Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Thank you, son.
Good morning, everybody.
Today is Thursday, February 16. And this is the meeting of the Governance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee.
The time is 9.30.
I'm Deborah Juarez, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Peterson.
Present.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Present.
Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Council President Juarez.
Present.
Or are present, we have quorum.
Thank you.
Thank you all for being here.
Today we have a good agenda.
We have five reappointments, but let me get to that in a minute.
So if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Not seeing any objections, the agenda is adopted.
The chair's report, agenda items one through three will be the presentation and joint consideration of three reappointments to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission.
And they are Jeannie Chun, Alona Lowry, and please correct me if I'm saying it wrong, Lowry, and Gay Gilmore.
And I believe Karim Levidas will speak to these reappointments.
And for agenda items four and five, we will be hearing presentation from the executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, Mr. Wayne Barnett.
Is Wayne here?
Yep, Wayne's here.
He'll be speaking to the reappointments of Susan Taylor and Zach Jones-Pikalis to the commission.
So we'll move into public comment.
Madam Clerk, how many folks do we got either remotely or in chambers?
At the moment, there are none.
All right, not seeing any remote or not hearing or seeing any remote and there are no folks in chambers.
Public comment is now closed.
Let's keep moving on into our agenda to our items of business.
As I shared, we got five reappointments.
So, Madam Clerk, let's do this.
Let's read items one, two and three into the record and then we'll we'll discuss the nomination packets.
Go ahead, Madam Clerk.
agenda items one through three, the appointments of Jeannie Chun and Ilona Lowry as members of the Labor Standards Advisory Commission for terms to April 30th, 2024, and of Gay Gilmore for a term to April 30th, 2023.
Thank you.
And I see, I see Karim Levitas.
Am I saying that correctly, sir?
Yes, thank you.
Can I call you Karim?
Please.
OK, so the floor is yours, Karim.
I think you're going to walk us through the first three reappointments.
And we all have the nomination packets in front of us.
So I'm going to hand the floor over to you.
Then I'll open it up to my colleagues to see if they have any questions or want to make any comments.
So please go ahead.
Great, thank you.
Council President and members of the committee.
I'll just provide a quick background on LSAC.
I know folks are familiar, but just to level set.
I serve as the policy manager at the Office of Labor Standards, and as the commission liaison, LSAC serves a valuable advisory function to our office, to the executive.
or generally into city council as well.
And it's unique in that it brings together business owners, business advocates, workers, worker advocates, and community members to provide insight on advancing labor standards.
And commissioners represent a wide range of different community groups, workers, business groups as well, and are invested in improving workplace conditions for workers and ensuring that businesses have the tools that they need to comply with our labor standards.
As this committee knows, frequently Seattle's not merely advancing best practices for labor standards, but creating them.
I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity already to work with the three commissioners who are being considered for reappointment today, Gay Gilmore, Ilona Ory, and Jeannie Chun.
And all three bring invaluable insight into how to incorporate labor standards into businesses and into business models.
Gay Gilmore, who has previously served as the LSAC chair for several years, is the founder of Optimism Brewery in Capitol Hill, and has implemented a living wage and no tipping policy at her business as a way to eliminate some of the negative impacts of tipping.
Ilona Lowry is president and CEO of the GSBA, Washington's LGBTQ and Allied Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 1,300 businesses.
She manages a team focused on educational and economic equity through business development, technical assistance, supplier diversity, and scholarship funding and programs.
And lastly, Jeannie Chun has served as the National Engagement Director for Raise High Road Restaurants, a national coalition of restaurant owners committed to worker rights.
Their insight and experience have proved invaluable to LSAC already and to OLS, and I look forward to continuing to work with them.
Thank you, are there any I know you all got the nomination packets.
Let's see.
Jeannie chun is coming out of district 3 and is authorizing person is me.
It looks like am I saying that right alone and Lori.
I think that's right.
Yeah, she's out of Snohomish County.
And then we have Gay Gilmore out of District three as well.
All of these are appointments from the council president's office with my signature.
I was hoping that Jeannie was here because I want to know how she went from being an improv actor to a sommelier.
Am I saying that correctly?
A wine person, a wine expert, that's pretty, pretty impressive.
Somalia.
Oh, thank you.
Councilmember Strauss forgot.
I thought you were more of a beer guy, but I'm glad you got that.
You corrected me on that.
I am more of a beer guy, but that's great.
Thank you for providing us the overview of what the Labor Standards Advisory Commission does.
these three new appointments, reappointments, I'm sorry, and also the leadership that all three of them have not only shown, but also want to continue to serve.
So thank you for that.
Are there any questions from my colleagues regarding all three of our reappointments to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission?
All right.
No?
Okay.
So I do not see any questions.
So what we're going to do then is I am going to move to recommend the confirmation the reappointments of 02431, which is Miss Chun, 02432, which is Miss Lowry and 02442, which is Miss Gilmore.
OK, well.
reappointments, we finish it to be sent to the February 21st City Council meeting for confirmation by the Seattle City Council.
So with that, Second.
Thank you.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
There's no further discussion.
Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the committee recommendations.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council Member Esqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Four in favor.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee recommends the City Council confirm the reappointments of all three individuals.
So with that, thank you, Karim.
Thank you.
You can stay if you want.
You don't have to go, but it's pretty exciting.
But anyway, we got Wayne here, so God knows what'll happen.
Let's see, Madam Clerk, can you please read items four through five into the record?
Agenda items four through five, the reappointments of Susan R. Taylor as a member of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission for a term to December 31st, 2024, and of Zach Jones-McKellis as a member of the same for a term to December 31st, 2025. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
I would like to welcome back our friend, the Seattle ethics elections committee executive director is a commission it's Commission Commission director, Mr Wayne Barnett, Wayne, I understand that you're going to speak to these two appointments so I'm going to hand the floor over to you.
All right, thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Today we are.
It's Madam President.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I think the committee.
I'm just kidding you, Wayne.
I thought it was Madam Mayor right now, right?
Yeah, it is.
It's pro temp, so if you want something, this is the time.
All right, so we are a seven-member commission with three appointees from the mayor, three appointees from the council, and our commission chooses the seventh.
And we are responsible for making sure that city employees are behaving ethically and responsibly.
When they ask for advice, I'm happy to advise them on how to do that.
If they don't ask for advice, we sometimes levy penalties.
So that's our roles.
We are both an advisor and an enforcer.
On the elections front, we make sure that our city's elections code is complied with by all the campaigns.
Obviously, this year is going to be a very busy year for us.
We're heading into a busier year than I think we've ever had.
lot of challenges ahead.
And we also administer the democracy voucher program, which is very now much a large part of our election year work.
So that's and those will go next week.
I'll put in a plug right now.
Look for your vouchers in your mailbox next week.
If you don't get them next week, sit tight for a couple weeks, but you know, they'll be there.
So they're on their way.
I'm good.
You don't have to worry about me.
I'm good.
has been a very successful addition to our to our elections code work, you know, has really done a great job of increasing the number of candidates, as well as the diversity of the candidate pool, as well as our donors.
We now have many more people contributing to races in their neighborhoods we think that's good so.
That's what we do.
And as for these two commissioners Susan Taylor joined us from tech tronics.
A couple years ago, she was a member of the Northwest ethics network where we generally look to when we're trying to get new commissioners.
She's been a very good commissioner, she reluctantly asked if she could step off last year, but we successfully waited her out until she had no choice but to react.
So we're re upping her like a year into our term so that was that's a great addition for us.
She's very thoughtful and very, very good at what she does.
As for Zach Jones Bacalus, he's now our chair.
He was the vice chair last year.
He became chair this year.
He is a lawyer at Pacifica, formerly with the Attorney General's office.
So really looking forward to them continuing to serve.
So putting them before you for your vote.
Thank you, Wayne.
I had a chance, obviously, we all did to get a copy of the nomination packets for Susan Taylor and Zach Jones.
So Susan, of course, like you've been saying, is a reappointment coming out of District one.
And this is you're the person that asked that she be appointed back to the commission.
See that your signature on that.
And that was Zach Jones.
This is a mayoral appointment.
So Mayor Harrell asked that this person be or Zach be reappointed coming out of District 3 as well.
So thank you very much.
I think it's because he went to Garfield High School.
I think that's what's going on here.
OK.
Yeah.
I don't know if he's a Husky or not, but that usually has something to do with it.
So with that, are there any questions about the nominees and the packets and the reappointments from my colleagues?
No, Madam Mayor, not at this time.
Okay, thank you.
And thank you, Wayne, for bringing these to us.
These are obviously great reappointments, and hopefully we'll help you fill that last seat, that last vacancy.
That would be great.
Thank you very much.
All right.
With that, I move to recommend confirmation of reappointments of 02443, which is Ms. Susan Taylor, and 02444, which is Mr. Zach Jones-Piquelas, to be sent to the February 21st City Council meeting.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
If there's no further discussion, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendations?
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Four in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee will make these recommendations to Seattle City Council which will be heard next Tuesday, February 21st.
Is there anything you want to say, Wayne, before we?
Move out of here to adjournment.
Anything else you want to add?
I would just add we are looking for a seventh commissioner and it is it would be really great if we could get that soon.
So, I mean, it is going to be a very busy election year.
So if we were in full strength, that would be wonderful.
So just.
And we did we did send out that packet that you sent us to every colleague.
Got it.
And I know we put it in our newsletter and I'm sure other.
My other colleagues put them in their newsletters as well.
And we've also been checking around.
So hopefully we'll get that done in the next month.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
Before we move to adjournment, is there anything from my colleagues?
Nope.
All right.
Well, that concludes our items of business for today.
All items of this committee that were passed will be forwarded to the full council on February 21st.
for final action and our next committee meeting is scheduled for March 16. Thank you, colleagues.
The time is 944. I think I beat a record here.
And with that, we are adjourned.
Thank you.