Port Commission Regular Meeting
of November 28. 2017
P.O. Box 1109

P                                       Seattle, WA 98111-1209
on:-
Tel: 787-3000
of seattIE'
www.portseattle.org


November 15, 2017


King County Executive Dow Constantine
King County Chinook Building
401 5th Ave, Suite 800
Seattle, WA 98104

Re:     Building an Opportunity Pipeline for Disadvantaged Communities Through an lnterlocal
Agreement

Dear Executive Constantine,

King County, the City of Seattle, Sound Transit and the Port individually are taking meaningful actions to
correct the historic imbalance of labor equity on public construction projects by adopting policies and
programs that support access to training, jobs and resources. We are asking for your support for the
County and Port to actively explore joining forces to strengthen these efforts to create a more diverse
workforce and expand job opportunities.

On November 28, the Port of Seattle Commission will consider adopting a Priority Hire policy for our
major public works projects. If passed, this will bring us into clearer alignment with King County's
policies and those of the City of Seattle.

This week, the Port will join with King County, and the City of Seattle to issue a Request for Proposals
(RFP), to support construction program training and assistance for women, people of color, and those
that live in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

While these are important steps, the Port believes a more comprehensive effort is necessary. We
propose the County and Port, hopefully together with the City and Sound Transit, begin work to share
resources to build a pipeline between disadvantaged communities and priority hire opportunities. We

are seeking your support for an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) to get this effort unden/vay now.

The Regional Public Owners (RPO) group has undertaken signicant work to identify how we can
succeed in building the opportunity pipeline. An ILA between our governments would clarify, support,
and amplify that work; and would:

0   Leverage our respective investments and create a permanent opportunity pipeline connecting
communities to jobs, regardless of the agency undertaking the project.
0   Improve data reliability, timeliness, availability, and usefulness for all parties by establishing

common data collection, input and management.

0   Ease compliance for both labor and business, while improving visibility and access for workers.

King County Executive Dow Constantine
November 15, 2017
Page Two


There is also the opportunity to develop common standard language for inclusion in each jurisdiction's
Community Workforce Agreements. This consistent standard across jurisdictions would streamline our
processes and benet all stakeholders.

We will be reaching out to arrange a time to discuss in person and hopefully lay a course fonNard.

Sincerely,
<15 3           34,".ng
'
Tom Albro                                        Stephanie Bowman
Commissioner                                   Commissioner


..5
' g .

John Creighton                                       Courtney Gregoire
Commissioner                                   Commissioner

r? yd).
5
Fred Felleman
Commissioner

cc:      Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell
King County Council Chair Joe McDermott
Seattle Mayor Tim Burgess