Seattle City Council Special Joint Meeting with Select Labor Committee & Community Police Commission

All right.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Today is Thursday, December 5th, 2019. It is 5.32 p.m.

Welcome, everyone, to this special joint meeting of the City Council's Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans in Education Committee and the Select Labor Committee in partnership with the Community Police Commission, who is already seated at the table.

Thank you so much for being with us this evening.

I'm Council Member Lorena Gonzalez, Chair of this Committee, and joining me up here this evening is Council President Harrell, who's the Chair of our Select Labor Committee, and also joining us is Council Member Lisa Herbold, who is, for the record, feeling under the weather, but weathering the storm, because this is really important and I really appreciate your willingness to be here in spite of that.

Thank you.

And I believe we have one more council member joining us in a few minutes.

So we will welcome him if he makes his way out.

Okay, so before we get started, I have to ask if we can adopt the agenda.

So if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Really quickly, I wanted to go over the agenda for this evening and welcome Council Member Peterson.

Thank you for joining us.

We are holding this public hearing tonight in accordance with Seattle Municipal Code 4.04.120, which requires that the City Council hold a public hearing at least 90 days before the City begins collective bargaining with the Seattle Police Officers Guild or SPOG.

in order to hear public comment on the effectiveness of the city's police accountability system.

So if you are here tonight to provide public testimony and you have not already signed up to do that, there are sign up sheets in the front here where you can sign up to give us public comment.

There are also public comment cards.

So if you are a little shy from the camera and don't want to stand in front of this big audience, you are also welcome to fill out one of the public comment sheets and we'll make sure to collect those at the end of the evening and add those to the record as well.

We are really looking forward to hearing your public testimony.

We intend to start that in about 30 minutes.

First, we're going to hear three short, very short presentations from representatives of our civilian-led accountability system.

So first, we will receive a brief introduction on the topic of today's hearing from our city council central staff.

After that, we'll hear from the Office of Inspector General for Public Safety.

the Director of the Office of Police Accountability, and from members and staff of the Community Police Commission, all of whom will present on their observations regarding the state of the accountability system in the context of our upcoming and anticipated labor negotiations with SPOC.

So I'm going to go ahead and hand it over.

after Cody reads it into the record.

So I will have Cody read the first agenda item, first and only agenda item into the record and we will go ahead and begin the presentations.

Agenda items one and two, introduction to collective bargaining with the Seattle Police Officers Guild and presentations by the civilian oversight entities for briefing and discussion.

Great, thank you, Cody.

So before we go ahead and dig into the presentations, why don't we go ahead and do just a quick round of introductions of folks at the table so we can get oriented, and then I will hand it over to Karina who's going to kick off the presentations.

Hi, I am Karina Bull with City Council Central Staff.

Hi, my name is Emma Katagi.

I'm one of the co-chairs of the CPC.

My name is Reverend Walden.

I'm one of the co-chairs of the CPC.

Hi, I'm Bessie Scott, I'm the Interim Executive Director of Community Police Commission.

Andrew Meyerberg, I'm the Director of the Office of Police Accountability.

Lisa Judge, Inspector General for Public Safety.

Thank you all once again for being with us this evening.

Karina, why don't you go ahead and kick us off.

And I am going to be a pretty strict timekeeper because I want to make sure that we have a maximum amount of time to hear from public in terms of testimony.

Please.

Thank you.

As Councilmember Gonzalez mentioned, I'm providing a very brief summary of the reason for tonight's public hearing and the steps that will follow for the labor negotiation process.

The Seattle Police Officers Guild, also known as SPOG, is the larger of two unions representing police officers and represents most sworn officers.

The Seattle Police Management Association, SPMA, is a smaller union and represents about 70 lieutenants and captains.

The current SPOG contract runs from January 1st, 2015 through December 31st of 2020. Given the impending expiration date of this contract, the purpose of tonight's public hearing is to receive input on the effectiveness of the city's police accountability system and what should be included in the new SPOG collective bargaining agreement before the city and the union begin negotiations.

This is a process that is required for both SPOG and SPMA.

There are two timing considerations that affect when the city and SPOG can begin these negotiations.

The first is that on August 14th of 2019, The city provided a formal notice of the intent to begin bargaining no later than April of 2019. The next is that bargaining cannot begin any sooner than 90 days from tonight's public hearing.

All this to say that the city and SPOG would be able to begin negotiations as early as March 4th of next year.

Next, regarding the labor negotiations process, state law, the exact citation is RCW 41.56, establishes the right of public employees to join labor organizations and to be represented in matters concerning their public employment.

State law also requires the city and unions to negotiate in good faith all mandatory subjects of bargaining, which generally relate to wages, hours, and working conditions.

And consistent with comments earlier, SPOG and separately SPMA will negotiate with the city on subjects of police accountability.

The city's negotiation process includes meetings of a labor relations policy committee called the LRPC.

This committee establishes bargaining parameters for the city's labor relations negotiations team and it consists of members from Council's Select Labor Committee, which right now include Council President Harrell, Councilmember Gonzalez, O'Brien, Bagshaw, and Councilmember Mosqueda.

And on the executive side, the Seattle Department of Human Resources Director Bobby Humes, Deputy Mayor Mike Fong, and the City Budget Office Director Ben Noble.

Since these meetings do include bargaining strategy and negotiation, they are exempt from the requirements of the state's Open Public Meetings Act.

The Labor Relations Director, John Assange, will use the bargaining agreement parameters to negotiate an agreement with SPOG.

And once this agreement has been reached, it's called a tentative agreement, SPOG members will consider ratifying that agreement, and then the city's process for ratifying is actually, happens through a majority vote and full council, and it is legislated.

That is a very brief overview.

Hopefully I'm within the, the right mark of time limit?

You are.

OK.

You have three minutes to spare.

Kudos to you.

All right.

As Council President Harrell would say, that's leadership right there.

All right.

So why don't we go ahead.

Thank you, Karina, for that general overview.

Really, really appreciate it.

Of course, it's a very simple overview of the process.

And we're here tonight specifically to hear about the accountability provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and process with SPOG.

But there are many other issues that will be bargained in the operations management area as well, but tonight's purpose of the hearing is to squarely focus on the accountability provisions consistent with the municipal code that directs and applies to the collective bargaining process with SPOG.

So the next theme, we'll go ahead and transition.

We have exactly 25 minutes to cover presentations by our civilian oversight entities, and I believe that the Inspector General is going to kick us off.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

I apologize for having my back to the room.

Council President, Madam Chair, Council Members, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today, or tonight, actually.

as you hold this hearing to gather community input and receive community voice on the upcoming negotiation process for the Seattle Police Officers Guild Labor Agreement or SPOG agreement.

I'm pleased to add my voice to the conversation, but I am most looking forward to hearing from community members and working with city leadership to amplify and address those concerns throughout the process.

Accordingly, I will keep my comments at a high level, but provide you with more detailed input and writing in the near future as you consider and develop the city's bargaining agenda.

The Office of Inspector General is charged with systemic oversight of the Seattle Police Department and the Office of Police Accountability.

So while many of my comments will address specific facets of upcoming bargaining that directly impact OIG operation, I'm also supportive of any measures suggested here or proffered by others that enhance the overall system of accountability.

As a general principle, I believe that sustainable police accountability requires increasing transparency in police processes and enhancing trust by bargaining for strong accountability measures that are fair to all and further openness and trust between the community and SPD.

Of course, the big questions then are how do you increase transparency and which accountability measures are truly critical in building and sustaining public trust?

I'm particularly supportive of any improvements to the bargaining process itself, as well as any elements of the collective bargaining agreement that increase transparency of and trust in the disciplinary and appeals process.

A possible way to increase public trust in the bargaining process, am I cutting out or is it just is to engage an external advisor during the bargaining who is supported by the oversight partners to provide a mechanism for reporting back to community about the fairness and effectiveness of the process.

This is a concept that was raised by community in the previous labor contract hearing and I am supportive of this notion.

In terms of specific accountability measures that I think contribute significantly to furthering our accountability system, I highlight several issues which you will no doubt recognize from those previously identified by my office, the federal court, and other accountability stakeholders.

First is subpoena power.

Subpoena power is an oversight enforcement mechanism that is essential to our operation.

The critical ability to obtain information necessary to carry out oversight functions cannot be overstated.

I know from the experiences of other oversight bodies around the country who struggle with the inability to obtain necessary data, information, and cooperation that the lack of an enforcement mechanism often results in the inability to provide effective oversight of those departments.

I'd like to emphasize that reliance on acquiescence and cooperation will not be enough if a day comes when SPD is not so keen to participate in oversight efforts or collaborate with partners.

The next issue is the burden of proof, which should hold all misconduct allegations to a preponderance of the evidence standard for determination by OPA, the chief, as well as on appeal.

Another necessary issue is providing clarity around the calculation of the 180-day timeline for disciplinary investigations, and should include appropriate tolling for criminal investigations, newly discovered evidence, and time lags in reporting.

Finally, arbitration.

The city should address features of arbitration that affect public confidence, such as increasing the transparency of proceedings, setting and strictly enforcing timelines, prohibiting de novo review of the chief's final disciplinary decisions, and improving the selection process for arbitrators to ensure fairness, objectivity, and expertise.

I believe Director Meyerberg may also address these issues and some additional concerns, including criminal investigations.

And I just want to say that I'm supportive of his efforts to increase the ability of OPA to do the work of ensuring individual officer accountability for misconduct, as well as ensuring measures that promote fairness and transparency in that process.

And I believe he's going to go into some detail on that.

I recognize the current contract language acknowledges OIG's unfettered access to SPD operations and affords OIG and OPA some very limited ability regarding subpoenas.

In fact, I have found SPD to be cooperative in all audits underway in my office.

But I would note that an accountability system that requires bargaining for oversight authority every few years is not a sustainable model and effective oversight can be easily eroded.

I would encourage city leadership to plan a bargaining agenda that increases public trust in dealing with misconduct and makes the process itself more visible to community.

I also strongly believe city leadership should endeavor to empower oversight entities, my partners here at the table, in ways that cannot be compromised in bargaining and that are adequately supported and funded to allow for truly independent operations.

While bargaining is critically important, it is not the only mechanism contributing to an accountable police force, and meaningful progress is not entirely tied to bargaining outcomes.

In collaboration with OPA, CPC, and SPD, my office is currently working on efforts to develop a process to review significant harmful events with community involvement, to promote meaningful scrutiny of use of force both internally and externally, and to continually encourage and support the development of best policing practices, including a current collaborative effort to support fair and effective suspect, victim, and witness interviewing.

I would like to appreciate right now the collaboration of my partners here at the table and other stakeholders who've come to the table on these issues.

So as we all discussed today what should be done to promote effective oversight, I also want to acknowledge that there is work in progress changing things for the better.

A strong bargaining agenda can help solidify our ability to affect those changes.

Thank you for this time and for your consideration.

Thank you, Inspector General.

We really appreciate your attention to those details.

And I know that we will all continue to have conversations to make sure that we get a more robust and deep understanding of some of the issues that you're flagging for us now.

All right, so let's move on to Director Meyerberg from our Office of Police Accountability.

Well, thank you again, counsel, for having us here tonight.

We really appreciate it.

And thank you to the community for such a large amount of people being here tonight.

We appreciate that as well.

And thank you to the partners that are here, CPC, OIG.

As always, we appreciate the collaborative relationship that we've developed over the last two years.

In preparing for this meeting and in preparing for the SPMA and SPA contracts, we've spent a lot of time collectively as accountability partners thinking about what's working right now with the contract, what's not working, and what are some changes that we can make to improve the system.

This contract is not perfect, and obviously no contract is perfect, but we're here to act as much as we can as technical advisors to move this process forward and to make the police department more accountable and responsive to the people that it serves.

There's a number of areas of this contract that impact on OPA.

Perhaps OPA is impacted more than any other entity at this table by the contract.

And for those that don't know in the crowd, OPA is the Office of Police Accountability.

the Internal Affairs Department for the Seattle Police Department, we investigate officer misconduct.

With the understanding that I can't cover everything that's in the contract and all these issues, what I wanted to do was to focus on some that I find particularly significant and some that I think would be beneficial for both the council and the community to hear about and to discuss a little bit more.

First, I think everyone up here knows, obviously everyone up here knows about the 180-day deadline, but for the community, All of OPA's investigations are governed by an 180-day timeline.

This means that we have to complete our investigations in six months.

If we don't do it, then we can't impose discipline on a police officer.

One of the issues that I think we've had historically with the 180-day deadline is not necessarily when it stops running, but when it starts running.

One of the things that the city did really, really well in this last round of contract negotiations was with SPMA, the negotiated language, that said that the timeline runs from whenever OPA initiates or receives a complaint, right?

That's simple.

That means that if I initiate or my office initiates a complaint or we receive a complaint from some other entity, that's when the deadline starts.

The SPA contract is much more complicated.

In the SPA contract, there's five basically exceptions for when the 180-day deadline runs from.

I'm not going to go into all of them now in detail, but they're complex.

I think, you know, officers that I interact with and the people in my office don't always understand them.

If we don't get them, then I can't imagine that community members that aren't immersed in this process get them.

And that's a problem, right?

If we're wanting to ensure transparency and understanding of the process, we need to simplify.

OPA is very supportive of the SPA contract, that language mirroring the SPEMA contract, in that we would want both contracts to be initiated or received.

We understand, though, that in collective bargaining that may not be possible, but at the very least we really would like...

Yes, I'm sorry.

We would very much like the deadline start date to be simplified.

Another thing that was created as part of the SPOG and SPMA contracts was a program called Rapid Adjudication.

What Rapid Adjudication allowed for was it allowed for officers to take responsibility for actions, admit that they violated a policy, and then to close the case out without a further investigation.

Under the SPOG and SPMA contracts, this was a pilot program.

We think it's worked very well.

There's been six cases so far that have gone through this program.

We would urge the council and the executive to make this permanent.

We would also very much like that the timelines be more flexible.

So right now, there are strict timelines that govern when OPA can offer rapid adjudication and when an officer can ask for rapid adjudication.

We would want more time to allow more officers to take advantage of the program, particularly as officers are beginning to learn what this program is and the benefits of it.

We would also propose that the city consider bargaining the elimination of the five-day notice.

I'm not sure if everyone up here knows, but for the audience, OPA is required to send two contractual notices to officers during investigations.

The first notice is called a five-day notice, and basically it's not a massive amount of information, but we have to send it within five days of receiving or initiating a complaint.

And we just say, Officer X, you have been named in a complaint.

The majority of officers, at least in our experience, do not like the five-day notice.

They find it stressful.

They find it overwhelming.

It hurts morale.

As a general matter, about 40 to 45% of our cases actually are investigated.

So you're looking at between 55 to 60% of cases that are never going to investigation.

So officers are getting notices for cases that don't go to investigation, it's an added stress.

We've talked to or we've heard the rationale from the guild, but we think that the benefit of five-day notices is outweighed by the negative impact that it can have.

But, you know, a reasonable compromise would be to issue five-day notices in certain cases, but not in others.

And we think that that would be something that we would like the city to consider.

But obviously, I can give more detail to the council on that.

Criminal investigations, there's a number of issues involved in criminal investigations.

What I wanted to talk about today was relating to the 180-day timeline and specifically tolling of the timeline.

So right now, the way the contract works is if OPA receives an allegation of criminal misconduct, we are required to send that back to the Seattle Police Department to investigate.

If the misconduct occurred in Seattle and is being investigated by SPD, the timeline does not toll.

So our 180-day deadline runs pending the investigation.

That's a problem in that if the investigation, for example, the criminal investigation, takes longer than six months, we're out of luck because by the time we get it back, we have no time to do our investigation.

Under the current SPA contract, the deadline tolls under two circumstances.

First, if the case is with the prosecutor's office or is being reviewed or prosecuted.

And second, if the misconduct occurs outside of Seattle and it's being investigated outside of Seattle.

But what that wouldn't cover, for example, is let's say that there was a criminal act that arose out of a use of force in Seattle, and we asked the department to say, please send it out to Bellevue, Washington State Patrol, or whatever entity you wanted to outside of the city, that would not toll.

So we think it would be very important to ensure that the deadline tolls for those cases which are probably the most important cases or the most serious cases that OPA looks at.

A couple other issues that, or at least one issue that is a tangential issue for OPA but one that we feel very strong about and particularly some of the sworn members within OPA feel very strong about.

is mandatory rotations.

So currently there is no mandatory rotation.

And what I mean by mandatory rotation is being able to move officers between departments.

So for example, from patrol to investigations.

I think it would be a morale builder and I think it would be beneficial for the department in developing its personnel to to move every five years, every six years, it doesn't really make a difference, but to move people from different units, so to give patrol officers an opportunity to serve in specialized units.

Right now, I worry that some patrol officers feel that they'll never be able to move from patrol.

You can spend 15, 20, 25 years in patrol.

Some people love that job, and patrol is a very interesting and, I think, exciting job, but at the same time, I think having other opportunities would build a happier workforce, so that's something that we feel pretty strongly about.

And I would say the benefit to patrol of having an officer who may have spent five years working in DV or SAU, special victims, or in homicide, then coming back to patrol would be hugely beneficial for younger officers and other people that would be paired up with.

Director Myerberg, can you start wrapping up, please?

Yep.

Two other things, and they're linked, are restrictions on OPA personnel.

Currently, the SPA contract allows for two civilian investigators at OPA, but it limits OPA's ability to utilize them as we see fit.

Right now, They need to do the primary work on civilian initiated cases, and to the extent they're working on a case that could involve termination, they have to be paired up with a sworn sergeant.

What we would ask for is the city consider eliminating those restrictions and allowing OPA to allocate its personnel as it sees fit.

Again, there's a number of other issues that I could talk about.

I mean, that's an overview, and I'm happy to offer more technical advice as the process goes on.

Great.

Thank you so much.

I want to shift us quickly over to the Community Police Commission.

And is it going to be Reverend Walden?

Are you going to kick us off on this portion of the presentation?

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member President Harrell and Madam Chair Gonzalez.

I'm Reverend Walden, one of the co-chairs of the Seattle Police Commission.

With me today is my fellow co-chair, Emma Katage.

We appreciate the opportunity to give you our thoughts concerning the next Seattle Police Officers Guild contract.

In 2017, the Seattle City Council, in partnership with the CPC and the community groups, unanimously adopted one of the most robust police accountability laws in the country.

It was hailed as a historic moment and rightfully so.

The accountability laws strengthened the civilian oversight of the police department and created a strong discipline system guiding, ensuring officers would be held accountable when they committed misconduct.

The city council and the mayor's office dedicated themselves to implementing the accountability law some of which would have been done through collective bargaining with the city police union.

But many of these reforms did not make it into the last contract between the city and SPOG, which is why the CPC reluctantly came out in opposition of the last contract.

In fact, the judge presiding over the consent decree agreed with the CPC and concluded that the SPOG contract signed last year put the city out of compliance on the issue of police of accountability.

This is our chance to fix what went wrong last time and to renew the city's pledge at the conclusion of the last round of bargaining to build upon the accountability laws.

Before turning it over to my colleague for high levels for just a few of the key reforms CPC has identified as priorities for the round of bargaining.

I would like to emphasize our strong recommendation that the city appoint an external advisor jointly recommended by OPA, OIG, and CPC.

This advisor can and should help plan the bargaining agenda and report out to our community.

Before I turn it over to my colleague, I'd like to just do a personal point of privilege after doing this work almost 30 years.

And what the Attorney General had to say yesterday, I find that it was really, really troubling.

And for people who have not heard what he said, he said, in essence, he said, if the people don't show more respect to police officers, then you might not get any protection.

And so I passed out to the city council members the National Police Association statement, and I think it's really important to know how they felt about this, and I think that we really need to be concerned about the Justice Department and the movement away from constitutional policing for us as citizens.

in America.

So anyway, it's a point of privilege and I thank you for that.

Thank you, Reverend.

Thank you, Reverend Walden.

Again, my name is Emma Katage.

I'm one of the co-chairs of the CPC.

Last month, the CPC sent a letter to the mayor and city council outlining some of the many areas of the accountability laws that still have not been implemented.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few of those priorities, which some of them are already mentioned by OIG and OPA.

First, we urge the city to fix the burden and probing standard of review in discipline cases by returning to the use of the preponderance standard of all allegation of misconduct.

Second, the 180 days timeline for disciplinary investigation cannot be used to short circuit investigation.

We have recommended changes to make the timeline start and end dates consistent and to ensure it's told when, for instance, new evidence emerges.

Third, the OPA and OIG should each have full subpoena authority.

This is a really important issue that Judge Robert has identified in his orders and that CPC has highlighted in its brief to the court board.

The CPC has identified various features of the disciplinary process affecting public confidence that must be reformed, such as providing differences difference to the chief of police, making clear that officers always have a duty to be honest, making disciplinary hearing public, and ensuring that decision makers are truly neutral.

Fifth, we urge the city to ensure that civilian oversight extend to allegation of criminal misconduct.

Our recommendation here is that OPA should have the power to refer, oversee, and coordinate.

That means OPA should have the authority to refer an investigation to an independent agency, oversee that investigation, and coordinate with the agency and prosecutors.

We listed various other recommendation in our November 25th letter, which we are decided to adopt such as reform to the study of limitation and records retention, adding a requirement to disclose material information during investigation, empowering the chief to place employees On live without pay, a critical reforms to secondary employment that would address actual and perceived corruption in the police force.

And finally, I'd like to close by addressing those from the community who have joined us here today.

This hearing is a rare opportunity to listen to community members about a police contract that will affect the safety and well-being of everyone in Seattle.

Whether you agree with the CPC's position or not, we want to thank you for taking time out of your day to come make your voice heard.

Like all police reform, the opportunity to have public comments and police contracts was only made possible by the tireless work of community advocates.

We are honored and thankful to be able to convene this public hearing with the City Council, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say today.

Thank you.

Great, thank you so much.

And Reverend Walden, I want to thank you for so thoughtfully bringing up the issue related to the U.S.

Attorney General William Barr and his comments.

For those of you who haven't seen them yet, it's in a New York Times article that was just published titled William Barr Says Those Who Don't Show More Respect to Cops May Not Get Police Protection.

And obviously some of the comments that he makes and certainly his perspective is not surprising given what we have been seeing out of this administration, but it is nonetheless abhorrent and certainly condemn that type of philosophy that somehow standing up for civil rights and continuing the fight for civil rights in policing and in other areas is somehow inappropriate or illegitimate.

It just cannot be accepted.

That is not true.

We, as people who expect to receive law enforcement services and not be victims of crime, deserve constitutional protection in the course of receiving those public safety services and that is I believe what the commitment of these folks here at the table is and have heard that repeatedly from y'all and I really appreciate you bringing this letter from the National Black Police Association condemning Attorney General Barr's remarks on the issue.

And there's so much in this letter that is just spot on.

For those of you who haven't seen the letter, there's copies up here in the front.

Please help yourself to them.

But I just wanted to take a moment to read really quickly from a portion of the letter that I think is important for us to keep in mind as we continue to have the conversation.

Today, we're obviously here to get public testimony from you all, but it's also going to be an ongoing conversation.

This is not the first and only opportunity that we will all have to come together as community to really make sure that we get this right.

And so, from the letter, I think it's really important for us to acknowledge some of these sentiments.

But I wanted to just sort of highlight one paragraph on the second page which says that the National Black Police Association would like for this false narrative that the black community does not respect the police to stop.

It is police abuse that is being complained about and it should be.

We would like for police brutality and corruption to be acknowledged when it occurs and for police unions to stop protecting those officers who conduct themselves unethically and or criminally for that is what will build trust and legitimacy in all of our communities and what will build respectful relationships.

We would like for police officers to remember the oath we all swore to and carry forth our police missions, visions and principles with fairness and equity.

I am sure we would be hard pressed to find an oath that said we were only to be of outstanding service if the person we are serving likes or respects us.

Close quote.

So thank you so much for sharing this with us, Reverend Walden.

I really appreciate it.

So that brings us to exactly 25 minutes for this presentation.

We are now at 6.05 p.m.

I am going to suggest that our guests at the table can join the audience if you wish.

You're also welcome to stay comfortably where you're at, but you're not required to.

Of course, thank you again so much for being with us.

We're gonna go ahead and shift now into the public hearing portion of tonight, and so, We are very excited that the room is full and wanted to thank you all for joining us this evening to give us public testimony on this very, very important topic.

So, let's go ahead and begin this portion.

So, in addition to receiving comments tonight, you can also email me your testimony and it will be entered into the official public hearing record.

If you wish to email us your comments you can email your public comment to me at Lorena.Gonzalez with a Z at Seattle.gov.

So I'm going to call out each individual who signed up.

We have about.

32 folks.

Everybody gets two minutes to provide us their comments on the topic at hand.

If you are testifying in a group of three or more individuals, then you'll get up to five minutes to speak.

So if you've got friends in the audience, you should start coordinating yourselves now.

And again, if you have not already done so, because you showed up late and you didn't hear me say, you can still sign up for public comment.

We will accept signatures until the very end of tonight's public hearing and we have forms up in front where you can sign up still and then Cody will hand me your name and we will go ahead and call you up in the order that you signed up.

So again, I'm gonna call folks three at a time.

Each of you get two minutes and And there's timers up in front.

And if you could, just to help us expedite the process, as you hear your name called, begin the process of coming to the front of the room or lining up.

That will really help to speed up the evening for everyone, because we want to make sure that everybody signed up actually.

gets heard and sometimes what happens is there's a delay in the queuing and then folks get tired and end up going home and we want to make sure that we can hear from everybody.

So without further ado we'll go ahead and get started.

So we have the first three speakers are David Haynes, Jay Hollingsworth and then Betty Jean Williamson.

My name is David Haynes.

This budget is proof we still have unconstitutional policing.

Presently, city council is lockstep with mayor who originally sabotaged the integrity and safety effectiveness of the 2012 police reform by slipping a sentence bypassing the legislature as US attorney exempting low dollar level drug pushers who destroy lives daily.

Even though we only legalized proper grown marijuana, somehow the community police commissioner lobbied and convinced council to add crack, meth, and heroin to list of exemptions that will make the public defender who's an upender of public safety accommodating criminals wealthy.

Now the city.

allows the Seattle cops to use taxpayer-financed training and then refuses to fight real crime.

Instead they moonlight at Whole Foods as security officers who purposely profile the wrong, innocent, poor people that then they allow the escalation of a problem that endangers innocent people when they allow the fascist racist manager to embellish police reports while they stand there and allow them to lie.

I'm sitting there filming, right?

They're sitting there saying I got a weapon and then I'm up in his face and he's coming at me and for some reason he profiled me from the time I went into this Whole Foods a while back and Five cops show up with guns and everything, and it was like, you know, I didn't go to jail or anything, but they're in violation.

And the cops just stand there and allow it.

It's because they're like traffic cops that are moonlighting, getting rich.

And they're endangering community because they're getting it wrong and they're not fighting real crime.

But the fact that we're exempting drug pushers and focusing on biased policing that emphasizes looking for homeless people to act like a hero using the Infants is patrols and the officer outreach.

It's gonna happen within 30 days of the year count and the mayor's gonna lie and say that they're dialing down the numbers while the whole time the people you're driving out of sight out of mind are still being Oppressed persecuted and still in need of a friggin home.

Thank Thank You.

Mr Haynes Next up is Jay Hollingsworth followed by Betty Jean Williamson, and then we will hear from Bobby Geiger or guy again

Jay Westwood and Wolf Hollingsworth.

I'm a Mohegan tribal member, and I give thanks to the Duwamish people for their use of their land here.

I stand with my brother.

This is Rick Williams, John T.' 's brother.

And I've stood and worked for justice with him for nine plus years now.

So the federal judge had some complaints about the police accountability.

In his decision on last May, he talked about the issues regarding the 180-day stipulation on investigations.

He also talked about the arbitrator being able to overturn the decision of a 30-year professional officer, the police chief.

So those were a couple of the issues that he spoke to for keeping the consent decree open and out of compliance for the city of Seattle.

Some other things, I think we can go beyond the police accountability legislation of 2017. We need to end the shoot to kill training.

We need to end the shoot people who carry knives.

we need to have the subject expert that's chosen by the OPA, the CPC, and the OIG to help with your negotiations.

Getting it right up front is most important because there's the contract negotiation called openers, which cannot be reopened during the process.

So right from the start, you have to have the list of things you're gonna negotiate for the contract set in place.

And hopefully that'll include fully the 2017 police accountability legislation and I thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next up is Betty Jean Williamson followed by Bobby and then we will hear from Len Bordeaux.

Thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez.

My concern is that the next Seattle Police Guild contract must adhere to the Seattle Ordinance 125315, which has been referred to often as the Ordinance from 2017. While I'm not a specialist in human resources, it's obvious to me that no civil servants contract should supersede the law.

I understand that all other city contracts end with a statement that should any portion of the aforesaid contract be contrary to the sovereign law of the City of Seattle, that portion is null and void.

It troubles me deeply that after six years of diligent work by the Seattle Police Commission, the police department, and this legislative body to draft legislation to successfully comply with the Department of Justice consent decree that the mayor's office, the attorney, city attorney, and this body through approved, pushed through a SPOG contract that the bottom line states that should any portion of their contract be contrary to Seattle law, the SPOG contract would hold sway.

As long as the police contract is allowed to thwart the law, there is an appearance that the police are above the law.

And that perhaps they have the privilege to select which laws to enforce and when to enforce them.

That's simply unacceptable.

The City Council set this dangerous precedent when they voted to approve the last contract, and it is your responsibility to correct this mistake.

Please align all public contracts with the law and require SPOG to enforce Ordinance 125315. Thank you.

Thank you, Betty Jean.

Next up is Bobby, followed by Len Bordeaux, and then we will hear from Megan Murphy.

I'm Bobby Geiger.

I'm a longtime citizen of Seattle.

I live in Alex Peterson's district.

I have really been very upset about the excessive use of force.

It disgusts me, particularly that it is disproportionate towards people of color, as well as mentally ill people.

I'm a retired clinical social worker.

I have worked in Harborview ER, where many, Out of control, mentally ill people come in and we knew how to control them without hurting them.

So I think that they can talk to, the police would be wise to take some lessons from the professionals there to learn how to deal with mentally ill people that are out of control.

I, too, the woman before me said it all just beautifully.

I couldn't say it any better than that.

We need to have the legislation of police accountability that was drawn up in 2017 be part of the contract.

And then we will not only be doing all of the citizens and the police department good, we will also be in compliance with the decree.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

All right.

We will now hear from Len, followed by Megan Murphy, and then Diane Narasaki.

And I believe all the microphones are working, so you can make yourself at home at any one of the microphones.

Please.

Thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity to have this hearing and to testify.

My name is Len Bordeaux.

I live in Seattle, Lake City, zip code 98125. And I want to thank and acknowledge the comments made by the civilian police oversight folks, especially, and I'm sorry I don't know the names, but someone from the OIG and also from the CPC very much expressed my views about this.

When Charlene Lyles was killed, I reached a tipping point.

I went to the inquest around her shooting, and I've been following things closely since, and it's of deep importance to me.

The council passed this accountability law in 2017, which was excellent.

That's what we need.

We need it to be enforced.

And so with the coming labor negotiations, I hope we will return to a state where the labor contract is in compliance with the law.

We need accountability and transparency.

That will be good not only for the citizens, that will also be good for the police force if the citizens can trust and have faith in them.

I am terrified, terrified.

We've seen in Seattle what can happen when a community loses confidence and faith and trust in the police and we can have violence.

I don't want to go there again.

So I'm hoping that you and the mayor will do your job and make sure that we have a good, accountable and transparent contract with the police unions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, so next we will hear from Megan, then Diana Arasaki, and then Pauly G.

Thanks for letting me speak.

There needs to be the 180-day loophole severely affected William Wingate and other victims who get no compensation when the police officers deal with their situation in a way of escalating it to the point where there's damage that could have been bypassed had it been de-escalated.

and in a more appropriate way.

So that's a main reason is so that the victims can get some kind of recognition or compensation.

And the people who gather the evidence should not only be the police officers.

There needs to be a third party that also gathers evidence, and then the evidence is shared in a community police advisory committee out in the public.

I identified strongly with Charlene Alliles because I went to the police, I was imagining this huge de-escalation occurring because I was in Sioux City, Iowa and I believed I was being stalked.

One, because my Facebook, I didn't know about Russian trolls and it was freaking me out.

And then I would go to AA and there was people at the AA meeting, it felt like they were stalking me and I just, I was scared, so I went to the police, and I thought that they would refer me to a counselor, and he didn't have a camera on.

They now have to wear cameras here in Seattle.

They said it was like a bribe.

If they had a camera, they would see the report that DHS got was incorrect because my son had a winter coat on, and I did not fight them at all.

I was totally calm.

I'm always a totally calm person.

And they diagnosed me with schizophrenia as a result in Sioux City, Iowa.

And I lost custody of my son after three months in the DHS system.

And I haven't seen him in over nine years.

And I was hoping for de-escalation, so people who know me in an everyday way can see I don't have schizophrenia.

I have an anxiety disorder.

I was an awesome parent.

I took my son to church, to the playground.

everywhere and I will never be compensated for the lost time and if only they had a camera on and if only Sioux City, Iowa Had a community police commission like they have here in Seattle So that's why I strongly believe that Seattle needs to have this to be an example for the rest of for cities like where I'm from.

So maybe I could go back there and tell them, look, you need to go be like Seattle because I've learned amazing things and I found community here that doesn't call me crazy when I think I'm being stalked, which totally deescalates it and makes the rest of my day extremely enjoyable, which I would prefer it to be than thinking there's some kind of freak out there stalking me.

Thanks.

Thank you, Ms. Murphy.

Diane Narasaki is next, followed by Polly G, and then Nicole Grant.

Good evening.

I'm Diane Narasaki, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, King County Co-Chair.

We are one of many organizations who have expressed our deep concern about our city's broken police accountability system and the accountability provisions in the current SPOG contract, which put the city partially out of compliance with the consent decree and consequently extended the period of federal oversight.

We asked the City to commit to negotiating the SPOG and SPMA contracts to enable the full realization of the reforms within the 2017 Accountability Ordinance unanimously passed by the City Council and signed by the Mayor in 2017. This ordinance resulted from extensive research and collaboration both local and national, and was tailor-made to address the weaknesses of Seattle's accountability system.

To better enable the City Council to negotiate accordingly, an advisor with deep knowledge of the City's police accountability system, the ordinance, contract negotiations, and the community's concerns should be appointed as soon as possible.

with the joint recommendation of the CPC, OPA, and Office of the Inspector General.

The advisor must be appointed as soon as possible to help set the bargaining agenda and be at the table with the city negotiating team from start to finish of the confidential collective bargaining process.

Without this depth of dedicated expertise to assist the city, We fear we are once again going to be left with a contract which leaves us with a broken accountability system and broken trust between our city, the police, and the community.

We urge the city with the resulting contract to first and foremost finally keep its promises to the community, bring the city back into compliance with the consent decree, and to improve public safety by strengthening trust between our city, our police, and our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Diane.

Okay, next up we have Polly G followed by Nicole Grant and then Kenny Stewart.

My name is Pauly Gee, and today I've come to talk about the Seattle Police Department and the collective belligerence of the Seattle City Government.

This city has failed for years on end to rein in its militarized police force.

The Seattle Police, led by members of the North Precinct, who are unrestrained in their capacity for killing, have already contributed to make 2019 one of the worst years on record for police killings in Washington State.

Let's review the facts.

The city approved a police union contract the federal government has ruled unconstitutional.

The mayor's policy to address this problem is to contest the judge's decision and pretend one doesn't exist at all.

Meanwhile, only two years ago, the North Precinct shot and killed Charlena Lyles, a pregnant woman, at her home in front of her surviving children.

Just this past New Year's Eve, the North Precinct murdered Yosia Falatogo.

Video recorded at the moment of his surrender, arms outstretched mid-sentence as he said, I'm not reaching.

The North Precinct shot and killed him anyway, bullet to the back of the head, execution style.

In other parts of the country, those accused of a crime are guaranteed a fair trial.

But the North Precinct has freed themselves of such encumbrances to commit extrajudicial killings.

And now the mayor says the Seattle PD have her full support.

Mayor Durkin, the Seattle Police Department needs more oversight, not less.

because instead of consistently adhering to the reforms outlined in the consent decree, the Seattle police have consistently been killing us.

Mayor, go fix this police union contract and deliver to Seattle constitutional policing.

Thank you.

Okay, next up is Nicole Grant, then we'll hear from Kenny Stewart, followed by Richard Hall.

Thank you, Committee Chair, Councilwoman Gonzales, and Committee.

Nicole Grant from MLK Labor.

We represent unions in King County.

And I'm here to thank you for pulling together this hearing and for initiating bargaining with the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

I don't think it's accurate to characterize the Seattle police officers as cold killers because most of them are not.

They are very hardworking people from every gender and race that serve our city.

It's hard to serve a city in a time like this when 100,000 people are moving to King County every year and income inequality is completely out of control and people are poor, and they are suffering, and they are the victims of crime, and there is an intensity in the street.

There is rampant homelessness.

City employees in every department of the city are on the front lines handling Seattle's growing pains every single day.

City employees are working more than they ever have.

No new hires.

inadequate pay raises and this is an important contract for these workers.

I want to say that this hearing is very important and I take to heart that everything that is said in our community because I know a lot of people here are union members and I want to thank everybody for their level engagement and to hope that we can engage together, including the Seattle Police Officers Guild and all leaders in our community as much as possible during this process.

I think it's very important and I think that people deserve to have strong relationships like that.

Thanks.

Thank you, Nicole.

Okay, next up is Kenny Stewart followed by Richard Hall and then Evelyn Chow.

Mr. Stewart.

Hi, I also want to thank the council members for having this hearing tonight and all the members who are in attendance.

My name is Kenny Stewart.

I'm a citizen of Seattle.

I'm a Seattle firefighter and I'm the union president of Seattle Firefighters Union Local 27. I'm here on behalf of Seattle Firefighters Union Local 27, and we want to make it clear that we unquestionably support appropriate police accountability, and we want to recognize the successful efforts of the city and SPOG to reach compliance with the 2012 consent decree with the DOJ.

However, I'm here today because we want to protect worker rights, and we have serious concerns regarding the written recommendations of the Community Police Commission.

In its letter dated November 25, 2019, the CPC recommends, among other things, that the city should allow a third party to participate in bargaining, participate in the LRPC, and report out to the community.

Seattle firefighters sincerely hope that the City Council does not consider such an improper intrusion into the collective bargaining process.

Collective bargaining is a fundamental element of labor relations and the progressive movement, And it would be intentionally undermining a process that workers, like firefighters, depend on for our safety and security.

This letter also contains several other troublesome recommendations, including undermining and displacing the just cause standard for discipline.

Suggesting that some aspects of dishonesty should not need to be proven, and that disciplinary hearings should be open to the public.

All employees, including police officers, have a right to privacy concerning unproven allegations, and the general public should not be allowed to violate those rights.

The letter goes on to suggest violating federal law by denying garrity rights to employees, and further to deny appeals of disciplinary decisions.

The last 80 years of labor history has firmly established the importance to public employees of having the right to appeal management decisions to impartial outside experts.

Management representatives, including police chiefs, are fallible and not perfect.

As workers, police officers have the same right to be provided with industrial due process and be disciplined only for just cause, as is the case with firefighters and other city employees.

Determinations in this regard should include the most appropriate decision makers, which includes labor arbitrators.

Police officers should not lose the worker rights when they put on a badge.

Finally, even though at this moment these changes are only directed at police officers, Local 27 considers these recommendations to be an incursion on the collective bargaining rights of Local 27 members.

indeed all city employees.

Collective bargaining, arbitration, due process, the right to privacy, guarantee rights, and the right to appeal bad decisions are crucial to the labor management relationship and the proper and sustained functioning of critical services.

I'm just here as I want to let you know we want to ensure that these elements remain a priority of our City Council members and I thank you.

Thank you Kenny.

Okay.

And I just really quickly want to acknowledge that before we continue with public testimony that we do have representatives from the Seattle Police Officers Guild in the audience and I want to thank them for being here and for listening to the public testimony about your membership and your collective bargaining agreement in particular.

It's not always easy to be in a room where you're hearing criticism about things that are really deeply personal to you, but I just want to acknowledge that they are there.

And I think that I've taken a lot of lessons from folks over at the Community Police Commission and others who challenge themselves every day to be in a room where not everybody agrees and I think that that oftentimes leads to better and more positive results.

So thank you to Kevin Stuckey for being here and for attending and to everyone else who is here to listen and to learn from each other and to advance what will hopefully be a common goal.

So next up is Richard Hall followed by Evelyn Chow and then we will hear from Larry Wyatt.

I thank you.

I'm here very reluctantly.

The Seattle City of Seattle Police have responded with immediate and overwhelming force in my Helmand City neighborhood at least three times in the last 10 years, and we're all grateful for that.

But I feel a responsibility to deliver not the story, I don't have time, but the the upshot from my persona, my face, and I just want to recite that in 1995, City of Seattle Gang Unit Detective Alan Shaheen maced me for his own amusement, handcuffed me, me in the back of the car, told me I was lucky that it wasn't 10 years ago when they would have used batons, drove to a parking lot where he conspired with the bounty hunter that he'd gone to high school with who'd been trying to incite a conflict with my neighbor for two hours, which he'd finally succeeded in doing, drove me to the unmarked gang unit placed a few hundred feet away down James, put me in a plywood cell without treatment for 45 minutes, let me out, allowed me to wash my face, took me to the King County Jail for the night, took me to court, where then city attorney, brand new city attorney, Steven Gonzalez, reviewed the case that had been handed that morning.

Shaheen lied on the stand.

And when now Supreme Court Justice Stephen Gonzalez was able to catch up with what he'd been presented with, he stood up and moved that the case be dismissed.

And the judge, whose name I've not been able to remember today, said some very moving words about everyone's having just seen how justice does, in fact, work.

And I just want to second the Reverend and ask that you hear that.

Department of Justice and Bill Barr and require accountability.

Thank you.

Next up we have Evelyn followed by Larry Wyatt and then Corey Guilment.

It's a hazard of the job not pronouncing names correctly.

Please.

Hi.

All right.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Evelyn Chow.

I'm an organizer at Real Change.

Last year, we came out in opposition to the SPOG contract.

And I'm here tonight to reiterate that to the council that the SPOG contract in its current form will continue to allow police officers to harass and brutalize community with impunity.

We stand in solidarity with the CPC and with the community organizations and coalitions that have spoken out against the SPA contract, such as the ACLU of Washington, API CHIA, Public Defenders Association, Community Passageways, Mothers for Police Accountability, the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, and more, all of whom have pointed out that the lack of transparency, that there's a lack of transparency in the contract.

While we support the rights of workers to unionize, we're deeply, deeply concerned about the rollback of accountability it facilitates, which has since been validated by Judge Robart.

Labor union contracts should not be allowed to override police accountability and our vendors and other community members who experience harm at the hands of the police.

Policing empowers the state to enforce law and social control through the use of force.

As with our vendors at Real Change, we've seen too often the ways in which force is unwarranted and an abuse of power, especially with the navigation team which conducts inhumane sweeps.

Similarly, police forces have been used to keep black, brown, and immigrant communities in a state of fear and to keep poor, working class, and unhoused people under constant scrutiny.

We need the council to take the CPC's recommendations about the SPA contract seriously to understand that SPD is still, in essence, under federal investigation for use of excessive force and lack of transparent and effective disciplinary measures.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Next up is Larry, followed by Corey, and then Jessica Scalzo.

My name is Larry Wyatt, and this is my home.

I've lived here my whole life.

I worked 30 years out of Local 242 in downtown Seattle.

And at the time that I was working down there, one of my best friends, Mark Leland Jergensen, is a retired deputy federal marshal, worked out of the courthouse downtown here in Seattle.

And maybe you recognize that name, Jergensen.

His son, Ian Jergensen, was just released from jail a few weeks ago.

He was the owner of the Foundation Nightclub, and he was arrested on drug counts there.

And I think that has a lot to do with my case.

I was in a short period of time.

I was arrested three times in a week and a half.

One of them was right downtown here in Seattle at the Seattle Public Library, and I was beaten down by security guards there.

The first one was in a Catholic church in Berrien.

And then on the third one, they sent a military SWAT team to my house.

And the first charges were against me were 15 counts of first degree assault against police officers.

And there was also a domestic violence charge thrown in, but none of it was true.

I was protecting myself from them because they were coming in on me and they were not negotiating.

And I had to open up fire with the hunting rifles I had in my room.

And I knew the only way I could survive is if I couldn't let them get a shot at me, because I wouldn't be here now.

I'm a survivor.

I'm an advocate for police accountability for all of this stuff that's been going on.

Anyway, they found me incompetent to stand trial.

And that's just a tool that they use.

King County uses this to take care of problems that they don't know how to solve otherwise, and they don't allow you to go to trial.

Constitution didn't work in my favor.

They sent me to Western State Hospital for two years.

I didn't take any of the medication.

I have no history of criminal activity, and I have no history of mental illness.

And I'm the same way as I was when I went in.

I'm an innocent person, and I can't get any legal help.

Nobody will go against the police.

Next up is Corey, followed by Jessica Scalzo, and then Dan Roach.

Good evening.

My name is Corey Gelmat, and I'm an attorney at the Public Defender Association.

And I'm here today because I represent families of those killed by the police in inquest proceedings.

And the toughest part about my job is that first meeting.

the meeting when I sit down with perhaps a mother who lost her son days or weeks ago.

And in those meetings, the families ask me a lot of questions.

And perhaps no question is more important than what can they expect from SPD's disciplinary system.

Unfortunately, I have to tell them that SPD's disciplinary and appeals system has serious flaws.

And that's because the SPOG contract does not incorporate the 2017 Accountability Ordinance.

So I'm here today on behalf of the Public Defender Association to ask that the new contract be negotiated to enable full implementation of the reform provisions of the Accountability Ordinance unanimously passed by this Council in 2017. And I'm here today to also ask the council to use an advisor in the negotiations who is jointly recommended by the CPC, OPA, and OIG, and who has a deep knowledge of the police accountability system, police contracts, and the community.

And I'm here today so that when I sit down with a family in the future and they ask me, can we trust SPD's disciplinary system, I can give them a different answer.

Thank you.

Okay, next up, we have Jessica, followed by Dan Roach, and then Mariano Romulo.

Thank you.

My name is Jessica Scalzo, and I appreciate everyone's comments tonight.

I appreciate the two police that showed up tonight.

I think that shows that you came on your own accord.

I appreciate that.

I definitely am in favor of a third independent board of review with an independent prosecutor.

And I also...

I'm mostly here to learn because I do not know much about the contracts, so I cannot speak to those.

I do think that we need much more input from the communities of color that are impacted the most, and I do appreciate the people of color that have spoken tonight, but I think we need to do much more outreach to really hear what the community as a totality actually feels.

I can understand that they might be intimidated to speak, because even for me, in all my privileges, I do feel intimidated to speak.

I'm not sure if there's anything else I want to say.

I think that's it, so I appreciate the time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next up is Dan, followed by Mariano, and then Jeremiah Bainbridge.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Of course.

So I'm from the community of color.

Oh, you might want to use the higher mic.

Is this better?

Yeah.

Okay, so I'm from the community of color my whole life.

I've been dealing with the police my whole life and nothing's changed.

The only thing that has changed is we've got more technology so you can actually have a video to see the misconduct by the police.

Not all the police, my father's a policeman.

Has he had misconduct?

Absolutely.

So I've heard all the stories.

So I'm basically here to say that we're talking about this contract tonight being in compliance or out of compliance.

But even with this contract or not, the police are still going to behave in a manner that they've been behaving for centuries.

So a police accountability is a good thing.

And I have three ideas that I would like to present to the city of Seattle to help with police accountability.

One is just like the police has NCIC, we need a police database for the police who are actually on the job.

Now we know that you have access to it and someone told me earlier this evening that we should have the same access that you folks have to this particular database.

Secondly, there's a serve and protect piece that is not existing anymore.

So before you can police a community, you have to serve that community.

That means be a fireman, an EMT, social worker, teacher, something like that, then transition to policing.

Thirdly, you must live in the community that you police.

Someone suggested to me earlier that how are we going to do that because the police can't afford to live in the city.

We can't afford to live in the city.

So it's rent for profit and the developers are getting rich.

And the system is broken and we need to fix it.

And the only way we're going to fix this is be honest and take action.

Words are words, and we have heard a lot of words for a long time, but there are people dying.

More people die now.

It used to be a phenomenon for black males to be killed by gang violence.

Now it's been overtaken by the police.

There's a problem.

And that's what all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dan.

Next up is Mariano followed by Jeremiah Bainbridge and then Miguel Maestas.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I am Mariano Romolo, former union contract negotiator, compliance inspector, and racist social justice change agent.

Thank you for the email invite to share meaningful opportunity, comments on bargaining priorities, and stakeholders approach considerations impacting concerns with protecting public safety, public trust, police employee safety, and stakeholders confidence.

I present three topics to share.

Priority of Concerns, Stakeholders' Roles, and Bargaining Priorities.

First, Priorities of Concerns.

Per a federal judge who issued statements saying, the City of Seattle SPD contract undermined accountability reforms, putting the City and Police Department out of compliance with the Department of Justice Consent Degree.

Two, Stakeholders' Roles, which includes all.

Review Department of Justice articles, cause, and reasons, the City of Seattle, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Police Officers Guild, and Seattle Police Management Association's contract language is out of compliance, and requests federal judge-assigned consent degree contract language recommendations for collective bargaining compliance decree requirements next year.

Third, stakeholders' bargaining priorities.

Collective bargainings to secure compliance with the Department of Justice consent decree scope requirements.

And stakeholders' confidence while also supporting the right of unions to collectively bargaining, legitimizing City of Seattle Police Department and Seattle Police Officers Guild.

In close.

Negotiation priorities validate and meet regulators' legal or social requirement factors, influence an organization's ongoing operations, and validate business and legal compliance effectiveness.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Jeremiah, followed by Miguel Maestas, and then Shannon Cheng.

Good evening.

My name is Jeremiah Bainbridge.

I am the development manager for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Seattle, and I'm here speaking on behalf of my organization today.

Unfortunately, police have been pushed into the front line of mental health care, both in our city and nationally.

This has resulted in a lot of tragedies throughout the years.

People living with a mental health condition that is untreated are 16 times more likely to be killed by police gun violence.

and police violence has been shown to have long-term adverse effects on the mental health of an individual, and those who have a severe mental illness are especially vulnerable.

Our helpline routinely receives calls every single day, every week, from parents of all backgrounds and all means, looking for any way to help their child in crisis without calling the police.

This is not an acceptable model, and we need to make sure that our police force is held accountable so that people know that the police are a viable option, if there is no other, to help a person with severe mental illness experiencing a crisis.

I'm not here to decry the police department.

There are some amazing individuals who work in SPD who are doing very, very good work and who have become partners with us.

But for those partnerships to have meaning and to have integrity, high standards of accountability and oversight are essential.

We cannot go back to having to console another parent.

I do not want to process another donation that comes in in memoriam because of someone who has died from police violence.

In order for us to be able to promote strong community partnerships, we require transparency, objectivity, and accountability for those few bad actors who may stain and further drive the fissure that has developed between parents, peers, and police in addressing a crisis of mental health that we have in our city.

NAMI Seattle strongly advocates that we use strong oversights as we move forward in examining this contract so that we can continue to heal the fissures that have been delivered between the mental health community and the police, and so that we can continue to do our work cooperatively with the police department under a strong ethical guideline.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeremiah.

Next up is Miguel, followed by Shannon Cheng, and then Ryan Paul.

Honorable Council Members, my name is Miguel Maestas.

I am with El Centro de la Raza, which we translate as the Center for People of All Races.

On behalf of our Executive Director, Estela Ortega, and our organization, I am here today to urge you to support the full implementation of the reforms in the landmark 2017 Accountability Legislation.

and that these reforms be bargained for as part of the negotiations of the upcoming police contracts.

As you know the CPC and dozens of community groups have been pushing for this city to fully implement the reforms for many years.

I want to thank you for your efforts so far to support the changes that the CPC has recommended.

Many years ago I was privileged to see members of the Minority Executive Directors Coalition come together and begin the process that has led to the legislation being proposed by the CPC.

As you know, the CPC previously engaged literally thousands of community members from all racial groups and in 18 language and dialects to hear the concerns of community members and from communities that have had additional barriers to police services and accountability under a disproportionately experienced bias policing and excessive use of force.

Our city still has an opportunity to be on the leading forefront of our nation in enacting police accountability legislation that is rooted in years of hard work, analysis, and community input and voice.

Police contracts should support legislation and recommendations proposed by the CPC.

This will not only represent the community's interests, it will provide one of the strongest blueprints for cities across the nation for true community oversight on police accountability.

This is an indispensable part of building and restoring trust of police in our community.

Finally, we are in support of a knowledgeable advisor with extensive knowledge of the city's police accountability system to be appointed with the joint recommendation of the CPC, Office of Police Accountability, and Office of the Inspector General.

This should happen as soon as possible to help set the bargaining agenda and to be at the table with the city negotiating team.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next up we have Shannon Cheng followed by Ryan Paul, and then we will hear from Emma Dietz.

Please.

Hi, my name is Shannon Chang.

I am a resident of City Council District 7 and part of an ACLU People Power grassroots group.

I want to urge the City of Seattle to prioritize the concerns of the community as represented by the Community Police Commission in both the upcoming negotiating of this fall contract and by working to get Seattle back into compliance with the consent decree in a timely manner.

I attended the May 2017 city council meeting where police accountability legislation hailed as landmark was passed unanimously and celebrated by all.

Through this legislation, steps in the right direction were taken that honored the voices of the community.

Then, only 18 months later, I attended the November 2018 city council meeting where the most recent SPOG contract was approved by the council against the wishes of the community.

In stark contrast to the 2017 meeting, this one felt hugely disappointing to me.

Over and over, I heard community members come forward to speak and plead for the preservation of the hard-won accountability system that the new contract would overturn.

community members stressed that they recognized and respected the right of SPOG to participate in collective bargaining and that officers deserved a long overdue contract guaranteeing them a living wage.

Opponents made the argument that this right outweighed the community's desire for a robust accountability system.

Many sitting council members testified and made similar statements ignoring the fact that collective bargaining and police accountability are not mutually exclusive.

In short, it felt that what the community was saying was being purposefully ignored.

Now, there's another vital opportunity to rebuild community trust.

Though weary from this dramatic process, the community is still here and willing to engage to build a better future for everyone.

Please listen in good faith to the suggestions of the Community Police Commission and no longer ignore the public's wishes.

Thank you.

Thank you Shannon.

Next up is Ryan and then we will hear from Emma and then Beth Ku.

Hello.

Thank you for the privilege in allowing me to add my comment to all this.

My name is Ryan Paul.

I'm a District 7 resident.

I just wanted to stand in solidarity with all the community members and activists and coalitions here and echo their calls for greater police accountability reforms.

I would like to ask the council to ensure that SPD is in compliance with the consent decree and to send this contract back to the mayor to restore all the accountability measures.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next up we have Emma followed by Beth Kuh and then Howard Gale.

Dear city council members and all attendees, I'm Beth.

Can you get closer to the mic, please?

I'm having a hard time hearing you.

There we go.

I'm Beth from Chinatown community.

We would like to say thank you to all of our Seattle police officers.

Our police are working hard to keep a safe environment for everyone.

Safety is always the top priority in our life.

Our business owner and resident, quite some of us, got the suffer from the criminal robbery issue.

There are three incidents in my mind that would like to share.

About half year ago, there was a mental illness woman was shooting on Jackson and 10th Avenue South next to a supermarket.

And after call 911, police show up within five or 10 minutes and stop the wild shooting and save people's life in the community.

Another incident happened for broke in at the building while the building manager checked the iPhone and found the robbery issue and 911 police show up within five minutes.

The police officer did check all the surrounding area for the suspect and make sure no robbery hiding around.

Last night at around 5 p.m.

there was a report for twin girl missing.

Police show up within five or five and six police cars and they check the community door by door almost two hours and help to find the girls finally.

It was lucky not I keep that issue.

All of our police officers are working hard and they are all deserve for respect and honor.

We are support to hire more police officers and we need more police on the street, more patrol in Seattle and Chinatown ID community and keep people safe and minimize criminal issue and criminal victims.

No one wants to be a victim if our police do not get enough manpower to stop the crime issue, and more crime victim, more family will get suffer.

Thank you all to Working Hard for a safe city for everyone.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Emma.

Next up is Beth Ku, followed by Howard Gayle, and then Nora Chan.

I think that was Beth Ku.

I think they came up together.

But was that?

Where was Beth?

Beth, was that you?

OK.

I'm sorry.

I thought you were Emma.

Was there an Emma?

Is there an Emma Dietz?

No, Emma.

OK.

Here we go.

I was off by one.

OK.

Howard Gale is up next then, then Nora Chan, and then Joseph Lockman.

Okay, hi.

I don't know if people can hear me.

How many people here think that they're giving recommendations to the people that will actually be sitting at the negotiating table?

Mr. Gale, if you can direct your comments to us, I'd appreciate that.

Well, actually I'm not because the people sitting up here are not the people that actually sit at the negotiating table.

There are two people that you don't even know about that are not elected, that are bureaucrats.

One for the last two contracts was Ian Warner.

an attorney for the city, for the mayor, and Otto Klein, a for hire lawyer.

So we're giving feedback to a city and yet the process when it comes to sitting at the negotiation table is totally hidden.

That's how we've gotten to a point where Does anyone know how many people have been killed since John T. Williams in the city of Seattle?

It's twenty six.

Twenty six people have been killed at a time in which we thought we had actual accountability.

And let me just 58 seconds.

But here's the issue.

Recently, just in the last couple of years, it's been Charlena Lyles.

Yosea Falatego, Danny Rodriguez and Ryan Smith.

Ryan Smith was killed with a two and a half inch knife across the street from where I live in Queen Anne, a person with mental illness.

So again, there's a huge disconnect here.

In a lot of ways, there is no measurable difference in what police reform has brought, and yet we're asked for our feedback to give it to people.

And I would love for Councilmember Gonzalez or Harrell to tell us how many negotiation meetings they were actually at for the SPMA or SPA contract.

I think the answer is pretty close to zero.

So again, not only is there a question of where our recommendations end up, even if they do end up being considered by the members on the council, they're not actually taken to the negotiating table.

So this requires a level of transparency and really a change in practice.

Thank you.

All right, next up is Nora Chan, followed by Joseph, and then Jorge Baron.

I froze 14 hours to come to this meeting, so if I start to talk in Chinese or fell asleep, please excuse me.

Okay.

Hello, city council members.

I'm Nora Chan, founding president of Senior Inaction in Chinatown and Japantown.

Senior election have been working on public safety for many years.

We are long-time residents, business and property owners.

We have three priority concerns.

One, city funded agency in Chinatown, Japan Town, Little Saigon do not representing us and don't let us know what's going on until it's too late.

If you want to know what we are thinking and want us to be engaged, do it in a language that we can understand.

Contact the Zhonghua Benevolent Association to reach us.

Thank you for funding a public safety coordinator position for the Chinatown International District.

But now, after a couple years, this position is updating for accountability and scope of work.

Number three, finally, we are doing what the police have asked, to do something ourselves to improve our safety so the responsibility is not only on them, only on them.

Ten years ago, the Chinese-speaking seniors, residents, business and property owners decided we need a security camera system for crime prevention and to help police catch suspects.

The senior asked me to organize the project.

Our first camera project was highly successful in making people feel safer and helping the police get evidence.

We have already raised, now we have already raised $175,000 to replace the current old out-of-date cameras.

But we need help.

We need help from the city council, from the mayor.

We need help to find a sponsor to house the server.

The city fund agency aren't helping us on this, won't help us, and some even oppose us.

Please help us find a host for the server.

We need responsible police and also cameras to protect us.

I think the police are doing a great job in Chinatown and Japan Town, and I really appreciate that.

And these people, you look at them, they don't speak any English, and yet they are here to support the police and support the public safety in Chinatown.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next up is Joseph, followed by Jorge, and then Eli Goss.

Thank you, Council Member Gonzalez.

This evening, I'm here actually to speak on behalf of Asian Counseling and Referral Service to express our belief in strong police accountability.

It's key to racial justice, and especially from our perspective for black and brown communities, but including Southeast Asians, Pacific Islander communities, such as Tommy Lay and Jose Faletogo, who are both victims of police violence.

Tommy Lee was shot multiple times in the back and I actually in my personal capacity will be testifying in his case.

What I want to speak out here though is I want to emphasize that the city must not roll back the provisions of the 2017 Police Accountability Ordinance and not use them as bargaining chips in the collective bargaining process.

I urge council members to think carefully about Judge Rovard's words where he said that the court finds that the city is out of compliance with the consent decree with respect to its accountability system, but also remind everyone that the goal should not simply just be to meet the bare minimum of the consent decree and to get out from underneath that, but to actually live up to the 2017 ideals where we are supposed to have landmark police accountability legislation.

And I was, I felt it was unfortunate last time that I believe community members listed many ways that we were not living up to that, but it did not feel that the council heard those concerns with regard to things such as secondary employment, the 100, 180 day investigation limits.

So applying a lot equally to persons of all ranks.

the statute of limitations for dishonesty and for type three use of force, and even just the idea of using your vacation days during a suspension.

All of these things contribute to community's lack of trust in the police, and we hope that moving forward you will live up to the 2017 police accountability ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph.

Okay, next up we have Jorge and then followed by Eli and then Stephanie Cooper.

Council Members, my name is Jorge Barron.

I'm the Executive Director of Northwest American Rights Project.

Let me first say that I appreciate the time you're taking to have this hearing and to hear community concerns ahead of time before this process gets started.

For the past decade, our organization has joined many of the community partners that are here and calling for reforms to ensure that policing in the city is conducted in a constitutional manner.

Our organization was an original signatory to a letter to the U.S.

Department of Justice that led to its investigation of SPD and the current consent decree.

And our involvement began when one of our own clients was subjected to excessive force and was seriously injured by an SPD officer nearly 10 years ago.

I'm here on behalf of our organization to ask the city for two things.

First, and they're things that you have heard already today, but I want to just emphasize them.

To ensure that the upcoming negotiation with the Seattle Police Officers Guild be conducted so as to ensure that the full implementation of the reform provisions of the accountability ordinance that the city council adopted by unanimous vote in 2017. And second, for the city to engage the services of an advisor in the negotiation who has deep knowledge of the accountability system and the ordinance, the police contracts and negotiations, and the community.

We believe that this advisor should be jointly recommended by the three oversight bodies, the CPC, OPA, and OIG, and that the advisor should be appointed as soon as possible so that they can assist the city in the formation of its agenda and be at the table for the entire process.

We believe both of these elements are necessary to ensure the reforms the city and SPD have undertaken take root and so that we as a city can continue to make progress toward the goal of policing being conducted in a manner consistent with constitutional norms.

Finally, I would add that our organization is a unionized workplace and we're deeply committed to the rights of union workers and the collective bargaining process.

We do not believe that the interests of unionized workers are or should be in conflict with the interests of community members in having their constitutional rights be respected, and we're confident that if the right elements are in place, an agreement that respects both sets of interests can be achieved.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Jorge.

Okay, next up we have Eli, and then following that will be Stephanie Cooper, and then Byram Simpson.

Eli.

Hi.

Hello.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My name is Eli Goss.

I'm the Senior Policy Manager at One America.

We're a power building immigrant rights organization here in Washington State working on advocacy as well as community organizing and citizenship services.

And we're here along with many organizations and community members in support of including the accountability provisions in the upcoming SPOG contract, along with a third-party advisor that is jointly recommended by the CPC, the OPA, and the OIG.

One America supports the 2017 accountability provisions unequivocally, and that passed unanimously, and we believe that this is important to follow through on in the upcoming contract because it relies on years of negotiation, discussion, and community engagement, and that trust needs to continue to be built.

And we also want to ask that as a city that has worked really hard to be a welcoming place for immigrants, especially as a city council that's involved in many programs and services to reflect that, including the accountability provisions, as well as a third party advisor, will be another step towards kind of concrete that builds trust in immigrant communities here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eli.

All right, next up is Stephanie, and after that we have Byram Simpson, and then Jeremy Kiskinner.

Stephanie.

Good evening.

Thanks for being here for these meetings all the time.

This is only my second one, but they're usually very colorful.

Can you hear me now?

OK.

Clearly, there's a lot to unpack here, and I learned more tonight than I knew before.

But I came here as a resident, really, of downtown Seattle.

My husband and I have lived down here for 15 years, somehow.

First as apartment dwellers, and now as condo homeowners, which we hope to hang on to.

We've seen it change quite a bit.

Living downtown necessarily means that when I go out my door, I deal with the public, whatever that flavor is of the day.

And I've been yelled at in my face.

I've had very pleasant conversations.

It's always very interesting.

People out there are different every day.

They're angry.

They're confrontational.

They're happy.

blissfully drugged up, there's a number of things I've seen and many changes.

And it's not lost on me that this is what the police deal with every day.

I go out to run my errands, catch a bus, walk to a destination, et cetera.

And when I come home, I can just go back to my home and hide from all that.

But they deal with this every day.

And I'm very close myself with two people who are police officers.

So I'm not here to say that the police are the bad guy at all.

They're out there doing the best that they can, but I think that they deal with a lot, and that's gotten larger and larger, as has been pointed out.

I think they work very long shifts dealing with things that I've dealt with for two hours and been done with.

And I just want to point out that, obviously, there's a lot here.

There's contention, because since 2011, this has been an issue.

And I think that the fact that it's come down to this roadblock of accountability is probably what draws me here and scares me the most is that there's not transparency.

There's not a lot of public information on what is going on.

Why is accountability the roadblock here?

Because with what officers go through every day as citizens, and we all citizens have to, You know, we're under the rule of law.

We have to abide by the law, and I think our police officers should as well.

I really wonder if the solution to all these problems is really taking away the accountability.

I think that there are other things to do, and to take away our trust in what keeps us safe here is not the way to go.

Thank you.

Thank you, Stephanie.

Next up is Byram, followed by Jeremy Kisketer, and then Andra Kranzler.

Good evening and thank you for taking this time tonight.

My name is Byram Simpson and, excuse me, as co-chair and on behalf of the Seattle LGBTQ Commission, I'm here to stand in solidarity with community coalitions who have for years been leading the fight for police accountability in Seattle.

As others have shared this evening, the urgency of this matter is its disproportionate impact.

Policeman misconduct and lack of accountability has on already oppressed communities, especially those of our black and brown neighbors, those struggling with mental illness, and yes, our queer community.

This is especially true for those who hold two or more of these identities at one time.

We believe that police accountability ordinance passed in 2017 is the blueprint for accountability of law enforcement in our city and compliance with the federal consent decree requires reopening portions of the Seattle Police Officers Guild contract that belatedly undermined it by naming the contract as prevailing when there is conflict with the ordinance.

Robust accountability helps police officers.

We urge counsel to respect the offices of SPD by holding them to high standards of professionalism, justice, and accountability.

Thank you, Byram.

OK, next up is Jeremy, and then we have Andra.

Hi.

Thanks, everyone, for being here and for staying around to listen.

I'll try to be quick.

So my name is Jeremy.

I'm a mental health therapist.

I have specialized in working with the severely mentally ill for the last six years in both King and Snohomish counties.

And unfortunately, I've seen that a lot of times police get used as basically landscapers for landlords and homeowners, especially for my clients of color.

And the things that I've seen a lot have really broken my heart, such as a client of color of mine who was arrested for not returning a laptop to the Marysville Library on time.

It's just a really completely disproportionate response.

And I just wanted to say I've worked with like everybody that you think is scary on paper.

Sex offenders, people with schizophrenia, people who have literally been convicted of attempted terrorist acts.

And people ask me if I'm afraid to go work with them and no, because they're happy to see me because I'm the only person in their life that shows up and asks how I can help.

And I just want to say like when it comes to The officer training such as the quote unquote warrior trainings or other offense first trainings that are in the news lately, we need to ban those completely for officers.

We should definitely utilize all of the resources that we have in Seattle.

There's an amazing training community here for any kind of mental health resources that officers want to connect with.

Last thing I was going to say really quickly, because I heard other people mention police moonlighting is an issue.

I'm a therapist.

I'm liable for meeting a certain standard of care with my clients.

And frankly, the things that I do in my time away from work affect my time at work.

So if a police officer is moonlighting, they're already working really long hours, really difficult jobs.

I have several family officers that are police officers.

I really sympathize.

I want you guys to have a good union, get your raises.

And with that, like, don't be doing the work on the side.

You don't need it.

You shouldn't need to.

So advocate for yourself, but also, you know, monitor yourself.

Thanks.

Thank you.

All right.

Last but not least is Andra.

Thank you, it's my honor to be here tonight and getting to speak to the Council.

I value you all, and I appreciate the hard work that you've done.

I'm also here as a concerned citizen and on behalf of the Laura Miller Bar Association.

And so first, I don't think any reasonable person expects the police to show up not ready, not willing and not able to hold themselves accountable and to making sure that they don't commit police brutality.

I think that people call the police hoping that they will deescalate an issue, not escalate an issue.

The current SPA contract does not hold police accountable and does not encourage the police to de-escalate issues and it does not incentivize them to be on their best behavior while enforcing the public safety of our city.

Tonight, we are asking you to uphold your commitment to hold the police accountable when they fail in their duty to protect the people of this city.

The new SPOG contract must be negotiated to enable full implementation of the robust reform provisions unanimously adopted in the accountability ordinance that passed in 2017. SPOG contracted around the accountability ordinance, and that's a perfect example of what it looks like to not negotiate in good faith.

SPOG knew what they needed to do.

They knew the language that needed to be in their collective bargaining agreement, and they knew that it was pertinent that the ordinance be reflected in that bargaining agreement, and they breached their duty.

It's unacceptable.

This is not noble.

We should look up the definition of nobility and we should understand that if you are noble, then you will want to be held accountable.

And today we can write that wrong.

We ask the city to use this external advisor and the negotiations who has deep knowledge of the accountability system and the ordinance, the police contracts and the negotiations.

that they engage and go off the recommendations of the three oversight bodies, the Community Police Commission, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of Inspector General.

And the advisor should be brought in as soon as possible.

Accountability is good for the police and the community and the city.

The community has not steered you wrong, even when they told you the things you did not want to hear.

Please hear our ask tonight because the police need to be held accountable so that they can actually do their job.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Andra.

Okay, so Andra was the last person who formally signed up on the sign-in sheets, but I want to do one last call.

If you are here with us this evening and didn't get a chance to sign up but would like to offer a public comment, please feel free to come forward.

The only thing that we would ask is that you make sure you put your name down on that sign-up sheet after you give your testimony so that we have it for the public record.

So I see one person coming up to the front, please.

It's Carla Boyer.

I would like to just make notice for everyone that this year so far, 37 people have been killed by police in Washington State.

And last year, the total was 30. I also want to just say that I'm a relative newcomer to activism, and powerful activism is based in information and understanding, and so I'm building myself up in that way.

So I'd like to say that I don't understand when community, and when community very clearly wished for the SPOG contract to be in harmony with the consent decree, I don't understand why the council supported a contract that was out of compliance.

Were you not listening to community?

I think you were, but who else were you listening to?

And so I'm asking, does community voice have power?

Thank you, Carla.

Okay, is there anyone else who wants to offer public testimony before we close public testimony period out?

Okay, seeing no one.

All right, so we are going to go ahead and close the public hearing portion of this committee hearing, and it is now closed.

I really want to thank everybody for coming out.

We had a very full room, and we still have lots of folks who are here and who were willing to listen throughout the evening.

I want to thank my colleagues for joining us, for joining me this evening.

I also want to thank our security guards who were helping us out tonight and stayed late.

Thank you all.

And then really want to thank my staff, Cody Reiter, Brianna Thomas, Vy Nguyen, and all the other city council staff who volunteered tonight.

And I want to thank all of the representatives of the police accountability entities, the Community Police Commission, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of Inspector General for being with us this evening.

I know that the directors were here, but so were commissioners and so were staff.

from those offices.

So thank you all for the hard work that you all do every day as public servants on behalf of the people of Seattle to make sure that we get these things right.

So again, this is a first conversation.

It is the first public hearing.

We really look forward to continuing this conversation in the new year.

Of course, we only have a couple weeks left of this legislative session for this year for the city council but rest assured that we are happy to hear from all of you in the new year and we will continue to work in earnest and in partnership with you all to make sure that we have the best information available to us as as at least the three of us We'll be here next year to oversee the negotiation process.

So with that being said, Council President Harrell, this will likely be his last meeting as the chair of the Select Labor Committee.

And as a representative on the Labor Relations Policy Committee, I want to thank Council President Harrell for all his work in community and on these issues.

I think you were a two-time public safety chair as well.

And really just want to thank him for all of the guidance and for all of the work that you have done in the space of civil rights and on this issue in particular.

And we'll hope that you all will join me in giving him a round of applause on his dedication and his time, years of service.

Council President Harrell, please.

I just want to say one thing, Chair.

First of all, thanks for your leadership.

I marvel at you from the sidelines sometimes.

The last woman that spoke, I think she left.

The last public speaker.

I wish I had been bold enough to address her.

Hopefully, if you know her, it does matter.

She asked the question, does it really matter?

I got to tell you, when we sit here and listen to all of you, and even for those who left, we ponder, we try to make the right decisions.

We're humans.

We make mistakes.

But it does matter.

If you take the time out of your schedule Whether you are a CEO or you're homeless, it makes no difference that you're speaking from your heart and you're human beings that matter to us.

And I don't see that in a patronizing way.

And I wish I would have told her that.

Her particular testimony really resonated with me because You know, I was born in this city, and I've had people I went to kindergarten with testify here.

So it does matter.

I want to thank all of you for your words.

And thank you for your leadership, all three of you.

Thank you, Council President Harrell.

Do any of my colleagues want to make any closing remarks before we close out and adjourn?

I think there's going to be a lot of work to do in the upcoming year on this issue, and I just look forward to working with all parties.

Thank you.

Okay, okay that concludes this evening's hearing this concludes my fourth committee hearing of the day at eight months pregnant I will add So with that being said we are now adjourned, thank you everyone