Transcript
The Regular Meeting meeting scheduled for 2025-01-14 at Pier 69
- complaints are unaccompanied by a formal ethics complaint filing Commissioners
- This review of the Commission Code of Ethics resulted in changes intended to improve clarity on conflicts of interest, expectations for respectful interactions, complaint process improvements, advisory opinions, option opinions, and many more
- The resolution addresses gaps in the current code and reflects our commitment to ethical behavior
- And I'll turn it over to Commission Chief of Staff Aaron Pritchard for further comments
- And I see Jessica Nettlewins join us from the legal team as well
- So thank you, Executive Director Metruck
- And commissioners, you'll notice that Michelle Hart is not here today
- She's flown to Florida late last night to take care of her father
- So our thoughts are with her
- She carried us on this
- She is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to words on paper and really has delivered us, I think, a product that's close enough to a work of art as you can get
- We're not without the help of our other artist here, Jessica Nadelman, who was
- Did just a ton of research
- This is, I think this is going to be a great model for other jurisdictions seeking to figure out how to balance these
- And as the biggest port, you know, in our state, all ayes are on us
- And so we have a higher level of responsibility
- And so I'm really pleased to bring this forward
- And we'll turn it over to Jessica to walk us through the slides
- Thank you
- Erin
- Am I mic'd here? Yes
- No
- There we go
- Okay
- Hi, Commission
- Thanks for having us
- Just a minor disclaimer that, as Erin said, Michelle had planned to do this presentation, so I'm going to do the best I can
- These are her slides, so just excuse any hiccups here
- So here we go
- So we are here to present proposed amendments to the Code of Ethics
- Next slide
- And as Erin mentioned, we had a team working on this, including myself, Erin, Michelle Hart, Pete Ramels, our general counsel, and Elizabeth Black had done some work on this in the past as well
- So team effort
- Next slide
- The code was last revised in May of 2013, so it was due to be revised
- The work started on this in 2021 and sort of stopped and started for a while
- It was a fairly complicated undertaking
- Next slide
- So the bulk of it happened in end of 2023 through present and it's almost a complete rewrite, as you will have seen from the Redline version
- And it incorporates, you know, trying to be consistent with state law and a number of other policy decisions that we expressed in the new code
- Next slide
- So as I said, very thorough review of all of the sections of it
- Some new sections put in that I'll discuss in a moment
- Lots of work to just make language consistent and clear
- We took our draft to review to commissions council
- We worked with general counsel, we worked with the board of ethics and we worked with the governance committee to review the draft and incorporated their feedback and as Erin said, have come up with a really good model
- I was going to say a masterpiece, but I don't know if it's a masterpiece, but it's a good model
- Next slide
- So the new draft aligns more closely with state statute and it also addresses the behavioral commitments that commission made in the amendments to the bylaws that occurred in January last year
- It adds language to harmonize the bylaws and the code of Conduct
- Next slide
- So there are all of the sections had significant cleanup in terms of language and consistency
- It has a few sections that I wanted to point out here that are new or thoroughly revised
- One is a new section regarding service on nonprofit boards to help clarify how commissioners conserve on nonprofit boards and where the conflicts of interest arise
- There we completely redid the section on how the board of ethics functions to better reflect clearly what their role is, what the process and procedure is for making complaints, for investigating complaints, and for taking action on those complaints
- Next slide
- We added a new section regarding how complaints of the behavioral commitments from the bylaws would be managed and they are going to be managed by the governance committee
- So complaints regarding those bylaws commitments will go to the governance committee
- There is a section that outlines how they will manage those review, investigate and act on those complaints and again did a number of cleanups definitions
- Next slide
- So the timeline is introduction to today
- We'll ask that the resolution be adopted in two weeks on the 28th
- And this resolution also includes some changes to the governance committee charter, which needs to be changed to align with the new responsibilities of the governance committee
- And we're also making changes to the bylaws, which I will talk about next
- And that is the end of my presentation
- So questions
- Thank you very much for the presentation to my colleagues
- I'll turn to you all for questions and comments at this time
- Reading their body language
- We had a very robust briefing ahead of this where we got to ask questions and I also don't have any
- So at this time, if there's nothing for my colleagues
- Is there a motion and a second? So moved
- Second
- The motion has been made by Commissioner Cho and seconded by Commissioner Muhammad
- And I'd turn to the clerk to call the roll
- Thank you
- Commissioner Calkins
- Aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Cho
- Aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Felleman
- Aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Muhammad
- Aye
- Thank you
- And Commissioner Hasegawa
- Aye
- Thank you
- Five ayes and zero nays this item
- Thank you very much
- The motion carries
- Thank you
- You're welcome
- You can
- Oh, okay
- I'm on the next item
- Oh, okay
- I didn't realize that
- I will turn to executive
- To the clerk to introduce the next item and Executive Director Metruck to introduce it
- Thank you
- This is item 10C, resolution number 3834
- Introduction of a resolution amending resolution number 3817
- Amended and prior corresponding enacting and amending resolutions through incorporation pertaining to the Commission's bylaws and Rules of Procedure Policy Directive
- Commissioners
- Our bylaws state that the commission shall refer the bylaws to an appropriate committee for review and recommendation for revisions at least once every three, three years
- This most recent review resulted in revisions to governance practices around officers and rules of order, as well as a few technical edits
- And I think it's going to turn to Jessica, since Michelle Hart, the Commission Clerk, is not here, we're going to turn to Jessica Nailman, the Senior Port Counsel, to discuss these proposed changes
- Thank you
- Yes, thank you again, Commission President and Commission Commissioners for having us here
- Jessica Nadelman, Senior Port Counsel
- Again, a set of slides that Michelle put together, but I'm going to do my best here
- So we are here to discuss amendments to the bylaws resulting in part from the amendments to the Code of Ethics, but also some other updates that we made that I will get into
- Next slide
- So same project team worked on these
- Erin Pritchard, myself, Michelle Hart and Pete Ramels
- Next slide
- As executive Director of Metrics said, we are required to review every three years
- The bylaws were reviewed last January with significant updates
- And we are doing it again now, again, to stay aligned with other changes in the law and other changes in our ethics code
- Next slide
- So the primary changes that we're making here are adding some language to reflect how the governance committee has a role in enforcing or investigating or managing the complaints related to the behavioral standards that are in the bylaws and now incorporated into the Code of Ethics and also addressing some inaccurate, I guess, misleading Language that was in the code regarding being able to remove a Commissioner from their position or from their elected position
- We've clarified that to mean just their role on the commission
- Next slide
- Again, so the change recognizes the new scope for the governance committee to manage these behavioral commitment complaints
- It addresses and aligns the bylaws with the provisions of the code that talk about participation on nonprofit boards and the remote interest provision and
- And where the ethical lines are drawn around participation on nonprofit boards
- Next slide
- We made some changes to align with changes that occurred last year in state law around how vacancies in elected office are filled
- So our bylaws have now been updated to align with that state law
- And we made an administrative change to reflect that strategic advisors in the commission office report both to their assigned Commissioner and to the commission chief of staff
- Next slide
- We made some amendments to the rules to clarify our practice, actually, with adding some information about how we describe voting, how we act upon voting in a remote interest situation
- We made an amendment reflecting how we manage approving interlocal agreements
- And we made a change to make it clear that disruptions can
- Warnings for disruptions can happen either orally at the time of a meeting or written notice post meeting
- Next slide
- So introducing the resolution today
- Next step is adoption of the resolution on January 28th
- And I will take any questions that anyone has on this one
- Thank you very much
- Commissioners, do you have any
- Any questions at this time? No comments
- We're gonna get out of here early
- Is that a motion to waive the first reading? I can speak to it if you'd like
- Yes, ma'am
- Commissioner
- President Hoskow
- Well, if there's no questions, Commissioners, we could save time by waving the first motion I moved to amend the
- From an introduction
- To amend it for an actual adoption
- Adopting a motion to waive the first reading and move to adopt
- Exactly
- So the Commissioner has made a motion to waive the first reading and adopt the resolution as presented
- Do I have a second? Second
- And the motion has been seconded by Commissioner Calkins
- Is there any comments or questions by my colleagues? Seeing none
- Will the clerk please call the roll? Thank you, Commissioner Calkins
- Aye
- Thank you, Commissioner Cho
- Aye
- Thank you, Commissioner Felleman
- Aye
- Thank you, Commissioner Muhammad
- Aye
- Thank you
- And then Commissioner Hasegawa
- Aye
- Thank you
- Five ayes and zero nays for this item
- Thank you very much
- The motion carries
- Thank you, Commissioner Muhammad
- That's some tricky footwork right there
- All right, well, now I lost my place
- I will check to look to the clerk to introduce the Next item and ask Executive Director Metruck to introduce it
- Thank you
- Yes, one second
- There
- I found it
- Item 10D, order number 202502 in order to develop a port wide policy on plain language for the Port of Seattle
- Commissioners, as you take up this item, I want to advise that I've been briefed on the elements of this order and by the staff prepared to implement this work
- I wanted to let you know that I support the direction of the Commission in its intent in this regard and appreciate the efforts by Commission President Has Sagawa to bring this Order forward
- So with that I'm going to turn over to Commission Strategic Advisor Francis Cho who will present the order
- Thank you
- Good afternoon Madam President, Commissioners and Executive Director Metruck
- My name is Francis Cho, Commission Strategic Advisor
- I am pleased to introduce order number 2025 02, a proposal to develop a port wide policy on plain language for the Port Port of Seattle
- The goal of the plain language policy is to establish a port wide policy that prioritizes clarity, simplicity and accessibility of public facing documents for the benefit of the public
- The end deliverable is to develop standards for the Port to implement no later than March 31
- This order seeks to build, build on and expand upon Order 2023-05 which the Port Commission adopted in April 2023 and directed the Executive Director to develop a port wide policy on language access
- The Federal and state governments, numerous private entities, educational institutions and non profit organizations have enacted plain language policies to ensure the public can access information without unnecessary barriers and promote transparency and effective communication
- The Port's Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Communications and marketing teams were consulted in developing this order
- With that, I will yield to Commission Chief of Staff Pritchard for any additional remarks or turn it over
- Back to Commission President
- No comments other than
- Thank you, Francis
- Thank you very much Francis for that presentation and explanation
- Commissioners, I'm going to first look for a motion and second to adopt order number 202502
- So moved
- Second, the motion has been made by Commissioner Muhammad, is seconded by Commissioner Felleman and with that I will turn to my colleagues first for comments or questions that they have on this order
- I will just say that the intent of this order is to we
- The intent of this order is to make sure that all the external facing communications from the Port of Seattle are accessible
- Particularly with the Sustainable Airport Master Plan process in full effect, we want to make sure that we are effectively and plainly communicating all of our materials to the broad audience
- We'll also add that this should complement the Language access order that was championed by Commissioner Mohammad two years ago because plain language is easier to translate
- My only question for you staff is, what are the timelines for simplification of materials? So, currently, the order does have a deadline of March 31, which is to develop standards for the port
- And then I'm also wondering if how, since the cyber attack and how that brought down our entire web page, how does that impact our implementation plan? Will we be able to go live? I will like to yield to Director Gislow for that
- Welcome, Director Gislow
- Hi
- Good afternoon, Commissioner, President, Commissioners, Chris Gislow, Director of Communications and Marketing
- We're in the space now with the website back, where we are able to implement the goals of the order for both key documents that are available now, as well as giving us a playbook to move forward as described in the order
- Thank you very much
- Well, I'd just like to commend staff for their
- For their swift action on this
- And with that, I will turn to my call colleagues for the role, if the clerk will go ahead and call it
- Thank you, Commissioner Hasegawa
- Oh, aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Calkins
- Aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Cho
- Aye
- Thank you
- Commissioner Felleman
- Aye
- Thank you
- And Commissioner Mohammad
- Aye
- Thank you
- That's five ayes and zero nays for this item
- Wonderful
- The motion carries
- Thank you very much, Staff
- We're now at presentations and staff reports
- Will the clerk please read the next item in the record? And Executive Director Metruck will introduce it
- Thank you
- This is item 11, a 2024 international audit annual Report
- Commissioner's internal audit provides an important public service in ensuring the efficiency, compliance, and transparency of port operations
- We're all deeply grateful to the internal audit team, as well as to Commission, the Commission Audit Committee that sets the agenda for their work
- Today's presentation is mainly a recap of last year's work and findings
- In addition, many of the recommendations from the internal audit are already being implemented or underway
- And presenter this afternoon is Glenn Fernandez, Director of Internal Audit
- Welcome, Director Fernandez, the floor is yours
- Thank you, Commissioner
- Thank you, Steve
- Next slide, please, Aubree
- So, first, I want to thank the Audit Committee
- Commissioner Hasegawa was Audit Committee chair
- Commissioner Calkins was the other member
- Sarah Holmstrom was another Audit Committee member, a volunteer member, actually
- And we had substitutes, Commissioner Muhammad and Commissioner Felleman during the year, so thank you to them, too
- Next slide, please
- So the first thing I'd like to do is talk a little bit about our charter, because without our charter, which is passed to us by the Commission and the Audit Committee, we're unable to do our work
- We derive our authority from the commission from you
- And we do audits of just about everything the port touches
- All programs, functions, systems, contracts and activities
- And in alignment with industry standard and best practice, we're a dual report, or at least I am a dual report who reports to functionally to the audit committee and to Steve Metruck as well, administratively
- Next slide, please
- So a couple other things
- In order to do our work, we have to have access to all the information at the port
- So our charter, which is approved by, like I said, by the commission, is to have full free and unrestricted access to port records and information in order to complete our work
- And that's essentially what the slide says
- Next slide, please
- You know, another thing, not only do we need access to items, but we also need freedom to go out to finish, to set our schedules, our frequencies, our audit subjects through risk assessments and you know, get other people in the port to help out where necessary and then report on it and be transparent, which we do and which we're doing today
- And we also publish everything in on our website
- So our external facing website has all of our audit reports for the public
- So that's transparent
- And you know, we follow up on open issues and make sure that they're resolved and they're addressed
- Next slide, please
- So a very
- This is a globally recognized model, but the governing body is a commission
- In this management are the first and second lines of defense
- They essentially mean the first lines are the people that do the work and the people that supervise them or oversee their work in some cases
- Also the
- The second line would also cover internal checks and perhaps the legal department as well
- And then internal audit, which is an independent function, is the last line of defense
- We work both with management and the commission and it's almost like the catcher in the outfield that has to catch things before they get out to the media, to the external auditors and state auditors
- So before external assurance providers
- So we try to mitigate as much risk as possible and we all work together and break down silos as needed
- Next slide, please
- So in 2024, we completed 16 audits
- This pretty much talks a little bit about the types of audits we do
- Performance audits, capital audits, information technology and contract compliance
- Limited contract compliance are concessionaires at the airport port that self report their income to the port
- We also identified through our audits some high risk issues, medium risk and low risk issues
- And they're noted here
- We perform continuous audits of construction projects that are gccm type or general contractor construction management type projects
- And the state law requires us to continuously audit these
- So we do that
- And you know, as I mentioned earlier, our reports are shared with both the committee members and with the external facing website and placed on the external facing website
- Next slide please
- So this is a quick Gantt chart of what we accomplished in 2024
- Essentially everything green we completed because of some staffing issues and the cyber event, we missed a couple IT audits, but we did complete a couple extra other operational audits that are noted in here also in the footnotes
- Next slide please
- Some highlights from our audits commissioners on our performance audits, we completed six of those
- And some of the highlights, as Steve talked about, PFAs was a big item
- We looked at PFAs
- You know, there's an opportunity still at tenant locations that is being addressed primarily Delta Hangar, Alaska Hangar and the Paccar hangar
- The rental car facility was brought up earlier today as being addressed
- Managing overtime when excessive
- That was something that came out of our audits
- When you have about 20 plus hours, well of hours in a day or over 24 hours in some cases of work, it's not only a financial issue but a safety issue that needs to be managed
- Leak detection
- We need better leak detection systems at both maritime and aviation because when we do have a leak occasionally it takes a long time to find
- And we're the largest consumer or the second largest consumer of water in the region
- We could very easily be the largest consumer of water water if we don't detect these leaks in a timely manner
- The last major leak took 15 months to detect and resolve
- So that's quite a bit of time before they can plug those leaks and lost 150 million gallons of water
- Opportunities to improve controls at small organizations
- You know, our small organizations are always targeted and they're vulnerable
- So working with them to improve controls is important
- Next slide, please
- And Commissioner, if you have questions, feel free to stop me at any time
- Actually, we're going to let you run through and then we'll do questions at the end
- We're running 40 minutes ahead of time, so we're not going to ruin a good thing now
- Okay, so capital construction audits
- You know, we audited about 152 million of capital
- So the projects that we audited essentially had $152 million of spend
- Some of the key observations that we noted, not only good things, but not only bad things, but opportunities that were good as well or things that we saw that were good
- The closeout process Essentially at an end of an audit, all these bills come in and you've got to reconcile everything and close it out
- And the port does have a pretty robust process there
- So it's evolved and improved over the years
- You know, that's a positive story
- We're doing a lot of tenant reimbursement agreements
- That's where Delta or Alaska does the work and we reimburse them
- And there because it's picking up and it's becoming so large, there's an opportunity to improve processes and increase, improve your control
- So we don't have unallowable or duplicate costs, you know, for pay applications
- This is when a contractor submits a big invoice to us and we want to make sure that we do a better job of making sure they're supporting documentation for everything that's submitted, everything material Risk management insurance is huge
- You know, we're required to have insurance in all our projects but sometimes you can pay too much for insurance and if there isn't big coordination, good coordination between risk management and construction management and the contractor, sometimes you can overpay for insurance and it could very easily be half a million dollars
- So it's very large numbers
- Yeah, we look like I said, seven general contractor construction management projects were under audit on a continuous audit basis and the estimated spend spend on Those is about 1.5 billion over the life of the project
- So there's a lot of big projects that we're continuously looking at
- Next slide please, Aubree
- On the IT side we completed one audit in 2024 and the focus there was on improving and enhancing cybersecurity controls
- We'll
- Yeah, we discuss these in non public sessions
- So I won't go into a lot of detail on this
- Next slide please, Aubree
- And finally commissioners, our 2025 audit strategy
- It's to essentially stay independent and objective because that's really foundation of an internal audit function
- Cyber incident recovery
- We're still recovering from that and there's a lot of data and information that people have to put back into system from when the systems were down
- So let's, you know, part of our work is to making sure that the work that was done being done outside the systems is correctly put in community initiatives, smaller organizations helping them out and helping them enhance their controls
- Closed network systeMS On the IT side we've got a lot of critical systems that are, when we say closed network they're not connected to the outside Internet
- But still there are IT systems that are important
- You know, they run the STS trains, they run the Runway Lights and other critical infrastructure
- So making sure that those are well protected
- We'll continue to focus on capital delivery because of the amount of money we spend and, you know, comply and continue to do the RCW audits
- One last thing that I note is we have this internal audit outreach program where we're actively presenting to small businesses and grant recipients and talking a little bit about controls
- They're targeted so heavily and their controls are still relatively, because they're smaller organizations, they don't have the resources that a big organization has
- So as Commissioner Mohammad had during our time in the audit committee kind of pushed this because we've got a program now that we've built and we're actively working on to train these small businesses and present to them and make sure that they have these resources available
- And with that, I conclude my presentation
- So I will take questions
- Thank you very much, Director Fernandez
- I'll turn to my colleagues to see what questions or comments that they may have
- Commissioner Felloman
- Sorry
- All right
- Commissioner Calkins, as Audit Committee member
- Yeah
- I just want to say it's been a pleasure to work with you again this past year and I look forward to the coming year
- You know, this is one of the, if not the most important committee that we all get to participate in on occasion
- And aside from being an essential oversight function for the commission, it's also a great way to learn about elements of a, what, 2,700 person organization that we may not in our day to day have the opportunity to learn about
- And so I really do just appreciate the education I get sitting on the audit committee
- And furthermore, I think we're really at a time where these functions are critically important because we are in some areas of our organization under intent, intense pressure to grow and that can
- And so while, you know, resources are always scarce, you know, we are trying to balance the demands of schedule and budget and always pushing to deliver as quickly as we can on these high demand projects
- And so it's just good to have a bit of a referee there to make sure that we are sticking by our highest order values
- So appreciate all your work, Glenn, and thank you for next year
- Commissioner Felleman
- Thank you, Glenn
- And as you know, we're very much appreciative of all the work it takes to dig into these things
- It's a level of detail that I'm glad I'm spared, but appreciate having it brought before us
- I was just wanting to know a little bit more about the community initiatives and the sort of things that might entail
- And I know that the accounting for grants and things like this is sometimes a challenge for small organizations
- But what are some of the specifics that you're talking about? So the risks with
- Well, we have a lot of community initiatives like the South King County Fund
- And you know, there's two elements
- One, there's the cyber element, right? So in the past we had the ACH fraud where bad actors take over their systems and use that maliciously to change banking information or whatever else
- So those monies are redirected
- So helping them not fall for phishing schemes or having robust systems, that's one element
- And two, internally there's some basic controls that an organization can should have, such as segregation of duties and bank reconciliations and things that would help them catch fraud quicker
- So if somebody their money is going sideways and you know, they're good at running their charities, but if things are happening within their organization that they need to be aware of, they need to catch it quicker so they can stop it rather than letting it, you know, impact their organization bad
- So would we like condition our support for things organizations based on their having controls in place or how would they know we would be able to provide this consultative service? One of the things we're doing is we're partnering with the OEDI function with Booktis team and they have all the small organizations come in on a periodic basis
- So our intent is to give them 15 minute presentations in front of and talk a little bit about ourselves what we have and then guide them to our website where they have resources and if they need additional help to have them reach out to us
- So that's their visibility
- Thank you, Commissioner Muhammad
- Thank you, Commissioner
- President Hasegawa
- Well, Glenn, I love the audit committee
- It's one of my favorite committees
- I didn't get to serve on this last year, but I did appreciate, appreciate being briefed on a number of issues that you all look at
- And also there's the executive session piece where you guys talk about it concerns and so forth
- And I imagine you guys are having deeper conversations about the cyber attack there now
- So I just want to express my appreciation for the thought that goes into the audit committee
- It's a good way for us to ensure that we're being good stewards of public dollars
- And the outreach program that your team has developed really came out of the ACH fraud that happened at that time
- And I think there's a lot of good intended organizations that work with us, smaller organizations that partner with the port and it is easy for them to fall for some of the fishing tricks and all of the things that are out there today
- And technology is getting more complex
- An organization like the port can get hacked and you know, you can imagine what that would mean for bigger, for smaller organization
- It's just that much more easier
- And I think the program that you guys have stood up and the communication plan that you have with talking to those small businesses as well as those non profit organizations is great
- And yes, I just wanted to express my gratitude
- I appreciate that you guys are an independent body that is ensuring that we have good controls in place, there's good oversight and that there is transparency and accountability in the way that we do port business
- So those are my comments
- Thank you, Commissioner
- Commissioner Cho
- Yes
- I want to also expressed how much I miss the Audit committee
- I was telling Commissioner Muhammad it's the most underrated committee on this commission
- But I also wanted to ask you a question, Glenn
- In light of the cybersecurity attack we had this fall, what plans we have in 25 for after action now that we're over most of the issues, but not all yet
- So that can go to Steve too, whichever person feels like the cancer
- Yeah, I'd like to talk to that Commissioner because right now we're still undergoing the response to the incident
- We've undertaken a third party contractor in order to collect all the lessons learned in addition to, you know, what went right and what went wrong
- So we're going to be issuing a report
- This is similar to what we did, another large event with the, with the Horizon aircraft issue
- So we have this
- We're glad to talk to Commissioner in depth about our study plan for this
- I think we send some things about that, but that is our plan to undertake that because we're still undergoing changes to that
- So we're still, we'll produce that report here and we're undertaking a large effort so that can be done in a holistic approach
- Okay, thanks, Steve
- I'll just round out by saying that it was an honor to chair the audit committee this last year
- I'd like to thank Commissioner Calkins for plugging in at the last second and support that role as he did on a number of occasions
- And just to really commend the work that you and your entire team does, we at the port are incredibly proud of being an example of excellence and efficiency and accuracy and transparency in government
- And Audit Committee is exactly where the rubber meets the road in promoting accountability, transparency and oversight for us as a commission
- So thank you for being the vehicle of that
- We commend your work and thank you for the presentation
- Thank you, Commissioner
- Thank you
- With that, we will move on to the next item for presentation
- If the clerk will read it into the record and Executive Director Metruck will then introduce it
- Thank you
- This is item 11B, draft 2025 International Policy Agenda Briefing Commissioners
- As the port continues to lead on issues related to our triple bottom line, it is important that we engage with like minded ports and organizations at the international level
- This is important as we tackle global issues like the reduction of greenhouse gases and as we look for other economic opportunities
- This briefing will cover our international priorities as well as highlight opportunities for engagement in the coming year
- The key recommended updates include a provision related to the FIFA World cup among many more
- We'll seek your adoption of this agenda at the commission meeting on February 11
- The presenter this afternoon is Melissa Parks, Maritime Sustainability within our Government Relations program and she's the Program Manager
- Thank you
- I know my title got a little unwieldy
- Commissioners, Madam President, Executive Director Metruck
- Thank you so much
- Excuse my interruption
- I just wanted to note for the record that Commissioner Mohamed has exhibited back to you
- I was going to go through it first
- Yeah
- And make sure that everybody online is on
- Pierce, you are not on mute
- Thank you, friend
- Okay, we're good
- All right
- So yes, I am the Maritime Sustainability Government Relations Program Manager and I'm briefing you today on our draft 2025 international policy agenda
- Next slide, please
- So today we're going to look back at the ports engagement from this last year
- I'll give some current context for what we can expect in this year, then provide an overview of the agenda that's continuing from last year, followed by some updates that staff recommend for this year
- And finally close out with some next steps and opportunities for engagement
- Next slide
- So the port has ambitious goals and we really pride ourselves on being leaders at the forefront of change in industry practices
- And to make large scale change in these global industries, we need large scale global action
- So engaging internationally with standard making organizations and building relationships with other ports is an important element of the collaboration that's required for that kind of change
- And while we have less direct influence over the standards and policies created internationally than at the city and state level, for example, we can utilize the change that we're making here at home as an example abroad
- And in fact, that's our international currency
- It's why we're invited to some important global events
- And last year was the port's first international agenda and we found it to be a good resource for helping focus our engagement and keeping a shared awareness across the port of our international policy positions Next slide so 2024 was a very successful year building and maintaining very strong relationships with international ports and partners
- Our engagement included the International Leadership Mission to South Korea, Korea Maritime Week in Singapore, the Coast Salish Story Pole Dedication in our sister port of Kobe, Japan, the International association of Ports and Harbors World Port Conference in Germany, Port Authority's Roundtable and a Smart Ports Conference in Spain
- We also engaged multiple times with our sister ports of Busan, South Korea, Kobe, Japan, Rotterdam, Netherlands and Singapore
- And our sister ports are making really exciting, citing headwinds around alternative fuels especially
- So it's been very valuable to observe these developments in person and just as important as engaging abroad
- We also hosted 35 delegations, around 500 visitors across all lines of business at the port, including aviation, maritime cargo, economic development crews and fishing
- On the policy front, we've seen some progress, so international policy moves incredibly slow, but we continue to see forward momentum at both the International Civil Aviation Organization with its work implementing a global market based measure for aviation emissions, as well as the International Maritime Organization that I'll speak in more detail later on that one
- Also, the Ports Director of Maritime Environment Sustainability, Sarah Ojay is now participating at our International association of Ports and Harbor's Climate and Energy Committee
- And this is really important because that Committee oversees the Association's policy positions at the International Maritime Organization
- So it's a great development for us moving into the New Year
- Next slide so where are we today? International diplomacy is in a state of change and for the past few years we've experienced rising global tensions and escalating conflicts regionally in Central Europe, Asia and the Middle East
- This global diplomatic instability could make it more difficult for the cooperation we need to make progress on global international policy goals and commitments
- In addition, a change in US Leadership, including a new president, executive branch and control of Congress, adds another layer of uncertainty to this the federal government is our primary representative in these international standard making bodies that are setting for example the global emission policies for aviation and maritime
- It remains to be seen how active, how deeply, how soon the new administration is going to engage around our specific interests internationally
- But that said, the port is not a stranger to being out in front of the federal government when it comes to our priorities
- So regardless of the relationships between heads of state, ports have our own relationships and we continue to convene to discuss global policy goals, share best practices and continue to identify solutions for overcoming challenges that we all share
- The port has the opportunity to really lean into direct diplomacy with sister ports and international organizations to continue to demonstrate how our local actions and investments are progressing
- Our international policy goals Next slide
- So turning to the agenda, I want to highlight the overarching themes of the port's priorities that staff recommend continuing from last year
- And they reflect the work that port staff are already engaging in
- So in addition to these categories, staff also developed a set of broad principles around the importance of collaboration and transparency, equity, environmental justice and sustainable development that will underpin our advocacy
- So across these priorities, what we're looking for are opportunities to support and influence where it impacts our goals and missions across the board
- When it comes to climate change and air pollution, an example that we're looking for is ways to support immediate action such as agreements to develop zero emission shipping partnerships
- We continue to monitor for action and opportunities to engage around noise in both aviation and maritime
- And we will continue to share our work to combat ocean acidification and our innovative projects to sequester carbon and improve marine health
- And as we continue to explore and learn about alternative energy and fuels, we'll continue to track those developments to ensure that the new standards uphold the principles that I previously mentioned and consider the safety aspects of those fuels from an airport, seaport and community perspective
- Next slide please
- Okay, so recommended updates for this year, staff are recommending that we add our support for the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- The Declaration is a comprehensive statement slash framework addressing the rights specific of indigenous peoples
- Acknowledging support for this declaration is another opportunity for the port, in addition to the formal partnerships that we're making with local tribes to demonstrate our support of indigenous peoples and be more intentional sharing that support with our broader international partners
- Also very exciting, Seattle's hosting two major international soccer events in the next two years
- Global soccer fans will have their ayes on us as hosts
- And while this isn't technically a policy addition, it it's worth acknowledging the importance of Seattle's reputation globally to make sure that we're seen as a welcoming international city
- And I heard this from staff across the board
- Different lines of business
- And so with so many international visitors coming this way, the port should really look for opportunities to partner and expand, especially our work to combat and reduce human trafficking in preparation for these major events
- And finally, it's a very momentous year for global shipping policies
- So members at the International Maritime Organization are supposed to agree on measures to reduce ship's greenhouse gas emissions and agree to a pricing tool to help drive the necessary transition to low and zero emission shipping
- Port staff recommend advocating in support of adoption of the agreed measures that we anticipate will be later this fall
- And as I mentioned earlier, it remains to be seen to what extent the new US Administration will change or alter the United States current position on these measures
- But regardless, we know two things
- That the IMO and member states as a whole have already agreed to zero emission by 2050 goals and that the global shipping industry, the United States, other countries are already making very significant investments to decarbonize
- So we're already kind of moving in that direction
- As part of the pricing tool I mentioned, that will be decided discussed, Staff recommend advocating that ports be included as an eligible recipient of any revenue that's raised to support the transition to zero emission shipping
- Studies have estimated that more than 1 trillion with a T dollars are needed to decarbonize maritime and 87% of that cost will be for land side infrastructure
- Lastly, we recommend adding support for review of an example existing policy tool called the Carbon Intensity Index, or cii
- It rates ships on their energy efficiency and it's been a very hot point of contention amongst members at the imo
- And so we support review of the tool with the goal of it more accurately accounting for the different operating profiles of ship types across business lines
- Next slide
- And that concludes my updates
- I look forward to your feedback on the agenda and we'll plan to submit a final version next month
- But before we totally close out, some good opportunities to look forward to with approval of the agenda, we'll begin outreach to the US delegation to the IMO and International association of Ports on the policy recommendations I just mentioned as those discussions are already underway
- Also, staff are looking to develop some strategic engagement opportunities around clean technology, clean energy, sustainable fuels with international partners and leaders in the energy transition
- For example, in Ulsan, Korea, Singapore and Hamburg, Germany
- They're making very exciting developments there
- Finally, the International association of Ports and Harbors is celebrating its 70th anniversary in Kobe, Japan, where the organization originated
- And we're planning to have a significant presence there given our sister port relationship and ongoing relationship with Kobe
- So something to look forward to
- And that's it
- Thank you very much
- Thank you
- All right, to my colleagues
- I'll turn to you for questions
- Commissioner Felloman, thanks for the presentation and very exciting stuff that we appreciate the expansion of the port's work into this international arena
- I had two questions
- One pertained to the carbon intensity discussion
- That's primarily a cruise issue, right? In terms of the cruise industry has taken umbrage with the methodology
- It's more than the cruise Industry, it's actually the whole International Chamber of Shipping, the tanker associations
- It's really shared across industry associations at the imo
- But there is general consensus around it
- But consensus more agree than don't
- Right
- On the tool as it currently stands
- Yeah, I'll say that at the last meeting, despite greenhouse gases being on the agenda, this new tool under development, the Carbon Intensity Index, had the most papers Right
- From any of the other agenda topics
- So there's a lot of discussion there, a lot of different opinions, lots of different opinions
- And we, you know, the port took its time evaluating these different positions, positions of our partners, the position of the U.S
- delegation
- And we don't see harm in reviewing the tool
- I think it's been demonstrated that it, it works well for certain cargo ships, but it really doesn't account for other ship types
- So we think that a review is worthy
- Great
- And one other thing, if that's okay
- Of course, take it done
- So in light of the conversation we've been having about international tourism marketing, and I think the same thing, the term marketing as well as economic development, I prefer the word management in both contexts
- We don't just promote, we manage
- But in light of the fact that we're about to experience the onslaught of FIFA, we don't have to do anything to advertise this
- But we do have something to manage it
- And I'm very concerned and that's why I was working on the Snoqualmie project, that nearby communities are going to be subject to an onslaught of visitation
- That and the sports fan at large may not be the most eco aware individual
- I mean the Europeans in general I think are more so than we are
- But be that as it may, I think having information before they get here, know before you go, first thing you pack is a sense of responsibility
- You're not coming to Disneyland and there are places to go other than just downtown Seattle
- And that we have to share the wealth as well as disperse the impact
- And so while I am not dismissive of the concerns raised by the community, I think in this next couple of years we have some serious damage control control to do
- And that reaching out to the international community before they get here, you don't come to the trailhead and say, you know, this is when you first have to think about the environment
- So I just would like to push back a little bit on why this coming time is different than any other time because of the promotion that's occurring due to FIFA with or without us
- So I just put that out there as I think of A time when we particularly need our tourism management money
- Commissioner Cho
- Yeah
- First, Melissa, thank you so much for all your tremendous work in bringing us this international policy agenda
- I think that ever since we started doing this, which I believe was last year, the first year that we started doing this, our profile as a
- An institution and the international community has gone up tremendously, partially because it allows us to bolster the tremendous work that our team is doing here at the Port of Seattle
- You have no idea how many people come up to me and say, oh, I didn't realize the Port of Seattle was doing these things
- And I do think that we're leading on so many different fronts, but also it allows us to go out and learn from other ports who are so much further ahead than us
- Every time I travel to Asia and I see what they're doing on alternative fuels and stuff gets me excited, because we don't need to be the first mover on some of these things, and we can learn from the mistakes of other ports and how they've developed things
- And I sincerely appreciate the fact that we've been able to engage with the IMO year after year, as well as many other organizations, which has resulted in many of us getting invited to different conferences and stuff like that
- And so I'm hugely supportive of our international policy agenda
- I really appreciate the engagement you continue to have with these organizations so that we can be part of the conversation
- Because at the end of the day, we're one of many ports
- And to the extent that a lot of the things that we do here can be a model for what other ports in North America are doing, we like to say we want to be the greenest port in North America, but the goal is not to be the only green port in North America
- And so I think this is extremely effective and a crucial part of what we do here
- So thank you, and I look forward to continuing to work with you
- Thank you, Commissioner Calkins
- Thank you, Melissa, for the presentation
- I've had the privilege of working with you on a couple of topic areas, and I really want to focus on an area where I think the international agenda is truly the place where we need to be operating because of the dynamics that you already addressed, which is around energy
- And I think what we found over the last couple of years is we have dedicated more organizational resources, Steve's time, Commissioner's time, other key subject matter experts at the port, to a lot of this international engagement is that there is a hunger for US Participation in some of these international conversations
- And because of the nature of U.S
- ports, that we are decentralized, that there is no
- It's not a federal port system that is funded and overseen by a big federal agency
- It is really local community governments like the Port of Seattle really attempting to kind of step into the fray here
- And because on the one hand, the Port of Seattle has said we are committed to being the greenest port in North America and willing to take on demonstration projects to make aggressive commitments to decarbonization, it's given us an opportunity to represent effectively the US in a lot of spaces
- You mentioned a few here
- I've had a couple of opportunities this year at Climate Week and then again last month in D.C
- to speak on behalf of ports collectively in international arenas
- And so that is why not only do I not want us to push back from the table, I want us to even invest further in this
- Because genuinely, this is where your slide on page three of the slide deck, I've stolen that from you and used it in various presentations
- Because this is absolutely where I think if there's anything in our obituaries, it's going to have to do with the strides we take as a port in decarbonization
- This is our inflection point right now because we do have a big footprint in international cargo, in crews and in airlines
- It gives us an opportunity to make real effective changes
- And you know, while we may have low global impact, if we can demonstrate that it's possible at a port authority that is on a global scale, sort of medium sized, as one report put it, we are, we have to come up with bespoke solutions
- And I think that's really important for folks to remember
- And I guess part of what we're asking our constituents is give us the leeway both in terms of resources and time to experiment with some of this stuff
- Because there will be a experiments that fail in decarbonization
- But we need the capacity to try
- Whether that's the Pacific Northwest to Alaska green corridor or the relationship with Busan, we don't yet know what the answer is
- And so we need to be able to experiment
- And that's not really a comfortable space usually for public agencies, but this is not a usual time
- We need to be able to see what it will take to produce the kind of quantities of methanol that we know we need for green methanol, that we need for not only the cargo traffic but also the cruise lines
- And we know if we don't do it that some other port will take this business and it will be status quo
- Ante and that's the worst possible outcome
- So I think we're all willing to be courageous and step out a little bit and devote some resources to it
- But we got to stay at the table to be able to do that
- So I really appreciate all the work
- And I think, you know, I come to you often and ask for
- I want to make it sound like I'm smart, so I talk to you first before I go and do these things
- But I really appreciate all the efforts you put into this
- Thank you
- Yeah, absolutely
- So for me, I just, as you go out to the broader global community to talk about the work that we're doing, inform, partnerships and everything that you just talked about, how what is your contingency plan or what is your anticipated impact of a new administration, presidential administration, taking office, that consistency undermines all of the priorities that we've listed here in sustainability, economic opportunity and addressing issues of climate change
- I think that's where the emphasis on our direct diplomacy with sister ports especially, or some of these strategic ports really is going to come into play
- I think that in a lot of ways, like Commissioner Calkin said, the work that we do do at home, in a lot of ways, is sort of independent to our locality
- Right
- It would be great to have federal support, but we don't always get it
- But we're going to keep working and moving ahead regardless
- And so I think that our strength will be sharing those continued innovations, how we continue to address these goals in the face of maybe a federal government that doesn't share those priorities and continuing to show globally that we're still moving forward, that we still want to be competitive in this energy transition
- And, yeah, that to me, that's what it means when we tell the public that local government is your first line of defense
- It doesn't stop the work
- And we still have lots of opportunities to advance the work also in a political climate that we know will fan the flames of division rather than cohesion, I think it's so important that we are intentional about building those relationships
- And I think about
- You talked about our sister port relationship with Kobe, Japan, and when we go there, the embassy briefed us and talked about how Kobe and Japan is a friendly neighbor in an increasingly rough neighborhood
- It's a place of strategic importance and advantage that actually lends itself towards security
- So all to say, this is tremendously important work, and it's really quite a privilege as a Commissioner Cho be able to go along with you in some of these trips where we're building those relationships
- So thank you so much for the presentation today
- If there are no further questions or comments from my colleagues, Executive Director Metruck
- Thank you, President Hasegawa
- If I can just add to that what Melissa's answer was about our engagement
- You know, if things change at the national level for us, which we probably expect they do, is that, you know, for us, it's also economic opportunity as well as when we were traveling to South Korea and we saw that they were using E methanol
- And you come to find out that the E methanol was produced in Houston and then traveled around the world to there
- There's economic opportunities in here as well as this, and that's something that we're looking at as well
- And then also developments are happening whether or not the US Is a leader in it
- We know we want to ensure and see what's happening in the European Union because they're moving ahead with something, things that are very parallel to what we're trying to do
- So there's lots of lessons learned here that we both can look at as both as opportunities and influencers in that continued work
- And I think this is important work and I really appreciate the Commission's support for this work
- Sure
- It's sad that all these presentations come in a silo because it really does lend itself towards the presentations that we had in our federal legislative agenda and our state legislative agenda and all of our local priorities
- And that's sort of the representation of the work that we're doing right here, leading the transformation on a global scale
- So just marrying that big picture together, I think is just really cool to see
- So thank you so much
- All right
- And that brings us to our last presentation
- The Clerk will read it into the record and Executive Director Metruck will introduce it
- Thank you
- Yes
- Item 11C, Public Art Program 2024 Annual Report Commissioners in 2019, under your leadership, we created the Portwide Arts and Cultural Program Policy Directive
- This annual report will provide you an update on the delivery of major art installations, collection restoration, asset management, status of funds, and how the team incorporates equity, direct, diversity, inclusion principles into its work
- And the presenters are Tommy Gregory, Public Art Program Coordinator, and then Annabelle Goick, the Public Art Program Coordinator
- Within that
- Thank you so much
- Double check
- Your mic is on right? Okay
- Yeah
- Appreciate yalls time today
- Executive Director Metruck and Commission were as you stated, we're presenting the annual report per policy and guidelines being in compliance with that after our resolution 3766
- Very proud of the year we just completed
- So the Public Art program had another kind of record breaking Year as it pertains to capital projects, commissions, acquisitions, temporary art and conservation
- So we'll go over all of those right now
- First slide
- After this capital project slide, we'll show you just the artists that are under contract today, which is again, like I said, record breaking year
- Some of these were ongoing from last year, Some will be done at the end of this year, some won't be done until 2026, but all in preparation for the FIFA events coming to Seattle
- Very proud of these
- And again, this is just commissions
- This doesn't include the acquisition, the artists that we acquired work from in 2024
- So really robust group and diverse group of professionals
- Next slide please
- Okay, jumping into the some of the milestones in 2024 successful projects that we worked on were with capital improvement projects, phase four and phase five, restrooMS We completed phase four, dove into phase five with artists
- On the left of this slide is Annabelle and I with Shuley Shaw Day, based out of New Jersey
- In the middle is a new installation in restroom B3 from local artist Minhee England
- She's Seattle based, only about 8 minute drive from the airport
- And then on the far right was the last of those installed, which was artist Bill Fitzgibbons based in San Antonio, Texas
- We all worked very collaboratively with those and included partners from CPO Architecture, FI Maintenance
- So a whole group of folks that came together to bring in these three restroom projects safely to fruition
- Next slide please
- Okay, so staying in the vein of our capital projects, we have seven new pieces coming into the north main terminal
- This slide represents six of those seven artists
- The last one, Morgan Madison
- Madison is still in design phase, but very proud of this kind of breadth of arts that we're working with from locals like Barry Johnson, Sarah Moore, who's going to be installing very soon, both on the ticketing level
- Arrivals of I'm sorry, Departures of SEA, and then artists like Susoni park and Jennifer Steinkamp doing monumental installations
- First ever jumbo video work going into the ticketing area right next to Alaska's ticketing zone
- Really excited about all of these artists
- Julie Alpert, Matt Saws, both local
- And all of these, like I said, will be in before the big FIFA games
- So next slide please
- So this was one that we completed just before the end of the year
- And there was a pilot project that came in in collaboration with the building department and F and I where we utilized these kind of blank canvases which were the stainless steel bollard covers
- These, these pieces were, you know, this is a pilot project
- So I saw this in 2019 as an opportunity presented
- It took a little time to come to fruition, but we did successfully complete the acquisition
- Not the acquisition, I'm sorry, the commissioning of these two artists that were selected, as well as the installation of those two, all in 2024
- So we showed that these are very manageable projects and it also allows us the ability to work with a diverse group of artists
- Because these aren't monumental hold rooms, gates, exterior projects
- These are very manageable sizes
- These apparatuses are already engineered
- So it does allow us a lot of boxes already checked
- And then so we basically selected some great artists
- On the left is KT Hancock
- She's also a Seattle based artist
- This is her first major airport commission
- And then on the right, it was a collaboration between Peruvian artist Sandra Williams and then Kyle Olson
- And if you happen to travel to Skybridge 1 or 6, you'll see both of those greeting you into the airport
- Next slide, please
- Oh, I'll hand it over to Annabel to address these
- Awesome
- Thank you, Tommy
- Good afternoon, commissioners
- Good afternoon, Executive Director Mitrak
- I'm Annabel Guevick, she her pronouns Public health program coordinator
- I am going to talk about the conferences that we attended this year
- So Tommy and I went to the Tripod arts in the airport in Philadelphia
- We were joined by numerous other airport such as San Diego, Denver, Kansas City and San Francisco
- I was invited to talk with Kathy Greenwood from the Albany airport about institutional partnership
- It was a great conference
- Looking forward to the next one
- And Pete Fleming, public art technician, went to the Page Pack in conference
- The pack in stands for preparation, Art handling, Collection Care Information Network, Area Group's art collection experts from across the US and abroad
- It's a conference that happens every two years
- So next one will be in 2026
- Next slide please
- And checkpoint one
- So for this project we received over 250 submissions for the cases and the wall opportunity
- We have over half of this acquisition that are from local female artists
- The paintings that you will see on the wall are as of right now being framed by a local WMBE business in Seattle
- And the artworks that will be in the cases, some pedestal are being created specifically for the those artworks
- Checkpoint one is supposed to open early April and we'll be answering those works mid March
- Next slide please
- Thank you
- And now I'm going to be diving into some of the conservation and maintenance projects that we've done
- So this highlights the works from our Public Technician, Public Pete Fleming and Sarah Kraus
- Next slide please
- Thank you
- On the left you have P Cleaning, one of the oldest artworks that we have in our collection
- That was one of the first acquisitions
- It's a Frankstera painting
- The artist passed away last year
- It was a fairly long process since it took eight hours
- And the artworks on the right is a piece by local artist Trempen
- It's been running 247 for 20 years
- And since it's a kinetic piece, it needs some regular maintenance
- Next slide, please
- On this slide we have some projects such as the Cable Griffith piece on the left
- One of the
- The panel was failed, so it needed to be replaced
- So we just want to give a shout out to Ian Arlo from AV Maintenance who helped us coordinate the reinstallation of this panel
- Thanks to the contractor Herzoglass
- And the project on the right from Richard Elliot
- That was an artwork that needed urgent protection from the North Main Terminal project construction work
- Next slide, please
- All right, we have more restoration and conservation projects
- It's been a busy year
- The first picture on the left includes an artwork by the local glass hero
- One of aye
- panel was damaged so it needed to be fixed
- And the two pictures in the middle, that's a long term project that's been happening
- The first damage we noticed in 2019, and we are happy to announce that now the wheels, the 56 wheels that were damaged are now back in place at the rental car facilities
- And last but not least, the picture on the right is an artwork by Robert Rosenberg that used to be in the C concourse and is now in the A concourse after it was restored by a local expert and reinstalled by Pete and Sarah
- Thank you
- Next slide, please
- Yeah, thanks, Annabelle
- And kind of very modest in the way those conservation projects we showed you were a few of
- There were definitely a few more to add
- But again, a record year for us being good stewards of our historic collection
- Busiest program when it comes to conservation in 2024
- And we succeeded in so many
- And that also comes at great thanks to the Public Art Board who support all of these endeavors
- Next slide, please
- So our new installations that were from
- Some of these were from assets that were kind of luckily get to float around between different venues in the port
- Like on the far right is the Francis Challantano piece that had graced the walls here at Pier 69 for some time, but was due to some conservation efforts
- We went ahead and did a light cleaning and then restored, not restored, I'm sorry, relocated it to the mezzanine at the aviation office building at SEA
- It's technically an Aviation asset
- And it's now housed next to its larger, I guess we could call it Big Brother in a way
- Also a Francis Celentano piece called Delta Spectrum 2
- So now visitors can see both of those pieces in all its glory
- And then on the left you'll see a number of slides
- There's Pete working with our first former college intern, Daphne Madin, who just completed her internship with us last year
- She was extremely helpful on day to day things as well as art handling, like you've seen in the slide
- But we're really happy to relocate a lot of works and it's our goal to keep all of these visual assets on public view
- So whenever anything is either displaced due to a conservation need or due to a construction project, we try to do our due diligence in keeping them on view in certain spots
- Like the Ben Wright was a fairly new acquisition and it's now installed adjacent to the security
- What is that called, Annabelle? Oh, security Break room
- So at SEA
- But really happy to have another neon piece in the collection
- Next slide please
- Oh, temporary art
- Extremely busy year for temporary art as well
- Next slide shows you some of those successes
- In early 2024, we did our Black History Month exhibit featuring two extremely prominent and well known Seattle based artists and Barbara Earl Thomas and Marita Dingis
- Both of these works were a part of a temporary exhibit
- They are both now
- They were acquired in our permanent collection
- Will be on view with the other Checkpoint one artworks that Annabel discussed
- So hopefully by April the traveling public will see works from Barbara Earl Thomas and Maria Deingis on permanent display
- Next slide
- Thank you
- We love to collaborate with other local institutions and campaigns
- On the left shows work by Jimmy Ondereg that was installed during the city's celebration of glass art called Refract
- We showed a number of glassworks
- These were a few of those located right at the exit of Concourse A and right below the mezzanine, the aob
- And on the right, we collaborated with the Highline Heritage Museum
- Thank you to Marco Milanese for helping coordinate a lot of those efforts
- But that was in celebration of our 75th anniversary at SEA
- We showed some historic photos and yeah, those are still on display
- Should be coming down soon and make way for more temporary art opportunities
- Next slide please
- Oh, and then some really sad but beautiful events that occurred
- So Chuan Nguyen was a local art administrator as well as an artist in aye
- own right and he tragically passed away in 24
- And we worked closely with aye
- widow who's also in the collection
- Lian Nguyen, she's a visual artist as well
- And we borrowed some works from Tuan to display in aye
- memoriam
- Really great pieces and we're really happy to be able to kind of pay homage to an artist who gave a lot to the community as a public art administrator
- And it was good to show aye
- work in the airport after aye
- passing
- And then shortly after those works came down from display, we collaborated with Cornish Film School and specifically Charles Moose, a kind of hometown hero who teaches at Cornish in the film department
- And we are showing 10 original films from the Cornish students
- So really proud of that
- It's the first time ever to have temporary exhibits in that zone of local filmmakers
- So that'll be on display for the next six months
- So if you are in Concorde or exiting Concourse A or going to the aob, take a look at those from local student talent
- Next slide please
- Hope I'm good on time
- I'll try to zip through these last couple
- Like I said, we did a ton in 2024
- So these were some non aviation projects, maritime and at the port headquarters
- Next slide will show you
- Oh, I'm sorry, this is not temporary art
- Forgive me
- This is a fisherman's terminal and artist Mary Koss, who is making her way through the design phase working at Fisherman's Terminal, but through the site improvement project
- So this is an artist we didn't get to discuss, I think on our last annual report, but has now aye
- the ground running and working closely with alongside Todd Juvenile and Shoga Ohta on those maritime innovation projects
- So good to see that some of these fisherman terminal projects are starting to come to fruition, at least through the design phase
- Next slide
- Slide please
- So here's the temporary exhibit
- Sorry, so diving into or the saying, going back to the temporary exhibit topic, we were very happy to do our first ever temp one night only neon installation here at Pier 69
- Not only kind of celebrating the building, this was also in collaboration with Refract during that citywide glass celebration
- But we were able to do a one night only neon installation with local artist Kelsey Fernkopf where he highlights kind of the architecture and the nature that surrounds Pier 69 with these extremely well made elegant neon frameworks
- So that was Commissioner Felleman spoke at that event along with Leah St
- Lawrence from Arcade magazine who helped sponsor it and for, forgive me, Michelle Bufano with Refract and the Chihuly Gardening Glass
- It was a great evening and just appreciate everybody's support on making that one happen
- And currently right now there's still a temporary exhibit on view at Pier 69 right out these doors with local artist Megan Prince
- She's based in West Seattle and does these really monumental soft sculptures from reclaimed and upcycled materials referencing nautical themes and also kind of a little homage to our fishing industry with these net like structures
- And I believe that has
- I'm sorry, one more, One more
- Two more slides
- I'm sorry, commissioners
- The next slide will show you, I think, a little bit of a nod to not just our the art program presenting to you, but I think it's showing that our efforts are being heard, acknowledged, and hopefully revered citywide
- So we had two really thorough articles that came out
- One through the Seattle Times and one through a public display Art, which is an art specific magazine based here in Seattle
- And both of them the Seattle Times article
- These kind of things don't happen in a vacuum
- They obviously were paying attention to the work that we've been steadily trying to succeed in
- And you know, Annabelle helped coordinate efforts, getting the right photography, external relations was really helpful in helping conduct a tour and it led to these positive outcomes
- And I'm hoping that, you know, we see a little bit of the present in what the Seattle Times article was
- And then Amanda Manitok, with a writer for Public Display Art gave a nice thorough background in the port's collection history as well as a nod to what's coming in the future
- So anyway, these things, things we just want you to know that they're kind of resonating with the public and we're very proud to let you all know that was a good milestone in 2024 to get some good press on all of the artists we've been working with
- And it's very well deserved
- Next slide
- Oh, yeah
- Ending with our public art org chart just to show where we currently sit from a staffing standpoint and what we're kind of developing with strategic plans, working with Lemire Group right now through Maritime to define a five year plan with them, as well as just looking at what project management opportunities will be since we are ramping up and this collection isn't slowing down in any way
- Wanted to show you all this slide and I think that is the last one
- Right
- Annabel, thank you very much
- Thank you
- Thank you very much for that presentation
- I'll turn to my colleagues for their questions and their comments
- Commissioner Cho, you know, when I go to the airport, I tend to park at the far end of the lot and go up to the fourth floor
- And I noticed when those lipstick like bollards I think it's awesome, and I would love to figure out how to make it
- Not a pilot, but really do it across the airport
- Not just in the parking lot, but we installed bollards in the arrivals and departures area
- The one back furthest south is actually pretty pronounced because it's, like, different colors, and it really stands out
- I actually didn't get to see the other ones that you installed, which looks like
- Is it mountain range? Is it like one of the mountain ranges? Yeah, Mount Rainier
- Okay
- Yeah
- So I think it's a really creative way of using something that generally is an obstacle in an eyesore and turn it into a piece of art
- And so we'd love to see if we can do that across the airport, and I think it would be a nice little scavenger hunt for folks to see what we're doing across the airport on the exterior side
- We don't often talk about art outside of the terminal or outside of the actual facility, so I'm glad we're getting
- We're starting to get a little creative in the parking lot in other areas
- So kudos to you guys, and thank you to the artists who did that
- Commissioner Choi, you can't see it
- There's a little tear of joy in my eye because that was a long time coming trying to get that project to get some legs
- And I did see
- I'm glad that to have that kind of testimonial is going to go a long way, and I hope that we'll be able to deliver on your request there
- We did see it as something that is an opportunity for way more artists to get involved in this collection
- And it's a way to trim the hedges, because you don't need a ticket to pick somebody up
- You don't need a ticket to the light rail there
- And those works are prominently on display, and they're quite safe and very, very well made, so they'll be there for years to come
- Commissioner Calkins
- Yeah
- I love the whimsy of those, and I also love the gravity of some of the memorials and
- And quite honestly, the monumentality of
- I forget the name of the work that in the North Satellite as you come up the escalators
- Boundary
- Boundary
- Thank you
- The root ball
- I just love what you've done
- I'm really curious to know more about these future positions, and I think you deemed them ethereal arts, the ones that are
- Oh, yes
- From a temporary standpoint
- Yeah
- Yeah
- What are we
- How are we thinking about expanding the arts that
- Whether it's Music or performance or other things that could potentially benefit from an expanded role
- I ask this question because I think it aligns really well with our aviation team's attempt to make the passenger experience as wonderful as possible
- And a part of that is encouraging people to get there in times that they're not stressed out, that they do get to take advantage of what is an extraordinary public space, whether they're inside or outside of security
- Yeah
- Annabelle, if you have any comments on that, please feel free to chime in
- I just wanted to have one response to Commissioner Calkins
- There is that the ask, I think, has been heard
- I think Executive Director Metruck mentioned this once, that we do need to have more temporary works for a number of reasons, but also just keeping the experience fresh for regular travelers, for people who work at the airport as well, I think it's important to keep that environment you mentioned whimsy
- Yeah, just exciting, new, fresh
- And the great thing about temporary art is that it's not really a maintenance issue because it goes away
- So I do feel
- Feel there's a lot of benefits in that, and it does help us expand our repertoire of what we can show
- And I do want to collaborate more with the music program because that is run through a different department
- But it's always been, I think, a topic to have us be integrated together a little bit more
- And we will work that in 2025
- But, yeah, I think that we have some great ideas for this coming year as it pertains to artists and organizations to collaborate with
- And hopefully upon our next presentation, you'll see some great new things
- And if you have any, you were actually extremely integral in the Bezos foundation temporary mural that we have up
- So if you hear of anything or any partners that we should be collaborating with, know that I'll always follow up on those
- So I got my ears ready
- Any other thoughts on temporary art? Annabelle's always helpful on the and was being shy, but we'll keep our momentum going there
- Not that I have any connection to the bas
- I just
- No, no, no, no, no
- I didn't mean to imply that
- I just called
- I just said, hey, Jeff, you've got this program, you've got temporary art, right? Great
- Commissioner Felleman
- Well, thanks
- It's always fun to see the review that you do
- It's extraordinary
- Even though I serve on the committee, to get the whole overview in one shot reminds me how much I appreciate being able to support you to the degree I can
- And I just had a few thoughts here
- One, I like the org chart it's getting old
- I'm from New York
- I can hear myself when I get tired
- The org chart shows a bit of a vision that doesn't exist right now
- And so that integration with the art with the music program and the ultimate integration with Maritime, this has been a work in progress for a while
- So what is the time frame for this? It's a consultant's report
- I keep on asking this question
- I feel like I'm squeezing a balloon
- No, that's great
- The timeframe is coincidentally imminent
- It's coming the they've completed their strategic report draft and that should be presented in the next public art program board meeting
- But also a meeting tomorrow with Stephanie Jones, Stebbins and Lance and some other elts in discussing the inevitable coming to fruition of a governance strategy to make sure that either we do truly go port wide or we hire somebody to handle
- Maritime has a some great assets on public view and they need to be cared for
- So to me that's my main goal and what can happen tomorrow
- But I hope when we have our first board meeting, you're still a part of our board
- I really hope in 25
- Okay, great
- So you'll
- I think you'll be able to
- We could review that strategic plan and see what the next steps and the reality of other involvements need to be to see it to fruition and the potential staffing needs for that
- All right
- A couple things to run through as just wondering, do artists get any
- Take any umbrage of being creating bathroom art? Just kidding
- I just saw
- I said, wow, look at these beautiful things
- And somebody said, well, it's bathroom art
- I think one of the great things about the lipstick
- Sorry about that
- The lipstick is one of the things that's great about it is that it's right there at eye level
- You interact with it
- And so and I agree with Commissioner Cho's point is like what else can we do to the other bollards? But I'm just thinking about what else can we do with other things that you just like encounter
- And I remember like in the baggage claim area, you know, we have that architectural structural poles that exist there
- And I think originally they were brown
- I think you painted them white or somebody painted them white
- Yeah
- F and I architecture
- Somebody must have mentioned it or just had a vision that needed a little sprucing up
- So they've all been painted
- And I think if I'm not mistaken, it was due to one of the comments you made late 2023
- But we did get a budget to wrap those columns that are kind of just, you know, kind of not only visual, visually boring to see, but kind of like physical obstructions
- So we've kind of solved the visual problem and the physical problem and we've put art cases around those
- So now instead of just seeing these structural burdens, those structural burdens are now going to be housing temporary art and possibly permanent art
- So you will see those hopefully being populated with art by the end of this year
- That's great
- And like the poles are dark brown and just lightening up the basement with no clear sky ceiling
- I just see that as still, you know, leaning timbers or whatever
- There's work to be done
- I think there's the one thing I just did want to note that in the maritime sled, I had a macaque carver come and visit me just last week and we took aye
- to say aye.to Steve and we walked by a couple of the masks that were hanging on that wall and he was dumbstruck
- He said, like, you know, he's seen these in books and the artists that are there was like, if this guy says they're real, I know they're real
- He was former chairman of the Makah tribe
- But so anyway
- But there are these hidden gems that we have dispersed around in maritime that, I don't know, we could maybe give them even more play or maybe the plaques can be
- Whatever the case may be, it's like I was just delighted to see that somebody of aye
- prestige acknowledged what a great collection we have
- And that piece right as we walked down here, the large panel he was blown away with
- In fact, he showed me some stuff when I looked at it that I didn't see at the first
- Anyway, to conclude with your temporary art discussion, I really appreciated the work you did with the Schmidt Ocean Trust and I think with Steve's leadership on the Friends of the Waterfront, that there's these opportunities or these programming that's going to go on in the course of the next year or so, five years, that there may be real opportunities for the arts program and the Friends of the Waterfront work to go hand in hand still
- We were talking about World Oceans Day possibly and maybe another effort with the Schmidt Ocean Trust and folks like that
- I just see that we have these performance type things going to go on and to the degree your creativity could be integrated in it, I think would be make it all the more interesting, Totally open to it and excited to see what possibilities are there
- So I just have two questions
- What is that for members of the public? What is the
- So I will
- I want to say that this is a wonderful representation of our culture, our heritage and our vibrancy as a region
- For local artists who are interested in submitting their pieces, or for local artists who are interested in being commissioned, what is the process and how can they apply? How do they gain access? Good question
- And I think that with our website being redeveloped and refined, I'm hoping that it's articulated very clearly
- If not
- Annabelle, I know is actively working on making these kind of demystifying the public art process
- But Amber, if you want to weigh in on that, by all means
- I also just wanted to say that there's two open right now
- So if anybody is seeing this and interested, there's two major opportunities that are being posted on our website at the moment
- One is for the South Concourse evolution plan
- Two major commissions that are going to be very
- People have complained in the past that we get to the table a little too late
- These projects don't come to fruition until 2033
- So anybody selected has a lot of time to make their masterpiece come to fruition
- And then aside from that, there's another one, Annabelle, that's open, right? Or that we're getting ready to open
- Sorry, continue
- You weigh in on that because you're the master drafts person on those
- Yes
- So most of our queues requests for qualifications are being posted on our website and I also work with other cultural partners such as Folk Culture Artist Trust, and then I also work with national websites such as codaworks and publicartist.org just to really spread the word and make sure that as many people as possible are aware that we have, you know, projects going on
- So like Ty mentioned, we have two right now for the SCE project, we will have another opportunity for the CCE Sensory Room, probably being posted in the next month or so
- So, yeah, I mean, we can only encourage artists to keep an eye on our website social media pages as well
- We work closely with external relations to share the words about what's going on at the airport and we also work closely with CPO to create a docket explaining artists
- What does the process look like if you want to apply for an RFQ request for qualification or for an RFA request for acquisition
- So this will get posted soon and hopefully will answer some questions
- Commissioner, one more note on that is that we have had a lot of public feedback and I'd say for the most part, I'm happy to report that we've been told this is the easiest process for public art applications
- In the country
- Like it's not just for somebody with 30 years experience
- We're looking to really diversify the collection
- And like I've mentioned trimming the hedges a number of times
- It's not just from accessibility for people seeing the work, but also for people applying
- Okay, so I'm hearing you say the opportunities are posted publicly on the website, but you have to, you have to check it to see the RF cues come up
- And you will also post on social media to signal when that is coming live on the website
- Can you share what your social media platforms are and what your handles are? Are you on Facebook? Is it, is it X? So we, we don't manage this social media pages
- It's external relations
- But if you go on the Poll of Seattle website and then same for the
- I know they are on Instagram and Facebook or meta, I don't know which one is meta
- Yeah, I mean the feedback that I've gotten from members of the public is that the ports application process is like, it's very difficult to be able to know when there's opportunities
- And then when they do get on the website, it's not necessarily intuitive
- That's just the feedback that I'm getting
- And so maybe what I'm going to suggest is that there's like an intentional process with external relations where there's some sort of a communication when there's opportunities so we can be proactive about that
- And then the cyber attack, I think is just a wake up call for all of us to review our webpages and functionality and the user experience
- So just want to flag that for some time
- I appreciate that feedback and I think that I'll take that immediately up towards external relations and find out how we could be more prominently displayed because we're proud of these and it takes a lot of work to get these RFQs drafted, generated and shared
- So we don't want to be, you know, screaming into the ether
- We want people to know that these opportunities are there to apply to
- So I'll take that and run with it
- Commissioner Hoskinson, thank you very much
- Okay, and one last comment from Commissioner Felleman, just to follow up on your question
- You know, artists don't necessarily look to the Port of Seattle for their opportunities
- In fact, one of those articles said, since when do airports become museums? Right
- So
- But you said you're publishing in art magazines, right? So, so that, that to me is like, that's where you're doing some
- Not just doing articles, but actually putting out RFPs and stuff like that
- So maybe that's something that President Hasegawa would want to know, to share with her constituents about
- Really? In those venues where artists would be encountering it, more likely
- Sure
- No
- And thank you
- Well, I think that making sure the public knows about these is extremely important to us because, again, we want to give the opportunity for everybody to have their work presented to the selection panelists
- And I mean, short of if you could ask anybody that hops from Art Walk to Art Walk monthly or weekly, because there's some in Belltown, there's some in Capitol Hill, there's some in Pioneer Square
- You will see my gray head running around all those openings
- And I'm always trying to spread the positive word that we are job creator for the creative economy in this
- In this region
- That's exactly I got from the Pioneer Square Art Walk is where I was at an exhibition and somebody was like, this is
- Yeah, I said this
- I want this in the airport
- And they go, I tried
- I got confused
- And it hasn't come up
- So it's like, okay, last talk
- Yeah, no, that's great
- And rest assured, we'll make sure that we're screaming from the bigger platform because we're very proud of these opportunities and we want everybody to feel like they get a fair shake in applying
- It's a tremendous platform
- Thank you very much for your presentation today
- Thank you, President
- And that does conclude today's business agenda
- I will turn to my colleagues to see if you have any closing comments or referrals to committee
- I think it was a beautiful event today
- It was really
- And as I've said to you before, I think you're a great ambassador for the organization
- And it was salubratory and concise, and I think there was room filled to love, and I think we're all the better for it
- So thank you
- Thank you, sir
- And Executive Director Metruck
- Ditto, Commissioner, on that
- It was a great one
- Thank you
- You don't have your lay, though
- I do have it
- I didn't
- Didn't want to ruin it
- And with that, that
- The time is 2:53 commissioners, and we are adjourning.
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