Seattle City Council Special Meeting 1/27/2025

Good morning, everyone.

The January 27th, 2025 special meeting of the Seattle City Council will finally come to order.

It is 9.56.

I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Strauss.

Present.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Here.

Council member Kettle.

Here.

Council member Moore.

Present.

Council member Rink.

Present.

Council member Rivera?

Present.

Council member Saka?

Here.

Council member Saka?

Here.

And council president Nelson?

Present.

A present.

Thank you very much.

If there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow for public comment in today's special city council meeting.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended and we'll proceed with public comment.

Clerk, how many people have signed up to speak?

Today we have 10 in person and five remote so far.

Okay, we will give each person two minutes and we will start with the in-person commenters, please.

Thank you.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

Speakers will hear a chime.

When 10 seconds are left of their time, speakers' mics will be muted if they do not in their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

We'll now begin with our in-person speakers.

Our first three speakers is Lisa Nitz, Eve Keller, and Carl Haglund.

If you can please step up to one of these microphones, please.

Thank you.

This one work?

Yes.

Okay.

Good morning.

I'm Lisa Nizza with Nizza Stegen, an integrated investment development and management real estate company that's been operating in Seattle for nearly 50 years.

I'm here to urge you to choose Mark Solomon to fill the District 2 City Council seat.

I've now worked with Mark for years and found him to be completely devoted to serving the public good with a genuine and empathetic focus on helping people in need, helping increase safety and security in neighborhoods, and pulling together resources to collaborate and leverage strengths to do so.

We build attainable multi-family apartments and opportunity zones in South Seattle and the CID.

He's helped Nitze Stegen for years by reviewing our multi-family building designs, making recommendations on how to increase security risks for the building and for the community through design changes.

He leads an SPD group that reviews on a monthly basis the safety, crime, and housing insecurity issues facing each neighborhood and shapes collaborative decision-making to create solutions.

He's an expert in addressing place-based crime through environmental design.

He's masterful at building consensus with community groups, businesses, public agencies, and property owners.

He's a peacemaker, building inclusive partnerships in diverse neighborhoods.

He wants to use those skills to ensure that the comp plan is finalized in a positive and impactful way for South Seattle.

He also wants to use those skills to work with those in Little Saigon to transform it into a safe, healthy, and thriving neighborhood.

His skills and track record make him a terrific addition to the city council at this moment.

I'm hopeful you'll appoint him to join you in addressing the city's challenges and opportunities in this critical moment.

He has served his city for over 30 years, served his country in the Air Force, and now wants to serve the city council.

Thank you for your time.

Eve Keller, then followed by Carl.

Good morning.

Thank you for this delay because I got to make a new friend, Harriet, my friend in the new front row.

Also, thank you all for being council members.

It's not a job I would want.

I'm here to support Mark Solomon.

I first met Mark probably close to 15 years ago when he conducted a safety meeting in my living room.

But I really got to know him as president of the Mount Baker Hub Alliance, which is a neighborhood organization supported by an OIS grant.

Thank you.

When we did work with, when I did work with Mark for small businesses along the Mount Rainier, the Rainier Avenue corridor and Martin Luther King corridor, we were right there at the X of the intersections and Mark was there serving all of our small businesses from the businesses that had a break-in in the empty space next door, going through their wall, coming in through, through, through, plasterboard to get in to steal things from a business.

And Mark helped these people figure out how to make their spaces safer.

I can't recommend more solidly a person that knows the nuts and bolts of the South End than Mark Solomon.

He is a lovely human being, easy to work with.

Everyone I know breathes a sigh of relief when he walks through the door.

Thank you for thinking of Mark as your next person to serve on city council.

I heartily hope he makes it through.

Thank you.

We have Carl Haglund, I believe, and then followed by Carl will be John Fandell and then Joan, I believe.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning.

Carl Haglund, Columbia Modern Living.

I gotta say it right now.

I sure like you guys.

I really like you guys.

And the other part too is, and I'm gonna approach this a little bit different.

How do you wanna feel in a year?

It is, wow, we got a lot done.

And it's, I really enjoy going to the office, and I don't know why.

Quiet experience, quiet strength, quiet hope.

That's what Mark Solomon is going to bring you.

He's a work host who's going to hit the road running.

He knows everyone.

He's kind of a guy where you can go down and say, God, I got a question.

Mark, you got a moment?

Sure, come on in.

Let's talk a little bit.

Mark, I'm not sure if this will work.

He'll be a sounding board.

He'll help you figure out what to do.

He's just a really good person.

He's voter approved, too.

2019, seven people ran for District 2, and he came in second, a close second.

Voter approved.

Public safety is the number one issue in the city, and he's the expert.

In a department with big higos and lots of energy, he's the calming influence who can help people make decisions.

How do you want to feel in a year?

You want to feel great.

You want to get a lot done.

You want somebody who's got a future in the district, too, who'll do well next year when he runs our office.

He's going to hit the run.

He's going to do well.

You're going to feel great.

You're going to be real happy that you chose, Mark.

Thank you, guys.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is John Fandel, and I'm a Seattle resident for the last 35 years or so.

And I wanted to talk a little bit about Mark Solomon today to give you some observations about something that doesn't appear, doesn't get quite so much attention on his resume as it might otherwise.

I first met Mark in 1985. We were both young officers stationed in a NATO command and control bunker in West Germany.

And he was my replacement.

I actually trained him there.

And then he actually replaced me in my apartment.

Even then, even in 1985, I had no connection with Seattle at the time, he was effusive about how much he loved Seattle, where he had grown up and gone to college, and that he looked forward to coming back to serve.

And I remember that even then.

Six or seven years later, after I graduated law school and came to Seattle, I ran into them again.

We were both assigned to the Reserve Intelligence Unit at McCord Air Force Base, now JBLM, and we worked together there for about 10 years or so.

including several deployments both in the United States and abroad.

We both also got mobilized after 9-11 onto active duty, and we both served over in what we call the sandbox.

In fact, in I think his resume, there is a reference to one of his deployments to a base in Afghanistan.

That deployment was actually originally I was supposed to be tasked to do that.

And that would have forced me to extend my service date beyond my release date.

So Mark volunteered.

He said, John, I'll go ahead and take that for you.

So in addition to all the other things you know about Mark, and I know many of you know him pretty well, service and sacrifice, that's one of them.

So all the time we were at McCord together and serving in the Air Force, he was working in the Crime Prevention Bureau, and he had this amazing love for service and helping the city.

He's the kind of public service that I think we want in the Seattle City Council because he's doing it for all the right reasons.

So I hope you select him.

Thank you for your time.

We have Joan Altman Shea and then followed by Joan would be Jack and then Corianne.

Hello, my name is Joan Oldman-Jay.

Well done.

I live with my husband of 45 years in District 2. My daughter and her family live in District 2. So District 2 is very important.

And I work in the U District, taking the light rail.

It's wonderful.

I'm here in support of my favorite candidate, whom I wrote to you all about over the weekend on an email.

That is Gregory, but I don't want to speak to that.

Let my email speak for itself.

And let me speak about representation.

I am also in a leadership role.

in my company, and I know the importance and value of representation and leadership and how you all define the future of Seattle, the culture of Seattle.

And I'm hoping that you will see fit to select someone who will be beholden to the District 2 constituents.

We need someone at this time of change to represent us now, someone who will get to know us, maybe knows us, but will continue to get to know us as they strive to be elected again in the fall.

It's through this election process that we get representation.

And I know there are reasons to Consider that we want somebody to focus on District 2 while they're here and then not worry about being reelected.

But it's the election process that allows you to hear our voices, that makes you aware of our voices.

You want to be reelected.

Please, yes, do so with our needs in mind.

So I am asking that you select someone who will also be allowed to run in the fall so that we have good representation in my district.

Thank you very much.

One thing I forgot to say before we started public comment is that, uh, that people must speak to an item on the agenda.

Go on, please.

We have, um, Jack.

There's no last name, just first name Jack.

Okay.

I see Jack coming.

And then we have, um, Corrine.

And then after that's the Reverend, um, Walden.

This one right here?

Yep.

All right.

My name's Alex Newman.

You're Alex?

Yeah.

Did you write down Jack?

Yeah.

Okay, go ahead, please.

You can just get closer to the mic so he can hear you.

I don't really know what all this is.

It's been a rough couple months since I've been here, that's for sure.

I can tell you a lot about what it's like Living a rough life.

You know, kind of being oppressed in society.

Should like crap.

High expectations.

I don't know.

I don't know what it takes to get on.

You know, a seat or what that is, but I know what it's like out there.

A lot of us like should not have survived what we did.

So I don't know.

I really don't know what all this is.

It just looks like a joke to me or a bad dream.

Like there's reasons why I gotta stop weed at times and just be like, is this the best we got?

I don't really know what to say.

I could say a lot or nothing.

It doesn't really matter at this point.

It's just some people have people's best intentions and care about people and some people don't.

And I think it shows.

That's all I'm gonna say.

I have no idea what happens after this, but I don't know.

I trust somehow I'll make it through.

Thank you.

So I apologize.

The projector is down again.

Council members of the event.

I'm assuming you can still hear us.

If you can just do a thumbs up.

So I know you can hear us.

Okay.

We're going to try to rectify that.

We can continue with public comment until we can figure out a solution for that at the meantime, because we're still in person, public comment.

Okay.

Our next speaker, again, the timer's down.

I have a 30 second card.

We'll give you a 30 second notice when you have 30 seconds left of your time.

And then I'll let you know when your time is up as well too.

Now we are at, I believe it's Corianne and then Reverend Walden.

Corianne Scowcroft, sorry.

Thank you, I apologize for mispronouncing your name.

Hello, my name is Corianne Scowcroft.

Is that mic on, hold on.

Can you please start it back at two?

I just didn't hear the mic.

My name is Corrine Scowcroft, and I am here to recommend Eddie Lynn for the city council position number two.

I first met Eddie about eight or nine years ago when he came to work at the law firm that I was working out.

I was there for 21 years as a summer associate.

And then when he came as a full-time associate, I was his legal practice assistant.

And we worked again for eight, nine years.

And he is one of my favorite people.

He is professional, a hard worker.

He listens.

He is a problem solver.

He is compassionate and will be a great asset to city council position number two.

And I highly recommend Eddie to this position.

Thank you.

Reverend Walden, and then after Reverend Walden will be Kristen.

Good morning.

This has been a funny day here.

You know, I mean, it's a lot of fun, a lot of energy, and I think it's going to be a great day.

It is a great day.

I'm here to speak, of course, in favor for Chicundi Salisbury.

I've been knowing him a long time.

a real long time.

True transparency, I'm the mother of all the Salisbury boys in Seattle.

Well, Chikandi has always, one of the things I told him is that he needed to be public servant.

And he's done that and he's continued that.

He's been a city employee for 27 plus years, exemplary employee.

Every mayor has given him an accommodation for his brilliant ideas for all the ways he made Seattle Parks Department better.

He's, you know, the Green Corps, the partnership there with the trails.

I mean, in fact, he was a supervisor of all the trails in Seattle at one time, the Seattle Green Corps.

and also the Black Legacy Home owners to be able to help people stay in their home, anti-displacement.

He knows all about the comprehensive plan.

He has people, they've been working together on it, 100 Black parents, not afraid to say Black, and that type of stuff.

He was a 37th district PO.

I think PCO still is, former candidate.

And I, boy, volunteer, he really got it when I said he needed to volunteer.

Oh, my goodness, his real change, the newspaper, the YMCA board, Bubbing Brown Sugar, and of course, Mothers for Police Accountability.

You know, that's been around for a while.

And I just tell you, Phi Beta Sigma, arts advisor, and his visibility in the community as a true activist and a youth worker.

I mean, he just loves it.

He loves to be with people.

He's diligent.

He will absolutely always do a good job because that's part of who he is.

He never leaves a job unfinished, and he absolutely knows public policy.

He's a great guy, nice personality, and everybody loves him.

All right.

He does.

And is my time up, but do I have some more?

Thank you.

Kirsten or is it Kristen?

Okay.

Thank you.

The council.

My name is Kirsten Dodro and I'm here today to express my support for Thaddeus James Gregory as he seeks appointment for council.

As a fellow public servant and lifelong Seattleite, Holy Rosary Middle School Councilmember Strauss, I foster a commitment to supporting leaders who I think will best protect the health of our environment and public while investing in sustainable and economic housing development.

Someone who can serve as an experienced chair to the Land Use Committee.

Someone who spends his time working on issues of education, environmental, and legal equity for each member of our community.

I believe Thaddeus best represents all of these interests.

As Thaddeus' partner, I can speak to his ability to quickly learn, understand all sides of complex issues, and approach every interaction with a foundational respect for the dignity of others.

I have no doubt that he is prepared to serve as a passionate and competent leader for our district two community.

Thank you council for your time today.

Our last speaker is Yvette Dinish.

Good morning.

I'm here to speak on the support of Shukundi Salisbury.

It was a tough choice because I know two of the candidates, Adonis Duckworth and Mark Solomon.

But when I found out, and I echo Reverend Walden's comments that He's involved in this, he's involved in that, and this and the other.

And I knew about that.

But when I found out he had a job too, I go, well, dang.

So he's in the community, boots on the ground.

So that's why I support to Clindy Salisbury for the council position.

And I also don't know if this is a topic, but I also want to thank the council for Proposition 1B instead of 1A.

Proposition 1B supports social housing with accountability and transparency.

And I like that, that is accountability.

As opposed to 1A because it's a brand new developer who hasn't done...

Oh.

I am reminding folks that...

Stay on topic.

Yeah.

Okay, I'll do that.

And that's it then, I'm done.

Thank you very much.

Folks work our minds.

Council President Nelson, at this point, we are unable to access our remote callers.

Recommendation would be to recess to allow IT some time to see if we can rectify this issue as far as getting the audio connected back again and to see if council members can also participate remotely.

And if not, then we will find our option B as well too in the meantime.

Is there a recommended time amount that it would take to reboot this thing?

10?

Okay, we are recessed until 10.30, just to make it a round number.

Thank you very much.

Bye.

you Oh, oh, oh.

Bye.

Music.

...

...

...

...

...

Yeah.

Bye.

Bye.

Oh, you

you .

The city council is now coming back to order.

It is 10 47. Will the clerk please call the roll?

My apologies.

That would be me.

Um, I, that would be me.

Excuse me, council members.

Um, council member Strauss.

Present.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council Member Moore.

Present.

Council Member Rink.

Present.

Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Rivera.

Okay, Council Member Sacca.

Here.

And Council President Nelson.

Present.

We have seven present.

Present.

Oh, thank you.

Eight present.

Okay, it is now 10 48. We have come back from recess after a lot of technical difficulties.

And my understanding is that we have one more public commenter.

So please, in person public commenter.

So go ahead and please set the timer for two minutes.

Yes, we have Dante Damper.

And again, the timer is not available up here, but I do have a card for 30 seconds remaining and then when your time is up.

Hello, everyone.

Happy New Year.

And it's Deontay Damper.

I'm speaking specifically on behalf of myself, not of any entity that I'm under.

But I wanted to talk to you today about devotion.

It is about love and loyalty and staying consistent.

Shikandi Salisbury is devotion that needs to be on this council.

as a kid when I would get teased and our community, our LGBTQIA community members didn't really have access to leadership or support.

It was Shikundi that supported us.

I can think of very many events for the most marginalized where most people would turn to blind eyes.

Shikundi was there to support.

We're talking about devotion.

Right now, Seattle, we're in a crisis here and nationally.

And we don't need anyone to be standing on a fence.

We need someone to be devoted and committed to the promise that we give when we're joining boards like this.

And that's devotion and love.

And I wanna just thank Shekundi for constantly, always protecting, educating, and building this community, not needing a dime.

And to show the love and the devotion that this Seattle has.

I thank you.

We will now attempt to call on our remote speakers, understanding that we cannot allow you at this point to directly speak into our feed.

So we have a speaker phone that clerk Dedman is going to facilitate for us to hopefully allow you to speak at this point.

So when I call your name to unmute you, please note that we might have some difficulties and we may pause your time in between, but please note that we do wanna provide you those two minutes if we can.

So our first speaker is, just a second, it's going to be David Haynes.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

No offense, but today is a reminder of why people need to physically show up for work at the office and we need to do a little more investment in Seattle Channel.

I commend all the candidates for their service to community, and if they don't like the outcome today, they can always run for office in less than 10 months.

I am grateful for the city council's question and answer last week because it was a lot more informative than the moderated public forum.

After hearing that Edward Lynn has a 15-year real estate law career, spent roughly seven years at the Office of Housing advising on land use, and that he's at the city attorney's office, I really think that he would be the best addition to the council diet.

And he wouldn't have to wait around to get caught up on the details that he already knows.

And him, along with everybody else, his lived experience of dealing with public safety at 12th and Jackson would be willingly motivated to finally combat the crime in a proper way.

I think it demands that we need a lawyer to write some laws to help improve our community.

And Edward Lynn seems to be the best choice at the time, and I really encourage the council to add Edward Lynn to the dais and move forward to solving the land use needs for homeless crisis, the housing crisis, and the public safety crisis.

Because no offense, but we're not going to solve the public safety crisis through environmental design.

Nick Lakata, Bruce Harrell, and Lisa Herbold already proved that.

So support Edward Lynn for city council.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Angela Poe-Russell.

Good morning, my name is Angela Poe Russell and I'm coming to you today in a personal capacity.

I'd like to speak about the character In full transparency, I do come with bias as he is my brother-in-law, but I also know how to recognize the bias and lean into objectivity.

In that spirit, you should know that Mark is a true public servant.

Honestly, not much changed for him when this opportunity surfaced because Mark was already in the community, listening, connecting, and helping.

Everywhere I go, people know Mark because he is always serving in some capacity for a nonprofit, through Seattle Police, or some kind of community committee.

We desperately need elected officials who are less concerned with obtaining power and more concerned with empowering others.

that is mark known in the family for being compassionate and kind while also possessing the fortitude to make tough decisions this is a job that requires head and heart and mark uses both well as a resident of the city of seattle what i also appreciate about mark is he cares about everyone whether you own a small business or a large one whether you're struggling to keep your home or you feel unsafe walking your neighborhood With Mark, everyone will have a voice, and I know his intellect and his thoughtfulness will be an asset to the council and his huge heart an asset to the community.

Thank you.

Our next speaker who is present is Naomi C. Naomi, if you can press star six, please.

Press it one more time, thank you.

There we are.

Sorry about that.

Hi, my name is Naomi and I'm a local affordable housing investor.

I'm thrilled that we may have the opportunity to have Eddie Lynn on council.

Eddie was an attorney at the Office of Housing that guided me through my very first affordable housing deal that I ever did with Lehigh.

I remember being so thankful for the constant patience, deep expertise Eddie brought to every question, concern, and issue we brought to the table.

That project that we worked on was the Clay Apartments, which marked the first rapid acquisition of a market-rate apartment building to be converted into affordable housing for veterans and low-income households during the pandemic.

This innovative approach was unprecedented for the city, and Eddie's determination helped us overcome numerous initial barriers.

He skillfully structured the deal and the program at OH paving the way for a new expedited method of delivering affordable housing.

which ultimately led the governor to allocate 400 million to the model for future scaling.

I recount this because it really does sum up how many of us, especially in the affordable housing community, know Eddie.

Eddie embodies thoughtful, thorough, and collaborative service.

He uses his deep understanding of the technical aspects of subjects to design transformative policies and programs.

And as we head into this year, when we are facing, as you know, unprecedented challenges in our housing stock and opportunities in the comp plan.

I'm really confident that Eddie's expertise will lend a hand to the already outstanding contributions of this council in these areas.

Thank you for your time, and I recommend Eddie Lynn for B2.

We have one last remote speaker, then we'll go back into one remote, sorry, in-person public comment.

So our last remote speaker is Lois Martin.

Lois.

Thank you.

Hi I'm sorry I'm going to have to make this very brief.

My name is Lois Martin and I am a resident of District 3 and I have family that live in District 2. I have grown up playing in that area.

We have a family business in District 2. I feel very much connected to this as well as I look why I have to make this short because I have to be in a classroom or work with littles.

I just want to say that I have known Adonis for a number of years when I worked with him through community engagement with the 23rd and committed to the city.

And I feel that he would make a good representative for not only this 10 months, but now he's choosing to run.

And if for some reason he, I don't have anything else to make this short.

I'm sorry.

Thank you very much.

Please vote for Adonis Duckworth.

We have one more in-person public commenter.

That's Gabriel Prowl.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Gabriel Prahl.

I'm the president of the Seattle Chapter of the A.

Philip Randolph Institute and also past president ILW Local 52. I want to say that I'm here in support of Shikande Salibari.

I want to just tap on a little thing.

In 2023, when we also do candidates forum and we did our city council candidate forum and we selected Mr. Sukande to be our moderator because of the commitment that he's been doing in the community for the past plus years, 20 plus years, we have worked with him.

He had show exceptional, work in doing what he's supposed to do with our community.

I mean, I'm saying that if I was to choose today, that would be the person I would want to be there because of his commitment, because of the work.

And I'll tell you what, when he did the Candidates Forum moderated, he did just a wonderful job because he understand, understood the needs of the community.

He understood what the community want done.

So he asked the right questions to those candidates, and many of them are now sitting on this council.

And I just want to say that he's fit for the job, he's been around, and I think he has that relationship with the A.

Philip Randles as well because of the work that he does and the commitment that he put into it.

So thank you.

That's our last registered speaker.

We've reached the end of our registered speakers and the public comment period is now closed officially.

Thank you very much everybody for your comments.

Okay, if there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

All right.

I move to adopt a voting procedure for the appointment of city council district to position to be as follows.

And this has been distributed to all council members earlier this morning.

So you should all be familiar with this, but I'll read it for the public.

As Council President, I'll move to nominate all six finalists as candidates to fill Council District 2 position until a candidate in the November 2025 general election for District 2 is elected and qualified.

After the motion is seconded, Council members will be given an opportunity to comment on the factors or criteria they used in deciding whom to support and any other information they wish to share before voting begins.

When it is time to vote on appointing one nominee to fill the vacancy, the clerk will call the roll.

Council members will respond by stating one nominee they wish to appoint.

Council members will not be able to change their nominee until the next round of voting, should there be one.

If one nominee receives five or more votes, that individual is appointed to fill the district two position and will assume office immediately after accepting the position and taking the oath of office.

If one nominee does not receive five votes, then we will repeat the voting process until one nominee receives five votes or more.

Uh, are there any comments?

I'm trying to look on my screen to see if there are, I don't see any hands up on the screen either.

Okay.

There are no comments.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the voting procedures for appointing the district council to the city council district two position.

Council member Saka.

Aye.

Council member Strauss.

Yes.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council member Kettle.

Aye.

Council member Moore.

Aye.

Council member Rink.

Yes.

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

And Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the voting procedure to appoint City Council District 2 position has been established.

The City Council will now vote to fill the vacant City Council District 2 position.

I move to nominate all six finalists as candidates to fill Council District 2 position until a candidate in the November 2025 general election for District 2 is elected and qualified.

The nominees are as follows.

Hong Chua, Adonis Duxworth, Thaddeus Gregory, Edward Lin, Chikindi Salisbury, and Mark Solomon.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's moved and seconded to nominate all six finalists district two position until a candidate in the November 2025 election is elected and qualified.

I'll now open the floor to comments and after comments, we'll vote to fill the vacancy.

Are there any comments?

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Let me just start by saying I want to thank each and every one of you finalists for carving out the time, devoting your lives for the better part of the last month or so to this process, and therefore devoting your lives and your service to our city in this unique way.

Mark, Chikundi, Eddie, Thaddeus, Adonis, Hong, It's been such a pleasure really to get to know all of you more in many cases.

And I could honestly benefit, I could see myself calling each and every one of you a colleague.

and you all belong and you all matter, regardless of what happens here.

And if you don't end up at the dais, at the conclusion of this meeting, I encourage you to still take your shot and run.

So, but this is a, and I've gone on record many times about the factors that I'm considering for, that's gonna guide my own decision making for this process, including, someone's willingness to step in as a caretaker until voters decide who should best serve them in 10 months.

and very clear and consistent about these, you know, various criteria over and over again, so it won't beat a dead horse.

But I'll just say that at the end of the day, for me, it is a totality of circumstances, tests, and analysis.

There are many factors that I've, again, gone on record in saying that are guiding my decision, but it's not gonna be just one thing.

Yes, the caretaker thing factor is important, but ultimately this is based off of merit.

And every last one of you I've found to be, again, exceptionally well qualified.

And this is unlike last year.

Let's not go through this process every year.

Can we all agree to that, colleagues?

But unlike last year, I've been honored because I've, before you all put your names in the hat, so to speak, I realized that I know four of you I've gotten to work with, or serve in the community alongside four of you, four of the six.

And Chikundi, for example, got to know him a couple years ago.

Very familiar with your work.

Got to work alongside your mother, Reverend Walden, who I highly respect.

Familiar with your family, your reputation, and your selfless service to your community, our community, and many shared communities across this city.

and tons of respect and reverence, again, for you and your family.

And it's been such a pleasure to get to know you again through this project.

That's why I nominated you, put you forward.

Also, Eddie, Eddie.

Eddie comes from a very distinguished law firm.

There are many law firms in the Pacific Northwest that do great things, and Eddie and I had a chance to work together, overlap for a bit, at one of them.

And we heard one of the public commenters earlier talk about how they had worked directly with Eddie, Eddie's prior legal practice assistant.

And I remember when I was a summer associate at this law firm, you know, just getting to know Eddie, and his...

he was more senior than me, and...

but his reputation as someone who is a workhorse and who has the intellectual horsepower to distinguish themselves and do great things at such a terrific law firm really preceded himself.

And it was such a pleasure getting to work alongside him.

I always looked up to Eddie for his terrific work that he did in the legal community.

And I always thought, if I ever stay at this law firm long term, I'm gonna be just as smart and just as well respected as Eddie.

And this is 10, 15 plus years ago now.

Gosh, I'm getting old.

And Eddie's like, you haven't seen a thing.

But in any event, I can speak.

Out of all the candidates, I'll say I know in my mind and in my heart, Eddie has the strongest intellectual horsepower.

Moving on to Adonis.

Adonis, who I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last year since I've been in office.

Adonis works in the mayor's office, and he is a...

I've known him to be a very thoughtful leader on all things transportation policy and planning.

And Adonis and I had the pleasure of helping to craft and shape the contours of the mayor's proposed transportation package, which we ultimately improved and made even better in this body.

But I've always found, over the last year of having the pleasure of working alongside Adonis, I've always found him to be a very thoughtful and engaged smart person who clearly knows his stuff on all things transportation, and I've learned a lot from him.

And I think I am a better council member in part because of some of my interactions and engagements directly with Adonis.

So Adonis, thank you.

The final person I'll just comment on that I've known professionally or in the community before all this is Mark Solomon.

I've known Mark for almost 25 years, circa 2002, 2003-ish.

We know that Mark had a distinguished career in the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserves, and I had the pleasure of serving alongside Mark in the same unit at what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

I'm still calling it McCord Air Force Base.

And we heard a public commenter who also served with Mark.

And so I've known Mark for a long time now.

And then through our service, our shared service in the military.

And then also after the military, when we both parted ways, Mark since retired, I had about 10 years and I got off the pot.

That was about the time for me to move on to other things.

And I pursued a career in the law and now serving our city.

But out of all the people that the candidates this year, I will say, Mark, I know firsthand, Mark has, I can speak the highest of Mark's integrity, of Mark's moral compass, and of Mark's character.

In the age of Donald Trump 2.0, I think someone with strong character to lead the city with integrity is one thing, yet another factor that is important now more than ever.

And then Thaddeus and Hong, I hadn't known you before this whole process, but each of you all are excellent in your own regards, and like I said, are exceptionally well-qualified yourselves.

And so just wanna share that.

It's important.

I'm feeling old now because I know more and more people.

If we have to go through this again, we're not though.

No one's quitting.

Maybe I'll know 100% of the to share those thoughts.

That is all from my perspective.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Thank you for that.

Are there any other people that would like to make comments?

I'm looking at my screen.

Council President.

Go ahead, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka did the same thing that I'm about to do.

I'm going to go through and talk about each of you, so I'm just going to tell you that up front.

Very nice words, Councilmember Saka.

To the entire cohort, I'm just going to be really blunt that you've made this a very difficult choice.

I'm really thankful for that.

I slept well last night knowing that no matter who is chosen today, I will be working well with, I will be excited to work with, and really the fact of the matter that we have six, and frankly, there were more folks that applied that could have been on stage that meet the same qualifications, right?

And that if this is the future of our city, our future is bright.

Eddie, I know that when we spoke, I've let you know, I now think of you as Superman because I so oftentimes just, I see you in our meetings where you do a very good job as our lawyer and lawyers have a tendency, public sector lawyers have a tendency not to talk very much.

And just to get to see this side of you has been, really shocking and impressive.

You have a mastery of both subject matter and the humanness to connect with other people.

And this is the crux of representation, to know the subject matter forwards and backwards and the ability to connect with another person's heart.

Your answer at the public forum about sound transit was very exemplifying of this, that you would be able to on behalf represent our city.

Northgate got different treatment than Rainier Avenue.

That's not okay.

We have a lot of, I'm not gonna go into that.

I have so much more to say there, but I'm gonna stick on my talking points is just to say, I didn't know this side of you before the appointment process.

I'm just so impressed.

I'm thankful for your service to our city, both at work and in the community.

I didn't expect this.

Thank you.

Again, you hold so many different roles and layers of people within you.

From working on affordable housing to transitioning in our conversations about why focusing on charting a better pathway forward for children is so crucial to operating the small business with your family, to being the one on the street that keeps our streets vibrant and our communities vibrant in the face of a state of emergency in our city.

To know all of these things within one person I was ready to vote for you before even meeting you.

And to then meet you was even more in depth for me knowing that if this is not a sign that the universe is calling on you to take a public facing leadership role, If you don't believe in the universe, I would say this is the universe calling on you, yeah?

And if you don't believe in the universe, then just believe every single community member that has reached out to you over this last month that you hadn't talked to in a while that has called to say we're ready for your public-facing leadership.

And I say public-facing because many of us are in public service and when your face is out there, it's just a different experience.

And so I can't wait to see what we do together next.

with mark mark the public commenter here today said that people breathe a sigh of relief when you walk in the door i'm one of those people um you are one of the most intelligent people i've ever met just bar none i think that's in part why the Candidate forms are not your style.

And I say that because by the time that the 30 seconds or the two minutes is wrapping up, that's right when you're getting started.

And it's because you have the right answers, and right answers take longer than two minutes to explain.

During the public forum, I can't remember who it was or what question it was or what the answer was.

I just remember halfway through them talking about addressing public safety in whichever way.

In the back of my mind, I was like, so you're gonna call Mark?

And that's kind of how I feel because you and I, we do very similar types of work on different ends of the city.

And I know that I need to call you more.

I just am so, every time I get to meet you, because we ran in the same election cycle in 2019, and I've gotten to know you over the last couple of years, every time I get to know you better, the more impressed I am.

And so just in great, thank you so much for your service to our city.

Chikundi, you are everywhere.

Wow.

You're larger than life and the only candidate with a website.

It's still up.

I'm looking at it.

But to be a little bit more serious, you've humbled me in this process by educating me, specifically about Seward Park's pedestrianization.

I learned to ride my bike on a street on bicycle Sundays.

Bicycle Sundays are great.

That's not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

It's just Sundays, right?

I was, you taught me about why Seward Park is pedestrianized, that there was that compromise so many years ago of do we pedestrianize both or just Seward Park?

I've long enjoyed getting to walk around Seward Park and also not knowing why that happened.

So through this process, I've become a better representative of Seattleites because of your education.

Just reading through your website, a proven record of public service, a commitment to community empowerment, focused on key issues for district two, an inclusive and experienced leader, ready to lead on day one.

I'm not gonna read your proposed email of advocacy to us because that would be tipping the scales.

I'll just say the pictures also illustrate how you are everywhere and the type of work you do from building trail.

I'll get to that in a minute.

My favorite part of your website is you have a picture of yourself in D6.

It's great work.

You do work everywhere.

Colleagues, trivia question for tomorrow.

The photo of Chikundi on his website in District 6, which band recorded which music video at that location?

Answer comes tomorrow at 2 p.m.

I'm just Chikundi in seriousness.

I am incredibly grateful for your service to our city.

Through building parks and trails, through your volunteer service, through organizations, showing up at schools when your kids have graduated, and that's just the start.

And through your dedication to community by organizing people.

I mean, that was illustrated with you have an anti-displacement plan.

And most of all for showing up and being you.

Thank you.

Thaddeus, I've been blown away at every turn getting to know you over these last few weeks.

There are a few people in the city who understand land use in the way you do.

Your history and dedication to the district that you live in is stunning and impressive.

I didn't know about you two months ago, and today I feel like we'll be lifelong friends.

Just to have only recently met you, I'm incredibly impressed to see you on this panel with some of the most qualified people in this city, not just district two, some of the most qualified people in this city to be a council member.

I can't wait to see what's...

I also don't know how this vote's gonna turn out.

So, you know, I just can't wait to see what's next.

And Adonis, even though we've worked together before, I've never seen this side of you, kind of like Eddie.

I didn't expect it either.

When I asked you questions, I thought you would fall flat on.

And when I asked you the tough questions, you know, really kicking the tires to see if you had what it takes, I was consistently impressed and my expectations were exceeded.

In particular, your answer to Council Member Rivera's question about accountability with departments at this forum.

And also I didn't think that you had a land use question.

I'll just be kind of blunt here.

And then to find out that you had urban studies and that you have a certificate in GIS.

I sometimes run the share screen from up here, but I definitely can't do GIS.

Um, and just to everyone out here, you've humbled me.

I'm more humbled by this experience.

Uh, if this, again, I'll go back to what I said earlier.

If this candidate pool, plus the folks that are also well qualified that didn't make to this six from district two, if this is the city's future, our future is bright and our future is strong.

Thank you.

Council member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair.

Always up for these trivial questions.

I'm putting my money on the lighthouse being involved.

So, inside joke amongst various folks here.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for stepping up.

Unlike my colleagues, I'm just going to say thank you for stepping up.

You all have very strong backgrounds, professionally work, academic, all the above.

Um, but importantly also you've been involved in your community, which is key, I believe.

So for, for, for everything that you've done thus far, thank you.

And for the person who is selected, um, we look to welcome you, but for those that don't get selected, I look forward to seeing you continue that service because as someone, you know, the various seven, it is so important.

TO HAVE THAT LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE VARIOUS NEIGHBORHOODS, THE VARIOUS COMMUNITIES, WHATEVER TYPE OF COMMUNITIES THEY ARE.

SO PLEASE CONTINUE THAT PUBLIC SERVICE, WHATEVER FORM IT MAY TAKE FOR YOU.

AND THAT'S IT, CHAIR.

THANK YOU.

COUNCIL MEMBER, GO AHEAD.

WONDERFUL, THANK YOU.

WELL, I CERTAINLY WANT TO ECHO MY COLLEAGUE'S SENTIMENTS.

IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE GETTING TO KNOW EACH ONE OF YOU.

I WOULD BE LUCKY, WE WOULD BE LUCKY TO WORK WITH ANY OF YOU AND I'M JUST OVERALL EXCITED THAT WE WILL HAVE A NEW COLLEAGUE TODAY AND EVEN MORE EXCITED THAT I WILL NO LONGER BE THE NEWEST COUNCIL MEMBER UP HERE.

And I want to take a moment to speak to the factors that will be shaping my vote today.

And to that end, as a citywide at-large council member and engaging in D2, there have been a few key things that I've learned from D2 community and what they're looking for.

someone who's ready to really step up to address the housing crisis and make sure that we're preventing displacement, making sure we have investments for young people and we're addressing our public safety challenges, but I've also continued to hear the importance of representation, particularly for the CID and the importance of AANHPEI representation.

And to that end, while considering what I've heard directly from D2 residents, not just over the past month, but over the past year as I've been deep at community indoors, outdoors, and at community events, I'm also mindful of the work ahead of us for this year.

Looking at the comprehensive plan, a huge body of work that definitely necessitates land use expertise and knowledge and an understanding of how housing is developed in this city.

But also looking at the renewal of the Families Education Preschool Promise Levy, and needing knowledge and expertise about our city's relationship to our public school system and what are the needs of youth and young people.

And looking at also the ongoing legislation that is coming before this body, and for folks that maybe had the opportunity to tune into the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee on Friday, What is clear is that this council will continue to be having ongoing discussions, deliberations as it relates to land use this year.

We have a lot of contentious issues coming before us that are complex and require expertise and a thorough understanding of these issues from land use, but also looking at our relationship to our economy.

So those are some of the factors I'm considering when regarding this appointment today.

And I know there's been some discussion as well about a caretaker versus someone who will run for election.

And what I would just add to that point is to say to my colleagues, any one of us up here who chooses to seek reelection will go before the voters.

And it's ultimately up to the voters to decide.

And that work of campaigning and truly listening and championing the needs of community that is embedded in that process.

That is an incredible body of work in itself, and it's something that I just want to state.

I would hate to discount a qualified person that has the expertise and is up to the task of serving and would just emphasize that.

I think we're all looking forward to see what the voters ultimately decide this year.

Thank you.

Council Member Moore.

Thank you, Council President.

And I just wanted to echo the comments of my colleagues and calling out all of your individual wonderfulness.

And I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet each of you, had not known any of you before this process.

And it was really just nice to have the opportunity to get to know you individually, to hear your thoughts and visions for the city.

to parry ideas about things that might work and might not work and to just have a little kind of interesting debate.

We don't always have time to do that up here because we're running from one thing to another.

So to actually have the time to To sit and engage in those conversations was really a pleasure, and I certainly learned a lot from that.

And I want to say today that all of you are more than capable of doing a fabulous job up here and representing District 2 in the City of Seattle, and I feel really honored to know that you are out there.

And I would strongly encourage each of you, and even those who weren't nominated, who also came here with a very strong breadth of experience, professional and personal, to run for this seat.

We are all better off when everybody gets the opportunity to really burnish your visions for the city and D2.

It's been very difficult to decide which way to go.

Last time I went with the idea that whoever was in this seat should have to answer to the voters.

I think it's fair to say that some lessons were learned, and I am looking at it a little bit differently this time around.

I am very much aware of the politics of the council, this particular council's appointments, and I really do not want to stand in the way of any of you by making that decision, and so I am And so I fell on the position of deciding to go for a caretaker, not because the two people who very clearly stated that they wanted to be caretakers are any less qualified, but because of wanting really to keep this an open process for everyone.

And so I will be pursuing those candidates, but I want you to know, again, I really do appreciate the opportunity to get to meet you uh, whoever gets the seat, I'm really looking forward to working with you.

We have a lot to do, um, and new ideas, new energy, uh, and, um, compatriotship are really welcome.

So thank you.

Council member Rivera.

Thank you, council president.

I want to again, um, thank all the candidates for, um, for, uh, their willingness.

We have a diversity of very important experiences.

I know that we can only pick one person, so it's a tough decision.

I hope that for the folks that don't get selected, I very much look forward to working with you.

My door will always be open.

And of course, I know we all care so much about community.

in general and you know I'm looking at a totality of all the experiences and the skill set and also what I've heard from the district but like I said I know everyone brings so much to this would bring so much to this and I look forward to working with you all in whatever capacity as we move forward because I know that you will stay engaged in one way or another.

So I really want to thank you for your commitment, and I look forward to working with all of you regardless of the outcome today.

Thank you.

All right.

I am looking to see if there are further comments.

Go ahead.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, I was asked to ask you if you have any comments because because of all of the technical difficulties.

I do, Council President.

Go ahead, please.

Can you hear me OK?

Yes.

OK, awesome.

I wanted to thank each and every person for throwing their name in the hat.

I know I've said that multiple times, but and I just want to echo the comments of my other council members.

You know, Eddie Lin, I could see us working together on youth and food access and policies with, you know, understanding law and efficiencies with government.

Thaddeus, I nominated you.

I enjoyed our conversation, land use, transportation, design and building codes, all the geeky nerd stuff that you love, you know, was incredible.

Hong, we connected on small business.

and especially for immigrant communities and how, you know, generational wealth and small businesses is incredibly important for economic mobility.

Mark Solomon, deep knowledge for the South End and government and departments.

You know how to navigate certain things and you're just incredibly calming whenever I talk to you.

Adonis, your love for transportation and your youth, your enthusiasm, You also love to skateboard.

I think that's really cool as well.

But also just how you talked about all the things that are developing in the South End and how you want to represent those.

And you were very, very strategic in, you know, identifying those as well.

And Shikundi, I've known your family for a long time.

You are community.

your knowledge of the city, your department, like Councilmember Strauss said, who are everywhere.

When I think about community, when I think about your just anything building and community culture commerce, which I originally got from you and then asked and just kind of ran with it, that is everything you are in Seattle.

So I just wanted to Thank each and every one of you.

I know that this will be a tough decision for a lot of my colleagues, but I can't wait to work whoever is nominated and looking forward to welcoming that council member.

Thank you.

I think that is all of our comments so far.

So much has been said about each that I do not feel compelled to add to the comments.

So looking once and twice to see if there are any further comments.

All right.

I will now ask for the clerk to call the roll.

Go ahead, please.

And as a reminder, during roll call, if council members could please call any one of the six nominees in your response.

Starting with Council Member Sacca.

Mark Solomon.

Council Member Strauss.

Adonis Duxworth.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Secundee Salisbury.

Council Member Kettle.

Adana Stuxworth.

Council Member Moore.

Mark Solomon.

Council Member Rink.

Eddie Lin.

Council Member Rivera.

Mark Solomon.

And Council President Nelson.

Mark Solomon.

We have two in favor for Duxworth, one in favor for Lynn, one in favor for Salisbury, and four for Solomon, not one has reached five votes.

All right.

We will now open it again for a second round.

Go ahead, please.

Council Member Saka.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Strauss.

Adonis Duxworth.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Salisbury.

Councilmember Kettle.

Adonis Duxworth.

Councilmember Moore.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Rink.

Eddie Lin.

Councilmember Diavetta.

Mark Solomon.

And Council President Nelson.

I will stay with Mark Solomon as well.

We have two for Duxworth, one for Lynn, one for Salisbury, and four for Solomon.

Not one has reached five votes.

Okay, we are going, I propose that we go ahead and do another round and then if, and then we will, I will propose a way to get past the same kind of vote for the fourth round if we do not get to five on the third round.

Okay.

Please begin.

Thank you.

Council member Saka.

Mark Solomon.

Council member Strauss.

Adonis Duxler.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

The county Salisbury.

Councilmember Kettle.

Donna Stockworth.

Councilmember Moore.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Rink.

Donna Stockworth.

Councilmember Rivera.

Mark Solomon.

And Council President Nelson.

I will stay with Mark Solomon as well.

We have three for Duxworth, one for Salisbury, and four for Salomon.

That one has reached five.

Okay, so here is my proposal.

We can eliminate anyone who did not get a vote in the last round.

We can eliminate the person who did not get more than two votes in the last round or one vote in the last round.

So I am proposing that we do narrow the field a little bit to get to our ultimate choice.

Now, I have asked the clerk to explain whether or not there has been a narrowing of the field process in the past.

So could you please report what you told me?

I'm not aware of narrowing the field further.

If the council would like to consider narrowing the field further from this point where we're at, we could reconsider the motion to eliminate those members who do not receive three or less and then continue that process until we reach a majority for one nominee.

And whether or not we should or should not narrow the field before I make a motion to change or to amend our procedure.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

I would support any motion to narrow the field.

Are there any further comments?

Okay.

So, uh, then I will, uh, that is my proposal and, uh, could you please remind me the, uh, so I move to amend our voting procedure to narrow the field by that is the question.

If there's no objection, the council would amend something previously adopted.

And if there's no objection, then we can proceed with the motion to amend the voting procedure.

I do not see any objections.

Now the council will consider an amendment to the voting procedure.

The voting procedure will be as follows.

The council members will vote on candidates and candidates not receiving three or less will then be removed and eliminated from the next round.

Go ahead, Council Member Saka.

I mean, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

Norwegian finish.

In just plain language, does that mean a candidate needs to have three votes or they need to have four votes to continue moving on?

That is up to the council and the body how they would like to proceed with that.

But those are two options, yes.

It is not very clear.

I would like some clarity before we move forward.

Yeah, we have not established the number of, we have not established that yet.

So I was just, we were just establishing that we could change the voting procedure.

Go ahead, Council Member Kettle.

I thought I heard three, so I don't know, maybe I'm hearing things, but I thought I heard three is the number, but did I hear wrong?

I think that that is a fair number that does convey a, a willingness to go forward.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Just for clarity, are we...

So is the idea that we would remove anyone who has not received at least three votes in our first three rounds of voting?

That is the suggestion that you're talking about.

Okay.

I think there's only one person who received at least three votes.

So our work would be...

Solved.

Or two, Council Member Kettle is saying.

Okay, okay.

Well, two, perhaps we lower the threshold a little?

I think that we should.

To two?

Yes.

Because there are a number of candidates who've received two as well, so maybe we start there.

So, please inform us who has received The number of, uh, please reread the, the, the rounds.

Okay.

The first round we had, um, Duxworth received two.

Lynn received one.

Salisbury received one.

Solomon received four.

Round two.

Duxworth received two.

Lynn received one.

Salisbury received one.

Solomon received four.

In round three, Duxworth received three.

Salisbury received one and Solomon received four.

I believe that we should go with the count at our last round.

Do I have consensus on that?

Go ahead, Councilmember Strauss.

Just in my tendency, in plain language, is what you are saying that if we did what you are proposing, only Mark Solomon and Adonis Duxworth would move forward.

Is that correct?

I'm just asking for clarification.

I'm not putting my finger on this.

I am looking at my, I am trying to track the, no, that is, that would be the case for the last count, but I, that is not the will of the body as I am sensing.

The council could start this process at the next round.

So the next round that we would start, this is where we would implement this new process because we are not backtracking as far as what's already been decided.

So moving forward is how we would implement this new process.

If a member receives, I don't believe a number has been decided, two or three, whatever number we land on, then that is where we'll start doing that elimination for the next round following.

Sounds good.

Okay.

So we are starting again.

Keep that in mind.

This is the process that we will take going forward.

For clarification, was there an objection for the number two or three as far as I believe there seemed like a consensus from two?

Yes.

Okay.

There was no objection for that?

None.

Okay.

Two or less.

Okay.

So moving forward, anyone who receives two or less in the next round would then be removed from the next round of voting.

And then at this point, council president, I would just ask that the body vote if there's no objection for the amended procedure.

Yes.

Would you please call the roll on the amended procedure?

Council member.

Yes.

Council member Rivera had my hand up.

Um, So can someone just call what are we voting on now simply?

Is it are we just moving forward with another round or are we seeing anyone that's getting that has gotten two or more votes can move on?

that we are now voting on the procedure to to establish how we will continue.

So we are voting on the motion to amend the procedure so that we will vote and if and folks that do not get two votes or more will be eliminated.

Would you please?

Is that clear, Councilmember Rivera?

I guess if someone could.

That would be helpful.

Thank you.

I think that your mic works.

Yes, Council Member Rivera.

We are now voting on the vote to revise the voting procedure.

The voting procedure before us would be if council members do not receive two or less, if they receive two or less, then they will be eliminated from the following round as far as they being part of the nomination.

So the vote that we're voting on right now is whether or not you'd like to proceed with that option to eliminate a nominee if they don't receive two or more votes.

Okay.

I believe that is clear, correct?

Council member Rivera?

Seeing a nod.

Yes, thank you.

Okay.

We are now voting on the procedure.

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember DiBetta?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Okay.

The motion to change the voting procedure, uh, was, uh, has been voted on unanimously.

So we are proceeding with this procedure going forward.

Would you please call the roll again on the nominations to fill the vacancy for district two?

If council members can please respond by calling a nominee's name.

Council member Saka.

Mark Solomon.

Council member Strauss.

Dallas Duxworth.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Councilmember Kettle.

Adonis Duckworth.

Councilmember Moore.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Rink.

Adonis Duckworth.

Councilmember DiVetta.

Mark Solomon.

And Council President Nelson.

Mark Solomon.

We have Duxworth, three votes, Salisbury, one vote, Solomon, four votes.

That one received five.

All right.

To clarify, the next round will include Duxworth and Solomon.

Would you please, are there any questions going forward?

All right, go ahead.

Would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Sacca.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Strauss.

Donna Zucksworth.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Kettle.

Adonis Duckworth.

Councilmember Moore.

Mark Solomon.

Councilmember Rink.

Adonis Duckworth.

Councilmember Rivera.

Mark Solomon.

Council President Nelson.

Mark Solomon.

Duxworth, three in favor.

Solomon, five in favor.

Solomon has appointed has been appointed to fill Council District 2 until a candidate in the November 2025 general election for District 2 is elected and qualified.

I would like to invite Mark Solomon to the podium.

Go ahead.

Mr. Solomon needs to accept the position and then we can move forward with the oath.

Mark Solomon.

The City Council has appointed you as council member to the City Council District 2 position until a candidate in the November 2025 general election for District 2 is elected and qualified.

Do you accept the position?

Yes, Madam President.

Congratulations as being appointed to the city council district two position.

I'll ask now the city clerk to administer the oath of office.

So city clerk Shreen Dedman will come up and do that.

And you are welcome to provide comments after the fact.

Please join us at the dais.

Testing, okay.

Because as you know, how you see most people leaning in.

So if we wanna be heard, we'll have to lean in.

All right, I'll use my outside voice.

Yes, I will as well.

Before we start, you get to choose whether you want to swear or affirm, but you only have to choose one.

All right, so please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I Mark Solomon.

I Mark Solomon.

Swear or affirm.

Swear.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.

Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.

And the Seattle Municipal Code.

And the Seattle Municipal Code.

For the position of City Council Member.

For the position of City Council Member.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

And the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.

And the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

As a Seattle City Council Member.

As a Seattle City Council Member.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

I wanna express my deep gratitude to this council for their trust.

Hey, Gary.

Just had to give a shout out to my best friend from way back when.

I also want to express my gratitude to the folks I met on this journey.

I've known Khan for forever and I've just gotten to meet these other gentlemen and there is so much talent and I'm so appreciative of getting to know you and I know that regardless of what happens, what goes forward, what happens in November, we are gonna be doing some work together.

Y'all have already been here a long time through this process, so you probably don't need to hear me doing a whole lot of speechifying.

I really am about serving this community, getting things done, and working with this council to make life better for the city of Seattle and for the residents of District 2. And for the residents of District 2, I'm here.

And...

I am here to be of service to you.

And I'm here to be a colleague to all of you.

So let's stop talking and let's get some stuff done.

Thank you very much.

We have now finally finished the nomination process and unless there is any further business to come before the Council, we have reached the end of today's agenda.

Looking now to see if there's any further business.

On the screen, nobody is raising their hand.

All right.

The City Council will meet.

It is now 1152. The City Council will meet again tomorrow, January 28th at 2 p.m.

Hearing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.