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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 05/05/2015 •KENT 'P Kent City Council Meeting Minutes xcNt� Kent City Council Meeting Minutes May 5, 2015 The regular meeting of the Kent City Council was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Mayor Cooke. Councilmembers present: Ralph, Berrios, Boyce, Fincher, Higgins, Ranniger, and Thomas. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA FROM COUNCIL ADMINISTRATION OR STAFF. Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson confirmed that a copy of the revised letter for Council approval under Item 71-, Federal Way Link Extension City Council Preferred Alternative - Authorize, is located at their seats on the dais. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS A. Public Recognition - Mayor Cooke announced that Councilmember Bill Boyce was chosen as the Kent Chamber of Commerce Local Government Employee of the Year. B. Historical Note from Kent's 125 Years - Mayor Cooke communicated that Van Doren's Landing was a boat landing where crops used to be loaded onto barges and brought to Pike Place Market. She noted that the Green River was used for the journey to and from the market. C. Proclamation for National Public Works Week - Mayor Cooke presented the proclamation to Joe Kraft, Street Signs Maintenance Worker II and Katie Fischnaller, Storm Maintenance Worker III from the Public Works Department. She thanked the Public Works Department for their work throughout the City of Kent and providing services that bring our City to life. Chad Bieren thanked the City Council for the proclamation and announced that the National Public Works Week event will be held on May 18 at the ShoWare Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Council President Ralph communicated that the Public Works Week event is a great event for any children and also encouraged residents to attend. D. Employee of the Month Announcement - Mayor Cooke mistakenly stated that the May Employee of the Month was Janene Schellhase, Probation Supervisor. She announced that Officer Schellhase received the Misdemeanant Corrections Association (MCA) "Supervisor of the Year" award. The May Employee of the Month will be identified at the May 19 Council meeting. E. Community Events - Councilmember Ranniger stated that the Junior Olympics Track Meet is at French Field on May 9. She noted that the event is free and starts at 9 am and concludes around 4 p.m. 1 Kent City Council Meeting Minutes Mayor Cooke noted that Tammy Perdue, Chief Prosecutor has been selected to receive the `Outstanding Service Award" from the Municipal Attorney's Association. Mayor Cooke noted that Tammy is the third employee in the Kent Law Department to receive the award that has only been around for 15 years. F. Economic and Community Development Report — Ben Wolters, Economic and Community Development Director communicated that the Federal Aviation Administration did not choose the City of Kent as the location of their new regional headquarters and that his staff is revisiting the marketing plan for the Par 3 site in a meeting with Jones Lang LeSalle. He stated that there is still development interest for a mixed use facility there with residential and retail. He stated that the roadmap will lead to a competitive process for the Mayor, Council and staff to evaluate proposals. He continued and noted that the Sound Transit Link Light Rail public comment period ends May 26 and encouraged the public to comment. He noted that a letter has been prepared for the Mayor and Council President to endorse and send to Sound Transit concerning a preferred alignment. The preferred option, he highlighted, is an Interstate 5 alignment with a recommendation that a pedestrian bridge connect it to Highline College. Mayor Cooke highlighted that on Thursday, May 7, there will be a public hearing on the draft EIS statement at the Highline College student union building. Wolters continued and discussed the Comprehensive Plan Update. He noted that the second public hearing is on May 11 at the Land Use and Planning Board meeting and recommendations will be made to the Council in June. He announced that Blue Origin launched their rocket on April 29 and the Association of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) International held their conference in Kent at CenterPointe. He noted that the conference was covered in the Kent Reporter and the Seattle Times. He also stated that Green River College, the University of Washington, and the State Department of Commerce are getting together to work on creating a UAV education and product prototyping facility. He noted that the Green River College is having "IT Meetups" and the first one is on May 14 to allow for IT business startups to network. He highlighted that Breedt Production, Tooling, and Design won the Seattle Magazine Manufacturing Award for Most Innovative Small-sized Manufacturer in 2015 and OMAX won the award for Best Mid-size Manufacturing Firm of 2015. He also noted that Airways Brewery and Bistro won the Excellence on Main Street Award at the Revitalize WA 2015: State Main Street Program Conference and Suzanne Cameron also won the Volunteer of the Year Award. Wolters noted that the "Art Walk" and "Wine Walk" have been great artistic events in the downtown core. He noted that the energy has bolstered interest in the Post Office building and the arrival of Michael Tolleson has been very positive to downtown Kent. He noted that he is an ambassador for the City and is doing very good things for artists and the businesses downtown. He noted that Agave Cocina and Cantina is moving into Kent and will be occupying the former Cal's space at Kent Station. Wolters revealed that the ShoWare Center and a Thunderbirds game were utilized to bring the owners of Agave to Kent and they are excited to be here. He stated that Macrina Bakery is moving their flagship bakery operation into Kent and they were excited about the "made in back and sold in front" concept in order to have them conduct retail sales from the front of their business. 2 II Kent City Council Meeting Minutes G. Intergovernmental Reports - Council President Ralph communicated that next week she is attending the Transportation Policy Board, the Watershed Resource Inventory Area 9, King County Flood Control District Advisory Committee, and the South County Area Transportation Board meetings and will have a report ready for the next Council meeting. Councilmember Higgins communicated that his next Sound Cities Association Board meeting is May 19 and the Regional Transit Committee meeting is the same day, so he won't have a report until the first meeting in June. Councilmember Fincher communicated that the King Conservation District has created an online survey to collect information from farmers to determine what the infrastructure needs are for storing and distributing foods in the area. Councilmember Boyce stated that the next Sound Cities Association Policy Issues Committee meeting is May 13. PUBLIC HEARING None. PUBLIC COMMENT None. CONSENT CALENDAR Council President Ralph moved to approve Consent Calendar Items A through L, seconded by Councilmember Thomas. Motion carried 7-0. A. Approval of the minutes — Approve. The minutes of the workshop and regular council meeting of April 21 2015 were approved. B. Payment of Bills — Approve. Bills received through March 31 and paid on March 31 after auditing by the Operations Committee on April 21 2015 were approved. C. Consultant Services Agreement with ICF Jones & Stokes, Inc., for Wetland Delineations for the South 2241h Street Project — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign the Consultant Services Agreement with ICF Jones & Stokes, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $38,906.47 to provide wetland delineation and preparation of a wetland mitigation plan for Phase 1 of the South 224th Street Improvement Project, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the City Attorney and Public Works Director. D. Joint Utility Trench Agreement with Comcast for the SR-516 — S 231" Way Levee Improvements Project — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign the Joint Utility Trench Agreement between the City of Kent and Comcast for the underground conversion of the overhead utilities for the SR-516 to S 231st Way Levee 3 Kent City Council Meeting Minutes Project, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the City Attorney and Public Works Director. E. Goods & Services Agreement with U.S. Bank for Banking Services — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign the contract with US Bank for the City's primary banking services subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the Finance Director and City Attorney. F. Amendment to Maintenance Contract with Preferred Copier Systems for City MFD's — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign an amendment extending the Goods and Services Agreement with Preferred Copier Systems in an amount not to exceed $100,000 through 12-31-2015 for maintenance of the City's fleet of Ricoh Multifunction Copier/Printer Devices (MFD's) subject to terms and conditions acceptable to the City Attorney and Information Technology Director. G. Consultant Agreement with ETC Institute for Citizen Survey — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign a Consultant Services Agreement with ETC Institute, in an amount not to exceed $24,800.00, to conduct a survey of Kent citizens on the topic of parks and recreation services, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the Parks Director and City Attorney. H. 2014 Fourth Quarter Fee-in-Lieu Funds Allocation — Accept and Amend. Accept $79,509.00 for Fee-in-Lieu-of funds and amend the Community Parks Reinvestment Budget. I. Public Works Agreement with Skycorp. Ltd. for Demolition of Vacant Structures on SE 216th — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign a Public Works Agreement with Skycorp Ltd, in an amount not to exceed $60,733.13, for the demolition and removal of designated structures and debris at 13427 and 13525 SE 216th Street in Kent, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the Parks Director and City Attorney. J. Public Works Agreement with Eastside Electric for Re-lamping and Inspection at Kent Memorial Park and Hogan Park at Russell Road — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign the Public Works Agreement with Eastside Electric for $32,105.40 to re-lamp and inspect the athletic field lighting at Kent Memorial Park and Hogan Park at Russell Road, subject to the final terms and conditions acceptable to the Parks Director and City Attorney. K. Easement with Puget Sound Energy for Access at the Riverbend Golf Complex — Authorize. The Mayor was authorized to sign a nonexclusive perpetual easement with Puget Sound Energy granting access at Riverbend Golf Complex, for the purpose of electrical utility system maintenance, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the Parks Director and City Attorney. L. Federal Way Link Extension City Council Preferred Alternative — Authorize. The Mayor and Council President were authorized to sign a Draft Environmental Impact 4 i I Kent City Council Meeting Minutes Statement comment letter to the Sound Transit Board outlining the City's preferred alignment and station alternative for the Federal Way Link Extension. OTHER BUSYNESS A. Business & Occupation Tax Amendment — Reconsideration of Ordinance after Mayoral Veto. i Mayor Cooke announced that this item passed the Council at the last meeting and she vetoed the item. She communicated that it is back in front of the Council for consideration. She noted that it is the same ordinance that was authorized by the Council and it is to amend the Business and Occupation tax code by allocating all revenue received, after payment of necessary administrative costs, to the maintenance and improvement of the City's existing street system beginning January 1, 2017. She added that the veto letter is also included in the Council packet. Councilmember Thomas moved to adopt Ordinance No. 4147, amending the Business and Occupation tax code by allocating all revenue received, after payment of necessary administrative costs, to the maintenance and improvement of the City's existing street system beginning January 1, 2017. , seconded by Councilmember Boyce. Councilmember Thomas communicated that this item was debated and the amended main motion was reviewed at the last meeting. Councilmember Higgins stated that he has altered his position since the meeting two weeks ago and will vote no to sustain the Mayor's veto. He stated that he reviewed the notes from the meeting of October 16, 2012 to review the discussion that took place. He stated that the Council majority specifically spoke to the need of repairing the City's bond rating and doing it without a sunset clause for the ordinance. He communicated that this was put into place to increase the City's bond rating and that is what has happened. He expressed concerns that going back would cause the bond rating agencies to reconsider their rating. He felt the Council honored the original intent of the B&O tax as it was stated at that meeting on October 16, 2012. He noted that $4.7 million has been allocated every year to fix the arterials. He said there has been some grumbling about the City spending some of the funds on traffic signals, sidewalks, and sidewalk crossings. However, he felt all of those expenditures are a part of having safe and well-functioning arterials. He highlighted that of the $6.2 million raised in B&0, 1,653 businesses paid and out of those, 405 of them contributed 90 percent of the B&O revenues. Bottom line, he stated there needs to be more conversation about this because a small number is paying the majority of the tax. He said he would venture a guess that the companies that are paying this amount are larger. He noted that in principal the B&O is a bad tax because it taxes gross receipts and the City isn't allowed to tax net receipts by state law. Therefore, he stated, complaints about this tax should be directed at the City's representatives in Olympia. He also said it isn't right to consider this outside the normal budget process because the City scrambles to identify solutions to the budget without solutions. This will cause issues in the future when discussion begins on the next biennial budget. He noted that he also doesn't want to influence the Financial Sustainability Task Force and wants 5 Kent City Council Meeting Minutes them to look at the whole picture without feeling influenced by any recent actions of the Council. He said it isn't in the interest of the business community to see the bond rating lowered again and it also isn't in the interest of the business community to operate in a City that can't flexibly respond to reality. He stated that sustaining the Mayor's veto is the best thing for Kent and urged Councilmembers to also vote no. Councilmember Ranniger communicated that she voted no two weeks ago and will vote no now because she is concerned with harming the Bond rating. This would create an increasing imbalance on funds spent on roads, IT, Parks, etc. She added that it doesn't make sense to put that kind of restraint on this. She said the Mayor noted that $7.2 million is spent on roads and in contrast, $500,000 is spent on capital for Parks, and $1.7 is spent on IT projects. Councilmember Boyce expressed support for the motion. He said when the businesses were communicated the Council expressed the need to fix the roads. He also stated that the Council should be careful when discussing that this could affect the City's bond rating. He stated that it will take a while for the City to get into the hole the City is in and it will take a while to get out. Councilmember Berrios stated that he would be supporting this item because he was one of the business owners that had this presented to him by the Council with the projects identified that the B&O would be used for. He stated that there was resistance at the time and the leadership at the Chamber worked with its members to trust the Council. He noted that the Chamber presented a letter to the Council and what ended up happening was the business community was misled. He stated that he ran for City Council because of that. He also noted that he has to pay B&O regardless of profits. He stated that when the Council says one thing and decides to use that money for something else there is a fundamental problem. He noted that at the workshop there was discussion on sidewalk projects and he clarified that they were being paid for by the B&O and none of them were on that original list. He stated that after going through this process he felt he needs to vote for the veto. Aaron BeMiller confirmed that if the forecast holds, by the end of 2016, the Capital Improvement Project fund will be out of a deficit fund balance. Council President Ralph communicated that she will be voting yes on this item as the funds will be used for street repair, IT, and projects. She stated that nothing has changed since the ordinance passed and the Council hasn't done anything outside of what it said it would do with these dollars. She said there was nothing secret done and nothing has changed since the ordinance passed. She said it is a compromise and ultimately brings more funds into the street department. Councilmember Berrios stated that he sat in on the meetings and the business community was told what would be done with the money. A roll call vote was taken on the motion on the table which carried 5-2. Councilmember Ranniger and Councilmember Higgins dissented. BIDS 6 Kent City Council Meeting Minutes A. 201S Crack Sealing - Award. Chad Bierens, City Engineer discussed the bid and communicated that it would be applied to 2.5 miles of streets. He noted that the successful bidder was C.R. Contracting in the amount of $98,947. Councilmember Higgins moved to award the 2015 Crack Sealing project to C.R. Contracting in the amount of $98,947.00 and authorize the Mayor to sign all necessary documents, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the City Attorney and Public Works Director, seconded by Council President Ralph. Councilmember Higgins communicated that this project is being funded by B&O funds. He noted that the City staff has communicated that this is a prudent expenditure of funds, even though it wasn't on the original B&O list. A vote was taken on the motion on the table which carried 7-0. REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES, STAFF AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES I A. Council President. - Council President Ralph discussed the workshop and highlighted that the topic was street trees and sidewalks. Discussion, she said, was on ways to prevent damage in the future, pedestrian safety, and having different plantings in different parts of the City to make Kent a more walkable city. She noted that the next presentation was from Valley Com and their basic operations as our 911 center. B. Mayor. - Mayor Cooke thanked the environmental engineers and the City staff for working with Councilmember Dunn and Representative Upthegrove for coming up with a plan for the levee and fishery enhancement at the Lower Russell Road Levee. She noted that it was a coming together of several agencies to work on the levee, respect the needs of the flood control, and keep the recreation component of the area. C. Chief Administrative Officer. - Chief Administrative Office Derek Matheson communicated that the CAD Report for Tuesday, May 5 is in the packet and there is no executive session. D. Economic & Community Development Committee. - Councilmember Boyce communicated that the next ECDC meeting is Monday at 5 p.m. and thanked CAO Matheson for his reports in the packet. E. Operations Committee. - No report. F. Parks and Human Services Committee. - Councilmember Ranniger communicated that she was doing some business at the City of Lakewood and the City Manager's office couldn't stop saying positive things about CAO Matheson. She noted that she will be doing some travelling in May and Councilmember Higgins will staff that meeting and will miss Council meetings in June. 7 I i Kent City Council Meeting Minutes G. Public Safety Committee. - Councilmember Berrios thanked the Police Department for their work with the case concerning the murder of the one-year old. He thanked the officers, detectives, and staff working hard on the case. H. Public Works Committee. - Councilmember Higgins noted his report was in the minutes. I. Reaional Fire Authority. - Next meeting is May 20. Mayor Cooke discussed an incident by her house and the large amount of response vehicles due to the death of an individual. She inquired why there is so much equipment brought in when a person passes away and Councilmember Higgins communicated that he would attempt to get an answer for her. EXECUTIVE SESSION None. ACTION AFTER EXECUTIVE SESSION None. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:21pm r� Ronald FyMoore 40MC City Clerk - i 8