Seattle City Council 7/15/2019

Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you for being here in City Hall.

One of the best-looking audiences I've ever seen since I've been here.

So thank you for being here.

The July 15, 2019, full City Council, Seattle City Council, come to order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Bruce Harrell, President of the Council.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Herbold.

Here.

Juarez.

Here.

Mosqueda.

Here.

Pacheco.

Here.

Sawant.

Here.

Bagshaw.

Here.

Gonzalez.

Here.

President Harrell.

Here.

Thank you very much.

If there's no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

If there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

The minutes of the July 1st and 8th, 2019 City Council meetings have been reviewed.

And if there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are being signed.

Here you go, Madam Clerk.

Presentations.

I have a presentation.

I'm very honored to make this presentation.

This is relative to Miss Carolyn Riley Payne and we're calling today Miss Carolyn Riley Payne Day and I'll just say a few brief remarks and any of my colleagues who like to join in feel free to but it's absolutely My honor as a member of the council and as a representative to the city to quite candidly try to honor this kind of talent.

And when I say talent, what I mean by that is many of you in the world of civil rights and human rights and in education know the work that Ms. Riley Payne has done throughout her decades and decades in the city.

But her style is one that I think is magnificent because many people may not know who she is because she's not that kind of leader that pounds her chest and says, look at me and look at all the work that I've done.

But indeed, she's done it.

And there are literally hundreds of people, particularly in the African-American community, that are the beneficiaries of her work and her commitment to education and her commitment to civil and human rights.

And I think that many of us that grew up in the city would attest to the work she's done.

Even those that are welcome newbies, so to speak, would realize her work in the different organizations that I'll describe in the proclamation.

we should all be very, very proud.

So in honoring her, we sort of honor the best in ourselves and in the community.

So let me read this proclamation that's been signed by all nine council members.

So Ms. Riley Payne, you're one of the few people that got us to agree on everything, word for word.

And let me read it, please.

So whereas Carolyn Riley Payne was born in Durham, North Carolina, and was one of eight children of Roberta and Joseph Payne, The importance of activism and education was instilled in Carolyn Riley Payne at an early age, and Carolyn was vice president of the Youth Council of the NWCP, along with other youth groups in Durham, North Carolina, and understood that attending college was expected.

And Carolyn attended Bennett College, which is a historically black college for women, where she earned a bachelor's degree in special education.

And she recalls what her professor told her when she graduated, and I quote, You have been taught.

You know the theories of education.

Go out now and put the books away and love children, but teach them.

And whereas wherever Carolyn has been, she has touched the lives of people around her.

Carolyn has a great sense of humility and never wants to talk about what she is doing for others.

And whereas Mrs. Riley Payne is a transformational leader, one who left her mark on every part of our city.

She has advocated for children, worked with food banks, established a consulting group, as well as provided leadership and unyielding support to the following groups and organizations.

Cascade Chapter of Federally Employed Women, FEU, Region 10 Blacks in Government, the Jubilee Women's Center, Southeast Asian Compassion Assistance Network, otherwise known as CECAN, the Afro-Academic Cultural and Technological and Scientific Olympics, otherwise known as ACT-SO.

And I must say that this Saturday at First Amy Church, where hundreds of people attended this great celebration, there are many well-known beneficiaries and participants in that program under Ms. Riley Payne's leadership.

She's a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the local branch of the Seattle King County NWCP.

And we're as city leaders, as city leaders, we endeavor to seize every opportunity to honor the two often neglected accomplishments of men and women in our communities.

And that said, we believe Carolyn Riley Payne to be a phenomenal woman with an extraordinary commitment to public service.

Now, therefore, the Seattle City Council proclaims today as Carolyn Riley Payne Day.

And unless any of my colleagues wanted to say any words, I'd like to suspend the rules and we can hear from Ms. Riley, Payne, or any other people that would like to speak on her behalf or during this part of the program.

So I don't want to hog all the great remarks.

If anyone's good, I'm going to proceed to go out here.

And if I'm lucky, I might even be able to get a picture with her.

So, okay.

All right, we're going to do it like this.

Good afternoon.

I'm indeed honored and humbled by this recognition and this proclamation.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at what I have done, working with all the organizations that I worked with.

I didn't do it alone.

I stood on other people's shoulders.

but it took commitment.

Who does 40 years of anything?

Only somebody who, well, some people would say a little bit crazy, but somebody who is committed and love what they're doing.

Every organization I work with has the same kind of theme, helping and empowering, be it women transitioning from homelessness children trying to find who they are.

So I'm indeed grateful for the opportunity for God to have blessed me to be able to do that and to have the support of family, church, and the community to make whatever I've done happen.

I was humbled by all the good things that I've heard, that I've done.

And so I say, thank you.

And I do hope, no, I'm not gonna say I do hope, I have another 40 years to do that.

Because I'm gonna have to find something else to do for the next 40 years.

But anyway, but thank you so very much.

And I do appreciate the recognition.

Thank you.

Well, the rules are still suspended.

Mr. Rye, did you want to say a few remarks?

We'd love to hear from you.

And as Mr. Rye approaches the microphone, part of our legislation today, we are, I'm going to anticipate, we're going to confirm our new Department of Human Resources Director, Robert Humes, otherwise known as Bobby Humes.

I'd like you to stand up, sir.

And so, He said during the confirmation process that he has an open door policy.

But in all seriousness, we look forward to that process, led by one of our colleagues.

And again, I wanted Mr. Humes, who's relatively new to the community, I say relatively new, to make sure that he knows some of our community leaders.

Mr. Wright, you have the floor, sir.

Yes, I introduced myself to him already, and I see he has a lot of support, so I think he's off on the right foot.

I want to say that my daughter, Angela, was an AXL participant, a national winner.

I was a classmate of Council Member Gonzalez at CLU.

They were seatmates in law school and remained friends since then.

But Ms. Carolyn Riley Payne, like she said, for 40 years has just been outstanding.

And the tribute that was given to her on Saturday at first AME was just overwhelming.

And we do appreciate all the support that she has received.

and she is worthy to be praised.

And I still can't imagine why anybody would want to put on the sidelines from Axel, because she is Axel, not only in Seattle and Martin Luther King, Jr.

County, but she's Axel across the country.

She has that reputation.

So I want to thank the council for recognizing her work, and hopefully someone will step in and try to take your place.

But thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Rye.

And again, while the rules are suspended, I know we have the State Director, Mr. Hankerson.

Mr. Hankerson, did you want to say a few words?

I know you're no stranger to a microphone, sir, so please be our guest.

I know, that's funny, that microphone.

I know she always get nervous.

My name is Gerald Hankinson.

I'm the president of the NWCP for Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.

But I recently served for six years as the NWCP president for six years, ending in January the 1st, which Ms. Carolyn Riley Payne was our first vice president that actually is responsible for my leadership.

So whatever you get mad at me about, blame her.

But, you know, she has just been more than just an actual person.

She had been a mother to me.

In my leadership role, both at the local and the state level, everything that I've done is largely because of what she has provided for me.

So don't think that just because there's a bunch of kids out here that's glowing because of Carolyn Riley Payne.

There's a lot of us adults that she has actually educated and prepared as well.

But I want to acknowledge her for her work.

Forty years.

I'm only 50 years old.

So when she started this, I was 10. But we are the oldest civil rights organization in the nation.

She's headed to national compete with other kids as early as in two days for now.

Bring home the gold, Seattle.

But I want to acknowledge her for her leadership, her mentorship, as well as the expertise that she had provided much of us in our community.

And I want to thank you for not only for my professional development, but also for my personal life.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And thank you, City Council, for recognizing this lady because ultimately that all of our kids out here that are successful has a large endurance because of Ms. Carol O'Reilly Payne.

I got a cold, so forgive me for my allergies.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Hankerson.

Thank you for those remarks.

And I'm only 40, so when she started, I was zero.

Okay, so At this point we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda the introduction referral calendar and the city council's 2019 work program and we'll extend public comment for 20 minutes and I'll call you out in the order of which you've signed up And we have eight speakers signed up.

I'll start with andrew Is it cook or coke?

I can't Cook, Andrew would be first, and then Militia, Milit, Militia, Marks, followed by Hillary Keys.

Good afternoon to the council.

My name is Andrew and five days from now marks my four years working at DESC, helping the most vulnerable members of our community.

At the committee discussion on the human services legislation you are considering, we got to hear from people who benefited from consistent and knowledgeable case management.

Tristan spoke of Joe and his unwavering support and encouragement while homeless as a youth.

Susanna spoke about MENA and the guidance she provided to help Susanna, who is a caregiver to her adult child with disabilities.

As someone who has worked as a case manager, these are wonderful stories to hear.

This powerful testimony also made me think about the names that I carry with me.

I have many happy memories of congratulating a client on finding work or housing, but the names that immediately come to mind are Scott and Barry.

Scott was one of my first clients.

back when I was about 95% enthusiasm and 5% knowledge.

I will never forget Scott.

He was the first person to ever tearfully beg me to help him find housing because he did not want to die in the shelter.

I was not able to make that happen for Scott.

He died a few blocks away at Harborview.

Barry was a big guy, but soft-spoken and interested in film and philosophy.

I enjoy getting to chat with him sometimes about those subjects.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect the philosophy was him trying to find comfort in a life where his genetics overcame him in the form of a bad heart.

He was too sick to work, but not quite sick enough for hospice.

I never got an official report, but the friends he had made in the shelter told me he died alone in an abandoned building down on the waterfront.

His ashes were laid to rest July 10th of this year as part of the King County Indigent Remains Program.

It is my hope that both knew that they were cared for and that they will be remembered.

It is in that spirit that I stand before you today to ask you for your continued support of this vital work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please.

Good afternoon, Councilmembers.

My name is Melissa Marks, and I'm here on behalf of YouthCare's Board of Directors.

I've served on YouthCare's Board for almost two years, and I'm deeply passionate about ensuring that YouthCare can fulfill its mission to end youth homelessness, and that hinges on supporting its staff and its infrastructure.

This legislation is important to me because I worked in the nonprofit world for many years.

I have a particular sensitivity to misrepresentation of overhead and administrative costs.

Put simply, this work cannot be done when the buildings are crumbling, when the computers don't work, when the laundry machines break, and when half the positions are vacant because staff can't afford to live on poverty wages.

Youth Care serves some of our most vulnerable young people in our city, 13-year-olds who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.

19-year-olds who are experiencing their first episodes of psychosis.

22-year-olds who have developmental disabilities and struggle to live on their own.

Many staff experience secondary trauma while doing this life-saving work, but they don't have the privileges of self-care or even of meeting their own basic needs.

People who go into career of service should not have to sacrifice their well-being in order to do this valuable work.

During the last hearing, you heard that 99% of the city's current open jobs start at a minimum of $22 per hour.

It's great that the city can provide that living wage for its staff.

Why should human service workers get anything less?

We all know that Seattle is facing a homelessness crisis.

To execute our plans to address this crisis, we need to make sure that the people who are doing this work can do it well.

I urge your support and thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hiller, before you begin, let me read three more names.

Corey, Gilmetti, Alicia, Glenwell, and Kelly.

So it would be Corey, Alicia, and Kelly in that order.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Councilmembers.

My name is Hillary Keys, and I'm here today on behalf of YouthCare in support of the inflation adjustment for human services contracts.

I'm a youth counselor at YouthCare's adolescent shelter.

We serve kids as young as 12 and as old as 17 years old.

The vast majority of youth come to us with a variety of mental health issues, but the ones we see the most are anxiety, depression, and attachment disorders.

These kids have been forced to take on the emotional burden of the adults who are supposed to be caring for them.

They have been rejected and pushed out so many times that they arrive at our shelter expecting to be rejected, expecting to feel unwelcome.

In the short amount of time we have with them, we need to create a sense of home that is calm, welcoming, and safe.

That means clean clothes every day, snacks in the pantry, and healthy food on the table for every meal.

It means engaging activities and outings that build life skills and a sense of community.

All of these things are essential, and they all cost more each year.

Think about the price of a movie ticket.

Even within the last 10 years, those tickets have almost doubled.

Many people have referenced the impact of turnover on clients' lives.

For a 12-year-old who may have never had a trusting adult in their entire life, having someone leave unexpectedly can be devastating.

If we're burnt out as staff, if we're stressed because of our own finances, then it's hard to bring 110% to our job every day, which is what those kids really need.

The reality is, this is the lowest paying job I've had since graduating college in 2014. And I was a school teacher for four years before this job.

But the stakes are so much higher.

When staff leave, it only reinforces these kids' belief that adults will abandon them, that they're bad kids, and they're not worthy of love.

In other words, when we don't pass inflation adjustments like the ones you're considering today, we don't just cause harm, we cause lifelong trauma.

I urge your support.

Thank you.

You see that school teacher part of her.

You see how she's cut it.

She saw that clock running and she just cut it right there.

That's leadership.

Thank you.

All right.

Having said that, Corey, Alicia, and Kelly.

Good afternoon.

My name is Corey Gelmat, and I'm here along with Tim Kandel and Jesse Rollins on behalf of the Public Defender Association.

I'm an attorney at the Public Defender Association, and I work day in, day out with case managers at REACH and Evergreen Treatment Services to help clients who are members of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Lead Program.

And I would not be able to do nearly the quality of work that I do without the important case managers at REACH.

The case managers at REACH are incredibly skilled and could easily be taking jobs that pay more, that have less work, that have lower caseloads, but choose to help our clients.

And without their help and without consistent case management, I would not be able to help clients who face legal needs.

And so I am pleased that the Council has this legislation before them to provide cost of living adjustments to case managers, because I know that when case managers are able to stay with clients in the long term, that they are able to provide better services and clients are able to achieve better outcomes.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

As stated, my name is Tim Candela, and I'm representing the Public Defender Association.

In my previous life before PDA, I worked as a reach case manager and can attest to specifically what I would like to talk about is burnout.

People burn out relatively quickly.

I was able to make it four years, which was tumultuous.

And what burnout looks like is literally coming home every day and not getting sleep and crying yourself over and over and over.

and you literally wanna pull your hair out.

And you think about self-care.

They always talk about self-care in the social service field.

When you're constantly having to cut corners, when you're constantly having to eat red beans and rice every single night and dousing it in craft Italian dressing to give it some type of flavor, that's not self-care.

You're not able to nourish your body.

You're not getting any sleep.

And as capitalistic as it may sound, money is that way to help self-care.

It puts nourishing food in your stomach it puts a safe neighborhood and roof over your head.

People would ask me why I did this work and why my biggest and first response was my compassion and love for individuals is also the stark reality that I was a paycheck and a half away from being that individual out on the street that needed outreach services and basic needs.

So I encourage you to pass this legislation not just for the people that we serve but for the individuals that are doing the serving as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Alicia Glenwell.

I'm with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence.

I'm on the steering committee of the Seattle Human Services Coalition, and I'm here speaking today on behalf of the SHSC.

SHSC members provide the services that support Seattle residents to thrive across their lifespan.

From youth development to senior centers, gender-based violence response and prevention to community clinics, human services build well-being.

We appreciate the unanimous vote in support of an automatic annual inflation adjustment on human services contracts that move this ordinance to full council today.

Thank you, council members.

Automatically adjusting human service contracts for inflation so that we can maintain the services and infrastructure that we have built together makes sense.

Costs to provide services include technology for evaluation and reporting, facilities, energy, transportation, as well as wages, recruiting, training, and health care benefits.

When these increase, we must pay those costs or we will not be able to maintain current services.

Simply put, you undermine our capacity to reach our goals when costs to provide services rise, but your investment simply does not keep up.

This measure is also fiscally prudent since the city's general fund revenue increases have substantially outplaced inflation over the past 20 years, even taking recessions into account.

We have the means.

We are heartened to see your support to solve this problem once and for all.

Consistently adjusting for inflation is an effective, common-sense business practice we urge you to implement to stabilize your investment in human services for Seattle residents.

Thank you so much.

Hi, Kelly Larson with Plymouth Housing.

We provide supportive housing for over 1,000 individuals in Seattle every year.

This is common sense.

I heard at the rally, the chant was, the economy is thriving.

Why aren't we surviving?

This is critical work.

It's important work.

Our staff are asked to do a lot.

And we are operating buildings that are really struggling.

Elevator contracts.

We have electricity, water, garbage, sewer.

Huge cost increases every year.

We ask for your support.

We need this.

Even if we can raise private funds, we have a lot of people that are doing excellent work bringing the private sector in to help us.

We rely on government.

We need you to help us.

Please step up and make sure this happens for us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kelly.

I have two more speakers signed up.

Megan Murphy and David Hilde.

Megan and David.

I was just at the Amazon Spheres where we got through and delivered the message to Bezos to shut down ICE and stop using surveillance.

And I'm thinking human service jobs are so important.

I thought, what if the job creation of ICE was turned into human service jobs?

And how we go here in Seattle, and we have all the information on the homeless in a system.

And then we took the people that were crossing over and ICE would check, they would change their name and they would check into the country and see what kind of militia was happening and why they ran and try to communicate back and forth between the countries.

but that's like 100 years in the future, so today, maybe it's not, I don't know, but today, I think human services, for some reason, are undervalued, and I think it's really important to adjust for inflation and add value to building relationships within the community, so people that have had a rough go in the society can transition into more humane circumstances, and thank you.

Thank you, Megan.

My name is David Hilde.

I'm a housing assistance case manager at DESC, and I have worked there for a little over four years now.

Obviously, homelessness is a huge issue in this city, in this county, in this country.

The population that DESC specifically serves is just not representative of the homeless population in general.

They are specifically some of the most vulnerable people in Seattle, people that are repeatedly involuntarily detained for eating their own feces.

I know a woman that did that.

The people that are making these decisions to get in touch with the crisis responders that involuntarily detained them are making barely over minimum wage.

These decisions are far more difficult, are far more clinical, They require far more training and education than the people that are currently making them.

I've seen the people that are making them.

They're my friends.

They're my co-workers.

They don't know what to do.

They see people in pain.

They see people that are suffering, and they want better, and they simply don't know what to do.

And we can't provide something better for these vulnerable people unless we get more educated, more trained people in these positions.

This is a wonderful start if it passes.

Thank you, sir.

To conclude our public comment section, please go to the payment of the bills and read the title.

Council Bill 119-568, appropriate in mind to pay certain claims and ordering the payment thereof.

I'll move to pass Council Bill 119-568.

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

Any comments or questions?

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold.

Aye.

Moraes.

Here.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Swan.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and the chair will sign it.

Please read the first agenda item.

The report of the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee agenda item 1, appointment 1370, appointment of Robert Humes as director of Seattle Department of Human Resources for term to June 1st, 2023. The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.

Councilmember Bagshaw.

Thank you very much.

I am very pleased to present to you Bobby Humes as Director of our next Human Resources Department.

Thank you for standing up.

We'll give you an opportunity to come to the microphone in a moment.

Bobby I have been delighted to be working with you first of all through our Seattle City employees retirement system You are a wonderful addition on that board and it's been an honor and I also want to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that you and I've had many Opportunities to talk about this new position for you how you've come over from the parks department But also you're very impressive history prior to that You've been working with school districts.

You also had a a long stint with the military, and you're bringing a lot of skills to this Human Resources Department.

So thank you very much for that.

I also want to acknowledge to my colleagues that I feel very strongly about your commitment around equity and empowerment and reaching into your department both to empower the people there to do their best work, but also encouraging them to rise into other positions.

That's something that I feel very important.

as a manager, and I know that you will do just exactly that.

So I personally am looking forward to working with you for the remainder of about the next five and a half months.

And to my colleagues, I just cannot applaud him more and appreciate what you're doing.

And I also think I have to have a motion here because we need to add the expectations letter, which has now been circulated.

All of you have had an opportunity to add to it.

It was not attached to the agenda last week, so I'd like to move to amend this appointment 0 1 3 7 0 to add the expectations letter Okay, this is just the vote on the amendment not the correct Confirmation all those in favor of the amendment as described by councilmember backshaw.

Please say aye aye Those opposed the ayes have it the package is a minute to include the expectation letter.

Thank you.

Were you finished with your remarks?

Did any other colleagues want to make any remarks before we vote on this legislation?

Councillor Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I just want to say welcome.

We had the opportunity to talk to a number of folks in the labor community about their past involvement and current involvement with you.

High recommendations.

Very excited that they were both involved in the process and the optimistic outlook that they have for the department and the city with your leadership.

So, congratulations and thank you for your interest in working with us and serving the city of Seattle.

Thank you, Council Member Mesquite.

Any other comments from any of my colleagues?

I'll just make a comment that during the first hearing where you were presented to the council, I received some feedback that perhaps I was a little hard on you, is what the feedback was.

And the reason I was a little hard on you, perhaps because my expectations were higher than I have for a lot of people.

And when I asked for your vision of what the city can be, particularly with respect to its employee base, I wanted to hear the words and the commitment to diversity just ring out.

And I was concerned that I wasn't hearing the passion with which I like to see it, particularly in a person that will be in the position you are as head of the HR group, that diversity achieving and it's very intentional.

How often do we hear, well, we couldn't hire diversely in a diverse way because we just couldn't find the right candidates.

Well, you find them by looking.

And we had our one-on-one, and I became fully convinced that we had the right person for the job based on your prior performance and the commitment that I heard from you.

I won't be in office when many of the personal decisions that you will no doubt lead will be in effect, but I'm not going far, so I'm going to keep my good eye on you.

But I'm very pleased with both.

I want to commend the mayor and the administration for selecting you after a very competitive search.

And I look forward to working with you the remainder of this year.

So having said that, I'm going to move to vote.

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

And Mr. Humes, we would invite you to the mic to say a few words.

And Councilman Baxter is handing you the expectation letter.

So some of our numbers, thank you Council, President Harrell, Councilmembers.

Some of our numbers say that there's 11,000 employees in the city.

Anybody else got a better number?

I'm gonna take that number.

10,900 something.

Each one of those individuals is a story.

Each one of those individuals has purpose and meaning to our system and to the value that we want to provide the people of the city of Seattle.

That's a unique job.

And in HR, we get to support those unique jobs.

I take this appointment very seriously.

I look forward to providing customer service and value to our employees to make their jobs and their lives better while here as a part of this team.

So thank you for your confidence.

I look forward to working with you all, for the people of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yunus.

Please read the second agenda item, the short title, please.

Item 2, Council Bill 119-550 relating to the funding for housing community development programs.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Bagshaw.

Thank you.

So at our last financing committee, neighborhood committee, you will remember that we were looking at the 2019 annual action plan and what happens here is that it is a grant that we will be able to accept.

It's roughly two million dollars more than what we had identified during our budget.

for the community development block grants and for other housing opportunities for persons with AIDS and a couple of others.

So the recommendation from the committee is that we approve the grant and move forward with accepting $21,167,444.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Any other questions or comments on this bill?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Begshaw.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passed and the Chair will sign it.

Please read the report of the Housing, Health, Energy and Workers' Rights Committee.

The report of the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee, agenda item 3, Council Bill 119542, relating to contracting by the Human Services Department, providing that the Seattle Human Services Department provide a cost increase when renewing or renegotiating contracts to address escalation in cost and specifying how and when to apply the increase, amending section 20.60.102, of the Seattle Municipal Code to exempt human services contracts from the provisions of chapter 20.60 in adding a new section 3.20.060 to the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends the bill passes amended.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much Mr. President.

I would love to maybe speak at the end and also support you in your amendment if you'd like.

I could either second your amendment or move your amendment.

Okay, so would you like to take the amendment first for the base legislation?

Yes, please.

Okay.

So I will move amendment, I guess I'll call it amendment number one.

And in addition, you have a copy of the amendment and it was properly circulated on a timely basis, I don't think, central staff for that.

Basically what it does is we heard a lot of testimony about how underpaid the employees doing this kind of work are and I don't think there was any disagreement.

However, it occurred to me that some of the language I thought in the bill could have been a little stronger to making sure that is clearly our intent.

And we understand that there are high fixed costs in these nonprofits and other costs that they just don't have control over.

But I thought a strong policy statement saying that we get that too, but we also get the fact that these are underpaid jobs and we want to recognize that so that's what the amendment does number one then number two We've had some of us have been around where we've had real tough times where you know a recession and where we had to really sharpen our pencil to make some tough cuts and a some policy statements that we had this around 2008 or so some policy statements that we said during then and Or while we have to make these real tough cuts, that the work that you all do, the work that human services do, we are preserving.

That the work is so critical to protect our most vulnerable that in our budget deliberations, this is so critically important that we recognize we have to preserve if not even enhance the funding.

So, the other language of this amendment captures that and I think it's read by saying that the critical role, we recognize the critical role that human services organizations fill and it's our intent to fund annual adjustments in times of both economic prosperity and economic hardship.

So, that's what the amendment does, and I will formally move it, move it consistent with what I just described.

Council Member Mosqueda's second it.

Any other comments on the amendment?

I'll take a comment, Mr. President.

Oh, Council Member Mosqueda?

I just want to thank you, Mr. President, for bringing this amendment forward.

I think it is a really smart idea to make sure that we express the Council's strong desire that these annual adjustments are received by our provider organizations and in dealing with the fixed and variable costs.

As we create greater stability for the organizations, our desire is absolutely in line with what both the CEOs, the executive directors, and the frontline staff have said.

We want to see wages stabilized.

We want to see workers stabilized and the turnover and vacancy rates addressed.

So I really appreciate you underscoring that in the amendment.

I also think it's important that we through your amendment, underscore our commitment to investing in the critical role that these human service provider organizations, frontline staff, and their leaders provide to our city.

And by fulfilling the city's intention to fund the annual adjustments in times of both economic prosperity and economic hardship, I think really recognizes that more people are going to need these various services, especially in times of economic hardship.

Very much appreciate you bringing this forward and working with our office on this, and we'll be an enthusiastic yes on your amendment.

Thank you, Council Member Esqueda.

Sort of like we have a few new lawyers here, sort of like those wedding vows for better or for worse.

Okay.

Any more comments before we vote on the amendment?

Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

All those in favor of the amendment only, just the amendment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

The legislation is amended.

I'll turn it back over to Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I am very excited to bring forth to the Council this amended Human Service Provider Inflationary Adjustment legislation.

If it pleases the President, I may wait to make my comments at the very end just to close this out.

Sure.

So, many people have worked on this legislation, so now would be the time to talk about, if you'd like, I'll give you the option to talk about any comments you say before Councilmember Misquita closes debate on it.

And I'll wait.

Councilmember Begshaw.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Misquita, Councilmember Harrell.

Thank you for both bringing the amendment and for your staunch support.

And I want to say thank you to all you in the community for the tremendous work that you do.

We know that people that are suffering on the streets, people that are suffering from behavioral mental health, they need your help.

And that warm handoff is more important than anything else that any of us can do.

So I want to acknowledge how difficult and challenging the work is.

And for our friends in the public defenders, for the work you're doing on LEAD, we know that that makes a huge difference as well.

So I want to say I support this.

I had brought forward an amendment that I was really more focused on the budget to make sure that future councils had an opportunity to make decisions about what was going to be required going forward.

We know that that meant amendment didn't pass.

I am in full support of moving forward in support of you and also acknowledging that in the future if difficulties are faced because of budget the budget climate, whatever it might be, future councils and the executive can make their own decisions.

So I do want to acknowledge just how strongly I feel about the work you're doing.

And I also want to respond to somebody in the audience who said it's a good first start.

Well, actually, the good first start was last budget when we did add an additional 1.75 to 2% for this exact thing.

So now we're adding another 2%.

I'm proud of that.

And just Godspeed in all your work.

Thank you, Council Member Bagshaw and Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I just want to add that there's been talk about the council exercising budgetary discipline, and it's my opinion that this piece of legislation is actually an expression of our budgetary discipline.

This is us saying that when we enter the budget negotiations this year, that this is our top priority.

And it's very similar to what we've done in previous years, precisely in tough economic times when prior councils have passed resolutions or budget priority letters sent to the mayor saying that our intention was to hold human services harmless to cuts in past years.

This piece of legislation is an expression of our values and future councils may have different values, but this is an expression of our values at this time and my values for as long as I'm on this council, so thank you.

Well stated, Council Member Herbold.

Any other comments before we turn it back over to Council Member Sawant?

Thank you, President Harrell.

I'm glad to be voting yes on this ordinance to prevent, or at least help prevent, human service funding in our city from falling even farther behind than it already has.

Really, I'm grateful to all the organizations, the workers, and the unions that have advocated for this, including SEIU Healthcare 1199 Northwest.

This bill requires human service provider funding to be increased with inflation.

And let's be clear, this is not some kind of largesse.

If the funding goes up in step with inflation, it just means that they break even.

And as the speakers in public comment have stated, not only today, but on other occasions, that not only are the wages not keeping up with inflation, it's also the other costs that all the nonprofits face, including utilities, which they are on the hook for.

They can't go to City Light and say, we can't pay the bills.

They have to pay those bills.

So this is absolutely the bare minimum the city can and should do.

As I've mentioned in the committee meetings discussing this legislation, at the heart of this problem, of course, is the chronic underfunding for social services over the past several decades.

The federal funding for housing and mental health services that was eliminated in the 1980s has never returned.

and we are reeling from a vicious cycle downward.

Social services have been outsourced in multiple cities, have been outsourced from the public sector to non-profits, and once the political establishment offloads that responsibility, they systematically begin underfunding these non-profit organizations, And so you have the situation where a corporation like Amazon pays no federal taxes and instead gets a $129 million tax rebate thanks to the Trump tax cuts.

Social service workers, homeless service workers are so underpaid that they cannot make their own rent.

I think these stories are really poignant of human service workers being a paycheck and a half away from being one of the people in need of the services themselves.

And I just wanted to quickly, in terms of drawing connections between different struggles, also wanted to congratulate the Amazon warehouse workers around the country who are courageously going out on the prime day strike to protest dangerous working conditions, inadequate benefits, and really against even, you know, having insecure scheduling.

And they are being joined today by tens of thousands outside who are on the streets protesting no tech for ICE against Amazon's contracts with ICE.

So I think these struggles are tied together.

And we have to be clear also the problem is not that some workers like tech workers are paid more than human service workers.

I think all working people deserve a high standard of living.

The problem is that the biggest businesses and the billionaires are amassing the wealth of society into fewer and fewer hands.

Under capitalism, economies have a cycle of booms and busts.

When the economy is booming, big business makes massive profits, the wealthy get wealthier.

And when the economy falls into recession, then workers are asked to shoulder the costs under the false slogan of shared responsibility.

We should reject this kind of mythology and understand that we have to fight for our rights.

And whether it's a recession or a boom period, we don't accept a low living standard for the workers who make our cities and our services run.

We need to fight to fully fund human services, which means that in addition to today's measure, we urgently need to tax big business and the super rich to provide those funds.

I would also say the council members who have expressed concerns about so-called fiscal responsibility should not have repealed the Amazon tax.

It's a very easy way of addressing fiscal responsibility, which is expand public revenues in a city with the most regressive tax system in the entire nation.

I also think as workers, we should note the ominous pronouncements that have been made that future councils and mayors may do other things.

Yes, that is true, which is why we have to fight for taxes on big business today.

and enshrine it into law.

We also need to fight for rent control to address the alarming rate at which people are being forced out of their homes simply because their rents are going up out of control and further overloading the responsibilities of the human service organizations.

So for the human service workers, it's not gonna be enough to increase wages because if those wages are taken up by disproportionately high rent increases, then it still doesn't help.

So we have to fight for this.

measure today, but also please join us, me, my office, the Tenants Union of Washington State and other organizations in the rent control movement, and specifically I would like to invite you all to our rent control rally at the All Pilgrims Christian Church on Broadway at 500 Broadway East at 6 p.m.

this Saturday, July 20th.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Siwant.

Any further comments before we turn it back over to Council Member Muscata?

Council Member Muscata, you have the floor.

All right.

Well, thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, entire council, and thank all of you for turning out now to half a dozen community meetings just this year alone.

I'm really excited to bring forth this legislation today in its amended version for final passage.

I have to say that we've been working on this for half a year, but many of you have been working on this for over a decade.

I see Allison out there, and at the rally I said, You told me that this was something that we've been working on for 10 years and she said at least 10 years.

So it's very exciting to be able to take this initial step and Council Member Bagshaw is correct and I want to appreciate her leadership in last year's budget.

where the full council was able to include a 2% increase for both the non-general fund and the general fund in last year's budget.

That was an incredibly important first step, but we also at that point committed to passing legislation to end the cycle of uncertainty.

The uncertainty for providers is frontline.

workers, as the leaders of these organizations, and frankly, directly for your clients, the folks that you serve that have come and testified here time after time about how important it was to have case managers and reliable staff at these organizations who have the trust and experience, who can stay in these organizations and help stabilize folks.

This is about making sure that we follow through on that commitment.

And I want to make sure that the folks who are watching understand the type of folks and services that you're helping with.

You're helping, yes, to make sure that people who are most vulnerable get the services that any other country would fund through progressive tax measures, that any other country would lift up and say we have to invest in these.

Here we are in this corner of our country.

trying to make up for a fact that we don't have the revenue that we need to invest in the very fabric of the social safety net that you all actually make possible.

You provide food on the table for seniors through food banks and meal programs.

You make sure that our youth development programs get funded and that people have a safe place to stay at night when they're youth.

You make sure that those who've experienced domestic violence and sexual harassment and assault get the treatment that they need, and sometimes more importantly, the prevention that they need so that they're not in that situation.

You make sure that people have a warm, safe place to stay at night, and you prevent people from falling into homelessness.

As we said at the rally, you are the backbone of what makes our commitment to serving the most vulnerable possible, and today we're showing that we have the backbone to stand up for all of the services that you provide to those most vulnerable.

We also recognize that if the work that you had done had been within a department at the city, if you were city workers, every year you would receive this inflationary adjustment.

Departments, frontline workers here at our city, they get adjustments in the cost of both their operational costs and the dollars that go to staff.

We've intentionally decided to contract with you.

The city has intentionally decided to contract out this work, not because we believe in contracting out, but in this specific case, because we believe that you are the most equipped, the most trusted, you have the experience on the ground level to actually serve our most vulnerable in a way that can be heard, and well-received to help stabilize folks.

You are the individuals that we have invested in, and we need to make sure that the contracts that you receive receive those inflationary adjustments at the bare minimum to keep up with the cost of living.

So it's a really exciting opportunity for us to show that the city values this work, that we're investing in the work that you provide, the strong relationships and the community connectedness that you provide at the ground level.

And we stand by the principle that nothing should be contracted out just because it's cheaper.

We should be contracting out for the very reasons that we are, which is because you are our valued partners.

So we will continue to make sure that we look at this historic underfund that has been mentioned earlier.

by my council colleague.

We know that we can't publicly state our commitment to making sure that the human service contracts, the services that we're providing to the most vulnerable and the workers are valued if we're engaging in a process that forces these organizations in a race to the bottom.

Nobody benefits from that.

And if you're starting off at an amount that is already historically low, if there's a historic underfund for many of these programs and services, you're already at a detriment.

We heard a year ago about chemical dependency counselors who have master's degrees in chemical dependency assistance, starting out at $33,000 a year.

It is no wonder that many folks are struggling to survive on that wage.

We need to address both the historical underfund in the future, and today we take a really important step by making sure that all of your contracts are tied to the Consumer Price Index, the inflationary adjustment that we experience every year, and that those contracts keep up.

I'm really excited that this piece of legislation is coming forward now, and I just want to say a few thank yous.

Thanks to Councilmember Herbold for continuing to support this and standing there at the rally last week, Councilmember Bagshaw for your amendments on the report back, and the reflection piece in there, Councilmember Harold, Council President Harold for your amendment today.

As we look at the fixed and variable costs, we know that in many cases, many of the leaders in these organizations are making heartbreaking decisions about not filling roles.

Because they have to pay for rent.

They have to pay for utilities.

They have to pay for the increased cost of operations.

And the folks who bear the brunt of that are the frontline workers and directly the folks that you serve.

So excited to have an intent language included so that we can really look at that variable cost, which unfortunately has resulted in high turnover rates, 40, 50% vacancy rates among our organizations, and to provide that stability that we need to address as a city because it's a value statement.

I can't do this any more justice than the workers already have.

You heard them speak today.

I think you've heard them speak about a half a dozen times over the last six months.

And they've talked about the important role that they provide The way in which we have, I think, tied the inflationary adjustment to CPIW is a very common sense approach, somebody said in their testimony today, and it is, I think, the value statement that we put forth today in this legislation.

will have years of benefit to come.

So we look forward to working with you, to making sure that this is providing stability, and also continuing to address that historic underfund that I know Council Member O'Brien has continued to bring up, and we look forward to continuing that legacy.

So just to reiterate what's been already said, this is not a budget exercise.

This is a policy and value statement that is embedded in this legislation that the city moves forward today.

And I want to just say a few thank yous, Mr. President, and I will be done.

Please.

Okay.

I want to say thank you to Allison Isinger, Hilary Coleman from the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, Julia from the Seattle Human Services Coalition, Lauren Fay and Nicole Macri from DESC, Shoshana Weinberg and Evelyn Correa from Youth Care, Jesse and Lindsey from SEIU 1199, Kelly Larson from Plymouth Housing, Aaron Moore from West Seattle Helpline, Flo from Catholic Community Services, Jennifer from Ballard Food Bank, Rizwan from Muslim Housing, Alex and Andrew Bean from SEIU 775. Did I say Corrine from OPIU Local 8?

My union.

And all of those organizations, not just those individuals, but all the folks that you've turned out and the frontline staff, the workers, the people on the ground level who have also had those relationships where you brought in the clients themselves who testified at this very table and their words were incredibly powerful.

Thank you again to all of the organizations, SEIU 1199, 775, OPIU Local 8, especially the Human Services Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness.

Thank you all for continuing to come forward.

The folks at Youth Care, we could probably have not have done a better job of articulating those fixed and variable costs without that incredible demographic or graphic that you shared with us.

So thank you for sharing all that information.

And internally, Amy Gore and Jeff Sims from our central staff have been tremendous on this.

Jesse, I know you're no longer with us.

In the City of Seattle, thank you for your ongoing work where you currently are and for what you did with Councilmember O'Brien's staff and Leslie as well.

Mark Okazaki from Neighbor Care wrote an incredible op-ed that we're really excited about that highlights the importance of this work.

and Katie and Nicole from MLK Labor.

Our communications team has been all over sharing the incredible turnout that you guys have done.

I mean, this room was packed how many times?

Six times in the last six months.

So thank you.

And with that came the work of the security guards.

So thank you to our security for helping get folks up here and continue to move folks in and out, especially in the evening meetings.

I also want to say, if we can, a huge round of appreciation for those folks and Sejal Parikh, Chief of Staff, who organized all of this.

So thank you.

for all of your work, Sejong.

And Mr. President, with that, let's do this.

All right.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

I want to make sure we covered all bases here.

Thanks for all of your comments.

Thank you for your leadership.

With that, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Begshaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and Sherwood will sign it.

Well done.

Please read the next and our last agenda item.

Agenda item four, appointment 1380, appointment of Victor M. Lozada as member of Domestic Workers Standards Board for term to February 28th, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Council Member Esqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I'm really excited that this is our last appointment to serve this initial round for the Domestic Workers Standards Board.

This is its ninth and final member for this point in the board's creation.

I'm delighted that the board has chosen a domestic worker and its pick for their board is someone who has firsthand experience in the change making that is needed to make sure that we fully implement the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

Victor has been working on garden-oriented work since 2003, and has been able to bring to the conversations already, and will so in the future, his experience on many domestic workers issues in the industry.

He is an immigrant, he is a first language Spanish speaker, and he is an incredible advocate, as those of you who were at our committee saw last week.

He's incredibly excited about the ability to serve on this board, and we're grateful for his time and service.

Thank you, Council Member Muscat.

Any other comments on Mr. Lozada?

I just found him to be a delightful person.

It was really a fun interview.

Look forward to supporting it.

Okay, those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

That concludes our agenda for the day.

Is there any further business coming for the council?

If not, we stand adjourned and everyone have a great rest of the day.

Thank you.

Bye!