The Regular meeting scheduled for 2020-02-11 at Pier 69

Transcript

The Regular meeting scheduled for 2020-02-11 at Pier 69

We have a quorum
Thankfully
This is Commission President Peter Steinbruck reconvening the regular meeting of February 11th, 2020
The time is approximately 12:05
We're meeting at Commission Chambers at Pier 69
Present with me today are commissioners Bowman, Calkins and Cho
We expect Commissioner Felleman momentarily
To begin today's meeting by acknowledging the indigenous peoples of the Duwammish and coastal Salish who have stewarded these beautiful lands and waters since time immemorial
We must commit to doing the same for the planet, for the people, for generations to come
This meeting is being digitally recorded and may be viewed or heard at any time on the port's Web site and may be broadcast-- rebroadcast by King County Television
Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
Thank you
Commissioners we are now at the order of approval of the agenda
Are there any motions to add to or rearrange the orders of the day or requests to remove items from the consent agenda? Hearing none
We've been joined by Commissioner Felleman
If there's no objection, please should show the agenda approved as revised
Item four is the executive director's report
Director Metruck Commissioner
Good afternoon
I would like to begin by noting that February is Black History Month
This is an opportunity for us to honor the experiences and roles African-Americans have made in shaping our nation
As an ongoing part of our equity work, our Equity Diversity Inclusion Office is highlighting the experiences of our African-American employees on our media platforms to showcase how our staff are making a difference at the Port in our inspired by Black History Month
While, we've come a long way, we still have a long way to go
That is why the Port as a leading economic engine for the region has committed to be a source of opportunity for all
Later today, you'll receive an update on the strategic plan for our Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
I would also like to provide an update on the ports response to the Novell Corona virus outbreak
As you know, SeaTac is one of eleven airports nationwide designated to receive U.S
citizens and selected other travelers from mainland China
Our top priority is protecting the health of travelers, our employees and everyone who works at our facilities, particularly at our airport
I'm very proud of our staff's response
The Port's Health and Safety, Fire department, Customer Service, Operations, and External Affairs teams are working around the clock with airlines and our federal partners, including Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration and the Centers for Disease Control
We're also coordinating with the state of Washington, King County and the city of Seattle
Since the implementation of restrictions on travel from China, CBP in the CDC have screened hundreds of incoming passengers for signs of the Corona virus infection
To date, no signs of infection were found and no passengers have been sent for treatment or quarantine
Screening has not interrupted passenger processing
Within the SeaTac terminal
We continue our efforts to clean and disinfect high touch areas and provide additional hand sanitizer stations throughout the airport
We realize this situation will be with us for a while as we see from watching the news
The disease is intensifying in China and around the world
As long as the crisis lasts, you can be confident your Port staff will continue to be vigilant
Among the dozens of staff involved in this effort, I want to call out for special recognition
Randy Hanson, our senior manager of Emergency Preparedness and Teresa Cummins Health and Safety Director
Randy and Teresa have vital roles in coordinating our work internally and with partner agencies at the federal, state and local levels
Teresa has been with the Port just six months and with her background as a nurse and public health expert, she has proven to be invaluable to our team
Commissioners, late yesterday we received some great news from the Army Corps of Engineers
Our West Duwammish Waterway deepening project has been included in the Core's Fiscal year 2020 work plan
This is great news
This means our project can proceed as scheduled and that construction can be completed in 2024, possibly even sooner
This will enable our Terminal 5 to accommodate new generation container ships, which enables our region to remain more competitive
Finally, Commissioners, I'm pleased to share that the Accounting and Financial Reporting Department, affectionately known as a AFR, received the Certification of Achievement for Excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S
and Canada for the Port's comprehensive annual financial report released in 2019
This preparation of the report was led by the AFR financial reporting team, and if I could just have them stand up, I think somewhere in attendance today
They didn't want to stand up
It is the highest form of recognition in government accounting and financial reporting
AFR also received the award for Financial Reporting Excellence Achievement
This is the 14th consecutive year, 14th consecutive year for both-- a remarkable achievement
In addition, they also received the Oracle Innovators Award, which recognizes the efforts led by the AFA Business Technology Team to leverage supports investments and PeopleSoft financials, which serves as an example for the industry
I'd like to congratulate Dan Thompson and his team in a AFR led by Rudy Kaluza for his leadership and to Rudy and the entire AFR team for consistently outstanding work, professionalism and well earned awards, which makes ensure that the public can have confidence in our financial reporting systeMS Well, I'm not a Patriots fan, but it's sort of like the Tom Brady run for AFR
So congratulations
I don't think they're going to time out either on their on their knees
So
[Laughter] Well, as a former CFO, I can appreciate this, especially when we talk about audits which assume ultra clean audits, which is a standard that in my previous job we never considered reaching
So congratulations to the entire team
Moving to today's meeting, I want to highlight three items on our agenda
Item 6H on consent is Authorization for Security Improvements at the Rental Car Facility
This work represents a very collaborative effort between Port staff and our tenants to enhance safety and security at our car rental facility
Item 7B is a briefing to update you on our highly successful high school internship program
You'll hear about our 2019 accomplishments and our plans for this year
And as I alluded to earlier, item 7C is a presentation about our 2020 strategic plan for the Office of Equity Diversity, and Inclusion
Commissioners, this concludes my remarks
All right
Any questions? Comments for MR Metruck? No
Okay with that, we'll, now accept item number five, public comment
Any written materials can be given to the clerk for inclusion in the meeting record
If you wish to speak, please sign in and identify the specific topic you're addressing
We'll limit the comment time per person to two minutes
And first we'll hear from Van Collins
Followed by Chris Covert B olds
And please give your name for the record
Thank you
President Steinbrueck
Members of the Commission
I'm Van Collins I'm the President and CEO of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Washington
I was at the, in attendance at the earlier audit committee
And so I wanted to take the opportunity to clarify a couple of things that came up during that for the benefit of Commissioner Bowman and Commissioner Calkins
Also with your role previous Commissioner Steinbrueck
I wanted to, as I say, clarify
One of the things that is is pretty obvious to people in my industry is that there's a disconnect
Kind of a misunderstanding in play
And it's both, I think, inherent in kind of the data analysis and then also a misunderstanding about really what state law says about qualifications-based selection and the negotiation of those contracts
State law actually doesn't say negotiate fair and reasonable rates
It says negotiate a contract at a fair and reasonable price
And that is a very important distinction because the contract prices, is the amalgamation of all of the rates and all of the revenues that generate from those differences in the amount can differ quite a bit on an individual to individual basis
The second point is, is that you saw or heard of a formula today offered by the internal audit group that m arkup is equal to negotiated rate, minus direct labor costs, minus indirect overhead
The only problem with that is, is that not all of the labor costs are necessarily included in those calculations, nor all of the costs associated with running a business in those calculations
So on an individual, especially in this kind of limited model, the calculations can be divergent quite a bit
Second or thirdly to his comment about the salary data offered by CDC, and we do make that data available to the Port for inclusion in the model
However it is surveyed once a year and it was also delayed because of there are antitrust concerns that we have to address in doing that
So could be as much as a year and a half out of date
Lastly, I just wanted to say that we were not able to offer our input into the model that was provided by Boston Consulting Group
We tried, but that was not something that was resulted
OK, thank you
Thank you, Chris
Excuse me, Chris Covert Bolds
Thank you
My names Chris Covert Bolds, I'm a family doctor here in Seattle and a member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility on our Climate and Health Task Force
I strongly support jobs, cargo shipping I think is very important
I think the cruise ship terminal should be opposed
Cruise ships are very highly polluting
Even with all the proposals to try to clean them up and plug in to shore electrical power, I don't think that's adequate
I think there's a huge risk to the public health
And as physicians, our job is to speak up for health
Studies have shown that in Europe, over 50,000 Europeans die prematurely every year as result as a result of shipping-based pollution
In England, it's been shown that a single cruise ship can emit as much pollution as 700 trucks and as much particulate matter as over a million cars
And it's estimated that 40,000 to 100,000 Britons die prematurely every year due to emissions from shipping and the cruise industries combined
LNG has been proposed
That's not a viable solution, actually has higher pollution rates according to the International Maritime Organization Review, that was published 9/27/19
Scrubbers just wash out the fuel and then dump the pollution and pollutants in the ocean typically
That would be illegal on land
Carnival Lines operate seven of the 20 most polluting cruise ship lines in the world
So I would say please do not allow this cruise ship terminal if you need more money for supporting cargo shipping, I would say you can be creative and come up with other money than just expanding cruise ships
If it were permitted, the cruise ship should not just be required to be able to use shore power, but should be required to use it
They should be required to use the cleanest fuel available
Currently they used about the dirtiest fuel available that causes the most health risks
They should not be allowed to dump their scrubbing waste and air quality monitoring and public health and environmental impacts should be monitored and reported regularly
Thank you
Thank you, doctor
Next speakers Emery duly followed by Jordan Van Vaughs
My name is Emery Dooly
I'm a doctor and a member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
It's nice to see the commissioners who stood with me at SeaTac and the governor last month to support the clean fuel standard
Building a new cruise ship terminal would not promote the use of of cleaner fuels
In fact, it's quite the opposite
Heavy fuels that cruise ships use are rich in sulfur and ash-forming metals
And the particles don't just settle on the port, they go into Seattle and the surrounding communities
N itrous oxide and small particulate matter retard lung growth, increase heart and lung disease and in some cases cause early death
In fact, small particulate matter is the biggest environmental risk factor for early death
Now the arguments that I've heard for the terminal are mainly economic in nature and probably put a dollar value on tourism and maritime jobs
Our economy, our market economy, places no value on the health of its citizens, on increased health costs imposed on those least able to afford it from hospital visits, E.R
visits, asthma medications and days lost due to illness
I am going to see these patients
So do the family medicine doctor you saw here before me and the cancer doctor behind me who takes care of veterans
And while plugging in these vessels reduces some of the emissions, a lot of the emissions are when they're docking, maneuvering in an open sea
And at the Port does not live in isolation
Increased emissions have been shown to come with increased passengers and all those flights into Seattle, UW studies showed last month increase the level of ultrafine particles in the communities surrounding Seattle
Now, I'm not against the Port expanding, but that expansion should not come at the expense of the health of our citizens
And ultimately, that decision making lies with you, but your decisions would affect the health of all of us
Thank you
Thank you
Jordan Van Vaughs, followed by Michael Foster
Good afternoon, my name is Jordan Van Vaughs
I'm the president of the Darma Friendship Foundation, also a health care provider and a volunteer at 350 Seattle
A few weeks ago, the Southern resident orca L 41 was declared presumed dead
There are now just 72 left of this critically endangered species
Please join me in mourning our loss
To quote Orca Conservancy President Sherri Tarantino, because southern killers are apex predators, when they're failing, that generally means the ecosystem beneath it is failing, unquote
Tarantino points out that while the dams on the Snake River impacting salmon recovery are the main factor in the endangered status of the orca, ship noise and toxins are also a factor
The impact of cruise ships on the orcas and the planet are multiple and require a nuanced understanding of feedback loops involving underwater noise, physiological stress, air and water pollution, climate emissions, and the sociological implications of continuing to prioritize corporate profits over the planet
I've written a more detailed letter on these issues which I left with the cleric
For now, I'll just respond to comments that those of us opposed to the T46 cruise expansion project are making it harder for maritime jobs to stay in the Northwest
Everyone deserves a livable wage doing fair, safe and meaningful work that adds value to society
However, promoting jobs without giving due consideration to the climate emergency represents an abdication of your statutory responsibility and public trust as commissioners
Please consider an alternate method of financing the T5 containership upgrade that does not require expanding the cruise industry
Thank you
I'm grateful
For the protection and the food I've been afforded
I would like to remind this body that the tribunal here began as a truth and reconciliation commission before the die off
I would not have cooperated with this body if I had known that we would be calling for executions
No one could have imagined just a few years ago
It's hard to remember before we were digging mass graves
I mean, we knew
Yes, that the shells of sea creatures were dissolving in the sound, but we still had shellfish
Nobody guessed back in 2020 before we expanded at the airport and the cruise terminals that that our lives could be so cheap so soon
The commissioners of the Port of Seattle were doing their jobs
People were still taking children on planes to Disneyland
Now, I know this is distasteful to bring up and I am no apologist for that monstrous behavior, but it was only a few years ago
Parents, you know, maybe some of you thought it was okay to fly across country for cruise ship family reunions
Yes, we took selfies with glaciers that our trips were melting
We did this together
Of course, the cruise ship wouldn't have happened to the Port of Seattle
Commissioner is couldn't have known
Yes, they are convicted ecoterrorist, but
Although they acted to destroy the fabric of life here, we all did this together
And none of us none of us are innocent
We all did this
President Steinbrueck, members of the commission
My name is Bernie Dawsey and I've been a Highline School board member since 2007
For those of you not familiar with Highline School District, we're one of the most diverse school districts in the state, if not the nation, serving South King County with students who speak over eighty four different dialects, and who, every single day, we think about equity
It drives everything we do and we're thrilled to support the idea of a secondary maritime school
We're excited to be able to partner with the industry and bring our educational expertise
But but mainly we're excited to expose students and families to an entire field, an entire industry that they have not previously-- may have not previously been exposed to
So I just wanted to be here today to really make sure that the Commission and the Port understand just how excited we are for this opportunity and support whatever we need to do to be the partners that I know you would want us to be
So thank you
Good afternoon, Port commisioners
My name is Bernard Koonce, I work with High Line public schools where I work as an Executive Director and I directly support the development of our middle school and high school programs and work with our teachers and instructional leaders and community every day to make strong programs to make sure our kids will graduate with a meaningful graduation to pursue a variety of of their interests so they can be who they want to be in the future
We're very excited to be here today to hear the presentation about the Maritime High School proposal
And we're excited to partner with you and the other partners that have come together to support this, to really think through what this unique place-based opportunity would be to have a school that will support the blue economy and come together to do that
High Line has some really specific assets that we're excited about contributing to that process and thinking about how we can collaborate based on our experience that's focused on equity and being able to be an innovative school system that can help support this, this overall process
So again, I just want to express that we're excited to be here as partners with you and the others that are there supporting the project
And we're grateful for the opportunity and appreciate the initiative that you've shown as a Commission to move this project forward
Thank you
Hello
Thank you so much for the opportunity to comment
My name is Doctor Janae Myers Twitchell
I'm from Washington STEM
I'm the impact director there, which means I like to work with data and measurement
And I'm homegrown in Washington state, first in my family to go to college
This is particularly relevant to me
We're here to just express our support for the maritime secondary pathway in high school proposal
And so I'd just like to provide a little bit of perspective on some of the numbers that we've pulled and why we're here in support of that
Washington STEM has a vision to support specifically four priority populations in accessing what we call family sustaining wages, which I know everybody is very excited to support
Our priority populations are low income students, students of color, students from rural areas, and young women
By 2030, which is about 10 years from now, over 80 percent of the jobs in King County, Pierce County and Spokane-- sorry, Spokane [laughs] Puget Sound region will require a credential
And a credential means apprenticeships, two year certificates and four year
Many, many of those jobs will be in the maritime sector
We estimate that for entry level jobs that are jobs that students who are like in their 20s, let's say, can get right after earning a credential, will be in about the range of at least 10,000 job openings between 2025 and 2030
And that's for just those that are entry level and pay over family sustaining wage
So the need here is huge and we're very excited to support a proposal that actually helps think about the populations that are furthest from opportunity and have been systemically oppressed in this region
So we're also extremely excited to hear the presentation today and know that that's a really big part of it
And finally, the reason why I said Spokane is because I have a four month old at home and a four year old at home
So my brain is often somewhere else
But not only would I have liked to have attended a high school like the one that you'll hear about today, but I would be excited for my two kids at home to attend secondary school that is proposed today
So thank you for the time
Hi, my name's Diane Noal and I'm an Occupational Therapist and I run a small business called Cascadia Therapy Services, and I'm here today just to show you my support for the sensory room that might be potentially going in at the airport
As an occupational therapist that works with children and adults that have sensory processing challenges, often called "Sensory Processing Disorder"
People with SPD have a neurological system that is wired differently
Thus this impacts how they interpret sensory input around them
Sensory processing disorder characteristics can include: oversensitivity or under sensitivity to sound, light, touch, smell or taste
It is estimated that SPD impacts a range from five to 16 percent of school age children and can co-concur with diagnosis issues such as autism and ADHD
So when we think about this activity of flying, the amount of sensory stimuli increases dramatically really for anyone that enters an airport
Think about the increase in visual, auditory and even olfactory input that occurs the second you step in the door
Your ability to keep your own personal space boundaries may be impacted by someone bumping into you accidentally in line or rushing past you to get to their gate on time
It can be overwhelming for anyone
So imagine how much more intense that input is to someone who's ne urological system has more difficulty processing it
I was thrilled to learn that the Port of Seattle is considering including a sensory friendly space at the airport
And I can tell you from fifteen years of working with families that flying can be one of the most stressful experiences for the clients I work with, and many often won't even attempt it due to the fear of being stared at while their child has a meltdown because they're overstimulated
I think being able to tell these families that there is a sensory safe option to help them maintain calm while they wait for a flight or be able to decompress after landing would open up so much more opportunities for these families to travel to either go on vacations or just to visit loved ones
I think Seattle wants to be an inclusive city and having this room at the airport would send such a positive message to other businesses and leaders in our community
In short, I hope you continue with your plans to build this space and help Seattle become a more inclusive place
Thank you
Good morning, Commission, and thank you very much
I'm just here on behalf of the various religious groups which have been supporting the reopening and now the new version of the prayer, interfaith prayer meditation room inside security, which will be a huge step
And I just want to say that the-- we've had a very coherent working together among the religious persons who have been, and groups that have been involved
This includes the Jewish Federation, Muslim Association of Puget Sound, A church council of Greater Seattle, Northwest Dharma Association
And also some have some Zoroastrian support and Hindu support
And so it's just been across the board, there's been a real sense of people, you know, on the one hand, embracing the needs of their tradition
But on the other hand, looking towards the greater good, both in terms of the community here and travelers from around the world and a real sense of the space helping to create something where people from all nations can rejuvenate, find whatever centeredness they need
Perhaps often there is difficulty for people who are traveling in terms of where they're going, or loved ones, or sickness and different things
So it's a really important thing to have
And I just will also want to thank the Port staff
It has been incredible, basically, in terms of working with the religious groups and really helping us go deep and work through the details
I guess I like to call it Julie Collins because she's been a point person, but everyone's been terrific
So thank you very much
And that's it
OK
Hi, I'm Carrie Goldenburg and I'm an Occupational Therapist, just like my colleague Diane Noal
And I own the Seattle's largest private children's therapy clinic
Seattle Therapy Network
I've been an Occupational Therapist for the past 20 years and I've had the experience of working with individuals and their families who have autism, developmental challenges, anxiety and sensory processing disorders
And I came out today to express my support for SeaTac Airport's inclusive project of completing a sensory room
It is projected that one in 10 individuals have sensory differences that make managing everyday experiences feel noxious, abrasive or at a minimum, uncomfortable
This project not only supports those individuals in creating a safe restorative respite from the stressors of airports, but also for their caregivers who have extreme stress from caregiving somebody who might have a meltdown at any given moment
And in fact, many families who have autism, their stress levels are similar to those returning from combat war
So think about how much of an inclusive restorative place you're creating
And I want to thank the Port Authority for creating a supportive and inclusive space for everybody
[Coughs] Excuse me
My name is Chris Cassol ago and I am the Program Manager for airport jobs for Port pobs Programs, and I, on behalf of the Port jobs, we would really like to express our pleasure and support of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
OEDI will not only be a changing influence for the Port and King County region as well as the community, but also be an example and possible education to the many airport employers to embrace equity, diversion and inclusion in their own workforce
There are a large number of job seekers who come to airport jobs that are from communities of color, as well as refugees and immigrants looking for job opportunities as well as for advancement at SeaTac
with OEDI's, leadership and community outreach, we are looking forward to all employers to embracing diversity and equity and a workforce feeling like they have access and opportunities
Thank you
My name is
My name is Matsuri Cook, and I, it's my first time is speaking publicly in years
I, I'd like to say that I, introduce myself briefly
I was in the Vietnam War when I was 19 and I was with the U.S
Information Agency, which was promoting culture and that has become the State Department
And I am an educator and a writer and a business person now
But for many years, I taught at Stanford University, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, and University of Hawaii
So I'm going to be speaking as an educator today and proponent of equity
I'm from Hawaii
And I don't think of myself as a person of color
I just think of myself as a person because that's that way I was raised
But that's a conversation I hear a lot in Seattle
So I'll speak in terms of that
I am inspired by the leadership, the quality of leadership that I have learned about at the Port of Seattle
I've interviewed a number of you and given my background of being in the State Department and at Universities, I recognize high minded people
And I'm actually thrilled to be here speaking for just a few minutes
One more minute, maybe
I see the Port of Seattle like a big World War 2 Vietnam carrier, Airplane carrier
Huge
Anyway, I'm very impressed with both Ryan and Bookta and all the quality that I see at the Port
Good afternoon, commissioners
Executive Director Metruck, President Steinbruck and all the distinguished public servants here at the Port of Seattle
My name is Ralphy Vara
I have resided in the Port's jurisdiction for about 40 years and I've had the privilege of testifying here in front of this august body in many, on many occasions
So first and foremost, I want to encourage you to provide all the support that's being requested for special orders 7A, 7B, 7C
You're going to hear about what I believe to be some significant initiatives
And as someone who was invited 20 years ago by then CEO Mick Densmore to engage with the Port, I have engaged as a private citizen and on occasion I've been directly engaged with the Port of Seattle and its different divisions
So let me encourage you and let me leave you with a very quick little story
And you may have heard this before
Two friends were walking along the beach and they encounter a massive amount of starfish that are stranded on the beach
And one precedes, one of the friends, proceeds to pick up each starfish, tossed it into the sea
And they keep going along
And the other friend who's not tossing the star fish to sea says, "Why are you bothering? Is it really going to make a difference? You tossing those individual starfish back into the sea?" And as he picked up one he said, "It makes a difference to this one." So I encourage you to make a difference like you do, particularly with these initiatives
And thank you so much for your leadership
And facing those challenges and picking up those star fishes and making a difference in their lives
Thank you for the opportunity
Charles Costanzo on behalf of the American Waterways Operators, the National Trade Association for the Tugboat, Towboat and Barge Industry
As the commissioners understand well, the maritime industry is a powerful engine of economic growth and diversity hiding in plain sight
Tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of impact are connected to this activity
Access to much of it requires no specialized education and special degrees and salaries earned in the maritime industry are considerably above the state average
Additionally, maritime freight transportation is the cleanest and most environmentally efficient mode of moving cargo, and the commission understands the extraordinary efforts that our industry has made in building on our strong environmental record
This is an industry that our policies should encourage to grow
The tugboat and barge industry needs people
I hear it all the time
We need boat drivers, deckhands, engineers, shipyard workers, freight workers, logisticians and more
The work is challenging but satisfying
The paths from the deck plate to executive leadership are real
And I've seen them with my own eyes
Our biggest challenge to bringing in people is awareness
If you know about this industry, you can pursue it
But if that awareness is foreclosed, so is your path
Enhanced maritime secondary education in Puget Sound area would elevate awareness and provide young people with a foundational understanding of the opportunities and a clear understanding of how to come aboard
The American Waterways Operators would support any effort the Commission can make to bring these educational opportunities to the fore and to bring young people into our industry
We look forward to putting these young people to work on our boats
Thank you
Good afternoon, Port Commissioner s
Thank you for the opportunity, my name is Magdalena Unhand and I am representing the South Park Youth
Yeah, I mean, I am here to talk because I am a really advocate for the youth and the programing down at South Park
So I believe that this Marine time high school will be a great opportunity for our youth to get the training and guidance
As you guys know, we have the Duwammish Valley Youth Corp, which is really an awesome program for them to learn about environmental health and environmental justice going on South Park and the Duwammish River
So having that said, I was part of the first pilot programing
And for me, it was eye opening
It was something that helped me realize I wanted to work with the community of South Park and I wanted to continue this work, but I didn't know how to
So once I graduated from Chief South High School, I went to the University of Washington to try and become a social worker, then be trying to become a nurse to work in CMR, which is the health facilities at South Park
But that didn't work out
So I went back and kind of I was working with social justice and had the doors open that the Duwammish River Cleanup Coalition
So now I work directly with the community and the youth
The youth lack that awareness of what kind of jobs in the maritime, they have the opportunities to gain
So I'm here to emphasize the importance of a marine time high school at the Duwammish Valley
We are already talking about environment
We are already talking about pollution
Now we're talking about solutions
So I really encourage you all to take that in consideration and just let you all know that you are doing amazing work
And this is a mutual partnership between community, Port industries and everyone to gain environmental health
Thank you
Hello, my name is Adrian Hampton
I am a Washington Sea Grant Keystone Fellow currently working at the Seattle Aquarium
Thank you for the opportunity to comment today
I'm here to lend my enthusiasm and support for the Maritime School and Pathways
So my reasons are very simple
I think that investing in our future generations really matter
I think that finding ways to heal racial inequities really matter
And I believe that access to strong education and applied experiential opportunities matter
So in this way, I strongly support the maritime school because not only would it create sustainable pathways to maritime jobs from not only tugboat captain, but maybe executive positions, they would also indirectly help heal this region's racial inequities in education, in wealth disparities
And we really should do something about this
And I always lean and look to powerful institutions that have great influence to help spark these initiatives
I've seen Washington Sea Grant do it time and time again
So my comments are short, but I do strongly support investing in a cross-cultural future that would not only benefit our economy, but families and our people in this region
And to sum it up, I always like to say, "Variety is the spice of life." Thank you
Good afternoon
I am proud to be Air Force veteran second-generation sorry to my Coast Guard buddies
But I want to talk a little bit about the why I support the goals of the Port for twenty nineteen twenty twenty
When you talk about equity, diversity and inclusion
Something I never heard in the military was that I couldn't do something because I was black or because I was female
If I'd said that, I wouldn't have made it very long
And the thing about success and things that are in the future is you have to have a vision or a dream or an idea that you can do it
You know, you don't just happened upon success
Usually you aim for it
And the idea of having a pathway when you have no clue about the future..
it gets a little tough to have a dream
The most important question I was asked as a young child I know now was what do you want to be when you grow up? Because it gave me the concept that I could have a future and I could dream
And so it's so important that we put in place these pathways so that young people have a chance
And even those who fallen on hard times, who've exited homelessness, have a chance to dream for their future
As a business owner is so important that we can project and have those same people
So our pathways have to include both the needs of businesses and their future and their dreams and those people who want to fill those jobs
And so I ask that you really think about who is it that should not have success in their future? Is it their race? Is it their background or is it just the fact that they have the drive to dream? Thank you
Ze Kyle, I'm not a social democratic mafia, a fascist anti-Semite and killer
My name, Alex Zimmerman
I am President of Stand Up America
I speak right now to everybody who listen to me
Situation in Seattle, in King County right now is so critical because it's approximately seven thousand idiot in Seattle elect again and again and again, a very stupid Democrat
Is this stupid Democrat controlled by the King country right now, won control of state in 2020? Very important
And I explained to you there is a problem, because right now we have a colenso who absolutely don't have experience with business, only political opinion
Everybody vote for government, including you, probably because you are a Democrat
So from this whole nine council, seven is a woman voters never have experience with
This is so interesting
More so say a criminal
Conseil Gonzalez will let constitutional will probably cost five times halberd console childbirth last week punished with five hundred dollars violate law to someone
Right now you'll be punished with another $500 VLA to become a criminal
Door can I? Yes
Prosecutor, give me two trespass
When executive branch can control legislative branch
I cannot go for a council chamber for twelve hundred day and speak
Guys, you have a democratic could tell this terrorist no you're not terrorists, you are bi data, your killer and your racketeering because everything that is you're doing make life miserable in exactly
For the last 10 years
It's a nightmare right now
Thousand and thousand people will be dead
DR Right
Absolute level
Oh, this is exactly about this happened with the mission right now
Traffic crazy, crazy
Amazon kill everybody right now
VTR and console support
That's exactly what's happened
We'll all die premature because you a mafia organized criminal Barndioota
Since you very much stand up
I Merritt
I'm sorry
We do need to identify which items are being adopted
Second and second
Aye? Nay? May I just make a comment? I didn't want to pull it from that consent agenda, but I just wanted to thank the staff for bringing forward 6G the meditation room and sensory room
So I just really appreciate the fact that we've been working on this for a couple of years and that it's moving forward and excited to see it in Q4
Thank you
Thanks so much
So the next item on the agenda is 7A Maritime Secondary Education
Commissioners this presentation will share the results of the study on maritime secondary education, which was prepared by community members in a Port funded consultant
The study includes support to transition the Maritime and Ocean Sciences initiative from a Port driven effort to community driven effort
The presenters are Leanne Schirato, Victoria Bergsahgal, and John Welch
Good afternoon
Good afternoon, Commissioners and Executive Director Metruck
I am LeeAnne Schirato, Commission specialists for the Port of Seattle Commission
With me as Director Metruck mentioned are our consulting team, Victoria Bergsahgal, President and Founder of Architects of Achievement
And John Walsh Welch, Puget Sound Educational Services District Superintendent
Victoria founded and directs Architects of Achievement and has a gift for nurturing people's talents and insights to arrive at inspired solutions
She's been a teacher, counselor, principal and school district administrator
She also served as the Director of Educational Partnerships, a tourist research institute working with scientists to conduct, integrate and interpret the world's leading brain research
Superintendent Welch was appointed superintendent elect of the Puget Sound Educational Service District in September 2011 and transitioned to superintendent in July 2012
He served as superintendent of the 18,000 student High Line Public Schools from July 2005 to August 2011
He's also served as Vice President for Administrative Services at South Seattle Community College and Chief Financial Officer for Federal Way Public Schools
In 2007, the Washington Association of School Administrators named him the most effective administrator in the state
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to present A Changing Tide: The Case Statement for Maritime and Ocean Sciences High School in the Seattle Area to you today
The Port of Seattle has a long history of interest in action in supporting workforce development efforts in Port related activities
The Port's mission to achieve economic development includes both the generation of quality living wage jobs and ensuring a stable, well-trained and diverse workforce to fill them
We know that a high percentage of maritime workers in the Puget Sound region will retire in the next 10 years
The average age of the state's maritime workforce is 54
The majority of whom are white males
We also know that maritime careers provide well-paid jobs and careers that many current and future workers are unaware of or lack equitable access to
As the maritime industry anchor institution, the Port is at the forefront of ensuring that the regional workforce evolves to meet industry demands
That is why we have spent the past year exploring the feasibility of a public secondary education institution and or additional programs in the Seattle area focused on maritime education
I'll now turn it over to Victoria and Superintendent Welch to explain what that process looked like and how we ended up with a case statement you have before you today
Good afternoon, commissioners and Executive Director Metruck
We're excited to be here
And it's been really a delight to work with the Port on this project
Commend you for your attention to equity, quality education and sustainability
We have every indication to believe that this initiative will support your ongoing equity in workforce development initiatives
Before you is a project timeline
We began with a group of 80+ community members in a community summit in September, formed an advisory committee, went on some study tours of high performance models and then have been working hard with our advisory group and area educators and superintendents to move this project forward
As you know, for too long, workforce gaps and structural inequalities have kept women and students of color on the sidelines
A new high school will help our region address these inequities, workforce shortages and environmental challenges
So at the maritime summit, a number of recommendations were made by those in attendance
They included student engagement broadly involving students in their interests and passions and providing them opportunities to move forward with career development
We know that students often leave high school unprepared for the world before them
And so the goal of this initiative and the recommendations from summit attendees was that students would be supported in their pursuit of industry certifications, technological degrees, two, four, even graduate degrees
And we really believe that this will give us an opportunity to develop the world's next generation leaders, innovators and professionals
We went on many study tours
I'm a firm believer that adults learn as as students do, inquiry based learning
I have a question
I want to learn more
I want to find out what I can from others
I want to gather information, have a hypothesis and see what fits and pursue ideas
So we went on study tours
We began in New York City
We traveled first to the South Bronx River corridor
As you perhaps know, the South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the United States
And we started at a school named named Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
At that school, that school served 473 students
Ninety nine percent students of color and 91 percent students of poverty
At that school, we discovered that they have a very in-depth project based learning curriculum
Students get out and about into the community and they actually spend their junior and senior year, two full days in internships, apprenticeships, etc
Many of them paid
And the school also works to provide summer jobs for 50 percent of their students
We then travel down the river to Rocking the Boat actually followed some Fannie Lou Hamer students there
And it's a community development and youth development organization that uses boat building, woodworking, sailing, environmental projects to develop students
While we were there, we met three students who are directors or employees that were once students there
We then travel down, excuse me, back up the river to the Bronx River Alliance and at the Bronx River Alliance, we met with some folks from New York's Parks Department, etc.
There we saw a lot of synergies with what the Port is committed to in the Duwammish Valley
And so they're, it's a group of nonprofits, governmental agency, schools, community members, etc
who are working to clean up the river and provide opportunities
They just opened
We toured their, what The New York Times called "the greenest building in the South Bronx", a beautiful community center
The following day, we traveled downtown to the New York Harbor School on Governor's Island
You can tell from the picture there that it is just eight hundred yards away from the Staten Island ferry depot
It's about and seventy two acre public space and it's about 400 yards from Brooklyn
The little arrow indicates exactly where the school is
This island was originally the home to the Lepani First Nations
Then it was, it got its name, Governors Island from because the colonial governors lived there
Then it spent a long history as an army installation, became a Coast Guard base and now is home since 2010 to the Harbor School
I think the New York Harbor School has lots for us to take from to learn from
There are 534 students there
Seventy one percent students of color and 51 percent students of poverty
Very heterogeneous
Students come from all five boroughs
Some travel over an hour and a half to get there
And then they have to enter by, they have to arrive by ferry
A personal note talked to one of the ferry captains on the way leaving the island
And he is a retired Washington state ferry captain
So the school is very popular and it is home to the nationally renowned billion oyster project
So w hat does the school do in terms of educational process? It, when you're a freshman, you take something called the harbor class and you study seven career pathways, then you choose one and you leave, and when you graduate, after studying from 10 to 12, you may leave as a professional diver
You may leave with Coast Guard certifications and be able to pilot a boat
You may study aquaculture and, you know, global food systems, et cetera
And that's where the billion oyster project is, is resides
There's the marine systems technology
So you may learn welding, mechanics, all types of engineering
And then there is the ocean engineering
Maybe you're going to build some robots and and develop underwater vehicles, et cetera
There's, of course, marine biology research that we're familiar with
And of course, the marine policy and advocacy helps students learn how to develop environmental law, advocate, etc
So that was our our New York study tour
And then we returned home in November
We traveled north to Port Townsend and saw the Northwest Maritime and Skill Center
There are two vessel operations skill centers that opened this fall in the state, one in Port Townsend and the other here in Seattle, housed at the Seattle Maritime Academy
The day that we were visiting, we, the fire department was there and students were simulating how to put out a fire on a boat
So it was really fun to see them and see how actively engaged they were
Then we traveled about a mile up the hill to the Port Townsend School District
They have the nation's first place based K-12 maritime curriculum
So essentially what that means is that students from K-12 are immersed in the the genius of their place, the genius loci
So with all that said, leading up to where we've been thus far and where we intend to go, I will soon turn over to my colleague
I just want to reiterate some lessons learned before I do that, that we need to make sure that we co-design with everyone
And we learned that we need to co-design with our tribal leaders, with trades, with educators and with all who care about students and their futures
We also learned that location is paramount to success
If you're going to run a maritime and ocean sciences high school, you need access to the water and it should be convenient and close
Absolutely
Absolutely
Thank you for that commendation
So
So I'll turn it over to my colleague, John
Recognize that things, that a school, we believe, needs to be small and personalized so that every student is known by name and interest, and need
So with that said, I'm going to let John take over and give you our recommendations
Commissioners, and Executive Metruck along with my colleague Victoria
I am very excited to be here today and to share with you our recommendation for moving forward and was shared earlier
Prior to my current role, I was superintendent in Highline Public Schools and I appreciated very much in that role a longstanding relationship with the Port of Seattle
I'm grateful for your leadership and excited to partner with you in bringing a new Maritime Ocean Sciences High School to this region
So our recommendation for moving forward includes the following
So community engagement is absolutely imperative as was shared
We must embrace a design process that gives our community voice, access, and power in decision making
We don't do this for the community
We move forward with the community
Hence the no decision about us without us location matters as was shared
The educational experiences will support the study and improvement of the region's waterways, providing a pathway for students to enjoy the benefits of their community's improvement
Hence, the schools access to water and access as it was shared near mass transit is gonna be important
Ideally, the school will be located on the Duwammish waterway
Equity at the center, the school's population will reflect the population of Seattle and South King County, committed to recruiting, preparing and empowering students who are underrepresented in maritime and ocean sciences careers
We will emphasize students of color, students with limited access to resources, and girls
Our enrollment: selected by lottery, again with an emphasis on prioritizing the communities of Seattle and South King County, a regional thematics school with an enrollment of four to five hundred, a size that supports relationships and knowing each student well in a non-institutional setting and the district, you're in good hands with Highline Public Schools
They have a strong governing board, have had for years, and a superintendent and an administrative team who knows how to partner, they know how to lead, and they know how to deliver on a promise
The school needs to be project and place based in their learning model
This approach will align with state learning standards and industry certification standards, and it will allow students to learn about and tackle regional issues
A handful of robust career and technical education pathways will exist and all students will have an educational advisor and a mentor
And strong memorandums of understanding will be in place with school districts, with tribal leaders, with nonprofits and the industry to ensure that the academic program is relevant and that it leads to family wage careers for our students coming out of the school
The interconnected nature of the social equity of economic vitality and environmental protection will help ensure a thriving community
The students of this school will be the future leaders in our region
Apprenticeship opportunities, and employer and union based internships will support students as they progress on their educational pathway toward graduation and in their pursuit of the training they need beyond high school
Whether it be a technical education in pursuit of an industry certificate, a two year degree, a four year degree, or beyond
The school will have in place all the support needed for partnership development and for internship coordination to connect students with regional employers
An abundant view around prosperity of place will exist
The school will recognize the resources and assets of this region and value the abundance of talent and passion to make this school an incredible place every day
And a public private partnership is critical
The school and its educational program will collaborate with the private sector and welcome innovation and build a consortium for support
District leaders and community advisors will identify the long term needs both in the instructional program as well as the connection to industry and eventually the plan and approach for a permanent state of the art facility
As I wrap up, I just want to share how excited we are to support the vision of this school, a world class education serving a historically impacted community that advances the next generation of leaders, innovators and marine professionals
This is our aspiration
And with all of us working together, we can make this vision a reality
Thank you
Thank you, Superintendent Welch
As you heard during public comment, there is a lot of energy and support around the work that has been completed so far
Moving forward
The school districts will work together toward a memorandum of understanding to take this initiative forward
At the February 25th Commission meeting, Commissioner Calkins will bring forward a motion to support the recommendations of the Maritime Secondary Education Advisory Group that calls for the development of a Maritime and Ocean Sciences High School
The motion will signify the Commission support for this initiative and facilitate the ongoing collaboration with school districts
We will continue to work with the school districts and stakeholders to strategize and execute effective community engagement
On February 3rd, 2020, Representative Jesse Johnson and Senator Hasegawa submitted a budget proviso requesting $250,000 to support the design and planning of a maritime and ocean sciences high school
Funds would go to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to align school design
We expect to learn more about the status of that request in the coming week
With that, we are happy to take on, take any questions that you may have
So I'm going to start off by just
There's a series of folks who deserve thanks
And I want to mention those people
They have been members of the advisory group have contributed from the outset with very positive feedback
I'll I'll start with the members of the advisory group, which was a group that met throughout the fall and into the early winter, really taking the inputs from the study tours and the summit to consolidate all the input and create the proposal that we heard today
So that's DR Diane de Backer, who's the Chief Academic Officer of Seattle Public Schools
Sarah Shear, the former Executive Director of Seattle Maritime Academy, now at the City of Seattle
Paulina Lopez, the Executive Director of the Duwammish River Cleanup Coalition, who's represented here today by Maggie who ee heard from earlier
Joshua Berger, the Executive Director of Maritime Blue, Ali Vecchich, the Washington Area District Council of the Longshore, Marie Carosa, who I saw come in earlier
Adrian Hampton, who spoke earlier
Thank you so much
Guilder Wheeler, who is also from Washington STEM , we heard from Janay and Angie Mason Smith, who's the Core Plus Project Coordinator for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Schools and who intended to be here today but injured her back yesterday
So we're wishing her the best
There's also a couple of other people I want to thank
Principally Victoria and John, who have been our consultants on this project, and Jessica, who is sitting behind John
They have brought so much experience in the educational field to this table and records of success
And when we were able to partner with them back in the summer, things got real really quickly because we hired great people to work on this contract
I also want to thank Bookha who has traveled with us, I don't know-- there she is, and has been a consistent voice for remembering that motto of "no decision about us without us." And of course, I don't want to forget LeAnn, who has carried so much water for this project from the outset and has reminded me when I forget to do things, to keep things advanced
In addition to that, we took so much inspiration from successful high performing models
And although a few were mentioned in the presentation there, a number of others that were part of our consideration, including Aviation High school and the Innovation Schools in Tacoma, led by John Kettler, who's been a great advisor on this project as well
So with that, I will turn it over to the rest of the Commission for questions
I will start
First of all, I want to I want to echo my thanks actually for you
Commissioner Calkins, for you've been a stalwart champion of this from before you got on the Commission and you've never wavered from this
And so thank you for bringing forward this concept
So and I want appreciate and everybody that's been involved in this
I have a couple of questions more as we get a little bit hopefully into the brass tacks
So I didn't, I wasn't aware of this study tours until after they happened
So I haven't had the opportunity to go to New York or to Port Townsend or see any of those other models
But I'm curious, a couple of questions
So on those, do you have information about, or could you provide information about who administers the program? The cost of it, the curriculum, those sorts of details that I would assume that you would be looking at the operational model, it wouldn't be perfectly applicable to Washington, but I'd imagine it would give us some sort of a roadmap
Do we have that information? We can certainly provide it
There's a lot that resides here
And I can just, you know, send it out or provide you with a packet or or meet with, I think probably all of us
I mean, I was, because as I read the report, it just didn't provide any details in terms of "it's run by a school district; it's funding is provided by the states
There's public private partnership in these different amounts, etc." So I guess as the proposals moving forward, I would assume that we would use some of those other examples to inform what we might do here
Yes, absolutely
Great
So that's one
And then I'm curious, I'm very familiar, obviously I've served on the Commission now for almost seven years, with the High Line data, the top line data in terms of maritime careers
Could you specify two particular maritime careers that you see would be applicable to this school? You know, in terms of we know that we have a gap
You've called out several of the gap
So in one of the gap industries, what would that be that maybe the school would address? Well, I think there could be several
And we certainly do have an expert in terms of what some of the gaps are in Washington state
I would say that there are all kinds of opportunities onshore as well as out and about
So it could be anything from shipbuilding, underwater welding, things like that
It could be, we have, we're facing a retirement crisis with the Washington ferry systeMS So things like being, actually being a pilot of a ship
There are all kinds of opportunities within the environmental agencies around the clean up of the Duwammish, etc
So
So that's just a start
I mean, that's off the top of my head
And I know that I have many colleagues who are closer to the expressed needs
The Port has provided fabulous data, as has Marie Kurosaki
So we could certainly look at that data
And and that's part of the movement forward is to decide when you build something, you need to start somewhere and build to a goal
Again, we can't
We are hesitant to name exactly what the career pathways might be that meet the need until we work with the community, industry trades, people themselves to to address the issues of the greater region
And so on that
So when does that happen? Because I, with all due respect, I would have thought that that we would have started with, "this is what the industry needs and then this is how we would accommodate that" and then come to the conclusion that we need a school in order to do so
So I'm it feels a little backwards to me
So I'm just eager to get more information from industry about the specific career paths, the certifications needed, etc
to help make the case for why we should do this
So I, I could name a couple, but I'm just curious, I didn't see anything in your report
It was sort of more generalizations about maritime industries and retirements
And so I think just the more specific we could be would be great
And then my last question is at what point do you see, and maybe for Commissioner Calkins as well, or staff? When do we get to the feasibility portion of this, the location? I know your recommendation has been to do it on the Duwammish-- who owns the lands? Where does the building come from? Who administers the program? I hate to be
I'm just
These are things that I think are important for us to consider as we're taking up this motion next week that we understand we have a clear understanding of what the entire universe of this is going to entail because it might race back was 30 million
Am I remembering that, Leon? Forty five
Forty five million
So
Just want to
I'm curious when we get to the details about when that would come forward
I might speak to a couple of these questions
So the
On the question of feasibility and I would say curriculum design, a whole host of things that come in this now intermediate planning period
The intent is to create a sort of bending a metaphor here, but a four legged chair instead of a three legged stool
That would be comprised of Port of Seattle, Highline Public Schools, a community based organization, and then a nonprofit maritime education focused organization that together could coalesce all the various things that need to take place in this next intermediate planning phase
And that includes everything from taking all the work that's been done by Washington STEM and Workforce Development Council in identifying the careers, the maritime career pathways
So that data's out there
It's already published
We've got consolidated reports
In fact, Maria's report is sitting on my desk upstairs where we've already identified it
And at the, at our MLK celebration, I had the head of the Master's Mates, which was a lot of the ferry employees come up to me and express interest in this idea
Because of that silver tsunami that they're facing
So it's identifying how we prepare high school students to be what we're calling T to 4 ready-- trades 2 year and four year degree ready so that they come out of high school with more than just a diploma
They've got certifications and credentials, experiences on the water and even some pre-apprenticeship elements already completed
They get a big head start and that includes workplace paid internships that happen in high school
So in that work, there's a lot of seed work that's been done by others to get ready for that
And the other part of that and why working with the office of the superintendent of public instruction is so important, because in terms of the feasibility, we recognize that the standard funding available to public schools for a general high school education is not sufficient to cover the normal costs of a small thematic high school like this
However, if we begin to look at funding sources like career and technical education funding, that comes automatically, if you qualify from the state, you begin to fill up that gap between standard funding and the funding needed for these
And then my expectation is that we will, as we partner with industry and keep them at the design table, we will get participation from industry in ways that are maybe not monetary, but through expertise, internships in in the schools or in the in the workplaces for the students at the schools, that those pieces come together in a really positive way
But we really need that partnership between the state
Northeast Maritime Center pioneered this Seattle, I see Dan in the back, Seattle Skills Center has done a ton of this work
So they've done path-breaking work to show us how to navigate those particular questions
So I think it didn't come out in this presentation, but a lot of that legwork has already started
And so it's at what point are we going to see that? I mean, we'll do the, if, assuming that we're going to support this motion, which of course we will
But at what point is it next year, 24 months, that we'll actually get to the brass tacks of where it will be, what it will cost, who will administer the program? I think I think it's important to note that that the Port has kind of taken this idea, this concept, and has incubated it and created this idea that has gained a lot of momentum
And now it's up to the community and the school district, which we heard today, that High Line school district wants to take this great idea and drive it forward
And so it'll be the school district that will need to to determine the curriculum and determine the pathways specific to the institution that they want to create
I don't know
I'll hopefully that add some clarity of process
Well, it's just that the reason I ask is because actually the quote from the gentleman from the Highline was, we want to be the partners you want us to be
So I just at some point would love to understand what the partnership is at the port of Seattle is expected moving forward
And I think some of that, too, is the, there was a gathering of representatives from various school districts last Thursday
The decision was made to work on an M OU between school districts to be managed by Highline public schools
So it's it's a work in progress right now
It's actually a pretty significant leap forward in the development of this concept
But as Leeanne alluded to, we're the kind of midwife of this project
But eventually we're not gonna be the parents of it
It's gonna be owned by a school district that administers it
And and I also want to mention that in in most of these small schools, they don't start off by building a building
It's not the massive capital influx that then kicks it off
Rather, they use borrowed facilities as they grow from freshman class, to then a freshman and sophomore class
And there's a bearing out of the idea
And as it comes to fruition, then there is the impetus and between the school district and other organizations that are affiliated to it
Then the capital campaign comes
And so Superintendent Welch was present at the creation of aviation and watching the capital campaign that resulted in a big, beautiful building in South Seattle for Aviation High School
But I think that can't, they open that something like seven years after the high school opened
You ask great questions and the next twelve months are really critical in the planning phase
So things about the instructional program, the particular career pathways, the blended funding that's going to come together, location
All of that will be part of the next twelve months
And High Line, in conjunction with the community, will figure this out
And I would just encourage you to remember we did this before
So we have lots to learn from
Didn't get it all right the first time
But lots to learn from that can inform this next effort
I think you're wonderful partners
High Line is my favorite school district
No offense to Seattle, but
But, you know, you've always leaned forward
And so now I'm I was thrilled to see that High Line was taking the lead
I just wanted
I just want full transparency about the commitment of the Port of Seattle and an expectation for funding moving forward
And I mean, not just one hundred thousand dollars here and there, but if there is an expectation of several million dollars, that's a whole different conversation
So I've just been eager to get to the point where we have an operational model that we can evaluate and decide whether or not that's something that this organization can support long term
That goes well beyond the five of us
A point from the meeting we had last Thursday, I think is really important emphasize, which is although Highline Public Schools is leading on this
The agreement was that the all the sort of school districts in and around the Duwammish Valley as far south as Federal Way, would like to participate in recruitment of 8th graders and enrollment at these schools and working out the details of what that would look like, how the aviation model versus other regional magnet models will be worked out
But the idea is to open this up to all the kids who fall within the Roadmap Project boundaries
Say
Please, MR-- It's kind of just building on Commissioner Bowman's comments but it's also about that looking as we go forward was the ongoing role for us
Just not on the monetary side, but ongoing role in that, I think is to see how that develops, too
I mean, if any, I should say, if any in that, because we have a lot of these touches our common areas, workforce development in other areas
And and how do we line off in that whole continuum, right, of providing tons of work
And I think one of the probably the easiest analogy is to look at our relationship with Aviation High School, that we have significant institutional connections
A lot of them are non-monetary
Most of them are non-monetary
But it's, you know, our experts co-teaching a class, bringing in teachers for externships so that they can learn about aviation, providing field trip opportunities for students at the school, providing ideas for the sophomore class project
That kind of thing
That where honestly, it's enlightened self-interest
Right
We want these kids rolling out into the aviation sector prepared for those jobs that we need them to fill
But it's not it we're not writing a big check to aviation each year
Ok, well, I'd like to take this opportunity to just offer my great praise and commendation to Commissioner Calkins and for the strong stakeholder interests that have been part of this
This has been a remarkable early achievement, I think in a very short time to have pulled this together over the course of the year with a little bit of seed money from the Port to hire a fantastic consultant
I was privileged to travel to New York and visit these various schools and prograMS I can't tell you how impressed I was with the Harbor School in particular and its experiential learning approach that gets students out of the classroom for sure and hands on with a whole range of great fields for a potential pursuit
In the longer term and results to show for the students, I have never seen happier students from the inner cities boroughs of New York City and New York City has, I think five million students enrolled
Something like--
1 million
OK, one point one million
Do we have about what? Sixty thousand here in Seattle? Just to put things in perspective, how they were able to pull this off is truly a miracle
But it came with tremendous amount of stakeholder support, industry support, nonprofits
And what is that, that alliance for education, or what is it called? That does--
Urban Assembly
A phenomenal organization that, it couldn't have been possible without that kind of a partnership
So I'm really thrilled with this work and the deliverables that thus far that Commissioner Calkins has brought and the amazing, I think, coalescing of academic, educational and non-profits
Pauline was on the trip
You here Paulina? Well, and also the industry interest in this
It's it's been a really amazing demonstration of a more than just a passing interest with a novel idea that as fact has been done elsewhere
So I think that that coalescing is really occurring
And it sort of reminds me of that Margaret Mead quote about never doubt that a small group of individual, dedicated, thoughtful individuals can change the world
I think this is, we're seeing it before our very eyes
So, again, extend my great thanks and gratitude
And I look forward to the next step here
And I
I don't hear any suggestion that the Port is going to be called upon for making an enormous financial commitment
I think the Port has appropriately, it's role has been as convener, facilitator with a little support funds to to take this deep into the communities and to let it be a community inspired project as it unfolds and develops further
Commissioner Felleman
I would like to join in my expression of appreciation for Ryan's leadership and the talent that he's surrounded himself with
And I think, though, in terms of trying to get to some of the specific questions, I think we don't have to look much further than how Port Townsend has been developing their program right here in River City
And one of the things that I think is really great about that community in particular is very much identified still with the waterfront, which is something that we have a little bit of a harder lift to remind them to look to the sea
But the K-12 connection, I mean, once you have a high school, you have to have that feeder into the high school
And so they need to see the whole ecosystem of education to get them in
And, you know, the part that I've been excited about, it's just more in the early adoption experiential side of things might be simply simplified to be like "you get them on the water before you can get him in the classroom." And but one of the things that Port Townsend, I've known Jake for many years and I was happy to do the introduction when I used to work with the Mikah, but the challenge that they had originally was with actually getting ship time
And I said, you got the Keystone Ferry right there
I mean, it's like, you know, it's like, isn't this kind of perfect? And and this is, I think, just beginning to go
And so certainly the ferry service understands why their hair looks like mine and the fact that we should really look at this as a systemic issue, because, you know, we're the largest ferry system in the country and it's in many of these communities that we're talking about
And it's amazing how a lot of kids haven't even ridden the ferries
And so sea time and especially with sea time on a ship that doesn't rock very much
Except when you go to the San Juans in the winter, but the, there's, I think, a natural state investment through the ferry service
I think we have a good example in Port Townsend and the way in which we can really feed the whole program from the bottom up is that, and I assume that this Hasegawa budget item will help put some of the flesh on the bone that we're looking for right? Absolutely
And so the budget proviso is written in such a way that it supports the, ensuring that it's designed in such a way that it meets what the state looks for in high performing, in terms of career and technical education and career launch programs, which is a really important part of their career Connect Washington program
I also want to say that, Fred, you have been instrumental in reviewing at every stage of this, the proposal and suggesting really helpful improvements to it, including the participation, the Northwest Maritime Center that has been absolutely instrumental in helping us to understand how you align high school education to actual career pathways and how you get kids out onto the water using existing resources that are available
So that was absolutely essential
And the other piece that you have been consistent about and to borrow language from Career Connect Washington is the career awareness, what's happening in elementary schools to get kids prepared for maritime education and then career exploration
That's sort of what you're doing in place based learning to to see if you really do want to pursue this kind of thing
And so part of the conversation with the school districts was talking about what are we doing in fifth grade and eighth grade to to gather interest in this
And DR Infielders, the Superintendent of Highline Public Schools, she talked about the experience with aviation
It becomes this positive feedback loop where the work you're doing for fifth and eighth grade supports the high school
The high school then supports the work that you're doing in fifth and eighth grade
The students themselves are the ones going back and leading the 5th grade discussion around maritime, in this case aviation pathways, and the eighth grade, the eighth graders are able to go and visit the high school and do, get an experience of that
So I think there's a real potential for synergy there between them
One of the things I've been hearing during the Highline Forum for the past four years, the Highland College representative there, that, you know, the fact that they have a, what is it, a trade and logistics degree
Right
I go, "Aren't you our best friend?" You know, it's like, it's like, I just saw this as like a, it's like the only, like Port degree that I've been aware of
And so I just saw that that was a a natural synergy, especially when you're in the Highline District
And obviously having the maritime academy right here is a gold mine
But I, you mentioned something a bit just, could you quickly allude to, that there's this new program, although we lost Sarah Scherrer, Easy for you to say
Could you-- What is the program that they just started up that you mentioned was a--
Oh, Seattle skills center has a maritime education program and Dan is here
Dan, do you want to talk about
Yeah, sure
No, I oh, I think so, yes
Seattle Public Schools partnered with Seattle Colleges at the Seattle Maritime Academy to create a vessel operations class
So and we collaborated with our friends at Port Townsend and in fact, Kelly Watson, the captain for that class, and our teacher, Kelly Greenwood, Captain Kelly Greenwood, know each other and work together
So we we've all been communicating quite a bit to make sure we're--
Both Kellie's are women, by the way
Right
So aligning our efforts to be to create similar curriculum
And so, yes, same goals as the program in the satellite school center in Port Townsend to help students build skills to either go into engineering or deckhand
Those are the two general tracks at Seattle Maritime Academy in the college level
So this would be the high school skill center class meant to prepare students for that career
Is that enough? That's great
Yes
We have a question or comment from Commissioner Cho
Well, I just wanted to commend Commissioner Calkins for this initiative
I think this is developed in hyperspeed
I'm just I'm just so impressed by how quickly this has come together
But one thing that stood out to me is that it was mentioned that the high school in New York has 70 percent students of color
You said
And to me, that was shocking and so encouraging
And it just proves to show that as much as this is about workforce development, it's also about equity, inclusion and access to opportunities
And I noticed here that one of the guiding principles of this initiative was equitable access
And so I'm highly encouraged by that
I see this as another lens through which we can promote equity as a Port, but also an opportunity for us to find partnerships beyond just the school districts and whatnot
And so I really encourage you to kind of reach out to organizations beyond the educational ones, but ones that focus specifically on equity and inclusion
And I'm also really excited to see how this fits in with our broader equity inclusion strategic plan that we'll be hearing about later today
So thank you very much
And that school has about a 95 percent graduation rate, remains extremely high
It's just remarkable
Amazing
Thank you
I think it's 99 percent
Ok
Well, all good
Thank you very much, everyone, for participating in your continuing efforts
We'll have a motion at the next meeting that is in our notebooks for your review
And with that, I'll turn it to Executive Director Metruck for the next item
I just want to say, as somebody who grew up in the desert and didn't graduate from high school, I want to say that I'm really thankful and I feel privileged to work for an organization that has created this energy behind this idea
So thank you
Next item for special orders is 7B Youth Internship Programs Update
Commissioners this briefing provides an update on the 2019 youth internship programs and discusses current priorities and plans for the 2020 program
Presenter is Ambron Wilson
This is a great topic to follow on, so
Hello, President Steinbrueck, Commissioners, Executive Director Metruck
Thank you
I am so excited
I am so excited to talk to you today about how we're doing with this program
Paul, can you help me pull up my presentation? Oh, wonderful
Oh, thank you so much
Before I get started, I just want to thank all-- State your name for the--
Oh, yes, hi, I'm Ambron Wilson
My name is not excited
That is just my state of being
My name is Ambron Wilson
I'm the H.R
outreach program manager for the Port of Seattle
I run our high school internship program, our college internship program, as well as our veteran fellowship program
Before I get started, I want to thank all of our interns who show up every day and try really, really hard
I want to thank Jessica Pate, Mary Harris, Brandi Brown and the entire H.R
team
I want to thank our badging staff at the Port, our I.C.T
staff at the Port
All of our hiring managers and administrators, just everybody who's on board
And in particular, I want to thank Christina Billingsley, Consuelo Davis and Marko Milanese, who have been just continuous stellar partners in this work
And speaking of partners, I also want to thank all of our partners across King County, without whom we just could not do this program
So before I tell you a little bit about how we did in twenty nineteen and what we're planning for 2020, I want to remind you of where we started
In 2015 the Port had a total of 34 interns, eight of which were high school, and in 2016, Commissioner Bowman said, I think you guys can do better than that and challenge us to triple the number of interns that we hired
And we did
We hired one hundred and five interns that year
But I think we're missing something when we say that we just, we've just tripled the number of interns that we hired because when you look at the high school numbers, we went from eight high school in 2015 to 68 high school in 2016
We actually grew the high school program over eight times in one year
I was working in I.T
at that time, which is this picture from the PowerPoint
And I supervised a group of twelve interns and we did a project based learning curriculum around solution design
And even though some of them were interested in journalism or accounting, they still benefited from learning project management skills
And that really inspired me when I was hired in 2017 to run this program for H.R.
And one of the first things we did in 2017 was change the application process to make the program more accessible
We also grew the program again in 2017, hiring a total of 120 interns
And we also added cohort projects each summer so that every single intern at the Port of Seattle gets project management skills, public speaking skills, team development skills and networking skills that we know these are foundational to any career
Then in 2018, we continued to grow the program and we partnered with local skill centers to pilot our first ever credit earning school year internship and that's that little green sliver in 2018
So we first tried that to bring in students during the school year and begin to earn credit
So they're not just getting paid, they're also getting credit
And in 2019, we piloted two additional school year programs, one in the Spring, focusing on environmental sustainability and outreach and the other in the Fall with workforce development, focusing on aviation career pathways
And so when we look at the last five years, we've hired five hundred and fifty nine interns in the last five years
And that compares to 62 interns in the previous five years
Our goals over the last five years have stayed relatively the same: we want to raise awareness, we want to build a diverse pipeline, we want to lessen the opportunity gap among youth in King County, and we want to offer paid internships
Then the numbers go up
But those other fundamental goals have stayed the same
And we achieve those goals not just through the internship program, but also by doing career fairs and outreach events, resumé workshops for youth and building community partnerships, offering project based learning curriculum, and just a tremendous amount of support by the staff
Our interns on their very first day spend time playing games that teach them about careers in Port related industries, teaches them about aviation, maritime sustainability, public administration and skilled trades
They also get practice meeting each other, learning more about each other, networking, learning how to introduce themselves, and feel comfortable in a group of a bunch of people that they don't know
They get to network with our employee resource groups and do a lot of practice at that very important skill of networking so that by the end of the summer they're now meeting executives and hearing from executives and talking to them about career pathways that are available through Port related careers
They also learn, excuse me, they're also introduced to different careers in Port related industries, so they get that hands-on exposure
Every single intern gets to attend at least one different career awareness event that's targeted towards aviation or sustainability or skilled trades or maritime
Often those are in collaboration with workforce development and a community partner, including our career and education fair, which is held at the end of the summer
I mentioned the cohort projects
Those teach project management skills, team development skills, public speaking skills, and they practice these together
We offer them a problem or project to solve and they work together over the course of the summer in addition to their daily activities to solve this problem and practice presenting it so that by, again, by the end of the summer they're ready and they're prepared to present in front of a large audience
So I mentioned in 2016 I was still working in I.T
and I had this large group of interns and we are at the point now where some of our interns from those first couple years are in college
They're in an apprenticeship program
Some of them have started their careers
And I, it brings me great joy to be connected with them and to get texts from them with pictures from their first day of school or invitations to judge one of their DECA contests
And in particular, I just want to call out
I recently ran into Toan Nguyen who was part of my internship cohort in 2016
He's grown a little
He's a little bit taller now and he also has his first job at JP Morgan Chase
And when we were talking together, he was talking about how he's sent, as a mentor, to high school interns through Young Executives of Color that he has sent lots, of everybody he talks to, all those applicants to the Port of Seattle to come be a part of this experience
This internship at the Port of Seattle, because, in his words, it all started with the Port of Seattle
So even if we're not connecting youth directly to Port related industries per se, they still walk away with a really transformative experience that helps them on their next step
Right
And that's really something that I'm excited about, that we are building these alumni who can be powerful champions for the port's mission and ambassadors, if you will, in the community
And it's really important that we continue to focus on that, improving those long term impacts so that Toan has that message for people to come to the Port
This year, in 2019, we implemented an impact survey
What we did is have a collection of statements
And we asked our interns on their very first day to rate those statements how much they agreed or disagreed with those statements
And then we asked them again at the end of their internship
And this allows us to look at some of those impacts that we are having through the internship program
And we found the most improvement on those statements in our awareness of Port and Port related industries
For example, we found that 20 percent of interns walking in the door felt like they understood how the Port of Seattle engages with their community, how it impacts their community
We tripled that number by the end of the internship
Sixty six percent, excuse me, fifty six percent feeling that they knew what the port's impact was
And then when you look specifically at the statement, "I am aware of a variety of careers in Port related industries." We went from 19 percent to sixty six percent
Clearly, we are making some strides there in raising awareness through this program
And finally, when we're looking at the interest in pursuing a career in Port related industries, we doubled that number from 17 percent agreeing in the beginning of the program to 31 percent strongly agreeing at the end of the program
Another one of our goals is to build a diverse talent pipeline for the Port and for Port related industries
We are able, through partnerships with community organizations and through direct targeted outreach and a selection process that centers equity to get interns and high school interns in that are a very diverse population
In twenty nineteen almost 70 percent, were youth of color, 61 percent were young women, we had at least three that identified as disabled
While we have had several interns that are indigenous, we could do better in that area
I know that's very important to you, Commissioner Felleman, and we do have a plan to increase our tribal outreach this year and I know we have a meeting tomorrow to discuss your ideas and how we can do better there for this year
So yes, so we're getting diversity, but what about the pipeline? Commissioner Calkins you mentioned awareness and experience and career launch and these are those steps in the career connected learning continuum
Right
And I see that the portal internship program is right kind of in the middle there-- we're a little experimental, where little preparation
And I think that we could be doing better with our pipeline adding partners in the beginning where we're recruiting from that offer more of those awareness in the K through 12 awareness and then finding those partners after our internship that can help connect youth to college success or an apprenticeship or an entry level job so that we are building out those tr ue pathways and pipelines
As it is, we're not doing so bad
We just ran the numbers and over the last 10 years we have hired six hundred and twenty one interns and those interns, about sixty one of them went on to hold positions here at the Port, almost 10 percent, almost 10 percent of our interns over the last 10 years have been hired here at the Port of Seattle
We don't have numbers, unfortunately, on where they've gone into other careers other than some of my anecdotal information of somebody sending me a text or an email telling me that they've gotten a job
But we do know how many we've hired here, and we have some strategies to begin to do a better job of recruiting our alumni and staying in touch with our alumni so we can let them know about opportunities we're aware of both at the Port and in Port related industries
It's also about diversity
We focus on all of King County
Two thirds of our interns come from near Port school districts
That's the Seattle School District and the Highline and Tukwilla Public School Districts and the remaining one third come from across all other school districts
And you can see that our interns came from forty eight different schools in 16 different districts
So we're hitting almost all of the school districts, almost all of the school districts in King County
And we, through partnerships, know that at least a third of our interns also come from low income communities, which helps increase the impact of our program and offers another layer of diversity into the program
Here is a look at how we did in two thousand nineteen
As far as trying to raise soft skill development, which we know can help with success in careers later
So the feeling that people could work and learn independently, we raised from 44 percent to 64 percent
I really like this one
The statement "I have the ability to be a leader" went from 33 percent in the beginning of the program to 58 percent of interns feeling like they have the ability to be a leader at the end of the program
That one, I really like that one
We
Communicating effectively, we know is also very important in career success and this number, we went from 33 percent to a 48 percent
And I have the ability to persevere in difficult tasks, almost doubled from 28 percent to 44 percent
Continuing looking at soft skill development, we moved the needle on having the desire to become a better citizen
As a public agency, I think it's important that we talk to our interns about public service and what it means to be in a public agency
And here we moved from 52 percent to 72 percent
"I have the ability to work cooperatively with others" from 39 percent to 70 percent
And that, again, I think comes from all those cohort projects and teamwork that we're really trying to focus on learning those skills
"I feel comfortable introducing myself and talking to professionals." We doubled that number from 23 percent to 47 percent
That's one number I'd really like to see some more growth in
That's I'd like to see that a little bit better growth next year when we're looking at these numbers again
I think that's so foundational to moving through success in any career, being able to network and talk to people
I really like this number as well
"I can recognize my personal strengths." Being able to know what you're good at can really help in thinking about what career you might want to go into
And here we moved from 19 percent to 32 percent through at the beginning to the end of our internship program
So our final goal for 2019 was to hire at least paid 90 high school students and 30 college students, and we exceeded those goals
I would say, I would say that also in addition to paid internships, we are beginning to offer the credit earning internships, which I know is really important to you, Commissioner Bowman
And we actually got over a thousand applications for this number of interns, so, so that, it's like a 10 to 1 ratio of interest of trying
People want to work at the Port of Seattle through our internship program
In addition to those regular paid internships, we also had two different pilot programs that are school year prograMS We piloted the Port Youth Ambassador program in the Spring, which hired eleven paid interns under this idea that, hey, why don't we pay youth to help us do outreach to youth? That's a, might, might be a good idea
And so with partnership with External Relations, Sustainability Ambassadors and Duwammish Valley Youth Corps, we worked on a program that taught these young people how to do community outreach, project management, public speaking, and they put on their own community outreach event and had 60 youth and family members in attendance
And thank you, Commissioner Felleman, for being there and speaking on that day
We also piloted, in partnership with Workforce Development and Aviation Departments and Tyee High Schools Pathways Program, the Aviation Career Pathways Program
We hired five interns there and they worked part time with us and part time with their teacher at Tyee to learn about aviation career pathways and present industry demand and what their pathway might be that they might be interested in
And this model really has become, I think, something really exciting that we're gonna be doing even more of this next year
So when I'm looking at 2020, which I'll tell you a little bit about in a moment, we're doubling and even tripling these numbers of these credit earning school year prograMS Special shout out to Consuela Davis, Patricia Lee and Marco Milanese, who helped with the Aviation Career Pathways Program
So what have we learned? We have learned that project based learning works
It's worked from the beginning
It makes a big difference when there's structure to an internship, when there there's a driving question, some problem that they solve
And there's training that enables them to solve the problem instead of just coming in and trying to do day to day activities
If there's a little bit more structure around it, it really helps them be engaged and learn more about the skills on the job that they're doing over the summer
Partnerships work
I think that I really identified with the, you know, "no decision about us without us" snd community partnerships really make all the difference in the success of our internship program
Transportation barriers
We know this is true
The farther away from Port businesses, the harder it is for interns to get here
We do offer a free orca card to interns or parking card to help aid with that transportation barrier
Also, we know that supervisor training and support really helps
Helping train supervisors on designing project based learning internships, for example, really has helped
We know that we have some onsite space and staff capacity issues
We only have so many seats
We're doing a lot of hiring this year also
And I think that moving from having a lot, all, of the interns in the summer to having them in these part time school year credit earning programs helps us manage some of that space capacity issue as well
We also know that just with a large group of miners coming in that we have a risk and liability to manage
We do a lot of safety training and really try to make sure that our interns are aware of our safety culture here at the Port of Seattle
So moving forward, I think it's really important that this program continues to support the century agenda
Human resources goals, as well as the equity, diversity and inclusion mission with a career connected learning strategy
So with that in mind, this is a vision for where we could be in five years
And it may change based on the continued strategic work that we're doing with workforce development and the Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion
In 2019, we did a landscape analysis with strategic initiatives
Thank you to Erin Burnett for all of her work on herding the cats and getting all of our knowledge into something that was legible
We realized that we could do better of connecting from where we're pulling youth into internships at the Port and into those jobs that we may want them to be going to into the future
We also realized that to increase the equity of the program, that if we move towards a 100 percent of our interns are placed by community partners, they're selected by community partners that are already giving them some of those curriculum
So the youth that are coming into the Port are already getting some of that knowledge that will prepare them to be more successful here at the Port and that support that goes with it as well
So this I believe this point you make in the in the briefing that it's important both from that side and from the Port side having to go through an HR review process
Is this the same issue that you were told about, if it's a recommendation from afar rather than a selection from within? Correct
Could you explain that, the dual benefit associated with that? Sure
At one hand, you know, it gets back to the "no decision about us without us"
So we're going to community organizations like Duwammish Valley Youth Corps, like Museum of Flight directly to the school district, Seattle Skills Center, Puget Sound Skill Center
And we're asking for youth to fit this program, to fit this career pathway with this curriculum so that this internship is built to support skilled trades, for example
And so then we would go to those community partners and say, this is what we're looking for
We need you to select the youth that will participate in this program
And in that way, they're able to, they know the youth better than we do
Right
And so they're better able to support that selection process
Also, it takes the administration, the administrative work off of our plate
And we're more able to focus on building partnerships and building pipelines and doing awareness activities and doing other work instead of the work of going through a screening, 500 applications for 70 spots and dealing with sometimes disappointed or frustrated parents
So that's those are some of the benefits of moving towards, I think, a more equitable selection process that partners with the community where we're bringing these youth in can bring
Yes
May I ask a quick question that I--
Absolutely
I love that concept
I just want to make sure that as that moves forward, that we're making sure that the community organizations
I'll just be really candid, that there's no nepotism
Yes
And I want to
When we set the school several years ago to triple, I had a former Port employee call me and say, "Hey, any chance my daughter can, you know, get internship? I saw that you're tripling this." And I said, "No." Yes
And he and he's like, "Are you kidding?" I go, "This is open
I mean, we want kids from communities that, you know, have great needs, et cetera, et cetera." And it was really interesting
He later pushed back things like, thank you for telling me no, because it used to be at the Port where you'd call a Commissioner, you'd call the Executive and your kid would get a job
And so I just want to really make sure that why that work
They're coming from communities, but it's truly accessible that you don't, it's not a who you know, it's the kids that really need the jobs or getting into the program
Absolutely
I appreciate that
And yes, I've also had to say no
Every year, every year, I have to say no to somebody
And I think that that almost helps a little in because it's "hey, it's not
You can stop asking me
I'm not making the decision." But I think that what becomes important is working with our Office of Equity Diversity, inclusion, to come up with a partnership criteria in how we, who are, who those partners are gonna be, what agreements they have, what their selection process will be
So it won't just be them sending us whoever they want, and their kids, and their next door neighbor
There will be some definition around the selection process and who those partners are
So work needs to be done in this area
We're at about 30 percent right now of these partner placement partners through career connected learning partners
And it's just a slow growth to, continuing to build out those partnerships and those agreements
This will also help with a goal later on down on this slide
Eighty percent of internships also offer credit
The more we have those selection partnerships with programing that connects it to career connected learning and credit, the more we're able to achieve that goal, which I know is so important to you
Yeah
Yeah
The reason why I pointed out from the Port side is that alleviating that administrative burden is not only good for you, but organizationally we have champions saying do more
And obviously the more we can do, the less bureaucratic burden makes it easier
Right
But I'm also cognizant of the idea that, you know, from the staff perspective, in terms of how, do they step up and say, I want give me five or, you know
In terms of like, how is it that the staff are driving the desire to take on interns? This seems to be, it could be a tremendously, you know, not in my job description kind of a thing
Yes
Yes
Thank you
In the first couple years when we had the rapid growth, it was, "Please someone, please take an intern." And that's moved into this year
We're really able to be more strategic and thoughtful about it
So in 2020, we're building a maritime program Commissioner Calkins and we're building a capital projects program focused on project management and engineering and construction management, because that's something that we know that the organization needs
We're building a tourism program
So we've been able to begin, I think, this year will really be transformative in not having to beg people to take interns, because we found people who are champions who will not just take one or two, but we'll take a larger group
And so that's really the key is moving away from several supervisors, taking one or two interns to a few supervisors, taking a team of interns that do a project based learning curriculum program of an internship
Right
So we're beginning to shift in that direction
I think we're going to make a lot of progress this year in moving more towards those all of our internships being really project based and being able to draw from partners that teach curriculum and feed into partners that can lead to career launch activities like apprenticeship programs or college access or entry level work
But Ambron, I want to make sure that you get the credit for the culture change that's happened here at the Port around internship program, because you're right, it was in the first couple of years
"Oh, my God, I've got to take one or two." And I think it's really been your drive and your vision coupled with the resources we provided you
But your enthusiasm for this has changed it from something that somebody has to do, to something that departments I see want to do, because they see the difference it's made in kids lives and your metrics totally play this out
So I just wanted to compliment you as well on the outcomes and the measurements you have for those outcomes, because that's really made the difference
So thank you so much
I mean, it's really been your leadership that's made this happen
Thank you very much
Commissioner Cho, what do you? Want to go ahead? I think this is a transfer, transformative period because we are looking at this
I think it's like the 2.0 to look at that
And I think we really do, you know, we look forward to working with you, Ambron, on this on defining what is our you know, what are our outcomes? What are our goals that we're trying to improve? Because right now we have some of them, but some of them are counter
If you're gonna do them, there's some tension between them
Do, you know, and I'll just say one thing is that, do you have an intern that comes back for three years in a row? Or do you maximize how many interns you bring through? So I think there are some questions there that we'll refine in this process to understand to make it
That we can't be all things to all people and what are the goals we want to achieve
So I think this is transformative in this year and in trying to find and define what that is so we can be the most successful program that we can
Absolutely
Thank you
Speaking of goals
Oh, I'm sorry
Commissioner Cho
Oh, no
I just you know, I have a small ask and this might seem trivial, trivial and inconsequential
But I think when we talk about equity and inclusion, we also need to think about how we phrase things and so on
Slide 13 on the build a diverse talent pipeline slide
The first point says at least three interns identified as disabled
My ask would be for you to change the language so that it says identified as having a disability
I think saying someone is disabled is very different from saying someone has a disability
And I think the only reason I bring this up is because this slide will be posted publicly and there is a potential for people to download it and look through it and see how we frame that
So I asked just to change the language real quickly to having a disability as opposed to being disabled
Thank you so much
So speaking of goals, we're, these are goals and outcomes for 2020
So continuing to raise awareness as a top priority, building the diverse talent pipeline for the Port and Port related industries
I've changed where we had to reduce, lessen the opportunity gap to instead "operate the program within the Equity Diversity and inclusion mission and the CCL strategy" because I'd really like for that work to be completed to guide the language that I'm using as far as which youth we want to make sure that we're recruiting, etc
And I know that we'll hear from Bookda later about the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and a little later in the year about their workforce development strategy and career connected learning strategies
So I just want to put a place holder here until that work is done so that this program can reconnect with their vision
And then also so we want to offer paid internships to at least one hundred high school and forty five college, which I'm sure we'll exceed
So outcomes, I think that we can easily reach at least 200 youth through awareness activities
These awareness activities, let them know what are the different opportunities in maritime, in aviation at the Port of Seattle
And they also help them with resumé and cover letter development and learning how to apply online
So we do a lot of those activities and I think we can reach 2000 youth this year
I'd like to have one complete career pipeline by the end of the year
And what I mean by that is one of those partnership agreements that falls in line with a career connected learning continue on where we're recruiting from a partner who provides awareness
We are providing the experience and the preparation and then we partner with another partner to offer that career launch so that from start to finish, we really are threading through a pipeline
And then my goal for 2020 is that we have 30 percent of our interns selected by community partners and that we're double the credit earning internships that we offer here at the Port of Seattle and that would be paid and credit earning
And then this year we will begin to benchmark some new impact and outcome metrics
And I say benchmark because I'm hoping this year to launch a community advisory council where, again, we work with our partners in the community to hold ourselves accountable and they'll let us know what impact and outcome metrics they want to see
And so I, I'm just putting that as a line item there that we'll report on those results
And then, of course, we'll see what happens on the 25th with additional motions and suggestions for the internship program
Before I let you know some key dates of what's happening in 2020, I wanted to introduce you to, I think, at least a familiar face for you
Commissioner Bowman
Pedro? C'mon up
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Pedro Reynogoa, who was a high school intern two years at the Port of Seattle and is really interested in continuing work with the Port of Seattle
And we're going to have a quick conversation
And I don't want to embarrass you, but you are so much more grown up than the last time I saw you
He's gotten significantly taller, taller from when I met you with your dad
Yeah, you're right
Right
Yeah
They don't make gray hair
They grow inches
So hi, Pedro
Hello
Hi
Can you tell everybody a little bit about what your experiences with the Port of Seattle were? For sure
I can recognize back in 2016
Back in high school, Cleaveland High School, someone from the Port of Seattle came and did a presentation on the internships here at the Port of Seattle
And I went ahead and applied
I did get in, but I got hired through an external partner from Port of Seattle
So I got a job at the Center for Wooden Boats on South Lake Union, which was a great experience
And that was actually my first official job
So shout out to the Port Seattle for giving me my first official job
The second time I recognized the Port of Seattle was 2017
I re-applied and I got in and I got into the fisherman's terminal and doing the whole maintenance and stuff and that was a great experience as well
I did that for six weeks and I actually had the chance to extend for two weeks here at Pier 69 on, to work on an asset management team with Meredith Fishkin
And that was also a great experience working in the office setting
Wonderful
When you think about, when you think back to your experiences with the Port, what are some key lessons learned or takeaways that that you still have with you today? For sure
I think that
The whole, the cohorts in the whole, during my time here at the Port of Seattle, you guys had, you guys had exposures to the maritime industry and stuff like that
I did, I went to the Seattle Maritime Academy and I did a one week class there just exposing us to the whole maritime industry, what we know, expected numbers, growth and stuff like that
So that was a great experience in my eyes because, you know, it just exposes us to the whole maritime industry
Yeah
What are you working on now? I currently go to North Seattle College and I'm going to major in international business, get my bachelor's degree
And then and I just recently got my associates degree from South Seattle College
Congratulations
Fantastic
So any any plans to try to come back to the Port? What do you think? For sure
For sure
The government, government and tech are really my you know, that's what I, that's what I'm trying to lean into
And that's what I've gotten most of my experience from
So definitely government and tech
And part of the international business program, you do need to take an internship for you, in order to graduate and finish the program
So definitely--
You know we have college internships, right? Of course
[Laughter]
But yeah, the Port is still definitely on my radar and definitely I will be applying this summer
Wonderful
Wonderful
Can you, if you can think of like, what what might be some of the long term impacts or benefits that you've had because of your Port internship? What would you say? I say the connections, the skills that I've obtained in my time here at the Port in Seattle
Definitely time management, code-switching as well as networking and stuff like that
The networking is pretty broad
So just like the communications skills that you get within networking is, it's just a great exposure and great just everything
Thank you so much for being here today
No problem
So I just wanted to
Thanks, Pedro
Thanks again
I just I just wanted to call your attention then to key 2020 program dates
There is one highlighted in green
August 14th
Mark your calendars, please
This is the intern showcase and networking luncheon
We'll take a big group photo
You'll get to see that, the cohort projects that the high school interns did
Thank you, Commissioner Calkins, for coming last year
It's really, it's kind of like an eighth grade science fair, right? They have their their posters up, but they have to do a showcase and present what their solution was and what their projects are
And they've got great ideas
All we do is teach them project management and they come up with some some really good stuff
They might solve some problems for us
So I encourage you to come to that event on August 14th
And be forewarned
It's a level of technical expertise that's beyond the Commission
I didn't understand it
[Laughter] We need engineers to read this for me
They did design some apps
It was
Yeah
Well, excellent
Such a great presentation and your enthusiasm is just incredible
I thank you
You provide the heart and the driving force behind this program with incredible metrics also and outcomes
It is really impressive, truly
So I think we all feel pretty good about this program and your work
Thank you
Any other comments? Just one quick one
It, I am grateful to the internship program in Port of Seattle for my own job at the Port of Seattle because I, my first interaction with the Port was hosting two interns at our business in Georgetown after Commissioner Alberto, who knew our business, came out and visited and asked if we'd host them
And after that experience I thought, "Hmm
I should run for Commission." See internships
They add a lot of value
Commissioner
Yeah
So thank you again
And it can't be understated how important you are to this program
But of all those metrics that you had, our Air Force veteran named Sheila Severan, it was her name
She had us very articulate, better than I, because they were they you know, basically, what do you want to be when you grow up? But you've said it better
You had the other expression that I think that might be know great entry and exit question in terms of where do you see yourself, what's what is your future? And obviously, you've already pre-selected these people
You know, they've been selected by their community
So they're they're obviously, have some reason to be there already
But I'm saying that there's like an eye-opening kind of opportunity expanding how that person feels about the world being their apple
I think you put it really right on the nose and you have to build a vision yourself, some place to be able to go forward
And I just had two final points
I just wanted to call up that I don't know if other people are aware, but the Port of Seattle's internship program is the single most robust Port internship program in the United States, bar none
So I've had the opportunity to speak twice to our national association, the Association of American Port Authorities on this subject
And ports across the country are just blown away with what we've done
They don't even come anywhere close to our program
And so they're always asking for technical expertise
And I know you've provided several to many ports and Leeanne has as well in terms of workforce development, as the first person who helped work on our internship program
That's right
I have a great picture of that actually and a great picture of him at Fisherman's Terminal
So I just wanted to call out that, you know, this isn't just a regional program
This is something that other ports across the country are looking to
They can't even come close to what we're doing
And I just wanted to again say thank you
When we talked about this, in fact, very few of you were here
Dan Thomas was there at the retreat several years ago
And I had set up that goal for tripling the amount of interns
I knew it was a stretch goal
And I just want to say, I think this is what can happen when our team rallies and we provide those stretch goals, but we have to provide the resources as well
I can say from the bottom my heart that when I leave the port of Seattle, whenever, that is, the two things I will be most proud of or my work forming the Northwest Seaport Alliance and this internship program
But I set the goal
But you guys are the ones that did it
So thank you very much
Thank you
OK
And Commissioner Bowman, you've been a driving force and it takes leadership at the top sometimes to really make things happen
So thank you for your efforts
Outstanding
OK
Thanks very much
Thank you
We'll move on to the next item
To be agenda item 7C
T he 2020 Strategic Plan for the Office of Equity Diversity Inclusion Commissioners
This briefing will provide an update on the new strategic plan for the Office of Equity Diversity Inclusion, as well as lay out concrete actions the office will take this year
The briefers are head of the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Bookda Gheiasar and I think it's a continuing theme of the last three presentations, so I think it's a nice fit
Commissioners
I'm, just for a moment
I want to practice to make sure
So do I
Here on the, to move the slides
Oh, great
Beautiful
Thank you
I'm really happy to be here to share with you the work that my team and I have done for the last six months since I've been here
I want to thank Louise Novarro and Charlene Jones, who've been my partner for the last six months in starting out with this work and pulling together our plan
And I know, as you all know, Workforce Development then joined the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Consuelo Davis, Kayla Huddleston and Rosa Peralta have also been a part of our team
I
What I will be talking with you about today is the plan that we were able to put together following the bold division that the Commission and Executive Metruck had in creating the first ever Office of Equity for a Port in the United States
We know, you know, I have to say, first of all, I wish I had counted the number of times the word equity was used today
This is incredible
This is the transformational moment
And so much innovation has been talked about today that really does fit equity and transformational change
It is really exciting
And for us to be creating the first office of Equity that a Port has in this country is really breaking new ground and meaningfully bringing a commitment with resources to the table for us to really transform the organization
As you all know, equity is a new and emerging field
I'm sure that all of us who've used the word equity today have very different definitions of that, have different ideas of that
Thank you, Commissioner Cho, for the comment you made because absolutely we have ideas about what is diversity, what is inclusion and what is equity and quite often mix all of it up
So I think that this is a great opportunity for us to get all on the same page about what is this vision that we hold together
Driven by the 2020 Port of Seattle goals, this number 6 and 7 are what I'm really specifically focusing on, to embed and infuse equity in all of our business and to really be able to partner with and support all of our offices and lines of business to understand what equity means and to support their work
What I've done in my first hundred and eighty days is when I arrived here, I started connecting with current programs that had equity elements embedded into it
So, for example, the Duwammish Valley work, workforce development, diversity in contracting and really looked at our current strength, our current accomplishments and goals that are already in place
I met with all of the Diversity and Development Council members, I've met with the leaders of employee resource groups, and I started to pull together the plan for what our first one and two years would look like
And then I started to do a lot of best practices research of offices of equity around the country
Some of you might be familiar with Government Alliance for Racial Equity, which is a national organization that supports governments that establish equity efforts
GARE has 80 members
Some of those are offices of equity by quite a large number or equity initiatives and staff under different offices and so with their support I've done a lot of research to look at what are the current trends? How offices of equity are really focused, how they're partnering and really using that learning, learning to develop this plan
I drafted the plan and then shared internally in one-on-one small circle meetings with about 200 employees and externally with almost 100 community stakeholders
We did a survey of about 450 employees responded to
A lot of people commented on the plan
So the plan has been really widely socialized
And a lot of input has been given into the plan
And an
I want to take a minute to talk with you about the initial feedback that I received as I met with our employees
The comments that I heard from our employees I put into the five buckets that you see on this slide
And of course, this is the perception of the people who work for the Port of Seattle
And this is what their daily experiences, they perceived organizational culture to be one that's been historically white and male and not very inclusive or welcoming of other voices and experiences
There is a great deal of perception amongst our employees that gender, there is gender and racial disparities in promotion and pay
And then there are issues of structural and systems change where employees really feel like there are issues, there are policies that need to change
WMBE and diversity internally, there are a lot of comments that I heard from employees had to do with the commitment of their teams or their supervisors to actually do some outreach and identify businesses of color and women owned businesses that could be used as consultants in their work and then community outreach and partnerships to really meaningfully bring the community to the table
And from the internal perspective, to actually incorporate equity in bringing the community in on time, early on, and really incorporating their voice in creating programs that meet the community need
A little bit about the survey that 450 employees responded to, which is about a to a 20 percent of our workforce here
I
Wanted to ask our employees really to tell me their vision for what this office should tackle
How do they define equity? And what their vision is for what we could accomplish
So you can see that really the their input has been divided into these four bars of equal treatment, fairness, equal opportunity and recognizing inequities
So what I think is really interesting about this, again, is the way that the word equity is used is really, really different amongst our employees, as I think it's true really everywhere
People have very different understandings of what this office should focus on
I think it's important to mention that there are there were about half of our employees who responded to the survey really that they felt like focusing on race is actually, pulls away from equity
And about half who really felt like focusing on race is actually really the way that, to get at equity
So we have a lot of work to do to actually really, all of us, build an organization that we're on the same page about what we're trying to achieve, how systemic barriers have influenced the history of this organization and the vision that we have for the future
There are a lot of employee responses from the survey that are included in the memo
So you, if you have time and you're able to read in the memo the responses, I think that would be great
Let me just add that, especially if we're looking internally, this, you know, these discussion in the perceptions and the data is all very valuable to us
And as you know, within our H.R
department with Katie Jerod, you know, we're taking this in
So we're not stand, you know, this is not a stand alone effort with the office of EDI
But it's information process or organization for us, especially from the HR perspective
Yeah
Thank you for saying that
Because, you know, I didn't mention the green bar that says specific probleMS I have learned a lot at King County about the relationship between the Office of Equity and H.R.
You know, in the survey and also in individual meetings and roundtables, of course, there are a lot of issues that employees bring up that really belongs with human resources
And I'm really excited to be partnering with Katie Jarraud, who I think is a transformational change maker here in the organization, leading those efforts
And I think that my role is to really look at systems and policy change, creating an organization where employees feel that their voice is at the table
The organization reflects who they are, their partnerships with communities reflects their values
So that's what I see as the role of the Office of Equity
Thank you, Steve, for mentioning that
Just a couple of quotes that I pulled out from the survey that I think gets to this issue of representation and people really wanting to be valued and to be at the table and for their voices to be heard and also for us to be thinking about strategies for moving people up from the positions where they are
I love the internship program and I think it's wonderful to look at the pipeline of careers and to be looking at where our employees of color or currently, laterally, in organization and to think of strategies for our employees to be moving up as well
Oh, the
Sorry to clicker is no longer doing back or forth
Thank you, Paul
Did I do something that it froze? Oh, OK
All right
So I talked about meetings with employees
I also met with about 100 community stakeholders and representatives of 70 community organizations
The comments that I heard from community stakeholders
I also put into five buckets
And I know that you're familiar with all of these
And I'm happy to say that there are a lot of leaders here at the Port tackling almost all of these, I think
The small business access and capacity building is one that a lot of community representatives really brought up as a challenge that we need to tackle
And I know that me and Rice and his team are really working on these barriers and increasing our goals, jobs, career pathways and workforce development
Today we've heard a lot about this and I really agree with you, Commissioner Felleman, that Sheila Seabourn, really her story is beautiful about how do you see yourself in these careers
Do you see herself in this building and you see a future in the careers here? So I'm really happy that the Workforce Development and Office of Equity have this partnership together for us to to tackle this
Community outreach, community partnerships for us to be looking at, you know, that nexus of where asked our scope is, our mission, and what the community needs, and to find more and more possibilities for partnerships
Structural and systems, change and accountability and inequities for communities and businesses of color are the issues that that came up
And again, a lot more detail about these conversations are included in the memo
Backward
Sorry
Ok, now the plan
So the plan itself, which you have as an attachment to the memo, is divided in three parts: internal strategy, external strategy, and then sort of a bridge between the internal and external
And we have some long term strategies, but really focused on results for the first year
The concept that Government Alliance for Racial Equity has built is to normalize equity, organize equity and operationalize equity
This is a framework that a lot of governments are using and have incorporated into the plan
And then what I think is really important is the balance between the transactional and transformational
And just an example of what is transactional is diversity and inclusion is transactional
But equity is actually transformational because it really gets to the root causes of issues and how we can change systems as diversity focuses on imbibing people, hiring more people
And, but we get at institutional change through equity
All right, strategy one: in the plan, again, is focused on internal change
And there are a lot of steps in the plan for, that you can glance at when you have more time
But really the objectives in the strategy want to focus on normalizing equity by really getting a lot of training
And I know you know that this is where most institutions stop by doing a lot of training and that is the equity effort
But we want that to be our starting point to really share language and understanding and really introduce the concepts and then to move on to examination of our policies and systems and look at where we can infuse equity in all of our policies and systems and look for transformational change
E.L.T
and Commission have come up repeatedly in employee surveys that our employees want to see us as leading by example
They want to see us as champions of change
We've already done a lot of work on this
The E LT, spent a full day doing equity training and we've done a lot of other trainings that I'll talk more about later that the E.L.T have also really attended and our employees are really, really inspired to see this
And then the last objective is to collaborate with H.R
whenever possible to continue to build this organization as a welcoming place
Strategy two is externally focused
I think we can say that the Duwammish work is a beautiful example of where we can provide equitable and tangible benefits for impacted communities
But the goal here is to see what we did in the Duwammish that was so beautiful and impactful and really look for ways to replicate that in other areas of our work and to be looking at all of our public facing programs again like workforce development, diversity in contracting, airport retail and dining, and to look at incorporating equity in all of our outreach and communication and relationship with communities and then to really, as much as possible, be transparent, accountable in our partnership with the community
The last part of the plan is Strategy three is about building this office as a center for expertise by working with our employees internally, providing tools and resources, but externally to be sharing this plan with other government offices, presenting at conferences and really demonstrating our leadership and increasing the visibility of this office
I have a number of positions advertised currently
I'll be hiring four staff to really bring them on and on-board staff and build a strong team
Some of the early implementations for the last six months that I want to talk about briefly are that I've already been invited on a number of initiatives here at the Port to begin to infuse equity into our policies
For example, I worked on the banking RFP and introducing language for the RFP or, you know, asking for ways that banks can demonstrate their commitment or worked on the one percent art policy motion to look at how equity could be incorporated into that
There is a lot of really, work that our employees are bringing to me and asking if I can partner with them to help incorporate equity goals for their work
South King County Fund, of course, is the biggest program that emerged as w hat is now a co-sponsorship between the Office of EDI and Office of External Relations
I think probably all of you know that we're building an equity index using census tracked data and also a lot of other indicators that we've specifically developed for now for South King County Fund based on the priorities of the fund, but actually looking at using that county wide to inform a lot of our decisions as one tool that could be used to inform our decisions moving forward in our programing
The index is really our, we're working with University of Washington, office of, the Department of Environmental Health Sciences to be developing index
We've developed communications material with the help of all of our employees who've responded
We've developed our equity statement and communication material that we're using
We've just yesterday added the office of EDI on our website
Externally, we'll be doing the same internally and adding more tools and resources for employees
We've started doing trainings already for our staff
I'm happy to say that 350 employees have already attended these trainings
The Equity 101 training was attended by all of the ELT members and the transgender training, I think it actually was also attended by all of t he ELT members
We've received incredibly positive responses and feedback about these trainings
More and more of ELT team members and other managers are writing to say, "I love this training and now I really want all of my team to attend." So I'm really looking forward to the trainings for the rest of this year, which as I mentioned, I'm using as a foundational and first step
A community board externally is a concept that a number of community members have proposed
And we've brought together a group of community stakeholders who are working with me on this concept that I will bring back to you and ask for your feedback in May
This organizational chart--
Just kind of, if I could just comment on that
I mean, that's something there's a lot of different ways that we interact with the communities, existing boards now
So that's part of this input to try to understand how these could be in the complexities of those different boards and authority of the
So this is a concept that rose up
So this is something that we're looking at because we there's many different ways now then that we're formally set up to interact with the community
So that's what we're looking at
All of these, not just this one concept, but how those would interact in a structure
So we're looking forward to, you know, drafting something Commissioner feedback on that
Thank you for adding that
All right
So the organizational chart
You might wonder, how did I come up with these positions of the Policy Analyst, the Senior Manager for Systems, a wide, incorporating equity in all of our systeMS But these four hires for new positions were based on this national research, calling a lot of equity offices, asking, you know, the first positions that they thought was most impactful
So the positions that we're bringing in will be one equity person who will be actually at the airport working with Lance and his team to use that as a pilot, to look at programs, policies, employee issues, community issues at the airport, a policy analyst and manager who'll be working Port wide and with all of our teams to incorporate equity goals for all of the teaMS And then Charlene and Louis, who's now worked over to the Office of Workforce Development
And I'll be talking actually about that, that you might remember that we are introducing the Workforce Policy Directive in two weeks from now and also scheduled to propose a strategic plan to the commission by April 28
So Louis and his team are working hard on this strategic plan, using a lot of the ideas and important thoughts that have been shared today
The office of EDI will also be connecting back with you about the community board, of course
And then we already have scheduled a quarterly meeting with the equity committee with Commissioner Cho and Commissioner Felleman
And with that, I would like to
We'd love to hear from you, your thoughts, your feedback and any questions you might have for me
Well, commissioners? You've given us quite a bit to digest here
So Commissioner Felleman
I am probably just misreading some of the, you know, the substance of this is great and I am happy to defer to your insights on much of the strategic efforts
I think the community group idea is fantastic as
I mean, the messages that we've often gotten over the time
You know, it's just that folks don't know of the opportunities
And so having folks embedded
Well, so tell me when that event occurs and we might actually deploy people there
And then the other things that I've been told is just that
And I think good for the Commission to know more of this, you know, our employeee resource groups that exist in the Port, the more visibility we know of them and and actually add them as ambassadors for the organization to do what they want to be
I, just from a visibility perspective, we have one or two events a year that I'm aware of and have attended
But from what I understand, it's a rich asset that we could have greater visibility on
But as far as the nuts and bolts side on the budget, there are two pages that I mean, I'm just must be misreading it, that both the operational budget, you have the workforce
I mean, these are pages Item 7C,
In the memo? Yeah, yeah, pages, I guess, 22, 22, 23 and 24
So we have the OEDI and the workforce budget as Appendix F and then the equity diversity inclusion org is a, is the following page
Yes
And as is the page after that
So they're so they both are dealing with operating expenses
And so tell me, what's the difference between page 23 and 24? What are the, what are we enumerating here? They're both operating expenses, but
Are they, two? It seems like they're two different entities
I understand that, you know, we have workforce now under this hat
So that's a different budget
And I understand that
Workforce is now under EDI, but also actually separately on on the memo
So I don't have the memo in front of me
And I'm wondering if perhaps are you saying that one page has been repeated twice? Oh, actually, you know what? I think it..
it's 14
It's item four
It's actually there are different numbers, but they're seemingly similar categories
So can somebody help me here? You see what I'm talking about? So yeah, this is
I see
Twenty two is the work force
But then 23 and 24 are both listed as the OEDI budget
Operating Expenses
Yes
And so
Yeah
Operating expense occur on both page 23 and 24
I just don't know what the difference is
And the budget numbers aren't the same
So
You're right! I see an error here and it might be that if you would permit me to connect with Dan Thomas and to get back to you, I would appreciate that
Sure, sure
You know, I
I see
You know, you have this initial ramp up
Yes
And then we
So it's I mean, it's instructive to see
You're building a program, you're ramping it up
And then, you know, as we get, we level out as time goes on
But anyway, I just see the OEDDI, the work force budget is broken out
On the first page of Appendix F
Yeah
And these two following pages
I can't
You're right
I see
I see your point and I'm actually not sure how that happened
First, I want to thank you for reading the memo and going through it so carefully
I really appreciate that
And thank you for noticing this
I will connect with Dan Thomas and his team and get back to you
Last one
So
And I appreciate the, you know, the the initial scan of the community
Obviously, your needs statement is written here very well
And so I appreciate that verification of that
But on page 7, in your survey, the employment equity survey, you got 451 responses
But that's only 21 percent of that response
So are you thinking that that is a good representation? Do you think we can
What do you think we can do better to really tap that whole population? Well, you know, well, a re there impediments? Do you think of those, of everybody actually responding? And is there something we could do to get a better, fuller representation of this of this questionnaire? Yeah
You know, so I mentioned that I've met with 200 employees and I really tried to figure out a way that I could meet with people who have very different work schedules, very different work areas
I actually had a roundtable at 6:00 a.m
at the airport with employees and and some late in the evening
But absolutely, I see that responding to an electronic survey
I asked employees that met with me
Did you respond? And there were a lot who said, "No, I don't ever have time to sit in front of my computer
Actually, I'm working." And so, I do think that there are multiple different ways to engage employees and surveys is one of them
But I think one-on-one meetings and I now have a monthly roundtable that is on the Compass newsletter advertised for the rest of the year
And I'm trying to hold them in different buildings and different times so that people can stop by and talk to me
So I have no reason to believe that, you know, this is not represented
But I mean, I think, you know, these are pretty sensitive questions and that concerns about anonymity would be high
Yeah
And so you're doing it from a terminal
Yeah
Some people might feel that that's not, that's traceable
And so I'm just wondering whether there were hard copies or anything like that that just might facilitate greater participation
I mean, again, this is not my field, but I'm just thinking that you're doing a deep dive and the deeper we can get, all the better
Yeah
You know, I will be working with Katie Jerod and her team on the employee survey this year
And we actually intentionally decided to not do a separate equity survey except for these two questions
But to really combine and provide one employee survey with equity questions embedded
My intention here was to have some baseline of today
How do our employees define equity and what is their vision for what they want me in this office to accomplish so that a year from now, two years from now, we can look back at this data
But I think you're absolutely right that in looking at how we do surveys, we have to be mindful of, you know, how people feel safe, how to encourage them to participate, do they think that their information is accessible by others
Absolutely
And you understand that
You know, we usually have people showing up in Commission meetings, not throwing us flowers, but telling us what we messed up doing
Right
And so I just think, again, people that want to take the time to do this have something to tell us
Absolutely
Which I value greatly
But we want to hear from everybody as much as possible
Absolutely
Commissioner Bowman has some comment
Great
Yes
Yeah, I guess just a comment
So I want to thank Commission Felleman for calling out the budget
I know that we're going to get a briefing in two weeks on the workforce development side of the office, which is wonderful
I just want to make sure those, I'm looking at the 2020 budget
I'm just going to compare
So it's page 22 and I'll just compare it with page 23
That's the smaller number but
You know, just in terms of staffing
So, for the workforce development, the staffing is about three hundred thousand dollars and then for the equity side of the office, it's 1.2 million
That's a pretty big change
And so I just want to make sure, I'm not, that we're still spending the resources, both financially and staff wise on workforce development
And that is a critical underpinning of this organization, as we just heard
Starting with the Maritime High School and the internship program, making sure that that's a way that we are connecting with the community and getting our work done
So that's a pretty big change
Three hundred thousand to one point two million
So I hope that we can find more balanced budgets
Absolutely
Thank you for noticing that
You might remember and I think Marie's still here in this room that, you know, workforce development has had a staff of two who've done a tremendous amount of work
And I think that the strategic plan provides an opportunity to examine this, not only the work in the strategic pillars, but the staffing structure
But, yeah
That the EDI office I think we proposed a very bold plan following your vision that we've taken to carry forward and we'll absolutely be in communication with you about workforce and that staffing structure as well
And especially as we look for workforce development
Looking forward to looking for that, making sure it's, continues to be fully supported within that going forward
Especially for the 2020 budget
And then I think we're actually going to see the increase, based on the work, that we're gonna see increases in 2020
I'm forecasting that right now, but increases in workforce and 2021
Any questions or comments
OK
So first, I want to thank you so much for this work
This is amazing and I'm really excited by it
One thing that I'm particularly excited about is the equity index
And I think that for the most part, one thing that a lot of government's decisions lack is data on this kind of stuff that informs our decisions
I'm real excited about this, but taking that to a more broader level is that, you know, obviously we recently battled with 1000 and the idea of 200
One of the things I want to be very cognizant of is what the, you know, maybe we can do an analysis of some of the initiatives that we're doing so that we're covered legally
But also, when I was in the state legislature, I wrote, I didn't write I read a report by The AG's office, kind of doing an analysis of over 200
And AG's report, their opinion was that if you can prove disparity, that, you know, some of what I-200 prohibits, you know, there are e xceptions, right
If you can prove disparity then you can, in theory, provide certain demographics treatment
And so I think this equity index can provide us with that data that really does prove that disparity
But also, you know, connecting it to the broader conversation about, you know, I-200 is that a lot of our counterparts in King County, you know, to the extent that we can share this data with our counterparts in King County, with the city of Seattle, with whoever is interested in using this data to then, for them to go and promote equity and diversity, inclusion in their own institutions
You know, I'd like for us to explore possibly information sharing and or sharing best practices in that sense as well
So just putting on your radar for for everyone here
Thank you for saying that I'm excited to work with you
And I think that absolutely the intent of the equity index is to, you know, address three questions: where are the needs greatest, and where is our current investments, and where's the gap? So for us to really have a strategic framework that that can inform our decisions, of course
There might be other important ways that our decisions need to be informed
But this would be one way that we know where investments can be focused
I just want to add to that
Meeane would know this
And Louise, if he's still in the room, he is
There he is
Hi, Louise
We did a disparity study in, what, 2014, 2014, 2015? And it might, if I'm remembering correctly, it has to be a pretty specific disparity study in order to qualify
And that was the purpose for which we undertook it
So I don't know if we need to update it, but it did allow us to make some specific changes
But we followed WASHDOT and Sound Transit's lead on that
Olease come up, Meanne
And
I'd see
Just go for it
All right
Sorry
Commissioners
Meanne Rice, Diversity in Contracting Director
So the disparity study that was created or, not created, conducted back in 2014 did provide a lot of clarity in terms of our disparity, in terms of how we're doing from a contracting perspective
That disparity study gave us the opportunity to go race-conscious on our federal AIP projects
And because of the Ninth Circuit, so to speak, for the Fed government, they actually, the federal judge said, hey, you have to have a study to show indeed that there is disparity
In order for us to provide DBE race specific goals on our AIP federal contracts
So that's one of the major bases for the disparity study
But also showed a lot of disparity throughout our projects
So from an ethnicity perspective
Commissioner Calkins
Correct me if I'm wrong
And Eric Shenfield, you may recall this one too, but I believe the priority higher resolution we passed in January of 2018 establishes data collection so that after, I believe is a three year data collection period, we can also show, well, if there is disparity, that could show disparity in our hiring practices as well
And so that we can take affirmative steps to address that issue
Is that a fair summary? Yes
Absolutely
So we're already doing the data collection at this point for some of that
Yes
Commissioner Felleman
In support of Commissioner Cho's a point of sharing the practices and the data
The one thing I'm always sensitive to is, you know, having multiple agencies then wanting to do good for the same communities, right
So, to the degree that we can spare folks multiple of the same meetings, you know, that we can pool our resources to not just share the data, but to, you know, maximize our impact by pooling resources and coordinating our efforts, because it's the same communities that are obviously beneficiaries to our attention
But there's only so many meetings you can attend and life is short
I think that's absolutely, especially around workforce development
I think this is true that we can pool, leverage our dollars, create more partnerships, pool our resources to see greater impact
One semantic thing on your mission statement
Is there a reason why the word mirror? I mean, I would I like
I mean, if I was to reflect
Yes
Mirror means like, almost to me like, it's like exact
Know what I mean? That it's an exact depiction of what's in the community
And, you know, I think, I think it's that's a goal is to have it as a reflection of the community, which doesn't seem
Say reflect
I see
Thank you for that
That means nothing, probably, other than, you know, just how it looks in print
But it just struck me
Thank you for that
Yeah, I wanted to ask about the equity index a little
What's packed into that? Has that been developed with component parts of that are in the data that you would be--
The work is underway
And our goal is to actually complete the work by April 10th
You might remember that the RFP for South King County Fund is due to be released on June 1st
So our goal is to be doing extensive community assessment right now and the index and to look at the findings of both to develop the criteria for the RFP in June
So with that, so the equity index would be a data driven or data collection exercise
What pieces are in that? What what what are you looking at? Yes, I'm happy to send you--
Incomes, ethni city? Yes
All of the available census track data, which is a foreign born population, languages spoken, income, race
And then, you know, some of you have made specific requests so Commissioner Felleman said, "I want to see school districts also on the map" Well, access opp-, y ou know, the city did its access to opportunity and displacement exposure
Yeah, that can get pretty complicated when you pull
Other than the census level track data that King County has and is sharing with us
We then have the mapping from Puget Sound Regional Council that has a lot of economic development data
So, you know, joblessness, a living wage that those kind of criteria
And then we have the University of Washington Environmental Health Mapping that has a lot of environmental criteria
So we're combining all of these and then adding some of the Port related data
Are you able to amass data from other efforts like the Duwammish Valley Health Index
Yes
And those kinds of things? It's what gets what gets measured in matters
So what you're pulling into this is, in a way, is creating a definition for equity if you're going to use that tool to guide funding decisions
So
Exactly
So, you know
Exactly
I mean, Commissions just, a matter of fact, I'm getting a briefing on this tomorrow to understand more about this tomorrow so I can, you know, look at that and then figure out how to get additional information on this to the commissioners by--
I would guess there are some other indexes, also equity indexes, out there that have been developed
So we've done--
We're drawing upon--
Absolutely
We've done extensive research to see what data is currently available and to pull that data and use that and not replicate
All right
Thanks
That's enough for now
Thanks
I was just, I mentioned to you that, you know, we've, um, in addition to defining what maybe equity would be, it also would perhaps help us in defining what quality of life is
And we talked about, you know, this amorphous concept and what parameters would be able to do that and so while it may not be something you can put in a neat checklist or something like that
It would be something that would put some flesh on the bones to a concept that has many different, depending on who you ask, But I think that's something that could be helped enumerated t hrough this process
Which, in fact, is what I think we're starting, or piloting, that in South King County with the fund by defining quality of life in airport communities
So I think it would be a great start with the South King County Fund
And as Boohkda pointed out, it's not a, it's a tool to use along with others to help in decision making
Not one by itself
Not an exclusive tool
Okay
Well, good
All right
Any other questions or comments, commissioners? Well, thank you very much for your great work
It's a work in progress
So we'll look forward to future updates
Yeah, me too
Thank you so much
Next item on the agenda is Item 8A introduction of resolution thirty seven seventy, a resolution of the Port of Seattle Commission adopting the charters of the following standing committees, the Aviation Committee, Equity Committee, Waterfront and Industrial Lands Committee and Energy and Sustainability Committee and amending the Charter of the Audit Committee as adopted in resolution number 36 13 and subsequently amended on June 28, 2016 and July 11, 2017
Presented by Aaron Pritchard
Commissioners, a committee charters a broad scope of work that the commissioners will undertake as part of the committee memberships
And the presenter is Aaron Pritchard from Commission SeaTac
Good afternoon Commissioners and Executive Director
Today I bring you the five charters and resolution number thirty seven seventy
In the resolution I use the "whereases" to sort of lay out how I'd say the words written by Paul White in his original memo basically to explain the role and the purpose and where, how committees are guided and what the scopes are
So that the "whereas" in this resolution very much track to what a committee does and what it is
Explain the role of the committees for the commission
Basically the charters attached this resolution are the foundational documents for the committee's purpose
They establish the name and scope of the committee, the composition of the committee, define staff roles, and the Commission bylaws in Article 5 describe more about some of how the committees are expected to operate
So the breadth of the Port, the work at the Port, obviously is very vast and the our commissioners are elected officials, you know, strive to be good stewards of the public funds and provide effective oversight of the issues that the Port faces
With the advent of the Northwest Sea Port Alliance, the rapid growth at the airport and maritime, new workforce development responsibilities and continuing pressures on industrial lands have elevated the importance of the work that the Port does in the region
Commissions have taken these committees to divide up this this large workload among the commissioners to dive deep into particular issues to help advance the goals of the Port
That's not to say that any Commissioner is giving up any specific issue to another committee
All of these issues are, come before the commission as a whole
The committees just allow that sort of subject matter expertise to develop and allow for a more efficient way to allocate our resources
And one of the primary roles of a committee is to give early input to guide Port staff as work heads into public session
Staff can easily get in front of a committee on an issue, get feedback and be better prepared to present in public
If a Commissioner identifies an area where there's policy guidance that would be appropriate, a committee can work together and share with the full commission a draft of a new policy
We've also used the committee process to engage with the public for input
I saw Marty Anderson from the Building Trades come in and he was actually part of the very first committee that we might, as I said, Marty Anderson with the Building Trades
He was part of the first committee that we developed here at the Port, where we ha mmered out a construction labor policy, which was, I think we had like 15 to 20 external folks on that, including Labor and even AGC and economic development folks and people from various communities
And that's, that also brought about a standard language, PLA, about two years later
It was a process that really, we were able to get all the voices at the table
And I think that model's continued with ENS
W e had Energy Sustainability Committee, we had twenty three advisors at one point helping us develop various policies
We've also had priority higher, the sustainability framework, ground transportation, Duwammish Valley Community Benefits and a host of other policies that have been developed out of committees to help guide the Port
And finally, the Commission is, as I've gone around discussing each of these charters with the Commissioners, everybody wanted to ensure that communities have better transparency for the public
We're currently developing work plans for the committees that we plan to discuss in public as well
And we're discussing exactly how that's going to be brought forward and that'll be the first time we do that in public
And we'll have regular committee report outs to bring forth what the committee discussed in the last week
And so that everybody in the public and commissioners are aware of any recommendations
And it's important to note that committees really can only review and recommend
There hasn't been a delegated specific responsibility from the Commission
Instead, they take these early documents and they say we've reviewed a lot of documents surrounding these issues and we recommend to the full Commission this particular course of action
Just like any single Commissioner could recommend to the Commission that they they prefer to have this particular course of action
Under bylaws, it will be proposed at the end of the month
We will say the committees are not required to meet in public, but this will preserve the commission's ability to dig in on emerging issues as they come up and bring them to public session as soon as possible
As to the scope of these particular committees that are coming forward today, all the committees will have a responsibility to look at some of the century agenda items that we've discussed recently
And I'll cover a few the elements for each of the committees and then I'll turn it back over to the Commission
In the Aviation Committee, in particular, they'll be covering airport infrastructure development, ground transportation policy, airport customer service, the sound installation acceleration, commercial aviation coordinating Commission which is the statewide body
They'll get some report outs from Jeffrey Brown who sits on that and some, and potential for airport dining and retail as the year progresses
With energy and sustainability, as always, we'll be focused on some greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies, sustainable evaluation framework implementation, which we're going to see right here I think tomorrow we have a meeting on that, sustainable aviation fuel strategy, Port of Seattle waterfront clean energy strategic plan, and the cruise environmental principle
For the equity committee, we'll be looking at the implementation that Duwammish Valley Community Benefits policy
The South King County Fund, the workforce development policy, along with career connected learning and the implementation of diversity in contracting
In waterfront industrial lands, we'll focus on the development at T- 46 and the waterfront and the decision making process that's occurring right now around industrial land within the city of Seattle
And finally, we included the audit committee in here, which is a longstanding committee
But we made one change to the audit charter to allow the audit committee to meet in private on items that would be allowed in executive session for the commission
And that covers the scope of each of these committees
And I'll turn it back over to the commission for discussion
Questions, comments, issues? I, for one, appreciate the effort to move the needle on transparency and public access
I think that these are key areas of importance to the Port's mission
There needs to be greater transparency, I think, in the work of these committees
They're not, as we acknowledge, they're not making decisions
They're evaluating, considering, discussing topics that are relevant to major Port agenda areas
And from that standpoint, I think there needs to be an opportunity for public to follow some of this effort at the early stages
And I think one way to do that certainly is to report back to the full commission in public
And I would expect that to occur quarterly post committee meeting
I would also expect there to be some development of agendas that are socialized as well
So at least we know what, and I think that, you know, other commissioners who may not serve on a committee may have a strong interest in a particular subject area, should be free to attend that committee and participate, even though they're not it's not making a decision, even with three commissioners
And I don't know if that's clearly stated that if there are more than two commissioners, that does not constitute a decision on an issue, that it has to go to the full commission in public
I'll say a quick word and turn it over to Pete if he wants to
You know, the development of the work plans will allow for the publishing of the agendas well in advance so commissioners can identify those specific issues that they may have interest in
And then I think that the guidance that, you know, the we understand, is that we would have to notice that particular meeting because then it really becomes a meeting of the commission
Yeah, I get that
So the committee, as this is established, comprised two individuals
Right
So by definition, if a third Commissioner shows up or more, you know, there's no quorum
Right
I mean, there's no quorum of the commission
So I can
But but let me just finish this one
And certainly you can tell us the law
But there is a bylaw amendment being proposed that has ramifications on this
And we can discuss that in terms of like, how it is discouraged in the way the language says
But clearly, I think the biggest challenge for us will be the notification
You know, if you do want to participate in the coming meeting, you have to give adequate time so that it can be noticed and that the public could attend
Yeah, that's reasonable
Sure
Maybe just,
Council, shed some light in the way of committees under the Open Public Meeting Act that the commission is the governing body of the Port of Seattle
And so
When there is a convening of three or more commissioners, that's a meeting of the commission that needs to be noticed, and so if a third member of the commission joined a two person committee, that would be a convening of a public meeting that would require notice
But Commission committees are structured specifically to have two members, which is not a quorum
So it doesn't require open meeting act requirements and the committees are specifically structured to lack the power to act on behalf of the commission, which would also trigger open public meeting act requirements
So these are structured that way
There's certainly policy choices about how you go about your future
There's pros and cons here and there is, but I think we are challenged by the limitations of the Open Public Meetings Act to the extent that we cannot, we don't have a forum for deliberation other than at the full of Commission meetings
And we rarely have any extensive deliberation that occurs here
So how do we deliberate over policy matters that are important? One way to do that is to have this form of a public meeting of three or more commissioners that is at the committee level
That is not for a final decision, but has to be done publicly to meet the Public Meetings Act requirements
That's understood
But it gives us at least some ability to have some deliberation before a final decision is made
And I think that's a serious problem here, that we do not have that opportunity
It's extremely difficult
We can't just have staff giving us all sorts of information to absorb and then kind of decide on our own where we'll fall on that
We inform each other through the process or through a deliberative process
But the caveat is it has to be public
So and that puts extra load on the staff
So Commissioner Bowman
Yes, just a quick point
I mean, I absolutely support the transparency goal in this
I guess I'm just, my only concern is that if we start to go down the process of having a committee make, deliberate, on a particular topic, then we're turning into a form of a legislature and we're the Port Commission
And so I'm just concerned about, you know, if there's a topic that I am concerned now, I have to go to a committee meeting
This is supposed to be a part time board of directors position
So I am just struggling with now having to go to five different committee meetings to make sure I get to have input
So I just hope that we can find a path forward on this
When there's a critical issue, it should come before all five of us
And I totally support your point
We should have more robust conversations here on, in public, in the Commission meetings as opposed to just getting staff presentations
I would really welcome that
Okay
Commissioner Cho? Any comments or questions? Yeah, I mean, I share the concerns about transparency, I think that, you know, obviously I've only been here for like six weeks, so I'm still figuring out how to work with my colleagues but I think it would help, definitely, to have a space that's designated for us to talk about these things as opposed to us playing phone tag with each other
That's just kind of my insights from the last six weeks
And so I want to echo those concerns and just make sure that we arrive to, you know, a format that allows us all to be on the same page, preferably, or at least be aware of where we each, where each of us are, so that none of us are blindsided by
Each other's positions on issues
A few thoughts
So I
I think part of our desire to increase the use of committees is to respond to the increased scale and scope of our jobs
Recently, with the addition of the North Sea Port Alliance, the extraordinarily rapid growth at the airport and the commensurate need for nearly $10 billion capital improvement plan
There's just a lot more work generally
And to keep up with it, we're having to work more
And I think the committee structure is a way to delegate to each other an ability, as Aaron mentioned, to develop some subject matter expertise and be able to dig in on some of the stuff as we do our oversight and board director role
And so I appreciate the efforts we are undertaking to develop this more concrete form of committee structure
I also want to make sure that we're not establishing in the use of the committees and, you know, participation by third or not a situation that won't work with some future commission that is not as copacetic as the five of us are on a lot of policy issues
One can imagine a split Commission where committees could then be used as effectively, if not publicly noticed, or to effectively make decisions that that cut out a fellow Commissioner
And that would be a terrible situation
And then finally, I want to suggest that we do have a format for a meeting of the full commission in which decisions aren't made, but there is room for deliberation
We use it a couple of times last year
We call them study sessions and around the issue of biometrics, which is an emerging issue where we weren't ready to make any decisions, but we knew that we needed to have good public conversation around an issue, all five of us
I think that's a very effective means of doing sort of committee of the whole without having an action item on the agenda
And so I would suggest that on the big issues, you know, that the big rocks, as Steve described in our retreat, those are opportunities for us to to really take time to deliberate together a nd I think that's a great method for doing that
So, you know, in our course of organizing our thinking about what are the priorities for each of the work groups, you know, we all sort of found the things that we think are the big rocks to be dealing with
Right
And the the thing about having the workgroups is that, you know, you're not obligated to attend
You know, if a study session on a single subject is sort of like a Commission meeting
So everybody feels sort of compelled to be there for that big, biggest of boulders
There are things going on and like this little thing you might have heard about, like this cruise terminal
I don't know if you've heard? T46 might be a cruise terminal
So, you know, there's a lot of interest there needless to say, and there are two people on a work group that's gonna be discussing this little thing that this of the biggest deal hitting the waterfront
I would imagine there might be other commissioners that want to get into the weeds on discussions about this one little project which may not rise to a work session
So, I mean, I do believe we need to have the flexibility for some of those issues that would allow for
And one of the things I think, Aaron, is you're doing better and better is, you know, scheduling those meetings out, clearly identifying those things, which with the defining work plan
So therefore, if indeed we wanted to, somebody wanted to add a third, we'd have ample time to notice
And that's something
We also can, you know, I think continue to work on getting some of the minutia onto consent and then to use more and more of the meeting for a more deliberative discussion, vote on the on the policies that are before us
But this is a big year
There are huge decisions being made and I don't see anything terribly trivial on any of our workgroup's agendas
So I, and I just think there are some things like in the bylaws right now, there are specific things regarding this
Whether or not we take public comment at a work session
I mean, I think, there's certain things there's differences in terms of the levels of that becoming a public meeting or not
I encourage you to look at the bylaws amendments with this question in mind
All right
Good comments there
Good discussion
I would encourage everyone to review one last time the substance of the various committees and their scope of works and priorities that are called out in there before we are called upon to vote at our next meeting
Correct
This is a resolution
So you, it's up for action today and you'll have a second vote at the next meeting
And I think
Yeah
Yeah
OK
Anything more? Good
All right
Let's move on to the final item on our agenda
So this is an action item to introduce this resolution
Ok
So we need a motion to introduce that
It's been moved and seconded
All those in favor say Aye
O ppose, Nay
Motion carries to introduce
Thank you
OK
Ok
The next item on the agenda is presentation item 9A: Briefing on the 2020 Local and Regional Policy Priorities
Commissione rs, Port Governmental relations staff have worked with you, executive team members, internal subject matter experts, and external stakeholders to develop local and regional policy priorities to guide Port advocacy efforts
The briefers this afternoon are Nate Caminos, Kerry Province and Dave Kaplan
Good afternoon, commissioners
Nate Caminos, Director of Government Relations here at the Port of Seattle
To my left and to my right, Dave Camplin, Local Government Relations Manager out for us in South King County, as well as Kerry Province out for us doing local government for airs management and community relations management for us at the East Side
Today we are here to brief you on the 2020 local and regional government policy priorities
This will be the fourth year Commission will have adopted specific policy priorities in working with our local and regional government jurisdictions throughout King County
Just as with the state and federal legislative priorities you recently adopted, these will provide staff with the guidance to further the Port's goals and objectives in the year ahead
I spent the past two months meeting with various departments across the Port
In addition to having the opportunity to sit down with each of you, the documents you have today reflect today's current draft
Since we presented here last, there are a significant number of changes and additions from the 2019 local and regional policy priorities, most notably due to the elevated importance the commission has placed on those issues with the commitment for us to do more and working with our local partners and supporting our growing communities
I would also add that if he took the state and federal legislative agenda side by side with one another, you will see that the priorities reflected throughout our seamless and highlighting our efforts here in Olympia and in Washington, D.C
And you see examples of that already producing the past couple months, too, as with our state legislative agenda and the recent Highline Forum, we now have other cities working with this somewhat is now the two- to-one match bill in the state legislature
On the federal side, in terms of near-term priorities to address airport noise and emissions, a joint letter with the cities, as well as support to our D.C
delegation and also setting the stage for the trip next month that Commissioner Calkins and Bowman will be joining our local partners there for
And also in terms of the King County Cities Climate Collaboration Letter to the Puget Sound Regional Clean Air A gency on the K4 C letter by Commissioner Felleman with King County and our other partners in terms of highlighting our support for LCFS
A nd also what was referenced earlier
And before we get into 2020 that as Commissioner Calkins spoke to in January
2018 action on priority higher, we were able to do a memorandum of understanding between the Port and the City of Seattle as well as King County just on, before Christmas this year
And also on the East Side, as Commission had a chance to see and tour, the East Side Rail Corridor, what is now the East Trail
We are looking at how we explore opportunities to showcase the history of maritime and the Port's working influence back out on the east side along our waterfront there
Getting into the overview slide which unfortunately we don't have on the projector but have a copy in front of you
The priority items reside in three main categories
They are: port wide regional, second maritime Seattle, and lastly, aviation airport communities
New to this year's document is a category on engagement and partnership priorities
This reflects the increased emphasis on proactive opportunities sought across the Port's geographic boundaries, many of which have already been underway
And additional priorities includes these priorities that are important to our efforts, in addition to the core operations at the airport and seaports and after today's Commission meeting, we will continue our work to incorporate any additional feedback you may have and see Commission adoption at the February 25th meeting
Before I hand it off to Dave to walk you through the each section of the agenda, I wanted to note that as we go through this, we'll be listening and highlighting each of the key policy priorities, additions and edits, areas of engagement, major products and partnerships to the time
We won't speak to every single item on here, but we'd of course be happy to elaborate further and take any questions you may have along the way
With that, I'll hand it over to Dave
Thank you
The notable changes from last year are in particular calling out our support for the clean fuel standard as its own priority, inclusion of a robust outline of the port's position relative the preservation of industrial lands, which was not included last year
It is included this year
And a more fully informed portrait of equity inclusion policies with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion's draft strategic plan elements incorporated into the element since the department was established last summer
On the maritime end, the notable changes from last year are adding specific policies for the T46 cruise development, initiation of maritime blue, equity efforts in the Duwammish Valley, and recognition of maritime consideration of natural gas and port facilities
Each of these additions reflect the work of the Commission during the course of last year and acknowledged the ongoing importance as priorities
In that category, where is Fisherman's Terminal embedded? Maritime Blue, is that it? Basically, I mean, because there's more than just Maritime Blue
Going on at the terminal
But
Ok
That would be more on the capital side then in terms of in terms of lobbying
Yeah, the first section there
OK
All right
Page two, page three
Ok
On the aviation airport priorities, the notable changes from last year revolve around the South King County fund and the airport community ecology fund
As Nate mentioned, our efforts in conjunction with other jurisdictions to work on changing the matching bill down in Olympia to help make it easier for smaller organizations to be able to avail themselves of the funds that been made available, as well as the equity element, including the equity index that Boohkda had mentioned earlier in her presentation with the South King County Fund being the first application of the Equity Index in terms of it being applied Port wide
Who decided to drop community from the King County Fund, the South King County Fund
That was the original title, was Community Fund
And somebody along the way decided to take that out
[Laughter] We certainly don't want the county to be voting on these funds
Yeah, that's not my point
I don't think the county should be trying to grab some of this money
So Commissioners, I don't know if that was a conscious decision
Well these things happen sometimes in funny ways
But I prefer the emphasis is community
It's not a government type of thing
So anyway, just a point? We'll add that
[Laughter] Ok
All right
So as I mentioned earlier, a new category that was added for this year is engagement and partnership priorities
This is a reflection of the Port's, regional, county wide and local importance, as well as the scope of the Port's, operations and role in spurring and supporting the regional economy
You know, I had a chance when it first joined the Port last May
My very second day was actually the Commission meeting down at the Georgetown campus in South Seattle Community College and [inaudible] Christina Billingsley [inaudible] the community members that were all there in showcasing the work that we have committed to do, ever since then, in terms of my own understanding experience here at the Port, it's clear that there was a continued commitment to continue to do even more
The Port's focus on fostering our partnership and engagement opportunities includes presentations, meetings and events throughout the 38 cities outside of Seattle, tours of our facilities with mayors, council members, key staff, and connection with airport communities and a wide variety of venues, partnering with cities and community organizations on the side, which I'll speak to in a second with Kerry, Pioneer Square neighborhood regarding T46 and crews, equity and environmental focus in the Duwammish Valley, listening and addressing the concerns of Beacon Hill residents in our neighborhood, being responsive to the residents of Vashon Island relative to monitoring aviation noise, and the development of a more comprehensive relationship with our area tribal governments and communities
All of these reflect the importance the Commission has placed on active engagement and development of partnerships across King County
And all of this work is done in tandem with our community engagement team
We are working to highlight what we've been able to even accomplish so far this year in 2020
What we have teed up for the rest of this year and additional opportunities to collaborate with our local jurisdiction partners and community-at-large to support all that we have ahead
And we'll have more to share with you on that actually later next week
Before we move on
Yes
I really feel that the issues around Pioneer Square are also very real relevant to the international district, Chinatown
Yes
It is a very strong, cohesive neighborhood that is growing and becoming more vital all the time
It's in close proximity
So I would consider expanding our--
You're right, Commissioner
Our work has already included that community and neighborhood
And so we'll be sure to include that in the language
Just a small thing on the memo on page 5
And you just referenced it where it says Community Partnership Priorities 38 cities
I just think that the cities are, it should be list as the 38 cities in King County
I don't think that they refer to themselves as the cities outside of Seattle
Bellevue and others would take offense at that
They are more than just outside Seattle, they are cities of their own standing, a small thing, but
[Laughter] Good
Inclusion, sensitivity
Thank you
So can I differ further and say yes? I think I speak for all five of us when I say, p articularly on this piece here, deploy us as needed when we're helpful to be good ambassadors for the Port to the cities, to tribes, however, we can help to convey the message and be good listeners on behalf of the Port
You certainly have been great partners for us in the past several years, and so it looks will definitely look to include you as again, we have quite a bit of work ahead of us
So thank you for that
Before you remove that side
I would just like you to note that the lower picture, they're holding a bull kelp
Yes
You're welcome
[Laughter] Nate, i s there a schedule of outreach for those 38 cities? Yes
That's what I was referring to that you'll be getting later next week
And then we can work on what--
We have decided so far and we're looking to do more
And so some of these are TBD by quarter, so you'll see that later
Okay
Thank you
Most of these carry forward priorities here with additional priority section
However, it's important to note that the inclusion of East King County with the addition of Carrie Privates to help foster community engagement and government relations and that increasingly important area of our county
It's a more comprehensive approach to the needs of our residents in Seattle and Beacon Hill
The neighborhood, the addition of Orca recovery and the ongoing conversations on how to reduce noise impacts on those endangered creatures, and recognizing the Port's unique and critical infrastructure, a strengthening of our relationships with local and regional agencies to ensure resiliency and emergency preparedness
One thing I will seek to recognize, while traditionally we have and continue to do amazing work with our economic development department along with our, obviously, our community engagement department within external relations
One key factor is building upon the work that Luis Navarro and the Office of Social Responsibility has done
But the Commission leadership's investments in adding additional resources and bringing Boohkda and the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion has also elevated our outreach and engagement
As you've already seen and heard in a recent presentation this afternoon, it's allowing us to do more
And also in addition to that is this Commission's investments to make sure that we have a presence beyond just South King County out of our airport operations or here at pier 69 on the Seattle Waterfront, but also being comprehensive in our representation of county wide and having Carrie here in the past several months, being based out of Bellevue has made a big difference for us and our partners
I just want to provide an opportunity for Carrie to kind of speak to a little bit about our work and our time here at the Port so far
Awesome
Thank you, Nate
You added a little time
I'm also six weeks in like Commissioner Cho
So started, I think, a day before you were sworn in
Thank you all for having me here today
And as Nate mentioned, you know, I am focusing in East King County
So when you mentioned 38 cities, 21 of those are in is King County
And that's really where my focus and time and energy is gonna be on behalf of the work the Port's doing and really how we show up in those communities
So what I've been working on so far is going out and meeting folks
So I have given public comment to introduce myself in this role and what's happening out the Port and what we're focusing on this year
I've done that at Bellevue City Council in Renton so far
I'll be hitting all of them throughout the year
I've been meeting with different city staff, either one-on-one, convening small groups to talk about different issues and priorities that the cities have, but also to what Commissioner Calkins mentioned, I've been doing a lot of listening and I think that's really important out there of having a body out there that is listening in and being someone that they can contact
I definitely have plans of deploying all of you out there in that thirty eight cities list, as, as I mentioned, a big part of what I'm gonna be doing
Additionally, as we have these behind the scenes airport tours that Commissioner Bowman has scheduled, I've been reaching out to all of the Eastside cities on that
So the mayors, the newly elected officials, as well as the city administrators and city managers, also use that as a way to introduce myself in this role to them
Some who have gone on it before said, hey, you know, that's a wonderful tour
But I'd like to do those, meet with you to talk about X
So it opened up some additional doors
As Nate was mentioning as well, my job is housed both in government relations but also in the community engagement side
So I've also been out meeting with the Chambers of Commerce, economic development groups, other key organizations, as well as attending a lot of events on behalf of the Port and making sure people know we're King County's Port, and while our name says Port of Seattle, we are the Port for all of King County and I'm getting a lot of wonderful feedback to that
So thank you to all of you for this position
Thanks to Nate and others for me being in the position
And I'm looking forward to working with all of you and the East Side communities this year
Great
Thank you
Thank you, Carrie
Commissioner Felleman? What you didn't do is explain your background, cause you also give us entree into that, those communities, too
And I think it was a great thing to have you as our ambassador out there
But of course, we all want to have our face time as well
But having you as a familiar face has been a jumpstart to this effort
So perhaps you can share your background with us
Thank you
So I have actually worked in East King County for over 20 years
I started at the Bellevue Chamber in the late 90s
I was there for about six years, ending as the Vice President overseeing economic and workforce development issues for the Bellevue Chamber
I then went to the Bellevue Family YMCA, which we represented, Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland was Executive Director there and spent about 10 years at the Y
Then I actually had a stint at the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed
So I had quite a vague jurisdiction in that and everyone within the watershed
And then spent the last six years, most recently working in East King County for Puget Sound Energy on a major infrastructure project
So community work, government work in East King County
It's been what I've done my entire career
Born and raised there, live there
It's where I'm raising my kids
It's a big part of who I am and what I do
Very good
We are very fortunate to have Carrie as part of our growing team
And with that, as I mentioned, next steps on regards to any questions or additional comments you may have
We will work to continue incorporate your feedback from today's briefing and over the course of the next two weeks and then come back to ask for your adoption on February 25th
After adoption, our government relations staff will share the adopted priorities in our ongoing meetings with other jurisdictions and key stakeholders in the coming months
Nate, I know you're working to hire right now
How is the recruitment and hiring process going? Still in the midst of the hiring process right now
Should have a better update for you here in the next week or two
Great
Yeah
Thank you
OK
Other questions or comments at this point? Thank you very much for that
Can I just add a couple of communities that I really, sending back to Pierce
T he communities that we should also think about, I think, are the the the marina communities, both at Shil Shoal and in Salmon Bay and also the communities impacted, Magnolia and Queen Anne, and West Seattle
They're impacted by our operations as well
Those neighborhoods and those communities
All right
If I might
The only small ask that I have is it maybe when you bring this back, if it could be in somewhat more of a priority order just in terms of some, things are urgent this year like the city of Seattle industrial lands policy
That's definitely going to happen versus some things that are just ongoing priorities year after year
So if I might just offer that suggestion
Yeah, happy to edit it in a way where the first page would be our top priorities for local job
Okay
Thank you
Ok, we're onto item 11 here
Just came in response to Executive Metruck's point of saying like, where's Shoreline? You know, listen, I mean, I know once you start now
Right
Hey, somebody is going to say, you know what? That's why we're here
I guess I should be sensitive to that
Bringing that to my, am I missing somebody
But I was thinking about where the work are that we have this year that could be coming up
I think we are right, the Port of King County and we expand as we go and but certainly the 38 cities tour is a place where we really get our ears to the ground and understand some of those concerns
Are there any Commissioner comments remaining or motions to refer to committees? I just have
You brought up marinas
And so it's maybe just a small comment
I was hoping that we could get some, for Executive Director Metruck, an update on what's happening down at Shil Shoal in particular
I was just reflecting, it's been at least three years since we've had a work session on the marinas
I think that would be really useful
For some reason I've heard from several of the residents over the last couple of, last six months or so, and it just highlighted for me that we, I would love to have that
We'll try to work that in at some point
So, OK
Final comments? Well, I mean, I mentioned at our last Commission meeting that Shil Shoal was part of my walk and the construction that's going on down there is significant
And, you know, it's always slow to break ground, but once you do, buildings are going up
So those bathroom, shower, laundry rooms are really making great progress
But Dukes is a tremendous source of disappointment to a lot of the liver boards there
So that has been very much a delayed effort
And but anyway, I do want to just to share, the, it was alluded to about the letter that we were cosignatory with several of the King County K4C community folks
And this is a construction of Dow Constantine's ability to get our cities aligned on climate related efforts and we're the only Port associated with that
But there was, you know, there's two ongoing efforts to have a low carbon fuel standard in Washington
One is just a regional one with the four counties and the other one is statewide
And so this has been a bit of a source of confusion with some people
But what was really important to me when we met with Dow was that while you support one, the regional one is something that is , you know, going forward at the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency level, we have a concurrently this legislative effort going on
And so I just thought it was important that the, that in the the K4C letter that we that we note that they make a specific point that while supporting the regional effort, it's the statewide effort that is currently going in
And I just think it's, unfortunately, many of these discussions are often not based on fact
And I think one of the things that folks should should be aware that we hired Dennis McClaren, former EPA Regional Director, and we've been having this discussion in the state with, essentially a data free conversation about, you know, what are the impacts of these sort of carbon pricing things on people at the pump
And I just think it's really important for folks to be aware that you can buy sustainable renewable diesel in California, cheaper than you can buy regular diesel here
And the idea that we could potentially have a whole West Coast region that would be actually creating a market for low carbon fuels and that would be the only way we could get sustainable aviation fuels to the airport
It's a huge opportunity that is currently going on both at the regional and statewide basis
And I just think it's great that we have a coalition of cities with their with our efforts that are ongoing
So I just want folks to be aware that
Well, with that, I think we'll call the meeting adjourned
Thank you.

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