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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-17 Finance and Safety Minutes City of Tukwila Finance and Safety Committee FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes June 17 , 201 4 5: 30 p.m .; Hazelnut Conference Room PRESENT Councilmembers: Verna Seal , Chair ; Joe Duffie, Kathy Hougardy ) Staff: David Cline, Vicky Carlsen, Eric Drever , Laurel Humphrey C ALL TO ORDER : Committee Chair Seal called the meeting to order at 5: 3 0 p.m. I. PRESENTATIONS No presentations. II. BUSINESS AGENDA A. Purchase of Firearms Training and Equipment Trailer Staff is seeking Committee approval to purchase a Police Department firearms equipment trailer not to exceed $9,600.00 . The Firearms Unit conducts quarterly training sessions that involve the tr ansport of bulky equipment. Currently, this is handled by loading and unloading into multiple vehicles. Purchasing a trailer to transport and store the equipment instead would be a cost effective solution. The trailer will also be available for use by the SWAT and Civil Disturbance Units during their respective trainings. The estimated cost for the trailer is $9600.00, and funds are available from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. (JAG) Program and from Police Department Fleet Serv ices. B. Resolution: City of Opportunity Scholarship response to lessons learned during the inaugural 2014 process. At the June 3, 2014 discussion on this item, the Committee agreed to raise the total fund to $10,000, and to modify the makeup of the selection committee. T hey requested more info rmation on median income levels as well as further discussion of a community service com ponent. Financial Need: The Committee packet included a comparison table showing median income information for the county and state. St aff recommends that if the Committee decides to specify income criteria, that eligibility should be based on family income that The Committee decided to leave in the original language that states an appl financial need as indicated on the FAFSA Stude To provide some additional flexibility to this requirement, they requested an item be added to the application that requests the student describe his or he r need for financial assistance. Community Service : The eligibility requirements currently state a minimum of 15 hours of community service . It is increasingly common for community service hours to be required for graduation, as with Tukwila School Dist The Committee decided to leave the original requirement of 15 hours in the eligibility criteria . Finance & Safety Committee Minutes June 17, 2014 Page 2 Eligibility of City Employee Relatives: The Committee decided to discuss this again and concluded that they would not like to exclude relatives of City employees or officials. They requested that staff add a procedure to the selection process that would prohibit an employee or official from sc oring a candidate with whom they are related. Staff will develop a framework that addresses this request for further Committee consideration. RETURN TO FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE. st C. 2014 1 Quarter Cash and Investment Report st Staff reviewed the 1 Quarter Cash and Investment Report for 2014, including information ortfolio components, performance, policy compliance and liquidity analysis, fund cash and investment balances, and investment environment . At March 31, 2014, the portfolio t otaled $44.7 million comprised of $37.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $6.9 in longer term investments. This represents a $1.8 million decrease from the nd December 31, 2013 balance, attributable to the collection of property taxes in the 2 and t h INFORMATION ONLY. 4 quarters. st D. 2014 1 Quarter Sales Tax Miscellaneous Revenue Report st Staff presented the 2014 1 Quarter Miscellaneous Revenue Report. Information detailed in the staff report includes Sales tax revenues are down by $87,000 below the same period in 2013 , and new construction sales tax was $92,000 lower. The City has collected $238,066 in sales tax mi tigation as of March 31, 2014. This is 24% of the annual mitigation INFORMATION ONLY. budget. E. Ordinance: Creating Tuk wila Municipal Code Chapter 2.97 Code of Ethics Several iterations of a process to address allegations of ethics violations by elected officials have been discussed in Committee since 2013. At its June 3 meeting, the Committee decided to move forward with the creation of an Ethics Board made up of the Chairs or , but they asked to have further review of the role of that board. They decided to retain the current Ethics Code (Chapter 2.95) to apply to City employees and appointed officials, and asked to create a new Chapter applicable to elected officials. Staff r eturned with two options relating to the role of the Ethics Board. Option 1 (Board decides violation) : The Board will make an initial determination of sufficiency, and if sufficient, an independent investigator will provide findings of fact, conclusions , and a recommendation. Upon receipt of this report the Board will determine that a violation did or did not occur, or that more information is needed. The Board will then draft a recommendation to the Council. Option 2 (Council decides violation) : The B oard will make an initial determination of sufficiency, and if sufficient, an independent investigator will provide findings of fact only. Upon receipt of this report the Board will forward the findings to the Council who will then determine whether or no t the violation has occurred and assign an appropriate penalty. Committee members discussed these options and unanimously agreed upon Option 1, in which the Ethics Board makes a determination of violation rather than the Council. The Committee asked ques tions relating to training and legal counsel for the Board during this process . City Administrator David Cline confirmed that t he City Attorney will provide basic training, but if an allegation is made, independent counsel could be b rought in to advise th e Board during the process. The Committee agreed that there should be clearly stated, strong criteria for the selection of such counsel, but were not certain if this should be included within the ordinance or in a separate administrative procedure. Commit tee Chair Seal noted that Section 2.97.050(E) might be an appropriate location if the decision is made to include this language in the ordinance. Finance & Safety Committee Minutes June 17, 2014 Page 3 The Committee decided to discuss this again in Committee rather than forwarding the proposal to Committee of the Whole at this time. Staff will return with City Attorney feedback on the issue of selection criteria for outside counsel to the Ethics Board. The companion ordinance amending the current Chapter 2.95 to exclude elected officials will be RETURN TO FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE. considered at this time as well. III. MISCELLANEOUS Committee Chair Seal noted that the issue of noxious odors relating to illegal grow operations was referred to Finance and Safety by the Committee of the Whole on June 9. Committee members and staff briefly discussed how this will be addressed. One option is to add a component to the existing Nuisance Code to address this scenario, but there was agreement that this could be a substantial project. Mr. Cline agreed to seek City Attorney advice on the appropriate framework for this issue. The Committee will then review that information and will be better prepared to make a work plan request. Meeting adjourned at 6:37 p.m. Next meeting: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 5:30 p.m. Hazelnut Conference Room Committee Chair Approval Minutes by LH , Reviewed by VC