HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 02/20/1996 Kent, Washington
February 20, 1996
Regular meeting of the Kent City Council was called to order at
7: 00 p.m. by Mayor White. Present: Councilmembers Bennett,
Clark, Epperly, Houser, Johnson, Orr and Woods, Operations
Director/Chief of Staff McFall, City Attorney Lubovich, Planning
Director Harris, Public Works Director Wickstrom, Police Chief
Crawford, Fire Chief Angelo, Parks Director Hodgson, and Finance
Director Miller. Approximately 25 people were in attendance.
PUBLIC Introduction of Mayor's Appointees. Mayor White
COMMUNICATIONS introduced Peter Mourer as his appointee to the
Drinking Driver Task Force, and Brad Bell as
appointee to the Human Services Commission.
Regional Justice center Update. Wendy Keller,
Project Director, noted that the Regional Justice
Center is exactly one year away from opening.
She pointed out that the roof has already been
put on one of the fourteen detention housing
units. She explained that the borrowed light
concept was done where the light comes in through
the exercise yard and through the front of the
cells so that even on a gray day the weather can
be determined. She noted, however, that no one
can look through a window to observe who is
walking by the area. She also noted the steel
framing is being done in the Facilities and
Support section, that the second level is under
construction in the Detention Administration
area, that the brick facade is being done in
front of the Courts Building, and that the top of
the dome has been put up.
Keller explained that the project is still on
schedule after nine months of construction, but
that the Contractor has made a claim for some
days due to the heavy rains in November, the
55 mph wind day in which the site was closed down
and everything was tied down, and the freeze.
She noted that the concrete suppliers froze up
delaying a couple of very important slabs that
needed to be poured on the steel floors of the
courthouse. She explained that a formula was
created and an agreement made which allows the
Contractor thirteen additional days, and that
the opening for the Regional Justice Center which
was scheduled for February 14, 1997 will probably
open on February 26th based on the contract ad-
justment. She noted, however, that the thirteen
additional days are not compensable days so it
will cost the Contractor to run these additional
days and that he may not use all of them.
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC Keller noted that the scope of the project has
COMMUNICATIONS not been changed and that the budget has not been
exceeded. She explained that five change orders
have been processed with $50, 000 being spent
which is very minimal. She noted that the only
unusual issue to come up is parking for the
construction crew, but that an agreement is
currently being worked out between the construc-
tion company and the City. She also noted that
when the issue first came up it was taken to King
County and that 100 slots were obtained from the
Metro Lot for parking.
Upon Mayor White's question, Keller explained
that the large mound of dirt in the foreground of
the Courts Building is the last bit of dirt that
was used for the preload site and is serving as
an area where the additional top soil can be
stored until it is spread. She noted that the
front walk is currently being preloaded and that
there are two intersecting walks where this dirt
will be used. Keller also noted that the reason
the dirt is covered up is to avoid erosion
issues.
Asia Pacific Trade Exchange Report. Barbara
Ivanov, Executive Director of the Chamber of
Commerce, noted that the Asian company delegates
are from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore,
Malaysia, and Indonesia. She noted that the
Trade Exchange was held on November 1st and 2nd
at the Red Lion Sea-Tac Hotel, and that there
were over 450 business people hosted both from
the United States and Asia during this event.
She explained that, in addition to the ceremonial
pieces of the exchange, there is also real
business that takes place.
Ms. Ivanov noted that there were over 70 U.S.
companies who participated this year with a very
strong manufacturing delegation of which over 20%
of the companies involved are headquartered in
the Kent Valley. She explained that these com-
panies do not include the regional companies such
as Boeing Company or banks who count Kent as one
of their sites. She pointed out that the real
heart of what goes on is the business people from
all over the world joining together in the Kent
Valley looking to actually conduct business with
small and mid size companies that are becoming
export ready or are looking to grow their markets
internationally. She noted that this was the
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC most successful Asia-Pacific Trade Exchange. She
COMMUNICATIONS explained that in 1993 there were 38 new business
relationships created, in 1994 the expansion
continued and saw over twice the number of
exhibitors from the prior year, and in 1995 it
resulted in over 190 immediate trade leads
generated with more than $6, 000, 000 in immediate
trade sales commitments made. She stated that
participation in Kent-based companies were double
the size as in 1994 due to the effort of the Kent
Chamber to make sure the Kent Valley was strongly
represented.
Ms. Ivanov noted that the ribbon cutting ceremony
for the Foreign Trade Zone took place the second
day of the event, and that this zone is a strong
piece of what can be offered in the Kent trade
and transportation corridor, as it may become
known. She noted that the Apex Company, which
has its roots in the Alexander Trading Company,
is using the opening of the Foreign Trade Zone as
an integral part of their business plan when
looking for financing and expansion.
Scott Jackson, Tradec, expressed appreciation to
the Mayor and Council for their involvement,
leadership and sponsorship of this annual pro-
gram. He explained that the material distributed
to Council tonight has three basic documents for
review which are the evaluation report, trade and
transportation concept paper which tries to com-
municate things happening in the Kent Valley, and
an overview of the 1995 program.
Jackson pointed out that one very important
success for this year is that Washington State is
beginning to understand the true capacity and
activity of the Kent Valley in terms of trade and
transportation, as well as helping to build our
communities trade and transportation priorities
with the understanding that those are also the
State's priorities. He noted that the continuing
effort of the Council to meet with key stake
holders, both public and private, has been
critical in helping private industry gain
recognition that wasn't there before, along with
real business. He commented that there have
been several very significant developments in the
planning and preparation for 1996. He noted that
a very extensive review process was done led by
the Kent Chamber and a futures group. He
applauded Barbara Ivanov and the Kent Chamber
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC of Commerce Board for making a real effort to
COMMUNICATIONS look at the program in terms of the long-term
sustainability as well as making sure the
sponsorship is safeguarded by increasing private
sector financial participation. He noted that
the Chamber has also looked at how the program is
built in two very important ways as follows:
1) more focus and concentration on the Kent
Valley with Kent businesses the first and fore-
most priority; and 2) taking a look at how the
Asia-Pacific Trade Exchange programming and
promotional materials are integrated into sister
city relationships.
(REMOVED BY OPERATIONS DIRECTOR MCFALL)
King County Open Space Bond Issue Report.
Operations Director McFall requested that this
item be removed from tonight's agenda and re-
scheduled for the March 5th meeting. He noted
that the representative from the Open Space
Committee is not available this evening.
Legislative Update. Arthur Martin, Governmental
Affairs Manager, noted that the legislative
session has shifted into a very unusual time with
many bargaining chips on the table. He explained
that some pieces of legislation with fiscal
impacts on cities are on hold while the House
and Senate versions of the budget, which are
about $145, 000, 000 - $165, 000, 000 apart, are
negotiated.
Martin explained that the bill which would allow
the levy to be 106% or inflation, whichever is
lower, is in the House version of the budget
only, and that many feel the Senate will hold
fast. He noted, however, that the Senate has a
number of social issues in their budget which are
strong concerns and that he anticipates the levy
issue will pass in order to get the social spend-
ing requested. He noted that the other bills,
such as the rewrite of Ref. 48 - property rights,
have died. He explained that the bills arrived
at the Senate, but then Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen
said a hearing would not be held so the bills
died along with the lobbying issues where the
Mayor would represent the City. Martin explained
that all of the issues that were adversely going
to affect the cities are gone for this session,
but that they will appear again next year.
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC Martin explained that the one issue which was not
COMMUNICATIONS anticipated during the negotiating process with
the Regional Justice Center was parking for the
construction crews during the construction phase.
He noted that the City and County have gone back
into negotiations and that they are close to an
agreement which would give the City between
$30, 000-$40, 000 for parking in City facilities
while the site is under construction. He also
noted that an agreement has been reached on an
adjustment where the City had not anticipated the
cost of some equipment on the Police Enforcement
Van for the truck weights and that the scale
agreement was received today.
Report on Flooding. Public Works Director
Wickstrom noted that the worst area hit in the
City was located by the "S" curve on Central
Avenue in front of Carpinito Brothers which was a
result of internal flooding by the Mill Creek.
He explained that the worst day came on Thursday
morning when the Drainage Maintenance Supervisor
advised him that the river was going to run at
11,700 cu. ft. per second for seven days and that
12, 000 cu. ft. per second is the maximum that the
river can carry without overtopping the dikes.
He noted that one of the inspector's had seen
part of the levee going into the river by
Signature Pointe, and that another part of the
levee was lost during the December storm when
about 4, 000 feet of bank slid into the river.
He noted that the City was declared to receive
FEMA money to replace the levee. He informed the
Council that the river hit 12, 500 cu. ft. at one
point but is slowly receding.
Wickstrom explained that the rainfall during the
January, 1990 storm was 2.83 inches in one day,
in April of 1991 it was 2 .2 inches followed by
1.84 inches resulting in two days of heavy rain-
fall, and that this storm, with several gauges
located throughout the City, recorded 3 1/4
inches in one day on the East Valley Highway in
the Springbrook area. He noted that King County
had a gauge located out by the Lake Meridian
Shopping Center on the detention facility which
hit 4.4 inches in one day. Wickstrom noted that
the 100-year storm event projected to occur every
100 years is 3 .9 inches in a day, just to give
the Council an idea of how this storm measured
up. He noted that there was a great amount of
water to deal with and that eight-men crews were
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC running twenty-four hours a day on Thursday,
COMMUNICATIONS Friday and Saturday, but was reduced to four-men
crews for Sunday and Monday. He commended the
Fire and Parks Departments for helping to fill
and distribute over 3, 000 sandbags.
Wickstrom noted that about $80,000 was spent for
manpower, labor, equipment and tools. He ex-
plained that the main valley interceptor, the
sewer interceptor that runs through the valley
services all the way from Auburn to the Renton
Treatment Plant, was backed up and overflowing in
various locations. He noted that the water
sources at Clark Springs and Jenkins Creek were
one inch from going into the City's intake system
which is the overflow system for Kent's water,
and that it had to be shut off requiring the
system to run off the treatment plant at 212th.
He explained that that system is back online
without any major problems, and that the City was
extremely fortunate in terms of damage to the
system. He explained that there were four slides
involving apartments, one on the lower West Hill,
three on the lower East Hill, but that there were
no major road blowouts. He noted that there was
some minor erosion control or ditch shoulder work
damage that is already in the process of being
repaired and that the big expense to the City
appears to be the cleaning out of the Earthworks
Park or the presettling pond above the Earthworks
Park which is totally full.
Wickstrom explained that the recently approved
three-year rate increase in the drainage utility
identifies projects that will solve essentially
the valley flooding, but with areas like Naden
and the Kmart area on West Valley Highway which
drain to the river there aren't any real options
when the river is full. He noted that there is
nothing the City can do in those areas except to
go back into the area after the flooding and
drain it down. He noted that one of the many
projects the City will be doing is the Valley
Detention Basin/or the Lagoon Conversion Project
which will involve building 300-acre feet of
storage. He explained that an acre feet is one
acre covered with one-foot of water. He noted
that the trunk system was constructed and
completed recently and now the City is busy
constructing the detention basin at the end of
that system before it goes down the canyon on
98th which will provide another 56-acre feet of
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC storage when it goes into service to relieve the
COMMUNICATIONS flooding at the 212th interchange. Wickstrom
explained that these detention basins will give
the water a place to go during storm events and
will at least be controlled so the flooding will
not be seen at 212th, 180th and farther down in
Renton. He also noted that the Mill Creek on
Central Avenue is included in the three-year
capital improvement program recently approved by
Council and that all of the box culverts across
roads such as Central Avenue are being upgraded.
He explained that it will re-route the system
around Bowen-Scarff which presently goes under it
and put a new pipe through the freeway with a
whole bunch of box culverts on down through North
4th and 222nd allowing the water to flow down and
into the valley detention basin to relieve the
major flooding areas.
Mayor White commended the Public Works crew for
doing a tremendous job during this storm.
Chief Angelo noted that the City responded to
over 400 calls during the storm period with a
great deal of support from the public who helped
with sandbagging and pumping out of basements.
Chief Angelo explained that there are no cost
figures for overtime or physical damage to the
City as of yet, but that the estimate sent to
King County for damages is over $1, 000, 000. He
explained that the cost documented for damage to
business facilities within the community is at
$80, 000 at this point and that residential damage
is estimated at $338, 000. He noted that the
City has advertised in the media, on the City's
Cable TV channel, placed posters in many of the
businesses and major shopping areas which refers
to the FEMA number, and that damage estimates
will be known as people come forward with assess-
ments.
Angelo announced that for the next six weeks FEMA
will be operating out of the East Hill Fire
Station where the public can come in from all
over South King County to get direction on what
they can apply for as far as relief. He noted
that a meeting will be scheduled for the people
at the top and bottom of West Hill within the
next week to bring them all together with some
people from the State to help them better under-
stand what the long-term solutions are for their
particular situation. He noted that the City was
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February 20, 1996
PUBLIC very fortunate not to have any more injuries or
COMMUNICATIONS deaths than what was encountered, and that no
shelters were opened in the area simply because
most of the apartment managers were gracious
enough to help make arrangements for people
resulting in minimal impact to the City.
Upon Mayor White's request, Chief Angelo noted
how the public could access FEMA by calling
1-800-462-9029 which is in effect now for direct
assistance. He noted that FEMA is expected to be
at the East Hill Fire Station by Thursday or
Friday and that the address is 24611 - 116th S.E.
just south of 240th. He noted that FEMA will be
located inside the Administrative Area and that
the public can call the main business number at
859-3322 .
CONSENT HOUSER MOVED that Consent Calendar Items A
CALENDAR through P be approved. Orr seconded and the
motion carried.
MINUTES (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3A)
Approval of Minutes. APPROVAL of the minutes of
the regular Council meeting of February 6, 1996.
LAND USE & (PUBLIC HEARING - ITEM 2A)
PLANNING BOARD Land Use and Planning Board Ordinance. This date
has been set to consider an ordinance on a new
Land Use and Planning Board. In November 1995,
the city Council adopted Ordinance No. 3252
dissolving the Planning Commission, and desig-
nating the City Council Planning Committee as the
interim body until a new board is created.
Mayor White then declared the public hearing
open. There were no comments from the audience
and HOUSER MOVED to close the public hearing.
Orr seconded and the motion carried.
ORR MOVED to send the Land Use and Planning Board
draft ordinance to the Planning Committee at
their meeting of March 5th for final recom-
mendation to the full Council. Woods seconded
and the motion carried.
CITY CODE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3P)
AMENDMENTS (ADDED ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBER ORR)
Amendments to the Rent City Code Chapter 11.02
entitled "Environmental Review & Community Impact_
Mitigation. AUTHORIZATION to set March 5, 1996,
at 7: 00 p.m. as the date and time for a public
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February 20, 1996
CITY CODE hearing on amendments to the Kent City Code
AMENDMENTS Chapter 11. 02 entitled "Environmental Review and
Community Impact Mitigation. "
PARKS & (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3E)
RECREATION Rotary Club Donation. AUTHORIZATION to accept
the donation from the Rotary Club of Kent in the
amount of $9, 184. 00 for renovations to the Old
Fishing Hole, and to make the necessary budget
change.
In December, 1995 the Rotary Club of Kent donated
$9, 184 for the Old Fishing Hole. The project
involves installation of three picnic tables;
gravel for path around lake; native vegetation;
trash containers; signage; mini shelter to house
kiosk with interpretive signage; and materials
for interpretive signage around lake.
(CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3F)
Removal of SurRlus Houses. AUTHORIZATION to
remove three surplus houses located at 10134 SE
264th, 120 North Kennebeck, and 24623 Russell
Road by gift or donation. Interested parties
will be required to secure adequate insurance
protecting the City and comply with all rules and
regulations if relocating the houses within the
Kent City limits.
(CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3G)
Ring County Cultural Resources Youth Sports
Facilities Grant (YSFG) . AUTHORIZATION to accept
the grant from King County Cultural Resources in
the amount of $35, 950 for renovations to the
playground structure at Kiwanis Tot Lot #3, and
to make the necessary budget change.
On January 25, 1996, King County Cultural
Resources Department awarded Kent Parks a grant
for Kiwanis Tot Lot #3 renovations.
FIRE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3J)
DEPARTMENT Emergency Preparedness. AUTHORIZATION to set
Tuesday, April 9 , at 6: 00 p.m. as the date and
time for a tabletop exercise on emergency
preparedness. The workshop will be held in the
Council Chambers.
HEALTH & (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3H)
SANITATION Plat of Rose's Meadow. AUTHORIZATION to accept
the bill of sale for the Plat of Roses Meadow
submitted by Lakeridge Development, Inc. for
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February 20, 1996
HEALTH & continuous operation and maintenance of 1,263
SANITATION feet of sanitary sewers, as recommended by the
Public Works Director. The project is located at
26102 124th Avenue SE.
(CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3I)
Plat of Stillwater - Division One. AUTHORIZATION
to accept the bill of sale for the Plat of
Stillwater - Division 1 submitted by Lakeridge
Development, Inc. for continuous operation and
maintenance of 447 feet of sanitary sewers, as
recommended by the Public Works Director. The
project is located at 128th Avenue SE & SE 264th
Street.
(CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3L)
Golf Park, Inc. AUTHORIZATION to accept the bill
of sale for Golf Park, submitted by Golf Park,
Inc. for continuous operation and maintenance of
195 feet of waterline, and 1,497 feet of sanitary
sewers, as recommended by the Public Works
Director. The project is located at 9116 S.
212th Street.
FLOOD (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3N)
CONTROL Earthworks Detention and Settling Basin Emergency
Repair. ADOPTION of Resolution No. 1456 declar-
ing that an emergency exists with respect to
getting the Earthworks detention and settling
basin facility in shape to address the balance of
the winter storm, as recommended by the Public
Works Committee. As a result of the recent
flooding of February 8th/9th, the settling basin
is full of material washed down from Mill Creek
Canyon. As such, staff would like to take
advantage of the dry weather and clean the basin
in order to be ready for the next storm event.
Previous similar clean-ups have costs approxi-
mately $80, 000.
POLICE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 30)
(MOVED FROM OTHER BUSINESS ITEM 4B TO CONSENT
CALENDAR BY COUNCILMEMBER BENNETT)
Corrections Facility Health Services Contract.
ACCEPTANCE of the proposal from Occupational
Health Services for Jail Health Services, as
recommended by the Public Safety Committee.
The current Jail Health Services contract expires
on March 31, 1996. The Police Department adver-
tised for "Requests for Proposals" and after a
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February 20, 1996
POLICE complete review, recommends the proposal received
from Occupational Health Services.
ZONING CODE (OTHER BUSINESS - ITEM 4A)
AMENDMENT Modifications to Parking Stacking Boace -
2CA-96-1. The Land Use and Planning Board has
recommended approval of the proposed Zoning
Code Amendment to Kent City Code Section
15. 05. 040A. 1.c. This amendment would modify the
current parking stacking space requirement that
mandates an 18-foot driveway for garages. ORR
MOVED to approve Zoning Code Amendment ZCA-96-1
relating to Parking Stacking Space, and to direct
the City Attorney to prepare the necessary ordi-
nance. Johnson seconded and the motion carried.
SURPLUS (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3M)
EQUIPMENT Sale of SurRlus Equipment. AUTHORIZATION to
declare certain Equipment Rental vehicles, no
longer needed by the City, as surplus and author-
ize that they be sold at the State of Washington
auction, as recommended by the Public Works
Committee.
APPOINTMENTS (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3C)
Drinking Driver Task Force. CONFIRMATION of the
Mayor' s appointment of Peter Mourer to serve as
a member of the Drinking Driver Task Force.
Mr. Mourer is the Director of Kent Youth and
Family Services in Kent. He has worked in Kent
for the past eight years and previously served as
a member of the Kent Human Services Commission.
Mr. Mourer will replace Mark Shaw, whose term ex-
pired. This appointment will continue to 1/1/99 .
(CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3D)
Human Services Commission. CONFIRMATION of the
Mayor's appointment of Brad Bell to serve as
member of the Kent Human Services Commission.
Mr. Bell is a lifelong Kent resident and has his
own business in Kent, "Brad Bell and Associates. "
He currently serves as President of the Kent
Community Foundation, is a member of the Kent
Chamber of Commerce, and is a Past Distinguished
President of Meridian Kiwanis. He will repre-
sent the business category of the Commission.
Mr. Bell is looking forward to serving on the
Human Services Commission and is particularly
interested in children at risk. He will replace
Jason Hong, who resigned, and his appointment
will continue to 1/1/98 .
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February 20, 1996
COUNCIL (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3K)
Term Limits. AUTHORIZATION to set March 5, 1996,
at 7: 00 p.m. as the date and time for a public
hearing on Mayor and City Council term limits.
FINANCE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3B)
Approval of Bills. APPROVAL of payment of the
bills received through January 16 and paid on
January 31, 1996 after auditing by the Operations
Committee on February 7 , 1996.
Approval of checks issued for vouchers:
Date Check Numbers Amount
1/30/96 164384-164831 $1, 357,503 . 62
1/31/96 164832-165045 1, 347 , 274 . 84
$2,704 ,778.46
Approval of checks issued for payroll for
January 16 through January 31, 1996 and paid on
February 5, 1996:
Date Check Numbers Amount
2/5/96 Checks 209110-209458 $ 263, 662.55
Advices 31321-31852 558 ,453 .61
$ 822 , 116.16
REPORTS Operations Committee. Johnson announced that the
next meeting will be tomorrow at 4: 30 p.m.
Planning Committee. Orr announced that the next
meeting will be on March 5th at 4: 00 p.m. and
that a Land Use and Planning Board meeting will
also be held that same day.
Administrative Reports. Mayor White noted that
the Councilmembers have received a memo from his
office concerning the involvement of Kent with
three small Norwegian towns who want to join in a
sister city relationship. He explained that this
is being brought to the Council's attention
because it is a very preliminary relationship at
this point. He noted that Ms. Alana McIalwain is
heading up the Norwegian sister city program in
our Sister Cities Association and also the Sons
of Norway are very involved in establishing this
relationship.
Upon Mayor White' s question, Woods expressed that
she has no problem with the memorandum, but sug-
gested that it go to a committee for purposes of
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February 20, 1996
REPORTS fulfilling the usual routine or process. It was
the consensus of the Council to send this item to
the Operations Committee for its meeting
tomorrow.
EXECUTIVE At 7:45 p.m. , McFall reminded the Council of a
SESSION brief executive session of approximately 15
minutes to discuss potential litigation.
The meeting reconvened at 8: 00 p.m.
CLARK MOVED to adopt Resolution No. 1457 relating
to the bidding award in constructing the City's
Green River Natural Resources Enhancement Area
Stormwater Detention/Enhanced Wetland Area
Project. Bennett seconded and the motion
carried.
ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8 : 02 p.m.
L'�rz'�t
Donna Swaw
Deputy City Clerk
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