Appointments Committee - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the community vitality and safety committee meeting of September 10th, 2026. Kimmy, can you please call the roll? Here. Here. Here. Here. Do we have anyone here for public comment? there is nobody signed up in the room or online okay so we'll close public comment and I will move on to our briefing items so there are two briefing items um the first one is interviews for the Human Services Commission and I will call on Nicole Emery our city clerk to get us started good afternoon chair Rumba members of the CVS committee today you'll be interviewing four applicants for the Human Services Commission and also reviewing the applications

of four commissioners who are seeking reappointment. Staff asks that you consider those reappointments based on their prior experience and their updated applications. For the interviews today, each applicant will provide a two-minute presentation and will include answers to the following two questions. Number one, what unique ability, skill set, or perspective would you bring if selected? And number two, what is your experience with human services and how has that influenced your decision to apply for the committee? After each presentation, you'll have an opportunity to ask additional questions. And once the interviews have concluded, you may make motions to submit to the full council. Erin, the staff liaison, and myself are available if you have any questions before we get started.

Well, I just wanted to just review for the people on our committee that the three people that are being reappointed that we're considering for reappointment, which is something that in this committee we do a lot of times, I really feel like these people really fit really well what we look for for volunteers. They've really shown up, been participatory, I've actually gone to their meetings before and met with them, and I just feel like they exude for me what we want to see in volunteers, and I know that they've worked really well together, so I'm hoping that everyone will support the re-appointments when we get to that. So I just wanted to say that. Are there any questions about that? Yes, go ahead.

So if we appoint all the re-appointments, do we just have one seat left?

I think we have two, is that correct? Is it two? So I thought when I read my packet, okay.

Two seats, yeah.

And then we also have the opportunity to do another one where we could just, a short list, if we wanted to do someone there. Okay. Which I, if there's someone that we really just think is great, I think that's always a good idea. Sometimes there are vacancies and people have to leave for some reason. So does that sound okay if we move forward in that? Okay, great. So we're ready for the first applicant, whenever you are, Nicole.

Wonderful. We will have, Corinne will be the first one. Hi, is it Corinne?

Corinne.

Corinne, thank you so much. I'm going to pass you to Chair Rumba to begin your interview. Okay, great.

Hi, Corinne. I'm Chair Rumba, and thank you so much for applying to the Human Services Commission. We're so excited to have you here today. we're going to go ahead and give you two minutes to answer the questions that you were given ahead of time. And then after those two minutes, we're going to take about five minutes to ask some questions of you that we might have to follow up. And as soon as you start talking, we'll start the class. So feel free to start whenever it feels appropriate to you.

Okay, great. Hello, my name is Corinne Kodama. It's nice to meet you, sort of. And I wanted to share a little bit about my skill set and abilities. So my professional career has been both in nonprofit and higher education as an educator, advocate and researcher. And I've done particularly a lot of work around racial and gender and economic equity. But in terms of my skill set, I understand a lot of this work involves writing grant proposals. And so I've worked on grant initiatives myself. So I'm very familiar with the process. I've also been a grant evaluator, so I understand how to read and write grant reports. I'm also familiar with Rubix for rating and scoring proposals because I've also served on a lot of scholarship and award committees. I also understand a little bit about how government funding works because of my work at Women Employed, which I'm going to talk about in a minute. I think I bring a unique perspective having worked in a nonprofit myself and seen, and I've also come from another state more recently, which may be useful at sometimes with a different perspective. And I bring a strong racial equity lens to my work. In terms of human services, most recently I worked at a nonprofit called Women Employed, which focused on improving policy and programs for low paid working women. And most of our work focused on human services, particularly in terms of how people know about and are able to access services, whether it's nonprofits or state agencies or public benefits. I also conducted research that directly engaged human services organizations and their clients, including looking at the economic barriers for domestic violence survivors and the career paths of entry-level healthcare workers. And though all those experiences have influenced my interest in serving on this commission because human services organizations are so crucial to supporting our communities and particularly marginalized communities, but they're often underfunded. And they also need support in reaching out to diverse communities and finding ways to reach a broader audience and those who need their help. And especially important right now when the federal government has cut so much funding for human services organizations and it puts strict requirements on what the funding can be used for.

Thank you so much for all of that information. We really appreciate that. I'm going to open it up to questions and I'm going to see who council members have any questions.

Thank you chair. I don't have any questions, but thank you for taking the time to apply.

Okay, I'm in the room. Do you have a question? Councilman Palmer? I do.

Okay, great. Thanks. It's great to meet you kind of. I'm wondering, you put it on that you're kind of currently in between jobs. It sounds like you have an amazing work history. I guess I was just wondering, because we heard recently from this commission that there's a couple of months where there's like a ton of work. And so I'm wondering, I guess, how getting a job might work for you in still juggling the responsibilities of this committee?

Sure. I mean, I've often been engaged in other things outside of work. So, you know, whether it's committees or volunteer organizations or whatever. And I also don't plan on getting a job that's going to be like 60 hours a week. So, you know, I'm really interested in learning more about Tacoma and being engaged in the community more. And so, you know, being on something like the commission is important to me and I'm pretty good at balancing, you know, work life. And so I don't think that would be a huge problem.

Thank you. Welcome to Tacoma.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jared. Corinne, can you talk a little bit about how you work together as a team?

Sure. I mean, I've most often worked in small organizations or departments where you have to work as a team in order to get things done. I mean, much like human services organizations that are, you know, really small and don't have a lot of funding. And that was my experience for the last few years. And so I did a lot, everything I, a lot of the work that I did was in teams and a lot of it was actually virtual because we were primarily, we were like hybrid, but primarily remote organizations. So I prefer working in teams to get different perspectives and to have a reality check and to, you know, also have fact checking and making sure everyone's, you know, that we're being inclusive and that we're understanding all the different ways we could approach a problem. So it's something that I'm used to and that I prefer and that I think I've proven that I can do both online and in person.

Great, thank you. All right, thank you so much, Karine, for interviewing. We'll be making our decisions today after we get done with our interviews. I want to thank you so much. As soon as we're done with our interviews, the clerk's office will reach out and let you know what our decision was. And we really appreciate, I just want to make sure you knew that there's other options for other commissions in case that booth, we don't have enough seats. But I just wanted to give you that information. I didn't see that you applied for any other commissions, but I just wanted to put that out there.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. Have a great evening.

Okay, you too. Sorry, my screen is off.

There we go. Next up will be Janae, and they're on a mobile device, so they just take a little bit longer than individuals on a laptop or computer. Try one more time. I don't know if I hear you.

I don't know if the others do.

Can you hear us, Janae? No, we can't hear you on our end.

We can't hear you.

I don't know if you still, if the previous Zoom link maybe you still have open on a different tab or something that might be.

Can she call us?

Oh no, it doesn't look like she can hear us either.

Okay. Can we chat with her and just tell her, can she call us? Is there any place she could call, like one of our phones or something?

I can see if she can.

Some kind of stuff might go bump it up.

OK, she's going to try to log out and come back in and see if that.

OK, that's great. Thank you. My problem is things like turning my light down or something like that. Or opening two teams, not two teams, two. Oh my God. So embarrassing. I've done it all. Trust me. Except for going to the bathroom while you're on any of those. Like those SNLs they had during the pandemic.

Okay. There we go.

There we go. Hi, Janae. I'm going to pass you the chair.

Awesome. Thank you. Sorry about that. No problem.

um so is it janae is that right yes okay hi janae i'm council member sarah rumbaugh and chair of community vitality and safety committee and you um are here to apply for the human services commission tonight and so we've sent you some questions ahead of time we're going to give you a couple minutes to answer those questions so we get to know like your other things you might have to say and then after that it looks like we're giving three minutes out to people to the council to ask questions to you so okay did you start talking we will start the clock so whenever that is just just begin your presentation awesome so thank you guys uh for allowing me to interview for this position um i'm janae

I am a community partner through Elements of Education. I work closely with Tacoma Public Schools, with Beyond the Bell. I go into the schools and recruit high school students to be after school instructors for Beyond the Bell. I think some of my unique abilities that I could bring to the Commission's team is that I have six years of direct leadership working with children, families, communities. Currently, I am a youth and children's director. And so I've had the experience of being able to be out in the community and know the needs of what our families and Children need I also like I said I work closely with Tacoma Public Schools as a community partner for elements of education. Where I get to go in, I said in the train and kind of make and build relationships with the staff and the students and administrators there. And so I get to see firsthand what families and schools. how they could coordinate together and work together within our community. I think, Billy, the second question was what experiences of human services I have and how does that influence my decision to apply? Like I said, I've been working in this field for the last six years. I love it. It's absolutely, I like to call it a gift. And also it's my calling. I wanted to reach the community and also our youth, I have three I have a child that's into coma public schools so it's. been something that's on my heart to be able to know how I can help pour back in to the youth and to families and to the Community here.

All right, thank you so much for that. I'm going to open it up to questions from our committee members now. First off, I'm going to ask Council Member Scott, since she's online, if she has any questions.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Chair. I don't have any questions for you. Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to apply, Jenny.

Thank you.

Now, Council Member Palmer, do you have any questions? I don't. Thank you for applying, Jenny. And then Council Member Walker.

Thank you, Chair. Our commissions are, I always say, they're team sports. You work with other commissioners. Can you talk about how you may have worked with others in this type of, like on a commissioner board in the past, or just in general, your approach to teamwork?

Yes, so I get to work. Like I said, I work for a actually work for a church and so I get to do a lot of vetting with other churches in the area as well as when I do go into coma public schools I get to meet other partners. I have attended some board meetings through parks, Tacoma and also the Tacoma City Council. And so I would love to be able to expand that partnership and be able to give input of the areas of expertise that I feel that I could bring to the table.

I just have one question for you, Jenny, because I see that you've applied for some other commissions that we have applied for the community's police advisory committee and also the city's recognitions committee. Well, how would you rank? We only have a couple openings right now for Human Services Commission. And we have like you're such a high quality candidate, as well as the other people that we seem to be interviewing. I'm just so impressed with people who apply for this. I'm just curious if those other ones at all are more important to you, or do you feel like this is really where you want to be?

I believe that I'm a person that any area that I am put in, I want to excel in that area. And I want to learn more. And I just really want to be a vessel. So wherever the need is needed for me, I am happy to learn and equip myself in that area. To do my best and then also to produce and be able to again each entity of those positions, I would feel like I could be a great asset and and, hopefully, it will be able, and I know it'll be a great asset for me.

Okay, thank you for your answer that was a great answer thanks.

Absolutely.

our interviews tonight um and then we're going to make our decision and then the clerk's office will reach back out and let you know but i want to thank you so much for your time tonight and for being interested in volunteering um for the city of tacoma we really appreciate you awesome thank you guys so much i hope you have a great evening you too thank you

I'll be next.

Who'd you say was next? I'm sorry.

Erin.

Erin. Okay. Thank you.

Hi, is it Erin? Hi, Erin. Welcome to the CVS Committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Rumba to begin your interview.

Thank you.

Hi, Erin. I'm Council Member Sarah Rumba. I'm the chair of the Community Vitality and Safety Committee. And you are here because you're interviewing for the Human Services Commission. I want to thank you for your interest in our city. We sent you some questions ahead of time. So we're going to give you two minutes to answer those questions. And then we're going to take about three minutes to ask you some questions. So whenever you start talking, the clock will start running. So feel free to start whenever you're ready.

Got it. Thank you. So I'll just jump right into the questions. The first one, I believe, was around the abilities, skill sets, and perspectives. For abilities, I would say one of my strongest abilities is working on a team. I do really well in collaborative environments and on collaborative projects. I've been on the board of a couple of organizations. And when I lived in Seattle, I was a member of the Seattle Human Rights Commission. And I think I was able to do some of my best work and work that I'm most proud of because I was part of a very strong and supportive team. Skill set wise, I would say I have a variety of skills that I've gained throughout the years. Those include reading and understanding grant applications for the purposes of allocating funding. I did this through two giving projects with Social Justice Fund Northwest. I also did it voluntarily with the Seattle Foundation. And then I did a COVID-19 relief grant review process with the state. And I just really enjoy learning about different organizations and the work they do. And I try to give a lot of care and people's attention to the detail to everyone that's seeking funding. My perspective, my background is in social justice and human rights. So I bring an equity lens to everything I involve myself in. I'm a mixed race queer person of color who's a product of immigrants on my dad's side and black civic Northwesterners on my mom's side. And I try to bring all of those perspectives into everything I do. And then that second question, experience in human services. So I just finished my bachelor's degree in applied behavioral science, which is a social work degree. So I just spent the last two years studying all things human service related. And most recently I was a consultant for building changes on their Washington Youth and Family Fund grantees. I did some capacity building work and support for those grantees. Aaron Brockett, that's partly the reason I applied, but really I was just ready to get back into civic engagement.

Thank you so much for your answers Aaron appreciate you i'm going to go ahead and ask if i'm Council members Scott has a question person she's online.

Thank you chair, I do not have any questions, but thank you Aaron for taking the time to apply for the Commission.

Thank you.

Do you have any questions? Oh, hi, Aaron. Thanks for applying. I was just curious. It seems. Are you newer to Tacoma? It looks like a lot of your your history and experience has been in Seattle. I was just curious. Um, why not? Why do you want to get kind of involved in in the civic engagement down down here?

Yes, so I was living in Seattle and my partner moved to Tacoma, bought a house there. And even though I left my apartment, it did not make sense for them to sell their house and move into an apartment with me. It made more sense for me to move to Tacoma. I haven't really been civically engaged, mostly because I was in school. But now that that's done, I'm ready to kind of get back involved in my community.

Thanks for that answer.

Councilman Walker. Thank you, Chair. Erin, thanks for applying. I always ask about how people work in teams, but you went with that and spoke so specifically about it. I don't think I can ask anything else, so thank you for applying.

So, Erin, I'm going to ask you about the other commissions you're interested in because we don't have a lot of Openings tonight for the human services Commission and we just have such great applicants like yourself and so i'm curious of the ones that you've applied it for you apply for human rights Commission. For the human services Commission to come our Commission are those all things that you would write about the same for your interest, are you more interested in our human rights Commission, what do you think.

I mean, I put, I would say the human rights one, mostly because I have experience on a human rights commission, but that's not necessarily a priority. I think human services would be the more interesting commission to be a part of. And then I would say human rights would be the second and the arts commission also close second.

Okay. Well, thank you for your answer. I appreciate that. All right, so we have, I think, one more interview, and then we're going to make our decisions tonight. And so the clerk's office should be reaching out to you shortly after that to let you know what our decision was. But I just want to thank you so much for getting involved in our city, and I hope that you're enjoying Tacoma. It's a great place to live of work and play. And this wasn't an advertisement for Tacoma, but I guess I will advertise. I'm already here. Yeah, so thank you so much for being a part of us. feel free to reach out to any of our council members if you have questions about other ways that you can get involved as well. So thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah. One final interview and it will be Kaletra.

Hi, is it Kaletra?

Hi, it's Kaletra.

Kaletra, welcome to the CVS Committee. I'm going to pass you to Chair Rumba.

Thank you.

Hi, Kaletra. Thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Councilmember Sarah Rumba, Chair of the Community Vitality and Safety Committee, and you are here because you've applied to the Human Services Commission. We sent you out some questions ahead of time. We're going to give you about two minutes to answer those and then we're going to take a few minutes to ask you some questions. And so whenever you're ready to start talking, the clock will start and feel free to start whenever that works for you.

OK, thank you. Thank you all so much for allowing me to come and speak with you today about experience, skills, abilities and all of the things. So I bring a unique sort of. combination of direct human service experience, public sector systems knowledge, and then just an equity centered perspective as well across the work that I've done. So my career has been providing direct services to victims of crime, contracts management at the state level, evaluating funding requests for federal, well, excuse me, evaluating funding requests, for federal funding for victim services programs, as well as state funding for expanding or creating new behavioral health facilities. And of course, in that work, developing contracts and through all of this work, working with like nonprofits, other government agencies, tribes and community based organizations. Currently, I work for King County's Department of Community and Human Services, and a large part of my role is ensuring that solicitation process is equitable and feasible and of course responsive to community needs and also serving as the final reviewer of contracts and amendments and sometimes letters of agreement for that quality and accountability piece. I also provide or shall say bring a perspective of someone that's working with maternal mental health and Black infant health. I'm a part of the Community Advisory Board for the Black Infant Health Program with Tacoma Pierce County Health Department. It's a lot to say. And so from there, just kind of looking at how systems can better serve these communities that have historically been not receiving the services and care that they need. And so human services has essentially been the foundation of my work. Like I mentioned earlier, I began in victim services advocacy. So that was looking at conducting needs assessments, connecting survivors to medical and legal and social services. And then, like I mentioned earlier, moving to the state government, managing funding for behavioral health programs, as well as victim services programs. And again, working to strengthen program accountability. And then those experiences really taught me policy and funding decisions have very real consequences for people's ability to access care and support. Um, I also, uh, completed some, uh, my masters in public health and my research focus there was maternal mental health. And so my research focused on how, um, BIPOC communities in both Seattle and Tacoma, what is working for them in terms of maternal mental health, whether their assets, what are the barriers and then providing recommendations on how they can move forward, um, to strengthen their programs or to have access to services. And again, just kind of deepening my commitment to addressing inequities in health and human services. And essentially I apply because I want my experience or to be able to bring this experience of both the community and system sides of human services to Tacoma to help ensure that resources are being prioritized and also that the funding is getting to the communities that need these resources and also that the decisions to provide these funding is being led by those communities that are looking to be served.

Thank you so much for your answers. We appreciate that. I'm going to go ahead and see if Council Member Scott has a question first. She's online.

Thank you, Chair. I don't have any questions. Thank you, Kaletra, for your interest in applying to serve. Thank you.

All right, Council Member Palmer. No questions. Thank you for applying. All right, Council Member Walker.

Thank you, Chair. I always like to ask the same question. Serving on the commission is very much team sports and you have to work with a lot of people that you may or may not agree with. Can you talk a little bit about other boards and commissions that you may have served on or just generally your approach to teamwork?

So yes, I mentioned serving on the Black Infant Health Advisory Board and so we're all bringing different perspectives. There are folks who have you know, born and raised in Tacoma, been here. I'm newer to Tacoma, sort of been here for like nine years. And so just always moving in, whether it's that space or in teams prior of, we all bring lived experience. We all bring different lived experiences, I guess I should say. Different lived experiences, different backgrounds and education, and just always moving forward, being respectful of those differences, but also looking at in those differences, how can we move forward for whatever that particular goal is to be reached or set upon to navigate those differences. And like I said, just really trying to listen and understand and be respectful of the different perspectives.

Great, thank you. All right. So thank you so much for your time tonight. We will be making decisions right after we get off with your interview. And then the clerk's office will be sharing out the information after that. I also saw that you applied for some other, some of our commissions, other commissions. And so just want you to know, we just have like such quality people applying for this. I just want to thank you so much for being interested in volunteering for the city of Tacoma. Really appreciate you taking the time tonight. And we will be reaching out and letting you know what our decision is. And I hope you have a nice evening.

You too. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Okay, so we had like, really incredible people. So I just want to do the easy part first, if that's okay. If I could get some motions for the first four that we can make decisions on, that would be great. These would be the ones where you'd want to do the incumbent. So, um, customer Palmer, do you want to do that?

Sure. I'm going to recommend the appointment of Nicholas to the emerging leader position. Wait a 2nd. Oh, that's he does qualify. Sorry. Okay. Uh, on the human services commission to serve a 1 year term effective October 1st, 2026 to expire September 30th, 2027.

2nd. Okay. All those in favor signify by saying that.

I move to recommend the appointment re-appointment of Jesus Jesse Carlos to the Human Services Commission to serve a three-year term effective October 1st, 2022 to expire September 30th, 2029.

Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.

I move to recommend the re-appointment of Sarah Romer to the Human Services Commission to serve a three-year term effective October 1st, 2026 to expire September 30th, 2029.

Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.

I move to recommend the reappointment of Colin Thrower to the Human Services Commission to serve a three-year term effective October 1st, 2026 to expire September 30th, 2029.

Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Okay. So I'm going to just take a, I usually love to listen to you first, all of you, because you all have such great things to say, but I do want to say that when I looked at Corrine, she fits a couple boxes for me. First off, she's Asian American, but also her age, the age that she is, that's one of the things that we've been trying to do is diversify the age limit, and if you look There really aren't that many people in her age category in this commission, and I think that she has a lot of experience and would be a great asset to this commission, but that's the only thing I really want to say at this time. I want to hear from you all, but that's the only one I thought she would be great.

Sorry, I'm laughing because this is hard.

Yes, Council Member Walker.

I will jump in. Obviously, any of these people could do a great job, and it's going to be a really hard decision. I appreciate that you noted that everybody, I think everybody, now I'm missing one, suggested they are also interested in other commissions so we can find places for drugs, which is great. Thank you for making a note about the age. I did not think about that. Or I didn't notice that and I think that that's a really. A really good one I I think she would be really great she's newer to Tacoma which I appreciated actually had to post them or a little bit newer to Tacoma I don't think that that. changes their ability to do things, and they both seem so eager to learn about Tacoma, so that doesn't give me pause, although sometimes it would in, you know, other commissions. I think this work is work that can be done by folks, especially those who are coming here. So I would support your interest in Kareen and, sorry, is it Kalitra? Kalitra, yeah. I really was impressed with her answers and the way she brought her skills to this particular table and connected those dots. So for me, she is a top candidate for me. So I think I would go for Corinne. Yeah, they have those E's.

um what were you thinking maybe if we could do an optional motion for a short list of one person who would you want to do uh i could i could i could support either people have strong feelings either of the other two communities okay from council member palmer

I guess, can I rephrase that, actually? I maybe, because they are all interested in other commissions, I maybe don't want to put them on a short list, because then does that mean they can't apply for another commission? I don't want to put them in that position.

Clerk, they can still apply, can't they?

I thought we had a rule of only one commission.

Yeah, but they would just be able to get off that, right? Because they're just on the short list, right?

I think the question is, if someone was on the shortlist but had an interview for a different CBC, could they take the interview and get appointed? Yeah. Yeah, they could, absolutely.

Oh, okay. Scratch that for the record.

It's okay. Councilmember Scott, do you have any—oh, I'm going to start.

I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay. Councilmember Scott, do you have anything that you want to add?

I'm not anything that hasn't already been said. I think everybody was really great. I did also feel that Corrine and Kalitra were kind of the two that rose to the top for me there. But I thought, again, that everybody was really great. And I'm not. opposed to having a shortlist because I think, again, everybody was awesome. So if for some reason somebody wasn't on the list, I think that having folks as backup would be wonderful. I don't necessarily, I would be happy to have both of them on the shortlist, but so I'm not necessarily certain which one, like which of the other interviews that I would like put if I had a single one out for the shortlist.

Council Member Palmer. Okay.

So yes, I agree with Corinne. She kind of blew me away and I guess I'm just concerned that she's going to find something else to do. She's so qualified. So she would be fantastic. Kalitra and Erin were pretty even for me and so I'm happy to go with Kalitra for the open position and then I would suggest Erin for the shortlist.

too was thinking how you were I was sort of thinking Erin for the appointment but I could do either I just when I looked at the number of people might represent as a male or female it looked like there was more women on that just there looked like there was more of one type of person rather than the other type and so I just was looking for more like make similar but that doesn't that's not that important because we all know that that's not We don't look at things that way, really. But I also was like, I thought he did a great job as well, but he hasn't been here as long. So maybe that might be something else that he's interested in. I'm hoping that Janae might be interested in CPAC. I know we have some openings coming up. So that would be something I'd want to reach out to her and see about. All right. So do you want to go ahead and make some motions?

Sure. I move to recommend the appointment of Corrine Kodama. to the Human Services Commission to serve a three-year term effective October 1, 2026 to expire September 30, 2029.

Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.

And I move to recommend the appointment of Kaletra Welch to the Human Services Commission to fill an unexpired term to expire September 30, 2027. Second.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes.

And then I move to recommend Erin Orovilo, sorry if I butchered that, as the first person on the shortlist for the Human Services Commission, which will be effective until the next applicant recruitment period opens. Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.

Opposed?

Motion passes. And I want to thank you all for that. There are such great people, and that was really hard. So, okay. Okay, so now we're on to, and thank you so much for being here, Claire. We really appreciate you. Okay, so we are on to our next presentation, which is the Neighborhood Council Program Annual Report. I'm going to ask Andy Howe, did I say that right? Andy Howe, sorry. It's a weird last name. No, it's not okay. Andy Ho, Chair of the Community Council of Tacoma, to give her presentation.

Well, thank you so much for the invitation to come and present, and it's fantastic being here, and I just want to thank you for facilitating this happening. I do want to real quick, before I get started, I should have a colleague with me, Tim Fairley of New Tacoma, who is the Chair of New Tacoma. also the Vice Chair of Community Council of Tacoma, and unfortunately had some things that kept him from being with us today. So I was teasing him and told him I will play both parts of both Andy and Tim. Tim, I hope I represent you well at your parts. All right, I will get started. Again, my name is Andrea Hogue. Everyone calls me Andy. I am the Chair of the Community Council of Tacoma, and more specifically, the South End Neighborhood Council. So you might be, who are we, what do we do, when, where, why, all of those good things. And so I thought it'd be great to start with just kind of some of the basics. And to stay on task, you'll see me referencing my notes, because if anyone knows me, I can gab. The Community Health of Tacoma, or CCOT if you've heard the acronym before, is we bring together Tacoma's eight Neighborhood Council areas. We have Central, Eastside, New Tacoma, North End, Northeast Tacoma, South End, South Tacoma, and the West End. Together, those eight councils create a community-based network covering the entire city. Tacoma's Neighborhood Council program was established by the City Council in 1992. The councils were created to provide a way for residents and neighborhoods inform the city on issues of local importance, identify neighborhood priorities, work towards solutions, and participate more directly in decisions affecting their communities. And more than 30 years later, the structure is still here. Eight independent neighborhood councils and one overarching council, the Community Council of Tacoma. One of the slides we brought, that's our banner there at the top, bright. with all of our neighborhood councils there. The map is representative of our council districts. So local voices, neighborhood knowledge, citywide connection. No fancy slides. We don't need fancy, it's community. There isn't simply an informal collection of community groups. A neighborhood council program is established in the municipal code, chapter 1.45. The code establishes neighborhood councils as independent from the city and as the primary forum within our boundaries for discussions about city programs, policies, and neighborhood concerns. So there is a very intentional role here. Neighborhood councils create a place where community can bring forward concerns, priorities, ideas, and solutions, and where the city can come and engage with an already established network of people who know their neighborhoods. The program is supported by the city's Neighborhood and Community Services Department, thank you, also known as NCS. And NCS provides administrative support to the eight neighborhood councils, as well as CCOT, while the individual councils remain independent organizations. The distinction is important because neighborhood councils are intended to maintain an independent community voice while also having an established relationship with the city government. Alongside the municipal code, there are neighborhood council program standards and guidelines. Those guidelines help define the responsibilities and expectations of neighborhood councils, CCOT, and the city itself and the role it plays in the programming. We recently completed a comprehensive review last summer with just a little last waiting for Tacoma 2035 to be finished of the standards and guidelines and chapter 1.45 in partnership with neighborhood community services and representatives from the neighborhood councils. As part of that work, we also looked at how the neighborhood council structure connects with Tacoma's broader strategic direction and planning goals. And that's important because the neighborhoods change. Tacoma changes. The issues residents bring to us are constantly changing. For more than 30 years, the neighborhood council program has provided an established place for community connection and participation in Tacoma. And part of maintaining the strength of that structure is periodically looking at how we can continue to evolve alongside the communities we serve. And that's kind of what our recent review of the standards and guidelines, which we do every five years to make sure that we are aligning with the city's goals and neighboring community needs. If I could please have slide number two. I just want to add to the longevity of this program. It gives us something incredibly valued that's decades of relationships, community knowledge and experience, decades of volunteers. Our responsibility is to build on that foundation and make sure it continues to serve to come a well into the future. Rather than your standard blue and white slideshow that do come with a lot of official transmissions, I thought What better way than a photo collage to show you what we do. There's a photo up there representing every neighborhood council. Some of us working together. Different events. We go to Northeast Tacoma Car Show there. There's Litter Cleanups Community Council goes out too. We're on a Juneteenth. We are the Litter Free 253 program of volunteers. That is Homeless Community Council that was born out of the West End. There's litter cleanups, there's porch fests, there's mural projects, there's informational meetings. Every neighborhood council is going to look different because the community is going to dictate what is brought to those meetings and how the community moves for projects. Some folks, some of the work you see, or I'm sorry, some of the work you don't see in these pictures is going to be things like, for example, a notice. These are for neighbors. who live up against an alleyway that Tidy Up Tacoma is gonna come do some cleaning there. Our partnership is we advocated for neighbors, Tidy Up was responsive. We're like, yes, we will write the note. We literally are walking around passing papers out to people. However, we need to reach them through social media, all of that stuff. So I'm very proud of this collage because I see what it represents. I see people I know, I see diverse community. I've been part of some of these situations, which literally just brings great joy physically to my body when I look at this collage. And I feel that a lot of the people that are involved in these sorts of activities feel the same way. And that is why the neighborhood council program is so important. Let's see. So we've touched on the municipal code, told you what neighborhood councils are supposed to do. And this slide is showing you kind of what we do. Now, I'm going to be 10th. because we led with, we're going to get into some more of the more specifics, and I'm going to speak for New Tacoma. New Tacoma being involved can take a lot of forms. One project they are currently working on in partnership with Parks Tacoma and Tacoma Sister Cities is the restoration and improvement of the Thea Foss Park globe. They've also been working to strengthen their connections with both residents and businesses throughout New Tacoma, including finding better ways to hear directly from residents and businesses about what they're experiencing and what they might need from a neighborhood council or how the neighborhood council can support the work they're already doing. Their meetings continue to be a place where people can be brought together with city departments, elected officials, and community partners to talk about issues affecting New Tacoma from transportation to public safety to development and to the future of neighborhoods. Those are just a few examples from the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council, but every neighborhood council is doing a little bit of work a little differently, again, based on the community that it serves. I'd like to widen the lens a little bit, and I think that's exactly what these photographs help illustrate. When you look across the slide, you're not seeing eight neighborhood councils all doing the same thing. You're seeing eight communities identifying what matters where they live and finding ways to respond. Over this past year, That has meant everything from community cleanups, environmental stewardship to public art and place making. There is a place for everybody in the Neighborhood Council program. It has meant neighborhood events and block parties to give people a reason to meet one another outside of a crisis or a problem. Not only do people, they want to participate in their city and they want to civically be involved and people do have complaints and people do want information. But above all of that, more importantly, People need community and a place where they can gather, a place where they can meet their neighbors, a place where they can feel they're not alone, someone that they can maybe lean on that is experiencing some of the things that they're experiencing. And really, the nuts and bolts of it I've explained to you, but the neighborhood councils are more powerful than all of that just because of that community piece where people can come gather. We have work around food access, youth and families, transportation, pedestrian safety, We thank you to NCS and other city departments are able to bring you all directly to walking tours and meetings or maybe even a cul-de-sac outside someone's house because everybody's heard about it, right? And so the neighborhood council, you know, set up that kind of casual meeting in community. Because each neighborhood council is independent, we have the flexibility to respond to the character and priorities of our community. There isn't just one model for what neighborhood engagement looks like. And in closing, I would just like to say, ultimately, what we hope you take away from just these two slides is that one, for more than 30 years, Tacoma has had this network of people who are willing to show up for the places they call home. We have eight neighborhood councils with different communities, different strengths, different approaches connected through CCOT and connected with the city through Neighborhood Council Program. There's always room for us to learn and grow and strengthen our relationships with community. There's also tremendous value in what is already happening. There are relationships here, history is here, and neighborhood knowledge is here. And I would like to now pay a gratitude to everyone that has walked before me before us in the iteration of the Neighborhood Council program, as well as the community members who sat through many iterations of the Neighborhood Council boards and everything and still show up to volunteer and to help us out. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. And I'm also interested in hearing from you about what we could do to further support any work that you are doing in the community or in city council.

Well, I have to first say, Andrea, you undersell yourself because, I mean, I've seen you help other neighborhood councils get going where they were almost like on death row, like on life support, and you helped bring them back. I think that one of the things that really works here is that there are people like you willing to step up and be those leaders, but also an example for other neighborhood councils to understand what works, what doesn't work, and I just remember you with Tacoma, with the Tacoma Free 253, with that program being, that your message was litter is, picking up litter is how we create community. It's that little bit where they go out, and it's like that is so true, because Northeast Tacoma struggles. They're finally meeting in person, but they have been struggling, and it's because they don't see the that that work on the street is how we create who wants to show up they still are up here thinking the city's going to do this stuff and i just really appreciate what you've done for some of the neighborhood councils and i know you could help northeast tacoma i'm going to be there i'm on their agenda i'm so excited because i believe that that is what's going to help them is to see that people like you are what what really matter is that the people on the ground are the ones really making things happen and we just need to get them to connect and you have such great ideas for that so I just want to thank you so much for coming today here you are representing all of them which just says to me that that is what works and trust me I right I am honored that they trust me to do it right that is a huge And I just want to also call out that we did, we were all involved with, well, you weren't here yet, but we were involved with the 1.45 update. And so I want to thank you for everything that you brought to that. You did bring us a whole bunch of suggestions. And we made some of those suggestions. We also didn't do everything you wanted. So it doesn't mean you can't come back and ask again. And it's something that we really care about as the neighborhood councils. I mean, we all know it's valuable. There are three of them in my district alone. And Council Member Walker represents, and so does Council Member Palmer, the whole city. So I just, behoove everyone who's on this committee to make it to as many neighborhood council meetings as you can because that's really where you see the work happening in our city. So thank you so much. I'm going to open it up to questions to others and see if anyone has a question they might want to ask. Do you have a question, Councilman Palmer?

Maybe it's a question. Maybe it's a statement. I know you said all the different neighborhood councils have their own kind of vibe and do their own thing, but I've said it before and I guess I'll say it now. I feel like The Southland Neighborhood Council is really an example of what neighborhood councils can be and all that they can accomplish. And I know you being the chair president of CCOT, you have influence in that space. I'm wondering how collaborative that space has been to kind of like,

bounce ideas off of each other during the uh for the different neighborhood councils or um sounds like you've done some tutoring that is a question i think i hear your question in in that and you know i i've been here a few years now i would say in the beginning times because we all have to get to know each other right and three hours a month if you meet for a general meeting an executive meeting or like south at neighborhood council we started doing all board meetings because we needed more time together as the whole group um it's slower going right when you're working with a whole bunch of different personalities and different lenses and perspectives and i would speak to like the lens i would have living my life and my experiences is not going to be the same lens as someone who's led a different life And so what I really love about the collaboration has come, it's here, we're here, it's come around over time. Because we all had to like, you have to get to know each other. You have to know that you're in a space where you will be heard. You have to know you're in a space where you're gonna be safe to ask what you might feel is an awkward question. So I feel it wasn't always as collaborative as it is now. With people, that's just growth. And that's completely normal. And for the amount of a lot of time we have with meetings, sometimes it's a little bit slower than someone who's Monday through Friday with someone else. And we've really reached a place of, everyone's so respectful of different neighborhood needs, even if they don't understand it. And that's just coming to a place of, curiosity with each other, where you take pause and go, you know, I do not know what you're saying, or I don't agree. Please tell me more. Support what you're saying with facts or points or something to help me understand why this is your position. And I feel like we all speak to each other that way in community council, even if we do have different ideas about needs, wants, priorities within the councils, that we can It's just great. We'll just find the path forward that includes all of us instead of going, oh. And it might not look like the original plan of one person, but whatever it is, nobody is left behind. And that's what's really important there. So the collaboration, I think it's fantastic. It's getting better every day. Could it be better? Yes, it can always be better.

That's good to hear the progress, though. I guess my other question is how do you feel maybe council could support the program maybe differently or a little bit better?

Yeah, thank you for asking that question. I did have, I had a couple of members of council kind of email a couple of things if you have opportunity. We're a little, one way to support us would be like the community forum, the council meeting that's going on now. We were a little confused with the council creating an infrastructure parallel to the structure that already exists outside of the city council meeting because we have existing platforms, meeting days, spaces, districts that would accommodate all of those things. Support there is considerations of moving some of those town halls to neighborhood councils as the host, and that would be very helpful because the more people you bring to neighborhood councils, maybe we won't attract someone to our neighborhood council meeting, but maybe a guest would, or someone else doing another activity in tandem with us, and maybe they'll stay at the neighborhood council when we get work on things. So definitely more of those larger community meetings, collaboration there would be very helpful. And I think, you know, we've had a really good communications with the neighborhood community services. I think everyone would be like, maybe a little more answering of emails in some places when people do comment, because even though, and I'm only speaking to myself in my unanswered emails, even though I've had colleagues bring up a similar thing, gets confusing to volunteer leadership if they're volunteers if we're really leadership and not when um if the community member uh jackie smith down the street can't get an answer and they come to us because they can't get an answer we're like oh yeah we have a direct relationship with the city we can ask these questions or do this and then if we don't get an answer it gets confusing as to like

what our relevance is can you reach out to the community to cbs members if that's the case just because that would be something that we would care about to know that somebody isn't getting the answer we would want to make make sure you get an answer like you might be able to figure out why it's taking so long yeah why it doesn't just like promise me andrea that you that we so we could help you yeah i'd love to that's something i really care about that was such a great question that you just asked because your suggestion was a really good one about trying to work on the neighborhood council to maybe coordinate those so that they do have them then. You do know that we have an opportunity for a community to come to council meetings now. You can apply to come. And so I hope that you'll consider doing that. That would be great to have the people from the neighborhood councils come and give a presentation to the whole council. We'd love to, like, that would be wonderful. It's a great opportunity. So thank you. Any more questions? Thank you.

Thank you so much for your leadership and continuing to come back and spend your evenings with us. I'm curious if you've thought and maybe can give advice to us on how we build the next generation of leadership. And you and Tim do such an amazing job. We've all gotten to know you both. who are the next folks who are going to come along and fill your shoes at the, particularly, not necessarily in your, in each neighborhood, because I know there are people in each neighborhood, but particularly in CCOT.

So members of CCOT come from the councils. So membership would be an individual council first, and then from each council, representatives come to CCOT. One, that format is definitely something that could be looked at later if it needed to be adjusted to accommodate more membership um as one comment i would make is ccot is being a board but it's also acting kind of like as an executive director there so in some ways some separation of that from the councils as far as the board there might be helpful and also to bring more people into leadership but young people specifically to what you're asking We would love to have a junior council or a youth council. However, what I would speak to there is we would need help from either someone from a school district, from a city department. I don't know what that would look like. That's why I'm speaking hesitantly. But I think a youth council or youth-led activities through the neighborhood council program, youth visioning through the schools, say we get the grants, the young people do the projects like they were doing Trust for Public Land, the Green Schoolyard project that was wildly popular with the students to be able to design a project. And so I think bringing the young folks in, one, civically, we probably need to see what we need to do to get to more schools and be able to be like, hey, did you know this is happening in your neighborhood? And two, creating more spaces for the youth that want to be civically involved. Like what we're doing, honestly, I would say award a council to a young person, and I have a 20 year old, at face value sounds a little daunting and dry, you know, honestly. So I think creating youth opportunities within CCOT itself, either by adding an adjacent youth council that can help inform decisions that CCOT is making, or youth councils within each individual neighborhood council is the way that we're gonna pull in young people. So anyway, sorry, that's all.

No, that's great. Thank you. Thank you, that's a great idea. Do you have any more questions? Councilmember Scott, do you have any questions?

No questions. I just wanted to just say thank you for the work that you do, Andy, and that all of our neighborhood councils do and the service that they provide and making sure that the, you know, the folks of our lovely city are just connected to the decisions that impact their day-to-day life and the communities that they live in and the communities that they visit. even if they're not there all the time um and then i also just wanted to take a moment to send a shout out to um tim as well just because we know that he's a big part of the work and um and justin geron always dealing with some health stuff so i just want to make sure he knows that we're thinking of him and that we're sending him love as well so thank you thank you great so great ideas that you had i'm going to share them with the mayor because he has decided when we're having those um community forums outside so it will make his

And I'm also going to ask Council Member Walker, because she sits on OSAC, to talk to the mayor as well about that, because I think it's a great idea. So thank you so much for your time, Andrew. Really appreciate you coming. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Tony, do you want to give us our next presentation? Absolutely. Thank you, Chair.

So our next meeting is September 24th. You will have a presentation from Neighborhood Community Services, specifically Jason McKenzie, our Business Services Manager. He'll be reporting back on the recommendations for the recent 2728 RFP for Human Services contracts. On October the 8th, you will be hearing a presentation on the work of the Resiliency Hub from Megan Smedsrud. That is a collective work that's happening across government and nonprofits to identify impacts to the system. from recent changes in government administration and strategize a path forward. And then on October 22nd, you'll hear a report out from, I believe, the last that we had not yet gotten scheduled, Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities. And so you'll have heard from all of your CBCs at that point. And so they'll provide an update on their work over the past year and also work they may be addressing in the coming years.

Thank you. We have a busy next meeting. Yeah. So just thank you so much for that update. All right, just onto other items of interest. Has anyone been to a committee board or commission since our last meeting? Okay, I'm just going to, then I will just ask for the last motion.

Move to adjourn.

Second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All right, thank you so much. Meeting adjourned.