SPEAKER_02
Good morning.
The April 3rd, 2024 meeting of the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee will come to order.
It's 9.30 a.m.
I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Good morning.
The April 3rd, 2024 meeting of the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee will come to order.
It's 9.30 a.m.
I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Councilmember Kettle?
Here.
Councilmember Morales?
Here.
Council President Nelson?
Present.
Vice Chair Rivera.
Present.
Chair Strauss.
Present.
All members present.
Thank you.
We have two items on the agenda today.
Council Bill 120752, Briefing, Discussion, and Possible Vote on Quarter 1 External Grants Acceptance and Appropriations Ordinance.
And Informational Item 2443, a Briefing and Discussion on the Tribal Nations Summit.
Just as an overview, no action items of today, although I think Director Ranon has added some follow-up action items already.
Good work to you, my friend.
Before we begin, if there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
We'll now open the hybrid public comment period.
Clerk, do we have any in-person public comment registrants present?
We do not.
And I see that we have none online.
Can you confirm that to be correct?
Yes, none online either.
Thank you.
Seeing as we have no speakers present, we will close public comment.
The correct wording is seeing as we have no speakers signed up nor remotely present, public comment period is now closed.
We will move on to the next agenda item.
Moving on to the next agenda item, the first item on the agenda today is briefing discussion possible vote on the quarter one external grants acceptance and appropriation order.
Clerk, will you please read the short title into the record?
Item one, Council Bill 120752, Quarter One External Grants Acceptance and Appropriations Ordinance for briefing and discussion.
Thank you.
We received a briefing on this item on March 20th, 2024, FNC Committee meeting.
We're joined again today by Aiden Cizek of Council Central Staff.
He's here to answer any final questions you may have.
As I reminded, just as a reminder, I think this is the third time we've discussed this.
If you had questions to ask outside of session, because the other policy analysts on Central Staff would be more ready to answer the in-depth questions.
Colleagues, I'm going to turn it over to Eden now for just a brief overview, I guess, unless colleagues, do you have questions?
Oh, we have closed public comment.
We didn't have anyone signed up today.
Can we?
I'm ready to go.
I am going to make, colleagues, I'm going to set some pretty formal rules moving forward that I'm not going to accept public comment once it's closed again.
I will make the exception this one time.
But for procedure and practice moving forward, we will not engage in this again, just so everyone's clear.
We've read the short title into the record.
I'm gonna briefly go back to public comment, reminding we have to speak to items on this committee's work plan.
So I'm gonna open the public comment period again.
We will now open the hybrid public comment period.
Comments should relate to the items on today's agenda within the purview of the committee.
Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up?
Oh, we have one speaker.
Great, we have one speaker.
Each speaker will have two minutes.
We will start with the first in-person speaker.
Public comment period is moderated in the following manner.
The public comment period is up to 20 minutes.
Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.
Speakers will alternate.
We will not alternate.
So the public comment period is now open.
We will begin with the first speaker on the list.
Thank you, and I apologize.
I thought there would be other people here.
You're not ready to go.
Okay.
Can you please hand me the sign-in sheet?
Thank you kindly.
First speaker on the list is Heather Peele.
Heather, please welcome.
You have two minutes.
Just please wait for us to get the clock ready.
Clock is ready.
Take it away.
I'm Heather Peel.
I'm a District 7 resident and a Seattle historian, and I'm here to ask you to please include the Duwamish in the city planning.
They are getting left out of planning, whereas they should be included.
The city's history didn't just start over.
OPCD has an indigenous inclusivity guide to be used in planning forward, including the comp plan.
The guide was developed without input of the Duwamish and represented their history inaccurately.
Estad planned to award money and space for indigenous murals on the supports of the West Seattle Bridge, a mile from the Duwamish Longhouse.
The Duwamish were not consulted, nor were they invited to join.
The Parks Department wants to add native art to parks, but without consultation with the Duwamish or an invitation to join.
The city gave a building by the Pike Hill climb to use as an interpretive center, a stone's throw from where Princess Angeline, Chief Self's daughter, had lived.
Chief Sealth was the chief of the Duwamish, so why weren't the Duwamish consulted?
Why does the Indigenous Advisory Council include a broad range of Indigenous opportunities, but it seems like the city has adopted a policy to leave out the Duwamish on things?
I used to work for the city, and it was very inclusive, and so I don't understand what is happening.
I asked the city clerk if there's a council resolution that set some policy about federal recognition and was told that there is no related resolution or citywide policy in their legislative database.
Please help shift the city to being inclusive of the Duwamish at the beginning of planning, not correcting the record later, thank you.
Thank you, Heather.
Always great to see you.
Again, colleagues, that was the final exception I'll make for late public comment.
Seeing as we have no additional speakers present, we will move on to the next agenda item.
For the matter of the record, Clerk, will you please reread the short title of the first agenda item into the record?
Council Bill 120752, Quarter 1, External Grants Acceptance and Appropriations Ordinance for Briefing and Discussion.
Thank you.
We have already read this.
Eden, back to you.
Mike.
For the record.
Yeah, hit the green button.
How about now?
Good to go.
For the record, my name is Adam Sisich with Council Central Staff, and this is the second briefing on Council Bill 120752, the First Quarter Grant Acceptance and Appropriation Ordinance, which provides authority for city departments to accept and appropriate grant revenues from non-city sources.
In the first briefing, I provided a summary and some background of the bill, highlighted some of the grants that make up the bulk of the funding, essentially shared information that was distributed in the memo that was provided on March 18th, which is also attached to the agenda for this week as well, if you need to refer to it.
And given that there are no proposed amendments, today I'll briefly walk through the legislation, next steps, what's coming up over the coming three months in finance committee for similar comprehensive budget adjustments legislation.
So on slide one, so as a reminder, Council Bill 120752 is the first comprehensive grant legislation submitted by the executive in 2024 authorizing city departments to accept $10.5 million and appropriate $7.8 million from external sources.
About 80% of that is SPU funding.
And so it was for SPU projects.
And so in lieu of going through the grants again, I'll remind you all to refer to the memo or the summary attachment A, which includes a brief description and additional details on each of the grants that you see on the table on the right.
And so assuming a favorable vote, as soon as I'm done with this slide, it'll be on the agenda for a final vote on April 16th at the full council meeting.
And so some, I just thought I'd highlight some of the upcoming budget adjustments legislation that's coming in the next few months.
So we've got the year end carry forward, which reappropriates unspent O&M dollars from the 2023 budget for appropriations that for various reasons weren't spent in 2023. Then we also have the budget exceptions, which provides retroactive budget appropriations for the departments that overspent their budgets at the BCL level, which is the legal level that we appropriate it at.
And you'll learn a lot more about that in the coming weeks.
And also we will have another grants acceptance ordinance during the mid-year supplemental process as well.
And so that wraps up my presentation for this.
Thank you.
Colleagues, any questions?
This is my fourth, possibly fifth briefing on this item.
So I'm pretty good to go, but I just want to check in colleagues.
And I see you've stunned the crowd.
Got well done.
If there are no final comments before the bill, I will move recommended passage of Council Bill 120752. Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It has been moved and seconded to recommend passage of Council Bill 120752. Any final comments?
I'll just share that this is a departure from past practice where we've waited throughout the year, later in the year to accept and appropriate grants.
This exercise of doing it in the first quarter is assisting us to understand what the budget hole actually is and what our spending actually, where our spending levels really are today.
So I appreciate that change from the executive.
Seeing as there are no final comments, will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Kettle.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council President Nelson.
Aye.
Vice Chair Rivera.
Aye.
Chair Strauss.
Yes.
All yeses, no nos.
Five in favor, none opposed.
Council Bill 120752 passes and will be sent to the April 16th City Council meeting.
Thank you, colleagues.
Thank you, Eden.
Hopefully that's how the rest of the budget session goes.
Thanks.
Look, you can always be positive.
The second item on the agenda today is a briefing discussion on tribal governments and Native communities overview.
Clerk, will you please read the short title into the record?
And thank you for already joining us at the committee table.
Item two, informational item 2443, City of Seattle Tribal Nation Summit Overview, Briefing and Discussion.
Thank you.
We are joined today by Tribal Relations Director Tim Raynon, Indigenous Advisory Council Liaison Francesca Murnon, and Councilmember Jay Mills from the Suquamish Tribe.
Great to see you in person, Councilmember Mills.
I know that we've met on the internet a couple times.
It's always better in person.
For the record, we did invite Council President Deborah Juarez.
She is busy working in with another tribe today.
So she still can't retire somehow.
Deep gratitude for your presence today.
Thank you for letting us be your guests here in our house.
I'll ask, do you prefer that we hold our questions or do you want to have more of a conversation as we go?
We can have a conversation as we go.
Okay.
Well, I'm going to turn it over to you, and colleagues, if you have questions, raise your hand, and we'll just have a conversation.
Great.
Good day to you, honorable, noble people, my dear people.
My name is Tim Raynon.
I'm a member of the Puyallup tribe.
and I am the Tribal Relations Director for the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
Chair Strauss, members of the committee, we're grateful for the opportunity to share some information with you today about the inaugural City of Seattle Tribal Nations Summit, which was held last May 2nd here at City Hall.
Today, myself and Francesca and Councilmember Mills will share some contextual information about the summit to help bring the new City Councilmembers up to speed on the summit and why it was historic, what's been accomplished since then, and where we go from here.
We're very pleased, again, to have Councilmember Jay Mills, who's a member of the Suquamish Tribal Council and a member of the Indigenous Advisory Council here with us today.
And so we'll have him introduce himself.
Well, it's such a great honor.
I mean, this is the first time that I've been in front of the City Council.
It's a great honor to address you and see Chief Seattle's logo right up on the...
behind you is very humble to me.
And I really appreciate that.
I am a Suquamish tribal member, but my descendancy is Duwamish.
So I think that's important to note.
When I was asked to sit on the advisory council, I didn't want it to be a political thing.
But I know that there's been some issues and concerns about Duwamish not being represented.
But again, my lineage is through the Duwamish tribe.
Um, I've been on council.
I was just elected about two weeks ago to another term, three-year term.
Congratulations.
Yeah, it's been 28 years in, and I hope to retire maybe on my 31st year.
I've been employed with my tribe for 45 years.
April will be 46 years.
So I've seen a lot of growth within the tribe in those 45-plus years.
My kids were asking me, you know, why run again?
You should retire.
But there's still a lot of work to be done.
And so I look forward to the opportunity to working on the Indigenous Advisory Council, working with the City of Seattle.
all the different departments.
I think Mayor Harold's summit, I know it meant a lot to me and a lot of our other members that attended, council members that attended.
It was an opportunity to express how treaty rights extend beyond our reservation boundaries.
And Mayor Harold wanted to ensure that his staff understood that.
And I think that, you know, it only took 168 years for that meeting to take place.
So this is just the beginning.
And we truly look forward to the opportunities to learn more about one another.
and getting some good work done.
So with that, I'll turn it over to Francesca.
Council Member Mills, may I take a step from there?
Because where we first met was doing government-to-government consultation.
Well, not actually through the tribe, so I can't say that directly, but we consulted through the Indigenous Advisory Council about a bill.
We were just, the mayor and Council Member Wu, Director Raynon and I were just meeting with North Skagit Indian tribe and the Sauk Seattle tribe.
And something that really stood out to me about the meeting was, you know, it was a different, they were very different meetings, right?
And what I can say about the Sauk Seattle meeting was that it was a moment of coming back together, opening communication, reopening communication and creating direct dialogue in true government-to-government consultation.
One of the complicating factors in the relationship had been there was representation that the city had engaged in government-to-government consultation with Sauk Seattle Tribe because a staff member had spoken to another staff member on email once.
And the clarification that government to government consultation is not a staff member to a staff member sending an email.
It is council members to council members or chairman to mayor meeting.
And that's why I just wanted to take this moment to discuss that a little bit further, because this work that we've been doing to formalize government-to-government consultation, if we misstep, it will create ripples for many years, because we're really setting the foundation for the first time.
And that's also why I wanted to clarify that when I met with you via the IAC, that was not government-to-government consultation with Suquamish Tribe.
That was consultation with the IAC.
I was going to say this all before, but when you made those remarks, it called me to speak to it.
I appreciate that.
Thank you all, and I'd like to thank Councilmember Mills for the collaborative spirit that he's brought to the Indigenous Advisory Council.
He's been a very strong leader in that group, and we're grateful that he's here with us today.
My name is Francesca Murnan.
I am a citizen of the Shawnee Tribe and of the Cherokee Nation, originally from Southeast Kansas, but have been in Seattle since 2008, and I work in our Department of Neighborhoods as the staff support to the Indigenous Advisory Council.
Yeah, and I just want to also express my appreciation to Councilmember Mills for all the time and energy that he's put forward to help guide and lead the city's work.
He and his Indigenous Advisory Tribal Leaders Caucus colleagues really helped guide the formation and the development of the structure agenda for the summit.
And so we really appreciate his time and effort and also want to express my appreciation for Francesca for all of her support in not only the IAC, but also in the tribal relations work.
We work closely together to make sure that the tribe's voices are heard consistently.
So now we'll talk more about the Tribal Nations Summit.
In May, as I mentioned last year, our office coordinated the inaugural City of Seattle Tribal Nations Summit with support from the IAC and Department of Neighborhoods and several other city departments.
The Tribal Nations Summit was an exercise of the government-to-government relationship between the city and the 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington state, and is modeled after best practices from the federal and state governments.
On the federal level, the president convenes an annual Tribal Nations Summit at the White House, and here in Washington state, the governor convenes the annual Centennial Accord meetings every year in Olympia.
And so we patterned the city's Tribal Nations Summit after those best practices.
The summit marked the beginning of the city's journeys to better honor and respect tribal sovereignty and local governance, and engage tribal nations as sovereign governments and regional partners.
The idea for the summit was developed following my visits to many of the tribal reservations and meetings with tribal councils, where I broached the issue with the councils.
And during those meetings, they were supportive of the idea of having a summit, but they made it very clear that they didn't want it to just be sitting around a table and talking.
They wanted it to result in concrete actions.
meaningful actions for tribes and native communities.
And as I mentioned, the Indigenous Advisory Council Tribal Caucus helped us organize and structure the agenda.
In our March 6th presentation to this committee, we provide an overview of some of the historical, political, and legal context that shapes tribal relations.
As many of you know, there was a time in our city's history under ordinance number five of the Seattle township in 1865, when native people were banned from residing within city limits.
This summit came 168 years after tribal representatives were coerced into gathering at Mukilteo to sign the Treaty of Point Elliott, where significant lands and resources were ceded in exchange for reserve rights and lands.
During this era, there were several treaties signed that impact numerous tribal nations that the city works with today.
Historically, tribal nations are too often consulted on issues, are too often not consulted on issues directly impacting tribal trust and treaty rights, nor provided the opportunity to be at the table for critical decisions affecting the quality of life of their residents and all residents of the region.
It is with this grounding that we set out to host the city's inaugural Tribal Nations Summit.
The summit had two key goals that we were wanting to accomplish.
First, identify actions and desired outcomes, as I mentioned before, that uphold sovereignty and treaty rights of federally recognized tribes.
And secondly, to build partnerships, strengthen collaboration, and enhance diplomacy.
In other words, build and strengthen relationships between the city and the tribes.
At the summit, elected leaders and staff from 11 federally recognized tribal nations attended.
All 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington received an invitation because we understand that tribal interests and local government extend well beyond the geographical boundaries of local jurisdictions.
City policies, services, utility infrastructure have far reaching impacts for tribal nations and tribal citizens that live, work, play, and exercise tribal treaty rights and sovereignty in and around the city and across our region.
We also recognize that Nearly all, if not all, of our tribes have members that live, work, and spend time here in the city, and therefore are very interested in how the city addresses issues that affect their citizens.
Before you go on, did you say 79 tribes were invited?
29.
29, thank you.
Yeah, 29.
Portions of the summit engaged representatives from urban Native organizations that are recognized as American Indian and Alaska Native service providers, advisory bodies, public health authorities, and public development authorities through local, state, or federal statute.
The relationship and engagement of these recognized providers is distinct from the government-to-government engagement, but it represents the ongoing trust obligations to tribal citizens regardless of where we live.
Representatives from the listed six urban Indian organizations offered critical guidance and expertise to the conversation, especially in the areas of public health, health care, housing, and gender-based violence response, as well as other human services.
It was with deep respect, humor, wisdom, and honesty that these tribal and urban Native leaders told us how we at the city can be better partners with our tribal nations, our urban Native community in Seattle, and beyond.
Francesca, before we move on, can you share how these organizations were chosen?
Yes.
So these are all recognized in local, state, or federal statute, and this is also following that best practice that Tim mentioned from the federal and state government.
So they all carry different responsibilities.
The Advisory Council, for example, is a city public commission by code, and these other service providers are recognized in state or federal statute as public health authorities, public development authorities, et cetera.
Thank you.
Yep.
My one slide off.
Excellent.
Apologies, my slides are a little out of whack.
We won't read everyone on this list, but this gives you a sense of the broad interdepartmental support that was represented in the summit.
And these are folks that are either actively or invested in tribal engagement work.
through their city departments.
They all have varying levels of engagement with tribes and urban Indian organizations, and they all seek to strengthen those relationships and their understanding and ability to be better partners.
There are 17 city departments represented here from the executive and legislative branches and two county or regional partners.
Oh, I thought we were friends.
You put that ugly mug on the paper.
All right, keep going.
We know how much you enjoy Councilmember Takala's smile, so we thought we'd get yours in there, too.
During the summit, elected tribal leaders shared their priorities with Mayor Harrell and deputy mayors through a listening session, followed by an opportunity for Seattle city leadership to listen and learn directly from those tribal leaders on how to work together more effectively as government and regional partners.
Tribal and urban native leaders then engaged in direct talks and candid conversations focused on three areas of shared concern, which were housing and homelessness, natural and cultural resources, and public safety.
The discussions reminded us of our historic opportunity to shape a new future for city tribal relations.
For the first time, city and tribal elected representatives met to honor your respective authorities to serve our people and protect the lands and waters that we share.
So the next two slides break out the key themes of the listening sessions and topical discussions.
Our office and Department of Neighborhood staff analyze the comments from tribal and urban native leaders and staff to identify these themes.
They are listed in order of prevalence in the discussions.
The most frequently discussed topic was the urgent need for communication, consultation, and collaboration.
Examples that were shared during these discussions included the need to engage early and often in consultation on any policy, plan, project, or action that impacts or may impact tribal interests.
Also discussed were the need to develop citywide tribal consultation and urban confer policies.
and the need to coordinate with city, county, and tribal government agencies and urban Indian organizations on issues of mutual concern.
The second most frequently discussed item was cultural vitality and visibility.
Histories of settler colonization and systemic oppression contribute to a limited visibility of our diverse tribal and urban native communities in this region.
Coast Salish tribal communities are long-term stewards of the land and waters, including today's federally recognized tribes, who continue to protect cultural resources in and around the city of Seattle, despite having been forcibly relocated and displaced.
Native people have inherent relationships and unbreakable connections to this place and must be included in the development of thriving ecological and cultural ecosystems within their homelands.
Tribal and urban native leaders stress the importance of indigenous cultural placemaking and support for their cultural revitalization efforts.
This could range from partnerships with tribal language programs, planning support for the annual tribal canoe journey, and investments in tribal and urban native art installations.
The third key theme was education and awareness.
Attendees recognize that the first step to informed and respectful tribal and urban native engagement comes through education and awareness opportunities.
Some of the examples discussed during the summit include city training and opportunities to learn directly from tribal leaders and urban native leaders.
and also improved accuracy analysis and sharing of data on American Indian and Alaska Native people, particularly for law enforcement, criminal, legal, and social service agencies that address issues of missing and murdered indigenous people, including gender-based violence responses.
Research has found that often native people are racially misclassified or data is not collected, resulting in service gaps and siloed responses from individuals and families most impacted by violence.
Director Ranon, I'll just add one of my reflections from that conversation, which was when we have somebody from another country here in the city of Seattle that's either arrested, murdered, or missing, there is a formal practice that is set up between our governments where we notify the government of that country.
what has been lacking is that we do not do that with tribal governments and if somebody is arrested murdered or has gone missing in our city the fabric is not necessarily their mother daughter you know that level of relative but within the entire community there is a support network knowledge base and needing to receive that information and i think that it was It really struck me that that was something that we were missing in our bureaucracy and that needed to be completed.
I'm not going to ask you if it's done yet because I know we're still working on it.
Colleagues, I promised that I wasn't going to ask for complete action on every single item today.
But I did want to highlight that that was an important piece of information that came out.
Yeah, and since the summit, since that conversation, there have been conversations with SPD about doing just that.
We aren't there yet, but the conversations have been started.
there's public safety in every committee.
Council Member Cattle.
Chair, yes, thank you for that.
And I appreciate the opportunity to follow up, you know, to, you know, in my conversations that I have with Chief Diaz.
So please, you know, go ahead and contact me or my staff and I will definitely follow up on that.
So thank you.
Will do.
Thank you.
In the second set of themes, we heard several references to the ongoing need to build trust.
Trust building requires sustained commitment, accountability, transparency, and reciprocity.
Attendees shared the need to repair trust by embracing the vulnerability and discomfort of confronting institutional and systemic racism within our city institutions.
Attendees also noted that trust building must happen in all areas of city government, ranging from law enforcement to housing and homelessness response systems to cultural resource protection.
tribal and urban Native leaders shared that Native people carry high levels of distrust for government institutions and often seek tribal and Native-led programs that provide culturally responsive services.
In the area of equitable resource allocation and partnerships, attendees reminded us of the political status of tribal nations and many urban Native organizations, Attendees expressed the need to expand and scale culturally attuned service models through targeted investments such as funding set-asides that recognize the trust and treaty obligations that are tied to federal and state resources that are dispersed through local governments.
And finally, attendees called on the city to be bold and innovative to address some of our most challenging issues as a regional community.
Native communities have long understood the incorporation of indigenous knowledge, culture, tradition, and life ways are essential components of fostering a new era of innovation.
Some examples shared at the summit included a need to commit to advancing tribal priorities to protect cultural and natural resources, especially as we transition to increase renewable energy sources.
Attendees also called attention to a new set of federal guidance that calls on federal agencies to recognize the contributions of indigenous knowledge and provides directives to federal agencies for integration of this knowledge into everything from healthcare to natural resource management, and that has happened under the Biden administration.
You can find more detail on these key themes in our summit report that's linked online at the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, and we've provided a few hard copies here today.
As mentioned earlier, we wanted to ensure that the summit would result in concrete action items so that the city is equipped to truly respond to the guidance shared by tribal and urban native leaders.
Therefore, 23 initial actions were identified in partnership with city departments, the mayor's office, and other city stakeholders.
In the next slide, we will share some of these actions and our progress to date.
We are clear that these only mark the beginning of our efforts to strengthen government-to-government relationships with tribal nations and to define our role in fulfilling trust and treaty obligations to tribal and urban native communities.
We look forward to working with the city, tribal, and urban native partners in the months and years ahead to achieve and expand upon these items.
Again, those 23 commitments can be viewed in the report that is available on the OIR website and in the hard copies that we have provided.
So looking back from where we are right now, there's certainly much we can already be proud of and the work that we've been able to accomplish so far.
while also acknowledging that the city still has a lot of work to do.
This slide here shares a few of the highlights of our work to date.
This year, we plan to develop a work group to explore mechanisms for formalizing tribal relations, and that outlines the city's commitment to working with tribal nations and urban native organizations to better fulfill trust and treaty obligations.
These exploratory conversations will help us understand what policy tools best advance our shared goals.
As you heard from our last presentation, we hosted the Tribal Nations Gathering with the Seattle Parks and Recreation in January.
During the gathering, we clearly heard the request from tribal and city partners to develop a more systematized approach to tribal engagement and consultation.
We intend to continue these topical gatherings with other city departments in the years ahead.
We are making progress to improve our data and tracking of tribal relations work across the city to better tell the story of this work and how it impacts the city and our tribal partners.
In the area of education and awareness building, We are collaborating with our partners in human resources to plan for city training, and we continue to coordinate outreach and visits to tribal communities to ensure city leaders are learning directly from tribal leaders and representatives.
Sorry, may I ask a question?
Yes, Vice Chair, please.
Tim, can you please talk a little bit more about this training curriculum and what it would include?
Because this is a really important piece and I want to learn more.
Yeah, yeah.
We're working with HR to develop eight modules that will basically give an overview of tribal nations and the history, the government-to-government relationship.
protocols for working with tribes and engaging with tribes.
We are hoping to get those started rolling out here in the next month or so for the first one.
We will roll out each of the modules as they are developed.
And part of that training we want, again, to have city leaders and staff hear directly from tribal leaders and staff and hear their perspectives.
And so we will be working with the local tribes and urban native organizations to provide information as part of that training process.
But our hope is that over the next year or so, we will be able to roll out all of the modules on Cornerstone and have those available to all city staff.
And I think this is a really important piece.
I think that should be one of those that are required versus ones that are just available.
Thank you for doing that work.
That's a good catch, Vice Chair.
Director Radon, you're saying that these are not required.
We are still having those conversations.
Copy.
That's great.
Don't want to rush anything because I told you I wouldn't ask for action items.
But oftentimes, I mean, for anyone who's watching, there's a lot of training opportunities on Cornerstone, which is the online system that we use when we offer trainings to employees across the city.
Some trainings are required and some are not.
And I'm just encouraging us to the city in general to putting in a plug that this should be one of those required ones because it's really important as city employees that we are educated about tribal relations and how to best foster and nurture those as we do the work with our partners.
Totally agree.
Thank you.
Council President, I believe SDHR reports to your committee, so maybe that'll be something that we'll be following up with as a group.
Indeed.
And what really...
I know I wasn't going to ask questions because I promised, but here we are.
What strikes me about this is really important is working with you, Director Raynon, to understand protocols, procedures, and how to complete government-to-government consultation.
It's been a learning lesson for me, and taking on Council President's role here, I've got big shoes to fill.
I'm going to do my best, and I'm going to make mistakes.
And...
Just that conversation with Sauk Seattle about what is government-to-government consultation.
If somebody of the staff in the city of Seattle thinks that sending an email is consultation, this is what that training can mitigate, is my hope, among many other things.
Correct, yeah.
No?
I just want to thank you for putting the action items in here, even though you said you weren't going to.
In the past year, city departments have made great strides in increasing tribal outreach, engagement, and inclusion of tribal priorities into city plans.
For example, the Office of Planning and Community Development outreached many and engaged several tribes in the comprehensive plan update.
This has been complemented with other OPCD efforts to engage urban native communities and perspectives.
And as a result, you'll see that there are more references to tribal and urban native priorities in the draft comprehensive plan than we've seen in previous cycles.
It's an important reminder of the ongoing need to improve tribal engagement and inclusion in all city plans that may affect tribal interest.
In the area of art, infrastructure, and capital projects, this administration has supported years of work from city and tribal partners to increase visibility of tribal and urban native communities to the redevelopment of the Seattle waterfront.
including support for the upcoming Tribal Interpretive Center.
And in the coming years, there'll be many opportunities to increase tribal partnerships and tribal and urban native representation through arts and cultural placemaking in public spaces.
In the area of education, still got my slides messed up.
In the area of natural and cultural resource management, the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, City Light, and the Mayor's Office continue to consult with tribes on the Skagit and Tolt FERC relicensing processes.
And SBD has also initiated some work with tribal and urban native partners through their Before the Batch trainings.
So this work is a long process of rebuilding and building new tools that foster better city-tribal relationships.
We are only beginning to truly understand the breadth and depth of opportunities that are available in the near and long term.
The need is great and we are looking to our partners across the city who are stepping up to leverage existing resources and looking to new grant opportunities to make more progress in this work.
We look forward to continuing to engage with this committee and the legislative branch in the months and years ahead.
Now we would like to turn some time over to Council Member Mills to share his reflections on the Tribal Nations Summit and maybe share some impressions of how things have gone since the summit.
Well, again, it's been quite an honor to represent the Suquamish Tribe on this Indigenous Advisory Council.
Um, you know, I, you know, I have to take a ferry and come across, um, and I feel like an outsider and I shouldn't feel like that.
And, you know, I've been trying to get our council to look at getting an office, uh, here in the city of Seattle, um, acquiring some property, whether it were lease or rent, you know, but I really think it's important for us to to have a home base here in the city of Seattle, and that's long overdue.
So that's what I feel when I come to the meetings and the advisory council.
I feel like the outsider, and I don't like that feeling.
So that's something I need to work on, and I know I've been working on our council to...
I guess, support it and try to get that office here in Seattle.
So the work with the advisory council, like I say, it's been 168 years overdue.
It's going to be a process.
I know we're not going to have all the answers, but I think the fact that we're actually having these meetings and hearing the issues and concerns and being able to talk about the issues and concerns and whether or not we have some solutions or some help to find solutions to some of the issues.
I know I took an oath to protect our treaty rights for our membership, and, you know, when I look out at the Salish Sea, I look at that as a food source.
I think too many people look at it as transportation and recreation, and all the pollution that occurs in that, in what I call my food My backyard, it needs to be addressed.
It needs to be looked at.
So protecting the treaty rights or to protect those resources.
And so working with the city of Seattle in any way we can to make that happen is important to the tribes.
You know, we had one of the first meetings with the Seattle Parks Department where they literally asked the tribes, you know, for input and support.
And it's a very...
humbling feeling you know that they were sincere about it you know and um you know and i i think that again it's it's just the start it's only been like a year and a half um you know into this and and i know uh there's so much more work to be done um i think um you know uh I know I can't speak for the other members of the council, but I know that they're passionate about the work that we're trying to accomplish.
And, you know, we just appreciate your support and recognize, you know, the indigenous advisory council and the work that we need to be done.
So I thank you for listening.
Thank you, Council Member Mills.
It's really an honor to have you here.
It's an honor to be here.
Like you say, I look up and see Chief Seale and, uh, you know, that means a lot.
I mean, and my, my, like I say, my first time, I'm going on 28 years on, on council, uh, first time addressing, uh, you guys.
And, uh, And like I say, we'd love to have you over to Suquamish.
You know, I know at the Seattle Parks and Rec, I end up bringing, I brought some native foods for one of the luncheons.
I think some people had geoduck for the first time, whether it was in chowder or fritters and some elk stew.
So they really appreciate it.
And it was, that's what I do.
I, I cook a lot of the tribal foods for the tribe.
So it was fun to be able to share.
And we'd love to have you guys over to Suquamish.
You know, we'll send a canoe over.
I'd love it.
I'd love it.
And for, you know, we have six new council members of nine.
And why I keep kind of resetting the foundation of where we are in this world and along this path and process is this is the first time we've had this type of interaction in chambers.
Absolutely.
And that's why I think both Councilmember Mills and I are a bit stunned and taken back, because we hope that this is going to not only be formalized moving forward, but expanded.
Absolutely.
Councilmember Mills, my reflections in my growing up, the hill that I grew up in in Ballard, I can see the Suquamish tribal lands.
I can see where Chief Sealth is buried from the home that I grew up in.
Not from the home, but from...
You can't see Alaska from...
Yeah, if I walk a couple blocks, I can see him.
And I'm a paddler myself, and I was really stunned.
I wasn't so surprised, but it was enlightening to realize that it takes an hour to paddle from Ballard to your tribal lands.
Yeah.
It takes an hour and a half to drive and take the ferry.
There you go.
I know I was on the first, I was the Paddle Seattle in 1989. I didn't paddle canoe because I was the support boat.
But a critical role.
You're just as important.
Vice Chair, did you have something?
Council Member Kettle.
A couple things, just to sum up.
A, this seems perfectly normal to me, so I don't have the history.
Obviously, I'm brand new, so I just look at this as, okay, we're moving forward.
And as part of this process, I will follow up with my team regarding, you know, the outreach with SPD on the point that you raised in terms of notifications.
which makes total sense to me.
The intricacies of that we'll work through.
I also, it's good for the reminder too on the parks piece in terms of a systemized approach with respect to parks that came out of the Tribal Nations Gathering.
And what better park to use as a test case than Portal Park?
So I can write a note to Superintendent Diaz and saying, hey, out of this, let's use Portal Park as like a test run just to work through the mechanics of this process.
And I think that's a good way to do that.
The last thing I will say, great briefing, questionable use of photos involving the chair, and I note that the chair does not have any diplomatic training.
As someone who's been to the Foreign Service Institute, my diplomatic passport is expired, but I still have it.
We'll get some diplomatic training for our chair.
Thank you, Council Member Kettle.
Council President.
Thank you very much for this briefing.
I attended the morning session and in parts of the afternoon, and I have to say it was a tremendously humbling experience to be with heads of nations when you really think about it.
So thank you very much for that.
So my question, going back to the topic of government-to-government, What is the vehicle or does there exist one for accessing opioid settlement dollars?
So this is top of mind ever since my conversation with Councilmember Nick Lewis, and I'm now cluing into updates on that.
What can county just establish a state of emergency?
But my point is that so for a particular need, and this was discussed in the afternoon session of the summit, Do you have to go through the counties or is it the health board or?
Go ahead.
You get my question.
Well, I'm not really sure, but I know this is a pretty passionate subject for me because I almost lost a son to opioid addiction, fentanyl, you know.
And, you know, I'm sorry, is that me?
Sorry.
No.
This is Robocall.
Sorry.
But, you know, he was fishing up in, I'd say, Anacortes area and helped another tribe, you know, that broke down get in.
And he was handed a couple of pills.
And my son took them.
and flatlined and was brought back.
I think it took a three Narcan to bring him back.
So this is a very passionate subject for me.
I had a daughter that suffered from an opioid addiction as well.
Both are doing extremely well now, but are very lucky.
So, you know, accessing these dollars I think is important.
I know in Olympia we had just gotten, I think, $4.5 million to get a detox facility, you know, on reservation.
And so I know...
It took a lot to get it through because they wanted shovel-ready projects, and we said we can make it happen.
And so we were able to access, you know, through the state, you know, $4.5 million to get a detox facility on our reservation.
So I'm not sure if that answers the question completely, but, you know.
Thank you.
That was just so that the...
the money was dispersed to states and then down to counties and then down to cities.
And what I'm not hearing in there is any kind of tribal representation or, so that's why I was asking how do you?
Yeah, we got a small amount on the monies filtered down by population of our tribe, which is very large.
So very small portion of money that came down through.
Although I did say at our last general council meeting, we just changed our constitution to drop our blood lineage from 1 8th to 1 16th.
So our...
Well, I got 19 grandkids and only 17 of them are able to be enrolled.
And so this will be able to get them enrolled.
So what I wanted to say is that our enrollment will be going up.
We don't know how much, but that was just happened three weeks ago where we had a constitutional change, changed our blood quantum from 1 8th to 1 16th to be an enrolled Suquamish tribal member.
So, you know, but again, it's based on our enrollment, how many members you had where you were just, you know, you were given a portion of those settlement, opioid settlement dollars.
So very, very small amount.
I would just add one description to that.
At the state level, I believe there was a tribal specific opioid settlement that was a carve out.
So when we talked about set asides of the state having that centennial accord, that understanding of their government to government relationship, that's where we see that practice come into play when they're able to set aside a portion of the resources.
Now, is it enough of the resources?
That's the question, but we do have a very extensive Indian healthcare system in this state.
with our 29 federally recognized tribes and two urban Indian health programs, one in Seattle and one in Spokane.
And they are critical partners at the state level and often receive set-aside resources to do that portion of the work.
And so some of the things we shared today, we're exploring how that could look at a local level.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Vice Chair.
Chair, thank you.
I just want to thank you all for coming.
Welcome to Seattle and to being in space with us here today.
Also, I really wanted to recognize former council member Juarez, who really was instrumental in all of us even being in space and having this conversation today.
So I understand she couldn't be here.
but she was really the driving force, and I really wanted to acknowledge her again.
I know, Chair, you acknowledged her earlier, so I want to bookend at the end and just really acknowledge her for all that hard work and her constant and still continuing work to make sure that these relationships are happening and that we are giving focus to the tribes.
So I wanted to say that.
Thank you.
It takes nine of us to fill her shoes.
More.
But we only have nine.
Yes.
Colleagues, any other questions or reflections?
When Director Raynard and I had discussed coming to committee, there was, and I'm gonna share transparently, there was a little bit of a concern that we didn't have everything solved and ready for presentation.
And I shared that it's more important to walk along the path because had we gotten to the point in the year where you did have resolution or completion on some of these tasks, to come up to speed would take too much time to then understand where we were in going forward.
And so I really appreciate you taking that trust fall with me because this is really important work and I'd really like to have you back.
And, you know, Councilmember Mills, I'm going to take you up.
I think that more, even, not even consultation, but more government to government interaction is really important.
And that's how we live this legacy of Council President Juarez.
Yeah.
Which one?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yes, of course.
Thank you so much.
I'll tell you my gooey duck story.
Not on the record.
Anything else?
We're good.
Thank you so much for the time on your agenda today.
I appreciate you all.
Before we wrap up here, I'm just going to, and I probably should have done this at the beginning, but wanted to recognize the government-to-government consultation that we engaged in last week with the North Skagit Indian Tribe.
Doreen Shuler cannot, if you want to know where Deborah Juarez got it, talk to Doreen.
And Chair Scott Shuler, Janelle Shuler, three generations ago, as well as Lanai, Councilmember McLeod, Councilmember Mathias, and I believe Vice Chair Scott.
It was really an amazing and productive meeting, coming closer and closer together.
I think there are definitely some, Just for background, we're talking about the Federal Energy Relicensing Commission, FERC relicensing of our Skagit hydropower dams, which is not, there's been a lot of issues around it.
And we're in a really good place right now with North Skagit Indian Tribe.
And then as well with the SOC Seattle, there were a number of suits that were resolved recently, which is what has allowed us to reopen communications.
So Chair Nino Maltos II with good hair, Vice Chair Nino Maltos.
And I'm going to mess these up because this is all from memory, but I believe it was Councilmember Alex, Demi, Councilmember Natalie, and Charlotte.
But I... This is all from memory, and I should have done my homework first, but I just want to say that it was really an amazing time to do this government-to-government consultation with Soxial and to understand we talked about blood-level quantums and what that means and what it means to be a reservation in Darrington and not on I-5.
And at the end of the day, our Skagit hydro facilities, which provide 25% of the electricity for our city, also have deep impacts on not only these two tribes, but also the Swinomish.
The Swinomish are closer to La Conner, but the river that goes all the way from La Conner all the way to Canada, where we have these three dams, it's very important that we are meeting the obligations of doing right by these tribes.
And that's what this formal process of the relicensing is allowing.
So it was a really good set of meetings.
Just wanted to raise our hands to them.
In our committee, our next committee meeting will be April 17th.
It will be a select budget committee where we will be getting into the details of our review and examination of our budgeting process.
Again, this is a process that is not standard for previous years and we're going deeper into our budget now than in many years past.
And so we'll be, council members, I do ask We will be joined by all members, at least they're always invited, but with select, they're actually supposed to show up.
And so my ask, like I said yesterday, if all nine of us spoke for 10 minutes, we'd be here for an hour and a half on one topic.
So my request is to have briefings with Ali Panucci ahead of time so that you can really dig into the details.
Again, there will be time reserved that if you wanna share things on the record for the viewing public, there's always that opportunity.
But if you're really interested to get that in-depth briefing where you can have conversations and back and forth to dig deeper, I do ask that that happens ahead of the meeting.
And lastly, at our last committee meeting, we had our security guard, James Rogan, in chambers.
Since then, James has passed away while on service here in City Hall.
And Just wanted to recognize him.
With that, that concludes the Wednesday.
Yeah, please.
If you would indulge me, I wanted to clarify a point I made earlier when I said welcome to Seattle.
I meant the city council.
You all have been here.
I feel privileged to be here with you.
So I thought about.
how that came out and it's not how it was intended and I wanted to clarify that's what I meant in chambers because you said you had never been here so just yes and you should thank you vice chair for saving me there because I did want to say a couple more things about James James was a dedicated public servant to city hall for many many many years it had been a couple years since I'd seen him and I was really excited to see him in committee last time around and um honor his passing.
With that, that concludes the Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024 Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee meeting.
Thank you for attending.
We are adjourned.
Thank you.