City Council - Special Meeting

And we're gonna start with the pledge of allegiance. I've asked council member Sesems to lead us.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much. So tonight we're meeting to interview youth commissioners for our youth commission. And we have nine interviews. So our process is that you'll go to the podium right there and talk a little bit about yourself and why you'd like to be on the commission or why you'd like to be reappointed. And then some council members can ask you a question if they have any questions for you.

We do have a timer and that's five minutes for the entire interview counsel so that we can keep moving because we do have nine interviews. And we're looking forward to hearing from you. And we're so grateful that you've applied and looking forward to this. So we're going to call Ian Lee first. And you can go ahead and start when you're ready. Thank you.

My name is Ian Lee. I go to Thomas Jefferson High School, and I'm a sophomore right now. And I've already done youth commission for a year, my freshman year and this year. And I'm trying to renew my contract. And I feel like youth commission had a big impact on me. I got to meet new people and I also got to help out a lot of people. At first when I joined my freshman year, I didn't know how big of an impact I would make. But after I joined, I did a lot of like volunteering and like hosting activities And it turns out, like, I can make a bigger difference than I thought. And that kind of made me happy, so I'm here to join again so I can keep helping until my senior year.

Awesome. Questions. Council Member Welch.

So Ian, what do you think the biggest contribution that you have made to the youth commission is?

I think just being there when when the people need it. Like, on the in some events, it might feel a little empty, and I feel like I'm just there to be some kind of support and, like, help people.

And and what and what event has the youth commission done that you think has been the most helpful for the community?

I think the car wash that we've done, there was one, like, last month in April. And I feel like that's the most that's the best event we've hosted because we've also learned earned a of money for low income students. And we've also, like, gotten closer with each other.

Okay. Thank you.

Council Member Coach Martin.

Anne, thank you. Can you suggest something that you think would be helpful for the entire youth in our community to have an event where they could get together? We've always talked about that, how to find an event where we could get everybody together, whether it be a dance or some kind of an event or festival or any ideas?

I think maybe, like, we can host, like, a kind of, like, a festival where we all come together and spend the whole entire day, like, meeting new people and playing games so that we're more comfortable with the people in Federal Way and know how big of an impact we can make knowing how many people there are. So maybe like a like a game day.

Thank You just have you. Council Member Lydia Seff Dawson.

They asked all my questions, unfortunately. But yeah, I'll ask you. As a resident here and as a youth here in Federal Way, after you leave for college, whatever, what would keep you away or what would bring you back to Federal Way as home? What don't we have for you to come back to, or what would you do to settle here at Federal Way?

I mean, I feel like Federal Way has everything I need, so I feel like there would be no need to leave Federally. I might just stay here because it has all the people and has all the events I need. It's like right here.

Okay. Thanks.

Council member Moore.

Thank you, Council President. Ian, thank you for applying. Go Raiders. Right? Yep. Okay. Thomas Jefferson, right? Yep. Awesome. First of all, I'll say this. I appreciate you wanting to stay on the Youth Commission. I think that level of commitment and dedication I think is really valuable. My question is this. Was there something that challenged you on the youth commission? And if so, what was it?

Can you repeat the question?

I sure can. Was there something on the commission that was challenging? And if so, what what was it? And how did you, how did you deal with that?

I think just, like, sharing my own opinions because everyone has different ideas, and our schedules might, like like, might have

You have thirty seconds.

Yeah. Like, we all have different plans on different days. So I think choosing a day or, like, choosing an event to plan, I think that was the hardest thing for us. But we eventually talked it out and then, like, openly shared our own feelings so we can all agree on something.

Awesome. Thank you.

Alright. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Nope. All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate what you've done and what you're going to do in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Justin Sin. And did I mispronounce your last name? No. You're good. Okay. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Justin Sin. I'm currently a junior at Decatur High School, and I currently serve as the ASB community relations officer at Decatur High School. And I'm and I'm looking towards serving as the ASB secretary for my senior year at Decatur High School. So yeah.

And the reason why I wanna continue youth commission, as a as a alternate, I feel like I didn't really have a voice or an impact on the youth commission. So really wanna join the youth commission because I wanna make an impact on my community. And I, and I wanna, have the youth commission at its full potential and just get every community involved with the youth commission. I wanna be involved with a lot of activities, involving our city. So, yeah.

And, also, speaking of, like, our city, I'm, I'm involved with, many, like, many extra many extra clubs. I'm currently in a Kappa, Korean American Parents Association. It involves community service opportunities for Korean American students in our city of Federal Way. What we do is we tutor kids k through eight, and we we we pick up trash around the community of Federal Way. And yeah.

Awesome. Questions? Councilmember Hoare.

Thank you. Justin, thank you for applying. Go Gators. I'm actually a class of o three. Just a little while ago. Colleague's telling me I'm old. Is that true, Justin? No. Good. No, you look good. You look good. Thank you. Thank you. So I have to say this. I really do appreciate you applying, and I appreciate the fact that you're involved in the community and I'm actually going to pick back off of Councilor Lydia's question because I think it's really important because this is your city.

You live in it and and maybe the way I would frame it is what would it take for you to be in a position of saying, I wanna come back to Federal Way and raise my family here after you've gone to college?

So, honestly, for me to come back to Federal Way, I would just want more opportunities open for me. So so, yeah, I want more opportunities for me in the city of Federal Way because in Federal Way, not many people, like, here, like, they don't really like when you think of our state of Washington, they don't really think of Federal Way. They think of, like, Seattle, Bellevue. Mhmm. Right? All these other major cities. So I want Federal Way to be, like, one of those cities, like, where people, like, you know, like, they could go, like, explore, create opportunities, create, like, you know, more more more connections. So, like, you know, it impacts them in the future and later on.

Yeah. And I'd be kinda curious to dig down. When you say opportunities, what do you think what do you mean by opportunities? But we can

Like, involve involving, like so involving, like so community service, maybe, like, we can, like I would I would want, I would want, opportunities for kids to, you know, make, like, make them feel like they belong somewhere.

So does that mean like a youth center? Does that mean like a a gang center only for kids? Does that mean

No. No. No. Like, just just like a recreation center and, like, just an area where kids can come spend time with friends. Like, for example, like the community center at Federal Way. Perfect. Yeah. So Yeah. Alright.

That's perfect. Thank you.

We're gonna move on to council member Sessions.

Yeah. Justin, first of all, thank you very much for your application and your willingness to serve. I'm curious to know what motivates you to want to be or continue to be on the youth commission. What motivates you?

So one thing that motivates me is so as a alternate, I kinda had, like, a like, I kinda had a position because, at every meeting, we didn't really, meet the requirement of the amount of people we would need to start the meeting. So I always had to step in for every meeting. And something I've done that impacted the Federal Youth Commission is start the Chipotle fundraiser. So, yeah, that is something that wanted to keep me in the youth commission because I want to make, I want to make an impact on my community, and I wanted to show that the Federal Youth Commission has a louder voice than it already has.

Good. Three sport athlete. Have you turned out for the basketball team at Decatur?

Yeah. I actually have. My sophomore year, I was I made c team.

Good job. Good job. Awesome. And would you support a program in the future, like a late night basketball program?

Yeah. I would for sure support a late night basketball program. Like, I already know that the city of Tacoma, they already have a late teen night over at North Point Center. So I would for sure probably take inspiration from that and put it into the Federal Community Center so kids could just come along, spend late nights, you know, do everything that they need to do.

Thank you, Justin. Yeah.

Thank you very much. We appreciate you being here.

Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Alright. Lyle Lee.

Hello. My name is Lyle Lee, and I'm a freshman at Thomas Jefferson High School. And I'm involved in, like, a lot of activities such as tennis, swim, and volleyball. And, also, I'm part of the math team for TJ. And, also, I have a lot of volunteering experience mostly for my church because every summer, we have, like, VVS where we help out kids and, like, teach them more about, like, the bible.

And every summer too, we go on a mission trip to Arizona and help kids, like, learn math, reading, and writing. And I would like to apply for a uCommission because I wanna help out the community more, and I wanna learn about learn more about volunteering and helping out the city. Any questions?

Council Member Moore.

Yep. I'll ask the same question and that's you know, a lot of youth that when they get a chance to leave, they they'll they'll really leave, you know, after college and whatnot. What would it take for you to come back and say, no, I wanna come back to Federal Way, my hometown, and raise my family here?

I think I would come back to Federal Way anyway because I really like Federal Way as community because it's a compared to other cities, it's a really peaceful community. And, like, I have a lot of people I know here, so I think I would stay here.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here tonight too.

Thank you.

Okay. Next we have Hazel Del Rosario. Rosario? Okay. Rosario. Alright. I still won't get it.

It's alright. You pronounce it okay. Thank you so much. My name is Hazel D'Arrizario. I first off, I would like to say thank you so much for the opportunity and just for letting me apply for this position.

I'm more than thrilled to be able to just have the opportunity to enter something like this. I have met many peers around our city and through many different sports and clubs throughout multiple schools, through many sports I do, like cross country and tennis, and the many clubs I do, like Asian Student Network and Key Club. I think this would be an amazing opportunity for myself to be able to help learn more about government in my city. I think I have much to learn, and I'm very, very excited to be able to meet many peers through this activity and also to meet the amazing council members that run our city. I I feel like I do have much to learn, though, and I'm really excited to be able to do that through this program.

Thank you. Thank you for being in Key Club. Questions? Councilmember Councilmember Coach Moore.

Thank you. Year are you in school again?

I apologize. I'm a sophomore at Decatur High School.

So do you notice anything in our community that is maybe gang related or things that the kids are doing outside of school that they shouldn't be into that we need to be concerned about as a community, as youth commissioners?

Personally, I have not noticed too much. I've noticed that my peers in Federal Way are well spoken and pretty amazing people and pretty driven people. I've not noticed too much gain related activity. I've just I've I've had a pretty good impact for most of my fellow peers.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the question.

Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Council President. Well, thank you for applying and thank you for serving in Key Club. You have two Key Club advisors sitting up here right now. So I'm the Key Club advisor for Thomas Jefferson and Council President Honda is the Key Club advisor for Federal Way High School. So thank you for serving and that makes sense for why you have one hundred and fifty plus community service hours. True. Because that's what Key Club focuses on.

Yes.

And I noticed too that you're an AVID member.

Yes. In

the AVID, my daughter was an AVID and it's a great program.

I've loved it, I've had much great experiences.

Yeah. And also I just want to say you're very well spoken. So thank you for applying and public speaking is something that people are generally afraid of. It's one of the biggest fears, but you seem to have a good handle on it. And so I appreciate you being here and for speaking with us.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate that. You're welcome. Councilmember Sessions.

Thank you, Hazel, for your willingness to serve. I'm curious to know what motivates you to want to be a part of the Youth Council this year.

That's a really good question. I think for me personally, I really want to be able to help my peers in my community for Federal Way. I think Federal Way is an amazing, amazing city. We have a very diverse city, and there's some amazing programs in the city. We just got the light rail.

There's there's many key parts of our city that is I I love living here. I've lived here for since elementary, and I've loved living here. I think being a part and of the city council would be an amazing opportunity for me specifically to be able to learn about what maybe goes a little bit deeper into how the City Of Federal Way works.

Thank you.

Thank you for your question.

Councilmember Welch.

Hazel, thank you for being here. What do you think is the biggest thing that you will bring to the Youth Commission?

That's a good question. When thinking of ideas on how I might impact the city, the biggest thing is I really would like to implement more local libraries. Actually, me and my mom built a local library and implemented in our neighborhood, and I've had an amazing experience with it. Every time I go to the park, go down to the playground to play basketball, maybe tennis, it's amazing to see kids exchange books with one another and to bring a book and take one. And I think implementing more of those would really help encourage the learning in our youth. I think that would be a very good thing to implement.

Thank you.

All right. One more question. Councilmember Moore.

Thank you. Hazel, just want to say thank you so much for applying. What I appreciate about your interview right now is you're coming across not only prepared, but knowledgeable. Am understanding that and listening to you that you know what's happening in your community. I really applaud you for that and being engaged already. Thank you so much and look forward to working with you on this commission.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. I'm glad you're here tonight. And congratulations on being elected Key Club President for next year.

Thank you so much.

I'm sure we will see you at the Kiwanis Club.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for this opportunity.

And the concession stand. All right. Just had to throw that in since they're at the concession stand tonight. Next, have Emmanuel Rwangi. He's not here? All righty. Annie Phan.

Hi. My name is Annie Phan. I'm a junior at Decatur High School, and I'm I'm so thankful for this opportunity to get to speak with you guys today and, have the chance to be part of the Federal Youth Commission. So I so I'm a junior educator at high school, as I said before, and I also a running start student at Highland College. And I'm currently trying to pursue an associates in biology.

At I participate in DECA. It's my favorite club at, at Decatur because of the community. And I really want that to bring that type of community to the to Federal Way even though Federal Way has such a great community. I really love DECA because of the people. And with Federal Way, there's so many good people here, and I wanna meet all of those people and hear those voices so that we're able to give them what they need.

In DECA, I serve as the VP of leadership, and, I compete in various competitive events. I at all at Decatur, I also participate in girls varsity tennis and also gymnastics. And I think that all of these sports and extracurriculars and DECA have given me the chance to meet so many new people. Like, being able to learn to network with other people to make those connections even outside of Federal Way has been such an impactful experience for me. And I'm just so grateful that I'm able to have these opportunities.

And being on the youth commission would help me be would help me with bringing more opportunities for others my for my youth to be able to meet each other as well. And one of my favorite parts another part about DECA that I really like is that I was able to start a community awareness project called the Unsolved Equations. And with one of my partner my partner, Claire Kim, I believe she was also a she's the chair of the youth commission. We worked together to raise awareness for low math efficiency rates in the Federal Way Public Schools districts district, and that was one of the best one of the best, opportunities that I had to reach out to my peers at school and throughout Federal Way. And we were able to host two awareness events that help with SAT, raise awareness about how low these math efficiency rates are and why we should bring them up because math is very important in our everyday lives.

And the Unsolved Equations was one of my biggest projects, and I wanna bring more projects like that to the Federal Way Youth Commission and focus on issues like mental health and nutrition because a lot of students and my peers and myself, struggle with mental health. And I really want to raise awareness about that and bring or create initiatives to counter that. And yeah. That's all I have. Do you guys have any questions? Questions.

Council member Hamilton.

Thank you for applying and again, you are also very well spoken and so thank you for being here in front of us. You said that you have worked on improving, was it math scores that you mentioned? Was it the math in particular that you were tutoring? Or can you explain a little bit more about about that work there that you were

talking So I worked on raising awareness for math proficiency rates because in the Better Way School District, those numbers are alarming alarmingly low. There's only 11 15% are proficient in math. And we're taking those that data is is taken from standard bat the state balance assessment, the SBUC. And also, we've seen, like, SAT scores. Usually, they're not very high, but we wanna raise them.

And because math can take you far, and it's really it's needed to graduate. And even at Decatur, the math proficiency is at 11%. And I think that being able to raise awareness would show the students that math is really important and that they need to they need succeed in it to go to to graduate, to go to college, to move on.

Well, I really appreciate you working on trying to improve the academic, you know, academics of of your fellow students. I think that is very commendable and it's not only necessary to graduate from high school but even beyond when you go to college. It's typically a prerequisite to a bachelor's degree. So thank you again for your work.

Are there any other questions? Councilmember Barr?

Annie, I just want to say go Gators. There you go. Gosh, that brought back some memories there with the hand gesture there. I just I wanna say and looking over your your resume, it is absolutely I mean, it's it's phenomenal. You've done some really good work.

You're laying out a really good narrative for your life and your career. I'm exceptionally I'm I'm really amazed at at where it says half the story under your under your resume. That's pretty really cool stuff that you've done. So I just appreciate your content of the interview here, and just appreciate the level of excitement that I'm seeing from you and the passion there. I think just keep being you, and you'll do great things. Thank you.

Councilmember Quachemer.

Hi, Annie. So since you're good at May I ask, I want to tell you a little story. So you're in the Decatur area, and I have some friends who lived at Breneview Estates area who had two sons. One son lived in one excuse me, two families, one son in each family, and they would get together in high school. And the big thing just coming out at that time was the Internet.

And so when they went to college, one of the fathers was involved with IT. So when they went to college, they found that a lot of the kids didn't know how to do a search on the internet, and so out of their garage in the Rainview Estates area, they started a search engine, and they gave it a name, and eventually they sold it to Google. Uh-huh. And he lives on Mercer Island now. He hasn't had work in thirty years.

But the reason I'm telling you that is you're good in math, you're female, there are things that are coming up like AI, robotics, things that you should be getting into the city. Get your friends, start something, it's amazing where it will go. Thank you.

Alright. Alright. Councilman okay. Alright. Thank you so much. We we're glad you applied. And do you have anything else to say?

So touching on what council member Moore was talking about half the story, I wanted to talk more about that because half the story is an amazing nonprofit organization where they focus on digital well-being. And I participated in the digital civics academy over the summer. And it's a free academy, and we learned a lot about advocacy policy and being able to be on the youth commission would be able to help me expand my interest and, like, depth of knowledge in of that. And I also wanted to talk about digital wellness because as you said before, pre as you said that AI is, like, emerging really quickly and everyone's on their devices all the time. As a college student or a running start student, I'm always I'm also on my computer.

So if we were able to help with digital well-being and not being on our phones a lot or devices, I think that would be really beneficial to our community. But I just wanted to say that digital well-being is one of the most important problems right now, and I think that we should touch on that too. But thank you so much for this opportunity, and I love speaking with every everyone. And thank you so much.

Thank you, Annie. Alright, yes.

Can I just add something? Oh. So, to Annie and really to the other commissioners, I mean, ideas like that, bring it up to the youth commission. That could be a good project, you know? And hopefully the staff is there to I'm confident the staff is there to support you and your ideas.

Thank you, council member Moore. Alright. Our next interview is with Yah Yaha. And I am not even going to Ozlem? Can you tell me how to say your name?

Yahya Aslam.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Yeah. My name is Yaya Aslam. I'm a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School. I'm also doing writing to start. I'm getting my associates of science in biology. I'm in at Highline College, I'm in programs like Mesa and Highline Promise. In Highline Promise, we help underserved brown and black members of our community. This could be through giving them haircuts. We have like monthly barber talks where specialized people come in from barber academies and they cut people's hair while talking to them about their lives. This also connects to mental health because a lot of our people in our community suffer with mental health.

I also am involved with Mesa at Highland College, and it's a STEM organization. And we're a pretty tight knit group. Every day for, like, a few hours, we go over there. We all study for our classes together. We organize programs together. And yeah.

Awesome. Questions? Council member Watts.

What do you think the biggest thing that you can bring to the youth commission is?

The biggest thing I can bring to the youth commission is I know that a lot of people like in my religion, like there are a lot of people that share my religion that are coming from different countries of the world that are experiencing like war. And I feel like when they come here, they're very displaced because not lots of people understand them. Like the school systems, I see that a lot of them are placed into low level English classes, even though some of them speak pretty proficient English. I feel like I wanna touch on that and help

them. Them. Thank you.

Council member Sessions.

What motivates you to wanna serve and be a leader?

What motivates me is knowing, like what motivates me is knowing people need help. Yeah. And I'm here to help them. I know that I'm lucky enough to not need the help. So I'm always glad to help others.

What do you wanna do after you get out of high school?

Get my bachelor's and then study for the MCAT and then go to med school, hopefully becoming a pediatrician.

Oh, awesome. We need more pediatricians. Thank you very much. We appreciate you.

Alright. Thank you for your time.

Alright. George. Would you please, pronounce your last name for us?

You say what?

Pronounce your last name.

Muthi.

Thank you.

Alright. My name is George Allen Muthi. I'm a freshman at I'm a freshman at Fredrew Way High School. And today, I'm here to talk about why I wanna join the youth commission and the problems in Fredrew Way City and how I can help solve those problems through the youth commission. Today, I'm here to first and foremost, I myself I'm a part of BSU.

I do football at Frederick High School. I didn't I didn't start this year, but next year, I'm hoping to start. And one of the main reasons I'm here today is because I wanna talk about how, like, the cost of living here in Frederick Way is really is really high, the mental health of the students in our school, and just a lot of mainly about the price of living here And through people like missus Ashe, I know a lot of you guys are familiar with her. She shows up here a lot. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here be here signing up for this youth commission because through miss Ashe through missus Ashe, she showed me how it is important for youth to be a part of know more about their government and be a part of their government, and I'm very thankful that she was able to push me to be able to come here.

And I just wanna express how I feel and how I can show that there's a there's a problem in federal way. There's a problem in federal way and that I want to fix it and that's why I should join the East Commission. Any questions, comments, or concerns?

Thank you. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you George for being here today and thank you for for applying to be on the commission. What do you think would help young people understand civics and government better?

I think that having people around them, at school, because that's where majority of students spend their day. Like me personally, I had Ms. S. And just showing that there's people who are also the same age as them and that people order them also do care that they know more about the government and that it's best that the government invest in us now so then we can, like, pay it forward in the future by having a strong and stable generation leading this government.

Thank you so much. Council member Seth Dawson.

Yeah. Yeah, hi George. Good to see you here. Thank you for showing up to the town hall meeting last week. And my question for you is, I'm sure you heard earlier or maybe you didn't, but after you leave FederAway, what would bring you back as an adult? Or what After would keep you you leave Federal Way for college or whatever, if you end up leaving, what do you think what are the qualities of Federal Way that would bring you back or that would keep you aware or what can you do about it?

I feel like the quality side would bring me back to federal waste of community. I grew up I grew up in federal aid my whole life. I've been here for about pretty much ten years, almost my whole life. And the community here is really strong. The people I grew up with, being surrounded by all these great people, all these people that helped me lead me in the right direction. I wanna come back here and be one of those people who helped me lead, who led me into the right direction and show the youth that and show youth that they can also be where I am if I'm hopefully successful in the future. And it's mainly the community and the people surrounding me, and I wanna help people who are growing up here when I come back.

Great. Thank you. And you'll be successful.

Thank you.

Council Member Sussens. Oh, are you finished? Okay. Sorry about that. Council Member Sussens.

First of all, thank you very much for your willingness to serve. I appreciate all of the applicants. But I had a question for you. What motivates you to serve on this particular commission, the Youth Commission? And what are just one or two fun activities you would lead if you were on the commission?

One thing wait. Can you repeat the the first part of the question, please?

Yeah. What motivated you to want to be on the commission?

What motivated me was seeing the problems of Edgeway and how there's not many youth here, being able to, like, express their voice and, like, voice out what they wanna say. And what motivates me is that I know that I could be I know that I could be the voice for these people because I myself I'm I'm I'm one of those people who sit in class and see all the things that are going on. So I'm, like, a physical representation of what of the youth. I'm, like, a voice for the youth. And, hopefully, through me, they can they can, like, get their comments and concerns out to the federally community.

And, I can start a program, something like me and my friends, the other day, we're talking, saying that an event that we could hold is, like like, every school in graduate comes together for a track meet. Like, I think that's already happened before, but it's not just a track meet for the athletes, but more of something that everybody here can do. And that's one thing I very much indeed love to lead because it's wonderful seeing all these schools come together. Everybody plays. Everybody has fun.

Because I feel when you go around to other schools, it's more like, oh oh, Freddy boy is better, TJ is better, this and that. But if I'm able to bring, all the youth from different schools together, we can really show how great we are when we are together, and we can show and we can bring up ideas and we can bring up ideas that show that we are one big team overall and not just four separate schools.

Thank you.

Okay. One more question.

Thank you, George, for applying. Ash, thank you for the work that she's doing with our students. We appreciate that. And you're going to be an awesome football player. You know, our judge, Judge was a football player. I think he was the captain of the football team at Federal Way High School. So I know that there's one thing that there are things that you said you wanted to change in Federal Way that were problems. What what do you think is the major problem for the kids in Federal Way?

I think one of the major problems for kids in Federal Way is seeing that their parents are struggling with keeping up with the cost of living in Federal Way. I was doing my own research. I saw that the house the cost of living in Federal Ways is 40% higher than the national average. And seeing and majority of of youth our age have definitely noticed that themselves. And I feel like I feel like them knowing that, it should, like feel like them knowing that, it kinda, like, makes them feel like a form of sadness and hopelessness.

Seeing that the cost of living here is super high, making them wanna more than likely move out of skate move out of state and not come back here to fetch away because of the cost. And I feel like that's one of the most things that the youth notice because majority of people that I myself have asked, when I ask them, where do you wanna go for college? They always say somewhere out of state because it's like, this state is expensive. And that's that's something that's that should be very good as something very important because why don't we why are you thinking that even though that they're only in high school that they have to move away from this place, even though they haven't gotten the chance to grow up here and be adults here and see how it is themselves. But they already wanna move out because they see that their parents are struggling, and that's one of the things that lead me.

Okay. Well, thank you, George. You keep up with the football. The the team sports are really important and they really teach you a lot not just how to play the the game but also how to live life and so that that's a really good thing for you to be involved in. Thank you, George.

Alright, Council Member Murray, do you have a question?

I have a comment. And that's George. I I'm really proud of you. Thank you. I I I believe I've seen you at Federal High School when I've subbed there. And I just want to say thank you for for applying. Thank you for the content and what you've had to to say. Thank you for the last story, concern that you just shared. I think it's extremely valid and you have a very powerful voice, George. And so just use it and help educate your colleagues, your peers, be engaged. And so I'm happy to see you here once again. I'm glad that you're showing up around the city. Thank you so much.

Thank you, George. Our next interview is with Christine Carjana. Is she here? Emmanuel, you'll be after Christine. So Christine, what we're doing is we have about five minutes per interview. And you can tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to be on the Commission. And then there'll be some questions.

Thank you so much for

giving to me this

talk about myself and the things I'd like to improve in our community. First of all, my name is Christine Kiki Gautana, and I'm a federal high school student. I'm a freshman, ninth grader ninth grader to be precise, and I'm here to talk about things that we do to improve our community. One of the things we do to improve our community is improve our guidance for young adults. As for I've I've seen so many young adults in high school where they're guided by the wrong people.

So I personally feel like we should put guidance and mentorship for young, kids where older older people guide them to do more important things throughout community and throughout the high school too. Any questions?

Thank you. Are there questions? Councilmember Safiedassen.

Yeah, hi. Thank you for applying, and thanks for being here. And I'll ask you the same question that we've been asking everyone. I don't know what your future plans are, but if you were to leave Federal Way for any reason, for college or other plans, would you come back to Federal Way as an adult? And if so, why or why not?

I'd definitely come back to Federal Way because as a young immigrant who moved from Kenya when I was 12, I've really loved Federal Way. People are really kind. They welcome me and my family here. And there have been, like, a positive impact to my family and I. So if I had to ever leave Federal Way, I'd definitely come back because they've shown me a good support to me and my family.

Great. Thank you.

Welcome. Council Member Moore.

Thank you so much. I Christine, I really love what you said under with your additional comments for the city council consideration. You said, I'm a firm believer that young people should have opportunities to share ideas and help improve the city. And that's where I tell our students, knowledge is power. The more you know, the more you can play a role in that. True. Right? And the fact that you're showing up today, you showed up last week, I believe, at the town hall?

I showed up about a month ago.

Okay. I

had a tennis match.

Great. And the fact that you're being engaged, I think you're walking the talk. Right? And you know very well that a lot of our youth don't care about this stuff. And so the fact that you're showing up, perhaps you can play a role. And getting our students to understand that they could play a role in building our city if they get their voices involved. If we're talking about more things for youth to do, well, guess what? They gotta show up like you are. I just really want to say thank you for being here and for participating in this interview.

Council member Walsh.

Christina, what do you think is the biggest thing that you can bring to the youth commission? Contribution that you can make?

Bring motivation. I'm a big person when it comes to motivating other people. When people don't have, like, the the voice or the energy to speak up, I I'm I'll be there as a support to motivate them to speak up and to certain things that they're scared speaking up about.

Okay. Thank you.

And council member Sussens.

What motivates you to want to serve on the youth council? And what would you tell your 12 year old self about what you've learned since then?

One thing that motivates me to join the youth council is that young youth come together and speak up about their problems, and then we try to come together and solve it together. And that's really that that will be a positive thing for our community as young young youths to come together and speak up because some other youths don't have the courage to speak up until the problems happening around them or around the community. And one thing I tell my younger self is that the more you put yourself out there, the more you see the world, and you become a better person for yourself.

Thank you. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming tonight. Thank you. And Emmanuel or senator?

Hi. My name is Emmanuel Mwangi. I'm a current freshman at Federal Way High School. One of the reasons I wanted to join this youth commission is because I've seen a lot of problems in our community day and day, and I haven't seen much people caring or finding the need into solving it. So instead of just watching around and waiting for other people to solve it, I chose to take the big step and do it myself.

A few experiences that I learned from this that made me become who I am today is I went to the I became a page for senator Tina Orwell earlier this year, and I got to meet a whole bunch of other kids that inspired me to be who I am today. They showed me a perspective that I've never seen before. Just not like not just in federal way, but seeing other kids all across Washington being able to put their minds and solve problems and trying to change our world for the future really encouraged me. And, also, just like my friend George said, miss at missus Ash, it first started with her, like, encouraging everyone and being like, you have to be in these meetings. And my first council meeting was, like, really inspiring to me because I never really been exposed to the democratic process of, like, America or any political things.

So I kind of opened my eyes to a certain extent and definitely it her asking me to continually go to me coming myself. And I feel just seeing other kids like here today just wanting more for their community just pushes me even harder to do the same.

Alright. Thank you. And of course, thanks for being in Key Club. We appreciate that. All right. Questions? Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you for being here and for applying for the position. I think that that is really awesome that you were able to page for the state legislature. My daughter was also she wasn't a page, she was a college intern for the Senate Minority Leader last year. And so it was a great experience. And so if you do move on to university or college, I would encourage you to get on to the intern program and do something similar as an intern.

So my question is, what would be your focus on the youth commission if you were to be appointed? Guess, know, what change And since you wanna be a US senator, we'll we'll say it this way, what policy would you want to see the youth commission work on?

I would definitely say education because the future is our youth. Working on education, building on education, laying that foundation early will make it easier in the future. So I would definitely say education.

All right. Awesome. Thank you.

Council member Seth Dawson. Oh, you had your light on.

I did.

Okay. Now, thank you for applying, and I'm glad you made it tonight. My question is, if you were to leave Faraway, you've probably heard it 16 times now, what would bring you back or not return to Federal Way? And what would you do about it if there's any concerns or issues?

Well, I would say the main thing that would bring me back to Federal Way is probably the community and just the people in general. The people of Federal Way is very diverse and different compared to other places all over the world. Just the diversity itself is something crazy because I came to America when I was five years old from Kenya, and I went to California first. And to be honest, it wasn't very diverse, so I didn't always feel in place or I didn't always feel included, and I just shut myself out or chose to stay quiet. So coming to Washington, especially Federal Way, seeing other people like me or just seeing other people that are open to listening to my ideas and my opinions would push me to come back every single time if I were to leave.

Council member Bausch. You would like to.

I'll ask you what I've asked the others. What is the biggest thing that you feel that you can contribute to the youth commission?

I myself, I would definitely say diversity. In order for a youth commission to work, obviously, it's with all these kids. We need diversity. We need change. We need something different. So what I could bring to the youth commission is diversity and just something different, something that you wouldn't always see is what I would say.

And council member Coach Marr.

Well, thank you for it's interesting that you're from Kenya. We have a large population from Kenya, though. Yeah. I have a friend from Kenya. The way I met him was I was holding signs on the street corner and he came came to help me hold the signs. When you were in the legislature, do you remember what the bill was that you prepared?

The bill I was specifically doing for my mock committee trial was for we were trying to fund for education. So our job was a way to find a way to fund it without increasing taxes or another way. So my group decided to come up with a way to we figured out that Washington makes 16,000,000,000 from tickets, from, like, speed tickets, accidents, and all that. So we decided to use that money instead of using it to where it went. We decided to use it towards education, and it ended up working.

Oh, it's interesting. Do do you know what the the most profitable business is that's in in the state of Washington? Do you know which one it is?

What did you say?

What business in Washington State is the most profitable? What in Washington State is the highest income producer? Do you have any idea?

I do not.

You know what? I always thought it was aerospace, but it's wheat. Our wheat farmers are the biggest income producers in Washington State. Just an interesting fact. Councilmember Moore.

Emanuel, thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being here. Thank you for applying. Thank you for taking that step to to be in the know and to be a part of the action of building the city. And I just I I really appreciate you being engaged. I really appreciate you saying that you wanna be a US senator. That's really, really cool. You remind me a lot of me when I was in high school. And so just keep being you and keep learning and keep advocating.

Because not just you, but all of our youth here have a very powerful voice here. And it's a matter of do you want to use it or do you not? And how do you use it? And so I just really appreciate you applying and the rest of you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Emmanuel.

Thank you.

So is there a staff member for the Youth Commission? Would you mind coming up? And would you mind introducing yourselves? Because I think there are council members who don't know you.

Yes. And I got a haircut for my last time at council too, so that's probably it. Good evening. My name is Jake Pyatt. I am the aquatics coordinator over at the community center and one of the staff members that helps oversee the youth commission.

So in the notes for consideration, staff was very they gave us a lot of good information. One of the notes is that you've asked that a youth commissioner be removed from the commission. And could you please explain?

Yeah. That's correct. We have had a position. I believe it was position number one on the youth commission. That individual has not been heard from or appeared at any of the meetings since being appointed, which again is obviously very unfortunate. But clearly, with all of the hopefully potential commissioners here, we would like someone to potentially, fill that. We've also had as, the alternate Justin had alluded to, he has needed to fill that void just to meet quorum at multiple of our meetings this year. So that is the stance of the staff at the moment.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anything else we should know?

Nope. Pretty simple.

Okay. Thanks.

Council president?

Yes.

If I can ask a question. Sure. Just really quick, and you might have just said it. I just missed it. Sure. You've obviously reached out several times. That's an obvious statement. Correct?

Yes. Every time we have a meeting, we send out advanced notice. We also get confirmed RSVPs. And, again, not even a confirmed, I won't be in attendance. We haven't heard any type of confirmation.

But, yeah, have you said, no. Let me just call her or call the person?

We've reached out. The only time we've heard back directly was, I believe, from her mother. And this was, I think, the first meeting just stating that she was sick. That was it.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Councilmember Youssef Dawson.

Actually, I had a question, but I do already have. In that case, I was worried about that physician one. Uh-huh. But otherwise, I think I filled it up.

Oh, okay. So, the city attorney has said that at the regular council meeting, we can take the step to to remove this this young woman.

Okay.

And then move forward with Okay. So. Okay. Do we have?

I'm sorry. I apologize. One more question.

Is Council Member Duffy Nelson done?

So, no, mine's not a question again. I just had based on their seniority and their class and everything. Okay. When this expires, I just went ahead and filled in the positions.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Mine's just a logistical question. Sure. And I'm certain it's been done. Have we notified her that she that the council may take action tonight?

We have not. No. At least not from our end of things, just because, again, we it was more of the interview process.

Yeah.

So at least on on staff end of overseeing the commission, we have not directly known.

And and her term, when would it normally expire?

I believe it was correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was 2028. So that was a long term. Okay.

Okay. No worries. 2027.

2027. And

I know the RCW's or f the federal aid revised code states that we can remove her. I just I think the only thing I I I'm I'm I'm supportive of this. I think only thing I'm concerned about is that that official notification. Yeah. Because I think that would catch her by surprise, but I also understand that you guys have communicated. You guys have sent emails as nothing. But, again, it it it does seem a little bit awkward that, what? What happened? That's kind of my point on that.

Thank you. All right. Does anyone have any steps moving forward? We have positions to fill. We have nine positions to fill. Council Member Septasso, go ahead and tell us your ideas since you've come up

with some ideas. Okay. So there's three positions that end in 2027, so giving those to the senior students. So that would be Justin.

For position one? Well,

so if we decide did we are we voting on position one, removing it? Or how do we do that?

Well, Guru will be in next meeting. Is there a consensus that that's

the plan?

Yes. Let's decide on that then. Yes? Okay.

Is that the consensus? Yes.

Yes.

Right. Okay. Then I have Justin. Let's put Justin on position one.

Oops, I already forgot. Annie

would be position six. Yaya, position seven. Hazel, position two. Ian, position three. Lyle, position four

Emmanuel what position am I missing? Position six

George, position nine and Christina, an alternate.

Council,

opinions, suggestions? No. Is everyone Okay. So what the process is, we can't vote at this meeting because it's a special meeting. And so the regular council meeting starts at 06:30.

And it's on the agenda to vote on this. And someone one of the council members will make a motion and then move these positions. And then the staff member that you just met will or the city clerk, which is she's sitting right there, will contact you probably in the next day or two and let you know what happened and when your meetings are. So we are so appreciative and so grateful that you have chosen to step forward and represent the youth of the city because we need to hear from you. And as counsel, we're always here to listen to you.

We'd love for you to come to council meetings and talk to us and let us know your opinions and what you'd like us to do in the city.

They're welcome to stay tonight here.

And you are yes, you are welcome to stay tonight. So the council meeting does begin at 06:30. But if you have other plans, like you have to go home and study or have dinner or whatever, we understand if you're not able to stay. All right? So thank you very much. We appreciate you being here. And with that, this special meeting is adjourned.