Seattle City Council 1/6/2020

What are we doing?

I'm waiting for the cameras to come on.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Welcome.

The January 6, 2020 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.06 p.m.

I'm Sharma Sawant, president pro tem of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Gonzales?

Here.

Herbold?

Here.

Juarez?

Here.

Lewis?

Here.

Morales?

Here.

Peterson?

Here.

Strauss?

Present.

Council President Pro Tem Sawant?

Yes.

Bates?

Present.

I would like to take this time to acknowledge and honor elected tribal leadership in the room.

We are joined today by Leonard Forsman, Council Chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, Robin Little-Wing-Sago, Council Member of the Suquamish Tribe, and Judge Leona Colgrove of the Tulalip Tribal Court.

To explain for members of the public, I am starting this meeting because I am now the most senior council member and per the council rules, the senior council member acts as council president pro tem until the majority of the council elects a president, which is going to happen in a moment.

At that time, I will switch seats with the new council president who will chair the rest of the meeting today.

I think it is worth noting that the socialist of the city council has become the most senior council member.

I think it reflects the times we live in and a change for good.

And this has happened even at a time when big business and billionaires went on a ferocious attack using their powerful wealth and political power.

It shows that it is time and it's important for elected representatives to genuinely fight for the interests of ordinary people.

And if we are unwavering in that, then working class people will stand up and feel empowered to resist the attacks from big business.

And I look forward to working with all council members on this, the most progressive city council in recent times.

And I hope that we will together have the courage to boldly re-institute the Amazon tax, the tax on big business to fund affordable housing and vital services to ensure that our city is affordable for all working people and not just a playground for the wealthy.

Finally, I want to explain that right after the selection of the new council president, there will be the public swearing-in ceremony of each newly elected council member.

Except for myself, I will explain this when my turn comes, but I will be having my ceremonial swearing-in next Monday on the January 13th.

and I hope to see you all there.

We will now proceed to the election of the Council President for 2020 and 2021. Are there nominations?

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I move to nominate Council Member M Lorena Gonzalez as Council President for 2020 and 2021.

Second.

Thank you.

The name of Council Member Lorena Gonzalez has been placed in nomination as Council President and has been seconded.

Are there any other nominations?

Hearing no further nominations, nominations are closed and we will proceed with a vote.

Can we speak to the nomination?

Yes.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I'm honored and privileged to nominate Councilmember Gonzalez as Council President.

Councilmember Gonzalez holds the values of fairness, justice and compassion and collaboration.

And as she often reminds us, her word is her bond.

These values are demonstrated on issues like landmark police accountability, secure scheduling, among many, many other important issues that Councilmember Gonzalez has led on.

Councilmember Gonzalez is not only a leader in passage of progressive public policy, but she is, as the Times said today, a hard-driving leader and a leader of people.

I believe she will cultivate the best in each of us, facilitating our talents and our capabilities, and in doing so, making more effective the Seattle City Council.

Thank you.

Thank you Councilmember Herbold.

Any other comments?

Seeing none, we will proceed towards a vote.

Those in favor of electing Councilmember Gonzalez as Council President, please vote aye and say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The ayes have it, and Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez is elected as Council President for 2020 and 2021.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

Really appreciate you leading the charge for us today as we waited for these Council President elections and I want to thank Council Member Herbold for the nomination, for your kind words.

It has been an honor to work with you on so many of the progressive policies that I've been able to lead on and look forward to many more.

opportunities to do so and it is really my pleasure and honor and really I'm humbled by the trust placed in me by my colleagues up on the dais.

It is not only a new year, it is a new decade and a new chapter for this city council and I am more proud today than I've ever been before to serve on this Seattle City Council in large part because of what each of you represent up on this dais, but more importantly because of the people we get to represent every single day and the issues that we get to fervently fight for, which are justice and equity and a fairer city for working families and for the people who live in our city and work in our city who continue to Ask themselves if they will have a place here in the city of Seattle and this City Council is here to say yes you will and we promise to deliver with bold policy and to really deliver on the shared progressive values of this city as represented by each of you in this room and the thousands, hundreds and thousands of people who aren't in this room with us today.

So thank you so much colleagues for your confidence.

I look forward to working with each of you on the issues that are priorities to you and also priorities to the people we represent throughout the city.

So thank you so much.

I just wanted to really quickly before we move into The swearing in ceremony, I just wanted to acknowledge my own husband who's in the audience today, Cameron Williams.

He and I are expecting our first child any day now, literally any day now, so if you see me rush out, you know why.

So thank you, Cameron, for being such a rock for me and I'm really looking forward to heading down this journey for the rest of our lives.

So thank you.

I also want to acknowledge that we have some elected officials in the audience.

We have City Attorney Pete Holmes.

Thank you for being with us today.

And also joining us is King County Council Member Joe McDermott, who also happens to be one of my representatives.

Did I miss any other elected officials that I didn't happen to see?

Judge Anita Crawford Willis.

Court Commissioner Peter Steinbrook.

We also have some former city council members, Tom Rasmussen and Nick Licata.

Ron Sims.

Oh, okay.

We got it.

And former executive Ron Sims.

We also have former council member Godden in the audience as well.

Drago?

Yes?

Got it?

All right.

I think I've got everybody.

It's always dangerous to go down the path of just popcorning elected official names in the audience.

But thank you all for being with us.

Really, really appreciate it.

It's my honor to now begin the process of swearing in our newly elected and reelected council members.

So at this time, we will proceed to the oath of office ceremonies for newly elected district council members.

in the order of district numbers as listed on the agenda, followed by brief remarks by each council member.

And I just ask the clerk, is there a need for me to request that the agenda be approved?

Great, thank you so much.

So we will go ahead and commence with the swearing in ceremony.

We will begin today's ceremony by swearing in Council Member Lisa Herbold, who is representing District 1. the place that is my home as well.

So Councilmember Herbold is not just my colleague, she's also my district representative.

The oath of office will be administered by Councilmember Herbold's granddaughter, Jemiah Jean Perkins, and will be joined by her grandson, Jameel Perkins.

And they're going to work their way up to us now.

I, Lisa Herbold, swear that I possess all of the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Council Member of the City of Seattle I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Washington, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle, and that I will faithfully conduct myself as Seattle City Councilmember.

All right, hello everyone.

Thank you so much for the privilege of representing District 1 on the Seattle City Council for four more years.

I take this oath in gratitude and service and inspired by the kind of city that I want for my grandchildren.

I began my campaign last year reflecting upon the promises I made to voters when I first ran in 2015. I promised laws to protect tenants from being discriminated against because of where they work, their source of income, their past involvement in the criminal justice system.

I promised secure scheduling regulations for workers at large stores and chain restaurants.

I promised restoration of the Seattle Police Department's popular community service officer program.

And I promise expansion of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program that diverts low-level offenders to services and treatment rather than jail.

In my first term, the Council worked together to accomplish these victories and more.

On the campaign this time around, again, it was District 1 voters who identified my priorities for this next term.

We're going to work to address homelessness by doubling our annual investment in permanent supportive housing.

95% of people who get into permanent supportive housing stay in it, regardless of mental health or substance abuse disorder.

We're going to ensure that those who benefit most from Seattle's prosperity also invest in a fair deal for our city by pursuing progressive revenue and implement the municipal income tax on the affluent I led in passing in 2017 in order to make property taxes, sales taxes, and taxes for small businesses less regressive.

We're going to get back into full compliance with and out from under the consent decree, ensure constitutional policing while also meeting our goals for Seattle Police Department staffing.

We're going to increase access to transit, make all transportation options safer, and work to deliver Sound Transit 3 on time and mitigate the disruption of D1 neighborhoods.

And we're going to implement the measures in the Seattle Green New Deal while ensuring the Seattle workforce is best poised to benefit from the reliance of jobs to green energy.

We're going to support South Park in their Equitable Development Initiative project and support the Alaska Junction and Delridge in their station area planning for new, truly affordable transit-oriented development.

And last of all, we're going to continue to deliver superior constituent services for District 1. After a huge infusion of corporate contributions, what Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal called, not just a thumb, but a fistful of cash on the scales of democracy, it became clear that we were able to cross the finish line with a nearly 12% margin of victory because we ran on people power.

We ensured that big corporations We ensured that big corporations didn't circumvent the intent of voters who reformed elections by passing democracy vouchers and district elections.

These next four years belong to so many people.

My campaign manager, Christina Katsubas, my treasurer, Gene LeGault, my field backbone, John Boyle, and the people who do and have worked in my office over the last four years.

Newell Aldrich, Alex Clardy, Jean Legault again, intern, Nibal Hassan, as well as Andre Kranzler, Shannon Perez-Darby, Dimitri Gross, and my family, my mother Donna, who couldn't be here with us today, my husband Bob, who's my rock, my daughter Megan, and finally, our District One volunteers and community members.

If we continue to mobilize like we have, our voices will change the status quo whenever and wherever change is most needed.

The gravity of the work we have to do together in Seattle and in progressive cities across the nation is all the greater because of the truly horrible actions, too many to name, of the current presidential administration.

People-powered campaigns only happen when we value the principles of engagement and empowerment But when we do, we win.

And when we win campaigns, we can harness that people power to build a more just city and just nation.

And that is exactly what we're going to do.

Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations, Councilmember Herbold, on not just your re-election, but on all of the wonderful work that you have done, not only for the residents of District 1, West Seattle and South Park, but for all of the issues that you work on that have a significant citywide impact.

And it was just so wonderful to see your grandkids up here.

Your granddaughter did an amazing job reading through that, so well done.

Next, representing District 2 is Councilmember Tammy Morales.

It's got a few fans in the audience, so we're happy about that.

The oath of office will be administered by her mother, Janine Waller, and she will also be joined by Council Member Morales' husband, Harry Teicher, her children, Mateo and Ileana, and her father, Barry Waller, and sister, Sandra Waller.

Yes.

Hey, guys.

Where's my daughter?

Billy, come stand over here between you.

Hi, Tammy Morales.

Hi, Tammy Morales.

Swear or affirm that I possess.

Swear and affirm that I possess.

All the qualifications prescribed.

All of the qualifications prescribed.

In the Seattle City Charter.

In the Seattle City Charter.

and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Council Member of the City of Seattle that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Washington, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

Carry on.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

A Seattle City Council member.

You guys are going to take a group photo.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

That was something.

Hello, everyone.

Thank you so much for being here this afternoon.

Thank you for being here to show your support.

And I want to thank my colleagues for making me feel so welcome here on my first day in the new year and first day back from Mexico, which was fabulous.

And I want to thank my family, mom and dad, my sister, my husband, Harry, who's stood by me for many years as I make my attempt to get here.

And my kids, who stood by me as well and have been very generous with their time.

Running for office is hard on families, and my family has been very gracious.

And my kids have become very strong advocates for District 2, so I'm excited about that.

I am deeply honored to be here representing the people of District 2, and today I've promised to uphold the city charter, so I want to read just a small section of it so that you know why I'm here.

Quote, the people of the city of Seattle enact this charter as the law of the city for the purpose of protecting and enhancing the health, safety, environment, and general welfare of the people, to enable municipal government to provide services and meet the needs of the people efficiently.

and to allow fair and equitable participation of all persons in the affairs of the city.

That's what I'm here to do.

So let me be frank.

I was elected to repair the harm done to our black and brown communities in this city, to help...

to help democratize wealth, power, and resources that are here so that people who call our city home can stay, and to help plan for the future generations of all Seattleites.

In 1967, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King described how communities of color are perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

We see that here in Seattle today and vibrantly, unfortunately, in District 2. As more wealth has poured into our city, many of our friends and neighbors have been pushed out.

And it's no coincidence that those who are hardest hit are also those who have been discriminated against and redlined, sometimes for generations.

They've been least able to build wealth for their families, and they are more susceptible now to rising taxes and rising costs of living.

This should concern everybody in Seattle, because it begs the question, what kind of city do we want to be?

And what kind of future do we want to build for our children?

For me, the answer is a just and equitable future.

That answer requires that we focus on anti-displacement strategies that allow those who have already built their lives here to stay.

The answer also requires that we democratize wealth and resources to meet the Charter's call to care for the general welfare of the people.

And the answer requires that we build community wealth.

We do this by shifting power to allow for community ownership of our local economy.

I've been working on food security, affordable housing, neighborhood business districts, I've worked in impact investing, and I can tell you that I've seen the way our economy works from lots of different angles, and it is not working for working people in this city.

Our public policies and our public investment must be crafted to meet neighborhood needs, not the needs of our region's many billionaires.

We must shift away from systems that serve large corporations and toward those that create a strong climate for community ownership.

We do this by investing in our young people through education and training and other opportunities for them.

We do this by embracing and supporting businesses that operate with high standards, that pay good wages so their employees can afford to live here, and that offer good health care for their employees, and that invest locally and support and are good stewards of our environment.

And we do this by supporting local independent businesses, which are, after all, the lifeblood of our neighborhood business districts.

We are a booming city with tremendous wealth in our midst.

We must reject a scarcity mentality that asks little of the wealthy while asking our communities to fight over crumbs.

As a human rights city, we must act with urgency, with the urgency required to invest in public transit and housing infrastructure that meets the needs of working people in our city, and to invest in the green infrastructure required to become a carbon-free Seattle.

I love this city, and I love the rich diversity of the people of my district, the talent and the passion of the people who live here.

and I know that we will be tested.

The kinds of systems changes needed will not be easy.

History tells us that when marginalized people demand their right to their city, they face resistance from the powerful.

Be more civil, they say.

Wait just a little longer for equity.

Be thankful things aren't worse.

Well, I was not elected to tell my community to wait.

And I was not elected to tell you all the things that we can't do.

I was elected, we were all elected to provide the leadership needed to create shared prosperity for the people of Seattle.

And as FDR once said, one of the central roles of government is to solve problems once considered unsolvable.

Local government has a direct and daily impact on our lives.

How we navigate our neighborhoods, get to work and school, how we access the goods and services we need are all affected by the decisions our local leaders make.

Our quality of life is shaped by our ability to implement a strong vision for the city, then set policy and govern with integrity.

I'm committed to governing with a vision of a just and equitable Seattle in mind, so that we all have good lives and good livelihoods.

We can do this.

We are a creative city full of talented community members who have the solutions we need to meet our challenges.

I look forward to working with all of my colleagues here to serve our neighbors and build a more just Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Morales, and to your family for being here as well.

Congratulations to you as well and welcome aboard.

Looking forward to working with you on so many of the important issues that you highlighted in your remarks.

All right, next up, representing District 3 is Councilmember Shawna Savant, whose oath of office will actually take place on January 13th at Washington Hall at 6 p.m.

as listed on the published agenda.

Councilmember Savant did want to make some remarks today.

And so please take it away.

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome everybody to Chambers and also to congratulate the newly elected or re-elected council members, and I look forward to working with you all on many important progressive causes, but most of all, to make sure that our city, our wealthy city, can be affordable and livable for all working people.

And I wanted to echo what Council Member Morales said, which is that we were not elected, and certainly not in this historical election cycle.

We were not elected to tell working people what can't be done.

We are here to make things possible that were hitherto said were impossible.

And I really look forward to that.

As Council President Gonzalez said, my swearing-in ceremony will happen on next Monday, January 13th at 6 p.m.

in District 3 at Washington Hall, where I will be sworn in by Sister Sarah Nelson, who, as many of you know, is a fearless labor leader.

President of the Association of Flight Attendants, who, if you might recall, along with her own members and air traffic controllers, and with her call for a general strike, forced Trump to end his federal government shutdown.

I'm incredibly honored and our movement is incredibly honored that we will have her alongside us, not only for swearing us in for our third term as Socialist Council Office, but also to lend her voice for what we want to happen is the upcoming battle to tax Amazon and other large corporations in this city so that we can produce what we call social housing, which is publicly affordable, permanently affordable social housing, publicly owned affordable social housing, and we want to make sure that this housing is energy efficient and built with union living wage jobs.

And that is why, alongside my swearing-in, on January 13th at 6 p.m., we will also launch the Tax Amazon campaign for this year.

And I really hope many of you will be there, because alongside me and Sister Sarah, we will have hundreds of activists and ordinary people who are chomping at the bit to fight for something that our city actually stands for.

And as we know, this last election results If there's anything that it showed, it was a referendum on which direction we want our city to go into.

Do we want it to be a city that is only available for the richest of the rich, or do we want this city to work for all the working people who make this city run, without whom this city would shut down in a single day?

So I invite each and every one of you, please make sure you take a leaflet.

One of my staff members, Adam Zimkowski, is handing out leaflets.

And I also want to do, last but not least, thank all my staff members for their hard work and self-sacrifice.

Adam himself, Sasha Sommer, Ted Verdone, Nick Jones, and Jonathan Rosenblum.

Thank you, sisters and brothers, and hope to see you on the 13th.

Thank you, Council Member Salant.

I hope that the event is a great success.

And one of the things that I've really appreciated working with you is that you always get, I mean, it's like you get what you see.

And I appreciate that about you.

And I think in politics, oftentimes politicians are coined for not being honest and true and just clear in what their vision is for what they're doing.

I don't think anybody in this city could say that about you.

So really appreciate your ongoing clarity and really look forward to working with you on some of the issues that you've highlighted in your remarks here, but that you've been fighting for since you've been elected to the city council on behalf of the people of District 3. So congratulations to you as well.

Okay, next up representing District 4 is Councilmember Alex Peterson.

The oath of office will be administered by former King County Executive Ron Sims, and he will be joined by Councilmember Peterson's wife, Lindsay Peterson.

I, Alex Peterson, swear and affirm that I possess all the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Council Member of the City of Seattle, that I will support the Constitution

that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Washington, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle, and that I will faithfully conduct myself as a Seattle City Councilmember.

Thank you.

Thank you.

friends, family, neighbors, colleagues.

I'm thrilled to serve as a city council member for District 4. Six weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving, I was proud to take my original oath of office in my district, in the heart of Magnuson Park.

Since then, I've had the honor of joining forces with my colleagues on several important issues.

We established a regional homelessness authority to more effectively move our unhoused neighbors into permanent housing.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez, for getting it across the finish line.

And I look forward to working with Councilmember Lewis and King County to reduce homelessness faster.

We assembled experts and residents from across Seattle to discuss how we can protect and expand trees in every neighborhood.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss, for your leadership to save trees in our Emerald City.

office and met with residents in Magnuson Park to hear their concerns, their ideas, their hopes.

Thank you Councilmembers Herbold and Juarez for your shining example of how to stay connected with constituents.

We heard compelling testimony from the clean for the Clean Campaigns legislation carefully crafted by Council President Gonzalez and I'm pleased to support it.

And we are laying We are laying the groundwork to use a new and improved fiscal and environmental analysis.

I look forward to working with Councilmember Swant, Mosqueda, Morales, and all my colleagues so that we can, for the first time, consistently assess how new legislation impacts our city's carbon emissions to increase our accountability in the face of climate change.

And during the next four years, we can fulfill the promise of Seattle's district system of representation, a promise enshrined in our city charter with these words, to ensure members of the city council are closer to the people they represent.

And I'm proud to have personally doorbelled every block in my district.

That's over 20 neighborhoods connecting with nearly 25,000 people at their front door.

And I'd like to tell you about one of them.

Her name's Denise, she's a mom, lives in Wallingford.

And like thousands of others I met, she opened her door, looked me in the eye, and said, Mr. Peterson, we need a city council that listens.

A city council that gets back to the basics of local government.

Less rhetoric, more results.

I believe that people of our districts, like Denise and thousands of others, sent us to this important office to solve problems.

Persistent crime and prolific offenders, people suffering the experience of homelessness, clogged and torn up streets, rising utility bills, and the need for more fiscal responsibility.

I look forward to being a reliable partner with my city council colleagues and with our mayor, Jenny Durkin, to find common ground to solve these common problems.

In fact, our city charter requires that we take care of the basics.

As said earlier, to enable municipal government to provide services and meet the needs of people efficiently, to provide for transparency and accountability, and to foster fiscal responsibility.

And now speaking directly to the 100,000 District 4 constituents who are not able to travel down to City Hall in the middle of the day, I have this to say.

Thank you for your confidence in me.

I was forged by the experience of listening to you at your doorsteps.

The shoes I wore knocking on your doors, I will keep by my desk at City Hall as a reminder of my accountability to you.

I pledge to use my years of experience in government and my financial skills from the private sector to benefit you and your neighborhoods.

I pledge to remain a voice of reason.

And when investing your hard-earned tax dollars to solve problems, I pledge to use a calculator instead of a megaphone.

to be a skeptic instead of a cheerleader, and to consult you instead of cajole you.

And to honor our city charter, I will also honor Denise of Wallingford and all of you in District 4. Less rhetoric, more results.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.

Congratulations and welcome to you as well.

A second warm welcome.

Last time on your first day, you brought us carrot cake.

I'm a little chagrined that I didn't get any dessert while sitting up here, but we'll let it pass this time around.

And I learned something new about you.

You're really into the slogans.

I like that.

A little activist in you.

We'll bring it out.

Don't worry about it.

Next up is representing District 5, or as we like to refer to it here, D5.

We got DJ D5, Council Member Deborah Juarez up next.

The oath of office will be administered by Suquamish Tribal Council Chairman Leonard Forsman, who will be joined by Julie Johnson of the Lummi Nation.

Welcome.

I, Deborah Juarez, swear or affirm that I possess all the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Council Member of the City of Seattle

of the City of Seattle.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

And the Charter and Ordinances.

And the Charter and Ordinances.

Of the City of Seattle.

Of the City of Seattle.

That I will faithfully conduct myself.

That I will faithfully conduct myself.

As Seattle City Councilmember.

As Seattle City Councilmember.

Thank you.

All right, Shaina.

OK.

I think that's the first time I've ever bossed around Leonard Forsman.

Four years ago, I stood before you, and I, in my speech, thanked two women that made me who I was and who I am, and that was Winona, I'm sorry, Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee, and Eloise Goebel, who's Blackfeet.

So today, we're gonna do a little bit different.

Recognize that we're on indigenous land, and we're going to do it tribal council style.

My name, as you know, is Natui Mistisake, which means Holy Mountain Woman.

I represent the city of Seattle, but I honor the needs of District 5. And thank you for those of you who voted for me.

I am now of elder status.

I am the oldest one up here.

And in Indian country, that's a good thing.

It means that you have wisdom and you have experience.

So today, I'm going to be very brief and I'm going to reserve the rest of my time for my tribal leaders and elders.

I want to dedicate my words and my heart to the woman who made me.

Yvonne Chote Ananda Ahake, my mother.

My mother survived.

She was born in 1935. She's still with us, but my mother came from the Blackfeet Reservation.

She survived Catholic school, boarding school, a mother of eight, and six children that lived.

Again, her name was Ananda Aki, and that was my name till I got my adult name.

My mother comes from a long line of strong Blackfeet women.

starting with slow runner, kills by mistake, strikes first, and sees through the lodge.

Now those words and those names have been translated from Blackfeet into English, and I'm sure we've missed some of the meaning, but I know what it means in the musicality of the Blackfeet language.

So I don't want to spend a whole lot of time talking about myself.

Those of you who know me and have watched me over the last four years pretty much know who I am.

I spoke to my mom today from the hospital.

She, of course, wanted to know and talk about the Seahawks.

This is very hard for me to hear my mother's voice sound different.

So when we were talking, because she couldn't be here, and we talked about a lot of things, But at 84, she said again, which I shared with Auntie Julie, this is important, what we're doing here.

But at the end of the day, the beginning of a new dawn, what really matters is kindness, how we treat each other.

that we come to every room, to every meeting, to every prayer with an open heart and an open mind.

And I also want to quote again my Uncle Billy Frank who said, we don't throw our people away.

I am proud of this new council and I look forward to working with them.

So with that, I want to reserve the rest of my time to Leonard Forsman, the chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, in which we stand on their land, and to my Auntie Julia Johnson of the Lummi Nation, one of the bossiest Indian women I've ever known my whole life.

Auntie has known me since I was a teenager, since I was a foster kid.

She is head of the Native American Caucus for the state of Washington.

the Northwest Indian College, original founder of the American Indian Women's Service League.

And with that, I'll hand it over to Leonard.

Thank you.

to be able to come up here and speak with the city council here in Seattle.

I'm Leonard Forsman.

My ancestral name is Gwee, and I'm the chairman of the Suquamish Tribe.

I'd like to recognize our treasurer, Robin Saigo, in the audience as well.

And thank you.

And of course, we're here in the city of Seattle, which is named for one of my ancestors and a great leader of Suquamish people, Chief Seattle.

who was born in 1886 on Blake Island.

His father was Suquamish, his mother was Duwamish, and he was born and raised at Old Man House, one of the largest communal longhouses in the Northwest area.

And of course, he was there when Captain Vancouver first came to this area, and the first contact was recorded between the Euro-Americans and the people of Puget Sound.

And since then, he has been a model and a mentor for all of us in our tribe, and hopefully for the people here with the values and traditions that he expressed through his life, which really culminated not far from here in Pioneer Square, where he gave his famous speech to Governor Stevens.

And it is said he actually put his hand on Stevens' head as he was giving the speech.

That's how tall he was.

and talked about the importance of taking care of our natural resources, or taking care of the earth, and taking care of our people, and preserving our culture for future generations.

He went on to sign the treaty shortly after that, and it's something that the Suquamish people, and the people of the Puget Sound, and also our urban friends, led by Deborah Juarez, have also joined in the fight.

And there's a strong connection between the urban Indians of Seattle and the aboriginal indigenous people of Seattle.

Some of us represented here.

We have Teresa Sheldon as former council member of the Tulalip tribes here.

Also good to have her here as well.

Thank you.

And we work hard together to fight for our sovereignty and for our way of life.

And so those are all connected.

Our beliefs and our traditions are tied to the landscape.

And we have place names here.

We have the salmon.

We have the orca.

We have all the water and all those things that we need to take care of that were given to us by the creator.

So that connection is something that we are hopefully that the city here will take into account as they move through.

And I've heard some of that talked about today.

But I think I'd be not doing my job if I didn't stand up for our beautiful piece of sound here that we call home.

And it's good that we're taking care of our children, we're taking care of our elders, and we're taking care of those less fortunate, and I'm hearing a lot of that today, too, as well.

So I'd just like to congratulate Debra for all of her great work on behalf of her district, her tribe.

the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.

I'm also President Affiliate Tribes Northwest Indians, and she's been very active in that organization there as well.

And she's also been very active on a national level in supporting progressive candidates.

Including one, President Obama appointed me to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in 2013, which I'm still a member of.

And we continue to fight for those things that are important to everybody.

I hope in this room is our cultural way of life.

And once again, on behalf of the Suquamish Tribe, thank you and congratulations, Deborah.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name, my English name is Julie Johnson.

My Indian name is Salitsa Quina.

I'm from the Lummi tribe.

I'm chair of the Native American Caucus for the Washington State Democrats and co-chair of the Affiliated Tribes, which Leonard is a chair of, of the Native Vote.

We work with about 58 tribes here in the Northwest.

But I want to talk a little bit about Deborah.

I've known her since she was a teenager.

I helped put her into two different foster homes.

I watched her graduate from high school, from college, from law school.

I witnessed her being a superior court judge here in Seattle, a superior court judge.

I watched her work with two governors here in the state of Washington.

And I watched her work with all 29 tribes in the state of Washington.

And now today, the tribes in the state of Washington, because of a lot of the work that Deborah has provided, we are now the fourth largest employer in the state of Washington.

This isn't just running casinos.

In the United States, we operate 334 clinics that meet the same accreditation standards as, say, Virginia Mason.

So I'm not talking just about casinos.

I'm so honored to be standing next to Leonard Forsman, the chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, to witness him giving a speech today.

The last time, well, the first, when this council was established in 1869, I just want all of you to remember today that this is the first time, her second term, that we have a Native American on this Seattle City Council.

This is a historic moment.

I want you all to remember that.

And I want to add one more thing about Deborah.

We love her.

We love her.

She's done such a great job working here in the state, not only in the state, but nationally.

Today we have, Leonard mentioned, Teresa Sheldon here.

Teresa works for the DNC back in Washington, D.C.

and is working with all 558 tribes in the country.

She's here today to witness this ceremony.

We have Abilene, Abigail, excuse me, Echo Hawk, who's working with our missing and murdered women on every single reservation in this state.

we have missing women and murdered family members.

And because of her work and because of the work of this city council, and I want to thank all of you for supporting funding so we could do research here in the city and in our state.

Thank you for being here today, the witnesses.

Thank you for your work.

We really appreciate you.

And thank you for working with the homeless.

I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And I want you all to support Deborah now.

Thank you so much to both of you, Leonard and Julie, for joining us today.

We are honored to be in your presence and we're honored to share in having Deborah, Councilmember Juarez, as a great ally and champion of certainly the residents of District 5 but she really reminds us how important it is to bring in people who can't otherwise be in in the room and has really done a tremendous job of leading this council's work and the city's work around Native American community issues and have really appreciated working with her on so many of those issues that are of great importance.

And Council Member Juarez, you spoke of kindness and I just want to take a moment to acknowledge that your mom is not doing well currently and that it's very emotional for you and you have all of our emotional support and our thoughts will be with you.

Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family and your mom.

We wish her well.

Okay, so next representing District 6 is Councilmember Dan Strauss.

The oath of office will be administered by retired King County Superior Court Deputy Clerk Nestor Tamayo.

I, Dan Strauss, swear and affirm that I possess all of the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Councilmember of the City of Seattle.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

And the charter and ordinances.

And the charter and ordinances.

Of the City of Seattle.

Of the City of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

As Seattle City Councilmember.

As Seattle City Councilmember.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry.

I want to thank Nestor Tamayo.

The example of a civil servant and public service in which I follow in your footsteps.

Nestor was for 30 years a King County deputy clerk and he also served in the Army and Army Reserve for 32 years.

He continues to hold leadership positions throughout District Six and does so humbly.

I'm lucky to have you as a friend and I'm lucky to follow in your footsteps.

Thank you, Nestor.

I'm also very thankful for Councilmember Juarez and getting to have you as an elder on our council.

I look forward to your leadership and working with you.

Thank you.

I see in this crowd so many faces that I recognize.

I want to thank everyone who supported my campaign, who worked on my campaign.

And for those who didn't, I look forward to working with you as well.

and I look forward to earning your support and trust.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out the Ballard Pea Patch here.

Again, as I've said many times, I never took raspberries as I walked home from Whitman Middle School.

So just so the record reflects.

The people of Finney Ridge, Green Lake, Fremont, Greenwood, Crown Hill, and Ballard made me the person I am today.

I'm honored and privileged to earn the opportunity to represent you our district in City Hall.

Specifically, I want to thank Representative Peter Rodino, Senator Patty Murray, State Representative Nancy Nathanson, Executive Dave Summers, State Senator David Frockt, and Councilmember Sally Bagshaw for the decade of training, teaching, and mentorship that has prepared me to represent our community who raised me.

This is why constituent and community services are priority number one.

Opening a district office will happen tomorrow and being present with the community of our district will occur every day.

And I look and I think and I'm so thankful for this mentorship and this training along the way.

District 6 contains some of the best parts of our city.

We of course have the center of the universe in Fremont.

The Olmsted brothers used best practices and human scale design creating the park surrounding Green Lake.

They did not create Green Lake.

These design practices have stood the test of time and are the example we as a city should look for as we continue building our city.

Finney Ridge is an On the border of Finney Ridge and Greenwood is the home of Seattle's newest park, the Alice Ball Park, which has already raised and increased the notoriety of Alice Ball, who is a leading African-American chemist who was born here in Seattle in 1892 and graduated from the University of Washington in 1915. These are some of her smallest accomplishments, so I encourage you to look up some more.

Finney Ridge also is home to Woodland Park and on the Fremont edge, Peak Park.

These are some of my favorite places in the city.

Crown Hill is already getting ahead of density in their neighborhood and advocating for pedestrian streets on Mary Avenue and human scale design.

And of course, Ballard, which is my favorite city in Seattle, was the seventh largest city in Washington in 1900. And when it annexed in 1907, it was the second largest city in King County.

This is why it has the built infrastructure that will allow us to increase density and be able to walk, bike, play, and be a person in our community.

Seattle today is not the city I grew up in.

We have changed from the sleepy fishing village to a global city.

We are already a decade behind addressing the growth we are experiencing with commensurate infrastructure.

This deferred maintenance combined with the rate of our growth demands we address our problems and crises at the scale of the problem we are experiencing.

We can no longer rely on small city approaches to create the solutions we need.

We need to address the housing and homelessness crisis with best practices and at a regional level, rapidly building the affordable housing and permanent supportive housing stock so that the friends that I grew up with can continue to live in the community that we were raised within.

So that parents raising kiddos today can know that their children will be able to afford to live in this city as adults.

We need to create the affordable and accessible childcare so that all parents can raise their family where they live and work without breaking their bank.

We also need to create the transportation network that allows people to get where they're going by walking, bussing, biking, and so that they are able to make space on the roadways for folks who have to rely on their cars.

We need to, as Council Member Peterson spoke about, need to protect our tree canopy and urban forests, while at the same time making room for the density we need to welcome our new neighbors.

We need to ensure that human scale design is occurring throughout our city and in public spaces, and that public spaces are suited for all ages and abilities.

And in everything that we do, we need to address the climate crisis.

We do not have any longer to delay addressing the climate crisis, because if we are not a carbon neutral city in the next 10 years, I'm not sure we'll be here.

We need to build a city so that everyone at every level of our economic spectrum can have a good quality of life, live close to their job, and raise generations of their family in our community.

so that anyone who wants to live here can do so with one job that they work for eight hours a day and that provides the personal, medical, and family leave that they need to raise their family and have a good life.

We cannot wait or delay any longer to implement the solutions and build the city that allows everyone to grow up here, get a good education, work a good job, and raise their family with the high quality of life that Seattle has traditionally provided.

As we grow and change, we must also protect what has made our city incredibly unique, our open spaces, Green Lake, our cultural institutions and small businesses, and the artists and musicians who create the culture we love, we are famous for, and are the underpinning of the quality of life that I've referenced.

We have a lot of work to accomplish.

and on a scale that Seattle has not experienced before, with solutions that must be created at the scale of the problems that we are looking to address.

Seattle is strong.

Our success is within reach, and when we work together, we can build a sustainable, an affordable, an equitable city that works for everyone, whether you've just moved here this year, you've raised your families for generations, or you've been here for millennia.

Thank you, and I look forward to serving you in the city of Seattle.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss, and congratulations and welcome to you as well.

I have to say that for being childless, your dad jokes are on point.

Well done.

Look forward to more of that during your term.

So next up, last but certainly not least, representing District 7, the district in which we are currently sitting, is Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis.

The oath of office will be administered by Municipal Court Judge Anita Crawford-Willis and will be joined by former Councilmember Nick Licata.

Andrew, you have to hold that.

All right, I'm ready, Your Honor.

I, Andrew Lewis, swear and affirm that I possess all the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter and the Seattle Municipal Code for the position of City Council Member

for the position of city council member.

Of the city of Seattle.

Of the city of Seattle.

That I will support the constitution of the United States.

That I will support the constitution of the United States.

The constitution of the state of Washington.

The constitution of the state of Washington.

And the charter and ordinances of the city of Seattle.

And the charter and the ordinances of the city of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

as a Seattle City Council member.

Thank you.

In the middle.

All right.

Perfect.

Where do we change it?

We're going to make your back.

Judge.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Well, thank you so much, Judge Crawford Willis.

Where did, there, Judge Crawford Willis.

Thank you so much for swearing me in today.

Judge Crawford Willis and I started off at about the same time in the admissible court and learned to practice law over there.

And I really appreciate your mentorship, how warm your chambers always were, and how helpful your staff was.

And thank you so much for your leadership and service to the city of Seattle.

Nick Licata, where'd Council Member Licata go?

Back in the seat already.

Nick, thank you so much.

My career in public service really kicked off when I managed Council Member Licata's reelection in 2009. And I'm really grateful for that opportunity and to have Nick as a mentor and a friend.

And early in the campaign, a conservative friend of mine who asked for his support said, well, you know, Andrew, I'd like to support you, but I think you're gonna be another Nick Licata.

And see, I thought he meant that I was going to be extremely popular and serve for 18 years.

So I thought that was a compliment.

I don't know if he meant it that way.

But Nick, thank you so much.

And I really appreciate your friendship and your mentorship.

There's a few more people I wanna thank too.

Peter Steinbrook, who's here today, Tom Rasmussen, Jan Drago, thank you so much for your service to the city and for being a sounding board for me.

Your advice is really helpful as I come into this new job and the service that all four of the former council members here have given to the city has really helped transform us and your contributions are extremely valuable as I go forward in taking on this position.

Pete Holmes, city attorney, Kelly Harris, chief of the criminal division, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity as a young lawyer to represent the people of Seattle in court and to be brought up and forged in that spirit of public service in a very difficult job at a very difficult time.

I really appreciate having seen how hard you work, your dedication to the city, and thank you so much for your service.

And I look forward to working with you as a Seattle City Council member.

My staff who will be joining me on this journey to represent the people of District 7, Jacob Thorpe, who's in the back of the room here, Parker Dawson, Camilla Brown, Catherine Sims, who's over there, thank you so much.

for making this commitment to come and work for the people of District 7. Your service is invaluable to me as I take on these new responsibilities.

Thank you so much.

It's really a great honor to join this council at a time of transformation for our city.

And no citywide poll or focus group is necessary in 2020 to know that the fundamental issue facing our community that we see on a daily basis is the failure of our society to provide adequate housing for thousands of our neighbors with nowhere else to go.

No matter if you are a newly elected leader, an incumbent council member, a former community leader, friend or neighbor, the choice each of us makes is like two sides of the same coin.

We will accept the people of Seattle experiencing homelessness as our neighbors living in our alleys and streets, inside culverts and under bridges, or we will afford our neighbors the opportunity to live with dignity and with us instead of unhoused and separated from us.

I am proud to live across the street from a Seattle Housing Authority building and each day I'm reminded with absolute certainty that the common denominator for people who are experiencing homelessness is trauma, and that that housing and escape from that trauma makes them great neighbors, and I am proud to have them as my neighbors.

We know that a Housing First strategy is the only intervention against prolonged homelessness that works.

From Salt Lake City, Utah, to Abilene, Texas, and Bergen County, New Jersey, to Vienna, Austria, and Helsinki, Finland, to our very own Pike Place Market PDA and many other examples, we've seen that permanent supportive housing is the essential investment to end chronic homelessness.

And while permanent supportive housing alone in all those jurisdictions was not sufficient to solve the tragedy of homelessness, it was necessary.

Today, I declare this to be my top priority in my first term as the chair of the Select Committee on Homelessness.

to scale up, to support, and to build a regional consensus around a bigger investment in permanent supportive housing to make sure we can implement the kinds of interventions that have worked and do work and continue to work in jurisdictions throughout this country and throughout the world.

For some of us, this commitment to permanent supportive housing will come from our sense of civic duty to our neighbor.

For others, it'll come from our faith and our obligation to the stranger and our brother.

For others, still, it will pragmatically come from the cold, hard truth that nothing else will work.

But for all of us, we must unite behind our common interest in making homelessness brief and rare by embracing housing first.

Our commitment to our looming regional problems and challenges must complement, not replace, the strong focus of my office on the constituent services fundamental to district representation.

It was a great privilege last week to announce that the Upgarden Pea Patch will remain in place in the heart of District 7 and will no longer be evicted.

Our parks, community centers, and pea patches are the backbone of what makes Seattle a livable community, and I will be their strong advocate as long as I am on this dais.

I look forward to working with all of my colleagues, our partners regionally, and the community to make sure that all Seattleites can live with dignity, and thank you so much for your time, thank you for coming out, and I really appreciate your support as we go into the next four years and a new city council.

Okay, well, that concludes the swearing-in ceremony.

And for those of you who are in attendance or watching at home, you just heard Councilmember Lewis talk very eloquently about his top priority, which will be helping the city lead on the strategies related to ending homelessness for so many and suffering for so many in our city and I think his remarks make it pretty clear as to why I believe he is the best choice to lead us as a select committee, which effectively means that I firmly believe as the council president that it should be a committee made up of every single council member.

It is the top priority for our city and I've asked and Councilmember Lewis accepted to serve in a very significant leadership role on one of the most complex issues facing certainly District 7 but the entire city and will be leading the entire City Council in full membership on the issues facing us not just as the city but as a region on those issues impacting the most vulnerable people in our city and in our region and I hope that through his remarks you agree with me that he is best poised and positioned to help us struggle with those issues and to find the meaningful solutions necessary to continue to make meaningful progress in this particular space.

So thank you Councilmember Lewis for accepting the challenge And for rising to the occasion, we will be here with you lockstep to continue to support your vision on how we're going to continue to solve this issue.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

That is the end of the swearing in ceremony, the presentations portion of our full council agenda.

I just wanted to make an announcement that we will be having a short reception right at the conclusion of this meeting.

Sadly, we have some business we have to tend to before we can all head down to the Bertha Knight Landis room, but there will be a reception.

that will occur in the Bertha Knight Landis room on the first floor of City Hall.

So that's just one floor down.

You can either take stairs or the elevator.

All of you are welcome to attend that reception.

This was the program, i.e. the talking at you portion of this ceremony.

You'll be very pleased to hear and perhaps you'll have a greater incentive of joining us at the reception that there will be no talking at you at the reception.

So no formal program at the reception, just a lot of cheer and some food and some beverages.

So we welcome all of you on behalf of the Seattle City Council to join us immediately at the conclusion of this meeting.

at that reception, again, located at the Bertha Knight Landis Room on the first floor of City Hall, which is one floor below us.

All of you are welcome to attend.

Before I move on into the agenda, I want to just thank all of you for being with us today in Council Chambers.

We always appreciate seeing all of you join us here in the People's Hall.

And really look forward to continuing to work with all of you on some of the city's most pressing issues.

I want to thank all of the representatives and members of our native communities who are with us today.

I want to thank directors and staff members of the various executive departments who I see in the audience.

community members, labor leaders, and all of our staff who are in the audience.

So thank you all so much for being with us as we witness the swearing in and have witnessed the swearing in of this new council.

Really proud of all of the work that we have done and looking forward to all of the work that I know that we will be able to do in the future together.

So that concludes that portion of our meeting and we'll go ahead and move into Yes, and I will stop cramping Council Member Savant and move over.

Okay, great.

And for those of you who don't want to watch the magic of council business happening, now's a good time to exit.

But I would ask that you do so quietly so that we can go ahead and continue to move through our agenda.

Okay.

Yeah.

For the viewing audience, we're just going to take a couple of minutes as Chambers clears out.

And then we'll go ahead and dig in.

Well, Beekman's right there.

Yeah.

Yeah, they do.

It's his brother.

Okay.

Colleagues, we'll go ahead and move into the items of business on our agenda.

The next item is approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the December 9th and 16th, 2019 City Council meetings have been reviewed.

If there is no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objections, the minutes are being signed.

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

And I'm not objecting, but I do have an amendment to make here.

So I will, let's see.

move to amend the proposed introduction and referral calendar by amending the title of item 7, Council Bill 119730, to substitute the title now entitled, An Ordinance Related to Elections Limiting Contributions to Independent Expenditure Committees, amending sections 2.04.010.270.370.400, and .500 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

This amendment also amends the legislation to reflect the changes proposed to the title.

Okay, so it's been moved and seconded to adopt that amendment to the introduction and referral calendar.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

motion carries.

I also have a second amendment.

I move to amend the proposed introduction and referral calendar by amending the title of item 8, council bill 119731 to substitute the title now entitled an ordinance related to elections prohibiting foreign influence corporations for making independent expenditures or contributing to campaigns and independent expenditure committees, amending sections 2.04.010, .260, .270, .360, and .370 of the Seattle Municipal Code, and adding a new section 2.04.400 to the SMC.

This amendment also amends the legislation to reflect the changes proposed to the title.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Are there...

Any discussion?

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Okay.

We now have an amended introduction and referral calendar.

So I move to adopt the amended introduction and referral calendar.

Are there any comments or further discussion?

Great, okay, those in favor of adopting the amended introduction and referral calendar vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and the introduction and referral calendar is adopted as amended.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is now adopted.

So at this time, we will go ahead and take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda and the introduction and referral calendar.

The public comment will be accepted for 20 minutes, and speakers are limited to two minutes for public comment.

If a speaker's comment exceeds the two minutes, the clerk will turn off the microphone, and I will urge you to please wrap up your comments.

Speakers are asked to begin their comments by identifying themselves and the agenda item that they wish to address that are, again, on today's agenda or the introduction referral calendar.

So at this point, I have two individuals signed up for public comment, and we'll start off with the first one, and we will hear from James Auld.

Hi, my name is James Auld.

I'm the chair of the Political Outreach Committee for IATSE Local 15. The local would like to congratulate all of you on your most recent election.

From concerts in T-Mobile Park to the New Year's Light Show in Seattle Center, to stage productions at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theatres, for 125 years Local 15 has been representing stage workers in the city.

It's our goal to build a strong and equitable labor environment, and we're excited to partner with you to make Seattle a top choice to visit, to live, and to entertain.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Earl, for being with us.

Our next speaker is Jason Plourd.

And I apologize if I mispronounced your last name.

That's fine.

Hi, my name is Jason Plourd, and I'm the project manager for the AMP, the AIDS Memorial Pathway.

And I'm here with Tom Rasmussen, who's a member of our group.

And on behalf of our community action group, I want to congratulate all of you, new members, as well as those continuing your service.

As you know, we recently received funding from the city at the end of last year.

And I want to thank you for that and assure you that we're going to use that to create a very unique and memorable and meaningful place of reflection and remembrance in our city based on Capitol Hill.

I want to thank you for your support as a city and also as individuals.

And it's been great to hear so many of you speaking about reaching out and helping those in dire need in our city.

And I hope that the AMP will provide a reminder of a time when many people in our city reached out to those in dire need and people stood up and demanded change and we were able to get through a serious crisis.

The AMP will be a reminder of that and also a call to action that we need to do that whenever those needs arise in the future.

Thank you very much.

We'll be updating you on our progress.

We'll be reaching out to each of your offices.

And again, thank you for your support and congratulations.

Thank you, Jason, for all the work that you're doing in that space as well.

Okay, that is the last person we have signed up for public testimony, so we will go ahead and close out the public comment period of our agenda and move into payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the titles?

Council Bills 119728, Council Bill 119729, and Council Bill 109733. An ordinance appropriating money to pay certain claims for the week of December 9th, 2019 through December 13th, 2019, ordering the payment thereof.

Appropriating money to pay certain auditing claims for the week of December 16th, 2019 through December 20th, 2018, ordering the payment thereof.

Appropriating money to pay certain claims for the week of December 23rd, 2019 through December 27th, 2019, and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you first bill.

I will move to pass council bill one one nine seven two eight It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass are there any comments?

See you none will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill her bold I war is

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Gaten, in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Okay, I move to pass Council Bill 119729. It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Seeing no comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Strauss?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

I move to pass Council Bill 119733. Second.

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

Are there any comments?

Seeing no comments and hearing no comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Did I just do all three or is that the second one?

You did all three.

OK.

All right, so next up is report of the committee reports.

Will the clerk please read agenda item one?

The report of the City Council, agenda item one, Council Bill 119720, amending Ordinance 125724, which adopted the 2019 budget, including the 2019 through 2024 Capital Improvement Program.

The committee recommends that the bill pass as amended.

I just need a minute to get to my remarks here.

All right, so Council Bill 119720 is the fourth quarter 2019 Supplemental Budget Ordinance which proposes adjustments to the 2019 adopted budget including appropriation authority for the grants accepted by Ordinance 126 023 which was adopted by council last month on December 16th.

This ordinance would appropriate approximately $132.7 million of which $101.6 million is for operations and $31.1 million is for capital.

The operations appropriations include approximately $16.7 million or 16.4% from the general fund.

of which $8.6 million are grant funded.

So this was an ordinance that was heard in the former Finance and Neighborhoods Committee and that committee recommends that the city council pass as amended this council bill 119720. Are there any comments or questions?

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Right adoption of other resolutions will the clerk please read into the record items two and three.

For adoption of other resolutions, agenda items two and three, resolution 31922 relating to committee structure, membership, meeting times, and duties of standing committees of the Seattle City Council for 2020 and 2021, and superseding resolution 31883. Resolution 31923 relating to Seattle City Council member participation for 2020 and 2021 on King County Committees, Regional Committees, State Committees, and City of Seattle Committees, and superseding resolution 31885.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

So Resolution 3192 and Resolution 31923 establish the committee structure and membership meeting times and duties of the standing committees for Seattle City Council for 2020 and 2021. It also establishes each of our participation on external committees, those being regional committees, state committees, and other city of Seattle committees for the next two years.

I'm gonna go ahead and move to adopt item two and then look for a second.

And then once that occurs, if any of my colleagues would like to give remarks about the resolution and your committee assignment, I will go ahead and call on my colleagues for that purpose.

So I will move to adopt resolution 31922. Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Is there any of my colleagues who would like to provide any remarks or comments?

Council Member Herbold.

I primarily just want to thank you and your staff for the hard work that you've done in putting together this resolution and our committee responsibilities and also shepherding what will be a bit of a culture change with the establishment of new quorum rules, a higher level of participation required for committees to meet.

I think The new structure will have significant demands of all of us, and I'm confident under your leadership that we'll rise to the occasion.

And I'm really excited about your leadership and about the new committee structure and having a chance to work with my colleagues and work on the issues most important to them.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Any other comments?

Councilmember Sala?

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

I intend to vote yes on this resolution, of course, and just wanted to share with members of the public that I will be chairing the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, which will hold a regularly scheduled meeting on the fourth Tuesday of every month.

And the issues that we will be discussing, of course, will be related to rent control, economic eviction protections, 180 days notice for rent increases, portable background checks for renters, and most urgently upcoming legislation, of course, is something that has already been introduced in the council from my office, which is the moratorium, proposed moratorium on winter evictions to make sure that our renting families are safe from the elements in the harshest months of the year.

And we will also be discussing upcoming legislation to constitute what the outgoing city council last year already made a commitment to which is a green new deal for our city.

And I just wanted to make clarification quickly at the council briefing this morning I announced unfortunately mistakenly that my first committee will be meeting on the 28th of this month.

I just remembered I'm actually personally not available on that day so we will have to revise that date and I'll make sure my staff reach out to all your offices as soon as possible.

Thank you Council Member Sawant.

Any other of my colleagues want to make any remarks at this point?

Okay, seeing none, I wanna really appreciate and thank each of you for your engagement, both personally with me over many, many weeks and with my staff on talking through what each of your individual priorities are for the next two years.

That input, I hope you see reflected in this final resolution.

It's always a bit of an art not not quite a science to pull together committee structures and committee assignments and really have appreciated and had appreciated the opportunity to engage with many of you over many weeks to take your individual input for my thinking to be able to distill it into what I think is a consensus resolution before us that really does hopefully reflect not only the priorities that each of you will have in working through some of the issues that your committees will be responsible for, but also in helping us establish a different culture here at the City Council that really allows for many of the difficult policy issues to be worked through effectively and openly in a transparent way through our new committee structure which will now require five members and one alternate and it'll also require that at least three council members who are members of the committee attend the committee hearing in order for the committee to be able to do its business again.

A bit of a culture shift for us, but it also puts some responsibility on us as chairs to ensure that we have the bodies in the chairs to be able to inspire confidence amongst the public that we are taking the policy work seriously that is our duty here at the legislative branch and that we're doing that in good faith.

So I really look forward to seeing the plan executed and again really have appreciated your all's cooperation and willingness and transparency and having conversations with me as I thought through what the committee structure could be for this year.

So thank you all so much for your commitment to that.

So this resolution has been moved and has been adopted.

So those in favor of adopting the resolution vote aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Okay we're gonna move on to a resolution 31923. I move to adopt resolution 31923. Okay it's been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted.

Are there any comments?

So folks this is the resolution that relates to each of our participation for the 2020-21 for the 2020 and 2021 years on King County committees, regional committees, state committees, and city of Seattle committees.

Again, this is in large part related to our city council committee obligations and duties, but also has a flavor of interest that folks have in serving in other regional issues and regional committees.

that we get to have representation on by virtue of being Seattle City Council members.

So again, I appreciate your willingness to serve on these committees as part of our ongoing obligations as City Council members to represent our city-specific interest in these regional and statewide efforts.

So it has been moved and seconded that we adopt Resolution 31923. Those in favor of adopting the resolution vote aye.

Any opposed?

None opposed.

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Okay, the council will now discuss and consider one motion to suspend the council rules before we consider item four on the agenda.

The council rules require that the council adopt by resolution a monthly rotation for the position of council president pro tem in order of seniority.

I'm requesting that this council rule be suspended to allow consideration of resolution 31924, which does not delegate the council president pro tem rotation in order by seniority.

Two-thirds of council members must vote in favor of this motion for us to consider resolution 31924 as proposed.

If two-thirds are in favor, the council will then consider resolution 31924. So I'm gonna move to suspend council rule 1D.1 relating to the delegation of a council president pro tem rotation in order by seniority.

Okay, thank you.

So it's been a motion and it's been seconded.

Are there any comments?

I see no comments from my colleagues.

Those in favor of the motion vote aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and the council rule is suspended to allow consideration of the resolution.

So now the council will consider resolution 31924. which has not been read into the record.

And we lost our clerk.

We're going to go ahead and read it into the record first, and then we'll move through.

A resolution designating the monthly President Pro Tem of the City Council of the City of Seattle for 2020 through 2021 and superseding resolution 31884. Thank you, Jodi.

So we have now read agenda item four into the record.

So I'm gonna move to adopt the resolution, ask for a second, and then we'll call for any comments.

So I move to adopt resolution 31924. It's been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted.

Are there any comments?

Okay, seeing none.

Those in favor of adopting the, No, it's okay.

Those in favor of adopting the resolution vote aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Okay folks, and for those of you who weren't quite following what we did on agenda item four, we essentially suspended the rules around the need to do our council president pro tem schedule by seniority.

So we have shifted things a little bit.

Again, it wasn't controversial and it was agreed upon things.

Folks to think that this isn't a front or an insult somehow to to you councilmember someone So it means that that councilmember Herbold will be council president pro tem in January followed by councilmember Juarez and then followed by councilmember Mosqueda and the only reason I'm highlighting that is because it's particularly relevant for the first three months of this year, which we will get to in in a moment.

So before I talk about my other business, is there any other further business to come before the council?

And for the new members, this is if you need to be excused for a full council meeting, this is the opportunity for you to do that.

All right, so I am, though I don't have, I'm not required under the council rules to be formally excused by the full council, I am nonetheless taking the opportunity to, in oral form, request that I be excused for all full council meetings between January 13th and, uh-oh, what's the week before March 30th?

SOS.

We have March 30th.

What's the Monday before that?

March 23rd.

So January 13th and March 23rd.

I will be and I'm excited to be leaving on maternity leave.

I will be the second council member in three months and in the history of the City of Seattle to request maternity leave, and I'm very excited about the opportunity to step away from my counsel obligations to bond with my first child, and I'm looking forward to being able to spend some time away from City Hall, although this morning I was having a little bit of FOMO.

I'm hearing all of you all talk about the wonderful things that are going to happen in the first quarter, but it is just an absolute humbling experience for me to be able to be in a position to start a family.

and to be able to have had some of the best prenatal care I could have ever asked for and to have the support of my former colleagues and my new colleagues in carrying some of the work through in the first quarter in my absence.

Really appreciate all of the ongoing support from each of you up on the dais and from my own staff who have been key to making sure that the work will continue in my absence.

So we have a solid work plan that we've been working on for weeks in my office to make sure that the roles and responsibilities of the council president office that are part of my office's responsibilities now are going to flow well with each of the three council president pro tems that are going to be in place for January, February, and March.

and we are really looking forward to continuing to advance many of our policy priorities around childcare and affordability and transportation issues and early learning and education issues throughout the city and look forward to establishing all of that foundational work in my absence over the next three months and then and then hitting the ground running on March 30th when I return to the City Council.

So really appreciate the again support from all of you as I step away and and focus on family for for three months this this year undivided attention hopefully to that and really look forward to being able to do that so if there's no objection to my being excused I will be excused that's it all right so As a reminder, once again, there is a short reception and that will commence now in the Bertha Knight Landis room, which is on the first floor of City Hall.

All are welcome to attend.

That is the last item on our agenda.

And with that being said, we are adjourned.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.