Seattle City Council 41123

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, April 11th.

This is the Seattle City Council meeting.

I'm Deborah Juarez.

I will now call this meeting to order.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council President Juarez?

Present.

Seven, present.

Madam Clerk, before I go forward, I should add that, let me do two things.

First of all, Council Member Morales has already been excused for today.

Also, if there's no objection, Council Member Strauss will be excused from today's City Council meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Strauss is indeed excused from today's Seattle City Council meeting.

Moving on.

I do not see any presentations today, so we will go to public comment.

Madam Clerk, can you let me know how many folks we have in chambers and how many people we have remotely?

We have no remote speakers, and I don't believe we have any in chambers.

Let me check the list one more time.

OK.

I will sit here before I close public comment to let you tell me.

No public comment.

Okay, so it turns out we have nobody, we have no remote speakers and we do not have any folks in chambers.

So with that at 202, I'm going to close public comment.

All right, now that I've closed public comment, we'll move on in our calendar to the adoption of the introduction referral calendar.

If there's no objection, the introduction referral calendar will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection, the IRC is indeed adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the agenda.

There is no objection.

Today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda, today's agenda will be adopted.

Moving on in our agenda to adoption of the consent calendar.

The consent calendar today includes the minutes of April 4th.

payroll bill, council bill 120542. Are there any items council members would like to remove from the consent calendar?

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

There's three of them.

Thank you very much.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the consent calendar?

Thank you.

Moving on in our agenda to committee reports, we have five today, one from Council Member Lewis and items two to five are Council Member Peterson.

So let's start with item number one.

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

Report of the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee.

Agenda item one, appointment 02503. Appointment of Anthony Paul Diaz, the superintendent of the Department of Parks and Recreation for a term to March 1st, 2027. The committee recommends that city council confirm the appointment.

Thank you.

Council Member Lewis, you are recognized and is your guest here, is Mr. Diaz here?

Mr. Diaz is certainly on.

There we go.

There we go.

All right.

It's all you.

Go ahead, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

It gives me great pleasure to come here today to recommend the confirmation of to serve as our permanent superintendent of Parks and Recreation.

APDS has been the designated interim superintendent since last fall.

We were able to consider his appointment at last week's committee meeting of the Homelessness and Public Assets Committee, after which a unanimous recommendation was voted by the committee members for full council consideration this afternoon.

APD has comes with a wealth of experience from working in various public service capacities for the city of Los Angeles, including their deputy director of parks.

We are really looking forward to continuing the work that we've done up to up to this current date already in his capacity as interim and excited to see the full potential of that partnership with him in the permanent superintendent position.

And with that, Madam President, I don't have any other introductory remarks and I'm happy to open, hand it back to you to open the floor up to other colleagues and potentially suspend the rules and give AP some time to address the council.

I will.

Are there any other comments from our colleagues regarding Mr. I'm going to say now but Mr. AP Diaz.

I would just like to welcome you and thank you very much we all had a chance to look at your confirmation packet and thank you for being interim.

We've worked with you closely.

I know that you know our former superintendent Jesus I got a who's, you know, a good friend of ours, but we're glad to have you here as well.

So with that, are there any other comments before I let Mr. Councilor Lewis see if he has any closing comments before we go to a vote?

I don't see anything.

Mr. Lewis, are you okay?

Or Councilor Lewis?

Yes, thank you, Madam President.

I don't have any further remarks and I'm happy to call the question and vote on the nominee.

Okay, thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The appointment is confirmed.

So at this point, now that we have approved the confirmation, I would like to welcome now our new superintendent, AP Diaz, to say a few words.

The floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

Thank you, members of the council.

This is an extreme honor for me, and I just want to thank you for your vote of confidence today.

I have enjoyed getting to know you and your staffs, doing walking tours and speaking with you about various issues, and also getting to know your neighborhoods.

constituents.

We have so many amazing, beautiful parks in the city of Seattle, and I'm excited to explore all 500 of them.

It'll take me some time.

But I just want you to know that I take this responsibility seriously.

Parks are a treasure in any community, but particularly in the city of Seattle.

I love to boast that we're the emerald city and the evergreen state.

And so parks are part of our fabric, and the special thing about them is that they are essential infrastructure, which I think we can all agree through the pandemic have shown us their value and import to us as a society to advance health and wellness, as well as many social issues of the day, such as equity and social justice and environmental stewardship, all the great things that we pride ourselves here in the city of Seattle.

So I just want to say thank you.

I want to thank Mayor Harrell for his trust and confidence in me.

I will not let you down.

We have important work to do and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves with you.

And I just want to lastly say that I will always call you council members and I will be available to you at any time, to your staffs, to your constituents.

You may always refer to me as AP.

I look forward to being your superintendent and to serving the city of Seattle with you.

So thank you so much for this honor.

It means the world.

Oh, thank you.

You better be careful about us calling you anytime.

You might want to roll that back.

I see Councilmember Peterson's like thinking, okay.

It's really a pleasure to have you.

It's been wonderful working with you since you've been in term.

And I've always liked the access that you've given us.

And it is such an honor to have you here and know the work that we do, particularly since we expanded some of the services out of parks, addressing our homelessness unhoused issue and your partnership with SPD and SPU and all those SDOT.

I mean, I appreciate it.

So thank you.

All right.

Anything else?

We're good.

Okay.

Madam Clerk, do I need to say the magic language about the confirmation is affirmed and I sign it or we're done?

No, you voted on the motion to confirm and we are done.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Congratulations, APDs, new Superintendent APDs.

All right, we will move on into our agenda to the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

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

Report of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 120528, relating to Route 44 Transit Plus Multimodal Corridor Project, authorizing the Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation to acquire, accept, and record on behalf of the City of Seattle's deed for street purposes.

The Committee recommends that City Council pass the Council Bill.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

One moment.

Council 120528 will authorize our city or our Seattle Department of Transportation to acquire a small but strategically located sliver of property to facilitate the Route 44 bus corridor.

Last week, our committee unanimously recommended adoption of this ordinance by the full council today.

Thank you.

All right, are there any comments regarding this ordinance?

Not seeing any, and I'm guessing you don't have any closing comments, Council Member Peterson.

All right, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

All right, let's move on to item number three.

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

Agenda item three, council bill 120538, relating to Seattle Public Utilities, authorizing the general manager and chief executive officer of Seattle Public Utilities, our designee, to execute an interlocal agreement with King County.

The committee recommends that city council pass the council bill.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Council Bill 120538 will authorize Seattle Public Utilities to enter into an interlocal agreement with King County to appropriately allocate the work and revenue from the residual materials that are left over from the recycling process.

Last week, our committee unanimously recommended adoption by the full council today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments from my colleagues?

Not seeing any.

Let's move on then.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number four.

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

Agenda item four, Council Bill 120539, relating to the Department of Finance and Administrative Services on behalf of Seattle Public Utilities, authorizing the acquisition of real property identified in King County Records as parcel A of City of Seattle Short Subdivision.

The committee recommends that City Council pass the Council Bill.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Council Bill 120539 from Seattle Public Utilities will improve our city's climate resiliency by authorizing the acquisition of a small but strategically located parcel of land in an area that often floods in Northeast Seattle.

Last week, our committee unanimously recommended adoption by the full City Council today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments?

Not seeing any, let's move forward.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Herboldt?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation.

Let's move on to item number five.

Can you please read item number five into the record?

Agenda item five, resolution 32082, adopting Seattle's 2022 solid waste plan update, moving upstream to zero waste, revising the 2011 revision, picking up the pace towards zero waste, and superseding certain requirements adopted by resolution 30990. The committee recommends that city council adopt as amended the resolution.

Yes, Mayor Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Resolution 32082 will adopt updated plans from Seattle Public Utilities to reduce solid waste.

I want to thank Council Member Herbold for making SPU's legislation more specific and accountable on its timeline and metrics with her amendment that we approved in our committee last week.

As with the other legislation, our committee unanimously recommended adoption by the full City Council today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments from our colleagues?

Not seeing any.

Council Member Peterson, is there anything you want to add?

Sorry.

Oh, nope.

I guess no.

I guess we're good.

All right.

Since we did that.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold would like to say something.

Oh, I don't see your hand.

I'm not logged on.

My hand is up in real.

Oh, there you are.

The camera wasn't on.

My apologies.

My apologies, too.

Now I can see you.

My view was there was no one in chambers.

I apologize, Councilor Hurdle.

Go ahead.

No problem.

This is what happens when I do not log on to the virtual meeting when I am actually in chambers.

So it's a lesson for me to learn.

I just wanted to thank Chair Peterson for allowing time for consideration of the amendment and his willingness to I'm happy to hear the resolution in an additional committee meeting beyond what was planned.

I also want to just, for the record, say that I really appreciate Seattle Public Utilities' commitment to updating the metrics for solid waste reduction to include the life cycle of materials, which is really important.

And also for answering my questions about to incorporate strategies to support convenient recycling and compost access for residents of multifamily buildings.

I think there's still a lot of potential there to do more to make it easier for people living in multifamily buildings to to recycle and just really appreciate SPU's work on that in the background, whereas maybe not a code amendment, doing so in the design review process has been really important.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Nelson.

Well, more thank yous here.

I wanna thank SPU also for focusing on this and doing such a good job since in past years of really maintaining the programs that allow us to recycle and compost so much of our material.

Thank you also Council Members Peterson and Herbold.

This is important to me because I worked on one of those solid waste master plan updates and way back when, when I was staffer to Richard Conlon and zero waste is really important because we have to not just move from putting things in landfill to recycling more material, but we actually have to make less garbage, make less, just make less materials that we will have to process and that will also help our rate payers.

So I do appreciate the effort to establish new metrics.

There's no such thing as garbage, just resources out of place and extended producer responsibility is very important to this effort.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

The only comment I'd like to make to you, Councilmember Peterson, because of what Councilmember Herbold said.

So on the resolution that we're looking at, so as it stands now, as Councilmember Herbold was saying, multifamily or apartments don't have the ability to recycle.

They do.

It varies per building.

And I think the idea was to enable and encourage it to be provided on every floor of the buildings.

And so that's encouraged in different ways.

And then it's just the policy decision of, do we require, do we encourage, do we facilitate?

councilmember jimenez.

I appreciate councilmember herbold continuing to focus on that.

I didn't mean to put you on the spot.

Is there anything you want to add before we go to a vote?

No, thank you.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The resolution is adopted.

The chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation or the resolution or legislation on my behalf.

Let's see, moving on the calendar, there were no items removed from the consent calendar.

My understanding is there are no other resolutions for the introduction and referral calendar, introduction and adoption today and other business.

Is there any other business to come before council?

Making sure I can see Council Member Herbold.

I do not see any hands and I do not hear any voices, so I will move on from that.

Before we adjourn, colleagues, this does conclude our business and our next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 18th.

Thank you all.

We are adjourned.