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king_5c670e17-987e-4ab9-83c3-17387b581b8d | Or our committee of the whole for Monday, July 15th. Madam Clerk, would you be kind enough to call the roll? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember County Junior Councilmember Kendall Skinner. Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Garcia. Yeah. Councilmember Cohen. Councilmember Lambert here. Councilmember of the ground here. Councilmember one right there. Here. Mr. Chair. Sure. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you. Councilmember Garcia, would you be kind enough to introduce the delegation from China visiting us today? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. When Councilmember Johnson is taking his place. I'd welcome a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the adoption of the minutes of our July 1st meeting. The July 1st meeting. Minutes before I see no discussion. All those in favor, please say I oppose nay. The ayes have it. The minutes are approved. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Mr. Chair. About two or three of us, all of you now have had the opportunity over the years serving as King County Council members to visit and represent our people and the People's Republic of China, as well as in other locales in the Far East. But this afternoon, I'm honored because we have a delegation of politicians like us from China shape provincial people's government that are visiting us today. And it gives me a great deal of pleasure and honor to have us recognize them in the work that they're doing and their leaders. Is Mr. Walsh Armstrong, any incorrect pronunciation is a problem in my mind, out of my heart. I know somebody is interpreting that. So I if it's all right, Mr. Chair, I like Mr. Wu just to say a couple brief words about why they're here. Thank you, Mr.. Oh, come on up to the mike. It'd be better. No, we got to do it in. Interpret a deer chair and a deer. Ladies, gentlemen, it's my honor to speak a few words to represent Shaanxi Province. Well, I am the director general of Foreign Affairs. Office of the Shaanxi government says your government. From China. You take this opportunity to welcome everybody here to come to Shanxi Province, China, anytime. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you so much. We're glad you're here with us today. The committee, the whole church. We will now move to public comment, will limit public comment to 2 minutes and public comment should be addressed to one of the items on today's agenda. Public comments may not be used for the purposes of assisting the campaign of any person in the office or for the promotion or opposition of any ballot proposition and should not include obscene speech. If a speaker fails to abide by these rules, they may be ruled out of order and they may be asked to return to their seat. With that said, I believe I have six people signed in for testimony today, beginning with Mr. Zimmerman. Alex Zimmerman, followed by Ron Solomon, either Sanchez Vella and Kasey Pilarski. Z Kyle, my dirty Führer Z Kyle. I'm not a Gestapo. anti-Semite with Animal Farm Animal Farm My name I Zimmerman in the way and speak about agenda number five. How about judges? What is V choice today when come to my brain? What judge I think is supposed to be honest, smart, professional. Is from one. Side and from another side is attorney and statistic in America for attorney very close to car dealer. So I'm totally confused about it. How is this possible? You're absolutely right. So I go in court for the last 35 years, approximately a couple hundred times, and they cannot find the one. And this judge and system is. Very. Make me sick mentally. Yeah, I have experience with Soviet Union judges, you know, I just mean it's old communist, Soviet communist, Soviet judicial system right now. Supposed to be separate this forum. I know this too, but you don't have the cover right now. All three. System is work for a government of all workers who are on the roof. Is this Roma not a social democratic mafia, progressive Gestapo principle? That's exactly what you did with King Country in Seattle. So I'll give you a classic example. What is experience I up in 2008 district court judge make decision so Alexei Merriman cannot go to small claims court in make up like Conklin yes 400 bucks 200 bucks five bucks is existed for 11 year this decision half lifetime. Expand it. Expiration something that is never seen before in my life. They'll go to somebody, kill somebody. Come 25 year in prison this time you know what this means. So from 2008, I never have time for expiration. I cannot go to court. Stand up, America. Thank you, Mr. Southern. Followed by Mrs. Sanchez Villa. Mr. Chair, is it okay to talk? I didn't realize that it was supposed to be something that's on the agenda. But is it okay to talk? It's better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Thank you, sir. Mr. Chair, King County Council. My name is Ron Smitherman, and with me are Angie Meier and Yvonne KUPERBERG. We represent hundreds of Babylon residents who have said the King County Council banned personal fireworks from Bashan. As you know, Bashan is a small island that is rural and in unincorporated King County. We need your votes to ban the personal fireworks. For the last five years have been the hottest on record. Global warming isn't a joke, and it's happening. And the projected trend is to continue. With warmer and drier summers. We feel that more and more people are coming to Vachon. Since 25 cities were thinking county of banned fireworks, 70 cities statewide have banned fireworks or restricted fireworks severely. And it all only creates danger due to the dry conditions. It puts an extraordinary fear of the residents, veterans, animals on the island when the fireworks are discharged. Other than the 4th of July during the 4th of July this year, we had seven firefighters total on the island the days before and after. We only have three. Any fire that would break out on vacation. Fire resources from King County, or at least an hour away. And on the 4th of July, we expect them to be longer than that with all the different calls that the fire departments are having on the other side of the pond. 25 cities in King County have banned fireworks, over 70 cities statewide. We have set the King County Council on the fire marshal that consumer grade fireworks on bash on B band. We have a public show that's put on over a quartermaster harbor that we feel is sufficient for the public and for the safety of the island. We feel that it should be banned. We have a petition with over 1600 signatures from the island. We also have a letter from the Bashan Island Fire Commissioners asking that you ban fireworks on the 4th of July. Thank you much. And if you want to submit your materials to the clerk, well, it'll be part of the record. We'll all get a copy. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Aida Sanchez Vella and I am from Federal Way. I am a member of Saltwater Church and the Southern Alliance, and I'd like to request a minute to talk about pasta again. Forgiveness is better than permission. Keep talking. So thank you so much for including the language of physical activity in the amendment for for the pasta the pasta amendment and for recognizing the positive impact that it has in learning and keeping children and youth engaged in school. Now acknowledging the great value of all the propositions. I am here to say that an original thought about pasta was that the light rail extension projects where negatively impacting vulnerable children and youth by displacing their communities along the way, the light rail was being is being built, so the pasta tax was established with the idea to give back to those communities a measure of reparation, even if an imperfect one. So please, when determining the percentages for fund distribution, keep those children, those vulnerable youth and children in mind and and establish an equitable distribution of funds of 30% for every age group. Thank you. Thank you. Cassie. Followed by Kiss Thornaby. Hello. My name is Cassie Polaski, and I'm a King County resident and a University of Washington, master's of public health student and a member of the health equity circle with Sound Alliance. I want to speak in support of equitable distribution of the of funds for all age groups. The purpose of these funds is to address the upstream factors of health to impact as many kids as possible. In K through 12, I want to advocate where there is clear data on the benefits of physical activity, on academic performance, behavioral issues and overall health. These are key determinants for not only our younger population but our future adult population. We know that low education attainment leads to unemployment, poverty and chronic stress. We have the ability to support the future of our population so they can be as happy and healthy as possible. If not, we're setting them up for failure. I have two nephews, ages three and six, and both are active in gymnastics, soccer, baseball, other activities like that. And I've been there when they haven't had the chance to exercise and they act like completely different kids. They're unruly, they're easily upset, and they just can't focus. And but they are fortunate to have the opportunities to create healthy habits. And every child should be given those same opportunities. So please do this for the. Future of our. Population. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. She says this is a perfect storm of low, low self-esteem in that her dearest closest of facts in intent and it's a ground piece for disco that's the list surround the major and stressors related medical condition like. To uproot this notion that we a national program that will let. Well for her in kind of simplement physical logically concealing counseling to the those who are lost missing or have this lost their homes is in 1990 needed or community hospital police academy medical st perhaps family fees guns and the community maintenance since that is should be pre prepared in a special special with food the special P poulton the home for solace. It is printers. Drank. Drank. My 16 years, I think. Tracy think peace secretly working with the many people fixing the financial. And this source off our affiliate Hood, who places the same hand. Do you follow it? Thank you. Thank you. I believe that concludes public testimony for today's meeting. Is there anyone else who would like to offer public testimony? Yeah. Anyone else. Then we'll close the public hearing and we'll move to item seven on today's agenda. The county's Children and Family Justice Center will be opening later this year. This ordinance, ordinance 2019, 210 would name the building itself and the resource center within the building after two prominent local jurists, Patricia Clarke and Bobby Bridge, both of whom had a tremendous impact on the improvement of services provided to juveniles within the juvenile justice system . Here to brief the committee on the legislation is Patrick Hamacher. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Council members, for the record. Patrick Hamacher, council staff. The discussion of this ordinance begins on page 28 in your packets today. And as you noted in your introduction, Mr. Chair, this ordinance would name the facility, the Children and Family Justice facility after Judge Patricia Clark. It would name the resource center within the facility after Justice Bobby Ridge. Just by way of background towards the bottom of page 28. Patricia Clark served as a King County Superior Court judge from 1998 until 2015, and she served as the chief judge of the Juvenile Division from 2000 to 227. During her time on the court, Judge Clark received many awards, some of which are the Vanguard Award from the King County Women's League, Women's Women Lawyers, the 2005 Voices for Children Award from the Washington State Children's Alliance and the Trailblazer Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association. She also served as a member of the Superior Court Judges Association, Board of Trustees and the Superior Court Judges Association, Family Juvenile Law Committee. Moving to page 29, in your staff reports, she chaired King County's disproportionality committee and the State of Washington's Committee on Racial Disproportionality. Judge Clarke also led the county's implementation of Dependency Family Treatment Court, and it was instrumental in the Reclaiming Futures Treatment Court and Family Treatment Court. The ordinance would name the facility formerly would formally name the facility. The judge, Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center Justice Bobby Bridge served as a superior court judge for ten years. Four of those were as the chief judge of the juvenile court and two years as a presiding judge of the King County Superior Court. In 1999, she was appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court, where she served until 2007. After leaving the bench, she served as the founding president and CEO of the Children for excuse me, as a Center for Children and Youth Justice. As with Judge Clarke, Justice Bridge also received many awards throughout her career, a sampling of which is the David W suck up Speak Up for a child from the Washington State Association of Court Appointed Special Advocates and Guardian Ad Litem. Jurist of the Year from the Washington State Bar Association and Judge of the Year from the King County Bar Association. Justice Bridge also served as co-chair for the Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care. The chair of the Domestic Violence Child Maltreatment Statewide Protocol Project and chair of the State, a task force. Judge Britt Justice Bridge contributed to the establishment of a Unified Family Court in King County and in establishing a child care facility at the Mailing Regional Justice Center. Moving to the very bottom of page 29, the proposed ordinance would name the Resource Center after Justice Bobby Bridge and just four by way of further information. The Resource Center at the Children and Family Justice Center actually includes a large number of services, including a full list that's on page 29 and 30. Some of the more important of which are the housing coordinators, transportation support, legal resources, community based services, and behavioral health services for the families and the children involved with the criminal justice system and having interactions at the Children and Family Justice Center. As I noted, the ordinance would name the Resource Center as the Justice Bobby Jay Bridge Resource Center. That concludes my staff report, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. See? No questions of Mr. Hamacher. I would invite Judge Bill Bowman and Michelle Clarke to join the presentation table. Councilmember Lambert, you want to speak from there or during the presentation table? Well, it's okay. Of course. Put the ordinance before us first. Yes, please. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to move. Proposed Artist 3019 020210. Councilmember Lambert has moved adoption of Ordinance 2019 210. Councilmember Lambert. Thank you. I'm very excited about this day that we're getting. We've gotten here when I actually thought at this point we would already be in this courthouse. So took a little longer than. We had expected. And I'm very excited that today we're talking about naming it for these two wonderful women. Judge Patricia Clark used the power of hope, compassion and seized opportunities to improve the lives of youth in their families. She was a strong advocate for prevention programs to help young people out of the detention system. She was truly a pioneer for change. I went with her on a trip to Illinois to look at juvenile justice best practices. She was truly a leader, and then during her time, the number of incarcerated youth dropped dramatically. New children in Justice Center will soon be a place where children and families will be treated with them utmost respect and access to a wide range of services, as Pat just talked about. The facility will include child care for families on court business, additional space for youth and family services, and a resource center connecting youth and family with the services in their communities. And I just like to tell you three times that stick out in my mind with Justice Clark. I met her when I was the legislator and we were doing a project. We went across the state looking at different courtrooms and trying to decide what made the best judges the best judges. And she was one of the three judges in the state that I chose as being the best judge. And the reason for that was she had great interaction with the people before her. She had great compassion, and she expected the best out of people. And when I was giving a report in front of a clear continuing education for justice guy in front of members of the bar, she was in the audience when I was talking about this wonderful judge, and everybody started looking at her and I went, Oh, there she is. So that was fun. And it was fun to have her peers hear all the different things that she had done because some of them they hadn't heard of. One of my favorite meetings with her was where we were going out to lunch and she was wearing a a pink outfit. It was not my favorite pink outfit. And when Blackman was waiting in the waiting room and he was there by himself, and she went up to him and she said, Can I help you? And he said, No, you can't help me. And she said, Well, why not? And he said, Well, that lady of there supposed to have helped me an hour ago, and she isn't doing anything to help. And so she said, Now tell me what the problem is. And so the boy told her, and she called clear across the room to the clerk and said, Hey, when is that going to be ready? And she goes, Oh, Judge. Just a minute. And the boy looked up at her. His eyes were like saucers. And he said, You're the judge. And she looked over at him. She said, not only mad, the judge, I am the presiding judge. And yes, we will get this. And I have one more thing to tell you. Never underestimate the power of a black woman. And I just thought that was so amazing. He was very impressed that and that she was there to help him. And she truly did. And she also got the law and the Bar Association Award. And it was really nice to be there that night and hear all the wonderful things and compliments that other judges and attorney had to say about her. The other part of this is that the resource center is going to be named after Justice Bobby Bridge. And we just heard her background. She also is the woman who's the visionary. And not only did she help establish the first court based child care center in the Pacific Northwest at our center, and if you haven't been able to get in and see that it is so child friendly and appropriate and has all these great safety precautions. She also most people don't know this, but she was the guiding force between the on the legislation and the family unification law. And she and I worked on that when we were I was in the legislature. So she had a guiding force in family unification to make it even possible that you could unite those kinds of cases. So I'm very excited that this court is going to be named after these two amazing pioneer women. And as soon as we hear from two other great speakers, I'd like to that we have a yes vote on this ordinance and to thank the many co-sponsors who have made this possible. And so with that, I would like to introduce as to the listening audience, because we all know and love her, Michelle Clark, her daughter, followed by our assistant presiding judge, Judge Bowman. Michelle, if you don't mind, Councilmember, we're going to flip that order. Oh, okay. Judge by members. Okay. Thank you, Judge. Good afternoon, everybody. Judge Bill Bowman. I'm the assistant presiding judge for the King County Superior Court. In behalf of the King County Superior Court, I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to speak in favor of this ordinance. I actually had the honor of appearing in front of a judge, Patricia Hall Clark, when I was a lawyer and then working with her as a colleague for a number of years. And I think everybody here knows that she was a fierce advocate for the kids in our community. Some may not know that she had a career in social work and youth services before she ever attended law school. In fact, it was at age 40 when she obtained her J.D. and her master's in public administration from the University of Washington. And then she had another career with the King County prosecutor's office, where she was a deputy prosecutor and worked her way up to be a senior deputy prosecutor in 1996. She brought all of her passion and experience from decades of working with youth to our bench as a commissioner. At first, her focus then was on at risk youth and children in need of services cases. She became a Superior Court judge in 1998 and continued working as a champion for families in our dependency and juvenile offender cases. She served among her many roles in our court as chief juvenile court judge for many years, and I'll use the same word that Councilmember Lambert did. She was truly a pioneer in juvenile justice reform. She was committed to collaborating with the community in an effort to approach juvenile justice issues as a team. She was acutely aware of and worked hard to address the disproportionality of kids of color in our system and was in fact one of the earliest voices to advocate for incarceration of youth and to and worked to provide viable alternatives to detention. And finally, she was a proponent of examining the juvenile justice process from the child's point of view. Her vision has served as a driving force behind our current approach to restorative justice. Justice Bobby Bridge has spent an entire career in and out of the courtroom advocating for kids as well. In her ten years, a superior court judge, four of which I think, as you mentioned, she served as our chief juvenile court. She led the creation of the Juvenile Justice Operation Master Plan, which many of you know is Jay Jump, which effected significant changes in juvenile offender court practices and led to a significant reduction in the number of kids in detention. She also led the effort to create juvenile drug court and chaired the Oversight Committee for the Parents Representation Project, which improved representation for parents in abuse and neglect cases. And as a Supreme Court justice, she was co-chair of the Commission on Children in Foster Care and chaired the Beckett State Task Force and led the Committee on Adolescents in need of long term placement. When she retired from the Supreme Court. She founded the Center for Children and Youth Justice, an organization that advocates for system reform to benefit kids. On behalf of the King County Superior Court. We can't think of two more appropriate namesakes for the Children Family Justice Center, where we will continue to collaborate with our communities and partners to provide the therapeutic and culturally responsive services to all youths and families. Thank you. Thank you. So I think that it would be appropriate not to speak of my mother as a judge, but as a mother. She spent her life fighting for children that other people didn't think were worth it. So as a social worker, as a prosecutor, as a judge, she served as a mentor to young women, young lawyers of color, new judges on the bench. But she never lost her focus for her kids. And they want me and my brother. Her kids are the kids, actually. So some of her innovative sentences were to sentence kids to book reports the book or to sends them to book reports to have them come back and share with her the times that they went to the library, what their reports were, and whether or not the kids wrote the reports. It was a success for going to the library, doing the research, coming back, and then she would serve as their cheerleader. The other thing that she thought about children were when kids end up in juvie, it's not because they have failed. We have failed them. And so she would be greatly honored to see that the county is now working toward zero youth detention and recognizing that with the Unified Family Court, that when your kid is in crisis, your whole family is in crisis. And so we need to look at it from a family systems if we're going to do so. This is a great honor for my family and my mother would be proud. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Can I ask Michelle, will you tell us about the picture in front of you? Maybe I can. Maybe. Okay. So this is a picture that the kids at end juvenile detention is a mural that they made for her when they found out that she was retiring. So in this picture is a kid with a backpack in the rain and a woman in robes. That's my mother in the rain. And she is holding the umbrella over the little boy. She is getting wet, but she is protecting him. So that's what they did for her when she retired. A fitting tribute. Thank you. Thank you for the discussion. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I had the pleasure of working very closely with both of these women. Even though Bobby Bridge shared, I was the chairperson of the Juvenile Justice Operation Master Plan. I was one of the lead county council members that worked to figure out a creative way based on best practices, that we could dramatically reduce the number of kids in juvie because we were very fearful that we would have to build another youth. Yeah, we had just been told that if we did not do anything at the adult novel, that we would have to build another new jail by 2008. That was the nature of growth in both our adopting the youth populations. Bobby Bridge and Patricia Clark both served and played leadership and innovative roles. So I think it was appropriate that some of my colleagues and the judge earlier mentioned, I referenced these women as pioneering because they were indeed pioneering. I also had the pleasure of going to college in the mid 1960s at the University of Washington, where Patricia and a couple quarters I had classes with her and she noted that I like to play with her maybe a little too much. So she just took it upon herself to holler. And I'm glad, Larry, it's time to go to class. And, you know, I had to get on that and go to class. But that showed me that she cared about me being successful at the university. And when Bobby Bridge left the court, she was so committed to youth services that she served on some of the broader youth justice conferences and commissions and committees that we set up here in King County. And some that the state set up. And Olympian always played a leadership role based on her judicial experience. Our commitment to you and I cannot name the number of African-American youth and Latino youth and just poor white youth who have come to my office with stories about Patricia Clarke, Judge Clark, and how she handled down in court. And half of those stories came from their parents who just observed her interaction with their kids and with them. And I think that's an example when Margaret and Patricia Clarke, one of the most difficult cases that we ever had to handle here. Martin Luther King, Jr. Connie was the killing of Mr. Robert Thomas senior, and it was extremely controversial. And the alleged shooter was a King County sheriff's deputy, and the African-American community was extremely upset. Rod Sims was the executor. He couldn't he couldn't pay a judge to handle this case. And finally, Patricia Tarrant I will handle it. And she and earning the respect of the families involved, the police involved, you know, judicial leadership and our government and our extremely hard manner, a difficult situation to earn respect from all these parties because three or 400 black people took over the freeways one day, but she stayed calm. How about the inquest? So I want to invite them. Both of these women's extraordinary leadership as judges and as human beings absolutely warrant our support for them. Judge Clarke, having a whole facility named after her and Judge Bobby Bridge having the learning center, which is going to be used a lot named after her. And I genuinely hope that we follow through and support both of these nominees for these extremely important and symbolic and inspirational positions at our new children at Valley Justice Center. Thank you. Thank you. With that, I'd ask the court to please call the role. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Baldacci. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember Dunn. All right. Councilmember Garcia. Councilmember Colwell. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember of the crowd. Councilmember one right there. Hi, Mr. Chair. Hi, Mr. Chair. The vote is a 99 zero no's. Thank you. Haven't received the required majority. We have. We've given ordinance 2019 210 a do pass recommendation. We will send that to full council and I would suggest we could put it on consented for council. We expedite and we'll expedite to Monday to Wednesday's agenda. We can't expedite to tomorrow's because there is an ordinance and needs are to Wednesday. It needs a public hearing and hasn't been recognized. So we can do it next week, though. Then we'll do it regular course and we'll put it on consent. Thank you. Thank you very much. That takes us to items five and six. The King County District Court, Northeast Division currently has two openings to the incumbents being appointed to the Superior Court by Governor Inslee. Pursuant to King County Code, I instructed staff to coordinate interviews with all of the eligible applicants, and that subcommittee consisted of myself and council members Baldacci, Dombrowski and Lambert. We conducted six interviews on July 8th and July 10th and are recommending three candidates as finalists to be interviewed today. The county code requires a procedural motion to select the finalists to be interviewed, and I wish to call on Councilmember Dombrowski to make that motion now. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's my pleasure to move that. The King County Council take up the appointment of the two open seats for Northeast District Court, and that we consider the recommendations of the select committee that you mentioned Kevin Peck, Jill Kling and Michelle Gilson, and conduct interviews here today and make a recommendation to the full council if that is the motion you were looking for. I believe it. I believe in fact it is. Discussion Council Member Gossett. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask Councilmember DEMBOSKY does that mean we are filling two positions today or just one? Two positions? Oh, thank you for that clarification. Yes, I see no further discussion. All those in favor, please say I oppose. Nay, the ayes have it. Thank you. Today, the full committee will interview. The three finalists, will provide about 15 minutes for each finalist. And until the finalists are before the panel for the interview, I'm asking that they be sequestered in the actually in a conference room in the administrative offices of the council. Grant Lemon will facilitate that, and that allows us to interview each candidate in open session and allow each one of them to be hearing the questions and participate in with as much warning as the others. Sam Porter is here with counsel staff to answer any procedural questions and point out anything I may have overlooked. No one seems to think I've overlooked anything, Mr. Lemon. We have names of the applicants, but the paper randomly at first will be back, followed by Will King County Television is not happy. The clerk of the show again. You don't. Know how where they. Go. Oh, General, I would just go with that. Everybody has, right? No. It's not. Appropriate for you to be. Against it. You have to apply their word. But they have made it their personal. Yeah. I mean, you know. Yeah. All right. We gotta go. Yeah I've been feeling you know I we have not pre assigned who asks the questions and will be making that up as we go along. So let me begin actually by welcoming Kevin Peck and ask you to briefly introduce yourself. Describe your background and why you'd like to serve it as a district court judge. Thank you, and thank you for the honor to address the entire council today. My name is Kevin Peck. I served as a trailer in King County for the past 36 years, and I've been honored to serve as a pro-tem judge in the King County District Court for the past 29 years. At age 14, I began working at McDonald's in Chicago. I graduated high school a semester early and took a position as a law clerk in a Chicago law firm where in my spare time I would go to the courthouses in Chicago, either the federal court or state court and watch trials. And it was there at the age of 17, I began my love and fascination for our legal system. I moved to Seattle 41 years ago, where I worked in the shipyards and as a vendor at the kingdom in order to help pay for law school and graduating from law school. I immediately took the job full time as a public defender in King County for three years, where a guardian significant trial experience in representing indigent clients and communities of color. I also advocated for caseload standards for public defenders that that based on the overwhelming caseload we were being presented with to make sure that being provide adequate representation . After I was served as a public defender, I was then hired as in-house counsel to the hotel and restaurant employees. I served in that position for two years where I negotiated collective bargaining agreements for fair and sustainable wages, safe working conditions, and work to try and eliminate sexual harassment, which was rampant in that industry. I subsequently went into private practice where I've now been for 31 years, where I continue to represent indigent defendants in federal court, criminal proceedings, and continue to practice employment law representing over 200 individuals in employment matters based on discrimination of race, sex, national origin, religion, disability and sexual orientation. I've been honored in that position to also sue a case all the way through the U.S. Supreme Court, a criminal case where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a statute based on free speech. I've come up with some ideas. I started serving as a pro tem judge in the district court 29 years ago. Over the past 29 years, I've made it over the time. It was until just a second ago. Over the past 29 years, I've presided over hundreds and hundreds of proceedings, criminal cases, civil cases, trials, jury trials, every type of case that comes before a district court judge. There's not a day that I filled in as a district court judge that I haven't relished and love the opportunity. I find the work intellectually stimulating, and if I had my choice, I would do this work every day. The rest of my life, the lawyers that appear before me, the lawyers that appear before me advise me. They feel respect. It's okay. I'm sorry. Oh, pardon us. No, that's okay. Over the past 29 years, until the end, as a district court judge, the lawyers that have appeared before me advised me they feel listened to, respected. They appreciate. I get to the heart of the matter quickly and I have good judicial temperament. Two years ago, in the lobby of this courthouse, a lawyer stopped me and said he had appeared before me a month before on a motion hearing in Shoreline District Court. He said he lost the motion, but he wanted me to know my decision was well-reasoned. I didn't know this lawyer, he said. He wanted me to know my decision was well-reasoned and he was uplifted when I announced the decision. He said, You should run for judicial office. We need more judges like you. Three years ago, a claimant appeared before me in District Court on what's called a tow hearing, trying to get reimbursement , alleging his car had been illegally towed by a property owner. I showed him the statute and said the way the statutes written, I couldn't order reimbursement for him. But I said, here's the copy of the statute. You can go in the back of the courtroom and when you're ready, I'll recall the case and we can discuss it further. When he came to the front of the courtroom, he said, You're right, the way the statutes are, you can't order reimbursement. But I want you to know this is real justice and I really appreciate this opportunity. So those are some of the stories to people who've lost their hearings in my courtroom, but still appreciated the type of justice that I was able to provide. And I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Thank you. We have a volunteer to ask the second question. Councilmember up the grove. Yeah. You're making me put my old man glasses on. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. You touched on this very briefly in your introductory comments, but maybe you could flesh it out. Could you describe your understanding of the racial inequities in our justice system and our judicial system? And describe how you've worked to address these issues in your career and how you could seek to address them in a position as a permanent district court judge. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Do I feel sad that there such a racial inequality in our justice system? As I said, I've dedicated a good part of my life to pursuing discrimination, so it's not esoteric to me. I deal with it every day, people in the workplace being treated differently based on race or gender. But I also see it in the criminal justice system. The communities of color are well, overrepresented, unfortunately, in the criminal justice system. And that's actually why I'm honored by my reading by the Latino Bar Association, exceptionally well-qualified and by the Lawrenceville or Mars Bar Association, exceptionally well-qualified, because I think they recognize the work I've been doing on behalf of communities of color over the last 36 years. And I think we can do a lot to change and reduce the inequities in the criminal justice system. Actually, some of some of you, if it's okay, if I pass out the. Call, do it for you. My cousin. Thank you. What I've come up with is based on my experience of 29 years as a pro tem judge and 36 years practicing in in court is a trial lawyer. I've come up with some ideas and some of the ideas I think would help reduce the racial inequity in the district court system. So I quickly go through those ideas. The first pages ideas and the second piece pages, a criminal case timeline. I know some of you are familiar with criminal case timelines. Others perhaps it would be a help to. But some of the ideas I have to reduce the racial inequity we have way, way too many people miss court hearings and warrants are put out for them. You know, when a warrant is put out for an individual, not only is that judicial time and public defender time and prosecutor time and police time and share of time, you know, then once they're taken into custody, they have to stay in jail potentially overnight and then come back and be brought before the court the next day. Transportation time, it's mass cost to the district court system. So and what it does to the individuals is the individual that is has to stay in jail overnight or perhaps longer. They can't support their family because they're in jail. They might lose their job. They might have to miss school. It can create havoc for persons. And at least based on my experience, I see it affects persons of color to a greater degree. And I think what we need to do is work to reduce warrants. So my first idea is we put out text notification to individuals the day before their court hearing. Too many people miss court hearings. As I explained to the subcommittee, when I need medication, Costco sends me a reminder. I press the text. It's it's time. Yes, I want to renew my medication. And then they tell me when it's ready so we can send that same notification out. And as part of the notification, I also put in my ideas that we can describe the type of court hearing and again, my representation of persons of color for 36 years and interdependence. A lot of people don't come to court because they're afraid to come to court or they don't understand and they think they're going to end up in custody and they can't afford to lose their job. They can't afford to lose their housing. They need to take care of their children. So I think we can reduce those inequities. And you can help describe what happens in an arraignment hearing, simply a plea of guilty or not guilty. You can describe what happens at a pretrial hearing so it can reduce those inequities. But the second you can have agreed pretrial continuances in an arraignment hearing, as I said, I've been protesting for 29 years and on an increasing, frequently based, frequent basis, I think the court steps know that I'm willing to do the work. I can get the job done in an efficient manner and provide the type of justice that's needed. And I'm willing to drop what I have to show up to protest. So when you go to an arraignment hearing, there's 60 to 80 people be arraigned after the arraignment hearing based on the timeline. The second piece of paper is the pretrial hearing. What happens at the pretrial hearing? You either have worked out some arrangement to resolve the case or there's a plea or the case is going to get set over to another pretrial. So 80% of the cases are set over at the pretrial to another pretrial. So all that happens. It's a minute hearing people come before me. I asked them, did you go through this speedy trial with the attorney? And you understand it's a knowing decision, volunteer decision, educated decision. You understand by signing this, the prosecutor is going to have until March 2020 to try you. Is that okay? Yes. They signed a waiver. We presented to the clerk. I said, I want to see the clerk. We can give you another hearing in six weeks. So that whole hearing was completely unnecessary. If based on the person's criminal history, which hopefully there is none. But if there is criminal history, if they've shown up for court in the past, you could agree with the prosecutor, the defense attorney and the prosecutor can agree in advance that if the person files the waiver seven days in advance of the hearing, that hearing can be stricken. You can have hundreds of less hearings in King County district courts every week. It's completely unnecessary. What does it do? It would save persons that are low wage earners, potentially persons of color from having to come to court. Transportation costs, child care costs, missed a day of work. So if you could equal some of that, create equality in some of those situations, approximately 30% of the people that appear in an arraignment hearing are eligible for what's called a deferred prosecution, meaning if they enter into alcohol treatment or drug treatment or some kind of behavioral health treatment, they can have their charge put off for five years. And then if they're successful, it can be ultimately dismissed. So in the arraignment hearing, again, when there's 60 or 80 people in front of me, we can in advance, if people are willing to do so voluntarily, come and tell their story. You know, I was arrested seven years ago on a DUI or whatever the case. I went through a deferred prosecution. I went through treatment. I successfully completed it in my life is much better now. My case was dismissed. You know, it can be a two minute recitation or five minute recitation voluntarily. And hopefully the audience is going to listen to that person much more. They're going to listen to a public defender, which they're not going to the public defender's not going to talk to him about it until the next pretrial, which is six weeks later . And then they might talk to him about it for 10 minutes. And then when they think, oh, that's a possibility. No, said it over another six weeks to get the alcohol evaluation. So if you get people thinking about a deferred prosecution earlier, you can save again and reduce these unnecessary retrials. And it also reduces the cost, the hidden costs, I call it. Again, I was public defender years. It reduces the hidden cost of public defense increase because you don't have these unnecessary pretrial hearings occurring again in terms of the equity. You increase the use of video hearings in the district court and there is a lot of video hearings occurring, but there can be more. Most of the defendants are held at the facility, the score facility it's sitting in, if I'm protesting in Bellevue, Redmond, or whatever the case may be. It's a video period. A person was taken into custody on a warrant. Then you determine whether or not they should be released and you can introduce the inequities in the court system. Like one of the last times I filled in, there was a gentleman that it was a video hearing. I was in Bellevue based on his history of failure to appear for court. He probably should potentially receive some type of bail. But the prosecutor and the defendant was pleading. He said, Your Honor, I just got out of jail. I just got out of prison. 90 days ago, I served a three year sentence. I now have a job. I know I have a place to stay. So do you know how hard it was for me to find that job because he was an African-American gentleman? He said, you know how hard it was for me to be able to find that job. He said, I miss my court hearing. I know I missed my ordering, but my job, me, if I wasn't there for the first 60 days, I would lose my job. So I think those type of situations, inequities have to be taken into consideration. The prosecutor wanted thousands of dollars of bail. I let the man out, no bail so he could keep his job and hopefully appear for court. So I think a judge in district court has that capacity. The same thing that just the defendant's out of custody. Instead of someone coming, driving all the way from Auburn to Redmond to appear at a pretrial for a few minutes, why not have a hotspot or head of a video location where they can appear for court? And then again, it could save transportation time. Unnecessary missing of work, child care, unnecessary expenses. We can equalize these things. I think these are just some of the ideas. And I should point out, when I in my pursuit of this position, I met with the prosecutor. Please continue. In my pursuit of this position, I met with prosecutor Dan Theodor burg, went over my ideas with him. He said if you get a chance to hear from the county council, go over these ideas with them. He liked my ideas. He endorsed me for the position. I also met with the county executive. He said When I went over my ideas, he said, Where have you been? We want you for this position. He endorsed me for the position. And he said, We need to keep this dialog open. So thank you. Thank you. And with the next question, Councilmember Caldwell's. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Peck. Handling a mistake can reveal a lot about a person's temperament. And I would like you to tell us about a time you've made a mistake and how you realized you made that and what made you change your mind and did you correct yourself or reverse your mistake? So kind of a lot of questions there, but I hope you get the idea. Yes. I think it's a very good question. I think based on my experience as a pro tem, I've learned to be very, very careful before I make a decision. And I've learned to listen carefully to the evidence. If I need further research on a matter, I can ask the parties to present further testimony, either oral argument or research , or I can take a break, go do research myself. So my experience as a pro tem and in one of the most difficult cases I had filling in as a pro tem is the individual was it was approximately a year ago now that I tried the case in individuals driving in Bellevue West toward the sun it right at sunset they turn left into an intersection. And fortunately there was an elderly person in the intersection. They hit the person and unfortunately the person died. There would have been extensive pretrial in litigation in that case, I wasn't part of. I was called again. I think it was an early morning call. Can you fill in today? First Judge So-and-so, whatever the case may be. I was called it turned out to be a three day trial. Extensive exhibits, very, very difficult decision to determine whether or not the person was negligent. But I learned through that decision. I took my time. I went through all the exhibits. I finally came to the decision. And in response to your question, whatever decision I made, I think I wasn't going to be satisfied with because it was such a difficult decision. And I found the person was not negligent. They were they were found responsible for a lesser traffic infection, but not the higher traffic infraction. But what I learned from that is just to be very, very careful. And if I do make a mistake, which I hope we don't, but there's an appeal process available to people. But I always am very, very careful about my decisions. And I think actually that the matter was so difficult that the sitting judge actually apologized to me. When they came back, they said, oh, I didn't mean for you to get stuck with that statute. I said, No, I appreciate it. I do. I really appreciate the opportunity to experience. Thank you. Thank you. Opportunity for follow up questions from members. I would ask I would ask you to provide your closing remarks. Thank you. And thank you again for this opportunity. I sincerely appreciate it. Over the past 36 years as a trial lawyer, I've represented hundreds of individuals in either criminal cases, civil cases or employment cases. And what I've done over those past 36 years is try to find justice for individuals and improve their lives. And I'm proud that I've been able to help people improve their lives. When we leave court, either as a citizen or a lawyer or a litigant, what is it we want? We want to feel respected, listened to and received a decision that's fair and impartial based on the facts and the law. And I think, based on my experience filling in as a pro tem judge, I provided that type of justice. The mission statement for the King County District Court is to provide fair, understandable and efficient justice in a dignified and respectful manner. And I respectfully submit that that's what I've been able to do over the past 29 years. As I said, I love the position. I love filling in as a pro tem judge based on the fact that I love the interaction with the individuals in court. Many people call the district court the People's Court, and they call it the People's Court, because I think if if the odds are a person has interaction with a court in King County, it's most likely the district court. In addition to serving as a pro tem judge. I've represented communities of color, indigent, indigent clients for the past 36 years. And again, I think it's based on my experience representing those communities. Again, the Latino Bar Association and the Laura miller Bar Association gave me the highest rankings, exceptionally well-qualified. And I think it's because I work with those communities. I understand the unfortunate issues that they face and I work to try and improve some of their lives. In specific, I've worked with individuals that are unfortunately afflicted with addiction to either heroin or methamphetamine or. Alcohol or. Cocaine. I work with individuals that are homeless, that don't have a job, don't have any family support, have little education, may have little hope for the future. And what I've been able to do on behalf of those individuals is provide them hope and work, work with them to get through the system and hopefully get out of the criminal justice system or the cycle of the criminal justice system in getting individuals out of the cycle of the criminal justice system. It not only helps that individual, but it helps all the citizens of King County. It betters King County for all of us. So if I had the opportunity to serve as a pro tem judge, I would love the opportunity. As I said, I don't I'm not applying for this job as a stepping stone. I love the district court. I love the People's Court. And if I'm so honored to be selected for the position, I plan on staying. If I had the opportunity, I would do this work every day the rest of my life. I relish this position. This position is a dream job to me. Essentially, I have 29 years of intermittent on the job experience in this position, and I would like to be able to continue to put my skills and ability to work on behalf of all the citizens of King County. I commit to you that I will work as personally humanly possible, work as hard as humanly possible on behalf of the citizens of King County. I want to better the citizens of King County. I want to work collaboratively with you and the judiciary to improve the judiciary and the administration of justice. I've been honored not only to be endorsed by and what's interesting is 36 years of practicing criminal law on one side of the aisle. But I've been endorsed by King County Prosecutor, Dance Theater Bird, and I've also been endorsed by the former U.S. attorney, Jenny Durkan. So I think it shows these people understand my ability to be fair, honest and impartial. We had a discussion the other day in the subcommittee, and I think those are in practice law. Know that you as a lawyer, you can file what's called an affidavit to have one judge removed if you don't think hypothetically you're going to get a fair trial. So over my 29 years of filling in as a pro tem judge, only once ever did someone file what's called an affidavit to have a different judge. And that was only because that case was tied into essentially 29 other cases. And they wanted a sitting judge to be there over the next few months to be able to resolve the matter. So I'm proud that the lawyers that appear before me, as I said, they like my judicial temperament. They feel respected, they appreciate I get to the heart of the matter quickly. And I would relish again the opportunity to be able to continue to provide justice on behalf of the citizens working on your behalf. And I would work tirelessly not only in the courtroom, not only in the courthouse, but I'm willing to commit to work and go out in the. Community and publicly speak. Tell individuals. Tell public school events, community meetings. If you're gracious enough to invite me to a constituent meeting 10 minutes as a guest speaker, I'm happy to speak on what new laws there are out in the community. My example is I said to the subcommittees, there's distracted driving laws that have been in effect for two years now. 30% of the drivers, unfortunately, suffering fatalities in King County, in the state of Washington on the road, it's now related to distracted driving. 25% of all serious accidents are related to distracted driving. So I'm willing to go to community meetings and at least as a judge say this is what the law is. Just so you know, this is what's legal under this is what's illegal. And if each person there just tells one or two of their friends, the word can spread and hopefully we can save lives or protect lives. So thank you very, very much for this opportunity. I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll take a moment to invite in. GMs Clang, clang, clang, clang. Thank you very. Much. Thank you. Swing back. Yes. Good afternoon. Welcome back. Thank you. I would ask you to please introduce yourself, describe your background and why you would like to be a district court judge. Thank you very much, Councilmember, and to all the honorable council members, thank you all for being here today. I'm exciting. And I want to start just by thanking you all for all of the hard work you do for King County and all of the time and commitment that I know that you've spent in making this really important decision today. It's very much appreciated by myself as a citizen of King County, as well as the candidate I. As you know, my name is Jill Kling, and I am King County District Court Judge Pro-Tem. I have been a Judge Pro-Tem on King County District Court for five years. For three years that has been my primary occupation, as well as many of the municipal courts in King County, including Renton, Issaquah and Taboola Municipal Courts. My primary employer is the King County District Court. Last year I covered for 23 of the 25 current and recently elevated King County District Court judges. I have sat in every branch in King County except for Vacation Island, which I understand only meets once a month. So they haven't got me out there yet. And and I love I love the job is a job that I feel is very close to my heart and it's something that I love going and doing every day . I have also lived on the East Side since 1996. My husband and I have raised three children on the East Side and sent them to the public schools there. And my community involvement has been heavily centered in the East Side, particularly in Bellevue and in Issaquah. I worked for 13 plus years as a prosecutor for the city of Redmond, so my work experience is on the east side in King County District Court in Redmond previous to being a judge. So my experience and involvement on the East Side and my qualifications for this position with respect to my experience, speak for themselves the many judges, staff members and community members that have written letters on my behalf. I am humbled by the support that they've given me and they have they speak for me as well as the King County pro-tem. I've been exposed to this job far beyond the day to day operations of the courtroom. While my position involves working in the courtroom. I am there behind the scenes, in the chambers and in the hallways nearly every day. And I've had the opportunity to be exposed to all of the facets of what it means to be a King County District Court judge. The judges and staff in King County are some of the hardest working people I know, and they work tirelessly to improve and maintain the quality, accessibility and efficiency of justice in King County. I have spent many afternoons talking to Judge Finkle in Redmond about the therapeutic courts, particularly mental health court, which is his passion, and the new community court, which we've just begun in Redmond, and the workings of those and the benefits that we're seeing from those therapeutic courts I cover for Judge Chapman in Seattle on Thursdays when the Case Management Committee meets in his chambers and they are about to roll out a new electronic case management system that will make us essentially paperless and frankly catch us up to many of the municipal courts that I work for that are already completely paperless. And I sit as a fly on the wall in those committees and listen to how they operate. I have also discussed with Judge York in Auburn the importance of a stronger district court representation in the District and Municipal Court Judges Association, and is something that I would be very interested in contributing to. So I understand the multifaceted nature of the job of King County District Court Judge, and I am yearning for the ability to make a larger contribution to King County. Thank you. Thank you. Everyone here for the second question. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Jill, for being willing to move forward in a very competitive position. I have a question that deals with you, as requested of you, that you describe your understanding of racial inequalities in our judicial system. And we'd also like for you to talk a little bit about how you might have worked to address racial inequality or race related issues in your career, even if it's in other arenas. And then lastly, how would you seek to address some of the issues relative to racial disproportionality as it may exist in the district court? There's a lot of questions that I'm going to address each of them, so I hope you'll be patient with me. Councilmember Gossett, first of all, it's good to see you again. I thank you for meeting with me last month. And and I had a nice time chatting with you then. And I hope that I can expand on some of the things that I told you then about these issues. First of all, we're very fortunate that in King County there is no shortage of conversation about access to justice, about implicit biases, about racial disparities in the criminal justice system. It is a topic that is widely and vigorously discussed, and there are ample opportunities to go to workshops and go work in committees, read articles and learn about what the issues are and how we can possibly contribute to solving them. There is certainly a disparity in our criminal justice system and it has many causes as a criminal justice system as a whole, that the racial possible racial biases, the implicit biases can come in at every level, starting with who gets arrested and why they get arrested to who the prosecutor charges with the crime and what crime they charge them with, to how that case then plays out in court to then ultimately what sentence, if any, is imposed in that case. So this is an issue and just in the criminal justice system that needs to be attacked at many different levels, not in the courtroom, and it needs to be addressed holistically, which is why the conversations need to keep happening between all of the players. Beyond that, there are further social issues that are that these these criminal justice issues are rooted in other social issues that need to be addressed as well. And so there's many, many players that need to come together in community to solve what is a continuing problem in the in the criminal justice system. As a judge, I have some abilities to affect the outcome of cases in my courtroom. I have the ability and I'll just give one example, because there are several. One of the big things that we're all talking about right now is who's on a jury, who gets picked to be on a jury and who gets thrown off of a jury and whoever even gets called to be on the jury. And when they are called, who shows up for jury service? And the the factors are many. But the result is we do not have enough diversity on our juries, and it is affecting the outcome of cases in negative ways. Recently, in the last few years, great work has been done in this area. There was a symposium at the Temple of Justice in Olympia that discussed this issue, and it resulted in the Washington Supreme Court justices passing g r 37, which changes greatly the way that we select juries in our state. And it has helped judges it has given judges some tools that we can use to make sure that candidates for being on a jury are not being dismissed improperly. And it is more power than judges had previously. So that is one thing that I take very seriously and have looked into. I also recently read an article in Northwest Lawyer magazine about the social sciences of a juror who says that they can be fair, even though they've had an experience in the past that makes them feel, you know, biased and this social science. A study discussed. When a person says, even though this happened to me, I can still be fair in this trial. The question is, can they really and will they really be fair? And our attitudes are changing about that. And the way I approach that situation in the courtroom as a judge is changing because of the changing awareness and social sciences that are happening in our community. So one of the things that I'm doing is trying to stay educated, trying to talk to as many people I can read as much as I can learn as much as I can, so that I can apply these concepts in my courtroom to make sure we get the most fair outcomes possible. You also asked what I am doing in my community to address issues of racial disparity and race relations. My community service is focused primarily outside of my profession. And at first blush, it may appear that my community involvement has little relation to my work, my career. I believe that's not true. My community involvement focuses on trying to reach young people of disparate communities before I ever have to see that in the courtroom. And that is how I believe it's related primarily. My work right now is with Village Theater in Issaquah. I'm on the board there and a primary mission that we have is arts, education and outreach to underserved communities. Last year we reached over 40,000 young people. One third of that programing was free or subsidized. And the purpose is to expose young people of underserved communities to the arts and arts education, which studies have shown result in positive community outcomes and less kids ever happening to see me in the courtroom. So that's something I'm very passionate about. I also serve on the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Village Theater, where we are trying to identify barriers that exist in getting more diversity in the arts, both on our board, our patrons on our stage, and the people who support us, identifying those barriers and figuring out how to break them down. And I think that those themes really cross over into many different societal areas, including our criminal justice system, a barrier in one areas, often a barrier in the other. So I bring my education and experience from that field to my work as a judge. And in that way, I think it's very relevant. Thank you. Thank you very much. Third question. What's up. Council member Carl Wells. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms.. Kling, how people handle a mistake can tell a lot about their temperament. And we'd like to have you tell us about a mistake you've made and how you realized you made that mistake and what made you change your mind. And did you correct yourself or reverse your mistake? Kind of a lot of questions. Yeah, there. But now I appreciate that question. Obviously, I do make mistakes and the struggle with being a prosecutor or a judge is that a lot of what my job is about is making judgments. So there's legal mistakes where you think the law is one thing and then you made a mistake and it's something else. And that's a little bit easier to identify and correct. And then what you think might have been a mistake in judgment. And so as a prosecutor, I had the luxury of speaking to juries after jury trials. And win or lose, I always took that opportunity to have a conversation with the jury about how they perceived the case that I had put on. And it taught me a lot about my judgment, my perceptions and theirs. And I learned a lot about how everybody might not see things the way that I see them. And I needed to be aware of that and learn from that. So there were times when I would have particular cases and the outcome would result in a way that I was concerned that I made a mistake in judgment. And in those times, I would talk to as many people as I could that would have some perspective on that situation that would be different than mine and try to learn what that perspective was so that I wouldn't make that same mistake in judgment again. Now I have a similar issue. Being a judge, I have to make judgment calls every day, and I don't know if I'm making a mistake or not. But being able to question that regularly is important. I did have a situation come up recently or I made a ruling in a case it was just about a month ago. So I need to be careful because I think the case is still pending. So I don't want to say too much specifically, but what happened was it was a motion to suppress evidence. And I made a ruling. And after I made the ruling, but before we left the courtroom, I had a moment where I was not confident that I had made the legally correct ruling. And what I did was I called the case back up. We went back on the record and I said to the attorneys, I'm having a moment, and I'm not 100% confident that I've made a correct ruling. I'd like to invite both of you to further brief this issue. And if you would like and so we can talk about it further, because I'd like to reexamine that decision that I've made. So I wanted to make sure that when I had that moment of not being confident that everybody had an opportunity to think about this a little bit more. And in criminal court, it is extremely rare for a judge to take a case under advisement. I have done it. Nobody likes it very much. It takes time. It means everyone has to come back to court. The attorneys want an answer because they want to be able to move on with their case. So it's not great, though I have done it. But in this case I didn't because I gave instead I gave the attorneys the choice if they wanted to bring that back before me and further argue it. So that's one way that I handled what was a potential mistake. I have not been appealed as far as I know, so I don't know of any specific legal mistakes that I have made. But if I truly made a ruling that was adverse to a part of the party and in particular adverse to a defendant that I later learned was an incorrect legal decision, I would undoubtedly have to make a suicide motion to reconsider, reconsider that. I would give the attorneys an opportunity to come back in and argue some more before I changed my ruling, because I don't think it would be appropriate for me to just go back into chambers. Guilt. You know what? I think I changed my mind and give everybody another shot at it, but I would take affirmative action to correct the mistake. I would never let a ruling lie that I felt was adverse to a defendant. That was incorrect. Thank you. I don't know if other questions come to mind about the group. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks for being here. I've enjoyed listening. I was not one of them on the interview panel. I've had the opportunity to get to know everyone. Right. As well. So I was going to ask you to focus very much on your professional career. And I wanted to ask more of a personal question just to get to know you. Growing up in, you know, early in your life, maybe you could speak to any experiences that were formative and helping shape your values. And then secondly, people, you know, those are two very kind of different things. But were there moments in your life or experiences you had growing up that have shaped that particularly stand out as sort of shaping who you think you are as a person and the values you bring to life and as well as what individuals in your life have and how have they shaped your values. All right. Thank you for that question. So I grew up in a middle class, primarily white neighborhood in the East Bay of California. I did not have a very diverse upbringing. We were pretty homogenous group out there in Alameda County. And I went through life pretty comfortable. I had a family that was a whole family that never that never broke up in any way. My parents are still married after 62 years. I think it is now. They are still married. And and I and I had it, I'm going to say pretty easy. And the most formative times for me was when I started law school. And when I went to law school, I went to King Hall, which is named after Martin Luther King at UC Davis. And that is where I started getting the most exposure to different people and different ideas. And it was a good time to get it because it was in an environment where people were thoughtful, they were passionate, they were smart, and they wanted to talk about these issues. And I really started forming a lot of my feelings and opinions about the world and people and who I was throughout law school when I went to law school. I will admittedly tell you that I at 18 years old, I decided I was going to go to law school and I didn't know why I was going to law school. It just seemed like I would like it. It would be good at it. I was I liked to talk. You might have noticed, you know, I was a talker. And so it seemed like a good fit for me. And it wasn't until I got to law school and I started meeting people and speaking with people that it really started forming who I was as a person. And now, looking back, that's not surprising when you're 18 to 22 years old. And I now have kids that are 21 and 24 years old, and I get it, you haven't formed that quite yet. So I started meeting people who are particularly influential in my life, and I would say that many of them were women and they were women who were strong women in the legal community who introduced me to opportunity. At that time we were doing pretty well. I think we were about one in four attorneys were women. So it was still we're still in the minority, but I wasn't the only one. And I had significant role models that were women. And I had one internship as a young woman in law school with a private attorney who had her own practice in Davis, California. And she really empowered me to believe that I could do this and that I could be good at it and that I could live in what was still primarily a man's world. And then I had an internship with the Sacramento Prosecutors Office, and in that job, many of my supervisors were women. Many of the people in power there were women. And I worked in the domestic violence unit, and I was an intern and I wasn't a graduate of law school. And so my duties were limited. And what I primarily did was was provided support to victims and witnesses in domestic violence cases. So I would walk them through the process and help them understand what was going to happen, sit with them and talk with them about their stories. And that was the the day that I understood why I had gone to law school. Everything happens for a reason, and I hadn't figured out what it was yet, but that that internship woke me up to why I was meant to be there. So I did go on then to get my dream job, which was at the Alameda County Prosecutor's Office in Oakland, was one of the best respected. Prosecutor's offices in the country. And I was so fortunate to get to work there. There again, I had fantastic role models. My direct supervisor is now the elected district attorney in Alameda County. She's a fabulous woman. Fun fact. One of the women that started with me just a year apart, one year older than me was Kamala Harris. And we worked together for many years at the prosecutor's office. So so those were really special times. And I was surrounded by very strong, dynamic women who were able to teach me how to be not a prosecutor that goes for a conviction, but a prosecutor that seeks out justice. And one of the reasons that Alameda County was so respected is the diversity that we had on our team of prosecutors and the perspectives that we all brought. I also had the opportunity to work in Oakland for six years as a young, white, skinny prosecutor who did not come from that world at all. But I lived in it and I worked. I didn't literally live in it. I lived that world of Oakland, California. They were my witnesses. They were my victims. They were my defendants. And I learned so much about people during those six years and people who come from different places than I have since I've gotten to Washington. Some of my greatest influences have been the women who serve on the bench, particularly in King County, who have mentored me and encouraged me to seek this appointment. And it's those women who have told me that I can do this, that I am good at this, and that I am well suited for it, and that I should put myself out there to try to do it. So so I would say those would be my greatest influences are a combination of fabulous women. And of course, my mother, who had her first baby at 18 and her and me at 27 and I was the third by 21, she had two babies and she did a two year community college stint to become a dental hygienist. She had a loving and supportive husband. As they told you, they've been married 62 years. And and she also, of course, always through my life, was one who told me that I could do anything but maybe don't get pregnant when I'm 18 like that. Thank you. Our last question would be an opportunity for you to provide any closing remarks. Thank you. I will. All right. So by now. I think most of you probably know a lot about me. A lot more. Than a lot of my friends do. Probably you've heard about you've read my application, you've heard from me, you've heard from judges who I'm so humbled by the letters that they have written on my behalf. I believe that you've heard from staff that I work with. You've heard from ratings committees, you heard from community members. So you know a lot about me, what I do, who I am. So I would like to just leave you with some bullet points of why I think I'm uniquely qualified for this appointment. I would like to return to the theme that this is a very multifaceted job, and I have a breadth and depth of experience that I think fits well in the job of 15 years in the King County District Court, both as an advocate and as a judge. I have strong connections with the East Side communities. Bellevue was my home. Redmon was my workplace. I worked for the city of Redmond, and in that capacity I worked on committees. And Redmond is one of King County District Court's clients, if you will. They were they contract for that service. And so as an employee of Redmond, I sat on committees with the King County District Court representatives and with the mayor's representatives and with representatives from the prosecutor's office and other places in the city. And we work together to find solutions to issues that would come up. And we worked together to figure out how to King County and Redmond, the city of Redmond, would work together. So I have experience with that. I have relationships there, and I understand the complexity of that relationship. I understand budgeting. I worked in Redmond with the Budgeting by Priorities Initiative. Every year we had a cut where in the prosecutor's office 20% sounds like a lot, but 20% of our work force was cut when we had two full time and one part time prosecutor and the part time job that cut and that's an extreme cut . When you now go to only two full time prosecutors, it was myself and Larry and. And we figured out how to make it work and we had to revise our budget and we had to work with the mayor and his committee on figuring out how that was going to work. I went through the lean process in Redmond where we went through each department and figured out how we could work more efficiently to save money. As president of Village Theater, which I will start my term as president elect in September and then followed by a three year term as the president of that organization. Not only will I lead 30 very diverse board members, but I will oversee a $14.4 million budget which our board sets and approves and enforces every year. So I and arts are notoriously underfunded, so I understand doing more with less. I understand budget cuts and I understand finding creative solutions to budget issues. So I want you to understand that I am obviously qualified to do the courtroom work. I do the courtroom work every day and the judges that I work or who have spoken on my behalf and made that clear. But I want you to know that I'm also qualified, prepared and eager to do all the other aspects of the job of King County District Court judge. And not only am I prepared and qualified, but I'm excited. I hope that you will decide to appoint me to this position, and I will have so much more to contribute as a full time sitting judge. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. We appreciate it. We do it. Yes. Thank you, everyone, so much. All right. It was a brief pause as we wait. Michelle Goldston, who? If you let me go here. All right. I. Let's see what. Kids yours. First. Your second. The second one in there? Yep. Our third one. Good luck. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Thank you. First to discussion. Welcome. I'll start off with the first question, and that is to ask you to briefly introduce yourself. Describe your background and why you'd like to be a district judge. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Kent County Council members. My name is Michelle Gelfand. I am a Bothell, the municipal court judge. Can you hear me okay, Councilman? About that? Thank you. Being a judge enables me to make a difference in people's lives. I am seeking the King County District Court position because King County is at the forefront of innovative restorative justice programs such as community court, mental health court and Veterans Court. Those programs make a difference and they are a solution. And I want to be a part of the solution by bringing my skills, experience and dedication and commitment to improving justice. My legal experience began in King County as a special deputy prosecuting attorney. I then was hired by Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office. I was a prosecutor in the criminal division for four years, and then I was in the civil division for three years as a mental health prosecutor. During that time, I also was a pro tem for three years, and in 2010 I was appointed to the Berkeley Municipal Court bench as the sole judge. I have been there for nine and a half years and I have presided over approximately 35,000 cases, 45 jury trials and hundreds of motion. In addition, I also am in charge of the management and operation of the court. I manage a court team and they are an amazing court team of seven and I operate $1,000,000 annual budget. I also believe truly that a good judge is not only in the courtroom, but is in our community and in our neighborhoods. And I have volunteered thousands of hours in local elementary, middle school and high schools teaching civics. And I also saw a need when I was very early on the bench that we needed a ball for youth court. And I created the Bubble Youth Court. I created a bottle probation department, as well as assisted in establishing a mental health court in Snohomish County. I have a track record of leadership. I am the President elect at this time of the District Municipal Court Judges Association. That association is composed of 200 of my colleagues, fellow judges, and I am slated to be the President next year. I want to make a difference in our community, and I hope to be on the Austin 16 bench of King County District Court, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Question two. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Michelle, for being willing to go through these grueling interviews and going out and getting community support. I had the opportunity to read many, many letters of support that you've gotten and you got them early on. That was significant. Interesting to me. But I'd like for you to describe your understanding of racial inequities or the way in which racial injustice or injustice works in our judicial system. And you can determine whether or not you think it works. And then secondly, I'd like to know if you've worked on issues, on cases in your career relative to conflicts based on race and class. And then lastly, how would you seek to address issues related to race or class inequities if they should arise and the district court that you have that you preside over? All right. First of all, I think the first question is racial inequities and racial injustice. Injustice. And I don't think racial inequities exist. No, I'm not going to correct you. Unfortunately, they do exist. And there, as we know, that our system penalizes, I believe, people of color and low income because of the incarceration rates that we see in our county pretrial. And so what I'd like to do is how would I address those issues? I've addressed them in Bothell as well under the as we've seen from the Gender and Justice Commission. And the study that they have completed is that I believe that we have 14,000 people sitting in jail, 16, 500 awaiting trial. And that just does not correlate with the presumption of innocence. This is pretrial. And we know that the people that are incarcerated are much higher numbers of people of color and poverty. And I think that as a judge, to address those issues, you have to be questioning the prosecutor. I'm constantly questioning our prosecutors on 3.2, and that's the criminal rule when the jurisdiction and why you cannot hold or release somebody. And I think that as a judge, that's how that's one of the things that you can do to address that issue. And I think that we have to do better and that we can say I think that the the I know that it's stated in the article that you could say save up to $12 million by releasing people pretrial. Now, of course, you have to keep into consideration the public safety aspect as well. And so that is what I do every day is weighing public safety with personal liberty. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Councilmember Caldwell's. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Michel. Judge Gilson, rather. Welcome. Thank you. And so again, how an individual handles a mistake can reveal a lot about that person's temperament. So we'd appreciate it if you could tell us at a time in which you've made a mistake and how you recognize that, how you handled it. Did you correct yourself or reverse the mistake or just give us a feel for how you handle have handled that or would handle. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Definitely over my legal career and as a judge, I've made mistakes. We are not infallible. We are not perfect. And I think that what we have to do is absolutely recognize the mistake and correct it. And a judge does that either by making having the parties come back and change their ruling. But I can't give you a specific example of something that I did on a sentencing. And I had a judge. Woman in front of me who was in custody. And I truly believe that that in a district in and use of a court and as a municipal court setting as the People's Court, it is the judge's job to try to get somebody to change behavior. And you're always looking for the sweet spot as a judge. How much time do you do you have to give jail time? Is there a different is there a least restrictive alternative that you can give to get them to change behavior? So I had a gentleman in front of me. I he had substantial criminal history. I gave him a high end sentence. And you could tell it had completely deflated him and he stopped listening. And I believe the sentence was on a Friday. I thought about it all weekend, and I had him brought back. I had a discussion with him, dialog with him. He had a he didn't have enough time to really tell me what had brought those issues in his life. And so we created a plan. And so I said, I want you to do, you know, get treatment. I want you to do this. I want you to do this. I'm going to see you in 30 days. If it's not done, then we're going to start with a 60 days jail. You're welcome. Thank you. Councilmember Cool. Are there any follow up questions that I would ask you to share, any closing remarks? I just want to just briefly as well to follow up on Councilmember Goss's question as well. So I think that we truly we really need to look at our least restrictive alternatives that we now have, which is the SCRAM bracelet, the GPS, DV unit, those sorts of things to keep people out of custody and keep our community safe. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, again, I want to thank council members for having me here this afternoon. As I stated, I would really like to be appointed to the King County District Court because I have a desire to make a positive difference in people's lives. And I think as a judge, you have an extreme amount of power to either make a positive difference or a negative difference. I have nine years of judicial experience plus three years of protesting. I have created innovative programs, and I have a track record of leadership. I have been acknowledged by my peers from Snohomish County as winning judge of the year, from Washington woman lawyers. I by winning the Vanguard Award or being given the Vanguard Award and also am on the Legal Education Flame of Democracy Award. These awards reaffirm that what I'm doing in the community is making a difference and inspires me to do more. I am passionate. I have a strong work ethic. I am dedicated to improve our justice system, and I would be honored to be appointed to the King County District Bench, which it is such an esteemed bench. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Thank you. We'll now invite the first two interviewees to join us. And why is it the committee's desire to have a few minutes in executive session then before we actually invite them into the room, will excuse everyone from the room. And to do that, we will have executive session under CW 4231 ten. The committee is going to an executive session to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment. We will be in executive session for approximately 10 minutes and until approximately 344. Now I'm asking the public to leave the chambers at the time, as well as any kind of employee not directly necessary for these discussions. Thank you. That's the big theme to the dedication. Good afternoon. We're coming out of executive session. This is a committee of the whole continuing our Monday, July 15th meeting, and I would entertain a motion on item five on today's agenda. Councilmember Dombrowski. Thank you, Mr. Chair. On proposed motion 2019 0307.1. That's position number two. I move. Adoption Council member Dombrowski has moved adoption of Motion 2019 307, making the appointment to position two of the Northeast District District Court. Councilmember Dombrowski Mr.. Online 25 where the is a blank space I move that we insert the name of Michelle Gilson. It's been moved in seconded. We amend motion 2019 307 to have the name of Michelle Gilson speak to speak to each member. Dombrowski. Just very briefly, Michelle was the strong choice coming out of the select committee. Her background and experience impressed us and me as a representative of the Boston community. She comes before us with the strongest of recommendations, including many from our friends to the North, with her roots in Snohomish County, putting their prosecuting attorney. She has served the city of battle extremely well in terms of administering justice, but also in running the court from an administrative perspective. Her work has been recognized with the awards that she noted here. Frankly, unusual for a municipal court judge to be recognized in some ways. And that caught our attention. Our bar rate ratings are also impressive. I tend to look at those and weigh those heavily. I think as many members do in this process. And I just think she will serve us very well on the district court and encourage my colleagues support for her. See no further discussion. Councilmember Gossett. I'd like to second Councilman Dombrovskis recommendation. I first time I met her, I was so impressed with the wide variety of letters that she's gotten from legal as well as community folks and politicians. And still, at the end here, when I look at all the support letters and comments for all three candidates, the quality and the number are just amazing for her. So I look forward to joining Councilmember DEMBOSKY and supporting this extremely well qualified person for this position. Thank you, Councilmember Lambert. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd also like to say that I support this. I believe that Michelle is very innovative. I really liked reading all the letters, and it was clear that she's done a lot in the community and dealing with restorative justice. And she also has starting the youth court. And during the interviews earlier we she talked about how there were many changes and adaptations and things to improve that, and I really respected that. She continued her perfected work going on and on. And I know in one conversation we were talking about some ways to help children, and she followed up with me afterward to say, Tell me more about children and their vision problems and how that impacts. So I was very impressed with the idea that when she heard an idea, it just clicked. So I support this. Thank you, Councilmember Bell, DG. Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's not a really good time in the agenda to say this, so I'm just going to say it now. If we had three openings, these are all three extraordinarily well qualified candidates. So I just wanted to say that at this moment before we start picking people to be appointed and and I hope that it comes through to the public and to everybody who's following this process, that what we have here are three people who are really committed to strong judicial practice. They've given years of their lives to working on the bench. And that takes that takes a little bit of that takes some sacrifice. You can't have a completely unlimited private civil practice or even criminal practice and and pro tem the way these folks do. You have to give up some stuff to do that. And so and they all come with strong recommendations, a great deal of relevant experience, and importantly, a civic record of working outside the court just to make the community a better place, which I think reflects well on their on their abilities and what they will bring to the courtroom. So I just wanted to say that before we started picking and I agree with my colleagues and everything that's been said about Judge Gilson, you know, we ask questions. And one of the questions that I had was whether a municipal court experience translates directly to a district court experience. But from everything I've been able to judge, from talking to folks who have worked with Judge Gilson and others, that they believe very strongly that she would be able to make that transition very well. And I was exhausted reading her her application materials, and she's done all of that stuff. So I think she's going to work very, very hard to make sure that she she is a strong district court judge. And I look forward to voting yes on the motion. Thank you for the discussion. Others in favor of Councilmember Dombrowski is amendment. Please say I opposed nay. The ayes have it. The motion as amended for the discussion. Councilmember Dombrowski, just to close the story from Judge Wilson's application materials, she's a hands on practitioner of restorative justice practices, and she described the youth court that she founded in the city of Bothell and observing a difference in the outcomes based on whether it was a young man or a young woman in a justice circle, a peace circle, if you will, where the conduct, as she described it, of the young woman warranted perhaps a more lenient sentence. It was reflective of the young woman's understanding of the infraction and her ability and willingness to do better versus the young man who was a little less sympathetic. But it turns out the result was different. So she took that experience to heart, reflected on whether or not they were really practicing the principles of restorative justice and changed the system. I thought that encapsulated all that we want in our judicial system today awareness, a willingness to implement new practices and a willingness to continue to revise and improve them. Her initiative and not just saying she's doing it, but actually doing it and doing it well, really struck home with me and confirmed everything that we've heard about her. I'm excited to see her join the district court. Congratulations. Thank you. Madam Croak, will you please call the roll? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Balducci. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember done. Councilmember Gossett, I. Councilmember Caldwell's. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember of the Grove. Councilmember Bond right there. Mr. Chair. Hi, Mr. Chair. The vote is 99 zero no's. Thank you. We have given a do pass recommendation to motion 1219 307 as amended. We'll send that to full council and regular course on on consent without objection. That takes us to item six in today's agenda. Congratulations that exist item six on today's agenda. Motion 2019 308 Councilmember Lambert. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to move. Propose motion 2019 0308. Councilmember Lambert has moved adoption of Motion 2019 308. Councilmember Lambert I'd like to move an amendment for Lane 25 and insert the name juggling. Councilmember Lambert has moved that we amend motion 2019 308. Councilmember Lambert. Thank you. Well, I'm I agree with what Councilmember Balducci said. We have a strong group of candidates that we were able to interview among the strongest group of candidates that we've ever had. And so the decisions are difficult. But I feel that Jewell's solid experience, she's effective and efficient on the bench. She has a very caring manner and looking to people and how to make people's lives better. And she also has experience that's going to be particularly powerful right now as we transition to the new computer system. And so I thought that that would be helpful. She's also known and highly respected in the community, and I think that that's important, that the judges be respected in the community. And I think her transition for many reasons will be very smooth. And I look forward to her being on the bench on the east side. Thank you for the discussion. Councilmember Gossett I just wanted to have the opportunity to concur with my colleagues that all three of these candidates were and are extremely well qualified. I do. But before we close, I did want to say about Kevin Peck that his excellent interviews that he had with the Latino and African-American bar associations, I was thought that I pay particular attention to, and that is the articulation of issues relative to social justice. And this community in this society are ones that, you know, if he doesn't get elected, I hope that he will continue to stay involved in looking for a judicial position or a leadership position in the judicial system, where he can even more effectively carry on the kind of understanding, experience and skills that that he has. But I agree with everybody. All three of these candidates are superbly well qualified. Thank you, Councilmember Caldwell's. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What Councilmember Bell did, she said, was really very poignant and very significant. And a number of us have known Kevin Peck for a long time and have the greatest respect for him. And when she said and a couple of others implied that, that we really do hope that the third person in this case , Kevin, will apply for the next opening. And I think there would be a lot of support. You never know. But I certainly would encourage that. Thank you. Thank you. See no further discussion of those in favor of the amendment. Please signify by saying i. I those opposed nay. The ayes have it. The motion as amended. Councilmember Lambert. Thank you. I just want to say a final passage to say that we have great candidates. And I think that Joe will do an awesome job representing the east side of the county. I know that they rotate around the county, but I think her demeanor and her caring attitude will be useful and helpful to people changing their lives. Thank you. But Councilmember Belushi. I know I should stop at this point, but I'm very I'm very excited to support Judge Kling becoming that full time seat at the table, person getting involved in helping to make change in our courts. But I really, really do hope that we get an opportunity to elevate Judge Peck as well, because I was very impressed with your deep, lifelong commitment to equity and justice that comes out in everything that you do and everything that you say. And and frankly, these proposals, people should steal them and do them anyway. And then you should get the credit. And I hope that you don't give up. I hope that we see you here again. Thank you. Councilmember Dunn. Thank you. Forgive me. A little cold here. Just wanted to say thanks for your your interest in this. And you guys all ran the gantlet. It's really challenging to get this appointment. It's the first time I've seen three really, really outstanding candidates come before us where there was very little to create gaps in terms of how to rank order the cabinet. You and I had a chance to litigate against each other back in the day when I was a federal prosecutor. And you had a fantastic job for your clients. And I will tell you this. This is an interesting job because we get to see people again and again come up at appointments that occur for positions that we might have another one at six months or three months or eight months. And so I've seen many times where so it did get get the gig that they came forward a few months later and got it. And it has a part to do with your continued commitment, but also we're familiar with you. We like you. There's a lot of good stuff that was said here about you today. So I'm just really excited that all three of you are here in our county, work at various capacities. Look forward to supporting the nominees today, and we'll take great interest if you decide to play again. Thank you. Would you please call the roll? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Council Bell. Duty Council member Dombrowski. Council member. Done. All right. Council Member Gazette. Council Member. Coles. Council member. Member. Council. Member of the group. Council Member one right there. Mr. Chair. All right. Mr. Chair, the vote is 990. Thank you. By your vote, we've given a do pass recommendation to motion 2019 308 as amended, and we will send that to full council in regular course meeting a week from Wednesday on consent. Without objection and without congratulations. Thank you. In knowing of no other business to come before the committee. We are. | AN ORDINANCE naming the Children and Family Justice Center Building the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children Family Justice Center Building, in honor of the late Patricia H. Clark, Superior Court Judge and revered community member; and naming the new building's resource center the Justice Bobbe J. Bridge Resource Center, in honor of Washington State Supreme Court Justice (retired) Bobbe J. Bridge, courageous juvenile justice services leader. |
king_9582ce49-2328-4ad6-822c-338c9995f658 | The Committee, the whole bidding for February 3rd, 2021 to order. And as we begin our second meeting of the year, I'll note that I'm giving the public health emergency. The governor has issued an emergency order suspending the section of the Open Public Meetings Act, the requires with a physical space for the public to watch our meetings. And as we begin today, I'd like to acknowledge that we're on the traditional lands, the Puget Salish peoples, past and present. We think these caretakers of the land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial. I'd also like to acknowledge the many urban Indians in King County who have brought their rich cultural ways of life to our region as well. As you know, from carefully reviewing the agenda, we have several items on today's agenda. We have our regular briefing from director Dave Lee on the county's COVID 19 response. We will go slightly out of order. So in order that we'll take it up today, we'll take a look. Legislation appointing members to the Landmarks Commission in the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. And then we'll take the ordinance relating to the health through housing implementation plan. Couple housekeeping notes. As we begin to help us manage the meeting, we'd ask that you, the members of the public, as well as council and executive staff, please keep your video off until just before you plan to speak. Additionally, if you're going to connect to the meeting via cell and you wish to provide public comment, please connect if at all possible through the Zoom application. We have troubles, sometimes amusing people to be able to speak and with the time lag if they are connecting by cell phone rather than the Zoom app itself. Without Madam Crooked as you please call the roll. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Banducci here. Councilmember Dombrowski. Here. Councilmember Dunn. Here. Councilmember Cole was there. Councilmember Lambert here. Councilmember up the ground here. Councilmember Bond right there. Here. Council members online. Here. Mr. Chair. Here. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you. And in the chain of motion to approve our minutes of the January 20th, 20, 21 minutes. So move, Mr. Chair. Thank you. The Minister before us. See? No discussion. All those in favor, please signify by saying hi. I oppose me. The ayes have it. The minutes are approved. Adam Cole. Do we have anyone in the room for the on the line for public comment? Mr. Chair, it looks like we've got one person so far. Excellent. In fact, someone raised her hand, probably acknowledging that, possibly acknowledging that very question. So let me review our rules and procedures for public comment, for virtual meetings that. We have no confusion. We can handle it. Having an entirely remote meeting, it's still relatively new for us. First, some ground rules. Public comment should be related items on today's meeting agenda and not used for the purposes of assisting the campaign for election of any person in the office or for the promotion or opposition of any ballot measure. It should not. It should also should not include obscene speech. And if the speaker fails to abide by these restrictions, they may be ruled out of order or required to leave the virtual meeting. Now, the process our members of the public is that you join the meeting today, you are automatically muted. We can see the last three digits of your phone number or your name if it's in the Zoom application. When we open public comment, the clerk will call your name or your the last three digits of your phone number when you are called staff or your line. If you've also muted your on your end, please unmute so we can hear you. And and before you begin your testimony, perhaps just say your name and then wait to be acknowledged so that we can confirm that we can hear you. Many people would begin by saying and spelling your name for the record so we can capture it accurately for our record. You know, 2 minutes time, you'll hear the timer go off in 2 minutes, wrap up your current thought and then will allow time for the next person to speak. If you're listening to the meeting on TV or streaming, please turn off that volume, that sound during your testimony or get feedback. We've learned a lot and now 12 months of remote meetings and we ask you to hang up and watch the remainder of the meeting on King County TV Channel 22, or to stream online so that we can better manage the meeting after your public testimony. And you can watch online at WW W Dot King Connect, go back, slash counsel and then click on the ever popular Watch US Live button. Madam quote I'll turn it over to you. Think in this picture, Stacie, I've asked you to erm you know, please go ahead and unmute yourself and give us your full name. Good morning, Stacey. Alan Suelo and I do live in Kenmore. Can I proceed? Yes, but could you spell your last name? V is and Victor A l e and as a Nancy C isn't zebra u e. L a. Thank you very much. Go ahead, please. I am speaking today in regards to health through housing, and I think this is great. However, purchasing the hotels is one important aspect, and I do believe that it's important to reward and help the organizations that are already doing some of this work and doing it to successfully. And some of those are Mr. Smiley from Hands Up Project Camp, Unity, Mary's Place and St Vincent's. And all of these places are using the funding that they get for the residents first that are homeless. Now, a lot of them are working homeless. So it's very important that we are doing this work now. Another issue that we have here in Kenmore is that we're losing some of the seniors that are being priced out at especially one mobile home park that they are receiving tax consent contingencies on a 55 and older park. And right now we have several of them that have left their homes and are unable to sell them because the requirements for a new person moving in is too high. And the credit. Rate or credit rating of the person is request to be too high. And they're looking at having an income at a 55 and older part of 3400 a month. Which who has that? Somebody retiring just recently might. But a lot of elders do not. And it's sad that they're losing their equity each month. And we need help. Kind of like what King County helped in Redman with Friendly Village of helping the seniors. And the homeowners purchased the park so that they can continue to live in age in place. And I'm hoping that somehow we can get help for some of these homes. I do not live in a park that needs that help, but my neighbors do. So it would be very helpful. I guess my time is up. Yes, that was the timer. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I believe I've called everyone on the line. Thank you, Madam Chair. Will you please unmute everyone so we can briefly confirm there's no one else on the line who'd like to offer testimony? I have asked everyone to mute themselves. If anyone else is on the line and wishes to give the public some of the comment in today's meeting. Would you please say your name? We're hearing no one. Madam Collins. I'll be ready to unmute myself if you re mute everyone on the line. Everybody is. Okay. We're good. You're good. Excellent. I'm. I'm adequate. You're excellent. That takes us to our brief in. The first item on today's agenda is our regular briefing with Dwight Daly, the director of the Office of Performance Strategy and Budget, who will update us on the county's COVID 19 pandemic response. Mr. Jiverly, we appreciate these opportunities. Good morning and welcome and morning to all of you. Thank you for having me again. For the record, Dwight, I believe the director of the Office of Performance Strategy and Budget and I have five things this morning to give you an update on. First, as as kind of becoming traditional. We're going to start with FEMA. It looks like we're pretty close to done with calculating the FEMA reimbursement we would expect for 2020. So for last year and as of the end of January, those figures were $78.5 million. That is the amount we expect to get. That's not the amount of eligible expenses. And that is assuming we are at the 75% reimbursement rate barriers, as we've talked about before, the potential that ultimately it will be 90%. So we're being conservative and assuming we're at the traditional 75% reimbursement, a second part under FEMA is we do have now the project set up to track expenses through April 21st of this year, which is the current date at which the COVID emergency expires. I think we all expect that that will be extended. But for now, that is the projects, as they're called, that the Office of Emergency Management has set up to track the eligible expenses that we are incurring. A third part of my FEMA update is that we are at $33 million of eligible expenses for the flooding that was going on almost exactly a year ago pre-COVID. And we're still working through the process with the state of providing all the necessary documentation for that. And then once that's done, we will go through the federal process. And as you know, we all know from prior experience with FEMA, it is likely at least a year before we will get reimbursement for that. And of course, the biggest county government recipient, there will be the road services division in the Department of Local Services. And finally, so for King County entities, which includes other governments, have incurred about $5.3 million of costs for the big windstorm in January of this year. If there are more costs that are submitted that qualify, we need to reach a $7 million threshold. And if we reach that $7 million threshold, then we would potentially be eligible for FEMA reimbursement of some of those costs. And again, the road services division is by far the largest county government claimant there. There also is a statewide requirement. You have to reach a level. I think it's about 11 and a half million dollars statewide from the windstorm. So it isn't clear at this point whether those thresholds will be reached. But if they are, then we will potentially have some reimbursement from FEMA for the windstorm expenses from a month ago and as our our usual practice clause there. And see if there's any questions on FEMA before moving on. I'm seeing none. Oh. Yeah. No, I'm seeing none. Okay. So part two, the all the grant programs that we put out last year using in almost all cases, federal money are drawing to a close. We're trying to complete essentially the accounting work on those at roughly the end of January. So the end of last week, there's still a few that are we're still working on, but by and large that has been done and a huge amount of work by staff in many departments, the accounting staff in our finance and business operations division, our consultants. And so it looks like about 90% or maybe a little higher than that of the grant money that was allocated ultimately actually will be spent. There are many programs that spend every penny or very close to every penny. There are some others that look like they're going to probably significantly underspend. I don't have a final list yet. Probably by the time of our next meeting I will. Generally where there is underspend is where a amount was allocated to a particular agency and they were ultimately unable to get all the money out the door or that they were allocated. Most of the programs that went through our departments that things like rental assistance, virtually all of that was able to get out. So some variability there, but ultimately a really strong result of getting that money out into our communities. Just to remind everyone, the underspend is not lost in the sense that we have to send it back to the Federal Government. We have plenty of eligible counting expenses that we can charge to whatever the underspend is, and so we will be. That's the kind of a final phase of this is once all of those grants are closed out, we know where there is underspending. We will then take those resources and repay the county for costs that it incurred in 2020. So we'll be working through all that and probably in 2 to 4 weeks, all of that should be absolutely finalized. And I will pause there. Questions about the grant funds. To Chair Council Member Lambert. The grip on. On the grant funds that were for the unincorporated areas in the county. There are some businesses that are very much in need and we need to get a new allocation for any underspent. Or were there any underspent? So does environment. I think you received the briefing from Department of Local Services on that set of grant programs maybe ten days ago, and there was some underspend in those programs that will be working through. Because the federal eligibility was extended. Previously, we thought it all had to be spent by December 30th. If it is of interest to the executive and council to reappropriate whatever that underspend is in the next COVID supplemental that you'll be getting this month. That would be possible to do. There would probably have to be another program run through deals to allocate that money. So I talked to tell us and they said that they could use the same format they used before. And I would very much like to see that. New things have surfaced recently that I know exactly where there's a big need. Thank you. Okay. You're welcome. Senior others, please proceed. Okay. So kind of the back end of what we just talked about is where does the general fund end up at the end of 2020, having now been able to charge costs to the federal money for things like our corrections officers, jail health staff and so on. And you all remember when you adopted the 2122 biennial budget, there was an expectation of what the year end 2020 fund balance would be in the general fund. And we clearly have achieved that. And there it looks like there will be a meaningful amount of additional fund balance in the general fund at the end of 2020. We don't have that number yet, but it's certainly in excess of $10 million, probably in excess of $20 million, and that will be money in part that we might need for the work we are doing today to continue vaccination programs, continue the shelter, the intensification of pending whatever action comes about at the federal government. So it's good that we ended up there because depending on what the federal government does and the rules around it, we may need that some of that extra money to cover what we have spent so far in 2021 on those programs. And we should have more information about that in about a couple of weeks. And it will be something I'll be talking with Councilmember Coe Wells about, about whether we want to think about the timing of the COVID six ordinance to have more certainty about that before we transmit it. And I think tomorrow she and I have a meeting and we will talk through the kind of the options there and come up with an agreement between the executive and council about the timing for that. And I saw a thumbs up from Councilmember Caldwell. So I appreciate that. And one from Councilmember Lambert. I'm waiting to have my speaking part. One question, colleagues. Sea. None ready for item for this long game. So this is our friends in Washington, D.C. So many of you probably already know this, but I think just so everyone has the same information, yesterday, both houses of Congress passed what they call a budget resolution. And it is interestingly the 2021 budget resolution, which in theory should have been passed in about May of 2020, but never was. And so Congress proceeded with their 20 fiscal year, 2021 budget that started in October without a budget resolution, which happens a lot these days. The significance of passing the budget resolution is that it now allows the process of reconciliation to proceed. And for those of you that are not familiar with the nuances of the federal budget process, reconciliation is a process where appropriations are brought into alignment with the budget resolution. And you can't use reconciliation unless you have a budget resolution. Hence the reason that they passed a budget resolution yesterday. The budget resolution, I went and actually looked at the bill, which is totally understandable, unless you really know how the whole thing works, what the what they passed as the budget resolution is solely to allow them to vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID response package that the president has proposed. There is no other content to the budget resolution, which typically there would be. They are very forthright about. This is this is exactly why they did it. And what the reconciliation process allows is to close debate in the Senate without requiring 60 votes to do that. So reconciliation allows a majority of the Senate basically 51 votes, including potentially the vice president's vote to pass an appropriation through the Senate without being subject to the filibuster. So the reason they did the budget resolution and they're very transparent about it, is to allow them to have such a bill brought forward and be voted on very quickly without that process being potentially stalled by a filibuster. I spent about an hour this morning looking all over the various websites of congressional committees to actually try to find a copy of the actual bill that they would vote on with no success, which maybe that just I didn't find it. It's also entirely possible that it's not there. And so I was trying to find whatever rules they would put around the money that they're going to send to state and local governments. And because I couldn't find the actual bill, I don't know what those rules would be. So as best I can tell you today, it appears that they will be acting on that $1.9 trillion bill or something very similar to it. Very quickly. My guess is they'll try to do it this week. Since the impeachment trial begins next week in the Senate. But at this point, we don't know, or at least I don't know what the rules around that money for state and local governments will be. I did see a reference to some questions that were asked of a spokesperson for the president, and they were not very forthcoming about whether you can use it to offset lost revenues. It seems pretty obvious it'll be able to be used for at least some of our COVID response work. But what that will actually be, I think we need to see a bill before we can answer any questions about that. But it does look now that the kind of procedural barriers to them passing the bill have pretty much fallen down. So let me pause at that point and see if there are any thoughts or if any of you have more information about that. Mr. Titley, I really appreciate your explaining for my colleagues the budget resolution. Its purpose and reconciliation is for those of those of them who haven't had an excellent instructor in their graduate programs and budget process. Colleagues, any further questions? All right. Item five. Okay. Last thing on my list. We obviously have a variety of county programs that are going to have to recover from COVID. You know, I'm not here today to talk about the criminal justice system, but obviously, as many of you know, there are lots of things there that have changed and, you know, backlogs and so on. The one I wanted to mention to you today, just because we're talking about it on the executive side is the recovery for Metro Transit. And we have a lot of conversations to have. But the key thing I think, for the council to start thinking about is we are looking at the September 2021 service change as the key time where we will start to bring back some significant amount of Metro's service. And a nuance that I didn't appreciate until a conversation with Metro yesterday is since they do service changes twice a year. The next big change wouldn't be until March of 2022. And so there they in Metro are thinking, what service do we need to have in place in March of 2022? And at least the vast majority of that is what you need to add. Back in September of 2021, they have the ability to add a little bit of service between big service changes, but very much at the margin. So we're really looking at a time horizon of more than a year in thinking about what's going to go into that service change. And they then also pointed out something that I, I hadn't really thought about as well. Is that. If they're going to add a significant amount of service in September, they have to actually start bringing back drivers and or hiring new drivers much sooner than that because you can't train a whole bunch all at once in a six week period. So. So it's a it's a long lead time process that we have to start thinking through as we're doing it. I think it's important for you to know that Metro is doing a lot of outreach with major employers, particularly those in places like the University of Washington, downtown Bellevue, downtown Seattle, where there are a lot of folks who take public transit to get to those workplaces. And I would summarize what they've heard is. A lot of organizations who really are uncertain what to do until we get more information about how quickly people get vaccinated. A lot. I think we're hoping for a midsummer return, at least partial return to a more traditional way of operating. The slowness of the vaccine rollout is making many of them question whether that's realistic. So now I think we're hearing more about September instead of June or July. Again, I think if the federal government manages to accelerate the production of vaccines and we are able to distribute those locally, which I think we would be, I might move up a little bit again. So it's a there's a lot of uncertainty out there, but Metro is having a lot of conversations to make sure we have the information we can. Dwight. I missed something. I missed the connection. I think you were trying to make the service change in September of this year would be the first time Metro would seek to restore a substantial amount of service. But you were saying something else about planning for the next one. There being two a year. Then it's one in March 2022. And I missed the connection you were trying to make between September and March. Yeah. And this is of this is something that I hadn't thought about either. And what's the point Metro is making is since they can't add a meaningful amount of service at any time other than those two times a year, they're not really planning for the demand in September of 2021. They're planning for the demand in March of 2022 because they need enough service available to get us that far before they could add more service in any significant way. So the reality is we would probably add service in September of 2021. That would be more. At that point because we're really trying to make sure we have enough for six months later. Did that help? Yes, that. And to put it in other words, less putting words, we might in September, October, November, December, see ourselves with more service than demand would otherwise dictate, because it would be ramp service. Demand would be ramping up and we wouldn't want to be extremely short in March. That's exactly right. And we couldn't do a huge jump even if demand stayed low until March, which it's not going to be one steep cliff climbing a cliff. But if it were, Metro couldn't add a huge amount of service in one service change either. Just like you're saying, it takes time for them to train drivers and be called drivers back and be ready. Yeah, that's exactly right. Thank you. Other Columbus Council member, Dombrowski. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dwight, thanks for that update. In today's Seattle Times, there's an item that you may have seen from Nordstrom saying that they will not be returning to 15 floors. Basically, one of their buildings, about a third of their downtown square footage. While they will not become an all remote working headquarters. They are going to continue working technology for a large portion of their workforce. My sense is that it's just the tip of the iceberg. When I talk to my former colleagues in the law business, which a lot of downtown office spaces use there, they're working remotely and expect to do that. Have we do you know, are we are we talking to BOMA, the Building Owners Association or GSA or others or the chamber who may be doing a survey to try and gauge the need, notwithstanding a vaccine and the ability to do it, whether folks will do it, given the changing ability to work remotely. I mean, I'm not sure we're going to see the old peak morning and evening like we had. And that presents some opportunities to restructure our transit system. That could be pretty exciting if a coupled with light were coming online. I share your view that what we had in February of 2020 will not recur for any anytime in the foreseeable future. What Metro is hearing from the big employers they're talking to is exactly that, that, you know, many of them had some work from home previously, but they all expect they'll have more than they used to. There is they have talked with DSA. They have talked with the Greater Seattle Chamber. They're working very closely with them as they talk with, you know, employers throughout the county. And so I think you're absolutely right that we will end up with a mix of service that's somewhat different than we had before with the potential that we don't need to staff quite as much as the peaks, and we'll have more resources available for the rest of the day. So those are all the things that go into the very complicated planning that Metro needs to do very similar things. And I guess I neglected to mention we don't have to look any further than our own family for that trend as well. Big moves at the DRP. So thanks. Mr. Chair? Council Member Wells. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I tried some good news and I'm not certain on the budget implications. This, I think was in the or perhaps we got news yesterday that the all the clusters, the entire fleet will be carrying their mask dispensers with masks on board. We had close to that and we acquired it and they started out with 100 busses, as I recall. But they're now going to all busses in the fleet, which I think is really terrific, since I don't recall what the budget was on that. Do you now? I do not know. I have heard the same thing and I understand that this is actually now going to be a Federal Transit Administration requirement to make the bus have a mask. And so that's, I think, what's motivating Metro to do what you just described. We did get approximately $240 million more of federal money in the December bill. So Metro actually has plenty of resources to do what you're describing. Thank you. And that Councilmember Dombroski had worked on that. So it was really pretty. Hear me out from. Thank you. Councilmember Jim Belushi. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah. I do want to follow up on the point that Councilmember Dombrowski was making, because it comes up frequently. I mean, when we're out talking to employers, cities in our jurisdictions, etc., there's this question of does transit demand and service therefore look the same after COVID, or does it look very, very different? Some additional data points just for the collection of learning that we're all doing at the same time that those trends that can sort of mask and you are both talking about are real and are growing, at least here on the east side. The permanence for big new multi storey commercial construction are through the roof. At the same time that Facebook and companies like it are saying, you know, we're going to we're not worth the same. They're buying and building new buildings. So so there's definitely a crosscurrents. And I think that Metro is smart to be inquiring with folks who are close to the ground and those, you know, some of the organizations that are, you know, close to building rentals and building. But it's I think the picture is still pretty unclear about what things look like. The data out of Washington shows that although it's not as pronounced as it used to be, there's still an peak, there's still a PMP. And so I think, you know, I was a few months ago sort of in the we could drive demand cab like we should be getting ready to push service out there because we can help influence what happens. But now I just don't know. I don't think we know what we don't know yet because things are evolving so quickly. So I just wanted to share that I had heard from the mayor of Bellevue this week that they had their biggest year for permits ever before. And will they all get built? Who knows? But it is definitely an indicator of something. So I just wanted to put that out there. It's a fascinating time that we're living through, and who knows what it will look like come out the other side and it's got major ramifications for transit service. So thank you for letting me put some more information into the discussion, remember. Councilmember Lambert. Thank you. So I, too, have seen and heard that about it. She was just saying that more businesses are moving these big businesses, as well as a lot of new, smaller businesses opening up. So my question is, I realize that we do two times a year. I'm very much for the system changes. But since that system of life is changing this year, I wonder what would happen if we moved this September. So like November and March, you know, a little further into next year so that we have a better picture. I hate the idea of having, you know, from September to March, a lot of unused capacity where we would have more appropriate if we move those to dates. So what is the possibility of trying to adjust the realities of COVID here to the system? And I can talk to Metro about that. It is a it to begin with, bargaining with the union because that is all tied to when people get to choose different routes and seniority. And there's all sorts of complexities there. There's also I mean, they have a whole planning cycle that's involved with doing things. I think what they would tell you for sure is that if you delayed September, you would have to delay March. But they can't do two that close together. You might remember they used to do three and it really was chaotic when they tried to do that. So let me ask them about that. I think ultimately the the response will be that it's very, very difficult to do. But it's a fair question and it's worth checking on that. Well, I agree completely. It was chaotic before, but I think it could be chaotic if and maybe in 2022. But, you know, if we move that on to July, maybe we wouldn't even need another one until much later. But we don't have all the facts because we don't know what they're going to be yet. And so whatever they decide on September is is probably not going to be accurate in December or January. So it may make it easier just to wait until you have more facts and see what's happening. Like you said, with COVID, but also with the business community, as things open up, you know, where are they going to open up these businesses? And, you know, lots of people are saying that they want to work from home. I mean, so they don't have to get dressed. But then other people are saying, I would like a separation between my business and my home life, so I want to go back to the office. So that's going to work also. So right now it's a novelty, but I think that the novelty may wear off when your house looks like the office. No, thank you. So one of the things on that and I would confirm this with Metro, the University of Washington is a big player here in the infamous Cambridge service changed. Obviously, there were students not on campus. The amount of service we provided there is significantly less than it traditionally is if the university decides to bring back. Many or if not all, in-person classes. I think Metro would have to do a service change in September because of the need of the routes that go to UW. But let me confirm that with them, that that's not our that's in here at this moment and this is Rod. We also need to do it because link light rails coming off the two stops in that is a major piece of our network that's going to. All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Dave Lee, as always, appreciate your briefings. We will look forward to seeing you two weeks from today. Excellent. Thank you very much. Thank you, colleagues. We're going to move quick for a minute. As I said, we're going to take the Landmarks Commission next item on your agenda, items ten, 11 and 12. I'll turn it over. We have three appointments to the Landmarks Commission to hand over briefly to Ms. Crackles office for a staff report. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Council members. Leah crackles off the council staff materials for this item for the items ten through 12 begin on page 41 of your packet. The items were confirm appointments to the King County Landmarks Commission. For Adam, also Brooke Deen, alias and Candace Parker, Barbara Brooks, Tucker, me, all of whom are here today. Jennifer Meissner, the King County's historic preservation officer, is also with us. The landmark commission was established to ensure the preservation of King County's historic places, material culture and traditions for future, all future generations. It's a nine member commission comprised of volunteers with broad expertize in areas such as architecture, art, land use, historic preservation, archeology, education and history. And staff has not identified any issues with these appointments. But there is an amendment and title amendment for item 12, and I will turn it over to the chair for the interviews of the appointees. Thank you, Mr. Buchholz. I'll be with that. I'm going to move to invite Ms.. Brooks Tucker to introduce herself and speak to her background, which would be interested in bringing to the Landmarks Committee. And I want to acknowledge two from my colleagues from the beginning. They know that Ms.. Brooks Tucker has a time constraint. And so if you are brief, we will understand and I acknowledge you will need to leave shortly after you read your introduction. Thank you, Chair. I so appreciate the flexibility here. So so all of you know why my youngest has returned to school this week and it has been an emotional rollercoaster and so exciting for all of us here. So thank you for the flexibility because I have to run to pick him up from his shortened adjusted day. It's a new schedule for all of us. So a little bit about me. I am from Southern California. I moved up here to Washington with my husband as he was active in the Navy. Let's see, gosh, that was about 12 years ago and we lived on Whidbey Island. My background in education is in architecture and historical preservation. I grew up in a small town of Redlands, Redlands, California. It's a significantly historical town. And I, I really do feel like I got a lot of my values from that upbringing. And it's made me extremely interested in how architectural systems and how they relate to strong historical relevance and how that really shapes an economy. I think that's really made me obsessive, possibly about how we how we shape our communities through environment. And that's that's completely what's brought me here to the Landmarks Commission, among a few other things. Do you have any questions for me? Thank you. I would open with a question if in fact I invite the subsequent appointees to address this, as well as the county works to improve our in continuous improvement around equity and social justice, and particularly around Indigenous peoples being on the traditional lands, the Puget Service peoples. And you speak to how the Land Committee can be mindful of a broad set of landmarks and not to one population. My initial response is is advertisement. I don't feel like there's enough knowledge that we exist. And I think that if that putting us more out there to the public, I think is a great start. I think that so I'm also I'm chair of the Planning Commission of Maple Valley. So it's been a fantastic experience watching you work. And first and foremost, what I have learned from that experience is that we are here to listen to the public. We are their voice and their liaison. And I think that that is also a significant step in bringing about equity. Thank you. Mindful of time. Any colleagues have further questions. Mr. Scheer. Council member. Belushi Not a question, but since we have the applicant here and you've taken your time to speak to us, I just want to say I really appreciate people bringing their passion, their expertize and their their hours and labor to these volunteer positions. It really helps to make so many good things happen in King County to have people like yourself who are willing to volunteer. So thank you very much for your willingness to serve. Thank you. Speaking as the kindergartner who was in a panic, if my grandmother couldn't be seen to pick me up after school from the classroom windows. I want to make sure we look. We let you out in time. Anything else you wish to share with us before stepping out? Not as of right now, but I look forward to coming back to all of you and seeing all of your faces again. Thank you so much for joining us and making today work. Thank you. I'm Mrs. Meisner. I see you've turned your screen and you wanted. Are you just watching? Would you like to make a few introductory comments about the Landmarks Board and the appointees before us today? Yes, thank you. Thank you. Councilor McDermott, I just wanted to chime in to say how thrilled we are to welcome these new members to the King County Landmarks Commission. Each and every one of them brings such a passion for our work for preservation, for equity and vast experience. And I did want to note that that our program is in the middle of an equity and inclusion project in which we are doing additional research into some of our properties that were designated as landmarks many, many years ago. And their nominations did not really tell us an inclusive story. So we are getting ready to basically review those nominations and have they come back before the Landmarks Commission and and basically make sure that the full story of our committee members or community members are told. So we're very excited about that and help to spread the word and and encourage more nominations of properties that represent underrepresented groups. So thank you. Thank you for for taking the time to speak with our appointees today. Thank you, Mr. Chelios. Councilmember Dunn, did you have a question or comment? Just a quick. Comment. Jennifer, good to see you. I hope you're well. I just want to let you know and others know, Dana, in particular. I was just at the Black Diamond Historical Museum there along the old railroad tracks, and they were just a Chris was just yesterday, Dave Forester. They were just incredibly complimentary on the work that your group had done and helping them. They I walked through it and they just keep getting better and better. Lots of fantastic leveraging of local resources and it really is quite a facility that they put together. And they were very, very high praise of you, Jennifer. And folks, your work is wanted to say thank you because it's the kind of place that I'm eager to take my my kids to as soon as it opens back up again. So thank you, Jennifer. Oh. Thank you so much, Councilmember Gunn. And Mr. Chair. Councilmember Tomasky. Well, we're adding thanks. I, too, want to join Councilmember John thank Jennifer for her department's assistance in the city shoreline with helping designate with their landmarks commission the new not the new, but the the old Naval Hospital Chapel, which is tucked in there, a beautiful piece of architectural accomplishment that is now protected . And I know that the expertize and the findings from from our department there really help them. And the community's very excited. So we appreciate the contractual work you do for many of our citizens. And I want to call that out today and thank Jennifer Lamberti. Councilmember, we have two more applicants. Are you very popular? Is very popular. And so I too want to join in and say thank you. The Aurora coffee shop. I'm sorry. The Aroma Coffee shop has brought new life to both city. It is just amazing and beautiful. So thank you for all your work on that and not giving up when there were issues that had to be overcome . And it's definitely worth it. And then I know that there's another bone that is completing the restoration on the Bone Again program. And every time I drive through the valley, these beautiful bones, I think, yay, Jennifer and her team. And then I have a little prayer that I got. I got to get Jennifer out here to see this one. So thank you for all your hard work in that year. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chelios. The floor is yours. Good morning. Welcome. If you could offer a few words of introduction and speak to your interest in the Landmarks Board. And now you know what coffee shops bought Barnes and other landmarks with benefit mentioned. Mean if you're trying to secure votes to win confirmation. That's right. Well, good morning, council members. Thank you for having me. My name is Dean Priors. I'm currently a principal at Smart Architects where I've been there for 21 years. And our focus is design of affordable housing as well as preservation and adaptive reuse of existing structures. My background, I have an undergraduate degree in archeology and my graduate degree from the University of Washington with a minor and historic preservation. So this is definitely a passion project for me as well. I recently served a six year term on the Pioneer Square Preservation Board, where I served as vice chair and chair, and I was looking for kind of a next opportunity to use my skills and interest in applying it to the community. And, you know, I've just been really amazed at the capacity that buildings and places have to be repositories of a community's history and culture and traditions and how they can really serve to activate communities and, you know, just, you know , spark revitalization and interest among. Among the groups of people and to. Chair McDermott's comment about looking at a variety of different landmarks. I think it is true that, you know, historically landmarks have been kind of viewed through a lens of kind of western your Eurocentric perspective, particularly with regard to the architecture itself and kind of looking more at a high architecture style as well as a that's more Western focused. And I know that for culture and the Landmarks Commission and other organizations are are currently very active in exploring how other communities, interests and and landmarks can be viewed as well. So I'm excited to to begin. Thank you. Questions and Mr. Killian's. Thank you. I ask Mr. also, Brooke. Do not offer an introduction and speak to your involvement and interest. You get good points on your background. And those of you who have had an opportunity to read some of my credentials are aware of my experience, my very, very deep experience that I've had with the King County Courthouse, which was launched in two phases during the first several decades of the 20th century. But I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Adam also. I'm a registered architect and also architectural historian, and I'm currently working at Willamette Cultural Resources Associates, which is a cultural resource management firm that has offices in Portland and Seattle. Adam, if I can interrupt, can you maybe move your microphone a little closer to your scratch in little thing? We can hear you, but we can. Can you hear me better now? Yeah. Okay. No, I think that I think there was some noise in the background. I apologize for that. Can you can you hear me better now? Yes, very good. Okay. Thank you. My name is Adam, also Brook. I'm a registered architect and architectural historian, and I'm currently employed by Willamette Cultural Resources Associates, which is a archeology and architectural history cultural resource management firm with offices in both Seattle and Portland, Oregon. And I am a relatively recent transplant to the Puget Sound region. I moved to Seattle in November of 2014 from Texas, and I'm a graduate, 24 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. And I after my graduation, I work, you know, very traditional architecture firms, you know, designing houses. And then I ended up I ended up working for the Texas Street Design Office, which is a part of the Texas Historical Commission, which is the Texas state and actually the state Historic Preservation Office. The Historic Preservation Office for the state of Texas. And I work in the Main Street Design Office for just over a year, and then I transferred to another division within the Texas Historical Commission, where I reviewed federal projects under Section one or six of the National Historic Preservation Act and also rehabilitation tax credit projects, and also administered a state preservation grant program, and then also applied at Texas State Historic Preservation Regulations, which there are several different varieties. So after working for the Texas Historical Commission, I decided to I wanted to work at the city level and ultimately ended up in Seattle after my. Got a job up here. And so I. I followed. But I my first experience with. King County. And Mark's commission was when I was working on the Logical System Replacement Project at the King County Courthouse, where I was employed with part bonds architects, part design group, and a commission was extremely helpful in reviewing the proposed. Changes, too. In this case, it was a historic fabric in a hallway to make way for that much needed infrastructure replacement project. And so I also have previously served on the Pioneer Square Preservation Board with the you know, so Dean and I know each other from from there. We reviewed a lot of already projects after a while while on that board together. And I look forward to bringing my expertize to the. Mr. also, Brooke, I think you froze. Oh. There we go. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Questions for Mr. Also Brook. I want to thank all three of the nominees for joining us today and for speaking to the interest and truly passion that you bring to landmarks, historic preservation and the cultural identities of our region. Seen no further discussion. I'd entertain a motion. We will take these separately as there is a motion to correct a spelling error in one of the motions. So the entertainment motion to approve 2020 108. Some of. You. But 2020 108 is before us. See. See new discussion over Zoom. Madam Croke, if I can ask you to please call the roll. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Council member Baluchi I. Council member dombroski. I. Councilmember Dunn II. Councilmember Coles. I remember I. Council member of the growth. Councilmember Bond right there. Council members online. I. Mr. Chair. I. Mr. Chair, the vote is 7i0 no's. Council members on the ground in Penrith are excused. Thank you for your vote. We've given it due to past recommendation two motion 2020 108 and we will send regular schedule to full council in place is not consent. We will do the same if there is a motion for a motion for motion. 2109. More summer. Motion 2109 is before us. No discussion, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Banducci. Councilmember Hi. Councilmember Done. By. Councilmember Coles. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember up the ground. Councilmember upon my power. I. And I. For the previous. Thank you, Councilmember. Council members only. By. Mr. Chair. Hi. Mr. Chair. The vote is eight zero now. Council member of the group. Excused. Thank you. And I'd entertain a motion to give a to pass recommendation to motion 2111. Ms.. Brooks. Tucker. Mr. Chair. The nomination of Ms.. Brooks Tucker is before us and in the changing motion to adopt Amendment One, correcting the spelling of her name. Moved. Amendment one is before us. All those in favor please signify by saying I. I am. Opposed. Nay, the ayes have it might entertain a motion to approve total amendment to one. Then moved to one before us. All this favorite. Please say I. I, i. I'm opposed. No, the ayes have it. The title amendment is adopted and final passage on motion 2021 11 as amended. Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I cover, if I could just clarify on oh nine, was that to go on the consent agenda? Yes, please. Thank you. Councilmember Belfort, you. I. Councilmember Dombrowski. I. Council member done. By. Councilmember Kowalski. I remember. Linda, I. Council member of the girl. Councilmember Bone right there. All right. Councilmembers Ally. All right. Mr. Chair. Hi. Mr. Chair. The vote is 18 zero inches council member after Grant excused. Thank you. By your vote, we've given a do pass recommendation to Motion 2021 11 as amended, and we'll place that on the consent agenda for Council on regular schedule. Colleagues, you're welcome to give me a call this afternoon and I will share the history of the Smith Tower part of my virtual background right now. We open on July 4th, 1914, just to whet your appetite a little bit. Then we'll go back to item six and today's agenda for this item, we have an ordinance related to the health through housing implementation plan. This past autumn, the Council passed a 1/10 of 1% additional sales tax to fund housing programs and related services known as Health through housing. This ordinance would outline the content to be included in the executive's implementation plan for the spending of these tax proceeds, as well as the approach the executive should take in developing the implementation plan. The proposed ordinance was amended by the Regional Policy Committee that received the ordinance as a mandatory dual referral and passed out of the committee on January 13th with a do pass recommendation. It is their amended version that is before us. Today we have April Sanders and Sam Porter from policy staff to provide a briefing to Sanders. Ms.. Porter. The floor is yours. Hey, thank you. Good morning. For the record, April Sanders Council Policy Staff. The materials for item six begin on page eight of your packet. Proposed Ordinance 2020 338 would require the executive to develop and transmit an ordinance for counsel consideration. An implementation plan to guide spending of the housing sales tax revenue generated by the sales tax announced or enacted by the Council. Last year, this item was given a mandatory dole referral to the Regional Policy Committee and the Committee of the Hall and passed out of the Regional Policy Committee last month with amendments as a bit of background. During the 2020 legislative session, the Legislature passed House Bill 1590 related to a sales and use tax for housing and related services. Previously, this housing sales tax was required to go to the ballot for authorization from voters before enactment, but the House bill provided the option for the tax to be council. Manic House Bill 1590 gave counties until September 30th of 2020 to impose the tax countywide. After that date, cities could impose the tax either by ballot or by a council meeting vote. Before County Council passed the housing sales tax legislation, eight cities had imposed the sales tax. State statute specifies the activities and services for which the tax may be used. At least 60% of proceeds must go to constructing affordable housing and behavioral health related facilities and funding operations and maintenance of various facilities. Remaining funds must be used for operation delivery or evaluation of mental and behavioral health treatment programs and services or housing related services. State statute requires that certain population groups at or below a 16% area median income may be provided affordable housing and facilities providing housing related programs generated using housing sales tax revenue. Those certain population groups are listed on page name. The County Council passed ordinance 19179, which imposed the sales tax. And given that there will not be an implementation plan in place for 2021, revenues will be spent in accordance with state law and the 2021 2022 biennial budget. Once an implementation plan is adopted in 2021, the plan would inform expenditures in 2022 and beyond. With that, I'll hand it over to my colleague Sam Porter to discuss the proposed ordinance in discussion today. Thank you, April. Sam Porter Council of Policy Staff I am on the bottom of page 12 of your packet excuse me. Proposed Ordinance 2020 0338 would require that the executive transmit an initial implementation plan for the health through housing sales tax. The plan transmitted to Council would be required to include goals, strategies, performance measures, reporting requirements and an annual spending plan for 2022 through 2028. The proposed ordinance would require the executive to consult with the Affordable Housing Committee and the CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. In order to develop the implementation plan. The required goals to be included in the implementation plan include the creation and ongoing operation of 2000 units of affordable housing with related services. An annual reduction of racial and ethnic demographic disproportionality among persons experiencing homelessness in King County and the creation and operation of a mobile behavioral health intervention program with access for its clients to be created, operated or otherwise funded by proceeds. The proposed ordinance would require the implementation plan to be transmitted with a companion ordinance establishing the health through Housing Advisory Committee. The committee's responsibilities are. Or to be described in the initial implementation plan, and the membership would be required to include representatives of the following demographics individuals who experienced homelessness, racial and ethnic communities disproportionately represented among people experiencing chronic homelessness. Residents of cities with populations greater than 60,000 residents of the unincorporated area, and representatives from county, city and subregional boards, commissions or committees pertaining to King County Human Service Investments. The proposed ordinance would require that the implementation plan outline the process of siting affordable housing and behavioral health facilities funded through the sales tax revenue . This process would have to be done in accordance with state law and would be required to involve the use of an equity and social justice impact review process. The eight year annual spending plan to be included in the implementation plan described in the proposed ordinance, would be required to include the following for each year a forecast of bond debt service associated with the bonds issued and an allocation of proceeds to fully cover the debt service. An allocation of 9 to 13% of each year proceeds to be spent on behavioral health treatment programs and services outside of those provided within affordable housing or behavioral health facilities supported by proceeds of the proceeds remaining after items one and two. And just mentioned, no more than 5% could be used for administration, no more than one and one half percent for evaluation. And at least 1% would go to support and build capacity for community based organizations to deliver programs and services eligible for the health through housing proceeds and communities that are disproportionately represented among persons experiencing chronic homelessness in King County. In addition to the initial plan outlined in proposed Ordinance 2020 0338, the executive would be required to transmit a proposed eight year update to the implementation plan every eight years, beginning in 2027. As my colleague mentioned, proposed ordinance was amended at the RBC meeting on January 13th. A technical amendment and a title amendment were passed and seven additional amendments. I will briefly summarize. Amendment 1.1 changed the date of the transmittal from June 30th to August 30th, and then at 1.2 required that the advisory committees annual reporting to include information of the amount of sales tax proceeds spent in each jurisdiction. Amendment 1.3 change the number of affordable housing units to reflect revised revenue projections. No unit projections for the revenue from the sales tax decreased from 2000 units due to the loss of approximately 25% of sales tax revenue. New planned unit projections are 1600 units. Amendment 1.4 stated that the funding may sometimes only be required for operating and support supportive services, and this amendment also required the plan to include a process for the executive to work with jurisdictions funding affordable housing to align sales tax allocations with those efforts. Amendment two required the plan to require a process between the county and cities where facilities are proposed in order to jointly agree on locations to be purchased or constructed. Amendment three required the plan to include a communication and partnership plan and a last amendment require the plan to include a forecast of annual expenditures. And that concludes now that. Before the amendment to requires the if the proceeds are to be used to purchase a facility in a incorporated jurisdiction, that that jurisdiction has to agree on the location. It would require a process in order to jointly agree on locations. For each. Breach versus breach facility? Yes. Thank you. Dear colleagues, questions of Central South Council member Lambert. So I'm looking on page 11 and 12, the sales tax revenue projections, so it makes sense that there would be a difference in the amount of sales tax. But one of the things we're trying to do is to get equity across the county. And when I look in the east part of the county, you know, one of the cities in the district is $42,000. One gets 119, one gets 121 get seven skycom geico gets $7,000. It really not a whole snoqualmie gets $292,000. When they're other groups, they're getting 4 million, 2 million, 1 million. So in the past, when there's been a lot of disparity in the spectrum, we put a floor on that. You know, this group will get at least X amount of dollars. I don't really know. Skirmish is going to do a whole lot with 7000 donation. They can't do a whole lot with 42,000 affordable housing. And yet both of those cities need help. We looked at all about having some floor so that there's a meaningful amount of money going in each city so that they could do something because you can't do much for housing on $7,000. So Councilmember, those are actually if I may, those are actually projections of what would be collected. So those aren't expenditure projections. Okay. So where is that? So we don't have an expenditure plan for 2022 and beyond that would be included in the implementation plan that would go to council next year, later this year. Okay. So my suggestion would be that we do the same thing as we do in others, that there be a minimum one so that every every one of them is the parties can do something and that we figure out what that force should be. Thank you. Councilmember WG. Thank you. I've got two questions, but before I do, I just want to state a respectfully contrary view. The goal of this entire program is to house up to 1600 or so people. The number has grown because the projections have grown by purchasing or constructing single room occupancy type housing developments. And there's a certain number that you need in order to to house that many people. And that number is not 39. We're not going to build one or buy one in every single jurisdiction in King County. It's just it's not feasible or they're not necessarily available. So the idea of getting a benefit, the benefit is to get people out of homelessness and really make a dent in homelessness in King County. This is not a peanut butter program where each jurisdiction gets some amount of money to spend on whatever is local. The cities are an opportunity and as you see, many of them took it to hold on to the sales tax adopted in their cities, and they're going to do what they do with that. But this is a regional program and I think it needs to remain that way. That's part of the reason why I wasn't in favor of the idea of kind of consolidating more funding to hand over to other cities. Because the impact we can have here is a regional impact. And I think that we should stick with that. But let me go to my my two questions. The first one is, we're still working on legislation that makes it clear that purchasing of properties is allowed with this funding. Is that correct? Yeah. So the state legislature is working on clarifying some of the language of that produced ambiguity, including around purchasing of hotels or other things. Does the does the direction that this ordinance would provide to the executive to provide an implementation plan account for the fact that that's likely to be adopted after we vote? I say it's silent on it, so it doesn't it doesn't preclude the implementation plan, including hotels or other or other purchases, assuming the legislature does act. But it doesn't it does it requests specifically that the implementation plan include it, which is probably fine because we asked for a report to include certain things, doesn't mean they can't include lots of other things. Like we don't tell them, do not say anything else. Okay, so that was thing one. I just had a request from our constituent jurisdictions this morning about ongoing operations. So by its nature, these buildings will be made to be operated into the future. They'll need to be maintained. There will need to be some ability for King County folks to have resources to interact with the host communities, if you will, and be able to, you know, maintain the relationships and respond to two issues as needed. Is the does the implementation plan, as requested, make sure that we're asking for information about maintenance and operation being adequately funded. I my, my, my fear is that you put all the focus or an undue focus on the capital. Aspects of this. Program and that we make sure that we're going to plan for the kind of operation and maintenance dollars that will be significant that will be needed on an ongoing basis. So the implementation plan or this ordinance does not specifically request that, but it is within the scope of of the state legislation to allow operations and maintenance of those facilities. Well mentioned that the first goal of the required implementation plan is the creation and ongoing operation of the units of affordable housing, which really is the address on the call today. Why now? Okay. I'm just going to assume they heard what I asked and that that is something that I think is important and that we don't have to really look at closely when we see the implementation plan rather than trying to amend this, which then sets off procedural loops. So thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And welcome, colleagues. That's typical Lowe's. Thank you, Mr. Chair. For our staff or for cowriter Mark Goldberg who are on the line? Well, how. Does the the current just care program fit into all of this? I mean, their goals seem to align at least somewhat here with what is contemplated. And would it make any sense for the implementation plan to, I think, consider proceeds to reduce the need of existing shelter facilities to vulnerable populations who are. Experiencing. Chronic homelessness and where there are some behavioral or other issues. It just seems like there's some overlap here, and I'd appreciate your letting me know more about that. I'm happy to kick it off and then hand it over to Mark and Kelly if they have additional comments. So certainly certain components of just care would would could apply to these proceeds, including the operation of delivery or evaluation of mental and behavioral health programs and services and housing related services. I think some of those hotel purchasing questions also go to counseling about duties, question about about what the state legislature is possibly doing this year. But certainly some components could apply. Thank you very much for. Is there anything else, anybody? I think the only other thing that I would add, Councilmember, is that I think the population for just care and the population that we are looking at for the health or housing program are very similar, if not identical. So I think there is a fair amount of overlap in that place. One of the pieces that we kind of the lines that we need to walk and be clear on here is the difference between the housing and the shelter way that we're kind of implementing these two programs. And obviously just care moves folks into hotel type settings on a temporary basis. And I think we need to kind of tease out there there's how that kind of overlaps. So but I think from a population perspective, you're right on as far as identifying the commonality. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I ask one more question. Thank you. Whether it be makes sense or even be needed to have an amendment brought up that would. Include. Specifically just pure or just pure life type of program to be included? Or would that already be covered in the language of the legislation? Councilmember This is Kelly, Writer for the record, Don, manager with Department of Community and Human Services. Thank you for the question. Obviously, DHS would defer to the Council on deciding what amendments you would like to add. We feel like there is sufficient flexibility in the ordinance as it stands to be able to continue our ongoing conversations with the Public Defenders Association. As Mark said, there's a lot of consistency and alignment with the population that PBA has been serving and the type of approach they've been taking. And I think the ordinance gives us the broad level direction of being able to think through in the permanent supportive housing framework, how we would continue to serve that population. Thank you. That's exactly what I was interested in, ma'am. Thank you. Councilmember Lambert. Thank you. On page 14, I think has some really good language that we're talking about, where the spending plan is in compliance with the ICW. That requires a minimum 60% of revenue to be used for constructing affordable housing, mental or behavioral health related facilities. So I think that's right, right up there. And so what I'd like to add to that is that as one of the other covers has said, that it'd be ongoing, that there be like a navigator, so that as issues come up in the long term, that there's a place for people to call and make sure that everything's okay. And then I do agree that we're trying to get this done regionally and trying to make sure that we help people as quickly as possible to get into appropriate housing, not tent serve or other. That may not be as appropriate, but I do believe that we need to not leave the cities out. The cities are dealing with homeless people and just getting them to the right place will cost them money. So I think it's a combination of both. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Making sure that we have the ability to move people experiencing chronic homelessness throughout the region into housing summary in the region is imperative and I hope cities are permissive of opportunities to purchase facilities in successfully housed people as we have seen, for example, that had such great success in the Red Lion in Renton. DEMBOSKY Councilmember DEMBOSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a return to Amendment Two, which I voted against at the RTC, although it carried otherwise, and it was described by staff here today as establishing a process to work with the city, which I think is good. But my concern, if there is a possibility, was that it ultimately would allow the city to veto our ability to appoint or property as a county government. And I want to understand that that is a fact, because because I think that goes a little too far. I think cities do have their tools in terms of zoning and fundraising. To be able to control our government's ability to acquire property is very unusual, if not unprecedented for. Yeah. But I think your, your summary is correct that the siting process would, would be directive where the cities could hypothetically say no to citing a facility in their jurisdiction. Thank you for that clarification. That seems contrary to even what Councilmember Lambert was just speaking to the the need to be able to have facilities to support this population across the county. Hello. Council members. Hello. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we all know, there are certain populations that are overrepresented in our homeless population. Black people and Native American people. And I know the tax has explicitly stated goal of reducing racial disproportionality. Can someone speak a little bit to whether part of that strategy of reducing and eliminating the racial disproportionality involves partnering with organizations that are led by those groups to provide housing and to address the other needs that are associated with homelessness. That is not explicitly required in the implementation plan ordinance in front of you today. Thank you. And can someone from DC speak to why that is? I can thank you, Councilmember Dollar, and I realize I didn't introduce myself for the record. So Mark and I broke from the department community and Human Services. As far as the implementation plan, including or the proposed legislation discussing the implementation and implementation plan, including that language, I can't speak to whether it's inclusion or not, but what I can speak to is the department's commitment on this and how we expect to do this work. I think you're Point Council member is exactly right. We have a lot of strong nonprofits in this community, in this region who are excellent at supportive housing. And we have a lot of nonprofits that have deep cultural roots or deep ethnic roots serving certain populations. And what we really hope to do through this program is try to bring those together where we get both the expertize on the operations side and the expertize and the disproportionality and the cultural side together. And I would point to an example of where we've been successful in doing that is the project that we work with both Catholic Community Services and chiefs, Sierra Club in Seattle, where we actually had a program where we brought those two. We work together with those two agencies to work on a program that really targets American-Indian, Alaska Native Homelessness. And this is a project that's on Metro property on Sixth Avenue South and really have ended up in a place where Catholic Community Services has stepped out of the operation of that facility. Chief Sierra Club has really stepped in to meet that disproportionality need that we know is represented. And I think we are hoping to build on that model with the rest of health or housing as we kind of move that forward. So I think we have that expectation, expectation and intend to build that into the development and implementation plan. Now. Councilmember, let me first set aside, for lack of a better word, in number nine to be at the very end of the ordinance, does talk about 1% being used to support and build the capacity of meat based organizations to serve a demographically disproportionately represented populations. And our intent is certainly to use that funding to support buying for community of color led organizations in being able to engage in providing services and really need the work in these housing developments. So are there any organizations that you think we should be reaching out to and conversations that we would certainly love to add them to our list? Thank you, Kelly and Mark. Concern that I'm hearing a lot of our intent is to and our plan is to, but it's not in the legislation. And so I would want to create an amendment for something along those lines. Mr. Chair, can you help me understand the procedure for doing that? Is it possible to bring in an amendment before for council, or does that have to be something that's done here today? Council members. Hello. Indeed, because this is a mandatory dual referral. We could adopt an amendment here or presumably at full council and it would be referred back to the Regional Policy Committee. And so. I guess I. I'm thinking as I'm speaking, which is maybe not brilliant. It doesn't matter where it would be done. An amendment today or an amendment in for council would be appropriate. We would then send the legislation to the Regional Policy Committee. Okay. Thanks a lot, Mr. Chair. Further discussion. I be adoption of the ordinance. Councilmember Jean Vasquez moved adoption of Ordinance 2020 338 discussion. Met. Madam Clark, would you please call the wrong. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Council. Balaji, I council member Dombrowski. I. Councilmember Stern. Hi. Councilmember Kowalski. Hi. Councilmember Lambert. Hi. Councilmember of the girl, I. Councilmember one right there. I found some members of my high. Mr. Chair. Hi. Mr. Chair. But it's 19 zero noes. Thank you. By your vote, we've given it to pass recommendation in ordinance 2020 and 338, and we will send that to full council staff. There's no reason to expedite, is there? No, I don't believe so. All right, well, send in the regular schedule and we'll place this on consent. And our final three items, we confirm executive appointments to the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. The appointments are Leah Tischler, a public interest representative. Wendy Welker. A as a representative of waste management. Waste Management. And. William Louis. As a citizen representative. Application materials were sent out to council members prior to the meeting. Tara Rose from Council South will provide a brief staff report on the purpose and makeup of the committee. Then we'll hear from the potential nominees. Intern Tara Rose. Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the record, Tara Rose, Council staff, as the chair noted, agenda item seven through nine concern appointments to the King County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, or SWAC. And the materials for these items began on page 29 of your pocket. I'll provide some very, very brief background on the committee and then turn it over to the council members. State law requires each county to establish an advisory committee to assist in the development of programs and policies concerning solid waste handling and disposal, and to review and comment upon. Proposed rules, policies or ordinances. Prior to adoption. King County, SWAC was established in the mid 1980s and per King County Code. The SWAC is composed of at least nine and not more than 20 members representing a balance of interests, including citizens, local elected officials, industry representatives, environmental representatives, among others. Code also required that the committee shall include one representative from each of the two bargaining units representing the greatest number of solid waste division employees, as well as at least one representative who resides within a. Mile. Of the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill. Staff have not identified any issues with the proposed appointments and they appear to be consistent with the requirements of King County Code and state law. As the Chair noted, the appointees have been invited today and we also have Pat McLaughlin, Solid Waste Division Director, for questions, and that concludes my remarks. Thank you, Mr. McLaughlin. Any opening comments, introduction on your part? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to say that, as you know, the work ahead for solid waste regional system is significant and we're on an exciting path. Towards zero waste of resources and. The candidates before the Committee for Consideration. Ms.. Weicker, Ms.. Tischler and Mr.. Lui each are uniquely. Qualified to lend experience and expertize that will really help inform and advise the Council, the executive and the division in important policy choices and important exploration of tools, techniques and partnerships. So I'm excited about the prospect of of these candidates. And I'll let I'll let you and the rest of your council members get to know them more directly. Happy to answer any questions. Should there be any? Thank you. Let's start with Ms.. Record. Can you please introduce yourself, share a little bit about your background, your work in the field. Hi. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for your time. It's Wendy Weicker, not Welker. So Weicker, I like your chair. McDermott Thank you very much for remembering that. And to confirm, I work for a public service, not waste management. So I do represent industry and I think most of you are probably familiar with Republic as we serve 19 cities and King County from residential or commercial recycling and solid waste services. We're a national company. We're in 42 states with 36,000 employees. We operate trucks, transfer stations and landfills. We know this business inside and out. We've been doing it for over 30 years as Republic Services, but our big important work that we do is really locally and in our neighborhoods and in our communities. So safety is our number one priority in managing through difficult, challenging times, whether it's national disaster or COVID pandemic. Our employees are essential service employees just like yours. And we do what we have to do to to keep the work going. Our motto is, we'll handle it from here. And that is, we're simple solutions. We're good partners in this work. And we appreciate the long term partnership we have with our cities, our unincorporated areas and King County. Part of our core work is also responsibility around the environment and climate action. So we are committed to that work, as is the county. Our recycling facility center down on third and Lander has been handling recyclable materials for over 30 years. It's the largest murf west of the Mississippi. We are committed to recycling even though it's challenged with China sword. And now COVID impacts its core to what we do and its core of what we believe as employees. We like to say we work for Earth as well, and part of that work is also tied to being a good employer. So we are a certified great place to work. We are in the Barron's list of most sustainable companies, are on the Forbes list of best employers for women and innovators. And what I'm particularly proud of is Republic recently joined the Washington Employers for Equity Initiative at the Roundtable and Challenge Seattle put together in the last year. So we are proud partners in this. Racial justice and social justice work personally have been working with Pat and his team at the King County, SWAC and Municipal SWAC. For the 18 months I've been at Republic Services, I'm keenly aware of the work we have to do around zero waste and the rate restructuring to make sure that that work is sustainable while we figure out how to do more reduce, reuse and recycle. I understand the county's work also through the sustainability goals and how that has to match with economic realities and the tolerance that our rate payers have in managing this work. And so it's going to take a partnership to navigate through all the challenges that Pat alluded to you earlier and that maybe some of you who care about this climate action work and materials management that we do for this industry and this partnership. A little bit more about me. I've been doing this public relations work for the last 25 years through public, private and nonprofit sector. I've been at Republic for about 18 months, and before that I worked at Puget Sound Energy. So I understand essential services, I understand utilities, I understand ratepayers, and I understand education, outreach to use carrots and sticks to get consumers to help us understand the balance we need to do in implementing good policy regionally and globally, as well as locally and here in our homes and businesses to do the right thing for everyone in our society. In my spare time, I'm working to get my college kids through their COVID crises and management, working and learning online. And my husband is a Bellevue High School teacher, so helping him get through online and managing all the challenges we have in our education system as well. I also am an elected official in an east side city and part of the SCA board and a b c board in Solid Waste Association of North America Board. I volunteered for k4c before it was public, and now I'm intimately involved with that for my city work in their public work because recycling is a key part of what k4c is trying to do. So I balance both hats and trying to do what we can to keep this partnership working in that system, moving forward and adapting to the changes ahead. So with that, I appreciate your consideration and I'm really passionate about this governmental work and happy to bring my public, personal and professional experience and expertize to the table as well as all the expertize the Republic can offering doing this work nationwide. Thank you, Ms.. Like her arm. Questions? Member Council member Lambert. Thank you. Oh, it's good to see you as always. So I have a couple of quick things to my knowledge. Quickly, let me know if this is still not changed, that these meetings are not reported. And over the years, there have been issues with the minutes having some concerns. And when I have called for the tape to reconcile, the two tapes don't exist. And now that we are able to to record things on Zoom, I think it would be a good thing for the new members to look into making sure that the meetings are recorded so that if the minutes have some issues that we can get back to what was actually said, I my staff or I have attended most many of them, most actually for at least a decade of these meetings. And I have not seen a lot of forward progression on what the future should look like. The. I'm glad to hear you're talking about re-use and recycling and abuse, which I think is a very exciting thing. I'm very pleased about the abuse commit plan where you go and you can have your things fixed and change them into all kinds of other kinds of useful things around your house. That's been really successful. The last thing is landfill mining. Landfill mining is now something that is useful in Europe. And I would like to see us turn out almost 900 acres of garbage into a mining place where we can get the garbage out and not leave 900 acres of garbage for our children and our great grandchildren. So could you tell me how you will help us to move forward in things like landfill mining and other technologies on this committee? I will do my best to work with Pat and his team on long range planning and working with the comprehensive plan that the county has to optimize that landfill longevity and optimal ability to full resources where we can and extend the life as long as possible, and also look for alternatives when that landfill does fill up. Thank you. I would like to see the. Raptor. Greatly reduced in size because we have technology that won't require that it has with the neighbors yet. Yes. The neighbors would love that if. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Councilmember by Mike Bauer. Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just more of. An observation than a question. Yeah. I had the privilege of being in the state Senate and chairing the Joint Solid Waste Committee of the House and the Senate. And when we developed this original legislation and I will say that when you pitch that incredible proposal that we hope to have every county have a person with her commitment , her background or experience, and, quite frankly, her commitment. I don't know how you have time to do all the things you do, but thank you for being willing to do this because you fit the profile of what we need in that in that group. And as someone who works on everybody, she and I and Councilmember Dombrowski with the Argot Committee do a lot with solid waste. And we're blessed in this state and this county with with our director. And I want to thank him for all the service he does. I mean, this is a very tough job, as Councilmember Lambert knows, because of her district. There is nobody's ever happy. Republic has done a great job, in my opinion, and reaching out to people in John King County. You have a lot of good leadership within the agency that are involved in King County, not the least of which is the mayor of Compton. And we appreciate you. And I want to thank you for your commitment and willingness to serve. Thank you. Further further questions. Say none. Thank you. We'll move to you and Mr. Louis. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. And we'd welcome an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and share your interest and work in the field. Morning. Yup. My name is William Louis. I go by Bill. Fairly new to the area. I grew up in New Jersey. I went to Tulane University in New Orleans, the Army ROTC. So I graduated and went into the Army. Was going to finish my obligation and leave. But September 11th. Happened and just. Felt wrong to leave. So I ended up doing a whole career in the Army. And I retired in 2017. To this area, to. Redmond, Washington. An Army reservist connected me with the C, the Seattle VA Hospital and the facility section. So I became a general engineer here doing construction projects here at Seattle VA Hospital and American Way campus. My interest in this is primarily just getting involved in the community. Now that I kind of settled down with the family here. I started off by volunteering with the. Northeast Recycling Transfer Station Committee. And then somebody reached out to me about joining Solid Waste. They sound pretty good. I don't really have a lot of experience in that. In one of our deployments. We had to close our base and. I got involved with the closing out of contractors that did the trash, the sewage. And incinerator. So we were kind of water based, so we kind of figure out our own trash schedule, their own stuff, and it's body. I don't have the kind of experience that Wendy had. So that's a tough act to follow. Excited to be here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.. Then we're very glad to have you here as well. I'm colleagues. Any questions? Councilmember Bellevue Chee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Lui, I believe I'm your council member in District six. I represent part of Redmond, along with Councilmember Lambert. I think you might be selling yourself short a little bit on the information I have here. It says we also have degrees in chemical engineering and geological engineering. Is that correct? Yes, I graduate a chemical engineering degree, but I never. Used in the army, so I can't talk about it. Too much. And I also says here that you served on the Northeast Recycling and transfer station siting advisory committee. Yeah, I'm a. Volunteer on that. Committee right now. Right. I think that you I think that you bring education and real world experience and familiarity more so than most people who are new to the area would have with our system. And I, I just would not to argue with you, but I think you bring a lot of a lot a lot to the table and appreciate your willingness to serve. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Councilmember Balducci. I'm seeing no more questions. I will ask Ms.. Tessler to introduce herself and speak to your interest in Sabrina, the committee. Yes. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm sorry if I'm out of breath. We just had a fire alarm and I had to relocate on very short notice. So sorry. My name is Leah Tischler and I am currently the sustainability manager for SBM on the Microsoft Puget Sound campus in Redmond, Washington. I currently handle all of the waste that's produced on campus and the educational outreach that is produced for the campus, and then also our zero waste certification. My formal background is in environmental management. I have a degree in environmental management from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. And I began my career actually in the county of Hawaii on their solid waste. I'm sorry. I mean, there's always office either recycling office, actually handling the container beverage deposit program for the county here in Washington. I have worked for both Republic. I've worked for Republic Services and now that I'm here are at Microsoft O SBM on the Microsoft campus handling their waste. I am a true zero waste advisor from GB, C.I. and I have. I'm working basically with Microsoft in first and foremost holding their zero waste certification on campus. They have been certified since 2016 and actually through even our low occupancy times, we have been able to increase our diversion here on campus through a number of initiatives that were implemented during this unprecedented times. I also, as a true advisor, have helped certify their largest hackathons, my largest hackathon, which is a yearly event. We were able to certify our gold in 2018 and then in 2019 we're actually platinum. And unfortunately this year it was canceled due to COVID restrictions. But I'm hoping that next year we will definitely be as successful as we have been in further in previous years. So passionate about solid waste and especially in the diversion sector, circular economy and also the ability to work with stakeholders for businesses on reducing their their solid waste production and increasing diversion as much as possible, even during times like we have at these days. Thank you very much. Well, the three seats that are before us today all have different specifications about what qualifications should fill them. It really does lead us to a very diverse and very well qualified group of people to consider nominations today. Are there any questions of Ms.. Tassler in particular? I would entertain emotion. Councilmember Coe Wells. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I agree with you, all three seem to be exceptionally well qualified. I've noticed this since the vote in my district, and I'm just wondering what the public said. A public interest group report. Yeah, I will be. I'll be representing true the FBI. Okay. Thank you. And thank you for applying to. Yes. Thank you for the opportunity. Yes. If it is reached with approval from the committee, I would entertain a motion from all four to approve all three in one vote. So she sounds like it's already been moved. All right, then we have before us. Motions 20, 20, 21, 13, 14 and 15 appointments to the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. There are no amendments to any one of the three motions, so I see no further discussion. Madam. Madam Clerk, would you please call the. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Banducci, I am asking. I. Council member done by Councilmember Cowles. I also member Lambert. High Council member of the CRA. I. Councilmember one right there. I'm. Council members online. Hi. Mr. Chair. Hi. Mr. Chair. The vote is 990 nos. Thank you. By your vote, we were given a do pass recommendation to motions 20, 21, 13, 14 and 15, and we will advance those in the normal course of business to council, to the full council, and place them all on the consent agenda. That concludes our meeting. Madam Clerk, are there any votes that were missed in the technical difficulties we should try to catch? Yes, Mr. Chair. On items 2020 100809 and 11 Council member was excused. Mr. Chair, council member. Up the growth, up the girl votes. I am those items. Thank you very. Much. And with that, I want to thank everyone for their participation in today's meeting. And we will. We hereby adjourn the committee of the hall. Thank you. | A MOTION confirming the executive's appointment of Adam Alsobrook, who resides in council district two, to the King County landmarks commission. |
king_dd9eda9a-bcf3-4f1c-9d5a-1495ca0184d4 | "It is time now that we begin the committee of the hall. This is the meeting of February 17th, 2016,(...TRUNCATED) | "AN ORDINANCE adding the vice chair of the budget and fiscal management committee and the vice chair(...TRUNCATED) |
king_20861c63-94b6-47e1-9615-6dbd5d3fdad3 | "Good afternoon. I'm King County Council member Joe McDermott calling the council's committee of the(...TRUNCATED) | "AN ORDINANCE related to solid waste management; adopting the 2019 Comprehensive Solid Waste Managem(...TRUNCATED) |
king_cff908e6-8573-4464-85bc-e1a7f58c35b8 | "July 7th, 20 2021, a meeting of the committee of the whole to order. And as we start today, I'd lik(...TRUNCATED) | "AN ORDINANCE proposing to amend the King County Charter to utilize ranked-choice voting for the ele(...TRUNCATED) |
king_bdce5f83-5a96-4aaa-86b5-56b6af17ffc2 | "A meeting for July 29th to order. I'm King County Council member Joe McDermott. I serve as chair of(...TRUNCATED) | "A MOTION relating to identifying the future allocation of Puget Sound Taxpayers Accountability Acco(...TRUNCATED) |
king_fe800dd1-e29a-4a73-8470-12ca3a4f23c9 | "Right. Then we're going to call. I'm calling the Committee of the Home to order for Tuesday, Octobe(...TRUNCATED) | "A MOTION acknowledging receipt of a report providing information and analysis regarding the design (...TRUNCATED) |
king_2babb97d-e4cd-4065-a99b-96ef303a7aac | "2021 special meeting of the committee of the whole. Everyone who attends these meetings knows that (...TRUNCATED) | "AN ORDINANCE relating to tenant protections; amending Ordinance 383, Section 5, as amended, and K.C(...TRUNCATED) |
king_0d1b33ce-ae67-4fa9-b812-1946af843efa | "Now called the order the committee of the whole the December 1st, 2021. I'm Joe McDermott chair the(...TRUNCATED) | "A MOTION making an appointment to fill a judicial vacancy in the west division, west electoral dist(...TRUNCATED) |
king_496329e2-1ce8-427a-bdd7-d15d6fd89b72 | "Good morning and welcome to the February 7th, 2018 meeting of the King County Council Committee of (...TRUNCATED) | "AN ORDINANCE clarifying Title 9, Title 13, Title 14, Title 16, Title 17, Title 19A, Title 20, Title(...TRUNCATED) |
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