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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-03-25 Committee of the Whole MinutesMarch 25, 1996 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL OFFICIALS Amend Agenda CITIZEN'S COMMENTS TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER Council President Pam Carter called the Committee of The Whole Meeting to order and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. JOE DUFFIE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; PAM CARTER, Council President; ALLAN EKBERG; STEVE MULLET; PAM LINDER; JIM HAGGERTON. JOHN MCFARLAND, City Administrator; LUCY LAUTERBACH, Council Analyst; ALAN DOERSCHEL, Finance Director; ROSS EARNST, Public Works Director; RON CAMERON, City Engineer; ROBIN TISCHMAK, Associate Engineer; TED FREEMIRE, Operations Manager; JACK PACE, Senior Planner; MOIRA BRADSHAW, Associate Planner. IT WAS THE CONSENSUS OF THE COUNCIL TO MOVE THE "PUBLIC HEARING" AND "CITIZEN'S COMMENTS" TO PRECEDE "SPECIAL PRESENTATION." Karen Aragon, Vice President /Showalter PTA, 14204 55th Avenue South, commented of her concerns for kids' safety at Tukwila Schools. She invited the Council to attend the March 26 School Board Meeting to hear Tukwila Police Officers give parents gang awareness information at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, at Foster High School Library (Showalter P.T.A.). PUBLIC HEARING Council President Carter clarified that this hearing will be held Increase in water utility tonight then continued on April 1st. She also suggested a deadline rates be established for those citizens wishing to submit written comments. The Council agreed that the deadline for accepting written comments will be April 1, 1996, 7:00 p.m. at Tukwila City Hall. Ross Earnst, Public Works Director, explained that a water rate increase had been proposed to provide sufficient revenues to continue the Capital Program as adopted in the 1996 -2001 CIP, He said the Utility Committee, at the February 27th meeting, recommended we proceed with a water rate increase to be effective with this year's summer rate change. Further review of revenue Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes March 25, 1996 Page 2 Increase in water utility rates (Cont'd) and expenditures at the March 12, 1996 Utilities Committee meeting resulted in the proposal for a 10% increase in consumption rates and appropriate increases in the base charges for meters and fire services. Public hearing opened Council President Carter opened the public hearing at 7:35 p.m. Dennis Knutson, 5568 South 149th Street, says he has lived in Tukwila most of his life and each time there's a utility increase the increments are always large ones. He asked the Council how did they arrive at the 10 %figure. Why not 3% or 6 He says he's disgusted with the increase not just for himself but for the impact it will have on senior citizens who are living on a fixed income. Earnst responded that a 10% rate increase is not added every year. The City hasn't raised utility rates since 1992. He said the cost of buying water from the City of Seattle has gone up. We also have to consider meter, hydrant, and fireline charges. Some citizens said it's not fair to have to pay a 10% increase when the water taste so bad that even the animals won't drink it. Councilmember Duffie asked why doesn't the City drill its own wells. Earnst stated that the City had applied for permission to drill well from the Department of Ecology but the application was denied because DOE could not justify drilling a well for Tukwila when Seattle can supply our needs. Councilmember Hernandez clarified that though Seattle increased the rates in 1994, we did not pass that increase on to Tukwila's customers. Joe Roppo, 5940 South 149th, commented that instead of increasing the rates to 10% at one time, why not divide it up into small percentages each year. This way it would not be such a burden on the customers. Roppo also stated that he's beginning to think the annexations were not such a good idea after all because 3/ Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes March 25, 1996 Page 3 Public hearing (Cont'd) Public hearing continued to next meeting SPECIAL PRESENTATION Pacific Hwy.So. Revitalization Plan. Recess 9:00 p.m. SPECIAL ISSUES Ban on fireworks now the citizens are paying for more, but getting less. Police services have gone down along with everything else. Kristin Whisler, 14711 58th Avenue South, stated that she had reviewed the City's 1996 Budget and noticed that staff's salaries continue to increase. She said why can't the City consider putting a hold on increased salaries and use that excess to pay for utilities increases. She just received notice that the cable rates are going to be increased by 20% or more and in the same week she fines out that her utility rates will be increased by 10 She also suggested the City cut back on some of the C.I.P. projects in lieu of a utility rate increase. Judy Kugel, 5831 South 152nd Street, said she had called the City around October of last year and specifically asked was there going to be a utility rate increase because she is an apartment manager (66 units) and was preparing her budget for 1996. She said the response she got was no. Now she's being informed of the utility increase. She says this increase is going to impact her and her budget astronomically. Council President Carter announced that the public hearing will be continued at the April 1, 1996 Regular Council meeting, 7:00 p.m. John Owen, Representative of Makers, gave joint presentation and slide show to the 99 Task Force, City Council and Planning Commission of streetscape design examples, with discussion of concerns for Highway 99 within Tukwila. He said the task we now have is to integrate the Comprehensive Plan with detailed implementation measures. This presentation was a means to initiate the discussion of the options available both for streetscape design and economic development strategies. Council President Carter called the meeting back to order at 9:15 p.m. Councilmember Haggerton reported that this issue had been discussed in the Finance Safety Committee (Linder, Haggerton, and Duffie) and they voted 2 -1 (with Duffie voting no) to keep the current law in place. They based their decision on the results of a recent city -wide survey. Three hundred and one (301) surveys Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes March 25, 1996 Page 4 Ban on fireworks (Cont'd) Citizen comments were returned: 151 (.501 support total ban; 150 (.498 oppose ban. Haggerton said the main concern now is to enforce the ban. The current law allows legal fireworks to be discharged from 10:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. on the Fourth of July only. Haggerton says it very hard for the Police Department to enforce the law as it stands. Duffie says a total ban would make it somewhat easier to enforce. Councilmember Hernandez commented that this issue appears to be a ballot issue. This would allow all of Tukwila's citizens to have a voice. Several other councilmembers concurred with Hernandez. Art Rosengren, 4022 South 150th, commented that those were the very words he wanted to hear -place the fireworks issue on a ballot. He said he would hope that this issue could go on a ballot. There are 151 votes out there that said "a total ban." That's pretty significant. He wonders how many other people out there that just did not vote. Of course, that could go the other way too. However, he believes, from the people that he's talked to, that there are more people out there that would like a total ban. He looks at this as a safety issue, a fire hazard primarily. He's talked to quite a few people and they know, first hand, that they've had some close calls with fires on their property; and this is from the safe and sane fireworks. He calls it unsafe and insane fireworks because that category fits a lot better. He goes along with Joe Duffie that the police would have a much better chance of doing some spot -check enforcement under a total ban. Councilmember Mullet commented that a total ban to allow police enforcement would be too costly to the City. The fiscal impact would be extravagant. A citizen from the audience commented that we will have to pay one way or another, either by house /apartments fires and property damages, or police enforcement. Council President Carter suggested that the fireworks hours should be announced more boldly, i.e. the City's Hazelnut Newsletter and /or signs posted throughout the City noting the time that fireworks can be discharged. Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes March 25, 1996 Page 5 Ban on fireworks (Cont'd) Councilmember Ekberg suggested that an advisory ballot be put together and readied for the November ballot. King County's proposed parks bond issue/Tukwila's proposed project list REPORTS Since the City has no elected position running this year, Council Analyst Lucy Lauterbach said it will cost the City approximately $9,000 to place this single issue on a ballot. After much discussion, it was the consensus of the Council to place the issue to ban fireworks in the City of Tukwila on the November ballot; and to forward the issue back to the Finance Safety Committee for further discussion. Don Williams, Parks Recreation Director, explained that if Tukwila receives its "share" of Local Program Funds based on population, we may receive only $1.23 million. The difficult decision will be to determine which of the many projects should be listed in our submittal to King County and in what priority order. He said there are many more projects than we will have funds, but suggested a list be made of all the specific projects the City wants funded and prepare the forms to submit to King County by April 30, 1996. After a lengthy discussion, the Council agreed to schedule a public meeting on April 8th for citizens input; display those comments and /or recommendations at the next Vision Tukwila meeting of April 17th; then be prepared to adopt the proposed project list at the April 22 Special Meeting. Mayor Rants commented on how well the microphones were working except for their cutting in and out tonight. He informed the Council that he will have our Operations Manager Al Spencer look into the problem tomorrow. Councilmember Duffie recommended the City take a very close look at 149th Street that runs in front of Tukwila Elementary School (5939 South 149th). The school bus hit a police car recently and he believes it's because the street is too narrow to have cars parking on both sides. He suggested "NO PARKING" signs be posted to confine parking to one side of the street. Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes March 25, 1996 Page 6 Reports (font' d) ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION -10:40 P.M. Councilmember Hernandez urged the Council to think about a time they would like to have a presentation from the King County Human Services Round Table Committee. They've indicated that they would like to do this sometime this year. Council President Carter reported that she had attended YWCA Professional Women's Benefit Luncheon on the Eastside last week. She said she found out that the money the City spends with the YWCA for services goes directly for services. They pay their overhead from fund raisers. Proceeds from this luncheon totaled $155,581. Carter says she also attended the SKATBd meeting last Tuesday. She met with McKenna, King County Council, last Thursday to discuss Tukwila's stance on the RTA Proposal. Councilmember Ekberg stated that he will not be present at the April 1 Council meeting; and that he will be out of town the week of April 15th. MOVED BY HERNANDEZ, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, TO ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS A POTENTIAL LITIGATION ON LAND USE. MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY MULLET, TO 10:50 P.M. ADJOURN THE EXECUTIVE SESSION. MOTION CARRIED. Pam Carter, Council President Celia Square, Deptity City Clerk