Dev Mode. Emulators used.

Public Safety & Human Services Committee 22823

Publish Date: 2/28/2023
Description: Public Safety & Human Services Committee 2/28/23 Agenda: Call to Order; Approval of the Agenda; Public Comment; Human Services Department 2023 Notice of Funding Availability; Update on Dual Dispatch Pilot/Dispatch Protocols. 0:00 Call to Order 1:38 Public Comment 9:30 Human Services Department 2023 Notice of Funding Availability 49:05 Update on Dual Dispatch Pilot/Dispatch Protocols
SPEAKER_08

Thank you very much.

The February 23 meeting of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee will come to order.

It is 9.33 a.m.

I'm Lisa Herbold, Chair of the Committee.

The Clerk, please call the roll.

SPEAKER_09

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Vice Chair Lewis.

Present.

Chair Herbold?

SPEAKER_08

Here.

SPEAKER_09

Council Member Mosqueda is excused for present.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you so much.

On today's agenda, we only have two items up for discussion.

The first is the Human Services Department 2023 Notice of Funding Availability presentation.

So we'll be hearing from the Human Services Department on their areas of NOFAs across different lines of business.

And then after that, we'll be hearing from council central staff and the communications, the community safety and communication center update on dual dispatch pilot and specifically an update on the CSCC's dispatch protocols.

That we will approve our agenda for our committee meeting.

There's no objection.

Today's agenda will be adopted.

Seeing no objection, thank you.

Today's agenda is adopted.

At this time, we'll move into public comment.

Each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

Just be hearing from virtual commenters today.

There's nobody signed up for in-person public comment.

I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the website and on the sign-in form.

If you have not yet registered to speak, but you'd like to do so, you can sign up before the end of the public comment session.

Once I call a speaker's name, if you are using the virtual option, you'll hear a prompt.

Once you've heard that prompt, please press star six to unmute yourself.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item which you're addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

Once the speaker hears the chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's mic will be muted after 10 seconds to allow us to hear from the next speaker.

Once you have completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

Please, if you would like to continue following the meeting, absolutely do so.

And you can follow along via the Seattle channel or the listening options that are listed on the agenda.

We've got three people signed up for public comment.

And let me get that sign up sheet.

In my screen here.

The first speaker is Castille Hightower, who will be followed by Valerie Shoret.

Castille?

SPEAKER_05

My name is Castille Hightower.

I'm the sister of Herbert Hightower, Jr., who was shot and killed by Seattle police.

I'm here today to express my disappointment and frustration regarding my recent experience at two separate community police commission meetings on February 14th and 15th.

I attended the February 14th community engagement meeting with the intention of exercising my constitutional right of free speech and to speak out against the CPC continuing to silence the voices of community members and folks directly affected by police violence or refusing to hold SPD accountable.

I was ultimately denied that constitutionally protected right and attacked by multiple members of the commission.

After my mic was taken from me, sentenced by the CPC, they proceeded to lie and misrepresent me while dismissing everything I said to the contrary.

The personal attacks and misrepresentations continued during their February 15th meeting, leading me to file an OPA complaint.

It is disheartening to see that instead of censoring the voices of affected people, the CPC chooses to attack and further harm us.

This is precisely why the affected persons program is of utmost urgency.

The APP is a program created with the intention to empower and uplift the voices of affected folks by allowing us to decide for ourselves what actual support looks like, which includes creating an appeal system for complaints submitted to the OPA, something that the CPC has refused to do for almost six years now.

What the CPC did and continues to do is disgraceful, violent, retaliatory, potentially illegal, and creates so much unnecessary harm and pain to already traumatized communities.

We have the right to be heard and have our concerns addressed.

without the fear of retaliation, violence, or censorship.

We deserve a genuine commitment to accountability, not lies being spread on us, being attacked over and over again, and ultimately further harmed and traumatized.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Valerie Schleret.

Valerie, be followed by Dr. Howard Gale.

SPEAKER_04

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Valerie Schleret.

The 2017 city ordinance that made the Community Police Commission a permanent entity stresses that its purpose is to ensure constitutional policing through a strong oversight system that takes into account the views of the police, i.e. the public.

But contrary to the intention of the legislation, the CPC has changed the direction and purpose of its work from promoting and uplifting public voices for constitutional policing Instead, the CPC now operates to ensure the status quo.

Commissioners and staff members promote police talking points and be kind to interrogate failures and neglect by the OPA and the OIJ.

And the CPC now very harmfully shuts down dissenting public voices, even verbally attacking members of the public by name in CPC meetings.

Dominant CPC members and staff appear to have no commitment to the constitutional practice of free speech, and instead attempt to manufacture the appearance of community consensus.

When they fail to do that, they abuse their platform, their power, and their $1 million annual budget with displays of temper and personal attacks.

The latest examples of this outrageously unprofessional and undemocratic behavior were on full display at the CPC Community Engagement Meeting of February 14th and the CPC regular meeting of February 15th.

The CPC is not holding itself accountable to the public, the consent decree or the city ordinance.

City council, I think you are the last resort in ensuring that CPC commissioners and staff act in accordance with their moral, social and legal obligations.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

Our next and last speaker is Dr. Howard Gale.

SPEAKER_00

Good morning.

Howard Gale with SeattleStop.org.

Since the start of this year, the Community Police Commission, which this committee oversees, has devolved from an entity that has failed to represent community voices into an entity that actually now attacks and slanders community voices.

This happened just two weeks ago with the CPC attacks on myself, and on casteel hightower's brother herbert hightower junior was murdered by the sbd in two thousand four this committee has allowed many millions of taxpayers dollars to be spent on a city accountability entity that has itself escaped accountability like any person or agency that avoids accountability this results in behavior that only gets more flagrant more extreme or abuse of more unethical and recently clearly illegal the cpc is fired staff and shut down its own commissioners who failed to toe the line of political expediency.

In May, it will be six full years that the CPC has failed to fulfill the legislative requirements mandated by this council in Resolution 31753. Most notably, the CPC has failed to investigate mechanisms external to the SPD for investigating of serious and deadly use of force, and has also failed to investigate and propose a complaint in the appeals process.

The CPC has completely failed to hold legally mandated annual community meetings to gather input from the community and has failed to provide legally mandated district representation.

This committee and the council has failed to abide by the strong recommendations of the city auditor five and a half years ago to have a full independent audit of our accountability system, with certain council members actually rejecting an attempt in 2021 to even initiate such a process.

What all this means is that tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money is spent on a system which now perpetrates actual harm against those already harmed by the SPD.

A variety of city commissions are now joining together to provide some form of oversight that this council appears either unwilling to or terrified of providing.

But that oversight will be provided by the people.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

That concludes public comment.

We'll move into the items on our agenda for this morning.

Clerk, please read in agenda item number one.

SPEAKER_09

Agenda item one is Human Services Department 2023 Notice of Funding Availability.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

And thank you to our team from the Human Services Department for being with us again this morning.

Recognize that we definitely ran out of time in our last committee meeting and really appreciate your flexibility.

If we could begin with a quick round of introductions, that would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_02

Great, thank you.

Good morning.

For the record, I'm Tanya Kim, Acting Director of the Human Services Department.

SPEAKER_10

And good morning, Michael Bailey, Deputy Director here at the Human Services Department.

SPEAKER_03

And good morning, everybody.

I'm Annie Lee.

I'm the Interim Deputy Director here at the Human Services Department.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you all.

Really appreciate you all being here with us today.

So, Director Kim, I assume you're going to kick us off?

SPEAKER_02

I will kick us off.

And thank you, Chair Gerbold and committee members for the opportunity to present.

On the Human Services Department or HSD's 2023 Notice of Funding Availability.

And so love to come and share opportunities with you and the public.

So this is a delight and also want to thank Kevin for running the deck.

Next slide, please.

On the agenda this morning, we do have an overview of the Human Services Department and our impact areas for the viewing public.

The Michael Bailey who many of you have seen that committee several times, our deputy director overseeing homelessness and operations will go over an important operational function to discuss the notice of funding availability.

And then Annie, I think this might be her debut at committee.

Annie is our HSD Interim Deputy Director overseeing our three major program divisions, including Aging and Disability Services, Safe and Thriving Communities, and Youth and Family Empowerment.

And she will be highlighting the individual funding opportunities planned for this year as outlined in the NOFA.

Next slide, please.

So for the viewing public, I wanted to ground both in our mission and our impact areas.

And so HSD's mission is to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need.

So all residents in Seattle can live, learn, work, and take part in strong and healthy communities.

We have six impact areas that we invest in through our direct services and our funding through contracts And those are outlined here really focusing on youth affordability and livability, homelessness, public health, safe communities, and healthy aging.

So as I noted, HSD as a funder, convener, and direct service provider has a budget of $319 million this year.

And as a funder, 79% of our budget is contracted with community-based organizations.

And most contracts are awarded through a competitive funding process by way of a request for proposal or request for qualifications.

Michael will speak to that momentarily.

And we announced the various opportunities through the NOFA.

Next slide, please.

And now I'm going to hand it over to Michael Bailey, who will provide an overview of what ANOVA is, and he will share related information.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

All righty.

Well, thank you, Director Kim.

And here again, for the record, my name is Michael Bailey, and have the privilege of supporting Director Kim as the Deputy Director of Operations and Homelessness.

And very excited to spend today talking about just the way that we're working with community organizations to implement community solutions to help, hopefully, support and advance the community forward.

And one of the ways we're doing that here at the Seattle Human Services Department is through our Notice of Funding Availability, otherwise known as a NOFA.

Now, the Notice of Funding Availability, which our department releases on an annual basis, is really meant to brief the general public on potential opportunities to receive funds from the Seattle Human Services Department.

These funds are tied to the impact areas that Director Kim just spoke to and seek to move the needle on various gaps within the community.

The NOFA includes a brief description of the service areas for each funding opportunity, the anticipated funding amounts, the release date for each funding opportunity, and the projected contract start dates.

And I want to highlight that we encourage community collaboration throughout the process.

Even then, we're excited to engage the community on how to further improve our approach and our collaboration.

Next slide, please.

All right.

So on December 16th of last year, 2022, HSD issued its 2023 NOFA.

And through this NOFA, we promoted approximately eight upcoming funding opportunities Now, those funding opportunities reflect approximately $14.5 million worth of investments.

And the first funding opportunity of 2023 was actually released last month on January 30th.

That opportunity will fund the 2023 Seattle Farm to Preschool Program Coordination and Food Procurement opportunity.

And Annie, our interim deputy director, will go into a little bit more detail on this opportunity and others during her portion of the presentation.

Next slide please.

SPEAKER_08

Just a real quick question.

If you could talk a little bit for each of the different NOFA's include information both if you have it about the funding source and the time period for This particular NOFA I know I've noticed over the years that different NOFAs have are covering different periods of time, sometimes.

you do a NOFA every two years, sometimes you do it every three years, sometimes you do it every five years.

If you could just talk a little bit about what the timeline is, if you know it at this stage, or just an overview of what is part of the decision making for those timeframes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I can take the time frame question real quick, and then Annie does have information about the fund sources.

And so generally speaking, with the scheduled NOFA or competitive processes, we run that, for example, in 2023, with the contract starting the following year in 2024. And so then they are typically in place, and Michael will talk a little bit more about just general structure and the cadence.

But then those contracts are typically in place for four years, depending on the fund source, but for four years.

And it's contingent on performance and funding availability year to year.

So just wanted to offer that for you immediately.

SPEAKER_10

All right, and to Director Kim's point, Andy will talk a little bit more about each of the individual opportunities, and that'll present an opportunity just to learn a little bit more about the funding and the timelines as well.

All right, so next slide, please.

All right, so once the NOFA is prepared, HSD routinely shares the announcement with the general public, potentially interested providers, there's community-based organizations, impacted community members, and we're doing this in a variety of ways.

When working with our legislative and external affairs team, we're using our online channels like our website, the department's newsletter, which I hope everybody here has subscribed to.

Information is also being sent out through our blogs and through our social media accounts as well.

As we're meeting new partners, we're inviting folks to subscribe to our funding opportunities email list.

And that's really just to help get the message out a little bit further.

and timely as well.

Notices are posted in the Daily Journal of Commerce and in community-based and culturally appropriate media channels, some of which include Seattle Medium, International Examiner, and the South Seattle Emerald.

And as our commitment to expand access and opportunity, we're also working with other city departments and several culturally specific commissions at the state level to further expand our reach and list of culturally appropriate channels.

HSD staff are encouraged to further amplify funding opportunities by sending the opportunity to their convening networks.

And for context, many of our divisions remain in constant communication with various community partners, contracted partners, nonprofit partners, funders, and other city and county departments just to help build that ecosystem and to keep that network strong.

And since One Seattle is a concept that we hold near and dear to our heart, We're also here today to request council support and collaboration with further amplifying the opportunities listed in the NOFA.

We recognize and appreciate the ever-growing relationship that many of the council members here have, and that's for the individuals living and doing business within your districts.

We also recognize that many of you here are already sharing these opportunities with your constituents via your newsletters or your social media channels, and for that, we thank you.

All right, next slide, please.

Now, in addition to providing information on funding opportunities, our website also provides a wealth of information to potentially interested funding applicants.

This includes clarity around eligibility requirements, the proposal process, and our commitment to funding culturally responsive services.

And I'm excited to announce that in the year ahead, will continue to add information and programming that may prove helpful in supporting individuals with understanding what it really takes to do business with the Human Services Department.

And it's our hope that this work will further reduce barriers.

Next slide, please.

All right, so this slide provides a visualization of our development process for the RFP and the RFQ, and for clarity, our RFP, our request for proposals, it really allows organizations to propose programming to solve a problem that may be identified by the department in collaboration with the community, whereas the RFQ, or our request for qualifications, it's a little bit more prescriptive.

and allows organizations to really demonstrate their ability to execute a number of already defined mechanisms or approaches.

So just wanted to provide that clarity since we have the title there.

Transitioning back to the graphic itself, we have a visual of the process, and it's really displayed in three stages.

We have the pre-release stage, we have the actual release stage, and we have the post-release stage.

So I'll go through these briefly and then I'll hand things over to Annie just to provide a little bit more information.

Within the pre-stage here, our teams are conducting literature reviews, they're reviewing community data, they're identifying best practices that will work to support the achievement of our desired outcomes.

We're also engaging the community to ensure that we're identifying any persistent gaps.

And this includes increasing service delivery to potentially underrepresented populations.

In the release phase, our funding announcements are posted on our website.

They're sent to our funding opportunity subscribers.

And it's also publicized via other media channels, which we talked about a little bit earlier.

HSC is also hosting information sessions to ensure that questions are being answered and shared in an equitable manner.

And this, again, is done to further promote an accessible and inclusive process.

The rating process also takes place in this stage.

Here, the lead for a particular funding process is working to bring together a rating panel that reflects a diverse group of subject matter experts, city partners, funders, and impacted community members.

Once that committee is developed, the committee members receive training and are then granted an opportunity to read and rate applications.

During this process, The rating committee also has the opportunity to conduct interviews.

And that's really just a mechanism for gaining additional information on the proposal.

And while we've received positive feedback on the ability to conduct this interview process, we remain committed to finding other ways to improve the funding process and to reducing barriers as well.

Once all rankings have taken place, the committee will meet to discuss and finalize application scores And once those scores are finalized, a recommendation is prepared, reviewed, and approved by HSD leadership.

And just to briefly wrap things up, in the post-stage, awards are released, the contracts are negotiated, and we're also reviewing our process.

And while this is typically done through surveys or debrief sessions, we're preparing to use 2023 as an opportunity to hear from the community on how we can better improve this process.

So here again, thank you for your time today and I'll hand things over to Deputy Director Lee to talk a little bit more about the specifics of this year's NOFA.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you so much, Deputy Director Bailey.

As you can see from this slide, we're excited to offer many different opportunities for community providers to apply for funding this year to provide essential services to our community.

As Deputy Director Bailey noted earlier, these eight opportunities will distribute a total of $14.5 million of investments.

Approximately $8.7 million of that total are coming from general fund and sweetened beverage tax dollars, and another $5.8 million are coming from federal funds.

And I'll walk through each of the investments to highlight which fund source those investments will be drawing from.

So on the next upcoming slides, I'll go over in more detail these eight funding opportunities in the order of their upcoming release, as well as pointing out the fund sources.

So next slide, please.

SPEAKER_13

I have a question.

SPEAKER_08

Council Member Nelson, yes, please.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you very much, but could you explain how the categories that are on this slide were chosen?

I listened to the outreach process, but I noticed that there is a focus on food, which is absolutely necessary.

And I was interested during budget in increasing funding for youth gun violence prevention, which also fits into the service areas of HSD.

So can you just explain how these precise categories, the thematic, the theme of these categories was chosen?

SPEAKER_02

Annie, I'm happy to take that if that's okay.

Okay.

So You know, we talk about our investment areas broadly, but you're right that these categories kind of narrow the scope a little bit.

And so partly it's honestly because that's the way it operates.

And so, for example, I'll just take one of the congregate meals for older adults.

There are, it's a specific fund source.

There's a particular, practice, and there are specific organizations that typically does this body of work well.

And so in order to have a funding process that's really clear, that is accessible to those service providers to meet specific outcomes, we organize it in this way, as opposed to, for example, having One massive food RFP with emergency system distribution, you know, focusing on bringing our seniors together, we have them individualized and we also stagger the timelines so then that way the organizations who typically apply are not overburdened as well.

So that's how these have come to be, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_08

And just to add a little bit to that, the Safe and Thriving Communities NOFAs were done in previous years.

So as Director Kim mentioned, the NOFAs are staggered, and so we aren't seeing the NOFAs around that particular subject area because they were done in a previous year.

Is that more or less correct, Director Kim?

SPEAKER_02

That's correct.

And so each year it's on a cycle.

So in 2024 will give you a preview of what's to come.

And it is on that four year cycle.

And also, sometimes we get additional dollars.

And so we'll make an amendment to the NOFA.

And this goes to your earlier question, not to complicate things, but goes to your earlier question.

Sometimes will expedite a process, will make an amendment.

We could do a funding procurement process in one year and contract that year.

And so what we're highlighting for you is our typical order of business, which is, this is what's scheduled.

They'll result in contracts the following year.

And these investment areas are on a four-year cycle.

And so depending on when the last one was, it sets the four years.

So each year we'll have different procurement processes.

And when there's a new opportunity or an emergent issue, we can even expedite and do something in between.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, that is counter to what I had understood going in because there was communication between our offices saying that contracts for pre file diversion expansion may be awarded in the second half of 2023. So, and will be funded.

So is there going to be another one later on?

Pardon me?

SPEAKER_08

That is true.

It's just not going to be done through a NOFA.

That's sort of the expedited contracting process that I can mention.

If you were to look at, for instance, so we've done one of these in previous years in February at the beginning of the year.

And if you looked at the 2022 NOFA opportunities, it would be a different list of lines of business for HSD.

the NOFA for the Safe and Thriving Communities area of business has been done in a previous year, and in order to add funds to contracts that receive awards under that NOFA, rather than doing a whole new NOFA on an off-cycle year, the department is looking at contracting with an agency outside of the NOFA process.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you for explaining.

I had not received a response to my question.

SPEAKER_02

And Council Member Herbold, if I may add, while we're on the topic of the diversion dollars, which we haven't discussed in detail, but there are times where We do not run a procurement process.

So it is, as council is aware, that we do have the ability to direct contract for different reasons.

I can waive a procurement process.

And so, you know, we do know that we owe council member Nelson a response to her question.

And we're working very closely with law and the city attorney's office in finalizing the diversion investments, the expansions.

And so we are committed to following up with you in detail.

We just didn't want to get ahead of our partnership as we were finalizing what this pilot looks like, what the expansion looks like, and we'll have some more information to share.

So just wanted to let you know that we've got that on our radar.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I'm going to toss it back over to Annie.

Thanks.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you very much.

Great questions.

So as Dr. Bailey previewed earlier, the Farmer Preschool Program RFQ was the first funding opportunity released as part of this NOFA.

It provides almost $300,000 in funding and the source of these funds are from the Sweetened Beverage Tax.

This investment links 50 Seattle preschool and early childhood food education and assistance programs with BIPOC immigrant and refugee and women owned regional farms.

We're especially excited to highlight this program, which is a partnership with the Department of Education and Early Learning.

It recently received national recognition being selected as a Harkins Institute 2023 designee for reimagining regional food, health and food systems.

Next slide, please.

The Food Systems RFQ, and just point out, mistakenly listed as an RFP on the earlier slide deck, this RFQ is actually an RFQ was released today, February 28th, and is an investment of over $1.7 million in citywide food security work, including bulk food purchasing, transportation, and support for the Seattle Food Committee and Meals Partnership Coalition networks.

The food systems RFQ, it comes from general fund with a small amount coming from the sweetened beverage tax funds.

Next slide please.

In early March, we plan to release several RFPs for Federal Older Americans Act nutrition funding, totaling approximately $5.8 million.

These funds support congregate and home delivered meals and multicultural registered dietitians for adults 60 plus years of age.

The first one here is the Congregate Meals for Older Adults, RFQ.

It is a $3.3 million investment to provide culturally relevant, nutritionally balanced meals in group settings, creating opportunities for older adults to socialize.

And these are all centered around a meal.

Next slide, please.

Another federal funded Older Americans Act opportunity is the Home Delivered Meals RFQ.

This is an investment of $2.4 million to provide nutritious meals to our older friends and neighbors who don't have social supports, are unable to leave their homes, or are unable to prepare meals for themselves.

Next slide, please.

And the last of our Federal Older Americans Act investments provides $160,000 to support HSD-funded multicultural congregate nutrition sites.

This RFP provides funds for multicultural registered dietitian nutritionist services to help with culturally inclusive menu development, nutrition education, and safe food handling training.

Next slide, please.

Another RFP releasing in early March is to support culturally nourishing foods for older adults.

There's more than $600,000 in funding available for programs that provide culturally nourishing food and meals, transportation, and opportunities for social engagement centering around food.

This particular RFP is funded with general funds and sweetened beverage tax funds.

Next slide, please.

In mid April, we anticipate releasing both an RFP and RFQ for family support services, the investment of over $4.3 million in general fund is focused on strengthening and supporting Seattle families with children up to 24 years of age.

We'll be building on what we heard from families and what they needed as we move beyond the pandemic.

So this is going to be a large RFP with more detail, RFP and RFQ with more detail coming out in mid-April.

SPEAKER_08

Dr. Lee, can you just speak a little bit how the RFP and the RFQ are going to work together in this example?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, they'll be released and they'll have their own processes that are associated with each type of funding request.

So they'll be coming out and the instructions will be provided to the applicants probably in two different funding notices.

SPEAKER_08

So my question is, does just one process inform the other or are you splitting up the 4.3 million into two different buckets and one is going to be using an RFP and the other is going to be using an RFQ?

Yes, that's the way you described it very clearly.

Thank you.

And what is sort of, can you just high level What is determining what funding is going to be subject to the RFP and what funding is going to be subject to the RFQ?

Not the number of dollars, but the services.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

The team has been working with the funding work group, and that's being informed by community and other partners who are designing and dedicating the approaches in the different funding tracks.

So I think Dr. Kim has another comment to make about this.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, no problem.

I think we don't have concrete information to share.

But as we learned from the pandemic, it sounds to me that the work group has something a little bit more prescriptive in one space and then more open ended and how to use strengthen, you know, families and the other space.

And so just signaling to the general public that with the total pool, you know, and certainly folks can apply if they qualify for both.

But more to come.

Sorry, we don't have the specific service level detail at this time.

And we'll certainly follow up with you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you.

So the last funding opportunity in this NOFA is an RFQ for older adult legal services.

This is anticipated to be released in June, and it provides $236,000 for legal services to protect essential rights and benefits for older adults in Kingtown.

And the last slide, please.

So just to preview, and in closing, some of the funding opportunities we anticipate and look forward to next year include support for senior centers, prevention of gender-based violence and sexual assault, and more food and meals programming.

As discussed with funding processes, a graphic that Deputy Director Bailey shared earlier, HSD staff will be working throughout the year on developing these funding opportunities in partnership with community prior to next year's NOFA.

With that, I'll pass it back to Acting Director Kim.

SPEAKER_02

Great, thank you.

So that essentially concludes our presentation.

I know that it was fast, dense, and yet high level at the same time.

And so it really is meant to give you and the general public, particularly the agencies who have existing contracts with us, notification of what's to come and what to prepare for.

And so before we take questions, I do want to thank our staff.

There's a tremendous amount of work, as you can imagine, behind the eight individual ones, as well as the ones being prepared for next year, our partners and community members for their role in developing not only the RFPs and RFQs, but the folks who spend time with us to rate the applications.

It's a tremendous amount of dedication and sometimes decision making is hard.

So we really do thank all of our partners might also do must think our council members, particularly Councilmember herbal the others here to for your feedback, as you hear from your constituents because again as Michael Bailey has discussed, we're going to have a formal process on how to to improve, but we also do hear and listen when we get feedback throughout the year as well.

And so really appreciate your partnership in sharing that information with us.

And so with that, time permitting, we're happy to answer any additional questions.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

to see if any my colleagues have questions I have I do have a couple but Councilmember Nelson.

SPEAKER_01

So is it possible to get a grant or I mean get a contract if you're not already a pre-existing organization that you've worked with before?

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_08

Thanks.

So I have a couple different questions, but I'm going to riff off of Councilmember Nelson's.

Can you talk a little bit about how an organization who's interested in seeking funding for the first time, how they can explore whether or not there's a fit for them within these areas, these buckets?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Michael Bailey, do you want to try that?

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, certainly.

So for each of the funding opportunities, there's a list of eligibility requirements, and we seek that folks take a first peek at that.

We also have an individual reference on each of our funding opportunities.

This is essentially your point of contact.

If you have questions, if you're unclear, we always encourage people to reach out.

Our biggest fear is that someone will think that they're not eligible, and they'll just make the decision not to apply.

And that may not be the case, although our eligibility requirements are pretty clear, we do provide that technical assistance.

So again, to kind of recap, within each individual opportunity, there's a list of eligibility requirements.

There's also a point of contact that they can reach out to for additional information.

SPEAKER_08

You typically have some pre-bid conferences as well.

SPEAKER_02

If I can, yeah, you know, so with each of those, it is the information sessions or the, you know, everyone uses different language, the conferences to share the information and formally ask questions.

We then post the question and the answers on our website.

So all applicants have access to the same information.

But I want to underscore a couple of things.

our department is more than willing to meet with anybody who is interested in accessing city funds.

So outside of a process, if folks just want to meet and learn about what it takes to be eligible, even pre-plan, like I'm thinking about this a year down the road, there are several of us who are more than happy to meet.

And I think as we, think about our own capacity and how to provide technical assistance.

I can imagine in the future there may be, you know, some maybe webinars or videos or just resources that also can be helpful tools without the individual meetings.

So then that way we can ensure that folks have readily available this information as opposed to the individual touch, which we are also happy to provide.

I will stress, though, and this is where sometimes people get confused, is once there is a process that's posted, then we are very mindful of, like I said, the type of communication that we do have with individual organizations who are interested, because at that point, once the guidelines and application is posted, we need to be careful of not creating a bias or sharing information that is for some organizations and not readily available to others.

And so even what I just described with the information session, we will gather the questions, we will have a response and even post those.

So we're really transparent and ensuring that folks of all the same information.

And so at that point, we really do try to stop kind of those one-off conversations, although more and more we are formally offering technical assistance.

And so there's some nuance there, but really, if anyone has any questions, they can just ask.

So just please ask, and we'll continue to build our toolkit as well.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

Um, I have 2 questions of the 8 areas that you're doing in 2008. do any represent a completely new area or a substantial sort of reimagining of an existing area?

I know.

The focus in 2023, per these NOFAs, are both food security and increasing funding for services that benefit seniors, which has been an interest of this council.

And with the food funding cliff that we often hear about, the food security issue is very important.

But just wondering, is there anything new within these four proposed contracting areas that represents a different thinking of the department?

SPEAKER_02

I will take that.

I don't think that there's anything brand new here.

I do think though that As you alluded to, we have learned a lot throughout COVID and the importance of kind of double downing on certain areas too.

For example, ensuring that older adults have healthy meals that are culturally responsive.

That also has a social element and so I do know that some from that thinking, we've been able to apply, for example, some of the sweetened beverage tax funds to some of the service areas because we have learned so much.

And those are really important to maintain.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not seeing any additional...

Oh, Council Member Nielsen.

Sorry, one last one.

I'm always interested in making sure that our investments are meeting the intended outcome.

So is there any sort of evaluation process after the contract is finished to make sure that they met the intended results as listed in this process?

In the NOFA announcement, for example.

SPEAKER_10

And just to clarify, you're asking for just ensuring that folks are delivering on what we're funding, correct?

Right.

Yes.

So on a monthly basis, folks are submitting reports, invoices, and outcome reports.

And for each contract that's awarded, they have their go-to person within the department.

So it's a step further than just monitoring.

That person is there to provide technical assistance, And our desire is to see everybody be successful.

So in the event that someone is not meeting the mark, so to speak, we're there as a partner, we're there as a collaborator.

We are holding the accountability line and protecting our investment, but we're also working with those individuals to maximize the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.

And that's, I didn't know that that was happening throughout the contract.

So that's good.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

And I'll just add to that, we don't wait until the end of a contract is completed.

So with that monthly monitoring or quarterly monitoring, and in rare cases, many of our contracts are outcome based, meaning there's a base payment that's provided to function and do the business.

But there is a percentage that is tied to outcomes.

And so we don't pay out on a percentage of the award unless the outcomes are met.

And so just to reassure you that there is that measure as well.

Some of our contracts are a line item or unit, which means that it's not, that we're quantifying, for example, pounds of food, and those are all documented as well.

So there's other ways in which we track.

SPEAKER_08

The department is a results-based accountability framework department.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, everybody, for being here.

Thank you to yourselves and your teams for all the work that you're doing to help our residents be safe and healthy and secure and thriving.

really appreciate your time with us here today.

Thank you.

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

SPEAKER_09

Agenda item two is update on dual dispatch pilot dispatch protocols.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you so much.

Please come on up.

Come to the table.

Yes.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Greetings.

Thank you so much for being with us.

If you could start off with a quick introduction.

And I think we have you at the table and we have a presenter with us virtually.

So let's just do a quick introduction of both of you.

I'll start with a couple opening remarks and we'll hand it back to you.

SPEAKER_06

Sounds good.

Thank you, Council Member and Chair Herbold, Council Member Nelson.

I see we've got Council Members Lewis and Peterson, is that right, on the virtual?

That's right.

My name is Bill Schreier.

I'm an Interim Strategic Advisor with the Community Safety and Communication Center Department.

Some of you may remember me from previous iterations here at the city where I was the Chief Technology Officer and Director of the Department of Information Technology.

And so today we're going to talk about 9-1-1 protocol software, also known as criteria-based dispatch.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_13

And with us virtually, from Central Staff.

Anne Gorman, Council of Central Staff.

Good morning.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much, Anne.

SPEAKER_08

So just a little bit of background.

In the adopted budget for 2023, council approved funding to pilot a dual dispatch program which would deploy behavioral health experts with police officers standing nearby the scene in response to calls with a behavioral health nexus.

This is intended to be both innovative and is also a very necessary step towards building out the public safety network for Seattle's future.

The innovation is complex and very often technical.

Appreciate Bill Schreier, the interim strategic advisor of the Community Safety and Communication Center, sharing with us one of those very technical steps towards this work.

And so we're going to go ahead and get started.

I think it was a 2021 biennial budget adjustment.

We sort of seeded the protocols with $400,000 seed funds, and CSCC began the process of developing the RFP and selecting consultant in 2022. As mentioned, we're also joined by Anne Gorman of Council Central Staff.

Before I turn it over to Mr. Schreyer, I'd like to ask that Anne remind us of the term sheet for this work on alternative 911 response.

In particular, if you could quickly review some of the deliverables with the committee and the progress we've made.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_14

Yes, thank you chair herbal.

This term sheet was signed late last year by representatives of central staff and the mayor's office and the parties committed to developing for work products.

I will go through each 1 and provide a short update.

Number one, an executive drafted policy document outlining the framework for permanent alternative response models.

We do not specifically have this yet.

I understand that the executive is in the final stages of completing a white paper.

that will support the concept for the new CARE department.

I'm not sure the extent to which that white paper will be specifically responsive to the description in the term sheet.

Number two, a policy proposal for an alternative response in the near term that can be designed in 2022 and become operational during 2023. This is really the substance of the ongoing central staff executive work group.

that meets regularly, that will meet later today.

We have repeatedly gotten the commitment of the executive that this program will be implemented in 2023. In terms of design, that's been on pause for the last little while, while Director Gonzalez comes up to speed and sort of develops her vision for what the department will be providing.

But we have every faith that this will become operational during 2023 per the term sheet.

Item 3, a policy proposal for special event staffing that utilizes commissioned officers only where necessary.

This is not strictly speaking an alternative response deliverable.

but it is consistent with the larger goal of preserving SPD first responder capacity for appropriate emergency responses.

So sometimes we think about it in the same conceptual framework.

The central staff and the executive are continuing to work on this policy proposal, working through some labor issues as noted in the term sheet and we will have We expect to be able to tell you more in spring of this year for a communication strategy that informs the public on the general operations of the city's emergency response system answers frequently asked questions and provides clarity on how emergency responses are triaged and or responded to.

We do not have that yet.

I think that's something that will come after some of the other deliverables in the list.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate the overview.

There are, since we're here talking about CSCC protocols that are necessary to the standing up of the 911 response pilot, I do want to narrow in on that particular topic on page four of the term sheet.

There are five milestones, the first being inventory, compilation of current city response options, and inventory of other jurisdictions and alternate response pilots.

Can you let us know, Anne, whether or not that is complete?

SPEAKER_14

We we on central staff have have a lot of information about other jurisdictions and alternative response pilots.

I we've we've shared that with the executive.

I assume that they've also done their their own work in that regard.

There are a number of these pilots that are operational all over the country, and some of them are no longer pilots.

Some of them are permanent elements of a jurisdictions 911 response, Generally, they are they are well received.

The public appreciates what they do, and it is acknowledged that they serve the goal of preserving law enforcement response for situations where that is appropriate and necessary.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

Item milestone two is under the category of brainstorming development.

Work group convenes to brainstorm potential pilots to address needs including but not limited to dual dispatch of mental health crisis response for wellness checks and person down calls, alternative response for administrative calls, and other programs that could achieve program goals.

And then next after that, tentatively commit to We did have a specific response gap and recommend program.

significant funds in our 2023-2024 budget for this pilot.

Can you speak to whether or not the work group has tentatively committed to a specific response gap?

SPEAKER_14

The no, the specific commitment is is outstanding from the executive.

The the council budget action that provided funding for the program in 2023 and 2024 was very specific that the intent of the program was to meet a mental and behavioral health need rather than sending SPD officer solo to such calls.

I, I think that the executive is evaluating all options for what specific call types will be responded to by the dual dispatch pilot.

And we are, we are eager to hear more information from director Gonzalez and her team when that's ready.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you, just a little bit of a finer point on that one.

So the description of the pilot that was approved by the council, it described the categories of individuals who, or the categories of individuals, types of calls, that the program would serve.

So are we, we're not, I like to look at the glass being half full.

And so I see this particular milestone as being a tentative commitment to a specific response gap.

But I think I hear you saying, Anne, that the agreement on the funding and the, use of the funding does not constitute a tentative commitment to a specific response gap.

SPEAKER_14

Um, well, the, the, the, the council budget action itself.

I'm reading from this support the implementation of dual dispatch of sworn officers and civilian staff to augment current response to calls with a mental behavioral health nexus that that covers a lot of ground.

There are a huge number of call types that I think we can all agree have a mental and behavioral health nexus.

So I believe the executive shares council's interest in meeting that need.

The question is just what specific call types will the dual dispatch respond to?

There's no question that those calls will have a mental and behavioral health nexus.

Am I answering your question?

SPEAKER_08

You are.

Thank you.

Okay.

And even though I was trying to angle for a yes, we have a tentative agreement.

You're right.

It's very, very broad.

And this pilot needs to focus in on a few different call types that we then peg those number of call types to a particular number of staff.

And it appears that that work has not yet been done.

So I'm not going to go through the we're going to get cracking on this.

SPEAKER_12

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Just a clarifying question from Anne and I'm eager to get to the substance of the presentation here, but I think this background is helpful.

It sounds like Anne from your colloquy just now with Chair Herbold that the executive is behind on almost every deliverable from the term sheet that we put together.

Is that a fair characterization?

I wasn't, it seems like a lot of the answers were no or don't know to questions about work product we were expecting in late 2022, or at least by now.

And I just want to confirm if that's the case.

SPEAKER_14

I think that I would hesitate to characterize.

Behind this from from my perspective, we, we have, we have found our partners on the executive side to to be to be very collaborative to to want to move forward as as council members do.

And part of the delay has been the, the, the hiring and.

the onboarding of Director Gonzalez, because she's really going to lead this effort.

She's going to develop the new department in line with the mayor's concept for it, and to say where alternative response generally, and this dual dispatch pilot specifically fits into it.

And we understand that that's going to take some time.

Um, but we, we, we on we on central staff, you know, we, we would like to move as as quickly as possible understanding that, um, both the pilot program and alternative response are of of paramount priority to many council members.

SPEAKER_08

Council member Lewis, um, uh, uh, and is, um.

working very hard to preserve relationships so we can continue this discussion, but I'm going to be a little bit more direct.

The term sheet that was presented in committee in September has dates for deliverables, and it from the first deliverable due in September.

The commitment to tentative commitment to addressing a specific response gap was due October 3rd.

Four different operational benchmarks were due October through November.

We were supposed to get a proposal to review in December, sometime December, January.

So regardless of what the reason is, we are definitely behind.

And I just want, I think it's very important that we not conflate the standing up of a third public safety department with the development of a pilot.

I totally appreciate that.

We have a new director of CSCC that I'm looking forward to the confirmation process for Director Gonzalez.

Director Lombard has been very engaged in the body of work that we're going to hear from Bill on, but there is absolutely no reason, I believe, that we need to delay these conversations about a pilot.

any longer, regardless of the status of the new director coming on.

We've got a lot of good people who have been working on this for several years now, and we need to make sure that we're driving this forward and creating some momentum where there currently appears to be very little.

SPEAKER_12

I think the chair and and for those contextual comments I'm just going to state I don't need a response to this and we can just move on with the agenda.

But if we have another hearing like this where the timelines are so off, and the progress is so.

on the surface unclear at the next hearing on this topic.

I would be supportive of reevaluating the process entirely to find a different path towards achieving these goals.

I'm just flagging that concern as a committee member.

This is an extremely high priority for all the constituents who I meet with on a regular basis.

who are dealing with people in the community in crisis and don't really have a viable response or service from the city to deal with or mitigate that hazard and, and, and the wellness of those community members experiencing that crisis.

And I just.

I think this sense of urgency around this needs to be much, much higher from all of the parties involved.

And I'm very grateful to central staff for their diligence in this process.

And I hope for more substantive updates from all the parties to the term sheet at future hearings.

And If more progress isn't forthcoming the Council may need to take a more assertive role in advancing this work.

And I'm just going to say that, and look forward to the presentation now, more broadly for our partners at the CSCC.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Anne, your hands up.

You have something to add?

Thank you.

SPEAKER_14

Yeah, I just I just wanted to clarify section section three on the table that we're looking at on page four of the of the term sheet.

There's a reference to staffing and labor considerations, resource needs and plans, initial projected cost model.

We we did a lot of that work with with mayor's office and executive staff.

During the budget process, I mean, there are assumptions that underlie the funding that is included in the council budget action that I just mentioned.

We spent a while emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

I just want to emphasize that our partners in the executive in the executive branch have been more than willing to engage.

They understand the questions that need to be answered.

And I think that we are going to be able to show council members what they hope to see very soon.

Thank you, Anne.

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_08

All right.

So with that, as mentioned, the work that CSCC is doing is so integral to the implementation of this pilot.

And with that, it serves as the sort of the foundation, creating the ability to send calls to someone else other than Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire Department.

And folks who are looking at reimagining public safety really look to, nationally, really look to cities, 911 centers as the starting point for that work.

And so with that, I'll hand it over to Bill Schreier.

Thank you so much for being with us.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you, Chair Herbold.

And so here's the agenda for today.

I'm gonna talk a little bit about the CSCC department and how we handle 911 calls today, and then why we use protocol software and how 911 call handling will change.

I'll also give a practical example of how this work, and then talk about timelines for the protocol system.

As we mentioned in the preamble, dual dispatch or alternative dispatch, I'm not prepared to talk about that today, but this is a precursor to that.

SPEAKER_08

We're going to need to pause because I think you have a presentation that we need to work out how to show.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, the technology issues.

SPEAKER_07

There we go.

SPEAKER_08

Excellent.

Get that in presentation mode, we'll be all set.

Perfect.

Thank you so much for the assist, Mr. Clerk.

SPEAKER_06

Very good.

And I would encourage council members to interrupt or stop after each slide to ask questions or make comments.

So here's a little bit of background on CSCC.

The council created this in June 1st of 2021. As you mentioned, Chair Herbold, Chris Lombard was the interim director from then until January of 2023. The mayor has nominated interim director Reba Gonzalez.

for chairing this department or directing this department.

And of course, that's subject to city council confirmation.

You'll see some of the performance indicators on the right, including the annual statistics from 2022. I'll just mention a couple of those, 911 calls received, there were 614,000 911 calls received.

And of that, we dispatched or the Seattle Police Department handled about 339,000 of those calls.

Another thing I'll mention here, the very last item, language is handled.

We do have a language line capability to actually conference in someone who can do translations and 911 calls.

About 4,000 calls were handled last year in 45 languages.

Any comments?

Okay.

So here's how 911 calls are handled today at the city of Seattle.

And on the upper left, you'll see the 911 call comes in.

And we actually have a call taker, the ordinance title is Dispatcher 1, who answers the call.

If it's a call from a medical emergency or a fire, it's hot transferred to the Seattle Fire Department.

There's a fire alarm center where trained firefighters and emergency medical technicians can actually further interrogate the caller and then dispatch the appropriate resource, a medic unit or a fire apparatus, for example.

If it's not a medical emergency or a fire, the call taker will then question the caller about what the nature of the emergency is.

The call taker uses CSCC and SPD, Seattle Police, policies and procedures, plus a lot of training and experience to actually formulate those questions and enter that information into a computer-aided dispatch software.

That computer dispatch software records a lot of the interactions in the call that are typed in.

It also records the Seattle police officer's response when that officer responds to the call.

The software, the CAD is, the call is actually then transferred to a dispatcher.

The dispatcher is ordinance title dispatcher two, so it's a little higher level.

That person does nothing but dispatch resources, in this case, Seattle Police.

Typically, the dispatcher two doesn't talk to the actual caller.

They will in a really urgent situation or a developing situation such as an intruder into a building.

But for the most part, they dispatch the officer based on what's in the CAD software.

On the lower line there, every 911 call and every radio transmission to any of the dispatch frequencies is recorded.

It's an audio and data recorder.

And when I say data recorder, things like the automatic number identification, the number of the caller, the location, if that's available from the caller, also recorded in this system.

The recording information is used for evidence.

Detectives use it to investigate crimes.

It's presented in court to prosecute crimes.

It's also used for public disclosure.

And finally, we have two quality assurance analysts, two human beings, communications analysts, who actually listen to all the important calls, and they make sure that policies, procedures are followed when the call taker is handling those calls.

SPEAKER_08

Just very quickly, really appreciate that this resource is available.

I'm sure that's something we have to have, but nevertheless, when it comes to dealing with constituent inquiries, it can be very, very helpful.

And CSCC now and previously SPD would also, would be very helpful.

very willing to offer assistance whenever we would get a complaint about how a particular call was handled.

They can actually, if you know the time and date and the location, they can go back and research the call and see what happened.

And sometimes we find out that there was a reason for dissatisfaction and sometimes it turns out that there was a misremembering on behalf of the caller of what actually transpired.

So, and sometimes we can actually let the complainant hear the content of the call as well.

So that's, I think, a really good customer satisfaction tool that I'm glad we don't have to avail ourselves of very often.

Remember seeing a response from Director Gonzalez just this week of that nature, and I really appreciate knowing that it's there as a resource.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you, Chair Herbold.

And there's several ways that constituents can register complaints.

They can actually call 9-1-1 and actually speak to a supervisor.

Any such complaints are logged by the supervisor.

The supervisor will listen to the call and respond.

There's an email address, csc underscore 9-1-1 underscore inquiry.

That's on our website that people can send inquiries, any sort of inquiries, a compliment or complaint to.

And then of course, we always appreciate hearing from council members, Director Gonzalez will address and investigate those.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

And on that note, I just want to put a plug in for the fact I receive weekly reports on a number of different metrics for the CSC.

And I just want to say how happy I am that the average time to answer 911 calls is well within the National Emergency Number Association standards of 90 percent of calls being answered within 15 seconds.

95% answered within 20 seconds.

I know previously the department had some compliance issues with the standard because of staffing challenges.

I wonder if you can just speak to what you've done to really turn around the call statistics in this area.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you.

The standards that you referred to are the National Emergency Number Association.

They're actually having a conference in Washington DC as I speak.

So they set a standard that 90% of all 911 calls should be answered within 15 seconds and 95% should be answered within 20 seconds.

And we report those statistics every week.

And as you mentioned, Council Member Herbold, you actually see them.

We were not meeting those standards early in 2022 or late 2021. And in the last two months, it's turned around primarily because of staffing.

So we hired, CSCC hired 50 people, 50 call takers in 2022. For context, there are 125 call takers, dispatchers, and supervisors in the communication center.

So whatever that percentage is, at least 40% of our people have been hired in the last year.

They go through a six week training course in, Actual training in a classroom and then five to seven weeks actually on the floor.

So it's primarily been an aggressive hiring and recruiting campaign.

And I will say this is not my responsibility.

This was actually Chris Lombard and his deputy director and our recruiting manager.

I will say that very few 911 centers nationally, almost everybody's chronically short-staffed.

This is an amazing turnaround as a result of the executive's emphasis on this and Chris Lombard's leadership.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06

And here's some call handling statistics for 911. I did not include the standards that Council Member Herbald mentioned in this, but this gives you a feeling for how many calls are received weekly, how many are transferred to the fire department, how many are actually dispatched, and the number of audio tracks that are processed for detectives, courts, and others.

I will mention one thing here.

You'll notice that the number that are dispatched to police is about 4,000 a week.

and the total CAD events is 6,750.

There are other alternatives actually dispatching a police officer now.

If it's like a report of a theft or a burglary, it can be transferred to the Seattle Police Telephone Response Unit.

They can handle it over the phone.

There's also an online reporting system that can be found on the city's website.

Again, the Telephone Response Unit actually reviews the online crime reports too.

So there are actually multiple ways that people can report crimes or incidents today.

SPEAKER_12

Madam Chair?

SPEAKER_08

Yes, Council Member Lewis.

SPEAKER_12

Thank you.

Just really briefly, it's not a question, just something I'd like to highlight.

Really appreciate the slide and this part of the presentation.

It really underscores the value of having the independent CSCC and really lifting up the core civilian role of the department and the multitudes of responses, even currently, that the department responds to and just really speaks to the long-term wisdom and strategic planning of making that move and leaning into the fact that it is a diverse mission for the office and recognizing that by making it a fully civilian independent service and I think this chart really speaks to that and I just wanted to lift up how the leadership has embraced that role and how it appears to be our best practice moving forward.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_13

Council Member Lewis.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you Council Member Lewis.

There's one other thing that isn't on this slide.

It's the non-emergency number 625-5011.

Last year in January we were unable to staff that at all times.

In fact, we only staffed it about 60% of the time because we wanted to emphasize accepting 911 calls and dispatching.

Today, it's actually staffed 98% of the time because we have additional call takers.

The wait times still are somewhat long because we don't have adequate staffing, but that's been a radical change, again, thanks to the recruiting and the civilianization that Council Member Lewis mentioned.

SPEAKER_07

And that's the non-emergency line, yeah.

That's the non-emergency line, the lower level.

Big, big, big improvements there.

SPEAKER_12

Actually, Madam Chair, one follow-up if it's not too much.

SPEAKER_08

Absolutely, go for it.

SPEAKER_12

I'm kind of curious, given what was just alluded to, has the department seen improved recruitment and retention as the culture of civilianization has gelled?

Is that what I'm to take that most recent comment to mean?

Because if so, that's a very positive development.

I know that this had been a hurdle during COVID to attract and retain dispatchers.

If you want an opportunity to expand just really quickly on that.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you Council Member Lewis.

I think so.

I think that the visibility of the department, the visibility of the job of the dispatcher, of the call taker has risen since the independence.

And I'll point to a couple of things.

Our wonderful social media We actually have somebody who's in our training unit who does tweeting and maintains a Facebook page.

And she's been highlighting some of the people that we hired in their stories.

So I think that that sort of visibility has certainly helped with the recruiting because people could actually, we're more visible, if you will.

SPEAKER_12

Yeah, I really appreciate that and would love to offline drill into that a little bit more.

I got to just say through my engagement with the call center during my term on the council.

I really have come to believe that 911 dispatches are most underappreciated first responder in the work that they do and have really come to to value and lift it up and.

through this process of really getting to know the dispatchers, getting to know the leadership, respect their desire to be an autonomous civilian department, to really lean into this work comprehensively has been very rewarding.

And it's really great to hear that that culture is gelling and really helping give a culture of its own to this work going forward in a healthy and robust way.

So thank you so much for answering that question.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you.

We really appreciate Councilmember Lewis and Councilmember Herbold both coming to the center and listening to calls as they come in, listening to dispatching, and we obviously would welcome any Councilmember to come for a visit.

So given the way that we handle 911 calls today, why do we use protocol software?

Why are we going after protocol software?

Today, 911 call takers rely on their experience.

They rely on a whole set of policies and procedures, not just CSCC policies and procedures, but there are also Seattle Police policies and procedures as to how certain calls should be handled.

We've hired 34 call takers out of 60 in the last 12 months, and we've also hired others.

I think I mentioned actually recruiting and training 50. We have a lot of new people.

It takes a while for them to gain the experience necessary to actually be able to triage, especially the most difficult calls.

Protocol software will help with those more difficult calls.

Now, again, many 911 calls are, there's an intruder in my house.

You don't have to ask a lot of questions if there's an intruder in your house, or I've just been injured in an auto accident.

Those things can be immediately dispatched.

But other things, especially the ones that we've been talking about here, the behavioral health crises, the mental health crises, the person down, I see somebody down.

That's the example I'll talk about later.

That requires a lot more questions to actually delve into the nature of the incident to determine who to send.

What a protocol software will do is help us standardize the questions that we ask.

It'll help with a workflow.

So based on the answer of one question, which other questions should be asked, it'll help dispatchers to decide which responders to send, especially when the executive with the support of the council implements a dual dispatch or an alternative dispatch program.

And finally, it will provide quality assurance.

The software will actually be able to, to some extent, listen to every call to make sure that the protocols, the procedures are being followed.

This next slide shows how the 911 call taking process will change with the protocol software.

The two items that are circled here in red are where the protocol software will be implemented.

We've actually acquired a product named Cordy.

I have a slide that talks about Cordy coming up.

But the two areas are quality assurance and actually standardizing the questions that are asked for certain kinds of calls.

So phase one is quality insurance.

We intend to take every 911 call and run it through QWERTY software.

The QWERTY software will actually do a transcription, a speech to text transcription, and then a little bit of analysis on that in terms of what keywords were used.

Suicide, for example, a weapon.

It'll allow us to have those keywords and then help design the questions that a call taker can ask.

It'll also make sure that the call takers are actually asking questions about location, for example, or weapons or meeting our other policies.

And here's the specifics on the QWERTY software implementation.

As you mentioned, Council Member Herbold, this was authorized by the City Council in late 2021, $329,000 to include the software and the IT support to actually make it happen.

We signed a contract with QWERTY in late 2022. QWERTY is the same software that's used by the Seattle Fire Department to triage medical calls.

Today they'll ask, I'm having a heart pain, they'll ask a whole series of questions to try and determine what the nature of that incident is while the medics are speeding to the call.

Phase one is analysis of the 911 call audio, as I mentioned, that'll help inform the questions to be asked.

And phase two is the implementation of protocols or questions and workflows to distinguish calls suitable for dual dispatch.

But development of those protocols It doesn't really, those don't really exist anywhere in the United States.

There are good standards for medical protocols today for that, I've got a pain in my chest question.

There are not good standards for determining whether a call is mental or behavioral.

It will take experience, it'll take mental health professionals, emergency medical techs and experienced call takers to actually design those questions and implement them in the software.

Here's a hypothetical example, though it's actually not too hypothetical, it's based on reality, of how the workflow will change with the CORDI protocol software.

So in this case, the hypothetical call I've got is there's a person down under a seat in the bus shelter at California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Hill Street muttering to themselves.

Well, the very first thing that we'll want to ask is, is the person injured?

Is there an imminent danger?

Are there weapons involved?

Is it possible, are there narcotics paraphernalia around the person?

If there's an injury or another medical issue, we'll want to immediately hot transfer this to the fire department and ask if a medic response is appropriate.

Also, if there's danger, weapons, or potential crime involved, the person looks injured or mutters about being hit or assaulted, that'll be dual dispatch of both the fire department and the police department because a crime may have been committed.

Also, as you know, some firefighters have been assaulted, so we wanna make sure that firefighters and EMTs are protected when they go out to a call like that.

But if there's no imminent medical emergency, there's no weapons, well, I want to ask additional questions.

Is a person just camped out there?

Was that their bed for the night?

Or are they really in need?

Are they mostly unclothed in winter weather?

And that would be a call that would be suitable for the dual dispatch that you talked about at the beginning of this session, where we'd actually send an alternative response as well as Seattle police.

And I mentioned that because that was what was specified in the budget this year and into this particular call and have them actually work with the person who's involved.

And again, I mentioned CSCC plus Cordy, you'll see that next to those boxes.

That means that the call taker in CSCC or in the fire department is actually using the protocol software to actually ask these questions and run down the workflow.

Questions or comments?

SPEAKER_08

Just switching over, Council Member Lewis.

SPEAKER_12

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, really appreciate this diagram, and also the, the description of the different scenarios and how there might be a work through of the triage.

I think it really demonstrates at its core.

Some of the work that's in front of us.

Because there are situations that could be flagged.

I mean, look, as someone who used to be a prosecutor, I can say with enough creativity, basically anything that happens in public can be characterized as a crime, or it can be characterized as a call for public health service.

And to use another example or a scenario, and how this might inform our work going forward to make sure we're triaging more things in the public health and wellness and not into the criminal legal system.

A scenario I could conjure up, person in crisis muttering to themselves, they're in the middle of the street and their shirt is off.

That could be a pedestrian interference misdemeanor, send the police.

Or it could be send someone to do de-escalation, there's a community member in crisis with their shirt off.

And it kind of depends on how we flag it at the front end.

Do we flag it as a public health call for service, or do we flag it as a misdemeanor that we want the person remanded to the criminal legal system.

And I think that there's a lot of scope and finally engaging in this process because right now, Right now, we mostly lean on flagging that for some kind of criminal response in a way that is expensive, unhelpful, doesn't solve the underlying issue, and the person's out of the jail in 24 hours anyway and back on the street and probably in crisis again.

So I guess part of my question would be, as we give kind of more tools to this triage process, does the department see the potential for having triages of determining how to gatekeep what service comes to deal with that issue that I'm flagging here about how we currently queue things up either for entry essentially to the King County Jail or entry to social service or medical systems?

And do we envision this making that a more efficient system to get more people into wellness and not necessarily for chippy misdemeanor referrals that are never gonna hold up in court anyway, probably, and are just gonna create more issues in a lot of cases.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

And I'm gonna back up on slides here.

to the why a protocol system slide.

And I'm going down to the third bullet under protocol software will help standardize questions and reduce implicit bias.

That's an excellent example of someone who is interfering in traffic, but clearly having a behavioral health crisis.

And our implicit bias in the past might've been just what you said, The that it's important that traffic flow this person's impeding the movement of cars, we're going to send a cop, we're going to arrest them, or we're going to cite them at least.

With a protocol system and with a change in the direction of.

how we as a city of Seattle respond to calls, we might very well send a dual dispatch, a police officer to make sure the person's not in danger, but a mental health professional or a social worker or a case manager to actually work with that person and get them the help that they need.

SPEAKER_08

Is that sufficient, Council Member Lewis?

SPEAKER_11

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Fantastic.

Just a couple questions as well as it relates specifically to the phase one and phase two.

I see the slides say that you're doing this analysis of the 911 audio through June.

Can you say again, you are listening to that audio for what purpose?

SPEAKER_06

So the way it'll work with phase one, and we're actually working right now with Cordy and the IT department to get audio sent to Cordy.

Cordy has a- That has not begun yet.

SPEAKER_07

Pardon?

SPEAKER_08

That element has, I'm just trying to get really down in the weeds, that element has not begun yet.

SPEAKER_06

It's not been done yet.

Okay.

We're actually still trying to, we want, 911 audio contains personally identifiable information, obviously the name of the caller, the phone number of the caller, We want to make sure that's secure when it's sent to Cordy and Cordy's software will actually reside in a Microsoft government cloud, a government cloud that is specifically designed to handle and protect personally identifiable information.

So we'll send it to the Cordy instance in the cloud.

Basically, it'll reduce, it'll take the speech, the audio speech, reduce it to a transcript of words.

And then Cordy has augmented intelligence software that'll actually look for specific phrases or specific words in that 911 transcript to help us identify the real nature of the call.

And this is going to take some, it's not going to be easy because as you recognize, one of the things that a call taker knows about is the tone of a person.

Does a person really sound scared?

Well, I don't know that QWERTY software can pick up on the tone, for example.

But what purpose does this step serve?

Oh, it's to really help design the questions.

The purpose is to help design the questions that will go into the protocols.

SPEAKER_08

And we know that there are other cities that are already doing alternate 911 responses alternate to police and fire.

And you mentioned before that.

that this system or the approach that we're using is the first of the kind.

I'm hoping that given that the protocols and workflow won't be completed until late 2023, I'm hoping that a pilot that is focused on person down and wellness checks is not dependent on this work.

I support this work going forward because it will help us move from what is currently conceived as a pilot to a broader system of alternate 911 response.

But I feel like we keep getting told that there is some element, whether or not it's the RMD analysis, whether or not it's the white paper on the third public safety department.

And now this, I've been following the protocol contracting, uh, this element of the protocol, uh, implementation is new to me.

And I'm really hoping you're going to tell me that, um, the implementation of a pilot for a small subset of calls is not dependent on, um, this phase one and phase two.

SPEAKER_06

No, the implementation of pilot would not have a pilot would not be dependent on implementing this particular software.

We have been looking at Albuquerque, Houston, Denver, other places with alternative response because they have a way of actually ferreting out these calls and sending to their alternative responders now.

So that will inform this, but also we really do need to know what the nature of the the dual dispatch or alternative responses.

So whoever those people are, help design the questions.

For example, if it turns out that we're hiring mental health responders, mental health professionals, as opposed to caseworkers, those people need to help design the questions so they receive the correct calls.

Perfect, thank you.

Council Member Lewis.

SPEAKER_12

Yes, thank you.

I mean, I was just going to add to that point that those triage systems and those other cities are designed for accommodating a dynamism of call response beyond dual dispatch.

I mean, they're full civilian alternative.

you know, no police involved calls that those systems have been able to develop and effectively triage through consultation with those services as was just indicated to determine the call criteria.

I only flag that because I, you know, and I'm glad we have this presentation so I can share with constituents who raise skepticism about our ability to triage to send appropriate responders to appropriate calls.

because this really does break down the methodology of how you do that, how you do it effectively, and how these other cities have been able to do this work.

It's, you know, it's hard work, but it's achievable work.

And just to appreciate this discussion, because this entire hearing today will be a great resource for explaining this to community members.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_06

You're welcome.

And I put dual dispatch on this particular slide because that was what was continued, I'm sorry, specified in the 2023 CSCC budget.

SPEAKER_08

And just to be clear, we're using the term dual dispatch, but that does not mean, and SPD has shared with us their understanding, that dual dispatch does not mean a police officer in every instance will be on the scene.

Sometimes they'll just be, they would be just sort of situationally aware of the dispatch of the civilian responder, not on scene at all, but just aware should a backup call for help be needed, like similar to how Denver's designed, they have that capacity.

We know that in very, I think last time I checked there hadn't been a single need for a police officer to be called, but they are still situationally aware.

And sometimes an officer may be stationed nearby, but we are using the term dual dispatch.

I just don't want the public to believe that that means that we are sending an officer to the scene in this model.

That is not intended.

SPEAKER_06

You are correct.

The actual nature of that dual dispatch is yet to be determined.

SPEAKER_08

Right.

Well, this has been great.

Thank you so much.

That's it.

Are there any other comments or questions from colleagues or Council Central staff?

Council Member Peterson.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you, Chair Herbold.

I just wanted to echo my support for the comments that you, Chair Herbold, and Council Member Lewis made about needing to stand up the alternative responses that we've been asking for for many months.

And I was just waiting to see if this presentation would add anything to it.

I really appreciate the detail of this.

And I think it goes back to that term sheet and the due dates that were on there and the need to expedite implementation of that.

So I'll continue to support you all in your efforts to get that done.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

All right, just my only closing remarks are to recognize that when we first started having these conversations in 2020, the conversation about developing a 911 community safety alternative was very focused on the safety of those being policed.

Now, what is still, from my perspective, an unmet urgency to stand up.

9-1-1 alternatives is not just about the safety of those being policed, but it's also recognition that with 500 officers having left the department, we need to develop those alternatives to support remaining officers' ability to respond to the calls that only they can answer.

We've gone from a situation where we was primarily police reform advocates, mental health advocates who are calling for an alternate response.

But now we know that there are other segments of our city that are also calling for the development of this alternate response and asking why it's taking so long.

Public Safety Roundtable at the West Seattle Chamber was a question that I was asked and then asked again.

We saw that in a recent response to the Mayor's State of the City, the Seattle Times Ed Board emphasized that the execution around public safety priorities, including creating alternatives to traditional police was highlighted, as well as the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

They also called up the need for concrete actions to be laid out and implemented on public safety elements, including staffing up alternatives.

So we have a broad spectrum of community safety stakeholders in the city.

going from advocates and activists to our business community that are asking that this work be prioritized and really appreciate your leadership, Bill, as well as everybody at CSCC and look forward to working with everybody in the mayor's office more on this and this year.

Thank you.

All right.

So that is the last item on the agenda.

I did want to have just a quick closing note on the fact that Acting Director Tanya Kim of the Human Services Department was recently announced as the mayor's nominee for the permanent position of director.

And she will be joining the committee again on April 11th.

Per the council's usual practice, I'll be developing a list of questions for Director Kim's written response.

And we'll invite committee members to contribute your own questions to that list.

Acting Director Kim, if you're still listening in, congratulations on your nomination, and I really look forward to working with you on the nomination process.

The next Public Safety and Human Services Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14th, 2023. It is 1120 a.m., and if there are no additional comments or questions from my colleagues, seeing none, we are adjourned.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.