City Council and staff to telecommute, cancel committee meetings for remainder of March

Late this afternoon, Council President Lorena Gonzalez and Council President Pro Tem Teresa Mosqueda issued a directive to the city’s Legislative Department outlining several measures the department will take to address the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.  Topping the list: all department employees are instructed to telecommute through the end of the month, and all committee meetings will be cancelled for the remainder of March.

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Budget season is here. (UPDATED)

(several updated incorporated below — thanks to Kirstan Arestad, Director of the Council’s Central Staff, for her helpful feedback) In a couple of weeks the City Council will drop nearly everything and spend the next two months hammering out the 2018 city budget. Budget committee chair Tim Burgess has published a schedule for how the Council members and their staff will spend that time.

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State of the City address next Tuesday morning at Idris Mosque

This morning the Mayor and City Council President officially announced a poorly-kept secret: that the State of the City address will be delivered next Tuesday morning at 9:30am at a special meeting of the Seattle City Council held at Idris Mosque in Northgate. If you plan to attend, get there early. Doors open at 8:30am. Here’s the full text of the announcement: Mayor Murray, Council President Harrell announce State of the City to be held at Idris Mosque  SEATTLE (February 13, 2017) — Mayor Ed Murray’s fourth State of the City address will be held on February 21, 2017 at …

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Welcome to Budget Season

Between now and Thanksgiving, the Seattle City Council will be almost singularly focused on one task: writing the city’s budget for the 2017–2018 biennium. Budget chair Tim Burgess, in his first year in the position, has made some tweaks to the process and schedule in the hopes of making it more efficient, transparent, and open to new and interesting proposals.

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