HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-09-14 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Study Session Minutes—September 14, 2015
At 6:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the advertised special meeting of the Anacortes City Council of
September 14, 2015 to order. Roll call found present City Councilmembers Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett,
Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller. Councilmember Eric Johnson was absent.
Westminster Presbyterian Street Fair Application (9/19/15)
Planning Director Don Measamer presented a Street Fair Application from Westminster Presbyterian
Church for the Foster Families event on September 19, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and an
associated closure of the alley between 8th and 9th Streets off M Avenue. He advised that staff had no
objections to the application and that the neighbors had been notified and expressed no objections. Ms.
Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to approve the Westminster Presbyterian Street Fair
Application. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald and Miller. Motion carried.
There being no further business, at approximately 6:03 p.m. the advertised special meeting of the
Anacortes City Council for September 14, 2015 adjourned.
At 6:03 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the Anacortes City Council study session of September 14, 2015 to
order. Roll call found present City Councilmembers Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett,
John Archibald and Matt Miller. Councilmember Eric Johnson was absent.
Mayor Gere announced that the City Council packets for the September 21, 2015 meeting would be
published on September 17, 2015 rather than September 16, 2015.
Windstorm Update & PSE Response
Planning Director Don Measamer welcomed PSE Governmental Affairs Representative Lynn Murphy to
report on PSE's response to the August 29, 2015 storm event. Ms. Murphy provided an overview of PSE's
service areas. She described the sustained hurricane gusts that occurred during the storm, the unusually
widespread geographic extent of the storm, the unusually extensive damage to power infrastructure and to
drought-stressed trees, and PSE's emergency response sequence including response crews called in from
Canada. Ms. Murphy said this was the third largest storm in the past ten years. She said vegetation
management mitigation efforts being investigated surrounding the substation where a downed tree
knocked out power in Anacortes during the storm. Ms. Murphy reminded the public to call in all outages to
1-888-225-5773.
Ms. Pickett suggested that PSE coordinate with the Anacortes Police Department to use Nixle to
communicate with customers during power outages. Mr. Miller asked about the timeliness of power outage
postings on the PSE website. Mayor Gere asked about the timing of deployment of domestic and foreign
repair crews. Ms. Murphy indicated that she would add Anacortes elected officials to her email notification
list for future storm events.
Donations Ordinance
Assistant City Attorney Darcy Swetnam introduced a draft ordinance that would add a new Chapter 3.10 to
the Anacortes Municipal Code to address acceptance of donations, including both donations of money and
personal property and transfers of interest in real property, and differentiating between restricted and
unrestricted donations. She reviewed RCW 35.21.100 and 35A.11.040 which govern municipal donations.
Ms. Swetnam summarized sections of the AMC which currently address specific donations but observed
that there are no general provisions in the code for acceptance of donations. She then described the new
regulations proposed in the draft ordinance which would delegate to the mayor Council's authority to
accept donations under specified limits except for transfers of real estate interests.
Mr. Walters invited former councilmember Cynthia Richardson to address the evolution of the proposed
code. Ms. Richardson, 315 V Avenue, described a number of factors to be considered before accepting
donations including risk management and ongoing expense and indicated the proposed code would
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provide a process for addressing those. She expressed satisfaction with the proposed code as drafted and
encouraged Council to adopt the ordinance.
Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on the proposed code. No one present wished
to address Council. Mayor Gere indicated the ordinance would come back to Council for action at a future
regular meeting.
Retail Water Rate Continued Discussion
Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer opened continued discussion of proposed retail water rate
revisions and associated changes to the Anacortes Municipal Code. He thanked Ms. Swetnam and Senior
Accountant Philip Steffen for their efforts drafting the code changes. Mr. Buckenmeyer recapped the
discussion of retail water rates and the consultant's recommendations from the August 24, 2015 study
session. He presented slides showing the projected cost increase for a typical single family home over the
next six years under two different rate scenarios and comparing those costs to the generally higher rates in
surrounding communities. He then summarized the differences in net borrowing and debt service costs for
projected capital projects under the two scenarios. Mr. Buckenmeyer confirmed that both staff and
consultant FCS Group recommended adopting rate Scenario B which front loads the rate increases over
the 6-year period. He emphasized that Scenario B would save the city approximately$4M of debt and
would still provide very competitive water rates compared to other regional and statewide providers. Mr.
Buckenmeyer reiterated the consultant and staff recommendation against adopting a tiered rate structure.
Ms. Lovelett asked for some assurance that staff would be able to achieve the projected capital
improvements if Council were to raise rates sufficiently to provide the required additional funding. Mr.
Buckenmeyer advised that staff deployment is directly affected by the level of private development
underway and that management would adjust staffing accordingly. Mayor Gere assured Council that she
and Mr. Buckenmeyer were confident that staff would be able to meet citizen expectations. Mr. Walters
asked how and when the city would adopt water efficiency goals which are required by the state every six
years. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that a public meeting on that subject was already scheduled for later in
the fall. Mr. Walters suggested that water rates are the most important way to incentivize water
conservation. He endorsed the proposed code change that strikes rates from the code and urged adjusting
rates annually as part of the budget process.
Mr. Adams requested a comprehensive summary of rate increases recently enacted and planned for the
near future to fund infrastructure improvements.
Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that staff were applying for a state loan to fund rehabilitation of the 3MG water
tank and urged having a new retail water rate structure in place to ensure the city could accept that loan if
the application were successful.
Mayor Gere asked Council for some direction to staff to proceed with enacting rate revisions. Mr. Walters
suggested adopting revenue targets, adopting an inclining fee schedule, specifying the components of the
water rate on retail water bills, and adopting financial policies to revise rates each year in relation to the
revenue targets. Several councilmembers supported adopting a revenue target, implementing new rates
per Scenario B, and planning to adjust rates periodically in the future in relation to the revenue target.
Simple Gesture Food Sharing Program Presentation
Sue Monaghan and Kristin Rogers introduced the Simple Gesture year-round food collection program
operated in conjunction with the Salvation Army. Participants are asked to purchase non-perishable food
items and hygiene products, place them in the red bag provided by the program, and leave the bag on the
porch once every two months where volunteers will collect it and deliver it to the food bank. Ms. Monahan
invited those interested to sign up by postcard or via email. Ms. Rogers explained that the program,
successfully implemented in other communities, helps provide critically needed donations outside the
holiday season.
There being no further business, at approximately 7:18 p.m. the Anacortes City Council study session of
September 14, 2015 adjourned.
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