Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-20 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—April 20, 2015 At 7:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of April 20, 2015 to order. Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller were present. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Citizen Hearings Steve Jahn, 4501 Fidalgo Bay Road, speaking on behalf of the Anacortes Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Skagit Bicycle Club, and the Active Community Task Force, thanked the City for its support in making the community a better place for non-motorized activity. Mr. Jahn cited the first annual Open Streets event in September 2014 and the sequel scheduled for September 2015. Mayor/Council Communication and Committee Reports Proclamation of Alcohol Awareness Month: Mayor Gere read a statement joining the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. in proclaiming April 2015 to be Alcohol Awareness Month in Anacortes. She called upon the community to support efforts to provide early education about alcoholism and addiction and increase support for individuals and families coping with alcoholism. Appointment of Carolyn Moulton to Forest Advisory Board: Mayor Gere requested Council confirmation of her appointment of Carolyn Moulton to fill a vacant position on the Anacortes Forest Advisory Board which will expire November 2020. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to approve the appointment of Carolyn Moulton to the Forest Advisory Board. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Johnson. Motion carried. Ms. Pickett observed that April is Poetry Month and shared Robert Sund's poem entitled "Snee-oosh." Mr. Walters reported that he, Mr. Miller and Mayor Gere had attended the EDASC schmooze fest and suggested that the City should participate in this event in the future to promote Anacortes as a place to do business. Mr. Walters reported from the Public Works Committee which met earlier in the evening. He announced that the grand opening of the Guemes Channel Trail had been scheduled for May 9 and reminded the public not to access the trail from the unpaved eastern end. He advised that a solid waste rate ordinance would be coming before Council soon and that recycling service was expected to switch over to Waste Management on July 1. He reported that staff was evaluating sidewalk trip hazards and considering alternative means of addressing some of those in the downtown area. He said the proposed water rate changes had been presented to all of the regional customers and that contract negotiations were getting underway while the consultant moved on to studying retail rate adjustments. Ms. Lovelett announced that she was organizing a round table dealing with safety of oil by rail regionally. She reported that Congressman Rick Larsen would attend along with representatives from the refineries, BNSF, DOE and emergency management personnel in the City Council chambers from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6. Mr. Archibald reported from the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee which met the prior week and discussed how to promote the program more widely, possible shoulder season activities, and generally building more momentum for the program. He announced that the City was accepting applications for two open seats on the committee. Consent Agenda Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to approve the following Consent Agenda items. Vote: Ayes— Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Motion carried. Anacortes City Council Minutes April 20, 2015 1 Approval of Vouchers/Cancellation of Checks Council voted unanimously that the following vouchers/checks audited and certified by the City's Auditing Officer(Finance Director) and subsequently reviewed and approved by the Council Finance Committee on April 8, 2015 and April 15, 2015 are approved for payment as of April 20, 2015. Claims Check Numbers 75880 through 76060 in the total amount of$772,071.14 EFT Number 75879 in the total amount of$105.30 Pre-Written Claims Check Number 75878 in the total amount of$3,629.13 Payroll for April 20, 2015 in the total amount of$885,133.18 Check Numbers 40393 through 40418 in the total amount of$24,065.47 Direct Deposit Numbers from 58399 through 58607 in the total amount of$616,657.56 EFT Numbers from 1795 through 1802 in the total amount of$244,410.15 Cancelled Checks Check Number 75861 in the total amount of$225.31 In the same motion Council: approved the minutes of April 6, 2015, April 8, 2015 and April 13, 2015 as if read, and accepted as complete the Block 5 - Bowman Ship Harbor Addition Storm Project(11-038-STM). NEW BUSINESS Contract Award: Municipal Fiber Optic Broadband Network Feasibility Study Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer recalled that two prior City Council study sessions had addressed the benefits of a municipally owned fiber-based broadband network. He advised that staff had subsequently issued an RFP for a feasibility study and that a committee evaluated the one proposal received from SpectraNet, then devised a revised scope of work intended to aid Council to evaluate the options. Mr. Buckenmeyer said the study would address three components of a broadband system: a connection from the Water Treatment Plant to the 1-5 backbone, a ring from the WTP into the City limits, and then how to distribute within the city limits. Mr. Buckenmeyer recommended entering into a Phase 1 contract with SpectraNet to perform a feasibility study of a municipal fiber optic broadband network for a not-to-exceed cost of$60,000. Mr. Buckenmeyer introduced Jeff Adams and Victor Gonzalez of SpectraNet who were available to answer questions. Mr. Adams and Mr. Gonzalez elaborated on the topics to be addressed by the feasibility study. Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on this topic. Wayne Huseby, 3318 W 2nd Street, and Bruce McDougall, 4404 Orchard Avenue, both members along with Pam Allen of the ad hoc broad band task force, expressed reservations about the SpectraNet proposal. Mr. McDougall said SpectraNet was strong in engineering design but not as strong at the community needs and business option analyses. Mr. Huseby cautioned that SpectraNet is a small company without experience working with municipalities. He also suggested the City should determine why it only received one response to its RFP and observed it is difficult to evaluate pricing when only one proposal is received. Ms. Pickett wondered if Anacortes could use Mount Vernon's experience with broadband to quickly establish a rough cost estimate. Mr. McDougall suggested that the geographical differences and changes in hardware costs since Mount Vernon installed its fiber would make for a very rough estimate. Mr. Archibald observed that fiber is already available in Anacortes and asked what sort of demand had been expressed for more or different broadband service. He wondered why the current service provider would not just expand to meet demand. Mr. Huseby agreed that the community needs analysis should address exactly those questions. He suggested that though fiber is available in Anacortes it may not be Anacortes City Council Minutes April 20, 2015 2 sufficiently robust for some businesses. Planning and Economic Development Director Don Measamer said his office does get inquiries from existing and prospective businesses. Jeff Adams said some jurisdictions are able to save money over time by not having to pay private carriers for broadband service. Mr. Archibald asked what the City pays for broadband service. Finance Director Steve Hoglund said that most City buildings receive fiber service at no charge as part of the City's negotiated agreement with Wave but that the City does pay a subscription fee for the Water Treatment Plant's connection in Mount Vernon. Mr. McDougall noted that since there is only one fiber optic service provider in Anacortes there is no price competition. Mr. Miller said he was not ready to spend $60K of taxpayer money on a feasibility study when there were still questions that the volunteers on the ad hoc committee and staff could investigate at no cost to the City. He noted that NAS Whidbey has and requires a redundant fiber loop to support air traffic control but wondered how many private businesses really demand that level of reliability. Mr. Johnson said he had looked at other consultants in the industry and remarked that Fort Morgan, Colorado (population 11,000)got nine bids and eventually paid $40K for a feasibility study. He said he'd like to have had more bids and asked specifically why Magellan Advisers didn't bid. Mr. Johnson listed financial information he would like to form part of the deliverables of a feasibility study. He observed that many other cities he researched found that their private sector fiber service providers were not interested in expanding until it was in the corporate best interest to do so. Mayor Gere reminded that Council began the discussion of a municipal fiber optic broadband network for exactly that reason, to ensure that looking out twenty years Anacortes would be able to draw and sustain businesses which more and more depend on fast, reliable, affordable internet access. Mr. Walters supported making fiber available and inexpensive in Anacortes, acknowledging that businesses will locate in Mount Vernon or Burlington rather than Anacortes because of their fiber network. He requested a brief comprehensive memo that identifies the problem Council is trying to solve, including achieving redundancy but only possibly including residential access. Mr. Walters also requested native electronic copy of SpectraNet's response to the RFP and the RFP itself, as well as a glossary of the terms and acronyms used in the RFP response. Mr. Walters inquired how the $60K contract would be funded, whether from utility funds or the general fund. Ms. Pickett asked why fiber was considered more reliable than radio. Mr. McDougall explained that radio transmission does not connect to all desired destinations. Jeff Adams elaborated on how SpectraNet's proposal was designed to answer the types of questions councilmembers were posing. He projected that in ten years bandwidth demand will be 1000 times what it currently is and that Anacortes wants to lead, not follow, that trend. Mr. Adams and Mr. Gonzalez both described their extensive experience in the broadband industry. In response to a question from Mr. Johnson, Jeff Adams said that the revised scope of work for the study did not include cost analysis because establishing the backbone to Seattle was deemed more important and SpectraNet wanted to be able to complete the feasibility study in two months. Mr. Miller again asked if staff had ever called Wave and ask how much it would charge to build an infrastructure Anacortes would own. Mr. Measamer said one business recently told him that it would have cost them over$30K to get fiber access from their existing downtown location to 30th Street. He said that the City and Island Hospital currently have fiber but not redundant fiber and that start up companies need more affordable and absolutely reliable internet access. Mayor Gere advised that she and staff had talked with one broadband provider who said their business model was project specific at this point and they would only extend fiber to fill an individual client's demand. The mayor said Anacortes needs to decide if it wants to look at fiber as a utility for the community and to be on the leading edge of bringing economic opportunities to Fidalgo Island. She noted that other successful cities nationwide are stepping up because private companies aren't interested in extending fiber community-wide. Anacortes City Council Minutes April 20, 2015 3 Mr. Archibald agreed that fiber optic is an economic stimulus but said that proceeding with the feasibility study as currently proposed could be putting the cart before the horse given the 2016 Comp Plan update and other discussions still underway. He said it would do great things for Anacortes but it's the wrong time. Ms. Pickett asked to see a report prepared for some other entity to see if it was presented in terms that would help her to make a decision. Jeff Adams and Bruce McDougall discussed with councilmembers why current private service providers will not be the answer. Mr. Walters said that not much more was needed to move forward and pointed out that the City doesn't have many tools to attract businesses other than good infrastructure such as roads and fiber broadband; he said fiber might be funded by a mechanism like a latecomers agreement. He requested a study session on the topic and asked if the scope of work could still be changed. Mayor said staff could also bring forward funding options. She tabled the matter pending a study session in the near future. First Quarter Finance Update Finance Director Steve Hoglund provided an update of the City's financial position through March. He summarized General Fund revenues by type, noting strong building permit revenue year to date compared to budget. He observed that even without first half property tax overall General Fund revenues were at 23% of budget at 25% through the year. Mr. Hoglund next reviewed General Fund expenditures and explained the line items that accrue disproportionately at different points in the calendar year. He then summarized sales tax revenue which was up compared to prior year and real estate excise tax which was already at 36% of budget. Mr. Hoglund concluded with a review of first quarter revenues and expenditures in the other funds, again noting that first half property tax payments had not yet been received. When discussing Ambulance Service Fund 110, Mr. Hoglund alerted Council that roughly$160K of firefighter/EMT holiday pay had been inadvertently omitted from the 2015 budget but that the amount was not included in the budget amendment to be addressed later in the evening because Fund 110 revenues were trending higher than budgeted and by year end might cover some or all of that required expenditure. Ordinance 2946: 2015 Budget Amendment Mr. Hoglund presented an ordinance amending the 2015 budget. He reviewed each line item and explained its rationale as outlined in the text of the ordinance. Mr. Walters asked how the price of the Council Chambers remodel had increased to $115K when Council had only approved an $80K contract. Mr. Hoglund and Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer explained a number of changes to the original scope of work including additional cameras, monitors, partition modifications and carpeting. Mr. Buckenmeyer said the two modifications were issued under Mayor's $30K contract authority. Mr. Walters disagreed that mayoral contract authority included modifications to an existing contract that was over$30K and protested that Council was never provided the scope of work for the original contract when that was presented for approval. He argued that the increase should come out of departmental budgets, not reserves. Mayor Gere explained that during the course of the three-week construction window she made the decision that the partition wall needed to come down and the carpeting needed to complete the room in order to make sure the project was done correctly the first time but said she understood Mr. Walters's concerns. Ms. Lovelett requested a taller microphone at the podium. Mr. Miller agreed with Mr. Walters's points and asked if the contract would come before Council to accept as complete. Mr. Hoglund said yes. Mr. Walters reiterated his longstanding request that contract documents be presented to Council at the time contract authority is requested. City Attorney Brad Furlong reported that Resolution 1591 adopted March 4, 2002 increased the mayor's authority for public works contracts to $30K. He suggested revising the resolution to provide a threshold for the mayor to approve modifications to public works contracts so that they can be approved timely and cost effectively during projects, possibly requiring ratification at the next City Council meeting. Mr. Furlong offered to draft such a resolution if requested to do so. Mr. Johnson said the Council Finance Committee would discuss that option. Councilmembers discussed the$15,000 proposed budget amendment to paint the Council Chambers. Mr. Hoglund explained that was to cover the lower of two bids staff received to paint the Chambers but it Anacortes City Council Minutes April 20, 2015 4 could be removed from the ordinance if Council wished. Mr. Johnson suggested removing the $15K for painting until third quarter when the revenue picture was clearer. Ms. Lovelett asked if most of the Council would agree painting was need in the Council chambers. Mr. Walters suggested a color other than yellow. Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on the proposed budget amendment. No one present wished to address Council. Ms. Pickett moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to adopt Ordinance 2946 amending the 2015 budget. Vote: Ayes—Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters and Pickett. Motion carried. Electronic Device Policy Mr. Hoglund explained that the proposed document moved the cell phone policy out of the Personnel Policies into the Computer and Information Technology Policies. He pointed out a change to the cell phone policy which used to require employees to pay ten cents per minute for personal calls made on City cell phones. Mr. Hoglund said that because the City cell phone plans no longer charge by the minute there is no additional cost to the City for de minimis personnel calls though supervisors and staff will still monitor cell phone invoices to make sure the privilege is not being abused. Mayor Gere said the staff culture is clearly that City phones are not used for personal calls. Mr. Miller requested that documents be presented to Council with modifications clearly indicating additions and strike outs. Mr. Walters asked how many City employees have cell phones. Mr. Hoglund said most of them do. Mr. Adams asked if the City could save money by reducing its data allotment on the cell phone plan but Mr. Hoglund said the plan is already at the minimum. Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on this topic. No one present wished to address Council. Mr. Adams moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to approve the updated Electronic Device Policy. Vote: Ayes—Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett and Adams. Motion carried. There being no further business, at approximately 9:05 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of April 20, 2015 was adjourned. Anacortes City Council Minutes April 20, 2015 5