City Council - Special Meeting

21st for Advisory Body Interviews for the Senior Commission. And we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. And Councilmember Walsh, could you please lead us? Why do we do that? We all need to be wearing name badges. So tonight there's only two of you that we're interviewing for the senior commission. And staff, Amy is in the back. So what we're going to do is just, Amy, you're going to be first. And you'll just come to the podium. Tell us why you want to be on the senior commission, back on the senior commission. And then if council has any questions, then they can ask you questions.

Go ahead. Amy, you've been on the Senior Commission for a while now. What has been the most rewarding thing for you in serving on the Senior Commission?

Just one more question. Is there anything that the Senior Commission is not doing that you think it should be doing?

Thank you, Amy. And thanks for all the work you've done.

Anyone else? Oh, I'm sorry. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Chair, or Council President. Thank you, Amy, for reapplying and wanting to continue serving. How do you view your role on the commission, and how does the role of the council support that role?

I guess, how do you view your role as a member of the commission? Yeah, and how does the role of council support that?

Yes. How does the role of the council support the role of the commission?

Amy, thank you for being here and for applying once again to be a part of this. I really appreciate the content of what you said with Council Member Walzer's question and Council Member Hamilton. So I'm really enjoying the content that you're providing. I appreciate it because I used to be the outreach coordinator for the city of Milton and I ran senior programming, so I understand what you're saying. I think really the only question that kind of comes to my mind is what is – so you guys talk about a lot of things. You guys do a lot of outreach and a lot of events and whatnot that you guys do

Go ahead. No, sorry. I was just going to say, I mean, we're going to have to get together because there's so much to talk about because I absolutely love what you're saying. I mean, and I appreciate your response in terms of something new. How do we communicate better and reach out to other seniors? Because I know that we have all had that experience of connecting a senior that's lonely, that is feeling alone and by themselves, and I've come across that and whatnot. So having that center where it's solely dedicated, I think is a really huge benefit because it makes it easier for communication

Well, clearly your passion and your interest in this is showing up very, very clearly. So I just really appreciate you being here and just wanting to continue to serve our community. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you, Amy. You did absolutely great. And thanks for all you do. You can stay around if you want. Okay. Okay. So Michelle, do you want to come on up? So Michelle and I were just talking, and she has recently moved here from New York City. She's only been here for eight months. Yeah, so welcome to Federal Way.

Thank you, Council President. And thank you, Michelle, for applying. And I think it's great that you want to jump in and get involved so quickly. That's one way to make this your home, for sure, is to get involved. Same question. I always ask people the same question. So how do you see your role on the commission? And how does the role of the council as a policy body support that role?

Yeah. What prompted the move from New York City to Federal Way Washington?

All right. That's a great answer. That's a great answer. And what do you do professionally now?

All right. All right. Thank you, and welcome to Federal Way. Thank you. You moved to the best part of the Puget Sound area.

I agree. All right. Council Member Moore.

Thank you. Well, Michelle, congratulations. I assume you got married recently. Oh, okay. Well, congratulations. Thank you. And welcome to Federal Way. It's a great, great city. A huge change. from the East Coast, New York, and I appreciate you sharing. I don't really have a question yet, but I just want to say thank you for applying. Thank you for just wanting and desiring to be involved and engaged, and thank you for the work that you've done in government, especially when you've mentioned that you worked at What island?

Yes, I've heard a lot about that. Yes. And I know it's in the, yes, there's a lot there. But I appreciate your public service heart, and I just look forward to supporting this and seeing where you go with it. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle.

Thank you. Excuse me, I have a question. So what would you like... to see the senior commission do you may not know all that they do but coming in as a new person to the area from a different part of the country what would you like to see happen here

I was just going to say, you know, I mean, we need to catch up. I have a cousin who is very familiar with the Rikers Island, spent some time there. So anyway.

Well, tell us more. Well, thank you very much. So we're going to talk among ourselves. And at the 6.30 regular council meeting, part of the agenda, one of the agenda items is to appoint people to this commission. You're welcome to stay if you want. You don't have to, but we will get in touch with you after tonight. Thank you, and welcome to Federal Way. All righty. So we have...

four positions opened and uh two applicants discussion i mean if i may sure i mean i think this is pretty straightforward pretty simple i mean i think we need to reappoint amy um and i'd like to see um michelle uh be appointed to this committee obviously and uh commission um where they go i mean It all speaks for itself right there.

Would you like Amy as an alternate? I mean, excuse me, not Amy. Would you like Michelle as an alternate or as a voting member?

I appreciate that question as a voting member.

Do we know is Ken Pratt and David Reynolds, are they not?

They did not reapply, which is very unfortunate because they both did a tremendous amount of work on the commission.

And they don't have plans at all of continuing then?

Council President, just to confirm, so David and Kenneth did not apply at all?

Correct. And Larry did apply, and he was not able to be here today. So he'll be here at our next meeting.

Okay. so so he when that time comes I mean probably but him in a voting position I would think so yes so he's doing a good job on the condition he's new to our community too I think he's been here about two or three years my suggestion Amy will stay on position nine

So we appointed Larry, it says 9-16-2026. Is that correct?

That hasn't that date is still in the future.

Oh, yeah 25 so, okay Dr. Brown have been doing a little time travel, but I Know we can't appoint him.

Well, actually It's been less than a year. Yeah, and we typically We don't actually interview Council members, commissioners, if we have interviewed them within a year, if there's a desire to just appoint him as a voting member. Point of order.

Can we have the chair recognize speakers before they speak?

Go ahead, Lydia. Are we going to finish? I'm done, yeah. Okay. Council Member Moore.

Wait, were you waiting to speak? Yes. Okay. So, Council President, I think Council Member Hamilton was waiting to speak.

Sorry. Thank you. No, it's okay. I just want to make sure we're following Robert's rules here. So I would... So are you saying that Larry would not be interviewing, or will he be interviewing at the next special meeting?

So we can do it either way. We made a... A few years ago the council decided that if someone had been interviewed for a commission and within a year of that interview they applied to be on the commission again if they had to or they were an alternate and a voting position came open that we didn't necessarily feel the need to interview them. then there was a council member who felt that that we should interview everyone so we went back to interviewing everyone no matter what so it's it's it's really up to us as to what we want to do i would like to be consistent with the interviewing you know p

from larry okay um i i imagine he will probably be reappointed and so if he's currently an alternate i would uh my prefer preference would be to move him into a voting position after he interviews and then to reappoint amy to her position and then

and then is that it for open positions then or we have we have any we have one more one alternate and three open positions okay and so then move michelle into the next position okay thank you councilmember martin yeah um i actually i was just going to say i i do think we ought to be consistent because i know that people watch us all the time and just want to be really even keel, even with everybody that applies with our commission processes. So I appreciate what you just stated, Council Member Hamilton. And I would also support that. I mean, just wait for us to interview Larry and then make th

Yeah, I thought both of the candidates were really strong, and I would support them being appointed to position, well, Amy, position nine, where she is, and the other candidate, Michelle Banks, position seven or eight, and then move Mr. Munoz down to a permanent position. And, yes, I would very much like to hear his testimony.

Yeah, I agree with the rest of you. With Larry Munoz, I think that the biggest thing there is not so much an interview to decide whether to appoint him or not, but an interview to see what his feedback is after nearly a year. And I think it would be very good to hear from him and make that point.

formal appointment afterwards I think we have a decision all right well thank you very much and with that oh I'd like to excuse councilmember coach more thank you that the meeting is adjourned