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2020-12-16 Youth Commission MinutesPage 1.1.1 Youth Commission Meeting Minutes, 12/16/2020 Commission Members Present: Staff Present: Chair Owen Lee Casey Colley Treasurer Sydney Pearson Hunter DeLeon Guest Speakers: Secretary Brook Roberts Kit Muehlman Grace Kamila Yasmin Aref Finn Paynich Tara Zolfaghari Brooke Rinehimer Tara Ryan Aaron Nateephaisan Zane Marulitua Community Members: Audrey Lim Absent Commissioners: Co -Chair Jacob Sawyer I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Owen Lee moved to call the meeting to order at 6:00 pm over Zoom. Sydney read the land acknowledgment statement. II. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA Chair Owen Lee moved to approve the consent agenda, which included: 1) Minutes from the 12/2/20 meeting Secretary Brook Roberts seconded the motion Motion passed unanimously III. REVISION OF THE AGENDA Secretary Brook Roberts moved to decrease the time spent on debriefing the discussion with the Edmonds School District Counselors to 15 minutes, add a new agenda item (#5) to discuss the DMs that the Youth Commission account received on Instagram, and subsequently move all other agenda items back. Chair Owen Lee seconded the motion Motion passed unanimously Secretary Brook Roberts moved to add an agenda item before the adjournment of this meeting relating to final comments and announcements. Chair Owen Lee seconded the motion Motion passed unanimously Page 1.1.2 IV. DISCUSSION WITH FAIRVOTE WA REPRESENTATIVES Yasmin introduced herself, both Taras, and Kit to the Youth Commission. FairVote is a grassroots non-profit that advocates for the implementation of ranked -choice voting (RCV) and election reform in Washington State. Currently, our "winner takes all" voting system is polarizing for many as it incentives fear -mongering and attacking one's opponent, rather than expanding their message. It prevents third -party candidates from even having a shot at winning an election, and forces voters to choose the "lesser of two evils". Ranked -choice voting is the potential solution to these issues. What is ranked -choice voting? A system where you rank your top three candidates in order (1st, 2nd, 3rd). The candidate that garners at least 50% of votes wins the election. If no candidate does so, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated, and the voters of that candidate are redistributed to their second -choice pick. The process continues until there is a candidate that has the majority of votes. Overall, RCV allows one to pick their most favorite candidate, rather than voting for someone who they think will win; for more civil campaigns with less division; and for more equitable representation of candidates of different backgrounds and views. It is already implemented for all elections in Alaska and Maine, for presidential primaries in Hawaii, Kansas, and Wyoming, as well as in 26 other cities and counties. ➢ Concerns for RCV include the danger of harming existing power structures (typically held by some elected officials) and the resources involved in transitioning to a new voting system (equipment, training, education). There is data to show that voters still vote with the same ease with RCV. ➢ Currently, state law prevents jurisdictions (cities & counties) from implementing RCV in elections. However, FairVote has introduced the Local Options Bill (HB 1156 in the 2021 Legislature) that would give them the choice to implement it. Bellingham and Olympia have passed resolutions in support of RCV and Yakima is suing the state to allow for implementation. The HB 1156 is supported by Rep. Strom Peterson and Sen. Marko Liias, who both represent the 21st Legislative District which includes Edmonds. Questions: ➢ Could there be a higher chance of voter fraud with RCV? o Actually, disincentivizes fraud as people don't have to pick one or the other. o Auditors aren't concerned with voter fraud as there wouldn't be much of a difference in fraud, but rather about the transparency process and the public's concern about the counting and processing of votes. o Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center from North Carolina was founded by former election officials who can help auditors with anything relating to RCV. Is the goal to implement RCV by the next election cycle? Page 1.1.3 o Hope is, but the reality is as soon as possible within the near future. Cannot guarantee it within the next year as it depends on the Local Options Bill and what the voters of WA say. What are the predicted costs of associating this? A concern is the use of resources and funding that could go towards other more effective solutions. o Existing election equipment can handle the transition to RCV, and in some places, there has been no cost. o Money can actually be saved from instant runoff voting/RCV as primary and general elections can be combined into one high turnout election. This means less money spent on staffing for election places, paper ballots, etc. o Gen Z typically votes in one election each year as opposed to older generations who try to vote in every election, and when there is a single election, Gen Z is more likely to vote in that election and have a bigger impact on voting from the youth perspective. What are ways to raise awareness of RCV? o Overall, just informing youth about how voting works in general, including primary and general elections, as well as the types of election systems in place. o Promote it as an idea to avoid choosing the "lesser of two evils", and actually picking the candidate that we, as voters, prefer the most. Why did Piece County implement RCV in 2008 then stop using the system? o Washingtonians were required to declare a party on ballots, which people did not like because of how many identify as independents. RCV was the solution, and then in 2009, the State passed the idea of the primary/general election idea. o Because of this, the idea of RCV was blamed on "incompetent election officials", and those who lost with RCV but would have won with the primary/general format were strong advocates against it. About $1.5 million on this election as both RCV and primary/general elections were used unnecessarily. o The technology was not there, the elections office had to code their own program to count ballots which made it confusing for everyone. o By the time that the State Supreme Court had ruled that declaring a party wouldn't be required, RCV was already implemented, and Pierce County was stuck with it when they didn't even want it in the first place. From that, they went back to the primary/general system. o Factors back then will not affect the ongoing efforts of implementation now. Can support ongoing efforts by signing up as a supporter, contacting local representatives, and educating others about it through social media. Also can volunteer, learn more about it through webinars, and work within the city to advocate for it. Youth Commission can take action by adopting RCV when it comes to choosing leadership for the group, pushing Council to pass a resolution in support, etc. Questions can be sent to YouthAmbassadors(@fairvotewa.org. Page 1.1.4 V. DEBRIEFING DISCUSSION WITH EDMONDS SCHOOLS COUNSELORS To recap, we met with JoAnna Rockwood, a School Psychologist focused on teen suicide prevention, and Robert Baumgardner, a representative from the Superintendent's Cabinet. Discussed the current plans —social -emotional learning curriculum in elementary schools, counselors equivalent to a social worker in middle school, and in high schools the suicide prevention program and crisis intervention coordinator. Noticed that there was a lack of access to the counselors themselves, and so maybe the focus needs to be on students having more stable access to them without meetings getting rushed or postponed. We also noticed that she focused less on the counselors themselves but rather on the systems in place because the counselors can't actually help with anything related to mental health. It's good to have these secondary options. Perhaps we need to direct the questions more clearly for a quicker and more direct response about the systems in place. Also, it would be great to utilize our Instagram account to highlight these systems. Maybe even work with the district to help provide posts to the school Instagram accounts? We can invite them back and spend an hour on our discussion with them next time. Given that we know more about the systems, how can we go about spreading awareness of them? And giving youth more mental health resources? What can we do with the knowledge that we learned from the last meeting? Best to avoid trying to create resources as we are not mental health professionals but rather highlight the existing resources available and aid in other efforts doing so. We can work together with Mindy Woods, the Manager of the Human Services Program, to discuss potential collaboration options relating to mental health and the budget. Casey will email her and get her on the agenda for an upcoming meeting. Over the next few weeks and months, we can continue to think over this and come back to it later. VI. RECEIVED INSTAGRAM DMS We received a DM on Instagram stating how the individual would like to see the Youth Commission more focused on disabled people and combatting stereotypes and misconceptions about disabled people. This is a community issue with the cultural climate in the United States. We are unsure how to approach this, and think it would be best to host them at one of our meetings so clarifications can be made. ➢ Also can be merged with our overarching mental health advocacy as we can discover insight into how minorities are treated when it comes to getting mental health support. Intersectionality of disability and mental health. If we continue this, Finn can provide input as a legally blind individual. Page 1.1.5 Also in schools, IEP plans aren't that helpful as there's no support after one is established. It also seems that unless one has the resources to go to a doctor for a diagnosis, then teachers don't believe that a student suffers from x condition. With COVID, teachers have been more flexible in deadlines to help students and their mental health (stress). It would likely be beneficial to the mental health of students if this trend were to continue, even after we get back to in -person learning. When attempting to apply for an IEP, one has to go to a meeting with the administrators of the school, counselors, and teachers. It seems to be some kind of trial, where the staff can determine whether or not the student needs the accommodations. The nature of these meetings can sway students away from applying. Additionally, some instructors don't remember their IEP, and students need to constantly ask for their accommodations. o Youth Commission could put together a document that includes how to help students with these IEPs and what not to do. Thought for a future project. VII. INSTAGRAM POSTING We have already done our introduction post (what our commission is about and how we operate), and are looking for more clarity on what to post about and when. For the next set of posts, the plan is to post about mental health. The first post will be resources with them being linked in the Instagram biography. #Take5toSaveLives will also be linked. Need to mention that resources are linked in our bio, especially the ones from the Edmonds School Districts. Was also thinking about what should be a story vs post? Especially for #Take5toSaveLives. Posts show up in feeds but stories stay up longer and are visible at the top of Instagram pages (but it seems that people are rarely viewing stories). Good if we do it as a post so we can attempt to get it on explore pages. Can also repost our posts on stories with additional resources on them. Either story or post can go on first, then followed up by the other type of post. Story first, then follow-up post. Could a COVID vaccine post be beneficial? As it relates to mental health, and issuing a statement on it. ➢ Scientific literacy and education are crucial with the given evidence and research that we have so far. Highlighting local businesses on a weekly/monthly basis, reaching out to the ones that we know so we can feature them, with the ultimate goal that businesses reach out to us to be featured. Black Coffee NW could be one to feature, even though they're not in Edmonds (although the owners are residents of Edmonds). ➢ Takeover highlighting certain events, although it's important to not overload the stories. Next idea would be to do Commissioner takeovers where a Commissioner takes to Instagram to show what they do on a daily basis as it relates to city -related projects, online school, taking Page 1.1.6 time for themselves to support themselves with their mental health. Photo and video release waiver does need to be filled out, though. Chair Owen Lee moved to remove agenda item #7: round table discussion regarding supporting youth needs Secretary Brook Roberts seconded the motion Motion passed unanimously Social Media Committee has not created a code of conduct for the social media page yet, although will be meeting over the break to develop one. VIII. UPDATE ON POLICE CHIEF NOMINEE The Committee that Chair Owen Lee was on that provided input to the Mayor regarding the Police Chief nominees agreed that Sherman Pruitt would be a better choice for the nomination to serve Edmonds. On Dec. 15, after Council had confirmed him on Dec. 8, his job offer was rescinded after he failed to disclose a job application with the Lake Stevens Police Department where he had failed a background check. He also had domestic violence allegations against him. Owen noticed the amount of support for Chief Lawless and backlash against the pick of Pruitt after it was announced. He is interested in the future process for the next selection. IX. FINAL COMMENTS Casey: pronoun inclusion document is at the HR department level, waiting on approval. We still need Zane's biography. Have a great break! Brook: congrats to Councilmember Laura Johnson, our liaison, for becoming Council President Pro-Tem. X. ADJOURNMENT Chair Owen Lee adjourned the meeting at 7:30 pm.