Thanks for being here.
I'm really excited,
Dan, to say a few words about you and embarrass you and Joela a little bit.
That's always the mayor’s
privilege on these exciting days.
A few things.
We all know why we're here.
To celebrate the close,
it was a 5-4 vote for your confirmation.
No, it was unanimous.
As director of the city budget office during a critical time.
Not just for our city, but I think in our country.
I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules
to celebrate.
You know, I always say repeatedly,
you got to find things to celebrate almost every single day in life.
And clearly, this is one of them.
Joela, thank you for, being with him.
Probably leading him, through very tough times that we have.
And so I'll talk a little bit about that.
For those that don't know, what our budget office does.
I don't know all what they do, by the way.
My jokes are a little flat this morning.
This is funny stuff I'm throwing out here.
I got to broaden my laughter here a little bit.
They balance our books and develop options for the mayor
and the city council to consider when we are looking at the quality
of services that people expect and indeed they deserve in our city.
I think as departments go,
they're sort of the, I would say the brain center,
the nerve center, and what we could do, we always want more resources.
And you and I, it come into the state around the same time in 2008,
and I don't recall a time where every department
and every constituent said more, more, more.
And we understand that, Seattle is a very demanding city and rightfully so.
We're a phenomenal city.
So your office looks at how we can sort of navigate
through all of these challenges and indeed in an area where in a time
where cuts in front of funding, they're targeting vital programs
to, to our services that meet in clearly many of our most vulnerable neighbors.
Your work and the work of your colleagues here.
And I see many of the CBO here.
I'm very happy that you are here.
Your work becomes incredibly important.
I think more so now than ever before, at least in my professional life.
So, thank you.
I am not talking to you, Dan,
talking about all the people that have come here to support you.
I've learned, many years ago that
success is not a
one person's journey.
You can't have success without a team,
and you have a very successful team
doing outstanding work.
You know, I,
when I'm around people, I always say
try to lead with integrity.
Lead with your values.
Lead with who you are.
And I'm very pleased with the level of competency
and the level of integrity coming out of your office.
These are tough jobs we have, we sign up for.
We did, it was a blue pill and a red pill.
I don't know what pills in the matrix.
This was the pill you took.
But the pill we all took is to serve this public and servant with
integrity and a commitment to a people outside of ourselves.
So thank you, Dan. A little bit about Dan's background.
He went to Swarthmore College.
Many of you know, that's one of the top liberals
arts colleges in the country, at least in Philadelphia.
Full, full, full honesty here.
I didn't know what, who
or what Swarthmore was until my son started looking at colleges.
And I, we looked at some of those, small colleges
which realized, there's a reason why I'm not retired, by the way.
Because these are not cheap schools.
But you then, came to your senses and got your,
graduate degree from, you're an MPA from the University of Washington.
So I know you're still a true, Husky at heart.
I haven't, I don't know about Swarthmore’s...
are they in NESCAC or?
They... do you know which conference?
You don't even know what conference they're in.
But they didn't make it to the Final Four.
We know that much for a
Division three school.
But as I said earlier.
Yeah, you and I joined the city family back in 2008.
And I will tell you, it's a fun fact that when I had, won my election
and I started thinking about the team that I wanted to develop
and was one of the first
people I bumped into, when I called and reached out.
Fun fact again, is actually bumped into you.
Remember when I was in Costco, Costco shoppers.
And we had a great conversation and,
I was removed from city politics for a short period, and I just
you always just impressed me with just sort of who you are.
Joela, I see why you fell in love with him. I fell in love with this guy, too.
So, just how you carry yourself with such
an analytical thinker, it's easy
to get emotional about these issues.
It is.
Trust me, it is.
But when you push the emotions aside and just look at trying
to do the right thing and make smart policy decisions, whether it's
tax policy or reducing expenses
to push the emotions aside and just think about it very soberly.
I think you're the best and I can learn from you as mayor because I
when we worked together on this city council, you always impressed
upon me and how you were able to logically do that.
Plus, you used to always do this thing
where you could twist the pen around, something that. That was always impressive to.
And personally, we know you're an avid tennis player.
I've heard about you like to play doubles a lot.
I think that's
because maybe you get lazy to want to run into the other side of the court.
But I really like the fact that you have that good sort of work life balance.
I think that's something we all can learn from.
As I tell my colleagues, you can easily burn out in these jobs that we have.
So we have to find that collaboration.
And I think you model that.
So having said all that, in closing, I'll say this,
you really epitomize the One Seattle spirit.
We put a lot of pressure on you and your team.
Pressure, because we're trying to do the right thing.
We want to house people.
We want to treat sick people.
We want everyone to be able to live in this city.
We want to fight against climate change.
We want our young people
to have great educations and be able to optimize their life.
Everyone in here is at certain impediments to their progress
and some policymaker decide, let's try to help you.
Incredible pressure in a city that's growing as rapidly as Seattle.
So you epitomize the One Seattle spirit of humility,
competency, excellence, and a darn good athlete too.
Got to stick that in.
I always tell people, people think about athletics,
athletics as something you do physically.
You know, I said chess is an athletic game.
Sometimes walking in a park holding someone's hands to me is athletic gesture.
I always say for me, sports is not so much competing against someone.
It's just taking whatever
tools you have, trying to exercise them
and excel in a way that self optimizes.
Breathing can be a sport too.
Breathe well and we are breathing happily because the council...
I see a few council members here, I thought I saw...
Is there any council members here?
Where's?
Oh, Dan Strauss. Yeah. Okay.
All right.
One of nine.
All right.
Thank you for being here.
Councilmember Strauss, thank you for being here.
Means a lot to all of us.
And with that, let's proceed with the, the pinning piece.
I believe you.
I think I've done this dozens times.
Let's do it. And I think. Joela, are you going to do the honors?
We're going to have our city clerk come forward.
Okay.
Let me get out of the way.
Ready? Ready. Okay, will you repeat after me?
Please raise your right hand.
I, Daniel Paul Eder,
affirm that I possess,
all of the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City charter,
all of the qualifications prescribed in the Seattle City Charter
and the Seattle Municipal Code, and the Seattle municipal code
for the position of director of the city budget
for the position of the director of the City Budget Office.
That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
The Constitution of the State of Washington, the Constitution of the State
of Washington, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle,
and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.
And that I will faithfully conduct myself,
and that I will faithfully conduct myself as the director
of the city budget office, as the director of the city budget office.
Congratulations.
Great.
[clapping]
Congratulations
Thank you.
Oh, so many people here.
Thank you for being here.
First and foremost, I'm glad to have the opportunity
to make a few, brief remarks.
That's so nice to see all of you here today.
I'm overwhelmed.
I want to start by saying thank you to Mayor Harrell,
for elevating me to the role of budget director.
We've worked together for many years.
And I deeply appreciate your trust in me.
It's been an honor to support you as you lead Seattle towards a sustainable
financial future, and I look forward to continuing to do so in this role.
I look forward to continuing to help you serve
Seattle residents.
I know that, many of the council members,
at least half are in the committee right now and can't be with us.
Just timing worked out that way, but, so pleased that,
Councilmember Strauss, the chair of the Select budget committee,
finance and Native
Communities committee, can, was able to be here today.
Thank you.
I look forward to continuing to work with you, and your colleagues,
as we ensure that you have the information that you need to make final decisions.
As we, consider difficult choices about how to spend the city's resources.
Thank you to my incredibly hard
working colleagues in the city budget office.
I deeply appreciate the work that you do.
Your support, your smarts.
When I began working as the interim budget director,
about a year ago, you were all so supportive and,
more welcoming, and I just really appreciate it.
I've been continuously impressed by your deep knowledge.
You were technical chops and understanding of historical context.
Even more notable is your passion to make the city a better place for all of us.
Thank you as well to
all of the leaders and workers of the city.
I'm proud to count many of you as my long
term colleagues and my close friends.
I'm honored to work with you, and I'm grateful that so many of you,
so many of you, are here, and able to carve out time from your busy
calendars to be here with me today.
And certainly not least, I want to thank my family,
my wife, Joela, who is here today in the front row.
Our three daughters are all away having their own adventures.
Too far away to be here today.
I rely on my family's love and support every day in order
to be able to tackle this challenging, professional role.
I know that the long hours and overlapping crises
and the occasional tennis match outside of work hours
have meant that I've
sometimes not been there for family time.
Thank you for your understanding and support
and for covering for me for so many years.
I love you Joe.
Years ago,
when I was doing, budget work on the City Council as policy staff,
I tried to explain my job to my then young daughters.
They're now all grown women. At the time,
I remember telling them that my job was to help the city leaders make choices
about which new, good things we should invest in,
more library hours or investments
in more soccer fields, maintaining a bridge
or replacing a roof on a community center, and similar difficult choices.
We know that the city's been grappling
with revenue shortfalls and federal funding rollbacks,
which mean that business as usual is simply no longer practical.
Under the mayor's leadership,
we're still trying new approaches and making new investments,
but we're also spending a lot of energy finding ways to live within our means
and explore innovative ways to deliver critical municipal
services.
And yes, this also means that we're considering options
for some new revenues to help pay for those services.
I'm confident that together will strike the right balance,
and CBO will be there to support the mayor
and the city council's decision making about the path forward.
In brief, I'm thrilled for the opportunity to continue working for our great city
and to help everyone who lives, works, and visits here.
In the months and years ahead,
I look forward to working with you all, as the city makes decisions
about how to prioritize and align our resources
with a common goal of making Seattle an even better version of itself.
Thank you again for being here with me.
I hope you'll enjoy a cookie or two in the back and just thank you again.
[clapping]