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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-12-03 Finance and Safety Minutes City of Tukwila Finance and Safety Committee FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes December 3, 2013 5:30 p.m.; Conference Room #3 PRESENT Councilmembers: Dennis Robertson, Chair; and Verna Seal Staff: David Cline, Vicky Carlsen, Mary Miotke, Pat Brodin, Frank Iriarte, Evie Boykan, 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 A. Revenue Enhancement Options Status Update At previous meetings, the Committee requested additional information regarding Transportation Benefit Districts, false alarm fees, and hazardous material cleanup charges as potential revenue sources. Staff provided an update on these items as summarized below. Transportation Benefit Districts (TBD): During the September 4, 2013 meeting, the Committee requested additional information on the number of commercial and personal vehicles registered in the City. The Department of Licensing was unable to identify the breakdown between the two categories, but did provide the total number of vehicles licensed in the City as 25,689. If a City chooses to impose a $20 fee which does not require a ballot measure, the TBD boundaries must exactly match the City boundaries. Larger fees requiring public approval via a ballot measure can be imposed through TBDs with smaller boundaries within the City. The Committee and staff agreed that all of the new revenue options should be further discussed with other financial policy issues in early 2014. Potential County action regarding the False Alarm Fees: Current fees for false alarms have not been increased since 2004 (Fire) and 1985 (Police). Staff conducted research comparing current fees to those imposed by other jurisdictions and will present a recommendation to the 2014 Finance and Safety Committee to increase false alarm fees for both Police and Fire. Billing for Hazardous Materials Cleanup on Highways: Staff intends to research existing programs within the tri-county area and will present a recommendation to the 2014 Finance and Safety Committee. INFORMATION ONLY. B. Lease: Engineering Solutions Staff is seeking Council approval for the Mayor to sign a new lease with Engineering Solutions, Inc. for space in the 6300 Building for a term of one year that may extend until December 31, 2016. The rental is for $21.50 per square foot for 2014 and will increase by $0.25 each year thereafter if extended. UNANIMOUS Engineering Solutions has been an excellent tenant in this space since 2005. APPROVAL. FORWARD TO DECEMBER 9 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AND DECEMBER 9 SPECIAL MEETING. Finance & Safety Committee Minutes December 3, 2013 Page 2 C. Contract: Institutional Network Services Staff is seeking Council approval to renew the contract agreement with King County for Institutional Network (I-NET) Services for a term of three years. This secure service is crucial to several public safety s connection to the state-wide Intergovernmental regional messaging systems, video arraignments for the Municipal Court, and more. The I-Net connection also enables the City to be physically connected to the King County Network Operations Center located in Sabey Data Center, which now has server rack space available for City use through the county agreement. Moving equipment into this co-location center will save money on utility costs. Finally, in exchange for allowing County use of City-owned conduit reaching King County Libraries located in Tukwila, the County has agreed to upgrade the City to a 1 GB network connection as an even trade. The cost to renew this agreement for three more years is $74,784, excluding tax, distributed between multiple departments as UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. FORWARD TO DECEMBER 9 COMMITTEE OF THE appropriate. WHOLE AND DECEMBER 9 SPECIAL MEETING. D. Interlocal Agreement: City of Tukwila Support Services for Tukwila Metropolitan Park District Staff is seeking Council approval of a new Interlocal Agreement for Support Services between the Tukwila Pool Metropolitan Park District and the City of Tukwila. The current agreement has a fixed cost of $7,500 per month, but the structure in this proposal is to charge for services on an actual hourly basis, allowing the City to recover costs incurred and give the MPD Board more control over the expenses. These costs are estimated to be approximately $6,600 per month, a decrease attributable to stabilizing support servicesand the potential Executive Director hire currently being considered by the Board. In addition, the proposed agreement separates City services into two categoriessupport specific to pool operations, and support specific to District operations. The Committee was asked to consider the proposed agreement as well as two options for the term length: A six-month term, allowing the MPD Board time to create a request for proposal for pool operations and management, then to select a provider, or; A two-year term, based on the recommendation from the KJ Design Administrative and Program Assessment Report, allowing for stability of current services with time to implement recommendations from the report. After discussion of the agreement details, the Committee was in favor of the proposal with a term length of two years, also stating support for the change to hourly rates instead of a flat fee. Councilmember Robertson commented that he expected the addition of an MPD Executive Director to result in substantially less direct involvement of City Director level management of MPD support. As an example, the budget worksheet created and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Director should be turned over to Finance staff and the new Executive Director for maintenance. City Administrator David Cline noted that the agreement presented to the Committee of the Whole is likely to include changes proposed by the MPD Board Attorney in collaboration with the City Attorney, particularly with regard to expandeddetails on the monthly invoicing process. The Committee was comfortable with moving the agreement forward UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. FORWARD TO DECEMBER 9 with these changes pending. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AND DECEMBER 9 SPECIAL MEETING. E. Community Schools Collaboration Funding Update City Administrator David Cline briefed the Committee on the financial status of Community Schools Collaboration (CSC), currently facing a shortfall due to loss of grant funding and other sustainability issues. Without additional funds, CSC will need to substantially reduce its extended day (after school) program offerings as early as January 2014. The City currently provides $100,000 to CSC annually, representing approximately 20% of its funding. A work group with representatives from CSC, the City, and Tukwila School District has been meeting to discuss options for attaining financial stability. Finance & Safety Committee Minutes December 3, 2013 Page 3 day program are of enormous benefit to students and nd would like Administration to work with the School District and CSC on a solution that will allow programming to remain in place for the rest of this school year, with further work to be done in 2014 on long-term sustainability. INFORMATION ONLY. III. MISCELLANEOUS To wrap up the last meeting of the year, Chair Robertson provided a status update on work plan items left unfinished and asked Committee for feedback on next steps. Ethics Code: At the November 5 meeting, the Committee approved a proposal to create an Ethics Board comprised of the Chairs of the five standing Commissions. Before this recommendation is forwarded to the Committee of the Whole, staff was asked to present this proposal to upcoming meetings of each Commission in an effort to obtain majority support. City Administrator David Cline noted that to date, the Civil Service Commission has been briefed and was supportive of the proposal. He or his designee will continue to brief Commissions in the coming weeks, and if majority approval is obtained from each, the draft ordinance will return to the 2014 Finance and Safety Committee for a brief review before moving on to the Committee of the Whole for discussion during the first quarter. If majority approval is not obtained, the 2014 Finance and Safety Committee will revisit other options. Animal Control: During research of potential amendments to the Animal Code, several issues requiring further legal review were discovered which prevented its completion in 2013. Committee members agreed to recommend this item move to the 2014 Community Affairs and Parks Committee for further work. Commercial vehicles in residential zones: This item is complex, impacting Police when a commercial vehicle is in the City right-of-way or Code Enforcement if it is on private property. The current Codes are not particularly effective for either scenario, and in 2013 the Council asked to review options for clarifying definitions and providing more effective enforcement tools for both Police and Code Enforcement staff. This item was not completed due to staff workload and will remain in the 2014 Finance and Safety Committee. Meeting adjourned at 6:43 p.m. Next meeting: TBD 2014 Committee Chair Approval Minutes by LH