At Seattle City Council’s meeting on May 24, Councilmember Sara Nelson’s Resolution 32050 was approved by a vote of 6-3 (Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Tammy Morales, and Kshama Sawant opposed this resolution). This resolution establishes Council’s intent to remove a proviso on anticipated 2022 salary and benefits savings for the Seattle Police Department to fund staffing incentives. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce was a major supporter of Councilmember Nelson’s efforts to pass this resolution.
At the May 24 Council meeting, an ordinance sponsored by Councilmember Lisa Herbold that will allow the police department to hire an additional recruiter and cover moving expenses for new recruits was also passed by a vote of 6-3 (Councilmembers Mosqueda, Morales, and Sawant again opposed).
We applaud the adoption of both pieces of legislation and we will continue to advocate and urge councilmembers to work toward an all-of-the above approach to public safety that includes reforms AND scaled alternatives to an armed officer response AND ensures the right number of officers on staff to perform the jobs only an armed officer can.
We greatly appreciate the leadership of Councilmember Nelson in moving this resolution forward and we thank all those who took the time to contact their elected officials using the Chamber’s advocacy tool. Through the Chamber’s tool, we sent 190 emails to councilmembers urging them to support Nelson’s resolution. You made a difference and we’re grateful for these collective efforts.