Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Today is Tuesday, October 4th.
This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.
I am going to call to order our meeting.
It is 2.04.
My name is Deborah Juarez.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
Council Member Nelson.
Present.
Council Member Peterson.
Present.
Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Council Member Herbold.
Here.
Council Member Lewis.
Present.
Council Member Morales.
Here.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Present.
Council President Juarez.
Present.
Eight present.
Thank you.
Oh, you're here Council Member Sawant.
Yeah, my Zoom disconnected for some reason.
We got you.
Nine present.
Nine present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Moving on to, excuse me, presentations.
Council Member Herbold has a proclamation proclaiming October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
And she spoke to it yesterday, but today she's going to present it and then she will ask if any of her colleagues have questions and then we'll move along to suspend the rules to allow our guests to speak.
But at this point, I'll hand it off to Council Member Herbold.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair, really appreciate your kindness and making time on today's agenda and thank you so much for Tanayasu, Chair of the Seattle Women's Commission for being here with us.
So glad that you have also made time in your day to accept this proclamation declaring October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
I want to thank you.
Tana, Commissioner Yasu, Chair Yasu, I suppose would be more appropriate, and the Human Services Department for developing the proclamation.
And thank you as well for the support of the mayor and his concurrence of this proclamation.
I want to just lift up a couple of points from the proclamation.
It notes that intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.
and that domestic violence can lead to depression and suicidal behavior among family members.
And women of color are often at elevated risk for gender-based violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes of coercive control and experience increased barriers to finding help.
It notes that the city of Seattle partners with and funds more than 35 organizations to provide services to more than 10,000 survivors and their families each and every year.
Seattle residents are so fortunate to have so many dedicated partners in helping people who find themselves impacted by intimate partner and gender-based violence.
Again, I'm grateful to the Human Services Department, those partners, and to the Women's Commission for their efforts to break the stigma surrounding domestic violence.
I hope Tana will share some information about the Commission's Shattering Stigma Through Knowledge Resource Fair here at City Hall on October 15th.
Thank you so much for joining us, Chair Yasu.
Thank you.
Are there any other comments for Council Member Hurrell before I move forward with a...
Is there any other comments from my colleagues to Council Member Hurrell?
Okay, not seeing any.
If there's an objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow our guest, Ms. Tana Yasu, who is the chair of the Seattle Women's Commission, to speak.
Hearing or seeing no objection, Tana, you are now recognized.
Welcome.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Seattle City Council.
Greetings and good day.
On behalf of the Seattle, I'm Tana Yasu, as you said, and it is actually Tana, so.
On behalf of the Seattle Women's Commission, I accept this proclamation very humbly and with gratitude.
The work we do on the commission is a mere fragment compared to our frontline workers and advocates who work diligently 365 days a year to curtail and dismantle the social disorder we call domestic violence.
It is a privilege, honor, and duty to work with the mayor and city council to shine a light of hope and lend a helping hand to victims and survivors of domestic violence.
We will shatter stigma through knowledge.
Stigma is a barrier that keeps victims from coming forward for help.
Instances of domestic violence go underreported, largely underreported because of stigma.
The best way to reverse stigma is through knowledge.
Imagine with me, if you will, stigma as a glass house.
Let's imagine each fact I state is a large stone.
Fact number one, what you're experiencing is not uncommon and it is wrong.
And most importantly, it is illegal.
Fact number two, you are not a B word.
You are a human being with fundamental and foundational rights that are being violated.
Fact number three, people care about you.
Fact number four, you are not alone.
And fact number five, there is funding and support available to help you.
Together with the Disability Commission, the LGBTQ Commission, city council and offices of the mayor, we shall expound more facts that shall act as stones, breaking down the barriers of stigma and causing it to crash down like a glass house, allowing freedom to victims.
This is the existential desire and right of all humanity.
And I would like to further invite you all, the whole city of Seattle and beyond to City Hall Let's pack the house, Saturday, October 15th, from 12 to four o'clock, where we will be having our event, Shattering Stigma Through Knowledge.
And we're coming together with the Disability Commission, the LGBTQ Commission, Seattle Human Services Department, and the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Council Member Lisa Herbold is coming, yay!
And many others, many others.
We have community organizations that work in the DV, the domestic violence and sexual assault realms.
So there'll be plenty of organizations there tabling in the foyer and in the Bertha Knight Landis Hall, we will have discussions, panel discussions.
And we, like we said, we will start disseminating the facts to help victims come forward and help people that even want to help victims.
So please come on down to City Hall.
It's free.
There'll be food and refreshments and even childcare available.
Thank you, Tana.
So is there any comments or questions before?
First of all, I love the metaphor, so I will now remember that because of the metaphor you just used with the class house.
Thank you.
I hope I can make it on the 15th.
Are there any other comments?
And Casper, do you want to like kind of close it out for us if there are any comments from our colleagues?
I don't see any.
Thank you.
Yeah, I just love that.
So that's such a powerful image of facts as stones to break the glass that is stigma.
That's very, very powerful.
I think you're going to probably see us all using that.
Thank you so much for your time and passion with us this afternoon.
For the viewing public, if you're worried about someone in your life, the most important thing you can do is listen, tell them that you believe them, and offer support to them.
any way that they need.
You can learn more about domestic violence at dvhopeline.org or call them 24-7 at 877-637-0242.
They will provide support resources and in-language assistance.
Thank you and we'll see you this weekend.
Thank you.
So moving along in our agenda to public comment, colleagues, as you know, we have a hybrid public comment period.
So, Madam Clerk, how many remote and how many in-person speakers do we have?
Council President, we have one in-person public commenter.
All right.
No one remotely present.
OK, so let's hear from our I'll let you go ahead with the with the I hand it off to you for the instructions for our guest.
And then that person will have two minutes.
Hello, Seattle.
We are the Emerald City, the city of flowers and the city of goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.
The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.
If you would like to be a speaker and provide an urban public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.
Here's some information about the public comment this week.
Speakers are called upon in an order in which they register on the council's website.
Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided and they register online and use the main IP and passcode.
or junk mail folders.
A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.
Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.
That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.
At that time, you must press star six.
You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.
Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.
As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.
A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.
At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted and the next speaker registered will be called.
Once speakers have completed providing public comment, Please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.
The Council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused, or if the process impedes the Council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the City.
Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.
Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the council.
The public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.
Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of, you have been unmuted.
Thank you, Seattle.
Our in-person speaker is Marguerite Richard.
Thank you.
Go ahead, Mr. Richard, you have two minutes.
Yes, my name is Marguerite Richard and I'm from Seattle, Washington.
I'm continuing on in the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.
And so that's why I'm here today, you know, in the midst of all this confusion, but I want to address because you have some people on this agenda, as far as the human human rights civil rights, what kind of right.
And I'm saying because of the fact that nothing has happened that I could say that has pushed us further.
I'm talking, when I say us, I'm speaking of indigenous black people that have gone through all this hell and degradation.
And now my teammate is deceased because he took all those battle scars on coming down here talking about, yeah, race and disability.
and how he was offended here.
And I was too.
And I haven't heard anything from anybody in regards to what has taken place.
So now it's time to chop this mess up, you know, like chop jazz, chop it up and get rid of it.
Because if it's not working, Get rid of it, because they already told me, oh, by the way, Miss Rashard, somebody just bailed out, and you wiped out a whole department.
I said, oh, I did that?
Yeah, by the grace of God, because I don't take no credit for nothing like that, like you give all these old flim flam awards out to people and stuff like that, because they're always smiling in your face like they said.
All the while, they want to take your place, the backstabbers.
So those people that are on these commissions and stuff like that, you need to find out what their background is.
Background check and check them good and let them know, I'm not gonna stand for, I don't care how many folks you line up on this council, get rid of racism and discrimination.
That concludes the public comment.
All right, so we have no one else left in chambers and we have nobody calling in remotely, correct, Madam Clerk?
That's correct.
OK, so that ends our public comment, colleagues.
So moving on in the on the agenda, if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
Hearing and seeing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
Moving on to adoption of the agenda.
There's no objection.
The agenda will be adopted.
Hearing and seeing no objection.
The agenda is adopted.
All right.
Now we are to the my favorite part, the consent calendar.
So are there any matters that any council member would like removed from today's consent calendar?
Okay, do not see anyone, so let me just quickly state what's in the consent calendar.
We have the minutes of September 27th.
We have the payroll bill, Council Bill 120426. We have 15 appointments, 11 from the Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights and Culture Committee.
And we have four appointments from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.
OK, so since none of these none of my colleagues have requested anything to be removed, I move to adopt the consent calendar.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar with the clerk.
Clerk, please call the roll.
On the adoption of the consent calendar.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Yes.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Council Member Herbold.
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The consent calendar is adopted.
Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the consent calendar, the adoption of the consent calendar.
All right, moving on in our agenda to committee reports.
Item number one comes out of Councillor Peterson's committee.
Madam Clerk, will you please read item number one into the record?
Agenda item one, Council Bill 120421 relating to wastewater services of Seattle Public Utilities, adjusting wastewater rates code to automatically pass through changes to treatment rates charged by external wastewater treatment providers.
Thank you.
I move to pass Council Bill 120421. Is there a second?
Second.
Great.
It's been moved and seconded.
Council Member Peterson, this is yours.
It's a very exciting piece of legislation.
Thank you, Council President.
Yes, this is Councilor 120421, the item we're voting on right now and item three on today's agenda Council 120417 there are two related pieces of legislation from Seattle Public Utilities will vote on the first one now as item one.
but I'll talk about them now together.
Council Bills 120417 and 120421 will enable the city to streamline how we memorialize the pass-through rates we are required to use from King County relating to wastewater and drainage services.
Unlike our charges for solid waste and drinking water, we have no control over King County's wastewater or drainage rates that are passed through to each customer's bill.
So both pieces of legislation will create more certainty and remove the redundancy and administrative burden for SPU.
It will also make it clear to constituents that they need to contact their King County elected officials when they have concerns over increases in wastewater treatment and drainage charges.
The legislation will make the SPU process similar to the Seattle City Light process where fees from the Bonneville Power Administration are automatically passed through because we cannot change those fees either.
While the committee formally approved Council Bill 120417 for drainage, a technical drafting change on this wastewater legislation 120421 required us to hear that at committee just as an informational item.
But today, both bills have arrived together to the full council for approval.
Seattle Public Utilities and I urge the committee to approve both bills.
And I want to send a special thank you to Seattle, to our central staff for their hard work on both pieces of legislation.
So again, the bill before us right now is Council Bill 120421, item one on our agenda pertaining to wastewater.
Thank you.
Right.
Councilor Peterson, I saw from the agenda that you had the first three items were for you or from you, but you just spoke to items one and two.
Just yeah, just item one and three, but I'm sorry.
OK, so what what would you so what we'll just go forward then and then we'll just do the have the clerk call it and do the vote so you don't have to speak unless you want to again.
But I'm guessing that's why you spoke about all
Yes.
Yeah, because they're related.
And I bet I agree.
We'll vote on item one and we'll get to item three soon.
Briefly.
Yeah, it comes after two.
So I'm sure we will.
So are there any closing comments or remarks from my colleagues?
All right, Madam Clerk, we.
Oh, sorry about that, Council Member Sawant.
Thank you.
I I will be voting no on this item and the following two agenda items, which similarly relate to Seattle Public Utility rates.
I'll speak to all three items together now because they are related.
I didn't mean to increases as we use rates for garbage collection for next year, I do acknowledge and appreciate all the work as few staff have done to make those rate hikes smaller than they were previously projected to because every bit comes.
However, at a time when inflation is out of control and workers paychecks are being stretched farther and farther.
And as we head into a recession that economists are predicting will have a rough landing for ordinary people, I believe elected officials have an obligation to ensure that all of the increased utility rates costs are covered by increasing taxes on big business and the super rich instead of any rate increase on working families.
Items one and three automatically pass through any future rate increase from King County for drainage and wastewater.
If these bills pass, Seattle elected officials will no longer be required to take a proactive vote on rate increases that originate in King County.
And while it's true that those rate increases are initially voted on by the King County Council and the Seattle City Council is not directly in control of them, the King County Council has as much of an obligation as does the Seattle City Council to ensure that the rate increases do not land on shoulders of working families.
And there could be a time when a sufficiently strong Working class movement could push Seattle City Council members to fund King County utility costs with taxes on big business instead of rate increases.
I know I would want the opportunity to vote no on rate increases if that were to happen, and these bills would remove that option for the future.
For those reasons, I will be voting no on these three agenda items related to utility rate increases.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Peterson, do you want to have any closing remarks on this, or do you want to wait till we go through all?
How would you like to do that?
Thank you, Council President, and I do appreciate the remarks by Council Member Sawant, and we had a discussion during committee, which was really helpful.
And as council members know, we will also, when we approve the rate paths, the rate path resolution, that is a great time to speak to rate increases as well.
Also, we serve on regional committees where we can try to influence it with the King County elected officials.
And I appreciate the remarks by council member Solon, but I think we can go ahead and vote unless there are questions.
Okay, not seeing any.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Nelson?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Aye.
Council Member Sawant?
No.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council President Juarez?
Aye.
Eight in favor, one opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes.
The chair will sign it.
And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the legislation?
Moving on into this actually came out of your committee, Council Member Peterson, but can we have item to run into the record?
Agenda item two, Council Bill 120410, relating to the solid waste system of Seattle Public Utilities, revising rates and charges for solid waste services.
The committee recommends the bill pass with Council Members Peterson, Strauss, Herbold, and Morales in favor, and Council Member Sawant opposed.
Thank you.
Councilor Peterson?
Thank you Council President, colleagues, our committee recommended this Council Bill 120410 which is a modest update to the plan solid waste rates from Seattle Public Utilities.
When the solid waste rates are combined with SPUs other lines of the business including drinking water wastewater and drainage.
We expect to see overall rates for customers increase, but at a lower percentage than what we most recently promised when approving our rate path for Seattle Public Utilities.
I really appreciate SPU doing everything they can to manage their costs, keeping rate increases to a minimum, keeping their promises on the overall rate path that council previously adopted.
We also benefited greatly from the analysis from our city council central staff.
Appreciate that.
ready to vote.
Thank you.
Any comments from our colleagues before we move to vote?
Not seeing any, and I'm guessing you don't have any closing remarks, Councilmember Peterson?
Correct.
Okay.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Councilmember Nelson?
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson?
Aye.
Councilmember Sawant?
No.
Councilmember Strauss?
Yes.
Councilmember Herbold?
Yes.
Councilmember Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Eight in favor, one opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes.
Chair will sign it.
Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
Let's go to item number three, which is also Council Member Peterson, but he spoke to it, but Madam Clerk, will you please read item three into the record?
Agenda item three, Council Bill 120417 relating to drainage services of Seattle Public Utilities, adjusting drainage rate code to automatically pass through changes to treatment rates charged by external wastewater treatment providers.
Committee recommends that the bill pass with Council Member Peterson, Strauss, Herbold, and Morales in favor, and Council Member Sawant opposed.
Thank you.
Are there any comments from our colleagues?
You don't have anything else, Council Member Peterson?
You're good.
Thank you, Council President.
Yeah, just for the viewing public, this bill pertains to the drainage services of Seattle Public Utilities and I referenced that when I talked to item one about wastewater.
Thank you.
Yes, we're on item three.
So, okay.
With that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
No.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Council Member Herbold.
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Eight in favor, one opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature.
Moving on to item number four, we have some legislation on a council member her balls committee, the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.
Madam Clerk, will you please read item four into the record agenda item for Council will 1204 22 relating to crimes and punishment conforming the Salem this book code with changes in state law and making technical corrections the committee recommends a bill pass.
Thank you, customer verbal.
So this bill updates the Seattle criminal code to incorporate changes made by the state legislature earlier this year.
It is the companion bill to the traffic code update that the council adopted last week.
Unlike the traffic code update, this bill also includes two additions from the city attorney's office.
So for that reason, we wanted to hear it in committee first.
It's not purely a technical bill, so it was important to hear from the city attorney's office about those two changes.
Um, it has, it does have a lot of technical changes that just makes it conform with state law.
But the, the, the two changes that the, um, city attorney requested is first, um, relating to animal control, uh, to address cases where animals that are abused and then seized and detained by animal control are returned back to the person who is convicted of abusing that, that particular animal.
Uh, the second, uh, change.
clarifies that city has jurisdiction when electronic communication is part of an offense.
This is based on the concern of how the city attorney's office can prosecute a person, for instance, violating a domestic violence protection order where the defendant, for example, moves to another state, violates the order that was granted here by sending a text message to the victim from the other state to the victim who lives in Seattle where the order was granted, but then who opens the text message, for instance, when she's on vacation in still another state.
This change would allow prosecution to take place in Seattle when those jurisdictions differ.
And I think that's all.
As Madam Clerk stated, Um, the, uh, the bill was heard in committee and, um, received a supportive vote in committee.
I think the vote, I think we had everybody there with us, but five zero.
Thank you.
Okay.
I'm sorry.
I cut you off.
Are you?
Nope.
That's good.
I'm done.
Okay.
All right.
Um, so are there any comments, um, or questions for Casper before we move to call the roll on the boat?
I do not see any so customer herbal Can we go to a vote.
Okay.
Okay.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill.
Councilmember Nelson.
I Councilmember Peterson.
I Councilmember so what.
Yes.
Councilmember Strauss.
Yes.
Councilmember herbal.
Yes.
Councilmember Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
Let's go into item five.
Again, this comes out of Council Member Herbold's committee.
Madam Clerk, will you please read item five into the record?
Council President, before I move forward, can you please direct us to add your signature to the legislation?
Oh, I didn't say that.
I cannot believe I didn't say it.
Yes, Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
Thank you.
Agenda Item 5, Council Bill 120424 relating to the Seattle Municipal Court, authorizing the judges and directors of the Seattle Municipal Court to accept a grant and execute related agreements.
The committee recommends the bill pass.
Thank you.
Council Member Herbold.
Thank you.
As described by Madam Clerk, the bill would amend the 2022 adopted budget to allow for the Seattle Municipal Court to accept the grant to use for therapeutic courts and services.
In July, the court applied for and received two grants totaling $367,000.
Both grants must be fully expended by June 2023. 191,000 is to support a therapeutic court coordinator who would support the existing therapeutic court teams through collaboration, evidence-based practice, daily operations, data analysis, and program innovation.
The court also received an additional 175,000 to support the community justice counselor services to help community court participants connect to and sustain their participation in community-based treatment services.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold.
Are there any questions for Council Member Herbold or anyone would like to make any comments before we go forward?
Not seeing any.
Council Member Herbold, do you have anything else you want to add or we just go?
All right.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Nelson?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Aye.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold.
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes.
The chair will sign it.
And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
All right.
I think we are done with our items.
We had five on the calendar today, so I will move on into our agenda to items removed from the consent calendar, and there were no items removed from the consent calendar.
Go to adoption of other resolutions.
There are no other resolutions for the introduction and adoption today, and other business.
Is there any other business to come before council?
Not seeing any hands.
Before we adjourn, This does conclude the business items on today's agenda.
Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is Tuesday, October 11th.
However, that may be canceled.
If it is canceled, the next meeting of the city council will be Tuesday, October 18th, as you know, at two o'clock.
If we do cancel the Tuesday, October 11th, we will certainly give you enough notice and time.
With that, I think we can adjourn and I can say I hope you all have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
Thank you.