City Council Regular Meeting Summary: 02/06/2023
Roll Call: All members present but K. Schilling & H. Garcia (excused)
Proclamations: Black History Month, 30th Anniversary of Incorporation
Presentations
Introduction to Burien’s Community Connectors
- The program is intended to serve Spanish, Vietnamese and Amharic speakers.
- BDS Planning is the consulting firm running the program; Connectors are contracted until at least next April.
- BDS Planning trained the employees on city operations.
- The Connectors will be involved in the Shape Your City community engagement program
Council Reports
- J. Matta reported that his business storefront was broken into at 2 AM, the thieves returned 5 AM. Police were called and he applauded their efforts in investigating the theft. Matta called for thieves to be jailed, in addition to mental health and drug rehabilitation programs to be implemented. Due to inflation, it may get worse. Cited his victimization, of three car thefts stolen from him, $15,000 business losses last year, premiums go up when insurance policies are used. Not in support of criminals that take advantage of hard-working people and mom-and-pop shops.
Public Comment
- Sally N. – Arts Funding – Thanked Council for allotment for Arts funding. Burien Actor Theater located a space at Kennedy High School for live performances through March 5th.
- John W. – Identified a communication issue in Burien: public announcements are made via newspaper as legally required, but there is no official Burien newspaper. He requests that all announcements voluntarily be submitted to B-Town Blog. Also requested that Public Comment speakers identify whether or not they are Burien residents.
- Paul G. – In support of J. Matta’s sentiments regarding crime. Airport Air Quality Report – 509 Gateway project will add 4 lanes of truck traffic, wildfire smoke will impact air quality as well. Recommends furnace filters/HEPA home filters; education & subsidies, heat pumps, to improve indoor air quality. ## Consent Agenda
- Approved unanimously
Business Agenda
Introduction to Resolution No. 492, South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP) Housing Capital Fund Allocations
- SKHHP was formed via an interlocal agreement between Auburn, Federal Way, Renton, Burien, Kent, Tukwila, Covington, Maple Valley, Des Moines, Normandy Park & King County.
- A portion of sales tax can be recaptured when the funds are used for affordable housing projects.
- Pooling sales tax receipts is now authorized with approval from individual city councils.
- Three projects applied for SKHHP Capital Funds in 2022, SKHHP Board concurred with the request and recommended $1.3M to fully fund 2 of the 3 projects. Projects are as follows
- Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King and Kittitas Counties: Burien Homeownership Project. 20 3-Bedroom townhouses. $300,000 to be funded.
- Mercy Housing Northwest: Burien Family Housing. 89-unit multifamily affordable rental housing development. $1.09M to be funded
- ecoTHRIVE: Burien Homeownership project with 26 houses. $700,000-$1M requested, will not be funded.
- Burien contributed $146,350 to the fund and is seeking council approval to allocate $140,814.77 for the two projects.
- Vote: Approve Resolution No. 492, authorize the allocation of funds – 4 yea (C. Moore, S. Aragon, S. Moore, J. Matta) – 1 nay (S. Mora) – Resolution Passes
Shape Your City – Summary of 2022 Community Engagement Efforts
- Seeks to engage community on the Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan
- Accomplished via display tables at city events, mini-workshops and online workshops
- www.Burienwa.gov/syc provides a calendar of events, email newsletter, surveys and articles.
- 1,700 comments received, responses were cataloged and analyzed.
- Housing, Economic Development, Community Character, Park Amenities, Public Safety, were the most mentioned categories.
Introduction to an Interagency Agreement between King County and Burien for the Lake to Sound Trail
- The trail will connect Lake Washington to Puget sound
- Lake to Sound Trail, segment C; South Normandy Rd & Ambaum to S 200th St.
- King County will own and maintain the trail by quit claim to the city.
- Vote: Approve and execute the interlocal agreement between Burien and King County – 4 yea (C. Moore, S. Aragon, S. Moore, J. Matta) – 1 asbtain (S. Mora) – Motion Passes
Council Selection of 2023 Advisory Body Applicants to be Interviewed
- The Agenda bill requested that council either: select only specific candidates, specified by Council, to interview at special meetings, or, select all candidates, including current members, to be interviewed at special meetings.
- Council had much discussion about postponing the discussion, and whether or not individual appointments could be made to shorten the list of candidates and meetings required to interview them. City Manager Bailon stated that delaying the discussion may make meeting deadlines a challenge. Ultimately it was decided that no appointments could be made due to lack of public notice, and that interview selections would have to made individually.
- Selecting candidates to interview proved to be a challenge since S. Aragon, C. Moore, S. Moore and S. Mora were the only ones that provided their candidate selections in advance of the meeting. J. Matta opted to abstain from all further discussion or action on the topic.
- Council voted to interview all candidates with 3 or 4 council selection picks per the tallying. This eliminated about 11 candidates
- Vote: Interview candidates with 3-4 selections – 4 yea (C. Moore, S. Aragon, S. Moore, S. Mora) – 1 abstain (J. Matta) – Motion Passes
