HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-09-28 City Council Special Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—September 28, 2015
At 6:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the advertised special meeting of the Anacortes City Council of
September 28, 2015 to order. Roll call found present City Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters,
Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller.
Ms. Pickett invited members of the public to a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission
on Friday, October 2, 2015 to tour of a few of the marine trades businesses in the industrial park
beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Betts Marine on 34th Street and concluding about 4:45 p.m.
Contract Award: 2015 Asphalt Overlay Project
Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer requested Council authorization to award a contract for the 2015
Asphalt Overlay Project which forms the first phase of the D Avenue paving project, from 37th Street and D
Avenue south to the City Limits and 25th Street east of D Avenue. Mr. Buckenmeyer reported that one
bidder responded to the invitation to bid, Lakeside Industries, in the amount of$448,471.75, which was
slightly above Engineer's Estimate of approximately$421 K.
Councilmembers inquired about the inclusion of 25th Street in the contract and discussed the historical
practice of paving gravel roads through Local Improvement Districts. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that
Council could authorize the contract contingent on issuance of a deductive change order eliminating that
element of work from the contract; he estimated the value of the 25th Street portion of the work to be
approximately$25K. Councilmembers asked Mr. Buckenmeyer for an inventory of gravel streets remaining
in the city. Mr. Johnson suggested that paving 25th Street could be considered during the continuation of
the D Avenue paving project in 2016. Mr. Buckenmeyer concurred.
Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to accept the Lakeside contract but remove 25th Street east
of D Avenue from the scope of work.
Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to amend the motion to remove the deductive change for
the 25th Street work. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Archibald and Miller. Nays— Pickett, Adams, Lovelett and
Johnson. Motion failed.
Vote on original motion to accept the Lakeside contract but remove 25th Street east of D Avenue from the
scope of work:Ayes—Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Johnson and Walters. Nays—Archibald and Miller.
Motion carried.
Mr. Buckenmeyer requested clarification from Council what councilmembers wished to see in the Council
packet for contract awards. He explained that bid documents, typically voluminous, are posted on the
Builders Exchange website and are available to the public there. Ms. Lovelett said that the materials
included in the Council packet for the contract under discussion were good, including the Agenda Bill, the
contract signature sheet, the unit price worksheet, the non-collusion declaration, the contractor's signature
sheet and the payment and performance bond form. She felt councilmembers could investigate further on
Builders Exchange if desired. Mr. Walters largely agreed in the case of public works contracts but asked
that packets also include a map to show exactly where the work would take place. Mr. Miller concurred. Mr.
Walters said that for non-public works contracts he would like to see the entire contract in the Council
packet in order to meet his duty of care to review the contracts on which he was asked to take action.
Several councilmembers suggested that public works contracts so documented could be awarded on the
Consent Agenda but generally agreed that if councilmembers wished to remove a contract from the
Consent Agenda for discussion they should advise Mr. Buckenmeyer prior to the action meeting so staff
could be present to answer questions. Ms. Lovelett suggested possibly including a short special meeting or
just a Consent Agenda action item at the beginning of each study session to allow more timely action
between regular meetings. Mr. Walters agreed and suggested that Council define what routine items
qualify for inclusion on the Consent Agenda. Mr. Adams asked that a maximum contract threshold be
established for the Consent Agenda to ensure transparency and public awareness of large contract
awards.
Anacortes City Council Minutes September 28, 2015 1
Ordinance 2955: Amending AMC Title 6, Animals
Assistant City Attorney Darcy Swetnam continued the discussion from the September 21, 2015 City
Council meeting regarding updates to AMC Title 6, Animals. Ms. Swetnam recapped public participation on
this topic since the spring of 2014, including properly noticed City Council meetings on August 10, 2015
and September 21, 2015, and pointed out that adoption of the draft ordinance did not preclude further
revisions to the code. Ms. Swetnam presented a slide summarizing the revisions made to the draft
ordinance per Council's feedback at its September 21, 2015 meeting including changes to the maximum
number of dogs and cats, additional regulation of hobby kennels, the addition of cat licensing, additional
language requiring socialization of guard dogs, and additional definition and prohibition of rodeos. She then
reported additional feedback received from staff and the public since the evening's Council packet was
issued. This included a memo from Police Chief Bonnie Bowers recommending not moving forward with
cat licensing at this time, a suggestion to prohibit rodeos in the building code rather than in the animal
code, and suggestions to outright prohibit or place time restrictions on tethering of pets. Ms. Swetnam
presented five of the possible options for action at the current meeting: 1)adopt Ordinance 2955 as
presented in the Council packet, 2) adopt Ordinance 2955 as presented but direct staff to remove cat
licensing and rabies vaccine requirements, 3)adopt Ordinance 2955 as presented but direct staff to
remove rodeo prohibitions, possibly addressing that in the building code, 4)adopt Ordinance 2955 as
presented but direct staff to remove both cat licensing and rodeo prohibitions, and 5)adopt Ordinance
2955 as presented but direct staff to change the tethering section.
Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to bring forward any new information that had not
previously been presented and asked speakers to limit their comments to five minutes.
Martha Hall, 2617 16th Avenue, expressed frustration that five minutes was not sufficient to explain all the
things that needed to be changed in the draft ordinance. She referenced the mountains of research
material she had prepared and said the meeting had not been explicitly advertised to accept public
comment. Ms. Hall reported that in Oak Harbor tethering is prohibited from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and police
respond to complaints of violations. She described Mt. Vernon's contract with the Humane Society for
intake of stray cats for a fee of$60 each and a total expenditure of about$7K per year. Ms. Hall said
animal control is a basic service and she urged more financing for animal control in the city budget. She
described the much larger expenditures for animal control in Oak Harbor which she said form 2% of that
city's budget. She said the city has a responsibility to take care of animals. Mr. Adams and Ms. Pickett
thanked Ms. Hall for her information.
No one else present wished to address Council.
Mayor Gere asked each councilmember to share his or her preference. Mr. Miller supported Option 4,
explained why he felt dogs but not cats required regulation, cautioned that the guard dog language might
not be desirable, and discouraged restrictions on tethering. Mr. Archibald supported Option 4 and urged
taking action on the ordinance, then continuing discussion in the future as necessary. Ms. Lovelett
supported Option 4 and said development of cat regulations need to be part of larger budget and
feasibility discussions. She added that she would not object to removing the goldfish exception in
6.02.130 and that adding time limits for tethering would also be acceptable. Mr. Adams supported Option
4, urged action on the ordinance to address public safety issues, and said discussion of further revisions
to Title 6 could continue. Ms. Pickett supported Ms. Hall's suggestion to remove the goldfish exception
from 6.02.130 and otherwise supported Option 4, noting that rabies vaccinations for cats are required by
RCW so the city code does not need to explicitly address that issue. Mr. Walters supported Option 1 or
Option 2 and then determining a scope of work for the Public Safety Committee to bring back policy
options for cat regulation. He supported the tethering language, the rodeo prohibition and the guard dog
language in Ordinance 2955 as drafted. Mr. Johnson supported Option 2 and urged future discussion of
refinements to the tethering language.
Mayor Gere inquired if anyone else in the audience wished to address Council on this topic. No one
present wished to speak.
Anacortes City Council Minutes September 28, 2015 2
Ms. Pickett moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to adopt Ordinance 2955 as presented in the packet but
direct staff to remove cat licensing and rabies vaccine requirements [Option 2].
Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to amend the motion to strike, "with the exception of fish"
from 6.02.130. Ayes—Adams, Lovelett, Johnson, Walters and Pickett. Nays—Archibald and Miller.
Motion carried.
Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to amend the motion to strike rodeo prohibitions. Ayes—
Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Pickett and Adams. Nays— Lovelett and Walters. Motion carried.
Vote on amended motion to adopt Ordinance 2955 as presented in the packet but direct staff to remove
cat licensing and rabies vaccine requirements, to strike, "with the exception of fish"from 6.02.130, and to
strike rodeo prohibitions. Ayes—Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams and Lovelett. Motion
carried.
Ms. Lovelett requested a timeline for committee recommendations on cat regulations. Mayor Gere
suggested a goal of June 2016 to address any other outstanding issues in the animal code.
Resolution 1927: Establishing Fees for Animal Licensing
Ms. Swetnam reminded Council that all animal licensing fees had been removed from the code just
adopted and presented Resolution 1927 to establish those fees by resolution but noted that the language
would need to be revised to remove all reference to cat licensing. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr.
Adams, to adopt Resolution 1927 as presented in the Council packet but direct staff to remove all
reference to cat licensing from the resolution.
Ms. Swetnam advised that the resolution should also specify when the rates would go into effect. Mr.
Archibald moved, seconded by Mr. Miller, to amend the motion to include a start date of January 1, 2016.
Ms. Swetnam suggested that the rates become effective for 2016 pet licenses which go on sale in
November 2015. Mr. Archibald revised his motion, seconded by Mr. Miller, to amend the motion to make
the fees effective for 2016 pet licenses. Motion to amend carried by voice vote.
Vote on amended motion to adopt Resolution 1927 as presented in the Council packet but direct staff to
remove all reference to cat licensing from the resolution and specify that the license fees become effective
for all 2016 pet licenses: Ayes—Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett and Archibald. Motion
carried.
There being no further business, at approximately 7:12 p.m. the advertised special meeting of the
Anacortes City Council for September 28, 2015 adjourned.
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