HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - City Council Meeting - 09/23/2024 (2) Approved
Kent City Council
• City Council Special Meeting
KENT Minutes
WAS HiNaTor+ September 23, 2024
Date: September 23, 2024
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Chambers
1. CALL TO ORDER / FLAG SALUTE
Mayor Ralph called the meeting to order.
2. ROLL CALL
Attendee Name T Status Arrived
Dana Ralph Mayor Present
Satwinder Kaur Council President Present
Bill Boyce Councilmember Present
John Boyd Councilmember Present
Brenda Fincher Councilmember Present
Marli Larimer Councilmember Present
Toni Troutner Councilmember Present
Zandria Michaud Councilmember Present
3. MAYOR RALPH'S 2025-2026 BIENNIAL BUDGET MESSAGE
Mayor Ralph presented her 2025-2026 Budget Message as follows:
I am proud to present to you my proposed 2025-2026 biennial budget. This
proposed budget was prepared in collaboration with City Council, City
departments, and community members. As a result of that collaboration, I firmly
believe this budget is a road map that reflects the values of our organization and its
commitment to our community. It is why I am grateful that as City leaders, we have
shared values centered around benefiting our residents, businesses, and
visitors. I thank the City Council for its teamwork and commitment to
improvement so we can continue to make Kent a place we are all proud to call
home.
Over the last several years, inflation has played a major role in our decision-
making process. With the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Seattle-Tacoma- Bellevue area coming in at 40-
year record high numbers, we recognized a growth in expenditures would be
imminent. Over the last several years, we have certainly seen expenditures grow
rapidly. Inflation has exacerbated the City's structural imbalance as labor
contracts are tied, at least in part, to CPI-W. Outside of salaries and benefits,
operation and projects costs are on the rise as well.
Earlier this year, knowing inflation was going to impact the 2025-2026 biennial
Kent City Council City Council Special Meeting September 23, 2024
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budget, Council and staff agreed to maintain a status quo budget for this biennium.
You will see this budget does exactly that as well as provides several options for
restoration and stabilization. It was agreed that any budget request would be
accompanied by a revenue stream or expenditure reduction to support it. We also
collectively agreed to no new initiatives.
Within the $884 million total 2025-2026 biennial budget, $259 million is allocated
to the General Fund. The proposed General Fund budget has been established
with the intent to use some of the City's reserves in the General Fund to balance
the budget in both 2025 and 2026. Our reserves are above the required
minimums, and this is the kind of use they were intended for.
We have continued our commitment to equity in City projects, programs, and
service delivery. The Race and Equity Division worked closely with community
stakeholders and staff to develop the Council's Race and Equity Strategic Plan and
have been working through actionable steps of that plan. This budget includes
the use of ARPA funding to extend the Race & Equity Coordinator temporary
limited-term position through 2026. This position will continue to support the
mandatory Title VI reporting on behalf of the City and serve as a consultant to
departments to assist with equity related matters while assisting in the
implementation of the Race and Equity Strategic Plan.
The City will continue to be on the forefront of transparency and accountability in
law enforcement. Recent laws on police reform changed how the Department
recruits police officers, interacts with the community, and provides service. The
Police Department expanded its recruiting efforts and as a result has been able to
attract qualified and diverse recruits. Over the last year, the Police Department
has become nearly fully staffed to available budget for the first time in many
years. However, it is well established that Washington has the lowest rate of officers
on a per capita basis as compared to any other state in the nation, and that the
number of officers in Kent is among the lowest in the State. Therefore, even at fully
budgeted staffing, Kent has a significant need for additional officers. To remedy this,
earlier this year, the City's only legislative priority was to empower the City
Council to increase the sales tax councilmanically to fund public safety. If this had
passed, it would have given us the opportunity to fund our police force bringing
our officer per thousand in alignment with just the average of other
departments across the State. Although this did not make it to the floor of the
legislature for a vote, the need is still there. This budget includes a modest
increase in our business and occupation tax (B&O Tax) to help mitigate some of
the immediate needs within our Police Department.
Over 50 of our 167 commissioned officers have a tenure of three years or less.
This has increased the responsibility of our Police Sergeants who have the duty to
provide direct supervision, mentoring, and development of these officers. That,
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coupled with the changes in policing, has impacted the workload for our Sergeants.
The current nine officers per sergeant ratio is unrealistic and unsustainable. This
budget includes the addition of two Patrol Sergeants along with one Police
Officer, which will reduce the sergeant-to-officer ratio to one sergeant per five
officers. The three new positions will support the Patrol Division giving the Police
Department the ability to have a slightly increased presence on the street to
handle 911 calls and to patrol the City. Funding has also been added to the budget
to add a Correctional Sergeant allowing them the ability to supervise, mentor
and develop their Correctional Officers instead of being pulled to work a post.
With this additional position, two Correction Sergeants will be available to work
each shift. These additions will not get our staffing levels to where they need to be
but will help to mitigate some immediate needs. We will continue our efforts with
the legislature for additional funding options to fund our Police Department to
necessary levels.
State-level police reform bills have made apprehending criminal suspects
significantly more challenging. In our continued response to regionally increasing
crime, this budget includes funding for advanced technology to fight and
investigate crime. We use drones daily for in-progress calls and crime scene
photography. The drones we currently have are past their operational life and have
operational security issues. This budget includes funding to replace three drones
per year. In addition, this budget includes the purchase of the FUSUS platform.
FUSUS is a real-time crime center platform that provides for the ability of
businesses and residents to allow the Police Department access to their cameras to
help with investigations. FUSUS is designed in a way in which a private entity can
join by paying a small fee and in turn receive a box that plugs into their private
cameras. The Police Department will not have unrestricted access to the
cameras; they will only be able to see the cameras that are a part of the
FUSUS crime center. If an incident occurs within view of those cameras, the
Police Department can request access. If the private entity allows access, we can
then pull video from their cameras right into FUSUS without having to go to their
location, attempt to pull the video, save it to a jump drive and then head back to
the station to upload the video into Evidence.com. This technology will save our
detectives hundreds of hours of time each year.
In 2022, the City budgeted a portion of HB 1590 sales tax funding to support a
co-responder program. With those funds, the City partnered with the Puget Sound
Regional Fire Authority to participate in their FD CARES program. This program is
ongoing and is included in the 2025-2026 biennial budget. With the use of grant
funding, we were also able to partner with Project Be Free, an organization that
has been serving all of King County since 2022. Their focus is on serving the
entire family affected by Domestic Violence and has had a dramatic positive effect
on all those contacted, including our own officers. With the grant dollars coming to
an end, this budget includes $185,000 per year to continue the use of this
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service. This funding will provide dedicated staffing from Project Be Free to respond
to Kent incidents. This is just another step in our commitment to our co-responder
programs. In the short time it has been instituted, we have seen a dramatic effect
within the department our officers with new tools to handle domestic violence calls,
as well as increased cooperation by victims and victim families in investigations.
While it is still too early in the program to grade effectiveness on recidivism, we fully
believe we will be able to show hard data that corresponds to recidivism going down
for domestic violence defendants.
The Police Department has recently created a Professional Standards Unit. This
unit is responsible for handling complaints that come into the department.
Currently, it is largely a manual process to review complaints, comply with public
records request requirements and track trends or common issues. To make
efficiencies and to ensure transparency in how complaints are resolved, this
budget includes funding to implement the Professional Standards Suite available
in the Power DMS software. The Police Department currently uses Power DMS for
their policies and standard operating procedures. The Professional Standards
Suite securely manages internal affairs cases, has an early intervention program,
and has forms that allows for the easy tracking of use of force and pursuits as
well as the ability to provide resolution to complainants.
Serving in the police force often comes with high stress and intense demands, so it
is important for our law enforcement personnel to continue to protect and serve to
the best of their ability by being mentally and physically fit. We support our
officers mental and physical wellbeing through access to holistic wellness
services. This budget includes $30,000 to expand the opportunities available to
officers for wellness visits with a licensed mental health provider. The police
officer's role is stressful, emotionally draining, and physically taxing. Research has
shown police wellness programs reduce on-the-job injuries, improve retention, and
help in recruiting new officers. Additionally, maximizing wellness in police staff
protects our significant investments in training, equipment, and other personnel
costs.
The workload for our probation officers has increased significantly as we have seen a
rise in mental health and drug cases which require more intensive supervision. This
budget includes the addition of a probation officer to help with the increase demands
of the job including providing support for general probation services, mental health
caseloads, and our growing DUI and Community Court programs. The Municipal
Court was awarded a $75,000 grant from Washington Traffic Safety Commission to
cover half of the costs of a probation officer position in 2025. The Municipal Court
will apply for the grant again; however, there is no guarantee that it will be
awarded. The remainder of the position in 2025 would be paid for by shifting a
portion of the Resource Coordinator's salary to be paid for out of the opioid
settlement dollars.
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This budget includes the addition of an Assistant City Attorney for the Civil
Division beginning in 2026. Our civil attorneys have been managing an increased
workload, in both volume and complexity, while having a deficit in attorney work
capacity overall. This is due to priority being given to several large and
simultaneous projects, along with code enforcement issues relating to problem
properties that are difficult and time consuming to address. Other issues such as
the increase in encampment-related issues, major projects going on in the City, and
state legislative action contrary to City policies and governance have also added to
the workload. The volume and complexity of this work has necessitated this new
position.
The City's Permit Center continues to realize demands for service beyond their
capacity with current staffing levels. Beginning in 2025, Washington cities will be
required to comply with unfunded State mandates that include shortened permit
issuance timelines. Reporting requirements will increase and penalties will apply if
timeliness requirements are not met. Offset by the revenues generated by the
Permit Center, this budget converts an expiring temporary limited-term Permit
Technician position to a permanent position. This budget also converts two
additional temporary limited-term positions to permanent positions. One will be
a Long-Range Planner and the other a Current Planner. Finally, the budget
includes a new position within the Economic and Community Development
Department to administer the City's flood plain certification program. A portion of
this position will be paid for out of the Drainage Fund.
Kent Parks' newly developed Asset Management System opens unprecedented
opportunities to analyze and optimize Parks' operational workflows, assess the
condition of assets, and evaluate parks performance. This innovative system is a
direct result of the dedicated efforts of our GIS Analyst position. The GIS Analyst is
essential in managing our assets and providing technical support for all geospatial
data created within the system. This role ensures the accurate collection,
maintenance, and analysis of spatial data, which is crucial for informed decision-
making. This budget converts the expiring temporary limited- term position to a
permanent position allowing the Parks Department to optimize operational
efficiency by streamlining maintenance schedules, prioritizing repairs, and allocating
resources more effectively. It will enhance asset condition monitoring through
regular assessments and document the condition of park assets helping us to
identify potential issues before they become costly problems. We will be able to track
park performance by tracking and analyzing park usage and visitor satisfaction.
Finally, it will foster community engagement through the use of interactive maps
and data visualizations to engage with the community, soliciting feedback and
promoting park programs and events.
This budget extends the temporary limited-term Parks Program Coordinator position
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at the Senior Center through 2026 allowing the Parks Department to review its
business model for the Senior Center and create a long-term viable solution for
the Center that would be addressed with the mid-biennial budget adjustment or
next biennial budget. This budget also extends the temporary limited-term
Facilities Capital Projects Manager which is currently slated to expire in May 2025
for an additional three years. With large projects such as the Kent East Hill
Operations Center, there is no doubt that additional support will be needed to keep
all projects moving forward.
The Kent Commons Community Center currently has a part-time Program Assistant
position who supports community education programming, handling essential
tasks such as contracts, billing, payments, onboarding, and general program
support. This role also assists with registration, office coverage, special events, and
recitals when available. The demands on this position have grown significantly
and the workload has exceeded what this part-time position can manage
effectively. To address this issue this budget increases this position to full-time.
This adjustment will create a sustainable workload, allow for consistent office
coverage, as well as the ability to manage duties effectively during times of
lunch breaks, illness, and vacation. To cover the increased cost of this position, the
Parks Department has reduced its part-time line items within the Recreation
Division. The result will be to ensure that our Commons staff can meet the
growing demands efficiently and continue to provide high-quality service to our
community.
In 2023, dedicated staff hours were allocated for encampment management as
part of the Natural Resources team, with the expectation that additional staff time
would provide the necessary resources.
However, the demand for encampment response remains high, currently
consuming 65% of available staff time. These same staff resources are also
responsible for trail maintenance and community stewardship events via the
Green Kent program. Annually, 10 to 15 locations require contracted services, with
typical costs ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 per day for one to two days of work,
not including the variable disposal costs. To effectively manage this ongoing issue,
this budget includes an additional $75,000 each year to support contracted
encampment cleanup services.
Kent Parks, through its Recreation and Cultural Services Division, proudly delivers
the Spotlight Series to Kent and surrounding communities. This series showcases a
diverse range of performers across multiple genres and styles, enriching our
community's cultural landscape. These performances serve an estimated 2,500 to
3,000 people annually. The associated costs for these events have risen sharply.
To sustain the quality and reach of the Spotlight Series, this budget includes an
increase of $55,000 for the Spotlight Series to ensure we can continue to deliver a
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robust cultural program that benefits the entire community. The increased cost is
offset by a reduction of under-utilized budgeted line items.
The use of our Parks has been increasing and changing rapidly over the last
several years. This requires our delivery of services to evolve. In 2024, our Parks
Department explored a one-time pilot program in which it used a contracted
security firm to provide support to manage high-use park locations such as Lake
Meridian, Van Doren's, Hogan, and West Fenwick parks. The pilot program was
successful. The current use of contract security services to supplement park staff
securing of both park buildings and parking lots has already shown a reduction
in illicit use specifically in parking lots within our park system. While this has not
eliminated all issues, it has been a positive step in responding to these trends
that have created a demand on police responses. This program currently includes
the lock up of park restroom buildings and parking lots at 28 locations to
discourage use outside of normal park operating hours. This budget includes
$50,000 per year to continue this program.
Security and safety of our city employees and facilities have been in the
forefront of our minds as we have seen continued growth in theft, vandalism and
acts of violence. We are seeing vandalism occur regularly at several parks'
locations. The repair and replacement of doors, restroom dividers, lighting and
other elements of park facilities are straining existing budgets. Because of this, we
are dedicating $50,000 per year to cover the increased costs in this area.
Over the last couple of years, we have worked to increase employee safety
through upgraded security measures at our facilities, having field staff double-up
when working in high-risk areas, distributing staff safety training videos, and
implementing a pepper spray policy. The meter reading staff have been
experiencing safety issues in the field while reading meters and shutting off
delinquent accounts. At its current staffing levels, the Meter Reader group is unable
to double-up in some areas due to the growing number of new meters and the
increased number of delinquent accounts requiring shutoffs. This budget includes
the addition of one Meter Reader to allow for better workflow, a more manageable
workload for city meter staff, and the ability to double-up on routes where
needed, increasing the safety of our employees.
The Drainage Fund has close to 400 sites to mow and trim during the growing
season. In the past, we have tried to use a temporary position to help with this
work. Unfortunately, it is difficult to retain temporary help as they tend to seek
out permanent positions which leaves our crew short-staffed and unable to
maintain all of the sites that the Drainage Vegetation team is responsible for.
Using funding from the temporary positions budget, this budget includes the
addition of a permanent, full-time Drainage Vegetation Maintenance position.
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This budget also extends a temporary limited-term Design Engineer which is set to
expire in June 2025. This position will continue to support current and upcoming
work. The City has been successful with grant applications and have been
awarded grants from regional funding partners such the Transportation
Improvement Board and Puget Sound Regional Council. This position will
ensure we can deliver on current commitments without the costly expense of a
consultant.
With the use of some of our Fleet fund balance, this budget includes the
replacement of 13 pieces of major equipment for Parks and Public Works for
assets that are past their useful life and are in need of replacement. The
equipment includes a variety of mowers, tractors, woodchippers, flatbed trailers,
vehicle/cart and portable light towers.
Finally, this budget includes investment in the City's capital program.
East Hill North Community Park - Roadway Improvements. The Parks
Department was awarded approximately $2.5 million from the State Department of
Commerce to develop the East Hill North Community Park. This budget includes an
additional $1.5 million to support near-term improvements along 132nd which will
improve pedestrian connectivity from the neighborhood to the park, opening the
way for a more modest set of improvements at the park including limited parking,
a restroom building and trails. The roadway improvements along 132nd would
likely include an extruded curb separated walkway along the eastern edge of the
road with rectangular rapid flashing beacons at 218th and 214th with a short
segment of elevated boardwalk between 214th and 216th. These improvements
would tie-in with trail improvements in the park, creating safe bike and pedestrian
access to the park and facilitate future expansion.
Roundabout Project Design Funding. A single lane roundabout at the
intersection of the of 116th Ave SE and SE 248th Street is a project identified in the
City of Kent Transportation Master Plan. This intersection has high congestion
during the morning and afternoon commutes and is within proximity to Kent East
Hill Operations Center, Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority Station 74, the YMCA,
Clark Lake Park, Morrill Meadows Park, Martin Sortun Elementary and George
Daniel Elementary. Relief of this congestion would be beneficial to the
commuters on the East Hill, emergency responders as well as employees
working at KEHOC. Multi-modal enhancements would be improved at this
location. In order to be ready to take advantage of granting opportunities, this
budget includes $300,000 for the design of the project. We will be at a greater
advantage for grant funding with the design complete.
Technology. During this biennium, the City will continue to invest in technology
by funding hardware and software lifecycles with approximately $1.7 million
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each year in addition to $3.4 million in additional capital projects over the
biennium. Many of these improvements are intended to support our IT security
zero trust architecture approach and align with the recent IT reorganization
that helped us further focus on bolstering our security and contract
accountability.
Some of technology projects include:
• Replacement of the City's Council & Committee meeting minute, agenda,
and video management software ($135,000).
• Updates to iNovah, the City's point-of-sale system to ensure PCI
compliance which is designed to protect cardholder data ($36,000).
• Improvements to the City taxes and business licensing systems
($499,000).
• Modernization and security of our Active Directory services by establishing
a new hybrid on premise and cloud-based environment ($200,000).
• Migration of the Telestaff solution from the Kronos Private Cloud to Google
Cloud as required by the vendor ($110,000).
• Integration with Valley Comm's new CAD (computer aided dispatch)
vendor, Versaterm, with Axon Records and to ensure this new system
works smoothly with Kent Police Department's mobile devices ($70,000).
• Replace and create the integrations from the legacy Corrections jail
management system, Tiburon, to the new BlackCreek system ($133,000).
• Replace the current database used to manage Stormwater Program
workflows, including NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System) and FOG (Fats, Oils, and Grease) and Erosion Control workflow
with updated software that can support enterprise systems integrations
and collaboration to streamline the manual current state processes within
Public Works Environmental Engineering ($300,000).
Tonight, I respectfully transmit the 2025-2026 budget to the City Council for
consideration. There is a tremendous amount of demand for City services. Our job
as City leaders is to remain fiscally responsible, anticipate future challenges, and
move this City forward. I believe this proposed budget accomplishes all of these
obligations.
This document is a representation of the collaborative efforts of City leadership, City
Council, City staff and the Kent community. I would like to extend my gratitude to
Chief Administrative Officer Pat Fitzpatrick, department directors and their staff for
the dedication and hard work that was put into this budget process. Thank you to the
Finance Department, particularly Finance Director Paula Painter, Financial Planning
Manager Michelle Ferguson, and her team, Kathleen McConnell and Shane
Sorenson, who masterfully navigated this budget process.
Thank you all for your hard work, collaboration, and your willingness to continue to
move Kent forward. Our residents, businesses and visitors are counting on it and
deserve nothing less.
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4. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Ralph adjourned the meeting.
Meeting ended at 5:31 p.m.
Ki4 Ley A. Kamoto-
City Clerk
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