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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations Committee - 04/07/2015 (2) OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES April 7, 2015 Committee Members Present: Dana Ralph and Bill Boyce; Les Thomas, Chair, excused. The meeting was called to order by D. Ralph at 4:00 p.m. CHANGE TO AGENDA. Item nine, Director’s Report, was added to the agenda. 1. APPROVAL OF THE CHECK SUMMARY REPORT DATED 3/1/2015 THROUGH 3/15/2015 B. Boyce moved to approve the check summary report dated 3/1/2015 through 3/15/2015. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DATED MARCH 17, 2015. B. Boyce moved to approve the Operations Committee minutes dated March 17, 2015. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 3. ORDINANCE ACKNOWLEDGING THE MERGER OF TW TELECOM INC. AND LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS - RECOMMENED. Deputy City Attorney Pat Fitzpatrick explained that on May 20, 2014, the City adopted Ordinance No. 4112, effective May 28, 2014, granting a nonexclusive telecommunications franchise to tw telecom of Washington LLC to operate a telecommunications system. Shortly thereafter, on June 15, 2014, tw telecom inc. (TWTC), tw telecom LLC’s indirect parent company, entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Level 3). As a result of this merger agreement, Level 3 will acquire direct ownership of TWTC and indirect control of the tw telecom LLC. Mr. Fitzpatrick made clear that Section 28 of the franchise requires that Level 3 and TWTC receive the consent of the City for the indirect transfer of control to Level 3. Following this indirect change of control the Franchisee will continue to remain bound by the terms of the franchise and will continue to remain responsible for the obligations within the franchise. Both Level 3 and TWTC have jointly requested that the City Council consent to the indirect change of control. The consent of the City to the indirect change of control shall not constitute a waiver or release of any rights the City may have under the franchise. B. Boyce recommends Council to adopt an Ordinance acknowledging the merger of tw telecom, inc., and Level 3 Communications, Inc., and approving the resulting indirect change of control of the tw telecom franchise with conditions and establishing an effective date, subject to final approval by the city attorney. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. Operations Committee Minutes April 7, 2015 Page: 2 4. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY TASKFORCE GOVERNING DOCUMENT. Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson disclosed during the City Council’s February 2015 strategic planning retreat discussed the establishment of a financial sustainability task force. The purpose of the task force would be to represent, educate, and engage the community to provide detailed recommendations to the Mayor and City Council regarding the City’s long-term financial sustainability. Mr. Matheson pointed out that the operating guidelines are based on the retreat summary and additional input from the mayor, councilmembers, and Mayor’s Leadership Team. B. Boyce recommends Council establish a Financial Sustainability Task Force. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 5. MULTI FAMILY TAX AGREEMENT WITH TARRAGON. Economic and Community Development (ECD) Principle Planner Matt Gilbert talked briefly about a contract that is required by city code in order for Tarragon’s Kent Station Apartments project to move forward with their application for Kent’s Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program. The program started in 1998 and is an incentive program to encourage multifamily housing to locate within the downtown area. The Kent Station project is the first to take advantage of the MFTE since its inception. The next step towards obtaining the exemption is City Council approval of a contract with Tarragon. The contract is part of a verification process built into the ordinance to ensure the applicant builds what they say will be built and to keep the building the way they say it will be kept. The three step certification process includes: 1. Conditional certification which is issued by the ECD director that says the project meets the basic qualifications criteria. Tarragon’s was issued in January. 2. The contract which focuses on the project not changing and has three years to complete the building to certify under city code. 3. The final certificate starts an eight year period during which they are except from the building portion of property tax. The MFTE incentive was the major factor for Tarragon going forward with the project by bringing operating costs down over the duration of eight years. The city will forgo approximately $25,000 a year in tax benefits on the building portion of the property tax. There will be some impacts to school and hospitals districts, the RFA as well as anyone who receives property tax. Tarragon’s incentive value will be about $2 million. B. Boyce recommends giving full Council authorization for the Mayor to sign the Multifamily Housing Property Tax Exemption Agreement with Kent Station Phase III, L.L.C. subject to terms and conditions acceptable to the Economic and Community Development Director and City Attorney. D. Ralph seconded the motion with a request that it goes to full council, which passed 2-0. Operations Committee Minutes April 7, 2015 Page: 3 6. ORDINANCE APPROVING AN INTERFUND LOAN FOR THE LED LIGHTING REPLACEMENT PROJECT. Finance Director Aaron BeMiller explained that the Public Works Committee has requested that internal financing for the LED Lighting Replacement Project be brought before the Operations Committee for consideration. The total project cost is estimated at $2,620,000 and is expected to save the City approximately $230,000 in annual electricity costs. Those annualized savings will be used to pay back the long-term internal financing. There are several different resources to pay for the project, they are:  The Washington Department of Commerce has granted $375,000.  The approximate remaining $2.2 million will be funded through an internal loan which consists of: $445,000 coming from the general fund (the strategic investment dollars set aside); $800,000 will come from the self-insurance fund; and $1million from the sewage operating fund. Upon completion of the project and expected in the current calendar year the City will receive a rebate from Puget Sound Energy and is anticipated in the amount of $445,000. This rebate will be directly applied to the general fund portion of the financing leaving $1.8 million dollars financed over nine years with an annual 1.2 percent interest rate or the local government investment pool, whichever is higher; the 1.2 percent is the higher of the two. There are no expectations of service loan reduction or capital projects completion slowdowns as a result of the financing. The State’s Budgeting, Accounting and Recording System manual (BARS) is maintained by the State’s Auditors office and prescribes accounting and recording practices for local governments. According to BARS, the expectable procedures for making an internal loan are: the legislative body must approve the loan by ordinance or resolution; needs to include the lending and borrowing funds; the loan must have a scheduled plan of repayment; the loan must have a reasonable rate of interest; reasonable assurance that sufficient revenues exist to pay back on schedule so no permanent diversion of funds results from failure to pay; finally, the lending funds need to be legally available for investment. B. Boyce recommends adoption of the Ordinance, approving an internal finance for the LED Lighting Replacement Project in an amount not to exceed $2,245,000. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 7. CONTINGENT LOAN AND SUPPORT AGREEMENT LANGUAGE. Finance Director Aaron BeMiller recapped that in December 2014 the Finance Department brought to the Operations Committee legislation that would amend the City’s current Contingent and Support Agreement with the Public Facilities District (PFD). The amendment would have changed the language in the agreement in how the contribution the City makes toward PFD debt service payments is characterized. Current language characterizes these contributions as loans and requires repayment plus interest. The amended language would have changed the characterization of these debt service Operations Committee Minutes April 7, 2015 Page: 4 contributions from the City to subsidies with no expectation of repayment. The Operations Committee sent this issue to full Council in December and the amendment was not approved. It was requested by a Councilmember that finance bring this issue back to Operations in the first quarter of 2015 for further consideration. During full Council deliberations on the amendment it appeared the significant issue Council wrestled with was addressing what would happen if the loan were forgiven and the PFD had balance available after the bonds were retired. The City finance and law departments have worked with Bond Counsel and we believe we have come up with language that addresses both the characterizations of the City contributions toward PFD debt service and any ending monetary balances in the PFD once the bonds are retired. However, as we continue to work through this issue other considerations have come forward which need to be fully vetted and understood before finance is ready to seek policy direction. These considerations include: how to handle the loan receivable the City booked in 2014; how to address the possibility of refunding the PFD bonds in a few years; status of the sales tax credit with a refunding, and; what is the best course of action for the City to address these considerations with the PFD. With a lot of these issues to be considered, the Committee would like this to go to a Council Workshop to discuss in full. It is anticipated that more information can be brought back by to the Operations Committee in the second quarter of 2015. 8. DIRECTOR’S REPORT The meeting ended on a positive note with Finance Director Aaron BeMiller reporting Standard and Poor’s (S&P) upgrading the city's general obligation bond rating from AA- to AA with a stable outlook. In its report, S&P stated the increase reflected their view of the city’s improved budgetary flexibility consistent with adoption of a business and occupation (B&O) tax and an improved debt profile. This rating adjustment is a strong validation that the city’s current budgetary and financial practices are having a positive effect on our bottom line and strengthening our fiscal position. Mr. BeMiller congratulated Mayor Cooke and Council who have made paying down internal debt and replenishing operating fund balances a priority. He continued to say while there is still work to do on both fronts; the city is beginning to see the positive results from those policy decisions. The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. by D. Ralph. ___________________ Jennifer Hays Operations Committee Secretary