Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations - 04/01/1988 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES April 1 , 1988 COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Christi Houser Steve Dowell STAFF PRESENT: Brent McFall Tony McCarthy 1 May Miller Neil Sullivan John Hillman OTHERS PRESENT: Lyle Price, Kent News Journal Suzette Cook, Chamber of Commerce APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS All claims for the period ending March 31 , 1988, in the amount bf $1 ,684,723.70 were approved for payment. GOLF COURSE FINANCING Finance Director McCarthy distributed information to the Committee showing the total estimated cost of the River Bend Golf Course at $5,986,568.00. This includes land costs of $1 ,465,535. He noted that $736,347 of the land cost would be paid for with funds from the Riverfront land acquisition account of $436,347, the Commons parking account of $250,000 and the Milf Creek Trail account of $50,000. This would leave an amount to be bonded of $5,250,220. He noted that the contribution was required to reduce the size of the bond issue to comply with the City's financial advisors' request to improve the bond issue debt coverage to 1 .5 x annual debt service. At the request of Councilman Dowell , City Administrator McFall noted that the cost of the project had exceeded original estimates in two areas. One in the area of the land costs where the Dugan property was purchased in lieu of other cheaper property. Additionally, Mr. McFall noted that the cost of the support facility was substantially above budget, the original intent was to purchase a portable-type building to serve as a club house, but after further analysis and discussion with the Parks Committee, the feeling was that a more appropriate club house should be built. � Operations Committee Minutes April 1 , 1988 Page 2 In addition to presenting information on project costs, Finance Director McCarthy explained the revenue and expenditure forecasts noting that the golf course should generate over $500,000 of annual income to cover its debt service payments, thus meeting the commitments from the Council that the course be self-sufficient. Following this presentation, he noted the two items will appear on the April 5 Council Calendar: (1 ) approving the transfer of funds for payment of the Dugan property, and (2) the approval of the bid amount for the support facilities. The actual revenue bonds will not be sold probably until June as the City and the financial advisors work out the details of the bond issue. On an interim basis, the golf course construction fund is paying interest to the General Fund for interim project costs. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE GRANT REQUESTS Suzette Cook, Chamber Executive Director, explained to the Committee that the Chamber is applying for a state grant for economic development to provide technical assistance to businesses. The assistance will be in the form of a survey of employees and businesses and an analysis of transportation management issues and their effect on business operations. Also, a component of the proposal would be the development of the Chamber of Commerce office as a resource center for businesses. The Chamber, at this time, anticipates writing a $25,000 proposal in hopes of obtaining a $12,500 grant from the state. Additional contributions are expected from the broker-developer community. KDA has pledged $3,000 from sale of maps and the Chamber is interested in the City or the City's Economic Development Corporation's participation of a $5,000 amount. OF Operations Committee Minutes April 1 , 1988 Page 3 At the request of Councilman Dowell , a discussion was held on whether the study could be targeted strictly to small businesses. Ms. Cook explained that the survey would be primarily employees of businesses and they would want a survey those employees at large businesses to determine how their shopping habits may affect small businesses. Also, it was desirous in the study to determine how much businesses bought from each other and knew about each other, and therefore, all businesses would be surveyed. Following this presentation, the Committee recommended that theCouncil endorse the concept, but recommended that the Economic Development Corporation be approached for the $5,000 funding. A presentation on this item will be made under "Other Business" at the April 5 Council meeting. COMMUTER RAIL STUDY At the request of Mayor Dan Kelleher, this item is brought to the Operation's Committee to consider the allocation of $50,000 from the City's Capital Improvement Fund as a joint effort to conduct a commuter rail study. The study is anticipated to cost approximately a $400,000 ; the State has appropriated $55,000; Auburn has agreed to a $50,000 contribution. King County, Seattle, Tukwila, Renton and Kent are anticipated to be other equal participants. The study will analyze the ridership ,and the feasibility of a commuter rail in the area, and is needed to obtain Council of Government (COG) approval , Rail Commission approval , and hopefully, a state appropriation for the project. The Committee seemed supportive of the project but did not want-, to be the only participants in the project. They asked that a motion be drafted ,such that the City's participation is contingent upon successful negotiation with other cities on their participation. Operations Committee Minutes April 1 , 1988 Page 4 WASHINGTON CITIES INSURANCE AUTHORITY HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENT City Administrator McFall noted that this was strictly a housekeeping amendment that delved into two areas. The first amendment was ,needed to insure that the cities desirous of participating in only one of the authority's insurance programs was not thrown out of the progr4m by not participating in others. This amendment was required because Initially the authority only handled liability insurance but now has the ability to administer property and worker's compensation insurance. These programs are separate programs and all members are not required to be a member of all pools. ,, The second aspect of the housekeeping amendment related to termination of a member city for nonpayment of premiums. The original agreement talked about termination within 180 days. Now, with the authority being ovor 70 members, it was felt that this constraint needed to be tightened and reouced to a 60-day notice. PURCHASING FROM LOCAL VENDORS At the request of Councilman Dowell , a discussion was held on the issue of purchasing from local vendors. It was noted that the City had made a purchase of items inside the City of Puyallup and Councilman Dowell noted that doing such, we lost the sales tax on that purchase, plus travel time associated with the purchase. Councilman Dowell requested that where possibl,q, we look to purchase locally, assuming that the local price is competitiv6. A discussion was held on the City's efforts to review its centralized purchasing procedure, including the total cost concept of pulsing which would attempt to determine an adequate level of purchasing ,C�r�rol without establishing a substantial administrative overhead. Operations Committee Minutes April 1 , 1988 Page 5 OFFICE SPACE SITE City Administrator McFall brought the Committee up-to-date on the potential hangups with constructing a facility on City-owned property adjacent to City Hall . He noted that a 1959 state law determined that a transaction, where the City leased the property to a private developer who built a facility and leased a portion of that facility back to the City, would count,against the City councilmanic debt capacity if, at the end of the lease tern, the property reverted to the City. In order to overcome this, Brent proposed the option of selling the property to the developer, having the developer build and then the City lease the property with an option to buy at a future date, The Committee. had some questions about this, and proposed other possible downtown spac,o for either rental or site development. Based on the input, Brent asked for permission to develop an RFP which had two components: (1 ) request be to build on the City site, with the sale of property and the lease-back with option to buy arrangements, (2) to build on a site proposed by a developer. A third option, but not part of the proposal , would be the outright leasing of existing office space in the area. Looking at all options, the Committee felt comfortable with Brent proceeding in this direction. 66F-Ol F