Transcript of seattle-city-council - Seattle City Council 3/16/2020

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Juarez.

Council Member Lewis.

SPEAKER_12

Present.

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Morales.

SPEAKER_12

Here.

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Sawant.

Here.

Council President Pro Tem Mosqueda.

Here.

SPEAKER_02

Seven present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Today is March 16th, and the meeting of the Seattle City Council meeting has come to order.

It is 2.07 p.m., and thank you, Madam Clerk, for calling the roll.

Colleagues, first today, we'd like to start with the suspension of the rules to allow remote participation and not providing public comment given the crisis that we have.

As folks know, we have a civil emergency proclamation that has been introduced on March 3rd, 2020, and passed.

Since then, the governor and the Seattle King County Public Health Department have issued recommendations on reducing the spread of the virus.

To comply with these recommendations and in the interest of the safety and welfare of the public and our employees, the City of Seattle and the City Council will hold meetings today and anticipates continuing this practice at least through the end of March.

This practice will continue to be evaluated on a weekly basis as the public health issues continue to evolve and recommendations are forthcoming.

Meeting remotely does not provide the public an opportunity for in-person public comment at this time.

The City Council is continuing to evaluate its options for providing public comment.

At this point, we have the option of public comment via email at council at seattle.gov.

We also know that this meeting is being broadcast live on Seattle Channel.

If you can call the Council Chambers listen line at 206-684-7000 8566, you will be able to hear this meeting in real time.

This meeting is also being recorded for the public and it has the website listed on the agenda for participating in this meeting.

Colleagues, there was a request at our last meeting to accommodate a phone option for individuals to try to call in and potentially record public comment.

I understand the clerk is currently working on various options.

Given the evolving public health Given the evolving public health recommendations, we will continue to assess other options for joining, for our public to join and provide public comment electronically and by phone.

At this meeting, though, today, we do not have that option and appreciate the clerk's ongoing vigilance to keep our staff safe and the public safe.

I want to acknowledge Councilmember Juarez has joined us.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Juarez, for being with us as well.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Because the council is participating electronically and public comment is not being provided to this regular city council meeting, the council will need to suspend the rule.

With that, if there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow council members to participate electronically today and to not provide public comment in person, but we are accepting it by phone at today's, I'm sorry, accepting it by phone and by email at today's regular council meeting.

Hearing no objection, the Council rules are suspended.

And the Council will participate electronically, and public comment will not be on today's agenda, though we know that the Council Clerk is sending out public comment that we receive electronically to every single Council member, and that each Council office has been very busy fielding many questions from constituents via phone and via email.

Appreciate your due diligence with that.

Council colleagues, we have a presentation today, and before we get to our presentation, I want to share a few updates that we briefly heard from our partners at Public Health Seattle King County on their response to the evolving COVID issue.

First, as we're well aware, COVID-19 is spreading in King County, and unless we collectively follow social distancing recommendations aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus, we expect that cases will continue to double every five to seven days.

Public Health King County has warned us that anyone who is sick should stay home, and everyone should limit their exposure to others.

As you heard from the governor's press conference with Executive Dow Constantine just moments ago, the recommendation is even for those who are feeling healthy to limit their travel and limit unnecessary interactions with other people.

Anyone who develops symptoms of COVID-19, as well as their close contacts, should follow public health guidance and do what you are asked to do by public health to make sure that you're either confirming or calling in if you suspect that you have COVID-19 or worried about it.

We have websites that we have posted on our social media and we will make sure to continue to send information out about that public health guidance and we understand public health is constantly updating their website.

Social distancing, public health reminds us, is essential to help make sure that we slow the spread of the illness so that our healthcare systems do not exceed its current capacity.

This will ensure that people who need healthcare are able to access it.

People with COVID and those who have been exposed to COVID recently are asked to make sure that they share information with their medical provider about any concerns they have about exposure.

This truly is a collective effort and our shared responsibility.

It's been inspiring to see the ways that our community has stepped up, even at a distance.

We thank public health for all that they're doing and remind the county, individuals who live countywide, that they can call if they have various concerns But really that this call line is ideally being used for those who are on the frontline staff, EMTs, medical providers, and first responders.

If you do have questions, you can call as well at 206-477-3977.

But with the urging of public health, we're encouraging folks to call their primary care provider if they have one and reach out to the community health clinic system if they do not have a primary care provider and need assistance.

The call center continues to field around 1,000 calls, according to Public Health Seattle-King County yesterday, and it is a useful resource for community and providers with questions.

Our region's Public Health Reserve Corps has been deployed to staff this center.

We continue to hear a lot of questions, and we know that there's a lot of frustrations around testing, and Public Health would like to remind us that although the laboratory tests is becoming more broadly available, there are limitations in the healthcare sector's capacity to obtain samples from people as rapidly as we would like.

In addition, people do not always need to be tested for clinical care purposes, specifically if someone has a mild case.

There are currently no restrictions for who can be tested for COVID-19 in Washington State.

However, the Department of Health guidance to healthcare providers directs them to focus testing on people who who show COVID symptoms such as a fever, cough, or shortness of breath.

The guidance provides testing for people at higher risk for COVID-19.

While anyone can ask their provider to be tested for COVID-19, testing is provided at the provider's direction.

Our local health department does not oversee testing.

They are working with key partners to coordinate testing for priority populations like drive-through events that we have seen covered in the news.

But for most in our community, it is up to their healthcare provider if they will be tested.

I understand that this is frustrating to many, and public health wants us to underscore that they understand that frustration as well.

But we must remember that there's no unique treatment for COVID-19.

It is a new virus, and our best response, according to Public Health Seattle King County, to ensuring everyone's health is to implement community and mitigation strategies.

I want to thank Public Health Seattle King County again for their ongoing partnership with the mayor's office, who we have on the line here today, with our friends from King County and at the state level.

We know they're extremely busy.

I did want to share that report with the council today as Public Health Seattle King County is not able to join us, but our esteemed colleagues from the mayor's office, including Deputy Mayor Fong, will begin with the presentations momentarily.

Before we begin with presentations, I want to acknowledge the council has received two emergency orders from the mayor.

The first one was filed on March 11th and relates to COVID-19 small business relief.

And the second one relates to an emergency order filed today and relates to the moratorium on residential evictions.

So I'm sure that our colleagues from the mayor's office will be speaking to those and we will address those in later comments in the agenda.

Colleagues, I'd like to get onto the presentation from Senior Deputy Mayor Mike Fong the City Budget Office, Director Noble, if he's on the line, and the Office of Emergency Management, Acting Director, Laurel Nelson, along with anyone else you may have with you.

Deputy Mayor Fong, thank you for joining us for today's council presentation.

We'll turn it over to you for the next half an hour or so.

SPEAKER_10

Great, thank you, Council Member Muscata, and thank you to the council for your continued leadership as it relates to our community's response to COVID-19.

I will provide a little bit of context today on the latest information we have from Seattle King County Public Health and then go into some of the actions that have been underway.

It's been a busy week and wanted to make sure we updated you on those actions and then also have an opportunity to address some questions that I know you you and others have had as the week has progressed, and then we'll go from there.

So the first bit of information I just want to, for table setting, is that we just received, I think, this afternoon, Laurel, the latest information on cases and deaths for King County.

We now have 488 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 43 deaths, of which 29 are associated with the Life Center facility in Kirkland.

And as Council Member Mosqueda mentioned, with regard to the latest round of orders from the governor and public health orders from Dr. Duchin, we are currently in a state of effectuating temporary closure of bars, dance clubs, fitness and health clubs, movie theaters, nightclubs, and other social and recreational establishments until at least March 31st.

And also restaurants will be allowed to do drive-through, takeout, and delivery services only.

And again, all other retail, including banks, grocery stores, hardware stores, and pharmacies should and may remain open, provided that they observe COVID-19 prevention measures.

Gatherings over 50 people are prohibited, gatherings under 50 people are discouraged, and we are, as these orders have just come out within the last 24 hours, our folks are still reviewing the details and hopefully be able to provide ongoing technical guidance to various stakeholders and community members as we effectuate these new policies.

So, I'll pause there just for a moment if there are any questions related to the public health piece.

And Director Nelson, I don't know if you have anything else to add in terms of situational awareness.

Okay.

With that, before I recap a range of efforts over the past week.

There are a couple of key response actions that are currently in flight that I'd like to share with the Council and the public at this time.

First is, as Council Member Mosqueda mentioned, I want to thank the Council for taking up the Mayor's most recent emergency order related to residential evictions.

In addition, I wanted to mention that the Mayor's legal counsel and team are currently working on an additional emergency order that would focus on the prevention, preventing commercial evictions with particular concern to small businesses and nonprofits.

We're working with the city attorney's office and have been for the last couple of days.

I understand that council may have some interest in this particular direction as well.

Hopefully we can work together and align around this particular action, but we're hoping to make significant progress on this in short order.

Second is this afternoon we will be announcing a new proposed food voucher program where we will also be seeking council appropriation authority for up to $5 million to initially serve up to 6,250 people, families with two installments of $400 vouchers for critical needs for food during this time of COVID-19 response.

The third element is that we have had an unbelievable response to our small business relief fund.

I think initially we've received over 2,000 applications for resources.

And as such, with the help of Dr. Noble, the mayor has identified an additional $1 million in community development and block grant resources that we will be looking to allocate to the Small Business Relief Fund to be able to help more small businesses.

So those three actions are sort of late breaking today that I wanted to make sure I gave the council a heads up on.

And then I wanted to focus my discussion on sort of the way we are structured around four, I guess we'll call them buckets of work, specifically related to our response efforts.

And we have been looking at this structure consistent with our EOC response structure going forward.

And those include a particular emphasis around public safety and health, a team that is focused on community needs, a team that is focused on city operations, and finally, a team that is emphasizing work around human services which is primarily work around vulnerable populations, and of course, homelessness response.

So I wanted to just talk through a couple of things in each of those buckets, and then I can either take questions along the way, or we can do them at the end.

We can go either way on that.

Council Member Muscade, I'll let you facilitate, I guess.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Fong.

Due to the large number of questions that were sent to you in advance, I'm going to ask if your team can go through your presentation in response to those questions.

Council colleagues, I want to thank you all for your questions.

As you heard Deputy Mayor Fong reference those earlier, we have sent around two pages' worth of questions with about a dozen or so different buckets of categories.

So let them walk through the presentations.

Again, I will pause if there's questions, and we'll make sure to get all those questions answered before the presentation is over.

SPEAKER_10

Great.

Thank you, Council Member.

SPEAKER_00

Council President, did you have something?

Go ahead.

I just, if possible, I wanted to add a question.

It is not directly to the mayor's office because it's more a public health question, but I thought it would be helpful to ask it in this, because we're having a public session today.

Thank you.

So the question I had, and as I said, it would be good for some medical professionals in the King County Public Health to answer this, and maybe they already have, but it's not clear to me, and I think it's not clear to a lot of people, which is the question of both social distancing and the testing aspect.

I think there's, I'm not clear and I'm not clear that we're doing the right thing as a collective or not.

And I just wanted to raise that there was a very important article that was published today in the Guardian.

And it's all, the article is entirely in the context of the UK where the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken what medical professionals believe are inadvisable positions on testing.

So I don't know if it directly applies here.

It's not just about Seattle.

It's a general question I have, though, is the medical professionals that are quoted in that article, including a pediatrician who was a former director of the World Health Organization, they are telling us that absolutely social distancing is important.

but that testing the population is incredibly important and that we are, you know, that the UK is lagging behind.

But my sense is, again, not having any expertise, but the US is also severely lagging behind.

And I just wanted to quickly read a quote out of this.

It says, the key principles from the World Health Organization are intensive surveillance.

You test the population like crazy, find out where the cases are, immediately quarantine them, and do contact tracing and get them out of the community.

This deals with family clusters.

That's the key bedrock of getting this under control.

That is how South Korea and other countries have brought their case numbers down.

And then again, the quote continues, you can really take people out of the population and make sure they're quarantined.

That is vital before you get to social distancing.

So I really feel like we need some clarity on how are we doing in terms of testing, because it seems like everybody's being told social distancing, A lot of people are reaching out to us.

I'm sure this is happening to other council offices as well, telling us that they have full insurance, they are exhibiting some symptoms, but they're not being tested.

And so it's understandable that our hospitals and clinics are overburdened because that's the nature of this anarchic for-profit healthcare system.

But on the other hand, what are the needs of actually containing this crisis?

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Appreciate that.

And I know Council Member Peterson, since we are pausing, I do believe that you had a question that you didn't get included as well.

If you'd like to ask anything at this point, and then we'll let Council Member, sorry, then we will let Senior Deputy Mayor Fong continue with the presentation.

We'll just take a moment to see if you have one more question that also didn't get added.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

It was really focused on just the hospital capacity that we have and also our What we're doing with our first responders, especially our firefighters who are there on the front lines dealing with this crisis, but The main question was about hospital capacity and are we going to be overwhelmed.

And what are we doing about that.

SPEAKER_02

Great.

Thank you.

Council colleagues.

I'm going to turn it back over to the mayor's office to feel the number of questions that we asked them in the two that were just asked a moment ago.

SPEAKER_10

Okay, thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

I will do my best.

I do have the questions, and I will, as I work our way through our four areas of focus, we'll try to address as many of these as possible, and some of which we may follow up with additional detail after this discussion, given some of the more granular elements associated with them.

I'll just start within the public safety, public health group of efforts.

We are obviously keenly interested in some of the public health efforts and the ongoing increasing capacity around testing, And obviously, I can't answer the bulk of the questions related to guidance that Council Member Sawant requested, but we can certainly follow up with public health and try to bring more clarity to that discussion.

One element of testing that I do want to mention is that we've recently received authorization from the Department of Health for our first responders to be able to do testing of our own first responder personnel.

That was authorized just a couple of days ago.

This enables our first responders from Seattle Police Department and the Seattle Fire Department to be able to carry out testing directly and then for our tests to be then shipped to, I believe, the University of Washington for results.

So I know this has been a particular concern and interest of the mayor as well as the council to make sure that those on the front lines are able to get tested when they have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 cases that are presented in our community.

So that is underway.

I also know from your line of inquiry, there were several questions related to the criminal justice system and King County Jail and Muni Courts.

I'll just speak to those real briefly from my notes here.

There was questions related to sort of the, in terms of what the courts and jails and detention centers are doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

and we received some responses from King County that they have procedures in place for the King County Jail for when those folks are showing symptoms or are presumed to be potentially contagious, they will isolate those individuals in the infirmary and then carry out the necessary sort of cleaning and other procedures in order to mitigate the spread of the virus within the detention center.

I believe they are doing a few other precautionary measures as it relates to visitation and minimizing the population in the jail itself.

There's some programming reductions and other population reduction measures such as no longer accepting DOC inmates, other strategies that are intended to, again, minimize the number of individuals congregating in the detention center itself.

And then, of course, there's been new information related to the Seattle Municipal Court.

They will be closed for a facility cleaning for the next couple of days.

as they have had COVID-19 case present within the courthouse.

And then, of course, all of these closures of the Muni Court facility, as well as their limited operations that will begin on March 23rd and last until April 12th, these closures will not procedurally They will not toll against the various timelines and statutory requirements as it relates to proceedings and cases that are underway.

So there will be some limited operations set up in order to address some of the caseload and we can come back to you with more detail and specificity around how those will be conducted.

There's been some questions about parking enforcement 72-hour notification.

We are still examining some of the enforcement particulars related to that body of work.

What I can say today at this point is that we are not enforcing the, I believe we refer to it as booting.

That will not be happening right at this time.

And then we will take a closer look at parking enforcement in general over the next couple of days and potentially have new guidance to share with you all in short order.

I know that there's been some questions about coordination with our hospitals.

And this actually touches a little bit on Council Member Peterson's question.

The county is actively engaged with our partnership as well as the states and the Northwest Health Care Network to ensure that contingency plans are in place as it relates to hospital bed capacity.

I think we have seen the reference in the past to region-wide bed count of roughly 4,900.

Is that right, Laurel?

Or 4,000?

Somewhere on that order of magnitude.

The state and the county and the healthcare network are looking at contingency planning to expand that capacity and those can be other medical facilities in the region that can take more patients.

And then beyond that, we then move into what I'll refer to as sort of the mass sheltering strategies.

that start to look at triage operations in order to take more patients if necessary.

And that, of course, extends to efforts around isolation and quarantine as well.

And that coordination is happening at the county level.

And the city efforts are intended to help supplement those to the extent possible.

I think the goal right now and the strategy is to identify and stand up as many backup facilities and options as possible with various purposes for these facilities across the county.

I don't have the list in front of me of those that have been implemented to date, but this is an ongoing body of work that our city operations folks are working with county operations folks as they identify both locations within the city and locations across King County.

So we can come back with more information on that from our human services folks at a later date.

I don't know if there were any other public safety or health related issues.

If there are other questions folks would like to bring up at this point, or I can move on to our next group, which is a recap of some changes to city operations that were instituted last week.

SPEAKER_02

And just a quick question, Senior Deputy Mayor Fong.

Do you have more in your presentation related to services and protocol for the homeless population, or is that already included in what you covered under health and safety?

Sorry for the kiddo in the background.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, I was gonna circle back to homelessness when I got to the human services group of work.

So I'll talk a little bit about hygiene and mobile services, outreach work, navigation team, and sheltering in a few minutes, if that's all right.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you very much.

I think Council Member Herbold has a public health specific question.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, thank you.

This is following up on Council Member Sawant's reference to the Guardian article, and I have seen that there is guidance out of I believe it's World Health Organization that says for when there's an individual in the home who has been tested positive that the other residents in the home should not practice just social distancing but social isolation and should also stay in the home.

And I'm wondering, do we know if public health is considering guidance like that, or do they need to issue guidance?

Can they effectuate that without the issuance of specific guidance?

SPEAKER_10

That's a good question, Council Member Herbold.

I don't know with regard to the general population that context.

I will say that When it comes to our first responders, we have recognized that there are circumstances for which if someone has been exposed to COVID-19, there may be challenges for them to be able to return home and be able to execute an isolation or quarantine strategy.

In which case, we have tried to stand up some alternative options specifically for fire and police personnel under those circumstances so that they can, if they have nowhere to actually isolate from.

As far as the general guidance is concerned, I would have to defer to public health in terms of how and if they would clarify and communicate that more broadly in terms of this guidance that you're talking about.

So I can't speak to that specifically, but I can say that we are trying to accommodate our first responders that find themselves in that situation.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

And Deputy Mayor, we have one more question from Council Members to want specific to public health.

Council Members, you may be on mute.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry, I was on mute.

Thank you.

So, yeah, just related to everything that's being discussed in terms of testing, but if we could also get some sort of report on how the first responders, the emergency technicians, nurses, other allied staff in hospitals, especially those who are serving on COVID-19 shifts, what kind of One, what kind of regimen do we have in place in the hospitals to get them tested on a regular basis?

Because they are the ones most exposed in many ways.

And also, secondly, what kind of protective gear do they have access to and what kind of funds are being made available to make sure that they are wearing what's medically recommended through international standards?

And just very quickly, I heard a report from Somebody I know in Boston who's serving as a registered nurse, and we're seeing this on social media also increasingly, that medical professionals are reporting that they don't have enough protective suits or safety precautions because there's not enough funds for it.

So we just wanted to find out what's happening in King County because we remember initially the situation was very bad and the life care staff weren't even tested for a whole week, which I think is a pretty dangerous situation to be in.

SPEAKER_10

Great, thank you, Council Member Sawant.

The piece of that that I can address is that we certainly are also concerned, and I know the mayor and many others regard the availability and supply of personal protective equipment as it relates to COVID-19 response as a significantly high priority.

I can say that healthcare workers on the front line are regarded as tier one individuals in need of that, uh, those protective, uh, equipment and, um, materials.

So, uh, and those efforts, uh, are pushed up to the highest levels of our government, including the federal administration to make sure that we get the supplies we need for our folks across the region.

So this is a high priority.

The mayor has made it high priority and, uh, it is top of mind.

And I know folks are working hard to make sure that that equipment is distributed as quickly as possible.

SPEAKER_02

Deputy Mayor Fong, just for my colleagues' benefit.

Council colleagues, I want to let you know, I also had a conversation yesterday with Public Health Director Patty Hayes, and I think some of these questions that Deputy Mayor Fong can't answer, we will field on to her.

My suggestion to her yesterday was that we have her come for our regularly scheduled Monday morning briefings, which we're looking to reinstitute by phone next week.

And if possible, have public health come and be at the morning briefing table so that the presentation can take place during that timeframe.

We are working on confirming that and will make sure that we summarize the list of questions that are not answered specific to public health.

And I'm sure there will be many more pending today's announcement at the state level and the national level.

I just want to make sure that you're aware of that, too, that we are asking our friends from public health that they can come for that type of briefing as well.

SPEAKER_10

Great.

Thank you.

So, I'll just really quickly recap city operations, because much of this you've already heard, but as a recap for the public, and then I'll touch on human services and community needs and move the conversation along.

On city operations, just a reminder, we have several closures in effect related to programming at community centers and libraries.

Those closures will be through April 13. We have an across-the-board suspension of permitted events on city grounds and facilities and public right-of-way through also April 13. We have closures of our in-person customer service counters for the time being in effect for the next week while we look and evaluate what of those operations could potentially be reopened on an exception basis while at the same time we are maintaining online and telephone access across the board for much of those customer counter services.

As far as for our personnel right now, our current office buildings, City Hall, Seattle Community Tower remain open.

Although given the closure of most of the in-person customer service facing operations, the mayor is actively considering to the extent for which we need to continue to sort of minimize congregating and the public physically coming into city facilities.

So we'll be looking at those issues more closely as the week unfolds.

And we have been aggressively advancing encouragement around telework and other alternative work arrangements.

And we can, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but we can share some of the details with regard to where we're at with workforce.

strength, if you will, when it comes to both folks that are teleworking and still working on site.

Any questions on city operations?

I'm just going through the list here.

I didn't see anything in particular that I'm missing in the questions that were sent in advance on city operations, but I could have missed something.

Okay, I'll move on to human services and the focus here has been primarily on shelter and homelessness population, but also a fair amount of interesting questions related to food programs and nutrition, et cetera, and hygiene.

I guess I'll start with I have an update from Deputy Mayor Sixkiller and Director Johnson that we are in the process, and I think this question actually kind of came up last week when we talked about hygiene services, but we are in the process of leasing a few hygiene trailers that both include toilets and hand washing and may also offer some showering capability The idea is to deploy these across the city with hygiene trailers potentially staffed by SPU or FAS.

We are still working out some of these details but hoping to make a limited deployment of these start happening perhaps even beginning later this week.

So I will get additional information from Director Johnson to share with you all in writing with regard to the particulars, but my understanding is that work is underway and I know the Council had been eager to see proposals in this space, so we will get that information to you.

Thank you.

Let's see, on the shelter work, We are continuing to coordinate these efforts with King County, but our primary objective at the moment is still focused on taking our existing shelter capacity and essentially de-intensifying the numbers in those shelters in order to be able to minimize congregation and, of course, reducing the number of people in those shelters in general.

So we have, and Laurel help me out here, I believe Exhibition Hall has been opened for that purpose.

And we continue to look at some other alternatives as well.

And at the moment, I know the county announced securing several facilities over the last couple days across the region.

And again, we are looking at this space comprehensively.

in the context of mass sheltering, not just for the homeless population, but also as contingency planning for hospital overcapacity, as well as for individual isolation and quarantine purposes.

So the, and this is a space that now with the president's declaration of emergency allows us to also tap FEMA resources with this regard.

And we're hoping that over the next week or so, we'll have more to say about the approach towards standing up additional capacity, not just for our homeless population, but also for a general population as the needs potentially grow.

So that's the latest on the sort of capacity and shelter piece.

On food, I think there are a couple of-

SPEAKER_02

I just want to pause real quick here and jump in on a question before moving on to food.

I'm concerned about the reports that we're hearing about navigation center staff still moving folks out of existing places that are frankly not in the public right-of-way, individuals who might be in parks and off to the shoulder of right-of-ways and not obstructing pedestrian walkways, et cetera.

I'm especially concerned given that we know that we're at capacity and our current shelters are also, we're trying to disperse the individuals that we have to allow for greater social distancing.

Can you talk about what the actual process is for the navigation team and are people being asked to move as we've seen reported online?

SPEAKER_10

So Council Member, my understanding and I'll just share what I have from the team.

The navigation team is not currently performing any 72-hour encampment cleanups, except where there is a danger to the occupants themselves.

And right now the focus, frankly, by the team is really on outreach and distribution of hygiene supplies and materials.

That is the guidance from the executive and that is our understanding of what the focus of the team is.

We'll be looking at and working with SPU and parks and navigation team itself to look at potential additional trash collection around encampments.

But the current guidance is for the team to focus on outreach and engagement and not execute encampment cleanups.

and removals.

So now we are addressing accessibility issues with regard to pedestrian rights of way when there is an obstruction situation only.

But in general, we are not doing 72-hour cleanups at this time.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you for that.

And if there's concern from the public, do you have a suggestion for where we should direct them if folks are concerned people are being swept or moved without option for shelter?

SPEAKER_10

Well, I would at this point suggest that if we hear of those instances, to have those directed to Director Johnson and we will, and then that is under the oversight of Deputy Mayor Sixkiller.

So if you hear of or see of instances that we need to look into, just let us know.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you very much, Deputy Mayor.

I know you have one more bucket, and Council Member Sawant, did your question get answered, or do you still have a question?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I do have two questions, but they're both related to tiny house villages.

As far as I remember, and correct me if I'm wrong, Deputy Mayor Phuong, you haven't, in your presentation just now, you didn't address anything about new tiny house villages, and so I was curious if there was any thinking about opening up more tiny house villages on an immediate basis?

And also specifically, I know we, in the grassroots, we've been fighting for the Northlake tiny house village to be kept open and to have its permit reestablished beyond March 31st.

I'm not sure what indication you have given.

I know the mayor's office has given some indication to Nicholsville, Northlake, if you could just share that with us.

And also, we had requested a year-long permit, another year-long permit, and I'm not able to understand why this wouldn't be done as a matter of course, given the pandemic we are in.

It seems like the easiest and the least harmful thing to do to relieve anxiety at such a moment, especially for our most vulnerable homeless neighbors who have access to tiny houses right now, to let them know that they are not going to have to move for another year, and that they can have that security.

So I just wanted to make sure you respond to that.

And also, secondly, on your point about sweeps, I think they are happening.

And I will make sure my office sends you links to some social media posts.

I think there are some video recordings of some sweeps that have just happened recently.

and where the property of the homeless individual was damaged, if my memory serves me correctly, but I'll make sure to send that in.

But I feel like you have to pay more attention to that.

SPEAKER_02

Deputy Mayor Fong, before you respond, Council Member Herbold has a question.

Folks, I know that the executive team has to jump off at 3 o'clock, so Council Member Herbold, do you have a quick follow-up, and then he can answer those and get to his last bucket, and then we will let the office go with more information coming.

hopefully for our council briefing next week by follow-up in writing.

Council Member Herbold, did you have a quick follow-up before we turn back?

SPEAKER_06

Yes, thank you.

I just want to provide, first of all, a little bit more granularity about the work that the navigation team is doing, but then also a follow-up question.

So we know that they are out there doing assessments specifically focused on people living unsheltered in encampments.

They're asking residents ranging from how many people are believed to be living in an encampment, the number of structures present, and they're also asking questions to shed light on potential vulnerabilities of people within the encampment.

We know that since the beginning of the outbreak, the navigation team has visited 153 encampments across the city and distributed 430 public health informational flyers and 63 hygiene kits.

And so that sort of assessment work is, I think, really critical in how we want the navigation team to be spending its time is assessing people's needs as well as the needs for physical locations to be cleaned up and helping people to do that cleanup.

My follow-up is when I talked to HSD last week, I was told that there was going to be further discussion about what are non-essential versus essential removals of encampments.

Deputy Mayor Fong, you said there are no 72-hour removals going on, but we know that the vast majority prior to the outbreak of removals were not.

The vast majority were obstruction removals.

And so I'm looking to receive follow-up to the commitment that was made to me last week about further defining those obstruction removals to make sure that we are not removing people and creating greater public health threats in removing non-essential for removal locations and just looking for and understanding from you that that is a conversation that is going and we can expect to hear more from HSD soon.

SPEAKER_10

Yes, Council Member Herbold, thank you for that.

I'm looking at my notes here and I would concur that my understanding is also that they were refining their approach as it relates to limiting obstruction of movement activities that are significantly impair or pose a public health hazard to unsheltered individuals or the general public.

And continued refinement of that, I think, is underway.

When the team has more specifics, I'll make sure they provide that to the council.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Yep.

And then regard to Council Member Sawant's questions, we are looking at all options for expanding capacity for unsheltered individuals And as we've mentioned before, I do think we have a few sites that we're looking specifically at tiny home expansion on.

One, Laurel, what are the two?

One is Cherry Hill, is that right?

And Cherry Hill.

So there are a couple of locations where we are looking at tiny home expansion.

And with regard to North Lake, we have communicated with the residents there that we are looking at an extension given the COVID-19 response and more to come on that.

The last bucket of work that I'll just mention, a few elements related to community needs.

I know we continue to focus on food access and childcare, particularly as it relates to closure of Seattle Public Schools.

I can report that Seattle Public Schools is distributing food to families at 26 of their locations and we can provide more particulars on that if needed.

On child care, we are working on a number of strategies.

First and foremost is we're looking to Seattle Public Schools to provide a plan that would enable the opening in some limited fashion of their existing school footprints to be able to carry out some form of childcare services, obviously with an abundance of caution as it relates to public health guidance associated with the capacity limitations to still practice appropriate social distancing.

At the same time, we've begun working with our hospitals to ensure that we're working with them to identify potential childcare needs for their medical personnel, Specifically, we've been working with Children's Hospital on some strategies that potentially may access some of our facilities staffed by their personnel to provide child care for some of their employees.

We've been working with UW Medicine as it relates to some of their needs, and we're hoping to really create a more centralized system for tracking healthcare medical responders, childcare needs more centrally, and I know that from the county side, they are standing up some operations to also focus specifically on the Northwest Healthcare Network itself so that we are doing this in a more coordinated fashion rather than hospital by hospital.

At the same time, strategically within DEEL and our team, we are beginning to look at potentially strategies that don't necessarily rely upon the 10, 15, 20 children child care center setting classroom type arrangements, but relying perhaps more heavily on family, friend, and neighbor care under the current circumstances and looking at how we can help facilitate a pool of resources of individuals that may be available to provide that kind of service to folks in our communities, including healthcare workers, but also first responders and others that may need childcare.

So this is an active space right now that we're still working on, but we hope to have some more specific strategies this week.

And hopefully I can report on those when we meet again next Monday.

We've already announced a range of efforts around small business and utility relief.

Those efforts are underway.

I mentioned earlier, the additional funding that we've identified for small business relief support.

And of course, we are both hoping for the council's action support of the residential eviction moratorium, but also to work with us on the commercial eviction moratorium that we'd like to get in place as soon as possible.

So finally, we are working with our philanthropic community and coordinating what has been an outpouring of support from the private sector and philanthropy in terms of private donations.

We are looking at working to harness those efforts and bring those into alignment with some of our city efforts already.

We'll have more to say on that as the week unfolds.

And I'll end there.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you very much, Deputy Mayor Fong and to your team.

I just wanted to follow up real quick.

I wasn't sure if I heard an answer about Nicholsville, Northgate.

Did you get a chance to answer that one?

SPEAKER_10

Yes.

I mean, we will be expanding the time at which we will allow that Nicholsville to stay at Northlake.

We're working through some details.

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

So an anticipated lease extension is in the works already.

SPEAKER_10

Yes.

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

All right.

Well, thank you.

I know we got a lot of emails about that as well, so very interested in continuing to support your efforts, especially for our most vulnerable, including those who are unsheltered.

And COMP colleagues, I'm sure that there are many questions that perhaps you want follow-up answers to.

We know that the executive team and the folks at the emergency center are working as hard as they can, and also in this important oversight role that we are playing in this emergency needs to continue.

So we appreciate their time.

And we will also follow up with you to see if there's any additional questions that didn't get answered.

And specifically for public health as well, in terms of our desire to have them at a briefing table at council briefing next Monday morning.

Council colleagues, thank you for allowing time during our normal full council agenda to hear from the mayor's office.

And if you have not already signed off.

Deputy Mayor Fong and to the entire team in the executive office.

We may hear them log off, but we wanted to extend our appreciation for their work and the county and the state as well.

Council Colleagues, moving on to approval of the minutes.

Oh, thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you for being there.

Moving ahead.

The minutes for the February 18th and 24th and March 2nd 2020 City Council meetings have been reviewed.

If there's no objections, the meetings will be signed.

Hearing no objections, the meeting minutes are signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

Moving on to adoption of the referral calendar, I move to adopt the proposed introduction and referral calendar.

Second.

Second?

Excellent.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Council members, I have a proposed resolution relating to modifying the mayor's emergency order on residential evictions for introduction and adoption.

Before I move to amend the introduction and referral calendar, the council rules will need to be suspended because of the proposed resolution was not distributed by Friday at 5 p.m.

I know folks are working as fast as they could to respond to the executive order which came in on, I believe, Friday and we worked on it over the weekend.

If there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow for consideration of a resolution for introduction and adoption at the same time, given that it was not introduced by 5 p.m.

on Friday.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended, and I will proceed with proposing an amendment to the introduction and referral calendar.

I'd like to move to amend the proposed introduction and referral calendar by introducing Resolution 31938, entitled, A Resolution Modifying the March 14, 2020 Emergency Order Relating to Residential Addictions, by referring it to today's council meeting for adoption, and then there will be discussion.

Is there a second?

SPEAKER_11

Second.

SPEAKER_02

It's been moved and seconded.

I'd like to provide some comments for the record and also encourage our council colleagues who've been working on this executive order to chime in.

First, I want to say thank you to our entire council for your steady work in this emergency period.

We are working as fast as we can to both address the questions that come in from constituents, and as you heard just a moment ago, make sure that we're having a chance to check in with the executive from Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkin, and also from King County through Dow Constancy's office and their county council as well.

I know that the number of emails and calls that we have received related to a desire to make sure that evictions were not continuing in this moment of crisis has been tremendous.

And those have also been from business members and people who are concerned about the length of time that the potential crisis could present itself.

And given the number of layoffs that we have already heard about over the weekend and will continue to hear about given the directive that was issued this morning and late last night from the executive and Governor Inslee, we know that there's going to be financial hardships for both residents and for businesses.

So there's a series of amendments that we would like to have a chance to walk through and I would love to see if we could have our council colleagues who are suggesting various amendments To chime in, I also know that we have central staff included on the call, that they are also prepared to walk us through various amendments.

Want to have a chance to make sure that we get those, any questions answered and perhaps with your consideration colleagues, I know it's a little awkward since we're all on the phone, given that we have Allie Panucci on the line with us, I might suggest, Allie, if it's OK with you, If we turn it over to you to walk us through the various amendments, and then I will turn to the council members who have suggested amendments along with me.

That includes Council Member Herbold and Council Member Morales.

Council Member Ali Panucci, if you're on the line and you're able to chime in, are you off mute?

SPEAKER_13

I am off mute now.

SPEAKER_02

Excellent, thank you.

SPEAKER_13

And I'm happy to walk you through.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, excellent.

Are there any objections from my council colleagues with having central staff walk us through?

Okay, hearing no objection.

Ali Hanouchi from central staff, thank you so much for being with us to walk us through the proposed amendments to resolution 31938.

SPEAKER_13

Thank you, council members.

Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_02

I'm so sorry, Ali.

Yes.

Ali, I'm so sorry to interrupt you.

No problem.

I'd like to just double check with the clerk's office here.

Madam Clerk, it looks to me like you had this on for agenda item number three, given that we have made this amendment to the agenda.

Do you want me, Council Clerk's Office, to keep this item as item number three for the purpose of following along for folks who are watching us electronically?

SPEAKER_14

Council Member Mosqueda, this is Emilia Sanchez.

That is up to the council as to where they want to consider this resolution.

It can be added as the first item on the agenda or it can be as the last item on the agenda before we move into the executive order, which would be item number three.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

Council Colleagues, simply just because we have added this item to the agenda for today, I would like with your consideration to instead just make the motion right now to amend the agenda to include this as item number three, and then we will get to Ali in terms of a presentation so we can have a more robust discussion after we consider items one and two, which have already been published.

Council colleagues, are there any objections to including resolution 31938 at a later point?

I'm going to call for a roll call in just a second.

I just want to make sure process-wise folks are comfortable with me suggesting that.

Hearing no objection, Um, we are now going to amend the agenda to include resolution three one nine three eight as item number three on today's full council agenda.

And then we will get to the presentation from Allie under that time.

Will the clerk please call the roll on amending the introduction and referral calendar.

SPEAKER_05

Council member Strauss.

Council member Herbold.

Aye.

Council Member Juarez.

Aye.

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

Council Colleagues, sorry about the confusion on that as we try to amend in real time on teleconference, I appreciate it.

Are there any further comments on the introduction and referral calendar as amended?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll on adoption of the introduction and referral calendar as amended.

Council Member Strauss.

SPEAKER_07

Aye.

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Herbold.

Aye.

Council Member Juarez.

Aye.

Council Member Lewis.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Aye.

The introduction and referral calendar is adopted as amended.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Moving on to payment of the bills.

Payment of the bills, please read the title, Madam Clerk.

SPEAKER_14

Council Bill 119755, appropriating money to base our claims for the week of March 2nd, 2020 through March 6th, 2020, and ordering the payment thorough.

SPEAKER_02

I move to pass Council Bill 119755. Second.

Seconded.

Are there any additional comments?

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and it will be signed by the chair.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Moving on to committee reports.

Agenda Item Number 1. Madam Clerk, please read this item into the record.

SPEAKER_14

I report to the City Council, Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 119754, relating to employment in Seattle, amending sections 14.16.010 and .030 of Skidom's Code to strengthen and clarify labor standards requirements for paid sick and paid safe time for employees working in Seattle, declaring an emergency, establishing an immediate effective date, all by three-fourths vote of the City Council.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I move to pass Council Bill 11975. If there's a second, then we can have discussion.

SPEAKER_07

Second.

SPEAKER_02

It's been moved and seconded to pass Council Bill 119754. Council colleagues, this is a bill that I've had the chance to work on with members of the community and Sejal Parikh in my office, who leads us on labor for actually a number of months prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

I want to note that Karina Bull is on the call with us from central staff.

We appreciate her being here with us as lead on labor issues.

Should you have any questions, we're happy to have Karina weigh in as well, and I'm happy to provide some context about this bill in addition to the information I shared with you last week.

We had engaged in conversations for a number of months with labor organizations and community groups and child care advocates, folks like Rachel Adler, who you may remember from these law, folks at Protech 17, our city union folks, Moms Rising, Martin Luther King County Labor Council, and Civic Ventures.

The conversation around coronavirus actually meant that we needed to expedite the passage and consideration of the legislation in front of you.

What we heard from our conversations with these stakeholders this year and early last year was that their stories repeatedly of parents and caregivers who are worried about being able to take time off if their family member's childcare is closed.

This is very urgent and it remains urgent even with the executive order issued by Governor Inslee and the school board over the last few days.

The conversations revolve around the fact that there are schools and early learning facilities, childcare centers, daycare centers that sometimes end up closing due to public safety or public health concerns.

And those closures are not mandated by a public official.

As you see in the legislation in front of you, our attempt here is to try to address that concern by removing the language requiring a closure of a school or an early learning facility, daycare center, to be closed at the mandate of a public official.

If a child care facility or a place where a dependent goes is closed, we thought that it was really imperative that the workers who have their kiddos there are also able to access their paid and sick days.

This conversation is critical now with the closures of many schools and childcare facilities who are closing out of an abundance of caution.

And even when asked at the federal level, President Trump was asked to address whether or not this means that daycares are supposed to close and they had no good answer.

Basically they said, we'll need to get back to you.

So in the meantime, Many of our excellent childcare providers, early learning centers, small schools are closing out of an abundance of caution without a public official mandating it.

We want to make sure that those parents can access their paid sick and safe leave.

It also is really important for us to think about how this could be considered in the context of closures for deep cleaning, teacher in-services, snow closures, issues that are broader than coronavirus.

This will allow those parents to access their paid sick and safe days when the school is closing out of those safety issues as well.

This allows for the parents to be able to put food on the table and not worry about losing a day's wage when their dependent's place of care is closing.

So I understand that we are doing as much as we can to really help with small businesses, make sure that there's wages for individuals losing their jobs, make sure that there's healthcare and access to information.

The policy in front of us today I think is complementary to that effort to make sure that there's peace of mind for parents This is one small piece of the puzzle to make sure that workers can access their paid sick and safe leave if a school closure, a child care, early learning place of care, if the entity is closing without a public official's directive, then there's no question the parents can access that care.

Karina Bull is with us from central staff, and I believe that there's also some potential amendments to come to this bill.

So before we get into potential amendments, I want to see if there's any questions from our colleagues about the legislation, the underlying legislation in front of you.

Okay.

Hearing none, thank you, Karina, for being on the line with us.

If you could stay on the line just in case there's additional questions about the amendments, that would be very helpful.

Council colleagues, If there is a, sorry, Council Colleagues, Council Member Herbold has an amendment that I would love for her to address.

Council Member Herbold, would you like to address your amendment?

SPEAKER_06

Sorry, I was still on mute.

I move to amend Council Bill 119754 as presented on Amendment 2. And if I can have a second, I can describe it.

Second.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you.

Please go ahead.

Thank you.

And so what this amendment would do is it would fill some gaps that exist, similarly to the description from Council President Pro Tem Mosqueda about situations where workers can access their paid sick and safe time when a public official has closed a business, this also would fill a gap in those instances when a business has closed for health or safety-related reasons, but that closure has not occurred at the behest of a public official.

And so whereas Governor Inslee's order from today will cover employees of restaurants, bars, entertainment, recreational facilities, and retail outlets with reduced occupancy and gathering of 50 or more people.

And those individuals who work at those establishments under this order and under, excuse me, existing paid sick and safely laws will be able to access their paid sick and safely.

But our existing paid sick and safely does not cover discretionary closures that businesses may decide independently of an order to close and may potentially not cover situations where there are reduced operations but not full business closures.

And so this amendment is an attempt to fill that gap, but also recognizing the impacts to medium and small businesses for potentially having to pay 100% of their sick and safe leave time if they do see a need themselves for closure.

So I'm trying to balance what I think is a fair approach to allow workers to access a bank that they already have, but also recognizing that there are impacts to small and moderate businesses.

Another gap that this amendment would fill is that under current employment security department rules, employees must wait for one week before receiving unemployment benefits for a standby claim.

And so employees under this amendment could use paid safe time while waiting for unemployment insurance benefits for a temporary layoff.

And then finally, there is the federal legislation that identifies qualifying needs.

This amendment would allow employees to use paid save time for qualifying needs that are not currently covered under the proposed federal bill HR 6201.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Are there questions about Council Member Herbold's amendment, amendment number two?

SPEAKER_08

This is Council Member Peterson.

I've got a question.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Please go ahead and for the Council's reference, we have amendment number one that Council Member Peterson and I are working on as well that we will go back to.

I really appreciate you reaching out to the executive department that would be overseeing it as well as you're saying the business liaison as well?

SPEAKER_06

That is correct.

SPEAKER_08

Okay.

Thank you for doing that outreach because I know things are moving really fast around here.

So I just want to flag my concern for, you know, I am very open to looking at these policy changes that would be made permanent in the future.

I just, I'm a little concerned about doing it so quickly here.

Not this.

It's not necessarily not a good idea.

It's just that it's happening fast and I don't.

And I'm glad to hear that that outreach was done.

That makes me feel a lot more comfortable.

So thanks for answering my questions.

SPEAKER_06

The amendment is adopted and the Council Bill is amended.

We have one more amendment for consideration before final passage.

This is amendment number one, which I am supporting along with Council Member Peterson.

Council Member Peterson is the prime sponsor of this amendment.

Would you like to speak to it?

SPEAKER_08

Yes, thank you, Council Member.

This amendment is adding a finding to the Council Bill to basically add clarity that this change regarding schools and places of care will go on in the future, that it's not just during this crisis.

And just felt it was important to signal to the general public that this is not just about the pandemic, but it would go beyond that.

Really appreciate Council Member Mosqueda's leadership on this and also being very open to my questions during the process.

I know there's been a lot of common ground and unity during this crisis by this council and I really appreciate that continuing here.

Thank you, Council Colleagues.

Amendment number one and amendment number two have been included as, excuse me, let me just say that again.

The motion carries and the amendment is adopted.

Council colleagues, amendment number one and number two have been adopted into the bill.

Are there any further comments on the bill as amended?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the final passage of the bill as amended?

SPEAKER_00

Sorry, Council President Mosqueda, I did have a comment.

SPEAKER_02

So sorry, I was too quick.

I know folks have to get off on mute.

Council Member Kwan, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much, Council President Jordan Mosqueda.

I wanted to make some remarks in the interest of public input.

I will be supporting this ordinance, of course, to clarify that Seattle's paid sick and safe time is available to workers who need to take time off to care for a family member if their school or other place of care is shut down.

And I appreciate Council President Rotem Mosqueda and other council members on this effort.

The qualifier that is going to be removed from the underlying ordinance is important.

And of course, I would hope that even with the original language, the law would be applied in the cases we hope it will be applied to.

But it's good to make it clear that it does, and I will be supporting that.

I do wanted to note that, as we know, the vote today that we will be taking today and the underlying ordinance, unfortunately, still do not address the most pressing limitation that workers face, which is the lack of guaranteed paid leave, whether it's here or nationally, and that workers only have access to at most a few paid safe and sick days per year, which we know is not nearly enough time in normal circumstances and certainly not sufficient to cover the time people might end up having to spend in quarantine in the context of a pandemic or the months the schools might be shut down.

We know workers accrue one hour of paid safe and sick time every 30 or 40 hours work, depending on the size of the business.

That means a worker who has been in a job for six months will only have three or four paid safe and sick days available.

And because the hours that can roll over from year to year is limited, workers will have to max out with about two weeks paid leave.

Those days are essential in the normal circumstances, but I don't believe they're sufficient under the coronavirus crisis.

And I think that this should be used as an opportunity also to highlight the need for working people to fight for guaranteed paid leave both locally and nationally, and also the fact that, you know, businesses should be urged right now, the businesses that do remain open within the state's mandated requirements, that they should be urged to guarantee workers all the paid time of their need because we know that the alternative is workers returning to work sick and infectious.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

I also want to take a few moments to thank MomsRising, Protech17, and Civic Ventures.

Council Colleagues, you should have letters in your inbox from them, who wrote in letters of support.

And thanks to Sejal Parikh.

I know there's a lot more that much of the staff was working on to try to address in light of the desire to make some amendments to the paid sick and safe leave legislation.

For a long time, this is the tip of the iceberg, and we'll continue those efforts.

Hearing no additional comments, Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill as amended?

SPEAKER_05

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Herbold?

Aye.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Moving on to item number two, transportation and utilities.

Please read the report.

SPEAKER_14

The report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee agenda item number two, resolution 31932. relating to the City Light Department acknowledging and approving City Light's adoption of a biannual energy conservation target for 2020 through 2021 and 10-year conservation potential.

The committee represents that the resolution be adopted as amended.

SPEAKER_02

Council Member Peterson, would you like to speak to this bill?

SPEAKER_08

Yes, thank you very much.

This resolution 31932 acknowledges and concurs with Seattle City Light's adoption of its biannual energy conservation targets.

The update is required by state law and reflects the positive impact of stronger energy conservation building codes and the implementation of recent conservation measures, such as the installation of energy efficient LED lighting.

The committee asked that it move forward, and I recommend we move to adopt this resolution 31932.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any other comments, Council Colleagues?

hearing none will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution.

Councilmember Sawant?

Aye.

Council President Mosqueda.

Aye.

A-10 favor, none opposed.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

All right, moving on to the newly added item number three, adoption of other resolutions.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item number three into the record?

SPEAKER_14

Adoption of other resolutions, resolution 31938. the resolution modifying the March 14th, 2020 emergency order relating to residential eviction.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Colleagues, so sorry about the confusion earlier.

We still have Ali Panucci on the line.

I'm going to move to adopt the resolution.

If there's a second, then we can have a discussion as we almost began to do before.

I'd like to move to adopt resolution 31938. Second.

It's been seconded.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Ali, thank you for hanging on the line with us and council colleagues for your flexibility in considering the amendments in front of us.

We do have the executive order as originally submitted to council from the mayor's office and with Ali's walkthrough, I hope she will get a better sense of some of the minor changes and some changes that have been proposed by your council colleagues.

I'll also encourage Council Member Morales and Herbold to chime in after Allie makes her comment.

Allie, thank you for being on the line with us from central staff.

Please go ahead.

SPEAKER_13

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council Members.

Resolution 31938 would modify the Mayor's emergency orders issued on March 14th related to residential evictions.

The proposed modifications are shown in Exhibit B to the resolution.

These modifications include expanding the moratorium on evictions to include commercial tenancies, not just residential tenancies, expanding the moratorium from 30 days to 60 days, or if the civil emergency is terminated prior to that, it would end when the civil emergency is terminated.

It would expand the moratorium to cover all types of evictions, not just non-payment of rent, including when a lease is terminated, except that if the eviction is due to an issue with the tenant's behavior that presents a risk to others' safety, the eviction could proceed.

This expansion addresses both the economic impacts people are facing due to COVID-19 that may make it difficult to pay rent and the potential impacts of being evicted for other reasons that could increase the likelihood of exposure, spread, and contraction of the virus.

In addition, the modifications would add in language requesting that the King County Sheriff not enforce any evictions during the moratorium.

So in addition to the modification shown in Exhibit B to the resolution, the resolution also requests that the mayor consider issuing additional emergency orders or making expenditures, such as increasing funding for programs that provide emergency rental assistance and other financial support to households unable to pay rent, due to economic disruptions caused by COVID-19, and issuing orders or taking other actions to provide rent relief, including deferred payment of rent, requiring payment plans, and other strategies to assist businesses who are struggling due to the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19.

I will also note that I, during this meeting, distributed an amendment sponsored by Council Member Herbold that really is a technical or clarifying change.

It adds back in language related to prohibiting issuing a notice to terminate that was unintentionally removed when we were modifying the emergency order.

This really addresses an issue where if a landlord isn't prohibited from issuing a notice, once they issue the notice, they might be less willing to enter into payment plans or collect or accept partial payment of rent because once they issue the notice, if they accept payment, they may be concerned that it would invalidate the notice.

So this just adds that back in.

And I will stop there for questions.

Any questions from colleagues?

SPEAKER_06

Council President Potem, might this be a good time to ask for the rules to be waived so we can consider this amendment as described by Ali?

SPEAKER_02

That sounds like a good idea.

Council Member Herbold, would you like to make that motion?

SPEAKER_06

Yes, thank you.

I have a proposed amendment to this resolution that was not circulated two hours before the meeting.

I'd like to request that the council rules be suspended to continue, consider an amendment to Exhibit B, the modified order.

SPEAKER_02

It's been moved.

I will second it.

Are there any other comments?

Hearing none.

Madam Chair, I'm hearing no objection.

Go ahead, Council Member Herbold.

SPEAKER_06

So then, now that we've allowed for me to move the amendment, may I also move the amendment?

SPEAKER_02

Council Member Herbold, yes, that would be appreciated.

But let me just double check real quick with Allie Panucci and central staff.

The amendment that Councilmember Herbold is speaking to, is this the rolled up amendment Exhibit B that has been circulated, or is this in addition to that?

SPEAKER_13

No, it is rolled up Exhibit B that I sent via email to all Councilmembers.

It is Version 2 of Exhibit B, and it shows changes highlighted in yellow.

Those were the changes that were distributed earlier today.

and then one change highlighted in blue.

This is on page three in section 1B of Exhibit B. And I can read it if you like.

SPEAKER_02

That's okay.

I think everybody has this amendment.

It's been circulated and Council Member Hurvold, we'll turn it over to you to walk us through the amendment just so that the Council colleagues know and the viewing public knows.

This is Exhibit B, version two that we are considering.

an amendment that rolls into one amendment, amendments that have been suggested by Council Member Herbold, Council Member Morales, and myself.

Council Member Herbold, I'll turn it over to you to walk us through your various components of the amendment.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06

So I move to amend Resolution 31938, Exhibit B, Section 1B, first sentence, by adding the language, issue a notice of termination.

SPEAKER_05

before the word.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

I appreciate you walking us through this.

I just want to clarify.

Sorry again Council Colleagues.

I don't think we have to go through each amendment if that's correct.

I think we're going to hear all of the amendments together and then we will vote as one body on the substitute language that you see in version two.

SPEAKER_06

I'm reading the script provided by the clerk.

SPEAKER_02

Perfect.

Okay then.

We are doing this on the fly, colleagues.

Sorry about that.

Council Member Herbold, if you would like to continue, please do.

SPEAKER_06

Absolutely, thank you.

So this sentence would read, residential or commercial landlords shall not initiate an unlawful detainer action, issue a notice of termination, or otherwise act on any termination notice including any action or notice related to a rental agreement that has expired or will expire during the effective date of this emergency order unless the unlawful retainer action or actions on a termination notice is due to actions by the tenant constituting an imminent threat to the safety or health of neighbors, the landlord, or the tenant, or landlord's household members.

So the only new words that I'm moving with this amendment are the words issue a notice of termination.

And if I could have a second, I'll just reiterate some of what Allie Panucci identified as why this is so important.

Please go ahead.

Did I get a second?

SPEAKER_02

Second.

Please go ahead.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you.

And so we heard from the mayor's office that In providing this language, we inadvertently modified the order in such a way that would disincentivize landlords from accepting payment plans because we removed language that prohibited issuance of a notice of termination.

And we really want to make sure that we allow tenants and landlords to work out payment plans, including partial payments and do not want to create a disincentive in this emergency order to do so.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Hubel.

Appreciate you walking us through that amendment and for including it in the script, thank you.

Ali, I think I'm gonna turn it back over to you to keep walking us through.

And then again, Council Colleagues, the hope is that as we walk through the various amendments at the end, if there's any questions in between, please go ahead and ask those.

But at the end of the walkthrough of the amendments, we'll entertain additional questions and then a potential vote on all of the amendments rolled into one.

SPEAKER_12

Great.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_12

Ms. Deborah Warren, can I ask a technical question?

Thank you.

I don't have a script, so I am too doing this on the fly.

Are we going to go into executive order on any of these amendments?

SPEAKER_02

There is not an executive session plan for this executive order amendment.

We can try to do an executive session if folks are not feeling like they have the legal questions answered.

But my understanding is that there's some policy questions that I would love to get answers to as we get into the details.

SPEAKER_12

Okay, let me clarify, I apologize.

You're right, I meant to say executive session in light of the attorney client memo that was sent to us.

Those were some legal questions in there.

So just so I understand, I'm not questioning it, I just want to understand the process.

If we vote yes to all four amendments, the commercial 30 to 60 days, all evictions, and asking the King County Sheriff not to enforce the law, are requesting.

So if we voted yes to all of that, then we are not going to go into executive session about what the legal ramifications of that are, or are we just not going to do that?

SPEAKER_02

That is a good question.

I think that we had a policy answer.

I know that there's another entity that has done a similar effort to instruct their Sheriff's Office in a similar manner.

If there is a legal question, let me double back and take a look at that question.

But I think policy-wise, Allie, do you have some examples of where we have seen that?

Just as I do some quick research, Councilmember Juarez, just one second.

Allie can answer that from a policy perspective.

But we also have the alternative of taking each amendment that has been suggested.

I thought this would be a cleaner way to do it, though.

SPEAKER_12

Allie, will you correct me if I'm wrong?

Did, in one of the issues regarding the King County Sheriff, wasn't the language request, request the King County Sheriff not to enforce?

Is that the verb that was used?

SPEAKER_13

Yes, so the language related to the Sheriff is in section 1D of exhibit B on page 3, and it reads, effective immediately, the Sheriff of King County is requested to cease execution of eviction orders during the moratorium.

Thank you.

So if I could just as a point of clarification, what was distributed earlier today was a modified version of the executive order shown in Exhibit B. Council Member Herbold's amendment would add that statement, issue a notice of termination to that modified order.

So it is one action you would be taking to first you would act on Council Member Herbold's amendment to decide if you want to add that language in addition to the other modifications that were already shown in Exhibit B. And then you would be taking action on the resolution that modifies the executive order with the combination of all of the changes I described previously.

So that includes expanding it to include commercial tenancies, extending it to a 60-day moratorium rather than 30 days, applying it to most eviction situations other than those that result when the tenant is posing a health or safety risk and would make it clear that it's a defense in an eviction action if the eviction would occur during the moratorium even if the tenant has not appeared in court.

So it is It is one action.

They could be, I think, taken up separately, but I'd need some advice from the clerks on how to manage that.

SPEAKER_14

This is Amelia.

Hi.

Yes, you are on the right track, Ali.

So the proposed amendment before us is an amendment that Council Member Herbold just proposed, and that is to incorporate that language into the current Exhibit B, which is incorporated into the proposed resolution.

So what would need to happen is that because that amendment was moved and seconded, we would need to first complete through that actual motion and the next step would be to vote on that proposed amendment.

SPEAKER_02

Council Member Herbold, could you please repeat what your amendment does to the underlying version two in front of us?

SPEAKER_06

Sure.

I move to amend Resolution 31938, Exhibit B, Section 1B, first sentence, by adding the words issue a notice of termination before the words, initiate an unlawful detainer action.

SPEAKER_02

And we have moved and seconded.

That's right.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any additional questions on that specific language that's being added to section one sub B as proposed by Council Member Herbold?

And then we will take up the other policy questions that Ali has spoken about in just a moment.

That way we can have all of the amendments in one document.

Any other questions?

Hearing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the amendment as outlined by Council Member Herbold to Section 1, Sub D. Council Member Strauss?

SPEAKER_07

Aye.

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Herbold?

Aye.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

I have not identified other cities that have had this specific piece in their moratorium, but I also have not researched that question in detail specifically.

What I can say is when I was working with the council on the bill that introduced a defense to evictions during winter months, I found several examples of sheriff's office that either as a business practice or as at the direction of the county or the courts that cease operation of enforcing eviction orders during certain weather conditions and that sort of thing.

So this is along those lines, which would be just if there are sort of evictions in process now that they not enforce during this moratorium.

But as Council Member Juarez noted, it is the language is requested.

In general, the changes, both what was in the original order issued by the mayor and what is in the proposed modifications to that order would provide a lot of relief because it would prohibit most evictions from occurring during this moratorium.

And as I noted, the resolution also asks for future actions to increase rental assistance funds and that sort of thing so that the intent here is that tenants continue to pay their rent And if they're unable to, that the city, the county, the state, and the federal government find resources to help assist them in making those payments.

So, it's not a, the idea here is not to just have people not pay rent, but just to keep them housed and minimize the risk of exposure of the virus.

The other changes I've walked through at a high level, as I mentioned, This would also include commercial evictions, so those would not be able to move forward under this moratorium, as well as all types of eviction.

So the mayor's order was specific for evictions due to nonpayment of rent.

This would expand it to other causes of an eviction to ensure that people remained stably housed during this crisis.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Ali.

Couple colleagues, I know that this is a really welcomed ordinance from the mayor's office.

And first, I want to thank the mayor for bringing forward this executive order.

We know that it responds to what we're hearing from residential constituents across the city who are concerned about potentially being evicted and tenants rights in this period.

I think the concept that I was aiming for in the amendments that I'm supporting in the underlying substitute in front of you is to also make sure that this level of relief is offered to commercial tenants across the city.

In just the last few hours, I've received a number of calls and questions from small business owners about how the new directive at the state level is going to affect the smallest businesses that we have who are very concerned about paying rent I think that we're looking for all options given coronavirus is going to mean a loss of income, not just for workers, but also for small businesses.

Expensive retail market and our unaffordable housing market means that a lot of people are looking for some answers.

I also appreciate Ali's clarification that this helps to make sure that this is not directing an entity that we don't have direction over, but instead recommending or encouraging with the language that we've used.

I think the stabilization strategy that we're talking about here helps to make sure that we can get through this crisis and that public health remains the item that is at the forefront of folks' mind, not how they're going to keep their business open or in lieu of not having money to pay rent or to keep a roof over their head as residents.

So I am supportive of the amendments that have been included in the underlying substitute in front of us.

And also recognize that at the end of this moratorium period, we may be in a period of crisis and we may have to consider additional strategies.

If there is a public health breakthrough and it comes before the end of this moratorium, I know we'll all be back to the table to address cleaning up this legislation.

So I appreciate the work that's been done on the amendment in front of us to make sure that we are looking at public health and safety issues also and making sure that We're exempting evictions initiated due to the activity that puts the health and safety of other tenants at risk.

And that I think we've scoped this so that we're ensuring that we're staying in compliance with federal section eight requirements, which require landlords to accept housing choice vouchers and to take action to protect the health and safety of others in the tenant building.

And I know that there's broad support more generally for housing stabilization efforts in the midst of this crisis and for the small business support that we've already seen the mayor send down.

appreciate all those components.

Again, I think this is one additional piece to the puzzle and a good example of the community coming together to minimize the impact and protect each other during this unprecedented time.

Before we open it up to additional questions, Council Member Morales, you haven't had a chance to speak to this.

If you have any other comments and you'd like to share, please do.

And then we want to open it up.

SPEAKER_11

Well, I don't have anything to add to Ali's description, the amendment that we proposed was to make sure that we are protecting folks against the economic impact and the exposure, risk exposure, if they were to be evicted because of a noise ordinance or having their stroller in the lobby, for example.

So we want to make sure that this extends protection to folks regardless of the situation.

But the other point that I wanted to make, particularly as it relates to protecting small businesses as well, is that we know that small businesses are sort of the lifeblood of our neighborhood commercial districts.

They employ many people.

They provide support for families.

And so I think moving, as we move forward through this crisis, anything that we are considering doing to protect tenants, we need to also be incorporating protection for our small businesses, particularly our mom-and-pop shops as we're thinking about any sort of assistance, rental protection, worker protections, make sure that we're considering them as well.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold?

SPEAKER_06

Thank you.

I also want to express my appreciation working with you, Council Member Morales, and you, Council President Pro Tem, Mosqueda on the broader amendment to this resolution.

I want to express my appreciation to the Mayor's Office, having learned today that they will be bringing us a subsequent emergency order related to commercial evictions, and I really look forward to working with them more on that.

And then I also want to speak to the fact that Some of the language that we've included as it relates to residential tenancies is in recognition that many landlords are requesting the courts to not issue writ in the face of this crisis.

And I think that's really helpful.

proof that many of us are really working hard to make sure that we are all rowing in the same direction here in this crisis.

And in particular, I think it's really important for landlords to be able to access emergency rent assistance.

And so the Rental Housing Association has requested less of a focus on prohibiting their ability to issue notices and more of a focus on allowing the court to not issue writ and allowing the sheriff's office to not issue writs.

That's why the request to the sheriff's office was in there.

I spoke to the sheriff today, and they are definitely looking at this issue.

But finally, I think it's really also important to recognize that when folks don't show up in eviction court, they often get default judgments.

And so that's why I think it's really important that we think broadly about this moratorium, and again, appreciate all the work that we've been doing to turn this around quickly.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

Council colleagues, questions?

SPEAKER_08

Council Member Peterson with a question.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, please go ahead Council Member Peterson.

SPEAKER_08

So just for the benefit of the public, take a step back here.

So the mayor has issued another emergency order, which she's allowed to do, and she's focusing hers on residential evictions.

We have a resolution that encourages her to look more broadly in subsequent orders.

including looking at relief for commercial tenants, which I fully support.

In addition, we have an amendment to the Mayor's Executive Order, which is Exhibit B of our resolution.

And that amendment goes well beyond what the Mayor's Order is stating currently.

And so I'm just trying to understand what our authority is to expand a mayor's executive order in this situation.

And since we heard the deputy mayor say a commercial rent relief is coming this week, and they've been working with the city attorney's office, I'm just wondering if it makes sense for us to collaborate with them and their efforts that are already underway.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Great question.

Council Member Herbold, I believe you said you were in touch with the Mayor's Office.

Did this question come up about collaboration on the upcoming resolution, I'm sorry, the upcoming order related to commercial tenants as well?

SPEAKER_06

I only learned through Ali Panucci, Central Staff, that the Mayor's Office was working on another executive order.

We heard Senior Deputy Mayor Fong reference that today in his remarks.

And so I assume what that means is we will have another executive order related to evictions for commercial tenants before us at a later date.

And that will give us, because again, for each of those executive orders, we have the ability to approve, modify, or reject We will have an opportunity to further fine-tune that next executive order when it comes Councilmember Lewis on the line here.

SPEAKER_09

Can I just just to jump in real briefly?

I don't know if we have anyone from the city attorney's office on the line currently But I certainly have some questions similar to what?

Councilmember Peterson raised around the legal effect of altering an order this significantly.

So if we do have any city attorney folks on the line and could do an executive session about the impact these changes would have on the standing of the order, it's something I'd be interested in exploring before making a final decision on this.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

I'm gonna see what other comments there are and your request is duly noted.

I'll make sure to circle back to that.

I think Council Member Peterson had a follow up as well.

SPEAKER_08

Yes, please.

Thank you.

We have been talking about, I know a lot of us have been hearing from small businesses and want to provide relief for the rental payments that they're on.

If they're on a triple net lease, they've got rental payments coming up.

They're at risk of displacement and there's a lot of common ground.

I think with this Council on this, which is why this amendment is being proposed and So I just want to understand the amendment a little bit more.

Does this apply, is it specifically for small businesses or would large corporations who are renting their space also benefit from this?

SPEAKER_13

Council Member, this is Allie, I can respond to that question if that's okay.

SPEAKER_08

Sure.

SPEAKER_13

So the order as Drafted would apply to all any eviction related to a commercial tenancy similarly any eviction related to a residential tenancy, so it's not specific to size of size of business.

I will note that there may be Actions the council can take at a later date to rescind this order or take different actions via an emergency ordinance that I can research more in consultation with the law department, but don't have a definitive answer on what those actions specifically are right now.

But I think there is a way to rescind this in the future and take a different action legislatively if needed.

SPEAKER_08

Yeah, I'm just seeking something that's sustainable.

So I echo Council Member Lewis's comments earlier.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Before I circle back to that question, I believe Council Member Sawant had a comment or a question.

SPEAKER_00

I just wanted to make some comments on the overall legislation, but I feel like there are some other issues that have come up.

Maybe I can wait till later.

SPEAKER_02

Please go ahead, Council Member Sawant.

That would be helpful, I think, for context.

SPEAKER_00

OK.

So just on the question that Council Member Lewis and perhaps Council Member Peterson was also referring to similar things, it would be good to clarify that just in terms of what the process would be for the council to amend the executive order.

Obviously, I think we want to make sure we're on the right track.

But I wanted to make some general comments on the overall question of the eviction moratorium as a whole.

I certainly support all the amendments that have been brought forward by other council members.

And I wanted to use the opportunity to thank the thousands, the thousands of renters and working people who have participated despite the restrictions on any political gatherings, you know, through social media in really urging the city government to take action.

When we launched a petition last week urging this action on residential and small business eviction moratorium, and then there is more, just wanted to refer to that quickly in my comments, it clearly was an important issue and remains an important issue for working people.

So many, and more and more, we're hearing this, that workers are having reduced or completely eliminated paychecks.

They're having layoff notices.

And so when we launched the petition last week, it received over 8,000 signatures in just two days.

I think this is absolutely remarkable.

And this was in addition to the important public letter that was sent out by a lot of groups together, including Working Washington, Washington Community Action Network, Progressive Unions, my organization, Socialist Alternatives.

That was also a letter urging the council and the mayor to enact a moratorium of this kind and also other actions as well, which hopefully are forthcoming.

And I think the mayor's executive order happening so quickly is a demonstration of the kind of power we can have with grassroots organizing.

And in fact, the creative ways in which people are being forced to do and really rising to the challenge given the times of social distancing.

And in terms of the question that Council Member Peterson brought up about what we're doing, commercial rent relief, do we need to do commercial eviction moratorium, I really feel that it is important because just the absolutely widespread extent to which small businesses have been impacted, I mean, it's just unimaginable really.

I don't know that any amount of commercial rent relief at this time, any realistic amount that could be set aside will be enough.

So I think an eviction moratorium is necessary.

So this is a along with the amendments that have been brought forward, this executive order as a whole is a big victory for working people and for struggling small businesses.

I would really urge the working people who are listening in to continue fighting for the other demands we had in our successful petition, which have not been addressed yet in this resolution, but hopefully going forward.

One is we do need a moratorium on foreclosures as well to address homeowners facing foreclosures from big banks.

And then also while It's important to provide this eviction protection for 60 days.

Renters could still find themselves facing possible eviction notices as soon as the crisis is over.

Whenever that is, it's not clear when that will be.

With obviously no money to get caught up on rent, in normal circumstances, 60% of Americans don't have even the ability to face $1,000 unexpected expense.

So clearly, we need, along with these moratoriums, we need to mandate, we need a mandate on landlords, utilities, and residential mortgage holders to work out payment plans that will allow tenants and homeowners who are suffering economically due to this epidemic up to 24 months to fulfill their payment obligations.

And we will continue organizing working people and small businesses around it.

I also agree strongly with Council Member Herbold.

I appreciate that point being brought up, that the courts need to stop holding eviction hearings.

It's absolutely stunning.

that they would carry out such legal procedures that almost exclusively targets the most vulnerable people at such a time during a pandemic.

It's just unimaginable.

And I want to congratulate all the activists who did this.

And I also wanted to use this opportunity in closing to mention the very important proposal and accompanying petition that we have launched, that my office has launched alongside Council Member Morales' office to expedite a vote by the city council to tax Amazon and other big businesses to provide emergency COVID-19 relief, especially including cash assistance for the working families that are going to have lost income.

So I just wanted to share that within less than 24 hours, we now have nearly 2,000 signatures on the petition.

People are writing very, informative and very passionate comments as well on why they're supporting it.

And I just wanted to share with the council that my office is researching alongside Councilmember Morales' staff as well on how we can make this possible and how we can include gig economy workers, workers on contract, part-time workers, and so on.

And I would really urge working people to go to my office website to get the online link.

We have to, as I said, get creative with organizing because of social distancing.

But nonetheless, workers getting organized is the only thing that is going to address what is not only a global pandemic in medical terms, but also a globally chaotic situation, which is exposing the utter anarchy of the capitalists.

And so, with that said, I'm happy to vote yes.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, council members.

Are there any other comments?

Okay.

Council colleagues, it has been suggested that we address some of the questions that have been asked today in public session with our attorneys, and that is the purpose of executive sessions.

We do have executive sessions scheduled for today.

We have an opportunity, I believe, to address in our executive sessions, pending potential or potential litigation, and labor negotiations, so I do think that it is an opportune moment for us to do a recess.

We are going to have the opportunity for executive session as well.

Council clerks, before I call for a recess to move us into executive session, may I just confirm that the process is appropriate for me to do that at this moment?

SPEAKER_14

Council Member Mosqueda, this is Amelia Sanchez.

The recommendation is to be in recess for a couple of minutes for us to secure all those who need to be present for an executive session should the council want to move into executive session.

And then once we can confirm we can have those who need to be present, then we can go back into session and move into the executive session.

SPEAKER_15

Council Member Mosqueda.

Wonderful, thank you.

Yes, Council Member Juarez.

SPEAKER_02

Morales, I'm sorry, Council Member Morales.

SPEAKER_11

That's okay.

I don't know if this is the appropriate time or not, but I am interested in moving that we plan a second council meeting later this week because Council Member Peterson and I both have emergency legislation that we just adopted on the referral calendar.

SPEAKER_02

Wonderful.

Thank you very much, Member Morales.

We are in a position to schedule special meetings subject to the call of the President, and I believe we have certain timeframes to do that.

Your announcement of a desire to do that at this point is appropriate, so I believe that we can get that set up for later this week, either Wednesday or Thursday, and more information will come about that momentarily.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

Council colleagues.

I would like to suggest that we move ourselves into recess for the purpose of getting our attorneys available.

We have two items potentially for executive session, potential or possible pending litigation and labor negotiations.

So I think that it is possible that we can do that in a second.

Council colleagues, I'm going to ask for a recess for five minutes.

It is 4.17.

We'll go into recess and come back at 422 to move us into executive session.

Hearing no objections, the council meeting is in recess.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I want to extend a huge amount of appreciation to the clerk's office and to central staff.

The City Council will come back to order.

It is now 6.04 p.m.

Here.

Councilmember Musqueda.

Here.

Excuse me.

Councilmember Peterson.

Here.

Councilmember Sawant.

Here.

And it's Council President Pro Tem Musqueda.

SPEAKER_12

Here.

SPEAKER_05

Eight present.

SPEAKER_12

No, you forgot me.

You forgot Councilmember Warren.

Yeah, thank you.

I'm here.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thanks again to our Council colleagues and to the general public.

The Council will proceed with its business and Resolution 31938. It's before us again and has been moved and seconded.

We've had some discussion.

At this point, the Council resolution is looking at amended version, Exhibit B, Version 2, as presented to Council by Councilmember Herbold and described by Central South Alderman Panucci.

The resolution that is now before us is ready for discussion.

Are there any additional comments or amendments to the resolution and the amended Exhibit B, version two?

SPEAKER_08

This is Councilmember Peterson.

SPEAKER_02

Councilmember Peterson, yes, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_08

Yes, I just wanted to ask my colleagues if there was any interest in an additional amendment which would limit non-profits and small business.

Small business being defined as 50 or fewer employees.

SPEAKER_02

Council Member Peterson, is that an amendment that you'd like to suggest verbally?

And if so, perhaps you could read the language that you're talking about adding.

And for council members with consideration, please do put yourself on mute if you are not muted.

SPEAKER_08

So this is Council Member Peterson.

I think the intent here is to support those small businesses and nonprofits that are having to pay commercial rent during this crisis.

And we heard that something from the mayor's office is coming soon on this, so one option is to wait for that, and then the other option is to amend this to specify non-profit or small business, and I guess I'm not prepared to offer an amendment.

I just wanted to, we're in discussion mode to see if there's any appetite for that.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Other council members, any comments on that suggestion?

It has not been moved as an official amendment yet, but if you are interested in it and would like to move so, please do, and please comment.

SPEAKER_09

This is Lisa.

Oh yeah, go ahead, Lisa.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_06

Sorry.

This is Council Member Herbold.

I support the idea of preserving the executive planned intentions as it relates to this area and think creating some boundaries around what we mean by commercial landlord in subsection B to specify that we're talking about small business and not-for-profit businesses will give the executive the flexibility that they're seeking.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Lewis, did you also have a comment?

SPEAKER_09

Right.

I mean, I think that ultimately the place we all want to go is make sure that any protections that we're considering, be we the city council or be we the executive, is for nonprofits and small businesses who are experiencing the brunt of the impact from the economic fallout of the public health response to COVID-19.

I guess that my Concern is just that like when we're talking about Now now changing the amendment and like I'm open to language if Councillor Peterson if you had more specific language that you were thinking about I guess my concern is I would be I'm reluctant to Put that language in kind of on the fly here at 6 or 9 p.m.

I In the order that's been promulgated down to us by the executive like I'd much rather work from The template of the order like we got this order on the residential eviction When the executive sent that order to us soon, it sounds like that would be tomorrow or sometime in the middle of this week and then have that be the template that we are do our tweaking, modifying, and changing.

So in terms of the options that Council Member Peterson kind of cued up just now, I mean that would be my preference just to make sure we don't accidentally omit something from kind of what would be an oral amendment at this point.

Or that we maybe reconvene once we have some more resolute language put together.

I'm just, I worry that Considering that this isn't a resolution or an ordinance that we are creating, but our imprint on an executive order, that would just be my preference in how to proceed so we don't unintentionally hinder the order in some way.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Councilmember Peterson and Councilmember Herbold, and I'll just weigh in here briefly.

I support as well the concept that you are outlining.

in your suggestion to do an amendment to make it nonprofits and small businesses.

I believe what Council Member Lewis is saying is also a really good point.

There's going to be another opportunity to make sure that we're scoping and specifying the type of Commercial sites that were suggesting so I don't hear anybody making an official amendment and it does seem like there's been a desire to have additional You know thought put into any amendments potentially could be included in in the next order that comes down from the mayor's office I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that perhaps the amendment is is very well received, and also I think at this point, perhaps if we leave the resolution, I'm sorry, the order as amended, I think you're going to have a lot of support from this council for making sure that that narrowed scope specific to small businesses and nonprofits is very clear in the executive order as it pertains to commercial rental businesses.

assistance in the upcoming crisis.

So my suggestion per what Councilmember Lewis just put out there is that unless there is a full motion to amend, that we go ahead with the amended order in front of us, recognizing it's a very good amendment that UNC bringing forward to make sure that that scope is clear, if not clear in the mayor's executive order to come.

Appreciate the intent that you brought it forward brought forward the discussion With that though.

SPEAKER_09

I want to pause to see if there's any other comments or if a full motion has been had been made Well councilmember Mosqueda, thanks for those comments.

I just want maybe a little bit more clarity so like are you proposing that we That we move forward then with the language that That was before us and and that we sort of that was queued up earlier Um that basically just says we want commercial.

Okay.

I mean on on that.

I mean my I I am i'm hesitant to vote for um Just a for a broad moratorium on commercial rent where we're not getting like more Surgical about like I do worry about um, you know large businesses that, you know, that aren't being impacted or that do have the capacity to pay being interpreted as falling under the scope of the current amendment.

But I just feel like I'm in a place where, like, I don't know that we can make it more surgical just orally here unless someone has an idea to throw it out there.

But, I mean, I guess I'm just flagging my intent that, like, my preference would actually not be to vote for the broader prohibition on commercial rent and commercial evictions until we have more specificity over the types of tenants that we are seeking to protect.

Because, I mean, I just don't want us to be in a position where, like, a large, corporation could benefit from that language.

And I mean I guess that that would be my concern.

Unless I'm wrong and Ali can clarify, but it seems like the scope as it stands is fairly vague.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Mosqueda.

I agree with you.

I think we should go ahead with the amended version today because as you said and as others have said, we've made our intent very clear.

Furthermore, I would say honestly that any such amendment, I know no formal amendment has been made, but any such amendment in my view just based on statistical evidence is unnecessary because It's not big businesses that are ever in danger of being evicted.

Large corporations are not going to be evicted.

I mean, one of the things that distinguishes larger corporations from small businesses, and the reason small businesses are even in normal circumstances struggling, is because they don't have huge cash reserves, and large corporations do.

So I just, from an economic standpoint, I don't envisage or foresee

SPEAKER_07

such a situation and and furthermore you know i think we've clarified verbally our intent on on this thank you council members want other comments hearing no other comments oh i'm sorry um i was on mute um this is council member herbold i just want to

SPEAKER_06

of clarify that we have two different concepts.

We have three concepts.

One is voting on the order as is.

The other is amending it to specify small businesses and nonprofits.

And the other is striking it.

In any of the last two instances, we will need somebody to offer an amendment.

I do want to speak to the fact that I'm sympathetic to the executive's desire to limit this to small businesses and non-profits.

I was notified by one of the deputy mayors that the Hyatt is actually seeking to have the utility deferment applied to them, so I don't think it is

SPEAKER_07

unwarranted the desire to limit the scope of this amendment.

SPEAKER_02

Council colleagues, I'm not hearing a specific amendment being put out there, suggestions from folks that there is some desire to see nonprofits and small businesses scoped.

I understand that that is the desire of the executive and that we'll be seeing more information on that.

Again, absent any specific amendment being proposed, I think that there's going to be more conversation on this coming later this week.

SPEAKER_09

So if anybody If nobody's offering a specific amendment we have a motion in front of us on the underlying bill We're able to just count from a skater those you think that's one point or just come from the Lewis again I guess just one one question that I have then I would be, I mean, if we are, if an order is going to come down with more specific language, why we don't wait for that order rather than pass a broader, I mean, speaking to the concerns that Council Member Herbold just raised, that there are certain commercial landowners who are probably in a position to pay and cover their obligations.

You know, I mean, like any change that we make to this order will have the effect of law under the mayor's emergency powers.

My preference would be that we wait for a more specific order if it looks like a more broad order could have unintended consequences.

I'm just having trouble with that given that we know that something's going to come down soon.

It would be my preference.

And then when we get back to work and modify that order, the same way we have with all the other orders that have come down from the executives.

I would rather have that be the template for this discussion rather than putting the commercial language in it.

I guess that I'm advocating more for the not amending.

I would be interested in hearing a proposed amendment if there is someone that would want to propose language.

I'm looking at it right now to see kind of where we're going with it.

SPEAKER_11

Council Member Lewis, I'm sorry, President Mosqueda.

SPEAKER_02

Just one moment, Council Member Morales.

Council Member Lewis, do you want a moment to look at the language?

Council Member Morales has a comment, if that's okay.

SPEAKER_09

Yeah, no, of course, of course.

SPEAKER_02

You're pausing.

Okay, great.

Council Member Morales.

SPEAKER_11

Well, I just want to say it sounds like what Council Member Lewis is proposing is suggesting is an amendment to just strike the commercial portion of this version, in which case my question, Council Member Lewis, is are you offering an amendment to do that?

SPEAKER_09

Well, I don't think, I think that what I'm advocating would be that the amendment be rejected and then the order altered, because I think it is, I mean the order as it stands does not include commercial in it.

So I don't think I need an amendment to remove commercial from it unless, I don't think we already amended it, did we?

SPEAKER_02

We have moved and seconded to vote on the amended version.

So we're on consideration.

SPEAKER_09

So I think procedurally what I'm advocating is just not passing the amendment.

SPEAKER_06

There are, this is Council Member Herbold, there are a lot of other points in this amendment.

And I don't think we're talking about striking everything in the amended resolution here.

So I do think that somebody would need to offer an amendment to strike the words commercial landlord.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, well, if that's the case, you know, I think that That's a motion that I would be interested in making, but I'd like to maybe if Council Member Herbold or Council Member Peterson had some language they were potentially thinking about in terms of clarifying who it applied to, I'd like to consider something along those lines as well.

But those are the directions that I'm leaning towards rather than passing the broader language.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Peterson, did you have a second to consider any specific language?

I know you brought this up initially.

SPEAKER_08

Well, I think that our goal here is to, we care about small business and nonprofits.

We want to give them relief.

We know that the mayor is coming down with something that's been crafted over a long period of time.

We're being put together quickly because we're responding to the emergency.

So I believe that I'm very open to, if we're going to get something better from the mayor, then to strike commercial here and have it a more, more sustainable version tomorrow or the next day, it may be worth waiting.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

Thank you.

Council member, um, Louis, uh, is that in the form of a motion?

SPEAKER_09

Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll make the motion to remove, um, remove the expansion to commercial evictions from this, from the amendment.

And I'm just trying to see all the places where it's mentioned.

So like in the beginning of section one.

SPEAKER_02

Pause real quick just to see if central staff is on the line, if they had any quick analysis that they had done as we were chatting.

Just to make sure we're not duplicating work.

SPEAKER_13

Hi, this is Allie, Council Central staff.

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem, excuse me.

I am about to hit send on a version three of Exhibit B that maintains the title as residential evictions and removes other things that were added specifically to cover commercial tenancies and retains the other changes related to residential tenancies.

I just sent it to you all.

I think I caught everything.

So that is, so the, Amelia or Jody can wait in here, but I believe the motion would be to make an amendment to replace Exhibit B version two with.

excuse me, would be to amend it by replacing Exhibit B, Version 2, that was Version 2 with Council Member Herbold's amendment with Version 3.

SPEAKER_02

Ali, we appreciate all of your work.

Council Colleagues, that email is in your inbox.

I think for the public who is following along, it's a relatively simple concept and this will be posted immediately if it is approved.

We'll pause for a second as you read that.

I will also filibuster for a quick second as you look through it to say, I also appreciate Council Member Salon's point.

And I think that as we look at who is this type of order applies to, we'll have another opportunity to make sure that those values are reflected in the next executive order coming down and Council Colleagues.

For my earlier suggestion, as we get executive orders, we'll make sure that there's ample time for you to ask any legal questions in advance.

My apologies if that didn't happen today, but I appreciate the work that you all have done in looking at this, and as that new executive order comes forward and any future executive orders, we know we will have the opportunity to accept, reject, or modify, and we'll make sure that you get ample briefing on any future orders.

Council members, I want your point was well taken.

Council members, did you have a chance to read the Amendment as submitted by Allie Kimuchi and described by Councilmember Lewis-Peterson and with Herbold's explanation as well.

SPEAKER_09

I have had a chance to review that amendment, to the amendment.

SPEAKER_02

Councilmember Peterson, if you please.

If you'd like, I could make the motion or you are welcome to.

SPEAKER_01

All right.

Council member.

Council member Herbold, do you see this as a friendly amendment?

SPEAKER_02

Good question.

Council member Herbold.

Oh, dear.

SPEAKER_06

I saw as a friendly amendment, the amendment to restrict it to nonprofits and small businesses.

I am not seeing as an unfriendly amendment to strike it, but I'm weighing my vote on an amendment to strike it.

I'm sorry, I can't really say more right now.

SPEAKER_08

Council President Mosqueda, this is Alex Peterson.

SPEAKER_02

Go ahead, Council Member Peterson.

SPEAKER_08

A possible solution here is in the resolution itself, section 2B, is where we are asking the mayor to come back with future orders that give relief to business who are unable to pay their rent.

And in that section 2B of the resolution, we could amend that to be specific about small business and non-profit.

because right now it says just to assist businesses.

So to kind of combine all of these efforts here and to take the spirit of what I was saying earlier and to amend the resolution, section 2B, to say small business and non-profit, then to adopt this cleaner amendment from Council Member Lewis to remove commercial from the border amendment, because we know we're going to get an order in the next day or so specifically stating commercial relief, small business, nonprofit.

But it's in the resolution section 2B that we are directing the mayor to do that.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

That's very helpful.

Ali, I believe you're still listening and caught that concept as well, would be in addition to what you sent us, making sure that we're including nonprofits and small business, if I've captured that correctly.

Council Member Herbold, this was your underlying amendment.

Did you have any other comments on that suggestion for if it's offered as an amendment?

Council Member Herbold.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you for asking, and thank you, Council Member Strauss, for asking as well.

I'd feel better with that approach.

SPEAKER_02

Council Members, I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page.

Ali Panucci from Central Staff, do you mind summarizing the concept that as council member Strauss has described it along with Peterson.

SPEAKER_13

I'm happy to.

So the amendment would be one to replace Version 2 of Exhibit B with Version 3 that removes the expansion to include commercial businesses, and then would be amending Section 2 of the resolution, Section 2B, and it would now read under B, issuing orders or taking actions to provide rent relief, including deferred payment of rent, requiring payment plans and other strategies to assist small businesses and nonprofit organizations who are unable to pay rent or pay their employees due to economic disruptions caused by COVID-19.

SPEAKER_02

Excellent.

Thank you, Allie.

We really appreciate your work.

Council colleagues, for the sake of getting us to discussion on this, I move that we substitute Amendment Version 2 for Version 3 and include the language that Allie Panucci just described in Section 2B to include small businesses and nonprofits.

I have a second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any additional comments on our sausage making here today?

comments are welcome.

I do appreciate all of the work that all of the council members have done to make sure that this is both in alignment with our values.

And I also think that this complimentary and hopefully seen as friendly amendments to what the mayor had originally sent down.

Again, we appreciate that the rental eviction ordinance was sent down and that there is additional information coming for nonprofits and small businesses.

I think that these two in tandem will offer a lot of relief for those who are struggling right now and really appreciate the creative thinking by council members and the central staff.

Any additional comments before we move to a vote?

SPEAKER_05

Councilmember Stroud.

Thank you, ma'am, quick break.

Councilmember Herbold.

Aye.

Councilmember Lewis.

Aye.

Councilmember Morales.

Aye.

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson.

SPEAKER_07

Aye.

SPEAKER_05

Councilmember Sawant.

Aye.

Council President Mosqueda.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Resolution 31938 has been amended.

We now have amended Resolution Version 3 in front of us for final passage.

Any final comments before the clerk calls the roll?

Hearing none, I'll just say thanks again for your creative thinking, council members, and I'm looking forward to more information in the next executive order.

I appreciate your quick thinking, central staff.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Strauss?

SPEAKER_07

Aye.

SPEAKER_05

Council Member Herbold?

Aye.

Council Member Lewis?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

SPEAKER_04

Aye.

Is there any other further business to come before the council?

All right.

Hearing none, Council Colleagues, today's meeting is adjourned.

We will meet again next Monday.

Thank you.

Good job.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Pro Tempore.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you, everyone.