OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Seattle Libraries, Education & Neighborhoods Committee – May 27, 2026

City CouncilWednesday, May 27, 2026
BodySeattle, Washington
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, May 27, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 44:23
Transcript — Verbatim
0:18

Good morning, everyone.

0:20

The May 27th, 2026 meeting of the Libraries Education and Neighborhoods Committee will come to order.

0:27

It's 9 32 a.m.

0:28

I'm Maritza Rivera, Chair of the Committee.

0:31

Will the clerk please call the roll?

0:35

Council Member Lynn.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Councilmember Rink.

0:42

Give her one minute.

0:43

Present.

0:45

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

0:47

Present.

0:48

Chair Rivera.

0:49

Present.

0:50

There are four council members present.

0:52

Thank you, Clerk.

0:53

Please note for the record that Councilmember Foster's excuse from today's meeting.

0:58

Colleagues and those of you watching on the Seattle Channel, welcome.

1:02

Today we're going to be hearing from the Department of Neighborhoods about their community liaison program.

1:07

Additionally, we will be voting to confirm several appointments today to the community involvement commission, the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council, and the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council.

1:26

On to today's agenda, if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

1:31

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted, and we will now open the public hybrid comment period.

1:37

The hybrid public comment period.

1:39

Public comments should relate to items on the agenda or within the purview of this committee.

1:44

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

1:47

Currently we have zero in-person speakers and zero remote speakers.

1:52

All right.

1:53

Thank you, Clerk.

1:54

Given that, we are then with no speakers signing up for public comment.

1:59

The public comment period is now closed.

2:01

We'll proceed to our items of business.

2:03

Clerk, please read item one into the record.

2:07

Agenda item one, Department of Neighborhoods Community Liaison program for briefing and discussion.

2:14

This item has been read into the record.

2:17

Colleagues, we haven't actually heard from the Department of Neighborhoods in a little bit about their work.

2:22

We had the honor and pleasure of confirming Director FAM, but we haven't heard about some of their work.

2:31

More recently, some conversations about the department's community liaisons program have come up recently, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to hear from the department about the liaison's work in communities across the city.

2:46

We're joined today by Daniel Sims, the community partnerships director at the Department of Neighborhoods, and I think one other Don Staffer.

2:54

So uh Daniel, please state your name for the record, and then we can hear about the community liaisons program.

3:00

Welcome.

3:01

Welcome, Council members.

3:02

Thank you for having us here.

3:04

My name is Daniel Sims.

3:05

I'm the community partnerships division director for the Department of Neighborhoods.

3:10

Thank you.

3:10

Welcome.

3:11

Is this on?

3:12

Thank you, Council Members.

3:14

I'm Lorraine Greening, and I'm the strategic partnerships manager at the Department of Neighborhoods.

3:20

Thank you.

3:21

Great, thank you.

3:22

And colleagues, um, Director Fams joining us in the audience for a little bit, but um, she has a meeting, and so she will be going to her meeting.

3:31

But I'm um very grateful for her to be here this morning, and I I am very confident that the team will do a great job this morning.

3:39

So go ahead.

3:40

Okay, thank you.

3:42

So the community liaisons program uses embedded trusted community leaders to bridge historically underrepresented communities with government and resources.

3:54

So just a little bit of background here.

3:57

Uh in the early 2000s, the trusted advocate model making connections was pioneered by by the White Center Community Development Association.

4:07

So seeing the value in the Making Connections program, the City of Seattle adopted the model in 2009 in preparation for the Sound Transit Link Rail in Southeast Seattle.

4:19

The program's earlier iteration became the public outreach and engagement liaisons program, which were diverse members of the community hired to gather input, provide language assistance, and support the light rail project events.

4:33

The program later evolved into the community liaisons program that we know today and provides ongoing support for citywide projects that need on the ground support connecting with community.

4:47

Through close collaboration with City Department project managers, community liaisons serve as a bridge for underrepresented communities to access city information, resources, and decision making power in city government, thereby advancing the city's commitment to race and social justice and civic participation.

5:06

These efforts significantly enhance the impact of outreach and engagement endeavors for citywide projects.

5:13

Currently, there are over 30 community liaisons, and this tends to fluctuate depending on the need of the projects or citywide projects.

5:23

As part of our onboarding process, we require them to participate in an initial and annual orientation that covers contractual expectations and best practices, and we actually have one happening currently right now.

5:39

Understanding that our communities are not monoliths, we continue to evaluate the program to improve how we engage our city's diverse communities.

5:48

For example, to address modesty tenants, we've received requests for same gender CLs when engaging some faith-based community communities.

5:59

As such, our team admin maintains a list of potential community leaders for future opportunities to partner with Don as community liaisons to address these gaps as the city's landscape continues to evolve.

6:16

We look to community liaisons to be our to be community navigators.

6:20

City resources and services are complex systems.

6:24

The CLs serve as guides for community members, and they are the folks on the ground, truly the most knowledgeable, acting as conduits for government back to the community.

6:33

Recognizing representation as a critical juncture in many community members' intersectionalities, the community liaisons represent several languages, such as Spanish, Chinese, MHARIC, to name a few, and including our non-language focused communities, including Native, African American, LGBTQ, people living with disabilities, housing insecure, and seniors.

6:56

They all live all throughout.

6:59

CLs all live throughout this out throughout Seattle and King County, and most of them have full-time jobs outside of this work.

7:07

They work for nonprofits and education or social services.

7:11

Their work as CLs include advising on outreach materials and strategic plans, participating in and convening focus groups, conducting door-to-door outreach and survey collection, working with ethnic media on ads and public service announcements, participating in commit committees and advisory bodies, translating and proofreading documents and serving as interpreters during community events.

7:38

Next, I will share two examples of the work CLs do.

7:44

For this project, City Light recognize the importance of ensuring an inclusive engagement plan for its investment transportation electrification across the city.

7:54

And they are committed to prioritizing efforts to engage hard-to-reach community members.

8:00

Don also has an equity engagement advisor partnering with City Light on this project, and it's a great example of how the two programs work together to address the short and long-term needs of the 2025 through 2020 2030 strategic plan.

8:15

In the last year, CLs have helped to stand up multiple unique community engagement opportunities to reach communities historically left out of conversations and decision-making spaces in the transportation electrification industry, and the impacts of that was there was these events delivered 24 distinct language and cultural community events and spoke with 500 SCL community or city light customers during the outreach process.

8:49

So this project is the Seattle Public Utilities Adopt the Street program.

8:54

It is one of the longest-running community liaison collaborations starting in 2021.

8:59

I understand that this case study may have been shared previously previously, but I just wanted to reshare it to reaffirm Don's longstanding partnership with utilities and the positive impact for community.

9:11

The Adopt a Street Community Driven Program is a community-driven program that aims to mitigate litter across the city.

9:18

So far this year, the cleanup volunteers total is about 11,000, and for 2025, it was over 22,000.

9:28

So we're a little bit more than halfway through without actually being halfway through the year.

9:28

So as you can see on this slide, this is just a small sample of the amount of programs that the community liaisons are currently working on.

9:49

They are connected to about 57 projects currently.

9:52

The number fluctuates, it grows, it shrinks just depending on other departments' engagement with DON.

9:58

But also on this list, you can see the diversity of projects they engage in.

10:03

It's outreach, sure, that's the connective piece.

10:05

But at the same time, we have Rapid J Ride, we have a Bitter Lake Reservoir project, we have Food Equity Fund, which is internal to Don.

10:13

We have customer participation.

10:15

So we touch a lot of other departments in the out in the outreach they're doing.

10:19

We come together, we partner with them, and then we actually bring in an element to that outreach that the departments don't necessarily have themselves, which is reaching out to the communities that Lorraine mentioned, and also we're on a previous slide.

10:34

So if uh if we're working on a project and we know that there's a large uh Spanish speaking population within that community, or we know there's a large, you know, Cantonese or Mandarin population, um, oftentimes departments will partner with us in our CO program to make sure that we're connecting, like the CO program is actually bringing the outreach and some of the planning on that project to the community.

10:58

There's one thing in Seattle that I think we all notice is that Seattle gets more diverse.

11:02

It might be me here who is proficient.

11:04

You know, I'm I'm English speaking, I'm here in the community, but my neighbor might not necessarily have the same um connection to city government or the same language skills that maybe I have as far as English are concerned, but I think their participation in the actual effort and their knowledge of what impacts their community for better or worse is still within them.

11:27

They still know that, they still have a mind about that.

11:30

So, how is it that we help bring them into the conversation?

11:33

How is it that we make sure that all voices are heard at the table as well as we can?

11:39

And through the CAO program that offers us as a city an opportunity to do that, and I think that the CAO program, as far as our partners have uh have brought to our attention is a program that they value as well and a way to bridge that and create more holistic outreach and engagement.

11:55

Um, another component of the CAO program that oftentimes we insist on at DON is that they get brought in early in the process.

12:02

So as the planning is happening on how we're gonna do the project and how the department is planning to roll it out.

12:08

We ask that CLs are brought in so that they can speak to points that they know are either barriers in a sense of reaching the community or pieces that have to be navigated and done well to make sure that their community's voices are going to be brought into that conversation.

12:23

So that's another thing that we at the CAO program value and really um insist on as we're working with other departments.

12:31

And at this point, I believe we are at the conclusion of our uh presentation and open for questions.

12:37

Thank you, Daniel.

12:38

Thank you, Lorreen, for talking about the um community liaison's program.

12:42

It's one of many strategies that the department employs as you're doing the outreach in community.

12:50

So this isn't the only program.

12:52

This is one of many other efforts.

12:55

And I thought this was a program that we should hear about today because it is unique in that you're working with independent contractors on the ground in community to make sure that you both have the language skills, the language access, and also folks that are in that neighborhood who are working with folks in that neighborhood.

13:20

And so this model works great in order to reach more people who may not otherwise there might not be other uh the mainstream ways of reaching people don't work.

13:31

And so this is really um uh a way to make sure we're capturing more people than than we would in a mainstream outreach effort.

13:39

Um, colleagues, I have some other comments, but if you have questions, I'm happy to have you uh council member Lynn, you are recognized.

13:49

Thanks so much.

13:50

Uh thank you for the presentation.

13:52

And just wondering um on that project list.

13:54

So, how do um how do projects get on that list?

13:58

What is the sort of uh timing required to um to get something on the list or how would you talk through that process?

14:10

Um so basically it's it there's if someone is interested in and wanting to work with the CLs, they would contact one of our CL program project managers, and they would um have them complete like uh like a vetting form essentially about the project, the timeline, um, the needs, and then whether or not um it's someone we already have a contract with, so we have contracts with uh several different most of a lot of the departments across the city, and so it just depends on if there's a an existing pro um contract that we already have, or if if this would be a new contract, and so it's basically going through that vetting process, um, our our lead Stanley would then meet with them to walk them through the process um or find out a little bit more information, and if it's something that then we take on, then there's an agreement on how many hours, potentially how many CLs, what the demographics of the community or the neighbor the project would entail, and then we have an MOA.

15:16

We will um create uh well, an IDA, and IDA, and and so we will have that process um or that contract, and then they're kind of added to that list.

15:31

And this that portion, this list that was shown is about maybe half of what we're actually working with so far this year.

15:39

Are there over 50 projects on the project list?

15:42

So there are several more with other departments, some of the same repeating departments as well.

15:48

But it's just it's just basically walking through with them what they were what they would need and getting them under contract, and then the coordinating um coordination of the CLs.

16:00

Thank you.

16:01

And um so uh I'm assuming there's a range of like how long these projects last, whether it might be a few months, just depending on the scope, or could you um are there some that go on for years or yeah, okay.

16:14

The adopt the street program, you know, thank you for that question.

16:17

The adopt the street program is a perfect example of a program that is continuing the to keep rolling over from year to year.

16:25

So that one uh started during COVID in 2021, and we're still working with them, but there are projects that sometimes they only need.

16:34

So there's one we're working with the democracy vouchers for um district five, and that is a much shorter turnaround.

16:43

Wonderful, and I'd uh love to get the sort of the full list of projects um offline later.

16:48

Thank thank you so much.

16:49

Absolutely.

16:50

Thank you, Councilmember Lynn.

16:52

Any other questions, colleagues?

16:55

Council member um rink, you're recognized.

16:58

Thank you so much, Chair, and I want to uh thank you all um for your work, particularly on the transportation electrification strategic investment plan TCIP.

17:07

Um I recall when we approved that last year, um it was really a astounding to have so many folks in community come around into um the City Light Committee, which usually doesn't get a lot of attendees.

17:19

Um but there was so many uh community members who came forward for the uh approval of that plan, which really reflected to me how much community buy-in there was on the strategies and approach, and I think that really is because of the work of the community um liaisons, and so I would just want to acknowledge that and appreciate that.

17:37

Um I do have a couple of questions for for today.

17:40

Um, one being just looking across all of the different um community uh liaisons and the different um groups represented.

17:49

Do we have any uh vacancies at this time or are there any uh specific uh groups that are historically just challenging to fill those roles?

17:57

Thank you for that question.

17:58

Um I think right now we are really trying to figure out some different ways to recruit or bring on indigenous native communities, and I think that's just been a gap that's hard to build, but I think we're we're we're kind of landing on maybe some new approaches instead of maybe that contracting model that we have may not work.

18:20

Um, and so we're looking at other ways instead of maybe bringing on individuals, maybe actually contracting with um community-based organizations instead.

18:29

And I I do think to the uh question, there are gaps that we have seen.

18:37

I know we received recently a request for a Russian uh translator and um and community liaison, and we we don't have one on the roster, so I think that uh is an opportunity that we're looking to feel.

18:50

Um we definitely have uh room to grow the program, um, and uh there's we're not at the limit or anything at this point.

19:00

So if there are uh people or folks that you know people know that would be able to assist, um, we would love to to bring them in.

19:08

Um, but that's the gap that I know just most recently came up and was identified by our program.

19:14

Well, that's really interesting, and good to hear you all are constantly kind of evaluating even if these categories are covering all of our bases in terms of representation and getting communities connected.

19:23

Absolutely, fall.

19:25

Um, I'll I'll just close actually, Chair, if it's all right with just a quick story because one of my first touches actually with Seattle city government was through the community liaison program, um, many years ago.

19:34

I had a friend who was a community liaison for the unhoused community, and they brought me alongside them to engage our unhoused neighbors actually to bring them into City Hall and sit down with um some Stop planners, which I remember as a grad student at the time feeling like, wow, I didn't know we could do government this way.

19:52

And I was astounded uh by the insights that our unhoused neighbors had um related to transportation plans and and street design, um, and it was really encouraging to see planners take that feedback seriously and present those plans.

20:07

And so that was one of the first and early examples I saw of of a local government trying to do work differently and really try and bring in voices who have not been included in a decision making tables.

20:16

So I I really want to uh thank uh you all for your work and um just wanted to lift up uh my appreciation for the program.

20:24

Thank you, Chair.

20:25

Thank you, Councilmember Rink.

20:27

All right.

20:28

Um I wanted to say about the program.

20:31

I mean, um I really appreciate how Don works with us sister departments to really make sure that as they're engaged in projects that that um outreach is robust, and that's really what you do.

20:45

You are um one of the main functions of your department is to do that outreach to community, and I so appreciate that, and I know that over the years I'm just so happy to see 57 projects about because I know over the years, one thing Don has done is really build your relationships with your sister departments in order to provide that support to them, and I think now they've embraced it, it's I've seen uh the change, and it's it's been really great.

21:15

Outreach is really important when you do the city does any project because people often will say, Well, I didn't know that project was happening in my neighborhood or in the city.

21:26

Um, and we don't want folks to feel that way.

21:28

We really all ways to communicate out to the public and let them know what the city's doing is really important, so that's why I really value the program.

21:38

And I will say, uh a real life example that I know about is uh when Deal was doing the Department of Education and Early Learning, the the outreach work for the um levees implementation and evaluation plan.

21:54

Um, there were some community liaisons there at those listening sessions to bring voices that they've spoken they had spoken with in different neighborhoods to the conversation that Deal is having in this community engagement way because they're also bringing information.

22:12

Not everyone can attend those sessions.

22:14

So the community liaisons are bringing back information that they hear from folks in community into those conversations.

22:22

So it's not just that they're bringing information to community, but they're actually bringing information back to the city via those conversations, and that's really valuable and really important because we need to hear from community, and that's another way that we go about hearing from community, so really appreciate that community liaisons were involved in that work, and it's really interesting.

22:46

Colleagues say pop up in various projects that you might be out there working on, and then all of a sudden you you hear someone present themselves as a community liaison with the department of neighborhoods, and then you know this is the program that they're a part of, and so that's why I thought it was important to do this presentation today because not everyone is aware, and because they aren't, they are folks that we contract with in community.

23:09

It's not they're not city staff, although we do have city staff also that does outreach work.

23:16

So we're trying to get at the outreach work in multiple ways, and this is really one uh it's a creative in my mind a creative solution and a really great solution for really bringing in, as we've talked about today, folks that might be not represented, or the mainstream ways of communicating are not gonna work for for certain communities, mainly I think because of this language access piece.

23:42

So I did have a question, Daniel.

23:44

You you spoke to it, but just how to if folks are interested in becoming a community liaison, how do they sign up, or how is there like a something on your web page, web page, or how do folks get connected, or if we know of folks colleagues, because I know sometimes we know of folks in community that we think would be um would become great community liaisons.

24:08

How do we refer folks?

24:11

So anyone who's interested in becoming a community liaison, they can um send in a letter of intent and and also a resume to the the website.

24:21

We can make sure that there's that's available to you, but it's to the um excuse me, the email, and then we have someone who's monitoring that and they are making a list and when they'll acknowledge that they've received it, and then when there are particular um openings or um needs that come up for that fit the criteria of that person, then we will contact them to let them know that this is available, are they interested, meet with them, have a conversation?

24:48

Pretty informal, it's mostly making sure that you know the connections that they have in community would fit the needs of um what we might have on various projects, and so it's really just contacting us, it's not as formal as applying to the city, and so we're always accepting applications and and resumes from folks who are interested.

25:15

That's great, thank you, Lorraine.

25:17

And also, I'm looking at the list of projects, and they really uh just span the gamut here in terms of issue area, department of course, and then you know, anything from food waste prevention to our vision zero efforts to our utility assistance program to the library's work.

25:37

Um really it's it's it's such a great value, um, and it is council member ring.

25:43

Something you mentioned about getting folks involved in government, you know, Don, of course, and I know you know this runs the the people's um it pays, people's academy of academy engagement community engagement.

25:58

That's right, and it's you know, to me, I think of it of a civic 101.

26:03

Not everyone knows how government works, not everyone recognizes and realizes we're two separate branches of government, the executive and the council, and what we do and how we connect and work together on behalf of the folks in the city.

26:16

Not everyone is well versed, and Pace does such a good job in that, and then also we put money in the budget this past fall to create opportunities for any individual that wants to uh do some type of civic engagement in their neighborhood to be able to access a little bit of money to be able to put an event together for their neighbors because I think in general when the populace is is um understands how government functions and works, it's for the benefit of everyone, and so we really work hard at the city to provide those opportunities to all folks across the city, and then of course we do uh more even to make sure that because we have so many different folks and that speak different languages across the city, that everyone is represented because everyone's voice is important, and so I always say you guys bring the fun, and you also bring the inclusion.

27:16

So I really appreciate your efforts.

27:18

Thank you for being here this morning, um, and uh thank you to I see other Don uh friends in the audience.

27:26

Thank you for being here in support of your colleagues.

27:30

Thank you.

27:31

All right.

27:32

Thank you very much.

27:28

All right, colleagues.

27:36

Will the clerk please read items two and three into the record?

27:29

Agenda items two and three.

27:44

Appointment 3498, the appointment of Olivia Barlow as member of the community involvement commission for a term to May 31st, 2027, and appointment 3499.

27:55

The appointment of Nagash Hassan as member of the community involvement commission for a term to May 31st, 2028 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

28:06

Thank you, Clerk.

28:07

These appointments have been read into the record.

28:09

We're joined by Alvin Edwards, the Community Involvement Commission liaison at the Department of Neighborhoods.

28:16

Alvin, please state your name for the record and you can present the appointments.

28:20

Thank you, Council Chair.

28:22

My name is Alvin Edwards.

28:23

I am the staff liaison for the community involvement commission.

28:28

Shall I?

28:30

Go ahead.

28:30

Thank you.

28:31

This morning I'll be I will be presenting the commission recommended recommendations for two appointments to the community involvement commission.

28:39

These appointments correspond to the commission selected seats 15 and 16 and are being put forth by our commission chair, Heidi Morissette.

28:48

The committee involvement commission is made up of 16 members who advise mayor, city council, and the department of neighborhoods on equitable public engagement strategies with the focus on reaching underrepresented communities.

29:01

So up first, we actually do have one of our commissioners up for appointment today, Olivia Barlow, in case you have any questions for her.

29:10

Thank you for being here, Olivia.

29:12

With your permission, I'll proceed with the BIOS.

29:16

So Olivia's bio, Olivia moved to Washington State in 2024, following the completion of her BS in computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas.

29:28

She previously spent two three-month internships in Seattle before accepting a full-time position at Amazon.

29:35

Olivia is an active volunteer across Seattle and Bellevue, beginning at the Bellevue Botanical Garden in October of 2024.

29:43

Olivia has also volunteered as an educator for all ages, but shines teaching adult student English slash Korean language skills and methods for practicing crafting.

29:54

Olivia draws from personal experience as a Girl Scout in Beaumont, Texas, a musician in Dallas, Texas, an exchange student in Suwon, South Korea, and now an Atelier student at Gage Academy of Art.

30:07

She loves to tell stories from her adventures and is passionate about creating spaces from people for people for all walks of life to exchange memories and new ideas.

30:19

So that is Olivia.

30:22

Shall I proceed with the second?

30:24

So the second commission commissioner up for uh position 16 is Nagash Hassan.

30:30

Uh Nagash is a committee engagement outreach professional with extensive experience serving immigrant, refugee, and multicultural communities in Seattle.

30:40

He currently uh currently works at Neighborhood House as an employment case manager and community outreach specialist providing employment coaching, digital literacy support, individualized guidance, and outreach to connect underrepresented communities with vital resources.

30:58

Since January 2026, he has also worked with Seattle Parks and Recreation as a community engagement ambassador, supporting community outreach engagement, and connection to recreational and community resources.

31:12

Previously, he served as a community connector with the Seattle Housing Authority, strengthening resident participation and policy and planning efforts.

31:21

He also supports the city of Seattle as a community liaison and second language community safety ambassador providing multi-lingual outreach, interpretation, and emergency preparedness education in Amaric and in Oromo.

31:36

He holds a master's degree in human geography from the University of Oslo and a bachelor's degree in geography from Addis Ababa University.

31:45

He is deeply committed to equity, language access, and community empowerment.

31:52

Just another word here.

31:54

Both members have been very valuable, contributing their time and their ideas to the commission.

31:58

And I believe both applicants will bring valuable perspectives and strong community community experience to the commission.

32:08

I staff liaison and the community, the commission respectfully request the commission, the committee's confirmation of these appointments, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

32:18

Thank you, Alvin.

32:19

Olivia, thank you for being here today, and more importantly, thank you for your service, wanting to sit on this commission.

32:27

And Nagash was not able to be with us today, but we really appreciate his wanting to serve on this commission as well.

32:35

Colleagues, you have any questions before we take a vote?

32:38

All right.

32:39

Let's do this.

32:40

I move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointments 3498 and 3499.

32:47

Is there a second?

32:48

Second.

32:49

Thank you.

32:49

It is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

32:53

Would a clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 3498 and 3499.

33:00

Councilmember Lynn.

33:01

Yes.

33:02

Councilmember Rink.

33:04

Yes.

33:04

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

33:06

Yes.

33:07

Chair Rivera.

33:09

Aye.

33:09

There are four votes in favor.

33:12

Thank you.

33:12

The motion carries and the uh recommendation to confirm the appointments of Olivia Barlow and Nagash Hassan will be sent to the June 2nd City Council meeting for final consideration.

33:24

Congratulations to Olivia and Nagesh on your appointments.

33:27

Thank you again for being here.

33:29

Thank you.

33:30

And I always say, colleagues, these uh I super appreciate folks' willingness to serve on these voluntary um uh positions, unpaid, uh, but they care so deeply about our city that they want to get involved, and I so appreciate that.

33:46

So thank you.

33:47

All right, we'll move on to more appointments and more folks that we are grateful that they want to participate.

33:53

Clerk, will you please read items four and five into the record?

33:58

Agenda items four and five appointments three five zero zero and three five zero one.

34:04

Appointments of Nate Lesler and Bryce Seidel as members to the historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to November 30th, 2028 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

34:18

Thank you, Clerk.

34:20

These appointments have been read into the record.

34:22

We're joined by my friend Patty Gamacho, government relations and protocol coordinator at the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.

34:30

Patty, please state your name for the record and you can present the appointments.

34:34

Thank you, Councilmember.

34:36

My name is Patty Camacho.

34:37

I am the PDA coordinator for the city of Seattle through the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.

34:42

I'm here to present uh five appointments today for you for two uh different PDAs.

34:48

We will start with the historic Seattle PDA.

34:51

I want to give a little overview of the PDA itself before going into the appointments.

34:56

Uh the Historic Seattle Preservation Development Authority was chartered in 1973 with the general purpose of being the preservation and enhancement of the historic heritage of the city of Seattle for the mutual pride and enjoyment of all citizens and the creation of a more livable environment within the historic areas of the city.

35:16

The mission of the PDA is to save meaningful places to foster lively communities.

35:23

The council itself for the PDA is composed of 18 members, two of which are up today for appointments.

35:32

The first appointment is Nate Lesler.

35:35

He is a documentary producer and video editor with over a decade of experience crafting nonfiction stories for film and digital platforms.

35:45

He's a director of the Seattle Earthquake Project Environment.

35:48

I'm sorry, an in-person future documentary examining how seismic risk history and the built environment shape life in the Pacific Northwest.

35:57

Experience in archival research, post-production, and collaboration with civic scientific and cultural organizations.

36:04

He could not be here today, but I know he is watching online this morning.

36:08

Our second appointment also cannot be here today.

36:11

Is Bryce Seidel.

36:13

He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in ecology.

36:18

He completed his MBA at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with an emphasis on marketing.

36:25

He joined the Simpson Companies of Seattle and held a wide variety of jobs in his 25 years there.

36:31

Mr.

36:29

Seidel then joined Fisher Mills in 1998 as executive vice president chief operating officer and was elected a director, president, and chief executive officer later that year.

36:42

Then in July 2003, Bryce Seidel became the sixth president and CEO of the Pacific Science Center, which I believe you all are familiar with, assuming responsibility for one of the nation's largest museums.

36:56

After retiring in 2014, he established an independent consulting services company, Bryce Seidel LLC, and has spent that time consulting with individuals and organizations.

37:09

He also was spent 10 years in elected office as both the city councilman and mayor of Vancouver, Washington.

37:18

Our second, oh, those are the two appointments for the for that PDA.

37:22

Great.

37:22

Thank you, Patty.

37:24

Nate and Bryce, I want to thank you if you're listening for your wanting to serve.

37:30

Colleagues, do you have any questions before we take a vote?

37:34

All right, let's do it.

37:35

I move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointments 3500 and 3501 is zero second.

37:42

Second.

37:42

Thank you, Councilmember Rink.

37:44

It is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

37:48

Will the clerk please call the roll on the appointments 3500 and 3501?

37:55

Councilmember Lynn.

37:57

Yes.

37:57

Councilmember Rink.

37:59

Yes.

37:59

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

38:04

Chair Rivera.

38:06

Aye.

38:07

There are three in favor.

38:09

Thank you.

38:10

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments of Nate Lesler and Bryce Seidel will be sent to the June 2nd City Council meeting for final consideration.

38:20

Congratulations to Nate and Bryce on their appointments.

38:24

All right, Patty.

38:25

Um, well, before you, Patty, will the clerk please read items six through eight into the record, and then we'll get to Patty.

38:32

Agenda item six through eight.

38:34

Appointment three five zero two.

38:37

Appointment of Christopher Scott as member of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority governing council for a term to June 30th, 2026.

38:46

And appointments 3503 and 3504, reappointments of Devin McComb and Paul Neal as members of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to June 30th, 2029 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

39:05

Thank you, Clerk.

39:05

These appointments have been read into the record.

39:08

Patty will be presenting the two reappointments and the new appointment to the Pike Place PDA Governing Council.

39:15

Go ahead, Patty.

39:16

Thank you.

39:16

Thank you, Councilmember.

39:18

The Pike Place Market is operated by the Pi Place Market Development Preservation and Development Authority, a not-for-profit corporation that was chartered as a result of voting in 1971.

39:30

The Pike Place Market PDA, which began in 1973, owns and operates the majority of the buildings and open spaces in the market and manages the day-to-day activities.

39:41

In addition to commercial holdings, the PDA also owns residential buildings LaSalle, Leland, Livingston Baker, Market House, Sanitary Market, Stewart House, Triangle and Western Avenue Senior Housing, and Heritage House.

39:55

Today we have three appointments, one new, two reappointments.

39:59

I would like to point out that our two reappointments are here in the audience behind me.

40:04

Thank you for being here.

40:06

That is Devin McComb and Paul Neal.

40:09

Devin McComb is a transaction real estate attorney in the Seattle office of Perkins Coy.

40:14

He brings extensive expertise in real estate law to the PDA Council.

40:19

Since 2021, he has served as chair and guides the council with an understanding of its cultural legacy and mission.

40:25

A fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, he has previously served as chair of Washington State Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Section.

40:35

In his personal life, he is active in his local community, whether it's leading a Cub Scout meeting or a soccer practice, and spends his best times with his wife and two sons.

40:46

Our next appointee, reappointee is Paul Neal.

40:49

Paul is a principal of 6H Consulting, a marketing and brand consultancy he created in 2001.

40:55

The firm helps organizations of all types and sizes build richer, stronger relationships with customers in line with their overall business goals.

41:02

Its work includes strategic planning, market analysis, product development, brand development, and communications planning.

41:09

He has lectured on branding and marketing at the University of Arkansas, the University of Washington, and Seattle University.

41:16

Advancing the work of community building and social justice organizations.

41:20

He has also been a significant professional and personal focus.

41:25

Since forming 6H, Paul has consulted with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, Seattle Parks Foundation, and Wingleth Museum of the Asian American Experience.

41:36

He is a graduate of leadership tomorrow and a past board president of the Northwest AIDS Foundation and Photo Center Northwest.

41:43

Our last appointment today is Christopher Scott.

41:46

He has been a Pike Place Market resident and active member of the constituency for 15 years.

41:52

He is a strong activist with an interest in supporting the vibrant market community.

41:56

His professional experience includes work in retail, which helps him understand the needs of market workers and businesses.

42:03

He has also served in a variety of offices with a constituency over his 50 years as a member.

42:09

Additionally, he served on the Pike Place Market Foundation's public advisory committee to explore the future uses of the Market Commons before it opened in 2017.

42:17

He's also been actively engaged with the Pike Place Market Preservation Development Authority throughout the master plan process.

42:23

Thank you.

42:24

Thank you, Patty.

42:25

And is Chris here today as well?

42:27

No, he could not be here today.

42:29

Thank you.

42:29

Well, I want to thank Chris, Devin, and Paul for um wanting to serve, and in particular, Devin and Paul want to call out this is a reappointment.

42:37

So you loved it so much, you want to do it again.

42:39

Um super appreciate you for that.

42:41

Colleagues, do you have any questions before we move on to the appointments?

42:45

All right.

42:47

I move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointments 3502 through 3504.

42:53

Is there a second?

42:54

Second.

42:55

Thank you.

42:55

It is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments, both the reconfirmations and the new confirmation.

43:03

Or mean both the re-appointments and the appointment where the clerk please call the role on confirmation of appointments 3502 through 3504.

43:15

Councilmember Lynn.

43:16

Yes.

43:17

Councilmember Rink.

43:18

Yes.

43:19

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

43:21

Yes.

43:21

Chair Rivera.

43:23

Aye.

43:23

There are four in favor.

43:25

Thank you, Clerk.

43:26

The motion carries in the committee recommendation to confirm the appointment of Christopher Scott and reappointments of Devin McComb and Paul Neal will be sent to the June 2nd City Council meeting for final consideration.

43:37

Congratulations, Chris, on your appointment and uh Devin and Paul on your reappointments, and thank you for being here.

43:45

All right.

43:47

Thank you, Patty.

43:51

Okay, colleagues, we've come to the end of our meeting.

43:55

Are there any questions?

43:57

All right.

43:58

Seeing no further questions, this concludes the May 27th meeting of the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee.

44:05

Our next committee meeting is scheduled for June 10th at 9 30 a.m.

44:09

If there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

44:12

Hearing no further business, it's 10 15 a.m.

44:16

and this meeting is adjourned.

44:17

Thank you, colleagues.

44:18

Thank you.

44:19

Thank you for folks in the audience for being with us and for all the folks that wanted to.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement█████████████████████████████████████████████67%
Historic Preservation███████████████23%
Procedural███████10%
Summary of Proceedings

Seattle Libraries, Education & Neighborhoods Committee – May 27, 2026

The Libraries, Education, and Neighborhoods Committee of the Seattle City Council met on May 27, 2026, from 9:32 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in the Council Chamber. Chair Maritza Rivera presided, with Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth, Eddie Lin, and Alexis Mercedes Rinck present; Councilmember Dionne Foster was excused. The committee received a briefing on the Department of Neighborhoods' Community Liaison Program and unanimously voted to recommend confirmation of eight appointments to various boards and commissions.

Consent Calendar

  • No consent calendar was presented.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public signed up to speak, so the public comment period was closed without testimony.

Discussion Items

  • Department of Neighborhoods Community Liaison Program Briefing – Daniel Sims (Community Partnerships Division Director) and Lorraine Greening (Strategic Partnerships Manager) presented the program. The Community Liaisons (CLs) program embeds trusted community leaders to bridge historically underrepresented communities with city government. Launched in 2009 from an earlier model, the program currently includes over 30 liaisons working on approximately 57 projects across multiple city departments. CLs provide language support, conduct door-to-door outreach, interpret at events, and advise on engagement strategies. The program focuses on communities including immigrant groups, Native peoples, African Americans, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, housing-insecure individuals, and seniors. Key examples highlighted include Seattle City Light's transportation electrification outreach (24 events, 500 customers reached) and Seattle Public Utilities' Adopt-a-Street program (11,000 cleanup volunteers so far in 2026, over 22,000 in 2025). Councilmembers praised the program's role in inclusive engagement. Director Sims noted gaps in recruiting Indigenous/Native and Russian-speaking liaisons and indicated the department is exploring partnerships with community-based organizations to fill those gaps.

  • Appointments to the Community Involvement Commission – Alvin Edwards, staff liaison, presented the appointments of Olivia Barlow (term to May 31, 2027) and Negash Hassen (term to May 31, 2028). Barlow has a background in computer science and volunteer education; Hassen has experience serving immigrant and refugee communities through Neighborhood House and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

  • Appointments to the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council – Patty Camacho (Office of Intergovernmental Relations) presented the appointments of Nate Lessler (documentary producer) and Bryce Seidl (former CEO of Pacific Science Center and former mayor of Vancouver, WA). Both terms run to November 30, 2028.

  • Appointments to the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council – Patty Camacho presented the new appointment of Christopher Scott (15-year market resident and activist, term to June 30, 2026) and the reappointments of Devin McComb (real estate attorney and current council chair) and Paul Neal (marketing consultant), both with terms to June 30, 2029.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee voted unanimously (4-0) to recommend confirmation of Olivia Barlow and Negash Hassen to the Community Involvement Commission. (Vote: Rivera, Hollingsworth, Lin, Rinck—all yes.)
  • The committee voted 3-0 (Hollingsworth absent) to recommend confirmation of Nate Lessler and Bryce Seidl to the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council. (Vote: Rivera, Lin, Rinck—yes; Hollingsworth abstained.)
  • The committee voted unanimously (4-0) to recommend confirmation of Christopher Scott and reappointment of Devin McComb and Paul Neal to the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council. (Vote: all yes.)
  • All recommendations will be forwarded to the full City Council for final consideration at the June 2, 2026 meeting.
  • The next committee meeting is scheduled for June 10, 2026, at 9:30 a.m.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, everyone. The May 27th, 2026 meeting of the Libraries Education and Neighborhoods Committee will come to order. It's 9 32 a.m. I'm Maritza Rivera, Chair of the Committee. Will the clerk please call the roll? Council Member Lynn. Here. Councilmember Rink. Give her one minute. Present. Vice Chair Hollingsworth. Present. Chair Rivera. Present. There are four council members present. Thank you, Clerk. Please note for the record that Councilmember Foster's excuse from today's meeting. Colleagues and those of you watching on the Seattle Channel, welcome. Today we're going to be hearing from the Department of Neighborhoods about their community liaison program. Additionally, we will be voting to confirm several appointments today to the community involvement commission, the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council, and the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council. On to today's agenda, if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted. Hearing none, the agenda is adopted, and we will now open the public hybrid comment period. The hybrid public comment period. Public comments should relate to items on the agenda or within the purview of this committee. Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today? Currently we have zero in-person speakers and zero remote speakers. All right. Thank you, Clerk. Given that, we are then with no speakers signing up for public comment. The public comment period is now closed. We'll proceed to our items of business. Clerk, please read item one into the record. Agenda item one, Department of Neighborhoods Community Liaison program for briefing and discussion. This item has been read into the record. Colleagues, we haven't actually heard from the Department of Neighborhoods in a little bit about their work. We had the honor and pleasure of confirming Director FAM, but we haven't heard about some of their work. More recently, some conversations about the department's community liaisons program have come up recently, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to hear from the department about the liaison's work in communities across the city. We're joined today by Daniel Sims, the community partnerships director at the Department of Neighborhoods, and I think one other Don Staffer. So uh Daniel, please state your name for the record, and then we can hear about the community liaisons program. Welcome. Welcome, Council members. Thank you for having us here. My name is Daniel Sims. I'm the community partnerships division director for the Department of Neighborhoods. Thank you. Welcome. Is this on? Thank you, Council Members. I'm Lorraine Greening, and I'm the strategic partnerships manager at the Department of Neighborhoods. Thank you.

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