HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-09-28 City Council Minutes Approved Anacortes City Council Minutes — September 28, 2020
Mayor Laurie Gere called to order the Anacortes City Council meeting of September 28,2020 at 6:00 p.m.
Councilmembers Jeremy Carter,Ryan Walters, Carolyn Moulton,Christine Cleland-McGrath, Bruce
McDougall and Matt Miller all participated in the meeting in absentia via video conference. Councilmember
Anthony Young was absent.
Executive Session
Mayor Gere announced that City Council and the City Attorney would convene in Executive Session per RCW
42.30.110(g)for no more than 10 minutes to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment
or to review the performance of a public employee. The mayor advised that the regular meeting would then
resume with no action having been taken.
At 6:10 p.m. Mayor Gere reconvened the regular meeting.
Mr. Young joined the regular meeting.
Announcements and Committee Reports
COVID-19 Update: Mayor Gere shared current case statistics for Anacortes, Skagit County,Washington State,
and the nation. The mayor compared Skagit County case counts to the metrics required to move to Phase 3 of
the Safe Start Washington Plan,noting improvement in all metrics since the prior week but adding that the
Governor had paused any additional reclassifications to Phase 3.
Finance Committee: Mr. Carter reported from the committee meeting the prior week. He summarized the topics
discussed including Waste Management's request for a rate increase and proposal to switch to biweekly
recycling collection; members deferred further discussion of those topics until 2021. Mr. Carter indicated that
the committee also discussed demand for additional parklets on Commercial Avenue,receipts to date from the
new Affordable Housing Sales Tax, and allocation of those sales tax revenues.
Library Committee: Ms. Cleland-McGrath reported from the committee meeting the prior week. She indicated
that the members received an update on library operations from new Library Director Jeff Vogel. Ms. Cleland-
McGrath said the committee also discussed budgeting for 2021 and the roles and contributions of the Friends of
the Library and the Library Foundation.
Fiber Committee: Mr. McDougall reported from the committee meeting the prior week. He summarized the
topics discussed including a potential customer service call fee structure,the schedule for service area
expansion, a grant application being prepared by staff, acquisition of additional IPV4 addresses, and customer
count statistics.
Planning Committee: Ms. Moulton reported from the committee meeting earlier in the evening. She summarized
topics discussed including access for the Tommy Thompson train project, the future of CDBG funding,
overnight rentals in residential zones, and the need for a cold weather shelter for the winter. Mr. Young urged
that the entire Council participate in discussion of train proposals. Mayor Gere clarified that the topic would
come back to Council for additional public discussion in the near future.After considerable additional
discussion,Mr. Walters called for a point of order and asked for a ruling from the chair that this discussion of an
item not on the agenda was out of order and that consideration of the agenda continue. Mayor Gere stated that
the conversation was out of order.
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Public Comment
No members of the public wished to address the Council on any topic not on the agenda.
Consent Agenda
Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Carter,to approve the following Consent Agenda items. The motion carried
unanimously by voice vote.
a.Minutes of September 21,2020
b. Approval of Claims in the amount of: $270,597.90
c. Contract Award: Depot Plaza Restroom#20-069-PRK-003
The following vouchers/checks were approved for payment:
EFT numbers: 98234 through 98269,total$205,255.48
Check numbers: 98270 through 98279,total $37,120.56
Wire transfer numbers: 273966 through 274174,total $28,221.86
OTHER BUSINESS
Ordinance 3076: Extending Ordinance 3054, an Interim Ordinance Declaring an Emergency and
Adopting a Moratorium on the Acceptance of Certain Land Use Applications in R4 Zone
Planning Director Don Measamer introduced Ordinance 3076 which would extend the moratorium initiated by
Ordinance 3054. He advised that the work plan adopted by Resolution 2068 had not been able to be completed
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr.Measamer said staff recommended extending the moratorium for an
additional six months to April 21, 2021 to allow time to conduct virtual public workshops or until such time as
in person workshops and meetings could resume. He added that an advertised public hearing on Ordinance 3076
would be held at the City Council meeting on October 12,2020. Mr. Measamer noted a typographical error in
Section 3 of the draft ordinance and said that"R4 zone west of'0' Ave"would be corrected to"R4 zone west
of Commercial Ave"prior to the public hearing.
Councilmembers generally supported the proposed extension of the moratorium but urged that the work plan be
actively pursued even during the COVID-19 pandemic, including development and presentation of concrete
proposals for the public to consider and comment upon. City Attorney Darcy Swetnam said that for the public
hearing on October 12 staff would introduce an updated schedule for the work plan.
Resolution 3002: Authorizing Acceptance of a Restricted Donation to the City of Anacortes from the
Skagit Community Foundation
Mr. Measamer introduced Resolution 3002 to accept a restricted cash donation of$100,000 which would be
distributed on an application basis to businesses with fewer than 30 employees that had been affected by the
COVID-19 health crisis. Mr. Measamer reported that 14 applications had already been received. He briefly
summarized the process that would be followed to award the cash in conformance with the donation restrictions.
Mayor Gere invited members of the audience to comment on this agenda item.No one present wished to address
the Council.
Mr. Young moved, seconded by Ms. Cleland-McGrath,to adopt Resolution 3002 authorizing acceptance of the
cash donation from the Skagit Community Foundation. Vote: Ayes—Young,Walters, Cleland-McGrath,
Moulton,McDougall,Miller and Carter. Motion carried.
There being no further business, at approximately 6:55 p.m. the Anacortes City Council meeting of
September 28, 2020 was adjourned.
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