Thank you.
Good morning, everybody, and I apologize for the delay.
This is a meeting of the Governance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments.
Today is Thursday, September 21st.
The time is 936, and I am Deborah Juarez, Chair of the Committee.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
Council Member Peterson.
Present.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Present.
Council Member Sawant, Council Member Strauss, Council President Juarez.
Here.
Three are present.
Thank you.
And Council Member Strauss is excused for today.
If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
The agenda is adopted.
Let's move on to the chair's report.
We have 5 items on the agenda today.
The 1st, 2 are reappointments to the Seattle Indian service commission and Demarest from the commission will be presenting those nominees.
Welcome.
Demarest I'm glad we had a chance to visit before we went live next.
We have, um, I hope I said that correctly from the office of labor standards, and they will present a new appointment to the labor standards advisory commission.
Then we'll consider a resolution related to the next steps for the redevelopment of Memorial Stadium.
We'll have representatives from Seattle Public Schools, the school board, and will join us in that presentation as well as Mr. Burgess from the mayor's office.
Finally, central staff will walk us through a housekeeping bill related to procedures for holding executive sessions, and that will be from Director Esther Handy and our staff legal counsel, Lauren Henry.
Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up for public comment?
There are none today.
Okay.
So we will not having any speakers, we will open and now we have closed public comment.
Let's go right to our agenda.
Let's see.
Apologize again.
My papers are all wet.
All right.
Items of business.
Madam Clerk, please read agenda items 1 and 2 into the record.
Agenda Items 1 and 2, appointments 02657 and 02658. The reappointments of Michael L. Reichert as a member of Seattle Indian Services Commission for a term to November 30th, 2025. And the reappointment of Misha Y. Rodart as a member to the Seattle Indian Services Commission for a term to June 30th, 2026.
Thank you.
I want to welcome to the committee, Damaris, and we had a chance to visit before we began.
She is going to present to us.
These are reappointments from the commission itself.
The floor is yours, Damaris, if you want to go ahead and speak to the reappointments of Michael Reichert and Misha Rigarte.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
I would like to briefly introduce the Seattle Indian Services Commission was chartered in 1972. It's among one of Seattle's oldest public development authorities, and our mission is to provide housing and planning services for American Indians, Alaska Natives throughout Seattle and King County.
And all of our commission members are Native American, and that's one of our goals for the commission.
So my name is Damaris Tavak, and I am the Seattle Indian Services Commission Program Manager.
I've been in that position since January of this year.
And I am Inupiaq.
I am from Nome, Alaska, but I've been living in Seattle for about 25 years.
I led the Native Neighborhood Community Study, and that's part of why I was really passionate about joining the commission and staff so that I can help with creating vital and missing third places for our community where people can come together and feel a sense of welcoming and belonging.
So a little bit about Michael Reichert.
I realized that this reappointment is a little late.
Something happened with his reappointment, but he's been in good standing.
He's been attending every meeting.
since the last reappointment ran out.
And this will be his third term serving as a member.
He's an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe of the White Earth Reservation.
He's been serving as a president of Catholic Community Services of Western Washington.
He also leads the Catholic Health and Services.
His organization has been providing in-kind loaned officers to help with administrative work for the commission.
And he has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Native American Studies from Central Washington University.
And then Misha Rodarte.
She has been acting as treasurer since November or December of last year.
So she's actually, what we're looking for is for her to be reappointed as treasurer of the commission.
Misha is Navajo and she serves as vice president of Native Action Network.
She is a commercial real estate broker at Legacy Commercial.
And she has a degree from UW.
A bachelor of arts in international and diversity studies.
And, yeah, I think that's it.
I'd be happy to answer any questions that anyone has.
Thank you.
Is there any questions from the panel or from the, from my colleagues or.
Not seeing any.
Hey, I'm glad we had a chance to talk before you presented and we know Misha and we've known.
Little backstory, Michael record, he was 1 of my 1st bosses growing up on the preservation.
That's how long I know my record.
So, I'm glad he's being reappointed and you're right.
The sale Indian service commission was 1 of the original that came out of the block grants in the 70s.
And I used to serve on it and legal counsel to the board many years ago.
But also, we also have our friends Colleen Echo Hawk and Iris Friday, who are also on the Seattle Indian Service Commission.
I want to thank you for coming here today and providing that.
I don't think a lot of my colleagues probably aren't familiar that Seattle Indian Service Commission is a PDA and has the ability to issue debt and assume debt and do all kinds of great things.
So thank you so much for coming here today.
Are there any other questions or anything anyone would like to add before we move?
I forgot.
I wanted to very quickly mention that we are in the process of exploring either rehabilitation or redevelopment of our property on 12th and Weller.
And we have a couple of other projects that we've been working on also.
I'm sorry.
We're very familiar with the property on 12th and Weller.
So that's been, yeah.
But thank you for that.
Okay, great.
Again, I apologize for being late.
So I wasn't late.
I was here actually, but I'm still drying off.
All my papers are wet, so I'm doing this.
All right.
Thank you.
So let me do this.
Let me move forward then on our agenda.
I move to recommend confirmation of reappointment of Michael Reichert, which is 02657, and reappointment of 02658, which is Misha, Misha Rodarte.
to be sent to the September 26 Council meeting for confirmation by City Council.
Second.
Thank you.
It has been moved and seconded.
There's no further discussion.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
Three in favor.
Thank you the motion carries and the committee recommends the city council confirm reappointments 02657 and 02658. It's good to see my vice president is on his toes today.
Thank you.
Council member Peterson.
Always a pleasure.
All right, let's move on to item number three.
We have a mayoral appointment here and that is of Greg Ramirez and Greg's here.
Welcome Greg.
To the labor advisories, labor standards advisory, it says committee, but it's really commission and I'll fix that in a moment.
So, I understand where's.
Oh, there you are.
So, please introduce yourself to the committee and introduce us to the appointee and then we will allow.
Yes, I need to read the item in.
Oh, I thought you did not yet.
Oh, well, go ahead.
My paper's all wet.
So go ahead.
Agenda item 3, appointment of Greg P. Ramirez as member of Labor Standards Advisory Committee to a term to April 30th, 2025.
Thank you.
Let's go back to Karam.
Karam, you want to introduce yourself and our appointee, and then we'll have discussion.
Yeah, thank you, Council President.
My name is Karam Levitas.
I'm the liaison to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission and the policy manager at the Office of Labor Standards.
LSAC serves a valuable advisory function for our office, for the executive, for city council, and the city more broadly.
And LSAC is 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 entities and are invested in improving working conditions for workers and ensuring that businesses have the tools they need to comply with labor standards.
And as this committee knows, Frequently in Seattle is not just advancing best practices for labor standards, but creating them.
So I'm thrilled today to introduce Greg Ramirez, who's being considered for appointment.
Greg currently serves as the Deputy Director and Chief of Staff at SEIU Local 6. He's responsible for strategic programs, policy development, and research collaborations.
And he's been in a variety of roles, including instrumental in organizing for the union for over a decade.
SEIU local six members were instrumental in the advocacy for the Fight for 15 in SeaTac, an effort which spurred Seattle's own development of the minimum wage ordinance here and the creation of the Labor Standards.
His expertise will be really invaluable to LSAC and to the city more broadly.
And I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him going forward.
Uh, so that's all I have.
I'll turn it over to to you council president or to maybe to Greg over where we're running this.
Let's let's hear from Greg.
Welcome Greg.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Everybody.
Um, yeah, no, I'm just honored to be here and to be considered for this appointment.
Um.
As Kareem said, I have a long history of being a labor advocate and advocating for working people, lifelong Seattle resident.
I've spent the last decade fighting for workers, and I've seen firsthand the work that OLS has done to protect not only our members at SCAU6, but all workers in the city of Seattle.
Prior to working with SEIU, I actually was a Seattle Human Rights Commissioner and had the privilege of working on the fair chance ordinance, employment ordinance.
And so I know that's having its 10 year anniversary.
And so being able to work on that, transitioning to working in labor, and I'm excited for the opportunity to continue to weigh in on labor issues and making sure that Seattle is advocating for all workers.
Thank you, Greg.
Are there any questions?
I'm going to open the floor to my colleagues that we would like to ask Greg.
Well, I have one thing I want to say is, Greg, we all have your confirmation packet and your resume and all the different roles that you filled, and I want to thank you.
You're in the Georgetown Community Council, the Martin Luther King Labor Council, SEIU, Local 6, City of Human Rights Commission, Sound Transit, Seattle Housing Authority, and you come all the way from New York.
Correct?
No, that was my most recent program that I was in.
I was in New York, but no, I've been in Seattle my whole life.
Oh, OK.
Grew up in Georgetown, still live in Georgetown, so lifelong Seattle.
But yeah, no, that was my most recent program was I was in a leadership program in CUNY and was able to travel back and forth.
Well, it looks like you joined a bunch of wonderful people that we know a lot of these folks from labor, Dustin and Billy and Jeannie and Joel and Annie.
So I'm just looking at the whole commission.
So I'm glad.
So thank you.
But thank you for being such a good person and being involved in all these labor projects and being around being, you know, from this city and caring about labor.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm guessing I, oh, customer Mosqueda is no, she's just okay.
She's just on the screen.
All right.
I know she's being supportive.
She's doing her thumbs up thing.
So that must be, that's a good thing.
All right.
So now that we've heard from Mr. Ramirez or Greg, I move to recommend the confirmation of appointment 02659, which is Greg Ramirez to be sent.
be sent to the September 26th City Council meeting for confirmation.
Thank you, Council Member Peterson.
Motion has been moved and seconded.
You're just in fine form.
Wish you were like that yesterday.
The clerk has brought to my attention that there is an error in the title of the appointment 02659. The title incorrectly reflects that it is the Labor Standards Advisory Committee when it should be the Labor Standard Advisory Commission.
So, if there's no objection, the appointment title will be amended to replace the word committee with the word commission.
Hearing no objection, the appointment title now reflects the correct Labor Standards Commission.
There's no further discussion on the amended appointment.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointment?
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council President Morris.
Aye.
Three in favor, none opposed.
Great.
The motion carries and the committee will recommend the confirmation of Mr. Ramirez to the Labor Standards Commission.
And thank you for being here this morning.
It'll be on the September 26th and, you know, you can come if you want to, but you don't have to because you're already here today.
So we'll say good things about you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, let's move forward on our next item.
Item four, Madam Clerk, will you please read item four to the record?
Agenda item four, resolution 32110, a resolution establishing the city's continuing support to advance a public-private partnership through future agreements between the City of Seattle, Seattle Public Schools, and the One Roof Partnership, and addressing funding needs to develop a new world-class memorial stadium serving students, youth, and the community, and that is transformative for Seattle Center.
Thank you, we have deputy mayor Burgess here with us today and he knows the drill.
So you want to introduce yourself and your team and I also have a lineup of how and I'm guessing how you want to present this, but I'll let you go ahead.
Go ahead.
Deputy mayor.
You're on mute.
Yeah, starts with the mute button, buddy.
Thank you very much.
The older you get, the more you forget.
Boy, that almost rhymed, didn't it?
Yeah, it did.
That's good.
Good morning, council members and other guests.
I'm delighted to be here this morning to discuss this project with you.
It was back in 2017 that the city and the school district started really seriously talking about redeveloping Memorial Stadium.
And then in the last few months of Mayor Durkan's term, She signed a letter with the school district committing us to certain actions.
We have fulfilled that and today the team that you see attending is in active negotiations to make sure that this project is completed successfully.
It's very, very important.
that this project succeed.
It benefits Seattle Public Schools.
Obviously, they will have a much better facility for their athletic events and other events that they want to host at the stadium.
But it also benefits Seattle Center.
And Marshall Foster is here to speak with us.
He made it halfway through his confirmation yesterday when the committee unanimously recommended him to the full council.
But he's been leading on this project and is leading the negotiations with the school district and One Roof Partnership.
So you will hear from these deeply involved people about this project.
And I wanna thank the council for your strong, unanimous support for this project along the way.
And I want to apologize because I need to leave and go over to the 911 communication center and participate in an event there.
But you're in good hands.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
Thank you very much, Deputy Mayor.
Good morning, council members, Council President Juarez.
It's great to be with you.
I'm not going to say a lot, but I do want to just thank the school district for the partnership that Tim described, which has really been the foundation of the ability to move this very important project forward.
And also a key element of why we're here today is we now have what we believe is a viable path with a partner, the One Roof Partnership.
to be able to really deliver on many years of effort to bring this partnership forward and to achieve the goals of the district in terms of how we support students first and foremost.
But also, as Tim alluded to, this is a critical site for Seattle Center, and we're very excited to see it become a more connected, more vital part of what happens on our campus, and ideally opening up new partnerships beyond athletics between the district and the city.
Ways we support students with culture, with art, with performance, as well as what happens with athletics.
Before we go on, I want to introduce Fred Podesta, Assistant Superintendent, to give a few words, as well as Vivian Song-Ritz from our school board.
Thank you, Marshal, and thank you, President Juarez, for including us in this committee meeting and for the Council's support for this project.
I'd also really like to thank Marshal and Deputy Mayor Burgess and the City team in these negotiations.
They've been great partners all along.
This has been, you know, a more intense discussion since 2017 and in the last couple years in particular.
The district and the City of Seattle have been talking about collaborating at the stadium and Seattle Center for for many many years even prior to 2017. We're really supportive of this project.
We think it will really center students and offer some very practical.
A jointly developed facility will have more capacity, will have better accommodations for participants, will better be able to support performing arts events and not be just focused on student athletes which will be the centerpiece.
A different kind of facility will be a community asset because it can do more things.
And then we really want to better honor the memorial wall which the stadium is named for and honors Seattle Public Schools students who lost their lives in World War II.
As we've talked about this project a lot lately I can't count the number of folks who have Have admitted that they haven't really seen the wall because of the way it's situated in the current design.
And as we're working through this.
Perspective design, we think we'll really be able to honor students much better, which was 1 of the purposes of the stadium and then, um.
Not to make everything about money but and we are talking about appropriations here.
This investment will lead to a facility that is financially sustainable which is good certainly good for the district good for students good for the community and good for Seattle Center.
And so we really want to leverage the talent and expertise of Seattle Center and our potential partner that can help us program events help manage the facility in a way that really creates a community asset that will continue to serve the needs of Seattle Public Schools but serve the community in a great facility in a great setting in the heart of our city and we just so much appreciate your support and have supported you know the city and the district have many touch points and many partnerships and this will just make that stronger.
I'd like to introduce Director Song-Moritz who represents District 4 on the Seattle School Board on the district's board of directors.
And I think she has some remarks as well to convey her and her colleagues support.
Hi.
Thank you, Fred, for that introduction.
Thank you, President Jorrez and members of this committee.
I really appreciate this opportunity to participate in today's meeting.
As Fred mentioned, I am a school board director for District 4. And so Seattle Center and Memorial Stadium are located in my district.
And I also serve as the liaison for my colleagues to the city government.
So I'm quite keenly interested in this project.
The stadium was built on land that the city of Seattle provided to Seattle Public Schools more than 70 years ago.
So I think not only is a monument to the fallen students from World War II, but truly a monument to the partnership that exists between the city and the school district.
The resolution that we're considering today is a means to reaffirm that longstanding partnership, and I'd really like to express my support and appreciation.
A jointly redeveloped Memorial Stadium will provide an enhanced venue for students, and by being better integrated with the Seattle Center campus, a better experience for the entire community.
community, region, and I think even the state.
Thank you so much for this opportunity to participate and know that Seattle Public Schools is a ready, willing, and very enthusiastic partner.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Thank you very much, Director Sommaritz.
It's great to have you here with us.
I'm now going to turn it over to the team who's really driving this and making it happen on a day-to-day basis, David Kunzelman.
with Seattle Center, Jackie Kern with Seattle Center, who've been involved for quite some time, who are going to give us an overview of this legislation, what it will provide us in terms of next steps and allow us to continue moving this partnership forward.
So this is where we get the 10 page PowerPoint.
Carefully honed with your guidance.
But you're missing a page number.
Don't worry, they're coming.
We fixed that.
Thank you very much, Marshall.
David and I are going to share this presentation.
Today, we're going to report on the progress toward this new Memorial Stadium at Seattle Center and give you just an overview of the resolution before you.
As Fred alluded to, the Memorial Wall honors the names of some 800 students, former students, who lost their lives in World War II.
And the illustration that you see on the right here is a rendering from the One Roof proposal about the project that they would like to bring to fruition.
And in the center here in the foreground, you'll see the memorial wall, and it is in a place of better prominence, and it will have an enhanced presence on the campus.
Just a little bit of background, as was mentioned earlier, we have been partnering with the Seattle School District for years on this, beginning with the partnership agreement back in 2017, followed by a letter of intent and a memorandum of agreement.
And each of these documents has strengthened and further developed our basis for the partnership and the way forward on this project.
We've also taken some actions in support of the project.
They approved $21 million for an investment, the city's investment in Memorial Stadium.
2023 budgets.
They also adopted a statement of legislative intent that laid out its intention to seek additional funding to ultimately, we hope, reach a total investment of $40 million.
And recently, in May, adopted a resolution in support of the project, Resolution 32092. David?
All right, thank you, Jackie.
With this slide, we wanted to speak to the process that we're involved with to select our prospective partner.
We went through a very robust RFP process that included an advisory committee, a 16-person advisory committee made up of community members and staff.
That all resulted in a consensus recommendation that moved forward in June of this year, again, moving forward with One Roof Partnership.
And with this graphic, what we wanted to show is that the One Roof Partnership is a new entity made up of other entities that I'm sure you've all heard of before.
But by organizing in this way, the One Roof Partnerships come forward in a way that's focused more on community than business and profits.
And so we're very excited to have them at this point.
Jackie.
And here are some of the commitments that One Roof has made, and these have come forward both in the proposal that they originally submitted, as well as the conversations, the negotiations we've been having now as we move closer toward a term sheet.
A couple that I'll highlight, of course, the student commitment that has been noted already.
In addition to focusing on the development of the facility, they are also going to be the operator of the facility, and that's a key issue for us here.
In addition to focusing on athletics for the stadium facility, we have a commitment from all the partners, including One Roof, to create spaces that have multi-use and will be available for students who have other interests, including those involved in arts and culture.
The last bullet I want to highlight is one about sustainability, which can mean a lot of things, both in terms of environmental issues, which we expect that this building will not only meet the city's LEED standards, but go beyond that in terms of being a little more visible and featuring and being instructive of how it meets those goals.
But also in terms of being sustainable in how it is operated and the funding is operated so that we can take care of this building on into the future.
We'll talk about that in a second.
Next.
In terms of the role that One Roof will play here, one very important one is this first bullet.
There will be fundraising involved, and we have a commitment from One Roof to lead that effort.
And so that's important that they step forward not only to participate, but to lead here.
And we'll talk about the total funding package in just a second.
As I mentioned, they will take on the full package in terms of development, design, permit and construction will be their formal responsibility.
In terms of the operate and maintain, again, this was a key issue for all the partners here and Fred alluded to it in his remarks at the beginning.
And this also will help us to maximize the use of the resource.
So as we go through this effort, once we do have this great facility, we'll have the opportunity in the operation to really get the most out of it.
And then the O&M piece that's listed here, as we all know, government entities are not always in the best position to do the best maintenance for facilities in terms of funding.
And so by having one roof in this role, we think that we'll really be able to maximize that and keep this facility in its best operating condition for years to come.
Thank you, Jackie.
This next slide highlights the funding and we did go through those earlier, so I won't walk you through all of them, other than to note the appreciation for the Council's efforts here with the 21 million that's already in the CIP and the slide that Jackie mentioned with the intent to work to identify the additional 19 million.
uh...
and again the uh...
i'm not below that lists uh...
one ruse philanthropic uh...
uh...
effort that they will lead we will determine what that amount is as we work through this uh...
negotiating process we are working on a concept level a proposal for the facility and once we get to the conclusion of that uh...
and costs that then we'll have a uh...
clear vision of what that uh...
fundraising effort uh...
will look like And with that, Jackie, I'll turn it back to you.
Thank you.
Looking ahead, right now, the three entities, Seattle Public Schools, the City of Seattle, and the One Roof Partnership are at the table working out key terms for the implementing agreements.
And we hope to bring those to the city council and the school board early in 2024 for their consideration and action.
We will also be expanding our community engagement effort.
The resolution before you does four things.
It reaffirms the city's support to advance this public-private partnership and the council's intent in the statement of legislative intent.
It requests the mayor's office and Seattle Center to complete these implementing agreements and transmit legislation to the council for action.
And finally, and very importantly, it requests that the three entities, the school district, the city, and the One Roof Partnership, collaborate on an equitable and inclusive community engagement process.
Thank you with that we'd like to invite questions and comments.
Hey, Jackie, 1st, before we move forward anymore, 1st of all, let me share that.
We have Brian.
Good night here.
He's our person from central staff that was assigned and has been working.
Thank you.
Brian.
And has been working on this for quite a while, and thank you for all the information that you've been giving us and we've had what we call ethical wall.
So no elected official on this floor has been involved in this process.
We've handed over to Brian, and he's been great about getting us well, not getting us information, except for where we're on the record.
So, thank you for that.
And I also wanted to.
give a huge thank you and shout out to Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who chaired parks before me, who was working on this with you, Jackie, well before 2017. I had a really wonderful conversation with Councilmember Bagshaw last night and she was just very happy that this is moving forward and I'm hoping she tuned in this morning because I think that people that do the work before us, I think the public should know that there are really good public servants out there that actually follow through and try to make something happen.
Both of you have dedicated at least a decade to trying to get this across the finish line.
So, thank you, Jackie.
So much.
We've had many meetings and breakfasts with the school board elected leaders.
And so the fact that we've gotten to this point is great.
Originally, in the discussions, we were hoping to do Memorial Stadium when we did the climate pledge arena to do the whole campus at once under Robert.
And.
Long story short, Fred, you were in the city then that did not work out, but that's the past and we're moving forward.
So I'm glad we are finally on our way.
David, thank you for giving me a briefing.
All of you yesterday to kind of get me up to speed on the PowerPoint, the numbers, the slide that I had forgotten about where we were going to try to look for additional funds.
what the school district has done in passing the levy to raise that money, and also the protection of Memorial Wall, which a lot of folks, we want to disabuse anyone of the notion that the Memorial Wall was not going to be preserved and saved and honored as it should be.
With that, I'm going to open the floor to my colleagues because I'm guessing Council Member Peterson has his calculator out.
With that, Are there any questions with the PowerPoint?
Oh, there we are.
Councilmember Peterson.
Thank you, Council President.
I really appreciate this ongoing partnership with the school district to try to make the optimal use of this public facility, and it will serve lots of purposes.
I know that we are facing a city budget deficit, at least that's what we're told by city budget officials, but this is a capital budget one-time funding that's spread out in the future and so it's it seems possible to to make that happen in the future and we know that the school district is contributing a large sum of funding approved by taxpayers tax that they've got voters to approve so I know the city looks forward to working and continuing this partnership and hoping that the resources are there when we need them.
Thank you.
That's it?
Okay.
Well, that was great.
I'm glad you put all the funding on page eight.
I think the difference here than it was three or four years ago was having the One Roof partnership as a partner with OVG and One Roof and What's the other group on the other partner group back and back and I mean, that that makes a big difference.
And so I just, I, again, I'm just excited that we get to do this project and some people were concerned and I had explained to people that Memorial Stadium is not a city asset.
We do not own that the Seattle Public School owns it.
So, of course, they are the ones that we have to want to work with to make sure that this happens.
And that the voters passed it, they actually passed a law to tax themselves to build this.
So this is wonderful.
And Vivian, didn't it pass by, like, 60% or something?
I can't remember what the number was, but it was a pretty high number.
Oh, I think it was closer to, like, high 70s percent, the levy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's when you get the public saying, yes, tax us to build this.
That's a good thing.
OK, is there anything else from my colleagues or anything from our guests that want to wrap up any comments before we move to a before I I move it to a vote?
Mr. Foster, just one extra point I thought would be worth adding on the funding.
A lot of people don't know that the Memorial Stadium actually has been a really important asset for Seattle Center as well, thanks to the district.
We've been able to use the underside of the seating and other spaces for our operations of the campus, for things like our warehousing, for our support systems, for all the campus maintenance and grounds.
So this partnership and the funding the city is contributing to the partnership actually helps us to continue that.
So when you think about the city funding going into this, it's not only kind of supporting the overall partnership for the stadium use, but it's providing Seattle Center with that critical operations capacity and high quality spaces to do everything we do for the whole campus.
So I just wanted to call that out, because when we think about the use of our funds, that's a really important consideration that we have in this.
And it frankly supports the larger Seattle Center and the quality of the whole operation as much as it does the stadium as well.
I just wanted to add that in.
No, no, it's important, because I think we're really lucky that Seattle Center and the campus is like a jewel.
Everything's there, with Climate Pledge and the Space Needle.
And memorial is just part of that family, so it only makes sense to to, um, to redevelop it and make it better for the students in the school district and also provide a revenue stream.
I think that was our biggest push is like, providing a revenue stream for the district.
I mean, and also putting the school districts events, obviously.
1st, and foremost, they deserve they deserve a nice place to have sports.
I mean, they just should and aren't you guys going to do soccer there as well?
No, yes, we'll continue soccer as well.
Oh, but the world cup is not going to be there.
I'll be the one of the other places.
Probably aren't going to be time necessarily to support the world cup, but you never know.
We'll do our best.
Hmm.
Jackie, did you want to say something?
You look like you weighed in.
Oh, I was just going to say that we're also increasing our effort to try to expand the use of the stadium for students and the community for arts and culture, as well as athletics.
There's a lot of capacity to be using the stadium much more of the time.
So that's kind of an exciting new dimension.
Sorry about the World Cup coming.
I was getting that confused with a different resolution that we did for when the World Cup comes, so strike that.
All right.
So with that, I'm going to go ahead and I move.
Just hold up, Council Member Peterson.
I move to recommend adoption of Resolution 32110.
Second.
Thank you.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
There's no further discussion.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
Councilmember Peterson?
Yes.
Councilmember Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council President Juarez?
Aye.
Three in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee recommends City Council adopt Resolution 32110 for our next committee meeting, which is the 26th.
So, thank you all for being here.
Thank you.
Marshall.
Good.
Seeing you again.
Vivian.
Always a pleasure to see you.
Jackie.
Hey, Fred.
See you again.
David, thank you all for being here.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, let's move on to item number 5, madam clerk.
Can you please read item number 5 into the record?
Agenda Item 5, Council Bill 120665, an ordinance amending sections 5.24.020 and 5.24.030 of the Seattle Municipal Code to adjust the thresholds upon which the City Council is briefed about settlement and claim matters in Executive Session, and amending SMC 5.24.020 to require twice-annual litigation briefings in Executive Session.
Thank you.
So today we have in front of us a housekeeping matter.
Well, somewhat of a housekeeping, but we have director Esther Handy with us and our legal counsel for the legislative branch, Lauren Henry, and I'm going to they're going to walk us through this bill.
So I will hand the floor to you, Director Handy.
Thank you, Council President Juarez, Esther Handy, director of your council central staff for the record.
Happy to be here this morning.
As the council knows, this spring we hired Lauren Henry as our first in-house legal counsel.
One of the first things that I asked her to do was to look at the executive session program where council receives briefings on pending or potential legal matters in an attorney-client privilege setting.
As part of that review, Lauren partnered with the law department and the Office of City Finance to review the thresholds of what requires an executive session briefing.
and found that they were out of date.
She and I together also reviewed the ways that the council can see the full landscape of litigation that is being advanced with the city and seeing if there are ways that you can better see that full picture and tie it back to your policymaking work.
The result of that work is the bill in front of you today that updates several practices for our executive sessions.
And I'm going to turn it over to Lauren to walk you through the details of the proposal.
Thank you, Esther.
Good morning, Council President and Council members.
Good to be in front of you.
I'm Lauren Henry, your legislative counsel, and I'll walk you through this short but hopefully meaningful bill.
So the bill presents the opportunity to recalibrate your judgment and claims values that require the council to receive an executive session briefing prior to resolution.
The levels, as Esther alluded to, are the joint recommendation of the city's risk management department and the law department, and also have consensus from central staff and myself for what that's worth.
So there's only two sections of the code, SMC 5.24.020 and .030, that concern the payment of judgments and the payment of claims, respectively.
These sections each set a dollar value, so for the payment of judgments, 500,000, and for the payment of claims, 100,000, that prompt a briefing in executive session by the city attorney to the council whenever the anticipated judgment or claim value is going to exceed that dollar value.
Now, this was set back in 2001 by ordinance 120521, and just hasn't been adjusted since.
23 years have now passed and these values begin to capture a larger portion of the total body of work for judgments and claims than they once did.
And so this opportunity really gets at the impact of more frequent briefings on claims settlement.
In particular, when there's a delay in reimbursement for critical restoration work due to a claim that's already been fully adjusted, needing to be delayed in order to have an executive session and speak about it prior to the resolution.
That does represent a level of disruption from day-to-day living routines for those residents that maybe have been displaced by, say, a property damage claim.
As we know, various socioeconomic barriers would come into play in which someone that is disrupted at a higher economic level may be able to weather that more than someone at the lower economic level.
And so this opportunity to adjust the thresholds both for litigation and for claims presents an opportunity to do right by this process that acts as a check and balance in which the council intervenes and learns about certain judgments and claims as part of its role in playing the role of the keeper of the power of the purse and establishing and otherwise monitoring the use of public funds, but not doing so in a way that would create an unreasonable barrier to the litigation and the claims processes.
So that's one component of the bill that's before you.
And secondarily, the amendment offers the opportunity to look at the disconnect between the individualized executive sessions about specific matters and this lack of a sense of a macro impact of litigation on your code or its implementing regulations.
So the second amendment that you'll see before you is to interject this opportunity for twice annual briefing by the city attorney of the city council in executive session for those matters that have significant litigation impact on your code or implementing rules and regulations.
This is, again, the chance to go from an individualized understanding of how specific litigation is informing our code and to go more macro to see how your code is being impacted by litigation and what underlying policies are driving it.
I'm so happy to take any questions on that summary.
So I should, I should share for the public and my colleagues that we have in front of us the, the ordinance, the amendment, the summary and fiscal note that we had some briefings with Lauren and Esther and going back at the code looking at when it was 1st established back in 79 and then updated in 2001. And what the reason was, I don't, I don't like to fix something unless there's actually a problem.
And we, I felt that there was an issue here about looking at the thresholds and when it triggers for us to have executive session.
So, I didn't even know that it went back to 2001. I thought it was actually later than that.
But anyway, I'm going to open the floor to my colleagues to see what questions they have for Esther or Lauren regarding this, this ordinance.
So.
Are there any questions from our colleagues?
and discussion.
I'll open the floor.
Well, I don't see any.
I know I got amended, so we'll get to that in a minute.
But is there anything you guys want to add before I move this forward?
No.
I move to recommend passage of Council Bill 120665. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill and colleagues.
I will now move to amend council bill 120665 as presented on amendment number 1 on the agenda.
Is there a 2nd?
2nd.
It's been moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 120665 as amended, as presented on Amendment A on the agenda.
I'll address the amendment under consideration.
This proposal would add the word materially to Section 1 just before the word impacts.
And you all should have gotten a copy of the amendment or the Amendment A. So again, it puts in the word materially to Section 1, just before the word impacts to clarify which types of impacts are deemed relevant.
This change was suggested by the city attorney's office after council bill 120665 was already introduced.
And so we're considering the amendment one today.
Are there any comments on the amendment before we go to a vote?
Oh, thanks for putting that up.
Great.
Not seeing any.
All right.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the amendment?
Amendment one.
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council President Juarez?
Aye.
Three in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries.
Council Bill 120665 is amended.
Are there any final comments on the bill as amended?
Not seeing any.
Hearing any, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to pass Council Bill 120665 as amended?
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council President Warras?
Aye.
Three in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee's recommendation is that the council bill be passed as amended and sent to approval to the September 26th City Council meeting.
Thank you, Esther and Lauren for all your hard work.
I appreciate it.
Let's see.
This concludes our items of business and this is our last regular meeting of 2023. However, we have one last special meeting to take place on Thursday, December 7th at 9.30 AM.
So with that, colleagues, it is 1028 and we are adjourned.
Thank you.