HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Economic and Community Development Committee - 03/14/2016 (3) O
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ECONOMIC &COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES
March 14, 2016
Committee Members Committee Chair Bill Boyce, Tina Budell, and Jim Berrios (absent).
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Chancies to the Agenda
4. Approval of Minutes
Budell MOVED and Boyce SECONDED a Motion to Approve the Minutes of February
8, 2016. Motion PASSED 2-0.
5. Genesis Marketing Agreement
Ben Wolters, ECD Director gave a narrative of the last year and a half explaining how
Genesis has been instrumental in the creation of the Marketing/Branding and website set
up for the VisitKent.com campaign through the Kent Hotel/Motel Tax Advisory Committee.
Genesis Marketing has been successful in putting together an ad campaign targeted at the
Portland Metro Area during the Seahawks season to highlight Kent as an attractive,
affordable alternative for travelers coming to the Seattle Metro area. The new agreement
will be a continuation of this work.
The Committee has spent around $150,000 in 2016. This $70,000 will carry the work
forward for 6 months while the Committee goes through a request for proposal (RFP)
process to reaffirm the selection of Genesis or pick an alternative provider for marketing
services. The Committee felt the amount of funds being expended warranted a double
check to see this is the right way to go. Depending upon the amount of time the RFP takes
Genesis agreement could be extended past the 6 month timeframe. VisitKent.com still
needs to maintain continuity, website maintenance, and the refreshing of pages during the
RFP phase. As well as the social media marketing that needs to be kept ongoing and
current.
Council Member Budell asked if the Seahawk/Portland campaign was successful, Wolters
stated yes we feel so, we don't have a direct matric yet to track, but what the TV ad
campaign did was drive people to the VisitKent.com website, in that, we succeeded and we
saw a dynamic increase in traffic to the website. Budell asked if we will keep this up with
the Seattle and Portland rivalry with soccer.
Wolters stated we are actively looking at ways to do that. At this time some of the
members of the committee wanted to pause and take a look at how we go forward, others
wanted to go forward full steam ahead and build on the base we have. The 6 month
agreement with Genesis is a compromise.
Budell asked if we have thought about contracting with an option to track stays. Wolters
said we are actively looking at doing that, and Genesis has suggested an option of doing
booking through Hotels.com as a way to do more direct tracking, but we don't have a
consensus from the Hoteliers as if they want to go there yet.
Budell likes the proposal and the successfulness of the campaign.
Wolters wanted to clarify the money that goes to fund this campaign comes from the
Hotel/Motel tax not the general fund. Hotel/Motel tax is a one percent tax collected on
each stay in Kent.
Committee Member Budell MOVED to recommend to the full City Council approval
of the 2016 marketing agreement with Genesis Marketing in the amount of
$70,000 for VisitKent.com and social media sites for a 6 month term. Committee
Member Boyce SECONDED the Motion. Motion PASSED 2-0.
6. Seattle Thunderbirds Marketing Agreement — information on/v
Wolters started by explaining to the Committee this agreement with the Seattle
Thunderbirds was brought to the Committee by Andrew Hutchison, General Manager of the
Best Western by the Green, a member of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee in
partnership with the Seattle Thunderbirds marketing group. This proposal looks at ways to
expand the exposure of the VisitKent.com website and "Kent Bringing the World home"
Brand statement. The proposed items give more awareness of VisitKent.com to the
audiences coming from all over the region to ShoWare Center for Thunderbird games.
The Thunderbirds have proposed a number of different strategies the Committee was very
receptive toward. Many of the proposed items give exposure of VisitKent.com in ShoWare
and on the Thunderbirds bus that travels around the Northwest and Canada. This is a very
unique way of exposing the brand to an audience we have not marketed too, stated
Wolters.
Wolters brought this item to the Committee because he thought it would be of interest, and
showing how this agreement works in conjunction with the agreement with the Genesis
agreement which was just authorized.
7. Code Enforcement LEAN - information on/v
Matt Gilbert, Current Planning Manager presented and update from the LEAN exercise which
has taken place over the last 15 weeks. The meetings have been in two and three hour
meetings once a week with the assistance of the consultant Steven Thomson.
On February 19, 2016 some of the early improvements were implemented as well as the
new staff member, a .75 position Council approved came on board. Since February 19t" the
total active cases has dropped from 140 to 88 and the backlog of sites that are waiting to
be inspected for compliance have dropped by 60%.
Chair Boyce asked if it is because of the .75 position or the LEAN process. Gilbert said it is
because of both. There are two main groups of customers in Code Enforcement, one is the
Residents who are calling us or wanting something. Then the other group is the people
they are calling about.
Through LEAN the general public was engaged to understand what the priorities are. Over
the last three years Code Enforcement has handled an average of 800 cases a year. That
is a lot for two Code Enforcement Officers to handle, so you had to prioritize. We found the
Code Enforcement staff was prioritizing on the fly.
Through LEAN it was recognized the need for prioritization. It was determined the
community should be involved in setting the priorities.
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There were 4 focus groups consisting of Neighborhood groups, KCDIGS, Kent Downtown
Partnership, and Kent Chamber of Commerce. They were given 23 main issues and asked
to prioritize them. Each group's response data was recorded and will be presented at a
Council Workshop in the future to get Council input and recommendations. For now this is
serving a guide for Code Enforcement prioritization.
The other group is the people who have violations on their property. The City's goal is to
get compliance and engage people to get things cleaned up.
The process is to send a friendly letter to let them know they have this violation and it
needs to be cleaned up. In the past this letter was very lengthy and full of code language.
A group of people were asked to read the letter and interrupt it. It was determined to be
not clear on what was wrong and what was needed to fix the problem. We found this out
by doing a survey of the calls coming into the office. A lot of the calls were coming in from
people not understanding the letter they received. With the implementation of the new
letter the calls have dropped by half.
One other theme is the work needs to be visible which lead to the creation of a visual
management board. We can track a case much easier and know where it is in the process
and to make sure cases are not falling through the cracks.
Since the .75 Administrative Assistant the Code Enforcement Officers are spending more
time in the field and less doing paperwork. This has made a huge impact on the case load
going down.
Council Member Budell asked if Compliance has gone up. Gilbert responded that the data is
not conclusive since there are not good numbers from the old data, but since the new letter
is now the process, over half of the cases are closed just from the letter.
The goal is to get things done quickly and with the least amount of contact. Also with the
creation of a reputation that in Kent code violations are taken seriously we hope we will see
even more cases closed at the first letter stage.
Gilbert stated we are now collecting specific performance matrix data which will eventually
show the time a case takes from start to close.
S. Abandoned Grocery Carts — information oniy
Jason Garnham, Planner presented findings on abandoned grocery carts in Kent.
Responding to the interest of Council, ECD was tasked with finding alternatives with dealing
with stray and abandoned grocery carts.
The key finding was any solution to the problem will demand a dedicated amount of time
and resources.
Background on the subject found the Public Works department had a standard operating
procedure (SOP) from 2002 and after a few years the effort was abandoned due to lack of
resources.
Many other Cities have adopted shopping cart ordinances; requiring stores to develop cart
retrieval plan, procedures for City staff to pick up carts, charging stores fees. All have been
found to be ineffective and go unenforced without dedicated staff and resources, and fees
rarely cover the cost of the program.
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There is a program available from an outside vendor who provides pickup and delivery of
the carts. This has been found to be affective, and the Cities end up paying for over half
the costs of the service.
There are other solutions such as wheel locks but those decisions are made at the
corporate level and the City does not have the authority to impose that solution. There
has also been a volunteer system seen in other Cities, but this is also a program that would
require City resources and staff time.
The City of Renton just passed a new shopping cart ordinance and has dedicated staff and
resources devoted to the problem of shopping carts.
The City attorney clarified we are talking about the carts that have been abandoned and
not being used for any specific purpose, not to include the carts used by transit individuals,
that is a very separate issue.
Wolters stated at this point it is a nuisance. It would take be more resources and staff
than it is worth. That would be the staff recommendation. At this point we are seeking
guidance from the Committee.
Committee's direction is: Chair Boyce asked if we could contact the Neighborhood program
to continue to have the numbers available for residents to call as a project for
Neighborhoods, as well as monitor Renton's new process and come back in 6 months and
review the progress.
9. Economic Development Report
Kurt Hanson, Economic Development Deputy Director introduced William Ellis and Andrew
Corona, both Economic Development Analysts for the City who will presented the usage of
the Buxton tool, which gives the economic data/information, and demographics that is
available for retail and commercial properties helping to bring the retail/commercial
developers to Kent.
10. ShoWare Update
Ben Wolters gave an update on the two capital projects happening at ShoWare Center
through the no interest Capital Loan from SMG for capital projects. One project underway is
the digital menu boards at the concession stands which is scheduled to be completed by
March of 2016. The other project is the LED sports lighting. Those will be installed after the
hockey season. This is a $148,000 project and PSE will be providing $40,000 rebate
because it will lead to significant energy savings with a lower electric bill in approximately 6
years.
The next area to be improved will be the lounge. The area is starting to show wear and
tear, so we will be looking at the furniture first and coming back with some proposals.
The concerts are doing well at ShoWare and there are three new shows that are going to be
announced soon.
11. Sound Transit Update
Charlene Anderson, Planning Manager updated on the link light rail project. We received
interim preliminary engineering ("PE") drawings representing 60 percent of the PE design
level (or 18 percent of final design). Sound Transit has authorized work on preliminary
engineering drawings all the way to Federal Way. City Staff is now reviewing the interim
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PE drawings that will be analyzed in the final EIS which is proposed to be issued in late
2016. Staff comments are due to Sound Transit in early April.
Anderson stated Sound Transit has approved funding for a second Sound Transit garage and
City staff will be working with Sound Transit staff on the project.
Wolters added that Sound Transit is finalizing the request for proposals to hire a consultant
to do the site analysis for both the Kent and Auburn garages. Wolters has been asked to be
on the review panel for the consultant selection process. Wolters asked Sound Transit to
look at a broader area than they had previously considered for the garage. Sound Transit
will need to buy land for staging of construction equipment and that area could then become
a Transit-Oriented Development site, so Wolters asked Sound Transit to consider that as
they purchase land. Finally, Kent has asked Sound Transit to reach out to affected property
owners.
Adiournment
Chair Boyce adjourned the meeting at 7:15
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onomic & Community Development Committee
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