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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 04/02/1996 Kent, Washington April 2, 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 at the meeting. PUBLIC Employee of the Month. Mayor White announced COMMUNICATIONS that Kristen Langley, Assistant Traffic Engineer, has been selected as Employee of the Month for April. He noted that Ms. Langley is hard working and dedicated when dealing with the public and her co-workers, is always willing to provide information and guidance regarding technical traffic engineering issues, and exudes a friendly and accessible manner that makes working with her a pleasure. Traffic Engineer Ed White added that Ms. Langley always has a smile and a quick wit, and he is grateful to have her as an employee. Public Works Director Wickstrom agreed that Ms. Langley is a dedicated employee, and that she deserves this honor. Disaster Preparedness Month. The Mayor read a proclamation noting that the State of Washington has experienced natural and man-made disasters, and that the loss of life and property damage can be greatly reduced if appropriate disaster pre- paredness measures are taken before, during and after a disaster. He proclaimed the month of April 1996 as Disaster Preparedness Month in the City of Kent and encouraged all citizens to increase their knowledge and awareness of proper safety measures. The proclamation was presented to Fire Chief Angelo. certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Finance Director May Miller announced that the City of Kent has received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1994. She noted that this award is given by the Government Finance Officers Asso- ciation, and that receiving it is a significant accomplishment. After Miller presented the plaque to the Mayor, he asked that it be dis- played in the Finance Department. National Accreditation of Police Department. Mayor White noted that the Police Department began working toward national accreditation in 1 April 2 , 1996 PUBLIC 1993 . He explained that this recognition is COMMUNICATIONS granted by the Council on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, who sent three assessors to inspect Kent's policies and agency as a whole. He noted that on March 23 , 1996, the department was granted accreditation. Police Chief Crawford and Lt. Lorna Rufener expressed appreciation to the Mayor and Council for their support, as well as to Officer John Pagel for his involvement. CONSENT HOUSER MOVED that Consent Calendar Item A CALENDAR through L 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 March 19, 1996. STREET (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3C) VACATION Russell Road Street Vacation. ADOPTION of Resolution No. 1466 setting a hearing date of May 7th for the Russell Road Street Vacation, as recommended by the Public Works Committee. The Public Works Department has received a request from The Lakes L.L.C. for vacation of a portion of Russell Road. PUBLIC WORKS (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3I) Valley Detention Project. AUTHORIZATION to transfer $230, 000 from the 1993 Drainage Bond fund (D16) to the Valley Detention fund (D36) for the construction of a nursery, as recommended by the Public Works Committee. The nursery would eliminate contracting out for landscape plant- ings. There is approximately $230, 000 of unobligated funds in the 193 Drainage Bond fund which could be transferred to the Valley Detention fund for this purpose. SOLID WASTE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3L) Amendment to Kent City Code Regarding Solid Waste Permits. ADOPTION of Ordinance No. 3289 amending Section 7 . 03 . 020 of the Kent City Code which denotes collection by a collection company, as recommended by the Public Works Committee. EQUIPMENT (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3H) RENTAL Ectuipment Rental Purchases - Agreements. AUTHORIZATION for the Mayor to execute an agreement with the City of Seattle and Island County for the purpose of enabling the City to purchase three tractor mowers and one backhoe 2 April 2 , 1996 EQUIPMENT from their equipment bid contract, as recommended RENTAL by the Public Works Committee. Purchasing this equipment through these 'two agencies will provide a substantial savings to Kent. The funds for this equipment have been approved in the 196 Equipment Rental budget. PLANNING (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3K) Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development Grant Acceptance. AUTHORIZATION to accept a grant in the amount of $150, 000 received from DCTED (under the Growth Management and Environmental Review Fund) to do a Downtown Subarea Plan, and approval to proceed with the project. This grant is matched from the general fund with $25, 000 of in-kind match labor, and the $25, 000 set aside in the 1996 budget for a Downtown Market Analysis. COMMUNITY (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3J) DEVELOPMENT Community Development Block Grant Consortium BLOCK GRANT Status. AUTHORIZATION for the Mayor to send a letter to County Executive Gary Locke stating that the City of Kent desires to continue to participate as a pass-through City in the King County CDBG Consortium for the years 1997-1999, as recommended by the Planning Committee. PLATS (OTHER BUSINESS - ITEM 4B) Benson Highlands Preliminary Plat SU-95-10. The Hearing Examiner has recommended conditional approval of an application by Baima & Holmberg for Keith Benson for a 13-lot single family residential preliminary subdivision (SU-95-10) . The property is located at 11208 SE 244th Street in Kent. ORR MOVED to accept the findings of the Hearing Examiner and adopt the Hearing Examiner's recommendation of approval with thirty-eight (38) conditions of the Benson Highlands 13-lot single family residential preliminary subdivision. Woods seconded and the motion carried. (OTHER BUSINESS - ITEM 4C) Mack Preliminary Plat SU-95-2. The Hearing Examiner has recommended conditional approval of an application by Baima & Holmberg for William Finkbeiner for a 35-lot single family residential preliminary subdivision. The property is located at 11047 SE 264th Street in Kent. ORR MOVED to accept the findings of the Hearing Examiner and adopt the Hearing Examiner's recommendation of approval with fifteen (15) conditions of the Mack 3 April 2, 1996 PLATS 35-lot single family residential preliminary subdivision. Houser seconded and the motion carried. (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3F) Correction to Zoning Ordinance. AUTHORIZATION to set April 16, 1996, as the hearing date to con- sider amendments to the Single Family Development Standards Ordinance (#ZCA-95-8) . POLICE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3D) Domestic Violence Code Amendment. ADOPTION of Ordinance No. 3287 amending the Kent City Code relating to Domestic Violence, specifying which crimes are domestic violence crimes. (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3E) Inattentive Driving Penalty Amendment. ADOPTION of Ordinance No. 3288 amending the Kent City Traffic Code to change the mandatory penalty for inattentive driving. TERM LIMITS (OTHER BUSINESS - ITEM 4A) Term Limits Ordinance. The City Council, during its regularly scheduled meeting of March 19, adopted Ordinance No. 3283 establishing term limits for the Mayor and the City Council. On March 21, 1996, the Mayor vetoed this ordinance. This matter is being presented at the council's request to consider an override of the Mayor's veto and the adoption of this ordinance. EPPERLY MOVED to override the Mayor's veto of Ordinance No. 3283 on term limits. Houser seconded. Epperly said that an ordinance on term limits was a campaign promise she had made. She noted for Clark that Russ Stringham had recently filed an initiative petition which she co-sponsored. She said there is support in the community and introduced a petition containing 32 signatures. Clark noted that the petition states that "the people of this city will be best served by citi- zen legislators who are subject to a reasonable degree of rotation in office". He said that any time there is a reform in government, it should be something that makes government better. He questioned whether there is something wrong with the way the city is running right now. Epperly said that people had brought the ordinance to her, and that there isn't anything wrong with the 4 April 2 , 1996 TERM LIMITS way the Council currently operates. Clark pointed out that the petition states that "extended incumbency discourages qualified citizens from seeking public office" . He said this is a distortion of facts, since in the 1993 Council election there were three seats up for election (two incumbents and one open seat) and nine candidates, so candidates were not discouraged from running for office against an incumbent. He added that in the last election there were four seats open and there were at the very least two candidates for every seat. He questioned the basis for the phrase "discourages qualified citizens from seeking public office". Epperly responded that it takes money and backing to run for office and that she has found that the money usually follows the person of power or the person who has been in office. She said she feels money is provided by electability, which is discouraging. She said that there have been elections where no one ran at all. Clark reiterated that any changes to government should be for the better, and that this is a citizen-formed government. He explained that it is non-partisan, that only residents of the city are eligible to serve, and that serving does not pay very well and takes a lot of time. He said the concept of getting rid of people who serve on a council who happen to have the institutional memory of policy-making is to destroy the effec- tiveness of the council. He said council is dependent upon staff to deliver facts and opinions in dealing with issues, and that re- solving issues requires a full-fledged debate to bring to light facts and issues that are related to the decision that has to be made. He said to take out people who have been through many of these issues in the past runs the risk of making uninformed decisions, and that this takes place with continual public review of the officials because all must stand for election, and he reiterated that the city has not lacked for can- didates. He said the petition is not based on facts and questioned the motivation. Orr said there are merits on both sides of the issue, and that an election is where people decide who their representatives are. She said she will support the ordinance presented two weeks ago, because the initiative as written is 5 April 2 , 1996 TERM LIMITS retroactive, which means that two experienced Councilmembers would be out at the time of the next election, regardless of what the public thought, and at the following election two more would be out, resulting in a change in the majority of the Council in four years time, which she feels is not in the best interest of the public. She said that Ordinance 3283 is not retroactive and it gives the public the opportu- nity to make changes as Councilmembers retire or move on to other things. She also stated that an election would cost between $30, 000 and $40, 000, which could be saved by adopting the term limits ordinance and giving it a chance to see if it works. She added that a future Council could make a change if they felt it was appropriate. Woods noted that she was not present at the last Council meeting and that philosophically she is opposed to term limits. She said she respects what is being proposed and what others have said, but that this is not a burning issue with her, even though she feels that going to the polls and voting people in and out is the appropriate thing to do. Upon a roll call vote, the motion to override the Mayor's veto of Ordinance No. 3283 carried 5-2 , with Clark and Woods opposed. PARKS & (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3G) RECREATION Riverbend Driving Range Re-lighting Project. ACCEPT as complete the Driving Range Re-lighting Project at the Riverbend Golf Complex, and release retainage to RMA, Inc. upon receipt of state releases. FINANCE (CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEM 3B) Approval of Bills. APPROVAL of payment of the bills received through March 15 and paid on March 15, after auditing by the Operations Committee on March 20, 1996, and signing for approval in the Finance Department members. Approval of checks issued for vouchers: Date Check Numbers Amount 3/15/96 166049-166697 $1, 364, 311.53 6 April 2 , 1996 FINANCE Approval of checks issued for payroll for March 1 through March 15 and paid on March 20, 1996: Date Check Numbers Amount 3/20/96 Checks 210114-210436 $ 265, 999. 31 Advices 32718-33162 572 , 297 .83 $ 838, 297 . 14 REPORTS Council President. Houser reminded the Council that the City's "Guide To Services" phone book will contain home phone numbers for the Council- members unless they contact her before the next edition is printed. Operations Committee. Johnson announced that the Committee will meet at 4 : 30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3rd. Planning Committee. Orr announced that the Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:00 p.m. Administrative Reports. Mayor White noted that mayors from Norway will soon be visiting, and asked that Councilmembers contact his office regarding attending a luncheon or reception on April 23 . Operations Director McFall reminded the Council that a tabletop exercise will be held at 6: 00 p.m. on April 9, regarding emergency preparedness. EXECUTIVE At 7: 30 p.m. , McFall announced an executive SESSION session of approximately thirty minutes to discuss property acquisition and pending litigation. The meeting reconvened at 8: 05 p.m. Property Acquisition. JOHNSON MOVED to authorize the Mayor to sign the Purchase and Sale Agreement with Centennial Venture Limited Partnership for the purchase of Centennial Center properties and authorization to proceed with Lehman Brothers for issuance of Councilmanic Bonds in an amount not to exceed $12 .4 million to finance said purchase. Woods seconded and the motion carried. Pending Litigation. JOHNSON MOVED to approve settlement of eminent domain action between the City of Kent and AMB Investments, Inc. , et. al. , 7 April 2 , 1996 EXECUTIVE King County Superior Court Cause No. 94-2-29228- SESSION 5, of $1,775, 000 plus reasonable costs and attorney fees, subject to fulfillment of all specified terms and conditions negotiated by the City and subject to approval of final language by the City Attorney. Woods seconded and the motion carried. ADJOURNMENT There was no further business to come before the Council and the meeting adjourned at 8: 10 P.M. Ica-) ��. Brenda Ja ober, CMC City Cle 8