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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-11-13 Committee of the Whole MinutesCOMMITTEE OF WHOLE MEETING CALL TO ORDER /PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Calling the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m., Council President Joan Hernandez led the flag salute. COUNCIL ATTENDANCE: All Councilmembers present. OFFICIALS: John McFarland, City Administrator; Bob Baker Deputy City Clerk; Lucy Lauterbach, Legislative Analyst; Alan Doerschel, Finance Director; Steve Lancaster, Community Development Director; Viki Jessop, Administrative Services Director; Tom Keefe, Fire Chief; David Haynes, Police Captain; Kathy Rohlena, Personnel Analyst; Brian Shelton, City Engineer; and Michael Cusick, Senior Engineer. CITIZEN COMMENT /CORRESPONDENCE: None. PUBLIC HEARING: TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL November 13, 2001 7:00 p.m. Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers REVENUE SOURCES FOR THE PROPOSED 2002 BUDGET; INCLUDING CONSIDERATION OF POSSIBLE INCREASES IN PROPERTY TAX REVENUES 7:03 p.m. Opening the public hearing, Council President Hernandez called on Mayor Mullet for comments. Calling 1 -747 a reality, Mayor Mullet informed Council the City must now respond to the direction given by the voters. The challenge lies in preserving the levels of service and programs that have made Tukwila (in some ways) unique and representative of the quality of life in a small municipality. Noting the need for immediate attention to adjusted revenue projections, Mayor Mullet announced a newly drafted C. I. P. will be presented to Council at their November 26, 2001 meeting. Next, the Mayor announced his decision to suspend recruitment of three vacated positions (Assistant Planner, Urban Environmentalist, in DCD; and a Permit Technician in Public Works). The suspension time is indefinite. Final decision on an Economic Development Director was likewise deferred. Unfilled, these positions constitute savings of approximately $200,000.00 per year; which coincides with anticipated reductions in property tax revenue, in the next year, due to 1 -747. The incline will become steeper as Council moves through the Six -Year Planning Model. Should the economy rebound, the remaining years of the Planning Model would still require cuts to programs and service. Without a doubt, the community members will feel an impact with the reductions. Alan Doerschel, Finance Director, noted the C.I.P. will be reviewed, coincidentally, on the same day as the public hearing on the Proposed Budget for 2002. He also informed Council sales tax revenues are estimated to be nearly the same as suggested in the earlier Planning Model. 7:10 p.m. Council President Hernandez called for public input for this public hearing. Joanne McManus, Tukwila. noted tax increases are difficult for senior citizens; yet, the Council must do what the voters wish. She spoke against property tax increases; and in favor of attracting more shoppers to South Center and more visitors to local hotels to make a positive impact on the City's budget. 7:15 p.m. Hearing no further comments, Council President Hernandez closed the public hearing. Councilmembers spoke favorably on the suspension of hiring replacement employees to currently vacant positions. They also concurred with the statements made by Mayor Mullet and Mr. Doerschel. These precautionary approaches may prove successful in getting a positive balance without impacting public safety. Council concurred no formal action was necessary at this meeting. City of Tukwila Page 2 of 5 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes November 13, 2001 SPECIAL ISSUES: a. COMMUTE TRIP REDUCTION (CTR) PROGRAM: -CTR INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH WSDOT -CTR ACT IMPLEMENTATION AGREEMENT WITH KING COUNTY METRO Steve Lancaster, Department of Community Development Director, noted the Commute Trip Reduction Implementation Contract with Washington State (Department of Transportation) for 2001 -2003, provides secure funding from the State for administering the City's CTR Program. With 26 City employees participating in the CTR program in 2001, the contract with King County Metro is $22,037.00 for services, from July 2001 to June 30, 2002. Again, funds will be received from WSDOT. With essentially the same contracts as those implemented in prior years, the shift to the State is to allow more direct controls by WSDOT. The contract with WSDOT enables the City to secure funding as required by the State (for CTR activities). Council agreed to forward this item to the November 19 regular meeting, to authorize Mayor Mullet to sign the CTR Interlocal Agreement with WSDOT and King County Metro Implementation Act Agreement. b. PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX LEVY FOR 2002 Alan Doerschel noted property tax, under 1 -747, can only be raised (not more than) 1 percent. He noted community members will soon realize the biggest increase in property tax will not come as a result of property tax rate increases; but by assessed valuations to their homes and property. Mr. Doerschel quickly reviewed the preliminary worksheet for the tax year 2002, from the King County Auditor. He noted the 1 -747 column is the probable, allowable Levy of $9,479,944.00 for 2002. This figure will be solidified and amended in the final estimate, which Council may review at the end of November. Council agreed to forward this item to the Finance Safety Committee on November 19; to the Committee of Whole on November 26; and the December 3 City Council Regular meeting for action. c. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 1970, UPDATING THE CITY'S STREET AND ALLEY VACATION PROCEDURES AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, AMENDING TMC CHAPTER 11.60, THE CITY'S STREET VACATION PROCEDURES; REPEALING ORDINANCE NOS. 1087 AND 1571; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE Brian Shelton, City Engineer, reminded Council of related code amendments in August, 2001. Shortly thereafter, City officials received notice that the Washington State Legislature passed House Bill 1750, which changed some of the compensation language for street vacations in RCW 35.79. Two aspects of Tukwila's municipal code must now be amended. Section 11.60.050(c) replaces "acquired at public expense" with "which has been part of a dedicated right -of -way for 25 years or more, Additionally, Section 11.60.050(d) [a newly created section] notes one -half of the revenue received by the City as compensation must be dedicated to the acquisition, improvement, development, and related maintenance of public open space or transportation capital projects within the City. Council agreed to forward this item to the November 19 City Council Regular meeting for adoption. d. ALLENTOWN WATER AND SEWER DESIGN SUPPLEMENT Brian Shelton, City Engineer, noted the required supplement is due to a discrepancy in the design contract. The original scope of work did not include several streets that are in the proposed service area for Phase 11. Streets left out were: 44th Place South; 40th Avenue South; South 122nd Street; and 49th Avenue South. This supplement of an additional $52,900.00 covers work already performed by the contractors, Gray and Osborne. Additional work performed included 1) the design and construction of a pump station building; to house electrical control panels, backflow preventer, and storage areas; 2) Pipeline rerouting The City's desire to provide service to basement City of Tukwila Page 3 of 5 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes November 13, 2001 and rear portions of Tots, where possible, necessitated a design deviation through City -owned park property; 3) Additional pipelines (water and sanitary sewer) Design and construction of additional pipelines (approximately 4,000 LF) to service Allentown customers and property and /or enhance service and reliability issues; and 4) Additional construction management services Based on the revised scope of work, the services will include increased construction monitoring. Questions and answers were exchanged between Mr. Shelton and Council; especially with regard to the oversight of the four areas mentioned above, requiring an amendment to the original contract. The work, as outlined above, has been completed. Council agreed to forward this item to the November 19 City Council Regular meeting to authorize Mayor Mullet to sign an amendment to Contract #00 -029, with Gray Osborne, in the amount of $52,900.00 e. PROPERTY SURPLUS 4501 South 134th Place formerly known as the McLees property John McFarland, City Administrator, reminded Council this item was reviewed in the Spring of 2000. This was the land purchased in 1996 (2.35 -acre parcel) with the intent to use it for a soil recovery facility. The City was unable to obtain a conditional use permit and has no further municipal use for the property. It is now the City's intent to have the property declared surplus and sold, pursuant to the TMC. Mr. McFarland noted an updated appraisal would be required, as the original appraisal ($670,000.00) done in June, 2000, will be different, reflecting fluctuations in the market. Additionally, he noted the property is zoned CLI (Commercial, Light Industrial). Responding to inquires from Council, Mr. McFarland informed them "vactor waste sites" are often referred to as "undesirable land uses;" and no alternative site(s) have been chosen within Tukwila. Council agreed to forward this item to the November 19 City Council Regular meeting for Council to declare the property surplus, and grant permission to sale. f. KING COUNTY JAIL NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE John McFarland informed Council that 29 suburban cities have formed a consortium to negotiate their jail contracts with King County, for misdemeanant prisoners. Soaring costs and questionable times led to the creation of the consortium. The negotiation teams have met on six occasions since August. To date, issues discussed include establishing groundrules, discussing legal issues and agreeing to a schedule for regular meetings. It is apparent to the consortium that negotiations will be slow as the County has placed several principles in place which they wanted to achieve as a result of the negotiations. Later, the consortium presented their "objectives" which outlined to the County that while rates were an important part of the negotiations, they are not the only issues. Improved services, better information and operational issues are just some of the issues facing the city consortium team. At the October meeting, King County presented their proposed rate schedule. The base rate (full cost recovery) totals $77.91 for a current contract base fee; $3.21 for proposed capital expenditures; $2.50 for County overhead charges; and an addition .38 cents for accelerated Risk Management; bringing the total base rate fee to $84.00 per day, per prisoner. The rate increase reflects a 9.6% increase in the maintenance day fee and a 14% increase in the booking fees. The suburban cities that use the County facility, make up 70 of the misdemeanant population in the County's facility; which is equal to 1/3 of the total jail population and represents $20 million in revenues on a annual basis. The City of Tukwila maintains an agreement with Yakima County for misdemeanant prisoners for a fraction of the King County cost. Cost comparisons were prepared and presented to Council in memorandum format in advance of the meeting. Mr. McFarland called the comparison to the attention of Councilmembers. Mr. McFarland noted Council need not make a decision, yet should be thinking about where the City is headed in their negotiations. Several options are available and will continue to be explored in the coming months. Questions relative to options are: 1) Is Tukwila agreeable to making a long -term commitment to Yakima County for housing misdemeanant prisoners; 2) Should Tukwila continue to negotiate "the best deal possible" with King County; and 3) Should Tukwila aggressively pursue the construction of a Coalition operated misdemeanant facility? Answering questions from Council, Mr. McFarland explained that King County anticipates running out of bed space in 2006. Additionally, he noted two private vendors have been in the area with respect to building private jail facilities for cities' use. City of Tukwila Page 4 of 5 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes November 13, 2001 g. 2002 PROPOSED BUDGET REVIEW Alan Doerschel led Council through a continued review of the 2002 proposed budget figures. Proposed budgets for the Police and Fire Departments were reviewed. Dave Haynes, Police Captain and Tom Keefe, Fire Chief, were present to answer questions posed by the Council as it related to dollar figures, programs and goals of each department. Council dispensed with CIP reviews for water, sewer and surface water. 9:40 p.m. Council President Hernandez recessed the meeting. h. A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE NON REPRESENTED WAGE SCHEDULE FOR 2002 9:51 p.m. Council President Hernandez reconvened the meeting, Viki Jessop, Administrative Services Director, was present to summarize the history of the current plan, outcome of the recent study and her perspective on the non represented employees' wage system. The current plan was established by Council Resolution 1429, approved in 1999, with changes going into effect on January 1, 2000. In the summer of 2001 a two -year follow -up wage study was conducted. In recent years, the economy has been strong. Many cities recognized that their Non Represented wages were falling behind, not only due to the market, but also due to the pressure of the union wages, most notably Police and Fire. As a result, some of the cities made substantial increases in wages for their non represented employees. This, on top of the regular COLA increases prevalent in the market, resulted in a dramatic shift in wages and the resulting outcome for this years' non represented wage study. Resolution 1429, as Ms. Jessop noted, appears to be, "an implied contract" with the non represented employees; yet it's all about choices and how the Council wants to proceed. Mayor Mullet noted he was a Councilmember when Resolution 1429 was accepted. He stated the Council made a commitment to the non represented employees at that time and that commitment should be honored. Councilmembers Carter, Duffie and Linder spoke in agreement. Councilmember Haggerton pointed out to Council the proposed increases are listed within the 2002 budget and may be met. For that reason, he, too, spoke in favor of honoring Council's earlier commitment. Council agreed to forward this item to the November 19 City Council Regular meeting for action. Fenton moved; Simpson seconded; to dispense with reports.* Councilmembers Duffle; Carter and Haggerton; and Council President Hernandez spoke against the motion. *No vote was taken on the motion and Council President Hernandez called for reports. REPORTS: a. Mayor Mayor Mullet attended the November 8 Lodging Tax Advisory Board meeting. b. City Council Councilmember Duffie attended the Memorial Day events at Tukwila Elementary School. Councilmember Carter attended an AWC meeting last week as well as the November 13 Transportation Committee meeting. Council President Hernandez attended the November 8 Lodging Tax Advisory Board meeting and officiated (for the Mayor) at the November 11 Ribbon Cutting ceremony at Marshall's. Councilmember Haggerton was appointed to the National League of Cities Small Cities Advisory Board Committee. Additionally, he was notified he'll be a voting delegate at the NLC Conference in Atlanta, later this year. Finally, he announced the passing (and funeral today) of Tukwila resident George Gomez. Mr. Gomez served on the City's Planning Commission from 1989 1993. City of Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting Minutes Councilmember Linder invited Gina Vail, Tukwila Committee meeting on November 14. Councilmember Fenton Councilmember Simpson c. d. e. MISCELLANEOUS: EXECUTIVE SESSION: ADIOURNMENT: 10:30 p.m. City Administrator Legislative Analyst City Attorney None. None. None. None. None. None. None. Duffie moved; Carter seconded; to adjourn the Committee of Whole. The motion carried 7 -0. Jc‘ab Hernandez, Council President obert H. Baker, CMC Deputy City Clerk Date minutes approved: November 26, 2001. Page 5 of 5 November 13, 2001 Historical Society member, to the Community Affairs and Parks