Governance, Accountability & Economic Development Committee 2/8/2024

Well, hello, everybody.

Hi, colleagues.

This is exciting.

This is the first committee of the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee, and it's February 2024, and the first meeting will start at 2.01.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle?

Here.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Here.

Councilmember Rivera?

Present.

Councilmember Saka?

Here.

Chair Nelson?

Present.

Five present.

Thank you very much.

There are two items on the agenda for briefing and discussion today, which are a future of the Seattle economy from the Office of Economic Development and also a Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission overview from Director Wayne Barrett.

So I will now open it to public comment and then after public comment I'll provide some introductory remarks about what I hope to be hope to get done this this year or the the main components of this committee and then we'll proceed to presentations.

So with that we've got three people signed up in person how many four How many people are signed up remotely, please?

We currently have one virtual public commenter.

Okay.

Got it.

So that's four altogether.

Everybody gets two minutes.

I do want to note, if you're watching along, the presentation that OED provided has been updated, and you'll have the updated physical copies here.

And then finally, I want to introduce the public and my colleagues to the committee clerk, our intrepid who started out as my committee clerk from the get-go a long time ago.

So he's very experienced.

We're in good hands.

All right, public comment.

I'll call on speakers in the order that they are signed up to speak, starting with in-person commenters.

And as I said, you'll have two minutes.

And then when you hear the chime, you'll have 10 seconds remaining in your time.

And if you exceed that time, your microphone may be cut off so that you can move to the next speaker.

And if you're offering remote comment, please make sure to press star six to unmute yourself.

All right, the first person signed up for in-person public comment is Alex Zimmerman.

Please come to the mic.

Alex Zimmerman.

I want to speak about agenda number two, Seattle Ethic Election Commission.

Please pause.

That counts as abusive language and disruptive behavior.

This is going to be your first warning in this committee to not do that anymore.

Please do not address us that way.

try to keep your comments to the items on the agenda, which is the rule for this committee.

I very appreciate you.

Yes, the Athletic Election Commission.

Guys, I don't know what has been accountability, because for the last 30 years, for this committee, for the last 10 or 15 years, make a dozen complaints, now to one positive word.

It's a very interesting committee, because two years ago, they stopped accepting public comment.

Director Herr, he knows this.

Why they stopping doing this?

Only for Alex Zimmerman, because I come every meeting, he have my opinion about what has happened.

This exactly about accountability.

You know what this mean?

We have right now, A fascist government, you know what it means?

Fascist is absolutely legal word.

You know what it means?

In hunt, absolutely legal word.

So everybody who you appointment director in every complaint department, they not care about law or rules.

They don't play by law.

They not play by book.

They play by her personal opinion and be happy because they belong to same country.

organization, what is I call, fascism junta.

This a big problem what is we have.

And nothing change.

For 20 year, absolutely.

Can you appoint somebody, you know what is mean, who we can do in this objective war?

No, you cannot.

I'm in court, for example, you know what is mean.

They for 15 years stop and go me to small claim court.

15 years.

Guys, well, you know what has happened right now here?

We have one party system.

It's this one party system.

It's a pure fascism.

You're so strange.

You're acting so stupid.

No, you're not stupid.

You're smart.

Yeah.

Stand up, America.

Vote for them again.

Our next speaker is Michelle Balzer, followed by Kimberly Wolfe.

Hello.

Good afternoon, council members, new and old.

No, I talk loud.

I'm here today to talk about the pay-up ordinance, which obviously I'm very aware of the attention and the chaos around it.

We've all heard about it.

And despite what is being reported, gig workers overall have benefited from this ordinance.

new pay standard.

The wages increasing have helped thousands of workers in Seattle, which is positive for our city and our economy.

It also means more people can avoid homelessness, which, let's face it, is already a problem around here.

Am I able to recognize the backlash from it?

Of course.

However, any and all backlash has been the result of the companies.

Their resistance to paying more adequately, being accountable, and being honest.

It saddens and frustrates me that the customer is being the ultimate sufferer here.

The company's unwillingness to incur the cost of running their own business is not a problem anyone in this room is responsible for.

We are, however, responsible for doing what is best for our city.

What's best is to keep this law in place as it is with the goal of returning to the table and working together to establish a more equitable solution.

Previously, we were on one side of the pendulum.

Now we're suddenly on the other side.

What we need is to be more centered.

We have all experienced change that was swift and drastic, and we all know that often we don't know what will work until that change occurs.

I believe that's where we are now.

Gig workers needed this law, and we still do.

I believe there's room for improvement though.

Gig companies have always operated through loopholes at their workers' expense.

This law has helped shift that.

The gig economy has grown immensely and will continue to do so.

They've also operated with little to no oversight.

Those ordinance got the ball rolling on shifting that.

What CL did was groundbreaking.

Turn on the TV, open the newspaper, turn on the .

All cities across the country are starting to address this very issue.

How to better meet the needs of their communities and workers.

One moment, please, before you begin speaking.

The next person speaks.

So I failed to read what I normally read at the beginning of my committee because I didn't transfer this from my last year's scripts.

But our council rules for full council meetings on Tuesdays require us to allow comment on the items on the agenda and matters that fall under the purview of council's work plan as described in the resolutions that we adopted earlier this year.

For committees, it's different, and each committee chair can decide whether or not they want to restrict their public comment to items on the agenda or open it up to all matters under the purview of the committee.

I chose the former for reasons that I can explain later, but under Council Rule X11C3, it reads, for committees that choose this, Public comment must be directed at matters within the purview of the committee or items listed on the agenda, and we have a choice on which of those we would like to enforce.

And the issue is I need to enforce that and apply that consistently from meeting to meeting.

So because I did not read that earlier and make that clear in the beginning, I'm just letting folks know that that is what I expect from public commenters.

And why do I do that?

Because it keeps the time down so that we can make sure that we get through all the items on our agenda.

So just for the future, if you're watching out there and you're thinking about making public comment in the future, I will make sure that comment is restricted to the items on the agenda.

Go ahead.

Let's see.

Kimberly Wolf, please approach the microphone and go ahead and give comment.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

Talking about gig workers, a law that we passed, and I know there's some people calling for repeal, saying it's hurting gig workers.

It's not.

This is just the last gasp of the app companies trying to make it bad for everyone, making it hurt and pinch for the gig workers, because they don't want this law propagated.

to other places, and I think it's really important that you stand firm.

We need at least a year to see how this is working, I mean really working.

This is way too soon to talk about backing off anyway, and the longer we give it, the more they lose by playing these games, and the sooner they'll fall into line and do it right, like we expected, like we intended with that law.

Please don't listen to the naysayers on this one.

It's way too soon.

That's pretty much all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all that signed up to give comment in person.

We'll now move on to the remote speakers.

We've got Talisha Harold, followed by David Haynes.

Talisha, please press star six to be unmuted.

Okay I'm not hearing from Talisha and David Haynes is marked not present so I will give it about 30 seconds more and if nobody is able to show up then we'll move on.

Hello.

Hello.

Hi can you hear me now?

Yes we can.

Okay wonderful thanks for being hi thanks for being patient.

Hi council members and welcome to those of you new to your positions we are glad to have you.

My name is Talisha Harold.

I'm a gig worker on the Instacart app.

And I wanted to express my immense pride for being part of a campaign that created fair pay to thousands of gig workers in our city.

And these are the gig workers that every day we provide a wanted and needed service to the people of Seattle.

And I can say personally, since the pay up policy was implemented a month ago, I'm already seeing improvements in my life.

And the biggest being that I paid my rent on time this month.

And that is something that's been a challenge for some time.

That's been a challenge for some time.

And maybe you've had this experience yourself or you know someone personally who has this INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL, AND UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S NOT UNIQUE.

BUT WHAT I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT THE PAYUP POLICY IS MAKING OUR CITY BETTER.

BECAUSE TO BEGIN WITH, IT IS HELPING TO KEEP PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES.

IT TRULY IS.

AND I KNOW THAT MANY OF YOU ARE INHERITING THIS POLICY, YET I DO KNOW AND I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT THE PAYUP POLICY does align with your goal to the city.

And you can be proud of this policy as well.

Thank you so much for your time and energy.

Thank you very much.

All right, I don't see anybody else signed up for public comment.

So I will now close the public comment period.

Go ahead.

David Hayes is online.

Thank you very much.

Unclosing public comment period.

Go ahead, David Haynes.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

I just want to point out that we really need a 21st century first world quality redevelopment of homes, commercial buildings, schools and libraries for a robust floor plan that gives us an intellectual stimulation and a better.

And.

It's very difficult to be a small business when all of your stuff has been stolen and you have to pay a double, triple, remortgaged rental lease that I dare say the banks could consider retiring some of the debt that is on some of this rundown real estate that had to be closed down during the pandemic that is now building square footage in the road, such as in Ballard.

We need a more qualitative build-out that doesn't accommodate the road, the bus or the train driving right up to the front door, making a bunch of noise, bothering workers, students and customers and residents.

So I'm hoping that equitable development has a proper interpretation of equity where council would consider writing a law that encouraged and incentivized the banks and developers to robustly finance and prioritize new homes and buildings that perhaps you all could shut down the road and let them build across the road to stop the drive-through so we don't have to be worried about so many like extremely hot road rage areas where we're trying to live a qualitative life.

But equitable development has to come from new real estate, not just giving people money to buy rundown real estate to prop up a bank who's already made their money off of it that are oppressing the small businesses who are forced to pay the tax base and turn against the workers to make ends meet for a bunch of middlemen in the immoral financial system that needs to have our true democracies, legislative pen, discipline the greed so it benefits the commonwealth.

It doesn't shake down the small business being forced to pay three and four times the original cost on some rundown, dilapidated, inflated real estate.

Good luck.

Thank you very much.

So just a public reminder, going forward, I will exercise my discretion as chair of this committee to confine public comment to the items listed on the agenda per Council Rule 11C3.

Okay, moving on, let's approve the agenda and get down to the items of business.

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

Seeing none, agenda is adopted.

All right.

So speaking of discretion, the committees change name and groupings with every major change of council members and terms.

Sometimes if there are a lot of new council members, as there was this past year, most of the committee Most of the committees change, and sometimes, you know, when the opposite is true, very few of them do.

This committee is called the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee, and the items under the purview of the governance are traditionally assigned to the council president.

And so I will read the offices and departments that report to the Governance Committee, and they are the Office of City Auditor, Civil Service Commission, Hearing Examiner.

I'm also responsible for the Legislative Department, Mayor's Office, Office of Employee Ombud, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Office of Labor Standards, Seattle Department of Human Services, ethics in elections.

And so I am not saying that we will be having briefings from all of our, of all of these departments, but that is what the governance committee traditionally oversees.

Now for accountability, this is a new component to this committee and I added it because what I heard on the campaign trail and what I was saying before I got elected is that Council members are committed to being accountable of how we spend resources and how also we conduct ourselves as public officials.

And so I thought that it was important to have some place in the committee structure to examine the performance of existing programs or policy, bring emerging issues to the attention of departments under the purview of this committee and other departments.

It's a place to consider new policies, procedures, or legislation that will enhance the transparency and accountability of city government and policymaking as a whole.

So stay tuned for items that fall under that one.

And then, of course, there's economic development.

As a small business owner myself, economic development and supporting and protecting small businesses is near and dear to my heart.

maintaining that oversight of the Office of Economic Development, but I usually consider it a partnership.

for the next two years.

And that will be an opportunity to see some of the continuation of the work that was started last year.

So before talking about just giving a brief overview of some of the things we'll be doing this year, I wanted to recap what I consider highlights in economic development in this committee in the past couple years.

There was At my second committee meeting, well, I came into office with all these ideas about how I was going to help small businesses, ways to prevent the displacement of businesses in neighborhoods undergoing gentrification, how to help downtown revitalize, all of these ideas.

And when I started...

probably doing what you're doing right now is talking to stakeholders.

What I kept hearing over and over and over again was something along the lines of, those are great ideas, and my problem right now is crime.

I've been broken into five times, or my employees don't feel safe, or we've had another robbery, over and over and over again.

So my second committee meeting, after a neighborhood tour of the U District and also, let's see, Colombia City, I recognize that there is no economic development and probably no very difficult economic recovery without a very strong foundation of public safety.

In fact, public safety is our core responsibility, and it if businesses are not able to function because of their employees, customers, or they're themselves feeling safe, or if they're constantly losing merchandise, et cetera, then we can't go forward.

So the point is is that I gathered small business owners and representatives from the city's business improvement areas to the table and we talked about, and to give them a sense, for them to address what was going on out there in the neighborhoods and also present some pragmatic steps that we could take that would be much easier to, that could easily be done while we're waiting to staff up our police department.

So the point is that that was a very productive conversation, and a couple things that grew out of that that I'm really proud of that still exist today.

One was the Storefront Repair Fund, which has been administered by the Office of Economic Development.

That provides $2,000 grants to small businesses as reimbursement for damage to their to their exteriors.

And then also case conferencing, and that is a cooperation started in Ballard, I believe.

We're expanding it to other neighborhoods of the city, but it brings together the BIA director and business owners, members of some of our diversion partners, members of the lead team, police, and I believe also the city attorney's office, to really dig into some ongoing problematic individuals that really could use some focus and try to solve an immediate problem.

And usually that has worked out very well.

And so that is ongoing in Ballard and continuing, and I think there is also a position in the mayor's office now to head up that effort.

The point is, it's always important to bring small business to the table, it's always important to bring our stakeholders to the table to hear directly from them about what's happening and to use that as we develop our policy priorities.

So that was one thing that sort of kicked off my whole work as chair of economic development.

And I've continued with a focus on public safety.

And I'm not going to go into some of the things I did in the public safety committee, but it's important to note that The two go hand in hand, economic development and public safety always.

All right, another item that I want to note was the creation of the Seattle Film Commission.

Why the Film Commission?

Because film is a sector of our creative economy that drives economic growth.

It employs more people in a greater diversity of disciplines than any other artistic or part of our creative economy when you think about all the talent that goes into making a film or a video.

And also because the film community wanted to put, well, they've been asking for it for a long time, an actual commission.

Because Seattle is a great film town, always has been a great film town, and it had recently been eclipsed by other cities that have monetary incentives that they can offer to attract production.

Well, the establishment of a film commission is a way to tell policymakers how we can help facilitate moviemaking here in the city, not just from big production companies, but from our own film community talent that we might not have those incentives, but we can better support that work through other means.

And so one of the things that we'll be looking for, so we passed a film, we established a film commission in September of 2022. We impaneled it in the first quarter of 2023, and they've been meeting all year.

And I'm looking forward to this year, hearing what some of their recommendations are for how the city of Seattle can help the community thrive.

All right.

And then finally, I had a similar roundtable discussion with small housing providers because I wanted to hear directly from them how some of the regulations that have been imposed in quick succession over the past couple of years had impacted them and Seattle's overall housing supply because those are the units that are supplied by smaller housing providers are generally under market rate rent and also quite diverse.

That's where many of the single family homes for lower income families and also students can be found.

There was a long discussion that was in March, and I'm hoping to use some of the wisdom that was generated there in that discussion going forward.

And then we renewed, let's see, I think we had five business improvement renewals.

We'll talk a little bit more about what a business improvement area is, but that was the Seattle Tourism Improvement Area, the Metropolitan Improvement Area.

Then we redid the Seattle...

tourism improvement area, and then finally we renewed the Ballard Alliance, the Ballard Improvement Area.

So that was a big accomplishment.

Again, very important for the city of Seattle.

Property owners taxed themselves to provide essential services to the business district, which ends up making the city greater for everybody.

And then finally, one of the last and most important things that we did last year was to pass Resolution 32099, Adopting and Endorsing the Office of Economic Development's Future of Seattle Economy Investment Agenda.

And that fed into some of the budget allocations that were made.

And we'll talk a little bit about that later on today.

So that was some of the good work that we did.

And I'm looking forward to continuing to work at the office.

And other items and topics of discussion, not necessarily legislation that I anticipate coming on deck, include perhaps incentives to attract businesses downtown.

I'd like an update on the mayor's downtown activation plan, otherwise known as DAP, looking at engaging the arts, cultural, and heritage institutions as very powerful drivers of economic growth and tourism as well.

lifting up the growing cluster of nuclear fission and fusion startups in Seattle, of which there are two of the former and four of the latter.

And by the way, did you know that the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is located in South Lake Union?

Well, I only found that out recently.

And we were able to have our office ask the Office of Intergovernmental Relations to include an item in our legislative agenda that says, Seattle supports adding advanced nuclear reactor technology to the guiding principles for the Washington State energy strategy to encourage reducing the state's dependence on fossil fuel energy sources.

So why am I focused on nuclear?

Because we do have to expand our options for energy sources given our really chaotic weather caused by climate change, water shortages, and also the fact that we are trying to adhere to our mandate to only use renewable energy in Seattle.

Okay, so other issues.

Looking forward to the Film Commission recommendations.

Looking forward to SDOT coming forward with the vehicle parking permit for performers at nightlife establishments.

This was a request by the nightlife community, and it's something that I've asked SDOT to work on.

Sounds simple.

Why can't we just give a pass to people that pull up with a, you know, a van with a bunch of instruments because it's difficult to lug that far distances in a hilly downtown Seattle area.

Well, it's more complicated than you think, but they've been hard at work at that.

And then as we get closer to budget season, I will be paying very close attention to OED's budget and its status going into the budget season.

Regarding the other things under our purview here, just some ideas, I would like to understand more what the other accountability partner does, which is the city auditor.

I'd like to know how do they track what's going on with the, how do they enforce the city's lobbying law?

I'm interested in, I heard pretty much every person here say, Well, we have to make sure that our investments are producing outcomes.

And many of those investments are into our service providers who do essential work out there to keep people safe, housed, healthy.

But it's unclear to me when we say track the performance or whatever, how is that done?

And so I'd just like to understand better what our HSDs...

How do they do that and how can it be improved if at all?

Et cetera, et cetera.

So that gives you a flavor of some of the things that I'm hoping to focus on.

But if there's also committee colleagues, things that you would like to bring forward, let me know and we'll talk about it.

With that, let's move on to the first item on the agenda.

Taman, could you please read the first item into the agenda?

Agenda item number one, future of the Seattle economy, briefing and discussion.

All right, while you're coming up to the table, I just want to introduce this item.

So, Markham McIntyre, who is the director of the Office of Economic Development, is going to give us an overview of the top priorities for this year.

And many of those are guided by the Future of Seattle Economy investment agenda, which was endorsed by Council Resolution 32099. Why am I talking about that now?

Because the 2024 budget appropriates more than $31 million in the economic revitalization spending category of the payroll expense tax jumpstart fund.

And that those $31 million support the mayor's downtown activation plan and new funding for neighborhood economic recovery, workforce development, small business services, commercial affordability, community wealth building, and so much more.

And so we'll just get a taste of some of those items that will be a focus of this year, maybe some detail on how that money will be spent.

And also just, it's a good opportunity for you to know, for you to learn what we're talking about when we say the future of Seattle economy.

We'll be joined also by director of OSC, Jessen Farrell, because they will, because she and Markham are going to be talking about the collaboration between the two partners, Office of Sustainability and the Environment and the Office of Economic Development.

What are they both doing together for the green economy?

because it's important to have people talk together and talk about how their works are complementary because we don't want to silo the important climate protection and economic development work that the two departments are doing together because they feed off of each other.

And then finally, as part of our presentation, Takiyah Ward, who is the founder of the ReSoul, will talk about the real life benefits conferred upon community businesses by the community wealth building component within the FSC.

So with that long preamble, please introduce yourself and take it away.

Great.

Thank you, Council President.

Hi, Council Members.

My name is Markham McIntyre.

I'm the Director of the Office of Economic Development.

Very good to see you today.

As the Council President mentioned, I'm going to give kind of an overview of OED, a little bit of OED 101, and then spend the bulk of the time kind of going through the future of Seattle economy agenda, which the Council Member, Council President mentioned was adopted in a resolution as kind of the framework for economic recovery.

And then I'll close with just talking about how we can all work together as partners.

As the Council President mentioned, I forgot to mention that one of my greatest accomplishments in the past two years was confirming Director McIntyre.

That's very kind.

Yes.

As the Council President mentioned, we'll have some special guests to give you some extra flavor about kind of the work that we're doing because economic development is incredibly important.

And I think we found that particularly during the pandemic, the local government has a strong role to play in shaping the future of our economy.

But it's not just an OED thing.

Certainly we are the Office of Economic Development and we can help be the quarterback, but it really does require the one Seattle approach, everyone kind of working together on it.

So that's part of the reason we wanted to have OSE here as well as demonstrate some of the impact that we're having on the community.

Our guiding framework as we think about economic development is that an inclusive economy is a more competitive and prosperous economy.

And so then OED and the city's role is to help shape an economically prosperous, diverse, just, and resilient city.

To do that, we really need to be multifaceted.

We need to both support our local economy as well as think about how we're participating and positioning ourselves to be competitive in the global economy.

So OED works both from the hyper-local to the global stage.

And that's really true as you look at the role of OED.

And a lot of this is informed by what we've heard from our businesses, from our workers, from our partners out in the community about what they need us to do.

We need to respond and implement.

We need to be responsive to businesses that need help with permitting, with construction mitigation, with kind of on the ground issues, with getting connected to resources, especially when they're in need or in crisis.

We need to take a systems approach and think about how we're organizing and building a real ecosystem that supports a growing and thriving economy, but also includes those who have been locked out of opportunity.

And then we need to have a perspective on where we're going in the future.

We need to envision and transform a future of Seattle economy that is more inclusive and more prosperous.

So we have to play all those roles kind of every day, which is hard.

It's hard to be multidimensional, but it really is what we're excited to do.

And that's why we have such a great team.

We've really been trying to grow the team to meet the community need.

We have fantastic folks over at OED serving in a variety of roles.

We've reorganized ourselves into these three lines of business.

So we have our special events and film permitting, which is really kind of an organizing the permitting, working with all the other departments to make sure that we can put on special events.

And then as Council President Nelson mentioned, thinking about our film industry and how are we permitting for film shoots and film locations.

And then we have two of our programmatic divisions.

So we have our small business division, which encompasses our community wealth building, our small business navigation team, and our capacity building teams.

And then we have our key industries and workforce development division.

So this is supporting our multiple key industries and thinking about what they need, as well as our workforce and kind of talent development.

Within that, we have two cross-cutting clusters.

We've got our creative economy cluster, and then we have our green economy cluster.

And I'll talk a little bit more about those later.

But again, we're organized to try to...

meet the need at both that local economy level as well as positioning ourselves to be competitive in the global economy.

So when we were trying to figure out how are we going to position Seattle on into the future, we wanted to listen first to what our partners and businesses and workers have already said.

So we went around in the fall of 2022 and basically read everybody's strategic plan from all the partners, all the different groups to try to see what's already out there as far as ideas.

Then we did a giant Venn diagramming exercise to figure out where are the points of alignment and agreement.

These are the five pillars that sprung out of those.

This is what everyone working in that economic and workforce development ecosystem agreed on were priorities.

We've got investing in talent and building our workforce, supporting small women and minority-owned businesses, building BIPOC community wealth, investing in neighborhood business districts, and growing business in key industries.

So we read the plans, we came up with these five pillars as moments of alignment, and then we got everyone together.

We've got built working groups for each of these to help us co-create the ideas, co-create the investment agenda that we wanted the city to embody to build that inclusive economy.

Here's just a quick snapshot of who sat on those work groups.

You'll get much more detail about this later, so we can certainly talk about how the process happened, but just emblematic of the number of brains and talents involved in creating the future of Seattle economy agenda.

So now I'm gonna go through each of the pillars and just kind of give you some highlights, give some context about what we're doing there.

Then I'll close with our 2024 work plan and some next steps.

Talent is incredibly important, and it's one of the reasons why Seattle's been so successful historically.

We've had incredible workforce in a number of different things, from timber to aerospace to software to e-commerce and everything in between.

It really is what allows us to be such an attractive place to run a business.

And yet, we have an incredibly fragmented workforce system.

And so we've got a role to play to try to make it easier for job seekers to get into those career pathways that are really gonna give them economic mobility now and into the future.

So we do a lot of work kind of systems building with our partners around the region to think about how do we create those career pathways, how are we working with youth, and how are we thinking about skill training and skill transfer across different industries.

I'll note that you see here we've got our Black Tech Night, which is something we're doing in cooperation with a number of local tech companies trying to support black workers in the tech economy.

We have our one-year anniversary event tonight at the Vera Project, so if you're looking for something to do from 5 to 8, you can head on over there.

It's going to be great.

It's a tradition now, right?

It is.

It's been a great event, great event.

We also have our Creative Economy Day, our very first ever Creative Economy Day tomorrow at McCaw Hall.

So again, we've got plenty of workforce events if you're looking to go kind of see the flavor of like what we're doing and who's showing up to this and who we're trying to reach.

We also, as you'll see here, healthcare is one of our key industries, and really thinking about, they have a huge talent need, and so how are we helping support folks getting into those jobs that might not require an advanced degree, but could just use some additional training?

So partnering with folks in the healthcare industry, we've built this intro to healthcare apprenticeship program, and it really is kind of widening that opportunity for how people are getting into healthcare professions.

A key part, as Council President Nelson mentioned, is thinking about the green economy.

So we've heard very clearly that we do not have, we're not ready at a workforce level for all the green economy opportunities we've got in front of us.

So this is where we've been partnering with the Office of Sustainability and Environment to think about how do we have a green workforce plan and how do we really get ahead of this very, very high growth potential industry cluster.

That includes for us at the Office of Economic Development establishing a Clean Energy Industry Roundtable, which is gonna help us organize this system, understand what the business needs are, understand kind of what the current system is, where its gaps and opportunities are, and really inform our decision making about not just our investments, but ideally our partner investments with Port of Seattle, Workforce Development Council, and other players within the workforce ecosystem.

We're also going to be piloting a resident clean energy small business accelerator program.

So this is all about how we're deploying clean tech energy and making sure that there's equitable access for small businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities for this funding that's going to be coming online.

So we're looking at an accelerator program that's going to grow the number of Wimby clean business energy businesses and contractors.

Again, this is thinking about how are we creating access to this new potential as well as fostering new business opportunities.

And at this point, I'd love to be able to call up my colleague, Director Farrell.

We've had a lovely working relationship and she's gonna explain a little bit about how OSC and OED have been working together on our clean energy workforce.

Great.

Good afternoon, members of the committee, Council President Nelson.

For the record, my name is Jessen Farrell, and I'm the Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Thank you so much for having me, and thank you, Director McIntyre, for inviting me today.

So why don't we jump to the next slide?

So by way of introduction, I'm going to just say 30 seconds about what OSE does and how then we partner with OED to build an inclusive green economy.

OSE's basic mandate is to foster a clean and healthy environment for every single person in our city.

And as we know, the climate crisis is growing worse in the face of smoke and floods and heat.

People are increasingly feeling the effects.

We also know that people in our community, that not everyone feels the harm in the same way.

Black, Indigenous, people of color, lower-income people, young people, elderly people suffer more in certain climate crisis events.

And so our work is really data-driven and equity-driven to make sure that we're addressing the climate crisis holistically.

And so that's where the Mayor's One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda comes in.

And this is a three-pronged approach to address the climate crisis.

It includes reducing climate pollution, which is about decarbonizing our buildings and transportation as fast as we can.

It's about building healthy, resilient communities.

Climate change is happening, so how do we make sure people have access to tree canopy, access to cool homes and spaces to be in, And finally, as Director McIntyre discussed, there's this huge economic transformation and opportunity with the development of a climate of a fossil fuel free economy.

And so how are we creating pathways to the green workforce?

And so that's where we really focus our efforts related to workforce development.

So I'm going to talk a little bit about what that looks like then.

So OSE, because we focus on policies related to climate change, our workforce development work is really tightly aligned with that.

And I'll just give an example.

So many of you may know that at the end of 2023, the council and the mayor signed into law groundbreaking legislation to decarbonize 4,000 of our largest buildings in the city of Seattle.

This is a big effort.

The idea is to get to net zero by 2050. And we need the workforce to be able to do that decarbonization work, the HVAC changes, the heat pump, the solar installation.

And so we partner with OED, we partner with FAS, and we work to invest in organizations that are creating access to those training opportunities.

We partner with South Seattle College to provide internships.

And so we really are trying to align both our policymaking with the investments and workforce so that we actually have the people who are going to need to be doing this.

Secondly, OSC also works more broadly to build an inclusive environmental workforce.

And so they're underrepresented folks in this particular sector and we partner with the private sector like the Kraken to do internships.

We partner with organizations like the Urban League to provide opportunities to young people with respect to natural resources and urban forestry.

And so we really focus on that slice while OED provides kind of the overall strategy for the city, we really focus in deeply on that piece around climate and environment.

So that's a little bit about what we do.

And finally, I'll just say our partnership with OED doesn't just mean we're working on aligning our climate strategies, but we do things like share resources around seeking federal funding.

messaging and work that we may be doing in Olympia and other venues.

So we're really tightly aligned and collaborating and sharing resources as small offices.

It's great.

And just to put a finer point, I mean, this is a massive, massive opportunity, especially with the federal funds that are out there.

And so, again, thinking about the balance of supporting our local economy, so that can include making sure we have enough electricians to install all the heat pumps that we're wanting to do on houses.

But it's also thinking about, as Council President Nelson mentioned, what are we doing around fusion?

And how are we going to be exporting that technology around the globe?

So this is a really great opportunity in the green economy for us to be balancing those two key important things that we've got to both take care of and have some balance around.

I think I just said balance too many times, but there you go.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Really appreciate it.

So there's a lot going on in workforce pillar.

Yes.

Sorry, just a plug for anaerobic digestion.

Perfect place to promote support, et cetera, because the breweries in town make a whole bunch of spent grain and that can be converted into gas and electricity.

Always wanting to incentivize the production of those smaller units.

Go on.

Sorry to interrupt.

It's a good interruption.

It's very on theme.

So the next pillar I wanna talk to you about in the future of Seattle Economy Agenda is how we support small businesses and women and minority-owned businesses.

I think we all saw during the pandemic just how devastating the impacts were to small businesses and then particularly to businesses owned by women and people of color.

And so we've gotta have a special intensity of focus around how we're supporting them to thrive on into the future.

We have a number of programs at OED focused on this.

And again, thinking about kind of our role, some are responsive.

So like our city resource or city navigation team, you called out the small business or the storefront repair fund, which has been a very successful program.

I think we have Dominique in the audience who runs that program.

So that's one aspect, but we also wanna think about how are we helping these businesses grow and thrive?

And so a great example of that is our Tenant Improvement Fund, where we're providing some grants to help businesses improve their space, and in some cases, expand their space and open up a new space.

So I'm very, very excited to welcome Takiyah Ward, who I think is on the line, to talk a little bit about her experience with our Tenant Improvement Fund.

As mentioned, she runs the RESOL.

It's in the Central District.

Shout out to District 3. So Takiyah, if you wouldn't mind just talking a little bit about your story.

Thank you, Markham, and hello, council members.

My name is Takiyah Ward.

She, her pronouns.

I am the founder of the Resol 206. We are Seattle's very first dry cleaner for sneakers.

We specialize in cleaning, restoring, and customizing your favorite footwear.

And I am one of the Tenant Improvement Grant recipients from OED.

I can say from my own experience that this particular chunk of funding was instrumental in me being able to build out my store and create what we wanted to create, which was a state-of-the-art facility for this sneaker care industry.

I can talk about the need of what we have brought here.

Sneaker care, sneaker culture is on the rise, and there are some problems with that economy in the sense of environmental impacts.

Say, for example, there are over 300 million shoes thrown away annually in the U.S.

My business and businesses like it seek to impede those issues.

And yeah, I have seen incredible responses to our business being here, specifically in the Central District.

Fun fact, my family migrated here from Texas in the 60s.

And so we have four generations in Seattle now, and Central District has always been our home.

Also, the new Midtown Square, which is where our store is located.

My grandfather also owned a storefront in this space.

So this is definitely a legacy moment for me and my family.

And again, the tenant improvement grant was a huge part of us being able to open our doors.

I have to give a huge shout out to Jen Chironi, who has been my contract manager and my right hand every step of the way from OED.

Every sort of you know, deliverable that we had to come across, whether it be L&I, working with prevailing wage, the things that I had never experienced before being a first time brick and mortar business owner.

Jen was there with me every step of the way.

We found the people necessary to be able to explain those various aspects of opening a storefront to me and to my contractors, which made that process very, you know, low barrier, which was really great.

I definitely felt like really supported throughout every aspect of this process with the grant from start to finish, from contracting all the way to now, we actually just completed our notice of completion on the contracting here in my store.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to what OED does in the future.

I know that this is first of its kind, and I am so glad that I got to be a part of it.

I know that sneaker care is not A PARTICULARLY POPULAR INDUSTRY, BUT IT IS A BIG ONE.

IT'S A MULTIBILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY.

AND, YOU KNOW, NIKE HAS BEAVERTON AND SEATTLE HAS THE RESEALED 206, SO I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE CITY MORE, WORKING WITH THE COUNCIL MORE ON BRINGING SEEKER CARE TO THE NORTHWEST.

AND THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO RIGHT THERE.

AND TAKEA, I DO HAVE A PAIR OF SCUFFED JORDANS THAT I WILL BE BRINGING over to you to see if you can't help me out a little bit.

But thank you very much.

Really appreciate that.

Thank you.

Dr. McIntyre?

Yes.

I've been told that Takiyah has to go to, she has, do you have to leave right away?

Because I thought that you had limited time.

And if that is the case, I just had one question about your project.

If not, I can wait until the end.

I think she does have to go.

So why don't you jump in?

Yeah, what did you do to your space?

What kind of, um, yeah, actually.

Yeah.

So we actually had, um, completely, you know, uh, what do you call it?

Uh, empty shell.

When I got, when I acquired the space, um, we contracted with Metis construction, um, to help us build out the storefront.

I'm not gonna, I'm actually here now.

I can kind of show you behind me some of the things.

Um, so we did some build out of some.

cubicles and furniture.

I got my point of sale there as well.

We got some machinery and equipment back here.

We're still in the process of build out, just kind of taking it day by day, which has also been great that there hasn't been necessarily any restrictions on when things get done.

It's more of just like, you know, being able to build as I go.

So a lot of the funding that I received from the TI grant went to the physical construction with the contractors, as well as some larger machinery and things pertinent to the business.

Thank you.

And then I think Council President mentioned, but I know you've got to go.

I think you're participating in the Black Tech Night tonight, right?

Yes, I will be there.

So yeah, I'm actually headed there now.

I can stay for a few more minutes if you guys have any other questions for me, though.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks, you guys.

The next pillar is highly correlated with the one we just talked about, building BIPOC community wealth.

I'm going to quote Dr. Rafael Bostic, who's the chair of the Atlanta Fed, who said that we have a moral and economic imperative to end systemic racism.

And we really take that to heart.

That's part of why we have that guiding principle of an inclusive economy is we've got to figure out a way to close the racial wealth gap here in Seattle and in this region.

And so we have a number of programs that are really focused on this.

We've mostly invested recently in commercial affordability and access to capital, because those are two things that we heard very loud and clear from businesses where they need some support and some help.

Hopefully you've heard about our Seattle Restored program, which is helping connect entrepreneurs and artists with vacant storefronts.

It's been really successful getting pop-ups in there, but we really want to evolve it beyond pop-ups to longer-term leases.

I'm very proud to say that we have 10 of our participants that have signed long-term leases, but we know there's a lot more to learn and a lot more we can do with that matchmaking to build it out.

So I'm really pleased to announce that today, JPMorgan Chase has announced a $200,000 contribution to the Seattle Restored Program to help us with that evolution and really think about longer-term leases.

So it's just showing how by the public sector leading with some innovative ideas, we can then attract some private sector participation and really start to stack those funds and have a public-private partnership.

So I'm really excited about that.

And I think that it's emblematic of...

Congratulations.

That's good news.

Thanks.

It's great news.

I just wanted to note that.

That's a huge announcement.

um and actually we'll be having a seattle restored valentine's night valentine's day valentine's night market uh next week on valentine's day at fifth and pike so again another lovely event if you want to go support our local businesses and activate downtown um i'll keep moving along so related to all of this as you heard from Takiyah is it's not just the funding, it's also thinking about the wraparound support that businesses need.

That's really how you create access is it's not just a pile of money, it's thinking about how do you and what does your specific business need and how can we tailor some support for you?

So we've got a number of different programs that do that and we're continuing to try to grow and listen to the businesses and the workers and understand exactly what they need to make sure that we've got resources for them.

Here's a great map, and you'll have this in the presentation, but it just shows the breadth, the geographic breadth of our community wealth building programs.

It is highly correlated to the Office of Planning and Community Development's equity index.

So this is thinking about where there's high risk of displacement.

So that's, again, where we want to kind of focus our efforts, focus our investments, make sure we're shoring that up.

The next pillar is thinking about placemaking, so investing in neighborhood business districts.

Many of you are district council members, so we're excited to talk to you specifically about the neighborhood business districts that are there.

And we think of this as part of our capacity building effort.

So how are we really making sure that there is an ecosystem to support the businesses that really makes the neighborhoods vibrant and really is kind of the heart and soul of Seattle, what makes us unique and interesting.

We've got a specific focus right now on downtown.

It is the economic driver for the city, the region, the state, and it really does need some TLC.

So we'll be back to talk to you about the Downtown Activation Plan soon.

But know that again, I mentioned OED is multidimensional.

While we have a focus in downtown, we are still doing a lot of work in many of the neighborhoods and the neighborhood business districts around the city.

And Council President Nelson mentioned BIAs.

We'll certainly wanna talk to you about business improvement areas.

We have 11 of them across the city.

We would like to see more.

We think they're a really valuable tool for helping with economic self-determination in our neighborhoods.

And so we wanna think about how are we setting neighborhoods up?

How are we, again, kind of adapting and tailoring that tool to the specific neighborhoods?

So that's something we're gonna be excited to talk to you about soon.

The final pillar is growing businesses in key industries.

We mentioned talent and workforce being a huge driver for this, but we're also involved in some policy efforts.

We do a lot of work with industry associations.

So it's a really multifaceted approach to how we're supporting our key industries and making sure that businesses have an opportunity to grow and expand here.

We talked a little bit about the green economy and that being kind of a cross-cutting cluster.

There's also the creative economy, which is hugely vital, especially as we're thinking about revitalizing neighborhoods and downtown.

Commerce often follows culture, and so as we think about How are we making this a great place for culture to flourish?

Business will follow.

So we have our film commission.

We also oversee and staff the music commission.

So we'll be back to talk to you about both of those into the future.

So I wanna finish.

with our quick snap of our work plan, because being multidimensional, you could do a whole bunch of stuff and peanut butter yourself all around and not actually show any outcomes.

But we're really keen on making sure that we demonstrate impact with our investments.

You heard from Takiyah kind of a case example of that, but we want more and we wanna really make sure that we're making smart, impactful investments routinely, that that is our MO.

So our top priorities, and we did this for each of our teams, where we set out priorities, like things we want to accomplish within the year, some moonshots, so those are our stretch goals of things we'd like to make progress on, even if we don't fully bring home.

And then the strategies we're going to use unique to this year.

So our top priorities, one is continue to develop a positive, high-performing, and welcoming team culture.

It doesn't happen without our tremendous, talented staff.

You can have all the money in the world, but if you don't have the great people, it doesn't matter.

So we're really focused on building that great team.

We want to have an accountability system for all the investments that we talked to you about.

We want to have clear strategies for workforce development, our small business division, and the future of special events.

And then, of course, I mentioned downtown being a priority area.

For some of our moonshots, thinking about south downtown, there's a lot of consequential decisions happening there with sound transit.

Washdot has a number of properties.

There's some holes in the ground.

King County is talking about its campus real development.

There's a lot of action happening in south downtown.

We want to expand OED's presence in ground floor space.

So how are we being available and responsive to folks in real time?

Thinking about AI and the future of work.

And then I mentioned special events, but it's Similar to workforce, it's got some fragmented functions across the city.

We need to consolidate that into a coherent, proactive special events approach.

And then some of our strategies, we wanna bring home the state and federal bacon.

It's out there, there's a lot of money at both the state and the federal level.

And we think we wanna, we have some great strategies here.

We want to leverage our investments with other public sector investments.

We think that's a winning strategy.

As we do our accountability, scaling up what's working or getting rid of or reducing or reworking what's not, that's gonna be especially important in the budget context.

We need to do a better job of telling our story.

Again, we have great impact with the work that we do, but we wanna get that out more.

And hopefully that'll also encourage people to come to us when they need help, see us as a resource.

And then I'll harp on it again, but we wanna, build and develop our team.

So having performance management and professional development systems that really foster that is gonna be a key strategy for us this year.

So I know I threw a lot at you, went through many different things.

It's probably too much in one setting, but wanted to kind of show you just how multifunctional we are and that we're working on a whole bunch of different strategies.

We will be setting up individual meetings with each of you.

We really wanna hear what your priorities are in the realm of economic developments and figure out how we're gonna partner together.

We also wanna be able to dive deeper into your specific districts, as well as any questions you might have here.

And then we want you to see us as a partner and a resource.

So engage with us.

We have Alicia Thiel who's here, who's our council liaison.

So any questions you can route through Alicia.

But otherwise, please get to know our programs so that when you get questions from your constituents or you have ideas or you have problems, you see us as a partner in trying to help resolve them.

Thanks very much for the time and I'll stand for any questions.

May I?

Yes, go ahead.

Thank you.

I just had a couple comments, no questions at all.

Thank you, director.

I'm a small business owner myself, and so really excited to be serving on this committee with another small business owner as well.

And I definitely wanted to give a shout out to the storefront repair program.

a frequent restaurant on Queen Anne called Sushi Samurai.

They're a vegan sushi...

I know, vegan and sushi, you're like, what?

But their window was broken, and they recently reached out to your office and got their storefront fixed, which was really important to them because they did not know that program existed.

They heard it through the grapevine and found out about it, and it's just like a true testament of how government works and how...

you know, we can continue to enhance our small businesses as well.

And so I wanted to point that out.

And then I can't begin to tell you how many people in District 3 that I talked to that, you know, I would mention something in their restaurant.

They're like, oh, OED bought that for us.

We got that as a grant.

And just that impact.

So that is definitely spreading throughout.

Definitely word of mouth and loving to hear you all tell your story as well, I think is really, really key and pivotal.

So I just wanted to share that.

Love that feedback.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Madam Council President, thank you.

First, I want to give a shout out to my D3 colleague for promoting District 7 Queen Anne businesses.

Yes, right there on the Ave.

I really like that very much.

And speaking of supporting businesses, I don't know if you've seen, I was always activating downtown one coffee and a donut or porosky or whatever it may be at a time.

And I think that's very important for people to come down.

And as Council President noted, it all starts with a safe base, and that's got to be a key thing.

And I know this is also something that you're aware of in terms of the arts and culture avenue.

We were at an event not too long ago with a partnership between the arts and culture community and DSA, and many times in those presentations, public safety came up, so we really need to work that, and as chair of the Public Safety Committee, that's going to be very important to me and, you know, the main driver of what we do with our committee.

In another area, just as a forewarning for when we do meet, as a retired naval officer, I am very interested in terms of the relationship between the city and the port and how that plays into economic, goes to global economy, maritime trade, international trade is maritime trade for the most part, and also to these pieces like south downtown.

How can we do things better by really taking the maritime industrial lands, but going to that next step in creating a partnership to, you know, to find opportunities to then move forward.

And I think that would be a fantastic endeavor for this committee and will definitely be something that I'm of interest in.

And so thank you very much for coming.

And I look forward to working with you on those areas.

You know, the arts and culture, for example, that's definitely very, very important throughout District 7. So thank you.

And again, thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth, for supporting District 7 businesses.

Any other comments before?

Go ahead.

All right, so thank you, Director McIntyre.

I really appreciate this insightful presentation, empowering for me personally.

So I come from a background of business in the past 10 years in the private sector, and before that, law school, and before that, military.

But I am not a small business owner.

But I do recognize, having represented, as a lawyer, small businesses, businesses of all sizes, sole entrepreneur, someone starting their own janitorial services business through Fortune 500 companies, I recognize the value that businesses, especially small businesses, have to our local economy, and so I appreciate the work you all do to support our small businesses, especially, and make sure they are empowered.

And we're positioned to...

pursue and go after the next big thing.

And during the campaign, I, as some may know, I doorbelled and spoke to thousands and thousands and thousands of people.

And it was over 16,000 personally doors.

It's not an exaggeration, a number that I personally knocked on.

And amongst that was many small business owners and their workers.

And again, for me, it was a really empowering experience to hear their concerns.

And there is a great, we've made some progress, more progress to go.

And I'm looking forward to working closely with you, your office, and my colleagues to help bring about the kind of change that we wanna see in Seattle.

And also plus one on those comments on the inter, I guess, well, the relationship between small businesses and public safety.

And yeah, I couldn't agree more.

And I've had workers, I've had business owners of small businesses telling me, hey, look, have this shop downtown.

I'd ideally like my workers to come into the office more, but they tell me I don't feel safe.

And how...

How do I respond to that?

I can't.

So the work you all do, plus the important public safety overlay is really, really important.

Just want to make sure we're all clear on that.

Also, in your work, And I'm really delighted to see that we have a whole future of Seattle economy agenda, and that we're actively looking at that and studying that.

Something that's also really, really important to me, to make sure that we understand what the next big thing is from an innovation and industry standpoint and whether a specific sector or industry or application or implementation of any technology like generative AI or whatever it is, we are closely tracking and monitoring that, understanding what the sort of unique value proposition that Seattle has and how Seattle is best positioned relative to other jurisdictions to help drive and grow that thing in Seattle as opposed to elsewhere.

And also understanding opportunities for Seattle to continue to get better in that area.

So looking forward to working again with you and your office and my colleagues to make sure that Seattle has a, continues to have a diverse and thriving economy.

So that was some comments.

Quick question though, on slide 11, which was the climate workforce investments piece, I noticed that there are a few examples on that slide of the South Seattle college program and the Duwamish Valley youth programming, which are both coincidentally in my district, district one, the first district.

So just curious to learn more about whether there are any ways that I can personally support that effort and collaborate with you and this whole youth training because it's very, very important to me.

Yeah, I mean, I think we'd love to have your partnership on those.

Did you want to say anything specifically about...

either of those programs?

Yeah, I think, you know, you saw the map that Director McIntyre showed of where a lot of his offices of investments are.

And we have a similar map that shows investments in RSJI priority neighborhoods.

And South Park, Georgetown, Southwest Seattle, those are places that we invest in.

So we would love to bring you to see some of those places.

They're really great partnerships.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Yeah, we'll get you briefed up.

And then I think it's then figuring out What roles do we play and how can you support?

But we'd love to do it.

Awesome.

Let's go.

Great.

Thank you, both directors, for your presentation today.

I echo my colleagues' appreciation of OED for all the work that you all do, the staff I see back there on behalf of small businesses across the city.

In particular, in District 4, we've had a very difficult situation with small businesses experiencing public safety issues.

I was talking with a small business owner yesterday who's been in the restaurant business for over 20 years who was telling me that between 06 and 2020, there was one break-in in one of their restaurants, and that was because One of their staff accidentally left a window open.

And then between 20 and 23, they've had over 20 break-ins.

You know, that's not...

Obviously, there were some actions that happened there on the public safety front that we need to address.

But, you know, this is a reality for small businesses and so very much appreciate the storefront program.

I will say I believe that program is being funded with one-time federal funding, which is going to come to an end soon here.

So I know that we need to figure out how are we going to continue to support our businesses given that that funding, you know, will expire here soon.

So we'll have to figure that out.

I'll say I, you know, I wanted to give a special recognition to Philip Sitt, who I didn't see here today because he's been very responsive with his OED staff, has been very responsive to the businesses in my district, very much appreciate his partnership.

And Philip and I worked together during COVID addressing some of the issues that small businesses were experiencing at that time.

And so really that's just a testament to the work that OED is doing and And like I said, Phillip in particular, so wanted to use this as an opportunity to recognize staff because when they really go above and beyond, I think it's important to recognize our city staff.

That said, there's so much more to do.

And I will say that on the downtown activation plan, I look forward to an opportunity, hopefully in the near future, to have a presentation just on the DAP because I will say I'm very appreciative.

And I think the mayor's doing a really great job with the, addressing public safety downtown, but I have huge concerns as I walk around downtown, as I did today during lunch.

There are a lot of empty storefronts.

There's a lot of graffiti.

There's still a lot of issues.

There are a lot of businesses that I used to go to that are no longer there, and that is very upsetting, to say the least.

And I haven't seen any progress on that front, to be frank.

And it's not to say there aren't things happening that we don't know about, but we don't know about it.

So that's something that I'm looking forward to digging into and finding out more because I wanna make sure that we all here are supporting whatever the efforts are on the ground to really make some headway in that space.

I represent District 4, District 4 residents, when I spoke with residents are also very interested in what's happening downtown.

They do not want to come downtown because of the public safety issues.

And so we need to address those as well.

But we also need to make sure there are vibrant businesses for them to come to and come and support.

And without those businesses downtown, they're not going to come.

even if we try to do something, you know, the public safety issues.

So don't want to belabor the point, but really do want to hear more about planning on this front, hopefully soon.

Yeah, looking forward to giving that presentation.

And just the quick thing, we're on the right trajectory, but we've got a lot left to do.

The good news is we have some ideas.

And again, welcome your partnership on that.

Thank you, Director McIntyre.

I mean, ideas are important, but we also need to see some progress because it's hard to talk to our constituents and convince them to come downtown if we don't see progress.

And that's all of us working together.

So that's not on one entity or one person, but we have to have the hard conversations and what we can do to move the needle.

Thank you.

Thank you for those comments.

There was a time last two years, when I was the go-to person for reporters to come to to comment on the latest break-in.

Serafina was broken into 19 times or 18 times or whatever, a collection of Ballard small businesses.

When you put your life savings, when you have to put your house up for collateral to get the bank loan, people feel small businesses are extremely invested and there's a lot of risk involved.

And so they feel in many ways abandoned by the city for not being more responsive to their business.

basically their repeat break-ins, but also the potential for their livelihood to be taken away in their nest egg, in the generational wealth that they were hoping to pass along.

I think that we know the SPD staffing shortage is a big reason, and I am interested in working with my colleague here to talk about what is going on with staffing, what is going on with how how is the drug ordinance playing out, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and if that's what you're getting at, ideas.

But let's really understand.

We've got a lot of information sharing to do for new members, and clearly, we're asking a lot of questions because this is a different makeup, and this is something that's a top priority to all of us.

So it might sound like we're making a lot of demands, but that's because people here campaigned on this issue, and that's what our voters want us to do.

Madam Council President, I just have to take advantage to note that the first public safety committee meeting will be next Tuesday morning.

I'm sure a lot of attention will be given to that committee meeting.

But moving on, I just want to say that with Markham, I've been really optimistic with you and with also Mayor Harreld that we are turning a corner in bridging the divide that I think has been too wide, too deep between City Hall and the business community for so long.

And that was one of my missions as a small business owner to try to make some amends and to work in partnership more to show that we recognize that part of our governmental function is to support and help businesses businesses that generate 50 percent of our tax revenue just downtown those downtown businesses and i don't know what the figure is city-wide to say nothing for creating jobs and making our neighborhoods vibrant places in seattle more fun so we are so i i just want to say thank you thank you very much for this presentation your ongoing work for people that don't know What OED used to be like, Markham has, in two short years, staffed up with extremely talented people, extremely committed people, and has put an organized structure around your lines of business that are informed by hours and hours and hours of community outreach and stakeholdering, in addition to your many years at the Chamber, really, really understanding the issues that businesses face.

And so I do say that I think that with us and with the mayor's administration, we can make some really positive strides.

And then my last plug will be, when I alluded to your budget, I really take—I am attracted to the model that San Francisco's London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, put forward, facing some of the same drastic, you know, budget needs down there.

The—she directed departments to take 5 percent cuts and then 8 percent cuts, but she excluded the public safety—first responders, police, fire, et cetera.

the Office of Economic Development or whatever the equivalent is down there, because what do we want to do?

We want to grow revenue.

We want to do everything that we can.

This is what she was saying, support economic activity to keep those taxes rolling in to fund government.

So in any case, that's where my heart is going forward.

Just wanted to note that.

Okay.

Thank you very much for coming.

Let's be in touch.

Thanks so much for having me.

Looking forward to meeting you all individually and talking more about this.

Thanks.

Yep.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please read the next item into the record?

Agenda item number two, Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission Overview, Briefing and Discussion.

While you're getting settled, I just wanted to say that because I added accountability to the title of this committee, I thought that I should call our first most, well, I look at, here's how I see it.

accountability operationalized in the city of Seattle, primarily through two offices.

Well, the city auditor and also, and then your shop, sir.

And I am, it's a signal to the importance I see in what you do and also the importance of that function as we carry out our duties as elected officials.

So thank you so much for agreeing to come and talk to us today.

I don't know the last time that you made a briefing in chambers, but thank you very much for accepting the invitation.

Well, thank you very much, Madam Council President and fellow new council members.

So it's nice to see you all.

Pleasure to see you all.

I've never looked up and seen so many new faces.

It's just very jarring.

I used to maybe like one looking for the one new face.

Now it's...

one old face, so not old.

That would be mine.

That's right.

My name is Wayne Barnett and I'm the Executive Director of the Ethics and Elections Commission.

And I'm here today to give you just kind of like a 30,000 foot overview of what we do.

Not gonna go into details.

I'm just gonna give you like the broadest possible overview.

So indulge me and ask any questions as we go along, if they occur to you.

So we've been around in one form or another for more than 50 years.

In 1971, the city first created a fair campaign political practices commission to enforce the elections code.

And really the elections code, I'd like to think of us as more the FEC.

We don't have anything to do with administering elections.

We don't count votes, we don't mail ballots.

We don't do any of the things you think of in terms of elections.

We really just follow the money.

So we count who's giving contributions and where the money is going.

That's our only interest in elections.

So, you know, calling us the Ethics Elections Commission is a little bit of a misnomer.

And we also, and the Board of Ethics itself was established in November of 1971. And the Board of Ethics was really designed to administer the city's ethics code, which is one of our hallmark codes.

I think Seattle has always been very proud of its ethics code and its ethics culture.

That's one of our, the things I inherited when I came here and I hope to pass it along to my successor, so.

And then 20 years later, in 1991, they combined those two commissions into the Ethics and Elections Commission.

So, and that's the job I have.

And what we do, here's the biggest picture.

I like to think of this as pretty much the reason we exist.

And it's, we exist to foster public confidence in government.

We don't really, we can't create public confidence in government.

We can't promote it or we just, there's nothing, we can't guarantee it.

All I'm saying is all we can really do is foster it.

We exist so that people know that there is an agency that their tax dollars support, which is designed to make sure that government operates as effectively as it can and as ethically as it can.

So that's our role.

And this language from the Enabling Ordinance, which goes back 50 years, says the city finds that the proper operation of democratic representative government requires that public officers and employees be independent, impartial, and responsible to the people.

that government decisions and policy be made in the proper channels of the governmental structure, that public office not be used for personal gain, and that the public have confidence in the integrity of its government.

So really, that's now all I do every day.

I show up and I love my job because all I have to do is, like, make sure that that gets fulfilled.

That's what I strive for.

It's a great job.

Who is the commission?

We are a seven-member commission.

I work for them.

They hire and fire me.

Three of those members are appointed by the mayor.

Three of them are appointed by you.

And those six together choose the seventh.

So that's the structure of our commission.

And I think really that goes to show like what, the way our government is organized.

I think the tension, if there is any, it's not between parties, because we're nonpartisan.

It's not between areas.

It's just, it's between the legislative and the executive branches.

That's, any tension there is, is kind of inherent in that relationship.

I'm just saying, like, that's, there is some natural tension there.

It's like, you are the executive, you're the legislative, and the mayor is the executive, so we kind of divide the authority for the commission between those two offices, and they together choose the seventh, so...

None of my commissioners can be active politically in the life of the city while they're on the commission.

That's another key thing.

I would hate to have, like, you know, a matter involving, like, a council member, and then it turns out my...

I have a commissioner who has to recuse themselves because they were supporting that council member or their opponent.

So that's a key part of my job.

What we do, the details, this is where we get into the nitty gritty.

First off, we administer and we enforce the ethics code.

The ethics code is very, we always say it's a floor, it's not a ceiling.

It just, it's like the minimum things you have to do to do your job.

It's like you can't have a conflict of interest in a matter before you.

You can't misuse your position for your private benefit.

That's in the enabling, you know, the purpose statement there.

You also can't accept gifts that somebody would think were given to you with an intent to influence your official judgment.

And that's really, that's the ethics code.

It's those three things.

And my whole, most of my job is advising on that.

I think of myself more as an advisor than as a cop walking the beat.

My role is to help people comply with the ethics code because I do think most people want to comply.

And occasionally people, we have people who don't want to comply.

We have a lot of employees here.

You know, we can't have everyone rowing their oars in the same direction.

So occasionally that employee will be trying to row in the other direction.

And it's my job to be as a resource for people who think that, who notice that and report it.

So, and in that case, I turn into a, put on my enforcement hat and we can go against them and find them and take whatever actions we think are appropriate.

We also administer and enforce the elections code, which is, again, it's those rules we put in about just making sure that your reports are filed timely and they're accurate.

We just need to know who is giving you money and where you're spending the money.

That's the whole...

thing under the elections code.

So if those are complied with, that's good.

We also administer the whistleblower protection code, which is, you know, it's really not, it's not a huge part of our work, but it's one of the important things we do.

We just, we are a place for city employees primarily to come and say like, hey, this thing going on in my office, I don't think it's right.

And if it violates the law or creates a public danger to safety or grossly wastes public money, then we can investigate that.

So we can't enforce it just because it's it's it's so blunderbuss.

I mean, think about somebody called me and said, like, I think the mayor's text messages are missing.

So that's and what I did was we investigated and we didn't find anybody.

We just put out a report said.

You know, these messages were missing, and that was concealed from the public.

So that's what we do in the Whistleblower Protection Code.

Yes.

Can I ask a question about that?

So what happens if somebody blows the whistle about activity that could be illegal?

I mean, but not just unethical.

I mean, at what point or how closely do you work with the CAO?

When do you kick things over?

I work with the CAO when I have to hire an expert.

Frankly, under the Whistleblower Protection Code, A lot of times I'll get complaints, which, like I said, like the mayor's text message case.

That was when I had to reach out to them and ask them to get me an expert in the Public Records Act who could help me sort through that.

So, but yeah, and you know, there are times where I will occasionally have to call the police, but for the most part, I don't get those kinds of complaints.

Okay, thank you.

So we also administer and enforce the lobbying code, which is, that's one of the newer ordinance you've adopted.

It goes back to 2008, so 15 years ago, you adopted a lobbying code.

That's to just make sure that people who are paid to influence legislative actions, they have to just register.

We don't bar them from doing anything, we just require that it all be done in the open.

So sunshine and transparency is our key role there.

And then we also, together with the Seattle Channel and King County Elections, we produced the Video Voters Guide.

That's, as you all know, four of the five of you did one recently.

So it's just, it's a video statement.

It's two minutes for you to make your case to voters on why you deserve their vote.

since you're at this table, you succeeded in that.

So congratulations.

But yeah, we produced that together with King County Elections, which does the written voters pamphlets.

We do the video voters guide just as another way to get information out there to voters on important decisions they have to make.

The last thing we do is we administer the city's democracy voucher program.

That's the newest thing we have.

And that really isn't related to our accountability role so much, but it is the role of making sure that everybody has a say in who gets elected.

I mean, it's really democratizing the election process.

It's like everybody gets a vote, but if you don't have any say in...

So if you're directing your dollars to who's on the ballot, you really, your vote doesn't in the end matter that much, you know, because it's really who sets the table.

So that we do as well.

How we do it, this is just, we are a very lean operation.

So I say that to you proudly.

I have one employee who is dedicated to the elections code.

She was the city, she was the elections auditor before she took on a larger role.

that she is now a strategic advisor, and she just audits all the reports filed.

So it's like, when a report comes in, she audits it and also advises campaigns on complying with the law.

That's a key thing.

We always make sure that people have to know the rules, because we can't enforce rules if we hide the rules.

So everybody has to know them, and we make sure everybody does.

I have an 80% employee who's dedicated to the ethics code.

He's been with us for 35 years, not with my office, but with the city for 35 years.

Was actually legal counsel to Mayor Royer a long time ago.

So yeah, he helps me to advise people on what the law requires and also trains on it, and then he does also fill an investigative role at times.

I have one employee devoted to the lobbying code, just really getting that up and running, you know, because it's only been 13 years now, but it is still kind of a work in progress.

But, you know, it's just making sure that it's all transparent.

How is that enforced?

Well, it's enforced, really right now it's more cajoling.

We really, we've yet to issue a fine under it.

We really are just like, you know, we call them like, hey, can you please file this report?

We're really looking for a report from you.

And then they file.

So, yeah.

And it is, it's just, it's written, it's electronic filing.

So lobbyists just have to go in and report how much they've earned and who's paid them and who they've contacted.

Now that's the other key thing.

It now includes who they've contacted.

And that all just has to be public.

And when it's public, we're fine.

So yeah, like I said, so we've never done an enforcement action under it.

It's just been cajoling so far.

It's kind of like, oh, we need this stuff.

And I get done.

So I actually have two employees who do the tech work for the office, which is something I never thought I would have.

But so much of our work now is technology.

It's really getting all this online, that it's seamless.

You know, as soon as you file your campaign finance reports, They're public information.

They're not just public to us.

They are public to the wider world.

So I've got two people who work almost, one works 0.6% of the time and the other one's full-time.

And they're right.

They're all just about getting it out there and making sure that our system is vibrant.

Yeah.

The three employees dedicated to the democracy voucher program, they're funded by that democracy voucher levy that passed.

And I oversee everything.

So I'm kind of the, Backstop, or the person whose name's on the door.

Our annual general fund budget is only $1.3 million.

With that, I think we deliver you all a good product.

I hope you think so.

And the democracy fund budget is $3 million a year.

And that's really us.

I just told you everything about us.

Any questions?

I do.

On the democracy voucher program, that has to be renewed next year, is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, so will it just go, it has to go back to the voters, right?

Or are we making changes to it?

to the program or to the rules or anything before?

Tell me how it works.

I suspect there might be.

I mean, some people have suggested changes, so we're going to be taking a look now in the next year and a half, looking at what people suggest and looking at how the program works and figuring out whether we can refine it at all.

And then, yes, then we'll be putting it back before the voters and asking them to renew it.

And is a tax increase also on the table, or does it have to be a certain percentage or that fixed amount?

It has been $3 million a year for the last 10 years.

Whether we can do it in that amount, I don't know.

So that's on the table.

And will this committee be looking at whatever planned?

What does this committee do as you are planning to make any changes or put it back on the ballot, if any?

Well, I think ultimately you would be the ones who put it on the ballot.

I wouldn't have no role in putting it on the ballot.

So ultimately I think it would be this committee that would be the first committee where it would arrive.

And you'd say like, this we'll put on the ballot or no, we won't, or this is what we think ought to be.

So yeah, it would be a collaboration.

Right.

Because council's role is to just put something on the ballot, make changes, at least when with initiatives driven by the people, we have a choice of putting it, sending it straight to King County.

making changes, putting an alternate.

And so I just didn't know if any changes would be considered an alternate to the original or how that would work.

I think right now the plan is that it would be the city that would put it on the ballot.

I mean, frankly, eight of you have been elected or...

now appointed have used the program.

So I think the thinking is that the city ought to be the body that puts it on the ballot and not another signature gathering move on the public's part.

So it'll come to you to potentially look at and put on the ballot.

Maybe we'll ask the commission to come and talk about whatever changes they're anticipating if there is conversation about any changes to the program.

Of course, we can be available.

I was just going to ask whether there's going to be any type of analysis, Wayne, that your office is going to do about the program, how well it's working, whether it will be recommended to put on the ballot again.

And that's something I'm unclear because I know it was driven by voters.

So I don't even know if is this something that we would automatically have to put back on the ballot or is there some kind of analysis already?

we're able to do and then ask, you know, and then put it on the ballot, say.

Every two years, we do do an analysis.

We've done, like, interviews, and we've gathered all the data and done a report.

That was required under the initiative language.

It was like, hey, every two years, study this.

Tell us how it's working.

So we've done that the last four cycles.

I think we'll be doing that again this year.

And then I think, obviously, we would hope to put something together for you to look at in the end.

Would you be able to sort of package all that up?

It sounds like there's a every two years report and package all that up and consolidate into one sort of master report as part of the broader set of analysis and recommendations, if any, on any tweaks potentially needed and present that to us as part of this whole process when we decide if we put that forward before voters again?

I believe so, yes.

I can't imagine a world in which I would say no to that, but...

Well, I guess I'm definitely also interested in making sure we have a full kind of accounting on the performance and a full understanding of the performance to date and whether it's lived up to its intended goals and how is it actually driving participation, which, as I understand, are the stated goals and things like that before we go and ask voters to do it again.

So next year is that, so 25?

25.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Money runs out.

The last taxes are collected on it in December 31st of 2005, 2015, 2025.

And will you also recommend a term for that renewal if it comes up?

I think that would be part of it.

Yes.

And how long was the original?

10 years.

10 years.

Okay.

Wow.

10 year levy.

And remind us, this was a property tax increase?

It was a property tax.

Lish is saying yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Lish.

Yeah, central staff.

Lish.

Well, you've got a lot of lived experience here as counsel, as people that have just gotten done being candidates, and so happy to maybe be a focus group or two or subject for whatever conversations are being had to think about improvements, changes, et cetera.

Another question.

This might seem very basic to you, but you talked about Seattle's ethics code being a model of the country, or that's what I inferred from what you said, that we're above average.

So how do new codes get added or changed?

I mean, what is the process for modifying our ethics code or adding a new one?

I mean, now that we're in the computer age, maybe that changes things.

So can you describe that process?

Does the commission get together and say, we're going to renew our ethics code?

And how does that work?

You know, in 2009 was the last time we undertook a comprehensive review of our ethics code.

Frankly, I joined the office in 2004, and five years later, I kind of led the office on kind of a review of the ethics code, just seeing were we still doing best practices?

Were we kind of like where we needed to be, as you said, above average?

Were we still there at Lake Wobegon where everyone was above average?

And I did, you know, so I did that review, or the whole office did the review, and we did make some changes in 2009. I think the key thing we did in 2009 was we created a disclosure method for some things.

We just said, like, it was the reasonable appearance stuff.

People always said, like, oh, we have a great ethics code.

You can't even do anything if it appears that you're violating, you know, it appears it would be in your own interest or appears you'd have a conflict.

So that used to be the way the code worked.

The appearance, everything, appearance problems were the same as like immediate family member.

You couldn't act on a matter in which you had an appearance of a conflict.

But what I found was that like, we considered so little to actually violate the appearance standard just because it had those drastic results.

If anything you had an appearance problem with, you had to recuse yourself.

Lo and behold, you know, the city just starts very narrowly looking at what would be that matter.

I mean, I think there was something where someone's boyfriend or girlfriend was involved.

I said, well, I don't think that would, that wouldn't be an appearance problem.

So I was like, that actually doesn't matter.

We do want to know if you're going to decide on hiring your romantic partner.

So that's, so I changed that to disclosure.

We changed that to disclosure.

You changed it to disclosure.

So yeah.

So that was the key thing we did back then.

Yeah, in 2000, I don't really think ethics really changes much.

So when you think about the code having to change much, I've not seen anything in the last couple of years.

I've been like, wow, we really need to update our ethics code because this is happening.

I think most of them are very standard.

They're kind of fixed.

We really don't have much in the way of evolving ethical norms.

So somebody, and I'm going to look in that direction, and you'll be able to ask a question if you're trying to signal me, but if an employee has, thinks that something is fishy in their department or whatever, and they think that there's an ethics violation going on, they call you, and then what do you do?

Do you think that, then do you decide whether or not it is sent to the commission to discuss and then figure out if it deserves a fine, or how does...

What is the workflow for authority from complaint to...

Are we saying they filed a complaint?

If they just call and say, like, is this fishy?

I'm going to want to talk to them, obviously.

First thing is, like, so what are you seeing?

What are you thinking?

And then, you know, if it doesn't strike me as much, I might just say, like, I really don't think this is an enforcement matter.

I mean, I do hear you.

This sounds not the best, but could we maybe...

Could you maybe have a conversation with that person?

Could you just somehow...

Could I trust you to, like, take some action that you would, like, vindicate your feelings, but still...

allow the work to go on.

But if somebody calls me and says, like, something drastic, you know, I don't know, I just, this person who's issuing permits is actually preparing permit applications and submitting them, that would be like, shoot, I gotta do something.

So that's, you know, there is some judgment involved in, like, whether it is an enforcement matter or an advice matter.

But if I do, if I think, That, like, where somebody's preparing permit applications and submitting them to their department, then, like, walking down the hall, like, hey, this is mine.

Please push this along.

That would be one where I would file charges.

I would have to, like, I'd do the investigation, make sure that it actually was...

that there was evidence that that was going on.

And then I would file charges.

And then it would be up to that person to come in and either defend themselves or settle.

The other thing, most people settle.

It's not that different from court.

Most people don't want to have a hearing and have their reputation dragged through the mud.

So they'll usually settle.

So I have to be very careful about not abusing that fact, though, because most people don't want to People don't want to fight with us, so I have to make sure, like, I kind of fight with myself on their behalf.

But yes.

Is that clear or no?

Yeah, I just didn't know who makes ultimately decisions.

I've called you to ask questions for advice before, but I just don't know.

Like, for example, a campaign violation, somebody would call you and then you kick it to the commission.

I just never know when it gets elevated.

Right.

Okay.

It generally gets elevated if there's some kind of like dispute between me and the person and they're not willing to resolve it.

That's when things get to the commission usually.

Okay.

Any questions?

One question, Madam Council President.

And it makes sense that I am placed on this committee from the accountability piece because of the nine departments or offices that fall under my committee, the Public Safety Committee, three of them are basically accountability-based.

And with the Community Police Commission, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of the Inspector General.

I was curious, given the ethics piece, is there any overlap?

Has there been any history as a new person?

I don't have the history, but maybe there's a history that predates the consent decree and some of the things that have come out of the consent decree.

But I'm curious about your relationship with those other entities that have the accountability piece to their mission set and if there's been anything in the past or if it's changed and what it is right now.

Um, I think we, I've occasionally been kind of like discuss things with them as colleagues.

There was a time where I think we're office of police accountability.

Actually, they referred a matter to us just because I think the complaint was about, um, Ms. Olson, who was the auditor at that time or the office of police accountability staffer.

So I, I actually stepped into her role for that.

And I did the investigation, um, and reported that through to Ms. Levinson and, But yeah, there's no real, there's not a formal structure to the relationship there, but I think it's just kind of like, hey, you know, we've heard this or what are you hearing?

And yeah, so I would just say an informal consulting role.

Thank you for that.

You're welcome.

Any other questions?

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Wayne.

I really, Director.

Thank you.

Sorry.

I've asked you so many questions over the years that I feel that we're familiar.

In any case, thank you very much.

And I wanted to, if you have an org chart, I wanted to, it doesn't, I don't necessarily, I'll just ask the question.

Is Ms. Groh one of the employees that you mentioned having left?

Oh, no, she's still with us.

Okay, great.

Good.

I just wanted to make sure.

All right.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, this concludes the February 8th meeting of the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee.

It is 3.47.

If there is no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

No?

Okay, there is no further business.

All right.

Thank you very much, folks.

See you in a couple weeks.