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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Works/Planning - 11/28/1994Fn PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE DEC 13 1994 NOVEMBER 28, 1994 CITY OF KENT CITY CLERK PRESENT: Tim Clark Gary Gill Jim Bennett Tom Brubaker Don Wickstrom Mr & Mrs Rust ABSENT: Paul Mann MCI Metro Franchise Agreement Brubaker noted that the information included in the Committee packet had not been agreed upon between the two parties, however MCI is eager to get it under way and this will start the process. Brubaker said that he introduced the agreement at this meeting because by law, a franchise cannot be passed the same day it is introduced. He requested that the franchise agreement be moved forward as soon as the language is finalized. Brubaker said that MCI Metro is a complex corporate subsidiary linked to MCI; they are trying to go head-to-head in competition with US West; they are building fibre optic rings in the region and some will go through Kent; there are fibre optic loops which will be interconnected and people will be able to feed into these loops to transmit high speed vast amounts of data. He explained that they will be installing the'loops' thru the City of Kent which they may increase in number, or expand in complexity as time goes by. In response to Tim Clark, Brubaker said the length of time on the agreement is 10 years. Clark then stated that when he sees " data compression" and those types of things, clearly they can go head-to-head with some of these other things; however they try to change things on a national level, then they will come back and try it again on a state level - their interaction with government in terms of setting prices would be done at the state level rather than city level. Clark stated that as soon as we grant them (MCI) this; they lay the cable; get things taken care of at the state level; we would already have given them the right-of-way and we would be "out of the loop". Brubaker said that we do not have the rate making authority - this belongs exclusively in the jurisdiction of the WA Utilities & Transportation Commission. Clark asked if the opportunity was available for some of our people in this area to learn the uses of this technology. Since they (MCI) are using our public right-of-way, can we create this as an opportunity to both enhance our own people in this area and possibly make it available to schools and libraries? Brubaker stated that he would bring this up with MCI. He suggested that someone from MCI should speak directly to the Committee for more clarification. Brubaker stated that he is open to ideas regarding bargaining with MCI and noted however that we do not have alot of leverage because we are not allowed to charge a franchise fee, which is our standard way of getting our compensation from a franchise. He said it is similar to Puget Power - the state restricts our ability to charge them a fee because those fees get passed on to the consumer. In response to Bennett, Brubaker said in the past three years we granted a franchise to MCI, the parent company and a franchise to Electric Lightwave, both of which were for 10 years. Clark asked if we could include a rider stating that ownership of the right-of-way would revert back to the City should they (MCI) ever sell the franchise. Brubaker said that transfer of ownership is very complex and he will look into this request. After additional discussion, it was decided by the Committee that this item needs to be reviewed further and will be brought back to the January 9th Public Works meeting. University Savings Street Vacation Wickstrom explained that Public Works has received a vacation request near the Lakes Development at Russell Road He stated that at this time we are requesting authorization to set a public hearing date. Clark questioned whether this street vacation would increase a traffic flow problem, but Wickstrom assured him it would not. Wickstrom again stated that we are obligated to hear the petitioner and by resolution we would be setting that date. Committee unanimously recommended the adoption of a Resolution setting the hearing date for University Savings Street Vacation. Mill Creek Interlocal Agreement - Amendment Wickstrom explained that this is an extension of an existing Agreement and we will be working with King County and Auburn in trying to come up with a flood reduction plan for Auburn -Mill Creek. He said this is essentially to finish off the feasibility study on various proposed options and we would then start drawing up a plan. In response to Clark's question on any significant expenditure as the feasibility study goes out, Wickstrom said that we have already been budgeted for this amount. Committee unanimously recommended authorizing the Mayor to sign the amendment to the Mill Creek Interlocal Agreement. -• -•. . 'c• •i Wickstrom stated that this is Van Doren's Landing and Birtcher Frank is selling parcels in these LIN and they want to segregate out their assessment on those individual parcels so they can pay those portions off. Committee unanimously recommended Council adopt Resolutions for segregation of Assessments #45 and #46 in LID 327 and similarly for Assessments #6, #7 and #8 in LID 330. ADDED ITEMS: Brubaker stated that earlier Resolutions had been prepared for these same two LID's (327 and 330) for different assessment. However, the Resolutions submitted to Council at that time showed incorrect assessment numbers and he requested that an amendment be adopted on the earlier Resolutions to clarify the numbers. Committee unanimously recommended that an amendment to the existing Resolution for segregation of assessments on LID 327 and 330 be adopted for clarification of assessment numbers. 108th Street Walkway In response to Bennett's question on the status of the bussing situation, Wickstrom said that we are meeting with the various community organizers to go over this item and hope to get some resolutions made. Wickstrom said that the bussing situation with the school was a dead issue and that it can't continue on forever. Meeting adjourned: 5:30 p.m.