1200 King County

Courthouse

King County

516 Third Avenue

Seattle, WA 98104

Meeting Minutes

Committee of the Whole

Jorge Barón, Chair

Claudia Balducci, Vice Chair;

Rod Dembowski, Reagan Dunn, Steffanie Fain, Rhonda Lewis,

Teresa Mosqueda, Sarah Perry, Pete von Reichbauer

Lead Staff: Andy Micklow (206-263-3226)

Committee Clerk: Blake Wells (206-263-1617)

9:30 AM

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

DRAFT MINUTES

Hybrid Meeting

Call to Order

Roll Call

Chair Barón called the meeting to order at 9:31 AM.

8 - Balducci, Barón, Dembowski, Dunn, Fain, Lewis, Mosqueda and Perry

1 - von Reichbauer

Present:

Excused:

Approval of Minutes

Vice Chair Balducci moved approval of the January 27, 2026 meeting minutes. There

being no objections, the minutes were approved.

Public Comment

The following people provided public comment:

Matt Payne, Sheri Simonsen, Catherine LeViseur, Rosario Lopez, Kevin Diaz, Ella

Shahn, Matt Pasleash,

Es Elle, Michael Reid, Jordan Pomeroy, Gus Ringo, Amy Shelton, Paddie Ballester,

B.J. Last, K.D. Dichter, Griffin Sprague, Julia Buck, Ellery WIlde, Kevin Altheimer,

Maha Roy, A.J.

Committee of the Whole

Meeting Minutes

February 24, 2026

Discussion and Possible Action

Proposed Motion No. 2026-0011

A MOTION confirming the appointment of Stephen Heard as director of the King County department of

information technology.

Terra Rose, Council staff, Karan Gill, Deputy King County Executive, and Stephen

Heard, appointee, briefed the committee. Stephen Heard, appointee, answered

questions from the members.

A motion was made by Vice Chair Balducci that this motion be recommended

do pass consent. The motion carried by the following vote:

7 - Balducci, Barón, Dembowski, Fain, Lewis, Mosqueda and Perry

2 - Dunn and von Reichbauer

Yes:

Excused:

Briefings

Briefing No. 2026-B0028

Federal and State Legislative Update

Mac Nicholson, Director of Government Relations, King County Council, briefed the

committee via PowerPoint presentation and answered questions from the members.

This matter was presented.

Briefing No. 2026-B0029

Community & County Responses to Increased Immigration Enforcement

Malou Chávez, Executive Director, Northwest Immigration Rights Project, Shomya

Tripathy, Director of Policy & Civic Engagement, Asian Counseling & Referral

Services, and Vanessa Reyes, Policy Manager, Washington Immigrant Solidarity

Network (WAISN), briefed the committee via PowerPoint presentation and answered

questions from the members.

Leesa Manion, King County Prosecuting Attorney, and Misha Werschkul, Deputy

Director, Policy and Innovation, King County Executive's Office, also briefed the

committee and answered questions from the members.

This matter was presented.

Other Business

There was no other business to come before the committee.