Seattle Council Committee Meeting - May 29, 2026: Public Health Director, BIA Policies, Crisis Care Update
Seattle City Council Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee Special Meeting - May 29, 2026
The committee met on May 29, 2026, from 9:32 AM to 11:29 AM to consider three items: the appointment of Dr. Sandra J. Valenciano as Director of Public Health – Seattle and King County; a briefing on a resolution updating policies for Parking and Business Improvement Areas (BIAs); and an update on the King County Crisis Care Center Levy implementation. All five members were present: Chair Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Vice Chair Dionne Foster, and members Joy Hollingsworth, Debora Juarez, and Rob Saka.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Aaron Goodman, Executive Director of the SoDo Business Improvement Area, expressed support for the proposed BIA policy updates, describing them as the result of years of collaboration between BIA leaders and city staff. He noted that the updates reduce procedural burdens for routine renewals and minor modifications while preserving oversight and ratepayer input.
- David Haynes (remote) criticized the city’s human services and crisis care efforts, alleging that funds are misused and that the crisis care center is failing to address addiction. He did not represent any specific organization.
Discussion Items
- Appointment of Sandra J. Valenciano as Public Health Director (Appt 034971): Mark Ellerbrook from the Mayor’s Office introduced Dr. Valenciano, highlighting her experience as director of DeKalb County (GA) Health Department and her CDC fellowship. Dr. Valenciano presented her vision focusing on health equity, infrastructure modernization, and fiscal stewardship. Councilmembers asked about community visibility, coordination with the city, unpermitted food vending enforcement, and preparedness for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Dr. Valenciano described a tiered enforcement approach for unpermitted food vending (education/warning, confiscation, and misdemeanor charges for owner-operators) and noted that a cross-sector behavioral health work group recently launched via executive order.
- BIA Policy Resolution (Inf 2899): Isaac Horwith, Theresa Barreras, and Casey Rogers from OED presented proposed updates to citywide BIA policies. Key changes include restructuring for clarity, streamlining renewal processes (replacing the 60% petition threshold with a modification process for minor changes), and clarifying assessment of government-owned properties. The 60% threshold remains for significant changes (e.g., boundary increases >10%, new benefit zones) as required by state law. The committee will vote on the resolution at the next meeting.
- King County Crisis Care Center Levy Implementation Update (Inf 2898): Katie Rogers, Kelly Tongg, Asha Venkataraman, and Danielle Bessemer from King County DCHS provided an update. The levy, approved in 2023, aims to establish five crisis care centers. Connections Kirkland opened in August 2025 and has served over 3,300 people with 5,400+ visits in 2025. Key statistics: 95% of individuals in the crisis stabilization unit avoided higher-level care; 50% of visits are voluntary; 40% stem from first responder drop-offs (average handoff time 7–9 minutes); 7,071 total drop-offs from Jan 2025–Mar 2026, of which 460 (7%) were by police/co-responders. Medicaid reimbursement is at 55% (higher than the projected 40%), helping the levy maintain a positive fund balance. The Broadway (Capitol Hill/First Hill) crisis care center is expected to open in late 2027. Conditions from former Mayor Harrell’s letter of support include a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) analysis, a good neighbor agreement, launch planning, and a community advisory group. The advisory group has convened; CPTED analysis to begin August 2026. Post-crisis follow-up care (30–90 days) will launch by end of summer 2026 with providers Consejo, Purpose Dignity Action, and Sound Behavioral Health. Residential treatment beds are being restored, including a potential 16-bed facility co-located at the Broadway site.
Key Outcomes
- Appointment Confirmed: The committee voted 5–0 to recommend confirmation of Dr. Sandra J. Valenciano as Director of Public Health – Seattle and King County. The recommendation will be sent to the full City Council on June 9, 2026.
- BIA Resolution: No vote taken; the resolution will be considered at the committee’s next meeting (June 5, 2026).
- Crisis Care Levy Update: Received as information. Next virtual community meeting on June 10, 2026; in-person community conversation at the Broadway site on July 21, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. A special meeting of the Human Services Labor and Economic Development Committee of the Seattle City Council will come to order. It is 9 32 a.m. May 29th, 2026. I'm Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rink, Chair of the Committee. Will the committee clerk please call the roll? Chair Rink. Present. Vice Chair Foster. Here. Councilmember Warz. Here. Councilmember Hollingsworth. Present. Councilmember Saka. Here. Chair, there are five members present. Thank you. We will now move to approval of today's agenda. If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted. Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted. Hello, everyone. Today in committee we will have three items that include a briefing discussion and vote on the recommendation to confirm the appointment of Dr. of Dr. Sandra Valenciano as the director of public health Seattle King County. For my colleagues in the viewing public, the public health director position is unique in that they must be confirmed by both the Seattle City Council and the King County Council as they report both to the mayor and the county executive. The King County Council's Committee of the Whole voted to confirm Dr. Valenciano's appointment earlier this week, so we are headed toward alignment with our government partners. Additionally, we will have a briefing and discussion on the resolution updating policies for establishing and managing parking and business improvement areas, BIAs. We will not be voting on this today. We will vote on the resolution at the next meeting. BIAs have been a way for our city's small businesses to receive technical assistance, advocate and also build community throughout neighborhoods. OED will talk about their stakeholder engagement, working with BIA directors, members, and city staff in order to receive feedback and ways to make these citywide policies more clear. My office has been working with BIAs in conjunction with the OED team who are really excited to present on these changes in order to provide clarity for our local business community. I also want to thank Teresa, Isaac, Casey, and the rest of the OED team, as well as Kenny Tran from my team and Jasmine Moraja from Central Staff for all of their work on this and their continuous efforts supporting our city's small businesses. Then we will have a briefing and discussion from our partners at King County regarding the status of the crisis care levy implementation. As a reminder, the voters of the voters across King County approved this levy in 2023 to address our region's growing behavioral health needs. I understand that the first crisis care center has been successfully operating in Kirkland for some time now, so I am personally excited to hear more about what will be coming online in Seattle this year, later this year with the Capitol Hill First Hill Area Crisis Care Center. So thank you to our county partners at DCHS for providing this update to this committee today. With that, we will now open the hybrid public comment period. Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of this committee. Clerk, how many speakers are signed up for today? Currently, we have one in-person speaker and one remote speaker. Thank you so much. Each speaker will have two minutes. We will start with in-person speakers first. Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions? The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner. The public comment period is up to 60 minutes. Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.
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