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City Council Study Session Minutes—August 8, 2011
At 7:30 p.m. Mayor Maxwell called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council study session of
August 8, 2011 to order. Eric Johnson, Brad Adams, Bill Turner, Cynthia Richardson and Brian Geer were
present. Nick Petrish and Erica Pickett were excused.
Community Emergency Response Training (CERT)
Mr. Geer introduced Rick Wallace to tell the Council and community about neighborhood emergency
preparedness training. Mr. Wallace, 1219 37th Street, summarized his professional background as a
firefighter and emergency preparedness trainer. He said he has been working with Mr. Geer, in his role as
Director of the Islands Chapter of the American Red Cross, and with Fire Chief Richard Curtis to expand
CERT in Anacortes. He asked the Mayor and City Council for their support to encourage and promote
preparedness training in the community.
Mr. Wallace explained that CERT was started in 1985 in Los Angeles after the Mexico City earthquake in
which 800 people were saved by community members but 100 rescuers were lost. He said wildfires and
earthquakes were the primary focus in California but Anacortes should also prepare for wind storms and
other severe weather events. He said the public needs to know before disaster strikes what services the
City is likely to provide, how limited those are, what sorts of disasters to expect, how to prepare, and to
develop lifesaving and decision making skills to use in times of crisis. He added that 80-84%of people
injured in disasters are rescued by non-professionals and that after a major event the response from
professionals can be 72 hours to a couple of weeks out so communities need to be prepared to help
themselves. Mr. Wallace listed the seven levels of CERT training and said there is also a class on
terrorism response. He advised that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website has
materials used for these trainings. Mr. Wallace suggested that public figures such as councilmembers
help teach the classes to build support for the effort.
Mayor Maxwell inquired if Mr. Wallace was seeking a location for CERT classes and how community
members would contact him to schedule training. Mr. Wallace said he had not settled on a location yet
but had sent a potential schedule to Mr. Geer that would start in September. Mayor Maxwell said a group
did this training locally some years ago and said neighborhood CERT would be good supplement to City's
emergency response plan. He emphasized that citizens need to plan on helping each other in an
emergency because the resources of the City and other agencies will be stretched. Mr. Turner asked the
time commitment and cost of the training. Mr. Wallace said the eight classes involve 27 hours of training
and that it costs about$50 to cover basic equipment. Mr. Turner asked how an interested citizen would
get more involved. Mr. Wallace said in a real emergency trained citizens first check their own homes and
families, then establish contact with family out of the area, then meet at a designated point in the
neighborhood and survey where everyone is and what resources are available. Neighborhoods then
report to incident commanders or team leaders who communicate with public safety professionals. Mr.
Turner asked how many citizens should be trained in a community the size of Anacortes. Mr. Wallace
said the effort will grow and that over 500 people are trained in Everett.
Mayor Maxwell noted that the City emergency preparedness plan includes community volunteers and
added that all City employees have CPR and first aid training. He said it would be good to have as many
other community members as possible trained to help. Mr. Wallace suggested that training for employees
of the school district, hospital and larger businesses would be useful. Mayor Maxwell invited Mr. Wallace
to provide his contact information for posting on the City website. Mr. Wallace said he would continue
working with Chief Curtis to promote the program. Mr. Geer added that information is also posted on the
Red Cross website (www.theislandsredcross.org) and thanked local businesses for sponsorship to keep
the cost of the training low. Mr. Wallace said he can be reached at rewallacepm-ff@comcast.net.
Island Hosptal Off-site Sign Update
Assistant Planning Director Don Measamer introduced Island Hospital CEO Vince Oliver and Architect
Marc Estvold to discuss proposed signage that would direct the public to the hospital emergency room.
Mr. Measamer said City departments have been working with the hospital on the most effective solution.
Mr. Oliver first thanked Council for recently adopting Resolution 1822 authorizing the New Market tax
Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes August 8, 2011 1
credit program. He said the funding package closed Friday and the Medical Arts Pavilion project is now
fully funded. Mr. Oliver then explained that the current signage proposal arose in response to the many
complaints from the public over the past two years about having difficulty finding the emergency room.
Mr. Estvold, 3302 Oakes Avenue, outlined the philosophy of access to the emergency room. He said
traffic from the west end is being routed into town on 12th Street then south on Commercial Avenue to 26th
Street. Patients arriving via M Avenue are routed east on 24th Street to Commercial Avenue, then south to
26th Street. Mr. Estvold clarified that emergency vehicles access the emergency room off 24th Street but
for safety reasons the public is not routed through that congested corridor. Mr. Estvold explained that
three of the proposed signs to identify these routes would be located on property that is not owned by or
immediately adjacent to property owned by Island Hospital, hence the hospital is sponsoring requests for
encroachment agreements from those property owners to locate the signs. The three signs would be on
the dive shop property at 25th Street and Commercial Avenue, on the taqueria property at 26th Street and
Commercial Avenue, and at the corner of 26th Street and the alley. Mr. Estvold explained how the signs
would provide a constant visual guide for patients traveling to the emergency room in private vehicles. Mr.
Estvold then described the size and placement of the two-sided signs. Mrs. Richardson asked if the main
hospital entrance for non-emergency patients is moving to 26th Street. Mr. Estvold said that entrance
remains on 24th Street. Mr. Estvold then displayed and described the signs planned for elsewhere around
the hospital, not specifically for the emergency room.
Mr. Geer observed that southbound traffic on Commercial Avenue will see the hospital entrance sign at
24th Street but will also see the emergency room sign at 25th Street and asked if that would confuse
drivers. Mr. Estvold said the emergency room signs are all backlit red to distinguish them from the blue
hospital signage. Mr. Johnson asked if a sign at the main entrance on 24th Street directs drivers to
continue to Commercial Avenue to get to the emergency room. Mr. Estvold said yes, two signs do that.
He said the hospital is trying to make the emergency room entrance as obvious as possible. Mr. Turner
said after initial skepticism he now agreed with the decision to route private emergency room traffic via
Commercial Avenue and 26th Street instead of directly off 24th Street but said the route is confusing so
signs are definitely needed to help people find it. Mayor Maxwell requested some additional perspective
photos and suggested that the sign on 26th Street might be sufficient without also adding a sign at the
dive shop. He reminded that the City tries to reduce the number of signs on Commercial Avenue and
warned against signs that might be vandalized. Mrs. Richardson asked for confirmation that all the signs
except the three emergency room directional signs are on hospital property and that they conform to the
City's sign ordinance. Mr. Estvold said the hospital has been working with Mr. Measamer on that. Mr.
Johnson observed that the proposed sign at the dive shop may be too wordy.
Responding to Mrs. Richardson's question, Mr. Measamer said AMC 17.40.020 defines governmental
signs and that hospital signage is excluded from the sign ordinance entirely. He said staff has been
working with the hospital to fit the square footage into allowable areas. He explained that for the three
signs that aren't on hospital property, the encroachment agreement application involves full staff review
for sight distance, etc. He added that all signage requires building permits. Mrs. Richardson agreed that
directional signs for the hospital and the emergency room are absolutely essential and entitled to an
exception from the sign ordinance but that the hospital is a business so to allow signs magnificently larger
than what would be allowed for any other business would be taking advantage of the exception. Mr.
Measamer reported that the Medical Arts Pavilion sign at 24th Street and Commercial Avenue is on
hospital property and meets the code for a multi-tenant commercial building. Mr. Adams asked if the
proposed sign at the dive shop is offset from the building and where the stop sign will be relocated. Mr.
Estvold responded that the sign would be about ten feet north of the edge of building with a sidewalk
between. The stop sign would move to the west as part of the overall redesign of 25 h Street and has
already been through City engineering. Mr. Turner echoed the Mayor's suggestion to examine whether
emergency room signs at both 25th Street and 26th Street are really necessary. Mayor Maxwell asked if
the proposal would come back before City Council. Mr. Measamer said that encroachment agreements
are an administrative process so would go through the directors of Public Works and Planning but not
back to City Council. Mrs. Richardson clarified that the only off-site signs the hospital is proposing are
directional signs for the emergency room and that there will be no off-site signs advertising the business.
There being no further business, at approximately 8:15 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City
Council study session of August 8, 2011 adjourned.
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