Community Livability and Public Safety Committee Meeting - February 26, 2026
Community Livability and Public Safety Committee Meeting - February 26, 2026
The Community Livability and Public Safety Committee (CLPS) met to receive updates and take action on the Olympia Youth Council work plan, discuss recommendations for City Council-appointed advisory bodies, and hear the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program-year 2026 funding proposal. All three committee members were present. Note: The meeting minutes and transcript list the meeting as Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., but the provided metadata indicates the meeting took place on February 26, 2026; this summary follows that date.
Call to Order and Roll Call
Chair Dani Madrone called the meeting to order. Present were Chair Madrone, Committee Member Kelly Green, and Committee Member Yến Huỳnh.
Consent Calendar
- The committee approved the meeting agenda as presented.
- The committee approved the January 28, 2026 meeting minutes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Beth Henriquez, Executive Director of Enterprise for Equity, spoke in support of the city's decision to join the Turner v. State legal action regarding CDBG funds. She expressed gratitude to Anastasia and Jacinda (CDBG staff) for their transparency and support to sub-recipients during the past year.
Discussion Items
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Olympia Youth Council Update and Proposed 2026 Work Plan: Youth Council Liaison Susan Grisham, Youth Council Co-Chair Donovon Jojoba, Policy Subcommittee Co-Vice Chair Shruthi Lingam-Nattami, and Youth Councilmember Anika Parabakar presented updates including the council's mission, accomplishments (e.g., PSA on Narcan/overdose, joint meeting with Lacey Youth Council), and the proposed 2026 work plan. The work plan includes transit PSA development, a youth summit, third places for youth, and mental health resources. The committee asked questions about youth engagement. Committee Member Green moved to approve the work plan and forward it to the City Council; Chair Madrone seconded. The motion passed unanimously (3-0).
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Consider Recommendations Related to City Council Appointed Advisory Bodies: Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray and Consultant Genevieve Canceko-Chan presented two scenarios: (1) improvements to the current advisory body system (e.g., shifting recruitment to fall, standardized onboarding, clearer relationships with council, regular audits) and (2) a re-envisioned, multifaceted engagement approach (community connectors, collaborator networks, community academies, reorganization of bodies around comprehensive plan focus areas). Members discussed the options, with Committee Member Huỳnh expressing strong interest in scenario two, while Green saw merit in both. Staff noted that scenario two would be more involved and that advisory body chairs had generally positive reactions to reorganization ideas. The committee directed staff to develop additional detail on the recommendations, to include input from advisory body chairs and vice chairs at a future CLPS meeting, before taking the item to a full City Council study session.
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Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program-Year 2026 Funding Proposal Approach: Housing Manager Jacinda Steltjes explained the status of the current program year, including delays caused by federal executive orders and the city's decision to join the lawsuit (King County et al. v. Turner et al.). She proposed for program-year 2026 to not issue an RFP, to directly award funds to existing 2025 subgrantees (Rebuilding Together Thurston County, Habitat for Humanity, Enterprise for Equity, and city administration), and to not fund public services to avoid exceeding the 15% public services cap and failing the timeliness test. Committee members expressed support for the approach, acknowledged the impact on service providers, and raised questions about lingering projects and expectations of another delay. No formal action was required; staff will return in May with dollar amounts.
Reports and Updates
- Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray discussed upcoming advisory body interviews. Committee members agreed to send interview questions to interviewees in advance, with the timing set for Monday before the interviews.
Key Outcomes
- The committee approved the 2026 Olympia Youth Council Work Plan to forward to the full City Council (3-0).
- The committee directed staff to prepare additional detail on advisory body recommendations for a future CLPS meeting that includes chairs and vice chairs, then to bring the item to a full City Council study session.
- The committee endorsed the CDBG program-year 2026 funding proposal approach presented by staff; staff will return in May with specific funding recommendations.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Hello, everybody. This is the community livability and public safety committee of the Olympia City Council. Today is Wednesday, February 25th. We are just after 5:30 p.m. My name's Danny Madrone, and I serve as the chair. I am joined by my committee mate here, Kelly Green and committee member Yang Huen will be joining us momentarily. But we wanted to go ahead and get started. And let uh Kelly, could I go ahead and get a motion for uh to approve our agenda for the evening? I would love to move to approve our agenda. I will second. All in favor. Aye. Okay, great. Um and we do have somebody signed up for public comment. I'm going to go confirm that. Yes, we have Beth Enrique Enriquez here in the uh attendee list who is signed up for public comment. So if we can go ahead and give her the power of speech. I don't know if she gets promoted to the meeting for that to happen or if um she just is able to speak. What's that? She has declined the invite. Oh, she's declined. Oh, let's try it one more time just in case that was a mistake. And Beth, it's okay if you don't want to want to speak. I just want to make sure you didn't hit the wrong button by mistake. Ah, there you are. Excellent. Thanks for joining us, Beth. Um, you've got about two minutes, but you're also the only public commenter. So if you go a bit over, I will not penalize you for that, but go right ahead. Okay, well, thank you, um, council members and city um leadership. I'm uh my name is Beth Enriquez. I'm the executive director of a local nonprofit organization, Enterprise for Equity. And um, we have been the very grateful recipient of CDBG funds for many, many years. That money has helped us help many businesses in Olympia launch and grow. Um, I'm sure several of you shop at many of them. Um but the reason I'm here tonight is because I just wanted to say a public um uh thank you, actually, to Anastasia and Jacinda. Um I don't really see them in the room here, um, but I hope they listen to this later. I really wanted to just say thanks to them for being so communicative, so transparent, um, so supportive to we sub-recipients from this past year as the CWG funds have been really hanging in the wind. Um so I I applaud the city's stance. I applaud the city's um decision to join the Turner versus state um legal action, and I'm just really, really grateful for the CDBG staff. That's it. Great. Thanks so much. We will make sure that they receive your gratitude. Thanks for being here, Beth. All right, and that's the only uh person we had signed up for public comment. Um so next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes from January 28th. So, Kelly, I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve the minutes from January 28th, 2026.
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