Equity Board · Wednesday, August 3, 2022 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of July 6, 2022 (A)

packet pp.3–6

▶ Watch from 13:16 Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 07-06-22 Equity Board Minutes Page [0001] CITY OF ISSAQUAH Equity Board 6:00 PM Virtual Meeting Wednesday, July 6, 2022 MINUTES

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Visit Issaquah: Overview & Collaborative Opportunities on Equity [30 minutes] Initiatives (D)

Christy Garrard, Visit Issaquah - Director of Business Development

Topics: EquityTourism

▶ Watch from 9:14

Executive Department: Introduction & Overview (D) [30 minutes]

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

▶ Watch from 11:15

REPORT

Committee Updates

Information · [15 minutes] Ray Manahan, Committee Chair

6. STAFF REPORT

Human Services & Equity Updates

Information · [20 minutes] Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.7–25

Topics: Equity

Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

City of Issaquah Human Services Overview August 3rd, 2022

3882 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ the virtual format of today's meeting

0:02 ↗ i'd like to start by providing some

0:04 ↗ guidelines so we have participants

0:06 ↗ attending by computer and others who may

0:08 ↗ be attending by phone now we also have

0:11 ↗ some simultaneous spanish interpretation

0:13 ↗ in the background so therefore for all

0:16 ↗ meeting attendees please follow these

0:18 ↗ guidelines speak clearly and pause

0:20 ↗ frequently

0:22 ↗ state your name and uh each time before

0:24 ↗ you speak and mute remember to mute your

0:27 ↗ microphone when you're not speaking at

0:28 ↗ all now if you're having any technical

0:31 ↗ issues whatsoever at all

0:33 ↗ try joining the meeting using a

0:35 ↗ different smartphone or tablet maybe

0:37 ↗ that's what i should have done today

0:39 ↗ before we started

0:41 ↗ so also use the calling information in a

0:44 ↗ meeting invite to call into the meeting

0:46 ↗ as well so let's go ahead and call to

0:48 ↗ order so monica uh are there any excused

0:52 ↗ absences

0:57 ↗ hello tony and the board members good

1:00 ↗ evening this is monica gorilla um we do

1:03 ↗ have an excused absence from uh shay

1:06 ↗ fleming our chair she's traveling for

1:08 ↗ work tonight

1:10 ↗ and um

1:12 ↗ uh we do have a couple of other board

1:14 ↗ members um missing uh but i believe they

1:16 ↗ are traveling on vacation still summer

1:19 ↗ time

1:20 ↗ um and so with that um lorna is not here

1:24 ↗ uh yet tonight and ray

1:27 ↗ um as well as uh jacob

1:31 ↗ okay

1:32 ↗ thank you very much monica and monica

1:34 ↗ would you i'm gonna go ahead and start

1:35 ↗ and begin by uh roll call but i don't

1:38 ↗ have the list in front of me monica

1:39 ↗ would you mind going to through the roll

1:41 ↗ call if you don't mind yes absolutely

1:43 ↗ tony yes i would love to

1:45 ↗ um so we can go ahead and do a roll call

1:48 ↗ uh i'll call your name and please uh

1:51 ↗ state that you're present or here we're

1:54 ↗ going to start with alyssa alyssa

1:56 ↗ stewart

1:58 ↗ thank you good evening and welcome

2:00 ↗ megan richly

2:05 ↗ hi megan welcome good evening and

2:07 ↗ congratulations board members a reminder

2:09 ↗ this is megan's last meeting as she's

2:12 ↗ going on to college and bigger things in

2:15 ↗ life so hopefully at the end of the

2:17 ↗ meeting we can

2:18 ↗ say a good nice farewell

2:21 ↗ um yeah thank you thank you guys

2:24 ↗ it's kind of still sad

2:28 ↗ anyway on with the roll call

2:30 ↗ yes it's also nice to have you i hope

2:33 ↗ you stay in touch

2:34 ↗ um helen welcome good evening hello

2:39 ↗ present present here

2:41 ↗ trying to do this yeah there you go i'm

2:43 ↗ here

2:44 ↗ hey good evening yeah uh lorna is absent

2:50 ↗ um

2:54 ↗ i'm present

2:56 ↗ welcome back

2:58 ↗ um rey is also absent rey manahan

3:03 ↗ shea fleming is absent

3:05 ↗ uh tony

3:08 ↗ i am here

3:10 ↗ welcome tony

3:12 ↗ thank you

3:13 ↗ christina good evening buenas noches

3:15 ↗ christina

3:26 ↗ christina can you hear us

3:33 ↗ interpreters are able to make

3:35 ↗ connections with christina

3:37 ↗ not sure if she can hear us or see us

3:40 ↗ because she's connected by her phone we

3:42 ↗ can't interpret for her over the phone

3:44 ↗ so she was gonna listen in until she got

3:48 ↗ home

3:49 ↗ okay

3:51 ↗ thank you okay and then she plans on

3:53 ↗ joining after

3:55 ↗ uh via via

3:57 ↗ computer so you can provide

3:59 ↗ interpretation yes correct

4:02 ↗ okay

4:03 ↗ okay thank you we can come back to that

4:06 ↗ um and i just noticed that rey uh joins

4:09 ↗ the call good evening gray ray manahan

4:11 ↗ we are doing roll call

4:14 ↗ leaving

4:16 ↗ sorry i'm late

4:17 ↗ welcome thank you

4:20 ↗ and

4:22 ↗ continuing with roll call

4:24 ↗ uh kelly mann

4:26 ↗ here good evening kelly welcome

4:30 ↗ um pretty muddy pan

4:33 ↗ here good evening

4:35 ↗ good evening and welcome

4:37 ↗ and uh last but not least definitely

4:39 ↗ jacob and he's not here with us

4:42 ↗ tonight

4:44 ↗ that concludes the roll call tony thank

4:47 ↗ you very much monica and thank you for

4:49 ↗ those who are present today i've got a

4:51 ↗ couple of more um

4:53 ↗ not necessarily rules but um

4:56 ↗ guidelines to follow in our calls so for

4:58 ↗ any commissioners please to indicate a

5:01 ↗ desire for for all of us to indicate a

5:03 ↗ desire to speak make sure you send in

5:06 ↗ the chat you know to all panelists make

5:08 ↗ sure you do that so that we see it and

5:10 ↗ type a question type question or comment

5:13 ↗ that will let us know that you of course

5:15 ↗ have something to say

5:17 ↗ then wait to be acknowledged by the

5:18 ↗ chair and then please do not put any

5:21 ↗ substantive comments inside of the chat

5:24 ↗ um so for anyone who's on the phone who

5:27 ↗ can't let's say c chat um

5:30 ↗ we will intermittently check in with you

5:32 ↗ and we'll determine if you have any

5:33 ↗ comments and whatnot but you can also

5:36 ↗ press

5:37 ↗ start three or star yeah i'm sorry star

5:40 ↗ three to raise your hand

5:43 ↗ now for

5:44 ↗ if there's any public comments ever i'm

5:47 ↗ just gonna go through this anyway public

5:48 ↗ comments are you know of course they're

5:50 ↗ an important topic right an important

5:51 ↗ part of the public process and we take

5:53 ↗ them seriously and factor them to to all

5:56 ↗ the decisions that we make

5:58 ↗ for the members of the public joining um

6:01 ↗ you know of course you're definitely

6:02 ↗ welcome and if there's anyone in the

6:04 ↗ meeting that will come in let's say

6:06 ↗ later or whatever maybe who joins late

6:08 ↗ um who would like to make a public

6:10 ↗ comment and these are you know something

6:11 ↗ we always want to follow when we have

6:13 ↗ of course public when public or

6:16 ↗ members are present please raise a

6:18 ↗ virtual hand to do this

6:20 ↗ and if you were on the phone press three

6:22 ↗ until start three i'm sorry start three

6:24 ↗ as you normally would let's say if you

6:26 ↗ if you're a board member now if you've

6:28 ↗ joined by the computer or smartphone

6:30 ↗ look for the hand icon now this is uh

6:32 ↗ this is going to vary by your device

6:34 ↗ whether it be android or of course or

6:36 ↗ apple but one option may be to go to the

6:39 ↗ participant panel and select your name

6:42 ↗ and then choose raise hand it may also

6:45 ↗ be located under reactions menu or the

6:47 ↗ more menu okay

6:49 ↗ so monica do we do we have anybody

6:51 ↗ that's um signed up for public comment

6:53 ↗ tonight

6:55 ↗ not tonight tony no we don't have anyone

6:57 ↗ for tonight okay all right

6:59 ↗ okay

7:00 ↗ um let's see here okay so uh once again

7:06 ↗ um for anyone make sure that you've

7:08 ↗ unmute your microphone when talking

7:10 ↗ stuff mute your microphone when not

7:13 ↗ and um i guess we are

7:16 ↗ ready

7:17 ↗ to begin with our agenda but before we

7:20 ↗ do that

7:21 ↗ um

7:22 ↗ so let's see before we do that let's see

7:25 ↗ if we um approval for the minute so um

7:30 ↗ we definitely want to take a look at the

7:32 ↗ minutes from the last meeting so the

7:35 ↗ invite invite all of you if has everyone

7:38 ↗ looked at the um the minutes do we need

7:41 ↗ time

7:42 ↗ to

7:42 ↗ go over and review the minutes from the

7:46 ↗ previous meeting

7:54 ↗ i think kelly had a question

7:57 ↗ i see something in the chat i did not

8:00 ↗ see that thank you

8:02 ↗ kelly go ahead if you want to jump off

8:04 ↗ mutant and give us your question sure um

8:08 ↗ the men i have a question about the how

8:11 ↗ we do the minutes and then how we

8:13 ↗ how we document things that we need to

8:15 ↗ do because i noticed that the minutes

8:17 ↗ the minutes are pretty much

8:19 ↗ um we had a discussion questions were

8:21 ↗ asked answered and

8:24 ↗ not really detailed

8:26 ↗ and the reason i'm bringing this up is

8:28 ↗ because um a couple of us had mentioned

8:31 ↗ after public input last time that we'd

8:34 ↗ like to have a continued discussion

8:36 ↗ about both how we uh do public input

8:41 ↗ perhaps in a different way a more

8:42 ↗ welcoming way

8:44 ↗ and

8:45 ↗ even larger how we we handle our own

8:48 ↗ work so that we're very inclusive and

8:50 ↗ these were brought up by me and preethi

8:53 ↗ i think

8:54 ↗ um

8:56 ↗ and so i wanted to follow up with how do

8:58 ↗ we follow up on that

9:00 ↗ is it in the minutes

9:01 ↗ do i text you

9:03 ↗ you know email monica what do i do

9:07 ↗ thank you so much for that that's such a

9:08 ↗ great uh question kelly and so depending

9:12 ↗ on what it is we can have a separate

9:14 ↗ agenda item on that i didn't make notes

9:16 ↗ for us and i was gonna create a separate

9:18 ↗ agenda item for actually us for tonight

9:20 ↗ to talk but then since we had guests on

9:22 ↗ the agenda was becoming a little bit too

9:24 ↗ full i put it as a as another topic for

9:27 ↗ a later

9:28 ↗ time so typically if you have new like

9:32 ↗ ideas for for us to discuss we would

9:34 ↗ create a new agenda item you can also

9:37 ↗ as an option bring it up especially if

9:39 ↗ we have time and the commission is open

9:41 ↗ to that we can bring in that under other

9:43 ↗ business and talk in more detail on that

9:46 ↗ i think our challenge for previous

9:48 ↗ meetings and so far has been we get busy

9:52 ↗ with other agenda items and there's not

9:53 ↗ much time to talk so again even for

9:56 ↗ tonight if you have that time we can

9:58 ↗ talk about it under the under other

10:00 ↗ business or if not i have it for an

10:03 ↗ upcoming meeting for us to have it as a

10:05 ↗ separate agenda item to have more time

10:07 ↗ allocated because again i think that

10:09 ↗ falls under even rules and regulations

10:11 ↗ to review those as we first started so

10:13 ↗ it's a bigger conversation for us to

10:16 ↗ have on how we conduct business how we

10:17 ↗ do community engagement

10:19 ↗ and all of that

10:21 ↗ um

10:21 ↗ so really it's gonna be up to you as a

10:23 ↗ board but typically if you come with

10:26 ↗ new items we will just create a new

10:28 ↗ agenda item for them

10:32 ↗ and

10:32 ↗ so i'm going to circle back to the

10:34 ↗ minutes

10:35 ↗ so you don't we don't so it looks to me

10:38 ↗ like there's like a format for the

10:39 ↗ minutes

10:40 ↗ and

10:41 ↗ and so it doesn't

10:44 ↗ put

10:45 ↗ those type of actions or potential

10:47 ↗ actions is there a reason

10:50 ↗ yeah and so if you want we can certainly

10:52 ↗ put those in the minutes as well we keep

10:55 ↗ the minutes pretty brief typically and

10:57 ↗ really we just put more information if

11:00 ↗ there's an action that the board took on

11:03 ↗ typically i did not put lots of details

11:05 ↗ on ideas but then we can put ideas if if

11:09 ↗ you would like us a board like okay this

11:11 ↗ idea was brought up so we don't forget

11:13 ↗ about it we can certainly add that to

11:14 ↗ the minutes

11:16 ↗ that that yeah that is a valid point and

11:18 ↗ we can certainly do that

11:20 ↗ but yes typically we keep the minutes

11:22 ↗ pretty brief and

11:24 ↗ yeah we

11:25 ↗ yeah

11:27 ↗ we historically didn't put those in the

11:29 ↗ minutes but that's something we can

11:31 ↗ certainly work on

11:33 ↗ and maybe that's something that the

11:34 ↗ board would like to yeah

11:36 ↗ okay

11:38 ↗ yes let's do that that's going to be an

11:39 ↗ easy quick

11:41 ↗ also has comment question on it perhaps

11:46 ↗ yes i was absent last um

11:49 ↗ during the july meeting but i want to

11:51 ↗ say that this is something that i have

11:53 ↗ brought up consistently as well from a

11:56 ↗ while back

11:58 ↗ and i would like for us to make a

12:00 ↗ decision that is concrete about having

12:04 ↗ items that are pending either like

12:06 ↗ pending or tabled or some sort of

12:08 ↗ wording um like a header and then we can

12:12 ↗ list whatever it is that is there

12:14 ↗ because i feel like

12:15 ↗ otherwise it's easy to table things

12:19 ↗ indefinitely

12:20 ↗ yes

12:22 ↗ yes no great ideas that make sense

12:26 ↗ it feels like meeting once a month

12:28 ↗ becomes more and more difficult there

12:30 ↗ are just so many things

12:31 ↗ you want to accomplish but yes

12:33 ↗ absolutely i think great great ideas

12:35 ↗ let's add them to the minutes

12:38 ↗ all right then perhaps let's spend a

12:39 ↗ little bit of time today at the end of

12:41 ↗ the meeting to kind of like prioritize

12:43 ↗ what do we want to tackle next and first

12:45 ↗ so we can prioritize meetings

12:49 ↗ okay

12:50 ↗ great great suggestions thank you yeah

12:52 ↗ absolutely great and does anyone else

12:54 ↗ have to have anything else to add to

12:55 ↗ that

13:01 ↗ all right i'll take the silence and

13:03 ↗ crickets as new

13:05 ↗ all right so um i wanted to definitely

13:08 ↗ allow time for um

13:10 ↗ for review of the minutes if you need

13:12 ↗ that so i'll just give a you know maybe

13:13 ↗ a minute or so or a couple of minutes to

13:15 ↗ review that then i'll ask for a motion

13:16 ↗ for it to approve the minutes but it'll

13:18 ↗ just give it a little bit of time for

13:20 ↗ everyone to have an opportunity to

13:22 ↗ review if you have not

13:24 ↗ um

13:26 ↗ but if you've already you know just

13:27 ↗ that's a short amount of us here today

13:29 ↗ so if uh if you have reviewed the

13:32 ↗ minutes if you're just raise your hand

13:34 ↗ just give me a

13:36 ↗ sign of approval real quick and i'll

13:37 ↗ just go ahead and ask for a motion to

13:39 ↗ approve

13:40 ↗ all right so kelly's good and it's like

13:43 ↗ some others arguing what we're going

13:44 ↗ through for t is good

13:46 ↗ everyone alicia is good

13:48 ↗ megan all right okay so i think a

13:51 ↗ majority of us have done that hello

13:53 ↗ helen helen says yes and sorry i didn't

13:55 ↗ say hello when i you were coming in hell

13:58 ↗ and i was rushing upstairs

14:00 ↗ so okay all right so um

14:04 ↗ i'm going to make a motion here to um

14:07 ↗ approve the minutes

14:10 ↗ so because anyone

14:11 ↗ can give me a motion to approve the

14:13 ↗ minutes i move to

14:16 ↗ is presented this evening this is

14:17 ↗ lucrezia speaking thank you

14:20 ↗ and do i have a second

14:22 ↗ second oh i can't

14:26 ↗ that's right kelly

14:28 ↗ i second

14:30 ↗ fantastic thank you very much

14:33 ↗ and um i'm assuming we've basically

14:36 ↗ already had any uh that what there's a

14:38 ↗ discussion on it and there's no uh edits

14:40 ↗ to it so i guess we can go ahead and

14:43 ↗ move on with our agenda items so our

14:45 ↗ first agenda item for today is the visit

14:47 ↗ issaquah overview and collaborative

14:49 ↗ opportunities and equity and initiatives

14:52 ↗ so we've got a great presenter on this

14:54 ↗ or the director of business development

14:57 ↗ and monica would you like to introduce

14:58 ↗ our guest today

15:00 ↗ i would love to tony thank you so much

15:03 ↗ board members um and

15:05 ↗ and just a note to a previous previous

15:07 ↗ agenda item uh i think it's it's clear

15:10 ↗ it's assumed that with no changes you

15:12 ↗ all approve them and it's unanimously so

15:14 ↗ i don't want to make a note on that but

15:17 ↗ moving on to our guests

15:18 ↗ um

15:19 ↗ um

15:20 ↗ it is such an honor to introduce uh

15:23 ↗ christy gerard

15:24 ↗ from visit issaquah as you may remember

15:26 ↗ from a

15:28 ↗ couple of weeks ago an email that was

15:30 ↗ sent to you board members we received an

15:32 ↗ invitation

15:34 ↗ from

15:35 ↗ a visit issaquah

15:37 ↗ to attend as an equity board a

15:40 ↗ representative

15:41 ↗ to attend a lunch with visit issaquah

15:45 ↗ the issaquah chamber of commerce our

15:47 ↗ economic development department

15:50 ↗ as well as

15:52 ↗ the greater seattle um

15:55 ↗ business association um

15:58 ↗ the lgbtqa plus um

16:01 ↗ um

16:02 ↗ basically they are their chamber of

16:04 ↗ commerce as well

16:06 ↗ um and the the goal of that luncheon was

16:09 ↗ really to brainstorm and find ways in

16:12 ↗ which we in issaquah um

16:15 ↗ can uh become more inclusive um to any

16:19 ↗ potential visitors but also just more

16:23 ↗ inclusive in general

16:24 ↗ it was a great great

16:26 ↗ lunch and opportunity for us to connect

16:28 ↗ and

16:29 ↗ um with that christy

16:32 ↗ today is here to introduce her work with

16:34 ↗ visit of issaquah and perhaps have

16:37 ↗ perhaps have a great conversation with

16:39 ↗ you all

16:40 ↗ on um opportunities to collaborate in

16:43 ↗ the future um i thought that this is

16:45 ↗ timely and it really aligns well with

16:47 ↗ the work that that the board is doing

16:49 ↗ especially with our um

16:52 ↗ community engagement committee that we

16:54 ↗ created and the interest of these boards

16:56 ↗ to really reach out more to businesses

16:59 ↗ and really uh identify opportunities to

17:04 ↗ advance equity in our city so

17:07 ↗ i'm just gonna leave it

17:09 ↗ up there and invite christy to

17:11 ↗ introduce her work and welcome song

17:14 ↗ christy it's so nice to have you

17:16 ↗ thank you monica can i share my screen

17:19 ↗ uh i can give you that uh option yes

17:22 ↗ give me just a moment thank you

17:25 ↗ and while we're waiting on that i'm

17:27 ↗ christy gerard and i've lived in

17:29 ↗ issaquah since 2007.

17:32 ↗ we live in the issaquah highlands

17:33 ↗ community

17:34 ↗ i um

17:36 ↗ uh

17:37 ↗ for the last 12 years i was the

17:39 ↗ executive director for the isqa

17:40 ↗ highlands council a community building

17:42 ↗ nonprofit

17:43 ↗ and have

17:44 ↗ had the honor to interview and accept

17:47 ↗ this position

17:48 ↗ with visit izakua just starting in march

17:51 ↗ and i'll talk a little bit more about

17:53 ↗ that journey in just a second

18:00 ↗ [Music]

18:03 ↗ are you able to see my screen

18:07 ↗ great

18:08 ↗ the one that's okay the one that says

18:10 ↗ visit issaquah not my not my home screen

18:12 ↗ on my computer okay perfect all right so

18:14 ↗ let's get started

18:16 ↗ so visit issaquah is the destination

18:19 ↗ marketing organization

18:20 ↗ uh representing the city

18:23 ↗ and um

18:25 ↗ we were

18:27 ↗ founded in 2018

18:29 ↗ and

18:30 ↗ some destination marketing organizations

18:32 ↗ or you'll hear me refer to this as dmo

18:36 ↗ so

18:38 ↗ some dmos are part of chambers of

18:40 ↗ commerce

18:41 ↗ some dmos are part of

18:44 ↗ a city department

18:47 ↗ you know of a local municipality and

18:49 ↗ sometimes they are stand-alone

18:51 ↗ non-profit organizations visit issaquah

18:54 ↗ is a stand-alone non-profit organization

18:57 ↗ so i report to a board of directors and

18:59 ↗ the board of directors are made up of

19:01 ↗ representatives from issaquah's

19:04 ↗ hospitality industry and

19:06 ↗ a representative from the city of

19:08 ↗ issaquah's economic development

19:12 ↗ i also

19:13 ↗ work very closely with the issaquah

19:15 ↗ chamber of commerce with with our

19:18 ↗ economic development department and

19:20 ↗ looking forward to working with the

19:23 ↗ this equity board as well

19:26 ↗ so the way

19:28 ↗ the reason that a destination marketing

19:30 ↗ organization exists is that the state of

19:33 ↗ washington collects a lodging tax

19:36 ↗ on hotel overnight stays so you know

19:41 ↗ when you will you book a room and you

19:42 ↗ think you've booked a room rate and then

19:44 ↗ there's all those added fees

19:46 ↗ though some of those fees are are

19:49 ↗ called a lodging tax we call that l-tac

19:52 ↗ in in the dmo industry

19:55 ↗ and the state of washington collects

19:58 ↗ that lodging tax and then reallocates it

20:01 ↗ back out to cities in washington and

20:04 ↗ then that that money has to be spent on

20:08 ↗ uh promoting the destination promoting

20:11 ↗ tourism in that city

20:13 ↗ so visit issaquah is 100 funded by

20:16 ↗ lodging tax dollars

20:18 ↗ now we don't get all the lodging tax

20:20 ↗ dollars

20:22 ↗ given to the city from the state

20:24 ↗ the city does hold back some of those

20:27 ↗ funds and

20:28 ↗ helps

20:29 ↗ provide grants to

20:32 ↗ other nonprofit organizations that are

20:34 ↗ hosting events and a great example of

20:36 ↗ that would be the salmon days festival

20:39 ↗ um

20:41 ↗ now there were not a lot of lodging tax

20:43 ↗ dollars collected in the last two years

20:45 ↗ during the pandemic because people were

20:47 ↗ not traveling

20:48 ↗ so

20:49 ↗ the board of directors pretty much let

20:52 ↗ visit issaquah just go dark because

20:54 ↗ there wasn't tourism promotion wasn't

20:56 ↗ really appropriate

20:57 ↗ but as we are beginning to recover the

21:00 ↗ board of directors decided to

21:03 ↗ create the position of the director of

21:05 ↗ business development

21:07 ↗ posted for the job and um

21:10 ↗ and and i applied and was fortunate to

21:13 ↗ be chosen and i am so excited to be in

21:17 ↗ this role because i really feel like my

21:20 ↗ uh time in greater community leadership

21:23 ↗ in issaquah and the in the context that

21:26 ↗ i have with our area attractions and

21:28 ↗ nonprofits really positioned me well to

21:31 ↗ help issaquah's economic recovery from

21:34 ↗ the impacts of the pandemic

21:37 ↗ so

21:38 ↗ so again

21:39 ↗ not a part of the chamber not a city

21:42 ↗ employee but work very closely alongside

21:44 ↗ of those

21:46 ↗ organizations now

21:48 ↗ visit issaquah's mission

21:50 ↗ is to attract overnight stays right we

21:53 ↗ want to attract

21:55 ↗ visitors to issaquah that spend the

21:57 ↗ night so we can collect that additional

21:59 ↗ lodging tax money so that we can

22:02 ↗ continue to do good work on behalf of

22:04 ↗ our hospitality industry

22:06 ↗ and and all small businesses that

22:08 ↗ benefit from visitors to issaquah so i'm

22:11 ↗ primarily targeting the um outside the

22:14 ↗ 50-mile

22:16 ↗ range of issaquah that would would be a

22:19 ↗ reason for someone to come so far that

22:21 ↗ they would stay the night uh so just to

22:24 ↗ just give you a little context there

22:26 ↗ and we'll move on

22:28 ↗ let's see

22:32 ↗ okay

22:33 ↗ so some interesting um

22:35 ↗ information collected by

22:37 ↗ washington state tourism

22:40 ↗ uh some points that they released from a

22:42 ↗ report

22:43 ↗ in early july

22:45 ↗ and i'll just go through them briefly

22:49 ↗ and and it's it's important to

22:50 ↗ understand

22:52 ↗ these are great points to understand the

22:53 ↗ value of why

22:55 ↗ a city should have a destination

22:57 ↗ marketing organization

22:59 ↗ one is that people do not visit places

23:01 ↗ that they do not know about

23:04 ↗ and people don't visit

23:06 ↗ unless they are invited so having

23:09 ↗ marketing campaigns that reach out to

23:11 ↗ that beyond 50 miles and get uh issaquah

23:15 ↗ discovered by travelers is um

23:19 ↗ really a really important piece of the

23:21 ↗ work that we do at visit issaquah

23:24 ↗ there's a visitor category according to

23:26 ↗ the washington state tourism called

23:28 ↗ pathfinders and these people are travel

23:31 ↗ lovers who are active interested in

23:33 ↗ learning new things and eager for both

23:35 ↗ the urban and rural experience and i

23:38 ↗ think that really aligns with how you

23:40 ↗ would describe issaquah in having both

23:42 ↗ an urban and rural

23:44 ↗ appeal

23:47 ↗ next

23:49 ↗ visitors like to dive into experiences

23:52 ↗ that can be described as authentic

23:56 ↗ and transformative and i think we would

23:58 ↗ all agree that um

24:00 ↗ that issaquah is very authentic in who

24:02 ↗ it is

24:03 ↗ and

24:04 ↗ anytime you get an opportunity to get

24:06 ↗ out on one of our hiking trails or out

24:08 ↗ on the water of lake sammamish no matter

24:10 ↗ how long you've lived here or how many

24:12 ↗ times you've done it that experience is

24:14 ↗ always transformative

24:17 ↗ according to washington state tourism

24:19 ↗ the average trip spend in the state of

24:22 ↗ washington is 1092

24:24 ↗ per travel party per night

24:27 ↗ and advertising generated a return on

24:30 ↗ investment of 33 dollars in visitor

24:33 ↗ spending for every dollar invested in

24:36 ↗ paid media that's an incredible roi when

24:39 ↗ you when you're talking about marketing

24:43 ↗ uh of the um

24:45 ↗ the state of washington tourism did a

24:47 ↗ survey and

24:49 ↗ washington state uh ranked as the top

24:52 ↗ destination to visit in the coming year

24:55 ↗ compared to

24:56 ↗ our competitive western states

25:00 ↗ of those people

25:02 ↗ surveyed and

25:05 ↗ visitors spent more and stayed longer

25:08 ↗ and did more activities on their trip of

25:11 ↗ those that were surveyed

25:16 ↗ so i mentioned earlier that attracting

25:17 ↗ overnight stays is the priority of visit

25:20 ↗ is aqua there's um three kind of

25:22 ↗ interesting trends in the tourism

25:24 ↗ industry that i thought i would share

25:27 ↗ one is viscationing and as we we're all

25:31 ↗ on a on a very important meeting in a

25:33 ↗ virtual setting you can be anywhere on

25:35 ↗ the planet and and take these kinds of

25:38 ↗ meetings and viscationing where you

25:41 ↗ travel to a destination

25:42 ↗ work and live like a local is a big

25:45 ↗ trend so that's something we're going to

25:47 ↗ pay close attention to

25:48 ↗ additionally environmental tourism

25:51 ↗ travelers are looking for experiences

25:53 ↗ that are related to sustainability they

25:55 ↗ want to stay places that have good

25:57 ↗ sustainable practices

26:00 ↗ those sorts of things

26:01 ↗ and then social benefit tourism is also

26:04 ↗ a trend where people want to travel and

26:06 ↗ have a meaningful volunteer experience

26:09 ↗ leaving their destination a better place

26:11 ↗ so for an example i've been talking with

26:14 ↗ the executive director of the issaquah

26:16 ↗ alps trails club about

26:19 ↗ trail improvement work in the future

26:22 ↗ that might lend itself to be promoted

26:27 ↗ to people who are interested in this

26:29 ↗ type of tourism to be able to come to

26:31 ↗ iskwa spend a couple days and get their

26:33 ↗ hands dirty at the same time feel good

26:36 ↗ about it so we'll see how that works out

26:38 ↗ but it's these are interesting trends

26:43 ↗ now

26:45 ↗ my primary focus for overnight stays is

26:48 ↗ is currently in for the business travel

26:50 ↗ traveler and there's there's um there's

26:53 ↗ two types that i'm targeting

26:55 ↗ one is called smurf travel and not the

26:58 ↗ little blue people

27:00 ↗ but uh smurf is a is an uh destination

27:02 ↗ marketing industry

27:04 ↗ acronym and it stands for social

27:07 ↗ military education

27:09 ↗ religious

27:11 ↗ and fraternal organizations so these are

27:13 ↗ smaller groups that that issaquah can

27:16 ↗ easily accommodate in the hotel spaces

27:20 ↗ that we currently have

27:23 ↗ we can't compete with the maiden bower

27:25 ↗ in downtown bellevue and so we're so

27:27 ↗ thankful that that that venue exists for

27:30 ↗ those big conferences that come into our

27:32 ↗ region

27:33 ↗ we have a beautiful ballroom at the

27:35 ↗ hilton garden inn but we don't have a

27:37 ↗ lot of breakout space so

27:39 ↗ we're limited to the size of conference

27:42 ↗ that we can attract so i'm focused on

27:44 ↗ the smaller conferences board retreats

27:47 ↗ strategic planning meetings reunions

27:51 ↗ and also

27:53 ↗ building

27:54 ↗ out on on our website

27:56 ↗ team building experiences that

28:00 ↗ a meeting

28:01 ↗ buyer would look at and say this is

28:04 ↗ really going to help my employer

28:05 ↗ retention we can go to issaquah we can

28:07 ↗ meet we can do an activity together they

28:10 ↗ have so many cool things in issaquah and

28:13 ↗ um and really help employ retention

28:15 ↗ which as we all know is a big topic in

28:18 ↗ business today

28:20 ↗ the second category in the overnight

28:23 ↗ stay

28:25 ↗ direction is on extending

28:28 ↗ the the business uh traveler

28:31 ↗ uh extending business business travel of

28:34 ↗ vendors and regional employees um for

28:36 ↗ example uh visiting costco

28:39 ↗ rei sanmar talking rain these are bigger

28:43 ↗ headquarter examples based in issaquah

28:46 ↗ they have vendors and regional uh and

28:50 ↗ national level employees international

28:51 ↗ employees that

28:53 ↗ come in from time to time

28:55 ↗ and i want to put together

28:57 ↗ curated experiences that encourage

29:00 ↗ exploration of our area so that if

29:02 ↗ they're coming in for business

29:04 ↗ and i'm working with costco's

29:06 ↗ internal travel team as an example i

29:09 ↗ want to provide information that they

29:11 ↗ can share with their employees that

29:13 ↗ they're booking their travel to issaquah

29:15 ↗ and um and and introduce all the many

29:18 ↗ things that there are to do

29:20 ↗ when they're here and hopefully they'll

29:22 ↗ stay another night or stay the weekend

29:25 ↗ and um

29:26 ↗ even better

29:28 ↗ bring the family next time and let the

29:31 ↗ you know the one parent

29:33 ↗ get out with the kids and enjoy those

29:35 ↗ types of things and then the other

29:37 ↗ parent can can join in the second day in

29:39 ↗ another curated experience so we're

29:41 ↗ working on making it really easy to um

29:45 ↗ understand what there is to do in

29:47 ↗ issaquah on

29:49 ↗ on any given day so look for those

29:52 ↗ improvements to our website coming soon

29:56 ↗ here are some examples these are just

29:58 ↗ mock-ups of ads this is not what we're

30:00 ↗ running with but just to give you a

30:01 ↗ visual idea of what i'm looking to

30:04 ↗ create a stay in play and this this

30:07 ↗ would really speak to that that business

30:09 ↗ traveler who brings the family

30:12 ↗ and they do the swamp monster

30:15 ↗ kids hiking trail and then they head

30:19 ↗ over to baum's chocolate and maybe tour

30:21 ↗ the candy factory or take a chocolate

30:23 ↗ making class and um and then have lunch

30:26 ↗ or or dinner at xxx root beer those are

30:29 ↗ all really relatively close together and

30:32 ↗ would make for a really nice full day

30:33 ↗ for um for a family traveling from out

30:37 ↗ of town

30:39 ↗ another um

30:41 ↗ creative solution that i am exploring

30:45 ↗ because we lack

30:47 ↗ lack

30:48 ↗ breakout rooms for conferences is um

30:52 ↗ i'm i'm working with a larger larger

30:54 ↗ organization that wants to host their

30:56 ↗ annual conference in issaquah in the

30:59 ↗ fall of 2023

31:02 ↗ so

31:03 ↗ they will stay at the hilton garden inn

31:05 ↗ and their general sessions for the

31:07 ↗ conference will happen there

31:09 ↗ um and then we will put them on shuttles

31:11 ↗ and bring them down to front street and

31:14 ↗ the breakout sessions will be in some of

31:16 ↗ our local businesses and meeting spaces

31:19 ↗ during the off hours

31:21 ↗ uh so capri sellers vino bella the train

31:24 ↗ depot

31:25 ↗ big picture these are businesses that

31:27 ↗ wouldn't be open in the morning and

31:30 ↗ we'll do the breakout sessions in those

31:32 ↗ spaces uh and um and then shuttle them

31:35 ↗ back to the hotel um in in the afternoon

31:39 ↗ so um we have had uh

31:42 ↗ um we've we've booked the conference we

31:46 ↗ have agreement on the

31:48 ↗ the hilton side of the conference and

31:50 ↗ we've had introductory conversations

31:52 ↗ with the businesses on front street and

31:54 ↗ they've all been very positive and

31:56 ↗ excited

31:57 ↗ about the idea i've personally

32:00 ↗ experienced this type of setup i

32:01 ↗ attended a conference in

32:04 ↗ april

32:05 ↗ in ellensburg and we stayed at this

32:07 ↗ quaint little historic hotel

32:09 ↗ in downtown ellensburg and the breakout

32:12 ↗ sessions were in the local businesses

32:15 ↗ and i have to say and if many of you

32:17 ↗ have been to conferences you sit in a

32:20 ↗ vanilla board room

32:22 ↗ you fly into a destination you sit in a

32:24 ↗ vanilla board room and you never get to

32:26 ↗ see the place where you are and um this

32:29 ↗ experience in ellensburg i got to

32:31 ↗ explore the the really quaint downtown

32:34 ↗ of that area stop into local coffee

32:36 ↗ shops window shop and when you put this

32:40 ↗ this conference i'm working on it will

32:41 ↗ be 200 attendees so when you put 200

32:43 ↗ attendees uh on front street

32:46 ↗ during the day it will just really um

32:51 ↗ bring attention and ec uh to the

32:53 ↗ economic vitality of of aqua so this is

32:56 ↗ something i'm working on and i'm just

32:58 ↗ excited to share

33:00 ↗ more information as we get that

33:02 ↗ uh developed

33:04 ↗ um you know and when you can't you know

33:06 ↗ you you can't um

33:09 ↗ not

33:10 ↗ promote

33:11 ↗ adventure in issaquah you know we are we

33:14 ↗ are world-renowned for

33:16 ↗ paragliding and for the right

33:19 ↗ organization with the right budget

33:22 ↗ this could be a really um

33:24 ↗ a great attraction to say come have your

33:26 ↗ team retreat in issaquah

33:29 ↗ book a bunch of tandem rides

33:31 ↗ and that'll equal team retention because

33:33 ↗ who wouldn't love to work for a company

33:35 ↗ that funds your opportunity to fly

33:38 ↗ so

33:39 ↗ that's um just just an idea of what i'm

33:41 ↗ working on um

33:43 ↗ you know another concept i have an

33:45 ↗ organization out in north bend they're

33:47 ↗ called compass outdoor adventures and

33:49 ↗ they uh facilitate team building

33:55 ↗ experiences for companies

33:58 ↗ and they do hiking they have a fleet of

34:01 ↗ bikes they do mountain bike tours they

34:03 ↗ also have electric bikes for those who

34:06 ↗ need that little extra support they're

34:08 ↗ professional facilitators they work with

34:10 ↗ organizations like facebook and amazon

34:12 ↗ and microsoft and all the biggies um and

34:15 ↗ and they're mobile so it doesn't have to

34:17 ↗ be in north bend and so we have some of

34:19 ↗ the most incredible mountain biking

34:21 ↗ trails

34:22 ↗ in the region and i would love for the

34:24 ↗ right um for the right business

34:28 ↗ that has a lot of outdoor enthusiasts on

34:31 ↗ their team to book something like this

34:33 ↗ where the meeting happens but the

34:35 ↗ business conversations continue on the

34:37 ↗ trail

34:39 ↗ now

34:40 ↗ lots of people really appreciate the

34:42 ↗ beauty of issaquah but they're um not

34:45 ↗ really into

34:47 ↗ the hiking and and and that sort of

34:50 ↗ thing so um

34:52 ↗ another

34:53 ↗ really unique opportunity to issaquah is

34:55 ↗ we've got an incredible

34:57 ↗ makers scene

34:59 ↗ so we have um

35:01 ↗ uh environmental artists that have uh

35:04 ↗ brick and mortar buildings and they

35:06 ↗ offer workshops and they make a great

35:09 ↗ team building experience for um

35:13 ↗ for uh

35:14 ↗ the right group that's wants to come

35:16 ↗ where it's beautiful uh but not

35:18 ↗ necessarily interested in getting out on

35:20 ↗ the trail uh you know we have northwest

35:23 ↗ makes which teaches you how to make dyes

35:27 ↗ from the local

35:29 ↗ flora in the area you go out and forage

35:31 ↗ your leaves and grasses and flowers and

35:33 ↗ you learn to make ink and then you make

35:35 ↗ a block print and then you um

35:38 ↗ you

35:39 ↗ decorate a textile and that's your take

35:41 ↗ home but can you imagine um a group of

35:44 ↗ people that are crafty inclined but

35:46 ↗ they're there to talk about a strategy

35:48 ↗ for their business

35:49 ↗ while they're doing something creative

35:51 ↗ with their hands i think it really spurs

35:53 ↗ creativity uh you know another example

35:56 ↗ is um our beloved bones chocolates and

35:58 ↗ um doing a team building retreat where

36:00 ↗ you take the team and everybody makes

36:02 ↗ chocolates and gets to take them home

36:03 ↗ and who wouldn't who wouldn't love that

36:05 ↗ those are only two examples of multiple

36:07 ↗ that i'm tracking

36:08 ↗ for our promotions

36:11 ↗ so the reason why i'm here

36:13 ↗ so that's a little bit about what what

36:15 ↗ we're working on at visit issaquah but

36:17 ↗ because the organization was pretty

36:20 ↗ quiet for the last two years i have the

36:22 ↗ opportunity to bring visit issaquah back

36:25 ↗ into the light to get us discovered

36:29 ↗ regionally through the lens of diversity

36:31 ↗ equity inclusion and accessibility

36:35 ↗ so my marketing

36:37 ↗ and who i'm marketing to will be

36:39 ↗ targeting the lgbtq plus community the

36:42 ↗ bipot community

36:43 ↗ and disability advocacy organizations

36:48 ↗ so

36:50 ↗ monica mentioned that we hosted the gsba

36:54 ↗ on last wednesday for lunch

36:57 ↗ and the gsba is basically washington

37:00 ↗ state's gay chamber of commerce

37:04 ↗ and they have

37:06 ↗ curriculum that they go into um you know

37:09 ↗ they're a chamber of commerce so they

37:11 ↗ have curriculum and they um

37:14 ↗ will come into your your city and and um

37:18 ↗ facilitate a topic of your choice and so

37:21 ↗ in october i'm working with monica and

37:25 ↗ with our chamber of commerce and with

37:27 ↗ the economic development team to have a

37:30 ↗ um inclusivity education day that'll be

37:34 ↗ facilitated by the gsba

37:36 ↗ um we will you know i'm focused on the

37:39 ↗ hospitality industry uh the chamber

37:43 ↗ the city um and and your your team

37:47 ↗ can you know

37:49 ↗ we can throw that net as broad as we

37:50 ↗ want to in terms of

37:53 ↗ people who want to be included in this

37:54 ↗ but i can't

37:56 ↗ go out there and promote that issaquah

37:59 ↗ is inclusive

38:00 ↗ because visit issaquah is inclusive and

38:03 ↗ the city of issaquah is committed to

38:04 ↗ inclusivity but if our businesses aren't

38:08 ↗ also bought in and understand what it

38:11 ↗ means in the workplace and to their

38:13 ↗ customer base

38:15 ↗ then we are not doing it authentically

38:18 ↗ and the gsba has curriculum that will

38:21 ↗ come in it doesn't cost us anything to

38:23 ↗ um to really dive deeper on um what that

38:27 ↗ means so then we can feel authentic

38:29 ↗ about the marketing that we launch

38:33 ↗ now

38:34 ↗ i um this is a passion of mine i'm on my

38:37 ↗ own personal journey

38:39 ↗ my husband is half vietnamese and the

38:41 ↗ firstborn american citizen in his family

38:45 ↗ this is important important work

38:48 ↗ but it is also a business decision

38:50 ↗ i'm looking to gain market share of

38:53 ↗ these travel dollars from these types of

38:56 ↗ travelers i've done some research

38:58 ↗ research and there are no other markets

39:01 ↗ of our size that are

39:03 ↗ that are

39:05 ↗ making a conscious decision about who um

39:08 ↗ who they're attracting as it's

39:10 ↗ represented in their marketing so

39:13 ↗ it's it's a business decision as well as

39:15 ↗ it is the right thing to do

39:18 ↗ so i'm just about done here and then

39:20 ↗ i'll take your questions and i but um

39:22 ↗ these are some of the organizations that

39:25 ↗ i am working with and exploring that i

39:27 ↗ just kind of wanted to share that really

39:28 ↗ tie back to the work that you will be

39:30 ↗ doing so travel out seattle is a

39:34 ↗ program of the gsba and in the fall they

39:38 ↗ will be rebranded to travel out

39:40 ↗ washington

39:41 ↗ and because i have

39:43 ↗ made visit issaquah a member of the gsba

39:46 ↗ i've been invited to their advisory

39:48 ↗ committee in november

39:51 ↗ issaquah will have a seat at the table

39:53 ↗ as they start to rebrand and we'll get

39:55 ↗ to be there from the beginning to really

39:58 ↗ um

39:59 ↗ be

40:00 ↗ a part of of that work and

40:03 ↗ encouraging the lgbtq plus travel

40:07 ↗ to our city

40:09 ↗ um last week i had the privilege to be

40:12 ↗ on a webinar that um uh

40:15 ↗ the love couple were for with traveling

40:18 ↗ while black uh were the guest speakers

40:21 ↗ and so uh travel so

40:24 ↗ courtney and i can't remember her

40:26 ↗ husband's their last name is love

40:28 ↗ they moved to seattle from

40:31 ↗ uh the midwest and they started vlogging

40:34 ↗ about

40:35 ↗ their discoveries in the pacific

40:37 ↗ northwest and they have become

40:40 ↗ nationally known and they've just been

40:43 ↗ given some international assignments to

40:45 ↗ go and travel and vlog about it now i

40:48 ↗ attended a conference uh not a

40:49 ↗ conference up an annual meeting of visit

40:52 ↗ bellevue back in the spring and they had

40:55 ↗ a consultant that spoke to the room who

40:58 ↗ said that

41:00 ↗ social influencers are 600 times more

41:04 ↗ effective in marketing than a paid

41:06 ↗ advertising buy

41:08 ↗ blew my mind

41:11 ↗ now

41:12 ↗ so

41:12 ↗ you know with the goal of of marketing

41:15 ↗ through this

41:17 ↗ deia

41:18 ↗ lens working with a couple like like uh

41:22 ↗ courtney and her husband

41:24 ↗ to invite them to issaquah would be

41:27 ↗ wonderful to get that type of coverage

41:29 ↗ now here's what they do

41:30 ↗ um you know like they generally just

41:32 ↗ love traveling and they have a rating

41:35 ↗ system so they go and vlog about their

41:37 ↗ um

41:39 ↗ experience they have a really

41:41 ↗ robust youtube channel

41:43 ↗ and then they have a rating system that

41:45 ↗ that says well how easy is it get to get

41:47 ↗ to that destination was it easy to find

41:50 ↗ parking

41:51 ↗ how fun

41:52 ↗ was what they went to do

41:55 ↗ and most importantly

41:57 ↗ how

41:57 ↗ welcoming how welcomed did they feel

42:01 ↗ and that's huge that you know that's

42:03 ↗ just huge so i really respect the work

42:05 ↗ that they're doing it's it's um

42:07 ↗ important and uh look forward to

42:10 ↗ to seeing how we can connect in the

42:12 ↗ future

42:14 ↗ um and then these last two boxes on on

42:16 ↗ the slides are for um accessibility and

42:19 ↗ i i could come back and talk about

42:21 ↗ either one of these programs for 30

42:23 ↗ minutes so i'm going to just give you

42:25 ↗ very very high level for the sake of

42:27 ↗ time but making the invisible visible

42:30 ↗ hidden disabilities is a national

42:32 ↗ organization and they use the sunflower

42:35 ↗ as a visual cue for someone to wear on

42:38 ↗ their body um

42:40 ↗ to indicate that they have a disability

42:43 ↗ that is um

42:45 ↗ hidden

42:46 ↗ and

42:47 ↗ so

42:48 ↗ a great use of this in in some

42:51 ↗ locations or airports are using this

42:56 ↗ sunflower and so you get a a lanyard if

42:59 ↗ you have an invisible disability you get

43:01 ↗ a lanyard or a or a lapel pen or a

43:04 ↗ rubber bracelet to wear

43:06 ↗ that all their employees have been

43:08 ↗ trained that if they see someone with

43:10 ↗ that um sunflower visual cue they know

43:14 ↗ that person might just need a little

43:16 ↗ extra

43:17 ↗ consideration

43:19 ↗ and

43:20 ↗ an example of that the founder was

43:22 ↗ telling me that her daughter who's 40

43:24 ↗ years old is going blind and she's

43:26 ↗ already lost her peripheral vision so

43:28 ↗ she runs into stuff and knocks stuff

43:30 ↗ over

43:32 ↗ but the people in her town

43:34 ↗ know because they've been trained in the

43:36 ↗ sunflower program that she just has an

43:38 ↗ invisible disability she's not

43:41 ↗ you know intoxicated or anything like

43:44 ↗ that and um so it's just a it's just a

43:46 ↗ really

43:47 ↗ wonderful welcoming way so the way it

43:50 ↗ might work in issaquah is

43:52 ↗ the cougar mountain zoo might have

43:55 ↗ a a basket of rubber bracelets and a

43:58 ↗ little a little sign that says what

44:00 ↗ they're for and the family that's coming

44:02 ↗ with a child on the autism spectrum they

44:04 ↗ might put that rubber bracelet on that

44:06 ↗ child and then everybody all the staff

44:08 ↗ at the zoo are

44:10 ↗ trained to know what that means and it

44:13 ↗ just

44:14 ↗ allows them to give that child some

44:16 ↗ space and

44:18 ↗ and be aware that they might have

44:20 ↗ different needs so anyway it's again i

44:22 ↗ could talk about it longer but that's

44:24 ↗ briefly and then alabama is a program

44:27 ↗ that was launched in alabama

44:30 ↗ where

44:31 ↗ families who have a member on the autism

44:34 ↗ spectrum can have a practice night

44:37 ↗ overnight stay in a hotel of their

44:40 ↗ choice that are within the program

44:43 ↗ at no charge

44:45 ↗ to

44:46 ↗ to practice traveling with that family

44:49 ↗ member and the way alabama worked it so

44:52 ↗ the alabama tourism

44:55 ↗ organization got grant money from an

44:58 ↗ autism organization and then they um

45:02 ↗ alabama tourism

45:05 ↗ ran the program and basically they went

45:08 ↗ into hotels that agreed to participate

45:10 ↗ did a 30-minute training on just what it

45:12 ↗ means when someone what kind of

45:14 ↗ consideration someone needs when they

45:16 ↗ have autism and then they set up a

45:19 ↗ website and worked with autism

45:22 ↗ organizations in alabama so then a

45:25 ↗ family could say

45:26 ↗ we'd like you know we'd like that free

45:28 ↗ night stay and um and then there's a

45:30 ↗ whole um a whole nother step again i

45:33 ↗ could come back and talk about that but

45:35 ↗ um

45:37 ↗ they did a survey that said

45:39 ↗ 80

45:40 ↗ of families with someone on the autism

45:42 ↗ spectrum

45:44 ↗ do not travel but 90

45:47 ↗ of those surveyed said they would travel

45:49 ↗ if they thought there was a safe space

45:50 ↗ for them to go with their family member

45:53 ↗ i would like issaquah to become a safe

45:55 ↗ space for people who travel with

45:58 ↗ someone with an invisible

46:00 ↗ disability so again these are programs

46:03 ↗ that i'll be working on in the future i

46:05 ↗ don't have anything to launch today but

46:08 ↗ i've got my eyes on this work and it

46:09 ↗ really does align with the work that

46:12 ↗ you'll be doing

46:14 ↗ in on this equity commission

46:18 ↗ so you can follow me uh follow me follow

46:20 ↗ visit us a call online um visit us at

46:22 ↗ kwaw.com.com it needs a lot of of uh

46:25 ↗ revisioning and work since coming back

46:27 ↗ from the pandemic i'm slowly i'm the

46:29 ↗ only employee by the way so i'm slowly

46:31 ↗ slowly getting it updated but

46:33 ↗ go to the go to visit issaquah.com click

46:37 ↗ on things to do you'll get the calendar

46:40 ↗ there's over hundred things to do

46:42 ↗ special events

46:44 ↗ in issaquah in the month of august

46:47 ↗ so

46:48 ↗ something for everybody live music

46:51 ↗ almost every night in issaquah in the

46:54 ↗ summer really cool so check it out find

46:56 ↗ us on linkedin facebook instagram

46:59 ↗ and my email address is right there as

47:01 ↗ well i really i'm on a journey i'm open

47:05 ↗ to your ideas really would love to hear

47:07 ↗ from you

47:08 ↗ love your feedback on as we progress

47:11 ↗ and with that

47:12 ↗ i will um gladly take any questions or

47:15 ↗ comments that you have for me and thank

47:17 ↗ you so much for the opportunity and

47:19 ↗ thank you all for volunteering your time

47:21 ↗ to make issaquah a more inclusive place

47:23 ↗ the work you're doing is really really

47:25 ↗ important and it's noticed thank you

47:28 ↗ christy it was a great presentation i

47:30 ↗ got to give you a clap for that great

47:32 ↗ very very great presentation he did a

47:34 ↗ great job with this

47:35 ↗ looking in the chat

47:37 ↗ let's say i see lucretia you have a

47:38 ↗ comment i do as well so lucretia would

47:42 ↗ you like as well as ray so i'll go ahead

47:44 ↗ and let you go in order so if you like

47:46 ↗ to jump off me look appreciate please go

47:48 ↗ ahead

47:51 ↗ yes okay so i had several questions and

47:53 ↗ i'm trying to like make it into a

47:54 ↗ cohesive comment slash question

47:57 ↗ um i'm very interested in the visit the

48:01 ↗ possible visit of

48:03 ↗ um the blogging couple who who who

48:06 ↗ discusses you know like their experience

48:09 ↗ coming into the squad

48:11 ↗ and i can tell you that it it gave me

48:14 ↗ pause okay simply because

48:17 ↗ i have not had the have had the best

48:19 ↗ experiences

48:21 ↗ when interacting with certain businesses

48:23 ↗ here in issaquah

48:24 ↗ and

48:25 ↗ as you mentioned right they have a

48:27 ↗ robust youtube

48:29 ↗ um and so before we invite them i just

48:31 ↗ want to say that we really need to do

48:33 ↗ some sort of outreach out into our

48:36 ↗ our community so that when these you

48:38 ↗ know this couple does decide to come to

48:41 ↗ issaquah

48:42 ↗ it doesn't turn around and burn us right

48:46 ↗ now right they can travel wherever they

48:48 ↗ want right anytime they want but for a

48:50 ↗ personal invitation wouldn't wouldn't

48:53 ↗ come from me until the very least we get

48:56 ↗ that inclusivity training

48:58 ↗ done and we get a read on how well that

49:00 ↗ was received because i completely agree

49:02 ↗ with you

49:03 ↗ okay

49:05 ↗ yeah no thank you for that um

49:07 ↗ and then i just wanted to say that there

49:09 ↗ are

49:11 ↗ that i would like to see a place where

49:14 ↗ events that are happening that may not

49:16 ↗ be i haven't visited your site so i

49:17 ↗ don't know if they are actually listed

49:19 ↗ but there are events that happen

49:22 ↗ that we may not know are happening and

49:24 ↗ that we could be benefiting

49:26 ↗ um visit issaquah through and so one

49:29 ↗ example that i can think of is that we

49:31 ↗ had somebody reach out to a page that i

49:34 ↗ run on facebook called um squawk

49:36 ↗ mountain families

49:38 ↗ and it was ultra marathoners who were

49:40 ↗ going to be running through squawk

49:42 ↗ mountain in the middle of the night

49:44 ↗ because i guess they burned in 24-hour

49:46 ↗ increments or so yes yes walk in the

49:47 ↗ dark yes so i thought you know like

49:50 ↗ wouldn't that be great to really

49:52 ↗ reach out to those sorts of

49:54 ↗ ultra

49:55 ↗ athletic people or whoever they are and

49:58 ↗ also to create events that are

50:01 ↗ successful in other small um communities

50:04 ↗ and replicate them here

50:06 ↗ absolutely right and so i was thinking

50:08 ↗ like for example um

50:10 ↗ i'm from portland i moved here from

50:12 ↗ portland oregon

50:13 ↗ and there they have an event where

50:16 ↗ everybody makes a boxcar

50:18 ↗ and they

50:18 ↗ they

50:19 ↗ plunge themselves down these hills

50:22 ↗ um and their prizes and whatnot

50:25 ↗ and my dream since you said that you're

50:27 ↗ open to these things

50:28 ↗ um is to have something called the big

50:30 ↗ squawk

50:32 ↗ and have these box cars come shooting

50:34 ↗ down squawk mountain

50:36 ↗ and so um

50:37 ↗ so there's a non-profit organization in

50:40 ↗ isoqual called life enrichment options

50:43 ↗ they

50:43 ↗ provide housing for adults with

50:47 ↗ special needs disabilities

50:49 ↗ so that they can have an independent

50:51 ↗ living experience

50:52 ↗ and a fundraiser that this organization

50:54 ↗ does they have several houses in

50:56 ↗ issaquah and a fundraiser that they do

50:58 ↗ is a soapbox derby and they had it has

51:01 ↗ been a beloved and long tradition very

51:04 ↗ similar to what you described in

51:06 ↗ issaquah it went away with the pandemic

51:08 ↗ i haven't heard um if or when they would

51:11 ↗ be bringing it back but it was really

51:13 ↗ successful because they would build

51:14 ↗ these cars and then put

51:17 ↗ a child that had some type of

51:20 ↗ different ableness into the car for a

51:22 ↗ thrill ride down a hill with um with

51:24 ↗ another person and so um so i think that

51:28 ↗ that that would be great i do follow um

51:31 ↗ and man we have a lot of that type of

51:33 ↗ outdoor recreation stuff happening in

51:36 ↗ issaquah we had a women's mountain bike

51:40 ↗ race on tiger mountain in july 70 of

51:43 ↗ their entrance came from out of state

51:46 ↗ right i was i was actually going to

51:48 ↗ point in that direction yeah yeah and

51:50 ↗ and then just last week

51:52 ↗ not this past sunday sunday before last

51:55 ↗ uh we had issaquah hosted um the seafair

51:59 ↗ sanctioned triathlon for seafair at lake

52:02 ↗ samama state park

52:04 ↗ so

52:05 ↗ as i'm new in this role and kind of

52:07 ↗ seeing what the seasonality is for these

52:10 ↗ events i'm reaching out to their

52:11 ↗ producers and saying

52:14 ↗ how can i help you today

52:16 ↗ or

52:17 ↗ when the event is over can we

52:19 ↗ collaborate

52:20 ↗ for next year so that i can work out

52:22 ↗ getting a block of rooms for um

52:26 ↗ for their entrance so for the women's

52:29 ↗ mountain bike race was called the sturdy

52:30 ↗ dirty and

52:33 ↗ you know and they didn't have a hotel

52:35 ↗ partner for their event

52:37 ↗ and so i said we need to get you a hotel

52:39 ↗ partner next year we want we we want you

52:42 ↗ to come back and so

52:44 ↗ same thing with the producer of the

52:46 ↗ seafair triathlon we need we know that

52:49 ↗ we've got uh runners in from all over

52:53 ↗ you know the region um we we need to do

52:55 ↗ better for you in that area but you know

52:58 ↗ the our organization's been dark for a

53:00 ↗ couple years they don't know to look for

53:03 ↗ me so i have to get issaquah discovered

53:06 ↗ i have to get visit issaquah discovered

53:08 ↗ and keep building those relationships so

53:10 ↗ i'm kind of catching people late on this

53:12 ↗ season but i'm hoping that that's going

53:13 ↗ to build business for 2023 and beyond so

53:16 ↗ totally agree with you and

53:18 ↗ um please visit the the calendar on the

53:21 ↗ things to do at visidissaquoiwa and

53:23 ↗ you'll be amazed at how much is going on

53:25 ↗ but if you see something that's not on

53:28 ↗ there

53:29 ↗ reach out and let me know and if it

53:31 ↗ would

53:33 ↗ if it would be something you would take

53:35 ↗ a family member visiting from out of

53:37 ↗ state to do then i think is worthy of

53:39 ↗ being on there

53:40 ↗ and i you know i just reached out to

53:42 ↗ what i call our visit issaquah partners

53:45 ↗ i call them my vips and monica is on

53:48 ↗ that list and asked you know for

53:49 ↗ information on any third quarter events

53:52 ↗ that are coming up to be added to the

53:54 ↗ calendar and so obviously promoting

53:55 ↗ welcoming week coming up is going to be

53:57 ↗ really important in september

54:00 ↗ thank you so much and i have a ton of

54:01 ↗ things so i'll be reaching out via email

54:03 ↗ thank you excellent i look forward to it

54:05 ↗ love to have coffee if you want so

54:07 ↗ thank you

54:08 ↗ yes okay

54:11 ↗ ray would you like to

54:13 ↗ unmute yourself

54:14 ↗ yeah uh christy thank you for that

54:16 ↗ incredible uh presentation while you

54:18 ↗ were speaking i actually went onto the

54:20 ↗ website and and poked around and i'm

54:22 ↗ amazed at the content that you

54:25 ↗ put together um

54:27 ↗ thank you for

54:28 ↗ putting an equity lens into your

54:29 ↗ strategy that's quite amazing that you

54:31 ↗ target lgbtq and um the black community

54:34 ↗ that's fantastic

54:37 ↗ one of the things as i poked around your

54:39 ↗ website is i think

54:40 ↗ what appeals to those types of travelers

54:43 ↗ like the lgbtq and the and um uh uh

54:47 ↗ black or mexican-american asian-american

54:49 ↗ travelers is the fact that a city even

54:51 ↗ has an equity strategy you'd be amazed

54:54 ↗ that they do that research so if there's

54:56 ↗ a way

54:57 ↗ on that website to just even comment

54:59 ↗ that this the city of issaquah is is so

55:02 ↗ progressive in their thought that the

55:04 ↗ the mayor has established an equity

55:06 ↗ board i think would appeal to a lot of

55:08 ↗ travelers i think i think you're right i

55:10 ↗ do have an equity statement and a land

55:12 ↗ acknowledgement statement on the website

55:13 ↗ you'll find that under the contact

55:16 ↗ information is where it lives right now

55:18 ↗ but that doesn't mean it couldn't be in

55:20 ↗ a more dominant location and adding the

55:22 ↗ fact that there is an equity board just

55:25 ↗ really sweetens up um to your point what

55:28 ↗ a visitor from the lgbtq plus or bipod

55:30 ↗ community would be would would make them

55:33 ↗ feel um more assured so thank you

55:36 ↗ and yeah one other comment too is

55:38 ↗ travelers um

55:39 ↗ i i they they sometimes tend to to i

55:42 ↗ know i'm one of those that don't like to

55:44 ↗ stay in in a health and garden inn or

55:46 ↗ or spring hill suites so if there's a

55:49 ↗ way to connect people like to go to like

55:50 ↗ airbnb or vrbo to find something that

55:54 ↗ has a little more local flair to it

55:56 ↗ that's that um people open up their

55:58 ↗ homes if that that's an option that we

56:00 ↗ can that you can incorporate anchors yes

56:01 ↗ because you know what you pay lodging

56:03 ↗ tax when you stay at an airbnb and so

56:07 ↗ it's on my list it's a little it's a

56:09 ↗ little bit harder to herd

56:11 ↗ those that information but at least

56:13 ↗ having a link to the airbnb

56:16 ↗ you know general website and you know

56:18 ↗ something like that would would

56:19 ↗ definitely uh be a start so i appreciate

56:22 ↗ your thought from there and for that

56:24 ↗ unique stay did you know that we have um

56:27 ↗ treehouse point in issaquah

56:30 ↗ we have um a lodging and retreat center

56:34 ↗ um in issaquah called treehouse point

56:37 ↗ they have nine

56:39 ↗ treehouses that you can stay in and then

56:42 ↗ they have um meeting space too um i i

56:46 ↗ recommend you check it out it's not

56:48 ↗ inexpensive

56:49 ↗ it's like it's like glamping in the

56:51 ↗ trees um but uh but i've toured this

56:54 ↗ i've toured the area and

56:57 ↗ uh location and it is absolutely magical

56:59 ↗ it's right on a on the river and it's it

57:03 ↗ it's it's really cool so yeah we have to

57:06 ↗ we have some really we do have unique

57:08 ↗ places to stay and we we can do a better

57:10 ↗ job of sharing that so thank you thank

57:12 ↗ you for all the work you do thank you

57:16 ↗ and pretty would you like to

57:19 ↗ hop off mute

57:20 ↗ sure i think this builds off of ray's

57:22 ↗ comments um

57:24 ↗ so i was i'm also looking at your

57:26 ↗ website as you were talking

57:28 ↗ and so i applaud your desire to reach

57:31 ↗ out to

57:32 ↗ uh

57:33 ↗ these different diverse communities

57:35 ↗ um and similarly i think

57:38 ↗ to

57:40 ↗ attract

57:41 ↗ diverse folks into issaquah

57:44 ↗ i think

57:45 ↗ you know i'm thinking about what is the

57:46 ↗ draw for them and it might be worthwhile

57:48 ↗ to highlight women in my own

57:50 ↗ minority-owned businesses in issaquah as

57:53 ↗ an attraction and i'm also thinking

57:55 ↗ about what other ways to center on their

57:56 ↗ identities as part of what you make

57:59 ↗ visible on your webpage

58:02 ↗ i know with with what you talked about

58:04 ↗ in terms of your marketing campaign it

58:05 ↗ seemed to focus

58:07 ↗ primarily on

58:09 ↗ folks of a certain professional level so

58:11 ↗ folks who are traveling for conferences

58:13 ↗ and things like that and that's a pretty

58:16 ↗ narrow socioeconomic slice

58:18 ↗ and when i think about you know bipolar

58:20 ↗ communities there's a much wider range

58:23 ↗ and we also know along with um

58:25 ↗ uh

58:27 ↗ racism

58:28 ↗ it also follows like low income status

58:30 ↗ and things like that so i'm also

58:31 ↗ wondering about what are opportunities

58:33 ↗ to

58:35 ↗ attract folks of different socioeconomic

58:38 ↗ statuses to issaquah i know it has a

58:40 ↗ different impact on

58:42 ↗ the roi

58:44 ↗ but

58:45 ↗ i think that that's also an opportunity

58:47 ↗ i wouldn't i would encourage you to

58:48 ↗ consider here yes absolutely and and i

58:51 ↗ know that city

58:53 ↗ city economic development um is starting

58:56 ↗ to consider how they could better track

58:59 ↗ minority and women-owned businesses so

59:01 ↗ that we would we need to focus

59:04 ↗ you know narrow a focus of of um

59:07 ↗ intention that we have that at our

59:09 ↗ fingertips currently we don't have that

59:12 ↗ and uh so it's it's um it's not um not

59:16 ↗ so not a switch that i can uh flick um

59:19 ↗ easily but i

59:21 ↗ 100 agree with you that that we need to

59:24 ↗ we need to be promoting that and that it

59:27 ↗ you know i serve on the economic

59:29 ↗ vitality commission for the city of

59:31 ↗ issaquah and we want to attract that we

59:33 ↗ want to attract those women-owned and

59:35 ↗ minority-owned businesses to issaquah

59:37 ↗ too and so um not just tourism but like

59:40 ↗ you know opportunity to do business in

59:42 ↗ issaquah so um yeah that that's work

59:45 ↗ that is in progress and i focus so and

59:50 ↗ just so you know the slides that i

59:51 ↗ showed you were just

59:53 ↗ mock-ups visual ideas of what i'm

59:56 ↗ looking to do i'm working with a

59:57 ↗ marketing agency so it'll be way more

59:59 ↗ professional and and way cooler than

1:00:02 ↗ than what i showed you but you get the

1:00:03 ↗ gist of what i'm trying to go after and

1:00:07 ↗ and we're doing that because we are in a

1:00:09 ↗ in a season of economic recovery we've

1:00:13 ↗ got to get the our hotel

1:00:16 ↗ uh our hotel business back up and get

1:00:18 ↗ those overnight stays um going and um

1:00:22 ↗ and so that we have more money to

1:00:25 ↗ invest in promoting uh the city so so

1:00:28 ↗ it's a it's an immediate

1:00:30 ↗ business decision to go after that very

1:00:33 ↗ you're right narrow

1:00:36 ↗ traveler

1:00:37 ↗ but what i also

1:00:39 ↗ want to make sure i'm really focused on

1:00:41 ↗ is having the free

1:00:44 ↗ category and tag on our events on our

1:00:48 ↗ calendar so that someone and again the

1:00:50 ↗ the website's a work in progress

1:00:52 ↗ progress as well but i want someone to

1:00:55 ↗ be able to go to the calendar and type

1:00:57 ↗ in free and have everything that's

1:00:59 ↗ available to do

1:01:01 ↗ um at low cost or no cost uh be um be

1:01:05 ↗ prominent so that people do see that you

1:01:08 ↗ don't have to you know there's a ton to

1:01:10 ↗ do in this squad that doesn't cost

1:01:12 ↗ money but yeah thank you you're you're

1:01:15 ↗ 100 right i totally agree with you and

1:01:18 ↗ um we'll we'll get there together

1:01:20 ↗ yeah and lastly i'd put in a plug around

1:01:22 ↗ language access so thinking about

1:01:24 ↗ translation i have a google move forward

1:01:27 ↗ yeah we have that on there we have a

1:01:28 ↗ google uh translator widget i see it

1:01:31 ↗ okay up on the top okay maybe but but

1:01:33 ↗ maybe to your point it needs to be more

1:01:35 ↗ dominant so i'll make a note of that

1:01:38 ↗ thank you yep

1:01:40 ↗ all right so i also have a question this

1:01:43 ↗ is tony christie um two questions and a

1:01:45 ↗ comment i'll go for the question first

1:01:47 ↗ and a comment and another question um

1:01:49 ↗ you mentioned that the the l tax the um

1:01:53 ↗ funding how that works in terms of the

1:01:55 ↗ state how's that

1:01:57 ↗ dispersed is it basically obviously

1:02:00 ↗ if someone stays at hilton garden n or

1:02:03 ↗ spring hill suites

1:02:05 ↗ is it does it work that way in which

1:02:07 ↗ issaquah would get the majority of that

1:02:10 ↗ l tax or d is all the money put in a

1:02:13 ↗ bucket and then it's just

1:02:15 ↗ distributed in some fashion

1:02:18 ↗ that's a great question and i don't have

1:02:20 ↗ the answer um

1:02:22 ↗ wally do you know the answer to that

1:02:24 ↗ question

1:02:28 ↗ i do uh good evening everyone i'm wally

1:02:30 ↗ bob quits the city administrator uh l

1:02:32 ↗ tax stands for logic tax advisory

1:02:35 ↗ committee so it's actually what is

1:02:37 ↗ collected the lodging tax sometimes

1:02:39 ↗ known as a hotel tax or transit

1:02:41 ↗ occupancy tax in some areas

1:02:44 ↗ so uh issaquah collects 100

1:02:47 ↗ of that tax which is assessed here in

1:02:50 ↗ esqua

1:02:51 ↗ the money is then allocated

1:02:53 ↗ locally uh by a lodging tax advisory

1:02:56 ↗ committee uh it is a creature of state

1:02:59 ↗ law uh that any any city that has a

1:03:02 ↗ lodging tax has a committee that is

1:03:04 ↗ appointed by the mayor confirmed by the

1:03:06 ↗ city council um that that makes that

1:03:08 ↗ allocation and the lodging tax advisory

1:03:10 ↗ committee uh membership is also uh

1:03:13 ↗ dictated by state law that it has to be

1:03:16 ↗ made up of individuals who are employed

1:03:19 ↗ by businesses that either generate the

1:03:21 ↗ lodging tax or receive

1:03:23 ↗ are eligible to receive the lodging tax

1:03:26 ↗ and those businesses that are eligible

1:03:27 ↗ to receive the logic tax are only those

1:03:30 ↗ businesses

1:03:31 ↗ that generate uh hotel stays uh from

1:03:34 ↗ beyond i i think it's 50 miles 50 miles

1:03:37 ↗ right

1:03:38 ↗ and so

1:03:39 ↗ that is all prescribed also is

1:03:41 ↗ prescribed that a city council member

1:03:42 ↗ served on the ltch and currently council

1:03:45 ↗ member russell joe is that council

1:03:47 ↗ member he's also the chair of the logic

1:03:49 ↗ tax advisory committee so they meet uh

1:03:52 ↗ throughout the year uh they review

1:03:54 ↗ funding applications those applications

1:03:56 ↗ are then submitted to the as question

1:03:58 ↗ council

1:03:59 ↗ and then they make the approval for

1:04:01 ↗ those payments so this is its local tax

1:04:04 ↗ uh generated and then spent through a

1:04:06 ↗ local board

1:04:10 ↗ thank you i appreciate that that answer

1:04:13 ↗ um the other um is one comment and then

1:04:15 ↗ the question that relates to the comment

1:04:17 ↗ i think it's fantastic christy that

1:04:19 ↗ you're working with the loves um

1:04:21 ↗ it's just you know it's the nature of

1:04:24 ↗ being black in america um

1:04:27 ↗ i use utilize them as well as others a

1:04:30 ↗ lot

1:04:31 ↗ my wife and i um travel quite a bit and

1:04:34 ↗ so i think it's great lakrisha had a

1:04:36 ↗ great comment um initially i thought

1:04:39 ↗ okay

1:04:40 ↗ it would be nice to hear

1:04:42 ↗ um

1:04:43 ↗ what the loves would think

1:04:45 ↗ without any prompting of our businesses

1:04:48 ↗ but would hate for because i me

1:04:51 ↗ personally i would love to see

1:04:53 ↗ the data that they would glean from that

1:04:55 ↗ maybe not data but their their thoughts

1:04:58 ↗ um and i thought that you know in a

1:05:00 ↗ certain sense i'd want it in a certain

1:05:02 ↗ sense it's great to prepare our business

1:05:04 ↗ um leaders and business owners across

1:05:06 ↗ the issaquah spectrum but i also think

1:05:10 ↗ to the christian's point is that

1:05:13 ↗ it would be nice christie and i know

1:05:16 ↗ you're just a team of one but it would

1:05:18 ↗ be fantastic if you could contract maybe

1:05:22 ↗ like a mystery shopping agency that

1:05:25 ↗ would actually go around to the local

1:05:28 ↗ issaquah businesses people of color

1:05:30 ↗ and of different you know different you

1:05:33 ↗ know

1:05:34 ↗ cultural backgrounds and cultural um

1:05:37 ↗ ethnicities and go around to the

1:05:38 ↗ issaquah businesses see what they

1:05:41 ↗ glean from um you know the before the

1:05:44 ↗ loves actually even visit

1:05:46 ↗ i think that that's an outstanding idea

1:05:49 ↗ i used to work in retail and we dealt

1:05:52 ↗ with secret shoppers so i know exactly

1:05:53 ↗ what you're talking about and it's very

1:05:55 ↗ um

1:05:56 ↗ formalized in what that that shopper is

1:05:59 ↗ is you know looking for

1:06:02 ↗ i think it would be an amazing committee

1:06:05 ↗ for this board

1:06:06 ↗ to

1:06:07 ↗ for some people who might be interested

1:06:09 ↗ in in in in the

1:06:12 ↗ inclusivity

1:06:13 ↗ culture

1:06:14 ↗ of of our businesses in issaquah we

1:06:17 ↗ don't need you know we don't have to

1:06:18 ↗ contract with someone you know they come

1:06:20 ↗ up you could form a committee and that

1:06:22 ↗ committee could come up with

1:06:25 ↗ you know the the five things that

1:06:26 ↗ they're looking for

1:06:28 ↗ you're all out shopping

1:06:30 ↗ just having that you know in the back of

1:06:32 ↗ your mind to just kind of fill out one

1:06:34 ↗ of the a little rating form and then

1:06:38 ↗ provide you know talk about it

1:06:41 ↗ on this committee to make

1:06:42 ↗ recommendations to what could be done

1:06:44 ↗ but i mean you can certainly share it

1:06:46 ↗ with me and i'd be happy to provide that

1:06:48 ↗ feedback in an anonymous way to the

1:06:51 ↗ hospital you know the the the

1:06:52 ↗ stakeholders that i serve which is the

1:06:54 ↗ hospitality industry to say hey

1:06:56 ↗ you know

1:06:58 ↗ this feedback came back to me and um

1:07:01 ↗ you know here are some suggestions on

1:07:02 ↗ how you might improve

1:07:05 ↗ that next time you know the loves talked

1:07:06 ↗ about like going into

1:07:09 ↗ gastropubs you know where the decor is

1:07:12 ↗ kind of kitschy like it's not cool

1:07:15 ↗ anymore to have a rebel flag hanging up

1:07:17 ↗ in a restaurant and

1:07:19 ↗ you know really considering the artwork

1:07:21 ↗ that's hanging up in in in a in a fine

1:07:24 ↗ dining establishment and who's

1:07:26 ↗ represented in the artwork on the walls

1:07:28 ↗ and you know just they're they're

1:07:31 ↗ a lot you know really important things

1:07:33 ↗ to think more deeply about

1:07:36 ↗ like a business owner needs one more

1:07:37 ↗ thing but this is important

1:07:39 ↗ yeah absolutely yeah thank you christy

1:07:42 ↗ and i think it would be great if you

1:07:44 ↗ would if you wouldn't mind uh at uh

1:07:47 ↗ monica's direction of course but to

1:07:49 ↗ share that data with us as a board

1:07:50 ↗ because it would let us kind of really

1:07:52 ↗ inform us

1:07:53 ↗ on the work and we all know that there's

1:07:55 ↗ work to be done but it would give us a

1:07:57 ↗ framework of how much work really needs

1:08:00 ↗ to be done not just with our community

1:08:02 ↗ in general but with our business leaders

1:08:04 ↗ that are visited by you know patrons of

1:08:07 ↗ north bend snow quality issaquah and

1:08:10 ↗ bellevue yeah

1:08:12 ↗ totally totally agree

1:08:15 ↗ and looking at the chat i do not see any

1:08:19 ↗ other questions or comments

1:08:22 ↗ but christy would you be willing to

1:08:24 ↗ share um maybe your contact information

1:08:27 ↗ uh an email so that uh if others happen

1:08:30 ↗ to have questions that uh later on

1:08:32 ↗ because i'm sure

1:08:33 ↗ if you wouldn't mind doing that in chat

1:08:35 ↗ i would really appreciate it okay we'll

1:08:37 ↗ do that and then monica i will as soon

1:08:40 ↗ as we i get off this call i will email

1:08:42 ↗ you this um slide presentation so that

1:08:45 ↗ you can um have it

1:08:47 ↗ translated or

1:08:49 ↗ have it for the record for the meeting

1:08:50 ↗ packet

1:08:52 ↗ thank you so much christian thank you so

1:08:54 ↗ much for joining us tonight great

1:08:56 ↗ conversations board members

1:08:59 ↗ yes thank you all so much i'm really

1:09:00 ↗ really proud of the work you're doing

1:09:01 ↗ thank you for your time tonight

1:09:04 ↗ christy thank you very much for your

1:09:05 ↗ great presentation and for your uh

1:09:07 ↗ expertise and what you do and what you

1:09:09 ↗ are continuing to do and it's what we

1:09:10 ↗ really appreciate you

1:09:14 ↗ all right so on to our on to our next

1:09:17 ↗ agenda item i'm sorry was someone going

1:09:19 ↗ to say something was that you monica

1:09:20 ↗ tony yes i apologize for interrupting

1:09:22 ↗ before we move to the next agenda items

1:09:24 ↗ uh

1:09:25 ↗ may we just check in really quick with

1:09:28 ↗ our interpreters and christina i want to

1:09:30 ↗ make sure that uh interpreting is going

1:09:32 ↗ on well now um i know earlier christina

1:09:35 ↗ was on the phone

1:09:37 ↗ um interpreters christina

1:09:40 ↗ are we back on track now everything

1:09:42 ↗ going okay well should we

1:09:46 ↗ yes we are interpreting for christina

1:09:48 ↗ now

1:09:49 ↗ okay so just maybe perhaps a brief

1:09:51 ↗ reminder for us to slow down a little

1:09:54 ↗ bit in our conversations to allow

1:09:56 ↗ interpreters to catch up as needed

1:10:00 ↗ um okay thank you that's all

1:10:02 ↗ uh

1:10:03 ↗ tony and board members thank you

1:10:05 ↗ thank you for that monica that's a very

1:10:07 ↗ important topic or a very important

1:10:09 ↗ point

1:10:10 ↗ all right so on to our next agenda item

1:10:13 ↗ uh you heard wally speak just a bit ago

1:10:16 ↗ so

1:10:17 ↗ wally is here from the executive

1:10:19 ↗ department

1:10:20 ↗ and he's the city commissioner but um

1:10:23 ↗ you know monica would you like to

1:10:24 ↗ introduce wally and wally would you like

1:10:26 ↗ to

1:10:28 ↗ go ahead and present and just let us

1:10:29 ↗ know before you present wally if you

1:10:31 ↗ would like questions during the

1:10:33 ↗ presentation or you prefer to just wait

1:10:35 ↗ till the end but go ahead monica we'll

1:10:37 ↗ let you go ahead and introduce

1:10:39 ↗ thank you very much tony board members

1:10:41 ↗ again uh so yeah we have the pleasure to

1:10:44 ↗ having with us our city administrator

1:10:46 ↗ tonight wally bopkowicz uh to introduce

1:10:49 ↗ the work of our executive department uh

1:10:51 ↗ board members as you may recall this is

1:10:54 ↗ part of our um equity assessment we are

1:10:57 ↗ in this process for the last few months

1:10:59 ↗ and we are going to continue for the

1:11:01 ↗ next few months and learning how the

1:11:03 ↗ city works learning different details

1:11:05 ↗ about various departments within the

1:11:08 ↗ city but also working and learning more

1:11:11 ↗ about what's going on in the community

1:11:13 ↗ in terms of equity so

1:11:15 ↗ um for the uh internal part tonight we

1:11:18 ↗ have with us um our city administrator

1:11:20 ↗ wally bopkowicz welcome wally good

1:11:23 ↗ evening

1:11:24 ↗ great thank you monica and thank you

1:11:26 ↗ members of the board for for having me

1:11:28 ↗ this evening i know you've heard uh from

1:11:30 ↗ several of my colleagues over the last

1:11:32 ↗ several months about

1:11:34 ↗ some of the inner workings of how of the

1:11:36 ↗ city of missouri and perhaps more cities

1:11:38 ↗ more generally how cities work and so

1:11:40 ↗ i'm here to speak about the

1:11:42 ↗ administration of the city uh as you

1:11:45 ↗ know uh mayor paulie is the elected

1:11:47 ↗ mayor of the city of issaquah she is

1:11:51 ↗ serving the second four-year term that

1:11:53 ↗ she was elected to last november

1:11:56 ↗ under the form of government that we

1:11:57 ↗ have here at isqua

1:11:59 ↗ the mayor is the chief executive of the

1:12:01 ↗ city and the mayor has the ability to

1:12:05 ↗ hire a staff person to run the

1:12:08 ↗ day-to-day operations of the city so in

1:12:10 ↗ september of 2019 uh mayor paulie

1:12:13 ↗ brought me here to issaquah uh to serve

1:12:15 ↗ as the city administrator uh i prior to

1:12:17 ↗ coming to isquai i was the city manager

1:12:20 ↗ of evanston illinois for 10 years

1:12:23 ↗ before that was the city manager in

1:12:24 ↗ santa paula california for seven years

1:12:27 ↗ and then have served in other

1:12:29 ↗ communities in california

1:12:31 ↗ since graduate school so i've been doing

1:12:34 ↗ the work in local government my entire

1:12:36 ↗ career having served 17 years

1:12:38 ↗ as a city manager prior to coming to

1:12:41 ↗ isquad 2019. so my responsibility is to

1:12:45 ↗ act as mayor paulie's agent

1:12:48 ↗ to operate the day-to-day operations of

1:12:51 ↗ the city

1:12:52 ↗ work with departments to move forward

1:12:56 ↗ her agenda and the city council's agenda

1:12:58 ↗ of course the city council seven member

1:13:00 ↗ city council elected also for four-year

1:13:03 ↗ terms uh so my one of my

1:13:05 ↗ responsibilities is to work closely with

1:13:07 ↗ the city council uh in their operations

1:13:09 ↗ attend their meetings uh attend their

1:13:11 ↗ committee meetings um so as the city

1:13:14 ↗ administrator i have that day-to-day

1:13:16 ↗ responsibility

1:13:17 ↗ for managing the city

1:13:19 ↗ within the executive department there

1:13:22 ↗ are a number of other individuals and

1:13:24 ↗ functions i just want to talk briefly

1:13:25 ↗ about

1:13:27 ↗ and tony had said about questions i'm

1:13:29 ↗ not going to take too long in the

1:13:30 ↗ preamble tony so perhaps we could just

1:13:32 ↗ do the questions

1:13:34 ↗ at the end if that's all right with

1:13:35 ↗ everybody

1:13:38 ↗ also helping the mayor the mayor has a

1:13:39 ↗ chief staff our our long-time former

1:13:41 ↗ city clerk tina edgars uh became the

1:13:44 ↗ mayor's chief staff about a year and a

1:13:45 ↗ half ago

1:13:47 ↗ and so

1:13:48 ↗ tina helps the mayor especially with her

1:13:50 ↗ her uh local and regional uh advocacy

1:13:54 ↗ work the mayor is very active regionally

1:13:56 ↗ in olympia and so tina as the chief of

1:13:59 ↗ staff has that responsibility tina also

1:14:02 ↗ helps look after our all of our boards

1:14:04 ↗ and commissions so she's responsible for

1:14:06 ↗ the recruitment process the interview

1:14:08 ↗ processes that occur for our boards and

1:14:09 ↗ commissions

1:14:11 ↗ also in the executive department is the

1:14:13 ↗ city clerk's office uh our city clerk

1:14:15 ↗ tisha gieser uh is the secretary to the

1:14:19 ↗ city council she's also the official

1:14:21 ↗ keeper of records

1:14:22 ↗ for the city

1:14:24 ↗ and she is assisted by two additional

1:14:26 ↗ staff members a deputy city clerk who is

1:14:29 ↗ responsible for helping tisha with the

1:14:31 ↗ management of the city council of the

1:14:33 ↗ city council's committees

1:14:35 ↗ and then also there's a staff member

1:14:37 ↗ really solely responsible for public

1:14:39 ↗ records requests we get thousands of

1:14:42 ↗ literally thousands of public records

1:14:44 ↗ requests every year

1:14:46 ↗ and it is a full-time person's

1:14:47 ↗ responsibility to deal with those public

1:14:50 ↗ records requests either documents or

1:14:52 ↗ emails

1:14:54 ↗ it used to not be that way in cities but

1:14:56 ↗ more and more

1:14:58 ↗ cities are having to put forward a lot

1:14:59 ↗ of energy and effort

1:15:01 ↗ to respond to public records requests so

1:15:03 ↗ our city clerk's office is responsible

1:15:05 ↗ for that and we have one individual

1:15:07 ↗ responsible for that as well

1:15:09 ↗ another function within the executive

1:15:11 ↗ office is the city attorney the city

1:15:14 ↗ attorney serves as the chief legal

1:15:16 ↗ officer

1:15:17 ↗ for the city

1:15:19 ↗ we recently made a change of city

1:15:20 ↗ attorneys

1:15:22 ↗ starting january 1 of this year also

1:15:24 ↗ rachel uh turbine corbin is the uh

1:15:28 ↗ the city attorney and her firm

1:15:31 ↗ based out of bellevue is the contract

1:15:33 ↗ city attorney for us so the city

1:15:35 ↗ attorney and her staff are not city

1:15:37 ↗ staff members but they have are part of

1:15:39 ↗ a larger municipal law firm and so they

1:15:42 ↗ represent the city in all legal matters

1:15:45 ↗ civil legal matters i should say there's

1:15:46 ↗ a city prosecutor

1:15:48 ↗ which i'll talk about in a minute

1:15:50 ↗ but they're responsible for all civil

1:15:52 ↗ legal matters advice the city council

1:15:54 ↗ and staff uh represent us in court on

1:15:57 ↗ civil matters

1:15:58 ↗ the city has a contract city prosecutor

1:16:00 ↗ which is also managed to the

1:16:02 ↗ administrative department and they

1:16:03 ↗ represent the city of criminal matters

1:16:06 ↗ mostly exclusively in the municipal

1:16:09 ↗ court which is here so the municipal

1:16:11 ↗ court is a part of the city

1:16:13 ↗ but is not

1:16:15 ↗ run by the city it's complicated

1:16:17 ↗ situation i'm happy to talk about more

1:16:19 ↗ if anybody's interested

1:16:20 ↗ but the prosecutor works for the city

1:16:23 ↗ administration

1:16:24 ↗ next we have a deputy city administrator

1:16:26 ↗ andrew schneider

1:16:28 ↗ andrea um is responsible for the

1:16:30 ↗ management of our public works and

1:16:32 ↗ community planning and development

1:16:33 ↗ department on a day-to-day basis

1:16:35 ↗ she also serves as our chief staff

1:16:37 ↗ member dealing with transportation

1:16:39 ↗ issues so

1:16:40 ↗ as we work

1:16:42 ↗ with transit sound transit king county

1:16:44 ↗ transit

1:16:46 ↗ as well as our larger capital program

1:16:48 ↗ where the mayor appointed a task force

1:16:50 ↗ this year uh to look at capital spending

1:16:53 ↗ and so andrea has been responsible for

1:16:55 ↗ that and then there are two functional

1:16:57 ↗ uh divisions that are also report to to

1:17:00 ↗ me and the city administrator uh one is

1:17:02 ↗ economic development you've heard a

1:17:04 ↗ little bit about their work but we have

1:17:05 ↗ a two-person

1:17:07 ↗ staff uh that is responsible for

1:17:08 ↗ economic development works with our uh

1:17:12 ↗ stakeholder partners such as visit

1:17:13 ↗ issaquah along with downtown is

1:17:16 ↗ the squad chamber of commerce uh there

1:17:18 ↗ are merchant groups

1:17:21 ↗ on gilbert village as well as the ischa

1:17:23 ↗ highlands

1:17:24 ↗ so they work closely there on economic

1:17:27 ↗ development initiatives and then finally

1:17:29 ↗ we have a sustainability manager um

1:17:34 ↗ they see vin mcentry

1:17:36 ↗ and stacy is responsible for staffing

1:17:38 ↗ our environment board as well as the

1:17:40 ↗ day-to-day responsibility for

1:17:41 ↗ implementing our climate action plan

1:17:43 ↗ which is the city's sort of framework

1:17:46 ↗ for

1:17:47 ↗ fighting climate change and

1:17:49 ↗ reducing carbon emissions and so that

1:17:51 ↗ function also falls within the executive

1:17:54 ↗ department so there's a lot

1:17:56 ↗ that we have our hands on um certainly a

1:17:59 ↗ lot of issues that come through this

1:18:01 ↗ office supporting mayor paulie uh in her

1:18:04 ↗ management of the city um so i'm happy

1:18:07 ↗ uh to be here was

1:18:09 ↗ was very proud to be part of the

1:18:12 ↗ creation of of this board and

1:18:15 ↗ this of course as you know came out of

1:18:18 ↗ the city council's desire uh to look at

1:18:22 ↗ how we are dealing uh with community

1:18:24 ↗ safety issues and equity and

1:18:25 ↗ accountability issues

1:18:27 ↗ so i was very pleased to be part of that

1:18:30 ↗ in my former position in evanston

1:18:31 ↗ illinois was involved in creating a

1:18:33 ↗ similar group in 2017. so i had a number

1:18:37 ↗ of years of working with a group in

1:18:38 ↗ evanston uh that was focused on this we

1:18:40 ↗ also hired a chief equity officer in

1:18:43 ↗ evanston in 2017. um so i'm very proud

1:18:46 ↗ of

1:18:48 ↗ the hand that i've had not only here in

1:18:50 ↗ this club but also my other

1:18:52 ↗ jurisdictions that i've worked in it's a

1:18:54 ↗ really important issue diversity equity

1:18:56 ↗ and inclusion cities all over america

1:18:58 ↗ are grappling with what's the right

1:19:00 ↗ balance of initiatives and resources

1:19:03 ↗ and we are certainly among them but i'm

1:19:05 ↗ very proud of the work that we do

1:19:08 ↗ certainly monica and her team leading

1:19:11 ↗ our external equity

1:19:12 ↗ initiatives and i know you've heard uh

1:19:15 ↗ from stephanie johnson our human

1:19:16 ↗ resource director more knox and members

1:19:18 ↗ of their team on some more of our

1:19:20 ↗ internal

1:19:22 ↗ initiatives one of the things i learned

1:19:23 ↗ in evanston

1:19:25 ↗ which was a mistake and i didn't want to

1:19:26 ↗ replicate there in issaquah was having

1:19:29 ↗ just no thanks was just was having

1:19:33 ↗ one team of people do both internal and

1:19:35 ↗ external equity

1:19:37 ↗ i learned you get overwhelmed by the

1:19:39 ↗ external and there's never the time to

1:19:41 ↗ do the internal so we we've been a very

1:19:43 ↗ conscious decision here in a spa to

1:19:46 ↗ separate uh the staff resources of

1:19:48 ↗ course everybody talks to one another

1:19:50 ↗ but

1:19:51 ↗ we want to make sure that we have

1:19:52 ↗ sufficient resources both internally to

1:19:55 ↗ address city government issues as well

1:19:57 ↗ as externally to work with the larger

1:19:59 ↗ community so tony hopefully you've had a

1:20:01 ↗ long presentation to start the meeting i

1:20:03 ↗ don't want to you know

1:20:05 ↗ meeting fatigue is a real thing

1:20:06 ↗ especially on video so i don't want to

1:20:09 ↗ want to go on too long uh but thank you

1:20:12 ↗ for having me this evening and i'm happy

1:20:13 ↗ to answer any questions that you have

1:20:16 ↗ yeah thank you for that wally i actually

1:20:17 ↗ have a quick question for you um you

1:20:19 ↗ mentioned the city prosecutor and um i

1:20:23 ↗ was wondering about

1:20:26 ↗ from a social economics perspective

1:20:28 ↗ right in terms of equity what about

1:20:30 ↗ individuals who maybe

1:20:34 ↗ maybe they're in

1:20:35 ↗ a matter that involves um

1:20:38 ↗ something that needs defense um has that

1:20:41 ↗ fallen into purview of king county

1:20:44 ↗ or does it fall under possibly issaquaz

1:20:46 ↗ is a

1:20:47 ↗ employee let's say

1:20:49 ↗ a public defender we do a defender okay

1:20:51 ↗ we do we do and and monica i think it

1:20:53 ↗ would be great uh to have perhaps the

1:20:56 ↗ prosecutor and i don't know if you've

1:20:57 ↗ had

1:20:58 ↗ uh the municipal court judge

1:21:01 ↗ here yet either about the community

1:21:02 ↗ courts um but

1:21:04 ↗ you know we don't talk a lot about the

1:21:06 ↗ criminal

1:21:07 ↗ justice piece of the city of this squad

1:21:10 ↗ i don't even know it it's strange to

1:21:12 ↗ refer to it that way but i guess that's

1:21:13 ↗ exactly what it is

1:21:16 ↗ and we do devote a fair amount of

1:21:17 ↗ resources under washington state law

1:21:20 ↗ this is all locally funded it's not

1:21:21 ↗ funded by the county

1:21:23 ↗ or the state directly although the state

1:21:25 ↗ does provide some

1:21:26 ↗ funds to support these operations uh but

1:21:29 ↗ we'd be happy to have i think probably

1:21:32 ↗ start with the judge and

1:21:34 ↗ as you would need to hear from other

1:21:36 ↗ other uh uh officers who deal with the

1:21:39 ↗ with our our court system here in nisswa

1:21:41 ↗ it's really an interesting thing and a

1:21:43 ↗ lot of people perhaps aren't aware um

1:21:45 ↗ the community court for example uh that

1:21:48 ↗ we've started here in nisswa was one of

1:21:50 ↗ the first in the state and it's still

1:21:52 ↗ about only a handful of community courts

1:21:54 ↗ where um you know we work with people

1:21:56 ↗ it's not a matter of you broke the law

1:21:58 ↗ here's your sentence but it's a matter

1:22:00 ↗ the community court really tries to look

1:22:02 ↗ at what was the the core of the problem

1:22:05 ↗ that brought the individual to court and

1:22:07 ↗ see what can what can we do as a city as

1:22:10 ↗ a as a community court to address the

1:22:13 ↗ problem versus simply uh handing down

1:22:16 ↗ the uh um

1:22:18 ↗ the punishment so i know monica's been

1:22:20 ↗ involved

1:22:21 ↗ a little bit with the process that the

1:22:23 ↗ court has had and this what this squad

1:22:26 ↗ court has had so we'd be happy to have

1:22:28 ↗ judge stewart um

1:22:30 ↗ and he loves to

1:22:32 ↗ loves to talk about those those things

1:22:34 ↗ that we've done in this class so that'd

1:22:35 ↗ be great but yes these are all functions

1:22:37 ↗ uh that are paid for by the taxpayers of

1:22:39 ↗ as well

1:22:42 ↗ and actually we continue to work closely

1:22:44 ↗ with with the team at the court as one

1:22:47 ↗ of our human services staff is providing

1:22:49 ↗ the case management is working directly

1:22:51 ↗ with clients who are involved in the

1:22:53 ↗ community court so there's a close

1:22:54 ↗ collaboration in human services with our

1:22:56 ↗ court but it's a great idea wally uh to

1:22:59 ↗ invite uh our

1:23:02 ↗ court to definitely judge stewart start

1:23:04 ↗ with that and perhaps christy

1:23:06 ↗ as well to talk about

1:23:09 ↗ their work and our public defenders and

1:23:12 ↗ prosecutors as well

1:23:15 ↗ all right

1:23:16 ↗ thank you wally for that answer or uh i

1:23:19 ↗ don't i'm looking through chat i don't

1:23:21 ↗ see any other questions in chat other

1:23:24 ↗ than my own um

1:23:26 ↗ i'm assuming there are no questions

1:23:31 ↗ other questions at all

1:23:32 ↗ and

1:23:35 ↗ all right so

1:23:36 ↗ wally thank you very much for your time

1:23:38 ↗ today and thank you for being president

1:23:39 ↗ being patient and we're with us uh we

1:23:41 ↗ would definitely love to have the the

1:23:44 ↗ judge at a different uh at another

1:23:46 ↗ equity board meeting and to to learn

1:23:48 ↗ more about um the legal system

1:23:51 ↗ and thank you for what you do um all of

1:23:54 ↗ you um

1:23:55 ↗ this this

1:23:57 ↗ your group was created

1:23:59 ↗ very mindfully by mayor paulie and the

1:24:01 ↗ city council and

1:24:03 ↗ i hope you get that feedback i know

1:24:05 ↗ several of you have been to council

1:24:06 ↗ meetings and i think have heard from

1:24:09 ↗ members of the council uh how much they

1:24:11 ↗ appreciate this i just want to echo that

1:24:13 ↗ and say thank you and really whatever we

1:24:16 ↗ can do from the administrator side you

1:24:18 ↗ have one of our best staff members in

1:24:20 ↗ the entire city and monica negrilla

1:24:22 ↗ taking care of you so hopefully that's a

1:24:24 ↗ good step in the right direction

1:24:26 ↗ but if there's anything else that you

1:24:27 ↗ need please let monica know and she

1:24:30 ↗ knows where to find me and we'll try to

1:24:32 ↗ get you whatever resources you think are

1:24:33 ↗ appropriate for you to do your job so

1:24:36 ↗ thanks for having me this evening and

1:24:38 ↗ i'm late for dinner so i'm going to run

1:24:39 ↗ home

1:24:41 ↗ wally thank you for your support we

1:24:42 ↗ really appreciate you all right bye-bye

1:24:48 ↗ okay

1:24:49 ↗ well i think we are ready for our next

1:24:51 ↗ agenda item and we're moving along

1:24:53 ↗ pretty at a pretty fast pace now so for

1:24:57 ↗ the committee updates the amanda needs

1:24:59 ↗ no introduction but i will introduce him

1:25:01 ↗ anyway just at least by name and we all

1:25:04 ↗ know ray so ray manahan uh the committee

1:25:07 ↗ chair please give us

1:25:09 ↗ an update

1:25:11 ↗ certainly i was just getting the facts

1:25:13 ↗ together so um

1:25:15 ↗ this is in regards to our community

1:25:17 ↗ engagement committee so i was looking at

1:25:18 ↗ how many meetings we've had um we are

1:25:21 ↗ heading into our one two three four

1:25:24 ↗ fifth meeting on august 8th on monday

1:25:27 ↗ so um first thing i wanted to just touch

1:25:29 ↗ on was um

1:25:31 ↗ uh

1:25:32 ↗ i was just sending her a message megan

1:25:34 ↗ who's been part of our team this is

1:25:35 ↗ actually her last meeting with us

1:25:37 ↗ because she's heading off to college so

1:25:39 ↗ we all need to celebrate her she's been

1:25:41 ↗ part of our um community engagement

1:25:43 ↗ committee and we wish her we

1:25:46 ↗ we wish her all the best and i'm sure

1:25:48 ↗ she's gonna have a successful four years

1:25:51 ↗ in college

1:25:52 ↗ all the best team megan um

1:25:55 ↗ uh we are

1:25:57 ↗ kind of

1:25:58 ↗ uh learning that we need to observe more

1:26:00 ↗ before we take action so a lot of that

1:26:02 ↗ is just aligning with the topics that

1:26:04 ↗ are happening here for example that

1:26:06 ↗ great presentation that was done by

1:26:08 ↗ visit esqua and see exactly how do we

1:26:10 ↗ engage from a community and get um

1:26:14 ↗ engagement lens and the work that we do

1:26:16 ↗ to line up line it up so those are the

1:26:18 ↗ things that we're going to touch on um

1:26:20 ↗ kelly at our last meeting brought up

1:26:22 ↗ some great topics just from

1:26:24 ↗ an administrative perspective um

1:26:28 ↗ uh for example creating rules on how we

1:26:31 ↗ as a committee come to this board and

1:26:33 ↗ present topics that are worthy to kind

1:26:35 ↗ of elaborate on

1:26:39 ↗ we we talked a bit about long-term goals

1:26:41 ↗ versus short-term goals i think the

1:26:43 ↗ short-term goals really are

1:26:46 ↗ listening

1:26:47 ↗ to

1:26:48 ↗ folks who attend this meeting and see

1:26:51 ↗ how we engage with them from a community

1:26:53 ↗ perspective

1:26:54 ↗ um

1:26:55 ↗ and then from a long-term goal i think

1:26:57 ↗ we're gonna we're gonna continue to

1:26:58 ↗ expand with just the connections that we

1:27:01 ↗ built but also continue to build more

1:27:04 ↗ we've made some contacts with folks like

1:27:06 ↗ pcc market

1:27:08 ↗ i was put in touch with some of their

1:27:09 ↗ leadership there who actually have a

1:27:12 ↗ staff that's focused on equity

1:27:14 ↗ so

1:27:15 ↗ continuing just introduce ourselves note

1:27:18 ↗ make sure they know that we exist and if

1:27:20 ↗ there's opportunities to collaborate we

1:27:21 ↗ certainly will there's other businesses

1:27:23 ↗ too but let's we also know we can't just

1:27:25 ↗ focus on the large businesses but also

1:27:27 ↗ support the small businesses in the area

1:27:29 ↗ um

1:27:30 ↗ i would love this group's thoughts or

1:27:32 ↗ the other board members or engagement

1:27:35 ↗ community

1:27:36 ↗ committee members excuse me who are on

1:27:38 ↗ this board so

1:27:39 ↗ kelly monica megan was there anything

1:27:42 ↗ that we are talking about today that you

1:27:44 ↗ feel that i didn't bring up that would

1:27:46 ↗ be worthy to get feedback from this

1:27:48 ↗ group

1:27:56 ↗ i'll speak to to two ideas that we

1:27:59 ↗ haven't moved forward on yet but

1:28:01 ↗ one was there's a writer in issaquah

1:28:06 ↗ who

1:28:06 ↗ wrote a

1:28:08 ↗ young adult novel that just won the

1:28:10 ↗ newbery award

1:28:11 ↗ and it's called the uh the last quantity

1:28:13 ↗ step quite good i read it um

1:28:16 ↗ and have maybe having heard you

1:28:18 ↗ something

1:28:19 ↗ you know

1:28:20 ↗ with us on you know a reading or

1:28:22 ↗ something yeah and the second was um

1:28:27 ↗ the king county prosecutor race

1:28:30 ↗ in political world

1:28:32 ↗ is probably the most significant race in

1:28:34 ↗ november in the state of washington at

1:28:37 ↗ least for us

1:28:38 ↗ and it

1:28:39 ↗ and it would be useful for us to know

1:28:41 ↗ what prosecutors do

1:28:43 ↗ and why they do it because

1:28:47 ↗ there's something brewing out there

1:28:48 ↗ right now and i'm not i i can't lean one

1:28:51 ↗ way or another it's politics but

1:28:54 ↗ i think there would be opportunity for

1:28:56 ↗ us to educate on community court and

1:28:58 ↗ prosecutors

1:29:00 ↗ for that race so that people can make

1:29:02 ↗ informed decisions

1:29:07 ↗ and also to kind of piggyback off of

1:29:09 ↗ that too uh midterms are also coming up

1:29:12 ↗ so to also kind of talking about

1:29:15 ↗ um

1:29:16 ↗ how to register to vote or

1:29:18 ↗ how

1:29:19 ↗ voting or how the politics kind of work

1:29:21 ↗ within issaquah so people know where to

1:29:23 ↗ go and they can vote because

1:29:25 ↗ voting accessibility is a huge issue

1:29:28 ↗ right now i think we can really

1:29:29 ↗ capitalize this opportunity to make it

1:29:31 ↗ more

1:29:32 ↗ equitable at least

1:29:36 ↗ that's a great point thank you

1:29:39 ↗ um

1:29:40 ↗ uh some other administrative topics that

1:29:42 ↗ i wanted to share um with with megan um

1:29:46 ↗ leaving our committee we we were looking

1:29:48 ↗ for a fourth and shay was kind enough to

1:29:50 ↗ step up so i did converse i did confirm

1:29:52 ↗ with her that she'll be joining us on

1:29:53 ↗ monday and i also don't want to forget

1:29:55 ↗ christina is on our um team too so a lot

1:29:58 ↗ of that uh a lot of collaboration

1:30:01 ↗ requires her feedback and i know we

1:30:03 ↗ that's the coordination with our

1:30:04 ↗ interpreters too so i want to thank them

1:30:06 ↗ so again our next meeting is on monday

1:30:09 ↗ on august 8th i think it's at 4pm

1:30:12 ↗ and we look forward to sharing what we

1:30:14 ↗ discussed there with this group but a

1:30:16 ↗ lot of it like i said is just

1:30:18 ↗ just um determining what short term and

1:30:21 ↗ long term looks like from this

1:30:23 ↗ committee's perspective

1:30:25 ↗ and um bringing back to this group some

1:30:28 ↗ of those thoughts and ideas that we have

1:30:30 ↗ for for you to consider and approve

1:30:34 ↗ questions on any of that from anyone

1:30:38 ↗ is there anything that you're um maybe

1:30:41 ↗ targeting right away any short-term goal

1:30:44 ↗ long-term goal

1:30:47 ↗ i think the the

1:30:51 ↗ tinsel book i think that that kelly was

1:30:53 ↗ talking about was a good um follow-up

1:30:55 ↗ for us to read i know i'm very curious

1:30:57 ↗ about it um so having that

1:31:00 ↗ tony would be one of our boxes that we

1:31:02 ↗ need to check

1:31:03 ↗ um

1:31:05 ↗ i i had some ideas about again with the

1:31:07 ↗ outreach to

1:31:09 ↗ to businesses but i i i personally

1:31:13 ↗ really am sensitive to not just limiting

1:31:15 ↗ this work to feedback from large

1:31:17 ↗ businesses but for small ones and you

1:31:18 ↗ know what that requires knocking on

1:31:20 ↗ doors so

1:31:21 ↗ um for us to just circle around so if we

1:31:23 ↗ could make that a topic of discussion in

1:31:25 ↗ our next meeting just to just to know

1:31:27 ↗ like the small businesses on front

1:31:29 ↗ street that the equity board exists

1:31:31 ↗ right here to hear you out um

1:31:34 ↗ whatever business you run especially the

1:31:36 ↗ ones that are run by um different ethnic

1:31:39 ↗ uh groups would be good so i'd like that

1:31:41 ↗ to make that uh opportunity to

1:31:45 ↗ broaden our scope

1:31:48 ↗ that's great yeah monica

1:31:52 ↗ thank you ray i think along with that

1:31:54 ↗ thought um i remembered one of our

1:31:56 ↗ conversations in one of the meetings was

1:31:58 ↗ also perhaps

1:31:59 ↗ um

1:32:00 ↗ going to one of the upcoming farmers

1:32:03 ↗ market before the market ends again just

1:32:06 ↗ as an opportunity to meet and greet with

1:32:08 ↗ the equity board but we haven't didn't

1:32:11 ↗ have a chance to finalize a formal

1:32:13 ↗ recommendation uh

1:32:15 ↗ yet so i know that

1:32:17 ↗ however that was one of the thoughts

1:32:18 ↗ right as well

1:32:20 ↗ yeah good point

1:32:23 ↗ and so many things came into mind when

1:32:24 ↗ when um uh the visitorsaquat.com website

1:32:28 ↗ just poking around there i had some

1:32:30 ↗ ideas um one last comment from me

1:32:32 ↗ for the community engagement committee

1:32:34 ↗ that that appointment should be on your

1:32:36 ↗ calendars and you will notice the agenda

1:32:38 ↗ is on there with our notes from the past

1:32:40 ↗ meeting one of the things that we said

1:32:42 ↗ we would do was to circulate the roles

1:32:44 ↗ of this committee so i'm going to take a

1:32:46 ↗ stab at that so that was a great idea by

1:32:48 ↗ kelly so facilitator note taker inviter

1:32:52 ↗ i'm going to make those assignments but

1:32:53 ↗ i want us to um be okay with them so

1:32:56 ↗ expect that email from me by

1:32:59 ↗ tomorrow

1:33:02 ↗ all right thank you

1:33:04 ↗ and i see that pretty you have a comment

1:33:06 ↗ or question sorry not a comment

1:33:08 ↗ yeah so i was really um

1:33:12 ↗ i think megan you said it like something

1:33:14 ↗ around the election this is so timely

1:33:16 ↗ and i'm just wondering if there is any

1:33:18 ↗ energy around doing an event

1:33:20 ↗ around

1:33:21 ↗ either

1:33:22 ↗ i don't know if it's bringing some

1:33:24 ↗ candidates in or if it's like

1:33:26 ↗ understanding their perspectives on

1:33:27 ↗ equity related topics or just something

1:33:30 ↗ like that to help inform voters or

1:33:33 ↗ or even if it's yeah like voter

1:33:35 ↗ accessibility how where do you go to

1:33:37 ↗ register you know

1:33:38 ↗ like what do we

1:33:41 ↗ what would yield the best benefit for

1:33:43 ↗ issaquah

1:33:45 ↗ um i think that's worth exploring more

1:33:48 ↗ so i just wanted to kind of upvote that

1:33:54 ↗ good idea megan

1:33:58 ↗ and i think another thing we kind of

1:33:59 ↗ brought up too in our meetings that uh

1:34:01 ↗ pretty just reminded me of is also

1:34:03 ↗ how do we get more diverse candidates to

1:34:06 ↗ run for those positions so what we're

1:34:08 ↗ talking about

1:34:09 ↗ maybe like

1:34:11 ↗ money is a huge factor in that and how

1:34:14 ↗ like people run to be able to have those

1:34:15 ↗ funds so how do we as issaquah make that

1:34:19 ↗ not a factor and how do we get more

1:34:20 ↗ diverse candidates i guess too and

1:34:22 ↗ that's the discussion we can have and

1:34:24 ↗ also create a better format to where

1:34:26 ↗ those people feel a lot more

1:34:28 ↗ not not necessarily comfortable more

1:34:30 ↗ sustainable and confident that they can

1:34:33 ↗ they earn that position and they can

1:34:35 ↗ sustain it i guess

1:34:40 ↗ that's fantastic and i noticed that

1:34:42 ↗ monica you also have a comment

1:34:44 ↗ thank you so much tony and board members

1:34:46 ↗ as i'm listening to you and as i have

1:34:48 ↗ the privilege to be in this board

1:34:50 ↗ meeting and in our committee meeting as

1:34:52 ↗ well as working with my staff on on

1:34:55 ↗ various um events um based on on the

1:34:59 ↗ feedback that i heard from everyone

1:35:00 ↗ depending on availability and interest

1:35:03 ↗ from you i think we have on one end

1:35:06 ↗ an opportunity to to

1:35:09 ↗ create an event that it's an educational

1:35:12 ↗ event for the community right as

1:35:14 ↗ mentioned so all right uh

1:35:17 ↗ by megan uh it did come up before you

1:35:20 ↗ know um equity around you know elect the

1:35:23 ↗ elected leaders but also it come up i

1:35:26 ↗ came up like questions on how to

1:35:27 ↗ register to vote and what do prosecutors

1:35:30 ↗ do and what do public defenders do and

1:35:32 ↗ what's a committee court so there's an

1:35:34 ↗ opportunity for for that as a one event

1:35:36 ↗ an educational event and also

1:35:39 ↗ this falls kind of like under my i had

1:35:42 ↗ this under my staff reports and i'm

1:35:45 ↗ gonna just start with that and we'll

1:35:46 ↗ continue one of the events that i

1:35:49 ↗ mentioned to you last time there are two

1:35:51 ↗ upcoming events that our team our human

1:35:53 ↗ services team started working on one is

1:35:56 ↗ welcoming event a week event and then

1:35:59 ↗ the second one is to

1:36:01 ↗ honor hispanic heritage month in

1:36:03 ↗ particular this year also mexican um

1:36:06 ↗ independence day so we have a date set

1:36:09 ↗ up for that and i'm happy to tell you a

1:36:11 ↗ little bit more about details but i

1:36:13 ↗ think um

1:36:15 ↗ the inviting uh the author of the last

1:36:18 ↗ uh clentista

1:36:20 ↗ could be also an opportunity so for two

1:36:22 ↗ events

1:36:23 ↗ and it doesn't have to feel for all of

1:36:26 ↗ you that you need to take on all of that

1:36:28 ↗ again we have already staff who are

1:36:30 ↗ working on one of them or two of the

1:36:32 ↗ events perhaps if you as a board or the

1:36:35 ↗ community engagement

1:36:36 ↗ committee would like to take on perhaps

1:36:38 ↗ the one about elections um i think

1:36:41 ↗ there's an opportunity for us to have a

1:36:43 ↗ few really meaningful events in the fall

1:36:46 ↗ um and i know that as a committee we

1:36:48 ↗ were discussing whether or not we want

1:36:50 ↗ to

1:36:51 ↗ ask a recommendation for the board but i

1:36:53 ↗ think this is an opportunity for you to

1:36:55 ↗ recommend formally as a board if you

1:36:57 ↗ would like to

1:36:58 ↗ let's let's make it happen

1:37:01 ↗ and you can basically formally

1:37:04 ↗ assign this and delegate it to the

1:37:06 ↗ committee to work on if the committee

1:37:08 ↗ would like to do that and you as a

1:37:10 ↗ entire board would like to

1:37:12 ↗ assign this

1:37:13 ↗ event to

1:37:17 ↗ um to the committee

1:37:24 ↗ i think you are on youtube

1:37:28 ↗ my mute button was working weird

1:37:31 ↗ so

1:37:32 ↗ monica do we need to take a vote on that

1:37:35 ↗ so

1:37:36 ↗ not necessarily a vote i think

1:37:39 ↗ you don't need to be that formal to make

1:37:40 ↗ it a vote but i think you can be in

1:37:42 ↗ agreement if the entire board is an

1:37:44 ↗ agreement so it's not just a couple of

1:37:46 ↗ board members to pursue it let's say

1:37:48 ↗ organizing a community event around

1:37:52 ↗ elections voting prosecutors and whatnot

1:37:55 ↗ i think that that would be enough for

1:37:57 ↗ the

1:37:59 ↗ community engagement committee to to

1:38:02 ↗ make steps towards

1:38:04 ↗ that

1:38:06 ↗ well i'm definitely in agreement with

1:38:07 ↗ you i think that that would be great if

1:38:08 ↗ the committee is willing to take it on

1:38:16 ↗ doesn't have to be an answer right now

1:38:17 ↗ but

1:38:20 ↗ i know it's a lot of work planning

1:38:21 ↗ events like that but um it would be

1:38:24 ↗ important work that we would love to to

1:38:26 ↗ have out there but i also know that

1:38:27 ↗ alyssa and lucrecia you have a comment

1:38:29 ↗ so alyssa um please

1:38:31 ↗ jump off mute if you like

1:38:34 ↗ sure i just wanted to and piggyback off

1:38:36 ↗ of

1:38:37 ↗ i think it was megan's comments about

1:38:40 ↗ you know

1:38:41 ↗ things we can do i guess whether it's as

1:38:44 ↗ the committee or the board or wider

1:38:47 ↗ wider audience to

1:38:49 ↗ get more

1:38:50 ↗ um

1:38:51 ↗ people

1:38:53 ↗ um

1:38:54 ↗ i guess running in some of these

1:38:55 ↗ elections and

1:38:57 ↗ um i want to share that this uh this

1:39:00 ↗ week

1:39:01 ↗ my family and i um so we're we're from

1:39:04 ↗ new jersey in pennsylvania and we don't

1:39:07 ↗ get a booklet like this one if you guys

1:39:10 ↗ can see

1:39:11 ↗ which is the king county um

1:39:14 ↗ both brothers pamphlet we didn't get a

1:39:16 ↗ booklet like that on the east coast in

1:39:18 ↗ either of those states that goes and and

1:39:22 ↗ has a statement from each of the

1:39:24 ↗ candidates that's running in each of the

1:39:26 ↗ elections and

1:39:28 ↗ my family and i this was actually

1:39:31 ↗ an impromptu entertainment this week was

1:39:34 ↗ going through and reading each of the

1:39:36 ↗ candidates statements if you haven't

1:39:38 ↗ done it even though the primary is done

1:39:41 ↗ i advise you to do so and

1:39:44 ↗ i really think that um if there were

1:39:47 ↗ more of us who understood

1:39:49 ↗ who these people are who are running

1:39:52 ↗ that there'd be more other people who

1:39:54 ↗ would say i can't let that be

1:39:57 ↗ i need to stand up and and run for you

1:40:01 ↗ know one of these offices so

1:40:03 ↗ i think knowledge about real knowledge

1:40:06 ↗ about who the people are who are running

1:40:09 ↗ in our elections

1:40:10 ↗ um it it's it's very easy to see a

1:40:13 ↗ polished picture on a postcard and say

1:40:16 ↗ oh he looks okay

1:40:18 ↗ but then when you actually read what

1:40:20 ↗ they are saying

1:40:22 ↗ um i think it makes a big difference i

1:40:24 ↗ just think you know communication

1:40:26 ↗ somehow and with the megaphone as to

1:40:29 ↗ these are the people who are running for

1:40:31 ↗ things in our state and

1:40:33 ↗ and is that really what we want

1:40:38 ↗ that's all

1:40:40 ↗ fantastic comment alyssa so let's go

1:40:42 ↗ ahead and move to la cristia

1:40:46 ↗ thank you for that elisa i completely

1:40:48 ↗ agree if people are not reading that

1:40:50 ↗ voter's pamphlet they might

1:40:52 ↗ be in for a rough shock because some of

1:40:55 ↗ the things that people take the freedom

1:40:57 ↗ to write

1:40:59 ↗ for themselves is quite frightening but

1:41:02 ↗ anyway moving on to what i wanted to say

1:41:05 ↗ is i wanted to bring um to the attention

1:41:07 ↗ of the

1:41:09 ↗ outreach committee

1:41:10 ↗ um the league of minority voters um

1:41:13 ↗ that's a national organization

1:41:15 ↗ um that exists and they are in the

1:41:18 ↗ process of starting a chapter here in

1:41:20 ↗ washington state

1:41:22 ↗ and so for civic engagement ensuring

1:41:25 ↗ that people understand how to access how

1:41:29 ↗ to register etc that is specifically

1:41:31 ↗ what the league of minority voters does

1:41:34 ↗ um they are non nonpartisan

1:41:38 ↗ and so it is something that i feel more

1:41:40 ↗ people need to be aware of existing

1:41:42 ↗ um so i just wanted to bring that to

1:41:44 ↗ your attention

1:41:52 ↗ fantastic thank you chris that was

1:41:54 ↗ actually my comment was based on that so

1:41:56 ↗ you touched on it so it was a fantastic

1:41:58 ↗ great all right um

1:42:01 ↗ are there any other

1:42:04 ↗ comments before we move on to the next

1:42:05 ↗ agenda i don't want to give some time

1:42:07 ↗ for that to see if there's any other

1:42:08 ↗ comments i don't see any chat but i did

1:42:10 ↗ want to

1:42:11 ↗ give another opportunity if there's any

1:42:13 ↗ other comments before we move on to our

1:42:15 ↗ next agenda item

1:42:21 ↗ and since i'm seeing nothing i guess

1:42:23 ↗ we'll move on to our next agenda item

1:42:25 ↗ ray thank you very much and outreach

1:42:27 ↗ committee thank you very much for your

1:42:29 ↗ very hard work uh we look forward to

1:42:31 ↗ hearing a lot more from you and uh

1:42:35 ↗ seeing what you're willing to take on in

1:42:36 ↗ terms of events as well as the

1:42:38 ↗ information you're reporting back to the

1:42:40 ↗ board so we're we're very excited

1:42:42 ↗ um so let's move on to our next agenda

1:42:44 ↗ item the staff report uh for the the of

1:42:47 ↗ course human services and equity updates

1:42:49 ↗ we have our fearless monika negreta

1:42:52 ↗ their human services manager

1:42:55 ↗ oh tony thank you so much i so

1:42:56 ↗ appreciate you board members

1:42:58 ↗ um

1:43:00 ↗ so there are many many things i would

1:43:02 ↗ love for us to to discuss a little bit

1:43:04 ↗ tonight um i you might have seen in the

1:43:07 ↗ agenda packet you also have a formal

1:43:09 ↗ presentation on human services i know

1:43:11 ↗ that this was uh requested several

1:43:13 ↗ months back and i did not want to forget

1:43:15 ↗ about it so i do have a presentation

1:43:17 ↗ there i could be very brief on that so

1:43:20 ↗ that's number one i do have updates on

1:43:22 ↗ upcoming uh

1:43:24 ↗ cultural conversation events as i

1:43:26 ↗ mentioned welcoming week and hispanic

1:43:28 ↗ heritage month

1:43:30 ↗ um i do also have a couple of updates

1:43:32 ↗ and thanks and shout outs that i want to

1:43:35 ↗ give for a few things that happened this

1:43:37 ↗ last month

1:43:38 ↗ and then again i would love to spend

1:43:40 ↗ more time on us

1:43:42 ↗ um i would you would love to use your

1:43:45 ↗ help in prioritizing as you mentioned

1:43:47 ↗ earlier in the meeting there were other

1:43:50 ↗ items that were brought up by by several

1:43:52 ↗ of you um and there's just so much to do

1:43:55 ↗ i realize we have four more months in

1:43:57 ↗ this year four more meetings and there's

1:43:59 ↗ just so much work to do i

1:44:01 ↗ have a hard time prioritizing

1:44:04 ↗ and fitting everything in so i would

1:44:07 ↗ love to talk a little bit about that

1:44:08 ↗ does that make sense so i have a bigger

1:44:10 ↗ job for tonight

1:44:12 ↗ um so with your permission i would like

1:44:14 ↗ to start with actually i think what's

1:44:16 ↗ the shortest is the two

1:44:18 ↗ cultural events that my staff and i

1:44:20 ↗ started working on and we started

1:44:22 ↗ working on this because even before

1:44:24 ↗ creating the equity board we as a city

1:44:27 ↗ made a commitment

1:44:28 ↗ to honor at least at minimum four to six

1:44:32 ↗ um

1:44:33 ↗ cultural and uh cultural holidays

1:44:36 ↗ and cultures in our city we did not want

1:44:39 ↗ to exclude anyone but those were the

1:44:41 ↗ ones that we felt like with the staff

1:44:44 ↗ capacity that we have

1:44:45 ↗ we could do and then in time if the

1:44:48 ↗ equity board would like to expand on

1:44:49 ↗ others we would love to welcome that so

1:44:52 ↗ again welcoming week now um it's it's

1:44:55 ↗ building a tradition in our city uh we

1:44:58 ↗ held welcoming week in some shape or

1:45:00 ↗ form for at least

1:45:03 ↗ at least five years so that goes even

1:45:05 ↗ before i came and

1:45:08 ↗ was on board with the city and for those

1:45:10 ↗ of you who are not familiar welcoming

1:45:12 ↗ week actually it's a

1:45:13 ↗ nationwide initiative and and the idea

1:45:16 ↗ is to

1:45:17 ↗ to promote um the spirit of of inclusion

1:45:21 ↗ and being welcoming to immigrants and

1:45:24 ↗ refugees those who are not u.s born

1:45:27 ↗ right and so the city historically

1:45:29 ↗ especially in the last few years um we

1:45:32 ↗ we try to do that by um uh having

1:45:35 ↗ in-person or virtual events uh sometimes

1:45:38 ↗ you know we this event is uh typically

1:45:41 ↗ held in collaboration not just it's not

1:45:44 ↗ just a city event we we collaborate with

1:45:46 ↗ the library system on it they are part

1:45:49 ↗ of the um

1:45:51 ↗ the team who's working on it uh we also

1:45:53 ↗ have businesses and this year we also

1:45:56 ↗ created a chapter for welcoming

1:45:57 ↗ economies but we also work with the

1:45:59 ↗ downtown issaquah association on it um

1:46:02 ↗ the issaquah highlands is partnering

1:46:04 ↗ with us the latino club historically

1:46:06 ↗ partnered with us

1:46:08 ↗ and you know the schools foundation so

1:46:10 ↗ it is a large group working

1:46:12 ↗ we are excited the event is going to

1:46:14 ↗ happen the main event the main in person

1:46:16 ↗ event is going to happen on september 9

1:46:20 ↗ uh 9th it's on a friday it's going to be

1:46:22 ↗ at the community center on the lawn

1:46:24 ↗ outside we are going to have multiple

1:46:27 ↗ cultures represented

1:46:29 ↗ um it's definitely a free event we're

1:46:31 ↗ going to have food trucks different

1:46:33 ↗ dances different events

1:46:35 ↗ so it's it's an exciting event and and

1:46:38 ↗ we're going to start promoting it so we

1:46:40 ↗ hope that you know at least we'll have

1:46:42 ↗ we also are going to have a large

1:46:44 ↗ resource fair associated with that we

1:46:46 ↗ hope to have a table for the equity

1:46:48 ↗ board and an opportunity for the

1:46:50 ↗ community to meet and greet with the

1:46:51 ↗ equity board at minimum um so more

1:46:54 ↗ information to come but i wanted to put

1:46:56 ↗ that on your agenda as as that's coming

1:46:59 ↗ and as i mentioned there are going to be

1:47:01 ↗ other smaller events including you know

1:47:03 ↗ working with businesses uh and then

1:47:05 ↗ there's also we are part of a more

1:47:07 ↗ regional the east side economy so

1:47:09 ↗ they're gonna be virtual and in-person

1:47:11 ↗ events for that

1:47:13 ↗ um as well um and then you might have if

1:47:15 ↗ you remember during covet we created a

1:47:17 ↗ story walk during welcoming events so we

1:47:20 ↗ are gonna do that that kind of like was

1:47:22 ↗ pretty popular um that tells the story

1:47:25 ↗ of different immigrants

1:47:27 ↗ so so that's for that um the second

1:47:30 ↗ event uh hispanic heritage month um uh

1:47:34 ↗ also this year coinciding and not

1:47:36 ↗ coinciding but highlighting also mexican

1:47:38 ↗ independence day mexican independence

1:47:40 ↗ day is typically um

1:47:42 ↗ um

1:47:43 ↗ celebrated on september 16. uh hispanic

1:47:47 ↗ heritage month is typically celebrated

1:47:49 ↗ between september 15 and october 15th so

1:47:52 ↗ we are going to combine those two

1:47:55 ↗ and our tentative date for that event is

1:47:58 ↗ saturday september 17th

1:48:01 ↗ our team is working on it so far we have

1:48:04 ↗ just our staff um

1:48:06 ↗ uh working on but we would love to uh

1:48:09 ↗ also um

1:48:11 ↗ work with

1:48:12 ↗ i know that kelly mentioned uh and

1:48:14 ↗ brought up the idea of uh the author uh

1:48:17 ↗ of the last quentista um

1:48:20 ↗ one of the ideas that we are working on

1:48:22 ↗ currently in addition uh to inviting

1:48:25 ↗ perhaps the author is uh to invite um

1:48:29 ↗ um

1:48:31 ↗ different professionals who would

1:48:33 ↗ provide free dance and movement classes

1:48:36 ↗ on different

1:48:37 ↗ um

1:48:40 ↗ hispanic

1:48:42 ↗ heritage type

1:48:43 ↗ dances um so it's again it's just a fun

1:48:46 ↗ in-person event an opportunity to

1:48:49 ↗ socialize uh tentatively uh that event

1:48:52 ↗ will happen at the senior center um

1:48:55 ↗ again more information on that

1:48:58 ↗ and i'm gonna pause to see if there are

1:49:00 ↗ questions before then i move to the next

1:49:02 ↗ thing

1:49:08 ↗ no questions

1:49:11 ↗ great

1:49:11 ↗ thank you

1:49:13 ↗ um so monica what was the date of the

1:49:17 ↗ september 17th saturday september 17th

1:49:20 ↗ for the hispanic

1:49:21 ↗ heritage month mexican independence day

1:49:24 ↗ that's september 17th

1:49:26 ↗ welcoming week september 9th that's on a

1:49:28 ↗ friday just as an fyi

1:49:31 ↗ the fish

1:49:33 ↗ hatchery

1:49:34 ↗ uh non-profit is running a all-day event

1:49:38 ↗ that day outdoors

1:49:40 ↗ on the 17th yeah just okay

1:49:44 ↗ thank you yeah that's that's helpful to

1:49:46 ↗ know we will yeah we will go back and

1:49:48 ↗ perhaps

1:49:49 ↗ coordinate with them to see

1:49:51 ↗ yeah yeah

1:49:53 ↗ it's

1:49:54 ↗ great okay

1:49:57 ↗ so that's that

1:49:59 ↗ for the human services updates i'm

1:50:03 ↗ looking at the time so i would like to

1:50:06 ↗ see if you would like

1:50:08 ↗ if if what you have in the powerpoint

1:50:10 ↗ presentation perhaps it's enough if i

1:50:12 ↗ should just answer questions about human

1:50:14 ↗ services if we should postpone

1:50:17 ↗ talk in detail now and we'll go over

1:50:19 ↗ time since we have other things that we

1:50:21 ↗ would like to discuss

1:50:24 ↗ skip it

1:50:28 ↗ i would like to spend some time and more

1:50:30 ↗ important than to me the human services

1:50:32 ↗ updates is to see what how should we go

1:50:35 ↗ about the rest of the year

1:50:40 ↗ so

1:50:41 ↗ wow

1:50:43 ↗ any thoughts

1:50:50 ↗ away the presentation

1:50:56 ↗ no go ahead monica i was going to say

1:50:58 ↗ i'm sure that uh you see the wheels

1:51:00 ↗ turning in my head um i think you know i

1:51:03 ↗ don't want to speak for everyone but i'd

1:51:04 ↗ say yes thank you for you know yeah

1:51:08 ↗ so yeah i was gonna just say are we up

1:51:10 ↗ with a thumbs up if you are okay going

1:51:12 ↗ over time for eight o'clock and do the

1:51:14 ↗ human services presentation and then

1:51:16 ↗ also the conversation do we have the

1:51:17 ↗ energy to go through those two and time

1:51:23 ↗ okay

1:51:24 ↗ so i'm not gonna waste time thank you so

1:51:25 ↗ much i'm just gonna go through brief

1:51:27 ↗ presentation on human services

1:51:29 ↗ since um

1:51:32 ↗ um

1:51:34 ↗ you didn't have a chance to have an in

1:51:36 ↗ more depth presentation you heard early

1:51:38 ↗ on in the year when jeff watling

1:51:40 ↗ presented on the parks and community

1:51:42 ↗ services

1:51:43 ↗ uh but i know there was interest in

1:51:47 ↗ um

1:51:50 ↗ and diving a little bit

1:51:52 ↗ deeper

1:51:55 ↗ so give me just a moment

1:52:00 ↗ oh

1:52:07 ↗ okay

1:52:08 ↗ i hope everyone can see my screen

1:52:10 ↗ if not please shout out i do not see the

1:52:13 ↗ chat or

1:52:14 ↗ any of you

1:52:15 ↗ so just to give you a brief context uh

1:52:17 ↗ human serve the human services division

1:52:19 ↗ it's part of the parks and community

1:52:21 ↗ services department within the city

1:52:24 ↗ um

1:52:25 ↗ we are um

1:52:26 ↗ one of the four divisions in the parks

1:52:29 ↗ and community services

1:52:31 ↗ department

1:52:33 ↗ and within our division

1:52:35 ↗ we have a section on community needs and

1:52:38 ↗ planning

1:52:39 ↗ where we also support

1:52:42 ↗ our nonprofit providers and we provide

1:52:44 ↗ funding to

1:52:45 ↗ a

1:52:46 ↗ wide range of social services

1:52:48 ↗ organizations currently this this year

1:52:51 ↗ we found 57 different programs that

1:52:54 ↗ range from housing and shelters and

1:52:56 ↗ basic foods and meals programs to

1:52:58 ↗ domestic violence mental health

1:53:00 ↗ substance use

1:53:03 ↗ vocational services educational services

1:53:06 ↗ legal services and you name it we

1:53:08 ↗ probably offer it

1:53:10 ↗ and we are also uh providing staff

1:53:13 ↗ support to the human services commission

1:53:15 ↗ uh most of that work is being done by

1:53:17 ↗ you might have met our human services

1:53:19 ↗ coordinator hannah roberts

1:53:22 ↗ um then we also have our behavioral

1:53:25 ↗ health and homeless outreach program you

1:53:27 ↗ have met last month kailyn woods and you

1:53:30 ↗ might have heard of amir shabena both of

1:53:32 ↗ them are our behavioral health

1:53:34 ↗ coordinators

1:53:36 ↗ we just recently hired kailyn

1:53:39 ↗ this program is also new uh we started

1:53:43 ↗ the behavioral health and homeless

1:53:44 ↗ outreach program just a little bit over

1:53:46 ↗ a year ago

1:53:48 ↗ together the two staff currently provide

1:53:50 ↗ the seven-day coverage to our services

1:53:53 ↗ in addition to homeless outreach we also

1:53:55 ↗ work with our police department for

1:53:57 ↗ their behavioral health program

1:53:59 ↗ often me

1:54:01 ↗ our police department receives 9-1-1

1:54:03 ↗ calls

1:54:04 ↗ determinant of health or substance use

1:54:06 ↗ behavioral health related and so we

1:54:08 ↗ receive referrals from our police

1:54:11 ↗ department

1:54:13 ↗ and we

1:54:14 ↗ work with community members and

1:54:15 ↗ residents in connecting them to the

1:54:17 ↗ services they need

1:54:19 ↗ so all together

1:54:20 ↗ as of today this week

1:54:23 ↗ between the behavioral health and

1:54:24 ↗ homeless outreach programs we serve 215

1:54:28 ↗ residents so um

1:54:30 ↗ quite a bit of work there

1:54:33 ↗ i also heard wally talk a little bit

1:54:35 ↗ earlier and you might have heard us in

1:54:36 ↗ the past the municipal court created in

1:54:39 ↗ august of last year a community court

1:54:43 ↗ this is an alternative program to the

1:54:45 ↗ regular traditional court system where

1:54:48 ↗ the county court identifies um

1:54:52 ↗ individuals who have um

1:54:54 ↗ uh committed a crime and when they um

1:54:58 ↗ determined that perhaps the crime was

1:55:01 ↗ um related more to their um social

1:55:03 ↗ service needs or to their uh living

1:55:06 ↗ circumstances and not to necessarily a

1:55:08 ↗ criminal intent they enroll them in what

1:55:11 ↗ we call community court which is based

1:55:13 ↗ on

1:55:14 ↗ supporting um the person and connecting

1:55:17 ↗ them to the social services that they

1:55:19 ↗ need in order to get out of this

1:55:21 ↗ situation so a simple example would be

1:55:24 ↗ let's say a homeless individual who um

1:55:27 ↗ was trespassed from a private property

1:55:30 ↗ and so they understand that that that

1:55:32 ↗ crime was really not related to criminal

1:55:35 ↗ intent but perhaps to need to to seek

1:55:37 ↗ shelter and so therefore they might be

1:55:40 ↗ enrolled in community court and we would

1:55:42 ↗ work with them

1:55:43 ↗ um in connecting them to the services

1:55:45 ↗ they need um of course we don't always

1:55:48 ↗ just see um homeless individuals in

1:55:50 ↗ community core there are different uh

1:55:52 ↗ levels of crimes but the idea is always

1:55:54 ↗ the same to connect the person to the

1:55:56 ↗ service the social service that they

1:55:58 ↗ need uh rather than putting them in jail

1:56:01 ↗ if if a person successfully

1:56:04 ↗ um

1:56:06 ↗ completes all the asks

1:56:08 ↗ and tasks signed by the court they can

1:56:10 ↗ graduate and and their

1:56:13 ↗ crime may be expand sponge from their

1:56:16 ↗ record uh currently we have uh one staff

1:56:19 ↗ who's supporting the municipal court in

1:56:21 ↗ dallas and provides the case manager

1:56:23 ↗ case management many of you have met

1:56:25 ↗ marisol wieser she's the one who's

1:56:27 ↗ working on this project

1:56:30 ↗ and then last but not least

1:56:32 ↗ we have the community equity initiatives

1:56:35 ↗ again as you heard wally earlier

1:56:37 ↗ mentioned that it's assigned to our

1:56:39 ↗ division uh the community facing equity

1:56:42 ↗ initiatives

1:56:43 ↗ and we are providing staff uh staffing

1:56:46 ↗ for the equity board so for that i'm the

1:56:49 ↗ the main person um

1:56:51 ↗ uh leading those efforts and um whenever

1:56:54 ↗ i can i use the support of of my staff

1:56:57 ↗ um

1:56:58 ↗ to help with whatever is needed from

1:57:01 ↗ putting together powerpoint

1:57:02 ↗ presentations to um closing contracts to

1:57:06 ↗ chairs and all of those

1:57:08 ↗ in the back works

1:57:10 ↗ um so just a few words about all of

1:57:13 ↗ these um

1:57:14 ↗ um initiatives uh the human services

1:57:17 ↗ planning section of our division as i

1:57:19 ↗ mentioned

1:57:20 ↗ um

1:57:22 ↗ really the the role is to identify the

1:57:24 ↗ community needs uh last year um we

1:57:27 ↗ completed henna and i worked

1:57:30 ↗ on completing a large community needs

1:57:32 ↗ assessment that led to the creation of

1:57:34 ↗ our first human services strategic plan

1:57:37 ↗ you have a link to that in our package

1:57:40 ↗ if you have time we would recommend for

1:57:41 ↗ you to look through that it was um also

1:57:45 ↗ um a project that we worked with with

1:57:47 ↗ the human services commission on

1:57:49 ↗ we were very very um

1:57:53 ↗ intentional about

1:57:55 ↗ putting the entire project through a

1:57:56 ↗ robust equity lens

1:57:59 ↗ and so

1:58:00 ↗ also i mentioned

1:58:02 ↗ earlier that we also provide funding to

1:58:04 ↗ a variety of non-profit organizations

1:58:08 ↗ and for the

1:58:09 ↗ 2021-2022 funding cycle we had three

1:58:12 ↗ types of grants we had grassroots grants

1:58:15 ↗ again with an equity lens

1:58:17 ↗ we also piloted initially in 2021 the

1:58:19 ↗ homeless outreach program which now in

1:58:21 ↗ 2022 became a permanent program

1:58:24 ↗ and then we are now hoping to pilot uh

1:58:27 ↗ in 2023

1:58:29 ↗ uh an emergency housing program so all

1:58:31 ↗ of that is in our kind of like planning

1:58:34 ↗ section for human services a lot of work

1:58:37 ↗ being done uh there

1:58:39 ↗ um

1:58:40 ↗ i mentioned that we completed a

1:58:42 ↗ strategic plan and we had a very

1:58:44 ↗ intentional

1:58:45 ↗ um

1:58:47 ↗ equity lens uh approach

1:58:49 ↗ um and what we did in in that project

1:58:52 ↗ was we really identified the the

1:58:54 ↗ populations that are are most impacted

1:58:57 ↗ by our human services needs as you may

1:59:00 ↗ know

1:59:01 ↗ point eight percent of of our population

1:59:03 ↗ in isolating poverty so really that was

1:59:06 ↗ the focus of of our work when we did the

1:59:08 ↗ community needs assessment to really

1:59:10 ↗ understand what do those folks need in

1:59:12 ↗ addition to the larger population of

1:59:14 ↗ course

1:59:15 ↗ we only served the entire isoqua but

1:59:17 ↗ intentionally we wanted to focus on

1:59:19 ↗ learning what do the communities who

1:59:22 ↗ live in poverty need and then within

1:59:24 ↗ that we wanted to identify the

1:59:26 ↗ disproportionate representation of

1:59:28 ↗ communities living in poverty

1:59:30 ↗ and again if you read the entire

1:59:32 ↗ strategic plan you're gonna see that uh

1:59:34 ↗ we identified that 77 of those living in

1:59:37 ↗ poverty are non-white so um again we

1:59:40 ↗ just wanted to intentionally identify

1:59:42 ↗ that and call that out and then that

1:59:45 ↗ helped us to to propose goals and

1:59:48 ↗ interventions that help address those

1:59:49 ↗ inequities so based on that data um our

1:59:53 ↗ community needs identified four themes

1:59:56 ↗ uh one was

1:59:57 ↗ physical and behavioral halt uh housing

2:00:00 ↗ continuum was another one community

2:00:02 ↗ resources and definitely last but not

2:00:04 ↗ least language access and culture

2:00:06 ↗ specific services how so that was called

2:00:08 ↗ out as a specific theme in our strategic

2:00:11 ↗ plan last year

2:00:13 ↗ again more information if you have a

2:00:14 ↗ chance to read it and please reach out

2:00:16 ↗ to us if you would like to further talk

2:00:19 ↗ i talked to you a little bit about the

2:00:20 ↗ behavioral health and homeless outreach

2:00:22 ↗ program so i don't want to talk much

2:00:24 ↗ more about that i just want to call out

2:00:26 ↗ the homeless outreach dashboard you have

2:00:29 ↗ the link in your packet um

2:00:32 ↗ that is a community-facing

2:00:34 ↗ data um

2:00:36 ↗ really a dashboard that shows some of

2:00:38 ↗ the work that we've been doing in that

2:00:40 ↗ program um

2:00:42 ↗ and also it shows not just the successes

2:00:44 ↗ but some of the limitations uh that that

2:00:47 ↗ we have in

2:00:48 ↗ in um in homeless outreach i am proud to

2:00:51 ↗ say that out of about 115

2:00:55 ↗ homeless individuals that we interacted

2:00:57 ↗ with in this past year we were able to

2:00:59 ↗ successfully uh house in permanent

2:01:02 ↗ housing 14 of them as of this month

2:01:04 ↗ actually 16.

2:01:06 ↗ i know that perhaps for some that does

2:01:08 ↗ not sound like a lot it is a lot and

2:01:12 ↗ huge success

2:01:13 ↗ working with one person at a time

2:01:16 ↗ there are many many complexities and

2:01:17 ↗ challenges

2:01:19 ↗ and we can talk for many hours on that

2:01:22 ↗ so

2:01:23 ↗ um

2:01:24 ↗ i mentioned to you that we have now two

2:01:26 ↗ ft's providing seven-day uh

2:01:29 ↗ coverage again a lot of systemic

2:01:31 ↗ challenges uh especially including lack

2:01:33 ↗ of capacity lack of capacity not just

2:01:36 ↗ for housing but for treatment services

2:01:39 ↗ of for any other support services that

2:01:41 ↗ the person needs to to start um

2:01:45 ↗ coming out of homelessness again for

2:01:48 ↗ more information if you ever want to

2:01:49 ↗ connect with us meet or come and ask

2:01:52 ↗ more questions please email our team at

2:01:54 ↗ homeless outreach at izakawa.gov

2:01:57 ↗ we talked about the pain handling

2:01:58 ↗ campaign last month

2:02:00 ↗ you have a link there as well if you

2:02:02 ↗ would like to to talk some more i'm not

2:02:04 ↗ going to spend more time on that and

2:02:06 ↗ again uh resources for shelter and food

2:02:09 ↗ uh i i talked about community court um

2:02:12 ↗ i'm not gonna go in uh additional

2:02:14 ↗ details and we talked about the

2:02:15 ↗ community initiatives as well so i'm

2:02:18 ↗ gonna stop there and pause if there are

2:02:20 ↗ questions

2:02:22 ↗ um

2:02:24 ↗ before

2:02:25 ↗ if

2:02:26 ↗ before moving to our last topic

2:02:29 ↗ there are a couple of comments

2:02:33 ↗ uh let's see um

2:02:35 ↗ let's see breathing

2:02:37 ↗ we'll go off with you

2:02:39 ↗ i can't talk today we'll go

2:02:40 ↗ first

2:02:42 ↗ yeah thank you um monica i just wanted

2:02:44 ↗ to commend you and your team for

2:02:46 ↗ kind of modeling that equity analysis

2:02:49 ↗ approach like i don't know if you

2:02:51 ↗ followed a formal postcard approach or

2:02:53 ↗ something like that but i think it's

2:02:55 ↗ it's wonderful to see how you you all

2:02:57 ↗ put it in action with this planning

2:02:59 ↗ process so just wanted to give you kudos

2:03:02 ↗ oh thank you so much pretty i so

2:03:04 ↗ appreciate it

2:03:05 ↗ yeah and we did not follow unnecessary

2:03:08 ↗ like i know we want to talk about the

2:03:09 ↗ framework uh postcard model in general

2:03:12 ↗ or whatnot but yes we were intentional

2:03:14 ↗ about um

2:03:16 ↗ yes um

2:03:18 ↗ really

2:03:20 ↗ providing that equity lens right yeah

2:03:22 ↗ looking looking at the entire project

2:03:24 ↗ through an equity lens

2:03:29 ↗ all right so

2:03:32 ↗ my comment um

2:03:33 ↗ monica was about the um behavioral

2:03:36 ↗ health and um what not for the um

2:03:39 ↗ uh homeless challenges that we have in

2:03:41 ↗ issaquah and i want to thank you for i

2:03:44 ↗ know you're very instrumental in putting

2:03:46 ↗ that together it actually has

2:03:47 ↗ transformed my behavior um so i wanted

2:03:50 ↗ to just just tell you that uh how it

2:03:52 ↗ made an impact on me and i'm

2:03:55 ↗ me telling friends and family about the

2:03:58 ↗ same and uh hopefully it's impacting

2:04:00 ↗ them as well i think i've i've noticed

2:04:02 ↗ my family has maybe transformed a bit as

2:04:04 ↗ far as that's concerned and what we

2:04:06 ↗ should be doing with our our homeless uh

2:04:09 ↗ friends and and uh and housing

2:04:11 ↗ challenged friends here in the essequi

2:04:13 ↗ area so just once again i want to thank

2:04:15 ↗ you for that

2:04:18 ↗ thank you very much tony and yes if we

2:04:19 ↗ ever have time would love to have a

2:04:21 ↗ longer conversation um

2:04:23 ↗ of course on that but i still so

2:04:25 ↗ appreciate the feedback

2:04:28 ↗ welcome

2:04:29 ↗ and looking through chat alyssa i

2:04:32 ↗ thought i saw you raise your hand did

2:04:34 ↗ you have a comment

2:04:35 ↗ no no i didn't okay okay my fault all

2:04:38 ↗ right let's see oh i'm sorry christina

2:04:46 ↗ would you like to give your uh to jump

2:04:49 ↗ off mute and give your comment

2:04:51 ↗ and you have a question actually i'm

2:04:52 ↗ sorry not a question

2:04:55 ↗ [Music]

2:05:15 ↗ so about the people when monica talked

2:05:17 ↗ about

2:05:18 ↗ the uh

2:05:20 ↗ caucasians uh being the minority

2:05:23 ↗ uh and the poverty level that they they

2:05:27 ↗ also

2:05:28 ↗ uh gauged the uh

2:05:31 ↗ their culture their behavior and their

2:05:34 ↗ habits

2:05:44 ↗ because

2:05:53 ↗ and if it's feasible i would like if

2:05:56 ↗ it's possible

2:05:58 ↗ to make

2:05:59 ↗ this information public

2:06:02 ↗ and that would be a teaching aid for us

2:06:10 ↗ thank you

2:06:11 ↗ thank you so much for that question

2:06:12 ↗ christina um and actually i'm so glad

2:06:16 ↗ that you brought it up a similar

2:06:18 ↗ question was brought up before

2:06:20 ↗ um as we interact with more and more uh

2:06:24 ↗ people who are not white and they are

2:06:27 ↗ not very rich they don't have a much

2:06:30 ↗ money

2:06:31 ↗ we um learn more information about the

2:06:34 ↗ different

2:06:36 ↗ the unique

2:06:37 ↗ um stories that everyone has we don't

2:06:41 ↗ have though to that data level enough

2:06:43 ↗ information to

2:06:45 ↗ um

2:06:46 ↗ to

2:06:47 ↗ to go deeper to compare to what we have

2:06:50 ↗ and what we have now it's public what's

2:06:52 ↗ in the strategic plan is public um but

2:06:55 ↗ we we don't have

2:06:57 ↗ you know other than anecdotal

2:06:58 ↗ information from the people that we

2:07:00 ↗ interacted with we don't have much more

2:07:04 ↗ as we'll learn more then absolutely we

2:07:07 ↗ will share that information and we'll

2:07:08 ↗ publicize it right now if we have only

2:07:11 ↗ what we have in the strategic plan

2:07:13 ↗ um and rightfully so actually the

2:07:15 ↗ strategic plan is not yet fully

2:07:17 ↗ translated in spanish um but um i know

2:07:22 ↗ that um if there's interest on that

2:07:25 ↗ we can speed up that process is just

2:07:27 ↗ um

2:07:29 ↗ so

2:07:31 ↗ we would love to i'll follow up in case

2:07:32 ↗ you would like uh translated that

2:07:35 ↗ document or even just part of that

2:07:37 ↗ document

2:07:43 ↗ thank you for the answer monica

2:07:46 ↗ uh

2:07:47 ↗ let me make sure that i didn't miss

2:07:48 ↗ anything in chat if there's any other

2:07:50 ↗ questions and or comments

2:07:52 ↗ let's see

2:07:56 ↗ looks like that is

2:07:59 ↗ i think pretty much

2:08:02 ↗ no okay i apologize okay

2:08:05 ↗ pretty says no okay all right so let's

2:08:08 ↗ move on to our next gen item just want

2:08:10 ↗ to see if there's any our nexus genomic

2:08:12 ↗ addenda item is um

2:08:15 ↗ other business and or announcements um i

2:08:18 ↗ don't think there's any other business

2:08:20 ↗ but are there any other announcements

2:08:22 ↗ that have not been made monica do we

2:08:25 ↗ have anything else i don't think so

2:08:28 ↗ i was hoping board members if we have a

2:08:30 ↗ few minutes yes to do talk about the

2:08:32 ↗ upcoming months and how would you like

2:08:33 ↗ to

2:08:34 ↗ let's create a list of things that you

2:08:36 ↗ would like to see and the upcoming

2:08:38 ↗ meetings agendas

2:08:40 ↗ um again i don't want to forget about

2:08:42 ↗ you know the comments that kelly and

2:08:44 ↗ lucrecia made at the beginning of the

2:08:46 ↗ meeting um regarding this is part of a

2:08:49 ↗ larger conversation if you remember when

2:08:52 ↗ you first

2:08:53 ↗ approved the first rules and regulations

2:08:56 ↗ at the beginning of the year we said

2:08:57 ↗ that as as you learn to work with one

2:09:00 ↗ another you would like to look for

2:09:02 ↗ opportunities to do differently on the

2:09:04 ↗ board and perhaps make recommendations

2:09:06 ↗ to the mayor and city council on i know

2:09:08 ↗ that they were ideas on kind of like

2:09:10 ↗ shared leadership how do you take turns

2:09:12 ↗ with chairs i know it came up last week

2:09:15 ↗ on how do you interact with public

2:09:17 ↗ comments that that those make up to me

2:09:19 ↗ that feels like almost a one entire

2:09:22 ↗ meeting just by that so what we can do

2:09:25 ↗ we can either schedule a special meeting

2:09:27 ↗ perhaps as we start coming back in

2:09:29 ↗ person or we can we can create and have

2:09:31 ↗ it sometimes like either if you want to

2:09:34 ↗ say okay we don't want to have any guest

2:09:36 ↗ speakers in the upcoming month and just

2:09:37 ↗ let's focus on that we can do that um

2:09:41 ↗ otherwise i wanted to let you know that

2:09:42 ↗ we do have guest speakers scheduled all

2:09:45 ↗ throughout until december you know next

2:09:48 ↗ month for example we have the police um

2:09:50 ↗ department coming back with the

2:09:53 ↗ economic development department again

2:09:55 ↗ this was also one of the topics that was

2:09:57 ↗ requested

2:09:59 ↗ we also i reached out to

2:10:01 ↗ to some of the community equity

2:10:03 ↗ organizations the issaquah school

2:10:05 ↗ district um

2:10:07 ↗ uh student equity council was gonna come

2:10:09 ↗ tonight but they're gonna come hopefully

2:10:11 ↗ in september

2:10:13 ↗ we also have the issaquah community

2:10:15 ↗ cultural

2:10:18 ↗ and

2:10:19 ↗ inclusion grassroots community group

2:10:21 ↗ scheduled for october we have the school

2:10:24 ↗ district equity

2:10:26 ↗ um department scheduled for november so

2:10:30 ↗ it's i personally struggle with okay

2:10:33 ↗ plus we need to complete our assessment

2:10:36 ↗ um so a lot and and the events right so

2:10:39 ↗ a lot going on how would you like to

2:10:41 ↗ prioritize all of this

2:10:51 ↗ i'm sorry tough

2:10:52 ↗ yeah that was really tough

2:10:55 ↗ follow up with some thoughts um wow

2:10:58 ↗ crazier and pretty about

2:11:05 ↗ go for it look crazy i'm pretty after

2:11:07 ↗ that

2:11:09 ↗ so for me at least is it's really

2:11:12 ↗ difficult to only receive information

2:11:14 ↗ verbally like you just sent or you just

2:11:17 ↗ gave us with like this is what's coming

2:11:19 ↗ up like i really need to see it

2:11:22 ↗ in writing

2:11:23 ↗ um so i apologize that i can't really

2:11:25 ↗ make a decision or

2:11:27 ↗ or comment really about like how would i

2:11:30 ↗ like things to proceed

2:11:33 ↗ is it possible and i know that

2:11:35 ↗ you know we need to notify

2:11:37 ↗ you know the public that we're doing

2:11:39 ↗ these things but i almost feel like is

2:11:41 ↗ there a way that you can send this to us

2:11:44 ↗ via email

2:11:45 ↗ and then

2:11:47 ↗ i don't know put it out in the public so

2:11:49 ↗ that they know that we're

2:11:50 ↗ having this discussion around these

2:11:52 ↗ issues and

2:11:54 ↗ calendaring and

2:11:55 ↗ voting on where we would like to go

2:11:59 ↗ it's just kind of where i'm coming from

2:12:00 ↗ thank you

2:12:02 ↗ yeah no very good i'm happy yes i can

2:12:04 ↗ certainly follow up with an email i

2:12:06 ↗ think we had it in the last month pop

2:12:08 ↗ packet i didn't put it in this one but

2:12:10 ↗ absolutely i'll follow up with an email

2:12:12 ↗ with everything that's scheduled for the

2:12:13 ↗ remainder of the year and then um

2:12:16 ↗ perhaps yes um we can we can receive um

2:12:21 ↗ feedback via email and then discuss it

2:12:24 ↗ as a public um

2:12:26 ↗ at the public meeting as well so thank

2:12:27 ↗ you for that okay um i see a lot of good

2:12:30 ↗ comments uh next was pretty i think yeah

2:12:34 ↗ i was just going to make a

2:12:35 ↗ recommendation given how jam-packed

2:12:37 ↗ those agendas seem and wanting to give

2:12:40 ↗ enough time for a conversation around

2:12:42 ↗ kind of how we're structured how we

2:12:44 ↗ engage with community members

2:12:46 ↗ i would

2:12:47 ↗ lean towards a special session

2:12:50 ↗ and maybe one that's in person when we

2:12:53 ↗ get to that time where we can be in

2:12:54 ↗ person

2:12:56 ↗ okay i second recommendation pretty

2:12:58 ↗ thank you

2:13:00 ↗ okay

2:13:03 ↗ thank you so much prithee and lucrecia

2:13:06 ↗ um

2:13:08 ↗ yes let's how about let's hear all the

2:13:09 ↗ comments and then we come back to see

2:13:11 ↗ perhaps if you would like to take a

2:13:12 ↗ formal action on recommending a special

2:13:14 ↗ session and we'll look at that

2:13:18 ↗ alisa

2:13:19 ↗ helen and kelly

2:13:22 ↗ um so i i would say in that session um

2:13:26 ↗ first of all my recommendation um

2:13:29 ↗ is like um

2:13:31 ↗ what christian said was something in

2:13:33 ↗ writing for us to look at and then it's

2:13:36 ↗ great to have a special session i would

2:13:38 ↗ suggest that we do that session kind of

2:13:40 ↗ the way that we would do that session

2:13:43 ↗ at work it's a prioritization exercise

2:13:46 ↗ so you go through each item and get

2:13:49 ↗ consensus from the group is this item

2:13:51 ↗ more or less important than the previous

2:13:54 ↗ item

2:13:54 ↗ and so that your end result isn't a list

2:13:58 ↗ in the order in which you

2:14:01 ↗ tackle them

2:14:05 ↗ great thank you so much elisa

2:14:12 ↗ um i'll go next i totally agree with um

2:14:15 ↗ what everybody has said

2:14:17 ↗ um

2:14:18 ↗ [Music]

2:14:19 ↗ obviously a special session looks like

2:14:20 ↗ it because in in four months or probably

2:14:23 ↗ less before the end of the year we

2:14:26 ↗ will need to definitely prioritize i was

2:14:28 ↗ also thinking can some of the

2:14:31 ↗ the

2:14:32 ↗ groups that haven't had an opportunity

2:14:33 ↗ to present to us take priority i mean

2:14:35 ↗ while we're thinking about it for

2:14:36 ↗ example i've not heard from the issaquah

2:14:38 ↗ school district and there are two

2:14:39 ↗ separate

2:14:41 ↗ debts you mentioned for the issac school

2:14:42 ↗ district i think those can be combined

2:14:45 ↗ with school starting obviously i think

2:14:47 ↗ it's on my radar it's my huge interest

2:14:49 ↗ so most definitely

2:14:51 ↗ um prioritizing that if the others have

2:14:53 ↗ come and they're coming a second time

2:14:55 ↗ can that be a priority so that we have

2:14:57 ↗ sort of some sort of

2:14:58 ↗ equal spread across the year for the

2:15:00 ↗ different groupings that we haven't had

2:15:02 ↗ from

2:15:03 ↗ um

2:15:04 ↗ yeah um

2:15:05 ↗ [Music]

2:15:07 ↗ and also again sorry i think this was

2:15:10 ↗ from from before the event that is

2:15:11 ↗ happening on ninth that is the

2:15:14 ↗ the welcoming

2:15:16 ↗ event right i know it's happened before

2:15:18 ↗ and and i've always wanted to to attend

2:15:21 ↗ it i don't know why

2:15:22 ↗ it's

2:15:23 ↗ either school has just started or that

2:15:25 ↗ day it rains it's outdoors it's it's

2:15:28 ↗ just always been one of those it's not

2:15:31 ↗ very

2:15:33 ↗ weather-wise time of year time of day

2:15:36 ↗ if it's going to be outdoors if it's

2:15:38 ↗ going to be inside the community center

2:15:40 ↗ and some of those things be put into

2:15:42 ↗ consideration so that

2:15:44 ↗ it's actually

2:15:46 ↗ it attracts i have always been ready

2:15:49 ↗ with my ugandan outfit ready to come and

2:15:52 ↗ display it but

2:15:53 ↗ raining cats and others um

2:15:56 ↗ and also it's cool school has just

2:15:58 ↗ started it's i don't know again

2:16:01 ↗ back to you in terms of the dates when

2:16:04 ↗ it's appropriate and i know it school

2:16:05 ↗ has started that's an opportunity to

2:16:07 ↗ attract especially the new children who

2:16:09 ↗ have come into the school this year and

2:16:10 ↗ your families

2:16:12 ↗ but i don't know if again

2:16:14 ↗ friday

2:16:15 ↗ yeah just

2:16:16 ↗ throwing it out there to your monika in

2:16:18 ↗ terms of

2:16:19 ↗ timing and location for

2:16:21 ↗ that event yeah thank you so much for

2:16:24 ↗ the feedback um helen i know the

2:16:26 ↗ challenge we every year we do talk about

2:16:28 ↗ september being a challenge

2:16:30 ↗ unfortunately the national welcoming

2:16:32 ↗ week event is only september so it's the

2:16:34 ↗ second week in september so that makes

2:16:37 ↗ it challenging and then yes in terms of

2:16:39 ↗ the day of the week it's always

2:16:41 ↗ challenging but this year what we we at

2:16:43 ↗ least we have a plan a and plan b plan a

2:16:46 ↗ if it doesn't rain it's out and the

2:16:48 ↗ weather is nice it's outdoor in front on

2:16:50 ↗ the lawn if it rains everybody's gonna

2:16:52 ↗ go indoors so we have both last year

2:16:55 ↗ unfortunately coved cases were too big

2:16:58 ↗ so we couldn't do anything indoor and so

2:17:00 ↗ then with the weather then yeah

2:17:02 ↗ but yes

2:17:04 ↗ yeah very very good feedback and yeah i

2:17:05 ↗ would love to pass on more

2:17:08 ↗ feedback to the team thank you

2:17:14 ↗ tell me back at you or i'm sorry i think

2:17:17 ↗ kelly still has

2:17:18 ↗ yeah that's correct

2:17:20 ↗ um

2:17:22 ↗ i'm

2:17:23 ↗ this is a comment but has a question

2:17:25 ↗ mark first off i'm for a special session

2:17:28 ↗ september sounds good

2:17:30 ↗ and so i'm a little bit off topic but

2:17:32 ↗ it's because of the reason we're having

2:17:34 ↗ a special section and that is

2:17:37 ↗ i am getting a lot out of

2:17:40 ↗ learning about these other organizations

2:17:43 ↗ i am simultaneously

2:17:46 ↗ somewhat

2:17:47 ↗ antsy

2:17:48 ↗ about us working together and and trying

2:17:52 ↗ to sort out what we drew out from that

2:17:55 ↗ and where that can go

2:17:57 ↗ right in other words

2:17:59 ↗ not just i'm feeling passive and when i

2:18:01 ↗ get passive i am not

2:18:05 ↗ i am not as strong a participant as i

2:18:09 ↗ could be and so i'm trying to figure out

2:18:12 ↗ what

2:18:13 ↗ the um i'm throwing out there that maybe

2:18:15 ↗ there's a different balance and how much

2:18:17 ↗ we hear versus how much we interact

2:18:20 ↗ i know it slows it down

2:18:23 ↗ right

2:18:24 ↗ now very valued very valid uh

2:18:27 ↗ so so uh that's what i'm so so happy to

2:18:30 ↗ have and so grateful to have this

2:18:31 ↗ conversation with all of you i think uh

2:18:34 ↗ similar thoughts it's like a lot of

2:18:36 ↗ information that you're receiving when

2:18:38 ↗ can we set aside time to process all of

2:18:41 ↗ it and then make some recommendations i

2:18:43 ↗ think you can come up with such great

2:18:45 ↗ valuable recommendations to to the mayor

2:18:47 ↗ and city council right and and that's

2:18:50 ↗ why so

2:18:51 ↗ what i would like to

2:18:53 ↗ recommend but i see pretty has a comment

2:18:56 ↗ also and christina we see your comment

2:18:58 ↗ about definitely if we have extra

2:18:59 ↗ session having it in september

2:19:02 ↗ so let me pause to hear pretty's comment

2:19:04 ↗ and then i think i have a staff

2:19:05 ↗ recommendation to you all to see if you

2:19:08 ↗ what you think of that based on the

2:19:09 ↗ feedback you provided

2:19:11 ↗ so i think i was probably going where

2:19:13 ↗ you're going monica but um and i think

2:19:16 ↗ to kelly's point yeah i'm feeling the

2:19:18 ↗ need for

2:19:19 ↗ a strategic planning session so

2:19:21 ↗ something that is like what are we doing

2:19:23 ↗ and how are we doing it i think the how

2:19:26 ↗ is like

2:19:28 ↗ things related to our structure how we

2:19:30 ↗ run meetings that stuff and then what we

2:19:32 ↗ are doing it's a little bit like that

2:19:34 ↗ internal like our internal work and then

2:19:36 ↗ the external piece so i i

2:19:39 ↗ really agree i think it makes a lot of

2:19:40 ↗ sense

2:19:42 ↗ yes totally yes thank you pretty yes i

2:19:44 ↗ think going exactly in the same

2:19:46 ↗ direction and that's why i think it

2:19:48 ↗ definitely i think it aligns with all

2:19:50 ↗ the feedback that he received i do not

2:19:52 ↗ see this happening before september

2:19:55 ↗ maybe even even october having a special

2:19:58 ↗ session because then that would give us

2:20:01 ↗ a little bit of time you can hear from a

2:20:02 ↗ couple of more groups

2:20:04 ↗ um we can do a little bit of homework

2:20:06 ↗ and if anyone in this group would like

2:20:08 ↗ to join me to doing a little bit of

2:20:10 ↗ homework on because that's exactly what

2:20:12 ↗ we are doing it's basically we are doing

2:20:14 ↗ like a strategic planning for the equity

2:20:16 ↗ initiatives of the city right and so

2:20:18 ↗ doing a little bit of research on on

2:20:20 ↗ what's available in terms of

2:20:22 ↗ literature out there what other

2:20:24 ↗ jurisdictions or others have done that

2:20:26 ↗ maybe have done it already and done it

2:20:28 ↗ well what can we learn from so preparing

2:20:30 ↗ for like then

2:20:32 ↗ like a strategic meeting where we can

2:20:34 ↗ talk about okay what are what from what

2:20:36 ↗ we learned the needs that we identified

2:20:39 ↗ what do we want to focus on as a group

2:20:42 ↗ and prioritize those as elisa said we

2:20:44 ↗ can go through a prioritization exercise

2:20:47 ↗ and then also dive deeper into how are

2:20:49 ↗ we doing all that work how are we you

2:20:51 ↗ know

2:20:52 ↗ interacting with community and the

2:20:53 ↗ public meetings how are we sharing and

2:20:55 ↗ facilitating meetings how you know

2:20:58 ↗ what's the right

2:20:59 ↗ information when we have guests how much

2:21:01 ↗ how long should the presentations be and

2:21:03 ↗ how long should we spend on questions

2:21:05 ↗ and right how can we provide some

2:21:07 ↗ guidance for those who come to

2:21:09 ↗ presentations and say okay you talk for

2:21:11 ↗ no more than 10 minutes or you know

2:21:13 ↗ those types of things so

2:21:15 ↗ but i do feel like if for us to do it

2:21:17 ↗ right definitely i'm looking at

2:21:19 ↗ august i'm looking at either end of

2:21:21 ↗ september or some somewhere mid-october

2:21:24 ↗ for a special session what do you all

2:21:26 ↗ think of that

2:21:30 ↗ okay

2:21:32 ↗ do we even want to go

2:21:34 ↗ as far as

2:21:36 ↗ looking at some dates now or do we want

2:21:38 ↗ to do that via email we can do that both

2:21:40 ↗ i just i want to look at what's best for

2:21:42 ↗ all of you

2:21:45 ↗ i think email would be fine i mean just

2:21:48 ↗ i'm not speaking for everybody but i

2:21:49 ↗ think that'd be fine to just actually

2:21:50 ↗ look at some

2:21:53 ↗ perspective dates

2:21:56 ↗ we can yeah i'll follow up with that so

2:21:58 ↗ on my note i'll follow up with a visual

2:22:00 ↗ of kind of like those who are scheduled

2:22:03 ↗ to attend to present and also with a

2:22:06 ↗ couple of dates i'm gonna propose for a

2:22:08 ↗ special meeting

2:22:10 ↗ um and i'll also reach out with an ask

2:22:13 ↗ to see if anyone would love to team up

2:22:15 ↗ with me and doing some research i know

2:22:17 ↗ that i know a couple of you that really

2:22:19 ↗ love research and are really good at

2:22:21 ↗ that and if you'd like to team up with

2:22:23 ↗ me would love that absolutely

2:22:26 ↗ and the crochet you have a comment

2:22:30 ↗ yes this this might actually be

2:22:32 ↗ something that we have

2:22:34 ↗ that we discuss during one of these um

2:22:36 ↗ strategic sessions but some an idea that

2:22:39 ↗ i would like to propose

2:22:41 ↗ is to use the flipped classroom model

2:22:45 ↗ um

2:22:46 ↗ and call it like flipped presentation

2:22:49 ↗ model

2:22:50 ↗ where we commit to watch videos that are

2:22:53 ↗ created by the different departments

2:22:56 ↗ prior to meeting with them

2:22:59 ↗ and then have questions ready

2:23:02 ↗ for them so that we're not

2:23:04 ↗ using up our time to learn about what it

2:23:07 ↗ is that people do

2:23:08 ↗ or their departments do but rather come

2:23:10 ↗ prepared understanding what it is they

2:23:12 ↗ do and therefore we have more time for

2:23:14 ↗ discussion

2:23:15 ↗ um when we do meet with the

2:23:18 ↗ representatives from various

2:23:20 ↗ departments

2:23:22 ↗ that would require that we agree to i

2:23:25 ↗ don't know maybe a half hour

2:23:27 ↗ prior to the meeting to commit to

2:23:29 ↗ watching these uh videos that these

2:23:32 ↗ people would make for us

2:23:34 ↗ and then we can have what i would

2:23:36 ↗ consider and hope

2:23:38 ↗ a more

2:23:39 ↗ robust discussion because right now i

2:23:41 ↗ feel like we don't even have enough time

2:23:43 ↗ to process what we're learning and

2:23:45 ↗ therefore we just kind of nod and

2:23:47 ↗ assimilate as much as we can in the 20

2:23:50 ↗ minutes that they present

2:23:51 ↗ and then move on it's just a composition

2:23:56 ↗ thank you christian

2:24:04 ↗ any other board members

2:24:07 ↗ i'm just going to make a quick comment

2:24:08 ↗ um i

2:24:10 ↗ wholeheartedly agree with that i mean it

2:24:12 ↗ it doesn't um to tag along to your great

2:24:15 ↗ idea

2:24:16 ↗ i mean it doesn't even have to be i mean

2:24:18 ↗ i know a video can take a while to

2:24:20 ↗ produce it um but even if it's like a

2:24:22 ↗ pre-read

2:24:23 ↗ some pdf document or something overview

2:24:26 ↗ presentation that's just like she just

2:24:28 ↗ like you said um

2:24:30 ↗ that just gives us the detail about the

2:24:33 ↗ entity and whatnot that i would love

2:24:35 ↗ that that would be really perfect if you

2:24:37 ↗ know our presenters can come prepared

2:24:39 ↗ i'm not not come prepared

2:24:41 ↗ give us a pre-read or pre-watch before

2:24:43 ↗ presentation

2:24:45 ↗ yeah like a brief memo perhaps and would

2:24:48 ↗ that be because kind of like i think the

2:24:50 ↗ intent of that

2:24:52 ↗ we have the intent by we publish the

2:24:54 ↗ agenda packets in advance like tonight

2:24:58 ↗ is not a great presentation because we

2:24:59 ↗ didn't have sometimes presenters don't

2:25:02 ↗ have a presentation material but but the

2:25:04 ↗ intent with what

2:25:08 ↗ publishing the agenda packet on the

2:25:10 ↗ friday or thursday before the meeting is

2:25:13 ↗ to provide you with that opportunity to

2:25:15 ↗ read in advance

2:25:16 ↗ and so

2:25:18 ↗ would would that work if that's

2:25:20 ↗ published and you have a memo

2:25:22 ↗ and or a presentation

2:25:25 ↗ would that provide that opportunity or

2:25:27 ↗ are you thinking of something different

2:25:31 ↗ me personally that would be perfect

2:25:34 ↗ yeah i guess i guess i'm not i don't

2:25:36 ↗ feel like i'm asking people to make

2:25:38 ↗ something

2:25:39 ↗ different than they would have already

2:25:41 ↗ provided

2:25:42 ↗ when we meet with them

2:25:44 ↗ you know just the way that i'm speaking

2:25:46 ↗ now i could you know go through the

2:25:48 ↗ slides and explain what it is that i'm

2:25:49 ↗ going to talk about because even if i

2:25:51 ↗ have the slides and i look at the slides

2:25:53 ↗ i don't really know the the meat of the

2:25:56 ↗ topic i don't know the the full content

2:25:58 ↗ right like i can see okay we're going to

2:26:00 ↗ have this discussion about like who is

2:26:02 ↗ the mayor

2:26:03 ↗ the

2:26:05 ↗ who is the prosecutor etc

2:26:07 ↗ but i feel like they provide so much

2:26:09 ↗ more when they're actually speaking to

2:26:11 ↗ us

2:26:12 ↗ that i would love it if it was possible

2:26:14 ↗ for them to just speak the way that they

2:26:16 ↗ do to us but prior to us actually

2:26:18 ↗ meeting with them and i don't know if

2:26:20 ↗ that makes sense but it's just like the

2:26:22 ↗ flip model that i

2:26:23 ↗ that i have experienced in other

2:26:25 ↗ settings yeah so perhaps would it make

2:26:27 ↗ them sense to have this conversation

2:26:30 ↗ part of that strategic planning special

2:26:32 ↗ session when we talk about and see you

2:26:34 ↗ know because we can yeah we can further

2:26:36 ↗ discuss and make a formal recommendation

2:26:38 ↗ at that time

2:26:41 ↗ yeah okay that's great

2:26:46 ↗ um thank you

2:26:49 ↗ okay i know we are really

2:26:51 ↗ late and probably folks need to hop off

2:26:53 ↗ meetings are we good so great great

2:26:56 ↗ um

2:26:56 ↗ feedback it's also appreciate the extra

2:26:58 ↗ time and con you know the conversation

2:27:00 ↗ on this

2:27:03 ↗ let's schedule a special meeting and

2:27:04 ↗ i'll follow up with an email to you all

2:27:08 ↗ fantastic

2:27:10 ↗ all right um looking at chat i don't see

2:27:13 ↗ any more comments and we have reached

2:27:16 ↗ the end of our agenda i want to thank

2:27:18 ↗ everyone on the equity board i mean just

2:27:21 ↗ a lot of great minds

2:27:23 ↗ we always have a lot to say

2:27:25 ↗ we're all in sync with our different

2:27:27 ↗ ideas and what we want to do we want

2:27:30 ↗ definitely want to see issaquah succeed

2:27:32 ↗ um under an equity lens and um i feel

2:27:35 ↗ like it's a little bit anti-climactic by

2:27:38 ↗ ending so quickly and saying megan we uh

2:27:42 ↗ we thank you so much for

2:27:44 ↗ your time and your effort on on the

2:27:46 ↗ board and uh we're gonna miss you but uh

2:27:49 ↗ it'll be great to see you involved in

2:27:51 ↗ the um in the subcommittee and uh

2:27:54 ↗ looking forward to hearing more about

2:27:56 ↗ your education and just uh just let's

2:27:59 ↗ continue to learn from each other

2:28:03 ↗ thank you all so much for allowing me to

2:28:05 ↗ be a part of this group it has been an

2:28:06 ↗ honor and a privilege to work with every

2:28:08 ↗ single one of you

2:28:10 ↗ and yes i

2:28:12 ↗ look to keep in touch with all of y'all

2:28:14 ↗ and see

2:28:15 ↗ uh the progress you guys have been

2:28:16 ↗ making i mean just from the plans you

2:28:18 ↗ guys and what i've heard from our future

2:28:20 ↗ agenda i'm just so excited for this

2:28:22 ↗ group and definitely will keep track of

2:28:24 ↗ your guys progress

2:28:27 ↗ very well said very well said all right

2:28:29 ↗ with that said it is 8 35 we'll go ahead

2:28:32 ↗ and officially end the meeting tonight

2:28:34 ↗ everyone have a great night get out

2:28:36 ↗ there and welcome someone put a smile on

2:28:39 ↗ your face and have a great night have a

2:28:41 ↗ great evening have a great rest of your

2:28:43 ↗ week and we'll see you next time that we

2:28:45 ↗ meet together

2:28:48 ↗ have a good night y'all

2:28:49 ↗ good night

2:28:51 ↗ good evening everyone thank you good

2:28:54 ↗ night

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