Council discussed revisions to the Burien City Council Guidelines and discussed applications to the Sound Cities Association.
Sound Cities Association Appointments
Councilmembers declared their interest in applying for board and committee positions within the Sound Cities Association (SCA).
The SCA was founded in the 1970s to help cities act locally and partner regionally to create vital, livable communities through advocacy, education, leadership, mutual support and networking. SCA represents 38 cities of King County and provides a voice for over one million people. The SCA has appointing authority for over thirty regional boards and committees. Twenty-four of these boards and committees have seats for elected officials up for appointment for 2021.
Council Meeting Guidelines Updates Discussed
Council engaged in a robust discussion on updates to the Burien City Council Meeting Guidelines. Guidelines are meant to guide how Council runs meetings beyond requirements set by state law. Most of the changes were minor adjustments to make the guidelines easier to read and procedural updates to make the meetings easier to run.
Some notable procedural changes include:
- A native land acknowledgment will be added to the regular agenda.
- Council will be able to support more than two proclamations per councilmember per year. More information will be brought to Council in the future regarding flag raising requests.
- More inclusive language was proposed, replacing “he/she” with “they” and replacing references to “citizen” with “community”.
- Public comment period has been extended from 20 to 30 minutes.
Council will discuss the guidelines again at a future meeting.