shelter proposal plan

1:29:06 ↗ local available supportive shelter

1:29:09 ↗ services are an enormous gap in our

1:29:12 ↗ community for our residents

1:29:14 ↗ it is an absolutely critical area of

1:29:17 ↗ need

1:29:18 ↗ we at the food bank are a very close

1:29:20 ↗ partner of the city's human services

1:29:22 ↗ team and we're often the first point of

1:29:25 ↗ contact for people in crisis who who

1:29:28 ↗ need this service

1:29:31 ↗ we need a place where the residents that

1:29:34 ↗ our partner agencies work with on a

1:29:36 ↗ daily weekly yearly basis sometimes

1:29:40 ↗ and thank you to doug we work so closely

1:29:42 ↗ together he's he and susan have been

1:29:45 ↗ such amazing amazing partners in this

1:29:47 ↗ work

1:29:49 ↗ we need a place where these residents

1:29:51 ↗ can have some safe respite

1:29:54 ↗ whether to stay

1:29:55 ↗ safe from some weather extremes

1:29:58 ↗ have medical recovery after after

1:30:01 ↗ surgery

1:30:02 ↗ [Music]

1:30:04 ↗ to find mental health or substance abuse

1:30:07 ↗ treatment and and vital case management

1:30:10 ↗ services

1:30:11 ↗ um

1:30:12 ↗ among many other reasons but those ones

1:30:14 ↗ in particular that i've highlighted are

1:30:16 ↗ instances where the food bank has spent

1:30:19 ↗ our vital and and scarce financial

1:30:23 ↗ donation resources around providing

1:30:26 ↗ emergency hotel shelter for individuals

1:30:29 ↗ that we work with

1:30:31 ↗ on a daily basis who need this kind of

1:30:34 ↗ service and help

1:30:37 ↗ we couldn't

1:30:38 ↗ we couldn't express more the gap that

1:30:42 ↗ exists around this type of program

1:30:45 ↗ and i think the city administrator just

1:30:48 ↗ highlighted

1:30:49 ↗ exactly

1:30:51 ↗ what's different about a program like

1:30:53 ↗ this

1:30:54 ↗ and how it it can be the link between

1:30:57 ↗ somebody coming to the food bank at 6 59

1:31:01 ↗ p.m before we close in crisis

1:31:04 ↗ which

1:31:05 ↗ um happens often

1:31:07 ↗ um and we can provide tarps tents food

1:31:11 ↗ uh

1:31:12 ↗ all sorts of emergency supplies and they

1:31:15 ↗ may have an appointment or or a case

1:31:18 ↗ management provider meeting in in a day

1:31:20 ↗ or two

1:31:22 ↗ to get into treatment

1:31:24 ↗ or to get a medical issue resolved

1:31:26 ↗ but rather than being able to have a

1:31:28 ↗ safe temporary respite spot for these

1:31:32 ↗ individuals these residents whom we know

1:31:34 ↗ and care so deeply for

1:31:37 ↗ we have to send them back out to the

1:31:38 ↗ street sometimes they return to us and

1:31:41 ↗ sometimes they don't

1:31:43 ↗ and that

1:31:44 ↗ that is where we as a city and as a

1:31:48 ↗ community can do so much better and and

1:31:51 ↗ i thank you for for the opportunity to

1:31:53 ↗ to speak in support of this partnership

1:31:56 ↗ thank you thank you for your comments

1:31:59 ↗ clerk has anyone else uh indicated

1:32:02 ↗ an interest in speaking

1:32:05 ↗ yes chair martz next up is brad poston

1:32:10 ↗ brad i am making you a panelist you

1:32:12 ↗ should now uh

1:32:14 ↗ be able to unmute and also turn on your

1:32:16 ↗ video

1:32:19 ↗ perfect can you hear me

1:32:21 ↗ yes we can

1:32:23 ↗ thank you very much um it's a pleasure

1:32:25 ↗ to be here um this evening with all of

1:32:27 ↗ you i want to say well first of all i'm

1:32:29 ↗ brad poston i'm the director of

1:32:30 ↗ operations for the moto 6 operated by

1:32:33 ↗ icon hospitality they're in is a isoqua

1:32:37 ↗ we're new to the community but this

1:32:39 ↗ initiative is not new to me

1:32:41 ↗ they say that things happen for a reason

1:32:43 ↗ and i believe that wholly

1:32:45 ↗ um in my own past i've

1:32:47 ↗ sat on the board of directors for

1:32:49 ↗ non-profits that have addressed this

1:32:51 ↗ issue across the country from colorado

1:32:53 ↗ on

1:32:54 ↗ and it really does come down to

1:32:56 ↗ resources and a culture of care

1:33:00 ↗ and i think that's where our partnership

1:33:02 ↗ and our side is coming from

1:33:04 ↗ is

1:33:05 ↗ our our values in

1:33:07 ↗ icon cares one of our corporate values

1:33:10 ↗ and heart for a service one of our

1:33:11 ↗ franchise values for the brand itself

1:33:14 ↗ during crisis just like the one we went

1:33:16 ↗ through together as partners

1:33:17 ↗ successfully

1:33:18 ↗ recently

1:33:20 ↗ we're just coming back to the table to

1:33:21 ↗ you all and just saying how much we

1:33:24 ↗ admire the community how much we support

1:33:26 ↗ you and your efforts and how wonderful

1:33:29 ↗ this opportunity to become partners is

1:33:31 ↗ so thank you all very much for the hard

1:33:32 ↗ work monica amir all of you you guys are

1:33:35 ↗ wonderful thank you so much and i'll

1:33:38 ↗ give back my time

1:33:40 ↗ thank you so much for your comments and

1:33:42 ↗ thank you for joining us this evening

1:33:44 ↗ clerk do we have anyone else who is

1:33:46 ↗ indicated

1:33:47 ↗ yes we do chair marts paul lawali

1:33:51 ↗ is wishing to speak on this topic

1:33:54 ↗ paul i am now making you a panelist you

1:33:57 ↗ should see the option to unmute and you

1:33:59 ↗ may turn on your video

1:34:02 ↗ yeah good evening council members uh my

1:34:04 ↗ name is paul wally i am i work with

1:34:07 ↗ friends of youth and we are a local

1:34:10 ↗ eastside

1:34:11 ↗ service provider

1:34:13 ↗ for

1:34:14 ↗ homeless youth and we're unsheltered you

1:34:17 ↗ and i just wanted to uh to join the

1:34:20 ↗ folks who have gone before me and

1:34:22 ↗ just echoed some of the things that

1:34:24 ↗ aaron has said

1:34:25 ↗ related to

1:34:27 ↗ the need for safe respite the need to

1:34:30 ↗ provide folks with places where they can

1:34:32 ↗ find not only just clothing food but

1:34:36 ↗ also a place to whatever services they

1:34:38 ↗ need especially mental health behavioral

1:34:40 ↗ health substance use

1:34:42 ↗ so i highly encourage the city to uh to

1:34:46 ↗ go along with this pilot program uh

1:34:48 ↗ we've been in the in the local area for

1:34:51 ↗ seven years

1:34:52 ↗ and we've worked with the the city of

1:34:55 ↗ issaquah and with

1:34:57 ↗ monica for for a while

1:34:59 ↗ uh but we just think that you know if i

1:35:01 ↗ had to just give my professional opinion

1:35:04 ↗ right now the need is so great and how

1:35:06 ↗ many people from issaquah have to go all

1:35:09 ↗ the way to

1:35:11 ↗ bellevue or seattle on any given night

1:35:14 ↗ especially

1:35:15 ↗ when it's severe weather

1:35:17 ↗ it's uh it's just one of these very dire

1:35:19 ↗ needs so fully support this as a service

1:35:22 ↗ provider and i hope that uh you can

1:35:24 ↗ pilot this and i love that the

1:35:27 ↗ that the city of issaquah has taken a

1:35:28 ↗ proactive stance of saying well let's go

1:35:31 ↗ ahead and recommend a pilot and let's

1:35:33 ↗ see what's what's out there and let's

1:35:35 ↗ see how we can work on this so thank you

1:35:37 ↗ very much for your time

1:35:39 ↗ and i hope you you you move forward with

1:35:41 ↗ this pilot

1:35:43 ↗ thank you for your comments

1:35:45 ↗ clerk

1:35:47 ↗ i see no other members of the public uh

1:35:50 ↗ indicating a desire to speak on this

1:35:52 ↗ topic chair martz although i would like

1:35:53 ↗ to remind those that did speak if you

1:35:55 ↗ could lower your virtual hands please

1:36:00 ↗ do we have anyone else present who

1:36:02 ↗ wishes to speak to this issue

1:36:04 ↗ seeing none and seeing no no further

1:36:08 ↗ activity remotely we will move to

1:36:10 ↗ uh discussion of the four issues that

1:36:12 ↗ are in front of us then uh mr nagrilla

1:36:14 ↗ if you could please put those four

1:36:15 ↗ questions back up just as a reminder for

1:36:18 ↗ us

1:36:18 ↗ first question is is the committee

1:36:20 ↗ supportive of establishing a formula for

1:36:22 ↗ human services grants funding

1:36:24 ↗ allocations with that let's start with

1:36:27 ↗ council member to michelle

1:36:33 ↗ thank you i i have to stop and say i was

1:36:36 ↗ really moved by

1:36:38 ↗ the comments tonight and

1:36:40 ↗ so thanks to everybody that took the

1:36:42 ↗ time to come in and talk to us

1:36:45 ↗ um

1:36:47 ↗ on the human services grants

1:36:50 ↗ i of course support the idea of a

1:36:53 ↗ formula

1:36:54 ↗ um

1:36:56 ↗ and i think you may have seen seen the

1:36:58 ↗ email that i sent earlier i do have

1:37:01 ↗ concerns

1:37:03 ↗ about

1:37:04 ↗ how that will play out given the timing

1:37:07 ↗ that's being proposed and the amount of

1:37:09 ↗ money that's being proposed

1:37:11 ↗ and um

1:37:13 ↗ if

1:37:14 ↗ manager

1:37:16 ↗ uh negrilla can correct me if i'm wrong

1:37:19 ↗ but and i realize it's a projection but

1:37:22 ↗ the projection is

1:37:24 ↗ uh 500 000

1:37:27 ↗ for human services grants in

1:37:30 ↗ 23 and 24

1:37:32 ↗ and then using the formula we would

1:37:34 ↗ increase that in um

1:37:37 ↗ 25 26

1:37:39 ↗ to

1:37:40 ↗ 543 000 and and i realized that's a

1:37:44 ↗ projection

1:37:45 ↗ and that there are discussions we could

1:37:47 ↗ have about the formula but

1:37:49 ↗ my concern is the one that alexis rick

1:37:53 ↗ alluded to

1:37:56 ↗ first of all we're facing monumental

1:37:58 ↗ inflation during this time

1:38:03 ↗ the east side human services forum has

1:38:05 ↗ identified

1:38:06 ↗ pay inequity in the human services field

1:38:09 ↗ as one of the driving issues

1:38:11 ↗ currently

1:38:14 ↗ the pandemic uh exacerbated the the

1:38:17 ↗ issue but we have relied on people in

1:38:20 ↗ the human services field to take minimum

1:38:23 ↗ wage salaries for a very long time

1:38:26 ↗ and that has caught up with us and it

1:38:28 ↗ caught up with us during the pandemic in

1:38:31 ↗ big time

1:38:32 ↗ and so human services organizations

1:38:35 ↗ social service organizations are

1:38:37 ↗ grappling with how they can begin to

1:38:40 ↗ give people living wages

1:38:43 ↗ and so all of that is

1:38:45 ↗ increasing

1:38:46 ↗ the need for additional funding

1:38:49 ↗ and on top of that

1:38:52 ↗ we have the high cost of living on the

1:38:54 ↗ east side

1:38:55 ↗ we have

1:38:56 ↗ all of the expenses that for-profit

1:38:58 ↗ companies

1:38:59 ↗ face um

1:39:01 ↗ and so i look at the formula i look at

1:39:03 ↗ what's being proposed and i think this

1:39:05 ↗ is

1:39:05 ↗ this is not meeting the need and i

1:39:08 ↗ understand that we will never as a city

1:39:11 ↗ be able to meet all of the need

1:39:13 ↗ but i i would urge us to make a more

1:39:16 ↗ substantial investment

1:39:19 ↗ in those human services grants

1:39:21 ↗ just because our human services

1:39:25 ↗ are facing some major major challenges

1:39:27 ↗ right now

1:39:28 ↗ the need is very great we are still in

1:39:30 ↗ recovery from the pandemic

1:39:33 ↗ um and all of this of that says to me

1:39:36 ↗ uh that we need to do more we need to

1:39:38 ↗ make a real

1:39:40 ↗ increase a real investment

1:39:43 ↗ in those human services grants so i'm

1:39:46 ↗ going to put it out there again

1:39:48 ↗ [Music]

1:39:49 ↗ i would like to see us increase for 23

1:39:52 ↗ 23.24

1:39:54 ↗ i mean immediately

1:39:56 ↗ i'd like to see us put a hundred

1:39:57 ↗ thousand dollars more

1:39:59 ↗ per year in each of those

1:40:02 ↗ uh budgets

1:40:03 ↗ and use six hundred thousand dollars a

1:40:05 ↗ year as our baseline

1:40:07 ↗ for calculating the formula

1:40:10 ↗ for 25 26 and going forward that's my

1:40:14 ↗ proposal

1:40:16 ↗ i'm certainly willing and eager to hear

1:40:19 ↗ what my fellow council members have to

1:40:21 ↗ say but i think if we just rely

1:40:24 ↗ on the formula that's been presented

1:40:27 ↗ that our investment in those human

1:40:30 ↗ services grants is going to be eaten up

1:40:32 ↗ completely by inflation by wage

1:40:35 ↗ increases

1:40:37 ↗ and by the business expenses that are

1:40:39 ↗ facing

1:40:41 ↗ our human services organizations in

1:40:43 ↗ issaquah so that's my concern and that's

1:40:46 ↗ my proposal thank you chairman

1:40:49 ↗ thank you council member d michelle

1:40:50 ↗ council member ray

1:40:53 ↗ i have a couple thoughts on this one is

1:40:55 ↗ i'm 100 supportive of

1:40:57 ↗ being formula driven it just makes it

1:40:58 ↗ easier makes it more predictable for for

1:41:01 ↗ everybody i think there's a couple

1:41:02 ↗ questions one is what's the baseline

1:41:05 ↗ where do you start and i think that goes

1:41:06 ↗ to council member d michelle's question

1:41:08 ↗ and then the second is what's the

1:41:10 ↗ formula going forward and i think those

1:41:11 ↗ are two separate issues

1:41:13 ↗ so i think we can work on a formula that

1:41:16 ↗ says whatever we set the baseline at

1:41:19 ↗ this is the formula we use going forward

1:41:21 ↗ it can have an inflation component it

1:41:22 ↗ can have a population component

1:41:25 ↗ if we want to get really interesting we

1:41:26 ↗ can talk about communities of need and

1:41:28 ↗ how we weight that but i'd like to see

1:41:30 ↗ something come back and say here's the

1:41:32 ↗ formula and here's why we think it's the

1:41:33 ↗ right formula and here's how it how it

1:41:35 ↗ fits in um

1:41:38 ↗ in terms of the baseline um i don't

1:41:40 ↗ think we'll ever

1:41:41 ↗ have enough i mean that's the that's the

1:41:43 ↗ beauty of this

1:41:44 ↗ line of work we all know that if you

1:41:46 ↗ spend any time in it you know you're

1:41:47 ↗ never going to have enough

1:41:49 ↗ what's interesting is when um i think it

1:41:52 ↗ was ava who

1:41:54 ↗ proposed i think in 15 or something that

1:41:57 ↗ it be

1:41:59 ↗ established based on a per capita basis

1:42:01 ↗ and it was ten dollars per capita and

1:42:02 ↗ now we're 12 and a half so um that's a

1:42:05 ↗ 25 percent increase in in the per capita

1:42:08 ↗ thing so we have escalated it so i i

1:42:11 ↗ don't know what that number is but i'd

1:42:13 ↗ like to have some basis for that number

1:42:15 ↗ other than

1:42:16 ↗ we don't have enough so to council

1:42:18 ↗ member d michelle's point if we could

1:42:20 ↗ say

1:42:21 ↗ you know we expect a 10 increase in

1:42:23 ↗ wages in the human services field and we

1:42:25 ↗ think rent's going to be going like this

1:42:27 ↗ but something that we can tie our star

1:42:30 ↗ to and say

1:42:31 ↗ it's based on something other than it's

1:42:33 ↗ just a number so give me a baseline and

1:42:36 ↗ make that baseline based on something

1:42:38 ↗ it's a baseline and then

1:42:41 ↗ propose some um factors that we can use

1:42:43 ↗ going forward so cost of living

1:42:45 ↗ um

1:42:46 ↗ you know

1:42:47 ↗ needs of the community whatever those

1:42:49 ↗ factors are that we think should

1:42:50 ↗ escalate over time and i think that

1:42:52 ↗ would be

1:42:53 ↗ uh really helpful and give us something

1:42:55 ↗ we can just hang on to

1:42:58 ↗ so i have a question

1:43:00 ↗ what's the human services budget in 2022

1:43:05 ↗ for human services grants yeah it's 500

1:43:08 ↗ 000 so it's five hundred thousand today

1:43:11 ↗ yes

1:43:12 ↗ today we have five hundred thousand but

1:43:14 ↗ this proposal would hold it at five

1:43:16 ↗ hundred thousand through 2024

1:43:19 ↗ and then start a cpi

1:43:21 ↗ not necessary that's up to you and your

1:43:24 ↗ feedback um it's it

1:43:26 ↗ with city

1:43:28 ↗ um administrator bob kowitz's permission

1:43:30 ↗ depending on your discussion during the

1:43:32 ↗ budget process if you decide you have

1:43:35 ↗ funds for that that could be added to

1:43:37 ↗ 2023 2024.

1:43:42 ↗ student administrator yes thank you

1:43:44 ↗ chairmart the the administration has no

1:43:46 ↗ objection of applying it right now i

1:43:48 ↗ think we wanted as mr guerilla said that

1:43:50 ↗ let the council have a discussion with

1:43:52 ↗ that but

1:43:54 ↗ you know we we feel very comfortable

1:43:56 ↗ with the formula i think council member

1:43:59 ↗ ray's comments are very well taken and

1:44:00 ↗ we have discussed them

1:44:02 ↗ in his absence uh internally um and

1:44:06 ↗ that's why you do not see a different

1:44:07 ↗ kind of a more aggressive factor because

1:44:10 ↗ we still believe we need more data um we

1:44:13 ↗ think that there's there's certainly the

1:44:15 ↗ justification for the 500 000 uh right

1:44:18 ↗ now we think that the cost of living

1:44:20 ↗ escalation makes sense our our sense is

1:44:23 ↗ that it needs to go up even higher but

1:44:25 ↗ we do not have the data to present to

1:44:27 ↗ you so rather than say give us another

1:44:29 ↗ year we're here tonight with a with a

1:44:32 ↗ more action related proposal with the

1:44:34 ↗ understanding that this is work will

1:44:36 ↗ continue

1:44:37 ↗ and i would imagine a year from now

1:44:38 ↗ we'll be able to come perhaps even a

1:44:40 ↗ different formula

1:44:42 ↗ based on more data

1:44:44 ↗ so i see your hand up bar but let me

1:44:45 ↗ finish my my thought and then i'll come

1:44:47 ↗ back to you um

1:44:50 ↗ i guess what my thinking is that um if

1:44:53 ↗ we said yeah it's 500 000 this year it's

1:44:57 ↗ 500 000 plus

1:44:59 ↗ i would just do the cpi accelerator

1:45:02 ↗ i think that would square the circle

1:45:04 ↗ between both of the things that i'm

1:45:05 ↗ hearing because it would address council

1:45:07 ↗ member d michelle's concern that we need

1:45:10 ↗ to get ahead of inflation or at least

1:45:12 ↗ keep up with inflation right now

1:45:15 ↗ and it would also

1:45:16 ↗ um start with a with a number

1:45:19 ↗ and uh and then i've i'm very

1:45:23 ↗ comfortable with

1:45:24 ↗ uh cpi plus uh as and then per capita as

1:45:28 ↗ well that's long been my standard for

1:45:31 ↗ uh expenditures and and we have seen

1:45:35 ↗ just this week in seattle when

1:45:37 ↗ expenditures over the long haul greatly

1:45:39 ↗ exceed that that relationship you start

1:45:42 ↗ to see drastic concerns around general

1:45:45 ↗ fund shortages like they're facing 120

1:45:47 ↗ million dollars this year right but i

1:45:49 ↗ mean we avoid that by having smart

1:45:51 ↗ accelerators um like this

1:45:55 ↗ now i will call in council member g

1:45:57 ↗ michelle

1:45:59 ↗ uh thank you chairman

1:46:01 ↗ um

1:46:02 ↗ i think i think the thrust of what i was

1:46:04 ↗ trying to say is exactly what both you

1:46:06 ↗ and councilmember ray uh are discussing

1:46:09 ↗ and and uh city administrator bob kowitz

1:46:12 ↗ and that is i would really like to see

1:46:15 ↗ us accelerate this

1:46:17 ↗ and make sure that the baseline starting

1:46:20 ↗ in

1:46:21 ↗ uh 2324

1:46:23 ↗ is

1:46:24 ↗ reflective of the

1:46:26 ↗ pressures that are on our social service

1:46:28 ↗ agencies

1:46:29 ↗ and so

1:46:31 ↗ the councilmember ray's remarks are well

1:46:33 ↗ taken

1:46:34 ↗ i also like your proposal so i think we

1:46:37 ↗ can go forward and

1:46:39 ↗ come up with a proposal to bring back to

1:46:42 ↗ the committee or back to the council for

1:46:45 ↗ consideration

1:46:46 ↗ i mean i'd like the three of us if we

1:46:48 ↗ can to agree this evening to what

1:46:50 ↗ proposal we'd like to bring back to the

1:46:52 ↗ full council

1:46:54 ↗ i mean

1:46:55 ↗ how how do you feel about saying this

1:46:58 ↗ year is what it is and and for next year

1:47:00 ↗ we go with the cpi accelerator oh i'm

1:47:02 ↗ all over that i actually was surprised

1:47:04 ↗ that it wasn't that way

1:47:06 ↗ when i was looking at the numbers i

1:47:07 ↗ thought that's what we were going to

1:47:08 ↗ have was the 543 or whatever that number

1:47:11 ↗ is so i think that that makes perfect

1:47:12 ↗ sense to me

1:47:14 ↗ um

1:47:15 ↗ but i would like to do i mean continue

1:47:16 ↗ doing some digging in the future but i

1:47:18 ↗ think for a going forward plan that

1:47:20 ↗ works

1:47:21 ↗ and and and i know concert council

1:47:23 ↗ member d michelle you you'd really like

1:47:24 ↗ to see a transformative uh view on how

1:47:27 ↗ we do uh uh

1:47:29 ↗ grant funding and i i think starting

1:47:32 ↗ with this today um and then

1:47:34 ↗ understanding that there's a sense of

1:47:36 ↗ the body that we would love to see

1:47:39 ↗ more data that would allow for a

1:47:41 ↗ conversation about a transformational

1:47:43 ↗ model

1:47:44 ↗ i think would reflect the will of the

1:47:46 ↗ three of us

1:47:48 ↗ i agree and i appreciate the

1:47:50 ↗ conversation um and um

1:47:53 ↗ as city administrator bob woods

1:47:56 ↗ indicated we may come across more data

1:47:58 ↗ that gives us a better look at it

1:48:01 ↗ but i think if we're in agreement that

1:48:03 ↗ we need to do something much more

1:48:05 ↗ immediately then i'm i'm fine with the

1:48:08 ↗ discussion right now yeah

1:48:10 ↗ so it sounds like the three of us agree

1:48:12 ↗ um next year would be 500 000 plus uh

1:48:16 ↗ with the implementation

1:48:17 ↗ immediately

1:48:18 ↗ uh

1:48:20 ↗ for 2023 of the cpi accelerator and per

1:48:24 ↗ capita

1:48:26 ↗ right

1:48:27 ↗ all right

1:48:28 ↗ you have you have

1:48:31 ↗ uh i'm sorry city administrator you have

1:48:33 ↗ a quizzical look i do the per capita

1:48:35 ↗ piece so

1:48:36 ↗ is that then changing the base

1:48:39 ↗ well if we get 10 more people

1:48:42 ↗ next between now and next year

1:48:44 ↗ 500 000 plus cpi isn't enough

1:48:47 ↗ right and

1:48:49 ↗ you know if you get more people

1:48:51 ↗ historically we've had uh

1:48:54 ↗ you know we went with a per dollar we

1:48:56 ↗ went with a dollar per resident with the

1:48:58 ↗ idea being that as our city gets bigger

1:49:00 ↗ we need more services i think taking

1:49:02 ↗ this year as the starting bogey but

1:49:04 ↗ saying that next year it's both cpi and

1:49:06 ↗ population

1:49:07 ↗ is what you're hearing from this body so

1:49:10 ↗ i think was mentioned that we're 12

1:49:12 ↗ dollars per head

1:49:14 ↗ we are 12 dollars per head and if i

1:49:16 ↗ unders understand correctly chair marks

1:49:18 ↗ and what you're proposing is that we

1:49:20 ↗ would add a population growth percentage

1:49:23 ↗ so for example for us would be that

1:49:25 ↗ would be a 0.7

1:49:27 ↗ yes okay

1:49:29 ↗ so there's there's two factors versus

1:49:31 ↗ just one cpu cpi plus population

1:49:33 ↗ observation growth yes

1:49:35 ↗ sudden such that the per capita

1:49:37 ↗ uh investiture in real dollars stays at

1:49:40 ↗ least the at least constant to keep up

1:49:42 ↗ with inflation

1:49:43 ↗ susie umancel is watching at home and

1:49:46 ↗ already texting me so i want to be sure

1:49:48 ↗ that we are clear and why i mentioned

1:49:50 ↗ sushi she corrected me uh the annual

1:49:53 ↗ monies that we're collecting or not

1:49:55 ↗ hundred thousand but one million eight

1:49:57 ↗ hundred thousand so my one half of one

1:49:59 ↗ percent yeah

1:50:01 ↗ the one tenth of one percent sorry one

1:50:02 ↗ tenth of one is one million eight

1:50:04 ↗ hundred thousand per year so my i knew

1:50:05 ↗ the 800 000 was stuck in my head but

1:50:07 ↗ it's one million eight hundred thousand

1:50:08 ↗ so thank you susie there's other things

1:50:10 ↗ to watch on television tonight

1:50:14 ↗ all right uh the next question is is the

1:50:17 ↗ committee supportive of piloting the

1:50:18 ↗ emergency housing model proposed as a

1:50:21 ↗ targeted investment council member ray

1:50:27 ↗ i am of multiple minds on this one um

1:50:30 ↗ i i

1:50:32 ↗ i have this belief when you when you

1:50:34 ↗ have a

1:50:35 ↗ disconnect with somebody it's generally

1:50:37 ↗ because you're talking about different

1:50:38 ↗ things and so

1:50:41 ↗ i don't dispute the need i don't dispute

1:50:43 ↗ that we're a caring community i don't

1:50:45 ↗ dispute that

1:50:48 ↗ we want to do better and that people

1:50:50 ↗ need services and shelter what i'm

1:50:53 ↗ really struggling with is what's the

1:50:54 ↗ best and most effective way to do that

1:50:56 ↗ and and i'm

1:50:59 ↗ i'm i haven't been convinced tonight

1:51:01 ↗ that the city of issaquah is more

1:51:03 ↗ capable of providing shelter than is

1:51:06 ↗ the king county seattle cooperative

1:51:10 ↗ organization

1:51:12 ↗ um we're talking 700 000

1:51:15 ↗ um i did some quick numbers it looks

1:51:16 ↗ like 100 million dollars that

1:51:19 ↗ that the county is the kcrha is spending

1:51:22 ↗ so um i'm not opposed to doing a pilot

1:51:25 ↗ but i need to have some some confidence

1:51:27 ↗ at the end of a pilot that you can prove

1:51:29 ↗ to me that this is better than what kc

1:51:33 ↗ rha could do and and and in very

1:51:36 ↗ tangible terms and

1:51:38 ↗ and then i wrestle with if we

1:51:40 ↗ can serve this population are we just

1:51:43 ↗ moving um the problem around and so

1:51:46 ↗ um

1:51:47 ↗ i'll i will support the pilot because i

1:51:49 ↗ think you know i like trying things and

1:51:51 ↗ seeing how they work but um when the

1:51:53 ↗ pilot's done i i have a really high bar

1:51:56 ↗ that i want you to get over to convince

1:51:57 ↗ me that this was the best use of that

1:52:00 ↗ seven hundred thousand dollars seven

1:52:01 ↗ hundred thousand dollars because there's

1:52:03 ↗ a lot of stuff we could do with a lot of

1:52:05 ↗ people in need um that we could address

1:52:08 ↗ with seven hundred thousand dollars so

1:52:09 ↗ you gotta convince me that this is the

1:52:11 ↗ absolute best way to do it compared to

1:52:13 ↗ what um

1:52:14 ↗ other um providers could do

1:52:17 ↗ so that's that's kind of where i'm at on

1:52:19 ↗ this it was it's it's it's a compelling

1:52:21 ↗ argument for sure

1:52:23 ↗ but it's uh

1:52:25 ↗ i'm from missouri show me

1:52:27 ↗ thank you councilmember d michelle

1:52:32 ↗ um thank you so much chair of arts

1:52:36 ↗ um

1:52:37 ↗ so let me start by saying that when the

1:52:40 ↗ council voted to

1:52:42 ↗ capture that one-tenth one percent uh

1:52:45 ↗ sales tax

1:52:47 ↗ this was

1:52:48 ↗ the proposal that's in front of us

1:52:50 ↗ tonight was

1:52:51 ↗ pretty much the dream that i had

1:52:54 ↗ at that point

1:52:55 ↗ um

1:52:57 ↗ and the proposal that's brought been

1:52:59 ↗ brought forward is actually more elegant

1:53:01 ↗ than even the one i envisioned

1:53:05 ↗ how

1:53:05 ↗ i think that what the reason that um

1:53:08 ↗ this was my dream

1:53:10 ↗ might answer council member ray's

1:53:14 ↗ thoughts

1:53:15 ↗ about how can we do it better or why

1:53:17 ↗ will this be better and the why it will

1:53:20 ↗ be better is because it is here in

1:53:23 ↗ issaquah

1:53:25 ↗ and there is a mountain of research that

1:53:28 ↗ shows that when people are homeless

1:53:31 ↗ if you can keep them in their community

1:53:33 ↗ and keep them with their connections and

1:53:36 ↗ keep them

1:53:38 ↗ close to where where they uh are

1:53:41 ↗ currently operating and as one of our

1:53:44 ↗ commentators

1:53:46 ↗ um

1:53:46 ↗ pointed out some of them actually have

1:53:48 ↗ jobs here in issaquah and they're still

1:53:51 ↗ homeless

1:53:52 ↗ um

1:53:53 ↗ the

1:53:54 ↗ ability to continue that those contexts

1:53:58 ↗ and that sense of community

1:54:00 ↗ and uh so you could ask the question i

1:54:03 ↗ think uh well you know do homeless

1:54:05 ↗ people have connections in the community

1:54:08 ↗ and the one illustration that i can give

1:54:10 ↗ you is the night that i did my ride

1:54:12 ↗ along with the instaquad police

1:54:14 ↗ department

1:54:15 ↗ officer

1:54:16 ↗ and part of that we walked around

1:54:18 ↗ downtown

1:54:20 ↗ and she made contact with

1:54:22 ↗ homeless person after homeless person

1:54:24 ↗ after homeless person

1:54:26 ↗ and

1:54:27 ↗ even that small amount of contact makes

1:54:30 ↗ a huge difference and then we have the

1:54:33 ↗ issaquah food and clothing bank and

1:54:35 ↗ aaron and the wonderful people that are

1:54:37 ↗ there that provide community for people

1:54:40 ↗ and homelessness

1:54:42 ↗ and then we have friends of youth that

1:54:43 ↗ provides

1:54:45 ↗ contacts

1:54:46 ↗ and

1:54:47 ↗ so to force people to go to bellevue or

1:54:50 ↗ to go to seattle or to go to kirkland

1:54:53 ↗ and

1:54:54 ↗ take them out of whatever community

1:54:57 ↗ context they have

1:54:58 ↗ it's just adding another level of trauma

1:55:01 ↗ to what is already a traumatic situation

1:55:04 ↗ so

1:55:05 ↗ in that sense just by providing a place

1:55:09 ↗ here

1:55:10 ↗ we are doing better than the king county

1:55:13 ↗ regional homelessness authority and

1:55:15 ↗ alexis and mallory i have huge

1:55:18 ↗ i

1:55:19 ↗ i i am not at all dissing that program

1:55:22 ↗ because alexis and mallory have been

1:55:24 ↗ wonderful partners for a lot of our

1:55:26 ↗ discussions

1:55:27 ↗ but

1:55:28 ↗ there is just nothing that takes the

1:55:30 ↗ place of providing

1:55:34 ↗ a residence

1:55:35 ↗ as doug said a place to lay your head

1:55:39 ↗ that is in your own community and so

1:55:41 ↗ just by doing that we are doing it

1:55:44 ↗ better

1:55:45 ↗ than the regional network can do

1:55:49 ↗ i really commend

1:55:51 ↗ monica and alexis and

1:55:54 ↗ the city administration for coming up

1:55:56 ↗ with what again i would call a very

1:55:58 ↗ elegant elegant proposal for us to

1:56:01 ↗ consider and i fully fully support it so

1:56:05 ↗ thank you

1:56:06 ↗ thank you councilmember jimmy michelle

1:56:09 ↗ i absolutely agree with council member

1:56:12 ↗ ray that at the end of this pilot we'll

1:56:14 ↗ want to take a really

1:56:16 ↗ uh

1:56:17 ↗ should the full council support it um

1:56:19 ↗ we'll want to take a really good look at

1:56:21 ↗ um the effects of it i mean we are one

1:56:23 ↗ city not a particularly big city um in

1:56:26 ↗ in a big county and seeing how

1:56:30 ↗ this service impacts our own community

1:56:32 ↗ and adjacent communities i think would

1:56:34 ↗ be will be part of that conversation

1:56:36 ↗ additionally how other cities address

1:56:38 ↗ this how bellevue addresses it and and

1:56:40 ↗ and snoqualmie and so forth

1:56:42 ↗ um however i i have cause to be

1:56:44 ↗ optimistic and there's a couple of

1:56:46 ↗ things one is that um the unit cost is

1:56:50 ↗ uh

1:56:51 ↗ proportional to the number that i've

1:56:53 ↗ heard for a long time which it's

1:56:55 ↗ staggering but fifty thousand

1:56:57 ↗ dollars per person per year is is the

1:56:59 ↗ number that has been talked about in

1:57:01 ↗ king county for several years now this

1:57:03 ↗ is more or less right around that number

1:57:06 ↗ so that tells me that at least it as a

1:57:09 ↗ proposal that it that it projects out as

1:57:13 ↗ something comparable to king county and

1:57:15 ↗ there's another argument to me which is

1:57:17 ↗ and it kind of relates to something that

1:57:18 ↗ councilmember g michelle said you know

1:57:20 ↗ with public safety we have identified

1:57:22 ↗ for quite some time that having um the

1:57:26 ↗ the interlocking pieces of dispatch ipd

1:57:28 ↗ jail court

1:57:30 ↗ is extremely valuable in responding to

1:57:32 ↗ public safety i think commensurately on

1:57:35 ↗ the housing side um when dealing with un

1:57:39 ↗ with unsheltered folks and and trying to

1:57:41 ↗ help them

1:57:43 ↗ bridge their situation ipd behavioral

1:57:46 ↗ health coordinator emergency housing and

1:57:49 ↗ then the private services like issaquah

1:57:51 ↗ food and clothing bank i have a hope

1:57:53 ↗ that that will have a similar those

1:57:56 ↗ interlocking pieces will have a similar

1:57:58 ↗ ability for us to respond

1:58:00 ↗ more comprehensively but i'm completely

1:58:02 ↗ with you council member ray i you know

1:58:05 ↗ there will be a natural feeling if we if

1:58:07 ↗ if if this one tenth of one percent is

1:58:09 ↗ bringing in eight one million eight

1:58:10 ↗ hundred thousand dollars there will be

1:58:12 ↗ and if this program is is even

1:58:14 ↗ moderately successful there will be

1:58:16 ↗ people wanting to consider using a

1:58:18 ↗ larger fraction of that and that's where

1:58:20 ↗ saying hey how has this worked will be

1:58:22 ↗ really really important

1:58:25 ↗ so i think we have three thumbs up on

1:58:28 ↗ that one

1:58:29 ↗ yep all right

1:58:32 ↗ then we have would the committee like to

1:58:34 ↗ recommend the administration consider

1:58:35 ↗ something different what types of

1:58:37 ↗ information would be helpful for the

1:58:38 ↗ administration to bring back to the

1:58:39 ↗ committee regarding the items proposed

1:58:41 ↗ any additional um comments or objection

1:58:44 ↗ a direction we want to consider not for

1:58:46 ↗ me

1:58:49 ↗ reggie michelle

1:58:51 ↗ no i think we've talked about the type

1:58:52 ↗ of information that would be helpful

1:58:55 ↗ i don't know if city administrator bob

1:58:57 ↗ kowitz would like us to define that a

1:58:59 ↗ little bit better

1:59:01 ↗ but

1:59:02 ↗ i don't have anything

1:59:04 ↗ different to for us to consider

1:59:07 ↗ but

1:59:08 ↗ i would like to know if we need to

1:59:10 ↗ define the type of information we're

1:59:12 ↗ looking for a little bit better

1:59:15 ↗ how about it to the administrator any

1:59:17 ↗ further clarity you're looking for from

1:59:19 ↗ us this this evening

1:59:20 ↗ uh council members members of the

1:59:22 ↗ committee i think we're good for tonight

1:59:24 ↗ um what we would like now i think with

1:59:26 ↗ the committee's concurrence is to

1:59:28 ↗ continue to work on this project um

1:59:31 ↗ i think we need also to decide if this

1:59:34 ↗ is something that you'll report out to

1:59:36 ↗ the council as part of just a

1:59:38 ↗ good of the order or council member

1:59:40 ↗ reports because i if that's sufficient

1:59:42 ↗ what we'll do is we'll move forward this

1:59:44 ↗ will be included in the administration's

1:59:46 ↗ proposed budget for next year

1:59:48 ↗ and i think we can come back to the

1:59:50 ↗ committee

1:59:51 ↗ either late in the year

1:59:53 ↗ or at the very beginning of next year as

1:59:54 ↗ we're hopefully about to implement

1:59:56 ↗ and say this is how our the framework

1:59:59 ↗ we're looking to track the data we

2:00:00 ↗ already collect a lot of data and i

2:00:02 ↗ think

2:00:03 ↗ it's not going to be

2:00:04 ↗ uh too hard to add additional data

2:00:07 ↗ points to complement the data we're

2:00:08 ↗ already collecting we already have a

2:00:10 ↗ dashboard that we share with the

2:00:12 ↗ community we can add some of those

2:00:13 ↗ points so i think at this point we're

2:00:15 ↗ good uh with the commitment that we'll

2:00:17 ↗ come back either at the end of the year

2:00:19 ↗ or the first of twenty three well i will

2:00:21 ↗ certainly look forward to when you and

2:00:22 ↗ the mayor and council president walsh

2:00:24 ↗ and deputy council president hall figure

2:00:26 ↗ out the budget process for the

2:00:28 ↗ subgrouping year

2:00:29 ↗ uh with that we have one item left this

2:00:32 ↗ evening id 1162 tenant and landlord

2:00:35 ↗ protection options this will also be

2:00:37 ↗ presented um by ms nigrilla as well as

2:00:40 ↗ hannah roberts uh human services

2:00:43 ↗ coordinator

2:00:46 ↗ hello thank you so much so much chairman

2:00:50 ↗ oh i am

2:00:56 ↗ do you have your audio on your laptop

2:01:00 ↗ [Music]

2:01:10 ↗ my

2:01:26 ↗ i know it was working so long

2:01:38 ↗ i think we should be good now

2:01:40 ↗ yes yes i apologize for that

2:01:43 ↗ um

2:01:44 ↗ give me just a moment to open my other

2:01:48 ↗ presentation and share it

2:01:50 ↗ well i do that

2:01:53 ↗ oh i'm

2:01:54 ↗ good thank you

2:01:57 ↗ yes i'm okay thank you so much that's

2:01:59 ↗ very very nice

2:02:00 ↗ so for this item i have the pleasure to

2:02:04 ↗ have with me hannah roberts our human

2:02:06 ↗ services coordinator

2:02:08 ↗ who's gonna

2:02:09 ↗ [Music]

2:02:10 ↗ present with me tonight

2:02:13 ↗ and so for this item uh council members

2:02:16 ↗ um

2:02:17 ↗ we are going to talk a little bit about

2:02:20 ↗ some tenant and landlord protection

2:02:21 ↗ options really in particular we are

2:02:24 ↗ bringing for your consideration and

2:02:26 ↗ seeking your direction on the tenant

2:02:29 ↗ protection recommendations provided by

2:02:32 ↗ art a regional

2:02:34 ↗ coalition for housing

2:02:36 ↗ back in april

2:02:38 ↗ we received a letter from arch

2:02:42 ↗ asking mayors and councils

2:02:45 ↗ to consider some of the recommendations

2:02:49 ↗ set forth

2:02:50 ↗ to

2:02:51 ↗ consider some protections

2:02:53 ↗ for

2:02:54 ↗ tenants

2:02:56 ↗ and so for you tonight

2:02:58 ↗ our questions that we are proposing to

2:03:00 ↗ you are

2:03:02 ↗ specifically one

2:03:04 ↗ as a committee are you supportive of our

2:03:07 ↗ recommendations the administration's

2:03:09 ↗ recommendations

2:03:11 ↗ or

2:03:12 ↗ would you like to recommend that the

2:03:14 ↗ city take action and adopt the

2:03:16 ↗ recommendations for tenant protections

2:03:18 ↗ provided by arch

2:03:20 ↗ alternatively would you like to propose

2:03:22 ↗ something different or take no action at

2:03:24 ↗ this time

2:03:25 ↗ and i'm gonna dive deeper just a little

2:03:27 ↗ bit to explain a high level um overview

2:03:31 ↗ of what the recommendations were uh by

2:03:34 ↗ arch and then i would like to

2:03:37 ↗ um hand it over to hannah to tell you

2:03:40 ↗ and talk to you a little bit deeper

2:03:41 ↗ about the outreach that we conducted and

2:03:44 ↗ [Music]

2:03:46 ↗ the

2:03:46 ↗ [Music]

2:03:48 ↗ information that we tried to gather in

2:03:50 ↗ making our recommendations

2:03:52 ↗ so um

2:03:54 ↗ arch in in in their recommendations

2:03:57 ↗ proposed uh that we as a city consider

2:04:01 ↗ three actions

2:04:02 ↗ um

2:04:03 ↗ one to require landlords to provide a

2:04:06 ↗ minimum of 120 days or 180 days notice

2:04:10 ↗ when for rent increases

2:04:13 ↗ a second one regarding late fees

2:04:17 ↗ and that was the recommendation was to

2:04:19 ↗ establish a cap on late fees

2:04:22 ↗ for a late rental payments and that cap

2:04:25 ↗ should be maintained at 1.5 of the

2:04:28 ↗ tenant's monthly rent

2:04:31 ↗ and then the third recommendation was to

2:04:33 ↗ really um

2:04:34 ↗ establish a cap on moving costs such as

2:04:38 ↗ security deposits and whatnot

2:04:41 ↗ and those should not be

2:04:43 ↗ more than the equivalent of one month's

2:04:47 ↗ rent

2:04:48 ↗ and also to allow tenants to pay these

2:04:51 ↗ in installments

2:04:54 ↗ and so once we received that letter on

2:04:56 ↗ our end uh we

2:04:59 ↗ started conducting uh outreach to

2:05:02 ↗ landlords and tenants in issaquah to

2:05:05 ↗ really get their feedback and

2:05:08 ↗ recommendations and we also did some

2:05:10 ↗ research to see what other

2:05:13 ↗ cities in the region especially on the

2:05:14 ↗ east side are doing

2:05:16 ↗ and so with that i would like to invite

2:05:18 ↗ hannah she did an outstanding job with

2:05:20 ↗ talking with several landlords and

2:05:22 ↗ tenants and i would like to invite her

2:05:24 ↗ to tell us her findings hannah welcome

2:05:29 ↗ hi monica thank you so much and good

2:05:30 ↗ evening council members hannah roberts

2:05:32 ↗ here human services coordinator

2:05:35 ↗ like monica said i will be presenting

2:05:37 ↗ this evening on what we found through

2:05:40 ↗ our engagement and outreach with

2:05:41 ↗ issaquah landlords and tenants

2:05:44 ↗ um so to note uh we started off with

2:05:48 ↗ talking to our landlords in issaquah i

2:05:51 ↗ reached out to 26 uh issaquah landlords

2:05:54 ↗ and received feedback and responses from

2:05:56 ↗ 22 of those

2:05:58 ↗ uh apartment complexes

2:06:01 ↗ of those 22 units i think it's worth

2:06:04 ↗ noting that all 22 properties had

2:06:07 ↗ properties outside of issaquah in

2:06:08 ↗ addition to their isoqua properties

2:06:12 ↗ also worth noting uh that these

2:06:14 ↗ properties that we interviewed 64 of

2:06:17 ↗ them did not have any available units

2:06:19 ↗ and the ones that did have available

2:06:21 ↗ units

2:06:22 ↗ had about one or two that they expected

2:06:25 ↗ to fill in shortly i think that really

2:06:27 ↗ speaks to the

2:06:28 ↗ just the high demand and low supply that

2:06:30 ↗ we are also hearing and seeing in

2:06:32 ↗ issaquah

2:06:33 ↗ and really what we wanted to do in

2:06:35 ↗ talking to our landlords we wanted to

2:06:37 ↗ understand what's their process which of

2:06:39 ↗ their financial situations that they

2:06:42 ↗ provide for tenants so in looking at the

2:06:45 ↗ average moving cost what we commonly

2:06:48 ↗ heard from landlords uh was that they

2:06:51 ↗ were 45 application fees non-refundable

2:06:55 ↗ there was a 25 or sorry a 250

2:06:58 ↗ non-refundable admin fee and then 250

2:07:02 ↗ refundable deposit

2:07:04 ↗ and again that was a very common average

2:07:06 ↗ that we did here

2:07:08 ↗ in regards to late fees

2:07:10 ↗ the range that we heard was uh between

2:07:13 ↗ twenty five dollars and a hundred and

2:07:15 ↗ twenty five dollars uh for a one-time

2:07:18 ↗ late fee uh but really commonly an

2:07:20 ↗ average we heard was seventy five

2:07:22 ↗ dollars fee and per state washington

2:07:25 ↗ law that the landlords all did report

2:07:28 ↗ providing a 14-day notice with a payment

2:07:31 ↗ plan option and i think it's also worth

2:07:33 ↗ noting that a lot of the landlords

2:07:35 ↗ discuss this in detail of how they do

2:07:37 ↗ want to be trying to be accommodating to

2:07:40 ↗ tenants and their certain circumstances

2:07:43 ↗ um and in in addition we found that the

2:07:46 ↗ average rent increase it really did

2:07:49 ↗ range between um three percent and 15

2:07:54 ↗ we even had one complex report that

2:07:56 ↗ their increase was up to 20

2:07:58 ↗ but on average we did see the 10 mark uh

2:08:02 ↗ was pretty common and they um landlords

2:08:06 ↗ indicated that that was determined by

2:08:08 ↗ market rate which essentially is what

2:08:10 ↗ are other apartment complexes going for

2:08:12 ↗ what is the availability and what is the

2:08:14 ↗ demand

2:08:16 ↗ it's also worth noting here that the

2:08:19 ↗ rent increases did occur of those 22

2:08:23 ↗ apartment complexes 77 have implemented

2:08:27 ↗ uh

2:08:28 ↗ increases

2:08:29 ↗ and that they uh the ones that have not

2:08:31 ↗ yet do intend to by the end of the year

2:08:34 ↗ so it is a common theme that we are

2:08:36 ↗ seeing

2:08:39 ↗ issaquah landlords concerns a few things

2:08:42 ↗ that we noted here uh was the increase

2:08:45 ↗ of operation cost so

2:08:47 ↗ just like tenants uh landlords have been

2:08:51 ↗ have been affected by inflation so

2:08:53 ↗ operation cost for example a landlord

2:08:57 ↗ reported a 60

2:08:59 ↗ increase in insurance costs 30 percent

2:09:02 ↗ increase in real estate taxes in the

2:09:05 ↗ last two years

2:09:06 ↗ and so that was a

2:09:08 ↗ a common theme in addition to any

2:09:10 ↗ general operation cost of maintenance

2:09:13 ↗ those costs have seen as a significant

2:09:16 ↗ increase

2:09:17 ↗ so that's a major concern of the

2:09:18 ↗ landlords as well as landlords reported

2:09:21 ↗ i've seen an increase in tenant social

2:09:23 ↗ service needs um so they're seeing more

2:09:26 ↗ crisis that their tenants were

2:09:28 ↗ experiencing not just with financial aid

2:09:30 ↗ needs but with behavioral health or

2:09:32 ↗ medical issues employment issues and so

2:09:36 ↗ recognizing they needed to provide

2:09:38 ↗ additional information of resources that

2:09:40 ↗ their tenants could use outside of just

2:09:43 ↗ financial aid

2:09:45 ↗ and then also they recognize that

2:09:47 ↗ tenants

2:09:48 ↗ really need to have been struggling

2:09:50 ↗ resetting their payment patterns and

2:09:53 ↗ understanding um

2:09:55 ↗ that they have not seen late fees or

2:09:57 ↗ rent increases in two years and so that

2:09:59 ↗ really is taking some time for land

2:10:02 ↗ tenants to readjust to these patterns

2:10:05 ↗ and then the biggest and last part of

2:10:07 ↗ the recommendation um that we received

2:10:10 ↗ from landlords and the needs was just

2:10:12 ↗ consistency across

2:10:14 ↗ the king county and so any

2:10:17 ↗ amendments any changes or two policies

2:10:20 ↗ should be across

2:10:21 ↗ the same across the board

2:10:23 ↗ now speaking to tenants we really wanted

2:10:26 ↗ to engage with our residents who are

2:10:28 ↗ renting in issaquah and so what we did

2:10:31 ↗ was we conducted an online survey and we

2:10:34 ↗ received 49 responses in addition to

2:10:36 ↗ additional conversations and email

2:10:38 ↗ correspondence

2:10:39 ↗ and it's worth noting that uh of those

2:10:42 ↗ 49 responses 71

2:10:45 ↗ um were behind in their rent in the last

2:10:48 ↗ two years and utilize rental assistance

2:10:51 ↗ up to 5 000

2:10:53 ↗ was a common amount that was assisted

2:10:57 ↗ the main issue and concerns that tenants

2:10:58 ↗ were experiencing were

2:11:01 ↗ essentially costs so rent increases late

2:11:04 ↗ fees anything that would increase

2:11:06 ↗ the cost and the majority saw an up to

2:11:10 ↗ 150 in rent increase and i think it's

2:11:13 ↗ worth noting that um we had a couple of

2:11:17 ↗ residents report over 800 in rent

2:11:20 ↗ increase

2:11:23 ↗ and then ultimately the trends that we

2:11:24 ↗ saw within our tenant and tenant

2:11:26 ↗ engagement was this ongoing need for

2:11:29 ↗ financial assistance so what this means

2:11:32 ↗ is that we saw a tenant's needing on a

2:11:34 ↗ month-to-month basis additional

2:11:36 ↗ financial assistance now our community

2:11:39 ↗ partners are typically looking

2:11:42 ↗ and provide once or twice a year

2:11:45 ↗ for emergency needs but really the need

2:11:48 ↗ has

2:11:49 ↗ increased significantly

2:11:51 ↗ and then also we heard um that a lot of

2:11:53 ↗ tenants are either because of the height

2:11:55 ↗ of

2:11:56 ↗ rental prices uh are being forced to

2:11:58 ↗ move out of the area uh so if they

2:12:01 ↗ received a rent increase that they

2:12:03 ↗ cannot afford they start looking okay

2:12:05 ↗ where else can i afford an isoqua and

2:12:07 ↗ they're finding

2:12:09 ↗ that those prices are more expensive

2:12:11 ↗ therefore they're having to leave the

2:12:12 ↗ area entirely

2:12:14 ↗ and the last thing here is that the rent

2:12:16 ↗ to income ratio is unrealistic they are

2:12:19 ↗ finding that a lot of landlords are

2:12:21 ↗ requiring the

2:12:22 ↗ gross income to be

2:12:24 ↗ three

2:12:25 ↗ times the rent so the average

2:12:28 ↗ rental is

2:12:29 ↗ about 2500

2:12:32 ↗ so

2:12:32 ↗ having a gross income of 90 000

2:12:35 ↗ is what's expected and that can be very

2:12:38 ↗ challenging for a single income

2:12:39 ↗ household

2:12:42 ↗ so also in addition to talking to our

2:12:45 ↗ landlords and our tenants at isoqua we

2:12:47 ↗ wanted to see what other jurisdictions

2:12:49 ↗ are doing

2:12:50 ↗ you can see here auburn kenmore seattle

2:12:53 ↗ unincorporated king county

2:12:55 ↗ those cities have implemented similar

2:12:58 ↗ arch tenant protection policies and as

2:13:00 ↗ far as east side cities uh there are no

2:13:03 ↗ immediate plans or acts for actions uh

2:13:06 ↗ we do have kirkland and redmond who will

2:13:08 ↗ be meeting in july uh for further

2:13:10 ↗ discussion

2:13:11 ↗ so that concludes my portion and i'll

2:13:13 ↗ pass it back to monica for a summary and

2:13:15 ↗ our recommendations thank you

2:13:18 ↗ thank you very much hannah well done

2:13:21 ↗ council members as you heard from hannah

2:13:23 ↗ i think the needs are

2:13:26 ↗ dire on both ends so

2:13:29 ↗ on one end landlords have their own huge

2:13:32 ↗ challenges

2:13:35 ↗ they have their own increases in costs

2:13:37 ↗ for operations

2:13:39 ↗ they've been impacted by by the pandemic

2:13:42 ↗ over the last couple of years as well

2:13:45 ↗ and also it's worth to notice that

2:13:48 ↗ many of them i believe

2:13:50 ↗ about 80 percent of the landlords that

2:13:51 ↗ we talked with they have also properties

2:13:54 ↗ in other cities which makes it really

2:13:56 ↗ really challenging when we consider just

2:13:59 ↗ city-wide

2:14:01 ↗ policies

2:14:02 ↗ because if you have properties in four

2:14:04 ↗ cities and you need to keep track of

2:14:06 ↗ those four cities it makes it

2:14:07 ↗ challenging right on the tenant side of

2:14:10 ↗ course it's it's heartbreaking i think

2:14:12 ↗ the biggest uh finding is that really

2:14:14 ↗ tenants need financial assistance now on

2:14:17 ↗ a regular basis so our rental assistance

2:14:20 ↗ programs are really set up for emergency

2:14:22 ↗ situations maybe somebody you know they

2:14:25 ↗ have a medical need or something unusual

2:14:27 ↗ happens and they need financial

2:14:29 ↗ assistance worse once or twice a year

2:14:31 ↗ but what we hear is that people need

2:14:34 ↗ now consistent emergency financial

2:14:36 ↗ assistance uh in order just

2:14:39 ↗ just just to make rent right now that is

2:14:42 ↗ concerning and then when we start

2:14:44 ↗ discussing about just um

2:14:47 ↗ uh providing uh more time when rent

2:14:50 ↗ increase comes it just doesn't come

2:14:52 ↗ across as genuine in really making a

2:14:55 ↗ difference in in really supporting them

2:14:57 ↗ or helping them right

2:14:59 ↗ um

2:14:59 ↗ and so that's that's why tenants really

2:15:02 ↗ need um

2:15:04 ↗ more support that's more impactful now

2:15:08 ↗ uh

2:15:09 ↗ than than than what we we see in the

2:15:11 ↗ recommendations

2:15:13 ↗ um and so because of that

2:15:15 ↗ uh really um in in us trying to put our

2:15:19 ↗ thinking hat on

2:15:22 ↗ we would like to recommend that

2:15:24 ↗ perhaps council

2:15:26 ↗ at the arch

2:15:29 ↗ organization level

2:15:31 ↗ considers and continues to brainstorm

2:15:33 ↗ with other cities to see if there's

2:15:35 ↗ something that can be done

2:15:37 ↗ jointly with other cities but more so

2:15:40 ↗ it may be worth considering

2:15:42 ↗ looking at

2:15:43 ↗ state and federal advocacy and trying to

2:15:46 ↗ look for options that really

2:15:49 ↗ are more impactful one example that

2:15:51 ↗ comes to mind and that's just um

2:15:54 ↗ from from my experience in the past with

2:15:56 ↗ with tenants who

2:15:58 ↗ are on ssi or ssdi right they are on

2:16:02 ↗ fixed incomes for multiple years

2:16:05 ↗ and they can't keep up with the rent

2:16:07 ↗ increases and so that's at federal level

2:16:10 ↗ something that's decided and those

2:16:11 ↗ increases are really happening every 10

2:16:14 ↗ years or so

2:16:16 ↗ could we do something to where we join

2:16:18 ↗ other cities other regional efforts and

2:16:20 ↗ really try to advocate for more systemic

2:16:22 ↗ changes that tend to be more impactful

2:16:25 ↗ um other than um just providing

2:16:28 ↗ um tenants with more time when right now

2:16:32 ↗ more time does not help them as you

2:16:34 ↗ heard hannah

2:16:35 ↗ if if they want to look for other places

2:16:38 ↗ to rent there's nothing more affordable

2:16:40 ↗ that they could find in issaquah so are

2:16:42 ↗ we really helping them by implementing

2:16:44 ↗ the measure so that's where we are

2:16:46 ↗ coming from when when we make our

2:16:48 ↗ recommendations

2:16:50 ↗ and so with that i think

2:16:52 ↗ council members the options

2:16:56 ↗ tonight

2:16:58 ↗ you can if you would like to support our

2:17:01 ↗ recommendations or if you would like to

2:17:03 ↗ consider recommending that the city

2:17:05 ↗ takes action to adopt the

2:17:07 ↗ recommendations um

2:17:09 ↗ proposed by arch

2:17:11 ↗ or you can perhaps um

2:17:14 ↗ guide us to consider something else or

2:17:17 ↗ take no action

2:17:19 ↗ i would love to hear from you thank you

2:17:20 ↗ so much

2:17:23 ↗ first up i'll ask if there's any

2:17:24 ↗ questions not from council member ray

2:17:27 ↗ councilmember d michelle

2:17:31 ↗ uh thank you

2:17:32 ↗ chair martz

2:17:34 ↗ when you surveyed the landlords were

2:17:37 ↗ there were any of the

2:17:39 ↗ landlords that you surveyed

2:17:41 ↗ what we call mom and pop

2:17:44 ↗ you know one house or maybe um a couple

2:17:47 ↗ of units or were those all larger

2:17:52 ↗ landlords you mentioned that they have

2:17:54 ↗ multiple properties so that's

2:17:56 ↗ i'm just wondering

2:17:58 ↗ what the demographic of that of those

2:18:01 ↗ that you surveyed was

2:18:03 ↗ yeah thank you for your question

2:18:04 ↗ councilmember d michelle

2:18:06 ↗ um

2:18:07 ↗ they were not mom paw type of shops or

2:18:10 ↗ single residents they were larger

2:18:13 ↗ units uh they were all arch apartments

2:18:16 ↗ um were included in that i could also

2:18:19 ↗ provide a list if you needed to

2:18:21 ↗ but

2:18:22 ↗ then the um there was 15 that offered

2:18:26 ↗ affordable housing options and then a

2:18:28 ↗ few who did not offer affordable housing

2:18:32 ↗ so to follow up

2:18:34 ↗ um

2:18:35 ↗ i guess it was my understanding that

2:18:36 ↗ what arch is proposing is that these

2:18:39 ↗ proposed ordinances or regulations would

2:18:42 ↗ be

2:18:43 ↗ across the board and maybe i'm

2:18:45 ↗ misunderstanding are they

2:18:47 ↗ actually asking us to

2:18:50 ↗ adopt these just for arch properties

2:18:53 ↗ um no

2:18:54 ↗ it it really would be across the board

2:18:56 ↗ from my understanding um

2:18:59 ↗ correct me if i'm wrong but yes i i

2:19:02 ↗ believe it's for

2:19:03 ↗ um across the board so it would affect

2:19:06 ↗ not just low income housing but um

2:19:10 ↗ yeah everyone and for market

2:19:12 ↗ okay thank you

2:19:15 ↗ thank you

2:19:16 ↗ uh no other questions at this time um i

2:19:19 ↗ am going to take public comment but

2:19:21 ↗ before i do that i want to share the

2:19:23 ↗ public comment that

2:19:25 ↗ we've received on this issue

2:19:27 ↗ um there really wasn't there was some

2:19:30 ↗ from the earlier uh but but there wasn't

2:19:33 ↗ uh it wasn't contentious uh this is this

2:19:35 ↗ was quite contentious public input uh

2:19:38 ↗ one in one public feedback was arch

2:19:40 ↗ proposal doesn't address low and

2:19:42 ↗ moderate income housing it asserts the

2:19:44 ↗ legislative process more regulations are

2:19:46 ↗ an increasing burden on landlords would

2:19:48 ↗ be better to provide more transit

2:19:50 ↗ on-street parking micro-unit development

2:19:53 ↗ code

2:19:54 ↗ another feedback was hard to predict

2:19:55 ↗ rent six months out another was reject

2:19:58 ↗ the administrative recommendation

2:19:59 ↗ instead provide more safeguards

2:20:01 ↗ including eviction protection and

2:20:03 ↗ guaranteed legal counsel another was

2:20:05 ↗ don't follow in seattle's footsteps it's

2:20:06 ↗ a supply and demand problem not a policy

2:20:08 ↗ problem another was don't enact rent

2:20:10 ↗ control don't be seattle another was

2:20:13 ↗ provide more renter safeguards in other

2:20:14 ↗ words more renter protections another

2:20:17 ↗ was past the arch recommendations so

2:20:19 ↗ uh quite quite a bit of different

2:20:21 ↗ feedback including from some uh

2:20:24 ↗ organizations that represent uh you know

2:20:26 ↗ federations of landlords and others were

2:20:30 ↗ you know major landlords in the valley

2:20:33 ↗ so that was the feedback now i will ask

2:20:36 ↗ if there's any uh public comment uh if

2:20:38 ↗ anybody's interested in providing public

2:20:40 ↗ comment on this issue

2:20:42 ↗ this evening either here with us or

2:20:44 ↗ online

2:20:47 ↗ i see at least one person here um so

2:20:49 ↗ let's start with the here in the room

2:20:52 ↗ so if you'll come up and give your name

2:20:54 ↗ address and your relationship to the

2:20:55 ↗ city please and then you have five

2:20:57 ↗ minutes

2:20:58 ↗ uh julian midlil i live on squawk

2:21:01 ↗ mountain um

2:21:03 ↗ been here for quite some time um

2:21:05 ↗ i sent in a written comment uh

2:21:08 ↗ proposing that the city council would

2:21:11 ↗ reject the administration's

2:21:13 ↗ request to send this up to a regional

2:21:15 ↗ basis i just don't think we have time

2:21:18 ↗ for that now

2:21:20 ↗ we have a lot of you know cost living

2:21:22 ↗ escalations i hear that in my position

2:21:24 ↗ all the time people are struggling with

2:21:26 ↗ the cost of living increases especially

2:21:28 ↗ when it comes to gasoline and you know a

2:21:31 ↗ variety of other things in their lives

2:21:33 ↗ that are really escalating

2:21:35 ↗ and so i think we need to you know make

2:21:37 ↗ sure that we put these steps into place

2:21:41 ↗ even though it doesn't have

2:21:44 ↗ as much protection as i would like it to

2:21:46 ↗ have i think we do need to consider

2:21:48 ↗ you know

2:21:49 ↗ legal representation and

2:21:52 ↗ just cause eviction ordinance as well

2:21:57 ↗ because those are just really important

2:21:58 ↗ things in my opinion and we should go

2:22:00 ↗ beyond that but at least we should put

2:22:02 ↗ this stuff first

2:22:04 ↗ on the table and just give the barest of

2:22:06 ↗ no notice for people

2:22:08 ↗ um

2:22:10 ↗ and just

2:22:11 ↗ putting it to a regional basis is just

2:22:14 ↗ another delay in my opinion um let's

2:22:16 ↗ consider putting you know king county or

2:22:19 ↗ something like that

2:22:21 ↗ for legal representation and have king

2:22:23 ↗ county or a federation of the cities

2:22:26 ↗ fund that but

2:22:27 ↗ like i said let's just

2:22:29 ↗ pass this now thank you

2:22:31 ↗ thank you

2:22:33 ↗ anyone else here in the room want to

2:22:35 ↗ give comment this evening before we see

2:22:37 ↗ if there's anybody online

2:22:40 ↗ clerk do we have anyone online wishing

2:22:41 ↗ to speak to this issue before we

2:22:43 ↗ deliberate

2:22:44 ↗ yes chair mart's

2:22:46 ↗ guillermo

2:22:47 ↗ guillermo rivera would like to speak to

2:22:49 ↗ this topic

2:22:51 ↗ guillermo i have made you a panelist you

2:22:53 ↗ should see the option to unmute and you

2:22:55 ↗ can turn on your video

2:22:57 ↗ i think already on mute myself can you

2:22:59 ↗ hear me yes we can hear you

2:23:02 ↗ great

2:23:03 ↗ thank you seated administrator and

2:23:05 ↗ members of the council

2:23:07 ↗ my name is guillermo rivera and i'm with

2:23:09 ↗ his side for all

2:23:11 ↗ inside for all is a racial equity and

2:23:13 ↗ social justice organization

2:23:16 ↗ based in east king county

2:23:18 ↗ bike top communities in the east side

2:23:20 ↗ have been invisible for many years in

2:23:22 ↗ the decision making process

2:23:24 ↗ even as bike top communities have been

2:23:26 ↗ increasing exponentially on the east

2:23:28 ↗ side

2:23:29 ↗ it's time to hear from everyone that is

2:23:32 ↗ part of our communities

2:23:35 ↗ i'm here to talk in favor of the arts

2:23:37 ↗ recommendation regarding tenants

2:23:40 ↗ protections

2:23:41 ↗ communities in the east side and

2:23:43 ↗ especially in issaquah and other cities

2:23:46 ↗ will be benefit with this

2:23:48 ↗ we have been hearing from communities

2:23:51 ↗ how hard is to buy houses and how hard

2:23:54 ↗ is to rent houses you hear it from

2:23:56 ↗ hannah

2:23:58 ↗ just just a minute ago

2:24:00 ↗ uh so

2:24:02 ↗ people will continue renting houses for

2:24:04 ↗ many years to go

2:24:06 ↗ and right now we know that people have

2:24:09 ↗ to move out of the city like uh

2:24:13 ↗ tana

2:24:14 ↗ and monica were saying right because the

2:24:17 ↗ rent increases

2:24:19 ↗ and because probably they receive a very

2:24:21 ↗ short notice

2:24:23 ↗ of rent increase

2:24:24 ↗ if you get 120 days to the people that

2:24:28 ↗ will benefit because they can plan

2:24:31 ↗ for what they have to do

2:24:33 ↗ uh to in order to pay

2:24:35 ↗ their rent

2:24:37 ↗ families they want to live where they

2:24:40 ↗ work

2:24:41 ↗ they when they go to worship

2:24:44 ↗ where they get their kids to school and

2:24:46 ↗ measure like these ones

2:24:48 ↗ recommended in the arch letter will

2:24:50 ↗ allow people to continue living in

2:24:52 ↗ isabella

2:24:54 ↗ keep in mind that also these measures

2:24:57 ↗ don't benefit everyone not only

2:25:01 ↗ people of low income

2:25:03 ↗ every single family regardless their

2:25:05 ↗ income wants to have more time when rent

2:25:08 ↗ increases happen and prepare for their

2:25:11 ↗ future with dignity and respect

2:25:14 ↗ these recommendations are common sense

2:25:17 ↗ and will allow renters on insula to have

2:25:20 ↗ a play field

2:25:22 ↗ and

2:25:23 ↗ i mean

2:25:24 ↗ this this will not increase

2:25:27 ↗ operation costs for anyone and will help

2:25:29 ↗ landlords to have policy consistent

2:25:32 ↗ you mentioned like it's better to have

2:25:34 ↗ like a landlords that

2:25:36 ↗ have buildings in different cities

2:25:40 ↗ let's make isa for the first city to

2:25:42 ↗ take this i know that in kirkland and in

2:25:45 ↗ redmond they're having discussions

2:25:47 ↗ monica mentioned it in july so let's

2:25:50 ↗ make issaquah the first city

2:25:52 ↗ to change this

2:25:54 ↗ so i ask you to consider and approve the

2:25:56 ↗ arts recommendations

2:25:58 ↗ and

2:26:00 ↗ i know also that more protections are

2:26:02 ↗ needed

2:26:03 ↗ along

2:26:04 ↗ with actions to make rents more

2:26:06 ↗ affordable

2:26:08 ↗ but this is like the person that was

2:26:10 ↗ before me say i think it's a very good

2:26:13 ↗ first step

2:26:15 ↗ i appreciate your time i want to thank

2:26:17 ↗ you for the work that you are doing

2:26:19 ↗ with equity lens in issaquah thank you

2:26:21 ↗ so much

2:26:24 ↗ thank you for your comment

2:26:26 ↗ clerk do we have anyone else wishing to

2:26:28 ↗ speak

2:26:29 ↗ virtually

2:26:32 ↗ chair marks there are no other virtual

2:26:34 ↗ hands raised at this time

2:26:36 ↗ i'll ask one more time in the room

2:26:38 ↗ not seeing anybody let's move to uh

2:26:42 ↗ deliberation and i'll start with uh

2:26:44 ↗ actually council member ray

2:26:48 ↗ um

2:26:49 ↗ thank you councilmember martz

2:26:52 ↗ this is a tough one this is uh you know

2:26:54 ↗ we have we've got the tough ones lined

2:26:56 ↗ up today because there's no easy answers

2:26:58 ↗ and um

2:27:00 ↗ i am struck by a couple of things one is

2:27:03 ↗ regardless of whether or not we adopt

2:27:05 ↗ the arch proposal um the rent's going to

2:27:07 ↗ be driven by market forces and

2:27:10 ↗ right now we have a huge demand for

2:27:12 ↗ rental spaces and we have low supply if

2:27:16 ↗ i remember my economics class very well

2:27:18 ↗ when that happens you see

2:27:20 ↗ prices escalate and that's exactly what

2:27:21 ↗ we're seeing

2:27:22 ↗ my concern is if we go

2:27:26 ↗ and make changes

2:27:29 ↗ to

2:27:30 ↗ how we

2:27:33 ↗ manage

2:27:34 ↗ our rental properties

2:27:36 ↗ in issaquah it will create an um an

2:27:39 ↗ imbalance and cities that are near us

2:27:43 ↗ that don't have that imbalance will

2:27:44 ↗ attract more rental properties and the

2:27:46 ↗ price of rental properties in issaquah

2:27:49 ↗ will probably escalate not reduce so

2:27:52 ↗ we're not talking about rent controls

2:27:54 ↗ here we're not even talking you know

2:27:56 ↗ we're not talking about locking down

2:27:57 ↗ rents because that's not proposed

2:28:00 ↗ i i believe that the best course of

2:28:03 ↗ action here is actually a regional

2:28:05 ↗ approach or a state approach where we

2:28:07 ↗ have a consistent set of policies

2:28:10 ↗ implemented across the region so we

2:28:12 ↗ don't see the migration of

2:28:15 ↗ new rental properties new rental stock

2:28:18 ↗ moving to

2:28:19 ↗ other parts of the region so um i'm i'm

2:28:24 ↗ i am supportive of the administration's

2:28:26 ↗ approach our proposal to pursue regional

2:28:29 ↗ state and federal um

2:28:32 ↗ policies to help

2:28:33 ↗ address this

2:28:35 ↗ absolutely significant problem

2:28:39 ↗ councilmember d michelle

2:28:44 ↗ uh thank you um

2:28:45 ↗ [Music]

2:28:48 ↗ uh

2:28:49 ↗ arch proposed

2:28:51 ↗ three different items and i'm wondering

2:28:52 ↗ if we could take those one at a time

2:28:54 ↗ because i have

2:28:56 ↗ different uh takes on each one of those

2:28:59 ↗ um i don't know if we have a summary of

2:29:02 ↗ those somewhere there it is

2:29:04 ↗ um

2:29:06 ↗ one thing i did want to note uh i am

2:29:08 ↗ here at the association of washington

2:29:10 ↗ cities in uh

2:29:12 ↗ in beautiful downtown vancouver and i

2:29:14 ↗ did have a conversation with

2:29:16 ↗ a newcastle city council member

2:29:19 ↗ uh this afternoon and he indicated that

2:29:22 ↗ newcastle did take up this issue

2:29:25 ↗ last night at their council meeting so

2:29:27 ↗ we might want to check in

2:29:29 ↗ with them

2:29:30 ↗ so it is being

2:29:32 ↗ discussed at a regional

2:29:35 ↗ level

2:29:36 ↗ by several cities but as he pointed out

2:29:39 ↗ no action has been taken by anyone yet

2:29:42 ↗ i really

2:29:44 ↗ uh want to talk about the first one the

2:29:47 ↗ longer notices of rent increases and

2:29:50 ↗ guillermo

2:29:51 ↗ really articulated well

2:29:53 ↗ my concerns there

2:29:57 ↗ of all of the recommendations this is

2:29:59 ↗ the one that i feel

2:30:02 ↗ and i know that uh

2:30:04 ↗ uh the people that you surveyed said

2:30:06 ↗ that it wouldn't help all that much

2:30:09 ↗ uh you may not know this but uh for the

2:30:11 ↗ first 25 years that i was in issaquah i

2:30:15 ↗ i was a renter and

2:30:18 ↗ i was in a situation where um

2:30:21 ↗ and i won't go into detail it's too long

2:30:23 ↗ of a story

2:30:24 ↗ but where um

2:30:27 ↗ everybody in our complex was asked to

2:30:29 ↗ move and we were given two weeks

2:30:31 ↗ notice

2:30:33 ↗ to leave

2:30:35 ↗ i looked it up and the state of

2:30:36 ↗ washington

2:30:38 ↗ has on the books a requirement of a

2:30:40 ↗ 30-day notice at this point

2:30:43 ↗ and just having been in that situation

2:30:46 ↗ uh here are some of the things that

2:30:47 ↗ happen when um

2:30:49 ↗ you're told that

2:30:51 ↗ you know there's going to be a rent

2:30:52 ↗ increase and you realize

2:30:54 ↗ uh that you're not going to be able to

2:30:55 ↗ afford that uh or for whatever other

2:30:58 ↗ reason you're

2:31:00 ↗ you're

2:31:02 ↗ are going to have to move

2:31:03 ↗ uh first of all you have to start

2:31:04 ↗ looking for another place and as was

2:31:07 ↗ noted in the remarks

2:31:09 ↗ it's probably going to be very difficult

2:31:10 ↗ to find a place in issaquah that you can

2:31:13 ↗ rent at the same rent that you've been

2:31:15 ↗ paying up until the increased notice

2:31:18 ↗ occurs

2:31:19 ↗ but you have to start that search

2:31:22 ↗ if you have children in the family

2:31:24 ↗ and you're in school

2:31:26 ↗ and you have only 30 days

2:31:30 ↗ and you can't find a place in issaquah

2:31:32 ↗ you may not only have to move your

2:31:34 ↗ children out of that school you may have

2:31:36 ↗ to move them to a whole new district

2:31:38 ↗ wherever it is that you find a living

2:31:40 ↗ space

2:31:41 ↗ it could affect your employment

2:31:43 ↗ especially if you're a worker who works

2:31:46 ↗ right here in issaquah and now you have

2:31:48 ↗ to move away

2:31:49 ↗ are you going to have to give up your

2:31:50 ↗ job are you going to have to find

2:31:52 ↗ another job

2:31:54 ↗ there's the moving costs and if you are

2:31:56 ↗ struggling with rent

2:31:59 ↗ how are you going to pay for an

2:32:00 ↗ expensive move

2:32:02 ↗ with notification of only 30 days

2:32:07 ↗ and there are a host of other things

2:32:09 ↗ that you have to face

2:32:11 ↗ i look at the first item

2:32:15 ↗ and i think

2:32:16 ↗ we are not asking landlords to forego

2:32:18 ↗ rent increases

2:32:21 ↗ we are not trying to control rents we

2:32:23 ↗ are simply asking landlords

2:32:26 ↗ to consider

2:32:28 ↗ and have some consideration and to plan

2:32:31 ↗ ahead

2:32:33 ↗ to give people ample notice that there

2:32:35 ↗ will be a rent increase and then those

2:32:38 ↗ renters can decide whether they could

2:32:40 ↗ live with that rent increase or not some

2:32:42 ↗ of them will decide that they can live

2:32:44 ↗ with it

2:32:45 ↗ and then those who cannot who look at

2:32:47 ↗ their income and realize that they're

2:32:49 ↗ not going to be able to afford that rent

2:32:51 ↗ anymore

2:32:52 ↗ all we're asking is that they have ample

2:32:54 ↗ time to do all the things that it takes

2:32:57 ↗ to make a major move into another

2:33:00 ↗ location which may be miles and miles

2:33:03 ↗ and miles away depending on where they

2:33:05 ↗ can find affordable

2:33:07 ↗ housing so

2:33:09 ↗ i i think that it's a reasonable thing

2:33:12 ↗ to ask

2:33:13 ↗ the six-month time the 180 days may be

2:33:16 ↗ something that

2:33:17 ↗ is too onerous for most landlords but

2:33:21 ↗ 120 days

2:33:23 ↗ excuse me 120 um yeah 120 days

2:33:26 ↗ um

2:33:28 ↗ i think would be very reasonable in some

2:33:30 ↗ people if they have to move we're not

2:33:31 ↗ even going to take that whole four

2:33:33 ↗ months so

2:33:35 ↗ i i honestly don't understand why that

2:33:37 ↗ would be a burdensome

2:33:40 ↗ request of landlords they would simply

2:33:42 ↗ have to plan ahead when they're going to

2:33:45 ↗ make a rent increase and give the people

2:33:47 ↗ who are

2:33:48 ↗ uh renting their their households

2:33:51 ↗ um an opportunity to do all the things

2:33:53 ↗ that it takes to to make a major move

2:33:56 ↗ especially if there are children in the

2:33:57 ↗ family so

2:33:59 ↗ i would really like to see us move

2:34:00 ↗ forward with the first proposal thank

2:34:03 ↗ you

2:34:06 ↗ the f uh

2:34:08 ↗ the first element of the arch proposal

2:34:11 ↗ yes okay

2:34:12 ↗ so

2:34:14 ↗ uh

2:34:15 ↗ this is a this this this is a this is a

2:34:18 ↗ tough one i'm gonna

2:34:19 ↗ echo chris um you know workforce housing

2:34:23 ↗ has been one has been one of my two

2:34:25 ↗ highest priorities um since the day i

2:34:27 ↗ joined council uh a while ago and we've

2:34:30 ↗ had some successes and and some lack of

2:34:33 ↗ successes in getting more workforce

2:34:35 ↗ housing um

2:34:37 ↗ you know i actually think hearing 2 500

2:34:41 ↗ for an 1100 square foot apartment um

2:34:44 ↗ requiring 90k qualifying 90k qualifying

2:34:47 ↗ is 80 of ami for a three to four

2:34:50 ↗ person family so that actually tells me

2:34:53 ↗ that the average apartment in in

2:34:55 ↗ issaquah is actually targeting 80 to 90

2:34:58 ↗ of ami which is not terrible and i would

2:35:01 ↗ argue a lot better than where we were 10

2:35:03 ↗ years ago which is not to say issaquah

2:35:05 ↗ is more affordable in general it's less

2:35:07 ↗ affordable

2:35:09 ↗ but

2:35:10 ↗ you know the picture on workforce

2:35:12 ↗ housing here in our community is

2:35:14 ↗ complicated we've built a lot of market

2:35:17 ↗ rate in the valley um but you know i i

2:35:21 ↗ grew up in a 750 square foot two-bedroom

2:35:24 ↗ apartment and a 750 square foot

2:35:27 ↗ apartment in issaquah is a lot more

2:35:28 ↗ affordable

2:35:30 ↗ than um

2:35:31 ↗ you know then a

2:35:33 ↗ 1500 square foot or 1300 square foot

2:35:36 ↗ brand new you know three bedroom two

2:35:38 ↗ bath apartment in issaquah so it's all

2:35:39 ↗ it's all complicated and none of it has

2:35:42 ↗ to do with this arch proposal i'm i'm i

2:35:44 ↗ really struggle you know arch's mission

2:35:46 ↗ is to preserve and increase the supply

2:35:48 ↗ of housing for low and moderate income

2:35:50 ↗ households

2:35:51 ↗ none of these three things have anything

2:35:53 ↗ to do with that

2:35:55 ↗ so

2:35:57 ↗ i think both i guess where i'm coming

2:35:59 ↗ from is i think both the pros and cons

2:36:01 ↗ generally speaking of the arch proposal

2:36:03 ↗ are overstated the pros and the benefits

2:36:06 ↗ the community are overstated and the

2:36:08 ↗ cons and the fears of a you know

2:36:10 ↗ disparate housing environment by

2:36:13 ↗ landlords

2:36:14 ↗ i just i don't see a lot to this um i do

2:36:17 ↗ think if you want to say as general

2:36:19 ↗ pieces of policy i like councilmember g

2:36:21 ↗ michelle's looking at these three planks

2:36:24 ↗ i think there's probably something there

2:36:26 ↗ in an environment where housing prices

2:36:28 ↗ are escalating there's probably a public

2:36:31 ↗ policy

2:36:33 ↗ role for having something more than 30

2:36:36 ↗ days notice

2:36:38 ↗ so i sort of want to ask my two fellow

2:36:40 ↗ council members

2:36:42 ↗ whether we might recommend the

2:36:44 ↗ administration come back at a future

2:36:46 ↗ date with a proposal around 90 or 120

2:36:50 ↗ days specific something that they could

2:36:52 ↗ talk to the local landlord community

2:36:55 ↗ about and folks in the community it's

2:36:57 ↗ it's a much more modest proposal

2:37:00 ↗ than what some folks would hope for but

2:37:03 ↗ i i think it's probably something

2:37:05 ↗ separate from

2:37:06 ↗ uh affordable housing it's probably

2:37:09 ↗ something we could consider or should

2:37:11 ↗ consider doing as a as a council

2:37:13 ↗ so council member ray

2:37:15 ↗ um

2:37:17 ↗ i don't i'm not opposed to

2:37:19 ↗ longer notifications i'm not opposed to

2:37:22 ↗ 120 days or 90 days um what i am opposed

2:37:25 ↗ is this qual going alone i don't want us

2:37:27 ↗ to be

2:37:28 ↗ the ones

2:37:29 ↗ um on an island and where we have

2:37:31 ↗ neighbors who have different sets of

2:37:33 ↗ rules because as we talked about we have

2:37:36 ↗ landlords who have properties in

2:37:37 ↗ multiple cities and we have landlords

2:37:40 ↗ our developers who are going to be

2:37:42 ↗ contemplating where to build their next

2:37:44 ↗ apartment complex and they're going to

2:37:46 ↗ say well i can put it in

2:37:48 ↗ snoqualmie and

2:37:51 ↗ they have um they don't have these

2:37:53 ↗ requirements or i can put in issaquah

2:37:55 ↗ and they do have these requirements i'm

2:37:57 ↗ going to put it in snoqualmie because

2:37:58 ↗ i'm a market driven business person and

2:38:01 ↗ i'm trying to make the best business

2:38:02 ↗ decision it's a market-driven thing and

2:38:04 ↗ what that does is it reduces the stock

2:38:07 ↗ of rental properties in issaquah

2:38:10 ↗ at a time when we already stated we have

2:38:12 ↗ lots of demand and not enough supply so

2:38:15 ↗ going back to economics 101 201

2:38:18 ↗ we got a supply and we're going to see

2:38:20 ↗ prices increase and we're trying to not

2:38:22 ↗ get prices to increase right we're

2:38:24 ↗ trying to drive prices down so it's

2:38:26 ↗ counter it's counterproductive to what

2:38:28 ↗ we want to accomplish

2:38:30 ↗ that being said

2:38:31 ↗ if we take this on regionally and we get

2:38:34 ↗ regional concurrence that these are the

2:38:36 ↗ regional things we want to do then we

2:38:38 ↗ have a balanced playing field and then

2:38:40 ↗ it's not a difference and so we now

2:38:42 ↗ compete for that same housing stock so

2:38:46 ↗ yeah great idea love it a lot i'm all

2:38:48 ↗ for the concept i'm just not for the

2:38:51 ↗ concept

2:38:52 ↗ in issaquah alone

2:38:55 ↗ council member michelle do you wish to

2:38:57 ↗ add anything

2:39:00 ↗ um

2:39:02 ↗ remarks are well taken i guess my

2:39:04 ↗ question would be if we're going to do

2:39:05 ↗ it regionally how are we going to do it

2:39:08 ↗ regionally

2:39:09 ↗ um

2:39:11 ↗ i you know if we spend a year trying to

2:39:13 ↗ come up with a

2:39:14 ↗ venue or a mechanism for doing that

2:39:18 ↗ um are we are we going to go through the

2:39:20 ↗ king county council are we going to

2:39:22 ↗ go through east eastside human services

2:39:24 ↗ forum

2:39:25 ↗ what's what's going to be the mechanism

2:39:26 ↗ for having that regional conversation

2:39:30 ↗ and

2:39:30 ↗ um

2:39:34 ↗ you know well i have some other

2:39:36 ↗ questions but they have they were paid

2:39:38 ↗ they pertained to number two and number

2:39:39 ↗ three so

2:39:41 ↗ so just staying on the topic

2:39:43 ↗ um do we have any ideas of how we would

2:39:46 ↗ have that regional conversation i guess

2:39:48 ↗ would be my question well to put it in a

2:39:50 ↗ form that the administration could do

2:39:52 ↗ something with maybe the three of us can

2:39:55 ↗ agree that we would like to

2:39:58 ↗ have the administration come back

2:40:00 ↗ and understand uh after speaking you

2:40:04 ↗ know after speaking with their our

2:40:06 ↗ county council representatives or

2:40:08 ↗ whatever what the best way to address

2:40:10 ↗ this concern would be

2:40:11 ↗ that we're all saying at this time we

2:40:14 ↗ think that this element of the arch

2:40:15 ↗ proposal while not related to affordable

2:40:18 ↗ housing is something that we'd like to

2:40:21 ↗ find out more about and and you know

2:40:25 ↗ ask our county council right we have a

2:40:27 ↗ relatively new council and you know they

2:40:29 ↗ may have uh

2:40:31 ↗ this may be something that's already on

2:40:32 ↗ their plate

2:40:34 ↗ um oops the city administrator would

2:40:36 ↗ like to i think councilman

2:40:39 ↗ councilmember jim michelle

2:40:41 ↗ i just i just want to say i agree in

2:40:43 ↗ some ways i think there's uh

2:40:45 ↗ this has been mislabeled as a renter

2:40:48 ↗ protection

2:40:49 ↗ and uh when you look i i totally agree

2:40:52 ↗ with you that if you look at the

2:40:54 ↗ proposals

2:40:55 ↗ there really isn't uh a renter

2:40:58 ↗ protection here

2:41:00 ↗ uh it does not uh you know doesn't stop

2:41:03 ↗ rent increases it doesn't

2:41:05 ↗ mandate that no uh late rental penalties

2:41:08 ↗ are applied uh it doesn't do any of that

2:41:11 ↗ that would uh make a difference and so i

2:41:14 ↗ i want to acknowledge that the staff

2:41:17 ↗ is also saying in a probably a more

2:41:19 ↗ diplomatic way than what we're saying it

2:41:21 ↗ but

2:41:22 ↗ but um this is really not a renter

2:41:25 ↗ protection

2:41:26 ↗ uh proposal uh in the in that it doesn't

2:41:29 ↗ really do much

2:41:31 ↗ uh in the way of protecting renters so i

2:41:34 ↗ just want to

2:41:36 ↗ i just wanted to follow up on that

2:41:37 ↗ comment that you made so

2:41:40 ↗ thank you

2:41:41 ↗ thanks the city administrator uh thank

2:41:44 ↗ you chair martz

2:41:46 ↗ all of our neighbors are having similar

2:41:47 ↗ conversations

2:41:48 ↗ all of our neighbors are trying to

2:41:50 ↗ grapple with this i think

2:41:52 ↗ you know all thoughtful people council

2:41:54 ↗ members and other communities all facing

2:41:56 ↗ similar concerns i think everyone is is

2:41:59 ↗ trying to sort this out um

2:42:03 ↗ i think my suggestion to the committee

2:42:05 ↗ would be if you are interested in this

2:42:07 ↗ topic

2:42:08 ↗ you know perhaps ask the administration

2:42:10 ↗ to come back at your next meeting we

2:42:12 ↗ will know more i think has been

2:42:13 ↗ mentioned a few communities are meeting

2:42:16 ↗ over the next couple weeks some have met

2:42:19 ↗ i guess

2:42:20 ↗ one as recently as last night

2:42:22 ↗ people have been calling us in this

2:42:23 ↗ squad when they saw this was on the

2:42:25 ↗ agenda what are you doing what are you

2:42:26 ↗ recommending

2:42:28 ↗ there's just a lot of interest

2:42:30 ↗ so perhaps

2:42:31 ↗ we could come back

2:42:32 ↗ report what other communities are

2:42:34 ↗ thinking about we can share with other

2:42:36 ↗ communities

2:42:37 ↗ that of these particular components the

2:42:40 ↗ uh the longer notices is one that sort

2:42:42 ↗ of resonates at least with a city

2:42:43 ↗ council committee here in issaquah

2:42:46 ↗ and then perhaps talks more

2:42:48 ↗ next month

2:42:51 ↗ i i think it's going to be difficult to

2:42:52 ↗ get

2:42:53 ↗ a regional coalition going

2:42:56 ↗ uh in any kind of substantive way

2:42:58 ↗ anytime soon i think councilmember d

2:42:59 ↗ michelle is right that it's just

2:43:01 ↗ just very difficult to do that the

2:43:03 ↗ realities of the calendar the summer

2:43:06 ↗ most of the regional bodies take time

2:43:08 ↗ off

2:43:09 ↗ but i think we could come back at your

2:43:10 ↗ july meeting and at least provide an

2:43:12 ↗ update and if that makes sense to talk

2:43:14 ↗ more we could talk more and i will point

2:43:16 ↗ out that when the county wants to do

2:43:18 ↗ something like for instance running a

2:43:20 ↗ bond or a levy they can ram it through

2:43:23 ↗ in about two weeks

2:43:24 ↗ so if they decided they wanted if they

2:43:26 ↗ decided they had some

2:43:28 ↗ some uh gumption on this issue uh they

2:43:31 ↗ could they they could move pretty

2:43:33 ↗ quickly they've showed

2:43:35 ↗ and i don't know that we have seen

2:43:36 ↗ gumption

2:43:37 ↗ well they have well they they've just

2:43:38 ↗ been accounted

2:43:39 ↗ for right they just rammed the levy

2:43:41 ↗ through uh so and and and

2:43:44 ↗ absolutely but

2:43:46 ↗ our our sister cities i think are all

2:43:48 ↗ trying to be thoughtful on this topic

2:43:50 ↗ with all the various issues that have

2:43:51 ↗ been raised tonight um i think we'll

2:43:53 ↗ have more information a month from now

2:43:56 ↗ uh we can share that and we can also do

2:43:58 ↗ you know my concern on the legal notices

2:44:01 ↗ is enforcement

2:44:03 ↗ that we will i'm sure have landlords

2:44:05 ↗ that say

2:44:06 ↗ i don't care what

2:44:07 ↗ issaquah says i have rights i'm going to

2:44:10 ↗ do what i want to do

2:44:11 ↗ the tenant comes to us and says well

2:44:13 ↗ this is why you passed an ordinance i

2:44:15 ↗ have a landlord who's forcing me to pay

2:44:17 ↗ more rent what are you going to do with

2:44:19 ↗ so i would also want the city attorney's

2:44:21 ↗ office to be able to come back and opine

2:44:23 ↗ what their thoughts are

2:44:25 ↗ as far as litigation against the city on

2:44:28 ↗ whatever point land landlord or

2:44:30 ↗ landlords may wish and then what

2:44:32 ↗ obligations do we have then to support

2:44:34 ↗ issaquah tenants if those landlords are

2:44:36 ↗ saying we don't care

2:44:39 ↗ this is what it's going to be so i we

2:44:41 ↗ could certainly do

2:44:42 ↗ those things to a certain degree between

2:44:44 ↗ now and the committee's july meeting

2:44:46 ↗ council member michelle how do you feel

2:44:47 ↗ about that

2:44:51 ↗ yeah i

2:44:53 ↗ appreciate

2:44:54 ↗ [Music]

2:44:58 ↗ city administrator bob kwitz's comments

2:45:00 ↗ um

2:45:01 ↗ i

2:45:02 ↗ i think we need more information and we

2:45:04 ↗ need we probably need more dialogue

2:45:07 ↗ um and maybe we can

2:45:10 ↗ contact some of our council colleagues

2:45:12 ↗ in other cities and and see where

2:45:15 ↗ they're at and and i think maybe coming

2:45:17 ↗ back to the committee

2:45:19 ↗ next month would be a very excellent

2:45:22 ↗ idea so

2:45:24 ↗ yes

2:45:25 ↗ thank you council member right

2:45:26 ↗ absolutely

2:45:35 ↗ make one comment though um just because

2:45:37 ↗ the city administrator brought up

2:45:40 ↗ kind of the legal aspects of this and

2:45:42 ↗ what where our guard rails are and what

2:45:44 ↗ we can and can't do under state law

2:45:46 ↗ would be also extremely important to

2:45:48 ↗ have some insights into so if we could

2:45:50 ↗ get the city attorney to opine on that

2:45:52 ↗ that would be very helpful at the next

2:45:53 ↗ meeting

2:45:56 ↗ all right uh are we through our

2:45:58 ↗ questions ms negrilla do you have

2:45:59 ↗ everything you need from us

2:46:03 ↗ i believe so thank you so much um

2:46:05 ↗ i think the only if i remember correctly

2:46:07 ↗ council member michelle said that she

2:46:10 ↗ had additional questions i'm not sure if

2:46:13 ↗ yes i'm sorry councilmember jim michelle

2:46:16 ↗ yeah thank you for the reminder because

2:46:18 ↗ i forgot that i had additional questions

2:46:20 ↗ um hannah

2:46:22 ↗ when you were surveying you know we

2:46:24 ↗ always hear that

2:46:25 ↗ uh thing about uh first and last month

2:46:28 ↗ rent and i didn't see

2:46:31 ↗ on there so in addition to the move-in

2:46:34 ↗ costs that you were talking about do

2:46:35 ↗ they also have to pay first and last

2:46:37 ↗ month's rent um as they're coming in

2:46:40 ↗ when they're renting an apartment

2:46:42 ↗ yeah thank you for clarifying that so

2:46:44 ↗ um commonly we did not hear first and

2:46:47 ↗ last wrench was required uh what we did

2:46:50 ↗ here was that uh the pro-rated amount

2:46:53 ↗ was required so if they moved in

2:46:56 ↗ mid-month and they would owe

2:46:58 ↗ um half of the rent for example um so so

2:47:02 ↗ actually that was not a common theme of

2:47:04 ↗ first and last if there was a need for

2:47:07 ↗ first since last it may be resulted to a

2:47:10 ↗ low credit score or low income but

2:47:13 ↗ commonly

2:47:14 ↗ in speaking to the landlords that was

2:47:16 ↗ not the requirement for moving costs

2:47:19 ↗ thank you

2:47:20 ↗ yeah thank you for that and yeah just a

2:47:22 ↗ piece of information that i would like

2:47:24 ↗ to have right now so thank you so much i

2:47:26 ↗ appreciate that

2:47:28 ↗ and that was all my questions uh chair

2:47:31 ↗ mark thank you council member

2:47:33 ↗ well

2:47:34 ↗ it's two and a half

2:47:36 ↗ you know your estimate was exceedingly

2:47:38 ↗ accurate the estimate was two and a half

2:47:40 ↗ hours and those and those estimates have

2:47:42 ↗ historically been quite optimistic but

2:47:44 ↗ we're at two hours 45 minutes or two

2:47:47 ↗ hours 48 minutes uh so so good estimate

2:47:50 ↗ on it um i just um

2:47:53 ↗ i just want to say um this has been

2:47:55 ↗ extraordinarily uh

2:47:58 ↗ rich conversation with the public and

2:48:00 ↗ with the administration and with each

2:48:01 ↗ other and i'm i'm looking forward to

2:48:04 ↗ this committee's continued work any

2:48:06 ↗ closing comments or thoughts

2:48:07 ↗ councilmember wright

2:48:09 ↗ this is completely unrelated to the

2:48:11 ↗ topic but very much related to the

2:48:13 ↗ committee structure it's a great

2:48:14 ↗ committee really happy to have

2:48:15 ↗ committees back

2:48:17 ↗ this was uh i thought a really rich

2:48:19 ↗ conversation i'm just excited to be part

2:48:21 ↗ of this

2:48:23 ↗ council council member d michelle

2:48:27 ↗ plus one i think this was a great

2:48:28 ↗ conversation we had a chance to really

2:48:31 ↗ explore with each other

2:48:32 ↗ and uh i'm looking forward to our future

2:48:36 ↗ i'm calling it the zippy committee but

2:48:38 ↗ i will call it ship

2:48:41 ↗ so i'm looking forward to future zip

2:48:44 ↗ meetings there we go

2:48:46 ↗ um any uh any further

2:48:49 ↗ business from the administration before

2:48:51 ↗ we uh

2:48:52 ↗ adjourn i see none uh thank you members

2:48:55 ↗ of the public and we are adjourned at 9

2:48:58 ↗ 19.

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Attendance

Council / Members (3)

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Barbara de Michele

Staff (2)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Chris Grabowski, Deputy City Clerk