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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-07-21 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—July 21, 2014 At 6:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of July 21, 2014 to order. Roll call found present: Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett and Matt Miller. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember John Archibald joined the meeting shortly after the Pledge. Citizen Hearings No one present wished to speak. Mayor/Council Communication and Committee Reports Ms. Lovelett suggested having three regular meetings a month instead of two regular meetings and two study sessions, so action could be taken more frequently. Mr. Johnson said he would like to know how long recent study sessions have lasted. Mr. Adams was agreeable to discussing the idea further. Consent Agenda Mr. Miller removed Item 5c, Resolution 1893: Interlocal Agreement to Establish a Home Consortium under the Nation Affordable Housing Act, from the Consent Agenda. Mayor Gere explained that new information had become available on this issue and that it required more staff investigation before being presented to Council for action. Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to approve the following Consent Agenda items. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Johnson. Motion carried. 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 July 9, 2014 and July 16, 2014 are approved for payment as of July 21, 2014. Claims Check Numbers 73002 through 73155 in the total amount of$464,758.09 EFT Numbers 73000 through 73001 in the total amount of$118.60 Prewritten Claims Check Number 72999 in the amount of$66.03 Payroll for July 18, 2014 in the total amount of$625,701.11 Check Numbers 39716 through 39766 in the total amount of$28,507.57 Direct Deposit Numbers from 54749 through 54952 in the total amount of$368,298.87 EFT Numbers from 1694 through 1698 in the total amount of$228,894.67 In the same motion Council approved the minutes of July 7, 2014 as if read. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Resolution 1889: Urging Increased Safety Standards for Rail Transport of Oil, Ethanol, and Other Flammable Liquids to Anacortes and Calling on the United States Department of Transportation to Adopt Rules for Rail Car Safety and Required Disclosure of Railway and Rail Bridge Inspections Ms. Lovelett thanked Shell, Tesoro and BNSF for timely response to the content of the resolution. She observed that Shell is currently permitting a rail facility and said its design incorporated all safety measures possible within the Shell facility but that the community including firefighters and public officials is demanding safety of wider infrastructure. She explained why the non-binding resolution is important and timely in the face of pending federal regulations about rail car design and reiterated that the resolution is not in opposition to Shell or Tesoro operations. Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 1 Mr. Walters said that the resolution in the packet included revisions discussed at the prior Council meeting. He offered one typographical correction and one grammatical correction to the draft in the packet which he provided in writing to councilmembers and the City Clerk. Ms. Pickett said the resolution's emphasis is on rail cars and said the track bed is important too and wondered when track repairs will be scheduled. Mr. Miller said he supported the resolution but that its timing was prejudicial to the Shell project so he requested a letter to Skagit County saying the City supports Shell's project. He asked that the record reflect that Shell employs more than 700 people with a payroll of more than $46M, is committed to safety of workers and the environment and that the rail facility is designed with state of the art safety and environmental features. Mr. Adams said he liked the resolution and noted that BNSF is also concerned. He said the Shell project is a safe design but there is work to be done on overall rail safety. Mr. Johnson said the timing is important and that recent accidents point out the need for action by the Commerce Department. He supported the resolution. Mr. Archibald said he supported the resolution but agreed with Mr. Miller and asked if other councilmembers would support the Shell project. Mayor Gere invited the public to comment. Heather McPhail, 2303 Sundown Court, said she supported the resolution but asked if there was anything Anacortes could do stronger than the current resolution. Tom Glade, 210 Mansfield Court, representing Evergreen Islands, said the resolution was very well written and asked Council to adopt it. Phyllis Dolph, 2320 26th Street, said she wished oil trains were not coming here at all, said it was not good for climate change and put money in oil pockets, said trains will threaten the heronry and wetland, noted that the tracks have problems, and that even new rail cars will still have a high center of gravity and that's one reason they fall over. Ms. Dolph said the resolution "urges" but it should "mandate" or"require," there are no teeth in "urge". She asked Council to make it stronger. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, that Mayor Gere send a letter of support to the County Commissioners and Corps of Engineers for the Shell project. Mr. Walters said he would support that if the letter said the Shell project implemented some of the lessons learned from prior accidents elsewhere. City Attorney Brad Furlong reminded that acting on Mr. Miller's motion would require amending the agenda. Ms. Pickett acknowledged that the local refineries are important partners but said local emergency responders need to know what is going on around the rail line. She described potential derailments. She said the proposed letter would need to make clear that Anacortes refineries have to work with BNSF to get the public needed information. Mr. Miller said his intent was to limit the letter to Shell's presentation of what is inside its facility, not outside it. Mr. Adams called for differentiating U.S. rail safety from the Shell project, which he supported. He agreed that BNSF needs to reach out and educate the public more. He supported the letter proposed by Mr. Miller. Ms. Lovelett said the community had accomplished a lot by discussing and developing the resolution and warned that local emergency management resources aren't adequate to deal with this kind of emergency. Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 2 Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to amend the agenda to insert Item 6a.i to consider a letter of support for the Shell project. Vote: Ayes—Adams, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Nays— Pickett and Lovelett. Motion carried. Vote on motion to send letter: Ayes—Adams, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Nays— Lovelett and Pickett. Motion carried. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to accept Resolution 1889 with the corrections proposed by Mr. Walters. Vote: Ayes—Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett and Adams. Motion carried. Public Hearing: Resolution 1894: Reaffirming Ordinance 2923 and Confirming the 12-Month Duration of the Moratorium Contained Therein Concerning Marijuana Collective Gardens and Adopting a Work Plan Interim Planning Director Don Measamer introduced Resolution 1894 which he said was directly related to court findings two months prior. He advised that the current meeting included a public hearing as required by state law to adopt a work plan and gain public input as to whether the moratorium should be reaffirmed. Mr. Measamer outlined the work plan included as part of the resolution and confirmed that the resolution would allow an extension of the moratorium. Mr. Archibald asked how the resolution would affect the existing medical marijuana collective garden in the city. Mr. Furlong said it would stay in place without any further action and that staff would ignore the license requirements and wait for the State legislature to act to adopt regulations around collective gardens. At approximately 6:35 p.m. Mayor Gere opened the public hearing. No one present wished to speak. Mayor Gere closed the public hearing. Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Walters, to approve Resolution 1894 reaffirming Ordinance 2923 and confirming the 12-month duration of the moratorium contained therein concerning marijuana collective gardens and adopting a work plan. Vote: Ayes—Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett and Adams. Nays— Lovelett. Motion carried. Resolution 1895: Transportation Budget Allocation Policy Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer recalled Council's direction at the July 7, 2014 City Council meeting authorizing the mayor to take the necessary steps to implement the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) and a resolution outlining funding mechanisms. He referenced his packet memo covering all the related action items. Mr. Buckenmeyer first reviewed Resolution 1895 establishing budget allocations and endorsing the TBD. He suggested several revisions to the version in the packet. Mr. Walters asked to remove the extra word "continue" in (G) and asked that Commercial Avenue in (I)should read "Commercial Avenue north of 12th Street". Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed. Ms. Lovelett observed that pavement inspection every two years seemed pretty frequent since it had only been done twice in the past 25 years. Mr. Buckenmeyer said more frequent rating was required to see how much progress was being made with $1.1 M per year. Ms. Lovelett suggested re-rating in two years, then periodically as needed after that. Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed. Mr. Walters handed out a proposed re-write of Section A that mirrored the changes suggested by Mr. Buckenmeyer but changing the order and changing "street improvements"to"pavement maintenance and overlay projects." Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed with the proposed changes. At approximately 6:54 Mayor Gere invited public comment on Resolution 1895. No one present wished to speak. Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 3 Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to pass Resolution 1895 with the changes proposed by Mr. Walters. Vote: Ayes—Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett and Archibald. Motion carried. Ordinance 2926: Establishing a Transportation Benefit District Mr. Buckenmeyer introduced an ordinance establishing Anacortes Transportation Benefit District No. 1 and briefly summarized the ordinance. Mr. Walters requested an additional final section saying that the ordinance would be codified under AMC Chapter 3.70. Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed. Mr. Johnson asked about limiting the powers of the TBD to prevent"mission creep." Mr. Furlong advised that the ordinance was structured to provide long term flexibility to the District and noted that since the City Council is also the TBD Board it has complete control over both entities. Ms. Lovelett objected to the TBD having eminent domain. Mr. Archibald observed that since City Council already has that power there is no real difference. Mr. Walters asked how much overhead cost the TBD would involve. Mr. Buckenmeyer said there would be a small insurance cost but since the staff is all the same there would not be a lot of additional overhead. Mayor Gere advised that Island Hospital had created a similar parallel structure in order to build its medical office building and that it did not add a lot of cost or time for staff or commissioners. At approximately 7:10 p.m. Mayor Gere invited the public to comment. No one present wished to speak. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to adopt Ordinance 2926 as proposed with the addition of a Section 4 that reads, "This ordinance will be codified as AMC Chapter 3.70." Mr. Miller confirmed with Mr. Buckenmeyer that the ordinance grants the TBD all the powers allowed by the RCW. Mr. Walters observed that City Council already has the power of eminent domain. Vote: Ayes—Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald and Miller. Motion carried. Ordinance 2928: Increasing Solid Waste Utility Tax Mr. Buckenmeyer introduced an ordinance to increase the solid waste utility tax from 3.4%to 12% to account for the impact of heavy garbage trucks on City streets. He advised that the tax would go into effect for August trash service if it was adopted at the current meeting. Mr. Furlong pointed out a typographical error in Section 2, changing "Tate"to "Rate" in the title. Ms. Lovelett observed that the increase would result in a change of only cents for most customers but urged staff to find some cost savings for ratepayers. Mr. Walters said savings can be achieved by reducing garbage can size and suggested more outreach about recycling and composting. At approximately 7:20 p.m. Mayor Gere invited the public to speak on Ordinance 2928. No one present wished to speak. Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to approve Ordinance 2928 including the correction mentioned by Mr. Furlong. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Johnson. Motion carried. Interlocal Agreement: City of Anacortes and Anacortes Transportation Benefit District Mr. Buckenmeyer introduced an interlocal agreement between the City and the TBD to allow the TBD to use City buildings and staffing at no cost. He reviewed the provisions of the agreement. Mr. Walters asked Mr. Buckenmeyer to email him the actual cost of insurance for the TBD. Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to authorize the mayor to enter into the interlocal agreement with Anacortes Transportation Benefit District No. 1. Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 4 Mayor Gere invited the public to comment. No one present wished to speak. Ms. Lovelett requested a complete accounting of the overhead involved with the TBD to offer full disclosure to the public. Mr. Buckenmeyer said staff would estimate that. Vote: Ayes—Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Motion carried. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that there was a proposed resolution in the Council packet that the Transportation Benefit District would be asked to take action on at its first meeting, increasing motor vehicle tab fees by$20. Mr. Furlong advised that there would be some additional coordination required with the Department of Licensing before the TBD Board could take action. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that the DOL takes a 1% administrative fee. At approximately 7:25 p.m. Mayor Gere called a brief break. At 7:30 p.m. the mayor called the meeting back to order. NEW BUSINESS Public Hearing: 2015-2020 Capital Facilities Plan Finance Director Steve Hoglund reminded that CFP had been discussed in two previous study sessions and recapped the suggested revisions from those sessions which he displayed on the screen. He requested Council direction on which of the revisions should be included in the final draft. At approximately 7:31 Mayor Gere opened the public hearing. No one present wished to speak. Mayor Gere left the hearing open in case questions came up during the subsequent Council discussion. Mr. Hoglund initiated a discussion with Council regarding the three existing CFP projects for City Hall in the Facilities section and the proposal to replace or add to those items with a project to study building a new City Hall. Ms. Pickett said she had hoped the planned seismic retrofit of the existing building would happen because the Boys and Girls Club meets in the City Hall basement. She said she was not pleased with the idea of abandoning the retrofit in favor of a new City Hall. Mr. Walters countered that a seismic retrofit would cost almost as much as Sedro-Woolley spent on a brand new city hall and said he did not support sinking money into the existing City Hall building. Mr. Buckenmeyer suggested adding a CFP item to hire an architect to study options for a new City Hall but leave the existing retrofit projects in the CFP as well. Mr. Johnson recommended including such a study in the CFP for 2015. Mr. Adams said the existing CFP items should stay in the CFP to support potential grant funding but the new City Hall could be added as well to cover all the bases. Mr. Archibald agreed with Mr. Johnson to add a project soon for a study of the options. Mr. Walters argued that it was important to commit to a course and said that if the City got a grant to perform a seismic retrofit it would have to keep the building. He urged that the CFP reflect Council's commitment to getting out of the existing building. Mr. Archibald commented that the current Comp Plan review would inform the question of where a City Hall would best be located and the best uses for the current City Hall location. Mr. Johnson reiterated that he'd rather find out in the next year what the potential costs and possible locations for a new building would be. Mr. Miller said he was not comfortable supporting a new city hall without an analysis up front and that he also did not want to waste funds retrofitting the existing building if new building could be constructed for the same price, which was not yet known. Ms. Pickett observed that the current City Hall is an anchor for downtown with a steady flow of visitors through the building and into adjacent businesses. She argued against moving that civic anchor and reminded that land costs would have to be included in the cost of a building elsewhere. Ms. Lovelett favored keeping the existing items in the CFP but adding an item to study options for a new building. Mr. Walters repeated his preference to remove the existing retrofit items from the CFP. Mr. Buckenmeyer suggested a target of$10,000 for a study. Turning to General Government projects, Mr. Hoglund supported the request from the study sessions to move the VOIP phone system to 2015. He reported that there had been a request to remove the Maritime Heritage Center from the CFP and add an item for an electronic records management system. Ms. Lovelett said she was not opposed to leaving the maritime heritage center in the CFP but she wanted it Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 5 configured without the community center component. Mr. Johnson said there was enough public support to leave the center in the CFP as proposed by Mr. Oakley. Ms. Lovelett disagreed. Mr. Johnson suggested moving it out a year or two. Mr. Walters said if it was not going to be funded with City funds it didn't matter which year it went into and said he was not very excited about including the project in the CFP. Mr. Archibald argued for adding it to the CFP after the 2016 Comp Plan update if that more global look at land uses supported it. Ms. Lovelett objected to spending $150,000 on design. Mayor Gere clarified that the Museum Foundation rather than the City would be funding the design. Mr. Johnson said there was support for the center and possibly grants to be had if the concept stayed in the CFP. He urged more conversation with the Port about compatible uses and facilities. Mr. Adams asked for more information from the Foundation. Mr. Walters warned against having to turn down grant funding that could be awarded to a project that wasn't ready and said the center was just not ready to go into the CFP. Mr. Walters and Mr. Archibald supported moving the VOIP phone system and the electronic records management system into 2015. Mr. Hoglund then addressed requested changes to Public Works CFP items including updating the amounts for the Road Overlays item to match the TBD funding proposal approved earlier in the evening and updating the cost of the 3MG tank replacement to use updated figures from Mr. Buckenmeyer. He noted that there had been questions about road projects in the CFP that are outside city limits and about the R Avenue long term improvements. Ms. Lovelett requested a definitive answer on whether the roads in the Anacortes UGA are in the County's CFP. She objected to paving County roads. Mr. Walters asked why they are in the plan at all. Mr. Buckenmeyer explained those items were included purely to support grant opportunities but that he had no objection to removing them from the CFP. Mr. Archibald supported leaving the items in the CFP to support grant opportunities. He noted that the City was not budgeting its own funds to pave County roads. Ms. Lovelett said the public is irked when the City accepts grants for projects the public does not see as necessary. She again asked that County roads not be included in the Anacortes CFP. Mr. Walters suggested leaving the items in the CFP but adding clarification to the description that these are not City streets and City funds won't be spent to pave them. Mr. Archibald agreed. Ms. Lovelett reiterated her request to know if those roads are in the County's CFP. Mr. Adams said to keep the projects in the CFP and that it didn't hurt anything. Ms. Pickett inquired about the proposed addition of a CFP item to remove the Tommy Thompson trestle and causeway. Mr. Hoglund reminded that Mr. Walters had brought this up at the last study session. He asked for direction from Council on this proposal. Mr. Buckenmeyer advocated adding it to the CFP in 2016 year after more discussion and public input. He explained the Samish Indian Nation allegation that the causeway and creosoted trestle piling are causing environmental damage. Ms. Lovelett wondered why this would be added to the Anacortes CFP when it may not even be the City's responsibility. Mr. Walters expanded on the environmental problems with the current trestle and causeway configuration and argued that replacement with new materials would be healthier, safer and need less maintenance, if funded by others. He asked to include the project in the CFP. Mr. Hoglund said he would implement the requested revisions and bring the CFP back to Council at the August 4, 2014 regular meeting for action. Councilmembers continued discussing whether the maritime heritage center should be included in the CFP, to what extent, and in which years. Mayor Gere summarized that the design portion would be moved to 2016. Mr. Walters asked about revisions to Parks items. Mr. Hoglund advised there had been no clear Council consensus to remove or change any of the Parks items. Ms. Lovelett stated unequivocally that she did not want to put any money into the upper restroom at Washington Park unless it was for tearing it down and building a new one. Mr. Miller said he was comfortable that staff was moving forward according to Council suggestions. Mr. Walters and Mr. Miller agreed that Council would review the final draft CFP at the next regular meeting and could move for and vote on specific changes at that time if necessary. Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 6 Second Quarter Finance Update Mr. Hoglund provided an update on the City's financial picture as of June 30 beginning with General Fund revenues. He explained several unusual receipts and reported that overall at 50% through the year General Fund revenues were at 56.6% of budget and 52.9% of actual expenditures. He next reviewed General Fund expenditures and explained expenditures that were not in line with the budget due to timing. Mr. Hoglund then reviewed sales tax revenue. He said it was up half a percent compared to prior year through July and up 2% over budget but warned that the trend was not strong. Mr. Adams asked for internet sales tax figures. Mr. Hoglund reviewed REET revenues, totaling 64% of budget at 50% through the year, and said those would likely exceed budget for the year. He added that impact fees received year to date had already exceeded total budgeted for the year. Mr. Walters observed that Anacortes street impact fees are low compared to other jurisdictions and asked if they could be raised. Mr. Hoglund said they were still based on the original impact fee study. Mr. Walters suggested a new study and possibly raising the fees. Mr. Buckenmeyer pointed out that impact fees can't be used for street overlays, only to mitigate new development, so were not in the TBD funding mix. He added that the most recent transportation study recommended higher impact fees but said staff had decided at that time not to implement an increase in order to encourage ongoing development and because in a city near build out like Anacortes the potential revenue would not be much. He suggested revisiting the issue during the Comp Plan revisions with the transportation consultant on board. Mr. Hoglund then reviewed revenues and expenditures in the other funds and explained a few apparent anomalies due to timing of projects, noting that overall the picture was pretty good. Ordinance 2927: Second Quarter Budget Amendment Mr. Hoglund presented an ordinance to amend the 2014 budget by$612,000 for the jail tax, the 2016 Comp Plan consultant, the Fire Master Plan consultant, and a grant from the Swinomish to the Anacortes Police Department for firearms. Mr. Adams moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to approve Ordinance 2927 amending the 2014 budget. Vote: Ayes—Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters and Pickett. Motion carried. Resolution 1896: Special Market Condition Purchase Authorization Mr. Hoglund advised that a revised draft resolution, different from the version in the Council packet, had been provided to councilmembers earlier in the evening. He explained that the police department had recently hired a new Community Service Officer and needed to procure a vehicle for that officer. Mr. Hoglund said that obtaining a vehicle off the State contract takes 6-7 months but that staff had located a 2013 model, essentially new and for a few hundred dollars less than the State contract amount, that was available for purchase immediately. He asked that Council recognize a special market condition to allow direct, immediate purchase of the vehicle. Mr. Walters said that he did not generally like purchases that aren't on the State contract because non-bidders could undercut bidders given more perfect information but that in this case the lead time was really significant and made the difference. Mr. Walters presented the mayor with some typographical corrections for the resolution and moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to approve Resolution 1896 with those corrections. Vote: Ayes— Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett and Adams. Motion carried. Executive Session (20 Minutes): Real Estate Discussion per RCW 42.30.110(1b, c) At approximately 8:50 p.m. Mayor Gere announced that Council and City Attorney Brad Furlong would convene in Executive Session for approximately 20 minutes to discuss potential real estate transactions about which open discussion could result in terms unfavorable to the City and that there would be no action taken following the executive session. There being no further business, at approximately 9:15 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of July 21, 2014 was continued to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 28, 2014 in the City Council Chambers for the purpose of consideration and possible action on a Contract Modification to the O and R Avenue Paving Project, Phase 2 (14-007-TRN-002). Anacortes City Council Minutes July 21, 2014 7