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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-07-08 Special Minutes - Federal Revenue Sharing Allotment Public HearingJuly 8, 1974 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL 7:00 P.M. PUBLIC HEARING SUBJECT ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Anna Bernhard Rena Holloway Bill Moore Anna Bernhard M I N U T E S 76/ Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Federal Revenue Sharing allotment covering the period of July 1, 1974 through June 30, 1975, planned use of funds in the amount of $86,216.00 GARDNER, STERLING, TRAYNOR, DAVIS. MOVED BY TRAYNOR, SECONDED BY STERLING, THAT ABSENT COUNCIL MEMBERS HARRIS, SAUL AND JOHANSON BE EXCUSED. CARRIED. Mayor Todd read his letter of planned use for Federal Revenue Sharing funds (a copy of the Mayor's proposals is on file in the City Clerk's office). OPEN PUBLIC HEARING 1:04 P.M. Mayor Todd opened the Public Hearing for audience com- ments. Councilwoman Harris arrived at the meeting at 7:05 P.M. Mrs. Anna Bernhard asked about the emergency services plan as covered in the Mayor's proposals. Fire Chief Crawley stated the plan must be adopted by each city to take care of any small emergencies within the city. The money will be used for housing materials in the local emergency headquarters, which for Tukwila will be the Andover Park Fire Station. Mrs. Bernhard asked about the $3,500 amount. Mayor Todd stated this is for the necessary communications center. He then read Chief Crawley's letter dated May 10, 1974 regarding emergency services (a copy of this letter is on file in the City Clerk's office). Mayor Todd reviewed the Action Plan to Improve Emergency Response Capabilities (a copy is on file in the City Clerk's office). Chief Crawley stated the $3,500 also includes the cost of direct emergency telephone lines. Councilwoman Harris asked if this program will include the 911 system. Mayor Todd replied no. Mayor Todd outlined his proposal to hire three addition- al police officers and reported the daily activities typical to the officers on duty. Mrs. Holloway stated this is the best proposal the Mayor has suggested. Chief Sheets is doing an excellent job and his staff's performance is unimpeachable. As long as we have Southcenter in our City, we are obligated to channel the money for services there. Mayor Todd stated increased police protection will help bring the crime rate down and the revenue through the Municipal Court up. Mr. Bill Moore stated he could not argue with the necess- ity for more police, but what will happen when the Feder- al Revenue Sharing is depleted. Mayor Todd stated the funding will not terminate for at least three more years, and the tax base of our City is continuing to grow. Mr. Moore asked if these would be permanent personnel with the City. Mayor Todd stated the City does not intend to fund the police officers next year with the Revenue Shar- ing funds. These men are a priority right now. Mayor Todd reviewed the uses for $2,510 for recreational purposes. Mrs. Bernhard asked if the programs for this year have been successful. Mayor Todd stated he has heard nothing but good about the programs and wished there was more money available. The people of the City are enjoying what we now have. Councilman Gardner asked where do we draw the line in putting uniformed personnel in the shopping areas. We will have more of them down there if we hire more police TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING July 8, 1974 Page 2 Anna Bernhard Eleanor McLester Ed Robinson Anna Bernhard officers. He stated he would like to know how Northgate handles its protection. Mayor Todd stated these new officers are not for Southcenter, they are for the City of Tukwila. Councilman Gardner stated the shopping cen- ters should take care of themselves and only call on the police when they need to. Councilwoman Davis replied she feels it is a savings to the people by having the patrolmen on the premises to respond immediately. They are called upon quite frequently and it saves a car trip there for each separate call. Mayor Todd agreed, stat- ing the officers presence is a deterrent to crime also. Councilman Gardner stated there is another shopping area planned in that area, it would be better to cruise around the area rather than stay put. Each shopping cen- ter should hire its own security. Mayor Todd stated that may be a good point, but at any rate, the Department must run on its manpower availability and priorities of calls. Councilman Traynor objected that his home might be left second in priority to handle a check forger at Southcen- ter. Mayor Todd stated the situation points out a short- age of manpower for adequate coverage. Mrs. Bernhard stated there should always be at least one car on patrol in the residential area at all times. It is a bottomless pit of crime in the industrial area and there will always be that need for the officers. She stated the town is more important. Councilman Traynor agreed, stating he would like to see the one patrolman the residents used to have back again. Mrs. McLester stated Southcenter is a part of our town, but they are a profit- making corporation whereas my home is not. Southcenter has big losses from shoplifting each year and they raise their prices to cover the cost. She stated her home was burglarized and she recovered nothing. She stated the businesses get tremendous amounts more for their tax dollar than she gets for hers. Councilwoman Harris stated Tukwila is going to have in- creased facilities, probably residential as well as com- mercial. It takes time to train the officers. She stat- ed she has acquired a greater understanding of police work in discussions with the Chief and the officers. It is better long -range planning to have the officers ready for the need. The Department does need more men, but she doubted using Revenue Sharing funds as a means to finance permanent salaried positions. We have been for- tunate that response time to the residents has been very good. Mr. Ed Robinson asked about the cadet program. Chief Sheets stated the project is in the mill with the first phase of it completed. He stated he appreciated the comments about his Department. He stated the Department is the only one in Tukwila, and it has the assistance of other agencies. You can give the Department away if you want, but you cannot give crime away. You will have to provide some type of law enforcement and pay for it one way or the other. He stated the average $20,000 home pays about $10.80 in taxes for police protection per year. Crime is a community problem as well as a police problem. What we have to determine tonight is if we have justification to add three more officers. He state( he felt it is justified. Mrs. Bernhard stated she is not criticizing the Depart- ment and she feels the City does need more officers, but she feels that it is more important that the residential area be number one priority. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING July 8, 1974 Page 3 Bill Moore Eleanor McLester Anna Bernhard 743 Councilwoman Davis stated the City has equal distribu- tion of police protection. The citizens always get immediate attention. Councilman Johanson arrived at the meeting at 7:43 P.M. Councilman Sterling agreed with the need for additional officers, but stated he had reservations about the type of funding. It is fine to start out with this this year, but next year we will have to come up with the funds out of the Budget. This Revenue Sharing was intended to be used for needs over and above budgetary items. It is not recommended by law to use the funds for this type of purpose. Councilwoman Harris stated Mr. Bill Moore, Chairman of the Park Board, had requested the City Council to review the Park Board's proposals. She asked Mr. Moore to offer more detail of the proposals. Mr. Bill Moore stated the Parks do not have enough funds for the programs we had hoped to have our Recreation Supervisor develop. Mr. Moore reviewed each proposal included in the Minutes of the Community Affairs Legis- lative Committee Meeting of May 29, 1974 (a copy of the Minutes is on file in the City Clerk's office). Richard Hunt, Recreation Supervisor, also reviewed Items 3 C., 3 D., and 3 E. of the Minutes. He stated the $2,500 in the Mayor's proposal is not much but it will get us through the end of the year. Without this $2,500 we would have no money. Councilwoman Davis stated she is directly involved with some of the items discussed and would ask the Council's direction when the matters come to a vote. Richard Hunt also stated the Community Club has been pro- viding facilities for the Senior Citizens without charge, There should be some way we could reimburse them for the expenses; he estimated the expenses at about $1,000. Mayor Todd agreed the City should not be using the Club for free. Mayor Todd stated, referring to the lights for the Park, that Puget Power has a leasing arrangement available for lights which would be less costly than our purchasing them ourselves. The monthly lease payment also includes the cost of installation. He stated there are funds available in the Park Trust Fund in the amount of $46,000. Mrs. McLester stated she is really pleased with the Police Department in Tukwila and agreed more men are needed. If only $10 is used for police protection in taxes from each $20,000 home, she would agree to pay another $10 each year and would campaign for others to do so. Chief Sheets stated that would add about $2,000 to the budget each year since there are only about 250 single dwelling homes in Tukwila. Mrs. McLester asked about the possibility of the Revenue Sharing not being available next year. Mayor Todd stated Federal Revenue Sharing is a five -year plan and Congress has authorized the funds for the plan. Federal Revenue Sharing is now in its second year. Mrs. Bernhard asked when planning begins on the new City Budget. Perhaps we could hold off until after the first of the year to hire the new officers and provide for them out of the Budget without using the Revenue Sharing money. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING July 8, 1974 Page 4 Bill Moore Rena Holloway Nancy Moore ATTEST: Councilman Traynor asked if any consideration is being given to purchasing more part sites. Mr. Bill Moore stated the money in the Park Trust Fund is set aside for land acquisition for parks. We have plans to purchase sites in our Six Year Parks Recreation Program. Richard Hunt stated the condition of the playground at the Southcentral School Park is not good enough to use this year. Some expenses will be incurred getting it ready for next year, plus we would like to hire an addi- tional part -time person for the recreational programs. Mayor Todd stated these items would be included in the 1975 Budget as priorities. Councilman Traynor pointed out the remaining expenses of some of the Revenue Sharing- funded programs will have to be picked up by the Budget after June, 1975. Mrs. Holloway asked if it is possible to use the Revenue Sharing funds on land in Foster for permanent facilities. This park is not within the City limits. Mayor Todd stated he would check into it. Mrs. Nancy Moore asked if the City has any plans to pro- vide a soccer field. Richard Hunt replied there would be some money in the Budget for this. CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING 8:10 P.M. Mayor Todd closed the Public Hearing for audience comment and asked for further comment from the City Council. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY TRAYNOR, SECONDED BY STERLING, THAT THE PUBLIC 8:11 P.M. HEARING ADJOURN. CARRIED. A,,, z,,e Frank Todd, Mayor Shirlee A. Kinney, City Clerk