This is the fifth week of July, so normally no committees would meet. But since several Council members cancelled meetings earlier this month, they are making up for it this week as they rush to finish up work before their August recess.
Monday morning’s Council Briefing has a special presentation from the City Clerk and City Archivist on the 150th Anniversary of the founding of Seattle. The meeting will also have two executive sessions with the city’s attorneys to discuss pending legislation.
Monday afternoon’s full City Council meeting will be short. There is only one item on the agenda: a bill lifting a proviso on a grant to Town Hall for renovations to their building.
This week’s Introduction and Referral Calendar includes the following new pieces of legislation:
- an ordinance accepting a donation of property in Laurelhurst for a public park;
- an ordinance accepting property deeds near the Boundary Dam hydroelectric project for protected habitat lands;
- an ordinance declaring a piece of Seattle City Light property surplus so it can be sold to Snohomish County;
- an ordinance updating the city’s criminal code to match state law so that the state can receive and process DNA samples from the city (yeah, it’s complicated);
- another ordinance making a series of modifications to the city’s criminal code to align it with recently-passed state laws;
- an ordinance establishing a new “code reviser” position in the City Attorney’s Office to make non-substantive error corrections to the Seattle Municipal Code;
- an ordinance authorizing the grant funding of $320,000 of projects through the city’s Technology Matching Fund;
- a resolution and an ordinance implementing the “local option” sales tax to direct funds toward affordable housing;
- an ordinance adopting the updated Commute Trip Reduction Strategic Plan.
Monday evening at 6pm, the Human Services, Equitable Development, and Renter Rights Committee will hold a special meeting at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church to discuss two items:
- gentrification in the Central District/ the eviction of Saba Ethiopian restaurant;
- expanding social housing in the Central Area.
Tuesday afternoon, the Sustainability and Transportation Committee meets. On its agenda:
- a briefing by advocacy groups on the Green New Deal;
- an easement acceptance and maintenance agreement with Children’s Hospital, and a related street vacation application;
- SDOT’s annual Race and Social Justice Initiative report on workforce and contracting equity;
- SDOT’s semi-annual streetcar operations report;
- the updated Commute Trip Reduction Strategic Plan;
- a resolution “expressing concern with the Northwest testing and training proposal of the United States Department of the Navy for Puget Sound, coastal waters from northern California through Washington State, and for Alaska.”
Wednesday morning, the Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans and Education Committee meets. On its agenda:
- the previously-mentioned ordinance updating the city’s criminal code to allow the state to accept DNA samples from the city;
- Mid-year reports from the Community Police Commission and the Office of Inspector General (also the CPC’s 2018 Annual Report);
- The Office of Inspector General’s “Intelligence report;”
- Two required reports from the Chief of Police on the handling of certain files and confidential information.
Wednesday at noon, the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee meets. The agenda has not been published, but it will likely take up the aforementioned land donation in Laurelhurst.
Wednesday afternoon, the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee meets. The agenda is not published yet, but it will likely include two easement acceptance ordinances on behalf of Seattle City Light, and the surplus property ordinance in Snohomish County.
Thursday morning, the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers Rights Committee meets. It will continue working on the hotel workers’ protections legislation, and also take up the renewal of the Multi-family Tax Exemption ordinance.