Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations - Regular Meeting

Alright. Hello, everybody. This is the community livability and public safety committee of the Olympia City Council. We have an evening ahead of us doing interviews of candidates for our advisory bodies. So few hours ahead of us of interviewing individual people for these positions both tonight and tomorrow night.

I am joined by my committee mate, Kelly Green, and Young Nguyen will be joining a little bit later this evening. In the first fifteen minutes here, we're just gonna be preparing for, the, first round of interviews with the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. And so in that vein, just so everyone is aware, at the start of each interview, I will go ahead and, introduce, the, the committee members and also the chair just to so that we can do that quickly. And then we'll go straight into the interview with folks. You know, they'll know that we have all of their information, in front of us.

And so, we have three questions from the committee. I'll ask the first one, and Kelly will ask the next two until Ian is on the call. And then, Tom, you are here for bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. So thanks so much for being here. At that point, you can ask the the question that is specific to the committee. And and there's one community there's one community member that's also interviewing for the planning commission, so I'll just jump in and ask the planning commission a specific question at that time. So, Tom, are you having some video issues? I noticed you looks like you were frozen for a bit.

Yep. I am. And let's see. I just installed Zoom on this new computer, and and the blur is messing up. So Oh. I'll see if I can get it fig figured out in next couple minutes.

Okay. Well, you know, see, we we've got the first interviews at actually, in ten minutes. So kind of a long fifteen minute period for for prepping. So so go ahead and take your time. And if ultimately it doesn't work, we can just share that with folks that you are here, just a disembodied voice.

Yep.

Kelly, did you have any questions?

No. Everything looks pretty well organized, which, speaking of that, I just wanna give some gratitude to Don. The the all of the communication about this, which is a very big and hefty process, have been so well organized and so clear. And even the the packets, like, I I could not feel more ready to go. So thank you, Dawn.

I will I do my best to mitigate. Yes. Yes. Of things going sideways one way or another, but that's just what it is. So you are welcome. And,

Tom, I see that you're there. Oh, you're moving now?

There we go. Okay. Climbing. Looks like I just need to use the the other camera. There we go.

Okay. But before you blurred, I saw that you were at the climbing gym, or is that just a a background that you use?

No. I have a climbing wall in my garage. So

Oh, well, that's super cool. Nice. Yep. Excellent. Well, we we can we do have ten minutes before our first interviewee is here with us. So if he pops on early, we can get started early with him. He's the one that has the additional question for the planning commission. Tom, do you have any questions?

Nope. I assume so I did this I was part of this process last year, and I assume it's gonna go fairly similar similarly. And, yep, it seems pretty straightforward.

Okay. Great. And we've got just two people to interview in this round. But yeah. Because one person couldn't make this time, So we have an additional person coming on at 08:30PM. I don't know if you wanna pop back on for that or just let us handle it. I

might be able to pop back on. Let me think for a minute.

You can think all night about it. And if we see you at 08:30, we'll know what your decision

is. Yeah.

There's a good chance, actually, I probably don't. I'm sorry. I'm just yeah. My kids got a thing, and I'm trying yeah. There's a good chance I'm not gonna be back at that time. So

Yeah. Well, you can you know, if if we see you, we see you. If not, then, you know, we can you know, we we we can handle it. But we can reserve with the two with the two folks that we have to interview now. There's actually kind of a gap between BPAC and the utility advisory commission committee.

Actually, I never know when's committee or commission. But but so we can have a little bit of time to discuss on your reflections on it. Yep. But as a committee, we probably won't dig in deeper into who it may be until later on in the evening till we can interview the final person. And because one person is interviewing for both BPAC and planning commission, we wanna go through the planning commission interviews. So

Yep.

And I see that we have we also have somebody who's interviewing for BPAC, but all but is also interviewing for utility advisory committee. So and it looks like they are first, actually, on that list. So I don't know if you wanted to hang around for that. There's, like, there's, like, a twenty five minute gap, and then Yep. That so so if you wanted to drop off, that's fine. But if you wanted to hang on and be able to do that interview too, you're you're welcome to.

Yeah. What time are they scheduled to start?

What's

They're scheduled for 05:20.

05:20?

Yeah. I might

be able to

do that.

Okay. Great. Yeah.

So Just a second here. I'll be right back.

Yep. Totally.

So camera angle is bugging me. There we

go. No worries. Yeah. So if you wanted to hang on for that other one, we'll probably take a little bit of a recess because there's the way that the scheduling happens here is, like, Don creates all the slots, and then there was one person who, like, didn't respond, and then another person who couldn't be there at that time. So now it's at the end. So there's, like, kind of a gap between the two. So we'll probably recess for a bit and come back together at around at 05:05 so that we can check-in with the committee care for utilities and talk through the process with her. I'll be having the same conversation all night. Be here all night. So but Kelly and Ian will be joining us later.

So so we'll probably recess for a bit, come back at 05:05, be talking with the chair of UAC, and then that first interview is at 05:20. And then that way, you can also have a perspective on that person as well and be able to ask the question from Deepak.

Yep. Sounds good.

Perfect. Well, I hope whatever family thing you have this evening is is a super fun thing. What are you doing?

Oh, my my kid's going to play at D and D over in Lacey. So

Oh, you're just the ride?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. I understood. That's great.

He's not quite able to make that, six mile, ride on his own yet. But

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, so biking?

Yeah. Well, no. I mean, no. He's we're driving. He's like, school night, it's, he he's exhausted as it is on Thursdays.

But

Got it. So so kiddo old enough to drive, but maybe not that far at that time. No.

He's 13. So it's it's I drive him. Yeah. Yeah. So I was saying, like

I see.

Yeah. In the summer, my my goal is to be able to sort of send him off and say, go.

I see. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm picking up what you're putting Your child would be biking if it weren't, you know, winter and in the evening and on a school night.

Yep. Yep. Yeah.

Okay. And we still have another five minutes before the first interviewee is Justin Stang.

Justin available to be moved over for Australian land if you're

Oh, great. He said he's just there listening to us. Okay? Yeah. Actually, if let's go ahead and move him over, and then we can see if he's he he should be ready. You're ready. Right, Justin?

We'll find out. Oops. Hold on. Let me do it again. Let me get another he had declined the first one, so let me just do one more.

No. Don't decline, Justin. Come join us.

There he is coming in.

Hey, Justin.

Hi.

Hey. Are you are you available to start a couple minutes early?

No. I am. I saw the instructions were to make sure I was on to get through any technical glitches, but, yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thanks for joining. Thanks for applying to serve on advisory bodies for the city, we're and considering you for both the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee and the planning commission. And so I'm joined by committee member Kelly Green and also Tom Dillon, who is the chair of BPAC. And we have some questions for you. It's a quick interview. We might have a couple extra minutes for you because we do have an extra question for the planning commission.

But our next person is scheduled at four. Sorry. Actually, we have a little bit of extra time because they are scheduled at 04:35. So we don't necessarily need to rush. We have some funny scheduling stuff in terms of, like, when somebody can't make it and needs to cancel or whatever. So but let's go ahead and get started. So, I'll ask the first question. Justin, what interests and excites you about joining the advisory body bodies that you have applied for?

Yeah. Thanks a lot. I appreciate that question. I think, you know, obviously, last year, I ran for city council, and, really, I found the the process, although not victorious, really transformative in the ability to make a difference in my community. And so I wanted to make sure that even though I didn't win the election, I thought that there are valuable ways that I can contribute, and it really excites me to be able to participate in a meaningful way.

I think that I'm now the Northwest Neighborhood Association's representative to the CNA, and we hosted that community priorities forum. And so I think getting feedback there you know, what really excites me about BPAC in particular is that people identified sidewalks and pedestrian safety as, like, one of their top concerns. So not only do I get to help in a meaningful way, but I get to help in a way that the community has identified as one of their most important focus areas. And I I think that's that's really exciting to make a difference that people will actually see and appreciate because they're asking for it, I think, a really a really cool opportunity. Obviously, from the planning commission side, I think that there is so much that goes into the work that you all do as city staff and as council members that is really impactful.

And and I think that that that commission has, you know, the input and the expertise to really advise in a way that shapes the future of our city. And I I think all of that's really, really exciting work.

Great. Thank you so much.

Yeah.

I'm gonna pass it over

to Kelly for the next two questions. Just gonna ask them all in once in one long run on sentence. No. I'm just kidding.

I just gave you a look. I know you did. But

so, Justin, how do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to this advisory body or to these advisory bodies, let's say?

Yeah. I I mean, I think everybody has their sort of unique perspective, their lived experience, and I'm a longtime Olympian. I think, like, from the pedestrian side, from the BPAC side, right, like, aside from Paul Barron, I walked every nook and cranny, every single block. I'm very familiar with what it's like to be a pedestrian in every precinct of every neighborhood, and I think that's really valuable. I I have such a different appreciation having walked the entire city than I did driving around it.

You know, as I kind of had noted, I also have a brother-in-law that is he's wheelchair dependent, and he has some severe mobility issues. And so our family for the last eight years has really been understanding what the Americans with Disabilities Act actually means in practice. There are laws, and there are are and there are ways that people put that policy into action. But for the people that are out there every day interacting with that policy, it doesn't necessarily always line up. And and I think that that's that's given me a really a really interesting perspective on on on what it means to be trying to get around in areas where it's a little bit difficult or, where areas that people think are fine.

So we've got two things going on. Right? Like, the really challenging areas that we all can identify easily, and then the areas we think are pretty good that once you get into the the details, you realize they're not as good as as we thought they were. And part of that just comes from the understanding of the of the perspective of people that have different challenges. And so I I definitely think that, you know, I I have a you know, like I was saying before, you know, part of walking around in, every neighborhood is I also knocked on 5,000 doors,

and I

talked to a significant amount of people last year. And so I I also think that my perspectives gives me, the unique ability to to be able to not only have gotten out there and talk to folks, but but try to be sort of a a representative voice in the advisory space as opposed to in the council space.

Thank you. Yeah.

And, Justin, how might you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success?

Yeah. That's a good question too. I I'm a life lifelong learner. I come at everything with a sense of, like, real true curiosity. I think that there's always an opportunity for growth and improvement.

And so I I'd like to start just by listening and learning. You know, there's a a wealth of information in recorded meetings for the past five years that I could go back and start watching and and really getting a sense. And so I think really learning learning the the space that the advisory committees are in is is step one. And two, building relationships, getting to know the other advisory, members and and really learning about them and and where they are in their lives and what makes them tick, and I think is really helpful for any collaborative effort. You wanna get to know these folks that you're working with and understand what where they're coming from and and vice versa.

And, you know, I think listening, learning, you know, build build those relationships. And then, of course, I contribute wherever I can. You know, there's there's work to do and sleeves to roll up and and things to get after, and I'm excited to help in any way that I can. And I think that long as I stay true to those things, listen, learn, build relationships, do the work that you can whenever you can, good outcomes follow.

Thanks. Great. Thank you. Next question will come from Tom.

Alright. Hello. So my question, the question from the BPAC is how can Olympia develop and leverage its walking, biking, and rolling infrastructure become more of a people centered city?

Yeah. I was thinking a little bit about this after the, community priorities. And then even last night at the city council meeting when Daniel Garcia sort of presented on that community priorities. And I I think, like, when I was walking around and or when I go running in my own neighborhood, I think we've got really great stretches of safe, accessible areas where you can walk, bike, and roll. And then we've got these big stretches that could use some focus and attention. And I think, like, can you know, leveraging that that ability to connect those networks and expand them, I think, is is really, you know, something that I I would wanna look at first or or foremost. But I also think, like, the community priorities forum showed us that we have a

really

engaged community that it's, like, super passionate about some of these things. And I think, like, leveraging that enthusiasm and engagement from the from the public I mean, I love the sidewalk survey that's out now, and I think that, like, they know where the worst areas are. Like, all we've gotta do is ask them. Shoot. We could have a contest. Like, hey. Show us your top 10. And, like, then we we we very quickly have a priority. Like, hey. This intersection has been identified by multiple people as the the sort of tough spot. Like, let's let's look at what we can do about it. And, you know, I think listening to the community and leaning into their passion and engagement around the issue is, you know, I think the best way we can make it people centered.

You know? Right. And I'll take, the last question here. This is, focused on the planning commission. So how do you think that the Olympia Planning Commission supports this community, and what do you think it makes what do you think makes for a successful city?

Yeah. That that's a biggie. Like, what makes for a successful city? I think, like, last night at city council, there was a great example of this. Like, the synergy between what the city staff does, what the advisory folks are doing, what the council is doing, it it all works together in this, like, synergistic way.

There's give and take. There's this collaboration. There's this working together. And I think, like, when you have everybody kind of rowing the boat the same direction, that that's what leads to a successful city. And so I think, you know, from a planning commission standpoint, it's it's being that that first sort of hoop where you can vet projects and really engage with the public in a meaningful way so that by the time it gets to the council level, you've done a lot of, like, work with the staff and the advisory committee to to really sort of look at what the viability of certain projects is, what the desired outcome from the general public is.

And I think it just allows the city staff and the and the council to make a more informed decision because a lot of that work has has taken place up front. So I think, you know, it's it's all putting those dominoes in the right spot before you can knock them down. Or in this case, I think we wanna put the blocks in the right spot to build it up. But I think you you get the the analogy that I'm making there, which is, like, if we're all if we're all working together and have that shared common goal, then, you know, between between the different entities, you can really have a a successful model.

Great. Thank you so much, Justin. Yeah. That is all the questions that we have for you. So just looking forward looking to next steps. So sometime next week, you'll get an email from Dawn that you've been in touch with around this process already. And she'll let you know one way or another, you know, what it is that the committee is recommending. And then the the recommendations for all of our appointments for advisory bodies is gonna go to the council March 31, and the the council will make the final decision on it. So do you have any questions?

No. It seems super straightforward. I'm just exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to to to be considered, and, hopefully, I can help in in in a meaningful way.

Great. Well, thanks so much for joining us, Justin.

Yeah. No problem. I hope you all have a great day. Thanks for the time.

Yeah. Have a great night.

Okay. Yeah. You too. Bye.

And then okay. And so now, Tom, I was mentioning we have a a few awkward gaps just because of the nature of trying to schedule many short little interviews with lots of people. So our next person is on at 05:35. So, Dawn, have you been able to pull together a quick committee is in recess slide to be able to put on the screen?

I have. So so she'll be joining you said 05:35. She will be joining at 04:35.

That's what I meant. Yeah. No. No. We're not sitting here for an hour.

About But there's a real recess. Yes. I do have a little I do have a little slide that I can I have popped I can pop up?

Yeah. If you wanna pop that up and share it, that way we can, you know, do what we need to do in the in the background and come back, just before 04:35 and do the next interview. Alright. Great. Thanks so much, Don.

Hey. Look at us. We're all back. Kelly, thanks for being the first to turn your camera on. I'm just sitting here Yeah. Doing another thing.

I don't wanna be the first one. That's all I know.

And I see that we have, I I believe her name's Yelena, who is, in the waiting room. So we can go ahead and bring her in, and I will ask her to pronounce her make sure I'm pronouncing her name correctly when she comes over.

Elena, I believe you have received a notification to accept a panelist promotion. Please click on that link.

I wonder if she took a little break until the exact moment.

She had declined for a second, but I'm I'm sending another link.

Okay.

She's coming in now.

Yeah. Hi there. Hi, Elena. Hello?

Hello.

Yelena, could you tell me, for one, am I saying your first name right? And two, how, the pronunciation of your last name?

Yakashiva.

Excellent. Great. Thank you so much. And it's Yelena. That's how your first name is pronounced?

Elena.

Say that again?

Elena.

Elena. Okay. Why silent?

Not there.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. Well, welcome, and thank you so much for applying to be on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. So my name is Danny Madrone, and I chair the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee. I'm joined by Kelly Green, who's one of our committee members, and also Tom Dillon, who chairs BPEC. And so we've got a quick interview for you. We've seen all of your materials in advance. So I'm gonna go ahead and just just kick us off. What interests and excites you about joining the advisory body that you've applied for?

Well okay. So I moved to Olympia about a year and a half ago, and I before I had been more, in when in California, I was a bit more involved in my community, and I really wanna get involved. And somebody posted on the bike, Bike Thurston that this position was available, and I kinda was like, oh, okay. I could I have the bandwidth to apply for this. I can somewhat represent Bike Thurston and also just be more involved in my community. And I just I moved here because I absolutely love this town, and I just wanna be part of it in any way that I would be useful.

Great. Thank you so much. I'm gonna pass it over to Kelly for our next couple of questions. Okay.

Alright. Hi, Elena. Thanks thanks for coming. So how would you describe, the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to BPAC?

Okay. So start off, I am a perennial bicyclist and bus door and bus rider and pedestrian. So, like, I really love the bus systems. I grew up riding a bus, and I want to keep doing that. And I walk everywhere as much as I can.

And then, in college, I minored in city planning, and I majored in landscape architecture. And so I have a bit of, like, an educational background in this. And now I'm a substitute teacher, and I try to get around town to all the different schools. And it's really interesting to me how some of the schools are really easy to get to, and some of the schools, it feels impossible to get to. So I really want to bring that perspective of, like, if it's hard for me to get to the school as a substitute teacher, what about the students of middle schoolers and high schoolers who wanna go hang out after school?

Maybe they wanna go see a movie or they wanna go to the library or they wanna go to the mall. Like, how do they have access to those things? And so, like, a a little bit of environmental studies, a little bit of environmental design, and then also, like, the users, are we serving? Especially the kids are gonna grow up using the system. The bus just went past my house. Are they are they able to use the system? Do they know how to use the system? Sorry. And I'm talking about buses, but I'm talking about, like, sidewalks. Like, do they have like, some some of them are served by buses, but they don't have sidewalks to the bus stop.

And do they is like, so teenagers loiter. Like, hanging they hang out. They call it hanging out. We call it loitering. Like, are there places around town where the kids can access, but they're intended for loiter? Just making sure that all the different users and places are connected. And I feel like when a town serves its youth well, it serves everybody well because then, like, if if the new users are able to navigate around, then everyone can do it. And so that's my perspective.

Oh, thank you. And next question, how might you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success?

So I feel like I'm so starting of just using the different modes of transportation within the town as much as possible, but also, like, I've started kind of listening to what other people have to say. Like, I find the bus system really easy to use, but a lot of people don't. And so I'm talking to the different people at different schools of asking them about how they feel like they're being served just out of curiosity, but I am also, like, I wanna go to more city meetings. Like, I haven't actually gone in person to any council meetings, and I wanna get to know the council members a little bit more just going to council meetings and, like, seeing how they behave and what what are what the issues are. And, like, I know that there was a recent, like, city plan oh, I'm sorry.

I'm blanking on the word.

Comprehensive plan?

Yeah. The comprehensive plan. Like, I know there was a really big thing, and it was, like, it was wrapping up as I moved here, but, like, I kinda missed out on that and, like, just making sure I don't miss out on those kinds of things and involve myself more that way and just listening because I know the other members have a lot of perspective. And so I wanna whenever I'm new to something, it's important to listen to the people who know what's going on.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. And Tom is gonna take the final question here.

Elena, so the question from the BPAC is, how can Olympia develop and leverage its walking, biking, and rolling infrastructure to become a more more of a people centered city?

I love the people centered city part of this because I've I've I'm really interested in the people centered movement around urban planning. One thing for walking, there's lots of great bus stops that don't have great pedestrian access, like Thurgood Marshall. Their city bus stop doesn't have a sidewalk to it from the middle school. And so you're walking on the road on this really steep hill. So things like that where there there's already some access, but there's just, these missing links between existing infrastructure and what the users need.

Same thing with bicycle infrastructure. Like, there's some really great bike routes, and then there's, like, these little pieces that are missing to so that it becomes hard to navigate just because, like, the people who are using it a lot know how to connect it, but then it doesn't act like, the when I'm new here and I don't see how it connects, so, like, making sure that there's either wayfinding or when we, like, repainting the sidewalk I mean, not the sidewalk, the road to connect these things. And then rowing rowing infrastructure, I'm I'm assuming that refers to wheelchair users and

Mobility devices.

Mobility devices. So yeah. And I I learned so much about wheelchair access and mobility devices of biking around because if a bike can't get over it, how is a wheelchair supposed to get over it? And so there's some places where it's like, there's continuous access, and in some places, there are these little gaps in access. And so biking around town, you really get to feel for where the wheelchair users and mobility device users will have trouble getting through.

And I've seen people who've had to get stuck who got stuck, like, on the road not being able to access the sidewalk because there wasn't a curb cut somewhere. So if you're, like, doing a survey or asking people for input, and I'm sure there have been efforts like that already, but to keep our ears open, I think it would really help to have some kind of, like, reporting app. I don't know if how these things are done, but my last city had an app where you could just take a picture and send it, and it the app would make sure the email went to the right person of if there was some kind of hazard in the road. So alright. I think I answered the question.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I think you did. Excellent. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. I know it's kind of like a quick and dirty interview, but we'll we'll be doing this all night with all of our advisory body kid fits. So yeah. Just so you know for next steps is that Dawn, who you've been engaged with in terms of, you know, getting this set up and all of that, You'll hear from her by next week, notified one way or the other what the committee will decide as a recommendation. And for all the advisory bodies, all the recommendations from the committee will go to the full city council on March 31 for approval. So you'll hear from Don by next week. Alright. Thank you. Yeah. Great. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Okay. Great. So so here's where we have another long pause. And, Tom, you mentioned that you might wanna hang around for the oh, it's this. Don, I'm noticing something here where Audrey Perry is listed as the person who is also interviewing for UAC. But then when I look at UAC, it's listed as Maddie Haynes. So who is the person who is the I I'm gonna assume it's Audrey, but it's maybe listed in the wrong Audrey.

I apologize. That is a that

is a the it's Audrey. Okay. No worries.

That'd be a cut and paste thing. That's all it is. Yeah.

Yeah. No worries. So so, Tom, if you do want to hang around off screen until 05:20 to participate in that one as well, you're welcome to. And if you want if you're like, that's a long time to sit around and wait in my garage, you know, you can also drop off.

Can I can I pop off and get back in? Or

Yeah. Yeah. I think

you should be able to. Yeah.

Just use the same link. You'll be coming in you'd come in as a panelist, so let's forward.

Okay. Cool.

I'll see

if I can maybe troubleshoot my camera.

Well

Yeah. Well and, yeah, yeah, and if something happens and you're not able to make it back, I'll make sure that the question gets answered. But also because we have, like, one person who's interviewing during another time and then somebody else who's at the end of the day, We don't really have the chance to, like, hear your thoughts on everybody. So Yeah. I wonder if you wanna email us your thoughts as the case. Send them over to Don, you know, or whatever way is best for you. That way, can consider your thoughts on the candidates. Yeah.

So yeah. So I think I

should be able to make

it to the 05:20, and I think I can make it to the 08:30 as well. And then if I'm not around so you're gonna be interviewing after 08:30. Right? You've got a really long, really long

No. That's our last one of the day.

Okay. Yeah. So do you want me oh, we can talk about it after 08:30 too. And but if not, I'll plan on just emailing it to Don.

And Yeah. If you're able to make it to the 08:31, then we can debrief all of them with you after that. And if you're not able to, then, you know, I guess you'll miss that one, but you could at least send us your thoughts on the the the first three that you get to chat with.

Yep. I think I can probably pop on for

for a friend. For some reason, VPAC is, like, the most awkwardly scheduled ones. No.

It's it's fine. I've been on many, many interview panels, and and scheduling them is always it's it's a tough job. So

Yeah. Don's been saying it's it's not a perfect system, but it's the system we have. So

Hey. If it works, it works.

Okay. Great. So let's go ahead, Don, and get that, you know, that that slide back up, and we can plan to reconvene right before, 05:05, which is when Melissa Cover, who's the chair of utility advisory commission, will be joining us. Tom, you don't need to be back on until right before 05:20 because we're gonna have fifteen minutes to chat with Melissa about things.

Okay. Cool. Yeah. I will, yeah. I'll plan on popping back, like, 05:15 or so. And

Perfect. Yeah. Thank you so much for being flexible.

No problem.

Question, Danny? Yeah. So my schedule shows Melissa coming on at 04:55.

Oh, I worked with Don to have her bump because then there was a ten minute gap between our planning time with her and then Audrey coming on. So I asked if we could just have Melissa come at 05:05.

Beautiful. Just wanted to make sure I was there. Okay. I'll see you

at 05:05. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Welcome back, Kelly.

And to you. Hi, Melissa. We haven't had a chance to meet yet. I'm Danny. I'm the chair of the ECLIPSE committee. Hi, Dani. I'm Kelly.

Hi, Kelly.

Guys are being community livability and public safety, in case that wasn't the obvious acronym.

Thanks. Yeah. This will be my first time outside of being an applicant sitting in on an interview.

So Okay. Cool. And we've got just two to get through for UAC. But and they they'll be pretty quick, but there's also a little bit of flex time here because after these two, we have, like, an extra ten minutes. And so if they go a little bit over the ten minute mark, we'll be fine. Okay. Cool. Yeah. And so you know? But but because they are relatively click, I'll just go ahead and introduce everybody instead of going around the Zoom room when folks come on.

And then Kelly and I have three questions that we're going to ask, and then you have yours from UAC. Mhmm. And for the first interview, that person is also interested in the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. So Tom Dillon, the chair of that committee, is gonna come on and ask another question of that person. Okay. But only for the first person there. So Okay. Cool. Yeah. And afterwards let's see. Is there anybody yeah. No. It it's just these two candidates for UAC. So so afterwards, we can also take a little bit of time to debrief with you to just kinda get your sense of if you have a preferred candidate or if you just wanna share any reflections. So so there'll be that opportunity as well.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Great. And we have a whole fifteen minutes to prep, but I'm not sure that full fifteen minutes is needed. Yeah. Do you, is do you have any questions?

Not right now. I'm Okay. I wanna take this time to, I had sent something to Gary because I know we had gotten some applicants. I for some reason, I was assuming we had three three or four interviews. So

There was one person that didn't respond. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, somebody didn't respond. So got an email. A reminder was sent. They never responded. So it's always a bummer when that happens. But yeah. So yeah. It happens, though. Yeah. K. Well, how how are things on the utility advisory committee?

They're great. They're great. We're working on the work the work plan, what we wanna do this upcoming year. And and we also, I think everybody got there was a presentation about maybe changing how the committees work with the city, so that's that's interesting. So dynamic.

Just got that presentation, what, two weeks ago or so? It was last week. Last week. Time is immaterial to me some days.

Yeah. On the clips committee, we talked about when we do the meeting with the chairs of all the advisory bodies, like, bring that like, that is what we're gonna talk about with you all. So

Cool.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Everything's going great. We have our meeting tomorrow, so thank you for fitting us in today.

Oh, perfect. Okay. Good. Good. And is Gary your staff liaison? Yeah.

Okay. Right now. Mhmm.

Yeah. He's great

to work with. Yeah. It's wastewater Gary. I know him. He's a good dude.

Yeah. Wastewater Gary. Yeah. Good guy. Well, that's not that. Like, when I He used to be solid waste Gary. That was wastewater Gary. On solid waste.

He was, like, my staff point of contact. He was awesome. And then he changed roles, and maybe it's not wastewater. Maybe it's it's something water.

It well, now now he's my staff contact for a lot. So yeah. Yes. Yeah. He's he's he's been with the city for a long time and has come to the council many times talking about solid waste stuff, but is in his new role there. How long

have you guys been working here?

What is My I've started on council in 2020. Wow. Yeah. So which seems like a long time ago now.

Right? I've I just passed my one year mark.

So

Awesome. How do you like it?

Most days, I like it a lot.

Okay. Exactly. Well, that's great.

That's a good answer.

Yeah. No. I'm learning like, it's such a cool opportunity to learn and get involved with Citi stuff, and and the other council members have been, you know, incredibly helpful and supportive. So it's been a really good good journey so far.

That's wonderful. It's it makes such a difference. Right? Like, that support and the culture and stuff. Like, it's huge. That's great. Sorry. My dog's barking at my cat.

Yes. The the whole Zoom call. I think I saw your cat walking by earlier at one point too.

I know. I blurted. I'm trying to hide them away.

Well You know, they just

wanna be where you are.

Yes. We we we do not, shun the the the furry ones around here. So if they pop on the screen, then we're just like, oh, there's a cat. My my cat has this tendency to when I'm in a Zoom call, is kinda like a toddler, and then it's like, oh, mommy, I need your attention now. And she's, like, suddenly, like, right here. So she was here for the last interview, but she she's taken off since then. I moved around, disturbed her. But what's exciting about the the UAC work plan? Is there anything any particular topic that you're like, oh, I can't wait to dig into that?

You know, it's for me, it's always fun to look at the capital facilities projects and the plans that they have for that and the financing around it. There's a lot of stuff. Retrofits are always something that I'm interested in. So and because aren't we still doing the updating comprehensive plans?

That was done at the end of last year.

It was. Right? Okay. Yeah. Okay. So that one's done. But those are that the different chapters are really fun

to Yeah. And the utilities chapter was, like, really good. The staff work on that one in particular, like, the community engagement components of it and just the how they did they went through the update. Was just like, oh, man. Utilities were active.

The staff, phenomenal.

Yeah. Was Susan Clark the lead on that? I you know what?

I'm not sure. I can't think off the top of my head, but I think so.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember that one being particularly well done.

Yeah. I just love working with the city. Everybody is so nice and knowledgeable and just helpful. So great.

What do you do, Melissa?

I work I work for the division of child support, so I work with 11 of the tribal nations in the state.

Okay.

So that's so that's what I do. It's a lot of

Is that over at DSHS? Mhmm. Oh, yeah. Very cool. Very cool.

Yeah. Everybody's every every tribal nation is different. Right? So, like, the agreements that we have are different. So that's I really appreciate, like, being able to to work with each one individually with their the that community's needs, you know, and be able to tailor what we do for them. It's fantastic.

That's very cool. Yeah. I used to work for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. So Okay. Not all the tribes across the states, but the ones in the Puget Sound and coastal regions. Yeah. It's really fascinating to work with all these different sovereign nations and their different ways of doing things, their different priorities, very different communities.

Yeah. It's wonderful. I have my I have my question up perfect off the side of the screen so I won't forget it. Perfect. Nice.

Oh, man. I think Don will also drop it in the chat. So if you suddenly minimize a window and you're like, oh my god. Don will also have it up in the chat. Yeah.

Wonderful.

And I think I said this before, but we'll, me and Kelly will have three questions, and then we'll go to you for yours. And just for the first interviewee, the B PAC chair will ask a question as well. So Wonderful.

Yeah.

Wonderful. And how long have you been on UAC? Two years. Okay. Very cool. Awesome.

Time flies is what I'm figuring. I mean, I figured that out already, but, like, time man. Feels like yesterday, I was on the other side of these interviews. Okay. All nervous at 9PM. You know? Still all doll dolled up from the waist up waiting for my interview.

I got pajama pants on. And we did switch it this year. So we we started at four so that people not needing to interview past nine. I think our last one this evening's at 08:30.

It's a lot of interviews.

A lot

of Yes.

Hey, Stacy.

I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm just gonna pop on to say there's some similarity between one of your questions and the question that Melissa's prepared to ask.

Oh, okay.

So I don't know if we wanna maybe prioritize Oh, yeah.

It's the same as the first one there.

Yeah. So I'm wondering if maybe you wanna emphasize something different in your question, and then Melissa can follow-up with maybe the piece about being curious or if there just might be a slightly different take on it.

Yeah. Let me take a look at this real quick. I mean, I think we could also scrap that one at the very start, and then I'll just ask the second question. Kelly, you asked the third. And then and and then Melissa, you'll ask yours, and then Tom will ask because thank you for catching that. That's a little awkward when we ask the same question twice.

Yeah. So that gives a little opportunity for a little bit more conversation around the other one. So okay. Yeah. Alright.

Yeah. I I think the one thing is that we might not hear the same answer for BPAC, but I think Tom has a has a question specific to the that committee that, will, get what we need from them.

Yeah. Okay. Good Friday.

Thank you.

Okay. We've got about five minutes before that interview starts or until the the start time. So and if I see the person jump on early, we can we can pull them in here early, but we'll have to wait for Tom too.

Alright. I'm gonna take two seconds. Grab my water.

I see it. I'll be right back. Yeah. You go right ahead. Hi, Tom. Welcome back.

Hello. Long time.

I know. Right? We'll get to check-in with you throughout the evening, it sounds like. Yep. Great. And we have Melissa from UAC who's just grabbing some water real quick, and we're just waiting for our interviewee to pop on. And we'll do it the same as last time. We're gonna skip, one of our questions from the the council side because it's it's similar to the one Melissa has, but we'll go me, Kelly, Melissa, and then you for that final question.

K. Sounds good to me.

Great.

The applicant is, ready to come over or as an attendee.

Great. Awesome. Let's go ahead and, move her over to our side of the aisle here, and, we can get started. Hello, Audrey. Hello. Hi. Oh, I know you. I just saw your face, and I was like, oh, yes. What are prepping for? Oh, well, thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. We're interviewing you for both the utility advisory committee and the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. You expressed an interest in both. And so you know me.

I'm Danny, and I chair the community livability and public safety committee. I'll and Kelly Green is one of our committee members. And we're also enjoined by the chair of the utility advisory committee, Melissa Cover, and the chair of BPAC, Tom. So you got the whole a whole slate here to chat with. Great. That being said, it's a pretty quick interview because we're we're interviewing for many of our advisory bodies this evening. So so we'll just get right to it. So I'll start. How do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to utility advisory committee or and or BPAC?

Okay. So I as far as the utility advisory committee is concerned, I think that utilities are foundational to public health, environmental protection, and economic stability. And I'm interested in how, you know, this how do cities balance the cost of paying for new infrastructure with rate rate payer affordability and climate resilience and regulatory compliance. My master's of environmental studies background in infrastructure and energy systems kinda gives me an appreciation for long term capital planning and life cycle analysis, particularly upstream and downstream costs of things such as, like, you know, like in the case of solar panels, for instance, you know, mining for raw materials and disposing of e waste. As far as BPAC is concerned, my master's thesis is actually in bicycle parking infrastructure, and I've been looking at, you know, how how do we go from, you know, assessing community needs to actually implementing and changing community built infrastructure.

And trying to map all of that out is a huge part of my my thesis and trying to collect that data and assess its or view it all spatially and assist different city and county agencies with putting all of that together and communicating it to different audiences.

Great. Thank you so much. Now next, we'll move on to Kelly Green.

Hi, Audrey. Thanks for being

here. Absolutely.

How might you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success? I

would do a lot of listening and learning. I wanna understand, you know, how how each body is approaching, you know, things like rate structures or, you know, interfacing with the public and with different city agencies. I mainly just want to take it in for those first six months. I would like to review capital improvement plans. I want to understand the norms, whichever committee it is that I'm on.

I wanna build those relationships up, meeting with city staff where appropriate and, you know, time permitting, understanding the regulatory constraints that are particular to each body, and understanding historical trends and, you know, how how each body has, traditionally undergone. I'm probably gonna be looking for those areas where, like, improvements could be made potentially. But, you know, until I you know, like, with I've been a teacher for twenty years, and, you know, it's it's hard to help students grow until you really can assess where they're at and how you can best meet their needs. And so that's kind of the philosophy that I would approach to being on whichever advisory board I'm on is just sort of, like, take it in and assess the situation. And then as I have a better understanding of, you know, what the organization's needs are and how I can move them forward or where I could potentially improve or or look for, you know, positive change, that's kind of where my mind is gonna be in those first six months.

Thank you. Great. Thank you. Go ahead, Melissa.

Can you tell us something you're curious about or excited for serving on the utility advisory committee?

Yeah. I'm really interested in how the city interfaces with private utilities and what it looks like when new policies are legislated. Most of my utility work for for environmental studies has been in energy. And I know, you know, we have p g and e or p g and e. Sorry.

I'm from California. PSE is our local private utility, and I've been looking and studying at how, you know, different legislative policies have influenced the uptake of, you know, solar projects and renewable energy projects and how to move utilities toward, you know, advancing their renewable portfolio standards and things like that. But I know that, like, that's we have a a private utility here for electricity, and the public utilities are gonna be things like wastewater and, you know, solid waste and, you know, all all the other things that I pay for besides electricity and natural gas. And but, you know, obviously, you know, PSE is using a lot of public infrastructure. So I'm just curious what that looks like and how we interact with those public or private utilities.

And how quickly does it move when new policies are adopted? What is that what's the timeline on actually getting those things implemented? So that's that's where my curiosity lies.

Thank you, Adri. Now I'll pass it over to Tom.

Alright. How can Olympia develop and leverage its walking, biking, and rolling infrastructure to become more of a people centered city?

I think taking in a lot of feedback from the public is a a great first step. That's what I'm trying to accomplish with my master's project. I've got a survey out right now that is collecting data on where folks would like to see new and improved infrastructure around Thurston County, not just Olympia. It's mainly Olympia respondents who are getting back to me right now. So what I'm trying to do is to talk with folks in Lacey and Tumwater and unincorporated Thurston County, Rainier, Tenaino.

I've got all these email addresses and all of these different email threads that I'm tracking, trying to really push this survey to get it in the hands of folks who would be able to provide feedback on some of those areas where I'm just not getting as much coverage. So, you know, for the city of Olympia, I would take a similar approach. Like, what what parts of Olympia are responding the most? Why are we not getting more engagement from certain areas, and how can we get into those areas and and get that engagement? Is it a question of we don't have any needs here and we're happy with the way things are?

If so, tell us that. Or is it a case of we're just not hearing from folks because of a lack of access? And so that's, you know, how I would I would try to leverage those relationships and connection points where I can to just sort of collect that information and and make it a two way conversation as well as as well as hearing from them.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

And we had skipped our first question because it was similar to Melissa's, but I'll just since we have a couple extra minutes, I'll just ask, you know, the a similar question for BPAC in terms of what interests and excites you about it so you have the chance to answer that one as well. So specific for BPAC this time.

What interests and excites me about BPAC? Yeah. Well, I really enjoyed getting to know some of the folks at the city of Olympia in their transportation and, you know, like Michelle, for instance, I had a I had a nice Zoom meeting with Michelle Swanson a few weeks back. I I really like her personality. She's a fun person, and she's been incredibly helpful with my project, just offering connecting me with other people who are able to provide me with some spatial data to put into my GIS map that I'm creating.

And so I'm I'm just excited to make more of those connections because I'm really liking all of the folks that are situated in the city of Olympia that I've been able to get to know so far. So building on that is what I I'm really excited about doing.

Excellent. We also really like Michelle. So well, thank you so much, Audrey. I'm gonna talk through the next steps here, except I put them out right there. Okay.

And so, we'll we will make a decision in the next week in terms of what recommendations, the community livability and public safety committee will make to the full council. And so you'll hear from Don who you've been coordinating with for for this by sometime next week, and you'll be notified one way or the other. And then if if you are recommended, the final decision goes before council, March 31. And so not anything you need to attend, but just so you know the timeline for that. Do you have any questions?

I don't think so.

Okay. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for your time. Take care.

Alright. Take it easy. Bye bye. Alright. Well, Tom, thank you so much for being here for this one, and you could drop off, and we will maybe see you at 08:30 for the final BTEC.

Yeah. I'll disappear, and I'll plan on seeing you again, yeah, at 08:25, 08:30.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. Okay.

Alright. Find leave button. Alright.

Alright. And I don't see that our next person is on yet. So but they do have a couple minutes. It's always funny when you see somebody pop up on the screen. I'm like, oh, yeah. I met you at a Christmas party recently.

And Maddie is now in the attendee room. So if you would like to start a couple seconds early, we've we could we can do that.

Okay. Excellent. And we'll do the same thing of skipping that first question, and I won't need to circle back too because she's just interviewing for UAC. So, yeah, let's go ahead and promote her over to the panelist side, and we can get started. Hello, Maddie.

Hey. How are you doing?

Good. How are you doing?

Good. Sorry. I didn't mean to jump in early. I was trying to figure out how to get into the waiting room and didn't wanna lie through.

Oh, no. No. We we we asked you to come early. We just finished up with our previous interview. So that that was us inviting you over. Okay. Yeah. So my name is Danny. I chair the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee, and I'm joined by my committee mate, Kelly Green. And we also have the chair of the utility advisory committee, Melissa Covert, with us. And we just have a quick ten minutes for an interview, and so we've got three questions we're gonna ask you. And I'll go ahead and and kick us off. So, oops. Sorry. No worries. Brain, lots of papers here.

It's not.

So how do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to the utility advisory committee?

Yeah. So I I come from the Midwest, so I have an experience with a different type of utilities. Just basically seeing the contrast, I really enjoy how Olympia processes everything. I love that we're a 100% groundwater and just how we can preserve that. Because coming from, you know, Kansas City where you've got basically everything's just, let's drain the Ogallala Aquifer.

It's a totally different experience. So I am very much a civilian on this front. I have a lot of interest in, like, city planning, growth, ex like, just how we experience life in Olympia since this is a place that I have chosen to live, chosen to be, and a little bit less of the, like, very in-depth knowledge of the specifics of how we do everything. I live downtown, so I get to hear and experience a lot of the different ways that we deal with things like the flood water and just the the rising water table and just interacting with people on the regular. I'm probably, again, probably this billion.

But I I just find it really interesting, and I love seeing that contrast and learning more about it. I was poking around on your website a little bit and just seeing both the combination of what y'all do with the resource stuff and also, like, I used to be a home brewer, so I loved seeing all of the resources that you had on what is in our water and how we deal with it, and what all that entails and how it kinda differs. Like, I loved seeing that map of the different different places and being able to specifically trace that. I'm really just kind of interested and would love to be involved, learn

more. Yeah.

Great. Thank you. Yep. We'll pass it to Kelly for the next question.

Yeah. Thanks, Maddie. So how might you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success?

Honestly, first six months at anything, I'm doing a lot of listening. I'm doing a lot of asking questions. I'm doing a lot of trying to get the lay of the land, understand what it is that people really want, what people really need, and just where the expertise that I do have fits in. So I, you know, I have a background in public administration and a background in dispute resolution. So I do a lot of, like, facilitating and a lot of listening. So I would probably focus on asking questions, probably some dumb questions, but I have learned that Questions.

Some of

those dumb questions are the best ones sometimes. And then as I kind of saw how I was able to contribute, just kinda slowly build up to where I could be the most use. Because honestly, I don't have an ego. I just wanna just wanna learn, wanna be useful, wanna see what's going on, and how best I can how best I can be of use.

Thank you. Alright. And Melissa, you can take us home here.

Alright. Hi, Maddie. Can you tell us something you are curious about or excited for serving on the utility advisory committee?

Yeah. I mean, like, there's a lot of things that I am excited, about. I love seeing how we basically steward our water, how we are looking to the future in terms of like, saw that there was a seismic thing that we're working on in terms of preparing the systems that we have, kind of repairing that aging infrastructure and being prepared for more growth. I did housing for a while as a focus both in grad school and as well as just kind of with eviction mediation. And one of the things that would always come up was, like, retrofitting old buildings that were not necessarily designed for human use or for, like, living purposes to accommodate that.

And one of the main things that always came up was how do you accommodate accommodate, excuse me, that amount of, like, initial additional load on the infrastructure and just kind of being very intentional about how we plan, how we grow, how we develop the systems that we have, both to maintain what is going on and to kinda look to the future to really make sure that we have a robust system that both plays with a greater greater plans both for the city and also for environmental concerns that we have going on and just how we can do the best by our community and our entire community and taking that to the future so that it's you know, we can have an awesome Olympia for as long as possible. Yeah. I'm just I'm kinda fascinated by it, honestly. Also, I love your cat. I've got mine here also helping out, trying to get in the way, so I appreciate that.

I was just telling Melissa that the the furry friends are welcome on screen. So excellent. Well, thank you so much, Maddie. Those are all the questions that we have. I wanna share the just the next steps with you.

So you'll hear from Don who you've been coordinating with on the in on the interview by next week, and and you'll be notified one way or the other. And the the committee the the the community livability and public safety committee will make a recommendation to the full council, and the council is slated to, make the final decision on March 31. So you'll hear from us next week, but it wouldn't be a final thing until the end of the month. Do you have any questions about that?

Nope. Not about that process. Just great to meet all of y'all and learn a little bit more about your committee and how all of that works. And, yeah,

great to

see y'all. Thank you.

You. Thank you so much. Have a good night.

You too. Bye bye.

Excellent. And so, Melissa, we have a few minutes here to debrief with you and and collect your thoughts. Kelly and I will probably decide talk later in the evening about who we might recommend or even tomorrow evening depending on how our time shakes out. But we'd love to get your thoughts while we've got you here.

I love both of them. I think that they brought two different right. We basically, different types of people. Right? Like, one is a community member that's super excited about utility advisory, and and one has a a deep educational background and is interested in that way. I I liked I liked them both.

Okay. Well, that's good to know. That's good to know. And as you think about, like, the composition of the UAC, like, do you think both of them would be, like, a great compliment compliment to to the the folks folks who who are are already already there? There?

I think so. I personally, I really liked Maddie because she came at it as just, like, somebody in the community that really loves the u that wants to learn more about the utilities. I also liked the first person as well. We have I think both of them would complement our committee in different ways. Right? Like

Okay. But, yeah, I like that. That's that's helpful. That's helpful to know. Mhmm. Okay. Great. So you have Yeah. Well, if, you know, you have any thoughts like I said, we may we may discuss this one later on in the evening once we get through the interviews, and it may be tomorrow evening. But if in the next couple hours, you're like, oh, wait. I have a thought, and you wanna shoot us an email, then we can, you know, keep an eye open for that. So Awesome. Really appreciate you joining us this evening and taking the extra time. It's always so helpful to have the committee chairs to be able to engage and bring your special question forward and, you know, get to meet the the the candidates. So thank you so much.

Yeah. Thank you. Have a great

night. You, Melissa. And, Kelly, we had, a planned catch up space in here, which I think was planned before, like, you know, people dropped off. But so we're scheduled to come back here at 05:50, which I guess is in just in ten minutes. So we can go ahead and take a ten minute break. I know I'm gonna go cram some food in my mouth. And I'm I'm also gonna let Young know that it's a time for her to jump in because we won't be mid interview. I'll let her know that 05:50 is a good time to jump on. So and we'll see you in a bit. Sounds good.

Thanks, Danny. And, Dawn, if we could get that thing up on screen so folks know we're yeah. Perfect. Thank you. Hello, Kelly.

How's your food shoveling go?

It's incomplete, but I'll I'll resume on our next break. Alright.

Sounds like mine will be ready on our next break.

Oh, nice. Lovely. My problem was I put it in the microwave too long, and then it was, like, too hot, and that screwed up my whole time line for the break.

That will get you.

Yeah. Dawn, I think we can go ahead and pull the okay. There we go. Pro Tim. Yes. Hello. Thanks for joining us.

Yeah.

And we've got Greg here with the planning commission as well.

Hey.

So we have three interviews for this for the planning commission. And, Greg, just so you know, we also interviewed another candidate at the same time as VPAC because he was interested in both. That was Justin Stang. And I believe that is the only one that you won't have been a part of in terms of these interviews. And because these are quick ten minute interviews actually, let me look real quick to see if we have any gaps.

If we do, looks like the yeah. Yeah. There's a gap between the first person and the second person. And, Greg, just so you know, it just this just happens because our our staff tried to schedule a block of time, and then there was one person who we selected to interview, and they never responded. So so between the first and second interview, there's an extra ten minutes of space. So so, you know, if we if we we don't need to feel too rushed Yeah. On that one. But we have three questions as the committee. And, Kelly, you can pass one of yours off to Eun. Which which one do you favor?

I favor the third, so Eyoung can take the second.

Excellent. So so I'll ask the first. Eyoung, you ask the second. Kelly, you ask the third. I'll go ahead and introduce everybody here so that we can save time instead of going around the Zoom room. And then, Greg, after we ask our three, you've got your planning commission specific one. Yep. So we'll ask you to do that. And then I'll close this out by talking about next steps for for the candidate. Yeah. Any any questions? Nope. Okay. Pretty cut and dry. And I believe planning commission has oh, two vacancies. Okay.

Yep.

Perfect. Can't keep people around. You know?

I know. I know. How are things on the planning? I miss you. I'm not on land use anymore. So here I am in my different committee role. At least I still get to see you here. How are things going?

Pretty good. It's been quiet so far. I think staff is chewing through the post comprehensive plan backlog and getting up to speed on stuff. So

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Cool. Did you get a chance to connect with Robert?

Yeah.

No. Good.

Got him in my crosshairs for bending his ear on planning commission stuff.

Yeah. I'm like, okay. I'm gonna point you at him now. So Kelly and Young, Greg is a very active chair, and he was, you know you we we had coffee many times while I was chairing the land use committee so that we could talk about our how our two work plans interact and just stay in touch during the comprehensive planning process. So, yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Yep. Sounds great. Great. I think I remember interviewing you when we were a general government, and I think, chair Madron was there too.

Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. So I'm glad

that you, yeah, that you're digging in. And then and also, you know, funny council member Vanderpool used to bend the council's ear any chance he got Yep. As a community member and then got on Deepak and then continued to do so. So not only is it good work happening between you and him, but also maybe a little karma. Yeah.

There you go.

I'll make sure he feels it a little bit. Yeah.

That's right. Now we also had Daniel Garcia in Castle Chambers last night. Is he still in the? Yep. Okay. Very cool. Yeah. He's been active with the neighborhood association stuff, and he presented on a community forum that the council neighborhood associations put on. So it was cool to see him in council chambers. And a lot a lot of folks have other advisory, not advisory committees, neighborhood associations as well. So that was fun.

Yeah. It seemed like that forum went pretty well from what I heard from of it. So

Yeah. I had to miss it myself, but, I know they plan on doing more, so that's exciting.

Yeah.

We've got a little bit of time, six zero five before the first interview. We got fifteen minutes to kind of, like, go through the run a show, but I feel like we've we've done all that. So we can, you know, feel free to chitchat for the next ten minutes. I'm gonna keep an eye open for the interviewee so that if they pop on early, we can pull them in early and get started.

You, Cher. Has there been time so so far, I guess, it's been VPAC and the utilities. So has there been time to check-in with the Chair just to get their, their thoughts on it?

Yeah. Yeah. So we had a chance to check-in with Melissa on the UAC, interviewees. We just had two people. And then Tom Dillon is such a sport because we had two BPAC interviews at during the block, and then we for that. And then he hung around for the utility advisory committee joint interview with somebody who was interested in both those. And then he's gonna come back at 08:30 because we had somebody who couldn't fit any fitted in their schedule, and we'll chat with him then. So but we did get a chance to check-in with Melissa.

Wonderful. Okay. Cool.

Yeah. Oh, and that's a good thing to talk about. So, Greg, after we go through these three interviews, we'll take some time, with you. We we won't have a whole ton of time. Our next, committee chair is coming on at 06:45, but we also don't actually need the full fifteen minutes to go through the run of show. So we can take a few minutes with you after these interviews and get any insights, you like to share, just debrief with you really quick. But the three of us will probably either either at the end of the evening or tomorrow evening, we'll we'll talk through, who we might wanna recommend to the council. But we'll take a moment to to gather to get your thoughts before we let you go.

Sounds great.

Awesome. Since we have a few extra minutes oh, go go ahead, Dawn.

Heidi is in the attendee side if you'd like me to promote them over to a panelist.

Yeah. Actually, are we ready to get started? Alright. Let's do it. Hi there, Heidi. How are you doing?

Hi. Doing good. Give me a second. Let me just go ahead and make sure this is working. Oh, there we go. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Hello. And is it is it Heidi? Am I saying your name right?

Yes. Yes.

It

is. Great. Excellent. Well, thanks so much for joining us and interviewing for the planning commission. My name is Danny, and I chair the community livability and public safety committee. That's the committee that will make the recommendation to counsel in terms of who we will appoint to our advisory bodies. And I am joined by committee members, Young Nguyen and Kelly Green, and also joined by Greg Quentin, who is the chair of the planning commission. And we'll each have a question for you. We've got ten minutes with a little bit of wiggle room if needed to go through the interview. So it's it's a it's a fast one, but I'm just gonna go ahead and get started.

Okay. Sure.

Sounds good.

Yeah. So tell me what interests and excites you about joining the planning commission?

Yes. So I am excited. Thank you again for everybody for giving me this opportunity to be interviewed to serve because I do care a lot about planning. Hence, I am currently a planner at Mason County government. And I think also that planning shapes strong and sustainable sustainable communities.

I did, like, a little note chart just you know, I am a planner again of what these great questions to ask. So, again, I do work as a planner as Mason County government. I do review land use proposals involving shoreline jurisdictions, regulations, critical areas, zoning compliance, all of that nature. Before moving to Washington, I was a planner for Henry County, Georgia, and that's a county position, so forth as well, where I did prepare staff reports and supported rezonings and public hearings as well. Serving on the Olympia's planning commission, would allow me to use my professional planning experience while contributing to the community and helping guide long term growth decisions.

Thank you. Mhmm. Now I will pass it over to Iom for the next question.

Yeah. Heidi, the next question is, how do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to this advisory body? So I know you shared a little bit just now, but if there's anything else you'd like to share.

Yeah. Sure. Thank you for the question. So I do bring both technical planning knowledge and experience working with the public and decision makers. In Mason County, I review development applications and environmental reports, which does require interpreting regulations and working with applicants and agencies.

As we all know, like ecology, fish and wildlife, army corps, etcetera. My previous work in Henry County also gave me experience presenting Sony cases, conditional uses, variances, special uses. I can go on and on a plethora of things. And it did really help me, I guess, guide policy discussions. Overall, I do bring a balanced perspective that considers environmental protection, which I am learning, still in the process. I am new to Washington, but I love to learn. Protection, like I said, for environment, community needs, and practical development realities,

basically.

Thank you. Thanks. Of course.

And I've got the next question, Heidi. So how would you approach your first six months as a new advisory, body member to set yourself up for success?

Of course. So, yes, I did think a lot about this because it's it's very nerve wracking. Right? The first six months, you don't know what to do, what to expect, and so forth. So in the first six months, I would focus on learning the Olympia's comprehensive plan and development regulations to better understand the city's priorities, what exactly is being focused, what's being prioritized, what's urgent, what's not so, and kind of, you know, just to see how things are being run when being presented with these cases in front of the board, right, or the commission.

I would also listen closely to the staff, of course, which, again, I am a planner. So that would that's my number one thing. And one thing that I did notice from my previous, jurisdiction in Henry County, Georgia is that a lot of our, members would come to face to face to, the planning, department, and they would not talk about the cases, but they were requests, like, for example, the reports, the site plans, all of that nature, all their corresponding documentation so we can get ahead of time and understand and analyze the cases that are going to be presented to the board just to kind of get more in-depth in there as well. And just kinda going back to the community aspect of things or the city's priorities, I was also considering of of listening to the community members, which is the public, to understand different perspectives. My goal would be to build a strong understanding of the city's planning framework so I can contribute thoughtfully to discussions and recommendations.

And when I'm talking about the public, I'm I'm just not just talking about the civilians. I'm talking about, of course, the consultants, the planning staff, the board members, so all of that compromise. And I know it's a lot. Sometimes you have to kinda give and take and have to listen to our perspectives, but you have to really analyze and research, I guess, the current, cases being brought to you in order to make the the best decision moving forward for that community, city, county, etcetera.

Thank you. Mhmm. Great. You wanna close us out?

Yeah. How do you think that the Olympia Planning Commission supports the community, and what do you think makes for a successful city?

So currently, I am a Olympian resident. I live nearby the Tumwater area. I believe that you guys, meaning the whole entire staff and planning process or department, is doing a wonderful job as when it comes to, you know, the comprehensive plan updates, making sure that everything is aligned. I'm not too I haven't read too deep into the development regulations code sections or anything of that nature, but I do realize and even just, you know, walking down the streets of Olympia, in general, the community, it's very vibrant. It's very, wouldn't say niche, but it's it feels very welcoming, and that's that's something that I would love to be a part of.

And I believe that the county, the staff, the city, everybody, the public, it just makes it very welcoming and great to be a part of that community. So I believe that that's something that I really look forward to if I am given the position to, of course, serve, the community and staff.

Thank you.

Mhmm. Yeah. Of course. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you so much, Heidi. So those are the questions we have for you. Just a little bit information in terms of next steps. So sometime next week, you'll get an email from Dawn who you've been coordinating with on this interview, and she'll let you know what we're gonna be recommending as a committee. So she'll let you know one way or the other, and the final decision rests with the city council, and that is slated to come forward on March 31. So our committee will make a recommendation on appointments to advisory bodies, and then the council will make the fine final decision at the end of the month. But either way, you'll hear back from Dawn sometime next week.

Okay. Sounds good. Well, thank you everybody for letting me join here, and I hope you have a nice evening.

Thank you so much. You too. Mhmm. Bye bye. Bye.

Bye.

Okay. And because we got an early start with Heidi and the next person again, there's a weird little thing with the schedule because of, you know, just how difficult it is to schedule many short interviews. We don't have our next one until 06:25, so that gives me an opportunity to finish my dinner. But we I'll ask Don to put back up the the thing that we've had, and we can all take a a quick break and come back on a little bit before 06:25, and then we can interview the the next person. See you in

a bit.

Oh, great. Looks like we're all back. And I see that Samir is here. So, if we're all ready are we good? Okay. Excellent. Let's go ahead and invite Samir over.

And, Danny, you're just gonna add on the Heritage Commission question. Yes?

That that's a mistake. Samir is only applying for the Planning Commission. Thanks for saying that. Yes. Sorry. I was triangulating with Don, during the break. Hello, Samir.

Hi. So sorry. I thought I was talking to y'all, but I realized I was being promoted to a panelist.

Oh, you were in limbo.

Yes. So

sorry. I saw y'all. I was talking, but nothing was coming across.

Yeah. And, Samir, I didn't wanna take a guess at how to pronounce your last name. Could you let me know so that I, make sure I can get it right?

Yeah. That's okay. It's, Ibrahimovic. Samir Ibrahimovic.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. And thank you for applying for to for an appointment to our planning commission. My name is Danny Madrone, and I chair the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee for the city council. That's the committee that's gonna make the recommendation to council on who appoint to our advisory bodies. And I am joined by committee members Eunghuen and Kelly Green, and also Greg Quieton, is the chair of our planning commission. And we've got a quick ten minutes for this interview, so I'm just gonna jump right in if you don't mind.

Yeah. Thanks for the time tonight. I'm juggling floor debate on in the legislature right now at the same time, so I appreciate it. I know everyone's really busy.

Yep. I got a legislative day job too. I I totally get it. So here, what interests and excites you about joining the planning commission?

Yeah. So I have some notes if that helps just for me to organize my Yeah.

Yeah. Go right ahead. You're good.

Yeah. So I've been really fortunate to, be involved in developing the outcomes that a lot of planning commissions implement. I think a lot of times at the state level, just staffing a local government committee, I've seen how we often design policies to expand housing, reduce climate impacts, and make communities more resilient, but local planning bodies are where that work actually comes to life and understanding what implementation of those policies looks like through, permit review timeline, zoning reform, long range comprehensive planning. I think we talk about it a lot. We talk to cities, stakeholders.

They share their concerns. But actually being able to, I think, contribute to that work is something that feels really meaningful to me because it's one thing to talk about. It's the other thing to do it. Right? And so just living in Olympia, I've, it's been really interesting to me how quickly it felt like home, and I think that's because of how good of a job so far you've done, balancing housing needs, environmental protection.

It feels like a very livable community to live in, and I know there's a lot of work yet to do. And, also, in terms of your, twenty forty five comp plan, looking through that, I think when when I was reviewing that and comparing it to some other cities that I work with, I think you guys take very strong direction in terms of those values. So that's for the first question. I have a lot more to say, but I'll keep that to the first question.

K. Excellent. Thank you so much. And I'll pass it over to Young, the next question.

Perfect time to expand, Samir. The next question is, how do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to this advisory body?

Absolutely. So I regularly analyze and help develop, policies on, reducing parking mandates, supporting transit oriented development, converting existing homes or buildings into homes. And I think the intent behind a lot of those poll a lot of those policies was to help communities grow in ways that they could be more affordable and sustainable and connected. And I think, like I've said, I think that gives me a strong understanding for how cities can address housing shortages and reduce environmental impacts. I also have spent a lot of time reviewing development regulations and understanding how those planning tools would work in practice.

So I think the perspective I bring focuses not just on policy goals, but how that work translates translates into clear long term planning decisions. So I think one of the most important things or perspectives I'd like to bring is, the ability to listen. Just local governments, planners, residents, community orgs, a lot of them a lot of the planning decisions you make is collaborative, and successful policy really reflects, the needs and values of people who live in Olympia.

Thank you.

Thanks. Go ahead, Kelly.

Thanks, Samir. How would you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success? Absolutely. So I think, initially, it

would be learning local contacts and building relationships with you all. I think I would need to take time to understand the city's planning framework a little more. I have looked at the comprehensive plan, for example. I've familiarized myself with some of the projects and decisions you guys have made, regarding projects in the mall area, Briggs housing, for example. But I think, first, I need to understand how everything works.

Right? Second, I think we I would need to listen carefully to you all, staff, and other local stakeholders just to better understand the challenges facing the city because, again, I hear about things in the news when the city of Olympia comes to testify, in committee, but I'm not aware of everything under the sun. So just unlearning that is, I think, one of the most important things to do. I recognize that planning decisions are gonna involve balancing a lot of people's priorities and understanding those perspectives so you guys make thoughtful recommendations. So I would hope that my experience I would look for opportunities where I can contribute my experience with state policy, mostly around adapting new housing, climate, and land use policies.

I think also, permit review timelines, how, cities make certain recommendations. And just wanna proactively be able to support the long term, community goals of Olympia. I think, cities cities are best when they plan in a in a community focused way. I I come from Spokane Valley, which has a very different planning perspective, and philosophy on local land use. So just being able to contribute to what I see as a very vibrant community here would be, the goal. So just a lot of listening and learning, which has been also mostly what I do at the legislature.

Yeah. And Greg, go ahead and take Us home.

How do you think the Olympia Planning Commission supports the community, and what do you think makes for a successful city?

Yeah. I think you guys review ideas on how Olympia grows fundamentally. So things like housing, transportation, environmental protection, where businesses or parks should go, then you make recommendations to the council. I think, again, a big part of that work is listening, making sure residents, businesses, community groups are being reached out to before those decisions or recommendations are made. It's how you honestly, I think, looking at your comp plan, I think it's how you guys got to a point where you weaved those, priorities in so well.

And it's also how you guys developed, I think, a vision that is really equitable for the future's commune or for the community's future needs. You guys have been involved in a lot of major projects that could reshape the city that are, again, the Capital Mall Triangle, having a dense, walkable neighborhood there, you know, housing, jobs, public spaces, green spaces, that's huge. That's the work at legislative level that we're really trying to get cities to adopt and implement. When it comes to zoning changes like Briggs Village, I think you guys are trying to balance that need for more housing with maintaining services and livability as well and also the local controversy as well. So there's a lot of feedback you guys are taking there.

And then beyond housing and land use, I think you guys do a really strong job of reviewing critical areas and environmental protections. So I know right now you guys are, I think, working on updates to the critical areas ordinance. I definitely love to learn more about that work. But together, I think that does a really good job of your overall planning efforts. Think build a city that works really well for people today. I wanna contribute to that work. I wanna learn from you all, and I also wanna be able to be proud of living here in in the future and, like, contribute to that vision.

So yeah.

And as an avid biker and walker here, this is the first city I've lived in where I can confidently feel like I could just live without a car, which is huge. And I think, you know, just from the public safety perspective, the negative externalities of, I think, card car dependence, it's a you guys provide another option as well, which is, again, coming from suburban sprawl USA, like so many of us do. You guys do a good job of balancing what's feasible for a lot of families, realizing that, you know, car dependence in the way we've planned and zoned is a necessity, but it doesn't always have to be that way. So yeah. Sorry. That's really quick. I know I'm trying to stuff so much information and views, so I'm sorry if it's all just conglomerating into repetitions.

Yeah. That's great. That that's our bad. We're we scheduled ten minute interviews, so we did that to you. So I'll just share a few next steps. So within within a week, you'll hear from Don who you've been coordinating with on, the interview process, and she will let you know one way or the other, what we decide. And, we, as a committee, are gonna make recommendations to the city council on who we think should be appointed to advisory bodies, and the council will make that decision, on March 31. So, not anything you need to plan to attend, you know, if you're if you are recommended, but just so you know the timeline. Do you have any questions about that?

No. Not off the top of my head.

Again, just Great.

There is a little scatterbrain just in the middle of jumping between calls, but thank you

so much for your

time, and I

Yeah. Hope Yeah.

Yeah. We'll let you get back to it. I know it's probably a busy evening for you, so appreciate you stepping away so you could chat with us.

Absolutely. Thank you all. Have a great night.

Yeah. You too. Bye. Bye. Okay. And I see we have our next interviewee who is Elle. Oh, what's that, Dawn?

Elle is is already in the attendee, so I can move her over whenever you're ready.

Great. Are we ready? Alright. Let's do it. Let's move Elle on over.

Hi, Al.

Hi. Let

me adjust my Zoom name here. It's set up for my neighborhood.

Oh, okay. Well, so thank you so much for joining us this evening and for, applying for an appointment to our planning commission. My name is Dani, and I serve as the chair of the community livability and advisory, community livability and public safety committee. Sorry. Too many words this evening. And, our committee will make a recommendation to the city council in terms of, appointments to our advisory bodies. I am joined by committee members, Ian Hwen and Kelly Green, and also joined by, Gray Queen, who is the chair of the planning commission. And we've got a quick ten minutes, with a few questions to ask you, so I'm just gonna get right to it. So could you tell me what interests and excites you about joining the planning commission?

Yeah. Absolutely. And just like to mirror, I took notes ahead of time.

Nice. Excellent.

So I have been very lucky to live in places where walkability was just a part of daily life. You know? Paris, Hokkaido, New Zealand, being able to step outside and just walk fifteen minutes to anywhere is just genuinely transformative, and it changes how you relate to your neighbors, your stress level. And I understand that that comes from good planning that is backed by data. And so I'm really interested in contributing to that work.

You know, I first moved to Olympia in 2011. We came back in 2024 because of the opportunities for the growth and community here. I think especially about moms, families, older residents, and people who either can't or don't thrive, you know, and so that's kind of something that's come naturally for me through my academics and through my experiences. My kids are gonna be coming of age here, and so that makes it personal. And I want to be helping to continue to build an Olympia that works for them and for everybody. Excellent.

Thank you. I'll pass it on over to Ian. Hi, Ian.

Also, your next question is, how do you describe the perspectives, knowledge, or experience you would bring to this advisory body? You've shared a little bit that if you'd like to elaborate. Sure.

Yeah. My first degree is in anthropology. So by the end of that, my thesis had zeroed in on something very specific, which is how people move and how the our city plans and our transit shape our daily life, including who feels safe and who doesn't. And so that's been a through line for me just ever since. You know, I have been a stay at home mom for the past decade, but I'm deeply involved in organizations, especially environmental organizations, organizations that are tight with the community, and that volunteering is basically what I've been able to do in order to stay active and engaged for the past ten years.

I've worked on a few boards now. My first one was with Intercity Transit. It was with the advisory board. It was just such a positive experience, and I really bring a lot from that. Yeah. Yes.

Awesome. Yep.

Thank you.

Well, thanks, Elle. How would you approach your first six months as a new advisory body member to set yourself up for success?

Yeah. So this is something that I've built a real philosophy around, and it's for me, it's coming into a new board. Thing I have to do is watch and learn because I don't have the same context as the current members. And so it's really important to me that I respect that, ask questions, and learn that context. You know, still be trying to contribute meaningfully where I can, but the first six months really are learning and taking on as much information as possible.

Excellent. And, Greg, how about you?

How do you think that the Olympiad Planning Commission supports the community, and what do you think makes for a successful city?

My understanding is the Planning Commission supports the community by doing the research, reviewing data and information, and translating that into recommendations. So we're not really setting the policy, but we're doing the foundational work that's necessary to set the policy. Like I said, I worked before for the Intercity Transit Advisory Board on in my own neighborhood. I'm working on the bylaws subcommittee, which is also an advisory board that we've set up just hyper locally. So I do have a genuine feel for what it's like to work on an advisory board.

For a successful city, I think about this through the people in my own life because a successful city is one where my kids can grow up and have access to groceries, activities, community, and everything they need no matter what happens in their lives. Right? If they're never able to drive or even, you know, as teenagers before they come up age, the more independent they are, the better we've done at planning a city that's safe for them. And I also think about my mother-in-law who's aging, and so a successful city is one that where she can move in, get those connections, maintain her independence as she ages, and still be able to get to the doctor's appointments, grocery stores, and other economic activities as well. So a successful city takes care of its children, its parents, everyone in between, makes life safer for the one people who are most at risk, and it's designed to support its people.

Great. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you so much. So I'll talk a little bit about next steps. In the next week or so, you'll get an email from Don who you've been coordinating with on this interview, And she'll let you know one way or the other what we decide to recommend. And and then that recommendation that we'll make as a committee will go to the city council, and a final decision is made by the council on March 31. It's nothing you need to plan to attend if you are recommended to move forward, but just so you know the the timeline that we're working with here. Do you do you have any questions on that?

No. No. No questions. Thank you so much for your time tonight.

Alright. Great. Thank you so much. Alright. Hi, Bill. Welcome. We're just finishing out the planning commission interview, so you just hang tight for a moment.

Sounds good.

Awesome. So, Greg, before we let you go, you know, there's one interview that you didn't, get to participate in because they also were with, BPAC, and, that was Justin Stang. But if do you have any thoughts you wanna share? Anything you'd like to debrief with us on so that we can have your perspective as we figure things out either later this evening or sometime tomorrow evening?

Yeah. I was I thought all the candidates seem pretty good, and both Samir and Elle's interviews stood out to me as as particularly insightful and a little more detailed than Heidi's. But that was that's my main takeaway.

Okay. Excellent. And when you think of, like, the composition of the planning commission and, like, you know, good good mix of folks, anything stand out to you there?

Yeah. I think from from this crew, it seems like a a good mix. It's it's interesting. I feel like the planning commission is very short on, older folks and retired folks now, which was not the case when I when I came aboard. But the the I don't think any of any of the candidates currently are are, up for that. But Yeah. There's some interesting change in the demographics.

Yeah. Go ahead, Kelly. Greg, I had a a question, and it came up for me when I read Samir's application. Of course, didn't know it was Samir. But with a day job that works with the legislature, how does the flow of the planning commission's work go? Like, if it's if if attendance is difficult in the first part of the year or in longer sessions, you know, a chunk of the year is like, would how would that work with your body's work?

Yeah. I haven't seen it be a problem. Daniel also has a bunch of of ledge commitments. And, honestly yeah. Right. And and my experience is actually that our our slowest time is kind of January, February, March, and then we pick up right when the sun comes back.

Okay. Thanks. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, Greg, we can go ahead and cut you loose. If in the next couple hours you have some epiphanies and you're like, wait. I need them to know this before they deliver it, feel free to shoot us an email.

Sounds good. Alright. Thank you. Best evening.

Yeah. You too. Bye. Okey dokey. Bill, hi.

Hey. How's it going?

Good. I don't know if we've had the chance to meet before. I'm Danny. It's great to meet you.

Good to meet you.

We've got Kelly and Ian here as well. I don't know if I pointed the right way just now because of the mirroring of Zoom, but they're both here with me. We've got well. Yeah. We've got a few minutes here just to kinda go through, like, run a show and make sure we're we we're all on the same page going into this.

We have three folks for the Heritage Commission, and I believe oh, and there's three vacancies. Okay. I think we had anticipated two more folks, but we had two people who didn't respond when Don reached out for an interview. So we have three vacancies and and three folks that we're interviewing. That being said, like, you know, if if if, you know, if we don't fill all the seats because we don't feel like we've got the right fit, that that that is an option.