Seattle City Council 6/7/22

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, June 7. This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

The Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2-0-2.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Council President Morales.

Present.

Six present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, Council Member Mosqueda is excused from today's City Council meeting.

And if hearing no objection, Council Member Mosqueda is excused from today's City Council meeting.

Also, if there's no objection, Council Member Sawant is excused from today's City Council meeting.

Hearing or seeing no objection, she is indeed excused from today's meeting, both Council Member Mosqueda and Council Member Sawant.

Moving on to presentations.

There are no presentations today.

Moving on to public comment.

We will open the public comment, and it's our first time doing a hybrid public comment period.

for items on the city council agenda, the introduction referral calendar and the council's work program.

So we're gonna do the remote speakers first and I understand we have six remote speakers.

And then we have, then we're gonna do the in-person speakers that are actually here in chambers.

And I believe we have three people signed up for that.

So with that, each speaker will have two minutes and Madam Clerk, I'm gonna hand this over to you to go ahead with the instructions and introduce the recording.

I think we're waiting for the recording.

If we're not starting over, we're going to start it over.

Please bear with us.

It's actually a very good recording, so I think you'll like it.

And this is our first time rolling this out.

We're ready.

Clerk, we're not hearing the recording on the on our screens.

There's a call to find a board of editors that registered on the council's website.

Each speaker was called and a phone number provided when they registered online and used the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam 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.

in which they register for in-person public comment.

In-person public comment will conclude until the list is exhausted.

The public comment period has concluded.

If you have not registered to speak, you can still sign up before the end of the public comment by signing up at the sign-up sheet near the public comments podium.

Once your name is called, please approach either microphone.

Speakers are asked to please begin speaking by stating your name and the item which you're addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime.

When the 10 seconds are left, there'll be a lot of time.

Once you hear that chime, you're asked to please begin to wrap up your public comment.

The first public commenter for remote public comment is Howard Gale.

Can I begin?

Howard Gale.

Yeah, thank you.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale with seattlestuff.org commenting on our failed police accountability system.

Today you will be voting on a new police union contract with the SPMA and congratulate yourselves for supposedly getting this contract better aligned with your 2017 police accountability legislation.

That is the very same legislation that was followed by, just weeks later, the SBD murder of Charlena Lyles, a pregnant mother of four, on June 18th, 2017. The very same legislation that has allowed the similar SPD murders of five more people experiencing a behavioral health crisis while wielding a knife.

In every one of these five cases, the accountability system produced by our legislation has deemed these murders, quote, lawful and proper, unquote, the very same legislation that has allowed many dozens of SPD officers to escape accountability for the brutal abuse during 2020. Of course, the police unions are now willing to be in closer alignment with your far behind the times 2017 legislation.

They have seen it as toothless and of no threat to their abuse of power and their willingness to kill.

In the end, police still investigate police.

This coming month, if you want to pay justice to the memory of Charlene Lyles on the fifth anniversary of her murder by the SBD, then embrace the future of police accountability that dozens of other US cities have post-George Floyd by creating direct community control of investigation, discipline, and policy.

Look forward to a future of justice, but not backwards to some mythical past of five years ago.

And for God's sakes, do not congratulate yourselves for living in the past.

Two years after George Floyd, Portland, Oregon, Newark, Nashville, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Jose, Phoenix, and Atlanta have moved to provide civilian-based accountability and oversight of police.

Go to seattlestop.org to find out how we can add Seattle to that list.

That's seattlestop.org.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Donna Stringer.

How come I can't see it?

Donna Stringer.

Madam Clerk, let's just go on and then we'll come back to Donna.

Our next speaker is Ron Fastuma.

Ron.

Okay, let's move on to the next speaker.

The next speaker is David Haynes.

Mr. Haynes.

I'm getting a little bit worried for having technical problems or the speakers are indeed not there.

We can confirm with IT.

I do see two microphones that are unmuted at this point, but no responses.

Okay.

Who's our next speaker, Madam Clerk?

We did have David Haynes and prior to that we called Ron.

Oh, Mr. Haynes?

I'm here now.

Okay.

Yes, thank you.

Go ahead.

Okay.

City Council's policies, unfortunately, are undermining public safety.

And the police chief is sabotaging every specialty unit and prioritizing overtime at events while blaming homeless, politicking the community as if propaganda, relationship building, building trust through coffee outreach and sympathizing with victims is going to help improve public safety and the image of the cops.

It's obvious city council already sabotaged police reform by ensuring that BIPOC drug pushers would be exempted from jail for selling crack, meth, and heroin and fentanyl.

Running interference for evil, committing crimes against humanity, destroying lives daily, listed nonviolent low-level misdemeanor is the epitome and the root cause of all of our problems as far as the homeless and the innocents who are being victimized regularly.

While council refused to help the homeless crisis to build capacity to alleviate all the unnecessary suffering.

Instead, city council redirected over $70 million of the American rescue plan dollars to newly created nonprofits, claiming expert on community safety, alternative policing and racial equity, arguably buying off protesters from black lives matters.

and George Floyd protesters who were dictating police reform, intimidating council, overseeing our public safety and watering down the effects and the efforts distracted with buying up a union of delivery drivers.

This is further proof that City Hall cannot be trusted to do what is right versus what appeases, browbeating, bully devils, advocates and organizers and protesters.

Please consider resigning your oversight of the public safety and the homeless crisis because you failed to alleviate the concerns of the community while we had a new council that's watering down the efforts and still blaming the innocent homeless while prioritizing repeat offending evil criminals as the first priority.

Our next speaker.

Can you please state your name?

I'm Ron Postema, Madam Chair, members of the Council.

I'm a Seattle resident and I'm a member of a political club called Proactive Persistent People for Progress, P4 for short.

We've been studying the police contracts for the past year and sent you a detailed letter on those on June 5th.

Today, I want to call your attention to a particular clause in the proposed contract that gives past practices superiority over new contract language.

This cause could prevent future disciplinary actions in support of best police practices and community expectations.

And this kind of superiority clause would be an even bigger problem if it's included in the upcoming contract with the police guild.

So please find a way to prevent former bad precedents from blocking future progress.

And we thank you for your attention to this important topic.

Thank you.

Our next caller is Agnes Govern.

Agnes?

Is Agnes our last caller?

No, Council President.

We have two more.

OK.

Oh, excuse me.

We just have one more after Agnes.

Agnes, are you there?

Okay um let's go to the next one then let's go come back to Agnes.

Donna Stringer?

Donna Stringer is our next public commenter.

Okay Donna are you there?

Let's do this.

So Donna and Agnes, does it show that they're on the line?

That they're just not unmuting?

They are present, Council President.

IT, can you confirm if you're able to locate their number?

Callers are on the line.

Thank you.

This is Agnes Cover.

Go ahead, Agnes.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Council for the opportunity to speak to you today.

I am, and I'm speaking on council action on the tentative agreement with the Seattle Police Management Association.

I'm a member of Proactive Persistent People for Progress, P4, because the other is such a mouthful.

And it's a local group working to strengthen democracy and advocate for progressive values.

I have three requests today.

I listened during yesterday's council briefing and heard several statements indicating that the city as required by ordinance asked for recommendations from the Office of Inspector General, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Community Police Commission, and that these recommendations were considered as part of the negotiating process.

In letters to the mayor and the council, all three accountability organizations recommended as one of their key items that the city engage an external advisor with accountability expertise in the bargaining process, in part to advise the city on how bargain terms affect accountability system effectiveness.

The rationale was that an advisor endorsed by the oversight entity partners would further enhance trust in this process.

We ask you in your deliberations today to find out if this recommendation was followed, and if not, why not?

Will the council make a commitment today to encourage the mayor to follow this recommendation and other recommendations from the three police accountability organizations?

If the police accountability structure is to work and result in more effective and just policing, OIG, OPA, and the CPC must have a strong voice, a voice that both the council and the mayor listen to.

Without that, Seattle is left with an accountability structure that may look good on paper, but lacks real authority to perform adequate oversight.

This will begin to build a more transparent process and hopefully result in greater trust between the city, the Seattle Police Department, and the people that are served.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have one caller left, Madam Clerk.

Donna Stringer here.

Okay, go ahead, Donna.

Okay, thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and thank you to the council for the opportunity to speak to you today.

My name is Donna Stringer and I'm a member of Proactive Persistent People for Progress, P4 for short, a local group working to strengthen democracy and advocate for progressive values.

I have two requests today.

In February of 2021, the CPC made several recommendations regarding the SPD's collective bargaining agreement process.

They recommended that the reforms in the 2017 accountability ordinance be fully implemented and that the public remain fully informed about both content and process as the negotiations proceeded.

My first request is that the council release information about which of these recommendations were followed and which were not and why.

And that those recommendations also be used in the SPOG negotiations that have recently begun.

Secondly, there is a widespread recognition of a need to build public trust moving beyond constitutional policing to policing that meets community expectations.

My second request is that the council recognize how these agreements advance both structural that is more legal and perceived that is community legitimacy in its deliberations on both this CBA that's in front of you now and your participation in the negotiations with SPOG that is upcoming.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my comments.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, are we done with our remote speakers?

We are.

Great.

Let's move to our friends that have joined us in chambers for in-person public comment.

Go ahead and start with the next speaker.

Our first speaker is Rico Mote.

Oh, good.

I can see Rico now.

Yeah.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Okay, my name is Rico Moore.

I'm a freelance journalist, writing a story for Earthrise Media.

I've submitted some questions to city council members regarding this story.

I'm writing about the Skagit hydroelectric project, its impact on indigenous sovereignty, endangered species, act listed species, including salmon, southern killer whales, et cetera.

And I was wanting to know if the council would please go on record regarding its support or non-support of the removal of Gorge Dam and or any of the other dams on the Skagit River.

Should the city be able to afford that as is indicated in a amendment to a municipal bond statement dated August 5th.

And I would just leave the remainder of my time for, requesting interviews with city council members involved in this particular issue and would leave the rest of my time for any members who might wish to comment or coordinate an interview with me or my photographers who is here with me for a time later this evening to discuss this particular issue.

Again, I appreciate your time and I would appreciate a response to my questions submitted in writing and as well by email.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

This isn't the, we're not in committee that is chaired by Council Member Nelson in Seattle City Light, but I do have a staff in chambers, Dean, and Dean can pull you aside and let you know when these matters will come back in committee and address the other issues that you raised.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

The next speaker is Marguerite Richard.

Good day, my name is Marguerite Rashard.

I'm from Seattle, Washington, and I'm kind of concerned that I just came from King County and all the people were, they were lined up, they were there.

I was there.

I don't see anybody else here.

So I don't know if it's a pandemic or something else that is going on where we're not seeing the people that say they're serving us at best.

Now, the other thing I wanted to talk about also was the situation with chore in the indigenous black male.

Right now, he was a, yeah, we used to call him paper man, and he was throwing papers, and so all of a sudden, and I'm mentioning him because you say that you deal with police issues, okay?

And I have an issue because I'm an indigenous black female, and I don't feel like I'm safe if I gotta look and see a, indigenous black man on a paper route and then he wouldn't have to get a protective order or a straining order against somebody that's supposed to be protecting and serving us.

Okay.

So you say the constitution of the United States is for everybody.

Okay.

So you better get in with that and figure out why this is the 21st century and we're still going through the same hell, huh?

I don't agree with it.

I don't agree with me having to come down here and tell you nothing as a lawyer that that's wrong.

And all this equity and inclusion, and I'm gonna do this for that person, and I'm gonna do this for that person.

Hey, if it's not true, then you better not speak it, okay?

Because we're tired of them lies that you've been telling us in our community about how everybody's included.

because I checked in with it and it ain't working.

So you better come up with something that's fitting.

Okay.

Yeah.

Good day.

My next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

The hell, dirty damn Nazi fascist mob, bandito.

My name Alec Zimmerman.

I'm totally confused to who I speak.

It's nobody here.

Guys, are you a psychopath?

What is going on?

You know what I mean?

Where is the problem?

We come from king countries today, all consul.

Sit, if you talk to them.

What is going on with you?

Okay.

I want to speak about agenda, about appointment, a commissioner, six or seven commissioners, what is appointed leader of this appointment, like counsel Morales, because I have experience with almost every commission.

I go and speak to every commission for many years.

Cannot find no announcement in commission.

No one, no one.

I repeat this.

Why?

because Apple not too much far from three.

In three is you guys.

So Consul Morales, for example, with who I have experienced when she's a human right commissioner, you know what does mean?

And never investigate 12 my trespasses for 1,200 day, never give a one answer.

And I spoke to her in commission meeting many times.

Guys, I want only explain to you, children is almost identical to parents.

You understand what this mean?

Even apple don't far away from tree.

So right now I understand why we have a commissioner, dozen commissioner from dozen commission.

You know what this mean?

All crook, all of it, without exception.

I don't understand what is going on in this situation.

I think you need something, find somebody, different council, because when council will be different, not will be crook and psychopath, maybe we will have different Seattle, in different commission, in different children who come to this commission.

Because by definition, they stay in for a very long time.

Stand up America, cleanse this dirty chamber from this psychopath.

Thank you very much.

That was the last speaker for public comment.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

So we today had six people remote and three people are public people for public comment in chambers.

So public comment is now closed.

And I want to thank those that called in and those that appeared today for public comment on today's agenda.

I want to remind speakers that you're not here to malign or verbally abuse any of the council members or any staff here.

Everyone's just trying to do their job.

That's all we're trying to do.

All right, let's move on in the calendar here.

I'm going to the, let's see, adoption of the introduction and referral calendar.

If there's no objection, the introduction or referral calendar will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing any objection, the calendar is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the consent calendar.

We will now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Are there any items that any council member would like to pull from the consent calendar?

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council President Ores.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar has been adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.

Moving on to the on our calendar, our agenda, we have adoption of the agenda.

There is no objection.

The agenda will be adopted.

Not hearing or seeing any objection, the agenda is adopted.

Madam Council Member.

Yes.

Were we going to amend the agenda to take off one item?

No, my understanding from the clerks is that I go forward and since I'm the sponsor, I will be OK.

Yeah, I did.

I thought it was the same thing, too, but we don't have to bend the agenda.

So we're good.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

And thank you for for keeping me on my toes.

So with that under was there someone else that said something to say?

OK, well, that's good.

So let's move along here.

Committee reports.

Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

Before the City Council, agenda item one, Council Bill 120332, relating to city employment, authorizing execution of a collective bargaining agreement between the City of Seattle and the Seattle Police Management Association to be effective January 1st, 2020 through December 31st, 2023, and ratifying confirming search and fire acts.

Thank you.

Colleagues, I move to postpone consideration of Council Bill 120332 until June 14th.

Is there a second?

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to postpone this bill until June 14th, and as sponsor of the motion, I will address it, and then I will hand it off to Council Member Herbold, and then we'll open it up to the floor briefly.

Briefly.

Yesterday in council briefing, we had a one-hour presentation on Council Bill 120332 by our council central staff and lead negotiators in an open public session.

Council Bill 120332 would authorize the mayor to implement a collective bargaining agreement between the city of Seattle and the Seattle Police Management Association, the SPMA.

The collective bargaining agreement is a four year agreement on wages, benefits, hours, and other working conditions covering the period from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2023. This proposed contract would supersede the former contract, which expired on December 31st, 2019. Um, let's see.

So, uh, this contract, this proposed contract, uh, affects approximately 80 regularly appointed city employees.

Greg Doss, uh, council central staff outlined the key elements yesterday of the agreement and a memo provided to council members and made available to the public on Friday, June 3rd.

So as council president, I sponsored this legislation to ensure it's timely consideration in full council.

in due respect for the lengthy negotiation process.

As I said, the original contract expired in 2019. That being said, I would like to offer the opportunity for the Chair of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee to make some comments regarding this legislation.

Council Member Herbold.

Thanks so much.

Just a couple words.

I really appreciate the motion to hold and I intend to support it.

Though council did receive a very thorough briefing on the terms of the contract.

We only received it 24 hours ago.

I really appreciate the thoroughness of the negotiation process and the positive outcomes for long sought accountability reforms.

But I do believe that some additional time for all of us to familiarize ourselves with the terms of the contract will be helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you, member.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Are there any other comments before we go?

The floor is open.

This would be the time to give any comments regarding the vote on the postponing.

All right, not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption to postpone this legislation until Tuesday, June 14th.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council President Ores.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the bill is postponed until June 14th.

Madam Clerk, do I do the language of the bill passes and the clerk affix my signature?

Not today, Council President.

Okay, good.

Then, motion carries and the bill is postponed.

Thank you.

Moving on to item number two.

This is the Neighborhoods, Education and Civil Rights and Cultural Committee.

Madam Clerk, can you please read the matter into the record?

Agenda item two, appointment 2188, appointment Hamid Mohamed as Director, Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

Council Member Morales.

Hello.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you.

I am very excited to present the recommendation to confirm Hamdi Mohammed as the new director for the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

Director Mohammed has a long history of working in community to support the needs of our immigrant and refugee neighbors.

As a refugee herself, she understands the importance of increasing transparency and access into many of our municipal systems.

She's worked on these issues at different levels of government, including King County and at the federal level with representative dry Paul.

And she's a fierce advocate for the critical importance of not siloing, you know, immigrant issues, but rather considering immigrants, whether we're talking about transportation or housing or worker rights or education or social services.

Director Muhammad has already demonstrated her passion for this work, establishing her priorities for the office, holding a retreat with her staff, and drafting a strategic plan for how to move the office forward.

So colleagues, it is my great pleasure to advance my committee's unanimous recommendation that we confirm Hamdi Muhammad as the new director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

All right, thank you, Councillor Morales.

I believe at this time you've introduced Ms. Muhammad and she has an opportunity to speak.

Yes, please.

Thank you, thank you, Madam Chair, honorable members of the council.

It is with great honor and privilege to come in front of you today and to seek your appointment.

My drive to serve as the Director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs is rooted in my personal story and professional experience that Council Member Morales has already shared.

My personal story includes the many struggles that are many of our immigrant and refugee families across the nation are experiencing even today.

I often share the history of my family.

fleeing war, living unhoused for many years, and us coming to this country as refugees.

Because of my lived and professional experience, I feel a deep need to advocate and serve our communities and ensure that they have access to services, programs, and pathways to economic success in Seattle and across this region.

Like Council Member Morales has already shared, since joining the city of Seattle and OIRA, I've hit the ground running.

I have been meeting with dozens of community leaders, department directors, developing budget strategies, and conducting team building activities.

I am proud of the work that we've done so far.

I have been leading our office in responding to the evolving Afghan and Ukrainian refugee crisis.

Through our through regional partnerships and have brought along my long, long standing relationships with our leaders on the federal, local and state level to ensure that our office is working with them to address our needs.

My goal is to ensure that our office meets the unique needs of Seattle's most vulnerable immigrant and refugee population.

And that's through providing service and programs that allow them to thrive.

Again, I just want to say thank you for this opportunity to all of the honorable members of the council and to Mayor Bruce Harrell for his trust in my leadership.

I just want to also take this opportunity to thank the amazing staff at OIRA.

I'm looking forward to continuing to work alongside them and to deliver for immigrant and refugee populations in the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before you close this out, Councilor Morales, are my colleagues, is there any questions or any comments that we would like to share regarding the appointment of Ms. Hamdi to the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs?

It's a mayoral appointment.

Okay, Mr Strauss has given you a thumbs up.

Oh, Council Member Nelson has her hand up.

Council Member Nelson.

I just wanted to say that we did have a long time to speak in committee.

And I just have to say that during that discussion and in all the opportunities I've had to speak with you in community at different events, I think that this is an excellent, I mean, we couldn't do any better is what I'm trying to say.

And what I really like is your, your desire to un-silo things.

And I know that you're already trying to work with the Office of Economic Development to figure out where the priorities align.

And that's exactly the kind of thinking that I endorsed.

And so I look forward to working with you on small business support and also workforce development and a whole bunch of other issues.

So thank you very much for being ready to help the city and the people in the city.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

I see we have Council Member Herbold.

Thanks so much.

I just want to highlight a couple of things that I really liked in your appointment packet.

Really appreciate that you identified equitable health access as one of your priorities this year.

I know this is one of the mayor's priorities as well, but I'm really glad that you have called it out.

Also really appreciate that you are uplifting the importance of support for the arts and culture sector, and specifically the importance of cultural workers in immigrant communities.

And then lastly, appreciate your noting that East African young people are the second most arrested group of young people in the city and your commitment to focusing on building leadership and collective power from within our communities.

I'm quoting you, and that means engaging with our East African mothers, so that they can help influence public policy and drive social change.

So really appreciate your commitment to bringing in diverse communities from all over the city to work on all of these really important public policy issues that affect them daily.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

A thumbs up isn't enough.

And I said so much at committee both times you were there.

I just will summarize it to say that when my grandfather immigrated to the United States as a refugee, I wish that he had someone such as yourself, Director Muhammad, to look out for him.

And so I'm very excited and grateful to have your service here.

Thank you.

So I do not see any other comments or concerns.

Council Member Morales, do you want to close us out before we go to a vote?

Odai, colleagues.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, would the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment of Ms. Hamdi Mohamed to OIRA?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council President Orosz.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations.

It's now Director Director Hamdi Mohammed, and I made a mistake.

I was supposed to let you speak now, but I didn't see that in my script.

So if you want to say anything else, but I, are you good?

Okay, good.

I apologize.

I was trying to make sure that you had an opportunity and I didn't know if I needed to suspend the rules to do that.

So thank you for being patient.

Um, and I look forward to working with you as well and looking, we all had a chance to look at your appointment packet and it was indeed incredibly impressive.

And, um, kudos to the executive cause you are a mayoral appointment.

So welcome.

Thank you.

Okay.

So moving on, uh, madam clerk, we, we have a new section in our agenda.

If you guys hadn't noticed, uh, we have a new section.

I.

which now has items removed for the consent calendar.

And since there were no items removed for the consent calendar, we will move on in our agenda.

Next, we have adoption of other resolutions.

There are no other resolutions for introduction and adoption today.

And we move on to other business.

Is there any other business to come before the council today, before I adjourn?

Okay, I got two people.

Okay, Council Member Herbold and then Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

I move to be excused from the council briefings meeting on June 13th.

All right.

Council Member Herbold has asked to be excused.

Is there any objection?

I should note that her birthday is June 14th and she will be with us.

So I'll be with you on the 14th.

Yes.

So happy early birthday.

I was hoping I could say that.

But anyway, who else?

Oh, Councilor Morales.

Thank you.

I am requesting to be excused July 25th and 26.

Getting that in there early.

Is there any objection to Council Member Morales being excused on July 25th and 26?

Not seeing any.

She is indeed excused.

Okay, I don't see any other hands.

Everybody's here.

OK, good.

All right, colleagues, that does conclude our items on today's agenda.

And thank you all for allowing and allowing Council Member Herbold to move this, the contract, the SBMA contract over a week.

I appreciate that.

That's always better when we work together.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Have a good afternoon.