HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-07-11 Committee of the Whole MinutesJuly 11, 1983
7:00 P.M.
FLAG SALUTE AND
CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL OF
COUNCIL MEMBERS
OFFICIALS IN
ATTENDANCE
REPORTS
Mayor
Council Members
CITIZENS COMMENTS
Mrs. Rudolph Regel
OLD BUSINESS
Approval of Minutes:
June 27, 1983.
Collection agency
for utility bills.
Prop. Allentown
annexation policy
issues.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL City Hall
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING Council Chambers
MINUTES
Council President Harris led the audience and City Council in the
Pledge of Allegiance and called the Tukwila City Council Committee
of the Whole Meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
EDGAR D. BAUCH, L. C. BOHRER, JOE H. DUFFIE, MABEL J. HARRIS (COUNCIL
PRESIDENT), GEORGE D. HILL, WENDY MORGAN, DORIS PHELPS.
CARL CARLSEN (CITY ATTORNEY), ALAN DOERSCHEL (FINANCE DIRECTOR),
GARY VAN DUSEN (MAYOR).
Mayor Van Dusen announced Police Auction to take place at City Hall
on July 16, 1983.
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Mayor Van Dusen requested a budget transfer in amount of $6,700 for
Capital Improvement Plan.
MOVED BY HILL, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, TO PLACE THE BUDGET TRANSFER IN
THE AMOUNT OF $6,700 FOR CIP IN THE FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE.
MOTION CARRIED.
MOVED BY PHELPS, SECONDED BY HILL, THAT A SPECIAL MEETING BE HELD
PRIOR TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING ON JULY 25, 1983 TO
AWARD THE 53RD AVENUE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT. MOTION CARRIED.
Mrs. Rudolph Regel expressed appreciation to the City for naming the
children's play area in the park after her and her husband.
Jan Weisner, Jan Weisner, Chamber of Commerce, stated Kim Crosby will represent
Chamber of Commerce the City as Miss Tukwila. Her presentation will be "Friendships
Across the Sea." She would like to use the Tukwila City Flag and the
Ikawa City Flag.
MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT COUNCIL ALLOW THE TUKWILA
AND IKAWA FLAGS TO BE USED DURING THE PRESENTATION BY MISS TUKWILA.
MOTION CARRIED.
MOVED BY HILL, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 27,
1983 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING BE APPROVED
AS PUBLISHED. MOTION CARRIED.
Alan Doerschel, Finance Director, gave a report on the collection
of utilities at City Hall.
MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT A RESOLUTION BE PREPARED
FOR THE NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING SPELLING OUT NEGOTIATIONS
WITH PUGET POWER, WASHINGTON NATURAL GAS, AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST
BELL FOR THE COLLECTION OF UTILITY BILLS AT THE CITY HALL. MOTION
CARRIED, WITH HILL VOTING NO.
Councilman Hill asked that an administrative report be presented at
the next Council Meeting estimating the number of people that would
have to come into City Hall to pay utility bills in order for the City
to break even.
Councilman Phelps and Morgan reported on the policy issues and noted
changes in wording that were suggested.
Stuart Garnett, audience, said the citizens in the Allentown /Duwamish
area do not want the park areas developed. Also, the Pea Patch fee
of $25 is too expensive to encourage participation in that project.
MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE PROPOSED ALLENTOWN
ANNEXATION POLICY ISSUES, WITH RECOMMENDED CHANGES, BE ON THE AGENDA
OF THE NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING. MOTION CARRIED.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Page 2
OLD BUSINESS Contd.
Prop. Allentown
annexation policy
issues contd.
Acceptance of
Community Center
rehabilitation proj.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion on
Council guidelines
1984 budget.
MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE SUBJECT OF SUGGESTED
DEVELOPMENT OF AN APPROACH FOR THE CITY TO TAKE ON THE FIRE
PROTECTION IN ALLENTOWN /DUWAMISH AREA BE REFERRED TO THE PUBLIC
SAFETY AND HEALTH COMMITTEE. MOTION CARRIED.
Y31
Councilman Bohrer said negotiations regarding the fire contract will
have to be addressed.
MOVED BY PHELPS, SECONDED BY BAUCH, THAT ACCEPTANCE OF THE COMMUNITY
CENTER REHABILITATION PROJECT BE ON THE AGENDA OF THE NEXT REGULAR
COUNCIL MEETING. MOTION CARRIED.
1984 local MOVED BY MORGAN, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE 1984 LOCAL FUNDING
funding priorities, PRIORITIES, BLOCK GRANT REQUIREMENT, BE REFERRED TO THE COMMUNITY
Block Grant require- AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. MOTION CARRIED.
ment.
Prop. Res. author. MOVED BY BAUCH, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION BE
expenditure of City ON THE AGENDA OF THE NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING. MOTION CARRIED.
funds to study feasi-
bility of participation
in Puget Sound Cities Insurance
Authority to jointly self insure
its general liabilities.
Prop. Res. author. MOVED BY PHELPS, SECONDED BY HILL, THAT THE PROPOSED RES.OLUTION BE
purchase of supplies, ON THE AGENDA OF THE NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING. ROLL CALL VOTE:
materials, equipment HILL, PHELPS, DUFFIE, BAUCH VOTING YES; BOHRER, HARRIS, MORGAN VOTING
or services w/o adver -N0. MOTION CARRIED, FOUR TO THREE.
tisement competitive
bidding in limited
circumstances.
Discussion on admini- Councilman Morgan distributed explanation, prepared with aid of
strative form of Council Analyst, on administrative forms of government under
government. mayor- council type with city administrator, administrative assistant
and full -time mayor.
Joan McManus, 5610 South 133rd, Tukwila, said she would like to have
a full -time mayor.
MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE CITY ATTORNEY DRAW
UP AN ORDINANCE WHICH STATES THAT THE CITY INTENDS, IN 1984, TO
HIRE A CITY ADMINISTRATOR AND THAT THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILL BE
CHARGED WITH A VARIETY OF ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES WHICH WILL INCLUDE
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ADMINISTRATING THE DEPARTMENT HEADS AS
REQUIRED BY THE R.C.W., WILL REPORT TO THE MAYOR, AND THAT PERSON
BE A RESIDENT OF THE CITY AND SALARY WILL BE IN THE 1984 CITY BUDGET;
ALSO, THE SALARY OF THE MAYOR BE BUDGETED IN 1984 AT $750 PER MONTH.
Mrs. McManus, audience, said she believed a person could not be
required to live in the City. Councilman Bohrer said the requirement
of living /moving to the City could be a condition of the contract.
*ROLL CALL VOTE: BOHRER, HARRIS, PHELPS, BAUCH, MORGAN VOTING YES;
HILL AND DUFFIE VOTING NO. MOTION CARRIED, FIVE TO TWO.
MOVED BY BAUCH, SECONDED BY HILL, THAT THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
RECESS
9:20 9:35 P.M. MEETING RECESS FOR FIVE MINUTES. MOTION CARRIED.
The Committee of the Whole Meeting was called back to order by
Council President Harris, with Council Members present as previously
listed.
MOVED BY MORGAN, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT THE BUDGET REVIEW PROCESS
BE REMANDED TO ALL STANDING COUNCIL COMMITTEES. MOTION CARRIED.
Councilman Bohrer said the department heads should be prepared to
meet with Council Committees to discuss the budget.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Page 3
NEW BUSINESS Contd.
Discussion on
compensation for
Council Members.
ADJOURNMENT
10:05 P.M.
Cris Crumbaugh, audience, stated the Council salaries should be
raised. The Council Members spend a great deal of time on issues,
more than they have in the past.
MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY BAUCH, THAT THE COPIPENSATION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS REMAIN AS IT IS. MOTION CARRIED, WITH PHELPS
AND MORGAN VOTING NO.
MOVED BY HILL, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MEETING ADJOURN. MOTION CARRIED.
Mabel J. Harr Council President
Norma Booher, Recording Secretary
393.1
ADDENDUM to:
Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
HARRIS: The next discussion is on the administrative form of government. I had that
brought forward, it came out of Community Affairs Committee so if you want
to start the ball rolling...
MORGAN: I am distributing a very short document that was done up with the aid of our
Council Analyst and it presents some very short... some very brief... statements
regarding city administrator and administrative assistant forms with some
organizational charts under each which provide a graphic representationve of
how each of these forms works. The last page is a charge which has been mended
from the time during which we were considering city manager form of government
and has been made current, dealing both with the part -time mayor, the full -time
mayor, and the part -time mayor /city administrator. If you would like me
briefly to summarize some of the salient differences I can.
HARRIS: Okay, would you like to do that?
MORGAN: The city administrator would, in looking at having a city administrator, it
would strengthen the overall administration capability of the City, the
qualifications for the administrator may be established by an ordinance to
include professional requirements in scope of duties and in the same
ordinance may also define the selection process, it may provide for confirmation
of the mayor's appointment. R.C.W. provides for the mayor to appoint a city
administrator. The city administrator works at the direction of the mayor,
servies an indefinite term and he may be required, he or she, may be required
to report to the Council day -by -day operations and as directed by the mayor.
The scope of authority may include line management with all department heads
reporting to him or her and that is indicated in the diagram below. Oh,
look what I did, I glued them to the wrong sheet. City administrator is on
the wrong sheet. sPardon me. Plastic flaw in my work. You will notice
that the diagram provides for the mayor and the city administrator immediately
beneath the mayor with the department heads reporting to the city administrator
who reports to the mayor.
The city administrator also may work under contract which provides for the
compensation of his /her work, hours of work, transportation, vacations,
holidays, insurance and termination. Termination and removal of the city
administrator is the prerogative of the mayor according to the R.C.W. cites.
Legislative authority to create or terminate any particular position lies with..
in the budgetary process.
The administrative assistant isanother form of government under this type...
the mayor /council type..and it also lends professionalism to the city's
administration although on a more limited basis than the city administrator
and as you will notice by the chart indicating the city, the administrative
assistant, the administrative assistant reports to the mayor but does not have
the line management direction over the department head. The specific
duties are usually determined by the mayor although the Council may establish
the qualifications and functions by ordinance. Duties may include coordination
of interdepartmental activities, assistance to the mayor, representation
for the mayor, development of personnel policy /labor relations and inventory
control. The administrative assistant serves at the direction of and is
terminated by the mayor, and the legislative authority to create or terminate
any particular position again lies in the budgetary process. Then we have
provided... had the Council Analyst provide us,for us, a chart that indicates
differences of the various forms. With that it is open for discussion.
HARRIS: Any discussion? Any questions? I want to apologize for getting it to you
this late. Our Council Analyst misunderstood the time or the day it was to
be ready and he was in a golfing he did not get it ready until later
this afternoon. Therefore, it is a little later than I would have liked to
have had.
HILL: You want him to work on...
HARRIS: No, I wanted to have it last Friday and he misunderstood.
MORGAN: Never, on Sunday.
HARRIS: Never, on Sunday. Do you all understand the difference between the two?
DUFFIE: Madam President, is there no age limit on the personnel manager, you don't
have an age in there? I see it blanked out.
HARRIS: No, I don't believe there is an age limit.
BAUCH: You don't know how old your nephew is?
Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 2
DUFFIE: How old my nephew is?
MORGAN: The laws provide for age limits for elective offices but it would be
discriminatory on the part of the City to indicate age for the employed people
so..
HARRIS: In fact, I don't believe you can even ask how old they are.
BAUCH: Okay, graduate from college at 12..
DUEFFIE: Well, they do.
BAUCH: I know they do... get their advanced degrees...
DUFFIE: So, tonight are we deciding what type....what form of government we are going
to run...is that going to be put forward to a later date?
HARRIS: We will have to have it done next week.
DUFFIE: Next week?
HARRIS: If we don't do anything about it then it stays the way it is now.
DUFFIE: Okay.
HARRIS: Ms. Phelps.
PHELPS: I think to amplify Mrs. Harris's remarks, because of the upcoming elections
candidates who want to file for the position of mayor and city council
should know beforehand what the landscape is going to look like when they file an
in fact their filing fee at the County is based on the salary attached to
those positions as well and so we have to make some decision on what we are
going to do on the position prior to the County accepting fees for applicants
for elected offices which is why there is a time line on it.
HARRIS: Again, if we do nothing then the salaries are as they are now.
BOHRER: As you probably all recall at the time we got into this discussion on the form
of government back in February the Council adopted a resolution that said that
we would consider also the council /manager form and after doing that the Council
with the help of the mayor broke the tie vote, put the issue on the ballot, and
it was subsequently defeated. That same resolution said that subsequent to
consideration of that form however we got there that we would make precisely
this judgment that we are involved in tonight and in fact give our current
feeling as to what the City's form of government should be in 1984 so that
people filing for office this year would have knowledge of how the Council
expects things to go in 1984.
HARRIS: Any other comments? Ms. Phelps.
PHELPS: Well, so far there has not been much of a discussion, but...I guess I will
jump in there and give my own opinion on the issue as far as city administrator
is concerned and that is that I would favor a...and I do support the city
administrator type of council as outlined here. I think the Council has done a
significant amount of work on its goals and some long -range planning and
new comprehensive plans and programs,we are implementing a financial planning
model which is currently being considered that will give us a better budget
control and there is no question in my mind that the Council has been extremely
busy with the work of the City in the last several years and I don't see that
coming to an end in a very short period of time at all. I think that the work
of the Council has made an equal impact of work load on the city administration..
..we are asking more of our city administration, we are asking our department
heads to be more professional in their work, we are asking for the City staff
to become more knowledgeable in the areas where they have expertise and I
think that requires somebody at the head of administration to control all of
this activity that is going on. Very briefly, I think the city administrator
fulfils those needs of the City and its growth for now and in the future better
than the other options that we have explored..now that we are not
continuing with the discussion of the city manager.
HARRIS: Any other comments? Ms. Morgan.
Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 3
MORGAN: I think that the city attorney provides an option for the mayor /council form
that allows the mayor the freedom of performing those duties which he has
mandated by law to perform with...it seems to me marvelous resources of a
staff that can prepare those items for his /her perusal and it seems to me that
we are at a turning point and have the change to move ahead with the best
possible resources available to us. Many people have asked the question of
"Where do you find such people They are all over the place. They are very
talented and I would hazard to guess that an advertisement for such a position
would net us a minimum of 75 100 applicants, all of whom are Masters level
or highter and just as our administrative assistant presently does not live in
the City, nor has he ever lived in the City, I would anticipate that the
competition for this may come from outside the City but we would make some
arrangments with the person to move into the City and become an active member
of our community. It seems to me we have a resource to best provide our
mayor the opportunity to make the City to really help the City realize its
potential.
HILL:
HARRIS: Ms. Phelps.
I don't know. I am sitting here listening, the same thing I heard about...
"we have got to have a professional running the City," and so we put it to
a vote and 290 said "no, we don't want a professional running our City, we
don't want it run like a business, we want it run like a City, we don't
want to hire somebody out of greater New York City who is going to come out
here and show us how New York runs a city...I am not interested." Or we
get somebody from Miami or somebody from South Carolina or somebody from
Hoboken, New Jersey, a I don't know. There are some people in this town
that I feel are well, let's say I keep hearing...matter of fact, I saw a poster
that said only 10% of the people in this town are even eligibile to run it
because they worked in management. Well, I tell you, over the 33 years that
I have worked at Boeing I have seen a lot of people in management that shouldn't
have been and I have also seen some other businesses where there were managers,
were they really managers? But they are professionals and I don't know whether
education, as my old granddad used to say.. "this here book larnin' really
qualifies a person to run a city "...because a city is a little more complex, I
feel, because there are feelings, there are the feelings of the citizens out
there that have to be taken into consideration and I am sure a professional
would move into our City but I think you are going to discover that according
to State law he does not have to are my 5 minutes up, Doris.
PHELPS: Well, I think it is unfair to make a comparison between city manager and city
administrator and I don't interpret the results of that election in quite the
same way. I am not sure that the people were saying that they did not want
professional leadership in the City. I think what they were saying was that
they did not want to lose the capability of voting for an elected mayor.
In the city administrator proposal that is presented, the one that I favor
and support, is that you have an elected mayor, the citizens elect their
mayor, the city administrator works with that mayor, you have the added element
that this person brings with him experience in working with city government
that is required, along with the political leadership that responds to the
citizens in the position of that elected mayor. I think it is a terrific idea.
DUFFIE: Okay, my feeling is that I think that the way I understand the election were
that in talking to some of the residents they would like us to go with the
full -time mayor or remain as we are and I can support that, I would not support
anything else but either we go full -time, that is my opinion, and
once I get with the people and the people really tell me what they want
as I said before I am here for their benefit but as far as I am concerned I
would only support two items: either we go full -time or we leave it as it is,
I think that is the way the people would like it.
HARRIS: Mr. Duffie, I think you somewhat misunderstood this...because this would be
leaving it as it is with...
DUFFIE: I understand.
HARRIS: With the administrative assistant or the administrator that we have already
budgeted for this year in the budget we have had the previous year, except this
year it was not filled.
DUFFIE: That is what I know, so it is not as it is.
HARRIS: The difference would be to go with the administrator or administrative assistant
is what we are now considering.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 4
HILL: We are not considering a full -time mayor?
HARRIS: Not right here, we aren't.
HILL: Oh.
HARRIS: Would you like to bring that up?
HILL: By process of elimination?
HARRIS: Okay, would you like to bring that one up?
HILL: Well, if we are not...if that is not part of the discussion.
MORGAN: It certainly could be.
HARRIS: It has not been as yet, no one has...brought it up.
HILL: Was that going to be done in August?
HARRIS: No, now is the time to bring it up, it is here in the back...
DUFFIE: That was what I saw.
HILL: I notied there wasn't any..
HARRIS: Joe brought it up.
DUFFIE: Yes, I just brought it up, I was...
HARRIS: He just brought it up.
HILL: I noticed there is no supportive narrative with that form.
DUFFIE: Nope.
PHELPS: I think it looks like that administrative assistant chart except that in
place of the administrative assistant you would probably put administrative
secretary or some other person in that little circle, off to the righthand
side, it would be the very same structure as far as city administration.
DUFFIE: If we had a full -time mayor would we still have the administrative assistant.
HILL: No.
MORGAN: Well, I hope not.
DUFFIE: Well, I hope not, too. That is what I am trying...
MORGAN: It would be too expensive.
DUFFIE: Well, okay.
HARRIS: Any other discussion? Joanne.
JOANNE MCMANUS: I sat in on your committee meeting and I thought you were discussing all
three.
HARRIS: We are.
JOANNE MCMANUS: As a private citizen I wish you would think about a full -time mayor.
HARRIS: We are.
JOANNE: ...unintelligible...you had the people vote on it.
My name is Joanne McManus, 5610 South 133rd, Tukwila.
HARRIS: Thank you.
DUFFIE: Okay, you said, am I right, you said we are not considering the full -time mayor?
HARRIS: I did not say that, no.
BOHRER: If I may, what she said is no one has brought it up, if you want to talk about
it bring it up.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Adminstrative Form of Government
Page 5
DUFFIE: Okay, it is on the deal right here, it says part -time mayor, full -time mayor,
part -time mayor and city administrator. Why did you put this on here if we
are not going to discuss it then.
MORGAN: We will, it is open for discussion.
DUFFIE: Okay, then in order to put this on the ballot then what do we have to do to put
this full -time mayor on the ballot?
HARRIS: We don't put it on the ballot.
DUFFIE: We don't put it on...then we just leave it as it is.
HARRIS: This is discussion between us.
DUFFIE: Okay, then..
HARRIS: The ballot has already been done.
DUFFIE: Alright...
HARRIS: It was put aside, but we are talking about now we have a mayor form of
government now, what kind of a form of mayor government do we want? Do we
want to give our mayor an administrator to assist him, do we want to give our
mayor an administrative assistant to assist him or do we want to give him
nothing, and let him be whatever he is now? At present we have budgeted an
administrative assistant which has not been filled and therefore we are
now talking about what to do for next year.
MORGAN: Perhaps it would help if...under the R.C.W. the...and this was available
in earlier packets, the powers and duties of a mayor in a mayor /council
non charter code city. Basically under.. I will paraphrase it...if that is
alright...the mayor is the chief executive and administrative officer of
the city in charge of all epartments and employees with authority to designate
assistants and department heads. He may appoint and remove a chief administra-
tive officer or assistant administrative officer if provided by ordinance.
He is to make certain that all ordinances and laws are faithfully enforced
and that law and order is maintained in the city and has general supervision
of the administration of the city government and all city interests. All
official bonds and bonds of contract with the city are to be submitted to the
Mayor or such person as he may designate for approval or disapproval. He is
to make certain that all contracts and agreements made with the city for its
use are faithfully kept and performed and to this end he may cause a legal
proceedings to be instituted and prosecuted in the name of the city subject to
approval by a majority vote of the Council. He presides over all meetings
of the city council when present and has a vote only in the case of tie in
the votes of councilmen with respect to matters other than ordinances and those
items set forth...and there is an R.C.W. stipulating he is to report to the
council concerning the affairs of the city and its financial and other needs and
to make recommendations for council consideration and action. He is to prepare
and submit to the council proposed budget, he may veto ordinances passed by
the council but such veto may be overridden by the majority of all council
members. He is the official and ceremonial head of the city and represents
the city in official occasions. He may appoint and remove all appointive
officers and employees subject to any applicable law, rule, or regulation relatinc
to Civil Service except a police judge or municipal judge who is appointed
may be removed only upon conviction or misconduct or malfeasance in office and
so on All appointments of city officers and employees are to be made on
the basis of ability and training or experience of the appointees and the
duties they are to perform. A vacancy in the office of mayor is to be filled
by the council for the remainder of the unexpired term. The mayor is to meet
regularly with the city council at least once a month. The mayor is to approve
the official bonds furnished annually conditioned on the honest and faithful
performance of their duties by the clerk treasurer, if any, chief of police
and other such officers as designated by ordinance. Ordinances are to be
signed by the mayor, warrants issued by the city in payment of demand against
it are to be countersigned by the mayor or such persons he may designate. In
the absence of the clerk or deputy clerk or other qualified person the mayor
of the city council may perform the duties of clerk at such meeting. There is
no job description for the mayor in the City of Tukwila. There is only the
R.C.W. pertaining to the role of the mayor.
DUFFIE: So you are saying, you read that to say what?
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMP1ITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 6
MORGAN: I read that to present the functions as defined by the R.C.W. of the mayor
in the charter code cities. We have no job description for the mayor in the
City there are no qualifications except the legal requirements for running for
election of the mayor and the position is subject to voter approval at election
interval, however, the mayor is subject to recall, if citizens so choose to
institute a recall movement. So the evaluative process of the mayor is the
voter input during election.
HARRIS: Any other comments?
HILL: Yes, do we have a job description in the city for Councilmen or Councilperson?
HARRIS: The same thing.. the R.C.W. defines what the Council has to do the same as Mayor.
PHELPS: It is not mandatory, but it helps.
HILL: We don't have one for the council, but we need one for the mayor?
HARRIS: Well, it is a little bit different, you have seven council people but one mayor.
DUFFIE: That is why the council is here, to keep the mayor in line, right?
HARRIS: Not really.
HILL: We probably did not have one for George Washington.
HARRIS: No, the mayor is administrator and the council sets the policy.
DUFFIE: Okay, what I am looking at here is what we are trying..I have heard the
discussion on everything, no, I am trying to find out the system we are going to
go into. I understand we don't have to vote on this full -time mayor but some
reason, some seem to be lost and maybe it is me..what I am trying to find is
that if we are going to go full -time. I have not heard that much about the
full -time mayor, the only thing I have been hearing is about part -time mayor
and the others is tell them that now I see that we have the money how much is
it going to cost us for full -time, how much for city administrator, and I hear
everything but but I am looking at now, how do we go about informing people
that we are going to either have a full -time mayor or a part -time mayor or a
city administrator?
HARRIS: Joe, every mayor we have is a full -time mayor, he is mayor 24 hours a day,
the amount that you pay him is set by budget and a mayor that gets $100,000
a year can spend just the same amount of time at city hall as a mayor who
gets maybe $1,000 a month. It is the amount of time, when we are talking
about full -time, part -time mayor, it is the amount of time that the mayor
wishes to spend at his job and it is the same mayor, is the mayor of the same
if he is here..you don't the fellow that gets $100,000 a year does not
have to spend any more hours here than the fellow that gets $200 a month, when
you are talking about full -time, it is the amount of time that the mayor wants
to put in on the job. So, it is just a matter of how much is budgeted. How
much money is budgeted, it is what the mayor considers a full -time or part -time
mayor. And even if he was given $100,000 a year or $200,000 a year the quali-
fications would be exactly the same, so that is what we are talking about.
Do we want to give our mayor an administrative assistant, do we want to give
him an administrator or do we want to give him nothing or do we want to set
the salary tonight? I am open for suggestions.
HILL: We cannot set the salary tonight.
HARRIS: Well, we can ask to have a resolution drawn up for setting the salary.
BOHRER: I guess I have a comment. In some respect I think the office of what has
been called "full -time mayor" is really discussed in this hand -out we have
before us but it does highlight some of the issues, by no means all of the
issues. I guess if the proponents of the system of having a full -time mayor
I would ask you why do you feel that system is the best system for the City
of Tukwila? What reasons do you offer for saying that that is the best system
we can institute?
DUFFIE: Since the question is directed at me, I will ask you the same question. Why
did you say that a city manager is good for the City?
BOHRER: I will be happy to respond if I hear an answer to my question.
HILL: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 7
HARRIS: P-1r. Duffie, would you like to speak?
DUFFIE: Sure, if you want it here we go. No. 1, as far as I am concerned is that I
have talked to the people of the city, some of them, I am not going around and
say that I talked to everyone, but I have talked to some people in the city
and they seem to think they would like to have a full -time mayor here. Now
i hear it from previous speakers that the only difference in a full -time mayor
and a part -time mayor seems like to me the amount we pay him and the amount of
time he wants to spend in office. I am kind of saying that I find that kind
of hard to believe that you can pay a man $100,000 a year and he only spends
4 hours in office a day. I don't agree with that. Maybe that is true but I
think that a full -time mayor would be better, as far as I am concerned, since
I have had experience in the army and you try to run a city on a part -time basis
and hold down two jobs, if you can do it it is good. I think you are a good
man. But, I think that is the problem with us today, that we have people trying
to do too many things at the same time and not doing nothing period. Thank
you. Does that answer your question?
BOHRER: I have one clarification I would like to ask.
DUFFIE: Sure.
BOHRER: When you get to a command position in the army, say you get to be even a captain
or major rank normally how many years of experience will you have had at that
position? and how much training will you have received?
DUFFIE: Well, if you come from OCS it means you have four years of college, you come
out as a Second Lieutenant, three years from now you become First Lieutenant,
two to five years from there you become a captain if you haven't stepped on
no one's toes coming up. If you have stepped on someone's toes the next order
you will get is out the door. Okay. Now my job is a Master Sergeant in the
army. How many people do I have under me? One. I have two people over me.
The army says than an NCO will run the corps. So my officer which is now a
captain, he is an administrator. I do the work, he tells me if I don't like
it, and I tell him I want to do it. I'm the boss.
BOHRER: I think the summary then is that you said it was something like ten or twelve
years before you got to that kind of a position in the army. Is that what...
DUFFIE: Well, that is the law, but if like Audie Murphy you get a field commission you
can go up right off the field, you can from a private to at least a captain
on the field during war time. But, I am quite sure you are not in the history
of the wartime stories so we will keep it to here and my point is this
I really do believe with my experience in the army that I do think thalIwe had
a person here full -time for full -time mayor and he was to devote his time to the
office and the job that he has here and instead of trying...we are talking
about the Mayor Van Dusen...that is who I am talking about. Instead of him
trying to take care of business down at the Double Tree I think he would be
more efficient here running his people here. I am not saying he is doing a
bad job down there because that is not my business but I am saying that I
think he can do a better job here, not only him, but anyone that was here as
a full -time mayor could do a better job here instead of trying to take care
of something else. I do think this City here does need a full -time mayor,
whatever you want to put here but I am looking at a full -time mayor to run
this city because I think we have...this may be a small city...but we have a
major problem here in this city. We have just as much or more business in this
city than Seattle. I think that we have quite a business here. I think it
needs a full -time person to take care of this...I know you have supervisors
over each department and he is supposed to be taking his direction and
doing the job he should be but he should be here to see what they are doing. I
think that the only way we can do this is by having a full -time mayor here.
And if I was on the council and we had a full -time mayor and he was only
spending four hours here I would sign a get up a petition myself to have
him replaced..to be removed from office because there is no reason paying a
mayor even $50,000 a year and he only spends four hours here. Mayor Van Dusen
if you ever get that position I am going to have a recall on you quick.
HARRIS: Mr. Bohrer.
BOHRER: Well, I would like to divorce the issues from policy or personality of the
current mayor or any past mayor or any future mayor, but if you had the same
mayor and you were paying him $50,000 and you felt he could not do the job,
what would you do?
DUFFIE: I would have him recalled. I think there are a lot of people here in this city
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 8
DUFFIE (contd): who are well aware of the problems we have in this city and I think
if they knew that if I were true to my word and I am quite sure that I would not
be the only person here who would be willing to put my name on a recall petition
to have the mayor recalled and if I had to pay for a news ad on tv, whatever
I had to I would do it to get him out of here because I am not going to
sit here and have our mayor of our city run our city that way. I would not sit
for that. Whether he were full time or part -time. I have problems with some
of the issues that we have here, but I have not brought them up now because
we have a problem. When that gets solved and when this issue gets solved you
are going to see me around here quite often.
HARRIS: Any other discussion?
BOHRER: Yes, if I may, I would like to respond to Mr. Duffie's request since he asked
me what I thought. The decision is not an easy one but I think as we start
out this process everyone at this table and Mr. Van Dusen are interested in
finding the form that they think will best serve the residents in the future.
I think there is some strong differences in opinion of what people feel that
form may be. In general, I am in agreement with !1s. Phelps that a city
administrator offers some real advantages to the people of the city. The one
that has been mentioned the most, I think, is the capability of having a
trained professional leader at the highest levels of the city who can do an
effective professional job of administrating. Now, I think that is a job that
you must train for like many jobs are. I don't think you pick a man off the
street and send him to quarterback the Seahawks and expect him to do as
well as Jim Zorn because he is 21 and was elected by the people. I frankly
think that physical qualifications aside the job of being mayor or being govenor
or being president is one of the most difficult jobs you can have. It is an
extremely difficult job that requires a very broad array of skills and talents
and it is a very difficult one to do well. Now the professional presumably
has had training and experience that allows him to handle that job but the..
there are some direct benefits I think to the people. No. 1: If you have a
city administrator who is charged with doing the executive part of the business
then the mayor can in effect be the direct pipeline to the people that you say
that they would like to have. He is then to some extent freed from all those
daily duties of administrating the city. He has a strong right hand man
who can do these things and who knows the techniques of getting them done.
If it is a matter of developing a plan or participating in labor negotiations
or understanding block grants the man should have the training that the
average citizen rarely has. I think the other thing that happens is that once
you made the mayor of the city "full -time" and you pay that $100,000 a year,
God forbid, you will have two things happening. No. 1, you will have some
people running for the salary and not to serve the city and I think there
should be a commitment to service when you come to that office and I think
that everybody, every elected official, in this room has made that commitment.
The other thing that happens in my feeling is that you pose some very
great limitations on the number of people in the city who then may
run for that office, there will be some who simply do not feel they can interrupt
a career in whatever field it may be in order to perform that function for the
city, but there will be a much larger number of people who feel they can devote
a few hours of time each day to provide direction to a professional administrator
and in effect make their policy impact on the city in that manner. I think,
you know, that it is clear cut, that it is possible for us to write a contract
with this person that if he does not perform we can get rid
of him very rapidly. We do not have to wait for recall or whatever, it is
a joint decision. There really isn't much time line required for that to
happen. The...I think also that the office can be far less influenced by what
we term...choose to call... city politics, if you will. I think there is the
specter if the city is divided and one of the representative of one of those
factions becomes the mayor that the people from the other faction may not fair
quite so well with their dealings with the city government as they would if
there were an impartial administrator who is charged with serving all of the
citizens and is judged by a council which has representatives from both sides,
and he must keep them satisfied. I think that these are all some very strong
reasons why we should really consider very strongly changing the form of
government to install a city administrator.
HARRIS: We would really not be changing the form of government, because we would still
have the mayor /council form of government, but adding... Mr. Hill.
HILL: Well, which is true, we would not be changing our form of government but I
don't know...Mr. Bohrer, you made a statement that if we did not like the city
administrator we could get rid of him. In this write up it says to be dismissed
by the mayor and all seven councilmen could stand there and yell and scream
all day and the mayor would not have to...
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 9
BOHRER: There is the old meat ax.
HILL: You could not do that to the mayor because once it is established you cannot.
HARRIS: I want to read you something from the survey of the AWC. This is salaries
of mayor in some of the surrounding cities. (Council President Harris read
a list of cities and salaries paid to the mayors of those cities.)
HILL: I think you made your point.
HARRIS: Need I go on.
HILL: How many have a city manager?
HARRIS: That is beside the point. We had that chance.
HILL: Yes, 290 votes.
HARRIS: As we stand right now already as it is the City of Tukwila's mayor is
the llth highest paid mayor in the State of Washington. I feel that is
somewhat adequate for a city our size, but we are still willing to give and
have been willing to give our mayor an assistant so the business can go on
expediently and expeditiously with the professional assistant that the mayor
hires and will serve at the pleasure of the mayor. Shall we go on?
HILL: I don't think anyone is going to change anyone's mind on this.
BOHRER: That being the case... if there is a consensus:
MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY PHELPS, THAT THE CITY ATTORNEY DRAW UP AN
ORDINANCE WHICH STATES THAT THE CITY INTENDS IN 1984 TO HIRE A CITY ADMINISTRA-
TOR, NUMBER ONE, AND THAT CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILL BE CHARGED WITH A VARIETY
OF ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES WHICH WILL INCLUDE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ADMINISTRA-
TING THE DEPARTMENT HEADS, THAT AS REQUIRED BY THE R.C.W. HE WILL REPORT TO
THE MAYOR AND THAT PERSON IS EXPECTED TO BE A RESIDENT OF THE CITY AND THE
BUDGET FOR THAT PERSON WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE 1984 BUDGET. NO. 2, PART OF
THAT MOTION IS THAT THE SALARY OF THE MAYOR FOR THE TERM OF OFFICE BEGINNING
IN 1984 BE SET AT THE RATE OF $750 PER MONTH.
MORGAN: I presume, Mr. Bohrer, that your motion allows for the attorneys to look
at each of those issues and should there be problem with them to contact..
to come back to the council with the issues related to those discrepancies.
BOHRER: It surely does, I think we have, Carl, we have mentioned that there may be
some problems with some of these in the past, I don't think you were present
at that meeting but what the city council desires to do here, or would desire
if my motion succeeds, would be to establish the salary of the mayor and the
form of the administration so a person running for office would have that
information when they file and subject to the whims of the city council and
six months yet remaining in the terms of office of some of the people at this
table and that would go forward. 1984, of course, has a new council with
some new people in it. I would expect that if there is the dissatisfaction
with this issue that the people here, some of the people here at this table
seem to find, that will be a campaign issue. In my own conversations I find
an equal number of people, if not greater, who think that this solution,
this approach, could be of major benefit to this city. I do not interpret a
vote as some of the people at this table have, for the council /manager
form of government as being a vote for whether we should increase the salary
of the mayor.
HARRIS: Any other discussion? Di you wish to speak, maam?
JOANNE McMANUS: I was just going to state that I believe it is against the law to say a
person has to live in Tukwila. When you hire someone you cannot say where
they have to live.
HILL: You cannot make requirements.
BAUCH: You can make city managers live in the city.
BOHRER: I believe you can, I believe Kent has an ordinance that does that...
BAUCH: After they take the job they have to move to the city.
TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
July 11, 1983
Verbatim Transcript of Discussion on Administrative Form of Government
Page 10
BOHRER: Let me clarify. Kent has a contract with their city administrator and I
think he willingly signs the contract that says he will be a resident of the
city. If he is not willing to sig- the contract, we may not be willing to
sign it either.
HILL: But we will pay his moving expenses from Hoboken.
BOHRER: Not if he doesn't sign the contract.
HILL: Oh.
BAUCH: Call for the Question.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
ROLL CALL VOTE ON MOTION: BOHRER, HARRIS, PHELPS, BAUCH, MORGAN VOTING YES.
HILL, DUFFIE VOTING NO. MOTION CARRIED, FIVE TO TWO.
r/
Booher, Recording Secretary
END OF TRANSRIPT END OF TRANSCRIPT