The predominant topic in one of the smallest subseries, Arts and Culture, is the teen dance ordinance. The movement to create a venue for youth access to music and dance in Seattle grew in the 1990s. Councilmembers Conlin and Licata sponsored a resolution forming the Music and Youth Task Force, which first convened in February 1999. The Task Force recommendation was for legislation known as the Teen Dance or All Ages Ordinance (CB 113302), replacing an earlier more restrictive legislation. The records in Wills' papers illustrate the intense debate that surrounded this ordinance. Some of the issues that were discussed included: public safety and liability concerns for the City, attendance levels, and security.

Records in the Civil Rights subseries are devoted almost entirely to circus animals, and the debate over whether they should be allowed to perform in Seattle. This issue generated a large amount of constituent mail.

One of the largest subseries, Environment, reflects one of Wills' major interests. Wills was involved with the salmon and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) especially with respect to the Snake River, pesticide issues, efforts to create "green" buildings and a Seattle Energy Code, air and water quality issues, and global warming. Sponsored by Wills and passed in 2000, Resolution 30230 supported removal of four lower Snake River dams and generated an immense amount of correspondence from other cities in the state that were opposed to the idea.

In the Finance subseries, the bulk of records are related to budget issues, with a mix of constituent mail on various funding issues, and legislative and interdepartmental correspondence regarding budget items.

A large number of files in the Health and Human Services subseries are devoted to Project Liftoff. Originating as a City of Seattle initiative, its goals were, in part, to find creative funding for child care and out-of-school-time activities, develop kindergarten readiness guidelines, create community learning centers and develop arts training programs. Other governments, community and business leaders joined Project Liftoff to make it a community-based endeavor. The records consist of progress reports, work plans, newsletters, and correspondence. Researchers should consult the records of Peter Steinbrueck for additional records on Project Lift Off. Other issues include child care, living wage, and health concerns.

Of note in the Housing subseries are records on the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Bonus Program. Complex land use and zoning provisions were initially created as part of the 1985 Downtown plan to promote private development of public open space on project sites in downtown zones. The 1994 Comprehensive Plan included an open space requirement for major office development, addressing open space/recreation needs of building occupants. The Bonus program introduced in 2001 offered developers a bonus for providing either cash or additional square footage specifically for low income housing or childcare. The bonus program also was targeted to promoted development of energy and water efficient affordable housing. Records relating to the Bonus/TDR program include correspondence, reports, drafts of legislation, and constituent mail from various perspectives. Some of the TDR records touch on labor issues. Other topics within this subseries include homelessness and landlord/tenant issues.

The Intergovernmental Relations subseries is the smallest and consists of only a few files on sister cities and state and tribal relations.

The Labor subseries includes union and wages issues and consists primarily of correspondence related to these issues as well as to labor related legislation.

Among the more well documented issues in the Land Use and Urban Development Subseries are Northgate / Thornton Creek, Rick's Rezone, and the UW Lease Lid discussion. The Northgate issues predated Wills by many years. As early as 1969 there were suggestions to create an urban trail system along Thornton Creek. Controversy over Allied Stores filling Square Lake and its affect on Thornton Creek arose in the early 1970s. A 1993 Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan was intended to make the area more pedestrian friendly and to improve traffic and congestion problems. During Wills' tenure, issues centered around the Northgate South Parking lot between 5th and 1st Avenue, the location of a library and community center, the daylighting of Thornton Creek, METRO parking and low income housing. Correspondents and participants included: Thornton Creek Watershed Management Committee, Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, Planning Commission, Strategic Planning Office, Simon Property Group. Records include meeting agendas, meeting notes, correspondence, petitions and drafts of legislation.

There are records in the Land Use and Urban Development subseries the rezoning of Rick's. This is among the most well known issues Wills faced during her tenure and was known as "Strippergate." In 2003, Wills was one of three council members investigated by the City Ethics and Elections Commission, accused of engaging in ex parte communication during the rezoning a Lake City strip club. Wills settled The Commission investigation and paid a $1,500 fine. It was also determined that Wills and the other two councilmembers had accepted campaign funding from club owner Frank Colacurcio Jr. and other family members. Wills returned the donations. The Rick's files in this subseries relate to both the zoning and the ethics issues.

The Land Use and Urban development subseries also includes records relating to the University of Washington Lease Lid discussion. "Lease lids" were first established in the 1980s to limit the amount of space a major institution could lease in its surrounding neighborhoods. They were designed to protect neighborhood residential and business character from conversion to institutional use. In 1996, the City eliminated all lease lids on all other major institutions, with the exception of the UW. Records in Wills' records focus on whether or not to eliminate the lease lid for the UW.

The subseries Legislative and Interdepartmental consists of only two files, one on the Citizens Advisory Panel on Council Elections and the other on Municipal Court. The Council Elections folder contains a preliminary report by the panel regarding various options for electing City Councilmembers, such as geographic, proportional, the at-large system in use, or a blend. The Municipal Court folder consists of an overview for the newly elected official, explanation of a pilot program aimed at Driving While License Suspended in the 3rd Degree (DWLS 3) cases, and staffing issues.

The Neighborhoods subseries is also small (.6 cf) and consists of transportation, zoning, and other issues arranged by neighborhood. Interdepartmental as well as constituent correspondence is included.

The Parks subseries (1.0 cf) focuses primarily on issues surrounding lighting athletic fields, both at Magnuson and City-wide. There is also material on Woodland Park Zoo, primarily regarding transfer management of the Zoo from the City to the Zoo Society, and the Arboretum Master Plan.

The subseries Public Safety (1.0 cf) contains correspondence regarding police and fire department issues, including budget discussions. The most well documented subject in the Public Safety Subseries, relates to changes to the impound law, and to a lesser extent, funding of the Car Recovery Clinic. "Operation Impound," as it was called, or DWLS impoundment, was begun in 1999 and allowed police to tow vehicles owned by people whose licenses were suspended. Changes to the impound law were introduced by Nick Licata in 2000. The ensuing discussion, through constituent mail, intradepartmental and interdepartmental communications, and drafts of legislation, brought up many issues including racial profiling, transportation, and safety. The Car Recovery Clinic started in 2002 through the Defender Association in partnership with the University of Washington School of Law and the King County Bar Association. The Clinic was created by City Council to make sure cars impounded due to suspended driver's licenses, were not lost to their owners due to error or improper procedures.

The Transportation subseries (3.2 cf) is one of the largest in Wills' subject files. The biggest issues within this subseries include the completion of the Burke-Gilman trail, the monorail, and Sound Transit or light rail. Completion of the Burke-Gilman trail through Ballard was initiated in 1996 with thousands of signatures presented to City Council at a public hearing. Issues surrounding completion of the trail were discussed from 2000 to 2003 when construction was supposed to begin. Business concerns, routing decisions, freight movement in industrial districts, and safety issues are discussed in Wills' records through constituent mail, reports, and memoranda.

The monorail initiative was first approved by voters in 1999 as Initiative 41. A second initiative was put on the ballot in 2000, Initiative 53 to study and begin construction of the monorail. Initiative 53 was approved and a Public Development Authority, Elevated Transportation Company was formed. Materials in Wills records related to the monorail include work plans, reports, public relations documents, and correspondence. City issues related to the monorail included board appointments, interlocal agreements, SEPA reviews, permitting, design review, view protection, historic preservation, utility work and comprehensive and neighborhood plans.

The Sound Transit records relate to a ten-year regional transit system plan approved by voters in 1996. The plan included Sound Transit Express buses, electric light rail, and Sound rush-hour trains. Many of the records in Wills' files relate to the light rail system, and issues such as station locations, zoning changes and environmental issues. Meeting agendas, Sound Transit reports and updates, constituent mail, and other correspondence comprise the majority of the records

There are a large number of files related to street vacations in the Transportation subseries. Of note is the street vacation related to Radford Place for University of Washington housing, which generated a fair amount of constituent mail.

The Utilities subseries is also one of the largest (3.2 cf) in Wills' subject files. This subseries contains records relating to both Seattle City Light (SCL) and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). City Light records relate to rate increases and the search for a new superintendent. Other issues including undergrounding utilities, rate assistance for low income customers, and financial and customer service performance for City Light.

The Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) records in the Utilities subseries include correspondence, reports and analysis on third party billing as well as conservation and wastewater issues.

Staff and Constituent Files is the largest subseries (6.4 cf) and includes staff files for Josh Belzman (.2 cf) and Michael Fong (1.0 cf) and constituent mail on a wide range of topics. Topics of the staff files overlap, for the most part with the main subject files for Wills. Fong's files are the largest of the staff files and address mainly environmental issues but also supplement Wills' Utility files. The staff files also include copes of public hearing signup sheets, arranged chronologically, and telephone log books.

The largest portion of this subseries (2.8) is comprised of constituent mail, arranged by subject. The constituent mail also includes "casework," also arranged by subject, which includes individual requests or complaints that were resolved by Wills or her staff, usually by forwarding them to or getting an answer from another person within the City. Constituent mail is also found in the Subject Files. Two of the largest categories of constituent mail are athletic field lighting and Sound Transit, including undergrounding issues. City Light issues also generated a fair amount of constituent mail. Other issues cover anything from bicycles to street outreach services.