For the past several weeks the Monday afternoon Full Council meetings have been pretty tame affairs, with not a lot of legislation of substance up for approval. That streak ends tomorrow. Oh, and the committee meetings this week are equally full of important legislation and presentations.
Monday morning the Council Briefing will feature a report on the City-commissioned study on the effects of the increase in minimum wage.
Monday afternoon’s Full Council meeting has several notable items, and will likely be a marathon session. On the agenda:
- Consideration of Initiative 124, including whether to approve it outright or send it to the voters in November (see my report on last week’s chaotic discussion)
- Approving the Seattle City Light Strategic Plan, including setting rates for the next six years (here’s my earlier reporting on this);
- Confirmation of Chris Gregorich as the new Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations;
- Legislation aligning Seattle wheelchair-accessible taxi licenses with King County’s;
- Increases to the B&O tax and business license fee to pay for additional police officers (here’s my earlier coverage of this);
- Approval of a new and accelerated plan for a waterfront park at Pier 62/63;
- Approval of a rezone for part of the Bitter Lake neighborhood.
As if that weren’t enough excitement, this week’s Introduction and Referral Calendar lists several notable new pieces of legislation:
- An ordinance to create a Ballard Parking and Business Improvement Area;
- An increase (by 10%) to the assessments for members of the West Seattle Junction Parking and Business Improvement Area (the first one in 10 years);
- An increase to the tax rate for companies performing solid-waste collection in Seattle, with an accompanying increase in the rates those companies will charge their customers;
- An ordinance introduced by Council member Gonzalez to ban “conversion therapy.”
But wait, there’s more.
Tuesday morning the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee meets, and will also have a full and interesting agenda, including:
- an update on the Priority Hire program;
- the aforementioned increases to solid waste taxes and rates;
- a presentation on the recently published study on secure scheduling issues in the Seattle labor market;
- the previously mentioned ordinance to ban the practice of conversion therapy.
Tuesday afternoon the Energy and Environment Committee meets. They will hold required public hearings on two potential declarations (here and here) of City-owned property as surplus to be sold off. They will also consider:
- the Seattle City Light Integrated Resource Plan;
- selling off the former University Substation;
- a presentation on the Energy, Environment and Sustainability elements of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan.
Wednesday morning, the Gender Equity, Safe Communities and New Americans Committee meets. They will hear a presentation on the Mayor’s Chinatown/International District Safety Plan, and discuss alternatives to the original plan for the proposed North Precinct Police Station, which is estimated to cost $160 million.
Thursday morning, the Council members and their staff will undoubtedly collapse from exhaustion. Someone ought to treat them to a day at the spa if they survive the first half of this week.