HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-12-01 Special Minutes - Verbatim Citizen Comment CTTY OF TUKWt'LA
OFFtCE OF THE CITY CLERK
6200 SOUTHCENTER BOULEVARD
TUKWILA, WA 98188
206.433.1800
C~T~ZEN COMIViENT ) Verbatim Transcript of Proceedings
)
) City Council Regular IVleeting
provided by ) December 1, 2003
)
Bill Toon ~ Agenda Ttem 3
Let it be remembered that the following c~rJZEN CONNENT was received by the City Council for
the City of Tukwila, on Monday, December 1, 2003, at 7:00 p.m., Council Chambers, City Hall, 6200
Southcenter Boulevard, Tukwila, Washington.
1, Robert H. Baker, am a Certified IViunicipal Clerk, serving in the capacity of Deputy City Clerk for
the City of Tukwila. ! affirm that ! prepared the attached transcript of proceedings and further affirm it
to be complete, exact and true, to the best of my abilities, based upon transcription from audio
recordings made at December 1, 2003 City Council Regular meeting.
DATED this ~'f~ day of ~, 2003.
Robert H. Baker, CMC,
Deputy City Clerk
City of Tukwila
Office of the City Clerk
6200 Southcenter Boulevard
Tukwila, WA 98188
206.433.1800
1
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3 cT'rY OF TUKW[LA
4 OFF[CE OF THE CTi"Y CLERK
6 index to Verbatim Transcript of Proceedings
.7 City Council Regular Fleeting - December 1, 2003
8 Agenda Item 3 - Citizen Comment/Correspondence
of
9 Bill Toon
z0 SPEAKER'S NAME PAGE(S)
(in speaking order)
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12 S'f~'VEN M. MULLET MAYOR 3 4 5 6 8
13 BILL TOON COMMUNITY MEMBER 3 4 5 6 7 8
14 SHELLEY KERSLAKE CiTY AI'FORNE'f 4 8
15 JIM HAGGERTON CiTY COUNCILMEMBER 4 7 8
16 lOAN HERNANDEZ CITY COUNCILMEMBER 5 7
1 '7 RHONDA BERRY ACTING CTrY ADMINISTRATOR
18 PAMELA LINDER CiTY COUNCILr,IEMBER S 6 7
]. 9 DAVID FENTON Ct'TY COUNCILMEMBER 7
20 IIIII END IIIII OF IIIII ]NDEX IIIII
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Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
Page 2 of 8
1 MAYOR MULLET: Next item up is Citizens' Comment. At this time you are invited to comment on items not
2 included on the agenda. Anybody wish to comment on any items, that's your turn.
3 BILL ?CON: Uh, hello. Ny name is 8ill Toon. ! live at :!.3360 56~ Avenue South, Tukwila, 98178. And,
~, on March 3 of 2003, the Council was advised by me, on behalf of Hr. Codiga, that the City
5 had not paid Hr. Codiga for the top soil and the beauty bark that was left at the barn site,
6 where the fish habitat project is currently being constructed by the Army Corp of
? Engineers. On 14arch 10 of 2003, a meeting was requested by the City. As a result of that
8 meeting the C[b/sent their own engineer, Mike Cusick, to inventory the amount of topsoil
9 and beauty bark. And, the agreed amount was forty four hundred cubic yards. This was
10 done on March 13 of 2003 and was also done in the spring of 2001, with the same amount
1 1 calculated by the City's engineer. The City still has not paid any money to Mr. Codiga. We
12 have tried to collect the money which is $26,400.00, plus tax and interest; however, the
13 City continues to avoid the issue, even though they have taken possession of the forty four
1,~ hundred cubic yards of material. Our attempt to receive the City's file on this issue, under
15 the public disclosure laws, were thwarted by the Public Works Department. And, no reason
1 6 was given why it took over six weeks to receive the file. Seven days is granted by law.
17 Mr. Codiga's attorney has wdtten a letter, dated October 3, 2003, re, requesting resolution
18 of this issue by October 15, 2003. And, still the City has not responded yae or nae. Even
1 9 though the City has changed attorneys, there has not been any explanation given to not
2 0 pay for the material. He, nor any other person should have to wait over t~o years to get
2 1 paid. We are requesting that the Council take action to pay Mr. Codiga for the topsoil and
2 2 beauty bark that the City has taken from him by the ninth of December, 2003; and for the
2 3 Council to reprimand the Public Works Department for its failure to act responsibly in this
2 zJ matter. For your convenience, we have prepared an invoice and a copy of the letter from
2 5 Nr. Codiga's attorney dated October 3, 2003. We feel that the Public Works Department
Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
Page 3 of 8
1 has only tried to cover up one mistake by another in hopes of clouding the issue. We are
2 tn/lng to avoid a lawsuit by resolving this overdue account, yet the City seems bent on not
3 communicaUng in a timely manner. It has been almost nine months since we brought this
4 issue to your attention and now we want you to know that regardless of what anyone else
5 has told you, this matter has not concluded and the interests of the taxpayers of this City
6 are at risk should this end up in court. The people responsible for this delay should be
7 called to the carpet to explain their in-action. And, if any of those people are here tonight,
8 we welcome their response. Mr. Codiga's attorney could not be here tonight, but before I
9 leave this podium, Mr. Codiga and myself would like a verbal acknowledgement from the
1 0 Council indicating your willingness to help resolve this matter. We welcome any comments
11 or queslJons you may have at this time and are willing to wait for further discussion; but
12 time is of the essence and we have set a deadline for payment on December 9, 2003. We
13 ask for your response.
14 MAYOR MULLET: Shelley, would you have anything to say on this since there are lawyers involved with the
15 process?
~ 6 SHELLEY KERSLAKE: ! would. ! have been in contact with, uh, Mr. Codiga's attorney. We've had several
l? discussions and the amount is in dispute which is why it has, you know, been held up.
18 Um, there are legal issues, um, involving the formation of the contract that, urn, Mr.
19 Codiga is disputing. Um, and, I left voice mail with Hr. Codiga's attorney this morning
20 indicating, uh, that he would hear from me by Wednesday, as to our position.
21 MAYOR MULLET: Does Council need any further information on that?
22 .IIM HAGGERTON: I have a question. Shelley, you say you left a message this morning. What prompted
2 3 you to get involved this morning?
24 SHELLEY KERSLAKE: Well, we've been, we've been leaving phone messages back and forth.
2 $ 3ZM HAGGERTON: Oh you have?
Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1,2003
Page 4 of 8
1 HELLEY KER~LAKE: Yeah, and I told him I would get back to him as soon as I could, uh, uh, get in contact with
2 the proper Public Works staff. So, I just wanted to let him know we were making progress
3 on that.
4 IAYOR MULLEI': Well, whatever else they might say, they've not been ignored on this. There's been
5 discussions back and forth with many different reiterations on what's going on. It's just
6 moving through the process slowly.
? 3OAN HERNANDEZ: Well I recall several months ago, when I was reviewing vouchers, there was a very large
8 Check. Was that for some other issue, or some other?
9 I~IAYOR I~IULLEr: That was for delivery charges on some of this bark, not for the bark itself, r,,lr. Codiga had
1 0 actually delivered some of this bark to our Parks and Recreation and other stuff, and, we
~_ 1 allowed him to bill for that delivery function, so he'd get something, ya know, back for that.
J_ 2 But, we did not include the cost of the bark in that. That's why ! said it was not for the
13 Bark, but the legal issue is over the value of the bark.
I zj .lOAN HERNANDEZ: Because I just recall seeing a tonnage there, on that invoice, that led me to believe that
1.5 there was some bark involved. But without seeing it, I can't really recall.
16 RHONDA BERRY: That was for the amount that was delivered. (inaudible) so we did pay the delivery
]. ? charges for that at least.
18 PAI~IELA L]~NDER: (inaudible) so that I have it clearer in my own mind, um, as it transpires, maybe you could
19 give us a timeline so that we would know that contact has been made all along and a
2 0 general overview thus far. And, when you do come to a decision on whatever you decide
21 on Wednesday, keep us apprized of that also.
2 2 BZLL TOON: We have supplied the City and their attorneys with all sorts of documentation and nine
2 3 months has [sic] gone by since we were here last time and very little, if anything, has
2 zj happened. Uh, we appreciate the fact that the Qty has changed attorneys and we've
2 5 allowed the attorney, uh, more Ume because of that to respond, and she has responded,
Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
Page 5 of 8
i but we cannot get a yae or a nae, or which direction are we going, and it's been over t~o
2 years since, uh, this transaction originally, uh, was created. And, it's costing the taxpayers
3 nothing but more money. Uh, and if we go to court, if we, if we have to go to court, which
4 we definitely want to avoid that avenue, it's going to end up costing the taxpayers even
5 more money. And, so, we're not only here to collect our money, but we're here to save
6 the taxpayers the burden of, uh, going to court. But if, if, that's what we have to do, we're
? totally capable of doing that.
8 MAYOR MULLET: Alright. ! appreciate Mr. Toon's, uh, comments as to their side of the story, but this is a
9 long and convoluted story and some of you have, do remember back to when it started
10 and some of you may not. I'm not sure it's something we should be discussing since there
11 is a potential lawsuit involved. Uh, we can get you a confidential F. Y. I. On the whole
12 story, just as soon as we can wdte it down, but it is much more complicated that Bill is
13 now stating and it's had, had several reiterations going back and forth that all add to this
14 complicaUon. So, ! don't know what the outcome will be on Wednesday, uh, but ! don't
]. 5 think it's appropriate to discuss it any further.
]. 6 BILL TOON: O.K., but we would still like to know if the Coundl~ uh, will help us resolve this matter and
17 !'m not sure that's proper for us to ask the Council, but, we need your help. And, like
18 we're of the opinion that's kind of why you're here in the first piaco, to help people, citizens
19 of this City who have disputes with the City, to help resolve those disputes. And, we just
20 want to know if, if the Council will look into this. And, we just need, for tonight, are just
21 looking for a yes or a no.
22 PAMELA LtNDER: ! think all the Council would love to have this resolved. And, and, what we've asked for is
23 tell us where we are so that we can take appropriate action. And, it sounded to me like
24 you would hear something on Wednesday, but I know all of us would like to do that and
25 we will do what we can to see that it's taken care of properly. !'m sure that's true.
Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
Page 6 of 8
1 .lOAN HERNANDEZ: Well, I would just like to say that we need more informaUon, ya know, we don't have all
2 the information that we need to be able to give you an answer now.
3 BILL TOON: We can, uh, uh, I will supply you, uh, with uh, the letter that our attorney recently wrote.
4 3OAN HERNANDEZ: You know, I really wanna thank you for providing all the information that you did give us
5 this evening and ! think that we do have a draft letter here, urn, that was sent to uh,
6 Robert Noe.
'7 DAVE FENTON: Sorry. I'm sorry. We don't have anything.
8 3OAN HERNANDEZ: I'm sorry. ! was just given this and ! just assumed that all of you were given the same
9 thing.
10 PAMELA LZNDER: Well, we don't have anything.
11 BILL TOON: The, the only masan the rest of you don't have it is'cuz the copy machine [ was using
12 today broke down as soon as ! made about four copies and, and that's what constitutes
13 what ! gave Joan.
14 .lOAN HERNANDEZ: I tell you what, Nr. Toon, I'd like to return this to you and ask you to make copies for
15 everyone and you can leave copies for us here at City Hall. We all have a mail box so that
16 we can all have a copy of the same thing.
17 BILL TOON: O.K., I have a copy, uh, just like you have there, Joan, for the, uh, Clerk and would that be
18 sufficient?
19 3OAN HERNANDEZ: Sure. Yeah. Sure. That would be fine so that someone else has a copy, they can make
2 0 copies and I can get this to them, too.
21 DAVE FENTON: We'll get this taken care of.
2 2 .IIM HAGGERTON: Whether it's this case or any other case, ! hate to see anything like this drag on for this
2 3 long of a Ume period because it was a long time ago that we were talking about Codiga
24 Farms and the plans the City had to do certain things. Quite frankly, after a long time, !
25 thought that everything was all behind us and, and uh, we were all down the happy road,
Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
Page 7 of 8
1 uh, to what we were trying to accomplish, but if' attorneys are involved there's, there's
2 legitimate reasons why the Council can't get involved in giving opinions and advice and
3 stuff like that, but, uh, I think we need to pumue it as soon as we can because we can't let
4 things like this drag on this far. It needs to come to some kind of fruition.
5 BILL TOON: O.K. and that's why we're bringing it to your attention once again.
6 MAYOR MULLET: Thank you, Bill.
7 BILL TOON: Thank you.
8 MAYOR MULLET: Alright. Is there anybody else that would like to make some citizens' comments at this
9 time...
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Verbatim Transcript - Citizen Comment - Bill Toon - December 1, 2003
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