City Council 11/12/2025

Good afternoon.

The November 12th, 2025 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.13.

I'm Sarah Nelson, Council President, and I do want to apologize for people who have been waiting online.

We had some technical difficulties, so we're starting late.

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez.

Councilmember Kettle.

Here.

Councilmember Rink.

Present.

Councilmember Rivera.

Present.

Councilmember Saka.

Here.

Councilmember Solomon.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Eight.

Present.

If there's no objection, Councilmember Juarez will be excused from today's City Council meeting.

Hearing no objection, Councilmember Juarez is excused from today's City Council meeting.

All right, folks, the reason that we're having a City Council meeting today during our budget deliberations is to vote on three pieces of legislation sooner rather than later.

Two of them are collective bargaining agreement updates and the third is the appointment of Bonnie Glenn as Director of the Office of Police Accountability and the latter is time sensitive because there is a 30-day time limit between the mayor transmitting appointment legislation and council formally appointing or confirming.

So that's why we're doing this today.

There are no presentations, so at this time we'll open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar, and the council work program.

Clerk, how many people are signed up today?

We have three in person and four remote.

All right, we'll give everybody two minutes and start with the in-person commenters.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speaker's time will be muted if they do not enter comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The first few speakers and only three speakers so far are Bennett Halston, Yvette Denish, and then Gabriel Pius.

Good afternoon, council.

So I am once again suggesting to the council that for discussing controversial topics with the public, like the surveillance bill from two months ago, I think that a Reddit Q&A format would be the most constructive way to do it.

I went and I listened to all 120 of the public commenters from the day the surveillance bill was passed, and I was tabulating the points that they made like people concerned about SPD access.

Overwhelmingly, the most common was access by ICE.

There's also a concern about access by SPD.

Talk about skipping the two-year announced pilot program period.

There was the guy who showed up and said he wanted to eat all of you.

Remember that?

That's not on here.

I went and tabulated that reminder in a Reddit Q&A the way this would work is one person makes the point everybody who agrees votes it up and then you can respond and then people can ask follow-up questions so the problem with public comment is that even if you sincerely want to answer people's questions after public comment it's easy to lose track of what people said for example you can see the most common thing was was about ICE and council members in their remarks after work public comment did talk about the safeguards in place but there are some other points that I think got lost in the shuffle for For example, several people said there was originally announced a two-year pilot program period and asked why that was being skipped.

I mean, is the answer is that the early results were so good that you thought it was justified to skip ahead with it?

Or had the problem gotten worse to the point that it was justified to skip ahead?

If that's what you wanted to say, fine, but I think somebody should have addressed that.

Also, several people talked about a study from 2019 about the effects of CCTV on crime.

Multiple people said that CCTVs reduced property crime, but they didn't have any effect on violent crime.

That is something that I think deserved a response.

It is true that Seattle does have lower violent crime than other cities, but has a higher rate of property crime.

point that even if the study showed that reducing property crime was the point.

I sincerely think this is a better way to have this discussion.

I'm not trying to trick you.

One or more of you could do a Reddit Q&A on this.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I came here regarding the budget.

I came last Thursday.

It was so packed, cray-cray, I left.

But I wanted to thank you for the $8 million that you appropriated regarding the food.

the snap cutting.

And particularly, it was so swift.

I volunteered the Rainy Beach Urban Farm wetlands for the good food bags packing.

And when I went last week, they'd already been called that they were getting some extra funding.

and I thought that was really wonderful.

And with the extra funding, they're going to also be using, besides the fresh organic vegetables, to be able to add shelf-stable food like rice and beans and that kind of thing to the bag that they sent out.

And today when I was there, we packed 478 good food bags that go to preschools.

So they're doing a wonderful job.

And I also wanted to thank you regarding the budget.

It's with the deepest of affection and respect that you all are wonks, and that's a very good thing.

Going through all that minutiae and detail and staying with it, God bless you all.

And I also came last week hoping to put in a plug for funding for the Detective Cookie Chess Park.

She's 40 kids every week, and it's more than just teaching chess that she does as well.

They go to tournaments, et cetera.

Then also for the Gifts of Hope, another organization I collaborate with.

They do wonderful stuff with the youth in our community.

And lastly, I just wanted to know, when will the budget be finalized?

Because I'm just kind of curious when this process will be done for all of us.

So again, thank you so much for the work you do, and keep it up.

And I've got to leave because I've got another volunteer gig to go to.

Our last speaker is Gabriel.

Howdy, folks.

My name is Gabriel Diaz.

I'm going to ask you all to think about a year ago today exactly, actually.

I came to this council and told many people on this Diaz that if they continued in this way, they would be voted out just like a former council member Wu.

I spoke on this after seeing anti-worker action, the rehashing of failed policy, and an overall clear contempt for the working people of the city.

Since then, we've seen council members fight to relax ethics, pass bad bills costing the city millions, and more contempt for the city.

How did this end up?

With an almost 30-point loss for a current council president, a new mayor, and a new city attorney.

I'm urging these folks in this DS either listen to us and get to work listening to us and actually fighting for us, or join us in this side of the table.

It happened to Wu.

It happened to Nelson.

Now, which one of you on the DS wants to be next?

Also, since I have a full minute now, which is two of them is great, I'll also say, talk about the new OPA person.

SPD has had a massive accountability issue.

We saw this really peak out during 2020, or during 2020 especially, but also during the Cal Anderson protests.

I got to attend the Sentinel review for this, and I promise you, the stuff you're going to see come out of this is horrific.

You see, there was a quote from an officer who said, and I'm going to quote this, and I apologize for language, it's a direct quote from the officer who said, we're going to go in heavy and we're going to put in fucking work.

And this was when no crimes were being committed.

That is how your current police feel about the city.

And you need someone who is actually going to hold officers accountable and make sure that they're fighting to make the city's police force better.

And this current OPA person is not going to do that, so I urge you all to vote no on this current OPA.

Thank you.

We'll now move into remote speakers.

We have four remote speakers signed up.

A reminder to our remote speakers to please press star 6 after you have heard the message that you have been unmuted.

Our first remote speaker is Howard Gill.

Howard will be followed by Alberto Alvarez.

Go ahead Howard.

Are you there Howard?

His mic, his phone might be on mute.

Howard, if you can unmute your phone.

We see that you're unmuted.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, my bad.

My bad.

My bad.

Sorry.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale, District 7. Today you are considering appointing the third director for the Office of Police Accountability's brief eight year existence.

This appointment was done with an astounding lack of transparency and rushed in the middle of a busy election and budget season.

The previous two OPA directors left or were fired in disgrace.

OPA's first director, when he was a city attorney, had falsely prosecuted an African-American paraplegic man beaten by SPD officers resulting in court sanctions against him and was therefore rejected from a job in police accountability in Phoenix.

This is the result of a flawed vetting and transparency system.

This appointment must be rejected for at least three major reasons in addition to the lack of transparency and the abysmal history of prior appointments.

Second, Ms. Glenn has stated about the newly proposed police union contract, it allows that Skilled civilian investigators can investigate a broader range of allegations, a claim that is highly deceptive in that it contradicts the mandates in the union contract that SPD must take the lead on any serious investigation and that at least two thirds of OPA investigators will remain SPD officers.

Over four and a half years ago, Washington State created a unit for investigating police that bans police from investigating police, yet Seattle stubbornly clings to this unacceptable and unjust system.

All indications that Ms. Glenn supports this outdated and unjust model.

And third, with a new mayor and council taking office in just weeks, it is extraordinarily unfair to make this appointment now as opposed to letting the new mayor and council make a much more reasoned and transparent choice.

Alberto Alvarez.

Please press star six.

Thank you.

Today Council will appoint members to the Equitable Development Initiative Board.

Board appointees must remember that politician landlord Marissa Rivera is on record for trying to sabotage EDI projects by the Black community.

This is the type of person that will be unfair to the EDI board.

Rivera backed down only after facing a multi-hour public shaming from the community she was targeting.

Rivera also took an official vote to try and lift ethics rules to enrich herself as a landlord.

In addition, she endangered Port of Seattle operations voting to place working-class families in the heart of regional freight lines so that her wealthy friends and neighbors wouldn't have to pitch in with housing in the comp plan.

All in all, the EDI board has their work cut out for them with a politician like Marisa Rivera.

She is either fully corrupt or dangerously ignorant.

It shouldn't take hours of public shaming to stop people like her from harming marginalized communities.

Thank you all and have a good day.

David Haynes.

Hi, David Haynes.

The workers need a three and a half day work week seven-day pay, double the shifts, and boost the morale, especially the ones that you're signing a deal with who ain't making that much money to begin with.

You know, council should reject the budget out of principle that the racist mayor has been rejected by the people.

Does the council regret capitulating their independence to the very mayor who's been running interference for the evil, predatory, repeat-offending criminals that are connected to the underworld that made all of your public safety policies moot and used as a abuse of free press allowing for a manipulation of the truth and the reality of crime hotspots being dispersed to another part of the neighborhood, using fences to let all the alley rats roam around Belltown and further destroy it.

That said, you know, the Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board evidently gets $75 an hour to be racist and look through a lens of policies lined in the pockets of Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protesters who shook down and continued to intimidate and race-bait counsel and line their pockets with six-figure salaries, being racist in their agenda, basing their perspective on an ignorant past that they regurgitate with hate, proving two wrongs don't make it right, while allowing a shaking down of City Hall, capitulating the integrity of oversight tax dollars and government policies implementing a race war within the budget payoffs to protesters to distract from the fact that self-dealing conflicts of interest landlords who've never acknowledged that they truly have a conflict of interest with all of their restrictions and sabotages on the integrity of the policies for the last few years that justify having the Department of Government Efficiency do an audit of this budget to find out how many tens of millions of dollars has Bruce Haynes subjected this community to by looking through an ignorant lens of racism that are lying in the pockets of protesters that need to be...

That was our last registered speaker.

All right, we've reached the end of our list of people who have signed up to give public comments, so we will proceed.

If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

And if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

We'll now consider the proposed consent calendar and the items on the consent calendar are the minutes of October 28th and November 3rd, 2025, council bills 121 through 111 and 121 through 112 payment of the bills and five appointments from the land use committee.

Are there any items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

All right, hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council member Strauss?

Yes.

Council member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council member Kettle?

Aye.

Council member Rink?

Yes.

Council member Rivera?

Aye.

Councilmember Saka Councilmember Salomon Council President Nelson aye eight in favor none opposed the consent calendar items are adopted will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes in legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf all right moving on will the clerk please read items one and two into the record

Agenda items 1 and 2, Council Bill 121097 related to City Employment authorizing execution of a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Seattle and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 77, Construction Maintenance Equipment Operator Unit for the period effective January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2025 and ratifying confirmed research and prior acts.

Council 121098 relating to city employment authorize execution of a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Seattle and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local number 77 Information Technology Professionals Unit for the period effective January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026 and ratifying firm research and prior acts

Thank you very much for that.

So both items have been read into the record and I'll address both of them and then the bills will be open to comment and then we'll move each of them separately and vote on them.

So both this and the next piece of legislation are updates to existing collective bargaining agreements for two different groups of employees represented by Local 77 and propose one-year extensions of existing collective bargaining agreements.

I'm going to speak to both pieces of legislation right now.

So Council Bill 121097 updates the CBA between the City and Local 77 for construction maintenance workers in the following manner.

It proposes a retroactive one-year extension of an agreement that ended December 31st, 2024, includes a 4% wage increase retroactive to the beginning of 2025 that is estimated to have an incremental cost of 496,000.

It affects 44 regularly appointed city employees in the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and Seattle Public Utilities.

and then it maintains all other prior provisions.

And then Council Bill 121098 updates the CBA between the city and local 77 for IT professionals and it proposes a one-year extension of the current agreement expiring December 31st, 2025, includes a 3.6% wage increase for 2026, which is estimated to have an incremental cost of about 3.4 million.

and it maintains all prior provisions and affects 445 regularly appointed city employees.

So I have asked Amanda Allen from Central Staff to be here in the audience if you have any questions right now, but she did send a memo on these two pieces of legislation on November 6th.

So that should also be in your inboxes.

Are there any comments or questions on items one or two?

All right.

Hearing no questions or comments, we'll now move each bill separately.

I move to pass Council Bill 121097. Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Are there final comments?

All right.

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of Council Bill 121097.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Councilmember Rink Yes Councilmember Rivera Aye Councilmember Sacca Aye Councilmember Solomon Aye Council President Nelson Aye A10 favor none opposed

All right, thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

And for item two, that was already read into the record, I move to pass Council Bill 121098. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Are there any questions or comments finally before we vote?

All right, hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Strauss.

Yes.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Councilmember Rink.

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Solomon.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

and now finally we'll get to item three.

Will the clerk please read item three into the record?

Appointment 3328, appointment of Bonnie J. Glenn as director of the Office of Police Accountability for term to December 31st, 2026.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle is sponsored.

You're recognized to move the item.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, I move to confirm appointment 3328. Second.

Thank you for the second.

It's been moved and seconded to confirm the appointment and will our presenters please introduce yourselves and proceed.

Good afternoon, Andrew Meyerberg, Chief of Staff for Mayor Harrell.

Good afternoon, Bonnie Glenn, Office of Police Accountability, interim director.

Thank you very much for introducing yourselves.

If there's no objection, the rules will be suspended to allow our guests to speak and address the committee at the table.

Hearing none, again, we are doing this in an irregular fashion because of the time limit on the transmittal of the appointment.

Hearing no objection, the rules are suspended.

Now, Councilmember Kettle, you're recognized to provide some opening remarks.

Thank you, Council President.

And yes, normally we'd work through committee and then bring it to Council, but obviously during the period of budget, we can't do that.

So we're in this special situation that we are in today.

But at the same time, I have and we have been working with Ms. Glenn as the interim director of OPA during this time period and I have been part of the process.

I've done interviews with Ms. Glenn and I just wanted to note before moving forward that she has been The acting director before that, deputy director of OPA, Office of Police Accountability.

And then before that, the Office of Administrative Hearings.

And also worked at the Department of Social and Human Services.

Ongoing adjunct at Seattle University School of Law, very important.

And yes, she was at the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the City Attorney's Office before that.

she comes to us with a very wide experience which I think is really important for this role to have that kind of varied experience that's not tied into one area of law and those pieces here are within the state and the county and the city which also gives a a breath of understanding in terms of what's happening here locally and who the various players are, offices and individuals.

So she comes to us with a great amount of experience that is solid and then brings these different pieces together.

and as noted in the Q&A back and forth, thank you colleagues for the questions.

You can see in the questions and the answers how important accountability is and working in partnership with the Office Inspector General and the Community Police Commission and then highlighting the things that we've been doing.

It has been a An important piece for this council to work to improve our accountability partners, to include the OPA.

Earlier this year, we had our chief of police investigations legislation, which really helped OPA, because that was a bit of a bottleneck that we had.

We've been doing great work in terms of on the labor side, which is still to be finished, but pieces like the 100-day investigation, frontline investigations, which is really important to me, and some of the other pieces really bring to fore our effort to improve, to basically set up OPA for success.

And in that piece as well, off Ms. Glenn.

And I think Ms. Glenn brings the leadership piece.

and I've seen this in my discussions with her and in the regular meetings that we had.

And then she recognizes those areas where we need to push forward, mediation being a great example of that.

I know that is very hard, but that's something that I think we're all on the same page, that mediation and developing those relationships between the community and the police department but specifically with OPA are very important.

So I just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Meyerberg for essentially sponsoring this and your work and Ms. Glenn for being here and for your service already as the acting director and deputy director of OPA.

And colleagues, with this background and experience and the work that we've been doing in terms of, again, setting up our accountability partners for success to include OPA.

And by the way, this is an ongoing piece because I know You know, there's always the glass half empty, half full kind of approach to things.

We're moving forward and in my mind, it's a glass half full.

It's not a full glass, but we're moving in that direction because I know there's definitely more work to be done.

And part of that work is confirming Ms. Glenn is the head of OPA.

So colleagues, I ask for your support.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you for that introduction.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, Council President Nelson, Public Safety Chair Kettle, and council members for allowing us to join you today.

I'm excited to announce Mayor Harrell's nominee for the Office of Police Accountability Director, Bonnie Glenn.

As you all know, public safety is our charter responsibility and one of our highest priorities.

We are consistently working to create a better functioning, more responsive, and more culturally competent police department.

A fundamental element of a successful police department is a robust accountability system, and in Seattle, we are lucky to have one of the most well-regarded police accountability systems in the United States.

Our system is comprised of three entities, the Office of Police Accountability, OPA, which investigates allegations of officer misconduct, the Community Police Commission, which provides a community-informed lens into policing and SPD policies, and it makes recommendations for ongoing improvements, and the OIG, the Office of Inspector General, which provides systemic oversight of SPD.

All these entities are independent, both from the city's political branches and from each other.

For our system to be successful, all these accountability entities have to have strong leadership.

We are very fortunate to have ECMA as the director of the CPC, to have Lisa Judge as our inspector general for public safety, and I'm excited to announce Bonnie Glenn as the mayor's choice to lead OPA.

The job of the OPA director is incredibly difficult.

You're constantly required to make hard decisions in high-profile cases, and there are no wins, and public scrutiny and criticism is a given.

However, as challenging as the job is, it's equally rewarding.

You have the ability and the responsibility to change policing for the better, even if incrementally.

In looking for our next OPA director, we wanted someone who was calm under pressure, someone who can make difficult decisions even in light of public pressure, someone who demonstrates the experience and expertise necessary to evaluate and decide complex cases, someone who values the importance of due process, both for complainants and officers, someone with an understanding of Seattle's history and deep community ties, and someone who was kind and who has a proven track record of leadership and management.

And in our opinion, Bonnie Glenn meets all of these criteria.

Bonnie's nomination resulted from a national search and robust interviews with the other accountability partners, public safety leaders, and finally, Mayor Harrell.

And on behalf of the mayor, I want to thank everyone involved with the search, both the search committee members and the folks who did the interviews for their time and feedback.

In our opinion, Bonnie is uniquely qualified to serve as the OPA director.

She has expertise in both civil and criminal law with prior experience as a senior level prosecutor and as an administrative law judge.

She's an excellent writer with the ability to simplify complex fact patterns and understandable decisions.

She has deep, deep community connections.

She is a native Seattleite who has served on numerous boards and commissions.

Bonnie's a proven leader.

She's demonstrated this during her time as the interim OPA director.

She's stabilized at apartment in transition and is highly valued and respected by her staff.

Lastly, and in my opinion, most importantly, Bonnie is a kind person with a strong moral compass, and she's exactly the kind of person that we think will succeed and thrive in this role.

So again, Mayor Harrell, thanks you for your consideration of Bonnie's appointment to continue leading the Office of Police Accountability.

And with that, and with the council's allowance, I'll turn it over to Bonnie for brief remarks.

Thank you.

Thank you Chief of Staff Meyerberg for your kind words and good afternoon Council Chair Sarah Nelson as well as the Chair of Public Safety Robert Kettle and the entire Council.

It is indeed a privilege and honor to have been leading the Seattle Office of Police Accountability.

As indicated, I have served as interim director since December, mid-December of 2024 and as director, interim director since, deputy director since July, September of 27th of 2023. I have over 30 plus years of public service and have served in various leadership positions in government by choice.

I personally have made a choice and chosen to work in public service and have done so throughout my career from law school on.

And I also wanted to say that it has to say that I'm from Washington and yes, I am a native of Washington and a proud graduate of Roosevelt High School and University of Washington as well.

But I did want to say, though, for the qualifications for the position, I won't belabor, but I do believe I'm qualified uniquely in different ways.

And yes, I've had the opportunity to serve as a judge and to be able to make independent decisions in working with some of the most marginalized folks, especially when they're on some calendars, public assistance, people who have medical issues, all types of things.

And the importance always in that is being impartially independent based on the evidence that's provided.

Also as part of that is making sure and having a deep commitment, as I think you were sharing, Council Member Kettle, is making sure that due process for the individuals before you, the ones making the complaint, et cetera.

So I have a track record with that and something I'm very proud about that.

I'm one of those persons who have always seen, the person on the other side is myself as well.

You just never know, right?

Or someone in someone else's family, those type of things.

Obviously I've worked in other capacities.

You can see as a director of JRA for the state.

So I've managed people for the state of Washington and JRA, juvenile rehabilitation administration for re-entry as far as the systems and helped young people, you know, get rehabilitated through our programming.

I was in charge of all the youth on parole for the state of Washington, as well as the community facilities for their step down to go back into the communities.

and also working with them with regards to treatment and making sure whether it's dialectical behavior therapy or the different treatment programs to help people who are part of the community back within our communities at work.

In that capacity, at one time, we were actually combined the Rehabilitation Administration.

And I worked with that, which included, beside JRA, the Special Commitment Center was under us, the Department of Voc Rehab, as well as the Office of Juvenile Justice.

which is a state advisory group for the state of Washington that the federal funds from OJJDP, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention flow through in order to, you know, some of their work they do was to go and to look at facilities, you know, where juveniles are housed and so forth as part of that safeguarding.

In addition, I worked for the assistant to the secretary.

At that time, it was Susan Dreyfus on juvenile justice and helped revamp the Partnership Council, our state advisory group.

We wanted to revamp that as a state and help revamp that in different capacities in order to make sure for funding and programming and some consistency across the state.

At that time, there was also grants like the MacArthur Foundation and so forth and coordinating a lot of that work as well.

and so I served as the advisor on juvenile justice at that level.

Also, I did serve as a lead assistant attorney for the city of Seattle and also, and just so you know, as a precinct leads and one of the first for the city of Seattle and working with communities and also police for repeat type offenses and so forth and working together to help solve issues there.

In addition to that, I prosecuted the high profile cases in working and sort of acting director of the domestic violence unit with the city of Seattle twice.

I also worked at the King County prosecuting attorney's office and served as deputy chief of staff of the King County prosecutor's office.

and worked on a lot of different programming.

And we did the whole continuum.

I was very proud of our office when I worked there, which was prevention intervention, which I did a lot of work in for whether it was truancy prevention or reinvesting in youth and a lot of the juvenile programs that work with King County and the city.

in addition to that, we actually, obviously the suppression part of it with regards to the prosecution of cases, but then the rehabilitation and then the legislative policy.

And we're talking policy, big P legislative, but then also policy at the local level.

A lot of times you can effectuate things and you don't need things, you can all work collaboratively.

And that's one of the things I'm really proud of, of being a collaborator and working across systems.

The other things that I've done, I just wanted to just say that lastly, I wanted to point out is I guess my work in teaching.

And I've been doing that for over 18 years as an adjunct faculty at Seattle University Law School, but also for the university as a whole.

And I have to say, I received an award and I actually was surprised.

You could have blown me over with a feather.

They had said at that time, because it's 18 years now, but I had been there 16 years.

and I just was sitting there and I did raise both hands and just like in the air, I said, oh my goodness, right?

But I did that because it's a love of mine in inspiring a new generation, the energy for young people who wanna effectuate change and going to that next level and being part of things like this, part of things about accountability, part about re-entry, right?

About our society as a whole.

And so that's something I'm very passionate about and continue to do that work.

But with all that said, I did want to say that I'm very involved just a little bit about my community, and that is with my community work, both personally and professionally.

I'm very much involved with the community.

I just finished moderating and being part of the planning committee for the Youth and Law Forum for the 35th anniversary, and I've been there for 35 years.

I had the honor to work for Judge LaRoe McCullough, when I was a law clerk bailiff back in the day, Judge Charles B. Johnson, and all the founders who were part of the program.

We were there and just had an incredible, working with just incredible people with that program again.

I've been on the board of Treehouse, Center for Children and Youth Justice, still a member of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission, working with community, working hand in hand, and it's something I'm committed to personally and professionally.

with regards to how I bring, the reason I brought those things up is because I bring, those are my lived experiences, right?

Though it's my professional, but also personal that I bring to the table.

And so I believe that I bring, I guess one of the biggest reasons I believe I'm the right person for the job is because I understand the body of work understanding the legal aspects of it, but also understanding the due process and community through my community service professional and personal.

Through my lived experiences, our family integrated two neighborhoods.

We grew up in Hilltop Tacoma and we integrated one of the first African-American families in university place.

And so we did that.

And then also in Seattle, knocking down some of the covenants with regards to housing based on race.

And so I've been part and growing up in a civil rights household.

And so I have to say my parents had a lot to do with that.

And my mother in particular, she's from New York, and she was raised in Baltimore.

So she's got the Baltimore civil rights, power and all of that.

And also New York, like tell it like it is what's going on.

Let's get something done.

So it's a combination and it lives on through myself as well as making sure that people are heard and listening and understanding.

There's a lot that can be said for that.

But I think overarching, I bring a balance of legal experience as well as hands-on work with the community.

And this combination makes me uniquely qualified for the objectivity that is needed for the position, the listening, the understanding, whether it's the cases themselves or the other part of our office, which we won a national award, National Association for Civilian Oversight, NACOL.

and it has to do with the community work we do.

No one's going to have the ability to believe in our process if they don't understand and you don't build community trust.

And that's something we've done very, very well at, whether it's through surveys, whether it's through getting out in the community.

I just finished doing a panel policing the rainbow at Seattle University, Office of Inspector OII was there, Robert Rogoff, myself, and a number of people were there to have those conversations.

Again, being part of the community and being able to do that.

With that said, the experience that I bring coupled with the dedicated, knowledgeable and passionate staff, which is both sworn in civilian, that we provide the most effective and efficient oversight for the citizens of Seattle.

I pride myself for the development of staff as a servant leader and collaborator.

And also I'm a relationship builder to develop staff and a collaborator with others.

And if there's one thing for accountability that you need, it's collaboration.

And that's one of the most important things that we can do in order to improve upon the system that we have to move forward and work together.

and so with that, I now welcome any questions you may have.

Thank you for that.

I am now looking to see if there are any questions or comments from colleagues.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you Council President and thank you Council Member Kettle and Chair of Public Safety Committee bringing this nomination forward and thank you to the Mayor's Office for being here and thank you.

and interim director Glenn for being here.

I really want to just acknowledge I did have some questions that I sent and I appreciate you, your responses to the questions.

I did want to follow up a little bit on the mediation program so you can share with us how how you can as OPA and as the overseer of this program, it is mediation is something some people may be aware, others not, that it is a voluntary program, meaning you cannot force parties to mediate.

It is available to them and it is voluntary.

and I think it's an important program that can be used in the law when you're trying to get compromise, which you talked about a little minute ago, when something happens.

And so I know one piece and I've heard and I did have a conversation with Director Ahmed with CPC about some of these questions and the mediation program in particular is one that they care about.

Mainly probably because it gives the opportunity to have the parties face each other and talk.

And I think that's really advantageous to community who might not have otherwise the opportunity to be able to have a conversation.

in this type of setting.

And so the question, follow-up question to you I have is how can you, though this is a voluntary program and you can't force folks, there are things you can do to encourage the mediation to happen.

And I remember many years ago, I served as an intern in a mediation program in small claims court that's totally different from this.

It is mediation, however, and it could get very heated at times and it afforded the parties an opportunity with the mediator present to be able to talk some of these things out and give opportunity to face each other in that way.

So I think it is an important, and like I said, I heard from CPC, it is important to community.

So how can you encourage the program to be more robust, if you will.

What kinds of things can you do as director to encourage this mediation program to be utilized and be more robust?

Thank you for the question.

The mediation program I'm very passionate about.

I've served as a mediator at times as well.

And one of the things, and I meant outside of this office, but for mediation, one of the things I just wanted to say that we've done since I've been here had to do with making sure, one, that we had a robust group of people who are mediators.

And so at any given time, we would have that.

That we did.

We had King County arbitrators, King County people who came in, and other community people who were certified mediators.

We did the training for them.

We did all of that.

In addition to that, the other part was for people to see what mediation could be like, and so we did a video, and the video was from a real case, and it was interesting, if you look at that, one of the things they each talked about, whether it was the officer or was the person who came in, it came out so much better than they actually anticipated, I think, to some extent.

I guess you're hopeful, right?

but I think when it gets down to, especially a lot of the minor, some of the minor misconduct and things like that, it's really talking it out, kind of, this is what I was doing.

Well, this is what I saw.

Oh, well, this is what I was thinking.

And it's so powerful.

I can see truly the need for that.

And so some of the barriers which you did ask me for that has been, and this goes to answer your question, sometimes it's the time for people to go.

And so as an example, we had someone who said, oh, I'd like to do it.

and he said, but I need it to be an hour.

Well, we can't guarantee it's gonna be an hour or two hours or, you know, we're hopeful for that, right?

Because these are people working, but that's something to think about as well, just how we might shape that, people coming, you know, the timing, things of those things.

The other thing had to do with trust.

The biggest thing is building trust We've been fortunate where sometimes officers have been available and wanting to do that, and then sometimes community aren't, and sometimes I have it the other way, right?

And so we're very fortunate, but again, it's building trust along the way.

And as I indicated in my response, it's also the value in participating.

And I would have to say that when people go through it, they actually do really find the value they didn't even know, right?

Because what really is the issue is not necessarily this or that, it was really the fact that how I felt, what happened to me, this is how I felt, and so forth.

So to grow that, one of the top mediation programs in the country, but it's very differently organized, it doesn't mean that we couldn't take another look at that.

And that's in New Orleans, they have one that's very popular.

my understanding, and I don't have all the ins and outs, but some of them are required for people to participate for certain level offenses, right?

Others, they also sometimes use community mediators.

And so it's kind of at maybe a different level, not as formal, depending.

So there's different models.

And so I'm very committed to looking at the different models and seeing, because that is a missed opportunity.

and I think it could be and it effectuates some of the biggest I think change and optics and building trust in the future so I echo what you said and that's some of the things that we've done now and where we're headed next looking at those and I have talked to the chief of police that's one of the first things when he was sworn in about that how do we make this grow more what can we do what would that look like so it is in progress

Great to hear, thank you.

I do think looking at, I appreciate your looking at other cities and their mediation programs for this particular case, because again, acknowledging that small claims is not this, right?

So this is a lot more, there's a lot more at stake here and I don't want to, it's not a comparison, but I do know that mediation programs in general are voluntary programs and I do also know that there are things that we can do to help parties be able to agree to mediation, which I think is really important for the point that you made.

You want to have the opportunity to face the person and tell them how this made you feel, the impact it had on you, the impact it had on your family.

community, et cetera.

And I think for those reasons, it's really beneficial.

And I think if you go through the program on the other side, you could have, I think, better outcomes for everybody involved if you're able to do this.

Sometimes it's more advantageous than going through other processes, I'll say that.

So thank you for that.

I think it is important to look at those and I look forward to seeing what you are able to find and ways that you might amend our current mediation program at the city to have better opportunities for more mediation.

and so really appreciate that and look forward to hearing more about those other models.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President, for the opportunity to ask questions.

Council Member Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President, and I have one question for you.

First off, thank you, Director Glenn, Chief of Staff Meyerberg as well for being here today.

one question pertaining that will call upon you to kind of self-reflect upon your last two plus years in the office, focusing more heavily on your experiences in the last year as interim director.

But first off, let me say that having had the chance to review your various candidate materials and packet, or Q&A responses, et cetera, it is clear to me that you are very well uniquely qualified for this role and this position.

I think the depth and breadth of your personal experiences, professional experiences, and academic and educational experiences will position you for success in this role on a permanent basis.

And you have decades of experience, of directly relevant experience spanning four decades that I'm counting and looking at.

Appreciate the various recognition and honors that you've received, including one from, looks like, Children and Youth Justice Board, or CCYJ, the Center for Children and Youth Justice Board, Washington State Bar Association, Charles Smith Excellence in Diversity Award, awards from the Laura Miller Bar Association, a diverse set of awards, including the Puget Sound Business Journal, 40 Under 40. All these awards honors recognition combined with the the breadth and scope of the rest of your experience, I think, again, make you very well, exceptionally well qualified for this role.

but you've also been in this role now for, and give the Honorable Judge Leroy McCullough my regards.

Sadly, I had a conflict during the most recent Youth in Law Forum, but with better planning next time, look forward to participating next year.

That's all I'll say about that one.

But, so you've had a chance to be in this role, well in the office I'll say, for about two years, a little over two years.

as the number two person for a little over a year and as the interim head now for just under a year.

And arguably, in any office, shop, or organization, the number two position is arguably the most powerful, important, impactful person.

They're ones actually running the day-to-day, implementing the vision, implementing strategy, advising on strategy, but there's a lot of execution flexibility that one would ordinarily have in these sort of number two roles, the only key difference is you're not necessarily the face of the office or the organization.

So now that you've had some time to, you've had over a year again to be that sort of deputy in that deputy role, and now about a year in, just under a year in, What has been the most eye-opening experience that you didn't necessarily anticipate in your role as interim leader of this organization?

The most eye-opening experience?

The most humbling experience?

Just something you didn't anticipate.

How have you been able to navigate that and overcome it?

And how does it inform your perspective down and going forward basis?

Thank you for the question.

You know, it's interesting.

I don't know if I would say, because I was in deputy, that I recognized that.

And part of it is the culture and the environment and making sure that the culture environment that we're all rowing in the same direction, morale, making sure how people, how we as an organization see ourselves, our best self in order to carry out our mission.

and with that said, one of the things that I did is that I held a retreat and it wasn't just, I didn't want a retreat where you go here, check off the box.

I really wanted to see what, if OPA was at its best, what is needed in which to do that.

And we came up with 24 items and some of them, I won't go into too much because of that, but it was really important.

because it's important on every given day, like Chief of Staff Meyerberg stated, it's a tough job.

And so some of the things that came out of it, you know, we really need to have, you know, I've got you, not gotcha if we missed something, right?

We need to make sure that we're a team and there's a esprit de corps, right?

there are things that we may need and an open door policy and some of those things.

And I actually brought just a few, I did put them in the questions, so I won't go through all, but our top, but of the 24. So when you talked about things like trust, I mean, it was just things like leadership, empowering staff, trusting leadership, transparency, inclusivity, and decision-making, things like that, working collaboratively.

for fun and humor, although that short, it was things like making time for human connections for the work, you know what I mean?

Making sure that it's incorporated in work and what we do, organic conversations, those type of things, work-life balance, right?

So we were getting at the nitty gritty and also making sure for transparency and some of the other things.

So they came and they were open.

And of course I had someone outside lead that and it went very, very well.

And so that was the beginning piece of it.

From there, we set goals and we have those in which to work for.

So that's not, I knew it was coming, but in order to help create that environment where people felt safe to be able to say those and where we go, and I'm happy to say that we're doing that.

And so that's something that's so critical for any organization to always be able to improve, right?

be able to see and have the honest, courageous conversations and what those type of things.

And so we do those things now.

The other thing I would often say, we also had the list of only we could do this list, you know, just put it up on the whiteboard.

If you really, what were some of the things that we could do?

If I had all the money in the world, if I had whatever, what do you think our work would be beneficial?

So there were those kinds of deeper conversations and then coming up with our guiding principles, which we have around the office in order to remind ourselves of who we chose to be to carry out the work.

So that was one of the biggest first things.

As far as any aha with regards to that, I would just say that I guess I've seen a lot over my time in different capacities, right?

And I have to say, I think when I'm getting to know and collaborate with people, I have found that people at first may have had a different view, but seem to be very, very receptive.

Sometimes there's missed opportunities.

My understanding we hadn't been to SPOG in three years, missed opportunity, right?

And so being able to sit down, being able to, we may agree to disagree, but we can do that.

That was new.

I did not know that till I actually went.

And so a number of places.

So that's very important to me. and also going out to different places where people call us, whether it's the Native American community, El Centro de la Raza, you name it.

A lot of people wanting to hear what we're doing and how they can actually first train us kind of what you do, tell us a little bit about what this is, but building that trust with the community.

Also, I would say with our data, making sure that's one of the things, making sure one of the first things I've done already is, it sounds whatever, but you need your data.

We have data, but it's actually putting it in a way and dashboards and metrics in which to be successful in real time.

There's a lot of moving pieces to these investigations.

Someone goes on leave, someone leaves, this or that.

And so we have deadlines in which we have to meet.

And I know there is the ability to do this in real time.

and so with all this technology, maybe that'll be really helpful as well.

All right.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate your willingness to serve in such a manner and look forward to being able to support your nomination today.

Thank you.

No further questions, Madam Council President.

Thank you.

Looking to see if other colleagues would like to speak.

I want to make sure that people are aware that this is a...

This is an appointment through the end of Director Betz's term.

So could you please, Andrew, tell us what date that is?

Sure.

It's an appointment that will go through December 31st of next year.

And then per the ordinance, the way the ordinance was drafted was that the term of the OPA director would be offset from mayoral elections, so then whatever administration's in place for the next four years will make a reappointment.

Got it, thank you.

Or another appointment.

All right, just wanted to make sure that people understood this technicality.

But it doesn't reduce at all my enthusiasm for your appointment.

and I just keep wanting to call you Bonnie instead of interim director, et cetera.

But you mentioned being excited about one particular award from the Seattle University.

And I want to note that you have received four.

The most recent one was in 2024, which was the Seattle University Criminal Justice Advisory Committee Award.

But you also have three others and I won't read them all, but that's four from Seattle University out of a total of 13. that are on your resume and my colleague just mentioned some of them by name.

So I'm addressing this because you noted it and also it speaks to the range of your qualifications and that's very clear by your resume which is I think five pages long and I suggest to anybody who hasn't really paid a lot of attention to read it.

What I want to note is that the human side of your qualifications.

It's hard to put in writing, but it does come through any time I've encountered you or seen you.

And by the way, you are everywhere in community.

I see you at the African-American Advisory Committee meetings and elsewhere out and about.

So I do want to acknowledge that.

You do engender a sense of trust and you're a warm, open personality.

And that is very important for this job, obviously.

And the fact that you've got so much human service cred as well is really important because it's a lot of what you have seen in the course of fulfilling your duties at the at the state and in the prosecutor's office, you have seen the root causes of things that end up in behavior that our police forces is dealing with, and you have a knack for understanding the individual and the forces that shape their behavior, and that is very important for this, not just in your interactions with officers in investigations, but also the real world, let's just say.

And I just finally want to note that we are, only just recently exiting or exited from the consent decree.

And the fact that you remember the before times and are going to be shepherding the city in the after times is really important.

Continuity is extremely important.

And this was a national search, right?

and likely confirming one of our own.

And I think that's a good thing, not because of the continuity, but because you are an excellent candidate and the fact that you understand the issues that we were wrestling with before being let out of the consent decree is really, really important.

So you are uniquely positioned to make sure that we stay on track going forward.

and you know what Robart said and wanted, et cetera.

So thank you very much for being willing to step up and stay with us.

So that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you, Council Member.

Are there, go ahead, Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

There was one more question I had and then wanted to actually add to some of what my colleagues said about your work in particular, but just, I do want to acknowledge one of the questions talked about your relationship with the other accountability partners with the Community Police Commission and OIG.

and I really appreciate that there are, it sounds like quarterly meetings, but not just limited to quarterly meetings, there are ongoing meetings as you do the work and I really appreciate that because it feels more, you know, organic as the work is moving forward, you're having these touch points, that is important, it shouldn't be limited to a four times a year touchpoint and so I really appreciate that that work is happening and ongoing in that way and I, you know, encourage all and every opportunity to stay connected with the other accountability partners and then keep us apprised as you're able to on how all that's going so that we are also partners and it's important for us to know that information.

So thank you.

I want to acknowledge that.

And then I too want to say I really appreciate that you bring so much to the table by way of all the different experiences leading up to this experience and also you've been in the office for a little bit now since 2023, so you are not new to the office.

Really appreciate that you had a deputy role and then interim role and now you're doing the work.

So you do have that background experience from which to pull from and also your prior experiences as a judge and all the other experiences you have in community.

I really appreciate that you're offering and bring so much to the table.

And on a personal note, I feel like you are approachable.

I too see you in many different places and you are very hands-on and we need that.

in this role and all our director roles across the city, I would say, but you definitely are showing that, showing your commitment as you're doing that.

And I, for one, really appreciate that.

So thank you for your willingness to take on this role.

It is not an easy role.

And we really appreciate folks like yourself who not just have the background experience on paper, but who are living it every day and are approachable and committed to working together and doing what is necessary to have this work be successful.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

I don't see any further comments, but since you had an addendum, I'll just add one.

The SPOG contract that we recently approved does change your duties a little bit.

there will now be more ability for civilian investigators to participate in investigations and also with some of the civilianizing of some of the work within SPD, that workflow is changed a little bit and so that will also, that touches upon your responsibilities and so we are in a in a dynamic time right now.

I simply wanted to say in addition to exiting the consent decree, we also have a new contract that we're working under which does change the game a bit.

So, all right.

Any further comments?

Do you want to close this out, Council Member Kevin?

No pressure.

Nothing to add.

I said at the beginning, but again, colleagues, I ask for your support for appointment 03328, the appointment of Bonnie J. Glenn as director of the Office of Police Accountability for a term to December 31st, 2026. Thank you.

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Solomon?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations, Director Glenn.

Would you like to provide final comments?

Just that I plan to come back to the council and share updates as we do.

I am delighted to continue to serve in this capacity as the director.

And again, I look forward to sharing some of our work and growing the mediation program and some of the other things.

So thank you all.

Thank you very much.

Again, congratulations.

All right.

There were no items removed from the consent calendar, so you can be excused.

Thank you very, very much.

Also, this was a great choice.

Okay.

There were no items removed from our consent calendar, and there is not a resolution for introduction and adoption today.

So is there any further business to come before the council?

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

Request to be excused on November 25th.

which is the week of Thanksgiving.

There is a request to be excused on September 25th.

We have not, pardon me?

November 25th, excuse me.

And I do not believe we have yet sent out any firm cancellation of that committee.

So until we do that, is there any objection to Council Member Strauss being excused from that date?

Seeing none, you are excused.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, I just wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Malone and the Downtown Emergency Service Center, DESC, for the opening of Stevens Place in Inner Bay.

Before the meeting today, I went down and toured it.

It's a new facility in Inner Bay.

Beautiful location, beautiful work that's been done in terms of what it brings.

And I just wanted to congratulate DESC, Mr. Malone and his team, to include Dan, the other Dan who gave me a tour, but importantly too, the case management team that I had an opportunity to meet with and speak with.

And that's really important because that's what makes the housing piece, but having the case managers there is so important.

So I just wanted to thank them.

I should note that Stephen's Place is named after former Deputy Director of Operations, Stephen Bullock, who passed earlier this year.

And so it's a great opportunity to honor Mr. Bullock and his service to DESC, but also the broader community.

And I just wanted to take the time to note that.

So thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

All right.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President.

And just real quick, because I know we didn't have our traditional Monday briefings, but I know a lot of Council members recognize this, but definitely wanted to send a love and prayers to the Wilkins family.

We lost a big giant the last couple days this past weekend.

with Coach Wilkins and all of the work that he has done in the community.

Great basketball player, but I think most importantly, when you saw the way he dealt with kids every day in the community and connected with people and was able to really, really give back his life, that to me is what matters the most.

And people talk about people's legacy that didn't matter to him.

It mattered about the impact he was making.

And he just made a great impact to Seattle and our community.

And he was Mr. Basketball, Mr. Community.

And I know a lot of people loved him up here.

And I know just wanted to send some love and light.

He had a great life, 88 years old, great life.

Thank you for that.

Appreciate that.

Alright, seeing no other hands raised, no other further business, it is 324. We've reached the end of our agenda and we are adjourned.

Thank you everyone.