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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-15 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—September 15, 2014 At 7:10 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of September 15, 2014 to order. Roll call found present: Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Citizen Hearings No one present wished to speak. Mayor/Council Communication and Committee Reports Police Chief Bonnie Bowers introduced new Community Service Officer Karl J. Wolfswinkel and new police officers Jesse C. Buffum and Edwin M. (Michael) Scheepers. Mayor Gere swore in CSO Wolfswinkel, Officer Scheepers and Officer Buffum. Councilmembers, staff and audience members welcomed the new officers. Mayor Gere added Item 7e, Solid Waste Update, to the agenda as a discussion item only. Mr. Walters announced that the federal government would hold a public hearing on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at the Fidalgo Bay Resort regarding the Samish Indian Nation request to place eleven acres of land along SR 20 into Trust status. Mr. Adams complimented the Open Streets event on Sunday, September 14 for creating a public gathering place and thanked the event organizers. Mr. Walters concurred and observed that the attendance was higher than he had expected and included the mayor and several councilmembers. Mr. Adams added that community events on Saturday, September 13 included Fidalgo Bay Day, the steam engine show, the Farmer's Market and the City's free trash day. Consent Agenda Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, 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 September 3, 2014 and September 10, 2014 are approved for payment as of September 15, 2014. Claims Check Numbers 73657 through 73832 in the total amount of$418,980.17 Payroll for September 5, 2014 in the total amount of$613,527.72 Check Numbers 39863 through 39914 in the total amount of$36,952.60 Direct Deposit Numbers from 55368 through 55574 in the total amount of$352,887.93 EFT Numbers from 1709 through 1713 in the total amount of$223,687.19 In the same motion Council: approved the minutes of September 2, 2014 and September 8, 2014 as if read; authorized the mayor to sign the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision for William Moore's Conditional Use Permit application CUP-2014-001; and accepted as complete the Q and R Avenue Paving Project, Phase 2 contract with Lakeside Industries, Inc. (14-007-TRN-003). UNFINISHED BUSINESS Resolution Establishing the City Council's Objectives for the 2015 Budget Mr. Johnson introduced a revised draft resolution prepared by the Council Finance Committee incorporating Council feedback from the August 25, 2014 study session. He added that the resolution was Anacortes City Council Minutes September 15, 2014 1 accompanied by a beta version of a staff summary sheet that might serve as a model for a standard format in the future. Ms. Lovelett clarified that the resolution and discussion surrounding it were not meant to imply any mistrust of staff, only to develop a mechanism for Council's input into the budget process. Mr. Archibald said the draft resolution would serve as a vehicle for future conversations and proposals and suggested that each Council committee establish objectives for the 2016 budget. Mr. Adams applauded the exercise and said he would like to see a workshop in March to begin discussing objectives, then possibly task committees with further research prior to the development of the budget each year. He added that this could dovetail with Capital Facilities Plan discussions. Mr. Johnson suggested that the early sessions allow for citizen input as well. Councilmembers discussed the need to examine each of the objectives listed in Section 1 of the draft to determine which were supported by the majority of the Council. Mr. Miller emphasized the role of all the Council committees in developing budget objectives. Mr. Walters explained the sections of the draft resolution in more detail. Ms. Pickett said the draft resolution provided a good way to proceed for the 2016 budget. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to adopt the resolution establishing the City Council's objectives for the 2015 budget as presented in the Council packet. Mr. Adams urged examining the items in Section 1 and removing Section 3 from the resolution. Mr. Miller expressed concern that the resolution might not be consistent with current City code regarding cash reserves and urged that Section 1 be more generic. Ms. Pickett urged more discussion of item 3a by Council as a whole, especially in light of the need to plan for natural disasters. Councilmembers discussed at length the appropriate level for continuing the discussion of fund reserves, the potential roles of various Council committees in researching and establishing budget objectives and policy, and possible revisions to the draft ordinance, particularly in Section 1. Councilmembers agreed that Mayor Gere would read through the draft resolution and councilmembers could propose amendments to any portion of it, to be accepted or rejected by voice vote. Mayor Gere proceeded accordingly. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Walters, to amend the fourth paragraph as follows: "Whereas the City Council desires to make known its priorities recommendations for the 2015 city budget;"The amendment carried by voice vote. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to amend the first line of Section 1 as follows: "The City Council recommends, in descending order of priority, that the 2015 preliminary city budget:" The amendment carried by voice vote. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to remove item la, renumber the rest of the items in Section 1 accordingly, and move item la to become item 3d. The amendment carried by voice vote. Mr. Adams moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to remove item 1 d. The amendment failed by voice vote. Ms. Pickett moved to amend item 2d to read: "metrics (e.g. statistics describing services the department has performed over the past several two years) ..."The motion failed for lack of a second. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to amend the first sentence of Section 3 to read: "The City Council directs the appropriate Council Finance Committee committees to study the following measures ..." The amendment carried by voice vote. Ms. Pickett moved, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to amend item 3a to read: "... in the General Fund for unanticipated expenses, e.g., vacation buyout upon separation emergency overtime generated by a disaster such as an earthquake."The amendment carried by voice vote. Mr. Walters suggested that each item in Section 3 be modified to indicate in parentheses which Council committee it would be referred to. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to amend item 3a to add Anacortes City Council Minutes September 15, 2014 2 "(Finance Committee)" at the end of it. Councilmembers discussed the range of committees that might constructively discuss each item in Section 3. Mr. Johnson suggested that the committees decide in January which committees would address which items. Mr. Miller and Mr. Walters concurred. The amendment failed by voice vote. Mr. Adams inquired if Section 3 belonged in the resolution at all since it did not affect the 2015 budget. Mr. Adams moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to amend the resolution to remove Section 3 entirely. The amendment failed by voice vote. No further amendments were proposed. Vote on amended Resolution 1900 establishing the City Council's objectives for the 2015 Budget: Ayes—Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Motion carried. At approximately 8:30 p.m. Mayor Gere called a five minute recess. At 8:35 p.m. the mayor called the meeting back to order. NEW BUSINESS Ordinance 2935: City Council Meeting Time Resolution 1899: Amending Resolution 1867 to Remove Meeting Time Mr. Walters urged striking Chapter 2.04 from the Anacortes Municipal Code and setting the City Council meeting time in the Council Procedures resolution only, regardless of what meeting time was agreed upon during the evening's deliberations. Mr. Adams urged trying the earlier time. Ms. Lovelett asked if the public had requested a different meeting time. Mayor Gere said the only letters received had stated that if Council changed the time, 6:30 would be better than 6:00. Mr. Walters said citizens who had attended Comprehensive Plan meetings had asked for 6:00 meetings and urged a time that would make for the most productive discussions by the Council. Mr. Archibald supported 6:30. Ms. Lovelett reiterated that 6:30 is in the middle of the dinner hour. Mr. Miller said he was indifferent but didn't want to interfere with committee work. Ms. Pickett asked if changing the time would achieve much. Mr. Johnson urged accommodating family schedules. Ms. Lovelett allowed that earlier meeting times might work better for staff. Mr. Archibald moved, seconded by Mr. Walters, to change the City Council meeting time to 6:30. Mr. Adams said it was important for everyone to agree to the change. Mr. Walters moved to amend the motion to be a non-binding test vote on the question of moving the meeting time to 6:30. Motion died for lack of a second. Vote on motion to change the regular City Council meeting time to 6:30 p.m.: Ayes—Archibald, Miller and Walters. Nays - Adams, Lovelett, Johnson and Pickett. Motion failed. Council then discussed the mechanism for setting the regular meeting time. Mr. Furlong advised that either an ordinance, a resolution or bylaws (effectively the adopted Council procedures) can be used to set the regular meeting time. He suggested leaving the meeting time in the City code to maintain the distinction between business meetings and study sessions. Mr. Walters suggested postponing further discussion since no immediate change was required and offered to bring back suggested wording. Councilmembers and Mayor Gere concurred. Contract Award: 34th Street Paving Project Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer requested Council authorization to award a contract for paving 34th Street between R and V Avenues. He reported that the City received one bid for this work, from Lakeside Industries, Inc., in the amount of$232,458.50, somewhat lower than the Engineer's Estimate of $250,000. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that this local contractor is familiar with the area and has lower mobilization costs than other potential bidders. He recommended awarding the contract to Lakeside. Mr. Walters asked if this project would require a budget amendment. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that the project was not specifically budgeted for 2014 but that sufficient funds remained in Fund 104 to complete the work in 2014. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Miller, to award the contract to Lakeside Industries, Inc. for$232,458.50. Mr. Adams inquired if the project would include striping a bike lane to connect to the Tommy Thompson Trail. Mr. Buckenmeyer said that was not currently planned but that he Anacortes City Council Minutes September 15, 2014 3 would ask the engineers if that could be fit in. Mr. Adams requested a summary of the paving projects completed in 2014 and their cost. Vote: Ayes— Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett and Adams. Motion carried. Resolution 1898: Special Market Condition Purchase Authorization Mr. Buckenmeyer presented a resolution to declare a special market condition to acquire a scissor man lift without soliciting bids. He explained that staff had located one significantly below market cost that was exactly what the City has been needing. He described the features of the lift and noted that it would be shared by a number of departments. He recommended authorizing the mayor to sign Resolution 1898 declaring a special market condition and authorizing acquisition of the equipment. Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to adopt Resolution 1898 relating to the City's acquisition of a vehicle: making findings pursuant to RCW 39.04.280; finding the existence of unique and special market conditions and authorizing the Finance Director, under the supervision of the Mayor, to acquire a used 2006 Genie Scissor Lift Model 1930 without solicitation of bids; and, authorizing the Finance Director and Mayor to carry out this authorization. Vote: Ayes—Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams and Lovelett. Motion carried. Solid Waste Update Mr. Buckenmeyer provided an update on Anacortes solid waste contracts. He advised that the current contracts with Waste Management for organics (yard waste) and roll off containers expire at the end 2014 and the contract with Republic Services for residential curbside recycling expires in 2015. He said staff was working towards having the contracts for all these services expire at the same time with a single service provider. Mr. Buckenmeyer reported that the City was going out for bids for weekly universal residential curbside recycling to be billed by the City, weekly (all year) universal residential curbside organics collection to be billed by the City, and roll off container service to be billed by the service provider to subscribers only. He then described a number of bid alternates that would also be sought including organics collection by subscription either weekly or biweekly, and an alternative to provide service using new trucks which are quieter, more energy efficient, and visually consistent across services. Ms. Lovelett encouraged the use of alternative fuels if new trucks are selected. Council discussed alternative fuels options and costs with Mr. Buckenmeyer. Several councilmembers expressed interest in seeing the comparative bids for the alternate services before the contracts are awarded. Mr. Buckenmeyer shared the timeline for the project including opening bids on October 31, 2014, selecting a service provider in early November, and executing a contract by the end of 2014 to allow startup of the new collection system by October, 2015. He noted that the City's current contractors were amenable to modifying their contracts to accommodate that schedule. Councilmembers discussed with Mr. Buckenmeyer the sizing options for organics bins and how best to incentivize use of the organics collection. Mr. Buckenmeyer then presented staff's proposal to eliminate solid waste collection on Mondays and revise the routes to pick up all materials using 10-hour days Tuesday through Friday. He advised that the new schedule would go into effect by October 2015 or possibly sooner and would be both more efficient and more equitable to customers due to the disproportionate number of Monday holidays. Mr. Buckenmeyer added that solid waste would not be collected on holidays and customers would still be asked to hold over their holiday waste for one week. Mr. Walters argued for changing City service to pick up residential solid waste on holidays as other communities do. Executive Session (15 Minutes): Real Estate Discussion per RCW 42.30.110(1b, c) At approximately 9:16 p.m. Mayor Gere announced that Council and City Attorney Brad Furlong would convene in Executive Session for approximately 15 minutes to discuss a potential real estate transaction 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 9:35 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of September 15, 2014 was adjourned. Anacortes City Council Minutes September 15, 2014 4