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City Council Special Meeting Auto captions

Monday, February 10, 2025

6:30 PM · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topic tracked across meetings:
City Council Vacancy, Position No. 3 Make Appointment; Conduct Oath of Office AB 8952 2/4
2. AGENDA ITEMS
2a
Public Comment
packet pp.3–73
Staff report:
The Administration recommends that the City Council fill the City Council Position No. 6 vacancy.
2b
City Council Position No. 6 Vacancy Make Appointment AB 8952
90 min
Topics: Boards & Commissions
2c
Executive Session - Qualifications of Appointment per RCW 42.30.110(1)(h) ID 1779
30 min
Topics: Boards & Commissions
0:05 awesome well welcome everyone I'm
0:07 calling the February 10th special city
0:09 council meeting to order uh council
0:11 member Mars as you can see is joining us
0:13 remotely so we do have all six council
0:16 members here uh as a reminder we
0:18 continue to have a remote aspect to our
0:20 meetings and both staff members of the
0:22 public May both staff and members of the
0:25 public may be participating tonight's
0:26 meeting remotely via web acts the first
0:29 item on the agenda this evening is
0:31 public count uh comment and this is the
0:32 time that the public May address uh
0:35 their counsel in person or virtually if
0:37 you signed up in advance we'll call on
0:39 you first if you're joining us virtually
0:41 look for the raise hand uh or send the
0:44 host a chat message if you're in the
0:46 room and did not sign up do not worry I
0:48 will ask for other speakers before
0:50 closing this portion of the meeting so
0:52 uh city clerk has anyone signed up to
0:54 speak for General audience comments
0:55 tonight yes super so if you are making
0:59 comments tonight you're invited to
1:00 address the council regarding matters
1:02 that are directly related to isqua's
1:04 programs projects services or events and
1:07 comments related to political campaigns
1:08 are not permitted please direct comments
1:11 to the whole Council and not individuals
1:13 and while it's not a question and answer
1:15 session we will contact you to follow up
1:18 if needed if you are virtual when you're
1:20 recognized unmute your microphone if
1:23 you're in the room this is the lect that
1:24 we're going to be using tonight and the
1:26 microphone is already on state your name
1:28 and address in relation ship to the city
1:31 and speak clearly and pause frequently
1:33 please limit your comments to 5 minutes
1:35 if you're attending virtually and don't
1:37 respond we will have to continue the
1:38 meeting um so please rejoin if you can
1:41 personal attacks obene language
1:43 derogatory marks and disruptive behavior
1:45 will not be permitted public comments
1:47 written in verbal are an important
1:48 aspect of the public process and the
1:50 city takes comments seriously we thank
1:52 you for taking time to address US city
1:54 clerk can you please identify the first
1:56 person who signed up to speak this
1:57 evening yes James markart
2:00 great James if you want to come up over
2:02 here that'd be great and if you're
2:03 looking for the timer you want to set
2:06 the time for
2:07 James you can keep track of your time
2:09 right there
2:14 James uh good evening I'm James markart
2:17 I live at 575 Mount Everest Lane
2:19 Southwest up on squawk Mountain uh good
2:23 evening council members I'm speaking
2:25 today about an urgent public safety
2:27 issue uh affecting our children uh two
2:30 weeks ago my son and his friend were
2:33 physically assaulted on city
2:35 property uh in investigating this
2:37 incident I've discovered this was not an
2:39 isolated event the same location has
2:42 been the site of at least three other
2:44 assaults in the past
2:46 year um through conversations with other
2:49 parents I've learned of multiple similar
2:52 incidents uh ranging from unprovoked
2:54 violence to full-on sexual harassment of
2:57 children all on city property
3:01 these aren't minor scuffles that are
3:02 happening some of these assaults have
3:05 been severe enough to require Medical
3:07 Response teams um and monitoring for
3:11 concussions the impact on our community
3:13 is severe one family has already been
3:16 forced to change schools in order to
3:19 escape the assaults and is now
3:21 undergoing counseling to deal with
3:24 trauma another uh another family is
3:27 planning to leave our city entirely
3:29 because they simply feel that nothing
3:32 has been done to prevent assaults from
3:34 happening these families are making
3:37 difficult choices because they don't
3:38 feel that their children are are safe in
3:41 public
3:43 places currently our our only recourse
3:46 is to call 911 after an incident occurs
3:49 though some families have stopped
3:50 reporting incidents entirely having lost
3:53 faith that anything will change because
3:56 of their
3:57 call meanwhile these assaults continue
4:00 to happen in predictable locations at
4:02 predictable times this suggests there
4:05 may be opportunities for preventative
4:07 measures to better protect our children
4:08 in public spaces and yet after a year of
4:11 occurrences we see nothing
4:14 happening I must also share a serious
4:16 concern that has been raised to me after
4:20 some of the Outreach I've done with the
4:21 community in discussing these incidents
4:24 with other community members I've heard
4:25 growing frustration that could lead some
4:27 to take matters into their own hands
4:30 while I absolutely do not condone these
4:33 such actions I feel obligated to convey
4:35 convey just how unsafe and unprotected
4:39 many in the community
4:41 feel I'm here today to ensure this
4:43 ongoing safety issue is maintained as
4:45 part of our public record and to ask the
4:48 council to take the reality of the state
4:51 of child safety in isqua seriously
4:54 please work with us the people of isqua
4:56 to figure out how to keep them safe you
4:59 should all know that our children's
5:00 safety matters more to us than anything
5:03 thank you for your
5:04 time thank you James city clerk is there
5:08 anyone else that has signed up to speak
5:09 or is
5:11 online mayor we do have at least one
5:14 member of the public with us
5:17 online but I don't see anyone indicating
5:20 a desire to speak well thank you James
5:22 thank you for coming and sharing your
5:24 comments this evening about student
5:26 safety uh is there I don't see anyone
5:29 else here the lady over there is
5:31 actually our attorney so she's not
5:33 necessarily part of the public um just a
5:36 reminder for anyone that is here that
5:37 you can talk to your council at any time
5:39 by emailing them at city council Isa
5:42 w.gov the next item of business this
5:44 evening which is the item of business is
5:46 AB 8952 city council position number six
5:51 vacancy the city council currently has a
5:53 vacancy in position number six the city
5:56 council has 90 days to make an
5:58 appointment to fill the vacancy
6:00 the city accepted applications for the
6:02 vacancy through January 25th and the
6:04 city council heard presentations from
6:06 the 12 applicants who met the
6:08 qualifications at the February 3rd city
6:10 council meeting at that meeting the city
6:12 council chose to forward seven
6:14 applicants along in the process and
6:16 those seven applicants are here with us
6:17 this evening tonight the council will
6:20 start by sorry we will start by asking
6:23 two questions of each applicant though
6:25 there may be additional follow-up
6:26 questions from Council each applicant
6:29 will have 3 minutes to answer each
6:30 question there will not be a horrible
6:32 alarm at the end of your 3 minutes but
6:34 you can see the clock behind if you lose
6:37 track of time our city clerk is going to
6:39 turn it off at 2 minutes and 59 seconds
6:42 so make sure that you are thinking about
6:44 wrapping up your comments at that time
6:46 there was a random draw to determine the
6:48 order tonight and Mary you will be
6:50 starting us off first with the first
6:52 question and we'll go in the order in
6:54 which you are seated with Kelly going
6:56 next for the second question we will
6:58 reverse the order
7:00 similar to the February 3rd meeting
7:01 following the question and answer period
7:04 the city council is anticipated to move
7:06 into executive session to discuss the
7:08 qualifications of applicants the city
7:10 council may choose to narrow the
7:12 applicants follow the executive session
7:14 or may choose to make an
7:16 appointment so as I said we'll be
7:18 starting with Mary and going down the
7:20 line and the first question
7:25 is we can scooch scooching absolutely
7:31 yeah and you're you are sharing
7:33 microphones make sure the base of the
7:35 microphone has a red light on it so that
7:37 Folks at home can hear you as well
7:40 perfect so the first question is how
7:43 should coun how should the council
7:45 prioritize the issues of the city while
7:48 dealing with limited
7:54 resources okay
7:56 well
7:58 I I think I've said this to a number of
8:01 you I'm not sure if I said this last
8:02 week I am super impressed with the
8:06 city's strategic plan I think it
8:09 provides a really excellent um both an
8:14 like identification of priorities as
8:17 recognized by the city and with input
8:19 from the city and kind of a cascading
8:23 plan to implement against those
8:25 priorities and then the um the
8:28 additional I call it kind of like the
8:30 meta layer of how do you use this plan
8:32 to make decisions like assess new ideas
8:36 that come in that sort of thing so for
8:39 me when I read the Strategic plan I felt
8:42 like wow this group is actually really
8:44 well prepared to um as you have to make
8:48 decisions kind of go back look at what
8:51 is there on the plan look at and then
8:54 the dashboards that look at how you're
8:57 making progress against the plan um I
8:59 would say you know looking at the things
9:03 that have been identified as the biggest
9:05 priorities in the plan and the issues
9:08 that have the sort of biggest gaps
9:10 against the goals that have been set I
9:13 would put those first on the
9:14 prioritization schedule so um yeah
9:18 that's how I would approach priorization
9:20 thank you very much mayor mayor Mary
9:23 potentially a mayor who knows in some
9:26 future time um Kelly the same question
9:28 if you want to press the button on the
9:30 base of the mic and um how would you
9:34 prioritize the ISS how should the
9:35 council prioritize the issues when
9:37 dealing with limited resources great um
9:40 thank you can can does is the mic
9:41 working um yeah so first things first I
9:44 think the council has done a really
9:46 great job and the community has done a
9:47 great job of identifying you know what
9:49 are our values as a community and that's
9:51 reflected both in the Strategic plan and
9:52 the comprehensive plan and so kind of
9:54 starting from that shared Foundation we
9:56 can then you know figure out what's most
9:58 important to us and then where to make
10:00 the hard choices I think some of the um
10:02 choices that we make also you know it
10:05 relates to what is what can the city
10:07 uniquely do where are some of the places
10:08 where we're doing things now but we can
10:10 actually potentially lean harder on you
10:11 know resources from the county from the
10:14 state or also from uh private um
10:16 individuals you know non-governmental
10:18 Partners um so for example you know with
10:20 the Arts grants recently there's the um
10:23 example where uh King County actually
10:25 has a lot of Arts grants coming up and
10:27 so that's an area where we decided that
10:29 or you all decided that the city of
10:30 isqua maybe that's an area where we can
10:32 lean more on um resources from the
10:36 county um from you know the
10:38 non-governmental organizational
10:39 perspective you know with the urban
10:41 forestry management plan this is an
10:42 issue where I know you know the cities
10:44 like we don't really have resources to
10:46 work on this so how can we partner with
10:47 non-governmental organizations which be
10:49 able to access Phil philanthropic
10:51 funding um you know other grants and
10:54 things like that so I think figuring out
10:56 and then what are some areas where
10:57 actually it does require the city for
10:59 example things like Public Safety and
11:00 you know as we've seen in the recent
11:03 budget that is an area that the city has
11:05 prioritized I would also say you know in
11:07 terms of prioritization one thing that I
11:08 always come back to is the Eisenhower
11:10 Matrix which is urgent versus important
11:12 so typically you know we're always most
11:14 responsive to the Urgent thing it's like
11:16 what's on fire right now but I think the
11:17 city has also done a really good job of
11:19 prioritizing important things like what
11:21 are some of the things that could be
11:22 really bad but we don't even know about
11:23 them like the posos issue that's
11:25 something where you know we proactively
11:27 went out and found that and we're
11:28 addressing that issue and so I think you
11:30 know combining the um the values the
11:34 figuring out what's urgent versus
11:35 important and actually you know putting
11:37 a value on important things that if we
11:40 leave them to Fester could become a huge
11:42 like way more costly issue um and then
11:45 also figuring out you know where the
11:46 areas where the city is best suited to
11:49 actually spend its resources and where
11:50 we can lean on other
11:52 partners thank you Celly K if anybody
11:55 would like me to keep reading the
11:56 question I can if it's clear I don't
11:58 need to would you like me to read it or
12:00 you good please read it again oh
12:02 absolutely how should the council
12:04 prioritize the issues of the city while
12:06 dealing with limited
12:08 resources thank you so first of all I
12:11 would like to I basically can just uh
12:15 second the first two the first two
12:18 members of this group and I would like
12:21 to also mention that um a wonderful job
12:24 that done by the city in strategic and
12:26 comprehensive plans but my take on that
12:29 would be not only that we have to um
12:32 think what's our urgent priorities are
12:35 or what's our priorities that that can
12:37 wait are but let's say uh with SE some
12:40 projects we really have to have a
12:42 conversation with other responsible
12:45 parties and get support from them for
12:48 example one of the projects that I was
12:50 advocating for was a
12:51 Metroflex and I was very happy that it
12:54 got a support uh one and a half year ago
12:57 and I know that now we are in a little
12:59 bit in a crisis with that and I'm really
13:02 hoping and looking forward to uh the
13:04 King County Metro to be able to help us
13:07 with that uh and maybe some private uh
13:11 or private investors that can also help
13:15 supporting this uh kind of projects so
13:18 that is my take on that thank you much
13:22 Chris good evening so I the resources
13:25 are there having worked on the Strategic
13:27 plan task force as a coach share
13:29 collaborating with council president
13:31 Walsh council member Tola um looking at
13:35 you know that's our that's our Northstar
13:38 right so our Northstar is already set
13:39 with the their strategic plan itself so
13:42 now what are we doing to work within
13:44 that as far as the priorities itself so
13:46 you got the mobility you have the
13:48 economic vitality and development you
13:51 have civil services in that so to tati
13:55 kti as a point with the Metroflex
13:58 hearing continue to utilize the
14:00 resources within the public continuing
14:04 to seek feedback from the actual
14:07 community members that's important the
14:09 the the committee that we had had an
14:11 aspect from everybody we had a community
14:14 members we had boards and commissions we
14:16 had city council the mayor was involved
14:19 our city Administration was involved and
14:22 that's the resources that we necessarily
14:24 need to set the priorities that we
14:26 already have in place which is the
14:28 Strategic plan comprehensive plan is
14:30 over that but their strategic plan is
14:32 what we already have in place so when we
14:34 look at the actual public survey Public
14:38 Safety is something we heard tonight
14:40 that is really important continuing to
14:42 focus on how can we better our response
14:44 times in our Police Department how we
14:46 can provide fire you know resilience
14:49 with our within our community with the
14:51 fire resiliency and maybe looking at how
14:54 we are going to better prepare for
14:56 emergency situations both residentially
14:58 and and business-wise speed to get back
15:01 to business right business resiliency is
15:03 important we had the bomb Cyclone so the
15:06 resources that are there we just can
15:08 continue to add on to that by either
15:11 seeking additional resources from within
15:14 or looking for resources from without
15:16 but always keeping the public first and
15:18 foremost in everything we do that's our
15:20 resource that we really need to because
15:21 that's what we ultimately are about is a
15:24 community and then on top of that you
15:27 look at the economic development plan
15:28 that under that which I also worked on
15:31 and the actual environmental plan that
15:33 are under there the plans are under
15:34 there so again we have the resource so
15:36 since it's continuing to now hold
15:38 ourselves accountable
15:40 to make those actions go on those plans
15:44 the plan set so I think we have the
15:47 resources thank you Chris
15:50 Eric thank you um as uh Kat you said I I
15:55 like everything that's been said I think
15:56 we have a great group of people here who
15:59 obviously care very much about the city
16:01 I I think there are two um two things
16:04 that I think I bring to the table and in
16:07 regard to um understanding the
16:10 relationship between our strategic
16:12 objectives and our budget and um I
16:17 always um when it when it comes to
16:20 project development or for the food bank
16:23 for example the question is well what
16:26 what can we not do and spend money on
16:28 and what are the risks of not doing
16:30 those things so if we wanted to advance
16:33 all of the Strategic plan objectives how
16:37 far can we afford to go with each one of
16:39 them while understanding that if we
16:42 don't go far enough that the risks of
16:45 not doing that may outweigh the the
16:48 financial benefit of not spending that
16:50 money so I'll seed my time to others
16:54 thank you Eric
16:56 Jeff boy I'm glad I'm not going last
16:58 Tina
17:02 um I I think that the only thing I
17:04 haven't heard on there and I'm not going
17:05 to repeat um the other because I think
17:08 they're all very sound is I think the
17:10 one component if there is if we feel
17:13 there is such a priority of uh Public
17:16 Safety perhaps or bomb Cyclone or holy
17:20 cow sound transit now wants to be here
17:21 in 10 years instead of 20 I I think
17:25 we're going to hear from the community
17:26 and we need to do our best to elicit the
17:29 community for any of these issues so if
17:32 you're saying hey the community is
17:34 feeling that this is a priority will we
17:36 go back and start with the Strategic
17:37 plan to make sure okay well let's make
17:39 sure that that is in the in the in in in
17:42 our guiding principles of what are the
17:43 six important things then let's further
17:46 validate it with okay if this is as big
17:49 an issue that everyone is saying either
17:52 with surveys or open houses or the road
17:54 show I'd mention those types of things
17:55 let's validate that it is that kind of
17:57 priority you you'll hear it if it's a
17:58 priority I I I don't need to tell you
18:00 that I'm sure you guys are made aware of
18:02 when there's some new uh issue that a
18:04 lot of people feel passionate about
18:06 they're going to they're going to bring
18:07 it to you and I think I think there's
18:09 reason for precedents but I don't think
18:11 that they always should be Ironclad
18:14 there are parts of the budget that I've
18:16 learned obviously are look these are
18:19 locked down these are areas we will not
18:21 and shall not touch either because of
18:22 the Strategic plan or Public Safety but
18:26 I do think there are other places and
18:28 we're living in an evolving Society
18:29 right now where we may not be able to
18:31 even anticipate or be aware of what the
18:33 big issue is and I'd love to hear what
18:35 the council thought of a pandemic in
18:37 2016 uh I'm sure there was almost
18:39 nothing you know in in the book there I
18:42 think it's important um to have the
18:44 flexibility to look at different times I
18:47 I was uh impressed and Chris this isn't
18:50 a a patronizing thing but you had
18:52 mentioned during the bond the bond it
18:54 was a really hot topic and is a Hot
18:56 Topic um but at the meeting there are
18:59 there had been certain areas where the
19:01 council did not get involved with yet
19:04 because of the public uh I'm not going
19:06 to say outcry public concern in those
19:07 things it was time to maybe adapt with
19:09 that and maybe weigh in on something
19:11 like that so I thought that was a good
19:12 example of hey we've done things a
19:14 certain way but it doesn't mean we
19:15 always have to do them that way and I
19:17 and I think every any organization that
19:19 is a learning organization has to always
19:21 be able to be flexible on that awesome
19:24 thanks Jeff Tina you drew the
19:26 metaphorical Short Straw so
19:29 happy to get any straw but you do get to
19:30 go first next time sounds good um yes so
19:34 I love um all of these ideas I think
19:37 that they're really um wonderful I think
19:39 think something that I would add uh that
19:41 I haven't heard here is um how we can uh
19:44 really be asking questions as a council
19:46 um about the impact of the dollars that
19:48 we are spending the dollars that we do
19:49 have where is our scope of um action
19:52 going to be and I think um prioritizing
19:55 impact of dollars spent would be a great
19:56 way to address that and one uh thing
19:58 that I would want to do is to expand um
20:01 it's kind of counter um indicative but
20:04 essentially looking at expanding our
20:05 City's conceptualization of what Public
20:07 Safety entails and so thinking about um
20:11 how safety doesn't just mean to my
20:14 person and property but it also means
20:16 for housing and it means for food and
20:18 resource and ability to live in a system
20:21 where my health care cost are not going
20:23 to bankrupt me and my family um and so
20:26 I've had Direct experience uh with the
20:28 impact of carceral logic I've written
20:30 literally um in the same car you know
20:33 with police and been to houses um doing
20:36 probation checkups I've sat with clients
20:39 in court um I've witnessed parents
20:41 having their rights severed I testified
20:43 I've been a party to that system and I
20:45 can um really uh give witness to the
20:50 destruction and harm that it reeks in
20:52 communities especially communities of
20:53 color and those who are marginalized so
20:56 I just want to say that I while I um
20:58 believe in and supporting an effective
21:00 police work um and I don't want to say
21:03 that we need to divert all these funds I
21:05 just think that if we think about where
21:06 we're spending our money um what what's
21:08 the impact going to be and kind of
21:10 speaking to the point that I had uh made
21:12 last week when thinking about moving
21:14 Upstream where our do dollars are going
21:16 to be spent um in a way that's actually
21:18 going to be making um a difference in
21:21 people's lives you know something that
21:23 happened to um us on day one in isqua um
21:26 my family was a victim of crime our
21:28 moving van our our moving truck a 26t
21:31 long truck was stolen from the Motel 6
21:34 um it was taken to a neighboring
21:35 Community dumped out ransacked um and
21:38 all of our possessions were essentially
21:40 thrown kind of down a hillside into
21:43 Blackberry Bramble some of them are
21:44 actually taken and stolen and have never
21:45 been recovered so I owe the fact that I
21:48 have today my baby my kids baby books
21:52 with their little Footprints to good
21:54 police work so I just want to say like I
21:56 I embody this like as a real need in our
21:59 community that safety is really
22:00 important and that you know it's
22:02 dismaying to hear about um assaults
22:05 happening in our town but I also know
22:06 that we have to move upstream and to be
22:08 able to really address that issue we
22:09 have to spend the money really wisely
22:11 and I know the ways you know that we
22:13 need to do that are not always um so
22:16 quantifiable as metrics that police can
22:19 provide you know about how many arrests
22:21 have been made it's harder just count
22:23 something that never happens but that's
22:24 really what I want I want that to have
22:26 never happened to any family including
22:28 my own and I know those are the answers
22:29 that we need thank you Tina the second
22:33 question that uh we're going to ask this
22:36 evening is you have now heard from all
22:38 of the other candidates twice and been
22:41 able to read their material so Tina why
22:44 should we pick
22:51 you it's a little bit of a double-edged
22:53 sword than to go cuz I'm all like I know
22:56 I know okay here we go again take some
22:58 water or yeah take some water we're
23:01 having a water break thank
23:04 you what te are best thank you okay so
23:09 um basically I believe that I'm uniquely
23:12 qualified um because I have experience
23:15 that I don't see represented on this
23:16 Council um and like I mentioned
23:18 beforehand like having experience um
23:20 directly with these different um human
23:23 service agencies I've worked in
23:25 Community Mental Health um pretty much
23:26 my entire professional career up until
23:28 about 7 months from now when I launched
23:31 my private practice um but I also have
23:34 worked as a volunteer in many different
23:35 capacities so I've been a court
23:36 appointed special advocate in Maricopa
23:39 County um I last year participated in
23:41 our point in time count here
23:43 interviewing individuals who are coming
23:46 um as part of the king um the Housing
23:48 Authority trying to track homeless
23:51 homelessness in our
23:52 communities um I you know like I said um
23:56 have worked with adolescents in our town
23:58 who are struggling with isolation who
24:00 are struggling with um addiction and
24:03 struggling with self harm so I believe
24:05 that I offer um that unique perspective
24:07 and the person who has been um
24:09 Downstream in a system um somebody like
24:12 I said before who you know I can relate
24:14 to feeling um frustrated and lost and
24:18 isolated myself as a professional and so
24:20 that's part of what I wanted to do um in
24:22 my private practice is really um
24:24 addressing those issues with other
24:25 healthcare workers so that we can have
24:27 more folks in this community working in
24:30 mental health in a sustaining way so
24:32 it's something that I'm really
24:33 passionate about and it's something that
24:34 I think that um my skill set and work
24:37 experiences would bring a unique
24:39 perspective thank you Tina why you
24:42 Jeff thanks Tina that was great uh it's
24:46 it's tough in in this setting because I
24:49 see I see seven people that could all
24:52 very easily and appropriately be sitting
24:54 over on that side and and but one one
24:57 theme I think and and I and I've
24:59 mentioned this a couple times I think
25:01 any time that uh a decision-making board
25:05 like this can have broad input to its
25:10 its decision-making process um is a good
25:13 thing and what I mean by that is being
25:16 exposed to a lot of different things
25:19 throughout the isqua community um we've
25:22 learned some folks are
25:24 so amazing um at what they're doing in a
25:29 in a very deep and meaningful way I'm
25:31 I'm a uh I'm an Enterprise technology
25:34 solution seller I've been doing that for
25:35 30 years I I hear from a client we bring
25:39 together a solution and we have experts
25:40 I don't understand half of the solutions
25:42 quite frankly a lot of the times I'm
25:43 representing I am trained to be and what
25:46 I'm really good at is I'm an inch deep
25:48 and a mile wide that's me in isqua I'm
25:51 the coach I'm the volunteer I'm the
25:53 business leader I'm the organizer I'm
25:55 the advocate for a lot of the small
25:57 business owners I know
25:58 I feel like I've got a very broad
26:01 understanding of of the needs of the
26:03 people that live here that rent here
26:06 that work here that commute here all
26:08 those different types of things um can I
26:11 hold my own on on deep policies
26:13 absolutely and do I know the right
26:15 people to contact if we have issues or
26:17 those types of things yes but I think I
26:20 could be a very loud voice and Advocate
26:22 I even just from the feedback from last
26:24 week I was pleasantly stunned by the
26:27 amount of folks that live and every
26:28 different community that watched and you
26:30 know were very positive but also great
26:33 gave great feedback and also saw it as
26:35 their opportunity of hey could you bring
26:36 this up at your next one I said well not
26:38 quite yet but uh not quite yet but but
26:41 again just being that sounding board to
26:43 to hear that kind of that that kind of
26:46 focus so I think um it it really would
26:48 just be if you want someone that has
26:52 really walked in all the different areas
26:55 not not necessarily literally but has
26:57 been in involved so much with isqua not
27:00 just as a kid but in the last 15 years
27:02 I've lived here I think I can really
27:04 bring that view to the community to the
27:05 council thank you Jeff
27:09 Eric I think I can I can speak um about
27:13 the breadth of my experience um but I
27:17 and you know I've I've worked with with
27:19 hospitals I've worked with private
27:21 clients I've I'm working with the food
27:24 bank um my my goal in all of those
27:27 situations is to synthesize what the
27:30 needs are understand what the resources
27:32 are bring the right people together uh
27:35 and and work through Solutions um so you
27:39 know from the standpoint of of dealing
27:41 with a a hospital project for example um
27:45 you know you you talk to the folks from
27:47 Environmental Services as well as the
27:49 orthopedic surgeons uh and the nurses
27:52 and everyone in between uh and they all
27:55 have to feel and believe that they are
27:59 in fact stakeholders and that obviously
28:01 extends to the community at large in
28:03 this context um I think the other thing
28:06 that I've learned over over the the
28:09 decades is that um you have to learn how
28:12 to listen and how to care about what
28:16 everyone is saying and be able to
28:20 separate uh wishes from needs uh urgency
28:26 from important uh um and be able to pull
28:30 in the right people to to discuss uh and
28:33 to to find the right Solutions uh food
28:36 bank is a I think a great example we we
28:39 realized um through some research that
28:42 uh we we needed to have our own building
28:45 uh and we needed to work with the city
28:48 staff to get uh uh zoning uh changed uh
28:56 um to address issues like uh impermeable
29:01 surfaces uh and parking and so we said
29:04 okay let's be proactive about this and
29:07 and we did a parking study which was
29:10 very favorable uh and the city staff
29:12 worked with us because we recognized
29:14 that they were the experts in terms of
29:17 policy and regulations um and it was you
29:21 know the mutual respect I think is
29:24 probably the most uh tangible thing that
29:27 I I think I can bring
29:29 thank you Eric
29:31 Chris one of my biggest accomplishments
29:33 so far is is being named 2022 small
29:37 business person of the year by the
29:39 chamber and the reason why is is because
29:42 I I reflect back on that is because I'm
29:44 about the people I'm not I don't have my
29:46 own intent I did it organically I didn't
29:49 seek for anybody's nomination I didn't
29:51 seek for anybody's approval I
29:53 organically did it by helping my members
29:55 every day whether it be a Community
29:57 member whether whether it be a fellow
29:58 council member whether it be a city
30:00 staff you know I I I I first I approach
30:03 everything at my work and on my personal
30:06 life genuinely through not having an
30:08 agenda I listen to understand I ask
30:11 questions to stay curious if I don't
30:13 know something I go seek the answer and
30:14 I give the why if we can't and so back
30:18 to my background also of chaired the
30:21 economic Vitality commission for the
30:23 last three and a half years and I've
30:24 been
30:25 it IM manly
30:28 like gracious and like thankful for
30:31 working with 12 other additional
30:32 Commissioners just to push along the
30:34 economic development plan of the city
30:35 which is allowing us to set the
30:37 guidepost of how business is done in
30:39 isqua which was recently passed in
30:41 December you know things like just
30:43 Financial act Literacy for the
30:45 businesses I've LED those classes
30:47 through that economic development plan
30:48 business retention to keep the
30:49 businesses in isqua different things
30:52 that we work through the economic plan
30:54 to how to do business in the time of
30:58 need of a pandemic or when the business
31:02 isn't there you're you're asking
31:04 business members whether you show up at
31:06 their business go to where they're
31:08 at also serving on the Strategic plan
31:11 I've seen the the the the benefit of
31:14 reaching out to the community also
31:16 specifically seeing the guidepost and
31:18 how those impact Council and how they
31:20 make the different changes in and yes
31:23 the budget I'm a banker right where's
31:25 the money being spent so in time of
31:27 budget I'm able to break down financials
31:29 I'm able to look at where the money is
31:31 being spent I'm able to also ask the
31:33 Curious questions as to how can we get
31:35 better at saving money because I believe
31:36 that's a big opportunity to enhance our
31:38 budget is for future initiatives to save
31:40 the money for future projects such as
31:43 the fleet like we did in the budget if
31:45 we have 40 some odd fleets to you know
31:49 to to finish we should have the money
31:51 saved up for that have savings account
31:53 essentially right how are we leveraging
31:55 that and making money for the city so my
31:57 finan background of leadership will also
31:59 do that my ability to also connect with
32:02 people I have many connections within
32:04 the small business Community to better
32:06 talk to them because I come from a small
32:07 business family so I know the great
32:09 questions to ask in the business cycle
32:11 and with that I can bring that that
32:13 aspect to the council to have that voice
32:15 to bring everybody to the table so we
32:17 can continue to move business forward
32:19 and how to properly work together for
32:21 development projects such as the centros
32:23 CLA plan and the future initiatives that
32:25 we do have like the crossing of I90 we
32:28 do have a very much need for business
32:31 resiliency and residential resiliency in
32:33 a time of emergency so that being that
32:35 person that serves a council that's what
32:38 I would bring to you you're good you're
32:40 good I'm not like last week so I'm good
32:42 scared
32:43 me got thank you I'm good thank you can
32:47 I have the question be repeated one more
32:49 time absolutely thank you uh the second
32:51 question is after hearing from the other
32:53 candidates in a couple of different
32:55 sessions why should we pick you thank
32:58 you so first of all I'm representing a
33:02 uh an immigrant community of isqua which
33:04 is right now is at around
33:06 30% uh not only I have lived in the
33:09 Pacific Northwest and particularly
33:11 Seattle area isqua area Everett area for
33:15 over 20 years I have been doing my uh
33:18 small business here for about the same
33:21 time and I know very well all of the
33:24 issues that small businesses are going
33:26 through uh um then I'm working every day
33:31 with our local children in our community
33:33 with local families in our community and
33:35 I'm doing this for about 20 years and I
33:38 have a lot of students who started with
33:40 me when they were like three and now
33:43 they're in their early 20s uh and all
33:46 going through me almost every day they
33:48 turned from students into teachers in my
33:50 studio and my partners uh so I'm very
33:54 deeply connected to the community
33:58 and then another thing is that uh the
34:01 moment I kind of like I was able to
34:03 start my service for the community first
34:05 of all I ran for isako Highlands
34:08 Community Association board of directors
34:11 then uh when the opportunity um uh arose
34:15 I was running for the city council
34:18 already and I know what it is to
34:20 campaign and I took the opportunity when
34:23 I was chosen for the sorry planning
34:26 policy Commission and I'm currently
34:28 serving there and as well as commercial
34:31 property strategic committee and I have
34:34 started some work that is my kind of
34:35 like major thing I've already started
34:37 some work there the work that I think
34:40 that is very important for our city as
34:44 um affordable housing programs
34:47 co-housing programs uh commercial spaces
34:50 that are affordable new spaces that will
34:53 probably we we can get hopefully we can
34:55 get commercial spaces here that are
34:57 affordable for many businesses and I
34:59 would like to continue this work as a
35:01 member of the city council to make sure
35:04 this things are done so that's my input
35:06 thank you thank you Kya
35:09 Kelly great um thank you so uh why me um
35:15 so I think one of the biggest things
35:17 that's really unique about isqua is that
35:19 our strategic plan has environmental
35:21 sustainability as a core value you know
35:23 the first time around what I've heard
35:25 from those who are around that time was
35:26 like really like no other City puts
35:29 environmental sustainability as their
35:30 core value well issaqua we're different
35:32 we're built different um and so to my
35:37 knowledge I'm the only candidate who
35:38 really comes from an environmental
35:40 sustainability background and I know
35:41 that that's really important to the
35:42 council and um you know the person who
35:44 held the seat previously Victoria hunt
35:46 did have a really strong environmental
35:48 background and was a strong
35:49 environmental voice with my experience
35:51 serving as board president of isqua Alps
35:53 Trails Club um including you know
35:55 learning from David kapler who was
35:57 himself on on city council for 20 years
35:59 I think I understand you know the unique
36:01 balance of um sustainability and growth
36:03 and development that isqua has done such
36:05 a great job of over our history um and
36:08 also you know this is something that
36:09 we've been doing in partnership with
36:11 other agencies like the State Department
36:13 of National Resources state parks King
36:14 County and I have you know been working
36:17 with them already including recently you
36:19 know there's some more potential
36:21 Acquisitions that we're working on with
36:22 King County which are super important
36:24 for isaan our quality of life here I
36:26 would also not that um my professional
36:28 background in clean energy and actually
36:31 um green financing is really important
36:33 to isqua so my clients are actually real
36:35 estate developers and owners um around
36:37 the country that are you know trying to
36:39 build clean buildings is a quaz a leader
36:41 on that and I want to help us continue
36:42 that leadership but also in my work I've
36:45 seen examples of environmental policies
36:46 that are poorly implemented and it's a
36:48 headache for everyone it's a headache
36:49 for the city it's a headache for our
36:51 clients and I want to make sure that
36:52 isqua you know we're leading on climate
36:54 action but in ways that make sense and
36:56 are easy for the businesses to um comply
36:59 with and finally one thing that I would
37:02 not is that you know the way the way
37:04 that I would approach Civic engagement
37:05 is you know for example after the
37:07 pandemic I actually started a group run
37:09 Club um in Fall of 2021 and you know
37:12 that brought people together in isqua
37:14 and now it's you know become a community
37:16 and there's folks there who you know
37:18 aren't really as engaged in politics but
37:20 they have opinions on issues so I think
37:22 to me I I've always kind of viewed
37:24 myself as like a community organizer in
37:26 that sense bringing together folks that
37:28 are maybe you know not as engaged in the
37:30 political process and um trying to bring
37:32 them into the process you know I've
37:33 encouraged a bunch of them to apply on
37:34 City commission so we'll see how many of
37:36 them actually end up doing that um and
37:39 so you know on Council I would hope to
37:41 you know do Outreach to those types of
37:42 groups not just the ones that are you
37:44 know civically like explicitly civically
37:46 oriented but other groups like for
37:48 example like the yarn store has like a
37:50 knitting Circle and I was part of that
37:52 for quite some time and you know doing
37:54 Outreach to those types of groups and
37:55 bringing people together and you know
37:57 them aware of the city where they are
38:00 thank you Callie Mary you get to have
38:01 the last word this
38:03 evening short shot no um so uh I am the
38:08 only lawyer among this group I know I
38:11 wouldn't be the only lawyer um on the
38:13 council but the particular kind of law
38:16 that I practice so just a reminder I
38:18 work at Microsoft and I spend a lot of
38:21 time and synthesizing and analyzing
38:25 regulations and assessing like how you
38:28 come into compliance with that so and
38:30 often the kind of stack of regulations
38:33 right what's Global what's at the
38:35 federal level what's at the state level
38:37 what's at the local level thinking about
38:39 how those pieces fit together and then
38:41 affect the people who are um who have to
38:44 come into compliance with them and so I
38:46 think that perspective helps you know
38:49 gives me a unique skill set to think
38:52 about what it means to be in a position
38:54 to be enacting ordinances and developing
38:56 policies and that sort of thing so a
38:59 perspective on what the impact of those
39:01 policies would be and then again just
39:03 the sort of technical aspects of
39:05 interpreting regulations and like
39:08 understanding how what the city is doing
39:11 fits into what the requirements are at
39:13 the state level and that sort of thing
39:16 so um so that would be one qualification
39:19 I think that is unique to me and then
39:21 another is this area of technology that
39:24 I work in so I work with the AI
39:27 um platform team at Microsoft which is
39:31 specifically developing AI technologies
39:34 that are made available to developers to
39:36 build into their own Solutions and a lot
39:39 of what I'm doing as the lawyer for that
39:41 team is helping think about how we learn
39:46 when Microsoft has made use of those
39:48 Technologies how we have thought about
39:51 doing that in a responsible way and then
39:53 taking those learnings and making them
39:56 available to other people to our
39:58 customers and giving them kind of
40:00 Frameworks for thinking about the
40:02 responsible use of technology in a very
40:04 structured and organized way and like a
40:07 methodical way to Think Through the
40:09 issues and so I do expect that um you
40:13 know we talk about when you have limited
40:15 resources and how you want to do things
40:17 efficiently I think the city will face
40:20 proposals and ideas for how to use these
40:22 new technologies and I think my
40:25 understanding both a little a little bit
40:27 of you know what are the ways that those
40:29 Technologies are being used and what is
40:31 it ready for and what is it actually not
40:32 ready for um and how you um approach
40:37 that in a really intentional way and
40:41 identify the sort of sensitivities and
40:44 issues you need to think through to use
40:46 technology in a responsible way thank
40:48 you Mary thank you all for answering
40:51 those questions for the next part of the
40:54 meeting um we are going to go into
40:57 executive session like the council did
40:59 last time it's a closed session and so
41:02 um this executive session is to discuss
41:05 the qualifications of appointment per
41:07 RCW 42.3 point11 per N1 Pern it's
41:12 expected to take approximately 30
41:14 minutes action will be anticipated to
41:17 happen out here back in the regular
41:19 session um the executive sessions are
41:21 closed to the public and please stay
41:25 because there could be a couple of
41:27 executive sessions this evening we're
41:29 really not sure how this will all play
41:30 out um and so now we will be going into
41:34 executive session at 7:12 p.m this
41:36 evening uh and we're going to go
41:38 upstairs for that if the would the
41:40 council like a few minute break before
41:41 you head upstairs okay bathroom break
41:44 drink okay so please stay here and uh we
41:49 will be
41:51 back council member Marts we'll we'll
41:54 see you in the other virtual meeting in
41:55 a few minutes
42:26 for
1:32:08 TOA can you let me know if you can hear
1:32:10 us I can hear you just fine fantastic
1:32:13 thank chance could you get us back on
1:32:15 camera
1:32:21 please thank you so we are back Open
1:32:24 session at 8:02 p.m. and I want to
1:32:28 explain first the next process the
1:32:30 council had many choices here but what
1:32:31 they have decided to do is to narrow the
1:32:34 candidates down and not take a vote on
1:32:37 any individual candidate at this time um
1:32:40 they are still uh looking for some more
1:32:42 information prior to taking that vote so
1:32:46 um I'm going to move into this process
1:32:49 now where I ask council members for
1:32:51 nominations and when there are no more
1:32:53 nominations I will close it and that
1:32:55 will be the Slate that they will be
1:32:56 voting on to move
1:32:58 forward okay would a council member like
1:33:01 to nominate one applicant to move
1:33:03 forward in the appointment process
1:33:05 council member Ray um I'd like to
1:33:08 nominate Chris Chris
1:33:11 richle any other
1:33:14 nominations council member D
1:33:17 Michelle I would like to nominate Tina
1:33:20 Hai thank you any other nominations
1:33:24 council
1:33:25 president I would like to nominate Kelly
1:33:28 Jang thank you any other
1:33:33 nominations okay at this point in time I
1:33:36 am not seeing any other
1:33:38 nominations uh so the nominations are
1:33:41 closed Chris Richley Tina Hayes and
1:33:44 Kelly
1:33:46 Jen um is there any discussion of the
1:33:49 nominees or would you like to move to
1:33:51 vote on the Slate to move forward
1:33:54 council
1:33:56 president um at this time we've agreed
1:33:59 not to really talk about individual
1:34:01 characteristics or anything so I don't
1:34:03 want you to think that us not speaking
1:34:05 to you know what we have heard um says
1:34:09 anything but man is this tough this is
1:34:13 incredibly tough because we have an
1:34:17 amazing amazing group of people in front
1:34:20 of us who we all could have seen on
1:34:23 Council and so we we just want to say
1:34:26 that as a starting point um we have to
1:34:30 get down to one and so um the goal is
1:34:33 just to try and streamline the process
1:34:36 as much as possible so that we can um
1:34:39 really think through what those
1:34:40 qualities are so just wanted to say that
1:34:43 thank you Council uh president so
1:34:45 Council will take one vote on moving all
1:34:48 of those nominated forward in the
1:34:49 appointment process if there is an
1:34:52 objection and I'm looking for one we can
1:34:54 vote on them individually is there any
1:34:57 objection not seeing
1:35:00 any um hearing none the council members
1:35:03 will vote on the nominees as a group all
1:35:05 those in favor of
1:35:07 moving um Chris Richley Tina Hayes and
1:35:11 Kelly Jen forward please signify by
1:35:14 saying I and raising your hand I
1:35:18 I those opposed signify by saying no and
1:35:22 raising your hand
1:35:24 that carries uh six
1:35:26 and0 uh a unanimous vote so we will move
1:35:29 forward in the process so I want to
1:35:32 thank everybody who has participated up
1:35:33 to this point I know you've put a lot of
1:35:35 hard work and effort and it was very
1:35:37 obvious to everybody sitting up here and
1:35:39 to our I'm sure our audience at home as
1:35:42 well um I'm going to at this point in
1:35:45 time uh ask the council if we could take
1:35:48 a a little resuce uh for 5 minutes and
1:35:51 allow the three that have been nominated
1:35:53 to move forward to be seated and let
1:35:55 everybody else either stay for the uh
1:35:58 rest of it or whatever they feel like
1:35:59 doing is that okay with you all okay
1:36:01 we'll take a few minute um recess thank
1:36:07 [Music]
1:40:21 while we are waiting for for council
1:40:24 member oh that's I hate you while we are
1:40:28 waiting for council member
1:40:30 Hall we have councilman marz back thank
1:40:33 you council member Ms um Just for
1:40:36 information um I'm going to ask the
1:40:38 council if they would like to um go back
1:40:41 into executive session at this point in
1:40:43 time or if they would like to ask you
1:40:44 additional questions if they would like
1:40:47 to ask you additional questions they'll
1:40:48 have a conversation up here about what
1:40:51 they might want to ask I'll keep track
1:40:53 back and then we will do the same thing
1:40:56 as before I we'll start with somebody
1:40:58 move around and make sure we are
1:40:59 alternating and these are not
1:41:01 pre-planned questions these are ones
1:41:03 that they may have thought of when they
1:41:05 were up in executive session talking
1:41:06 about qualifications they may be for one
1:41:09 candidate they may be for all three so
1:41:11 it's really up to them they have a lot
1:41:12 of discretion at this point as to what
1:41:14 they'd like to do and now we're just
1:41:16 waiting for council member Hall
1:41:29 we are on camera Council raal um I just
1:41:33 explained what the rest of the process
1:41:35 will be so at this point in time um I
1:41:38 would like the council to let me know
1:41:40 through an indication of your
1:41:41 microphones whether or not uh just if
1:41:43 you'd like to speak whether or not you'd
1:41:45 like to go back into executive session
1:41:46 or would you prefer to ask some
1:41:47 additional questions at this point in
1:41:48 time Deputy council
1:41:51 president I have a question i' like like
1:41:53 to ask that is great um and it sounds
1:41:56 like a few of you may so uh Deputy
1:41:58 council president if you'd like to ask
1:42:00 and it can be for everybody or just a
1:42:02 candidate it's your
1:42:03 choice sure okay um so this is for for
1:42:08 everybody um uh there's a lot of issues
1:42:11 that are in front of us and none of us
1:42:14 can know
1:42:15 everything so if you could tell us what
1:42:18 is one issue facing the city that you
1:42:20 really feel that you don't know very
1:42:23 well and how are you going to learn
1:42:25 about it let's start with uh Chris Kelly
1:42:29 Tina and then I'll switch it up for the
1:42:33 one one area that I don't know well well
1:42:38 I would say it
1:42:41 would I would say it's probably the
1:42:43 environmental piece of it but I mean
1:42:45 looking at you know what I do know about
1:42:48 the environmental stewardship and the
1:42:49 Strategic plan I know the foundation of
1:42:52 it but then I would would get you know
1:42:54 networked through the different
1:42:55 connections I do have through the city
1:42:57 whether it's staff or it's you know
1:42:59 friends of isqua samon hatry I'm I'm
1:43:02 connected well with Mark the executive
1:43:03 director just different things I can do
1:43:05 to learn about different things uh
1:43:07 samamish State Park connections through
1:43:09 the quanas club that I have to talk to
1:43:11 them about different concerns that they
1:43:13 may have uh looking at different um you
1:43:18 know past you know having sat in you
1:43:22 know 15 plus Council meetings I know
1:43:26 environmental you know stewardship is
1:43:28 important to the city so it's continuing
1:43:30 to ask my fellow council members and you
1:43:32 know leverage those resources that we do
1:43:34 have around the importance of the tree
1:43:37 canopy and and the fire dangers that we
1:43:39 do have in pose and then how the budget
1:43:41 works with that in order to you know
1:43:43 gain a better perspective of being
1:43:45 better prepared for emergency situations
1:43:48 but I would that's what I'd ended with
1:43:50 thank you Kelly
1:43:53 Kelly can I get you to push there you go
1:43:56 great sorry about that um one issue that
1:43:58 I think is coming up for the council
1:43:59 that I don't know very much about is the
1:44:02 issue with um the facilities and in
1:44:03 particular the city jail um as well as
1:44:06 you know the new um po potential for a
1:44:09 new city hall so I think you know the
1:44:11 city's already on a good track with that
1:44:12 with putting together a citizen
1:44:14 commission um and so I would you know
1:44:16 listen to the um recommendations of the
1:44:18 commission as well as you know talking
1:44:19 with the city staff that have expertise
1:44:21 on you know what are the issues with the
1:44:22 current facility
1:44:23 what are the needs um and there's a lot
1:44:26 of different things to learn there right
1:44:27 there's like it might have to go to a
1:44:29 bond and then how is the question asked
1:44:31 on the bond is it like a straight you
1:44:33 know we propose one thing and it's a
1:44:35 straight yes or no or is it like a yes 1
1:44:37 a 1B type situation there's different
1:44:39 considerations around that so I'd want
1:44:40 to also hear from the community on you
1:44:42 know what they want um and you know what
1:44:44 they think makes sense for us as a city
1:44:46 because ultimately it's going to be
1:44:48 something that is voted on by the voters
1:44:49 but we want to come to them with a good
1:44:51 proposal um so that's just one issue
1:44:54 thank you Kelly
1:44:57 Tina yeah I think um one of the things
1:45:00 that I ran into When I Was preparing for
1:45:02 these meetings was um the budget and how
1:45:05 it's been crafted and how that process
1:45:07 goes as a body I'm not um familiar with
1:45:10 that process um very much and so I had
1:45:12 reached out to a couple of um different
1:45:15 council members with some initial
1:45:17 questions um and I think that is one of
1:45:19 the strengths that I bring is sort of
1:45:21 looking at this budget and not really
1:45:22 knowing about it and asking for some
1:45:24 resources and support but also knowing
1:45:26 like what questions to ask in terms of
1:45:28 like hey um you know mov how do these
1:45:30 General funds kind of move around year
1:45:32 after year and um I'm seeing you know a
1:45:35 big reduction or a big increase in some
1:45:38 of our spending um that we're going to
1:45:39 have to do with contracts and East Side
1:45:41 Fire and Rescue and other services and
1:45:43 just thinking about like what are so
1:45:46 given this what do we need to do what
1:45:48 are our options going to be um I think
1:45:50 that without even without the experience
1:45:53 I can still um analyze and propose
1:45:57 questions that speak to the numbers that
1:45:59 I am seeing like in a broad sense um and
1:46:02 I also think that it's a process and I
1:46:04 have heard from many of you that you
1:46:06 just have to go through before you get
1:46:08 it and so it's a little bit of trial by
1:46:11 fire um as somebody uh you know who is
1:46:13 not trained in budgets I I I would
1:46:16 expect that and I think that's important
1:46:17 to normalize that process for any of us
1:46:19 that there will be lots of things um
1:46:21 whoever takes on this role um that we'll
1:46:24 just have to go through and then we will
1:46:25 know more about it and so I think the
1:46:27 important part is figuring out like
1:46:28 having that open-minded uh open-minded
1:46:30 and like beginner mind about it thank
1:46:33 you Tina thank you Deputy council
1:46:35 president that was a great question
1:46:36 council president did you also put your
1:46:37 microphone up council president so one
1:46:41 of the issues that I think we can all
1:46:44 agree is at crisis point is housing and
1:46:48 the affordability and cost of living so
1:46:52 I I would like you to speak to what you
1:46:56 know about housing what you see as the
1:46:58 problem and any ways that you would want
1:47:02 to address that on Council thank you
1:47:05 council president and that will be going
1:47:07 with Tina Chris and then
1:47:12 Kelly so my understanding is that we're
1:47:15 having a problem that's um happening
1:47:18 Nationwide um which is that we have a
1:47:20 trouble with affordability and
1:47:21 availability here in town and so um we
1:47:25 are tasked um as Kelly mentioned earlier
1:47:28 with we know that we are really unique
1:47:29 and special and that we also do have
1:47:31 these goals around protecting the
1:47:33 forests that we live in here and so I
1:47:35 think that there have been some policies
1:47:37 um in favor of that that have restricted
1:47:40 some of our land land use um initiatives
1:47:43 and policies that have gone into play
1:47:45 but I see um and I believe the council
1:47:47 sees this as well as our imperative to
1:47:49 build up our missing midle kind of
1:47:51 policies um and
1:47:53 um I believe it was Jen Davis Hayes who
1:47:56 was talking about the city's approach
1:47:58 with the Continuum of Housing and
1:48:00 thinking about all the different types
1:48:01 of housing that a city needs to be in
1:48:04 service of all the people that live here
1:48:06 so everything from Transitional Living
1:48:09 supportive Living Spaces like Leo house
1:48:12 you know which just got money through
1:48:13 Arch and regionalization funding um and
1:48:16 support and connection with our
1:48:18 Community Partners and King County
1:48:19 Housing Authority um are really critical
1:48:22 and and are we're going to need those
1:48:23 moving forward given the amount of um
1:48:26 challenges that we face with housing in
1:48:28 in our area I also think it's really
1:48:30 important to um strike a balance right
1:48:34 and figuring out how to um utilize the
1:48:36 space that we have um down in Central
1:48:39 isqua in the valley floor um to to build
1:48:43 um enough spaces for folks who want to
1:48:45 live here now and also in the future you
1:48:47 know I um as a parent as uh many of you
1:48:51 are I worry about what where my kids are
1:48:54 going to live should they choose to make
1:48:55 isqua their home whether or not they're
1:48:57 going to be able to afford their first
1:48:59 apartment even with two or three
1:49:01 roommates whe that going to be within
1:49:02 their price range um at that time um and
1:49:05 also thinking about housing options I'm
1:49:08 I'm very excited about um the the Tod
1:49:11 project and um connecting housing and
1:49:14 other kinds of services together I think
1:49:15 that's something that we need to
1:49:16 consider with housing is like um where
1:49:19 the housing is going whether or not it's
1:49:20 accessible whether or not it makes sense
1:49:22 with transport portation options in town
1:49:24 um and how we are going to be also
1:49:26 addressing the the large issue of
1:49:28 transportation and traffic flow in our
1:49:29 community all those things are
1:49:31 interconnected and I think that's
1:49:32 something that I can bring to the group
1:49:34 is sort of seeing that bigger picture
1:49:36 seeing how it is all connected thank you
1:49:42 Chris so just to kind of add to what
1:49:44 Tina is saying specifically around the
1:49:46 middle Market housing it's it's it's
1:49:48 Workforce housing you know we we have a
1:49:50 big need for you know being connected to
1:49:53 the small business on the economic
1:49:54 Vitality commission we hear it all the
1:49:56 time from our our businesses that they
1:49:58 want to be able to have their employees
1:50:00 work in the city we've been hearing from
1:50:03 the police department they want to work
1:50:04 in the city that they serve the fire
1:50:06 department to get better response time
1:50:08 is going to be huge so how do we how do
1:50:11 we get to that is is through the
1:50:13 centralis C plan making it more
1:50:15 accessible to work with developers to
1:50:18 get the Ami work within the Pioneer
1:50:20 project per se but also that Middle
1:50:22 Market Market housing is really
1:50:24 important to also look at the the
1:50:27 availability of the variety so if you
1:50:30 building the duplexes the triplexes
1:50:33 those are going to open up additional
1:50:34 Apartments maybe somebody's wanting to
1:50:36 move out of an apartment to maybe they
1:50:38 don't have a home ownership to of the
1:50:39 $1.1 million average home sale in
1:50:43 issaqua to afford it but they can afford
1:50:45 more of a you know $600 to $800,000 town
1:50:48 home at that point they can then free up
1:50:51 an apartment that may maybe a Workforce
1:50:53 person can live in now as far as
1:50:56 building additional that's where the
1:50:57 Pioneer project comes in which I've also
1:50:59 advised on through economic Vitality
1:51:01 commission and continue to want to bring
1:51:03 that forward to make sure that we are
1:51:06 looking at that I also sat on the
1:51:08 commission the committee to use of funds
1:51:11 such as the Leo project that the council
1:51:13 did vote on and and fund so stuff like
1:51:16 that making sure our money is spent on
1:51:18 the right processes and the right amount
1:51:20 of Housing and the right use of those
1:51:23 funds for housing projects is important
1:51:26 as well is Transitional we had the Motel
1:51:29 6 plan right that did not pass with the
1:51:31 budget but that was a very good specific
1:51:33 plan that worked for transitional people
1:51:35 that may not had a home but at the same
1:51:38 time it provided them a way to get on
1:51:39 the streets and I personally helped one
1:51:41 of those team members or those members
1:51:43 that was going through that get repairs
1:51:45 to his RV so that I would have never had
1:51:48 that contact if we would have never had
1:51:49 that so I would like to see that come
1:51:51 back because that was really touching
1:51:53 just for him to come up and express his
1:51:55 level of you know needing a home and it
1:51:58 was if it wasn't for that project it
1:52:00 would be there but I would say the
1:52:02 biggest challenge to add is just the
1:52:03 midle market Workforce housing is really
1:52:05 important to look at so people can work
1:52:08 play and live in is sequa thank you
1:52:10 Chris
1:52:11 Kelly great thank you um so the question
1:52:15 um was about you know what do I see as
1:52:17 the problems facing housing
1:52:18 affordability so as Tina mentioned this
1:52:20 is a problem that's facing the entire
1:52:22 state of Washington and a lot of
1:52:23 communities around the country and the
1:52:25 communities that aren't facing this
1:52:26 problem are facing other problems like
1:52:28 people don't want to work there because
1:52:29 there's no job opportunities so I think
1:52:31 you know if if you got to pick one of
1:52:33 those two problems being a place that
1:52:34 people want to live it's probably the
1:52:36 better of the two to have um and so the
1:52:38 question is you know we have all these
1:52:40 people that want to live here and I
1:52:41 think it's really great that you know at
1:52:42 a regional level we have psrc that's
1:52:45 making it so that hey actually everyone
1:52:47 you know all the cities have to pull our
1:52:49 weight in terms of getting new housing
1:52:51 built and contributing to the solution
1:52:53 um so I think you know there's been some
1:52:55 changes at the state level that we do
1:52:57 have to do like you know allowing
1:52:59 missing middle housing things like
1:53:00 co-housing duplexes triplexes fourplexes
1:53:03 even up to six plexes which actually is
1:53:05 part of you know what makes Oldtown so
1:53:07 special historically is that there are
1:53:09 these mix of housing options and so I
1:53:11 think figuring out and the other thing
1:53:13 to note there is that you know with
1:53:14 these adus so far I think there's been
1:53:16 like 40 ades built in a city of 40,000
1:53:19 residents and that's the type of thing
1:53:20 that people actually are very in favor
1:53:22 of so how do we actually make it so that
1:53:24 people are doing this more you know what
1:53:25 are the barriers to that and similarly
1:53:28 with missing middle housing you know a
1:53:29 lot of other towns have passed missing
1:53:31 middle housing bills but where where is
1:53:33 it is it getting built maybe not as much
1:53:36 as people would have thought and so I
1:53:38 think you know addressing some of those
1:53:40 barriers is going to be really key to
1:53:41 getting some of those missing middle
1:53:43 housing uh projects built the other
1:53:46 thing is you know with the central isqua
1:53:47 plan there is going to be or the plan is
1:53:49 that there's going to be a lot more um
1:53:52 of or uh apartment buildings built in uh
1:53:55 downtown isqua and so right now I think
1:53:58 the central isqua plan it was written
1:54:00 what 13 years ago now and so it's a
1:54:03 teenager and there's been almost hardly
1:54:05 any development in central isqua so
1:54:07 thinking about what we want this to
1:54:09 actually look like and you know actually
1:54:10 getting some things built in the way
1:54:12 that we want to right with the ground
1:54:13 floor commercial that makes it so that
1:54:15 there's just interesting small
1:54:16 businesses for people to go to and check
1:54:18 out and also you know bring in sales tax
1:54:21 revenue for the city um and so I think
1:54:24 there's different and I think it is
1:54:25 really great that with the transit
1:54:26 oriented development there's the focus
1:54:28 on bringing in you know income
1:54:30 restricted um affordable housing units I
1:54:32 will say though that
1:54:34 ultimately like what we've seen from
1:54:37 most other cities is that it it's very
1:54:40 very rare for like for there to for it
1:54:44 to be possible for more than like 10% of
1:54:47 units overall to be you know income
1:54:49 restricted affordable based on just
1:54:51 cross subsidizing for market rate units
1:54:53 you know if you try to raise it to like
1:54:54 15 to 20% Then that actually puts a
1:54:56 significant uh damper on new
1:54:58 construction and so that then in turn
1:55:01 drives up the price of market rate
1:55:02 housing so I think there's definitely a
1:55:04 balance to be struck there of you know
1:55:06 what is the right level so that we make
1:55:07 sure we're not pricing out everyone but
1:55:09 also maybe making it so that you know we
1:55:11 have these newer market rate units that
1:55:14 then also you know it takes pressure off
1:55:15 some of the older units that we might
1:55:17 have elsewhere in isqua that those can
1:55:19 then become what's called you know
1:55:20 naturally occurring affordable housing
1:55:22 and that might be a place where then it
1:55:24 makes sense for the city to come in and
1:55:26 use the you know precious few iHip
1:55:28 dollars that we have to purchase those
1:55:30 and preserve them as affordable housing
1:55:32 so you know just thinking about all
1:55:33 those different aspects But ultimately
1:55:36 on some level it does kind of come down
1:55:37 to supply and figuring out you know
1:55:39 where where does it make sense to build
1:55:41 new housing obviously we're not going to
1:55:42 build you know outside of the urban
1:55:43 growth area we're not going to build on
1:55:45 land that we conserved as open space and
1:55:49 so figuring out how to do that INF Phill
1:55:50 in a far way is really important
1:55:52 y all have done your
1:55:55 homework I am going to look at Council
1:55:58 again uh council member Joe has a
1:56:01 question and council member Marts um
1:56:04 council member Joe can I go to council
1:56:05 member Marts first council member
1:56:07 Marts thank you Madame mayor um kind of
1:56:10 a kind of a different sort of a question
1:56:12 so America is reeling under historical
1:56:15 levels of partisan divisiveness both
1:56:17 across the red blue divide and within
1:56:20 the political parties this Council is
1:56:22 nonpartisan how would you help firewall
1:56:25 the upcoming Council from partisan anger
1:56:27 and obstinacy both in the community and
1:56:30 Beyond this to all three all three
1:56:32 applicants thanks then I'll start with
1:56:34 Kelly move to Tina and then
1:56:38 Chris this is a tough question
1:56:42 um I think due to the nature of the
1:56:44 issues that are talked about on Council
1:56:47 we are very fortunate that it doesn't
1:56:50 become as partisan and I think part of
1:56:52 of what we've done as a city is you know
1:56:56 set our values of where we want the city
1:56:58 to go and we generally have alignment on
1:57:00 what's most important to us which
1:57:02 insulates it um insulates us from
1:57:04 partisan politics to some degree in
1:57:07 terms of you know insulating or building
1:57:11 a firewall to partisan anger on city
1:57:14 council I think as a council
1:57:16 member it's important
1:57:20 to hear it's it's important to listen to
1:57:23 folks who might not necessarily share
1:57:25 the same views on you as everything and
1:57:27 treat everyone respectfully and also be
1:57:29 able to call out when you know someone
1:57:32 is making you know ad hominum attacks or
1:57:34 strawman attacks based on partisanship
1:57:36 and I have actually seen some you know
1:57:39 examples
1:57:41 of and not necessarily from like council
1:57:43 members or anything but I think there's
1:57:44 definitely you know some undercurrents
1:57:46 of partisanship that can crop up and I
1:57:48 think very much you know whenever you
1:57:50 see that coming or whenever that comes
1:57:52 up say okay let's you know stay focused
1:57:55 on the issue and not get sidetracked
1:57:57 into this partisan thing um I think
1:57:59 there's also um another partisan based
1:58:03 issue that we're going to be running
1:58:04 into um on city council is that you know
1:58:07 as a blue State there's probably going
1:58:09 to be some issues with Federal funding
1:58:11 and so figuring out how to build in
1:58:12 those contingencies and like even if you
1:58:15 know we as a governing body are
1:58:17 nonpartisan we're still potentially
1:58:19 going to deal with some consequences and
1:58:21 fall out from um feder you know what
1:58:23 happens at the federal level so you know
1:58:25 being prepared for that maybe and you
1:58:28 know with the fiscal situation that
1:58:30 we're in maybe we're going to have to be
1:58:32 even more you
1:58:34 know what's the right word I don't want
1:58:37 to use the word conservative but that
1:58:39 might be the just be more kind of
1:58:41 cautious in how we're using our
1:58:43 resources knowing that there could be
1:58:45 you know additional curveballs coming
1:58:46 from uh other partisan actors out there
1:58:50 thank you Kelly
1:58:52 I think it's Tina
1:58:56 next so um to Echo some of Kelly's
1:59:00 points um that the importance of
1:59:02 listening um listening deeply uh
1:59:04 listening with empathy uh especially
1:59:06 when you disagree um or hold different
1:59:08 viewpoints I think that's something that
1:59:10 um I'm able to do and that would help um
1:59:14 protect us from partisan um stonewalling
1:59:18 essentially that happens um and then I
1:59:20 think even maybe more importantly than
1:59:22 that though is having a mind that can be
1:59:24 changed right so going into a session
1:59:27 like this and getting your packet
1:59:29 reading at 400 Pages um and then being
1:59:33 open like you know I have an idea about
1:59:35 how I want to move and what is important
1:59:37 to me and what would drive my decisions
1:59:39 but I also know that my mind has been
1:59:42 changed over and over and over again in
1:59:44 those kinds of situations and I am uh
1:59:46 need to be fluid and flexible um because
1:59:49 that's how we get we're going to get the
1:59:50 best work done um and those are
1:59:52 situations that I've had the pleasure um
1:59:55 in in working with like the Arts
1:59:56 commission um when I was first talking
1:59:58 to Bill Ramos uh neighborhood picnic
2:00:01 last summer and I told him I was
2:00:02 interested in city council and he said
2:00:03 Tina you need to get yourself on a more
2:00:05 serious commission and I said Bill art
2:00:07 is serious business all right and I
2:00:11 believe it is right I because what we
2:00:12 were doing in the art commission is like
2:00:14 the grunt work of this uh you know
2:00:17 Community government um we were making
2:00:18 decisions and we would vote and talk
2:00:21 about what kinds of art that we want to
2:00:23 have in this community and I would come
2:00:25 into those meetings being like these are
2:00:26 my top you know my top um votes and my
2:00:30 the people I want to support and over
2:00:31 and over again I would be pleasantly
2:00:33 surprised and bewildered by the kinds of
2:00:36 things that would come up and changed in
2:00:38 those discussions um and would end up
2:00:41 you know oftentimes either changing my
2:00:45 vote or changing my viewpoint um and I'm
2:00:47 just so grateful and appreciative of my
2:00:50 fellow Commissioners and particular
2:00:52 space for um really driving home that
2:00:54 lesson for me I think that's one of the
2:00:56 big um key components of it thank you
2:01:01 Chris so not to Echo everybody but the
2:01:04 biggest thing I look at when you look at
2:01:05 is the relationships that you have and
2:01:07 having observe the City Council meetings
2:01:09 several times and being meeting with
2:01:11 each of you multiple times I see the I
2:01:13 see the passion that you all have and
2:01:15 you don't bring your political views to
2:01:17 the dice I do have that same commitment
2:01:21 because I don't have most of the topics
2:01:24 that we do go over in the policies don't
2:01:26 have a political stance on anything it
2:01:28 has to do with the community first and
2:01:30 foremost and the people that we serve
2:01:32 similar like I do at work I I serve my
2:01:34 my my member if my member comes in I'm
2:01:37 not going to just force a checkin
2:01:38 account or a savings account on them I'm
2:01:39 not going to say this is what you need I
2:01:41 need to ask the questions I need to stay
2:01:43 curious I need to get to know my member
2:01:44 build a connection and really a rapport
2:01:47 with that person so to really understand
2:01:49 their needs back to council with Council
2:01:52 it's the same thing you get to know the
2:01:54 community by learning your learning and
2:01:57 observing and and really taking in the
2:02:00 community's aspect of it along with
2:02:01 staff's aspect of it along with fellow
2:02:03 council members and hearing their point
2:02:05 of views and at the end of the day if we
2:02:07 don't come together with the with the
2:02:08 same agreement and we vote we you all
2:02:10 stay together and I would do that the
2:02:12 same because of the fact that it's not
2:02:14 it's about the community it's not what I
2:02:16 personally bring to the dasis around my
2:02:18 political view on it it's about the
2:02:20 community's concern it's about first and
2:02:22 foremost the policies of the Strategic
2:02:24 plan that we do have set forth that
2:02:26 which is our guiding post but ultimately
2:02:28 it's about that passion for the people
2:02:31 that you have that you built connections
2:02:33 with continue to stay open-minded to be
2:02:36 curious stay curious and it'll get you
2:02:39 in results the political stuff will go
2:02:41 away thank you Chris council member Joe
2:02:44 you indicated you had a question as well
2:02:46 thank you I wouldn't be a good lawyer
2:02:48 without a good hypothetical so we're
2:02:50 going to go through through this a
2:02:52 little bit um many of you may know that
2:02:55 our community center was built many
2:02:57 years ago and there was um some hope
2:03:00 that we would have a phase two in the
2:03:02 future so let's say that Phase 2 is
2:03:04 coming in let's say that it can be built
2:03:06 and we've cleared all the environmental
2:03:08 concerns and the zoning and all that but
2:03:11 we have two competing groups that are
2:03:13 coming in the youth want the the um
2:03:15 Center expanded so they can have more
2:03:17 space to do all the great things that
2:03:18 they do um but there's a possibility of
2:03:21 putting
2:03:22 a senior center there a brand new Senior
2:03:24 Center uh where uh our most vulnerable
2:03:29 in our community and the the ones that
2:03:30 have been here the longest have an
2:03:32 opportunity to have expanded hours a
2:03:33 better facility along the way um so the
2:03:38 seniors are concerned that you know
2:03:39 having all those youth around might
2:03:41 knock them over and they'll break their
2:03:42 hip and then they'll be out of
2:03:44 commission and you know all that jazz
2:03:46 and the young people don't necessarily
2:03:48 want all those old people around right
2:03:52 so you've got two competing
2:03:54 voters older population that certainly
2:03:57 comes to the
2:03:58 polls parents with youth who definitely
2:04:01 have a passion for their Community what
2:04:03 process would you engage in and what
2:04:05 steps would you take to help you get to
2:04:08 a decision on which project to
2:04:11 pursue so we're going to go back to the
2:04:14 first order we had we'll go Chris Kelly
2:04:19 Tina I would to borrow this this one
2:04:22 from the city I'm going to actually
2:04:23 bring the the two parties together I
2:04:26 would say first and and really get to
2:04:28 know what their concerns are press for
2:04:30 spe specifics around what are the use
2:04:33 concerns you mentioned that they don't
2:04:35 want they don't want the old people
2:04:36 around we need to find out the why the
2:04:38 old people don't want the young people
2:04:40 around because they're loud or they're
2:04:41 going to create noise whatever it may be
2:04:42 we need to find out the why it's not
2:04:44 about again what I'm trying to pursue we
2:04:46 need to come and and untie the knots
2:04:48 there's knots that we need to get
2:04:50 through so it would be p getting the
2:04:52 people together to talk about what their
2:04:53 concerns are so they can e and hear each
2:04:56 other and and actually come to an
2:04:58 agreement okay I I didn't know that
2:05:00 similar to Metroflex we didn't you
2:05:03 didn't know as a council that Metroflex
2:05:04 was being used by the youth until they
2:05:07 came and made a public comment same
2:05:09 thing happens with with that the project
2:05:11 that you bring up now that we get it now
2:05:14 we press for specifics if there still an
2:05:16 objection what concerns you about that
2:05:18 listening skills being able to listen to
2:05:21 them and phys you know and and con
2:05:23 connect the benefits of the of the two
2:05:26 being together the why as soon as the
2:05:28 people can hear the why now they'll
2:05:30 start connecting the dots because you've
2:05:32 acknowledged them you've re you've
2:05:34 actually utilized your resources that
2:05:35 you have you come up with the solution
2:05:38 and you come up with the resources and
2:05:40 then that together you can come to that
2:05:42 either an agreement to come at different
2:05:43 times or like I I attended a a Super
2:05:46 Bowl watch party this weekend there was
2:05:48 old people and young people on there
2:05:50 there was a lot more young people but
2:05:51 they were at the they were at the they
2:05:53 were at the party together why because
2:05:55 they they they seen a a they some of
2:05:58 them were even watching the game but the
2:06:00 same thing that that that didn't that
2:06:02 happened organically but first we got to
2:06:04 bring the people to the table to talk
2:06:06 and that's what I would do and how I
2:06:07 would approach that and then from there
2:06:08 I would then come to we would come to a
2:06:10 plan together I would consult my fellow
2:06:12 count fellow council members on a plan
2:06:13 that we can move forward with something
2:06:15 that's for everybody's voice not just
2:06:18 what one side or the other wants thank
2:06:21 you Chris
2:06:22 Kelly uh great answer Chris I second
2:06:24 everything that he said I think also you
2:06:27 know being in the conservation space
2:06:29 actually there's a it's historically
2:06:31 been a very much older space and as one
2:06:35 of the you know first younger people in
2:06:37 my organization isqu Al Trails Club it
2:06:39 was definitely you know kind of an
2:06:41 interesting space to navigate um so I
2:06:43 definitely agree that you know listening
2:06:45 and bring people together and being like
2:06:47 and I think that's also part of the you
2:06:49 know humanizing the other the other side
2:06:52 kind of getting back to tola's uh
2:06:54 council member Mart's earlier question
2:06:55 about you know partisan anger bringing
2:06:56 people together and saying hey this is
2:06:58 what we want and this is why and so that
2:07:00 you're not necessarily straw Manning one
2:07:02 side or the other I think also with this
2:07:05 specific example there are ways to kind
2:07:07 of figure out you know oh maybe the kids
2:07:11 or the youth with families aren't going
2:07:12 to be using the uh Community Center at
2:07:16 you know during school day and so maybe
2:07:18 that's when you could have more senior
2:07:19 focused programming and then after
2:07:21 school school is when the seniors might
2:07:23 be you know doing their other activities
2:07:24 and so that's when you could have more
2:07:26 family oriented programming um but I do
2:07:28 also agree that you know there can
2:07:30 actually be like huge benefits from
2:07:31 bringing people together across
2:07:33 generational divides um you know there's
2:07:36 one program actually where they had I
2:07:37 think like uh preschoolers or something
2:07:41 go or kindergarteners go into nursing
2:07:43 homes and like hang out with the folks
2:07:44 there and th I mean that's just like
2:07:46 great for everyone involved so I think
2:07:48 you know having some of those programs
2:07:49 which are actually like intentionally
2:07:52 about bringing those two groups together
2:07:54 I think would also be a good way to do
2:07:55 it but ultimately you know first
2:07:57 starting with bringing people together
2:07:58 asking about their concerns figuring out
2:08:00 are there ways that we can you know have
2:08:03 have uh both parties you know use it at
2:08:06 different times and also have
2:08:08 intentional um spaces where they can
2:08:10 come together thank you Kelly
2:08:14 Tina so great ideas um I love it and
2:08:18 also would agree with all of them um
2:08:22 I love imagining this scenario the
2:08:24 community center was the first image I
2:08:26 have of isqua so sitting in Gilbert
2:08:29 Arizona um we pulled up the cities
2:08:31 around which uh my husband had gotten a
2:08:33 job in and and was like oh isqua and I
2:08:35 clicked on you know the city government
2:08:37 page and Bam there's the community
2:08:38 center right so it's like burned in my
2:08:40 mind of like what this town is I think
2:08:42 it would be an amazing way to bring
2:08:44 folks together I think there are lots of
2:08:46 creative things that we could look at in
2:08:47 terms of how the building is set up in
2:08:49 terms who enters where um to Second what
2:08:52 both of these um candidates have said uh
2:08:55 thinking about engaging the community in
2:08:59 that process and so creating a um I
2:09:01 would think it'd be a good idea to
2:09:03 create a um a temporary commission uh
2:09:07 with members from uh both of the parties
2:09:10 that were interested in looking at their
2:09:13 problem um coming up with Solutions so
2:09:15 basically tasking the community to
2:09:17 provide some options for us and I think
2:09:20 um you know selecting potentially um
2:09:24 either a council member or um a number
2:09:27 of the city employees that would be able
2:09:29 to kind of check in and guide the
2:09:31 process would be a critical part of that
2:09:33 and I think um that's something that I
2:09:35 would rely on um the mayor and the city
2:09:39 clerk you know to think about who would
2:09:40 be best fit for this role but I think um
2:09:43 as a council member it's the idea to
2:09:45 like Empower um the community members to
2:09:48 make those choices what to tell us
2:09:50 what's going be best for them right and
2:09:53 we can have U really excellent sources
2:09:55 of data and so in terms of our community
2:09:57 surveys in terms of polls onlines I
2:09:59 think that we have options um especially
2:10:01 uh utilizing social media too and
2:10:04 hearing some voices and although um it
2:10:06 can be you know a very particular subset
2:10:09 of people that utilize social media I
2:10:10 just think that's other thing that we
2:10:11 could think about ways to connect to
2:10:14 especially younger folks um to hear
2:10:16 their voices thank you thank you Tina
2:10:19 I'm looking down the rad council member
2:10:23 this this has been absolutely fantastic
2:10:25 um so one of our challenges we have and
2:10:28 we've talked a lot around this which is
2:10:31 uh Community engagement and we have uh
2:10:34 boards and commissions and we lean on
2:10:36 them heavily but that leaves out about
2:10:38 95% of the people who live in isqua how
2:10:41 would you go about um
2:10:45 structuring uh Outreach so that we could
2:10:48 hear more of the voices particularly the
2:10:50 voices of those that we typically don't
2:10:52 hear for a myriad of different
2:10:56 reasons and going to give them a second
2:10:58 to think about your question but the
2:11:00 order this time will be Tina Chris Kelly
2:11:03 so whenever you're ready Tina but get
2:11:05 your thoughts order together thank you
2:11:08 yeah that's a
2:11:10 really uh you know like I think probably
2:11:12 a fairly common problem right like the
2:11:13 folks that show up to the meetings that
2:11:15 post the comments like um it's just a
2:11:17 very small section of our community so
2:11:19 I'm going to draw on my experience
2:11:21 um with the point in time count last
2:11:24 year and so the last two times this has
2:11:26 happened um they've utilized a different
2:11:29 kinds of um model so typically it's a
2:11:33 kind of a crude census of literally
2:11:35 going out and Counting people's heads
2:11:37 like out on the street um but this last
2:11:39 time um the model that was used was uh
2:11:43 I'm trying to think of the word exactly
2:11:45 um basically it was like a seed and um
2:11:51 see here sorry I have I have a note
2:11:53 about it let me just double check here
2:11:54 oh a respondent drivon sampling that's
2:11:56 what it the methodology so essentially
2:11:59 this particular methodology was selected
2:12:01 because they wanted to reach people who
2:12:03 had not been counted before that were
2:12:05 really hard to count um and so basically
2:12:08 they focused in on that and then Drew um
2:12:11 you know based on their statistical
2:12:12 analysis of the data collected got a
2:12:14 better picture of who was unhoused in
2:12:17 any particular moment um in our region
2:12:20 and so I think maybe we could utilize
2:12:21 some services like that we're looking at
2:12:23 maybe um selecting you know thinking
2:12:26 about what are the groups that we don't
2:12:27 hear from who are who is that group
2:12:29 generally and how can we um seed that
2:12:32 group and so encourage them to provide
2:12:34 some feedback and we might have to think
2:12:35 about ways to incentivize that we
2:12:37 haven't done previously you know like
2:12:39 maybe there's a way to encourage
2:12:41 somebody to give their voice and support
2:12:43 um that we haven't considered and I I'm
2:12:46 not able to think on my feet that
2:12:48 quickly but I think that would be a
2:12:50 conversation to have is like
2:12:52 incentivizing those groups um planting
2:12:54 the seed in those groups and with this
2:12:55 particular model it was like you got um
2:12:58 you know three coupons if you're a seed
2:13:00 and then you give those three to people
2:13:02 that you know in your sphere so we're
2:13:03 assuming that like you and also are
2:13:05 connected to other people who are
2:13:06 probably not getting counted and um so
2:13:09 it was really exciting and fascinating
2:13:11 to see a different kind of approach of
2:13:13 that cuz I've you know seen how hard it
2:13:16 is to literally try to count somebody in
2:13:18 a night you know to go into an area
2:13:20 where there's tents everywhere and
2:13:21 you're like how many people might be in
2:13:22 that tent no idea right so I think
2:13:25 that's something I would consider using
2:13:26 technology for that thank you Tina Chris
2:13:30 I'm going to go where the people are at
2:13:32 what I mean by that is you know whether
2:13:33 it's man in the barbecue at the quanas
2:13:35 club barbecue talking to talking to
2:13:38 people as they come up and get the the
2:13:39 salmon you know whether it's watching a
2:13:41 Super Bowl party with the up in the
2:13:43 highlands you're going to go where the
2:13:45 First Community is at because that's
2:13:46 what's important to the community and
2:13:48 really building that connection
2:13:49 genuinely by just showing up is first
2:13:52 and foremost because then they see who
2:13:53 you really are as a person and as a
2:13:55 community member you're not in it for
2:13:56 your own
2:13:57 intent and on top of that you can get
2:14:01 the organic genuine conversation started
2:14:03 with their concerns and it's by asking
2:14:05 those questions getting to know them hey
2:14:06 tell me more about you tell me why tell
2:14:09 me what concerns you what keeps you up
2:14:10 at night I get the pleasure of doing
2:14:12 that every day at work so it I do it out
2:14:15 in the community that's how they built
2:14:16 relationships through the boards and
2:14:18 commissions working with different
2:14:19 boards and commissions working working
2:14:21 with each of you on the Strategic plan
2:14:23 or the economic development plan or the
2:14:25 comprehensive plan asking those true
2:14:28 questions is where we connect and build
2:14:31 those connections through the
2:14:33 conversations that we do have
2:14:34 organically and genuinely so then I can
2:14:37 make a better decision share those with
2:14:39 my fellow council members share those
2:14:41 with staff and say the real concerns
2:14:43 that the members have out outside of the
2:14:46 council because that's where that really
2:14:48 happens is in the community whether
2:14:50 they're at work going to the place of
2:14:51 businesses walking in their doors asking
2:14:53 how business is getting to know what
2:14:56 their their pain points are theft hiring
2:15:00 people keeping their doors open during a
2:15:02 bomb Cyclone that's all important right
2:15:06 so I you don't do that by just sitting
2:15:08 and looking and reading the paper you do
2:15:09 it by going out where the people are
2:15:11 meeting the business owners where
2:15:12 they're at because they're running their
2:15:13 business they're taking care of their
2:15:15 kids at home and they want to bring them
2:15:17 to a Super Bowl event you talk to the
2:15:19 people there cuz that's when they're
2:15:20 willing talk like hey I mean it's not I
2:15:23 don't have to go for the title I'm doing
2:15:25 it because I genuinely care about the
2:15:27 people I genuinely care about what they
2:15:29 are about and why and that's what sets
2:15:32 me apart as far as just the connectivity
2:15:34 piece of it because now I can make a
2:15:37 sound choice for them not my intent
2:15:40 together as a council we can feel better
2:15:42 about hey we really truly listen to the
2:15:45 the community on anything and everything
2:15:47 that's possible because we got their
2:15:49 input thank you Chris Kelly great um
2:15:54 yeah I second everything that uh both
2:15:56 Tina and Chris said um I would also add
2:15:58 that I think part of Outreach is also
2:16:01 you know having good public information
2:16:04 of what the city council's up to for
2:16:06 example it is actually not that easy to
2:16:08 figure out what the city's council is
2:16:09 talking about week to week you have to
2:16:10 go in Click into like the document
2:16:12 Center and then scroll down to the
2:16:14 bottom of this terrible PDF viewer um
2:16:17 and so I think part of it is just you
2:16:19 know making it easier for people to know
2:16:20 what's going on in the city so that if
2:16:22 people are interested in go online then
2:16:24 they can figure it out easily without
2:16:25 spending too much time um I also agree
2:16:28 that you know we need to be out there in
2:16:29 the community talking to people not just
2:16:31 you know when it's election season and
2:16:33 we want to ask people for their vote but
2:16:35 also you know just to understand what
2:16:37 people's problems are whether it's
2:16:39 through their organized groups but also
2:16:40 most of the people that we aren't
2:16:42 reaching they might not actually be part
2:16:44 of any kind of organized group already
2:16:46 and so the question is how do we reach
2:16:47 those folks and I think that is actually
2:16:49 a big challenge you know I know that you
2:16:51 know some of the city council members
2:16:52 like you all have been trying to you
2:16:54 know talk to folks that maybe live in
2:16:56 affordable housing uh developments or
2:17:00 you know some of those folks that
2:17:01 typically are not engaged because
2:17:03 they're busy and have a lot else going
2:17:05 on in their lives that they're not you
2:17:07 know drawn to necessarily public comment
2:17:10 on some issues and so I think thinking
2:17:12 about you know what are the types of
2:17:15 what are the types of things that will
2:17:17 get people to come out um and in terms
2:17:20 of you know incentivizing them maybe it
2:17:22 could be something like oh you could get
2:17:24 like coupons to local business or
2:17:27 something like that or you know snacks
2:17:29 or whatever the case may be I think you
2:17:31 know using those types of incentives
2:17:33 could be a good way to do it but also
2:17:35 you know having presences at things like
2:17:37 the farmers market where people like PL
2:17:40 lots of people go to that um as we just
2:17:42 learned like 4,000 people per week so
2:17:45 just having presences at places where
2:17:47 people are already going on a regular
2:17:49 basis and have it just be kind of an
2:17:51 open conversation to learn more about
2:17:53 you know what people are thinking about
2:17:55 I think is really important thank you
2:17:57 Kelly Council on council member Mars
2:18:00 looking to see if there are any other
2:18:02 questions and if not the next part of
2:18:06 our process would be to go back into
2:18:09 executive session and have you discuss
2:18:12 the qualifications of the candidates so
2:18:14 we will be moving upstairs and going
2:18:16 into executive session at 8:48
2:18:21 uh for approximately give me a sense of
2:18:25 time 20
2:18:27 minutes for 30 minutes okay you can
2:18:30 always add 10 yeah okay for 30 minutes
2:18:34 okay so we are heading back
2:18:38 in council member Marts will use the
2:18:41 same meeting we did before he's already
2:18:42 gone he's already
2:52:44 council member Mars can you hear me I
2:52:47 sure can thank
2:53:02 you so we are back out of executive
2:53:05 session at
2:53:07 9:23 and I will give a little
2:53:10 explanation about the process going
2:53:12 forward um this process is part of our
2:53:16 I'm going to check with the city clerk
2:53:18 part of our
2:53:19 code rules and
2:53:23 procedures part of our rules and
2:53:24 procedures so the executive session was
2:53:28 used to discuss qualifications and now
2:53:30 I'll go through the process that is
2:53:32 listed in our rules and
2:53:34 procedures
2:53:37 um the I will open up the floor for
2:53:42 nominations and so would a council
2:53:45 member like to nominate an appointe to
2:53:47 council president position number
2:53:50 one okay council president council
2:53:53 member
2:53:54 Ray um I would like to nominate Kelly
2:53:57 Jang council member Ray I'd like to
2:54:00 nominate Chris
2:54:02 Richley is there any additional
2:54:04 nominations I'd like to nominate Tina
2:54:14 haes is there any discussion on the
2:54:17 nomination
2:54:19 I'm looking to those that made
2:54:21 nominations council president once again
2:54:24 just really really strong set of
2:54:27 candidates strong set of answers um to
2:54:31 me I think um what Kelly brings to the
2:54:35 table is a strong connection between the
2:54:39 environment and housing
2:54:41 components um the ability to speak to
2:54:44 that as someone who's young and
2:54:47 experienced that herself um and just in
2:54:51 general a strong understanding of policy
2:54:55 and those components for the city um and
2:54:58 so those were some of the reasons why I
2:54:59 nominated her and actually I need to
2:55:02 just make sure I tell everybody the
2:55:03 nominations are
2:55:05 closed okay would anybody else like to
2:55:07 speak to that nomination before we move
2:55:10 on to the next
2:55:14 nomination okay oh um I I sort of like
2:55:18 council member Hall would you like to
2:55:20 talk to the nomination of Kelly Jen go
2:55:23 ahead uh and would it be appropriate to
2:55:25 share kind of General comments about how
2:55:27 I approached this to or should do that
2:55:29 later would be lovely to share okay cool
2:55:31 um I think this is easily one of the
2:55:33 most challenging decisions that I've
2:55:35 made in the last couple years on Council
2:55:37 um I mean the council members here know
2:55:40 how much I turn on things so I thought
2:55:41 I'd kind of just work through my own
2:55:43 personal process and and I and you know
2:55:45 just recognize that we all approach this
2:55:47 uh differently on the Council as well so
2:55:50 um for um many of the candidates that I
2:55:52 spoke to personally too I talked about
2:55:54 kind of what I was looking for and
2:55:56 mentioned this with them like someone
2:55:57 who could do their homework and show up
2:55:59 prepared someone with that policy
2:56:01 analysis mindset um which just also want
2:56:04 to acknowledge that that can come from a
2:56:05 lot of different places professional
2:56:07 experience volunteering with boards and
2:56:09 commissions here at the city uh lived
2:56:11 experience as well um someone with
2:56:14 alignment with our strategic planning
2:56:15 documents or someone could kind of speak
2:56:18 to why they feel differently about that
2:56:19 competently and then someone who brings
2:56:21 something new right someone who has that
2:56:23 New Perspective someone who shows up a
2:56:24 little bit differently than the rest of
2:56:26 us and that last part was really
2:56:28 important for me because I think for the
2:56:29 most part looking at the entire field of
2:56:31 candidates all 12 everyone to me showed
2:56:34 that they could do their homework I
2:56:36 think most everyone showed that that
2:56:38 policy analysis mindset that I was
2:56:39 looking for in one way or another um
2:56:42 most everyone spoke to their alignment
2:56:44 with the vision that we've set as a city
2:56:46 in our various planning documents but
2:56:48 not everyone shows up in kind of a
2:56:49 different way than the each of us do um
2:56:52 that doesn't necessarily mean that they
2:56:54 wouldn't make excellent council members
2:56:55 in fact I think the vast majority of
2:56:58 everyone that applied would make an
2:56:59 excellent council member but our job as
2:57:02 council is hard right now because there
2:57:04 are two questions at play uh picking an
2:57:07 excellent council member or deciding
2:57:08 what is right for this particular moment
2:57:10 that we're in right now right and we're
2:57:12 all going to think about what's right
2:57:13 for this particular moment and um a
2:57:16 little bit differently um so anyways
2:57:18 that's kind of how I've kind of
2:57:19 distilled thinking about candidates I
2:57:21 hope that shed some light on kind of how
2:57:22 I've been thinking about it given all
2:57:24 that I do want to speak to um Kelly who
2:57:27 I think stands out as uniquely qualified
2:57:29 in my mind really impressed with how she
2:57:32 approaches the process of policymaking
2:57:36 uh and thinks and thinks deeply about
2:57:37 the issues facing local governments um
2:57:39 enjoyed uh our conversations about the
2:57:42 issues um really um think that your
2:57:45 experience in um kind of the green
2:57:49 Finance um and clean energy and
2:57:52 understanding the balance that needs to
2:57:53 be struck between conservation and
2:57:56 stewardship and sustainability and
2:57:58 development and growth and Innovation is
2:58:00 really impressive I also think um as a
2:58:03 young person too or as a previous young
2:58:05 person I'm 30 now like it's it's so it's
2:58:08 so important to encourage young people
2:58:10 in in government too so I just want to
2:58:13 acknowledge that as well you are one of
2:58:15 the most well-spoken 20-some
2:58:18 I have ever spoke to in my entire life
2:58:20 and I think your voice would be an
2:58:21 incredible addition to our Council
2:58:23 everyone who sat in front of me all
2:58:25 three of you would also make incredible
2:58:26 additions to our Council which is really
2:58:28 really difficult so um those are just
2:58:30 some of my
2:58:32 comments thank you uh council member
2:58:35 Mars thank you thank you Madame mayor um
2:58:38 I'm going to Echo that we can't go wrong
2:58:40 with the three candidates that we have
2:58:42 in front of us I've been impressed with
2:58:44 all all three of you all three of you
2:58:46 have reached out to understand
2:58:49 uh what's going on that's not always the
2:58:51 case we've had people make the final
2:58:53 rounds who who didn't uh do that kind of
2:58:56 Outreach and I've heard it in all three
2:58:58 of your answers um but I'm also going to
2:59:01 be supporting Kelly at this point I
2:59:03 think that um she's shown her leadership
2:59:07 on the isqua Alps Trails club uh I got
2:59:10 to know her on the Strategic Plan update
2:59:12 task force uh which of course Chris was
2:59:15 one of the co-chairs on but I thought
2:59:17 that Kelly was uh that was a August body
2:59:21 and being a young person in that room
2:59:24 and able to stand up and uh and argue
2:59:28 her points persuasively uh took a lot of
2:59:31 guts and I I've seen a lot of guts from
2:59:33 her I think it's also important that
2:59:35 she's drawn just a vast uh array of
2:59:39 support in the community in the letters
2:59:41 that have come into to us including the
2:59:43 incumbent in this position which is not
2:59:45 um a requirement but is is um something
2:59:48 that I think that should be considered
2:59:50 uh so for all those reasons uh you know
2:59:53 like I said I don't think we can go
2:59:54 wrong tonight but uh I'm supporting
2:59:56 Kelly thanks would anyone else like uh
2:59:59 thank you council member Mars would
3:00:01 anyone else like to speak to this
3:00:02 nomination before I move to the
3:00:04 next okay council member Ray um thanks
3:00:08 mayor Paulie um I think it's really
3:00:10 clear that we have we have a plethora of
3:00:13 riches here and this is this this is why
3:00:15 we're all really grumpy right now
3:00:17 because this is a very very difficult
3:00:18 decision to make and it um
3:00:22 and and I um I looked at this from a uh
3:00:27 what will make us a better Council and
3:00:29 that was my my primary driver in all of
3:00:32 this was what makes us better what will
3:00:35 help us uh better represent the people
3:00:37 here and make better decisions and um so
3:00:40 when I started looking through that lens
3:00:43 um I found that Chris um had the city
3:00:47 EXP experience that uh really set him
3:00:49 apart his time on EVC um and his time
3:00:53 chairing EVC co-chair of the strategic
3:00:55 planning um task force um all are things
3:00:59 where he's been uh actively engaged with
3:01:01 City activities understands what's going
3:01:03 on and has demonstrated leadership in
3:01:06 those um um deliberative bodies uh he
3:01:11 also shows up and does the work I mean
3:01:13 um he wasn't just on the Committees he
3:01:15 participated in the Committees he
3:01:17 chaired the Committees he showed up he
3:01:18 got it
3:01:19 done um I'm also impressed with Chris's
3:01:22 business Acumen he understands our
3:01:24 business Community he understands uh not
3:01:27 just the
3:01:28 uh um his business in the highlands but
3:01:32 he understands the larger business in
3:01:34 the Chamber of Commerce and and the and
3:01:35 the working environment here which is
3:01:37 super important right now as we try to
3:01:39 build
3:01:41 out the isqua we want to have which is a
3:01:44 great place to work a great place to
3:01:46 live and a great place to play and we
3:01:48 know one of our biggest problems is we
3:01:49 have to have um a favorable business
3:01:52 environment as well as to take on other
3:01:54 issues such as uh Transit and and
3:01:58 housing um but he also understands the
3:02:00 community uh he's made a a living out of
3:02:03 understanding the community and he has
3:02:05 built his his uh Credit Union by
3:02:08 understanding the community and and
3:02:10 making it that the people who are his
3:02:12 members are his focus and I think that
3:02:14 is super important and he has a very
3:02:16 strong Network in the community both uh
3:02:18 as a direct result of his work but also
3:02:20 as volunteer activities he also lives
3:02:23 he's one of those rare unicorns who
3:02:25 lives works and plays here um and I
3:02:28 think that brings an interesting
3:02:29 perspective he also uh is raising a
3:02:31 family here and um I think what he
3:02:35 brings um to this Council are some
3:02:39 perspectives that we don't have right
3:02:41 now that I think are incredibly valuable
3:02:44 to us and to making this the great
3:02:46 Community we all want it to be
3:02:49 thank you would anyone else like to
3:02:50 speak to this
3:02:53 nomination I'm not seeing anyone else
3:02:55 I'll move to the third nomination Deputy
3:02:57 council president would you like to
3:02:58 speak to the third nomination sure uh I
3:03:02 was very pleased to uh nominate Tina
3:03:05 because uh for many reasons um she has a
3:03:09 wonderful background in human services
3:03:12 uh I've been really impressed with your
3:03:14 ability to do research and ask tough
3:03:17 questions
3:03:18 um which was very characteristic of the
3:03:21 person who held the seat uh prior uh
3:03:24 that was one thing we admired about
3:03:26 Vicki as well um I loved your response
3:03:30 to Bill Ramos that uh Arts are a serious
3:03:35 business because I think it illustrates
3:03:37 uh we have to we balance between getting
3:03:40 along with our fellow council members
3:03:42 getting along with people in our
3:03:43 community but also standing up for the
3:03:46 things that we believe in and I know
3:03:48 you've had a good experience on the Arts
3:03:50 commission and I've heard from people on
3:03:52 the Arts commission who very much uh
3:03:55 look forward to having you on the
3:03:56 council um I think that your background
3:03:59 as a counselor uh gives us a perspective
3:04:03 uh on uh human relations that it would
3:04:06 be very important on the council and
3:04:08 your work with people in incarceration
3:04:11 and uh marginalized communities I think
3:04:13 is a voice that is really important to
3:04:16 us as well so I'm very honored to have
3:04:18 nominated
3:04:20 you are there any other council members
3:04:22 to speak to this
3:04:26 nomination I'm not seeing any I'm going
3:04:29 to go through um a description of the
3:04:32 process for voting so if there's no
3:04:35 further discussion the nominees will be
3:04:37 voted on in the order the nominations
3:04:39 were made the process continues until a
3:04:42 nominee receives a majority of the votes
3:04:44 in this case tonight that would be four
3:04:46 votes this method requires that a
3:04:48 council member wishing to vote for a
3:04:50 candidate appearing later in the list of
3:04:52 nominees must vote against earlier
3:04:55 nominees to reserve their vote for their
3:04:57 chosen nominee the first nominee
3:05:00 receiving a majority vote is declared
3:05:02 the new council
3:05:04 member um and so at this point in time
3:05:07 the city clerk would also like me to
3:05:09 clarify that if there is a tie
3:05:13 um what your preference would be you
3:05:16 have several options one that is
3:05:18 typically the least desirable for city
3:05:20 councils is to have their mayor break
3:05:22 the vote it's one of the rare times that
3:05:24 a mayor can do that typically in our um
3:05:30 Council you have chosen to go back to
3:05:32 Executive session or you have chosen to
3:05:36 speak again to the different candidates
3:05:39 to see if you can change somebody's vote
3:05:42 so um any preference or would you prefer
3:05:45 to I think we should clarify how you
3:05:47 would break a tie Now versus actually
3:05:50 having a tie so your thoughts council
3:05:53 president as somebody who has gone
3:05:55 through this and experienced being the
3:05:58 person who was voted on um I I think
3:06:01 it's important
3:06:03 to let the council do the deliberation
3:06:06 especially when we're in a situation
3:06:08 right now with three um nominees and
3:06:12 just letting us either speak to it or um
3:06:16 if we decide at that point that we want
3:06:18 to go back up but that would be my
3:06:22 preference any other thoughts on
3:06:25 that just to say yeah that sounds good
3:06:28 let's start conversation here on the Das
3:06:30 if we feel like we need to Res
3:06:33 again okay not seeing any
3:06:37 others question sorry U Deputy council
3:06:40 president um the way that you described
3:06:43 it Amir was a little different than I
3:06:45 understood it I understood we had more
3:06:47 than one yes vote that we could make um
3:06:51 and the way that you said it it sound
3:06:53 like we really only have one yes vote
3:06:55 let's have the clerk clarify okay city
3:06:58 clerk C CL sorry I moved so I can see
3:07:01 you as you vote um yes so um you may
3:07:05 rather than a must that should be a May
3:07:07 so you it's just an explanation that if
3:07:10 you would like to withhold your yes vote
3:07:13 for a preferred candidate lower on the
3:07:15 list you do need to then vote against an
3:07:19 earlier candidate but certainly you can
3:07:21 all vote Yes or No for any of these
3:07:24 three candidates we're not tracking how
3:07:27 many times you're voting yes or no each
3:07:29 vote is a fresh
3:07:31 start does that
3:07:33 clarify is that
3:07:36 clear CC Mars
3:07:40 okay okay so I will start with the first
3:07:44 nominee Kelly Jang all those in favor of
3:07:47 o pointing Kelly Jan to city council
3:07:49 position number six signify by saying I
3:07:52 and raising your
3:07:54 hands I I I see three hands
3:08:00 raised um does that require the others
3:08:02 to State on the record no okay all those
3:08:06 not in favor please say no no no three
3:08:11 NOS um the next candidate all those in
3:08:14 favor of appointing Chris Richley to
3:08:17 city council position number six signify
3:08:20 by saying I and raising your hand I I I
3:08:24 I see
3:08:26 three uh all those uh opposed signify by
3:08:29 saying no and raising your hand no no no
3:08:33 and three
3:08:34 NOS I'll move on to the third candidate
3:08:38 all those in favor of appointing Tina
3:08:40 hay to city council Tina Hayes to city
3:08:43 council position number six please
3:08:46 signify by saying I and raising your
3:08:50 I all those oppose please signify by
3:08:54 saying no and raising your hand no no no
3:08:57 no no see one I and five
3:09:01 NOS uh we did not have a unanimous uh
3:09:04 vote of four um city clerk what is your
3:09:07 recommendation for the next step
3:09:10 discussion on the Das so the council has
3:09:13 a number of options now you could choose
3:09:16 to go back into EX cutive session you
3:09:18 could run through the three nominees
3:09:20 again and revote on each one that could
3:09:23 be proceeded by discussion um I suppose
3:09:27 could ask follow-up questions you could
3:09:30 also postpone this process to a later
3:09:32 date or time there's few different
3:09:35 options thank you very much and just to
3:09:38 be clear once three candidates are on a
3:09:41 slate we continue to vote on all three
3:09:43 candidates on slate until somebody has
3:09:45 four yes and in the order they were
3:09:47 nominated each
3:09:49 time okay thoughts could you indicate
3:09:52 what your preference is by raising your
3:09:54 mic and I'll I'll call on
3:09:57 you council president uh I think I'm
3:10:01 willing to discuss on the Das yes
3:10:06 okay uh and by that you mean have each
3:10:12 people as they want to discuss the
3:10:13 different candidates again okay any
3:10:16 other thoughts on how to Pro
3:10:20 proceed not seeing any okay I'll open it
3:10:22 up for
3:10:40 discussion council member Hall I love
3:10:43 the look on your face maybe I'll just
3:10:44 jump in because I'm puzzled so so a
3:10:47 number of us have have has set comments
3:10:50 for particular candidates um and it
3:10:52 seemed like just in terms of process
3:10:55 some of us voted yes for one no for the
3:10:59 others and some voted yes for multiple
3:11:01 candidates so I was wondering if maybe
3:11:03 we want to take a moment to just reflect
3:11:05 on that or or if we don't want to if we
3:11:08 want to just move on to talking about
3:11:09 candidates I just thought there might be
3:11:11 value and kind of having some sort of
3:11:13 shared alignment with maybe process for
3:11:14 voting or
3:11:18 thoughts from the other council members
3:11:21 that because like I guess in my head
3:11:24 like voting no on a particular candidate
3:11:26 doesn't mean I don't want to serve with
3:11:27 them like of course I want to serve with
3:11:29 them but going just going through the
3:11:31 very difficult exercise in my head of
3:11:34 having heard from all like 12 amazing
3:11:36 candidates now three Stellar final
3:11:39 candidates
3:11:41 who who I think is right in this moment
3:11:43 for that chair right and and just kind
3:11:46 of focusing on one sing single candidate
3:11:48 there was was anyone else thinking about
3:11:50 that a little bit differently do we want
3:11:51 to just kind of reflect on that a little
3:11:53 bit or is that what everyone else was
3:11:54 thinking council president no I think
3:11:57 that's a good question I wasn't paying
3:11:59 attention to everyone's votes because
3:12:01 it's enough for me to try and figure out
3:12:03 what I'm doing um were there people who
3:12:06 did vote Yes on multiple candidates and
3:12:09 if so would you like to speak to that
3:12:13 and how you might be thinking about it
3:12:16 in the next round of voting good
3:12:20 point well that was me and um I am I'm
3:12:26 absolutely torn I I would love to serve
3:12:29 with any one of these candidates so yeah
3:12:32 it just reflects in my mind that we just
3:12:37 have some outstanding people in front of
3:12:38 us council member D Michelle is there
3:12:41 any conversation or comments you would
3:12:43 like to hear back from the others that
3:12:45 may help you get to
3:12:47 your singular vote I I think uh yeah I'm
3:12:51 waiting to hear what other people have
3:12:53 to say and yeah
3:13:05 BS oh uh councilman Ms thank you so um
3:13:10 you know I've had lots of these three to
3:13:12 threes right the the way that it works
3:13:16 is uh we wait till somebody folds right
3:13:19 that's what happened with Stacy and Paul
3:13:22 that's what happened uh in a couple of
3:13:25 re more recent ones right so that's uh
3:13:29 that's where we're at we just wait and
3:13:31 see who uh the strength of uh how
3:13:36 strongly people feel for the votes that
3:13:38 they've made it's unfortunately that's
3:13:40 what you get when you get a 3 three so
3:13:43 council member Mars you after we
3:13:46 finished with comments you just like us
3:13:47 to go do the vote
3:13:50 again yep yeah I guess that's what I'm
3:13:53 saying thank you additional
3:13:58 comments council president I guess I
3:14:01 would say
3:14:03 in my mind here we've got
3:14:08 two candidates of the three that I think
3:14:11 are maybe a little bit more similar on
3:14:15 um housing and and um kind of I don't
3:14:20 know what it is that um connects Kelly
3:14:23 and Tina in my mind whereas Chris um has
3:14:27 more of
3:14:28 the um business focus and so that to me
3:14:34 is just some of the ways that I'm
3:14:36 thinking about it whether that's a pro
3:14:38 or a con for you
3:14:45 yeah that's my
3:14:50 I think this is a really uh great
3:14:53 Dilemma to have and this is the third
3:14:55 time that I've been involved in in a
3:14:58 appointment and it is the third time we
3:15:00 have uh gone three three so I think it's
3:15:03 me it's not you it's me
3:15:06 um one of the things that I continue to
3:15:10 come back to is uh what do we need on
3:15:12 this Council and what can we you know
3:15:15 what does um everybody bring to the
3:15:17 party and everybody everybody all three
3:15:20 of you have great depth of experience
3:15:23 and dedication and commitment to these
3:15:26 roles and doing this and individually
3:15:29 you have areas of extreme depth Kelly
3:15:32 you are the environmental goddess I mean
3:15:35 you definitely got it um um and it's
3:15:38 clear and and that's really important
3:15:41 and and Chris you you're definitely the
3:15:43 business guy you understand the economic
3:15:46 climate and this you understand the
3:15:47 players where we're going and and what's
3:15:49 NE necessary there and Tina you clearly
3:15:52 understand the the Human Services
3:15:54 aspects and that interpersonal skills
3:15:57 that you bring are just like off the
3:15:58 charts and so
3:16:01 um I'm I'm having all sorts of very
3:16:04 vulnerable uh open moments today so I'm
3:16:06 just going to continue on that role um I
3:16:11 think that what we are truly missing on
3:16:13 this Council right now and this is why I
3:16:15 nominated Chris and it's not because
3:16:17 Kelly I don't think you're amazing and
3:16:18 Tina I don't think you're amazing I
3:16:20 don't think we understand the and this
3:16:22 is no reflection on you council
3:16:24 president certainly we don't understand
3:16:26 the business climate here in town as
3:16:28 well as we could and somebody who could
3:16:30 bring that that depth of experience um
3:16:33 and the leadership that Chris has
3:16:35 demonstrated in the community I think
3:16:38 makes us a better Council we're a better
3:16:40 council with any any of the three of you
3:16:43 um and so it's that's why it's a hard
3:16:45 choice right because it's is trying to
3:16:47 figure out what what is that um optimal
3:16:49 configuration of of skills that make us
3:16:52 better and what's that um optimal U
3:16:55 personality type that allows us to be
3:16:57 this unicorn um Council that really gets
3:17:01 along and really is focused on doing the
3:17:03 right thing and not doing the the you
3:17:05 know the dogmatic thing so um that's you
3:17:08 know that's that's kind of you know to
3:17:10 Zach Hall it that's might have been my
3:17:12 kind of my you know my throwing my my
3:17:15 thought process out there on the table
3:17:16 for you all
3:17:18 appreciate council member
3:17:20 Joe thank you I was hoping my vote would
3:17:24 be my voice this evening but I guess I
3:17:26 have to speak
3:17:28 um I agree with the members who have
3:17:32 spoken today that we really have three
3:17:34 excellent candidates that are vying for
3:17:37 this position and I think that says
3:17:39 quite a lot about the strength of our
3:17:42 volunteerism in town the strength of the
3:17:45 uh social fabric that keeps us together
3:17:49 um I voted for Chris in the first round
3:17:52 and and for a couple of reasons um first
3:17:56 as a as a person that's a business owner
3:17:59 here in town um he's really the only
3:18:03 person that sees customers or people on
3:18:08 a regular basis I'm working in bellw and
3:18:11 Chris is working in Kirkland
3:18:13 and Barb is retired
3:18:17 but um Chris is Chris is able to see
3:18:21 various uh groups of people coming
3:18:23 through his his bank and talking to them
3:18:25 uh about what's really going on in our
3:18:27 community with our uh business climate
3:18:30 and our our economic vitality and as
3:18:33 chair of the economic Vitality
3:18:35 commission he takes it a step farther by
3:18:37 um really finding out what's going on uh
3:18:40 with the different plans that are going
3:18:42 on whether it's the Pioneer development
3:18:44 uh I90 crossing any helped for the title
3:18:47 18 land code review more importantly
3:18:51 though uh he pointed out that he was he
3:18:54 has experience with budgeting and with
3:18:56 long-term financial planning uh as part
3:18:59 of his work and he' bring that skill to
3:19:02 uh the
3:19:03 council I don't want to disparage any of
3:19:06 the people sitting here in or TOA at his
3:19:09 remote location but we are not budget
3:19:13 gods or goddesses as the case may be we
3:19:16 we have um the ability to understand
3:19:19 where the money is coming from where the
3:19:20 money is going the restrictions on it
3:19:23 but I think we're lacking that long-term
3:19:25 planning for financial um uh matters
3:19:32 will that I think we need to make to
3:19:35 make sound decisions going forward and
3:19:37 um so that's why I'm supporting Chris
3:19:39 one final reason is is Chris shows
3:19:43 up I uh went to the port un cork event
3:19:47 and Chris was there I went to an event
3:19:50 for the garage and Chris was there um he
3:19:54 shows up in places like the state of the
3:19:57 city event he was
3:19:59 there this job
3:20:02 is really about meeting people where
3:20:05 they are and having those conversations
3:20:09 that are not planned not at a formal
3:20:11 meeting thank you but they're
3:20:13 conversations that really get to the
3:20:15 Grist of what is driving that person
3:20:19 today what's on their mind what makes
3:20:21 them get up in the morning and we have
3:20:24 some difficulty finding that in the
3:20:28 community because our Outreach efforts
3:20:29 are not as strong as they were before we
3:20:31 lost our paper um our newsletter is read
3:20:36 but not read widely um people are more
3:20:38 likely to be looking at their phone at
3:20:41 Tik Tock than looking at a council
3:20:43 meeting um we need a person out in the
3:20:45 community like who's going to places and
3:20:48 has a time to do that in our community
3:20:50 so that's why I'm supporting him thank
3:20:52 you thank you council member
3:20:55 Marts so the hour is late um let me find
3:21:01 the right way to say this um I think
3:21:04 that Kelly's business Acumen is every
3:21:07 bit comparable to either of the other
3:21:10 candidates she's an executive with her
3:21:12 company she meets with customers on a
3:21:15 regular basis she's not meeting with
3:21:18 customers that are you know uh coming in
3:21:22 for five or 10 minutes or 15 minutes but
3:21:25 I don't think um I don't think there's a
3:21:29 differentiation between these candidates
3:21:32 if you're saying you want to have
3:21:33 somebody with business Acumen on the
3:21:36 council she's younger than our other
3:21:39 candidates um
3:21:41 but I'm convinced from my conversations
3:21:43 with her that she's having the same sort
3:21:46 of high level business conversations and
3:21:48 she's going to be able to provide the
3:21:50 same sort of highlevel view into
3:21:53 budgeting um I I might disagree with
3:21:57 council member Joe a little bit about um
3:21:59 the skill set that we have on this
3:22:01 Council around budgets but um I think
3:22:04 that Kelly wouldn't be in the position
3:22:06 that she's in if she didn't understand
3:22:07 how to build a a strong budget uh with
3:22:10 her customers so uh I think that that's
3:22:14 not the
3:22:15 differentiator um that that it might
3:22:17 otherwise be so that's um now to say
3:22:22 something more
3:22:23 specifically um uh positive about Kelly
3:22:28 um I think that the environmental piece
3:22:32 um we are as a
3:22:34 city uh a spearhead for environmental
3:22:38 action we were one of the four or one of
3:22:40 the founding um a5c cities um we
3:22:47 you know I started under on Council
3:22:49 under Ava fringer who took second seat
3:22:52 to nobody on environmental issues and I
3:22:55 think that Kelly would continue that
3:22:57 long uh fiercely uh strong uh
3:23:02 environmental tradition that we have as
3:23:04 a city where we take a backseat to
3:23:05 nobody on environmental issues thank you
3:23:08 thank you council member Mars and Deputy
3:23:10 council
3:23:11 president yes I I realized that I hadn't
3:23:14 spoken to why I voted for Chris and uh I
3:23:17 would like to very much do that um we
3:23:20 have two two very very well-run uh
3:23:26 commissions uh that Chris LED and one of
3:23:30 those is the economic Vitality
3:23:32 commission um I don't think I had heard
3:23:35 very much about that commission until
3:23:37 Chris became the chair and that
3:23:39 commission has turned into a Powerhouse
3:23:42 commission uh and that's because of the
3:23:44 leadership that he has uh he has
3:23:46 demonstrated there and then in addition
3:23:49 our strategic plan uh uh task force was
3:23:54 so well-run and came back with such a
3:23:56 good product and I have heard so many
3:23:58 people say that is a wonderful strategic
3:24:01 plan and again leadership leadership was
3:24:04 there and Chris was the leader to that
3:24:07 um I've known Chris through quanas club
3:24:10 and as uh Russell said excuse me council
3:24:13 member Joe said uh it's getting late um
3:24:17 he always he's he shows up and he's
3:24:20 there and um he and I had a good
3:24:23 discussion over coffee about affordable
3:24:27 housing and uh so when Chris talks about
3:24:30 his Finance background and his banking F
3:24:33 background it's not just for the city's
3:24:35 budget it has to do with how do we how
3:24:38 do we build the housing that we need and
3:24:41 uh he has the background he does that
3:24:43 every day through his day job um and and
3:24:46 uh my real concern as has been mentioned
3:24:49 by our candidates is uh nothing has
3:24:52 happened with our housing we are really
3:24:54 not moving along we're not meeting our
3:24:56 targets and I think having somebody on
3:24:59 Council who has that intimate knowledge
3:25:01 of uh affordable housing and how we get
3:25:04 not only affordable housing but uh
3:25:07 naturally occurring uh housing that is
3:25:10 Affordable um we have that in Chris's
3:25:13 background so um I was as I said I'm
3:25:17 very torn we've got some wonderful
3:25:19 candidates in front of us but that is
3:25:21 the reason that I was quite willing to
3:25:22 put up my hand for Chris so any
3:25:27 additional discussion before we start
3:25:29 voting again thank you for all these
3:25:31 comments I think they're very very
3:25:34 helpful okay council member Hall yeah um
3:25:38 if that's okay with the rest the council
3:25:40 memb you allowed to keep
3:25:43 discussing I think it was really um a
3:25:47 good thing for conversation sake to
3:25:48 point out that we have some like very
3:25:50 clearly defined issue specific
3:25:53 candidates or candidates who have that
3:25:55 kind of speciality experience in issues
3:25:59 and I think it's wonderful to show up in
3:26:00 that space whether it be an environment
3:26:02 in business and banking in finance in
3:26:04 mental health and youth um I am actually
3:26:09 trying to do my best to remove that from
3:26:14 from my thinking and think that really
3:26:17 any one of us here on the deis can focus
3:26:21 on a particular issue if we wanted to
3:26:23 actually when I think of Zach call I
3:26:24 don't necessarily think of like X issue
3:26:26 or Y issue I I like to think of myself
3:26:28 as kind of a generalist but I think the
3:26:31 value having experience and issues
3:26:33 environment growth budget business Human
3:26:36 Services like we have a whole array of
3:26:39 Highly professional staff that provide
3:26:42 that kind of analysis tell us the
3:26:44 Lessons Learned in local government in
3:26:46 the local government project more
3:26:47 broadly across the country um and I
3:26:50 think our job in the project is a bit
3:26:53 more simple like our role is more simple
3:26:55 our our role is to use all of that good
3:26:58 information to clearly Define what the
3:26:59 problem is and all and that that
3:27:02 information by the way is also public
3:27:04 feedback and public engagement there are
3:27:06 lots of different Taps that we we tap
3:27:08 for all the information that we use to
3:27:10 make decision-making so we clearly
3:27:11 Define problems right we kind of
3:27:14 understand the context around the
3:27:15 problem that's at play what's been done
3:27:17 before what are the other kind of
3:27:19 circumstances we need to be aware of
3:27:20 that are potential other problems of
3:27:22 cascading problems so anyways all of
3:27:24 that we understand what the array of
3:27:27 potential solutions that out there are
3:27:29 exist and we develop evaluation criteria
3:27:31 right to evaluate one solution against
3:27:33 another solution and using all that
3:27:36 information as a group essentially we're
3:27:38 a machine it spits out what I this is
3:27:41 just kind of how I
3:27:42 Envision city councils right it spits
3:27:45 out the right answer or the right answer
3:27:46 in that moment and then we have um other
3:27:50 evaluation criteria that we develop from
3:27:52 a policymaking stance right to make sure
3:27:54 it's working right and to measure
3:27:56 success and say what doesn't success
3:27:58 look like and then go back to the
3:27:59 drawing board if we need to so I think
3:28:03 any one of these three have that mindset
3:28:06 to be able to sit here not necessarily
3:28:08 with a particular policy um focus and be
3:28:12 able to distill complex information into
3:28:15 a solution that we're now going to move
3:28:17 forward as a community um but I I still
3:28:20 just think just from the application
3:28:22 material from her speech from her
3:28:25 answers to the questions tonight from my
3:28:27 conversations that I've had with her I'm
3:28:29 just really excited by this mind at work
3:28:31 by Kelly and I I would I would love to
3:28:34 work with her here on the council again
3:28:36 I think any one of the three here have
3:28:39 what it takes to have that policy-making
3:28:41 mindset to show up in in the way that we
3:28:43 do and and serve on that role but I just
3:28:45 wanted to
3:28:47 this is me being vulnerable too and just
3:28:49 kind of saying things as well um I just
3:28:51 wanted to say you know that's another
3:28:53 way that I'm kind of thinking about this
3:28:54 is kind of stripping that from it and
3:28:56 thinking what is the policymaking mind
3:28:59 that I want to work next to as we go
3:29:02 through the process
3:29:04 together thank
3:29:06 you okay looking around as well for
3:29:09 comments uh before I do another round of
3:29:13 candidate voting anybody wanting to make
3:29:16 more comments looking at council member
3:29:18 Mars okay it is the same process as
3:29:21 before I pull it back up all the three
3:29:24 candidates are still on the
3:29:27 Slate um and I will go through as they
3:29:30 were originally
3:29:32 nominated all those in favor of
3:29:34 appointing Kaye J Kaye sorry Kelly Kelly
3:29:39 Jang yeah different person to city
3:29:41 council position number six signify by
3:29:43 saying I and raising your hand
3:29:48 i and those
3:29:52 opposed no no no that is three for and
3:29:56 three against um I will move to the next
3:30:00 nominee all those in favor of appointing
3:30:04 um threw out my order Chris Richley um
3:30:08 to city council position number six
3:30:10 signify by saying I and raising your
3:30:12 hand I
3:30:14 I see three those
3:30:17 opposed no no three for three against
3:30:22 and I will go to the last person on our
3:30:24 slate um all those in favor of
3:30:27 appointing Tina Hayes to city council
3:30:29 position number six signify by saying I
3:30:31 and raising your
3:30:33 hand I
3:30:36 I those
3:30:39 opposed n two in favor and four against
3:30:44 uh we do not have a clear for vote
3:30:48 candidate on our slate council member
3:30:51 Ray so maybe it's time to have that
3:30:54 discussion about how we break a
3:30:58 tie so um you have I'll let the clerk go
3:31:04 over it better than I can but to break a
3:31:08 tie well I suppose that uh the vote
3:31:12 would be announced and then you could
3:31:14 choose to St State your vote so is the
3:31:18 question whether or not the mayor wants
3:31:20 to break the tie or does the mayor just
3:31:23 decide to break the tie well I think
3:31:25 it's healthy that like previously you
3:31:28 had the conversation before about the
3:31:31 expectation um in advance so the council
3:31:34 and applicants knew what was going on
3:31:36 but um you have the the right to break
3:31:39 the tie a tie vote unless it has to deal
3:31:43 with an ordinance or franchise
3:31:46 for the payment of money which this is
3:31:48 none of those so that is that is you
3:31:51 have the ability to to choose to do
3:31:56 that is this a
3:32:00 tie is this defined as a
3:32:04 tie a a three three vote Yes which is
3:32:09 why we have
3:32:11 particular so I think the time to do it
3:32:14 might be um might be when that vote is
3:32:17 announced so this round is done so if
3:32:20 there was to be a third
3:32:23 round and this is why we have a seven
3:32:26 member city council to minimize these
3:32:30 situations so is the discussion for the
3:32:32 council right now to decide if this is
3:32:36 the final vote or if they would like to
3:32:38 have more discussion and have another
3:32:40 vote we don't know what the vote will be
3:32:44 on the nominees for this next round
3:32:46 again everyone can vote how they want so
3:32:48 I think it would be healthy to decide if
3:32:51 you uh were or the council however you
3:32:55 want to determine whether you're going
3:32:57 to participate in the vote and then just
3:32:59 go through the rounds if one of the
3:33:01 nominees results in a tie vote then
3:33:03 you'd have that moment to weigh in
3:33:06 council
3:33:07 president so I think the question before
3:33:09 the council is really are we at a point
3:33:12 where we would like the mayor to break
3:33:15 the tie
3:33:16 are we at a point where we want to press
3:33:20 pause schedule another meeting ask the
3:33:24 um Community to provide feedback or are
3:33:29 we at a point where we want to go up and
3:33:33 have another executive session to
3:33:35 discuss amongst ourselves
3:33:38 about our preferences between candidates
3:33:42 and lastly do you want to do it on the
3:33:44 Das you could just continue your
3:33:46 conversation on the Das and go for
3:33:48 another vote so continue our
3:33:50 conversation comfort with the mayor
3:33:52 breaking the tie pause and reconvene
3:33:56 another meeting or go up to another
3:33:59 executive session keeping in mind we
3:34:01 have 90 days to make this decision
3:34:03 before it goes to King County
3:34:06 Council qu uh comments Council my
3:34:09 marks yeah I guess at this at this point
3:34:14 um I think
3:34:16 probably um the fairest method in the
3:34:19 process would be to have the mayor break
3:34:21 the tie um I think we every everybody's
3:34:25 made lots of arguments um I think that
3:34:28 just wearing one side or the other down
3:34:31 by another half dozen uh votes isn't the
3:34:34 right way out of this I think the right
3:34:36 way would be to add the another voice to
3:34:39 the conversation sorry
3:34:43 Mary comments
3:34:47 council member Ray um as is often the
3:34:51 case I agree with council member Marts
3:34:53 um the one thing I don't want to do and
3:34:56 maybe I'll start with that is I don't I
3:34:57 want to I want to get this resolved
3:34:59 tonight I don't want to kick the can
3:35:01 down the road I was talking to council
3:35:02 member D Michelle uh earlier this week
3:35:04 and it's like unless there was some very
3:35:06 specific question that needed to be
3:35:07 answered I really thought we had an
3:35:09 obligation to ourselves and to all of
3:35:12 you to make a decision tonight and so I
3:35:14 really I mean I'll go through 10 rounds
3:35:17 of voting I've done it before but um but
3:35:20 you know I think we need to whatever the
3:35:21 case is we need to bring closure tonight
3:35:24 to the the the process because we owe
3:35:26 that to
3:35:34 comments that's remember Hall um well
3:35:37 maybe there's maybe there's
3:35:38 still um topics worth discussing here on
3:35:41 the dice I I just wanted to ask and if
3:35:43 it's appropriate was there any change I
3:35:46 wasn't tracking the voting was there any
3:35:48 change in voting that happened between
3:35:50 the kind of the first round of voting
3:35:52 and the second round of voting and if
3:35:54 anyone felt so inclined or felt it was
3:35:56 appropriate for me to ask would they be
3:35:57 willing to share kind of what made them
3:35:59 kind of change their vote maybe that
3:36:01 could benefit the rest of us too as
3:36:03 we're considering should we change our
3:36:05 three part there was no change there was
3:36:07 no oh okay I see
3:36:14 thoughts on whether or not the mayor
3:36:17 should step in you have four choices
3:36:19 yeah I don't I don't necessarily see
3:36:21 what we would get out of going into
3:36:23 executive session again um so I
3:36:25 definitely rule that out um if there's
3:36:27 anything I mean speaking now forever
3:36:29 hold your peace I guess Council if
3:36:30 there's any other kind of comments that
3:36:31 you want to make um but other than that
3:36:34 I agree with the two previous comments
3:36:36 of what have been said I think perhaps
3:36:38 maybe now is the time for you to step in
3:36:40 I'm also kind of curious what you think
3:36:41 May paully because in in the past you
3:36:45 like kind of ad hoc policy has been not
3:36:47 to to do that but I mean do you want to
3:36:50 share sure reflect on that at all or
3:36:53 like how how comfortable do you feel
3:36:54 stepping in so I'm very comfortable I
3:36:58 think for the benefit of those sitting
3:36:59 at this table I do not participate in
3:37:01 their deliberations upstairs so the best
3:37:05 practice is always for those that are
3:37:06 sitting in the six Council chairs to
3:37:09 convince each other of why one of you
3:37:12 should be picked over three of you when
3:37:14 you all have such excellent quality
3:37:15 ifications so I have been listening I
3:37:19 have been reading the material I have
3:37:21 had coffee with most of the candidates
3:37:24 that you have spoken to I'm not
3:37:26 uncomfortable making the selection I
3:37:29 think you have done your due diligence I
3:37:32 think you have poked prodded pushed and
3:37:35 pulled each other um as much as I've
3:37:37 ever seen for a council vote so I do not
3:37:40 have an issue breaking the
3:37:42 time comments
3:37:49 council president yeah um I don't see
3:37:53 necessarily any benefit of going up to
3:37:55 Executive session I think we've all said
3:37:57 our piece and the vote hasn't
3:38:00 changed
3:38:02 um I I don't have a problem with
3:38:06 delaying necessarily but I don't know
3:38:09 that we would have additional
3:38:13 information um
3:38:15 so I think I'm okay with you breaking
3:38:18 tie any other
3:38:21 comments C clar I'm just going to verify
3:38:24 that um is it just am I able to speak um
3:38:29 to the candidates and their
3:38:30 qualifications and then say my piece is
3:38:33 that how we should proceed that seems
3:38:35 reasonable to me
3:38:38 okay so I hate you guys this has never
3:38:40 happened as far as I've ever known in
3:38:43 any of these votes before um is a first
3:38:46 and it is awkward um I sit in a
3:38:48 different chair than the elected council
3:38:50 do I will not be participating in
3:38:52 dialogues with you discussing policy or
3:38:56 um working with you on the budget I'm on
3:38:58 the operation side and I hand things
3:39:00 over to you but I have to agree with
3:39:03 100% of the comments that they heard
3:39:05 this is probably that I've probably sat
3:39:07 through six of these this is the hardest
3:39:09 that I've ever seen only because you are
3:39:11 all coming and speaking to the Council
3:39:13 on many many topics that are top of mind
3:39:15 for them from affordable housing and
3:39:17 Social Services to connections to the
3:39:19 business Community to continuing our
3:39:21 work as being a leader and Steward in
3:39:23 the environmental space um I am going to
3:39:28 select Kelly Jang for the vacancy
3:39:30 because I do believe at this point in
3:39:32 time in the city of isqua and with the
3:39:35 current um lay of the federal landscape
3:39:38 that in order to be an environmental
3:39:40 champion and environmental Steward at
3:39:42 this time I would like to bring some um
3:39:44 strength and bandwidth to that piece of
3:39:47 our Council conversation and I
3:39:48 appreciate her experience in that area
3:39:52 and I agree with council member Hall
3:39:55 that she will bring a very deliberative
3:39:58 policymaking practice um as a deep
3:40:00 thinker and as a strategist but it's the
3:40:03 connection to the environmental piece
3:40:05 that really swings me over I also would
3:40:08 say that during this upcoming election
3:40:11 SE session we are going to have at least
3:40:13 one Council vacancy and and that is a
3:40:16 more difficult path to get on councel
3:40:19 but we still do need to have a business
3:40:21 connection and we still do need to have
3:40:24 housing Advocates so I'm hoping that um
3:40:27 while there is probably huge
3:40:28 disappointment tonight for those that
3:40:29 made it this far and didn't make it that
3:40:31 you do consider putting your hat in the
3:40:34 ring for this Council vacancy we know of
3:40:37 at least one that's going to be coming
3:40:39 um strange things happen during
3:40:42 elections and sometimes for unforeseen
3:40:43 reasons we also have a vacancy that we
3:40:46 didn't know was coming so please
3:40:47 consider putting your hat in the ring
3:40:49 and um congratulations
3:40:52 Kelly
3:40:53 well we should we should take the vote
3:40:56 Yes we need to actually vote so too soon
3:41:00 um so in this round then as I go down
3:41:03 through the Slate I will have a
3:41:04 vote Yes after the the council members
3:41:09 let them vote yes and no and then if the
3:41:12 outcome is a tie um you can okay all
3:41:15 those in favor of appointing Kelly Jen
3:41:18 to city council position number six
3:41:20 signify by saying I and raising your
3:41:22 hand I pause for a moment okay so seeing
3:41:29 all in
3:41:32 favor call for the not votes if you
3:41:34 don't
3:41:36 mind all those
3:41:39 oppose I'll proceed through the slate no
3:41:42 done done okay I didn't didn't break the
3:41:45 tie I weighed in but I didn't break the
3:41:47 tie so um Council this was really hard I
3:41:52 I feel very honored to be able to sit up
3:41:53 with up there in the executive session
3:41:56 with you and listen to how thoughtful
3:41:57 you are and how much time you put in
3:42:00 explaining what you heard and how that
3:42:02 mattered to you um in terms of how to
3:42:05 fill out this seveners body so thank you
3:42:07 for your hard work it's very much
3:42:10 appreciated um so that's a a unanimous
3:42:14 vote six and o Kelly Jen um is appointed
3:42:18 to the position congratulations now I
3:42:21 can say it and thanks to
3:42:24 all sorry can clap yes you can clap now
3:42:29 congratulations to our new
3:42:31 appointy and thank you to all applied
3:42:34 for this vacancy we are fortunate as you
3:42:36 have heard over and over and over again
3:42:38 tonight to have so many capable
3:42:40 residents living within our community
3:42:42 who are willing to step up and give of
3:42:44 their time to serve here and I hope you
3:42:46 will consider staying involved with us
3:42:49 whether it's your board and commission
3:42:50 work or whether you're interested in
3:42:51 running for the vacant seat that we know
3:42:53 we will at least have one so now Kelly
3:42:56 I'm going to be giving the oath of
3:42:57 office if you want to come up you are
3:42:59 actually being sworn in today
3:43:03 [Music]
3:43:36 and thank you for doing the videos and
3:43:38 the pictures that's great so you're
3:43:40 going to look at me and you're going to
3:43:41 raise your right hand and you're going
3:43:43 to repeat after me I state your name I
3:43:46 Kelly Janes having been duly elected
3:43:49 having been duly elected to the city of
3:43:51 isqua council position number six to the
3:43:54 city of isapa council position number
3:43:56 six do solemnly swear do solemnly swear
3:43:58 that I will faithfully and impartially
3:44:00 that I will faithfully and impartially
3:44:02 discharge the duties of this office
3:44:04 discharge the duties of this office as
3:44:06 prescribed by law as prescribed by law
3:44:09 and to the best of my ability and to the
3:44:11 best of my ability that I will support
3:44:13 and maintain that I will support and M
3:44:15 the constitution of the state of
3:44:17 Washington the constitution of the state
3:44:19 of Washington and of the United States
3:44:20 of America and of the United States of
3:44:22 America
3:44:30 congratulations yes so we need a
3:44:33 pen no
3:44:37 worries thank you very much
3:44:46 I almost signed for you there we
3:44:54 go kind of shaking this is a big deal
3:44:58 definely shaking do you need a copy of
3:45:00 the city
3:45:01 clerk
3:45:11 okay so come and take your seat we're
3:45:13 going to close out the meeting
3:45:19 yeah I'm not on the end
3:45:23 anymore for a few months
3:45:27 yes again to all the community members
3:45:30 to the deliberations of the council to
3:45:32 this fabulous candidate pool that we had
3:45:35 thank you all for coming and sharing and
3:45:38 thank you very much Tina and Chris for
3:45:40 your second round participation very
3:45:42 much appreciated there being no further
3:45:45 business this meeting is adjourned at
3:45:47 10:18 my G

Attendance

Council / Members (6)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Russell Joe
Tola Marts (Attended virtually)
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh
Staff (4)
Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator
Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator
Rachel Bender Turpin, City Attorney
Tisha Gieser, City Clerk