[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.

September 9, 2026 - Human Services Commission Meeting

Transcript