Input: Good morning. I'm going to call to order the meeting of the King County Council Committee of the whole for April 5th, 2017. And Mark, I want you go ahead and please call the roll. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Garza. Councilmember Kowalski. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember McDermott. Councilmember up the Grove. Councilmember Von right there. Madam Chair. Here. Okay. So just for those who are following along, we do expect eight of the nine members to be here and they will be here shortly. But we have a very packed agenda today. So I want to start with the preliminaries so that we don't go too long over our agenda allotted time. I know that Councilmember Up the Grove is unable to attend, but everyone else should be here. So our agenda today includes two motions. I want to, by the way, also skip the approval of the minutes for now, since we don't have a quorum. Our agenda includes two motions to fill judicial vacancies in the King County District Court. At our special meeting on March 29th, the committee selected five final candidates for two vacancies in the Southeast Division. We will be interviewing those candidates this morning. Welcome to you all. Thank you for being here today. And I thank you all for participating in this process. It's been it's taken a while. And we appreciate your patience. But we want it's a very important decision. We will make sure we get it right after the interviews. I expect that we will go into executive session to discuss the candidates qualifications and then after that, we will come back into open session. And if we are ready, then we will take action on the motions. So we'll begin with a brief staff report and then go right into the interviews and I will turn to our committee staff. Leah Zoghbi for the staff report. Welcome. Laughs Good morning, council members I'm Leah Crackles I'll be counsel staff and the materials for this item begin on page nine of your packet. There are currently two vacant judicial vacancies in the Southeast Division of the King County District Court. Under state law, the King County Council is directed to fill district court vacancies by appointment. The King County Code provides. A merit selection process for filling such vacancies, which includes advertising existing or anticipated vacancies rating interested applicants by the King County Bar Association and any other bar association with an established Judicial Candidate. Evaluation Procedure Review of all the candidates and interviews of the final candidates by the Council's Committee of the whole and then final appointment by the King County Council. The nominees are the appointees. Will serve until a successor is elected this November, and they will be eligible for to run for election. On page 23 of your packet, you will find a table that summarizes the candidates bar association ratings. And at the beginning. Of or beginning on page 29. Of your packet, there's a table prepared by council staff that compares the candidates, according to some of the criteria found within the judicial questionnaires that. They've each filled out for the Bar. Association process. In addition, you've each received a binder with a more comprehensive information about the qualifications of each candidate. And that concludes my staff report. All right, thank you. So the process we're going to follow today is we're going to interview one candidate at a time to maintain fairness. I'll ask the candidates who are not yet have not yet been interviewed to wait in the council conference room outside the dais here with the audio off until it's their turn to be interviewed during each interview, we're going to give each candidate an opportunity to make an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. Then we're going to ask a series of questions with up to 3 minutes. To answer each question, we've allotted approximately 20 minutes for each candidate, and I'm going to try to give everyone a closing statement of up to 2 minutes. But we're going to have to watch the clock and see how much time we really have for closing statements. I'm going to ask you to be a little flexible, if you would. If you have anything to say, my suggestion would be get it out before the closing statement in case we run long. Thank you for that. Questions will be the same for all candidates, though we will. There may be a limited number of follow up questions from members on the committee. So there's a set of warning lights here to help people keep within limits. The countdown timer will show the time remaining. When 30 seconds are left, the yellow light will go on, and when the time is up, the red light will go on. So candidates should not feel obligated to use the full time that is allowed, but of course that is the amount of time you have. So you may use it if you choose. When a candidate's interview is over, you're welcome to remain in the council. Will Chambers at that point and we'll carry on and have staff bring in the next candidate until we're done. So we're going to do this in alphabetical order. I would like to ask if you would escort all of the candidates to the conference room now live, and we're going to see if we can't get a few more members down here before we start with the first candidate so that everybody has a chance to be heard by as many people as possible. Thank you. We're going to be at recess for just a few minutes. We are prepared to get started with our interview of candidates for District Court in the Southeast District. Our staff is now going to bring in Ms.. Edmiston, our first candidate. And again, just for those who are joining, we are going we have five candidates. We are going in alphabetical order. There will be an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. We have a series of five questions which we have assigned to councilmembers who graciously volunteered to ask questions. And we are all those folks are here. Welcome, Ms.. Edmiston. And then just continuing on each candidate, council members will have up to 3 minutes to answer. Each of the questions will be using the time are here in front of me and then they will be offered an opportunity to give up to a two minute closing statement , although I have asked them to be flexible with that because we are starting a little late and we want to get through everybody and have time to deliberate today as well. All right, Miss Edmiston, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Would you please go ahead and make your opening statement of up to 2 minutes? I will. Thank you all for taking the time to interview me this morning. I'm very grateful for the opportunity. As you know, from my materials. I'm Bobby Edmiston. I'm here today seeking appointment to the Southeast Division of the King County District Court. My diversity of experience has given me the knowledge and perspective to be a good judge in the district court. I have a wealth of criminal practice experience, having represented clients in both felony and misdemeanor cases. I also have a wide variety of civil practice experience, including my current practice area representing parents and children, independency matters, representing parents accused of being in contempt of court related to child support, and representing refugee and immigrant clients in public benefits cases, as well as victims of domestic violence in the family, law and protection order contexts. But what I want to emphasize for you all about that experience is that I know the King County District Court and specifically the South Division. I've spent approximately 70% of my career working in the King County District Court in the Southwest and South divisions. In addition to the diversity of experience I already shared, I also have the appropriate temperament to be a good judge and a fundamental belief in the respect and the dignity of all who come before me. Attributes that come with me daily in my practice, representing my clients and working with my professional colleagues. And that will transition with me to the bench where I will ensure that all who appear before me, whether the accused, law enforcement, victims, witnesses or aggrieved parties, will be treated with respect and have their dignity maintained. Thank you. Thank you very much. The first question will be asked by Council member Cole Wells. Thank you about chair and I miss anything other than what you've already told us. What do you believe is most important about your background for this position? And, and why do you really want to be a district court judge? I read something interesting this morning that I'd like to share with you all as as a start to answering this question. I was reading an article about racial disparity within the court system. And it starts off with a quote that I will paraphrase where they indicate that our laws are the promise to our citizens and others before us. Our justice system is how we keep that promise. And that that quote really spoke to me in my current role as a public defender. And it speaks to why I want to sit behind the bench as a judge in district court. I think that it is very. Important for a judge to recognize not only the legal issues that face the court, but also the social issues, the issues of and access to justice that we see, the issues of racial disparity within those who are charged, those who populate our jails as well, those who are released pretrial and who are not. I think that that recognition and a commitment my personal commitment to. Being introspective and very honest with myself in terms of what I bring, what I bring with me, what baggage, for lack of a better term or what. What cultural issues? Come with me. Is something that's important. And I. I get concerned that that can be overlooked by judges. And looking at that. Speaking to the issues of, for example, pretrial release, which is one of the issues that I noted, where I'm concerned about disparities. We have a wonderful court rule. And I think that I as a judge will be a person who can. Act upon the mandate of that court rule. Maintaining that promise, tying back to the quote that I paraphrase of a quote that I shared with you all at the beginning. Maintain that promise to our citizens to uphold that court rule that presumes release. Absent risk of violence is within the community or absent. Risk of substantial risk of failure to appear. And I think that that requires a level of courage to maintain. A fidelity to the text of that rule. That is something that I have developed over the course of my career as a public defender, being courageous enough to argue new and novel legal issues even when they're unpopular. Recently sinking an emergency contempt finding against the Department of Social and Health Services when the question of whether emergency contempt actually exists is a legitimate question. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember McDermott. Would you like to ask the next question, please? Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm one oppose a hypothetical situation and ask how you would respond to it. A defendant in your courtroom is displaying mental health or behavioral issues in being disruptive. How would you maintain control of your courtroom while also respecting the rights of the defendant? So this is a scenario that I've seen in my practice and I've seen it handled well, and I've seen it handled in a way that escalated the situation. As I indicated in my opening statement, something that's very important to me is maintaining the dignity and demonstrating a respect for all who appear in my courtroom. In that situation, I think that to a certain level, if the court proceedings can be maintained in an orderly fashion, despite the individual's behaviors, that we simply proceed forward and not necessarily potentially embarrass that individual. But if we reach a point where the court proceedings cannot be maintained, I feel quite strongly that the best thing that a judge can do is speak directly and frankly to that individual about what the expectations are in the courtroom about that they will have the have an opportunity to speak directly to the court, whether through counsel or directly, and that the expectation is that they have an absolute right to remain in the courtroom. But if they cannot, they're also welcome to wait outside in the hallway, and that court staff would be happy to go, let them know when their hearing has been called. I think that that also, however, brings up issues related to therapeutic courts as well. And it would be my responsibility as the judge to make sure that if there are symptoms that appear to be relatively obvious mental health symptoms that I share with that individual, that there are options other than. The conventional court, for that matter, is in King County district, for example, a mental health court. And I would like to advise or ask defense counsel to please advise this individual about that court, about that therapeutic court, as well as making sure that I advise in clear, plain language from the bench as well, so that they're familiar with all options that might best serve that particular individual. Thank you. Okay. Councilmember Lambert, we get we finished quickly. Councilman Lambert's up next. Thank you. Thank you. So much. Okay. Good to see you again. My question is, in. Your role as this decision maker. Describe a time when. You knew you were wrong or figured. Out you're wrong. How did you realize that you made the mistake? How did you what made you change. Your mind and how did you correct yourself or. Reverse that mistake? I'm just going to go with the first example that jumps out. Early on in my felony practice, which was early in my career, it was about 18 months after I started my criminal defense practice that I transitioned into felony practice. I had a client that was particularly challenging in terms of communication, didn't have a cell phone, didn't have email, and we really did struggle between hearings to communicate oftentimes in court was our best opportunity. And so thinking that I was being self-motivated and prepared for an upcoming case setting hearing, I walked right on over to the prosecutor's office and and I asked them to make an offer. And I prioritized what I thought should be the priority or would be my client's priority, which was no jail time. Thank you. And quite proudly and quite naively, that afternoon at the case setting hearing, I announced to my client, Guess what? I got you a great offer to reduction to a misdemeanor and no jail. So proud. And my client said, Oh, that sounds good. There's no probation, right? I said, Oh, no, it comes with two years of probation. And my client was very upset and said I'd do a year in jail before I do a day of probation voluntarily. And at that point, I realized, oops, this is very much the wrong decision. And as the decision maker, it had been mine and my fault. And we ended up continuing the hearing over our prosecutors. Objection. Who had said, no, no. Ms.. And Mr. was in my office this morning and negotiated. They have an offer, they should be ready. And I had to accept the responsibility for my mistake because it was not anybody else's issue but mine. And so I stood before the court and explained that I had made the mistake and I was appropriately going to advise my client what his options were in terms of even the choice to retain me or continue to have me as counsel or seek a new attorney. And then I got also the distinct pleasure of going back to the prosecutor's office and and renegotiating, which was not personally enjoyable but needed to be done for my client. That informed me that experience, informed my practice for the seven and a half, eight years that have come after in terms of a client centered approach to the work that I do, in terms of acknowledging that every individual that I work with is an individual who has different needs, who has different interests, and who has different priorities from one another and from what I might anticipate, and that I need to meet them where they are and advocate for them there. I will bring that lesson with me to the bench in District Court acknowledging that what might be a positive proceeding for somebody where they feel that they have achieved justice or achieved a resolution is is good for them, might be different for the next person. Thank you. Thank you. Fourth question will be asked by Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was listening with interest to your response to the first question that we presented to you, and you started off by talking about the issue of racial disproportionality in our criminal justice system and how you would deal with it. This is kind of an enhancement to that. That's not a specific question that we'd like for you to describe what you have done in your present, personal and professional life to address racial disproportional racial disproportionality. Particularly in our court system where it's been very controversial. Thank you for that question. In terms of addressing racial disproportionality, both on a personal and professional level, the fundamental one. One of the fundamental things that I have done is I have refused to believe that I fully understand the issue or that I know everything about the issue. I don't. What I have embraced is a continued desire to learn, to learn about the intersection of racial disproportionality and our court system, and about communities different from my own as well, both in terms of the richness of those communities and the obstacles that those communities and challenges that they face community wide and as individuals within that community. And so within my personal life, I have put myself in a position to have those conversations that can sometimes be very difficult or awkward about issues such as has privilege about overt aggressions, but also microaggressions. I've put myself in a pause and the categories micro assault and so on. I've made sure that I am not a silent observer when I see these issues before me, that when I see somebody's behavior behaving in a way that I think displays a bias or a micro-aggression of some sort, that I speak up and call them out on that not in an attacking manner, but I try to address the issue in a way that invites a conversation not only for the other, but so that I may learn and grow as well in a professional context. I have also addressed this issue by calling it out and putting a name on it. I think that a fallacy over the course of certainly my upbringing in my career that I've seen repeatedly is individuals believing that we are somehow in a post racism society, which is obviously not true, or that just because I don't believe that I am a racist, that everything is okay and that I am not behaving in a in a racist manner. And so we end up stifling or silencing ourselves and the discussion about the effect of race, class, cultural issues in our professional discourse. I have just recently stood before a court and shared the experience of my client, who is a young African-American man who was raised in the foster care system, who had his children at a very young age and has had and his life experience has been very different than that of the attorney general, the social worker from the department on the case and the judge that I am presenting to. And I believe that his experience and his background has borne on his behaviors that are now being questioned in the court by the Department of Social and Health Services. I'm in a dependency practice right now and really use the opportunity to say to the court, just because it is not similar to our experience, to the Department's experience , to the attorney general's experience, does not mean that my client's behavior was was wrong or should be judged and tried to use that as an opportunity to educate. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Fifth and final question will be asked by Councilmember Dombroski. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Bobby, for being here again. We some of us are there to interview you before, so your answers today are helpful beyond those. I have the fifth general question, and that is related to kind of court operations and budget issues. And it is this the county's general fund, which supports district court, has an ongoing structural crisis, that the court is regularly having to find ways to do more with less. What ideas do you have for how the court might operate more efficiently? I love that question. Thank you, because I have a very specific thought on the topic. Obviously, there are financial constraints in every area and certainly the court struggles with that issue. I think that one very concrete challenge that the court has has to do with appearance of specifically criminal defendants for hearings that we operate in a very , in my mind, outdated system where individuals come to court, for example, for an arraignment, a pretrial hearing or whatever type of hearing or readiness. And when their next hearing is scheduled, they're given a small, usually pink, sometimes white sheet of carbon paper that has their next hearing date on it. It's been my experience that my clients, my hundreds of clients over the course of my career in district court have so many obstacles that they face, whether it's homelessness, other poverty related issues. Housing instability. And. So many possible obstacles that keeping track of that little tiny piece of paper or transferring that date to their phone to their calendar is just not necessarily a reasonable expectation. And they miss hearings. And then we have the inefficiency and additional costs related to that inefficiency of issuing warrants, of booking on warrants, of return, on warrant hearings , on incarceration costs related to needlessly missed hearings, whereas. A modest capital investment in an automated system or utilization of court staff. If we didn't have an automated system to provide a courtesy call or a courtesy text message for folks, Hey, you have a hearing in 48 hours. The same thing that, for example, my doctor's office is able to do when I have an appointment. I think would dramatically increase the appearances of of litigants in specifically criminal but other proceedings as well if we utilize such a lesser system. And although it would be a modest cost up front would pay off, I would expect in dividends for the system as it was imposed because we would have more people appearing, fewer warrants, fewer return on warrant hearings with less need for public defenders, prosecutors, judges, jail guards, all of the staff and cost that comes with those hearings going in. I've seen in other jurisdictions where such a system has been used and that there has long term been a cost savings as well as a human savings in terms of people staying employed, maintaining their housing because they're not needlessly incarcerated. Thank you. Are there any follow up questions, councilmembers, before we move into the closing statement? All right. If you would, Ms.. Edmonson, please give us your closing statement. As I said, up to 2 minutes. But since we've gone a little long, maybe you could make it brief. I will do my best. Thank you. So much. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to speak and meet with you today. I believe that I am the right candidate for appointment to the King County District Court Southeast Division. My diversity of experience has given me both the perspective. And the experiential understanding to assess the complex, both social and legal issues that confront our district court on a day to day basis. My ten years experience as a public defender has given me the experience and skills to manage a high volume calendar. Having managed a high volume caseload, being familiar with how to read a docket quickly to identify legal issues, having experience clearly, quickly, concisely, in plain English, articulating those issues to the folks who are about to go before the court so that they may know what to expect. And being familiar with the electronic record systems that are used in the court, whether E, C, SDR, Jabs or J, I switch it on it to my out. I possess the courage, the intellectual integrity and fortitude and commitment to justice that is necessary and has prepared me to continue to confront the complex issues of racial disproportionality that are facing the Court today. Given all of this experience and these attributes, again, I believe that I am the right candidate for appointment to the King County District Court. And I thank you very much for your time today. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time, your diligence. This is a very detailed process and you've provided us a lot to think about and we're ready for the next candidate at this point. Please. That will be Jason Petrus. Generally. Yes. While we have a moment, perhaps we can now take up the approval of the minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move the minutes of our last meeting and as the thread. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm just looking for. Yeah. Just looking for the regular agenda. Here it is. We are approving the minutes of the March 29th, 2017 Special Council meeting and may have been moved. Any comments? Questions, changes? Seeing none. All those in favor. I can just do this by voice. Vote. Right, Margaret? All those in favor. Please signify by saying I any post. All right. The minutes are approved unanimously. All right. Welcome, Mr. Porges. Please help yourself. This, as I should have noted before, there's water here in case you brought your own. I say, good, because I'm going to ask you to talk for a while. So as I said earlier, we're going to ask you to make an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. There will be a series of five pre-prepared questions. You'll have up to 3 minutes to answer those. And then time for a brief closing statement, if you would, please begin with your opening statement now. Okay. Well, it is an honor and a privilege to be here today. And I want to thank you for this opportunity. Throughout my journey in this appointment process, I've had the opportunity to meet with many individuals, and I've been primarily asked two questions Why do you want to become a judge and why district court? And my answer to both boils down to my desire to serve the community. However, for some, when I've been asked that, when I've given that answer, they weren't impressed by it and I wondered why. And I begin to look deeper at my motivation. And I recalled one of my earliest memories of serving the community. I was 11 years old and my school was temporarily closed, and I watched on the news for approximately five days as my neighborhood, South Central Los Angeles, was looted and burned during the L.A. riots. After the fire stopped and the looting subsided, I remember my single mother waking me up early on a Saturday morning and telling me we were going to go clean up in the neighborhood at a local shopping center. She and I went and cleaned debris that day and I felt good about that. It sparked a fire inside of me to serve others and to assist in my community. And like all of you, my desire to have dedicated my life to be a public servant, and so my desire to serve as a King County district court judge stems from that. It's not flashy, it's not attention seeking, but it's been the basis of every decision I've made in my life. And I desire to become a King County District Court judge, to serve the community and the district court, the People's Court, where people often have their first and only experience with our justice system. And I desire to reach the people and the legal setting where they need it most. King County District Court. Thank you. Thank you. And the first question will be asked by Councilmember Cole. WELLS Thank you, Madam Chair. And Mr. Boyd, this other than what you've already stated, what do you think is the single most important part of your background in terms of being able to assume this position? It's my experience. Some might say that I'm I'm young. However, as a district court judge, my duty would be to interpret and apply the law. And the law is blind to my age in that role. And so I have over nine years of experience as an adjudicator in my time as a hearing examiner, as a administrative law judge, and then subsequently as a senior administrative law judge and as a pro tem judge, I've adjudicated over a thousand cases. I've also been a C excuse me. I've also been promoted twice at the Office of Administrative Hearings, first as a lead administrative law judge and then as a senior administrative law judge. And in those opportunities, I've had the opportunity to to train and mentor judges, some more experienced than myself and bring on new judges as well. And so I have a unique skill set in terms of a expansive resume of judicial experience that I will be able to bring to the bench. Additionally, unfamiliar with District Court in that I practiced as a public defender in district court and as a as a deputy prosecutor as well. And so I have experience on both sides, and that will help me in terms of bringing a balanced approach to the court. Thank you. Second question will be asked by Councilmember McDermott. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Mr. Peters. What would you do in the following hypothetical situation? Defendant in new courtroom is displaying mental health or behavioral issues and being disruptive. How would you maintain control of your courtroom while also respecting the rights of the defendant? Well, first, I want to make sure that the person is okay. And so I need to make sure that they don't need any type of medical attention or anything like that. Assuming that that's taken care of and there's not an acute medical issue that would require contacting the authorities, then I would begin to speak with the person and do my best to try to understand what that person is experiencing at that time. I would see if that person has questions about the proceeding and whether or not they're fully understanding. I also would offer that person a recess. Sometimes it may. They may need to take a moment to think about and take in the court proceedings going going really quickly. I mean, these proceedings are very stressful for the people that are here in court. And and so this could have a huge impact on their life. And so they may need a moment to gather themselves. And so I'll give them that opportunity. If they continue to be disruptive, then I'll have to look at other alternatives. Maybe it might be appropriate to take their case later on in the calendar and to come back to their case after they've had some more time to gather themselves and maybe to cool down. But more than anything, I want to give them every opportunity to to be heard and to be able to meaningfully participate in their proceeding. However, that needs to be balanced with the need to make sure that the courtroom is running appropriately and that they're being given that everyone in the courtroom is being given the opportunity to participate and that the court proceedings aren't being significantly delayed to the prejudice of others. Yep. Okay. And the next question is from council member Lambert. Thank you. I'm Renee. Morning. So in your role as a decision maker, describe a time when. You were wrong. How did you realize that you had made a mistake? What made you change your mind? And how did you correct yourself when you realized you'd made the mistake? Well, as a administrative law judge, I am required to issue written decisions after each administrative hearing that I hold. And so we have administrative hearings on the record where parties provide testimony and argument and submit exhibits and evidence. And after each hearing, we're allowed to take our decision under advisement so that we have time to review everything and right our decision. And there have been a number of times when I at the end of the hearing, was thinking that this is the way I'm going to rule in this case. And then I start working on my decision. And as I get toward the end of the decision, I start to to continue to evaluate the evidence, and then I start to think that maybe I was wrong. It was a close call to begin with. And the evidence is, from what I see, is showing that actually, rather than the way that I initially thought I was going to rule in this case, I need to reverse myself. And so there's been a number of times when I've actually been almost completely done with a decision. And often these are, as I mentioned earlier, in cases where there's really close call and I've had to go back and say, you know, the evidence when I weigh it properly, it supports this other route. And so I have no no hesitation to go back and do what's right and do what's just. I train administrative law judges in my office. And right now we're training three new administrative law judges. And I had I'm reviewing their decisions. And so the other day, I actually had a decision that was provided to me by one of our new judges. And it was a case of first impression for both of us. It was a child support case. And I the issue was a complicated one that had a unique twist to it because it involved another state and upon. Analyzing the case. I thought I told her. I said, okay, this is the way that I would decide this if this was my case. And then she worked in that way and wrote her decision. And then she submitted it to me for her review. And I reviewed her decision. And as difficult as it was after reviewing it, I realized that there was one small exception in the in the law that applied in this case, but neither one of us were aware of. And so I went to her and I I'd rather than having her send out the decision incorrectly. I said, you know, we need to go a different route in this case because this is what the law shows. And I printed out the law, I highlighted the relevant sections, and I provided it to her so that she can make the correct decision in that case. I'd just like to make a follow up on that, something you said a minute ago. So I make sure I got my notes right. So you said you've been adjudicated for nine years with all of those as an administrative law judge? No. I was a hearing examiner for over four years with the Department of Licensing. And as a hearing examiner, I was responsible for doing about 90% of the 90% of my caseload, I should say, was driving under the influence hearings. There's a parallel proceeding when a person is arrested for driving under the influence that runs separately on a separate track from a criminal case. And they can a person can have their driving privilege civilly suspended prior to the suspension. They can request an administrative hearing before the Department of Licensing. And those are full blown hearings where troopers or other law enforcement can come and be subpoenaed to testify. And we actually admit evidence and have some of the top defense attorneys around the state, especially the DUI defense bar, making arguments in these cases that are really contesting these suspensions or revocations of people's driving privilege. And then you said that you had done 2000 cases. Is that a year? Did you say ten years? Oh, over nine years. And a thousand cases in that in that time over the nine over the nine year period. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Question number four will come from Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome. Thank you to our chambers. Just my question deals with racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system. And you began your comments by saying that you are born and raised in South Central L.A. and you got involved in the clean up after the racial rebellion. I'm assuming you're talking about after Rodney King and 92 because you don't look like you than 65. So. Yeah. So yeah. Oh. All right. Thank you. All right. I like it, actually. Let's keep in focus that. We we we want to know what some of your personal or professional life experiences have been as an inmate to addressing racial disproportionality. Of course, it would be helpful if one of the experiences you talk about is in the judicial arena, because we get a lot of questions, particularly from African-Americans, about the justice system not being very fair to them. Thank you. So I think that racial disproportionality is a is a very complex and involved issue that our society faces. And I think that to take a step back briefly, that our society as a whole needs to do what is necessary to begin to address the issue. And I think that the court should partner with others in the community, whether that's community agencies or community organizations with the police and law enforcement, are with prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as with businesses in the local community and government, because this issue affects everyone. And so I think that it's a complex issue that has many different facets that need to be addressed, and it's a very tangled web, and it will take a lot longer than I have to figure out how to address that adequately. However, the court has a role to play, and so I believe that the Court needs to do its part and to make sure that it is addressing racial disproportionality because racial disproportionality, although in terms of when a person appears in court, there's been plenty of contact with law enforcement initially and a decision whether to file charges prior to it arriving in the court. Once it once it gets there, judges have the responsibility to do what they can to be fair and impartial and to make sure that they're properly analyzing and evaluating each case. When I approach him as a judge and court, I do my best to make sure that with each case that I hear, I'm properly listening to all the evidence I look at when I'm doing arraignments, I look at the conditions of release and make sure that I'm properly considering the whether a person is a flight risk or a danger to the community, setting any types of conditions of release. And so that also impacts people disproportionality disproportionately even further along. And in the process, I think courts need to do a better job at increasing the diversity in our in our jury pools to to make sure that our juries are more diverse. And then at the sentencing stage as well, I think that courts need to do do better. And one of the things that I do when I am sentencing individuals is that I make sure I'm inquiring about whether or not they're able to pay some of the fines that are requested and and how likely they're able to do that. And part of my benefit of the experience I bring with my social help services caseload backlog background from the Administrative Hearings Office is that I'm able to know a lot more about the eligibility of some of the public assistance programs and how that can impact the individuals that appear in court on the on the social health services side as well as on the criminal side. Thank thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. And our fifth question will be from Councilmember DEMBOSKY. Thank you and thank you, Jason, for being here in your preparation for the interviews. I've got a general fund question. The County General Fund, which supports district court, has an ongoing structural crisis. And we are really asking the court to help us find ways to do more with less. What ideas do you have for how the district court might operate more efficiently? I would say I don't want to take anything away. I think the district court is probably doing the operating as efficiently, as cleanly as they can. I know that a lot of the budget for district court goes to salaries and just to keep the personnel and keep people in the seats and the doors open. But I think that one thing that I would suggest and I know that the court has a new case management system that it is rolling out. And I've had experience as an administrative law judge with the implementation and rollout and subsequent support of a new case management system at the Office of Administrative Hearings called PRISM. And in doing so, I help to support our agency and our local office, more specifically as we came up with processes and procedures for analyzing the cases that we have. And one of the things that I've learned through this experience is data can be very powerful. Data can begin to show where the resources are going and whether they're properly being distributed or not. And so one of the things that I would propose is that with this new case management system, to the extent that it can, that this case management system be used to collect and analyze court data so that we can see where, if anywhere there's extra room in the budget or where or funds need. To be reallocated or distributed differently because there's a there's a good chance that the data will show some things that we may not have other otherwise seen. And so I think analyzing data is a is a big first step in terms of looking at how we can distribute resources. Because I, I know that there's only so much funding available. And I do want to thank the Council for its efforts in continuing its mental illness and drug dependency funding, because I think that that can also be used to do things like therapeutic court and other type of restorative justice programs. And then in doing so, that may ultimately result in people being in jail less or people having to having less of an up and lengthy process in the in the court proceedings. And so that could also lead to some savings over over time. However, there have to be a lot of data that would be collected in that regard as well. Yeah. Okay. We've reached the end of our planned questions. Do any members have any follow up questions I would like to ask at this time? Councilmember Dombroski. Thank you, Madam Chair. And Jason, if it correct me if I've got this wrong, but your adjudication experience and nine years is significant but has been in the context of what I would say is at least envisioned, is kind of one case at a time coming before you, rather than say a district court courtroom where you may have a jam packed calendar with a lot of quick decisions required and a lot of people appearing in a very short amount of time. If that supposition is correct and if I'm wrong, you tell me. But if that's correct, could you tell the council a little bit how you might and what skills you would bring, manage that different kind of calendar in district court? Sure. Sure. And thank you for that question. And one of the things that not to I say this as humbly as I can is I have a very strong work ethic, and that is something that gives me the preparation necessary to manage a large calendar like that. I have pro tem in district court and so although my work as an administrative hearing, as an administrative hearing officer is different in some respects as it pertains to the volume on a particular day, my work as a pro tem has given me the opportunity to manage, manage very lengthy and full calendars. And one of the things that I do is I make sure that I'm there early. I get all of the files ahead of time and I prep and review them to the best I can. And in doing so, that helps me to make sure that I am aware of any potential difficult or complex cases, and I can identify those ahead of time. And so I can know how the docket is likely to flow, assuming that people show up and cases aren't continued. And so it's a big part of it is preparation. Another thing that's important is making sure to start on time. When I am a pro tem, I start court on time to the best of my ability, even although the attorneys may not appreciate that in terms of the prosecutors and defense attorneys, once I once I start court, I don't leave the bench. I stay out on the bench, even if there's no matters ready, because I want the court, I want the people in the audience that are there that took time off from work or take time away from their child care, that can can see that the court is ready to go. And so we're we're waiting on the cases to be ready. But the judge is in off somewhere doing something else. The judge is there. The judge is viewing the courtroom and is ready as soon as cases are ready. And so those are those are ways that I would manage a caseload and doing so that also helps in terms of being able to deal with cases that might need a little bit more time with the preparation and being on time and starting and running the courtroom as efficiently as possible, sometimes you're inevitably going to run into a case where it requires more time and attention. Maybe there's some sort of a sensory impairment or a language barrier or like we discussed earlier, maybe someone's having a difficult time in that proceeding. And so by with the preparation, I'm able to efficiently move through the cases that don't require as much time so that I can come back and offer more time to those cases that need it. So thank you. Councilmember Gossett has a follow up question. Thank you. And hopefully thank you, Madam Chair. Hopefully that's me. Real quick, in your application, you mentioned that you had very little district court experience, but just now you were talking about having brought down as her experience. And then earlier when you. You were talking about having had a thousand quotes. I thought that comes around. And Bosca's remarks are very relevant because I would imagine when you were working for the Department of Licensing and dealing with your eyes, that's a lot of cases in a short period of time. Yes. As well as an administrative law court. Was that for DSH? Yes. The administrative law judge. It was the Department of Health Services. Yes, sir. Is for Department of Social Health Services. We also handle cases for the health care authority and the Department of Early Learning. So it's a lot of them. Okay. Yes. So can you answer my question about why you put no experience in and talk about being a pro tem? Well, I've been a pro tem in municipal court, so I've been a pro down in the municipal court as well as in Edmond's municipal court. And this year I've actually pro tem for the first time in district court as well. So there's been some some updates since my application was initially created. Councilmember Caldwell. Thank you, Madam Chair. Have you received the rating from the Loren Miller Bar Association? We don't have that on our records. Well, and it's a disadvantage for me slightly as my resumé shows. I'm actually a member of the Loren Miller Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee, so I have to wait one year before I can be rated by them. And I signed up for a three year term and I didn't want to I wanted to fulfill my term obligations . And so rather than stopping early, I decided to keep going. And so I can't be rated by that right. Now for that. Clear. I'm glad you asked that question. That was a good clarification. Okay. With that, Mr. Burgess, would you please give us your brief closing statement up to 2 minutes? Thank you. Thank you. So I recognized that my road to district court and my experience as far as not a typical route because of that, I made a chart that I hope that you all received and I'll bring it out here. And this chart shows the core competencies of a district court judge, and it also shows how my judicial experience directly relates to those core competencies. As I mentioned earlier, some might say that I'm young and they might question that. However, as a judge, in terms of my ability, it's going to be analyzing the law and interpreting interpreting the law. The law is blind to my age. The more important consideration is my experience and I have extensive experience as an adjudicator. As I mentioned earlier, I have over nine years of experience as a adjudicator in handling cases, as a hearing examiner, as a administrative law judge, and as a pro tem judge. In that time, I've developed extensive judicial experience and additionally leadership abilities as well. However, all of this is grounded in my desire to serve the public. It all comes back to public service for me. I chose to pursue the legal profession based on a deep and personal commitment to serve others. And I desire to have the privilege to serve King County as a district court judge, to serve the community, and further expand my efforts to serve the community in the legal setting where they need it most in the court. I want to thank you for your time and your consideration of my application has been a pleasure to be here today. Thank you very much. Supporters, we know that this is a very detailed and lengthy process. We appreciate all the information you have provided for us to help us make this decision and your involvement. And as I said earlier, will be hopefully deliberating at the end of this meeting today. So time to move on to our next candidate, who in alphabetical order will be Krista Swain. And we will be at recess for just a moment while we wait for her to come in. On to our next candidate. Christa Swain, welcome again. Good morning. Thank you for being here. Just real briefly, because it's been a few minutes and we test your memory, but not this way. We'll be asking you to give a brief opening statement after 2 minutes. Then the council members will ask five prepared questions. There may be some follow up questions and a brief closing statement. So why don't you go ahead and start with your opening. Okay. Thank you. Well, as you know, my name is Christa Wyatt Swain. I've been practicing law for about 20 years, almost all in district and municipal courts. I have a background that goes back 20 plus years doing defense work and back 15 years doing prosecution. And I actually continue to do both defense and prosecution. And for the last five years, I've been working as a pro tem judge in King County District Court. So I sit in all the chairs. It keeps me very balanced so that when I do sit as a judge, I remember what it's like to be a prosecutor, to be a defense attorney, and to connect with everyone in the court. And I found that in the last five years, working as a pro tem judge, I really enjoy the work. And I find myself uniquely qualified because of my background of doing both sides prosecution as well as defense. And one of these attorneys that even though I've been working in district and mini court for a long time, I'm not jaded. I still remain idealistic and positive. I believe that everyone that comes before the court should have an opportunity to be fairly heard. And, you know, my job as a judge is to do the best I can, not only for that person before me, but for the community as a whole. I care deeply about the community and my connection with the community, and that's why I believe that I would be a good judge if I'm selected to do so. Thank you. Thank you. And the first question will be from Councilmember Caldwell's. Thank you very much for being here today. And my question is, other than what you've already related, what do you believe is the single most important thing about you to prepare you to assume this position and also your top reason for wanting to be a district court judge? For me in particular, I'm going to say compassion. You said a single reason and it's hard. But I feel, you know, that connection with the community that I feel and that comes from my compassion. I care a lot about people. I connect with people really well and the compassion that I've had and that I've learned as a defense attorney working for 20 years, as a public defender, caring about people who really have limited means, limited abilities, mental health issues, drug addiction issues. I understand those issues. Currently, right now, the biggest problem that we have with chemical dependency is opiate addiction. It's incredibly prevalent and I'm working hard to find good treatment places to direct people to. And I do that in my work both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. I see my job as making the community better with hopefully encouraging and helping people to access those resources to help them. Okay. And next question. Last May. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilmember McDermott, thanks for the assist. Good morning. Good morning. Question but how you would respond in a hypothetical situation? I'm a defendant in your courtroom. Is displaying mental health or behavioral issues and being disruptive. How would you mean to maintain control of your courtroom while at the same time respecting the rights of the defendant? Well, I've had this happen multiple times over the course of my career in all roles as a judge, as a prosecutor, and as a defense attorney. As a judge, the first thing I would do is see if I can get the situation under control by simply listening to the defendant. If this person is if it's if it's their turn to speak, if it's their case that is being heard, first, I want to give them an opportunity to hear them. I might have to lay out the ground rules and let them know, okay, stop what you're doing for a second. Let me give you the rules about what's going to happen. And then, you know, I'm going to tell you, you know what? I need to hear from you. Then I'm going to give you a chance to respond. So laying out ground rules to let the person know that I'm there, to hear them, that they're going to have an opportunity to be heard. Most of the time, that completely dissipates the problem. Once the person knows that, they are going to be able to talk. If the situation continues, then you have to, you know, let the clerk know. You got to bring in security. If it can't be resolved by an exchange between, you know, in talking with the with that particular person. But I find that simply letting them know that they're going to have an opportunity to be heard, they just have to follow the rules in that being heard usually dissipates the problem. Thank you. And the third question is from Councilmember Lambert. Hi. My question is, in your role as. A decision maker. Describe a time when you were wrong. How did you realize. You'd made the mistake? What made you change your mind? And how do you correct yourself when you made that mistake? I'm flashing back into multiple roles and as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney, but as a decision maker being wrong. Well, there have been I know that there's been at least one time when I made a mistake in terms of amount of jail to be served or how that jails to be served, or I've made a mistake on, you know, some administrative process. And that I think, you know, those are learning experiences for, you know, how to make sure I'm doing that process correctly and in terms of making a wrong ruling or or something that was legally wrong, I, I'm not saying that I've never done it, but I nothing has come to mind. But I will tell you that certainly if it's brought to my attention that I've made an error, I definitely want to look at what I've done and review everything and correct the mistake. Absolutely. And if it's a situation where I have to go back in and call all the parties back and let them know, well, here, here's what I found. I've made an error because of this. And, you know, I'll put it on the table and let everyone know I'm not afraid to be wrong. Okay. For question number four, I'll call on Council Member Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the larger issues facing our criminal justice system, either here or elsewhere in our country, is the issue of racial disproportionality. So this question deals with that topic. Could you describe for us what you have done in your personal or professional life to address the issue of racial disproportionality? It'd be helpful if you could tie it to your operating in the arena, dealing with district court, but any example would be very helpful for us. I've seen this happen. There's a real clear memory that I have working as a defense attorney and as a defense attorney. We do a lot of work with people who have many challenges, whether it's the language issue or racial disproportionality. But there was a particular time, one of my public defense contracts, where the police officers thought it would be a good idea to come in and on the interpreter calendar and just, you know, see who might be an illegal on that just because they know that those people are going to be there at this time and they don't speak English and maybe they're illegals and maybe we can take them off to ice. And that was something that I absolutely could not tolerate. And I brought it to the attention of the judge, and it was stopped immediately. As a prosecutor, I see this more in just working with my law enforcement agencies that I work with to make sure that they are aware of the issues of race and racial disproportionality when they're out in the streets and how important it is to treat everyone equally and to be aware of those issues no matter who they're coming into contact with. So as a prosecutor, I try and make sure that the law enforcement officers that I work with are all being fair, impartial and aware of the issues of racial disproportionality in their jobs. All right. Thank you. Okay. Our final question will be asked by Councilmember Dan Bousquet. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a systems and budget question. The county's general fund, which supports the district court, has an ongoing structural crisis. And we are working with the court to find ways to meet its needs with less money. What ideas do you have for how the court might operate more efficiently? I have a lot of ideas about that. Two years ago, I take it upon myself to change the way I do my files from paper files to electronic. I made a change in everything all at once just about two years ago, in May of 2015. It was very intimidating to me to think about not having all that paper in front of me, but I found that it was incredibly efficient. Shortly after that, my assistant, who had been working with me for years and years and years, she quit to become a full time mom and I was worried that I was going to need to find another person. And frankly, with the ease of the electronic system and the electronic files I'd made, I found I didn't even need to hire an assistant because it was so efficient. I really think that even though we have ECI right now in King County District Court, I think there's so many ways that we can take that to the next level and become incredibly efficient with electronic systems, with email, with all the technology that's available to us. I think that there's a lot of work that can be done in the future that can be incredibly cost efficient. Also, I really believe that alternative courts, even though it may seem at the outset that we're investing a lot of money, alternative courts are a wonderful way to prevent recidivism and to really get the people back into the community working in a positive way so we don't have the repeat offenders. I think in the long run, adding community courts, working with expanding on the mental health court system, expanding on additional systems that perhaps we haven't even thought of, can be a wonderful way to create cost savings and better the people that we are working with as well. So that was her last prepared question. Do members have any follow up questions at all? All right. Seeing that, I will give you an opportunity now to give us your closing statement. And again, up to 2 minutes, please. Thank you. As I indicated in my opening statement, I. Do you enjoy the work? I find that when I am serving on the bench, when I'm serving as a prosecutor or defense counsel as well, I enjoy this work. I enjoy working with the people who need it. I enjoy working with the other attorneys. I find that my background does serve me well in being able to hear both sides fairly and impartially. And this is a job that I would like to do and I feel like that I would do a good job at it. So thank you so much for your consideration today. And thank you. As I've said to the other candidates, this is a very detailed process and I really appreciate all the information that you have submitted so that we can make a good decision and your interest and your experience that you bring to this process. So thank you again. Thank you. All right. And we will move on now to our next candidate who should be with us in a moment. We will be in a brief recess until she arrives. So we will be out of recess again and moving on with our interviews. Welcome, Ms.. Walz. Thank you again for being here this morning. We're going to start as advertised with an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. Then we'll have prepared questions and closed with a closing statement. So why don't you please just go ahead and give us your opening statement now. Thank you. Good morning, counsel. My name is Renee Wiles, and I'd like to thank you for this opportunity. I am honored and privileged to be considered for a position on the district court bench. I've been serving the citizens of South King County since the inception of my career 17 years ago, initially with the King County Prosecutor's Office as a special deputy assigned to the Regional Justice Center, then as assistant city attorney for the City of Federal Way and for the past 12 years as a prosecutor for the city of Burien, practicing in the King County District Court six years ago, my husband and I opened a law firm, and we provide prosecution services for many Southern cities. This experience has allowed me the unique opportunity to see how different communities function and to understand the character of the many cities that make up South King County. I was elected by my fellow South End attorneys as the president of the South King County Bar Association. I'm also a volunteer for the Partnership for Youth Justice Program, serving at a district court in Burien. I was drawn to this community because of my background. I am an immigrant from South Korea, adopted by a farmer from Minnesota, my father and a doctor from the Philippines, my mother. I was raised in Arizona in a bicultural home within a multicultural community, which necessitated that I learn enough Spanish to stay out of trouble in Somalia. These life experiences have provided me with a unique lens through which I view justice. Communities are not monolithic understanding. This is what has allowed me to serve so many communities for so long, so well as a pro tem judge and a prosecuting attorney. The breadth of my experience working in South King County communities will be an asset to the District Court bench, and I welcome the opportunity to answer your questions, and I thank you for your time. Thank you. The first question comes from Councilmember Cole. WELLS Thank you, Madam Chair. I think you've given us a lot of information about your background. What do you believe is the single most important element to prepare you for assuming a district court judge? And what is most important to you about wanting to be a district court judge? I think the single most important element to me is the desire to do the right thing and the humility to admit when you make mistakes. I think that integrity is the cornerstone of a good judge. I believe that the diverse background that I have, where I was raised, who I am, what I look like, gives me a perspective. For the citizens of South King County. And I'm sorry, Councilwoman Caldwell's the second part of that discussion, the single. Most important factor for you in wanting to be a district. Court judge. So the district court ultimately is the final decision maker. And so, as a prosecutor, I may recommend different things. But a mentor of mine when I first started said, if you are looking for the conviction or the guilty finding, you are misplaced. If you're going to ask somebody to do something, mean it. Do it for the betterment of the person. Do it for the betterment of the community. And I built my legal career on that. And I'd like to bring that to the bench. Thank you. All right. Question number two will be asked by Councilmember McDermott. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Miss Wells. Good morning. A question is, how would you respond to a hypothetical situation? And that is that a defendant in your courtroom is displaying mental health or behavioral issues and is being disruptive. How do you maintain control of your courtroom while at the same time respecting the rights of the defendant? That's happened to me on on a good handful of occasions. Mental health issues are growing in this county and pretty much across the country. I think that it's important that you keep a cool head. You stay. Calm. You address the issues that they're having. If they feel like they're suffocating literally when they're in their cell. Acknowledge that. I understand that you feel like you know you're suffering. You're suffocating. I hear that. Here's. Here's what we're going to do. And I think that when they feel like you've heard them, it calms down the situation. Council member Lambert will ask the next question. Thank you, Madam Chair. In your role. As the decision maker, describe a. Time when you were wrong, how you realized you had made a mistake. What made you change your mind? And how do you correct that mistake? Okay. I was wrong when I made a ruling about restitution, and I think that I considered things a little too quickly when I considered things a little further by the end of the day. I decided that the right thing to do was to change my ruling, and I did so. And I notified the parties of that and to bring them back at their next court date, which they were going to have to discuss that issue again and bring more paperwork. One thing I think bail hearings can be quite difficult and you question yourself the most, I believe, at bail. Hearings. And I remember this one occasion when there was a defendant who had assaulted his brother and and it involved a saw. He was in the hospital. It was a misdemeanor. Right. So not huge injuries. But but he had no criminal history. There's no reason to believe he wouldn't come back. And I ended up releasing him from custody. And then I started thinking, oh, man, did I do the right thing here? And I've had the support of some really good judges. And so at the end of the day, I called Judge Ed and I asked him, I said, what would you do in this situation? And before I knew it, I was on speaker phone. I had Judge 80. Judge Stephenson walked through that. I had her on speakerphone. And then Judge Christie walked through and I had him on speakerphone. And everybody gave me a different answer. And that made me feel much better at the end of the day. And everything went well. Everything's fine, thank you. Okay. Councilmember Gossett, very question number four. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. This is a question about racial disproportionality. And as a woman lawyer of color, I would assume you've had thoughts and opportunities to deal with this issue. But our question is asking you to describe what you have done and either your personal or professional life to address racial disproportionality if you think it does exist in our criminal justice system. Okay. If sometimes. It makes me a little bit prickly when people assume that indigency equals. Communities of color. Sometimes this does intersect. And there have been laws that have been passed by the legislature, especially with DUIs, saying you have to have alcohol monitoring. And if you don't have alcohol monitoring in some fashion, you may be subject to going back to jail. Right. But the problem is, is that that is not free. That is $15 a day, a day, a day. And so if you're indigent, you can't pay for that. And that happens at least where I practice to a lot of people of color. And so people who are wealthy don't have this problem. And I found that to be very frustrating. And so I went to the city of Berrien, and I explained what was going on. And I asked them for funds. To provide the service for free. And they did. And so now that people aren't going to be subject to that same penalty that they may be. Samantha. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And our fifth and final prepared question will come from Councilmember Dombrowski. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I really thank you for your preparation and being here today. This is a general systems and budget question. The county's general fund, I think, you know, supports district court. And we've got a structural challenge here with our general fund. We're always looking for ways to do more with less. What ideas do you have for how the court might operate more efficiently or save some money? Okay. I'll start off by saying, you know, the I know that the King County District Court budget is incredibly complex, especially working for a city and understanding the reconciliation process and everything that goes into it. So I'll give you an example of things that I've done. I think that it's important to think out of the box. Where can we find the money to do something? And sometimes it's been a matter of. All right, I. We have to pay a filing fee to file this court, in this case in district court. A-listers. How can I save the city money while maintaining the ability to have justice while not putting a burden on an indigenous population? There's a lot that goes into that, but I had to think about that. And what it came down to is I thought, all right, let's switch up the procedures. So now we don't pursue that charge, but we still file certain things. So now it's $12 instead of $310. Any time something like that goes to court, also thinking, let me move one day we've got let me move the motions day after the readiness day. And so what that meant was that we saved a lot of money. We're not having needless motions. We're not clogging up the court calendar. And I think in the first year we did that, we saved over $11,000 in King County deputy overtime. All right. Do any members have any follow up questions that they would like to ask Councilmember Lambert? Thank you. It's a follow up on the question I asked earlier. Suppose you were on the bench and you made a mistake and another judge came in and said, you made a mistake. How would you notify the judge. Whose court calendar you were taking that that judge. That supervising her had told you you've made a mistake? How would you go about doing that? The judge that I'm sitting for, you know, I'm always willing to admit if I make a mistake and I ask the people that I sit for, if you ever see that there's an issue, I would request that. Please tell me, because I would rather not make a mistake again. And I've had the generosity of many judges, whether I sit for them or not, that have been incredible mentors for me and have given me a structure to be able to be effective, to be accurate. And it's really passed down a philosophy. That is that presents the King County District Court with a good reputation that you have judges there that are supporting each other, that are supporting the people who sit in there, that the goal at the end of the day is to provide justice to the best of everybody's ability and passing on knowledge. So the judge offered a mentor. You would follow up on that? Yes. And I have. I have. Yes, I have. I value everybody's experience and I seek it out. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. At this point, if you would like to give a brief closing statement after 2 minutes. Go ahead. Thank you. Okay. I would just, first and foremost, want to thank you again for the opportunity to share with you my perspectives, philosophy and qualifications. I know many of the other candidates here considering, and I'm grateful to be considered among them. As you make your decision, I hope that you consider the broad based support that I have from sitting judges and city leaders, which, combined with almost a decade of pro tem experience, make me an ideal candidate for this position. I care deeply about the quality of justice in this county and called to this work in large part because my values are King County values. I believe in access to justice. I believe in fairness and transparency. I believe in equity and equality. I believe that perceptions matter. How our courts are perceived by marginalized communities impacts the legitimacy of the decisions that we make. For this reason, it is important that we understand the impacts that our decisions have, not just on the individuals, but on the community as a whole. King County courts have been leaders on issues that affect justice, both in our state and across the country, from therapeutic courts to addressing issues of racial disproportionality, to mitigating the financial impacts on indigent defendants. Our judges, with the support of other branches of government, have led the way. But we recognize that there is always room to seek a new path and forge a brighter future. I'm thankful that so many of these current and former district court judges have placed their faith in me and have called upon me to sit in their stead. And I would be honored. To be counted as one of their colleagues. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I just want to second the comments that some others have made. This is a very labor intensive and detailed process. We really appreciate all the effort you've put into providing us so much information so that we can make a good decision. Thank you for your interest and we will now move on to our final candidate. But we're going to take a moment at recess while we change change how people think. Of recess now. And moving on to our final candidate of the morning. Mr. York, thank you so much for being here today again and for waiting as a person with the last name that starts with B, I always went first. You probably often go last and we appreciate your patience with us. I'm really thankful for the world. As we get started. Once again. Once again. Okay. It's been we're ready now. We will start with a brief two minute opening statement and then we have a series of prepared questions that we'll give you a closing statement. And at that point, we'll probably go into an executive session to deliberate. So if you would, start with your opening statement, thank. You very much. I was raised to try and make the world a better place while my mother was raising four children. As a single parent, she worked as many as six jobs. At one time, she still found time to give back to the community through Eastern Star and Rainbow Girls and helping me with my Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. I learned this ethic from her. I discovered my calling to the law early on with my love of the Constitution and my desire to use my skills to make social change is the reason I went to college. The reason I went back to college after dropping out from financial difficulties. The reason I went to law school to become a trial attorney. And the reason I started pro tem judge in in 2008. I hope to bring professionalism, consistency, knowledge of the law, and an earnest desire to serve the communities of King County. My years of varied experience working with and besides some amazing judges have laid a foundation I hope to continue building on. I will never stop trying to be better on the bench, better for those using the system, but also better for those working in it. Literally, every time I leave the bench, I ask my court clerk what I can do to make her life easier, and then I take her words to heart, his or her words aren't. I feel very strongly that a judge has a responsibility to help his or her community off the bench as well. I have served South King County my personal life. I currently serve on boards for two different charity organizations Corners Ken Dam and the South King County Activity Center. One, providing helping the children of South King County. And one helping provide job training and placement for the profoundly disabled. I clean our parks every month, package food for the disadvantaged, help our, educate our children. And I have served on municipal subcommittees to help unite our communities in the years that I have served as an advocate and pro tem judge. I have worked with some of the best judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and court staff in King County. I have joined with all of them to strive to make the world a better place for the accused witnesses, parties and victims in the system. It is my hope that I can continue to do this in the capacity as a district court judge. And I'm honored to be here today to ask for this appointment. Thank you, Mr. York. The first question will come from Council member Cole Wells. I thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. York, with all your experience, what do you believe is the most important in preparing you for taking a position on the bench? And and what is the most important part of your background that. You or why you would like to be a judicial. Have a judicial position? So two. Questions. And. I'm clear. That is a that is a big question. I think that the traits that have helped me become a good judge, should I be blessed enough to get the position, are, I think, over my varied experience through both King County prosecutor's office and through the Seattle Municipal Court system. I also was a pro tem judge for a long period of time as I helped develop what I think is what makes a great judge, which is professionalism, consistency and professionalism, consistency, a knowledge of the law and a perspective. And I think that has that has helped prepare me for the bench. The reason I want to be a judge started a long time ago. I have I have older siblings and they went through school and ahead of me. And I don't know if any of you have older siblings, but they were better at things that I wasn't as good at. My oldest brother was excellent at chess and theater. My next oldest brother was an athlete and a band member and really good at all those things. And I found his speech and debate and I as I mentioned in my opening, I've always had a desire to serve the community. And that started when I was young and Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. And I tried to figure out the best way I could use that skill that I'd been given to help make the world a better place. And I looked at going into government and I thought that the judiciary would be a great place to do that. So as I've built through my career, I've worked towards that goal. It's one of the reasons I started in King County prosecutor's office under normally he was an amazing man, and I think we've lost something, obviously with him not in doing this job, but he one thing he ethic, he taught me while I was at the King County prosecutor's office was that it's about justice. It's about not about not about getting a conviction. It's about the outcome being the right outcome. And there's one story I can tell about that, where I had a robbery that I was prosecuting. And through independent investigation, I found a couple of witnesses who had placed the defendant somewhere other than where it happened. Now, we had another case where we had witnesses saying that they were there, but I believe these witnesses I had found. So I went to my supervisor, Dan Clarke, and I asked them, I said, I don't believe he did it. He said, well, then dismiss it, man. So simple as that. We didn't try and negotiate an outcome. We dismissed it, which was the right thing to do, and that was the ethic I was taught at the King County prosecutor's office to seek justice. And I think that's a very short step to the to being a judge is seeking justice, because that's your goal there. Then I was blessed enough to come over to the city attorney's office with Pete Holmes. And when he allowed me to open up and work on some projects such as the Restorative Justice Project, which has peace circles involved for people ages 18 to 24, I started that there where it's an alternate accountability system where you don't actually it's pre finally diversion where you can appoint a filing. And then I also always had the support of working on my proportional sentencing standard, where now the Seattle Municipal Court, the prosecutors make recommendations on the Top End as well as the bottom. And so normally in the system practice, the standard practice is 364 days or 90 days, depending on whether it's a gross or normal misdemeanor. The Seattle Municipal Prosecutor's Office doesn't do that anymore. We make recommendations on what we think the appropriate top end recommendation as well as bottom end. And I'm not aware of any other jurisdiction that does that. Thank you. Me? Okay. Councilmember McDermott, for question number two. Thank you, Madam Chair. Question is, how would you respond in a hypothetical situation and situation being that there's a defendant in your courtroom displaying a mental health or behavioral issue and is being disruptive, how would you maintain control of your courtroom while also respecting the rights of the defendant? Well, I've had that happen both as an advocate and as a as a judge in a courtroom. I've had I've had the luck and blessing to serve in mental health courts throughout my career. I stood in a mental health court a couple of times at the King County Prosecutor's Office, and I stood in a lot more over the first two years of my career at Seattle City Attorney's Office in Mental Health Court. So I have some experience in dealing with the mentally ill. I get a little personal. I also have family members who have parents schizophrenia, including my father, who did it before he passed. And so I have some personal experience in how to manage that situation and a lot of empathy and compassion for them. In my time as an East Precinct liaison attorney for the city attorney's office. I also worked closely with the crisis intervention team, which is I'm sure you're aware of the the great team that goes around instead of putting people in jail, tries to get them into beds. So I guess the whole point of all that is that I do have experience in dealing with people who are in mental crisis or have certain mental situations. A lot of times I've worked with great defense attorneys, either when I was a judge or a prosecutor who have very good client control and help manage that system. The last thing I want to do is, is swing a gavel and yell at somebody in my courtroom for something that's out of their out of their control. Usually, in my experience and the times I've dealt with this as an advocate and as a judge, I've been able to speak with them, communicate with them, calm them down and move them out. I haven't had a situation where someone's been completely out of control or something had to happen. Now that can happen and I'm prepared to deal with that. But obviously it has had you have to have kid gloves. You have to have compassion, understanding of the situation that person is in. So I suppose what I would do is I would work with the defense attorney and the prosecutor. I would make sure that if we had a heads up that might be happening, that they would go last so that they could speak as much as they wanted, so that they could have their privacy somewhat retained. I know it's on a public record, but having that in mind, everybody can also add stress and an amp them up in their crisis. So you can work to coordinate with the parties to make sure that they're later on in the calendar, if at all possible, hopefully at the end. And then their people speak to them like people that's that's the ultimate grounding of it is done. Don't forget that. If one thing I learned one thing I learned from my personal experience with paranoid schizophrenia is that if you take what their delusion is as fact, everything from their rational, every logical decision they make is rational. If the person is spying on them from the van across the street, then it's rational for them to put the the block to make sure they can't get spied on. So a lot of different mental illnesses have that paradigm where you can approach them and and give them the respect they deserve and not escalated up de-escalation techniques and and not taking it beyond where you forget that you're dealing with people. Thank you. Councilmember Lambert, we'll ask the next question. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. In your role as a decision maker, describe a time when you were wrong. How did you realize you made a mistake? What made you change your mind and how did you correct it? Well, that's that's one of the one of the difficulties in the system is that determining when you've made a wrong choice. It requires a lot of self-awareness. We all make wrong choices where people the system isn't perfect. I've had the benefit of watching a trial in China. And when I was there and I promised there's a reason for me bringing this up is that the prosecutor, they have a 99 something percent conviction rate. And I watched the defense attorney sit in the corner and not say a word for the entire trial while the accused stood there and had to answer the questions from the judge. So our system is great compared to that, but we still have our holes in the system and we. So have mistakes made. The mistake that springs to mind is I'm a regular pro tem in Kent, Washington, in Kenya's civil court for Judge Jorgensen. And Judge Phillips and I handle all of their pro se contested calendars, and I handle all their all their attorney contests in calendars and other by mails. And the one that comes to mind as a pro is a contested calendar. It was an accident case. And I went through the accident and I heard all the evidence and it was one of those borderline cases. And I made the call that they did it, that they by preponderance of evidence, they did it. And I went through the whole process and sent them on their way for appeal. And then I went home and I thought about it and I thought about it. And every time I get off the bench, I'm exhausted. I put everything I can into every case in front of me because it's the most important thing for that person in front of me. I don't care if it's an accident case or they didn't care or they didn't have registration or if it's a murder trial, which I haven't had to judge, but I've been an advocate for every case as a judge in front of me. It is serious because it's the most important thing for that person. So I went home and I thought about that one and I actually went back to my clerk the next day and I issued and issued a written order that found it not committed. We as judges, we as prosecutors, we as defense attorneys, we have to remember that we're fallible and that we're going to be mistakes. And it's okay to question those decisions. The minute you stop taking cases seriously from the bench, as serious as they are in the minute, you shouldn't be up there anymore and it's okay to second guess yourself and it's okay to go back and correct injustices that are in place. I don't have I'm sure I've made mistakes in other places that I can't cite because I maybe I didn't know I made the mistake. But that's one that comes to mind as I actually took the corrective action to follow through on it. So I never want to if I'm ever if I'm lucky enough to be on the bench, I never want to be that judge who doesn't anguish over every decision but everything they have and every calendar and walk off the bench exhausted every time. Because if I am, I don't belong there anymore. So I'm happy to try and point out when I make a mistake and I'm happy to hear criticism from attorneys when I do. And that's, thank goodness, why we have appeals court okay. The next question is from Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Mr. York. Thank you, sir. I'm being here. And from your responses to all the questions to be very relevant, thought provoking, mine has to do with the topic that I'm assuming you are aware is a big issue in our judicial system, in our society, and that's the one dealing with racial disproportionality. Yes, sir. So my question to you is, could you describe a time in your personal or professional life that you've had to address racial disproportionality, either objectively, directly or personally, and what was outcome? Or you can use something in the court arena since you've been a pro-tem judge that you think is relevant to address this question. Yes, sir. Thank you for that question. Well, let me just state straightforward as you in agreeing with you that there's no debate there. The community, the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts communities of color. It's a fact. There's no argument over that. There's multiple causes for that. Dozens of studies have come up with with reasons for that. One of those being parties and practices and policies that affected one is implicit bias and another one that consistently has structural disadvantage, socioeconomic impact, having to deal with that. I'm lucky enough that I work for the city of Seattle, and the city of Seattle requires every one of its employees, whether you're a police officer, whether you work for the financial administrative services, or whether you're a prosecutor or civil attorney, as I have been both for the city of Seattle, you have to go to RTI training , race and social justice initiative. Every every employee has to go through that. And that is wonderful. And so I always noticed race racial disproportionate in the career field. I noticed when I was first at the King County prosecutor's office, I looked around at all the supervisors and there were no supervisors of color. There was white, male, white, male, white male and then white female. And I thought that was wrong. And I started working to try and correct that race and social justice and the impact of criminal justice system in the face. When it came to Seattle, I loved it. It's a great thing to hit me in the face with. One of the solutions to the problem is to have training and continued training on race and social justice. So every employee of the Seattle municipal system has not only race and social justice, there's a follow up class and there's one for management as well. So once that hit, I started paying a lot more attention to the implicit bias around my explicit biases. Obviously, very easy to point out, but the implicit bias is insidious. So how has it affected my career? Well, every time I take the bench, I'm thinking about implicit bias. I have to. If I don't, I'm not. I'm doing a disservice for the person in front of me. Not just for racial disparate disproportionality, but tattoos, long hair, however you want out, whatever bias you have inside of you, if you don't recognize it, put a pin in it and make sure that you're paying attention to it for every decision you're making. Then you're doing a disservice to the justice system and a disservice to the parties and a disservice to the person in front of you. So every time I take the bench, every time I made a prosecutorial decision, I was keeping an implicit bias in mind. Again, one of the ways to help solve that, I think, is continuing forward education. Studies have shown that that actually has a positive impact on stopping disproportionality. I also think there are some things we can do systematically that I've worked with with speed for the last five years. I've been housed in Seattle Police Department in both the east precinct, south precinct and Southwest Precinct. And we've been working with Officer Accountability in the Department of Justice mandate over top of that. And I've had some trainings with the officers as well to try and work on how they approach and answer their questions and work with them on this issue of race and social justice initiative, which they've all of course taken the class as well. So I've worked hand in hand with police officers to help combat this one where policing is occurring. Okay. And a final prepared question will be asked by Councilmember DEMBOSKY. Madam Chair, and thanks for being here and for your preparation. Thank you. This is a systems and budget question. As you know, the county's general fund struggles with an ongoing structural gap. And that fund is what supports district court. We're always looking for ways to save money and do more with less. What ideas do you have for the court in how it might operate more efficiently? Well, I already I made mentioned to my proportional sentencing policy in Seattle, so I can dig a little bit deeper into that because I think it does have an effect on budget as well. What ends up happening in the system is that a person gets sentenced to 364 days with, say, 364 suspended or 360 suspended where they spend four days in jail and have a bunch of jail time hanging over their head. And then any any small, minor thing, they have a new criminal charge. They fail to follow up with a treatment, whatever. They come back before the judge for review hearing. And this is done across the board. This isn't just done for DV and DUI. It's done for criminal trespass and resisting arrest and and other minor offenses like camping in a park. And there's no reason why you have to have a bunch of time hanging over someone's head for some minor offense like that. It's much better to have a straightforward this is your penalty and close the case. The reason that impacts budget is because if you do, in fact, you start having sentences where you don't have all this time hanging over your head, you don't have continually draw the defendant back into court. You don't have to continually have revocation, hearing after revocation, hearing after revocation, hearing, which costs money and time and also has the benefit of being a lot more fair, where a person who steals $5 should shouldn't have the same maximum penalty as a person who steals $500. So it has a benefit of being fair, impacting race and social justice issues and saving money. Another place where we could look to to maybe save some money, bless you, is we have the king. King County District Court has mental health court and they have veterans court, but they don't have DUI court. And there's lots of grant money available for DUI court. And I think it's something that King County District Court should seriously consider jumping into municipal court as a starting that in September, and there's grant money for that. And that could help manage a lot of money having to be involved with DUI defendants. So it's a therapy court. Therapy courts have been have been shown to be the direction maybe the courts should be going. They've been successful in mental health. They've been successful in veterans court. We've had some success at Seattle Muni with Community Court, even though we don't have that anymore. For the years it was in place, it was a model program for the nation. So specialty courts are important, but they also save money. You get people less recidivism. You also have the advantage of grant money available to get that taken care of and you can take some part of your workload and put it there. Also having to do with with budgetary issues. We have we have bail issues, if we can. One of the largest problems we have in the system right now is bail. People of means can make a mistake and stay out of custody. People without stay in custody. The reason that costs money is, is if you can figure out a way to educate the public and the people who are appearing in the court about when they have to come back to court, then you can avoid again repeated hearings over and over again. Furthermore, you have these people who have also been then it would be more fair. It wouldn't be based upon somebody's income level. Now, how do you fix that? Well, the problem is, as soon as you tell someone they're getting out of custody, they start paying attention. So somehow we have to intervene before that point and let them know when their court date is, but know how important it is. I'm run out of time, but something I started doing on the bench as I look back at their previous cases and I see when they last showed up to court, I make a note of it on the record, congratulate them for that and tell them they're starting to build credibility with the court by doing that. Let's do it again. Okay. That is the end of our prepared questions. Do members have any follow up questions? Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have one firm for Matthew and it's related to something that he explained when he was talking about the racial justice training at the Seattle city of Seattle provides to all of his staff. And within your department, the law department, you said you have three levels of additional training. Just a couple of days ago, the new federal attorney general, Sessions, said that he's going to stop the Justice Department for being so hard on police departments. I want to go through all this training and stuff and I don't do that job. What do you think about that? I think that's an awful idea. I've worked closely with Seattle Police Department for the last five years, and I've watched I've watched the shift in culture. I've watched it happen. The old guard is is dropping. The new guard is stepping forward and taking responsibility. I bring you hope. The Seattle police pardon me. The Seattle Police Department is making positive change to remove that training, I think would be an awful idea. And we have to find some way, if the feds aren't going to help with that, that that we continue doing that anyway. One example, one of the biggest problems that we have in the law enforcement community where why the training is necessary and imperative is that there's this culture where you have your good cops and your bad cops, but then the good cops don't report on the bad cops. We need to change that culture. We need to make it so that you have a freedom to say no. That guy, he did the wrong thing and you can step forward. And I've actually witnessed that personally happen a couple of times in the last few years now. And when I first started in as PD, I wasn't the most popular person in there because there was a to do a public to do about my by my boss Peter Holmes. But that is all that is all calmed down. And they they come to me and ask questions. We engage in candid conversations about these very issues, and I have hope that that is moving in the right direction. So to bring back to your question, if we cut funding for the training, we are going to be taking a step back on all of that progress. I've seen the progress working. I've seen some great officers embracing the changing culture speed. In my opinion, if you look around the country, is is becoming a model agency for everybody else to look towards. And I think that that training is a huge part of that. So I would I would I would I would urge this council, I would urge the city city Seattle City Council. If this remains and we use that lose that funding that we need to find a way to do it anyway. Okay. All right. With that, it seems we're done with questions. And if you could please give us your closing statement after 2 minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much. In my career, I have paid attention to what makes a great judge. I have given it a lot of thought professionalism, consistency, knowledge of the law, and a complete perspective that includes serving the community. I believe that I will bring these qualities to the district court bench. I have real, consistent and considerable experience on the bench. I have served as a pro tem judge in five municipalities and King County District Court. I have sat on the bench every month since September of 2008. That's 103 consecutive months. I also bring 15 years as an advocate in both King County courts and municipal courts, felonies and misdemeanors. That time has prepared me for the type of temperament, consistency and knowledge in the law. I will need to bring it be a strong addition to the bench. This diversity also gives me perspective on what is truly a serious offense. Many of the lawyers never work outside the legal field as an adult having to pay rent. I have spent time working these jobs. I have managed a movie theater, I worked at a 7-Eleven. I prepared roads in Clark County, Nevada. I will not let myself forget what it is like to be an outsider to the court system or how intimidating and scary a court experience can be. There's serious work to be done to increase access to justice for everyone. I promise to continue the work. I started with the city attorney's office where I started the Restorative Justice program and wrote our paradigm shifting proportional sentencing recommendation policies. For the last five years, I have worked closely with communities of East, South and Southwest Seattle Minority Advisory Councils and Crime Prevention Councils. There's close work with communities of color has helped me give me a stronger understanding of the challenges and strengths that diversity brings. I have six exceptionally well-qualified ratings from bar associations for this position. Five of those are from minority bar associations. That speaks to my earnest desire to serve all communities and their faith in me to do so. If you choose to appoint me to one of these open positions, I believe that I can bring professionalism, consistency, knowledge of the law, and a complete perspective to the bench. I thank you for the honor and opportunity to be considered to serve the people of King County. I ask for your appointment and I believe that I will be a strong addition to the King County District Court. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. York. And thank you again for your detailed submittals here. All candidates, I want to say, have done a really excellent job in this process, and it helps us so much to have all the all the information, references background that you've provided. Thank you. You're welcome. At this time. I'm sure. Oh, go ahead, please. I have a general question about. Sure. We have two vacancies here. Correct. And I wondered if staff or perhaps somebody in the know could tell me, is there any difference with respect to the length of term for which the appointment would be and when the election would come up? Are we sure there's no difference? All right. Now. Okay. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. York. Efficient. That's. I didn't care. For the record, it seems he's applied for a job here as well. Good job. Okay, so that. No, no, no. That was good. We've now concluded the interviews, and at this time, the committee will go into executive session to discuss the candidate's qualifications. When we come out of executive session, if we are prepared, we will entertain motions to take action on our two vacancy appointments, the grounds for the executive session, and to evaluate the qualifications of candidates for appointment to elected office as provided in RTW. 42.30 .110 h. I am going to say that the committee will be in executive session for about 20 minutes until about just a couple minutes before noon. I am asking the court to please post the. Doors to that effect. And I must now ask the members of the public, the candidates and all county employees who are not directly necessary for this discussion to please leave the council chambers. Thank you. But they're hoping that make. Did you work on? All of them. Mm hmm. Their projects at this time. Okay. And you begin. That process here. Okay. We will be back in session. Alright. And we are prepared now to take action on the two motions before us. So recall, we have two positions to fill. They are associated with two motions, both of which are in your packet. I will need a motion first on motion 2017 0161 with a do pass recommendation and then an amendment to fill in the name. So, Councilmember Lambert, if you would put this before you. I'd like to move. Proposed motion 2017 0161 with a do pass recommendation, and I'd like to bring the amendment forward also. Okay. It's been moved and we're ready for an amendment. Okay. I'd like to move that. We insert. The name of Matthew York as our. Appointment to the judicial vacancy. All right. Are there any. Which I should speak to the motion? Sure. Thank you. I think that it was clear today that Matthew has great experience. He has a. Dedication for this. And he has. Worked really hard at making sure that he was a valued member of the community that people can look up to as a role model. And I think he'll do an excellent job. Thank you. Any other comments? All right. We will have a voice vote on the amendment. All those in favor please signify by saying I, i any opposed? All right. On final passage. Any comments on final passage of this item? I will say a word I want to say, first of all, that we have to select two people out of these five candidates. All five are eminently qualified. All five have submitted materials that made me very comfortable that they will be a credit to the bench. We have to select two. And on this one, I'm very supportive of Mr. York because as I, to paraphrase him, it appears to me that he has been preparing himself to be a judge since he was a Cub Scout, and he has very sincerely applied himself to that in a number of different ways that have already improved the practice of law in our community. And I think he'll be a credit to the bench. So I will be voting yes on the motion. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you very much. I just wanted to echo and reinforce a bit your remarks. I thought that all five candidates, two were quite qualified and I was impressed and pleased with that because we need quality people leading our judicial branch of government. And some of the responses that candidates gave to our questions were very thought provoking. They were educational and thought about the things that they said. And I hope that the ones that are not selected on this forum will continue to push their desire to be judicial leaders in our community. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman regards it very well said. Okay. With that, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Gossett. Oh. Council Member, Cornwall Councilmember Lambert. Hi. Councilmember McDermott. Councilmember. I'm the Grove Council member. One right there. Madam Chair. Hi, Madam Chair. The vote is seven eyes. No nos. Council members up to Grove and Von. Right. They were excused. Thank you. Okay, so that motion will go to the full council with the do pass recommendation. Is there any reason to expedite? Yeah. Why don't we expedited that? A long process? Yeah. Okay, that brings us to item. Madam Chair. Yes. I know for the record that this Monday's meeting will be a special meeting beginning at noon, not 130. Thank you. Reason not to expedite, but that's to aim for my colleagues and be let the people being appointed know that it won't be the regular one. 30 meetings could be new. Yeah, we can swear you in here at the council on Monday. Or you can do a special swearing in if you want. Or we can share all those details. Thank you both very much. This brings us to proposed motion number 2017 0162. And I'm going to call on Council Member Dunn to make this motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would move proposed motion number 2017, dash 0162 and to speak to it. Well, first, we will need an amendment. To amend the. Name. I mean. Yeah, all right, before I make that motion for a minute, I just want to say that all of you, all five of you, I feel very comfortable with you on the bench, very high quality candidates, very important job. As you know. You know, every case, as some of you noted, that comes before you is the most important thing to that person. And I'll tell. I just appreciate your willingness to serve on the bench. I have seen over the years that those who don't get appointed here very frequently will get appointed in the next round or they get elected to the bench. And so I would not give up for those of you who don't make it, I continue on because you all have a special talent. But with that said, though, it's my distinct pleasure and honor to move to amend this ordinance with Jason. Address his name. Okay. Thank you. Any further comments? Just at this point is an excellent candidate for this. He's extremely well qualified, as noted, and like his is his judicial temperament and his work ethic. And I think he'll bring a lot of really important qualities to the bench. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. And the other comments. All those in favor of the motion adding Jason Poitras as his name. Please say I, I and he opposed motion carries. Any further comments on final passage? I will just again say that we had the benefit in this in this round of interviews of five eminently qualified candidates . And I think that I would be very comfortable and pleased and we would be fortunate as a community to have any one of you serving on the bench. So I want to second what Councilmember Dunn said about not giving up, because it would be it would be my pleasure to appoint any one of you at some point in the future, and I hope that you will continue in your seeking this role. Mr.. Put just some of the strengths that I saw. Although you have a unique you bring a really different set of background skills we haven't seen before, but I think that can be a good thing. I think those different experiences as a an administrative law judge, as a hearings officer, got you into into people's cases in ways that that I think will be beneficial on the bench. I really appreciated the diligence and the amount of time over your career that you've put into pursuing your goals. It's it's apparent from everything you do that you are intentional and that you are that you are driving towards a result. And I think you will bring that to your daily calendars in a way that will serve the people in the court very, very well. You had a very impressive list of references as well. I ran into one of them at lunch this weekend, so I was hearing about you. But I want to thank you all again for participating. And if there's anyone else I'd like to add. Councilmember Gossett. Thank you. My client that I would add and I think will benefit from from Jason, is that he comes from a very well known inner city community and our country. And because of those experiences, I think that the passion and compassion that I believe is necessary to combat racism and classism and other problems that we have in our entire government here are bringing some really solid benefits. And he's a few years younger than me, so he'll be bringing them for a while. Thank you, Councilmember. All right. With that, I'll ask the court to please call the roll. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember Dunn. 1/2. Councilmember Garza. Votes five. Thank you. Councilmember Garcia five. Councilmember Cole Wells. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember McDermott. Councilmember up the Grove. Councilmember Yvonne. Wraith Bauer. Madam Chair. Hi, Madam Chair. The vote is seven is no nos. Council members of the Grove and one right GA excused. All right. With that, the motion passes unanimously with a do pass recommendation that should also be expedited. Thank you very much. And related to this, coming. To this coming Monday at the earlier time, as announced by our chair, and that concludes our business before the committee today. If there is any other business to come before us seeing none, we are adjourned.

Output: A MOTION making an appointment to fill a judicial vacancy in the southeast division of King County district court.