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City Council Committee of the Whole

Monday, April 29, 2024

6:30 PM · 1h 57m · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topic tracked across meetings:
Good of the Order 14/15
2. AGENDA ITEMS
2a
Public Comment Public comment on individual agenda items will also be accepted following Council Q&A
packet pp.5–35
Staff report:
Administration recommends: • Continuing to research and further scope costs for a phased approach to an Olde Town Municipal Campus in preparation for the 2025-26 budget season. • Continuing negotiations on potential leasing options for City Hall and Court uses. • Fund the office and court leases with existing funds (including the proceeds from the sale of CHNW).
2b
Facilities & Revenue Options COM 0023
Director · 90 min · Autumn Monahan, Administrative Services
2c
Good of the Order
0:01 good evening everyone I council
0:03 president Walsh call the April 29th
0:05 special Committee of the whole meeting
0:07 to order at 6:31 p.m. as a reminder we
0:12 continue to have a remote aspect to our
0:14 meetings and so staff and members of the
0:17 public can be participating in tonight's
0:19 meeting remotely via
0:21 WebEx let's
0:24 see there are multiple public comment
0:27 opportunities at tonight's meeting there
0:28 is a general public public comment
0:30 opportunity at the beginning of the
0:32 meeting or you can make comments after
0:33 the presentation and Council question
0:35 and answer period on tonight's agenda
0:38 items so members of the public May
0:41 address council at this time in person
0:43 or virtually those who signed up in
0:45 advance to make comments will be called
0:47 on first if you're joining us virtually
0:49 and would like to make comments please
0:51 raise your virtual hand you can press
0:54 star three if you're on the phone or if
0:57 you've joined by computer or smartphone
0:59 you can look for the hand icon or send
1:02 the host a chat
1:05 message um if you're in the room and did
1:07 not sign up I'll ask for other speakers
1:09 before closing this portion of the
1:11 meeting so I'm going to wait a moment
1:13 and see if anybody wants to raise their
1:17 hand um clerk has anyone signed up to
1:19 speak or indicated a desire to speak
1:21 this
1:22 evening yes we have one person in the
1:25 chambers here and we don't have anyone
1:26 from the public attending virtually at
1:28 this time okay and fantastic so um
1:32 you're going to be invited to address
1:33 the council regarding matters that are
1:35 directly related to isqua's programs
1:37 projects services or events please
1:40 direct comments to the whole Council and
1:42 not individuals while this is not a
1:44 question and answer session we will
1:46 contact you to follow up if needed when
1:48 recognized you're going to come up to
1:50 the lect turn press the button so that
1:53 the microphone turns red state your name
1:56 address and relationship to the city
1:59 speak clear L and pause frequently and
2:01 limit your comments to 5 minutes with
2:04 this
2:05 timer uh let's see if you're attending
2:07 virtually and do not respond after your
2:08 name or phone number is called or if
2:10 your connection is lost unexpectedly the
2:12 meeting will need to proceed you're
2:14 encouraged to rejoin if able personal
2:17 attacks obscene language derogatory
2:19 remarks and disruptive behavior will not
2:22 be permitted so clerk can you
2:25 please
2:27 call up to the L turn yes Chris Winters
2:31 fastic thank
2:37 you there it is right there okay my name
2:41 is Charles Winters and uh my wife and I
2:44 live up on squawk Mountain at 770
2:46 Highwood Drive we've been there for over
2:48 40 years and I'm here today to ask for
2:52 additional funding for the isqua police
2:54 department in fiscal years 25 and
2:57 26 so what got me started down this path
3:01 by the way uh the police didn't send me
3:04 I don't know anybody who works for the
3:06 police I'm just a concerned Citizen and
3:08 resident of isqua but um uh when we
3:12 first moved here as you're all are quite
3:16 aware it's like paradise on earth
3:18 compared to most places I've lived and I
3:20 immediately found out that they had a a
3:22 low crime
3:24 rate peaceful residence and a real nice
3:27 Police Department I mean they're just
3:29 officer friendly all the way so for
3:33 almost 40 years I really didn't think
3:36 much about the police took them for
3:37 granted as we all
3:40 do and uh then the pandemic happened and
3:46 uh first thing I noticed is the city
3:47 took a huge hit on Revenue because all
3:50 the economy shut down all the revenues
3:52 you were getting from sales just dried
3:54 up overnight and uh people weren't
3:57 working they weren't paying taxes they
3:59 weren't
4:00 doing a lot of things then the riots
4:02 came and the crime rate went through the
4:04 roof people started traveling to isqua
4:07 for the sole purpose of committing
4:09 property crimes and that goes on today
4:11 has hasn't really hasn't Abit at all in
4:14 fact it's probably increasing so I
4:16 started taking a big interest in the
4:19 police and uh then uh you know just
4:23 paying attention and reading up on them
4:26 finding out what how they're doing and
4:29 then in in September of
4:31 22 uh I attended a a virtually attended
4:35 a meeting of this committee H where in
4:38 the new police chief Schwan gave a
4:40 presentation about strategic plans or
4:43 something I don't remember what it was
4:44 and in the course of her presentation
4:47 she mentioned uh a key
4:50 parameter that that police departments
4:52 all over the country used to measure
4:54 their capabilities and that is the ratio
4:57 of residents to full-time employees in
5:01 the department and she twice she
5:03 mentioned that isqua when compared to
5:05 Pure cities was at the bottom of the
5:09 list not not good that really bothered
5:12 me so after some procrastination I made
5:15 some inquiries with isqua police
5:18 Kirkland Redmond and verer Island to
5:22 find out well how are they doing on this
5:25 key parameter ratio of residents to
5:28 full-time police employees
5:30 and so I gathered the data and lo and
5:33 behold Chief Schwan was right we're at
5:36 the bottom of the list top of the list
5:38 is Redmond where with a ratio this is as
5:42 of October of last year a ratio of 564
5:47 to one out of a population of 74,000 all
5:51 four all four of these cities are
5:54 roughly equal the same ballpark of size
5:57 population crime problem from Seattle uh
6:01 affluent uh tax base and so forth next
6:05 in line with Mercer Island at 684 to1
6:08 then Kirkland at 692
6:11 to1 and finally isqua at 738 to1 so the
6:17 difference between those two of pure
6:18 cities roughly equal in size and so
6:21 forth uh is raises an alarm and so I
6:24 wanted to bring it to your attention so
6:26 I wrote all of you a letter in December
6:29 last year here you may remember it and I
6:31 attached the data and uh so I'm here
6:34 today to remind you about that and
6:36 Trigger some more discussion because I
6:39 know your cycle you come to a conclusion
6:42 about next year's next F fiscal Year's
6:45 budget for All departments and I just
6:47 wanted to remind you that police
6:50 protection is top of the list of the
6:53 services in my opinion most important
6:55 most primary most immediate most
6:58 important in this day and of rising
7:00 crime and Rising
7:02 population and right up there with water
7:04 and sewer services so parks and
7:08 community services and all the other
7:10 things that we do are important but
7:12 they're not as important as police
7:14 protection so I'm encouraging you to
7:16 give this some thought as you work your
7:18 way up to the budget for the next two
7:20 years and I'll check back with President
7:23 Walsh in a few months to see how you
7:25 doing on that and where you're headed uh
7:28 just just to remind you here uh right
7:32 now isqua has an authorized head count
7:34 for 24 of 61 heads and uh the chief has
7:39 been hard at work on hiring people
7:41 getting good quality people so they're
7:43 up to 57 as of today they're at 57 so
7:47 they're they're doing good on the hiring
7:49 but they need but I believe they're
7:51 underfunded and I think if you take a
7:52 close look talk to the city
7:54 Administration you'll find out that uh
7:57 there there's room for improvement
8:00 thank you thank you Mr Winters we
8:03 appreciate someone who comes with a good
8:06 set of data and uh wanting to talk to
8:08 the council so thank you very much do we
8:11 have anyone else who has signed up
8:12 indicating to speak yes we had a virtual
8:15 member of the public join us Connie
8:17 Marsh who would like to make comments
8:19 Connie I'm making you a panelist now
8:22 okay
8:36 Connie this is Tisha it looks like
8:38 you're unmuted but we're not hearing you
8:48 unfortunately okay I see you're
8:54 unmuted we still cannot hear you um I'd
8:59 like to do a a quick test if uh Chief
9:03 Schwan or Christie is available to do a
9:07 quick unmute and audio check with us in
9:09 the
9:12 rooman okay we can hear you loud and
9:15 clear Christy Sean okay we can hear you
9:20 chrisy Connie it it appears there's some
9:23 kind of audio issue because I can see
9:24 you're unmuted but we're not getting any
9:26 audio in the room
9:30 we can try again under the public
9:32 comment portion of tonight's agenda
9:35 item yeah Connie um if you can hear us
9:38 and you are trying to speak can you go
9:40 ahead and send the host a chat message
9:43 and just kind of talk it
9:45 through if we hear you in the next few
9:48 moments we can get a public comment
9:50 early on otherwise we'll look either for
9:53 your email or if you want to stay
9:57 through uh after our question answer
9:59 period we can potentially get you
10:05 then okay and it looks like she may she
10:07 may need to drop off the meeting but
10:09 unfortunately I'm not not sure what we
10:11 can do at this point to make the audio
10:13 work our apologies yeah okay well
10:18 technology sometimes works most of the
10:21 time works uh but sometimes we run into
10:24 issues like that so let's see let me get
10:27 through the rest of the the agenda
10:30 portion I think at this point we are
10:32 just on to our agenda item which is Comm
10:36 0023 facilities and revenue options
10:40 presented by AUM Manan administrative
10:43 Services director and Andrea Snider
10:46 interm CFO and person who just does
10:50 everything at the city take it away
10:53 thanks uh thank you council president Hi
10:56 good evening I'm Andrea Snider uh Deputy
10:58 City administ rator and interim CFO and
11:00 with me yes is AUM manahan we also have
11:03 um a number of folks online to help
11:05 answer questions as they may arise today
11:08 uh before we begin tonight I wanted to
11:11 take a moment and just say um that
11:14 tonight's presentation really represents
11:16 the culmination of years of work and
11:19 discussions on how to address the city's
11:22 facilities needs many of these
11:24 conversations we began pre pandemic when
11:26 we were talking about the city
11:28 Administration and office's needs and um
11:31 a new fire
11:32 station the Administration has been
11:34 working really hard to discover the best
11:36 options to address those needs and this
11:39 is this is hard complicated stuff the
11:42 city hasn't done a big facilities
11:44 project big facilities investment in uh
11:47 about a generation and so we have a lot
11:50 of information that we have tried to
11:53 distill down for you this evening to
11:55 provide one cohesive proposal that you
11:58 can react to and so that's really the
12:00 goal and purpose of tonight is to
12:02 discuss um what your feedback might be
12:05 what questions what information you need
12:07 and we look forward to getting into some
12:10 of that tonight also having subsequent
12:12 discussions and conversations with you
12:14 uh including very importantly how we
12:16 would engage the public moving forward
12:18 and so um you know we are excited for
12:22 the presentation tonight in the
12:23 conversation with you and look forward
12:26 to your questions this evening and with
12:29 without any other delay uh Autumn
12:31 Monahan Administration Services
12:39 director thank you hello Council I'm
12:41 excited to be here tonight to continue
12:43 our discussions on facility and revenue
12:47 options so purpose of tonight is to
12:50 provide an update on the city's Police
12:52 Court and City Hall planning review
12:54 Revenue options receive your feedback
12:56 and then review some next steps
12:59 the direction we're seeking tonight is
13:01 three-fold should Administration Focus
13:02 further research on a phased approach to
13:04 an Oldtown Municipal campus does the
13:07 council agree with the administration's
13:08 proposal to use current resources for
13:10 leasing office and Court space and
13:13 should the administration proceive a
13:14 planning for a ballot measure for Public
13:16 Safety facilities Bond vote and start
13:18 creating a community engagement plan for
13:19 further
13:22 review um as was already mentioned we've
13:24 been studying these issues for many
13:25 years our space planning actually
13:27 started this round started in uh 2018
13:31 pre pandemic uh we refreshed that study
13:34 in 2023 last year and I was before you
13:36 many times uh going through what our
13:39 needs were as a city and it Rose to the
13:40 top is Public
13:42 Safety um so before you on these options
13:46 here um after all of that discussion in
13:48 2023 um all of these were included in
13:51 our CIP those include further assessing
13:53 two options for City Hall space either
13:55 purchasing and renovating an existing
13:57 building in isqua or building a
13:59 municipal campus here in Oldtown as well
14:02 as relocating and building a new fire
14:03 station 71 demolishing this building
14:06 City Hall South and moving the court and
14:08 renovating City Hall uh the current
14:11 building for all Police use in addition
14:14 during the council's retreat in February
14:16 uh there was interest in learning more
14:18 about a levy lift Levy lid lift for
14:21 Public Safety as well as voter approv
14:25 bonds as a reminder here are the goals
14:27 we set for our space planning project
14:29 last year um you'll see well and I'll
14:32 review this real quick it's ensuring
14:33 safety stewarding public dollars
14:36 customer service Economic Development
14:39 providing Community amenities and
14:40 environmental stewardship and you'll see
14:42 here we've used I've used this graph
14:44 many times to kind of assess both
14:46 options A and B um you'll see here um
14:49 that stewarding public dollars and
14:50 customer service are marked somewhat
14:52 likely and not likely under option b
14:54 I'll cover this more in a minute but
14:56 generally we're very limited in options
14:58 on what to purchase and renovate here in
14:59 isqua so that makes it more unlikely
15:02 that we would be able to find any
15:03 operational cost efficiencies or
15:05 collocate with other Civic services or
15:07 other community
15:11 amenities uh so last summer the city
15:13 council asked us to go out and research
15:15 options for purchasing and renovating a
15:17 facility there are less than 20 existing
15:19 buildings in all of isqua that would
15:21 meet our space requirements that
15:23 excludes Warehouse industrial and
15:26 Retail of those properties following an
15:28 extens of search um there's just
15:30 extremely limited viable options in town
15:33 and especially in central isqua that
15:35 meet our goals and none that the
15:37 administration would currently recommend
15:39 for
15:41 pursuing so we turn back to the idea of
15:44 an Oldtown Municipal
15:46 campus so uh this time we're proposing a
15:49 phased approach uh that would utilize
15:53 our existing city-owned property here
15:55 for a fire station 71 which mean we
15:58 demolish this current building actually
16:00 bringing the fire station back home this
16:01 used to be a fire station Once Upon a
16:04 Time uh remodeling the current city hall
16:07 for exclusive Police use for their space
16:10 needs and then leasing space for City
16:12 Hall council chambers and court so that
16:15 we can really phase this project and
16:17 then having a long-term goal of someday
16:19 also constructing a new city
16:23 hall um so now I'm going to turn it over
16:25 to um Deputy Administrator Snider to
16:27 talk a bit about the fire station
16:28 proposal
16:33 thank you director manahan uh so we've
16:35 been working on this fire station
16:37 relocation for several years now uh we
16:40 have identified the need for a new fire
16:42 station this is largely driven by the
16:44 growing community and the size of the
16:46 fire apparatus required to respond to
16:49 emergencies we need fire stations that
16:51 have Bays that are big enough for the
16:53 equipment we need to respond to fires uh
16:56 and currently fire station 71 does not
16:59 have Bays that are big enough for really
17:01 the equipment that we need so um uh as
17:06 you may recall we've been working with
17:07 state parks on a location there for a
17:10 fire station that work continues we've
17:13 been working with them for several years
17:15 now and we're still at least two years
17:17 away um for potentially getting land
17:20 control of a site at the state park and
17:23 um it's not it's not a done deal it's
17:25 not assured they still may not approve
17:27 of this request
17:30 and so as we're looking at our other
17:31 facility needs we've been constantly
17:33 assessing what are other good fire
17:35 station locations how can we meet this
17:38 need um and we look at the data for
17:40 response times so best overall City
17:43 response times again overall for the
17:45 city are from front and Gilman Street
17:48 and along Sunset that's what our
17:49 modeling has showed as we've partnered
17:51 with epher on this um and so we've been
17:54 continuously evaluating to try to find
17:56 how we can have the most responsive
17:58 service over overall for the city as a
18:00 whole as well as the lowest cost and
18:02 that's what's been really driving us in
18:04 looking for fire station
18:07 sites and so here uh we see a concept
18:12 for this very property that we're
18:15 sitting on as Autumn said was our
18:16 original fire station 71 location um we
18:20 wanted to see if it was possible to even
18:22 fit a modern fire station that's big
18:24 enough that has Bays that are big enough
18:26 to fit the equipment we need um and we
18:28 discovered it is it is big enough for
18:30 that uh so uh with the idea of moving
18:34 the municipal court to another location
18:36 um we could use this property to build a
18:39 new fire station 71 and the picture that
18:42 you're seeing is just a more urban model
18:45 of fire station so it would not be all
18:48 on one level um in order to fit on this
18:50 property it would be multiple stories to
18:52 be able to fit all of the needs so the
18:54 residences and dormitories for the
18:56 firefighters would be above uh the bay
18:58 for
19:01 example back to
19:07 Autumn so with the proposal of building
19:09 a fire station on this site we needed to
19:11 find a new home for Municipal Court uh
19:14 as well as move out our city hall
19:16 offices on the second floor of City Hall
19:18 so that we could give police the well-
19:20 needed space that they need so uh We've
19:23 also been looking into leasing options
19:25 which can reduce upfront costs also a
19:27 phase approach help helps with just
19:29 organizational capacity to do all of
19:30 these capital projects and we've started
19:33 some discussions with King County
19:34 District Court which operates a court on
19:36 the other side of town and amazingly
19:39 they have space so um we're in
19:41 discussions and we've done some tours
19:42 with them um they are looking into the
19:45 idea of leasing us a designated
19:47 courtroom that would be just for isqua
19:49 use a judge's Chambers a holding cells a
19:53 public window staff workspace this
19:56 facility was built as a court and it
19:57 fits our operation needs and so we're
19:59 quite excited about this opportunity um
20:02 we have expressed what our needs are as
20:03 far as square footage uh with King
20:06 County and they're right now working on
20:08 estimating those leasing costs for us so
20:09 we should have those numbers soon we're
20:11 also researching options for leasing
20:14 space for both City Hall and council
20:15 chambers and so uh that search does
20:17 still
20:20 continue as far as police station
20:23 Renovations um I I showed this slide at
20:26 your retreat in February but we've find
20:28 our estimates a bit further on what
20:30 Renovations are needed for that building
20:32 it includes seismic upgrades as well as
20:34 a midlife renovation that was identified
20:36 in our facilities condition assessment
20:38 and then tenant improvements for
20:40 police's operations and just overall
20:44 growth so here are just some very rough
20:47 order of magnitude cost estimates um
20:50 you've seen this number before for fire
20:51 station 71 it's about the same for this
20:53 site about 32 million the police
20:55 Renovations at about 15 million so
20:57 that's 4 $7 million for this first phase
21:00 of the project as far as leasing costs
21:03 we just took kind of market rate and
21:05 really estimated it probably be about a
21:06 million dollar a year for rent and then
21:09 10 improvements upwards of $4 million um
21:12 again these are very rough order of
21:14 magnitude if council is interested in
21:15 pursuing this option further uh we would
21:18 need to do some more scoping and cost
21:19 estimating and come back to
21:24 you Autumn before you head out we've got
21:27 a question from council member marz yeah
21:29 a a couple of questions first off um uh
21:34 it seems like the the the size of this
21:37 building is smaller than the fire
21:40 station I was looking at it the fire
21:42 station's footprint is about 1,000
21:44 square meters and this entire parcel
21:47 including the courtyard in front is only
21:49 about 750 square meters so it seems like
21:53 a a smaller patch if you were going to
21:55 try to put a fire station in where the
21:57 where the current fire station is that's
21:59 the first
22:03 question U what we've done uh with our
22:06 architect is look at how to fit the
22:08 square footage uh we believe that we
22:10 need for this fire station onto each
22:12 site and I think the issue that we would
22:14 have with putting it on the loc on its
22:17 current location is really one around
22:19 parking and impeding on Memorial Park
22:21 and so as we look at the size of the bay
22:23 that would be needed um also the apron
22:27 the driveway getting into the Bay to be
22:29 able to maneuver the trucks in and out
22:30 off of sunset it would need to be a
22:32 little bit bigger um than certainly what
22:35 it is today and just didn't didn't fit
22:38 um well we would need to take over
22:39 pretty much all of that parking lot um
22:42 and maybe even get into uh a little bit
22:45 of Memorial Park especially as we look
22:47 at storm water control this site because
22:49 of the alley um and what would be the
22:52 egress on Sunset uh offers just a little
22:55 bit more maneuverability for the size of
22:57 apparatus and and um the bay and the
23:00 apron or driveway that we would need
23:03 okay but it seems like a much smaller
23:04 patch I mean it's literally the entire
23:07 property is less than the footprint of
23:09 the current station 71
23:12 build so if if station 71 is too small I
23:16 don't understand how going to a smaller
23:18 parcel would work and and if Council
23:20 would like us to provide um the other
23:23 kind of uh concept fit drawing for the
23:26 current location of fire station 7 we
23:28 can certainly do that at a later date so
23:30 you can see kind of how these things
23:32 compare with each other I would
23:34 definitely like to see that the other
23:36 question I have is what's the I don't
23:38 understand the rental what what would we
23:39 be renting to whom
23:44 where so the proposal is that we would
23:47 um lease space at King County District
23:50 Court for municipal court and then we
23:52 would be still searching for options to
23:55 relocate City Hall and council chambers
23:57 elsewhere so that work is still ongoing
23:59 and finding a location can you ring can
24:01 you with that slide up back up
24:03 please you're there a second the one the
24:06 one that showed a million dollars her
24:09 in had numbers there we go so leasing
24:13 cost City Hall and court so tenant
24:16 improvements someplace else so we would
24:18 do 4 million tenant improvements
24:20 someplace else and then spend a million
24:22 a year renting at that someplace
24:24 else I
24:25 see thank you yeah
24:31 okay looks like we can move
24:34 on great thank you uh so question
24:38 remains how how can we pay for these
24:41 facility
24:43 needs and uh the first part of our
24:47 proposal would be that we use existing
24:50 funds to help fund for the least
24:53 property expenses and that would be
24:55 again for City administration offices
24:57 and Municipal Court
24:58 uh we anticipate having approximately 10
25:02 to 15 million from the sale of City Hall
25:05 Northwest as well as our uh government
25:07 mitigation funds that we have um on hand
25:10 right now including the proceeds from
25:12 the Lakeside development agreement that
25:13 I know we've discussed a couple of times
25:15 over the past few years um so with that
25:17 money if we look at the $4 million in
25:20 estimate for the tenant improvements
25:22 these existing funds that we have uh are
25:24 anticipated to cover the lease cost for
25:26 5 to 8 years or for the city
25:28 administration offices and the Municipal
25:42 Court um as we look at the financing
25:45 portion uh Bond versus Levy Council had
25:48 asked for a little bit more information
25:50 from our discussion last time about
25:51 these tools and so I'd like to go
25:54 through that tonight and then provide
25:55 the administration's recommendation on
25:57 how we would Finance our other Capital
25:58 needs uh for the construction of the
26:00 fire station and the um Police
26:03 Department Renovations so uh differences
26:06 between a voter approved Bond and a
26:08 single-ear uh Levy lid
26:11 lift the most important difference is
26:14 this top uh row right here which is that
26:17 um a single year Levy Li lift would
26:21 could be ongoing um but there's a cap on
26:25 how much of that Revenue can be used for
26:27 debt service and that cap is really 9
26:29 years so you can't use proceeds from a
26:32 levely lid lift towards Debt Service for
26:35 more than 9 years that's a state
26:38 law um that is really the main reason
26:42 and main difference here between a levy
26:45 lid lift and a voter approved Bond um
26:48 the voter approved Bond would be the
26:50 term would be limited to the life of the
26:52 bond so if we take out let's say a
26:54 30-year Loan in order to pay for these
26:57 Capital expenses then the bond would
26:59 last that extra property tax would last
27:01 those 30 years and we could use that
27:02 Revenue to pay for that Debt Service um
27:06 if it's a 30-year loan we take out to
27:08 pay for the fire station ipd Renovations
27:11 um only nine years of Revenue with a
27:14 levy lid lift could we use to pay off
27:16 that debt service so we need to figure
27:18 out um what other funds what other
27:21 revenues we would have to pay off that
27:23 debt service if the city chose to
27:26 proceed with a levy Li lift
27:28 I want to pause there and just ask if
27:30 there's any questions because I think
27:32 that's the really the most important
27:33 difference and I'd love to go through
27:35 the other differences as
27:38 well M right since she paused um what's
27:41 the what what term of debt are we using
27:45 for our estimates our estimates are 30
27:48 years with 5% okay so the nine years it'
27:51 be get completely blown out got
27:55 it great um other key differences in
27:59 terms of uh what type of vote would pass
28:03 so uh for a voter approved Bond it
28:06 requires
28:07 60% um of the vote with at least 40%
28:11 turnout from the last gubernatorial
28:13 election that's required to pass a bond
28:16 uh for a levied lift the bar is a little
28:19 lower with 50% plus one to pass and no
28:22 turnout
28:24 requirement uh bonds cannot be used to
28:27 replace
28:28 equipment um whereas Levy Li lifts can
28:31 be used for any general purpose again
28:33 with that exception of Debt Service
28:35 having a limit of 9
28:37 years um the bond is not subject to
28:41 State limits on the total property tax
28:43 rates so cities are limited in terms of
28:44 how much we can tax uh overall and the
28:47 bond can be in addition to that limit
28:50 whereas uh the levy lid lift is included
28:53 in those State limits on the property
28:55 tax rate
28:59 so in addition to using uh in addition
29:04 using existing funds to pay for those
29:06 leasing costs we're also uh recommending
29:10 using a bond uh for paying off those
29:15 Capital expenses and Debt Service our
29:18 estimates here show fire station 71
29:20 would have an annual Debt Service of a
29:22 little over $2 million the average
29:25 annual household impact would be 140 um
29:28 to determine average annual household
29:29 imp impact that's a home value of uh a
29:33 little over $1.1
29:36 million for the isqua police department
29:38 Renovations the annual Debt Service
29:40 would be uh 975,000
29:44 with uh an impact of about $66 annually
29:47 on that average isqua home so total you
29:51 can see 3 million uh in Debt Service uh
29:55 year and then the total impact uh on
29:59 isqua uh property taxpayers would be
30:01 about
30:02 $26 again these are all estimates rough
30:05 order of magnitude but we wanted to show
30:08 approximately what those impacts would
30:09 look like um over a 30 years of Debt
30:14 Service um in
30:16 addition uh the levy rate would increase
30:19 from 74 uh per thousand assessed value
30:23 to um 92 cents I see there's some
30:27 questions yeah yes indeed uh council
30:29 member Mars um okay so I'm I'm a little
30:32 confused on a on a million dooll house
30:35 that Levy rate would result in $740 to
30:39 $920 uh uh per year so what how does the
30:44 206 relate to somewhere between 740 and
30:50 9 I I can check my math we've used this
30:55 model and right but I mean a thousand
30:58 you know 74 $1,000 multiply that by ,000
31:01 you get
31:02 $740 right so I'm just trying to
31:05 understand how that that tells me that a
31:07 million dooll house would have uh a fee
31:09 of between $740 and
31:11 $920 but I see 206 under household
31:14 impact so why the
31:18 difference where's the rest of the
31:19 Andrea would it be the 920 minus the
31:25 740 oh that's not a r 92 I'm sorry range
31:31 somewhere that's where it's increasing
31:33 from I'm sorry thank you so the 74 is
31:37 what we what people pay today 092 is
31:40 what they would pay with this and so
31:41 it's the difference between the two so
31:44 there's a levy currently that's what is
31:46 the 74 per thou assess that's that's the
31:50 existing property tax levy and there's
31:51 additional slides coming up that get a
31:53 little bit further that 74 is our
31:56 current rate of property tax and so it
31:59 would increase from 74
32:02 to92 thank you I thought that was just a
32:05 range of variable range that we weren't
32:07 sure exactly how much increase okay
32:09 Perils of math thank you
32:13 indeed other
32:16 questions
32:17 okay um so this next slide Compares
32:20 those existing rates these are all the
32:22 2024 Levy rates from our peer cities and
32:24 neighboring cities as you can see isqua
32:28 um is the lowest among our peers listed
32:31 here at 74 per ,000 of assessed
32:38 value oh and I should say that if we
32:41 were to um increase the tax to pay for
32:44 these Capital needs it would really put
32:46 us between Redmond and Kirkland at that
32:48 0.92
32:53 amount so again just reiterating our
32:55 funding recommendations and how we would
32:57 fund these facility needs uh that we
32:59 would fund the office and Court leases
33:01 with existing funds that we have from
33:03 the sale of uh City Hall Northwest as
33:05 well as our government mitigation funds
33:08 and then um we would plan for a voter
33:11 approved bond to provide for Public
33:13 Safety
33:17 facilities next steps uh we would return
33:20 to council to discuss uh an update on
33:23 Leasing and Partnerships also public
33:26 engagement plan on these projects and
33:28 any potential ballot measure we want to
33:30 discuss what that would look like with
33:32 you what our plan is um and then of
33:35 course we would bring back refined cost
33:37 and scoping as we have that information
33:40 available are there any
33:46 questions Deputy council president D
33:48 Michelle thanks so let's start with the
33:51 fire
33:52 station um if we tear down this building
33:56 and we put a fire station here that's uh
33:58 I would call that a 100-year decision
34:00 it's going to be here for a long time
34:02 and so the you know the one data point
34:05 we've gotten is response times response
34:07 times are good we didn't see any actual
34:09 figures to to help us understand that
34:12 but that was the one data point that we
34:14 were presented do we know that that
34:18 response time is going to be good 25
34:20 years from now 30 years from now 50
34:22 years from now and uh what is going to
34:26 happen to this street Street out here
34:28 with
34:30 larger um vehicles and I mean un and
34:34 certainly we can't predict everything
34:36 but I would think that a part of our
34:38 thinking is is this location going to
34:40 serveice well for the next 100 years
34:43 because it's going to be here and uh I
34:47 don't see any of that kind of data or
34:50 projections or uh anything being
34:53 presented to us so what's the thinking
34:56 there in terms of the long range
34:59 consequences of placing a fire station
35:02 on a very very busy street in central
35:05 isqua thank you for that question I'm
35:08 wondering if Chief Ben Lane uh could
35:10 help provide some insights into what was
35:13 used with the modeling uh to determine
35:15 response times we work with Eastside
35:18 fire and rescue to understand what their
35:20 response time data is and for them to
35:22 model this out for us and I see he's
35:25 there on
35:26 camera yeah good evening Council can you
35:28 hear me
35:29 okay yes we can thanks all right to
35:34 answer the question on uh how East Side
35:36 Fire and Rescue uses data for our uh
35:39 planning
35:40 purposes so in collaboration with the
35:42 city around this discussion for the fire
35:44 station we looked at data over the last
35:46 four and a half years and we totaled
35:48 just shy of 19,000 calls and we we pin
35:52 mapped those calls throughout the
35:54 service area and then we compared the
35:57 station location the current station
35:59 location to some proposed locations
36:02 specifically East Lake Sam um site in
36:06 addition to that we looked um at Future
36:09 planning where I know that
36:12 um Andrea mentioned that uh the the best
36:16 location is sort of that front and
36:18 sunset spot where there certainly is no
36:21 land available so we default to the
36:23 current location and we feel confident
36:26 that based off of the current call
36:28 volume and the projected growth at least
36:31 what the city has on the docket that
36:34 this fire station would would serve the
36:36 city both today and in the
36:41 future uh just a followup uh you know
36:43 for years I've heard that we needed to
36:46 move the fire station out of central
36:48 isqua we needed to move it North to
36:50 serve uh the northern part of isqua and
36:54 so this came is sort of a surprise that
36:56 all of a sudden we're back here on on
36:59 Sunset with this uh proposal and I
37:02 realize that land is hard to find but um
37:06 again this is a 100-year decision we're
37:08 going to make and we want to make sure
37:10 that it's going to be what we want and
37:12 what we need for the long term and uh
37:15 I'm I you know I realize you've got data
37:17 on current response times but we have to
37:21 be figuring out is this going to is this
37:24 uh location going to last us is it going
37:27 going to be effective into the
37:30 future city
37:32 administrator uh as Andrea has mentioned
37:35 uh this is a project that has been in
37:37 discussion for uh a few years before
37:40 I've been here and I've been here almost
37:41 five and so what we did once the
37:44 pandemic settled was go back to East
37:46 Side Fire and Rescue and and start again
37:49 with the discussions about the fire
37:50 station and the assumptions that were
37:53 made um the discussions that were pre2
37:57 19 about moving the fire station further
38:00 north uh we came to discover was under
38:03 sort of a different set of uh uh
38:05 parameters where that station would not
38:08 only serve continue to serve isqua but
38:10 would also serve other parts North
38:12 within the East Side Fire and Rescue
38:14 area and so as we look to move the
38:16 station keep the station at this
38:18 location um we will continue to very
38:21 well serve isqua I think there continues
38:23 to be challenges in samamish uh and they
38:25 are also facing uh questions about
38:28 additional resources that they need so
38:30 under those pre 20109 discussions I
38:33 think the uh an additional isqua station
38:36 was looked at as helping
38:38 samamish and so now as we're moving it
38:40 further south keeping it here um we feel
38:43 as I think Chief Lane has said very
38:45 comfortable that is quite well taken
38:47 care of uh it then I think provides
38:49 additional discussions for the city of
38:51 samamish as to what they'll be doing uh
38:54 with their fire stations and the need
38:56 for perhaps an additional fire station
38:58 one uh part of this discussion uh
39:02 looking at the reconstitution of a fire
39:04 station here making it larger will
39:06 hopefully keep us from having to build
39:08 an additional fire station in isqua at
39:10 some other location in the future so um
39:13 as we've kind of sharpened the pencil uh
39:16 when we came to the conclusion that
39:17 finding another piece of property was
39:19 becoming nearly impossible uh this is
39:22 what we learned in talking with the East
39:24 Side Fire and Rescue and chief Lane
39:26 please correct me if you feel I've
39:27 misstated anything about the discussions
39:30 sort of the the macro discussions we've
39:32 had over the last couple of years as
39:35 we've kind of made that assessment of
39:37 what isqua needs are versus perhaps
39:40 needs further to the
39:43 north no those are accurate
39:48 statements okay anything else on
39:54 that great maybe we stay on fire for a
39:58 second uh council member m we never want
40:01 to be on fire it's really a bad place to
40:03 be um so I I was kind of uh intrigued
40:07 with the idea that um we don't have
40:11 enough space within fire station 71 for
40:13 large equipment because we have our
40:15 largest piece of equipment as I
40:17 understand it the the tiller is kind of
40:18 based there is there a vision that
40:20 there's something um some apparatus
40:22 that's still larger that we would need
40:25 to house because that's a big rig
40:29 your thoughts I this
40:31 one yeah so your your statement is
40:35 correct our tillered ladder truck is our
40:37 largest piece of equipment that is
40:38 currently housed at station
40:40 71 it's also important to note that
40:43 there was a retrofit to allow that
40:47 particular unit to fit in the center
40:49 apparatus Bay with only inches of
40:51 clearance um our angle of departure so
40:54 the crew has to if you see them during
40:56 busy uh travel hours during the day they
40:59 have to back the unit inside the station
41:02 because we're not able to drive through
41:05 um and then it would it prevents us from
41:08 future specs of an apparatus where we
41:11 had to where where they may very well be
41:14 the need to expand that unit right now
41:18 it's a single axle tractor drawn aerial
41:21 uh ladder truck um and given the size of
41:26 the building we could not look at a
41:27 tandem axle which is um probably the
41:31 more popular tractor drawn aerial
41:33 resource so yes are currently our
41:36 largest apparatuses there today but
41:38 there are some significant barriers and
41:40 it certainly prevents us from
41:43 potentially specking the apparatus
41:45 that's most appropriate in the future
41:46 for the
41:47 city great thanks um one one followup on
41:51 fire but this is more of a facilities
41:53 thing did we look at what it would take
41:56 remodel uh 71 as opposed to uh move and
42:06 raise yes is the short answer and we
42:10 still need more space um so we can
42:14 provide that fit diagram that I
42:15 mentioned earlier so you can compare uh
42:18 that but really the concern is we would
42:20 need to um consume some of the current
42:24 parking space which would then um that's
42:27 also serving the police station um and
42:31 we may need also more space um in
42:34 addition to that parking area uh to
42:37 accommodate the apparatus that we're
42:39 hoping to house the new Fire
42:43 Station uh council member
42:46 Hall a quick followup to that and my
42:49 understanding too is even if we did
42:50 remodel that station we would still have
42:52 to tear it all the way down is that
42:55 right yes due to the type of
42:58 construction it's very difficult to just
42:59 do a simple renovation Chief Lane talked
43:02 about the um expansion that we did to
43:05 try to fit the lad apparatus that's
43:08 there and so um it it would be very
43:11 difficult to work with what we have um
43:14 that building's also aging it also like
43:16 many of the other City buildings is not
43:18 in great condition um we do have the
43:20 need for dormatory space um for our um
43:25 for our responders as well so we would
43:27 need to make sure that the facility
43:29 meets current standards and and it would
43:32 take it's not practical or feasible to
43:35 just do a renovation we would likely
43:37 have to level it and construct
43:41 new anyone else on
43:45 fire
43:47 fantastic uh council member
43:49 Marts um how old is station
43:55 71 I'm looking over to
43:57 Genie to see if she recalls it's not off
44:01 the top of her head we'll have to come
44:02 back to you with that
44:04 information unless Chief Lane knows and
44:06 I'm guessing he probably doesn't either
44:09 okay okay we'll we'll look for that
44:11 information while uh council member Hall
44:14 is quickly trying to search for it I can
44:16 see I can read you yeah uh Deputy
44:20 council president D Michelle okay uh
44:23 thank you um so I had a little angst
44:25 about the picture that was in the
44:27 presentation um and I think we've got to
44:30 be very careful about the images that we
44:32 are putting out even at this stage of
44:34 the game because I'm hopeful that if we
44:36 built a brand new fire station here that
44:38 it would be designed to fit into the Old
44:42 Town look and um so I would hope that we
44:46 would not put out any more of those
44:49 kinds of photos it was a little bit like
44:52 whoa we're going to have this huge
44:54 structure here um multi story and uh and
44:59 I don't think we want an industrial type
45:01 look to that so I just want to mention
45:04 that um and then uh so I I think that if
45:08 we're thinking about doing this we have
45:10 to be really responsive to how is the
45:13 business community on Front Street
45:15 feeling about it how is the Creative
45:17 Arts District feeling about it we've got
45:19 a lot going on in this old historic part
45:21 of Isa and so uh any any major new
45:26 building like that I think it's got to
45:28 fit into the character of this downtown
45:30 area do you have a question on that or
45:33 oh do you agree with
45:36 me okay Deputy council president D
45:39 Michelle any building that's constructed
45:41 in the Oldtown area would need to comply
45:42 with our design standards so that was
45:44 just meant as a visual to say that it it
45:47 will have to be multi stories in order
45:49 to fit onto this property but there's a
45:51 lot more work that needs to be done many
45:53 more conversations with the community
45:55 about what they would like to see in a
45:57 fire station and as I said before
45:59 certainly the design standards would
46:04 apply council member Joe I had a court
46:08 question for Ray to move on to that all
46:11 let uh council member hul one more fire
46:14 question so um what would happen if all
46:17 of the sudden the state parks are
46:18 interested again um is at that point
46:21 would we want to and and we're going
46:23 down the path of building station 71
46:27 would we re-evaluate at that point or
46:29 are we sold that this
46:33 is is like this could serve isqua but
46:37 also we're members of an organization
46:39 that supports an entire service area and
46:41 if we can create efficiencies for
46:42 multiple jurisdictions without
46:44 decreasing level of service here in
46:46 isqua is that something so I guess this
46:48 is a roundabout way of saying would we
46:50 reevaluate at that point if they were
46:51 open or would we be would we be happy
46:53 where we are I I believe the key thing
46:56 that you said is that we want to make
46:57 sure that we wouldn't result in a
46:59 decrease in overall times for isqua I
47:01 think as we look at the system uh
47:04 systemwide including samamish a station
47:07 in the north tends to make a lot of
47:09 sense but if we look at really just
47:12 isqua um specific response times overall
47:17 uh the northern location starts to make
47:20 less sense but one of the reasons why we
47:21 were looking at it was also because we
47:24 wanted to be able to find a site where
47:25 the land could be free and we've been
47:29 working with state parks on perhaps a
47:30 land exchange between city-owned land
47:33 and State Park land for that site and so
47:36 as we're still looking to build the fire
47:38 station on land that is free that's one
47:40 of the reasons why we also thought that
47:42 this um location that we're standing in
47:44 would be a good a good site um state
47:47 parks it's not a matter of necessarily
47:51 their their interest um there's a lot of
47:54 process with the state parks uh one part
47:57 of that process for example the state
47:59 parks has no control over and that
48:01 includes National Park Service approval
48:03 due to how that property was acquired um
48:06 they need to take this to the federal
48:08 level and get approval there and um
48:11 there is there's no estimate for how
48:13 long that's going to take at this point
48:17 so um it's not even really entirely in
48:20 the hands of the state park system to
48:22 make this decision either okay thank you
48:25 that's very helpful
48:27 so one second do you have another fire
48:29 station okay council member Marts I'll
48:32 come back to you eventually station 71
48:35 was built in
48:37 1969 uh it's a woodframe structure my
48:40 house was built in 1974 it's a wood
48:42 frame frame structure I'm pretty sure it
48:44 can be renovated so I I would need to
48:47 understand more why this is an automatic
48:49 tear down um 1969 is not ancient and uh
48:54 I I would I would imagine the folks in
48:55 1969 thought this was a 100-year
48:57 decision and they were building that
48:59 fire station so I you know I need to
49:02 understand more about why we have to if
49:04 automatically have to tear down that
49:05 station thank you great and we can
49:08 return with that information more
49:09 information from the architect thank
49:13 you okay I'm going to say we can move on
49:17 to City Hall Court other areas of
49:20 questions starting with council member
49:22 Joe thank you council president um
49:25 question I had about um the court was
49:29 has there been a conversation with the
49:32 district court to have um our Council
49:36 meetings at the court
49:38 Chambers and or has there been
49:40 conversation with the school district to
49:42 use their facility for our Council means
49:45 just as I travel through the greater
49:48 counties uh they're using those
49:50 facilities interchangeably sometimes in
49:51 a number of the different cities so I
49:53 was just curious as to what has been
49:55 done there
49:59 uh short answer is yes I've been
50:00 shopping um so there's a few options for
50:03 council chambers a lot of it depends on
50:05 where we end up with City Hall um so you
50:08 know I've been collecting several
50:09 options several of them include
50:10 partnering with with agencies to find
50:13 space for council chambers we also have
50:15 Tibbits U Manor so that is another
50:17 option we could renovate that space uh
50:20 put in a Di and make that more of a
50:21 public meeting space uh for Council um
50:24 so yes there's several options that that
50:26 are on our list that we're looking
50:28 at yeah my only thought was that uh the
50:31 school district would probably be very
50:33 gracious in allowing us to hold our
50:35 Council means there and the if we're
50:37 renting out the court space anyway it
50:39 wouldn't be too much of an add-on in
50:41 terms of cost to do uh Council means ER
50:44 so I'm glad you're exploring all those
50:46 options thank
50:49 you looking around it other Quest oh man
50:53 all of y'all okay I'll just keep going
50:56 around Deputy council president D
51:00 Michelle um so earlier we had quite a
51:04 discussion about how important it was to
51:06 have the court next to the police
51:09 station and um so you know I think I'd
51:13 really like to hear from uh Chief Schwan
51:15 about that but and in the document or
51:18 the packet that you gave us it said
51:20 distance can be mitigated but I'd like
51:23 to hear what kind of mitigations we're
51:25 thinking about and and and how did we
51:28 come to the conclusion that it would be
51:30 okay to not have the municipal court
51:33 next to the police station so I I don't
51:36 know if Chief Schwan wants to answer
51:38 that or if you'd like to answer it yeah
51:40 Chief Schwan uh joined us tonight just
51:41 anticipating those questions because we
51:43 definitely did talk about there is
51:45 efficiencies in locating court and PD
51:47 together and we have for so long um but
51:50 there are also so many other benefits to
51:52 uh locating at King County District
51:53 Court uh and just from a customers
51:55 perspective and we have Christy sha on
51:57 as well um our court administrator who
52:00 can talk to this too but we have a lot
52:02 of customers who are confused on which
52:03 court they're going to and so if we
52:04 collocate that is enhancing customer
52:07 service that was another benefit as well
52:09 but um I'll turn it to Chief Schwan to
52:10 start
52:12 with thank you autum and thanks council
52:16 members um the biggest thing I know we
52:19 talked about the court close to jail and
52:23 police department was a big deal and
52:25 helpful was
52:27 um a lot of it was the services and the
52:29 ability
52:31 that currently there is no holding cell
52:34 which that does have what's provided at
52:36 the next location um the prospective
52:40 location I say in the other court it's
52:42 got space for jurors it's a lot more
52:44 safer for everybody because the security
52:47 well um we do have transport a lot of
52:50 what video cour done lately um is you
52:55 know changed some of that process of
52:58 Court needing to be so much closer to
53:00 the police department because it's very
53:04 um limited these days how many remands
53:07 they actually have when there's in
53:08 person and that has changed that
53:11 dramatically since CO as well um so and
53:15 right now currently even being across
53:16 the street we've still had to literally
53:19 drive to get someone or someone picked
53:21 up whereas have to do the same across
53:25 the uh Chief Schwan you're breaking up a
53:27 little bit so I can help translate if
53:29 you didn't quite catch
53:31 that um and so several benefits one is
53:34 having holding cells over at King County
53:36 District Court and so there's not an
53:37 immediate need to pick someone up so
53:40 they can they can be in the holding cell
53:41 until PD arrives for transport um and
53:44 also right now currently they still have
53:46 to uh bring someone over in a vehicle so
53:48 they can't they don't just walk them
53:49 over across the street they have to be
53:51 in a vehicle and so they're already
53:52 doing that load and unload process it's
53:54 just a matter of driving over to the
53:55 district court
53:57 and uh with with virtual court now um
54:00 especially during covid that has been
54:02 very much perfected in its operations
54:04 and so there's a lot less transport
54:05 that's
54:09 happening okay uh council member
54:13 Ray thanks I have a couple of questions
54:15 about the alignment to goals chart
54:18 because I I appreciate the the insights
54:21 on why Steward of public dollars and
54:23 customer service were not viewed
54:26 um as positively for option b um and if
54:31 and this is what I think I heard I'm
54:33 paraphrasing but because there weren't
54:35 any really viable options there um it
54:37 wasn't going to be cost- effective and
54:39 it wasn't going to provide good customer
54:40 service so the reality of it is there
54:42 really is no option b i mean I think
54:45 this is kind of kind of trying to give
54:46 us a false sense of comparison and I
54:48 don't think it's real because I think
54:50 customer service could be just as good
54:52 in the core and I think that um it would
54:55 probably be better uses of
54:56 of City dollars if we were in the core
54:59 so I think those are um I find this
55:03 objectionable so because it you're
55:05 you're telling me you're making a
55:06 comparison and it's not real so I'm
55:08 seeing nods okay and the comparison's
55:11 gotten a lot harder as we've done our
55:13 shopping and looked around and there
55:14 just there aren't viable options um we
55:17 as we know we're very limited in
55:18 property for anything from Parks to
55:21 facilities to a fire station so um in
55:24 doing that work we we did not find very
55:26 viable options okay couple other
55:29 questions how many people are we looking
55:30 for lease Spas
55:32 4 and maybe it's um it can be expressed
55:36 in terms of full week equivalence so
55:40 recognizing we have people working
55:41 remotely but I mean how many how big is
55:44 this yeah I I can get you those numbers
55:47 um and so I can report back on those but
55:49 but generally what we're looking at and
55:51 again um it's it's pretty fluid right
55:53 now just because we're looking at what
55:55 options are available as far as as Space
55:57 versus before when we were doing space
55:59 planning and say this is how much we
56:00 would need and how much we would build
56:02 um but right now what the goals are are
56:04 replacing the top floor of City Hall um
56:08 as well as the um Community Planning and
56:10 Development inspectors are currently
56:12 operating out of Tibbits so moving them
56:14 as well as the permit Center that's over
56:16 in the eagle room right now um so those
56:19 are the main city hall functions as well
56:21 as we talked about earlier moving
56:22 council chambers so I can get you um I
56:25 can get you the total ft ease of what
56:26 that is that'd be awesome okay and then
56:28 do we have a I mean we we laid out the
56:31 public safety plan the $47 million
56:34 what's the long and and the lease plan
56:36 of the5 to8 million what's the what's
56:39 the long-term plan for City Hall look
56:42 like I mean is there is there a
56:43 long-term plan for City Hall I think
56:45 there's a lot of work to still be done
56:46 on what the long-term plan is we would
56:48 have available property next door to the
56:51 police station in the future for say
56:53 Phase 2 um so that's one option again I
56:56 think the next steps will be um figuring
56:59 out a financing plan for that so the
57:02 option you're seeing tonight is is
57:04 really a way for us to start this
57:06 process and and uh package something
57:09 that um that really gets us started on a
57:12 path towards a full Oldtown
57:15 campus thank
57:18 you um council member
57:22 hall right and in that five to eight
57:25 years we do say we do find something
57:28 that we could purchase and renovate then
57:30 that could plan or we do identify a new
57:33 Revenue source for building and
57:35 realizing this vision for a municipal
57:37 that what you mean like during that
57:39 will yes yes and really you know as I've
57:43 been talking with co-workers this just
57:44 feels like a chessboard and it just
57:47 feels like we need to move a few pieces
57:48 just to get started on this project
57:50 because it is so massive and we have so
57:52 many facility needs and so uh that's why
57:55 we're coming back to you with this pH
57:56 approach of starting some of this with
57:58 the priority around Public
57:59 Safety and mad counc president members
58:02 of the council you know we've had to
58:04 come to face to face with a real
58:07 difficult reality and that is we do not
58:09 have money for General government and if
58:11 we go to the residents of isqua and ask
58:13 for money we're not going to get it at
58:15 least where we currently sit and so
58:17 that's really hard uh for us it's really
58:20 hard for any Community we we are going
58:22 to be among the first that are basically
58:24 saying um you know there are other
58:26 Municipal functions that are a higher
58:28 priority and making sure we have a
58:30 stable and effective police department
58:32 and a stable and effective fire service
58:35 uh trumps the ability for us to have
58:38 nice offices for people like me Autumn
58:41 and Andrea uh to sit and talk look at
58:44 computer screens um wish that wasn't the
58:47 case we really really do um and so we
58:51 want to make it clear that there is no
58:53 you know you know other plans stuck in a
58:56 drawer somewhere that's going to be
58:57 whipped out with this wonderful
58:59 beautiful new city hall um there just
59:02 isn't because there is no money and
59:04 there is no in our estimation uh voter
59:07 appetite to provide money for that but
59:10 as as Autumn has mentioned uh we will
59:12 have that site we as proposed the the
59:15 existing fire station site um for some
59:17 point later in the future but you know
59:20 to put General government in leas space
59:22 we've looked around to see what other
59:23 examples uh there are the region there
59:26 aren't very many quite honestly because
59:28 it's just not something you do but we
59:30 are in such a critical stage uh with the
59:33 police department with the facilities
59:35 that they have um you know the request
59:37 from Eastside fire and rescue to move
59:39 forward with uh different facilities for
59:41 them you know we're at this point we
59:43 really don't have a choice and as Autumn
59:44 has said um we don't feel comfortable
59:47 spinning around anymore that we really
59:49 need to move forward uh but with that is
59:51 the unfortunate uh conclusion uh the
59:54 general government is at the the bottom
59:56 of the list and uh we'll have to deal
59:58 with it at some later
1:00:02 Point thank you um sorry that was kind
1:00:05 of a follow-up question but my real
1:00:07 question real final question is this um
1:00:10 and maybe it's for the deput city
1:00:12 administrator I'm just curious how let's
1:00:14 say we do move forward with a bond we
1:00:17 want to put something on the ballot how
1:00:18 might this impact our future
1:00:20 consideration of a Park District kind of
1:00:22 the kind of ongoing conversations that
1:00:24 we have out of the old capital Finance
1:00:26 Community course yes thank you for that
1:00:29 question uh so we have been talking to
1:00:33 council about potential for a Parks
1:00:35 District that was always meant to be in
1:00:37 a little bit of a longer term time frame
1:00:40 that's what the Capital Finance
1:00:41 Community task force had recommended and
1:00:43 subsequent conversations with Council um
1:00:46 about that as well and so um in terms of
1:00:51 it really has to deal with voter
1:00:52 aptitude and what the voters would
1:00:54 support and so
1:00:56 um we would need to address that then
1:00:58 but a a ballot measure Now does not um
1:01:02 necessarily prevent us from going back
1:01:04 to the voters at a future
1:01:11 date I'm going to jump on because my
1:01:14 question is very similar on that
1:01:17 um if we're looking at a 30-year bond to
1:01:21 pay for fire station
1:01:24 71 and don't really have a plan right
1:01:27 now for a new city hall is their concern
1:01:32 that we wouldn't be able to go back to
1:01:34 voters within a 30-year period to borrow
1:01:38 for a city hall no there's no concern so
1:01:43 so cities typically isqua included we
1:01:46 can take on different different types of
1:01:48 debt within within that uh time frame so
1:01:51 it's not just that this is our one bond
1:01:53 for 30 years and we're not doing any
1:01:54 other types of financing
1:01:56 um we we would be able to take on
1:01:59 additional debt as long as we identify
1:02:01 how we're going to pay for
1:02:05 it toward that idea could we get a
1:02:09 history of when our property taxes
1:02:14 increased because of voter approved
1:02:17 items so that we can get a sense of how
1:02:21 we have regularly done that yes and we
1:02:24 can look into the future as well
1:02:26 so we can come back with that
1:02:28 information
1:02:30 okay council member Mark oh uh council
1:02:33 member Deputy council president Deon sh
1:02:35 you had a well one quick question and
1:02:38 then uh um going back to the the that
1:02:43 discussion um I what are we thinking
1:02:46 about in terms of where Human Services
1:02:48 would would land um in this overall uh
1:02:52 planning that we're doing and um and
1:02:55 then the other
1:02:56 is really
1:03:00 um I guess do we have a plan a plan B
1:03:03 and plan C or if plan a is that plan A
1:03:07 would be we're going to for an interim
1:03:10 period uh lease uh a place for
1:03:13 administrative offices and so forth but
1:03:16 the long range plan would be to to find
1:03:19 a place to build a city hall Plan B
1:03:22 would
1:03:23 be what you know do we have alternative
1:03:27 future lines that we're looking at
1:03:30 because we could uh lease uh a place and
1:03:35 then not be able to pass a bond and and
1:03:38 maybe we're stuck in least offices for
1:03:42 20 years instead of seven or eight you
1:03:44 see what I'm saying is what is the I
1:03:47 guess what are the paths forward that
1:03:49 we're trying to lay out
1:03:52 here Autumn did you want to try to take
1:03:54 a stab at that
1:03:56 I'll try in then Autumn can can uh these
1:03:59 are all very difficult questions um
1:04:03 building a new city hall in the in any
1:04:05 sort of reasonable time frames nod in
1:04:07 the picture because we will not be able
1:04:08 to raise the dollarss to do that um
1:04:11 might there be an opportunity to
1:04:12 purchase other space or a portion of a
1:04:15 building at some later Point perhaps and
1:04:17 if that comes along we would you know be
1:04:20 be as aggressive as we can uh as I've
1:04:23 mentioned it's not a normal thing for
1:04:25 cities to lease we're here forever um we
1:04:28 should own the space that we're in so
1:04:30 there's various options I think given
1:04:33 the real estate environment in isqua
1:04:35 where we may be able to buy and so we
1:04:37 will continue uh to look at that uh but
1:04:41 uh again the main priority here is the
1:04:43 police department we have to get General
1:04:46 government out of the building in order
1:04:47 for the building to be um renovated and
1:04:51 the police department to have specific
1:04:53 space uh the Peril that we face
1:04:56 uh not having a sufficient space for our
1:04:58 police department is very significant uh
1:05:01 it is a difficult difficult Marketplace
1:05:03 and probably will be for some time for
1:05:05 police officers um people want to know
1:05:09 that they're coming and have proper
1:05:10 facilities because our neighbor
1:05:12 communities have them and you combine
1:05:14 that with $40,000 signing bonuses and
1:05:17 everyone having a a car a city car to
1:05:19 take home everyone having a city car to
1:05:21 take home um the costs associated with
1:05:24 this are very very high so if we do not
1:05:27 have a place that people feel police
1:05:29 officers other police Staff feel that
1:05:32 safe and appropriate that's going to
1:05:34 have a real detrimental impact so that's
1:05:36 Priority One right now um and finding
1:05:40 whatever reasonable economical space we
1:05:42 can for General government in order to
1:05:44 move forward with
1:05:49 that and Human Services what's the
1:05:51 thinking there yes so for Human Services
1:05:54 uh it really depends on where we find
1:05:56 the lease space and how much we have and
1:05:58 so I I've been um in contact with human
1:06:02 services um and and it's really just a
1:06:04 wait and see as far as the location we
1:06:06 find so if it's not something that's
1:06:08 suitable if we find another spot and
1:06:10 it's not suitable for Human Services
1:06:11 needs we have other facilities here in
1:06:13 Oldtown um so it's not a ton of of
1:06:16 office space that's needed so I you
1:06:18 they're definitely on our list as far as
1:06:20 one that we would figure out kind of
1:06:21 similar to council chambers once we kind
1:06:23 of know what is available for lease spas
1:06:25 um but they're definitely on our list
1:06:27 and Parks Administration
1:06:31 yeah council member
1:06:34 Merz so if the if the proximate thing
1:06:38 that is forcing us to do something now
1:06:41 is the police station uh or the
1:06:44 facilities available to our Police
1:06:46 Department I would like to see the
1:06:48 numbers I'd like to see how our uh
1:06:51 police facility compares to Kirkland and
1:06:53 Redmond and belue and samam terms of
1:06:56 staff and square footage and
1:06:58 understanding uh how we compare if
1:07:01 that's the if that's the trigger that's
1:07:03 forcing us to do something that is
1:07:05 potentially financially uh extremely
1:07:07 disadvantageous I need to understand
1:07:09 those numbers better thank
1:07:14 you um I'm gonna step in here uh since
1:07:19 as you pointed out our general
1:07:21 government financing is very limited and
1:07:24 all of that
1:07:26 uh would it make sense or could we
1:07:29 include Public Safety operations costs
1:07:34 along with Public Safety capital in a
1:07:37 bond um could we utilize that to expand
1:07:41 our police Staffing to a certain FTE to
1:07:45 resident Ratio or something
1:07:48 similar so um bonds are used for capital
1:07:52 projects they cannot be used for really
1:07:54 ongoing
1:07:56 uh operational costs Levy lid lifts are
1:07:59 much more tailored for ongoing
1:08:01 operational costs to support those but
1:08:03 not um great for paying off debt Service
1:08:06 as we've discussed so um as we think
1:08:09 about how we want to move forward uh
1:08:12 just know that really one tool is
1:08:14 appropriate to one type of expense and
1:08:17 another tool is more appropriate towards
1:08:18 another type of
1:08:21 expense for that idea one of the
1:08:24 questions I asked over email is it does
1:08:26 look like two of our neighboring cities
1:08:30 in Bellevue and Mercer Island did Levy
1:08:33 lid lifts to build fire stations in the
1:08:37 last 15 years so is there an explanation
1:08:41 for that or an understanding why they
1:08:44 were able to do something that our staff
1:08:46 is proposing doesn't fit so I'm I'm not
1:08:51 familiar with the particular financing
1:08:53 plan for the bellw and Mercer Island
1:08:55 Island stations we'd have to look at
1:08:57 what those costs were how other maybe
1:09:00 the levy lid lift was only a part of
1:09:02 funding of those facilities they could
1:09:04 have had other um cash on hand or or
1:09:08 government mitigation funds or other
1:09:10 things um it's also possible that they
1:09:13 could have
1:09:15 um used you know General funds to
1:09:18 supplement uh and pay for the rest of
1:09:20 the debt service I'm also going to
1:09:22 estimate that a fire station built in
1:09:25 2012 was considerably cheaper than one
1:09:28 built to our modern standards so um so
1:09:32 we'd have to look into the specifics of
1:09:34 Mercer Island and and Bellevue uh but
1:09:37 you know what we're putting forward
1:09:39 today our proposal is what the
1:09:40 administration feels is really the best
1:09:42 suited tool for our
1:09:44 needs consider that a request for
1:09:48 information fantastic uh council member
1:09:52 Marts uh so historically we've carried
1:09:56 uh quite a bit more Council manic debt
1:09:58 than we're currently carrying uh are we
1:10:00 looking at are we considering the
1:10:02 council manic uh Bond
1:10:06 option uh that's that's not part of what
1:10:09 the administration is proposing because
1:10:11 even with a council manic Bond we need
1:10:13 to be able to identify Revenue in order
1:10:15 to pay for those bonds and so with a
1:10:18 Debt Service estimated at about $3
1:10:19 million annually uh if we were to do a
1:10:22 council manic bond without raising tax
1:10:25 tax es or revenues in other ways then um
1:10:27 that would require 3 million plus uh
1:10:31 cuts to our existing budget in order to
1:10:33 pay for that Debt Service we've heard
1:10:35 from Council at the February Council
1:10:37 Retreat that we should be considering a
1:10:39 new property tax instead of um trying to
1:10:43 cover these the new The Debt Service
1:10:46 with existing
1:10:48 revenues okay but if the statement is we
1:10:52 don't have access to any money I
1:10:54 understand that we have that we would
1:10:56 incur debt but I I if you were to look
1:10:59 at the amount of councilmanic debt that
1:11:01 we've carried historically we are at a
1:11:03 we are at a incredibly low level
1:11:05 currently we were able to carry Council
1:11:07 manag debt when I started on Council we
1:11:10 we we had a much higher councilmanic
1:11:12 debt than we do currently so it's not
1:11:15 obvious to me that there aren't some
1:11:17 options here that involve
1:11:21 coun yes we can take on more
1:11:23 councilmanic debt the the difficult is
1:11:25 how we would then pay for that debt on
1:11:27 an annual basis and so we' we'd be
1:11:30 required to make cuts to the budget
1:11:32 elsewhere um we've done it in the past
1:11:34 sure I mean just if the statement is we
1:11:36 don't have access to money we do it's
1:11:38 just that it's got to be traded against
1:11:41 other things but the idea of paying
1:11:43 lease payments on city property should
1:11:47 be traded against the financial
1:11:49 implications of using account debt
1:11:51 because neither is a great option but
1:11:52 it's not obvious to me that uh
1:11:55 you know leasing facilities is a better
1:11:59 option and we're looking for direction
1:12:02 through these discussions because as we
1:12:04 look at the operating budget for 25 26
1:12:07 if the council is looking in that
1:12:09 direction the council Matic debt is the
1:12:10 way you'd like to go and we need to make
1:12:12 reductions in operations then now is the
1:12:16 time we would like that feedback because
1:12:18 as we're working now on 25 26 we need to
1:12:21 start identifying what will reduce and
1:12:24 the increase cost we already know will
1:12:26 be proposing to the council and Public
1:12:28 Safety uh justice um is going to be
1:12:31 significant so um it could be a very
1:12:34 difficult operating budget for us 25
1:12:40 26 this is just all sunshines and roses
1:12:44 and everything okay I'm feeling like
1:12:47 we're maybe lowering down on our
1:12:49 questions are we ready to switch over to
1:12:52 get public comment and then do Fe back
1:12:56 rounds okay
1:12:59 fantastic um fisha is anybody including
1:13:04 Connie
1:13:05 online no um no one's online with us
1:13:08 anymore uh Connie did send a chat
1:13:10 message before dropping off uh saying
1:13:13 her input was the need to understand why
1:13:16 the placement of the fire station has
1:13:17 been able to be
1:13:19 moved okay no one is with us virtually
1:13:22 other than City staff well I think uh
1:13:25 Council had that same question many
1:13:28 times over so we have certainly uh
1:13:30 talked about that okay um Can yep so
1:13:35 we've got three questions of Direction
1:13:38 needed you want to talk those over or
1:13:40 should I just read the
1:13:43 slide if you'd like me to read them I
1:13:45 can go for it great uh three questions
1:13:48 the first should the administration
1:13:50 Focus further research on a phased
1:13:52 approach the Oldtown Municipal campus as
1:13:55 we discussed does the council agree with
1:13:58 the administration proposal to use
1:14:00 current resources for leasing office and
1:14:03 Court space and finally should the
1:14:06 administration proceed with planning for
1:14:08 a ballot measure for a public safety
1:14:10 facilities Bond vote and start creating
1:14:13 a community engagement plan for your
1:14:19 review
1:14:22 okay I don't know if our feedback is
1:14:25 limited to those three questions I think
1:14:27 I heard a lot more than that so rather
1:14:31 than going through one at a time I'm
1:14:33 just going to kind of open it up because
1:14:36 this is a big old pile of wh ifs and
1:14:41 we've already pointed out in several
1:14:43 questions well maybe this versus that
1:14:46 isn't the way that we're thinking about
1:14:48 it so who wants to be brave and go first
1:14:55 okay you've got a question go ahead I
1:14:58 have a question about these uh Direction
1:15:00 needed
1:15:01 questions um so the second question has
1:15:04 to do with the current resources for
1:15:06 leasing office and Court space and my
1:15:09 question has to do with that it seems to
1:15:12 me like that question about needing the
1:15:16 the resources releasing office and Court
1:15:17 space comes into play if we are planning
1:15:20 on renovating the current city hall
1:15:23 building to make it all for Police use
1:15:25 and then this building where we are
1:15:27 right now for the uh fire
1:15:31 station um so is there it seems like the
1:15:34 second question is contingent on the
1:15:36 third the bond or or is it such that you
1:15:40 need to start planning for the movement
1:15:44 Municipal Courts now we believe our our
1:15:47 needs for a new Municipal Court space
1:15:51 that meets modern standards um are
1:15:55 Urgent and so regardless of where we put
1:15:57 the fire station um we really feel like
1:16:00 we need to provide for a new Municipal
1:16:02 Court offices and facility in addition
1:16:05 to the um ipd Renovations as well we
1:16:08 believe these are Urgent uh needs of the
1:16:11 city and so they're not dependent on
1:16:13 where we put the fire
1:16:15 station does that answer your
1:16:18 question
1:16:20 um it I suppose it does but I think
1:16:25 say say we said okay we agree to lease
1:16:29 space for office in court but we don't
1:16:32 want to proceed with the ballot measure
1:16:34 then I think then I think we would
1:16:36 continue to use this for the court isn't
1:16:37 that correct and we're saying we believe
1:16:40 we need a new court facility regardless
1:16:42 of of the fire station um that's in
1:16:45 terms of of how we're serving uh our our
1:16:51 customers in court um how we are
1:16:53 providing for the saf of those that use
1:16:55 our court facilities all of these things
1:16:58 we feel are inadequately addressed in
1:17:00 our current Court facility and we really
1:17:02 do feel like there's a strong and urgent
1:17:05 need for us to move into a space that's
1:17:07 better suited uh to house a modern Court
1:17:11 okay thank
1:17:15 you go ahead with more questions folks
1:17:18 oh I I am sorry but uh that one kind of
1:17:21 sparked something because it's really
1:17:23 about
1:17:25 prioritization in some way the question
1:17:27 really is you talked about courts courts
1:17:30 is is an urgent need c administrator
1:17:33 talked about police police is an urgent
1:17:35 need so how urgent and I don't want to
1:17:37 say how on fire is the fire department
1:17:39 but how urgent is the need for for doing
1:17:42 something with the fire department I
1:17:44 mean do we have some latitude um with
1:17:48 that I'm wondering if Chief Lane can
1:17:51 come back on and help answer that
1:17:53 question I know that we've we've been
1:17:55 talking with Eastside fire and rescue
1:17:57 for many years about the need for a new
1:18:00 uh a new fire station facility so
1:18:02 hopefully he can uh help address that
1:18:06 question yeah I'm happy too um there
1:18:09 there are some significant challenges
1:18:11 with the current station um they're
1:18:13 outside of what we call Healthy in
1:18:15 healthy out standards where we work hard
1:18:18 to provide a very safe work environment
1:18:20 for our responders so the current
1:18:22 station 71 does not have a
1:18:25 a positive pressure living space where
1:18:28 we can have an air lock between the
1:18:29 apparatus Bay and the crew quarters to
1:18:32 keep um carcinogens such as diesel
1:18:35 exhaust um separate from the crew quars
1:18:38 there currently is not a fitness
1:18:41 facility large enough and inside this
1:18:44 fire station so some of their PT is is
1:18:46 done right alongside uh the apparatus
1:18:49 and where it's parked the bunker gear
1:18:51 storage we do not have adequate bunker
1:18:53 gear storage where it's in a separate um
1:18:56 UV protected uh closet space with proper
1:19:00 ventilation the building itself is um
1:19:03 doesn't meet seismic
1:19:05 standards um as far as the dormitories
1:19:08 or the dorms and the
1:19:11 um the actual washroom facilities um
1:19:15 there's definitely some upgrades that
1:19:16 are needed there having worked at that
1:19:18 station um that station has been
1:19:20 converted Time After Time After Time um
1:19:23 we've converted it from
1:19:25 an open Office Space we've done our our
1:19:27 best in our due diligence to do what we
1:19:30 can but we I think we've sort of reached
1:19:33 critical mass with that specific
1:19:34 facility um this has been and no doubt
1:19:37 it's been an ongoing long-standing
1:19:39 conversation but I really do think we're
1:19:42 at this uh a critical point where um
1:19:44 there are significant upgrades that are
1:19:47 needed the city was kind of enough to
1:19:48 make an investment a few years ago um to
1:19:52 do some Creature Comforts but at this
1:19:55 point and we're almost um beyond the
1:19:57 service life of those as well so um I
1:20:00 don't have the overall final answer but
1:20:02 we are definitely in need of upgrading
1:20:04 and a replacement of the current fire
1:20:06 station 71 thanks that was real helpful
1:20:09 thanks
1:20:11 Ben okay so again I'm looking for anyone
1:20:15 who is willing to be brave and go first
1:20:18 on their feedback for this
1:20:22 massive set of decisions
1:20:25 uh that we are being asked for council
1:20:29 member Joe you win the gold star tonight
1:20:31 thank you thank you council president um
1:20:35 question number one should the
1:20:36 administration further Focus research on
1:20:38 a phased approach um I think that's the
1:20:41 best way that we can go forward I agree
1:20:44 with uh council member Ray that the the
1:20:47 comparison that we had there um really
1:20:51 kind of painted Us in the corner a
1:20:52 little bit and kind of left us with no
1:20:54 real Choice going forward but is the but
1:20:56 it is a responsible choice to go forward
1:20:58 because our police need that extra space
1:21:01 and once you start moving one piece as
1:21:04 uh Autumn Monahan pointed out it's a
1:21:06 chessboard where the other ones uh need
1:21:08 to follow at least in a rational thought
1:21:10 out uh you know kind of process so um if
1:21:15 you move uh forward with that Oldtown
1:21:19 plan then um I think that it does make
1:21:23 sense that the police are going to move
1:21:25 to the second floor of the city hall
1:21:27 building and then we have to find space
1:21:30 for the administration in court um many
1:21:34 of you may know that I was part of the
1:21:36 council when we put this court together
1:21:38 in 2006 and 2007 and had the vote to uh
1:21:44 go ahead and break away from our
1:21:46 partners in the district court system um
1:21:49 at the time we were only uh handling our
1:21:53 cases our isqua cases and it was not a
1:21:58 huge lift but it was enough of a lift
1:21:59 for us to kind of get our feet under us
1:22:02 now we have partners with Duval
1:22:05 Carnation snow kwami other partners that
1:22:08 bring their cases to us as well um it's
1:22:12 a source of revenue for us it's also a
1:22:14 source of building better uh Community
1:22:17 between uh the partners on this uh in
1:22:20 this area we have grown up and we we
1:22:23 have a little we have grown out of
1:22:25 this space as many of you know I I was
1:22:27 also had the pleasure of being on the
1:22:30 bench here as a protm judge and uh there
1:22:34 were times when the court was going just
1:22:36 fine but but the uh Prisoners the people
1:22:40 who were currently um in court did need
1:22:43 to be brought over and there were times
1:22:45 when we would need to to wait for them
1:22:47 or um because of the limited space and
1:22:52 safety we couldn't bring over all the
1:22:55 people all the time some people had they
1:22:57 had to be broken up into groups um so
1:22:59 having a holding cell uh from my point
1:23:02 of view as as a person that's been on
1:23:04 the bench is a very important safety
1:23:07 element that that we didn't need as much
1:23:10 when we first put this court together in
1:23:12 2006 2007 um along the way so I I
1:23:16 believe that it's important for us to go
1:23:18 ahead and move over the mo move over to
1:23:21 the district court for the court space
1:23:23 uh I've been in the holding cell as an
1:23:25 attorney um helping my clients out um
1:23:30 and it's it's a it's a great space to to
1:23:34 uh to uh have conferences when there's
1:23:37 only one prisoner in there uh all the
1:23:40 other resources there for the court for
1:23:42 us I think we should capitalize on those
1:23:43 resources until we can find a place and
1:23:46 an office space for our court again um
1:23:51 obviously we need to move the
1:23:53 administration out so that police can
1:23:55 expand um and U so question number two
1:23:58 is a yes for me um uh the last question
1:24:03 I would like a little more
1:24:07 um research done on Council medic bonds
1:24:11 so that we at least have all of the uh
1:24:15 options in front of us so that we can
1:24:17 determine which type of package we want
1:24:20 to give to our citizens for
1:24:22 consideration and uh find out the plus
1:24:25 and minuses of each one of those along
1:24:27 the way but I think that we should go
1:24:29 forward with at least researching the
1:24:32 bond or the levy lift or the other
1:24:35 financing that could make this entire
1:24:37 plan possible um we're moving in small
1:24:40 steps it's going to be a big process um
1:24:43 but this gives us this plan as as I've
1:24:48 agreed to tonight I think gives us a
1:24:50 good start and meets our current needs
1:24:53 for the police and the court right away
1:24:56 um along the way and then we can uh get
1:24:59 our Police Department to a place where
1:25:01 we're competitive with our partners and
1:25:04 competitors and the bigger cities as
1:25:07 we're trying to attract uh good police
1:25:09 officers uh to isqua so how's that folks
1:25:13 is that all right all right you covered
1:25:15 all the bases and you started out so you
1:25:18 still get a gold star uh council member
1:25:22 Marts thanks
1:25:26 there I hate to say this there's not a
1:25:28 lot of this that makes a lot of sense to
1:25:30 me the problem to me is
1:25:34 the urgency that requires us to consider
1:25:38 Leasing Property and I don't feel so
1:25:42 extraordinary uh Carl San said
1:25:44 extraordinary claims require
1:25:46 extraordinary evidence I don't believe
1:25:48 it's been proven that we urgently need a
1:25:50 new court facility I don't believe it's
1:25:52 been proven that we urgent need to
1:25:54 expand our police facility versus more
1:25:58 officers paid better we haven't proven
1:26:01 that we urgently need a new fire
1:26:03 station I'd like to know how our fellow
1:26:05 municipalities have done this on the
1:26:07 east side KK Redmond built a
1:26:11 unbelievable campus not too long ago and
1:26:14 I realize we're not Redmond um and the
1:26:17 economy is different now but all this
1:26:19 has an emergency feel to it that I don't
1:26:23 believe has yet been shown to my
1:26:25 satisfaction that we are in an emergency
1:26:28 uh it's a terrible financial situation
1:26:30 to be Leasing Property as a municipality
1:26:33 and so this urgency just I don't feel it
1:26:36 in my bones yet um I think so I'm
1:26:40 completely opposed to doing a first
1:26:43 phase without knowing what the eventual
1:26:46 City Hall might possibly potentially
1:26:49 look like I think it would be um very
1:26:52 bad for the residents of our city uh for
1:26:55 us it feels to me like taking off in a
1:26:57 plane that's partially finished and
1:26:59 trusting that we finish the plane while
1:27:01 it's in Flight um so if we were saying
1:27:04 here's our plan and it's challenging and
1:27:06 it's going to take a bunch of money but
1:27:08 here's what we get in the end I think
1:27:10 that I'd feel better I could I could
1:27:13 face voters uh and say I understand
1:27:15 where we're headed um but I just this
1:27:19 thing where all of a sudden we're an
1:27:20 emergency footing and have to make
1:27:22 really disadvantageous Financial
1:27:24 decisions I I don't yet feel it so I'm
1:27:26 opposed to it thank
1:27:30 you okay uh Deputy council president D
1:27:35 Michelle yeah thanks um I uh I must say
1:27:38 that I agree uh very much with council
1:27:41 member Marts
1:27:44 um we've been having this discussion for
1:27:46 a while we know what the need is but I
1:27:49 don't think I don't feel like we've made
1:27:52 the case and I think if we're to go out
1:27:55 uh to the uh voters uh for a ballot
1:27:58 measure you have to make the case that
1:28:01 you have an urgent need uh for uh police
1:28:05 for fire uh and for a new municipal
1:28:08 court and I I just don't feel like we
1:28:11 have done that um and I think there are
1:28:14 still so many questions out there and
1:28:16 and a lot of research that uh needs to
1:28:19 be done we've identified some of it
1:28:21 tonight and perhaps we need to have a
1:28:24 follow-up discussion to even go deeper
1:28:27 so um one of my concerns is that uh as
1:28:32 council member Mart said we're going to
1:28:34 we're going to I I'll characterize this
1:28:36 we're doing a peace meal we're going to
1:28:39 uh do a fire station here you know that
1:28:42 locks us into well we're not going to
1:28:44 have a city hall here then well where is
1:28:46 the city hall going to be uh and uh as I
1:28:49 was alluding earlier what is our what
1:28:51 are our fallback plans in case
1:28:54 um uh we can't pass a a safety Bond even
1:28:59 uh uh council member Hall brought up the
1:29:01 parks you know things that we want to do
1:29:03 with the parks and I'm just feeling like
1:29:05 I just don't have my arms around all of
1:29:09 the decisions and all the possible
1:29:11 outcomes that could be uh uh that would
1:29:14 logically follow uh as council member
1:29:17 Joe said as that would logically follow
1:29:19 from this decision leading to this
1:29:21 decision leading to this decision I I
1:29:24 um I just am not feeling that we are
1:29:27 prepared yet so the the answer to Bullet
1:29:30 number three would be for me would be we
1:29:32 are not anywhere close to being ready to
1:29:35 uh plan for a ballot measure uh or for
1:29:38 public engagement because I don't think
1:29:40 we have yet made the case that we take
1:29:43 out to the public and say to them here's
1:29:46 1 two 3 four five reasons why we need a
1:29:49 new fire station here's you know here
1:29:51 are all the reasons we need a new m
1:29:54 Municipal Court this is why we're making
1:29:56 these decisions um and we hope that you
1:29:59 will support us um in going forward um
1:30:04 right now going out to the public and
1:30:05 talking to people I think there are just
1:30:07 too many questions that we wouldn't be
1:30:09 able to
1:30:11 answer
1:30:12 thanks um so I've gotten a message that
1:30:15 Chief Schwan has a comment I really
1:30:18 appreciate that Chief I'm going to
1:30:20 continue on with Council just to make
1:30:23 sure that we hear from all of the
1:30:25 council members I assume we're proposing
1:30:28 a lot of questions here and there's
1:30:29 going to be a lot of comments from staff
1:30:31 so I'm just going to letting you know
1:30:33 I'm going to wait on that for a moment
1:30:36 um council member Ray then uh council
1:30:38 member Hall then council member
1:30:41 Ray I appreciate that but I'm G to come
1:30:44 to everybody yep all right perfect uh
1:30:48 thank you
1:30:50 um I don't know I feel the exact OPP it
1:30:54 of the last couple of things I actually
1:30:55 feel very good with where we're at here
1:30:58 number one thank you for all the
1:30:59 tremendous amount of effort that has
1:31:01 gone into this project in several ways
1:31:04 um over the last few years that can't be
1:31:06 understated the amount that's gone into
1:31:08 that um I think keeping the focus and
1:31:11 priority on Public Safety facilities is
1:31:13 the right one and a smart one based on
1:31:16 need um
1:31:19 and I think these are all questions that
1:31:22 we can do the data story storytelling on
1:31:25 um we know the firsthand accounts of the
1:31:27 challenges around these things we just
1:31:29 need to be able to quantify that and
1:31:30 come back to councel on it sounds like
1:31:32 that's something we could definitely do
1:31:34 um I do think for the first question
1:31:39 um yes continue with focusing further
1:31:43 research although I'm still very
1:31:45 interested in us keeping an eye out for
1:31:47 purchasing and renovating properties um
1:31:50 I think completing this vision of a
1:31:53 municipal camp in this area where we
1:31:55 have so many different connected
1:31:56 Services is super compelling um and
1:32:00 lovely but also costly very costly so
1:32:03 I'm als well actually if we'll have a
1:32:04 piece of free land maybe not as costly
1:32:06 but I'm very interested in in what might
1:32:09 come up in the coming years too so I
1:32:11 would just prefer that we have someone
1:32:13 continuing to look into that make me a
1:32:15 very happy council member um I do think
1:32:18 that leasing space is actually a smart
1:32:20 way going forward especially because
1:32:22 it's so cost effective compared compared
1:32:24 to um building new spaces or dealing
1:32:28 with whatever disadvantageous
1:32:30 consequences there might be of not
1:32:33 moving out of um the police station of
1:32:37 not building uh fire stations so there's
1:32:39 kind of thinking about it from both
1:32:41 sides there I think it makes sense to
1:32:43 move forward with leasing space for the
1:32:44 time being um I'm very interested in
1:32:46 opportunities that you're currently
1:32:48 pursuing um in that and I'm interested
1:32:50 in getting a kind of a clearer picture
1:32:52 of what that cost might be as we
1:32:53 continue continue to tease that out that
1:32:56 that said though um it does make me a
1:32:58 little uncomfortable going into
1:33:00 something knowing we'll have about
1:33:01 enough revenue or enough funding for 5
1:33:04 to 8 years but after that we're not sure
1:33:07 so I would like to kind of see through
1:33:09 at least from a general high level place
1:33:12 where might we look if we still need
1:33:16 funding for either leasing space if if
1:33:19 we decide that that's what we want to
1:33:20 continue to do or or what are the
1:33:23 different options for um even purchasing
1:33:26 a space um especially if we're in the
1:33:28 middle of a bond right now for fire and
1:33:32 police and an opportunity comes up to
1:33:34 purchase something um at what point
1:33:37 could we explore like another bond for
1:33:38 another thing and with that even be
1:33:40 reasonable given the property tax base
1:33:41 right now and how how many bonds people
1:33:44 are paying or about to pay here in the
1:33:45 isqua area um and then the last
1:33:50 question um yes I I mean I think we do
1:33:53 proceed with with kind of community
1:33:54 engagement I'm assuming Community
1:33:55 engagement is some sort of task force
1:33:57 Community task force um I think for me
1:34:02 the need is clear to have this Revenue
1:34:04 Source um it came up many years ago even
1:34:08 as the Capital Finance Community task
1:34:09 force was doing its work about the
1:34:11 urgent need in this space too we stayed
1:34:13 out of that space largely because uh the
1:34:16 group wanted to explore um where we
1:34:21 hadn't had as much investment in these
1:34:22 other spaces um in where we needed more
1:34:25 revenues but um to me the the need is
1:34:28 clear especially for Public Safety
1:34:30 facilities not just facilities um but
1:34:34 the timing again same thing with like I
1:34:36 said earlier the timing is a little
1:34:38 concerning to me thinking that there'll
1:34:40 probably be a school bond on the ballot
1:34:42 soon did the county just pass a did a
1:34:46 property tax just pass at the county
1:34:47 level too so I'm just worried about just
1:34:49 the effects of all this stacking up um
1:34:52 in the community support
1:34:54 um there um but uh at the same time I
1:34:57 also don't see an alternative to a voter
1:35:00 approved Bond it seems like we have to
1:35:03 be able to sh we have a revenue source
1:35:04 to actually pay for these so um oh two
1:35:07 other things I wanted to add both are
1:35:10 what Deputy council president D Michelle
1:35:12 said that I wanted to add on first was
1:35:14 the lots of neighborhood engagement for
1:35:17 um a new fire station here is is going
1:35:19 to be critical I liked your point on
1:35:21 that and then also having a plan
1:35:24 about what to do if we start to go down
1:35:26 this path and a bond were to fail and we
1:35:29 don't reach that 60% threshold what what
1:35:32 might we do at that point so those are
1:35:34 my thoughts I think in general I'm I'm
1:35:36 quite happy with where we're at I think
1:35:37 there's still some work to to go into
1:35:40 this but again thank you for everything
1:35:42 you You'
1:35:43 [Music]
1:35:45 done okay I think we're going to council
1:35:48 member Ray and then council member hunt
1:35:51 are you up okay in the than you all
1:35:55 right uh a couple things I'm not going
1:35:56 to go sequentially but I do want to talk
1:35:59 about phasing and I think phasing makes
1:36:01 sense matter of fact I think phasing is
1:36:02 the only way that we can do this um I
1:36:05 I'm sitting here thinking about a bunch
1:36:07 of dominoes that need to fall um and
1:36:10 there's some small wins that we can get
1:36:12 so I think the court move actually in
1:36:14 some ways if this is not going to be a
1:36:16 barrier for law enforcement with being
1:36:19 across town um you know leasing space in
1:36:23 the County facility makes a ton of sense
1:36:25 it's it's a court facility and this is
1:36:28 you know this is lovely but this is not
1:36:29 a court facility so um I I think that
1:36:32 that is the first Domino that we should
1:36:34 look to fall um I'm not opposed to
1:36:37 leasing um it creates um a necessary
1:36:41 buffer I mean because uh you know it is
1:36:44 the shuffling of uh the pieces you know
1:36:46 it's one of those slidy puzzles and
1:36:48 we've got to move things around um so
1:36:51 I'm not opposed to leasing but I only in
1:36:54 the with the caveat that there's a a
1:36:57 longer term plan in place that we know
1:36:59 where we're going and when we're going
1:37:01 um and then we get into the question
1:37:03 that uh uh council member Hall and
1:37:07 Deputy president D Michelle brought up
1:37:08 which is what if we start going down the
1:37:10 dominoes and then we don't get the
1:37:11 funding and I think the the the the
1:37:14 thing is we don't start moving unless we
1:37:16 get the funding and the funding is a
1:37:17 necessary precondition to doing uh
1:37:20 anything and if we fail at funding then
1:37:22 then we've got to take a big old step
1:37:24 back um I think that the fire station is
1:37:29 really in some ways represents one of
1:37:31 the biggest challenges has for at least
1:37:33 seven years as long as I've been around
1:37:35 um so that
1:37:37 one is going to be hard any way we slice
1:37:40 it um we have to have some contingency
1:37:43 plans in that you know what what do we
1:37:45 do if and and then I I'm I think this
1:37:49 was council member martz's point that
1:37:51 I'm kind of uh not super psyched about
1:37:55 knocking over the dominoes when I don't
1:37:57 know where City Hall is supposed to end
1:37:59 up so I I I have to have feel that we
1:38:01 have some if not concrete um here's what
1:38:05 the long-term plan for City Hall is
1:38:06 going to be that there are some uh
1:38:08 viable long-term options that we can um
1:38:11 we can pursue and then um disagreeing a
1:38:15 little bit with U or maybe not even
1:38:17 disagreeing but not a big fan of council
1:38:20 Council mtic borrowing I think
1:38:22 particularly for something of this magn
1:38:23 itude um if we're going to be spending
1:38:25 the dollars we got to bring new Revenue
1:38:27 sources uh with the dollars so that's my
1:38:30 thinking oh and last thing I think we
1:38:33 should do public engagement before we
1:38:35 start talking about a bond I think we
1:38:36 should be understanding what the public
1:38:38 really um you know what's important to
1:38:41 them and then maybe Circle back and and
1:38:44 talk about how do we start to plan for a
1:38:46 bond or a
1:38:48 ballot council member hunt
1:38:53 um so on the on the first one I think
1:38:56 there were a lot of options that were
1:38:59 researched and considered and this was
1:39:02 the one that we are presented with but
1:39:04 we aren't really presented with the
1:39:06 information on the other options as was
1:39:09 mentioned previously there's an option b
1:39:10 but it it really wasn't feasible
1:39:15 financially um and so I think having
1:39:18 more information about these are the
1:39:20 things we considered these are why they
1:39:22 aren't possible having that uh so that
1:39:25 we can also read through that logic and
1:39:28 vet all of that I think would be helpful
1:39:30 because as we were asking questions you
1:39:32 were saying well we did look at that and
1:39:34 you know these are the reasons that
1:39:35 didn't make sense so I think just uh
1:39:38 kind of surfacing those as options that
1:39:40 were considered and these are the
1:39:41 reasons why not would be would be
1:39:43 helpful
1:39:45 um it seems to me as other people have
1:39:49 uh also said that the first thing we
1:39:53 need need to really think about is the
1:39:55 the funding for the public safety
1:39:59 facilities and then if that um if we do
1:40:02 have funding to do that work uh then we
1:40:06 have a need to move the government
1:40:08 facilities and um and
1:40:11 then there's a bunch of moving pieces
1:40:13 here so one consideration could be that
1:40:16 I think we could I think you could make
1:40:18 a chart with the same goals for the
1:40:21 different facilities like this is best
1:40:23 best for courts this is best for um the
1:40:26 police facilities this is best for the
1:40:28 fire facilities to do things this way
1:40:30 because um there's a lot of different
1:40:33 reasons why you chose this option but I
1:40:36 think you know for example as was
1:40:38 mentioned if we if there wasn't a a bond
1:40:41 that passed then we wouldn't be able to
1:40:44 uh we wouldn't we would still have the
1:40:46 building as is so then what would happen
1:40:49 um and I I think we would probably
1:40:51 continue to use this building
1:40:54 Court um in that case so I I think just
1:40:57 having the phase approach laid out with
1:40:59 why this is the best approach and then
1:41:01 also the timing of moving court and the
1:41:04 benefits to court specifically the
1:41:06 benefits to the fire uh fire service
1:41:09 specifically and the benefit police
1:41:11 specifically would help tease out some
1:41:12 of those different things which are kind
1:41:14 of all together into one option that
1:41:16 seems like staff after considering all
1:41:20 the options found that it was best but
1:41:21 it doesn't really lay out all the
1:41:24 the benefits um and all the other
1:41:29 possibilities um so one other thing I
1:41:32 think the leasing could could make sense
1:41:35 if it's really the most cost effective I
1:41:38 think for the court uh to move to a
1:41:42 court that is currently a court that
1:41:43 seems to make sense because there's not
1:41:45 a lot of tenant improvements that we
1:41:47 need to do so I would similarly hope
1:41:49 that we could move to a if we're leasing
1:41:52 a space that we could lease a space that
1:41:54 doesn't require a lot of tenant
1:41:55 improvements and that is already office
1:41:57 or is already something similar to um a
1:42:01 city council chambers for for use of the
1:42:03 city council chambers so that we don't
1:42:05 have to spend a lot on tenant
1:42:07 improvements and then ultimately not
1:42:09 have a long-term investment that the
1:42:12 community is going to be using for more
1:42:13 than however many years we intend to use
1:42:15 it um as my fellow council members have
1:42:18 said having that longer term vision of
1:42:20 how long we're going to be leasing or
1:42:23 likely to lease uh and then where where
1:42:26 those facilities would move would also
1:42:29 be very helpful
1:42:34 um and yeah I I just think there's a lot
1:42:37 of data that would be helpful in terms
1:42:39 of you know we talked about service
1:42:42 times that service times would be uh
1:42:44 comparable or improved for the fire
1:42:46 station if it moved here it's it's a
1:42:49 very similar location so can we just see
1:42:51 how that would play out and then you
1:42:53 know see what are the what are the
1:42:55 expected actual benefits of moving it
1:42:57 here the if there's additional capacity
1:42:59 additional fire trucks how does that
1:43:01 improve service time but just get some
1:43:03 sense of the public benefits um for all
1:43:06 these different components and then how
1:43:08 they could be uh separated out or if it
1:43:11 makes sense to separate
1:43:16 them okay I'm taking taking the end
1:43:19 slaught here um we can go back for
1:43:21 seconds if there's anybody who comes
1:43:23 through
1:43:25 um my feeling on all of this is that I
1:43:29 think it's been pretty well laid out
1:43:33 that the police department needs the
1:43:35 full City Hall that was what that
1:43:37 building was intended for that is why we
1:43:42 have looked for City Hall space over the
1:43:45 last year um I don't know how often you
1:43:49 guys have been over there uh to see that
1:43:53 facility in use it's packed it's
1:43:57 old um it needs a lot of work and I
1:44:00 think having been in the Municipal Court
1:44:04 here uh I can say the same so my
1:44:07 thoughts are it's clear that those two
1:44:11 are priorities and needs that we need to
1:44:14 address and I think Police Department is
1:44:17 main reason we went on this journey um
1:44:21 in the first place but based on what
1:44:23 I've heard from other council members it
1:44:25 seems like we may need to do a
1:44:27 facilities tour um with staff involved
1:44:30 as a way to show I remember doing that
1:44:33 for City Hall Northwest and jumping on
1:44:36 the second floor and feeling it move um
1:44:40 so any demonstrations like that I think
1:44:43 could be very uh pointed for us not that
1:44:46 I'm saying anybody
1:44:48 should yeah okay fantastic uh similar ly
1:44:53 I think it might be useful to take
1:44:57 Council on a tour of the municipal court
1:45:02 or the district court or um other City
1:45:07 Hall facilities or something that gives
1:45:09 us a sense of where we're at and where
1:45:14 other options are um I think could be
1:45:17 useful um further feedback uh I think
1:45:21 the phased approach makes whole heck of
1:45:23 a lot of sense um I think the big point
1:45:28 that I think utumn made in the staff
1:45:31 report of hey we only have limited staff
1:45:34 time and we can't take on five projects
1:45:38 at once and so I think for that reason
1:45:41 that really gave me a sense of oh yeah
1:45:44 that's right that this is the right
1:45:46 approach rather than rebuild everything
1:45:49 all at once taking things on in
1:45:53 segmented projects make sense um that
1:45:56 being said I'm really disappointed that
1:45:59 we would have no other choice really
1:46:02 than leasing for City Hall and Municipal
1:46:07 Court um without having a plan for a
1:46:10 permanent location but I did really
1:46:13 appreciate what city administrator Bob
1:46:15 quit said that hey while we're leasing a
1:46:18 space may become available during that
1:46:21 time throughout the city you know we did
1:46:23 an intense search over the last year and
1:46:26 couldn't find anything but properties
1:46:28 can become available and so that is
1:46:32 helpful for me in thinking about it
1:46:35 because I think well one option is to
1:46:39 build a new campus in the old town area
1:46:43 or another location where we already
1:46:45 have property another option is to buy a
1:46:50 property that could save us money and so
1:46:53 I think in that way the leasing gives us
1:46:56 flexibility of options to look at
1:47:00 potential um purpose
1:47:02 purchases that being said I'm not bought
1:47:06 in on the idea of this as a proposed
1:47:09 location for fire station 71 I think we
1:47:13 still have heard from a lot of council
1:47:15 members that we need more data and
1:47:17 information on that we were given a
1:47:20 story for several years that we needed
1:47:23 in the north I think the story of hey
1:47:26 but that is potentially aamish um issue
1:47:30 makes sense but still doesn't positively
1:47:35 explain why this is the right location
1:47:38 um so information on response times
1:47:41 information as Deputy council president
1:47:44 D Michelle said of hey this is a really
1:47:47 busy location do we think that this
1:47:50 location is going to serve us for 50
1:47:53 years um all of that would be helpful in
1:47:57 understanding that and then on financing
1:48:01 I do think that we're going to need a
1:48:04 voter approved Bond I'm ready to do
1:48:08 public engagement at this point um but I
1:48:11 do really want to understand what our
1:48:12 contingency plans are particularly if um
1:48:17 certain other area bonds that may be on
1:48:21 the ballot in 2024 don't pass um what
1:48:24 that does to our timeline and our
1:48:27 ability to move forward with each one of
1:48:30 these
1:48:32 segments okay we have heard from
1:48:35 everybody anybody here something from
1:48:38 council members that they want to
1:48:40 trigger something for them Deputy
1:48:42 council
1:48:43 president um just a uh another request
1:48:47 for information we got a very nice um
1:48:50 list of uh municip bonds that had passed
1:48:53 and failed um but it's my understanding
1:48:56 that there's been a wave of bond
1:48:58 failures around school districts and so
1:49:01 I'm wondering if we could gather that
1:49:03 information uh my sister lives at
1:49:05 Spokane and I believe Spokane lost their
1:49:08 first Bond measure in the last 40 years
1:49:11 um most recently so um and I I think
1:49:16 it's legal for us to um get advice on
1:49:20 the political environment that we're in
1:49:23 and I would suggest that possibly we do
1:49:25 that now rather than later and that
1:49:28 would help us prepare and also perhaps
1:49:31 help us with the timing of any Community
1:49:34 engagement that we wanted to do around a
1:49:36 possible Bond measure um I think that
1:49:40 figuring out what where public sentiment
1:49:43 is right now about how much taxes
1:49:47 they're willing to uh assume and the
1:49:50 general feeling uh towards uh government
1:49:53 at this point would be would might be
1:49:55 really helpful information for us
1:50:00 thanks anybody
1:50:04 else okay we have said a lot you have
1:50:09 Administration uh I'd like to give the
1:50:11 chief chief Swan an opportunity to share
1:50:14 whatever she would wanted to
1:50:16 share Chief Schwan are you still there
1:50:26 I did receive a note saying she was all
1:50:29 good it was just toward an earlier
1:50:30 comment so she comes back
1:50:35 um you know thank you can you hear
1:50:38 me now we can now we
1:50:42 can I just wanted to say in touch face
1:50:45 that I know it's been mentioned that you
1:50:47 know we need more officers and I'm never
1:50:49 going to dispute that um at the same
1:50:52 time we are bursting at the students
1:50:54 inside the facility that we're in
1:50:56 unfortunately um and so that is a a a
1:51:00 definitive thing that in space that's a
1:51:03 big piece for us in the
1:51:07 future thank you Chief yeah thank
1:51:11 you again thank you all for your
1:51:13 comments um this is a lot and uh as we
1:51:16 said at the outset uh we need to get
1:51:19 moving and so appreciate all of the
1:51:21 feedback that you've given given us
1:51:22 tonight um it seems like there's two
1:51:25 buckets of of next steps one is sort of
1:51:29 a data bucket uh talking in specific
1:51:33 term more specific terms about where we
1:51:35 stand on fire uh perhaps talking in more
1:51:37 specific terms and where we stand with
1:51:39 the court um we have a committee of the
1:51:42 whole scheduled city clerk for the 13th
1:51:46 of May uh which this was the plan topic
1:51:49 to continue discussion so um I guess my
1:51:53 thought would be to use that meeting as
1:51:55 a data meeting um have additional
1:51:58 discussions with the uh Eire and rescue
1:52:01 they have all the information uh and
1:52:03 I'll just ask uh Chief Lane for
1:52:05 confirmation I I don't believe Chief
1:52:07 Lane you we've heard anything tonight
1:52:09 that you don't already uh have uh the
1:52:12 ability to share was that your sense as
1:52:14 well that's correct so we can pending on
1:52:18 schedules plan to give a full briefing
1:52:21 uh on the Fire fire station locations
1:52:23 calls for service issues um I'm a little
1:52:27 unclear as to how much more you'd like
1:52:29 to hear from the court as far as data
1:52:32 and issues are concerned
1:52:33 there um perhaps I think the second
1:52:37 buckets field trips and so we'll get
1:52:39 we'll get to the field trip bucket in a
1:52:41 second uh but we'll plan to talk about
1:52:43 data uh from fire and then um bottom and
1:52:48 Andrea I think there are other pieces of
1:52:50 information which we can share and walk
1:52:52 through
1:52:53 and so that probably is a meeting in and
1:52:55 of itself does that sound reasonable for
1:52:58 uh May
1:53:00 13th yeah so we did already have another
1:53:03 meeting set out um and you feel like you
1:53:06 can get those again with the
1:53:09 confirmation from Chief Lane um as we
1:53:11 have talked about this over the last uh
1:53:14 you know 12 18 24 months all the
1:53:16 information you've asked for I think
1:53:18 we've all seen various forms so that's
1:53:21 we should be able to share that
1:53:23 um so then it comes to field trips um
1:53:26 certainly we would love to to show you
1:53:28 the current conditions of the facilities
1:53:30 we've talked about um also perhaps show
1:53:33 you current conditions of other uh
1:53:35 Municipal facilities in the area um that
1:53:38 we would you know of comparable
1:53:40 communities um I think it's important
1:53:42 that you do this all together versus
1:53:45 doing it in vits and pieces um so would
1:53:49 the council uh be willing for the admin
1:53:52 ation to work with Council leadership on
1:53:54 what that might look like um you know
1:53:57 over one or two meetings um depending on
1:54:01 how much ground we need to cover uh we
1:54:03 may also I mean the reality is the fire
1:54:05 station is next door um you know perhaps
1:54:08 as we look at the agenda for the meeting
1:54:11 on the 13th if it makes sense to start
1:54:14 there um and then come back back in the
1:54:16 council chambers um just in order to
1:54:19 cross that off the list figuring the
1:54:21 other location are not adjacent to the
1:54:24 chambers and will require transport so
1:54:27 um I think those are the two next steps
1:54:30 um in you know in talking with mayor
1:54:32 Paulie and and communicating with her
1:54:34 this evening um she feels still very
1:54:36 strongly about moving forward with a
1:54:39 community task force and so I think we
1:54:40 will talk about that as well on May 13th
1:54:44 uh and share perhaps the mayor will join
1:54:46 us and share more of her thinking or or
1:54:49 I can as her agent to do that um but
1:54:52 again this is hard stuff um there's a
1:54:55 lot of critical pieces here and and we
1:54:57 appreciate the council's willingness to
1:55:00 roll up his sleeves and and be very
1:55:01 forthright Deputy council president D
1:55:03 Michelle and I had a a great
1:55:05 conversation this afternoon when she
1:55:07 rolled out her list and I said please
1:55:10 bring it I mean we want to hear what
1:55:12 these issues are because if they're
1:55:13 issues for you they're going to be
1:55:14 issues for members of the community and
1:55:16 better that we bat through them now uh
1:55:20 than later so um we'll plan uh council
1:55:23 president then to uh put together an
1:55:26 agenda working with Council leadership
1:55:27 for the May 13th c um that will be
1:55:31 mostly data and if we can make a visit
1:55:33 next door to the fire station we'll do
1:55:35 that uh and then look at another date
1:55:39 probably two dates that would be more
1:55:40 field trip get in the van and go take a
1:55:44 look at stuff does that make sense to
1:55:45 you makes sense for me um what I'd like
1:55:49 to hear from Council Members probably
1:55:51 just over email or give me a call is
1:55:54 what your thoughts are on field trips
1:55:56 what you need to see what you think
1:55:59 would be valuable um timing Etc things
1:56:03 like that so if you could get back to me
1:56:05 that would be great council member Ms
1:56:07 just to comment about the 13th uh I will
1:56:10 be in uh finishing a trip to Boseman
1:56:13 Montana to watch my youngest graduate
1:56:15 with his college degree so unfortunately
1:56:16 I will not be here but I will be a proud
1:56:20 pop we will be thinking about you and
1:56:23 your son at that
1:56:24 point um okay I think we have provided a
1:56:29 lot I think the administration's given
1:56:32 us some potential next steps for more
1:56:34 information I'll look forward to hearing
1:56:37 from council members
1:56:39 and with that anything else staff over
1:56:43 in the corner far far away okay well um
1:56:48 yeah I was just going to go back to the
1:56:51 agenda it items um yeah good of the
1:56:55 order Deputy council president so fellow
1:56:57 council members there is a list of
1:57:01 commissions and board meetings coming up
1:57:03 where uh we are hoping that we can get
1:57:05 you to sign up and go out and thank uh
1:57:09 our commissions and uh boards so um
1:57:13 council member Hall thank you so much
1:57:14 for participating and the rest of
1:57:18 you shame and guilt so uh and if you
1:57:23 need me to refresh that email just let
1:57:25 me know I'll send it to you uh and we've
1:57:27 got the signup sheet online
1:57:33 thanks and that's what leadership is for
1:57:37 sometimes is just to bring a little bit
1:57:40 honest truth to everybody but everybody
1:57:42 participated so nicely tonight so
1:57:45 appreciate that uh with that we are
1:57:47 adjourned at 8:28 p.m. thank you

Attendance

Council / Members (7)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Victoria Hunt
Russell Joe
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh
Staff (3)
Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator
Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator
Tisha Gieser, City Clerk

Recommendations & actions (2)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

  • The City Council also requested the following information:  # of full time employees the City is looking for leased space for  Conceptual plans of fire station at proposed 135 E.
  • City Administrator Bobkiewicz shared that the City would focus the May 13 Committee of the Whole on data requested by the City Council.