City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Tuesday, January 23, 2024 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of December 11, 2023

packet pp.5–6

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 12-11-23 City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee Minutes Page 1

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Updated Economic Development Plan ID 1556

30 min · Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager · packet pp.7–199

Topics: Economic Development

▶ Watch from 0:33 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends adoption of the Economic Development Action Plan. Background The first Economic Development Strategic Plan was finalized in 2015 to guide the activities of the newly established Economic Development Department. Since that time, the City-wide Strategic Plan included guidance for economic vitality and the pandemic impacted the types of services needed to support businesses. This update of the Economic Development Action Plan recognizes the need to reexamine the current conditions and to set mid-term goals as the full impacts of pandemic changes have not settled completely at this time.

Arts Grant Funding ID 1563

30 min · Amy Dukes, Cultural Arts Manager · packet pp.201–216

Topics: BudgetArts & Culture

Previously discussed: Arts Commission · Jan 18, 2024

▶ Watch from 17:19 Open packet at p.201 ↗

Staff report:

Administration recommends allocating the 2024 Arts Grants as proposed by the Arts Commission.

Religious and Cultural Calendar ID 1566

30 min · Dale Markey-Crimp, Assistant to the City Administrator · packet pp.217–253

Topics: Arts & Culture

▶ Watch from 34:04 Open packet at p.217 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends that the Council Committee: • Approve the final draft calendar presented for 2024 and recommend for City Council approval. • Instruct staff to formally revisit this calendar with the Equity Board every four years for formal updates to the calendar.

2587 segments .txt ↗

0:07 ↗ welcome everyone I council member Mars

0:09 ↗ call the January 23rd

0:12 ↗ 2024 city council services safety and

0:15 ↗ Parks committee meeting to order we're

0:17 ↗ going to start with public comment there

0:19 ↗ are multiple public comment

0:20 ↗ opportunities at tonight's meeting uh

0:22 ↗ there is a general public comment

0:24 ↗ opportunity at the beginning of the

0:26 ↗ meeting or you can make comments after

0:29 ↗ the presentation and Council question

0:30 ↗ and answer period on each of tonight's

0:33 ↗ agenda items members of the public May

0:35 ↗ address council at this time in person

0:37 ↗ or virtually those who signed up in

0:39 ↗ advance to make comments will be called

0:40 ↗ on first uh if you are joining us

0:42 ↗ virtually and would like to make

0:44 ↗ comments please raise your virtual hand

0:46 ↗ do that if you're on the phone press

0:48 ↗ star three you have joined by computer

0:50 ↗ or smartphone look for a hand icon this

0:52 ↗ varies by device one option may be to go

0:55 ↗ to the participant panel and choose the

0:57 ↗ raise hand icon in the lower right hand

0:59 ↗ corner if you are in the room and did

1:01 ↗ not sign up I will ask for other

1:03 ↗ speakers before closing this portion of

1:05 ↗ the meeting I will wait for a moment to

1:07 ↗ see if anyone raises their hand

1:09 ↗ virtually or

1:11 ↗ otherwise clerk has anyone signed up to

1:13 ↗ speak or indicated a desire to speak

1:15 ↗ this

1:16 ↗ evening realize I left the signup sheet

1:19 ↗ in the lobby is anyone here wishing to

1:20 ↗ speak under audience comments

1:22 ↗ tonight in the

1:27 ↗ room okay oh thank you Amy okay it

1:29 ↗ doesn't look like we have anyone in the

1:30 ↗ room we have two virtual attendees there

1:32 ↗ was quickly a hand rais but it looks

1:34 ↗ like it's been lowered so no one appears

1:37 ↗ to wish to comment at this time all

1:39 ↗ right well as a reminder written

1:41 ↗ comments can be submitted at any time to

1:43 ↗ city council at isqua w.g. goov sorry uh

1:48 ↗ next we will move to approval of the

1:52 ↗ minute I would move to approve the

1:54 ↗ minutes

1:56 ↗ second motion has been moved and

1:58 ↗ seconded all those in favor say up I I

2:01 ↗ opposed extensions that carries 3 to

2:04 ↗ zero uh first up on the agenda tonight

2:06 ↗ is ID 1556 updated economic development

2:10 ↗ plan presented by Jen Davis Hayes our

2:12 ↗ economic development

2:15 ↗ manager good evening council members my

2:17 ↗ name is Jen Davis Hayes with the city of

2:20 ↗ isqua and I'm the economic development

2:22 ↗ manager and tonight we are joined by my

2:26 ↗ team Juliana um de Cruz and felonio as

2:29 ↗ well as several uh art Arts I almost

2:33 ↗ said Arts several economic Vitality

2:35 ↗ Commissioners and we have worked very

2:37 ↗ closely actually with the Arts

2:38 ↗ commission too for this project so uh

2:41 ↗ good to see everybody here tonight and

2:43 ↗ so um with the uh economic Vitality

2:46 ↗ Commissioners uh raise your hand here so

2:48 ↗ we got uh plenty of them here um Chris

2:51 ↗ um Richley will be presenting a couple

2:53 ↗ of the slides so he'll be speaking for

2:55 ↗ the commission and we're really excited

2:57 ↗ um to be here today to talk about about

3:00 ↗ this Economic Development action plan

3:02 ↗ which is an update of uh a strategic

3:06 ↗ plan that we did in

3:07 ↗ 2015 um it's a draft plan so we still

3:10 ↗ have some minor edits we're still going

3:11 ↗ to do including I was working with

3:13 ↗ Steven padaa today our long range

3:15 ↗ manager to insert some information about

3:17 ↗ the connection to the comprehensive plan

3:20 ↗ but o overall it's a really great

3:22 ↗ project we put a lot of work in last

3:23 ↗ year and so we'll go through um what

3:25 ↗ that plan looks like we have some posed

3:28 ↗ some discussion questions and making

3:30 ↗ sure that anything that uh if there's

3:33 ↗ any concerns that you see in this PL

3:34 ↗ plan if there's any metrics that um you

3:38 ↗ would like us to consider and uh report

3:40 ↗ our collecting and then we are

3:42 ↗ suggesting to uh present information on

3:45 ↗ a quarterly basis about the the progress

3:48 ↗ of the plan and we'll do that in our

3:49 ↗ Economic Development a quarterly written

3:51 ↗ report we submit to council so finding

3:54 ↗ out if that's an okay way to pursue

3:57 ↗ this um so

4:00 ↗ I am uh again the the plan is a

4:04 ↗ three-year work plan for the economic

4:06 ↗ development team and our partners we uh

4:09 ↗ sent out an RFP in March uh received 10

4:12 ↗ responses um interviewed four four of

4:15 ↗ those uh responses and selected

4:18 ↗ Community attributes Inc when Cassie

4:20 ↗ byle is here and she'll be speaking uh

4:22 ↗ next about the rest the plan but as we

4:25 ↗ went through um why we were doing this

4:28 ↗ um again we we know there were a lot of

4:30 ↗ changes that happened in the business uh

4:32 ↗ clim uh Community because of the

4:35 ↗ pandemic and it's continuing to refine

4:37 ↗ how people do business and so we wanted

4:39 ↗ to to to continue that support and also

4:43 ↗ incorporate the learning we had from

4:44 ↗ that we also uh work very closely with

4:48 ↗ other departments and we wanted to

4:49 ↗ leverage that in the Partnerships that

4:51 ↗ we have in our community and um wanted

4:54 ↗ to make sure again that it's this plan

4:57 ↗ is right size for the staff that we have

4:59 ↗ so I'm going to pass it over to Cassie

5:01 ↗ right now and she'll talk about the

5:03 ↗ project timeline and more details about

5:04 ↗ the

5:07 ↗ plan good evening everybody uh my name

5:10 ↗ is Cassie byy I'm a project manager for

5:12 ↗ Cai we kicked off this work in May with

5:16 ↗ the city and we wrapped up the bulk of

5:18 ↗ our analysis and our strategy

5:19 ↗ development in December you can see here

5:22 ↗ these kind of color bands um getting

5:24 ↗ into the types of um activities we did

5:27 ↗ to support this work um we we did had a

5:29 ↗ robust stakeholder engagement approach

5:32 ↗ um we conducted five orientation

5:33 ↗ interviews with major employers property

5:36 ↗ owners and real estate professionals we

5:38 ↗ conducted three focus groups across

5:41 ↗ outdoor recreation creative Industries

5:43 ↗ and homebased businesses we did two

5:45 ↗ surveys one with a resident Focus that

5:48 ↗ had um 145 responses and a business

5:51 ↗ survey that had 41 responses um Jen and

5:54 ↗ her team had um did a lot of work on

5:57 ↗ their own um they did two two major

6:00 ↗ rounds of Outreach the first included

6:02 ↗ several activities including 12 hours of

6:04 ↗ Office hours um a business walk um

6:07 ↗ materials at the farmers market targeted

6:10 ↗ Outreach to women-owned and

6:11 ↗ minority-owned businesses um and as well

6:14 ↗ as getting information out about this

6:16 ↗ project through

6:17 ↗ newsletters the second round there you

6:19 ↗ can see in the November to December

6:21 ↗ period um they re-engaged um and

6:24 ↗ presented the draft of the action plan

6:26 ↗ to several Partners um the Arts

6:28 ↗ Commission um the equity board Parks

6:30 ↗ Board and um made it available to all of

6:34 ↗ the boards of the vision partners so

6:36 ↗ anybody who wanted to kind of have a

6:38 ↗ custom presentation on the plan was able

6:40 ↗ to get one you can see down below the

6:43 ↗ economic data profile um we updated all

6:46 ↗ of the exhibits from that 2015 report um

6:49 ↗ and looked at a couple new areas and

6:51 ↗ then we started getting into strategy

6:53 ↗ development and the action plan um

6:56 ↗ starting in late summer through the fall

7:02 ↗ I'm going to go over um just some really

7:04 ↗ high level important findings um from

7:06 ↗ the community engagement and the data

7:08 ↗ profile um there's a lot more

7:10 ↗ information about this in the action

7:12 ↗ plan itself um first and foremost most

7:15 ↗ participants that we talk to view isqua

7:18 ↗ as the local solution to Regional

7:19 ↗ problems and that's a great position for

7:21 ↗ the city to be in and in the eyes of its

7:23 ↗ residents but we know that um

7:25 ↗ jurisdictionally and um with the

7:28 ↗ authority the city has it can't be the

7:30 ↗ solution to every Regional Pro problem

7:31 ↗ we're facing um Quality of Life Is So

7:35 ↗ intrinsically tied to isqua um residents

7:39 ↗ it's it's important for residents it's

7:41 ↗ important for businesses it's important

7:42 ↗ for recruiting it's important for those

7:45 ↗ who come to recreate here um that was a

7:48 ↗ huge key theme we saw um and you'll see

7:51 ↗ that kind of tied throughout the

7:53 ↗ strategies isqua has a lot of demand for

7:56 ↗ its space and that translates to um kind

7:58 ↗ of a perception of of a lack of access

8:00 ↗ um to Studio commercial and event spaces

8:03 ↗ we also see that on the resident side

8:05 ↗ with um you know housing affordability

8:07 ↗ challenges and um tied back to that

8:10 ↗ quality of life um we had a lot of

8:12 ↗ feedback from businesses um who want to

8:14 ↗ see more branding and kind of um isqua

8:18 ↗ owning its kind of gateway to the

8:19 ↗ mountains um

8:24 ↗ standing these are two survey responses

8:27 ↗ from the business survey on the left

8:29 ↗ there you can see what um responses to

8:31 ↗ the question of what makes you

8:32 ↗ optimistic about your business's future

8:34 ↗ in isqua and on the right there you'll

8:36 ↗ see um the list of challenges um when it

8:39 ↗ comes to what folks are optimistic about

8:41 ↗ you'll see the central location ranks

8:43 ↗ the highest um in the sense of community

8:45 ↗ and you'll see nature and outdoor

8:46 ↗ recreation coming in at number four when

8:49 ↗ it comes to challenges um the top two

8:51 ↗ are related to cost increasing light

8:53 ↗ leases and rents and housing and cost of

8:58 ↗ living

9:00 ↗ when it comes to the data findings um

9:02 ↗ kind of the essential part of this slide

9:04 ↗ is that isqua is ahead of of psrc growth

9:07 ↗ targets when it comes to population

9:09 ↗ will'll add about 4,000 new residents by

9:12 ↗ 2050 and employment growth has lagged

9:15 ↗ compared to what psrc has forecasted um

9:18 ↗ we were returned to pre-pandemic

9:19 ↗ employment numbers in 20202 excuse me

9:23 ↗ 2022 um and we'll the city's projected

9:26 ↗ to add about 7,000 more jobs to reach

9:28 ↗ near 40,000 by

9:34 ↗ 2050 and a couple other last points here

9:37 ↗ um we all know this anecdotally and the

9:39 ↗ data Bears it out that home values have

9:41 ↗ increased at a faster Pace than income

9:43 ↗ or rent since 2015 and truthfully

9:46 ↗ earlier than that as well um in isqua

9:49 ↗ Services Professional Services and

9:51 ↗ Retail are the two biggest sectors um

9:53 ↗ you can see that isqua matches perfectly

9:55 ↗ the rest of the East Side region in

9:57 ↗ terms of the breakdown of service

9:59 ↗ services at a higher rate than King

10:01 ↗ County and the Puget Sound region as a

10:03 ↗ whole um isqua's share of retail

10:07 ↗ industry uh excuse me retail jobs is a

10:09 ↗ little higher than um you see on the

10:11 ↗ east side countywide or in the 4 County

10:14 ↗ pet sound

10:16 ↗ region with that I will move it along

10:26 ↗ here good evening council members and

10:29 ↗ and fellow Commissioners in public uh my

10:32 ↗ name is Chris Richley uh economic

10:34 ↗ Vitality commission chair thank you guys

10:36 ↗ for your time tonight um as you can see

10:38 ↗ on this slide we now you're going to get

10:40 ↗ into the to the pretty much the just of

10:42 ↗ the vision statement and the mission

10:43 ↗ statement itself um the EVC took an

10:46 ↗ engagement and put the engagement that

10:48 ↗ we had with the different commission

10:50 ↗ partners that we had through the Arts

10:51 ↗ commissions the meetings we had with the

10:53 ↗ planning committee the meetings we had

10:55 ↗ with the different you know ourselves

10:57 ↗ and our committees um and basically took

10:59 ↗ the engagement input and data findings

11:01 ↗ into the account When developing the

11:02 ↗ vision and mission statements uh the

11:05 ↗ economic Vitality committee or

11:06 ↗ commission commit uh created the vision

11:08 ↗ statement with a longer term timeline

11:11 ↗ which looks at the mission statement is

11:12 ↗ focus of that three years we didn't want

11:14 ↗ it something that was going to be like

11:15 ↗ shortterm we wanted to be more of a

11:17 ↗ vision statement that's going to

11:18 ↗ catalyze us into the into the future we

11:21 ↗ want to move forward we want to continue

11:23 ↗ to grow want to continue to show that

11:25 ↗ success you know and how we're going to

11:26 ↗ grow uh we wanted to reiterate the

11:28 ↗ city's work will continue on many fronts

11:30 ↗ not specifically called out in the

11:32 ↗ mission statement we felt that it was

11:33 ↗ important to explicitly call out the

11:36 ↗ focus areas

11:40 ↗ themselves oh actually I I have a

11:42 ↗ question before you move on um in the

11:45 ↗ vision statement um tell me what you

11:51 ↗ feel the word dynamic in this

11:54 ↗ cont I feel Dynamic is something that

11:57 ↗ you think about when and you know we

11:59 ↗ want it to be more of attractive dynamic

12:03 ↗ as far as you

12:05 ↗ know how should I put

12:10 ↗ it we have no access to to businesses

12:13 ↗ right so we want to make sure we want to

12:15 ↗ attract businesses that want to be in

12:17 ↗ isqua that are going to you know

12:20 ↗ be Charming with us also inclusive dram

12:23 ↗ you know dynamic with us in a way that

12:26 ↗ shows that they're going to be about the

12:28 ↗ future they're AR just coming here just

12:30 ↗ to to be here just to say hey we're

12:32 ↗ going to we're going to fill spot

12:33 ↗ because we heard it sads no no no you

12:36 ↗ know no access but now we have access we

12:38 ↗ want a longevity we want more Dynamic

12:40 ↗ businesses that are going to want to

12:41 ↗ grow their employees are going to want

12:44 ↗ to live here they're going to want to

12:45 ↗ live here they're going to want to also

12:46 ↗ be to the future success of the

12:48 ↗ development plan and the city themselves

12:50 ↗ with the revenue that's coming in and

12:52 ↗ also just the the overall Community

12:54 ↗ Development on that so dynamic in a

12:56 ↗ whole holistic way that that makes sense

13:00 ↗ okay I think so thank you

13:03 ↗ okay any other questions on the vision

13:06 ↗ mission statements

13:14 ↗ okay so as you can see we broke it out

13:17 ↗ into three three actual themes

13:19 ↗ accessible access to opportunity uh

13:22 ↗ conven uh conven and catalyze and then

13:26 ↗ uh leveraging isqua's assets we these

13:29 ↗ three these three themes actually drive

13:32 ↗ that Dynamic piece of it right when you

13:33 ↗ think about you know access to

13:35 ↗ opportunity we want to serve all our

13:37 ↗ local businesses we want to address uh

13:39 ↗ inequitable access to opportunity we

13:41 ↗ want to also improve the city services

13:42 ↗ and access to them improve the

13:44 ↗ regulatory environment and then con

13:48 ↗ conven and catalyze you want to line the

13:49 ↗ local re Regional efforts support local

13:52 ↗ and Regional Partners liaison between uh

13:55 ↗ City and partners representative between

13:59 ↗ Comm community and within the city

14:01 ↗ planning efforts and then finally the

14:02 ↗ last theme leveraging isqua assets

14:04 ↗ recognizing importance of outdoor

14:06 ↗ recreation creative Industries and the

14:07 ↗ homebased businesses to isqua building

14:09 ↗ the opportunities for new jobs and

14:12 ↗ Entrepreneurship so that's again dynamic

14:15 ↗ in itself where you look at we felt that

14:18 ↗ there was three fronts that we can make

14:19 ↗ an impact on which is going to be

14:21 ↗ outdoor recreation the homebased

14:22 ↗ businesses really important so we held

14:25 ↗ different um we felt that that was

14:27 ↗ important we saw an uptick in that after

14:29 ↗ the pandemic of of homebased businesses

14:31 ↗ they're a part of that right we also

14:33 ↗ wanted to look at the um the creative

14:37 ↗ arts district right downtown isqua is

14:40 ↗ known for their creative arts and the

14:41 ↗ creative Dynamic environment that they

14:44 ↗ have there so it's something that we you

14:46 ↗ know we we sought the different Arts

14:48 ↗ commission opinioned about we went to

14:50 ↗ the equity inclusion team about so these

14:52 ↗ themes came based on

14:55 ↗ that but thank

14:57 ↗ you you will be available for questions

15:00 ↗ later too of

15:01 ↗ course so um and I think I looked over

15:04 ↗ at uh Christy Gard who's an economic

15:06 ↗ Vitality commissioner was in the

15:07 ↗ subcommittee who helped to write the

15:09 ↗ vision and mission statement and as you

15:11 ↗ know um words you know we had so many

15:14 ↗ different words there and I think for

15:16 ↗ for for me the dynamic talks about

15:19 ↗ Innovative inclusive inclusivity and

15:21 ↗ that we're willing to change as things

15:24 ↗ change and so um but you know part of it

15:27 ↗ is seeing you know something that maybe

15:29 ↗ uh a business May read that and feel

15:31 ↗ like oh this means this to me but it's

15:33 ↗ something positive so so um Within These

15:36 ↗ themes um uh I'll just go over these

15:39 ↗ quickly I'm not going to read every all

15:40 ↗ these words but we do have goals and

15:42 ↗ then action items underneath them like

15:44 ↗ any uh plan um and the access to

15:47 ↗ opportunity I really say this is the

15:48 ↗ meat and potatoes or the the Pokey bowl

15:51 ↗ or whatever of our Economic Development

15:53 ↗ so this is the uh Juliana and frel going

15:56 ↗ out and doing business retention visits

15:58 ↗ this this is responding to calls when

16:00 ↗ people ask about space or city city

16:03 ↗ process information this is making sure

16:06 ↗ that we our voice is in the I90 over uh

16:10 ↗ over Crossing uh study and working with

16:13 ↗ our colleagues in various issues around

16:15 ↗ Public Safety and um homelessness and

16:19 ↗ also making sure that we uh are take are

16:22 ↗ are watching Trends and collecting data

16:24 ↗ and adjusting to that so this is really

16:26 ↗ kind of Economic Development at its core

16:29 ↗ um one of the things we are uh trying to

16:32 ↗ focus more on this is making sure that

16:34 ↗ we build relationships with

16:36 ↗ organizations that have uh have some

16:40 ↗ some trust with underrepresented

16:42 ↗ populations currently so that's one

16:44 ↗ thing that we know we can improve on and

16:45 ↗ so that's called out specifically

16:48 ↗ here for oh my mouse is a little fast

16:51 ↗ sorry um so for theme two this was we we

16:56 ↗ really recognized that the city has a a

16:59 ↗ important uh role to play to bring

17:02 ↗ people together to um but we may not

17:05 ↗ always be leading the effort so people

17:08 ↗ in our in our engagement talk we want

17:09 ↗ more events we want more events well we

17:11 ↗ have our vision partners who do some

17:13 ↗ events so how do we facilitate that how

17:16 ↗ do we encourage people to other other

17:19 ↗ partners how do we support them to hold

17:21 ↗ those networking events how do we um

17:23 ↗ make sure that we are getting that

17:25 ↗ information back and forth from the

17:27 ↗ community so hosting like the business

17:28 ↗ business leadership forum and other

17:30 ↗ opportunities and um one of the things

17:33 ↗ that we want to ensure as well is to um

17:36 ↗ making sure that we're out there and

17:38 ↗ amplifying and supporting the things

17:40 ↗ that are already happening because um uh

17:43 ↗ that's helps with The Branding it helps

17:45 ↗ with the tourism efforts it helps with

17:47 ↗ businesses being aware of what's here

17:50 ↗ and wanting to be here and or if they're

17:52 ↗ already here taking advantage of the

17:53 ↗ resources um that are available and then

17:57 ↗ this is um our theme three

18:00 ↗ where for all of you who lived in is for

18:03 ↗ a long time outdoor recreation and

18:04 ↗ created economy is a no duh but we have

18:07 ↗ never focused on trying to build that up

18:10 ↗ from a business perspective we um you

18:13 ↗ know are great with uh all the efforts

18:16 ↗ um around having creative District

18:18 ↗ around having you know uh improvements

18:21 ↗ to our green necklace and all the parks

18:23 ↗ and wreck um but we as economic

18:25 ↗ development have never focused on how

18:27 ↗ can we build that ecosystem of outdoor

18:30 ↗ back businesses what are those small and

18:32 ↗ medium-sized businesses that would love

18:33 ↗ to be or even large businesses but would

18:35 ↗ love to be close to the mountains to

18:37 ↗ test their equipment come back and

18:39 ↗ Tinker what are those businesses in the

18:41 ↗ creative economy that um want to be in

18:44 ↗ this area because of the the quality of

18:47 ↗ life but also our Workforce um you know

18:50 ↗ a lot of folks that are in Tech are

18:51 ↗ thinking about doing different things

18:52 ↗ people who are in other areas they

18:55 ↗ decide let me let me go and and um

18:57 ↗ explore

18:59 ↗ uh the the broader creative economy um

19:02 ↗ and then as Chris mentioned homebased

19:04 ↗ businesses has definitely We Believe has

19:07 ↗ increased um and we just I just learned

19:09 ↗ today that one of our commissioners um

19:11 ↗ is opening a homebased business so um

19:13 ↗ every day we get more homebased

19:15 ↗ businesses and so we did two events last

19:17 ↗ year and and um they were just very

19:21 ↗ successful and the Homebase businesses

19:22 ↗ were like thank you do this again please

19:25 ↗ and so we partner with the chamber we'll

19:26 ↗ continue to do that in the future but

19:28 ↗ Beyond just having a networking event we

19:31 ↗ uh want to make sure they have the

19:32 ↗ resources to help them be

19:34 ↗ successful so those are our three themes

19:37 ↗ um and then how do we know I'm sorry I I

19:40 ↗ think a question I'm sorry yes remember

19:43 ↗ okay um um these are just wonderful uh I

19:47 ↗ love the report it it's really really

19:49 ↗ great but I do have some like bigger

19:51 ↗ picture questions and if you go back to

19:53 ↗ theme number one

19:56 ↗ um so how much and then maybe this is a

20:00 ↗ question that Chris would like to weigh

20:01 ↗ in on because of his uh banking

20:04 ↗ background but how much of a barrier to

20:06 ↗ our recruitment retention and expansion

20:08 ↗ of opportunities is the cost of housing

20:12 ↗ and um you know I hear all the time from

20:15 ↗ people who say we can't get people to uh

20:19 ↗ come here to work because they can't

20:21 ↗ afford the housing so I guess in the

20:23 ↗ bigger picture of of our goals here um

20:27 ↗ it seems like affordable housing is a

20:29 ↗ huge barrier to uh growing our creative

20:33 ↗ Community which usually don't pay very

20:35 ↗ highly on wages and our recreational um

20:39 ↗ industry as well is not always a high uh

20:42 ↗ income uh job so anyway just your

20:45 ↗ thoughts about that because I think

20:47 ↗ that's where the council needs to

20:48 ↗ wrestle with um how are we helping

20:51 ↗ Economic Development uh through

20:54 ↗ affordable housing uh measures that's a

20:56 ↗ great question so under goal two it

20:59 ↗ actually you know support City efforts

21:01 ↗ to address issues that impact economic

21:03 ↗ Vitality so Workforce Development and

21:06 ↗ housing hand inand you you are correct

21:08 ↗ um we have seen that even pre pandemic

21:11 ↗ about the challenges for service

21:13 ↗ industry entry level jobs and even at

21:15 ↗ that time when we did our uh Central

21:17 ↗ isqua V plan Vision update we were

21:21 ↗ talking to a large corporation who

21:23 ↗ brings people from other areas and they

21:25 ↗ said a brand new manager from another

21:27 ↗ area can't live here right and this is

21:29 ↗ this is an entry level but um so that

21:32 ↗ has been an issue that has been for a

21:34 ↗ while and it continues and um and I

21:37 ↗ think you know you know infrastructure

21:39 ↗ and traffic or you know Transportation

21:41 ↗ are things that if we had more Transit

21:42 ↗ and we're you know the um Metroflex is a

21:45 ↗ good intra City uh connection and to

21:48 ↗ sish as well and so there's some small

21:50 ↗ pieces that are being implemented but um

21:53 ↗ as you know with affordable housing it's

21:54 ↗ not a quick and easy thing but it is

21:56 ↗ very important to the Comm to businesses

22:00 ↗ hiring people and Chris could probably

22:02 ↗ talk about it from his own experience at

22:04 ↗ Harborstone and how many people he's G

22:07 ↗ haven't showed up or you know uh just

22:09 ↗ don't apply because they can't get there

22:12 ↗ slash it's 40 minutes I'm going to go

22:14 ↗ work in the bank near my house instead

22:17 ↗ yeah and council member Joe you have a

22:19 ↗ question thank you Mr chairman uh Jen

22:22 ↗ Davis Hayes I want to thank you for your

22:25 ↗ work in economic Vitality I've had the

22:27 ↗ pleasure of serving with you on the ltac

22:29 ↗ committee in the first years that I was

22:32 ↗ uh on Council during this term uh

22:35 ↗ for Juliana are great assets as well um

22:39 ↗ we uh as you know work on the elac

22:41 ↗ commit lodging tax advisory committee

22:43 ↗ together and uh um it gives out uh money

22:49 ↗ in terms of $10,000 at a time depending

22:51 ↗ on the the uh type of project um using

22:54 ↗ the um what we call heads and beds tax

22:58 ↗ um how does moving to the theme two uh

23:02 ↗ slide thank you very much um how does

23:05 ↗ that working with Goal two and goal

23:07 ↗ three and what kinds of overall goals

23:10 ↗ should eltac be thinking about as it

23:13 ↗ interacts with uh this report and the

23:15 ↗ work that you've done I love that

23:17 ↗ question because I see it so inter

23:19 ↗ interrelated I I actually presented to

23:21 ↗ the visit discal board last week and

23:23 ↗ talked about and showed them how tourism

23:25 ↗ and how their efforts are integrated in

23:27 ↗ this plan and it's not just because

23:28 ↗ Christy Gerard is on our committee but

23:30 ↗ because this is something that we see as

23:33 ↗ growing as an opportunity so as you see

23:36 ↗ here I mean goal three is Amplified

23:38 ↗ tourism and marketing efforts right and

23:40 ↗ so um as related to how eltac can uh

23:43 ↗ support this I think there's an

23:45 ↗ opportunity in elac's future to say okay

23:48 ↗ we want to we want to support the

23:50 ↗ economic vitality and tourism efforts by

23:53 ↗ supporting and I'm making this up you

23:55 ↗ know an offseason type of thing and and

23:58 ↗ saying here's the money for it we want

23:59 ↗ to hire you know we'll do an RFP to do

24:02 ↗ that or as we start to move forward with

24:05 ↗ our implementation of our plan we we get

24:07 ↗ some traction on something and maybe

24:09 ↗ there's an opportunity to partner and

24:11 ↗ make it and leverage that to something

24:12 ↗ bigger so a lot of the the Outreach that

24:15 ↗ we've done is like people have lots of

24:17 ↗ ideas and so um I know that my team is

24:19 ↗ going to be spending the next six months

24:22 ↗ poking at those shiny things to see

24:24 ↗ which ones are actually shiny

24:25 ↗ opportunities versus just just you know

24:28 ↗ shiny things right I think I missed that

24:31 ↗ signing up there but but anyway so um so

24:34 ↗ I think there there'll be some uh some

24:36 ↗ opportunities that become more clear

24:38 ↗ moving forward and since L tax funding

24:41 ↗ um would be for next year I think it's

24:42 ↗ perfect timing I think that's great and

24:45 ↗ um there's a January 31st deadline for

24:48 ↗ current applications is that correct yes

24:52 ↗ and nonprofits that are interested in uh

24:55 ↗ supporting tourism or getting support

24:57 ↗ for their Market efforts can apply uh

24:59 ↗ through our website for those ltec

25:02 ↗ dollars I encourage people if they have

25:04 ↗ a project to uh reach out to the

25:07 ↗ city great okay so we'll just go to the

25:11 ↗ last I think almost last side of me

25:12 ↗ talking um so how we know we're making

25:15 ↗ an impact and so um on the on the left

25:18 ↗ side of the slide is the data we

25:20 ↗ currently collect either for the

25:22 ↗ Strategic plan performance metrics or

25:24 ↗ for our quarterly dashboard and so then

25:27 ↗ when we looked at what for this action

25:29 ↗ plan we really we worked with our data

25:31 ↗ analyst um at the city to say okay what

25:34 ↗ are those short-term outcomes that we

25:36 ↗ want to again in the shorter term uh

25:39 ↗ achieve because obviously more jobs more

25:43 ↗ affordable housing higher quality of

25:46 ↗ life are all those long-term things

25:48 ↗ we're moving for towards but if we can

25:51 ↗ remove barriers and provide tools and

25:52 ↗ resources for business creation and

25:54 ↗ growth that helps us to get there if we

25:56 ↗ can Ensure that the business perspective

25:59 ↗ is in city and Regional policies

26:00 ↗ programs and efforts that helps us to

26:02 ↗ get there if we can increase that

26:04 ↗ promotion awareness and connection

26:05 ↗ between businesses that helps us to get

26:07 ↗ there so these metrics on um the purple

26:10 ↗ part of the slide to the right are the

26:13 ↗ actual numbers that we'll be collecting

26:14 ↗ in again we're proposing that we would

26:16 ↗ uh report these out in the quarterly

26:19 ↗ Economic Development report that's

26:21 ↗ written that's is submitted to to

26:24 ↗ council so um next steps we hope that

26:27 ↗ will be moving forward for city council

26:29 ↗ to consider adoption on February 5th um

26:32 ↗ our economic Vitality Commissioners and

26:36 ↗ um committee um and Ed staff will begin

26:39 ↗ to implement um we're going to Al you

26:42 ↗ know be continue to use this as a road

26:44 ↗ map and to align what we're doing um as

26:47 ↗ we move forward and in our current

26:48 ↗ activities one thing I didn't put in

26:50 ↗ here but when I was doing the ab for

26:52 ↗ this council meeting was um our our this

26:55 ↗ year's Port of Seattle Economic

26:57 ↗ Development partnership Grant

26:58 ↗ application will will come out in

27:01 ↗ mid-February and we'll we'll align our

27:04 ↗ ask them which is a

27:06 ↗ guarantee approval for the dollar

27:08 ↗ amounts of a dollar per capita so about

27:11 ↗ $40,000 with the implementation action

27:14 ↗ steps in our plan so everything that you

27:16 ↗ know we're going to do we're going to

27:17 ↗ steer towards uh really working on

27:21 ↗ this okay so that is our presentation

27:25 ↗ and we're I would love to hear questions

27:28 ↗ comments and I'll go back to the

27:29 ↗ discussion questions council member Joe

27:32 ↗ thank you

27:34 ↗ um could you go back to the uh two

27:39 ↗ slides um two slides from the currently

27:41 ↗ collected slide

27:45 ↗ yeah I'm wondering if uh tracking the

27:49 ↗ Michigan economic sentiment index might

27:53 ↗ be a good way for us to uh track

27:55 ↗ economic development in town and and

27:58 ↗ it's a national index of course but if

28:01 ↗ we track it and we see that uh when that

28:04 ↗ index gets more optimistic above 50 um

28:08 ↗ and then we have a two-month lag and

28:10 ↗ then our sales tax goes up or our

28:14 ↗ taxable retail sales go up that gives us

28:17 ↗ an idea of how much we can plan and

28:20 ↗ anticipate when we see that index go up

28:22 ↗ or down so that would be one of the uh

28:25 ↗ elements that I might suggest we take a

28:27 ↗ look at as a metric to kind of track

28:29 ↗ from a national level down to the ground

28:32 ↗ where we are uh it's a simple um metric

28:35 ↗ to to track it's it's done every month I

28:38 ↗ think and and uh that's just one

28:40 ↗ suggestion that I I might have okay

28:42 ↗ thank

28:43 ↗ you council member de Melle thanks um

28:47 ↗ I'm looking at the metrics uh the metric

28:49 ↗ slide i' up right now um and each one of

28:52 ↗ the metric is the number of businesses

28:54 ↗ the number of new resources and

28:56 ↗ relationships a number of Impressions

28:58 ↗ and Views and so forth um do you want to

29:01 ↗ talk a little bit more about that but it

29:03 ↗ it did occur to me while I was reading

29:05 ↗ that um are we evaluating how the um for

29:11 ↗ example the resources and relationships

29:13 ↗ we have how effectively they are working

29:16 ↗ um not just the number that we have but

29:19 ↗ the effectiveness uh so if you could

29:21 ↗ just talk a little bit about that and

29:23 ↗ and how uh you think we might be

29:26 ↗ reporting that out to the community yeah

29:28 ↗ that's a great question um and again

29:30 ↗ it's uh we talked in the economic

29:33 ↗ Vitality commission meetings can we

29:35 ↗ collect how much sales increase because

29:36 ↗ of this like no individually no so um

29:40 ↗ one of the things that we as a staff are

29:42 ↗ going to do is for every business

29:43 ↗ interaction almost every business

29:45 ↗ interaction maybe we're going to be

29:46 ↗ sending out a simple three question

29:49 ↗ survey so did you get your question you

29:51 ↗ know this is not the exact three yet but

29:53 ↗ did you get your um uh problem you know

29:57 ↗ uh not solved but answered um was there

30:00 ↗ you know how was that in experiences is

30:01 ↗ there anything else that you want to you

30:03 ↗ know learn about basically um so we'll

30:05 ↗ have a little bit of that data to say

30:07 ↗ that you know what that relationship is

30:10 ↗ I think the other thing is right now we

30:12 ↗ don't have relationships as I mentioned

30:13 ↗ with uh Community Based organizations

30:15 ↗ might say formal relationships um with

30:18 ↗ Community Based organizations to serve

30:20 ↗ our um underserved populations and so

30:22 ↗ those increases while they're you know

30:25 ↗ that's why it says new resour es and and

30:28 ↗ and relationships um as we build those

30:31 ↗ we will then also look at how to to

30:32 ↗ measure those um we are so startup 425

30:36 ↗ which is one of our relationships we

30:37 ↗ have and have had since 2016 or so has

30:41 ↗ revamped this past year and so we're

30:42 ↗ going through that same question of the

30:44 ↗ effectiveness of that first pilot half a

30:47 ↗ year and how we can how we can make that

30:49 ↗ more effective to serve our business

30:51 ↗ needs so some of it's going to be survey

30:53 ↗ some of it's going to be followup with

30:55 ↗ people after they attend an event um and

30:58 ↗ say again those three questions and hope

31:00 ↗ that people will respond and give us

31:02 ↗ some good

31:05 ↗ feedback so uh a couple questions so our

31:08 ↗ 2015 plan uh was actually intended to be

31:12 ↗ a 2015 to 2018 plan have we effectively

31:16 ↗ been without a plan between 2018 and now

31:19 ↗ so what happened was because we were

31:21 ↗ going through our uh Citywide strategic

31:24 ↗ plan for the first time uh in 2018 we

31:26 ↗ said let let's do that and then in 2020

31:29 ↗ we're going to do an ed Plan update and

31:33 ↗ then now 2020 I don't know what happened

31:35 ↗ then I was

31:37 ↗ tired yeah so so that kind of uh that's

31:40 ↗ why we then now were catching up so so

31:42 ↗ it was not intended to to just ignore

31:45 ↗ but it just happened to be the timing

31:46 ↗ because it made sense because there was

31:47 ↗ all this conversation already having

31:49 ↗ happening around social and econ

31:51 ↗ economic Vitality yeah and I it sort of

31:56 ↗ come comes to the next question that I

31:58 ↗ have which is um the currently collected

32:01 ↗ metric I feel like sometimes we collect

32:04 ↗ metrics and you guys dutifully come up

32:06 ↗ and show us what the numbers were and

32:09 ↗ say Here's the metrics you asked for um

32:11 ↗ I would love to know how the current

32:14 ↗ state of the metrics we have captured in

32:17 ↗ what we want to do going forward right

32:19 ↗ where's that link between the things

32:21 ↗ that you all have been so diligently

32:23 ↗ measuring and what we want to do going

32:25 ↗ forward because I don't necessarily get

32:27 ↗ a sense of where the challenges are and

32:31 ↗ are not I I was struck by a

32:35 ↗ sentence uh in

32:37 ↗ here and it's in the section forgive me

32:41 ↗ on um apologies uh it is the section on

32:47 ↗ key findings one of the key findings uh

32:50 ↗ business participants describe the need

32:51 ↗ for more mid and large businesses to

32:54 ↗ round out the business community in

32:56 ↗ isqua and suggest efforts to fill large

32:58 ↗ empty office spaces and shift some

33:01 ↗ existing commercial spaces to capture

33:03 ↗ medium and large-sized businesses

33:05 ↗ potentially through site improvements

33:06 ↗ and financing right so that caught my

33:10 ↗ eye um you know we have since 2015 added

33:14 ↗ REI as a major employer we've also lost

33:18 ↗ uh some Microsoft as a major employer

33:21 ↗ right um so what you know how can a

33:26 ↗ finding like that um you know I I felt

33:30 ↗ that for a long time I was sort of

33:31 ↗ excited to see it here because it's it's

33:33 ↗ something that I've just felt

33:35 ↗ qualitatively in the city for some time

33:37 ↗ I don't know if it would show up in our

33:38 ↗ metrics data but I just you know to

33:41 ↗ understand uh where these pain points

33:44 ↗ are and how they're going to inform I

33:45 ↗ mean I I certainly hope there's

33:47 ↗ something that we're going to do in the

33:49 ↗ next year to address that point and

33:51 ↗ trying to get mid to large siiz

33:52 ↗ employers is is a completely different

33:54 ↗ game right than the than the startup

33:57 ↗ businesses or expanding existing

33:59 ↗ businesses or getting somebody to bring

34:00 ↗ a you know have a satellite office here

34:03 ↗ you know getting somebody getting a CEO

34:05 ↗ to plant two to 5,000 employees in this

34:08 ↗ city is a is a whole different game

34:10 ↗ involving a completely different skill

34:11 ↗ set yeah and so um yeah so I think it

34:15 ↗ would show up in the commercial vacancy

34:16 ↗ rate you know and so especially because

34:18 ↗ there are three buildings that of

34:21 ↗ 100,000 square foot each or more that

34:23 ↗ are going to be you know listed as

34:26 ↗ vacant uh soon so we would see that um

34:28 ↗ to so back to your first question about

34:30 ↗ how we use these metrics so um forel is

34:34 ↗ our data King our Guru and so we we as a

34:38 ↗ team talk about it quarterly and kind of

34:40 ↗ look at the information we just started

34:42 ↗ doing that with the economic Vitality as

34:44 ↗ well commission as well so again in you

34:47 ↗ know informing educating does this you

34:49 ↗ know is there anything and every month

34:51 ↗ we actually say to them what are the

34:52 ↗ business Trends what are the things

34:53 ↗ happening in the community so we kind of

34:55 ↗ had been gathering on on the ground data

34:58 ↗ even though it's not number of this

34:59 ↗ number of that all year long um so

35:03 ↗ that's how we use that um regarding the

35:05 ↗ recruitment of the the big fish um right

35:08 ↗ now with a 40% vacancy rate in the I90

35:11 ↗ Corridor I don't expect that isqua at

35:14 ↗ the end of that quarter is going to be

35:15 ↗ getting the first dibs on on uh on new

35:18 ↗ businesses but we have built

35:20 ↗ relationships with the greater Seattle

35:21 ↗ Partners which is the recruitment

35:23 ↗ Organization for the um the region we

35:27 ↗ sorry I'm not sure I understand you're

35:28 ↗ saying the whole Corridor including

35:29 ↗ Belleview and Mercer Island the I9 it's

35:32 ↗ it they that's how they cor yeah and I

35:34 ↗ think it's the Factoria but it may be

35:36 ↗ including Mercer Island but it's not

35:38 ↗ Downtown Belleview but they say the I90

35:41 ↗ Corridor is how they C 40% vacancy

35:45 ↗ rate okay yeah yeah um so our greater

35:49 ↗ Seattle Partners um partnership uh

35:52 ↗ actually last November we the site

35:55 ↗ selector they hired a site selector firm

35:57 ↗ who works internationally and nationally

36:00 ↗ to uh we did a dry run of what would we

36:03 ↗ do if a business came and you know walk

36:05 ↗ through a PowerPoint and do the

36:06 ↗ presentation and go we actually went to

36:08 ↗ 90 East now called the park with a queue

36:12 ↗ um to do a tour so so we have those as

36:15 ↗ our teammates we're we're you know

36:17 ↗ paying for that membership and and

36:19 ↗ actively involved in that so they are

36:21 ↗ going not in into Auburn into Kent to

36:23 ↗ find businesses they're going across the

36:25 ↗ country and across the world for that so

36:27 ↗ you know there may be some some um

36:29 ↗ things that happen to that um but as we

36:32 ↗ also are are in communication with the

36:34 ↗ Brokers um and you know constantly if

36:38 ↗ there's a business that ever looks like

36:39 ↗ it might be of interest that we read

36:41 ↗ about or hear about or you know somebody

36:43 ↗ gives us a tip we we'll go after that

36:45 ↗ but really that the broker for instance

36:48 ↗ of some of those places said we're going

36:50 ↗ to we're going to have a plan and so

36:53 ↗ basically when we have a tenant that

36:55 ↗ looks like it's going to be it's

36:56 ↗ interested we're able to then do some

36:58 ↗ improvements according to what they need

37:00 ↗ exactly and be able to you know do what

37:03 ↗ we need to do to get them to land that

37:05 ↗ but um you know I talk to the broker

37:08 ↗ probably every month or six weeks about

37:11 ↗ is there anything going on there any you

37:14 ↗ know bites and uh nothing so far so

37:16 ↗ there's there's multiple angles will do

37:19 ↗ that but we we as personal team of

37:22 ↗ trying to recruit you know like you said

37:24 ↗ a 5,000 employee company will probably

37:27 ↗ um not happen you know like that but

37:29 ↗ we're planting seeds lots of places

37:31 ↗ because I mean that 40% uh vacancy rate

37:34 ↗ is actually an opportunity right so when

37:36 ↗ I so 2016 I was council president uh

37:40 ↗ Mariah V was Deputy council president we

37:43 ↗ were both working for companies that

37:44 ↗ were looking for new corporate

37:45 ↗ headquarters right and both companies uh

37:48 ↗ looked hard at isqua both of them had

37:51 ↗ CEOs that were in the in the general

37:53 ↗ vicinity and isqua didn't have anything

37:55 ↗ that worked for either of our companies

37:57 ↗ so we wound up going to bellev yeah uh

38:00 ↗ and and so I I hear that 40% and it's

38:03 ↗ like yeah I get I I I get that uh things

38:06 ↗ are a little slow but it also means that

38:08 ↗ for you know for the right CEO who wants

38:11 ↗ to have uh big beautiful mountains in

38:12 ↗ their backyard we have opportunities

38:15 ↗ that we didn't have eight years ago yes

38:17 ↗ and some of those may be REI vendors and

38:19 ↗ some of and this Outdoor Rec thing isn't

38:21 ↗ just about the small businesses but you

38:22 ↗ know there may be some larger businesses

38:24 ↗ now that REI is has this as their Bas

38:26 ↗ Camp um so yeah you're right it's you

38:29 ↗ know it's also the struggle of for

38:31 ↗ retail businesses or for other types of

38:33 ↗ businesses where there isn't that space

38:35 ↗ which we reflected that sorry you know

38:38 ↗ one business goes out of business which

38:39 ↗ is bad but then another business there's

38:41 ↗ three businesses ready to try to get in

38:43 ↗ there

38:45 ↗ so other questions right

38:48 ↗ now thank

38:51 ↗ you so back to the questions

38:55 ↗ yes

39:00 ↗ um so uh this is the point I had

39:03 ↗ mentioned earlier that we would take

39:05 ↗ subsequent public comment if if people

39:07 ↗ were so interested at the point where we

39:09 ↗ switch over from sort of the

39:10 ↗ informational uh to the uh decision side

39:14 ↗ of each topic and we have reached that

39:16 ↗ point in this topic so I will open again

39:19 ↗ uh the opportunity for public comment if

39:21 ↗ anybody's is so inclined today not

39:23 ↗ seeing anybody in the audience uh clerk

39:26 ↗ e is there anybody online that wishes to

39:28 ↗ speak on this issue looks like we have

39:30 ↗ four virtual attendees and virtual

39:32 ↗ attendees if you'd like to make comments

39:34 ↗ this time please raise your virtual

39:37 ↗ hand or send a chat to the

39:43 ↗ host doesn't look like all right so we

39:46 ↗ will move into the uh

39:49 ↗ discussion

39:54 ↗ point so thank you um this was such a

40:00 ↗ rich and deep report um it was a

40:02 ↗ pleasure to read it and it was very very

40:05 ↗ well done very thorough and just lots of

40:07 ↗ things to think about so um first of all

40:10 ↗ my uh uh thanks to the people that put

40:13 ↗ this together and the community

40:15 ↗ engagement that uh obviously informed a

40:17 ↗ great deal of it um I do I do love the

40:21 ↗ the fact that uh the creative Community

40:24 ↗ I'm looking at my Arts people out there

40:27 ↗ are woven into the into the plan um so

40:31 ↗ significantly I mean that just affirms

40:34 ↗ what I've said many times and that is

40:36 ↗ that our arts and our Recreation our

40:39 ↗ business

40:40 ↗ development uh elements as well and that

40:42 ↗ we really need to look at how we can uh

40:45 ↗ leverage those to uh not only enhance

40:48 ↗ our community which they do beautifully

40:50 ↗ but also contribute to our business

40:53 ↗ development so thank you for weaving

40:55 ↗ those so well into into the report uh I

40:58 ↗ love what Chris had to say about what

40:59 ↗ dynamic it means and and especially his

41:02 ↗ emphasis on engaged um when I first

41:05 ↗ arrived in isqua I spent nine years on

41:07 ↗ the chamber board of directors and got

41:10 ↗ to meet a lot of business owners who

41:12 ↗ were very very very engaged in our

41:14 ↗ community and I think that as a goal is

41:17 ↗ a significant uh statement we want

41:20 ↗ people to come here but we don't want

41:21 ↗ them to come here and then go home every

41:25 ↗ night or or unfortunately out of town we

41:28 ↗ want them to come here and be engaged as

41:30 ↗ active citizens in our community as well

41:32 ↗ so I really love that definition of

41:35 ↗ dynamic um and I think that is part of

41:38 ↗ the history of issaqua that we've had

41:40 ↗ very active business people uh really

41:43 ↗ involved in uh the Civic uh part of our

41:46 ↗ community and the Human Services part of

41:47 ↗ our community uh and I think if we can

41:50 ↗ emphasize and continue that that the

41:52 ↗ character of isqua will continue to uh

41:55 ↗ far into to the Future um I do think

41:58 ↗ that maybe uh it would be good to go

42:01 ↗ back to those metrics and see if you can

42:02 ↗ flush that out just a bit more so people

42:05 ↗ understand exactly what we are planning

42:07 ↗ to measure um and the fact that if

42:10 ↗ you're going to be doing surveys to see

42:11 ↗ how things uh work I support uh council

42:15 ↗ member uh Mart's idea that we we need to

42:18 ↗ make a stronger connection between our

42:20 ↗ metrics and what we're hoping to how we

42:23 ↗ are hoping that they will inform uh

42:26 ↗ future plans um but overall I was just

42:30 ↗ uh uh really thrilled with this I think

42:33 ↗ it was one of the very best reports that

42:35 ↗ we've had one of the very best plans

42:37 ↗ we've seen this year so thank you so

42:39 ↗ much um and I think that concludes my

42:43 ↗ comments if I don't think of anything

42:44 ↗ else to

42:45 ↗ say thank you can we can only go back to

42:48 ↗ second if choose council member Joe I

42:51 ↗ would uh just give a second to my

42:54 ↗ colleagues uh great comments there I

42:56 ↗ won't repeat them I just want to

43:00 ↗ um impart that I'm so impressed this is

43:03 ↗ this is a threeyear plan as Chris talked

43:06 ↗ about and mentioned during his comments

43:08 ↗ it's not just a one year we're going to

43:11 ↗ do this and then we're going to put it

43:12 ↗ on a shelf also it's not one of those

43:15 ↗ plans where uh your team has said we've

43:19 ↗ exp expended all of our energy and we're

43:21 ↗ tired we're not going to do anything

43:22 ↗ else your team is not one to sit on

43:24 ↗ their Laurels uh it sounds like and

43:27 ↗ we'll see it every quarter of course

43:29 ↗ that your team is continuing to go out

43:30 ↗ to businesses and reach out to

43:31 ↗ businesses reach out to new businesses

43:33 ↗ and create Partnerships with our

43:35 ↗ regional uh uh characters characters our

43:39 ↗ regional uh um uh players out there

43:42 ↗ that's a better word for it uh to make

43:44 ↗ sure that we're working uh and Rowing in

43:46 ↗ the same direction so to speak I really

43:48 ↗ like the fact that uh you're bringing

43:50 ↗ out that we have 28,700 jobs here right

43:54 ↗ now but by 20 50 we should have

43:57 ↗ 39,500 jobs it's another 10,000 people

44:01 ↗ working in isqua that we need to manage

44:04 ↗ accommodate for um make sure that they

44:06 ↗ have a good support and your department

44:09 ↗ certainly is off to a good start to

44:12 ↗ support those businesses in their

44:13 ↗ Endeavors i' certainly appreciate that

44:16 ↗ look forward to the reports every

44:17 ↗ quarter and uh I I hope that uh you and

44:21 ↗ your team with the support of all of the

44:24 ↗ partners here in this room in our city

44:26 ↗ can achieve some of its lofty goals

44:29 ↗ thank

44:32 ↗ you so uh one of the advantages having

44:37 ↗ been on the council for a while is uh

44:41 ↗ you you see uh you see recurring themes

44:44 ↗ right this is even giving the uh Gap

44:47 ↗ that we've had since 2015 this is

44:49 ↗ probably the third or the fourth major

44:52 ↗ you know restart on economic uh

44:55 ↗ development in the city and there's a

44:58 ↗ there's an amazing amount of great data

45:00 ↗ in this report um I was I was just

45:03 ↗ stunned at some of the stuff that I saw

45:04 ↗ there's really interesting housing data

45:06 ↗ in there right and uh showing the the

45:09 ↗ breadth of housing types that we've got

45:11 ↗ now that we didn't have when I started

45:13 ↗ on Council in beginning of 2010 um and

45:17 ↗ and in some ways things look really Rosy

45:19 ↗ this exhibit 10 inflow and outflow of

45:22 ↗ Eastside cities uh you know in some

45:24 ↗ sense oh look we have the same inflow

45:26 ↗ and and outflow uh things are things are

45:29 ↗ balanced but of course we know that uh

45:33 ↗ you know what what I said in 2010 I

45:36 ↗ think is still generally true which is

45:37 ↗ that most of the people who work here

45:39 ↗ can't afford to live here that's

45:41 ↗ probably even more true than it was and

45:43 ↗ most of the people who live here can't

45:45 ↗ work here and that's that's gotten

45:47 ↗ better um but it hasn't gotten better at

45:50 ↗ the pace I feel like we've made huge

45:52 ↗ progress on housing and breadth of

45:54 ↗ housing we haven't made maybe had made

45:56 ↗ the same progress on um on the jobs

45:59 ↗ front you know I I I came in and I said

46:02 ↗ I wanted to focus on Workforce housing

46:04 ↗ and and living wage jobs and that living

46:06 ↗ wage jobs piece has been slower and

46:08 ↗ harder as as we have seen credible

46:11 ↗ growth in Redmond and Kirkland and above

46:14 ↗ all Belleview so I I'm I'm still a

46:17 ↗ little styi we I I want to see us have

46:19 ↗ the same kind of progress on uh living

46:22 ↗ wage jobs that we've had on the housing

46:23 ↗ front successes that we have had and you

46:26 ↗ know our ratios are a little bit better

46:28 ↗ um you know we have Costco's immense uh

46:31 ↗ development we have a business hotel

46:34 ↗ which we or two really uh that we can

46:37 ↗ use to to help uh you know the the

46:40 ↗ business infrastructure but I'm just

46:41 ↗ eager to see you know this is um again

46:45 ↗ going back aways you know we have

46:47 ↗ restarted things before um I'm not

46:50 ↗ exactly sure what's going to be

46:51 ↗ different this time around I I see a

46:53 ↗ good integration with our board and

46:56 ↗ commissions um I know that this Council

46:58 ↗ and the administration see eye to eye on

47:00 ↗ a lot of things strategically so I don't

47:03 ↗ expect there'll be a lot of problems if

47:05 ↗ you show you know down the road if you

47:07 ↗ use this to uh propose programs during

47:10 ↗ the budgetary process I would imagine

47:12 ↗ that especially if it's anchored with

47:13 ↗ those metrics that we talked about

47:15 ↗ you'll you'll have a receptive audience

47:17 ↗ um but you know I I do have with that

47:20 ↗ you know 14 15E time Horizon I do see

47:24 ↗ how it's been it's been a challenge to

47:26 ↗ get the the kind of jobs you know I I

47:29 ↗ myself would like to I would like to

47:31 ↗ work here in town I would like to not

47:32 ↗ have to drive to

47:34 ↗ 10 which is a very long drive um so so I

47:39 ↗ I'm all for it this is a step in the

47:40 ↗ right direction uh but uh that's that's

47:44 ↗ the challenge is it has proven to be a

47:47 ↗ more I think intractable problem than

47:48 ↗ that than the housing so but I like the

47:51 ↗ plan um and I think it's generally

47:54 ↗ headed in the right direction um I'll

47:56 ↗ ask are there other Economic Development

47:58 ↗ metrics that should be

48:03 ↗ considered council member D Michelle

48:05 ↗ yeah I don't think there are others that

48:07 ↗ need to be I would just like to see

48:08 ↗ those uh the expanded explanation and as

48:13 ↗ council member Mart said connect those

48:15 ↗ to uh future planning uh but I think the

48:19 ↗ the areas that you've chosen are the

48:22 ↗ right areas uh I just think we need a

48:24 ↗ little bit more information in the plan

48:26 ↗ about how that's going to be done in my

48:28 ↗ opinion thanks council member Jeff just

48:32 ↗ the tracking metric the Michigan

48:34 ↗ sentiment that I mentioned earlier it

48:36 ↗ may not be the right one I'm sure you're

48:38 ↗ going to research those a little bit and

48:40 ↗ figure out if there's a more um

48:44 ↗ reasonable one that gives better

48:45 ↗ information but that's what I'd like to

48:48 ↗ see my mine would be around this large

48:51 ↗ employers and uh you know how what

48:54 ↗ progress have we than Costco and REI

48:59 ↗ around mid to large employers are we

49:01 ↗ having more success around 100 you know

49:04 ↗ around 50 around 25 employers you know

49:07 ↗ what's that that histogram of you know

49:10 ↗ number of employees here I would love to

49:12 ↗ see how we're doing on those larger

49:17 ↗ employees I guess would

49:19 ↗ be um is the economic development

49:21 ↗ quarterly report sufficient for Progress

49:24 ↗ reporting I love that quarterly report I

49:28 ↗ I sent Jenna a an email congratulating

49:31 ↗ her on the last s we received I think

49:33 ↗ it's more than than uh ample it's an

49:35 ↗ excellent report so I'm very very happy

49:38 ↗ with u all of the things in just uh hats

49:42 ↗ off not just to Jen but to other members

49:45 ↗ of the department oh with what a

49:48 ↗ tremendous amount of work you get done

49:50 ↗ each quarter I don't think the public

49:52 ↗ has any idea about the amount of work

49:55 ↗ that's being done out of your department

49:56 ↗ but it is amazing so um anyway I'm A+ is

50:02 ↗ my

50:03 ↗ grade all right council member Joe I

50:06 ↗ think corar reports are are great I

50:08 ↗ would encourage uh in the reports to um

50:12 ↗ shoot your horn a little bit if you are

50:14 ↗ meeting a metric under one of the goals

50:17 ↗ make sure it's highlighted and and

50:19 ↗ spelled out so the council can see uh

50:21 ↗ where the progress is being made uh in

50:24 ↗ in your work thank you

50:28 ↗ all right and I don't really have

50:29 ↗ anything to add to those great uh

50:31 ↗ summaries so I will ask if you have

50:33 ↗ everything you were looking for out of

50:35 ↗ this uh

50:38 ↗ item uh thank you uh chair March members

50:41 ↗ of the committee so next step is to take

50:43 ↗ it to the city council uh we think

50:45 ↗ there's lots of good information here um

50:48 ↗ would you like to see a presentation on

50:50 ↗ regular business with this we would I

50:53 ↗ think tailor it a little bit is there

50:55 ↗ anything it sounds like there's a live

50:57 ↗ of interest in the metrics so maybe

50:59 ↗ we'll we'll peel off some of the the

51:01 ↗ middle part of this and and and spend

51:04 ↗ time with the Council on the metrics um

51:06 ↗ we've heard from other council members

51:08 ↗ they don't want to see complete repeats

51:10 ↗ of committee presentations at full

51:12 ↗ Council so we'll make those adjust so

51:15 ↗ we'll put this on for February 5th

51:17 ↗ regular business um with the

51:19 ↗ presentation and and somewhere I think

51:21 ↗ um I don't know where but that housing

51:24 ↗ information is really interesting and I

51:26 ↗ it would be a shame if if I me I don't I

51:30 ↗ don't know I don't know where to use it

51:32 ↗ how but I would love to see that come

51:34 ↗ back in some way shape or form I'll just

51:37 ↗ I'll that put to put that to you as a

51:38 ↗ challenge

51:39 ↗ sure agreed all right thank you let's

51:43 ↗ move on to ID 1563 Arts grant funding

51:47 ↗ with Amy Dukes our Cultural Arts

51:54 ↗ manager and and were you here when I

51:56 ↗ started in 2010 I think you maybe

51:59 ↗ were

52:01 ↗ there that's

52:03 ↗ right yep all

52:24 ↗ right

52:41 ↗ okay thank you for having me here

52:43 ↗ tonight council members um I'm Amy Dukes

52:45 ↗ I'm the cultural arts manager for the

52:47 ↗ city and I am here tonight to present to

52:50 ↗ you the 2024 um Arts Grant

52:53 ↗ recommendations from the Comm

53:00 ↗ um and the purpose again is for me to

53:03 ↗ present the recommendations um to you

53:05 ↗ and get um guidance on next

53:11 ↗ steps so just to give you um really

53:14 ↗ quick background on the Arts grant

53:16 ↗ program and its purpose um the program

53:19 ↗ is really intended to provide meaningful

53:23 ↗ Arts engagement opportunities for our

53:25 ↗ community for residents for visitors um

53:28 ↗ and to celebrate our community's

53:30 ↗ cultural diversity um to help uh

53:33 ↗ contribute to our creative and vibrant

53:35 ↗ Arts community and also really important

53:38 ↗ to these grants is to support our local

53:42 ↗ nonprofit Arts organizations and

53:45 ↗ artists and I could not have asked for

53:48 ↗ better placement than to go right after

53:51 ↗ the economic development presentation

53:54 ↗ tonight because I think I think they

53:55 ↗ gave um an excellent reason for why the

53:59 ↗ creative um Community is so important to

54:02 ↗ support um and we were so pleased to be

54:04 ↗ part of their process so

54:11 ↗ add

54:14 ↗ not um so just to give you some

54:17 ↗ background on the granting categories um

54:20 ↗ this program has or the Arts commission

54:22 ↗ has been doing a granting program since

54:24 ↗ since ception um but last year coming

54:28 ↗ out of the pandemic we really wanted to

54:30 ↗ take the opportunity to take a closer

54:32 ↗ look at how we were making those grants

54:34 ↗ and why we were making those grants um

54:36 ↗ so the Arts commission spent a lot of

54:39 ↗ time kind of uh re-evaluating the

54:41 ↗ program and and creating granting

54:43 ↗ categories that sort of better align

54:45 ↗ with the types of requests that we were

54:47 ↗ receiving um and so we piloted this in

54:50 ↗ 2023 and then afterward we did some

54:52 ↗ evaluation to say hey did that work what

54:55 ↗ worked what didn't and we mostly kept

54:57 ↗ the format the same for 24 um so we have

55:01 ↗ categories now um Arts Partnerships is

55:04 ↗ one category and those um grants are

55:06 ↗ really intended to provide the much

55:09 ↗ needed support that our isqua based

55:12 ↗ nonprofit arts groups uh need and so th

55:16 ↗ this granting category is open to groups

55:19 ↗ who have arts and culture as their sole

55:22 ↗ Mission um they that's why they exist um

55:25 ↗ and then um we carved out another uh

55:28 ↗ category called Arts projects and that's

55:31 ↗ intended to support um it could be an

55:34 ↗ Arts organization or a non-arts

55:36 ↗ organization or an individual artist or

55:38 ↗ a Grassroots group who has a great idea

55:40 ↗ for an arts project that would benefit

55:42 ↗ the community um and a lot of the arts

55:44 ↗ and culture and great things that happen

55:46 ↗ in the city happen because um non-arts

55:50 ↗ organizations provide um creative

55:53 ↗ opportunities so um we we enjoy those

55:56 ↗ Partnerships as well and want to support

55:58 ↗ them and then the third category um is

56:01 ↗ arts in the schools we used to lump the

56:04 ↗ support to schools in our regular cycle

56:07 ↗ and we kept hearing that the timing was

56:10 ↗ really awkward for the schools so we

56:13 ↗ decided to take this category out

56:15 ↗ separately and to align it with the

56:18 ↗ academic um calendar so that um the

56:21 ↗ grants basically happen the grant period

56:23 ↗ is the same as the school year um we

56:27 ↗ also um streamlined the program to focus

56:30 ↗ on isqua schools um thequad school

56:33 ↗ district is huge um so this allows us to

56:37 ↗ provide um more support to our isqua

56:41 ↗ based schools and so the schools that

56:43 ↗ are eligible currently are the ones that

56:44 ↗ are located within city limits or that

56:47 ↗ have a majority of students from City

56:49 ↗ Limits which is kind of hard to discern

56:52 ↗ but um working with the district we've

56:54 ↗ determined that they 10 schools right

56:56 ↗ now that are um fall into that

56:59 ↗ category and then all of the

57:02 ↗ applications that we receive the Arts

57:04 ↗ commission evaluates them based on three

57:07 ↗ um basic criteria um they are scored on

57:10 ↗ these criteria and um this is how the

57:14 ↗ evaluation takes place so the first and

57:16 ↗ probably the most important to the

57:18 ↗ commission is public benefit we want to

57:20 ↗ make sure that the programs that are

57:22 ↗ being supported really are providing

57:25 ↗ meaningful Arts engagement opportunity

57:27 ↗ for the community um and reaching

57:30 ↗ diverse audiences and diverse audiences

57:32 ↗ can mean a couple of things um it could

57:34 ↗ mean a very broad range of residents and

57:38 ↗ visitors but it could also mean um an

57:40 ↗ underserved

57:42 ↗ population um the second

57:44 ↗ criteria is Artistic value um again we

57:48 ↗ want the project to be really Arts

57:51 ↗ centered yeah that's probably okay um

57:55 ↗ thank you um so we really want art to be

57:57 ↗ at the heart of the project not an

57:59 ↗ afterthought not we're doing an event we

58:02 ↗ want to throw a band over here um we

58:04 ↗ want it to provide really meaningful

58:06 ↗ Arts engagement for the community and

58:09 ↗ then the third criteria is feasibility

58:11 ↗ and managerial capacity um and this is

58:14 ↗ one way of saying we want to make sure

58:16 ↗ the project is really going to happen

58:18 ↗ because if we fund things that aren't

58:20 ↗ going to happen then it strands money um

58:22 ↗ and doesn't allow other things that

58:24 ↗ could happen

58:25 ↗ um and we want to see that there's

58:27 ↗ Community buyin involvement um and just

58:31 ↗ that the project is realistic the budget

58:33 ↗ that's tied to the project is

58:36 ↗ realistic and that one is challenging

58:39 ↗ sometimes for for our

58:43 ↗ applicant thank

58:47 ↗ you um and I should think it

58:52 ↗ now so included um in the packet was a

58:55 ↗ list of the applications that are being

58:58 ↗ um suggested for funding by the Arts

59:00 ↗ commission um just to let you know the

59:02 ↗ Arts commission did use those three um

59:05 ↗ criteria to score all the applications

59:08 ↗ um each criteria had a potential score

59:11 ↗ of five so organizations could get

59:13 ↗ somewhere between a zero and a 15 as our

59:16 ↗ total score for their application

59:19 ↗ um and um based on that criteria the

59:23 ↗ Arts commission is suggesting that 32

59:26 ↗ applications be funded um two of them

59:29 ↗ are Arts Partnerships and 30 of them are

59:32 ↗ Arts projects and then we'd like to

59:34 ↗ reserve $25,000 for the schools program

59:38 ↗ which would enable us to fund all the 10

59:40 ↗ schools that are eligible if they do

59:42 ↗ come to us with a a proposal so you can

59:45 ↗ see that breakdown

59:48 ↗ there and then just to give you an idea

59:52 ↗ of how the process has gone to dat

59:55 ↗ um like I mentioned before after the um

59:58 ↗ after the 23 granting process we did

1:00:02 ↗ take several meetings of the Arts

1:00:03 ↗ commission to go through what worked

1:00:05 ↗ what didn't work and what we'd want to

1:00:07 ↗ do to revise the application um and then

1:00:10 ↗ in October of 23 we released the

1:00:13 ↗ application um and had a deadline of

1:00:16 ↗ November 30th we received 40

1:00:19 ↗ applications which was quite a lot

1:00:21 ↗ larger than the previous year um which

1:00:23 ↗ you know it it is good news and that we

1:00:26 ↗ feel like um post pandemic if we can say

1:00:29 ↗ that um that you know things are

1:00:31 ↗ becoming more normalized and more people

1:00:35 ↗ are suggesting that they do events for

1:00:37 ↗ the community which is fabulous um and

1:00:39 ↗ then the Arts commission met in January

1:00:41 ↗ the 8th and the 18th um to review the

1:00:44 ↗ applications together as a group and

1:00:46 ↗ make these funding recommendations I'm

1:00:48 ↗ here with you tonight and then I'm

1:00:50 ↗ seeking Direction on how to present

1:00:52 ↗ these to council and then um after the

1:00:56 ↗ council approves them hopefully um we

1:00:59 ↗ will go through our normal process of

1:01:01 ↗ Contracting we do a pretty extensive

1:01:03 ↗ technical assistance during the scope of

1:01:06 ↗ work development for our contracts just

1:01:08 ↗ to make sure that what they proposed is

1:01:11 ↗ is in alignment with what our goals are

1:01:14 ↗ and then um the Arts Commissioners all

1:01:16 ↗ do site visits throughout the year so

1:01:18 ↗ that every funded program gets visited

1:01:21 ↗ which I think is really important piece

1:01:23 ↗ and then of course we help promote and

1:01:25 ↗ celebrate all of the

1:01:29 ↗ projects so again the I'm here just to

1:01:32 ↗ seek Direction on how you'd like to move

1:01:34 ↗ these forward um and I can put up the

1:01:37 ↗ list of all of them if that

1:01:45 ↗ help and then I would like to mention

1:01:47 ↗ also that Rachel Wright who is co-chair

1:01:50 ↗ of the Arts commission is here with me

1:01:51 ↗ tonight thank you so much Rachel and

1:01:53 ↗ she's here to um answer questions that

1:01:56 ↗ you may have as

1:01:59 ↗ well council member Joe thank you Mr

1:02:03 ↗ chairman thanks for that presentation I

1:02:05 ↗ appreciate all the hard work that's been

1:02:07 ↗ put uh forward to make this happen

1:02:11 ↗ um could you uh help me with something I

1:02:14 ↗ I um know that we have a creative

1:02:16 ↗ District I I don't know exactly how

1:02:19 ↗ they're funded it doesn't look like

1:02:20 ↗ they're funded through this if you could

1:02:22 ↗ just um kind of let us know how that's

1:02:24 ↗ funded and why we're able to see art on

1:02:27 ↗ our streets in the downtown core yeah so

1:02:29 ↗ the um arts program actually has

1:02:31 ↗ multiple components to it and I believe

1:02:34 ↗ I'm coming to you next month to talk

1:02:35 ↗ about the overall arts program so I look

1:02:37 ↗ forward to seeing you again um but the

1:02:40 ↗ arts program has the granting program

1:02:42 ↗ which is sort of our way of supporting

1:02:43 ↗ what the community is doing um and then

1:02:46 ↗ we also have public art uh fund which

1:02:49 ↗ supports a lot of that um art that's

1:02:51 ↗ implement or integrated into your built

1:02:53 ↗ environment that you see and then uh we

1:02:56 ↗ have the creative District program that

1:02:58 ↗ is its own unique program that is really

1:03:01 ↗ intended to focus uh a lot of uh

1:03:05 ↗ creative vibrancy and um a lot of

1:03:08 ↗ economic activity and visitor activity

1:03:11 ↗ in a certain geographic area which is

1:03:14 ↗ basically Oldtown and parts of Gilman um

1:03:18 ↗ so the it's funded um through the Arts

1:03:21 ↗ programs um just operating funds um but

1:03:24 ↗ we mostly get grants to support it so

1:03:28 ↗ the good thing about that program is

1:03:29 ↗ Arts Washington has supported that

1:03:31 ↗ program through grants so we currently

1:03:33 ↗ have a request out for

1:03:37 ↗ $150,000 for 2425 to help Infuse more

1:03:41 ↗ placemaking into the creative District

1:03:44 ↗ thank you for that I I appreciate you

1:03:46 ↗ giving that background um leads to my

1:03:48 ↗ next question though how do um Arts

1:03:52 ↗ commission the Arts community then work

1:03:55 ↗ with the economic development and the

1:03:57 ↗ presentation that we just saw it sounds

1:03:59 ↗ like you're both getting money to you

1:04:02 ↗ know help our downtown area uh could you

1:04:04 ↗ talk a little bit more about how you

1:04:06 ↗ work together on on those uh issues yeah

1:04:09 ↗ so the um create specifically the

1:04:11 ↗ creative District program is really

1:04:13 ↗ intended to be a partnership between

1:04:16 ↗ arts and the um Economic Development

1:04:19 ↗ efforts of any geographic area and so we

1:04:23 ↗ actually worked together as we were

1:04:25 ↗ applying for the um designation and then

1:04:29 ↗ we have a creative Advisory board that

1:04:31 ↗ helps um just they're really just

1:04:34 ↗ serving in an advisory way but they're a

1:04:37 ↗ great connection out into the community

1:04:39 ↗ and so that does include a

1:04:41 ↗ representative from the chamber a

1:04:43 ↗ representative from um Economic

1:04:46 ↗ Development um a member of Downtown

1:04:49 ↗ isqua

1:04:50 ↗ Association um visit isqua so that

1:04:54 ↗ they're at the table talking about how

1:04:57 ↗ to make the district um connect and know

1:05:01 ↗ about all the various things that are

1:05:03 ↗ happening in the city economically so it

1:05:07 ↗ def very much is a partnership that

1:05:09 ↗ particular program but also the the you

1:05:12 ↗ know the Arts commission and the

1:05:13 ↗ economic Vitality commission have done a

1:05:15 ↗ really good job of communicating with

1:05:17 ↗ one another and having joint meetings at

1:05:20 ↗ least once a year um and networking

1:05:22 ↗ together so um I feel like the inclusion

1:05:26 ↗ of Arts in their plan is

1:05:28 ↗ genuine yeah well I appreciate that

1:05:31 ↗ you're working in collaboration together

1:05:33 ↗ um my final question uh concerns the

1:05:36 ↗ list of of grantees up there I was

1:05:39 ↗ curious you have a cat art show which is

1:05:42 ↗ the very bottom uh grantee for $5,000 I

1:05:46 ↗ was curious what is that going to be and

1:05:49 ↗ how would we see that uh in our

1:05:52 ↗ city um so so actually that one is not

1:05:55 ↗ being recommended for funding but only

1:05:57 ↗ but not because of the artistic um value

1:06:01 ↗ of it but because they don't have a

1:06:02 ↗ venue to um to display the artwork and

1:06:06 ↗ the what they are proposing actually um

1:06:09 ↗ are calligraphy cats and they want to

1:06:11 ↗ create the largest cat

1:06:15 ↗ painting in the world um which is a

1:06:17 ↗ really cool aspiration and so there are

1:06:20 ↗ several things on this list that are not

1:06:22 ↗ being recommended for funding andri

1:06:24 ↗ arily it is um it came down to we

1:06:27 ↗ couldn't support everything um but also

1:06:30 ↗ that um the commission took a preference

1:06:33 ↗ for artists and arts organizations that

1:06:35 ↗ were based in our community um and who

1:06:38 ↗ knew where they were going to do their

1:06:41 ↗ programming or their project and so we

1:06:43 ↗ had a handful that were coming from

1:06:45 ↗ outside of the community who we'd love

1:06:47 ↗ to welcome into the community at some

1:06:49 ↗ point but um they also didn't have an

1:06:52 ↗ any venue identified

1:06:54 ↗ or hadn't secured that and we know from

1:06:57 ↗ that feasibility standpoint it's an

1:07:00 ↗ issue so just like economic development

1:07:02 ↗ is pointing out that people don't have

1:07:04 ↗ spaces the same thing is a is a problem

1:07:07 ↗ that plagues the Arts so so we will work

1:07:10 ↗ with and reach out to all those that

1:07:12 ↗ didn't get funded to try to make them

1:07:14 ↗ viable for

1:07:15 ↗ future great thank you very much those

1:07:18 ↗ are my

1:07:20 ↗ questions uh council member Michelle D

1:07:22 ↗ Michelle do you have anything right now

1:07:24 ↗ all right I have a couple questions one

1:07:27 ↗ is

1:07:28 ↗ um sometimes in the past this has been

1:07:31 ↗ done in a way that shows what the

1:07:33 ↗ previous Grant was to that organization

1:07:36 ↗ because um different organizations can

1:07:39 ↗ sort of handle different amounts of

1:07:41 ↗ granting right the uh Village Theater

1:07:44 ↗ will can handle as much money as we can

1:07:46 ↗ give them yeah um and but for some

1:07:48 ↗ groups 5,000 is a lot of money um so I

1:07:52 ↗ was not familiar I did a little a little

1:07:54 ↗ bit of research on isqua cultural Circle

1:07:57 ↗ um it forgive me is are they new they

1:08:01 ↗ are relatively new they did receive

1:08:03 ↗ funding last year so they received

1:08:06 ↗ $155,000 last year um they Pro proposed

1:08:10 ↗ more projects this year um but they're a

1:08:13 ↗ great example of an organization whose

1:08:15 ↗ mission is not solely arts and

1:08:16 ↗ culture-based but they use arts and

1:08:18 ↗ culture as a tool for engaging um new

1:08:22 ↗ residents to the community for reaching

1:08:24 ↗ out to other cultures um one of the

1:08:26 ↗ things that we have funded for a couple

1:08:28 ↗ of years with them prior to them

1:08:30 ↗ formalizing as an organization they put

1:08:33 ↗ together the Day of the Dead celebration

1:08:35 ↗ um so that is a great example of a

1:08:38 ↗ community partner that's providing

1:08:40 ↗ really great Community Arts engagement

1:08:42 ↗ that is not an Arts organization um but

1:08:45 ↗ yeah their funding is fairly similar to

1:08:48 ↗ and so this is not this is not a big

1:08:50 ↗ lift compared to last year correct yeah

1:08:52 ↗ and they're they're they're PR their

1:08:54 ↗ overall program as an organization their

1:08:56 ↗ overall budget is quite large actually

1:08:58 ↗ because they provide lots of other

1:09:00 ↗ services got it so the engineering nerd

1:09:03 ↗ in me looks at these amounts requested

1:09:06 ↗ versus the recommendation and notes that

1:09:08 ↗ generally speaking they fall into two

1:09:10 ↗ categories generally it's either they

1:09:12 ↗ requested an amount and they got nothing

1:09:14 ↗ or they requested an amount and they get

1:09:16 ↗ somewhere between 50 and 100% but

1:09:19 ↗ there's one exception to that which is

1:09:20 ↗ actually isqua Historical Museum which

1:09:23 ↗ is request 20,000 and the recommendation

1:09:25 ↗ is 88500 can you um there must be a

1:09:29 ↗ story there want to chat about that one

1:09:31 ↗ um so they are new to this funding

1:09:36 ↗ program iteration um they in many years

1:09:41 ↗ past had come to the Arts commission and

1:09:42 ↗ receed funding for Arts kind of projects

1:09:45 ↗ um this year they did fund they did

1:09:48 ↗ apply as an Arts partnership meaning uh

1:09:51 ↗ a nonprofit is quad based organization

1:09:53 ↗ ation that has arts and culture as its

1:09:56 ↗ core Mission um so we did have a bit of

1:10:00 ↗ a debate um among Arts Commissioners

1:10:03 ↗ about what does arts and culture mean

1:10:06 ↗ and is the histo history museums and

1:10:08 ↗ arts and culture organization and

1:10:10 ↗ everyone agreed ultimately that it was

1:10:12 ↗ if we're using that sort of large

1:10:14 ↗ definition of arts and culture um but

1:10:18 ↗ the operating budget of the history

1:10:20 ↗ museums is around

1:10:21 ↗ $200,000 of which 8 5,000 is a contract

1:10:25 ↗ for service with the city so the Arts

1:10:28 ↗ commission felt like we should back that

1:10:31 ↗ out when looking at their budget because

1:10:33 ↗ that piece is sort of already covered

1:10:35 ↗ and we didn't want to calculate the

1:10:37 ↗ calculation on our own covered dollars

1:10:41 ↗ if that makes sense you're referring to

1:10:43 ↗ the can't be more than 10% of the

1:10:44 ↗ operating bu yeah so then that put them

1:10:47 ↗ at a um at a possible funding of around

1:10:51 ↗ $144,000 and because they were new to

1:10:53 ↗ the program and they're sort of in a

1:10:56 ↗ rebuilding phase as an organization and

1:10:58 ↗ because they didn't really mention a lot

1:11:00 ↗ of Arts programming that they were going

1:11:01 ↗ to do um the commission scored their

1:11:04 ↗ application such that they ended up with

1:11:06 ↗ I think it's

1:11:08 ↗ 8500 so it was sort of a combination of

1:11:14 ↗ factors okay uh thank thank you for that

1:11:18 ↗ explanation no other questions right

1:11:20 ↗ now want to add anything I

1:11:25 ↗ would you like to add is it okay if

1:11:27 ↗ Rachel add okay um I would just add you

1:11:30 ↗ know we are really trying to add more

1:11:32 ↗ process to to the granting I've been on

1:11:34 ↗ the um Arts commission for three years

1:11:37 ↗ and I've really appreciated actually

1:11:38 ↗ Amy's guidance in implementing the

1:11:41 ↗ scoring system because it makes it a lot

1:11:43 ↗ easier to to gauge what these projects

1:11:46 ↗ are and the impact um I think the

1:11:48 ↗ transparency around it is really

1:11:50 ↗ important so even um I would encourage

1:11:52 ↗ that next year we make make it more

1:11:54 ↗ transparent and in the ranking process

1:11:56 ↗ show where these organizations and

1:11:58 ↗ projects scored both at the individual

1:12:01 ↗ levels and the aggregate because I think

1:12:03 ↗ it makes discussions around things like

1:12:05 ↗ operating of you know it may be a great

1:12:07 ↗ project but you know if we have a

1:12:09 ↗ candidate that's coming in from outside

1:12:11 ↗ of isqua and they're saying we want to

1:12:13 ↗ do this programming and we'll find a

1:12:15 ↗ space and we know there if you haven't

1:12:18 ↗ done your research and you don't really

1:12:20 ↗ have understand the budget and haven't

1:12:22 ↗ really worked with people on space it's

1:12:23 ↗ an extreme Challenge and it probably

1:12:25 ↗ means you're not going to get a space so

1:12:27 ↗ I think in that sense we want to try and

1:12:30 ↗ make it transparent of why something

1:12:32 ↗ didn't make it through and then also try

1:12:35 ↗ to in the terms of like Economic

1:12:37 ↗ Development actually incubate the

1:12:39 ↗ programs to say we can be sort of a

1:12:41 ↗ Matchmaker to say maybe it didn't work

1:12:43 ↗ this time but we can help you get with

1:12:45 ↗ another organization and I would just

1:12:47 ↗ add that this space challenge you know

1:12:49 ↗ we've had people coming in wanting to

1:12:50 ↗ perform we have this great youth um film

1:12:53 ↗ Film Festival is disappointing to me

1:12:56 ↗ that we don't have active partnership

1:12:58 ↗ with the high school at this point to

1:13:00 ↗ open up that space to the public but you

1:13:02 ↗ know we continue to talk about space as

1:13:04 ↗ a challenge and and are doing what we

1:13:05 ↗ can to open more

1:13:07 ↗ up that helps thank you very much

1:13:10 ↗ appreciate

1:13:12 ↗ that so again uh as with the previous uh

1:13:16 ↗ uh information item uh we're at the

1:13:18 ↗ point where if members of the public

1:13:20 ↗ wish to speak uh we would entertain

1:13:23 ↗ comments from the public if anybody in

1:13:24 ↗ the room wishes to or I will again Ask

1:13:28 ↗ CL gizer if anyone online has indicated

1:13:31 ↗ uh a desire to speak to this issue

1:13:33 ↗ before we go into

1:13:35 ↗ deliberations we have two virtual

1:13:37 ↗ attendees with us I'll mention one of

1:13:39 ↗ them is an Arts commissioner Bridget

1:13:41 ↗ aabra um who's with us I don't see that

1:13:44 ↗ uh Bridget or other virtual attendee are

1:13:46 ↗ wishing to speak at this

1:13:48 ↗ time all right well with that then we

1:13:50 ↗ will

1:13:51 ↗ move deliberation

1:13:54 ↗ can you please bring up again the uh

1:13:56 ↗ questions for

1:14:02 ↗ it helps focus

1:14:07 ↗ our

1:14:16 ↗ underneath it's underneath the web X bar

1:14:19 ↗ do you have any um tips for how to get

1:14:22 ↗ it

1:14:26 ↗ right underneath

1:14:29 ↗ there

1:14:32 ↗ living I would think they

1:14:52 ↗ up

1:14:55 ↗ all right SE direction from the service

1:14:57 ↗ of safety par Council committee for the

1:15:00 ↗ award

1:15:01 ↗ and there's not a specific set of

1:15:04 ↗ questions no it's just you have the

1:15:07 ↗ recommendations before you passing it on

1:15:10 ↗ to the council all right chair Mars

1:15:12 ↗ excuse me I I do just see a member of

1:15:14 ↗ the public raised their virtual hand it

1:15:16 ↗ may have been they were delayed in

1:15:18 ↗ finding that all right well then public

1:15:20 ↗ comments are an important part of the

1:15:22 ↗ public process we take them seriously

1:15:23 ↗ and Factor them into the decisions we

1:15:25 ↗ make during audience comments members of

1:15:27 ↗ the public are invited to address the

1:15:28 ↗ council regarding matters that are

1:15:29 ↗ directly related to City programs

1:15:32 ↗ projects services or events anyone from

1:15:34 ↗ the public who wishes to comment will

1:15:35 ↗ have the opportunity to do so please

1:15:37 ↗ direct comments to the whole Council or

1:15:39 ↗ the committee in this case and not

1:15:40 ↗ individuals while this is not a question

1:15:42 ↗ and answer session we will contact you

1:15:44 ↗ to follow up if needed when recognized

1:15:47 ↗ unmute your microphone for virtual

1:15:49 ↗ attendees state your name address and

1:15:51 ↗ relationship to the city I EG resident

1:15:54 ↗ property owner business owner speak

1:15:56 ↗ clearly and pause frequently and limit

1:15:58 ↗ your comments to 5 minutes if you are

1:16:00 ↗ attending virtually and do not respond

1:16:02 ↗ after your name or phone number is

1:16:03 ↗ called or if your connection is lost

1:16:05 ↗ unexpectedly meeting will need to

1:16:07 ↗ proceed you are encouraged to rejoin the

1:16:09 ↗ meeting if able written comments can be

1:16:11 ↗ submitted at any time I mentioned that

1:16:12 ↗ before personal attacks subscene

1:16:14 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

1:16:16 ↗ disruptive behavior such as shouting

1:16:17 ↗ booing clapping stopping feet will not

1:16:19 ↗ be permitted the speaker is out of order

1:16:22 ↗ the presiding officer will d speaker to

1:16:23 ↗ return to his his or her seat uh for V

1:16:26 ↗ or for virtual attendees may direct

1:16:28 ↗ staff to mute their microphone speaker

1:16:30 ↗ does not comply the presiding officer

1:16:32 ↗ may take a recess to restore order

1:16:35 ↗ option the meeting occurs an order

1:16:37 ↗ cannot be restored the presiding officer

1:16:39 ↗ May proceed to use one of the options

1:16:41 ↗ provided for in RCW

1:16:43 ↗ 42305 to ensure orderly continuation

1:16:46 ↗ meeting again public comments written in

1:16:49 ↗ verbal are an important aspect of the

1:16:51 ↗ public process City takes comments

1:16:53 ↗ seriously and we thank members of the

1:16:54 ↗ public for taking the time to address US

1:16:56 ↗ during this clerk can you please

1:16:58 ↗ identify the first person uh who wishes

1:17:00 ↗ to speak yes Corby uh is this the

1:17:04 ↗ speaker and Corby I've made you a

1:17:05 ↗ panelist you should have the option to

1:17:07 ↗ unmute and can choose to turn your video

1:17:22 ↗ on

1:17:23 ↗ Corby are you still wishing to make

1:17:25 ↗ public comment

1:17:36 ↗ tonight well as we as we said before if

1:17:40 ↗ uh if you can reconnect and uh

1:17:44 ↗ indicate clerk that you wish to speak

1:17:47 ↗ try to take your comment chair if you

1:17:50 ↗ give me one more moment let me un try

1:17:52 ↗ unmuting okay Corby last call here I've

1:17:55 ↗ just unmuted you if you'd like to make

1:18:00 ↗ comments okay nope

1:18:04 ↗ okay deliberation council member Joe

1:18:07 ↗ thank you Mr chairman uh again I

1:18:09 ↗ appreciate all the hard work that the

1:18:11 ↗ Arts commission has done and and uh um

1:18:14 ↗ I'm fully in support of the Grant List

1:18:16 ↗ that's there and I uh do

1:18:19 ↗ wholeheartedly approve or support the uh

1:18:23 ↗ comments that were made in terms of

1:18:25 ↗ adding a kind

1:18:29 ↗ of objective review standard and

1:18:32 ↗ transparency to the uh process as well

1:18:36 ↗ and I also like the fact that uh we're

1:18:39 ↗ willing to um show why a particular

1:18:43 ↗ Grant didn't get funding and to support

1:18:46 ↗ that artist and find a way uh if they

1:18:48 ↗ can modify their project or uh change

1:18:51 ↗ their application a little bit they

1:18:52 ↗ might then get funding in the next year

1:18:54 ↗ so it's a it's a it's a incubator to

1:18:57 ↗ encourage additional art in the future

1:18:59 ↗ as well and I really like that aspect

1:19:01 ↗ thank you for for all the hard

1:19:04 ↗ work council member D Michelle uh I too

1:19:07 ↗ approve the um list that was presented

1:19:10 ↗ to us and so thank you very much I

1:19:12 ↗ served on the Arts commission for 12

1:19:14 ↗ years so I really liked your summary of

1:19:17 ↗ the discussion because uh going through

1:19:20 ↗ the uh grants

1:19:21 ↗ allocation um and and I really like the

1:19:25 ↗ new categories youve come up with and

1:19:27 ↗ the more um transparent uh uh scoring uh

1:19:33 ↗ methods uh but it's always been a really

1:19:36 ↗ good solid discussion that arrives at

1:19:39 ↗ some really nuanced uh endings and I

1:19:42 ↗ love the discussion of the history

1:19:44 ↗ museums and why they got what they did

1:19:46 ↗ I'm sure there was a a very uh robust

1:19:49 ↗ discussion around that and many others

1:19:51 ↗ too it's amazing even the small grants

1:19:53 ↗ get a lot of attention from the

1:19:54 ↗ Commissioners so so I think we have a a

1:19:57 ↗ great list here um I would think that it

1:20:01 ↗ should go perhaps on the consent agenda

1:20:05 ↗ uh for the uh Council to approve and

1:20:07 ↗ then you can move forward with the work

1:20:09 ↗ of getting those grants into people's

1:20:11 ↗ hands so uh good work again so proud of

1:20:14 ↗ our Arts commission we have a great Arts

1:20:16 ↗ commission and and a great director for

1:20:19 ↗ that so thank you very

1:20:21 ↗ much so I also this is one of the parts

1:20:25 ↗ of uh being on Council that I love is

1:20:27 ↗ supporting the Arts and when people talk

1:20:30 ↗ passionately about isqua not being a you

1:20:33 ↗ know the dreaded suburb but an actual

1:20:36 ↗ city um and a community uh having a

1:20:39 ↗ thriving art scene is absolutely

1:20:41 ↗ essential part of so uh I you know I'd

1:20:45 ↗ love to give out twice as much money as

1:20:47 ↗ we do but I also love that you have

1:20:50 ↗ criteria and we're careful and when we

1:20:52 ↗ we can talk to the public we can say

1:20:55 ↗ that we are enthusiastic but but careful

1:20:58 ↗ and good stewards of the Public's money

1:21:01 ↗ uh and I know it's it's wonderful how

1:21:03 ↗ for some of these organizations $5,000

1:21:05 ↗ make a huge difference so uh our ability

1:21:08 ↗ to contribute to that is is just great

1:21:10 ↗ and I continue uh to hope that you know

1:21:13 ↗ as we heard earlier uh having uh a great

1:21:17 ↗ art scene is up there with you know our

1:21:21 ↗ natural environment as one of the

1:21:23 ↗ advantages to folks being here and

1:21:25 ↗ businesses being here so keep up the

1:21:27 ↗ good work and I also support uh putting

1:21:30 ↗ it on the consented agenda and I saw

1:21:31 ↗ council member uh Joe not his head so uh

1:21:35 ↗ I think the Administration has its uh

1:21:37 ↗ recommendation from the committee and

1:21:39 ↗ I'll ask if there's anything else you're

1:21:40 ↗ looking for on this

1:21:42 ↗ item thank you so much for your comments

1:21:44 ↗ and I actually look forward to coming

1:21:46 ↗ back um soon to tell you more about the

1:21:49 ↗ overall Earths program but thank

1:21:51 ↗ you excellent

1:21:53 ↗ and clear keer is there any chance that

1:21:55 ↗ the the person who wanted to speak

1:21:59 ↗ is chance that they've gotten back into

1:22:02 ↗ their connection or are they

1:22:04 ↗ gone no they're still with us it's

1:22:07 ↗ possible that the raised hand was

1:22:09 ↗ inadvertent and a buing that has

1:22:11 ↗ happened to me I have inadvertently

1:22:13 ↗ raised my hand before and yes I yes that

1:22:18 ↗ that does happen all right and with that

1:22:21 ↗ we will move on to ID

1:22:23 ↗ 1566 religious and cultural calendar

1:22:27 ↗ presented by Dale Mary km assistant to

1:22:29 ↗ the city

1:22:38 ↗ administrator good evening committee me

1:22:41 ↗ council members committee members my

1:22:42 ↗ name is Dale Mary crimp and I am the

1:22:44 ↗ assistant to the C City administrator

1:22:46 ↗ and I'm so glad to be here tonight uh to

1:22:49 ↗ discuss the cultural and religious

1:22:51 ↗ calendar with you I am a new face

1:22:54 ↗ attached to this item but a very uh

1:22:57 ↗ eager face to be attached to this

1:22:59 ↗ item the purpose of our time together

1:23:02 ↗ tonight is twofold one is to provide an

1:23:04 ↗ update on the 2023 calendar

1:23:07 ↗ implementation the pilot

1:23:09 ↗ implementation um and the second is to

1:23:13 ↗ collect feedback from you all ahead of

1:23:16 ↗ perenti this calendar um ahead of

1:23:20 ↗ council consideration hopefully next

1:23:21 ↗ week

1:23:26 ↗ the direction I'm requesting tonight um

1:23:28 ↗ which will come back to this slide at

1:23:30 ↗ the end of the presentation as well as

1:23:32 ↗ twofold are there any cultural Andor

1:23:35 ↗ religious holidays missing from the

1:23:37 ↗ overall the long calendar that we should

1:23:40 ↗ include in the final permanent calendar

1:23:42 ↗ and do you support the changes made for

1:23:44 ↗ this final update given Community

1:23:47 ↗ feedback and staff feedback and input

1:23:49 ↗ received over the course of

1:23:51 ↗ 2023

1:23:55 ↗ a bit of background um the three of you

1:23:58 ↗ are probably very familiar with this but

1:23:59 ↗ I want to make sure that the public also

1:24:01 ↗ Hears A little bit of background on

1:24:02 ↗ where this calendar is coming

1:24:06 ↗ from the calendar uh that we're talking

1:24:08 ↗ about this evening included in your

1:24:10 ↗ packet the long calendar and the short

1:24:12 ↗ calendar were developed in late 2023 in

1:24:16 ↗ an effort to provide a diversity and

1:24:19 ↗ inclusion tool for both City staff and

1:24:22 ↗ the public um both to formalize our

1:24:25 ↗ City's commitment to diversity and

1:24:28 ↗ inclusion and to help build an increase

1:24:30 ↗ awareness of the religious and cultural

1:24:33 ↗ diversity here in the city of isqua we

1:24:35 ↗ also used this calendar and we'll talk a

1:24:38 ↗ bit about how um to ensure that our

1:24:42 ↗ public meetings didn't conflict or

1:24:44 ↗ weren't planned on key evenings and

1:24:47 ↗ holidays of key religious and cultural

1:24:50 ↗ significance it's one thing to say we're

1:24:53 ↗ an inclusive place but if we're an

1:24:55 ↗ inclusive city that is planning

1:24:57 ↗ important meetings that ask for public

1:25:00 ↗ engagement on evenings when the public

1:25:02 ↗ cannot engage that's not true

1:25:07 ↗ inclusion in developing this criteria

1:25:10 ↗ which was spear or this calendar excuse

1:25:12 ↗ me which was spearheaded by our Human

1:25:14 ↗ Services team the team used three

1:25:18 ↗ different Criterion in doing

1:25:20 ↗ that because as we know there are many

1:25:24 ↗ there are nearly an infinite number of

1:25:25 ↗ holidays that could be on any calendar

1:25:28 ↗ um and to to make sure that this was a

1:25:30 ↗ calendar that was truly about the city

1:25:32 ↗ of isqua there were three Criterion that

1:25:34 ↗ were used one priority was given to

1:25:36 ↗ holidays that pose significant work

1:25:39 ↗ restrictions and therefore would limit

1:25:41 ↗ community members ability to participate

1:25:43 ↗ in public engagement consideration was

1:25:45 ↗ also given to the demographic

1:25:47 ↗ representation here in the city of isqua

1:25:50 ↗ holidays celebrated by isqua resid

1:25:52 ↗ residents and lastly consideration was

1:25:54 ↗ given for holidays that provide an

1:25:56 ↗ opportunity for individual and Community

1:25:59 ↗ reflection for education for increased

1:26:02 ↗ awareness and deeper understanding to

1:26:04 ↗ build connection and empathy across our

1:26:09 ↗ community after this uh calendar was

1:26:12 ↗ developed uh it was taken by the city

1:26:16 ↗ and implemented in a piloted fashion in

1:26:20 ↗ 2023 this implementation had three major

1:26:23 ↗ parts one was a sharing of the calendar

1:26:25 ↗ the full calendar both with staff and

1:26:27 ↗ with the public the second part of

1:26:30 ↗ implementation which I'll talk about a

1:26:32 ↗ little bit more as well was that there

1:26:33 ↗ was a shorter prioritized list that we

1:26:37 ↗ called uh the utmost importance or

1:26:40 ↗ utmost significance list that was used

1:26:42 ↗ in year-long scheduling of public

1:26:44 ↗ meetings and was shared also on the

1:26:46 ↗ city's website and then as I'm about to

1:26:49 ↗ share about we had three main teams

1:26:52 ↗ within our organization that spearheaded

1:26:54 ↗ implementation of the

1:26:57 ↗ calendar so what did that implementation

1:26:59 ↗ look like we'll start with the city

1:27:02 ↗ clerk uh who's here with us um tonight

1:27:05 ↗ and so the city clerk the two main ways

1:27:08 ↗ that the city clerk carried this

1:27:10 ↗ calendar forward and implementation in

1:27:12 ↗ 23

1:27:13 ↗ 2023 was the inclusion of the utmost

1:27:16 ↗ significance holidays that shorter list

1:27:18 ↗ of holidays with with significant work

1:27:20 ↗ restrictions in the planning of public

1:27:23 ↗ meetings and inclusion on the web the

1:27:25 ↗ city's website calendar so as you are on

1:27:28 ↗ the calendar I know I like to go and

1:27:31 ↗ search city of isqua City Council

1:27:33 ↗ meetings that brings me to a calendar

1:27:36 ↗ and I can know when City Council

1:27:37 ↗ meetings are happening but also when

1:27:39 ↗ events around the community are

1:27:40 ↗ happening that utmost significance

1:27:42 ↗ calendar that shortened list those were

1:27:44 ↗ included in that City calendar and then

1:27:47 ↗ the team hustled um they hustled to make

1:27:50 ↗ sure that there were no conflicts no

1:27:53 ↗ public meeting conflicts with those days

1:27:55 ↗ days with significant work restrictions

1:27:57 ↗ of the utmost significance for those uh

1:28:00 ↗ community members here in isqua in

1:28:03 ↗ addition today where City Hall is also

1:28:05 ↗ already closed so federal holidays and

1:28:07 ↗ City holidays you can see on the slide

1:28:09 ↗ here and and data was shared in the memo

1:28:11 ↗ as well this meant moving five city

1:28:14 ↗ council or Council committee meetings it

1:28:16 ↗ also meant moving a a number of board

1:28:19 ↗ and commission meetings given I I think

1:28:22 ↗ the space constraints have also already

1:28:24 ↗ been mentioned tonight um in other

1:28:26 ↗ presentations but given the number of

1:28:29 ↗ boards and commissions and the the

1:28:30 ↗ spaces that we have across the city for

1:28:32 ↗ those public meetings you move one it

1:28:35 ↗ often mean times means moving another um

1:28:37 ↗ and so we didn't collect an exact number

1:28:40 ↗ but there were a number of meetings that

1:28:42 ↗ had to be moved um even though that

1:28:43 ↗ shortened list is only 15 16 additional

1:28:48 ↗ days another main implementor of the

1:28:51 ↗ calendar is is our Communications team

1:28:53 ↗ our Communications team after this Cal

1:28:56 ↗ uh the calendar was uh resolved in Pilot

1:28:59 ↗ form at the end of 22 um they took to

1:29:03 ↗ sharing the holidays broadly with the

1:29:06 ↗ community as they came up through both

1:29:07 ↗ Twitter and Facebook and if you were

1:29:09 ↗ lucky you saw some of these come across

1:29:10 ↗ your social media they also created a

1:29:13 ↗ web page on the city website that

1:29:16 ↗ displayed the calendar and also provided

1:29:18 ↗ an opportunity for members of the public

1:29:20 ↗ to provide feedback and that will come

1:29:22 ↗ in handy um as I'll share in just a

1:29:24 ↗ little

1:29:25 ↗ bit and lastly our human resources team

1:29:27 ↗ and our executive team um who went about

1:29:30 ↗ doing exactly what we intended with this

1:29:32 ↗ calendar which was sharing it internally

1:29:33 ↗ with staff as a tool for Equity

1:29:36 ↗ inclusion and

1:29:37 ↗ diversity holidays were shared through

1:29:40 ↗ uh the qule which is our internal

1:29:42 ↗ newsletter and then also uh this year in

1:29:44 ↗ 23 HR was able to share an option for

1:29:47 ↗ staff to put calendar holds on their

1:29:50 ↗ Outlook calendars so that they would see

1:29:51 ↗ these days come up in the same way that

1:29:53 ↗ you'd see other holidays come

1:29:57 ↗ up feedback part of the process over

1:30:00 ↗ 2023 as we engage in this pilot

1:30:02 ↗ implementation and look towards

1:30:04 ↗ determining how we would perentie this

1:30:06 ↗ calendar part of that process was to

1:30:08 ↗ gather feedback both from our staff

1:30:10 ↗ internally and from the community at

1:30:13 ↗ large there were multiple options to

1:30:16 ↗ provide feedback um the main one uh

1:30:19 ↗ throughout the year was through the

1:30:21 ↗ website um however this calendar also

1:30:23 ↗ came to the equity board which I'll talk

1:30:25 ↗ a bit about um and through sharing it on

1:30:28 ↗ in an ongoing way with the public over

1:30:29 ↗ social media and with our own staff

1:30:31 ↗ internally we were able to gather ad hoc

1:30:34 ↗ feedback as posts were made and

1:30:35 ↗ information was shared about each

1:30:37 ↗ holiday a few key pieces of feedback

1:30:40 ↗ that came up over the course of 2023

1:30:42 ↗ which were mentioned in the memo and

1:30:44 ↗ also up here on the slide um the

1:30:46 ↗ exclusion of Christian holidays from the

1:30:48 ↗ utmost significance calendar the purpose

1:30:51 ↗ of the calendar as I stated at the top

1:30:53 ↗ was inclusion and diversity and we were

1:30:55 ↗ we had good feedback shared with us that

1:30:57 ↗ it felt as though there were key

1:30:58 ↗ holidays that were excluded from that

1:31:01 ↗ list also uh change there was a request

1:31:04 ↗ to change the bigh high holidays on the

1:31:07 ↗ most significance calendar there are a

1:31:09 ↗ number of bigh high holidays that

1:31:11 ↗ require work restrictions um so many so

1:31:14 ↗ that it would be difficult to plan

1:31:15 ↗ around all of them and so we worked with

1:31:18 ↗ our um our partners from the beis of

1:31:21 ↗ issaqua to determine which two holidays

1:31:23 ↗ they'd like on that utmost significance

1:31:25 ↗ calendar the beautiful thing about a

1:31:27 ↗ pilot they picked two in 23 we got to

1:31:30 ↗ the end of 23 and they said those aren't

1:31:31 ↗ the two we want and so as you'll see for

1:31:34 ↗ the proposed calendar we've made a

1:31:36 ↗ change to those two and a change on the

1:31:38 ↗ Buddhist holiday that's reflected on the

1:31:40 ↗ utmost significance uh calendar as well

1:31:44 ↗ the holiday mapua day that was

1:31:46 ↗ originally um on the utmost significance

1:31:49 ↗ calendar is um a holiday celebrated by

1:31:53 ↗ one of only three of the main traditions

1:31:55 ↗ of

1:31:56 ↗ Buddhism and even within that tradition

1:31:58 ↗ it is not the most significant holiday

1:32:01 ↗ and so we Revisited that holiday and

1:32:03 ↗ instead have proposed as I'll talk about

1:32:05 ↗ in a moment to exchange that with the

1:32:07 ↗ holiday of vac which is a which

1:32:10 ↗ celebrates the birth death and

1:32:12 ↗ Enlightenment of the Buddha all in one

1:32:14 ↗ day um and is important to two of the

1:32:17 ↗ three main traditions of

1:32:20 ↗ Buddhism we also uh just in December

1:32:24 ↗ brought this draft 2024 calendar to the

1:32:27 ↗ equity board the Ecuador's feedback

1:32:30 ↗ focused in two areas one is to consider

1:32:33 ↗ adding more days of cultural

1:32:34 ↗ significance to the utmost significance

1:32:36 ↗ calendar and we discussed the challenges

1:32:37 ↗ in that based on the administrative

1:32:39 ↗ burden of planning around more days um

1:32:43 ↗ there uh there alternative was a desire

1:32:46 ↗ to see the days on our utmost

1:32:48 ↗ significance calendar to see that

1:32:50 ↗ alongside

1:32:52 ↗ the city hall closure and federal

1:32:53 ↗ holidays to see those on a list together

1:32:57 ↗ which is something that we feel like we

1:32:58 ↗ can accommodate and how we present this

1:32:59 ↗ information on the website and the

1:33:01 ↗ second piece of feedback was to see more

1:33:03 ↗ educational and informational resources

1:33:06 ↗ available for each holiday we've done a

1:33:08 ↗ great job naming the holidays as they

1:33:10 ↗ come up um but also having some

1:33:12 ↗ resources both for internal staff and

1:33:14 ↗ for the public to learn a bit more about

1:33:16 ↗ those

1:33:18 ↗ holidays so this 2024 calendar that I

1:33:21 ↗ keep referring to um that is in your

1:33:24 ↗ packet the changes which I've already

1:33:26 ↗ mentioned that we've made which is a

1:33:27 ↗ replacing of Maga puua day with vasak on

1:33:31 ↗ the utmost significance calendar the

1:33:33 ↗ replacing of the birth of Bob and the

1:33:35 ↗ birth of B bahaa with nus and the first

1:33:39 ↗ day of the rvon festival adding Good

1:33:42 ↗ Friday Easter and Christmas Day all

1:33:45 ↗ Christian Roman Catholic Protestant

1:33:46 ↗ holidays to the utmost significance

1:33:48 ↗ calendar and emerging at least as it is

1:33:51 ↗ presented on the website of the utmost

1:33:53 ↗ significance calendar with the Federal

1:33:55 ↗ Holiday City Hall closure

1:33:57 ↗ calendar which you can see that that's

1:33:59 ↗ the way that it's presented in your

1:34:01 ↗ packet that shortened list um denoted

1:34:03 ↗ with the asteris and the double

1:34:07 ↗ asteris some options here I have a

1:34:09 ↗ question absolutely in the same way that

1:34:11 ↗ we were trying to

1:34:13 ↗ optimize uh the the major schools of of

1:34:16 ↗ Buddhism um did we see or were we asked

1:34:20 ↗ about any differences between Sunni and

1:34:22 ↗ Shia Islam holidays that's a good

1:34:25 ↗ question we we were not we didn't

1:34:27 ↗ receive any feedback either on that and

1:34:30 ↗ so it wasn't something that we pursued

1:34:31 ↗ too deeply can look into that

1:34:33 ↗ specifically for the Islamic Muslim

1:34:35 ↗ holidays that we have on those on our

1:34:37 ↗ calendar already I was just curious I

1:34:39 ↗ mean if you didn't hear any feedback on

1:34:41 ↗ it you didn't hear any feedback on it

1:34:42 ↗ that's fine I just I just wondered if

1:34:44 ↗ there if there was because I I believe

1:34:46 ↗ they have some different major but

1:34:49 ↗ anyhow it ain't thank you council

1:34:53 ↗ member okay the

1:34:56 ↗ options option one stick with what we're

1:34:59 ↗ doing make no changes don't Implement

1:35:02 ↗ any of the feedback we've gotten option

1:35:04 ↗ number two is to implement the feedback

1:35:06 ↗ um adopt the Cal the 2024 calendar and

1:35:09 ↗ review that calendar annually and number

1:35:12 ↗ three is to implement the feedback adopt

1:35:14 ↗ the 24 calendar and engage in a formal

1:35:16 ↗ review every four years as mentioned in

1:35:18 ↗ the memo the administration recommends

1:35:20 ↗ the Third option here due to two two

1:35:23 ↗ main factors that I want to outline one

1:35:26 ↗ is that the sheer amount of staff time

1:35:29 ↗ it takes to engage in a formal review of

1:35:31 ↗ this every year um is a is a lot um it's

1:35:35 ↗ taken a lot of hours to make sure that

1:35:36 ↗ we've gone through the motions of

1:35:38 ↗ reviewing the entire calendar um it

1:35:41 ↗ already takes even with even without

1:35:42 ↗ significant changes to make sure that

1:35:43 ↗ we've got the right dates um and we want

1:35:46 ↗ to make sure that we can go about

1:35:48 ↗ implementing some of the educational uh

1:35:50 ↗ asks uh informational resources we want

1:35:53 ↗ to focus on that and we want to focus on

1:35:55 ↗ not just presenting this calendar to

1:35:57 ↗ staff and to the community but also

1:35:58 ↗ preventing presenting the educational

1:36:00 ↗ resources alongside that four years also

1:36:04 ↗ aligns with a term of our Equity board

1:36:06 ↗ members um this group has already given

1:36:08 ↗ feedback on this calendar um we want to

1:36:11 ↗ make sure that we revisit it when we

1:36:12 ↗ have new Equity board members um but

1:36:15 ↗ also not to to take too much time of

1:36:17 ↗ their precious time as well to consult

1:36:19 ↗ on something they've seen repeatedly at

1:36:20 ↗ this point

1:36:22 ↗ and then the last and I would argue in

1:36:23 ↗ some ways the most important is to

1:36:26 ↗ simply not burden Our Community Partners

1:36:27 ↗ who we've already gone to repeatedly

1:36:29 ↗ over the course of the last year and a

1:36:31 ↗ half to ask them for their feedback um

1:36:33 ↗ they have been incredibly generous with

1:36:35 ↗ their time their feedback listening to

1:36:37 ↗ me responding to my emails um they know

1:36:40 ↗ and I will continue to to Foster those

1:36:42 ↗ relationships but rather than going back

1:36:44 ↗ out repeatedly to ask for feedback on

1:36:46 ↗ this um we'd like to to hold off on that

1:36:49 ↗ burden on our community for now

1:36:53 ↗ I'll walk through timing and next steps

1:36:55 ↗ and we'll dig into any questions so the

1:36:57 ↗ hope is that following from this time um

1:37:00 ↗ and getting feedback from this group

1:37:02 ↗ we'll be able to move this forward for

1:37:03 ↗ consideration for City council's

1:37:05 ↗ permanent

1:37:06 ↗ adoption as I mentioned while we might

1:37:08 ↗ only engage in formal review uh on a one

1:37:11 ↗ or foure basis we will absolutely

1:37:14 ↗ maintain the open lines of communication

1:37:16 ↗ for ongoing input from the community and

1:37:18 ↗ we'll absolutely be collecting that

1:37:20 ↗ feedback in an ongoing way And

1:37:21 ↗ discussing it as a

1:37:23 ↗ staff with that um I'll bring up the

1:37:27 ↗ direction requested for tonight so are

1:37:29 ↗ there any holidays um that we feel are

1:37:31 ↗ missing from the overall calendar do you

1:37:34 ↗ support the changes uh that have been

1:37:36 ↗ proposed from 23 to 24 um and I guess

1:37:40 ↗ this last bit uh that's not quite on

1:37:42 ↗ here um of the three options continuing

1:37:45 ↗ with the 23 calendar adopting the 24

1:37:48 ↗ calendar with an annual formal review or

1:37:50 ↗ adopting with a review every four years

1:37:54 ↗ um like to get your thoughts on that as

1:37:58 ↗ well I I have a question before we get

1:38:00 ↗ into the uh

1:38:03 ↗ uh consideration on it um

1:38:10 ↗ we how the only days that we are closed

1:38:13 ↗ are federal holidays

1:38:16 ↗ correct yes we have a couple technically

1:38:19 ↗ City holidays that aren't Federal holid

1:38:21 ↗ holidays that we're closed for but we

1:38:22 ↗ areen our city is City Hall is not

1:38:24 ↗ closed on any of the days that we have

1:38:26 ↗ proposed in the cultural and religious

1:38:28 ↗ calendar um it it seems like I have seen

1:38:32 ↗ or read Maybe I'm Wrong a move of foot

1:38:35 ↗ in some places to make the Lunar New

1:38:37 ↗ Year a an office closed holiday in some

1:38:41 ↗ places we have such a huge um uh Chinese

1:38:44 ↗ population was that discussed or was and

1:38:47 ↗ I realized once you do it for one non

1:38:50 ↗ Federal holiday you then have to have

1:38:52 ↗ that discussion for others but am I

1:38:54 ↗ right nationally there are there are

1:38:56 ↗ communities that are starting to close

1:38:58 ↗ on uh Lunar New Year in in deference to

1:39:01 ↗ their large Chinese population you're

1:39:04 ↗ not wrong that some we know some school

1:39:06 ↗ districts have done that um largely

1:39:09 ↗ that's where you we've where I

1:39:10 ↗ personally in my own research have seen

1:39:12 ↗ the biggest move um is is at the sort of

1:39:14 ↗ K12 education level I've not seen too

1:39:17 ↗ many um

1:39:19 ↗ State examples uh

1:39:22 ↗ potentially there might be I want to say

1:39:24 ↗ California is maybe the exception to

1:39:26 ↗ that U it does seem like City

1:39:27 ↗ administrator Bob quitz has a thought

1:39:30 ↗ well there is a movement in Washington

1:39:32 ↗ State uh representative me Thai who

1:39:35 ↗ represents a portion of isqua uh has a

1:39:38 ↗ bill I think this is the second year

1:39:40 ↗ running uh in the Washington State

1:39:42 ↗ Legislature to have a state holiday uh

1:39:45 ↗ declared um as we've talked this evening

1:39:49 ↗ holidays take all shapes and forms and

1:39:51 ↗ so uh what is being proposed at this

1:39:53 ↗ point is not a a holiday where there is

1:39:56 ↗ no work uh but that would be recognized

1:39:59 ↗ as a Washington state holiday and so um

1:40:03 ↗ that is underway the date changes and so

1:40:05 ↗ I one of the questions is is it a fixed

1:40:08 ↗ date annually or is it the date whenever

1:40:10 ↗ it happens to fall um and my

1:40:12 ↗ understanding is that bill continues to

1:40:13 ↗ make its way through the legislature

1:40:15 ↗ thank you for that appreciate it counc

1:40:19 ↗ council member D Michelle yeah um so if

1:40:22 ↗ we go four years into the future so when

1:40:25 ↗ I'm um working with different

1:40:27 ↗ organizations in town and we're planning

1:40:31 ↗ uh events we'll always go to the school

1:40:33 ↗ district and see what their calendar

1:40:35 ↗ says for this year and I believe they

1:40:37 ↗ always post the next year's calendar as

1:40:39 ↗ well so I'm wondering if we are thinking

1:40:41 ↗ about maybe doing that as well because I

1:40:45 ↗ I think that we're unique in the region

1:40:47 ↗ on this and uh people who are planning

1:40:51 ↗ these big events would want to know uh

1:40:54 ↗ what's the city going to do on any

1:40:56 ↗ particular day so I'm just wondering if

1:40:58 ↗ uh and you were talking about how long

1:40:59 ↗ it takes to go through the calendar and

1:41:01 ↗ find out what the dates are for the

1:41:03 ↗ coming years I'm just wondering if we do

1:41:05 ↗ that work if we could just share it with

1:41:07 ↗ the community and post not only the

1:41:09 ↗ current calendar but next year's

1:41:11 ↗ calendar as well or you know I guess

1:41:14 ↗ into the fourth year if we wanted to but

1:41:16 ↗ I I think the two most important would

1:41:19 ↗ be the current and the next

1:41:21 ↗ calendar if we could do that but it so

1:41:24 ↗ that wasn't a question was it um could

1:41:26 ↗ we do

1:41:28 ↗ that I yes you got to the question and I

1:41:31 ↗ love it um absolutely and I think that

1:41:33 ↗ is was another reason that I woefully

1:41:36 ↗ left off of my list of reasons um that

1:41:39 ↗ adopting for longer than a year uh and

1:41:41 ↗ perenti for for longer than a year that

1:41:44 ↗ gives us the ability to do that we can

1:41:46 ↗ go out and plan that far in advance um

1:41:48 ↗ and publicize those dates far out in

1:41:50 ↗ advance so

1:41:55 ↗ absolutely council member Joe no

1:41:57 ↗ questions thank

1:41:59 ↗ you all right and I was something but

1:42:09 ↗ um sorry I was trying to double check

1:42:14 ↗ something never mind okay I Wasing uh

1:42:17 ↗ that's fine so I will ask if there is um

1:42:20 ↗ uh any public comment either in the room

1:42:23 ↗ or anyone online indicating a desire to

1:42:26 ↗ speak we don't have anyone online any

1:42:29 ↗ longer oh feel like a failure on

1:42:33 ↗ that deliberation council member Joe

1:42:37 ↗ thank

1:42:38 ↗ you I appreciate the hard work that's

1:42:41 ↗ gone into this um as uh I try to plan

1:42:45 ↗ events through my work I'm just trying

1:42:48 ↗ to find one date for 50 people you're

1:42:51 ↗ trying to find 50 dates for 300 people

1:42:54 ↗ it looks like um so I I can't imagine

1:42:57 ↗ the the um difficult work that you go

1:42:59 ↗ through this is a great product um I

1:43:03 ↗ really appreciate that we're sensitive

1:43:05 ↗ to um people of all Races Creeds

1:43:08 ↗ religious uh followings so to speak and

1:43:13 ↗ and religions um I I also appreciate

1:43:16 ↗ that we have three Native American days

1:43:19 ↗ that at least least that I saw and I'll

1:43:22 ↗ just highlight this because many of you

1:43:24 ↗ know that I um studied American Indian

1:43:27 ↗ law during law school and so uh Native

1:43:30 ↗ American Heritage Day November 29th is

1:43:32 ↗ recognized and then we go to indigenous

1:43:36 ↗ people's day which used to be that old

1:43:38 ↗ Columbus Day which has now been changed

1:43:40 ↗ uh and I really uh think that's a good

1:43:43 ↗ idea for us then we also have a tribal

1:43:45 ↗ recognition day snow kwami rights day uh

1:43:48 ↗ which is October 6 and I really want

1:43:50 ↗ want to

1:43:52 ↗ uh thank the administration for seeking

1:43:55 ↗ that out and trying to find that we want

1:43:57 ↗ to build a stronger relationship with

1:43:59 ↗ our tribal Partners especially the snow

1:44:01 ↗ quamy tribe as they're so close to us

1:44:03 ↗ and uh that conversation that you had

1:44:06 ↗ with the cultural uh Department over

1:44:09 ↗ there I'm sure will help us Bridge gaps

1:44:12 ↗ that are that we currently have so I

1:44:13 ↗ just want to highlight that is this

1:44:15 ↗ calendar can be the beginning of

1:44:17 ↗ conversations other communities that we

1:44:19 ↗ may not have been able to reach out to

1:44:20 ↗ before and we may not have had a

1:44:22 ↗ relationship with before so I want to

1:44:23 ↗ compliment your work and I'm fully in

1:44:25 ↗ favor of going to a four-year review on

1:44:27 ↗ the calendar um and I think that the

1:44:31 ↗ work that's been done is should be solid

1:44:33 ↗ for those four years and I appreciate

1:44:35 ↗ that there's kind of a a backdoor appeal

1:44:38 ↗ if there's something that's really

1:44:39 ↗ precious or important that the

1:44:41 ↗ administration certainly is willing to

1:44:43 ↗ take a look at that but um I appreciate

1:44:46 ↗ that that you're putting this forward I

1:44:49 ↗ support a 2024 calendar as you've

1:44:52 ↗ proposed it and then a 4year review

1:44:54 ↗ thank

1:44:55 ↗ you council member de Michelle um I will

1:44:59 ↗ plus one that um I support the four-year

1:45:02 ↗ um cycle and uh uh I think that the work

1:45:07 ↗ that's been done is great I'm super

1:45:10 ↗ proud of this product from our city uh

1:45:13 ↗ and I I've mentioned this before but

1:45:15 ↗ other cities talk about it and but we

1:45:18 ↗ did it and uh we I think we are a leader

1:45:22 ↗ in the region in doing this and uh not

1:45:24 ↗ only just doing the calendar but making

1:45:27 ↗ sure that our employees know that um

1:45:29 ↗ their holidays are being honored no

1:45:31 ↗ matter what their religious or cultural

1:45:34 ↗ background is and I think that's just an

1:45:35 ↗ important important message to our

1:45:37 ↗ employees so fully support it I would

1:45:40 ↗ love to see the calendars posted so that

1:45:43 ↗ people can check out and and understand

1:45:46 ↗ that we are celebrating more than the

1:45:48 ↗ traditional holidays that uh have been

1:45:51 ↗ supported in the past and uh just really

1:45:54 ↗ really good work and um again I think

1:45:57 ↗ this could probably go on the consent

1:45:58 ↗ agenda um I think the the uh other

1:46:02 ↗ council members have already seen this

1:46:05 ↗ uh and understand it well and I think

1:46:08 ↗ it's appropriate on the that agenda

1:46:12 ↗ thanks so I I will first and for

1:46:14 ↗ foremost say uh I support the changes I

1:46:17 ↗ support the fouryear I saw head nods on

1:46:19 ↗ going on sent agenda um yeah I think

1:46:22 ↗ this is a a very very thoughtful and uh

1:46:26 ↗ compassionate uh way that we have

1:46:29 ↗ implemented this and I look even at uh

1:46:32 ↗ the fact that we have cultural and not

1:46:34 ↗ necessarily religious holidays is very

1:46:36 ↗ important um I happen to be religious

1:46:39 ↗ but um some of my favorite people are

1:46:41 ↗ not and uh so for them to have holidays

1:46:44 ↗ that are acknowledged on a variety of

1:46:47 ↗ topics that aren't explicitly religious

1:46:48 ↗ I think is a very big deal uh for them

1:46:51 ↗ so in a world that can sometimes seem

1:46:53 ↗ like it's biased towards those of who

1:46:55 ↗ are religious so uh with that I think

1:46:58 ↗ we're all in agreement and unless the

1:47:00 ↗ Administration has anything else to the

1:47:02 ↗ administrator thank you chair Mars um

1:47:05 ↗ just to follow up on council member D

1:47:07 ↗ Michelle's comments um we believe this

1:47:10 ↗ is the most extensive calendar of any

1:47:12 ↗ local government in the United States um

1:47:14 ↗ we have not found another even close

1:47:17 ↗ we've looked at all The Usual Suspects

1:47:19 ↗ because we just couldn't believe it um

1:47:22 ↗ but we believe this is the most

1:47:24 ↗ extensive calendar of any local

1:47:25 ↗ government United States by a lot not

1:47:28 ↗ just by a little but by a lot well

1:47:31 ↗ that's that's so wonderful because of

1:47:33 ↗ course we have such an it's astonishing

1:47:35 ↗ I mean that there is the we and we look

1:47:38 ↗ because as we continued this process

1:47:39 ↗ through uh

1:47:41 ↗ 23 gosh New York City must be doing this

1:47:44 ↗ gosh Palo Alto must be doing this gosh

1:47:47 ↗ Madison Wisconsin must be doing this

1:47:52 ↗ council member Joe thank you I'm just

1:47:54 ↗ wondering if there's a National

1:47:56 ↗ Organization for uh City administrators

1:47:59 ↗ or for uh Mayors National Association

1:48:02 ↗ for everything for

1:48:03 ↗ everything wonder if we could check if

1:48:05 ↗ there's a award category that we could

1:48:08 ↗ get nominated for uh for this work and

1:48:11 ↗ uh be an example to the rest of the

1:48:13 ↗ nation and and Miss Marky KP and I have

1:48:17 ↗ actually put a session together on this

1:48:19 ↗ very topic IC for the city managers at

1:48:22 ↗ their National Convention in Pittsburgh

1:48:25 ↗ in the fall so we'll see if that

1:48:28 ↗ get we would like to let others know as

1:48:31 ↗ well what a great suggestion and and I

1:48:33 ↗ just think one of the things I love

1:48:35 ↗ about this is it it is uh the a a a made

1:48:39 ↗ manifestation of the how wonderfully

1:48:41 ↗ diverse our community is right and that

1:48:44 ↗ the love and attention that uh people in

1:48:46 ↗ this community feel uh towards each

1:48:48 ↗ other and towards being recognized uh is

1:48:50 ↗ just made made manifest in this uh in

1:48:53 ↗ this

1:48:54 ↗ list with that uh this meeting is

1:48:58 ↗ adjourned at

1:49:00 ↗ 819

1:49:03 ↗ p.m.

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