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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Special Minutes - 02/05/2021 CITY OF KENT CITY COUNCIL ANNUAL PLANNING SESSION Friday, 5 February 2021, 12:00 – 5:00 p.m. Via Zoom Conferencing SUMMARY OF THE MEETING’S KEY DISCUSSIONS AND AGREEMENTS ATTENDEES: Council President Toni Troutner; Councilmembers Bill Boyce, Brenda Fincher, Satwinder Kaur, Marli Larimer, Zandria Michaud, and Les Thomas; Mayor Dana Ralph; Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson; Executive Leadership Team (ELT) members Chad Bieren, Mike Carrington, Pat Fitzpatrick, Kurt Hanson, Kim Komoto, Paula Painter, Julie Parascondola, Raf Padilla, Teri Smith, Bailey Stober, Uriel Varela, and Margaret Yetter; Human Services Manager Merina Hanson; facilitator Jim Reid _____________________________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY OF KEY AGREEMENTS: GUIDING PRINCIPLES For this meeting the Council used a set of principles or ground rules to guide the discussions and decision-making that were borrowed from the Sound Cities Association and slightly added to by facilitator Jim Reid. At the end of the meeting Councilmembers observed that they are rules of common courtesy, and agreed to use them throughout this year. They are attached at the end of this summary. VISION, MISSION, AND GOALS The Council expressed support for the vision and mission. Councilmembers suggested that two of the goals be revised, and Human Resources Director Teri Smith suggested another potential revision. The Council agreed to revise “Inclusive Community: Embracing our diversity and advancing equity through genuine community engagement.” Members suggested including two ideas: policies, practices, 2 and services must be inclusive, and the community should celebrate equity and justice. Councilmember Marli Larimer suggested that “regional advocacy” be added as a key concept to the goals; a suggestion was made to incorporate it into “Sustainable Services: Providing quality services through responsible financial management, economic growth, and partnerships.” Teri offered the thought that Inclusive Community or “Innovative Government: Delivering outstanding customer service, developing leaders and fostering innovation” should include the concept that the City’s employees reflect the community’s diversity. During the discussion Chief Administrative Offer Derek Matheson stated that the ELT is developing objectives and measures for each goal so that the Administration can demonstrate to Council and the City can demonstrate to the public that the goals are being implemented. As the discussion was ending, Councilmember Bill Boyce suggested that the vision, mission, and goals be shown on television before the broadcasts of Council meetings. Another idea was that Mayor Ralph read the vision, mission, and/or heading of each goal at the beginning of Council meetings. Councilmember Brenda Fincher also asked if the vision, mission, and goals could appear on the screen on Channel 21. Next step: Derek will bring back to Council proposed language to revise the goal(s). COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE After a lengthy discussion, the Council agreed to reestablish Council committees, a structure that had been replaced in late 2019 by the Committee of the Whole. Council President Toni Troutner will establish ad hoc committee with three Councilmembers and Derek to design the new structure and propose it to the Council. Two primary interests that should be achieved are ensure that Councilmembers gain a deeper understanding of the key issues facing the City, and ensure that the structure is as efficient as possible. Councilmembers suggested these ideas for consideration by the ad hoc committee as it develops the committee structure: create fewer committees that oversee a different combination of issues than under the previous committee structure; the total number of meetings—Council, committee, and workshops—should be similar to the number that are held under the Committee of the Whole structure; each meeting should be as short as possible; minimize the impact on staff. No consensus emerged on when to initiate the new structure. A suggestion was made that it could be instituted once it is possible for in-person meetings to be held. After a little more discussion, 1 June 2021 appeared to be the latest date for the process to get underway. The ad hoc committee will make a recommendation to the Council on this issue, too. Next step: The ad hoc committee will form and develop a proposed structure and the resolution the Council must adopt to approve the change. The ad hoc committee will consider the above ideas and the start date and make recommendations to the full Council. BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS 3 The Council agreed that the Parks and Recreation Commission is a good model for achieving these interests regarding the City’s Boards and Commissions: 1) balance historical experience and knowledge with new voices and fresh perspectives; 2) ensure each member is interested, enthusiastic, and brings some level of knowledge; 3) ensure the Boards and Commissions reflect the diversity of the community, in terms of gender, age, race and ethnicity, length of residency, and learning and decision-making styles; and 4) provide consistent practices and procedures among the Boards and Commissions. The Parks and Recreation Commission appeared to the Council to be a good role model because: 1) its mission and operations are guided by bylaws: 2) proactive outreach to and strategic recruitment of potential members, including by current Commission members, has resulted in its diverse membership; 3) applications are maintained for at least six months, thus ensuring there is a pool of interested candidates; and 4) the two-terms-limit has ensured a mix of longer-term members with institutional knowledge and newer members with fresh perspectives. While there is interest in limiting the number of terms that a member can serve, the Council also recognized that a member might serve longer than two terms if there are no applicants to serve on the particular Board or Commission. A couple Councilmembers suggested staggering members’ terms to ensure the mix of experience and knowledge on one hand and fresh, new perspectives and ideas on the other. There was sentiment for lengthening the term of Land Use and Planning Board members because of the complexity of the issues and the sense that it takes longer to gain expertise. In addition, the Civil Service Commission and Firemen’s Relief and Pension Board might not be candidates for change because of the expertise that is needed to successfully serve and prescriptions about who serves (union representatives, for example). Finally, the Administration communicated to the Councilmembers that they are needed to strategically recruit new members to the Boards and Commissions from among their networks of contacts in the community. Next step: Derek and City Attorney Pat Fitzpatrick will lead the Executive Leadership Team’s work to refine the Board and Commission system by building on the interests and ideas described above. They will bring back to Council a proposal that, among the structural and operational issues, identifies opportunities for the Council to become more engaged in strategically recruiting Board and Commission members. RENTAL HOUSING PROTECTIONS The Council agreed to establish an ordinance that goes beyond State law, which the City currently abides by, that requires renters with month-to-month leases to be provided twenty days’ notice when the landlord needs them to move out. The new City ordinance will give such renters sixty days’ notice. The Council’s discussion raised issues of fairness to both renters and landlords. The Council is concerned that twenty days’ notice is too short given such complexities as the number and ages of family members, the availability and cost of housing, the cost of moving, and other ramifications of moving, such as the impacts on children who may be forced to change schools. 4 The change to the ordinance will apply to renters with month-to-month leases who are tenants in good standing. The Council does not intend to infringe on the rights of landlords when they request that a tenant leave a property because of violations in the lease agreements, such as criminal behavior or abandonment of the property. Next step: Pat and Derek will draft a new ordinance and submit it to the Council for approval. COMMUNICATIONS Communications from the City to the community was on this retreat agenda because of the goal to publicize initiatives, actions, and activities of the Council. The interest behind this goal is to ensure that the public is aware of and understands how the Council is helping to lead the City. Bailey Stober, the City’s Communications Manager, kicked off the discussion by announcing steps that are being taken to promote the Council. They included: updating the Councilmembers’ biographies on the City’s website; profiling a Councilmember each week on the City’s social media platforms; initiating virtual “Coffee with the Council” opportunities for Kent residents each month; updating the photos of Councilmembers wearing masks to promote compliance with a key public health strategy for containing COVID-19; and summarizing in bullet points the Council’s actions during a meeting the day after it occurs so that the public is aware of the Council’s most recent decisions and actions. As a result of the subsequent discussion, Councilmembers suggested these additional ideas: use the facemasks to promote Kent’s cultural diversity—seek input from the Cultural Communities Board and Arts Commission; help to ensure that Council members attend community events by noting events on the Council’s master calendar; if Councilmembers plan to attend an event, tell Bailey and come during the event’s first hour, when the photographer is there to capture the event in pictures (also, tell the Councilmembers when they need not or should not attend an event); promote the Boards and Commissions, even when there is no vacancy; reach out to the community in languages other than English. Finally, the Council discussed with Bailey an idea he is working to bring to fruition—live captioning of videos from meetings and events. IMPLEMENTATION OF HB 1590 The last item on the retreat agenda was Derek’s update about the City’s progress in implementing HB 1590, the state legislation that authorized 1/10 of 1% sales tax for affordable housing. Derek observed that the City’s implementation of this law was launched last fall when the Council imposed the tax and directed staff to work on a plan. Furthermore, Council set aside $100,000 in one-time funds for startup work on a police mental health co-responder program and $200,000 in one-time funds for youth mental health services. HB 1590 mandates a 60/40 split in the use of the funding: 60% must be devoted to constructing affordable housing and 40% may be used for housing-related services. In South King County, Kent and two or three other “1590 cities” are looking at pooling the 60% for construction under the South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP). For the other 40%, staff are working on a mental health co-responder program, a Human Services Grants Program, and an allocation of one-time funding for youth mental health. 5 SKHHP was established a couple years ago based on A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) model, the consortium of north and northeast King County cities that was formed nearly thirty years ago. Kent and Covington are members of SKHHP and Maple Valley, which has expressed interest, needs to formally join. Renton is going in an independent direction because it has a Housing Authority. The partners need to build SKHHP’s organizational capacity; an initial analysis indicates we could not use HB 1590 funds because state law restricts spending to new construction. SKHHP may be allowed to use funding generated by HB 1406, the 1/100 of 1% sales tax credit. Similar to King County, we are supporting the provisions of another piece of legislation, HB 1070, to allow acquisition. As presented to the Council last fall, the City has also discussed with King County the idea of pooling resources. Leo Flor, the County’s Director of Human and Community Resources, likes the SKHHP concept because the County is a member of ARCH, which it views as successful. On a related note, the Kent Housing Options Plan (KHOP) is already underway. It’s the vehicle to figure out how to direct SKHHP to allocate funding to different types of affordable housing. Our Comprehensive Plan’s Housing and Human Services Elements and the 2020-‘25 Human Services Strategic Plan also offer guidance. The Council will need to approve the SKHHP Inter-Local Agreement and the KHOP. On a parallel track with the SKHHP, a South King County responder pilot program is underway and we're working on a possible Kent-specific program. The pilot includes nine cities, the Kent Valley cities plus Black Diamond, Algona, and Pacific. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs has provided a six-month grant; Des Moines is the “parent agency” that will manage the contract with an agency. The cities have not yet agreed on the agency, but in the running are the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation (VCCC), and Sound Mental Health. The pilot will be located at 272nd and Pacific Highway South. The concept is that people will call 911 and Valley Communications will dispatch police and/or the City’s responders or King County’s crisis responders (similar to animal control). Kent officers will overhear the communications but the County will handle the crisis response because cities lack authority to involuntarily commit people in crisis. The next steps in advancing the pilot are to produce formal Memoranda of Understanding and to develop the contract between Des Moines and the agency that is selected. We expect the partners will seek a one-year grant extension. From Kent’s perspective, the pilot project will help shape our program or help us decide to continue to participate in the regional program. If Kent were to go it alone, the Human Services Division would manage the City’s relationship with the agency and the Police Department would manage operations (i.e., dispatching and day-to-day collaboration). We do not yet know if the Council’s approval will be necessary, but staff will keep the Council informed. Regarding youth mental health, the Request For Proposal (RFP), including the “Call for Concepts,” is due the week of February 8-12. The panel that was created to review proposals will include youth. The City will award grants at a minimum of $25,000 and ensure that the recipients’ programs are culturally responsive. They will all be at Kent locations. The Administration will keep Council informed on this process, too. Finally, regarding on-going grant funding, the City will provide grants through the existing human sources grant framework or through the parallel framework that emphasized Kent and South King County agencies. 6 MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF 2020 The retreat began with Councilmembers and the Mayor identifying what they believe to be the City’s major accomplishments of 2020. Once they had finished, the ELT added to the list. Here is the list.  Major road improvements, such as those at Blue Origin’s headquarters.  Budget reserves, which were particularly important in dealing with the impacts of COVID-19.  Discussions about matters of ethnicity and race.  The staff’s resiliency as reflected in the operations changes that responded to the pandemic. The staff “did not miss a beat” and found new ways to accomplish our goals. And the transition to working at home appeared seamless.  The way in which the community has come together in a very difficult and challenging year.  The budget process and the budget itself, led by Paula.  The work to address racial issues.  The Senior Center.  Human Service Division’s services are seen through an equity lens.  Police data.  Salmon habitat program.  The Parks and Recreation Department’s response to the pandemic—the ability to continue to provide the public with an outlet and services.  Bailey’s communications strategies keep the community informed and involved.  Communicating in languages other than English to a very diverse community with many immigrants.  Toni’s and Dana’s leadership.  The Council’s and Administration’s creativity and flexibility.  How effectively we were served by the Courts, IT, and the Law Department.  IT deserves love for how quickly it delivered and set up computers at employees’ homes.  The Human Resources Department’s guidelines and communications ensured that employees stayed safe.  Kent’s policies and legislation have recently received “shout outs” from other cities in the state. They have complimented us and are learning from our work.  The adoption of “Rally the Valley.”  So many people pulled together to keep the City working smoothly in response to the pandemic.  “Meet Me on Meeker Street” has transformed that street in just a few years.  The Council made difficult decisions that paved the way for the staff to be creative and flexible in a difficult year.  Round abouts.  A “shout out” to the Law Department for its work on he 214th/218th corridor. ATTACHMENT 7 GUIDING PRINCIPLES to Guide the Council’s Discussions and Decision-Making 1. Assume that others are acting with good intent. 2. Respect differing views. 3. Remain open-minded. 4. Be candid, but kind. 5. No surprises! 6. Have each other’s backs. 7. Think about who is not at the table. What are their needs, concerns, and interests? 8. Look for common ground. Whenever possible, seek consensus. 9. Once a decision is made, join together to make it work. 10. Show up to meetings prepared. 11. Extend grace to others – cut them some slack.