Notes from Shoreline council meeting August 9, 2021

Pam Cross, reporter

Shoreline City Council Meeting

August 9, 2021

Notes by Pam Cross

Deputy Mayor Scully called the remote meeting to order at 7:00pm.
(Mayor Hall experienced a momentary technical delay.)
All Councilmembers were present

Proclamations

I, Will Hall, Mayor of the City of Shoreline, on behalf of the Shoreline City Council, do hereby proclaim August 15th through August 22nd, 2021 as a time to CELEBRATE SHORELINE! in the City of Shoreline and invite all residents to join in this celebration of community connections, strength, and support.

And September 2021 as CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH in the City of Shoreline and encourage all people to join in this special observance.

Approval of the Agenda
Agenda adopted by unanimous consent.

Report of the City Manager presented by John Norris, Acting City Manager

COVID-19 UPDATE

As everyone knows the delta variant has increased the upward trend of infections because it is much more contagious. Thankfully, our high vaccination rate has kept hospitalizations and deaths very low in Shoreline.

 
CELEBRATE SHORELINE

Submissions will be shared via our website and social media. They will also be used as part of our larger community campaign during our Welcoming Week in September.

The structure must be made of canned and boxed foods, and your entry needs to be completed by August 15.

Council Reports

Councilmember McGlashan stated that Sound Transit had their special board meeting and passed the hybrid realignment. Generally speaking, all items will be put forth and moved forward on a timely basis. It sounds like BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) along 522/523 will be moving forward but I’m not clear whether or not that includes the parking garages. I think it will include the planned garages in Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Kenmore, and North Bothell.

Public Comment

The following individuals are concerned about the loss of old growth trees in Shoreline:
Laurel Stromme, Shoreline
Azar Jarmick, Shoreline
Kathleen Russell, Shoreline
Nancy Morris, Shoreline
Barbara Johnstone, Shoreline

Speaking on behalf of Echo Lake Waterfront Condominium, Laurel Stromme (Shoreline), and
Azar Jarmick (Shoreline), also expressed concern about parking, traffic volume and accidents with the planned construction of the housing on 198th St.

Jackie Kurle, Shoreline, reiterated the need for ongoing support and monitoring of activities at the enhanced Shelter.

Nancy Pfeil, Shoreline, stated that she had warned the Council about the enhanced shelter (16357 Aurora Ave N) attracting encampments. Darnell Park (located at 1125 N 165th St) now has what looks like an encampment. The park is trashed. We have noticed several homeless now sleeping in our neighborhood. They are transitory, but leave trash behind. Shelter operators have told them walking near the shelter is not safe due to these “hangers on”. It’s not too late to stop this problem.

Approval of the Consent Calendar
Consent Calendar approved unanimously

Action item 8 (a) Action on Ordinance No. 940 - Adopting Council’s Decision on the Closed-Record Appeal Hearing of the Shoreline Preservation Society Regarding the Naval Hospital Chapel Landmark Designation and Waiving Council Rule of Procedure 3.5 Regarding City Ordinances Requiring Three Readings

On July 26, 2021, the City Council meeting included a closed-record appeal hearing on an appeal filed by the Shoreline Preservation Society (SPS).

Because this is a quasi-judicial action, Councilmembers were reminded of the rules under the Appearance of Fairness law where they are required to disclose any communications they may have received related to this appeal outside the record (ex-parte communications).

Councilmember Robertson reported that in July 2020 she toured the Chapel Site with a member of the Shoreline Preservation Society. She had previously given this information to the City.
However, since she was unable to attend the discussion July 26, she will abstain from voting tonight.

Presented by: Margaret King, City Attorney
Julie Ainsworth-Taylor, Assistant City Attorney

Proposed Ordinance No. 940 provides the findings and conclusions supporting Council’s decision to remand the matter to the Shoreline Commission based on Issue No. 7 which asserted that the Shoreline Commission failed to provide timely public notice. In considering proposed Ordinance No. 940, the City Council will need to waive Council Rule 3.5 which requires ordinances to have three readings.

Staff recommends Council waive Council Rule 3.5 regarding three readings and adopt Ordinance No. 940 as revised for Finding #4.

Move and second to adopt.

DISCUSSION
No additional discussion

VOTE
Passes by a vote of 5-1
Deputy Mayor Scully opposed
Councilmember Robertson abstained as noted above

Study item 9 (a) Discussion and Introduction of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA)

This is a brief update on addressing homelessness in Shoreline with a focus on providing an overview of the newly formed King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) and the Sub-Regional Planning Process.

Presented by:
Colleen Kelly, Director Recreation, Cultural and Community Services

Joined by staff from KCRHA, including Marc Dones, CEO; Anne Martens, Director of External Affairs and Communications; and Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Sub-Regional Planning Manager.

Council established a goal in 2020 to site an enhanced shelter somewhere in North King County. The North King County Task Force on Homelessness was created to do this. Now that the enhanced shelter has been opened in Shoreline, the Task Force continues to convene with a slightly broader focus to work more collaboratively across the North End cities and to work with the New Homelessness Authority 9KCRHA).

Towards that end, we are working on a Memorandum of Agreement that we will bring back to Council in September.

Anne Martens, Director of External Affairs and Communications presents a status update:

KCRHA is significantly behind schedule. The initial plan was to have this up and running by 2020. Then the pandemic changed everything. So KCRHA started in April 2021 and we have hired a very strong executive team.

We have a 12 member Governing Committee, an Implementation Board which is more like a traditional board of directors that oversees strategy day-to-day, and then we have a Continuum Advisory Board that is required by Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

KCRHA is assuming service provider contracts from King County and Seattle but terms will stay the same throughout 2022 when contracts will be re-bid for 2023. We will put out an RFP (request for proposal) that will let providers know what we expect and need. We think this will provide significant transformative changes in 2023.

We are working on our Catalytic Portfolio that will include:
Peer to peer outreach. That is, using those with lived experience of homelessness as peer navigators who can serve as examples and provide assistance in connecting people with the system. We believe this will be so much better and will improve the quality of our data. We can develop a by-name list including where they are (encampment, shelter, transitional housing etc), what they need, and whether there is a plan to get that to them. From this we can create a map to see where the gaps are and then resource appropriately so we can see that people are getting what they need.

What we are seeing now is a gap between emergency shelter and permanent housing. We want to fill this gap that would then open more space in the emergency shelters. We are looking into acquiring single family and multifamily houses and use the adult family home model. This also integrates into the community instead of filling a large hotel or shelter.

Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Sub-Regional Planning Manager talks about Sub-Regional Planning

 We have had contact with 120 different organizations including nonprofits, providers, cities and we’ve made contact with over 200 people. We are meeting with as many folks as possible (over 100 so far)

In North King County we’ve engaged with groups such as North Urban Human Services Alliance (NUHSA) and North King County Coalition on Homelessness; city staff from Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell and Woodinville; provider agencies like Mary’s Place, Kirkland/Northshore Center, Lake City Partners, Bothell United Methodist Church, RADAR Navigator Program, and Center for Human Services.

Because of the many factors involved, it takes a lot of time. We will be drafting a sub-regional plan in early 2022.

Other sub-regions currently are East King County, Snoqualmie Valley, South King County, and Seattle Metro. This is a developing process.

The North King County Sub-Region consists of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Kenmore, Woodinville, and Lake City.

Anne Martens

We are working with lawyers on how to encourage cities to sign on to an Inter-Local-Agreements (ILA) with a services agreement, to make sure we are meeting the city’s needs. An ILA clarifies the relationship with KCRHA. We would like to signal to cities that “we are all in this together”, but we recognize that homelessness looks different in different places. However fragmentation and inconsistencies in approach is a barrier to solving homelessness. We believe that the more cities that we can get to sign on to the regional approach, the better it will be for everybody. Another thing is that we will have consistent data, consistent metrics and technical assistance from the Regional Authority. Combined funding should also go farther.

DISCUSSION

Have other sub-regions put together Task Forces like we have?

• Reply: There are a number of sub-regional convenings.

Currently King County is buying up hotels, is that part of this? Or will it be wrapped into it as it goes along?

• Reply: It’s aligned but not part of it and will not be rolled into it. So it will stay with King County.

How did Lake City get into the North King County Subregion instead of Seattle-Metro?

• Reply: Lake City was kind of chiseled out that way in response to what we’re hearing from the Lived Experience Coalition as well as little things we were hearing from providers, understanding that Lake City is very much on that kind of border point as well, and as we continue to look at it and talk with Seattle, it may end up in both regions.

Shoreline didn’t wait to address homelessness. One of the key things we’re working on is Alternative Service Response / Alternative Service Delivery models. Now when you report a possible encampment, you get either a fire or police response. We need another service like RADAR because it’s not enough. Who else do we need to direct crisis intervention? You’re revisiting this so keep us in mind. We’re going to do this anyway, but please let us know so we don’t duplicate efforts. We support the regional approach.

There’s a lot of concern here about being next to Seattle and its issues. We have homelessness here but on a much smaller scale than Seattle. We don’t want all the money from a regional approach going to Seattle because of their numbers. We need services he even if our need is less.

• Reply: We agree alternative contact is needed for behavioral health issues. I would ask that Shoreline should keep us apprised of its progress, so maybe we can work together.
• As far as funds distribution, Shoreline is not the only city to bring that up. There will be a clear answer to that in the service agreement we develop.

You mentioned rebidding services for 2023. What providers will that affect in Shoreline? I’m concerned about our enhanced shelter at 163rd and Aurora and the new one on 198th. We were very careful when we selected our service providers. Would we have any say in that?

• Reply: Off the top of my head, I don’t know the answer. It would be anyone who holds a provider contract with King County as of right now, and if Shoreline signs on to an ILA, it would be anyone who has a contract with Shoreline.

I realize the ILA hasn’t been written yet, but I’m concerned about local control, and what it means for us. We want to determine what the services will look like.

• Reply: I think some of that goes into the service agreement. But it is a negotiation with a little bit of tension and a little bit of a balance. KCRHA wants consistent metrics, to track consistent outcomes, and data that covers the whole county. We want an outreach force that uses best practices. Technical assistance may work best handled by KCRHA. We want to get away from a fragmented system but we want to make sure we are meeting local needs.

I want to make sure that Shoreline doesn’t become the place where it’s all concentrated. Shoreline has already done a lot. There are other cities in North King County and it needs to be shared among these cities.

• Reply: I agree. The goal is shared responsibility.

Where does collaboration end and the Inter-Local-Agreements (ILA) begin? A lot of these organizations are getting funding from both the city and the county. Where’s the line? As the previous Councilmember said, there are programs that we have decided to fund in some in different ways with a long history with us. Does collaboration need to go so far into governmental arrangement?

• Reply: That’s an ongoing discussion. It will be easier for providers if they can consolidate contracts. That’s the reason KCRHA is here because what King County was doing and Seattle was doing wasn’t working. Based on a countywide audit, the call was made that we needed a more regional approach. We needed a more consistent way of addressing these things. We want to work with your long-time providers but we also want to make sure there is consistency throughout the system.

If my memory is correct, one of those challenges prior to the creation of KCRHA was the metrics of Seattle and the metrics of King County were fairly different. That they were counting different things and providers had to do double paperwork.

• Reply: yes, that is true. And I think it’s true across the county. What we hear from outreach workers and those with lived experience is that the data we have is inaccurate and previously used metrics to measure outcomes are not measuring the right things. That is why one of our goals is to set up a much better data back end.

I keep hearing that the data needs to be better, that we should have one metric across King County or across the state or across the nation. The more consistency we have the better. But I still haven’t heard why the ILA approach is the right approach.

• Reply: To make sure stuff happens

ok

We may have to ask staff to bring back answers to questions that weren’t fully answered. As was mentioned, this is going to be an ongoing discussion. We look forward to working on this.

MEETING ADJOURNED