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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg 2013-06-17 Item 8 - Report - City Administratormon City of Tukwila CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT The City of opportunity, the community of choice TO: Mayor Haggerton Councilmembers FROM: David Cline, City Administrator DATE: June 12, 2013 SUBJECT: Report for June 17, 2013 Regular Council Meeting Jim Haggerton, Mayor The City Administrator Report is meant to provide the Council, staff and community an update on the activities of the City and on issues that concern Tukwila. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information about any of the following items. I. Intergovernmental Update • Kin County City Administrators /Managers Monthly Meeting: The City Administrator and Government Relations Manager attended the June 5, 2013, meeting where the following items were discussed: AWC legislative update; Regional Data Center Opportunities offered by King County (consolidation of IT functions), and a Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) update. Of special note was RASKC's discussion of an idea to tie rabies vaccinations into licensing in order to increase revenues (licensing levels are below 30 %). Additionally, SCA has put a call out to cities that would be interested in providing assistance to the City of Pacific as they face upcoming leadership challenges. • Suburban Cities Meeting: On May 29, 2013 the Mayor and staff attended the Suburban Cities Meeting. Presentations were made by King County Sheriff John Urquhart and an update was shared on the citizen engagement project. • Refugee Advisory Council meeting: On June 7, Human Services participated in the Refugee Advisory Council meeting held at the City of SeaTac. Office of Refugee and Immigration Assistance at the State level expects to take a 2.8% budget cut. According to the International Rescue Committee about 80% of refugee clients gain employment by the end of the period they are working with the resettlement agency. Average starting wage is $9.80 hr. • King County Aerospace Alliance: Mayor Haggerton and staff attended the Alliance's quarterly meeting on June 5th. It was held at Fatigue Technology in Tukwila. Tom Captain, Vice Chairman with Deloitte, presented his perspective on Washington State's competitive position in retaining and attracting aerospace businesses. In summary, Washington is still very competitive but competition from other states and countries is increasing and we need to continue to do everything we can to keep Boeing. • Satellite Visitor Center: Seattle Southside Visitor Services is exploring an opportunity with Westfield Southcenter to open a satellite visitor center at the former concierge desk at the mall. Staff is conducting additional analysis. Funding for a test period would come from the lodging tax. Funding after a test period could come from the tourism promotion area, if approved. 59 City Administrator Report Page 2 • Amtrak Cascades Intercity Service at Tukwila Station: Department of Community Development staff attended a one day conference that brought together communities, State DOTs, Amtrak and BNSF to discuss facilities, improvement funding sources, and local case studies. Staff met with WSDOT to discuss the pending technical report to add a Cascades Intercity Rail stop in Auburn, which is currently not served by Amtrak. The option being favored is to add the two new proposed stops to Auburn in lieu of Tukwila in 2017 when the additional service is proposed to go into effect. The City will continue to monitor this situation and a formal Tukwila response to intercity train service will be made when the Washington State Draft Rail Plan is issued in midsummer 2013. • Healthy Kinq County Coalition: Staff attended the June 6 meeting of the Healthy King County Coalition (HKCC). The Coalition is made up of local governments and community -based organizations which received grant funding through the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) program. • National Leaque of Cities: The City has been chosen to host a mobile workshop for the National League of Cities Conference in Seattle this November. The work shop will highlight the Community Schools Collaboration. II. Community Events • Tukwila Turtles: The Tukwila Turtles participated in the Washington State Special Olympics Aquatics Meet on Saturday, June 1st at the King County Aquatics Center. 14 Turtles participated in the meet earning 35 medals and ribbons. Three Tukwila Turtles athletes qualified to apply to participate in the National Aquatics Meet in New Jersey. III. Staff Updates • Human Services — From Jan — May Human Services has assisted 747 individuals seeking assistance. 65% of those were focused on rent or utilities. 46 households were helped with financial assistance. • TRAKiT Permittinq System: The City's TRAKiT core team met this week to go over the training and testing process and schedule that will take place over the next few months. The staff from CRW reviewed each module, the testing schedule and process in reporting any issues to CRW. • Cottage Housinq: Cooke Riverside Cottages was one of three cottage housing projects selected for consideration under the Housing Options Ordinance. In February, the selection approval was revoked as the applicant did not meet the conditions of approval. The applicant appealed the revocation decision and this week the hearing examiner found in favor of the City and dismissed the appeal. The original cottage housing ordinance passed in 2007 (with a sunset in 2008) and allowed approval of three cottage housing demonstration projects in Tukwila. Due to the financial downturn it does not appear that any of the cottage projects will be built. • Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan: The Community Survey will close at the end of June, the survey is available online and hard copies are available at the Tukwila Community Center. Staff participated in a Move & Learn session on June 1st at Cascade View Community Park with members from the Somali, Bhutanese, Burmese and Tingrinya- speaking communities. • 4044 S. 152 -1 Street — Unsecured Abandoned Structure: The Police department notified Code Enforcement of an abandoned house which was used as a marijuana grow operation. Code Enforcement has inspected the property and it appears to be a candidate for our Code abatement fund. 60 City Administrator Report Page 3 Public Safety • Funding Opportunity from the Department of Justice (DOJ): On June 3, 2013, the Police Department submitted a proposal to the DOJ's Community Policing Development program to establish a Human Trafficking Regional Task Force for law enforcement entities. The proposal requested $400,000 in funding. Proposals are required to be of national relevance and significantly advancing the field of community policing. Project Updates • Urban Renewal: The appraiser conducted additional site visits of the properties. Staff continued discussions with property owners and is reviewing appraisals and related information. This information will be brought to the Council later this summer. • Tukwila Villaqe: Tukwila Village Development Associates, the developer of the project, submitted their plans for design review. Department of Community Development staff is reviewing the plans for completeness and will process them. As part of that process, there will be additional public involvement during the Board of Architecture Review process. • Strategic Plan Implementation: An employee newsletter was designed and distributed as a way to provide updates and information regarding the Strategic Plan throughout the City organization. An employee survey was also developed and will be collected mid -July as a way to establish a baseline for questions relating to the City as a whole, as well as work groups /departments, so that we can measure progress in Goal Four: A High Performing and Effective Organization. • Briscoe - Desimone Levee: The Interlocal Agreement (ILA) for this project between King County Flood Control District (KCFCD) and the City of Kent was signed by KCFCD Board Chair Reagan Dunn on 5/21/13 and by Mayor Cooke on June 6, 2013. The City of Kent is now drafting the ILA between Kent and Tukwila and will forward it to Tukwila staff in the next few weeks for review and comment. Per Council direction, this ILA will be brought before the Community Affairs & Parks Committee for review. • Police and Fire Department Strategic Plan: Both the Police and Fire Departments are working with Berk & Associates to assist them in creating a Department Strategic Plan that is aligned with the City's overall Strategic Plan. The Fire Department kicked off their process on May 30. The Police Department is following up on last year's Crime Reduction Proposal and is selecting their strategic planning committee members The purpose of these plans is to establish a clear roadmap for the future of these departments. Aligning with the City's recently completed strategic plan, the plans will help the City identify priority areas for improvement and determine actionable steps to make us more efficient and effective in carrying out our mission. Community Services • Funding Early Head Start Program: Neighborhood House received funding for 70 new Early Head Start slots in South King County. This is in addition to the early home visiting already taking place in Tukwila (about 30 families). Human Services will be meeting with the Director for coordination purposes. • Safe Place Program: Recreation staff is working with Auburn Youth Resources to become a "Safe Place" for teens — if a teen is in crisis and needs help they can come in and ask for help. Staff then contact the Safe Place program and make the teen comfortable until help arrives. All KC Libraries and Metro buses are Safe Places along with a number of other facilities. • Summer School Pilot Program: Recreation staff is developing a pilot program that targets summer school participants. The program will offer recreational activities and games for students after school lets out. The program will be offered once a week throughout the summer school session. 61 City Administrator Report Page 4 IV. Responses to Council /Citizen Inquiries • 4e Ave S/ S 119Th St and Green River Trail intersection: Due to recent concerns about pedestrian, bicycle, and automobile conflicts at this trail intersection, Parks, Police and Public Works met and agreed to safety improvements that can be made now, and potential code changes and further physical improvements that could be accomplished in the future. The existing crosswalk marking is acceptable as a traffic marking because it provides visual advance warning to vehicles. To improve sight distance, shrubs and vegetation will be trimmed. Trail improvements and trail enforcement codes will be researched and revised in the future. To decrease conflicts with the cars stopping and blocking the trail, Public Works will move the stop sign and stop baron 40th Ave S so as not to block the trail. • Overnight Activity at Local Parks: In response to several concerns of illegal activity at local parks in the evenings including 18- Wheelers parking overnight near Crestview Park and , drug activity at Cascade View Park, the Tukwila Police Department's bike and anti -crime teams are actively working on the prostitution and drug issues in these areas. The issues of signs will be explored and follow -ups will be made with Des Moines Police Department. • Seasons Apartments — Debris: There had been concern expressed regarding an excessive amount of debris at the Seasons Apartments. As of June 11, the debris had been removed. Code Enforcement will also be following up with management to provide adequate garbage bins on the back of the property. 62