Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Taylor asked if staff considered social equity when the library instituted fees for reshelving reserved books patrons failed to pick up. She pointed out that was harder on poor people than the more affluent. She also asked if social equity was considered when the City closed Amazon Pool for swim meets at the expense of regular users, or when it closed the facility earlier. Ms. Nohrenberg emphasized that access to services was a high priority for the Library. She said that social equity was considered in the decision to increase fees, which was tied to the desire to provide public access to as many services as possible. Mr. Zelenka believed the tool would receive national attention because it was so well done and because there were so few such tools. Mr. Zelenka observed the most difficult element of the TBL was the social equity element. He asked those who had used the tool their experience in that regard. Mr. Finney agreed that element was challenging. However, he thought the TBL tool had resulted in much richer conversations and expanded the way that people thought about issues. He cited park lighting as an example, pointing out that such lighting had disparate impact on those with different levels of vulnerability, such as women and children. He anticipated that as staff had more such conversations, the tool would become more institutionalized in its application. Ms. McKinney agreed. She believed that the TBL had spurred more thinking on the part of staff. Ms. Nohrenberg said that some of the questions might not be relevant to an issue but got one thinking about things differently. Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka about how the framework would be integrated into City operations, Ms. Osborn discussed some of the steps staff was taking to ensure that would happen, including iterative discussions with the council, roundtable staff discussions, and a “stretch leadership” opportunity involving multiple staff from different departments who could serve as mentors to other staff. She had also presented to department management teams on how the tool could be applied. Mr. Zelenka thought including the TBL analysis in the council’s agenda item summaries would help integrate its use. He suggested that the proof of the tool’s utility would be its continued application. Ms. Ortiz hoped that staff not only thought about affected groups when using the TBL tool, but also brought them into the conversation. She acknowledged that the social equity element was challenging for those members of the communities of color not involved with the City’s Human Rights Program. They considered it a catchphrase and questioned how it actually affected the work the City did and its hiring and retention of members of the communities of color. She thought the City needed to articulate how the TBL framework affected those individuals. Ms. Taylor suggested staff make a similar presentation to the neighborhood groups for the purpose of additional review. She also suggested that staff ready a discussion group for the 2011 National League of Cities Convention. B. WORK SESSION: Food Security Scoping and Resources Plan The council was joined by Ethan Nelson of the Waste Prevention and Green Building Program. Permit Review Manager Mike McKerrow, Senior Planner Alyssa Hansen, and Compost/Urban Agriculture Coordinator Anne Donahue were also present to follow up on the council’s direction from February 2009, that staff investigate the development of a food security plan in conjunction with City partners. MINUTES—City Council September 29, 2010 Page 3 Work Session