Councilmember excused: Mary Jane Goss
Staff present: David R. Hutchinson, Mayor; Karen Haines, City Administrator; Rosemary Larson, Assistant City Attorney; John Hawley, Finance Director; Dennis Peterson, Police Chief; Sarah Phillips, Government & Community Relations Manager; Jennifer Kuczenski, Computer Services; Susan Stine, City Clerk
Others present: One visitor
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Hutchinson called the meeting to order at 7:31 p.m.
FLAG SALUTE
Cmbr. Armanini led council in the pledge of allegiance.
MAYOR’S REPORT
Hutchinson reported on the selection process for the King County citizen advisory group for the Burke Gilman Trail redevelopment, the proposal for a streamlined sales tax, YMCA news and a meeting with Bothell Way Northeast businesses. Hutchinson provided information regarding a recent tree cutting by King County near the Burke Gilman Trail. Hutchinson reported that a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Starbucks is scheduled for November 13 at 1 p.m.
Councilmembers complimented the traffic flow design for the Starbucks drive-through, and Haines noted the city engineer’s role in the process.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Armanini requested that Consent Calendar Item 6, Resolution 875/Adopting Legislative Agenda Presented to State Legislators, be placed on the second reading calendar.
Armanini requested that the consent calendar include excusing the absence of Cmbr. Goss from tonight’s meetings and the absence of Cmbr. Herzog from tonight’s study session meeting.
Cmbr. Thompson requested the addition of discussion of the citizen advisory group selection process.
Cmbr. Sterner moved adoption of the agenda as amended. Cmbr. Olstad seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Citizen Advisory Group Selection Process
In response to a question from Thompson, Hutchinson confirmed that the citizen advisory group members were selected and appointed by King County.
Cmbrs. Thompson and Armanini expressed concern regarding the number of cyclists appointed to the advisory group, and Thompson also expressed concern regarding the appointment of a master gardener and environmentalist and reminded the mayor that King County is responsible for the selection process.
Following further comments regarding the selection process, City Administrator Haines said that all applications received by the city were submitted to King County for the selection process. Copies of the complete set of applications were provided to Cmbr. Thompson for review.
FINAL CONFIRMATION CALENDAR
Edward McCormack, Transportation Commission, Position 9,
term ending 3/31/06
Thomas J. Killorin, Economic Development Commission,
Position 1, term ending 3/31/07
Thompson moved to confirm the appointments to city commissions as follows:
Edward McCormack, Transportation Commission, Position 9,
term ending 3/31/06
Thomas J. Killorin, Economic Development Commission,
Position 1, term ending 3/31/07
Armanini seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Thompson moved to approve the consent calendar as amended as follows:
Olstad seconded.
Armanini moved to amend the October 21, 2004 special meeting minutes as follows:
Page 2, line 26: "…per precinct had
not been reduced although approximately one-half of the votes are cast by absentee ballot currentlybeen allowed to be reduced and the authority to do so had been placed at the County level.Armanini said that she is in favor of revising the requirements for election judges and inspectors so that a poll worker could handle several precincts."
Sterner seconded. The motion to amend carried unanimously.
The motion to approve the consent calendar as amended carried unanimously.
FIRST READING
Ordinance 917/Adopting Model Ordinance for Business and
Occupation Administrative Rules
Ordinance 918/Adopting Model Ordinance for Business and
Occupation License Tax
Finance Director Hawley discussed the proposed ordinances and noted that the process of developing the model ordinances has been underway for over four years. He said that the intention is to simplify the process for small businesses by creating a standard for all cities to follow. Hawley said that the ordinances must be adopted by December 31, 2004 in order for cities to continue to collect business and occupation taxes.
In response to a question from Kiest, Hawley said that the threshold for exemption had been raised to $5,000 for the quarterly revenue for businesses.
Ordinance 920/Adopting 2005 Budget
Hawley noted that the proposed ordinance is being provided to accompany the Mayor’s proposed 2005 budget.
Resolution 876/Increasing the City’s Drainage Assessment Fees
Hawley said that the increase to the city’s drainage assessment fees must be approved by council by the end of November. Following a brief discussion, Hawley noted that the public works budget presentation would include information regarding the proposed increase and could be scheduled for November 4. Thompson said that Resolution 876 should be placed on the November 4, 2004 second reading calendar.
SECOND READING CALENDAR
Resolution 872/Authorizing Mayor to Sign Contract with Stay Home Monitoring
Kiest moved approval of Resolution 872/Authorizing Mayor to Sign Contract with Stay Home Monitoring. Armanini seconded.
Kiest noted that he has talked with Chief Peterson who will amend the departmental policies to correspond with the policies in this agreement.
The motion to approve carried unanimously.
Ordinance 909/Amending LFPMC 18.52.48 Relating to Conditional Use Permit Requirements for Trails
Armanini moved to advance Ordinance 909/Amending LFPMC 18.52.48 Relating to Conditional Use Permit Requirements for Trails to the December 2, 2004 council special meeting agenda second reading calendar. Kiest seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
Resolution 875/Adopting Legislative Agenda Presented to State Legislators
Armanini moved to strike the following language from the 2005 legislative overview presented to the state legislators:
Page 3: "
(Armanini) Revise RCW 29A.44.410 Due to the increase in absentee voters, revise the requirements of the appointment of election judges and inspectors to allow for the consolidation of judges and inspectors so they can represent several precincts. In Washington state about ½ the population votes by absentee. The requirements for the number of poll workers per precinct were established when most of the voters went to the polls."
Kiest seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
Armanini said that she could not support the streamlined sales sourcing tax bill because of the inclusion of internet sales. She said that she does not view internet sales as similar to sales generated in actual "brick and mortar" stores and stated that this is just an expansion of a regressive tax system.
Cmbr. Sterner said that he supports the inclusion of the streamlined sales sourcing tax bill in the city’s legislative overview and noted that this should be viewed as a fundamental issue of fairness. He noted that the city’s infrastructure is used similarly in the delivery of products whether they are purchased in Seattle or on the internet.
Kiest discussed the original concept to recognize the purchaser’s location in commercial transactions and noted that the council has the job of damage control in response to recent initiatives.
Armanini moved to divide the question and to act on the issue of support for the streamlined sales sourcing tax bill separately.
Sterner seconded. The motion to divide the question carried unanimously.
Sterner moved to include the support for the streamlined sales sourcing tax bill in the city’s 2005 legislative overview. Kiest seconded. The motion carried 5-1 (Aye - Olstad, Kiest, Thompson, Herzog, Sterner; Nay - Armanini).
Following a brief discussion regarding individual councilmember concerns included in the city’s 2005 legislative overview, Sterner moved approval of the city’s 2005 legislative overview as presented on pages 1 and 2 of the document and to submit the third page containing individual councilmember concerns as amended as a courtesy. Olstad seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
Reports - Council
Paine Field – Cmbr. Kiest
Kiest reported that the idea of making Paine Field an international airport is resurrecting itself, and he discussed concerns raised when this idea was proposed in the early 1990s. He noted that the city council had adopted a policy at that time in opposition to the Paine Field expansion.
Thompson discussed the current flight patterns for SeaTac airport and reminded councilmembers that consideration must be given to the potential benefit to the region and quality of life for residents when taking a position regarding the proposed Paine Field expansion.
Herzog expressed his appreciation to Kiest for raising the issue for council discussion. He said that the council has not discussed when a policy adopted by a previous council should be reconsidered.
WRIA 8 – Cmbr. Olstad
Olstad reported on potential changes in funding for Water
Resources Inventory Area (WRIA 8) projects. He noted that WRIA 8 cities
committed to help pay to develop the salmon conservation plan, with the
expectation that the funding to implement the plan would come largely from the
federal government. Now, it looks like the cities will be expected to largely
fund the implementation of the plan, and at current or increased (by 50%)
levels of funding. WRIA 8 cities expect to discuss their concerns with the
Shared Strategy group n the near future. members hope to convince
the federal government to reinstate the shared strategy of funding support.
(Approved by council 11/4/04)
Armanini suggested that the city track such costs and inform Congressman Jay Inslee of the impact of such unfunded mandates.
FINAL ACTION CALENDAR
NEW BUSINESS
--Council Reports
Kiest discussed an article regarding traffic published in Government West and requested that copies be provided to councilmembers.
Burke Gilman Trail Citizen Advisory Group
Thompson noted that he had reviewed all of the applications that the city had received for membership on the Burke Gilman Trail Citizen Advisory Group. He noted that he now understood why the county selected the citizens that were named, and he said that it appeared from the applications that the best applicants were selected. Haines noted that five of those selected for membership are waterfront homeowners.
Zoning Issues
Sterner discussed a recent conversation with a citizen concerned about the impact of the zoning changes following annexation on his proposed addition to his residence. Sterner also reported that the citizen indicated that contractors he had interviewed had asked if he wanted the construction to be permitted. Councilmembers discussed the need to enforce the permit requirement.
Burke Gilman Trail Tree Cutting
Thompson discussed issues related to the recent tree cutting near the Burke Gilman Trail by the County.
New topics for discussion
Mayor’s Proposed 2005 Budget - Review of City Council, Executive, Legal Services, Finance and Municipal Services
Mayor Hutchinson provided a brief overview of the proposed 2005 budget and highlighted areas including capital program development, town center task force recommendations, solutions to support fiscal stability, maintenance worker bargaining unit negotiations, and coordination of emergency services.
Finance Director Hawley provided information regarding the timeline for the decision process on the drainage assessment fee increase and noted public hearing dates for the property tax levy and the 2005 budget. Armanini requested that the amount of additional revenue from the drainage assessment increase be identified and noted that the report on the sewer rate study is expected in early December.
Hawley reviewed proposed budget items including the METRO sewer rate increase, funds for town center task force recommendations, membership in the Emergency Services Coordinating Agency, the compensation plan update, and support for the proposed farmers’ market.
--Finance Department Proposed Budget
Hawley reviewed the finance department duties and accomplishments and discussed proposed changes including the request to change the information services technician to full-time and to make improvements in other areas. Hawley noted that Information Services Technician Jennifer Kuczenski is present to respond to any computer-related questions.
--City Council Proposed Budget
Hawley noted that no changes were proposed for the city council budget. Thompson discussed the possibility of councilmembers purchasing health care insurance through the city’s plan and annual review of council salaries.
--Executive Department Proposed Budget
Hawley reviewed proposed budget items including a compensation plan update, water services study, emergency response planning, implementation of town center task force recommendations, and sewer and capital program study development. Kiest requested more information regarding the proposal to re-join the Emergency Services Coordinating Agency.
Kiest also requested additional information regarding the proposal for implementation of the town center task force recommendations. Thompson said that funds should not be budgeted for this project prior to council authorization to move forward on the task force recommendations. Olstad said that the final report of the task force would be presented to the council in late November 2004.
--Legal Services Proposed Budget
Hawley noted that no changes in the legal services budget are proposed for 2005.
--Municipal Services Proposed Budget
City Clerk Stine presented information regarding the proposed 2005 departmental budget. She noted the inclusion of salaries and benefits for the two part-time passport agents and funds for advertising passport services.
Draft Letters to Sound Transit regarding subarea designation and commuter parking solutions
Following a brief discussion of various points included in the draft letters, Armanini moved that Cmbr. Herzog provide final approval for the letters to be sent to Sound Transit. Thompson seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no objection, the meeting was adjourned at 9:56 p.m.
Susan Stine, City Clerk
David R. Hutchinson, Mayor
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