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Equity Board Auto captions

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

6:00 PM · 2h 3m
Topics tracked across meetings:
Equity Framework Implementation - Resilience Hubs 2/3
Sustainable Purchasing Policy 3/3
Section
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
3a
Minutes of October 4, 2023 Meeting
packet pp.3–6
Staff report:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 10-04-23 Equity Board Minutes Page [0000] CITY OF ISSAQUAH Equity Board 6:00 PM Steelhead Room, 235 1st Ave. October 4, 2023 MINUTES SE, Issaquah
4. AGENDA ITEMS
4a
Sustainable Purchasing Policy
Discussion · 30 min · David Reedy, Sustainability Coordinator · packet pp.7–40
Topics: Climate
Staff report:
The City of Issaquah recognizes that the products and services that the City purchases have inherent environmental, social, and economic impacts at their time of purchase and throughout their life cycle. As a large consumer of goods and services, the purchasing decisions made everyday at the City of Issaquah can have significant impacts. This Sustainable Purchasing Policy (SPP) lays out the City of Issaquah’s commitment to promoting sustainability, reducing negative environmental impacts, and advancing social equity through responsible purchasing practices. Functionally, the SPP aims to guide City departments in making environmentally and socially responsible purchasing decisions while balancing price, performance, and availability requirements. By integrating the considerations and guidance found in the SPP into our procurement processes, we can contribute to the well-being of our…
4b
Equity Framework Implementation: Recreation Registration Process (D)
45 min · Brian Berntsen, Recreation Manager · packet pp.41–67
Topics: Equity
Staff report:
Recreation Registration Process Update NOVEMBER 1, 2023 | EQUITY BOARD B R I A N B E R N T S E N , R E C R E AT I O N S E RV I C E S M A N A G E R
5. OTHER BUSINESS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
5a
Community Engagement for 2024 Workplan (D)
20 min
5b
January 2024 Meeting Date Change
Information · 10 min
0:02 okay we are
0:06 recording great well um I see we have an
0:10 honorary Equity board member joining us
0:12 today in baby Trey welcome baby
0:15 Trey um let's see so I call this meeting
0:19 to order the November meeting of the
0:21 equity board at 605 p.m. due to the
0:26 hybrid format of today's meeting I'd
0:28 like to start by providing some
0:30 guidelines this is a reminder that the
0:32 meeting is being recorded and that we
0:34 have live Spanish interpretation
0:37 happening in the background we have
0:39 participants attending in person and
0:41 others who may be attending by computer
0:44 or by phone for all meeting attendees
0:47 please speak clearly and pause
0:49 frequently state your name each time
0:52 before speaking if applicable mute your
0:54 microphone when not speaking if having
0:57 technical issues try joining the meeting
0:59 meeting using a different device such as
1:01 a smartphone or tablet or call in using
1:05 the information in the meeting
1:08 invitation and now we will Begin by
1:12 taking a roll call of those board
1:15 members in attendance please say here
1:19 when D call your awesome uh Lucia choto
1:24 here Tony Curry is absent swanda Fleming
1:31 I'm here indeed you are Lura Gilmore
1:35 yeah carthic Kash here Nea Khali is
1:40 absent Helen keni is absent Ray manahan
1:44 here pry pan here and Kelly mun
1:51 here oh and Christina is not with us
1:54 tonight she is an excused absence and so
1:57 Hillary and Harry are also not on the
1:59 line
2:02 enough and let's see Dale do you know if
2:06 anyone has signed up to provide public
2:09 comments no one has signed up but we do
2:11 have members of the public in attendance
2:13 this
2:14 evening okay let's see would anyone in
2:18 attendance here like to give public
2:23 comment just happy to be here than you
2:26 for being here thank you you're welcome
2:29 let I have you are
2:31 here uh let's see okay so moving on to
2:35 the approval of minutes
2:38 uh okay i' would like to invite board
2:41 members to review the minutes if they
2:43 haven't had a chance to do so uh with we
2:46 have minutes from last month's meeting
2:48 in the
2:49 packet uh I'll give you a couple of
2:52 minutes to do a quick review and then
2:55 see if anyone would
2:58 uh make a motion to
3:23 approve yes been out and
3:28 about
3:33 sure I I can make a motion to approve
3:35 sure I'll second okay we have a motion
3:39 in a second to approve are there any um
3:43 edits to notes from
3:50 anyone all
3:52 right
3:54 um I guess what just for approv
4:01 all right moving right through the
4:03 agenda here so now we are ready for our
4:08 first main agenda item which is
4:10 sustainable purchasing policy with David
4:13 Rey welcome back
4:15 David and um I guess Dale is there any
4:18 other intro that you would like to make
4:21 not this evening I'll turn it over to Da
4:24 all right so I'm just getting my slides
4:28 up okay well thank you all for for
4:32 having me back before the equity board
4:35 to talk about sustainable purchasing um
4:38 I know you've got a a packed schedule
4:39 tonight and a lot of really awesome
4:41 topics to to address so um thanks for
4:44 making time for me
4:46 today uh just as kind of a oh and um as
4:52 a heads up uh my name is David Rey I'm
4:54 the sustainability coordinator for the
4:56 city of
4:57 isqua um and feel free to uh ask any
5:01 questions as we go throughout this
5:03 presentation there's one main question
5:05 uh two main questions for the board at
5:07 the very end of this presentation but
5:09 for any clarifying questions throughout
5:11 I'm happy to answer them as we
5:13 go um just a little bit of background uh
5:16 this is the second time I'm coming to
5:18 the equity board about this topic I came
5:20 earlier in the spring um before we had
5:23 actually drafted anything but just for
5:24 some initial input uh and where we're at
5:27 right now is we're gearing up to uh
5:29 finish this policy we're hoping to get
5:31 it um adopted by the end of the year um
5:35 and really we're we're fine-tuning what
5:38 we've done based on input from the
5:40 equity board and environmental board
5:42 back in the spring uh based on input
5:44 from peer jurisdictions from City staff
5:48 across uh across the city the uh policy
5:52 again was kind of identified as an
5:54 action within the eel climate action
5:56 plan and really the basis of it is that
5:58 it recogniz the products and services
6:00 that we purchase as a city inherently
6:03 have social environmental and economic
6:06 impacts at their time of purchase and
6:08 throughout the life cycle of uh the
6:10 product or service so we are aiming to
6:14 have an internally adopted policy um and
6:17 an implementation guide instead of a
6:20 council approved policy and that's going
6:22 to allow us to be flexible with the
6:24 policy so as we need to make changes as
6:26 we need to update it strengthen it um we
6:28 can do that that uh a little easier
6:31 knowing that the purchasing and
6:32 procurement landscape changes
6:36 frequently where will the policy make a
6:39 difference uh simply put everywhere um
6:43 we expect implementation to take time
6:45 we're not going to change how we do our
6:47 purchasing uh overnight um but we're
6:50 really hoping that this impacts
6:52 everything we purchase from food or um
6:56 supplies for an event to uh our public
6:59 Works projects our vehicles things like
7:02 that um you'll see I threw up a few um
7:06 key opportunities that we can expect
7:09 that we're hoping will make uh will be
7:11 impacted very uh strongly by this policy
7:13 so for instance thinking about what
7:15 vehicles we purchase or um thinking
7:18 about which companies we enter into
7:19 contracts with uh Public Works projects
7:22 have huge impacts on our community right
7:24 and so thinking about um how do we do
7:26 procurement within those Public Works
7:28 projects
7:31 the policy implementation uh is is going
7:34 to be really the meat of of this project
7:36 um since we can we can pass a policy but
7:40 unless we implement it well uh it's not
7:42 really going to change much so
7:45 throughout this whole process we've been
7:46 focused on building the staff buyin uh
7:49 building staff support and we have a
7:51 whole host of different um products and
7:54 tools and um ideas for how we're going
7:57 to make sure that uh sustainable
7:59 purchasing doesn't just live with me at
8:01 the city uh I am not the procurement
8:04 specialist for the city I am
8:06 sustainability but really that each
8:08 person as they go through procurement at
8:10 the city becomes a sustainable
8:11 purchasing Champion so that includes
8:14 trainings it's in going to include case
8:16 studies a vendor report card that I
8:18 worked on on with Dale um developing uh
8:21 language to uh related to sustainable
8:25 purchasing to include in our contract
8:27 templates and into RFP and RFQ examples
8:30 so that everybody who contracts with the
8:33 city knows what we stand for and what
8:35 our values
8:37 are where we are at we I have version
8:41 1.5 of the draft policy and
8:43 implementation guide it has it was a
8:46 little updated from version one so we're
8:49 1.5 um we are getting final feedback
8:52 from staff uh and from the environmental
8:54 and Equity board um we're going to
8:56 finish revising and then uh it will go
9:00 uh up for adoption in front of the
9:02 senior leadership team and for the city
9:05 administrator to sign hopefully this
9:07 December and then uh it's not over at
9:10 that point it's Implement Implement
9:12 Implement monitor see how we're doing
9:15 track how we're doing revise and
9:17 continue to implement so this is going
9:19 to be a long ongoing
9:22 process um this slide is uh kind of the
9:26 it's one from uh the spring as well this
9:28 is just to kind of note that we're in
9:29 that phase four uh we are uh or phase
9:33 three right now at the end of phase
9:34 three um and we're getting ready for
9:36 that phase four just adopting the
9:39 policy so what I wanted to focus our
9:43 conversation on today uh is feedback on
9:47 the social Equity guiding principles for
9:49 the sustainable purchasing
9:52 policy uh these guiding principles are
9:55 very important because they are uh what
9:58 we're asking uh staff to apply when
10:01 they're making purchasing and
10:03 procurement decisions what that looks
10:05 like is going to different what differ
10:07 whether we're buying cups or whether
10:09 we're entering into a service agreement
10:11 with a contractor right or whether we're
10:14 whatever we're
10:15 buying um The Guiding principles are
10:18 going to inform and be incorporated into
10:21 rfps uh into contracts Etc and so this
10:25 is going to be something that shows the
10:27 the basis of what we believe and what
10:29 we're trying to aim for throughout city
10:31 um City procurement documents and then
10:34 as we evaluate um what we're doing at
10:37 the city um we're going to be really
10:39 basing it on how we're implementing the
10:41 uh guiding principles so these guiding
10:43 principles are kind of the core of what
10:45 we're looking at for this
10:48 policy so I wanted to share this is the
10:52 way we've kind of adopted this um we
10:54 have an overarching social Equity
10:56 guiding principle which is this
10:58 statement here and then we have detailed
11:01 social Equity guiding principles uh to
11:03 provide um more nuance and uh allow
11:07 staff um and contractors we're working
11:10 with to kind of dig into what we are are
11:12 thinking about so today I'm going to be
11:15 asking for feedback on uh the
11:17 overarching guiding principle as well as
11:19 the detailed guiding principles one
11:21 other thing that I will note um
11:23 sustainable purchasing policies are
11:26 fairly uncommon for cities our size um
11:29 additionally many sustainable purchasing
11:31 policies green purchasing policies Focus
11:34 um on the environmental aspect right how
11:37 do we reduce greenhouse gas emissions or
11:39 environmental pollutants it is a a
11:42 growing uh effort um and I think we are
11:46 uh kind of at the the Forefront of that
11:47 in trying to incorporate social Equity
11:49 into our sustainable purchasing policy
11:52 all in one go right so trying to
11:54 consider environmental social equity and
11:56 economic considerations as we approach
11:58 our
12:00 procurement so with that um our
12:04 overarching social Equity guiding
12:05 principle as it's currently written says
12:08 that the city seeks to purchase products
12:10 and services from organizations that
12:13 embody current best practices in equity
12:17 and that have minimal to no negative
12:19 human health
12:22 impacts I will then go to our detailed
12:25 social Equity guiding principles and I
12:27 will not read them all but I'll kind of
12:29 leave them up on the board for us to
12:31 look at for a
12:57 minute
13:15 okay I'll open it up to comments now and
13:19 again what we're the feedback I'm
13:20 looking for hopefully is any comments
13:23 thoughts on the detailed guiding
13:25 principles or the overarching guiding
13:27 principle um they can als I'm also happy
13:29 to answer just general questions um as
13:32 well as identify anything that's missing
13:34 from
13:35 this I think our group had this
13:37 conversation last month but I see
13:40 applying to this group to this principle
13:43 also I think you're going to have to Def
13:45 several of the words over so when you
13:48 talk about
13:51 uh so socially disadvantaged person I'd
13:54 love to see a definition of that
13:56 economically I feel like that's a little
13:58 bit easier easier because you can get
14:00 some tax numbers details and that but
14:03 socially is definitely something to
14:06 Define even minority because what does
14:08 minority mean anymore when we have um
14:11 especially some groups that are a lot um
14:14 is has changed in some areas especially
14:17 outlying areas so there are definitely
14:20 couple in then socially responsible
14:22 manner I see that also as another word
14:24 being needing to be defined so I just I
14:29 think when we're looking at this people
14:30 are going to come back and say what does
14:32 that mean so I'd love to be able to see
14:35 a glossery of terms as how the city is
14:39 using it and so that we also can be
14:42 using it and keeping that in mind in our
14:44 practices and then doing a education for
14:47 the city so they know what that means
14:50 and that becomes part of their that
14:52 their vocabulary that they've been
14:53 journalized absolutely I think it's a
14:56 really great idea Lorna because simply
14:58 in terms of even people who are applying
15:01 you know to be considered for them to be
15:04 able to say here's how we meet this
15:06 criteria right because if you don't know
15:09 you just you can't see yourself in this
15:11 so I need to know that I'm a socially
15:12 disadvantaged person
15:14 versus not socially like economically
15:17 disadvantaged I pretty much I think
15:19 people would know that part and also
15:21 minority because I can see some people
15:23 saying that they are minority and we
15:25 don't Define them as minority or other
15:27 groups might not not think that they're
15:30 minority but they are so who is a
15:32 minority group like are we talking about
15:34 lgbtq groups as a minority group like
15:38 what does that mean and who are you
15:40 looking for in this is it specific to
15:42 that
15:43 business versus is it specific to well
15:48 like very general broad term if you're
15:51 looking at yeah so just um we do have a
15:55 glossery I think some of these terms are
15:57 missing from that glossery that's a
15:59 really great point and a good
16:01 opportunity for me to uh relook at that
16:04 and make sure it's uh uh some of these
16:07 terms are are better defined so that
16:09 that's a great Point um
16:14 thanks uh I I think that third bullet is
16:18 is hard to digest a little bit can I get
16:21 a little more specific so say there's
16:23 two businesses that want to set up
16:25 somewhere on Front Street and then we
16:27 have to look at from an equity lens
16:29 between one versus the other are you
16:31 going to look to us to say what's the
16:34 data that we're using to compare the two
16:35 to say well that one's going to be more
16:37 Equitable than the other one
16:41 I yeah so that's a great question um and
16:45 I think one of the challenges with this
16:48 policy is implementing social equity in
16:52 decision making around say if we're
16:55 going to contract with company a or
16:56 Company B uh is super complex right and
17:01 very difficult um and the different
17:05 purchasers and procurement folks across
17:07 the city are going to be coming into the
17:09 space with
17:10 different uh backgrounds and
17:13 perspectives and and ideas like that
17:17 so the way it's currently set up we do
17:21 not have say a decisionmaking tool that
17:25 says choose company a over Company B it
17:28 meets XYZ criteria recognizing that each
17:33 individual procurement decision is
17:35 unique and difficult uh to kind of to
17:39 figure out what we do have is in the
17:42 implementation guide we're hoping we
17:45 have and are hoping to continue to build
17:47 out additional tools to help folks
17:50 understand how to look for um support um
17:56 diverse businesses how to kind of think
17:59 about applying that in their decision
18:01 making right so uh that's to say that we
18:06 are we don't have we're not done with
18:08 building those tools yet um to support
18:10 staff but we are we have some and we're
18:13 hoping to build
18:17 more I think I I really appreciate the
18:20 challenge across I think the
18:24 sustainability element the social social
18:27 Equity element and then maybe the cost
18:29 element and when when those are all
18:31 intention how do you make a decision so
18:33 I think that's an important thing to
18:35 keep thinking about uh the other thing
18:38 I'm thinking about when I see you know
18:40 like existing Equity standards and third
18:43 party
18:44 certifications and kind of being for
18:48 businesses to be tagged as a woman or
18:50 minority owned business that takes
18:54 capacity on the part of that vendor or
18:57 organization to provide this this kind
19:00 of documentation or get this kind of
19:03 certification and so I'm I'm concerned
19:05 that a a consequence of doing this is
19:10 that small businesses may not have the
19:12 capacity to compete on even the
19:15 application process uh to put a bid in
19:19 or something like that so I don't know
19:21 how to make this like a low barrier
19:23 process at the same time because I
19:26 imagine you know bigger companies would
19:28 have all this paperwork ready to go and
19:30 you know just submit and I don't know
19:32 the smaller businesses which are more
19:33 likely to be women or minority have that
19:37 so that that's just one thing about an
19:39 unintended consequence maybe of building
19:42 out such a robust you know policy
19:46 absolutely and I think um that hopefully
19:49 goes to the idea with the policy is in
19:52 that it is considerations it's guidance
19:55 for folks and so hopefully uh the way we
20:00 intend to implement it and again
20:02 tracking and evaluation would be
20:04 critical to make sure that we don't fall
20:06 into those unintended consequences or to
20:09 recognize when we do and adjust um but
20:13 uh there should be the opportunity to
20:16 say give points to folks or give um
20:19 preference to folks uh if uh they
20:24 explain how they meet these these
20:25 standards right and that might be you
20:27 know we don't have the certification
20:28 because the certification is hard for us
20:30 to get but this is who we are and we do
20:32 meet these criteria right and then that
20:34 should be able to support staff and say
20:37 okay we recognize and accept that and
20:40 and um right we're going to consider
20:42 that in our Matrix of consideration or
20:45 whatever it might be David can you um
20:48 speak to how you're bring you're going
20:50 to be applying this policy to existing
20:54 relationships and businesses that you
20:55 currently have will they be given given
20:58 the opportunity to say you know what
21:01 currently we don't meet this
21:04 environmental
21:06 um threshold that you're holding out for
21:08 us but give us a year to meet it or
21:11 something along those lines have you
21:13 given thought to that yeah so we have
21:16 been developing a vendor report card um
21:20 which is going to help us get aot
21:22 because one of the I think one of the
21:23 challenges we have uh recognizing I
21:26 think that um
21:29 we have limited staff capacity here at a
21:31 small city um we have not gone through
21:33 all of our contracts or purchasing yet
21:36 um however we have a vendor report card
21:38 and the idea is that we're going to get
21:39 a better view of the landscape of our
21:42 purchasing of our Partnerships of who we
21:45 uh buy things with um and there's not
21:48 going to be a moment of okay you don't
21:51 meet these criteria you're out right but
21:54 instead it'll have uh the idea is that
21:57 from the this moment on it'll allow us
22:00 to uh open up the conversation with
22:04 those Partners to say hey this this is
22:06 what we've decided we or we this is what
22:08 we recognize we believe in as a city and
22:11 this is what we're aiming for um how can
22:14 in partnership with you we get there or
22:17 the other thing that this could allow us
22:18 to do is uh Empower staff to say hey
22:21 this company we're working with uh
22:23 doesn't meet these criteria and and
22:26 don't and they don't want to and they
22:27 don't to and we're looking for a way to
22:29 maybe find a different partner excellent
22:33 thank
22:36 you so over the summer we had a joint
22:39 meeting with the economic fatality
22:41 commission and they had uh their own
22:43 baing a plan as well and so that just
22:45 helps me thinking about local businesses
22:47 and are there any criteria or Provisions
22:50 around uh supporting local diseases as
22:52 part of this work great question
22:56 um no no um sort of though
23:02 um uh after many conversations with
23:05 legal and our finance team um we are not
23:08 able to put in preferences for local
23:11 businesses um because it would um
23:15 jeopardize State funding for the city
23:18 there are some state laws that uh
23:21 according to Legal uh prevent us from
23:23 doing
23:24 that however um I believe there is a way
23:28 to get around that in that um within the
23:31 environmental section we do have um the
23:34 reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as
23:36 a stated goal right and so a staff
23:39 member could make the argument that
23:42 going with a local business reduces the
23:44 greenhouse gas emissions uh for travel
23:47 for the uh transport of goods and
23:50 services right and so it is I believe
23:53 there are workarounds to support local
23:55 businesses um but legally we are not not
23:58 allowed to include any specific language
24:00 around local
24:02 businesses so I think that leaves me to
24:04 wonder because I think part of that
24:05 conversation was doing supports on how
24:08 we build local businesses I think one of
24:11 the things that we discussed at that
24:13 time was maybe doing some like workshops
24:16 or how to so would that still exist
24:20 because I see that being connected with
24:23 the reviewing existing business
24:24 standards and like checking to see how
24:28 green they are and stuff like that and
24:30 how do we help them know and build their
24:34 business acument is I guess what I'm
24:37 thinking yeah I think
24:40 um sustainability our team has worked
24:43 with our economic development team over
24:46 the last year
24:48 to uh identify opportunities to support
24:51 local businesses um especially in
24:55 environmental um aspects uh I think
24:58 there is the opportunity with this
25:00 policy and and some this is kind of
25:02 recognizing implementation will take
25:04 time some of my hopes are to get a
25:06 better landscape of who works in the
25:09 city that kind of helps or that um
25:12 implements practices that meet our
25:14 sustainable purchasing policy guide um
25:18 right so I I think there are ways that
25:20 we will be able to do that through this
25:22 policy they're not necessarily
25:24 identified yet but then there are the
25:25 other sustainability um efforts to run
25:30 programs that support local businesses
25:32 such as our clean buildings program and
25:34 then also developing some tool kits and
25:36 guides to support local businesses as
25:38 they um address environmental
25:47 issues question please um so you said
25:50 near the top of the presentation that
25:52 you know that staff Buy in is really
25:54 important because these are guidelines
25:57 or principles right so it seems like
25:59 it's more of an optin versus an opt out
26:02 but are there are there ways to strongly
26:06 encourage and move towards requiring
26:09 these kinds of
26:11 considerations uh
26:13 systematically um yes I think one of the
26:18 ideas with the policy
26:21 is um hopefully starting where we're at
26:25 and then as we evaluate and determine
26:28 how it's being implemented potentially
26:30 strengthening it as we go um as part of
26:32 the implementation guide um we do hope
26:36 well we we plan to um meet with
26:40 departments across the city um and teams
26:43 across the city to identify
26:46 opportunities uh to apply the
26:47 sustainable purchasing policy to
26:49 identify areas where staff need extra
26:52 support right recognizing again that you
26:55 know figuring out uh how to support
26:58 diverse businesses is very difficult
27:00 when for a lot of purchasing decisions
27:02 right so meeting with staff identifying
27:05 opportunities identifying where folks
27:07 need support um and then trying to uh
27:12 make sure that we're kind of doing a
27:14 slow build of implementation right
27:17 um I think there are some opportunities
27:22 for many sustainable purchasing policies
27:24 there are some requirements specifically
27:26 laid out generally they lie more on the
27:30 um environmental side of things like you
27:32 have to buy 100% recycled paper or
27:34 something one of the challenges we face
27:37 in our city given staff capacity is a
27:40 lot of those cities have dedicated
27:42 sustainable purchasing policy
27:44 Specialists who their job is to do this
27:48 policy um and I have been told by our
27:51 finance team but they do not have the
27:53 ability for that and so a lot of this
27:54 will be me um which is great I'm very
27:57 very excited to do it um however I also
28:00 have other tasks so that's one of the
28:02 challenges we face with the requirement
28:04 side of things is making sure that we
28:07 try to balance supporting our staff
28:10 without having to go through and look at
28:12 every single
28:15 purchase but I will say that's not to
28:17 say we're not going to do requirements
28:19 in the future we're um trying to see
28:21 what we can manage
28:25 first uh I am very intrigued by the idea
28:28 of the sustainability report card and I
28:31 was wondering if you could tell us a
28:32 little bit more about it and whether
28:34 Equity is within that the vendor report
28:36 card yes yes so um that is something
28:41 that has been rolled out for a month I
28:43 don't know if I was supposed to mention
28:44 it or not you can totally mention it
28:45 okay it's been
28:47 mentioned um it's been rolled out very
28:50 uh in an initial form right now it's
28:52 been rolled out for about a month the
28:54 idea uh is to get a better better sense
28:58 about who we're doing business with uh
29:00 as a city right who we're entering into
29:02 contracts with what are our experiences
29:04 with those contractors were they great
29:07 did they leave something to be desired
29:09 are they somewhere in between right um
29:12 there are specific questions in there
29:15 based on how the uh company or the
29:18 vendor um meets or does not meet um our
29:22 strategic goals as a city and then also
29:24 our uh sustainable purchasing goals so
29:27 there is kind of this funky balance of
29:29 things getting rolled out before the
29:31 policy is adopted um and that's okay we
29:34 think right we're we're trying things
29:36 out so there are specific I think
29:37 there's one or two questions
29:39 specifically around um relation to the
29:42 sustainable purchasing policy there and
29:45 who's doing the grading for the vendor
29:47 report card the staff who have the hold
29:51 the contract so it would be like um you
29:53 know for us in
29:55 sustainability um we would fill it out
29:57 for say our contractor who's running the
29:59 clean building
30:01 program and then that's all being
30:03 collated to you to you today yeah got it
30:07 yeah and I can share a little bit more
30:09 it's the direct question is did did they
30:11 meet the the sustainable sustainability
30:14 or social Equity goals outlined in the
30:16 contract because we know that those
30:18 goals are going to be different
30:20 depending on the type of work um so and
30:23 we want the report card to be General
30:25 enough that ultimately we have a tool
30:28 that staff across the city can look to
30:31 and say oh I'm I'm in need of project
30:34 management service I want to look and
30:36 see who are some people that have done
30:37 project management for the city before
30:40 let me see how they how they performed
30:41 who they worked with we're finding that
30:44 um we haven't always kept a good paper
30:46 record of the performance of how how
30:49 folks have performed on our contracted
30:50 work and those are public dollars that
30:53 we need to really make sure that we're
30:55 we know the work is being done but we we
30:57 need to make sure we carry that
30:58 knowledge Beyond a single person and a
31:00 single project I can appreciate that and
31:03 as a note that with the sustainable
31:05 purchasing policy language getting
31:06 introduced into contracts and to
31:08 templates and things it will be easier
31:11 and easier for us to say did they or did
31:13 they not follow uh The Guiding
31:15 principles as a teacher and knowing that
31:18 our black and brown kids sometimes get
31:20 much lower grades I am wondering uh will
31:24 the group know the individual or company
31:26 know
31:27 they grade so that they have uh ability
31:30 to improve the intent yeah that's a
31:33 great question because the intent of the
31:34 report part is to set people up to have
31:38 an end or actually maybe not even an end
31:41 of relation end of contract conversation
31:44 but to have a feedback
31:45 conversation rather than just a contract
31:47 ending and not having any conversation
31:50 and I think also the intent is to and
31:52 this has been really fun and having
31:54 conversations with departments around
31:55 the report card as we could developing
31:58 it is hearing people say like oh this is
32:02 making me think differently even about
32:03 how I'm structuring my contracts because
32:05 I'm not sure I'm set people up for
32:07 Success um so the hope would be that
32:10 it's changing staff Behavior too on the
32:13 front end to put together rfps and then
32:17 put together contracts that are
32:19 structured in a way that help people
32:20 succeed and then I think we can also
32:23 part of the reason it's coming to me on
32:24 the performance side is I can monitor
32:27 you know who's getting high grades and
32:29 who's not and let me look more closely
32:31 at who what V what makes up those
32:33 vendors so I think we'd like to there's
32:36 a lot of explicit bias there's also a
32:38 lot of implicit bias um and and we don't
32:42 even know necessarily that's what I
32:43 think my concern is stemming from so
32:46 awareness training on that would be key
32:49 but I really appreciate your comment
32:51 because that's being a good teacher
32:52 right setting the vendor up for success
32:54 by making sure that their expectations
32:57 and making sure they know right right
33:00 like that no one wants to walk away and
33:02 not know how they did and then find out
33:05 the next time they go to apply and they
33:06 use all this time and also knowing what
33:08 the expectation because most of our
33:10 people of color will say they don't know
33:12 what the rules of engagement are because
33:15 the the culture is different as they're
33:18 working and so they might not becoming
33:20 in a culture from a culture that
33:22 interacts in a certain way so how the
33:25 vendor is going to show up is going to
33:27 be important and so they need to know
33:29 what their Rules of Engagement were not
33:32 just how they did but also what were the
33:34 expectations for them as they came in
33:37 because this is going to be such a
33:39 important review score right and I think
33:42 that goes back to what my comment was
33:44 right like are we just cutting ties
33:45 immediately or are we giving people an
33:47 opportunity to engage and grow
33:50 and so I think this is just really
33:55 great this is the tip
33:57 for good procurement too you know we're
34:01 talking about bed rep per assume someone
34:02 that's made it in the door won the
34:04 contract completed the work and we're
34:05 not even necessar looking at you know
34:07 who's applying and not getting the door
34:09 so there's a lot there's a lot of
34:11 potential this work yes there is a lot
34:14 to do here which is
34:16 great thank you any other questions
34:20 comments
34:22 feedback I think that the takeaway for
34:24 me is let these The Guiding principles
34:26 down right and so it's a matter of how
34:29 they get implemented and play
34:31 out yeah so I'd like how you've got that
34:34 evaluation kind of buil into yes we
34:38 right from the beginning evaluation is
34:40 key making sure we're we're thinking
34:42 about how this impacts our
34:47 procurement well thank you all very much
34:49 um I am always available so please reach
34:53 out if you have other questions for me
34:55 um and thank you all for your time today
34:59 thank you thank you
35:02 David we'll expect to see you back with
35:05 a different topic in the New Year yes
35:08 get ready for more Equity board allar
35:11 [Laughter]
35:15 D great I love I was gonna say I was
35:18 gonna Vamp an intro for ran but Jeff is
35:21 going to be here and do
35:24 great all right so I guess we're ready
35:26 to talk about the recreation
35:29 registration process and Je you're gonna
35:31 open it up I would love to thank you I
35:35 could members great to see you all all
35:37 Jeff Watling parks and Community
35:38 Services director had the privilege of
35:41 of presenting uh January of last year
35:44 gave a little overview of our department
35:47 um thought i' I'd start with that again
35:49 as a as a brief refresher I know Brian
35:53 is sharing his screen I believe y get it
35:56 up right now
35:57 so if you want to go to the next screen
36:00 Brian um you know I know you've had a
36:04 chance to get updates from multiple
36:06 departments throughout the the months
36:08 again happy to come back again um this
36:11 time you know really looking forward to
36:15 uh diving a little bit into one of our
36:17 specific areas where we're looking at
36:19 applying the equity framework um as this
36:21 slide shows um little little Civics 101
36:25 as you're learning City business you
36:27 parks and Community Services I I
36:29 consider one of the four Ps of
36:31 Department sort of the outward facing
36:34 outward facing departments right Public
36:36 Works planning Parks police right those
36:40 four sort of big departments that more
36:42 often than not are interfacing
36:45 interacting with residents in such a
36:47 wide variety of ways very directly so as
36:51 one of those outward facing departments
36:53 we really um really take seriously our
36:57 um priority our stance our posture as
37:00 serving all residents of of isqua and so
37:04 um again you know great to be back share
37:07 a little bit about our Equity Journey um
37:09 I think Equity Journeys are are so
37:11 important for any agency and that the
37:13 agency's having an equity Journey we as
37:16 individual professionals are on our own
37:18 Equity Journey we as teams and I I think
37:20 I'll give an overview of just the the
37:23 diversity of teams we even have within
37:24 parks and community services so
37:27 next slide Brian kind of begins to to
37:29 touch on that I
37:32 believe uh just one second I hit it some
37:35 reason it wasn't going to the next
37:39 slide you got a preview wow my mouse
37:43 works but the there you go that's all
37:45 good so as a as a department we are
37:49 really comi comprised of five divisions
37:52 five very distinct Service Groups uh
37:55 five very distinct sets of services and
37:57 programs that we deliver uh to the
38:00 residents of isqua starting in the upper
38:02 left Recreation services uh Brian
38:04 bernston is our manager Recreation
38:07 services um really um is four four
38:11 business units within Recreation the
38:13 community center um our community center
38:16 programs our Athletics programs the
38:18 Pickering Barn uh things like the
38:20 farmers market there at picking bar and
38:22 the senior
38:23 center um and then last but not least
38:26 the pool um comprises our Recreation
38:29 Services Group um I'm going to skip over
38:31 Administration I'll do that last um Arts
38:34 um Amy Dukes our Arts manager works just
38:37 fantastically with the Arts commission
38:40 uh really looking at how are we telling
38:42 a squa story through arts and history
38:45 and culture um you maybe have met Jacob
38:48 tutri our our most recent um art
38:51 installation um and lcia you were very
38:53 involved in that uh in that uh process
38:56 project as well um very well received
38:59 here within the isqua community for a
39:01 certain um our park operations team is
39:03 overseen by Rick still uh park
39:06 operations is really the stewards of
39:08 about 1500 Acres of parks open space
39:11 Trails again our commitment is really
39:13 making sure that's accessible for all
39:15 residents and visitors um our Human
39:19 Services Division you're very familiar
39:20 with our outstanding manager there
39:22 Monica Nilla the Human Services team uh
39:25 the journey we've been on in terms of
39:27 just really creating a human services
39:29 team and really a much more diverse set
39:31 of services uh to really meet
39:33 individuals um and residents where
39:35 they're at in either times of Crisis or
39:38 or in need um Fantastic Team there um
39:42 our Park Planning and Development Group
39:44 uh led by Robin spear who's our manager
39:47 there um there really are um sort of our
39:51 development team right so when we're
39:54 looking at Acquisitions when we're
39:55 looking at reinvestment capital projects
39:58 within the park system and trail system
40:01 that is is led by our our Park Planning
40:03 and Development Group and then um last
40:06 division is administration myself and
40:08 HTI PIAA if you met Asanti she's our um
40:12 does so many things she's really our
40:14 business analyst for supporting the
40:15 whole group the two of us do everything
40:17 we can to support five very hardworking
40:20 uh teams and and what they
40:23 deliver all that to say in the
40:25 introduction and when you look at those
40:28 five divisions next slide
40:32 Brian button doesn't work I'm going with
40:34 Sticky
40:35 Wicket yeah so you know when you look at
40:38 those five sets of of things that we do
40:41 and and services we deliver it really
40:43 comes down to two common threads um in
40:45 in so many ways we everything we do ties
40:48 into these two things we invest in
40:50 people and we invest in places um in the
40:53 places as I said before we take Serious
40:56 seriously our stewardship role of your
40:59 is this res 40,000 people own the parks
41:02 open space and trails of this community
41:03 we are merely stewarding it for you um
41:06 equally so we manage uh some really
41:09 really important public facilities um
41:11 the community center of the pool the
41:12 senior center picking Barn um and then
41:15 in our investments in people um
41:17 everything we do is is about people and
41:20 about our residents and visitors
41:21 providing those programs and services
41:24 that help build community help support
41:27 family um help support residents um
41:30 wherever they're at
41:34 um yeah so that's a I think a a real
41:37 good overview tonight's conversation as
41:39 I hand this over to Brian really is as I
41:42 said you know we've been looking at the
41:44 equity framework and so much of what we
41:46 do uh farmers market for example this is
41:49 the first year that we've offered EBT
41:51 and snap we're so excited to uh to
41:54 provide that um I think with that
41:57 service as well as just the outstanding
41:58 work of of Kelly day on the market um
42:01 probably had its most successful summer
42:03 and we just look so look forward to so
42:06 much more happening there at the market
42:07 so so many examples of how we're um
42:11 looking at um equity and equality in in
42:15 what we do um lri I point you out again
42:18 you're familiar with a park project we
42:20 have going in Hillside
42:22 Park and very excited as well but public
42:25 can get you know as we invest in capital
42:28 projects um uh within isqua public
42:31 engagement is a really really important
42:32 step of what we do we're building parks
42:35 for reinvesting in parks for residents
42:37 and so how do we engage are we engaging
42:40 in a right way that is Equitable and
42:42 we're hearing all voices as we're
42:44 thinking about our Park system we have a
42:46 park system Plan update going on right
42:48 now how as we're um sending out that
42:51 survey how are we making sure we're
42:53 getting feedback from from all residents
42:55 tonight tonight though we really want to
42:57 turn and look at
42:58 Recreation um we offer a lot of very
43:02 popular very successful Recreation
43:04 programs um in particular our summer day
43:08 camps programs and our and our swim
43:10 lesson programs um looking at it merely
43:14 from an operational lens we'd say it's a
43:16 huge success those those programs fill
43:18 up in 10
43:21 minutes putting an equality lens and an
43:24 equity lens on that it's like you know
43:25 what
43:27 everything filling up in 10 minutes
43:29 might not necessarily be
43:32 success um tonight is really just an
43:36 initial conversation we want to have
43:37 with all of you as we start to look at
43:39 that and um how might we begin to
43:43 consider um some different registration
43:46 approaches um look at registration a
43:48 little bit differently and again making
43:50 sure we're sort of seeing it through um
43:54 that equality and equity
43:56 that we still want to achieve so really
43:59 look forward to the discussion
44:01 tonight
44:03 Brian I'm Brian burnson the recreation
44:06 manager for the parks Comm services
44:08 department so thank you for having me
44:09 here to tie into the farmers market you
44:11 know we we implemented the the EBT SNAP
44:14 and next year we're already leaning into
44:16 doing the EBT SNAP match program that
44:18 goes along with that so we're really
44:20 excited and yeah kudos to Kelly Diane
44:22 and our finance department and work
44:24 because it's been a lot of work to put
44:25 all the duckson ride you know we've been
44:27 going through like oh my gosh there's a
44:29 lot of stuff that goes into this and
44:30 it's a big lift on finance to get it set
44:32 up but a big lift on our team but it's
44:34 been awesome because it's a really great
44:36 program
44:38 um as Jeff mentioned we have a variety
44:40 of different services within Recreation
44:42 services um you know with our julus B
44:44 pool we have Athletics and Park rentals
44:47 which is all of our Fields used by use
44:49 and those Sports we have picnic shelter
44:51 rentals field rentals all that kind of
44:53 stuff our senior center does a lot of
44:56 great program I'm not going to go into
44:57 any depth if you ever want to know more
44:58 about each one of these I would be happy
45:00 to share but since we're talking
45:02 registration tonight I'm not I could
45:03 talk all night on each one of these uh
45:05 divisions or teams uh picking Barn as
45:08 Jeff mentioned then we got the community
45:09 center as well uh and I will take a
45:12 quick chance to shout out the people
45:14 that work within this division because
45:16 they they love people they love serving
45:19 people and they work really hard doing
45:22 it they take their job seriously and
45:24 they like said and they have a lot of
45:25 fun doing so if you see them hardworking
45:28 people but they look like they have a
45:29 blast because they truly do enjoy what
45:31 they're doing so had to give a little
45:33 quick shout out to the
45:37 team and I'm working my mouth so I don't
45:40 fly through to there you go uh on the
45:43 purpose here we got evaluate and equity
45:45 in the recreation registration process
45:48 that's sort of our topic for this
45:49 evening um we we're at the very like
45:52 Jeff said we've done some work this this
45:53 one we're at the very beginning stages
45:54 of and wanted to share with you um so
45:57 thank you for taking the time to to
45:58 listen to me share it with you um a
46:01 little bit about me I want you to know
46:03 how my heart Works um you know sometimes
46:05 my heart my mouth don't work perfectly
46:07 so what comes out might not be perfect
46:09 same with my brain the problem is my
46:10 mouth because sometimes the heart and
46:13 mind are good but the mouth sometimes
46:15 doesn't get out as well as I'd like it
46:16 to so just you know these to me these
46:18 are all open-handed things there's
46:19 nothing closh handed here it's all
46:21 open-handed it's open for discussion
46:23 it's open for betterment we're not
46:25 holding tightly to any of this so just
46:26 so you know that's I like to share that
46:28 because I can speak pretty passionately
46:30 sometimes you might think oh my gosh
46:31 Bri's tied on to that one not so right
46:33 so thank you that's my own little caveat
46:36 I guess
46:43 um at the end of the presentation we'll
46:45 be bringing this I'll bring the slide up
46:47 again um just to get us you know started
46:49 on some of the discussion topics we have
46:51 for this evening just like said these
46:52 are just starters right does the board
46:54 have any potential Chang to the approach
46:56 I'm the share uh is there other
46:58 information that you think would be uh
47:00 helpful for an equitable analysis you
47:02 know what could we what could lead to
47:04 more access it really is what we're
47:05 looking for um are there other
47:08 recommendations uh for reviewing the
47:10 recreation registration process you know
47:12 are we missing anything that's kind of
47:14 what we're looking to hear from you on
47:15 tonight if we could at the end of the
47:17 thing as long as well as anything else
47:19 you might want to add to the
47:22 discussion quickly before we get in the
47:24 registration process wanted to share a
47:26 little bit thanks Dale for suggesting
47:28 that I should you know maybe share a
47:29 little bit about our scholarship program
47:30 that uh we've had the scholarship
47:32 program for quite a while um the
47:35 scholarship program has been in placed
47:36 for many years it was recently um
47:38 reviewed and approved and approved by
47:41 City Administration and our
47:43 Council um you know this slide just
47:45 shows some of the
47:46 2022 um data that we collected um real
47:51 quickly you know in as you can see in
47:53 2022 we gave out or just to 15,000 was
47:56 allocated four scholarships uh as of mid
47:59 October we're at 16,500 already that
48:02 we've allocated so that's trending in
48:05 the right direction as we promote this
48:06 program and get it out to the community
48:08 more uh we're excited to see it grow as
48:11 well as more people being served through
48:12 that can I can I point out something on
48:15 program too Bri team so um you may
48:19 recall that I think when I when I spoke
48:21 with you all in January those of you
48:22 that were here um we were just reviewing
48:25 the scholarship program and as Brian
48:26 said the council approved it sort of
48:28 reapproved it we made some pretty
48:30 significant modifications to it that I
48:32 think are important to point out um
48:35 historically we've had a scholarship
48:37 program but it was based upon we needed
48:40 to have a matching amount of cash to
48:44 complement the
48:46 scholarship what we found was um we
48:49 weren't necessarily poised to to offer
48:52 as many scholarships as were needed uh
48:55 working with the city council um having
48:57 conversation with the community we now
49:00 have a scholarship program that isn't
49:01 dependent upon cash available the
49:04 council is basically authorized us to
49:06 reduce the fees so as someone applies
49:10 and if someone's eligible for a
49:11 scholarship we are merely reducing the
49:15 fee so basically having a a sliding
49:18 scale fee that is allowing and making
49:20 sure that fee isn't a barrier uh to
49:23 someone who wants to register for the
49:25 program and so um something we feel like
49:28 we can market and advertise and offer in
49:31 a much more equal and Equitable way so
49:33 we're really sort of excited how the
49:36 these new numbers and this new data
49:37 starts to starts to track so thanks br
49:40 oh no no thank you for bringing that up
49:43 I actually had that on my list of items
49:44 that in case the questions came up on
49:46 that one because there's like you said
49:47 there's a lot of great work that went on
49:48 with that scholarship program and it was
49:50 greatly improved and like anything you
49:52 know we continue evaluate and monitor it
49:54 because it changes and we try to get
49:56 make it better and better each time
49:58 Brian can I ask what the the what's the
50:01 eligibility criteria for
50:04 scholarships I can send we have a whole
50:06 form that talks about like it's it's I
50:08 can send you that if you'd like to see
50:09 it no just wanting to just know like is
50:12 it income other kind of criteria yes
50:15 thank you no it's based off the income
50:16 and it's based off of the oh what is the
50:19 standard I and do you recall what the
50:21 standard is that it's based on standard
50:24 to the school districts free
50:26 yes it translated what's
50:30 translated believe I don't think so
50:33 right now it isn't that's one of the
50:35 things that's on our list of items to
50:36 address yes
50:38 that's which is that for us um sometimes
50:42 a lot of our families can fill out that
50:44 free and reduced lunch form and so we
50:47 have to fill it out for them oh got you
50:50 okay yeah and so it is accessible in a
50:53 translated format on the we weite and
50:56 yet we have to help some families
50:59 complete it and to me those are the
51:01 families that have the highest need and
51:03 so I one of my questions will be who is
51:07 helping families fill out registration
51:09 and scholarship fors and this this might
51:13 not even be feasible but is there a way
51:17 that when they're filling out the free
51:19 and reduced lunch form that they could
51:22 become aware of the scholarship for
51:25 participating because I'm I'm imagining
51:27 you know if if I had this need and after
51:31 school I didn't know where my child was
51:34 going to go but there is something that
51:36 they could be doing through the wreck
51:38 department right becoming aware at that
51:40 point so that now you're feeding
51:43 multiple birds with one hand right
51:45 you're you're helping them fill out the
51:47 form question and say yes if you send
51:49 that to us we can add what that looks
51:52 like on I I can ask you're what the
51:55 school
51:56 yes okay
51:58 great if we can add because we do have
52:01 right now it says Comcast you
52:05 know we can put that on there the only
52:09 thing is I don't know how you're going
52:10 to find out which students are eligible
52:14 because we don't share that
52:16 information right but as long as we
52:19 would necessarily need to know who's
52:20 eligible as long as they
52:23 were I love the idea informing
52:25 to make sure they know about that so
52:27 they access it or not that's a great
52:29 suggestion you know a QR code that they
52:32 can scan with the school district so
52:35 that they have it now right it takes you
52:37 to the yeah takes you to there this is
52:40 what is available to you and now there's
52:43 more communication and great examples of
52:46 now a program a program that's not
52:48 dependent upon us getting cash donations
52:50 to set a a cap on scholarships um she
52:54 just asked if you use the peach jar
52:57 which is also on the school district to
52:59 advertise yeah for the scholarship
53:01 programs because I know I don't know if
53:04 you still do it but my daughter would
53:05 come home every year with a little
53:06 booklet on all the the so we utilize
53:10 Peach jar on a number of yeah we utilize
53:13 the school district to to promote our
53:15 our programs no gra as you'll see that's
53:17 going to tie into our discussion too
53:18 which is perfect as I get to a couple
53:20 more slides down
53:23 here uh currently with accept
53:25 registrations in the three forms right
53:27 now it's online in person by phone um
53:30 pretty much any way you want to you can
53:32 we'll take your registration and the
53:34 phone has a translator option we use a
53:37 service that the city has for
53:39 translation when needed um so that's
53:41 kind of how we've done that um you where
53:44 we call we call a service so that we can
53:46 it acts as an inter acts as a third
53:48 party for translating between the two my
53:51 question I think is more on the line of
53:53 I've registered my daughters for for
53:55 programs in the summer yeah and I know
53:57 I'm there March 8th at 8:00 so that I
53:59 can log in and I mean that's probably
54:02 one of the dates many years ago this is
54:05 the conversation yes right it was hard
54:08 it was hard my husband and I would both
54:10 be sitting on the computer ready to go
54:13 and I tell them you will get in and oh I
54:15 will get in and you will get these
54:17 classes because it was a big deal right
54:20 and we we at people who know technology
54:23 have laptops at home so so I think one
54:26 of the big lessons I learned over Co was
54:29 not all of our families have computers
54:31 at home right many of our families are
54:33 using this so I honestly don't know how
54:36 accessible registering for your programs
54:39 is on a on a phone because I've
54:41 discovered in the past four years that
54:43 many parents are trying to do everything
54:45 on their phone which not everything is
54:47 feasible on the phone including like
54:50 some of our processes and forms that we
54:52 in the district have so it becomes a
54:55 barrier and so we have people who do the
54:57 registration so my question is that in
55:00 person before you had it online you have
55:03 a lovely
55:04 line in front of the community center
55:07 yes you to take a number and wait here
55:08 yet we I was say even before the number
55:11 system you just just line line
55:14 up I'm dating myself now my children but
55:18 we would take turns we were there so my
55:21 question is do is that still an option
55:24 and those people was standing in line
55:26 because I mean there was some classes by
55:28 8:40 someone would say hey I got you
55:30 know in did you get in oops
55:33 sorry 8:40 it's already closed and so
55:36 now I'm wondering a parent calling in
55:38 are they just on the waiting list
55:40 because the waiting list then becomes a
55:42 very scary place to be when you have
55:45 severe need over the summer and there's
55:47 so much uncertainty in in a life full of
55:50 uncertainty that's a huge barrier like
55:52 do we wait do we take the chance
55:55 and for someone like me maybe I'm okay
55:58 you know financially to sign up other
56:00 programs but someone who has an equity
56:03 so what kind of priority are those
56:06 families getting to ensure that they are
56:10 higher on the list because they're not
56:12 going to be people like me getting in at
56:15 8 805 because of the online portal
56:19 access and if they're on the phone or in
56:21 person and they're waiting for either
56:24 someone to come to help them translate
56:25 or to get in I
56:28 mean you know so if they're in line
56:30 where were they do they will they get
56:33 access into one of your questions pris
56:36 disc is the discussion we're wanting to
56:38 have and really entering into walking
56:40 into a saying we have some immensely
56:42 popular programs that fill
56:45 up super fast too fast one a little oh
56:50 just yeah yeah so you know how do we
56:53 want to approach this how do we want
56:54 want to be a little bit a lot not a
56:56 little bit a lot more intentional I feel
56:58 like we almost developed this
56:59 presentation together it's right in line
57:02 with what we're talking we're at the
57:03 very front end of everything you're
57:04 talking about right and here we're
57:06 talking about capacity but it does tie
57:08 into all of that as well because it
57:10 can't knock right um yeah no great
57:14 suggestions and is there room for growth
57:17 I mean if you are already getting to
57:20 capacity I mean is there room to have
57:22 more sessions more yeah I'm I'm going to
57:26 tell you some of the things we're doing
57:27 for how we're trying to address some of
57:28 the capacity especially some of our
57:30 larger programs um some ideas we have
57:32 and like I said I want to hear it's kind
57:34 of crazy like said the stuff we're
57:35 talking about is actually coming up in
57:37 our presentation here but yes there are
57:39 some plans to do that that I will cover
57:42 okay yeah so yeah we we I just had a
57:44 conversation with the city council last
57:46 night as we're looking at the 2024
57:47 budget we have some opportunities to
57:49 expand our camp capacity um next summer
57:53 um by about 40 or 50 slots each week so
57:57 that's going to that's going to
57:59 help that was one of them
58:03 yep uh as we're leaning into the equity
58:05 framework and the question let you know
58:07 the um just as we were talking about
58:08 this what led us to discuss a number of
58:10 potential registration barriers right so
58:12 we we talked about just exactly that the
58:14 capacity was one we talked about
58:16 language technology internet access you
58:18 what are the times and days that we're
58:20 holding registrations all those things
58:22 came to mind and we were you know our
58:24 first B of this Big Apple if you will is
58:27 to was to you we decided to work with
58:29 starting with the capacity question
58:31 right so a few of the equity framework
58:33 questions that we engaged with you are
58:35 those three right there uh you what
58:37 evidence has supported every conclusion
58:39 I've drawn and how I challenged and
58:41 supported assumptions you know and then
58:43 Jeff touched on this earlier was you
58:45 know we make an assumption that hey
58:47 classes are filling quick and there I
58:49 mean and in 10 minutes is you know the
58:51 pool swim lessons if you've ever tried
58:52 to swim to register for a swim lesson I
58:55 mean they fill literally in like a
58:56 minute I mean it's that quick and um you
58:59 assumptions like hey great we're popular
59:01 everything's going well but that's you
59:02 know our our staff our team wanted to
59:04 challenge
59:05 ourselves to those previously held
59:07 assumptions regarding registrations and
59:09 whether or not you know our customers
59:11 have an equal access access to that and
59:13 that's that's the question right and I
59:15 think we know the answer of it but
59:17 that's the question we're posing right
59:18 is and what you were mentioning is right
59:21 down that aisle too it encompasses all
59:23 of that stuff the second question um how
59:26 you know how have we sacrificed in the
59:28 experience of marginalized people for
59:30 the comfort and safety of those holding
59:32 privilege uh the majority of population
59:34 stakeholders not negatively impacted you
59:36 know our team wants to challenge the way
59:38 that things have been done and then also
59:40 to lean into conversations that are
59:41 uncomfortable because sometimes they can
59:43 be right um and then third I have to
59:47 read off my notes because I can see it
59:48 better on my paper here than up there
59:50 that's an age thing I think that's
59:51 hitting me a little bit now uh who will
59:53 benefit or be burdened
59:56 yeah I'm like well I'm still trying to
59:58 pull off the still pull off the squint a
1:00:00 little bit but yeah uh who will be uh
1:00:04 who will benefit or be burdened by uh
1:00:06 the particular decision you our team
1:00:08 wants to understand the impact uh the
1:00:10 decisions that we make have on customers
1:00:12 and staff and um to be aware of the
1:00:15 unintentional consequences of things
1:00:17 that we we choose to that we're thinking
1:00:19 about too like you know if we make this
1:00:20 decision what might be an unintentional
1:00:23 we don't want to have a negative impact
1:00:25 something we think is positive right as
1:00:26 we're thinking through
1:00:31 that and some of our registration
1:00:34 observations they're going to sound
1:00:36 really familiar because we've talked
1:00:37 about a bunch of them already uh yeah we
1:00:40 have a lot of programs uh a lot of our
1:00:42 programs have capacity and then we have
1:00:44 a number of our programs that don't have
1:00:46 capacity and Jeff T touched on those
1:00:48 swim lessons day camps being a couple of
1:00:50 them um yeah as we're talking about I
1:00:52 think was funny our city administrator
1:00:53 was talking about about I think it was
1:00:55 day camps and uh I think he said it was
1:00:58 the most stressful six minutes of his
1:01:00 year was trying to get registered for
1:01:03 day camps and he didn't get all the
1:01:06 camps he wanted either um so that is
1:01:09 yeah I mean that was the kind of
1:01:10 craziness that we're up against with
1:01:11 some of that so just real quickly camps
1:01:13 with capacity and this is going to speak
1:01:15 a little bit to hopefully your access
1:01:17 piece that we were talking about earlier
1:01:19 is you know when we have when we have
1:01:21 capacity we have um you everyone that
1:01:23 wants to get in gets in right there's
1:01:25 there's plenty of room that's great um
1:01:27 time doesn't really matter unless you
1:01:29 miss the overall time frame and you miss
1:01:31 that big large window we have for
1:01:33 registering um if someone has a
1:01:35 challenge whether it's language internet
1:01:37 technology um staff has the time to work
1:01:39 with that customer and figure it out
1:01:40 right like if we need to we can work
1:01:42 with a third party for language we can
1:01:45 work through you they can come down we
1:01:46 can talk to them over the phone we just
1:01:48 have time to work through all of that
1:01:49 and get them registered which is great
1:01:52 um if you know nnf expense and and
1:01:54 answer is a difficulty we have a chance
1:01:55 to talk to them and go hey we have a
1:01:57 scholarship program get them signed up
1:01:59 and then get them registered at a
1:02:00 reduced fee that's all great now our
1:02:03 programs with capacity that's where we
1:02:05 you know this is and this is why we're
1:02:06 bringing this question up is to try to
1:02:08 improve our process on this one is you
1:02:11 know if you're quick and know how to
1:02:13 navigate the registration process you
1:02:15 have a high likelihood of getting in if
1:02:17 not you don't um and even if you're
1:02:20 quick there's no guarantees um you know
1:02:22 there's people that are like I said
1:02:23 ready both people ready sometimes and
1:02:25 they still don't get in um that's a big
1:02:29 barrier and a challenge because there's
1:02:30 a lot of people not getting in and like
1:02:31 I said I don't think it's Equitable in
1:02:33 the ones that are getting in in the
1:02:34 first place so that's why we're kind of
1:02:35 talking about this um if you don't
1:02:37 already have a scholarship this is if
1:02:39 with our our you know programs without
1:02:41 capacity you if you don't already have a
1:02:43 scholarship um you have to register and
1:02:46 pay the full price so if you're you know
1:02:47 on equal footing you everybody has to
1:02:49 register but if you don't have a SCH if
1:02:50 you qualify for a scholarship and don't
1:02:52 have one you have to pay full price that
1:02:53 could be a real hardship um how do we
1:02:56 you know how do we address that a little
1:02:59 um you know in a perfect world every
1:03:02 program has capacity and we have time to
1:03:03 work with everybody that'd be great um
1:03:06 we find ourselves needing to develop a
1:03:07 plan for managing programs with limited
1:03:10 capacity um to make sure that we are
1:03:12 able to provide that equable access I
1:03:14 that's what we're here tonight talking
1:03:15 about um we're not alone on this um you
1:03:18 know Jeff just today shared a couple
1:03:20 articles with me one was from uh Eugene
1:03:22 Oregon and west min
1:03:25 Westminster uh Vancouver BC uh that are
1:03:29 doing this exact same thing they're
1:03:31 looking at the recreation registration
1:03:33 process to see how they can make it more
1:03:36 Equitable so it's kind of neat to you
1:03:38 know see that others are in that same
1:03:41 mode where we're at because you know if
1:03:42 you're in the normal mainstream of
1:03:44 everything it seems just fine but
1:03:45 there's a lot of people that are there
1:03:47 is there are barriers and we want to
1:03:49 break those down so it's nice to see
1:03:50 that other areas and locations are doing
1:03:52 the same thing
1:03:57 uh sort of sharing what we're thinking
1:04:00 once again we're on the front end of
1:04:01 this I mean we're like I said that's why
1:04:03 this is a great starting Place we've
1:04:05 done but we've done work starting place
1:04:07 for this one topic and it's great that
1:04:09 we're just starting it being able to
1:04:10 talk to you all about it um you know we
1:04:12 want to continue to research and
1:04:14 understand uh registration barriers and
1:04:16 challenges you know this is is just the
1:04:18 beginning of this important work uh and
1:04:20 you know ongoing discussion is going to
1:04:22 be needed um we want to continue to
1:04:25 understand um the registration barriers
1:04:27 and challenges and um yeah it's a just
1:04:31 beginning yeah have considerations to
1:04:34 partner with the food bank since they
1:04:37 have a lot of families who are already
1:04:38 using their services to give them the
1:04:41 early registration or to give them like
1:04:44 to have them on a list so that when
1:04:46 classes come they automatically can of
1:04:49 provided especially since the magazine
1:04:51 the little booklet I'm comes out early
1:04:53 so that they they can talk to and let
1:04:56 someone there know like a form you just
1:04:58 circle what day and then they
1:05:02 can be registered so partner with them
1:05:05 so that they can help make their
1:05:07 customers aware of that yes and also
1:05:09 help the customers choose and then send
1:05:12 that as part of that early registration
1:05:14 so partner with them to let the
1:05:16 customers know one but partner with them
1:05:18 to give their customers that early
1:05:21 registration access because to me the
1:05:24 registration process is the biggest
1:05:26 barrier the knowing we can do a lot for
1:05:29 the knowing but to actually register you
1:05:32 need a lot unless your assistance Str
1:05:34 tremendously you need a lot of support
1:05:36 to get that early registration so how do
1:05:39 we give the families who we know need
1:05:42 the support early registration access to
1:05:46 these
1:05:48 programs well I think yeah yeah as we
1:05:50 work towards Solutions Laura you're
1:05:52 you're right it's like a great a great
1:05:54 um option we need to look at right are
1:05:56 we looking at creating a model that does
1:06:00 sort of allow for early
1:06:02 registration um how do we do that um do
1:06:06 we look at a lottery system like some
1:06:08 other cities are are considering you see
1:06:10 that again we're not we're not landing
1:06:12 on any solution but we really want to
1:06:14 start
1:06:15 exploring right is it an early
1:06:17 registration is it holding back some
1:06:20 some registrations um to allow for um um
1:06:25 not this this rush and just this stop so
1:06:29 um I think just even having this
1:06:31 discussion and even more discussion
1:06:32 tonight's really going to help us of
1:06:35 Point towards and come back we'd love to
1:06:37 come back to all of you with hey here's
1:06:39 here's what sort of a solution is
1:06:41 looking like all of this pointing
1:06:43 towards um you know next well you know
1:06:47 end of first quarter we're going to be
1:06:48 into summer day camp registration like I
1:06:51 said we're hoping with the additional
1:06:53 capacity we're going to have in summer
1:06:54 day camp and whatever this new approach
1:06:57 is for registration um yeah we're sort
1:07:00 of excited to see what summer summer day
1:07:02 camp registration 2024 looks like and
1:07:05 hopefully it's something we can both see
1:07:07 successful on that camps filled up but
1:07:09 also successful in a little bit more of
1:07:12 a um of an equity
1:07:17 result
1:07:21 questions that was what I was also G to
1:07:23 say sh has some questions I don't know
1:07:24 sh if you would prefer us to read them
1:07:26 or if you want to come off
1:07:29 mute yeah I can come off mute but I just
1:07:32 often put them in the chat so I don't
1:07:36 forget um so one of the questions um I
1:07:39 had was um whether or not the program
1:07:41 actually had the Capac capacity to that
1:07:44 expansion capacity to include some of
1:07:47 those facility changes um because I know
1:07:49 a lot of times with capacity updates are
1:07:52 required in order to accommodate
1:07:54 all the people and I think that if you
1:07:57 all are possibly looking for more
1:07:59 registrants or even to expand the
1:08:01 registration process then that may
1:08:05 affect how the facilities will be used
1:08:07 and the times and all those things and
1:08:10 even the space that's allotted to the
1:08:13 those those
1:08:16 programs yeah so I I think if I'm
1:08:18 hearing your question right sh yeah the
1:08:20 the capacity we're looking at adding
1:08:23 next year through our camps uh we will
1:08:26 be utilizing not only our facilities but
1:08:29 we also we partner currently and we'll
1:08:31 continue to partner with the school
1:08:32 district um in of utilizing a a myriad
1:08:36 of of facilities to be able to
1:08:38 accommodate that and we're we're pretty
1:08:39 confident we'll be able to have access
1:08:41 to those facilities that'll allow us to
1:08:44 absorb that additional capacity um and
1:08:48 then swim lessons to Zach and the
1:08:51 aquatics uh Team doing a job of the
1:08:55 Labyrinth of the pool schedule um in in
1:08:58 sort of adding lesson capacity where we
1:09:00 can is uh um yeah that's a it's
1:09:04 elaborate in itself but but certainly
1:09:06 something we're we're confident we're
1:09:07 going to be able to to absorb
1:09:12 yeah yeah just yeah oh sorry question oh
1:09:16 please no just from a timing perspective
1:09:18 you you have these have to be in place
1:09:20 by X day is for for to capture
1:09:23 registration did I hear January 1 is
1:09:26 when the registration starts March March
1:09:28 March for summer day camp I mean really
1:09:30 hitting these super popular programs
1:09:32 we'd love to have some in place for next
1:09:35 summer Summer's registrations end of
1:09:37 January so we're able to share test it
1:09:41 work out the bug share what the process
1:09:42 is y and I didn't I didn't I wasn't
1:09:44 aware that fourth item considered an
1:09:46 early registration system for city V
1:09:48 resen so it's offered outside of our own
1:09:51 resence right now registration is open
1:09:53 to everybody and mostly this is squ
1:09:56 School District okay we we have an open
1:10:00 registration we have a when you look at
1:10:02 our fee structure there's a fee and then
1:10:05 there's a resident discount if you're
1:10:07 anal resident you you don't pay uh the
1:10:10 same fee as as a non-resident but
1:10:13 there's not a um there's not an access
1:10:17 to residents only for a certain period
1:10:19 of time so is that something we want to
1:10:21 consider yeah that could be on on our
1:10:24 high capacity Pro or you the ones that
1:10:26 have you know fill up um well you know
1:10:29 this is a crazy meeting because it's
1:10:30 like my slides you guys will beat me to
1:10:32 all my
1:10:33 points it's crazy I know
1:10:36 s so um I have a question that if I need
1:10:41 to go look for the answer someplace else
1:10:43 I can do that for time but I don't
1:10:46 understand why there is a fee for a
1:10:51 class plus the fee to have access to the
1:10:55 community center no there's no not with
1:10:59 our program okay so then if I sign up
1:11:01 for a class then there's no other fee no
1:11:05 summer program you we just pay for that
1:11:08 the summer day cam just but you don't
1:11:11 have to be a member of anything no some
1:11:13 organizations have that model
1:11:15 where
1:11:17 model okay and how do we come up with
1:11:20 the pricing cuz like for example right
1:11:21 now I was looking at your page and it's
1:11:24 $64 to attend one class once a
1:11:28 week but if I went to like a private gym
1:11:32 I could access that same class three
1:11:33 times a
1:11:35 week for you know the month and it would
1:11:39 be a lot less so how do we come up with
1:11:41 pricing which class we talking about
1:11:44 okay for example Zumba Zumba meets at
1:11:48 9:45 on I guess Wednesdays no Thursdays
1:11:52 sorry Thursdays
1:11:54 and for one month it's
1:11:56 $64 for that one class yeah we work with
1:11:59 the the instructor on the the instructor
1:12:01 sets the price on that because that's
1:12:03 not run by that's not our staff they run
1:12:05 Zumba we work with Zumba to run the
1:12:07 class out of like the community center
1:12:09 so the instructor would set the price on
1:12:11 that one we work with so yeah I mean a
1:12:15 great question it's super complicated
1:12:17 because Brian and his team work with you
1:12:19 know in some cases that program is
1:12:21 directly offered by City staff in other
1:12:23 cases it's a contracted program so we're
1:12:26 working with the contracted instructor I
1:12:30 guess what I'm trying to get get at is
1:12:32 that I find that to be very expensive
1:12:34 okay right $64 for one class a week for
1:12:37 for four times that's that's quite
1:12:40 expensive so that to me is about access
1:12:43 and then also the times that it's
1:12:45 offered um this is all of these classes
1:12:48 are from what I can see offered at like
1:12:51 9:00 a.m 9:45 a.m. and typically that's
1:12:55 when people are working right so who who
1:12:57 is the target population who can be at
1:13:01 home at 9:00 a.m. to take a class right
1:13:05 like why not have classes that are
1:13:06 offered when people get off work for
1:13:08 example or early morning all really good
1:13:12 questions I think this in some ways gets
1:13:14 to Shay's question indirectly as well
1:13:16 and that that Community Center up there
1:13:18 is a big box with limited amount of
1:13:21 square footage and we can't offer
1:13:24 Fitness classes at all times that we
1:13:26 want to because volleyball other things
1:13:30 are happening we're we're right we're
1:13:33 we're offering and trying to provide
1:13:35 such a myriad of of services that the
1:13:37 residents want um and trying to find
1:13:39 some balance with that between pickle
1:13:41 ball and basketball and preschool
1:13:43 classes and we work really hard to
1:13:45 provide access for
1:13:47 everybody but everyone would probably
1:13:50 tell you they don't get enough and you
1:13:52 know I would say hey well done we've
1:13:53 upset everybody equally um because
1:13:55 they're all getting some but not all if
1:13:57 somebody is getting everything they want
1:14:00 that's yeah you have one happy group and
1:14:01 nut so everybody gets something like
1:14:03 Jeff said with the limited resources we
1:14:04 did the best we can to make sure
1:14:06 everybody's getting some access to that
1:14:08 um real quickly if you don't mind I'd
1:14:10 love to share just some of the like we
1:14:11 talked about some action items that
1:14:12 we're doing for capacity increasing uh
1:14:14 one of those was adding the day camp
1:14:16 like we talked about 20124 we're going
1:14:17 to add a day camp that will increase our
1:14:19 ability to take more uh Elementary age
1:14:22 in Middle School school age children AR
1:14:24 we don't even have a middle school
1:14:25 program we didn't have one this past
1:14:27 summer the school district used to run
1:14:28 one for quite a while we recognized that
1:14:31 there's a gap in that age group and much
1:14:33 a need for that age to be served so
1:14:35 we're going to be offering some camps to
1:14:38 to offer some possibilities there for
1:14:40 that middle school age group uh we oh go
1:14:44 deons which means summer is there a
1:14:47 possibility to increase after school
1:14:50 camps or some kind of activities for
1:14:53 especially the elementary school age
1:14:55 students to have an opportunity to
1:14:58 participate in after
1:15:00 school if after school like onsite after
1:15:03 school is usually run by the school
1:15:04 district we have an A before after
1:15:06 school program
1:15:07 that which is what totally filled and we
1:15:11 have weight list of 100 plus so we have
1:15:15 lots of kids not able to access those
1:15:18 prr which school is this at which school
1:15:20 single yeah cuz we because of that cap I
1:15:24 mean our capacity is limited too in
1:15:26 Staffing and resources as well we added
1:15:28 a before and after school care program
1:15:30 called Schoolhouse Rec that we run out
1:15:32 of the community center we have a and
1:15:34 because it's local we're able to you
1:15:36 know kids from uh Clark Elementary uh we
1:15:39 worked with the school district to get a
1:15:40 bus stop for Squan Valley stopping by
1:15:42 here so we have and because we know that
1:15:45 those weight lists are so long we
1:15:46 created a program for that s that in all
1:15:49 of the upper ones and all of the ones so
1:15:52 the Transportation becomes limiting but
1:15:55 we have a huge number of parents
1:15:57 desperate for before and after school
1:15:59 care yeah and just some of it is beyond
1:16:03 the city of pH bi Li our district is
1:16:07 white getting those to Great Sunset is
1:16:10 harder because many of those families
1:16:12 are still Isa residents as Brian said we
1:16:15 we've added a before and after school
1:16:17 program to compliment what the
1:16:18 district's doing um we're continuing to
1:16:21 look at middle school programs working
1:16:23 with Isa middle school and how we can
1:16:26 partner with them and what some of
1:16:28 they're seeing as after school needs are
1:16:30 um they've started an exploratory work
1:16:32 looking at what middle school sports
1:16:34 looks like Brian's taking part in that
1:16:36 in that team that task force how and is
1:16:39 there a role that we can play in
1:16:41 supporting that so so is there a
1:16:43 capacity for after school care to
1:16:46 also we have room in our after school
1:16:49 care right now yeah and I don't know
1:16:51 well it's always the the the most
1:16:53 popular ride at the school because it's
1:16:54 it's so convenience where everybody's
1:16:56 taking their kids picking I mean it's
1:16:57 it's near your probably you your home
1:16:59 your location everything so we don't
1:17:01 we're not we're trying to get some of
1:17:04 those weight list but it's still you
1:17:05 know we advertise it Market it and it's
1:17:08 said we still have capacity in ours we
1:17:10 could grow a bit in
1:17:12 ours um we also the summer as far as
1:17:15 camps we're piloting a two week Spanish
1:17:18 speaking camp that we're be running
1:17:20 hopefully out of uh isqua Valley
1:17:22 Elementary we're working with uh guys
1:17:24 the principal there the circle um Human
1:17:28 Services I had to write them down
1:17:30 because there's a lot of folks we're
1:17:31 working with on that um yeah the school
1:17:35 Circle and then interest some parents
1:17:37 they have a program that's a Spanish
1:17:39 speaking program at isquad Valley and
1:17:42 they kind of recognize that hey you know
1:17:43 over the summer a lot has lost we could
1:17:45 run a couple weed camp and keep keep the
1:17:48 kids in that program
1:17:50 especially sort of tuned up but also
1:17:53 make it available for the entire
1:17:54 Community yes so that in Ence right two
1:17:57 weeks of it's AAL day camp but Spanish
1:18:00 speak yeah so we're really excited to
1:18:03 Pilot this summer and then lastly
1:18:05 something else we're doing is you know
1:18:07 we talked about the pool and the swim
1:18:09 lessons and all that we have a pool
1:18:10 feasibility study going on right now to
1:18:13 um look at the what would it look like
1:18:15 could we
1:18:16 expand funding is a whole other topic
1:18:19 but could we on that site expand the
1:18:21 available water that we could provide to
1:18:23 the community there and that's the
1:18:25 question right so and as we're looking
1:18:27 at it does we have a significant amount
1:18:29 of space up there that could be used and
1:18:31 we could add you know we're still
1:18:33 finalizing the report but you know looks
1:18:35 like we could add some additional water
1:18:37 up there
1:18:40 yes perfect I know you had a question
1:18:43 yeah I wasn't sure it was going to come
1:18:45 up in in your presentation but do you
1:18:47 have data on how Equitable or
1:18:50 inequitable the last few years of
1:18:52 registration have been as a way to sort
1:18:54 of guide the next year and future
1:18:57 years it's a great question yes in terms
1:19:01 of sort of we can take a look at who is
1:19:04 who has been registering who has sort of
1:19:08 been threatening that needle especially
1:19:10 of the of the really popular um camps
1:19:12 and classes um yeah I think it's a
1:19:15 really important metric for us to to
1:19:17 look at um I think honestly what we
1:19:21 found in some of that is
1:19:24 is those who know the secrets know the
1:19:29 ins and outs know how to thread the
1:19:31 needle are the ones that have been
1:19:33 getting in and so um yeah I think it's a
1:19:36 really important data point in some ways
1:19:39 is going to
1:19:40 confirm wait this doesn't feel like
1:19:44 everyone's got a fair a fair shot as um
1:19:48 hitting this I know that you've oh sorry
1:19:50 go ahead goad um I haven't gotten into
1:19:54 some of those programs with my kids
1:19:56 that's how hard it is to get in I just
1:19:57 want to make sure and I I do know the
1:20:00 ins and outs I I know it all right and
1:20:03 yet you still so my question is what
1:20:06 there's two what are the challenges to
1:20:08 doing going to a lottery system and what
1:20:10 are the challenges of giving preference
1:20:13 to those who need it the
1:20:15 most yes great questions yeah right and
1:20:19 like I said just you as we're at the
1:20:21 front end of this those questions you
1:20:22 just brought up or exactly why we're
1:20:24 here talking to you all today is to say
1:20:25 you know hey we're thinking about this
1:20:27 as a possibility yeah what are your
1:20:29 thoughts on that you know and that's
1:20:31 well I think Lottery is the way to go I
1:20:34 I'm a hiker I always have to run into
1:20:36 Lottery and haven't won it
1:20:38 yet but that's the way it is Wonderland
1:20:41 I would I would say maybe before jumping
1:20:44 so Lottery early registration those are
1:20:46 solutions right and so I'm I'm thinking
1:20:50 about who given that there is so much
1:20:54 more demand than
1:20:56 Supply who are or should be the priority
1:21:00 populations to consider yeah and so I
1:21:04 think you might want to start with kind
1:21:05 of defining given there's just so many
1:21:08 more people who want these programs and
1:21:11 like so figuring out who who needs it
1:21:14 the most and then understanding directly
1:21:17 from those groups what their pain points
1:21:20 are with this
1:21:21 process um and then and then thinking
1:21:24 about what solution would need their
1:21:26 needs more so um because I I've never
1:21:31 successful either with or day so I
1:21:35 totally this is a you can tell we're a
1:21:41 passionate this is so helpful one starts
1:21:44 with an honest look in the mirror right
1:21:47 we need to find a way to do better sorry
1:21:49 no I was inting sorry one of the things
1:21:52 I I think I've also asked is you're
1:21:54 right that is a question if this is a
1:21:56 community center if you're prioritizing
1:21:59 some groups or others what happens to
1:22:02 other people who are trying to all of
1:22:04 the city residents trying to access the
1:22:07 program and so not about the city and so
1:22:10 what I think my thoughts have always
1:22:12 been and where we wondered is is there
1:22:15 capacity for another group like a boys
1:22:17 and girls club to come whose entire
1:22:20 intention is to support and provide
1:22:23 additional resources because if you're
1:22:27 truly at capacity and you can't meet the
1:22:30 need of the average the SAR resident
1:22:35 then it seems hard to say they're going
1:22:37 to take all of these slots and give it
1:22:39 to this group because it's creating now
1:22:43 issues and problems for other groups
1:22:46 there are many bubble groups that you
1:22:48 might not be reaching so I think my
1:22:51 question is also if at any point we
1:22:54 realize that we we have we can't like
1:22:58 doing an lottery I I understand why but
1:23:01 my first re reaction is no like this is
1:23:05 we're not going to solve for who I'm
1:23:07 trying to address and yes and so but I
1:23:13 see that point right so if that is the
1:23:16 case if that is not the main goal for
1:23:20 the city's intention of having the
1:23:23 Recreation
1:23:25 services is there another solution that
1:23:28 can we can help bring in to specifically
1:23:32 Target that one group because I feel
1:23:35 like there's a huge need in our city and
1:23:38 it's getting bigger and bigger literally
1:23:41 I see by the month and the year and so
1:23:44 my question is by the time we react to
1:23:46 it um it's going to there going to be a
1:23:49 lot of families really struggling yeah
1:23:52 really good feedback and and and you
1:23:54 know as we've again begun to wrestle
1:23:57 with this I think we recognize it's
1:23:59 probably multiple Solutions right and
1:24:01 one of those is just that point L right
1:24:03 we we as the city parks and Community
1:24:06 Services Department we serve a lot of
1:24:09 roles you saw the overview but when it
1:24:11 comes to delivering programs we're
1:24:13 really both a direct provider but we're
1:24:16 also a broker an advocate a facilitator
1:24:19 of other of other groups coming in right
1:24:23 and it kind of to your your point where
1:24:26 as a direct provider we we can't
1:24:28 possibly do this all on our own so how
1:24:30 are we providing our direct programs but
1:24:33 also advocating cheerleading supporting
1:24:36 other Recreation providers um who might
1:24:38 be helping to address some of that Capac
1:24:40 because I get the question from families
1:24:42 why doesn't the city have a boys and
1:24:44 girls club or a YMC program in the city
1:24:47 of isqu I'm like I don't know I'm not
1:24:48 this well that's I I can tell you from
1:24:50 working in other cities um it's not a
1:24:53 city decision the city doesn't the city
1:24:57 doesn't say come on down come on down or
1:24:59 not come down right so I you know
1:25:02 previously I was the parks director in
1:25:04 samamish um and work and it took work
1:25:07 with it's a it's a it's those agencies
1:25:10 decision to come to town and similarly I
1:25:13 spent 10 years as a director in Kent um
1:25:18 YMCA is there now but again that wasn't
1:25:21 it's not the city saying great you get a
1:25:24 come they they have their own business
1:25:27 model and business decisions to to make
1:25:30 but but can we Court them can we say hey
1:25:33 we have we we can yeah in terms of any
1:25:36 and all groups um um and those two
1:25:40 cities are really good examples right
1:25:42 that it starts with let's define need
1:25:44 let's define um you are there other
1:25:49 agencies that we would love uh to have
1:25:51 some assist with especially agency that
1:25:54 their whole focus
1:25:56 is families that really need that
1:25:58 support yes because then I think sorry
1:26:02 she has a question Shay has just had
1:26:05 some I've marked the questions down but
1:26:07 I don't want to to lose track of Shay's
1:26:10 participation in the chat here so Shay
1:26:12 youve got a comment I'm going to invite
1:26:13 you to share
1:26:17 more um yeah but some of the questions
1:26:20 I've actually gotten answered in the
1:26:22 process of the conversation because I
1:26:23 know a lot of the questions are kind of
1:26:26 jumping ahead of the slides
1:26:29 um get an answer to was with relation to
1:26:32 the ratio of residents to non-residents
1:26:35 participating in some of those programs
1:26:38 that you all offer and um if it was
1:26:43 possible to try to filter in um
1:26:46 pre-registrations into like the
1:26:48 registration process for school since
1:26:51 that tends to be an annual
1:26:54 process um because I think that's an
1:26:57 easy way to kind of uh I guess
1:27:01 pre um pre-touch on who may or may not
1:27:06 need Services even if um they don't
1:27:09 necessarily take them on at the time
1:27:12 that they're
1:27:16 offered yeah in terms of Resident to
1:27:18 non-resident it again depends on the
1:27:20 program uh but I would say predominantly
1:27:22 our youth programs serve primarily in in
1:27:26 family related programs residents make
1:27:29 up a uh isal residents make up a a High
1:27:33 um majority of of participants in most
1:27:37 of our
1:27:39 programs so just one one thing I'm
1:27:42 noticing with some of the the solutions
1:27:44 like the lottery system even like an
1:27:46 early registration system that's focused
1:27:48 on residents and
1:27:49 non-residents those are more
1:27:53 uh like so fair or equal in focus and
1:27:57 not Equity so I I just really would
1:28:00 encourage you to think about who needs
1:28:01 these programs more and how to design
1:28:03 for them I like that pretty you're right
1:28:06 that under we talk about it but you're
1:28:09 right understanding the difference of
1:28:11 equality approaches and Equity
1:28:13 approaches and how are we looking at
1:28:16 that's a great question and it seems
1:28:17 like there's a lot of different ways to
1:28:19 look at who needs it more than it's you
1:28:22 know definitely income I'm also thinking
1:28:24 it's not it's not just the cost but it's
1:28:26 the location so like I remember driving
1:28:29 my kids to like Newcastle on the way to
1:28:33 Seattle and basically taking an extra
1:28:35 hour in the commun to drop them off for
1:28:36 child care because I couldn't get into
1:28:38 to that c here and you know things like
1:28:40 that and so certain families with maybe
1:28:42 without access to cars or Transportation
1:28:45 that's really important in a deal
1:28:47 breaker for them so just thinking about
1:28:50 how you define the need at the
1:28:52 [Music]
1:28:54 most one more question do you all
1:28:56 partner with King
1:28:58 County DHS DH D yes for the Section 8
1:29:04 Housing and are you all able
1:29:07 to work with them for families who have
1:29:10 section 8 hous to provide them
1:29:13 information on scholarships and
1:29:17 um basically I'm looking at early
1:29:20 demonstration or like ways to help those
1:29:22 families who have section A housing um
1:29:26 because it feels like in Isa we've
1:29:28 increased the amount of section8 Housing
1:29:31 and I'm wondering if we can make sure
1:29:34 we're reaching out to families living in
1:29:37 those houses to make sure they know
1:29:40 about the program because that's one of
1:29:42 the things we find out is they don't
1:29:43 know what resources
1:29:46 available how do we educate that group
1:29:49 inward it's really hard to to educate
1:29:53 the families through that just one no
1:29:57 it's great well I would say we do in
1:29:58 places but I think what we can do better
1:30:00 I think one of the the really nice
1:30:03 things organizationally about having
1:30:06 parks and community services and having
1:30:08 Human Services right next to Recreation
1:30:10 is we've we've already found some really
1:30:12 great opportunities to utilize our Human
1:30:16 Services relationships with those
1:30:17 agencies those providers um to make sure
1:30:20 we're positioning um um some of our
1:30:23 Recreation offerings and vice versa and
1:30:26 great as that's gone for both youth
1:30:27 programs all the way to so many of our
1:30:30 programs at the senior center right and
1:30:32 how are we making sure
1:30:34 that both of those groups are are
1:30:37 utilizing their resources to getting
1:30:40 information
1:30:41 out and one question it the the two that
1:30:44 filled up so the um the swim and the um
1:30:49 the camps that was not a resource issue
1:30:51 right you had resources available it was
1:30:53 just um space at the at the at the pool
1:30:57 and the pool space pool space the day
1:31:01 camps I would say is resources we yeah
1:31:03 like I said we had budget and plan to
1:31:06 run x amount of camps last year they
1:31:08 filled quickly we have requested extra
1:31:12 budget for next year which is where you
1:31:14 know I think been approved I think or at
1:31:17 least it's moving in the right direction
1:31:18 for us to add additional capacity to
1:31:20 address that need year so and we do run
1:31:23 up against some challenges with Staffing
1:31:25 I mean like everybody else Staffing is
1:31:27 really really really hard yeah I would
1:31:29 say it is a resource you know we have to
1:31:31 be careful in that we we can't have an
1:31:34 unlimited number of spots because you
1:31:36 know any quality Camp is really
1:31:38 dependent upon quality staff quality
1:31:41 Camp staff um all of those you know um
1:31:46 with that I'll make a Shameless plug if
1:31:47 you know anybody interested in working
1:31:49 as like a gym supervisor basketball
1:31:51 official a day C person send them our
1:31:53 way we love to talk to those people so
1:31:55 that is a Shameless plug and I will
1:31:56 always do that at any opportunity I get
1:31:59 because recognize this as you share that
1:32:02 we really value we are a teen we are
1:32:04 probably the largest teen employer in
1:32:07 the city and we see that as a program in
1:32:09 and of itself we we love being a first
1:32:12 employer and what a teenager learns is a
1:32:15 day camp leader or as a referee or as a
1:32:19 lifeguard will whatever they turn grow
1:32:22 in as they grow up they will take those
1:32:24 leadership skills and so please we VI
1:32:26 our our part-time Staffing our you
1:32:28 Staffing is leadership programs I mean
1:32:30 we're developing them into young they
1:32:32 they're beginning to grow into young
1:32:33 leaders right absolutely like right now
1:32:34 we have basketball right so I mean that
1:32:36 has I want to say 60 to 80 staff
1:32:39 probably part-time non regular staff
1:32:41 that we use it has 1,700 kids we're
1:32:42 looking at playing basketball I mean so
1:32:44 we have that that has how we can do it
1:32:47 right so that's 1700 kids playing
1:32:49 basketball it used to be pre-co was 2200
1:32:51 but things have changed in the bu
1:32:53 continue to grow back up to its original
1:32:55 numbers but we I we're sharing the
1:32:57 challenge we're finding with these with
1:32:59 like said with the limited capacity
1:33:00 programs and that's where we're
1:33:01 realizing that it's it's not Equitable
1:33:04 right and we have tons and tons of
1:33:05 programs that we run that we're able to
1:33:08 accommodate all that which is awesome
1:33:09 but yeah this has been tremendously
1:33:12 helpful to be able to share that problem
1:33:14 and to hear just some of the discussion
1:33:16 around it and get some great ideas from
1:33:18 it so do you two have what you need from
1:33:22 us at this stage I guess it's the
1:33:24 question I think very
1:33:27 helpful come back in January and you
1:33:31 know again with a goal sort of the end
1:33:32 of January for us to feel like we have
1:33:34 something in place that's ready
1:33:37 to to Pilot for
1:33:41 2024 might have a David Brian and Jeff
1:33:46 January
1:33:50 reunion good
1:33:52 do we have an idea of how many people um
1:33:55 are on those weight lists like so to
1:33:58 give us an idea like are we talking
1:33:59 about 20 people we're talking summer day
1:34:02 camp average probably 50 50 on the
1:34:05 weight list y
1:34:08 That's and I will also tell you that if
1:34:10 you go on the weight list there's a very
1:34:12 high likelihood you will be accepted so
1:34:15 those parents who are going in some of
1:34:17 them are really because taking SP
1:34:20 they're taking spots that's really
1:34:22 problematic in my opinion because then I
1:34:26 don't get in couple of them but I put
1:34:29 myself on the weight list and I know I'm
1:34:31 not that high up because sometimes it's
1:34:32 a day or two after and I'll get called a
1:34:35 week or two before offering that being
1:34:38 offer that spot so honestly I don't
1:34:41 really know that many camps that have
1:34:42 not been able to get in so that means
1:34:46 that 10 20 people before me did not
1:34:52 did not stay so and you have to put a
1:34:55 down payment I don't know if you get it
1:34:57 paid like it's only 20 $30 it's very
1:35:00 very minimal I don't know they get it
1:35:02 back or not but it's always interesting
1:35:03 to me that spots open up I don't think
1:35:06 we charge for a wi list
1:35:07 H depit deposit for the yes yes and your
1:35:12 spot on a lot of sometimes people grab
1:35:13 because I don't know they do school
1:35:15 district and us and then I think they
1:35:17 choose yeah so that does happen vations
1:35:20 so we the best we can to manage that
1:35:22 weight list you're you're right it's a
1:35:24 great example but I looking at last
1:35:26 summer we had still again 40 to 50 on
1:35:30 the weight list yeah each week so again
1:35:33 I think our goal of adding some
1:35:35 capacity looking at a registration
1:35:38 process through the through these really
1:35:40 important lenses um and we run a ton of
1:35:43 different camps that just so these are
1:35:45 the camps we're talking about are the
1:35:47 camps are run by the city which we run
1:35:50 and I forget like last I think last year
1:35:51 was 120 kids per week but we also have a
1:35:54 lot of Sports Camps and Lego camps and
1:35:57 stem camps we have a lot specially and
1:36:00 we I forget how many camps but it's a
1:36:02 lot and so sometimes it may not be our
1:36:05 camps specifically that are available
1:36:07 but some of those other camps might be
1:36:09 that's a little tough if you're you know
1:36:10 the Sports Camps available and your kid
1:36:11 is not a sports kid well that's a little
1:36:13 bit more challenging but all day of
1:36:15 sports when you don't like it is yeah
1:36:17 that's not fun either so experience no
1:36:20 it's not what want no you didn't get
1:36:22 into I don't like Legos but I got into
1:36:26 camp for everybody
1:36:29 involved but you guys gave us some great
1:36:31 feedback and input so thank you so much
1:36:33 for that it's greatly appreciated thank
1:36:35 you thank you look forward to tell you
1:36:39 how it comes like said this is we're we
1:36:41 at the front end you're getting like as
1:36:42 we're talking about building this piece
1:36:44 so it's very
1:36:49 helpful I would encourage you to stop
1:36:51 sharing your screen last or last we had
1:36:54 someone
1:36:56 leave
1:36:57 screen but that's awesome I think I
1:37:00 think we can make these last two items
1:37:03 um mostly work with the time we've got
1:37:05 remaining I think the one that the very
1:37:06 last one should take me two minutes I'm
1:37:09 GNA tell you when our special meeting
1:37:10 will happen I see
1:37:14 Christina there you go take thank you so
1:37:18 much yeah have a great night everybody
1:37:20 great meeting you all
1:37:22 you know I'm just in a little house over
1:37:24 there so if you ever around please knock
1:37:25 on the door come visit yeah that's also
1:37:28 where Jeff's office is so you
1:37:32 ever love it it's so pretty yeah it's
1:37:37 been around for quite a while too and I
1:37:38 can remember back in the days when we
1:37:40 did because I've worked for the city for
1:37:41 like 27 28 years and I remember those
1:37:44 days when we did those day camps that
1:37:45 way oh my gosh my husband and I would
1:37:47 like take a chair and sit over there and
1:37:50 then when they started giving giv us
1:37:51 tickets like a number be like what is
1:37:54 this staff is just all behind the scenes
1:37:56 trying to input everything yeah no
1:37:59 that's awesome thank you so much for
1:38:02 Brian thanks
1:38:04 Jeff why they I'll take it away business
1:38:07 and announcements other business and
1:38:09 announcements we've got two items on
1:38:11 here um one is around Community
1:38:13 engagement for 2024 work plan feel like
1:38:16 we've been talking and talking and
1:38:19 talking about uh community Eng agement
1:38:21 and starting to to engage the community
1:38:25 um and so I think we want to this will
1:38:28 be an agenda item next month for us to
1:38:31 really talk about like what do we want
1:38:32 to do in terms of community engagement
1:38:34 how do we want to how do we want to re
1:38:37 judge the community who what are the
1:38:38 groups you want to prioritize what might
1:38:40 that look like but wanted to sort of
1:38:42 plant the seed and start a little bit of
1:38:45 a quick discussion in case if anyone had
1:38:46 any thoughts unfortunately I feel like
1:38:48 Tony who is the one who is always
1:38:50 talking about how he wants to do
1:38:51 community engagement great to oh good
1:38:54 thank goodness um isn't here this
1:38:56 evening but wanted to hold a little bit
1:38:58 of time to start that conversation um
1:39:00 knowing that we're going to spend
1:39:02 hopefully about 40 minutes next month um
1:39:06 doing some planning for the upcoming
1:39:07 year so just wanted to open it up for
1:39:10 discussion if I could add one thing I
1:39:12 think so there's there's thinking about
1:39:15 so Community engagement how we want to
1:39:18 do it but for what purpose and so is it
1:39:21 to inform certain things that we want to
1:39:24 do is it uh assessing Community
1:39:28 Readiness for a Citywide strategic plan
1:39:31 related to equity uh
1:39:35 what what do we want to do with the
1:39:38 information we're getting from community
1:39:40 so that's also kind of the the other
1:39:42 thing is like how we're going to do it
1:39:45 when we're going to do it and for what
1:39:46 purpose are we doing it for
1:39:50 yeah if I was in the community I would
1:39:52 want to know who exactly is on this
1:39:54 Equity board um so give us a chance to
1:39:58 what brought us here why did we want to
1:40:00 be on this Equity board do we have a
1:40:02 personal story that we want to
1:40:03 share that would I think that would
1:40:05 Fascinate the audience and then from
1:40:07 there just maybe talk about our 2024
1:40:10 thoughts I know we're still trying to
1:40:11 get our hands around that but but making
1:40:13 a personal connection I think is hugely
1:40:15 key for the community to understand
1:40:17 who's sitting on this board and to get
1:40:20 just allow for some questions
1:40:21 can we have a speed dating dating of
1:40:24 Meet the equity board members for the
1:40:26 city and that would just be people
1:40:28 eating sitting at different tables and
1:40:30 then being going table to table
1:40:32 introducing ourselves talking saying who
1:40:35 we are and then at the end you know say
1:40:39 and the Serv also have a chance to ask
1:40:42 well what kind of questions do you have
1:40:45 regarding the city so speed dating going
1:40:47 both ways and questions for them and
1:40:50 they answer questions for us but
1:40:52 involving
1:40:53 food oh yeah obviously
1:40:59 obviously yeah I think another way um
1:41:02 that we could do some of this engagement
1:41:05 is just showing up to some of the events
1:41:07 that are already happening right for us
1:41:10 to um find a way to prioritize that if
1:41:13 it's possible right because I know that
1:41:15 when I have attended some of the some of
1:41:19 the community events um um the the
1:41:23 people in attendance are very grateful
1:41:25 right like they're really excited some
1:41:27 of them even have questions and or
1:41:29 feedback and or something right but they
1:41:31 do want to be engaged so if there was a
1:41:36 to I don't know maybe get like a a
1:41:39 calendar to us Dale where we can pencil
1:41:44 in like say hey I I can go to the one in
1:41:47 March but I can't make the one in April
1:41:49 or whatever yeah and that way we we have
1:41:53 that commitment to the community no like
1:41:55 that I was I went to the one where um
1:41:58 mayor Paulie spoke I think it was the
1:42:00 Hilton of the freeway there it was open
1:42:02 to all businesses in the area and she
1:42:04 introduced um the different councils and
1:42:06 the different boards and she commented
1:42:07 on Equity so like if couple of us were
1:42:10 there say hey there's a couple members
1:42:11 of the equity board here have questions
1:42:13 for them walk up to them and ask some
1:42:16 questions but calendar did that happen
1:42:18 or it did not she made the announcement
1:42:20 but there was no offer to say if you'd
1:42:22 like to speak to Ry who's a member of
1:42:23 the equity board come over
1:42:25 here and ask what's been going on with
1:42:28 the equity board so you were there in
1:42:29 the capacity as a business person not as
1:42:33 no I was there just to be educated I
1:42:35 want to know business thinking she was
1:42:37 talking about a strategy for businesses
1:42:40 for 2024 and I should ask her what was
1:42:43 the outcome of that to open it up to typ
1:42:46 of business touched on that and lri I
1:42:49 was going to say I actually attend did a
1:42:51 couple events cuz I was there for the
1:42:52 welcome event and I was there for the
1:42:54 juneth and I didn't feel like I there
1:42:57 was a good venue because there were
1:42:59 other things already going on so it was
1:43:01 hard for me to to say and by the way it
1:43:05 was about the event and it's not about
1:43:07 us that's why I think I'm happy to
1:43:10 continue going there and just saying hey
1:43:13 I'm there so that they plants a seed
1:43:15 like but it's very brief but I think for
1:43:18 me I want something that's a lot more
1:43:20 Del liate as and as a starting point is
1:43:23 introductions like why why are we here
1:43:26 who are we to go so maybe instead of
1:43:28 attending as a as a participant have
1:43:31 being part of like a booth yes right
1:43:34 like like in the welcoming thing instead
1:43:36 of us walking around like we did that
1:43:38 day but having an equity board booth
1:43:41 that we can human rather than man but
1:43:45 you know what I mean that we can you
1:43:47 know and then some of us can walk around
1:43:49 cuz I like walking around right
1:43:51 um so
1:43:53 yeah I think that's a good idea to have
1:43:55 a booth so folks know like yeah where to
1:43:59 go if they have questions right because
1:44:00 I know that they couldn't even find my
1:44:01 batch so at the welcome event
1:44:07 oh but anyway you know so like nobody
1:44:10 necessarily could know that I was there
1:44:12 in that
1:44:15 capacity yeah like the big events like
1:44:17 salmon days and the and the farmers
1:44:19 market there's opportunity there just
1:44:21 have a booth and
1:44:24 right and I do have to warn you all
1:44:27 sometimes like the people that come up
1:44:30 be not so friendly I don't know how else
1:44:33 to say that so we need I would like some
1:44:36 sort of training as to what can I say
1:44:38 what can I not say because I I I tend to
1:44:41 deflect because I don't know what else
1:44:42 to do right like I'll say well you know
1:44:44 there is a way for you to communicate
1:44:46 with the board you can come to the board
1:44:48 you know but I would like kind of like
1:44:52 what am I supposed to say you know Shay
1:44:55 just put a great I would call this an
1:44:58 idea not just a question um in the chat
1:45:01 here around developing some sort of one
1:45:04 pager
1:45:06 explaining what the board is what it
1:45:09 does how to reach us so we have
1:45:11 something that for instances like that
1:45:14 as well some sort of product yeah I
1:45:18 think Monica put something together
1:45:21 because it was at one
1:45:23 event I have not seen that yeah I have
1:45:27 not seen that because we have a web page
1:45:30 have we on the boards
1:45:35 so so what what I'm hearing here is like
1:45:38 you all are seeing this as an
1:45:40 opportunity to understand the pulse of
1:45:43 the community as a relates to equity or
1:45:46 giving folks an opportunity to get to
1:45:49 know who's on the equity board board um
1:45:52 I guess I I was thinking of another
1:45:54 approach around like something more
1:45:55 strategic like how do we want to move
1:45:58 into more Equity related work and move
1:46:01 the city along and understanding where
1:46:04 residents are willing to go and then
1:46:08 having the government
1:46:11 structures advanced in that way right
1:46:14 so like what is the city ready for and
1:46:17 how can the what are the residents and
1:46:21 ready for and how does the government
1:46:23 the organization catch up or position
1:46:28 itself I don't know so I think my
1:46:31 feelings are people especially people of
1:46:33 color and other people who have not
1:46:36 historically have had good relations
1:46:38 with cities and not going to come up and
1:46:40 say hey by the way pry this is all where
1:46:42 I'm struggling and I'm thinking that you
1:46:45 and I you're going to listen to me one
1:46:48 partner with me two and then help help
1:46:50 me find Solutions no one's going to do
1:46:52 that unless they actually trust you and
1:46:54 they know who you are and so to me the
1:46:56 first step always is build relationship
1:46:59 and share who we are and the why before
1:47:03 anyone's going to say oh and now because
1:47:05 the people who are going to come
1:47:07 otherwise are going to be the ones who
1:47:09 are like I don't believe in equity I
1:47:10 don't like that word and then what do
1:47:13 you I mean I know what I say because
1:47:15 I've actually had that said to my face
1:47:17 but we have to we're trying to be also
1:47:21 targeted as to who we want to come and
1:47:24 seek us out to have those
1:47:27 conversations but I don't know how like
1:47:30 how to get do an event where people who
1:47:33 need it are attending is always the
1:47:36 biggest
1:47:39 challenge it seems like there's almost a
1:47:43 there's like an arc of an approach over
1:47:45 the course of the Year building up
1:47:48 to maybe being ready to have have that
1:47:50 strategic conversation but it might be
1:47:53 more of
1:47:54 a combination of both maybe maybe we see
1:47:57 this like the speed dating event comes
1:48:00 mid spring after we've had a chance to
1:48:03 spend some time in some places getting
1:48:06 to know
1:48:07 people and then we sort of have this
1:48:09 event we bring those connections in so I
1:48:12 think part of it also going and being in
1:48:15 spaces sort of like inviting people to
1:48:17 the traditional public meeting love that
1:48:20 we've had people here but like there's
1:48:23 not a lot of chance for dialogue and so
1:48:25 I think we need something to invite
1:48:27 people to come to ultimately when we're
1:48:29 doing some of that like um with our I'm
1:48:32 like in this meeting as the equity board
1:48:35 member um it could almost be like you
1:48:38 know January February March looks like
1:48:39 that for a meeting in April or May to
1:48:42 get us ready to then have introduce this
1:48:44 bigger strategic conversation because I
1:48:46 think the the hope would be that we're
1:48:49 able to put together some sort sort of
1:48:54 map but I think I think we do have some
1:48:57 I I do think we're still uh moving in a
1:48:59 veil of obscurity a little bit in terms
1:49:02 of people knowing that we exist despite
1:49:04 this beautiful view out onto Road here
1:49:07 and Dale is is what you're describing
1:49:10 what we did through human services that
1:49:14 was called community convening community
1:49:18 conversation okay
1:49:22 but I really like I I really like the
1:49:24 speed dating structure within that like
1:49:27 I I'm of course love getting to like the
1:49:29 thinking about what it's going to feel
1:49:30 like in the room and I don't want to
1:49:32 rush ahead to get there because we
1:49:34 probably should be thinking big pictures
1:49:36 strategic about like to one end but um I
1:49:41 do because I think in that we can talk
1:49:43 tell our story who we are answer
1:49:46 questions and then also see what are you
1:49:49 looking at what do you see seeing what
1:49:50 do you need and asking cu the speed
1:49:53 dating is a two-way communication so you
1:49:56 are getting that and you're getting it
1:49:57 in smaller groups and each one of us if
1:50:01 we go two by twos in stad of
1:50:02 individually because that can be
1:50:04 overwhelming then we're getting a
1:50:07 dialogue and each one of us might even
1:50:09 hear something slightly different
1:50:10 because when you listen like me
1:50:13 listening to you and then caric
1:50:15 listening to you we might pull different
1:50:17 parts of your story and then coming back
1:50:19 and say this is what I heard this is
1:50:21 what I heard and
1:50:23 Deb she's got both a great comment in
1:50:26 the chat and um
1:50:32 is mut you're still muted you're muted
1:50:35 Tre REM muted you I bet just
1:50:39 kiding so um one of the things that um
1:50:44 we do at my work that we find to be
1:50:46 really successful is a program called
1:50:49 connect con Challenge and change um and
1:50:53 basically it's a panelized format um
1:50:57 where we could possibly have the equity
1:50:59 board join in and just talk answer five
1:51:03 simple questions that the community
1:51:04 might have about the equity board and
1:51:07 give them an opportunity to ask
1:51:08 questions um and everyone can chime in
1:51:11 or choose not to chime in if you don't
1:51:13 have a comment at the time um but we
1:51:16 make it really simple it's about 30
1:51:18 minutes and it's designed to be a
1:51:20 listening session for the community at
1:51:23 large versus a um a a direct way
1:51:29 to versus a d a a scare to people who
1:51:33 are on the equity board because I
1:51:35 understand that like maybe doing
1:51:37 profiles might not be in everybody's
1:51:39 interest or possibly you know sharing
1:51:41 personal information about ourselves
1:51:43 might not be a big thing that everybody
1:51:45 wants to do however in a connect
1:51:48 challenge change we could simply ask the
1:51:51 question like what do you all do or why
1:51:53 do you believe in equity or why do you
1:51:54 think isqua needs Equity um or and and
1:51:57 those kinds of thought-provoking
1:51:59 questions can kind of explain who we are
1:52:02 and why we're here and then give the
1:52:05 community a chance to maybe email or
1:52:07 follow up and say hey I really like that
1:52:09 or hey I don't understand why you all do
1:52:12 this and give us some room to kind of um
1:52:16 get to the tough questions without
1:52:18 having someone attack us for what we're
1:52:21 doing does that make
1:52:24 sense yeah and I also think your comment
1:52:26 in the chat around doing an interview
1:52:28 with the isqua buzz podcast video cast
1:52:31 is also a really great option those get
1:52:33 watched I watched I've been listening to
1:52:36 them I love the
1:52:38 podcast good job to them like our
1:52:41 YouTube channel has over a million
1:52:43 unique views uh which is like legit for
1:52:46 a city our size having that much
1:52:49 engagement and so I think also using
1:52:51 some of the Avenues that exist could be
1:52:54 great as well um there's one other thing
1:52:57 that I oh one of the other things that I
1:53:00 was thinking about I think that um pry
1:53:03 and I have talked about is also learning
1:53:05 from the other groups that have sort of
1:53:08 Grassroots gained more traction within
1:53:11 City decision-making um so specifically
1:53:15 environmental efforts over the course of
1:53:17 the last 30 years in this city um it
1:53:20 could be good to bring in that um
1:53:24 advocacy group to talk up a little bit
1:53:25 about how they gained ground um and sort
1:53:29 of got the city to start doing things
1:53:31 like creating a sustainable purchasing
1:53:32 policy which there aren't any other
1:53:35 cities our size that are doing that um
1:53:37 but that's an outside group right it is
1:53:40 but ultimately the board itself can't be
1:53:43 only voice pushing for change I think
1:53:46 but are
1:53:47 we because I'm trying to sort out what
1:53:49 we're trying to accomplish right and I
1:53:53 have a background in community
1:53:54 engagement right and I have really like
1:53:58 strong feelings about it so I'm like
1:54:00 sitting here holding them back trying to
1:54:01 sort it out because here's the thing
1:54:04 it's a lot of work this is Staff this is
1:54:07 hired Consultants helping if you're
1:54:10 really doing community engagement if
1:54:12 what we're trying to do is let people
1:54:14 know we exist then that's a great that's
1:54:17 a great thing for us to to take on but
1:54:20 to what end do they build relationships
1:54:24 and I've have actually talked about this
1:54:25 before here do we have them build
1:54:27 relationships with board members who are
1:54:29 not decision makers and removed we
1:54:32 advise at best and we leave we're not
1:54:38 we're not permanent so you really want
1:54:40 them to be building relationships with
1:54:42 staff right you really do and so we need
1:54:46 to be taking that into account when
1:54:49 we're do advising a community because we
1:54:51 are I'm going to just say it again this
1:54:54 is an equity issue this group is being
1:54:58 asked to not only re uh work on
1:55:01 policymaking and Advising around policy
1:55:04 but to actually go out and do community
1:55:08 engagement right it's staff who's been
1:55:10 doing it for the other groups this an
1:55:13 interesting yeah it's an interesting
1:55:15 look at
1:55:16 Equity it is in the way it's set up is
1:55:19 that we're supposed to go out and talk
1:55:20 to our constituents or groups that we
1:55:23 work with right and that that's not a
1:55:26 bad thing to do if it's if it's easy to
1:55:28 do but if you have to build
1:55:31 it that's interesting that's an equity
1:55:34 thing yeah so so I think we have a lot
1:55:39 of work to do to sort out what we really
1:55:41 want to do which is goes back to where
1:55:42 you started yeah well and I think that
1:55:45 also calls into question is our scope
1:55:48 overly Broad
1:55:50 yes because it's like all things Equity
1:55:52 when the other ones are a little bit
1:55:53 more focused and maybe like policy or
1:55:55 plan development and we have all the
1:55:57 things and does that really set us up
1:55:59 for Success yeah um although so what
1:56:03 what I was hearing though which I was
1:56:05 getting excited about was like thinking
1:56:07 about deals coming around the park right
1:56:08 so I think maybe the first quarter
1:56:11 something is around letting people know
1:56:12 we exist the booth or something like
1:56:15 that and then Somewhere over the course
1:56:18 of time May June doing stuff like the
1:56:21 speed dating or what Shay said around
1:56:24 the connect challenge change to have
1:56:26 like a slightly deeper engagement and
1:56:29 then we see if there's Readiness to talk
1:56:31 about okay City residents what do you
1:56:34 what do you want with respect to equity
1:56:36 how do you define it what should it look
1:56:38 like in our city and then start to
1:56:41 figure out what the the their there is
1:56:44 and where we want to move to as a city
1:56:46 what are we ready for um and maybe that
1:56:48 takes a year I don't actually know like
1:56:51 how long
1:56:52 something my only comment is we've been
1:56:54 here for we're approaching two years and
1:56:57 we have not been out of this conference
1:56:59 room to hear other voices I mean we
1:57:01 we've been in meetings but I I just want
1:57:02 to be able to hear what what do our
1:57:05 residences what our name and I don't
1:57:07 think we need to organize the hearing
1:57:09 session to your point I think we need to
1:57:11 be part of the group that's also
1:57:13 listening with other City residents
1:57:16 because the city residents are going to
1:57:18 be hearing
1:57:19 strongly but sometimes we're listening
1:57:22 to it with a different perspective yes
1:57:24 so for example at today's meeting I'm
1:57:27 coming in with what I've spoken to
1:57:29 families within my experience but it
1:57:31 would be great to hear a listening
1:57:33 session from families who have tried to
1:57:37 to be to register and have not succeeded
1:57:40 or succeeded whatever the experiences
1:57:42 are right so that we know that voice
1:57:46 before we're responding to them because
1:57:48 right now
1:57:50 it we just happen to be that I had some
1:57:53 experience and some of you had some
1:57:55 experience but if you didn't it was kind
1:57:57 of hard to really engage in this
1:58:00 conversation and to see what some of the
1:58:02 barriers were so I I agree with you that
1:58:07 it's they need to be the ones listening
1:58:09 but we also need to be the ones
1:58:11 listening because sometimes you're
1:58:12 listening to what they're saying but
1:58:15 without
1:58:17 really understanding what other parents
1:58:19 or not fa how the community um feedback
1:58:22 they've received on that topic we're
1:58:24 hearing something you're hearing
1:58:26 something that maybe the the staff memb
1:58:27 is not here right yes or they heard
1:58:30 stuff that we don't know about also
1:58:33 going back to Shay's comment about the
1:58:36 or your comment about the artc I think I
1:58:39 always feel like when it comes to juneth
1:58:42 we're struggling at the last minute to
1:58:43 come up with some kind of activity so I
1:58:45 like the idea that we're talking now
1:58:47 because I feel like two years ago we did
1:58:50 do a panel that the city had organized
1:58:53 and the equity team was presenting for
1:58:57 June and so that could be part of a
1:59:00 community conversation and we can start
1:59:03 advertising for that way in advance and
1:59:06 it's not really us and it could be a
1:59:09 city or some group maybe a local group
1:59:14 organizing this conversation piece and
1:59:16 we're there to listen because I think 3
1:59:18 years ago 4 years ago 2020 that juneth
1:59:22 in the community center I think many of
1:59:25 us were there just listening to what the
1:59:28 students were
1:59:30 saying the youth is
1:59:33 should sh your hand is
1:59:37 up um and I just wanted to um provide
1:59:41 pry and Laura with Lorna with some
1:59:43 clarification on connect challenge
1:59:45 changes they are always two-way so um
1:59:48 typically when we do things like that we
1:59:51 will start with those that are on the
1:59:54 side we're talking about so for example
1:59:56 with lgbtq plus we start with those who
1:59:59 are in that community and then we switch
2:00:03 over in another session and talk to
2:00:06 those who are not in that community and
2:00:08 then we kind of merge them together um
2:00:11 and we try to do it in a really concise
2:00:13 Way by making sure that we ask those
2:00:17 questions that people want to know about
2:00:19 but we also give everyone an opportunity
2:00:21 to kind of speak up and say what they um
2:00:24 what what some people are thinking or
2:00:25 what some people are questioning or what
2:00:27 some people are trying to figure out
2:00:29 when they come to these sessions so um I
2:00:32 do love that you kind of pointed that
2:00:34 out already um because that's kind of
2:00:37 the whole point is to get all the sides
2:00:40 that we can to to contribute to the
2:00:45 conversation just noting time we're
2:00:48 already over one of the next steps I'm
2:00:50 going to take is I really like this idea
2:00:52 of getting clear on like when is
2:00:54 community engagement the city's already
2:00:55 planning happening yeah so that we can
2:00:57 be present in those spaces as as we deem
2:01:00 them to be relevant to us um so I can
2:01:03 carry that forward I mean everyone's
2:01:05 doing their work planning like now
2:01:07 through January so we can definitely
2:01:10 have that in hand we're going to also be
2:01:13 work planning between now and then so
2:01:15 we're going to do a little work planning
2:01:16 before we have that calendar but we can
2:01:18 be thinking about that as part of where
2:01:20 we want to be and how where we want to
2:01:22 be listening um throughout the
2:01:26 spring but we'll come back to this
2:01:28 conversation as part of our work plan
2:01:30 conversation just wanted to plant the
2:01:31 seed because I think it's it's a good
2:01:34 one it's like a it's like a juicy topic
2:01:37 for us to be thinking about um this
2:01:40 second item I'm just going to mention I
2:01:42 know it says 10 minutes doesn't need 10
2:01:44 minutes um our meeting in January is
2:01:46 January 3rd um I don't know about you
2:01:49 all but that's not a date that I can
2:01:51 make um cently P it up and I
2:01:54 wonder so I'm going to propose that we
2:01:56 meet the second Wednesday um I wanted to
2:02:00 see right now if if folks knew already
2:02:02 that that either works or like knew that
2:02:04 they absolutely can't make second
2:02:06 Wednesdays work but that is the 10th of
2:02:09 January
2:02:11 um and the only great I will make that
2:02:15 happen it will show up as a special
2:02:16 meeting it's not on a normal night but
2:02:19 we will run it just as we run any
2:02:20 meeting we I can guarantee I can make it
2:02:24 but um it doesn't
2:02:27 matter Fair it is months away um great
2:02:32 that is the last topic here for other
2:02:34 business uh
2:02:38 currently all right so I think with that
2:02:41 we are ready to adour so the next meting
2:02:45 is currently scheduled for I December 6
2:02:49 it is okay December 6 and I adjourn this
2:02:53 meeting at 8:08
2:02:55 p.m. have a great evening and thanks for
2:02:59 the Lively conversation thank
2:03:02 youone D I just checked in I do have an
2:03:05 event on that date so I won't be able to
2:03:07 attend that so it was wonderful to see
2:03:09 you shay welcome back Christina