[0:02] So call to order.
[0:07] Start with the roll call. Uh
Commissioner Williams
[0:13] » present.
>> Chair Mishra
[0:15] » present.
>> Commissioner Govin,
[0:18] Commissioner Martin
>> here.
[0:20] » Okay. And just noting that um
Commissioner Ramen is um not here and
[0:26] Commissioner Javi
and Commissioner Hefner have sent their
[0:32] apologies via email.
>> Thank you.
[0:36] Next is the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioner William, will you like to
[0:40] lead us?
[0:44] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:50] republic for it stands one nation under
God indivisible with liberty and justice
[0:56] for all.
[1:02] » Hi.
[1:06] » So should we do the whole call again or
you just will note that? Okay. Okay.
[1:14] Um, next is approval of agenda.
[1:18] Anyone who has been able to read through
it can vote for I
[1:25] sure move that we accept the agenda.
>> Thank you.
[1:32] Are there any public comments?
[1:37] Chair, you also have to do uh the
approval of the minutes.
[1:41] Oh, yes. Sorry. Okay, I missed that.
Approval of last meetings minutes which
[1:45] was on July 8th, 2026.
[1:50] Anyone per second?
I'll second. Thank you.
[1:56] And now we land on the public comment
section.
[2:19] Do we have Nick? Nikki
Shaf
[2:28] and Kaiser Kzar.
>> Yeah.
[2:37] » Good evening commissioners. My name is
Kiza Shariff and I'm on the board of
[2:41] Essentials First.
>> Uh good evening and thank you for having
[2:46] us over here. Um my name is Nika Sharif.
I'm the founder and CEO of Essentials
[2:50] First.
>> So, we want to start by telling you
[2:53] about where we came from because it's
about a mile from this room. Essentials
[2:58] First started in a Samameish garage. A
teenager at East Lake High School and a
[3:02] mother, Nikki here, started assembling
hygiene kits by hand in their garage
[3:06] because they had learned that families
in this region were going without soap
[3:10] and essential hygiene items. That was
2017. Today, Essentials First serves
[3:16] more than 15,000 people a year across 56
King County zip codes, including
[3:20] Seamish. And the founder and Amom still
live here in Seamamesh. And Samish has
[3:25] funded us. And you've supported the
community kits program and the World
[3:29] Food Program in the last funding cycle.
And that money put hygiene supplies and
[3:33] culturally appropriate food directly
into households that had run out of
[3:37] them. Thank you for that. Here's the gap
that we exist for. Snap, Vick, and
[3:42] Tannif do not cover essential hygiene
items. They don't cover shampoo. They
[3:47] don't cover toothpaste. They don't cover
laundry detergent or feminine hygiene
[3:51] products. There is no federal program
that does. A family can receive every
[3:56] benefit that they qualify for and still
not be able to wash their clothes for a
[4:00] job interview or even brush their teeth.
We provide these low-income families
[4:04] with these basic human dignity items so
that their income can be stretched to
[4:09] meet their other needs. Let me tell you
about one person, a single mother with a
[4:13] young son. When we first met met her,
she was living on a fixed income with no
[4:18] stable housing. She needed the basics,
personal hygiene, household cleaning
[4:22] supplies, and essential human dignity
items like that. Things that you can't
[4:26] get from a food bank and can't buy with
food benefits. We helped her several
[4:31] times and then she started volunteering
with us. And what our team next did next
[4:36] is the part that I want you to really
hear. We didn't just hand her hygiene
[4:39] supplies or a box of food. We asked what
she wanted her life to look like. We
[4:45] encouraged her to find her passion and
we supported her through her training as
[4:49] a nursing assistant. She is housed
today. She's stable and she's working in
[4:53] healthcare, a field that this region
can't staff faster enough. And more
[4:58] importantly, she is now a Samisha
resident and she's an our neighbor now.
[5:02] That's what this is commissioners. It's
not charity, it's stabilization. And
[5:06] sometimes it's a whole trajectory of
life-changing trajectory. Samish is just
[5:11] is one of the most prosperous cities in
the states in the state. And that's
[5:14] precisely why this need stays invisible
here. Our neighbors in need are in the
[5:20] school pickup line. They are seniors on
fixed incomes. They are new immigrant
[5:24] families who have moved in here and
they're trying to build something new.
[5:27] So we are asking Samish to continue what
it started in every sense. We want we'd
[5:31] like the commission to renew the support
for our community kits program and our
[5:36] world food program and also for a new
program that we've started called
[5:39] essential skills is a job training
program, workforce development program
[5:43] that will help us to continue um to
serve Samish residents like the family
[5:48] whose story I just shared. Um the
Samameish website says that every person
[5:52] is considered essential and that meeting
basic needs is a shared responsibility
[5:56] and that's the foundational mission of
essential first where we aspire to
[6:00] empower dignity daily. So thank you.
>> Thank you so much.
[6:18] We move on to new business.
So today we discuss the uh grant
[6:24] recommendation handoff to the city
council.
[6:28] » Right. Good evening commissioners. Um so
um as you know on October the 6th um the
[6:35] commission will be presenting to city
council um the chair and vice chair and
[6:40] and we hope the rest of the commission
attend. Um so um the commission are
[6:45] going to be presenting their
recommendations
[6:48] and staff have put together a PowerPoint
that we're going to go through this
[6:52] evening and we'd love to get some
feedback from you um if you'd like to
[6:57] add something or take something out. So,
this is like a a first touch from staff
[7:02] and we'd love to hear your feedback as
well. So, we're going to go through the
[7:06] the uh PowerPoint. Um so, okay, there we
go. That's our first page. That's a
[7:13] that's for October the 6th. Um and then
we um have a very light agenda just to
[7:20] sort of like, you know, provide some
structure. We're going to be doing a
[7:23] summary of human service needs, talking
about the review process that you all
[7:28] did, and then finally the commission
recommendation.
[7:33] Um, so here we have a picture of our
dashing uh commission. Um, all looking
[7:39] quite fabulous and very professional
just to remind the the city council that
[7:44] you know the commissioners you know were
appointed by them. Um and then on the
[7:50] next slide um we show like the depth of
experience that we have from
[7:54] commissioners. Um as you can see we have
a highly qualified group with a a
[8:00] passion for human services and also just
showing a wide range of knowledge and
[8:05] the deep experience of the commission.
So that just gives some example. So we
[8:11] go on to human service needs. Um and
we're just putting up some some some
[8:18] stats here. Um first one is uh we have
9% of our residents are over 65. Um
[8:25] often times when we think of Samish we
always think of a very kid-rich
[8:29] population and we definitely have that
but we definitely also have an aging
[8:33] population. Um but compared to King
County, 53% of Samish households have
[8:40] children under 18 compared with the
county average of 26.
[8:45] Um also our youth population is at 27%
which is higher than the King County
[8:51] average of 19%.
Um, we also have an increasingly diverse
[8:56] population, uh, with 37% of residents
being foreign born compared to the King
[9:02] County average of 26% and 39% speaking a
language other than English at home uh,
[9:09] compared to the county average of 31%.
Um, so that just kind of gives them a
[9:14] little snapshot um, of our community.
Um and then we you know talk about like
[9:20] understanding the the community needs.
Um and then you know we're showing here
[9:26] that the commission since 2019 have
spoken to over 78 providers. Um and you
[9:34] know spoken in 2025 spoke with 15
partners and had two site visits. Um
[9:41] also you know you've had the attended
the joint human services commission
[9:45] meeting with your peers from Kirkland is
Redmond and just covering a variety of
[9:50] topics including collective regional
responsibility towards homelessness
[9:55] understanding issues faced by grassroot
nonprofits and attending and training to
[10:00] help us develop a fair and consistent
decision in grant making. Um, so this is
[10:06] just really just to show that the
council that like especially in 2025
[10:11] that was your year of learning and
that's where you know you met with
[10:15] providers, you had forums, you had panel
discussions and you also met with your
[10:21] peers. Um, just to sort of give an
example of of the kind of work that
[10:25] you've done before reviewing
applications.
[10:28] Um, and then we just look at the very
briefly we look at the five focus
[10:33] priority areas. Um so domestic violence
um one in three women will experience
[10:38] domestic violence in their lifetime. Um
for basic needs we have 4% of residents
[10:44] in Samish living below the federal
poverty level and it's actually 4.3% and
[10:49] that amounts to 2,843
of our neighbors, friends and family
[10:56] that live below the federal poverty
level. Um often times we think of Samish
[11:01] as this very high affluent you know u
community and yes we have that but
[11:07] there's also disparity there. Um also
46% of residents over the age of 75 have
[11:14] a disability.
And then um as we spoke here earlier 39%
[11:21] of Samish residents speak a language
other than English at home. And the last
[11:26] stat 10% of Samish teens have considered
suicide in the last year. Um and that's
[11:33] quite a startling stat.
So moving on. Um, so we're going to talk
[11:38] now about the grant review process. We
really want to show council that it was
[11:44] a very methodical
process that you all went through. So
[11:48] we're just going to kind of go through
um, you know, the process that we did.
[11:53] Um, so we, you know, we're showing that
we had 91 programs applying for funding.
[11:58] Um the total funding requests was
actually 43% higher than 25 26 um um
[12:06] funding requests. Um and basically like
we've seen a big uptick amongst all
[12:13] cities not just
often there's lots of reasons for that.
[12:18] inflation,
uh, paying staff a living wage and
[12:22] sustaining programs that were once
introduced through COVID, as well as
[12:26] everything going up in the way of like
pricing, staffing, etc. Um, so we had a
[12:32] total of 1,915,284
[12:37] funding requests and um, we try to
budget for 682,736.
[12:46] So 35% of what was applied for that's
the only that's what we were trying to
[12:53] allocate as a commission.
[12:57] So very high level overview um just a
sort of walk through council um it's
[13:03] just really just showing that the
commission went through a review debate
[13:07] discussion of all grant applications
[13:13] and then we also show that as a first
touch each commissioner used a
[13:17] evaluation sheet to initially filter out
applications
[13:21] and really focusing on evaluating
applications on key areas is notably
[13:27] Seamish needs. Um and one of the um
sections addressed program accessibility
[13:35] um also affordability
um and then uh addressing language and
[13:40] cultural specific needs.
[13:44] So with those 91 applications, um, you
know, all commissioners were able to
[13:50] look at all applications. Um, but
knowing that they had to deep dive and
[13:55] really go in and thoroughly look at
applications, we divided the commission
[13:59] into subgroups. Um and so all the grants
were reviewed independently and then the
[14:07] subgroups came together and discussed
and debated and developed a preliminary
[14:13] funding recommendation.
And the subgroups came to the commission
[14:17] as a whole and um discussed their their
their thought process and their
[14:24] recommendations.
Um and then the commission collectively
[14:27] developed a final recommendation. So
we're really kind of showing council
[14:32] like the structure of it first
independent review then subgroup review
[14:38] and then bringing recommendations to the
commission as a whole and the commission
[14:42] working collectively to bring uh the
final recommendation.
[14:49] Okay. And so and this is um what the
commission's recommending. Um so it's
[14:57] recommending 683,000
a year and um this slide shows us how
[15:04] the funding is broken in down into the
five priority areas. Um and then
[15:09] obviously like we want to really focus
on the fact that there is a lot of
[15:13] overlap between these areas as well. Um
and so yeah that just gives a very high
[15:18] level snapshot. And then talking about
like the intersectionality,
[15:23] um we know for instance the survivor of
domestic violence is also going to need
[15:28] mental health and basic need support.
There's culturally specific food
[15:32] programs that need basic support. So
there's a lot of cross intersection
[15:37] between um all the different um uh focus
areas.
[15:44] And then the recommendation that the
commission um so staff went through and
[15:50] um looked at like if if council was to
approve the recommendation and looking
[15:56] at applications and and what they're
saying with the funding recommendation
[16:02] in the areas and in the programs that
you're recommending um 12,766
[16:08] Samish residents would be served per
year based on that recommendation.
[16:14] And within that there's comprehensive
behavioral health programs, uh mental
[16:19] health, substance use counseling, case
management, senior services supporting
[16:24] aging in place, basic needs providers
providing food, rental and utility
[16:30] assistance, and then an example of
crisis connections, senior support and
[16:34] DV support services and more.
And
[16:41] that is it. So um that's the the last
slide. Um the commission worked hard to
[16:46] develop the recommendation based on the
682,736.
[16:53] Um and the commission feels that um the
funding allocation really prioritizes
[17:00] um a focus area towards making like a
noticeable impact to the residents of
[17:05] Samish.
So that's like just what staff like have
[17:11] put together. Um obviously we'd love to
hear um from you and um this is a work
[17:18] in progress. Um we felt like it might be
easier to have like something in place
[17:23] and it's always easier to add and remove
and just you know and make it your own.
[17:28] Yeah.
[17:32] And then also just an FYI um in the
packet council will get a memo um and in
[17:40] that they will have the funding
recommendations and there'll be some
[17:42] more detail and we'll share that with
you be before the meeting on October the
[17:47] 6th.
[17:50] We'd love to hear comments, feedback,
questions.
[17:54] I think this was really well done. I
think it looks really good. um first
[17:59] time here so I don't have any major
comments. I've not been part of the
[18:02] council recommendation so I don't know
if there is anything more we should be
[18:05] adding but from a first- time
perspective it looks really good.
[18:13] Yeah, I especially love the pictures.
They're like so nice. The first slide
[18:18] with all the kids there is like everyone
has to pay attention to it.
[18:22] » And then also all the um um slides are
organizations that we're funding. Yeah.
[18:28] » So there's like Mary's play, Sophia's
way and you know it's called food and
[18:35] clothing bank and like yeah lots of
others I so there yeah there's lots of
[18:39] uh um yeah organizations that we uh that
we currently fund. So as we spoke before
[18:48] like we will be having another slide to
show more numbers of the commission
[18:52] again different timings hours.
>> Okay. So, so would you, so, so just so
[18:57] we as staff can understand, do you want
to have like um like do you feel like it
[19:02] would help council to understand the
number of hours that the commissioners
[19:06] have put in to reviewing the
applications?
[19:09] Um,
okay. So, I'm thinking like so maybe I
[19:16] reach out to each individual
commissioner and just get an idea of how
[19:20] long they how much time they put into
that. Yeah, I think you already have a
[19:24] slide which shows numbers somewhere. Um
we have a slide showing the number of
[19:28] applications
um but not the um
[19:32] » um this one but I I know so like this
but I was thinking of more of a slide
[19:39] where you have popups um
>> like um nowadays it's like a fad where
[19:44] you just show numbers numbers numbers
numbers so it more like how many hours
[19:49] spent how many site visits done or
something like that I don't know what
[19:53] all matrix can we use to define the work
done by the commission in a true manner,
[19:59] » right? And so you want to focus that on
like so then we could like talk about
[20:03] like application reviews as well as
subgroups as well as like okay
[20:08] commission time. So
>> reviewed or hours spent in
[20:14] » Okay. Something like that.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So talking about so
[20:16] commission time would be like when you
first read an application also the
[20:20] training the applications the subgroups
the commission meetings done sort of
[20:26] like okay okay yeah yeah yeah
>> different kind of metrics to just make
[20:29] it more interesting and be like okay
it's not just we reviewed the
[20:33] applications what all goes into
reviewing an application.
[20:36] » Yeah okay okay so it sounds like you you
want to for them to see how many hours
[20:41] of their time that we saved them by
doing this. I mean
[20:45] » maybe yeah and and overall like to get a
360° picture of like meetings were done
[20:51] site visits were done or public comments
I don't know
[20:55] » how many public comments happened and
like as far as site visits so like
[20:58] that's really the year of learning so
like you know yeah you were meeting
[21:02] every month so so am I hearing from you
that you really want to talk about the
[21:05] application review process you want to
>> I think this is the only chance we get
[21:10] to be in front of the city council after
2 years
[21:13] » so everything we did in the last two
years if you can just summarize in a
[21:16] slide
>> and be like pop
[21:20] there's that there's that so so I think
we've got the the like the year of
[21:24] learning and then we've got the joint so
I think really it's about the number of
[21:28] hours that the commission spent
reviewing the applications and the whole
[21:32] process it wasn't just the commission
meetings it was independent review and
[21:37] subgroup review and so okay and how many
meetings happened till in last two years
[21:42] like everything is like the one slide
consolidated to everything we did in the
[21:47] last two years and probably not youth
sentences there just numbers numbers
[21:52] numbers numbers
>> maybe even how many pages all the
[21:56] applications total review I think that's
a that's a very good idea that's so many
[22:01] » commissioners
>> commissioner go that's that's a really
[22:06] compelling
>> that's a data
[22:07] » point
[22:12] I'll take one from the Okay, that's a
great Okay, Commissioner Govin. So,
[22:16] actually the number of pages. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
[22:36] There was a slide read where you had
what was taken into consideration and I
[22:44] think you said a couple things that
weren't listed there.
[22:47] » Okay. Um was it the evaluation sheet
like the um
[22:52] » Okay. So, um I think on that um I talked
about um cuz I just have some notes that
[22:58] I normally just uh um let me just
>> I see you were even you were expanding.
[23:06] » Yes, I was expanding and then I'll make
sure like you know for the chair and
[23:10] vice when they when they sort of um
present like yeah they can make it their
[23:14] own just really sort of Yeah.
>> Okay.
[23:16] » Yeah. Just expanding a little bit on
that. Yeah. And then there was a
[23:20] statistic on domestic violence, but it's
mostly just geared towards women. Do we
[23:25] have any statistics for men?
>> Um, so that is one in three. That's a
[23:30] very good point. Um, it's one in three
experience
[23:34] domestic, right? Was it partner
domestic? I think it okay. So there is
[23:41] one for men. It's not as high, but um
yes, there is. I think it's one in five
[23:47] or one in it's higher though but yeah um
>> in Seamish
[23:52] » no so so this is not a Seamish focused
one this is just um like domestic that's
[23:58] like it's it's a well doumented stat so
I think the CDC and yeah yeah
[24:03] » oh okay gotcha
>> yeah um the other um data is from the
[24:09] American community survey so uh we've
done the uh 20 is it 2019 the yeah the
[24:16] 2019 to 2024 5-year estimate for
American communities. Yeah. Okay.
[24:27] » And I think like with this slide
especially like the 4% doesn't sound but
[24:31] I think when you put numbers to it like
this means 2000 whatever the number was
[24:36] I think that kind of really personalizes
it as well. Yeah.
[24:45] Do you feel like this PowerPoint has
captured the process that you guys went
[24:50] through? Do you think it like I'd love
to hear like, you know, is there
[24:55] anything we need to add, take out? And
if you can't think of anything now,
[25:00] that's fine because we're around. So,
you know, you can always email us or
[25:05] call us.
>> I also think it's well put together. I
[25:09] had no idea everybody here had all that
experience. Yeah, that's very
[25:13] interesting.
>> I like to say we've got the best looking
[25:16] and the most smartest commission. Yeah,
I'm not biased.
[25:22] » My 41 slide,
>> you can do whatever you want.
[25:26] Commissioner chair M.
>> Good picture. It's a nice one.
[25:30] » Okay.
[25:38] I mean, so council will have a memo to
accompany this as well to like give some
[25:43] more like background. Um,
and so yeah. Um, anything else, Mike?
[25:52] » The only thing I'd add just for folks
that haven't been through the process
[25:55] before is that when the commission's
presenting to council, this isn't asking
[25:59] for their approval. So all the
commission is doing is saying, "We did
[26:03] all this work. This is our
recommendation."
[26:06] And actually the same night on October
6th, our interim city manager is
[26:10] presenting his proposed budget to
council. So that's the first time
[26:14] they're seeing his proposed budget. And
basically what he's going to say is that
[26:18] the commission's recommendation is
included in his draft budget proposal.
[26:23] So that's our number is included in what
he's putting forward to them. Um so
[26:28] there's nothing that they need to do
that night. They're just going to say
[26:31] thank you, probably ask a few questions.
Um, we always encourage the rest of the
[26:35] commission to show up in support of the
chair and vice chair if you're available
[26:39] that night. Um, and then from October
6th forward, the council will take the
[26:46] budget and obviously they can tweak and
make adjustments as they see fit if they
[26:51] don't fully agree with what the interim
city manager has recommended. Um, which
[26:55] which typically happens. It's not
unusual. Um, and then they'll adopt the
[27:00] budget probably by Thanksgiving is
typically the goal. So, just a little
[27:04] bit of context about how our
recommendation on the sixth fits into
[27:08] the bigger picture.
>> So, who will go first? Mike, will we
[27:12] present our recommendations or will the
manager present his budget?
[27:17] » Yeah, we're still talking about that.
Uh, it was switched around today so that
[27:21] the budget comes before the commission.
Um, but I I kind of want to switch it
[27:27] the other way to where you all present
first.
[27:30] » Yeah.
>> And then the city manager can say,
[27:32] "Thanks for their great work. Their
numbers included in my budget proposal.
[27:36] Here's
>> yada yada." It it can really go either
[27:39] way. It's kind of a chicken or an egg
thing. But my preference, especially
[27:42] because you all are here and you
probably don't want to stick around for
[27:46] a couple hours of budget deliberations,
that we do we do the human services
[27:50] commission first.
>> Yeah.
[27:53] » I think that would be nice. Yeah, I
agree. Yeah, that would be nice.
[27:56] » And then can I also just sort of say
like you know if council and I know I've
[28:00] said if council asks questions it's and
if you don't know cuz sometimes it's a
[28:05] lot like you know the staff are here to
support so yeah. Yeah, we're around. Um
[28:13] do other commissions well such as parks
and wreck they they have a a larger
[28:18] budget. Are there other commissions that
have big asks, so to say, that are
[28:23] included in the budget?
[28:28] I'm not that familiar with the other
commission's budgets. I know, for
[28:30] example, the arts commission has an arts
budget. So, they actually do their own
[28:36] um kind of smaller grant program for art
in the community. Um,
[28:41] and then yeah, like you said, the parks
commission
[28:46] provides feedback and oversees, for
example, our parks capital improvement
[28:49] plan. Um, but I don't know, they do give
out some smaller grants to like the
[28:56] Samish Symphony and the fish hatchery, I
think, and the the gardening one.
[29:05] So there are there are a couple smaller
grant programs within the parks and
[29:10] within arts, but ours is a little bit
unique. Um,
[29:14] so it's not something that they're going
to be familiar with, which is I think
[29:17] why we kind of want to explain to them
>> what all it took and
[29:22] » what you're recommending.
So do we um mention how there was a how
[29:30] many grant applications mentioned was
there mention how many oh there it is
[29:36] programs I think that's fascinating 91
programs in this city you know
[29:43] » I'd kind of like to mention more of them
or is that coming up
[29:47] » with the memo there'll be an um an
exhibit A or whatever and then that will
[29:52] have your breakdown of all the recommend
recommendations. Um, so we're not going
[29:56] into specifics relating to certain
applications, but council will have all
[30:01] that information. Um, yeah. And they
they might just be like, great. Or they
[30:06] may they may even ask question on one
particular application. We just don't
[30:11] know. So yeah.
>> So you're saying it's not worth putting
[30:13] on the slide?
>> Um, when we've got that many um
[30:17] applications and programs, it's just a
lot to put on a slide. Um, council will
[30:22] have a memo. Yep. So my mic's in this.
So if you scroll down like so council
[30:27] will have a memo with all this
information.
[30:30] Um and that's just basic needs. So
there's a yeah there's a lot of um so
[30:36] they'll have all that.
>> Yeah.
[30:38] » Can we put the summary there on the
slide where we say just call out the
[30:43] main groups and say this much was
requested. Oh, there is one. So that is
[30:47] one there is a pie chart I saw with like
basic needs so much and
[30:51] » no the requested versus
>> oh the request
[30:54] » detail. Oh
>> if you go back to the Excel mic I think
[30:57] it's the top uh commissioner goven do
you mean this this top section here?
[31:03] » So you know they know that we did
deliberate and we didn't just hand out
[31:08] you know money. We actually were very I
want to say diligent about how we
[31:14] alerted the grants. I I don't know what
does the rest of the commission think.
[31:18] Is it worth putting the summary on one
of the slides?
[31:20] » A few of them. Yes, for few of them I'm
not quite sure.
[31:24] » No, no, just the summary of the five.
>> Yeah, I understand. It was a requested
[31:28] and the recommended has a um big
difference.
[31:34] » Okay. So the first question will be why
and then we'll have to go and explain
[31:39] that. I mean not that we have any
problems explaining it. That is just
[31:43] putting the numbers right
>> and they will have the sheet anyways.
[31:47] They will have the sheet right here with
them and they can ask those questions.
[31:50] » Yeah.
[31:58] » So don't add it. So this is what we
recommending right? Okay. We do talk
[32:04] about um it's not all on one slide, but
we do have the total grant amount
[32:09] requested here. Oh,
>> so you can kind of see, you know, we're
[32:12] going from this request to this
>> budget. Um
[32:18] but we could certainly show that in a
different way if the commission would
[32:21] like.
>> Oh, what's the aim? To show them what
[32:25] was requested. You're saying so that it
it's not like we're just giving away
[32:29] money, right? Yeah, I just think it
feels it kind of shows a little bit of
[32:33] diligence like you know this is how we
evaluate it and I agree that it looks a
[32:38] little bad that you know domestic
violence got like 10% I think of what
[32:42] they asked. Um yeah that that might beg
a lot of questions not just from the
[32:47] council but the rest of the people who
are watching they might um they might
[32:52] not understand that because application
was incomplete or
[32:56] » I don't know here I I mean question
>> I don't mind putting here in the bracket
[33:00] itself like say domestic violence 32k
whatever in the bracket requested so
[33:05] much requested so much I don't know so
that it's all consolidated in one slide
[33:10] the pie chart
>> do you think it will make a it will have
[33:14] a problem there.
>> I think that
[33:19] like I hear what you're saying,
Commissioner Govin, but then I also feel
[33:23] like it's weighing up the thing of like
giving too much detail
[33:27] » versus kind of keeping it more high
level. Um they're going to have the um
[33:32] the Excel um sheet that Mike showed that
will be with the memo. So this will be a
[33:38] breakdown of all the different like
requested and the recommendations.
[33:43] Um
>> no I I agree Rita. I think it will open
[33:46] a can of worms.
>> We'll skip that. But now that you
[33:50] mention it um
the domestic violence there was a
[33:54] request in basic needs. But it's also an
entire subgroup, right?
[33:59] » Um no it was all in um the domestic
violence was pretty much all in the
[34:04] violence. Yeah. Subgroup. Yeah. Yeah.
Um, bear in mind as well that like you
[34:09] know there are always outliers as well.
Like I think in that one there was I
[34:14] think in the domestic violence group
there was one that was asking for like
[34:17] 300,000 and yeah so it's uh
>> yeah I don't think one of them was
[34:24] really high.
>> Yeah. Yeah. That kind of skews the the
[34:28] the the data so to speak. That was
friends of youth, wasn't it?
[34:32] » That was friends of youth for basic
needs. And I think the more you love,
[34:37] the more we love, I think in domestic
violence. Yeah. There was another one in
[34:41] uh
Oh, the more Yeah. the more we love the
[34:46] crisis healing center. That was Yeah.
Yeah.
[34:49] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[34:52] Yeah. It does it just look It does look
sad. If you didn't know anything, you
[34:56] would think, oh, well, you know, why
didn't they?
[34:58] » Yeah.
>> And but that's that's their prerogative.
[35:02] If they have a question that's we have
an answer. It wasn't
[35:06] » not just council. There are going to be
other people who are watching
[35:10] » and they might not understand you know
the process that we went through. So
[35:14] they were like what you know domestic
violence you've given only 10% of what
[35:17] they asked. I know
>> you know I think I think you're right.
[35:20] Let's just skip it on second thought.
>> Would it help to add a comment
[35:25] somewhere? Maybe not that they're
incomplete
[35:30] applications, but maybe just say we did
get a lot of incomplete applications
[35:34] this year.
>> Oh, we did get a few, but not that many.
[35:37] And I think when you get into the weeds,
it becomes like it's really hard. You
[35:42] don't want to damn an organization and
say it publicly.
[35:46] » Um, that's not kind of like, you know,
and I think it's just really talking
[35:50] about, look, you know, we did our due
diligence. We looked to see about Samish
[35:54] residents served. We looked at them not
just the application but what they've
[35:58] done in the past and you know if they've
not been able to achieve their service
[36:03] units this grant cycle we were skeptical
that they were going to be able to
[36:08] achieve their service units this cycle
coming up. Um, I always say like to all
[36:14] the nonprofits that we fund, like the
commission when they give out when they
[36:18] allocate funding, their intent is for
you to get that funding. Like you don't
[36:24] want to save money, right? But if
they're not achieving their service
[36:28] units, we don't pay them. So I think
like you know as as a commission you
[36:34] really kind of looked at an application
and you also asked me the question of
[36:38] like well okay and and as staff like you
know we also have to say look you know
[36:44] yes this is an application but I need to
give you some historical context and for
[36:48] this application that they applied for
they didn't get paid for like three
[36:52] quarters out of four because they
weren't able to achieve their service
[36:57] units. Um, so I think you're trying to
be very good wardens of of public
[37:03] dollars.
>> Can we include that somewhere that we
[37:08] also considered their past record in
meeting their service units because that
[37:13] was definitely one of the key factors we
considered, right? So can we
[37:18] » that goes in the um this sheet which we
filled out the evaluation sheet
[37:24] » that well that had that question I
remember answering it. So, so, so that
[37:28] was like it was a very like you know are
they kind of like focus on Samish like
[37:32] you know residents um
>> previous service units
[37:36] » yeah achieved and all
>> yeah and so it's I think you know
[37:41] yeah it's kind of I I do hear what
you're saying the domestic violence one
[37:44] in particular you know there was a huge
request and you know but then there was
[37:48] a huge outlier asking for way much money
you know way too much money but uh but I
[37:54] think as a commission you can really say
yeah you did your due diligence You
[37:57] looked at the application, you looked at
service units, and then you also
[38:02] checked, you know, not only like, you
know, they're saying they're going to do
[38:06] these service units. Did they do those
in the past? If they're applying again,
[38:10] and if they didn't, then what's changed?
You know,
[38:15] » um, so are we adding it to this slide?
>> Adding what? I'm I'm just like, yeah.
[38:23] What do you think, Mike? I mean
>> that we took into consideration whether
[38:27] they
>> because in the past
[38:30] » we checked for the completeness of
>> I was thinking about service units cuz I
[38:35] think it swayed all of us in
>> I was thinking we can put a slide which
[38:40] says
process improvements for next time or
[38:45] something like that or lessons learned
by all the commissioners by doing this
[38:49] going through this process this time. I
I remember discussing that while they
[38:54] fill the applications, while the
nonprofits fill these applications,
[38:58] before they hit the submit button, there
would be and we all agreed to it there
[39:02] should be a process which checks
everything and tells them like flags it
[39:06] like hey your application is not
complete we can't submit it. So that we
[39:10] are encouraging them to review their
application before submission if it is a
[39:14] complete application or not. So and and
how if we have discussed these things
[39:19] and they have come out as um some
lessons learned from the process it
[39:24] would be wise for us to implement them
for the next cycle. Um I think I
[39:30] absolutely hear what you're saying um
Chishra the thing is is that we have a
[39:34] joint application with 17 other cities
and so that's that's kind of like
[39:43] yeah um I do hear what you're saying but
I will say as staff we we go on and on
[39:50] and on like a year before even
applications come out like so I will
[39:56] next next like summer start reaching out
to organizations say if you have not
[40:02] applied for funding you need to come and
see me. We do we meet with them
[40:07] oneonone. Then we have a pre application
workshop multiple times in the fall of
[40:14] next year. Then the applications will
open next year um in 27 the spring of
[40:20] and then we have multiple so like you
know
[40:24] I hear what you're saying and it would
be nice to like you know
[40:29] but it's also on the provider as well if
they cannot submit something that we
[40:34] have worked with them we've the the
when they apply they have a workshop
[40:40] that they can review and they have all
the slides from that and it's a
[40:44] recording So
there's only so much hold handing we can
[40:48] do unfortunately.
>> I agree and it's it's an amazing
[40:52] pre-process like pre-application process
which has been set up and
[40:56] » kind of they have been told this
multiple times or probably all
[41:00] » the material they would ever require for
the application is present at their
[41:04] disposal. Um how do the applications
happen just for my knowledge? Like are
[41:09] is there a portal the portal? Yes. It's
a shared portal um that's run by the
[41:15] city of Redmond and then they basically
set up an account um and then they work
[41:20] on their application and then they
submit it and so it goes into this
[41:24] shared portal and then we uh along with
all the other cities like work together
[41:29] to download them and then
>> Yeah. So how we see the application all
[41:34] these separate um
>> sections in the application all of them
[41:39] are separate boxes for them to fill
things out
[41:42] » and then one by one they go through each
of them and then submit the final
[41:45] application which then gets to the the
original form which we see right now
[41:50] like the entire page. Okay.
>> Yeah. So just again just out of my
[41:54] curiosity are there asterisks on the
compulsory fields where people know that
[41:59] hey I have to fill this out otherwise my
application will not be completed.
[42:04] Yeah, I believe so. I I think cuz I I I
filled in when I was
[42:08] » all I want to say is
>> coming from a computer science
[42:11] background when you hit that submit
button there will be a very small check
[42:15] which needs to be put there to say like
hey the compulsy fields have not been
[42:20] done and the application is incomplete
we cannot accept it
[42:23] » that's interesting cuz I feel like
>> so that covers us from all sides like
[42:28] hey we are doing all the due diligence
to make sure that you are not submitting
[42:32] an incomplete application
>> I mean they have checklists
[42:36] that. Yeah,
>> but we can force it programmatically.
[42:39] » Yeah, that's that's I mean I can bring
it up. I mean like I know we're going to
[42:42] be doing a joint meeting with the other
17 cities to talk about process
[42:47] improvements. It's hard because like
having 17 cities
[42:52] » take me there like agree. Yes, maybe you
could come and help you. Um, no, but no,
[42:57] I do absolutely hear you like and and
that is great feedback for staff to go
[43:02] and speak and just figure out you can't
go past you can't submit unless you've
[43:08] Yeah,
>> I hear what you're saying.
[43:10] » Required fields.
>> Required fields. Yeah,
[43:13] » it's a very easy thing to do on that but
and hence I just wanted to know what is
[43:17] the way of submission and how do they do
it and all of that. Yeah, I've
[43:21] understood that clarity on that and then
I can also provide that feedback because
[43:25] I know in October there's going to be a
joint meeting for us to talk about the
[43:29] process. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[43:32] » Because if if in the long run their
application is not accepted because they
[43:38] didn't fill it out,
>> they might as well know that at time of
[43:42] submission.
you know, if that because that's their
[43:45] last chance to actually fill it out and
do something even if you know, if it's
[43:49] just a little red mark and then okay,
yes, I submit even though it's not
[43:54] filled out, you know, just a pause. Is
that kind of what you're saying, Somia?
[43:58] » I agree on that because I understand
what you just mentioned. Sometimes they
[44:02] know that this is required, but they
actually just don't have the numbers to
[44:05] provide.
>> Yeah. And in that case, they need to
[44:08] write NA or something so that we know
that it's not like that they missed it.
[44:14] » Just they don't have a number and so
that we we we feel comfortable taking
[44:19] our decisions.
>> Yeah.
[44:20] » And not like, oh my god, they just
missed. They just had incompleted
[44:24] application. That's so bad.
>> Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's hard. I
[44:28] mean like we've had organizations in the
past, not this go around but um a senior
[44:33] organization that missed the deadline
and the deadline was on a Friday and she
[44:38] thought it was on the Monday
>> and unfortunately you know we couldn't
[44:42] open it cuz if we opened it for them
then we'd have to open it for everyone
[44:45] else. though I do hear what you're
saying like so what can we do
[44:50] proactively
before that time like and when they go
[44:54] through that process they shouldn't be
able to go to the next thing and if they
[44:58] haven't filled out something so yeah um
I would definitely um bring that
[45:05] feedback up to to to the rest of the um
um cities yeah I think would also save
[45:11] us time you know like we're not looking
for an entire application and then
[45:14] saying oh my god this is incomplete. You
know, we know that when we get an
[45:18] application, it is complete. It's good
to go.
[45:20] » I agree. And saves staff's time as well.
Like 17 cities, so many staff working on
[45:24] it and trying to like reach out to these
organizations, reminding them of doing
[45:28] things. I mean, in the world of AI now,
we can all do it programmatically.
[45:33] » So, yeah, let's leverage that more.
>> Yeah. No, great point. Fantastic.
[45:39] All right. So what we'll do is that like
we had that any other feedback you want
[45:43] to give us regarding the PowerPoint?
We've taken some points about trying to
[45:48] put sort of um hours spent on reviewing
the applications
[45:53] um and then talking about like past
applications and reviews
[46:00] um and just how much time the commission
spent reviewing the applications.
[46:08] and then I'll provide that feedback to
um the rest of the cities that are part
[46:14] of the um of the portal.
Anything else? And then we will work on
[46:22] this and then send it out to the
commission to look at again. Um we'll
[46:27] also provide um the memo that we're
putting together. Um that will give more
[46:32] context to to to the process to council.
So hopefully what will happen is the
[46:37] council will look at the memo, they'll
look at the recommendations and then on
[46:42] the October 6 you'll be able to present.
So they'll they'll they'll have some uh
[46:46] uh background as well. So for presenting
do we go through each of these slides?
[46:51] Um so yeah I mean that's like you know I
mean it would be yourself and uh vice
[46:57] chair Javi um and then we'll have a
meeting with with the both of you um and
[47:04] then yeah you can decide how you want to
present that if you want to go turn in
[47:08] turn or if you want to focus on certain
slides or whatever. So um yeah and then
[47:15] you know again like staff is there so if
there's a question that you're not quite
[47:20] sure about you know we we can also chime
in.
[47:23] » Yeah.
>> Cool. I have all right more comments. I
[47:28] like this.
>> Is it still possible to add the stat for
[47:32] DB just so it's not
>> so would you like decided?
[47:37] » Okay. So you Okay. So you want it for
men as well. Okay. Great.
[47:40] » Yeah. I guess cuz you said if it's just
overall it kind of like
[47:45] » I think it's intimate partner violence.
So
[47:49] » that's what you said.
>> Yeah. So should I look at that? So
[47:52] that's
okay. Let let me just Yeah.
[47:56] » I don't know. Just so it doesn't just
seem
[47:59] » we can average it out to person then.
How many people one out of five or
[48:04] whatever like average it out between men
and women and just use a general term
[48:09] » that will dilute the metric
>> you know
[48:11] » just adding other say we add that as
well one and three and maybe one in five
[48:16] one in six whatever face domestic
violence
[48:19] » or did you say it doesn't exist? No, no,
no, no. It it definitely exists. I feel
[48:24] like, you know, and obviously domestic
violence can happen like any gender and
[48:29] it doesn't just have to be females. It
can be men as well. Um, but we know that
[48:34] the overwhelming propensity is towards
women.
[48:38] » Um, but yeah, I can look and see the
stat and see.
[48:41] » Yeah, I think it'd be good to add to
that second uh statistic because it is
[48:45] eye opening. Yeah, if it dilutes the the
um the number then maybe just
[48:54] create
>> just put both.
[48:55] » I think we just three women and maybe
one in 10 men.
[48:59] » Okay. Whatever it is,
>> which is more intense to show and then
[49:04] we just use it. Right. In this case, it
just happened to be
[49:07] » Do you want to talk to it? Do you want
it on the slide or would you like to
[49:11] talk to it? So you've got one in three
women and then you can also just add to
[49:15] it and say and then also one or whatever
the stat is. So I can find that stat for
[49:20] you.
>> Yeah.
[49:21] » Yeah. If you have the stats speak to it.
Yeah.
[49:24] » Yeah. So um as staff like we can write
notes and then you can add takeaway and
[49:29] make it your own however. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Great point.
[49:42] Okay, thank you for creating those pres
that presentation. It was really
[49:46] beautiful and um thank you for the
discussion. We have now some points we
[49:52] would want to work on.
Next we have the staff report. Okay,
[49:58] this is very brief um because we were on
vacation both Mike and I and um not for
[50:03] the whole time but for a while. Um just
the one thing that happened uh we had a
[50:07] welcoming farmers market and that was on
um August uh Wednesday August the 26th.
[50:14] We had seven stores including um six
cultural local nonprofits. Uh the Y came
[50:22] as well and the city had a table. Um so
that was just like it was a welcoming
[50:26] farmers market and uh we really promoted
the local um cultural nonprofits. Um and
[50:32] that's it. And Mike and I are just
getting back into the swing of things.
[50:36] So, uh um yeah, you can talk about your
vacations, too.
[50:41] » Oh, that wouldn't be in staff report.
That might be afterwards. But yes,
[50:46] » awesome. Thank you for that. Any
commissioner reports?
[50:51] So I don't know if this is the right
forum to speak but um just something
[50:56] that you know I felt I don't know if the
city can facilitate this or if you can
[51:01] bring it up but over the summer I
started uh playing majong with a few
[51:08] neighbors and now it's a pretty somebody
just started it and now we all meet
[51:11] every week and we just play majong we
talk um I found it extremely connecting
[51:17] because we are from diverse backgrounds
We are Asians, we Indians, we are white
[51:22] people, we are you know so it's it's so
nice to meet with people and we are
[51:28] constantly like whose house should we
meet? Do you have enough tables? Do you
[51:32] have enough chairs? But it would be
really good if I don't know if the city
[51:35] can facilitate for just people to have a
place to meet you know and just do
[51:40] things like this because I feel like we
are really missing a place where like we
[51:45] can't do it in the library. it be too
loud
[51:48] » uh you know so it would be really good
if the city maybe can facilate and not
[51:52] just for the majong group you know for
people in general to just meet I know a
[51:56] group another group that plays American
majong meets at big block brewery
[52:00] um you know and they meet every week and
we play Hong Kong majong and we meet in
[52:05] someone's house but I think everybody
would appreciate having a place to just
[52:11] meet and you know connect with our
neighbors so just something that I
[52:16] experienced over the summer.
>> I think initially we were able to book
[52:20] the conference rooms up there, but I
don't know if that's still a practice.
[52:24] » Is that in the Y?
>> Oh, yeah. The Y the Y has two conference
[52:30] rooms, but I don't know the specifics of
how
[52:34] » a lot of nonprofits otherwise you have
to pay.
[52:36] » Okay.
>> You know, only nonprofits they allow to
[52:39] meet. Um, we are not a nonprofit. We're
just neighbors. So you don't want to pay
[52:44] to book a room otherwise.
>> So just a a community space that doesn't
[52:48] cost
>> money, right?
[52:51] » Yeah, good question.
>> I mean our only cost is the snacks that
[52:55] we bring like all of us bring snacks but
other than that you know we all have
[52:58] sets we all share but you know it' be
really good if we could not just us like
[53:04] anybody you know finds a place that we
can just meet.
[53:09] » Okay. So, just out of curiosity, what
happened to that building 93 92?
[53:14] Actually, 120. I'll let Mike take over.
>> Yeah, the um council is still in the
[53:21] process of studying that space. Um and I
can't remember when it's scheduled to
[53:26] come back to them next, but I think
there's going to be a report out
[53:29] sometime soon. So, if there's interest
in that, I can let the commission know
[53:34] the next time that's um coming up for
discussion in front of city council. So
[53:38] they are still deciding what to do with
that space. Is that so?
[53:42] » Yeah. It's it started off with uh kind
of an evaluation of just the basics of
[53:46] the space like is it um safe for
earthquakes, you know, the critical
[53:52] areas on site, um the HVAC system, all
that because we we kind of inherited the
[53:57] building unexpectedly from CW when they
left. Um and so it's kind of been
[54:02] progressing from there. Once we've
determined that it was safe to inhabit,
[54:05] then it's like what are the potential
uses and and so on. So, it's kind of a
[54:09] multi-step process. Um, but I'll need to
check to see where where they are in the
[54:13] process. It's run by our facilities
team.
[54:17] » Yeah. And do they have a deadline by
when they will be presenting that
[54:20] report?
>> I'll have to get back to you on that
[54:23] one.
>> Yeah.
[54:24] » Thanks.
>> Yeah, we can like request to have a room
[54:27] there which will be which will be all
always booked then.
[54:31] There are a lot of community groups that
have expressed interest in having some
[54:34] space at building 120. It's definitely a
big topic of conversation.
[54:39] » Everyone is eyeing that building.
>> They are. They are. Yes.
[54:47] » Awesome. Thank you for that. Um the next
meeting agenda topics
[54:52] that's on Tuesday, October 6 with the
city council where we present the grant
[54:57] recommendation.
Yeah.
[55:00] Yes. Actually, yeah. Um and then the
October meeting will be cancelled in lie
[55:05] of the October 6th meeting.
>> Um yeah.
[55:09] » Is that um at 6:30 on
>> 6:30? Um so we'll get back to you.
[55:15] Currently we're not on the top of the
agenda. So we're going to see. Yeah. So
[55:21] so we we'll be back in touch to give you
an idea of what time that would be.
[55:25] Okay.
[55:28] That's it for today.