City Council Committee of the Whole · Monday, November 13, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Transportation Sales Tax Public Outreach Summary ID 1520

30 min · Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator · packet pp.5–20

Topics: TransportationBudget

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

Meeting Date Department Executive Department Staff Lead Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Amending Financial Management Policies ID 1535

60 min · Rachel Bender Turpin, City Attorney · packet pp.21–74

Open packet at p.21 ↗

Staff report:

The Administration recommends that the City Council support the proposed amendments to the City’s Financial Management Policy, which are set forth as

3304 segments .txt ↗

0:04 ↗ good evening everyone and welcome to the

0:06 ↗ city council special meeting uh November

0:09 ↗ 13th I'm going to call it to order the

0:12 ↗ purpose of tonight's meeting is to

0:14 ↗ conduct a public hearing on the High

0:15 ↗ Street collection development agreement

0:17 ↗ as a reminder we continue to have a

0:19 ↗ remote aspect to our meetings and both

0:21 ↗ staff and members of the public may be

0:23 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:24 ↗ remotely via WebEx this meeting will be

0:27 ↗ followed by a council Committee of the

0:29 ↗ whole so there are two meetings this

0:31 ↗ evening if you've come for the committee

0:32 ↗ of the whole uh it's going to take a

0:34 ↗ little bit till we get through our first

0:36 ↗ session so thank you for

0:38 ↗ coming the first item is the public

0:40 ↗ hearing this is AB

0:42 ↗ 8704 High Street collection development

0:44 ↗ agreement and um the council tonight

0:46 ↗ will be holding the public hearing I'd

0:48 ↗ like to invite City attorney Rachel

0:50 ↗ Turpin up to the microphone to make a

0:51 ↗ presentation welcome

0:56 ↗ Rachel thank you mayor good evening uh

0:59 ↗ council members mayor staff members of

1:02 ↗ the public I'm Rachel bender tpin and

1:04 ↗ I'm the City attorney and I'm here uh

1:06 ↗ tonight to give you a brief overview of

1:09 ↗ the High Street collection development

1:15 ↗ agreement so the purpose of tonight's uh

1:19 ↗ public purpose of tonight's public

1:22 ↗ hearing is um to discuss the and provide

1:26 ↗ input into the High Street collection

1:29 ↗ development agreement purpose of this

1:31 ↗ presentation is to give you an overview

1:34 ↗ of what that development agreement

1:37 ↗ entails next

1:40 ↗ Slide the action um requested of the

1:43 ↗ council is not action for this evening

1:46 ↗ but uh we ask that the council forward a

1:49 ↗ proposed ordinance authorizing the mayor

1:51 ↗ to execute the High Street development

1:53 ↗ agreement for consideration at the next

1:56 ↗ regular meeting of the city council on

1:58 ↗ November 20th

2:03 ↗ a little background on the proposal here

2:06 ↗ this evening iif commercial doing

2:10 ↗ business as shelter Holdings which I'm

2:12 ↗ going to refer to them this evening as

2:14 ↗ because it's much easier for me to say

2:16 ↗ owns a parcel that's approximately

2:28 ↗ 21.46% uh this was established by the

2:32 ↗ court of appeals after extensive

2:35 ↗ litigation between the parties that

2:37 ↗ ruling came down in August uh of

2:41 ↗ 2022 so that's currently where the

2:44 ↗ properties existing entitlements come

2:48 ↗ from and what those are however last

2:51 ↗ year the parties entered into

2:52 ↗ negotiations on a new development

2:54 ↗ agreement for the property which if

2:57 ↗ approved would supersede the applicants

3:00 ↗ vesting under the isqua highlands

3:02 ↗ development

3:04 ↗ agreement on October 4th of this year

3:07 ↗ shelter formally applied for the High

3:09 ↗ Street collection development agreement

3:12 ↗ which is why we're here this evening

3:14 ↗ next

3:16 ↗ slide this is a visual depiction of the

3:20 ↗ property uh as you can see it is um it

3:26 ↗ runs from kind of the corner of

3:28 ↗ Highlands and

3:30 ↗ ninth um all the way over

3:36 ↗ to Discovery thank you too small for me

3:39 ↗ to

3:41 ↗ read and we'll bring this back up later

3:44 ↗ so everyone can see but I think this is

3:46 ↗ good for now now a little bit more about

3:49 ↗ why we're really here what this

3:51 ↗ agreement

3:52 ↗ entails this agreement proposes a

3:55 ↗ development project that would be a

3:57 ↗ phased mix use development including

4:00 ↗ commercial retail and residential uses

4:04 ↗ it would be developed over a 15-year

4:07 ↗ term which is the term of the

4:09 ↗ development agreement that's proposed

4:12 ↗ the project would include up to 325,000

4:15 ↗ square fet of commercial and Retail uses

4:19 ↗ that's those are commercial and Retail

4:20 ↗ uses combined and up to

4:24 ↗ 1,250 residential units that would be

4:27 ↗ primarily located in mixed use

4:30 ↗ buildings the project would provide

4:33 ↗ additional public benefits such as

4:35 ↗ community recreation elements that were

4:38 ↗ not contemplated for that property under

4:41 ↗ the isqua highlands development

4:43 ↗ agreement it would also provide an

4:45 ↗ opportunity for more affordable housing

4:48 ↗ in the area age and age restricted or

4:52 ↗ Assisted Living housing as

4:56 ↗ well next thank you a little about the

5:00 ↗ community amenities and Recreation

5:02 ↗ because I know that that's a a very big

5:04 ↗ deal for our community this under the

5:08 ↗ agreement uh there would be a

5:09 ↗ requirement for 200 square ft of what we

5:12 ↗ call Community amenity space per

5:15 ↗ residential unit Community amend space

5:18 ↗ may include Recreation areas Landscaping

5:22 ↗ Festival streets Trails plazas and other

5:26 ↗ uh pedestrian gathering places for

5:29 ↗ people to connect with one another 20%

5:33 ↗ of this requirement could be met with

5:35 ↗ indoor amenities that would allow for um

5:38 ↗ yearr round use such as health and

5:41 ↗ fitness facilities club and game rooms

5:43 ↗ or Indoor Sport facilities for folks to

5:47 ↗ use there would also be two outdoor

5:50 ↗ community recreation elements that would

5:53 ↗ total 40,000 square ft they may either

5:57 ↗ be combined um or there they may be in

5:59 ↗ the form of a 25,000 squ ft parcel and

6:03 ↗ another 15,000 square ft uh these areas

6:06 ↗ would be designated and designed for

6:09 ↗ active uh outdoor recreation amenities

6:12 ↗ for instance potential water features

6:14 ↗ Sports courts climbing walls adaptive

6:17 ↗ playground equipment or outdoor fitness

6:20 ↗ equipment there' also be a covered

6:22 ↗ portion to allow for all weather use

6:25 ↗ which is important to us here in the

6:27 ↗ Rainy Pacific Northwest

6:30 ↗ and then um the applicant shelter would

6:33 ↗ also have to construct a trail

6:35 ↗ connecting High Street linear Park to

6:38 ↗ Discovery Drive which is currently an an

6:41 ↗ existing um and I won't say deficiency

6:44 ↗ but it's a a hole that would we'd like

6:46 ↗ to we'd like to fill for the community

6:50 ↗ next

6:51 ↗ slide development regulations for the

6:54 ↗ property would be as set forth in the

6:57 ↗ development agreement they include

7:00 ↗ standards for land use parking roads

7:03 ↗ Landscaping the community ameni space

7:06 ↗ that we talked about Trails signs

7:10 ↗ lighting it would also uh it also

7:12 ↗ includes procedures for the site

7:14 ↗ development process uh and standards and

7:19 ↗ scale for the buildings to use as well

7:21 ↗ as land use standards meaning what kinds

7:25 ↗ of uses there would be allowed in that

7:28 ↗ area there are Provisions for

7:30 ↗ streamlined permit processing with the

7:33 ↗ applicant paying review costs as

7:35 ↗ specified in the agreement and there

7:38 ↗ would also be a process for minor

7:39 ↗ modifications to development standards

7:42 ↗ that would allow the parties to benefit

7:44 ↗ from new technologies or

7:46 ↗ information uh that you come into being

7:49 ↗ during the term of the agreement or to

7:51 ↗ address unanticipated issues because as

7:54 ↗ we've tried to address everything I'm

7:55 ↗ sure little things will come up from

7:57 ↗ time to time slide

8:01 ↗ the design review process for the

8:03 ↗ project would have to comply with the

8:05 ↗ isqua Highlands Community

8:07 ↗ associations High Street Properties

8:09 ↗ architectural standards and design

8:12 ↗ review would actually be completed by

8:14 ↗ the isqua highlands Architectural Review

8:17 ↗ Committee which will ensure that the

8:19 ↗ project looks and feels like the rest of

8:21 ↗ the community up

8:26 ↗ there State Environmental Policy Act or

8:29 ↗ sea review was conducted for this

8:31 ↗ project and a termination of

8:34 ↗ non-significance and a docu an adoption

8:36 ↗ of existing environmental documents was

8:38 ↗ issued on October 29th of this year that

8:42 ↗ agreement or that that document uh

8:44 ↗ adopts the Grand Ridge View draft and

8:47 ↗ final Eis for the

8:51 ↗ project the options that are before the

8:54 ↗ council not this evening once again but

8:56 ↗ uh in general would be to adopt an

8:58 ↗ ordinance appr approving the agreement

9:00 ↗ or to not adopt an ordinance approving

9:03 ↗ the

9:06 ↗ agreement and my recommendation and the

9:09 ↗ recommendation of the administration is

9:11 ↗ that the council pass an ordinance

9:13 ↗ approving and authorizing the mayor to

9:15 ↗ execute the

9:17 ↗ agreement next steps uh at the meeting

9:20 ↗ on November 20th the an ordinance uh

9:24 ↗ approving the agreement will be up for

9:26 ↗ consideration by the city council

9:32 ↗ and I believe that's it so with that I'm

9:34 ↗ happy to entertain any questions um

9:36 ↗ although it may be helpful if we do a

9:38 ↗ brief presentation from the applicant

9:40 ↗ first and then perhaps we can field I

9:41 ↗ think questions together all right and

9:45 ↗ Tisha if you mind putting up that one

9:47 ↗ slide thank

9:57 ↗ you thank you Rachel uh I'm Gary Young

10:00 ↗ with shelter Holdings mayor Paulie

10:02 ↗ council members community at large and

10:05 ↗ uh guests and staff uh we've been

10:09 ↗ waiting a long time and uh really

10:11 ↗ appreciate uh the collaborative and the

10:14 ↗ tremendous amount of work that both the

10:16 ↗ council has undertaken and staff uh to

10:19 ↗ bring us forward to the day and we're

10:21 ↗ looking forward to doing the best job we

10:23 ↗ can in moving forward uh shelter

10:25 ↗ Holdings uh is a uh family business my

10:29 ↗ partner Jeff G and myself are the

10:31 ↗ founders and uh we live here in the area

10:34 ↗ Jeff's three daughters went to the uh

10:38 ↗ Children's Garden school and graduated

10:40 ↗ from isua high school uh many years ago

10:43 ↗ and so we're very connected and part of

10:44 ↗ this community we've been actively

10:46 ↗ building in the community for well over

10:49 ↗ 30 years in all various shapes and forms

10:52 ↗ and also throughout the region um we

10:55 ↗ typically hold and operate and uh own

10:57 ↗ our projects we're also very active with

11:00 ↗ our local community organizations and

11:04 ↗ just briefly to touch on uh a long term

11:07 ↗ probably our oldest relationship going

11:08 ↗ to Life Enrichment options where we

11:11 ↗ built the first home and our sub trades

11:13 ↗ and everyone pulled together and and we

11:15 ↗ built that first home and uh and

11:17 ↗ dedicated it to Leo to be their first

11:20 ↗ asset as that um important group moved

11:22 ↗ forward and our whole entire staff and

11:25 ↗ office came and landscaped that first

11:27 ↗ home right across from Ava fringer house

11:30 ↗ the mayor of uh Es squa at that time

11:32 ↗ right across the street turned out

11:34 ↗ really incredible we've been involved

11:36 ↗ with every home since all the way

11:37 ↗ through the process uh supporting

11:40 ↗ providing financial support every year

11:42 ↗ and uh Leo is is well established on its

11:45 ↗ own feet carrying forward on its own and

11:47 ↗ obviously we have a beautiful Leo home

11:49 ↗ here in isqua Highlands which is great

11:52 ↗ to be a part of that carrying forward uh

11:54 ↗ Isel School Foundation uh we've been

11:57 ↗ involved with for years um we have a

11:59 ↗ small Orchard of golden apples in uh

12:02 ↗ awards from ywa um School foundation in

12:06 ↗ my office and uh we participated in many

12:09 ↗ programs uh through that uh tenure and

12:13 ↗ continue to do so one of which helping

12:15 ↗ teachers in the esquad district trying

12:17 ↗ to uh relocate younger teachers lower

12:19 ↗ income uh in some of the apartments that

12:22 ↗ we've used and different steps like that

12:24 ↗ but we really appreciate the work that

12:26 ↗ uh the foundation does Teen G Kaylee and

12:30 ↗ all the work that happens with that is

12:32 ↗ an amazing property project City's very

12:35 ↗ involved with that and is essential I

12:37 ↗ think to the being approximate to the

12:39 ↗ school carrying forward then it's called

12:41 ↗ History Museum I was serving as chair on

12:43 ↗ the steering committee a number of years

12:45 ↗ before Co is a group working to try to

12:48 ↗ bring that to another level and now

12:51 ↗ fortunately I think it's been

12:53 ↗ reorganized now and Paul winterstein is

12:55 ↗ involved there's going to be an open

12:56 ↗ house this Thursday that's pretty

12:59 ↗ exciting to see that move ahead and be

13:01 ↗ able to hold a lot of the history of

13:02 ↗ this area going so far back uh finally

13:06 ↗ East Side baby corner now kid Vantage

13:09 ↗ we've been involved for years with them

13:10 ↗ helping them in different areas to get

13:13 ↗ their computers and things set up for

13:14 ↗ distribution it's an amazing

13:16 ↗ organization and Rob Hunt is my neighbor

13:19 ↗ and close friend and uh with Village

13:21 ↗ Theater we're very cons active with the

13:24 ↗ uh children's the the kids programs in

13:26 ↗ the in the summer essentially where they

13:28 ↗ were B basically helping 3,000 kids

13:30 ↗ between Everett and isaga because

13:32 ↗ they're located in both areas going

13:34 ↗ through that so moving ahead uh a dark

13:37 ↗ cloud maybe is the word coid and Co has

13:41 ↗ maybe completely altered all of our

13:43 ↗ lives in so many respects and and uh

13:46 ↗ probably brought a lot more work to the

13:48 ↗ council than they ever dreamed theyd

13:49 ↗ ever want to have it also has very

13:52 ↗ dramatically impact the office and the

13:54 ↗ workplace market and I touch on this

13:56 ↗ point briefly just to say that many

13:58 ↗ local companies we have built our own

14:00 ↗ building we have tenants we lease and

14:02 ↗ we're very active in that area but not

14:05 ↗ as as much now but essentially many of

14:08 ↗ our companies businesses are downsizing

14:11 ↗ uh companies like Microsoft Amazon are

14:13 ↗ proceeding with uh changing plans entire

14:17 ↗ existing buildings are looking to maybe

14:19 ↗ having leases change uh emptying them

14:23 ↗ and also new projects being cancelled

14:25 ↗ we've had a complete change in the

14:27 ↗ fabric of the office Market in the

14:29 ↗ region basically Seattle bellw being

14:32 ↗ most concerned about that and it also

14:35 ↗ affects uh isqua we Works recent

14:38 ↗ announcement on bankruptcy is another

14:40 ↗ conversation that Keys into this uh

14:42 ↗ aspect in this conversation so as we

14:44 ↗ move forward we're going to have an

14:46 ↗ evolution or a new kind of hybrid

14:48 ↗ Workforce that we're all anxious to

14:50 ↗ understand and see how that plays out

14:52 ↗ and how does that work in all our

14:54 ↗ communities and I think that'll be a

14:56 ↗ combination from what we can see of

14:58 ↗ people working at home people are going

15:00 ↗ to work remote and people are still

15:02 ↗ going to be coming into the office but

15:04 ↗ might not be 5 days a week maybe two

15:06 ↗ maybe three so in thinking of these

15:08 ↗ things we're also paying attention to

15:10 ↗ the medical model I obviously do because

15:12 ↗ I'm 75 coming up this year so as we look

15:16 ↗ our hospitals our clinics are coming

15:19 ↗ into new ways to deal with providing

15:21 ↗ their services and especially that's

15:23 ↗ important in Isa Highlands so we're

15:25 ↗ seeing an entirely new approach to these

15:28 ↗ our proposal as we're looking that we've

15:30 ↗ worked through uh is providing

15:32 ↗ flexibility to address the changing

15:34 ↗ needs that isqua Highlands is

15:36 ↗ experiencing and our community at large

15:39 ↗ we are enhancing many of the services

15:41 ↗ that the community presently enjoys in

15:43 ↗ our plan we're also adding additional

15:45 ↗ Park and Recreation opportunities that

15:47 ↗ Rachel has touched on we're providing an

15:49 ↗ opportunity for some of the founding and

15:51 ↗ longtime residents like Jeff Walker 25

15:53 ↗ years I think now um to be able to stay

15:56 ↗ in the neighborhood maybe and have a

15:58 ↗ choice for for downsizing uh I won't

16:00 ↗ bring up the word senior Jeff but anyway

16:03 ↗ that happens we all get old but there's

16:05 ↗ an opportunity um and a need for

16:08 ↗ different varieties of choice of

16:11 ↗ residency and and for people that

16:14 ↗ understand have lived in this community

16:15 ↗ know how important it is and it's not

16:18 ↗ the most do not want to leave but they

16:20 ↗ also don't want to have a big big house

16:22 ↗ so that's another point that we're

16:24 ↗ trying to address in our planning we're

16:27 ↗ providing the Bly needed Workforce

16:29 ↗ housing and more affordable housing for

16:32 ↗ the neighborhoods in general I'll

16:34 ↗ summarize by saying we just very much

16:36 ↗ appreciate the opportunity to be

16:37 ↗ thoughtful long-term participants in

16:40 ↗ this thriving ISO Highlands Community to

16:42 ↗ make it even more enjoyable to call it

16:44 ↗ home over the last eight years that we

16:47 ↗ have owned this property we have shared

16:49 ↗ ideas with the community at various

16:51 ↗ events that we held and uh reach out

16:54 ↗ sessions engaged Consultants met with

16:56 ↗ many of you individually to learn about

16:58 ↗ about your community's needs and to

17:00 ↗ develop ideas for projects that would

17:02 ↗ make Isa Highlands an even better place

17:05 ↗ to live we're excited that the

17:07 ↗ development agreement establishes a

17:08 ↗ framework that will make it possible to

17:10 ↗ build a project that responds to many of

17:14 ↗ these very diverse needs that we have

17:16 ↗ heard requested over the years and we'd

17:18 ↗ like now to turn this conversation over

17:20 ↗ to Tia who's worked on this for over

17:22 ↗ eight years now and as my associate and

17:25 ↗ she'll cover a few more details and I

17:27 ↗ just want to thank you all very much for

17:29 ↗ your time

17:32 ↗ thanks good evening Council thanks for

17:35 ↗ having us here tonight um I'll try to

17:38 ↗ try to be brief here but maybe hit on

17:40 ↗ some of the details that are in the

17:42 ↗ development agreement that might be of

17:43 ↗ interest to to people um first of all we

17:46 ↗ are really excited to be able to be in a

17:49 ↗ position to turn the page and work

17:51 ↗ together with the city on a project that

17:52 ↗ we think um will really be beneficial to

17:55 ↗ the community the city um and everyone

17:58 ↗ involved uh this development agreement

18:00 ↗ would establish a framework that would

18:03 ↗ allow us to finally utilize the vacant

18:05 ↗ property that would complete the isqua

18:07 ↗ highlands in a way that would be

18:09 ↗ beneficial to the community and would

18:11 ↗ help resolve many years of dispute um

18:14 ↗ the the as Gary mentioned the

18:16 ↗ development agreement would also allow

18:17 ↗ us to respond to many of the needs and

18:19 ↗ desires that we've heard from the

18:20 ↗ community over the years um so I'll

18:23 ↗ touch on a few of those um it would

18:26 ↗ allow uh mixed use development that's

18:28 ↗ responsive to Market which has been an

18:30 ↗ issue in the past is is having Market

18:33 ↗ support for the types of development

18:35 ↗ that are desired the majority of the

18:37 ↗ residential buildings would be mixed use

18:40 ↗ with residential units over ground floor

18:42 ↗ commercial which means more shops more

18:45 ↗ restaurants more

18:46 ↗ services we know that the community

18:48 ↗ would love to see um a restaurant that

18:51 ↗ serves breakfast in the isua highlands

18:53 ↗ that was something we heard over and

18:54 ↗ over again we didn't forget and this

18:56 ↗ would allow us to go look for a tenant

18:58 ↗ that could fill that need um it would

19:01 ↗ allow for at least one space that could

19:03 ↗ accommodate an entertainment tenant um

19:06 ↗ which again was something else that we

19:07 ↗ heard a desire for and a need for in

19:09 ↗ isqua

19:10 ↗ Highlands um for mixed use buildings the

19:13 ↗ majority of the parking would be

19:15 ↗ anticipated to be underground which

19:17 ↗ really allows us to focus on making a

19:20 ↗ walkable project that's really focused

19:22 ↗ on The Pedestrian experience and and

19:24 ↗ making it easy for people to get from

19:26 ↗ one use to the other

19:30 ↗ um shelter shelter's property has always

19:33 ↗ had a certain amount of traffic

19:35 ↗ anticipated and already mitigated for um

19:38 ↗ associated with full buildout under the

19:39 ↗ isqua highlands development agreement

19:41 ↗ which shelter is vested to for the new

19:44 ↗ development agreement shelter's traffic

19:46 ↗ Eng engineer looked at how changing that

19:48 ↗ mix of uses on our property from

19:51 ↗ primarily commercial retail to a mixed

19:53 ↗ use

19:54 ↗ development um how that impacts traffic

19:58 ↗ the the traffic analysis was thorough it

20:01 ↗ used updated traffic counts and it found

20:05 ↗ that under the new development agreement

20:08 ↗ it would generate fewer total trips and

20:10 ↗ no significantly different overall

20:12 ↗ impacts than what was allowed and

20:14 ↗ planned for under the isqua highlands

20:16 ↗ development agreement in terms of

20:18 ↗ considering how shelters project fits

20:20 ↗ into the traffic of the broader isqua

20:23 ↗ Community the Citywide traffic modeling

20:26 ↗ maintained by the city assumes full

20:28 ↗ buildout of both the Lakeside property

20:30 ↗ and shelter's

20:31 ↗ property in addition the Lakeside

20:33 ↗ development was factored into the growth

20:36 ↗ rate that we used in the shelter

20:37 ↗ Holdings um traffic

20:40 ↗ analysis this would end up being a

20:42 ↗ Transit oriented development just by

20:45 ↗ proximity to the isqua Highlands Park

20:46 ↗ and Ride um it would also provide some

20:51 ↗ missing connections for trails and Roads

20:54 ↗ um I think you heard about the the

20:56 ↗ connection of the High Street linear

20:59 ↗ Park to Discovery Drive it would also

21:01 ↗ include the extension of federal between

21:03 ↗ 9th and 8th and the extension of 8th

21:06 ↗ between Deer Lane and Discovery uh so

21:09 ↗ overall it's just going to provide

21:11 ↗ stronger pedestrian and bike connections

21:13 ↗ from Swedish Westridge West Highlands

21:15 ↗ Park neighborhoods to both the new and

21:18 ↗ the existing commercial and Retail

21:21 ↗ areas uh it also provides for Community

21:24 ↗ Gathering spaces with possibilities for

21:26 ↗ festival streets and plazas that could

21:27 ↗ be used for community

21:30 ↗ events it provides 40,000 square ft of

21:33 ↗ community wreck space and at the point

21:36 ↗ we get to uh planning that there will be

21:39 ↗ a process for input from the public and

21:42 ↗ and the city on the design of that space

21:45 ↗ and ultimately that space could either

21:46 ↗ be owned by ihca or if they don't want

21:49 ↗ to take title to it then it would be

21:50 ↗ owned by the city um also opportunities

21:54 ↗ for affordable housing and assisted

21:56 ↗ living or senior housing which again

21:58 ↗ were things that we've heard over and

22:00 ↗ over there's a need

22:01 ↗ for and it does not include Self Storage

22:04 ↗ as an allowed use which I know was also

22:07 ↗ some feedback that we've gotten over the

22:09 ↗ years um this this development agreement

22:12 ↗ will result in a development that's

22:14 ↗ consistent with the existing Community

22:16 ↗ uh the development regulations that are

22:18 ↗ in this agreement are based on the

22:19 ↗ regulations that were in the isqua

22:21 ↗ highlands development agreement which is

22:23 ↗ what governed all the rest of the

22:25 ↗ development in isqua Highlands uh but it

22:28 ↗ does have some updates for things like

22:30 ↗ parking storm water management Community

22:33 ↗ spaces all of which will be to the

22:35 ↗ benefit of the community there are no

22:38 ↗ changes to the maximum height on the

22:40 ↗ property and the density and scale are

22:42 ↗ all consistent with what has always been

22:44 ↗ planned for that property under the

22:45 ↗ isqua highlands development

22:47 ↗ agreement um the development agreement

22:50 ↗ does not change anything with respect to

22:52 ↗ ihca the property will still be part of

22:56 ↗ the

22:56 ↗ ihca uh will continue to pay dues and as

22:59 ↗ you heard the design review will be

23:01 ↗ conducted by ihca

23:04 ↗ Arc so we firmly believe that this

23:06 ↗ development agreement is a good outcome

23:09 ↗ for the city the community and shelter

23:11 ↗ Holdings and we thank you for

23:13 ↗ considering

23:20 ↗ it we have heard both from Rachel and

23:23 ↗ the applicant and for any of the

23:24 ↗ information presented does council have

23:26 ↗ any questions

23:32 ↗ what go ahead just a quick question um

23:35 ↗ we received quite a few uh comments and

23:38 ↗ questions from the community can you

23:39 ↗ just talk about how we went about

23:40 ↗ responding to that and if they got an

23:42 ↗ email response with it or or is this

23:45 ↗ their response here the responses are

23:48 ↗ there in the the packet for all comments

23:50 ↗ that we received at least up until about

23:54 ↗ a week ago we did get a few that came in

23:57 ↗ after that that time which we have not

24:00 ↗ yet had a chance to respond to but we

24:01 ↗ will be writing responses to those as

24:05 ↗ well any thank you Deputy council

24:07 ↗ president any other

24:09 ↗ questions I'm going to keep Rachel up

24:11 ↗ there for a second um Rachel there was

24:13 ↗ one comment made in in the application

24:15 ↗ and you are probably the most familiar

24:17 ↗ person uh of all of us with the

24:20 ↗ agreement um the recreational amenity

24:22 ↗ either could be managed by ihca or the

24:25 ↗ city yes okay correct

24:32 ↗ okay last

24:34 ↗ chance not seeing anyone um I will open

24:38 ↗ the public hearing at

24:42 ↗ 654 and this is the opportunity for

24:44 ↗ members of the public to address the

24:46 ↗ council in person or virtually a

24:49 ↗ reminder that comments made under this

24:51 ↗ public hearing are to relate to the

24:53 ↗ proposed development agreement uh this

24:55 ↗ is not the time for General comments we

24:57 ↗ will will have a time for General

24:58 ↗ comments when the city council opens up

25:01 ↗ the committee of the whole Meeting those

25:03 ↗ who have signed up in advance will be

25:05 ↗ called on First and if you're joining us

25:06 ↗ virtually and would like to make

25:08 ↗ comments please raise your virtual hand

25:10 ↗ or send our host a uh message in the

25:13 ↗ chat if you are on the phone please

25:16 ↗ press star three and if you've joined by

25:17 ↗ computer or smartphone there is a hand

25:20 ↗ icon if you are in the room and did not

25:22 ↗ sign up I will ask for other speakers

25:24 ↗ before closing this portion of the

25:26 ↗ meeting so do not worry

25:28 ↗ and for those making comments please

25:29 ↗ remember to address the whole Council

25:32 ↗ and not individuals on the council and

25:33 ↗ while this is not a question and answer

25:35 ↗ session we will contact you to follow up

25:38 ↗ if needed so when you are recognized um

25:41 ↗ please come up if you're in the room to

25:43 ↗ the podium in the center to turn the

25:45 ↗ microphone on uh and if you are um

25:49 ↗ virtual with us there is a there will be

25:51 ↗ a way for you to unmute your microphone

25:53 ↗ state your name address relationship to

25:55 ↗ the city and speak clearly and paused

25:58 ↗ frequently uh please limit your comments

26:00 ↗ to 5 minutes if someone is attending

26:03 ↗ virtually and does not respond after

26:05 ↗ their name or phone number or if the

26:07 ↗ connection is lost unexpectedly the

26:09 ↗ meeting will still need to proceed and

26:10 ↗ you are encouraged to rejoin the meeting

26:12 ↗ if you are able personal attacks obscene

26:15 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

26:16 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

26:18 ↗ permitted public comments written and

26:21 ↗ verbal are an important aspect of the

26:22 ↗ public process and the city takes these

26:24 ↗ comments seriously so we thank everyone

26:27 ↗ who takes the time to address us this

26:29 ↗ evening city clerk can you please

26:31 ↗ identify the first person who has signed

26:32 ↗ up to speak this evening uh yes so uh we

26:36 ↗ have four individuals who've signed up

26:37 ↗ to speak in the room here and at least

26:39 ↗ one virtual attendee we have about a

26:41 ↗ dozen folks with us online tonight the

26:43 ↗ first person signed up is Terren

26:47 ↗ Danish welcome

26:52 ↗ Terren you

26:55 ↗ do there we go thank

26:58 ↗ you good evening Madam mayor good

27:01 ↗ evening council members thank you for

27:03 ↗ taking the time to hear from us the

27:05 ↗ public and interested parties my name is

27:08 ↗ Terry Danish I'm outside Council for

27:10 ↗ Regency centers the developer of the

27:12 ↗ ground rdge Plaza you know that they

27:14 ↗ have a strong interest in what's

27:16 ↗ happening here today um and I want you

27:19 ↗ to understand that we respect the fact

27:22 ↗ that you have gone through a long

27:23 ↗ process with shelter Holdings uh we know

27:27 ↗ what that's like we've gone through that

27:28 ↗ process ourselves many years ago um and

27:32 ↗ we're mainly here to talk about uh those

27:36 ↗ promises and discussions that took place

27:38 ↗ a long time ago at least a decade ago to

27:41 ↗ my client the Regency Center folks and

27:44 ↗ how that um interacts with the proposed

27:48 ↗ development agreement um we know that

27:51 ↗ the city is confined to the decision

27:53 ↗ that was handed down back in August of

27:55 ↗ 2022 by the court of appeals uh but the

27:58 ↗ proposed development agreement at least

28:00 ↗ in our opinion goes beyond that

28:03 ↗ constraint um and we are concerned that

28:07 ↗ some of the proposed design standards

28:08 ↗ are not consistent with those of the

28:10 ↗ original isqua Highlands development

28:12 ↗ agreement that's not something that you

28:13 ↗ heard from the developer shelter

28:16 ↗ Holdings here but I'm going to just

28:18 ↗ touch on that briefly and we can

28:20 ↗ obviously go into more detail at some

28:21 ↗ other time if you invite us to or

28:23 ↗ otherwise um among other things the

28:26 ↗ proposed development agreement is devoid

28:28 ↗ of the density and floor area racial

28:30 ↗ restrictions that are applicable in the

28:33 ↗ uh Highlands development agreement um in

28:37 ↗ fact ultimately as a result of that it

28:39 ↗ creates that imbalance that and and what

28:42 ↗ I might otherwise characterizes

28:44 ↗ unfairness as between what my client

28:47 ↗ Regency uh has done at the Grand Ridge

28:49 ↗ Plaza and was constrained by in the

28:52 ↗ course of the many years of development

28:53 ↗ of that and what is uh now being

28:56 ↗ proposed to uh allow shelter Holdings to

28:59 ↗ proceed with um uh also the development

29:03 ↗ agreement is devoid of some similar

29:06 ↗ height bulk and scale type standards

29:08 ↗ that are applicable to the original

29:11 ↗ development agreement and the property

29:14 ↗ that in this case don't apply allowing

29:16 ↗ for example um 85 foot Heights across

29:21 ↗ the balance of the 20 acre uh parcel

29:24 ↗ without limit that's not something that

29:26 ↗ uh was originally contemplated under the

29:28 ↗ original development agreement and not

29:30 ↗ something that my client was able to

29:32 ↗ benefit from um the Practical effect of

29:35 ↗ that kind of latitude is that shelter is

29:38 ↗ going to be able to develop this

29:40 ↗ property much more

29:41 ↗ intensively uh than their prior

29:44 ↗ neighbors their existing neighbors that

29:47 ↗ uh that are already there um regen

29:51 ↗ c as you know is the major stakeholder

29:55 ↗ in that property uh up on the highlands

29:58 ↗ um I know this quite well because I

30:01 ↗ lived in the uh snami Ridge Neighborhood

30:03 ↗ for 15 years and before the Safeway came

30:06 ↗ there I was always at the the isqua

30:10 ↗ Safeway the issaqua Highland Safeway and

30:12 ↗ patronizing the businesses uh at the

30:15 ↗ grandridge plaza um it's obviously a VI

30:18 ↗ you know that it's a Vibrant Community

30:20 ↗ it's really uh it's really the Envy of a

30:23 ↗ lot of the East Side uh King County

30:26 ↗ communities um but it feels like shelter

30:30 ↗ is kind of uh stepping in to reap the

30:34 ↗ rewards of the investment that Regency

30:36 ↗ has made over the last decade in that

30:39 ↗ property um so with that said really and

30:44 ↗ you will hear from other representatives

30:46 ↗ of Regency and from Safeway tonight

30:49 ↗ briefly uh but what we're really

30:52 ↗ appealing to the uh Council for is an

30:55 ↗ element of partnership here uh Regency

30:58 ↗ would like to partner with the city and

30:59 ↗ with shelter uh in the process going

31:03 ↗ forward um we would like to participate

31:06 ↗ and be allowed to participate and ask

31:08 ↗ for a role in participating in either

31:10 ↗ the Architectural Review Committee or

31:12 ↗ some mechanism that allows for some of

31:17 ↗ that balancing to occur it may not be

31:19 ↗ required as a matter of law but as a

31:22 ↗ matter of equity we feel quite strongly

31:25 ↗ obviously that the investment Regency

31:27 ↗ has made is worth the cities and

31:31 ↗ shelters uh respect and um uh investment

31:36 ↗ in their own time to create that

31:38 ↗ partnership uh so you know our hope is

31:41 ↗ obviously that ultimately what occurs

31:43 ↗ here is as successful as attractive and

31:48 ↗ as welcoming to all as has been the

31:50 ↗ Grand Ridge Plaza uh but we have some

31:53 ↗ concerns as I said that the development

31:55 ↗ standards that allow the shelter

31:58 ↗ Holdings project to go forward under the

32:00 ↗ proposed development agreement uh create

32:02 ↗ an imbalance an unfairness so with that

32:06 ↗ I appreciate your time thank you thank

32:08 ↗ you Terrence that is our five minute

32:11 ↗ buzzer uh city clerk who is uh next Jeff

32:19 ↗ Parker hello good evening um excuse me

32:23 ↗ uh my name is Jeff Parker I'm a senior

32:25 ↗ real estate manager for safe

32:28 ↗ uh uh my address is 1121 124th Avenue

32:32 ↗ Northeast Belleview Washington

32:35 ↗ 98005 the only familiar face I see up

32:38 ↗ here I believe is council member uh

32:40 ↗ Marts who uh was here when I went

32:42 ↗ through my presentations uh many many

32:46 ↗ years ago um we opened our store uh I

32:49 ↗ was the the project manager for Safeway

32:52 ↗ uh for that grand opening uh back in

32:54 ↗ October of 2013 uh I started started my

32:57 ↗ uh interaction uh up in the highlands uh

33:00 ↗ with Port Blakeley probably in 2011

33:03 ↗ maybe 2010 uh and uh developed uh a

33:07 ↗ relationship with them and then

33:09 ↗ eventually uh with uh with Regency

33:11 ↗ centers um we went through a design

33:14 ↗ review uh with uh with the esqua

33:17 ↗ highlands uh and our entitlements uh

33:20 ↗ through the city uh back then uh Safeway

33:23 ↗ made a significant investment uh in in

33:26 ↗ the islands and Grand Ridge Plaza uh

33:30 ↗ along with Regency uh we did a ground

33:32 ↗ lease there so we built the building

33:34 ↗ ourselves uh we we pay rent uh as a as a

33:38 ↗ ground lese up there but uh we we

33:41 ↗ invested millions of dollars in the

33:42 ↗ islands uh under really under the

33:47 ↗ uh the understanding of the development

33:50 ↗ agreement as it was and then uh in my

33:54 ↗ interactions personally with with staff

33:57 ↗ uh the city staff that the development

34:01 ↗ agreement was going to be the rules that

34:03 ↗ everybody was going to play by uh not

34:06 ↗ only then but but in the future and and

34:08 ↗ I understand uh you know what has taken

34:10 ↗ place uh you know subsequently but the

34:14 ↗ the development

34:16 ↗ agreement uh at that time said that the

34:19 ↗ the land on the west side of 9th was was

34:22 ↗ going to be either office or was going

34:25 ↗ to be residential uh and and we invested

34:28 ↗ in our in our store and our uh in in in

34:31 ↗ the community with that understanding

34:34 ↗ and

34:36 ↗ uh it was gr Ridge Plaza was to be the

34:39 ↗ only commercial shopping center uh that

34:42 ↗ we were an anchor of uh for the isqua

34:47 ↗ highlands uh what I what Safeway uh asks

34:51 ↗ is that uh shelter and and their future

34:55 ↗ tenants uh operate under a development

34:57 ↗ agreement that is similar in nature uh

35:01 ↗ to the one that we invested in and that

35:03 ↗ we uh went through uh with the city and

35:07 ↗ and staff uh so that uh what what they

35:12 ↗ are developing and their tenants uh are

35:16 ↗ of of a similar nature to what we

35:18 ↗ invested in and what Regency has

35:20 ↗ invested in thank

35:23 ↗ you thank you Jeff City Clerk who's next

35:26 ↗ up to speak Craig

35:30 ↗ Ry good

35:32 ↗ evening uh my name is Craig Remy um

35:36 ↗ thank you um for allowing me the

35:39 ↗ opportunity to speak tonight um I've

35:41 ↗ been before not everybody here but this

35:44 ↗ group many times over the last 12 years

35:48 ↗ um it's been a while I've gained a

35:50 ↗ little bit of weight and have a lot more

35:52 ↗ gray hair than last time I was in front

35:53 ↗ of you but um I'm going to be very brief

35:57 ↗ um and let you know that we're super

35:59 ↗ excited about Grand Ridge Plaza the all

36:01 ↗ the hard work that went into it uh with

36:04 ↗ the mayor at the time city council UV DC

36:07 ↗ and Jeff Walker I know he he's here

36:08 ↗ today he put a ton of effort into what

36:10 ↗ we did um the association and Sarah and

36:15 ↗ her group were super helpful a Safeway

36:17 ↗ and all of our tenants um the

36:20 ↗ neighborhoods it was a lot of work but

36:23 ↗ it's worth it when I drive through there

36:25 ↗ tonight I'm I don't live up here but but

36:27 ↗ when I come through I'm super proud of

36:29 ↗ what was accomplished by everybody um

36:32 ↗ and it's really important to us as

36:34 ↗ shelter Holdings go forward that that

36:38 ↗ same collaborative effort okay and that

36:40 ↗ same interaction and trying to create

36:43 ↗ something special that fits in with the

36:45 ↗ community that fits in with the

36:47 ↗ development and the ownership and the

36:49 ↗ investment that's already taken place

36:51 ↗ that we maintain that same goal and

36:54 ↗ objective um you know I'll let

36:57 ↗ the the development agreement and what

36:59 ↗ it used to say and what it says today um

37:01 ↗ and what was said to us you know 10 or

37:03 ↗ 12 years ago um that doesn't do us a ton

37:06 ↗ of good right now right what's important

37:09 ↗ to us right now as we go forward is that

37:12 ↗ we're respectful of the investment

37:14 ↗ that's taking place respectful of all

37:16 ↗ the time and effort that has been put in

37:20 ↗ um and and and really find a way to move

37:22 ↗ forward I mean we love to see shelter

37:23 ↗ Holdings go forward and be super

37:25 ↗ successful next store nothing would make

37:27 ↗ it nothing would make us happier but we'

37:30 ↗ like to be we like to make sure that

37:33 ↗ it's in in in in keeping with the rest

37:36 ↗ of the project that we've developed and

37:37 ↗ the rest of the community and if we can

37:39 ↗ accomplish that goal then I think it's

37:41 ↗ going to be awesome thank you very

37:45 ↗ much thank you very much Craig city

37:47 ↗ clerk uh before we move on to the next

37:50 ↗ one uh we do have some folks

37:53 ↗ participating virtually and the chat is

37:56 ↗ a great place place for you to indicate

37:57 ↗ whether or not you have questions or

37:59 ↗ comments that you would like to address

38:02 ↗ so it's not a place to ask a question

38:04 ↗ it's a place to raise your hand so you

38:06 ↗ get put on the speaker list so if you

38:08 ↗ are participating virtually if there's a

38:10 ↗ comment or a question you'd like to ask

38:12 ↗ please raise your hand so that the clerk

38:14 ↗ can add you to the speaker's list thanks

38:17 ↗ and city clerk who's next on our list

38:19 ↗ Kurt

38:25 ↗ utterbach

38:27 ↗ good evening esteemed members of city

38:29 ↗ council mayor staff my name is Kurt

38:32 ↗ utterbach I'm the market officer

38:34 ↗ overseeing Grand Ridge Plaza in the

38:36 ↗ highlands as well as a frequent patron

38:38 ↗ of not only Grand Ridge but also a

38:40 ↗ number of businesses that call isqua

38:42 ↗ home as a proud stakeholder within the

38:45 ↗ city um sorry as a proud stakeholder

38:48 ↗ within the community I want to express

38:50 ↗ my gratitude uh for the city council's

38:52 ↗ ongoing commitment to ensuring the

38:54 ↗ well-being and prosperity of esqua when

38:58 ↗ Regency committed to the developing to

39:00 ↗ developing Grand Ridge Plaza after the

39:02 ↗ Great Recession of 2008 it was the worst

39:04 ↗ economic downturn since the Great

39:07 ↗ Depression there were many unknowns in a

39:09 ↗ high degree of risk that Regency and our

39:12 ↗ partners agreed to take on at the time

39:15 ↗ we were steadfast in the vision laid out

39:16 ↗ by the council committed to building a

39:18 ↗ central meeting place for the community

39:20 ↗ and confident in the relationships we

39:22 ↗ have established with the city of isqua

39:25 ↗ fast forward 12 years later and the

39:28 ↗ Visions set forth by those before us

39:30 ↗ have become a thriving vibrant

39:33 ↗ destination for Gathering shopping

39:35 ↗ dining and

39:36 ↗ entertainment our on our retail lineup

39:39 ↗ includes Dick Sporting Goods Regal

39:41 ↗ Theaters Marshals HomeGoods Ulta and

39:44 ↗ Safeway to name a

39:46 ↗ few in fact a number of these stores

39:48 ↗ rank as top performers in the state of

39:50 ↗ Washington contributing significant

39:53 ↗ significantly to the local

39:55 ↗ economy agency has not only continued to

39:58 ↗ improve on the merchandising mix of the

40:00 ↗ center with the new and Innovative

40:02 ↗ Concepts providing a balance between

40:04 ↗ local and Regional retailers as well as

40:08 ↗ sought after National tenants we also

40:10 ↗ pride ourselves in a partner in being a

40:14 ↗ partner in the

40:15 ↗ community since the beginning of the

40:17 ↗ project we have worked closely with

40:19 ↗ isqua Highlands Community Association

40:22 ↗ and Highlands Council investing in the

40:24 ↗ community year in and year out to bring

40:26 ↗ events such as the holiday Santa Cruz if

40:28 ↗ you guys remember that one where it was

40:30 ↗ a six we initiative of Santa driving in

40:32 ↗ the neighborhood during Co we're here

40:34 ↗ with you Wednesdays also during Co

40:37 ↗ providing meals for local responders

40:40 ↗ assisting the buildout to the of the

40:41 ↗ tech room for the

40:43 ↗ YWCA primary sponsor for light up the

40:46 ↗ lane for the past three years running

40:48 ↗ and most recently step into art at the

40:50 ↗ staircase mural Dedication that I was

40:53 ↗ lucky to be involved with pretty cool it

40:56 ↗ takes a village and with the support of

40:58 ↗ people like Sarah hoie and Lindsay P

41:00 ↗ Pinkston to name a few regeny has been

41:03 ↗ able to connect with the community in a

41:05 ↗ meaningful way our dedication to the

41:07 ↗ residents of the Highlands is aqua

41:09 ↗ community and our customers is who we

41:12 ↗ are not just what we do as the council

41:15 ↗ looks to finalize the development of

41:17 ↗ isqua Highlands I encourage you to

41:19 ↗ continue to include Regency centers as a

41:21 ↗ partner in the growth of the community

41:23 ↗ protecting what was built while building

41:25 ↗ on the vision for the future thank you

41:27 ↗ for your time I really appreciate it

41:29 ↗ thanks very much Kurt um City uh well

41:32 ↗ before we go to online I'd just like to

41:34 ↗ check and see if anybody else in the

41:36 ↗ room would like to address Council this

41:40 ↗ evening not seeing a lot oh de Walker

41:43 ↗ what

41:47 ↗ up good evening everyone I don't

41:50 ↗ normally have notes but I'm getting a

41:52 ↗ little older myself so uh my name is

41:54 ↗ Jeff Walker I've lived here in this

41:56 ↗ Highlands for 25 years I've had six

41:58 ↗ family homes up there my kids were 6 4

42:01 ↗ and one when we moved in they're now now

42:04 ↗ all graduated and married and one even

42:06 ↗ gave me a grandchild recently um I have

42:09 ↗ seen all the growth in es Island uh I

42:11 ↗ even participated in being on the UVC

42:14 ↗ for 19 and a half years um I can't tell

42:18 ↗ you how much time money I've spent at

42:19 ↗ Regency centers over the years and I

42:22 ↗ appreciate what you guys have built and

42:24 ↗ what uh goes on every day over there so

42:27 ↗ um it's all a good thing and we've seen

42:29 ↗ uh businesses come and go the good ones

42:32 ↗ stay the ones that don't do so well move

42:34 ↗ on and that's the natural flow of

42:36 ↗ business and we look forward to that

42:38 ↗ continuing um I was pretty much married

42:40 ↗ to the development agreement um with the

42:43 ↗ with the three uh housing um

42:46 ↗ entitlements I've kind of gotten over

42:48 ↗ that I want to see I know things are

42:49 ↗ different I I want to see things move

42:51 ↗ and I'm very happy that shelter Holdings

42:53 ↗ the city and the community can move

42:55 ↗ forward with something and hopefully

42:57 ↗ benefits everybody um I believe the

42:59 ↗ demand is there for more services retail

43:02 ↗ um and as we've seen as more have

43:05 ↗ emerged over the years the patronage has

43:07 ↗ followed um sometimes LED so I I do

43:11 ↗ think there's an opportunity there you

43:12 ↗ know a rising tide lifts all boats we

43:14 ↗ all know

43:15 ↗ that have I been cut off no there we

43:18 ↗ go

43:20 ↗ um so there are a few holes and I've

43:24 ↗ I've had conversations with uh folks

43:25 ↗ atel

43:26 ↗ and uh many community members about some

43:28 ↗ of these things and I know you know a

43:29 ↗ lot of this but I'm going to put it here

43:31 ↗ in front of you guys as well um I do

43:33 ↗ think we absolutely should take

43:35 ↗ advantage of the space u and the um

43:38 ↗ geography and topography that we have

43:40 ↗ have a rooftop bar restaurant somehow a

43:43 ↗ public place for people to go and enjoy

43:45 ↗ the beautiful scenery that we have here

43:47 ↗ we don't have that today and it's a huge

43:49 ↗ Miss in my opinion uh outdoor spaces

43:53 ↗ with and without weather protection um

43:56 ↗ cities like Paris and London and many

43:58 ↗ others that we know do a great job of

44:00 ↗ having outdoor spaces that um we just

44:02 ↗ don't take advantage of here because we

44:04 ↗ think uh our weather is not good enough

44:06 ↗ there are ways to manage that and I

44:08 ↗ think um everybody here loves the

44:09 ↗ outdoors and we should take advantage of

44:11 ↗ that as well um ample parking we talked

44:15 ↗ about that I love that they're talking

44:16 ↗ about doing underground parking um I

44:18 ↗ would like for people to be able to park

44:19 ↗ in one place and move around uh by foot

44:22 ↗ or bike or skateboard or whatever uh

44:24 ↗ without having to move their car around

44:26 ↗ um I think we need more competitive and

44:29 ↗ complimentary restaurants and services

44:31 ↗ so not just one terak place but maybe

44:35 ↗ some competition I know there are

44:37 ↗ category exclusivity deals that are made

44:39 ↗ and that's fine to some degree but you

44:41 ↗ know if there's ice cream there we

44:43 ↗ should also be able to have yogurt or

44:44 ↗ bubble tea um I just think that we

44:47 ↗ shouldn't restrict too much U because

44:49 ↗ there are a lot of people with different

44:50 ↗ tastes um I would love to see a splash

44:53 ↗ pad for the kids it's not a a a huge

44:56 ↗ um liability and it's a lot of fun for

44:59 ↗ everybody um I'm not a big fan of the

45:01 ↗ outdoor Fitness baces I don't think

45:03 ↗ they've worked all that great um but I

45:05 ↗ also hope and expect that shelter

45:07 ↗ Holdings uh puts as much care and

45:08 ↗ quality into the public and recreational

45:10 ↗ spaces as they do for the revenue

45:12 ↗ generating square footage we've seen a

45:15 ↗ couple instances in the highlands where

45:17 ↗ it's been not an afterthought it's been

45:18 ↗ part of the deal but the effort and the

45:21 ↗ energy hasn't been put into it uh for

45:23 ↗ the final result and I expect that uh

45:25 ↗ shelter will do that

45:26 ↗ and I'm really looking forward to the

45:28 ↗ community surveys and the discussions

45:30 ↗ that are going to take place thank you

45:31 ↗ for your time thanks Jeff uh City I give

45:34 ↗ one more chance in the room if there's

45:36 ↗ anybody else that hasn't spoken that

45:37 ↗ would like to speak please raise your

45:39 ↗ hand city clerk let's go to online do we

45:41 ↗ have any hands raised you know mayor um

45:44 ↗ we have 11 individuals with us as you

45:46 ↗ mentioned they've been posing some

45:48 ↗ questions so we're directing them to our

45:49 ↗ planning staff but I don't see anyone

45:51 ↗ indicating a desire to speak under the

45:53 ↗ hearing thanks city clerk um so just for

45:57 ↗ the the the group that is here today we

45:59 ↗ had many many individuals speaking at

46:02 ↗ our public hearing um representing both

46:05 ↗ retailers residents and others um some

46:08 ↗ of the comments included making sure we

46:10 ↗ weren't being inconsistent with design

46:12 ↗ standards looking for strong

46:14 ↗ Partnerships between the city shelter

46:16 ↗ and those that are already there looking

46:18 ↗ for consistencies in how grandridge um

46:22 ↗ other retail developments were developed

46:25 ↗ uh really wanting to have strong

46:26 ↗ collaboration and success for all um we

46:30 ↗ also heard a little bit about the

46:31 ↗ history of the economic conditions

46:33 ↗ during the deal um during the decades

46:35 ↗ when the original retail was showing up

46:37 ↗ in the area and the relationship between

46:40 ↗ business partners in the community we

46:42 ↗ also heard residents perspective on life

46:44 ↗ in the highlands suggested am amenities

46:46 ↗ to enhance uh promoting weather

46:49 ↗ protection for outdoor spaces believing

46:51 ↗ in retail um competition and like we

46:55 ↗ always hear water

46:56 ↗ features water features are huge it

46:59 ↗ comes up a lot so um thank you all for

47:01 ↗ taking the time and thank you for those

47:03 ↗ attending online uh whether you ask

47:05 ↗ questions or not it's really important

47:07 ↗ I'm sorry we have had one virtual

47:08 ↗ attendee raised their hand let's go for

47:10 ↗ it you're open to that

47:13 ↗ okay all right so uh Maryann I've just

47:16 ↗ made you a panelist so you should have

47:18 ↗ the option to unmute and you can choose

47:20 ↗ to turn your video on as

47:24 ↗ well oh hi can everybody hear me yes we

47:28 ↗ can hi my name is Maryanne I've been

47:31 ↗ living in isqua for almost about five

47:34 ↗ years now and I just had a few questions

47:36 ↗ on this um one thing that the developer

47:40 ↗ was talking about was Community

47:42 ↗ amenities and I just wanted a

47:44 ↗ clarification on community um they

47:47 ↗ talked about having a senior living

47:50 ↗ facility and I kind of just referenced

47:53 ↗ immediately Providence Point which is

47:55 ↗ gated that has some Community amenity

47:58 ↗ features like the tennis courts or a

48:01 ↗ community garden but that's not really

48:02 ↗ accessible for any but for other

48:04 ↗ residents of isqua so I was just

48:06 ↗ wondering what they're referring to as

48:08 ↗ Community if it's the entirety of isqua

48:10 ↗ or just the residence of this

48:13 ↗ development and then the second one I

48:15 ↗ want clarification I wanted was also

48:17 ↗ regarding the retail space if they are

48:21 ↗ looking at small businesses going into

48:23 ↗ these retail areas um just because I see

48:26 ↗ that initiative of isqua loyal going

48:29 ↗ around and if they're making an effort

48:31 ↗ to find um local retailers to occupy

48:35 ↗ those

48:36 ↗ spaces and that was all I had thank you

48:39 ↗ Maran thank you for putting your hand up

48:41 ↗ um we will make sure we do not during

48:44 ↗ the public um hearing actually answer

48:46 ↗ questions but we will have our staff

48:47 ↗ reach out to you on both of these the

48:50 ↗ community amenities and your example of

48:53 ↗ what does it mean for senior living and

48:54 ↗ whether or not it's gated and retail

48:56 ↗ space and small businesses in isqu loyal

48:59 ↗ so if you have not provided your contact

49:01 ↗ information could you do that in the

49:03 ↗ comment area right now so that our city

49:05 ↗ clerk will be able to record

49:07 ↗ it city clerk did you see anyone else on

49:10 ↗ um and thank you Maran did you see

49:11 ↗ anyone else indicating a desired to

49:17 ↗ speak I

49:19 ↗ don't thank you very

49:21 ↗ much city council do you have any

49:23 ↗ objection to my closing the public

49:27 ↗ hearing not seeing any objection hearing

49:30 ↗ none I will close the public hearing at

49:32 ↗ 7:20 and thank all those that came to

49:36 ↗ join us this item of business will be

49:38 ↗ returning to the city council uh on our

49:41 ↗ agenda on November 20th for Action under

49:43 ↗ regular business so thank you all for

49:45 ↗ coming this evening there will be a

49:47 ↗ committee of the whole meeting convening

49:49 ↗ immediately after this meeting we'll

49:51 ↗ take a 5 minute break but we will be

49:53 ↗ using the same virtual WebEx meeting for

49:55 ↗ the committee of the whole and I'm

49:57 ↗ assuming the council would like a 5

49:59 ↗ minute water bathroom break so uh we

50:02 ↗ will adjourn at 7:20 and council

50:05 ↗ president will reconvene few minutes

50:07 ↗ later so this meeting is adjourned at

50:24 ↗ 7:20

56:09 ↗ chance I think we are

56:12 ↗ ready thank

56:14 ↗ you okay welcome everyone

56:19 ↗ wh great welcome everyone I council

56:23 ↗ president Walsh call the November 13th

56:25 ↗ special Committee of the whole meeting

56:28 ↗ to order at 7:26 p.m. as a reminder we

56:32 ↗ continue to have a remote aspect to all

56:34 ↗ of our meetings so we may have staff

56:36 ↗ members community members or even

56:38 ↗ council members participating in

56:41 ↗ tonight's meet meeting remotely though I

56:43 ↗ think we're all here that's good that's

56:46 ↗ good um there are M multiple public

56:49 ↗ comment opportunities at tonight's

56:51 ↗ meeting there is a general public

56:53 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

56:54 ↗ the meeting or you can make comments

56:56 ↗ after the presentation and Council

56:58 ↗ question and answer period on tonight's

57:00 ↗ agenda

57:01 ↗ items members of the public May address

57:04 ↗ council at this time in person or

57:07 ↗ virtually those who signed up in advance

57:09 ↗ to make comments will be called on first

57:11 ↗ if you're joining us virtually and would

57:13 ↗ like to make comments please raise your

57:15 ↗ virtual hand if you're on the phone this

57:17 ↗ will be star three if you're on a

57:20 ↗ computer or smartphone you can look for

57:22 ↗ the hand icon or you can send the host a

57:24 ↗ chat message if you're in the room and

57:27 ↗ did not sign up I will ask for other

57:28 ↗ speakers before closing this portion of

57:30 ↗ the meeting

57:32 ↗ and clerk do we have anyone who has

57:34 ↗ signed up to

57:36 ↗ speak yes okay give me a moment here uh

57:42 ↗ public comments are an important part of

57:43 ↗ the public process we take them

57:44 ↗ seriously and Factor them into the

57:46 ↗ decisions we make please direct comments

57:48 ↗ to the whole Council and not to

57:50 ↗ individuals while this is not a question

57:52 ↗ and answer session we will Conta contct

57:55 ↗ you to follow up if needed when

57:56 ↗ recognized unmute your microphone for

57:59 ↗ virtual attendee or step step up to the

58:01 ↗ lect turn and press the button to light

58:04 ↗ up the microphone state your name

58:06 ↗ address and relationship to the city

58:09 ↗ speak clearly and pause frequently limit

58:12 ↗ comments to 5 minutes if you're

58:14 ↗ attending virtually and do not respond

58:16 ↗ after your name or phone number is

58:18 ↗ called or if your connection is lost

58:20 ↗ unexpectedly the meeting will need to

58:22 ↗ proceeded you're encouraged to rejoin

58:24 ↗ meeting at fa personal attacks obscene

58:27 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

58:29 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

58:31 ↗ permitted clerk can you identify the

58:34 ↗ first person who has signed up to speak

58:36 ↗ yes Cyrus cron fantastic thank

58:45 ↗ you so uh thank you it's nice to see you

58:49 ↗ and to the whole congratulations to

58:52 ↗ those who had recent victories um

58:57 ↗ as someone who follows current events

58:59 ↗ and as a member of the Jewish Community

59:01 ↗ here in isqua I went to the uh City's

59:05 ↗ website just to explore and see what I

59:08 ↗ saw and there's some interesting

59:10 ↗ findings that I just wanted to bring to

59:12 ↗ your

59:14 ↗ attention there was a community input

59:17 ↗ May of

59:19 ↗ 20121 uh for the school resource officer

59:22 ↗ and there was a student who submitted a

59:24 ↗ comment stating as a member of the

59:26 ↗ Jewish Community I know the struggle of

59:28 ↗ supporting your country publicly and the

59:31 ↗ fear that comes with it fearing hate and

59:33 ↗ discrimination uh the school resource

59:35 ↗ officer program has uh potential to be a

59:39 ↗ great program to allow for safety for

59:41 ↗ all cultures um then I saw that the

59:46 ↗ equity board had a

59:48 ↗ meeting September 6th of

59:51 ↗ 2023 uh recently preh Hamas attack mind

59:55 ↗ you um that's important when you get to

59:57 ↗ the statistics of what the equity board

59:59 ↗ presented in that

1:00:01 ↗ meeting from 2018 to

1:00:05 ↗ 2023 the uh ipd has kept records on hate

1:00:09 ↗ crimes in

1:00:10 ↗ isqua on page 41 of the equity board's

1:00:15 ↗ uh

1:00:16 ↗ deliverable uh the data clearly showed

1:00:19 ↗ that hate crimes against Jews is the

1:00:21 ↗ number one um document set of hate

1:00:25 ↗ crimes in isqua uh ahead of uh the black

1:00:28 ↗ community so I found that data

1:00:31 ↗ interesting it's on page 41 of a

1:00:33 ↗ multi-year study that isqua Police

1:00:36 ↗ Department uh tracked so um I have a

1:00:40 ↗ really good black friend and we talk

1:00:42 ↗ about I have multiple black friends but

1:00:43 ↗ I have one in particular who we have uh

1:00:47 ↗ a deep dialogue about this topic on and

1:00:49 ↗ uh he said you know Cy I'll never forget

1:00:51 ↗ this he said you know Cyrus he goes the

1:00:53 ↗ benefit that you have is that you've got

1:00:54 ↗ your camouflage your white skin and uh

1:00:57 ↗ we as blacks don't have that and that

1:00:59 ↗ just really resonated for me

1:01:02 ↗ [Music]

1:01:05 ↗ um where was I oh the equity Bo the

1:01:09 ↗ equity board in their meeting on

1:01:11 ↗ September 6th stated that they were

1:01:14 ↗ going to be coming to council and the

1:01:15 ↗ city with recommendations on how to

1:01:18 ↗ address um the environment that they've

1:01:22 ↗ researched through the data the city has

1:01:24 ↗ and with Jewish hate crime being the

1:01:26 ↗ number one issue in the city I hope that

1:01:29 ↗ the equity board comes back with strong

1:01:31 ↗ recommendations to support the Jewish

1:01:34 ↗ Community um so what can be done

1:01:37 ↗ immediately and what what are options

1:01:39 ↗ just in in the uh very near future um in

1:01:43 ↗ 2024 May 1st is Jewish Heritage day and

1:01:49 ↗ um maybe a proclamation on that day

1:01:53 ↗ would be appropriate the city has

1:01:55 ↗ submitted proclamations for many many

1:01:57 ↗ other items um yet this might be an

1:02:00 ↗ opportunity for the first time to

1:02:02 ↗ provide uh some recognition of the

1:02:04 ↗ Jewish

1:02:06 ↗ Heritage

1:02:09 ↗ um I think that was everything um I

1:02:12 ↗ appreciate your

1:02:13 ↗ time and

1:02:17 ↗ um I think that's it um oh switching

1:02:20 ↗ topics slightly uh would have been

1:02:23 ↗ awesome if the bik pass had been voted

1:02:26 ↗ in in support because now that issue has

1:02:28 ↗ reared itself again and would have been

1:02:31 ↗ a lot less expensive to have that at the

1:02:34 ↗ time so okay thank you have a good

1:02:37 ↗ evening I press a button here

1:02:40 ↗ or thank you

1:02:43 ↗ Cyrus and do we have anyone else

1:02:46 ↗ indicating a desire to

1:02:50 ↗ speak

1:02:53 ↗ no

1:02:56 ↗ okay great so as a reminder um we really

1:03:01 ↗ do welcome written

1:03:02 ↗ comments any emails just just send them

1:03:05 ↗ our way um you can send a email to all

1:03:09 ↗ seven of us by sending to city council

1:03:12 ↗ at isqua

1:03:14 ↗ w.gov okay so we have two items on our

1:03:18 ↗ agenda tonight we've got ID 1520

1:03:22 ↗ Transportation sales tax public out

1:03:24 ↗ reach summary and idid 1535 amending

1:03:28 ↗ financial management policies for the

1:03:31 ↗ first item we welcome up Andrea Snider

1:03:34 ↗ our Deputy City administrator to talk

1:03:35 ↗ about Transportation sales tax thank

1:03:53 ↗ you

1:04:02 ↗ good evening Council hi I'm Andrea

1:04:04 ↗ Snyder Deputy City

1:04:06 ↗ administrator and uh tonight's topic is

1:04:09 ↗ really an update on the public Outreach

1:04:12 ↗ done to date over the proposed

1:04:14 ↗ Transportation benefit district sales

1:04:23 ↗ tax um so the purpose for this evening

1:04:26 ↗ is to provide a summary on the Outreach

1:04:28 ↗ conducted to date and also confirm next

1:04:31 ↗ steps for the sales tax

1:04:33 ↗ item specifically Direction needed is um

1:04:37 ↗ given the feedback received to date is

1:04:39 ↗ Council comfortable proceeding to a

1:04:41 ↗ public hearing next week on November

1:04:43 ↗ 20th regarding the

1:04:45 ↗ tax a little bit of background uh and

1:04:48 ↗ reminders the the proposed sales tax

1:04:50 ↗ would increase from 10.1% to 10.2 2% so

1:04:54 ↗ that's a

1:04:55 ↗ 0.1%

1:04:57 ↗ increase uh we expect that that increase

1:05:00 ↗ would generate about 2.2 million

1:05:03 ↗ annually uh that Revenue could only be

1:05:06 ↗ spent on Transportation not any other

1:05:09 ↗ type of expenditure it would

1:05:11 ↗ automatically sunset in 10 years without

1:05:13 ↗ Council

1:05:15 ↗ action and this sales tax uh would

1:05:19 ↗ distribute the cost to transportation

1:05:21 ↗ system users not just residents so as

1:05:23 ↗ the city has two main ways of raising

1:05:25 ↗ revenue one is property tax the other is

1:05:28 ↗ sales

1:05:29 ↗ tax this would mean that those who are

1:05:32 ↗ using the transportation system who

1:05:34 ↗ maybe don't live here but are accessing

1:05:36 ↗ goods and services here help pay for the

1:05:38 ↗ system that they're using and it

1:05:40 ↗ wouldn't just put the cost of the

1:05:41 ↗ transportation Network on residents only

1:05:44 ↗ or property owners only for example the

1:05:48 ↗ average individual impact is estimated

1:05:51 ↗ to be about $36 annually

1:05:54 ↗ and uh there hasn't been any evidence of

1:05:57 ↗ impacts to businesses or consumer

1:05:58 ↗ shopping habits for a 0.1% increase in

1:06:02 ↗ isqua or in cities like isqua that we've

1:06:04 ↗ experienced as we've gone around to

1:06:06 ↗ different isqua businesses and have

1:06:08 ↗ asked them for their feedback they also

1:06:11 ↗ haven't provided any feedback on

1:06:13 ↗ concerns about impacts to their

1:06:15 ↗ businesses um with this tax

1:06:19 ↗ proposal a summary of some of the

1:06:21 ↗ stakeholders that we have reached out to

1:06:23 ↗ over the past few months include uh just

1:06:26 ↗ residents at large HOAs businesses uh

1:06:30 ↗ the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown

1:06:32 ↗ isqua Association uh we did focus and

1:06:36 ↗ Target some of the top sales taxpayers

1:06:38 ↗ in isqua specifically uh We've also

1:06:41 ↗ connected with Transportation Advisory

1:06:43 ↗ board members just to name a few of the

1:06:45 ↗ stakeholders that we've reached out

1:06:47 ↗ to how we've reached out to them there's

1:06:50 ↗ been a lot of emails some direct emails

1:06:52 ↗ some newsletter emails we do have a web

1:06:55 ↗ page that's up and running that provides

1:06:57 ↗ a little bit more information about the

1:06:58 ↗ tax that can also collect feedback

1:07:01 ↗ anonymously uh so we've sent out emails

1:07:03 ↗ connecting them with that page uh We've

1:07:06 ↗ also given a number of presentations at

1:07:08 ↗ various events such as the business

1:07:10 ↗ leadership Forum in September uh the

1:07:12 ↗ farmers market Council listening session

1:07:14 ↗ we had information available and staff

1:07:16 ↗ present to be able to answer any

1:07:18 ↗ questions we um also had a presence at

1:07:21 ↗ sammon dayss we've done a chamber board

1:07:23 ↗ presentation

1:07:24 ↗ we've emailed the transportation

1:07:25 ↗ Advisory board members and we also had a

1:07:28 ↗ council listening session last Thursday

1:07:31 ↗ just an example of the types of Outreach

1:07:33 ↗ email and presentations and events we

1:07:35 ↗ have

1:07:37 ↗ conducted and feedback received as of

1:07:39 ↗ 116 so in order to prepare for tonight

1:07:42 ↗ we had to um type this up uh last week

1:07:45 ↗ we have gotten more feedback since then

1:07:48 ↗ that feedback I can provide at a later

1:07:50 ↗ date the public hearing next week for

1:07:53 ↗ example but to to date we have received

1:07:56 ↗ General support from the business

1:07:58 ↗ Community when we've given these

1:08:00 ↗ presentations um we haven't heard a lot

1:08:02 ↗ of opposition from our business

1:08:04 ↗ community at all uh what we have heard

1:08:06 ↗ from the business Community is that it's

1:08:08 ↗ really important that we consider

1:08:10 ↗ keeping tax rates in line with peer

1:08:12 ↗ cities and so as part of this proposal

1:08:15 ↗ isqua would be more in line with cities

1:08:17 ↗ like Kirkland and Auburn at that

1:08:19 ↗ 10.2% U Belleview is also considering

1:08:22 ↗ raising their sales tax and supportive

1:08:25 ↗ transportation and so um we anticipate

1:08:28 ↗ being in line or perhaps even less than

1:08:30 ↗ Belle's tax rate and that was really

1:08:32 ↗ important to the businesses that we

1:08:33 ↗ talked

1:08:35 ↗ to um we have as was included in your

1:08:38 ↗ materials for tonight received so far uh

1:08:41 ↗ eight resident comments that were

1:08:43 ↗ opposed and six resident comments that

1:08:44 ↗ were in favor those are all detailed in

1:08:46 ↗ your packet materials tonight um and

1:08:50 ↗ we've also heard from a couple of our

1:08:52 ↗ residents in those comments that there

1:08:55 ↗ they would support it if the funds were

1:08:57 ↗ applied to pincho or the Northwest

1:08:58 ↗ mamish non-motorized improvements as we

1:09:01 ↗ have uh discussed in the

1:09:05 ↗ past so our recommendation moving

1:09:07 ↗ forward is to proceed to the November

1:09:10 ↗ 20th public hearing at that public

1:09:12 ↗ hearing I can provide a summary of the

1:09:14 ↗ additional feedback we've received over

1:09:16 ↗ the past week um and then um and then we

1:09:21 ↗ would be able to hear more comments of

1:09:23 ↗ the public has additional things to say

1:09:25 ↗ about the sales

1:09:27 ↗ tax so timing and next steps on the tax

1:09:31 ↗ proposal like I said November 20th for

1:09:32 ↗ the public hearing uh and we anticipate

1:09:36 ↗ uh December 4th we're scheduled for a

1:09:38 ↗ City Council vote to approve the tax

1:09:40 ↗ should Council approve the tax then the

1:09:43 ↗ collection of the tax would begin April

1:09:45 ↗ 2024 uh and there would be a subsequent

1:09:48 ↗ budget amendment to account for the new

1:09:49 ↗ revenues and expenditures associated

1:09:51 ↗ with the

1:09:52 ↗ tax

1:09:55 ↗ um again Direction needed are we

1:09:56 ↗ comfortable moving forward to that

1:09:58 ↗ public hearing next

1:10:00 ↗ week and uh otherwise I'm accepting any

1:10:03 ↗ questions you might

1:10:06 ↗ have okay we will start with council

1:10:08 ↗ member

1:10:10 ↗ Joe thank you council president um

1:10:14 ↗ Deputy Administrator

1:10:16 ↗ Snyder um you uh reached out to the

1:10:20 ↗ chamber board on October 20th um as my

1:10:23 ↗ colle colag know I'm the liaison to the

1:10:25 ↗ board from the council um and could you

1:10:29 ↗ go into a little more detail on what you

1:10:31 ↗ heard after you made your presentation

1:10:33 ↗ from the chamber board

1:10:34 ↗ members sure thank you council member um

1:10:37 ↗ we had one of the chamber board uh

1:10:40 ↗ members come out and announce their

1:10:42 ↗ support for the tax saying that these

1:10:44 ↗ investments in transportation are needed

1:10:46 ↗ and would benefit the community um we

1:10:48 ↗ also heard from other chamber board

1:10:50 ↗ members who said that uh generally it's

1:10:53 ↗ hard for businesses to say they really

1:10:55 ↗ support a tax but that the proposal made

1:10:58 ↗ sense um and I think that kind of sums

1:11:01 ↗ up the type of feedback that we heard

1:11:03 ↗ again I think we heard uh business

1:11:05 ↗ Express that it was important to them

1:11:07 ↗ that the tax rate wasn't going to be um

1:11:10 ↗ significantly higher than neighboring

1:11:12 ↗ communities that was really important to

1:11:14 ↗ them those are the general comments we

1:11:16 ↗ received so having that parody with our

1:11:18 ↗ fellow communities was important to them

1:11:21 ↗ and they thought that moving it up by a

1:11:23 ↗ tenth would would reach that kind of

1:11:26 ↗ opportunity right that's right um but

1:11:28 ↗ they were discouraging of additional

1:11:30 ↗ sales tax hikes Beyond uh that 10.2%

1:11:34 ↗ Mark okay and no one at the chamber

1:11:38 ↗ board meeting expressed any uh strong

1:11:42 ↗ opposition to the tax correct okay I

1:11:46 ↗ really appreciate you getting up early

1:11:47 ↗ and going to that meeting um I go to it

1:11:50 ↗ and I'm kind of lonely most of the time

1:11:51 ↗ uh Wally's with me but it was ni nice to

1:11:53 ↗ see you at that meeting as well thank

1:11:55 ↗ you thank you council

1:11:57 ↗ member uh council member Ray that's a

1:12:00 ↗ hard act to follow um so this is pretty

1:12:04 ↗ exciting I I was kind of curious on the

1:12:06 ↗ top 10 sales tax con contributors we

1:12:10 ↗ sent out 10 emails did everybody respond

1:12:13 ↗ to our

1:12:14 ↗ emails uh no not everyone responded I

1:12:18 ↗ think I got about four replies that all

1:12:20 ↗ said thank you very much for this

1:12:22 ↗ information uh we'll let you know if we

1:12:23 ↗ have questions and did they have any

1:12:25 ↗ question they did not okay and did and

1:12:28 ↗ they didn't provide any yay or nay kind

1:12:30 ↗ of comments no and I got no bounce backs

1:12:33 ↗ either so they all seem to have reached

1:12:35 ↗ someone whether or not there was a reply

1:12:38 ↗ okay and then um my second question is

1:12:41 ↗ with the public hearing um on the 20th

1:12:44 ↗ right is there anything we can do to get

1:12:47 ↗ the word out not that um people don't

1:12:51 ↗ haven't heard already and I know you've

1:12:53 ↗ are already tried many channels but it

1:12:55 ↗ would be really nice to have

1:12:57 ↗ um kind of a uh people to know that they

1:13:00 ↗ can come in at least for that public

1:13:02 ↗ hearing and share their their thoughts

1:13:05 ↗ either for or against and so if there's

1:13:07 ↗ a way for us to do some sort of of

1:13:10 ↗ Outreach to get people to come in or

1:13:12 ↗ participate in the web meeting or send

1:13:15 ↗ an email or something but one last push

1:13:17 ↗ to get some more feedback

1:13:19 ↗ um I'm I think I'm be behind the tax and

1:13:23 ↗ everything everything but I was really

1:13:24 ↗ concerned with the public Outreach and

1:13:27 ↗ this you know 14 uh kind of responses

1:13:30 ↗ isn't really out of a town of 40,000

1:13:32 ↗ people isn't a whole lot so anything we

1:13:34 ↗ can do to push to get uh some more

1:13:36 ↗ feedback before the public hearing would

1:13:38 ↗ be really positive in

1:13:40 ↗ my thank you um we certainly can through

1:13:43 ↗ our uh social media or through the um

1:13:47 ↗ City newsletter when we sent the C City

1:13:49 ↗ newsletter out later last week we

1:13:52 ↗ received a few uh additional comments

1:13:54 ↗ that I wasn't able to put in these

1:13:55 ↗ materials tonight just due to the

1:13:57 ↗ publication date um so I can include

1:14:00 ↗ that in the next public hearing that we

1:14:01 ↗ have uh and summarize those comments um

1:14:05 ↗ but we do know we've had uh several

1:14:07 ↗ hundred page clicks I think that was in

1:14:08 ↗ the materials for tonight um so people

1:14:11 ↗ have have seen it uh through the city

1:14:13 ↗ newsletter and other venues they just

1:14:15 ↗ haven't uh been compelled to leave

1:14:18 ↗ comments great thank

1:14:20 ↗ you thank you council member Merz

1:14:24 ↗ couple of questions around the feedback

1:14:25 ↗ that we've received um have we I was

1:14:28 ↗ looking in the packet have we received

1:14:29 ↗ information on rates and in the

1:14:31 ↗ surrounding communities I didn't I

1:14:33 ↗ didn't see it in the pack uh I don't

1:14:35 ↗ believe it was in this packet or

1:14:37 ↗ presentation but it was provided in

1:14:39 ↗ previous presentations on the TBD sales

1:14:42 ↗ taex and it's also on our web page about

1:14:44 ↗ this topic okay um I I asked because one

1:14:47 ↗ of the comments from the community was

1:14:50 ↗ one of our nearby municipalities that

1:14:51 ↗ they claimed had a much lower tax rate

1:14:54 ↗ than

1:14:55 ↗ we so I was curious about the idea that

1:14:57 ↗ we're at Equity with

1:14:59 ↗ running yes um so we are at

1:15:04 ↗ 10.1% we are um I would say within the

1:15:08 ↗ mode of surrounding communities there

1:15:10 ↗ are some communities whose sales tax is

1:15:12 ↗ lower because they're outside of that

1:15:14 ↗ sound transit uh boundary and other um

1:15:18 ↗ uh Regional taxation that occurs uh with

1:15:21 ↗ us and a few other side communities so I

1:15:24 ↗ think you're referencing the Maple

1:15:25 ↗ Valley comment that there's is lower um

1:15:28 ↗ but when we look at cities that we would

1:15:31 ↗ generally consider more of our peers uh

1:15:34 ↗ like Kirkland uh Belleview Redmond Etc

1:15:38 ↗ um we are more in line with those cities

1:15:40 ↗ at 10. 1% currently and then 10.2% we

1:15:45 ↗ would share that with auburn and

1:15:47 ↗ Kirkland and perhaps bellw in the near

1:15:50 ↗ future right uh the second question was

1:15:53 ↗ was one of the things we had heard at

1:15:54 ↗ the listening session was how did we

1:15:57 ↗ come up with $36

1:15:59 ↗ average yes thank you for that and I see

1:16:02 ↗ already our CFO Robert hammood is online

1:16:05 ↗ and and anticipating that question and

1:16:07 ↗ so since he came up with the methodology

1:16:09 ↗ and the estimate I'll refer to our

1:16:15 ↗ CFO thank you Andrea council member

1:16:17 ↗ Marts just also to to touch on Andrew's

1:16:20 ↗ response on the the previous question so

1:16:23 ↗ also the City of Redmond is going they

1:16:25 ↗ just formulated a TBD this year and

1:16:27 ↗ they're exploring this 0.1% sales tax as

1:16:30 ↗ well so biew is Kirkland has already and

1:16:34 ↗ Redmond's looking into it and um some of

1:16:36 ↗ the cities outside of the project area

1:16:39 ↗ of Sound Transit include Maple Valley

1:16:41 ↗ North Bend and Stow kwami so when you're

1:16:42 ↗ looking at those rates they're going to

1:16:43 ↗ be lower because they're outside of it

1:16:45 ↗ um as far as the 36 so we estimated

1:16:49 ↗ approximately $100 per household or 36%

1:16:52 ↗ 36 $6 per individual it's an it's a

1:16:56 ↗ tough number to quantify because

1:16:57 ↗ everybody's spending habits every

1:16:59 ↗ household spending habits is different

1:17:01 ↗ so it's depending on what mix of taxable

1:17:04 ↗ versus non-t taxable items you're buying

1:17:06 ↗ each month but we took the the average

1:17:09 ↗ of the Metropolitan expenditures from

1:17:13 ↗ the Consumer Price Index so Seattle they

1:17:16 ↗ did a 2122 average through the Bureau of

1:17:18 ↗ Labor Labor Statistics and the median

1:17:22 ↗ household expend in the area was

1:17:24 ↗ approximately 92,000 so I use that as a

1:17:26 ↗ starting point and um again that

1:17:30 ↗ information is a couple years old but we

1:17:31 ↗ also pulled down that number when we

1:17:33 ↗ took out um expenditures for rent

1:17:37 ↗ housing and again non you know non-

1:17:39 ↗ taxable items like everyday groceries as

1:17:42 ↗ a percentage of all food categories

1:17:45 ↗ because some food is taxable some is not

1:17:47 ↗ when you go to the grocery store um and

1:17:49 ↗ also gas is not applicable to this tax

1:17:52 ↗ and so we just try to look at again a

1:17:56 ↗ slice of what an average household

1:17:58 ↗ spends per year in a AA and what items

1:18:02 ↗ would be taxable what items would not be

1:18:04 ↗ taxable but again if you make a big

1:18:05 ↗ purchase it's going to be a little

1:18:07 ↗ different but in context like a

1:18:09 ↗ $500 purchase of a TV at Target this

1:18:13 ↗ would be 50 cents because again it's

1:18:15 ↗ 0.1% of that so it' be a 50c increase if

1:18:18 ↗ you bought again $300 worth of Amazon

1:18:21 ↗ products that's an extra 30 Cent

1:18:27 ↗ thanks uh would uh are automobiles

1:18:30 ↗ covered by that so is it at the straight

1:18:32 ↗ up yes automobiles are subject to tax

1:18:34 ↗ correct all right so if you bought a car

1:18:36 ↗ at $40,000 it would be uh

1:18:40 ↗ $400 $40 that's correct $40 yeah there

1:18:43 ↗ we go sry4 $4 thank

1:18:46 ↗ you it's a little different also just

1:18:49 ↗ just a side note on leasing if you're

1:18:50 ↗ leasing a vehicle you're actually paying

1:18:53 ↗ the tax each month on the lease so if

1:18:55 ↗ you have a $500 lease then again it's 50

1:18:58 ↗ cents per

1:19:01 ↗ month okay good questions uh is that

1:19:05 ↗ council member D Michelle

1:19:07 ↗ thanks um so uh Robert um we talked

1:19:12 ↗ about the fact that we're spreading this

1:19:15 ↗ tax burden

1:19:17 ↗ across uh with people who don't live in

1:19:20 ↗ isqua it's people who are passing

1:19:21 ↗ through and spending money here have we

1:19:23 ↗ taken that into account in that formula

1:19:26 ↗ oh okay that's that's another piece of

1:19:29 ↗ information that people might want to

1:19:31 ↗ know the formula itself again we're just

1:19:34 ↗ trying to say what's the impact and

1:19:36 ↗ again the other question mark to that

1:19:37 ↗ impact is how much of our own residents

1:19:39 ↗ in isqua spending inside of the

1:19:41 ↗ community we're assuming because isqua

1:19:43 ↗ is a retail Hub they're spending a bulk

1:19:46 ↗ of it but again say a resident of isqua

1:19:50 ↗ spending one weekend a month shopping at

1:19:53 ↗ Belleview Square of course we're not

1:19:54 ↗ going to get that that sales tax back to

1:19:56 ↗ isqua so it's not an exact science um so

1:20:00 ↗ again it's about $100 per household in

1:20:02 ↗ the city or $36 per

1:20:04 ↗ person that would be the same if

1:20:07 ↗ somebody was coming outside is again

1:20:09 ↗ it's looking at people's spending habits

1:20:12 ↗ and compared to that now outside it

1:20:14 ↗ might be a little higher if somebody's

1:20:16 ↗ making say they're going to Best Buy and

1:20:18 ↗ they're making all their Electronics

1:20:19 ↗ purchases in the city of isqua they're

1:20:21 ↗ making all their furniture purchases at

1:20:24 ↗ Costco or something like that or our

1:20:26 ↗ furniture stores in the city so they

1:20:28 ↗ might actually be spending more than

1:20:30 ↗ some of our residents that they're just

1:20:31 ↗ coming into iser Big Ticket items that

1:20:33 ↗ makes

1:20:38 ↗ sense okay Deputy council president

1:20:42 ↗ Hull um thank you so um we've always

1:20:45 ↗ talked about uh this Revenue tool as a

1:20:47 ↗ way to

1:20:48 ↗ find specific projects right so

1:20:51 ↗ Northwest samamish Road non-motorized

1:20:52 ↗ improvements and the IT plan

1:20:54 ↗ implementation so when we consider um

1:20:57 ↗ the adoption of the revenue tool none of

1:20:59 ↗ that is tied

1:21:00 ↗ into what we're adopting right that

1:21:03 ↗ would that come at a later budget

1:21:04 ↗ amendment that's correct that would come

1:21:06 ↗ during the budget amendment uh this

1:21:09 ↗ because this is a council manic uh

1:21:12 ↗ process we and this when Council votes

1:21:16 ↗ uh to approve or not to approve we don't

1:21:17 ↗ need to necessarily dedicate the

1:21:19 ↗ revenues at that moment of time towards

1:21:22 ↗ certain expens expenditures they can

1:21:24 ↗ only be spent on Transportation um but

1:21:26 ↗ that would come at a later time when we

1:21:28 ↗ uh go through the budget process and the

1:21:30 ↗ budget amendment

1:21:35 ↗ process okay and just a question for me

1:21:38 ↗ um can you talk through timeline so if

1:21:41 ↗ someone still wants to give a comment

1:21:44 ↗ how long do they have and then if we are

1:21:47 ↗ looking and potentially adopt this on

1:21:50 ↗ the November 20th when does it go into

1:21:52 ↗ effect and when does the revenue start

1:21:54 ↗ to come

1:21:56 ↗ in great question so if somebody wants

1:21:59 ↗ to provide comments great way to do that

1:22:01 ↗ would be go to our web page and look up

1:22:04 ↗ Transportation sales tax and that will

1:22:06 ↗ take you to the web page where they can

1:22:09 ↗ submit their comments

1:22:10 ↗ anonymously um they could also of course

1:22:12 ↗ write to city council at any time as you

1:22:14 ↗ mentioned earlier in the meeting today

1:22:16 ↗ from now through December 4th when

1:22:18 ↗ council is scheduled to vote on this so

1:22:21 ↗ they can come before the hearing next

1:22:23 ↗ week um but they can do that anytime

1:22:25 ↗ between now and December 4th we are

1:22:27 ↗ accepting comment um should Council

1:22:30 ↗ approve of this tax then uh it would

1:22:33 ↗ start to be applied uh in April April of

1:22:37 ↗ 2024 so then we would start to see those

1:22:40 ↗ collections in the subsequent months uh

1:22:42 ↗ after

1:22:46 ↗ April okay I think we have had time to

1:22:50 ↗ ask our question and answer answer

1:22:53 ↗ period um at this time I will open

1:22:56 ↗ public comments and see if anyone would

1:22:59 ↗ like to make

1:23:01 ↗ comments

1:23:03 ↗ no okay

1:23:08 ↗ fantastic I would agree with having the

1:23:11 ↗ sales TX can you start with your name

1:23:13 ↗ and your relationship to the city thank

1:23:15 ↗ you my name is Linda Timone I live in

1:23:18 ↗ the issaqua highlands and um I would

1:23:22 ↗ support the sales

1:23:24 ↗ tax that's

1:23:26 ↗ all well thank you appreciate an

1:23:28 ↗ audience member and I will check in with

1:23:31 ↗ our Clerk and see if we have anyone

1:23:33 ↗ online indicating a desire to speak we

1:23:36 ↗ still have a few virtual attendees but

1:23:38 ↗ none indicating a desire well as usual I

1:23:41 ↗ will say you can always send us an email

1:23:43 ↗ we read them all city council at ISA

1:23:46 ↗ w.gov okay so um is there any other

1:23:52 ↗ comment commentary that anyone wants to

1:23:54 ↗ make we'll start with council member

1:23:57 ↗ hunt thank you thank you for the

1:23:59 ↗ information tonight for the um public

1:24:02 ↗ hearing on this topic I think it would

1:24:04 ↗ be helpful to give information about the

1:24:07 ↗ projects that we've talked about um

1:24:11 ↗ potentially being funded by this I know

1:24:12 ↗ that we won't be deciding that at at

1:24:14 ↗ that exact moment but the council will

1:24:16 ↗ be the future decision makers on that

1:24:19 ↗ and I think it would be helpful to hear

1:24:20 ↗ about those projects um and it will

1:24:23 ↗ better inform the community about that

1:24:26 ↗ about those projects if we provide more

1:24:27 ↗ information um than was provided in this

1:24:29 ↗ presentation tonight also when I was

1:24:32 ↗ reading through the comments that have

1:24:34 ↗ been Pro provided so far as would make

1:24:36 ↗ sense the people who are supportive are

1:24:38 ↗ often supportive specifically because of

1:24:41 ↗ projects that they would really like to

1:24:42 ↗ see that would improve their their

1:24:44 ↗ quality of life and and their ability to

1:24:46 ↗ get around town and so um I think to

1:24:49 ↗ support that part of the conversation

1:24:50 ↗ just providing more information about

1:24:52 ↗ what we've discussed in the past for

1:24:54 ↗ those projects including the pinch Point

1:24:57 ↗ non-motorized connection to the south

1:24:59 ↗ lake samamish neighborhood that would be

1:25:00 ↗ helpful thank

1:25:02 ↗ you great uh council member D

1:25:05 ↗ Michelle um thank you uh yeah the the

1:25:08 ↗ feedback is is sparse and it's it's

1:25:11 ↗ somewhat disappointing it's hard to know

1:25:13 ↗ whether people didn't respond because

1:25:15 ↗ they're just fine with the information

1:25:17 ↗ like the 168 who went on the website and

1:25:20 ↗ looked at it and we only had 14 and

1:25:22 ↗ actually commented did the others not

1:25:25 ↗ respond to it because well that's okay

1:25:28 ↗ you know uh I don't have to respond

1:25:30 ↗ because this looks okay to me it's

1:25:32 ↗ really hard to read what the public

1:25:33 ↗ wants from from those comments and I did

1:25:36 ↗ notice that um several of the ones that

1:25:39 ↗ were opposed uh were not clear that we

1:25:42 ↗ could only spend this tax money on

1:25:45 ↗ Transportation um so again I think that

1:25:48 ↗ uh we can emphasize that fact as well I

1:25:52 ↗ want to a plus one uh council member

1:25:53 ↗ Ray's comment that we need to um really

1:25:57 ↗ uh see if we can uh uh inform the public

1:26:01 ↗ a lot about this hearing um that's

1:26:02 ↗ coming up and I was thinking that maybe

1:26:05 ↗ on the isqua ins slider we could it

1:26:07 ↗ could be the like the banner topic uh if

1:26:11 ↗ we could ask Thomas rush to make it a

1:26:13 ↗ big deal on The isqua Insider that goes

1:26:17 ↗ out that perhaps we can get more

1:26:19 ↗ commentary but uh yeah it is it is dis

1:26:22 ↗ pointing but then on the other hand um

1:26:24 ↗ you certainly have tried to outreach to

1:26:26 ↗ a lot of people and uh again sometimes

1:26:29 ↗ people don't comment because they're

1:26:31 ↗ just okay with their proposal so um if

1:26:35 ↗ we could do another big push uh then uh

1:26:38 ↗ I think that would be great and I I am

1:26:40 ↗ comfortable going forward with the

1:26:41 ↗ hearing on the

1:26:44 ↗ 20th thank you uh Deputy council

1:26:47 ↗ president Hall thank you um thanks for

1:26:50 ↗ all your work on this uh Deputy City

1:26:51 ↗ administ

1:26:52 ↗ uh I haven't heard anything I disagree

1:26:54 ↗ with yet um you and I have talked about

1:26:56 ↗ this before but I have found that

1:27:00 ↗ community members in particular uh

1:27:02 ↗ really appreciate understanding the full

1:27:04 ↗ Arc of where this has come from starting

1:27:07 ↗ with the mayor's Capital Finance

1:27:08 ↗ Community task force all the work that

1:27:10 ↗ went into that and the recommendations

1:27:12 ↗ that bubbled out of that group um so I

1:27:15 ↗ wonder if that context could be included

1:27:18 ↗ in in the public hearing presentation I

1:27:20 ↗ if you think that the presentation for

1:27:23 ↗ the public hearing it's too long I

1:27:25 ↗ understand but I do think that that's an

1:27:26 ↗ important piece of information um about

1:27:29 ↗ this because um we went through a very

1:27:32 ↗ long process to get to where we are um

1:27:35 ↗ it included uh stakeholders from all

1:27:37 ↗ over the city um but the task force and

1:27:40 ↗ the city council and the mayor and the

1:27:42 ↗ administration all thought it was still

1:27:44 ↗ a priority to continue to collect public

1:27:47 ↗ input on on the proposal rate so I think

1:27:50 ↗ it's important um to make sure that we

1:27:51 ↗ have that context in there um I'm also

1:27:54 ↗ disappointed that we don't have more um

1:27:56 ↗ engagement but it's always difficult um

1:27:59 ↗ people have very busy lives and we have

1:28:01 ↗ to be able to balance moving forward

1:28:04 ↗ with with collecting as much input and

1:28:05 ↗ engagement as we possibly can as well um

1:28:08 ↗ I am happy to to hear that part of that

1:28:10 ↗ quote that you had that but the tax

1:28:13 ↗ proposal makes sense that seems like a

1:28:16 ↗ success to me that we did our homework

1:28:18 ↗ right if it makes sense to you and maybe

1:28:20 ↗ it is that people are going going to the

1:28:22 ↗ website and seeing that okay my leaders

1:28:25 ↗ did their homework and they showed up

1:28:26 ↗ and and they did this right and if

1:28:28 ↗ that's the case then I'm really happy

1:28:29 ↗ about that but I agree I think maybe a

1:28:31 ↗ last minute um push just in case anyone

1:28:33 ↗ wants to comment on it would be great um

1:28:36 ↗ and again um it seemed like from the

1:28:38 ↗ comments and also from our most recent

1:28:41 ↗ listening session there's um some uh

1:28:45 ↗ concern bubbling up that maybe the city

1:28:47 ↗ isn't budgeting By Priority in terms of

1:28:50 ↗ well if transportation is the top

1:28:51 ↗ priority why aren't we we dedicating

1:28:52 ↗ Capital dollars to that first and we do

1:28:55 ↗ so I I think it's important for us to be

1:28:57 ↗ able to highlight not necessarily part

1:28:58 ↗ of this process but this is just general

1:29:00 ↗ feedback for the administration um ways

1:29:02 ↗ to talk to the community about how we

1:29:04 ↗ have this huge bucket of um that we have

1:29:07 ↗ to fund with regard to legal

1:29:08 ↗ requirements and safety improvements and

1:29:11 ↗ regular maintenance which leaves us very

1:29:14 ↗ little left over to make meaningful

1:29:16 ↗ progress on what continues to Bubble Up

1:29:18 ↗ on the community service so finding a

1:29:20 ↗ new way to be able to talk about that

1:29:22 ↗ genuinely with the community um seems

1:29:25 ↗ like an important takeaway but yeah I'm

1:29:26 ↗ ready to move forward

1:29:29 ↗ with council member

1:29:31 ↗ Mars as the uh second council member of

1:29:35 ↗ the Capital Finance Community task force

1:29:37 ↗ I'd like to plus one um providing some

1:29:40 ↗ more of context from the Capital Finance

1:29:43 ↗ Community task force because um what's

1:29:46 ↗ one of the things that's important for

1:29:47 ↗ the public to understand is that the

1:29:49 ↗ task force came up with a sort of raft

1:29:53 ↗ of things to do uh raft of potential re

1:29:57 ↗ Revenue mechanisms some of which were

1:29:59 ↗ short-term some of which were

1:30:00 ↗ medium-term and some of which were

1:30:02 ↗ long-term and this is really only one

1:30:04 ↗ element of that raft and there's a

1:30:06 ↗ there's a bunch of other stuff in there

1:30:08 ↗ so I think it's important um you know I

1:30:10 ↗ I I think

1:30:11 ↗ that task force was was super valuable

1:30:14 ↗ but I really want the public to

1:30:16 ↗ understand when this comes up that it's

1:30:17 ↗ part of a larger conversation and a

1:30:19 ↗ larger uh set of tools that we have in

1:30:22 ↗ front of us that we will be continuing

1:30:24 ↗ to work on in

1:30:29 ↗ this

1:30:31 ↗ okay do you have what you need on this

1:30:34 ↗ one I do thank you very much okay

1:30:38 ↗ fantastic so looking back at our agenda

1:30:42 ↗ um we will now move on to ID 1535 uh

1:30:46 ↗ amending financial management policies

1:30:48 ↗ presented by Rachel Bender Turpin our

1:30:50 ↗ City attorney

1:30:52 ↗ thanks Rachel hello

1:30:57 ↗ again I'm very excited to talk to you

1:31:00 ↗ this evening about another project I've

1:31:02 ↗ been working on for a solid

1:31:07 ↗ year um for the record Rachel Bender

1:31:10 ↗ Turpin City attorney and tonight I want

1:31:12 ↗ to talk about uh proposed amendments to

1:31:15 ↗ the city's financial management

1:31:20 ↗ policy ready for the next next slide

1:31:22 ↗ whenever thank you the purpose of

1:31:25 ↗ tonight's uh discussion is so that I can

1:31:27 ↗ solicit feedback from this group to

1:31:30 ↗ incorporate into the proposed amendments

1:31:33 ↗ to the financial management policy that

1:31:35 ↗ we've been working on for over year at

1:31:38 ↗ this

1:31:40 ↗ point we the direction needed is um is

1:31:44 ↗ essentially just that feedback um at

1:31:46 ↗ this point and then we'll be back at the

1:31:49 ↗ meeting in in December with an an

1:31:51 ↗ updated version for the council to look

1:31:54 ↗ at and take action on next slide

1:31:57 ↗ please little background on the

1:31:59 ↗ financial management policy uh the city

1:32:02 ↗ council adopts the financial management

1:32:04 ↗ policy to provide guidance to staff

1:32:07 ↗ officials and to set internal controls

1:32:09 ↗ and oversight over the city's Financial

1:32:13 ↗ transactions The Current financial

1:32:15 ↗ management policy was uh adopted in 2017

1:32:19 ↗ and then it was subsequently amended in

1:32:21 ↗ January AR 2020 September 2021 and then

1:32:25 ↗ March and April of

1:32:31 ↗ 2022 as I mentioned this has been a long

1:32:35 ↗ process um I believe that the slide may

1:32:39 ↗ even be incorrect I think thinking back

1:32:41 ↗ it on it this afternoon I think we

1:32:43 ↗ actually started in September or October

1:32:46 ↗ of 2022 but we started with some uh a

1:32:50 ↗ multi departmental working group that we

1:32:54 ↗ brought together um after I had been in

1:32:56 ↗ the role for almost almost a year and

1:33:00 ↗ had noticed a lot of on my own various

1:33:05 ↗ issues with um staff being able to

1:33:08 ↗ clearly interpret portions of the

1:33:11 ↗ financial management policy and coming

1:33:13 ↗ to me for um help with that and

1:33:16 ↗ myself seeing that there were areas

1:33:19 ↗ where I thought maybe we could better

1:33:20 ↗ clarify or uh set different or clear

1:33:26 ↗ standards so I decided Well I've seen

1:33:30 ↗ these issues I know Finance has seen

1:33:31 ↗ some of these issues let's get a whole

1:33:34 ↗ group of representatives from every

1:33:36 ↗ Department together and just ask for

1:33:39 ↗ kind of the laundry list of what what

1:33:41 ↗ are the issues that you have with

1:33:45 ↗ Contracting and procurement primarily

1:33:47 ↗ but we addressed a few other things in

1:33:49 ↗ the financial management policy as well

1:33:51 ↗ well uh things like roadblocks to

1:33:55 ↗ efficiency things like consistency with

1:33:57 ↗ other policies and codes I I get a lot

1:34:02 ↗ of there's a lot of areas of confusion a

1:34:04 ↗ lot of places where we have to make

1:34:06 ↗ interpretations because the financial

1:34:09 ↗ management policy may speak to certain

1:34:11 ↗ types of procurements or contracts but

1:34:13 ↗ not all and so then we have to kind of

1:34:15 ↗ guess where in the policy uh certain

1:34:19 ↗ types of agreements would fall

1:34:22 ↗ we met multiple times um as a group I

1:34:26 ↗ think I'll talk about that later but we

1:34:27 ↗ also reviewed signing thresholds for

1:34:30 ↗ neighboring jurisdiction so we tried to

1:34:32 ↗ look and see you know what was out there

1:34:34 ↗ for uh our our friends and neighbors

1:34:37 ↗ around the around the area I called in

1:34:39 ↗ some favors with other City attorneys I

1:34:41 ↗ knew to get me their their financial

1:34:43 ↗ management policies when they didn't

1:34:44 ↗ have them online and we reviewed

1:34:48 ↗ multiple iterations of this document

1:34:52 ↗ which is why I'm I do not know how I

1:34:54 ↗ didn't catch the typos that council

1:34:56 ↗ member D Melle so kindly caught for me

1:34:59 ↗ I've read it so many times I think they

1:35:01 ↗ must have just Blended in and then um

1:35:04 ↗ after we'd meet as a group we would go

1:35:06 ↗ back and uh the kind of the main working

1:35:09 ↗ group of this was myself Natalie McNab

1:35:13 ↗ our contract and procurement specialist

1:35:16 ↗ and then we got a lot of help from our

1:35:18 ↗ amazing City Clerk and uh Genie Justice

1:35:22 ↗ our administrative services manager and

1:35:25 ↗ we would go back and we would you know I

1:35:28 ↗ would write I would take the input that

1:35:30 ↗ I received in the large group meeting

1:35:33 ↗ and then I would write something and run

1:35:34 ↗ it past the smaller group first to make

1:35:36 ↗ sure that it made sense to someone other

1:35:38 ↗ than me and then we would meet as a

1:35:40 ↗ larger group again for everyone to

1:35:42 ↗ review the documents so we did this

1:35:43 ↗ several times over the last year next

1:35:47 ↗ slide

1:35:49 ↗ please and uh we came up up with some

1:35:52 ↗ proposed amendments based on that work

1:35:54 ↗ and so I'm going to go through with you

1:35:57 ↗ what um my current recommendation is for

1:36:00 ↗ you to consider and for you to weigh in

1:36:02 ↗ and give your own Direction on my

1:36:05 ↗ recommendation is that we adopt

1:36:08 ↗ standardized signing thresholds for all

1:36:10 ↗ contract types currently we have

1:36:14 ↗ currently it's a little bit unclear uh

1:36:17 ↗ we have one and it's difficult for staff

1:36:19 ↗ to administer we have an amazing cheat

1:36:22 ↗ sheet that we that staff use that is

1:36:25 ↗ really informative and explains what is

1:36:28 ↗ needed for each particular type of

1:36:31 ↗ contract however that document doesn't

1:36:35 ↗ match up perfectly to what is in the

1:36:38 ↗ financial management policy and the

1:36:39 ↗ financial management policy actually

1:36:41 ↗ only touches a certain segment of the

1:36:45 ↗ types of contracts that we look at so

1:36:50 ↗ you know we have different currently

1:36:51 ↗ have different signing authorities for

1:36:53 ↗ for instance Public Works contracts

1:36:56 ↗ versus Professional Services

1:36:59 ↗ contracts

1:37:00 ↗ and where you find those thresholds can

1:37:03 ↗ be different in different places and

1:37:05 ↗ that's just causing a lot of confusion

1:37:07 ↗ for staff and it also causes a lot of

1:37:09 ↗ questions to come up as you know it it

1:37:12 ↗ makes us make a lot of judgment calls

1:37:13 ↗ what is a professional service exactly

1:37:16 ↗ is a photographer Professional Service

1:37:18 ↗ or are we only going to look at people

1:37:19 ↗ who have you know licenses or some sort

1:37:21 ↗ of specialized education like that um

1:37:26 ↗ there there were I don't love vagueness

1:37:28 ↗ and ambiguity it's not like generally a

1:37:31 ↗ a thing that

1:37:32 ↗ lawyers lawyers love and um those types

1:37:36 ↗ of questions just kept coming up places

1:37:38 ↗ where it was ambiguous and where places

1:37:41 ↗ where it was there was room to be

1:37:43 ↗ ambiguous and I thought it was

1:37:45 ↗ preferable to set just standard

1:37:48 ↗ thresholds rather than trying to on a

1:37:51 ↗ one oneoff basis figure out where each

1:37:53 ↗ contract fits

1:37:55 ↗ in overall I didn't change the the

1:37:59 ↗ signing thresholds I used essentially

1:38:01 ↗ what we what's already what we already

1:38:04 ↗ have for Professional

1:38:07 ↗ Services I'm just suggesting we use that

1:38:10 ↗ for all of the and you're and I see a

1:38:14 ↗ quizzical look because this doesn't

1:38:16 ↗ match what's in the financial management

1:38:18 ↗ policy there is a table in there and I

1:38:20 ↗ think that table is an error because

1:38:24 ↗ there are other places in the document

1:38:27 ↗ that actually have for instance the city

1:38:30 ↗ administrator signing threshold up to

1:38:32 ↗ 999,000 but I do think that the table

1:38:34 ↗ doesn't have that

1:38:36 ↗ so there's a lot of weird little issues

1:38:40 ↗ here that I think we can address through

1:38:42 ↗ this update such as making sure that we

1:38:45 ↗ all do know what the actual delegated

1:38:48 ↗ signing thresholds are for all types of

1:38:50 ↗ contracts

1:38:51 ↗ I'm going to pause for a question from

1:38:53 ↗ council member marks yeah um thank you I

1:38:58 ↗ thought uh that the threshold between

1:39:00 ↗ mayor and city council was $200,000 or

1:39:03 ↗ thereabouts is that not

1:39:05 ↗ correct it it

1:39:08 ↗ for let me look at the current policy

1:39:12 ↗ here for Professional Services I do know

1:39:16 ↗ that this is this is correct for Public

1:39:20 ↗ Works

1:39:27 ↗ Robert do you happen to have that up by

1:39:28 ↗ any

1:39:32 ↗ chance give me just a

1:39:40 ↗ second I believe in the marked up

1:39:43 ↗ ordinance it shows the old chart um

1:39:46 ↗ showing 100,000 to 349,000

1:39:51 ↗ mhm so that that's on page 12 of the

1:39:54 ↗ merked up

1:40:08 ↗ document now my screen's too

1:40:13 ↗ small when you get there can you clarify

1:40:16 ↗ if there's a red line through the middle

1:40:18 ↗ of it which I'd assume meant red line to

1:40:20 ↗ the full t cuz then there's a new table

1:40:22 ↗ below it there is that is correct yes

1:40:25 ↗ that's just how it showed up on track

1:40:26 ↗ changes I'm looking at the cheat sheet

1:40:29 ↗ which was pulled from multiple sources

1:40:31 ↗ so I can't tell you exactly where each

1:40:33 ↗ of these came from but in that cheat

1:40:36 ↗ sheet it looks like the count

1:40:39 ↗ the mayor's Authority

1:40:45 ↗ for equipment Goods supplies and

1:40:48 ↗ materials purchase General services

1:40:51 ↗ Professional

1:40:54 ↗ Services is are all um from 100,000 to

1:40:59 ↗ 349,000 I think where it may start to

1:41:03 ↗ differ is with

1:41:07 ↗ um with public

1:41:12 ↗ works

1:41:14 ↗ and Architectural and

1:41:17 ↗ engineering and that's where the cheat

1:41:19 ↗ sheet starts to get a little bit

1:41:20 ↗ confused

1:41:22 ↗ thank

1:41:24 ↗ you right I think we can go to the next

1:41:26 ↗ slide Tisha thank you the proposal would

1:41:30 ↗ also clarify that a contract is budgeted

1:41:33 ↗ if funds for the expenditure were

1:41:35 ↗ appropriated in the banal budget and the

1:41:38 ↗ contract would not exceed available fund

1:41:40 ↗ balances the reason for this is the

1:41:43 ↗ language as is I I got a lot of

1:41:45 ↗ questions about it many all every week

1:41:48 ↗ pretty much of what does it mean for for

1:41:50 ↗ it to be budgeted because as you all

1:41:52 ↗ know our budgets are we don't have line

1:41:54 ↗ item budgets that specify each

1:41:57 ↗ particular procurement and so that it

1:42:00 ↗ just became a um a real question for

1:42:03 ↗ folks so if even if this is not the

1:42:06 ↗ definition we want to go with I would

1:42:08 ↗ like to have some sort

1:42:11 ↗ of clarity regarding what it something

1:42:14 ↗ means to be budgeted so that staff know

1:42:18 ↗ because there they not there isn't going

1:42:19 ↗ to be a specific line it our budget

1:42:22 ↗ document doesn't get as detailed where

1:42:24 ↗ you know x amount is appropriated for

1:42:27 ↗ this type of this particular contract so

1:42:31 ↗ we need to have some way for folks to

1:42:35 ↗ know what that

1:42:38 ↗ means it would also establish signing

1:42:41 ↗ authorities for various types of

1:42:43 ↗ contracts that are not addressed so

1:42:46 ↗ right now the types of contracts I get

1:42:48 ↗ questions about almost daily

1:42:51 ↗ are things like

1:42:53 ↗ easements

1:42:54 ↗ leases Aid affidavits of ownership which

1:42:58 ↗ the council gets to see on a regular

1:42:59 ↗ basis because there are things that we

1:43:01 ↗ sign that just

1:43:03 ↗ say yes we own this property and we're

1:43:06 ↗ okay with our tenant applying for a

1:43:09 ↗ permit you know things like that where

1:43:10 ↗ you're we're just certifying that we own

1:43:12 ↗ the property uh these are things that

1:43:15 ↗ settlement agreements these are things

1:43:17 ↗ that we do from time to time they

1:43:19 ↗ they're just the policy is is just

1:43:21 ↗ silent on them and that then again

1:43:23 ↗ leaves us in a position where we have to

1:43:26 ↗ just guess as to which category they

1:43:28 ↗ would fall into or we just bring it all

1:43:31 ↗ forward to council which results in some

1:43:34 ↗ crowded

1:43:36 ↗ meetings uh the proposal would also

1:43:38 ↗ allow contract terms up to three years

1:43:41 ↗ that's based on staff feedback that it's

1:43:45 ↗ difficult to do many of the projects

1:43:50 ↗ that we contract for within two years

1:43:53 ↗ and so we were getting into the issue of

1:43:57 ↗ constantly having amend contracts which

1:44:00 ↗ is another thing that the that the

1:44:02 ↗ policy does is it provides significantly

1:44:06 ↗ more clarity regarding when amendments

1:44:08 ↗ are appropriate and also when they are

1:44:10 ↗ not appropriate because once again we

1:44:12 ↗ don't want people entering into serial

1:44:14 ↗ contracts where they can just continue

1:44:16 ↗ to um contract past you know a curement

1:44:21 ↗ threshold or past assigning threshold

1:44:23 ↗ just because they're you know extending

1:44:25 ↗ a contract or adding something to the

1:44:27 ↗ scope of

1:44:28 ↗ work next

1:44:33 ↗ slide like I just said it require or it

1:44:36 ↗ provides clarity about when contracts

1:44:38 ↗ can be Amendment amended a frequent

1:44:41 ↗ thing that I get is requests to amend

1:44:44 ↗ contracts that have expired to extend

1:44:46 ↗ the date well once the contract's

1:44:48 ↗ expired there's no contract to extend

1:44:50 ↗ you just have to do a new contract so

1:44:52 ↗ the policy gets into things like that it

1:44:55 ↗ also has an accompanying lengthy

1:44:58 ↗ contract manual that I drafted to give

1:45:00 ↗ even further detail to staff on uh

1:45:04 ↗ issues like this and descriptions of the

1:45:07 ↗ types of contracts uh so that people

1:45:09 ↗ have a better idea because sometimes you

1:45:11 ↗ know the difference between interlocal

1:45:13 ↗ agreement and just a general inter

1:45:15 ↗ agency agreement can be really you know

1:45:17 ↗ it can be tough for folks to understand

1:45:20 ↗ that

1:45:21 ↗ the policy authorizes Finance to audit

1:45:24 ↗ all departmental contracts for

1:45:26 ↗ compliance with the financial man

1:45:27 ↗ management policy and our procurement

1:45:30 ↗ requirements this is arguably something

1:45:32 ↗ that Finance could do regardless but I

1:45:35 ↗ thought it was important to include

1:45:36 ↗ specific language in there so that we

1:45:39 ↗ don't get into a territorial dispute

1:45:42 ↗ with between departments now it's very

1:45:44 ↗ clear that Finance has that Authority

1:45:47 ↗ and in fact that that job that's their

1:45:49 ↗ responsibility to do that and therefore

1:45:52 ↗ other directors won't feel like um

1:45:54 ↗ finances meddling in their business it's

1:45:57 ↗ just part of the process it also revises

1:46:00 ↗ the city's competitive procurement

1:46:02 ↗ requirements to match up with to what's

1:46:05 ↗ found in state law and also the already

1:46:08 ↗ existing IMC chapter

1:46:11 ↗ 3.7 I believe trying to piece together

1:46:16 ↗ uh the pieces here that I think folks

1:46:18 ↗ may have forgotten

1:46:20 ↗ that IMC 3.7 existed because it actually

1:46:24 ↗ has pretty detailed procurement

1:46:28 ↗ um laws in it that are based on state

1:46:31 ↗ law but they are different from what we

1:46:34 ↗ are operating under for instance like

1:46:36 ↗ what we have in in the cheat sheet and

1:46:38 ↗ even some of the requirements that are

1:46:40 ↗ set forth in the financial management

1:46:42 ↗ policy so I think maybe when in 2017

1:46:45 ↗ when folks worked on the financial

1:46:46 ↗ management policy I just think maybe

1:46:48 ↗ that 3.70 was not on everyone's radar

1:46:53 ↗ so it was on mine and so I am also going

1:46:57 ↗ to be proposing some amendments to that

1:46:59 ↗ chapter as well that match up to what

1:47:03 ↗ we're doing with the financial

1:47:05 ↗ management policy

1:47:06 ↗ and clarify the language in the chapter

1:47:09 ↗ because it really is it's not I can see

1:47:11 ↗ why it was confusing to staff because it

1:47:14 ↗ it it's not super well drafted the way

1:47:16 ↗ it is so it will essenti clarify what

1:47:21 ↗ the existing chapter is all what it

1:47:25 ↗ already says just so that everyone

1:47:28 ↗ really knows what their procurement

1:47:30 ↗ responsibilities

1:47:32 ↗ are next slide

1:47:36 ↗ please another thing that came up a lot

1:47:39 ↗ was grants get a lot of requests from

1:47:42 ↗ staff uh does this grant have to go to

1:47:45 ↗ council and sometimes these are very

1:47:47 ↗ small grants as you've probably noted so

1:47:50 ↗ so this would authorize administrative

1:47:52 ↗ acceptance of Grants I proposed $100,000

1:47:56 ↗ of course this is your policy you can

1:47:58 ↗ decide whatever you want but um I think

1:48:01 ↗ it would be advisable to have some sort

1:48:04 ↗ of administrative

1:48:06 ↗ approval level in the policy so that

1:48:09 ↗ some of these small grants can be taken

1:48:12 ↗ through quickly uh often there are short

1:48:15 ↗ deadlines with these and they're

1:48:18 ↗ probably quite frankly some things that

1:48:21 ↗ that the council um would be better

1:48:25 ↗ spending other time on on other things

1:48:28 ↗ some of these really small ones some of

1:48:30 ↗ them don't even have

1:48:31 ↗ matches another uh thing that it does is

1:48:34 ↗ it revise our Surplus asset language to

1:48:37 ↗ make it consistent with the city's

1:48:40 ↗ Surplus real property policy that we

1:48:43 ↗ adopted last year well there's a few

1:48:45 ↗ things or I think earlier this year

1:48:47 ↗ there are a few things in it that needed

1:48:50 ↗ to be changed in the financial

1:48:53 ↗ management policy to match there's a

1:48:55 ↗ couple things that I think once again

1:48:57 ↗ folks just they were just oversight

1:48:59 ↗ errors um incorrect statutes that were

1:49:03 ↗ cited in that section you know ones that

1:49:05 ↗ apply to the state not

1:49:08 ↗ municipalities and um a little bit of

1:49:11 ↗ confusion regarding the requirements for

1:49:13 ↗ when you need to do a public hearing for

1:49:16 ↗ utility

1:49:17 ↗ property this would also delegate author

1:49:20 ↗ to the mayor to administratively accept

1:49:23 ↗ donations so right now as per state law

1:49:26 ↗ the city council has to adopt or has to

1:49:29 ↗ accept donations by ordinance this would

1:49:32 ↗ often in many cities they pass an

1:49:34 ↗ ordinance that provides for some level

1:49:37 ↗ of administrative acceptance of gifts

1:49:40 ↗ this would allow for administrative

1:49:43 ↗ acceptance of of No Strings Attached

1:49:46 ↗ donations as well as donations that are

1:49:49 ↗ earmarked for use by certain city

1:49:53 ↗ programs as long as the donation is not

1:49:56 ↗ is not so restrictive that it can't be

1:49:57 ↗ used for basically any equipment items

1:50:01 ↗ or expenses that are related to that

1:50:03 ↗ program this specifically came up um

1:50:06 ↗ with a from the parks department this

1:50:09 ↗ last last few months actually because

1:50:12 ↗ Microsoft would like to te and Microsoft

1:50:14 ↗ employees would actually like to team up

1:50:16 ↗ with the city and be able to make

1:50:18 ↗ donations that Microsoft then match is

1:50:20 ↗ to the green isqua program but

1:50:23 ↗ currently the way the financial

1:50:25 ↗ management policy is written even for

1:50:28 ↗ you know small donations made on a

1:50:30 ↗ one-off basis like that we'd have to go

1:50:32 ↗ to council to get approval for each of

1:50:34 ↗ them which is is frankly it's it's

1:50:37 ↗ disincentivizing people to give um my

1:50:40 ↗ experience has been if people can't just

1:50:42 ↗ give it to you and they have to go wait

1:50:44 ↗ through for an ordinance process by the

1:50:46 ↗ time it they don't want to give it to

1:50:47 ↗ you any longer so I think you know

1:50:50 ↗ especially for things where there are no

1:50:53 ↗ strings or the strings are something

1:50:55 ↗ that are manageable within our um with

1:50:58 ↗ our resources then I think that it would

1:51:00 ↗ be nice to be able to take those gifts

1:51:03 ↗ uh more

1:51:05 ↗ efficiently next slide

1:51:07 ↗ please so we have multiple options for

1:51:10 ↗ you this evening you could adopt the

1:51:13 ↗ proposed amendments that as recommended

1:51:16 ↗ which you know our staff group has put

1:51:18 ↗ together but please you know we're here

1:51:20 ↗ for your feedback you can adopt

1:51:22 ↗ different amendments to the financial

1:51:23 ↗ management policy you can also just say

1:51:26 ↗ you don't want to touch this at all and

1:51:28 ↗ not adopt any amendments but that will

1:51:30 ↗ make me sad so I hope that we can at

1:51:32 ↗ least clean up some of these

1:51:34 ↗ things next

1:51:36 ↗ slide um my recommendation is that we

1:51:40 ↗ forward the proposed amendments to the

1:51:44 ↗ financial management policy for

1:51:45 ↗ consideration and approval at the

1:51:48 ↗ December 4th meeting and of course we

1:51:50 ↗ can include any edits in that document

1:51:53 ↗ as

1:51:55 ↗ well uh as far as next steps uh between

1:51:59 ↗ in the next couple weeks I'll be putting

1:52:01 ↗ together the final document uh and an

1:52:03 ↗ ordinance approving the the new

1:52:06 ↗ financial management policy for you to

1:52:08 ↗ take a look at and consider on December

1:52:13 ↗ 4th so with that um this is the

1:52:16 ↗ direction I am looking for and I will

1:52:19 ↗ open it up for questions and directives

1:52:22 ↗ from you thank you great so questions

1:52:26 ↗ first uh Deputy council president Hull I

1:52:29 ↗ do have a question thank you um so on

1:52:33 ↗ one of the proposal slides that talks uh

1:52:36 ↗ the granting Grant slide um it allows

1:52:40 ↗ the mayor to accept grants of up to

1:52:43 ↗ $100,000 right yes correct without

1:52:46 ↗ Council approval so one side of that is

1:52:49 ↗ definitely

1:52:50 ↗ um it takes a little bit less off off

1:52:53 ↗ our plate right or more off our plate

1:52:56 ↗ and and allows for the more timely

1:52:58 ↗ acceptance of of those dollars so we can

1:52:59 ↗ expend those the other side of that

1:53:00 ↗ right is that we are a check to make

1:53:02 ↗ sure we're not accepting more money than

1:53:05 ↗ we can actually

1:53:06 ↗ expend I'm not saying that's going to

1:53:09 ↗ happen but is is that something we can

1:53:11 ↗ track is there any is is that an easy

1:53:13 ↗ way to would there be an easy way of

1:53:15 ↗ identifying that that's a problem if it

1:53:17 ↗ is if we need to make amendment in the I

1:53:19 ↗ would believe so because that the grants

1:53:21 ↗ will still have to be overseen by our uh

1:53:24 ↗ finance department and our CFO Robert

1:53:26 ↗ hamud so there will still be an analysis

1:53:30 ↗ of of that sort of thing whether the

1:53:32 ↗ city you know does it does it fall

1:53:34 ↗ within the city's strategic plan and

1:53:36 ↗ mission and goals policies and Is it

1:53:40 ↗ feasible is this something we can spend

1:53:42 ↗ or is this going to be you know a waste

1:53:44 ↗ of time I mean it's not fair to anyone

1:53:46 ↗ including the other people applying for

1:53:47 ↗ Grants if we're taking grants that we

1:53:49 ↗ can't

1:53:50 ↗ utilize the funds for Robert do you have

1:53:53 ↗ more to add to that you'd be more in the

1:53:55 ↗ Weeds on that than

1:53:57 ↗ me yeah we do just to understand the the

1:54:00 ↗ question we

1:54:02 ↗ do we do monitor these grants and

1:54:04 ↗ actually we have a process internally

1:54:06 ↗ where you know I'm I'm evaluating my

1:54:09 ↗ staff's

1:54:10 ↗ evaluating um those applications so

1:54:13 ↗ there's an approval process where I'm

1:54:15 ↗ looking to you know agree to proceed to

1:54:18 ↗ to look at those those funds and so

1:54:20 ↗ actually the City attorney is also in

1:54:21 ↗ that

1:54:26 ↗ strain okay do we have any other

1:54:31 ↗ questions okay uh council member hunt

1:54:34 ↗ think it's a quick question um In the

1:54:36 ↗ comparison to the other cities it seemed

1:54:38 ↗ to me that they did have those

1:54:40 ↗ Department specific like Belle had

1:54:42 ↗ Public Works and actually all of the

1:54:44 ↗ examples I think had these you know

1:54:45 ↗ public works at a different um amount

1:54:48 ↗ and the other

1:54:50 ↗ um departments had uh the same designes

1:54:53 ↗ but a different amount so I know you're

1:54:56 ↗ recommending and we previously did have

1:54:58 ↗ that as well right we had some different

1:55:00 ↗ departments with different amounts that

1:55:01 ↗ they could um authorize uh so I'm

1:55:05 ↗ wondering if you could explain a little

1:55:06 ↗ bit more you you said you did consider

1:55:09 ↗ what other cities were doing and I'm

1:55:10 ↗ wondering if you can explain a little

1:55:11 ↗ bit more why we would go a different

1:55:13 ↗ route than the other cities that you

1:55:15 ↗ looked

1:55:17 ↗ at I I think that you're I know I noted

1:55:20 ↗ that as well and I thought that was

1:55:21 ↗ interesting because in my experience

1:55:23 ↗ working in multiple jurisdictions I'd

1:55:26 ↗ say most do not have separate limits so

1:55:31 ↗ I was surprised to see that our

1:55:32 ↗ neighbors do for the most part I think

1:55:36 ↗ it's really an issue of Staff

1:55:40 ↗ confusion we we can do whatever we want

1:55:44 ↗ however when we don't follow our own

1:55:46 ↗ process that's where we start to get

1:55:47 ↗ issues with an auditor and so my concern

1:55:51 ↗ having different signing thresholds for

1:55:54 ↗ different types of contracts is one we

1:55:56 ↗ get into that issue of having to

1:55:58 ↗ determine what type of contract each

1:56:01 ↗ thing is and it's very easy to say

1:56:03 ↗ something is a public works contract

1:56:05 ↗ generally it's probably easy to say

1:56:07 ↗ something is a a purchase of simple

1:56:11 ↗ supplies it gets really tricky when we

1:56:14 ↗ have something that's maybe a

1:56:16 ↗ combination of service and supply or a

1:56:20 ↗ combination of um something other than

1:56:24 ↗ you know you other than public works but

1:56:27 ↗ two different types of we we get a lot

1:56:29 ↗ of um for instance software contracts

1:56:32 ↗ maybe that part of it is the the product

1:56:35 ↗ but part of it is the Professional

1:56:37 ↗ Service which which do which do we apply

1:56:41 ↗ and we have to sort of decide on a

1:56:42 ↗ caseby casee basis and we also get the

1:56:44 ↗ question of what is a Professional

1:56:46 ↗ Services agreement that comes up

1:56:48 ↗ routinely because

1:56:50 ↗ you know the the distinction there is no

1:56:52 ↗ real legal distinction between a

1:56:54 ↗ Professional Services agreement and a

1:56:56 ↗ Services agreement other than we can of

1:56:58 ↗ course pull out Public Works Services

1:57:01 ↗ because those are very those are

1:57:02 ↗ separate they are defined by the statute

1:57:05 ↗ there there really isn't a legal

1:57:07 ↗ definition in the RCW or the IMC that we

1:57:10 ↗ can rely on for those others and so then

1:57:12 ↗ we end up getting into position where

1:57:15 ↗ we're kind of trying to infer what the

1:57:19 ↗ council would have wanted on each one

1:57:20 ↗ and I I just think it's cleaner

1:57:24 ↗ to have one set of rules that everyone

1:57:27 ↗ memorizes and then we hold them

1:57:29 ↗ accountable to

1:57:33 ↗ those okay any other

1:57:38 ↗ questions okay we get another moment for

1:57:41 ↗ public comment should anyone in the room

1:57:44 ↗ or

1:57:46 ↗ online uh I'm seeing a a headshake maybe

1:57:50 ↗ not contributing to this one but let's

1:57:52 ↗ see do we have anyone online who is

1:57:54 ↗ indicating desire to speak they have all

1:57:56 ↗ dropped off oh okay well then I think

1:58:01 ↗ we're good on that so let's move to uh

1:58:04 ↗ deliberation feedback all of that who

1:58:07 ↗ wants to

1:58:09 ↗ start council member Ray um thanks um

1:58:13 ↗ Rachel thanks for uh uh waiting through

1:58:16 ↗ this this is no small Creek to go

1:58:18 ↗ through this is like gu quad Creek

1:58:20 ↗ during the flood period um so there are

1:58:24 ↗ a couple things that I think are really

1:58:26 ↗ important just generally and one is

1:58:28 ↗ around streamlining operations so I I

1:58:30 ↗ get that and reducing ambiguity I get

1:58:32 ↗ that um that makes perfect sense to me

1:58:34 ↗ and we don't want the council to be a

1:58:36 ↗ roadblock or a barrier to getting stuff

1:58:38 ↗ done so that all makes good sense to me

1:58:41 ↗ um but I'm dealing with something um

1:58:43 ↗ that deals with sort of what are

1:58:44 ↗ reasonable checks and at what level do

1:58:45 ↗ we need to have those reasonable checks

1:58:47 ↗ and then also um have having things of a

1:58:50 ↗ certain level come to council um

1:58:52 ↗ provides public visibility which we

1:58:54 ↗ would not get if every if this is done

1:58:56 ↗ kind of administratively so I'm I'm

1:58:58 ↗ concerned about

1:59:00 ↗ that um most of the financial items that

1:59:03 ↗ do come to council are on consent so

1:59:05 ↗ it's not like it's a major burden for us

1:59:07 ↗ to to deliberate um all of these

1:59:10 ↗ contract things they go through very

1:59:11 ↗ quickly so a I don't think it's um I

1:59:14 ↗ don't think it's a a burden for this

1:59:16 ↗ body to to deal with those and I don't

1:59:18 ↗ think it should be major

1:59:20 ↗ um um

1:59:23 ↗ delay while we we kind of respond to

1:59:26 ↗ that so I'm not sure that those are big

1:59:28 ↗ deals but I I um I'm I am the two things

1:59:32 ↗ that I really want us to focus on are

1:59:35 ↗ are um there's a certain amount of

1:59:37 ↗ diligence that goes into putting

1:59:39 ↗ something in the packet and how are we

1:59:41 ↗ going to ensure that we still go through

1:59:42 ↗ that same diligence um and that people

1:59:45 ↗ are um have the same level of

1:59:46 ↗ seriousness if we reduce the threshold

1:59:48 ↗ for

1:59:49 ↗ what comes to council so that's got to

1:59:51 ↗ be built into that and so I guess you

1:59:53 ↗ know if I really uh listen to myself for

1:59:57 ↗ just a second and I I boil this down to

1:59:59 ↗ two things it's how do we provide

2:00:01 ↗ visibility and how do we ensure

2:00:03 ↗ diligence and because what we're doing

2:00:05 ↗ in many of these things is upping the

2:00:06 ↗ Threshold at which point something could

2:00:09 ↗ be dealt with

2:00:10 ↗ administratively um so I I like the

2:00:13 ↗ goals I appreciate what's been um what's

2:00:15 ↗ been done but I don't know that I feel a

2:00:18 ↗ whole 100% comfortable um adjusting

2:00:21 ↗ thresholds unless I saw how we were

2:00:23 ↗ going to have public visibility and

2:00:25 ↗ better

2:00:26 ↗ D that's all I

2:00:28 ↗ got that brings up a question for me um

2:00:33 ↗ do we have a sense

2:00:35 ↗ what percentage of our financial

2:00:38 ↗ decisions that would this policy would

2:00:41 ↗ apply to fall into the category of

2:00:44 ↗ Public Works versus everything else I'm

2:00:48 ↗ trying to get at the concept of hey if

2:00:50 ↗ we had two different sets

2:00:54 ↗ and of you know metrics that we were

2:00:58 ↗ looking at previously and we're choosing

2:01:02 ↗ the larger amount for everything now how

2:01:06 ↗ does that apply to what percentage of

2:01:09 ↗ our

2:01:11 ↗ decisions my what I've what I've seen is

2:01:15 ↗ that this would mostly affect nonpublic

2:01:20 ↗ Works

2:01:21 ↗ contracts the Public Works contracts at

2:01:23 ↗ least for the large capital projects are

2:01:25 ↗ all going to be well over anyone's

2:01:28 ↗ signing Authority this might affect some

2:01:32 ↗ of the smaller contracts that you're

2:01:35 ↗ seeing where folks pulled from the small

2:01:38 ↗ Works roster though you know little

2:01:40 ↗ little things like that I mean last

2:01:42 ↗ week um several that came across my desk

2:01:46 ↗ were like an $88,000 light pole

2:01:48 ↗ replacement you little things like that

2:01:51 ↗ I would would be you know our public

2:01:53 ↗ works but I think the vast majority of

2:01:56 ↗ these are other types of contracts but

2:01:58 ↗ Robert I see his turned his camera on do

2:02:00 ↗ you have more to that you can add to

2:02:03 ↗ that I think that the best way to answer

2:02:05 ↗ this and and council president Walsh

2:02:07 ↗ this is something that we were we were

2:02:08 ↗ really evaluating internally and um we

2:02:10 ↗ can get back to on the actual statistics

2:02:13 ↗ I mean it changes obviously every year

2:02:15 ↗ depending on our volume of capital

2:02:17 ↗ projects or volum you but the the one

2:02:19 ↗ area and I know Rachel touched on the

2:02:21 ↗ city administrator tpin excuse me City

2:02:23 ↗ attorney Turpin touched on it a little

2:02:25 ↗ bit in her presentation is um it so just

2:02:29 ↗ a few years

2:02:30 ↗ ago um an it say just a Microsoft

2:02:34 ↗ license wasn't considered a contract but

2:02:36 ↗ now it actually is and so we have

2:02:38 ↗ software for service contracts and we

2:02:40 ↗ have um just a large amount I think and

2:02:44 ↗ again U we can get back to with the

2:02:45 ↗ specific number but it's it's several

2:02:47 ↗ dozen each year that come up for Renewal

2:02:50 ↗ so that's part of the volume is is

2:02:52 ↗ higher on some of those kind of small to

2:02:55 ↗ middle end contracts that come up and

2:02:57 ↗ again especially on the software for

2:02:59 ↗ service side that's really a growth area

2:03:02 ↗ and so this is one one item that why the

2:03:05 ↗ thresholds were what we said and again

2:03:07 ↗ we had a lot of discussion internally on

2:03:09 ↗ it was specifically those contracts

2:03:11 ↗ because we're getting so many more than

2:03:12 ↗ we have in the

2:03:14 ↗ past okay so I I think what I'm still

2:03:19 ↗ either going to want more information on

2:03:22 ↗ or trying to get a handle on is just the

2:03:26 ↗ sense of what's the scope of decisions

2:03:30 ↗ that

2:03:32 ↗ fall you know everything that falls

2:03:34 ↗ above 350 was going to come to us anyway

2:03:37 ↗ so really what we're talking about is

2:03:39 ↗ the difference between

2:03:41 ↗ decisions financial decisions between

2:03:44 ↗ 100,000 and

2:03:46 ↗ 350,000 and trying to get a sense of is

2:03:50 ↗ that one 100 or 100,000 decisions that

2:03:54 ↗ happen every year um to understand this

2:03:57 ↗ right relative scope of that okay anyway

2:04:01 ↗ we'd be happy we'll get back to you with

2:04:02 ↗ that information yeah no appreciate it

2:04:04 ↗ sorry just had to go into question

2:04:07 ↗ period um continuing on with feedback

2:04:10 ↗ deliberation any comments that anyone

2:04:13 ↗ wants to bring

2:04:17 ↗ up council member

2:04:20 ↗ hunt uh under this page 10 um where

2:04:25 ↗ there's language about accepting um that

2:04:29 ↗ designated people can accept um

2:04:33 ↗ materials there's two conditions so one

2:04:35 ↗ is funds have been appropriated by the

2:04:37 ↗ city council in the banal budget and the

2:04:39 ↗ contract does not require expenditures

2:04:40 ↗ that exceed available fund balance and

2:04:43 ↗ um the second one is the expenditure is

2:04:45 ↗ consistent with the city's goals and

2:04:47 ↗ policies I think think um it would help

2:04:50 ↗ me if it were clear that they're they're

2:04:53 ↗ budgeted for the specific use that is

2:04:55 ↗ intended just to make it you know that

2:04:57 ↗ there's a project in or a line item in

2:05:00 ↗ the banal budget which as you said it

2:05:02 ↗ could be more General than that specific

2:05:04 ↗ part of the project that is covered by

2:05:06 ↗ the contract but it should still be able

2:05:08 ↗ to be tied back to Something in the

2:05:11 ↗ budget um and support that and then I

2:05:14 ↗ thought it would be helpful for me if

2:05:17 ↗ you could consider Gra language like

2:05:19 ↗ that for the donations um so the

2:05:21 ↗ donations right now it says I think

2:05:23 ↗ something a little bit softer about it

2:05:26 ↗ being um aligned with City policies but

2:05:30 ↗ I think it should still be used for a

2:05:34 ↗ project that is something that the city

2:05:36 ↗ is um that the council has approved

2:05:40 ↗ because otherwise I can imagine there

2:05:42 ↗ could be lots of donations for something

2:05:44 ↗ that is outside of the scope of the

2:05:46 ↗ budget um so I thought I may not be the

2:05:49 ↗ exact same wording but that similar idea

2:05:52 ↗ could be helpful on that just so I make

2:05:54 ↗ sure I do the I think that's actually an

2:05:56 ↗ excellent idea and I'd like that

2:05:57 ↗ language to really match up in both

2:05:59 ↗ those sections do would you want that

2:06:02 ↗ though for the general donations that

2:06:05 ↗ can be used for any Municipal purpose if

2:06:07 ↗ there's no restriction on the budget

2:06:10 ↗ item or project or program and you can

2:06:13 ↗ just use it anywhere you want would you

2:06:17 ↗ still want to make sure that there was

2:06:19 ↗ some relation to a

2:06:22 ↗ particular program in other

2:06:25 ↗ words would you still want to accept

2:06:28 ↗ General donations where they it's rare

2:06:30 ↗ that we get something honestly that they

2:06:32 ↗ say you can use this for whatever you

2:06:33 ↗ want go plan your departmental party but

2:06:37 ↗ you know well I um I would still be in

2:06:41 ↗ favor of accepting General donations I

2:06:44 ↗ think that those would probably be easy

2:06:46 ↗ to tie back to something that the city

2:06:49 ↗ is already doing because you would but

2:06:52 ↗ again that would be helpful to have

2:06:53 ↗ language in there that that's what that

2:06:54 ↗ General yep donation would do thank

2:06:59 ↗ you and now I have more

2:07:02 ↗ questions um so if someone wanted to

2:07:05 ↗ donate a park bench or money for you

2:07:10 ↗ know planting trees or anything like

2:07:13 ↗ that it would adding a clarification

2:07:16 ↗ that it has to be something that we have

2:07:18 ↗ a specific budgeted around if we don't

2:07:21 ↗ have a specific budget for say donation

2:07:24 ↗ park

2:07:25 ↗ benches would we be able to still

2:07:28 ↗ accept the donation I believe that the

2:07:32 ↗ way we've written it currently would

2:07:35 ↗ allows us

2:07:37 ↗ [Music]

2:07:39 ↗ to accept that let me look at what way

2:07:43 ↗ yeah and I guess I'm more saying if we

2:07:45 ↗ make a change to say that donations must

2:07:49 ↗ be aligned with a budget item my concern

2:07:53 ↗ is we can't predict you

2:07:57 ↗ know maybe there is a natural disaster

2:08:00 ↗ emergency that comes up and people want

2:08:03 ↗ to donate for something that would

2:08:07 ↗ address that I I don't want to put a

2:08:09 ↗ barrier in place and so right I like the

2:08:14 ↗ idea of alignment we have a bench

2:08:17 ↗ donation yes I no I know and and I was

2:08:21 ↗ really I was trying to pull out concepts

2:08:24 ↗ of maybe somebody comes up with a really

2:08:26 ↗ good idea for a donation that we would

2:08:30 ↗ all be excited for but if we don't

2:08:33 ↗ already have

2:08:35 ↗ a budget item so the way it's currently

2:08:41 ↗ worded it would only allow

2:08:43 ↗ administrative acceptance of donations

2:08:47 ↗ for a

2:08:50 ↗ specific project or program that is

2:08:53 ↗ already the city is already doing so if

2:08:56 ↗ it was something for you know an

2:08:58 ↗ entirely new idea we would have to come

2:09:01 ↗ back to council for that but if it was a

2:09:04 ↗ donation to you know I'm trying to think

2:09:06 ↗ of something other than a green isqua

2:09:09 ↗ but you know because we specifically

2:09:12 ↗ tried to make it a little open with that

2:09:14 ↗ thought in mind cuz one one you know

2:09:16 ↗ we've had green is AAL come up so my

2:09:19 ↗ original draft actually just had a

2:09:21 ↗ specific section for green isqua we

2:09:23 ↗ changed it to be program specific

2:09:26 ↗ donations because you're right there may

2:09:28 ↗ be other programs that people want to

2:09:32 ↗ help with but it wouldn't allow someone

2:09:35 ↗ to basically create a new program for

2:09:37 ↗ you because that's your job not theirs

2:09:40 ↗ got it got it okay uh council member D

2:09:43 ↗ Michelle so just to get into the Weeds

2:09:45 ↗ on the Park Bench program um there you

2:09:49 ↗ know there it is a program where there

2:09:51 ↗ is no budget line item for it because

2:09:54 ↗ it's dependent completely on donations

2:09:57 ↗ and so it does raise a good question of

2:10:00 ↗ uh you know the wording there has to be

2:10:02 ↗ really clear if it's a program or

2:10:05 ↗ project that we already support in terms

2:10:07 ↗ of offering it to the public I think

2:10:09 ↗ that would be just fine um but in terms

2:10:13 ↗ of that

2:10:14 ↗ particular uh project does not have a

2:10:17 ↗ line on budget because it is entirely

2:10:20 ↗ supported by donations so should we get

2:10:23 ↗ even deeper into that or should we just

2:10:26 ↗ leave leave it

2:10:28 ↗ there that can you uh can you handle

2:10:32 ↗ it sure I'll just create new program now

2:10:37 ↗ okay council member

2:10:38 ↗ hunt thank you I was originally looking

2:10:43 ↗ at donation funded other donation funded

2:10:47 ↗ projects which which is on page seven

2:10:50 ↗ and there it also talks about prior to

2:10:52 ↗ city council acceptance um so I wasn't

2:10:55 ↗ totally clear on if that is for

2:10:57 ↗ everything but it also um talks about

2:11:01 ↗ these other projects on a Case by case

2:11:03 ↗ basis so that was the one that I was

2:11:04 ↗ thinking like I think it would be great

2:11:06 ↗ to just make sure that everything is

2:11:07 ↗ consistent everything should be tied to

2:11:09 ↗ a city program that has been

2:11:13 ↗ approved um by us ASL by the policy

2:11:17 ↗ makers um so that that was my thinking

2:11:20 ↗ um I agree I

2:11:23 ↗ 3.7.3 I kind of left alone but now

2:11:26 ↗ looking at it it needs to be um word

2:11:29 ↗ worded differently to match and in fact

2:11:32 ↗ we may be able to just strike it and

2:11:34 ↗ incorporate some of that language into

2:11:39 ↗ 3.7.2 it's

2:11:41 ↗ confusing Deputy council president Hall

2:11:44 ↗ um two things then can you can we just

2:11:46 ↗ make sure to call this out when this

2:11:47 ↗ comes back the council again for

2:11:49 ↗ adoption just so we know exactly what

2:11:50 ↗ the effect of any change this section

2:11:52 ↗ would be okay absolutely and then I also

2:11:54 ↗ just wanted to plus one I think council

2:11:55 ↗ member Ray said it perfectly um around

2:11:58 ↗ yeah I we really do need to acknowledge

2:12:00 ↗ that you know in some sense we are

2:12:02 ↗ giving up some Authority here and so it

2:12:05 ↗ just ensuring that there is um diligence

2:12:09 ↗ in what's happening on the back end

2:12:11 ↗ there is important I know there is

2:12:13 ↗ because I know all of you but I think it

2:12:15 ↗ would be important to respond to that

2:12:17 ↗ somehow

2:12:18 ↗ comes on that if I may really briefly um

2:12:23 ↗ I'm I'm a stickler about government

2:12:25 ↗ transparency it's one of my personal

2:12:28 ↗ things I'm very concerned about and I

2:12:32 ↗ know that our city clerk is as well and

2:12:34 ↗ we would like to see all contracts

2:12:38 ↗ available publicly accessible like

2:12:40 ↗ that's something we are working towards

2:12:44 ↗ in the future I don't you know we don't

2:12:46 ↗ have any system right now or but this

2:12:48 ↗ that's something that's been on my radar

2:12:51 ↗ from day one because you know even the

2:12:53 ↗ system we have now I mean it's easy for

2:12:55 ↗ me to get a contract cuz I can just ask

2:12:56 ↗ someone but you know I think it'd be

2:12:58 ↗ nice for the public to be able to look

2:13:00 ↗ and even the ones that have gone through

2:13:01 ↗ Council you still have to search the

2:13:04 ↗ meting find it you know pull it out of a

2:13:07 ↗ PDF I mean it I think it would be great

2:13:10 ↗ to have all that type of

2:13:12 ↗ document publicly ex easily publicly

2:13:15 ↗ accessible that's the one of my goals

2:13:22 ↗ so oh okay fantastic council member Ray

2:13:26 ↗ yeah I'm not sure if this is a question

2:13:27 ↗ or a comment maybe it's a question that

2:13:29 ↗ Mars into a comment but on page 10 um of

2:13:34 ↗ the redline document it says this

2:13:36 ↗ delegation or authority to execute

2:13:37 ↗ contracts shall include but not be

2:13:39 ↗ limited to the following types of

2:13:41 ↗ agreements um I'm having a scoping

2:13:43 ↗ question um because one of the things it

2:13:46 ↗ talks about is settlement agreements um

2:13:48 ↗ it talks about real estate leases and

2:13:50 ↗ purchases um it talks about leases of uh

2:13:53 ↗ city land um um these are uh short-term

2:13:57 ↗ leases of City

2:13:59 ↗ facilities um are those not bound by

2:14:05 ↗ the the the dollar limits above or are

2:14:08 ↗ they because the way I'm reading it

2:14:10 ↗ they're not they they're they would be

2:14:12 ↗ bound by the dollar limits and if

2:14:14 ↗ there's not language right above there

2:14:17 ↗ should be L I could probably clarify

2:14:20 ↗ that by including that language

2:14:22 ↗ basically in the paragraph above because

2:14:25 ↗ it not only it means con how I wanted it

2:14:28 ↗ to read was those are essentially a very

2:14:32 ↗ exhaustive list of contracts but that

2:14:35 ↗ still they have to be within the

2:14:36 ↗ thresholds funds have to have been

2:14:38 ↗ appropriated in the biannual budget and

2:14:41 ↗ the contract can't ex require an

2:14:43 ↗ expenditure Beyond available funds okay

2:14:46 ↗ yeah that that's kind of I left it like

2:14:48 ↗ this because I thought there might be

2:14:50 ↗ ones that you wanted to pull out and

2:14:52 ↗ treat differently so it was easier to

2:14:54 ↗ kind of leave this exhaustive list and

2:14:57 ↗ then if there was something else you

2:15:00 ↗ know if you look at this and you say oh

2:15:02 ↗ well that's one that we want to keep it

2:15:04 ↗ was easier for me to be able to then

2:15:06 ↗ pull it out I wanted you to kind of see

2:15:09 ↗ that you know the this is the kind of

2:15:11 ↗ stuff I see every every day um I guess

2:15:15 ↗ I'd like to also this is more not a

2:15:17 ↗ question or comment this is a suggestion

2:15:20 ↗ um this is fairly detailed this is

2:15:22 ↗ fairly complex and this is integral to

2:15:24 ↗ everything we do and I don't and this is

2:15:27 ↗ a difficult forum for us to go through

2:15:29 ↗ and let's let's talk about line seven on

2:15:31 ↗ page 16 and should that be an if or athe

2:15:34 ↗ um and that's the conversation I think

2:15:36 ↗ quite honestly I think we need to have I

2:15:37 ↗ me this is great and you've done a lot

2:15:39 ↗ of great work but I think this is

2:15:40 ↗ something where we need to be a little

2:15:42 ↗ more involved in um the word smithing of

2:15:44 ↗ it if you will and um we can do it here

2:15:48 ↗ if if if you want to but I don't know

2:15:49 ↗ that this is the best forum for doing

2:15:51 ↗ that um so I'm just wondering if we want

2:15:53 ↗ to um do an ADOT committee meet one time

2:15:57 ↗ walk through this with legal counsel and

2:16:00 ↗ and uh finance and whoever else from the

2:16:02 ↗ administration and go top to bottom of

2:16:04 ↗ this thing and say add this take out

2:16:06 ↗ that we agree with that that's super

2:16:08 ↗ cool um just because I think we need to

2:16:11 ↗ do that because there's been too many

2:16:13 ↗ things have been talked about here that

2:16:15 ↗ aren't clear to me that we're all on the

2:16:16 ↗ same page then we're all going to um

2:16:19 ↗ kind of go that to you and then you're

2:16:21 ↗ going to try and figure out how to um do

2:16:23 ↗ that and bring it back and it's you know

2:16:25 ↗ we it'll be a lot less work and a lot

2:16:26 ↗ easier if we if we we just get together

2:16:28 ↗ and just hash it

2:16:31 ↗ out council member

2:16:33 ↗ Merz uh I'd like to say I really like

2:16:36 ↗ that idea I I think of uh when uh clerk

2:16:41 ↗ geizer led us on the what was it Council

2:16:45 ↗ uh rules of rules and procedures where

2:16:47 ↗ we had a ad hoc committee that she

2:16:50 ↗ worked us through um over in the room or

2:16:53 ↗ whatever the room is over there by the

2:16:55 ↗ mayor's office uh you know a series of

2:16:57 ↗ questions that we're able to work

2:16:58 ↗ through and then come back to the full

2:17:00 ↗ Council and I I I feel that both got

2:17:03 ↗ into a lot of good detail but also

2:17:04 ↗ allowed us to uh bring back a

2:17:06 ↗ comprehensive recommendation and and I

2:17:08 ↗ think that process might work really

2:17:10 ↗ well

2:17:14 ↗ here okay so I've heard two few

2:17:18 ↗ suggestions and some head nodding all of

2:17:22 ↗ that um I think I would be really

2:17:26 ↗ interested in having a conversation

2:17:29 ↗ about the number point the

2:17:33 ↗ 100,000 versus

2:17:35 ↗ 350 as a larger group in a public forum

2:17:40 ↗ um and so I'm

2:17:42 ↗ wondering do how does everybody feel

2:17:46 ↗ about the change to

2:17:51 ↗ 350 council member

2:17:53 ↗ hunt so earlier this evening you asked

2:17:56 ↗ the question about how many decisions

2:17:58 ↗ this um how many decisions this makes

2:18:02 ↗ that that are between the thresholds

2:18:04 ↗ that we're adjusting and I think that's

2:18:06 ↗ really important because one of the main

2:18:07 ↗ reasons we're doing this is to make it

2:18:10 ↗ really clear and to streamline the

2:18:11 ↗ process for

2:18:13 ↗ that body of decisions so I think like

2:18:16 ↗ if there's if there is some sort of

2:18:17 ↗ natural break in there then that would

2:18:20 ↗ be good to have those numbers to see um

2:18:23 ↗ if there's not then we we know that and

2:18:25 ↗ then we consider 350 and the

2:18:29 ↗ 100 okay so I think then how does the

2:18:34 ↗ body feel about potentially developing

2:18:37 ↗ an ad hoc committee that would look over

2:18:40 ↗ the line items and come back with a

2:18:43 ↗ recommendation at the same time as we

2:18:46 ↗ could get information from the

2:18:49 ↗ administration about what types of

2:18:52 ↗ decisions would fall in that Gap um and

2:18:55 ↗ how many there are and then does that

2:18:57 ↗ feel like a comfortable

2:19:00 ↗ approach nods nods thumbs up wow y'all

2:19:03 ↗ are just so

2:19:05 ↗ agreeable

2:19:07 ↗ uh uh council member hunt um yes so I I

2:19:12 ↗ support all that um and good idea on the

2:19:15 ↗ on the working through on an ad hoc

2:19:18 ↗ um I had one more thing that I thought

2:19:20 ↗ the ad hoc could consider or St Andor

2:19:23 ↗ staff could consider which is we do

2:19:25 ↗ currently have um cases for instance the

2:19:28 ↗ trolley uh safety equipment that was a

2:19:31 ↗ $330,000 um change to the mid Bal budget

2:19:35 ↗ it was really important for the squat

2:19:36 ↗ History Museum museums but it's it's a

2:19:40 ↗ small relative dollar amount but it was

2:19:41 ↗ still reported in a public forum so it's

2:19:44 ↗ easily searchable by those members of

2:19:46 ↗ the public that are interested

2:19:47 ↗ interested in that um and so I thought

2:19:50 ↗ it might be helpful you mentioned that

2:19:52 ↗ there's some guidance for staff aside

2:19:54 ↗ from this document as well as sort of

2:19:56 ↗ supporting guidance it might be helpful

2:19:57 ↗ to have some guidance about um topics

2:20:01 ↗ that are very of high interest either to

2:20:05 ↗ council or to the public or something

2:20:06 ↗ that we've tracked and we've discussed

2:20:08 ↗ as a council that you want you could

2:20:10 ↗ close the loop on even if it's not um

2:20:13 ↗ exceeding the threshold uh so that we

2:20:15 ↗ have that whole conversation in the

2:20:18 ↗ public in an easily find way because as

2:20:20 ↗ you said it's currently not always easy

2:20:21 ↗ to find these things um so I just

2:20:23 ↗ thought that sort of guidance might be

2:20:26 ↗ helpful um it's already something that

2:20:28 ↗ staff does um but I don't know that

2:20:31 ↗ there's formalized guidance about when

2:20:33 ↗ and when not to bring back items that

2:20:35 ↗ are below the threshold for for

2:20:37 ↗ council's

2:20:41 ↗ awareness I would be happy to share my

2:20:43 ↗ 25-page manual with you I'm really proud

2:20:46 ↗ of it I'm glad that anyone wants to

2:20:50 ↗ read oh how is financial management this

2:20:54 ↗ exciting or okay um I was going to ask

2:20:59 ↗ clerk gizer what the approach would be

2:21:03 ↗ for setting up an ad hoc

2:21:08 ↗ committee technically uh the council

2:21:10 ↗ doesn't take action at the committee of

2:21:12 ↗ the whole so my recommendation is that

2:21:14 ↗ we bring an agenda Bill forward even

2:21:17 ↗ maybe even on the November 20th council

2:21:19 ↗ meeting basically with the current

2:21:21 ↗ version and just of the financial

2:21:23 ↗ policies and just saying tasking the ad

2:21:26 ↗ hoc committee and the things that that

2:21:28 ↗ agenda bill would need so that could be

2:21:29 ↗ helpful for a little bit of discussion

2:21:31 ↗ is um a timeline for reporting back to

2:21:35 ↗ the council um and then we'd need

2:21:37 ↗ members um and so uh that could be

2:21:40 ↗ discussed or determined um at some time

2:21:43 ↗ before that agenda Bill comes back and

2:21:45 ↗ that's really it the the other thing in

2:21:48 ↗ the council rules is if the council

2:21:50 ↗ desires any particular visibility so um

2:21:53 ↗ in the past with the council rules ad

2:21:54 ↗ hoc because it was a bit more of an

2:21:57 ↗ internal to the city council those

2:21:59 ↗ meetings weren't televised and recorded

2:22:01 ↗ So if you have any guidance for the

2:22:04 ↗ group regarding that that would be

2:22:09 ↗ helpful yeah and I'm just looking over

2:22:11 ↗ the rules of procedure appointments may

2:22:13 ↗ be made by a majority vote of city

2:22:15 ↗ council or Council president so um the

2:22:19 ↗ other piece that would just be useful is

2:22:22 ↗ for me to know is do yall want me to

2:22:26 ↗ make a recommendation that would go into

2:22:29 ↗ the um agenda bill or do we want to

2:22:33 ↗ nominate people that night um I think

2:22:37 ↗ we're pretty non-dramatic group so if

2:22:40 ↗ anybody wants to just send their

2:22:43 ↗ interest um on as long as that's fine

2:22:46 ↗ with people

2:22:47 ↗ I think we'll use that as a

2:22:50 ↗ process okay more thumbs up Deputy

2:22:53 ↗ council president Hall can we also just

2:22:55 ↗ get a general response from the

2:22:57 ↗ administration if you have any strong

2:22:59 ↗ feelings about this

2:23:01 ↗ proposal uh I think hi this is Andrea

2:23:04 ↗ Snyder I think uh an ad hoc committee

2:23:07 ↗ sounds like a great idea what that may

2:23:09 ↗ mean is that we're just not going to

2:23:11 ↗ make that December 4th um anticipated

2:23:15 ↗ timeline for approval that's totally

2:23:18 ↗ fine from the administration standpoint

2:23:20 ↗ so um we want this to be a wellth out

2:23:23 ↗ process and for Council to be able to U

2:23:26 ↗ make sure that the financial policies

2:23:28 ↗ that you're comfortable with those so um

2:23:30 ↗ ad hoc committee process sounds

2:23:32 ↗ great would there be any other um

2:23:37 ↗ impacts that we might not anticipate

2:23:39 ↗ other than Rachel getting asked the same

2:23:41 ↗ questions again a couple more

2:23:44 ↗ weeks no no major impacts um you know

2:23:48 ↗ it's going to take a little bit more

2:23:50 ↗ time maybe but um we have the time to

2:23:54 ↗ put forward to this effort so um no no

2:23:59 ↗ anticipated negative impacts on this

2:24:01 ↗ thank

2:24:04 ↗ you uh council member D Michelle uh if

2:24:07 ↗ we have questions that we'd like to put

2:24:09 ↗ in front of this ad hoc group um what's

2:24:12 ↗ the process for submitting those and I

2:24:14 ↗ presume that we don't want to submit

2:24:16 ↗ those until after after the ad hoc has

2:24:18 ↗ actually been approved on November 20th

2:24:21 ↗ so but uh my question really is if we've

2:24:24 ↗ got if if I wanted to put a list of five

2:24:27 ↗ questions that I would like to have

2:24:28 ↗ addressed when and how would I submit

2:24:32 ↗ those as clerk Geer suggested in order

2:24:35 ↗ for us to do the agenda Bill one thing

2:24:37 ↗ one part of that agenda bill is what the

2:24:39 ↗ task is for the ad hoc committee so the

2:24:42 ↗ things that they would be working on um

2:24:45 ↗ so being able to make make such comments

2:24:48 ↗ tonight or um provide them to the

2:24:51 ↗ administration would be great for us uh

2:24:54 ↗ to be able to discuss at that time when

2:24:56 ↗ the agenda Bill comes before

2:24:58 ↗ Council I'm happy to take any questions

2:25:02 ↗ and comments you know by email that you

2:25:04 ↗ have I have a whole folder set up for

2:25:07 ↗ this project and I can put them in there

2:25:09 ↗ so that I have them when we convene the

2:25:11 ↗ ad hoc

2:25:13 ↗ committee guys Rachel is way too excited

2:25:17 ↗ about this much too excited it's a

2:25:18 ↗ little embarrassing yeah you said it I

2:25:23 ↗ didn't okay do we feel like we've

2:25:27 ↗ expressed everything we need to do more

2:25:29 ↗ thumbs up head nods gosh we're just so

2:25:32 ↗ agreeable even though we're asking for

2:25:34 ↗ more time on

2:25:36 ↗ something um but let's see with that

2:25:40 ↗ we've already attempted to go through uh

2:25:43 ↗ public comment there was none you've

2:25:46 ↗ received counsel

2:25:47 ↗ Direction uh so I think that item is

2:25:50 ↗ closed we've got good of the order

2:25:53 ↗ anybody have anything council member D

2:25:56 ↗ Michelle hi thanks um the East Side

2:25:59 ↗ Transportation partnership uh we had a

2:26:02 ↗ uh a meeting and um refined the

2:26:06 ↗ legislative priorities and uh submitted

2:26:09 ↗ those to Metro and those were

2:26:11 ↗ distributed today too too close to this

2:26:15 ↗ meeting for me to get the out to you but

2:26:18 ↗ look tomorrow uh I will send those to

2:26:20 ↗ Wally or Andrea and have those

2:26:22 ↗ distributed to you for commentary and I

2:26:26 ↗ believe the next ET meeting ETP meeting

2:26:29 ↗ is December 8th so and I'll send it I'll

2:26:31 ↗ confirm that when I send the email but

2:26:33 ↗ at any rate we'll be Distributing those

2:26:35 ↗ to all of the councils of all of the

2:26:38 ↗ members of ETP for commentary and you

2:26:41 ↗ should get your copy

2:26:44 ↗ tomorrow Deputy council president Hall

2:26:47 ↗ might as well just piggyback off that so

2:26:50 ↗ we now have the updated legislative

2:26:52 ↗ agenda for East Side Fire and Rescue so

2:26:54 ↗ we will also get that out to everyone so

2:26:56 ↗ we can have a little good of the order

2:26:57 ↗ discussion at our next Council

2:27:01 ↗ tou it is that season again

2:27:05 ↗ so um with that just a reminder we've

2:27:09 ↗ got the legislative breakfast coming up

2:27:11 ↗ please make sure that's on your

2:27:12 ↗ calendars we've also got a um um holiday

2:27:18 ↗ dinner I think U November 28th 29th one

2:27:23 ↗ of those two uh check your calendars it

2:27:26 ↗ should be there um and other than that I

2:27:30 ↗ think that's all for good of the order

2:27:33 ↗ so I will call this meeting adjourned at

2:27:36 ↗ 8:57 p.m. thanks

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh, Chair