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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-08-17 Regular MinutesAugust 17, 1992 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL Robertson Excused OFFICIALS SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS CITIZENS COMMENTS CONSENT AGENDA Recess 7:15 p.m. Back to Order 7:30 p.m. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Mayor Rants called the Regular Meeting of the Tukwila City Council to order and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. JOE DUFFIE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; ALLAN EKBERG, Council President; CHARLES SIMPSON; STEVE LAWRENCE, STEVE MULLET. MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY SIMPSON, THAT COUNCILMEMBER ROBERTSON BE EXCUSED. MOTION CARRIED. MIKE KENYON, City Attorney; DON WILLIAMS, Acting City Administrator; RICK BEELER, DCD Director; RON CAMERON, City Engineer; ALAN DOERSCHEL, Finance Director; ROSS EARNST, Public Works Director; TOM KEEFE, Fire Chief; KEITH HAINES, Asst. Chief of Police; RON WALDNER, Chief of Police. Mayor Rants presented the Citizen's Heroism Award to Michael Baird, age 13, for his efforts in attempting to rescue three individuals involved in a river mishap near Fort Dent Park in June. Michael was unable to attend the meeting. His mother received the award on his behalf. Scott Clark, 4431 So. 144th, commented he had called Spieker Partners regarding the trash accumulating around Tukwila Pond and was pleased with the quick cleanup response from the business. Approval of Vouchers General Fund $185,096.23 City Street 66,694.83 Arterial Street 225,195.68 Land Acq., Building, Dev. 76,263.70 General Government Improvements(303) 501.27 Water Fund 7,057.30 Sewer Fund 91,292.08 Water /Sewer Construction 0.00 Foster Golf Course 19,916.46 Surface Water (412) 31,575.11 Equipment Rental 30,444.94 Firemen's Pension 3386.50 TOTAL $737,824.10 b. Authorize Mayor to accept Crystal Springs Park property turnback from WSDOT. c. Authorize Mayor to execute supplemental agreement with Entranco Engineers for E. Marginal PS E. d. Authorize Mayor to execute a 0.4 foot temporary easement for Plaza One building encroachment into So. 147th St. MOVED BY EKBERG, SECONDED BY HERNANDEZ, TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS SUBMITTED. MOTION CARRIED. a. Council President requested a 15 minute recess. Mayor Rants called the meeting back to order with Councilmembers present as listed above. Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting August 17, 1992 Page 2 OLD BUSINESS Res. #1218 Declaring Certain Open Space Houses as Surplus Audience Comment 1993 Financial Forecast 09 •"1 In response to Council's request for further information on the surplus housing issue and whether or not the City can offer the properties to non profit organizations only, Lora Fowler explained that the Port of Seattle is regulated by the FAA rather than the state or any City code. Any local restrictions they have on the removal of vacant houses are restrictions they have created themselves. Being a code city, Tukwila is regulated by state statue and the Tukwila Municipal Code and does not provide an option for selective bidding. According to TMC 2.64, Sale of Public Property, the City is required to: 1) authorize the sale of property, 2) set a minimum price, 3) call for bids. MOVED BY LAWRENCE, SECONDED BY SIMPSON, THAT THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. Attorney Mike Kenyon read a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Tukwila, Washington, declaring surplus three houses and accompanying out buildings currently located on Open Space property purchased by the City of Tukwila.* Jackie Dempere, 4033 So. 128th Street, expressed her frustration that the City cannot limit bids on these houses to non profit organizations. She was angry with the City's policies regarding the moving of houses, stating that the governing ordinance is impossible to read. In her opinion the City isn't doing enough to provide affordable housing to residents. Councilmember Ekberg commented that non profit agencies would be able to bid on the Open Space houses but would have to do so along with everyone else. Ms. Dempere also complained about the City's procedures for dealing with low income housing issues. She charged the City with not doing enough for low income housing, stating that other cities with less money do more for their low income residents. Councilmember Lawrence suggested Ms. Dempere submit a list of specific concerns to the Finance and Safety Committee for more discussion. Mayor Rants responded that according to King County statistics, Tukwila has the largest stock of affordable housing in King County. Don Williams, Parks and Recreation Director, informed Ms. Dempere that each year the Council appropriates money for emergency home loans and repairs and housing improvement loans from the City's Block Grant funds. This year's appropriation was $56,000. By June all money was being utilized by qualified Tukwila residents. *MOTION CARRIED. Council President Ekberg requested that notification of the bid be sent to non profit agencies in the area that might be interested in submitting a proposal on the surplus homes. Don Williams responded that Lora Fowler will be sending letters and bid notices to all individuals and agencies she's been dealing with. Councilmember Hernandez reiterated that the bid not be tied to restoration of the housing site. She asked that the bid proposal also contain language that requires bidders preserve any trees that are on the properties. Mayor Rants reported he has asked department heads for a "0" growth budget for 1993 in order to deal with anticipated decreases in sales tax revenue, noting that some increases will continue to occur in areas such as Valley Com, insurance, labor costs, and employee medical costs. Finance Director Alan Doerschel briefed Council on possible alternatives to be considered in order to deal with the expected $2.9 million budget shortfall over the next six years. One option would be to consider a contingency in the sales tax split, fixing it at 35 percent to Capital all the time with a floating 5 percent used to offset a shortfall Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting August 17, 1992 Page 3 Old Business (con't) 1993 Financial Plan REPORTS Mayor og 7 in the Operations budget. As an example, if the 1993 base budget were funded by a 60/40 split and a shortfall occurred, the Mayor could be authorized to use $200,000 from the CIP to move into Operations to balance the budget. The only thing a contingency fund does is to help for one year if something goes wrong. If the same conditions remain the following year, it is no longer a short term problem and a long term solution would have to be found. In Doerschel's opinion, what is needed is some kind of a policy that's only a little bit flexible so there isn't a danger that the City would use up all its options. Councilmember Lawrence stated he is not in favor of a contingency fund as it would take away from capital and could, in the future, impair the City's ability to do needed improvements to capital structures. Doerschel explained that another funding alternative would be a utility tax. This tax is fair to everyone and is levied on the gross amount of a customer's utility bills. State law sets the limit of this tax at 6 percent. Utility tax money can be used for any government purpose; there are no restrictions to it. Implementation of a utility tax would take around six months to complete. Mayor Rants explained the need for additional personnel in the City's public safety sector and the need to find a new source of revenue for funding. He will be bringing forward a recommendation for Council's consideration to institute a utility tax in order to fund additional public safety personnel. Mayor Rants stated that a utility tax is the most fair tax -it touches everyone in the City, both residential and commercial residents. Councilmember Mullet commented that if a new tax is imposed, the City needs to make a commitment to citizens and businesses that the City will maintain levels of staff and programs that work within the budget and stay within the budget in future times. Doerschel explained that the City has not fully addressed all the impacts of the annexations yet. He estimated that 80 percent of all the unusually costly things that are coming before the City now are directly or indirectly related to the annexations. Tukwila is a different City than it was five or six years ago. Council President Ekberg commented that the City has always prided itself on the level of service it provides to its residents. As the City has grown, both residentially and commercially, it has tried to maintain that level of service. The City needs to determine if it is content with its current level of service or if it should be lowered. Mayor Rants explained that in order for department heads to produce a "0" growth budget as he has requested, services will automatically be reduced. Specific areas of reduction have not yet been identified. Council President Ekberg suggested looking at a 60/35 split with 5 percent allocated as a Contingency or Rainy Day fund so that in the future that 5 percent can be pulled back into Operations or put elsewhere, but it wouldn't be tied to Capital. Doerschel concluded by stating that the present financial plan will need to be fine tuned and returned to Council for further discussion. Mayor Rants reported he had received notification from companies doing business in Tukwila of layoffs or changes that will happen over a period of time (per Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act). Some of the current list shows the following layoffs: Pacific Security 300; Photo Lab 50; Frederick Nelson 1350. In total, 6,000 individuals will no longer be employed by businesses in Tukwila. Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting August 17, 1992 Page 4 Reports (con't" Mayor Council Staff ADJOURNMENT 9:22 p.m. The Mayor shared an item of interest from the Puget Sound Regional Council's publication, Sound Trends, in which it reports that in the year 2020 the Green River Basin area should expect a population of 4 million with 2.3 million jobs. As a comparison, in the year 2010 a 3.5 million population is expected with 2 million available jobs. Another indication that the population will grow much faster than the available jobs. Councilmember Hernandez reported she rode with a Tukwila police officer on Crime Night to see Tukwila residents participation in the event. The Duwamish /Allentown area showed their community spirit with a neighborhood picnic. She also observed a Block Watch presentation at the Terrace Apartments and praised the TPD for the fine job they're doing with the program. Councilmember Lawrence reported that the next RCAA meeting would be held Wednesday, August 19, at 2 p.m. in Normandy Park City Hall. One item to be discussed will be a mediated agreement which allows some changes from FAA standards. One proposal phases out Stage 2 aircraft, which are the noisier, older aircraft, from night flights out of SeaTac effective this fall. Right now there is an appeal pending from two different airline companies. Many cities will be considering resolutions about this issue, including Tukwila. Lawrence requested Council's consideration of the resolution when it is presented to them. DCD Director Rick Beeler updated Council on the progress of the Tukwila Tomorrow Committee. They have requested a joint meeting with Council and Planning Commission members. Council agreed to meet with them on Monday, August 31, at 6 p.m. Acting City Administrator Don Williams reminded Council of the Appreciation Dinner for members of Tukwila's boards and commissions on Tuesday, August 25, at 6 p.m. at Tukwila Park. Williams also announced he would attend the school board meeting tomorrow. One item of discussion will be the school district's request to have the City's Parks and Recreation after school program placed at one of the district's elementary schools. Lastly, Williams reported that on the weekend of September 12 13 Puget Sound Power Light and Seattle City Light employees and equipment will be working with as many volunteers as possible at the park site located across the street from the Southgate Park site helping to clean up the tires in the area. Southcenter Rotary members have volunteered their help. MOVED BY LAWRENCE, SECONDED BY MULLET, THAT THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED AT 9:22 P.M. MOTION CARRIED. VIA/ w Joh W. Rants, Ma ("en E. Cantu, City Clerk o9