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PRHSPSC MINS 10-11-2016City of Federal Way City Council PARKS, RECREATION. HUMAN SERVICES & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Tuesday October 11, 2016 5:00 p.m. SUMMARY Committee Members in Attendance: Chair Koppang, Committee members Moore and Assefa- Dawson. Council Members in Attendance: Deputy Mayor Burbidge Staff Members in Attendance: Andy Hwang, Chief of Police, Steve Neal, Deputy Chief, Jeff Watson, Community Services Manager, Ryan Call, Assistant City Attorney, Steve Ikerd, Deputy Parks Director and Mary Jaenicke, Administrative Asst. H. Guests: Bob Woolley Chair Koppang called the meeting to order at 5:00p.m. Public Comment: Bob Woolley expressed his frustration with the lack of progress on the Lake Jeane issue. He has been working to resolve the issue for the past eight months. He stated that the residents of Lake Jeane are ready to move on either with or without the Council's partnership. He does not believe that city staff is going to come through with a solution. He is requesting that this Council Committee request an agenda item to be put before the City Council by the Mayor. He would like a vote from the Full Council. Chair Koppang stated that the City and the Council need to be very careful that they implement policies that can be applied in a way that is consistent throughout the city and does not expose them to unintentional consequences. Council member Moore added that they will continue to work on solutions. Commission Comment: None Approval of Minutes Committee member Moore moved to approve the September minutes as written. Committee member Assefa- Dawson seconded the motion. Motion passed. BUSINESS ITEMS Homeless Encampment and Services Initiative. Deputy Chief Neal provided an overview on what has taken place since the initiative began. They are still addressing the same issues that were addressed at the beginning of the initiative. Those issues are: 1) Health concerns for the people living in these conditions. This can also extend into the community. 2) Safety issues. This includes the safety of the people living in the camps and safety to the citizens and businesses. There is criminal activity associated with some of the people that live at the camps. 3) Environmental issues are being addressed and they are trying to come up with an appropriate plan. As an example all of the health issues and the trash that are infiltrating to the Hylebos water shed. 4) Property damage and trespassing issues. There is damage to both public and private property. Each of these issues has challenges. Deputy Neal also discussed how they are measuring the success of what they are trying to achieve. Some of those measures include: 1) Number of contacts they make, 2) Number of camps that are cleaned, and 3) Number of homeless that take advantage of the services available to them. Reoccupation of cleaned sites is one of their biggest challenges. The Mapping system has been a successful tool. The next steps include continuing their assessment of what is working and what is not, continuing to change their plans, use as many resources as possible and be open to new ideas. They also have to keep up the fight. It's a very complex issue and will not be solved in one day. Mr. Watson stated that homelessness involves people that come from all walks of life. There are services that are available to the homeless. Not everyone who needs services receives services, and they also K:\PRHSPS Committee\2016 \10112016 Mins.doc 2 PARKS, RECREATION, HUMAN SERVICES & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Summary Page 2 cannot be forced to accept services. Sometimes it takes months of repeated interaction with those individuals to build some trust to get them to accept the services. Some of the homeless are families that would like nothing better than to get into a house, but there are barriers that prevent them from being able to get back into housing. There are limited funds to help people. They have been meeting with other organizations, and they are seeing the same thing as Federal Way is. Mr. Watson also discussed the Day Center that will be opening soon. They have been meeting with the services providers. There will be case managers to connect with them. Committee member Assefa - Dawson stated that her biggest concern was for families with children. She inquired if it was possible to place garbage cans at the camps. Deputy Chief stated that it was not. It's an enabler and their goal is to move them off of the site, not providing them with services. Some of the camps are on private property. Committee member Moore asked how many encampments there were in the beginning of the initiative, and how many are there now. Deputy Chief Neal says that the number changes nightly, it's a moving target. When the initiative started in March, they identified 18 of the most egregious camps, and those were the ones they started on. Chief Hwang added that there are probably 25 camps at any given time with 60 people living in the woods. Interlocal Cooperative Agreement between the Cities of Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Seattle, Tukwila and the Port of Seattle for the Valley Narcotics Enforcement Team Chief Hwang reported that the department is part of a regional narcotics task force. The Interlocal agreement is being updated because the City of Seattle has joined the task force. The Department of Justice is also requesting that this agreement is updated on an annual basis. This allows for distribution of the seizure accounts. The seizure account is shared with all of the participating agencies. Committee member Moore moved to forward the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between the Cities of Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Seattle, Tukwila and the Port of Seattle for the Valley Narcotics Enforcement Team to the October 18, 2016 Council consent agenda for approval. Committee member Assefa- Dawson seconded. Motion passed. Purchase of Fireworks & Ammunition Disposal Trailer from Hurd's Custom Machinery, Inc. There is $123,000 in the drug seizure accounts. The Federal way Police Department would like to use $27,200 to purchase a fireworks and ammunition disposal trailer. Narcotics can also be burned in this trailer. Purchasing this trailer would remove dangerous items from the Evidence Building. It has been increasingly more difficult to dispose of the fireworks and ammunition. The purchase of this trailer using seizure money is permissible under the state statute. Committee member Moore moved to forward the purchase of the Fireworks & Ammunition Burn Trailer to the October 18, 2016 Council consent agenda for approval. Committee member Assefa- Dawson seconded. Motion passed. COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON EMERGING ISSUES Committee member Assefa- Dawson stated that the City of Kent has an initiative to support immigrants and refugees. The initiative is "RISE" Recognize, Inspire, Support and Engage. This is something that she would like the City of Federal Way to do. She requested that the Diversity Commission to look into this. Committee member Assefa- Dawson will gather more information from the City of Kent. Council member Moore would like to talk more about homelessness and does not feel that there is enough time at a committee meeting to discuss this issue. He asked the committee if there was an interest to have a special meeting. Committee member Assefa- Dawson stated that she supports what Committee member Moore is saying, but the discussion has taken place, and she asked what outcome is he looking for. He stated that he would like a better understanding of the encampments. Committee member Assefa- Dawson stated that there are discussions taking place at the regional level. Chair Koppang stated that a lot of good work has been done and he suggested that Committee member Moore come back to the committee with some ideas. 3 PARKS, RECREATION, HUMAN SERVICES & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Summary Page 3 With the city adding more police officers, Committee member Moore wanted to know how the Council can they encourage the department to hire more detectives to be on the drug enforcement. Deputy Mayor replied that they could talk to the appropriate staff in the department and ask for their ideas, and ask them where they see their biggest needs are. Chair Koppang added that the Council needs to be very careful that they don't implement policies that prevent the police department from assigning people where they need them. Committee member Assefa- Dawson stated that they may have already identified where those needs are. Mr. Call said that approximately 90% of the officers work involves drugs, and a large percent of the crimes committed have a drug component. Chair Koppang addressed Bob Woolley's comments. There is an issue with two competing factions; The Country Club does not want to take action and the lake owners are suffering with the consequences. There is a need to look at the policy. He believes that Council can do something, and should do something. Mr. Call replied that the one clean lake is the exception; every body of water in Washington suffers from this problem. Lake Lorene is a privately owned lake, and it has a Lake Management District that controls the lake, and they are treating it. Lake Jeane is owned by the Country Club. There is a lawsuit pending, and the court may solve this dispute. These cases usually take about a year. Chair Koppang would like to be more proactive. Mr. Call stated that the city has been concerned about what the legal basis is for the city to take action. The city has the authority to act where there is public impact; they have been hearing from the lake owners, but it isn't necessarily the public's responsibility to make the lake swimmable. The next step would be to bring this to the Chief of Staff, have him staff it out and try to establish some of the consequences of lowering the nuisance policy. Deputy Mayor Burbidge suggested asking for the references to the information that is available so that it is accessible to the Council. It is better to have the information first, and then decide on what is within the realm of reasonable proposals. NEXT MEETING November 8, 2016 ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 6:34p.m. 4