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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations Committee - 07/01/2014 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES July 1, 2014 Committee Members Present: Les Thomas, Chair, Bill Boyce and Dana Ralph. The meeting was called to order by L. Thomas at 4:01 p.m. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DATED JUNE 3, 2014. D. Ralph moved to approve the Operations Committee minutes dated June 3, 2014. B. Boyce seconded the motion, which passed 3-0. 2. APPROVAL OF CHECK SUMMARY REPORTS DATED 5/16/2014 THROUGH 5/31/2014 AND 6/1/2014 THROUGH 6/15/2014. B. Boyce moved to approve the check summary reports dated 5/16/2014 through 5/31/2014 and 6/1/2014 through 6/15/2014. D. Ralph seconded the motion and it passed 3-0. 3. TEMPORARY (TERM LIMITED) STAFF-AUTHORIZE. T. LaPorte requested the committee members to approve the positions for maintenance workers, an inspector, and a commute trip reduction coordinator on a term limited basis. He explained that hiring term limited maintenance workers will help control the cost of the projects. The term limited option would help attract better candidates and this cost is already in the budget for sidewalks. T. LaPorte also mentioned that ECD is having an incredibly busy year. So there is a higher need for inspectors. We already have two open positions and they will be filled in a month. The city is having a hard time retaining inspectors and a senior inspector announced that he is retiring in two years. So Mr. LaPorte requested the committee members to consider approving a term limited position for the inspector. M. Whitman explained the Commute Trip Reduction program and said that the City has been doing bare minimum per the requirements of the program. She wants the council to approve the part - time position for the Commute Trip Reduction Coordinator. The position will be fully funded for next 2 years with the grant money. D. Ralph moved to authorize the Public Works Department to hire term-limited employees in three areas, a term-limited, full time inspector (NR35) for a period of two years or less to be funded out of permit revenue allocated to Public Works and establishing the budget for same; four term limited maintenance workers ( two MW 2’s; one MW 3 and one MW 4) to work on sidewalk or walking path projects; and a term limited commute trip reduction coordinator position, NR32, temporary to full time, to be paid for out of grant funds allocated for this purpose. B. Boyce seconded the motion, which passed 3-0 with reservations. B. Boyce would like a progress check in 3-6 months to see what positions are filled and how it is going. Operations Committee Minutes July 1, 2014 Page: 2 4. NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL MATCHING GRANT COMMUNICATION BUDGET. T. Brubaker requested that the committee members approve funding for the neighborhood programs. T. Azzola, Neighborhood Program Coordinator is requesting for $5,800 as the matching grant for the neighborhood councils to continue publishing the newsletters. B. Boyce mentioned that we should add this to the budget for the next biennium. B. Boyce moved to authorize the council to approve an amount of $5,800 for the Neighborhood Program Matching Grant Communication budget which supports recognized Neighborhood Councils in their communication efforts. D. Ralph seconded the motion and it passed 3-0. 5. 2014 MID-YEAR BUDGET ADJUSTMENT- ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. B. Wolters communicated that ECD is having the busiest year with permit requests. Before recession, his department had 54 FTE and now they have 39 FTEs. So his employees have been working overtime to deliver timely review of the permits. He mentioned that permits are currently 6-8 weeks behind on their 9 week timeline. And it will only get wor se if he does not take any action. So he is requesting the committee members to approve one full-time Development Engineer position and several other positions in the ECD department as temporary help. B. Boyce moved to recommend Council to authorize a mid-year adjustment to the 2014 budget in the Economic & Community Development Department for $169,064.68. D. Ralph seconded the motion and it passed 3-0. 6. BUDGET REQUEST ELECTRONIC MONITORING EQUPMENT LEASING. K. Thomas explained that WASPC failed to the bill the city for past 8 years for their services. WASPC provides electronic home monitoring equipment for use by the Kent Corrections Facility for a fee. The amount was $312,000 before negotiations but after negotiating, The city was successful with reducing the total amount owed to $237,535. D. Ralph moved to recommend Council approve the budget in an amount not to exceed $237,535 for electronic monitoring equipment lease payments for December 2013 and prior. B. Boyce seconded the motion and it passed 3-0. 7. PUBLIC SAFETY BOND ORDINANCE – AUTHORIZE T. Brubaker introduced the Public Safety Bond Ordinance. He said that the current police station formerly was a Kent Public Library. The police force has grown over years and the current building is cramped. Chief Thomas mentioned that his department needs more room to train the officers in real life situations. Committee chair Thomas asked how this bond will be promoted and if there is enough time to raise awareness. Chief Thomas answered there is a committee that will form and campaign for the bond. Operations Committee Minutes July 1, 2014 Page: 3 B. Boyce moved to adopt an ordinance providing for an election to authorize the City to issue general obligation bonds not to exceed $34,000,000 to construct and equip a new police headquarters and related training facilities, and to levy excess property taxes to pay the bonds. D. Ralph seconded the motion and it passed 3-0. 8. APRIL FINANCIAL REPORT (INFORMATION ONLY). P. Barry informed that the city financials are in good shape. We are 1.3% over budget in revenues. The meeting was adjourned at 5:09 p.m. by L. Thomas. ___________________ Satwinder Kaur Operations Committee Secretary