Equity Board · Wednesday, July 6, 2022 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of June 1, 2022

Action · packet pp.3–6

Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 06-01-22 Equity Board Minutes Page [0001] CITY OF ISSAQUAH Equity Board 6:00 PM Virtual Meeting Wednesday, June 1, 2022 MINUTES

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Finance Department - Introduction & Overview (I)

Robert Hamud, Chief Financial Officer · packet pp.7–26

▶ Watch from 2:24 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

Finance Introduction JULY 6, 2022 | EQUITY BOARD MEETING ROBERT HAMUD, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Community Equity Assessment Update

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.27–45

Topics: Equity

▶ Watch from 2:25 Open packet at p.27 ↗

Staff report:

▪ Assessment Process ▪ Update ▪ Next Steps Discuss: ▪ Other ways to engage the community ▪ Survey? ▪ Research details

Report Out

Discussion · Ray Manahan, Committee Chair · packet pp.47–58

▶ Watch from 2:27 Open packet at p.47 ↗

Staff report:

Committee is focused on increasing community engagement around Equity. Committee Members*: • Cristina Abonce • Ray Manahan • Kelly Munn

6. STAFF REPORT

Equity Related Updates

Information · Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.59–61

Topics: Equity

Open packet at p.59 ↗

Staff report:

Staff report Equity Board July 6, 2022 Many thanks to the members of the Equity Board for their participation in numerous events, activities, and initiatives last month!

3335 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ all righty i want to welcome everyone to

0:03 ↗ our issaquah equity board meeting for

0:06 ↗ july 6 2022. well the year is passing by

0:09 ↗ fast we are starting our meeting at

0:13 ↗ 6 02 p.m

0:15 ↗ um we do have quorum

0:18 ↗ so um annika are there any individuals

0:22 ↗ who are accident i don't think

0:23 ↗ everyone's here

0:26 ↗ thank you shay yes not quite everyone is

0:29 ↗ here i do know that there are some board

0:30 ↗ members who are traveling

0:32 ↗ um or have

0:34 ↗ other excused absences so

0:36 ↗ i know um lucrecia choto she has an

0:40 ↗ excused absence um i know that megan

0:44 ↗ richly and she also has something going

0:46 ↗ on today so she's not able to join

0:49 ↗ um and so those are the members that i

0:51 ↗ heard from

0:53 ↗ um

0:54 ↗ and there might be some others who are

0:56 ↗ running a little bit late but we do have

0:58 ↗ quorum we have

0:59 ↗ uh six members in us in uh in attendance

1:03 ↗ we have a alisa lorna kelly

1:06 ↗ ray pretty and ushay so you're good to

1:09 ↗ go

1:11 ↗ all righty um

1:13 ↗ let's go ahead and

1:15 ↗ uh

1:17 ↗ call roll man um is that what we're

1:20 ↗ gonna do next

1:21 ↗ um i think you actually called everybody

1:23 ↗ out that was here so

1:24 ↗ um other than that i think we can move

1:27 ↗ forward

1:28 ↗ with um

1:30 ↗ [Music]

1:31 ↗ going over uh the previous week's agenda

1:35 ↗ um just to go ahead and approve the

1:37 ↗ minutes from before

1:39 ↗ um has everyone had a chance to look at

1:42 ↗ the previous agenda or the former agenda

1:45 ↗ for last week

1:48 ↗ if yes then we'd like to go ahead and

1:50 ↗ give everyone a minute to check it out

1:54 ↗ um are there any um amendments for

1:58 ↗ our previous agenda

2:03 ↗ alrighty if there is no amendment or

2:06 ↗ objections to the minutes i'd like to

2:08 ↗ propose that the minutes be unanimously

2:10 ↗ approved

2:14 ↗ alrighty and it looks like

2:16 ↗ we've been second in for that

2:19 ↗ then we will go ahead and move forward

2:22 ↗ um

2:24 ↗ with our next agenda item um but before

2:27 ↗ we start that i'd like to just make a

2:29 ↗ quick few announcements just to make

2:31 ↗ sure that we um are taking into

2:33 ↗ consideration anyone who may be

2:35 ↗ participating as a visitor tonight

2:38 ↗ um you want to make sure that we are

2:40 ↗ concise and we speak clearly for our

2:42 ↗ interpreters

2:44 ↗ we also want to make sure that our

2:46 ↗ comments and questions are relevant but

2:48 ↗ we also want to make sure that we type

2:50 ↗ the word comment or question and not the

2:52 ↗ actual comment or question that we have

2:54 ↗ in the chat box when you're ready to

2:55 ↗ speak we want to make sure that we speak

2:57 ↗ them aloud so that

3:00 ↗ everyone that is on the phone can hear

3:02 ↗ and of course we want to give everyone

3:04 ↗ an opportunity to speak if they have

3:05 ↗ something to say um

3:08 ↗ but that's all we have for the

3:09 ↗ housekeeping rules monica did we have

3:11 ↗ anyone who wanted to make a public

3:12 ↗ comment tonight

3:14 ↗ thank you say we do have a couple of uh

3:17 ↗ community members who expressed interest

3:19 ↗ in making a public comment so we do have

3:22 ↗ tonight with us uh sabah mahanian and

3:25 ↗ ted lucas from

3:27 ↗ the baha'is of issaquah and they also

3:31 ↗ were our collaborators um in the

3:34 ↗ juneteenth event and they expressed the

3:37 ↗ interest in making a public comment

3:40 ↗ so with that saba and ted i will make

3:44 ↗ you panelists and we will

3:46 ↗ love to invite you to

3:49 ↗ make a comment

3:51 ↗ and typically we do have five minutes

3:54 ↗ time for each person who's interested in

3:57 ↗ making public comment

3:59 ↗ um so approximately yeah but yeah it's

4:02 ↗ also pretty we are pretty casual here we

4:04 ↗ are not gonna start uh

4:07 ↗ timing but uh welcome both uh ted and

4:10 ↗ saba

4:18 ↗ you should be able to turn on

4:21 ↗ your cameras and mics

4:32 ↗ okay oh wonderful okay i can see myself

4:36 ↗ yes hi

4:39 ↗ uh wonderful so uh if you don't mind i

4:41 ↗ will just

4:43 ↗ read my prepared statement and

4:46 ↗ please

4:47 ↗ stop me if

4:49 ↗ if you need any

4:50 ↗ um

4:52 ↗ any comments or investigation or

4:55 ↗ clarification

4:56 ↗ so

4:59 ↗ at the risk of being formal to the

5:02 ↗ esteemed members of the equity board of

5:04 ↗ the city of issaquah

5:07 ↗ it has often been said that regardless

5:10 ↗ of how progressive and well-meaning a

5:13 ↗ community such as ourselves may be

5:16 ↗ yet the statistics for the discipline

5:19 ↗ and expulsion of minority students of

5:22 ↗ color

5:23 ↗ still reflects

5:24 ↗ the same

5:26 ↗ national average

5:28 ↗ this sad statistic was brought up

5:31 ↗ by our equity board member

5:34 ↗ and also our

5:36 ↗ school district representative miss

5:38 ↗ lorna gilmore if i understand correctly

5:41 ↗ at our juneteenth celebration in

5:43 ↗ issaquah

5:45 ↗ this topic characterized as educational

5:48 ↗ equity is no doubt of utmost importance

5:53 ↗ to not just our institutions

5:57 ↗ tasked with educating our children and

5:59 ↗ youth but to all of us as citizens of

6:02 ↗ issaquah community and undoubtedly to

6:06 ↗ this equity board

6:08 ↗ while we have every trust and confidence

6:11 ↗ in our teachers and our

6:13 ↗ and their

6:15 ↗ dedication to the education of our young

6:18 ↗ it is perhaps a wonderful opportunity to

6:21 ↗ engage in a community-wide

6:24 ↗ learning and dialogue regarding this

6:26 ↗ topic

6:28 ↗ it is hoped that our teachers and school

6:30 ↗ administrators would also appreciate

6:33 ↗ that they are not alone

6:35 ↗ in carrying this burden of improving the

6:38 ↗ state of equity and fairness in our

6:41 ↗ community as well as our educational

6:44 ↗ system

6:45 ↗ this topic is undoubtedly quite complex

6:48 ↗ and can benefit from much consultation

6:51 ↗ and dialogue

6:52 ↗ how to start this dialogue and what

6:55 ↗ venues or fora would lend themselves to

6:58 ↗ properly address this topic

7:01 ↗ would need much discussion and

7:03 ↗ consultation

7:05 ↗ perhaps ms gilmore or others who have

7:08 ↗ studied or addressed this topic in the

7:10 ↗ past can let us know

7:12 ↗ what has been tried in the past

7:15 ↗ what type of

7:16 ↗ conversations have taken place and what

7:20 ↗ they see as areas of great need or

7:23 ↗ challenge

7:24 ↗ for dialogue and or

7:27 ↗ learning

7:28 ↗ that this equity board and all community

7:31 ↗ volunteers can pursue

7:35 ↗ respectfully submitted

7:37 ↗ sabo mahanya

7:42 ↗ thank you very much saba

7:45 ↗ so so much for your comments and for

7:47 ↗ your suggestions and of course for being

7:51 ↗ such good faithful partners with us

7:53 ↗ over the last few years as we embarked

7:55 ↗ on this journey so thank you so

7:57 ↗ appreciate you

8:01 ↗ ted

8:02 ↗ welcome do you have also a separate

8:04 ↗ comment or

8:06 ↗ i together with saba or

8:11 ↗ not a formal

8:12 ↗ presentation but to celebrate and really

8:15 ↗ uh salute

8:17 ↗ and

8:17 ↗ in our presence here support the equity

8:20 ↗ board particularly salute the wonderful

8:22 ↗ juneteenth event that took place two or

8:24 ↗ three weeks ago so many of you were

8:26 ↗ present we were there had the good

8:27 ↗ fortune of being there and it was a

8:29 ↗ great great community building

8:30 ↗ experience

8:31 ↗ and it generated such good conversation

8:34 ↗ and dialogue and real soul-searching i

8:36 ↗ think that we began to share and that's

8:38 ↗ a real expression of community building

8:40 ↗ and growth kind of

8:42 ↗ um and one of them was what the as saba

8:45 ↗ has said that lorna brought up

8:47 ↗ and we just are putting it out there as

8:49 ↗ a perhaps a topic of interest

8:52 ↗ and the baha'i community ourselves and

8:53 ↗ many others would love to uh

8:56 ↗ contribute to um support offer resources

8:59 ↗ for

9:00 ↗ uh together with you uh brainstorming

9:02 ↗ equity board

9:04 ↗ town school district here in the area of

9:07 ↗ educational equity

9:09 ↗ could be lots of ways to go with that so

9:11 ↗ it's just here to kind of support saba

9:14 ↗ and express

9:15 ↗ our great gratitude to the equity board

9:18 ↗ and support going forward thank you

9:24 ↗ thank you very much we so so appreciate

9:26 ↗ you

9:29 ↗ um

9:30 ↗ shay and equity board members

9:33 ↗ um

9:34 ↗ we don't have other uh community members

9:37 ↗ signed up uh to speak i just wanted to

9:40 ↗ mention uh that we do have paul wally

9:43 ↗ from right to breathe is in attendance

9:46 ↗ at this point paul did not

9:48 ↗ express interest in making a public

9:51 ↗ comment but he's here um to

9:54 ↗ observe and to support

9:56 ↗ um

9:58 ↗ and

9:59 ↗ with that

10:00 ↗ i think that concludes the public

10:02 ↗ comment section for tonight

10:05 ↗ thank you

10:07 ↗ all right and thank you both uh ted and

10:10 ↗ saba we also want to thank you paul for

10:13 ↗ joining us tonight

10:14 ↗ um

10:16 ↗ before we jump into our agenda items um

10:20 ↗ i'd like to just remind everyone that

10:22 ↗ the state of washington and the city of

10:23 ↗ issaquah continue to have declared

10:25 ↗ emergency due to the covet 19 pandemic

10:28 ↗ and under chapter 115

10:30 ↗ um the one under the chapter 115 laws of

10:33 ↗ 2022 the city of the supra has

10:35 ↗ determined that

10:37 ↗ um an in-person meeting cannot be held

10:39 ↗ without reasonable safety due to these

10:41 ↗ factors this meeting is being held

10:43 ↗ remotely

10:44 ↗ um so we will ask that if anyone has any

10:48 ↗ comments at this point related to our

10:50 ↗ public comments

10:52 ↗ and now is a great time to speak or if

10:54 ↗ we have any questions or concerns

11:02 ↗ all righty then we will jump right into

11:05 ↗ our first agenda item and that is on

11:08 ↗ our equity assessment and work plan

11:10 ↗ development update um monica it looks

11:13 ↗ like you'll be presenting for that one

11:16 ↗ uh shay apologies i think we have one

11:18 ↗ agenda item before that oh oh i'm sorry

11:21 ↗ we have

11:22 ↗ yes

11:23 ↗ uh

11:24 ↗ so we have our guests from our finance

11:27 ↗ department tonight our chief financial

11:30 ↗ officer

11:32 ↗ do you see that on your agenda

11:34 ↗ um i think my agenda may be out of order

11:37 ↗ then because it looks like um i'm

11:39 ↗ pulling the one from the website and it

11:41 ↗ has the first

11:43 ↗ uh the pdf agenda has the equity

11:45 ↗ assessment first and then the office of

11:48 ↗ sustainability

11:49 ↗ um

11:50 ↗ oh

11:51 ↗ and then maybe from last month i'm so

11:54 ↗ sorry that's me oh okay

11:56 ↗ i'm sorry i thought it was the july one

12:00 ↗ yes you are correct that is the deal i'm

12:02 ↗ sorry i pulled up the wrong one

12:04 ↗ no worries let's try this again this

12:07 ↗ time with the right one

12:11 ↗ all righty um so correction i apologize

12:14 ↗ for that you all um

12:16 ↗ our first presentation is coming from

12:18 ↗ the finance department and it looks like

12:20 ↗ robert hammond and um our chief

12:22 ↗ financial officer will be going over

12:25 ↗ that presentation

12:26 ↗ um robert are you ready

12:31 ↗ yes i am thank you uh monica did you

12:33 ↗ want me to share on my end of the slide

12:35 ↗ x

12:36 ↗ that was my question to you robert

12:38 ↗ whichever you prefer will you tell me

12:40 ↗ what's easier on your end

12:43 ↗ um

12:44 ↗ i am actually i don't really use uh

12:47 ↗ themes and not webex so

12:49 ↗ i might take a second

12:51 ↗ yeah i would be more than happy to uh to

12:54 ↗ share my screen uh

12:56 ↗ for sure no problem at all

12:58 ↗ yeah it's not letting me share for some

13:00 ↗ reason so if you could i'd appreciate

13:01 ↗ that

13:02 ↗ yeah

13:02 ↗ okay

13:04 ↗ sounds good give me just a moment

13:23 ↗ and

13:24 ↗ i believe that you should be able to see

13:27 ↗ do you see can you confirm that you can

13:30 ↗ see the finance

13:32 ↗ yes thank you

13:35 ↗ and actually i apologize let me

13:37 ↗ [Music]

13:39 ↗ try again

13:53 ↗ i apologize board members i have too

13:55 ↗ many things open here

14:04 ↗ oh why

14:06 ↗ struggle with my

14:12 ↗ sharing of the screen

14:17 ↗ i could try from my end um if you like

14:19 ↗ me too

14:21 ↗ uh wait it's still not letting me i'm

14:23 ↗ sorry

14:24 ↗ yeah no i can also allow you if not i

14:27 ↗ just

14:28 ↗ there you go

14:31 ↗ now it should be i think it should work

14:33 ↗ now

14:38 ↗ okay great yes thank you well thank you

14:41 ↗ everybody i appreciate this opportunity

14:44 ↗ i'm just going to introduce myself a

14:45 ↗ little bit here again my name is robert

14:47 ↗ hammut and the chief financial officer

14:49 ↗ for the city of issaquah started here

14:51 ↗ about nine months ago most recently came

14:53 ↗ from the city of snoqualmie so a little

14:55 ↗ next door i'm very familiar with this

14:57 ↗ aqua since i lived next door for five

15:00 ↗ years and uh obviously frequented the

15:02 ↗ community a lot for the businesses and

15:05 ↗ and everything else in town um

15:08 ↗ i've been in public sector about 17

15:11 ↗ years right now

15:13 ↗ a little bit more than that actually if

15:15 ↗ you count internships so my whole career

15:17 ↗ has pretty much been public service i

15:18 ↗ have a bachelor's degree in government

15:20 ↗ and a master's degree in public

15:22 ↗ administration i'm originally from

15:24 ↗ california born and raised in the san

15:26 ↗ diego area so pretty close to the border

15:29 ↗ and the grandson

15:30 ↗ grandson of immigrants in the middle

15:32 ↗ east and my wife's an immigrant

15:34 ↗ from south america actually brazil

15:35 ↗ specifically and she's a small business

15:37 ↗ owner she has a cookie business that

15:39 ↗ she's established as four employees

15:41 ↗ and has done it over the past year and a

15:43 ↗ half uh during a tough economic time uh

15:46 ↗ and i've served on internal equity

15:48 ↗ committees for multiple governments so

15:50 ↗ it's something i've done before

15:51 ↗ and i

15:52 ↗ will also have a brief introduction

15:54 ↗ monica and spanish as well um

16:03 ↗ you know

16:04 ↗ robert hamoud

16:05 ↗ of directors

16:34 ↗ [Music]

17:05 ↗ [Music]

17:28 ↗ thank you so much robert for that that

17:29 ↗ was great you're welcome

17:31 ↗ um so my staff and just a side note on

17:34 ↗ on that we you know we really strive to

17:37 ↗ you know service we're going to talk a

17:38 ↗ little bit about utility billing and our

17:40 ↗ services and we we

17:42 ↗ certainly try to provide translation

17:43 ↗ services we're available for even for

17:45 ↗ the finance department as well

17:47 ↗ uh

17:48 ↗ my finance department this is my team i

17:50 ↗ really apologize because we did have a

17:52 ↗ typo i don't have two jennifers actually

17:54 ↗ i have two jennifer's now but i don't

17:56 ↗ have three um

17:58 ↗ yes i thought i did i apologize um it's

18:00 ↗ actually

18:01 ↗ um

18:02 ↗ amanda gutierrez our senior payroll

18:05 ↗ analyst there on the right so i

18:06 ↗ apologize about that um you can see my

18:08 ↗ team here we have a great group i'm very

18:11 ↗ you know very educated group very

18:14 ↗ diverse group as far as their

18:15 ↗ backgrounds and um

18:17 ↗ really all committed to public service

18:20 ↗ and um you know we try to put a smile on

18:22 ↗ the front counter we deal with internal

18:24 ↗ and external customers quite a bit so

18:26 ↗ i'm going to talk about that a little

18:27 ↗ bit more

18:29 ↗ next slide please

18:31 ↗ so again what does finance do a lot of

18:34 ↗ people just think we do the bean

18:35 ↗ counting we just you know

18:38 ↗ playing calculators all day but we

18:39 ↗ actually do quite a bit for the city we

18:41 ↗ manage all the revenues and expenditures

18:43 ↗ and we try to do it again in a

18:44 ↗ transparent and equitable manner

18:46 ↗ we respond to both internal and external

18:48 ↗ customers for services such as utility

18:50 ↗ billings again you pay your water bill

18:52 ↗ you pay your super bill with us

18:54 ↗ tax reporting again if you have

18:56 ↗ a business license and you pay

18:59 ↗ on your business each quarter that's

19:01 ↗ through my staff

19:02 ↗ um budgeting

19:04 ↗ so again the annual and biennial budgets

19:06 ↗ of the city and all of our related

19:08 ↗ agencies as well including the public

19:10 ↗ utility

19:11 ↗ accounts payable so anything the city

19:14 ↗ pays for

19:15 ↗ any vendors we we do all the payments we

19:17 ↗ do all the receivables

19:19 ↗ obviously processing payroll is probably

19:21 ↗ one of our more critical roles everybody

19:22 ↗ has to get paid in the city and we also

19:24 ↗ manage all the contracts for the city so

19:26 ↗ anything that goes to the city

19:28 ↗ ratification any agreements even

19:30 ↗ agreements with other agencies and other

19:32 ↗ cities that we have like for port

19:34 ↗ we have agreements with several other

19:36 ↗ cities nearby like north bend still

19:38 ↗ economy

19:39 ↗ we manage those contracts

19:41 ↗ and so we ensure compliance with all

19:43 ↗ state and federal local reporting

19:44 ↗ statutes

19:46 ↗ annual reporting and grants compliance

19:52 ↗ and your investment in the city so all

19:54 ↗ residents and this is something that i

19:56 ↗ think gets lost sometimes

19:58 ↗ all residents business owners workers

20:00 ↗ and visitors to issaquah pay taxes and

20:02 ↗ fees to the city

20:03 ↗ um and again that's regardless of the

20:05 ↗ status in the city it's regardless of

20:07 ↗ passing through an i-90

20:09 ↗ um for a thrift jassing up but costco

20:12 ↗ everybody pays something when they come

20:14 ↗ here to step foot in the city property

20:16 ↗ taxes directly through your house or

20:19 ↗ they're paid for as part of your rent a

20:20 ↗ lot of people don't realize that even if

20:22 ↗ you don't own a home obviously that tax

20:24 ↗ gets passed to you if you're renting an

20:26 ↗ apartment for example

20:28 ↗ business taxes so again business taxes

20:30 ↗ here we have a ordinance they're paid

20:32 ↗ quarterly to the city based on kind of

20:34 ↗ your total revenue total taxes of your

20:36 ↗ business

20:37 ↗ um so again that's part of what what's

20:40 ↗ paid to the city utility taxes so

20:42 ↗ anytime you look at your water bill your

20:44 ↗ sewer bill cable bill cell phone even

20:46 ↗ your garbage bill you look at the bottom

20:48 ↗ and you see local taxes yes that's us um

20:51 ↗ and so a small portion of those bills

20:54 ↗ go directly to the city so again like i

20:56 ↗ said everybody

20:58 ↗ that

20:59 ↗ lives in the city of

21:01 ↗ of the city of issaquah pay something so

21:04 ↗ again sales tax same thing a sales tax a

21:06 ↗ little different less than ten percent

21:08 ↗ of the sales taxes you pay so the rate

21:10 ↗ that you pay um

21:13 ↗ in issaquah is 10.1 percent a little

21:16 ↗ less than one cent on that dollar goes

21:18 ↗ to

21:19 ↗ snowplow and we excuse you issaquah so

21:22 ↗ the problem is we get less than ten

21:24 ↗ percent of that most of that does go to

21:25 ↗ the state that goes to sound transit so

21:27 ↗ very small portion less than one cent

21:30 ↗ actually goes directly back to the city

21:33 ↗ and then funds and fees i know everybody

21:34 ↗ hits the traffic fines but they stay

21:36 ↗ local

21:37 ↗ um they do go to supporting our court in

21:39 ↗ supporting uh our overhead and our

21:42 ↗ services

21:43 ↗ parks fees so anytime you rent a picnic

21:45 ↗ area anytime you

21:47 ↗ sign up for one of our programs at the

21:49 ↗ city for recreation for sports camps for

21:52 ↗ your kids

21:53 ↗ but that obviously is an investment to

21:55 ↗ the city and again water and sewer also

21:57 ↗ go to the city

22:01 ↗ next slide please

22:07 ↗ this is us next one

22:10 ↗ oh i'm sorry

22:11 ↗ so the investment to the community this

22:13 ↗ taxes and fees collected from the city

22:15 ↗ goes directly to services

22:17 ↗ again to all residents workers business

22:19 ↗ owners and visitors so we do put it all

22:21 ↗ back the city does not tend to to sit on

22:24 ↗ money all of that goes everything you

22:26 ↗ pay gets reinvested back into the

22:27 ↗ community and there's funding for

22:29 ↗ essential services such as police fire

22:31 ↗ municipal court and emergency services

22:34 ↗ city infrastructure funding for water

22:35 ↗ sewer roads parks trails and open space

22:38 ↗ management

22:39 ↗ funding for community services such as

22:41 ↗ park recreation programs human services

22:43 ↗ economic development and environmental

22:45 ↗ sustainability and uh just a just a side

22:48 ↗ note on the front

22:51 ↗ when you pay taxes to the county you pay

22:53 ↗ taxes to the state

22:54 ↗ the portion of all the taxes are go

22:56 ↗ there

22:57 ↗ some of that it doesn't necessarily mean

22:59 ↗ it goes back directly to the city of

23:01 ↗ issaquah in our case everything the city

23:03 ↗ collects which again is a small piece of

23:05 ↗ everything you pay on your tax bills

23:07 ↗ stays here so i think it's very

23:09 ↗ important that everything we collect

23:11 ↗ again stays here it's reinvested

23:14 ↗ next slide please so how does finance

23:16 ↗ insure equity for city programs and

23:18 ↗ services

23:20 ↗ ensure responsible spending of money

23:21 ↗ tied to the biennial budget ordinance so

23:24 ↗ again we're monitoring every cent that

23:26 ↗ comes out of the city every cent that's

23:27 ↗ paid every cent that's received that's

23:29 ↗ being monitored by finance on a regular

23:31 ↗ basis we ensure proper contracting for

23:34 ↗ city services and programs such as

23:36 ↗ construction projects and other vendors

23:38 ↗ for services

23:39 ↗ we present weekly reports of all city

23:41 ↗ expenditures and payments to the city

23:43 ↗ council for approval

23:44 ↗ and more most importantly if we see

23:46 ↗ something we're the ones that say

23:48 ↗ something i think finance unlike other

23:50 ↗ departments

23:51 ↗ because we service every department in

23:53 ↗ the city we serve as external customers

23:56 ↗ we service contracts with other

23:57 ↗ communities

23:58 ↗ other vendors um we're kind of on the

24:01 ↗ we're kind of at the front we are

24:03 ↗ literally the front counter for the city

24:05 ↗ when it comes to identifying things that

24:08 ↗ that might be wrong might be off might

24:10 ↗ be so if there's a questionable expense

24:12 ↗ or a finance item of concern

24:14 ↗ um we call it out to the mayor the

24:16 ↗ council we believe that there's a

24:18 ↗ contract that's not equitable the

24:20 ↗ contract maybe the contractor has a bad

24:23 ↗ history of not being equitable not being

24:25 ↗ fair it's up to us to do our due

24:27 ↗ diligence and bring that up to the

24:29 ↗ appropriate parties within the city so

24:30 ↗ again we really try to monitor and we do

24:32 ↗ we serve a critical piece of this equity

24:35 ↗ um tony has a question i'll go ahead

24:38 ↗ hold on a second

24:43 ↗ how in an equity lens employed when

24:45 ↗ establishing contracts with vendors or

24:48 ↗ solicitations or rfps we actually tony

24:51 ↗ we actually do have provisions

24:54 ↗ for equity and diversity we have

24:55 ↗ statements that we ask for in our rfp

24:57 ↗ process

24:58 ↗ monica i think that's fairly

25:00 ↗ but we have been doing it at least since

25:02 ↗ i have been here

25:04 ↗ yes and i'm happy to actually i've been

25:06 ↗ working with natalie

25:10 ↗ sorry

25:14 ↗ no yeah i was going to add a little bit

25:16 ↗ information because i know that um

25:19 ↗ i personally started working with your

25:21 ↗ team robert with natalie uh and with jen

25:24 ↗ in economic development in um

25:27 ↗ uh in trying to look at ways in which

25:30 ↗ the city can have more equitable

25:32 ↗ procurement practices so for example in

25:35 ↗ contracting practices so for example for

25:38 ↗ our human services contracts

25:42 ↗ we are working with

25:43 ↗ staff in the finance department and

25:45 ↗ looking at um how and what what are some

25:48 ↗ of the things that the city can do to

25:50 ↗ support small non-profit organizations

25:54 ↗ or you know businesses on the business

25:56 ↗ side who are minority owned or owned by

25:59 ↗ um um

26:02 ↗ um black african american people of

26:04 ↗ color uh so definitely we we are looking

26:07 ↗ into that on the finance team is looking

26:10 ↗ at what we must do in terms of state and

26:12 ↗ federal requirements and then we are

26:14 ↗ coming from the uh from the business or

26:16 ↗ non-profit side and looking on how can

26:18 ↗ we advocate for those uh you know small

26:22 ↗ business owners or non-profit leaders

26:25 ↗ who may not afford um

26:28 ↗ uh you know doing business in the city

26:30 ↗ so definitely those are there's aspects

26:32 ↗ that we are looking for

26:34 ↗ um we also started on a project on how

26:36 ↗ can we educate and how can we outreach

26:39 ↗ the community and how can we educate and

26:41 ↗ teach small business owners or those who

26:44 ↗ want to have a business on the steps

26:46 ↗ that they need to take

26:48 ↗ um in order to have a business license

26:50 ↗ at the city right or open a business so

26:54 ↗ um so those are some of the upcoming

26:56 ↗ projects and things that we are tackling

26:58 ↗ uh with with our finance team i'm not

27:01 ↗ sure if that tony answers at least

27:02 ↗ partially your question

27:04 ↗ um but definitely

27:07 ↗ there are quite a few

27:10 ↗ quite a few details too

27:12 ↗ but it does actually answer my question

27:14 ↗ but i did have a follow-up if permitted

27:16 ↗ or i can wait till the end

27:19 ↗ yeah no i think so robert's right yeah

27:21 ↗ of course

27:22 ↗ okay so i want to follow up that so when

27:25 ↗ an rfp is communicated when the city uh

27:27 ↗ puts that out that is basically from

27:29 ↗ what you're saying monica and robert

27:30 ↗ you're saying that that rfp is put out

27:32 ↗ and it's maybe language in an rfp that

27:34 ↗ says like uh business owners people of

27:37 ↗ color highly encouraged to apply

27:39 ↗ correct

27:40 ↗ okay that's great that's great that's

27:42 ↗ fantastic actually

27:44 ↗ and i know our hr department just on our

27:46 ↗ hiring is also working on that very very

27:47 ↗ hard too and and also that goes into you

27:50 ↗ know advertising of

27:52 ↗ of certain positions where they're you

27:54 ↗ know what which magazines which

27:56 ↗ audiences are targeted so

27:58 ↗ and and i will say this i mean in kudos

28:00 ↗ to monica i think compared to other

28:02 ↗ cities i work for i think issaquah

28:04 ↗ really you know having a human services

28:07 ↗ department or division having an equity

28:09 ↗ board they do a lot more than other

28:11 ↗ communities around us do so i think they

28:14 ↗ really

28:16 ↗ practice what they preach so to speak so

28:18 ↗ it's and it's it's great to be part of

28:19 ↗ that it's great to see that it's very

28:20 ↗ hard for me to see that at the city yeah

28:23 ↗ and i think it's fantastic from an rfp

28:25 ↗ process that's like almost unheard of so

28:27 ↗ that's fantastic

28:30 ↗ um

28:30 ↗ tony also i think um

28:33 ↗ you're gonna hear on equity board

28:34 ↗ members uh today we have robert with us

28:37 ↗ from the finance department next month

28:40 ↗ we will have our um

28:42 ↗ city administrator wally bob kowitz from

28:44 ↗ the executive department but then in

28:46 ↗ september we'll have our police

28:48 ↗ department and our economic development

28:50 ↗ department and i look forward to hearing

28:52 ↗ more but um for example our

28:55 ↗ team in the economic development

28:56 ↗ department they

28:58 ↗ issued a

29:00 ↗ micro enterprise

29:02 ↗ project last year where they outreach

29:05 ↗ and trying to find businesses who are

29:08 ↗ small businesses minority owned and try

29:11 ↗ to provide that technical assistance to

29:13 ↗ encourage them so they can they can tell

29:16 ↗ you a little bit more about kind of like

29:18 ↗ the successes and lessons learned there

29:20 ↗ um again like recognizing and admitting

29:23 ↗ that

29:24 ↗ great encouraging uh ideas but so so

29:27 ↗ much more that needs to be done right

29:29 ↗ just we're just at the beginning of of

29:32 ↗ this journey but definitely you'll heal

29:34 ↗ more from from john davis hayes a couple

29:36 ↗ of months on that

29:41 ↗ there are so many aspects right when we

29:43 ↗ start as you start at board members

29:45 ↗ learning about the different departments

29:47 ↗ and they're we are starting to peel the

29:48 ↗ onion there are so many aspects to

29:50 ↗ equity and in each

29:52 ↗ sector and how can we do right

29:54 ↗ i know robert

29:55 ↗ you and i had a conversation that long

29:57 ↗ ago with some other internal staff

30:00 ↗ members on how can we even approach

30:02 ↗ budgeting from an equity perspective and

30:04 ↗ how do we reach out to the community's

30:07 ↗ most impacted when we budget right and

30:10 ↗ so

30:11 ↗ again there's still so many things for

30:13 ↗ us to consider

30:15 ↗ um but i'm excited like you said that at

30:17 ↗ least we are taking those intentional

30:19 ↗ steps to look at the many facets

30:22 ↗ and faces

30:25 ↗ okay sorry um should i put the

30:28 ↗ presentation back on or

30:32 ↗ where are we

30:38 ↗ thank you for that clarification monica

30:40 ↗ and thank you for your question tony i

30:42 ↗ think we're

30:44 ↗ quite interested in how

30:46 ↗ we can learn more about what the finance

30:47 ↗ department is doing to help

30:49 ↗ minority-owned businesses

30:55 ↗ okay

30:56 ↗ um thank you so much so robert should i

30:59 ↗ continue with the presentation here yes

31:01 ↗ get back to sharing

31:03 ↗ okay

31:05 ↗ uh i think this is the next slide right

31:09 ↗ yes so an example of community services

31:12 ↗ um just something recent was the cares

31:14 ↗ act

31:15 ↗ so again everybody knows that the arpa

31:18 ↗ the american rescue planet that

31:19 ↗ everybody's been talking about since

31:20 ↗ 2021 but before that

31:22 ↗ in the midst of covet

31:24 ↗ congress passed the cares act

31:26 ↗ pretty much right when it started in may

31:27 ↗ of 2020 when other businesses were

31:30 ↗ closed in the community to provide

31:32 ↗ coronavirus relief to state and local

31:33 ↗ governments

31:35 ↗ about 500 000 of the funding was

31:37 ↗ allocated by council for small business

31:39 ↗ response grants and dispersed to

31:41 ↗ businesses in need beginning in august

31:43 ↗ of 2020. about 250 000 of additional

31:46 ↗ funding was dispersed and following

31:47 ↗ months to additional businesses that

31:49 ↗ were in need

31:50 ↗ 20 000 was allocated to extend outdoor

31:53 ↗ seating opportunities for restaurants

31:55 ↗ and 30 000 for were for restaurant

31:58 ↗ winterization grants these assistant

32:00 ↗ programs

32:01 ↗ programs are open to any and all

32:02 ↗ businesses in issaquah that met a

32:05 ↗ minimum

32:06 ↗ standard of requirements

32:08 ↗ so um

32:10 ↗ and i'm just going to just personally i

32:11 ↗ was still with the city of snoqualmie up

32:14 ↗ the hill

32:15 ↗ in 2020 with our cares act program and

32:19 ↗ just a really interesting anecdote about

32:20 ↗ that that fits into

32:23 ↗ fits into equity

32:24 ↗ we

32:25 ↗ had a call out we had a lot of

32:27 ↗ businesses that we heard that were not

32:29 ↗ doing well

32:30 ↗ we used about 500 000 for grants and we

32:33 ↗ tried to reach out to local businesses

32:35 ↗ and we didn't get the take up we thought

32:36 ↗ we would and somebody came to us and

32:38 ↗ said that a lot of our local businesses

32:40 ↗ were actually

32:41 ↗ you know owned by um especially people

32:44 ↗ from korea people from china um east

32:47 ↗ indians and and in some of them there

32:49 ↗ was a language barrier so what we did

32:51 ↗ was we actually worked with an

32:53 ↗ interpreter

32:54 ↗ translated all of our cares act

32:56 ↗ materials how we were going to help the

32:58 ↗ businesses what types of grants were

33:00 ↗ available translated those languages

33:02 ↗ hired an interpreter go on site to some

33:04 ↗ of those businesses and talk to them and

33:06 ↗ we ended up having a huge take-up rate

33:07 ↗ of those businesses and they're very

33:09 ↗ grateful for the help and it was just

33:10 ↗ one of those things where you know we

33:12 ↗ weren't

33:13 ↗ we weren't thinking about the language

33:14 ↗ but then after that and everything we

33:16 ↗ did after that point we made sure that

33:18 ↗ we did translate those documents we did

33:20 ↗ translate anything coming out of the

33:22 ↗ city

33:23 ↗ two business owners in languages that we

33:25 ↗ identified that that a lot of the

33:26 ↗ business owners spoke

33:28 ↗ and um it was really helpful i think

33:29 ↗ they were grateful the city was

33:31 ↗ appreciative

33:32 ↗ and so were the business owners i think

33:34 ↗ and it made them more part feel part of

33:36 ↗ the community that we were able to help

33:37 ↗ them serve them and work with them like

33:39 ↗ that

33:44 ↗ and that's all i have um

33:46 ↗ for further resources again

33:48 ↗ these are just the links on our website

33:49 ↗ to our utility billing website tax

33:52 ↗ information

33:53 ↗ our budget document and our annual

33:54 ↗ financial reports

33:59 ↗ and if anybody has more questions

34:02 ↗ feel free otherwise thank you so much

34:10 ↗ thank you robert and i didn't see any

34:13 ↗ questions or comments in the chat

34:16 ↗ um but i'd like to just open the floor

34:18 ↗ in case someone does have a question or

34:19 ↗ comment

34:23 ↗ actually this is tony i do have a

34:25 ↗ curiosity question for robert

34:28 ↗ um the uh on the cares act i know that

34:30 ↗ there was a lot of businesses across the

34:31 ↗ nation who were some of them some were

34:33 ↗ bad actors um

34:36 ↗ were there any it's really just

34:37 ↗ curiosity if you can't tell us that's

34:39 ↗ fine but were there any bad actors in

34:42 ↗ terms of uh in the city of issaquah

34:44 ↗ in the city of issaquah as far as i know

34:47 ↗ jen davis has her economic development

34:49 ↗ coordinator would probably know but more

34:51 ↗ than i but as far as i know

34:53 ↗ um i'm not aware of bad actors so part

34:55 ↗ of it was the businesses had to sign a

34:57 ↗ contract they had to go through steps

35:00 ↗ they didn't go through steps they have

35:01 ↗ to repay the money um i'll just say this

35:03 ↗ when i was in stockholm i caught a bad

35:05 ↗ actor i caught somebody that

35:07 ↗ was going to that we actually cut the

35:09 ↗ check for they were going to pick it up

35:11 ↗ and then

35:11 ↗ just by happenstance the city staff

35:14 ↗ members saw that that the person that

35:15 ↗ owned the business was about to move to

35:17 ↗ arizona and was not notifying us and

35:19 ↗ that would have violated immediately the

35:20 ↗ contract so we did contact the business

35:23 ↗ we did rip up the check before it's

35:24 ↗ delivered but that's the only bad actor

35:26 ↗ that we could find um

35:28 ↗ i think what's happening on the federal

35:30 ↗ level those were mostly you know kind of

35:32 ↗ larger businesses and a larger area that

35:34 ↗ were happening but but yes we put

35:36 ↗ contracts in place there was actually

35:38 ↗ some guidelines from the state on how to

35:40 ↗ do that because the state normally

35:42 ↗ doesn't allow what they call gifting of

35:43 ↗ public funds so we actually had an

35:45 ↗ attorney general's opinion from aj

35:47 ↗ ferguson on on how to

35:50 ↗ develop those contracts how to enforce

35:52 ↗ them and work with the department of

35:53 ↗ commerce on that so that's what we did

35:55 ↗ cool that's great thank you

35:57 ↗ you're welcome

36:02 ↗ thank you so much everybody i appreciate

36:03 ↗ it appreciate the time today

36:05 ↗ okay thank you robert you're welcome

36:08 ↗ did anyone else have a question or

36:10 ↗ concern

36:14 ↗ looks like we're all questioning i think

36:16 ↗ tony was the only one with questions

36:17 ↗ today oh i see kelly

36:20 ↗ oh wait a question

36:23 ↗ oh okay perfect

36:26 ↗ my question goes back to the public

36:28 ↗ input and it's really a couple of

36:30 ↗ questions so bear with me

36:32 ↗ the first is um

36:37 ↗ as more of a community resource is there

36:40 ↗ any way to

36:42 ↗ create an environment for public infor

36:46 ↗ input that is less

36:50 ↗ like like we got great great information

36:53 ↗ or great question

36:54 ↗ and i know we're not going to try to

36:56 ↗ have a dialogue back and forth but how

36:58 ↗ do we make people who do how do we help

37:01 ↗ people who do public input feel welcome

37:04 ↗ because i i have

37:06 ↗ done public input myself and brought

37:09 ↗ lots of people to do pumpkin put and it

37:11 ↗ is really off-putting and

37:15 ↗ scary and

37:17 ↗ uh

37:18 ↗ doesn't seem worth their time and so i'm

37:20 ↗ just trying to figure out do we have to

37:22 ↗ follow certain rules

37:24 ↗ by

37:26 ↗ by the city and is there any space for

37:29 ↗ us to make it more welcoming

37:33 ↗ so i'll try to take a stab at it some of

37:36 ↗ it's kind of a probably a city clerk

37:37 ↗ answer but i'll try to take the best

37:39 ↗ stab i can at it um

37:41 ↗ so if you don't have a quorum of city

37:43 ↗ council members

37:44 ↗ if you have a quorum then you have to

37:45 ↗ notice it you have to record it there's

37:47 ↗ there's different public

37:49 ↗ acknowledgements you have to do but if

37:51 ↗ it's just a community meeting say even

37:53 ↗ with three council members not four four

37:55 ↗ would be the quorum then it is pretty

37:57 ↗ open now i've you know other cities i've

37:59 ↗ worked for we've tried different

38:02 ↗ different ways to do public input i keep

38:04 ↗ going um

38:05 ↗ and sometimes like you say it can be

38:07 ↗ daunting if you go into a council

38:09 ↗ meeting at night and you're standing for

38:10 ↗ the big dice and you're just not

38:12 ↗ comfortable with it but i know the mayor

38:14 ↗ has done community listening sessions up

38:16 ↗ in the different neighborhoods here in

38:18 ↗ issaquah and i think that's helpful

38:20 ↗ getting to the people seems to be at

38:21 ↗ least the cities i work for

38:23 ↗ the best way going to them rather than

38:26 ↗ coming to you it seems to be the best

38:28 ↗ way to work and especially if you had

38:30 ↗ you know

38:31 ↗ an area that had what had an immigrant

38:33 ↗ community in your city we had one where

38:35 ↗ i worked for a city that had a

38:37 ↗ predominantly latino community we went

38:39 ↗ to the community we actually had a

38:40 ↗ potluck in spanish asking them what

38:42 ↗ their needs were asking them how to do

38:44 ↗ that so in this about be the same thing

38:46 ↗ you know trying to identify and that's

38:48 ↗ something that we talked about a lot

38:49 ↗ especially with budget because again

38:51 ↗ taxes impact everybody

38:53 ↗ how do we create more forms that we get

38:55 ↗ more

38:56 ↗ interest and

38:58 ↗ that's that's the difficult one i've

39:00 ↗ been actually struggling with that my

39:01 ↗ entire career in government

39:02 ↗ because i really do i want to see more

39:04 ↗ public input i'd love to have more

39:05 ↗ public input yeah i know last night the

39:09 ↗ the city council

39:10 ↗ made a motion to set aside about two

39:12 ↗ million as far as the new capital

39:14 ↗ investment strategy of the city

39:16 ↗ just for public input going to the

39:18 ↗ public to say how do you want to spend

39:19 ↗ that 2 million we have a community

39:21 ↗ survey forthcoming so

39:23 ↗ maybe coming out of the community survey

39:26 ↗ having more public events i know that's

39:28 ↗ something again our communications

39:29 ↗ department is working on the mayor's

39:31 ↗ everybody in the the organization is

39:33 ↗ interested in better outreach i think

39:35 ↗ that's that's really one of our goals

39:37 ↗ and monica you want to elaborate a

39:39 ↗ little bit but i i know you hear my

39:41 ↗ concerns i'm sure

39:43 ↗ yeah no thank you i think definitely the

39:45 ↗ cities has been

39:47 ↗ so much more intentional about how to

39:49 ↗ engage and how to make it more inviting

39:51 ↗ to the community and i think there are

39:53 ↗ multiple ways and at the same time i

39:56 ↗ think

39:57 ↗ um

39:58 ↗ it's um

39:59 ↗ i don't know that we are anywhere close

40:02 ↗ to engaging with everyone but i think

40:04 ↗ just even just asking the questions that

40:06 ↗ you're asking kelly just and by being

40:09 ↗ more intentional right it's like we

40:10 ↗ talked so many times it's like instead

40:12 ↗ of inviting people to do and follow our

40:14 ↗ rhythm how about we go to the public and

40:17 ↗ you brought up great questions like if

40:20 ↗ if there's a community group that that

40:22 ↗ meets on a sunday afternoon can we go to

40:25 ↗ them instead of inviting them to be here

40:27 ↗ with us on a wednesday evening right so

40:29 ↗ then those types of things i'm kind of

40:31 ↗ like how can we go

40:33 ↗ and uh meet people where they're at

40:36 ↗ uh and also just making ourselves though

40:38 ↗ available and making it easier for

40:41 ↗ everyone i think in the past for example

40:43 ↗ people had to attend in-person

40:46 ↗ uh meetings to make comments right now i

40:48 ↗ think uh people can email at any time

40:53 ↗ they can show up in person or they can

40:55 ↗ just call in or show up online which i

40:58 ↗ think it's it's still

41:00 ↗ better than it used to be but i think

41:02 ↗ really the key is

41:04 ↗ to really go out to those community

41:07 ↗ members that we want to engage with

41:08 ↗ build those relationships right

41:11 ↗ once we build a trust with the different

41:14 ↗ groups and community members then it's

41:16 ↗ easier to even just like have the

41:18 ↗ communication or a phone call

41:20 ↗ to say hey the city is discussing this

41:23 ↗ what's your input because automatically

41:26 ↗ the input then will come because there's

41:27 ↗ that's trust built but we need to go

41:30 ↗ back to the basic of really building

41:32 ↗ those effective and trusting

41:33 ↗ relationships with with our community

41:36 ↗ right and that takes time and effort and

41:39 ↗ that there's gonna be more than one way

41:41 ↗ right so those are those are my two

41:43 ↗ cents that i would like to add to that

41:46 ↗ so just

41:47 ↗ i didn't ask the question right because

41:49 ↗ really i'm talking about our meetings

41:51 ↗ i'm literally talking about our public

41:54 ↗ input that we control right here and can

41:57 ↗ we be more welcoming and encouraging to

42:00 ↗ the that one or two people who show up

42:02 ↗ that's what i was really asking

42:06 ↗ thank you kelly

42:07 ↗ and i thought about it

42:10 ↗ go ahead sorry and i yeah

42:12 ↗ yeah i see we have a couple of comments

42:14 ↗ and questions ray do you mind if we jump

42:18 ↗ ahead i think alyssa has a comment

42:19 ↗ that's relevant to this part of the

42:20 ↗ conversation would you mind if we allow

42:23 ↗ her to go first

42:25 ↗ thank you

42:27 ↗ yeah um thank you for for restating the

42:30 ↗ question that was what i thought it was

42:32 ↗ and that's what my comment was related

42:34 ↗ to

42:35 ↗ i was just going to say in a very low

42:37 ↗ level if i walked into a room of people

42:39 ↗ and said

42:40 ↗ hey i really think this was great

42:43 ↗ and everyone just kind of looked at me

42:45 ↗ and no one said a word

42:47 ↗ did not feel encouraged to make a

42:49 ↗ comment again and and i say that as

42:51 ↗ someone who is guilty right because

42:53 ↗ we've had other public comments shared

42:55 ↗ in this forum and not had any comment

42:58 ↗ myself to to say about that that comment

43:01 ↗ and and i think i think that that's a

43:04 ↗ part of it right us as individuals

43:06 ↗ really you know

43:08 ↗ and i'm saying this about myself right

43:10 ↗ actively listening and and having some

43:13 ↗ feedback to the comment that was shared

43:17 ↗ i think would make me feel you know if i

43:20 ↗ was walking into the room making this

43:22 ↗ comment would at least make me feel like

43:23 ↗ people heard me they didn't just turn

43:25 ↗ stand look at me

43:27 ↗ and not say anything so that that's one

43:29 ↗ thing i think would make people feel a

43:30 ↗ little bit more comfortable making

43:32 ↗ comments is actually getting some type

43:34 ↗ of feedback

43:38 ↗ alyssa thank you so so much for that

43:40 ↗ comment and kelly thank you so so much

43:42 ↗ for clarifying what your question was

43:45 ↗ and so then in trying to answer your

43:47 ↗ question about okay in this meeting what

43:49 ↗ we can do and what we cannot do

43:51 ↗ absolutely i think acknowledging and

43:53 ↗ thanking community members and making

43:56 ↗ them feel welcoming please by all means

43:59 ↗ i think that would be something that it

44:01 ↗ would be unique for us you're absolutely

44:03 ↗ right elisa i think it just makes it so

44:06 ↗ uncomfortable or like you make a comment

44:09 ↗ and then awkward silence

44:11 ↗ i think it's you're right like i i would

44:14 ↗ think twice two about coming back and

44:16 ↗ and right but yeah feel free to i know

44:19 ↗ it's weird some you know we've been

44:21 ↗ meeting now for a half a year we really

44:24 ↗ many of us did not have a chance to meet

44:26 ↗ in person yet so hopefully we'll go back

44:28 ↗ to meeting in person having a chance to

44:30 ↗ to to have that in-person interaction

44:33 ↗ but yes filthy uh

44:35 ↗ board members to to acknowledge and

44:37 ↗ thank those community members who who

44:39 ↗ are making comments um i think

44:42 ↗ as a norm for public comment sections

44:46 ↗ and you're gonna see a city council

44:47 ↗ meeting sometimes this is even repeated

44:49 ↗ that the board or the commission does

44:52 ↗ not have necessarily an answer if

44:55 ↗ somebody let's say they ask a question

44:57 ↗ or they are asking you to take a

44:59 ↗ decision or not to take a decision you

45:02 ↗ as a board may not have an answer for

45:03 ↗ them but we can commit to following up

45:06 ↗ after we do our research or after you

45:08 ↗ make your recommendations or a later

45:11 ↗ time but i think making people will feel

45:13 ↗ welcoming and just trying to build out

45:16 ↗ that relationship with our community i

45:18 ↗ think i would just say go for it

45:21 ↗ board members does that help a little

45:22 ↗ bit kelly with your initial question

45:25 ↗ yeah

45:28 ↗ yes and so yeah including timing uh i

45:31 ↗ know it's a rule it's like

45:33 ↗ they're set up a five minute rule but

45:35 ↗ sometimes then if let's say if you have

45:37 ↗ 30 people signed up for public comments

45:39 ↗ use the board can decide you know we

45:40 ↗ only have like one minute or like timing

45:43 ↗ is also an issue you can be flexible

45:45 ↗ with that so feel free board members to

45:48 ↗ just invite the community and and uh

45:50 ↗ build that relationship with them

45:53 ↗ so thank you for those excellent

45:55 ↗ questions

45:56 ↗ straight back thank you

45:58 ↗ and ray if you're you're ready we would

46:00 ↗ love to get your question as well

46:04 ↗ yeah um

46:05 ↗ robert thank you for being here i have a

46:07 ↗ a question um and based on your answer

46:10 ↗ it'll lead to another question but um

46:12 ↗ and i have an ulterior motive for this

46:14 ↗ question although it might sound

46:15 ↗ personal um you mentioned your wife has

46:18 ↗ a business um

46:20 ↗ is that business located in issaquah

46:23 ↗ it is not

46:25 ↗ okay

46:26 ↗ all right um what we're trying to do we

46:28 ↗ have we have a committee that reports to

46:30 ↗ the equity board that involves community

46:33 ↗ engagement and a lot of that is building

46:34 ↗ relationships with existing businesses

46:36 ↗ but um

46:38 ↗ that's why i was asking that question uh

46:40 ↗ but regardless of that where is where

46:42 ↗ what is the name of your wife's business

46:43 ↗ just for our reference it's called

46:45 ↗ cookie a lot it's a cookie company

46:49 ↗ and where exactly is it located

46:51 ↗ um she works out of a commercial kitchen

46:53 ↗ actually up in skagit county because we

46:55 ↗ had problems down here trying to get

46:57 ↗ space

46:58 ↗ um and so it's still you know the

47:00 ↗ headquarters is a home-based business

47:02 ↗ but it's out of a commercial kitchen

47:04 ↗ i see okay and she's she sells

47:06 ↗ wholesales so she sells the metro market

47:08 ↗ for example

47:09 ↗ ah okay

47:11 ↗ thank you you're welcome thank you

47:15 ↗ all righty and thank you for that

47:17 ↗ question ray um

47:19 ↗ and next i think i saw we

47:22 ↗ had lorna and lorna are you ready

47:26 ↗ and then kelly yeah

47:28 ↗ thank you all

47:30 ↗ kelly thank you so much for asking that

47:31 ↗ question i definitely wanted to comment

47:34 ↗ on saba's public comment but

47:38 ↗ i would definitely say that there was a

47:40 ↗ lot in there and i also felt part of the

47:43 ↗ comment was really

47:45 ↗ towards the school district and i really

47:47 ↗ want to make sure that i am separating

47:50 ↗ my role

47:51 ↗ in this board as

47:53 ↗ not school or school member

47:56 ↗ or staff

47:58 ↗ based and so i definitely wanted to have

48:00 ↗ a conversation with monica and then also

48:02 ↗ separately with saba about the comment

48:05 ↗ because i want to make very sure that i

48:07 ↗ am separating

48:09 ↗ who i am in this work

48:12 ↗ as an equity board versus what i do

48:15 ↗ as a school district staff so there was

48:17 ↗ a lot of information that saba had uh

48:19 ↗ said and you know asked about and i was

48:22 ↗ just wondering about that myself so

48:24 ↗ thank you very much kelly because

48:26 ↗ i

48:27 ↗ briefly thought about texting monica or

48:30 ↗ you know

48:31 ↗ asking monica on the chat section i said

48:34 ↗ nope this is a bigger conversation

48:36 ↗ and so i think that's what my question

48:38 ↗ for monica is

48:40 ↗ is that something that we should just

48:42 ↗ acknowledge when a public comment comes

48:44 ↗ and then say we will follow up with you

48:46 ↗ at a later time would that have been an

48:49 ↗ appropriate way to go

48:51 ↗ i think i'm just trying to learn what my

48:53 ↗ how

48:54 ↗ i respond especially if it's something

48:56 ↗ that speaks to me or directed towards

48:58 ↗ something that i've done said or worked

49:00 ↗ on

49:01 ↗ as an equity board member

49:04 ↗ yes absolutely a great great answer is

49:06 ↗ to acknowledge think and then following

49:08 ↗ up later

49:09 ↗ um especially since you you don't know

49:12 ↗ and it might lead to a longer

49:14 ↗ conversation and outside different right

49:16 ↗ so i think it's always good to to to

49:19 ↗ acknowledge and then we say if needed

49:20 ↗ definitely we follow up afterwards and

49:23 ↗ we can if needed sometimes we can even

49:25 ↗ set up a separate meeting uh with

49:27 ↗ someone just to go over and explain or

49:29 ↗ further if we need to do research or

49:31 ↗ find out more information or anything

49:33 ↗ like that or just share like you said

49:36 ↗ um

49:37 ↗ so yeah that's an excellent response

49:40 ↗ thank you

49:41 ↗ yeah thank you

49:44 ↗ and kelly um were you ready to ask your

49:47 ↗ next question

49:49 ↗ yeah um

49:51 ↗ i'm trying to think of how to say it

49:52 ↗ best but disproportionality and

49:54 ↗ discipline in schools is incredibly

49:56 ↗ important

49:58 ↗ however

50:01 ↗ i was wondering what the

50:03 ↗ disproportionality is in the way we

50:05 ↗ treat

50:06 ↗ youth of color in issaquah and whether

50:09 ↗ we track

50:10 ↗ it and i thought we should probably know

50:13 ↗ that before we start talking about the

50:15 ↗ school system

50:21 ↗ is it tracked

50:22 ↗ i have no idea

50:27 ↗ kelly i can say from my experience

50:29 ↗ um with the issaquah school district

50:33 ↗ there is some tracking in place when it

50:35 ↗ comes to students who are reprimanded

50:39 ↗ um

50:40 ↗ or i guess i shouldn't say reprimanded

50:42 ↗ but

50:43 ↗ have had issues where they've needed to

50:45 ↗ have

50:46 ↗ um

50:47 ↗ staff interventions

50:49 ↗ um

50:50 ↗ however i don't know how long they keep

50:52 ↗ those records or what they do with them

50:54 ↗ um but i've had to ask that

50:58 ↗ information be brought back up or we

50:59 ↗ refer back to previous instances um with

51:02 ↗ relation to my own children just to kind

51:05 ↗ of verify and and talk through what's

51:08 ↗ been happening um

51:10 ↗ so i don't know if that helps but

51:11 ↗ hopefully that does uh give some

51:14 ↗ information because for example park has

51:17 ↗ video recordings that they often keep

51:18 ↗ and they keep records of those for a

51:20 ↗ while so that may be helpful and knowing

51:23 ↗ um but i i've never known them to

51:24 ↗ actually share that information with

51:26 ↗ anyone other than parents

51:29 ↗ there is state tracking of

51:31 ↗ disproportionality and discipline i've

51:32 ↗ done a significant amount of work on it

51:34 ↗ actually what i would what i want to

51:36 ↗ know is does this does the issaquah

51:38 ↗ police department track

51:40 ↗ disproportionality

51:41 ↗ in the way they're working with youth in

51:43 ↗ our city

51:46 ↗ that is a really good question asking

51:50 ↗ that's a great question

51:52 ↗ before we go talk to the school district

51:53 ↗ we better know that

51:56 ↗ right so those are excellent again

51:58 ↗ excellent questions um definitely i'm

52:00 ↗ happy to circle back to see what kind of

52:03 ↗ information our police department tracks

52:06 ↗ and then try to look into that

52:08 ↗ so so again these are excellent

52:10 ↗ questions for us to dive deeper into

52:12 ↗ looking at what's available what type of

52:15 ↗ data is being tracked what do we know

52:17 ↗ and then that's also going to help us

52:19 ↗ once we know that along with the knees

52:21 ↗ then that helps us create some goals on

52:23 ↗ what we want to focus on right so i'm

52:26 ↗ happy to take that on and circle back

52:27 ↗ with the police department um also i

52:30 ↗ think as a city and as an equity board

52:33 ↗ to the city we are also going to have to

52:35 ↗ have longer conversations on what we can

52:38 ↗ and cannot do

52:39 ↗ related to the school district right we

52:42 ↗ just want to be very very careful we

52:44 ↗ want to what we can do is like we can be

52:46 ↗ influencers at the community level we

52:49 ↗ cannot go and tell the school district

52:51 ↗ what to do or what not to do so

52:54 ↗ definitely more conversations for us on

52:55 ↗ that end but definitely would love to

52:57 ↗ start with uh with finding some

52:59 ↗ information on what our police

53:00 ↗ department is tracking meanwhile related

53:03 ↗ to this we have a question from paul

53:05 ↗ wally

53:06 ↗ who asks what is the status of the sro

53:09 ↗ program

53:10 ↗ uh the school resource officer for those

53:12 ↗ of you might not be familiar this ties

53:15 ↗ into the school district and a couple of

53:16 ↗ comments made

53:18 ↗ um i'm not sure if your equity board

53:20 ↗ members i mean i think this was last

53:23 ↗ summer the discussion around the city

53:26 ↗ and the school resource

53:28 ↗ officer program we had some community

53:30 ↗ conversations the city

53:33 ↗ had put on hold that program

53:35 ↗ since then my understanding is that the

53:37 ↗ program had stopped

53:40 ↗ there was a lot of feedback received

53:42 ↗ that the sro program

53:44 ↗ was hurting youth of color and not

53:48 ↗ being helpful

53:50 ↗ so at least in the relationship with the

53:51 ↗ police department my understanding is

53:53 ↗ that the school resource officer program

53:56 ↗ was

53:58 ↗ stopped but that's also another aspect

54:00 ↗ where i would be happy to

54:02 ↗ circle back with the police department

54:04 ↗ to look and find out and come back and

54:06 ↗ report next month if that works for all

54:09 ↗ of you is that

54:10 ↗ good

54:13 ↗ okay

54:14 ↗ so i think that

54:16 ↗ i also wonder if

54:17 ↗ we may be able to invite both the police

54:20 ↗ department and shapa back and maybe we

54:22 ↗ can

54:23 ↗ coordinate some conversations that might

54:26 ↗ be helpful for all of us

54:28 ↗ and actually i'm so glad that you

54:29 ↗ mentioned this jay because i think these

54:31 ↗ ties we have the police department

54:33 ↗ scheduled for september for they're

54:35 ↗ going to be here for presentation so

54:37 ↗ that might be actually a great time to

54:39 ↗ have a lengthier conversation with them

54:42 ↗ at that time

54:43 ↗ what do you say

54:45 ↗ yes i think that's great um also i see

54:48 ↗ lorna had another comment and tony if

54:50 ↗ you don't mind i'd love to highlight

54:52 ↗ your comment as well if that's okay with

54:55 ↗ you

55:02 ↗ i think my comment was

55:04 ↗ can you hear me yes okay i think my

55:07 ↗ comment was mainly towards monica as she

55:09 ↗ was gathering your data i was very

55:11 ↗ curious about reports from businesses

55:15 ↗ and uh from neighborhoods

55:18 ↗ about um people on the street or

55:22 ↗ um

55:23 ↗ customers

55:24 ↗ and what kind of customers they're

55:26 ↗ calling in more frequently

55:29 ↗ to

55:30 ↗ like really look at bias

55:32 ↗ and the welcoming feeling towards people

55:35 ↗ um of different

55:37 ↗ uh heritage

55:39 ↗ ethnicities and how they are being

55:41 ↗ perceived by business owners

55:44 ↗ so one of the

55:45 ↗ things that i would love to see is the

55:47 ↗ ethnicity or just keeping track you know

55:50 ↗ is it a white business owner asian

55:51 ↗ business owner

55:53 ↗ hispanic business owner calling in and

55:55 ↗ reporting a

55:56 ↗ suspicious personal um activity

56:00 ↗ towards a a white person an asian person

56:02 ↗ a black person hispanic person like what

56:04 ↗ is the ethnicity of the two groups and

56:07 ↗ even if there was no criminal charges

56:09 ↗ filed just what that interaction was

56:12 ↗ because sometimes just that interaction

56:15 ↗ negative interaction even though it

56:16 ↗ didn't lead to something can leave a

56:19 ↗ perception towards a community member if

56:22 ↗ they felt that they had

56:24 ↗ untowards action committed towards them

56:27 ↗ by this business owner or in this

56:29 ↗ neighborhood

56:32 ↗ thank you lorna definitely will add that

56:33 ↗ to the list of questions so so

56:35 ↗ appreciating you

56:37 ↗ with that before let me move to next i

56:39 ↗ know there are a few other questions

56:40 ↗ perhaps just wanted to clarify are we

56:44 ↗ good with saying goodbye to robert and

56:47 ↗ i think his president started a great

56:50 ↗ list of other pieces

56:52 ↗ just wanted to

56:54 ↗ well i wanted to ask robert one more

56:56 ↗ question

56:57 ↗ if if he has the time

56:59 ↗ um robert when we look at your the

57:01 ↗ reports that you all have available do

57:03 ↗ they actually extrapolate the data

57:06 ↗ that's related to

57:07 ↗ the type of business owners we have and

57:10 ↗ um where they they can be found um

57:13 ↗ because i think for me as a transplant

57:15 ↗ it's a little harder for me to find

57:17 ↗ where our minority-owned businesses even

57:19 ↗ are

57:22 ↗ you don't and

57:24 ↗ washington state has very hard

57:26 ↗ restrictions on it

57:28 ↗ so i think the best

57:30 ↗ resource would probably be jen davis

57:32 ↗ hayes our economic development

57:33 ↗ coordinator she she has her pulse of the

57:36 ↗ business community so she could probably

57:37 ↗ help you out um we can't use our tax

57:39 ↗ date is confidential so we can't we

57:41 ↗ can't release it that's the problem

57:44 ↗ awesome thank you for answering that

57:46 ↗ question for me

57:50 ↗ so with that robert thank you so much

57:52 ↗ for your

57:53 ↗ presence here tonight

57:56 ↗ i so appreciate you yeah thanks

57:57 ↗ everybody thank you

57:59 ↗ have a good night thank you

58:02 ↗ great questions board members

58:05 ↗ it sounds like definitely september is

58:07 ↗ the month it's going to be a very rich

58:09 ↗ conversation with both economic

58:10 ↗ development and police department now i

58:13 ↗ wonder perhaps we should not even have

58:15 ↗ anything else on the agenda for that

58:16 ↗ night not to solve right

58:20 ↗ absolutely i think that's going to be a

58:22 ↗ very action-packed evening

58:24 ↗ right

58:26 ↗ all righty and before we move forward

58:28 ↗ did we have any other questions with

58:30 ↗ relation to

58:31 ↗ um our response to

58:34 ↗ public comments because yes i think and

58:37 ↗ thank you so much

58:38 ↗ um all board members for helping with

58:41 ↗ those questions because i think we all

58:42 ↗ kind of had a few questions on how we

58:44 ↗ should be responding or what we should

58:46 ↗ be saying following uh saba's great

58:49 ↗ statement so um we definitely want to

58:52 ↗ uh share how appreciative we are to both

58:54 ↗ saba and ted

58:56 ↗ uh for providing us with some public

58:58 ↗ comments

59:00 ↗ if there's nothing else on this topic

59:03 ↗ then we can go ahead and jump ahead to

59:06 ↗ oh i'm sorry go ahead monica

59:09 ↗ there are a couple of comments i think

59:10 ↗ pretty has a comment in the lisa

59:13 ↗ it's like i'm sorry you all i missed it

59:16 ↗ my apology um my computer is being weird

59:20 ↗ and not like autos rolling down so uh

59:23 ↗ please grab my attention if i'm missing

59:24 ↗ you um creepy are you ready

59:27 ↗ uh yes so it's related to public

59:30 ↗ comment but i think slightly broader and

59:33 ↗ um i i think this this topic has come up

59:35 ↗ before around

59:37 ↗ um

59:38 ↗ whether we have to structure our

59:40 ↗ meetings in

59:42 ↗ a certain format or whether we can

59:44 ↗ approve a different format because i do

59:47 ↗ think that

59:48 ↗ dialogue and discussion is stifled with

59:50 ↗ the current

59:53 ↗ rules we have to follow and so i would

59:56 ↗ love to explore and so it's a comment to

59:58 ↗ see how we could explore a different

1:00:01 ↗ meeting design

1:00:02 ↗ and what that would entail and so it's

1:00:04 ↗ it's more of a a bit of a proposal kind

1:00:06 ↗ of thinking about what to do so i just

1:00:08 ↗ wanted to put that out there and see

1:00:11 ↗ for exploration

1:00:13 ↗ maybe at another time

1:00:14 ↗ thank you

1:00:18 ↗ i think we can add it as an agenda item

1:00:21 ↗ perhaps even as early as next month if

1:00:23 ↗ you feel ready board members or if not

1:00:25 ↗ in a few months i do remember we started

1:00:28 ↗ when we launched the the board uh we we

1:00:31 ↗ said that at some point as you feel more

1:00:32 ↗ comfortable with and you have a better

1:00:35 ↗ understanding that perhaps it it might

1:00:37 ↗ be good to revise and look and so if

1:00:40 ↗ you're already as a board we can put it

1:00:42 ↗ on the agenda as early as next month or

1:00:44 ↗ again down the line in a few months uh

1:00:47 ↗ you just tell me and

1:00:49 ↗ we'll go from there

1:00:52 ↗ yes i think we've evolved a bit and i

1:00:55 ↗ agree with preethi it might be time for

1:00:57 ↗ us to look at revising

1:00:58 ↗ um our structure for our meetings um

1:01:03 ↗ i i think sometimes i get stuck in

1:01:05 ↗ following the the script

1:01:08 ↗ and uh

1:01:09 ↗ when um things like popular comments

1:01:12 ↗ come up that we often don't see uh

1:01:14 ↗ sometimes it's hard to figure out if

1:01:16 ↗ it's the appropriate time to go into

1:01:18 ↗ discussion or if we should move forward

1:01:20 ↗ and go with all our agenda items first

1:01:23 ↗ so um i i can agree with preethi that we

1:01:26 ↗ do need to

1:01:28 ↗ uh maybe look at revising our structure

1:01:30 ↗ a bit

1:01:34 ↗ and alyssa i think you still had a

1:01:36 ↗ comment as well are you ready

1:01:38 ↗ sure i i was just gonna say in addition

1:01:41 ↗ to that that's great comment but in

1:01:43 ↗ addition to that um

1:01:45 ↗ when we do have an action item just to

1:01:47 ↗ be mindful to if we're saying okay you

1:01:51 ↗ know we don't maybe we don't have an

1:01:52 ↗ answer to that now

1:01:54 ↗ today we're going to come back to you

1:01:57 ↗ just just to be mindful and make sure we

1:02:00 ↗ really do come back in a timely manner

1:02:02 ↗ you know with whatever feedback or you

1:02:05 ↗ know

1:02:06 ↗ if there's a question that's posed in

1:02:08 ↗ the the public comment not to just not

1:02:10 ↗ to lose it right not to lose track of of

1:02:13 ↗ providing an answer if there is a

1:02:14 ↗ question

1:02:15 ↗ and not not to say that i've noticed

1:02:17 ↗ this doing that just to make sure that

1:02:19 ↗ we

1:02:20 ↗ we don't

1:02:25 ↗ thank you so much

1:02:27 ↗ the other the other piece of that is

1:02:29 ↗ um

1:02:30 ↗ i know there i know that there had been

1:02:33 ↗ a plan to move back to in-person

1:02:36 ↗ meetings

1:02:37 ↗ and i'm not sure how when the if that is

1:02:40 ↗ actually happening or how that impacts

1:02:43 ↗ the options that are available for

1:02:45 ↗ public comments when that does happen um

1:02:48 ↗ i would just suggest that you hope that

1:02:51 ↗ the options that are available even when

1:02:53 ↗ we're no longer remote

1:02:55 ↗ are flexible because it's certainly more

1:02:59 ↗ difficult for someone to get there to be

1:03:01 ↗ in person to provide that comment and i

1:03:03 ↗ know monica you mentioned just a few

1:03:05 ↗ minutes ago

1:03:06 ↗ um that right now there are other

1:03:08 ↗ options i'm not sure what the options um

1:03:11 ↗ change to when we are no longer removed

1:03:17 ↗ such great

1:03:18 ↗ comments uh alisa yes i think the plan

1:03:21 ↗ is for the options to be very very

1:03:23 ↗ flexible moving forward for public

1:03:26 ↗ comment they will say

1:03:27 ↗ people can join in person they can join

1:03:30 ↗ online call in email and those options

1:03:33 ↗ should be and will be available for for

1:03:35 ↗ public

1:03:36 ↗ okay great sure that was great yeah

1:03:42 ↗ thank

1:03:42 ↗ you such great discussion did i miss

1:03:46 ↗ anyone

1:03:49 ↗ i don't think so

1:03:51 ↗ i think we got everybody um do we have

1:03:53 ↗ any final questions or comments

1:03:57 ↗ say before we move to the next um agenda

1:04:00 ↗ item i do have one request from all of

1:04:02 ↗ you board members if i may um

1:04:05 ↗ uh ray needs to leave early tonight and

1:04:08 ↗ we were gonna because looking at the

1:04:10 ↗ time i would like to propose that

1:04:13 ↗ instead of

1:04:14 ↗ moving to the next agenda item we skip

1:04:17 ↗ my agenda item uh to provide rey an

1:04:20 ↗ opportunity to report out on the work of

1:04:22 ↗ the community engagement committee and

1:04:24 ↗ then we can come back to the other

1:04:26 ↗ agenda item so if you don't mind just

1:04:28 ↗ like flipping switching those two items

1:04:32 ↗ i think that would be nice would love to

1:04:33 ↗ give ray time

1:04:37 ↗ does that work

1:04:38 ↗ absolutely i i give you a thumbs up is

1:04:41 ↗ everyone okay with that

1:04:45 ↗ alrighty ray if you are ready we are

1:04:48 ↗ excited to see your presentation

1:04:51 ↗ yeah thank you thank you everybody um

1:04:53 ↗ monica i was reviewing your slides and

1:04:55 ↗ they certainly tie in together so if i

1:04:57 ↗ happen to drop i think there's a solid

1:04:59 ↗ connection on what you are going to

1:05:00 ↗ share and what we

1:05:01 ↗ provide is an update regarding the

1:05:04 ↗ community engagement committee um do you

1:05:06 ↗ want to bring up my slides i was trying

1:05:08 ↗ to share my screen but i seem to have an

1:05:09 ↗ issue um i i can assign you the

1:05:12 ↗ presenter role if you prefer to share

1:05:14 ↗ your screen or i can share the screen

1:05:16 ↗ you just tell me what you prefer oh why

1:05:18 ↗ don't you go ahead and share that's fine

1:05:19 ↗ thank you

1:05:29 ↗ there we go

1:05:31 ↗ wonderful thank you

1:05:33 ↗ um let's backtrack a little bit so we

1:05:35 ↗ created this committee what is it three

1:05:37 ↗ months ago so um we're still one thing

1:05:40 ↗ to keep in mind as i go through these

1:05:42 ↗ slides one we're still kind of in our

1:05:44 ↗ foundational stages i think we've

1:05:46 ↗ received a lot of great feedback from

1:05:48 ↗ our committee members who are part of

1:05:50 ↗ this or our board members who are part

1:05:52 ↗ of this committee and then having them

1:05:54 ↗ some initial outreach so

1:05:56 ↗ the purpose of the committee is to focus

1:05:59 ↗ on increasing community engagement

1:06:01 ↗ specifically around the topic of equity

1:06:03 ↗ right that's if you think about this and

1:06:04 ↗ absorb it a little bit that's a daunting

1:06:07 ↗ task is to reach out to the community

1:06:09 ↗ help them understand what we're trying

1:06:11 ↗ to do here

1:06:12 ↗ as an equity board around community

1:06:14 ↗ engagement but they might have existing

1:06:16 ↗ ones also so it really requires

1:06:18 ↗ some thoughtful dialogue with those that

1:06:20 ↗ we connect with and those that we plan

1:06:22 ↗ to reach out to

1:06:24 ↗ the committee members and this has

1:06:26 ↗ changed a couple times but christina

1:06:28 ↗ myself kelly and megan who just joined

1:06:31 ↗ us this past month and monica as our

1:06:33 ↗ liaison uh to the work so um

1:06:36 ↗ there's no committee lead this is a

1:06:38 ↗ shared responsibility that we'll we

1:06:39 ↗ talked through as a committee to kind of

1:06:41 ↗ drive our discussions but i think that

1:06:43 ↗ also is in

1:06:44 ↗ maturity phase as we figure out how we

1:06:46 ↗ um how we

1:06:47 ↗ design who does what

1:06:49 ↗ for example take minutes and do some

1:06:51 ↗ follow-up work so keep that in mind and

1:06:53 ↗ if there's anybody that's interested in

1:06:55 ↗ joining this as we show these slides i

1:06:56 ↗ would love to hear from you um so you

1:06:58 ↗ let me know next slide please

1:07:02 ↗ okay so when we start started talking

1:07:04 ↗ about community outreach i think there

1:07:07 ↗ were some focus points that we shared

1:07:09 ↗ with the group um

1:07:11 ↗ and i'm gonna pause you as i go through

1:07:12 ↗ this and like your feedback so when you

1:07:14 ↗ say community how exactly are we doing

1:07:16 ↗ that

1:07:17 ↗ um let's

1:07:18 ↗ we thought about focusing on large

1:07:20 ↗ organizations that exist here in the

1:07:22 ↗ city of issaquah

1:07:24 ↗ that could be costco pcc market swedish

1:07:26 ↗ medical center those were the first

1:07:28 ↗ three that that came into mind

1:07:30 ↗ um organizations that might have an

1:07:33 ↗ existing

1:07:34 ↗ ddi strategy or a community level

1:07:37 ↗ strategy

1:07:38 ↗ that we can get educated on because

1:07:40 ↗ we're not the first to focus on equity

1:07:42 ↗ perhaps we can partner with an

1:07:44 ↗ organization that's that's safe here

1:07:46 ↗ okay

1:07:48 ↗ and see what they're doing so again it's

1:07:49 ↗ just just talking to them and seeing

1:07:51 ↗ what's going on and seeing where we can

1:07:53 ↗ make introductions and make a connection

1:07:55 ↗ i think number two here is really key

1:07:57 ↗ it's not about focusing on large

1:07:59 ↗ organizations but small family

1:08:00 ↗ businesses they're key to our strategy

1:08:02 ↗ because they can be owned by

1:08:04 ↗ families who have an ethnic focus right

1:08:06 ↗ so i think it's hearing from those

1:08:08 ↗ places as well entities like schools um

1:08:12 ↗ lorna

1:08:13 ↗ uh megan is part of our group and we had

1:08:15 ↗ some takeaways from a

1:08:17 ↗ strategy around how we might connect our

1:08:19 ↗ work here with the high school so if

1:08:22 ↗ i'd love to maybe spend some time with

1:08:24 ↗ you to get your feedback once we check

1:08:26 ↗ in with megan and where she landed with

1:08:28 ↗ some of the follow-up that she had from

1:08:30 ↗ our last meeting

1:08:31 ↗ um

1:08:32 ↗ and let's not limit it to high school

1:08:34 ↗ right if there's other schools that

1:08:36 ↗ exist again maybe the small ones

1:08:38 ↗ that have students who come from a

1:08:40 ↗ diverse background let's invite them i

1:08:43 ↗ just hear from them let's use these

1:08:44 ↗ first few months as a means of

1:08:45 ↗ introducing us

1:08:48 ↗ share that we are still at the

1:08:49 ↗ foundational level

1:08:51 ↗ and see what they're doing

1:08:52 ↗ um as a small business entity and see

1:08:56 ↗ how we can hear from them and have that

1:08:57 ↗ dialogue

1:08:58 ↗ and spoke special focus groups you know

1:09:01 ↗ june was a tremendous month for us

1:09:03 ↗ getting connected like juneteenth the

1:09:05 ↗ lgbtqi

1:09:08 ↗ uh

1:09:09 ↗ meeting that we had um but let's let's

1:09:11 ↗ keep focused on those that might exist

1:09:14 ↗ and see how we can partner with them so

1:09:15 ↗ as i share these few bullets um keep

1:09:18 ↗ those in mind that when we say community

1:09:20 ↗ outreach we have to think very broadly

1:09:22 ↗ we're connecting with

1:09:24 ↗ and i'm going to pause here and um

1:09:27 ↗ is there anything outside of these four

1:09:30 ↗ that stand out to this equity board that

1:09:32 ↗ we may have overlooked and again keep in

1:09:34 ↗ mind this is foundational but i would

1:09:36 ↗ really like to hear from the group is

1:09:37 ↗ there anything that stands out to you

1:09:38 ↗ that that we can consider and i i too

1:09:41 ↗ i'm hearing some background noise i

1:09:42 ↗ don't know if that's me i apologize

1:09:49 ↗ ray one of the i'm sorry

1:09:52 ↗ let me turn my video on

1:09:54 ↗ uh one of the things i was wondering

1:09:56 ↗ can we include service organizations

1:10:00 ↗ maybe churches like groups like kiwanis

1:10:02 ↗ rotary

1:10:04 ↗ um non-profits that are out there

1:10:09 ↗ also

1:10:10 ↗ the other groups group are one wondering

1:10:13 ↗ is there any kind of

1:10:14 ↗ hoa or community

1:10:18 ↗ group like i know that

1:10:21 ↗ we've talked about reaching out to hoas

1:10:24 ↗ but is there something the city does

1:10:26 ↗ with an hoa boar or something that we

1:10:28 ↗ can

1:10:29 ↗ say hey would you be interested in

1:10:31 ↗ having a conversation about this

1:10:36 ↗ real muted i can't tell you

1:10:48 ↗ can you hear me okay

1:10:50 ↗ yes sorry i was just teeing that up for

1:10:52 ↗ monica to see if there might be an

1:10:54 ↗ existing relationship the city has with

1:10:56 ↗ hoas i think that's a fantastic idea

1:10:58 ↗ lorna

1:10:59 ↗ yes there is actually our communications

1:11:01 ↗ department and so we are yet to schedule

1:11:04 ↗ them for a visit here with you all but

1:11:07 ↗ they also used to have pre-pandemic they

1:11:09 ↗ used to go from neighborhood to

1:11:11 ↗ neighborhood and engage with hoas so we

1:11:14 ↗ should definitely circle back with our

1:11:16 ↗ communications department and look for

1:11:18 ↗ opportunities to

1:11:20 ↗ coordinate with them and team up with

1:11:22 ↗ them

1:11:23 ↗ so i'll put a note here to reach out to

1:11:26 ↗ them

1:11:26 ↗ but i know there is an existing

1:11:28 ↗ relationship with atoas

1:11:31 ↗ that's good to know thank you

1:11:33 ↗ yes

1:11:35 ↗ thank you

1:11:38 ↗ any other groups from that four and i um

1:11:41 ↗ the slides disappeared monica if you

1:11:43 ↗ want to re uh put them back on the

1:11:44 ↗ screen or else i'm not seeing them

1:11:47 ↗ yes i stopped sharing so you had you see

1:11:49 ↗ each other for conversation so i'm gonna

1:11:50 ↗ go back to sharing

1:11:52 ↗ and also just as a brief note i'm gonna

1:11:54 ↗ meet myself when i share my screen i

1:11:56 ↗ cannot see comments in the chat so if

1:11:58 ↗ anyone has something to tell me please

1:11:59 ↗ just tell me

1:12:06 ↗ one quick question ray when um do you

1:12:09 ↗ all like schedule meetings with these

1:12:10 ↗ organizations or do we just invite them

1:12:13 ↗ to

1:12:14 ↗ board meetings

1:12:16 ↗ um we have scheduled a few there's one

1:12:19 ↗ that we've made some good progress on

1:12:20 ↗ with just pcc markets but we have some

1:12:23 ↗ follow-up as a committee to

1:12:25 ↗ see if we can make some connections with

1:12:26 ↗ just contacts that we have at costco

1:12:29 ↗ i have a contact at swedish medical

1:12:31 ↗ center that i haven't heard

1:12:32 ↗ from

1:12:34 ↗ shannon kelly ray actually monica i

1:12:36 ↗ don't know if we discussed this but she

1:12:37 ↗ um

1:12:39 ↗ as you know swedish is part of

1:12:40 ↗ providence and she was part of that

1:12:42 ↗ group there so i might leverage her

1:12:44 ↗ as a connection to uh

1:12:45 ↗ the hospital and see if there's a

1:12:47 ↗ opportunity to collaborate there um

1:12:53 ↗ sure i hope that answered your question

1:12:54 ↗ any other it did thank you

1:12:56 ↗ yeah

1:12:58 ↗ this i think was really key because i

1:13:00 ↗ took a step back and this analysis that

1:13:02 ↗ was shared with our equity board back in

1:13:05 ↗ january

1:13:06 ↗ i i think helps us to

1:13:08 ↗ get a little bit of direction like what

1:13:10 ↗ comprises our community here in issaquah

1:13:13 ↗ are

1:13:14 ↗ based on the residents and the

1:13:15 ↗ demographics that we're sharing here so

1:13:18 ↗ we should take these in consideration

1:13:20 ↗ and we do our outreach maybe perhaps

1:13:22 ↗ prioritize based on these numbers that

1:13:24 ↗ we're seeing but certainly don't want to

1:13:25 ↗ limit it to them but if you want to do

1:13:27 ↗ some initial contacts maybe maybe

1:13:29 ↗ connecting with the

1:13:31 ↗ large asian community um the catholic

1:13:34 ↗ organizations that exist on the right

1:13:36 ↗ but we're not going to limit it there

1:13:37 ↗ but perhaps just as if we prioritize our

1:13:39 ↗ outreach maybe make these numbers

1:13:41 ↗ at least have them in our live site

1:13:43 ↗ right

1:13:46 ↗ i think alyssa has a question

1:13:48 ↗ please go ahead alyssa

1:13:50 ↗ sure just a comment um i just i just

1:13:53 ↗ think that's a great point right um i

1:13:55 ↗ think that a lot of times we tend to

1:13:57 ↗ default to

1:13:59 ↗ um focusing on

1:14:01 ↗ groups certain groups

1:14:03 ↗ and don't necessarily pay attention to

1:14:06 ↗ the makeup of our community

1:14:09 ↗ and so i just you know just want to make

1:14:11 ↗ sure that we do that um

1:14:13 ↗ you know

1:14:14 ↗ even in the way that the data is

1:14:16 ↗ presented we have you know

1:14:19 ↗ the the residents we and i think maybe

1:14:22 ↗ you have this in

1:14:24 ↗ and it's not maybe it's in numeric order

1:14:26 ↗ or alpha order i'm not quite sure but

1:14:29 ↗ you know we have a fairly large asian

1:14:32 ↗ population a fairly large hispanic

1:14:33 ↗ population

1:14:35 ↗ um and and those groups also need to be

1:14:38 ↗ you know

1:14:39 ↗ recognized when we when we do things and

1:14:41 ↗ the same thing you mentioned also about

1:14:42 ↗ on looking at the

1:14:45 ↗ um religious groups

1:14:48 ↗ absolutely i i if there's existing

1:14:51 ↗ groups or organizations that have a

1:14:52 ↗ focus on those

1:14:54 ↗ larger numbers here let's let's do some

1:14:56 ↗ outreach to them so i would love it if

1:14:58 ↗ you

1:14:59 ↗ know of any that exists in asian

1:15:02 ↗ groups or hispanic latino groups that we

1:15:04 ↗ might reach out to as a community

1:15:07 ↗ as a community engagement committee um

1:15:10 ↗ please let me know

1:15:12 ↗ happy to talk to him

1:15:17 ↗ shea question i'm sorry yes i'm sorry i

1:15:19 ↗ had one more question because i know

1:15:21 ↗ that the asian population is made up of

1:15:23 ↗ a vast uh amount of groups

1:15:27 ↗ um did have we extrapolated any of that

1:15:29 ↗ data to determine which groups make up

1:15:32 ↗ that particular portion of our

1:15:35 ↗ i love that question because as an asian

1:15:37 ↗ myself what exactly does that 23.15

1:15:41 ↗ um break down to is it

1:15:43 ↗ japanese-american

1:15:44 ↗ chinese-american filipino-american um i

1:15:47 ↗ i think i don't know monica if that

1:15:48 ↗ breakdown has happened but whoever did

1:15:50 ↗ this if they have that next level i'd

1:15:52 ↗ love to have that information too that's

1:15:54 ↗ a great call out

1:15:56 ↗ yes thank you board members i believe

1:15:58 ↗ that yes we looked into that and we have

1:16:00 ↗ that data we can share it and follow up

1:16:02 ↗ on

1:16:04 ↗ that great great

1:16:08 ↗ thank you and pretty i saw you were next

1:16:10 ↗ followed by alyssa

1:16:12 ↗ yeah thank you so i guess i don't know

1:16:14 ↗ this is a question or a comment but you

1:16:16 ↗ know when i was looking at that asian

1:16:18 ↗ number

1:16:18 ↗ um the one one thing that struck me is

1:16:21 ↗ that

1:16:22 ↗ so there's there's organizations like

1:16:24 ↗ non-profits um

1:16:27 ↗ as well as religious you know

1:16:28 ↗ institutions that

1:16:32 ↗ asians you know largely would uh may um

1:16:36 ↗ they use

1:16:37 ↗ and but at the same time i don't

1:16:40 ↗ necessarily think those organizations

1:16:41 ↗ are based in issaquah but um they

1:16:45 ↗ they might be based in bellevue or

1:16:48 ↗ further north for example i'm thinking

1:16:49 ↗ of like hindu temples and things like

1:16:51 ↗ that so but the their service area would

1:16:54 ↗ also include folks who residents of

1:16:56 ↗ issaquah so

1:16:58 ↗ you know i think there's this service

1:17:00 ↗ area approach as well as like where you

1:17:03 ↗ know where the residents are to think

1:17:04 ↗ about so i would

1:17:06 ↗ i don't so i don't think the

1:17:07 ↗ organization needs to be based in

1:17:09 ↗ issaquah but it would the organization

1:17:11 ↗ may serve issaquah residents for example

1:17:14 ↗ so just wanted to make put that out

1:17:16 ↗ there

1:17:17 ↗ great call out great call out thank you

1:17:25 ↗ ready yeah go ahead

1:17:27 ↗ sure um one other piece of data that

1:17:29 ↗ might be interesting to add here

1:17:32 ↗ would be um socioeconomic

1:17:36 ↗ and the reason i call that out is i

1:17:38 ↗ think the needs of the community vary

1:17:40 ↗ greatly based on the socioeconomic

1:17:42 ↗ position of the groups we're talking

1:17:43 ↗ about

1:17:47 ↗ also a great call out thank you alyssa

1:17:53 ↗ and did we have anyone else

1:17:58 ↗ all right in the interest of time you

1:18:00 ↗ want to make sure that you have time to

1:18:02 ↗ get through the rest of the presentation

1:18:05 ↗ i i think i just had one more slide

1:18:07 ↗ after this that i wanted to share so

1:18:16 ↗ monica can you advance to that last

1:18:17 ↗ slide looks like slide number five

1:18:30 ↗ monica are you able to click to slide

1:18:31 ↗ number five just there's just one more

1:18:33 ↗ after this one that you're just

1:18:34 ↗ apologize ray i did i'm wondering if i

1:18:38 ↗ have some technical difficulties can you

1:18:40 ↗ see it on your screen

1:18:42 ↗ no oh here we go thank you perfect now

1:18:45 ↗ we can

1:18:46 ↗ thank you i think i have a delay in my

1:18:48 ↗ uh i apologize about that go for it

1:18:51 ↗ oh no problem so

1:18:53 ↗ again members foundational some strategy

1:18:55 ↗ considerations

1:18:57 ↗ i think this is key too right the top

1:18:59 ↗ one

1:19:00 ↗ let's not reinvent the wheel if there's

1:19:02 ↗ an existing relationship

1:19:04 ↗ that exists with issaquah the city of

1:19:06 ↗ visakwa partnerships

1:19:08 ↗ um let's also incorporate those uh we

1:19:11 ↗ can leverage that so monica as part of

1:19:13 ↗ the follow-up from our committee was to

1:19:16 ↗ see

1:19:17 ↗ excuse me who those organizations are

1:19:18 ↗ who might have an established

1:19:20 ↗ relationship with the city let's have a

1:19:21 ↗ discussion with them so i think that was

1:19:23 ↗ really key and that's one of the

1:19:24 ↗ takeaways that we have in preparation

1:19:26 ↗ for our next meeting is who are those

1:19:28 ↗ businesses that have that partnership

1:19:31 ↗ number the second one here is also very

1:19:34 ↗ important create new partnerships taking

1:19:36 ↗ into consideration

1:19:38 ↗ the demographic data from the city of

1:19:40 ↗ issaquah but i think from the previous

1:19:42 ↗ discussion breaking those down just

1:19:44 ↗ another layer and understanding like

1:19:46 ↗ pretty was saying they might not be

1:19:47 ↗ established here they just might have a

1:19:48 ↗ large population here so the established

1:19:51 ↗ whether it be the administrative group

1:19:53 ↗ that they they are um

1:19:55 ↗ uh report to or part of might exist

1:19:58 ↗ somewhere else

1:19:59 ↗ and then i shared this is a great

1:20:01 ↗ reference tool we talked about the

1:20:03 ↗ opportunity to connect with the

1:20:04 ↗ community based on what events happen

1:20:07 ↗ monthly we this is a great calendar that

1:20:10 ↗ we discussed for example stepping back

1:20:11 ↗ into june there was a focus on

1:20:13 ↗ juneteenth it was focused on lgbtqi so

1:20:16 ↗ that might give us some trajectory on

1:20:18 ↗ what we're trying to do as a community

1:20:19 ↗ engagement it might give us some some

1:20:21 ↗ ways by which we

1:20:23 ↗ outreach

1:20:24 ↗ to

1:20:26 ↗ organizations

1:20:27 ↗ based on what's happening on that

1:20:29 ↗ calendar

1:20:33 ↗ and a question from shay

1:20:36 ↗ see yes um when we are looking at um the

1:20:40 ↗ organizations we partner with um

1:20:43 ↗ to your point we want to make sure that

1:20:44 ↗ we foster those relationships with

1:20:45 ↗ existing community

1:20:48 ↗ engaged or

1:20:50 ↗ engagement that's already happening

1:20:52 ↗ however how are we vetting what

1:20:55 ↗ organizations we want to engage with

1:20:59 ↗ so for example and the first thing i

1:21:00 ↗ think about is is target they boast

1:21:02 ↗ their interest in equity and inclusion

1:21:05 ↗ um

1:21:07 ↗ and

1:21:09 ↗ i

1:21:10 ↗ i guess

1:21:11 ↗ i'm trying to figure out if there's

1:21:13 ↗ placement where i can actually assist or

1:21:16 ↗ help with that um

1:21:18 ↗ say for example if i do have a

1:21:20 ↗ contact at target and i can say hey

1:21:22 ↗ we're wanting to engage with you all a

1:21:24 ↗ little bit more um what process would i

1:21:27 ↗ need to take in order to support

1:21:30 ↗ if you have a contact

1:21:32 ↗ start with that and and i'm sure um it's

1:21:35 ↗ there they'll get you up the chain of

1:21:37 ↗ command

1:21:38 ↗ i have no doubt target being one of

1:21:39 ↗ those large organizations has an equity

1:21:41 ↗ strategy of some sort i'm interest we'll

1:21:44 ↗ make the introductions and see what

1:21:45 ↗ we're trying to do here if they have

1:21:46 ↗ specific strategies that exist we want

1:21:49 ↗ to be educated on them

1:21:51 ↗ um i think one of the things that we

1:21:52 ↗ talked about from our committee was

1:21:54 ↗ having them as guest speakers and saying

1:21:55 ↗ what are you doing as your organization

1:21:57 ↗ and can we share some data that's unique

1:21:59 ↗ to our city and how we might align

1:22:01 ↗ so

1:22:02 ↗ this is not just to usher but to

1:22:04 ↗ everybody here if there's an existing

1:22:05 ↗ relationship that we you have with a

1:22:07 ↗ business or an organization large or

1:22:09 ↗ small

1:22:10 ↗ make the introduction or if you want to

1:22:12 ↗ send it to me and we'll take it on as a

1:22:15 ↗ committee to do the outreach but i i

1:22:17 ↗ think we're again very foundational so

1:22:20 ↗ great question

1:22:22 ↗ thank you so much for that right

1:22:25 ↗ and monica if you're ready i think

1:22:27 ↗ you're the next person with a comment

1:22:30 ↗ thank you so much equity board members

1:22:32 ↗ um manche um

1:22:34 ↗ and i still want to commend

1:22:36 ↗ you ray and the rest of the community uh

1:22:40 ↗ engagement committee members as you

1:22:42 ↗ mentioned ray this feels daunting right

1:22:45 ↗ because it's just so much the more the

1:22:47 ↗ more you you start looking there's just

1:22:49 ↗ so much so many different aspects to

1:22:52 ↗ community engagement

1:22:54 ↗ i see this as being in multiple phases

1:22:57 ↗ right i think we are still at the very

1:22:59 ↗ beginning we are trying to

1:23:01 ↗ um now look and really look at what our

1:23:04 ↗ community looks like who is out there in

1:23:07 ↗ the community we are doing like very

1:23:10 ↗ meet and greet introductory uh

1:23:12 ↗ outreach right

1:23:14 ↗ as we start developing a more long-term

1:23:17 ↗ plan and as we continue with our

1:23:18 ↗ assessments and kind of like

1:23:20 ↗ prioritizing which equity items we are

1:23:22 ↗ going to tackle first i see a value in

1:23:26 ↗ also um intentionally outreaching to

1:23:29 ↗ certain segments of the population so

1:23:31 ↗ for example earlier you're talking about

1:23:33 ↗ you know our city demographics and how

1:23:36 ↗ let's say we have a large representation

1:23:39 ↗ of the asian community members but maybe

1:23:41 ↗ perhaps looking we have a very small

1:23:43 ↗ representation only two percent of that

1:23:46 ↗ being african-american black right while

1:23:48 ↗ i see the the value in outreaching to of

1:23:52 ↗ course all of our uh community members

1:23:55 ↗ there's gonna be a time when i want this

1:23:57 ↗ and it's gonna be great for us if we can

1:23:58 ↗ team up to outreach to some of the

1:24:01 ↗ community members who are not

1:24:02 ↗ represented and have those conversations

1:24:05 ↗ on why and what can we do as a community

1:24:08 ↗ to increase that population right and i

1:24:10 ↗ think i'm talking because this even came

1:24:12 ↗ up at the juneteen event right as a goal

1:24:15 ↗ lorna mentioned it so much how can we

1:24:17 ↗ increase our 2.2

1:24:20 ↗ population of of uh african-americans

1:24:22 ↗ how can we increase that more so

1:24:25 ↗ so

1:24:26 ↗ needless to say without going too much

1:24:28 ↗ in into

1:24:31 ↗ the rabbit hole here i think it's i

1:24:34 ↗ think i want to

1:24:35 ↗ for

1:24:36 ↗ for all of us to acknowledge that this

1:24:38 ↗ is daunting it is a lot of community

1:24:40 ↗ engagement we have multiple city

1:24:42 ↗ departments who are engaged we have an

1:24:44 ↗ economic development engages with

1:24:45 ↗ businesses we have a community

1:24:47 ↗ department who's engaging with uh um

1:24:52 ↗ hoas right and so we as a small equity

1:24:55 ↗ board we cannot

1:24:57 ↗ do it all so i want us to also partner

1:25:00 ↗ with those departments at the city

1:25:02 ↗ leverage the resources and also you know

1:25:05 ↗ as definitely continues because it's

1:25:07 ↗ important for us to let the community

1:25:09 ↗ know that we exist

1:25:11 ↗ and also like definitely invite everyone

1:25:13 ↗ learn as much as we can but also know

1:25:15 ↗ that perhaps we are going to focus once

1:25:18 ↗ once we prioritize let's say let's

1:25:20 ↗ create our priorities for 2023 then we

1:25:23 ↗ can have a more focused outreach based

1:25:25 ↗ on what our priorities are going to be

1:25:28 ↗ so i think at least that's how i see it

1:25:30 ↗ i would be curious to hear your thoughts

1:25:32 ↗ and what what do you think of that

1:25:37 ↗ no i think prioritization is key and and

1:25:39 ↗ i think the daunting task everybody

1:25:41 ↗ understands here that it's a daunting

1:25:43 ↗ task so it's building the relationships

1:25:45 ↗ that exists already and breaking it down

1:25:47 ↗ if we're going to create a strategy

1:25:48 ↗ around this monika i think we have to um

1:25:51 ↗ what i have in those slides it seems

1:25:53 ↗ very large we have to dissect that a

1:25:54 ↗ little bit which we started to do here

1:25:57 ↗ and leverage the relationships that

1:25:58 ↗ exist otherwise just going out there

1:26:00 ↗ without without some sort of strategy in

1:26:02 ↗ mind is is not a good idea

1:26:05 ↗ um i wanted to also because we have i'm

1:26:07 ↗ not the only committee member

1:26:10 ↗ here um kelly christina

1:26:12 ↗ um i know you're new new to the

1:26:14 ↗ committee but since from our last

1:26:16 ↗ meeting was there anything that you

1:26:17 ↗ wanted to share with the group based on

1:26:19 ↗ where we landed last and i know we have

1:26:20 ↗ another meeting to get on the calendar

1:26:28 ↗ i have a comment that's a little outside

1:26:30 ↗ of that and that is

1:26:32 ↗ i'm not exactly clear i think it was

1:26:34 ↗ shea and tony who and monica who worked

1:26:37 ↗ on the juneteenth and i think it was ray

1:26:39 ↗ and monica who worked on the pride event

1:26:42 ↗ they were both professional

1:26:44 ↗ interesting

1:26:45 ↗ good audience good questions good

1:26:48 ↗ interaction really well done i wanted to

1:26:51 ↗ make sure you heard that because it was

1:26:53 ↗ a lot of work to do it

1:26:54 ↗ and

1:26:55 ↗ i brought some conservative friends to

1:26:57 ↗ some of them and so

1:27:00 ↗ it did its job we had great

1:27:02 ↗ conversations thank you that's nice to

1:27:05 ↗ hear

1:27:07 ↗ thank you so much kelly

1:27:15 ↗ tony if you if you're ready to ask your

1:27:18 ↗ question

1:27:19 ↗ yeah actually kelly you mentioned that

1:27:21 ↗ you invited some of your conservative

1:27:22 ↗ friends we'd love to know what did they

1:27:24 ↗ think and what were their thoughts and

1:27:26 ↗ did you kind of follow up with them

1:27:28 ↗ you know yeah

1:27:30 ↗ that was our goal we were going to go

1:27:31 ↗ out to dinner after the juneteenth then

1:27:33 ↗ we did

1:27:35 ↗ um they were well

1:27:38 ↗ the keynote

1:27:40 ↗ delbert is phenomenal let me just say

1:27:42 ↗ that that was like the perfect choice

1:27:45 ↗ and the idea i almost jumped in to tell

1:27:47 ↗ him this but i didn't want to interrupt

1:27:48 ↗ his flow but

1:27:50 ↗ the

1:27:51 ↗ the senior center is sitting on the

1:27:53 ↗ property where the kkk demonstrated

1:27:57 ↗ historically that they're literally

1:27:59 ↗ sitting on the property so when he

1:28:01 ↗ brought that issue up

1:28:03 ↗ in the and that that's

1:28:05 ↗ you know i interpreted it as the

1:28:08 ↗ potential reason why there's 2.2 people

1:28:10 ↗ who are black in issachar right is

1:28:14 ↗ was mind-blowing for them

1:28:17 ↗ it was mind-blowing and then his

1:28:19 ↗ progression on our belief systems he

1:28:22 ↗ opens with a progression

1:28:24 ↗ about like where's egypt and

1:28:27 ↗ you know why you know

1:28:28 ↗ what is the middle east and he's like

1:28:30 ↗ making you think about your beliefs

1:28:33 ↗ and that

1:28:34 ↗ shook them now they were ready to be

1:28:36 ↗ shook and i knew that right because they

1:28:39 ↗ taught we talk

1:28:40 ↗ right they don't completely buy it but

1:28:43 ↗ they just need more and so

1:28:46 ↗ it was very fun for me

1:28:50 ↗ and them they learn stuff and that's

1:28:51 ↗ what matters and the pride event i

1:28:53 ↗ didn't bring anybody to and i really

1:28:55 ↗ should have but i learned stuff that i

1:28:57 ↗ did not know and that was really useful

1:29:00 ↗ for me and i've repeated it at least 10

1:29:02 ↗ times to people who don't know either

1:29:04 ↗ particularly that there was a student

1:29:06 ↗ who's trans in issaquah who left

1:29:09 ↗ issachar because he was not

1:29:12 ↗ she was not treated correctly and

1:29:15 ↗ i did not know and i'm just telling this

1:29:16 ↗ so that everybody knows this i did not

1:29:18 ↗ know that

1:29:21 ↗ when you're a trans youth they don't do

1:29:24 ↗ hormones until you're older they just do

1:29:27 ↗ blockers

1:29:28 ↗ that is key right now

1:29:31 ↗ right

1:29:32 ↗ and so

1:29:33 ↗ i just couldn't say more about how

1:29:37 ↗ good

1:29:38 ↗ both against were

1:29:41 ↗ you i'm so proud to be working with such

1:29:44 ↗ talented people who can pull those

1:29:46 ↗ things off

1:29:48 ↗ thank you thank you

1:29:55 ↗ i have to give a lot of credit to monica

1:29:57 ↗ she really pulls things together

1:29:59 ↗ so well

1:30:00 ↗ it helps us get to where we need to be

1:30:04 ↗ even on the fly she is able to just get

1:30:07 ↗ things done and i appreciate her so much

1:30:10 ↗ because she really

1:30:12 ↗ helps keep us grounded and focused and

1:30:14 ↗ not worried about the small things

1:30:18 ↗ so i i wholeheartedly appreciate that

1:30:20 ↗ comment kelly i think that um

1:30:23 ↗ you know it it really just kind of

1:30:24 ↗ reaffirms the work that we're doing and

1:30:27 ↗ um again i just want to recognize monica

1:30:30 ↗ for all the hard work she puts in to

1:30:31 ↗ make these events happen

1:30:34 ↗ we're here

1:30:35 ↗ oh shay humble thanks yet i don't feel i

1:30:38 ↗ deserve them you all worked so so very

1:30:41 ↗ hard we are just here to support and do

1:30:43 ↗ the work i know

1:30:45 ↗ even for the pride event

1:30:47 ↗ magnificent job say tony everyone and

1:30:50 ↗ our friends at the baha'i

1:30:53 ↗ of issaquah i think everyone worked

1:30:55 ↗ equally and and really really hard so

1:30:59 ↗ thank you humble thanks but yeah i can't

1:31:03 ↗ take credit for for all that hard work

1:31:05 ↗ that everyone it takes a whole team and

1:31:07 ↗ you all know it takes a lot of time and

1:31:09 ↗ effort and energy to put the events but

1:31:13 ↗ definitely um

1:31:14 ↗ very very successful so

1:31:18 ↗ very proud of our city for sure our

1:31:21 ↗ equity board so

1:31:26 ↗ thank you thank you all

1:31:28 ↗ all right and um ray i'm sorry oh oh

1:31:32 ↗ alyssa i'm sorry

1:31:34 ↗ if you're ready please and then i see

1:31:36 ↗ you okay

1:31:38 ↗ really quick i just wanted to say

1:31:40 ↗ kudos to kelly for

1:31:43 ↗ inviting your friends um

1:31:45 ↗ and and also to your friends for not

1:31:48 ↗ only coming but having an open mind

1:31:50 ↗ enough to listen to something that

1:31:51 ↗ wasn't necessarily

1:31:53 ↗ their opinion going in so thank you for

1:31:56 ↗ doing that

1:32:02 ↗ it's the work

1:32:04 ↗ right that is the work

1:32:06 ↗ one to one

1:32:09 ↗ yes

1:32:10 ↗ i'm sorry are you ready

1:32:20 ↗ i'm sorry i was just saying shout out to

1:32:22 ↗ monica marisol in the baha'i community

1:32:24 ↗ for organizing that event because they

1:32:26 ↗ really helped the welcoming portion and

1:32:29 ↗ organization and so forth thank you all

1:32:32 ↗ yes i was

1:32:35 ↗ sorry god no i was just gonna say ted

1:32:38 ↗ and sabo were so very great to work with

1:32:41 ↗ um

1:32:42 ↗ so

1:32:43 ↗ uh definitely i i

1:32:46 ↗ agree with all the sediments that we've

1:32:47 ↗ had tonight about some of the events

1:32:50 ↗ that have occurred in the last

1:32:52 ↗ month and i think along with that

1:32:56 ↗ we definitely need to thank um

1:32:58 ↗ uh

1:33:00 ↗ lorna and lucrecia the other equity

1:33:02 ↗ board members who uh got on the stage

1:33:06 ↗ with tony and kelly as well

1:33:10 ↗ at the juneteen event

1:33:12 ↗ to to lead that very meaningful

1:33:14 ↗ community conversation

1:33:17 ↗ um and putting your hearts out there

1:33:20 ↗ that is not easy to do um and also tony

1:33:24 ↗ just cannot say thanks enough for just

1:33:28 ↗ being flexible and nimble and jumping in

1:33:31 ↗ last minute and

1:33:32 ↗ you know

1:33:34 ↗ running the event so again that's why

1:33:36 ↗ those are those are the big big big uh

1:33:41 ↗ sacrifices and because those are

1:33:43 ↗ sacrifices when you put your heart out

1:33:48 ↗ for the community and so

1:33:51 ↗ yeah for those big big things for sure

1:33:55 ↗ um i know ray had to to leave early

1:33:57 ↗ today good evening to you ray

1:34:00 ↗ um

1:34:01 ↗ and so since i still have i just if with

1:34:04 ↗ your permission i would definitely love

1:34:05 ↗ to uh thank um

1:34:08 ↗ the rest of the human services team

1:34:10 ↗ uh it again it takes a team there's a

1:34:12 ↗ lot of work behind the team and the the

1:34:15 ↗ scene that that needs to happen

1:34:17 ↗ and they were there from setting up to

1:34:19 ↗ breaking down to

1:34:20 ↗ anything that needed to be done very

1:34:22 ↗ very appreciative of

1:34:24 ↗ of the team and their multitasking

1:34:27 ↗ whether they do homeless outreach or put

1:34:29 ↗ out events

1:34:30 ↗ or anything that's needed they are there

1:34:34 ↗ so i'm very very much appreciating them

1:34:38 ↗ in the morning they might be doing

1:34:39 ↗ community court in the evening they're

1:34:41 ↗ doing an event and so it's nice to have

1:34:43 ↗ that

1:34:45 ↗ that team so thank you to all of you

1:34:52 ↗ alrighty if we don't have any more

1:34:54 ↗ questions or comments um i think we can

1:34:57 ↗ jump back to our next agenda item um is

1:35:00 ↗ everyone ready for monica to present on

1:35:03 ↗ the community equity assessment

1:35:07 ↗ alrighty monica you have the floor

1:35:10 ↗ thank you very much say and you know

1:35:12 ↗ ironically we had talked about the

1:35:14 ↗ events i think the events were in the

1:35:16 ↗ staff report so i love how today we just

1:35:19 ↗ went all around the agenda

1:35:21 ↗ you know as long as we are like tackling

1:35:23 ↗ all the all the things on the agenda we

1:35:26 ↗ are there but uh i i had to chuckle a

1:35:28 ↗ little bit that was a kid for us to do

1:35:30 ↗ that so but we can right

1:35:36 ↗ so

1:35:37 ↗ equity board members with your

1:35:38 ↗ permission

1:35:40 ↗ i thought i would provide an update as

1:35:43 ↗ kind of like as probably keeping a

1:35:45 ↗ little bit of conversation on kind of

1:35:47 ↗ like where we are in the work that we

1:35:48 ↗ were assigned on the assessment

1:35:51 ↗ the equity assessment and i think it

1:35:53 ↗ kind of like ties into

1:35:55 ↗ everything that we've been talking

1:35:57 ↗ tonight and i was sharing with ray

1:35:59 ↗ earlier that i think it's actually

1:36:01 ↗ better that he went first because a lot

1:36:03 ↗ of what we're gonna do really has to

1:36:05 ↗ align

1:36:06 ↗ uh and i would love to find alignment

1:36:08 ↗ with the work of the equity

1:36:11 ↗ um

1:36:12 ↗ with the community engagement committee

1:36:16 ↗ so

1:36:16 ↗ [Music]

1:36:17 ↗ remember we had talked last month and we

1:36:21 ↗ started tackling i think a little bit

1:36:23 ↗ more

1:36:24 ↗ um

1:36:25 ↗ directly the the equity assessment um

1:36:30 ↗ task that's really gonna take us i think

1:36:33 ↗ um

1:36:34 ↗ for most of the remainder of the year as

1:36:37 ↗ i envision it and i think at the end of

1:36:40 ↗ this year this

1:36:42 ↗ equity assessment will also help us

1:36:45 ↗ inform our work plan for next year

1:36:49 ↗ and so

1:36:51 ↗ just a lot of this is a little bit of

1:36:52 ↗ review

1:36:54 ↗ uh like where we started and what's the

1:36:55 ↗ background and this wanted to touch base

1:36:58 ↗ with you a little bit on kind of like

1:36:59 ↗ the assessment process

1:37:01 ↗ uh and discuss a little bit on where we

1:37:04 ↗ are what are still the next steps

1:37:07 ↗ um and then would love to have a

1:37:08 ↗ conversation with you on what are some

1:37:11 ↗ other ways to engage the community on

1:37:12 ↗ this specific

1:37:14 ↗ uh process

1:37:16 ↗ i want to get your feedback on whether

1:37:17 ↗ or not should we even consider a survey

1:37:20 ↗ in addition to the outreach that we are

1:37:22 ↗ doing with the community

1:37:24 ↗ uh engagement committee

1:37:26 ↗ and um

1:37:29 ↗ otherwise with with my outreach as well

1:37:32 ↗ and then get your feedback on some of

1:37:34 ↗ the research

1:37:36 ↗ so

1:37:39 ↗ just a brief overview we didn't touch

1:37:42 ↗ too much on this

1:37:44 ↗ but um a couple of years ago when the

1:37:47 ↗ city started a more intentional effort

1:37:50 ↗ on equity

1:37:52 ↗ with this they divided

1:37:55 ↗ knowing how

1:37:56 ↗ overwhelming the task can be just to

1:37:59 ↗ address equity at the city

1:38:01 ↗ at that time

1:38:02 ↗ we divided the roles into two sections

1:38:05 ↗ internal to the city

1:38:07 ↗ and then that was assigned to our hr

1:38:09 ↗ department leading being the lead in in

1:38:12 ↗ the internal equity

1:38:14 ↗ initiatives and then the community

1:38:16 ↗ facing equity initiatives and those were

1:38:19 ↗ assigned to

1:38:21 ↗ the human services

1:38:23 ↗ um

1:38:24 ↗ at that time human services was just me

1:38:26 ↗ and myself and i uh but now we have an

1:38:29 ↗ actual division on that so

1:38:32 ↗ um with the human resources department

1:38:34 ↗ you met we have a

1:38:36 ↗ city's equity consultant right now

1:38:38 ↗ channel kelly ray you met her she's

1:38:41 ↗ actually leading that effort and we are

1:38:44 ↗ going to coordinate with her and

1:38:45 ↗ collaborate we are going to have her

1:38:47 ↗ back here in the next few months uh as

1:38:50 ↗ she is doing more advancement and

1:38:52 ↗ creating meeting individually with some

1:38:54 ↗ city staff as you saw she's conducting

1:38:57 ↗ some trainings with boards and

1:38:58 ↗ commissions she's doing some surveys on

1:39:01 ↗ her end so uh we are going to coordinate

1:39:03 ↗ with her on our end as we are getting to

1:39:06 ↗ can

1:39:07 ↗ learn more about the community

1:39:11 ↗ initiatives in terms of equity in in our

1:39:13 ↗ community but also learning more about

1:39:16 ↗ the city and the different departments

1:39:18 ↗ so we are in this kind of like um

1:39:22 ↗ informing and educational

1:39:24 ↗ gathering information and assessing

1:39:27 ↗ uh what's available right that that

1:39:29 ↗ resource mapping we had talked about

1:39:33 ↗ um so in terms of a process i think what

1:39:36 ↗ we

1:39:37 ↗ um

1:39:41 ↗ what we put us as initial

1:39:43 ↗ um

1:39:45 ↗ process was that we are gonna start

1:39:47 ↗ definitely this this has to be a

1:39:50 ↗ heavily community engagement process a

1:39:52 ↗ heavily uh

1:39:54 ↗ community-led process so we do want to

1:39:57 ↗ reach out and and you heard from ray

1:40:00 ↗ on the efforts that we are doing with

1:40:01 ↗ the committee and um

1:40:04 ↗ more on that for sure uh we want to

1:40:07 ↗ start conducting research on how to go

1:40:10 ↗ about the assessment

1:40:11 ↗ um

1:40:12 ↗ what type of information in addition to

1:40:14 ↗ community engagement that we should look

1:40:16 ↗ uh what consists of an equity assessment

1:40:19 ↗ for the city

1:40:20 ↗ um

1:40:21 ↗ from the equity engagement and the

1:40:23 ↗ research we hope then to identify the

1:40:26 ↗ needs uh in our community and also

1:40:29 ↗ internally to the city and once we have

1:40:31 ↗ those needs then we can prioritize

1:40:35 ↗ what needs and what um

1:40:38 ↗ items and initiatives we are going to

1:40:40 ↗ tackle first in in 2023 so that's gonna

1:40:44 ↗ basically inform our work plan for next

1:40:46 ↗ year right uh so again starting with the

1:40:48 ↗ community engagement learning

1:40:51 ↗ what's uh what's in our city

1:40:53 ↗ specifically looking at what

1:40:55 ↗ data is available in the city and

1:40:57 ↗ outside identifying the needs and then

1:41:00 ↗ prioritize those action steps

1:41:03 ↗ so in terms of the community engagement

1:41:05 ↗ process i think this is a visual you saw

1:41:07 ↗ this also last time

1:41:10 ↗ we are starting with

1:41:12 ↗ with mapping out those resources

1:41:15 ↗ uh we are learning on one end the city

1:41:18 ↗ departments what each department is

1:41:20 ↗ doing how they are working their role in

1:41:22 ↗ the city how they may or may not tackle

1:41:24 ↗ equity we are going to go externally in

1:41:27 ↗ the community to hear from the different

1:41:29 ↗ groups

1:41:30 ↗ um we are gonna collaborate with the

1:41:32 ↗ equity consultant

1:41:34 ↗ um and then also just residents

1:41:37 ↗ individual residents um

1:41:40 ↗ as well

1:41:42 ↗ um

1:41:43 ↗ you heard this before um we definitely

1:41:46 ↗ want to have that at the forefront of

1:41:48 ↗ what we do we never want to do it for

1:41:50 ↗ the community we want to always whatever

1:41:52 ↗ we do do it with the community um so we

1:41:55 ↗ talked a little bit again about this

1:41:57 ↗ tonight this is just a brief overview

1:42:00 ↗ it's kind of like putting it as a visual

1:42:02 ↗ that we want

1:42:04 ↗ to different ways in which we can engage

1:42:06 ↗ right we want to participate in the

1:42:08 ↗ community

1:42:09 ↗ not just invite others to us but go out

1:42:12 ↗ in the community but we also want to do

1:42:14 ↗ outreach you heard ray talk about the

1:42:16 ↗ outreach to businesses the non-profits

1:42:19 ↗ residents

1:42:20 ↗ uh we perhaps want to participate in

1:42:22 ↗ events um this was brought up at one of

1:42:25 ↗ our community engagement

1:42:27 ↗ committees

1:42:28 ↗ let's go to the farmers market let's go

1:42:30 ↗ to concerts let's go to different events

1:42:33 ↗ that are happening to

1:42:35 ↗ engage there as well

1:42:37 ↗ again the work that the community

1:42:39 ↗ engagement committee is doing and then

1:42:41 ↗ also invitations to the the board here

1:42:44 ↗ um

1:42:45 ↗ we are hearing from city departments but

1:42:48 ↗ we also want to hear from other

1:42:49 ↗ communities as well

1:42:51 ↗ um

1:42:52 ↗ so certainly just different ways for us

1:42:54 ↗ to gather that information

1:42:57 ↗ um and then um before i go there i you

1:43:01 ↗ we talked again about the june tint

1:43:03 ↗ event and other events that that we

1:43:04 ↗ conducted um

1:43:06 ↗ but we also

1:43:08 ↗ i started kind of like a running list of

1:43:12 ↗ different needs and different

1:43:14 ↗ um

1:43:16 ↗ suggestions that came out of different

1:43:19 ↗ engagement opportunities that we had

1:43:21 ↗ whether that was one-on-one discussions

1:43:24 ↗ with smaller groups or individual

1:43:26 ↗ residents that we had a chance to engage

1:43:28 ↗ with or from the most recent events

1:43:31 ↗ that we

1:43:33 ↗ hosted

1:43:34 ↗ these are some preliminary information

1:43:37 ↗ and and some suggestions

1:43:39 ↗ uh that perhaps we can consider

1:43:43 ↗ gender wage gaps um as as an initiative

1:43:47 ↗ that we can tackle um addressing

1:43:50 ↗ unconscious bias and discrimination in

1:43:52 ↗ customer service

1:43:54 ↗ specifically for african-american black

1:43:56 ↗ residents

1:44:07 ↗ um

1:44:09 ↗ community members and residents

1:44:11 ↗ this was brought up in one of the public

1:44:13 ↗ comments you may remember early on

1:44:16 ↗ right after this board was launched but

1:44:19 ↗ also of course it came up

1:44:20 ↗ in our most recent event

1:44:23 ↗ um how can we

1:44:24 ↗ address uh disproportionate inequities

1:44:27 ↗ for the latinx residents this i'm gonna

1:44:30 ↗ talk a little bit in a few minutes as

1:44:31 ↗ well but this was evident in

1:44:34 ↗ in our human services strategic plan on

1:44:37 ↗ um

1:44:38 ↗ and there's a lot of information about

1:44:40 ↗ our latinx community members

1:44:43 ↗ um

1:44:45 ↗ and again just how can we address

1:44:47 ↗ diversity inclusion in all levels of

1:44:49 ↗ government including boards and

1:44:51 ↗ commissions and elected

1:44:53 ↗ officers

1:44:54 ↗ and offices

1:44:56 ↗ so again this is not um this is just a

1:45:00 ↗ list of uh different

1:45:03 ↗ um needs that came up already

1:45:06 ↗ um i expect then by the end of the year

1:45:09 ↗ this this list is going to be much much

1:45:11 ↗ longer based on the engagement that we

1:45:13 ↗ are doing and so i envisioned that um

1:45:17 ↗ at the end of

1:45:18 ↗ this year then we will

1:45:20 ↗ have um a great conversation and we are

1:45:23 ↗ gonna try to

1:45:25 ↗ um

1:45:26 ↗ use certain criteria to

1:45:28 ↗ prioritize some of the initiatives for

1:45:31 ↗ us to

1:45:32 ↗ to tackle and perhaps some of them we

1:45:33 ↗ can even tackle this year

1:45:36 ↗ depending on timing

1:45:40 ↗ so with that in terms of where we are

1:45:43 ↗ and a lot of work that still need to

1:45:46 ↗ happen for us to to really inform

1:45:49 ↗ ourselves and gather information

1:45:52 ↗ uh if you remember last time we had the

1:45:54 ↗ office of sustainability

1:45:57 ↗ and we heard a little bit about from our

1:46:00 ↗ engineers about the ada

1:46:03 ↗ um

1:46:04 ↗ plans the city is doing today you heard

1:46:07 ↗ from the finance department

1:46:09 ↗ next month uh we have the executive

1:46:12 ↗ department our city

1:46:14 ↗ administrator will be here to present

1:46:17 ↗ uh we are also

1:46:18 ↗ hoping to hear from the isoquake in the

1:46:20 ↗ equity group

1:46:22 ↗ um we engage with pcc market as ray

1:46:25 ↗ mentioned and

1:46:27 ↗ we are going to continue to connect with

1:46:29 ↗ them

1:46:30 ↗ in september we hope to hear from the

1:46:32 ↗ economic development department and the

1:46:34 ↗ police department we are reaching out to

1:46:36 ↗ see if the school district equity team

1:46:38 ↗ and the student equity team is going to

1:46:41 ↗ be available either in september or

1:46:43 ↗ october to come here for a visit

1:46:46 ↗ uh and then in october we have as a

1:46:48 ↗ tentative hopefully

1:46:50 ↗ a conversation with the city's equity

1:46:52 ↗ consultant

1:46:54 ↗ right to breed is scheduled for october

1:46:56 ↗ also for a presentation

1:46:58 ↗ and for opportunities to collaborate

1:47:00 ↗ with them as well as other community

1:47:03 ↗ equity groups

1:47:06 ↗ so a few uh months ahead very busy

1:47:11 ↗ months um and while we are going to

1:47:14 ↗ continue to engage with these groups

1:47:16 ↗ again we are going to dive deeper into

1:47:18 ↗ conducting research on what other cities

1:47:20 ↗ are doing what are their jurisdictions

1:47:22 ↗ what other examples we want to share

1:47:24 ↗ with you examples of

1:47:26 ↗ good equity assessments that were

1:47:29 ↗ conducted

1:47:31 ↗ and so

1:47:33 ↗ probably it feels a little bit daunting

1:47:36 ↗ already because it feels like a lot

1:47:38 ↗ um but i think it's also exciting and

1:47:41 ↗ very important for us to to gather all

1:47:43 ↗ of that information

1:47:45 ↗ um

1:47:46 ↗ and so with that i would like to pause

1:47:48 ↗ and and have a brief discussion with you

1:47:51 ↗ uh on other ways to engage with the

1:47:53 ↗ kimchi i know that you already touch

1:47:54 ↗ base with ray a little bit on that so we

1:47:57 ↗ don't need to go in much detail i don't

1:47:58 ↗ want to repeat that

1:48:00 ↗ uh because we want to coordinate with

1:48:02 ↗ the

1:48:03 ↗ with the committee

1:48:04 ↗ but one thing in particular that i was

1:48:06 ↗ hoping to discuss with you is whether or

1:48:09 ↗ not you consider it might be appropriate

1:48:11 ↗ to in addition to the outreach that we

1:48:13 ↗ do should we also consider a survey just

1:48:16 ↗ to hear from from residents who might

1:48:18 ↗ not be connected to an agency or

1:48:19 ↗ organization

1:48:21 ↗ and then if if there are any research

1:48:23 ↗ details in particular that you would be

1:48:26 ↗ interested in as i mentioned we are

1:48:28 ↗ definitely going to look into

1:48:30 ↗ what other

1:48:31 ↗ jurisdictions are doing i want to look

1:48:33 ↗ into some data demographics would like

1:48:36 ↗ to look into some good examples of

1:48:39 ↗ assessments but what else should we

1:48:41 ↗ consider

1:48:43 ↗ and i'm gonna pause because i talked at

1:48:45 ↗ you for like 10 minutes here

1:48:46 ↗ continuously

1:49:04 ↗ um you're either thinking very deep or i

1:49:07 ↗ just i was just so clear that

1:49:09 ↗ [Laughter]

1:49:11 ↗ or so

1:49:12 ↗ confusing

1:49:14 ↗ pretty's ready i think she's gonna lead

1:49:16 ↗ us off here

1:49:18 ↗ so

1:49:19 ↗ i'll just start off by saying i love

1:49:21 ↗ this stuff i absolutely love this stuff

1:49:24 ↗ and so um

1:49:27 ↗ i would love to help support this work

1:49:29 ↗ in whatever way i can um

1:49:31 ↗ what what i've been thinking about is

1:49:34 ↗ you know community engagement is so

1:49:36 ↗ important i think it's also like we've

1:49:39 ↗ talked about relationships so i think

1:49:41 ↗ it's not just like a one-way thing it's

1:49:43 ↗ developing relationships feedback

1:49:46 ↗ folks tell us you know what's important

1:49:48 ↗ to them they hear back from us what

1:49:50 ↗ we're doing about it and so just kind of

1:49:52 ↗ having that

1:49:54 ↗ i also think community engagement and

1:49:56 ↗ what we're hearing in events and

1:49:58 ↗ meetings that's

1:50:00 ↗ qualitative data

1:50:02 ↗ and i think that

1:50:05 ↗ there's also i

1:50:07 ↗ i would think an important role for

1:50:09 ↗ survey data if it's done well to um

1:50:13 ↗ to work like that mixed methods approach

1:50:16 ↗ around like

1:50:17 ↗ qualitative information as well as like

1:50:20 ↗ uh

1:50:22 ↗ a full sampling of our diverse community

1:50:25 ↗ and understanding what our different

1:50:26 ↗ communities are telling us and so

1:50:29 ↗ um i do think that's an important

1:50:31 ↗ balance to it i think that uh community

1:50:34 ↗ organizations are um have their ears to

1:50:39 ↗ the ground in terms of understanding the

1:50:41 ↗ pulse of our different groups and so um

1:50:45 ↗ i mean i think this is really important

1:50:47 ↗ and i think having these different

1:50:48 ↗ approaches will help us kind of uh from

1:50:51 ↗ a

1:50:52 ↗ form a well-rounded perspective of what

1:50:55 ↗ community needs are by various groups so

1:50:59 ↗ i'm just excited by this approach so

1:51:00 ↗ thanks for sharing it monica

1:51:05 ↗ thank you so much pretty and with your

1:51:07 ↗ permission would love to follow up with

1:51:08 ↗ you as is if we if the board considers

1:51:11 ↗ and we move forward with a survey would

1:51:13 ↗ love to follow up with you and

1:51:14 ↗ and get some you know input from you for

1:51:17 ↗ sure

1:51:24 ↗ it's funny that's exactly what i was

1:51:25 ↗ thinking about too

1:51:27 ↗ fast when i saw the survey i keep on

1:51:29 ↗ thinking of all the surveys that

1:51:31 ↗ um i've

1:51:32 ↗ done with my work and there's sometimes

1:51:36 ↗ just the people who are interested

1:51:38 ↗ respond and i know in the city's

1:51:41 ↗ emails i'm not sure how many people who

1:51:43 ↗ really impacted

1:51:44 ↗ uh communities who need the most support

1:51:46 ↗ would actually respond i mean honestly

1:51:49 ↗ monica this is very embarrassing but i

1:51:51 ↗ only found out that the city sends

1:51:53 ↗ emails about a year and a half ago

1:51:55 ↗ and so you know how do we gather data

1:51:58 ↗ from

1:51:58 ↗ the everyday people the new people who

1:52:01 ↗ are in our community

1:52:02 ↗ the people who maybe not speak english

1:52:04 ↗ for example and so just as pretty was

1:52:07 ↗ mentioning i think

1:52:08 ↗ i'm hoping that we can use some of our

1:52:10 ↗ next few events

1:52:11 ↗ to do in-person surveys

1:52:14 ↗ also combining kelly's comments about

1:52:17 ↗ it's that personal one-on-one

1:52:19 ↗ conversation that gathered information

1:52:22 ↗ so

1:52:22 ↗ i don't know how we go about doing it if

1:52:24 ↗ we have some volunteers at some of our

1:52:27 ↗ events have conversations or if we have

1:52:30 ↗ conversations with some of the community

1:52:31 ↗ members and gather data because i think

1:52:34 ↗ that would help

1:52:35 ↗ generate the most amount of data

1:52:37 ↗ especially from

1:52:38 ↗ a wider group of people

1:52:40 ↗ to get some input and voices because we

1:52:43 ↗ need you know everyone's viewpoints

1:52:45 ↗ different religions different political

1:52:48 ↗ backgrounds different ethnicities all of

1:52:50 ↗ that and so i think i love the idea of

1:52:53 ↗ survey but at the same time i always get

1:52:55 ↗ really

1:52:56 ↗ worried because i've seen

1:52:58 ↗ the survey not really be indicative of

1:53:02 ↗ what the community is thinking because

1:53:04 ↗ who's actually responding to the survey

1:53:07 ↗ so i'd love to

1:53:08 ↗ i love that idea i just

1:53:11 ↗ combining kelly's comments also in the

1:53:14 ↗ one-on-one conversation and building

1:53:16 ↗ relationships and monica you had also

1:53:18 ↗ mentioned one of the ways you got this

1:53:19 ↗ group to come together or work with

1:53:21 ↗ different groups is developing that

1:53:23 ↗ relationship

1:53:24 ↗ to begin with

1:53:26 ↗ with each person

1:53:29 ↗ thank you

1:53:35 ↗ thank you very much lorna and yes that's

1:53:37 ↗ why i think it's like um

1:53:39 ↗ it's it sounds to me more i hear you all

1:53:42 ↗ it it does

1:53:44 ↗ it's i i feel like we need to try

1:53:47 ↗ different ways to make sure that we get

1:53:49 ↗ to

1:53:50 ↗ to as

1:53:51 ↗ many community members as we can right

1:53:54 ↗ so absolutely there's just no

1:53:57 ↗ it's so invaluable to have those

1:53:59 ↗ one-on-one conversations and to have

1:54:01 ↗ those meaningful outreach events and

1:54:04 ↗ perhaps there's also something that that

1:54:06 ↗ we can learn from some quantitative data

1:54:09 ↗ not that we again we want to

1:54:10 ↗ intentionally not to

1:54:13 ↗ um

1:54:15 ↗ um

1:54:16 ↗ have one way more than the other uh but

1:54:19 ↗ i think combined they can give us a

1:54:21 ↗ broader and deeper perspective

1:54:28 ↗ thank you

1:54:36 ↗ are you still thinking or do you have a

1:54:38 ↗ comment suggestion or question

1:54:44 ↗ i was actually just typing something uh

1:54:45 ↗ so thank you for asking i appreciate

1:54:47 ↗ that um

1:54:49 ↗ yeah i was actually um still deep

1:54:51 ↗ thinking about everything and i i like

1:54:52 ↗ where we're going and i like the the

1:54:55 ↗ nature of you know the community

1:54:56 ↗ engagement and this it really is going

1:54:58 ↗ to take those one-on-one relationships

1:55:00 ↗ but i think also that we can do some

1:55:03 ↗ things that are

1:55:04 ↗ passively

1:55:06 ↗ um

1:55:06 ↗ beneficial what i mean by passively

1:55:08 ↗ beneficial at like issaquah events such

1:55:10 ↗ as like salmon days if we actually had

1:55:12 ↗ maybe an equity board table or equity

1:55:15 ↗ board tent

1:55:17 ↗ we're engaging in the community in a

1:55:19 ↗ passive nature uh or you know where they

1:55:22 ↗ even be passing out flyers passing you

1:55:24 ↗ know having a chance to sit down and i

1:55:27 ↗ don't know enjoy a smoothie with a

1:55:30 ↗ with a community member at salmon days

1:55:32 ↗ or something like that i think as we

1:55:35 ↗ get more

1:55:37 ↗ i don't know get more more of a

1:55:39 ↗ strategic focus on what we're going to

1:55:40 ↗ be doing i think you know

1:55:42 ↗ passively as well as

1:55:45 ↗ i don't want to call it aggressively but

1:55:47 ↗ really just getting out there to the

1:55:49 ↗ community in a passive and um and an end

1:55:52 ↗ in an intentional way

1:55:58 ↗ that's great thank you thanks so much

1:56:02 ↗ uh

1:56:04 ↗ christina do you have a comment

1:56:23 ↗ and

1:56:24 ↗ so try to identify what kind of

1:56:26 ↗ activities they can be involved

1:56:29 ↗ and

1:56:30 ↗ then decide how we can

1:56:33 ↗ um try to connect

1:56:36 ↗ thank you

1:56:37 ↗ that's a great idea to definitely think

1:56:39 ↗ of the different ages of the populations

1:56:41 ↗ when we do that outreach yeah that's a

1:56:43 ↗ great great suggestion thank you

1:56:47 ↗ uh shay

1:56:49 ↗ yes and i was actually thinking about

1:56:51 ↗ the farmers market um specifically

1:56:53 ↗ because i know that

1:56:55 ↗ the pickering burn events

1:56:57 ↗ tend to be well attended um

1:57:01 ↗ so to tony's point i think it might be

1:57:04 ↗ helpful if we had like a table or

1:57:06 ↗ something set up

1:57:07 ↗ um to where we can share some of the

1:57:10 ↗ things that we are working on how the

1:57:12 ↗ community can get involved the resources

1:57:15 ↗ that they may not know that they have

1:57:17 ↗ um

1:57:19 ↗ i

1:57:20 ↗ and and much like everyone else i'm kind

1:57:23 ↗ of thinking about the best ways to get

1:57:24 ↗ the information

1:57:26 ↗ into people's hands without um

1:57:29 ↗ without the

1:57:30 ↗ [Music]

1:57:31 ↗ i guess you would say fatigues of

1:57:34 ↗ surveys and the fatigues of meetings and

1:57:37 ↗ and things like that and how we can um

1:57:39 ↗ reach everyone most effectively um

1:57:43 ↗ as i'm sure you all know i'm a huge

1:57:45 ↗ proponent for

1:57:47 ↗ community forum sites like next door and

1:57:50 ↗ and things like that where we can reach

1:57:52 ↗ people in different ways um

1:57:55 ↗ i i love the idea i'm just trying to

1:57:58 ↗ think of the best way to get the most

1:58:01 ↗ responses so we have a complete picture

1:58:04 ↗ um and and we have some very valid data

1:58:07 ↗ versus some skewed data from preaching

1:58:10 ↗ to the choir

1:58:12 ↗ i guess you would say

1:58:15 ↗ well and thank you for bringing that up

1:58:17 ↗ say you know when we talk about equity

1:58:20 ↗ though

1:58:21 ↗ i think

1:58:22 ↗ that having skewed data i think that's

1:58:25 ↗ okay because for me it's when we talk

1:58:28 ↗ about true equity it's not that we need

1:58:30 ↗ to say okay the majority leads or we

1:58:33 ↗ need to have a majority right we need to

1:58:35 ↗ dive deeper and look at what are the

1:58:38 ↗ disproportionalities and who are the

1:58:39 ↗ people who are most impacted so perhaps

1:58:42 ↗ we are not necessarily

1:58:44 ↗ or

1:58:45 ↗ interested in having a majority right

1:58:48 ↗ it's it's having

1:58:49 ↗ those who are impacted the most and

1:58:52 ↗ those are the ones that we need to hear

1:58:53 ↗ from

1:58:54 ↗ uh

1:58:55 ↗ because if we hear from a larger

1:58:57 ↗ majority and everybody says oh no

1:58:59 ↗ everything's fine then we might just

1:59:01 ↗ have that might be as cute data to say

1:59:03 ↗ oh no everything's fine

1:59:06 ↗ right and with that i want to share i

1:59:08 ↗ remember when i first joined um

1:59:11 ↗ equity training

1:59:13 ↗ somebody said you know everybody was

1:59:16 ↗ trying to say okay so what are the needs

1:59:17 ↗ what are the challenges that you have in

1:59:20 ↗ in your organization or in your

1:59:22 ↗ community and i remember that somebody

1:59:24 ↗ else and

1:59:28 ↗ raised their hands and mentioned well in

1:59:30 ↗ our organization we don't really have

1:59:32 ↗ any problems because we we don't you

1:59:36 ↗ know we don't have people who are

1:59:38 ↗ impacted we don't have people who are

1:59:40 ↗ poor we don't

1:59:41 ↗ so we really don't have a problem

1:59:43 ↗ everything's fine

1:59:44 ↗ and so

1:59:46 ↗ uh i think that's like right it just

1:59:48 ↗ reminds me that we want to i'm totally

1:59:51 ↗ okay with having skilled data and not

1:59:53 ↗ having the majority right

1:59:55 ↗ so

1:59:56 ↗ yeah yes and great point and i think i

1:59:59 ↗ was more so meaning that we get like the

2:00:01 ↗ cleanest data so that we can get the

2:00:03 ↗ needs addressed um

2:00:06 ↗ which to your point is is very difficult

2:00:08 ↗ because for um when you're coming from a

2:00:12 ↗ place of privilege and you're not really

2:00:14 ↗ sure that those things are impacting you

2:00:16 ↗ in some way that's where

2:00:18 ↗ uh we lose a lot of that data um

2:00:22 ↗ that that could be necessary so um i

2:00:24 ↗ almost wonder

2:00:26 ↗ how we get to

2:00:28 ↗ i guess for lack of a better term those

2:00:30 ↗ marginalized groups who may not be

2:00:32 ↗ represented in in the larger groups

2:00:37 ↗ and those are the things the key things

2:00:39 ↗ for us to be mindful of and be

2:00:41 ↗ intentional about reaching out to either

2:00:43 ↗ as focus groups or surveys

2:00:45 ↗ uh in personal meetings right so okay

2:00:49 ↗ now great conversation great suggestions

2:00:52 ↗ definitely we'll will continue to work

2:00:54 ↗ outside of the monthly meetings here on

2:00:56 ↗ gathering some data if you have other

2:00:58 ↗ ideas for also research or you have uh

2:01:01 ↗ perhaps um

2:01:03 ↗ um resources for us please reach out and

2:01:06 ↗ then i'll with your permission we'll

2:01:08 ↗ just keep on updating and adding

2:01:11 ↗ to to where we are each month does that

2:01:13 ↗ sound like a good plan

2:01:16 ↗ absolutely i think it's a great one

2:01:18 ↗ yes thank

2:01:20 ↗ you know

2:01:22 ↗ i saw he commented um about the human

2:01:25 ↗ rights commission

2:01:26 ↗ um

2:01:28 ↗ and monica do you have some feedback on

2:01:30 ↗ that

2:01:32 ↗ no i think that's a great idea for us to

2:01:33 ↗ also look into

2:01:36 ↗ collaborating with the human rights

2:01:37 ↗ commission at the state level for sure

2:01:39 ↗ so now great suggestion

2:01:41 ↗ thank you

2:01:48 ↗ alrighty did anyone else have any

2:01:50 ↗ questions comments concerns they wanted

2:01:52 ↗ to add to

2:01:54 ↗ our topic here

2:02:06 ↗ all right if there's nothing else i

2:02:07 ↗ guess we will move to our next agenda

2:02:09 ↗ topic

2:02:11 ↗ um and it looks like monica is going to

2:02:13 ↗ do that to you because we have our staff

2:02:14 ↗ report

2:02:15 ↗ um and any other business or

2:02:17 ↗ announcements that uh we might have

2:02:21 ↗ yes and board members i realize it's a

2:02:23 ↗ few minutes after eight o'clock so uh

2:02:26 ↗ thank you so much for your flexibility i

2:02:28 ↗ think we actually addressed some of the

2:02:30 ↗ things on the staff report

2:02:33 ↗ so i want to just be a brief again i

2:02:35 ↗ wanted to start with a huge huge thanks

2:02:38 ↗ to all of you for your participation in

2:02:41 ↗ the many multiple events in june

2:02:44 ↗ in addition to juneteen and pride month

2:02:46 ↗ which we discussed already that i also

2:02:48 ↗ want to thank those of you who

2:02:50 ↗ participated in the meeting with the

2:02:52 ↗ japanese delegation

2:02:54 ↗ uh i know um

2:02:57 ↗ there was also i want to uh thank pretty

2:02:59 ↗ for representing our board at the

2:03:02 ↗ council meeting on june 21st when the

2:03:05 ↗ equity framework uh was presented

2:03:08 ↗ so really a lot a lot of

2:03:11 ↗ great things happening uh in june some

2:03:14 ↗ of you participated in the training in

2:03:16 ↗ the deconstruct deconstructing our bias

2:03:19 ↗ training with chan and kelly ray some of

2:03:22 ↗ you are also i know scheduled for

2:03:25 ↗ for the upcoming

2:03:27 ↗ events one of them was postponed to

2:03:29 ↗ october

2:03:31 ↗ so a lot happened and i also wanted i

2:03:34 ↗ know there was interest from the equity

2:03:36 ↗ board in learning more about human

2:03:37 ↗ services so i'm gonna try to insert some

2:03:41 ↗ information each month and perhaps as

2:03:43 ↗ time permits we can also have a a larger

2:03:46 ↗ presentation at some point

2:03:49 ↗ since we are part of the human services

2:03:52 ↗ division we now have a division and i

2:03:55 ↗ want to tell you board members that this

2:03:57 ↗ is a very very new division it was just

2:03:59 ↗ created this past year if you want to

2:04:02 ↗ imagine just a little bit over a year

2:04:04 ↗ ago human services was just really me

2:04:06 ↗ and myself and i

2:04:07 ↗ uh we since then we have a team of how

2:04:10 ↗ many are we now killing one two three

2:04:13 ↗ four or five five of us four

2:04:17 ↗ i'm trying to count so caitlyn is here

2:04:19 ↗ with us tonight she will continue to be

2:04:21 ↗ with us here

2:04:22 ↗ she's our newest staff member she's been

2:04:24 ↗ with the city for a little bit

2:04:26 ↗ over a month she's our behavioral health

2:04:29 ↗ coordinator who does uh work with our

2:04:32 ↗ behavioral health program and the

2:04:33 ↗ homeless outreach uh with amir the two

2:04:36 ↗ of them provide a seven-day coverage to

2:04:38 ↗ the city so those are two staff members

2:04:41 ↗ that work both with our police

2:04:42 ↗ department for behavioral health and

2:04:44 ↗ with our homeless outreach with our

2:04:46 ↗ homeless program

2:04:49 ↗ we also have marisol visa

2:04:52 ↗ she's working with our community court

2:04:54 ↗ so she's working with our team at the

2:04:56 ↗ municipal court

2:04:58 ↗ um and that's also a brand new program

2:05:00 ↗ that was just started in august of last

2:05:02 ↗ year and then last but not least for

2:05:05 ↗ sure you might have met already hannah

2:05:07 ↗ roberts she's our human services

2:05:08 ↗ coordinator and she's working with our

2:05:11 ↗ non-profit partners she also she and i

2:05:13 ↗ worked on on work on creating the human

2:05:16 ↗ services strategic plan this past year

2:05:19 ↗ that was just a few months ago uh

2:05:21 ↗ adopted and um

2:05:23 ↗ uh by city council so a lot a lot of

2:05:26 ↗ work is being done in our small division

2:05:29 ↗ uh

2:05:30 ↗ and so

2:05:32 ↗ i'll try to keep you updated with other

2:05:34 ↗ council meetings that uh that are

2:05:36 ↗ happening uh some more recently on the

2:05:38 ↗ june 22nd right the day after equity

2:05:41 ↗ framework debate

2:05:43 ↗ um

2:05:44 ↗ we um

2:05:46 ↗ one of the things that i would like to

2:05:47 ↗ highlight in terms of human services uh

2:05:50 ↗ we had discussed with city council the

2:05:52 ↗ option of creating an emergency housing

2:05:54 ↗ program for people who are homeless in

2:05:56 ↗ issaquah that is going to happen in

2:05:58 ↗ collaboration with and partnership with

2:06:00 ↗ motel 6 so we are creating a pilot

2:06:03 ↗ program for one year

2:06:06 ↗ for uh to use some of the rooms at motel

2:06:09 ↗ 6 as emergency housing program for folks

2:06:12 ↗ who are homeless so

2:06:14 ↗ a lot of great work is happening and

2:06:16 ↗ just yes please feel free to reach out

2:06:19 ↗ uh if you have any questions in

2:06:21 ↗ particular but you have in your agenda

2:06:23 ↗ packet a link

2:06:24 ↗ to the human services strategic plan um

2:06:27 ↗ if you have find yourself having time

2:06:30 ↗ please read some of the information

2:06:32 ↗ there there's a lot of information that

2:06:34 ↗ we gathered last year during our

2:06:36 ↗ outreach and that's equity

2:06:39 ↗ oriented so we really try to have an

2:06:41 ↗ intentional

2:06:42 ↗ equity focus um

2:06:44 ↗ in the strategic plan so we called out

2:06:47 ↗ quite a bit of information on the

2:06:49 ↗ demographic information and some of the

2:06:51 ↗ disproportionalities that we learned

2:06:53 ↗ during our outreach so

2:06:56 ↗ so that's that and last but not least um

2:07:00 ↗ we talked a little bit about the

2:07:01 ↗ deconstructing our bias training if you

2:07:03 ↗ didn't have a chance to sign up yet for

2:07:05 ↗ one session please do so

2:07:07 ↗ uh but more so speaking of you know we

2:07:09 ↗ talked about the different initiatives

2:07:11 ↗ for different departments our hr

2:07:13 ↗ department the human resources

2:07:15 ↗ department is also intentionally trying

2:07:18 ↗ to gather data on our diversity not only

2:07:22 ↗ at

2:07:23 ↗ our employees but also our boards and

2:07:26 ↗ commissions

2:07:28 ↗ again the city is trying to

2:07:29 ↗ intentionally reach out to the community

2:07:31 ↗ to make sure that we increase our

2:07:34 ↗ diversity and boards and commissions and

2:07:36 ↗ with that we also hope to have

2:07:38 ↗ intentional conversations on increasing

2:07:40 ↗ diversity at elected positions as well

2:07:43 ↗ so definitely we as a board we will have

2:07:46 ↗ a

2:07:47 ↗ more role into this uh but if you feel

2:07:50 ↗ comfortable sharing your information of

2:07:51 ↗ course it's always

2:07:53 ↗ voluntary like please reach out to

2:07:56 ↗ candy lorenzo our hr analyst who's

2:07:59 ↗ gathering that informational feel free

2:08:01 ↗ to reach out to me

2:08:03 ↗ uh if you have any questions about that

2:08:07 ↗ oh board numbers i think that concludes

2:08:09 ↗ my updates uh please

2:08:11 ↗ tell me if you have any questions or

2:08:13 ↗ comments or if i missed anything

2:08:21 ↗ no monica i think you got everything

2:08:24 ↗ did anyone else have any comments

2:08:26 ↗ questions concerns

2:08:32 ↗ all righty we've had a very robust

2:08:34 ↗ meeting so i want to thank you all for

2:08:36 ↗ joining us tonight um if there is

2:08:38 ↗ nothing else then we will adjourn until

2:08:41 ↗ our next meeting on august 3rd 2022.

2:08:45 ↗ thank you very much everyone thank you

2:08:46 ↗ all thanks have a good night

2:08:49 ↗ have a good night everyone

2:08:51 ↗ thank you

2:08:54 ↗ lorna we'll miss you next month

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (11)

Alisa Stewart

Megan Reichley, Youth Member (absent excused)

Lorna Gilmour

Lucrecia Choto (absent, excused)

Ray Manahan

Shalanda Fleming

Tony Curry (arrived late)

Cristina Abonce (arrived late)

Jacob Rubenstein, Youth Member

Priti Mody-Pan

Kelly Munn

Staff (2)

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

Caelann Wood, Behavior Health Coordinator

Excused

Hellen Kibenge

Guests (5)

Harry Hughes, Spanish Interpreters

Hilary Hughes, Spanish Interpreters

Saba Mahanian, Bahá’is of Issaquah

Ted Lucas, Bahá’is of Issaquah

Paul Lwali, Right to Breathe

Audience commenters (1)

Paul Lwali

Recommendations & actions (1)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

There being no proposed changes, the minutes were approved by unanimous consent.