Council votes for the second time to delay hiring race and social justice coordinator

Following a contentious conversation, the Lynnwood City Council voted Monday for the second time to delay hiring a paid city employee whose primary responsibilities would be promoting racial equity across the city.

Unsatisfied with the information presented last week by city staff, the council at its Feb. 22 business meeting voted 4-3 to delay hiring the proposed race and social justice coordinator. The council previously delayed filling the position in November when members voted to adopt an ordinance amending the city’s 2021-22 biennium budget.

The motion to delay was made by Council President George Hurst, who said staff had not brought forth any new information at last Tuesday’s work session explaining the coordinator’s job description.

“The research I saw last (week) was pretty much a repeat of what we had,” he said.

During the Feb. 16 work session, the council heard testimony from city staff and volunteers who urged them to move forward with filling the position. Hurst said he made the motion to prevent the mayor from appointing anyone to the job without all councilmembers having received adequate information about the position’s job description. Since it was the council that requested the research, Hurst said it should be the council that decides if the research supplied is satisfactory.

“What we saw on (Tuesday) was the mayor deciding what that research is,” he said.

During the Monday, Feb. 22 meeting, the council voted 4-3– Councilmembers Christine Frizzell, Ruth Ross and Shannon Sessions opposed — to delay filling the position until the job description could be identified within the city’s budgeting for outcomes model and pending the results of a planned community equity survey.

The city contracted with Seattle-based consulting firm BDS Planning & Urban Design to conduct the survey, which aims to establish and build connections with historically “hard to reach” communities; leverage information and relationships; and inform Lynnwood policy and actions centering racial and social equity.

“This analysis will really involve intensive community engagement and relationship building,” said city employee Cameron Coronado. “It’s going to help us gather baseline data on people, identify gaps and work to resolve them.”

At the Feb. 16 meeting, the council heard from members of the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, who also favored filling the position. 

However, not all council members supported hiring the coordinator. Speaking against the move, Councilmember Julieta Altamirano-Crosby criticized the council for not asking for her perspective as the only person of color on the council. During her comments, Altamirano-Crosby referred to data she collected last November based on feedback from residents who were against hiring the coordinator position.

When asked to choose between the race and social justice coordinator, a social worker and community outreach position or another position, Altamirano-Crosby said 60% (167) of respondents were in favor of hiring a social worker and community outreach position instead. According to Altamirano-Crosby’s research, the majority of the 200 respondents (60%) were white, while 20% identified as Hispanic/Latino, 7% as Asian, 5% as Slavic, 5% as African American and 3% identified as other. 

While speaking with residents last year, Altamirano-Crosby said people couldn’t believe that the city was spending more money on the position. However, the position was included in the city’s latest salary schedule and would use reallocated funds from the previous intergovernmental relations position.

In past discussions, there has been some confusion about whether this was a newly created position or a restructuring of the intergovernmental relations position. Last week, Human Resources Director Evan Chinn said the new position includes a new job title, but he repeated that there was no new money being reallocated from other areas to fund the job. Additionally, Chinn said the new position would cost less than the previous one.

“It is a new job title, a new job description but they have not asked for new money beyond what was funded in (the 2019-20 budget),” he said.

Though Altamirano-Crosby’s data may have shown residents favor hiring a social worker, Lynnwood Senior Center Recreation Supervisor Mary-Anne Grafton said the solution was not that simple. According to Grafton, who is a social worker, sending a social worker out into the community would not achieve the desired outcomes for the position.

“We’ve built the foundation to have a coordinator, to continue work that has been done,” she said. “We need something to braid all of our good work together. That’s what’s going to give us the strength to move forward.”

When asked by Councilmember Ian Cotton what her recommendations were, Altamirano-Crosby again referred to the data she presented last November. When asked if she would support a motion to delay, Altamirano-Crosby said she would not support the position at all because based on her data the community did not want it.

“As policymakers, we always say we have to listen, but this time we don’t even care about the 200 voices who shared…what their needs are,” she said.

“I saw the presentation for the employees, yet we don’t have any voices for our community members,” she added. “(Residents) have to decide but I don’t’ feel comfortable to vote yes for this.”

Additionally, Altamirano-Crosby said the presentation last week from BDS Planning did not include any community feedback or comments. However, consultants explained during their presentation that plans for the survey are still in their infancy and that the presentation was the first of three, with a follow-up in April and a final presentation at the end of June.

Ultimately, Altamirano-Crosby was among the majority who voted Feb. 22 to delay hiring the position.

In response to concerns that the position didn’t involve enough community outreach, Human Resources Director Chinn said last week that much of the job’s duties would involve reaching out to communities of color — and other underrepresented communities — to ensure all have equal access to city programs and services. 

In Lynnwood, more than 72% of city employees are white, creating a racial gap that the city aims to close with the coordinator position. While reviewing possible candidates, Chinn said staff would be looking for someone who can bring a unique perspective and life experience to the city level. With more than 100 languages spoken in the Edmonds School District, Chinn added that the coordinator should also be bilingual.

Also voting to delay filling the position, Council Vice President Jim Smith said it was hypocritical to support filling a new coordinator position after the mayor last year implemented a temporary hiring freeze for new city employees, at the request of the city’s finance staff.

During the Monday discussion, Smith claimed the city had eliminated 30 employees due to the pandemic.

“This is an insult to all of our employees who have left (and) this is an insult to the citizens of Lynnwood,” he said.

However, city spokesperson Julie Moore said that the number does not represent people who were laid off by the city. After the meeting, Moore clarified that the roughly 30 people who left their jobs with the city last year did so for a variety of reasons including early retirement or simply on their own. Moore also said that some employees — many of them Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department staff — had their hours reduced. 

During his remarks, Smith also claimed that other city employees would share his beliefs but won’t speak out because he said they would be “discouraged to do so.” 

Responding to Councilmember Smith’s remarks about the temporary hiring freeze, Councilmember Frizzell said the needs of the city had changed since the mayor issued that order at the end of March. According to Frizzell, the death of George Floyd last summer at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer has created a need for the city to prioritize the need for racial justice in the city.

“I think that (Floyd’s death) heightened it in our communities’ mind that we need to do something to coordinate how we’re going to tackle diversity within our city,” she said. “We’re not going to get it perfect right out of the gate but we’re going to make huge steps in the direction of finding a race and social justice within our city.”

Last week, Frizzell asked how the coordinator would work to improve areas where there are racial disparities. For instance, the Washington State Department of Health reported Latinos in Washington make up 13% of the state’s population but account for 32% of the reported coronavirus cases.

In response, Chinn said the coordinator might not be able to have a direct impact on major issues — like distributing the COVID-19 vaccine — but that person could help in other areas. Mayor Smith said the coordinator could help prevent the spread of misinformation about vaccines that she said has caused concern in some communities of color.

“It’s not necessarily that this position will impact directly that number, but as we allow people to be included in access to city services and we can make people’s lives better,” Chinn said.

–By Cody Sexton