Committee on Governance, Native Communities and Tribal Governments 72023

Thank you, son.

Good morning, everybody.

Glad you're all here.

This is a meeting of the Governance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee.

The date is July 20th.

The time is nine thirty five.

And I'm Deborah Warris, chair of this committee.

With that, thank you all again for being here.

It's an exciting day.

We have a great agenda, particularly with the Indigenous Advisory Council and their first inaugural rolling out of their work plan.

So with that, let's move on to Madam Clerk.

Can you please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council President Juarez.

I'm here.

Thank you.

There's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Not seeing an objection, the agenda is adopted.

Let's go on to the chair's report.

I shared a little bit with you today, but I'll do a quick overview.

We have eight items on today's agenda.

The first is the reappointment of hearing examiner Ryan Bansal.

I understand Mr. Bansal is here.

I went out to greet him and say hello.

He'll be introduced by Karen Jackson from the legislative department.

We will then consider the appointments of Iris Friday to the Seattle Indian Services Commission.

And Francis Vernon from Department of Neighborhoods will be doing that introduction.

And Francesco will also stay for items three through six, which will be the presentation and joint consideration of four appointments to the Indigenous Advisory Council.

Three of these are reappointments to the council.

The reappointments are Esther Lucero, who is the CEO at Seattle Indian Health Board, Council Member Donny Stevenson from the Muckleshoot Nation, and Miss Asia Tale from the Seattle Foundation.

We also consider a new appointment to the IAC, filling a vacancy in the seat designated for indigenous youth.

And she is here today.

And that is and the mayor has nominated Megan Castillo.

Welcome, Megan, from Coyote Central.

As you know, that's a wonderful organization and we're lucky to have that organization in South and North.

So for agenda item seven, we will again hear from the indigenous Advisory Council Francesca Mernon.

She'll be presenting the IAC's 2023 implementation update.

I wish I'd like to just say they have a great PowerPoint and report and will be joined by, I understand, Council Member Talaka from Yakima, from the Yakima Nation.

Jeremy, are you here?

Okay, well, when he shows up.

We are promoting him now.

Okay, great.

Jeremy is a council member as is council member Stevenson elected council member from their respective tribal governments.

And Jeremy is on council with the accommodation on the other side of the mountain.

So he'll be here in a moment.

We can welcome him.

Finally, our new city clerk sharing a dead man will be joined by three members of the council rules work group.

We've been working on these rules for quite a while to present the changes being recommended following their biennial review of the council rules.

So this is a standard kind of cleanup after two years.

Let's go back and see what works.

And in particularly reconfiguring the rules that we had implemented and may need to still work with because of covid and what happened with doing remote and in-person council meetings and public hearing meetings and so forth.

So with that, oh, council member Tulaka joined us on Yakima time.

I see.

Thank you, Jeremy.

I'm giving him a hard time.

He's a brother, he understands.

So with that, we're going to go into public comments.

And Madam Clerk, will you please start with how many people are in chambers?

One in chambers.

And how many remote?

Bill, none online.

OK, so we have one one individual in chamber, so we'll give that individual two minutes.

You don't have to run the recording.

Basically, I think Mr. Zimmerman knows the rules that we tried to have this to be a safe space.

Please speak to the matters on the agenda.

Be respectful.

Be kind.

These are just basic stuff that you should have learned in kindergarten.

And if you watch Deep Space Nine.

But other than that, Mr. Zimmerman, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

My lovely Fuhrer.

Sieg Heil, my lovely Fuhrer.

Best of the best for the last 15 years, what is I know.

I want to speak about agenda number eight, about resolution 3096, 11.H.

a new behavior.

You bring like another dozen behavior.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stupid.

But what is we can do in 15 years?

Nothing changed.

I very proud.

So for the last 15 years, all correction and us constitution, freedom of speech, you know, open public act come only for Alex Zimmerman.

I am a hero.

I am a celebrity in Seattle.

You know what this mean?

Because I'm only one who have 15 trespasses more than for 1,200 days.

All this correction about Constitution, freedom of speech, Open Public Meeting Act make Seattle council for last 15 years.

What is this show?

So for last 15 years, Seattle degenerate idiot elect same kinds of council.

15 years, same freaking idiot.

Idiot can elect only idiot.

This is exactly what I told for a thousand times.

You're more dangerous than Nazi or communist because you seek psychopath.

Psychopath is more dangerous people in the world.

You know what I mean?

Nazi, not psychopath.

In communist, not psychopath.

Are you a psychopath?

Made rules for one man, Alex Zimmerman, for 15 years with 15 trespasses.

Who can do this?

Only mentally sick people.

A psychopath.

And this go and go.

And absolutely sure another four years will be the same degenerate idiot.

Why, my friend?

Thank you.

OK, are we is that the last of our public commenters, Madam Clerk?

There are no more.

Thank you.

We will now close public comment.

And folks, let's move on to our items of business.

As I shared, we have eight items and six of those are appointments and two are presentations.

So I'd like to introduce Karen Jackson from our H.R.

Department.

HR and Finance for the Legislative Branch.

And Karen, will you please introduce yourself and your guest?

Our guest.

Council President, may I read the item into the record?

Yeah, sorry about that.

I didn't see the thing.

It says, Madam Clerk, please read item.

Okay, sorry, you're right.

Did not see the highlighted.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

It's all you, Sarah.

Agenda item 1, appointment 02578, reappointment of Ryan P. Vansell as hearing examiner, office of the hearing examiner, for a term to March 20, 2027.

I'm laughing, Karen, because I don't know if you ever watched it with the Galaxy Quest, but Sarah is like, I have one job.

I have one job to do.

Let me do it.

So with that, Karen, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

Well, good morning, everyone.

As the Council President said, I'm the Director of HR and Finance for the Legislative Department, and it's an honor to be here.

I've never done this.

virtual.

So this is interesting.

And so welcome, everybody.

And welcome, Ryan.

Unfortunately, I can't see him because I'm virtual as well.

And so welcome, Ryan.

We're glad that you're here.

We're at this point.

Ryan Vansell is our current hearing examiner, and he is pursuing a second term.

And so our reason for being here is to consider his record and ask any questions that you might have of Ryan.

and to consider him for a second term.

Ryan was hired originally with the city as a deputy hearing examiner in October of 2016. A couple of years later, he was appointed as a hearing examiner with a one-year term, and then that followed a four-year term.

Now we're seeking a second term, and as Council President said, it's from March 21st to 23 through March 20th of 2027. And so with that, I'm going to stop talking and allow you all to raise any questions that you have.

But Brian, thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you, Karen.

So before we begin, I'm just going to say a few words and then I'm going to open it up the floor and then give Mr. Vance an opportunity to speak.

I had a chance to talk to him before we went on camera.

And Ryan, we have, I have your huge packet of your annual, I'm sorry, Office of the Hearing Examiner, the 2020 annual report.

Thank you so much for all the time that since we, you came on board, I've been working with you on all kinds of matters and you've been doing the hearing examiner report to us.

I know there's been a couple of times where you've had a couple of reports that were two, 300 pages.

I appreciate that.

I know that's hard work.

And I know that we, I wanted to have you back and to have you for a second appointment, because I felt like, obviously, you've done a great job.

You've really helped out city council and taking over some of the matters so that we can have a transparent, unbiased position, a judge, if you will, looking at some of these matters that are quasi judicial.

So I want to thank you for that.

I'm going to wholeheartedly support your reappointment, obviously, and had a chance, as I always have, to go through your confirmation packet.

But that's all I'll say for right now, and I just want to know if there's anything from my colleagues before I invite our guests to speak.

So Madam Clerk, normally I just let the proposed appointee speak ahead of time of the vote, or should we wait till after the vote?

it's often done before the vote in committee.

Okay.

So with that, Mr. Vancell, the floor is yours.

Very good.

Thank you, Council.

It's a delight to see you even if you're all far above my head, so I look like I'm looking at the ceiling.

But this is still a better view than the bald spot that I discovered last year that I'm gratified to see is not expanded.

I don't really have much for you today.

I included a letter with my packet that really was intended to convey my sentiments of how I feel about the opportunity to come back and serve the city in this role.

It does include some details about some of the challenges that we've faced and that is frankly a part of the delight of the role that such a role offers is that there is a constant challenge.

There are constantly new things that come up, whether it's the new jurisdiction types that you gift us with, or simply the case types of greatest complexity for any type of office like this in the state.

So it keeps me and my deputy coming back for more.

We've got a great, solid staff right now.

I look forward to another four years with it if it is your wish that I continue to serve in that role.

Thank you, Ryan, and I cannot believe it's been four years.

It's gone by pretty fast.

Yes.

It's all been fun.

I'm sure you love it.

Are there any other comments that my colleagues would like to share before I have Karen close this out and we go to a vote?

All right, not.

Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Strauss.

Yeah, thank you.

And Brian, I've been able to review your packet and your letter.

I don't have much more to add.

I just wanted to take this moment to thank you for your service to our city.

It is a very unique role that you serve, adjudicating very contentious issues at times.

And I appreciate your service to our city and the work that you've done.

I'm looking forward to working with you moving forward.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Karen, is there anything you want to add before I go to a vote.

No, the only thing I'd like to say is it's been a pleasure to work with Ryan as well their office is much more independent.

So part of the ledge branch obviously because that's why we're here, but very independent and, you know, my team has served them very minimally.

And of course, you know, we love that.

And so that just means it speaks to his managerial skills and being able to lead that office.

And I really appreciate that.

And so I'm looking forward to working with him again.

We appreciate the help when we get it.

Well, you get it.

Karen's good about that.

All right.

With that, So I move to recommend the confirmation of appointment 02609, Mr. Ryan Bansal, to be sent to the July 25th Seattle City Council meeting for confirmation by the full council.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

The motion has been moved and seconded.

There's no further discussion.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

All in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommends the City Council confirm the appointment of Mr. Ryan Bancel, appointment number 02609 to the Office of the Hearing Examiner.

Thank you, Council President and Council Members and Karen for your time.

I very much appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming down.

I really appreciate it.

It's nice to be able to talk to you offline for a little bit as well.

Very good.

Yeah, great to see you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, can you please read item number two into the record?

Do item two through six as a block?

Sure.

I see what you're doing now.

Read item two through six through the record.

Yes.

Got it.

Agenda items two through six.

Appointment 02608, the reappointment of Anne Iris Friday as a member of the Seattle Indian Services Commission for a term to October 31st, 2025. appointment 02610, the reappointment of Esther Lucero as a member of Indigenous Advisory Council for a term to July 31st, 2025. And appointments 026111 through 02613, the appointment of Megan Castillo as a member of Seattle Indigenous Advisory Council for a term to July 31st, 2026. and the reappointments of Donny Stevenson and Asia Tale as members Indigenous Advisory Council for terms to July 31st, 2025. You're muted Council President.

Apologize.

Thank you.

So we have the first appointment is, of course, to the Seattle Indian Service Commission and the other four for the Indigenous Advisory Council, just so we're clear.

So with that, Francesca, would you like to introduce yourself?

And go ahead and start with the first appointment, but go ahead and speak.

Thank you, Council President.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Francesca Mernan.

I am Shawnee and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

I work in the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods as the staff liaison to the Indigenous Advisory Council.

And for item number two on your agenda today, I'll be here on behalf of the mayor's office to support the recommended reappointment of Irish Friday to the Seattle Indian Services Commission.

Council President, would you like me to share the background now?

Yeah, sure.

Let's do that.

Yeah.

The Indian Services Commission is a Native-led public development authority formed in 1972 to support American Indian and Alaska Natives in King County.

To share a few updates on the Commission's recent work, they are focused on redeveloping the Pearl Warren Building in the Chinatown International District to include an early childhood facility, child care services, economic opportunity center, and a hall of ancestors, housing and office space that will serve as a cultural icon within the city of Seattle.

They're also pursuing other affordable housing development or in a pre development phase on a second project, and they're on track on track to pay off their bond in January of 2024. Iris has served on the commission for many years and currently works for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development as a Native American Program Specialist for the Section 184 program.

She works to bring affordable housing and homeownership opportunities to tribal communities and Native families, both on and off reservation.

Iris has previously served as the Chair of the Center for Women in Democracy and has served on the Tlingit and Haida Community Council Delegation, as well as the Cake Tribal Corporation Board of Directors.

And Iris is the co-founder and current chair of the Native Action Network, a local Native-led nonprofit that provides leadership, training, and civic engagement opportunities to Native women across our region.

So we're pleased to have this appointment before you today.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from my colleagues regarding the reappointment of Iris Friday to the Seattle Indian Service Commission?

I just want to add that I've known Iris for many, many, many years, too long to I want to admit on camera, and has been a tireless advocate for Native Americans and tribes for housing and for Indian country in general.

And I'm really glad that she wants to stay on the Seattle Indian Service Commission, which was created as a public development authority in the 70s and did phenomenal work and is the front runner for a lot of organizations such as United Indians and the Seattle Indian Health Board.

So I am happy to be supporting that confirmation.

So Madam Clerk, I'm a little confused on what we have, how we have lined up here.

My understanding is that I would let Francesca speak to each appointment and then we'll take one vote on all five, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

So we're not going to do a vote right now.

We're just going to move to the second item.

That's right.

All right, the second appointment.

Okay, go ahead, Francesca.

Thank you, Council President.

Number three on your agenda is the reappointment of Esther Lucero to a full term on the Indigenous Advisory Council.

Esther has served one short term, our first year, a couple of our folks who are being reappointed served a one-year short term, and this will be their first full term.

So brief background on Esther.

She's Diné, Latina, and a third-generation urban Indian from Colorado Springs, and is currently serving as the President and CEO of Seattle Indian Health Board.

So we're pleased to have this appointment before you today.

Next on your agenda, number four, is the reappointment of Vice Chair Donny Stevenson of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

Vice Chair Stevenson is elected member of his tribal council and brings 25 years of experience as an executive level leader in Indian country, serving his tribe and native people.

You may recognize Vice Chair Stevenson who has been before the Seattle City Council on several occasions this past year, both on behalf of this tribe and the collective work of the Indigenous Advisory Council.

Most recently, he was before the Housing and Finance Committee yesterday.

So we're pleased to have his continued leadership in implementing the Indigenous Advisory Council.

For the next appointment under your consideration, item number five, I'll do a little background, but then I'll hand this over to Megan Castillo, our newest member and incoming member.

We're pleased that the Mayor's Office is moving forward with the recommended appointment of Megan to position for an Indigenous youth age 18 to 29. Megan is Tlingit and Filipina, born and raised in Hawaii.

She moved to Seattle in 2011 to pursue digital design and art history degree at Seattle University.

Megan is currently the program manager at Coyote Central, an organization that provides creative classes to young people ages 10 to 15. Before working at Coyote Central, Megan was the program manager for Town Hall Seattle, where she booked over 200 events a year, including author talk, musical performance, and community events.

Through the Urban Native Education Alliance, Megan co-leads an annual resume and job readiness workshop for teenagers where she helps young people prepare to apply for their first job and internships.

You can find Megan at the Seattle Art Museum where her photo is included in the Windy Red Stars People of the Earth project, the group portrait of Native women and children.

on permanent display at the Art Museum.

A resident of Beacon Hill, Megan spends her free time gardening, walking her dog, and making art.

If it's all right, Council President, I will hand this over to Megan to do a brief introduction to our committee members.

Thank you.

We'd love to hear from you, Megan.

Welcome.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez, and thank you, Francesca.

I'm very happy to be here and very grateful to be considered for this opportunity.

It would be a great pleasure to join the advisory council and represent myself and my people and urban natives.

Yeah, thank you so much for considering me for this position.

Thank you, Megan.

My daughter is an artist as well, so I was hoping for a lawyer or a doctor, but that's okay.

As long as you love, love doing what you're doing.

Asia's laughing too, because yeah, she, yeah.

Yeah.

I think my parents would probably agree too, but you know, it's not for all of us.

Sometimes you can't help it.

Why are you following your passion?

It's America.

You need a J-O-B.

But anyway, what do I know?

So I'm really glad you're here, Megan.

I'm really glad you're filling this slot.

I'm really glad you're plugged into the Seattle scene about art and indigenous folks and urban-led organizations.

Obviously, we had a chance to look at your confirmation packet.

And I'm kind of smiling to myself because we have so many Tlingit Filipinas.

We call them in Indian country, Indapinas.

big group, big coalition.

So it's wonderful to have your voice here and hopefully we will look forward to watching your career grow in this great city of ours.

With that, I think Council Member Strauss has a few things that he would like to either ask or make a statement for.

Council President, we can't all be lawyers, Council President.

We have to have some creatives in this world too.

Megan, I'm just impressed by I mean, if you're able to program over 200 events a year for town hall, I just want to like 365 days in the year.

And then we have to take into consideration that there are times of the year that we take off, whether it's holidays in December, you know, vacations in the summer.

When you do that math, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you programmed something almost every day.

Yeah.

Town Hall Seattle has two venue locations.

So, uh, sometimes it's two things a night and sometimes it's as many as four things a night.

Um, yeah, pretty busy stuff.

Um, I don't, I, I left that job about a month and a half ago, but it was always quite fun when sometimes we would get calls that I think were intended for you folks.

People would call Town Hall Seattle and be like, I need to talk to council person so and so, and we'd be like, well, I'm gonna just fully transfer you, not even to, you know, to a different building, a different entity.

So yeah, fun stuff.

So it sounds like you might be a doctorate of programming, if I might, Council President.

Yeah, logistics are really, are really my gig.

I'm a really good scheduler.

We are really excited to have you.

And it sounds like you already have a little bit of the city hall knowledge since you've already transferred all the phone calls.

Maybe so.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Are there any other, not seeing anything else, I'm gonna let Francesca move along.

Yes, and the final appointment before you today, and item number six is the reappointment of Asia Tale to position eight on the Indigenous Advisory Council.

Asia is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, born and raised on Coast Salish territories.

Asia is co-founded and currently serves as the director of the Howe Indigenous Creatives Collective, an urban women-led arts nonprofit based here in Seattle.

You'll be hearing from Asia on our next agenda item as well.

Thank you.

I have a few things to say.

Where is Asia?

Asia is very modest about her resume, but she has an incredible upbringing.

But all that aside, she was one of the few people when you had 20, 20,000 or whatever people applying to Cooper Union Art School.

And she went to New York two or three times and got in with her portfolio.

And I was always very proud of her, watched her grow, watched her career grow.

And to see her become the woman that she is today and starting to come into her own.

So us in Indian country, as we say, I can step back and take my place in a different place.

So this generation can come up and teach us what we need while they still listen to us.

Yeah, she has a big smile on her face.

Is there anything else that any of my colleagues would like to share or discuss or make a comment of regarding the reappointment of Asia Tian, who currently I understand works at the Seattle Foundation, for her reappointment.

This is our appointment, right?

Not the mayoral.

This is a city one.

Asia is a mayoral appointment.

It's mayoral.

And Esther, city council.

OK, got it.

OK.

It's like the mayor beat me to it.

OK.

Are there any other comments regarding the appointees that is that our last 1. Yes.

OK, good.

All right.

So I'm going to wrap this up.

Are there any other comments before we just move on the full slate from my colleagues?

And I'm just going to read into the record one more time, because I think it's important that people know these names, because these are all people that have been involved in Indian country for a long time in their whole lives and understand this stuff.

Of course, the first appointment of Iris Friday to the Seattle Indian Service Commission.

the reappointment of Estela Sero, who is the CEO of the Seattle Indian Health Board, the reappointment of Council Member Donny Stevenson from the Muckleshoot Nation, the new appointment of Megan Castillo, and she, of course, works at Coyote Central, and, of course, the reappointment of Asia Tale, who works at the Seattle Foundation, to the Indigenous Advisory Council.

We have a great slate in front of us.

So are there any other comments before I move these?

Okay, I don't see any, so I'm gonna do this.

I move to recommend confirmation of appointments 02608 and 02610 through 02613, which is basically all the names I just read, that all of these names be sent to the July 25th Seattle City Council meeting for confirmation.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Is that you, Council Member Peterson?

Yes, Chair.

Oh, it's the vice chair.

Oh, forgot about that.

All right.

The vice chair has just seconded the president's motion.

The motion has been moved and seconded.

There's no further discussion.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Vice chair Peterson.

Yes.

Council member Swamp.

Yes.

Council member Strauss.

Yes.

Council president Warris.

Aye.

All in favor, none opposed.

Great, the motion carries and the committee recommends city council confirm these five appointments.

0 to 6, 0, 8, and 0 to 6, 1, 0 through 0 to 6, 1, 3, at our next at our July 25 council meeting.

Thank you.

And you're welcome to stay.

You don't have to go if you want to.

Hey, Megan, if you want to hang around, you might you probably should.

I'm guessing you need to see what's going to go on with the work plan.

All right.

So with that, Madam Clerk, will you please read item number seven into the record?

Agenda item seven, Indigenous Advisory Council implementation updates for briefing and discussion.

All right, Francesca, you're still with us and I understand you're going to introduce this and we'll let you kick it off.

Thank you, Council President.

For item number seven, I'll be doing a brief introduction to two of our Indigenous Advisory Council members that will be sharing some implementation updates.

Today, we're also submitting our annual work plan to the committee and to city council, as well as the mayor's office.

And with that, we've provided you a supplement, which is our three-year strategic plan.

This is, as you might remember, the council is about a year in the making.

We were in this committee last July for our first round of appointments.

So we've spent the last part of this year really diving in on a collective vision of what a culturally grounded advisory body looks like and is capable of doing and advising local government.

So I will hand this over to our two presenters.

Council Member Jeremy Takala is in position three, and is on Tribal Council at the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

And Asia Tale, who you have also met, will be co-presenting.

You'll see a slides here that I'll share that have Council Member Suzanne Salto.

She was busy with Tribal Council business, so we're doing a quick sub.

So we really appreciate Council Member Takala for generously taking time to fill in and be here with us today.

So with that, I will pull up the slides and Council Member Takala if you'd like to start with introductions.

Thank you, Francesca.

Thank you Council President, Council Members for inviting us to share a few updates from the Indigenous Advisory Council.

As Francesca said, I can't believe it's already been almost a year now since we've all been appointed here to serve on the Advisory Council.

You know, we look forward to our continued collaboration and growth to provide culturally grounded advisory support to our city partners.

So again, I'm Jeremy Takala.

I am a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Bands of the Yakama Nation.

I serve as one of the 14 elected tribal council for the Yakama Nation.

And, you know, I just want to express my appreciation and also my gratitude to my fellow colleagues on the serving as a year for this advisory council.

So I'll let Asa, you want to go ahead and introduce yourself.

My name is Asa Tale, citizen of the Cherokee Nation, second generation urban native, born and raised.

here on Coast Salish territories in Seattle area.

I did formerly work at Seattle Foundation, so have some good grant making and foundation experience.

And I'm currently the executive director at Yahao Indigenous Creatives Collective, an arts nonprofit stewarding new site in South Seattle.

Super happy to be here with you all.

And thank you to Council President and the whole council for creating this advisory group.

Thank you.

So, again, we're, we're approaching our first year as a, you know, as a city commission and look forward to our continued collaboration and growth to provide culturally grounded advisor support to our city partners and again want to thank the leadership of Council President and Council members for you know, recommending this group and the support that, you know, we both need for each other to see our vision move forward.

So the Indigenous Advisory Council, again, as I said, I want to thank our leadership.

You know, the Indigenous Advisory Council now exists as a sustainable pathway for Indigenous representation and Indigenous knowledge in local public policy processes.

We are the only city board or commission comprised entirely of Native people, represent a diverse range of perspectives and experiences from Indigenous communities.

And, you know, as Asia said, you know, you know, the background that she has, the experience, I've, you know, heard many of the backgrounds, including, you know, Council Member Donny Stevens and, including our newly appointed welcome aboard.

And, you know, even for us here working on many of the current issues, you know, for the Yakama Nation, and I'm sure many of our tribal leaders and, you know, our different leadership in the urban areas bring, you know, many expertise and background to this advisory council.

Um, we, uh, you know, as a culturally grounded advisory body, we act as a trusted advocate advisor and a connector amongst city partners.

Uh, today we will share more about our indigenous advisory approach to policy and systems changes that we hope will move government and community partners towards transformational relationships, rooted in capacity repair and share power with, with, with the indigenous communities.

Uh, Asia, go ahead.

Thank you, Jeremy.

So you guys can see the inaugural group of our council.

Again, really incredible diverse experience in terms of sectors.

We have folks who lead housing work, health and wellness work, sports, and all along the way to tribal council representatives from our local Coast Salish tribal nations.

Jeremy, you can take your mask off for that picture.

Really important, really important Thank you.

Come on, man.

You represent Yakima.

Come on.

Hey, those were dark times, OK?

We have to remember to remember.

The dark times.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, so maybe that would be another great investment for this upcoming year.

We could do some hedge funds.

I'm sure Francesca is taking notes.

And, of course, we had the amazing CeCe Hoffman on our council.

CeCe's off getting a doctorate degree in Chicago.

We're super proud of her and really excited to welcome Megan to the group in our youth position.

So there's youth perspectives here, elder perspectives, and we all really work together, I think beautifully, to create a unique table that has all those perspectives working in unison towards what is in the best interest of Native peoples.

I have not seen that any other place or any other time in my professional career.

So again, really glad that the city is creating this space for our folks.

And I'll pass it back to CM Takala.

Okay, thank you.

I promise that Council President Ruiz, I'll update that picture and I'll send it over to Francesca.

So, um, the indigenous engagement, you know, one thing that we want to know, you know, it's very important to understand our work, you know, within the broader city approach to indigenous engagement.

You know, prior to the formation of this council, you know, the city of Seattle had limited channels for engaging tribal and urban partners and public policy processes.

You know, we, there have been periods in the city history where tribal nations were not provided the opportunity to be at the table for critical decisions impacting our region, nor appropriately consulted on issues impacting trust and treaty rights.

And, you know, as I heard, you know, they're in our summit, you know, robust and meaningful, is that correct Council President Wuerz?

Inside joke here, a council member, Jeremy is making fun of City Council in the words we use.

That's why he's saying robust.

He knows City Council bingo very well, but I know he does not want me to bring up Tribal Council bingo.

It's a whole new game, but go ahead.

So, you know, in the past few years, you know, we are seeing positive shifts in Indigenous engagement.

You know, current city approach includes, you know, Tribal Relations Division and the Office of Intergovernmental Relations that is strengthening city-tribal relationships by, you know, basically better engaging tribal nations as sovereign governments and regional partners.

You know, we want to make sure that, you know, we fill a longstanding gap in our city's ability to engage with, you know, as mentioned, a diverse range of indigenous peoples residing in Seattle and the region in a public policy processes.

You know, we serve as a supplementary avenue to strengthen the city's ongoing unique relationship with tribal nations and their work to fulfill legal, political, and racial equity obligations to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people that live, work, and play in Seattle.

You know, together, you know, as you know, we want to mention our partnership is very key, you know, so these approaches that you know we are developing will only strengthen our city wide system for, for, you know, our tribal and urban native engagement so you know it.

You know, me, even though I live on east side of the Cascades, you know, I still have, you know, a relationship or a connection to the Seattle area and to our people over there.

So it's very important, you know, whether we are child people from this region or, you know, across the country, we know that Seattle is an indigenous city and culturally anchored for indigenous communities.

I'll pass back to Asia.

Thank you.

Yeah, we really are so glad to have Tim at the city as well and see our work certainly in collaboration with their critical government to government obligations that Tim is helping you all to me in terms of consulting with the local tribes and our work is separate, but hopefully bolsters both things will bolster each other and just strengthen overall consultation tribal peoples.

Our timeline just to recap some of the important milestones that I see development process really kicked off in 2020 with the ordinance that allowed the city to hire Francesca essentially a year later, super glad to have Francesca on board again just.

I always love to embarrass her and shout out what an incredible liaison, she is and so thoughtful and hard working for our people.

So Francesca then really stewarded the development process for the IAC proper and collaboration with Council President.

In 2022, we confirmed our first nine members to the Council.

And then earlier this year, we launched a culturally grounded strategic planning process.

We worked with Eddie Sherman from Against the Current Consulting, a Native-owned company, to really get some thoughts on paper, which you all are reading now, as of our June meeting.

Those were approved by the Council, and we're happy to share those today.

And I can just jump in.

We also want to be super clear that we see our work uplifting, of course, again, those really key political obligations to Native people, both tribal members locally and also urban Native people still hold really important political status.

And also that those important relationships with Native people further uphold racial equity overall.

So when Native people are doing well, that further supports health and wellness for Black, Indigenous, and people of color across all of our communities.

And so, again, this isn't something that's competitive.

We really see this as work that is collaborative and holistic in our approach and are excited to be part of this broader conversation within the city.

I should add before you say anything else, I really, really love the mission statement and purpose.

So good job on that.

Are you going to read that into the record, Asia?

Is that what you're going to do?

Yeah, let me see if I can get it.

We're looking at it, but I think it's important.

I really do.

I was just really impressed.

So I was going through this last night, but go ahead.

I'm so glad.

Yeah.

Our mission is to advise local government on culturally grounded policy and systems changes that transfer power and resources to indigenous communities.

So again, advising is really important, but our ultimate goal and mission is to really see that change in power and transfer back resources to Native people.

Our purpose is to make recommendations to the Seattle City Council, Mayor, and the City Departments on issues directly affecting American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people.

So we hope to be thought partners for you all we hope to work with many city departments, as well as our community members to really make thoughtful recommendations and advise on on things large and small.

How the way that that advising might work will fall into kind of six key priority areas and focus areas for us.

So, of course, we want to really have strong roots as a Council, know what we're doing as advisors, have that all grounded in Indigenous teachings and cultural practices.

We also want to always be planning and evaluating our work, adapting as we go.

So we're going to set that into our strategic plan as well to always be checking in and re-evaluating.

And we want to work to set policy priorities that uplift local tribal treaty obligations, and also sort of stretch the limits of what is already in place.

So can we get some urban consultation policies through?

Can we adjust policies that may not be directly designed around Native communities, but make sure that they're serving our populations adequately and efficiently?

The next three buckets are actually the sort of core focus areas of our committees as well.

So you'll hear probably a lot more about us or from us on these topics.

But again, systems transformation is really key.

So we'll have a committee focused on internal practices within Seattle government, how to adjust those and adapt those to be in the best interest of native folks.

We also want to have an external facing committee that works with the community directly on issues of housing, health and wellness, youth, missing and murdered indigenous women, and many other kind of direct service topics and areas.

And last but not least, We want to really have a city that Native people feel belonging in and feel themselves reflected in public art, in architectural design and city signage.

We want to have an Indigenous city where people know whose lands they're on as soon as they come.

And we really see arts and culture as an upstream approach to a lot of the health and wellness issues facing our communities as well.

So again, all these things are interrelated and interconnected.

Jeremy, do you want to add anything?

I think you covered it all.

I mean, I'm just really impressed, you know, with, you know, the shared goals and prior to activities that, you know, the Advisory Council has developed, of course, with Francesca, you know, you know, working with the group here.

So I'm excited, you know, the group is really excited.

So, you know, it's exciting to see what, you know, we work towards, you know, for as much as Asia said, you know, for our community and our indigenous peoples in the Seattle area.

I just got one, I just got one comment on this picture was Jeremy look great.

And I look confused.

You couldn't have found a better picture.

I know he's on council, but damn, I think I was talking about how, you know, trying to convince you to be a Mariner fan.

I think I believe I won't even tell you what I said.

I'll get in trouble.

Somebody Jeremy's a big, big Mariners fan, like crazy Mariner fan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, uh, this this past year, you know, has been really, really important for us and it took a lot of, you know, prepping for, you know, our first city of Seattle travel nation summit and so you know the again it's very important, you know, for a part of our journey to find and create this, you know, wonderful advisor group and so.

You know, we've kind of started out, you know, in, you know, very strong and, you know, collaboratively working, you know, relationships with city partners.

You know, this past May, many of you were a part of it, you know, where the Indigenous Advisory Council collaborated with the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, you know, to host our inaugural City of Seattle Tribal Nations Summit.

you know, this gathering marked the beginning of our city's journey to more, you know, authentically honor and respect tribal sovereignty and to have an understanding and, you know, share our perspective and the history, the past and the current issues that, you know, we're seeing.

And, you know, we want to, you know, create this partnership to address some of these issues and, you know, come up with some solutions.

And so, You know, again, it was the Seattle's, City of Seattle's first time, you know, official government-to-government meeting was conveyed, convened, and the city elected leaders and senior officials with multiple tribes.

During the summer, you know, elected tribal leaders shared their top priorities with Mayor Harrell and deputies, mayors through a listening session, followed by an opportunity for city leadership to listen and learn directly from tribal leaders and how to work together more effectively as governments and regional partners.

Tribal and urban native leaders then engage in direct talks and candid conversation focused on three areas of shared concerns such as housing, homelessness, natural and cultural resources and public safety.

The Council supported the development of the summit and attended in our capacities as public commissioners and tribal and urban native advocates.

Post-summit, we continue to engage and advise city partners on next steps for strengthening tribal relationships and exploring policy and system changes that can sustain and expand our city's engagement with tribal and urban native partners.

This is one example of how we approach our role and, you know, strengthen the city work with tribal and urban native communities.

As mentioned earlier, you know, we look forward to continuing this spirit of collaboration in the months and years ahead.

So, you know, very excited about this work.

And of course, this first City of Seattle Tribal Summit.

And again, those of you that are, you know, online, we appreciate your guys' support and participation this past May.

I should add, Council Member, that As I've always said, as being a lawyer for over 35 years now I think I always appreciate these, as the governor would have the Centennial Accord, having the first time tribal summit for the city of Seattle and having elected leaders attend as well as all the city department heads.

It is better to see you in those settings and, as you said earlier, have a channel to work with the city of Seattle rather than a courtroom, because that's normally where things happen and you don't always get what you want from a from a federal judge.

So these conversations are really important.

They're not I don't think that they're just cosmetic.

So I'll leave it at that, because I know you want to get through this.

And I know that some of my colleagues have some questions and probably some comments to make.

So this next slide here is our annual work plan, you know, the relationship building, the advisory support.

Today, you know, we submit our annual work plan and corresponding three-year strategic plan to the city council and the mayor's office.

You know, this presentation here and the submission, we hope that, you know, this will give you an idea of the work that we seek to accomplish in partnership with you all.

To advance our goals outlined in our planning documents, we see our work falling into two main categories.

One is relationship building and two, advisor support.

Relationship building encompasses our goals to meet the city and community partners to explore new opportunities for collaboration.

In the past year, we have begun this process with groups such as the Generational Wealth Initiative, the Rising Tides Indigenous Planning Group, the Green New Deal Oversight Board, and other groups that are currently or plan to work with Native communities.

We also intend to continue our collaborative relationship with the Office of Intergovernmental Relations to ensure that as a city, we are making progress in honoring the trust and treaty obligations to Native communities.

We want to make sure we anticipate these relationships will continue to yield opportunities to provide culturally grounded advisory support in the areas of legislative and administrative policy and program and project development.

For the next budget cycle, we anticipate presenting budget priorities that reflect the needs of tribal and urban Native communities.

To share a few near-term advisory roles, we're advising on updates to the city's land disposition and policies to enhance tribal and urban Native access to land.

Under the direction of the Seattle City Council, we will develop shared directives to the Office of Sustainability and Environment and Recent Investments and Indigenous-led sustainability projects.

And we will work with the city departments to review and offer feedback and recommendations to address common Indigenous values and priorities in several city plans, such as the Parks and Open Space Plan and Comprehensive Plan.

We anticipate our work to grow and evolve in the years ahead.

This is an unprecedented effort for the city of Seattle to engage tribal and urban native communities in this way, and we'll look forward to chartering a new and sustainable path for indigenous representation and local government.

So with that, city council, president and members, that concludes our presentation here from Asia and I.

We're happy to take questions.

I'm going to open the floor for my colleagues before I say anything more.

So anything I from my colleagues that are here that have any questions of our panel and Francesca.

Council, all the vice president has his hand up, Councilmember Peterson.

Thank you, council president.

Thank you for this presentation today.

And we know that we'll hear from you a lot.

based on the formal work that you're doing.

As individual issues arise where we may need your guidance, what is the best way to connect with you?

For example, we received a letter from the Snoqualmie tribe yesterday or a copy of a letter they sent to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections asking the city to protect an ancient or a tree that was It's located where there was an ancient indigenous trail system connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington.

And they're asking for the city to intervene and stop the removal of that tree.

So when issues like that come up, we obviously got the letter from Snoqualmie tribe.

And if we wanted to ask the advisory council as well, what's the best way to engage when it may not be something on your monthly agenda?

Francesca you want to respond to that.

Yes, thank you for that question Vice Chair, there are still some things that are government to government engagement that can rain on in our office of intergovernmental relations handles, but broader policy and systems changes use for example related to culturally modified trees are within the realm and purview of this group to support and advise on.

And so we do, that's why on the back end of city staff, we work closely to ensure that government to government channels are respected and followed, and that when there are things that come out of that we might be able to do as an advisory support council, we can fulfill that role.

In shorthand, Vice President, What they're saying is like if the state of Oregon or Idaho had a problem and we got a letter from another government saying we have a problem, we would automatically go to Office of Intergovernmental Relations and say, we have this issue with this particular state, our good, our city, our municipality, and OIR via the mayor's office on the executive branch would handle it first, because as you know, all city departments are in the executive branch.

At least that's just the common as a government.

And I know some of these issues need a little bit more refining, like is it a political issue, is it a jurisdictional issue, is it a policy issue?

And at that point, my point person first always is Francesca, and then Tim Rennan in the executive office and the mayor's office.

But that's a good question though because we, we have a lot of those issues that come in, and since I'm the resident native on the floor here I get those and feel them and I don't have a problem doing that but at some point that's not really my job but that's okay.

Comes with the enrollment number.

Um, so I have a few comments I'd like to be but I see Oh, and before I go any further.

I want to thank customer Nelson and customer Strauss, and this is no shade on my colleagues.

They were in committee so they couldn't make it to the tribal summit, but council member.

council member.

Nelson and Strauss came in customer Strauss is chair.

The land use was there the whole time and has worked closely with me on the land disposition in the land back issue.

So as the chair of land use, so I just wanted, um, put this down on my bingo card.

Give him I want to uplift and center him and make space and give him a shout out.

I think I got a bingo right there was my bingo card.

So with that

And Jeremy and Asia, thank you for such a robust presentation.

And that picture of Jeremy with the mask, your smile is still bursting through that small picture.

It was just really great to meet you at the Tribal Summit, just about that Tribal Summit Council President what you were just talking about government to government relations if we were working with Oregon or if we were working with Canada with British Columbia, there's a certain protocol in which we work with and what was really leader here in the city of Seattle was watching government to government relations occur between tribal governments, and then working with the city, what it demonstrated through example is, I think Asia said this the idea of collaboration, instead of competition.

you know, and for me, understanding that not everyone always gets along, even between, you know, government to government or in government to government relationships, and those disagreements or agreements are millennia old as compared to the disagreements that we might have here at city council, which might be, you know, decades or a century old at most.

And it was really important for me to see this type of interaction occurring, because I think it sets the example that we here at city council and we here in the Seattle government need to exercise.

So that's my soapbox.

I just wanted to also thank both Asia and Jeremy for the presentation, because in your goals section, I can't remember what slide number it was.

if they're not just separate goals, it was almost a flow chart for me, where looking at starting as advisors and then working at it to plan and evaluate policy.

And then from planning and evaluating, creating policies from their guiding systems transformation, so that you're able to foster a thriving community, which results in building an indigenous city.

That's what I was struck by in the presentation because they don't stand alone and they don't sit by themselves.

It is really one leads to the next and it is a pathway to having a collaborative relationship.

I can tell you just from the short time that the Indigenous Advisory Council has been in place and Tim Raynon has been in Office of Intergovernmental Relations, it's been incredibly important and meaningful for me to have you, just a phone call away, because in my first couple of years as Land Use Chair, there were questions that came up that I didn't necessarily know who to call.

You called me.

But I know, I know, and you can't be our everything as much as you, I mean, you are in a lot of ways, Council President.

Yeah, I'm getting paid extra for that, so.

I know, I, well, salaries are salaries, they're not, you know, you don't get extra, you know, and that's the thing, right, where I know just because I have good intentions and I want to do a good thing or a right thing doesn't mean trying doesn't create good outcomes.

And I think that even with good intentions at times, when I've tried to be an elected leader that incorporates indigenous perspective and creates good relationship, even when I'm trying, I sometimes do it wrong.

And sometimes doing it wrong creates more harm.

And so just in the ability to have Tim join us when, you know, attending the, Skagit hydro facility projects and understanding more or just being up at Chester Morris watershed, just his presence alone.

Helps me understand what I'm looking at in a more meaningful way.

And.

Council president was right.

I guess I don't have a question.

I was just up here on a soapbox just to say, thank you.

We're all politely listening.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Are there any other comments for our panel before I wrap this up or let Francesca have the last word?

Francesca, let me say a few things and I'm going to let you, well, no, you go ahead.

I'll let you wrap up your team.

Then I have some closing remarks and then we'll move on.

Go ahead.

A lot of good words said today and I think my only regret is that we didn't share a slide on our shared values because number four is embrace humor, and I'm just loving that we got to see a little bit of that today.

So thank you all for taking time, and we'll be following up by email with some of the materials that you heard today and looking forward to working with you.

Well I'm glad you said that because that's been a mark of my leadership what I've noticed being elected in not an Indian country is that And I love it I wish that one of the Echo Hawk sisters were here but the whole issue of decolonizing.

I think the non-Indian world doesn't understand that humor is disarming in its kind, and it's a way to say welcome, and we're all human, and we're all doing the best we can.

And I was kind of teasing Council Member Strauss, but he's such a good person to want to know these issues.

Council Member Nelson, I was on the phone with Council Member Mosqueda this morning about the disposition land issues.

All my colleagues coming to my office and saying, explain more to me about this land back.

This is the same group of elected that were concerned about missing and murdered indigenous women, about the Dakota Access Pipeline, that were concerned about the boarding schools and VAWA, all these issues.

Every one of my colleagues at some point has come to me as a touch point, like, what are we doing on this?

How do we respond to this?

So even though we're kind of joking, council member or the vice president raised a really good issue.

We get these these issues that come over.

And now, going back and I do have a point here with what Jeremy was saying that before we had really limited channels for indigenous engagement.

We just, and we had the liaison and the mayor's office on the executive side, but we didn't really have a stalwart office on the legislative side.

And then that's why I was very proud of this council in the last two or three years when we created the Indigenous Advisory Council, got it funded.

And then I stole Francesca from the Seattle Indian Health Board and her department of neighborhoods has just opened everything up to have somebody who's physically here who understands Indian country, and the issues and also who to go to and that's really important.

So, it is very key and I know a few other cities have done it, that it's that the Native American presence.

Since we are an indigenous land and that's another issue should be on the executive side, it should be on the legislative side.

And all of my colleagues should have a place to go for these kind of issues with our 9 committees.

And my understanding, it sounds a little overwhelming, but the city department has 45 departments.

So it is a good place for the one-stop shopping for Department of Neighborhoods and OIR to be able to direct any one of these departments, whether it's D.O.N. or S.T.C.I. or S.D.O.T. or S.P.D. or the Office of Civil Rights, where do we go to handle this Indigenous issue?

And now we have a group of people, not me because I get accused of a lot of things and also get it's interesting.

I don't make those decisions.

I think people think I'm sitting here making decisions to exclude certain people and include, and I don't make those decisions.

I merely wanted to create the body on the legislative side so my colleagues have a place to go from a Indigenous group that understands Indian country and understands the political relationship between tribes and governments, the government to government, that it is not racial, It is political because we have treaties and a land base and everything else is open for discussion and inclusion.

And that's really what we were hoping for.

And that's what we're seeing.

I cannot stress.

I think I sent you guys a quick text last night when I went through the PowerPoint and the strategic plan.

I can't remember what word I used you probably know what word I use that it was a great plan and I was really excited.

And I'm hoping other folks can get a chance and I will be sharing this with the rest of with the rest of my colleagues who are not on the, on the committee, and I understand from a Tim the liaison in the mayor's office to bring in who's lawyer and formerly on Puyallup Tribal Council, that they'll be doing another summit.

They want to make this a yearly thing like the governor's office has been doing for 30 years, since the early, since 90, the Centennial Accord where the tribes meet with the governor.

And it isn't about doing what everything says.

It's having a place to go where tribal leadership is in the room with department heads and the mayor Saying, these are the top issues, the fact that you guys narrative down to three which again shows it doesn't matter whether you're Indian or native or non native, you care about housing, you care about public safety, you care about cultural resources, those cross every spectrum.

And so that voice, and again, going back to what Chairman or what Jeremy said, Council Member Jeremy, we need that engagement because we get it from every other stakeholder group in the city, in this county, in this region.

And so I'm just, I'm very impressed.

So one of the things is when I leave here, this will be one of my top five legacies that I can, I'm very proud of, and I couldn't have done it without Seattle City Council.

and their vote and without the support of Mayor Harrell.

So I will get off my soapbox and see if there's anything else anyone wants to say before we move on.

So, Jeremy.

Yeah, go ahead.

I'm just gonna let Jeremy know I can confirm I've been to a Mariners game with Council President.

I didn't watch the game though.

So, I know.

Jeremy, good luck with your team.

I hope they make it to the big bit.

I don't think they ever have, but God bless y'all.

But let's go Seattle Storm.

Yes.

Four national champions.

OK.

So with that, I think we're going to move on.

Thank you, folks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Asia.

Jeremy.

Thank you, Councilor Strauss.

You're not going anywhere, Strauss.

Thank you, Francesca, as always.

And we got Esther joining us.

OK, great.

I'm glad Council Member Nelson is still here as well.

All right, so we're wrapped up item number seven, so we're gonna move on into item number eight.

And Madam Clerk, please read item eight into the record.

Agenda item eight, resolution 32096, a resolution adopting general rules and procedures for the Seattle City Council, superseding resolutions 32029 and 32051 for briefing and discussion.

Thank you.

So, you know, every year, every two years we revisit the rules the council rules.

I know that a, you all received the memo that was dated back on July 11 from Esther and staff so what I'm gonna do is I'm going to hand it over to our city clerk.

Shireen Deadman.

Shireen, I hope you don't mind if I address you just by your first name.

Please.

Beautiful first name, Shireen.

And Shireen is our new city clerk.

And I'm going to let you introduce your colleagues and the panel and tee up these subjects.

Thank you.

And I will rely on my newness that if I make any mistakes.

Good morning, committee members.

Today I am joined by representatives of the Council Rules Review Working Group, including Central Staff Director Esther Handy, Legislative Council Lauren Henry, and Deputy City Clerk Amelia Sanchez.

The Working Group also included Council President Deborah Juarez, and her Chief of Staff, Bryndell Swift, Interim City Clerk and City Archivist, Anne Frontilla, Interim Deputy Director of the Office of the City Clerk and Technology and Information Management Services Manager, Ian Smith, Deputy City Clerks, Linda Barron and Jody Schwinn, Central Staff, sorry, actually, as we're here, and Assistant City Attorney, Gary Smith, and Code Revisor, Brandon Isley.

I'm probably saying that wrong.

The working group convened from April 3rd to June 21st to collaborate and discuss potential amendments to the council rules and to prepare recommendations for consideration by the city council.

The working group developed a final amended version of the rules, which was introduced as Resolution 32906 on July 5th.

These amendments were sent to council members on July 3rd for feedback, along with the memo providing the 2023 council rules and procedures update schedule.

So hopefully you all received it.

The team will provide a summary of the review process and highlight proposed changes and review the process for any amendments that may be requested by the city council members moving forward.

Notice that, notice, sorry, hold on.

So the notice was sent to council that, sorry, notice was sent that council is considering amendments to the rules.

The fact that there's a public comment period and a review schedule, this was all provided.

It was published in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce on June 30th.

This was also sent to the council members, the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, the League of Women Voters of Seattle, King County, the Municipal League of King County, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Seattle on that same day, asking for their public comments.

and that public comment period began on June 30th, and it will run through July 28th.

So far, we have not received any comments, but any comments that will be received by our office will be sent to council members.

On July 17th, Central Staff Director Esther Haney sent a memo regarding the resolution having to do with the proposed changes to council rules, which included background information, a summary of the proposed changes, other policy issues for consideration, and proposals that the working group declined to recommend.

and she will provide more of that information in her presentation that she'll be giving shortly.

Final review and recommendation of the amendments is on August 3rd, and the resolution will be presented to City Council for consideration and possible adoption on August 8th.

For now, we encourage your full engagement and we ask that you provide direct feedback.

Please feel free to ask any questions or seek clarifications during this presentation.

That's one of the reasons why Amelia Sanchez is here.

She'll be able to answer on my behalf, that's for sure.

I want to thank the working group for their work on this incredibly important topic and for their feedback.

I especially want to thank Anne Frontilla and Ian Smith, who were able to hold down the fort during the transition of city clerks.

And so now I hand over the floor to Esther.

Before we begin, Esther, I want to make sure that all my colleagues got the memo that you had provided, as well as the documents of the Central Rules and Procedures and the draft.

I'm hoping everybody has that.

And again, it's discussion only today.

We're not voting.

But we have this working group of nine has been great.

And with that, I'm going to hand it over to you, Esther.

Great.

Good morning, Council Members.

As I introduce myself, I'll ask Lauren Henry, our Legislative Legal Counsel, to pull up the slides that she is going to help me run this morning.

For the record, Esther Handy, Director of your Central Staff.

I'm really happy to have been part of this working group.

We'll hop past slide two, which is the process, which has been covered really clearly.

Thank you, Shireen.

Welcome.

We're glad you're here on the team.

The work group recommended 24 changes to the rules, and I'm going to use these slides to walk through them.

The bulk of these changes are fairly technical in nature, so I'm going to move fairly quickly.

Please stop me at any time if you want to ask a question, and of course, we'll take questions at the end.

The first three changes apply to public comment.

They require agendas to specify whether a committee will take oral or written public comment, clarify that at committee, the public may comment only upon agenda items before the committee that day, and further provide the chair flexibility to expand the scope of public comment in their committee if they list that expanded scope on their agenda.

and requires the Council President to issue guidelines for public comment in hybrid meetings with the goal of creating consistency across committees and ensuring that the Council has both technology and staff capacity to support that model.

Next slide.

Item number four updates the language defining disruptive behavior in city council meetings, as listed here on the slide, to include the use of racial, misogynistic, or gender-related slurs.

It also extends the timelines in which those who repeatedly violate the disruption rules may face exclusions from future meetings.

Finally, in this section, item five requires the council to adopt a language access plan.

The work group looked at some templates from the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, which creates a venue to set a set of goals for language access in our written materials and our public meetings, and for the council to develop an action plan to achieve those goals.

Next section, the next slide, addresses participation in hybrid meetings.

Item six removes language that was added to several sections of the rules in 2021 that required council members to notify the council president if they would participate remotely in meetings.

As the council practices have evolved and remote participation has become a daily norm for the council, this required notification is being removed.

And item seven updates the rule to match current practice, which is that in hybrid format, votes must be taken via roll call, not via voice vote.

So roll call is when we call each of the members and ask for their vote, whereas a voice vote is when you would say all in favor, all opposed, and that is reserved for when everybody is in person.

And finally, this makes clear that when somebody is attending an executive session virtually, they are responsible for keeping that virtual space and the contents of the session confidential.

Any questions on those first sections before I move to budget committee?

Great.

Item 9 updates the BIT committee rules to establish the mid-biennial review framework that we have been talking about this year.

The two significant changes are changes the budget chair may, rather than shall, prepare a balancing package in a mid-biennial review, so the second year of a budget, and requires council member amendments to be self-balancing in the second year of a biennial budget.

Next slide.

Items 10 through 16 look at our current committee practices.

Item 10 clarifies committee members can make, second, amend, and vote on all motions before committee.

There was some confusing and or language in the rules previously.

Item 11 creates a new provision that allows committee chairs to recommend to the council president agenda items from their committee that they would like to see placed on a consent calendar at the City Council agenda.

The Council President makes the final call on that agenda.

12 removes an outdated requirement that committee clerks notify all council members via email immediately after a divided vote in committee.

With everything electronic and our Legistar system, the information is much more accessible than that was historically.

Item 13 moves the deadline for a committee to refer legislation to the next regular city council meeting from noon on Thursday to 1 p.m.

This is intended to clear up some confusion when a Thursday morning committee meeting runs past noon.

Do you need to do the motion to suspend or not that 1230 vote?

Item 14 requires all committees to have a vice chair when they are established.

and 15 requires the membership of the Select Labor Committee when established by memo by the Council President to be filed in a clerk file with the Office of the City Clerk.

And finally, we create a new section in the Council Briefing portion of the rules to say that attendance at briefings is expected and includes a notification request to the Council President one day in advance if you will be absent.

Council President, I see a hand.

Shall I pause here and take a question?

Yeah, if you see hands before I do, go ahead and call it out, Esther.

Go ahead, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, President Juarez, and I apologize.

I'm unable to be on camera because of the connection issues.

And I also apologize.

It's a little bit out of turn.

It's on public comment, but I missed my chance on that point.

So if it's OK with you, I just wanted express a concern about the second change on the list of public comment changes, which limits public comment at committee meetings to items on the agenda unless the chair of that committee chooses.

Otherwise, I think that this change would give the political establishment a legal authority to refuse to hear advocacy for something that they politically do not support and therefore do not place on the agenda.

There are also many times when people are not experienced with City Hall's procedures, They come to public comment, ask for help with something when it may not be the precise moment to make that request, but it may be a valid request.

It may be someone genuinely attempting to contact their elected representatives the best they can.

The vast majority of people don't know the process of the city.

The vast majority can't name council members because they're not tuned into city politics, no fault of theirs.

And this has certainly happened in the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee and even in the Energy Committee that I used to chair earlier, where Renters or otherwise constituents would come to the committee and ask for help.

For example, right now, they'll come with requests for help with landlords for some of their issues.

And then even during the energy committee, they would ask for some help related to city light, but it may not be an agenda point.

But there have been many occasions where when that has happened, staff from my office have talked to them after the committee and then been able to help.

And I do understand that committee chairs would have the authority still, even if this rule passes, that they would still have the authority to choose to accept broader public comment.

But my worry is that if this rule gets in place, then that many council members, unfortunately, would choose not to do it because they feel like they should comply with that.

And also, I think in more probable cases, they would use these rules to attempt to silence some kind of dissent or if there are people who are there for valid reasons to urge the council to do something or protest something that the city government has done.

Of course, as a socialist, I know that when there is a mass movement, no council rules will prevent working people from demanding to be heard and mass movements have always been the true defense of democratic freedoms.

But I would not want to support or change the council rules that prohibit genuine public comment on topics that a committee chair might find unpalatable, you know, politically speaking.

So I just wanted to say that I know we're not voting today, but just wanted to share that.

Thank you, President Morales.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

No, we're not voting today.

And I actually had that underlined too, only upon agenda items and if published.

So I've been taking note of that as well.

So I understand what you're saying.

You're right.

There is a lot of latitude in the purview of the committee chair, but I see what you're saying about silencing dissent, and I understand that.

We always want to err on the side of accessibility and people's first amendment right to come to the people's house and share their concerns.

That is noted by, I'm sure Esther, and if you're going to be proposing amendments or discussing that, obviously, we welcome that.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Esther.

Thank you.

Lauren, I think go to the next slide, this final group of changes item 17 through 22 is our final grouping of changes that are in the resolution.

17 requires that legislation that is sponsored by council members to have a single primary sponsor and optional co-sponsors.

This is intended to help clarify items like who may speak first and last on an issue during debate by providing a venue to designate more formally primary sponsor and additional co-sponsors.

18 clarifies that council members may abstain on all aspects of resolutions of city council.

That includes procedural motions, so if somebody is adding a resolution to the agenda or moving it, amendments, and final actions.

Those of you who were here will recall that this ability to abstain on resolutions was added in our 2021 update, and this further clarifies how that happens.

19 makes more clear when a motion can be reconsidered.

In committee, a reconsideration can happen in the same meeting.

At city council, it must wait until the next meeting.

20 addresses the timeline for debate, saying that council members may speak for 10 minutes at a time.

If they have, if they're speaking multiple times during a debate, it is 10 minutes in total.

21, when the committee does not have a quorum, this update to the rule clarifies that council members who are unexcused or on call may be compelled to attend to achieve that quorum.

Unexcused members cannot be compelled to attend.

And finally, 22, the council rules define who may attend and participate in executive sessions where council members are briefed on pending or potential litigation.

This updates those attendees to include the legislative legal counsel, a legislative assistant to the chair of the committee with subject matter jurisdiction, and that the central staff director may designate multiple attendees.

Council Member Schell, I see your hand.

Thank you, Director Handy.

Looking at, and I brought this up with you yesterday, looking at item number 20, clarifying during debate, council members can speak for 10 minutes at one time rather than 10 minutes total.

I understand the spirit in which this change is coming to our committee because no clerk has nine timers running to time us for how much we're speaking.

And I'll admit to the Council President that I've spoken more than 10 minutes a couple of times.

I will say that I think that in the spirit of how this rule was brought forward in the first place, That it is better to leave this item as it is that council members can speak for 10 minutes total.

And if there are issues with.

Um, applying this rule, then we can take that into consideration.

I haven't seen any issues with this at this, you know, in the two years or a year and a half that we've had this rule here at City Council.

I would just say that it would be better to leave it as it is so that Council Members don't have Misinterpretation that you can talk for 10 minutes every time you start talking, because I think the spirit of the original change was to say.

You've got about 10 minutes to speak and, you know, in comparing to how we provide public comment, either usually 2 minutes, but sometimes less.

That's still 5 times as much time as we provide public comment.

So.

I'm going to be bringing an amendment to leave this rule as it is currently in our council rules.

I was happy to work with you on that amendment.

The language currently says 10 minutes silent and so we may add the word total in there to be clear on your intent, and again, really happy to do some more thinking through the operational issues related to how that is implemented.

Right.

And I would just add, Councilor Strouss, we may agree to disagree, which is not uncommon.

I like this the way it is, but I understand what you're saying.

Again, I figure that we're all adults and we're all nine elected officials, and I would rather err on the time of particularly in full council.

When we allow the sponsor to introduce their legislation, we open the floor and then we allow the sponsor to close as well.

I don't I don't want to be well, I won't be here, but I don't want to put the council president position and staff to have a timer because I'm.

I have deference to and believe that my colleagues have some common sense and some to follow through.

That's wise.

Because normally, I know you know this, but I'll say it for the public.

Sometimes some issues come up that we are, at least for me, hadn't anticipated either in public comment or from my colleagues after I've introduced a bill when we've done discussion and debate.

that I end up adding some more bullet points to my closing statement because I needed to hear what my colleagues had to say, because obviously we don't caucus, we do everything in public.

Sometimes it takes a little bit longer.

I just wanted everyone to just, that was what that was for, to address that issue.

Also, I have confidence in people knowing what they need to say.

and how they can wrap it up.

So I just don't want to become the timer police where you spoke for six minutes when you introduced this legislation.

Now you spoke for eight more minutes when you wanted to wrap up.

Nobody wants to be in that position because I think what we're saying is more important than looking at the clock and seeing how long someone's talking.

So on that one, I probably will not be agreeing with you on that one.

But again, great minds can agree and disagree.

All right.

Council President, I absolutely hear you on that.

I'm just going to share one thing that I have noticed since this council rule has been put in place.

And Council President, you and I use humor in this a lot, where I will joke about going over my 10 minutes, or you'll let me know that I'm approaching my 10 minutes.

What I have seen in the last year and a half of this rule being in place is that our colleagues, and myself included, a little bit more attentive to what needs to be said rather than just saying everything under the sun.

And so, you might win me over.

If all politicians could follow the golden rule of saying what needs to be said, yes, but we don't live in that world.

So I'll leave it at that Councillor Strauss.

Sounds good.

Go ahead, Esther.

So those what the changes I have walked through so far are the ones that are in the underlying bill in front of you.

So as we've been discussing, if you'd like to see a change to those or a removal of any that will require an amendment.

Next, I'll brief the committee on two proposals that were proposed to the working group that are not included in the resolution.

work group essentially remain neutral on these ideas and determine that these are policy choices for the council to debate and consider.

The first is a proposal from council member Nelson to add in-person attendance requirements for the council and committee meetings.

It would say that council members would be required to attend meetings in person except for the circumstances listed A through E here.

For work-related travel, attending to the needs of a family member or friend, working remotely to prevent the spread of infectious disease, and off-site public hearing meetings outside regular business hours.

When attending remotely, council members must have their video on for roll call and voting.

And council members sort of add back that requirement to, if you're going to, I'm sorry, participate remotely in council briefing or city council, there are notification requirements to the council president.

And finally, require presentations in committee to be given in person, except where not practical.

this and the next one I will talk through would need to be bought through amendment.

Happy to pass it to you Council Member Nelson if you want to speak to this before I go to the next.

Thank you very much for Thank you for summarizing it and thank you also present or is for having me in committee to just provide a little bit of the rationale for me, putting this forward, and that is that I believe that although we're in conformance with the letter of OPM a, and, you know, providing access to the public to our meetings.

I think that we are falling short on complying with the spirit.

And I think that witnessing one's representative or the governing body on a screen is is not the same as seeing them in person, watching interactions among members, being able to share a glance or a smile with someone at the dais.

And maybe even interact before after the, the meeting, I think that this diminished access by, by being on screen is compounded.

Also, when council members don't have their, their video on, but that's a slightly separate issue, but.

In addition to the public being able to see us lined up and see our interactions amongst each other.

I think that we also have a responsibility to see them which is, which is impossible if if one is on zoom because the, the cameras do not show the audience.

And so I am proposing this because I think that the current practice, where you don't really know if you're going to see your district rep or the whole body or very many of them, actually discourages access to the public.

Because why would somebody schlep all the way to City Hall when they could just watch a meeting on Seattle Channel?

And then make a make public comment by phone, you know, so so in any case, and another another point on this is that being in person does give the media better access to us.

And that results in a in a more informed public, although it is uncomfortable.

I certainly don't like to be cornered unexpectedly, but I think that that is that was standard practice.

When I remember that council meetings were always in person and I think that access is important.

The second reason I'm putting this forward is that reducing reliance on Zoom will reduce the technological difficulties that end up interrupting the flow of our conversation and waste unnecessary time sometimes, connectivity issues, et cetera.

I think there is a technological component that will be a problem that will be reduced if if more of us are in person.

It's easier for the presenters to also see who they're addressing rather than looking up.

as we saw earlier in the meeting.

But I provide for a lot of exceptions.

I will be the first to say that I really appreciate the flexibility, and I'm not trying to take that away.

Just trying to sort of...

Anyway, I've said my piece.

Any questions?

And I appreciate you letting me talk.

Anytime, Council Member Nelson.

I know exactly what you're saying, Council Member Nelson.

I appreciate all of your words.

Again, I think reasonable minds are going to have to disagree, and we can talk a little bit more about this offline.

We've been through this from those of us that have been on Council for a while, and also what we're dealing with post-COVID.

And so I think we are trying to address some of those issues.

And I agree with you about the spirit of senior elected.

But where I would and I love using this this word pushback is that we are looking at safety issues.

We are looking at, you know, issues to make it safe for people to come to City Hall.

And as far as public comment, it's been very interesting some of the policy issues that as a city and as a country, quite frankly, that we have wanted to implement kind of got implemented by force because of COVID.

And so when I look at, and I've been here a while now, when I look at what public comment was like before, we did not have the more diverse voices That we now have that people can call in and that's one goal for me.

That's one silver lining.

We are now having people that are disabled or cannot are going to don't have the luxury of a parking space or don't want to subject themselves to any kind of, you know, getting on public transit or trying to get downtown at 930 or 2 that they can call it.

And so.

And elders, I mean, I've heard nothing but good stuff on that end about people saying it seems more democratic.

And I've heard the same thing on Sound Transit side as well.

And I think we need to be honest that post-COVID, this is the shape of the world to come.

This is where we're at.

And people have concerns about that, and they're legitimate.

I, as you know, myself, am a compromised person.

I can't get COVID again because I have MS. And it's not been good for me.

So all that aside, I understand what you're saying, though.

And I will be honest in that I do miss, at times, physically being out there with eight of my colleagues.

But I don't think I have that luxury anymore.

And the other issue is I like it that you kept it broad, because we've never had it to say where needs of a family member or friend.

I think that's really key.

especially for those that are taking care of either their children or their parents.

And, you know, when I say this, I don't mean this in a negative way, but.

Not everybody has a partner or a spouse that can pick up their kids and do all that stuff and try to get downtown.

Some people do, some people don't.

I have the luxury of that.

My kids are grown now, but I think in some ways having the remote has really opened up the discourse for hearing other voices.

But I'm hoping there comes a day, and I probably won't see it before I leave here, that we are all back without the dividers on the dais.

That would be my goal before I leave.

And I don't know if that's going to happen, but I appreciate what you wrote and I appreciate how flexible they are.

Also, that if it's held off site, such as a public hearing or a community center.

concern about the prevention of an infectious disease, attending to a family member, traveling for work related.

I can see that you put thought into that about what are those scenarios.

So I appreciate that.

I really do.

And I don't want you to think that I'm trying to But I do have to say one more thing.

All of us, unlike other folks, have many platforms, social media platforms as well, to reach out to our constituents, whether it's through Facebook, town hall meetings, our newsletters, when we do our council briefings, our constituents, when we get letters.

So we continue to want that to go on.

But, you know, as a matter for me as principal, I don't think that I can physically make eight people physically come to work every day and physically show up on the dais.

I'm going to have to appeal to their judgment and defer to them, their staff, as I have with central staff and each and one of you, where I said I'm leaving it up to you as the chair of your committee and your staff, because you know their needs better than I do, about what's good for them so government can keep working.

And one thing I am proud of is that we found out through using remote and using social media, not social media, but using the computer to zoom in, it has made some of our lives much easier, quite frankly.

And I think that's a good thing.

So I will leave it at that.

And we can talk more offline customer Nelson.

And thank you for being here.

And thank you for providing this.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Esther.

So, the next side, tease up the 2nd proposal that was proposed to the work group and the work group stay neutral on this was proposed by council member mosquito.

To provide a new provision in the rules that would allow or require any bill involving a financial obligation to go to the finance committee and to a subject matter committee.

There are a variety of logistics that would need to be defined to make this practice possible in which order.

how are the votes recorded, et cetera.

And if this advances, our members of our working group would sort of get together and roll up our sleeves and propose a process.

The intent, though, is for the Finance Committee to have greater oversight about the financial impacts of policy being passed during the year in the context of the budget deficit that we face.

So, my comment on this, and I'm still open to more discussion is I'm not a big fan as I shared customer data.

This is I understand his budget share.

Because I think it's written that you say, include a provision to either allow or require.

Any bill that involves a financial obligation to go to the finance committee.

and subject matter committee.

Give me an example, Esther, what that would look like.

Councilor Mosqueda, as budget chair, gets an issue.

Yesterday in the public assets committee, there was discussion about the financing for the aquarium.

In the public assets committee as a public institution and partnership, this bill, you know if this was in the rules either way it would allow the council president to say hey after this hits the subject matter committee it should go to the finance committee for a discussion specifically about the fiscal impacts for that committee to sort of weigh in and discuss the bill and then on to city council with recommendations for both committees.

You could also imagine a scenario where maybe you say for a bill with a financial obligation over x threshold those committees are going to host a joint committee on that topic.

So public assets and finance are going to, you know, maybe the public assets committee is noticed as a joint committee with the finance committee.

Members of both committee could attend and vote.

Again, we haven't exactly sorted what procedure the council would use, but those are the kinds of paths we've discussed that would allow the members of the finance committee as well as the subject matter committee to weigh in.

Right.

And the active verb there is allow, not required, which I appreciate.

So that gives some discretion to the committee chair and to the budget chair, because it looks like it would go both ways, where something would come to the budget chair and they'd say, oh, hey, I think I need to contact you know, the chair of governance, because this involves, or I need to contact the chair of land use, because this has a fiscal impact that I think.

So I'm glad that we have the flexibility and the discretion of the budget chair.

and the budget or the chair of that particular committee with subject matter expertise, that it's it's kind of using common sense and being discreet or having some discretion about what's important.

And I understand that.

And you're right.

Yesterday was a good example.

I sit on the Public Assets Committee with Chair Lewis, where we had some financial implications.

And I was I was OK with it because I had shared parks.

So I aquarium for eight, seven years.

So I knew this whole this whole financing scheme, if you will, and I should say scheme, financing plan.

So I understood what was going on, but I just, what I don't want is to create another layer of government, another layer of making central staff or having the committee chair, because the whole purpose of having a budget chair is giving them the discretion and the power to make those calls about, and the budget chair has always done that.

She's been very good.

about picking up the phone and saying, hey, council member, hey, Debra, there's an issue coming down the pike on the budget.

It involves your committee.

What are your thoughts?

Here's the fiscal note.

I think that's a good rule, but I understand this is something that Councilor Mosqueda is putting forward.

I think as long as at least for me, at least at this point without committee one way or another, as long as we keep it flexible and allowing some discretion, I don't really have a problem.

But if it became a requirement, then I would have a problem.

Council Member Nelson.

Thank you.

I have a clarifying question.

Well, two of them.

Esther, you said you indicated that it would be at the discretion of the of the president.

You said then the president could say that it has to go here or there.

So did you mean to?

You also said that protocols will be worked out.

So that was one question I had.

And then I was actually reading this the other way, that, for example, My film commission legislation would have to go to the finance, because there are stipends that are allowed for.

That's a teensy weensy example, but you're meaning that it goes both ways, so that any...

Okay.

What I'll say is that as written on this slide is a conceptual framework and it includes an or.

So an amendment could be proposed that uses the allow language, which was the example I used.

So currently the council president is the decision maker on where a bill gets referred to which committee.

So if you adopted a rule that said council bills are allowed to go to the finance committee and a subject matter, she would hold the power to decide when they're going to both or one or the other.

I think in any you know if you if you adopted a rule that said require her hands would be tied to send it to both and I think in any case if.

such a rule was adopted, it would be in the Council's interest to define a financial threshold for that impact.

You may not want a bill that has $10,000 or $15,000 worth of stipends to head to the Finance Committee for markup as well.

It could be a million, it could be 30 million.

There's probably a discussion here about what's the level of financial impact that would warrant a touch by both committees.

Thank you.

Great.

Our last slide is three proposals that were proposed to the working group that the working group recommend not advance.

The first is a proposal from the public to require that the Seattle Channel broadcast images of public commenters.

The work group instead advanced a rule described earlier that requires the council president to set the protocols for how public comment will be accepted in hybrid meetings in consultation with the city clerk and our technology team.

This creates space for this process to evolve over time and set sort of consistency across committees.

The last two proposals the work group determined are addressed by the current rules.

So one that is an amendment fails in committee, it can be reintroduced at city council.

The rules currently allow this.

This is me stating on the record that the rules do allow that today and so we don't think another amendment is needed.

And the second reaffirms that a committee chair cannot prevent an amendment from being heard either in committee or city council.

the committee chair can decide what amendments get published to their agenda, but they cannot stop a motion either in their committee or at city council for an amendment on a bill.

My last slide outlines next steps.

Council members would like to see an amendment to this resolution.

I'm requesting that you get amendment ideas to me by tomorrow.

That will give us time to prepare the amendments and circulate them in advance of the August 3rd meeting where we expect a discussion, a vote on amendments and likely vote on this bill.

Both I and the panel are available for any questions that have not yet been asked.

Are there any?

There you go, Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

I wanted to thank this Parliamentary Procedure Dream Team that we have here who put together, who spent all this time to think through these carefully, take initial input, craft this draft before us today.

Really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this.

And I know that in 2024, a new city council will also want to look at these rules.

We are, I think we're making a good faith effort to make things better no matter who is here next year.

I do want to signal my support for what Council Member Sawant was saying regarding the public comment at committees.

I concur that I think it should be what's on the purview of that committee, not just what's on the agenda, because the agenda is making decisions on what is talked about and the public should be able to say.

But I think you should also be talking about these other things within your purview.

And so I would support an amendment to the draft for that purpose.

Thank you.

I would like, oh, there we go.

Go ahead, Amelia.

Hi, Amelia Sanchez, Office of the City Clerk.

I just want to provide additional context on that topic.

The current rules provide that a council member chair can determine whether or not public comment is accepted on items on the agenda and or items within the purview of the committee.

Now we've always stressed that that be consistent as well and we currently have two chairs who are very consistent where they only accept public comment and items within the purview of their committee and therefore that's acceptable because it's consistently provided.

what the rules or the intent of the actual amendment to the rules was to provide that consistency in writing so therefore the members of public were not confused when they attended the committee meeting as to whether or not public comment was to be accepted only on items on the agenda or items on the agenda and within the purview of the committee and therefore the practice would be if the rules were adopted as presented would mean that the actual chair of the committee would have to publish an agenda.

And that published agenda would include what type of public comment they would accept, if it would be items on the agenda or items on the agenda and within the purview of the committee.

And then in addition to that, if they would accept public comment orally and written or also just or just orally at that meeting.

That's why I love you, Amelia.

You know everything about this forward and backward.

I think Councilor Peterson has a follow-up question.

Thank you.

Thank you for that context.

I think the scenario that I would be concerned about is And I appreciate the clarity in writing is very important for the public.

So they know, you know, should I show up or not to this meeting?

And what am I able to speak to and prepare remarks for?

What I'm getting at is though, if a chair decides they don't want to hear something at all in their committee, there's a topic they don't even want to discuss.

The public should be able to still come to that committee and say I think you should put these things on your agenda I think you should be emphasizing this topic.

And even though the person's given notice, hey, we're only talking about stuff on the agenda, I think that that's limiting in advance what the public can come and say, I think you should talk about these topics.

They should be highlighted more, they should be daylighted more.

So that's where I'm coming from.

I understand.

In response to what you're saying, Councilor Peterson and Clerk Sanchez, Madam Clerk, in our experience, we always, at least I pretty much have always erred on the side of allowing people to speak, even if it's not in my committee, or if it's not when I'm sharing council meetings, unless, of course, Somebody is being is breaking the rules and not is being disruptive and doing all the things that they're not supposed to be doing.

That's the only time I really enforce that type of and I don't think that becomes a free speech issue at that point.

I think if you become disruptive and name calling and being, you know.

saying things about people's race, which we've seen, using profanity.

We've had people show up in crowds, calling us names, flipping us off, you name it, they've done it.

But I mean, that's where I kind of have a hard line about that's not public comment.

That's disruptive and you're not making the place safe.

But I see what you're saying, Councilor Peterson and Councilor Sawant.

You want to err on the side of allowing people, even if they're not sure what was on the agenda, to be able to speak.

Because most of it's pretty interesting and it's benign.

And a lot of times people come because they got the date wrong.

So I'm not going to say, look, that's not on today's committee meeting.

That's next week.

So you can't talk.

I would never do that.

So I see what you're saying.

But I I trust my colleagues, at least the people I work with right now, and I'm sure the next the next group will be just as kind and preserve and uphold the First Amendment and people's right to come here and speak to use their discretion.

And as long as the rules allow that for that discretion, but we still need rules.

You need something.

It just can't be a free for all.

So I guess that's what I'm saying.

And that's just common sense.

And I don't want to I don't want to belabor the point.

I do want to add that the nine people on the working group and again saying what you were saying, customer Peterson, These guys are great.

Of the nine, two of us won't be here next year, myself and, well, Bryndell, but the other seven will and will continue to refine these rules and look how they work and play out.

And I just want to thank you guys, Esther and all the clerks, Amelia, Jody, all you guys, and also Lauren Henry, And legal and the people that you see listed, I mean, we've, we've gone through these, we've had some pushback with the city attorney's office on some, some issues where we thought things should be a little bit more broader and some errors.

They thought it should be more narrow, but we always try to err on the side that this is the people's house and people should be able to come here and be safe and say what they need to say without being verbally assaulted.

I mean, that's just kind of where I draw the line or or, you know, physically assaulted, which we've had as well.

So, I'm just hoping that people keep that in mind and I trust the good people who get elected and in our public that do come because for for most of all, when people do come, they do speak to what's on the agenda.

So.

I know I spoke a lot about that.

Is there any other, is there any other comments from our, any other clerks?

I know I forgot a few other people, Linda and Jody, but I don't know what we would do without you guys.

And I like how Amelia gave me the book the minute I got council president.

She gave me a book to read and highlight what the rules are.

And I appreciate that because I've had to, I won't tell you what pages I have marked up and tabbed and ready to go.

So with that, I see that Council Member Strauss has his hand up.

Thank you, Council President, just adding in some more context here.

If this rule was adopted and the Chair wanted to accept comment on something that was not on the agenda, it would just be a simple, may I'd like to suspend the rules, and that could still occur.

I'll also share the context of two years ago, or, yeah, two years ago, I brought forward an amendment that was a bad idea.

And I was told, and, you know, I listened, right?

Which is my, the idea that I brought was to apply the same rules for committee to full council that says you can only, you should only speak to an item on the agenda for full council.

The reason that this was a bad idea is because we do need at least one place where people can speak to any item under the council's purview.

And that has traditionally been reserved for full council.

And so I just wanted to raise up this fact that we do still have a place to do that, and if this rule was adopted, the chair could still suspend the rules to allow public comment on anything under their committee's purview.

So just sharing that.

Thank you.

Are there any more comments about what we have in front of us?

Was that our last slide, Esther?

That was.

We've completed our presentation.

The information's all in your court, and we'll be happy to be back in front of you on August 3rd with any amendments.

Just a final reminder, if you do have amendments that you haven't already gotten to us, please do so by end of day tomorrow.

And just because Councilor Mosqueda's not here, and I'll do it for her, I'm going to thank everybody and then some for doing everything and their job.

But the fact that you put forward all 24 of those, and I know there were way more, and you you condense them down to 24 proposed changes.

Thank you.

It is a resolution.

The fact that you took out the two that you believe were policy issues that Seattle City Council as a whole needs to address in public and talk about.

And three, and I thank you for this offline as well, Esther, thank you for having a category where you believe that you are not going to recommend them instead of not just saying anything.

That's real key.

So we can, everyone can kind of hear what people are thinking and why this working group is not recommending about the broadcasting of the images, whether amendment fails and an amendment from being heard at the chair that those last two, I believe are sufficiently covered by the rules.

And I would like to hear more discussion about the broadcast images piece and the equity piece in the accessibility piece.

So I want to thank you for breaking down the memo that way.

And having having Lauren on hand to has been great.

Thank you, Lauren, is our new legislative legal counsel that advises us not only on legal matters, but the policy piece.

How do we how do we how do we look at something and say we want to change this law?

Lauren, help us carve out policy to get there.

And do we get there overnight?

Probably not.

But are we marching in the right direction?

Absolutely.

Do we need to engage our elected brothers and sisters in Olympia to work with us?

Those are the kind of things that we have Lauren Henry here for, besides the fact she's a big Seattle Storm fan like me.

Thank you, Councilor Estrada, for that support.

So with that- Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry about the Mariners.

I'm sorry, guys.

But anyway, is there anything else before I go back to my script here and see if we have anything else for the good of the order?

Vice President, is there anything you want to add?

No.

No, he's saying no.

OK, well, folks, that concludes our items of business.

All items passed out of this committee will be forwarded to the July 25th City Council meeting for final action.

And committee members are reminded to plan for our special meeting of this committee expected to take place August 3rd.

That's a Thursday, August 3rd.

Thursday at 930 this that meeting will be in lieu of the regularly scheduled meeting two weeks later, as you all know, we will all be in recess at that time.

It is now eleven thirty six.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Have a great afternoon, everybody.

Go Mariners.