HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-04-08 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—April 8,2019
Mayor Laurie Gere called to order the regular Anacortes City Council meeting of April 8,2019 at 6:00 p.m.
Councilmembers Eric Johnson,Ryan Walters,Anthony Young,Brad Adams and Matt Miller were present.
Councilmember Bruce McDougall was absent. Mayor Gere announced that Mr. McDougall was traveling and
would attempt to dial in to the meeting later in the evening. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Announcements and Committee Reports
Department of Health Award to Anacortes Water System for Most Innovative Water Treatment Plant in the
State for 2018: Mayor Gere announced that this presentation had been rescheduled for May 6,2019.
Public Safety Committee: Mr. Miller reported from the committee meeting the prior week. He summarized
topics discussed including addressing homelessness downtown, downtown parking, fire impact fees,the 2019
countywide EMS transition,BLS transports by Fire District 13, and location based dispatch. Mr. Johnson
expanded on the potential for local churches to help provide sanitation services for homeless individuals
including those living in vehicles.
Public Comment
Tor Fleming announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for appointment to Senator Liz Lovelett's
vacated seat on the City Council. Mr. Fleming said he was a great believer in diversity and felt that he would not
represent diversity in that seat on the current Council. He announced that did intend to run for the Ward 2 City
Council position at the end of Mr. Adams's term.
Consent Agenda
Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Adams,to approve the following Consent Agenda items. Mr. Young
commented that some purchases on the voucher list needed to be looked into but that he would defer that
conversation to a future meeting in the interest of moving the agenda along. The motion carried unanimously by
voice vote.
a. Minutes of April 1,2019
b.Approval of Claims in the amount of: $370,150.97
The following vouchers/checks were approved for payment:
EFT numbers: 92803 through 92833, 92869 and 92871,total$141,990.88
Check numbers: 92800 through 92802 and 92834 through 92868 and 92870,total$226,750.62
Wire transfer numbers: 247529 through 247884,total $1,518.77
PUBLIC HEARING
Ordinance 3030 and Resolution 2038: Fire Impact Fees
Fire Chief David Oliveri presented draft Ordinance 3030 and Resolution 2038 to implement new fire impact
fees in support of capital facilities needs of the Fire Department. Chief Oliveri reported that following Council's
direction to staff at the March 11,2019 City Council meeting to pursue alternative fee structure calculations,
staff had worked with Berk Associates to explore what was possible with the available data. The Chief
concluded that the data currently stored about each call response did not allow calculation of impacts based on
size of residence. He said that he had worked with Assistant Chief Jack Kennedy and Planning Department staff
to arrive at the best case scenario using the data available,which was what was proposed in the packet materials.
He added that the Fire Department would collect call data differently moving forward and could potentially
revisit the rate calculations two years in the future.
Anacortes City Council Minutes April 8, 2019 1
Mr. Walters said the revised commercial categories were an improvement over those presented previously. He
noted that the effective date was inconsistent between the draft ordinance and resolution and clarified with Chief
Oliveri that the few impact fees would go into effect on April 22 if Council were to approve them at the present
meeting.
Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on this agenda item as part of the public hearing.No
one present wished to address the Council. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Miller,to close the public
hearing. The motion carried unanimously by voice vote.
Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr.Johnson,to adopt Ordinance 3030 and Resolution 2038 as presented with
the following changes: 1) on Attachment A of Ordinance 3030, delete the rate for 3+stories structures effective
4/22/19, 2)make the corresponding change on the Unified Fee Schedule attached to Resolution 2038, and 3)
correct the typo of"educational"in the Commercial 4 category. Mr.Walters clarified that the effective date of
both the ordinance and the resolution should be April 22,2019.Vote: Ayes—Young,Walters,Adams,Miller
and Johnson. Motion carried.
OTHER BUSINESS
City Council Candidate Presentations
Administrative Services Director Emily Schuh reviewed the process for appointing a councilmember to fill the
vacant City Council seat following Senator Liz Lovelett's resignation. Ms. Schuh's slide presentation had been
included in the packet materials for the meeting. She clarified that the appointee would serve only until the
results of the November 2019 election were certified, at which point the candidate elected by the voters would
immediately take office and would serve the remainder of Ms. Lovelett's term. Ms. Schuh displayed the three
questions,prepared by the sitting councilmembers,that had been circulated to the candidates the prior week and
included in the packet materials for the meeting. She said each candidate would have three minutes to respond to
each of the three questions, in an order that had been determined by lot prior to the meeting. Immediately
following,Mayor Gere and councilmembers would go into executive session to discuss the qualifications of the
candidates,as allowed by RCW 42.30.110(h), and would then return to open session for deliberation and
possible action.
Candidates Meredith McIlmoyle,Nicole Mortimer, Christine Cleland-McGrath and Carolyn Moulton then
responded in turn to the following questions.
1. How would you describe the difference in responsibilities between the Mayor,the City Council, and
City Staff?
2. How important is planning to Anacortes's development and infrastructure?
3. Pick one major challenge facing the City of Anacortes. Discuss the steps the City Council could take in
addressing that challenge.
The responses of each candidate are included in their entirety in the permanent video record of the meeting.
Executive Session (20 Minutes): Review Qualifications of City Council Candidates per RCW 42.30.110(h)
At approximately 7:00 p.m. Mayor Gere announced that City Council,the mayor and Ms. Schuh would convene
in Executive Session for no more than 15 minutes to review the qualifications of the City Council candidates.
She advised that no action would be taken and that Council would then return to chambers in open session to
deliberate.
At approximately 7:18 p.m. Mayor Gere called the meeting back into open session. She invited Council to
deliberate on the appointment.
Anacortes City Council Minutes April 8, 2019 2
Ms. Schuh advised that Mr. McDougall had joined the executive session by phone at 7:11 p.m. and that he was
now participating in the open session by phone. Mr. McDougall verified that he could both hear and be heard by
his colleagues on the Council.
Each councilmember then summarized what he was looking for in a candidate and the criteria that would bear
on his decision. Mayor Gere also shared which characteristics she valued most highly. Councilmembers
discussed whether their role was to select the candidate who best represented the apparent will of the voters who
had elected Ms. Lovelett to the seat originally, or to select a candidate who could most quickly and effectively
participate productively in the near term business of the Council. All the elected officials agreed on the
uniformly high caliber of the candidates,thanked them all for being willing to serve the community, and
encouraged those who were not appointed to continue involvement on city boards and commissions and during
upcoming election cycles.
Mr. Miller observed that Council was about to embark on its review and action on the development regulations
update and that in the short term a candidate who was very familiar with those documents and that process
would best serve the city. Mr. Miller moved to appoint Christine Cleland-McGrath as the replacement city
councilmember.No one immediately seconded the motion.
Councilmembers continued to discuss at length the qualifications and strengths of each of the four candidates.
Mr. Johnson seconded Mr. Miller's motion to appoint Christine Cleland-McGrath as the replacement city
councilmember.
Mr. Adams suggested that each councilmember indicate his preference and that the candidate with the most
votes be appointed. Mr. Miller countered that a vote on the motion on the floor was intended to arrive at a
decision and noted that progression from Planning Commissioner to City Councilmember was a common and
proven path.Mr. McDougall suggested an alternative instant runoff voting method which would involve each
councilmember indicating his first and second choice and calculating a result from the weighted votes. Mr.
Adams moved, seconded by Mr. Young,the postpone consideration of Mr. Miller's motion indefinitely. Vote:
Ayes—Walters,Adams,McDougall and Young.Nays—Miller and Johnson. Motion carried.
Mayor Gere then asked each councilmember to name his first choice from among the four candidates.
Councilmembers each named two candidates they supported.
Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Young,to adopt the following process for selecting the candidate: each
councilmember will in turn name one candidate and the candidate who is named by the most councilmembers,
assuming a majority,will be appointed. Vote: Ayes—Adams,McDougall,Miller,Johnson,Young and Walters.
Motion carried.
Each councilmember then named a first choice candidate as follows. Carolyn Moulton—McDougall,Adams,
Walters and Young. Christine Cleland-McGrath—Miller and Johnson. Carolyn Moulton was selected.
Mayor Gere thanked all the candidates for participating in the selection process.
City Council Position Appointment and Oath of Office
City Clerk Steve Hoglund administered the oath of office to Carolyn Moulton. Ms. Moulton joined her
colleagues on the dais.
There being no further business,at approximately 8:00 p.m. the Anacortes City Council meeting of
April 8, 2019 was adjourned.
Anacortes City Council Minutes April 8, 2019 3