With the end of my term days away I have been taking stock of my aspirations and my accomplishments.  I found my speech from the day in January 2016 when I was sworn in with a Council Chambers full of supporters of mine as well as my colleagues who were also being sworn in. Here is what I said then:

Thank you.  Council colleagues, distinguished guests, family, and friends, I am honored to serve as the first Councilmember for the first district of West Seattle and South Park.  I’d like to begin with a bit of trivia about me.  My first real job at 13 was also at a City Hall, but as a janitor. I was placed there through the comprehensive employment training act, a jobs program for low- income youth started by President Jimmy Carter and 30 some odd years later I’m still working at City Hall. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment but I just can’t seem to leave the place.  Some might say that I’m living proof of how government can make a difference in people’s lives. I prefer to say, with a special shout out to our janitors that I’ve known firsthand more than a couple of very important jobs here at City Hall.

18 years serving Seattle residents working for Councilmember Nick Licata, and my prior work as a community organizer, has given me a very strong sense of to whom we must do a better job listening to.  I just, week before last, attended a meeting with Councilmembers González and Harrell and comprised of folks working to ensure that those who have made mistakes, but paid their debt to society, or were only accused, but never convicted of a crime should be able to access housing in Seattle. The message from this meeting wasn’t only that we need to ensure that landlords are making decisions based upon people’s suitability to rent, but also, that as policymakers we must do a better job of taking our cues from those that we hope to serve.

Seattle voters delivered the same message in passing district elections.  We must make sure that people are not left behind.  The top 5% of our region’s income earners have seen their wages rebound to pre-recession levels.  Where 10 years ago, more than 50% of our workforce lived here in Seattle, today only 40% does. The people who make our city prosper must also have the chance to prosper themselves.  In that spirit, I will work to pass laws that ensure that those benefit from that prosperity also invest in a fair deal for our city.  Let’s pass developer impact fees to ensure that growth helps pay for mobility improvements. Let’s set regulations that protect renters from some of the excesses of a very hot housing market. We must also be persistent advocates for responsible, responsive, and accountable policing and employment practices for all of our communities.

I say “we” because I’ve only gotten this far with the help of many in this room today. Many thanks to the hundred-plus volunteers who lent their energy to our effort and affirmed our shared values and aspirations together. Together we won this election, in spite of being outspent 3 to one.  If we continue to mobilize, like we have over the last 10 months, we can make sure that our voices challenge the status quo where change is needed the very most. I’ll only be able to succeed with you by my side.

Special thanks to my family, especially my mother, husband, and daughter. Your unwavering support for me has made what once seemed impossible possible.  And as for my teacher of the last 18 years, Nick Licata.  He embodies all of the very best qualities of a dedicated public servant, egoless leader and brilliant strategist. I will do my very best to remember your advice to see the world as it should be, to understand that political and social changes are a marathon of incremental steps. And to have fun!  I take this oath in gratitude and in service to each of you.  Thank you.

So today, looking back at my aspirations and comparing them to our shared accomplishments, like I was eight years ago, I am once again full of gratitude to many of you to whom I owe the credit for what WE have accomplished during my time on the Council.  Let’s take stock.

I have chaired four separate committees:

• Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts (2016-2019)
• Select Budget Committee (2017)
• Public Safety and Human Services (2020-2023), and
• 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action (2023)

In my eight years as a City Councilmember, I successfully sponsored 262 pieces of legislation. Many of those bills were routine and/or were proposed by executive departments.  So, from that list of 262 pieces of legislation, I’ve compiled a list of 58 ordinances and resolutions that are examples of non-routine legislation that I either worked closely with the executive on or were policies initiated my myself on the request of constituencies throughout the City.

Further, this list only includes legislation I sponsored, not my amendments to legislation sponsored by other Councilmembers or important “no” votes (for example, voting against the SODO arena proposal which paved the way to the privately financed Climate Pledge Arena, and the taxpayer bailout of Pronto bike share.  It also doesn’t include where my advocacy played a key role in funding or policy outcome (e.g. initial funding for the Highland Park Way/Holden intersection improvements or Mayor Durkan’s decision to repair rather than replace the West Seattle Bridge).

This list also doesn’t include department head appointments that I shepherded through my committees over the last 8 years.  Over the course of my time as a Councilmember, my committees have heard and recommended passage of the confirmation of each the Human Services Department Director, the Seattle Police Chief, Office of Policy Accountability Director, Community Police Commission Director, Office of Economic Development Director, Public Health Director, Seattle Office for Civil Rights Director, Office of Emergency Management Director, and the Seattle Public Utilities Director.

In addition to legislation, this list includes about 86 budget actions that I led on.  Again, it doesn’t include budget actions that I co-sponsored or supported, in instances when Councilmembers were the lead sponsor.

Further, after the closure of the West Seattle Bridge in March of 2020 up until the re-opening in September of 2022, my newsletter provided weekly updates about the status of the project to 10,000 constituents.   I am forever grateful to Newell Aldrich in my office for always ensuring that each week there was new information for the public about the bridge repair status.  I have thanked other departing staff members in previous newsletters, but Newell and I have been working side by side for 27 years.  I know I couldn’t have accomplished much of what I’ve done without his patient, thorough, and consistent support.

In addition to staffing the West Seattle Bridge closure and report, Newell’s clerked my committees.  As if that isn’t enough, his staffing of policy issues included legislation such as the BEPS bill, the Diversion Pathway Drug Enforcement Bill, Automated Traffic Enforcement legislation, legislation to fund SPD’s Recruitment and Training plan, legislation to strengthen each the Office of Police Accountability, the Office of the Inspector General, and the Community Police Commission, legislation to regulate SPD’s use of Less Lethal Weapons, legislation to improve fiscal accountability over large capital projects, legislation requiring SPD officers to display their badge numbers and legislation confirming the rights of people to observe and record police interactions with the public.  There’s more information about each of these bills below, as well as policy on protections for our workforce, tenant rights, community safety interventions, human services and behavioral health investments, and so much more!

I’d also like to recognize and give my thanks for the work of Elizabeth Calvillo Dueñas, who began to work with Team Herbold during the chaotic days of the pandemic and has been a critical support to my entire office to, among other duties, ensure that we are responding to constituents, whether sharing information about policy efforts or helping D1 residents navigate the bureaucracy of City of Seattle government.  She’s also guided public disclosure compliance and taken on more responsibility with policy efforts as other team members moved on to other responsibilities starting this fall.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve District 1.  As they say, “It’s been an honor and a privilege.”  I look forward to the representation of Councilmember-Elect Rob Saka and I have let him know that he can reach out to me anytime.  The representation of the district is what is most important to me.  I am confident that he and I share that perspective!

Herbold Budget and Policy Accomplishments 2016-2023

 

2023

2023 Policy Work (areas of focus: environment, public safety, behavioral health, workforce, D1)

• Landmark building emissions standards law to combat climate crisis, pollution
• Resolution to Maximize Impact of Opioid Settlement Funding for King County Residents 
• Resolution affirming the City’s good faith intent to consider raising in the collective bargaining process for the Seattle Police Management Association (SMPA) 2024 contract renewal police accountability proposals that have been identified by the public and the City’s police oversight agencies
• Resolution declaring the City Council’s and the Mayor’s intent to recognize the seismic retrofit of unreinforced masonry buildings in compliance with the City’s URM Retrofit Technical Standard
• New drug law enforcement authority to prioritize diversion over prosecution
• First-in-the-nation law protecting app-based workers from unreasonable deactivations
• Transportation safety legislation to use automated enforcement to discourage dangerous drag racing
• Resolution in support of fair pay for human services workers
• Legislation to protect firefighters, other first responders
• Legislation to approve transfer of the Dumar site to the Office of Housing (OH) clearing the way for competitive process to solicit proposals for the development of affordable housing and groundfloor retail
• Resolution enacting new Welcoming Policy for LGTBQIA+ Individuals in Shelter and Receiving Services

2023 Budget Wins (areas of focus: workforce, public safety, behavioral health, police accountability)

• Wage increases to start to close pay penalty gap for human services workers included in proposed budget
• Pass memorandum of agreement with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG) to expand diversified non-police responses to people in crisis, increase park ranger deployment geography, and improve police availability for event staffing
• Funding positions for new police alternative response (CARE team) and $1 million to expand opioid treatment 
• Funding to implement the App-Based Worker Deactivations Rights Ordinance in 2024 and also creation of a new dedicated fund source in 2025 to ensure our historic legislation – supporting workers not afforded the same rights as employees – is enforced.
• Funding for mental-health resources for frontline community-based crisis responders who are doing trauma-inducing work as violence preventers and violence interrupters and finding themselves, friends, and family members to be victims of gun violence.
• Funding to increase the reach of a gun-violence reduction program that provides wrap-around services to victims of gun violence and their families, proven to reduce the likelihood of their involvement in retributive violence.
• Funding for domestic violence mobile community-based survivor supports to protect survivor safety and confidentiality.
• New funding to support both the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Police Accountability in their efforts to support constitutional policing

2022

2022 Policy Work (areas of focus: public safety, workforce, health, environment/D1)

• Legislation to implement SPD’s recruiting and retaining plan, including hiring bonuses.
• Legislation to support recruiting, fund more recruiters and moving expenses for relocation to Seattle
• PayUp – Minimum Pay and Transparency for some contract workers
• Oversight of Chief of Police
• Add people who received/are seeking abortions as protected class
• Law to prohibit false and misleading statements made by crisis pregnancy centers, including statements of omission.
• Seattle Police Management Association (SPMA) agreement with reforms for how discipline appeals work, also ensuring arbitrators don’t substitute their judgment for the police chief’s. The new system also, as recommended by the CPC and the 2017 Accountability legislation establishes a preponderance standard for evidence rather than the higher standard of “Clear and Convincing” previously used. The new system also prohibits a hearing of new facts in discipline appeals resulting from Office of Police Accountability (OPA) investigations.  Another important improvement is that the SPMA contract removes restrictions on the ability of OPA to assign civilian investigators. 
• Legislation approving agreement to create a Duwamish Basin Steward position and develop and implement Chinook salmon habitat restoration projects in the lower eleven miles of the Green-Duwamish River in coordination with willing landowners, the local jurisdictions, and non-profit partners.
• Funding the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) to support the permanent operation of a laddertruck at Fire Station 37 and a medic unit at Fire Station 26, previously implemented temporarily during the closure of the West Seattle Bridge.
• Funding to support the implementation of dual dispatch of sworn officers and civilian staff to augment current response to calls with a mental/behavioral health nexus.
• Funding to the Human Services Department (HSD) to increase funding for service provider contract inflation so wages don’t fall behind
• Funding to expand LEAD program’s capacity
• Funding to increase City investment in a gun-violence reduction program that provides intervention, prevention, and restoration services including critical incident and hospital-based response, intensive engagement and wrap-around life-affirming care to those most impacted by gun violence.  Funding would enable program to target men age 25-40, previously program only worked with young people ages 16-24.
• Funding to implement the App-Based Worker Minimum Payment Ordinance 126595 and provide enforcement support for all labor standards

2021

2021 Policy Work (areas of focus: public safety, emergency management, workforce, police accountability, behavioral health)

• A resolution declaring the City Council’s and the Mayor’s intent to consider strategies to ensure that all unreinforced masonry buildings in Seattle are seismically retrofitted.
• Approving All-Hazards Mitigation plan while also requesting the Office of Emergency Management to 1. coordinate a citywide plan to mitigate the impacts of excessive heat on vulnerable populations and 2. a plane crash hazard mitigation plan for communities located under flight paths
• Authorizing a property purchase needed to construct the Terminal 5 Quiet Zone.
• Timely Payment and disclosure protections for all contract workers
• Subpoena Power in Police Oversight Investigations
• Less Lethal Weapon Regulation
• A resolution requesting King County and the State of Washington increase services to address behavioral health conditions.
• Funding to address the staffing and operational needs of our 911 Dispatch Workers at the Community Safety and Communications Center.
• Funding for the Seattle Fire Department to support 20 additional firefighter recruits above and beyond the 60 recruits in the Mayor Durkan’s proposed budget
• Funding for LEAD’s 2022 expansion
• $4 million to sustain the community safety hubs in West Seattle, SE Seattle, and the Central District operated by Seattle Community Safety Initiative
• Funding to support a workgroup of people with lived experience of domestic violence to recommend alternatives to incarceration that address misdemeanor domestic violence.
• Funding to support the expansion of the successful prefiling diversion program of the City Attorney’s Office, so we don’t limit these opportunities to only those under 25 years of age.
• $500,000 to expand mental health services in Seattle Public Schools, and $500,000 for community clinics for behavioral health services for new mothers, seniors, and the uninsured
• $1.5 million for mobile services to address the increased needs of survivors of gender-based violence
• $5.1 million to sustain current levels of food support through most of 2022, to help families struggling with the ongoing pandemic stay healthy and nourished.
• Funding to support Camp Second Chance to add more tiny homes and utility service
• Funding the City’s first investment in East African seniors, to provide wraparound services at existing meal programs
• Home for Good funding, a small investment that will help up to 65 Seattle residents keep their homes when they lose state disability benefits
• Funding for the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps

2020

2020 Policy Work (areas of focus: police accountability, small business support, workforce)

• Legislation to incorporate Whistleblower Protection, overseen by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, to reporting made regarding the Seattle Police Department or Office of Police Accountability.
• SPOG Bargaining Agreement Resolution on Accountability
• Rent Increase Ban and Payment Plan for Small Business and Non-profits (and a subsequent amendment in 2021)
• Capping App-Based Fees Paid by Restaurants
• Premium Pay for Gig Workers
• Involve Community Police Commission in Police Contract Bargaining
• Mi’chance Dunlap Gittens Youth Rights Ordinance
• Badge Number Display Ordinance
• RESOLUTION relating to policing and public safety; establishing the Council’s intent to create a civilian-led Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention; identifying actions in 2020 to remove certain functions from the Seattle Police Department and provide funding for a community-led process to inform the structure and function of the new department; requesting modifications to policing practices

2020 Budget Wins (areas of focus:  human services, transportation/D1, workforce, public safety)

• Funding to expand the Encampment Trash program
• $9 million annually to support transportation needs related to West Seattle Bridge Closure and COVID-19 response and recovery
• Loan $70M for West Seattle Bridge Repair
• West Marginal Way Longhouse crossing project; this specifies that $2.8 million will be included in the 2021 budget for this project with full funding (in line with what SDOT has noted.
• Social Service Provider Academy; this is a career development program that offers higher education opportunities to housing and homelessness social services entry level staff who are interested in advancing professionally in their field.
• Provide funding to a. reverse cut of Fire exams and b. reverse cut of 20 firefighters from SFD recruit class allowing the Seattle Fire Department to maintain current hiring and testing capacity.
• Add funding to the Fire Department to fund Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), Lucas Devices, and Ballistic Sets
• South Park Public Safety Coordinator to facilitate community safety, including district concerns, and youth engagement.
• Funding for Landlord Liaison Program to connect people to housing by establishing partnerships with landlords.
• Restore proposed cuts to Age Friendly Seattle.
• Add Funds to Maintain Family Rapid Rehousing Caseloads to ensure families do not fall back into homelessness, with half of the funds reserved for agencies with culturally-relevant expertise or serving populations disproportionately affected by homelessness.
• Community-Led Public Safety Investments to scale up community-led organizations, to move the City’s community safety strategy toward a public health-centered, harm reduction model of restorative justice, crime prevention, and ameliorating the harm caused by the criminal legal system to individuals and communities most impacted.
• Funding to contract with Public Health for services recommended by the 2016 Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force for active drug users in existing low barrier programs with the goal to reduce overdoes and fatal overdoses as well as increase the health of people who use substances.
• Increase services and harm reduction programs at social service agencies that serve people who use drugs daily, allowing them to expand hours, increase staff, expand to additional locations, provide peer and community outreach, implement good neighbor agreements for syringe pickup, provide participant incentives, explore Medicaid reimbursement for services, and make safety improvements.
• Restore funds proposed for reduction to organizations pursuing alternatives to or addressing harms caused by the criminal legal system that were awarded grant funding through the 2020 Collaborative Grantmaking process.

2019

2019 Policy Work (areas of focus: renters’ rights, civil rights, public safety, D1, culture)

• Losing Home Report recommendations to help renters (5 separate bills)
• Closed Captioning Requirement in Public Accommodations
• Vacant building Monitoring Program
• RESOLUTION requesting the Seattle Department of Transportation develop policy options for the maintenance of existing sidewalks, create a public education program on snow and ice removal responsibilities, and develop a program to enforce snow and ice removal requirements by private property owners
• RESOLUTION recognizing the efforts of the North Delridge community to prepare an action plan for their community; identifying a work program to implement the North Delridge Action Plan; and identifying proposed amendments to the Delridge Neighborhood Plan in the Comprehensive Plan for consideration in 2020
• Legislation to expand the boundary of the Pike Place Market Historical District to include the Showbox Theater

2019 Budget Wins (areas of focus: transportation/D1, public safety/D1, human services, utilities, culture)

• Add new funding for planning and design for West Marginal Way Safe Street and Accessibility Improvements at the Duwamish Longhouse
• Funding for a South Park Public Safety Coordinator
• $2.5 million, to $3 million for the Highland Park Way/Holden street project
• A third Firefighter recruit class to address long-term staffing issues.
• Five Mobile Pit Stops to increase access to bathrooms and hygiene centers.
• Mobile pump-out services to RVs to limit environmental damage to waterways
• Funding for two new Department of Construction and Inspection positions to support tenant and property owner outreach and education.
• Direct existing funds to community-based organizations to respond to hate violence
• Request that the Office for Civil Rights spend a portion of its 2020 Proposed Budget on community-based organizations to create restorative justice approaches to individuals committing hate crimes
• Two new positions at the Office for Civil Rights for a dispute resolution mediator and another to help with anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training.
• Funding for Seattle Public Utilities to improve shut-off notification to tenants in multifamily buildings.
• Re-direct admissions tax to OED for a Film and Music Program Lead to help film industry; proviso funding for the Creative Industry Policy Advisor position in OED to require engagement with the film industry in developing the responsibilities for this position
• Direct funding to support the Seattle Rep’s Public Works Seattle Program

2018

2018 Policy Work (areas of focus: Parks/D1, renters’ rights, civil rights, public safety/D1, fiscal oversight, environment)

• Schmitz Park Property Acquisition, a kind donation from Bruce Stotler, a D1 constituent, to our parks system.
• Source of Income Discrimination and First-in-Time Protections for renters
• Broadening Reasonable Accommodations Required in Housing
• Discrimination protections for domestic workers
• Increasing Statute of Limitations for Sexual Harassment Charges
• Excessive Vehicle Noise Ordinance to simplify enforcement of existing law prohibiting excessive vehicle exhaust noise. 
• Legislation to increase oversight for large capital projects, with enhanced reporting requirements
• Legislation approving solid waste collections contracts with Waste Management and Recology that required the addition of electric trucks to fleet, putting Seattle at the forefront of developing technologies in order to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and this resulted in savings of $5 million per year starting in 2019, for a total of $50 million in savings over the course of the 10-year contract.

2018 Budget Wins (areas of focus: public safety/D1, Transportation/D1, human services/D1, Parks/D1, small business, Parks/D1, culture, civil rights)

• Maintain funding to support a public safety coordinator for South Park
• Funding for RV Remediation program to address issues related to clusters of illegally parked RVs.
• Enhancing and adding three inspectors to the Vacant Building Monitoring Program, so more vacant properties are monitored and don’t become public safety nuisances for the neighborhood.
• Added the Highland Park Way/Holden street project to the SDOT Capital budget
• Funding for Concord Elementary’s Community Learning Center
• Citizenship Program funding for Neighborhood House at High Point
• Funding to allow Colman Pool stay open for an additional 4 weekends a year.
• Funding for planning to enhance Trail Access on SW Brandon Street
• Funding for a Legacy Business Program to designate and provide resources to one Legacy Business in each of the 7 Council Districts
• Civil legal aid to assist for indigent defendants in civil legal aid needs including, but not limited to, eviction prevention
• Funding for additional Animal Control Officer
• Funding to complete construction work at Town Hall
• Transgender Economic Empowerment Program funding to support to help people to receive healthcare, legal, and employment assistance

2017

2017 Policy Work (areas of focus: fiscal accountability, renters’ rights, police accountability, D1, civil rights, workforce, culture)

• Results Based Accountability (RBA) in Contracting legislation requiring the Human Services Department to measure contract outputs against desired results.
• Fair Chance Housing
• Observers’ Bill of Rights
• Legislation to complete the landmarks designation process for the Campbell Building.
• Legislation regarding the Seattle Office of Civil Rights director appointment and adds a “firing for cause” protection to future SOCR director appointments
• Expanding Priority Hire Program to increase access for disadvantaged workers to construction jobs, while preserving the strong Priority Hire performance by WMBE contractors and lessening the administrative burden for contractors with very small contracts
• Creation of an Arts & Cultural District in the Uptown neighborhood of Seattle

2017 Budget Wins (areas of focus: human services, small business support, culture, workforce/D1)

• Funding to stabilize, shelter, and serve Seattle residents who were homeless and are now housed in permanent supportive housing (PSH) as well as to provide resources for outreach to help homeless individuals access PSH.
• Funding for hygiene services at unauthorized encampments, increasing unsheltered homeless outreach services, or adding HSD staffing to support unauthorized encampment response.
• Funding to (1) develop and implement a Legacy Business Designation Program; and (2) provide resources for legacy and small business economic development programs     
• Funding to support day center for people living unsheltered       
• Funding to support The CAP Report: 30 Ideas for the Creation, Activation, and Preservation of Cultural Space recommendation to create a pathway in support of nonprofit cultural organizations identifying compliance options in the permitting process.
• Addition of $1 million for participatory budgeting (done through the Neighborhood Parks and Streets Fund), which, in 2017, funded projects in, Delridge, Westwood/Highland Park, High Point and South Park
• Continued funding for homeless youth employment programs
• Expand the Ready to Work project into District supporting immigrants and refugees living in SW Seattle and English language learners seeking entry-level jobs or advancing to middle-wage jobs through case management, job skills, digital literacy training and ongoing support and language learning beyond job placement

2016

2016 Policy Work (areas of focus: workforce, civil rights, utilities, renters’ rights)

• Creation of Labor Standards Advisory Commission
• Secure Scheduling
• Legislation supporting youth detention alternatives (also known as zero youth detention projects)
• Legislation strengthening enforcement of the All-Gender Restroom Ordinance
• A resolution directing the Office of Labor Standards to develop the capacity and expertise to begin Directed Investigations of labor law violations, how they will inform businesses and a timeline and process for development of Director’s Rules
• Legislation allowing tenants of federally subsidized housing with utility allowances to participate in the Utility Discount Program
• Legislation expanding fair housing protections against discrimination based on source of income beyond Section 8 voucher holders to include other subsidies and verifiable sources of income such as Social Security Income, veteran’s benefits and child support payments.
• A resolution endorsing principles for green jobs and incorporating strategies to advance green careers for people of color and other marginalized or under-represented groups, supporting sustainable entrepreneurship and economic cooperative models.

2016 Budget Wins (areas of focus: housing, public safety, small business support, childcare, civil rights, human services)

• $29 million Housing Bond
• Funding for animal control
• Funding to save transitional housing in Seattle expected to be lost as a result of changed prioritization for federal funds
• Funding a study to determine the scope and definition of a Seattle Legacy Business project
• Funding for Childcare Space Mitigation Fund
• Increasing proportion of Red Light Camera revenue that is dedicated to School Safety Traffic and Pedestrian Improvement Fund (SSTPIF)
• Funding a two-year pilot for civil legal services attorneys to provide services in coordination with the criminal representation provided to Seattle Municipal Court indigent defendants by the King County Department of Public Defense (KC DPD).
• Funding a hearing loop in the Boards & Commissions Room to accommodate those with hearing impairment.
• Funding to the Human Services Department (HSD) for the age friendly innovation fund.
• Budget action requesting SDOT work with the Port of Seattle, the Federal Railway Administration, and the railway companies doing business at T-5, to extend the quiet zone along W Marginal Way between Delridge Way SW and 17th Ave SW

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Eight years of newsletters almost every week of the year!  Thanks to Joseph Peha and Jesse Franz for helping Team Herbold get them out each week!

Posted: December 27th, 2023 under Councilmember Herbold