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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-11-12 Committee of the Whole MinutesTUKWILA CITY COUNCIL November 12, 1996 Tukwila City Hall 7:00 p.m. 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. ROLL CALL OFFICIALS CITIZEN'S COMMENTS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES JOE DUFFIE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; PAM CARTER, Council President; ALLAN EKBERG; STEVE MULLET; JIM HAGGERTON; PAM LINDER. JOHN MCFARLAND, City Administrator; LUCY LAUTERBACH, Council Analyst; EVELYN BOYKAN, Human Services Coord.; STEVE LANCASTER, DCD Director; RON CAMERON, City Engineer; ALAN DOERSCHEL, Finance Director; TED FREEMIRE, Public Works Operations Manager; JANE CANTU, City Clerk; JIM HANEY, Ogden /Murphy /Wallace. Arthur Rosengren, 4022 South 150th, expressed deep appreciation to the Mayor, Council and Tukwila Police for the hard work and progress the City has made in the past year. He's happy that the cameras are up and running on Hwy 99; and he's especially grateful that the Advisory Ballot/Proposition #1 Banning Fireworks in Tukwila passed by 51 percentage votes. He requested that the Council move swiftly in drafting an ordinance to implement the ban. Al Pieper, 17083 53rd Avenue South, commented that residential areas are just not the place to be discharging fireworks, it's entirely too dangerous. Lynn Roberts, Washington Women's Employment and Education, 841 North Central, Kent, WA, thanked the Council for supporting their Welfare To Work Program in the Tukwila community. She extended an invitation to the Council to attend the November 22 graduation program to be held at St. Thomas Church so that the Council can see how the money is being put to work to help citizens of Tukwila transition from welfare to work. Official invitations will be mailed to the Council. Jimma Borg, Highline West Seattle Mental Health Center, also thanked the Council for supporting the Apple Parent Education Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 2 Citizen's Comments (Con't) PUBLIC HEARING Proposed increase in surface water rates Citizens comments Program and the Self Esteem For Survivors of Violence Class. She said the programs have a very positive impact on the residents of Tukwila. Councilmember Haggerton commented that there are plans for considering the fire works ban now that the Advisory Ballots have been tallied favoring Advisory Proposition #1 Banning Fireworks. He has requested that Lucy Lauterbach schedule for discussion at a Finance and Safety Committee. Council President Carter opened the public hearing at 7:15 p.m. Ron Cameron, City Engineer, explained that the surface water utility came into official existence in January 1990. The revenues that fund the surface water utility have remained the same for that time period based on the City's rates of $30.00 per month per single family equivalent ($1 million dollar per year). The 1990 operation and maintenance costs were $378,000. The 1997 budget shows a need $723,000 for operation and maintenance. Costs have gone up for basic service, leaving no seed money funds for grants, or very little for CIP. The rates that have been developed with Utility Committee equal to a 10% increase in 1997. That will carry the rate from $30.00 per year to $33 for a single family equivalent. In reviewing the 1995 City Engineers Association of Washington survey of seventeen adjoining agencies. Tukwila rates are near the lowest in comparison, and with the increased rate Tukwila is still the lowest. Al Pieper, 17083 53rd Avenue South, complemented City work crews for the excellent job they are doing. However, he said establishing a fee for surface water management is just another way of milking taxes out of the public. Ray Flaherty, Kitallis Management (formerly with Cushman/Wakefield, and representing a number of businesses in Tukwila, commented that he had received a voice mail around 4:45 p.m. this evening asking him to review the ordinance and attend tonight's meeting. He stated that this was the first time he had seen the ordinance. He requested that the Council provide Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 3 Public Hearing (Cont'd) Public hearing closed SPECIAL ISSUES CDBG funding /eligibility for sewers Briefing on quasi judicial procedures Contract for City Attorney services additional time so that those interested can adequately review and prepare appropriately. Council President Carter closed the public hearing at 8:30 p.m. It was the consensus of the Council to forward the ordinance for proposed increase in surface water rates to the next Regular Council for further discussion. Withdrawn. Jim Haney, Attorney, Ogden /Murphy/Wallace, gave a presentation on Closed Record Appeals. He explained that a closed record appeal is one in which no new evidence or testimony may be presented. The parties are limited to the making of argument based upon the record developed during the hearing on the proposal by the body whose decision is being appealed. The ability to address the Council is limited to the parties to the appeal. Haney stated that this will be the first closed record appeal held by the Council. He continued as he reviewed in detail and with finesse suggested procedure for conducting closed record appeals; examples of potential appearance of fairness violations; examples of circumstances which are not potential appearance of fairness violations; and curing an appearance of fairness violation. It was the consensus of the Council to use these procedures at the upcoming Regular Council Meeting during the scheduled public hearing on the proposed Hotel at 4006 South 139th Street. The Council also agreed to consider adopting the procedures by resolution with amendments in the near future. Council President Carter recommended that the contract be forwarded back to the Finance and Safety Committee for additional language. She also recommended that a new in -house City Attorney be hired as soon as possible. Her proposal was to extend the Kenyon contract through June of 1997. This would afford the time necessary for personnel to finalize an executive search for the attorney position and have the attorney position filled by July 1997. Carter said she feels there would be no incentive to proceed 1 Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 4 City Attorney Contract with filling the position if this contract is extended from November (Cont' d) 1, 1996 through December 31, 1997. Budget review Councilmember Mullet called attention to Section VIII Contract Period where it states in part "Each party reserves the right to terminate this contract upon thirty (30)) days written notice." Mullet said since the 30 -day option clause is in the contract there isn't a need to alter it. The City may proceed in its search to fill the position and if someone else is selected, we would only have to give the current firm a 30 -day notice; on the other hand, if the Kenyon Firm is selected, we would not have to re- negotiate a contract. After a brief discussion, Duffie, Mullet, Haggerton and Linder were in favor of continuing the contract as submitted for the fourteen months because the 30 -day termination clause is enough time to work with whatever decision is made. Hernandez, Carter, and Ekberg voted against the contract as submitted. Ekberg suggested that language be added to the contract that will properly address compliance to the City's Code of Ethics policy. Carter suggested the contract be amended to show hours of service that will be rendered per week/month, etc. It was the consensus of the Council to forward the Contract with amendments for City Attorney services to a Regular Council meeting. The Council continued review and discussion of the Proposed 1997 Budget. Alan Doerschel, Finance Director, commented that the sales tax had gone down due in part to the loss of the research and development tax of one of the City's major manufacturers. The City had been gaining in the neighborhood of $4 to 5 hundred thousand dollars per year in tax revenue. Alan says the property tax assessed valuation has also gone down again, however, not as dramatically as last year's. This will result in a loss of property tax revenue. On the positive side there's a about a $2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars balance in the capitals; there's a major settlement with a large manufacturer that will exceed over $500,000 dollars in lump sum sales tax that will be awarded to us in November. These will help compensate for the 1997 shortfall. We also have some adjustments the Department of Revenue missed totaling $155,000 Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 5 Budget review (Cont'd) that will be added to our base in November this year. We will submit two grants in 1997. One of them is a $48,000 dollar grant for the Police Department for some systems work. We also stand to receive the grant to help pay for the four police officers -the COPS FAST II Grant of $300,000 -which will be placed into the 1997 budget and distributed in increments of $100,000 each year through 1999. He said we won't see an impact to the budget until 1999 and afterwards. Doerschel said next year during the budget review and the joint retreat, long term projections of the impacts of these recent changes in taxes and the recent trends will be addressed. Doerschel said he will present a full status report to the Council next Monday night. REPORTS Mayor Rants reported that the Suburban Cities' meeting will be held in Tukwila tomorrow night. Councilmember Hernandez reported that she had attended the Equity Task Force meeting and a proposal for name change was discussed. The name being proposed is The Equity and Diversity Commission of Tukwila. The proposed Mission Statement is `By Promoting Education And Understanding That Accepts. Appreciates And Celebrates Our Diversity. We Will Strive To Eliminate Prejudice And Discrimination In The Tukwila Community." Hernandez said she will bring this issue back to the Council after Dr. Silver, School Superintendent, review with the School Board. Council President Carter reported that she had attended ACC last week and the process is ongoing. She said they will be hiring a replacement for Chester Beattie very soon. Councilmember Ekberg explained that video clips can be taken from a camera and loaded to an internet site. If this was done to the Cameras on Hwy 99, the Police Department would have ready access to what's going on on the highway via internet without having to run fiber optic cable to hookup. Committee of The Whole Meeting Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 6 Reports (Cont'd) Councilmember Linder reported she had attended the Government Affairs meeting and DOT gave a presentation on Hwy 99. Ron Cameron was also in attendance and expressed that he was not pleased with the way Hwy 99 was depicted in the visuals. DOT will revamp, return and review at a future meeting. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY MULLET, TO 10:30 P.M. ADJOURN THE MEETING. MOTION CARRIED. Pam•Carter, Council! President Celia Square, ID' ty City Clerk