[0:00] The August 25th, 2026 Committee on. Thank you. Colleagues, for joining us on today’s agenda. We’ll have discussion about possible action and appointment to the Landmarks Commission. We will then have an initial briefing on the King County 2026 2029 Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Plan, but we’re going to defer action until a future meeting.
[0:18] I’ll explain a little bit about why. And then finally, we’ll have a briefing from staff from the executive’s office and from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority on the case here. Contract transition plan and the Corrective Action Plan, and will consider taking action on a motion accepting the executive report with that introduction.
[0:38] Clerk, will you please call the roll? Thank you. Chair. Councilmember Balducci. Councilmember Dembowski. Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Fain. Councilmember Lewis. Here. Councilmember. Mosqueda. Here. Councilmember. Perry. Councilmember von Reichbauer. Chair. Button here. And we do have a quorum of the committee. Thank you. Uh, vice chair. Well, Council vice chair Dunson is our vice chair of the committee. Is not here.
[1:07] May I have a motion for approval of the minutes of the June 23rd, 2026 meeting? Move. Approval. Thank you. Any questions? Concerns? Comments regarding the minutes? All right. All those in favor of approving the minutes, please say aye. Aye aye. Any opposed? Say nay. The meeting minutes are approved. We will now turn to public comment.
[1:26] If anyone has joined us on zoom and would like to provide public comment, please use the raise Hand function or press star nine. If you have joined by phone. I do believe we have some folks in public provided public comments, so I’ll read the the rules on that.
[1:40] Uh, public comment must be related to items on today’s meeting agenda and not be used for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office, or for the promotion of our opposition to any ballot proposition. It must also not include obscene speech.
[1:54] If a speaker fails to abide by these restrictions, I will rule the speaker out of order and have the speaker removed from the meeting. You will have two minutes to speak and you will hear a timer go off. You can finish your thought, but please wrap up your comments. If you go much past two minutes you may be muted.
[2:07] We will begin by calling on the people who have signed up to speak in person. If you’re providing comment remotely, please listen to the meeting on the zoom call until you hear your name called. Clerk will you please call on those who are with us in person? Thank you. Chair. Yes. Kevin. Altamira, please. Welcome. Chair.
[2:26] Kevin Alzheimer here to speak on affirmative action, which is a very significant thing in our society, especially in the communities of people of color. Uh, as you know, in your audit of last year, there was a real affirmative action issue. You had an auditor who went outside of the scope, and you guys know better.
[2:45] And then you also had a situation where on April the 15th, uh, uh, Rod Dembowski met with, uh, uh, what’s her name? Lula Ramadan. Seattle Times. And she said, hey, uh, rod, it looks like, uh, Yolanda McGhee did have an approval in a, in a in, uh, Thomas Burlington did not rule against her for ethics.
[3:09] So then what does he do? He sends her follow up emails and says, look, I’ve been trying to get the the inspector general’s office for since 2023. So I got his email. So I’m just fair phrasing. So this is how affirmative action works. So you have people like him who does what he does.
[3:25] Then you have people like Kelly Rider, a woman who was kicked out of here because she said there was no money missing in DHHS. And she also said that the family did not commit any ethics violation. You know, that ethics violation thing goes two ways. It says the county has a responsibility.
[3:42] So on April 9th, when Jennifer Tanaka found out that the actually in 2023, she found out that the family dynamic was there, she checked with Thomas Burlington. He said there isn’t. Then what happened? It went to Megan. Those guys took it to the state auditor. State auditor to throw it away.
[3:57] Do you know, last week, a judge ruled against King County in her unemployment case and said that King County should never put her on paid leave or violated her rights by bringing in an unsolicited document and claiming that it was truth. So what we have in this audit at King County Oversight found substack.com, everybody’s act.
[4:19] I don’t bring opinions. I show you exactly what you did. Thank you. Thank you. Clerks, do we have anybody else signed up in person? Not in person, not in person. All right. Let’s go to online. Next week, I, Nicole Fillmore. Welcome. Hello.
[4:46] My name is Nicole Fillmore, and I am I work for coordinated entry for CsrA members of the council. I’m speaking today on behalf of the represented workers at King County Regional Homelessness Authority. We’re appearing before you with the clear, urgent message. The regional approach to ending homelessness in King County is worth saving, and the front line workforce doing this daily work is fully committed to making it succeed.
[5:05] When regionalism was established, it was in response to the fundamental truth that our unhoused neighbors and service networks do not stop at municipal borders. Overcoming this crisis requires regional alignment, driven by commitment and powered by experience. While headline coverage focuses on political friction.
[5:27] Behind that noise, our small, dedicated staff continue to build and maintain the essential operational machinery of this response system. Our Continuum of Care team secures millions in federal funding by managing the complex annual no full competition and oversight of the CLC funding contracts. Our our Severe Weather response coordination protects lives during extreme weather events.
[5:50] Our independent Ombuds office ensures consumer dignity, accountability and grievance resolution. Our Coordinated Entry team manages the direct front door to the system, ensuring equitable access across all jurisdictions. Our research and data team manages this uses regionally unified open data to produce real time by name lists and provides critical data governance for the entire system. Our programs division provides day to day contract monitoring.
[6:14] Um partnering to ensure contract compliance and quality by providing technical assistance, support and training to contracted providers. Our compliance contracts and finance teams manage millions in funding, develops and executes contracts, ensures adherence to funder guidelines, leaves lease comprehensive monitoring processes and reviews invoices in due diligence documentation. We live and breathe this work every single day.
[6:41] We’re not political maneuvers. We are civil servants. Thank you. Nicole. On the next person. Next, we have Haley Willis. Welcome. Good morning, Council members. My name is Haley Willis with the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, commenting on the transition plan for locally funded homelessness contracts on behalf of more than 50 member organizations who house shelter
[7:09] and care for people experiencing homelessness all over King County. We appreciate the executive’s and the Council’s careful attention to maintaining the stability of our homelessness response system.
[7:31] It’s incredibly important that nobody loses or experiences a gap in the housing, shelter or essential services they rely on every day, especially in light of ongoing uncertainty with federal Continuum of Care funding. Our community has led the way in adopting evidence based approaches that recognize that people need a safe place to live as a foundation to heal and thrive. Thanks to these evidence based practices, our community successfully helps thousands of people get a stable home and leave homelessness every year.
[7:53] As King County and Seattle resume management of locally funded contracts, we urge you to continue to keep best practices and regional collaboration at the center of your efforts to bring more people home. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Next is Ryan Collin. Welcome, Ryan. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. My name is Ryan Talon.
[8:26] I’m a registered nurse and I live in district eight. I do not work for Kcra. I’m here as a taxpayer. The Kcra CEO, Kelly Kennison, received $300,000 in public funds. Even though the agency has millions of dollars unaccounted for. To put that number in perspective, $300,000 of the cost of 2 to 3 nurses.
[8:43] I regularly discharge patients in a situation where they have no support, and the money that is meant to address that is going toward a salary of a CEO whose own governing board investigated her and found that she retaliated against her staff. A forensic audit found that the agency under her leadership, cannot account for millions of dollars.
[9:01] As I followed this story in the news, I’ve been wondering when will someone be held accountable? The CEO retaliated against staff who reported fiscal concerns, and based on reports, she has also skipped council briefings about the audit.
[9:19] I want to ask, is this what my taxpayer dollars pay for a CEO who appears unable to account for significant public funds, and who remains in this position? Despite these concerns, King County asks voters to approve levies for exactly this kind of work. I vote yes every time, but each story like this one gives the next voter a reason to say no.
[9:35] And the people who ultimately pay for that are my patients, not those in leadership, city and county leaders watching this may conclude that major failures will not carry real consequences. Staff may also learn to stay silent when a workforce is taught not to speak up. The next $13 million could go missing.
[9:50] With no one left willing to raise the alarm. Council members sit on a governing board. There is no one else to wait for. I ask that you hold leadership accountable and remove her from this position. Thank you. Next. Ben Mathewson. Hello, my name is Ben Matheson, and I am an analyst with Kcra.
[10:18] I’d like to build on what? We lost Matthew. Maybe we can go to the next speaker if there is another commenter. Or if we can get Matthew back. The next person. The next person is Ryan. Welcome. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. We have a bad, uh, echo.
[10:52] So if you could mute that whatever other device you have. Now, we’ve lost. Sorry. I also. All right, we have you back. Hi. My name is Saori Aguilar. I’m with the coordinated entry team here at Kcra. And building on what my colleague Nicole said. Um, we know that public confidence in our agency has been severely tested by executive transitions, audit findings, and budget deficits.
[11:26] Recently, critics inside and now have labeled us as a failed experiment. But a staff doing the daily work. We ask that you look closely at where the perception comes from. Partner confidence and in our ability to deliver results is higher today than ever.
[11:47] When people read the headline critiques about agency mismanagement, they don’t see the staff who stay late during severe weather activation to ensure shelter beds are open, or the program managers who have fought through housing instability themselves to earn graduate degrees and return to serve their community.
[12:08] Turbulence at leadership level may conceal or distract from our best accomplishments, but it cannot conceal the competence, integrity and dedication of the people performing the work. As King County navigates severe budget constraints, we want the Council and the public to understand that our workforce embodies deep reservoirs of institutional knowledge, a diverse collection of technical and professional skills, and an unwavering commitment to our unhoused neighbors.
[12:34] Conflating top level administrative turbulence with frontline operational capability is a threat to the very expertise that our regional response infrastructure depends on cutting the front line workers who manage system access, secure federal grants and maintain data integrity will not solve our regional homelessness crisis. It would only destroy the institutional memory and the operational capacity that keeps our regional homelessness response afloat. Thank you.
[13:02] Thank you again, Ryan Talon, please can you unmute yourself? I think we heard from Ryan. I think it was William that we skipped. Oh, sorry. What’s that? Oh, Ben. Sorry. Ben. Ben. Ben, can you unmute yourself, please? Yes, yes. Hello? Are you able to hear me? Yes.
[13:27] We can. Yes, Ben. We have a little bit of an echo, so if you have another device, make sure you turn that down. But go ahead. My name is Ben Matthewson. I work as an analyst at the KCRW. I’m members of the council.
[13:41] You hold a vital role in ensuring and shaping the future of regionalism in King County. As workforce adjustments and restructuring decisions occur, the central priority must be preserving the institutional knowledge, lived experience and operational capacity that keeps this system running.
[14:04] Budget reductions are inevitable, but protecting frontline capabilities, including severe weather response coordination, data governance and management, federal grant administration, contract monitoring and compliance, system navigation and ombuds function is the only way to ensure our region maintains and continues to improve its homelessness response.
[14:25] A shrewd, fiscally responsible approach to budget contractions is one that prioritizes direct operational value, demonstrating to the public that King County values frontline competence over administrative overhead, restores faith in our public institutions. Reform is never about blindly trimming from the bottom up. It is about having the courage and the discipline to occasionally trim from the top down, accountability from leadership is essential in order to protect our experienced, data driven workforce, and demonstrates to the public that King County values operational competence and fiscal efficiency over executive overhead.
[14:45] The workers at Kcra remain fully committed to the vision of a unified, equitable, and effective regional homelessness response, and we asked the Committee of the whole to recognize the value of the people behind the products to protect the frontline infrastructure of regionalism, and to help us ensure that every public dollar continues to serve the members
[15:02] of our communities who rely on us. Thank you. That’s the last person I have that has raised her hand. Thank you. I’ll do one more check. If you’re trying to provide public comment and you haven’t had an opportunity to do so, please use the raise hand function and zoom.
[15:19] All right. We’re not seeing any further requests for public comments. So we will close public comment and start with our agenda. Uh, colleagues, we’re going to start out with our first item, which would confirm an appointment to the King County Landmarks Commission.
[15:36] King County established Landmarks Commission to ensure preservation of the region’s historic places, material culture and traditions for future generations. We will be briefed on this item by Brandy Perello, who’s on behalf of Leah, who is not here today. Then I will ask for any input from Sarah Stein from the King County Historic Preservation Program. And then we’ll hear from the from our appointee, Brandi. Go ahead.
[15:55] Good morning, chair Baron and council members. For the record, my name is Brandi Parabola with Council central staff. The staff report for this item begins on page eight of your packets. And materials for the appointee were sent out simultaneously with your packets on Friday. As brief background on this item.
[16:18] Landmark Commission commissioners are responsible for the designation and regulation of landmark properties. Representation of suburban cities with interlocal agreements with King County, and advice to the executive and the Council on King County Landmarks. Issues. Funding for the landmark program is available from the Cultural Development Fund.
[16:42] Membership consists of nine members and is comprised of volunteers with expertise in areas such as architecture, art, land use, historic preservation, archaeology, education, and history. No more than four members may reside in any one municipal jurisdiction, and commissioners are appointed to three year terms. Colin Carter is our appointee today, and he’s an associate planner for the city of Kirkland, who serves as the city’s primary contact for historic preservation.
[17:05] He’s also a member of the Kirkland Heritage Society. Staff have not identified any issues with the proposed appointment, and it appears to be consistent with the requirements of King County Code. That concludes my remarks. I’d be happy to try to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you Brandi. Any questions for staff? All right.
[17:22] Seeing none, I’m going to call on Sarah Stein from our King County Historic Preservation Program. Sarah, anything you’d like to add? Thank you. Councilmember. Um, I just want to say that we’re excited to have Colin on board. We’ve been working with him since he was actually at UW.
[17:41] He did the the bathhouse nomination as as a school project in Kirkland, which is a working class house. It’s one of the few left in that neighborhood. And he did an excellent job with that. So we’ve been working with him regularly both before he was a planner and as a planner, and we’re really excited to have him, uh, joining us on the commission.
[17:57] Thank you very much. Uh, well, now it’s time to hear from the appointee. So I’m going to ask Mr. Carter to come join us at the table here for a quick, uh, yes. Thank you very much. Welcome. And thank you for your interest in serving.
[18:13] We will be gentle here. So, uh, thank you, Mr. Carter. Uh, appreciate your interest in serving. And can you share a little bit with the committee about, uh, your interest in serving this role? Yes, absolutely. Good morning. Uh, chair.
[18:31] And the remainder of the committee and council, I guess, uh, I’m honored to have this opportunity to serve on the Landmarks Commission. Uh, now, more than ever, it’s important that we preserve not only the places, but the stories that these places, structures and objects possess throughout King County.
[18:56] Uh, as Sarah Stein had mentioned, I’ve had the opportunity to, uh, collaborate with King County staff to actually, uh, nominate and successfully designate, uh, the last structure, uh, within the city of Kirkland to designated status, uh, preserving not only the working class history, uh, also that, you know, associated agricultural and railroad history. Um, and so that’s kind of the story of how I actually got into it was what started as a simple school project.
[19:18] Um, like many others in the historic preservation realm, you sort of just fall into it rather than a dedicated track from childhood. I would say. Um, but, uh, throughout the years of now serving as the city of Kirkland contact for homeowners, developers and others that are interested in the historic preservation programs, not only the city, but the county, the county.
[19:40] Um, you know, I’ve seen the the challenges that potential historic preservation poses. The, uh, conversations maybe on how it limits development and how the demand for housing, um, and so kind of taking all of that, I think I have a very pragmatic and, um, I would say well-rounded understanding of historic preservation within
[20:04] the county. So I guess the long winded answer, but I’m, you know, I could keep talking, very excited about all the facets of it. Thank you very much, Mr. Carter. Appreciate it.
[20:20] Colleagues, do we have any questions for the appointee? Seeing none, I’m going to ask Councilmember Dembowski, as the council member from district one, to put this item before us. It’s proposed motion 2026 0185. Move adoption with a do pass recommendation. Thank you very much. That motion is before us. Any final comments before we take a vote? Appreciate your willingness to serve. Thank you. And I will ask the clerk to please call the roll.
[20:37] Thank you. Chair Councilmember Balducci. Councilmember Dembowski I, Council Dunn I Council member Fain I. Councilmember Lewis I. Councilmember Mosqueda. I. Councilmember Perry. Councilmember von Reichbauer a chair Baron I have seven A’s zero no’s and no one asks. Pardon me. Councilmember Balducci and Perry. Ah. Thank you very much.
[21:05] By our vote we have approved proposed motion 2026 0185. Uh, unless there are any objections, we will send these this motion with a do pass recommendation for the consent agenda on the regular course. Thank you very much. Congratulations, Colin. Again, thank you for your willingness to serve you.
[21:22] This will be on the agenda for the full council, but you do not need to appear. Of course, you can always come if you want to, but no need for you to appear. And thank you again for your for your willingness to serve. Wonderful colleagues. We’ll move to the next item, which is item six.
[21:42] This would approve the 2026 2029 Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Plan, which is a four year plan. The county uses as an informational resource to provide an overview of the county’s key efforts relating to equal employment opportunity.
[21:57] We will be briefed on this item by Eric Newman, and I will note that we’re not going to take action on this item, because there are still some legal issues, but I thought it was important as a significant multiyear plan to have at least an initial touch on this item. So, Erica, I will turn it over to you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[22:19] Erica Newman, Council central Staff the items for Proposed Ordinance 2026 0147 begin on page 14 of your packet. The proposed ordinance would adopt the 2026 2029 Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Plan. The plan is covers the executive departments as well as Department of Assessments, Department of Elections and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
[22:44] Under code, the executive is to submit um, the new plan by June 1st of every fourth year, which began in 2018. Um, and then the council has uh, until or before January 1st should either, uh, approve, modify or reject it, uh, via ordinance. The first, uh plan was adopted by council in 1995. The current plan, um, was adopted in December of 2022, and the under. I’m sorry.
[23:13] Um, in the EEO, uh, the the plan outlines goals and objectives and objectives to attract and retain a diverse workforce that reflects, uh, the community. And so, um, the proposed plan, um, includes information related to county workforce statistics, implementation plans for departments and a summary of the um, prior equal employment
[23:42] opportunity, um, plan. But if you want to go into the the parts where we can get into more detail, uh, beginning on page 48 of your packet, um, it starts to talk about placement goals for the plan period for 2026, 2029, as well as the implementation plans.
[24:08] And, um, the on page 48, it does state that, um. The implementation plan included job categories for persons of color and women, and the goals were based on King County workforce availability from the 2020 population. Um, and there were underrepresentation found in, um, the King County workforce. Departments are planning to make good faith efforts to address these areas during the 2026, 2029, uh, plan.
[24:39] The implementation, uh, the the department’s plan for implementing the plan is, uh, creating a new plan and analyzing results from the prior plan and beginning on page 38 of your packet of the plan. But page 60 of the packet, our goals, um, goals and highlights from the 2022 2025 plan.
[25:16] It showed that 800 840 defined goal areas, which is about 86%, had a workforce that was consistent with the availability of people of color or women with requisite job skills. And, um, King County, the remaining 14%, um, where the percentage of people of color and women were underrepresented when compared with those qualified and available in the workforce.
[25:41] Um, moving on to page 61 includes achievements, um executive departments did acknowledge that they faced a variety of ongoing recruitment challenges during the prior plan period. Um, and placement goals were for um. For the most part, they were achieved across all departments. Um, the highlights are those are the highlights.
[26:06] And the executive remains that they are going to reiterate and advance the county’s commitment to equal employment opportunity, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Um, the proposed ordinance was transmitted on time. There are no direct fiscal impacts on county expenditures or revenues and federal regulations related to this item have very recently changed.
[26:27] And therefore legal analysis of those impacts are ongoing. We do have Gloria Ingersoll, uh, the King County Workforce equity manager from department and Human Resources available to answer any additional questions. Mister chair, that concludes my remarks. Thank you very much. Uh, colleagues, any questions on this item? Uh, Councilmember Lewis. Thank you. Chair.
[26:51] Um, thank you, Erica, for that staff report. I have a couple of questions, and they may be questions for executive staff. Um, the first question is, how were the EIB managers, the equity, inclusion and belonging managers involved in the creation, updating of this report? And the other question, I’ll ask it now, maybe answer it later.
[27:18] But as I read the report, there was a lot in the report about recruitment and retention. And I’m interested in where the report addresses advancement for, uh, people of color, women and people of color, and also how it addresses the recommendations of the black women’s experience. Um, study that the county invested quite a bit of resource in having that done.
[27:52] So go ahead. This is Gloria. Can you hear me? We can not hear you very clearly. We can just barely hear you. Yeah, okay. I’m having some technical difficulty. No, no, no, no, we can hear you better. I think we upped the volume here. Go ahead. Let’s do the thing there. Um.
[28:19] Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Councilmember. Um, one for the first question as it relates to, uh, engaging EIB managers. Um, um, we did not engage the EIB managers.
[28:42] And, uh, since we started, if this is meeting being forthcoming, uh, since we started the plan, uh, the EIB classification is a new classification. Uh, in crafting the plan, we did not engage the EIB manager, but in ongoing efforts to continue to diversify our workforce.
[29:08] Um, through, uh, our advisory committee, uh, the EEO advisory Committee, there are ongoing conversations that includes conversations with the HR managers and EIB managers in terms of implementation and making sure that not only are we meeting our hiring retention goals, but we are also looking into data that is, uh, ongoing because we pull that data on a quarterly basis.
[29:26] And so advisory committee members, they do have those regular meetings to continue to make sure that department is being held accountable to the efforts that we put forth in this plan and that both HR manager are involved in the EIB managers are also informed, uh, informing those implementation efforts.
[29:47] Um, I can say that moving forward, as we continue to make improvements, we will definitely make sure that we are engaging EIB managers, although, um, I would say that for the most part, really looking at hiring, retention and promotions that work since it leaves and sits within the HR managers, uh, they tend to be the ones that we engage the most with. Thank you very much for that.
[30:08] Would you mind identifying yourself for the record? Because we’re seeing you as Megan Peterson. So go ahead. Uh, my name is Gloria and Gonzalez, last name. And I am the King County Workforce equity manager in the Department of Human Resources. Thank you very much, colleagues.
[30:28] Any additional questions? Um, as I noted, we’re not going to take action on this item. The one thing that I did note from the, uh, report that I wanted to make sure that we, you know, recognize is that one of the areas that we have, I would say, backtracked as a county workforce in the past few years has been the issue of gender and our the percentage of our
[30:46] workforce, uh, who identify as women is going, I would say, in the wrong direction. Um, so, you know, I think that’s that’s what the data shows. There’s no kind of controversy about that. But I just wanted to highlight that.
[31:02] And I urge, you know, the executive branch and something that I think we want to monitor closely, and perhaps when we take action, I would love to hear from, uh, from the, our executive branch specifically on that issue, on what steps we’re taking, uh, to reverse that trend.
[31:18] Um, there’s some, some, some of that in the report, but I think it would be great to hear a little bit more on that. Uh, next, next month when we take action on this item. Uh Councilmember Mosqueda. I see your hand up as well. Thanks so much. Sorry. It was a little bit choppy. Did you say that the equity, inclusion and belonging was not consulting? Uh, not.
[31:40] In the crafting of the plan, but in the ongoing implementation? Yes. We are. consulting with them on a regular basis. Okay. And Councilmember Lewis had asked the question. I was wondering about regarding the, um, black women’s experience at King County.
[31:58] Um, and colleagues, if you haven’t seen that report recently or read it, I think it would behoove us all to see how this submission correlates with the report that Councilmember Lewis noted prior to considering this in the next meeting, happy to bring down copies momentarily. Thank you Councilmember Mosqueda. And again, this item will come back to us so we have further opportunities to ask questions. In the meantime, before we sign off on it.
[32:24] Uh, I don’t see I think Councilmember Mosqueda that’s your old hand, I believe. Uh, unless you have an additional question. Old man. Hold hand. All right. Thank you very much. Uh, thank you. Colleagues. So, as I mentioned, uh, legal review of this item is still in process.
[32:41] We’re going to defer action until the next meeting of the committee on September 22nd. With that, we will move on on our agenda. Thank you. Uh, our next two items are related to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
[33:00] First, we have a briefing from executive staff and then followed by a briefing from the case staff on the casework contract transition plan and then the overview of the corrective action plan. Uh, we’re going to be hearing initially from chief operating officer of the Executive Office, Jelani Jackson, who’s the acting director of the Housing and Community Development division at DHS, and Aaron Robert, the chief budget officer for the Executive office.
[33:20] And then I will introduce our case here, staff. Uh, uh, when we get to that panel, uh, I do want to just remind us how, uh, what this briefing, uh, stems from. This briefing is the result of motion 16970, which I sponsored with Councilmember Fain and Dembowski, and which the council adopted unanimously on May 5th after a forensic
[33:41] evaluation led by Clark Newberry and released in April, exposed serious weaknesses in cases this, uh, financial management internal controls. That motion asked the executive to provide a report on the future of the authority and the steps being taken to address the findings of the forensic evaluation. By August 1st.
[34:00] And I appreciate that the executive, uh, complied with that request. In the months since, there have been additional developments. On July 1st, the executive of the mayor of Seattle announced a plan to stabilize right size and reset cases, including the transition of most locally funded contracts back to the city and the county, respectively.
[34:16] And we’ll hear more details on that in a second. Uh, as I noted, the executive delivered the report we requested actually a day in advance on the 31st July 31st, probably because August 1st was society.
[34:33] Uh, today gives us the chance to hear about the executive’s recommended steps regarding the authority, the status of the contract transition plan, and the status of the correct corrective action plan that Kasahara is implementing. After hearing from the executive team, uh, we will hear from Kcra leadership directly. Um, thank you. And I’m going to turn it over to, uh, CEO Kim. Thank you so much. For the record, my name is Heyo Kim, chief operating officer for Executive Zahilay chair Baron.
[34:52] Members of the committee, thank you so much for having us here. Um, as you mentioned, the executive delivered a report to you all, um, the, uh, the report is fairly extensive, I think, in the details.
[35:14] And so, uh, Aaron, Jelani and myself are here to provide an overview of what was, uh, contained in that report and to be able to answer any questions. Um, as you, uh, I think, um, chair, you you kind of took my top line, um, in July, the executive and mayor, uh, announced next steps to stabilize right size and reset our King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
[35:40] The joint plan focused on stabilizing, right sizing and resetting Kcra chase future. So today we will be speaking mostly about the stabilizing and rightsizing approach, the work to reset the future of Kcra is going to be ongoing for the next several months.
[36:01] Um, and we are committed to working with this body as well as the legislative body over at the city and the K Sara Jay governing board, in conjunction with CEO Kennison and her team to ensure an extensive stakeholder process. Um, but that has not yet been launched quite yet. Uh, the county and the city remain committed to, um, sorry, just lost my cheat sheet.
[36:25] Uh, a regional response to homelessness and to strengthening Kcra so that it can fulfill its responsibilities. Some of the guiding principles, um, really defining and informing this work is that providing high quality shelter services and housing to our region’s most vulnerable community members should not be disrupted.
[36:53] Uh, that creating clear pathways for individuals to exit from homelessness to shelter and services and to long term housing, uh, is our North Star and should be our North Star. And that understanding homelessness as a regional issue that requires coordination and collaboration with government partners across King County should be bedrock to how we think about the future of the work.
[37:13] And so, as you will hear from Jelani and from Aaron, uh, some of the key considerations that, uh, both the executive and the mayor embarked upon, um, in making the decision to, uh, transition the contracts, the county contracts and the city contracts, some of the key considerations that they had were that, uh, protecting federal funding for this region
[37:37] was absolutely critical. As you all know. Um, this year, we are looking at about $67 million in federal funds that that funnel through our continuum of care to serve, um, the most vulnerable residents in our community. Um, that is $67 million. That cannot be easily replaced by either the county or the city or state partners.
[38:05] Um, another key consideration for us was that minimizing service disruption for clients and providers was absolutely critical. Uh, we know that this is not a transition that’s going to be easy, but we really, really wanted to ensure that we were taking pains to listen to our service providers
[38:26] to understand how to ensure a smooth transition. And you will hear Jelani speak to that a little bit. And then again, the regional reset conversations, although not quite yet launched, are going to be, um, are um, approach to understanding and to hearing from a diverse set of stakeholders to so that we maintain a regional approach to
[38:51] homelessness. And I think that is critical that it is both the King County and the mayor who have expressed that commitment at their July press conference. Uh, that commitment has, uh, we have reiterated that commitment in the report, the written report that was handed to the council.
[39:14] And we are here to again, emphasize that the regional approach to homelessness is one that the executive and the mayor are committed to. And, um, that the regional reset conversations will help inform the recommendations that come from that. So with that, I’m going to turn it over to Aaron, all right. Thank you for the record.
[39:33] Aaron Robert, chief budget officer in King County Executive Office. So I’m going to talk a little bit about stabilizing Kcra, really with a focus on financial processes and the financial work that’s been going on. One of the key efforts to stabilize Kcra is really embedding a external financial consultant. That’s turning point strategic plans to strategic partners.
[39:53] Um, they’re under contract until the end of the year. They’re looking at a few specific things in their scope of work. So an assessment of the CRA financial operations, by being embedded, working closely with the organization, they’re working through that issue right now. Um, financial stabilization and oversight and providing that.
[40:14] So as additional financial transactions come in, starting to review those kind of over the shoulder look for Kcra, understanding what the financial transactions are, making sure they’re appropriate, appropriate and making sure they’re following internal controls and procedures that have been documented. Um, a county reconciliation and financial remediation, the accounting reconciliation is complex.
[40:36] There are thousands of transactions that that have happened over the last five years. There’s multiple systems that have been involved. So they are going through that at a very detailed level and starting to figure out exactly what has happened in the past and will eventually be able to provide to the county executive, to the county Council, and to Katara.
[40:53] An assessment of where the dollars have been spent. What is Unreconciled unreconciled and what we need to do moving forward. So that is a complex and time consuming effort, but they are doing that now and making good progress. In my opinion. Um, contract administration support.
[41:15] So as new contracts come in, how do we administer them? How do we document our practices? They’re working through that as well. Also advising on stabilization moving forward. We’ve asked them as part of their scope of work to help develop proposals on the size of the organization moving forward and financial processes and procedures that should be embedded moving forward.
[41:33] So turning Point strategic partners are working through all of that. We have weekly meetings with them, with their finance teams. They also are reporting out to the finance committee periodically and to the executive sponsors group. So I’m feeling pretty confident in where they are and where they’re going. But there is still a lot more work to do with the strategic partners.
[41:52] Um, they’ve been embedded since July. They’re going to be there until the end of the year, and we’ll have to assess the next steps from there.
[42:06] Um, and I just want to say that some of the things that I’m really looking for from them, and I want to be really clear, is, um, reconciliation of the accounts. We need to understand the details of those accounts. They’re working towards, that. We need to start seeing improvement in the negative cash balance at the investment pool, and we need to start seeing cycle times for this invoicing process to go down. That lag time is really driving some of our issues.
[42:23] So those are some of the things that I’m really looking for from Turning Point and from Kcra. Thank you. And I’ll apologize for not naming you. And calling people out there. So I apologize I missed that on my notes. Thank you. Jelani. Jelani Jackson, acting director of the Housing and Community Development Division of DHS.
[42:43] All right, Kcra will retain its core regional responsibilities. These functions are the backbone of our region’s homelessness services system. As contracts transition back to the city of Seattle and King County, Kcra can focus its efforts on its key functions like the point in time count, our region, severe weather response, coordinated entry, and most importantly, being the
[43:05] lead agency for all continuum of care activities for King County. The Housing and Community Development Division of DHS will be ready to administer up to 100 contracts starting in January 2027. Extending existing contracts will provide consistency for providers through the transition. In this way, they can focus on delivering the services our region needs.
[43:31] HCD staff will anticipate that a small portion of contracts will likely stay with Kcra work to determine the exact number of contracts, and the corresponding cost is ongoing. From the contract transition timeline, you can see this is a month by month, uh, sort of macro overview.
[43:50] It’s a very high level overview of the work that DHS and HSD will conduct from now until the end of the year. Preparations are underway to ensure DHS is ready to take on this body of work.
[44:11] As noted in table two of the Kcra Contract Transition Plan, we are adding ten Career Service FTE who will be tasked with monitoring contracts, fiscal or compliance related work to ensure DHS will meet its hiring timeline. We onboarded one temporary term limited human resource analyst in July.
[44:31] Through the end of the year, DHS will be focused on hiring, training, and preparing our staff for the successful transfer of contract starting in January, the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department and DHS have hosted two meetings with providers from across the county. Our growing invite list includes more than 50 providers and represents the full spectrum of homeless services. During these meetings, King County staff have shared timely updates with the community and answered questions.
[44:51] These joint meetings will continue through the end of the year. The county and the city are committed to ensuring there is no interruption to services or provider payments. Finally, work to reduce the burden on our contractors has begun. HSD and DHS will continue this work through 2027.
[45:13] DHS has decades of experience managing complex homelessness and housing investments, including many of the contracts that will transition from Kcra back to DHS. Prior to the creation of Kcra, the Housing and Community Development Division of DHS successfully administered many federally and locally funded contracts with providers throughout King County. Great. Um, and so then that takes us to the future of Kcra.
[45:34] And as the executive and the mayor. Um, indicated at their July press conference, um, and that was as indicated in the written report that we provided we do plan to embark on a series of extensive stakeholder conversations.
[45:59] Um, the the list of council, I’m sorry, the list of stakeholders and kind of interests are identified on this. Um, just for I think just to illustrate the breadth of stakeholders. But it’s certainly not an exhaustive list. Um, and really, we are looking at this, these regional reset conversations in sort of three phases.
[46:23] We have an, um, we are going to identify an initial group of individuals to have pre engagement conversations with um, and um, those pre engagement conversations will help inform um the engagements. The more extensive engagements that we plan to take and the questions that we are really posing are really, I think fundamental to what prompted Kcra to begin with.
[46:46] Um, what were some of the gaps in our regional services that Kcra was meant to address? Um, and why, you know, were some of those promises or were some of those solutions ever, um, did they ever materialize? You know, why or why not? Um, I think the what we wanted to do
[47:06] was not get into the weeds of the tactical sort of what, the structure, but really ask more fundamental strategic questions around how how should a regional homelessness, um, system and what does that regional coordination, what should it look like? And what’s missing, uh, even in its current state today, um, the synthesizing of information
[47:28] will then take place. And finally recommendations will be delivered. Um, the all of this work is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of next year. Um, and again, as I mentioned earlier, we plan to and have already spoken to some of the governing board members.
[47:49] Uh, certainly CEO Kinnison and her team, to ensure that these are conversations that we hold together with Kcra. At the same time, uh, and stakeholder work will include people who have been critics. We need to listen to what those critics have said.
[48:09] We need to understand what the gaps are and what the problems are in order to inform the future of K star. So with that, we are happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you very much. I know you’re going to have a lot of questions coming your way.
[48:24] Let me let me just start off with one, because this was kind of one of the central things in the motion that we sent over to the executive. And I just answered on the report, but we didn’t really tackle it verbally.
[48:38] And one of the questions that we asked was our recommendation from the executive on whether to take action at this point to, uh, to solve cases. Che. Could you elaborate a little bit on the recommendation that the executive center and the report? Sure.
[49:02] I do believe that in our cover note, the executive respectfully requested at this time that any motion to dissolve Kcra che be paused and held in abeyance until we have we, the executive and the mayor are have the time to go through these regional reset conversations. And I think, you know, fundamentally, the executive’s position is that before we have a clear answer for how we are going to answer the question of what’s next, that we should not initiate dissolution.
[49:27] Um, efforts, because I think that is going to be fundamentally disruptive to the existing staff. Um, the I think the executive, the mayor, felt that fundamentally, the transition of the contracts were in and of themselves, a significant lift, and they really wanted to focus on that.
[49:53] Um, as the, uh, in this stage and the I think the motion to dissolve our efforts to dissolve KCC until we have a clearer answer on what the what the what. Next question is, um, could be also demoralizing to the existing staff that still will remain with Kcra.
[50:16] Um, and that are fundamentally needed to continue to implement our continuum of care dollars, as well as some of the other regional services that will remain in Sierra Che. Thank you very much. Uh, colleagues, questions, comments and a reminder that we are going to have a follow up presentation regarding the corrective action plan from KKK leadership. But I think, uh, I’ll open up for questions. Councilmember Dunn. Thanks. Thanks for being here.
[50:37] I appreciate your work on this. Um, obviously an important issue. I personally believe that this issue of homelessness generally is the premier local issue of our generation. I think it’s a really tough nut to crack, and a 600 word editorial in the Seattle Times doesn’t really necessarily give it justice.
[50:56] As I wrote the other day. And and anyone who writes an editorial knows that the Seattle Times continues to own the headline. They will write the headline however they want to write it. Right. It’s catchy. So they said we should something to the effect of turn our back on housing first.
[51:10] Now, I would not have written that that way. I would have written it differently. Um, and I want to talk about it for a second. But if we look at this issue, there’s about half a dozen ways we can responsibly structure our homelessness response in King County.
[51:29] One way is to put a regional organization together, like we did at the council. Rod and I were involved in some of that. There’s others. We can bring it in-house into the jurisdictions, we can do partnerships, we can do private sector work. There’s a lot of different models across the country.
[51:43] And I think, you know, I’ve been a tough critic for Kcra, but it is a result of action of this council. Interestingly. So we found that there’s some challenges there and we’re retooling it, I commend that. I think that’s great. I think the executive shows leadership in coming in and in changing its focus a little bit.
[52:00] That’s I think that’s good. I still think, as they say, the system is perfectly designed right now to get the results it is currently achieving. Um, and that’ll be the same if we just move the deck chairs around, um, without a substantial shift in the policy focus that underlies what we’re trying to do to
[52:22] reduce homelessness. And so, you know, there’s this crazy political dynamic out there. It’s all housing first or it’s all. You know, mental health and behavioral health and substance use recovery.
[52:39] The truth, I think, and you guys have all toured plenty of homeless camps and have a lot of friends who’ve been homeless and know people and work with it. The truth is, there multiple pathways to get people off the streets. We need all those strategies in the toolbox, right? I think we need all of them. I don’t think we should get rid of housing first completely.
[52:53] What I think we should do is think about a bunch of levers, policy levers. Right. Let’s dial down some of the the resources going to go to that traditional housing first model and reallocate that into drug and alcohol addiction, mental health, job training. Um, I think that’s where we should we should be going. We got a brand new executive. Right. Great.
[53:15] Executive is out in my district. Last night we were speaking together, having a good time. And one of the things he’s going to be judged on in four years is what has happened with homelessness, with the trajectory of homelessness. It’s an empirical data point.
[53:29] He’s going to get a grade on it, a plus C minus whatever it is. I just don’t see how you can get a different achieve a different result simply by altering the management structure. It’s got to address the underlying policies. And so that is my question to you.
[53:48] To what extent are you willing to think about changing the underlying policies we are using to attack homelessness moving forward? Is that a part of this conversation? I think certainly those conversations will be had during the regional reset conversations. I will also say Councilmember Dunn, um, the executive has three years. He doesn’t have four years.
[54:13] Um, and so the sense of urgency, um, his re-election is in three years, not four. Um, the sense of urgency that he has on this problem is absolutely matches your passion for this. Um, I will say this.
[54:33] I think the executive has, um, the kind of all, um, utilizing all the tools that you just mentioned are, um, is an approach that he empirically, empirically has also embarked upon. Um, he was the leader when the council passed your, you know, sort of unprecedented crisis care levy. Um, that is a, you know, it’s a new tool in the toolbox to address substance use disorder in so many communities.
[54:55] Um, the fact that among the first things that the executive prioritized when he came into office was 500 units in 500 days. Those units we are looking at a full range of housing type, uh, and really emphasizing shelter.
[55:16] The executive has also launched his Breaking the Cycle work group that is asking the urgent question, even though the population is not, you know, the the as as expansive as our broader homelessness population, the Breaking the Cycle workgroup is looking at the population of individuals that have, um, uh, that show up in multiple systems and for whom all of those systems have not addressed their needs. Right. These are the criminal justice systems.
[55:40] This is the substance abuse, you know, dealing with substance abuse disorders. Individuals who are, you know, have been in and out of shelters. And right now, I think the executive, by acknowledging that, you know, our systems are not working for everyone.
[56:01] The Breaking the Cycle workgroup, we are confident, will come up with some, um, recommendations that really zero in on those strategic questions of why isn’t the system that, you know, all of us have had a hand in designing, working for these individuals. Um, so I think there’s a multitude of strategies that the executive is looking at and the future of this area is just one of those.
[56:22] So I don’t know that, you know, we, um, I don’t know that we would, you know, like you said, agree with the headline, but certainly the executive is not taking a, uh, let’s just do what we’ve always done approach.
[56:42] He is asking all of us to challenge our assumptions about what’s worked before, and to work with a great sense of urgency on the issue of homelessness. That’s great. And that’s that’s a good place to start. I mean, I can’t disagree at all with that. In fact, the fact we’re having this conversation is a great place to start.
[56:54] He’s looking at the structure, which is the first thing you got to do, and then you got to get to the policies. I just I know I everybody at Kcra and everybody in the housing, industrial, uh, nonprofit sector that we have working very hard are doing good work and they’re trying very hard. Like, I don’t I don’t question their intentions. Everybody’s trying.
[57:15] I just see the results of the number of unhoused on our streets getting worse and worse and worse. So I think that it’s not unreasonable to question not only the structure, but also the policies. And I really encourage I know we all have that talking point in our head.
[57:34] Well, it’s empirically proven that Housing First reduces homelessness. Well, it’s not out here. Not at all. In fact, last year we were the worst in the country. And the aggregate number of homelessness in the state and most of us in King County can’t argue with that. Worst, worst out of 50.
[57:49] Um, and so some of these nonprofits and other groups might be disappointed that we change priorities over the next months and years. Um, to emphasize other areas. It doesn’t mean they’re not profit won’t be involved in the work that we’ll be doing for that. I just want to be clear about that.
[58:07] I hope that you consider policy shifts. I think you will find if you do and you model them after best practices that are proven to work across the country, that we will start to have positive results. That’s all. And I will support you in those efforts. If you choose to go there. Thank you. Councilmember Dunn. Uh Councilmember Dembowski.
[58:26] Thank you. I just wanted to engage a little bit here along the lines of Councilmember Dunn’s, uh, uh, statement and just put a little detail on it. If I might. Regan.
[58:44] Um, with respect to the the results, I mean, this is from the most recent point in time count from Kcra from 2022 to 2026, total homelessness in King County is up 37% from 13,300 folks to 18,300. Unsheltered homelessness is up from 2022 to 2026. 54% from 7600 folks to 11,800 folks. Okay. Our emergency shelter beds are down from 2025 to 2026 by 689.
[59:26] Unsheltered family homelessness is up 78% from 1253 to 2200 families. So Councilmember Dunn’s point about what we’re doing isn’t working is correct. He has suggested in his op ed and elsewhere that when things aren’t working with our current policy, we might want to reflect on the policy and quit saying that it’s evidence based and that it’s delivering the results, because I agree with
[59:45] you, Reagan. It’s not. So there’s work to do there. This discussion is around how we do it. Councilmember Dunn has ideas. I’ve got ideas. Council member Fain has asked every member on the dais, and the executive has policy ideas, and that’s what we were sent here to do.
[1:00:03] And the problem with the King County Regional Homeless Authority is it takes seven policymakers on this dais out of the game. We send two over, and the executive, the city of Seattle sends two over. And the mayor and our suburban city partners sent some representatives.
[1:00:27] This government, following the work of Jim Ellis in the 50s and 60s, was built to be the regional government As the region boomed, as it grew, he saw that there were going to be pressing regional problems that needed cooperation across municipal boundaries. Your point, CEO Kim, about a regional response to homelessness is is correct. We’ve got to cooperate around the region.
[1:00:49] But would say after trying this for seven years now at the Kcra, where the vision seemed to be, we were going to have kind of one answer with maybe some subregional plans. It that hasn’t worked. What what the South County leadership wants to do is different than what folks want to do in the city of Seattle.
[1:01:06] We cannot I don’t believe politically have a one size policy response to this challenge around the region. And if we allow some experimentation in different things, we might see, you know, what works.
[1:01:30] But the the point I want to deliver here is we’ve got a structure that doesn’t allow us to work on this effectively through the Kcra, and I don’t see, particularly after you bring the contracts back or direct service provision, what the value proposition is, what the business case is to have an entirely separate standalone government with with confederated leadership to run just a little piece of this.
[1:01:54] The Mis, the coordinated entry, the emergency response and the continuum of care. Those are regional functions. And I don’t understand why this regional government shouldn’t be charged with carrying them out. We did much of them, you know, before. I don’t know why we would pay executives, accountants, auditors, lawyers for a whole separate government to do that.
[1:02:22] Maybe in the course of these regional conversations, the value proposition will magically appear. But I don’t see it. And I think we ought to send a clear signal that there we can have the discussions there, but we don’t need a separate government to do it. And I need to say there is some urgency to this.
[1:02:41] The audit that triggered this current conversation concluded with a review of a time period, I think, through last July. So more than a year ago, and we still, as we sit here today, don’t have clarity and answers. In August of 2026 about the financial condition with the books are at the Kaikoura.
[1:03:08] Why does that matter to the county? Were there banker? I chair the Executive Finance Committee. I am extremely nervous. The we’re like to run the checking account to put it in plain English. Right. The last meeting we had a few weeks ago, just before late July, they were $65 million overdrawn, $65 million.
[1:03:32] Our policies allow for an occasional inadvertent deficit, but this has gone on and on and on for years now. Part of it is, I think, some mismanagement. It’s part of it’s overspending, but part of it’s also the structure.
[1:03:55] They don’t they never set up at the cash and operating capital system for, in other words, to have the float to address the difference between time money was received and time going out. So we charge interest on that. That’s added some costs. Why we would continue that structure to send money out to a third party entity from a financial sense perspective, I don’t know.
[1:04:14] But I will just say the longer this goes on and I understand from Mr. Robert, maybe this is ticked down to 50 million or so now, but I’m going to send a letter as chairman of the Executive Finance Committee to the case. Haha. We have a meeting, I think, Thursday, because I said don’t cancel it. We need an update on this.
[1:04:31] Asking for what the status is of the accounts receivable and what the plan is to make this pool whole. To get back to zero. And I think we need to have answers in a couple of weeks.
[1:04:50] It’s gone on for too long and I don’t believe that we can, in good conscience, allow it to go on for another year or another six months. While regional conversations occur. This is very, very, very serious. We’re out of compliance with our audit standards. We’re out of compliance with our policies.
[1:05:11] And I do not support loaning the CRA money because I’m not sure how they would pay it back. So, uh, I wanted to follow up on Councilmember Dunn’s, I think, correct remarks about policy, but also how you make change in the policy is driven in large part by the ability to do it.
[1:05:29] This dais has the regional policy committee has elected representatives from all over the county at the RPC. Remember, county members. City of Seattle. Members, suburban city members. We come together. We have structures here. This work can be done and it is important work. But I’ve concluded I don’t think that the executive in his report, the stabilized is fine.
[1:05:47] I’d call it an accounting transition is what I replace right size with. And then terminate, not reset. I think you got three wrong words. Uh, and, um, with that, I do think the exac and the mayor have done a good job in making a big first step at bringing these contracts back, because that
[1:06:05] will help mitigate some of the ongoing problems. But final question in the motion, or maybe it’s the first question I have the statement we asked for an assessment of the risk to the county’s investment pool and identification of completed or recommended actions to mitigate this is on page 259 of
[1:06:23] the materials page. I think four of your appendix. This is inadequate in terms of a response to this risk that we’re looking at here. It says KCRW’s negative cash balance presents several risks to the county investment pool, including negative findings by the auditor’s office and repayment uncertainty.
[1:06:46] And then the final sentence is something I don’t understand a recommended action to mitigate risks is analysis of the county’s repayment obligations. I don’t know what you’re saying there. Maybe you can enlighten me a little bit, but this area of the report and actually this body of work needs attention. Thank you. Councilmember Dembowski.
[1:07:10] And first of all, I would agree that the negative cash balances is a risk, something that I am also worried about. Um, there is a risk to the investment pool. There is a risk to the county’s general fund and we have to mitigate that.
[1:07:27] So I would be definitely supportive of in our discussion on Thursday, going through and figuring out what exactly to request from Kcra. So the analysis that that needs to happen and that is happening is reviewing all of those unreconciled receivables and figuring out where they came from and who ultimately should be paying for them.
[1:07:48] To the degree that we get to a point where there are receivables or there’s cash that has been spent that we cannot recover, we will have to do some sort of repayment plan in conjunction with the city and the county to fill that gap. And that’s that’s the analysis that’s referring to.
[1:08:06] We have to figure out what exactly the gap is and then work with the city to figure out when and how to pay that gap. So that is that is the next steps. Turning point has done a good job. And in starting to go deep into those accounting transactions, and we need to see the results of that to really get there. So that that is what that is referring to. Thank you very much, Aaron.
[1:08:22] I agree, I think in plain English, once we figure out what the deficit is, in other words, we receive all the receivables that are to be received. Call it. Well, it’s 65 million there, but maybe it’s 50 million today. Yeah. Whatever’s left and it’s going to be eight, ten, 12, $15 million. Who knows what it is.
[1:08:41] The city and the county are going to have to write a check. That’s correct. I would just like to stop the bleeding. I would just like to stop reading.
[1:08:59] And the the thrust of the of this report seems to indicate that there is a possibility that this entity would continue on, and I don’t see the value proposition from a policy perspective or a financial perspective. I just I just don’t I don’t I don’t see it. Councilmember Fain. Thank you. And thank you for all of your work on this. I know many of you weren’t present until recently, but you’re diving in and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
[1:09:21] And, um, in your approach. Uh, I’d like to tag on to what my colleagues have said so far about, um, the lack of truly regional approach in allowing the entire county a voice and a say in how dollars are spent or, um, contracts are selected.
[1:09:53] Um, and so beyond whether or not Kcra exists, which it will largely need to do for CoC funding. And in that piece, I understand. Um, but beyond that, the county is going to be taking on 100 of these, um, provider contracts in January. And so I understand that the county and the city are working towards a no for, um, in the later part of 2027.
[1:10:19] So I have two questions. Slash concerns relating to that. One is will all of the contracts be, um, part of the nova, meaning that the county and the city will align on, um, funding and, um, providers? The idea is really to address the previous structure, which was everybody was contracting with different
[1:10:48] providers and nobody knew what anyone else was doing. So I understand the need to collaborate and understand that we shouldn’t, um, essentially have providers potentially receiving the same amount of funding to do the same work for the county and the city.
[1:11:10] That being said, I worry if all of the contracts are going to be under the Nova, we’re going to run into the same issue, which is, um, that the entire county might not have a voice in how services are provided in different cities and different regions.
[1:11:32] So that’s one around the nova and then the other, uh, question I have and I’d like to hear a little bit more about is how will the council be a part of, um, oversight input into the contracts after January? Um, currently there are two representatives on the CRA that receive updates on the status of the contracts, the outcomes, um, and all of that.
[1:11:59] But once the hundred contracts go over to DCS, will we get I mean, ideally we would not just get an annual report that council would be able to provide some input in some manner, as suggested by my colleagues, in how those dollars should be. Um, spent.
[1:12:20] So those are kind of the two areas I’d love to hear more about. Do you want me to start? Yeah, I can start. You going to turn on your thing, Jelani? Stone there. Uh, I can start with the first question and partial answer.
[1:12:35] Um, so, look, every crisis offers plenty of opportunity to look at the way we do business and to strive for efficiencies and to, more importantly, do things better. So, uh, the main effort here between the county and the city is to really look at the way we contract.
[1:12:53] Can we harmonize language? Can we synchronize on outcomes that we want to see, you know, settle on some boilerplate text for our contracts and just generally simplify the process. Um, and the second part to that too is also look at who pays for what.
[1:13:09] So, you know, King County Seattle and King County, does King County pay for a contract for services that are delivered in Seattle or to Seattle? Take that on and in return, if there’s going to be some fun swapping, how do we look at that as a region? And so those are some of those efforts that we’re trying to do to simplify the process and also make things better.
[1:13:20] I would say also, um, the, the, the, the whole point of Anova process is to ensure competitive processes in contracting that has not, I believe that when Kcra Chase started, there was an intent to put both the city and county contracts out for procurement and that never happened.
[1:13:46] And so part of what, um, what we wanted to do was the initial step in rolling the contracts back, uh, minimise disruption. But, um, the conversations, I think, uh Councilmember Fain. To your point, we do need to have a strategic conversation about how we are planning to re procure those contracts.
[1:14:09] Are these the right strategies? Do we have the right mix of strategies employed and how we are thinking about these funds? I think those are not questions that we have answers to today.
[1:14:28] But, uh, when the contracts come back, we will be working closely with our provider community and addressing, you know, some of the policy questions, quite frankly, that some of your colleagues raised. Um, I think the other piece of this, uh, the contracts, when they do come back to the county, uh, they will be they will be put forward through the county’s budgeting process.
[1:14:49] So you will have a recommendation from the executive in his second omnibus for the amount of county contracts. Again, we are hoping that, um, you don’t do much to change them because we want to maintain continuity for this next year.
[1:15:07] But once the contracts come back, once that, you know, sort of, um, bucket of funds come back to the county, we will, as with every other budget, uh, that goes through the budget process, the executive branch will be working and collaborating closely with the Council on the right strategies, the right mix, the right dosage for those funds. Thank you. Uh Councilmember Mosqueda. Did you want to jump in now? Go ahead.
[1:15:30] Um, well, first I want to say thank you so much for, as the chair said, um, providing the report, we know that there’s a lot of moving parts here. So thank you for sending this over and working in partnership with the council on the timeline that had been suggested.
[1:15:47] Obviously, there was a lot of work that went into this with, um, the announcement made with the city of Seattle as well. So we appreciate you were both responding to the report request, um, acting in real time to figure out how to stabilize and trying to figure out both how to do that in a
[1:16:02] way that minimized impact on those experiencing homelessness. Are contracted providers, and really making sure that we are sending a message to all in this region that here in King County, we can govern as opposed to what we see in the other Washington. We are going to offer stability to folks.
[1:16:17] And I still think that that’s an important message for us as a collective body, to be sending in this moment with so much uncertainty, especially around some of the dollars that have been talked about, that we will continue to strive for as much stability and certainty as we can, not only for the
[1:16:31] contracted providers, but by doing so, providing stability to those who are experiencing homelessness or the folks that will fall into homelessness. So thank you for submitting this report. And that said, I know that there’s a lot that is still in the works.
[1:16:47] I think there’s some conversations in this, uh, well, some language in this report that really is more of a to be fleshed out. Right, and along the lines of what Councilmember Fain noted, I do want to make sure that the council and not only the members who are sitting on the board, but the members of the
[1:17:05] council have an active role in figuring out what those next steps look like. Because, um, this is an area that is clearly of interest to members of the media as has been described, but most importantly to members who are providing direct services and wanting to see that certainty.
[1:17:22] Um, I do have a question about how contracts are being moved over, and then I have some comments, if you don’t mind, Mister Chair. Um, I know that DHS is trying to ensure continuity of services with 100 plus contracts transferring over. Uh, January 2027. And in order to do so, we need staff.
[1:17:41] And you’ve talked about that a little bit, but I just want to make sure that we’re not biasing our hiring and recruitment of the staff that could potentially come in and be ready to ensure continuity and know best the relationships with the community organizations who are trying to provide care, not biasing those individual staff members because they worked at
[1:18:03] Kcra. We’ve talked a lot about the concern the entity has, and we even heard concern today in public testimony about the executive director. I just want to make sure that the folks who are on the front line, many of whom we’ve heard from today in public comment and we’ve received a letter, are not
[1:18:20] being biased in some way. If they are also applying for positions within DHS. So can you confirm for us or assure for us that that is not filtering in to the analysis of who gets a first round of interviews? And for us to be sure that that continuity is preserved? I think that’s a
[1:18:37] really critical piece for the community to know that we are trying to maintain a network, even if it is not within the existing system. In the most simplest terms, yes, we are going to make sure that folks are not biased at all. We recognize that the staff at Kcra do hard work every day.
[1:18:57] Many of them were colleagues of mine when I was a case manager in the field, housing individuals in this county myself. We are going to we’re going to hold a competitive hiring process that’s in alignment with our agreement with Pro Tech 17.
[1:19:15] We also expect current CRA employees who are interested in King County employment or frankly, for employment at the city of Seattle to be very competitive because, frankly, they have experience doing the very work that we’re seeking to do. Okay. Thank you. Um, and then as we know as well, um, DHS and Kcra, both entities have been, um, found to have had slow execution of contracts or making payments. Right.
[1:19:34] That’s not unique to Kcra. It’s an issue that I know this new executive is actively working on at DHS, but I’m concerned about additional capacity, um, being taken on before those staff members are trained up.
[1:19:56] So can you remind us what is actively happening right now to remediate the existing issues at DHS? And in regards to payment of contracts on time? Um, because we do get a lot of emails lately, I think coming from a place of wanting to make sure that every T is crossed, every eye is dotted, but sometimes that triple checking almost, um, more than that, I heard one from one contractor
[1:20:15] last month that there was six different reports that they were asked to fulfill in one time, one month time frame, and all of that’s leading to delayed payments for existing contractors.
[1:20:30] So can you talk about building capacity as you try to onboard additional people and take on additional work? Yeah, I can start. So, yes, um, part of our effort is to bring in this capacity early of I noted earlier, we’ve hired an HR specialist who can just focus on hiring and bringing staff on board.
[1:20:46] This will provide critical time for folks to be trained properly, receive updated fraud prevention training to ensure that staff are ready to go. Not into January or to summer, but much earlier than that. Second, the team that this work is going to is very experienced with this work. Many of them worked for King County and work with these contractors. Uh, the contracts we’re talking about prior to.
[1:21:06] KCRW’s, uh, you know, formation. So we’re working hard to make sure that it’s a smooth process as possible. We’re starting this work early. We’re engaging in a lot of conversations with the folks that we will ultimately have contracts with. I’m also happy to say that we’ve looked at every individual contract.
[1:21:24] It’s really only about 10% of the contracts and totals about ten we don’t have an existing business relationship with. So we’re in conducting some early outreach to make sure that those folks are ready to conduct business with the county. Great.
[1:21:39] And maybe just the last comment, if I may, and thank you. I was, um, listening intently on the zoom as I was on the way here, but I wanted to just underscore for maybe members of the public that are listening.
[1:21:57] Um, I think there’s shared frustration between the executive branch and the legislative branch, shared frustration amongst colleagues here on the council with where we’re at right now with Kcra. But I do want to make sure that we’re not conflating the agency.
[1:22:17] The King County Regional Homelessness Authority, specifically with the decades long proven practices of Housing First policies, housing first is a national standard, and it is a proven, evidence based policy, contrary to what the federal administration is trying to assume or impugn through their continuum of care contracts and their nova process and the language that they use. Housing first is an approach in our region that has been something, a point of pride for a very long time.
[1:22:34] And this is true even before the King County Regional Homelessness Authority was created. I give you some examples of evidence of the Housing First policy showing higher retention rates. Studies cited by the National Alliance to End Homelessness showed that over 80% of individuals with complex needs remained housed after a year. This is much higher than other intervention strategies. 88% of reduction.
[1:22:55] There was an 88% reduction in homelessness among individuals experiencing homelessness, according to a comprehensive United States Department of Housing and Urban Development analysis that reviewed 26 separate studies. And they found that utilizing Housing First approach decreased overall time spent in homelessness by 88% and increased general housing by 41%.
[1:23:18] That is unparalleled in other strategies. Stability, Foundation. They provide a stability for getting into homelessness. According to US, out of homelessness. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which confirmed that stable housing through Housing First provides a necessary foundation for personal recovery and accessing health services. I think that there is a really important data point around veterans.
[1:23:42] We saw a 55% drop in veteran homelessness between 2009 and 2022. The federal government paired Housing First principles with the HUD’s Vash voucher program, resulting in a 55% reduction in veteran homelessness. The list goes on. I will spare you in the moment.
[1:24:06] I’m happy to provide this to members of the public and my colleagues and the executive branch as well, but I want to make sure that we don’t, in the analysis of how we transition away from Kcra in its current form to bringing more contracts into the King County family and shared responsibility with other city jurisdictions, not just Seattle, but with other
[1:24:24] city jurisdictions. I want to make sure that we’re not conflating the rise in homelessness with the failure of, um, a policy that has actually been proven. Housing first is absolutely an appropriate policy that has decades long data behind it, and our region needs to, I think, look at every evidence based strategy, especially when
[1:24:42] there’s compounding tragedies of the opioid crisis, rising costs for housing in our region, and the need for us to provide that stability compared to what we’re seeing at the federal level. I thank you for hearing those statistics, because I think that there’s shared and understandable frustration with Kcra.
[1:25:05] And as we seek to try to mitigate for the problems that we see at Kcra, we do need to remain focused on what has worked. And for me and for the statistics that our team has looked at and for the nation, including in the previous administration, previous administrations through HUD, they point to Housing First as a proven
[1:25:24] strategy to get folks out of homelessness. So much more to do in terms of investment in that area, but just want to make sure that’s not being conflated. Thank you. Councilmember Mosqueda.
[1:25:43] Um, let me close out this section and before I call, uh, case leadership, since we had questions about the financial situation, I want to give them an opportunity to provide an update on the corrective action plan. But just as we close this section, uh, first of all, I want to thank the executive for, uh, for their work on the report.
[1:25:58] I understand that part of it is incomplete in a sense, because I think some of the questions that we asked, I think your response is we need more time and engagement to be able to tackle them. And I appreciate that. And I, I, I think ultimately I agree with that.
[1:26:13] And I think one of the things that I would highlight is I saw a pretty, you know, what I would consider deliberate, uh, but tight timeline through first quarter of 2027 to be able to make those decisions. So I don’t see this as an indefinite, um, trying to balance the engagement that you want to have.
[1:26:27] I also think that we need to be very careful with the fact that we’re in the middle of a federal application process with the continuum of care. And I think, I think one of the, you know, one of the guiding principles, I would describe it as do no harm, which means don’t make the situation worse.
[1:26:42] And I think the loss of federal funding would be something that would certainly make the situation worse. And so I think we need to be careful about taking actions that might undermine our ability to be able to be competitive for that federal funding.
[1:26:55] And I think the steps, you know, if our federal partners are listening, we are, you know, taking, you know, we’re not taking status quo. We are taking steps to be able to address the issues that have been found. Uh, but we are continuing to have considered to be the applicant for the cycle until we make decisions as to whether we, as a region, want to take a different approach.
[1:27:13] At least, you know, at this moment. Uh, so I, I support that that approach. And I think, you know, I don’t want to like I think there’s going to be further conversations into the policy debate that we sit here. But I just wanted to sort of state my own perspective on, on this.
[1:27:31] Um, I, I think there’s broad agreement here, I think, from both executive and legislative branches, that the current status quo is not acceptable. Right. I think the numbers that Councilmember Dembowski highlighted are not are not good.
[1:27:49] Uh, I think we owe to people who are unhoused in our region to, to, you know, work to identify the best structure and the best policy that we can. And we should be open to, you know, thinking about this and what’s working my own perspective. I agree with Councilmember Mosqueda that I think Housing First is and is a model that has been shown to be effective.
[1:28:05] The problem is that the, you know, as the model suggests, that housing is the key part, and that’s the part that we’re missing in our community. And I think appreciate, you know, Councilmember Dunn your perspective about potentially trying different approaches.
[1:28:20] I think the challenge we’ve been dealing with this, with the with the federal funding is that, you know, there are people who are housed with our current set of resources. And so if we shift resources, as the feds are wanting to do in other areas without, that creates a gap in housing. And so that’s my concern about being, you know, sudden in terms of pulling resources away.
[1:28:37] If we had a whole additional set of resources, we could have the conversation to have. As it gets allocated, we may need to have a conversation as to how the current set of resources needs to be allocated, but we just need to be very careful, because what I don’t want to do is to lead to a situation where those numbers actually skyrocket, because
[1:28:48] we’re losing, uh, we’re losing, uh, current, uh, services capacity locally. Um, so, uh, I appreciate the work. I think I consider this to be a, you know, uh, not an end of a conversation.
[1:29:08] But, uh, as the executive noted, and engagement over the next few months to find a final answer, at least from my perspective, I don’t think I’m speaking for the whole council. I’m just saying from my perspective, that’s how I heard the report. Uh, I think there’s clearly some questions.
[1:29:23] And so there was a motion that the executive sent over with this to accept the report, and I’m going to put that on hold unless I hear strong commitment to that, just because I feel like there are some questions that people still have about the financial picture and, and some of the policy issues. So we’re not going to take action on that item. But I do want to acknowledge the work that was done by the executive.
[1:29:37] And in completing that report, colleagues and, Lois, we have any questions for executive staff right now? I’m going to invite Kcra leadership to provide an update on the corrective action plan. Um, and I see some notes on that direction. So thank you very much to our executive team.
[1:29:51] Uh, for the work on this. And I’m going to invite Doctor Kelly Kinnison, who’s the CEO of cascara chair, as well as William Todd, who’s the associate deputy for strategy of Sierra Che. And they’re going to be providing an update on the corrective action plan, uh, as well as any other updates that you’d like to provide. Thank you.
[1:30:14] I thought I turned. Thank you, Chair Barone, for inviting us to give this update. Um. Thank you. Members of council, um, and the public who are listening, uh, just brief background.
[1:30:36] As folks know, I arrived in August of 2024 to a greatly imperiled agency that had been without permanent leadership in many of our departments for a year or more. I’ve worked closely with the governing board and city and county partners to address many aspects of KCR operations. And thanks to our very talented staff at Kcra, we’ve made a number of improvements in the system.
[1:30:54] Uh, for example, you all saw in our 2026 pit count that we saw for the first time in many years, the rate of growth of homelessness begin to slow. Um, despite sort of unabated key drivers of homelessness in our region.
[1:31:16] However, it became very clear, uh, early in my tenure, that deep expertise was needed to untangle what was going on in our finances after, uh, 3 to 4 years of operations, a series of operational missteps, um, and the need to address our underlying cost reimbursement financial model.
[1:31:40] I worked with the city and county to request a forensic evaluation to bring transparency to our financial situation and create a path forward for Kcra and our regional homeless response system. Since receiving the forensic evaluation in April, Casey has worked with urgency to address issues. Surfaces surfaced by the evaluation as well as the longer term structural issues within the operations of Kcra.
[1:32:04] We also recognize we did not have the capacity or capability in our finance department to do this work, and requested embedded support. We’re super grateful to our city and county partners for providing this support through Turning Point Strategic Advisors. Um, I’m going to turn it over to William Towey to provide you with an update on our 90 day corrective action plan and our work with Turning Point Strategic Advisors, and be happy to answer any questions you have.
[1:32:27] Thank you, Doctor Kennison, chair, Council members. Good to be back with you. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here and share what we’re up to. I wanted to provide a brief update on where we are at with the 90 day point.
[1:32:58] Here in the case corrective action plan, and particularly how that work is now transitioning into financial stabilization and implementation work being led by and with Turning Point strategic partners at a high level, the controls and processes that strengthened during the Cap period remain in operation, and a number of the original corrective action items have now moved from development into recurring practice.
[1:33:27] The 90 day report largely completes the initial reporting cycle. Associated with the corrective Action Plan, but it does not represent the end of the work. Turning point has now completed its initial assessment and is embedded with our finance team working directly on Reconciliation monthly. Close financial reporting, internal controls and implementation.
[1:33:57] So increasingly, the work that began through the Cap is moving into sustained implementation and independent validation through Turning Point. The important distinction is that while the formal 90 day cap reporting cycle is concluding the underlying financial improvement work is continuing and is increasingly being incorporated into KCRW’s ongoing financial operations.
[1:34:34] One area where that work has already materially improved our understanding is the approximately $8 million in receivables identified in the forensic evaluation is not reconcilable. From the records available at that time. Turning Point has substantially advanced the balance sheet reconciliation and identified historical accounting entries and reporting differences that help explain that balance.
[1:34:58] The work is being validated against funder records as the county and city records, so I don’t want to characterize the original finding is completely resolved, but our understanding of that 8 million is considerably better today than it was when the forensic report was issued. And at the time of our last report to the Committee of the whole, I also want to be careful not to override that result.
[1:35:19] The original 8 million represented a particular population identified through the forensic review, resolving accounting issues with that population does not, by itself resolve the broader historical and receivables reconciliation. Turning point.
[1:35:49] In case you’re continuing to reconcile receivables, invoices, advances and funder records, the broader work may also identify expenditures paid by KCRW that were not fully reflected in historical billings to the city or county. The broader reconciliation may identify adjustments in either direction. That is why we’re continuing the transaction level work, rather than drawing a conclusion from any single population or balance the administrative overspend identified in the forensic evaluation is also still under validation.
[1:36:13] We aren’t presenting a revised historical number today because the balance sheet and receivables work needs to be sufficiently complete before that exposure can be reliably stated in parallel. Turning point is developing a 2026 budget and cash requirements plan so that we’re addressing both the historical reconciliation and the forward looking management of administrative spending.
[1:36:41] So at this stage, we have a greater confidence in explaining the original $8 million finding, but we’re not yet prepared to state a final net historical receivables or administrative overspend number until that broader reconciliation is complete. William, can I pass you here? Councilmember Mosqueda, I had a question for you. Sorry. Thank you. On the last slide, please. Yeah. Let me go back.
[1:37:04] Um, on first bullet. Regarding the 8 million, I mean, I think that that was the biggest takeaway from your presentation the last time around, right? It got quite a bit of, um, media coverage. It definitely sparked a conversation here.
[1:37:21] So what exactly are you saying? That you’re not sure that it was 8 million? Can you just clarify for me what the takeaway. Yeah. At the last time we were presenting, we delved into the topic of the Unreconciled receivables. The Clark Newberg forensic evaluation clearly identified an $8 million number in that regard.
[1:37:43] And as Aaron pointed out earlier today, and as I was sharing the last time I was here as well, we recognized that there may be unreconciled receivables that need to be clarified. And the process that we’re close to concluding with Turning Point will give us final understanding of what those numbers are.
[1:38:08] So to be very direct to your question, um, the question is, were there funds that Kcra expended to providers for services that were not built back to the county or the city? And that’s an example of what might be an unreconciled receivable. In this particular case.
[1:38:33] The update today is that the work so far with Turning Point has gained deeper understanding of that particular $8 million population that they discovered. But there there could be others in the different types. And and so until we get the final determination, we won’t have the exact number in terms of what is or isn’t unreconciled and what may or may not be due one direction or the other yet. So it’s still pending.
[1:38:53] Is it fair to say that you’re flagging it might be higher than $8 million? Then I wouldn’t make an estimation at this point. Yeah. William, can I follow up on that and just say, because I agree with customer Mosqueda, this was an area of focus for a number of community members.
[1:39:10] Understandably. Um, and I think when when we had the presentation in July, I think the aim was to be able to like, figure that out by the 90 day review. So we’re not quite there yet.
[1:39:26] But do you have an estimate of how much longer it might take for us to get a final answer on that? I do, and in fact, the notes and comments from the next slide lean into that a little bit. Don’t let me interrupt you. Then perhaps I’ll proceed. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Let me just do that. Because they tie together to the negative cash balance conversation. Obviously.
[1:39:50] And so, um, finally, I want to distinguish the negative balance in the King County investment pool from an established financial loss. Those are not the same things at all. The negative balance is significant.
[1:40:11] And as Councilmember Dembowski noted, with this, you know, conversation on this around it being like a checking account or a credit account of some sort, it is, at its most basic level, it means cash outflows have exceeded reimbursed cash and advances over time. And so we’ve expanded more funds than we’ve received back in.
[1:40:34] And the cash balance by itself, though, does not tell us what portion represents an actual unrecoverable deficit, which is, as you noted, one of the key things we’re all eager to land on. The balance reflects several things operating together, paying providers before reimbursement is received, outstanding and unbilled receivables fund advances, reimbursement timing, historical invoicing and reconciliation differences, accounting adjustments, and the reconciliation will ultimately determine whether any portion represents expenditures that are not recoverable.
[1:41:07] Now, Turning Point has substantially reconciled. Kcra cash position. At this point, they have been doing amazing work since they’ve arrived, and it’s just been really great to have them in. But they’ve been in less than a month with us, so things have been moving really quickly.
[1:41:24] But it’s been a short window so far. The remaining work is necessary to distinguish, you know, the timing differences and recoverable receivables from any actual unresolved deficit. And so that’s why at this point, it’s we don’t have an accurate number to characterize today. Um, but we are very, very close on that.
[1:41:51] And so I’ll just move on then to the next phase, which kind of ties this up. Turning point has substantially completed the reconciliation work using Cras records and is now awaiting complete transaction level detail from the county and the city to validate that work against those records.
[1:42:18] Once those records are received from the county and the city, our understanding is a turning point. Expects to complete that validation and reconciliation quite quickly after that, like a matter of weeks, they’ll need a few weeks to process that. And that’s the acid test against what we’ve done internally for full reconciliation.
[1:42:38] We need to check that against y’all’s records and make sure that we really understand it. And then at that point, we’re going to have the answers to all of these core underlying questions, because they’re driven from the same underlying issue. So that work allows us to complete the validation of the historical administrative overspend and more reliably distinguish outstanding receivables and timing differences from any actual unresolved financial deficit.
[1:43:02] So I would characterize the 90 day point as a transition, not an end point. We know considerably more today than we did when the forensic evaluation was completed. Some of the original findings are being material, materially clarified, while other questions remain under validation.
[1:43:26] Our focus now is completing the work and continuing to strengthen KCRW’s recurring reconciliation monthly. Close and financial reporting practices. Turning point will remain directly engaged through the next phase, including ongoing review and validation of those processes. Thank you. I’m happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Uh, Willie, let me let me ask you to comment.
[1:43:48] And or, you know, one of the questions I was raised in our earlier conversation is, I think Councilmember Dembowski said, stemmed the bleeding, and I’m just trying to figure out, uh, post January. So the executive, of course, is planning to, um, to, uh, take over the most, I guess I would say of the of the locally funded contracts.
[1:44:14] But under that plan, because you will remain responsible for the cost money and for a state funded contracts as well as potentially some locally funded contracts. It my question is, how do we.
[1:44:35] Is there anything that we can do to avoid the same problem that we’ve had in the past years? Because I think those contracts are also kind of on this reimbursable situation. So you still be paying. Is it fair to say that you’ll still be paying providers in advance, not in advance of their work, but earlier than you get reimbursements? So what I’m trying to get at is like, do we still have the concern that we will still be in a situation
[1:44:51] where we’ll be accruing, or Casey or Che will be accruing interest because of that structural issue that we’ve haven’t been able to to, to get around. I think that’s a really important question. And the answer is no.
[1:45:13] Virtually 100% of the challenges and difficulties that we’re untangling today are directly related to the local contracts with King County and City of Seattle. Our HUD portfolio and our commerce portfolio is entirely clean and straight. Okay, so we don’t have we don’t have concerns about that problem recurring with the with the federal grade.
[1:45:36] No, no, the the the local contracts are complex and the never tried before efforts to co-locate them from the originating agencies with city and the county to Kcra and have an entity take over to other entities operations. Clearly that didn’t go very well. So the return of the contracts back to their origin source, I think, is a prudent move given the experience that has taken place over the past few years.
[1:45:59] Thank you colleagues. Any questions for Kcra staff Member Desk? Thanks very much, William. Um, it sounds like we’re going to have this reconciliation on the kind of the call it the net deficit. In simple terms, soon. How soon? Um, turning point.
[1:46:22] Are working really closely with us, and we’re again, I can’t say enough about the gratitude we have for the decision to embed a resource with us. We simply did not have the capacity and capability internally to do this. They’ve been moving really quickly. They have completed the full reconciliation of all of our internal records.
[1:46:42] So we have a good sense of what’s going on historically over the past. And it’s really four years, 22, 23, 24, 25. And now into 2026. Uh, most of the issues are stemming in the sort of 2324 range. That’s that’s when things went off track.
[1:47:03] And right now we just were hoping that we will get the records from the county and the city from their sides of those four years of transactions. So that turning point can do the full reconciliation against the funder records. Otherwise, we would just be providing a self-referential understanding of our own records, which we are at. But we need that validated.
[1:47:24] We need to understand your understanding of what was paid and received, and the city’s understanding of what was paid and received in order to fully account and reconcile all of that. All of those transactions. Sorry, I heard all that, but my question was how soon? William. Pardon me. So that’s that. That calls for a date or weeks or. No, I understand, thank you.
[1:47:46] Yeah. For, for, uh, highlighting my lack of response there. Turning point are expecting to have this done within and I hate to put them on the spot, but like 2 or 3 weeks is what they’re. Saying from today. Yeah. From when they get the materials. And is there any holdup at the county? We’ve got the request.
[1:48:01] I don’t think so. They they feel like. It’s you have a number internally. You know what they’ve preliminarily determined? No. Oh you don’t I thought you said that they based on the case Harry J records they determined a number and now was just going to check it against Seattle in the county’s records.
[1:48:18] We have a we want to say it. We have confidence in our ability to determine the number. Once we get that information back from the county in. The city. So it’s not constructible by your own records. Yeah, exactly. We want to confirm that. I heard something I’ll just tell you entirely differently.
[1:48:36] I heard in your presentation your slides that you that the turning points based on your own records in your presentation had developed a number. And now you just wanted to validate it against the outside funders, the county and the city.
[1:48:53] But now I’m hearing that you can’t do it based on your records. And if it’s going to require the county and the city records to get to the net deficit. To validate what we think we have internally is how I should have said that more accurately. To determine or to validate. To both.
[1:49:14] I think I think it’s fair to say that the degree of, um, um, work and the long history of this, this is, this is a complex historical undertaking. All of that, sir. Yeah, yeah.
[1:49:38] I’m just speaking as the budget chair of this government and with a serious concern about where we stand and how we’ve gotten here and how we’re going to get out of it, and how we not do any further harm. And month after month after month is going by. And I understand it’s very complicated. And you all are new to the scene, relatively. But, um, there’s a lot of words on the slides, but no numbers, you know, no firm numbers. And so the time for kind of. My dad told a story.
[1:50:03] He had an office and with Mr. Harter in the 1950s, and Mr. Harter son would go down to have lunch and he’d take a long lunch and someone would call for Sylvester the son. And Mr. Harter. His dad would say, I can almost see him coming now.
[1:50:19] I can almost see him coming now. This kind of feels like that. Yeah. We gotta get we we’ve got to run this to ground. Not almost, but. But not not not not next month. Not in two months. But we got to get this. We got to get this done because it’s very serious. Yeah. Yeah I appreciate that.
[1:50:39] All right. And I can assure you we’re equally eager to get to that number. But some of that validation with the county city records is going to have tremendous impact on what those numbers could be. So it’s just too early to state at this point. We’re ready to go to work to solve it.
[1:50:56] I think we’re prepared that there’s going to be a check to be written. We’ll figure it out with the city. That’s all. Understood. And then we can get on to figuring out kind of what the future holds.
[1:51:15] But I’m interested in kind of stopping stopping the bleeding, getting it squared away, chewing it up, and then and then putting this chapter of I didn’t even put them up here. Thousands of headlines of bad news, you know, behind us because it’s we’re talking about people’s lives. Hundreds of folks a year in this county are dying on the street. You know, I’m a. And I’ve worked great with you. You ran. Yeah. Oaks. And you’re a tremendous leader.
[1:51:41] Um, but we’ve set up a system here that isn’t working, and it’s incumbent upon us to fix it and fix it as soon as we can. You know, I’m 100% aligned with you there. And I can assure you, the bleeding has stopped. So, you know, I’ve not been there long. But we are.
[1:51:57] We are a tight ship today. There’s no no deficit. Uh, out of control organization at the moment. We are diligently pursuing reconciliation of these past issues, and we will get them nailed down. Councilmember Mosqueda. Thanks for your presentation. And this may be more of a question for the actual agency.
[1:52:18] Good to see you again. I’m worried about a bleeding of a different sort. I’m worried about people leaving the agency. Um, given the uncertainty of what’s going to happen to their position. Um, and this is something that we have flagged for our partners as well.
[1:52:34] The concern that people will leave Kcra and not have the actual institution and the capacity to provide direct services. Can you speak to how many people have left Kcra? What the vacancy rate is? Do you have statistics on turnover rates currently at KCR? Hey, maybe today relative to a year ago or six months ago.
[1:53:01] Thanks for that question. Um, we’ve spent a lot of time as an executive team, uh, talking about, um, the health and well-being of our staff and the ability to continue with our, our work and the mission of Kcra.
[1:53:20] Um, and I have to say, uh, the mayor’s office and the executive’s office in announcing the local contract transition surfaced early that this would be, you know, difficult for Kcra staff, particularly those whose work is moving back to the city and county. Um, and so we’ve been working with our labor partners to make sure there are clear, um, principles for us to follow.
[1:53:41] K Sarah J is sharing every announcement from the city and county and providing support for our teams who may want to follow the work. Um, we’ve had one resignation. Um, this year I can happily share with the council, uh, the statistics that you requested. Um, Councilmember Mosqueda.
[1:54:04] I don’t have those at hand. Um, but I think, uh, folks are, you know, waiting to see what happens. We’re waiting to see what happens. Um, my leadership in this moment is just to be as transparent as I can be with those staff. Encourage them to do what’s best for them.
[1:54:22] Um, but obviously I’m not in a position to guarantee anyone a job. Um, and, uh, we are, um, working hard to keep them informed, give them outlets to provide, um, input, ask questions. Um, but we have, you know, this is a business decision.
[1:54:43] And and as we’ve heard, uh, it’s very dire and urgent. And the only lever I control is really is payroll. Thank you. Colleagues, I don’t see further questions about I just on that point, I do want to sort of acknowledge because we, you know, began the meeting with, with some, uh, public comment from staff.
[1:55:05] And I do want to acknowledge that and reiterate, I think the point that you made, Doctor Kinnison, about the fact that there are some changes that are going to impact people who have been providing services to the community, and we want to acknowledge that.
[1:55:17] I don’t think we want to sugarcoat the fact that, like, these changes are going to have a disruptive impact on people’s lives who have been providing services for our region, and we appreciate their work. And, uh, you know, sometimes in government, we have to make, you know, difficult decisions.
[1:55:33] And I think the agency is responding in some ways to some of the issues that were part of the first evaluation in terms of our administrative, uh, budget and making sure that we’re complying with that. And, of course, the the changeover of the contracts is going to have a disruptive effect for sure.
[1:55:47] Staff, I agree with Councilmember Mosqueda that I think we we should try to figure out as a local region with the city and the county to figure out if there are, you know, people who have skills, who can come over to, to do the work. Uh, locally.
[1:56:00] I think that that would make sense and try to mitigate the impacts. But we also don’t want to overpromise. What what’s possible, given the limited resources that we have to do the work. So thank you for that. And I appreciate all the folks from from Kcra staff who provided public comment today.
[1:56:16] Um, and we’ll continue to be engaged in that conversation. Colleagues, as I mentioned, I sensed that we still had questions on this. So I’m not going to take I’m not going to put the motion accepting the report on, uh, for a vote today. But I appreciated the work that everybody has done to get us better informed.
[1:56:35] Um, I will second the Councilmember Dembowski comment earlier about the need for kind of more clarity on the numbers. And I know you’re working hard, but I think that is going to be very important as we try to make decisions in the coming months. And, uh, and look forward to continuing engagement in this topic as, as needed.
[1:56:50] Uh, does anybody have any other final comments? Uh Councilmember Lewis. Yes. Thank you. Chair. Um, earlier in the meeting, I mentioned the Black Women’s Experience study, and I just want my colleagues to know that for those of you who would like to review it while you’re in transit or otherwise being ferried about, we do have printed copies of those for you.
[1:57:13] Thank you very much, Councilmember Lewis, for educating us. All right. Um, Councilmember Mosqueda. So sorry. And I just want to thank Councilmember Lewis again for your comments during the earlier presentation. Um, Councilmember Lewis has also sent out an email to the whole floor with the hard copy.
[1:57:30] I would say, though, that that report used to live online, and our team was having a hard time finding it online. So just a request to the King County family to try to get that report back up in the appropriate place, because it does appear that that link has been taken down.
[1:57:45] So thank you to Councilmember Lewis for again mentioning that sending the email around and for our team for printing that out and helping to make sure everybody had a copy in hand. Thank you very much. Councilmember Mosqueda Clark, did we have any council members besides Councilmember Balducci or Councilmember Perry who missed votes. Other than Councilmember Balducci and Perry? No. All right.
[1:58:05] Thank you. Um. Thank you, colleagues, we’re going to end the meeting. If there’s no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.