Notes from Shoreline council meeting December 13, 2021 - last meeting of the year - last meeting for three councilmembers

Pam Cross, reporter

Shoreline City Council Meeting

December 13, 2021

Notes by Pam Cross

Mayor Hall called the remote meeting to order at 7:00pm.

All Councilmembers were present.

Approval of the Agenda

Mayor Hall proposes moving Council Reports to the end of the Agenda just prior to adjournment. Then the usual Council reports can be followed by any year-end comments, since this is our final meeting of the year.

Revised Agenda approved by unanimous consent.

Report of the City Manager, Debbie Tarry

COVID-19 UPDATE

 

King County’s new infection rate is still at the high end of the “substantial” designation, and trending up again as can be seen in the above graph. Hospitalizations and deaths remain low but are slowly increasing. Shoreline infection rates are also increasing, with hospitalizations and deaths remaining very low.

Vaccine Clinic for adults and children through December 17.

Thanks again to our Shoreline FD, Shoreline CC, and UW Medicine for making this resource available to us.

Proposition 1

We are holding a series of factual informational presentations. Please join us online on the dates shown above. Additional dates for presentations are available on the City’s website shown above.

HOLIDAY EVENTS

The map is now available for everyone to use to explore the creative light displays in Shoreline and our surrounding communities. You can still be added to the map by signing up by Dec 19.

Public Reminders

The Planning Commission will hold a virtual meeting on Thursday Dec 16 at 7:00pm to discuss the outdoor seating development code amendment.

This is the final Council meeting of 2021. The next Council meeting will take place on Monday Jan 3, 2022.

Shoreline City Hall will be closed on Friday, Dec 24 and Friday, Dec 31.

Spartan Recreation Center will be closed Friday-Saturday, Dec 24 - 25, and Dec 31 - Jan 1.

For more information, visit shorelinewa.gov/calendar

On behalf of all of us at City Hall, and our other facilities, I want to convey our very deepest gratitude for the many years of dedicated service from our three outgoing members of Council. The City of Shoreline will forever be shaped by your service.

Public Comment

Pam Cross, Shoreline, SAN Reporter
Mayor Hall, Councilmembers McGlashan and Chang will be missed for their knowledge, insight, humor, and vision for our City. Although I don’t always agree with them, I believe they make informed decisions based on what they believe is best for our City. Looking at Seattle, it is easy to see what happens to a city when Councilmembers are more interested in making a name for themselves than doing what they were elected to do. Thank you for your service.

Jackie Kurle, Shoreline
I too want to thank the outgoing Mayor and Councilmembers for their service.
Additionally, I want to reiterate the importance of having maximum transparency for the operations of the advanced shelter with regular updates of shelter operations, success stories or challenges.

Approval of the Consent Calendar
Consent Calendar approved unanimously (7-0)

Council Reports

CM Robertson
We had a meeting of the North King County Coalition on Homelessness. Predominately, this was a discussion with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. We got to see a document that they are preparing that summarizes the activities that are taking place in the North KingCo cities. This would include the number of units that are available, and the number of individuals and beds in those units and so forth. We also got to see a list of investments that Shoreline has made, and makes throughout the year, to our area services supporting the homeless. They started to ask about future consolidation of those funds and whether or not Shoreline would consider putting them in the hands of the Regional Authority for them to distribute throughout the North KingCo region. This was very preliminary and will require Council discussion.

Regarding the three outgoing Councilmembers: I will never forget working with this group for my first seat on the Council. Thanks for your wisdom, support and camaraderie.

CM Roberts
At the Sound Cities Association (SCA) annual meeting, the association adopted its budget without challenges.

At the The SCA Public Issues Committee (PIC) meeting last week, the board elected CM Roberts as Vice-Chair for 2022. Bill Boyce, Kent Councilmember, is the new Chair.

I don’t know where to even begin thanking the outgoing members for their service to the community on this Council. Our Council works because of the people who are on it. When CM McGlashan was Mayor, he was able to bring us together. He was able to create this environment where we are able to respectfully disagree, and where we can have policy disagreements that don’t affect how we treat each other as individuals. And I think that has really been something that has made our Council work unlike other Councils across the region. I’m grateful to serve on a body that is supportive of everyone’s efforts.

I want to thank CM Chang for the way she has brought passion and a sense of humanity to this Council, for everything she brought from her background, as well as her ensuring that the voices of the community were heard and felt.

Mayor Hall, I appreciate your passion for the environment. We have done some great work on this Council and I think we can be proud of what we have done for the environment and our community. I believe we have done our part for the community and for the generations to come.

Deputy Mayor Scully
CM Chang, we all relied on your technical expertise. Sometimes you asked questions I didn’t understand, but you also have a gift for turning complicated concepts into words that we all can understand. I think you’ve help elevate our understanding of some of the technical stuff. More than that, you’re really connected to the community and I’ve always been impressed by how actively you listen and how well you bring forward what you’ve heard from folks. I’ve appreciated your friendship and support.
CM McGlashan and I were more likely to vote together on any issue than any other two Councilmembers. But the one thing we couldn’t do at the same time was say the Pledge of Allegiance. (Laughter). We always had a slightly different cadence. I relied on his experience and appreciated his connection to the small business community. Mostly, I appreciated his ability to just cut to the chase. That has kept us grounded on many occasions
Mayor Hall, we’ve had a long working relationship. We conflict on some policy stuff, but the reason why I think this is, is because we both feel very passionate about things. I have learned from you over the years how to temper that and how to better interact with those around me. I’ve come to view you as mentor and a friend and it will be a very different Council without you three members.

CM McConnell
You are all a diverse group of people and, as already stated, we all have unique qualities that make us all work better for the community. I never saw anyone with a personal agenda. I will miss the more casual times when we travelled and didn’t talk “shop.” I wish you all a great life “afterwards” because we know you have plans of how you’re going to spend your time.

CM Chang
I’m going to miss all of you. It has been an honor to serve the City and I think we’ve done some great things. We spent so much time together. This has been one of the highlights of my life. Thank you.

CM McGlashan
I want to thank everybody in the community for their support (or non-support). it’s been an honor to serve. We’ve been through a lot of growing pains in the 16 years I’ve been on Council. I think the City is turning out to be a pretty darned good place because of the decisions we’ve made. And heartfelt thanks for your kind words. Best to you in the new year. I’ll be around.

Mayor Hall
I want to share my appreciation for all of you. Serving this community and this Council has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life and I’ve learned so much from you. I just can’t express how thankful I am for each of you, your work to make this a special place, and the work the community does as well.

 
I want to acknowledge and thank our City Manager and our employees. Those are the people who do the actual hard work everyday to take care of the City, fix our roads, work with kids on education programs, and clean up our parks. Everything that makes this such a beautiful community is thanks to the hard work of our city employees. I think we have the greatest team of employees in the State.

We’re all flooded with negativity on the news and the internet, even in conversations with friends. There’s certainly a lot to complain about between COVID, racism, climate change, homelessness, gun violence, inequity between the haves and the have-nots, and the list goes on. But in the midst of all that negativity, we can either just complain about it, or we can look for ways to make a difference. And what I appreciate about everybody on this Council, and all the elected officials that represent us at all levels, everyday they are looking for a way to make a positive difference - instead of just complaining.

That’s what gives me hope that Shoreline will just keep getting better and better. I’ve enjoyed and learned from each of you. And I will miss it. Thank you.

MEETING ADJOURNED