Seattle City Council Briefing 3/24/2025

Good afternoon, everyone.

Today is March 24th, 2025, and the council briefing meeting will come to order.

The time is 2.03 p.m.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Kettle?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council Member Rink?

Present.

Council Member Rivera?

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Council Member Solomon?

Here.

Council Member Strauss?

Here.

Council President Nelson?

Present.

A present.

Thank you very much.

If there's no objection, the minutes of the March 17, 2025 meeting will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

All right, moving on to my president's report.

I want to recognize the passing of Representative Frank Chopp yesterday.

From becoming the Executive Director in 1983 of the Fremont Public Association, which later became solid ground, to founding the Housing Trust Fund, to his leadership of the Washington State House of Representatives, few have bent the arc of Washington's history toward justice as profoundly as Frank Chopp.

political powerhouse.

His legacy isn't best measured in Bill's past, but in families housed, dignity restored, and voices amplified.

And I know that many of my colleagues have expressed condolences to his loved ones and the impact that this is having on them and the state.

And for all of that, I ask that we honor him in a brief moment of silence.

Thank you, everyone.

I appreciate that.

On our agenda today, we have one presentation, a letter for signatures, and an executive session.

On tomorrow's City Council meeting agenda, there are three items on the introduction and referral calendar.

The weekly payment of bills and the claims ordinance.

Appointment 03080, appointment of Janet Thabaios as a member of the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy Oversight Committee for a term to December 31st, 2026. Council Bill 120960, an ordinance relating to the Lower Duwamish Waterway authorizing City Light and Seattle Public Utilities to continue expending funds to participate in environmental investigation and remediation of the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site.

And the consent calendar includes the weekly bill payment ordinance and three items.

Appointment 03080, appointment of Joy Shigaki as member of the Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District Board for a term to July 30th, 2028. Appointment 03102, appointment of Tristan Fields as member of the Urban Forestry Commission for a term to March 31st, 2027. And appointment 03103, appointment of Andrea Starbird as member of the Urban Forestry Commission for a term to March 31st, 2027. And then there are three pieces of legislation from committees on the agenda as well.

So going straight to full council for a vote, but addressed by Finance Chair Strauss, is Council Bill 120955, an ordinance relating to federal funding, authorizing department directors to accept certain grants and pass through funding in 2025 and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

From the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee, an appointment of Kirsten Grove as Director to the Department of Finance and Administrative Services for term to March 1st, 2029. And from the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee, Council Bill 120 950 an ordinance relating to reaffirming the city of Seattle as a welcoming city supporting access to reproductive health care services and gender affirming treatment in Seattle extending the responsibility of city employees to protect the provision of reproductive health care services and gender affirming treatment and adding a new a new chapter 14 115 to the Seattle Municipal Code Let's see in there.

I believe that there are some amendments to I think that there are three amendments to that that piece of legislation All right, that's that's what's happening tomorrow in full council and now moving on to presentations We've got our weekly state legislative session update with our office of intergovernmental relations Olympia team so welcome and And please, Director, introduce yourself and your team members, and then you may begin.

And I would like, hold on, I would like to recognize that Councilmember Rivera has joined us.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Council President Nelson and Council members.

I'm Mina Hashemi, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, and I'm joined virtually by our state relations team, Ana Johnson and Samir Janejo.

Thank you for having us.

Today is day 71 of the legislative session, and there are just 34 days left.

Thank you, Council President, for your remarks just now about former Speaker Frank Chopp.

I also wanted to begin my remarks today by recognizing and honoring the sudden passing Speaker Chop was an absolute force and a tireless champion for the state and the city, where he represented the 43rd legislative district until January of this year.

And as the council president noted, you all have stories and experiences working with Speaker Chop.

I had the pleasure of working for him for nine years, and those years were transformational not just for me, but also for the state of Washington.

And so I'd like to briefly share some comments from his family statement.

Frank's intellectual curiosity was as boundless as his energy.

He woke up each day with a passion to solve problems and improve people's lives.

Different people knew different sides of Frank and often identified him with a specific issue based on their experiences.

But he championed a wide range of issues that matter to Washingtonians, including affordable childcare, housing, mental health, and health care.

He changed the trajectory for home care workers, employees needing paid family leave, and students seeking job training in higher education.

He cared about preserving our farms, public lands, historic places, and wonderful park systems.

He often extended himself outside his primary areas of focus to assist people when they ask him to stand with them to right a wrong.

Thank you.

With that, I'll turn back to the legislative session.

Last week, regular legislative activity primarily revolved around policy committee hearings where lawmakers reviewed and debated bills that had recently advanced from the opposite chamber.

These hearings are part of the lead up to the April 2 deadline for bills to be passed out of policy committees.

This week, majority Democrats are set to hear their proposed operating and transportation budgets.

And these hearings set the stage for negotiations and revision before final approval.

And Samir will get into more details about that shortly.

With that, I'll turn it over to the state team.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, counsel.

In today's presentation, we'll go through an update of the Seattle priorities as well as summarize the activities from last week.

So starting with the Seattle priorities update, we condensed the list here for you to include bills that are still alive and moving.

So for public safety bills, we have Senate Bill 5098 regarding weapons in certain locations.

This bill is scheduled for an executive session this week.

House Bill 1112 regarding pro tem judges and living outside of the city of Seattle is already in Senate rules.

Our apology for the typo there, Senate rules.

House Bill 2015 regarding public safety is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Law and Justice Committee tomorrow.

Senate Bill 5595 regarding shared streets is awaiting executive action in the House Transportation Committee.

And House Bill 1423 regarding vehicle noise cameras is a waiting hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee.

Moving on, House Bill 1515, updating outdoor dining and sales center alcohol regulations, has a hearing tomorrow in the Senate.

House Bill 1733, increasing the reimbursement cap for relocation expenses, had a hearing today in the Senate.

And House Bill 1403, condo liability reform, had a hearing last week and is scheduled to be voted out of committee this week.

And House Bill 1516, also condo development bill, had a hearing last week and is awaiting executive session.

Lastly, House Bill 1774, which allows leasing of unused washed out land, is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee.

Senate Bill 5284, recycling reform legislation, is awaiting executive session in the House Environment Committee.

House Bill 1253, which expands the ability for consumer-owned utilities to enter joint use agreements, is actually in Senate rules now.

House Bill 1409, Improving the Clean Fuels Program, is scheduled for executive session later this week.

And now we have three bills related to property tax lids and lifts and flexibility.

So House Bill 1334, you've seen on this list before, but two new bills are Senate Bill 5798 and House Bill 2049. Those were just introduced this week alongside the budget proposals for the House and Senate.

And then a few child care bills.

Senate Bill 5509 related to child care siting is scheduled for an executive session or actually had executive session last week.

House Bill 1314 related to the Early Learning Facilities Grant and Loan Program is in Senate Rules Committee.

House Bill 1648, making improvements to child care workforce qualifications, is awaiting executive session.

And then two K-12 education funding bills are awaiting executive session in the House Appropriations Committee.

Moving to a recap of the last week, as mentioned, we're going to start seeing the budget proposals.

Some budget proposals were released today, and we're going to get into what those budgets actually funded probably next week once we've had some time to actually look at them and analyze them in a little more detail.

But I will go over some of the revenue proposals that were revealed publicly last week.

So the House and Senate have very different revenue proposals.

These are basically their tax bills that they will essentially they now negotiate over for inclusion in their budget.

Their respective budgets rely on these tax revenue proposals.

So the House proposed a financial intangibles tax, which is a version of a wealth tax.

Theirs is a 0.8% tax on financial intangibles.

These are assets like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds.

Their version will exempt the first $50 million.

And they also proposed a property tax lift, which we've heard about before, from the 1% cap lifting that to 3% based on inflation and population growth.

But crucially, this would be up to 3%.

House also proposed a B&O surcharge, 1% B&O surcharge on businesses with a taxable income of over $250 million.

also increased the financial institution's B&O surcharge from 1.2% to 1.9%.

And that financial institution's surcharge applies to institutions with income of more than $1 billion.

So the Senate proposals were also a financial intangible tax.

Theirs was a little different, and that was 1%, and also would apply to all assets held by individuals with more than $50 million of these assets.

A payroll expense tax is a 5% tax on the amount of payroll above the Social Security threshold, which is currently at $176,000.

And it's limited to companies with $7 million or more in payroll expenses.

I think this would also include a credit for Seattle employers who are paying the city payroll expense tax.

They also proposed a property tax lift, but different than the House one in that there is no 3% cap.

It just raises the property tax gross a little bit from 1% to the combined rate of population growth plus inflation.

They also repeal tax preferences, 20 different tax exemptions for things like in-state hauling, gold bullion, prescription drug wholesalers.

And then also the Senate proposes a sales tax cut, decreasing the state sales tax from 6.5% to 6%.

And so these are, will now be essentially the bills have been introduced.

They don't, we don't expect hearings on these bills, but these will be now negotiated between the house and Senate as they negotiate their budget proposals.

And I think these are essentially, this is the menu of options basically that is out there now.

Moving on to some climate and environment bills that were heard last week.

These bills, we've gone over in council briefings, but just as a reminder, House Bill 1497 deals with organic waste material management.

The city signed in pro on that one.

And then House Bill 1329 deals with the wholesale power purchases under the Clean Energy Transformation Act, making small improvements to help Seattle City light.

And the city testified in support on that bill.

housing, homelessness updates.

Um, the Senate, uh, did have a hearing on house bill 1217, the rest stabilization bill, uh, scheduled to be voted out of the Senate committee this week.

Um, Senate bill 5156, uh, is a bill that the house is now considering, um, that passed out of the Senate.

This would create standards to, for that would for cities to allow small, uh, elevators in smaller apartment buildings.

And then Senate Bill 5571 also passed the Senate and had a hearing in the House and also was exec out of the House Committee.

And this would regulate exterior cladding materials and prohibit cities from prohibiting certain cladding materials that are approved by the State Building Code Council.

On labor and commerce, this is a new bill that was introduced to House Bill 2020 and Senate Bill 5777. This would create a B&O tax on payment card processors, but also would include a B&O tax deduction on the payment card processing fees.

So it would be a deduction for fees, but also a tax on the processors.

Senate Bill 5041 is an unemployment insurance for striking workers also moving in the House now.

For public safety and criminal justice bills, the House heard Senate Bill 5323, which extends theft in the first degree to also include stolen property or committing the theft of property that are used by firefighters or emergency response providers.

And then House also heard Senate Bill 5202, which makes improvements to judicial orders, just small technical fixes to protection orders, and also make sure that ghost guns are under the unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree when the person is in custody control, or sorry, when the person is under certain qualifying court orders.

And then House Bill 1811 relates to crisis co-response.

The city testified pro on this bill.

This bill defines co-response in state statute and also extends some worker protections that other first responders have to co-responders.

And then Senate Bill 5101, this bill is creating a worker leave for victims of hate crimes, and the city's Crime Victim Services testified pro on this bill.

For social programs and education, Senate Bill 5214, which creates mobile market programs.

So essentially, these are for places that don't have farmers markets.

They're allowed to have what's called a mobile market, creating better access to food in the local community.

The city signed in pro on that one.

And then House Bill 1351 was heard in the Senate.

This is making clarifications to the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program to make sure that three to five-year-olds with birthdays one year before their three-years-old can still qualify for ECAP subsidies.

And we signed in pro.

transportation bills that are moving in the House now.

Senate Bill 5705 modifies some penalty amounts for certain traffic infractions, essentially doubles some traffic infraction penalties for safety-related infractions, things like seatbelt requirements, child restraint requirements, and some speeding requirements, and also using electronic devices in school zones.

I also sent Bill 5716, which expands the locations where a person can be guilty of unlawful transit conduct to also include Washington state ferries.

So, as we said, this week, we'll see the House and Senate budgets getting released.

Both chambers also then pass those budgets off the floor.

Once the budgets are passed is when the chambers and plus the governor's office will start negotiating.

Two hearings tomorrow on House Bill 2015 for public safety funding and also House Bill 1515 for alcohol modernization.

And then opposite chamber policy cutoff will be next Wednesday and happy to answer any questions.

Looking to my colleagues, thank you very much for that information.

I have a question on page 7 about the revenue.

How much do each of the revenue proposals seek to generate?

I have the full numbers for each one of those.

The Senate released some information for some of their proposals, but I'll have to check back to see if I can send around what I find about kind of how much each one would generate.

Thank you.

I actually had a similar question to the Council President.

You know, we have a $15 billion budget shortfall over the next four years, so certainly curious about how much each of these options would bring in if they get us closer to covering that deficit.

So just want to double tap that.

Certainly would like to know.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you.

My question is more general.

First, Director Hashemi, thank you.

for being here along with Ms. Johnson and Mr. Janeo.

Really appreciate the update.

One of the things I just was noting, and I just wanted to highlight, you know, the idea, I was thinking about the idea of second and third order effects.

And I was listening to Seattle's news, views, and brews where they were looking at Council Bill 120933. And they were talking about the intergovernmental relations between the city and the port.

But as I was listening to that, I was really thinking about the relationship with the state, particularly because of the outreach to not only Blue District Washington, but also Red District Washington on that topic.

I think it's important for the city and, you know, the reporters and everybody else to reflect on that relationship between the city and the state and how it plays out because, you know, just last week we had the CARE expansion announcement into south and southwest precincts.

But at the same time, as we learned here, you know, the crisis response team, the CARE bill, if you will, didn't go anywhere.

You know, and I think there's links, and I think that's something that, you know, when I listen to read articles or listen to a podcast, that they should, you know, really look into and basically understand that point.

And so, therefore, I just wanted to highlight, Director Hashemi, that point, recognizing the challenges, and just wanted to say thank you for coming.

I am looking to see if there are other colleagues.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Thank you, Director Asimi, Ana, Samir, for your usual, as usual, expert guidance and sage counsel here and these great updates.

Just curious to better understand the current disposition on one of the transportation items, more specifically, Senate Bill 5716. And I read directly on the state's website the Senate the Senate report there of that particular bill that, as far as I can tell, purports to just add the Washington state ferries as an explicit sort of area where, you know, certain conduct, unlawful transit conduct would be prohibited.

It wasn't previously there.

Now it's there.

Looks like it passed 49 to 0 at the Senate level on March the 10th.

So I guess we'd love to better understand next steps on that bill.

Seems like a fairly less, well, less controversial, 49 to zero.

We'd love to understand better next steps on that specific bill and what we can expect.

So the bill had a hearing in the House Transportation Committee last week, and it's not yet scheduled to be voted out of that committee, but there's still some time there.

So I think that's the next thing we'll be looking for is a vote out of House Transportation.

Thank you.

All right, I'll ask the question.

I didn't know that the vote was 49-0, but there might be nuances, so I don't quite understand, but why didn't we have a position on it?

We just didn't.

We can have a position if the city would like, but it's not a question that had ever come up.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

I just really want to thank Director Hirschemi and the OIR team for their continued weekly team's call, keeping our offices apprised of all the federal actions and its impacts to the city and the work that they're tracking at the federal level.

So I want to keep thanking you for that because it's very helpful to our offices.

And there's a lot because you're doing the state and you're doing the federal work.

So super appreciate you and the team.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

Looking once again.

All right.

All right.

Well, this is going to be a week of negotiation, let's say.

So.

Thank you very much for filling us in on what's going on, and we will see you next week.

I recognize also that sometimes if something's going down and anybody here who cannot be present at the table on Monday because we're getting into crunch time, please do take the opportunity to just say, I'm too busy.

All right.

Thank you very much, everyone.

Next, we have Council Member Rink has a letter for signature today to the Seattle Delegation of State Legislators in support of House Bill 1296 and Senate Bill 5181 supporting LGBTQ students in K-12 schools.

Council Member Rink, please lead the discussion on the letter for additional feedback before I request signatures to be affixed to it.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, as we know right now, the LGBTQ community is facing direct assaults on a variety of levels.

This letter before you is in support of House Bill 1296 and Senate Bill 5181, and these bills are currently being considered by the legislature to support LGBTQ students in our public schools.

They ensure students' safety, privacy, and legal rights within existing law and allow them to access accurate information and support by trusted adults while allowing parents to stay involved with their education.

As representatives of Washington's largest city, we must ensure that our youth understand that we have their backs.

And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Council President.

Thank you.

Are there any questions or comments from colleagues?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Councilmember Rivera.

Apologies.

I don't think I've seen this letter.

So when was this sent out?

I believe it has been.

Apologies if it hasn't.

We can follow up on that point.

Apologies.

I heard my chief of staff had been in conversation with me about it, so I don't know if it's because I I don't know if our office received it or if he was simply in conversation with your staff.

So are you saying that it has not been circulated?

I was under the impression I can follow up with our team right now to ensure that it's been circulated.

My apologies.

Sure.

Thank you.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who didn't get it or if other colleagues have seen it, and I'm just the only one that hasn't, but I'm not aware of the letter, and I want to make sure that I have it before we take a vote.

I understand.

So one thing that we can do is we can go on to our preview of city council actions, council, and regional committees, if that would be okay to give your staff time.

Certainly.

Thank you.

Okay, all right folks.

This is our our council member update Part of the agenda.

So today's roll call starts with council member Hollingsworth

Oh, is it me?

Sorry, my bad.

Hey, hello, Council.

Good afternoon.

Parks Utilities Technology Committee will be this Wednesday, March 26 at 2 p.m.

We're going to have a briefing discussion about the Lower Duwamish Waterway.

Also on Friday, March 28 at 9.30, we will be doing the select comprehensive, the select use Land Use Committee for Comprehensive Plan.

That will be on Friday, March 28th at 9.30.

Thank you all for coming in advance.

We will be doing, just a reminder, this is written public comment because there will be legislation passed from our executive, House Bill 1110, which is important for the interim.

And so we're going to have a discussion about that.

We're also going to have a discussion about affordability.

It's a jam-packed agenda.

So just want everyone to be prepared for that.

I know we'll have a ton of questions.

OPCD will be here, our executive office, to talk about the legislation.

So it will be great.

Other than that, only external committee meeting that I have is with the police officers.

pension board meeting which will be this week and last but not least in the community the only thing that the only thing I'll mention had opportunity this weekend to attend with councilmember more and also councilmember kettle to attend the dedication to the new will Stacy which is up north and Councilmember, I look to the left, Councilmember Moore's district, I'll look on the screen, Councilmember Moore's district.

Sergeant Stacy was a part of our US Marine Corps.

He was 22 years old when he was killed in action on January 31st in 2012 and I just was really moved by his story, just a lot of people are, had the chance to meet his father and his beautiful mom and his entire family.

And the one thing that really stuck out to me is when we always talk about our freedom, and I know that we serve on this council with three people that served in our armed forces with Councilmember Saka, Councilmember Solomon, and Councilmember Kettle.

you know today I woke up I had my juice I was able to get to City Hall all these things that we have with freedom that there are people that sacrifice their life their time their commitment to our country for these freedoms and will was only 22 years old when he died and he talked about how if his life if he could sacrifice his life in exchange for the freedom of another child, and they would grow up to be a phenomenal adult, that it was all worth it.

And to think that was the mindset of someone who was 22, and he wrote that letter to his family in case he was killed.

So anyways, it was obviously sad, but also a joyous moment, because there were over 600 kids for the Rug Little League there, to see and witness that.

And some of them know Will's story, some of them don't, but they'll be able to look it up because it's the Will Stacey Fields now.

And it was just a beautiful moment.

So anyways, I just wanted to share that with you all because I think sometimes we take for granted what we have so freely here in the United States and know that there's other people around that are sacrificing for us to be protected here.

And with that, I will give it to Councilmember Kettle.

One moment, please, Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Rink, go ahead.

Apologies.

Did you want to complete doing reports before we went back to the letter?

That is probably a good idea in case there's anybody that for some reason needs to leave and does want to have a chance to sign it.

Colleagues, apologies for that brief out-of-order item.

Go ahead, please.

Can you please just for the audience just restate what the letter does?

Well, thank you, colleagues.

Again, this letter before you today is in support of House Bill 1296 and Senate Bill 5181. This is an important opportunity for us to really stand by and make sure that we're standing by our LGBTQ students.

As representatives of Washington's largest city, we must ensure that our youth understand that we have their backs.

Now, this letter was sent out last Wednesday on the 19th, 3.06 p.m.

My office engaged with Council Member Rivera's office, Council Member Moore's office, Council President Nelson's office, and Council Member Solomon's office, and we did receive feedback and made sure that the letter reflected that feedback.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Opening the floor up to questions or comments.

Was that a nod that you had?

Yes, sure.

Sorry, I did not provide feedback on this letter.

I am reading it now.

I think it went to our staffs.

And so I am reading it.

I'm looking at there's two council bills.

I have not reviewed these particular council bills.

Council Member Rank, can you tell us what the two bills do in particular?

Certainly.

These are two bills before us.

Well, the two bills, they're companions specifically related to being able to stand by and support students.

This is an act relating to promoting a safe and supportive public education system through student rights, parental and guardian rights, employee protections, and it amends several parts of the RCW.

This, in summary, provides that it is state policy that a school district, charter school, and state tribal education compact school policies and procedures prioritize the protections of student safety, access to a free public education, privacy, and directs the office of the superintendent and public instruction to enforce and obtain compliance within this policy.

It also directs OSPI to adopt rules to ensure compliance with requirements related to gender-inclusive schools by December 31, 2025, and requires school districts to adopt or amend, if necessary, policies and procures that they meet certain requirements by the end of 2026. It also makes changes to reporting and notification requirements related to alleged physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual miscontact, and assault of students.

Requires a statement of student rights to be incorporated into educational and promotional materials, including civics education, There's also modification, removal, and adds certain rights for parents and legal guardians of children enrolled in public school, and prohibits adverse employee action for employees supporting students' exercise of rights in performing work in a manner consistent with certain state laws.

So that's a little bit about from the bill report.

Again, these are our companion bills, and there has been a fair amount of advocacy around these from a number of our community partners.

Thank you, Councilmember Rink.

One thing I noticed from the letter is, I just want to make it clear, because it says, as elected officials, we made a promise to students and families that our schools would be safe, enriching, etc.

And I just want to draw a distinction, only because I hear this a lot from our constituents, that we do not oversee, the City of Seattle does not oversee Seattle Public Schools.

That is a state function, and I don't want to leave the impression that somehow we are requiring that we're in a position to be able to tell Seattle Public Schools what to do whether or not we would want to and so I want to make sure that that's clear because the way the letter is written I think it's a little bit it could leave the impression that somehow we have more authority over Seattle Public Schools than we actually do Thank you for that distinction it is important to get that on the record

And Councilmember Rink, has OIR weighed in, and do they weigh in on either of these?

No position or whatever.

My understanding at this time is that there's no position.

It's not a part of the official council agenda.

I know this wasn't necessarily an area that was considered within our existing OIR agenda.

However, this is something that there is a number of a lot of student advocacy about.

And again, we understand that all of us serve Seattle like kids included so well I understand the points made about jurisdictional matters would would uplift that you know these are our kiddos in our communities families in our communities there's no reason for me to believe that that there would be a good reason for OIR to to be in opposition I just wanted to make sure because they you know I certainly wouldn't want to

I would want to know before signing.

Anyway, any other questions or comments?

Go ahead.

Thank you council president while I support the spirit of the letter and I definitely support being able to support kids in schools and I just don't feel like I have enough information councilmember rank you and I didn't have a conversation about this particular letter and I don't know enough about the bills and what the expectation is in order to be able to sign sign on to the letter and I don't feel like I comfortable being able to sign on to something that I don't have more awareness on these two particular bills and also like I said So that I am clear on is there was I know a parent's bill of rights circulating out there don't know if this is related to that I just don't have enough information but I do want to make it very clear that I support our students in the schools I support LGBTQ I plus rights and trans rights in general and you know I support our kids in the student our kids in the schools broadly I don't want it to be that because I don't have enough information that I was I will abstain from this vote.

I want the record to reflect that I do support students and all of the rights that we are talking about here.

MS. Councilmember Kettle?

MR. Yes, hello.

Thank you.

I had seen The first draft, I had a couple of question marks on it, supported the general piece.

I had a couple of question marks on it, but it never came back to me through my staff.

I'm not sure, but never came back to me as a final letter.

So I'm a little bit of a disadvantage.

I apologize on that, but that's where I am.

I didn't realize this was on the agenda and I had not seen the final one yet.

I just had a question.

To be honest with you, I can't remember.

It was more of a question related to – kind of similar to what Council Member Rivera was noting.

I can't remember exactly the point, but it was more of a – I didn't want to fall into a gotcha kind of situation where they can nitpick on it.

That was my – overall, I had a general positive.

I just had not seen the final.

That's why I just wanted to say thank you.

Council Member Rink.

No, hold on, Council Member Moore.

Council Member Rink had her hand up first.

Go ahead, Council Member Moore.

Okay, thanks.

Maybe this is what Council Member Rink is going to be saying, but if I may make a suggestion, or I don't know if it needs to be a motion that we hold off on this until either tomorrow or next week, if that's possible, so that everybody can be fully informed.

Would you like to respond to that, Council Member Rink?

Certainly.

Happy to.

And thank you, colleagues, for your feedback.

We're certainly working on our processes to make sure that we are eliciting that feedback and would ask.

I think our expectation is when we're engaging with staff, we hope that your staff are also engaging with you on this matter.

So we're making those changes in reflection.

As appropriate, we're happy to make some changes to this letter in light of this feedback and so can hold off.

As I understand it, there isn't an upcoming cutoff that would prevent our ability to weigh in at a timely moment.

Thank you for being open to that change of plan.

I appreciate it.

So just officially, we're going to let the record reflect that we are not asking for signatures at this moment, but we will await a future draft or an opportunity.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Now we can continue with our blue sky as it used to be called way back when.

I'm just saying.

Next on the list is Councilmember Kettle.

Are you ready?

Yes, I am.

Thank you.

I just want to start off tomorrow.

We have our next Public Safety Committee meeting.

Two main items on the agenda are after-establishment, after-hours establishments bill, which will be coming up tomorrow for its first reading, and also a resolution on the consent decree.

And I will defer to my vice chair on going into that a little bit more, but it relates to the process as we're moving along on our consent decree.

Now for me generally this week, I met with the CPC today and over the course of the week, different Wednesday of the Lake Union dry dock tour, which will be very interesting.

And on Thursday and Friday, I will not be able to attend as I'll be out of town for, a funeral but the the psrc on thursday the puget sound regional council exec meeting and then on friday the select committee on the com plan and the lrpc um for next week uh going to be going into the first hill part of d7 it's very small but very important uh freeway park uh tour uh tuesday south lake union community council staff will attend that and um rwqc on wednesday i think um Council Member Hollingsworth may have mentioned that.

And on Thursday, we'll be a meeting with the Pike Place PDA and their stakeholder meeting, which is gonna be very broad regarding Pike Place, moving forward on Pike Place.

And then on Friday, the Pacific Science Center, where there's a lot of important pieces going on right now with the Pacific Science Center and its relationship with Seattle Center.

So it's really interesting.

I just wanted to note too, last week, I attended a special course, a number of hours on cybersecurity for elected officials and senior government leaders.

Very well worth it.

Cybersecurity is a growing challenge for municipalities across the country, some of which were getting highlighted as case studies in this training session.

And I think it's really important for us as a city to be represented The good news is that on that front, there were some senior leaders there.

I was the only elected, but it was really interesting to see the public safety team from the mayor's office kind of leading a discussion with various departments where IT, SDOT, public utilities, you know, the whole kind of mix.

And it was really good to see this dynamic working, you know, this conversation because cybersecurity at the city level for government is really important.

So I just wanted to highlight that.

And if there's future training, I encourage everyone to take it up.

It's well worthwhile.

And I just wanted to close by thanking Council Member Hollingsworth for putting together A letter related to Sergeant Will Stacey has noted he lost his life in Afghanistan in January 2012 and has noted by his company commander who spoke at the event His experience was well beyond his 22 years.

His standing well beyond his wisdom in terms of what he was looking to do and how he thought about his service in Afghanistan and Iraq, by the way.

He had multiple tours.

It was incredible, particularly for somebody so young.

That example is going to be a great example for the young people who were up there at maple leaf playing baseball and other sports to see to see his name and to as governor ferguson noted on saturday that you know they'll sit there maybe uh break out their phone and look up and and see the story of will stacy because that's that story is something to be uh you know raised up and and followed in a lot of ways in terms of it was such a you know And it's something that he built, by the way, on those sports fields.

The lessons from the sports fields served him so well in the Marine Corps.

And it's a great way to recognize him and keep the memory alive, which is something that I spoke to during my remarks.

Anyways, thank you again, Councilmember Hollingsworth, for bringing it up and Councilmember Moore for joining as well.

I think it was a beautiful event.

Thank you.

Okay.

Council Member Moore.

Thank you very much, Council Member Kettle.

I just wanted to start my remarks by expressing my condolences to the family and friends of former Speaker Chow.

We have really lost a hero here.

We will, his absence will be noted going forward.

And I read in the paper that his know his mantra was home health and hope and uh i think that that's a really good mantra to live by and uh hope to also look to towards that as inspiration so anyway just wanted to say those few remarks um housing and human services meeting will be wednesday coming wednesday will be short it's uh just a few appointments um beyond that i don't have anything other really coming up this week beyond the usual and office hours on Thursday.

Last week, I was able to attend the KCRHA governing board.

We had a presentation on seasonal weather shelter.

One will be opening in District 5. It is a new concept.

It's been in play for a while in terms of trying to get it up and running.

Very, very excited.

that we will be having a seasonal shelter to serve as a model, and also that we will be having one in District 5. Additionally, we have a presentation on the continuum of care, which is the entity that receives the HUD money and funnels that money through the county and other specific agencies throughout the county to provide shelter and housing, permanent supportive housing, really the whole spectrum.

That money is clearly under threat.

So it's interesting to learn more about that.

And I do believe that Councilmember Roenck and her committee will be bringing forth KCRHA to talk about that.

And it's important for us to find out all the avenues of federal money that are potentially not going to be there and that we are going to need to sort of create a plan come together locally and regionally really to do create a consent a contingency plan so just something to be thinking about and then lastly did also want to express how moving it was to attend the ceremony for William Stacy the naming field my kids actually played up at that field a lot when they were young So I had a lot of memories myself of being up there and watching them run around the fields and just noted how many lives he had touched in such a short life of himself and what an inspiration that was.

I wanted to thank my colleagues so very much for making those people's dreams a reality.

and bringing that memorial that will bring so much direction and pleasure to so many.

So thank you for that.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Well, I know a lot of us were perhaps a little tired after a long power hour on last Tuesday.

But for those who had a moment to pop down to the Birth of Night's Landis room after our long meeting, they would have seen a really beautiful Ramadan iftar with the Center for Global Muslim Life.

My office was really happy to host that.

that iftar and a lot of folks were able to join and speak and it was really really quite beautiful last week we had the opportunity to also meet with congresswoman jayapal she made some time in a very very busy schedule as we can imagine it was great to connect with with her office directly and hear about some of the things happening on the federal level.

I was able to join in a conversation about democracy vouchers and civics with the University of Washington.

And then also our staff was joining at the Denise Louie Education Center down in Beacon Hill.

We joined the Urbanist and the Complete Communities Coalition to talk about the comprehensive plan and provide some updates about our process.

We know there's been hiccups along the way, but people continue to be really engaged in wanting to see a comprehensive plan that reflects and creates a plan for true housing affordability.

So I was really excited to be a part of that event.

I was able to hop on and connect with the LGBTQ Commission and ask for their feedback on some matters.

As we all received today, there were some statements of support for some of the amendments for the ordinance that's coming before us tomorrow, including mine.

I'm thankful for the LGBTQ commission for engaging with my office and supporting our amendment.

had an opportunity to connect with Voters of Tomorrow, which is trying to spearhead Gen Z engagement, which I personally love to see the next generation engaging in local politics particularly.

And they're planning to have rolling and monthly engagement opportunities for folks who consider themselves Gen Z. And then on Sunday, our office also hosted another event, the Nauru celebration here at City Hall with the Seattle Isfahan Sister City Advocates Organization, where I was able to present our proclamation signed by all of us in the mayor's office.

It was deeply appreciated.

It was also a beautiful event.

I haven't seen so many laughing, smiling kiddos in City Hall, I think, ever.

It was packed.

There was a fashion show where there were performances.

There was music.

We were here from 11 till 6. It was just a really beautiful event.

And I'll be sure to make sure we promote pictures from the event.

I would voice that in the wake of, you know, there's a lot of discussion about a Muslim travel ban 2.0 of sorts that could be coming out of the federal administration.

And for us to be able to present that proclamation, honoring and recognizing So a holiday seen by so many in the Middle Eastern and North African community is really poignant and important, had a lot of significance, again, for the city to demonstrate us standing by the Middle Eastern North African community.

So thank you, colleagues, again, for supporting that proclamation and for, again, us to be able to support that event meant a lot to that community.

And then we had also connected with People Power Washington and some discussions about surveillance technology and centering civil rights.

At the City Light Arts and Culture and Sustainability Committee last Friday, we had briefings from the Seattle Arts Commission, the Office of Sustainability and Environment on the 2022 greenhouse gas emission inventory, and then also heard from Seattle City Light on the Renewable Plus program.

As Council Moore mentioned, we've decided to focus our upcoming Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Change focused on housing.

There are a lot of components and elements to how affordable housing is built, but also our existing housing and homelessness programs.

And so we think we've pulled together a panel to represent the spectrum and all elements of that system.

And so I'm really excited to be hosting that panel on April 3rd.

Um, we are, we've sent over some dates for upcoming, um, select committee meetings as well and certainly would like to get those on the calendar soon so folks can be able to attend and so pending and waiting for approval on those.

And with all of that, I would also close by taking a moment to recognize the passing of House Speaker Emeritus Frank Chop.

Frank was a friend and a mentor.

And I feel really lucky that I got to see him give an amazing speech last Wednesday, and I got one final pep talk.

Our office is looking forward to ways to find, I think as many of us are reckoning with this loss, we want to find ways to honor his life and legacy.

We'd love to be able to put forward a proclamation and would have started some work on that, but certainly want to work alongside the family and the state delegation as we all again are finding ways to honor his life and legacy.

And so looking forward to being able to do just that.

And with that, I will pass it along.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Councilmember Ring.

Colleagues I was pleased to see the celebration of the dedication of the will Stacy ball field Former sergeant Stacy's family lives in the district and that I represent the d4 And I really want to thank them for will service.

I joined My colleagues and supported this dedication and the many lives that will touched in the time He was with us my heartfelt thoughts go out to his family as this dedication To Honor Rule's life happened at Maple Leaf Park this weekend.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I am so glad that some of you were able to be there, and I just want to join my, lend my voice to yours and really acknowledge his family as well.

Last week, I attended the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center Be Loud Breakfast.

The center serves sexual assault survivors and their families, It's so inspiring to go to this breakfast and hear people's stories about how King County Sexual Assault Resource Center provides support and have helped them in their lives.

It really was profound when Audience members were asked, those attending were asked, you know, to stand if you knew someone who was touched by sexual assault.

And, you know, most of the audience stood, and that was really powerful.

And so we are so grateful for this center's work.

in the county and serving Seattle as well.

It is a powerful organization and we heard from some really powerful people at that breakfast and I was so happy to be in attendance and honored.

I had my quarterly check-in with the University of Washington.

Right now we're gearing up here for cherry blossom season and that's what is top of mind for the university or one of the things that is top of mind.

Tens of thousands of people descend upon the campus to see the gorgeous trees in bloom.

Tomorrow's supposed to be excellent weather, so I'm sure it will be busy.

The University of Washington and the University District Partnership, which is the BIA and the U District, always encourage public transportation during the season with the light rays With the light rail station right there at University of Washington, it's easier than ever to use public transportation to get there.

I encourage you to go up to the UW to look at the cherry blossoms.

Also, the university, as you know, is preparing for new leadership this fall.

With the arrival of Robert Jones who's currently the Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign And like I said earlier he will join us this fall And so they are looking forward to to joining him and then It's a bittersweet occasion as current president, Anamari Cauze, ends her tenure with the university.

But the good news is that she will be around.

She's been with the university for 40 years in one capacity or another.

So she is really a great resource.

She's a great friend to the university and to the city.

While she's passing the baton.

It's good to know that she will still be in Seattle and very much a part of the university life in some fashion so last week I attended the wire eight committee meeting on Thursday and My team continues to attend the weekly teams meeting that OIR hosts to keep our office surprise of federal actions And the work they are doing the work OIR is doing in that regard This week, I'll be chairing the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee, where we will be getting an update from Director Hamdi Muhammad of the Office of the Immigrant and Refugee Affairs on Federal Actions and OIRA's work with the community.

Excuse me.

This morning, I visited the Denise Louie Education Center at their Magnuson Park location.

I've been meeting with many child care and preschool providers, and it is great to get to learn more about this high-quality care at Denise Louie.

They serve low- and middle-income families in the D4.

I have both of my monthly check-ins this week with SPD Chief Barnes and North Precinct Captain Davidson, George Davidson, this week.

And I look forward to talking to them more about the continued and urgent public safety concerns in the district, not just at the park, but in the University District and in Magnuson Park and other areas of the D4.

I also, as you may remember, am newly on the board of the Association of Washington Cities I also just accepted their invitation to be on the Legislative Priorities Committee, which works on setting the AWC's priorities for legislative sessions.

So I look forward to participating in that role.

And also colleagues, they host a Friday call as well.

which you are welcome to join, talking about the legislature and the bills before the Washington State Legislature.

So it's another good way to stay informed on the bills and their progress through the legislature.

And again, I want to thank you, Council Member Rink, for holding your letter so that we have the opportunity to go through it.

I know your staff sent it to some of our staffs Thursday late, and so it's great to have the opportunity to work with you to further review those two bills and further review this letter.

So I really want to thank you personally for allowing us the extra time to review that.

Thank you.

Unless anyone has any questions, I'll pass it to my colleague.

I do.

I want to apologize, Councilman Rivera, regarding the park.

I know it's right on the border.

When I type in 82nd and 81st, it's literally split.

So I apologize.

I didn't mean to exclude you in our comments.

I know that you were phenomenal in helping get all this together.

So I just wanted to apologize about that.

No need to apologize.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, thank you.

We're all in support of Will Stacey and his family.

And I'm just glad that that dedication happened and that a celebration occurred this weekend.

So thank you for being there.

And like I said, I'm sorry I was not able to attend, but I'm very much supportive.

I'm glad that that happened.

And I'm always so appreciative of the service, of Will's service, and of his family.

So thank you.

Councilmember Saka.

All right.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

And on the Transportation Committee front last Tuesday, we had a lively briefing and discussion on a few important items.

First, the Sound Transit Link Light Rail project extensions into West Seattle and Ballard.

Immediately following that, we heard a briefing and discussion of a resolution that would grant conditional approval to install a much-needed pedestrian sky bridge that connects District 7 and 3. Our next Transportation Committee meeting will be next Tuesday, April 1st, 9.30 a.m.

The agenda for that is still being finalized, so stay tuned.

In terms of regional committees, my next big regional committee is this Thursday morning, the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Committee meeting.

On the agenda are a number of things, including we're going to receive an update on the Equity Advisory Committee.

Learn more about the Regional Safety Action Plan, which is a strategic work stream that we're taking up and leading in another committee of PSRC that I sit on alongside Councilmember Kettle, the Transportation Policy Board.

We're going to hear about progress on our regional comprehensive climate action plan from our own Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

And then finally, going to get an update on federal funding directives and the latest flurry and the potential impact on projects locally here across the region.

Moving on to other stuff.

Last week was really excited to join some neighbors and community members and SDOT leaders at a Delridge walking tour where we talked about the opportunity to build missing sidewalks.

It was part of a levy funding initiative.

As we know, voters approved the creation of more new, the singular largest expansion and creation of more new sidewalks than have been done in recent city history.

And so talked about the scoping what community would like to see for these new new projects and so i want to thank members of the community for taking the time to show up join me in that sdot for their hard work as always and then of course sdot director emery joined me so i want to thank her for for that uh if folks have a point of view on scoping of certain projects and what they should look like in your neighborhood.

There's a survey available.

Yes, there's a survey.

Survey Monkey, the department, SDOT, put together.

So there's a Survey Monkey.

It's surveymonkey.com backslash r backslash l-e-v-y-s-i-d-e w-a-l-k-s.

That's surveymonkey.com backslash r backslash levisidewalks.

Last week I also had the privilege of joining members of the community and leaders from the Morgan Junction Community Association and the Fauntleroy Community Association to do a walking tour of the proposed neighborhood center and under the comp plan of certain areas of of that and so it was good to Visit the area personally, hear directly from impacted constituents of the Morgan Junction, Fauntleroy, and Enderling communities, of course, as well, and hear more about their concerns and hopes and opportunities there as well.

So again, nothing like seeing that potential impact.

directly alongside impacted members of community with community.

So wonderful, looking forward to doing more of those of all the proposed neighborhood centers across my district.

This morning, I attended a coffee or cocoa with the cop ceremony thing, or community event, rather, in High Point.

It was organized by the Seattle Housing Authority, but our own city representatives from our crime prevention team in the Southwest precinct put that together from a city perspective will help I guess, organize and share the word from a city perspective.

So popped in.

It was great to meet directly with community.

have a thoughtful conversation with first responders, including police, and hear some specific concerns and what people are kind of hoping for as well.

So awesome event this morning.

So thank you to the Seattle Housing Authority and our crime prevention team within SPD for kind of co-creating that event together.

I also want to lend my voice as a veteran of United States Armed Forces, specifically the United States Air Force.

I also want to take this opportunity to lend my voice of support and for fallen hero, Will Stacey, and also express my gratitude for Councilmembers Hollingsworth, Moore, Kettle, and Rivera as well.

including, but not limiting to, all of you all for honoring the sacrifice and service of Will Stacey in such a way.

You know, putting it all on the line.

Will, sadly, is never coming home, and his family knows that.

It's a Gold Star family.

But there's no better, I can think of no better way to honor his service and sacrifice, at least at the local city government level, than to do this field where, to your point, Council Member Hollingsworth, to rename, to your point, thousands of kids for multiple generations are gonna understand and have a chance to pause, reflect, emote, and celebrate the service and sacrifice.

So of Will Stacey.

So thank you again for that.

We need more opportunities to honor the service and sacrifice of our nation's heroes, our veterans, those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice in particular.

And finally, I too want to express my condolences to the family of former Speaker Frank Schaap.

There was no fiercer advocate over multiple decades on behalf of working people, not just in the city but in the state as well.

In his retirement last year, he said that he expected he will continue to advocate as a community activist.

I think he was able to do that, but I know in my heart and in my mind that his legacy will live on and inspire future generations of change makers and advocates for working people, and that is a legacy that we should all be proud of.

Huge collective loss for the city and our entire state.

That is all I have from my perspective.

I welcome any comments, questions.

And if there are none, I will pass it on to the next person.

I don't want to muck this up like last time.

Who is it?

Councilmember Solomon.

Well, I think that Councilmember Rivera has a question or comment.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

I just wanted to add also my condolences to Frank Chop's family.

really a person who dedicated most of their life to public service and You know Public service is not always the most glamorous and the and the easiest and it really it's Admirable the many years that he put into the very and then the very hard work So I wanted to lend my voice to that I meant to do so earlier and So thank you, Council President, for giving me the opportunity to say that now.

And then I also wanted to say, in terms of Will Stacey, you know, wanted to say, I know we have a lot of veterans that we honor their service, and in particular Will Stacey, There was broad community support for dedicating this ball field to Will.

And he touched so many people in the short amount of years he was on this earth.

And so I really wanted to say how the community really came together to request this as well and honor his family and his legacy.

So really wanted to say that.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka, for all your words as well.

Thank you.

All right.

Next on our list is Council Member Strauss, I believe.

If I've got my—nope, Council Member Solomon.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

I'll try to be as concise as possible because I have a long list of things.

We do have two appointments regarding the Land and Use Committee.

We have two appointments to the Urban Forestry Commission that were approved and they will be voted on tomorrow at the full council meeting.

Our next Land and Use Committee will be Wednesday, April 2nd, and at that meeting we hope to address five additional Urban Forestry Commission appointments.

as well as Seattle Design Commission appointments, street-level use legislation, building permit extension legislation, have a briefing on EDU legislation responsive to the state requirements, the University of Washington Northwest Hospital Major Institution Master Plan, and the Fremont Control Contract Rezone.

In this past week, I've been able to meet with Executive Director of United Way of King County, President of the Mount Baker Community Club, members of the Rainier Avenue Traffic Safety Coalition, was treated to lunch at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center, and did a Q&A with them.

Following that, met with the REACH team from Evergreen Treatment Services, servicing Rainier Valley and Rainier Beach area.

I also had meetings with the Seattle Human Services Coalition, Sephardic Bekoor-Holem congregation, and did district hours at the New Holly Library branch, or New Holly branch of the Seattle Public Libraries.

Just this morning, met with Seattle Neighborhood Group, did a stop in at the South Precinct to interact with the officers down there.

I had a meeting with Chief Public Safety Officer Walton Anderson, as well as meeting with folks from SCIPTA, the CID, BIA, and Friends of Little Saigon, talking about the plans and actions underway right now in the Little Saigon and Chinatown area, again, focused on safety issues.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Seattle Police Foundation's award ceremony for officers this past Thursday evening at Bell Harbor.

So that was a good event.

This week ahead I'll be meeting with the Mount Baker Community Club Board tonight.

I will be coming to the Public Safety Committee meeting tomorrow, especially on that discussion about the after-hours legislation.

That is something that the officers talked to me about this morning when I was, you know, doing roll call.

It's definitely going to be a tool that can help us address some of these safety issues around these establishments.

We'll be meeting with the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness.

We'll be getting an update on the upcoming Star Center.

I believe I'm attending the Growth Manager Planning Council meeting with Council Member Strauss this Wednesday.

We'll also be meeting with the interim CDA and CID resident advocates on Thursday.

And also this coming Thursday, I will be joining Council Member Rink at Blaine Memorial Methodist Church for a town hall.

So, I want to end by reflecting on...

Sergeant Stacy.

We both spent time in Afghanistan, although our time there was separated by 10 years.

And I came back.

He didn't.

I think about all those who wear the uniform, who wore the uniform, and they gave the ultimate sacrifice.

And it's the least we can do to honor their memory and that sacrifice.

So again, on the record to the family, thank you.

Thank you for Will.

I do want to end by adding my voice to Thoughts about Speaker Chop.

I was at the Youth Care Luncheon this past Wednesday.

I think there were a few others of us who were there too.

Where he received an award from the organization for all his tireless work.

on behalf of that organization.

It's not just that organization.

When it came to being an advocate for housing, for homeless, for youth, Frank was there.

It didn't matter if it was the Compass Housing luncheon or if it was the Youth Care luncheon.

Frank was there.

And there's going to be a groundbreaking tomorrow for Youth Cares Constellation Center, which is going to be right there at Broadway and Pine.

That would not have happened without Frank.

He saw the opportunity.

He saw the property.

He made the phone call.

He made the vision happen.

So again, I can't say enough about Speaker Chop.

You know, I didn't know him as closely as others did, but I was always amazed by his commitment, his heart, and his tenacity.

So that...

Rest in peace, Speaker Trump.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

Well said, Council Member Solomon.

And here on the City Council this last year, we were all very proud to add $4 million to that Constellation Center project.

And that was an amendment sponsored by Council Member Wu.

So it takes all of us.

And I know King County stepped up to put their $4 million forward.

I'll get to my comments on Speaker Emeritus Chop at the end, but focusing on the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments and Select Committees, during tomorrow's full Council meeting there will be a vote to appoint Kirsten Grove as Director of Finance and Administrative Services.

Colleagues, you've heard me say finance and administrative services is the backbone of our city.

From fleets to buildings to implementing laws, consumer protection, the animal shelter, FAS really does it all.

Kirsten Grove demonstrated excellence in her work as an interim, has had a long tenure here at the city, and I think is the right fit right now.

So I look forward to voting in favor of her.

We also, last week in my committee, had a briefing on the Hearing Protection Regulation Bill that I will be proposing.

Please do let my office know if you have any questions, additions, changes.

I will be waiting until Jesse Frans returns this week to taking many of the next steps.

I do want to share with you all, though, I offered the opportunity to engage in the bill and possibly make changes before we introduce it.

That first deadline is this Friday, and so from this Friday on we'll go forward with the introduction.

That still means that we'll have a couple council meetings and opportunities to amend the language should you desire to.

And I want to share that this is an informational item to share the vision for this bill even before it's introduced.

We're really at the very earliest possible point of engagement.

And it's not always, you know me, I like to talk about what's typical and not typical.

I'll share sometimes, it's not necessarily typical to share this information about a bill before introduction.

And I do think that this process does increase transparency and allows for the highest level of engagement possible.

Moving on to my external committees.

In sound transit, we have a board of directors meeting this Thursday, March 27th.

We will have a motion regarding a three-year labor contract with PROTEC 17 covering passenger information coordinators.

We'll have a resolution amending previous resolution that authorized the chief executive to execute real property agreements under a million dollars.

And finally we will have a motion to approve an agreement to employ a CEO.

I don't have more information for you that is publicly available today.

And what I can tell you is that that information will become public when the agenda is published this week.

So if you do have any questions I'm happy to share more information with you.

My role in the Association of Washington Cities, I continue to attend the bi-monthly board legislative steering committee.

Yes, this is in fact different than the legislative priorities committee that Councilmember Rivera sits on, and both work pretty well in tandem together.

The legislative steering committee is one that is in real time reacting to the work in Olympia, much like we do here with our weekly updates from OIR and the legislative priorities committee is one that looks to the future for the next sessions legislative priorities I also have been participating each Friday on the city action days phone calls a conference call where the Association of Washington City lobbyists share information about bills again much like we do here with OIR and I have found it to be a really nice he said I'm looking for a word, a book holder.

I can't, yeah, sorry.

I mean, it's a nice bookend.

There we are, there we are.

It took me a minute to get to the bookend.

At the beginning of the week, starting with OIR, looking at what's going on in Olympia, ending the week with AWC going over similar but different bills.

So if anyone would like to join us on Fridays, just let my office know and we'll share the registration information with you.

The Seattle City Employee Retirement Systems Board that I also sit on We will have administrative committee that will meet on this Thursday March 28th.

There's a possible vote regarding asset classes as a way to investment.

There we are.

We'll have a potential vote for additional fund manager to serve as well as we may have a potent and then in the administrative committee there will potentially be a vote on the credit interest policy.

This is a policy that spells out how interest is applied to member contributions.

This is coming before the committee as part of our practice to review all policy and charters on a three-year cycle.

No changes are being recommended to the current policy at this time.

District 6 and more I had office hours last week with district 6 residents and yes, I Almost got my car locked in the library garage again Saved it by two minutes.

So there we are and I'm working to finalize additional office hour dates in April I've heard feedback from residents that they would like more hours that we're trying to do and balance nine to five office hour opportunities, evening and weekend opportunities.

So we're looking at making some changes here.

Last week, I continued my comprehensive plan walking tours and I visited the Whittier Neighborhood Center.

I will be continuing the walking tours around District 6 in April after spending three and a half hours last week, last Thursday in the rain, wind and cold.

Well as understanding that we have more time before the committee will take this work up We'll be waiting until mid-april to continue the tours to potentially do them after 5 p.m.

So that more people can engage and Hopefully that it won't be so cold.

So we're looking forward to doing so in mid to late April as I was sharing earlier I'll like to speak to the passing of Speaker Emeritus Frank Chop.

Colleagues, you may or may not know why I wear a tie here every day.

And it comes from a joke where my first day of work at City Hall, Son G saw me wearing a tie and said, I wonder how long that's going to last.

And Son, it seems it's lasted until Speaker Chop has passed.

I'm not wearing a tie today in honor of him, in part because he teased me about it a few times.

And it was a very special moment.

I'll say that it is said that it's hard to meet your hero because when you meet your hero, you see the small things that might not live up to your vision of them from afar.

I can tell you that meeting Speaker Emeritus Chop, I got to see up close that he was the same person that I envisioned him to be.

This was an opportunity where I got to meet my hero and I wasn't disappointed.

It will take hundreds of us to fill the shoes of this one giant.

Thank you, colleagues.

That is my report.

If there are no questions, I will pass it over to Council President Nelson.

Council President.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate everyone expressing their words for both of the fallen giants that we have discussed today.

So I really do appreciate folks, first of all, educating me about the life of, well, will Stacy and also lending your voices to the choir on The legacy of Frank chop.

All right, so as noted above on tomorrow's agenda will vote on the amended council bill 1 2 0 9 5 0 which conforms to Washington State's so-called shield law and provides the authority for the for the Seattle City Attorney's Office to bring a civil cause of action against any violation of said law or the provisions therein, and also for the Seattle Municipal Court to hear such a cause.

And this Thursday, the Governance Accountability and Economic Development Committee will meet at, so that's March 27th at 2 o'clock, and there are three things on the agenda.

We'll be discussing and possibly voting on an appointment to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission and that this particular appointment is a nomination from the actual Commission so we've got you know usually there are mayoral or council and this particular position is from the, resides with the commission itself to appoint a nomination, to nominate someone who will continue serving in that position.

Second, we will have a briefing and discussion on Council Bill 120957 to renew for another 10 years the democracy voucher program.

And presenters will include the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission director, Wayne Barnett, and I want to recognize that Councilmember Kettle has has participated in the press conference in anticipation of this legislation coming before us, and has expressed the desire to be a co-sponsor, and I believe that has to be said in an open meeting, but I just want to say that he is a major force behind this legislation.

Note to anyone listening, because this program is funded by a property tax, this measure will go to the voters for approval in August.

And the timing of this legislation working its way through committee is to enable it to get to the ballot in time.

So I'm not suggesting that this is going to be approved and that's it.

This is the first step to throwing it on the ballot.

And then finally, we will have a presentation from the Office of the City Auditor on gun violence.

And it's titled, Four Recommendations to Better Understand and Address Current Gun Violence Patterns in Seattle.

There will be several presenters.

The Mayor's Office Director of Public Safety, Natalie Walton Anderson, will be one of them.

And Seattle Police Department's counsel, Rebecca Boatwright, will also join the audit's authors at the table as presenters.

So that's our meeting on Thursday.

All right.

Last Friday, my staff attended the weekly federal briefing call hosted by OIR.

So thank you very much, Councilmember Rivera, for thanking our director for supporting that informational meeting.

And yesterday, I attended the Norwuz event here at City Hall.

It was jam-packed, I have to say, the Persian New Year celebration for which we issued a proclamation.

Thank you very much, Council Member Rink.

It was just a feast of art and textiles.

Not the textiles, not art, but there were...

There was a cookbook that was on a table, you know, for Persian food.

It was just a tremendous and a full day of programming.

And so if anybody was able to come by here, it was truly a special event.

So I want to appreciate the organizers for going through the work to bring everybody together and educate and delight the public that attended.

I also, yesterday, was taped a segment of Seattle Nice, and that should be airing tomorrow.

I believe they said it was going to be available on Tuesday.

And then, let's see.

Finally, the...

Well, I'll just skip that right...

This is going on too long and it's 3.30 and I was hoping to get through the executive session so I'll just pause right here.

Are there any questions or comments on the things I just said for my update?

Or any other business to come before us?

Okay, so we've got an executive session to move into.

As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.

The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

The council's executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law and a legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to make sure that we reserve our questions about policy for open session.

I expect the time of the executive session to end by 4.50.

And if the executive session is to be extended beyond that time, I'll announce that and the expected duration.

And at the conclusion of this executive session, the council briefing meeting will automatically adjourn.

And the next regularly scheduled council briefing meeting is on March 31st, 2025 at 2 p.m.

All right.

Hearing no further comments or business, the council is now in executive session.

It is 3.33.

Council members, please log on to the executive session Zoom meeting in your office.

Thank you.