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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-17 Finance and Safety Minutes City of Tukwila Finance and Safety Committee FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes September 17, 2013 5:30 p.m.; Conference Room #3 PRESENT Councilmembers: Dennis Robertson, Chair; and Verna Seal Staff: David Cline, Stephanie Brown, Peggy McCarthy, Jennifer Ferrer-Santa Ines, Rachel Turpin, Laurel Humphrey CALL TO ORDER: Committee Chair Robertson called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. I. PRESENTATIONS No presentations. II. BUSINESS AGENDA Consensus existed to take up item D - Sales Tax and Miscellaneous Revenue Report as the first order of business. nd A. 2013 2 Quarter Sales Tax and Miscellaneous Revenue Report As information only, staff presented the 2013 2nd Quarter Sales Tax and Miscellaneous Revenue Report. Information detailed in the staff report includes retail sales tax, gambling tax, and admissions tax revenues, with sales tax broken out by industry classifications. Total sales tax collections were $287,000 above those for the same period last year, with new construction sales tax revenues up 80%. Gambling tax revenue is up by approximately 70%, and Admissions Tax is up by about 17% compared with the same period last year. Per previous Committee request, the staff report included new graphical representations of sales tax receipts collected from major industries (retail, services, wholesale, construction, and other) and sales tax INFORMATION ONLY. mitigation revenue between 2010 through the present. B. Ordinance Establishing Public Defense Standards Staff is seeking Council approval of an ordinance that would establish public defense standards under a defense services must establish standards endorsed by the Washington State Bar Association. The standards established in this proposed ordinance are modeled after those endorsed by the WSBA with minor modifications tailored to Tukwila. Current TMC provisions related to public defense services will be ordinance is adopted. Staff clarified for the Committee that the proposed standards do not represent significant procedural changes for the City, but one highlight will be the creation of a new complaint resolution process. It is likely a practice will be developed wherein public defenders will be asked to sign a statement of affirmation or compliance with the standards. This ordinance presents no financial impact right now, but UNANIMOUS the adoption of a case weighting system by January 2015 may have associated costs. APPROVAL. FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER 23 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. Finance & Safety Committee Minutes September 17, 2013 Page 2 C. Ordinance Council Compensation Committee Chair Robertson presented an overview of this draft ordinance relating to a proposed increase to Council compensation. The last time compensation for Councilmembers increased was in 2005, when it changed to the current level of $1,050 per month. By over the same period. Because state law prohibits Councilmembers from voting on a compensation increase for themselves during their current term, this ordinance reintroduces the staggering of monthly compensation so that Positions 1, 3, 5, and 7 would increase in January 2014 and Positions 2, 4, and 6 would receive that increase when the next term begins in January 2016. The draft ordinance also includes a proposal updating the amount Councilmembers would receive for medical reimbursement, which has not changed since 2003. Human Resources staff provided some clarification on the impending changes to Councilmember medical benefits due to the Affordable Care Act. A more detailed presentation as well as a draft resolution will be presented to the Committee on October 8. Committee members agreed to remove the section pertaining to Councilmember benefits from this draft ordinance and consider the issue of compensation separately. Committee members discussed the proposal and agreed that the job duties and time commitment have changed significantly since 2005, and that consideration of an increase to compensation is worth pursuing now. It was ultimately requested that when this draft ordinance returns to Committee on October 8, the memo will be updated to include more information about the time commitment required for Councilmembers as well as compensation levels for other jurisdictions. In addition, language relating to from the ordinance and information relating to cost of living increases INFORMATION ONLY. will be included. D. Policy Councilmember Use of Electronic Devices On August 12, 2013, the Committee of the Whole referred this draft policy back to the Finance and Safety Committee for discussion of an additional proposed amendment, shown in underline below: or B, or on an electronic device they purchased themselves that is used in the course of performing their duties as elected officials, may only have the device data contents accessed to comply with public disclosure per State and Federal law, as part of an employment/ethics investigation, or in case of a technical issue that need Committee members, staff, and legal discussed the justification for the additional wording. In the end,the Committee was not in favor of the proposed amendment, and it will be removed from the version going FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER 23 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. forward. III. MISCELLANEOUS Committee Chair Robertson raised the issue of Council approval of vouchers. Currently Councilmembers do not have a legal standard for the process, and he asked if there was merit to requesting a process overview from staff. Committee members agreed this would be beneficial. Staff indicated that the request for a process Office will research and provide information regarding the legal implications of signing off on vouchers. Meeting adjourned at 6:44 p.m. Next meeting: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 5:30 p.m. Conference Room #3 Committee Chair Approval Minutes by LH.