Human Services Commission · Wednesday, January 18, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of October 19, 2022

packet pp.3–4

▶ Watch from 0:29 Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 10-19-22 Human Services Commission Minutes Page 1 CITY OF ISSAQUAH Human Services Commission 6:30 PM Steelhead Room, 235 1st Ave. October 19, 2022 MINUTES SE, Issaquah

4. AGENDA ITEMS

20 min. Input

Tisha Gieser, City Clerk · packet pp.23

▶ Watch from 1:12:31 Open packet at p.23 ↗

Staff report:

During the 2021-2022 Human Services funding cycle, the City of Issaquah funded 57 programs. Of these, 29 were included in a pooled program with other cities on the eastside, to help create efficiencies and decrease contractual burden for organizations. Administration for these pooled contracts was done jointly by staff from the 5 eastside cities, Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Redmond, and Sammamish, with payment being coordinated by the City of Bellevue.

2022 Human Services Grants - Report

15 min · Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.25

Topics: BudgetEquity

▶ Watch from 1:14:12 Open packet at p.25 ↗

Staff report:

ISSAQUAH HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION 2023 WORK PLAN - Draft

2023 Human Services Commission Workplan - Update

20 min · Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

Topics: Equity

▶ Watch from 1:19:18

5. REPORTS

Chair Report

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

2487 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ okay so I'm calling to order the uh

0:03 ↗ January 18th Human Services Commission

0:08 ↗ and

0:09 ↗ um I guess I will start by asking Monica

0:13 ↗ if there's any reason are we having

0:15 ↗ public comment this evening we don't

0:18 ↗ have anyone signed up for public

0:19 ↗ comments and nobody submitted any public

0:21 ↗ comments okay and I've been standing on

0:23 ↗ online or in the room in the comments

0:25 ↗ all right and um okay then we need to

0:29 ↗ vote on the approval of the minutes and

0:31 ↗ I'm sure the minutes are very fresh

0:34 ↗ in everybody's mind from October

0:40 ↗ um does anybody want to make a motion

0:45 ↗ all right a second okay all in favor say

0:49 ↗ hi hi okay

0:53 ↗ all right anybody

0:54 ↗ Nays okay they're approved

1:03 ↗ okay and then I think the next thing

1:06 ↗ we're gonna do is just move right into

1:08 ↗ tisha's presentation wonderful and I am

1:12 ↗ going to hi everybody I'm Tisha Geezer

1:14 ↗ I'm the city clerk I've met most of you

1:16 ↗ at least virtually if not in person

1:19 ↗ um it's nice nice to see you and see

1:21 ↗ names with faces thank you for your

1:23 ↗ service I'm always impressed with the

1:26 ↗ number of individuals we have volunteer

1:29 ↗ to serve on we have 13 advisory boards

1:32 ↗ in the city so

1:34 ↗ um a lot of spoken Brett and we're

1:35 ↗ really grateful to have your your input

1:37 ↗ on um so many important issues that are

1:40 ↗ coming before the city all the time

1:43 ↗ um so tonight I'm talking here to talk

1:46 ↗ to you about and I'm sorry I'm pulling

1:48 ↗ up my PowerPoint right now so I have a

1:50 ↗ do you have a few visuals to go along

1:53 ↗ with my presentation

1:55 ↗ was some of that included in the packet

1:58 ↗ was that the yeah okay okay I just want

2:00 ↗ to make sure I'm in the right place

2:04 ↗ so in your packet it starts on page 17 I

2:09 ↗ think yeah

2:12 ↗ okay

2:15 ↗ now it actually starts on page five

2:19 ↗ five yes the actual policy starts on

2:22 ↗ page 17. yeah

2:24 ↗ so

2:26 ↗ um

2:28 ↗ thank you

2:30 ↗ um so uh as you recall during during the

2:34 ↗ covid pandemic the commission met

2:36 ↗ entirely virtually for um

2:39 ↗ I mean I'm close to two years so the uh

2:43 ↗ the commission is subject to the state's

2:45 ↗ open public meetings act and I know you

2:47 ↗ can't believe you recently received

2:49 ↗ training on the action so one of the

2:51 ↗ requirements in that act is that you

2:53 ↗ have to have your meetings have to be

2:54 ↗ open to the public and so during covid

2:57 ↗ um the governor suspended the

2:59 ↗ requirement that we have an in-person

3:00 ↗ open door location for you but said

3:04 ↗ instead we needed to have a phone number

3:06 ↗ people could call in too so that you'd

3:08 ↗ hear hear your meeting and in our case

3:10 ↗ we've we purchased some software and we

3:12 ↗ allowed people to join by computer

3:15 ↗ so during the coveted pandemic there was

3:17 ↗ a governor and eventually the

3:19 ↗ legislature kind of put a pause on that

3:21 ↗ in person requirement

3:23 ↗ and

3:24 ↗ um in June uh the governor announced

3:27 ↗ that he was suspending that sort of

3:30 ↗ exception uh to the open public meetings

3:32 ↗ act and we were kind of resuming the

3:34 ↗ normal course of business however we do

3:37 ↗ now have a stipulation or a

3:41 ↗ should I call it we do still have we

3:43 ↗ have a provision in the open public

3:45 ↗ meetings act that anticipates

3:48 ↗ um a need to go all virtual again so if

3:50 ↗ we need to do that there's now rules in

3:52 ↗ place which is wonderful but that

3:54 ↗ in-person meeting requirement came back

3:56 ↗ into being July 1st believe your board

3:59 ↗ resumed in-person meetings in September

4:02 ↗ because we were trying to get this room

4:04 ↗ ready to just kind of figure things out

4:07 ↗ so all of our boards and commissions

4:09 ↗ came back

4:10 ↗ um in either July or in September and

4:12 ↗ the mayor um if you recall she sent a

4:14 ↗ few emails out and she really emphasized

4:16 ↗ she wanted boards and commissions

4:19 ↗ commissioned nurse in seats in in

4:22 ↗ physical meeting spaces but that we

4:25 ↗ would be offering a virtual uh option

4:27 ↗ for members of the public and presenters

4:30 ↗ that was the initial expectation

4:33 ↗ uh however the mayor's office and US

4:36 ↗ city staff heard feedback over those

4:38 ↗ first few months of coming back the

4:41 ↗ boarding commission members liked to

4:42 ↗ have the flexibility to attend virtually

4:45 ↗ as well we aren't running a virtual uh

4:48 ↗ meeting for all of our boards and

4:49 ↗ commission so your commission was one of

4:51 ↗ the ones selected to have that hybrid

4:53 ↗ meeting option and we purchased

4:55 ↗ equipment set up these rooms we have

4:57 ↗ three meeting rooms in the city that can

5:00 ↗ accommodate this

5:02 ↗ um so after hearing some feedback from

5:04 ↗ board and Commissioners the mayor asked

5:06 ↗ me to draft a policy to because no one's

5:09 ↗ rules sort of allow for virtual

5:11 ↗ participation it was just something we

5:13 ↗ started doing during covid so she asked

5:15 ↗ me to draft a policy to allow for

5:17 ↗ virtual uh participation button really

5:19 ↗ limited circumstances is

5:21 ↗ so I'm going to talk to you about this

5:23 ↗ draft policy which was in your packet

5:25 ↗ which is sort of you know coming coming

5:28 ↗ from the city

5:29 ↗ um but I I also want to start by saying

5:31 ↗ that the

5:32 ↗ um the rules about how the Commissioners

5:35 ↗ attend meetings are in the commission's

5:37 ↗ rules and regulations those are

5:39 ↗ controlled by you the Commissioners you

5:42 ↗ vote to make changes to those rules so

5:44 ↗ tonight I'm hoping you think about

5:46 ↗ expectations the group of you have both

5:49 ↗ now and in the future and for future

5:50 ↗ Commissioners and what you're looking

5:52 ↗ for and after I talk about the

5:54 ↗ maintenance of the draft policy I'll

5:56 ↗ share with you I've been taking this

5:58 ↗ Ranch to

5:59 ↗ I think I've been to about five or six

6:01 ↗ boards so far and so they're all

6:04 ↗ adopting slightly different versions you

6:06 ↗ know they all have salt share um some of

6:08 ↗ what the other boards are doing

6:11 ↗ so the policy is it's pretty short but

6:14 ↗ in case you didn't have a time time to

6:16 ↗ look at it let me tell you about some

6:18 ↗ key components so the draft policy says

6:21 ↗ that

6:22 ↗ um a essentially you would need to

6:25 ↗ request permission to attend virtually

6:27 ↗ and you would do that if if you are

6:29 ↗ unable to attend the meeting and you

6:32 ↗ know you could interpret unable to

6:34 ↗ attend in different ways the idea behind

6:37 ↗ that is if you have you know sort of a

6:39 ↗ medical situation you're recovering from

6:41 ↗ a procedure you're in quarantine you're

6:43 ↗ not feeling well you have a

6:44 ↗ transportation issue a child care issue

6:46 ↗ you're maybe traveling for a business

6:48 ↗ trip

6:49 ↗ um and not not in Issaquah so those are

6:52 ↗ some of the reasons that were intended

6:54 ↗ by that wording

6:56 ↗ um but it's meant to really emphasize

6:58 ↗ that if you're you're around and you

7:00 ↗ don't have any of those things impeding

7:03 ↗ your ability to attend that you would be

7:04 ↗ in person

7:06 ↗ hi

7:10 ↗ um the policy also says that for a

7:13 ↗ quorum would be in person so that means

7:15 ↗ four of you would need to be here

7:17 ↗ physically for the need to proceed and

7:20 ↗ that's sort of for two reasons that's

7:21 ↗ one to again encourage that in-person

7:23 ↗ attendance and the second reason is we

7:25 ↗ have an issue with the technology

7:28 ↗ um

7:29 ↗ and we don't have four of you

7:31 ↗ that it needs to stop because we lose a

7:34 ↗ form so if there was a technical issue

7:36 ↗ we do have some awesome I.T stuff but if

7:38 ↗ there's a problem and pillow

7:41 ↗ um and we can't get the um equipment

7:44 ↗ working or if there's some sort of you

7:46 ↗ know internet outage or something like

7:48 ↗ that

7:49 ↗ um so that's the reason for the the

7:51 ↗ Quorum uh required in person

7:55 ↗ and then there's um some language in the

7:57 ↗ draft policy about if you do attend

7:58 ↗ virtually so if you reach out to Monica

8:00 ↗ and say you know I'm in Eastern

8:02 ↗ Washington but I'd like to still

8:03 ↗ participate at the meeting or I'm not

8:04 ↗ feeling well but I'd like to participate

8:06 ↗ in the meeting she would kind of confirm

8:08 ↗ that a quorum would be in person and uh

8:11 ↗ she would then know that you would be

8:13 ↗ virtual while attending virtually you

8:15 ↗ would be encouraged to indicate you're

8:17 ↗ there and able to participate in the

8:19 ↗ meeting by having your camera on as much

8:21 ↗ as possible

8:22 ↗ um and engaging with the group

8:24 ↗ um one thing this virtual attendance

8:26 ↗ option isn't meant to replace is is

8:28 ↗ needing an excused absence so if you're

8:30 ↗ really unwell if you are taking a

8:33 ↗ vacation and some time away for yourself

8:35 ↗ or with your family you know we want you

8:37 ↗ to to let us know and and request an

8:39 ↗ excused absence

8:41 ↗ um we don't want the virtual tenants to

8:43 ↗ make you feel like you need to attend

8:45 ↗ every in all meeting no matter where you

8:46 ↗ are

8:47 ↗ uh so back to the draft policy another

8:50 ↗ provision in it is that if you're the

8:53 ↗ chair

8:54 ↗ um you would be expected to be in person

8:55 ↗ or if you needed to attend virtually you

8:57 ↗ would ask if I share or have the

8:59 ↗ commission um nominate another person to

9:01 ↗ chair that meeting the chair would

9:03 ↗ always be someone in the room

9:08 ↗ um

9:11 ↗ talks about is it it sort of formalizes

9:14 ↗ the fact that your regular meetings um

9:16 ↗ will have this virtual option it is

9:18 ↗ something the city is committed to doing

9:21 ↗ um and barring some major unforeseen

9:24 ↗ issue we'll have all of your regular

9:26 ↗ meetings we'll have we'll publish that

9:28 ↗ WebEx link

9:29 ↗ um and ensure virtual attendance there

9:32 ↗ could I will say there could be some

9:34 ↗ special meetings if you decide to have

9:35 ↗ you know a social Gathering or a meeting

9:38 ↗ with a joint meeting with another board

9:39 ↗ or permission or a tour or something

9:41 ↗ like that we probably wouldn't offer a

9:43 ↗ virtual option

9:44 ↗ um but one of the real changes is to

9:46 ↗ just sort of document that intention

9:49 ↗ um and also clarify that the public can

9:51 ↗ make comments virtually and attend

9:52 ↗ virtually and also staff I don't know if

9:54 ↗ you've had any staff present to you

9:56 ↗ virtually but it is happening at some of

9:58 ↗ our other boards and commissions

10:00 ↗ um and then I added

10:01 ↗ um some language I noticed as I was

10:04 ↗ looking through the commission's rules I

10:06 ↗ was just kind of skimming it and we we

10:09 ↗ try and keep parity uh between our 13

10:11 ↗ board and commission's rules and I

10:14 ↗ noticed there was not a lot of language

10:16 ↗ around public comment and while all of

10:19 ↗ your meetings need to be open to the

10:21 ↗ public

10:23 ↗ um the the parameters under which people

10:25 ↗ provide public comment are up to you and

10:28 ↗ I would recommend adding some of this

10:30 ↗ language about what could be procedures

10:32 ↗ inappropriate so if someone is saying

10:35 ↗ um let's see the word the word in here

10:37 ↗ is pretty

10:38 ↗ um what page are you on oh I'm off sorry

10:41 ↗ I don't have your packet open I'm on

10:44 ↗ this Redline copy of the document okay

10:47 ↗ okay very good got it the last page so

10:52 ↗ actually the bottom of the second to

10:54 ↗ last so I added some language that's in

10:56 ↗ our other boarding commission rules that

10:58 ↗ just sort of say you know we'd like you

11:00 ↗ to state your name we'd like you to

11:01 ↗ limit your comments to five minutes but

11:03 ↗ the chair can adjust that time frame

11:05 ↗ we'd like you to give Monica if you come

11:08 ↗ with prepared comments it could be

11:09 ↗ helpful for her to have the written

11:11 ↗ comments

11:12 ↗ um and then we it talks a little bit

11:14 ↗ about the virtual attendance and then

11:16 ↗ lastly it has some parameters around you

11:19 ↗ know things that aren't allowed during

11:21 ↗ your public personal attacks I've seen

11:22 ↗ yeah exactly and that just gives the

11:25 ↗ chair some something to stand on if

11:27 ↗ there is someone that comes in is

11:29 ↗ disruptive you know you have this

11:30 ↗ published uh policy for your public

11:33 ↗ comment and it talks about what the

11:35 ↗ chair can do

11:37 ↗ um you know direct the person to their

11:38 ↗ seat and you have the staff and you

11:40 ↗ their microphone so this is sort of

11:42 ↗ separate from the virtual attendance

11:44 ↗ piece but it's something I'd recommend

11:45 ↗ adding or a version of this

11:49 ↗ uh so uh you've gotten the rundown of

11:54 ↗ this draft policy let me uh share with

11:56 ↗ you uh what some of the other boards and

11:58 ↗ commissions are are thinking about

12:00 ↗ related to this policy and my

12:02 ↗ expectation for tonight

12:04 ↗ I'd love to hear your input and um do

12:07 ↗ some tweaking if you have some tweaking

12:09 ↗ um to this policy and ask that you have

12:12 ↗ actually adopt these amendments to your

12:14 ↗ rules at your next meeting I'd like to

12:16 ↗ we want to have the language you know

12:18 ↗ um solidified so uh we can talk more

12:21 ↗ about it but that was my expectation for

12:23 ↗ uh tonight

12:25 ↗ uh so let me share some input we from

12:28 ↗ the other boards and commissions that

12:29 ↗ I've met with so far so two of the

12:31 ↗ boards um pretty much adopted the policy

12:34 ↗ as is

12:35 ↗ um that was our development commission

12:36 ↗ and our transportation Advisory Board

12:38 ↗ both groups um had a tendency and a real

12:42 ↗ um desire we were enjoying that

12:45 ↗ in-person element and I should I I

12:47 ↗ didn't talk about this earlier I should

12:49 ↗ mention one of the I talked a little bit

12:51 ↗ about that desire to have in-person

12:53 ↗ attendance for the Quorum and so if

12:55 ↗ there's we have a you know an internet

12:57 ↗ issue or computer issue your meeting can

13:00 ↗ proceed some other reasons why the mayor

13:03 ↗ was Advocate it continues to advocate

13:06 ↗ for that

13:07 ↗ um is there's just Synergy that comes

13:10 ↗ when you're in person and I think during

13:12 ↗ covid it was perceived that it was

13:14 ↗ difficult for some of the board and

13:16 ↗ commission members to just you know

13:18 ↗ connect with each other especially for

13:19 ↗ newer members and newer boards

13:21 ↗ um another reason why the mayor um has

13:24 ↗ has been an emphasis on that is just you

13:27 ↗ know one of the expectations of these

13:29 ↗ advisory boards is that they're a place

13:30 ↗ that the public can come and share their

13:32 ↗ input and so having people come into the

13:34 ↗ meeting room of course they can always

13:36 ↗ come virtually from the comfort of their

13:37 ↗ home but wanting to make sure that they

13:39 ↗ have some

13:40 ↗ people to connect with in the room so I

13:43 ↗ didn't share that earlier so those are

13:45 ↗ some of her

13:46 ↗ um

13:48 ↗ some of some of her rationale for that

13:50 ↗ interest not in person attendance and so

13:52 ↗ the first two words I mentioned really

13:54 ↗ that

13:56 ↗ um

13:56 ↗ that aligned with their feelings since

13:58 ↗ they adopted this policy almost as is

14:01 ↗ however I've since gone to the park

14:04 ↗ board environmental board and Equity

14:06 ↗ board and those three boards have really

14:09 ↗ um really liked the flexibility of the

14:12 ↗ virtual attendance and for for different

14:14 ↗ reasons so on the park boards one of our

14:16 ↗ larger boards so lots of board members

14:19 ↗ lots of newer board members and they are

14:20 ↗ really enjoying that flexibility you

14:23 ↗ know that some of them are parents are

14:25 ↗ dealing with commuting and have just

14:27 ↗ said that that's an element that they

14:29 ↗ want to retain and they feel that um

14:32 ↗ that it works well for their board so

14:35 ↗ um they haven't adopted a final version

14:36 ↗ but it will be modified from this

14:39 ↗ um the environmental board adopted the

14:41 ↗ policy last week and they um changed it

14:44 ↗ so they removed the requirement that a

14:47 ↗ certain number of board members be in

14:49 ↗ the room but instead said that all board

14:53 ↗ members would be expected to attend half

14:55 ↗ of the yearly meetings in person and

14:58 ↗ just and included some language really

15:00 ↗ emphasizing the in-person attendance but

15:03 ↗ took away the minimum number they also

15:05 ↗ took away sort of any kind of rap

15:08 ↗ for not attending so the wording

15:10 ↗ currently says if you're unable to

15:12 ↗ attend a person they wanted that removed

15:13 ↗ they wanted it to be flexible but they

15:16 ↗ want to encourage people to

15:18 ↗ come

15:18 ↗ um the equity board which I talked to a

15:20 ↗ few weeks ago really felt that to allow

15:22 ↗ for broad participation

15:25 ↗ um in recruiting members that they felt

15:27 ↗ it was important to have that virtual

15:29 ↗ attendance option for someone who might

15:31 ↗ have transportation issues a disability

15:33 ↗ be working multiple jobs just

15:36 ↗ um they felt that that is really

15:38 ↗ in-person attendance could be a barrier

15:40 ↗ and they want to remove barriers and

15:42 ↗ please if you have any other thoughts

15:44 ↗ but so they have not adopted a final

15:47 ↗ policy but we'll be making some changes

15:48 ↗ as well so

15:50 ↗ um that's what I have I welcome your

15:53 ↗ input

15:54 ↗ so I have a question you said one of the

15:58 ↗ other commissions they added language

16:01 ↗ that at least

16:02 ↗ they put in a number I'm I don't know 50

16:04 ↗ percent

16:05 ↗ you had to attend in person 50 of the

16:08 ↗ time but was there anything about just

16:10 ↗ attending meetings in general

16:12 ↗ I mean I think and most all of our

16:15 ↗ boards have an expectation that regular

16:17 ↗ members attend all meetings unless they

16:19 ↗ request an excused absence and actually

16:21 ↗ in most most of the boards have rules

16:23 ↗ actually in the ordinances that created

16:26 ↗ them saying if you miss three

16:28 ↗ consecutive meanings it could be caused

16:30 ↗ for removal so okay and one I'll just

16:33 ↗ share one thing that came up in the

16:35 ↗ conversation for the boards that want to

16:37 ↗ remove that minimum is you know thinking

16:39 ↗ about

16:40 ↗ um so is it are you okay if you're one

16:42 ↗ of two people you know in a meeting room

16:45 ↗ because if we if you take away that

16:46 ↗ minimum

16:48 ↗ um so their their compromise was you

16:51 ↗ know six roughly six meetings a year the

16:53 ↗ Commissioners will tend to be in the

16:55 ↗ room it could be that it's the same six

16:57 ↗ meetings I'm sure some of them will

16:59 ↗ attend all the meetings in person or

17:01 ↗ most you know it's just kind of what

17:03 ↗ dynamic you're looking for and think you

17:05 ↗ think works well for

17:07 ↗ um this commission and the work of your

17:09 ↗ commission

17:15 ↗ hey Brad

17:17 ↗ um when I first read this I thought my

17:19 ↗ first thought was that

17:22 ↗ kind of like the other uh committees is

17:24 ↗ that I'd like to see it opened up

17:28 ↗ um but being the fact that if you're

17:31 ↗ going to have a public coming in

17:34 ↗ you don't want an empty room when I'm

17:36 ↗ sitting in those chairs you know

17:39 ↗ but things are going more virtual so

17:43 ↗ this is going to be the only place where

17:44 ↗ there'd be an empty room and you're

17:45 ↗ looking at a screen

17:47 ↗ either so

17:48 ↗ um

17:49 ↗ yeah I I understand why the equity board

17:53 ↗ would want the flexibility

17:57 ↗ um I think

17:58 ↗ um you know that is moving towards being

18:02 ↗ able to pull more people in and

18:05 ↗ best thing that would go here too I

18:08 ↗ think for for the Human Service

18:11 ↗ Commission

18:12 ↗ so I'm I'm flexing back and forth right

18:17 ↗ there now he said that you mentioned uh

18:21 ↗ that we we were one of the only

18:22 ↗ commissions that went with the virtual

18:26 ↗ recently is that

18:28 ↗ um Ashley I may have misstated that if I

18:32 ↗ so we have 13 advisory boards currently

18:35 ↗ not all of the city

18:38 ↗ um committed to maintaining a like a

18:41 ↗ virtual component to about eight of them

18:43 ↗ three or nine because it takes a lot of

18:46 ↗ additional resources right

18:48 ↗ um so

18:50 ↗ Monica and I and I spent a lot of time

18:52 ↗ you know we spend a lot of time setting

18:54 ↗ up meetings in our virtual meeting

18:55 ↗ software we need specially equipped

18:57 ↗ rooms so a few of the boards that tend

19:00 ↗ to have less

19:01 ↗ um frequent public participation we've

19:04 ↗ we've just left as purely and they've

19:06 ↗ gone back to fully in person

19:09 ↗ um occasionally they're choosing to have

19:11 ↗ a hybrid meeting so that's what I meant

19:13 ↗ by that you are one of the eight or so

19:15 ↗ boards where the city felt it was

19:17 ↗ important that you have the continual

19:19 ↗ virtual option at least for the public

19:22 ↗ and then that's what you're discussing

19:24 ↗ is what that might look like for the

19:25 ↗ Commissioners so was The Advisory

19:27 ↗ board's choice to stay with the in

19:31 ↗ person

19:32 ↗ answer me

19:33 ↗ and not have the virtual element so of

19:36 ↗ the of the four or five that went where

19:40 ↗ the city said

19:41 ↗ um go ahead and just you know go back in

19:44 ↗ person I'll be honest most of them have

19:47 ↗ uh one of them is meeting tonight and

19:49 ↗ actually could not find a meeting room

19:51 ↗ that had this virtual we only have a few

19:53 ↗ meeting rooms with this technology so

19:55 ↗ um they're over at the community center

19:57 ↗ without a virtual element but we've been

19:59 ↗ trying to accommodate if they have a

20:01 ↗ higher profile meeting or have some

20:03 ↗ guested like to attend virtually we've

20:05 ↗ been accommodating that so they're kind

20:07 ↗ of a mix say

20:09 ↗ and we're still work and we're also

20:11 ↗ still figure you know to some extent

20:13 ↗ figuring this out

20:15 ↗ um those boards have not um

20:18 ↗ interestingly I haven't met with them to

20:20 ↗ discuss this yet I'm meeting with one of

20:22 ↗ one of them is our economic Vitality

20:24 ↗ commissioner I'm meeting with them next

20:25 ↗ month to talk about the policy and I'll

20:27 ↗ be really interested to hear what they

20:29 ↗ have to say because they have not had

20:31 ↗ the virtual option at every meeting like

20:33 ↗ you like your board has

20:36 ↗ so let me just I wanna for me I I've

20:40 ↗ really enjoy the flexibility for my

20:42 ↗ personal reasons but also thinking about

20:44 ↗ that flexibility I do recognize and I

20:48 ↗ see how the equity board will say let's

20:50 ↗ have it um have the flexibility here of

20:53 ↗ hybrid the hybrid system

20:56 ↗ um now I think we're gonna have to gauge

21:00 ↗ in terms of you know mostly this okay I

21:03 ↗ really recognize the human factors

21:05 ↗ coming together you know

21:08 ↗ um this certain element of us

21:09 ↗ interacting together however there's

21:12 ↗ also the other element of flexibility so

21:14 ↗ as many people as possible can

21:16 ↗ participate and not eliminating some of

21:18 ↗ the people who can say I really want to

21:20 ↗ be on the human condition but I can't

21:22 ↗ because of

21:23 ↗ XYZ personal reason or tonight

21:27 ↗ um if I if I I made an effort to come

21:30 ↗ here but I see how akola stayed home for

21:33 ↗ whatever reason for the reason I'm late

21:35 ↗ I'm sorry sorry so

21:38 ↗ so is like resources versus flexibility

21:41 ↗ so

21:43 ↗ um we have probably have to give

21:45 ↗ somewhere and it seems to me that many

21:48 ↗ of us who volunteer on this board come

21:51 ↗ with good faith in that we want to

21:54 ↗ invest we want that human connection

21:56 ↗ that's why we are doing this and uh just

21:59 ↗ by that it's like I think having a

22:01 ↗ flexible a hybrid situation uh

22:05 ↗ people who really still try to come in

22:07 ↗ person until they can't right so that's

22:10 ↗ those are the premises from which I'm

22:12 ↗ going we gain with that flexibility and

22:15 ↗ yes there are situations where okay if

22:18 ↗ only one or two people are in the room

22:20 ↗ you know

22:22 ↗ what happens but again it's all all

22:25 ↗ comes back to communication so if in

22:27 ↗ advance a week before we know that that

22:29 ↗ the uh this particular commission are we

22:33 ↗ all going to have one or two people and

22:35 ↗ they might not be okay then we have it

22:37 ↗ virtual and uh

22:40 ↗ knowing the Good Will of most of us

22:43 ↗ we're gonna just do those kind of things

22:46 ↗ when it's really needed and hopefully

22:48 ↗ we're gonna be together more than uh

22:51 ↗ more times and lesser time

22:53 ↗ you know

22:56 ↗ well I have a question oh no you go

22:59 ↗ ahead no you spoke first well I was just

23:01 ↗ gonna ask if just to start from the

23:04 ↗ Baseline would anybody

23:07 ↗ not be favorable to adapting the draft

23:11 ↗ as is

23:14 ↗ I mean does somebody feel strongly about

23:15 ↗ you know starting with the draft and

23:18 ↗ then making some amendments well rather

23:20 ↗ than getting to that why don't we have

23:21 ↗ everybody give their opinions first okay

23:23 ↗ because I have one okay but that's why I

23:26 ↗ was going to say you go Laurie Edwards

23:28 ↗ here yeah

23:29 ↗ um I

23:31 ↗ I do a lot of virtual stuff and uh in

23:34 ↗ fact

23:35 ↗ um have been doing a lot of virtual

23:37 ↗ stuff for a couple of years now and I

23:39 ↗ find that when I do that I have and

23:43 ↗ believe it or not I do other things

23:45 ↗ other than the Human Services Commission

23:48 ↗ um

23:49 ↗ I find that I can have a meeting from

23:51 ↗ four to six and then another meeting

23:54 ↗ from six till eight

23:56 ↗ um if I have to be someplace in person

23:59 ↗ that becomes real problematic

24:02 ↗ um and now the the flip side of that is

24:06 ↗ the the counter to that is in order for

24:09 ↗ me to participate I have to have a

24:11 ↗ computer I have to have the internet uh

24:14 ↗ and if I don't have those things then

24:16 ↗ that kind of precludes me being part of

24:19 ↗ the of the whole thing the other thing

24:21 ↗ is is I really get the idea I get the

24:23 ↗ the thing of being together in the same

24:27 ↗ room

24:29 ↗ um

24:30 ↗ and all the nuances that you get from

24:33 ↗ that

24:35 ↗ um however I can say that after two

24:38 ↗ years of being on the computer virtually

24:40 ↗ you know I get that now anyway I mean

24:43 ↗ I'm able to

24:45 ↗ zoom in on my Hollywood Squares screen

24:47 ↗ and and uh and and see people and know

24:52 ↗ that oh that's you know this is what

24:55 ↗ they're thinking or

24:57 ↗ um

24:57 ↗ so I like the flexibility I really do I

25:01 ↗ would like to be more virtual rather

25:04 ↗ than have to take the time to

25:06 ↗ drive down here drive home it just means

25:11 ↗ it's it's easier and more convenient to

25:13 ↗ be virtual

25:18 ↗ that one fish I when I read the your The

25:22 ↗ Proposal I thought it was very practical

25:25 ↗ I thought it made a lot of sense and I

25:27 ↗ appreciate having the flexibility but I

25:29 ↗ also appreciate having some parameters

25:31 ↗ around what virtual participation looks

25:33 ↗ like so having the chairperson present

25:35 ↗ here having a quorum present here I

25:38 ↗ think that's all very practical having

25:39 ↗ people that are participating virtually

25:42 ↗ having their screens on as much as

25:44 ↗ possible not that I ever would have

25:46 ↗ taken advantage of that to sweep the

25:47 ↗ kitchen with the screen off that was not

25:50 ↗ me but I I just thought I felt like

25:51 ↗ there was a lot of practical thoughtful

25:54 ↗ um parameters included in this I thought

25:58 ↗ it was great I appreciate having the

25:59 ↗ flexibility but I I'm I'm a fan of in

26:02 ↗ person and that's that's just me

26:05 ↗ oh Danny Brown here um

26:08 ↗ we also think about

26:10 ↗ new people coming in and age difference

26:14 ↗ in in their expectations right uh

26:18 ↗ virtual is nothing to

26:21 ↗ to the younger group right and if we

26:24 ↗ want that group to take over

26:27 ↗ this type of uh

26:29 ↗ agenda from the committee I think we

26:32 ↗ need to be open to the possibility that

26:36 ↗ they got their own world right and

26:39 ↗ that's part of the world is virtual and

26:42 ↗ if we fight that then we're not going to

26:44 ↗ get the participation from that group

26:53 ↗ um well

26:55 ↗ personally I think that it's nice to

26:58 ↗ have like flexibility because it's like

27:00 ↗ you said like implementation in like the

27:03 ↗ online world is like a must right now in

27:06 ↗ the younger generation Our Lives revolve

27:09 ↗ around our screens but um

27:13 ↗ I also think that it um

27:16 ↗ it's also important to have

27:19 ↗ um people in person again for that human

27:22 ↗ connection and also personally having

27:26 ↗ gone through school online I just feel

27:29 ↗ like it's better to have people and see

27:32 ↗ and do things in person and it's just

27:35 ↗ better and easier to get things done

27:38 ↗ this is very important

27:47 ↗ thank you too uh so the other aspect of

27:51 ↗ it when I was

27:53 ↗ reading it and hearing also is

27:56 ↗ a light that we have rules about virtual

28:00 ↗ um and I was thinking in terms of equity

28:04 ↗ the chair is obligated to be here in

28:06 ↗ person

28:07 ↗ how does it feel for that person are we

28:10 ↗ putting limitations on Who Wants to be

28:13 ↗ the chair that alone can drive someone

28:15 ↗ away say I don't want to be a chair they

28:17 ↗ want to do this

28:18 ↗ I'm just trying just to be fruitful here

28:21 ↗ so

28:25 ↗ yes considerations which if it's going

28:28 ↗ to be flexible do we have considerations

28:30 ↗ that is also flexible for that chair

28:32 ↗ that's great

28:36 ↗ but there is a provision if the chair

28:38 ↗ can't be

28:40 ↗ in person that the chair can designate

28:43 ↗ the the proxy the proxy yes right right

28:46 ↗ yeah can anyone explain to me why you

28:50 ↗ need to have people in person to have a

28:52 ↗ quorum

28:54 ↗ why is that necessary

28:57 ↗ well I think didn't you address that

28:59 ↗ when you said the that's that's the

29:01 ↗ eventual assuming that's making the

29:03 ↗ assumption that technology fails yes I

29:06 ↗ would say it's not it's not a

29:08 ↗ requirement I mean so this the

29:11 ↗ requirement is that there be a physical

29:13 ↗ meeting space uh for people to come and

29:16 ↗ listen to the meeting live so that does

29:19 ↗ mean that a staff person has to open the

29:22 ↗ door have the lights on have the

29:24 ↗ equipment working

29:25 ↗ um

29:26 ↗ you don't I mean from from what I

29:28 ↗ understand from talking to our attorneys

29:30 ↗ technically none of you need to need to

29:32 ↗ be are required to be in the room that's

29:34 ↗ why we're talking tonight

29:36 ↗ um

29:36 ↗ I think that the Quorum was a starting

29:39 ↗ point it's a it's a functional number

29:42 ↗ that we talk about and it's important to

29:44 ↗ the commission so it felt like a

29:46 ↗ starting point I do think if there are

29:48 ↗ technology issues it's just something to

29:50 ↗ be aware of that if people came down and

29:52 ↗ drove down to the meeting and there is

29:53 ↗ something prohibiting that a virtual

29:56 ↗ element that they the meeting can't

29:58 ↗ proceed

29:59 ↗ um how however I will um comment that

30:02 ↗ I've talked to some of the our staff

30:04 ↗ leads I was like Monica because we're

30:06 ↗ noticing that the public can comment

30:08 ↗ virtually I think my advice is that if

30:11 ↗ there's just some kind of outage or we

30:13 ↗ you know our equipment is not working if

30:15 ↗ if at all possible we would want to

30:17 ↗ reschedule the meeting we wouldn't want

30:19 ↗ to just plow ahead because we had four

30:21 ↗ people in the room so it's it's

30:23 ↗ something you can you know you should

30:25 ↗ talk about is whether you you want to

30:27 ↗ see that requirement and if you don't

30:30 ↗ then you can remove that and we can have

30:32 ↗ no requirement as to the number of

30:34 ↗ people in the room or we can have a

30:36 ↗ lesser requirement

30:38 ↗ um that's really up to you

30:41 ↗ so Commissioners disha was saying

30:43 ↗ basically you fulfilled the state

30:46 ↗ requirements

30:48 ↗ and I opened the meaning space and the

30:51 ↗ room we fulfill that requirement right

30:53 ↗ right so you have that wide range of

30:55 ↗ options options from that all the way to

30:57 ↗ requesting the Quorum in the room all

31:00 ↗ the way to that I really love to hear

31:03 ↗ your I love to hear your

31:06 ↗ so Facebook is many again uh

31:10 ↗ if there were people here and

31:14 ↗ we couldn't get out to the public we'd

31:16 ↗ have to reschedule anyway I would I

31:19 ↗ would recommend that I mean your meeting

31:21 ↗ can technically proceed but I would um

31:24 ↗ you could be opening up yourself for I

31:27 ↗ can't believe you moved ahead when I

31:29 ↗ wasn't able to participate right I mean

31:31 ↗ saying that it went out right now you

31:32 ↗ went through the public comment you have

31:34 ↗ a really light agenda four of you more

31:36 ↗ than four of you were in the room you

31:38 ↗ could wrap up your meeting but yeah I

31:40 ↗ think if it was at the top of the

31:41 ↗ meeting or it was you know you're making

31:43 ↗ your final recommendation on the uh the

31:45 ↗ grants you know and you have interested

31:48 ↗ people we would want to reschedule yeah

31:50 ↗ so it's I I talk about the that

31:53 ↗ requirement is that was something that

31:54 ↗ was in my mind when I wrote this but

31:57 ↗ it's not it's not a requirement by any

32:01 ↗ means and you could address that and

32:04 ↗ that's it I appreciate the fact that you

32:06 ↗ guys go through all this and give us a

32:08 ↗ starting point yeah okay absolutely you

32:11 ↗ know I like the grant said but you know

32:13 ↗ starting point then it would be in big

32:15 ↗ trouble so I really do appreciate that

32:17 ↗ and do it again

32:25 ↗ so ideally we should be able to vote and

32:29 ↗ adapt something next month yes and it'd

32:32 ↗ be nice if if I I have some Direction I

32:35 ↗ mean I've I've heard some input and I'm

32:38 ↗ happy to summarize that if that's

32:39 ↗ helpful but it would be it would be

32:42 ↗ great to so so far what I've heard is an

32:44 ↗ interest in more flexibility and a

32:46 ↗ majority of you definitely seem to

32:48 ↗ prefer not having a quorum like a

32:51 ↗ certain number of individuals required

32:54 ↗ and I'm also hearing uh the fact that

32:57 ↗ you there's some trust and you feel like

33:00 ↗ um you trust the Judgment of the

33:01 ↗ Commissioners to if they need to if they

33:03 ↗ if they need to attend virtually for

33:05 ↗ themselves they should be able to do

33:06 ↗ that we don't need to put parameters

33:08 ↗ around why or say that it's just um so

33:12 ↗ open that up a little bit so I've heard

33:13 ↗ those comments and that has seemed to

33:15 ↗ come from a majority I guess what would

33:17 ↗ be helpful is if there's any but I've

33:20 ↗ also heard that there's value in it

33:22 ↗ being in person that we can capture that

33:24 ↗ in the rules I guess I'm interested

33:25 ↗ would be interested if there's any

33:27 ↗ interest in putting any kind of

33:29 ↗ requirement other than just encouraging

33:32 ↗ [Music]

33:33 ↗ um in-person attendance

33:35 ↗ or or not and if you just want to have

33:38 ↗ it wide open and one more thing I'll add

33:40 ↗ you can amend these rules at any time I

33:42 ↗ think partly we're we're all trying to

33:44 ↗ figure this out

33:46 ↗ um so I expect I'm going around all the

33:48 ↗ boards for this first round

33:50 ↗ we can talk about this again you can

33:52 ↗ observe how it's going and right and

33:54 ↗ modify it in you know the next few

33:57 ↗ months even if you want to I do have one

33:59 ↗ more thing I can contribute

34:01 ↗ um Maury Edwards here again

34:03 ↗ um and that is that when you have a

34:06 ↗ hybrid model you've got some people in

34:08 ↗ person and some people are on the screen

34:11 ↗ you know it doesn't work as well

34:13 ↗ it's either if everybody's in person

34:16 ↗ it's better or if everybody's on Virtual

34:19 ↗ it's better but having the two of them

34:21 ↗ together just doesn't work as well if

34:23 ↗ somebody gets left out

34:26 ↗ it's hard it's and I think it is hard

34:29 ↗ for the harder for the chair and

34:31 ↗ speakers it's you know just making that

34:33 ↗ eye contact and feeling like you're

34:34 ↗ including everyone

34:36 ↗ um so I yes I agree but I also think you

34:40 ↗ know it's it's been occurring I'm not

34:42 ↗ sure if your commission meetings if

34:44 ↗ you've had anyone attend virtually yeah

34:46 ↗ yes most of our other commissions have

34:49 ↗ have to and you know it does or it does

34:52 ↗ work it's just it's a little

34:55 ↗ a little more complicated to to manage

34:59 ↗ and so yeah again Betty Brown here oh

35:05 ↗ again the whole concept of equity board

35:09 ↗ and human Commission

35:12 ↗ gives you that

35:14 ↗ just the names I'm gonna give you the

35:15 ↗ idea that you're talking about people

35:17 ↗ and what's best for for them and and

35:21 ↗ advancing in a direction that works for

35:25 ↗ for the people

35:27 ↗ and you know that's what it comes down

35:30 ↗ to is

35:31 ↗ it might feel inconvenient

35:34 ↗ to uh everybody to be here

35:37 ↗ and it might be a little inconvenient

35:39 ↗ for being on this on Virtual but

35:42 ↗ what's the best thing for to get that

35:46 ↗ information out to everybody and in this

35:48 ↗ world I'm afraid it's virtual

35:51 ↗ yeah

35:53 ↗ I need to see Monica sitting here by

35:55 ↗ herself

35:59 ↗ turning the lights off just let us know

36:04 ↗ but yeah I don't know I uh as far as

36:07 ↗ staff I'm not concerned about that I

36:08 ↗ think like he said and thank you so much

36:10 ↗ though for your concern it's also nice

36:12 ↗ and nice to appreciate all of you I

36:14 ↗ think like you said if we are thinking

36:16 ↗ about people what can provide us the

36:18 ↗ despite some inconveniences what can

36:20 ↗ provide the most flexibility to for

36:22 ↗ everyone right and that includes some

36:24 ↗ people who might not have a computer and

36:26 ↗ they might come here or that includes

36:28 ↗ some people who might have child care

36:30 ↗ issues or have other things and it's

36:32 ↗ very convenient to just hop on the

36:33 ↗ computer right

36:35 ↗ those are the questions that I love to

36:37 ↗ hear all of you including the chair

36:39 ↗ options and and the so so well said path

36:42 ↗ like is this gonna deter some people

36:44 ↗ from even as we are going to talk just

36:46 ↗ later in the meaning about

36:48 ↗ um onboarding new Commissioners

36:50 ↗ hopefully in a couple of months

36:52 ↗ um is is that gonna prevent anyone from

36:55 ↗ even applying if they see a very strict

36:57 ↗ requirement one way or the other right

37:00 ↗ not to mention even just being willing

37:03 ↗ to

37:04 ↗ um

37:05 ↗ serve as a chair if they know that they

37:07 ↗ have more stringent requirements right

37:09 ↗ so it's all about how can we make it

37:11 ↗ better for everyone in the community and

37:13 ↗ making it accessible for people

37:15 ↗ so I love all the questions

37:18 ↗ I really liked thank you for mentioning

37:20 ↗ the fact that this is dynamic and that

37:23 ↗ we can adopt something now see how it

37:26 ↗ goes and then maybe after a few months

37:28 ↗ say okay what do you guys think do you

37:31 ↗ think it's working for us and then you

37:33 ↗ know and then we can either stick with

37:34 ↗ it or modify it some more but I really

37:36 ↗ like that

37:37 ↗ because then maybe what we could because

37:39 ↗ otherwise you guys we could be sitting

37:42 ↗ here this entire 90-minute meeting and

37:45 ↗ talking about this

37:46 ↗ you know what I mean so um

37:50 ↗ so should we just

37:54 ↗ um okay so what was the last thing you

37:56 ↗ said you wanted to know oh if there

37:58 ↗ needed to be something more than just

37:59 ↗ encourage people to attend or maybe you

38:02 ↗ don't even I mean the feeling I got from

38:04 ↗ the equity board is they I think they

38:05 ↗ don't even necessarily want to say that

38:07 ↗ they really want

38:09 ↗ um they really want it wide open I think

38:11 ↗ the

38:13 ↗ um so they've been the board that's you

38:14 ↗ know really wanted the most flexibility

38:16 ↗ and uh and we can do some minor worth

38:20 ↗ smithing I think I do have good input I

38:22 ↗ think uh based on the input I've heard I

38:24 ↗ think aligning your roles to those of

38:27 ↗ the equity board is probably

38:29 ↗ um both seem to have similar

38:31 ↗ perspectives on it

38:33 ↗ um and I and didn't I hear correctly

38:36 ↗ then that

38:37 ↗ um somebody wouldn't have to call up and

38:41 ↗ tell Monica that they're not kind right

38:44 ↗ we would so we would take we would

38:48 ↗ change it from a sort of right now it

38:51 ↗ says you need permission to attend

38:53 ↗ virtually it would be changed to sort of

38:56 ↗ a notification okay and that's maybe

38:59 ↗ something we could consider removing

39:00 ↗ eventually

39:02 ↗ I you know and I don't I don't know if

39:05 ↗ you have thoughts on that and and that's

39:07 ↗ something I mean in terms of attendance

39:09 ↗ whether it's first impersonal virtual I

39:12 ↗ think that informally I always try to

39:14 ↗ check in with you all right and that we

39:16 ↗ have kind of like my my expectation and

39:18 ↗ trying to send you reminders and sending

39:21 ↗ you notes about that please let me know

39:22 ↗ if you're not participating it's more

39:24 ↗ for all of you because I'm trying to

39:26 ↗ make sure if we don't have a quorum then

39:28 ↗ we should try to cancel the meaning in

39:30 ↗ advance and I don't want to put any two

39:33 ↗ three of you in a position of coming all

39:35 ↗ the way here and then we don't have

39:36 ↗ enough money right right so for from for

39:38 ↗ that perspective I don't know if you

39:40 ↗ need something in the rules we can put

39:42 ↗ something but I don't even know if we

39:43 ↗ need something in the rules or just

39:45 ↗ let's check in to make sure that there's

39:47 ↗ a quorum or like let me know if you

39:50 ↗ think you're not gonna be able to make

39:51 ↗ it even if it's last minute because or

39:54 ↗ even something that says um you know

39:57 ↗ Pat Manny um plan to attend personally

40:00 ↗ right just on on the uh the group email

40:04 ↗ that you send out so that everyone knows

40:07 ↗ that okay they're gonna be there

40:09 ↗ you can make your choices whatever well

40:12 ↗ I we have the option just to take out

40:13 ↗ the quorum

40:14 ↗ yeah

40:16 ↗ I'm talking about for information's sake

40:19 ↗ because right right right right right no

40:22 ↗ I I agree information's sake right but

40:25 ↗ that way you know if there's if there's

40:28 ↗ uh public here that there's somebody

40:30 ↗ here or or not you know so yeah no I

40:34 ↗ agree yeah I think for information we

40:37 ↗ should have a feel yeah otherwise it's

40:40 ↗ just like really too loosey-goosey yeah

40:42 ↗ yeah as a reminder currently the and we

40:46 ↗ you haven't delved into this and you do

40:48 ↗ have other items on your agenda to get

40:50 ↗ to so I will I will plan it um

40:52 ↗ move on here but the the chair would be

40:55 ↗ required a person would be required to

40:57 ↗ be in person and I will say I actually

40:59 ↗ think it could be beneficial to have you

41:02 ↗ know it does put a burden on the chair

41:04 ↗ if they're here in person but having the

41:06 ↗ vice chair or another commissioner have

41:08 ↗ an opportunity to chair a meeting I

41:10 ↗ think is actually a really helpful thing

41:12 ↗ because it gets people a little more

41:13 ↗ comfortable with it so I see that less

41:15 ↗ as a

41:17 ↗ um a requirement that the actual chair

41:19 ↗ would need to be here physically every

41:20 ↗ time and they would probably enjoy being

41:23 ↗ able to let someone else manage that

41:25 ↗ part of the meeting

41:27 ↗ um and attend virtually but I think at a

41:30 ↗ minimum if that provision stays that

41:32 ↗ person will probably need to communicate

41:33 ↗ with Monica so she knows um and as far

41:36 ↗ as that other notification I know

41:38 ↗ sometimes it's helpful to sort of know

41:39 ↗ as you're trying to ascertain like who's

41:41 ↗ am I looking for the door to open or am

41:44 ↗ I staring at my screen right that can be

41:46 ↗ kind of helpful but I don't know how

41:48 ↗ critical right

41:50 ↗ yeah and a little consideration what

41:53 ↗ else is thinking for the number of times

41:56 ↗ so who keeps the count

41:58 ↗ yeah

41:59 ↗ I had that same time yeah I I yeah I

42:03 ↗ wouldn't want that

42:04 ↗ you're talking about the condition where

42:07 ↗ uh 50 of meetings yeah they have to okay

42:12 ↗ Maury was here in in March but he wasn't

42:15 ↗ here in April I don't want to have it or

42:17 ↗ yeah but he was here but he was virtual

42:18 ↗ but no that's yeah we weren't really

42:20 ↗ sure if he was here

42:23 ↗ thank you for that because

42:30 ↗ first grade attendance list

42:37 ↗ I think when I when I heard from you

42:39 ↗ Lori is that I mean because you don't

42:42 ↗ think things are as effective if it's

42:44 ↗ hybrid you would prefer if we just all

42:46 ↗ went back to Virtual right if we all met

42:48 ↗ first that's my preference yeah is there

42:50 ↗ anybody else

42:53 ↗ and I guess that's not even an option

42:54 ↗ because Monica has to be down here

42:56 ↗ opening the road and that's I mean that

42:59 ↗ could be an option if like I would still

43:01 ↗ be virtually if I'm alone here

43:06 ↗ oh and then we would we would say that

43:08 ↗ the board chair doesn't have to be here

43:12 ↗ yeah you can can we say that Monica

43:14 ↗ doesn't have to be here

43:17 ↗ somebody has to be careful to offer to

43:20 ↗ offer the in-person option

43:22 ↗ I think that would just be too weird

43:24 ↗ for for you to be here and then us

43:27 ↗ what what do you guys think

43:29 ↗ GrubHub

43:32 ↗ while she's sitting here and again I

43:35 ↗ really like the idea we can adopt

43:37 ↗ something try it and decide that in

43:40 ↗ three months we're gonna get back

43:42 ↗ together and evaluate yeah

43:44 ↗ yeah so are you going to put something

43:47 ↗ together and yes send it to us between

43:49 ↗ now and next meeting I I can't yes I can

43:52 ↗ certainly do that I need to prepare some

43:54 ↗ things for the

43:55 ↗ two other boards who kind of provide

43:58 ↗ their input and I need to get back to

44:00 ↗ them with their their next draft so yes

44:02 ↗ we can do that in advance of your next

44:04 ↗ I'll tell you a month goes by quickly

44:08 ↗ yeah so is there any way that

44:13 ↗ that you draft something that everyone

44:16 ↗ accepts

44:18 ↗ for interim so that instead of doing 13

44:22 ↗ different things that okay this is what

44:25 ↗ we have see if it works for you

44:27 ↗ well and then

44:29 ↗ go from there are you talking about the

44:32 ↗ other boards that right yeah and you

44:34 ↗ know initially I think I thought was

44:36 ↗ let's try and standardize this but I I

44:38 ↗ also think that you know these are

44:40 ↗ you're each autonomous groups and you

44:44 ↗ have different Dynamics and different

44:45 ↗ you know different people participating

44:47 ↗ in different some different values even

44:50 ↗ and I think it's really within each

44:52 ↗ group's purview it's something that

44:54 ↗ belongs in your rules and so

44:57 ↗ um each group has talked through this

44:58 ↗ and has come up with something they're

45:00 ↗ comfortable with or is close to that and

45:02 ↗ so it's okay it's okay that there's some

45:04 ↗ variation and the way you did that by

45:07 ↗ giving this it started yeah and then

45:09 ↗ everyone's good kind of falling within

45:11 ↗ this I am going to try I'm trying to

45:13 ↗ though to

45:15 ↗ um as much as possible standardized so I

45:18 ↗ think your rules in the equity boards

45:19 ↗ would be really similar based on the

45:21 ↗ input you've provided so there will be

45:23 ↗ some similarities and then we'll go

45:25 ↗ we'll go from there see see what happens

45:28 ↗ thank you so much for your input thank

45:31 ↗ you so much

45:38 ↗ are you related to the geyser that used

45:40 ↗ to be the coach up at uh skyline no okay

45:43 ↗ I'm not

45:46 ↗ happy to meet another Tuesday

45:52 ↗ [Music]

45:55 ↗ watch

46:03 ↗ [Laughter]

46:12 ↗ thank you

46:14 ↗ okay so Monica you're on next

46:16 ↗ it's hard to go after this conversation

46:20 ↗ thank you Trish

46:22 ↗ um and hello

46:25 ↗ um board members because we were talking

46:28 ↗ about the equity board Commissioners

46:31 ↗ um I wanted to spend a few minutes in

46:34 ↗ providing you a little bit of an update

46:36 ↗ on the

46:38 ↗ 2021-2022 Human Services Grants as we

46:42 ↗ are closing uh that funding cycle and we

46:45 ↗ are working on

46:47 ↗ um developing contracts for the next

46:50 ↗ funding cycle typically we'd like to

46:52 ↗ provide a brief report at the end and to

46:56 ↗ give you some details you have in your

46:58 ↗ packet just a brief report on staff I

47:00 ↗ didn't put together another presentation

47:03 ↗ I thought that maybe we can talk a

47:05 ↗ little bit in person but I'm happy to

47:06 ↗ put the report up it's pretty brief and

47:09 ↗ uh basically one of the reasons why it's

47:11 ↗ pretty briefly said only about half of

47:13 ↗ the course we are able to go through so

47:16 ↗ I'm gonna give you a little bit of

47:18 ↗ information more and as as we are going

47:21 ↗ to go through the new contracts you're

47:23 ↗ going to know that that's how we set up

47:25 ↗ it's a similar pattern how we set up the

47:27 ↗ contracts for the new funding cycle but

47:30 ↗ um in 2021 2022 the the city supported

47:35 ↗ about 57 organizations not organizations

47:38 ↗ the programs

47:40 ↗ um and about half of those typically we

47:44 ↗ provide direct payments to and we

47:47 ↗ intensely

47:49 ↗ um

47:49 ↗ [Music]

47:52 ↗ conduct

47:53 ↗ [Music]

47:54 ↗ um

47:55 ↗ reports reviewings on the other half we

47:58 ↗ put into a pooled

48:00 ↗ um contract with the other cities on the

48:03 ↗ east side so we collaborate with the

48:06 ↗ cities of Bellevue Sammamish Kirkland

48:08 ↗ and Redmond and those organizations are

48:11 ↗ basically organizations that all of the

48:13 ↗ Cities fund for the same programs so

48:16 ↗ it's not it's a way to create some

48:18 ↗ efficiencies with those organizations

48:20 ↗ and so those programs enter into one

48:23 ↗ contract only and the City of Bellevue

48:26 ↗ manages that all of us are responsible

48:29 ↗ for reviewing reports and communicating

48:31 ↗ still with organizations but payment and

48:34 ↗ Contracting thing just goes through

48:35 ↗ those the reason why I want to tell you

48:37 ↗ a little bit more about this so you know

48:39 ↗ the difference is because I would love

48:41 ↗ to get your input on what's best moving

48:44 ↗ forward

48:45 ↗ for this year we do plan on having the

48:48 ↗ similar pattern and not changing

48:50 ↗ anything just because of timing and so

48:52 ↗ again some of the 42 programs that

48:55 ↗ you're from we are funding as a city and

48:57 ↗ you reviewed and made recommendations

49:00 ↗ for about half we are going to keep

49:02 ↗ in-house we are going to administer

49:05 ↗ in-house and then the other half again

49:07 ↗ it's going to go into that cold contract

49:09 ↗ I personally actually express some

49:12 ↗ concerns about this uh this option

49:15 ↗ um to my fellow colleagues on the other

49:17 ↗ cities

49:19 ↗ um in terms of equity I brought it up uh

49:22 ↗ and the reason is that I noticed that

49:25 ↗ it's I think it's a great option for

49:28 ↗ those organizations who are in the pool

49:29 ↗ contract because now I stop having five

49:32 ↗ different contracts with five different

49:34 ↗ cities they only have one but what I

49:36 ↗ noticed is that typically the large

49:38 ↗ organizations and those who had more

49:42 ↗ um

49:43 ↗ structures in place and more financial

49:45 ↗ resources or benefiting from the food

49:47 ↗ contracts whereas smaller organizations

49:50 ↗ that maybe you are more cultural based

49:53 ↗ or were funded only by one of the cities

49:55 ↗ did not have a couple of cities they did

49:58 ↗ not have the opportunity to be in the

49:59 ↗ pool contract so it creates a pros and

50:02 ↗ cons it's great as an idea but if it's

50:05 ↗ not made available to others it's just

50:07 ↗ perpetuates the inequities

50:10 ↗ um so from that perspective would love

50:13 ↗ to have a brief conversation with you

50:15 ↗ and actually that's also the reason why

50:16 ↗ just going back to the report for last

50:18 ↗ year we were not able to review that all

50:21 ↗ the reports because and again another

50:23 ↗ perhaps inequity the contracts that we

50:26 ↗ managed in order to meet our internal

50:28 ↗ Financial deadlines for closing the

50:30 ↗ books we required all the organizations

50:33 ↗ to submit the reports by the 5th of

50:36 ↗ January so they had to

50:38 ↗ um really to them right right after the

50:41 ↗ end of the year whereas all the pool

50:42 ↗ contracts they have by the 15th of each

50:45 ↗ month which was just

50:46 ↗ so they had extra time to review them

50:49 ↗ and so by the time we published the

50:50 ↗ agenda we didn't received yet all those

50:52 ↗ reports from everyone else so a long

50:54 ↗ story to tell you the organizations have

50:56 ↗ been doing a great job overall in uh um

50:59 ↗ always about 90 to 95 of the

51:02 ↗ organizations submit the reports on time

51:05 ↗ and they meet all the contractual

51:06 ↗ requirements as you see in the reports

51:08 ↗ about 93 of them from those that we are

51:11 ↗ able to review uh accomplished that so

51:15 ↗ um for those who were not able to meet

51:16 ↗ goals fully or not submit them on time

51:20 ↗ are really due to staff challenges that

51:23 ↗ they have

51:24 ↗ um or just having new staff not knowing

51:26 ↗ or just still covered related issues

51:29 ↗ that are still lingering but again we

51:31 ↗ did not notice any organization having

51:33 ↗ any ill intent or just you know any

51:36 ↗ fraud or abuse or anything of that of

51:38 ↗ public funds

51:40 ↗ so kind of like that's the beef overview

51:42 ↗ but I'm gonna stop now because I would

51:43 ↗ love to to get your points uh and and

51:46 ↗ thoughts on do you have ideas on kind of

51:48 ↗ like what would be best what not what

51:50 ↗ not would be best as as we are trying to

51:54 ↗ to be more Equitable in our funding

51:56 ↗ process and how we collaborate with

51:59 ↗ organizations I do have a question in

52:01 ↗ that discussion you had with the other

52:03 ↗ cities did anybody else feel the same

52:05 ↗ way you did uh absolutely I think they

52:07 ↗ they understood and they um they agreed

52:10 ↗ with my point and so I think a couple of

52:12 ↗ things that we brought on were what if

52:15 ↗ we move everyone to a food contract and

52:18 ↗ what that means in terms of resources in

52:21 ↗ terms of Staffing Resources and capacity

52:23 ↗ and Financial Resources So currently we

52:27 ↗ as the City of Issaquah we pay an

52:28 ↗ administrative fee to the city of

52:30 ↗ Bellevue for managing in addition to

52:32 ↗ paying the contracts

52:33 ↗ um and so the city of Bellevue has more

52:35 ↗ Staffing Resources so they have one

52:37 ↗ extra staff who just manages the pulled

52:39 ↗ contracts it does slow down the process

52:41 ↗ typically uh because for every uh pulled

52:45 ↗ Contracting the 20 some organizations we

52:47 ↗ also have extra meetings and we need to

52:49 ↗ collaborate with all the city staff to

52:51 ↗ make sure that everyone's on the same

52:53 ↗ page so it's a lot of that management

52:56 ↗ um so that was one idea was like okay

52:58 ↗ well if we move everyone to a pool

53:00 ↗ contracts but then that meant that each

53:02 ↗ of the cities had to contribute more

53:04 ↗ money and more staff and resources to do

53:06 ↗ that

53:07 ↗ um okay so then the other one was then

53:09 ↗ not to have put contracts at all but

53:12 ↗ then again so it's just it doesn't seem

53:13 ↗ like because I'm assuming this level

53:15 ↗ fish I'm assuming the whole reason you

53:18 ↗ have pool contracts is based on that's

53:21 ↗ based on the history of what you were

53:24 ↗ seeing and this was an attempt to make

53:26 ↗ it a more efficient process so it would

53:28 ↗ be it seems like it it seems like that

53:30 ↗ comes with a cost but it would you would

53:34 ↗ be reluctant it sounds like it would be

53:36 ↗ you'd be reluctant to give that up based

53:40 ↗ on how you got to where you are right

53:42 ↗ yes exactly and also to mention I think

53:45 ↗ when the pooled contract idea came about

53:48 ↗ and just to also make things more

53:50 ↗ efficient I think the staff at that time

53:53 ↗ and that was quite a few years ago

53:55 ↗ um created the pool contract also as a

53:57 ↗ way to make it easier for the staff who

53:59 ↗ are managing so organizations that

54:03 ↗ um already had the know-how and had the

54:05 ↗ resources and they knew that they would

54:07 ↗ be easy organizations to work with but

54:09 ↗ were pulling that contract without

54:11 ↗ knowing that unwillingly they were

54:14 ↗ creating inequities and then fairness

54:16 ↗ for that was cool because the people

54:18 ↗ that get lost in this are the so you say

54:21 ↗ you have a marginalized community and

54:23 ↗ you have a an organization or a program

54:25 ↗ that steps in to do something about it

54:27 ↗ but then they don't have the

54:29 ↗ infrastructure necessarily again yeah

54:33 ↗ and you used to be a department of one

54:36 ↗ exactly so that was also especially for

54:40 ↗ some smaller cities uh it was also an

54:43 ↗ age and now you're five but I realize

54:45 ↗ that some like the um Behavioral Health

54:47 ↗ would not necessarily be part of this

54:49 ↗ work right yeah yeah but yeah

54:54 ↗ so

54:59 ↗ so Define full contractors

55:03 ↗ okay so let's say

55:07 ↗ um we have a larger organization who

55:09 ↗ receives has multiple programs and

55:12 ↗ receives funding from the City of

55:14 ↗ Issaquah the city of Bellevue the city

55:16 ↗ of Sammamish Redmond and Kirkland right

55:19 ↗ and each of their commissions funded the

55:21 ↗ same programs

55:23 ↗ okay okay let's say a whole thing right

55:25 ↗ they have several programs and they all

55:27 ↗ receive funding from each of the Cities

55:29 ↗ so instead of us when we now because we

55:32 ↗ are now in the process of creating the

55:33 ↗ contracts for us to

55:36 ↗ um for them to start serving these

55:37 ↗ apartments and for us to pay them

55:39 ↗ instead of the City of Issaquah entering

55:42 ↗ into a contract with them and Sammamish

55:43 ↗ entering into a separate contract and

55:45 ↗ and Bellevue and Redmond they only get

55:48 ↗ into one contract that's going to be met

55:50 ↗ on behalf of all of these five cities

55:52 ↗ that's managed by one city which is

55:54 ↗ about you

55:56 ↗ um request is the funds from Issaquah to

56:00 ↗ go into that pool I guess so Issaquah

56:03 ↗ will pay in the city of Bellevue twice a

56:05 ↗ year a large amount of money that covers

56:07 ↗ the funding for all the people of

56:09 ↗ non-pool organization would probably be

56:11 ↗ something like uh it's called Community

56:12 ↗ Services maybe exactly yes it's about

56:15 ↗ Community Services who now receives

56:17 ↗ funding from uh Issaquah Sammamish and

56:20 ↗ Bellevue

56:22 ↗ um or Redmond and then now they need to

56:24 ↗ enter into three separate contracts yeah

56:26 ↗ so somebody has to figure out

56:28 ↗ percentage-wise

56:31 ↗ how much each city is playing and

56:34 ↗ getting

56:35 ↗ [Music]

56:36 ↗ so what how do you feel about it how do

56:39 ↗ you feel I'm talking about it because I

56:42 ↗ don't think that it's right uh so for

56:45 ↗ now I think we agreed to continue as it

56:47 ↗ is for this year but it doesn't feel

56:49 ↗ right right it just doesn't feel right a

56:52 ↗ little smaller or the smaller

56:53 ↗ organizations so the decision has been

56:55 ↗ made for at least 2023 to continue to

56:59 ↗ continue this way it's gonna be an

57:01 ↗ emphasis put on

57:03 ↗ trying to alleviate this problem that

57:06 ↗ you're seeing this sir

57:14 ↗ thing as is for 2023s just right now we

57:18 ↗ just don't have the time but

57:21 ↗ um

57:22 ↗ we are also we don't want to hurt in

57:24 ↗ this the other organizations that now if

57:26 ↗ we pull out then the organizations are

57:29 ↗ in the food contract yeah you know and

57:31 ↗ so the intent is not to create more

57:33 ↗ upset there but intense would be to

57:35 ↗ support everyone right so you would want

57:38 ↗ to give a a quite a bit notice right

57:41 ↗ before making a change yeah I think for

57:45 ↗ me the bottom line here is that the

57:47 ↗ people that are the marginalized

57:49 ↗ population that receives the services

57:50 ↗ that's really who we should keep in mind

57:53 ↗ rather than

57:55 ↗ um you know who who it is that's doing

57:57 ↗ it or

57:59 ↗ um you know the services is really the

58:01 ↗ most important thing so if if there's a

58:05 ↗ community that's not receiving Services

58:06 ↗ because of this whole thing then that

58:09 ↗ should that then we should do away with

58:11 ↗ the pool well it

58:16 ↗ um

58:17 ↗ but I also I I get your point but I also

58:21 ↗ see how it's it's complex because it's

58:25 ↗ yeah it's not one way or the other it's

58:28 ↗ not a binary right right right

58:31 ↗ um and there has to be a level of

58:33 ↗ accountability because if you you can't

58:37 ↗ just be I mean this is so Cavalry you

58:40 ↗ can't just be

58:41 ↗ throwing money out to organizations and

58:43 ↗ and good programs and not expecting them

58:46 ↗ to be able to report back and it's use

58:50 ↗ of public funds so we have

58:52 ↗ Mr Monica are you actually seeing uh

58:56 ↗ populations that aren't being served

58:58 ↗ because of this cooling thing we don't

59:01 ↗ see at this time and I don't think that

59:03 ↗ we noticed this long enough to have

59:04 ↗ enough information I think the case that

59:08 ↗ um I was thinking about making is if we

59:10 ↗ have a small organization uh Madeline

59:13 ↗ new

59:14 ↗ um mentioned east of hot Community

59:15 ↗ Services it's a small organization 100

59:17 ↗ by volunteers now pays to have

59:21 ↗ um

59:26 ↗ um

59:27 ↗ can can the fact that now they have

59:29 ↗ additional requirements can that put

59:31 ↗ more strain on them not being able to

59:34 ↗ serve the people who needs that um

59:38 ↗ a number of their volunteer hours to

59:42 ↗ fulfilling certain yeah are there more

59:45 ↗ requirements if you're pool than if

59:47 ↗ you're not pulled they are less

59:49 ↗ requirement if you are pulled there's

59:51 ↗ less requirements if you're pulled okay

59:52 ↗ they've made that part more efficient

59:54 ↗ yes because that's more efficient you'll

59:57 ↗ have one scope of work one got it yeah

1:00:00 ↗ one like for example even the city in

1:00:04 ↗ order to enter into a contract with the

1:00:05 ↗ City of Issaquah you need to provide a

1:00:08 ↗ business license for the City of

1:00:09 ↗ Issaquah uh you need to provide

1:00:12 ↗ insurance for the City of Issaquah and

1:00:13 ↗ for the other cities that you're

1:00:15 ↗ receiving funding for if you're in a

1:00:17 ↗ pulled contract you only need to provide

1:00:18 ↗ that to one city and that's the city to

1:00:20 ↗ contract with which is well right yeah I

1:00:25 ↗ have two questions right away that

1:00:27 ↗ brings up yeah inequities yes exactly

1:00:30 ↗ right thank you for explaining that yeah

1:00:35 ↗ I might have missed it so

1:00:38 ↗ at this point

1:00:39 ↗ how have we Revisited who gets in the

1:00:43 ↗ pool and who doesn't get in the pool

1:00:46 ↗ it was Revisited a few months ago to

1:00:49 ↗ include some culture-based organizations

1:00:53 ↗ um because of this concern because of

1:00:55 ↗ this concern yes I'm sorry so that was

1:00:57 ↗ just kind of like a first step we all

1:00:59 ↗ recognized that it's a very half quarter

1:01:01 ↗ step and more needs to be done

1:01:05 ↗ okay

1:01:06 ↗ goodness yeah and so then we with that

1:01:09 ↗ because the city of Bellevue did not

1:01:11 ↗ have Staffing capacity to take on more

1:01:12 ↗ we took off the pool

1:01:15 ↗ pulled some other larger organizations

1:01:17 ↗ but again it's just it was just the

1:01:20 ↗ first step in making a little bit of a

1:01:23 ↗ switch Yeah and for the food

1:01:26 ↗ um the organization that received the

1:01:29 ↗ poor money how do they report let's say

1:01:32 ↗ I put my money in the bowl am I reported

1:01:34 ↗ only for my numbers of my citizen that

1:01:37 ↗ get help no thank you that's so the

1:01:39 ↗ reporting for everyone that is one thing

1:01:41 ↗ that's constant for food and unfold

1:01:43 ↗ contracts because the way

1:01:46 ↗ um they are required to submit the

1:01:48 ↗ reporting on one form in one report form

1:01:52 ↗ to all of the Cities at the same time

1:01:54 ↗ there's a line item for each of the

1:01:56 ↗ Cities so that is the same for pulled

1:01:58 ↗ and non-old okay that yeah it's the

1:02:01 ↗ Contracting the contract requirements

1:02:03 ↗ and the costs that come with Contracting

1:02:05 ↗ that is oh so it's more costly it's more

1:02:09 ↗ costly for the non-pooled yes okay so

1:02:11 ↗ yeah yes because they need to have even

1:02:14 ↗ just they need to provide insurance for

1:02:17 ↗ all the CDs yeah yeah

1:02:20 ↗ so it's almost like you need additional

1:02:24 ↗ Staffing to help support the non-pool

1:02:27 ↗ but additional Staffing would mean less

1:02:29 ↗ money to go to the programs yes

1:02:32 ↗ how could how could theoretically

1:02:35 ↗ everybody be pooled if let's say

1:02:37 ↗ Issaquah Community let's say Issaquah

1:02:39 ↗ Community Services is only getting

1:02:41 ↗ a grant from Issaquah so I had so in

1:02:44 ↗ that case you you don't right so pools

1:02:47 ↗ would mean only for those organizations

1:02:49 ↗ that receive funding from multiple

1:02:51 ↗ cities

1:02:52 ↗ right from one it would be the same

1:02:54 ↗ right so there's no way we could put

1:02:55 ↗ everybody in the pool

1:02:57 ↗ there's no I mean yes there's no way

1:03:00 ↗ um because there are still organizations

1:03:02 ↗ but there are not very many organic

1:03:05 ↗ organic funding just from one city so

1:03:07 ↗ why can't you use the same rules

1:03:11 ↗ for those who are not for like

1:03:14 ↗ okay

1:03:15 ↗ if you if you're

1:03:17 ↗ have a license Issaquah you're good for

1:03:20 ↗ development why can't why because each

1:03:24 ↗ city has these Services

1:03:26 ↗ they're working with that City so the

1:03:29 ↗ fact that you know that they have an

1:03:32 ↗ Issaquah license right it should be good

1:03:35 ↗ enough it's like it's like yeah it's

1:03:39 ↗ like when nurses like

1:03:42 ↗ most nurses reciprocity yeah that

1:03:45 ↗ represent that's the word sorry I can't

1:03:47 ↗ say it but not every state participants

1:03:49 ↗ in that so nurses have a tremendous

1:03:51 ↗ amount of flexibility within this 34

1:03:54 ↗ state I'm making that number up but

1:03:56 ↗ within that 34 State group but if they

1:03:59 ↗ want to go to one of the other states

1:04:00 ↗ they have to pass the nursing board in

1:04:02 ↗ that yeah yeah but then that's your

1:04:04 ↗ point I mean that is something I could

1:04:06 ↗ bring back that's a great retail meeting

1:04:09 ↗ and see if there are any cities who

1:04:10 ↗ would be willing to have reciprocity in

1:04:12 ↗ terms of this yeah basically the city

1:04:14 ↗ governments have their pool that says

1:04:16 ↗ okay we're in this group so we will

1:04:18 ↗ accept from this this if you have a

1:04:21 ↗ business license in Issa Bob will accept

1:04:23 ↗ that in the city of Sammamish or red

1:04:25 ↗ lender well maybe yeah

1:04:29 ↗ either increasing the pool for everyone

1:04:31 ↗ or going away from having the pool all

1:04:34 ↗ together but there have been some

1:04:36 ↗ efficiencies

1:04:38 ↗ yeah so that's I think the idea would be

1:04:41 ↗ right to just open the pool

1:04:43 ↗ if any of the smaller organizations

1:04:46 ↗ complained that are not in the pool well

1:04:48 ↗ I'm not sure that many of them know

1:04:50 ↗ right

1:04:54 ↗ and say okay if there's responsibility

1:04:57 ↗ rules for different city for a specific

1:05:00 ↗ uh type of

1:05:03 ↗ organization someone can say this is

1:05:05 ↗ discriminatory or this is

1:05:08 ↗ Equity too because well I have my

1:05:10 ↗ business although I don't serve these

1:05:13 ↗ commissions why can't I just bring my

1:05:16 ↗ services to the different city unless

1:05:18 ↗ they decide to open it up and say

1:05:21 ↗ um this uh reciprocity is open to all

1:05:24 ↗ the businesses yeah and that becomes

1:05:27 ↗ complex because then the city becomes

1:05:29 ↗ cities with those lines because they

1:05:31 ↗ want to keep their money in their City

1:05:32 ↗ most of the time

1:05:34 ↗ so it's a good idea let's try but I'm

1:05:37 ↗ just saying someone can say hey well

1:05:39 ↗ it's a much bigger a much bigger

1:05:41 ↗ question yes I mean yeah I mean you're

1:05:43 ↗ talking about going upstairs to talk to

1:05:46 ↗ people yeah yeah and I think again each

1:05:49 ↗ City that have the rules in terms of how

1:05:51 ↗ you spend public funds right so yeah

1:05:55 ↗ it's complex I really appreciate it

1:05:57 ↗ we have to come to agreement to go into

1:05:59 ↗ the pool in the first place right so at

1:06:03 ↗ some point it was an agreement that

1:06:04 ↗ we're going to pull this so continue

1:06:07 ↗ working right but it's the organizations

1:06:10 ↗ that can't happen yeah that aren't there

1:06:13 ↗ that can't get into the pool because

1:06:15 ↗ they're not big enough and

1:06:19 ↗ I just feel like the person I feel like

1:06:21 ↗ it would be a shame if you you've tried

1:06:23 ↗ to create a more efficient model process

1:06:27 ↗ and and it's coming up right yeah yeah I

1:06:32 ↗ agree so hopefully Mr cost yes yeah yeah

1:06:37 ↗ actually how unusual a metaphor yeah

1:06:41 ↗ but see it goes It goes back to

1:06:43 ↗ identifying those things that you know

1:06:46 ↗ they were created with big hearts but

1:06:49 ↗ yeah right and knowingly they created

1:06:51 ↗ these inequities that doesn't feel right

1:06:54 ↗ to perpetuate them we need to find a way

1:06:59 ↗ making sure that we can work with the

1:07:02 ↗ other cities to like make an equal or

1:07:05 ↗ make sure that multiple cities have like

1:07:07 ↗ similar rules because that would reduce

1:07:10 ↗ the need for people to even go into the

1:07:12 ↗ pool because if they already have let's

1:07:15 ↗ say the insurance and business contract

1:07:17 ↗ in Issaquah if it's the same exact

1:07:20 ↗ requirements in Bellevue and Sammamish

1:07:23 ↗ then they wouldn't need to go to the

1:07:26 ↗ pool since they already have all the

1:07:27 ↗ resources from one they can just control

1:07:29 ↗ C control V on to the other one so it

1:07:32 ↗ reduced the need to even get into the

1:07:35 ↗ pool in the first place which would

1:07:37 ↗ probably increase efficiency for that

1:07:40 ↗ smaller businesses who feel that it's um

1:07:43 ↗ there's some inequity when they go into

1:07:46 ↗ the pool they might be able to if it's

1:07:48 ↗ same it's the same rules just get this

1:07:52 ↗ basically the set one contract with one

1:07:55 ↗ and then like I said just Ctrl C control

1:07:57 ↗ V it with the others since it's the same

1:08:00 ↗ requirements rules and regulations

1:08:04 ↗ [Laughter]

1:08:16 ↗ thank you

1:08:18 ↗ okay Commissioners oh go ahead well I'm

1:08:21 ↗ just gonna say getting a city to say

1:08:24 ↗ okay you don't need to have a business

1:08:26 ↗ license with us if you have a business

1:08:27 ↗ license with Issaquah all you know

1:08:29 ↗ that's that's like a huge deal it is

1:08:32 ↗ that's a huge deal I mean that has to go

1:08:34 ↗ before City councils and all sorts of

1:08:36 ↗ things that's not an easy thing

1:08:39 ↗ pardon they're doing it with the pool

1:08:43 ↗ for certain size organizations yes

1:08:47 ↗ yes so you know you come back from well

1:08:50 ↗ you're you're you're actually the

1:08:53 ↗ organizations that can afford it are the

1:08:55 ↗ ones that you're not charging but the

1:08:57 ↗ smaller ones are the ones so yeah yeah

1:09:00 ↗ and the way it works with the pool

1:09:06 ↗ the Bellevue it's there's yeah right so

1:09:09 ↗ the only city that we have but you're

1:09:10 ↗ right we don't we fund the organizations

1:09:13 ↗ that are in the pool contract but we

1:09:15 ↗ don't have a direct contract with them

1:09:17 ↗ so then we can't ask for the business

1:09:18 ↗ license for that right but but you're

1:09:21 ↗ right you're absolutely right

1:09:24 ↗ um it's it's it's more complicated so

1:09:27 ↗ thank you though for for

1:09:30 ↗ um brainstorming with me and please

1:09:32 ↗ continue to think if you have other

1:09:33 ↗ ideas I think for now I would like to

1:09:36 ↗ work with with my colleagues um in the

1:09:38 ↗ region to try to see if we can expand

1:09:40 ↗ the pool that seems to be the most

1:09:43 ↗ reasonable

1:09:45 ↗ um to expand it to other organizations

1:09:47 ↗ but if you have other thoughts and

1:09:49 ↗ suggestions and ideas

1:09:51 ↗ what would be the reason why an

1:09:53 ↗ organization for instance will say I

1:09:54 ↗ don't want to get in the pool

1:09:57 ↗ um good point we actually I was thinking

1:09:59 ↗ about this too

1:10:01 ↗ um having a closer relationship with the

1:10:04 ↗ city

1:10:05 ↗ so those that are in a pulled contract

1:10:07 ↗ they don't have as close relationship

1:10:09 ↗ with with all of the Cities right so it

1:10:12 ↗ goes back to relationships so that is

1:10:13 ↗ one reason for why people might not want

1:10:16 ↗ the pool

1:10:18 ↗ but if they only have one city it goes

1:10:20 ↗ directly to Issaquah anyway right it

1:10:23 ↗ does so they do service a car residents

1:10:24 ↗ and we do need to

1:10:26 ↗ um review the reports and if they're

1:10:29 ↗ concerns we need to contact them but

1:10:31 ↗ there's not as much direct communication

1:10:33 ↗ as it is with the other organizations

1:10:36 ↗ that we directly contract with or

1:10:39 ↗ sometimes we get on the phone hey how do

1:10:41 ↗ you want this like it's a

1:10:42 ↗ dessert it's a perfect example harmonic

1:10:44 ↗ I'm working on this we want to change

1:10:46 ↗ our forms how do we track this there's a

1:10:48 ↗ collaborative we work together whereas

1:10:51 ↗ with the post contracts it's like okay

1:10:53 ↗ yes we approve the money or no we don't

1:10:55 ↗ approve because we need to wait on this

1:10:58 ↗ so it's a different type of relationship

1:11:00 ↗ hmm

1:11:02 ↗ great question Pat

1:11:06 ↗ okay

1:11:07 ↗ thank you for the great great

1:11:09 ↗ conversation

1:11:13 ↗ what's that did we help did it help well

1:11:16 ↗ I think yeah I think it was helpful to

1:11:18 ↗ secure and even so some things that I

1:11:20 ↗ didn't think about that you brought up

1:11:22 ↗ and then just trying to see where to

1:11:25 ↗ tackle do we tackle with finance and

1:11:28 ↗ Contracting like procurement that each

1:11:30 ↗ of our individual cities is to see if

1:11:32 ↗ there's something that we can do there

1:11:34 ↗ see if we can expand the pool contract

1:11:37 ↗ and full contracts and see what can we

1:11:40 ↗ do in terms of Staffing and resources

1:11:42 ↗ for that the other stuff is another

1:11:44 ↗ option do we want to try to increase

1:11:48 ↗ amount of founding funding for

1:11:50 ↗ organizations who are not in the pool to

1:11:53 ↗ um

1:11:55 ↗ extra costs yeah

1:11:59 ↗ also provide more overhead yeah

1:12:03 ↗ exactly

1:12:04 ↗ also about mini pools I mean if there's

1:12:07 ↗ 10 organizations like that that just

1:12:11 ↗ work with Issaquah in Bellevue right

1:12:13 ↗ exactly a secondary pool

1:12:16 ↗ I so appreciate you recognizing that and

1:12:19 ↗ bringing it up I think it's just it's a

1:12:23 ↗ Hazard of the industry right yeah so yes

1:12:27 ↗ no thank you but I think yeah I

1:12:29 ↗ appreciate it and actually now I'm gonna

1:12:31 ↗ segue into the next agenda item if I may

1:12:33 ↗ have more bed because as we talk about

1:12:35 ↗ the work plan item for 2023 as a small

1:12:38 ↗ refresher we well one of the

1:12:41 ↗ conversations that we had at our last

1:12:42 ↗ meeting in October was uh to to tell you

1:12:46 ↗ that typically during the off years this

1:12:49 ↗ is the of what we call off years because

1:12:51 ↗ you don't you don't repeat Brands uh we

1:12:53 ↗ encourage you to go and reach out to

1:12:55 ↗ organizations not reach out but go and

1:12:57 ↗ visit organizations we would reach out

1:12:59 ↗ on your behalf but go and visit

1:13:01 ↗ organizations and actually if you do

1:13:03 ↗ decide to move forward with visiting

1:13:06 ↗ some organizations this could be a

1:13:08 ↗ question for you to entertain with them

1:13:10 ↗ with pooled or non-pooled and perhaps

1:13:13 ↗ you can visit a few that are called a

1:13:15 ↗ few that are not pulled learning from

1:13:17 ↗ them

1:13:18 ↗ um and then with that though the one

1:13:20 ↗ question that I was going to bring back

1:13:22 ↗ to you so in October we were talking

1:13:25 ↗ about again the the benefit the pros and

1:13:28 ↗ cons about visiting organizations or

1:13:30 ↗ inviting organizations to come to your

1:13:33 ↗ meetings and also we talked about

1:13:35 ↗ another Equity

1:13:37 ↗ um

1:13:37 ↗ um or inclusion aspect of if you don't

1:13:41 ↗ visit all the organizations are you

1:13:43 ↗ going to be biased at the next funding

1:13:44 ↗ cycle now because you know of your

1:13:46 ↗ organizations so

1:13:49 ↗ um what we were suggesting

1:13:51 ↗ um or a staff we were suggesting at that

1:13:55 ↗ time is that perhaps you can

1:13:57 ↗ decide to visit all the organizations in

1:14:00 ↗ one category right or as I was thinking

1:14:04 ↗ a little bit more about this I had two

1:14:05 ↗ options in mind you can decide to visit

1:14:09 ↗ all the organizations and there are not

1:14:11 ↗ too many of them that are completely new

1:14:14 ↗ to receiving funding from the city this

1:14:16 ↗ funding cycle so they're new or because

1:14:20 ↗ culture-based organizations and uh uh

1:14:23 ↗ focus on inclusion and Equity was a big

1:14:25 ↗ aspect for us you can also decide to

1:14:27 ↗ visit those organizations for a more

1:14:30 ↗ cultural based and historically might be

1:14:33 ↗ smaller and then again just just get

1:14:36 ↗ them some feel for from them in terms of

1:14:38 ↗ what's working what's not working what's

1:14:40 ↗ difficult in terms of funding

1:14:43 ↗ um including pulder and Uncle

1:14:45 ↗ so that's another item I wanted to bring

1:14:48 ↗ up for discussion for you tonight

1:14:51 ↗ okay I can't remember when we talked in

1:14:53 ↗ October I I kind of thought that I'm

1:14:56 ↗ going back to the first question which

1:14:58 ↗ was do we want them to come here or do

1:15:00 ↗ we want to go visit and I thought we had

1:15:02 ↗ come to the conclusion we would want to

1:15:04 ↗ go visit in that movie so that was my

1:15:06 ↗ understanding yes yeah and do these

1:15:09 ↗ visits happen during the day or just it

1:15:11 ↗ just typically during the day now in my

1:15:14 ↗ conversation with some of the

1:15:15 ↗ organizations

1:15:17 ↗ they shared that sometimes they have

1:15:19 ↗ events and they would love to invite you

1:15:22 ↗ to some events this way it feels more

1:15:24 ↗ collaborative and they don't feel like

1:15:26 ↗ they need to prepare us for an audit so

1:15:29 ↗ it doesn't feel so intrusive so we have

1:15:31 ↗ those options and so I put some you know

1:15:34 ↗ there are some organizations that they

1:15:35 ↗ want to just invite you to some this way

1:15:37 ↗ you get to see them in action and see

1:15:39 ↗ what they're doing so these visits then

1:15:41 ↗ aren't just brought to they're something

1:15:43 ↗ you set up ahead of time yes we schedule

1:15:45 ↗ based on so typically yeah I am you know

1:15:50 ↗ [Laughter]

1:15:58 ↗ so typically we would start with this is

1:16:01 ↗ the list depending on what you choose

1:16:02 ↗ this is the list of organizations that

1:16:04 ↗ you're gonna visit depending on what you

1:16:06 ↗ choose and then we create a sign up

1:16:09 ↗ sheet and and send it out to you and say

1:16:12 ↗ hey I'm interested in visiting this

1:16:13 ↗ organization or am I interested in

1:16:16 ↗ visiting this organization and based on

1:16:18 ↗ that then we would reach out to them get

1:16:20 ↗ some times and days that work for them

1:16:23 ↗ get you know availability from you and

1:16:25 ↗ do the match and then typically we we

1:16:28 ↗ say that it's easier to go in pairs of

1:16:30 ↗ at least two uh we ask enough to as you

1:16:34 ↗ know do a formal Quorum

1:16:37 ↗ so you can do two things

1:16:40 ↗ [Laughter]

1:16:49 ↗ there you go you can of course go by

1:16:53 ↗ yourself as well but I think it's

1:16:55 ↗ usually easier to just go to yeah yeah

1:16:57 ↗ and and you come back and at the next

1:16:59 ↗ meeting of the next Commission meeting

1:17:01 ↗ after your visit you come and share with

1:17:03 ↗ with the Commissioners

1:17:06 ↗ no that's it I like the idea of them

1:17:09 ↗ having something already going on you

1:17:12 ↗ know rather than just go and say you

1:17:15 ↗ know what's happening so it has to

1:17:17 ↗ actually take you through a tour rather

1:17:18 ↗ than you can participate or watch so

1:17:22 ↗ what do we need to do to set that up

1:17:25 ↗ uh so I think first thing is to decide

1:17:27 ↗ what organizations or what group of

1:17:30 ↗ organizations you would like to visit

1:17:32 ↗ would you like to visit just the new

1:17:34 ↗ organizations would you like to visit

1:17:36 ↗ the cultural based organizations or

1:17:38 ↗ something totally different maybe you

1:17:39 ↗ want to visit all the behavioral health

1:17:42 ↗ organizations

1:17:42 ↗ but we had our three different groups so

1:17:46 ↗ we looked at like

1:17:48 ↗ like one group would visit the

1:17:50 ↗ home and went through the financial I

1:17:54 ↗ don't know I can remember that the other

1:17:56 ↗ group was yeah so you had the homeless

1:17:58 ↗ Services you had the behavioral health

1:18:01 ↗ um uh and the physical health services

1:18:03 ↗ you had a cultural based organizations

1:18:05 ↗ and then you had other Community

1:18:07 ↗ Resources

1:18:10 ↗ um so I I wouldn't recommend because

1:18:11 ↗ that's all of them that's 42 of vanilla

1:18:13 ↗ programs that would be difficult I would

1:18:15 ↗ recommend choosing one so either you can

1:18:18 ↗ choose let's say our recommendations it

1:18:20 ↗ was either culture-based organizations

1:18:22 ↗ or if you want to just get across all of

1:18:25 ↗ them a little bit choose all the ones

1:18:27 ↗ that perhaps we funded for the first

1:18:29 ↗ time but what about have a mix of okay

1:18:32 ↗ maybe the cultural base and depending on

1:18:36 ↗ how many it turns out to be in the

1:18:37 ↗ cultural base and the new ones in other

1:18:39 ↗ categories yes I like I like say that

1:18:43 ↗ again it's a great idea so we chose a

1:18:45 ↗ cultural based organizations how many

1:18:47 ↗ whatever it is and the new ones only in

1:18:50 ↗ the other categories

1:18:53 ↗ and then next year we rotate

1:18:56 ↗ that's certainly enough

1:18:59 ↗ I'm sure you look at one mainly and you

1:19:01 ↗ make sure that everyone else is

1:19:04 ↗ well-rounded yeah and the new and the

1:19:07 ↗ new organizations know hey we're here

1:19:15 ↗ so and also you build relationships

1:19:18 ↗ I felt like there's a real opportunity

1:19:21 ↗ there yeah that's great well we're

1:19:24 ↗ talking about more time commission wise

1:19:26 ↗ as Commissioners too so

1:19:30 ↗ um it depends on how many volunteered

1:19:34 ↗ to do that then we're looking at uh

1:19:37 ↗ Monica we funded 42 programs right how

1:19:39 ↗ many organizations

1:19:41 ↗ uh I believe that is 30 some I'm sorry

1:19:45 ↗ no 30 30 some 30 something how many

1:19:48 ↗ nodes

1:19:50 ↗ um it's less than ten okay okay

1:19:54 ↗ so all together you have about 15 I

1:19:58 ↗ would say that's probably that's pretty

1:20:00 ↗ good numbers yes even less

1:20:03 ↗ I apologize I wanted to look at that

1:20:05 ↗ before the meeting and I didn't have a

1:20:06 ↗ chance the interesting uh

1:20:08 ↗ scheduled calendar put together when you

1:20:11 ↗ put all that in the one what if you were

1:20:14 ↗ just to send out a list to all the

1:20:16 ↗ Commissioners and have them

1:20:18 ↗ or is this too random just check

1:20:21 ↗ you know first of all how many would you

1:20:23 ↗ recommend we visit in a year

1:20:27 ↗ so definitely I think probably about 15

1:20:29 ↗ it's a Max I I like to keep it on each

1:20:32 ↗ person no not each person each each

1:20:34 ↗ person probably total each person

1:20:37 ↗ probably not more than two three it's

1:20:39 ↗ reasonable for even not to visit more

1:20:41 ↗ than two three organization okay so what

1:20:42 ↗ if you were just to send out a a chart

1:20:44 ↗ and say you know which ones do you

1:20:47 ↗ really want to visit

1:20:48 ↗ yeah so oh oh would you like me to sign

1:20:51 ↗ I can definitely send you all of the

1:20:52 ↗ organizations but I was going to take

1:20:54 ↗ how that can take out just the cultural

1:20:56 ↗ based and new ones and send you this

1:20:57 ↗ with that yeah and then I can of course

1:21:00 ↗ thank you also send you the list and

1:21:02 ↗ it's public we should have it by now on

1:21:03 ↗ the website too with all the

1:21:04 ↗ organizations that we found in case you

1:21:06 ↗ want to visit someone else yeah yeah

1:21:08 ↗ yeah okay so that that's the follow-up

1:21:10 ↗ of absolutely would be to send you the

1:21:13 ↗ list of the organizations and then

1:21:17 ↗ um you can start signing up and say okay

1:21:19 ↗ Commissioners please put your name next

1:21:21 ↗ to the one that you'd like but you're

1:21:23 ↗ thinking of just sending us the new ones

1:21:26 ↗ and the cultural based ones okay yeah

1:21:28 ↗ in addition to I can send you of course

1:21:30 ↗ like all of the organizations you have

1:21:32 ↗ that that's public information anyway

1:21:34 ↗ right so is there any way you can put

1:21:37 ↗ the set the program up so that when

1:21:40 ↗ um Tris checks one that it's not

1:21:42 ↗ available for others to check I can put

1:21:45 ↗ it on SharePoint so then you all see

1:21:47 ↗ everybody it's being checked by two

1:21:50 ↗ people yeah

1:21:53 ↗ yeah

1:21:56 ↗ that sounds great good starting point

1:21:59 ↗ yes

1:22:01 ↗ okay

1:22:02 ↗ great conversation thank you for the

1:22:04 ↗ feedback so that was my main update

1:22:06 ↗ about the work plan items did you have

1:22:08 ↗ the the draft work plan

1:22:11 ↗ um in in your agenda packet the other

1:22:13 ↗ quick question that I have for you

1:22:15 ↗ hopefully it's not going to be or

1:22:18 ↗ um

1:22:19 ↗ up too long of a conversation

1:22:21 ↗ um about a work plan item I'm trying to

1:22:24 ↗ plan for a joint meeting with the equity

1:22:26 ↗ board and I was hoping that we can do it

1:22:29 ↗ in February but the equity board is

1:22:32 ↗ getting pulled into two meetings in

1:22:34 ↗ February so they already have two

1:22:35 ↗ meetings in February I might postpone it

1:22:38 ↗ to either the equity board meetings in

1:22:40 ↗ March and invite you to their meeting or

1:22:43 ↗ invite them to your meeting in March so

1:22:46 ↗ our meeting in March is the 15th when is

1:22:49 ↗ theirs they they always meet on the

1:22:51 ↗ first Wednesday of the of the month

1:22:53 ↗ that'll be March 1st yes so I think my

1:22:57 ↗ question is do you have a preference do

1:22:59 ↗ you have an interest first of all I

1:23:01 ↗ think you would have an interest in a

1:23:03 ↗ joint meeting right yes very much so

1:23:06 ↗ yeah the equity board expressed interest

1:23:08 ↗ in all things Human Services I know that

1:23:11 ↗ we are due for a human services

1:23:12 ↗ strategic Plan update so we thought we

1:23:14 ↗ can just do a plastically board had a

1:23:16 ↗ visit from the Issaquah school district

1:23:18 ↗ and the Issa School District proposed

1:23:20 ↗ some collaboration items and all of them

1:23:23 ↗ were human services related so then I

1:23:25 ↗ said you know there are some great

1:23:27 ↗ connections so their meeting is on the

1:23:29 ↗ 15th of March

1:23:37 ↗ their meetings it's at 6

1:23:40 ↗ same room though I'm out of town March

1:23:42 ↗ 1st so I have to I won't weigh in on the

1:23:45 ↗ whole conversation ours are always on

1:23:47 ↗ the 15th yeah on the third month

1:23:50 ↗ February 3rd Wednesday of February it's

1:23:53 ↗ been almost a year I'll get it done yet

1:23:56 ↗ it's still February 15th February 15 on

1:23:59 ↗ March 15 there because the days stay the

1:24:01 ↗ same yeah is it because of 28 I think

1:24:03 ↗ it's because of the 28 days in February

1:24:05 ↗ right yeah so you're just trying to

1:24:06 ↗ determine availability just just yeah a

1:24:10 ↗ little better you won't be here on the

1:24:12 ↗ 15th of February

1:24:17 ↗ I'm on the plane

1:24:19 ↗ okay so I can gauge stuff we can always

1:24:22 ↗ go to a third option and choosing

1:24:24 ↗ something in the middle maybe you know

1:24:25 ↗ another day in um in March the problem

1:24:28 ↗ is that we are going to end up with the

1:24:29 ↗ room problem but we'll yeah any others

1:24:33 ↗ many Trish that's them good both those

1:24:36 ↗ days you can I think

1:24:42 ↗ I have no idea

1:24:44 ↗ I think there's March February 15 is the

1:24:48 ↗ problem

1:24:49 ↗ yeah I've got something going on in

1:24:52 ↗ March but I don't know dates yet

1:25:12 ↗ yes I'm sorry yeah I'm going to be out

1:25:15 ↗ of town March 1st to the 15th oh yeah

1:25:19 ↗ I might be back in time I don't have my

1:25:22 ↗ itinerary in front of me but I might be

1:25:23 ↗ back in time for our commission meeting

1:25:25 ↗ on the 15th I just that I don't have in

1:25:28 ↗ front of me okay so they'll have March

1:25:31 ↗ 15th seems more reasonable it sounds

1:25:32 ↗ like okay okay we'll keep that as an

1:25:35 ↗ option March 15th and I'll follow up so

1:25:38 ↗ with other emails okay thank you so much

1:25:41 ↗ I know we are running a little bit

1:25:42 ↗ behind Trish so and that concludes okay

1:25:44 ↗ okay so we're gonna move on and I'm

1:25:47 ↗ gonna give my first chair report that

1:25:49 ↗ I've ever given and then you get to give

1:25:51 ↗ a report as well yes yeah okay so um

1:25:56 ↗ are you guys familiar with the voice

1:25:58 ↗ Mentor program in the school district

1:26:01 ↗ I have a voice Mentor yes I am familiar

1:26:04 ↗ okay I'm okay all right as well and yeah

1:26:06 ↗ and you probably saw the announcements

1:26:08 ↗ that went out

1:26:09 ↗ um they are the voice well first of all

1:26:12 ↗ I should explain for those people that

1:26:13 ↗ are familiar with it it started with the

1:26:15 ↗ school's foundation and then I don't

1:26:18 ↗ know how many years I don't know 20

1:26:20 ↗ years ago how long ago I don't know how

1:26:23 ↗ long it's been started a long time ago

1:26:24 ↗ it was it's called schools commission

1:26:25 ↗ yeah it started with us uh foundations

1:26:27 ↗ yeah yeah and then the school district

1:26:30 ↗ thought it was so valuable that they

1:26:31 ↗ just brought it into the school district

1:26:33 ↗ program announced run by the school

1:26:35 ↗ district and it's basically where they

1:26:39 ↗ match a Community member up with a

1:26:41 ↗ student that they feel needs another

1:26:45 ↗ adult presence in their life for

1:26:47 ↗ whatever reason and man when you can

1:26:50 ↗ chime in and say anything you want no

1:26:51 ↗ you're doing great and um it does it's

1:26:54 ↗ not a tutor it's not a tutor it can be

1:26:57 ↗ if you get together with the student and

1:27:00 ↗ the student really wants you to help

1:27:01 ↗ them with a subject or something I'm on

1:27:04 ↗ my second year as a mentor and

1:27:07 ↗ um last year we never pulled out a book

1:27:10 ↗ this all the the student just wanted to

1:27:12 ↗ talk talk talk talk which was great and

1:27:15 ↗ then this year

1:27:16 ↗ um I have actually I have a um

1:27:19 ↗ a Colombian middle school boy he and his

1:27:23 ↗ mom across the Rio Grande I assume

1:27:25 ↗ they're here illegally and

1:27:28 ↗ um we're having a great time he's

1:27:30 ↗ teaching me Spanish I'm teaching him

1:27:31 ↗ English

1:27:33 ↗ um and uh so you know it just you just

1:27:36 ↗ it's just to have another adult presence

1:27:38 ↗ and the school counselors kind of get a

1:27:42 ↗ sense of who can benefit and they will

1:27:44 ↗ make recommendations to I guess the

1:27:46 ↗ parents

1:27:47 ↗ somehow the school counselors kind of

1:27:50 ↗ decide you know I think the student can

1:27:52 ↗ use another adult in their life and and

1:27:55 ↗ then they must reach out to the family

1:27:56 ↗ or something I don't know how involved I

1:27:58 ↗ mean the family must sign off on it

1:28:00 ↗ right at some point but uh I don't know

1:28:04 ↗ if they have I don't know about that

1:28:05 ↗ yeah but anyways not it's not like us

1:28:08 ↗ the students in the school district just

1:28:10 ↗ walk up and say I want to be a voice

1:28:13 ↗ mentee they don't do it doesn't happen

1:28:16 ↗ that you don't self-select I think a

1:28:18 ↗ counselor gets involved but so and you

1:28:21 ↗ would have gotten this email too we just

1:28:23 ↗ we just got an email

1:28:25 ↗ they are in dire need of mentors

1:28:30 ↗ particularly men and particularly men of

1:28:33 ↗ color

1:28:36 ↗ okay and I think I I'm just assuming it

1:28:41 ↗ might have to do with a lot you guys all

1:28:43 ↗ know that the demographics are changing

1:28:45 ↗ and you know that and I had not heard

1:28:48 ↗ this term until about a year ago

1:28:50 ↗ the population of students in the school

1:28:52 ↗ the minority is now the majority yes so

1:28:57 ↗ it's minority majority and you can

1:29:00 ↗ probably speak to this as well too but

1:29:03 ↗ um

1:29:04 ↗ and it's wonderful I mean it's becoming

1:29:06 ↗ when I was talking to this one counselor

1:29:08 ↗ he said the school district really isn't

1:29:10 ↗ prepared because there is so I mean

1:29:12 ↗ we've got ukrainians here we've got um

1:29:16 ↗ tons of Spanish-speaking people

1:29:18 ↗ um and the school district really isn't

1:29:20 ↗ prepared to I mean they are trying to

1:29:23 ↗ figure out how they need to change to be

1:29:26 ↗ able to help all students all students

1:29:31 ↗ so you know one of the things they're

1:29:33 ↗ doing is they're putting out a big plea

1:29:34 ↗ for um I think everybody in this room

1:29:38 ↗ would be a great I think you have to be

1:29:40 ↗ um over 18. I think everybody here would

1:29:42 ↗ be a great mentor and they're

1:29:44 ↗ particularly looking to check my idea

1:29:46 ↗ they're particularly looking for men and

1:29:49 ↗ they're particularly looking for men of

1:29:50 ↗ color Manny I think you'd be great it's

1:29:53 ↗ a shame that Maddie doesn't already have

1:29:54 ↗ you know enough going on in his life we

1:29:57 ↗ just have to get him out of his garage

1:29:59 ↗ where he's making up making all those

1:30:02 ↗ beautiful pieces of woodwork

1:30:04 ↗ um so I'm gonna have

1:30:06 ↗ um because I know I'm not supposed to

1:30:08 ↗ email anybody or you know we're supposed

1:30:10 ↗ to have everything go through Monica I'm

1:30:11 ↗ going to send her something to send out

1:30:12 ↗ to everybody if you want to learn more

1:30:14 ↗ about the program

1:30:16 ↗ so and who who runs this there's two um

1:30:21 ↗ districts and Tina so it's a because

1:30:24 ↗ it's a school district program now yeah

1:30:26 ↗ so the email is actually voice

1:30:29 ↗ issaquah.webnet.edu yeah and the

1:30:32 ↗ commitment is

1:30:33 ↗ um I meet with the student and you know

1:30:35 ↗ you can talk about I mean it with one

1:30:37 ↗ student there's some mentors that have

1:30:39 ↗ six students I meet with one student

1:30:41 ↗ um for 45 minutes one period a week

1:30:45 ↗ so I mean it's not a huge commitment

1:30:47 ↗ and everything has to be done at school

1:30:50 ↗ the boundaries are very very clear and

1:30:53 ↗ you're not supposed to you know exchange

1:30:55 ↗ cell numbers or anything like that

1:31:01 ↗ the Human Services Commission funded the

1:31:04 ↗ program as a Steve funding it was part

1:31:07 ↗ of the non-profit when it was part of

1:31:09 ↗ the Issaquah schools Foundation

1:31:12 ↗ it started building up it got

1:31:14 ↗ transferred back to the city to them the

1:31:18 ↗ school district yeah

1:31:23 ↗ I mean it started with the foundation

1:31:25 ↗ yes it started with the foundation and

1:31:27 ↗ it got transferred to the school yeah

1:31:28 ↗ yeah no I'm sorry you got transferred to

1:31:31 ↗ us because this was such a valuable

1:31:33 ↗ program and

1:31:35 ↗ um yeah so my kids are the help well now

1:31:38 ↗ I don't know yeah I don't I I went to

1:31:41 ↗ the breakfast thing a while back I

1:31:42 ↗ couldn't tell you the exact numbers

1:31:43 ↗ they're having a real they have way more

1:31:46 ↗ students that have been identified for

1:31:48 ↗ support and they can provide one-on-one

1:31:51 ↗ mentors to work for yeah

1:31:54 ↗ um I've had I only have one student I've

1:31:56 ↗ had her since grade three she's a

1:31:58 ↗ sophomore now she has exceptional grades

1:32:01 ↗ take full credit

1:32:04 ↗ um but I I I have to say it's one of

1:32:07 ↗ those for me it's been one of those

1:32:08 ↗ things where I certainly get more out of

1:32:10 ↗ it yeah

1:32:11 ↗ I love it and most of the mentors will

1:32:14 ↗ say that yes and it's just yeah another

1:32:17 ↗ adult present that's all it is yeah I

1:32:19 ↗ think the biggest the hardest thing

1:32:21 ↗ about it in terms of getting more people

1:32:23 ↗ to do it is it it's all on the school

1:32:26 ↗ schedule so it's not like oh my evenings

1:32:29 ↗ are pretty free I can meet with someone

1:32:30 ↗ at you know after dinner it is it is

1:32:33 ↗ Monday through Friday and it is finding

1:32:35 ↗ the time during the day that works their

1:32:38 ↗ schedule so that's the to me that's been

1:32:40 ↗ the biggest challenge

1:32:42 ↗ yeah oh yeah you got a conference room I

1:32:45 ↗ get the conference room I have I have it

1:32:48 ↗ scheduled for the rest of the year and I

1:32:50 ↗ meet the student at 9 45 every Tuesday

1:32:55 ↗ and Manny this is back in 2017 when this

1:32:59 ↗ was still a city project and this was

1:33:01 ↗ again this was seed funding so they were

1:33:03 ↗ starting but they they served 31 youth

1:33:06 ↗ in that year and it's it's hundreds now

1:33:08 ↗ yeah I'm sorry and you know what when

1:33:11 ↗ you get the email from Monica there will

1:33:13 ↗ be links and you can go out and look

1:33:14 ↗ into it yeah

1:33:17 ↗ yeah

1:33:18 ↗ yeah I was good okay so I'm done with

1:33:22 ↗ that and now you're on Preston Okay so

1:33:27 ↗ there's a lot of different

1:33:30 ↗ um there's a lot of different events

1:33:31 ↗ we're starting here at um at yeah but

1:33:35 ↗ but so I'm gonna tell you just a little

1:33:37 ↗ bit about all of them because there's

1:33:39 ↗ like a lot so our biggest one is our

1:33:44 ↗ state of mind conference so this will be

1:33:46 ↗ on March 18th that either one from one

1:33:49 ↗ to four or two to four and this will be

1:33:52 ↗ either at the community center or

1:33:54 ↗ gibsonette which is just like

1:33:56 ↗ 12 steps down and um basically this is

1:34:01 ↗ um we're all going we're all inviting

1:34:04 ↗ speakers from around the community and

1:34:07 ↗ they're going to speak about mental

1:34:08 ↗ health so these can this is going to

1:34:10 ↗ include some of our topics that are

1:34:12 ↗ Stress Management mood substance abuse

1:34:15 ↗ suicide awareness and identity sexuality

1:34:18 ↗ so basically it's just like an awareness

1:34:21 ↗ raising event where people can learn

1:34:23 ↗ about like how learn more awareness

1:34:27 ↗ about the mental health and also learn

1:34:29 ↗ about like resources they can access if

1:34:31 ↗ they are experiencing a mental illness

1:34:34 ↗ so yeah that's one of our biggest events

1:34:37 ↗ and personally one of my favorites

1:34:39 ↗ and um the next event is our

1:34:42 ↗ environmental conference which will be

1:34:44 ↗ on the 25th

1:34:46 ↗ um this is um like state of mind but

1:34:49 ↗ it's more it hasn't ended but it's about

1:34:51 ↗ the environment so it'll include topics

1:34:54 ↗ like agriculture deforestation

1:34:56 ↗ electricity and heat and overfishing and

1:35:00 ↗ there'll be a call of action where

1:35:02 ↗ people can learn about how they can help

1:35:04 ↗ and how they can make a difference is

1:35:07 ↗ that March 25th

1:35:10 ↗ um yes March 25th it's also one to four

1:35:12 ↗ uh

1:35:21 ↗ our mental conference will be held

1:35:23 ↗ online and

1:35:25 ↗ another March one we have a um tree

1:35:29 ↗ planning however this is very like early

1:35:32 ↗ but we're partnering with um a

1:35:35 ↗ organization called Mountain to sound

1:35:37 ↗ Greenways and they help do

1:35:40 ↗ um tree planting events and

1:35:42 ↗ environmental events so we're hoping

1:35:45 ↗ that we can make that a public event so

1:35:48 ↗ people can come down and help plant some

1:35:51 ↗ trees

1:35:52 ↗ and and what day is it

1:35:55 ↗ um it's not planned yeah okay mid mid

1:35:58 ↗ late March maybe early April

1:36:01 ↗ and then nearest one is on February 2nd

1:36:05 ↗ is our Civic engagement meeting and this

1:36:08 ↗ is a conference for students

1:36:10 ↗ specifically and they get to meet the

1:36:12 ↗ mayor and other politicians and they can

1:36:15 ↗ learn about how to make an impact on

1:36:16 ↗ their Community I heard there might be

1:36:19 ↗ an um uh activity where they can create

1:36:22 ↗ like a politicial campaign to get people

1:36:25 ↗ to vote for them

1:36:28 ↗ so you know if you need any ideas then

1:36:32 ↗ you know where to go

1:36:34 ↗ and finally we have different community

1:36:37 ↗ building events for different ages such

1:36:40 ↗ as

1:36:41 ↗ um the Issaquah kids triathlon Harry

1:36:44 ↗ Potter night dog bone donuts and our

1:36:47 ↗ newest one is a pet adoption event and

1:36:49 ↗ these all are like to be determined days

1:36:52 ↗ wow

1:36:54 ↗ with all these events besides the one

1:36:56 ↗ that's virtual

1:36:58 ↗ state of mind

1:37:01 ↗ um we didn't realize that Gibson Ed was

1:37:04 ↗ going to cost so much money to reserve

1:37:06 ↗ so it will either be held at Gibson neck

1:37:09 ↗ if we can get the funds or the community

1:37:11 ↗ center but either way it will be the

1:37:13 ↗ same time and that environmental is held

1:37:16 ↗ online

1:37:17 ↗ um and Civic engagement

1:37:21 ↗ I can't see at the time if we rarely um

1:37:24 ↗ I know that there's posters we have

1:37:27 ↗ posters out and those will tell you

1:37:29 ↗ where it is and we're getting hopefully

1:37:33 ↗ we're going to be able to put it into

1:37:35 ↗ one of the school newsletters so if

1:37:38 ↗ y'all have any kids then you might see

1:37:40 ↗ it in the school newsletter but

1:37:43 ↗ um

1:37:44 ↗ Preston I'm so sorry if you already have

1:37:46 ↗ the pliers or any information that you

1:37:48 ↗ have you can also email it to me and

1:37:49 ↗ I'll share it with the rest of the

1:37:51 ↗ commission yes okay I'll do that because

1:37:54 ↗ I think I have a flower that would be

1:37:56 ↗ great yes that would be great thank you

1:37:58 ↗ and then um

1:38:01 ↗ all Harry Potter night the cat Triathlon

1:38:04 ↗ dodgeball and donuts I think these are

1:38:06 ↗ mostly considered towards

1:38:13 ↗ are supposed to be meant for teens

1:38:22 ↗ today

1:38:32 ↗ [Laughter]

1:38:35 ↗ most of these extra community building

1:38:38 ↗ events will all be held at the community

1:38:41 ↗ center obviously the tree planning will

1:38:44 ↗ not we'll probably find I think Mountain

1:38:47 ↗ December Greenway has a specific like

1:38:49 ↗ location where they help and I think

1:38:53 ↗ that's it for me thank you great thank

1:38:56 ↗ you very much

1:39:04 ↗ be on the commission

1:39:08 ↗ okay and you do you have something more

1:39:10 ↗ just one quick I know we talked a little

1:39:13 ↗ bit about joint meeting with Equity

1:39:14 ↗ board

1:39:15 ↗ just a heads up at the end typically at

1:39:18 ↗ the end of January and um beginning of

1:39:20 ↗ February our city typically starts

1:39:23 ↗ recruitment for new boards and

1:39:24 ↗ Commissioners

1:39:26 ↗ so I'm just wondering if we give heads

1:39:28 ↗ up and also ask around the room

1:39:31 ↗ um if you plan on continuing to staying

1:39:33 ↗ on the commission and your term is set

1:39:38 ↗ to expire please just get in touch with

1:39:40 ↗ me so then you can reapply or for any

1:39:43 ↗ reasons if you plan on stepping down

1:39:45 ↗ because also this is the time to let me

1:39:46 ↗ know so that we can plan for any

1:39:48 ↗ vacancies typically the recruitment as I

1:39:51 ↗ said starts at the end of this month

1:39:52 ↗ early next month then typically we do

1:39:55 ↗ interviews sometimes in March we make

1:39:57 ↗ those recommendations to the mayor in

1:39:59 ↗ April who then appoints new

1:40:02 ↗ Commissioners and those are also valid

1:40:05 ↗ by city council so then the new

1:40:07 ↗ Commissioners start on on May 1st and

1:40:11 ↗ existing terms and Commissioners uh end

1:40:14 ↗ on April 30th and everybody knows where

1:40:17 ↗ I mean I would have to go look at I

1:40:19 ↗ don't know when my term expires

1:40:20 ↗ everybody knows where to go look right

1:40:21 ↗ yeah

1:40:23 ↗ do you have it open right now

1:40:25 ↗ so high map is not here here uh today

1:40:29 ↗ um his term expires this year Pat your

1:40:32 ↗ term also expires this year uh Maury

1:40:35 ↗ also your term expires this year so yes

1:40:39 ↗ if you want to extend yes absolutely do

1:40:41 ↗ it formally uh you're gonna have to

1:40:43 ↗ formally just reapply but thank you for

1:40:45 ↗ letting me know because let me know how

1:40:50 ↗ also a vacancy that we did not feel last

1:40:52 ↗ time and then we also have uh probably

1:40:55 ↗ another vacancy for a math board member

1:40:59 ↗ for a commissioner who was not able to

1:41:01 ↗ attend since June so then that's going

1:41:03 ↗ to be also a vacant position so we have

1:41:05 ↗ two vacant positions automatically

1:41:08 ↗ um

1:41:09 ↗ I thought we actually had three

1:41:12 ↗ three vacancies there's Jamie

1:41:15 ↗ so that's the vacant position oh and

1:41:18 ↗ Jamie's is still there us know that

1:41:20 ↗ you're absolutely right Jane um Jamie

1:41:22 ↗ Jamie's still there I thought that the

1:41:24 ↗ vacant position was genius but you're

1:41:25 ↗ right Jamie's there I saw her name yes

1:41:27 ↗ so you have three positions or

1:41:29 ↗ automatically bacon in understand

1:41:31 ↗ Commissioners that right

1:41:33 ↗ it may decides to step down

1:41:36 ↗ um hopefully not but this is a Great

1:41:38 ↗ Commission would be great one too

1:41:40 ↗ I got the three years already

1:41:45 ↗ man a year 20. my turn is over

1:42:13 ↗ [Music]

1:42:16 ↗ is planning on returning

1:42:19 ↗ um her at the end of February so

1:42:21 ↗ probably you're gonna see her at the

1:42:23 ↗ meeting in March

1:42:25 ↗ and that's that's it concludes anything

1:42:27 ↗ else so if you don't have any

1:42:28 ↗ announcements

1:42:30 ↗ okay anything for the go to the order I

1:42:32 ↗ think we've probably

1:42:34 ↗ interjected some of that throughout the

1:42:35 ↗ meeting anyways okay all right meeting

1:42:37 ↗ adjourned all right thank you thank you

1:42:40 ↗ very much

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Attendance

Council / Members (8)

Jaime Fajardo, absent excused

Patricia Sadate-Ngatchou

Trish Bloor

Kiran Singh, absent unexcused

Manny Brown

Maury Edwards

Madeline Fish

Preston Miele, Youth Advisory Board Representative

Staff (3)

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

Tisha Gieser, City Clerc

Elina Pan, Volunteer-Intern

Recommendations & actions (2)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

EDWARDS motioned and FISH seconded.
There being no proposed edits, the minutes were approved by unanimous consent.