Public Service Announcements
This Week
Tuesday: I’ll be talking with former Arts Commission member and Brazilian guitarist/vocalist Eduardo Mendonça. He’s the kind of act I hope we can bring to Des Moines as new venues open up.
Thursday: King County Flood Control District. This is our first meeting of the year. It seems like one of those “somebody’s gotta do it” sort of deals, which I actually enjoy doing.
Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) This meeting features several important items for residents that probably don’t look like much at first glance.
- We will be approving a change to our policy on Parked Cars to allow police certainty to ticket and tow. Many of you have already commented as to why cars just ‘sit’ for long periods. Please read and comment.
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We will be holding a Public Hearing on a 10 year contract with Recology. I will vote NO on this. We recently voted to extend the contract through 2023 to afford staff the ability to negotiate a long term contract and I wanted an opportunity for true COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT on the service. This is the only public hearing. I will -never- vote to approve any long term contract like this without a customer survey. Please read and comment.
- There is also a Public Defender Line Item, which adds an estimated $1,250 a month to our costs for using Body Cameras. I initially voted against Body Cameras for reasons like this. We went ahead all gung ho with $140,000, but no policy language in place and no accurate cost data. Now, the costs have basically DOUBLED and we still haven’t seen the final language as to costs, data retention and usage policy (when the police can turn them on and off!) I am fine with Body Cameras. I -do- strongly object to voting for anything where the costs and policies are incomplete.
To Comment: either in writing or via Zoom are in the Agenda.In writing, either by completing a council comment form or by mail; Attn: City Clerk Office, 21630 11th Avenue S., Des Moines WA 98198 no later than 4:00 p.m. day of the meeting. Please provide us with your first and last name and the city in which you live.
By participation via Zoom. If you wish to provide oral public comment please complete the council comment form no later than 4:00 p.m. day of the meeting to receive your Zoom log-in and personal identification number. Please note that Zoom attendees do not interact with one another; they join in listen-only mode until it is their turn to address the Council.
City Council meeting can also be viewed live on Comcast Channel 21/321 or on the City’s YouTube channel.
Saturday: 12PM-4PM Kent Historical Museum Re-Opens!
Last Week
Monday: Destination Des Moines. This year’s calendar should be final tomorrow. Several new members and lots of new energy!
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda). Highlights: SEA Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART) 2021 Annual Report
Wednesday: Highline Forum (Agenda) This was virtually hosted by Des Moines so there was a presentation on the Marina. And it was presented as a done deal, Ferry to begin this summer, Hotel to be built. All decisions made.
Friday: South King County Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP)
Animal Control: Officer Magnuson 2.0
But 30 years ago, the city had an epidemic of various aggressive dog problems and disputes between neighbours. Officer Jan Magnuson was hired as a commissioned officer of the law. She was one of those employees for whom it wasn’t just a job, it was more like a calling. The difference she made was dramatic. She was available basically 24/7/365 and the public came to expect that level of service. She retired a couple of years ago and since then I (and many residents) have noticed an uptick in the same problems that we thought were things of the past.
Below is a post I made on Nextdoor re. Animal Control. You can read the whole thread here.
As goofy as it sounds, I would go so far as to voice it just like that because the Council, the PD, and the Administration will know exactly what you mean.
I read here that one could not find another ACO like Jan Magnuson. Having spoken at length w Ms. Magnuson and done some research of the field I can assure the public that is simply not the case. There are many, many ACOs out there that provide amazing levels of service.
Unfortunately, we seemed to have assumed that -anyone- doing the job would provide the same level of dedication. And also, the Chief, understandably, wants to focus as much money as possible on violent crime.
Our last ACO was not commissioned/sworn as was Officer Magnuson. That severely limited in his ability to provide enforcement–in exactly these kind of cases. Also, it limited his usefulness–apparently he could not be re-tasked for general law enforcement during off-periods or in an emergency.
That lack of credential added to the notion I have heard that a fully commissioned ACO is something of a ‘luxury’ that a small city like ours cannot afford.
So the question is not to have or not have an ACO, it would be to have an ACO that is commissioned and has the flexibility to be re-tasked for other needs. -Or- if the City decided to outsource, to insure that Burien CARES is able to provide the same level of law enforcement as we previously had with Jan Magnuson.
There is also the question of having our Code Enforcement Officer credentialed and given partial tasking for ACO so as to provide -additional- coverage. If there is no ACO and no Kory, the call gets taken by the patrol officers and that is not ideal.
I have a particular interest in this because we are about to expand the Animal section of our Municipal Code to accommodate more chickens and barnyard -whatever- and proper enforcement capacity will be essential.
I know the matter will come up for a recommendation soon in the Public Safey Committee which now consists of Vic Pennington, Traci Buxton and Harry S. Steinmetz. I would strongly recommend that the public write them because that is the first decision point. It is rare for the full Council to override a recommendation from Committee.
I think this matters enough that I also would ask the public to write the City Council citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov and ask us to bring it up at the 31 March meeting.
Your ask really is “We want Officer Magnuson 2.0”. A highly credentialed, commissioned officer, with high availability…
Once again JC Thanks. You are the only way learn the important stuff about Des Moines .
Kaylene Moon
What happened to the last ACO? Was it Kory? I had a couple interactions with him and he seemed great and got action. It seems to me that ideal would be a designed sworn officer and with the caveat that when not needed for ACO duties he could take on the duties of a regular police officer. I personally want nothing to do with having to depend on somebody from Burien. I don’t want their political craziness to migrate further south!
Officer Batterman is Code Enforcement. Our last AC was Officer Eatschel. He was not fully commissioned. As for the rest of your comments. Agreed. If it were cost-effective (and Officer Batterman wanted to do it) I would support paying for him to be credentialed to do AC work. That would give us -two- people with enforcement powers and fuller scheduling coverage. But… it all comes down to perceived value.
Riveting. As usual!
Thank you. My mother thanks you. And I thank you.
Oh, you don’t have to say -that-!
Stop, stop. You’re too kind. 🙂
Stop, stop. My head!