HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Agenda - 03/20/2001 KEN T
�. WASH I NGTON COUNCIL WORKSHOP
March 20, 2001
The Council Workshop will be held in Chambers East in Kent City Hall at 5:00 PM
on Tuesday, March 20, 2001.
Council Members: President Leona Orr, Sandy Amodt, Tom Brotherton,
Tim Clark, Connie Epperly, Judy Woods, Rico Yingling
Sneaker Time
1. Emergency Medical Services Position and Norm Angelo 30 min.
City Position
2. Legislative Report Dena Laurent 10 min.
3. Introduction of Highline Community College Brent McFall 15 min.
President, Dr. Priscilla Bell
The Council Workshop meets each month on the first and third Tuesdays at 5:OOPM in
Chambers East unless otherwise noted. For agenda information please call Jackie
Bicknell at (253) 856-5712.
ANY PERSON REQUIRING A DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION SHOULD
CONTACT THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE AT (253) 856-5725 IN ADVANCE.
FOR TDD RELAY SERVICE, CALL THE WASHINGTON
TELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICE AT 1-800-833-6388.
REPORT -- WEEK 10 OF 2001 SESSION
Doug Levy—3/16/01
The Legislature passed its first major cutoff this week—meaning that to receive further consideration,all
- policy bills had to be out of their`house' of origin(either House or Senate)by the end of the day
Wednesday,March 14. Bills related to the budgets,or necessary to implement them,were exempted from
the March 14 cutoff requirement.
It was a successful week as the design-build legislation passed and our companion DWI/ignition interlock
and DWD/blood record bills passed;the Governor's economic development bill(SHB 1518)was exempted
from cutoff,a much better but still problematic `buildable lands'bill(SSB 6070)died;an onerous drug
forfeiture bill(SSB 5935)failed to get consideration before the deadline;and a business license measure
that could have hindered future revenue authority(HB 2109)died in the House Finance Committee. A full
report on other cutoff action was provided earlier this week and is being re-sent.
We can now focus on the Capital Budget with an eye toward the WWRP program and the Clark Lake
request;make our views known on transportation funding,projects,and regional governance(most of the
key transportation bills were exempted from cutoff); ensure HB 1001 on the Public Works Trust Fund Loan
supplemental funding—including$10 million towards our Pipeline 5 obligations—continues to move;track
the `one-stop' environmental permitting issue;and attempt to nurture the design-build legislation(ESSB
5060 passed 30-18 off the Senate floor.
Also worth noting in this week's report is the new state revenue forecast issued by Dr.Chang Mook Sohn.
Essentially, it is a status quo revenue forecase. To quote the state's news release: "While we still do no
expect a national recession in our baseline forecast,the impact of a weaker national economy is reflected in
the Washington economi and revenue forecast for the upcoming biennium. Fortunately our collection
experience since the last forecast has been stronger than expected. Though much of the strength in
collections was the result of non-recurring events,the increase in the revenue forecast for the current
biennium more than offsets the reduction in the forecast for the 2001-03 biennium...For the two biennia
combined,the forecast change due to economic factors is a positive$10.0 million while the forecast change
due to adjustments to the estimated impacts of Initiatives 722 and 728 is a positive$21.8 million resulting
in a total increase of$31.8 million(my underline for emphasis).
Kent specific 2001 Legislative Agenda Items:
• DWI/Igntion Interlock bills—SB 52601HB 1419; and Driving While Drugged-blood record
bills—SB 5557/HB 1243: Good news in that all of these passed their respective house chamber!
The"nice"problem we have now is that Rep.Chris Hurst,D-31 s',as the sponsor of the two House
bills,and Sen. Adam Kline,D-Seattle,as the sponsor of the two Senate bills,need to determine
which bills continue to move and who gets ultimate credit. It may be advantageous to have the
House bills move so that we don't have to worry about the vagaries of a 49-49 House.
• 695 Backfill: Stan Finkelstein, Executive Director of AWC,has information indicating that cities
may have to fall back on an 18-month appropriation of backfill rather than the hoped-for 24-month
2001-03 appropriation in the Governor's Budget. For us,that would mean something on the order
of$490,000 over 18 months rather than the$732,000 over 24 proposed by the Governor.
Obviously,we will continue to work the issue and strive toward as much backfill funding as
possible.
• Urban cities' supplemental transit services bill: No new news to report. Will be a
transportation budget item.
• Change pension board meetings from monthly to quarterly—SB 6061: Unfortunately,this bill
did not emerge from Senate Rules. I'm going to do a"title search"of other bills to see if I can
insert the language elsewhere.
• Design-build legislation—ESSB 5060: As noted in my `cutoff report,ESSB 5060 did clear the
Senate by a 30-18 vote. It would allow cities such as Kent authority to use alternative contracting
procedures known as design-build and GC/CM(general contractor/construction management)on
$10 million+projects. The number of no votes,and the fact that utility subcontractors and small
business representatives continue to make claims about the legislation infringing upon traditional
design-bid-build forms of contracting projects,means House passage and ultimate enactment will
be a challenge. I will attend a 10:30 a.m.Monday meeting among key representatives who
support the bill—so that we can plot our strategy over the next month.
• ESHB 1953/SSB 5970—Shifting to local government the responsibility for inspecting
alterations to mobile and manufactured housing: We have some ongoing concerns regarding
ESHB 1953,which passed the House 75-19 minutes before Wednesday's 5 p.m. cutoff.
Proponents of the bill say that local governments can use permit fees to address the costs of having
to inspect proposed alterations to mobile and manufactured homes(this currently is a State L&I
function). However,the City's building official has some concerns about new training costs and
other problems with the bill. We,along with Federal Way officials who share our concerns,will
be meeting Tuesday morning with the lobbyist working on the bill. We hope that we can push for
a`local-option' choice on this issue,or the Senate version of the bill that makes this issue a study,
or perhaps even look at ways to have State L&I retain the program and take steps to address some
legislative concerns that led to the bills in the first place.
• Transportation: The transportation issues are heating up,particularly with the policy-bill cutoff
period now having come and gone. For one thing,the Senate Transportation Committee will hold
hearings this Tuesday and Wednesday on a`current law' budget designed to show,graphically,
that there is no money for meaningful projects unless a new-revenue package is acted upon.
Additionally,the Senate Transportation Committee had hearings this week on two bills tied to the
issue of`regionalism'—ways to look at regional funding of transportation needs,as well as
possible `governance' structures for decision-making and implementation on regional funding.
While we can support the idea of additional funding at the regional level,we have some major
concerns about legislation—including SB 5756(original Blue Ribbon Commission bill on
regional governance),SSB 5756(Sen.Haugen's take on 5756), SB 6140(a Sen. Dan McDonald-
Sen. Jim Horn-spearheaded bill in which legislators would play a key role in selecting regional
projects), and SB 6148(a Sen. Ken Jacobsen cut at the regional issue)—that has often looked at
county-centric ways to make decisions on regional transportation projects. Similarly,a major
effort by the Washington Transportation Alliance(WTA)and the County Executives of King,
Snohomish,and Pierce counties,while admirable in its goal of creating revenue options for$10
billion worth of new regional projects over the next 10 years(projects in King County were
selected in large part off of the King County Transportation Coalition(KCTC)list which we
helped to develop), is largely county-driven in its view of governance. I made it very clear to the
WTA/County Exec group,at a meeting Friday,that we cannot live with something that asks city
officials to be on the outside looking in—particularly on such a major issue as transportation. We
will be setting up appointments with a number of legislators, including Reps. Ruth Fisher and
Maryann Mitchell,to push our viewpoint that anything on the regional front must be more jointly-
initiated and collaborative, more mindful of cities' GMA responsibilities,etc. Note that Dena has
directed a)that we draft letters of concern for the Mayor to sign/send;b)that we work with
Suburban Cities on concerns;c)that we look at having the Mayor/myself/etc. at a series of
meetings with legislators on March 27.
Tax/Fiscal Legislation: For the most part,we've emerged from cutoff in good shape in terms of not
having many bills with significant adverse fiscal impacts on Kent and other cities. Negative fiscal-impact
bills that failed to make the cutoff included energy tax incentive bills, a sales tax`holiday' for back-to-
school clothes shopping, legislation to undercut local authority on business taxes and licenses. Two
exceptions are HB 2031 and SSB 5264. HB 2031 would restrict utility-tax collections on payphone
services, and SSB 5264, involving benefits to employees to prevent`unfair labor practices,' could both
have impacts on our revenue stream. I would ask that May Miller and Jim Huntington take a look at HB
2031,estimate potential fiscal impacts,and provide those to myself and Ron Rosenbloom of AWC. I
would ask if Sue Viseth can do the same with SSB 5264 so that both myself and Jim Justin of AWC can
have a detailed listing of problems and potential fiscal implications.
Economic Development: The House version of the Governor' s economic
development package -SHB 1518 - failed to clear the House floor but has
been exempted from the cutoff since it has budget implications. If this
measure is adopted and an economic development program/infrastructure
account put in place (the bill sets a maximum of $500, 000 in state
sales tax revenue to any one project) , the City may well be able to
utilize this tool for the Kent Station project.
' Drug Seizure legislation—SSB 5935/HB 1995: As noted in my cutoff-day report, SSB 5935 ran out of
time,did not make it onto the Senate floor calendar last Wednesday,and thus is likely `dead' for this
session. We should be aware,however,that this issue of how drug seizures are carried out,and where
money from drug seizures should be spent, likely will not go away.
ESHB 1458, 120-day permit processing: An engrossed version of this bill
passed the House floor in advance of the cutoff. The engrossed and
amended bill does require permits to be processed within 120 days and
for "quarterly performance reports" on processing timeliness to be
prepared, but it also gives local governments a couple of key `outs' if
the 120-day timeline cannot be met - note the following provisions:
"project permit applications should not exceed one hundred twenty days,
unless the local government makes written findings that a specified
amount of additional time is needed for complete processing of specific
project permit applications...Nothing in this section prohibits a county
or city from extending a deadline for issuing a decision for a specific
project permit application for any reasonable period of time mutually
agreed upon by the applicant and the local government." The bill still
would not contain the liability waivers that were provided to local
government with the initial permit processing timeline legislation of
1995. Several local government representatives (including King County
Executive Sims) still have heartburn with the bill and are going to
work to kill it.
Fines legislation—SSB 5309: This legislation to provide additional fine-collection authority on traffic
tickets and other infractions cleared the State Senate. It provides some modest promise of additional funds
for local governments—an estimated$4 million a biennium.
Reference check bill—HB 1881: The House did not act on HB 1881 and it is thus `dead' for the session.
This legislation would have provided employers liability immunity for providing reference information on
current,former,and prospective employees. We had signed in support of the measure.
Pipeline Safety Legislation: As previously reported,SSB 5182,establishing a fee-based program for a
state pipeline safety inspection and monitoring program,emerged from the Senate. However,the
legislation faces more challenges in the House,where the Western States Petroleum Association(WSPA),
representing interstate pipeline operators,has the ear of a key Republican House Co-Chair and may seek to
exact some concessions from bill proponents.
Water legislation/Drought Declaration: On the water legislation front, we will need to discuss what the
Everett position should be on a revised SHB 1832,the Governor's water resource legislative package.
There is very little in the bill for municipal water interests. One thing we are attempting to add to the bill is
clearer"place of use"authority for utilities. On the drought front,the media reported extensively on the
Governor's declaration of a drought emergency. This may be helpful to us in terms of opening up
opportunities for emergency transfers and interties. I plan to contact either Don or Tom Mortimer so I have
more details on Kent's needs in terms of drought response.
Next week's hearings: The week of March 19-23 will be a fairly slow one for hearings. There will be a
Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. hearing on the Governor's water package, SHB 1832. As noted above,the Senate
Transportation Committee will hear,and may act upon,the current law budget. The House Transportation
Committee is expected to address other Blue Ribbon bills. Most other public hearings are on bills that are
not of major importance to the City.
STATUS OF BILLS IMPACTING CITY OF KENT
POST-MARCH 14 FLOOR CUTOFF DEADLINE `1
--Underlined in all categories below denotes area of significance to City or on legislative agenda.
--This report does not include operating,capital,transportation budget bills—all of which are alive and need to be
developed
BILL IS ALIVE AND BENEFICIAL
• SSB 5017-regulates sales of meth precursor drugs
• SSB 5058-bargaining strategy records not subject to disclosure, plus new
provision on"Cowles" fix related to release of police investigative reports
• ESSB 5060-Design-build/GC-CM authority
• SB 50651HB 1884-Explicit authority for citizen salary commissions
• SSB 5100-"Two-lines" bill for water rights permit processing
• SSB 5104-Authority, subject to voter approval, to increase conservation futures
taxes-amendment stipulates must be evenly distributed with cities
• SSB 5182 -Pipeline safety monitoring and inspection fee-based program
• SB 519111072-Establish risk pool to cover long-term medical care and
extraordinary medical care costs for LEOFF 1, using surplus dollars in LEOFF 1
pension benefit program (NOTE: Bills did not survive cutoff but have budget
implications so likely still alive)
• SB 52601HB 1419- Order to install ignition interlock for DWI is posted on
computerized driving record rather than on the driver's license
• SB 55571HB 1243 -Refusal to take a blood record on a"driving while drugged" -�
stop is admissible in court as evidence-just as refusal to take a breathalyzer
under DWI is admissible in court as evidence
• SSB 5370-DCTED `split' bill
• SSB 5378- Shoreline master programs. Of all the shoreline bills, one of the few,
if not the only, vehicle left
• SSB 55141SHB 2188-Public Facilities District (PFD) legislation, including sales
tax deferrals on construction. Bills did not pass but are exempted from cutoff.
They need amending provisions.
• SHB 1518-Governor's local economic development bill. Did not pass but
exempted from cutoff.
• SSB 5681 - Weight-limit waivers for certain heavy fire apparatus. Big issue for
Washington Fire Chiefs Association.
• HB 1706-Direct pay permits-likely to yield slight revenue gain for
manufacturing-based areas
• SSB 5936 - $10 recording fee to provide additional money for housing trust fund-
low- and moderate-income housing opportunities
• HB 1001 -Public Works Trust Fund Loan- supplemental $93.5 million
appropriation. Includes $10 million Pipeline 5 loan for Kent.
• HB 1385-Taxation of linen and laundry services-designed to ensure that out-
of-state businesses will pay a use tax, levels playing field for in-state outfits
• HB 1098- Streamlines CTR programs -�
• HB 1750- Cities authorized to receive fair market value on street vacations
BILL IS ALIVE & NEUTRAL IN IMPLICATION OR `WORK IN PROGRESS'
`-- • SB 5740-66 and HB 1664-87 and 89-91 —Blue Ribbon Commission request bills.
Most are fine, some very good in terms of specifying new revenue options.
Governance bills need work.
• SHB 1832— Governor's water package. Nothing that hurts cities—question is
whether there's much in that does anything for us
• ESSB 5882—Ergonomics—pares back and delays new rule—faces uphill battle
and quite likely would be vetoed even if it did pass Legislature
• SB 6140 and SB 6148—Latest of transportation regional governance bills
• SB 60151HB 2116—Allows Public Works Trust Fund loan receipts to be bonded
against, creating new funds for large-scale public works loans. Did not pass but
likely to be exempted from cutoff.
• ESHB 1458— 120-Day Permit Processing—Has `outs' for us if for some reason
we couldn't process a land-use permit in 120 days. But does not contain liability
waiver that once existed in statute.
• SSB 5777—Public agency retirees allowed access to public agency health plans.
However, provisions in bill ensure the plan can be separate from the one for
actives, and retirees have to pay the added costs.
• SB 5852—Racial profiling. Law enforcement agencies directed to have anti-
racial profiling policies in place, conduct training, also collect data on all traffic
stops "within revenue constraints."
BILL IS ALIVE AND IS BAD NEWS, OR POSES SOME PROBLEMS
• SSB 5264— So-called unfair labor practices bill. With part-time employees, to
ensure we're not subject to any of the provisions in bill, we'd have to be
providing more benefits to most—could be very costly
• SHB 1174—Vacation of conviction records after certain period of time
• HB 2031 —Taxation of pay-phone services. Could be very costly in that it
would make these services no longer subject to utility tax (but could be
subject to B&O—which Kent doesn't impose)
• SHB 2172—Backflow prevention devices. Section 3 limiting inspections is
problematic
BILL IS "DEAD" (AT LEASTASA POLICY BILL;NOTE THAT PROPONENTS
MAYSTILL TRY, IN NUMBER OF CASES, TOATTACHLANGUAGE TO
OTHER BILLS)
--Dead and was bad news—bolded
--Dead and was good bill—italicized
--More neutral in impact if not bolded or italicized
• SB 5002 —Exempted certain height amateur radio antennae from land-use
regulations
• SB 5036/HB 1281 —Sales tax `holiday' for back-to-school clothes and footwear
purchasing during certain pre-school period
• SB 5117—"Cowles" fix on police investigative reports public disclosure (but
provision now inserted in SB 5058)
• SB 51201HB 1149—Local options bill on open-container alcohol violations—
allowing discretion to make certain ones a misdemeanor
• SSB 5154—"Civil Rights Act"—major liability problems for cities
• SB 5244/HB 1169—Vancouver/Everett annexation legislation to level playing
field on petition-method annexations (charter cities 75% threshold, code cities
only 60%)
• SB 5352—Fee increase for Building Code Council, supported by Washington
Association of Building Officials
• SB 5371 —Gas tax equity bill prime-sponsored by Sen. Patterson and signed by
nearly all Senators in King, Snohomish, Pierce counties
• SSB 5411 —Presumptive disease bill
• SB 5420/HB 1185—Family & medical leave insurance costs
• SB 5435—Perennial `False Claims Act'
• SB 5452/HB 1293 —Utility relocation bill would have been a 180-degree turn
from current law and increased Sound Transit costs
• SB 5618—Economic development funding bill promoted by Renton/Port
Quendall interests
• SB 5636—Governor's economic development bill
• SSB 5661 —Recreational facilities/athletic fields (promoted by Lake Washington
Soccer Association, underlying bill had one provision to make it easier to rezone
some ag lands for use as athletic fields)
• HB 1121/SB 5673 —Whitney Graves Bill, safe storage
• SSB 5831 —Body-trapping bill—John Hodgson/Lori Flemm liked because
included more explicit authority to trap moles. We may still be able to do so,
however. Bill died on floor calendar on March 14.
• SB 5841/HB 1588—Extended timelines for updates of GMA comp plans
• SB 5853/HB 2017—More costly racial profiling bills
• SSB 5883—Water/GMA linkage bill
• SB 5895—Exemptions for small-scale mining
• SB 5899-5901 —Water rights and intertie legislation promoted by Kitsap PUD
• SSB 5935/HB 1995—Drug seizure bills
• SB 6036 and others—Explicit repeal of local transit MVET
• SB 6061 —Fire Pension Boards—changed meeting time from monthly to quarterly
�-- • SSB 6070/HB 2056—Buildable lands bills. SSB 6070 was vastly improved
version, particularly one on Senate Floor Calendar that died March 14
• SSB 6108—Water rights examiners. Provisions on examiners also eliminated
from Governor's bill
• SCR 8410— Study of wireless services. Why have a study when the rights-of-
way legislation of 2000 set standards for wireless entry into right of way?
• HB 1023 —Legislation that could have forced most if not all annexations to public
vote
• HB 1854 —AWB's local B&O tax bill
• HB 2109—AWB's bill to undercut business tax and license authority
• HB 111 5—Rep. Reardon's tax-increment financing legislation
• HB 1294—Bad utility lien bill
• HB 1316—Perennial `harmful to minors' bill
• HB 1477 - .1 increase in sales tax authority for 9-1-1 systems, subject to voter
approval. Had our amendment to ensure distribution to city systems
• HB 1710—Restrictions on solid waste franchise fees
• HB 1875, HB 1879— Water rights/Growing Communities legislation promoted by
water utilities
• HB 1881 —Liability immunity for employers on reference checks
• SHB 2144— Sales tax breaks for proposed theme park in Lakewood
DRAFT
KEN T
W A S H I N G T O N
March 19, 2001
OFFICE of the MAYOR
Jim White, Mayor The Honorable Ron Sims
King County Executive
Fax:253-856-6700
Phax:253-856-5700 King County Courthouse, Rm. 400
F
516 Third Avenue
220 4th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98104-2312
Kent,WA 98032-5895
Dear Mr. Sims:
The City of Kent is interested in exploring with other south county cities and fire
districts the feasibility of having paramedic (ALS) services delivered by a south county
consortium. Preliminary discussions with other south county agencies indicate a
strong interest in studying this issue and developing a proposal during the life of the
proposed six-year levy.
The City of Kent and other agencies are interested in looking at potential and
operational benefits to all of the south county agencies. A prime consideration in any
proposal will be:
♦ Having a system that is truly a south county system that would be responsive to
all agencies in South County.
♦ Maintaining a link with and maintaining a quality countywide program in
cooperation with other ALS providers.
♦ Insuring a seamless transition with assurances to existing medics of continued
employment.
♦ Insuring a stable commitment to cover costs in accordance with formulas
utilized by other public ALS providers.
We request the option to collaboratively study the options. We anticipate it would
take more than a year to identify alternatives and a proposal. We would also request
that we be permitted to exercise that option if we determine that this is the best
course of action for South King County. We would expect, as a part of our review, to
address the four bullet points above and to agree upon a suitable transition period.
We feel it is essential to reach a formal agreement on this issue before May 15, 2001.
Sincerely yours,
`„ Jim White, Mayor
City of Kent