City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Tuesday, May 28, 2024 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of March 19, 2024

packet pp.5–6

▶ Watch from 1:47 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 03-19-24 City Council Services, Safety & Parks Page (1) Committee Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. March 19, 2024 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Court and Criminal Justice Services COM 0041

Carried 3-0

60 min · Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator Judge N. Scott Stewart, Issaquah Municipal Court Lynn Moberly, City Prosecutor Whitney Gardner, Public Defender · packet pp.7–43

▶ Watch from 0:44 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends that the Committee advance discussions of budget increases for court and criminal justice services as part of the City Council’s budget retreat on July 27, 2024. Increased funding for these services will bring Issaquah into parity with other courts across the region, and prioritizing funding for court and criminal justice services in 2025 and beyond aligns with the City’s public safety and social vitality goals. The Administration welcomes feedback on the additional information, data, or analysis needed to support City Council in continuing this decision-making process.

Traffic Safety Camera Update COM 0042

60 min · Chief Paula Schwan, Issaquah Police Department Travis Neese, Patrol Commander, Issaquah Police Department Paul Fairbanks, Sergeant, Issaquah Police Department · packet pp.45–69

Topics: TransportationPublic Safety

▶ Watch from 1:15 Open packet at p.45 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends that the Council Committee direct the Administration to move forward with installation of the School Zone Safety Camera on Newport Way NW and pursue a professional vendor-assessment of best-placed traffic safety cameras for three prioritized intersections: • East Lake Sammamish Parkway & SE Issaquah-Fall City Road, • East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE & either 56th St or Black Nugget Road, and

3680 segments .txt ↗

0:08 ↗ welcome everyone I council member toan

0:10 ↗ Marts call the Tuesday May

0:13 ↗ 28th special session of

0:17 ↗ the

0:18 ↗ council Council services safety and

0:20 ↗ Parks committee meeting uh to order this

0:23 ↗ is a special session uh pursuant to RCW

0:27 ↗ 4230

0:32 ↗ 080 uh there are multiple public comment

0:34 ↗ opportunities at tonight's meeting there

0:36 ↗ is a general public comment opportunity

0:37 ↗ at the beginning of the meeting or you

0:39 ↗ can make comments after the presentation

0:41 ↗ and Council question and answer period

0:44 ↗ on tonight's agenda items members of the

0:46 ↗ public May address council at this time

0:48 ↗ in person or virtually those who signed

0:50 ↗ up in advance to make comments will be

0:51 ↗ called on first if you are joining us

0:53 ↗ virtually and would like to make

0:54 ↗ comments please raise your virtual hand

0:57 ↗ uh if you're on the phone press star

0:58 ↗ three if you've joined by computer or

1:00 ↗ smartphone look for a hand icon this

1:03 ↗ varies by device one option may be to go

1:05 ↗ to the participant panel and choose the

1:07 ↗ raise hand icon in the lower right hand

1:09 ↗ corner if you're in the room and did not

1:11 ↗ sign up I will ask for other speakers

1:13 ↗ before closing this portion of the

1:15 ↗ meeting I will wait for a moment to see

1:17 ↗ if anyone wishes to raise their

1:21 ↗ hand uh clerk keer has anyone signed up

1:24 ↗ to speak or indicated a desire to speak

1:26 ↗ this evening no one has signed up to

1:28 ↗ speak we do have one member of the

1:30 ↗ public with us virtually but I don't see

1:31 ↗ that they're indicated indicating a

1:33 ↗ desire to speak at this time all righty

1:36 ↗ as a reminder written comments can be

1:38 ↗ submitted at any time to city council at

1:41 ↗ isqua

1:44 ↗ wa.gov with that uh we will move on to

1:47 ↗ approval of the minutes is there a

1:50 ↗ motion Mr chairman I would move to adopt

1:52 ↗ the minutes of March 19th

1:56 ↗ 2024 second moved and seconded any

1:59 ↗ discussion

2:00 ↗ all in favor say I I I opposed

2:04 ↗ abstentions motion carries unanimously

2:06 ↗ with that we will move on to

2:10 ↗ c0041 court and Criminal Justice

2:12 ↗ Services presented by our own Wally Bob

2:14 ↗ quitz uh judge uh Scott Stewart and uh

2:18 ↗ Lynn Mobberly City prosecutor and

2:21 ↗ Whitney Gardner public defender white

2:24 ↗ the August

2:26 ↗ group thank you Mr chairman members of

2:28 ↗ the committee good evening we're here

2:30 ↗ tonight uh to to talk about a topic that

2:34 ↗ we we don't often talk about here before

2:36 ↗ the council um but as you will hear this

2:39 ↗ evening a topic that is of great

2:41 ↗ importance currently um and will

2:43 ↗ certainly require the council's uh

2:45 ↗ careful deliberations as you approach

2:48 ↗ the 2526 budget process so I'm not sure

2:52 ↗ who has the PowerPoint couple slides

2:54 ↗ before I get it over to judge Stewart

3:10 ↗ yeah we need

3:18 ↗ to next

3:22 ↗ slide so we're here this evening to

3:24 ↗ provide an informational update on the

3:26 ↗ court and our Criminal Justice Services

3:28 ↗ as chair March is IND we have several uh

3:31 ↗ guests with us this evening next slide

3:35 ↗ judge we're asking uh this evening of

3:37 ↗ the committee is to obtain your

3:39 ↗ direction on further information and

3:41 ↗ Analysis needed to consider budget

3:43 ↗ increases for the court and the Criminal

3:44 ↗ Justice Services during the 2025 2026

3:48 ↗ banial budget uh as you know uh the

3:51 ↗ court staff is our city employees and so

3:54 ↗ when we talk about resources there we're

3:56 ↗ talking about uh full-time equivalent

3:59 ↗ resources at the court uh for uh the

4:02 ↗ city prosecutor public defender uh those

4:04 ↗ are all contracts um and as we are

4:06 ↗ looking and as you will hear this

4:07 ↗ evening uh we are looking great

4:10 ↗ likelihood of additional resources that

4:13 ↗ so um with that um I'm going to turn

4:16 ↗ this over to judge Stewart who's going

4:17 ↗ to give you a brief overview of the

4:19 ↗ court and other speakers will

4:26 ↗ follow I'm not sure your microphone is

4:29 ↗ on again my name is Scott Stewart this

4:31 ↗ is something we deal with during the

4:32 ↗ court during the day too um I am the

4:34 ↗ isqua municipal court judge I'm here

4:36 ↗ with Christine Shor the state's sitting

4:38 ↗ Court manager of the year which happens

4:39 ↗ to be our isqua and recent recipient of

4:42 ↗ a new award I think which got passed

4:43 ↗ around I appreciate all the recognition

4:45 ↗ for that um first of all giving you a

4:47 ↗ brief overview oh

4:49 ↗ great the down button there we go of the

4:52 ↗ es Court this is the way we view our

4:55 ↗ organizational chart at the top of the

4:56 ↗ chart um are the residents of isqua and

4:59 ↗ then our contract cities snow kwami

5:00 ↗ North Bend and nuval I would put Christy

5:03 ↗ and I sitting next to each other because

5:04 ↗ she runs that side and I run this side U

5:06 ↗ beneath that we have two separate

5:07 ↗ branches of of the Court uh Court

5:10 ↗ operations um that's led by our lead

5:12 ↗ judicial specialist Nikki Meister who is

5:13 ↗ here uh Julia palan is here also she's

5:16 ↗ one of our uh judicial Specialists

5:18 ↗ George dapin is not here um uh she's

5:21 ↗ another judicial Specialists and we have

5:22 ↗ a part-time uh um we call her a Judicial

5:25 ↗ assistant she's not a Judicial

5:27 ↗ specialist uh she does most everything

5:29 ↗ that happens on that side of the Court

5:31 ↗ whereas Julia and Nikki and Georgia will

5:33 ↗ also help in court um and we're going to

5:35 ↗ talk about uh Kathy ky's role as part of

5:38 ↗ today's presentation on the other side

5:40 ↗ of Court operations is court services uh

5:43 ↗ court services is led by well not led by

5:45 ↗ but made up of Melanie vanck she's our

5:47 ↗ probation officer Miss vanck was

5:49 ↗ actually the last um employee that we

5:52 ↗ had added as part of our request it was

5:54 ↗ in 2012 so it's been about 12 years um

5:57 ↗ and Miss vanic wasn't added to assist

5:58 ↗ with what we do as far as managing the

6:00 ↗ cases Miss manic was haded to serve a

6:02 ↗ new role uh to monitor um our um our

6:06 ↗ clientele right now miss manic has a

6:08 ↗ total case load of 141 cases which is

6:11 ↗ Big um in addition folks don't aren't

6:14 ↗ necessarily aware of it she has 40

6:16 ↗ people on random uas um all of the

6:19 ↗ training that we go to says that one of

6:20 ↗ the best ways to try to address uh

6:23 ↗ addiction um as UA is not necessarily

6:25 ↗ just to hold folks accountable but to

6:27 ↗ know that they're being so that they

6:28 ↗ know they're being held accountable that

6:30 ↗ they're being watched the more frequent

6:31 ↗ you can do the UA the conference that we

6:33 ↗ went to uh this week actually said that

6:35 ↗ that it should be no less than twice a

6:37 ↗ week which there's no court in the state

6:38 ↗ of Washington that does twice a week um

6:41 ↗ but we do what we do we make them random

6:42 ↗ to the extent we can so folks don't know

6:44 ↗ when they're coming but they're they're

6:45 ↗ nowhere near that because they're very

6:46 ↗ expensive so she has 140 cases excuse me

6:49 ↗ 141 Active cases right now 40 cases on

6:52 ↗ random UA then we have Marisol viser

6:54 ↗ Marisol is here he's in the back row

6:55 ↗ she's um funded completely by state

6:57 ↗ Grant Marisol is in charge of our

6:59 ↗ Community Court if you were to come to

7:00 ↗ our community court now I know for

7:02 ↗ instance uh council member D Michelle

7:04 ↗ has been to a community court and watch

7:05 ↗ Marisol now actually running the

7:07 ↗ community Court meetings to the extent

7:08 ↗ she's call in the calendars then we all

7:09 ↗ kind of weigh in with regard to the

7:10 ↗ Community Court folks but her job is

7:13 ↗ much her Hands-On with a very small

7:15 ↗ percentage of the population so she's

7:16 ↗ meeting with Community courp

7:17 ↗ participants on a weekly basis and then

7:19 ↗ is able to let us all know what's going

7:21 ↗ on in a staffing and then the court date

7:22 ↗ that's what the Court's made up

7:25 ↗ of U we've discussed this in Prior uh

7:27 ↗ Council meetings we cover these these

7:29 ↗ five primary areas to parking

7:31 ↗ infractions photo enforcement

7:32 ↗ infractions I'm sorry judge we we have a

7:34 ↗ question judge Stuart just briefly I I

7:36 ↗ also see a distinguish member of the bar

7:38 ↗ in the back uh could you introduce him

7:40 ↗ as well I don't remember yeah this is

7:43 ↗ this this is sha mcol and I'm wearing a

7:44 ↗ tie because I was told Mr mccol would be

7:46 ↗ in a suit today and I wanted to measure

7:47 ↗ up so I'm I didn't recognize him without

7:49 ↗ a suit on but that's is sha McColly sha

7:51 ↗ McColly is with the law firm um that on

7:54 ↗ the first page Whitney Garder was

7:55 ↗ identified I was actually at the

7:57 ↗ conference with Whitney Garder it was

7:58 ↗ clear towards the end of the conf she

7:59 ↗ was getting sick uh she emailed us this

8:01 ↗ morning said she was tremendously ill

8:03 ↗ despite that she showed up on our

8:04 ↗ calendars today just because we needed

8:06 ↗ her to help with the cases but Sean has

8:08 ↗ graciously traveled from distances uh

8:11 ↗ far to a fill in for Whitney today and

8:13 ↗ assist with the case and we also have

8:15 ↗ Alexa McBarron and uh Lyn mly here I'll

8:18 ↗ tell you right out just this is simple

8:21 ↗ aside um when when we knew that uh Miss

8:25 ↗ moly's daughter was going to graduate

8:27 ↗ from law school we knew that we were

8:28 ↗ going to get her we were terrified cuz

8:30 ↗ who knows what it's going to be we're

8:31 ↗ going to get in we regardless Alexis

8:33 ↗ that's bright and sharp and smart as

8:35 ↗ prosecutor want so we're very lucky uh I

8:37 ↗ was thrilled and then they hired um they

8:40 ↗ hired Russell thorum and I was getting a

8:42 ↗ prosecutor from Texas and I was

8:43 ↗ panicking prosecuted from Texas and

8:45 ↗ turns out Russell's a great guy too so

8:47 ↗ we're doing very well both in our

8:48 ↗ prosecutors and our public defenders uh

8:50 ↗ is squad's very lucky with that uh so

8:52 ↗ here's our court um these are the

8:54 ↗ charges that we get parking infractions

8:56 ↗ photo enforcement both photo photo

8:58 ↗ enforcement and and non-photo

9:00 ↗ enforcement infractions that's a

9:01 ↗ significant percentage of the filings in

9:02 ↗ the court it's not a significant

9:04 ↗ percentage of the work it frankly it's a

9:05 ↗ significant percentage of the work that

9:06 ↗ someone like Julia does uh um but most

9:09 ↗ of what goes on in court has to do with

9:11 ↗ criminal cases those are the

9:12 ↗ misdemeanors and the gross misdemeanors

9:13 ↗ we'll talk about them those more in just

9:15 ↗ a second um Court's been working very

9:18 ↗ hard on access to Justice um this kind

9:22 ↗ of cute slide was created starting here

9:24 ↗ uh uh online portal we we've gone

9:27 ↗ heavily into online you can access ACC

9:29 ↗ any number of things from our website uh

9:32 ↗ people that get traffic tickets can

9:33 ↗ start the whole process and go through

9:34 ↗ the whole process on the website and

9:36 ↗ they can zoom in for their hearing if

9:37 ↗ they request to hearing but everything

9:38 ↗ can be handled on the website jurors uh

9:40 ↗ um uh I know that Mr Joe for instance

9:43 ↗ has done jury trials you get those print

9:45 ↗ that print outs where the jurries would

9:46 ↗ fill out the forms that's all done on

9:47 ↗ the website and then it's provided to

9:48 ↗ the parties when we get there so we're

9:50 ↗ heavily invested in the technology

9:52 ↗ through our online portal uh next hybrid

9:55 ↗ courtroom I bragged about this before

9:57 ↗ it's municip Court largely because we

9:59 ↗ have christe and she's really good on

10:02 ↗ technology we were one of the first

10:03 ↗ courts in the state to go into Zoom we

10:06 ↗ were we were up and running within a

10:07 ↗ month of covid and then as Co kind of

10:10 ↗ came to the end Zoom became very um um a

10:14 ↗ very useful tool and I remember Whitney

10:17 ↗ when when my public defender who's very

10:19 ↗ active in the community was very

10:20 ↗ concerned that some of her uh clients

10:23 ↗ that were marginalized might have

10:25 ↗ difficulty with zoom and it wasn't fair

10:27 ↗ to them but we found out that it was

10:28 ↗ much easier to to zoom in uh than it was

10:31 ↗ to get it to court so that's had two

10:33 ↗ problem two two issues one is it means

10:35 ↗ we have way few ftas which is failes to

10:37 ↗ appear uh um when we when attorneys look

10:40 ↗ back preco calendars were set based upon

10:42 ↗ an assumption that there would be a 30

10:44 ↗ to 40% FTA rate so the calendars will be

10:45 ↗ a certain size uh um and FDA rates like

10:48 ↗ 5 to 10 5% on average but maybe 10%

10:51 ↗ everybody shows up for court now because

10:52 ↗ they can show up by Zoom which makes for

10:54 ↗ longer calendars and zoom most moves a

10:55 ↗ little bit slower but I think it it also

10:57 ↗ has a lot of benefits um we do both we

11:00 ↗ have the courtroom open but we're also

11:01 ↗ zooming in from outside um interpreter

11:04 ↗ Access program a significant percentage

11:06 ↗ of the folks that we deal with either

11:08 ↗ English as a second language or um um no

11:12 ↗ English and those folks under the law

11:13 ↗ are entitled to interpreters um the good

11:15 ↗ news is that that we get significant

11:17 ↗ State funding for interpreters the bad

11:19 ↗ news is it's not enough we're constantly

11:21 ↗ looking for more uh ch's on top of all

11:23 ↗ those things to make sure that that

11:25 ↗ we're included whenever State funding

11:26 ↗ becomes available but that's just

11:27 ↗ something you should be aware of with

11:28 ↗ regard to costs

11:30 ↗ um there's a new State uh Statewide case

11:33 ↗ management system um we've been on

11:35 ↗ what's called discus uh or GIS I don't

11:37 ↗ know depends on who you want to call it

11:38 ↗ but it's been since the early 1990s the

11:40 ↗ entire State's been run by the same

11:42 ↗ computer pram since the early 1990s but

11:45 ↗ the past over a decade the state's been

11:46 ↗ trying to develop a new computer program

11:48 ↗ they've adopted one now they're coming

11:50 ↗ in in phases what happened about a year

11:51 ↗ and a half two years ago we are an Oort

11:54 ↗ Court um and Oort is an online uh system

11:58 ↗ for creating forms where um Miss mly can

12:01 ↗ be at her office zooming in and Mr

12:03 ↗ McColly can be at his office zooming in

12:05 ↗ and we all have access to the same forms

12:07 ↗ and we can be creating the forms during

12:09 ↗ court and it it's it's very very

12:10 ↗ efficient um the courts every court that

12:13 ↗ has an opportunity to get it jumps all

12:14 ↗ over it but the state wasn't in tune

12:16 ↗ with Oort when they developed the new

12:18 ↗ case management system so we showed up

12:20 ↗ including the we showed up kind of an

12:22 ↗ blinds side of the Chief Justice because

12:24 ↗ we at a meeting that he has with all the

12:25 ↗ judges and the O Court folks jumped in

12:27 ↗ and said we need to protect this and got

12:29 ↗ everybody on board and so now ortt is

12:31 ↗ part of the um um case management um

12:36 ↗ solution I guess but we're in the last

12:38 ↗ phase of that because they have to work

12:39 ↗ ORD into it so we'll be coming in but

12:41 ↗ we'll be in the last phase as far as

12:42 ↗ that goes so one thing I'd point out

12:44 ↗ when the new case management systems

12:46 ↗ come that's going to be a hard hit I

12:47 ↗ mean that's going to take a lot of man

12:48 ↗ hours to switch from the present system

12:50 ↗ over to the new system uh and it's going

12:52 ↗ to slow us down at least for a short

12:54 ↗ period um we've gone entirely to

12:56 ↗ electronic records if you go pre-co I

12:58 ↗ came out with a basket full of files and

13:00 ↗ a large set of papers next to me for the

13:03 ↗ dockets that I would go through

13:04 ↗ everything's online now uh my staff's

13:06 ↗ been able to convert all of our old

13:07 ↗ files to Online files it's all in

13:10 ↗ SharePoint uh um and I'm able to access

13:12 ↗ it um from our standard system um

13:14 ↗ alcohol and drug testing program same

13:17 ↗ thing as I said earlier that's a very

13:18 ↗ important part of what we do um we have

13:21 ↗ recently uh kind of migrated from uas to

13:25 ↗ um mouth swabs just because of the

13:27 ↗ nature of uas and the difficulties

13:29 ↗ associated with UA Mouse swabs are going

13:31 ↗ to have some issues we probably maintain

13:32 ↗ a limited number of UA up front but it's

13:34 ↗ very expensive uh hopefully the state

13:36 ↗ will continue to pay a significant

13:37 ↗ portion but in order to protect the

13:39 ↗ community in order to try to help people

13:41 ↗ beat addiction uh UA are a sign

13:43 ↗ important part of the process we do have

13:45 ↗ a community therap uh therapy Court

13:47 ↗ that's our community Court um I know

13:49 ↗ some of you folks have come over and

13:51 ↗ watched some of that uh those take place

13:53 ↗ on Thursday afternoons um it's a I guess

13:57 ↗ I can go to the next slide well actually

13:58 ↗ I'll come back to it I'll come back to

13:59 ↗ that cuz that's the next slide and

14:00 ↗ finally we have a care corner I don't

14:01 ↗ know if you've looked into this little

14:02 ↗ room back here but we started to

14:04 ↗ recognize that um a significant

14:06 ↗ percentage of the folks especially the

14:08 ↗ ones we see at court um that are that

14:10 ↗ are homeless or um otherwise

14:13 ↗ marginalized would come in would be

14:15 ↗ hungry wouldn't have appropriate clothes

14:17 ↗ so we get donations and such uh we

14:19 ↗ recently were able to provide a

14:20 ↗ gentleman with shoes so that he could

14:22 ↗ wear them to a job interview and that's

14:24 ↗ kind of what our goal is our goal is to

14:25 ↗ try to help these folks become

14:26 ↗ productive members of the community so

14:27 ↗ they're not breaking the law any more s

14:29 ↗ have a community care corner there I

14:30 ↗ heard Lynn when she walked in today she

14:32 ↗ says I've got something for the

14:33 ↗ Community Care corner and they were all

14:34 ↗ kind of donated as we go along so that's

14:36 ↗ one thing we got

14:37 ↗ going um the community Court goal is to

14:41 ↗ reduce re recidivism rates apparently

14:43 ↗ that's a hard word for me uh reduce the

14:45 ↗ use of the jail as a sanction for

14:46 ↗ low-level offenses improve public trust

14:49 ↗ in the justice system create a safer

14:50 ↗ community and uh essentially look

14:53 ↗ forward to participants thriving and

14:55 ↗ living productive law-abiding lives our

14:57 ↗ community Court started out small that's

14:59 ↗ the way we wanted it to start out um and

15:01 ↗ it's grown exponentially uh um in the

15:03 ↗ first probably year we would have three

15:05 ↗ to four people on a community court

15:07 ↗ calendar uh they were very time

15:08 ↗ intensive and they were kind of

15:10 ↗ selective about who we let in tomorrow's

15:12 ↗ I mean Thursday's Community Court

15:13 ↗ calendar we have 19 people on which is

15:15 ↗ huge for us when you think some of our

15:17 ↗ review calendars tomorrow has 50 people

15:18 ↗ on it but those are pretty quick they're

15:20 ↗ relatively quick at least comp compared

15:22 ↗ to the amount of time that goes into a

15:23 ↗ community court calendar um so far it's

15:25 ↗ been I think pretty effective um and uh

15:27 ↗ again it occurs Thursdays if you look at

15:29 ↗ the notes that we've put down here 100%

15:32 ↗ funded by the state right now uh um

15:34 ↗ funding awarded in the fiscal year 2024

15:36 ↗ was

15:38 ↗ 25358 we believe that funding is going

15:40 ↗ to continue to be awarded that the

15:41 ↗ state's very big on community courts uh

15:44 ↗ um as indicated three of us just got

15:46 ↗ back from a community Court uh or drug

15:48 ↗ court Comm Community Court conference in

15:51 ↗ Anaheim learned a lot of new tools uh

15:53 ↗ it's one of the directions I think that

15:54 ↗ the court system is going as we try to

15:56 ↗ conquer some of the issues especially

15:57 ↗ with regard to fentol and like this is a

16:00 ↗ uh just put up here if you were to go to

16:02 ↗ the isqua Municipal Court website um

16:05 ↗ this is our dashboard for the community

16:07 ↗ Court um number of participants 47

16:09 ↗ graduates 17 our community Court

16:12 ↗ resource room essentially when you show

16:14 ↗ up for Community Court we have two parts

16:16 ↗ of it at 12:15 you show up and you can

16:18 ↗ access the resource room and the

16:20 ↗ resource room is an online portal uh

16:22 ↗ where you can talk to DSHS and get

16:24 ↗ signed up for uh whatever resources you

16:26 ↗ need the the main one we're looking for

16:27 ↗ as a general rule is uh health insurance

16:30 ↗ so we give them into alcohol drug

16:31 ↗ treatment but there might be uh job

16:33 ↗ training resume writing any number of

16:35 ↗ things that are available from the

16:36 ↗ resource room once we get an individual

16:39 ↗ that's got the resources that they need

16:40 ↗ then they can actually get involved in

16:41 ↗ the community court and become part of

16:43 ↗ the program starts at 1:15 and they're

16:45 ↗ coming back every week uh um sometimes

16:47 ↗ we search out to once every two weeks

16:48 ↗ when which we use as a reward uh for

16:50 ↗ their good participation but they're

16:52 ↗ coming back every week until we're

16:53 ↗ comfortable that they've hit that point

16:55 ↗ but all those numbers can be accessed

16:57 ↗ from our uh dashboard

17:05 ↗ this website's this U slide is meant to

17:08 ↗ give you an idea of what's happened with

17:10 ↗ the court as far as being busy

17:13 ↗ um

17:15 ↗ 2015 um well the main thing you draw

17:18 ↗ this website is between 2015 and 2023

17:21 ↗ we've seen a 44% increase in case

17:23 ↗ violence so the Court's case violence

17:25 ↗ have gone up by 44% 11% since 2019 you

17:29 ↗ do see a dip if the next slide is meant

17:31 ↗ to show the exact

17:34 ↗ same um you see a dip there in 2019 2020

17:38 ↗ and 2021 it's starting to grow again yes

17:42 ↗ I'm sorry judge um count uh Deputy

17:44 ↗ council president oh um I hope this is a

17:46 ↗ good place to ask this question you bet

17:49 ↗ um on the the state has said that U that

17:53 ↗ we're going to vacate all the marijuana

17:55 ↗ related convictions right is that

17:58 ↗ reflect Ed in the numbers that we see

18:01 ↗ there I mean I didn't see it reflected

18:02 ↗ there is that an extra task that's being

18:06 ↗ we have vacated um they're all done um

18:10 ↗ as a court the state made funds

18:12 ↗ available because when you vacate them

18:13 ↗ you got to pay them back and uh um so um

18:16 ↗ we had calendars there a lot of work

18:18 ↗ involved in that but but essentially the

18:20 ↗ city because it's a city case the city

18:22 ↗ identified the appropriate cases to to

18:24 ↗ vacate and dismiss move to vacate and

18:27 ↗ dismiss we then had to go through each

18:29 ↗ of the dockets confirm who paid fines

18:31 ↗ they were then all invited to come to

18:33 ↗ court and um the ones that did show up

18:36 ↗ for court we dismissed the case and we

18:38 ↗ refunded um any monies that they paid

18:41 ↗ that refund is then paid ultimately by

18:44 ↗ the state because the the state created

18:46 ↗ a fund to pay back folks one of our

18:48 ↗ goals I think was to make sure that we

18:50 ↗ got that money when we when it was still

18:52 ↗ available uh um but with regard to how I

18:54 ↗ didn't do the numbers so how would the

18:56 ↗ mayor wanted go ahead

19:00 ↗ CH so please go to the microphone sorry

19:03 ↗ thanks Chrissy sha municipal court so um

19:07 ↗ we vacated a total of

19:09 ↗ 426 um charges 186 of those were isqua

19:14 ↗ um alone we refunded just over about

19:19 ↗ 23,500 in um fines so far and then we've

19:24 ↗ um uh expenses to process those were

19:27 ↗ about 68,000 so a total of about

19:31 ↗ 91,000 so far and that's all been

19:33 ↗ reimbursed from the

19:35 ↗ state well thank you so it's basically

19:38 ↗ done we've we've done the job okay we

19:42 ↗ have who we haven't refunded is we

19:44 ↗ haven't refunded the folks that didn't

19:46 ↗ appear because what we didn't that money

19:48 ↗ is still available if they appear and

19:49 ↗ ask for but the concern was that um

19:52 ↗ you'd be sending checks out the

19:54 ↗ addresses that you didn't even know if

19:55 ↗ they existed so I'm correct on that

19:57 ↗ correct correct

19:59 ↗ and so we have vacated everything um

20:02 ↗ since this court was established in

20:05 ↗ 2005 uh Miss moberly's office is

20:08 ↗ currently working on everything filed in

20:10 ↗ King County and I believe that's another

20:13 ↗ about 400 cases for all three

20:19 ↗ cities thank you so

20:22 ↗ much join the were ahead of King County

20:30 ↗ um this slide shows the total criminal

20:32 ↗ filings by jurisdiction um and it shows

20:35 ↗ change between 2019 and 2023 this is

20:38 ↗ just talking about criminal cases um if

20:41 ↗ you look at 2019 isqua was 628 uh snow

20:44 ↗ kwami and North Bend were another 874

20:47 ↗ cases isqua fell behind not that's a bad

20:49 ↗ thing but isqu had less filings uh in

20:52 ↗ 2023 um isqua filings are up uh

20:55 ↗ significantly as a comparison to the uh

20:57 ↗ numbers from the other two cities and

20:58 ↗ the red one at the top is Duval Duval

21:00 ↗ joined us in 2022 so that's why you

21:02 ↗ don't see Duval prior to that

21:07 ↗ um one of the thing that's important to

21:10 ↗ keep in mind um and I think this is just

21:12 ↗ a result of policing and it's true

21:13 ↗ across jurisdictions uh throughout the

21:16 ↗ state is um dys um between uh 2019 and

21:21 ↗ 2023 up 133% in the city of isqua uh

21:26 ↗ non-traffic uh Criminal charges which is

21:29 ↗ where you get your thefts and your

21:31 ↗ domestic violence charges are up

21:33 ↗ 27% traffic non DUI criminal convictions

21:36 ↗ down 79 uh% that's almost exclusively

21:39 ↗ talking about driving with license

21:40 ↗ suspended in the third degree uh that

21:43 ↗ used to be the most common crime that

21:44 ↗ got charged in the state of Washington

21:46 ↗ and it's simply not being filed at the

21:48 ↗ same rates as it was before I think

21:49 ↗ that's a decision that's being made by

21:51 ↗ both prosecutors and law enforcement as

21:52 ↗ far as the way they they treat those

21:54 ↗ charges and the emphasis has been placed

21:55 ↗ on the more serious charges now the

21:57 ↗ issue with that is not only our numbers

21:59 ↗ up uh when you look at our numbers being

22:01 ↗ up our numbers are up with DUIs domestic

22:04 ↗ violence and theft uh charges as

22:06 ↗ compared to in the past when your

22:08 ↗ numbers were up by you know when 70% of

22:11 ↗ your work was driving with license spend

22:13 ↗ in the third degree and a driveing with

22:14 ↗ license spend in the third degree we

22:16 ↗ call it Discovery but the the pro the

22:19 ↗ information provided to the police

22:20 ↗ department might be three sentences long

22:22 ↗ now it's now it's uh DUIs which are

22:24 ↗ multiple page reports with uh requests

22:27 ↗ from the toxic is much more complex so

22:29 ↗ we have more cases and they're more

22:31 ↗ complex cases and that's just a product

22:33 ↗ of where the enforcement's going uh and

22:35 ↗ the enforcement's concentrating in the

22:36 ↗ more serious cases which is I think is

22:38 ↗ where it should be focused but it does

22:39 ↗ create more work for the court

22:43 ↗ um this slide shows you and this slide

22:46 ↗ is is wrong um for somehow 201 uh uh 15

22:50 ↗ didn't make it to the slide so this says

22:52 ↗ 2015 that 2015 should be 2016 and then

22:55 ↗ it works it way over the one that's 2022

22:57 ↗ should be 2023

22:59 ↗ 2015 we had 4,92 criminal filings

23:02 ↗ 1764

23:04 ↗ infractions um and in um 2023 the most

23:08 ↗ recent we have 599 not filings I'm sorry

23:10 ↗ these are hearings so we had 492

23:13 ↗ hearings in

23:14 ↗ 2015 we had a little over a thousand

23:17 ↗ more hearings in 2023 and that's based

23:20 ↗ upon the nature of the charges we have

23:21 ↗ uh so there's been a 29% increase uh in

23:24 ↗ the number of Court hearings that we

23:25 ↗ have just based upon the way things are

23:26 ↗ filed into the court

23:29 ↗ and this is part of our pitch uh at

23:32 ↗ least from the court perspective um we

23:34 ↗ did a study to show the FTE um in in

23:38 ↗ some of the local courts there were you

23:40 ↗ know nobody no no courts the same uh but

23:43 ↗ this is a comparison isqua had

23:46 ↗ 15274 filings uh in 2023 uh we have uh

23:51 ↗ 6.4 staff people that's six full-time

23:53 ↗ people and point4 is what um our

23:56 ↗ judicial assistant is which means we

23:57 ↗ have an average of 2,

23:59 ↗ ,17 uh uh FTE per filing um de Moes is

24:03 ↗ the closest to us they have 1700 17519

24:06 ↗ same number of Judges they have 2.6 more

24:09 ↗ staff than we have or

24:11 ↗ 1779 FTE uh um number filings per

24:15 ↗ full-time employee you go up down to

24:17 ↗ Bothel 1,599 then you get into the some

24:20 ↗ of the bigger cities 691 511 and then at

24:23 ↗ the bottom you have CAC Edmonds and

24:24 ↗ teilla which you know if you look at

24:27 ↗ they have seven times as many staff

24:28 ↗ member uh per filing as we have in the

24:30 ↗ city esqua so my staff's working real

24:32 ↗ hard uh they're good people uh I I I'm

24:36 ↗ thrilled to have each of them that

24:37 ↗ they're working real hard and that's

24:38 ↗ part of the reason that we were here

24:40 ↗ asking for additional Staffing with

24:42 ↗ regard to uh our court

24:44 ↗ staff and um these are some of the

24:46 ↗ things that we're looking at we'd like

24:48 ↗ to promote uh uh Kathy kosy our our

24:51 ↗ judicial assistant to a Judicial

24:52 ↗ specialist that would allow her to be

24:54 ↗ trained in court she moved full-time

24:55 ↗ that' be an increase of $100,000

24:57 ↗ annually uh um because of the benefits

25:00 ↗ and such that she pick up when that was

25:01 ↗ to happen we would love to be able to

25:03 ↗ increase our current alcohol drug

25:05 ↗ testing uh budget in response to

25:07 ↗ fentanyl crisis and increase in DUI

25:09 ↗ filings so there's more fentanyl that

25:11 ↗ we're dealing with fentanyl was

25:12 ↗ something we didn't deal with at all

25:13 ↗ prior to 2010 came out well fent was

25:16 ↗ time we didn't deal with it all until

25:18 ↗ 2018 heroin was 2010 and we thought that

25:20 ↗ was bad um we're looking for an

25:23 ↗ additional $110,000 of course we're

25:25 ↗ going to try to get whatever we can from

25:26 ↗ the state but we'd like to be able to do

25:28 ↗ better better with our alcohol drug

25:29 ↗ monitoring uh there's going to be we

25:31 ↗ anticipate additional $113,000 annually

25:34 ↗ uh with regard to interpreter cost just

25:36 ↗ based upon the way things are going um

25:39 ↗ again we be looking to the state to the

25:40 ↗ extent we can but that that's money that

25:42 ↗ we need um additional contract security

25:45 ↗ to provide additional coverage for trial

25:46 ↗ settings probation appointments of

25:48 ↗ course if the court moves to King County

25:50 ↗ we would lose our um court security

25:53 ↗ which we will be we recognize that we we

25:56 ↗ need to move somewhere but we love our

25:57 ↗ court SEC he's he's been tremendously

25:59 ↗ helpful um he uas are one of the worst

26:03 ↗ you know when part of your job is to

26:04 ↗ order somebody to watch somebody urine

26:06 ↗ urinate and he's willing to fill in for

26:08 ↗ that for the male folks and stuff like

26:09 ↗ that he's just been very very handy and

26:10 ↗ very good guy so we'll be very sad if

26:13 ↗ and when that happens and finally if if

26:16 ↗ the uh photo enforcement goes through

26:18 ↗ our understanding is that the council is

26:19 ↗ considering additional photo enforcement

26:21 ↗ photo enforcement is not as much judge

26:23 ↗ intensive time as it is Staff intensive

26:26 ↗ time and based upon what we understand

26:28 ↗ stand that looking at for photo

26:29 ↗ enforcement um we'd be um looking for

26:32 ↗ one more full-time employee that would

26:33 ↗ still I think our keep our numbers below

26:35 ↗ the average for the area as far as uh

26:38 ↗ full-time employees for filing but we

26:40 ↗ would need that employee for the photo

26:42 ↗ enforcement that being said uh I my

26:44 ↗ understanding is the statutes written

26:45 ↗ such a such a fashion that part of that

26:47 ↗ money would come from the photo

26:48 ↗ enforcement itself or all of the money

26:50 ↗ would come it would be self-paid uh at

26:52 ↗ least using some of the funds from

26:55 ↗ that with that I have the honor of

26:57 ↗ introducing Miss mly have question yes

27:01 ↗ any other questions you got I should ask

27:02 ↗ that U thank you uh judge Stewart

27:04 ↗ appreciate all the information tonight

27:07 ↗ um when the court first started uh we

27:10 ↗ were primarily just doing get o CL cases

27:12 ↗ uh we added snow quami Northbend and and

27:15 ↗ and Duvall and I wonder if you could

27:18 ↗ talk a little bit about um how the

27:20 ↗ additional staff might help us with our

27:23 ↗ ultimate goal that we've been talking

27:25 ↗ about excuse me of being kind of a East

27:28 ↗ Side Regional Court we have the jail we

27:32 ↗ have um you know the facilities here if

27:35 ↗ the court expands does that help us um

27:38 ↗ become more of a East Side Center for uh

27:42 ↗ uh court services and jail

27:45 ↗ Services chrisy says yes I mean I can

27:48 ↗ tell you that uh you um I I try not to

27:51 ↗ get too involved in some of these things

27:53 ↗ uh um but but uh um there have been

27:56 ↗ multiple cities that have approached us

27:58 ↗ uh the present facility is not as

28:00 ↗ conducive to to court as uh at one point

28:04 ↗ we had someone that uh

28:07 ↗ um that was

28:09 ↗ a Contracting that was coming in for

28:12 ↗ something completely unrelated to to um

28:16 ↗ our ability to provide court services

28:18 ↗ and that person was contacted by one of

28:20 ↗ the Cities who were considering coming

28:21 ↗ here just said we didn't have the

28:22 ↗ resources and we disagree with that I

28:23 ↗ mean I think we could have handled it

28:25 ↗ but but uh um it it it it we don't have

28:28 ↗ a real Jury Room we don't have a holding

28:30 ↗ cell uh we don't have spaces for the

28:32 ↗ attorneys necessarily to meet with

28:34 ↗ clients at the courtroom um those are

28:36 ↗ things that I think they look for just

28:37 ↗ as far as space and stuff like that um

28:39 ↗ but ultimately the the the court has a

28:44 ↗ pretty good reputation if uh I I

28:46 ↗ actually was on the website I was

28:47 ↗ Googling it you know I get into Google

28:50 ↗ and such just some of the comments that

28:52 ↗ folks have as far as the customer

28:53 ↗ service they get from our staff and

28:55 ↗ stuff like that that's what most cities

28:56 ↗ are looking for and and I think they

28:58 ↗ necessarily get that from their present

28:59 ↗ provider so I obviously if we were to

29:01 ↗ grow we would need more staff and that

29:03 ↗ staff would allow us to do

29:05 ↗ that uh great if I could just follow

29:08 ↗ quickly so if I'm hearing you correctly

29:10 ↗ if we want to move on and grow to be

29:13 ↗ more of a regional center for court

29:16 ↗ services uh we need to have a pretty

29:18 ↗ serious conversation about the new home

29:21 ↗ for the court after the transition or

29:23 ↗ temporary home at District Court that

29:25 ↗ might be happening uh in the near future

29:28 ↗ and um I can think of no one better to

29:31 ↗ be part of that conversation than you

29:33 ↗ and your staff and I hope that you'd be

29:34 ↗ very involved in trying to find a

29:36 ↗ facility that will allow us to provide

29:38 ↗ the great court services that we already

29:40 ↗ have but to also think about the future

29:43 ↗ and becoming more of a regional hub for

29:46 ↗ court services sure and I would

29:47 ↗ encourage you to include the public

29:48 ↗ defender and the prosecutor in that just

29:49 ↗ because they they know the needs of the

29:51 ↗ and I recognize private defense Council

29:53 ↗ are involved but public defenders are

29:55 ↗ handle such a high percentage of the

29:56 ↗ cases that they would know more of their

29:57 ↗ needs probably than I would absolutely

29:59 ↗ thank you that's uh my oversight for not

30:02 ↗ including them appreciate it no problem

30:05 ↗ Deputy council president Jim

30:07 ↗ Michelle so just Dre with regard to the

30:10 ↗ fentel crisis um are there additional

30:13 ↗ services that we could provide or that

30:15 ↗ are needed Beyond just drug testing um I

30:19 ↗ know it's a very complex issue if Miss

30:21 ↗ Gardner was here uh she'd be coming out

30:23 ↗ of her chair right now and she'd be

30:24 ↗ saying we need but I think it's beyond

30:26 ↗ the anything that Council can do to we

30:30 ↗ don't have any treatment facilities in

30:32 ↗ isqua um other than friends of Youth but

30:34 ↗ friends of Youth is a great treatment

30:35 ↗ facility but it's friends of Youth and

30:37 ↗ uh um they they so it's a very small

30:41 ↗ percentage of the population we heavily

30:42 ↗ use raging River uh um which is a um a

30:45 ↗ treatment facility that uh is through

30:47 ↗ Apple Healthcare so it helps some of our

30:48 ↗ the lower income folks who have are less

30:50 ↗ mobile and therefore need to use a local

30:52 ↗ one so treatment facilities are huge uh

30:55 ↗ um and you know there's there's an

30:58 ↗ online element of treatment now um where

31:00 ↗ a lot of folks are able to do it online

31:01 ↗ I don't know how effective that is so

31:03 ↗ the more we can get the treatment

31:04 ↗ facilities in folks neighborhood the the

31:07 ↗ more effective I think the treatment is

31:08 ↗ going to be um what the uas allow us to

31:10 ↗ do is the uas allow us to to know where

31:12 ↗ the person is with regard to their

31:13 ↗ recovery uh because shock uh um people

31:16 ↗ that use fentel aren't necessarily going

31:18 ↗ to be honest with us or even honest with

31:20 ↗ themselves and so we need to attract

31:22 ↗ that likewise without with all the drugs

31:23 ↗ but the main ones we're dealing with now

31:25 ↗ are fentanyl and alcohol uh every once

31:27 ↗ in a while I think we get

31:28 ↗ methamphetamine but that's it's pretty

31:29 ↗ rare it's Fentanyl and alcohol and uh

31:31 ↗ alcohol obviously creates danger

31:33 ↗ fentanyl creates danger but fentanyl

31:34 ↗ also creates death and uh um uh um and

31:38 ↗ so those are things that we're on top of

31:39 ↗ and and Miss Gardner when she's in court

31:42 ↗ points out I think that she said

31:43 ↗ something around 50 people during Co

31:45 ↗ that that she's dealt with as clients

31:48 ↗ that have died of fent over that's a

31:49 ↗ huge number when you look at the our

31:51 ↗ population that we deal with so the more

31:54 ↗ and Drug Testing isn't just a matter of

31:57 ↗ uh um

31:59 ↗ um being able to afford what's the cost

32:02 ↗ on a on a is it

32:06 ↗ $35 I could share with you right now you

32:08 ↗ know how often we're able to drug test

32:11 ↗ but you don't want me to because it

32:12 ↗ becomes part of a public record and the

32:13 ↗ folks that are on drug testing they're

32:16 ↗ they're on random drug testing they call

32:17 ↗ in every day and they don't know when

32:20 ↗ their number's going to come up the the

32:23 ↗ problem is is the the cost associated

32:25 ↗ with uh the Personnel that have to do

32:27 ↗ the drug testing and the cost of the

32:29 ↗ drug testing themselves so there's the

32:31 ↗ way both the swabs and the uas work is

32:34 ↗ if it's negative there's there's an

32:36 ↗ instant that comes back and tells us

32:37 ↗ it's negative if it's negative we can

32:39 ↗ stop right there okay if it's positive

32:41 ↗ we have to send it in for confirmation

32:43 ↗ because there's false positives that

32:44 ↗ occur false negatives don't really occur

32:46 ↗ false positives do there's a cost of the

32:49 ↗ person that's giving the test there's a

32:50 ↗ cost for the strip or the you know

32:52 ↗ either the the urine cup and and

32:55 ↗ measuring device or the swab that's

32:56 ↗ going in their mouth and then if we have

32:57 ↗ to send it in there's even an added cost

32:59 ↗ of sending it in and so those are all

33:02 ↗ costs are involved in that and like I

33:04 ↗ said the the the standard which I didn't

33:07 ↗ know until Anaheim this past week is

33:09 ↗ twice a week nobody's doing that most

33:11 ↗ folks aren't doing once a week you just

33:12 ↗ don't have the resources to uh so you

33:14 ↗ make them random so the folks that are

33:16 ↗ are using know that on any day they

33:18 ↗ could be tested but the better the

33:20 ↗ testing is the more frequent the testing

33:22 ↗ is the better the success rate so at

33:25 ↗ least that's what I'm taught you know

33:27 ↗ I'm really involved with drug prevention

33:30 ↗ I know that and so uh this part of your

33:34 ↗ presentation is really meaningful to me

33:36 ↗ and I take it to heart that we need

33:38 ↗ treatment centers in isqua that even in

33:41 ↗ the prevention Arena we know that and we

33:45 ↗ understand that and um I really

33:47 ↗ appreciate your remarks than thank you

33:49 ↗ any other questions at all yeah I have a

33:51 ↗ I have a few um can you go back to the

33:54 ↗ Community Court program overview where

33:55 ↗ you talk about the goals please

33:59 ↗ it up let's see if it goes there it

34:03 ↗ went there we go there we go so how do

34:07 ↗ we know that we're impacting those goals

34:10 ↗ with the program thus far well it's it's

34:13 ↗ relatively anecdotal right now uh um we

34:16 ↗ we are aware of we've had 17 graduates

34:19 ↗ um we've had two two cases of recidivism

34:22 ↗ that we know of out of the 17 which is

34:24 ↗ significantly better than the average um

34:27 ↗ one of the cases where we had residivis

34:29 ↗ and I think that I don't know that Mr

34:31 ↗ mccol would be familiar with this person

34:33 ↗ but I think that my prosecutors would

34:34 ↗ while that person

34:37 ↗ reoffended uh that person had things

34:39 ↗ going on that I don't think we were

34:40 ↗ relatively new things going on that we

34:41 ↗ weren't completely aware of and just in

34:44 ↗ the correspondence with his mom be frank

34:46 ↗ with you about the impact that Community

34:48 ↗ Court had him he's doing tremendously

34:50 ↗ well right now he had one issue uh but

34:53 ↗ from that issue we going into impatient

34:55 ↗ treatment and he Zooms in now frequently

34:57 ↗ to our community Court just to

34:58 ↗ participate for fun he's the only one

35:00 ↗ that does it and his mom has sent his

35:01 ↗ letter saying his entire perspective on

35:04 ↗ the world changed just because of the

35:07 ↗ the impact the community Court had him

35:08 ↗ so while that counts as a recidivism I

35:10 ↗ still call count that as a win uh um

35:13 ↗ other than that um it it's really

35:15 ↗ anecdotal just because it's only been 17

35:17 ↗ graduates uh um and uh um but I think

35:22 ↗ that we all think it's been pretty

35:23 ↗ effective I mean the problem with

35:24 ↗ Community Court is

35:28 ↗ I we went we all went to the training in

35:29 ↗ the state this Washington drug

35:31 ↗ professionals training and um to really

35:35 ↗ get into the weeds uh um most of the

35:38 ↗ community courts would like to see see

35:39 ↗ ultimately you accept folks into your

35:41 ↗ program that are the most difficult

35:43 ↗ folks uh um and we're still small and

35:46 ↗ learning uh um homish County the one of

35:49 ↗ the Sue Court judges up there was saying

35:51 ↗ that they had this tremendous success

35:52 ↗ rate because the prosecutors are only

35:54 ↗ referring firsttime offenders and if you

35:55 ↗ only refer firsttime offenders those

35:56 ↗ could be your success stories

35:58 ↗ uh whereas the ones that were seventh

35:59 ↗ and eighth time offenders might be the

36:01 ↗ ones that you might be wanting to Target

36:03 ↗ a little bit more now we're not a drug

36:04 ↗ court but I think that there's a

36:05 ↗ possibility that our community Court

36:08 ↗ when our community Court started I think

36:09 ↗ we were heavily looking at um um you've

36:13 ↗ got your your recent high school

36:15 ↗ graduate that picks up a theft charge

36:17 ↗ and doesn't have anything indicating

36:19 ↗ he's got an alcoholic drug problem no

36:20 ↗ mental health problems this was a oneoff

36:22 ↗ somebody that would have gotten a

36:23 ↗ deferral anyway but needs resources you

36:25 ↗ bring that person to the Community Court

36:26 ↗ get them the resources they need there's

36:27 ↗ no real treatment involved but to get

36:29 ↗ some job training or whatever and then

36:30 ↗ the case is dismissed and they move on

36:31 ↗ and we never see them again on the flip

36:33 ↗ side what we're going to I think start

36:35 ↗ seeing is all those drug charges that

36:36 ↗ are now being filed as misdemeanors are

36:38 ↗ going to be a higher need population and

36:41 ↗ uh drug courts and stuff are looking at

36:42 ↗ higher risk High needs which means

36:43 ↗ people that are likely to reoffend and

36:45 ↗ people that are truly in need of

36:46 ↗ resources um and I think we're going to

36:48 ↗ start seeing more of those uh come in

36:51 ↗ and that's going to be harder to measure

36:53 ↗ because there's a likelihood that the

36:55 ↗ the recidivism rate in that group is

36:57 ↗ going to be higher because of just who

36:59 ↗ the population you're dealing with um

37:02 ↗ but where the successes occur their

37:04 ↗ successes are pretty big deal because

37:05 ↗ you're changing people's lives and

37:07 ↗ you're getting somebody that was

37:07 ↗ committing crimes off the street so um

37:11 ↗ we'll see where that goes

37:13 ↗ so thank you um next question I have is

37:16 ↗ you mentioned uh and I I saw on a couple

37:19 ↗ of slides DUI being up 130% did you say

37:22 ↗ domestic violence was also not not by

37:25 ↗ that large amount considerably did you

37:28 ↗ have a slide that showed both of those I

37:30 ↗ don't think we've broken them out by DV

37:31 ↗ the um DV and theft we just know is up

37:33 ↗ it's part of that 27% so my question is

37:36 ↗ on both DUI and DV does the council have

37:39 ↗ uh uh policy and legal options to uh uh

37:44 ↗ address those uh those increased crime

37:47 ↗ rates like for instance could we could

37:50 ↗ we make DUI punishable by 364 days in

37:53 ↗ jail it is punishable by 364 days in

37:55 ↗ jail yeah um if um I I don't think

38:01 ↗ that Chief schwam know better than I I

38:03 ↗ suspect that DUI isn't necessarily up I

38:05 ↗ I suspect it's just a matter of policing

38:07 ↗ just that the police are doing a better

38:08 ↗ job catching the you know catching the

38:10 ↗ guys I mean and emphasized in certain

38:12 ↗ areas uh um um and I think that uh um

38:16 ↗ same's true for DV I mean they're all

38:18 ↗ punished by 364 days in jail on a $5,000

38:20 ↗ fine they used to be punishable by 365

38:22 ↗ and they had to change it to 364 because

38:24 ↗ people were getting in trouble for gross

38:25 ↗ misdemeanors on a federal level that

38:27 ↗ they were for felonies um there's

38:30 ↗ there's a thing called DUI Court we

38:31 ↗ don't have a DUI court at this point in

38:33 ↗ time uh that's for third offense DW most

38:36 ↗ courts take third defense or more where

38:37 ↗ it's a very intensive uh treatment

38:39 ↗ program we only have so much space and

38:41 ↗ so much time uh um but if I I can see a

38:45 ↗ possibility that the DU continue to rise

38:46 ↗ and we make a determination that the

38:48 ↗ significant percentage of them are a

38:49 ↗ multiple time offender we had a guy on

38:52 ↗ today I think with I think 7is I mean uh

38:56 ↗ um when you get into those kind of

38:57 ↗ numbers you um you start to look at

39:00 ↗ other options you might have to to make

39:02 ↗ the world a better place I guess for

39:03 ↗ lack of a better way of putting it so

39:05 ↗ yeah I

39:06 ↗ mean okay I I recognize it's a

39:09 ↗ complicated problem I know that we did

39:12 ↗ do I can't remember what it was for but

39:15 ↗ we did

39:17 ↗ Municipal maybe it wasn't domestic

39:19 ↗ violence but and this was a while ago

39:21 ↗ this was seven or eight years ago uh

39:22 ↗ council member Shar had an idea and we

39:25 ↗ enacted some m multipliers on some maybe

39:29 ↗ it was domestic violence crimes

39:31 ↗ committed in the presence of children it

39:33 ↗ was it was DV okay I think I think that

39:35 ↗ what that becomes largely heavily not

39:38 ↗ always but it becomes a huge tool for

39:40 ↗ the prosecutor because if if a domestic

39:42 ↗ violence event is committed in front of

39:43 ↗ a child and the gu's the the shouldn't

39:46 ↗ say guy but the the defendant is plan

39:50 ↗ you know want to go to trial and stuff

39:51 ↗ the prosecutor has a tool that says uh

39:53 ↗ plead guilty and I'll dump this charge

39:55 ↗ because if they're convicted of that

39:56 ↗ charge it's mandatory 30 days in jail so

39:58 ↗ uh um you get that mandatory 30 days

40:00 ↗ under those circumstances I I think that

40:02 ↗ isan Federal Way both have that

40:04 ↗ particular charge where I've seen it

40:05 ↗ before good um I have one last question

40:08 ↗ can you go to the slide you it's you

40:10 ↗ added Duval it's squami North Bend Isa

40:14 ↗ it's

40:15 ↗ a

40:17 ↗ chart uh that you've got it's it's got

40:20 ↗ like four vertical

40:22 ↗ bar just don't remember where it is um

40:27 ↗ that one one no there uh nope keep going

40:30 ↗ sorry uh actually maybe nope I'm sorry

40:33 ↗ you're right it was that one okay so why

40:35 ↗ as I look at the most recent years as I

40:37 ↗ look at 2021

40:39 ↗ 22

40:41 ↗ 2023 uh it's like North Ben's getting

40:44 ↗ better snami is getting better isqua

40:47 ↗ getting worse

40:50 ↗ why I mean they have when one would

40:53 ↗ think they have comparable

40:55 ↗ populations to ours

40:58 ↗ I I I don't think I characterize it as

40:59 ↗ is Squad getting worse I think I

41:01 ↗ characterize it as isqua's policing

41:03 ↗ getting more proactive I think that's

41:05 ↗ what you're seeing there more than

41:06 ↗ anything else that's what we're seeing

41:08 ↗ um there and and honestly for I don't

41:12 ↗ know how to say this but that there were

41:14 ↗ snow kwami for a period of time had two

41:17 ↗ law enforcement officers that were

41:19 ↗ responsible

41:20 ↗ for just a huge percentage of I I didn't

41:24 ↗ sleep at nights because I would I get

41:26 ↗ calls at 2: in the morning for search

41:28 ↗ warrants and stuff and there was one law

41:29 ↗ enforcement officer that's moved to

41:31 ↗ Arizona who literally call me four or

41:33 ↗ five times a week and he was replaced by

41:35 ↗ another officer that wasn't quite as

41:36 ↗ aggressive and they both left the

41:38 ↗ department uh um and uh one moved to

41:40 ↗ Arizona I don't know where the other one

41:41 ↗ moved but one or two law enforcement

41:44 ↗ officers that are just tremendously

41:47 ↗ aggressive can uh um one of one of my

41:49 ↗ law Partners used to say law enforcement

41:51 ↗ you know creates crime they don't create

41:52 ↗ crime but but what that means is they're

41:54 ↗ out the pro the proactive law

41:55 ↗ enforcement and uh largely with DUIs and

41:58 ↗ such um you just these guys all know

42:01 ↗ which which officers I'm talking about

42:03 ↗ and I'm not knocking them they were they

42:05 ↗ were you become friends with somebody

42:07 ↗ that wakes you up at 2 o'clock in the

42:08 ↗ morning you know 5 days a week but uh um

42:11 ↗ not not really close friends but but uh

42:14 ↗ um and I I'm I'm now getting there there

42:17 ↗ was there was periods of time where I'd

42:20 ↗ go mths without getting a call from

42:21 ↗ isqua that's no longer the case uh no

42:23 ↗ longer the case at all isqua's doing

42:24 ↗ search warrants and and I and I'm

42:26 ↗ dealing with that so I think it's mostly

42:28 ↗ proactive policing okay chief Swan May

42:30 ↗ disagree with me but that's what I'm

42:32 ↗ seeing anyway so all right well thank

42:33 ↗ you I mean you just point out how

42:35 ↗ complicated it is taking any one

42:37 ↗ particular statistic and trying to tease

42:39 ↗ out what it means especially when you're

42:41 ↗ dealing with a you know not real small

42:43 ↗ jurisdictions but a small jurisdiction

42:44 ↗ like Northbend and snow kwami where

42:46 ↗ you've got one or two officers can just

42:48 ↗ have a huge impact on those numbers so

42:51 ↗ all right that's all the questions that

42:52 ↗ I had before we move on oh council

42:55 ↗ member Joe thank you Mr chairman uh

42:58 ↗ could you go three slides forward to the

43:01 ↗ uh annual filings Staffing comparisons

43:05 ↗ chart that you had

43:07 ↗ there okay thank you um could you give

43:09 ↗ us a little bit of guidance uh isqua is

43:13 ↗ not at a full-time judicial officer um

43:17 ↗ what types of things would we need to be

43:18 ↗ looking at in the future uh that's going

43:22 ↗ to bump that to either one or 1.25 where

43:26 ↗ we have to to have another person coming

43:28 ↗ in what types of things should the

43:29 ↗ council be looking at in the future as

43:32 ↗ we think about uh future Staffing

43:35 ↗ especially at the judicial officer level

43:38 ↗ um I don't think we're there yet I think

43:40 ↗ we're fine as we are are right now um I

43:42 ↗ think we are more in need of Staff than

43:44 ↗ than judicial um

43:48 ↗ but is it driven by filings or is it

43:51 ↗ driven by um administrative oversight

43:54 ↗ that needs to be done outside of the

43:57 ↗ courtroom what what are the I think it's

43:58 ↗ heavily driven by filings especially

44:00 ↗ criminal filings okay um you know a

44:02 ↗ significant percentage of the Civil

44:03 ↗ filings are handled without any

44:04 ↗ involvement I mean whatsoever just

44:06 ↗ because folks pay the ticket or and then

44:09 ↗ there's another percentage which are

44:10 ↗ what we call mits and mits by mail my

44:13 ↗ favorite part of the job as Julia knows

44:15 ↗ which I get a stack of of uh um folks

44:17 ↗ that have requested a mitigation by mail

44:19 ↗ I never see the person I just am going

44:21 ↗ through probably 100 of those a month uh

44:23 ↗ just in my downtime I I miss by mail

44:26 ↗ then every Thursday we have um uh a

44:30 ↗ traffic infraction calendar with a

44:32 ↗ prosecutor um those are really the

44:35 ↗ prosecutors have worked with the defense

44:37 ↗ attorneys most of those are dispositions

44:39 ↗ um and those go relatively fast um on

44:42 ↗ two Thursday the month in the afternoon

44:44 ↗ one Thursday the month in the afternoon

44:45 ↗ we have a mid

44:46 ↗ calendar 70 70 mitigation hearings uh I

44:49 ↗ can handle it in an hour I mean and

44:51 ↗ that's a big mitigation Cal they're just

44:53 ↗ very very fast and uh I kind of enjoy

44:56 ↗ those because I get to be a little a

44:57 ↗ little bit of a I mean you got citizens

44:58 ↗ coming in so you're trying to make

44:59 ↗ people feel comfortable with the court

45:00 ↗ system get very positive comments from

45:02 ↗ the folks cuz I'm treating them as human

45:04 ↗ beings and one of the fun things about

45:06 ↗ the about those calendars is we we've

45:08 ↗ set them in after our community court so

45:10 ↗ those folks will come in and they get to

45:12 ↗ watch the community the end of the

45:13 ↗ community court and see what we're doing

45:14 ↗ so you get this positive impact on folks

45:16 ↗ from the community that that see some of

45:17 ↗ the things we're doing in community

45:18 ↗ court so it's kind of cool um more

45:21 ↗ infraction calendars don't create a lot

45:23 ↗ of work for a judge what I say more

45:24 ↗ criminal finings probably would so Duval

45:27 ↗ which uh created no real additional work

45:29 ↗ for me we can just plug it in and add it

45:30 ↗ to the other things and snow kwami and

45:32 ↗ north bendon have actually Fallen as far

45:34 ↗ as the criminal files well it's ca's

45:35 ↗ gone up so I'm I'm okay right now where

45:37 ↗ I'm at I need additional Staffing

45:39 ↗ largely because of the infractions and

45:40 ↗ such okay so we just need to watch the

45:43 ↗ criminal filings the DVS the DUIs if

45:46 ↗ those numbers go up significantly you

45:49 ↗ may be back we tell you asking for help

45:51 ↗ we come tell you or or you know I it's

45:54 ↗ not my position to get into how the

45:57 ↗ Court grows or you know as far as other

45:59 ↗ cities coming in uh I know that other

46:01 ↗ cities have expressed interest sometimes

46:03 ↗ I think I think a couple years ago we

46:05 ↗ got the sense that was kind of get to

46:06 ↗ get their present contract to drive

46:08 ↗ their price down and uh um but um

46:12 ↗ obviously if a big city came in that

46:14 ↗ that would create issues too great I

46:16 ↗ appreciate the guidance that Council can

46:19 ↗ look at as we're evaluating uh the

46:22 ↗ future of the court and the entire court

46:24 ↗ system thank

46:25 ↗ you anything else

46:28 ↗ I I think that does it for now okay Miss

46:30 ↗ Mobberly you want do you have your do

46:31 ↗ you have your slides or you want mine I

46:33 ↗ don't have any notes on

46:37 ↗ yours let me get you

46:39 ↗ the oh I move this black this box out of

46:42 ↗ the way an impact on there

46:48 ↗ you good

46:50 ↗ evening going to tell you a little bit

46:53 ↗ uh about who we are what we do some of

46:57 ↗ the increases that judge Stewart already

46:59 ↗ talked about and go from there um my

47:03 ↗ name is Lyn mly I've been the city

47:06 ↗ prosecutor for a long time uh over 20

47:10 ↗ years um I came from the King County

47:12 ↗ prosecutor's office where I specialized

47:15 ↗ in I ran the domestic violence unit for

47:17 ↗ a while and I specialized in sex crimes

47:20 ↗ for a while and then I ended my career

47:23 ↗ there being um the manager of the

47:25 ↗ Regional Justice Center that's now the

47:27 ↗ norm mailing uh Regional Justice Center

47:31 ↗ and uh decided to kind of cut back a

47:34 ↗ little bit and for a while there I was

47:36 ↗ working part-time those were the good

47:37 ↗ old days um when I had the city of isqua

47:41 ↗ and um wanted to be more a little bit of

47:44 ↗ a mom um but at this point in time it's

47:49 ↗ fulltime obviously and then some I have

47:52 ↗ two wonderful Associates I have Alexa

47:55 ↗ McBarron

47:57 ↗ uh who the judge already told you is my

47:59 ↗ wonderful daughter but she is also an

48:02 ↗ amazing attorney she's been with me uh

48:05 ↗ since 2016 when she graduated from

48:08 ↗ University of Washington law school um

48:11 ↗ prior to coming to my office she spent

48:14 ↗ two summers with King County

48:15 ↗ prosecutor's office as an intern and

48:17 ↗ then a rule n extern where she was

48:19 ↗ actually trying cases so that was

48:21 ↗ wonderful so she came with me with

48:23 ↗ significant experience from King County

48:26 ↗ and has continued to grow and just been

48:28 ↗ a

48:29 ↗ Gods uh in

48:31 ↗ 2021 uh I hired Russell thoram who as

48:34 ↗ the judge said came from Texas um he had

48:38 ↗ eight years of prosecution work in Texas

48:42 ↗ after leaving his uh work as a defense

48:45 ↗ attorney um as a prosecutor he

48:47 ↗ specialized in homicide mostly um

48:51 ↗ robbery drug trafficking and assault we

48:54 ↗ felt really happy to find Russ because

48:57 ↗ it was a time and it continues to be a

49:00 ↗ time when people just don't want to be

49:02 ↗ prosecutors anymore

49:05 ↗ sadly um in an event we have over 40

49:10 ↗ years of criminal prosecution experience

49:12 ↗ between the three of us and I think

49:15 ↗ we're we're known to be a little bit

49:17 ↗ tough on crime but with the community

49:20 ↗ court and the role that Alexa has taken

49:23 ↗ um and obviously the court has in still

49:27 ↗ we're we're also known to be fair and

49:31 ↗ understanding of the needs of the

49:33 ↗ defendants so um the next slide that was

49:38 ↗ supposed to be the

49:41 ↗ first that's

49:44 ↗ us uh telling you a little bit what we

49:46 ↗ do um obviously uh our office handles

49:50 ↗ all gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor

49:52 ↗ cases that happen within the city limits

49:56 ↗ we ALS o end up with cases that really

49:59 ↗ aren't misdemeanors or gross

50:01 ↗ misdemeanors because they're felony on

50:04 ↗ the books but King County filing

50:07 ↗ standards won't file them because their

50:11 ↗ case load is out of control or whatever

50:13 ↗ reason they just don't so they're f for

50:16 ↗ example a theft in the second degree a

50:18 ↗ felony that's a felony and on the books

50:22 ↗ it says if you steal anything over

50:25 ↗ $750 it's a felony so should go to King

50:28 ↗ County Prosecutors but their filing

50:30 ↗ standards say we won't take anything

50:33 ↗ under 2,000 and that's pretty much

50:36 ↗ become more like four to 5,000 we've

50:39 ↗ seen declines that come back to us file

50:41 ↗ it with the city prosecutor so we handle

50:45 ↗ that's true with malicious Mischief

50:47 ↗ dollar amounts uh forgery dollar amounts

50:50 ↗ um and just a heck of a lot of crimes

50:53 ↗ that they they don't have the Manpower

50:56 ↗ or won't prosecute so those cases come

50:59 ↗ to us so they're really felonies but

51:01 ↗ they're handled as

51:04 ↗ misdemeanor um so the cases come in the

51:08 ↗ police investigate the cases they send

51:10 ↗ them to us re we review the cases

51:12 ↗ determine what should be charged usually

51:15 ↗ the police pick the charge but sometimes

51:17 ↗ we add charges or we change the charge

51:20 ↗ we look at with evidence we have we

51:22 ↗ decide if we can file the case Beyond

51:24 ↗ and prove the case Beyond A Reasonable

51:26 ↗ Doubt but at that first level it's do we

51:28 ↗ have probable cause to file the case and

51:30 ↗ can we convince the judge that we have

51:32 ↗ probable cause uh sometimes we reach

51:36 ↗ back out to the police we say we need

51:37 ↗ more evidence uh we need you didn't get

51:40 ↗ a statement from that witness or the

51:42 ↗ victim that was not very Cooperative

51:44 ↗ could we maybe call her back and see if

51:47 ↗ perhaps she or he will be

51:49 ↗ cooperative um we order what else we

51:52 ↗ need we order the 911 tapes we might ask

51:55 ↗ officers to go back and get follow-up

51:57 ↗ pictures cuz a black eye doesn't show as

51:59 ↗ a black eye till few days later um and

52:02 ↗ we obviously have a wonderful police

52:04 ↗ force that we work with and are very

52:07 ↗ responsive um and We Gather everything

52:09 ↗ we need to file that case many of those

52:12 ↗ things have to be done within 24 hours

52:15 ↗ because if somebody's arrested they're

52:17 ↗ going to be seen the next morning for

52:19 ↗ court um sometimes we have the luxury of

52:22 ↗ having more time if somebody is charged

52:25 ↗ but not arrested Ed and put in jail so a

52:28 ↗ little a little more time to gather our

52:31 ↗ evidence and review it um after

52:34 ↗ reviewing it we prepare the case for

52:36 ↗ filing um as we do we look at the

52:39 ↗ offenders criminal history we look at uh

52:43 ↗ their warrant history and in that

52:46 ↗ respect we're determining will we be

52:48 ↗ asking for bail on this case we be we be

52:51 ↗ asking for a personal recogn what other

52:54 ↗ conditions of release are we going to

52:55 ↗ ask for are we going to be asking if

52:58 ↗ somebody's a stalker do we want to put a

53:00 ↗ GPS on their ankle so the victim knows

53:02 ↗ they're not going to come back to their

53:03 ↗ home if they're a a repeat DUI person

53:08 ↗ we're going to be asking for possibly a

53:10 ↗ scram bracelets which they used to call

53:13 ↗ it the Lindsay Lohan bracelet the

53:15 ↗ bracelet that monitors whether you're

53:17 ↗ drinking um and uh we have wonderful

53:21 ↗ providers that instantly notified us

53:24 ↗ notify us the prosecutors if somebody

53:27 ↗ has a confirmed consumption while

53:28 ↗ they're on that and that we bring them

53:31 ↗ back for a review hearing we get the

53:33 ↗ case filed we prepare it for arraignment

53:36 ↗ arraignment hearings we handle that's

53:38 ↗ the first hearing that a defendant comes

53:40 ↗ to where he's formally charged with or

53:43 ↗ advised what the charge is and formally

53:46 ↗ arraigned um and at that point

53:49 ↗ oftentimes the public defender gets

53:50 ↗ appointed or by by arraignment or after

53:54 ↗ arraignment they will decide they're

53:55 ↗ going to hire a public

53:58 ↗ defender a private attorney thank you um

54:01 ↗ the next phase is the negotiation phase

54:04 ↗ um and that's when we're looking at our

54:06 ↗ case even more carefully we are

54:09 ↗ listening to the 911 we're watching the

54:11 ↗ body cams we're assessing the case we

54:15 ↗ are calling Witnesses we're calling

54:17 ↗ victims we're determining if they're

54:19 ↗ going to be cooperative are they going

54:20 ↗ to come in has their have they changed

54:22 ↗ their mind about things do they have

54:24 ↗ questions so it's a very very uh it's

54:28 ↗ time consuming because we really want to

54:30 ↗ know our case before we're going to give

54:32 ↗ that offer to the defense attorney and

54:36 ↗ then we negotiate with the defense

54:38 ↗ attorney we do all of the negotiations

54:40 ↗ in writing um I mean we do a lot of it

54:43 ↗ by discussion but it starts out in

54:46 ↗ writing so they have that they have it

54:48 ↗ up front we try to be get offers out as

54:51 ↗ early as we can so that the cases don't

54:54 ↗ drag on and so that they have time to

54:58 ↗ communicate with their clients and you

55:00 ↗ know sometimes there's back and forth

55:02 ↗ back and forth we also then make sure

55:04 ↗ because there's three of us that we have

55:07 ↗ to be very consistent if one of us makes

55:09 ↗ an offer we don't want somebody going to

55:11 ↗ another attorney and saying hey you know

55:14 ↗ here's what's going on in this case no

55:16 ↗ Forum Shopping so we are very careful

55:19 ↗ and meticulous about keeping notes in

55:20 ↗ our electronic filing system we did go

55:23 ↗ from paper to electronic for I believe

55:26 ↗ four years ago so it's all we're all

55:28 ↗ electronic

55:30 ↗ now um after the negotiation it comes

55:33 ↗ down to whether a case is going to get

55:35 ↗ resolved by plea uh or it's going to go

55:38 ↗ to trial and sometimes it we don't find

55:41 ↗ out that it's going to be plea till the

55:42 ↗ day of trial and that can be frustrating

55:45 ↗ because you're all ready to go to jury

55:46 ↗ trial and you're dressed up and the case

55:49 ↗ doesn't go um but many most cases do get

55:54 ↗ resolved by plea I would say

55:57 ↗ probably over 90% resolved by some kind

56:00 ↗ of a ple NE negotiation and and Frank

56:03 ↗ quite frankly some sometimes cases get

56:06 ↗ dismissed because sometimes we don't

56:07 ↗ have a victim we don't have a witness

56:10 ↗ and nobody's going to be cooperative and

56:12 ↗ we don't have a choice we usually try to

56:14 ↗ dismiss it without prejudice especially

56:17 ↗ in domestic violence cases so if

56:19 ↗ something happened that the offender had

56:23 ↗ possibly gotten her out of state uh

56:24 ↗ getting her away change her phone number

56:27 ↗ but something happens later down the

56:29 ↗ line where they call us and they want to

56:30 ↗ be cooperative we can refile that case

56:33 ↗ and come back if we have time left on

56:35 ↗ speedy trial which usually we

56:38 ↗ do um once the case gets resolved by

56:42 ↗ either a plea or a guilty verdict or not

56:44 ↗ guilty verdict at trial if it's guilty

56:47 ↗ uh we proceed to sentencing hearings

56:49 ↗ where we make our recommendation the

56:51 ↗ defense makes their recommendation

56:53 ↗ ultimately judge Stewart that decides

56:55 ↗ what's the appropriate sentence in a

56:57 ↗ case given the facts of the case the

56:59 ↗ criminal history what are the issues

57:01 ↗ does a person need a domestic violence

57:04 ↗ assessment moral recognition the therapy

57:07 ↗ and alcohol drug

57:09 ↗ evaluation uh anger management no contct

57:12 ↗ orders mental health treatment those are

57:14 ↗ all the kinds of things we're clearly

57:16 ↗ even not just in Community Court we are

57:19 ↗ a rehabilitative court because we're at

57:22 ↗ the misdemeanor this is where we're

57:23 ↗ trying to prevent them to going to the

57:25 ↗ next fellow a level of felonies some of

57:28 ↗ them already have but at this point

57:30 ↗ we're still trying to

57:33 ↗ rehabilitate if that person is amable

57:36 ↗ and sometimes they're not sometimes

57:39 ↗ let's go to jail I mean we've got

57:41 ↗ somebody now with probably 14 violations

57:44 ↗ of a no contact order and the offer now

57:47 ↗ is one year in jail I mean it you just

57:52 ↗ can't

57:53 ↗ learn um finally after that we have to

57:57 ↗ ensure that the judge's sentence is

58:00 ↗ complied with otherwise it's worth

58:02 ↗ nothing so we have very lengthy long

58:05 ↗ monthly review calendars where we have

58:08 ↗ to go carefully through the docket see

58:10 ↗ how many times somebody's been in for

58:12 ↗ another a review hearing before you know

58:14 ↗ when you were given an opportunity to do

58:16 ↗ two days of electronic home monitoring

58:18 ↗ and now you're back and you haven't done

58:20 ↗ it and you have a positive UA is it 10

58:23 ↗ days in jail or are we going to try to

58:24 ↗ get you inpatient so the review hearings

58:27 ↗ are long and exhausting I often go all

58:32 ↗ day long um they're very intense

58:34 ↗ calendars but there are so many courts

58:39 ↗ especially I I'm not saying there are so

58:41 ↗ many courts that simply don't have

58:44 ↗ review calendars uh the King County

58:46 ↗ Prosecutors don't attend review

58:48 ↗ calendars um we take reviews very

58:52 ↗ careful very seriously because if you

58:54 ↗ don't monitor your cases what is all the

58:56 ↗ work for so finally we do legal training

59:02 ↗ uh and updates to the police department

59:04 ↗ uh we currently do that twice a year and

59:07 ↗ um we really enjoy doing it sometimes

59:10 ↗ we'll get a little behind schedule but

59:11 ↗ we we've got them set now for every June

59:16 ↗ and every December and um obviously we

59:21 ↗ also do when when something when laws

59:24 ↗ change or procedure change es we do

59:27 ↗ memos to the police uh to deter say like

59:31 ↗ when Blake happened it was a lot of memo

59:33 ↗ writing of this is what this is what the

59:36 ↗ this is what waa Washington Association

59:38 ↗ of Prosecuting attorneys is recommending

59:41 ↗ every jurisdiction did it a little bit

59:43 ↗ differently and so we all came on the

59:45 ↗ same page that all those prior

59:47 ↗ convictions needed to be vacated and

59:49 ↗ that was clearly a lot of work but we we

59:52 ↗ did it and we just finished all the old

59:54 ↗ cases that were filed in over in King

59:58 ↗ County um so that is essentially what we

1:00:02 ↗ do on a daily

1:00:04 ↗ basis um and then the next slide

1:00:09 ↗ is changes in Trends I would say the

1:00:13 ↗ biggest change in

1:00:15 ↗ 2024 is the body cams the addition of

1:00:18 ↗ the body cams uh we've learned from our

1:00:23 ↗ paralal in downloading them to our files

1:00:26 ↗ to everything from watching them and

1:00:29 ↗ knowing what what's on them because

1:00:31 ↗ before we only had the police report and

1:00:34 ↗ now we're there we're watching it and

1:00:38 ↗ sometimes it's time consuming because a

1:00:41 ↗ DUI a DUI from start to finish can can

1:00:45 ↗ literally take two or three hours if if

1:00:47 ↗ there's a blood draw and they're going

1:00:49 ↗ up to the hospital maybe more but if you

1:00:53 ↗ if you don't watch it you're going to

1:00:55 ↗ miss something

1:00:56 ↗ so in every case that's going to trial

1:01:00 ↗ that entire footage is going to be

1:01:02 ↗ watched by a prosecutor if it's a

1:01:05 ↗ negotiation case we're going to watch

1:01:08 ↗ what we need to watch um but it is it

1:01:11 ↗ has been quite time consuming it's been

1:01:14 ↗ a real change in our jobs um I I think a

1:01:17 ↗ change for the better it's just

1:01:19 ↗ timeconsuming but it's it's a great

1:01:21 ↗ change for our officers to feel safe in

1:01:25 ↗ what they're doing and it's the best

1:01:27 ↗ picture that the jury can see they're

1:01:31 ↗ there um in between 19 we already talked

1:01:35 ↗ about this 2019 and 2023 the DUI filings

1:01:39 ↗ have gone up

1:01:41 ↗ 133% in isqua

1:01:44 ↗ Alone um yes we have um a new police

1:01:49 ↗ chief and not new but um and we're

1:01:53 ↗ seeing great enforcement I mean they are

1:01:56 ↗ out there doing their job and they're

1:01:58 ↗ getting these people off the street and

1:02:00 ↗ that is what what isqua needs um many of

1:02:05 ↗ those cases hire private counsel I would

1:02:08 ↗ say roughly 50% hire private counsel so

1:02:13 ↗ it's the the public defenders we have

1:02:15 ↗ are excellent I would say the private

1:02:18 ↗ Council tend to go a little harder on

1:02:21 ↗ the motion work which requires research

1:02:25 ↗ um bringing officers in for motion

1:02:27 ↗ hearings writing writing briefs for

1:02:30 ↗ every one of those

1:02:32 ↗ motions um and it's it's a lot of work

1:02:36 ↗ um it's satisfying work but it's a lot

1:02:39 ↗ of work in 20 I'm sorry we have a qu

1:02:42 ↗ question from Deputy Council Deputy

1:02:45 ↗ council president Michelle uh ly on

1:02:49 ↗ again on fentel uh H it's a federal

1:02:52 ↗ crime

1:02:54 ↗ right we I wouldn't see it as a federal

1:02:57 ↗ crime if it's a DUI

1:03:00 ↗ fentanyl which we get a lot of a lot of

1:03:03 ↗ physical control and DUI that means

1:03:06 ↗ they're sitting in a non-running car but

1:03:08 ↗ with the car running and they're slumped

1:03:10 ↗ out behind the wheel is the common

1:03:12 ↗ scenario with

1:03:14 ↗ fentanyl um if we're seeing

1:03:19 ↗ that I I I don't believe it is a federal

1:03:23 ↗ crime okay if they were a cross state

1:03:25 ↗ line are traveling it could be but no

1:03:28 ↗ it's pardon me on a yeah on a military

1:03:33 ↗ base or something my question my

1:03:36 ↗ question really was do you interact a

1:03:37 ↗ lot with um uh Federal U prosecutors or

1:03:43 ↗ but apparently not not so much okay not

1:03:45 ↗ so much on male thefts we do because

1:03:48 ↗ sometimes those are uh cross state lines

1:03:50 ↗ and they work together with us to see if

1:03:52 ↗ they're going to take the case federally

1:03:54 ↗ depending on the person's track record

1:03:57 ↗ and they've been doing it and crossing

1:03:58 ↗ state lines but but not in the DUI but I

1:04:01 ↗ will say the number of increase in DUIs

1:04:06 ↗ absolutely has to do with with fentanyl

1:04:09 ↗ yeah um so so I I have a question yeah

1:04:13 ↗ uh when when I think of DUI I think of

1:04:17 ↗ traditionally alcohol somebody at what

1:04:20 ↗ point do we do DUI people actually do

1:04:24 ↗ jail time

1:04:27 ↗ I think uh well the police department

1:04:30 ↗ usually books DUIs so they're definitely

1:04:34 ↗ going to be in jail till they get seen

1:04:36 ↗ the next day if they unless there's some

1:04:39 ↗ reason why they decide make a

1:04:41 ↗ determination not to book them it's qu

1:04:44 ↗ police book a lot of

1:04:45 ↗ DUIs um

1:04:51 ↗ most and if it's a second DUI it's a

1:04:53 ↗ mandatory booking but isqua books most

1:04:57 ↗ of their first DUIs um later if they

1:05:01 ↗ continue to to reoffend not follow

1:05:04 ↗ probation we absolutely have had DUIs

1:05:07 ↗ that have served out their entire year

1:05:09 ↗ so um they see they see and if it's a

1:05:13 ↗ second DUI there's a mandatory minimum

1:05:15 ↗ of 30 days if they blow 45 days if it's

1:05:20 ↗ over

1:05:21 ↗ A5 45 blow over A5 45 days is a

1:05:26 ↗ mandatory minimum if they refuse to blow

1:05:29 ↗ so they're they're and that's within a

1:05:32 ↗ seven-year period so second DUI they're

1:05:35 ↗ going to do at least a month at least a

1:05:37 ↗ month 45 days if they refuse uh or it's

1:05:42 ↗ over5 and even if it's a second DUI in

1:05:45 ↗ 10

1:05:46 ↗ years uh it's not a mandatory minimum

1:05:50 ↗ but we recommend jail because they've

1:05:52 ↗ already had a bite at the Apple so yes

1:05:54 ↗ we do recommend in jail for repeat

1:05:57 ↗ offenders of DUI all right thank you

1:05:59 ↗ absolutely other questions right now

1:06:02 ↗ nope uh in uh

1:06:04 ↗ 2023 uh CA domestic violence uh cases

1:06:08 ↗ went up it it now in 2023 constituted

1:06:12 ↗ 30% of the criminal case load which is a

1:06:15 ↗ jump from the year before I believe when

1:06:17 ↗ it was 21% of the criminal case load so

1:06:21 ↗ not a huge jump but definitely a jump um

1:06:25 ↗ um you know there there are cases that

1:06:27 ↗ are difficult they're complex they're

1:06:29 ↗ emotionally

1:06:30 ↗ draining um some we have a DB Advocate

1:06:34 ↗ who is wonderful but we also are

1:06:36 ↗ interacting with the victims we need to

1:06:38 ↗ know our victims we need to bring them

1:06:40 ↗ in for interviews um that's a weekly

1:06:44 ↗ thing happening in our office DV

1:06:45 ↗ interviews with victims um they call a

1:06:48 ↗ lot they they need handholding some of

1:06:51 ↗ them want the case dropped immediately

1:06:53 ↗ but the other ones want to know what can

1:06:55 ↗ we do that's going to help

1:06:57 ↗ them perhaps stay in a situation that

1:07:00 ↗ they have to stay in but get help and

1:07:03 ↗ resources and what how can they get the

1:07:05 ↗ resources for their

1:07:08 ↗ abuser um so that's that's been a a

1:07:11 ↗ significant increase in work um as you

1:07:14 ↗ know in August of 2023 drug possession

1:07:17 ↗ got was back on the books and the

1:07:20 ↗ statute was changed and we all started

1:07:23 ↗ filing those again we haven't seen a

1:07:25 ↗ huge number yet but we definitely uh are

1:07:29 ↗ getting filings for possession and um

1:07:34 ↗ and use in a public place which the

1:07:36 ↗ maximum sentence is 180 days rather than

1:07:40 ↗ uh the 90 that it used to be so um and

1:07:43 ↗ then finally we have the addition of

1:07:45 ↗ Community Court since 2021 which

1:07:49 ↗ obviously the judge has touched on and

1:07:51 ↗ Alexa is going to talk about it a little

1:07:52 ↗ bit more because she takes the lead in

1:07:54 ↗ the community Court

1:07:58 ↗ um okay so and then

1:08:02 ↗ um in reaching out to other King County

1:08:05 ↗ contract prosecutors uh I we we did some

1:08:11 ↗ comparisons I knew aaqua seemed to be

1:08:14 ↗ getting a a pretty good deal um and when

1:08:19 ↗ we actually broke it down by

1:08:21 ↗ filings um I get paid $228

1:08:25 ↗ a filing or my office does where boy um

1:08:30 ↗ Maple Valley

1:08:32 ↗ prosecutor um a lot more than that

1:08:36 ↗ Kenmore prosecutor a lot more than that

1:08:38 ↗ Shoreline prosecutor a lot more than

1:08:40 ↗ that um so um I would point that out in

1:08:45 ↗ that it's not just case filings that

1:08:47 ↗ have increased the number of calendars

1:08:50 ↗ in two

1:08:52 ↗ 2023 doubled from the number of calendar

1:08:55 ↗ ERS a a month uh from 2018

1:09:00 ↗ doubled um and they are long they often

1:09:03 ↗ go through lunch almost always uh and

1:09:08 ↗ into the evening um I truly believe that

1:09:11 ↗ you the city of isqua has the best most

1:09:15 ↗ experienced prosecution

1:09:17 ↗ team in the county and probably the

1:09:20 ↗ state it might be biased um but the

1:09:24 ↗ bottom line is uh we can't keep serving

1:09:27 ↗ isqua uh unless we're able to have an

1:09:30 ↗ increase in compensation so I can offer

1:09:33 ↗ health insurance to my employees like

1:09:35 ↗ the county does like Bel does like

1:09:38 ↗ Seattle does um and and keep them so um

1:09:44 ↗ we love being your prosecutors um you I

1:09:48 ↗ live in samamish but used to be a squa

1:09:51 ↗ um I love the community and we certainly

1:09:54 ↗ hope that we will continue you to be

1:09:55 ↗ your

1:09:57 ↗ prosecutors and with that I'm going to

1:09:59 ↗ turn it over to M McCaron briefly uh a

1:10:02 ↗ little to talk a little bit more about

1:10:04 ↗ Community Court and I do have um stats

1:10:06 ↗ and numbers if you're interested um I

1:10:09 ↗ did look at the total case load from the

1:10:11 ↗ three cities isqua snow kwami North Bend

1:10:15 ↗ isqua was at 60% between the three

1:10:18 ↗ cities snowwy 15% North Ben

1:10:23 ↗ 25% um

1:10:26 ↗ and and yeah there's any other questions

1:10:29 ↗ please let me know thank you very much

1:10:32 ↗ thank

1:10:37 ↗ you hi I am Alexa McBarron and obviously

1:10:40 ↗ I work with Lynn at the office along

1:10:42 ↗ with Russell thorum I know the judge um

1:10:45 ↗ touched a lot on Community Court and

1:10:46 ↗ what that program looks like and its

1:10:48 ↗ goals but I just want to touch on a

1:10:49 ↗ little bit um of kind of the day-to-day

1:10:52 ↗ and the workload that it looks like for

1:10:54 ↗ our office so obviously started it in

1:10:56 ↗ 2021 as has been mentioned um the for us

1:11:00 ↗ the community Court potential um process

1:11:03 ↗ starts as soon as we're reviewing new

1:11:05 ↗ cases new cases that are on for that

1:11:07 ↗ first a brain May hearing we're

1:11:08 ↗ reviewing cases for um for who would be

1:11:11 ↗ a potential participant appropriate

1:11:14 ↗ participant for our community court so

1:11:16 ↗ we're looking at um as the judge

1:11:18 ↗ mentioned people to have little to no

1:11:20 ↗ criminal history young people that um

1:11:22 ↗ you know it's that oneoff theft that

1:11:24 ↗ we're hoping to Di them from the

1:11:25 ↗ criminal justice system before they're

1:11:28 ↗ on their way um essentially as we see

1:11:31 ↗ sometimes happen um or we're looking at

1:11:34 ↗ that high-risk Heine needs population

1:11:35 ↗ where we're looking at low-level crimes

1:11:38 ↗ driven by poverty or addiction um even

1:11:40 ↗ if they do have lengthy criminal

1:11:41 ↗ histories because we're trying to Target

1:11:44 ↗ the population of people that can really

1:11:45 ↗ benefit from the resources that are in

1:11:47 ↗ the resource room whether that's sud

1:11:49 ↗ substance use disorder treatment mental

1:11:51 ↗ health treatment DSHS resources things

1:11:53 ↗ like that um to kind of facilitate this

1:11:56 ↗ process we have a weekly Staffing

1:11:58 ↗ meeting uh on Mondays where that's the

1:12:00 ↗ prosecutor defense attorney um Court

1:12:03 ↗ staff the U Marisol case manager and the

1:12:06 ↗ judge we all meet um on Mondays and

1:12:09 ↗ discuss everyone that's currently in

1:12:11 ↗ community court if people are in

1:12:12 ↗ compliance if they're not um how we're

1:12:15 ↗ going to tackle issues if they're not in

1:12:17 ↗ compliance what are their goals for the

1:12:19 ↗ next week um and then obviously we're

1:12:21 ↗ prepping for the weekly Community Court

1:12:23 ↗ calendar which again involves confir in

1:12:25 ↗ compliance reading treatment reports um

1:12:27 ↗ confirming negative uas reviewing

1:12:29 ↗ criminal history to make sure people

1:12:30 ↗ haven't reoffended um and reviewing uh

1:12:34 ↗ observing participants for to Target

1:12:36 ↗ what kind of needs we think that they

1:12:38 ↗ will need to be able to successfully opt

1:12:41 ↗ into our program and then we have the

1:12:44 ↗ weekly Community Court calendar as

1:12:45 ↗ mentioned on Thursdays where each

1:12:47 ↗ participant is addressed on the record

1:12:48 ↗ in front of the judge um we have

1:12:51 ↗ graduations once a participant

1:12:53 ↗ successfully completes the program um we

1:12:56 ↗ often do them in person here at the

1:12:57 ↗ court if the participants able to make

1:12:59 ↗ it which is a lot of fun as most of our

1:13:01 ↗ court is is virtual especially as it's

1:13:04 ↗ weekly um which does make it nice and

1:13:06 ↗ easy for people to log on but um if

1:13:09 ↗ they're able to come in person we really

1:13:11 ↗ value that time we got to congratulate

1:13:13 ↗ them and um wish them all the best in

1:13:15 ↗ the future and uh we do celebrate uh

1:13:18 ↗ just one participant at a time which

1:13:20 ↗ helps um just we found really make sure

1:13:22 ↗ that we're focusing on on individual

1:13:24 ↗ success so that's kind of just what uh

1:13:27 ↗ the community Court looks like from our

1:13:29 ↗ from our office's standpoint but um is

1:13:32 ↗ there any questions based on

1:13:34 ↗ that I don't think so but thank you

1:13:37 ↗ perfect turn it over to next Think

1:13:39 ↗ Public Defense

1:13:43 ↗ Services least that's the next slide

1:14:00 ↗ so Sean McColly um own Valley Defenders

1:14:03 ↗ and I've been your public defender since

1:14:05 ↗ 2005 or six I believe um and um it's

1:14:10 ↗ changed a lot over the years used to be

1:14:13 ↗ once a week I'd come here and I think I

1:14:15 ↗ charge 3,500 or something a month you

1:14:18 ↗ know it was a very different than what

1:14:20 ↗ it is now um we also see used to see a

1:14:24 ↗ high number of very simple cases out of

1:14:27 ↗ this court drivew license suspended

1:14:28 ↗ third degree possession of marijuana

1:14:31 ↗ very simple cases that don't take a lot

1:14:33 ↗ of attorney time what we've seen as a

1:14:36 ↗ change over the years is a

1:14:40 ↗ filing Decisions by our King County

1:14:42 ↗ prosecutor to not prosecute crimes has

1:14:45 ↗ put that burden on the local

1:14:49 ↗ jurisdiction um so miss mly was touching

1:14:52 ↗ upon the fact that we're doing a lot of

1:14:54 ↗ felonies now it's not filed as a felony

1:14:56 ↗ but I've seen drive by shootings

1:14:59 ↗ strangulations gun cases um I remember

1:15:03 ↗ one after we did it was $10,000 worth of

1:15:07 ↗ alcohol um so what are what is this

1:15:11 ↗ doing so public defenders you know the

1:15:14 ↗ more complex of a case that you have

1:15:16 ↗ takes a lot more attorney time and we're

1:15:20 ↗ seeing that the types of cases are

1:15:22 ↗ changing to where it's becoming a very

1:15:24 ↗ intensive sort of case Lo um I provide

1:15:28 ↗ roughly uh 2.5 FTE attorneys for that'd

1:15:32 ↗ be for Northbend isqua um and then we

1:15:36 ↗ account for snami as well and um you

1:15:41 ↗ know that's increased over the years um

1:15:43 ↗ but we're finding that uh I we represent

1:15:47 ↗ in a lot of different jurisdictions I

1:15:49 ↗ represent from everywhere from

1:15:50 ↗ Woodenville to pea to Yakama to Ron um

1:15:54 ↗ kwami North Ben you name it and we have

1:15:56 ↗ 13 attorneys and I see different Trends

1:15:59 ↗ in different courts and what's going on

1:16:02 ↗ and um this court is one of the more

1:16:06 ↗ enjoyable courts to be in my attorneys

1:16:08 ↗ fight to be able to be assigned to this

1:16:10 ↗ court uh then that's a testament to the

1:16:13 ↗ prosecutors the staff the judge um it's

1:16:17 ↗ also a very intensive um Court in terms

1:16:20 ↗ of my my staff just doesn't get

1:16:23 ↗ lunch and um we work all day and one of

1:16:28 ↗ the nice things that I've seen in terms

1:16:29 ↗ of a change has been was kind of forced

1:16:32 ↗ Upon Us in Co but we went to these

1:16:34 ↗ hybrid calendars where people could

1:16:36 ↗ appear on Zoom my initial concern was

1:16:40 ↗ wow this is going to affect my clients

1:16:42 ↗ the ones that don't have the ability to

1:16:45 ↗ figure out

1:16:46 ↗ zoom and I didn't see that I actually

1:16:49 ↗ what I did see was some are joining on

1:16:51 ↗ their telephone some are having some

1:16:53 ↗ difficulty and come to my office and

1:16:55 ↗ join from there but what I saw is you

1:16:57 ↗ know that that single mother who maybe

1:17:00 ↗ is almost living out of her car can't

1:17:02 ↗ afford to take the day off of work could

1:17:04 ↗ come up here for court now on her

1:17:06 ↗ telephone take a break um so access to

1:17:09 ↗ justice is a very big big issue and so I

1:17:13 ↗ really appreciated that change for the

1:17:15 ↗ court some courts are going back to all

1:17:17 ↗ in person and I personally think that

1:17:20 ↗ that's going to have um a great impact

1:17:24 ↗ act on those who are in need you know

1:17:28 ↗ someone like me can afford to go take a

1:17:29 ↗ day off and go to court but my many of

1:17:33 ↗ my clients can't and and I have one

1:17:35 ↗ jurisdiction that's going back in person

1:17:37 ↗ next week and the people are freaking

1:17:39 ↗ out I can't take that day off so that's

1:17:42 ↗ that's been something that's been really

1:17:43 ↗ really helpful here um how has it also

1:17:47 ↗ changed well we used to have heroin

1:17:49 ↗ right um and we would maybe close a file

1:17:53 ↗ or two a year on someone who dies from

1:17:55 ↗ heroin we're having people die every

1:17:59 ↗ week it

1:18:00 ↗ is to the point where we're numb to it

1:18:04 ↗ now like we don't even cry anymore

1:18:06 ↗ hardly and I know that's sad to say but

1:18:09 ↗ we're just numb to

1:18:11 ↗ it we had clients um from isqua here

1:18:15 ↗ that we were trying to get help for a

1:18:16 ↗ long time they left their fentel on the

1:18:19 ↗ nightstand and their kid got into it and

1:18:21 ↗ died now they're going to

1:18:23 ↗ prison this fentel is crazy it uh is

1:18:28 ↗ really really

1:18:29 ↗ challenging when the judge is saying

1:18:32 ↗ well we need this accountability we need

1:18:33 ↗ tests we need to be able to nip this in

1:18:36 ↗ the bud and try to save our kids it's

1:18:38 ↗ killing our kids the young people

1:18:43 ↗ um we need those tools you know and I'm

1:18:46 ↗ a defense attorney you might be thinking

1:18:48 ↗ well why would this guy care because I

1:18:50 ↗ care about my clients you know what's in

1:18:51 ↗ their best interest is not necessarily

1:18:53 ↗ beating their charge it's

1:18:55 ↗ get to survive getting them to go to

1:18:57 ↗ treatment and we were always one of the

1:18:59 ↗ biggest courts about releasing the

1:19:02 ↗ treatment I think we did more than

1:19:03 ↗ anyone before Obamacare and I was very

1:19:06 ↗ proud of that and we had a lot of

1:19:07 ↗ successes doing that um we need to keep

1:19:11 ↗ doing it and but this is an intensive

1:19:14 ↗ intensive court for us um we're seeing

1:19:17 ↗ big changes in public defense that I've

1:19:19 ↗ never seen before when Co hit um for

1:19:25 ↗ some reason nobody nobody wants to be

1:19:26 ↗ public defender anymore and this used to

1:19:28 ↗ be a very challenging to come and get a

1:19:31 ↗ Public Defense contract in jurisdiction

1:19:34 ↗ and now I'm getting cities that call me

1:19:37 ↗ you know the week before December

1:19:39 ↗ begging us to do their Public Defense

1:19:41 ↗ next year they don't have anyone you

1:19:43 ↗ know we had a client who sat in Island

1:19:45 ↗ County for four months waiting to get a

1:19:46 ↗ public defender so it's really changed a

1:19:49 ↗ lot so the Supreme Court asked you know

1:19:53 ↗ the bar association to take a look at

1:19:54 ↗ the Public Defense standards sort of the

1:19:57 ↗ general rules we live by and um see if

1:20:01 ↗ there's changes that can be made there

1:20:02 ↗ that might prompt more public defenders

1:20:05 ↗ to come in because really the reality is

1:20:08 ↗ you're just going to dismiss cases if

1:20:09 ↗ you don't have public defenders and many

1:20:11 ↗ jurisdictions do that um they made they

1:20:15 ↗ made some recommendations and they

1:20:16 ↗ adopted some new standards that are

1:20:18 ↗ going to potentially be phased in it

1:20:21 ↗ remains to be seen what's going to

1:20:22 ↗ happen with respect to the Supreme Court

1:20:25 ↗ but essentially here's what it means to

1:20:27 ↗ you and bottom line and to me right now

1:20:31 ↗ my attorneys can handle 300 cases a year

1:20:34 ↗ you potentially could go to 400 if you

1:20:36 ↗ had a high number of simple easy cases

1:20:39 ↗ like it was in the old days but 300 is

1:20:42 ↗ really the standard for here so I must

1:20:44 ↗ provide three or so attorneys for this

1:20:47 ↗ jurisdiction but the per hour case load

1:20:50 ↗ my isqua attorneys are in court more

1:20:52 ↗ than any other jurisdiction because we

1:20:55 ↗ do try to make a change because we do

1:20:57 ↗ order treatment and we do try to have

1:20:59 ↗ people be

1:21:01 ↗ accountable but it also is a cost on us

1:21:05 ↗ it's a very demanding jurisdiction uh in

1:21:07 ↗ terms of the amount of time um you know

1:21:11 ↗ some jurisdictions just don't care

1:21:13 ↗ they'll only make people who get DUI go

1:21:15 ↗ through treatment that's it you know 80

1:21:17 ↗ to 9% of our cases are related to

1:21:19 ↗ alcohol and drugs in some way but yet

1:21:22 ↗ they're not addressed in other

1:21:23 ↗ jurisdictions and I guess that's what

1:21:25 ↗ they choose um I'm glad that isqua has

1:21:28 ↗ always chose sort of a different

1:21:30 ↗ route but these new Public Defense

1:21:33 ↗ standards so they're going to get phased

1:21:34 ↗ in if they're adopted and we'll see

1:21:37 ↗ what's going to happen here coming up

1:21:39 ↗ we're going to see 120 cases a year be

1:21:41 ↗ the

1:21:42 ↗ maximum now the theory and the thought

1:21:44 ↗ behind this is that public defenders are

1:21:48 ↗ overworked and people don't want to be

1:21:50 ↗ public defenders because they're

1:21:51 ↗ overworked they got too many cases and

1:21:54 ↗ so so we're going to lower the amount of

1:21:55 ↗ total cases at a time where we're in a

1:21:59 ↗ critical shortage of public

1:22:01 ↗ defenders so what all was going to mean

1:22:03 ↗ for us is well I provide two and a half

1:22:05 ↗ three attorneys for this contract I need

1:22:10 ↗ nine and that cost

1:22:13 ↗ money and so right now um I negotiate

1:22:17 ↗ and do all the contracts in the firm and

1:22:20 ↗ I know what all the different

1:22:21 ↗ jurisdictions do but right now um this

1:22:25 ↗ request

1:22:26 ↗ probably probably my um most difficult

1:22:30 ↗ contract to make money on and I think

1:22:32 ↗ I'm just probably breaking even if

1:22:34 ↗ anything right now um and we've signed a

1:22:38 ↗ one-year contract

1:22:40 ↗ extension and um we're we're going to

1:22:43 ↗ try to work it out but the the reality

1:22:45 ↗ is is coming up in the future um

1:22:49 ↗ starting next year it just I have to pay

1:22:53 ↗ people in the last three years we've had

1:22:55 ↗ 15% inflation right but in the attorney

1:22:59 ↗ world in the last three years I now pay

1:23:02 ↗ someone 25% more as a starting rate and

1:23:07 ↗ I won't get them otherwise if you go to

1:23:10 ↗ the Washington Defenders Association

1:23:12 ↗ which is all the public defenders you

1:23:14 ↗ look at the job posting from every

1:23:15 ↗ single jurisdiction is begging for

1:23:17 ↗ public defenders they're offering $5,000

1:23:19 ↗ bonuses moving fees and I have to try

1:23:23 ↗ and offer uh a salary that's

1:23:25 ↗ commensurate with the other

1:23:27 ↗ jurisdictions it's very very difficult

1:23:30 ↗ and um it's very very competitive and I

1:23:34 ↗ don't know how much longer we can do it

1:23:36 ↗ at sort of a Bargain Basement rates you

1:23:39 ↗ know it becomes something that just is

1:23:41 ↗ very very difficult to do um and this

1:23:44 ↗ has been my favorite jurisdiction and

1:23:47 ↗ contract for a long long time but the

1:23:49 ↗ realities of running a business are we

1:23:52 ↗ just can get

1:23:53 ↗ paid a fairer amount in other

1:23:55 ↗ jurisdictions sometimes so

1:23:59 ↗ um we we've really enjoyed this contract

1:24:01 ↗ we' really would love to be a public

1:24:03 ↗ defender in the future but there these

1:24:05 ↗ big changes are coming um and whether or

1:24:09 ↗ not they adopt the 120 case load you

1:24:11 ↗ think about that 300 case load down to

1:24:13 ↗ 120 you need essentially two additional

1:24:16 ↗ attorneys to cover what one of my

1:24:18 ↗ attorneys is covering right

1:24:20 ↗ now and that's just something that is

1:24:23 ↗ difficult to

1:24:24 ↗ before so those changes are coming I

1:24:28 ↗ don't know if I prompted any questions I

1:24:30 ↗ let me see if I even hit on half this

1:24:33 ↗ stuff yes um council member uh

1:24:36 ↗ Joe thank you Mr

1:24:38 ↗ chairman uh sh M call it's very nice to

1:24:41 ↗ see you um been a long time sir I

1:24:43 ↗ appreciate uh all the work you've done

1:24:46 ↗ in this court and I know that uh you're

1:24:49 ↗ highly respected in the defense bar

1:24:51 ↗ because of all the work you've been

1:24:52 ↗ doing could you comment on the March

1:24:55 ↗ 24th rule um a little bit the budget

1:24:58 ↗ recommendation is talking about a annual

1:25:01 ↗ increase between 50,000 and

1:25:04 ↗ 250,000 and you talked about how they're

1:25:06 ↗ stepping up over the years do you kind

1:25:08 ↗ of give us a year-by-year

1:25:10 ↗ increase uh as the rule is contemplated

1:25:14 ↗ right now we're not holding you to those

1:25:15 ↗ numbers at all but I think at the first

1:25:18 ↗ year is a 250 it's going to it's a phase

1:25:21 ↗ in approach starting in

1:25:25 ↗ yeah 2025 goes to

1:25:31 ↗ yeah yeah right but in many

1:25:34 ↗ jurisdictions is aqua included our

1:25:36 ↗ contracts were specifying we're

1:25:37 ↗ following Bar Association standard sure

1:25:40 ↗ and so we stopped that last year but

1:25:42 ↗ yeah just from a budgetary point of view

1:25:45 ↗ um I'm just trying to get a hold of what

1:25:48 ↗ years we would need to see what

1:25:51 ↗ increases so that we're competitive and

1:25:54 ↗ compliance with the rule if you can give

1:25:56 ↗ us that information maybe not right now

1:25:59 ↗ by number but if you could come back and

1:26:01 ↗ maybe give that to our city

1:26:03 ↗ administrator when that's there it gives

1:26:05 ↗ us a better guidance piece for our

1:26:08 ↗ budgeting yeah speaking of our city

1:26:10 ↗ administrator am I getting the sense

1:26:12 ↗ that you want to comment on this yes uh

1:26:15 ↗ thank you Mr chair uh council member Joe

1:26:17 ↗ again we're and certainly appreciate all

1:26:18 ↗ your comments um we just want to give

1:26:21 ↗ you a sense of the work and the issues

1:26:23 ↗ surrounding it we're not really here to

1:26:24 ↗ negotiate a new contract evening know

1:26:27 ↗ administration's intent by having this

1:26:30 ↗ discussion tonight is you know to move

1:26:32 ↗ forward with budgeting appropriately uh

1:26:35 ↗ to cover these challenges so you have

1:26:38 ↗ that commitment from us ABS in any other

1:26:41 ↗ direction no I I appreciate that and I

1:26:43 ↗ was just um not trying to negotiate in

1:26:46 ↗ public but trying to just get an idea of

1:26:49 ↗ what the rule is requiring and where we

1:26:50 ↗ needed to be um I hope that isqua would

1:26:53 ↗ be uh at the Forefront of making those

1:26:57 ↗ changes because we've been a leader in

1:26:59 ↗ the court system throughout the years

1:27:01 ↗ that our municipal court has been

1:27:03 ↗ inexistence so I just want to make sure

1:27:05 ↗ that we're keeping pace and that's why

1:27:07 ↗ we're here this evening is that when you

1:27:09 ↗ add up all the various numbers that

1:27:11 ↗ you're hearing tonight the number is

1:27:13 ↗ substantial yes and we do not see our

1:27:15 ↗ revenues increasing at that level uh to

1:27:18 ↗ cover this without other changes and so

1:27:22 ↗ U the big deal coming into 25 26 that's

1:27:25 ↗ why we appreciate everyone's time this

1:27:27 ↗ evening and we're taking time and going

1:27:29 ↗ through this in great detail because

1:27:30 ↗ it's going to be a major part of the

1:27:33 ↗ city council's 2526 budget deliberations

1:27:36 ↗ in a way that it has not been in a very

1:27:39 ↗ long time yeah and thanks to the

1:27:42 ↗ administration for bringing this to us

1:27:45 ↗ and um making sure that we're aware of

1:27:46 ↗ it we appreciate your for foresight and

1:27:49 ↗ and Future Vision for uh this subject

1:27:52 ↗ thank

1:27:53 ↗ you Deputy council president D

1:27:55 ↗ Michelle yeah just following up on

1:27:58 ↗ council member Joe's comments I had a

1:28:00 ↗ similar uh concern or not a concern um

1:28:04 ↗ question I guessed um about how this

1:28:07 ↗ would be phased in in 25 26 and then

1:28:09 ↗ 2728 which I realize is a different

1:28:12 ↗ Council but it would be nice when we get

1:28:15 ↗ the next presentation to kind of see how

1:28:20 ↗ um the administration is thinking about

1:28:22 ↗ phasing that in if that's what's

1:28:24 ↗ happening over time um and that was just

1:28:28 ↗ from the materials we had here that

1:28:30 ↗ wasn't clear to me how that was going to

1:28:32 ↗ happen yeah I mean so starting in 2025

1:28:36 ↗ we're going to go from 300 cases to 250

1:28:39 ↗ and then it drops down to something else

1:28:43 ↗ after that but I know the final number

1:28:44 ↗ is 120 and 20.7 there was a three-year

1:28:47 ↗ phase and if they adopt them as is we

1:28:49 ↗ know the Supreme Court wants to lower

1:28:52 ↗ the case numbers because they're the one

1:28:53 ↗ who ask them to look at it and make new

1:28:56 ↗ recommendations just don't know if

1:28:58 ↗ they're going to come out and just adopt

1:28:59 ↗ them wholesale um but that's what we're

1:29:03 ↗ looking at an additional attorney needed

1:29:04 ↗ in 2025 you'd probably be looking at two

1:29:07 ↗ or three needed in 2026 we'd probably

1:29:09 ↗ need a total of8 to n in

1:29:12 ↗ 2027 and there still is discussion as

1:29:14 ↗ he's mentioned that these have not been

1:29:16 ↗ approved um and the association for

1:29:18 ↗ Washington cities uh the Washington City

1:29:21 ↗ attorneys Association uh a number of

1:29:24 ↗ parties the City of Kent for example has

1:29:26 ↗ been very vocal in gathering up support

1:29:28 ↗ of other King County cities uh to you

1:29:31 ↗ know have the the Supreme Court have at

1:29:33 ↗ least some broader look at all all of

1:29:36 ↗ these issues so what you will see from

1:29:38 ↗ us in the budget will be the best

1:29:39 ↗ information that we have come fall here

1:29:42 ↗ it is late May um we just want to

1:29:45 ↗ present the issues for you tonight but

1:29:47 ↗ it's our commitment the administration's

1:29:49 ↗ commitment to make sure the sufficient

1:29:51 ↗ resources are allocated the challenge is

1:29:54 ↗ going to be what Municipal services do

1:29:56 ↗ we not do um perhaps 25 26 in order to

1:30:00 ↗ fund these changes one nice big change

1:30:02 ↗ one one nice thing that we did in this

1:30:04 ↗ jurisdiction which I think saves this

1:30:06 ↗ jurisdiction a lot of money we hired a

1:30:08 ↗ bilingual attorney we have Monica ANZ

1:30:11 ↗ who is a native Spanish speaking

1:30:13 ↗ attorney who can directly talk to

1:30:15 ↗ clients we don't ask for interpreter

1:30:17 ↗ Services we don't need it um that's a

1:30:20 ↗ huge savings from other contracts other

1:30:23 ↗ even previous

1:30:24 ↗ uh public defenders who asked the court

1:30:26 ↗ to approve expensive interpreter

1:30:29 ↗ Services be able to talk to your client

1:30:31 ↗ and you know Spanish makes up 80 plus

1:30:33 ↗ percent of your clientele that does

1:30:35 ↗ speak some other language so um so

1:30:38 ↗ that's been a real big help to this

1:30:40 ↗ jurisdiction I know that we'll have um

1:30:43 ↗ interpreter calendars that blow a lot

1:30:45 ↗ easier and smoother because we have

1:30:48 ↗ Spanish speaking uh staff as well so um

1:30:52 ↗ that's one nice perk that we've been

1:30:54 ↗ able to provide um and so we always

1:30:58 ↗ enjoy doing that and we think it's we

1:31:02 ↗ think that having an attorney who can

1:31:03 ↗ talk to the client in their language is

1:31:06 ↗ very

1:31:07 ↗ valuable thank you do you have more

1:31:09 ↗ material to present this evening I don't

1:31:12 ↗ no okay all right thank you all thank

1:31:15 ↗ you very

1:31:16 ↗ much back to judge Stewart I don't have

1:31:19 ↗ a whole bunch more to present one one

1:31:21 ↗ thing that I would just follow up on

1:31:22 ↗ Lynn one of the things that caught me

1:31:24 ↗ off guard she was talking about the

1:31:24 ↗ felonies and so did Mr McColly one of

1:31:26 ↗ the things that has started to get filed

1:31:28 ↗ which I think is the most obvious felony

1:31:30 ↗ because difference between a theft 2 and

1:31:31 ↗ a theft 3 is something we toss around

1:31:33 ↗ our tmvs taking Motor Vehicles we're

1:31:35 ↗ getting car thefts now on a regular

1:31:37 ↗ frequent basis filed into our court

1:31:38 ↗ that's increased some of the complexity

1:31:40 ↗ and such uh the last thing Mr Mr Joe if

1:31:44 ↗ council member Joe I'm sorry I'm

1:31:45 ↗ guessing the your city administrator has

1:31:47 ↗ this but if you I I have the timeline

1:31:49 ↗ for the Public Defense standards I can

1:31:50 ↗ forward uh to you guys is it certainly

1:31:52 ↗ something my Association we're not

1:31:54 ↗ allowed to get involved in it uh but

1:31:56 ↗ it's something that we're aware of uh

1:31:58 ↗ though I think Benton County is the one

1:31:59 ↗ we hear about the most I think Benton

1:32:00 ↗ County has I may get this wrong but it's

1:32:03 ↗ something they it's on our list serve

1:32:04 ↗ all the time that they have 88 attorneys

1:32:06 ↗ in Benton County but if the Public

1:32:07 ↗ Defense standards pass as set they'll

1:32:09 ↗ need 89 new public defenders and Mr

1:32:12 ↗ mccol is correct every public defender

1:32:13 ↗ agency out there can't find attorneys

1:32:15 ↗ now so we don't know where those

1:32:17 ↗ additional bodies could be and the last

1:32:19 ↗ thing I wanted to mention uh that I as I

1:32:21 ↗ sat down uh Council D Michelle you're

1:32:24 ↗ asking for some other things we could do

1:32:25 ↗ with regard to the testing uh we don't

1:32:27 ↗ have it on our budget request this year

1:32:29 ↗ because we weren't prepared and we don't

1:32:30 ↗ know how we'd handle it but one of the

1:32:32 ↗ things you could look towards in the

1:32:33 ↗ future is the possibility that the the

1:32:35 ↗ the uh uh we might come to you asking

1:32:37 ↗ for you to fund scram devices that was

1:32:39 ↗ mentioned by some of the attorneys uh to

1:32:41 ↗ the extent that we can get scram devices

1:32:43 ↗ that are run by the court on folks uh

1:32:45 ↗ ankles we can take them out of our urine

1:32:48 ↗ testing and our and Reserve that for

1:32:50 ↗ Fentanyl and do a better job of

1:32:51 ↗ monitoring the folks on alcohol which is

1:32:53 ↗ the D guys and stuff like that I think

1:32:55 ↗ that's unless you folks have other

1:32:58 ↗ questions I think council member Joe has

1:33:00 ↗ another question thank you uh judge stur

1:33:03 ↗ for coming back up to sew things up um I

1:33:07 ↗ just had a request uh that I had in mind

1:33:11 ↗ as we are looking at our facilities

1:33:13 ↗ right now and possibly moving the court

1:33:15 ↗ so that we can perhaps do a new fire

1:33:18 ↗ station here the court potentially be

1:33:20 ↗ moving over to the King County District

1:33:22 ↗ Court I was wondering if um not right

1:33:24 ↗ now but uh if you could um perhaps give

1:33:28 ↗ us some of the financial impacts to that

1:33:31 ↗ and or um case service impacts or client

1:33:36 ↗ service impacts to that uh so that we're

1:33:38 ↗ aware of those factors when we're making

1:33:40 ↗ the decision uh to move over to King

1:33:42 ↗ County court I'm sure the Administration

1:33:44 ↗ has probably already been working with

1:33:46 ↗ you on that but um it's just a request

1:33:48 ↗ from from this committee talk to

1:33:50 ↗ Christie and we can kind come some

1:33:51 ↗ members thank you appreciate it

1:33:54 ↗ are these last SL Shores and and we do

1:33:56 ↗ have the tours scheduled and so there'll

1:33:58 ↗ be a discussion during those tours June

1:34:02 ↗ 10th uh we'll look through the existing

1:34:04 ↗ facilities and then on July 15th will'll

1:34:06 ↗ be the door of the The District Court fa

1:34:11 ↗ so the last slides uh that are here Mr

1:34:13 ↗ chairman members of the committee

1:34:16 ↗ um we we again we'll be talking at the

1:34:19 ↗ next item about safety cameras um you

1:34:22 ↗ know looking at

1:34:24 ↗ $300,000 plus or minus cost at this

1:34:27 ↗ juncture as we're doing budgeting and so

1:34:29 ↗ as we as the administration are uh in

1:34:32 ↗ the first steps of this this is the

1:34:34 ↗ number one item on the list um to make

1:34:38 ↗ sure that the the Staffing requests that

1:34:40 ↗ the court is requesting um and then as

1:34:43 ↗ we negotiate contracts with the public

1:34:45 ↗ defender and the city prosecutor uh

1:34:47 ↗ those are commensurate with uh the

1:34:50 ↗ conditions that you've heard this

1:34:51 ↗ evening so that that is our plan unless

1:34:54 ↗ directed otherwise

1:34:55 ↗ or encouraged otherwise uh but part of

1:34:59 ↗ the reason we're here this evening is to

1:35:00 ↗ give you this heads up that from mayor

1:35:02 ↗ Paul's uh perspective um these are

1:35:05 ↗ serious important issues uh they're very

1:35:08 ↗ different than what we have talked about

1:35:09 ↗ in recent years with the budget uh so

1:35:11 ↗ this is a layer above and beyond that

1:35:15 ↗ and I think that pretty much takes us to

1:35:16 ↗ the end of the presentation you got a

1:35:18 ↗ couple more slides if there's excuse me

1:35:20 ↗ you have a couple more slides a couple

1:35:22 ↗ more slides um we always say two or

1:35:24 ↗ three times at the end with the same

1:35:26 ↗ thing um that uh you know our

1:35:29 ↗ recommendation again is receive the

1:35:30 ↗ report uh provide any feedback you have

1:35:32 ↗ and we'll be back to talk about the

1:35:35 ↗ budget in more detail at the council's

1:35:36 ↗ retreat in late and I'd like to thank

1:35:39 ↗ all the the folks who came out tonight

1:35:42 ↗ as you heard they were very busy people

1:35:44 ↗ and so to take a couple of hours out of

1:35:46 ↗ their evening on a a Tuesday night is is

1:35:49 ↗ quite a lot so thank you to all of you

1:35:50 ↗ who who came and we're certainly

1:35:52 ↗ everyone's available for F those of you

1:35:54 ↗ worried about lunches we're trying to

1:35:55 ↗ adress calendars so we can get lunches

1:35:57 ↗ again although I did not get a lunch

1:35:58 ↗ today so uh we're working on it all

1:36:02 ↗ right thank thank you very much uh judge

1:36:04 ↗ Stewart so uh before we go into a

1:36:07 ↗ discussion amongst the three of us um I

1:36:10 ↗ will ask the clerk whether there's been

1:36:12 ↗ any change uh obviously everybody in the

1:36:14 ↗ room is associated with the city but if

1:36:17 ↗ there's any indication that anybody

1:36:19 ↗ who's online might be interested in uh

1:36:23 ↗ commenting before this uh body reviews

1:36:26 ↗ the direction

1:36:27 ↗ needed sure we continue to have one

1:36:29 ↗ member of the public with us virtually

1:36:32 ↗ so I'm going to give that individual

1:36:33 ↗ just a moment to press star three to

1:36:35 ↗ raise their hand or to select the small

1:36:38 ↗ raise hand icon in

1:36:43 ↗ WebEx and I'm not seeing a desire to

1:36:46 ↗ speak from that person all right thank

1:36:48 ↗ you very much and with that we discuss

1:36:53 ↗ uh

1:36:54 ↗ Direction on further information or

1:36:56 ↗ analysis needed so what further

1:36:58 ↗ information and Analysis do we believe

1:37:00 ↗ the administration should provide to the

1:37:04 ↗ full Council as part of the uh 25 the

1:37:07 ↗ 2025 2026 Bal budget council member Joe

1:37:11 ↗ your finger is poised on the microphone

1:37:13 ↗ you look ready to give a comment it is

1:37:15 ↗ thank you and and first off I'd like to

1:37:18 ↗ thank the administration for bringing

1:37:19 ↗ this to our attention and giving us such

1:37:21 ↗ a thorough report um also to uh fellow

1:37:25 ↗ members of the bar and and uh

1:37:28 ↗ prosecutors and public defenders that

1:37:29 ↗ are here tonight um the job is not easy

1:37:32 ↗ as many of you may know I was a

1:37:35 ↗ prosecutor for a few cities uh for about

1:37:39 ↗ 10 years and uh it's not an easy job at

1:37:41 ↗ all that's the easy job though compared

1:37:44 ↗ to the work that the public defenders do

1:37:46 ↗ in in some ways um they have the harder

1:37:50 ↗ task um from my point of view I would

1:37:53 ↗ like to see some information on um

1:37:57 ↗ compensation over the years it doesn't

1:37:59 ↗ have to be every year from the time that

1:38:03 ↗ Lyn mly started with us but just the

1:38:05 ↗ highlights of when they were last bumped

1:38:09 ↗ up if at all um over time and I know

1:38:12 ↗ that uh um just the year and the bump

1:38:15 ↗ that occurred so we can see if we've

1:38:17 ↗ done anything in the past and if so what

1:38:20 ↗ over time uh to give us an idea of kind

1:38:23 ↗ of where we are really appreciate the

1:38:25 ↗ comparables that are here uh in terms of

1:38:28 ↗ what other cities are paying the public

1:38:29 ↗ defenders and the Prosecutors Office

1:38:31 ↗ it's valuable information um and and I

1:38:34 ↗ think that uh one thing that we heard

1:38:38 ↗ over and over tonight uh that I'd like

1:38:41 ↗ to emphasize is that I was on Council

1:38:44 ↗ when we put the the court together and

1:38:47 ↗ one of the reasons we did this project

1:38:51 ↗ to start our own Court was was the King

1:38:55 ↗ County court system while it has its

1:38:57 ↗ benefits and advantages did not give our

1:39:00 ↗ citizens the care and the

1:39:05 ↗ extra um oversight that I think our

1:39:08 ↗ citizens deserve and I think you've

1:39:10 ↗ heard over and over tonight from the

1:39:12 ↗ parties that have talked that our court

1:39:16 ↗ um because we're special place where

1:39:18 ↗ people

1:39:18 ↗ care that starts with the judge goes

1:39:21 ↗ down to the prosecutor and the public

1:39:22 ↗ defender they care not only about um you

1:39:26 ↗ know getting guilty please or getting

1:39:28 ↗ wins in Trials but also uh

1:39:31 ↗ helping the defender get their life

1:39:35 ↗ straight helping the victim find the

1:39:37 ↗ best Avenue to the next step in their

1:39:39 ↗ life um along the way and that's

1:39:42 ↗ something that we don't always see in

1:39:45 ↗ courts and that's something that we

1:39:46 ↗ don't often see from other prosecutor

1:39:49 ↗ offices and public defenders in the

1:39:52 ↗ different courts in the in the system so

1:39:55 ↗ um as we look at these numbers I know

1:39:56 ↗ that they are big and and they can seem

1:40:00 ↗ daunting

1:40:02 ↗ but the increases that are being asked

1:40:04 ↗ we need to consider in the context of

1:40:07 ↗ the fact that this court provides

1:40:09 ↗ fantastic Service uh we're able to do a

1:40:14 ↗ high level of of prosecution a high

1:40:16 ↗ level of public defender care and then

1:40:18 ↗ the follow-up services that are so

1:40:20 ↗ necessary um uh in terms of having

1:40:23 ↗ probation right here having the ability

1:40:25 ↗ to do the drug test to keep the

1:40:28 ↗ defendant defendants accountable um I

1:40:32 ↗ when I was a prosecutor we were in the

1:40:33 ↗ King County court system in one of my

1:40:36 ↗ contracts and uh my city didn't contract

1:40:41 ↗ with the court for Probation Services so

1:40:45 ↗ I could do anything I wanted with my

1:40:47 ↗ sentence and Order uas and and uh you

1:40:50 ↗ know do the follow-up reviews that are

1:40:53 ↗ on there but there was no probation

1:40:57 ↗ officer that was going to take that next

1:40:58 ↗ step to monitor the person and that was

1:41:00 ↗ just detrimental to the ability to

1:41:03 ↗ handle the case and see it through and

1:41:05 ↗ follow through with it we're so

1:41:06 ↗ fortunate to have the services of the

1:41:09 ↗ probation department right here I hope

1:41:11 ↗ that as we think about uh moving the

1:41:14 ↗ court to the king count District

1:41:16 ↗ district court or moving it to its new

1:41:18 ↗ home once we figure out our facilities

1:41:20 ↗ that we keep that cohesiveness and the

1:41:22 ↗ ability to

1:41:23 ↗ um uh make sure that everyone is working

1:41:26 ↗ together because they're working so

1:41:27 ↗ closely in proximity to each other as

1:41:30 ↗ well so thank

1:41:31 ↗ you thank you Deputy council president D

1:41:36 ↗ Michelle council member Joe said a lot

1:41:38 ↗ of what I wanted to say as well and so I

1:41:41 ↗ plus one everything that he said um

1:41:44 ↗ first of all just looking at all of you

1:41:46 ↗ I just want to say thank you so much for

1:41:49 ↗ what you do I am so proud of you I brag

1:41:51 ↗ about you all the time

1:41:54 ↗ and tell people what a great court

1:41:56 ↗ system we have and and um how dedicated

1:41:59 ↗ you are to um the needs of both the

1:42:04 ↗ Defenders and the victims in our in our

1:42:06 ↗ community so thank you for everything

1:42:08 ↗ you do uh it was a real honor to be able

1:42:12 ↗ to go to Community Court even though it

1:42:14 ↗ was on zoom and see the graduation so um

1:42:19 ↗ when I ran for Council I had wise advice

1:42:22 ↗ uh from person who said Public Safety is

1:42:25 ↗ the a number one uh responsibility of

1:42:30 ↗ any Council and um and I've thought

1:42:33 ↗ about that many many times I know during

1:42:36 ↗ covid we had to look at a big increase

1:42:39 ↗ in uh in our policing and uh we had the

1:42:44 ↗ issue of making sure that we recruited

1:42:46 ↗ enough police officers that meant that

1:42:49 ↗ we had to increase um the offers that we

1:42:52 ↗ were making to them

1:42:54 ↗ uh we have for many years uh been able

1:42:57 ↗ to get a really good deal as Lyn

1:42:59 ↗ Mobberly said we've had a really good

1:43:01 ↗ deal here for a while now we need to

1:43:03 ↗ step up and take a review and really and

1:43:06 ↗ it's not you know just as employers it's

1:43:08 ↗ not fair to our employees or our

1:43:11 ↗ contractors we asking them to do these

1:43:13 ↗ great big jobs for little very little um

1:43:16 ↗ if you're just breaking even that's

1:43:18 ↗ really not that's not an ideal situation

1:43:21 ↗ for any contractor

1:43:23 ↗ so I fully support uh going further

1:43:27 ↗ getting more information but in terms of

1:43:31 ↗ making the case as judge Stewart said

1:43:33 ↗ you know you're making the case tonight

1:43:34 ↗ I think you made the case in Spades that

1:43:37 ↗ something needs to be done and that we

1:43:38 ↗ need to support uh increased uh budget

1:43:42 ↗ for um the court and the Criminal

1:43:44 ↗ Justice

1:43:46 ↗ Services would I have anything else to

1:43:48 ↗ say but you just I think this is going

1:43:50 ↗ to be a journey that we're on as we go

1:43:53 ↗ through the budget season but um there

1:43:56 ↗ can't be anything more important that we

1:43:57 ↗ do than support our our police officers

1:44:01 ↗ in our courts so thank

1:44:03 ↗ you thank you Deputy council president

1:44:07 ↗ so it's probably third um number one is

1:44:10 ↗ that the toilets flush when you flush

1:44:13 ↗ the toilet number two is the water comes

1:44:14 ↗ out of the tap but number three is

1:44:16 ↗ Public Safety and isqua is incredibly

1:44:20 ↗ lucky probably unique Maybe Redmond in

1:44:24 ↗ King County in having our own dispatch

1:44:26 ↗ and our own police and our own court and

1:44:29 ↗ our own jail right and this affords us

1:44:31 ↗ the opportunity to come up with uh smart

1:44:35 ↗ and uh Force

1:44:37 ↗ multiplier uh programs to take advantage

1:44:41 ↗ that we hold all of these elements of

1:44:44 ↗ Public Safety in our own hands right um

1:44:47 ↗ I think that this budget conversation is

1:44:50 ↗ an opportunity to really prove prove to

1:44:53 ↗ the public that we are doing everything

1:44:55 ↗ we can to reduce crime particularly

1:44:58 ↗ violent crime and so I think that um as

1:45:02 ↗ we talk about the funds that we need to

1:45:04 ↗ do various things um I think we should

1:45:07 ↗ you know we should talk about um that

1:45:10 ↗ the community court is a is a net

1:45:12 ↗ benefit and that it is um financially um

1:45:15 ↗ beneficial versus not having it I think

1:45:18 ↗ we should talk about are there things

1:45:20 ↗ that we can do to drive down the DUI and

1:45:23 ↗ domestic violence numbers you know we

1:45:25 ↗ have a great Police Department we had a

1:45:27 ↗ we had a great Police Department in 2018

1:45:30 ↗ and so if those numbers are up quite a

1:45:32 ↗ bit um I don't think that's I mean and

1:45:36 ↗ the chief can tell me if I'm wrong

1:45:37 ↗ that's not just from having more

1:45:39 ↗ officers available um that's something

1:45:41 ↗ and we should figure out what that

1:45:43 ↗ something is and we should figure out if

1:45:45 ↗ there's something that we can do

1:45:46 ↗ policy-wise uh to help bring those

1:45:49 ↗ numbers down um you know my vision

1:45:53 ↗ is that you know is was be a bad place

1:45:56 ↗ to do crimes um this should not be a

1:45:59 ↗ town that people come to and think this

1:46:00 ↗ is a schmorgus board and I speak as

1:46:03 ↗ someone whose house was burglarized 10

1:46:04 ↗ years ago it was one of the five most

1:46:08 ↗ traumatic events in my life and has

1:46:10 ↗ changed my view on Public Safety um we

1:46:12 ↗ should not be aaras board for anybody to

1:46:15 ↗ come

1:46:16 ↗ uh do property crime um amongst you know

1:46:20 ↗ much less violent crime which is which

1:46:22 ↗ is even um a larger concern for the

1:46:24 ↗ public so as part of this process if

1:46:26 ↗ there are things that we can do um as a

1:46:29 ↗ council policy that we can do yes we

1:46:31 ↗ want to have restorative justice and yes

1:46:34 ↗ we want to be compassionate um but we

1:46:37 ↗ have these tools in our kit dispatch

1:46:40 ↗ police court and jail we must use them

1:46:44 ↗ all uh to the best ability that we can

1:46:47 ↗ to help address this concern that

1:46:50 ↗ continues to grow um in the public

1:46:53 ↗ across the country but in particular in

1:46:56 ↗ in King County and in our part of King

1:46:58 ↗ County of the continuing growth of of

1:47:01 ↗ property crime and violent crime so um

1:47:03 ↗ I'm I'm excited about this conversation

1:47:08 ↗ yes it will be more money but it is also

1:47:10 ↗ an opportunity to address something and

1:47:12 ↗ and speak to the public about this issue

1:47:15 ↗ that they consider so so incredibly

1:47:17 ↗ important and so that's that's my

1:47:20 ↗ thoughts any uh additional thoughts

1:47:23 ↗ second second round

1:47:26 ↗ anybody no uh City administrator do do

1:47:30 ↗ you have the feedback you were looking

1:47:31 ↗ for from the three of us this evening

1:47:34 ↗ yes I do and I also just want to mention

1:47:36 ↗ the one person who hasn't been mentioned

1:47:37 ↗ in the room and that's Rachel Turpin

1:47:39 ↗ City attorney um since Rachel has become

1:47:42 ↗ our City attorney uh she's been very

1:47:44 ↗ involved in all the issues you've heard

1:47:46 ↗ tonight and has been a great adviser and

1:47:49 ↗ counselor uh to the administration uh as

1:47:52 ↗ we had deal deal with this Rachel's a

1:47:53 ↗ former prosecutor herself uh um has lots

1:47:57 ↗ of good experience and has helped with

1:47:58 ↗ sort of the the management pieces of all

1:48:01 ↗ of this so I want to thank Rachel for

1:48:02 ↗ her help and for being here this evening

1:48:05 ↗ and I want to Echo thanking everybody

1:48:06 ↗ who joined us this evening you know this

1:48:08 ↗ is my 15th year and I keep learning new

1:48:11 ↗ things judge Stewart every time you come

1:48:13 ↗ in I learned something that I didn't

1:48:15 ↗ know before you got here and I'm sure

1:48:17 ↗ that if I'm lucky enough to do this for

1:48:18 ↗ a while longer that will continue to

1:48:20 ↗ hold true so thank you and and everybody

1:48:22 ↗ who who joined us this evening for this

1:48:24 ↗ conversation but the evening is not over

1:48:27 ↗ Mr chairman can we take a recess a

1:48:29 ↗ recess yes F let let us take uh 5 to S

1:48:33 ↗ minute uh recess and we will uh come

1:48:37 ↗ back in in a

1:48:49 ↗ bit thank you

1:49:01 ↗ wow

1:49:34 ↗ nice to meet you

1:50:21 ↗ yeah e

1:50:52 ↗ still

1:51:32 ↗ TR

1:52:14 ↗ now

1:52:22 ↗ you

1:52:24 ↗ watch okay

1:53:14 ↗ play one

1:53:29 ↗ [Music]

1:53:37 ↗ int

1:54:08 ↗ l

1:54:51 ↗ e

1:55:21 ↗ e

1:55:51 ↗ e

1:56:21 ↗ e e

1:57:19 ↗ I think we're about ready to get

1:57:20 ↗ restarted

1:57:23 ↗ so let's get restarted Next Issue up is

1:57:28 ↗ c00 oh excellent let's get restarted our

1:57:32 ↗ next issue is

1:57:34 ↗ c0042 traffic safety camera update with

1:57:37 ↗ Chief Schwan from the ipd Travis n

1:57:40 ↗ Patrol Commander uh and Paul Fairbanks

1:57:43 ↗ maybe no just the chief all right we

1:57:46 ↗ don't need all those extra people

1:57:52 ↗ well Chief Schwan's coming up um let me

1:57:54 ↗ just do a brief kind of 100,000 foot

1:57:58 ↗ overview uh We've not talked about

1:58:00 ↗ traffic safety cameras in a while uh the

1:58:02 ↗ city currently has a school safety zone

1:58:04 ↗ camera um I as your city administrator

1:58:07 ↗ have been extraordinarily reluctant uh

1:58:10 ↗ to bring the issues of additional

1:58:11 ↗ cameras to you however based on what

1:58:14 ↗ you've just heard this evening and

1:58:16 ↗ knowing what our budget is looking like

1:58:18 ↗ uh and a very persuasive Court

1:58:19 ↗ Administrator who asked me very

1:58:21 ↗ vigorously to reconsider my position um

1:58:24 ↗ we are here tonight uh to uh give you an

1:58:27 ↗ update on some of the work we've done uh

1:58:29 ↗ this spring and uh get some general

1:58:32 ↗ direction for you as we uh move toward

1:58:34 ↗ the the budget process Chief Schwan is

1:58:37 ↗ here and we'll let her take it away

1:58:39 ↗ thank you council members and Deputy or

1:58:42 ↗ sorry um City administrator wwts so um

1:58:47 ↗ the purpose we're here today is to

1:58:48 ↗ provide information upon the updated

1:58:50 ↗ traffic study and concerns across the

1:58:51 ↗ city this isn't for financial gain only

1:58:54 ↗ it's for the safety of our city and I

1:58:56 ↗ have a lot of experience with these not

1:58:58 ↗ only in working in the city of isqua but

1:59:00 ↗ also in my prior cities whereas we had

1:59:03 ↗ red light cameras multiple ones and I

1:59:04 ↗ wrote in one year over

1:59:06 ↗ 13,000 um Redlight camera infraction

1:59:09 ↗ tickets so um something is to obtain

1:59:12 ↗ Direction in the administration's plan

1:59:13 ↗ for traffic camera use and mitigation of

1:59:15 ↗ traffic safety concerns so that's the

1:59:18 ↗ purpose of us being here tonight um the

1:59:20 ↗ direction we're needing from the council

1:59:22 ↗ is the administration is seeking

1:59:23 ↗ direction to the next steps related to

1:59:25 ↗ exploration evaluation and

1:59:27 ↗ implementation of additional Traffic

1:59:28 ↗ Safety cameras in known dangerous

1:59:31 ↗ driving areas throughout the city of

1:59:32 ↗ isqua so we've done some studies as

1:59:35 ↗ you're going to see in the future slides

1:59:36 ↗ and I think they've presented to you as

1:59:37 ↗ well with information about these and

1:59:40 ↗ specifically we want to know should the

1:59:42 ↗ administration move forward in further

1:59:43 ↗ investigating on additional school

1:59:45 ↗ safety zone camera on Newport Way

1:59:47 ↗ Northwest specifically and or should the

1:59:49 ↗ administration move forward with the

1:59:51 ↗ traffic camera vendor evaluation and

1:59:53 ↗ pilot program to design for red light

1:59:55 ↗ photo enforcement cameras themselves in

1:59:58 ↗ three different locations and a

2:00:00 ↗ possibility of a fourth to consider as

2:00:02 ↗ well so a little background in traffic

2:00:05 ↗ safety 810 people died in Washington

2:00:08 ↗ roads in 2023 the highest number since

2:00:11 ↗ 1990 traffic collisions in isqua are on

2:00:13 ↗ the rise after dipping significantly in

2:00:15 ↗ 20120 which was obviously our covid

2:00:17 ↗ impact year in from 23 of January to

2:00:22 ↗ March of 24 316 vehicle involved

2:00:24 ↗ Collision reported collisions I should

2:00:27 ↗ say happened in isqua because ultimately

2:00:29 ↗ there's many collisions that happen

2:00:31 ↗ fender benders that we aren't aware of

2:00:33 ↗ and that don't always get reported to

2:00:34 ↗ the police or they do an online report

2:00:37 ↗ directly to Washington State Patrol 86

2:00:39 ↗ of those reported collisions occurred at

2:00:42 ↗ intersections and the utility box in the

2:00:44 ↗ highlands was hit twice in uh short

2:00:46 ↗ succession during one of those

2:00:48 ↗ collisions so as far as the accounting

2:00:50 ↗ for those numbers other Danger driving

2:00:52 ↗ behaviors that are on the rise are DUIs

2:00:54 ↗ as been mentioned in the previous

2:00:56 ↗ presentation um 133% since n or 2019 70

2:01:01 ↗ and

2:01:02 ↗ 2023 um I will address that only because

2:01:05 ↗ it's been brought up a couple times I do

2:01:06 ↗ think it's because number one an

2:01:08 ↗ increase in the number of officers that

2:01:10 ↗ are on Patrol and um it has been

2:01:12 ↗ mentioned also that sometimes what has

2:01:13 ↗ happened in the past when we had lower

2:01:15 ↗ Staffing the DUIs were still happening

2:01:17 ↗ but when we would get them because of

2:01:19 ↗ the Staffing and that takes an officer

2:01:20 ↗ off the street for multiple hours we

2:01:22 ↗ would call either another jurisdiction

2:01:24 ↗ State Patrol who would file them that

2:01:26 ↗ actually then wouldn't be filed in our

2:01:27 ↗ courts but they would be filed in

2:01:28 ↗ District Courts so some of our numbers

2:01:30 ↗ are going to be a little off and

2:01:31 ↗ increase because of that also some of

2:01:34 ↗ the officers that we've recently hired

2:01:35 ↗ are laterals and they are very um busy

2:01:39 ↗ and really enjoy um looking and um

2:01:42 ↗ patrolling and enforcing those DUIs and

2:01:44 ↗ are very good at what they do and so

2:01:46 ↗ that's another reason for some of that

2:01:47 ↗ increase and in teaching our younger

2:01:49 ↗ officers um how to do those because it's

2:01:52 ↗ a it's a long process that's another

2:01:54 ↗ reason that will be an

2:01:57 ↗ increase background as far as photo

2:01:59 ↗ enforcement um this was provided to you

2:02:01 ↗ for the difference in how they they read

2:02:04 ↗ the zones as far as when a speed camera

2:02:06 ↗ for example it shows here what that

2:02:09 ↗ looks like and how it reads in the zone

2:02:11 ↗ when it gets there um I Heard Barbara de

2:02:14 ↗ Michelle comment about possibly being

2:02:16 ↗ Second Avenue and and having some

2:02:19 ↗ understanding of those cameras um the

2:02:21 ↗ red light camera I can be very specific

2:02:23 ↗ on that a lot of people don't understand

2:02:25 ↗ that stop line when you come to a red

2:02:26 ↗ light camera both axles must be behind

2:02:30 ↗ the stop line at the time and you have

2:02:32 ↗ to come to a complete stop where just

2:02:34 ↗ because you feel like your body's not in

2:02:36 ↗ motion if your car does not come to a

2:02:38 ↗ complete stop behind that stop line or

2:02:40 ↗ it straddles your front axles in front

2:02:42 ↗ and the other ones behind then it's not

2:02:44 ↗ it's considered you violated that and so

2:02:47 ↗ you've gone into that pedestrian area

2:02:49 ↗ which then in fact makes that you've

2:02:51 ↗ broke bridged it and that you are now

2:02:53 ↗ committed that violation and you will

2:02:55 ↗ get that camera will catch you and so um

2:02:58 ↗ that's the biggest part or if you're all

2:03:00 ↗ the way into the intersection and the

2:03:02 ↗ light is red then that also becomes that

2:03:04 ↗ violation because you've crossed that

2:03:06 ↗ perimeter and if you're in there you may

2:03:07 ↗ as well continue where you'll seen some

2:03:09 ↗ that'll cross the line waiting for the

2:03:11 ↗ light to turn and they don't make that

2:03:12 ↗ left turn or don't make that right turn

2:03:15 ↗ they're in the intersection you've

2:03:16 ↗ already crossed that line so those are

2:03:18 ↗ um some of those pieces next slide

2:03:20 ↗ please

2:03:23 ↗ another background as far as photo

2:03:24 ↗ enforcement you can see here um City

2:03:27 ↗ adopted the IMC 1042 in 2008 authorizing

2:03:31 ↗ automatic traffic enforcement as a whole

2:03:33 ↗ and city of esqua currently operates one

2:03:35 ↗ school safety camera on second AB near

2:03:38 ↗ esqua Middle um and high

2:03:40 ↗ schools as you can see from 2015 all the

2:03:43 ↗ way to 23 it's been a a large increase

2:03:46 ↗ gradual every year um not only in the

2:03:49 ↗ number of violations but also in the

2:03:52 ↗ number of the income that or Revenue

2:03:54 ↗ that has come in from those now one

2:03:57 ↗ might think that maybe it's a

2:03:59 ↗ possibility um that that's because it's

2:04:01 ↗ not it's not working but I would argue

2:04:04 ↗ the fact that majority of these

2:04:05 ↗ typically are ones trying to avoid

2:04:07 ↗ traffic especially on this second AV and

2:04:10 ↗ that it would be people that are more

2:04:11 ↗ often than not because I've traveled

2:04:13 ↗ through there every day when I come into

2:04:15 ↗ work and every day there you can tell

2:04:17 ↗ the people who know the camera's going

2:04:18 ↗ to be there and they slow down and you

2:04:19 ↗ can tell those that don't have no idea

2:04:21 ↗ and then they get caught so I think

2:04:23 ↗ that's a big a big number that you you

2:04:26 ↗ can see as far as those increases and

2:04:28 ↗ chief I have a question sorry from 2021

2:04:31 ↗ to 2022 to 2023 we see a continued

2:04:34 ↗ increase in the number of tickets issued

2:04:36 ↗ but revenues go down each of those years

2:04:39 ↗ how come I would I can't um speculate if

2:04:44 ↗ I had to speculate I think one of there

2:04:46 ↗ would be two reasons for that one more

2:04:48 ↗ people are fighting them as far as the

2:04:50 ↗ tickets themselves

2:04:52 ↗ um and asking them to be mitigated in

2:04:54 ↗ court and giving different reasons or um

2:04:56 ↗ circumstances for those and they would

2:04:57 ↗ be brought to court I think the courts

2:04:59 ↗ could maybe address those even a little

2:05:01 ↗ better and have that um information but

2:05:03 ↗ I think another reason might be is

2:05:05 ↗ because what has happened with um the

2:05:08 ↗ ability to report those to the state and

2:05:10 ↗ not re-register your license or people

2:05:12 ↗ are just not choosing to pay them that

2:05:14 ↗ is another reason that can happen is

2:05:16 ↗ that people will choose not to make

2:05:18 ↗ those payments and certain jurisdictions

2:05:20 ↗ as within the new code that's coming

2:05:22 ↗ through in um new legislation is whether

2:05:25 ↗ or not certain jurisdictions are able to

2:05:27 ↗ send that to Department of Licensing and

2:05:30 ↗ put a hold on your registration in the

2:05:32 ↗ event that you didn't pay your parking

2:05:35 ↗ tickets or your speed zone violations or

2:05:38 ↗ red light cameras so I would say that

2:05:40 ↗ would be those other reasons why someone

2:05:42 ↗ and those numbers would go down as far

2:05:44 ↗ as Revenue but they would go up as far

2:05:46 ↗ as the numbers that were

2:05:47 ↗ issued thank you next slide

2:05:53 ↗ um here's the analysis as far as the

2:05:55 ↗ pictures go um one speed zone and the

2:05:59 ↗ second image that's captured it shows

2:06:01 ↗ you both there's two images that are

2:06:02 ↗ captured typically when you go through a

2:06:04 ↗ red light and as far as that also goes

2:06:07 ↗ the different ones and the different

2:06:08 ↗ areas at the beginning when you enter

2:06:10 ↗ the zone and when you after um as far as

2:06:12 ↗ the speed zone

2:06:17 ↗ cameras the analysis that was done in

2:06:19 ↗ the certain intersections um they took

2:06:22 ↗ all this data and the top 10

2:06:24 ↗ intersections by number of reported

2:06:26 ↗ collisions in the city of isqua between

2:06:29 ↗ January 1st of 23 and March of 24 and

2:06:32 ↗ then they put them based on the highest

2:06:34 ↗ number of those collisions by those

2:06:36 ↗ intersections um East Lake samamish

2:06:38 ↗ Parkway Southeast and East Lake isqua

2:06:40 ↗ Fall City Road had 11 number of

2:06:42 ↗ collisions 17th a Northwest and

2:06:45 ↗ Northwest Gilman Boulevard had 10 East

2:06:47 ↗ Lake samamish Parkway Southeast and so

2:06:50 ↗ on down the line you can see those

2:06:51 ↗ different

2:06:53 ↗ jurisdictions you have any does anybody

2:06:55 ↗ have questions about that analysis or

2:06:56 ↗ those actual

2:07:01 ↗ numbers far as analysis on the red light

2:07:03 ↗ photo um they've designated these three

2:07:06 ↗ were the top and they also were ones

2:07:08 ↗ picked or selected because they don't

2:07:11 ↗ have a dual jurisdiction like both parts

2:07:14 ↗ or the both all parts of the

2:07:15 ↗ intersection are in our city and so it's

2:07:18 ↗ not shared by either King County or

2:07:20 ↗ another area and so we wanted to make

2:07:22 ↗ sure that's another thing that was

2:07:23 ↗ addressed so East Lake samamish Parkway

2:07:25 ↗ and Southeast Fall City Road 36 traffic

2:07:28 ↗ and fraction tickets one criminal

2:07:30 ↗ traffic infraction ticket 14 total

2:07:33 ↗ accidents with 11

2:07:34 ↗ collisions um 50% of the accidents were

2:07:37 ↗ turning left onto isqua Fall City Road

2:07:40 ↗ so that would be the direction

2:07:42 ↗ specifically um in these circumstances

2:07:44 ↗ you can choose when you get red light

2:07:46 ↗ enforcement whether it's every direction

2:07:48 ↗ it's One Direction it's only going

2:07:51 ↗ Northbound versus southbound and so

2:07:53 ↗ those are things that you can Implement

2:07:55 ↗ where it doesn't have to be every single

2:07:56 ↗ Direction at an intersection that

2:07:58 ↗ someone's going to have enforcement on

2:08:00 ↗ if you chose to put a red light

2:08:01 ↗ enforcement in them um East lak some

2:08:03 ↗ amers parkway at Southeast between 56

2:08:06 ↗ Street and black Nugget Road 17 traffic

2:08:08 ↗ infraction tickets two criminal traffic

2:08:10 ↗ infraction tickets and eight total

2:08:12 ↗ accidents were um happened at that

2:08:14 ↗ intersection specifically and Highlands

2:08:16 ↗ Drive Northeast and Northeast Park Drive

2:08:18 ↗ on Northeast Federal drive 10 traffic in

2:08:21 ↗ fraction tickets 12 total collisions and

2:08:24 ↗ 50% of accidents involved a driver

2:08:26 ↗ running a red light so half those

2:08:29 ↗ collisions being someone that ran a red

2:08:31 ↗ light which this would hopefully deter

2:08:33 ↗ those collisions altogether by having

2:08:35 ↗ that camera there I think one other in

2:08:37 ↗ intersection that we see that's really

2:08:39 ↗ close to home is on second and sunset

2:08:41 ↗ it's down here in there weren't

2:08:43 ↗ necessarily collisions but we have

2:08:45 ↗ several people that complain about

2:08:46 ↗ downtown area the inability to cross

2:08:49 ↗ that intersection and feel unsafe

2:08:51 ↗ because from coming they're going

2:08:53 ↗ northbound on second onto Sunset turning

2:08:56 ↗ towards the freeway that's where

2:08:57 ↗ everybody's trying to bypass go up

2:08:59 ↗ second also kids leaving the high school

2:09:01 ↗ quite frankly because they have an open

2:09:03 ↗ campus and they Rush up to go to

2:09:04 ↗ Starbucks at lunchtime and then they

2:09:06 ↗ come back and so that's another

2:09:08 ↗ intersection that we see very regularly

2:09:10 ↗ that there are people running that

2:09:14 ↗ light analysis on the school zone safety

2:09:17 ↗ um Newport Way North Northwest um

2:09:19 ↗ isaquel Elementary school it's a long

2:09:22 ↗ straight stretch of road if any of you

2:09:23 ↗ have traveled down there you know as

2:09:25 ↗ well as I do that it's a long stretch

2:09:26 ↗ and people are like oh I see kids out in

2:09:29 ↗ the playground or I don't see kids out

2:09:30 ↗ the playground so it must not mean that

2:09:32 ↗ I don't have to drive slow which is not

2:09:35 ↗ the case and a lot of people walk along

2:09:37 ↗ the pathways there going to and from um

2:09:40 ↗ there's also other jurisdiction the the

2:09:43 ↗ part the sorry shopping center that's up

2:09:45 ↗ there um and a lot of different houses

2:09:47 ↗ developments and I see a lot of foot

2:09:49 ↗ traffic that goes along that way not

2:09:50 ↗ just the school zone and so there's a

2:09:53 ↗ lot of people that also cut through to

2:09:56 ↗ avoid the downtown traffic and

2:09:57 ↗ congestion average speeds in both

2:09:59 ↗ directions exceed safety camera

2:10:01 ↗ threshold regularly um Northwest Talis

2:10:04 ↗ drive at Cougar Mountain Middle School

2:10:06 ↗ main road in and out of Talis

2:10:08 ↗ neighborhood divided road entrance on

2:10:10 ↗ school and East Side East and um

2:10:12 ↗ eastbound side Chief I'm I'm sorry I

2:10:14 ↗ have a question for Deputy council

2:10:16 ↗ president thanks going back to Newport

2:10:18 ↗ Way which uh yes I'm really familiar

2:10:20 ↗ with that

2:10:21 ↗ um we have some uh at some future point

2:10:25 ↗ we're going to get some roundabouts

2:10:26 ↗ there but that intersection where

2:10:29 ↗ Juniper comes on to Newport Way seems to

2:10:32 ↗ be a particularly dangerous place where

2:10:34 ↗ people take a lot of a lot of chances to

2:10:37 ↗ get out there because the traffic is

2:10:39 ↗ coming both ways and so you just have a

2:10:42 ↗ little bit of room um I'm just wondering

2:10:46 ↗ uh have we thought about how this is all

2:10:48 ↗ going to fit with the roundabouts that

2:10:50 ↗ are being planned for that street or is

2:10:52 ↗ this something that we would do uh even

2:10:55 ↗ before those roundabouts go in we've had

2:10:59 ↗ some preliminary council member Michelle

2:11:01 ↗ members of the council uh we've had some

2:11:03 ↗ preliminary discussions with public

2:11:04 ↗ works on that point uh we feel

2:11:06 ↗ comfortable moving forward now prior to

2:11:08 ↗ the roundabouts being installed and

2:11:10 ↗ we'll continue to work with public work

2:11:12 ↗ staff there's

2:11:14 ↗ adjustments inst all right thanks that

2:11:17 ↗ was just you know um I I TR try to get

2:11:20 ↗ out from that intersection myself and it

2:11:24 ↗ is a real challenge to especially during

2:11:27 ↗ uh commute times so sure I I imagine

2:11:30 ↗ that since this would be also be a speed

2:11:31 ↗ camera that although even though the

2:11:33 ↗ roundabouts we would hope that that

2:11:34 ↗ would slow things down a little bit

2:11:36 ↗ before they even got to that school zone

2:11:38 ↗ or to those cameras um but the school

2:11:40 ↗ that would just be a double emphasis on

2:11:42 ↗ trying to slow the speeds there around

2:11:44 ↗ the school whether it be for Juniper

2:11:46 ↗ people entering or for people just

2:11:48 ↗ coming down the road with her and I

2:11:50 ↗ believe council member Joe has a

2:11:51 ↗ question thank you Mr chairman uh Chief

2:11:54 ↗ thank you for coming tonight to fill us

2:11:56 ↗ in on uh this option um I wanted to know

2:12:00 ↗ uh if there was um any type of review

2:12:04 ↗ that was done by humanized before this

2:12:07 ↗ was sent off to the court for a school

2:12:09 ↗ zone uh speed violation do we just send

2:12:13 ↗ every ticket that gets picked up on that

2:12:16 ↗ scanner right off to the court or is

2:12:18 ↗ there a process that the officers take

2:12:20 ↗ part in before it goes over to the court

2:12:22 ↗ the officers are the ones that in they

2:12:24 ↗ view every single red light camera they

2:12:27 ↗ view every single speed violation as

2:12:29 ↗ well that comes through the systems um

2:12:32 ↗ whether that be on second AV or in any

2:12:34 ↗ other jurisdiction there is a new um I

2:12:37 ↗ informed the City attorney Rachel about

2:12:40 ↗ the new legislation that's coming

2:12:43 ↗ through that no longer does it have to

2:12:44 ↗ be a sworn peace officer there are other

2:12:46 ↗ people now which would be cost more cost

2:12:49 ↗ effective for us um but that there is a

2:12:52 ↗ possibility that there is other people

2:12:53 ↗ that has to have still have C certain

2:12:55 ↗ certifications but they don't have to be

2:12:57 ↗ a sworn officer now to review some of

2:12:59 ↗ those um but they do every single one of

2:13:01 ↗ them has to be reviewed and they take

2:13:04 ↗ about two to three minutes for every

2:13:05 ↗ single one to be reviewed but every

2:13:07 ↗ single one is looked at it's not

2:13:08 ↗ automated that someone's just given a

2:13:11 ↗ ticket thank you I appreciate that

2:13:13 ↗ information I just want to make sure

2:13:14 ↗ that uh the citizens understand that

2:13:17 ↗ it's just not an automatic robot that is

2:13:20 ↗ taking the ticket right way but there

2:13:21 ↗ are human eyes on it before it goes to

2:13:23 ↗ the court thank you very much yes sir

2:13:26 ↗ thank you for the

2:13:27 ↗ question I'm Northwest Talis Drive oh

2:13:30 ↗ sorry no yep back please the Northwest

2:13:33 ↗ 12 Drive Cougar Mountain Middle School

2:13:35 ↗ um main R own in and out of Talis

2:13:36 ↗ neighborhood divided road entrance to

2:13:39 ↗ school and eastbound on the eastbound

2:13:40 ↗ Side recent isqua school district speed

2:13:43 ↗ study found that both average speed and

2:13:46 ↗ uh 85th percentile speeds dropped

2:13:48 ↗ following School opening um average

2:13:51 ↗ eastbound speed 25.5 M hour and average

2:13:54 ↗ westbound speed was 28.4 mil hour thank

2:13:58 ↗ you next

2:13:59 ↗ slide so the proposal is that we have

2:14:02 ↗ the red light cameras um and to schedule

2:14:04 ↗ ver Mobility to evaluate three priority

2:14:07 ↗ intersections for the camera

2:14:09 ↗ installation we would determine the

2:14:11 ↗ expected annual revenues and staffing

2:14:13 ↗ needs from the evaluation we come back

2:14:15 ↗ to council and update information

2:14:17 ↗ following the evaluation as far as the

2:14:19 ↗ school zone speed cameras install

2:14:22 ↗ additional camera near esquala military

2:14:24 ↗ school on Newport Way Northwest similar

2:14:26 ↗ conditions to Second a Southeast but

2:14:29 ↗ more traffic volume and hold off on

2:14:31 ↗ third camera Northwest Talis Drive given

2:14:34 ↗ staff

2:14:36 ↗ capacity excellent thank you the

2:14:39 ↗ analysis of the estimated Financial

2:14:41 ↗ impacts um cost per camera system is

2:14:44 ↗ 66,000 annually which is about 5,500 per

2:14:46 ↗ month a red light camera um we need more

2:14:49 ↗ information on the additional costs and

2:14:51 ↗ and revenues based on the ticket volume

2:14:53 ↗ next step if recommended Vera Mobility

2:14:55 ↗ will do an evaluation of potential

2:14:57 ↗ intersection to determine estimated

2:14:59 ↗ expected photo enforcement volume and

2:15:02 ↗ then the school zone speed would be 1

2:15:04 ↗ FTE per Court 12,000 tickets um current

2:15:07 ↗ camera exceeded a doll and6 Cent or

2:15:11 ↗ dollar 06 million in 2023 with

2:15:15 ↗ 11,606 citations one thing that should

2:15:18 ↗ also be noted that um was inadvertently

2:15:22 ↗ um left off of here is that we would

2:15:23 ↗ also ask for uh there would be increased

2:15:26 ↗ FTE that would be asked for by the

2:15:28 ↗ police department because we would need

2:15:30 ↗ staff that would be reviewing all these

2:15:31 ↗ from the both cameras that were added

2:15:33 ↗ that was um inadvertently omitted off

2:15:35 ↗ this slide so I just want to make sure

2:15:38 ↗ that's noted um because that is

2:15:40 ↗ something that is definitely another

2:15:41 ↗ piece to that because that many

2:15:43 ↗ increased by up to four cameras it would

2:15:46 ↗ be a drastic amount of time that an

2:15:48 ↗ officer as you mentioned would have to

2:15:50 ↗ literally valuate or person regardless

2:15:53 ↗ being an officer would have to increase

2:15:55 ↗ um looking at those

2:15:57 ↗ cameras

2:16:00 ↗ please so options on the red light

2:16:03 ↗ camera is option one is or zero is

2:16:05 ↗ maintained status quo option one

2:16:07 ↗ maintain current camera level increase

2:16:09 ↗ Patrol presence um at known inter

2:16:12 ↗ intersections best we can as our traffic

2:16:15 ↗ unit continues to increase with the

2:16:17 ↗ officers option two is traffic camera

2:16:19 ↗ evaluation and pilot program design at

2:16:22 ↗ Administration recommended locations and

2:16:25 ↗ option three traffic cam evaluation and

2:16:27 ↗ pilot program design at alternative

2:16:31 ↗ locations options for the school safety

2:16:33 ↗ zone is maintain status quo camera

2:16:36 ↗ evaluation for both locations or camera

2:16:39 ↗ evaluation at one additional

2:16:41 ↗ administrative recommended location with

2:16:42 ↗ the potential for that third location in

2:16:44 ↗ future

2:16:48 ↗ years recommendation the ad

2:16:50 ↗ Administration recommends that the

2:16:52 ↗ council committee instruct um the

2:16:53 ↗ administration to either move forward

2:16:56 ↗ with professional vendor assessment of

2:16:58 ↗ best place Traffic Safety cameras for

2:17:00 ↗ Newport W Northwest uh move forward with

2:17:03 ↗ professional vendor assessment for best

2:17:05 ↗ place Traffic Safety camera for three

2:17:08 ↗ potential intersections which East Lake

2:17:10 ↗ s mamers Parkway and Southeast isqua

2:17:12 ↗ Fall City Road East Lake s mamers

2:17:14 ↗ Parkway Southeast and either 56 Street

2:17:17 ↗ or black Nugget Road and Highlands Drive

2:17:19 ↗ Northeast and Northeast Park drive or

2:17:21 ↗ Northeast Federal

2:17:24 ↗ Drive timing and next steps if advised

2:17:27 ↗ to move forward the goal of the camera

2:17:29 ↗ installation would be by late fall of

2:17:32 ↗ 2024 um we would get Council committee

2:17:34 ↗ direction we would contact the vendor

2:17:35 ↗ from the current school's Zone safety

2:17:37 ↗ camera and get some installation and

2:17:40 ↗ then the red light camera program design

2:17:41 ↗ and camera installation as

2:17:44 ↗ well the direction needed um the

2:17:47 ↗ administration is seeking Direction on

2:17:49 ↗ next steps related to exploration

2:17:50 ↗ evaluation implementation of additional

2:17:52 ↗ Traffic Safety cameras in known

2:17:54 ↗ dangerous driving areas throughout the

2:17:56 ↗ city of isqua specifically should the

2:17:58 ↗ administration move forward in further

2:17:59 ↗ investigating additional schools Zone

2:18:01 ↗ safety camera on Newport North or

2:18:03 ↗ Newport Way Northwest or should the

2:18:05 ↗ administration move forward with a

2:18:06 ↗ traffic camera vendor evaluation and

2:18:09 ↗ pilot program designed for red light

2:18:11 ↗ photo enforcement cameras I do also want

2:18:13 ↗ to note that we've recently had

2:18:15 ↗ abundance of we had a manager meeting

2:18:17 ↗ today and our traffic Sergeant has

2:18:20 ↗ increasingly

2:18:21 ↗ received more complaints about um speed

2:18:24 ↗ and traffic issues that are throughout

2:18:26 ↗ the city whether it be in the highlands

2:18:27 ↗ whether it be in um down Oldtown um and

2:18:30 ↗ other parts of the City chief a couple

2:18:33 ↗ of questions before we get to the the

2:18:36 ↗ deliberation um I I want to make sure I

2:18:39 ↗ understand how the intersection cameras

2:18:41 ↗ would work if you are already in

2:18:43 ↗ Washington state if you are already in

2:18:45 ↗ the intersection when it turns red you

2:18:48 ↗ you should continue forward and clear

2:18:50 ↗ the intersection section right correct

2:18:52 ↗ cuz that's different that's different

2:18:53 ↗ from I'm from Minnesota and I failed my

2:18:56 ↗ first driver's test because you in

2:18:58 ↗ Minnesota you have to clear the

2:18:59 ↗ intersection before it turns red uh

2:19:02 ↗ which I discovered to my great

2:19:03 ↗ disappointment and my parents great

2:19:05 ↗ disappointment um so this so the system

2:19:07 ↗ would what it takes a picture when the

2:19:10 ↗ light turns red and then some number of

2:19:12 ↗ seconds after that takes another picture

2:19:14 ↗ and if you're behind if you're behind

2:19:16 ↗ the line when the light turns red but

2:19:18 ↗ then you're ahead of the line it's some

2:19:20 ↗ point after that that's when you would

2:19:23 ↗ you would potentially get a ticket is

2:19:24 ↗ that how that works it takes it when the

2:19:26 ↗ stop line so the light turns red and if

2:19:29 ↗ your part any part of your car is over

2:19:31 ↗ that stopline then that's when it takes

2:19:33 ↗ the photo because it takes that it

2:19:35 ↗ there's a violation but so there's a

2:19:37 ↗ it's like a there's a beam that's across

2:19:40 ↗ there and that's how it triggers it but

2:19:42 ↗ it's if the front of your car moves

2:19:44 ↗ through after the light turns red

2:19:46 ↗ correct okay I just wanted to make sure

2:19:48 ↗ that I understood if you're if you're

2:19:50 ↗ call cars past the the stopline where

2:19:53 ↗ that beam is at and it's on your tires

2:19:56 ↗ it's not on because it doesn't matter

2:19:58 ↗ how high your car itself is it's

2:20:00 ↗ triggered by your tires themselves

2:20:02 ↗ that's why they both need to be behind

2:20:03 ↗ that stopline or if you have multiple

2:20:05 ↗ axles but at the same more than two I

2:20:08 ↗ mean then it must they must all be

2:20:10 ↗ behind and then also they evaluate at

2:20:12 ↗ the company they don't automatically

2:20:14 ↗ check the tickets but we also check oh

2:20:17 ↗ they came to a stop and then after they

2:20:18 ↗ stopped because it'll take a picture if

2:20:20 ↗ you stop stop and then you take that

2:20:22 ↗ right turn it'll send us the picture but

2:20:24 ↗ that's why the officer looks at it and

2:20:26 ↗ says oh no they were stopped they came

2:20:27 ↗ to a complete stop and they continue and

2:20:30 ↗ then the judge will see it in there

2:20:31 ↗ because that's the first thing the judge

2:20:32 ↗ will ask did you review the video

2:20:34 ↗ because quite often sometimes the people

2:20:36 ↗ will not even look at the video that

2:20:38 ↗ they're in court for that ticket and

2:20:40 ↗ then when they look it on everybody gets

2:20:41 ↗ to view the video that's in court and

2:20:43 ↗ they all go oh yeah you really um you

2:20:45 ↗ know were didn't come to a complete stop

2:20:48 ↗ and so yes that's that's when that light

2:20:50 ↗ is triggered and when that second

2:20:52 ↗ picture is taken thank you the second

2:20:54 ↗ part of my question is if we move

2:20:56 ↗ forward with a if we move forward with a

2:21:00 ↗ pilot program uh red light photo

2:21:03 ↗ enforcement would that include

2:21:05 ↗ assessment of before and after uh

2:21:07 ↗ accident rates around those

2:21:09 ↗ intersections sure yes because because

2:21:12 ↗ we've already done a lot of the the pre

2:21:14 ↗ right we've already given you a bunch of

2:21:15 ↗ the anecdotal information as far as

2:21:17 ↗ those intersections and what collisions

2:21:18 ↗ and infractions have been happening or

2:21:21 ↗ even citations um have happened even to

2:21:24 ↗ present day and then what would happen

2:21:26 ↗ is we would also do those afterward that

2:21:28 ↗ pilot program or after a period of time

2:21:31 ↗ was in place so then we can bring it

2:21:32 ↗ back to the council and say is this good

2:21:35 ↗ to implement permanently or should we be

2:21:37 ↗ done with that pilot program and either

2:21:39 ↗ look at other intersections or

2:21:41 ↗ discontinue the process thank you I will

2:21:44 ↗ ask if there are any more questions oh

2:21:46 ↗ the yes Deputy council president de

2:21:48 ↗ Michelle uh thanks um you know know over

2:21:50 ↗ the years I've heard a lot of complaints

2:21:52 ↗ about the Ingress and egress at uh Grand

2:21:56 ↗ Bridge Elementary in the highlands and

2:21:59 ↗ that they speeding going through there

2:22:01 ↗ and um I just heard parents seem to

2:22:04 ↗ think that that's a very dangerous has

2:22:06 ↗ there been any evaluation of putting a

2:22:08 ↗ speed camera um on uh is that Park Drive

2:22:13 ↗ um I don't know that there's been

2:22:14 ↗ evaluation but we're clearly we're

2:22:16 ↗ definitely open to different options and

2:22:18 ↗ if we're going to do one survey it's not

2:22:20 ↗ not that they couldn't come in and do a

2:22:21 ↗ survey at different at two different

2:22:23 ↗ locations if that's something that that

2:22:25 ↗ might Council was wanted to look at you

2:22:26 ↗ might yeah we either talk to the school

2:22:29 ↗ district or the PTSA there but I

2:22:31 ↗ certainly have heard a lot of complaints

2:22:33 ↗ and worries and concerns about you know

2:22:36 ↗ it's a straight shot and so a lot of

2:22:38 ↗ people don't pay attention to the speed

2:22:40 ↗ there um it might be something worth

2:22:43 ↗ pursuing just to see if there would be

2:22:45 ↗ interest in in having that happen sure I

2:22:48 ↗ I think the only reason that possibly it

2:22:50 ↗ hasn't is because of the level of

2:22:51 ↗ traffic like the have volume um but I'll

2:22:54 ↗ let Administration uh yes uh we would

2:22:57 ↗ just ask if you make that part of the

2:22:59 ↗ motion oh okay that'd be very helpful

2:23:02 ↗ all right great

2:23:05 ↗ thanks council member Joe do you have

2:23:07 ↗ another question yes thank you um

2:23:10 ↗ building on uh Deputy council president

2:23:14 ↗ D Michelle's question about roundabouts

2:23:17 ↗ uh with respect to the stop lights um

2:23:20 ↗ I'm just wondering if an evaluation is

2:23:23 ↗ done to make sure that we're not putting

2:23:26 ↗ a stop light a red light camera in an

2:23:29 ↗ intersection where the signals might be

2:23:32 ↗ revamped or upgraded or anything like

2:23:34 ↗ that in advance so that we're not you

2:23:36 ↗ know putting a camera up and then have

2:23:37 ↗ to redo it later I'm sure you're

2:23:39 ↗ watching out for that and uh if you have

2:23:41 ↗ any comments on that I'd appreciate it

2:23:43 ↗ but just a a concern that came to mind

2:23:46 ↗ sure of course no we would definitely

2:23:48 ↗ keep that in the in mind with the city

2:23:50 ↗ because the engineering of that is would

2:23:52 ↗ be a huge part of the implementation of

2:23:54 ↗ any of those great thank you very

2:23:59 ↗ much if there's no further questions

2:24:01 ↗ then I will ask uh clerk Geer whether

2:24:04 ↗ there uh are any members of the public

2:24:06 ↗ still online and whether we can find out

2:24:09 ↗ if anybody wishes to make public comment

2:24:11 ↗ on this item before we

2:24:13 ↗ deliberate we no longer have anyone from

2:24:16 ↗ the public with us virtually well that

2:24:18 ↗ is disappointing

2:24:20 ↗ all

2:24:21 ↗ right let's Dis Let's discuss

2:24:29 ↗ it um well again thank you so much uh

2:24:32 ↗ Chief Schwan for the

2:24:34 ↗ presentation um I when I heard that this

2:24:37 ↗ topic was going to be on the agenda I

2:24:40 ↗ immediately said I bet we need cameras

2:24:43 ↗ on Newport way it's really in my mind at

2:24:47 ↗ least because I travel that road

2:24:49 ↗ practically every day with definitely a

2:24:51 ↗ safety issue there we've got lots of

2:24:53 ↗ young kids that travel back and forth to

2:24:56 ↗ isqua Valley Elementary and um I

2:24:58 ↗ definitely think that's something that

2:25:00 ↗ we need to pursue even though I have had

2:25:04 ↗ a traffic ticket on Newport Way so this

2:25:07 ↗ could be I could be working against

2:25:09 ↗ myself here but I definitely would

2:25:11 ↗ support uh us going forward with looking

2:25:13 ↗ at that uh and then the second question

2:25:16 ↗ should we look at um possible uh

2:25:20 ↗ intersections for red light cameras yes

2:25:22 ↗ I'd like to learn more about that and

2:25:25 ↗ have that evaluated further so I would

2:25:27 ↗ support moving forward with that as well

2:25:30 ↗ thanks thank you Chief Swan thanks for

2:25:33 ↗ taking time out of your busy schedule to

2:25:35 ↗ come educate us about this topic

2:25:39 ↗ um like Deputy council president D

2:25:43 ↗ Michelle I travel Newport Way um every

2:25:46 ↗ day and

2:25:48 ↗ uh when there is a police officer

2:25:51 ↗ sitting by the storage uh business right

2:25:54 ↗ there um filling out paperwork even if

2:25:57 ↗ they're not doing active speed zone

2:26:00 ↗ enforcement um it does noticeably slow

2:26:03 ↗ down the traffic to the limits that are

2:26:05 ↗ probably there for the 20 M an hour um

2:26:08 ↗ during the the school um session um but

2:26:12 ↗ we can't be there all the time and our

2:26:14 ↗ police officers shouldn't be expected to

2:26:16 ↗ be in one location all the time they

2:26:18 ↗ have community caretaking uh uh business

2:26:21 ↗ to take care of and and obligations and

2:26:23 ↗ we appreciate that active um patrol and

2:26:28 ↗ active

2:26:30 ↗ um way that our officers are visible in

2:26:33 ↗ the community throughout uh each day um

2:26:36 ↗ so in general I'm in favor of uh going

2:26:40 ↗ ahead with a schools own camera on

2:26:42 ↗ Newport Way um uh like Council Deputy

2:26:47 ↗ council president D Michelle it will

2:26:49 ↗ probably catch me at at some point um

2:26:51 ↗ but I had kids that went to isqua Valley

2:26:54 ↗ and they're now um going to the high

2:26:56 ↗ school and middle school and they're on

2:26:58 ↗ Second Avenue and I do feel a little

2:27:01 ↗ safer um having my kids walk to school

2:27:04 ↗ through that area because there is a

2:27:06 ↗ speed camera there before and I didn't

2:27:09 ↗ let my kids walk to school uh along

2:27:11 ↗ Newport because of uh maybe it was

2:27:13 ↗ because of their age uh they were

2:27:15 ↗ certainly younger but uh the the speeds

2:27:18 ↗ there did cause some concern for me as

2:27:20 ↗ as I was contemplating uh Public Safety

2:27:24 ↗ and and the health and safety of my my

2:27:26 ↗ family so I would be in favor of looking

2:27:28 ↗ at uh Cameron Newport Way Northwest um I

2:27:32 ↗ would like us to study uh on the second

2:27:35 ↗ issue traffic cameras for a red light

2:27:37 ↗ photo program um I certainly would like

2:27:41 ↗ us to make sure that we're doing a cost

2:27:44 ↗ benefit analysis in terms of um the

2:27:47 ↗ number of accidents that are there

2:27:50 ↗ certainly don't reflect all the red

2:27:53 ↗ light violations that we have but the

2:27:56 ↗ numbers for the accidents are not that

2:27:58 ↗ high I'd be interested to see uh what

2:28:00 ↗ we're able to kind of far it out in

2:28:03 ↗ terms of how many red light violations

2:28:05 ↗ we estimate based on either a sample uh

2:28:09 ↗ size or or some type of camera

2:28:10 ↗ monitoring for a distinct period I'd be

2:28:13 ↗ interested to see you know an estimate

2:28:16 ↗ of how much uh that is going to improve

2:28:18 ↗ uh Public Safety for us in the red light

2:28:21 ↗ camera uh intersections that we're

2:28:23 ↗ considering thank

2:28:25 ↗ you council member G

2:28:28 ↗ Michelle thank you this is actually a

2:28:30 ↗ question for City administrator Bob

2:28:32 ↗ quitz uh I know that uh red light

2:28:35 ↗ cameras can sometimes be very

2:28:37 ↗ controversial and so I'm just wondering

2:28:40 ↗ would this require us to do a public

2:28:42 ↗ hearing um and um and how would we

2:28:45 ↗ inform the public that we're considering

2:28:48 ↗ this uh thank you Deputy council

2:28:50 ↗ president um our next step would be uh

2:28:53 ↗ if the count if the committee agrees

2:28:56 ↗ with the recommendations is to work with

2:28:59 ↗ vendor they I guess a very standard

2:29:02 ↗ package of of evaluation once we have

2:29:04 ↗ that we would come back to you um with I

2:29:08 ↗ think answers to most all the questions

2:29:09 ↗ that you've asked uh this evening u in

2:29:12 ↗ speaking with the city attorney um she'd

2:29:14 ↗ indicated that there would need to be a

2:29:16 ↗ finding by the council um that

2:29:20 ↗ a camera is necessary and so there would

2:29:22 ↗ there's not a specific report or

2:29:25 ↗ anything like that that just needs to be

2:29:26 ↗ a finding we would provide you

2:29:28 ↗ additional information beyond what

2:29:30 ↗ you've seen tonight but you've kind of

2:29:32 ↗ gotten the basics of the of the

2:29:34 ↗ enforcement information from the police

2:29:35 ↗ department um so that would come back as

2:29:38 ↗ far as the public notice I think we

2:29:40 ↗ would when we come back to the committee

2:29:42 ↗ with the vendor information we would

2:29:44 ↗ have information about that um you know

2:29:47 ↗ I I think as you've all have mentioned

2:29:48 ↗ there are some areas here this will be

2:29:50 ↗ an inconvenience for some folks Newport

2:29:53 ↗ Way I imagine we'll hear lots of grief

2:29:55 ↗ initially from that but uh we'll come

2:29:58 ↗ back with a more detailed plan when we

2:30:00 ↗ come back to the committee probably in

2:30:01 ↗ the early

2:30:03 ↗ fall it looks like our City attorney

2:30:05 ↗ might want to add something to that not

2:30:07 ↗ really much to add just that's correct

2:30:09 ↗ and it would be kind of like findings

2:30:11 ↗ that you would adopt in an ordinance

2:30:13 ↗ that I'm sure you've seen before

2:30:14 ↗ findings a fact but just based on the

2:30:16 ↗ analysis that staff will provide so you

2:30:18 ↗ don't have to go do your own uh study

2:30:21 ↗ we'll we'll provide it for you and if

2:30:22 ↗ you agree with it then you can just

2:30:24 ↗ adopt

2:30:25 ↗ it thank you did you have a further

2:30:27 ↗ question all right so

2:30:31 ↗ um my thoughts on this uh yes sure we

2:30:37 ↗ should do the speed uh on Newport this

2:30:40 ↗ is a problem that's going to go away

2:30:41 ↗ when we add three roundabouts um people

2:30:44 ↗ won't just unless they're hot roding

2:30:46 ↗ they're not those roundabouts are going

2:30:49 ↗ to solve this problem

2:30:50 ↗ but you know when I first got on Council

2:30:53 ↗ in January of 2010 we were talking about

2:30:57 ↗ adding those three roundabouts and

2:30:59 ↗ they're not there yet so uh it's a good

2:31:01 ↗ it's a good stop Gap in the in between I

2:31:04 ↗ think we should do the uh red light

2:31:07 ↗ cameras uh uh study uh pilot program um

2:31:13 ↗ I think there is some debate the extent

2:31:16 ↗ to which red light cameras actually

2:31:17 ↗ reduce accidents uh I'm looking at a

2:31:20 ↗ Crosscut PBS study that was done about a

2:31:22 ↗ year and a half ago analyzing in a

2:31:24 ↗ number of King County cities and they

2:31:26 ↗ said that uh speed cameras absolutely um

2:31:30 ↗ but tra but uh stoplight cameras the the

2:31:33 ↗ results the studies are mixed as to the

2:31:35 ↗ impact and that's why I asked the

2:31:37 ↗ question about making sure that we would

2:31:39 ↗ pay to have some analysis done on the

2:31:41 ↗ data um so such that after some amount

2:31:43 ↗ of time we have a good idea of whether

2:31:46 ↗ uh those have an impact or not on uh on

2:31:49 ↗ public safety and then I don't know what

2:31:51 ↗ to do about this Park Drive question but

2:31:53 ↗ let me tell you Park Drive is I as a

2:31:57 ↗ driver find Park Drive to be the most

2:32:00 ↗ speedy section of Road uh in the city I

2:32:04 ↗ used to ride a motorcycle full-time and

2:32:06 ↗ I routinely would have to pull over by

2:32:09 ↗ the side of the road because people were

2:32:10 ↗ tailgating my motorcycle which is

2:32:13 ↗ incredibly dangerous and so I don't know

2:32:16 ↗ what we want to do with this but Park

2:32:18 ↗ Drive people just go too fast and the

2:32:21 ↗ fact that we have a school there makes

2:32:23 ↗ me think if if Park Drive is not part of

2:32:25 ↗ our initial consideration it should be

2:32:28 ↗ part of a it should be there somewhere

2:32:30 ↗ because people are going too fast on

2:32:32 ↗ that stretch of road and it's it's to me

2:32:35 ↗ it's even worse than Newport Newport yes

2:32:37 ↗ people drive too fast but but Park Drive

2:32:40 ↗ I I don't get it but it it we should fix

2:32:44 ↗ it

2:32:46 ↗ so do you have what you need from us

2:32:49 ↗ this evening

2:32:50 ↗ uh yes just an affirmative um mention

2:32:54 ↗ from the committee regarding Park

2:32:56 ↗ Drive I I see two

2:32:59 ↗ nods well the question would be what

2:33:01 ↗ what do we want them to do because

2:33:03 ↗ they're they're saying that right now

2:33:04 ↗ they they want to do one for Staffing

2:33:07 ↗ need they're going to do you're going to

2:33:09 ↗ do an analysis of further analysis of

2:33:12 ↗ Talis and I believe if we could do the s

2:33:14 ↗ a similar study of the Park Drive we're

2:33:17 ↗ not recommending Talis at this point oh

2:33:20 ↗ because the the you know we have some

2:33:22 ↗ good fresh information traffic

2:33:24 ↗ enforcement information there and we

2:33:26 ↗ don't believe at this point it warrants

2:33:28 ↗ it it may at some point in the future

2:33:30 ↗ yeah uh but if the council would like us

2:33:32 ↗ to pursue two School additional school

2:33:34 ↗ safety zones at Highland's elementary

2:33:37 ↗ school as well as on Newport Way would

2:33:40 ↗ just it would appreciate at least the oh

2:33:43 ↗ consensus of the

2:33:45 ↗ committee I was mishearing what you said

2:33:47 ↗ so what you're saying is we would add

2:33:49 ↗ Park Drive to the Newport Way right so

2:33:52 ↗ that we would ask the vendor we would

2:33:54 ↗ also go back to the police department

2:33:56 ↗ and gather up basically a package of

2:33:58 ↗ information to come back to the

2:33:59 ↗ committee in a few months yes I would

2:34:01 ↗ like to see that okay my vote is yes and

2:34:04 ↗ I would too but I see I see russle

2:34:06 ↗ furring his brow and just so I'm clear

2:34:09 ↗ that that would be a limited study

2:34:11 ↗ between on Park Drive between Central

2:34:14 ↗ Park Lane Northeast and the area that is

2:34:18 ↗ um down the hill from from the school

2:34:20 ↗ zone of where it ends it wouldn't be the

2:34:23 ↗ whole length of Park Drive is that

2:34:25 ↗ correct I I don't think legally we could

2:34:27 ↗ do that so I think we would look at

2:34:29 ↗ whatever the lawful zone is and then

2:34:32 ↗ have the vendor make a recommendation

2:34:34 ↗ just the placement of the all right

2:34:36 ↗ under those limited circumstances I

2:34:37 ↗ would support adding Park Drive to the

2:34:40 ↗ study sounds like you have the consensus

2:34:42 ↗ from the council thank you very much or

2:34:44 ↗ from the committee I should say uh Chief

2:34:47 ↗ thank you for presenting this evening on

2:34:49 ↗ this always great hearing from you on

2:34:51 ↗ this and any public safety issues C

2:34:54 ↗ administrator anything else for us this

2:34:55 ↗ evening all right any final closing

2:34:59 ↗ comments great me me all right with that

2:35:02 ↗ we are adjourned

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Motions and votes (1)

Approve the March 19, 2024 minutes. . AGENDA ITEMS a) COM 0041 Court and Criminal Justice Services Presented by: Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator Judge N. Scott Stewart, Issaquah Municipal Court Lynn Moberly, City Prosecutor Alexa McBarron, Prosecuting Attorney Shawn McCully, Public Defender The…

Moved by JOE · seconded by DE MICHELE

Carried 3-0