This week: budget and homeless encampments

Monday and Friday are the big days in Council Chambers this week.

The Council will hold its regular Council Briefing Monday morning. There are no special presentations on the agenda.

Monday afternoon at the weekly Full Council meetings there are three items from the recent Energy and Environment Committee meeting:

  • an ordinance authorizing Seattle City Light to join the California Energy Imbalance Market. Expect Council member Sawant to name-drop Enron at least once during the discussion.
  • an ordinance approving a retail rate hike for Seattle City Light.  Sawant voted against it in her committee, though she may be the sole “no” vote in the final vote..
  • A resolution expressing the Council’s desire to adopt more restrictive energy efficiency regulations on commercial buildings if the city is not on track to meet its 2035 goals.

Of note: Sawant’s ordinance capping move-in fees is not on the agenda, which means that the Council members are still working through issues behind the scenes.

This week’s Introduction and Referral Calendar has only three items:

  • a resolution approving participation in the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds Program.
  • A resolution supporting Initiative 735 on the November ballot.
  • A resolution asking WSDOT to maintain one pier of the old Montlake “offramp to nowhere” to become a monument to ill-advised highway projects.

Monday there are also scheduled two meetings of the Budget Committee to continue presentations on parts of the Mayor’s budget proposal. Up for review are:

Friday, there is a special meeting of the Human Services and Public Health Committee to continue deliberations on the pending ordinance to rewrite the city’s protocols for clearing unsanctioned homeless encampments.