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2021-10-06 Diversity Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS DIVERSITY COMMISSION October 6, 2021 Meeting conducted via Zoom COMMISSIONERS PRESENT Ardeth Weed, Chair Dean Olson, Vice -Chair Mindy Woods Alison Alfonzo Pence Nikki Okimoto Glaros Alberto Orejel Malfav6n Sarah Mixson Caitlin Chung, Student Rep Councilmember Luke Distelhorst, ex officio COMMISSIONERS ABSENT Sekou Kon6 unexcused Donnie Griffin excused GUESTS PRESENT James Bloch Jessie Owen Patty Narvaez-Wheeler Robert White Eric Bidstrup Owen Lee Kyle Sydney Pearson Lisa Ayrault STAFF PRESENT Patrick Doherty, Director Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator Economic Development & Community Services Police Chief Michelle Bennett 6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." - City Council Land Acknowledgment 1. Roll Call: Ardeth called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Dean read the land acknowledgement. 2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda approved by consensus. 3. Approval of September 1, 2021 Summary: Approved by consensus. 4. Public Comment: Jessie Owen shared that she would like to continue the conversation about Parks accessibility. She would like to check in and see if there are plans for the Police Chief and/or the Parks and Rec Director to come to a meeting. Patty Narvaez-Wheeler, identifies as Latina, she's here to visit because she's interested in applying for the Diversity Commission and would like to see if has to the bandwidth for the commitment. She owns a DEI business, Practica Consulting and works for the City of Seattle. Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 1 Robert White: is interested in joining the Diversity Commission. He recently moved to Edmonds. He has done DEI work. Identifies as First Nation, African American and European. He is concerned about the letter that Diana White wrote that was in My Edmonds News this morning. He would implore the Commission to look into rewriting the land acknowledgment. He would not ask for permission on giving a land acknowledgement. 5. Presentation from Police Chief Michelle Bennett: Chief Bennett thanked Ardeth and Patrick for inviting her to visit the Commission. She shared her background with Commission. She has been with the City since March 18t' in an interim capacity and started September 16t1i as the permanent Chief. She has had extensive experience with DEI work. She was the first LGBTQ liaison for the King County Sherriff's Office and hired the Sherriff's Office first transgender officer. She also started their Safe Place program. It's a program that partners with businesses to put a decal in their window indicating that it's a safe place for people to go into if people are victim of a hate crime or feeling unsafe in order to call the police and stay until they show up. Chief Bennett explained in depth what constitutes a hate crime. 3 incidents from the Bias Portal have been reported to the PD and none have been deemed hate crimes. There was a townhall held regarding hate. Nikki: asked about the fire at Plum Tree Plaza, she's wondering if the arson had hate crime motivation. Chief has not heard that hate is an element. Dean: asked if the decals could be similar to the ones in Bremerton. He would like PD to work with the Diversity Commission to develop a comprehensive decal for Safe Place. Mindy asked Chief to talk about the Community Outreach Coordinator in PD. Chief suggests that we invite Tabatha to visit the Diversity Commission. She's digging into community engagement. The PD has a $7,000 fund from Snohomish County to be able to help the community with emergency needs: clothes, hotel stays, meals. Alberto: thanked Chief for the explanation of what constitutes a hate crime. He asked if PD could share the data that they collect regarding hate incidences. Chief will double check with legal that it's ok to share the data. He clarified that he's interested in general numbers not specific details. Patty asked if there's a way to look at PD data by race, gender, or neighborhood and if the department does anything about the disparities. She will check with Assistant Chief to check on the details of how the data is shared and used. 6. Update from the City: Patrick shared the Mayor delivered his budget message this week to Council. Council will be reviewing, revising and approving the budget over the coming weeks. The Mayor's priorities are building community and bringing City resources to Hwy 99; policing Hwy 99; and climate change investment. COVID recovery is also a priority. He shared that Edmonds is leading the way in implementing our ARPA funding programs. 96% of the funding is going to the community. Our next Diversity Commission meeting will focus on interviews for filling openings. Mayor's Indigenous People Day proclamation was read at Council last night. Unfortunately, an in -person event was not able to happen this year due to COVID. There is a robust webpage that will go live in the next day or two to honor indigenous people and will be highlighted this month. Patrick mentioned that the letter from Diana White that was posted on My Edmonds News and since been pulled, was pulled because it was misrepresenting what Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 2 the City had done. The City respects all indigenous people regardless of what tribe they identify with. The City is continuing efforts to build community in the Hwy 99 area, we've been holding Hwy 99 merchant meetings once a month since June of this year. Chief Bennett will attend this month's meeting to discuss the crime issues but also as a draw to bring more businesses to the meeting. It has not been well attended. We are officially underway with our household grants. We've received about 70 grants applications thus far. A press release was sent out; posted on social media; and we mailed fliers out. We can utilize Language Link services if there is a language barrier. Mindy shared that the Mayor has formed a Homelessness Task Force. The Task Force consists of churches and community leaders to work to prevent homelessness; create solutions for unhoused community members; and looking at code adjustments that may need to be made. They will be meeting every two weeks to develop a report to give to the Mayor and Council, hopefully in January. Luke shared a couple of Decision Packages that are being presented in the 2022 Budget proposal that could be of interest to the Commission: Decision Package 1, a proposal for a Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Program Manager and Decision Package 23 ADA Transition Plan. 7. Youth Commission Update: Owen shared that he's a Senior at Edmonds Woodway High School (EWHS) this year and introduced Sydney Pearson, another senior at EWHS who shared the Youth Commission Update. Sydney explained that they took a break over the summer, but they did have a retreat where they had some fun and discussed plans and goals for the upcoming year. Their focus will be their subcommittees: Diversity and Equity; Youth in Government; Mental Health; Environmental. Four new Commissioners will be confirmed at the October 19t1' Council meeting. 8. Old Business: a) Land Acknowledgement statement update: Patrick shared that the Council approved the current Land Acknowledgment (LA), and they did not want city boards/commissions varying from what they approved. He shared that there has been concern shared that the current LA could be revised to be more inclusive. He shared the Potential Land Acknowledgement Proposals (Attachment A) that was sent out to the Commission prior to the meeting. He went through all the potential statements. Patrick asked if they would like to send a memo to Council to revise the current LA to be more inclusive with the examples. Council staff could then do a bit more research to refine and update the LA. Luke suggests that if there's a strong opinion about any statement, the Commission should share that with Council. Dean suggests the second variant in the document. Mindy agrees it should be more inclusive. Alison shared that she talked to a friend about this; the friend was disappointed in what Council adopted and felt it should be more inclusive. The term Coast Salish was enough to be more inclusive. Luke suggests recommending the Commission's preference and adding the research in the agenda memo or explaining it's available if requested. Mindy made a motion to present the simplest variant to Council, Dean seconded, motion passed by consensus. Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 3 9. Subgroup Reports: a. Policy — Dean i. Proposal of Ranked -Choice Voting: Dean feels this course will help elections be more democratic. This is currently not allowed by State law but it will be revived in the next legislative session. Council will be reviewing the City's 2022 legislative agenda prior to the December meeting; therefore, it is imperative to take action tonight. Alberto moved to recommend to Council; Alison seconded. Approved by consensus. ii. Proposal of District -Based Council Elections: Alison shared that there was an Issue Statement sent out prior to the meeting (Attachment B). District based elections separates the City into several different districts, electing one representative from each district and then two at large members. This seems to make sense to make sure all of Edmonds is being represented equitably. Dean suggests discussing this further at the December Commission meeting. Patrick shared this is currently allowed by State law. b. Partnerships & Outreach — Alison shared the committee met last month. They discussed what the next steps will be to research an office of civil rights. They agreed it's time to work with other organizations to collaborate, including Edmonds College. The DEI intercity (Lynnwood, Shoreline, Kenmore, Edmonds) group met yesterday. Mindy suggests having a Diversity Commissioner to regularly attend the meeting; Alison volunteered. Nikki will also get the details from Mindy. Nikki has been sitting on the ECA's inclusion group and they're looking to partner with Diversity Commission and the intercity DEI group. She would like to connect the groups. Alison met with Edmonds School District retiree to work the ESD to change their curriculum to include indigenous history. Alison shared that the Waterfront Center contacted her to ask for assistance with some DEI issues. c. Events — Sarah shared that they met and focused on the new film series. The poster is great and getting a lot of attention. The first film might bring some of the actors up as this is the first showing of it. The film might be too long to have a Q&A as we won't have the theater long enough. The poster will be made into a flyer to pass out at the showings. ECA is also having a film series for Arts and they would like a plug it at our showings as they are a sponsor of the Diversity Commission film series. Sarah & Ardeth will be hosting the first film. Dean asked if we want to require proof of vaccination for entry. Sarah said ECA has the policy or a proof of negative test, the feedback has been mostly positive. According to Dean, Chris at the theater would support it. Patrick shared that this policy is generally led by the venue or the government. In this case, the venue isn't requiring it and the City hasn't made a stance one way or the other. This could pose a legal issue. Alberto shared his concerns about requiring proof of vaccine. Dean made a motion to require a vaccine card; Mindy seconded. Of the Commissioners present the following voted in favor of the motion: Dean, Mindy, Sarah, Alison, Nikki. The motion is contingent on the Mayor and legal approval. 10. New business: a) New Commissioner Recruitment process: Ardeth shared that the recruitment process has started. She asked that everyone reach out to your contacts. Ardeth asked that two Commissioners volunteer to review the applicants to determine interviewees. Interviews Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 4 will be held at the November 3' Commission meeting. Nikki, Ardeth and Dean volunteered to review applications. Staff will send a PDF of the applications on or around noon on October 22nd and will schedule a meeting to go over recommendations. Nikki can't meet until October 26t1i. We will plan to meet at lunch time or 4pm on October 26th. Come with your top 6 to the meeting. 11. Commissioner's Corner: Alberto — hopes everyone is staying healthy ... his family has had a COVID scare. Dean — stay safe. Luke — shared that 10/22-29 no driving week challenge in support of disability rights. Alison — she will be out of town for the next meeting but will have her computer with her to participate in the Zoom. Nikki — thank you to the City staff who's working to move out the Federal funding. Sarah — having trouble getting into City email. Looking forward to the film series. Mindy — Stay healthy and safe! Caitlin — Going to school during COVID is scary. Apologized for missing meetings during summer. Adjourn — 8:05 PM Next meeting: Wednesday, November 3, 2021, at 6:00 PM, Zoom Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 5 Attachment A POTENTIAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PROPOSALS Current Land Acknowledgement from Edmonds City Council: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self - Simplest Potential Changes: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Coast Salish peoples, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered on, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty and their right to self-determination, and we respect their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." Variant: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Coast Salish peoples, including the Suquamish, Snoqualmie, and Jamestown S'Klallam tribes, and the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered on, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty and their right to self-determination, and we respect their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." From Sarah through ECA: "We begin our meetings and events by acknowledging that we are seated on the traditional, culture -rich indigenous homelands of the Coast Salish people. We celebrate the Coast Salish, who represent a large collection of many tribes with distinct cultures and languages that have been stewards of the land and sea in the Pacific Northwest for 14,000 years. At ECA, we Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 6 are committed to working with local tribes to acknowledge and honor their ancestral lands." From Arwen & Diana White: "The City of Edmonds acknowledges we are on the land of the Coast Salish people, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and honored these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self- determination and their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water. We commit to consulting with these Nations, so that we too may be sustainable stewards of this place for future generations." Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 7 Attachment B Issue Statement: State law currently requires that city elections be non -partisan, and whenever three or more candidates file for an office, a primary election is held on the first Tuesday in August. The top two candidates in the primary election go on to the November general election. Voter turnout in primary elections historically has been much lower than for general elections. Concerns over equitable geographic and demographic representation remains. Cities who adopted rank -choice voting saw increases in the number of candidates of color and other minorities running for office and increased likelihood of winning elections and representing sectors of the city whose issues have been ignored: • One alternative to our "top two" primary system is rank -choice voting, whereby instead of choosing just one candidate to support in a given race, voters rank the candidates running in the order of that voter's preference (e g. 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc). Using ranked -choice voting means that a separate primary is no longer necessary. • More than twenty U.S. jurisdictions have adopted some version of single -winner ranked -choice voting, including New York City (NY), Santa Fe (NM). Minneapolis (MN), Memphis (TN), Oakland (CA), Payson (UT), Takoma Park (MD), Benton County (OR), and the State of Maine. Many jurisdictions including Cambridge (MA), Eastpointe (MI), and New York City (NY) either currently or in the past used ranked -choice voting to elect their entire city council. • Potential benefits of rank -choice voting include less contentious political campaigns. Candidates are more likely to get a high ranking on voters' ballots by playing nice with other candidates. • When used in multi -member body, the result can lead to a more diverse city council. A single voting faction can no longer elect all councilmembers. Election of a member from rank -choice voting should lead to an increased voice by communities who have traditionally not had representation eg. Highway 99 Corridor. • Current Washington law does not permit rank -choice voting. Instead it mandates the top -two primary and the use of numbered positions when multiple elected officials represent the same geography. • There is a bill in the Legislature, which would allowed local jurisdictions to adopt rank -choice voting. The bill is permissive— it would allow but did not require local jurisdictions to adopt rank -choice voting. The bill is being lobbied by FairVote Washington, a statewide non -partisan organization. Although this bill did not pass in the last Legislative Session, it is expected to be taken up again in the next Legislative Session. Proposal: Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 8 The Diversity Commission requests that the City Council review and support SHB 1156 on its Legislative Agenda in the 2022 Legislative Session and consider a briefing from Lisa Ayrault, Director of FairVote Washington. Meeting Summary Diversity Commission October 6, 2021 Page 9