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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Minutes - 01/07/2003 • COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES JANUARY 7, 2003 COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Judy Woods, Tim Clark, Connie Epperly, Leona Orr, Bruce White, Rico Yingling STAFF PRESENT: Mike Martin, May Miller, Don Wickstrom, Fred Satterstrom, Charlene Anderson, Dena Laurent, Ed Crawford, Anh Hoang, Tom Brubaker, Sue Viseth, John Hodgson, Steve Ohlde, Jackie Bicknell PUBLIC PRESENT: Doug Levy The workshop was called to order at 5:02 PM by Council President Judy Woods. SALES TAX STREAMLINING Legislative Consultant Doug Levy said the Department of Revenue was going forward to request legislation that would have a real damaging provision in it to the City. Washington and about 30 other states are trying to line up and have uniform tax codes that would allow them in the future to be able to tax the sales of some of the out-of-state catalogues sales and the intemet-based transactions that currently are getting tax free treatment. Local governments and small businesses and others share in the idea that it is good to deal with remote sales. The Department of Revenue is going ahead with legislation that changes the rules on what they call the sourcing • of sales taxes. Under the draft bill, the new sourcing provision is to credit the point of delivery. We have started to take pretty aggressive steps with our legislative delegation to let them know that that's simply unacceptable to us. There are some plans to also pull together with the similarly impacted cities, as well as talk to AWC, but we might deliver a message to Revenue that there absolutely has to be hold harmless provisions for Kent in any kind of legislation that goes forward. Our own area legislators have been pretty perceptive to the idea that we need help in stopping this bill until we can be accommodated. Chief Administrative Officer Mike Martin said the AWC and the retail community currently support this bill. Revenue has told us that the federal government and the states would like to capture what is currently going untaxed in intemet sales. Thirty-four states actually have lined up behind the State Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Bill, and there will be enough support to convince the federal government to actually do something. All the states would benefit from the sales tax from the intemet. They are looking for the greater good of the state and I feel that there is a very significant dislocation between their interest and ours in this one. Washington State is the only one that has the sourcing provisions that we have. They have not analyzed the effect on any city. They only surmise that if you are a city that does a lot of manufacture wholesaling that you'll be a loser. There's data that suggests that there are others that will be losers including some significant cities. We are trying to encourage them to couple this legislation somehow with enactment contingent upon a completion of an analysis. The Chamber is supportive of this. Part of the problem is nobody has really analyzed this. Retailers are going to be in favor because eventually it will put them on equal footing with the intemet sales. • Council Workshop, l/7/03 2 • Council President Judy Woods said they would plan to at least once a month have the issue on the workshop agenda to keep the Council well informed. Council Retreat Mike Martin announced that the retreat would be at Dumas Bay Centre from 2 PM until 9 PM. The items on the agenda include: discussion of the RTID, impact fees, strategic goals, the 2004 budget, trends/hotspots and types of crime in Kent where there is more crime of a certain type outside the norm, public safety bond issue, and fallout of the King County Council and their budget. Pool Update Parks Director John Hodgson answered two questions previously asked by the Council at the City Council meeting in December. One question was whether the pool could transfer ownership. Mr. Hodgson said the language was fairly strict,but public,park, and recreation facilities acquired, developed, constructed, or improved by the county or any city in whole or part from the proceeds of the bonds shall not be transferred or conveyed except by agreement providing that such lands continue to be used for the purposes contemplated. As long as the parties agree and it stays open as was intended, it could transfer. Two of the pools are transferring to the Northwest Center. In Kent's case, if the King Aquatic Club were inclined to want to own the pool and as long as they kept it open for public use, it would be doable. One of the issues is liability insurance for the"recreational swim"portion of their use. The second question was how much it would cost to demolish the pool. Mr. Hodgson said it • would cost $72,750 to tear it down. Not included would be hazardous material removal, rerouting utility lines, SEPA permits and other permits they might need to obtain. The question of who would be responsible to dispose of the building is unclear. Staff is in communication with Executive Sims office trying to arrange a meeting between the Mayor and maybe others to get the conversation started again. You could take the mothball money, put it in a trust fund and that money could be used to pay for demolition. However, the King Aquatic Club wants the mothball money for cash flow. I think the City could give them whatever cash flow they potentially need, and bank the mothball money, knowing that we'd get it back because they only need $20,000 a year. Update on Sex Offender Issue Lieutenant Steve Ohlde, Police Administrative Support Services, said that he had gone to two public meetings last month on the sex offender housing, one on the Peasley Canyon site and the other on the Orillia Road site. There is a lot of public concern about the matter. Each meeting was attended by state elected officials as well as city and county officials, and the one common message that was clearly stated was that no one wants such a facility in their neighborhood. People not only questioned their safety but questioned what was going to happen to their property values if such a facility were to pop up in their neighborhood. The Orillia site was attacked for financial reasons. It was a small site of 1.2 acres that would be sold for$975,000. City officials from South King County were not hesitant to mention that they were all opposed to the site. They were not opposed to doing their fair share of helping out the • county, referring to the Federal jail in Des Moines, the Regional Justice Center in Kent, mental Council Workshop, 1/7/03 3 . health facilities, and countless Section 8 housing projects, but said enough was enough and it was someone else's turn to carry the burden. Due to the site location being an island between all the jurisdictions, there was a question of who would provide police services. SeaTac police contracts with King County, and SeaTac would probably receive any calls, as no King County officers are assigned to that area. But SeaTac really doesn't patrol that area—the only time they respond to that area is when they have to go to an accident on Orillia Road. Essentially, there is no police coverage for the proposed area. Crimes are investigated where they occur. DSHS is not hesitant to admit that these are Level III offenders and that they are defined as having a high rate of re-offending, and they offer no promises as to escapes or no re-offending. A concern police would have is that they would have to investigate possible sex crimes, and those are major investigations. DSHS has listened to everyone's concerns but no one knows for sure what's going to happen. They do have additional meetings scheduled next month and they ultimately have to make a decision in the Spring. Rico Yingling questioned if the DSHS had shown their homework that there really was no available land for a facility in the rest of King County. He said it would really be nice to know how they came to their decision. Planning Manager Charlene Anderson said that the cities of SeaTae and Tukwila have requested, through public disclosure, copies of their criteria and process. Mike Martin commented that there was a public meeting on January 22"a and that the Police and Planning Departments are both involved in participating, and staff would figure out exactly what • the City's presentation should be at the next public hearing. The workshop adjourned at 5:54 PM. Council Office 2"d Floor,City Hall 220 4`h Ave. South,Kent,98032 PLEASE SIGN IN DATE: l p Name Address Phone Number ban1 V/ s � A +�u�1 .5q0� G 1t�-�Tir c�v► 1� S -30 �ticv L1S -� 5 `3�