City Council Mobility & Infrastructure Committee · Monday, February 27, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of January 10, 2023

packet pp.5

▶ Watch from 11:25 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 01-10-23 City Council Mobility & Infrastructure Page 1 Committee Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Mobility & Infrastructure Committee 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. January 10, 2023 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Sewer Master Plan: On-site Septic Policy Recommendations ID 1277

Carried 3-0

60 min · Emily Moon, Director, Public Works · packet pp.7–125

Topics: Water

▶ Watch from 1:20:33 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

As part of the update to the Sewer System Master Plan, the Administration recommends changes to the Issaquah Municipal Code relating to on-site septic system inspection requirements, and proposed policy revisions regarding sewer extensions. More specifically, the Administration recommends:

3543 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ hmm

0:02 ↗ good evening and welcome I'm Chris Ray

0:05 ↗ and I'll be chairing this evening's

0:07 ↗ meeting

0:07 ↗ with that I'm going to call to order the

0:10 ↗ February 27 2023 city council mobility

0:13 ↗ and infrastructure committee meeting

0:15 ↗ I know this is important to everyone but

0:17 ↗ we will be doing public comment today

0:19 ↗ there will be two public comment

0:20 ↗ opportunities and so please let us know

0:23 ↗ which one you want to when you would

0:24 ↗ like to speak

0:25 ↗ at the very beginning of the meeting

0:27 ↗ we'll have a general public comment

0:29 ↗ session and then after we have done each

0:33 ↗ of the presentations on the two items we

0:34 ↗ have on our agenda today

0:36 ↗ and we finish Council questions then

0:38 ↗ we're going to have another opportunity

0:40 ↗ for public comments so you have you have

0:42 ↗ two opportunities to speak tonight so

0:44 ↗ please just let us know when you would

0:45 ↗ like to do that

0:47 ↗ and the clerk will kind of navigate

0:49 ↗ people who have signed up and when you'd

0:50 ↗ like to when you'd like to speak

0:53 ↗ um

0:54 ↗ at this time when we do public comment

0:56 ↗ you can address the council either

0:58 ↗ virtually or in person those have signed

1:00 ↗ up in advance to make comment will be

1:02 ↗ called on first if you've joined us

1:04 ↗ virtually do we have anybody online okay

1:06 ↗ if you've joined us virtually

1:08 ↗ and would like to make comments please

1:10 ↗ raise your virtual hand

1:12 ↗ if you're on the phone press star three

1:14 ↗ if you're joined by computer or

1:16 ↗ smartphone look for a hand icon this

1:18 ↗ varies by device one option may be to go

1:20 ↗ to the participant panel and choose the

1:22 ↗ raise hand icon in the lower right hand

1:24 ↗ corner

1:25 ↗ now if you're in the room and did not

1:27 ↗ sign up I will ask for additional

1:29 ↗ speakers before closing the public

1:31 ↗ comment comment portions of this meeting

1:34 ↗ so I'll do that both times

1:35 ↗ if you uh

1:38 ↗ let's see so I know we have people

1:40 ↗ signed up so I'm going to skip over that

1:42 ↗ citizen comments are important as

1:45 ↗ probably part of the public process and

1:47 ↗ we take them seriously and Factor them

1:48 ↗ into the decision-making process

1:50 ↗ please you'll direct any comments to the

1:53 ↗ entire committee and not to individuals

1:55 ↗ well this is not a question and answer

1:57 ↗ session we will contact you to follow up

1:59 ↗ if needed

2:01 ↗ when recognized if you're on the

2:05 ↗ virtually attending uh unmute your mic

2:08 ↗ or step to the lecture and there's a

2:10 ↗ button on the microphone push that

2:13 ↗ button it'll turn red and that'll turn

2:14 ↗ on the microphone

2:16 ↗ now state your name address in

2:17 ↗ relationship to the city

2:19 ↗ clearly speak and pause frequently and

2:23 ↗ limit your comments to five minutes

2:25 ↗ if you are attending virtually and do

2:27 ↗ not respond after your name is or phone

2:29 ↗ number is called or your connection is

2:31 ↗ lost the meeting will need to proceed

2:34 ↗ you are encouraged to rejoin the meeting

2:36 ↗ if able uh personal attacks obscene

2:39 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

2:41 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

2:42 ↗ permitted

2:43 ↗ okay with that clerk can you identify

2:46 ↗ the first person who has signed up to

2:48 ↗ speak this evening who would like to

2:49 ↗ speak at this time

2:53 ↗ thank you chair and so um I know a few

2:56 ↗ of you indicated you'd prefer and wait

2:57 ↗ and make your comments until after the

2:59 ↗ staff presentation so I'm going to go

3:01 ↗ ahead and list the other folks I have

3:03 ↗ here and if you'd prefer to wait just

3:04 ↗ say wait so Katie Cannon

3:08 ↗ okay uh Stephanie Hayes okay Joseph

3:12 ↗ ahmedson

3:14 ↗ would you like to speak now or would you

3:15 ↗ like to save your comments for after the

3:17 ↗ presentation

3:22 ↗ no okay so we'll wait okay uh Brandon

3:30 ↗ okay

3:32 ↗ uh is there anyone else in the room who

3:35 ↗ wishes to make comments at this point in

3:37 ↗ the meeting

3:39 ↗ okay we do have six individuals online

3:42 ↗ and one of them has a desire to speak

3:44 ↗ Michael imel Michael I'll unmute you now

3:50 ↗ foreign

3:58 ↗ I do have uh some familiarity with the

4:03 ↗ city of Sammamish City of Issaquah and

4:06 ↗ in that area I go in the building at 180

4:08 ↗ Northeast Juniper Street or 20 years uh

4:13 ↗ eight years ago I sold my business the

4:15 ↗ Minuteman Press Company which

4:18 ↗ um did a lot of work for the City of

4:20 ↗ Issaquah and the City of Sammamish

4:24 ↗ um I was involved with the city of

4:26 ↗ Sammamish as far as zoning goes I

4:28 ↗ represented I was a citizen that was on

4:31 ↗ the committee there that made

4:32 ↗ recommendations for the zoning of the

4:34 ↗ city city center uh with the City of

4:37 ↗ Issaquah I represented the business

4:40 ↗ community on the bond and Levy scope

4:42 ↗ committee and I was a member of the

4:45 ↗ Kiwanis of Issaquah for 15 years I

4:49 ↗ retired eight years ago but I still own

4:51 ↗ the building 180 Northeast Juniper

4:53 ↗ Street which is in the area being

4:56 ↗ discussed as far as septic goes I sent a

5:00 ↗ letter uh to you all uh giving you a

5:04 ↗ little bit of history of my property and

5:06 ↗ my experience there and what I have done

5:08 ↗ with the property

5:10 ↗ um

5:11 ↗ which in retirement I made a decision to

5:16 ↗ make a very large investment in 2021 in

5:19 ↗ that property

5:21 ↗ um which I want to make sure is reviewed

5:25 ↗ properly when it comes to code

5:29 ↗ um and in the letter that I read and the

5:31 ↗ information I have and and by the way I

5:34 ↗ read the 82 page no I didn't read the

5:37 ↗ 82-page document I scanned the 82-page

5:40 ↗ document that I received at around five

5:43 ↗ o'clock on Friday for this Monday

5:45 ↗ meeting and I don't have the education

5:48 ↗ or the science to really understand and

5:51 ↗ interpret and quite frankly I

5:55 ↗ didn't have the time over the weekend to

5:57 ↗ spend

5:58 ↗ time on 82 pages

6:01 ↗ but I think what is relevant here is

6:03 ↗ what uh is our neighborhood

6:06 ↗ what I have done in the neighborhood

6:08 ↗ with my property and when it comes to

6:12 ↗ code

6:14 ↗ um

6:15 ↗ what I'm looking at here is kind of an

6:17 ↗ setting a code on after the fact a lot

6:20 ↗ of times when you set Co code city of

6:23 ↗ Sammamish as an example was part of King

6:25 ↗ County for many many years and then it

6:28 ↗ became a city and it had to set codes

6:31 ↗ for the city boundaries instead of the

6:33 ↗ county

6:34 ↗ codes

6:37 ↗ I have owned this property for 20 years

6:40 ↗ and in 20 years

6:42 ↗ I have never had my septic inspected

6:47 ↗ I've never had anybody come around when

6:49 ↗ I bought the property I looked at it and

6:52 ↗ the septic to me seemed inferior but

6:56 ↗ it held water and it worked fine for

6:59 ↗ many many years in 2021

7:04 ↗ I had it pumped

7:06 ↗ again and it was more often than in the

7:10 ↗ past so on my own I had somebody come

7:14 ↗ out to do the inspection using the Kane

7:16 ↗ County

7:17 ↗ Health Department format

7:20 ↗ they didn't feel that it would pass

7:22 ↗ inspection so at that time I made the

7:26 ↗ decision oh and let me rewind my

7:28 ↗ neighbor to the west and the north is

7:32 ↗ the Sammamish sewer and water district

7:34 ↗ and I've always worked very closely with

7:37 ↗ them we had an incident years ago where

7:40 ↗ we had Barry brambles growing between

7:43 ↗ our properties and we found a bear

7:46 ↗ hibernating in there and I worked with

7:48 ↗ this the water district I'm cleaning up

7:50 ↗ the area and removing all the brambles

7:53 ↗ and putting up fencing and all that I've

7:57 ↗ always had a good relationship with them

8:00 ↗ um when I did the inspection I had

8:03 ↗ concern because the water district is

8:06 ↗ behind me uh and for 19 years I lived in

8:10 ↗ the city of Sammamish and that's where I

8:12 ↗ got my water

8:13 ↗ um now I live on Orcas Island so I

8:16 ↗ manufacture my own water

8:19 ↗ um

8:21 ↗ so I made the decision after

8:24 ↗ [Music]

8:25 ↗ deciding how much it would cost and how

8:27 ↗ I would Finance it and everything to put

8:30 ↗ in brand new high-tech septic system

8:35 ↗ it it's got all the alarms on it it's

8:38 ↗ got all the bells and whistles it's got

8:39 ↗ everything I hired

8:42 ↗ um well Walker Walker septic design

8:44 ↗ initially is who I hired but they were

8:47 ↗ so busy that they referred me to Brian

8:50 ↗ podacek who's the principal of rice

8:52 ↗ septic design

8:54 ↗ he did the septic design and he has a

8:56 ↗ very good close relationship with

9:00 ↗ um King County I know I have five

9:01 ↗ minutes I'm going to try to speed I'm a

9:03 ↗ Salesman so five minutes is ten minutes

9:06 ↗ for me Michael this is the clerk you've

9:08 ↗ just reached your five minutes please

9:10 ↗ summarize

9:11 ↗ okay I'm going to summarize this way

9:13 ↗ I've got a brand new septic system that

9:15 ↗ I put in in 2021 that cost fifty

9:18 ↗ thousand dollars

9:20 ↗ it was inspected by King County the City

9:23 ↗ of Issaquah has never done anything to

9:26 ↗ inspect any of the septics as far as I

9:28 ↗ know along the Juniper Street I also in

9:33 ↗ my letter sent to you uh my opinion on

9:36 ↗ First Avenue compared to Juniper Street

9:39 ↗ and and I also want to point out that

9:42 ↗ all the businesses I'm sorry please wrap

9:44 ↗ up your comments

9:45 ↗ I'm wrapping it up all the businesses

9:48 ↗ along Juniper Street are small

9:50 ↗ independent businesses and this needs to

9:53 ↗ be taken into consideration as far as

9:56 ↗ any consideration on sewer I have a

9:59 ↗ brand new system

10:01 ↗ and I've invested 50 000 it's going to

10:03 ↗ last 30 to 50 years I also received an

10:06 ↗ extension of 20 years as far as

10:09 ↗ notification Michael I'm sorry I'm going

10:11 ↗ to need thank you for your time I

10:13 ↗ appreciate it thank you Michael

10:14 ↗ appreciate the uh the comments

10:18 ↗ um also I just want to note at this

10:19 ↗ point if you'd like to send us an email

10:21 ↗ you can send emails to uh city council

10:24 ↗ at issaquah.gov so if you have

10:27 ↗ additional things you'd like to share

10:29 ↗ with us we would very much like to uh to

10:31 ↗ hear from you

10:33 ↗ all right so

10:35 ↗ um I'll start off with minutes from the

10:38 ↗ January 10th meeting

10:41 ↗ is there anybody else online I thought

10:43 ↗ not there are some other individuals

10:45 ↗ online I don't see that anyone else is

10:47 ↗ indicating a desire to speak at this

10:49 ↗ point

10:51 ↗ okay and um just to reiterate we will

10:54 ↗ give you another opportunity after the

10:56 ↗ staff presentation which I think will be

10:57 ↗ very helpful

10:59 ↗ um oh and one just quick announcement

11:01 ↗ before I get into minutes there are a

11:03 ↗ couple of empty seats if somebody in the

11:04 ↗ back would like to to come forward and

11:07 ↗ uh and have a seat because it's just

11:10 ↗ more comfortable that way so

11:12 ↗ anyway

11:14 ↗ it's like church

11:20 ↗ second I'll get I will get to that in

11:22 ↗ just a second I seriously will

11:25 ↗ um okay um first approval of the minutes

11:28 ↗ any any comment on

11:31 ↗ our motion uh no comments but I will

11:35 ↗ move to approve the minutes as presented

11:37 ↗ second okay all of those in favor of

11:40 ↗ present uh proving the minutes from the

11:42 ↗ January 10th meetings say aye aye aye

11:44 ↗ aye all right it's proved unanimously

11:47 ↗ um the purpose of tonight's meeting

11:49 ↗ um we have two uh work items that we

11:51 ↗ will be discussing the first is ID 1277

11:54 ↗ the Sewer Master Plan on-site septic

11:57 ↗ policy recommendations and the second

12:00 ↗ thing will be a discussion of

12:03 ↗ id1386 uh public works department

12:06 ↗ resources so with that we're going to

12:08 ↗ move into the first item of business

12:11 ↗ which is id2 1277 Sewer Master Plan

12:14 ↗ on-site septic system policy and utility

12:18 ↗ engineering manager Matt Ellis is going

12:21 ↗ to uh give us a presentation on the

12:24 ↗ topic Matt

12:53 ↗ allow us a few minutes to get the

12:55 ↗ presentation set up thank you for your

12:57 ↗ patience

13:31 ↗ okay hi I'm Matt Ellis utility

13:35 ↗ engineering manager for the City of

13:36 ↗ Issaquah and we're here tonight to talk

13:38 ↗ about the Sewer Master Plan and

13:40 ↗ specifically on our on-site septic

13:42 ↗ system inspection program

13:46 ↗ uh before I begin just wanted to mention

13:48 ↗ that this is the very first time that

13:50 ↗ we're presenting this to uh Council and

13:53 ↗ to the community and we did provide

13:55 ↗ short notice about this meeting so thank

13:57 ↗ you all for for attending at the very

13:59 ↗ end of the slide we'll talk about

14:00 ↗ timeline and there'll be more

14:02 ↗ opportunities to connect within with the

14:05 ↗ community as we get through this this uh

14:08 ↗ as we go through the master plan

14:10 ↗ development

14:14 ↗ so the purpose of this meeting

14:18 ↗ is

14:20 ↗ sorry to provide an update on the Sewer

14:23 ↗ Master Plan including policy

14:24 ↗ recommendations for on-site septic

14:26 ↗ systems and to provide sewer extension

14:28 ↗ uh provider recommendation for providing

14:30 ↗ sewer extensions to unsewered properties

14:32 ↗ in critical areas

14:41 ↗ is that better

14:42 ↗ yep

14:53 ↗ um

14:54 ↗ it was just the the presenting my

14:57 ↗ watching this go back to the beginning

15:02 ↗ do not know how to go backwards

15:13 ↗ you know what we'll just go that way

15:26 ↗ okay so again the purpose of this

15:29 ↗ meeting is to provide an update on the

15:31 ↗ Sewer Master Plan including providing

15:33 ↗ policy recommendations for on-site

15:34 ↗ subject systems and to provide sewer

15:37 ↗ extension recommendation on sewer

15:39 ↗ extensions to unsewered properties in

15:40 ↗ critical areas

15:43 ↗ Direction needed tonight is uh does

15:45 ↗ committee agree with the following

15:47 ↗ recommendations proposed changes to

15:49 ↗ septic inspection requirements that

15:51 ↗ require more frequent testing but no

15:53 ↗ enforcement proposed tiered approach to

15:56 ↗ sewer extensions focusing on sewer

15:58 ↗ services in critical areas and to

16:00 ↗ support sewer extensions with a sewer

16:02 ↗ fund to share costs among rate payers

16:05 ↗ and customers with new service

16:09 ↗ so here is the City of Issaquah and

16:12 ↗ highlighted are the septic systems in

16:15 ↗ the city that we're aware of

16:17 ↗ the City of Issaquah provides sewer and

16:20 ↗ water to

16:21 ↗ about three quarters of the city and the

16:24 ↗ other part is in the Sammamish Plateau

16:26 ↗ water district service area and that is

16:29 ↗ highlighted in Orange

16:33 ↗ so a little bit of background King

16:35 ↗ County Board of Health

16:37 ↗ code governs inspection require

16:39 ↗ frequencies for on-site septic systems

16:42 ↗ and requirements to connect to connect

16:44 ↗ to sewer the King County Board of Health

16:47 ↗ requires connections to sewers if

16:49 ↗ on-site septic systems are within 200

16:51 ↗ feet of available public sewer and

16:53 ↗ inspection frequencies and requirements

16:55 ↗ and the board of health code is is shown

16:58 ↗ here

16:59 ↗ 130450 and 1360.

17:04 ↗ Public Works engineering supplements the

17:06 ↗ King County board of health inspection

17:07 ↗ requirements with our own on-site septic

17:09 ↗ inspection program Matt can you hold on

17:11 ↗ just a second yeah can we make the the

17:14 ↗ presentation the full screen and

17:16 ↗ instead of matches it's from the back

17:19 ↗ it's hard to see

17:21 ↗ thanks

17:23 ↗ thanks thank you

17:26 ↗ it's a little better

17:28 ↗ that's what we can do

17:30 ↗ okay

17:33 ↗ thank you

17:34 ↗ uh Board of Health does not have the

17:36 ↗ funding to oversee inspection programs

17:38 ↗ the political applicable municipal code

17:41 ↗ is 1332 30 which contains connection

17:44 ↗ requirements and distance requirements

17:46 ↗ for connections to sewer and then

17:48 ↗ 1380040 contains connection rate waivers

17:51 ↗ from property owner elects not to

17:53 ↗ connect a sewer this waiver can be

17:55 ↗ renewed every three years

17:59 ↗ so our goals our goal is to protect

18:02 ↗ human health by protecting the public

18:03 ↗ from water-borne illnesses and to ensure

18:05 ↗ water bodies are fit for beneficial and

18:08 ↗ recreational use

18:10 ↗ our goal is to protect the environment

18:11 ↗ and to ensure water quality there's a

18:13 ↗ total maximum daily load of fecal

18:15 ↗ coliforms in Issaquah Creek set by the

18:18 ↗ department of ecology of 100 colonies

18:20 ↗ per 100 milliliters

18:21 ↗ we want to protect Aquatic Life and

18:23 ↗ ensure water meets regulated standards

18:25 ↗ we have a responsibility in the region

18:28 ↗ to maintain water quality as our

18:30 ↗ decisions can impact areas Downstream

18:32 ↗ from us Issaquah is just a piece of the

18:34 ↗ puzzle and managing septic systems is

18:36 ↗ one way we can protect our environment

18:38 ↗ we need to be responsible water stewards

18:40 ↗ for future Generations

18:42 ↗ King County Board of Health outlines the

18:44 ↗ inspection frequencies but does not have

18:45 ↗ the funding to oversee inspection

18:47 ↗ program we want to update our current

18:48 ↗ code

18:50 ↗ not all septic systems are currently

18:51 ↗ being inspected on a regular basis we

18:54 ↗ want to ensure that no matter where a

18:55 ↗ septic system is within the city in our

18:57 ↗ service area or Sammamish Plateau near

19:00 ↗ available sewer or not a proper septic

19:03 ↗ inspection is performed by a licensed

19:05 ↗ inspector

19:06 ↗ code updates will improve upon septic

19:09 ↗ inspection and connection requirements

19:11 ↗ we want to formalize our on-site septic

19:13 ↗ Management program perform dye tests if

19:15 ↗ a system is suspected of being in

19:17 ↗ Failure expand our stream monitoring

19:20 ↗ program and strategically extend sewers

19:22 ↗ in critical areas to provide to provide

19:24 ↗ the opportunity to connect when the need

19:26 ↗ or the desire presents itself

19:30 ↗ so here is a typical septic system I'm

19:33 ↗ sure you all are aware of what this

19:35 ↗ looks like but a sewer goes from a house

19:38 ↗ to a septic system the solid settle out

19:41 ↗ liquid goes to the distribution

19:42 ↗ distribution box and then to the drain

19:44 ↗ field

19:45 ↗ in the natural microbes in the soil

19:47 ↗ digest the bad bacteria like fecal

19:49 ↗ coliforms before it can enter the

19:51 ↗ groundwater or enter our streams or

19:53 ↗ surface waters

19:55 ↗ however

19:56 ↗ with high groundwater a drain field can

19:58 ↗ fail preventing microbes from doing

20:00 ↗ their job

20:03 ↗ additionally

20:04 ↗ an impervious surface or clogged pipe

20:07 ↗ forces that effluent into the surface

20:09 ↗ preventing it from circulating this can

20:11 ↗ occur in older septic systems as the

20:13 ↗ space around the drain field either gets

20:15 ↗ compacted or clogged

20:17 ↗ also a drain field that is located too

20:20 ↗ close to a critical area

20:22 ↗ can cause an issue and during storm

20:24 ↗ events or times prone to ground ground

20:27 ↗ saturation the effluent mixes with

20:28 ↗ surface water

20:33 ↗ so Public Works manages on-site septic

20:35 ↗ system evaluation surveys and maintains

20:37 ↗ records of unsewered properties we

20:39 ↗ administer notices and set schedules if

20:42 ↗ sewer is available and a property is on

20:44 ↗ septic a passing inspection is required

20:46 ↗ for a property owner to obtain a

20:47 ↗ three-year waiver from connecting to

20:49 ↗ sewer

20:50 ↗ inspections petered out and was put on

20:54 ↗ hold in 2019 there is need to overhaul

20:57 ↗ and revamp the program

21:00 ↗ so we did a gap analysis

21:02 ↗ we reviewed code from four cities in the

21:04 ↗ Puget Sound region one neighboring

21:06 ↗ County and two cities in the greater

21:08 ↗ Pacific Northwest we reviewed these

21:11 ↗ codes and compared it to issaquah's we

21:13 ↗ found ours to be one of the Lesser

21:14 ↗ proactive municipalities we looked at

21:17 ↗ our existing plans and policies

21:19 ↗ including the comprehensive plan

21:20 ↗ existing Sewer Master Plan Shoreline

21:23 ↗ master plan and stormwater goal

21:25 ↗ performance measures our goal is to

21:27 ↗ revise our code to be more proactive and

21:29 ↗ to be and to be responsible stewards

21:31 ↗ without being too onerous to property

21:33 ↗ owners we've identified gaps that we

21:36 ↗ felt our code lacked including

21:37 ↗ inspection documents for all on-site

21:39 ↗ septic systems in the city inspection

21:42 ↗ enforcement definitions of type of

21:44 ↗ improvements allowed of sewers nearby

21:46 ↗ identification of when and where sewer

21:48 ↗ connections are required sewer extension

21:51 ↗ requirements and penalties for not

21:52 ↗ connecting to or repairing a system

21:58 ↗ so our proposal is to provide the

22:00 ↗ on-site septic Management program

22:02 ↗ consists of two elements the on-site

22:04 ↗ program compared comprising of

22:07 ↗ inspection management and inventory

22:09 ↗ within the city

22:11 ↗ and also public Outreach

22:13 ↗ and then our stream monitoring program

22:15 ↗ comprising of stream sampling throughout

22:17 ↗ the city

22:21 ↗ so we want to formalize our on-site

22:22 ↗ septic inspection program in line of the

22:24 ↗ King County Board of Health we want to

22:26 ↗ revise our codes the requirements are in

22:27 ↗ line with the King County Board of

22:29 ↗ Health title 13. this includes frequency

22:32 ↗ of inspection inspection requirements we

22:35 ↗ want all systems to be required to be

22:37 ↗ inspected not just the ones that are

22:38 ↗ close to sewer this is beyond what we

22:40 ↗ are currently doing and this would be

22:42 ↗ three years for Gravity systems and

22:44 ↗ every year for a pump system would

22:47 ↗ require a Dye test if a system is

22:48 ↗ showing signs of failure and we are

22:50 ↗ worried about contamination to our

22:52 ↗ surface water system this allows us to

22:54 ↗ determine if effluent is leaving the

22:55 ↗ property or contaminating surface waters

22:57 ↗ this is not required for every property

22:59 ↗ only for preliminary inspection warrants

23:01 ↗ additional inspection

23:03 ↗ and we would require a certified on-site

23:05 ↗ septic maintainer to inspect or repair

23:07 ↗ existing systems failed septic systems

23:10 ↗ will be reported the King County Health

23:12 ↗ Department this is currently what's done

23:14 ↗ but now codifies the process and then we

23:17 ↗ want to expand the connection

23:18 ↗ requirements or we are proposing

23:21 ↗ connection requirements of sewers

23:22 ↗ available within 200 feet our currently

23:24 ↗ code states to connect a sewer if it is

23:26 ↗ available at the property line we want

23:28 ↗ to move it out to the 200 feet which is

23:30 ↗ in line with the King County Board of

23:31 ↗ Health

23:32 ↗ we're also proposing revisions

23:33 ↗ stipulating that if an on-site septic

23:35 ↗ system is located within 200 feet of

23:37 ↗ sewer a property owner is allowed to

23:39 ↗ continue to use their existing system if

23:41 ↗ they apply for a connection waiver this

23:43 ↗ requires an inspection every three years

23:45 ↗ for gravity and one year for pump system

23:47 ↗ in addition as part of the code

23:48 ↗ revisions we want to clarify what types

23:51 ↗ of improvements are allowed if a

23:52 ↗ property is located adjacent to sewer

23:54 ↗ our goal is not to make this an onerous

23:56 ↗ issue and if a system is working

23:57 ↗ adequately or needs minor improvements

24:00 ↗ we are fine with them continuing to use

24:01 ↗ their system minor minor repairs would

24:04 ↗ be in line with King County Board of

24:05 ↗ Health

24:06 ↗ however an extension would not be

24:08 ↗ allowed and a property owner would need

24:09 ↗ to connect if sewer is available and the

24:12 ↗ system requires a major repair like

24:14 ↗ replace in the drain field or replacing

24:17 ↗ the septic tank waivers waivers would

24:19 ↗ also not be allowed for non-conforming

24:21 ↗ systems typically a drain field that is

24:23 ↗ not that is too small for the house it

24:25 ↗ serves

24:28 ↗ any system that is in Failure meaning

24:30 ↗ this is the subsurface soils absorption

24:32 ↗ absorption system is not working are a

24:35 ↗ model that would change the amount of

24:37 ↗ use to the system and again we are not

24:39 ↗ proposing this we're only proposing this

24:41 ↗ if sewer is available within 200 feet

24:45 ↗ so here's our stream sampling program uh

24:47 ↗ we are expanding this over the next few

24:50 ↗ years uh we are providing we are doing

24:52 ↗ water quality sampling at 26 sites

24:55 ↗ within the city we are currently using a

24:58 ↗ con consultant to support this this

25:00 ↗ effort over the next five years and

25:02 ↗ possibly into the future as the program

25:03 ↗ progresses this work is supporting an

25:06 ↗ evaluation of septic system

25:07 ↗ functionality as well as issues with our

25:09 ↗ current system and potential other

25:11 ↗ sources of contamination

25:13 ↗ we are focusing on this uh

25:17 ↗ due to the tmdl of fecal coliforms in

25:20 ↗ Issaquah Creek and we're trying to make

25:21 ↗ sure that we are within the threshold

25:24 ↗ we are focusing this around dog parks

25:27 ↗ pockets of Humes homes on septic systems

25:30 ↗ and other areas that we are we have

25:32 ↗ concern we've received data from two

25:34 ↗ collection events so far

25:36 ↗ we've identified pockets of fecal

25:37 ↗ coliform counts that have exceeded the

25:39 ↗ TM Dell tmdl especially in isqua Creek

25:42 ↗ however we we need a Year's worth of

25:45 ↗ sampling so we can establish a trend

25:47 ↗ which will help us to identify issues

25:48 ↗ and weed out unique circumstances

25:51 ↗ and we will provide that information

25:52 ↗ once it is within we have a Year's worth

25:55 ↗ of data Matt I got a question uh yeah

25:57 ↗ Deputy council president thank you could

25:58 ↗ you just um for us and for the audience

26:00 ↗ could you define tmdl I'm sorry total

26:02 ↗ maximum daily load

26:04 ↗ so that is the 100 coliforms per 100

26:08 ↗ milliliters

26:17 ↗ uh it's it's not based off of that it's

26:20 ↗ based on how much seconds yes so we have

26:23 ↗ we have a comment period but other than

26:24 ↗ that this is not a an opportunity to to

26:27 ↗ shout questions to Matt so he's going to

26:29 ↗ do his presentation and then we come

26:31 ↗ back and we'll do we'll do uh comments

26:33 ↗ so thanks

26:36 ↗ so this comes to our sewer extension

26:38 ↗ program our goal is to extend sewers

26:40 ↗ within critical areas

26:42 ↗ critical areas include the flood plain

26:44 ↗ shorelines stream buffers Wetlands areas

26:47 ↗ of high groundwater and critical area

26:50 ↗ are critical Aquifer recharge area which

26:52 ↗ is around our wells

26:55 ↗ so our tier one is our 100 Year

26:58 ↗ floodplain Shoreline buffer boundary and

27:01 ↗ Commercial and Industrial properties our

27:03 ↗ goal is to have no new on-site septic

27:06 ↗ systems moving forward and to provide

27:08 ↗ sewer uh within two and within 20 years

27:11 ↗ currently we counted 54 properties that

27:14 ↗ fit this criteria 17 are currently in

27:17 ↗ Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer

27:19 ↗ District and 37 properties are in City

27:21 ↗ of Issaquah and we are primarily

27:23 ↗ focusing on the properties in the City

27:25 ↗ of Issaquah service area not in uh

27:27 ↗ samamish plateau

27:29 ↗ so here is a zoomed in portion of the

27:32 ↗ city where didn't go to the northern

27:34 ↗ part because there weren't that many

27:35 ↗ septic systems over there

27:37 ↗ and then if we highlight these are the

27:39 ↗ properties that would be impacted

27:43 ↗ and again this is within 20 years

27:46 ↗ and then the target to the tier two is

27:49 ↗ stream buffers Wetland boundaries and

27:52 ↗ documented areas with high groundwater

27:53 ↗ again we would require no new on-site

27:56 ↗ septic systems and our goal would be to

27:58 ↗ extend sewers within 30 years

28:00 ↗ there's 32 properties outside of tier

28:03 ↗ one in this category two in Sammamish

28:05 ↗ Plateau water sewer district and 30

28:07 ↗ within the City of Issaquah service area

28:10 ↗ again here is that zoomed in view

28:14 ↗ and here are the the properties in

28:16 ↗ question

28:19 ↗ and then tier three is the Cara our

28:22 ↗ critical area recharge area which is uh

28:25 ↗ uh where our water comes into our

28:28 ↗ aquifer for our wells this is the one to

28:31 ↗ ten year Wellhead capture Zone again no

28:33 ↗ new on-site septic systems and our goal

28:35 ↗ is to extend sewers to properties within

28:37 ↗ 40 years

28:38 ↗ there's 14 properties in this category

28:40 ↗ one is Sammamish Plateau and 13 in City

28:43 ↗ of Issaquah service area

28:45 ↗ here's the the purple is the the Cara

28:48 ↗ and here are the properties

28:52 ↗ so uh the thresholds that would trigger

28:54 ↗ the need for a sewer extension include

28:56 ↗ but are not limited to location within a

28:58 ↗ priority tier area as defined in the

29:00 ↗ on-site septic Management program will

29:02 ↗ be added to our CIP list

29:04 ↗ the location in areas with groups of

29:06 ↗ five or more homes where there's a 30

29:09 ↗ failure rate or at least 50 Property

29:12 ↗ Owners desire connection to the sewer

29:13 ↗ system would also be considered and then

29:16 ↗ any Redevelopment

29:19 ↗ so that brings us to funding

29:21 ↗ alternatives

29:22 ↗ sewer extensions are expensive these can

29:25 ↗ be hugely impactful to Property Owners

29:26 ↗ additionally unsured neighborhoods

29:28 ↗ typically typically exist for a reason

29:30 ↗ encompassing challenges for connections

29:33 ↗ especially along the valley floor where

29:35 ↗ all the tiered areas currently reside

29:38 ↗ we're pursuing opportunities in our

29:40 ↗ standards to reduce costs for

29:42 ↗ connections and make accommodations in

29:44 ↗ areas where gravity sewers are not

29:46 ↗ feasible due to topographic constraints

29:49 ↗ within tier one we've identified five

29:51 ↗ pockets of properties on septic where

29:54 ↗ more than three homes are located with

29:55 ↗ it more than 200 feet from the city from

29:58 ↗ a city sewer Main the cost to extend

30:00 ↗ ranges between two hundred thousand and

30:02 ↗ one million dollars conservatively

30:04 ↗ there are a lot of unknowns in the

30:06 ↗ preliminary analysis such as conflicting

30:07 ↗ utilities and other obstructions the

30:10 ↗ tiered approach is not to force

30:11 ↗ connection to provide the opportunity to

30:13 ↗ hook up when the need presents itself we

30:16 ↗ identify need within the prioritized

30:18 ↗ tier and extend sewers within the

30:19 ↗ capital Improvement plan connection is

30:22 ↗ not required unless a system is shown to

30:24 ↗ be in Failure per the aforementioned

30:25 ↗ inspection protocol the options shown

30:28 ↗ are standard mechanisms for sewer

30:30 ↗ extension utilized by our Municipal

30:31 ↗ other municipalities in the area

30:34 ↗ so the city has evaluated these options

30:37 ↗ they include the utility local

30:38 ↗ improvement district this are costs are

30:41 ↗ low distributed by the properties

30:42 ↗ Property Owners at the time of extension

30:44 ↗ a low interest loan is secured by the

30:47 ↗ city or could be funded by the city with

30:49 ↗ recuperation the city funds the sewer

30:51 ↗ extension at the time of connection a

30:53 ↗ homeowner would pay for their portion

30:55 ↗ homeowners are responsible for securing

30:57 ↗ a loan there would be an incentive for

30:59 ↗ an early hookup with payment over time

31:01 ↗ or we could do a funded City funded with

31:04 ↗ no recuperation the city funds the sewer

31:06 ↗ extension and homeowner is only

31:08 ↗ responsible for costs of the side sewer

31:10 ↗ or we could do a cost share which would

31:12 ↗ be a combination of the two

31:14 ↗ but based on the analysis and the cost

31:16 ↗ for these locations and the need to to

31:18 ↗ improve our environment we were

31:20 ↗ recommending City funded with no

31:23 ↗ recuperation

31:26 ↗ however that still means there is cost

31:27 ↗ for homeowners if and when they want to

31:30 ↗ connect

31:31 ↗ uh this would be funded by the city uh

31:34 ↗ with no recuperation extensions are

31:37 ↗ recommended due to the TM deal for fecal

31:39 ↗ coliforms in Nisswa Creek costs are

31:40 ↗ disproportionately expensive in the

31:42 ↗ flood plain as I mentioned

31:44 ↗ um and the extensions can be absorbed by

31:46 ↗ the sewer fund if spread out over the

31:48 ↗ the 20 years for tier one

31:51 ↗ property owners are still responsible

31:53 ↗ again for the installation and upkeep of

31:55 ↗ side sewers and any additional needs

31:57 ↗ some are required grinder pumps for

31:58 ↗ example which is an added cost for

32:00 ↗ property owners he Matt just quick

32:02 ↗ question for you can you talk just a

32:04 ↗ minute about what a side sewer system is

32:07 ↗ oh I am so sorry yes grinder pump is yep

32:10 ↗ yep yeah I'm speaking slang so a side

32:13 ↗ sewer is basically from the house to the

32:17 ↗ public sewer main so anything that goes

32:20 ↗ from

32:21 ↗ where you currently discharge your sewer

32:23 ↗ which is now a subject system that goes

32:26 ↗ all the way to the street and into the

32:28 ↗ public owned sewer line

32:29 ↗ and the grinder pump is just a pump

32:31 ↗ system that if we have an obstruction or

32:35 ↗ a very flat area typically in the valley

32:37 ↗ floor where there isn't a lot of gravity

32:40 ↗ to have to be had you may need a pumped

32:44 ↗ system which would be a little

32:46 ↗ box with a with a pump in it that would

32:48 ↗ pump it to the location our gravity

32:51 ↗ sewer

32:54 ↗ and again uh even with the proposal to

32:57 ↗ be funded by city for the city portion

33:00 ↗ of this which is everything in the city

33:02 ↗ right-of-way

33:04 ↗ it would still cost uh be a cost to the

33:06 ↗ city to Property Owners so I I broke

33:09 ↗ down all the costs including permit fees

33:12 ↗ and potential costs for a side sewer as

33:15 ↗ well as a grinder pump if that was

33:18 ↗ needed and the cost can be pretty high

33:21 ↗ that's why we again they were not

33:22 ↗ proposing this to be a requirement but

33:24 ↗ only if and when the need or the desire

33:27 ↗ presents itself

33:29 ↗ and based on this if a grinder pump was

33:31 ↗ put in and about 40 feet of side sewer

33:34 ↗ from your house to the the main was

33:38 ↗ about it's about 40 feet would be about

33:40 ↗ fifteen thousand dollars and the total

33:41 ↗ cost would be about 30.

33:43 ↗ again the city cost would be 20 000 or

33:45 ↗ 200 000 to a million dollars per

33:47 ↗ extension

33:51 ↗ public Outreach this is uh going to be a

33:55 ↗ big part of our our program we want to

33:57 ↗ talk about our code change information

34:00 ↗ and provide this to to all residents as

34:04 ↗ well as as well as our CIP planning as

34:06 ↗ we start to prepare for these extensions

34:09 ↗ we want to provide on-site septic

34:11 ↗ information inspection resources hey

34:13 ↗ Matt what's your CIP

34:15 ↗ I am so sorry a capital Improvement plan

34:17 ↗ so that is the plan that we utilize over

34:20 ↗ the course of five years to identify All

34:24 ↗ City funded projects in this in within

34:26 ↗ the city so anything from a street

34:28 ↗ project to a water project to a sewer

34:30 ↗ project goes into our Capital

34:32 ↗ Improvement plan our CIP

34:35 ↗ and then we also want to provide

34:37 ↗ Outreach regarding our water quality

34:39 ↗ education program we'll provide

34:41 ↗ information on our website and mailers

34:43 ↗ to impacted Property Owners if if the

34:46 ↗ time if and when the time requires we

34:48 ↗ also provide open houses for each

34:50 ↗ extension when the time comes

34:54 ↗ uh we did bring this information to the

34:56 ↗ our environmental board and improve got

34:58 ↗ feedback they concurred with our with

35:01 ↗ the administration's recommendation they

35:02 ↗ provided the following concerns they

35:04 ↗ were concerned with enforcement that was

35:06 ↗ one item that we could not address well

35:09 ↗ and we agreed that enforcement was not

35:11 ↗ going to be part of this recommendation

35:15 ↗ they wanted transparency to rate payers

35:18 ↗ and for us to provide this information

35:21 ↗ throughout the process not only at this

35:24 ↗ point but as we get this process moving

35:26 ↗ forward and I I'll get it at the next

35:28 ↗ slide our

35:31 ↗ uh timeline for for moving this project

35:34 ↗ to the next phase

35:36 ↗ and to ensure city council the city

35:38 ↗ consults legal counsel on on the

35:40 ↗ preferred funding option

35:42 ↗ which we did

35:44 ↗ uh we

35:47 ↗ requested additional information about

35:50 ↗ more detail on unseared property maps

35:52 ↗ which we provided here uh what if and

35:55 ↗ then there another question was what if

35:56 ↗ sewer is unavailable in critical areas

35:58 ↗ where no septic systems are allowed and

36:01 ↗ so we did evaluate that

36:03 ↗ and our response was on Seward

36:06 ↗ properties have been further

36:07 ↗ distinguished by sites who are

36:08 ↗ availability and and Sewer main

36:10 ↗ availability and they're I'm sorry uh

36:13 ↗ I'll get into that if there's questions

36:15 ↗ on that one

36:16 ↗ uh and then how will the city prioritize

36:18 ↗ cips for sewer extensions and how will

36:21 ↗ climate change how has climate change

36:23 ↗ taken into account

36:32 ↗ so the environmental board again

36:34 ↗ provided additional feedback for future

36:36 ↗ consideration uh they wanted to uh

36:39 ↗ backup Solutions of sewer extensions are

36:41 ↗ called problematic like looking at

36:43 ↗ composting toilets and gray water for

36:45 ↗ irrigation we looked into these options

36:47 ↗ but uh composting toilets weren't really

36:50 ↗ feasible where we live just because we

36:52 ↗ would need to haul the the waste away

36:55 ↗ and gray water would require us to a

36:58 ↗ re-work of someone's sewer system which

37:01 ↗ seemed very expensive

37:03 ↗ we're also looking at partnership

37:04 ↗ opportunities with private Developers

37:06 ↗ for sewer extensions where needed

37:09 ↗ so here's the timeline

37:11 ↗ for this Sewer Master Plan uh we're in

37:15 ↗ February in January we took this to our

37:18 ↗ onset our environmental board

37:20 ↗ tonight we're here in February to

37:23 ↗ present to you in March we will be

37:25 ↗ presenting our CIP recommendations

37:27 ↗ moving forward and as we move forward

37:30 ↗ our goal is to to have a sewer master

37:32 ↗ plan with this on-site subject policy by

37:37 ↗ the end of December there will be

37:39 ↗ opportunities throughout for Community

37:40 ↗ engagement

37:42 ↗ we're at the very beginning part of this

37:44 ↗ process so we will be providing

37:46 ↗ Community engagement from here until we

37:49 ↗ provide the draft Sewer Master Plan for

37:51 ↗ more public comment

37:52 ↗ we'll also provide comment opportunities

37:55 ↗ as we go through the sepa process

37:58 ↗ and then final or final adoption uh

38:01 ↗ usually you'll expect to hear from me

38:03 ↗ more often and we'll have uh open houses

38:05 ↗ regarding this

38:08 ↗ so again back to the beginning uh

38:11 ↗ Direction needed does the committee

38:13 ↗ agree with the following recommendations

38:14 ↗ proposed changes to septic inspection

38:16 ↗ requirements that require more frequent

38:18 ↗ testing but no enforcement proposed

38:21 ↗ tiered approach to sewer extensions

38:22 ↗ focusing on Sewer Service in critical

38:24 ↗ areas and to support sewer extensions

38:27 ↗ with a sewer fund to share costs among

38:29 ↗ rate payers and customers with new

38:31 ↗ service

38:35 ↗ that's right thanks Matt so we're gonna

38:38 ↗ we're gonna have some questions for Matt

38:41 ↗ and then we'll open back up for public

38:43 ↗ comments so I'll start out with

38:45 ↗ questions

38:46 ↗ councilmember Hall

38:48 ↗ yeah sure I've got some thank you very

38:50 ↗ much for the detailed presentation by

38:51 ↗ the way it's clear staff has really

38:53 ↗ thought about this issue and I

38:55 ↗ appreciate the depth too since this is

38:56 ↗ our first touch as a committee

38:59 ↗ um okay so a couple

39:02 ↗ questions

39:04 ↗ um starting with the on-site septic

39:06 ↗ inspection part

39:08 ↗ there was a requirement let's see hold

39:12 ↗ on let me go back

39:17 ↗ had to do with remodeling

39:21 ↗ no wait oh yeah for the higher threshold

39:23 ↗ for granting waivers so

39:26 ↗ um no waiver permitted when Remodeling

39:29 ↗ and sewer line is available I assume

39:32 ↗ there'll be some threshold for what what

39:34 ↗ we think of as Remodeling and that's

39:36 ↗ either in the works or have we already

39:37 ↗ thought about that yeah it'll be if

39:39 ↗ there's a larger use like if you go from

39:41 ↗ like a two-bedroom house so the septic

39:44 ↗ system is

39:45 ↗ sized for a two-bedroom house and you go

39:47 ↗ to like a four bedroom house then your

39:49 ↗ system wouldn't be working correctly and

39:51 ↗ so that's when you okay need to connect

39:53 ↗ to sewer where it would impact its

39:55 ↗ Effectiveness that's correct it's not

39:57 ↗ just changing the facial or anything

39:58 ↗ like that it's about use and demand good

40:00 ↗ I appreciate that clarification there

40:03 ↗ um

40:04 ↗ do we have any sense of the proportion

40:07 ↗ of these 89 in critical areas is that or

40:11 ↗ in the kind of sensitive areas that

40:12 ↗ we're talking about do we have any sense

40:13 ↗ of the proportion of gravity or pump

40:16 ↗ systems that are out there because a

40:19 ↗ test every one year or a test every

40:21 ↗ three years could have different impacts

40:23 ↗ on City resources in terms of being able

40:25 ↗ to administer those tests so have we

40:27 ↗ thought that through yet we have not

40:28 ↗ okay so that's I'm assuming on a list

40:31 ↗ somewhere yeah think about okay that's

40:33 ↗ correct

40:35 ↗ um

40:36 ↗ the so just generally the the tiered

40:39 ↗ approach the cost sharing approach

40:42 ↗ um the no enforcement approach are we

40:45 ↗ finding that it's similar to kind of our

40:47 ↗ peer cities in the region that have

40:49 ↗ similar I guess no City really has

40:52 ↗ similar geography days while we're

40:54 ↗ pretty unique in that sense especially

40:55 ↗ with this issue but I mean what's your

40:57 ↗ take on kind of

40:59 ↗ um how this lines up with the region

41:01 ↗ it's a good question

41:03 ↗ um we

41:04 ↗ our proposed approach is in line I don't

41:08 ↗ think the one area where we are not in

41:10 ↗ line is the proposal to Pro to support

41:14 ↗ and fund extensions uh within unsewered

41:18 ↗ areas

41:19 ↗ a few communities propose that but being

41:23 ↗ a head-watered and focal area for uh

41:28 ↗ environmental issues and also having

41:32 ↗ this total maximum daily load for fecal

41:35 ↗ coliforms we feel like it is a necessity

41:39 ↗ to support that

41:44 ↗ in terms of sort of supporting sewer

41:46 ↗ extensions with sewer fund with City

41:48 ↗ dollars that's correct okay got it

41:51 ↗ um the environmental Port is it okay if

41:53 ↗ I keep going by the way I'll keep

41:54 ↗ rolling okay cool

41:56 ↗ um of the environmental boards feedback

41:59 ↗ um I was wondering if you could go a

42:01 ↗ little bit more into detail on one of

42:02 ↗ the um so they requested additional

42:04 ↗ information about well what if sewer is

42:06 ↗ unavailable in a critical area where yes

42:10 ↗ no that's okay yeah

42:13 ↗ um if sewer is unavailable in critical

42:15 ↗ areas where no septic systems are

42:17 ↗ allowed

42:18 ↗ we'll look into each area to identify

42:20 ↗ when an extension will be made available

42:22 ↗ no new septic systems would be allowed

42:24 ↗ uh as we do this evaluation though

42:28 ↗ uh and then

42:34 ↗ and then we basically would allow

42:37 ↗ developer extensions or look at

42:40 ↗ different options if they are needed

42:43 ↗ so basically if there is an issue then

42:48 ↗ we could we could look we could work it

42:49 ↗ work it out I think we're just trying to

42:51 ↗ be proactive and create a plan for

42:53 ↗ extensions it doesn't mean that if we

42:57 ↗ have a plan for one and then there's a

42:59 ↗ need somewhere else we can't change

43:01 ↗ things around

43:03 ↗ okay so already thinking a little bit

43:05 ↗ about how the flexibility part of that

43:08 ↗ okay yeah that's I think there is a

43:10 ↗ slide here

43:11 ↗ um

43:12 ↗ where is it

43:14 ↗ basically yeah if if we would we'd start

43:17 ↗ making a plan within our Capital

43:18 ↗ Improvement plan

43:20 ↗ um however we have some flexibility like

43:24 ↗ we start doing these uh more astringent

43:27 ↗ inspections

43:29 ↗ um and we realize that there's a need

43:31 ↗ elsewhere in the city we might have the

43:33 ↗ opportunity to shift and go there as

43:36 ↗ well instead but we have that 20-year

43:38 ↗ Gap that's our goal within that tiered

43:41 ↗ one so that way we have that of the

43:43 ↗ ability to to move things around

43:52 ↗ so I think final question so the sewer

43:55 ↗ extension policy so at a high level this

43:58 ↗ is the city investing in the

44:02 ↗ infrastructure and then the homeowner

44:05 ↗ would eventually should they choose to

44:07 ↗ hook up to the system with them pay for

44:09 ↗ that portion is that correct that is

44:12 ↗ correct so we're seeing the

44:13 ↗ justification so we're seeing this from

44:14 ↗ the administration's perspectives from

44:16 ↗ the city's perspective as a good

44:18 ↗ investment a good return on investment

44:20 ↗ because it helps lessen the burden down

44:22 ↗ the road for homeowners that might want

44:24 ↗ to connect to the system is that a good

44:25 ↗ Fair argument that is a fair argument

44:30 ↗ absolutely great thank you uh so this is

44:33 ↗ uh Andrea Snyder Deputy City

44:34 ↗ administrator for those listening at

44:36 ↗ home

44:37 ↗ um so you know I think we're really

44:39 ↗ trying to strike the balance here

44:40 ↗ there's a lot of uh different ways that

44:43 ↗ cities fund this infrastructure the most

44:46 ↗ common way is through a local

44:47 ↗ improvement district or an lid that

44:49 ↗ would really place the responsibility on

44:52 ↗ all of the households to receive new

44:54 ↗ sewer service so typically what cities

44:57 ↗ have done in the past and what many of

44:59 ↗ them do is then it would be a local

45:03 ↗ property tax increase for all of the

45:05 ↗ households who would be receiving new

45:07 ↗ sewer service and what we're proposing

45:10 ↗ here is actually balancing that out we

45:13 ↗ think that would be a large financial

45:16 ↗ burden on most of the households

45:17 ↗ affected and probably impractical and so

45:20 ↗ we think that there's enough of a public

45:22 ↗ benefit to the larger Community to be

45:25 ↗ able to

45:27 ↗ um

45:27 ↗ to defray those costs to the individual

45:30 ↗ householders receiving new service that

45:33 ↗ we would put that on the balance of the

45:35 ↗ rate payers of the system as a whole and

45:37 ↗ so we can spread out those costs because

45:39 ↗ we think the benefits would be applied

45:41 ↗ to the Greater Community as a whole and

45:43 ↗ then we ask that what we're proposing is

45:46 ↗ that the households would then pay for

45:48 ↗ their just their hookup to that main

45:50 ↗ sewer line so that's that's what we're

45:52 ↗ proposing and trying to really come up

45:54 ↗ with a practical solution to balance and

45:56 ↗ share costs as as the benefits are also

45:59 ↗ shared of a proposed sewer system

46:06 ↗ anything else

46:09 ↗ council member D Michelle thank you

46:12 ↗ um so let's go back to the inspections

46:16 ↗ um if someone how exactly is that going

46:19 ↗ to work the city sends a notification

46:22 ↗ and says you are now required to do an

46:25 ↗ inspection but if the

46:28 ↗ homeowner decides not to do that

46:32 ↗ what happens

46:34 ↗ that is a good question we have not

46:36 ↗ worked that part out yet okay so that

46:38 ↗ was one thing we didn't want was to make

46:40 ↗ this uh go to a penalty type system

46:43 ↗ we're trying to work on good faith at

46:45 ↗ this point I I did notice that you've

46:48 ↗ got a statement in there about public

46:50 ↗ education and I presume that that some

46:53 ↗ education about the environmental

46:55 ↗ benefits would be aimed at homeowners

46:57 ↗ that have septic systems is that correct

47:00 ↗ that is correct yes I mean the main

47:01 ↗ thing is we're providing opportunity but

47:03 ↗ we also understand that people have new

47:06 ↗ systems or their systems may be working

47:08 ↗ great and we want them to use that

47:10 ↗ especially if you're up on a hill and

47:12 ↗ you're not going to be impacting

47:14 ↗ anything we just want to make sure that

47:16 ↗ they are working

47:17 ↗ correctly and and functioning the way

47:19 ↗ they're supposed to okay and um

47:23 ↗ so I I was talking to a couple in the

47:26 ↗ audience earlier and they had received a

47:29 ↗ notice from both the City of Issaquah

47:31 ↗ and the Sammamish Plateau water district

47:34 ↗ so could you explain how we're going to

47:36 ↗ be working with the Spanish Plateau

47:38 ↗ water district and is there going to be

47:41 ↗ any conflicts between those two systems

47:43 ↗ or are we working cooperatively to make

47:46 ↗ sure that our homeowners are not

47:49 ↗ being inundated by differing standards

47:52 ↗ or requests and so forth that's a good

47:55 ↗ question they just updated their master

47:57 ↗ plan very recently and we are working

48:00 ↗ together to make sure that there is no

48:03 ↗ uh incongruity

48:08 ↗ Deputy City administrator I think you

48:10 ↗ want to jump in thank you I'd just like

48:11 ↗ to add to that so

48:14 ↗ so the City of Issaquah is interesting

48:17 ↗ in that our residents are served by two

48:20 ↗ sewer utilities two different sewer

48:22 ↗ utilities we have Sammamish Plateau

48:24 ↗ Water and Sewer that serves a portion of

48:26 ↗ the city and we have the city sewer

48:29 ↗ utility and what we're proposing here

48:31 ↗ within our Sewer Master Plan is a policy

48:35 ↗ that would become city law so therefore

48:37 ↗ it would affect the entire city

48:39 ↗ regardless of who is served and that's

48:42 ↗ this policy of trying to extend sewer

48:44 ↗ into the critical areas that we talked

48:47 ↗ about the tiers one two and three so

48:49 ↗ that's a policy that we'd like to see

48:50 ↗ regardless of who provides the Sewer

48:53 ↗ Service we're trying to protect our

48:56 ↗ environmental critical areas and so that

49:00 ↗ would be for applicable towards

49:03 ↗ Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer as

49:04 ↗ well what we're also proposing in terms

49:08 ↗ of sharing the costs and having the cost

49:10 ↗ afraid to the right payers that would be

49:12 ↗ for our City utility customers only so

49:14 ↗ so Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer

49:17 ↗ would have to

49:18 ↗ work on within their Sewer Master Plan

49:21 ↗ within their financing options how they

49:23 ↗ would extend sewer into these critical

49:26 ↗ areas

49:28 ↗ thank you thank you yeah your turn April

49:34 ↗ very good all right I want to put a fine

49:37 ↗ point on what I think the plan is here

49:39 ↗ so the city is going to be extending the

49:41 ↗ sewer system and be absorbing the cost

49:44 ↗ of extending the

49:47 ↗ sewer infrastructure throughout the city

49:50 ↗ and then it's going to be a

49:52 ↗ [Music]

49:55 ↗ throughout the city's utility throughout

49:58 ↗ our service area great thank you for

50:00 ↗ that throughout our service area

50:04 ↗ and then the tier one two and three

50:09 ↗ um

50:10 ↗ uh

50:12 ↗ models that you presented those are so

50:15 ↗ at the end of 20 years are we going to

50:17 ↗ be requiring everybody who's in a tier

50:20 ↗ one to be connected to the Sewer no

50:23 ↗ that was a no correct okay so what's the

50:26 ↗ purpose of the 20 years then the 20

50:27 ↗ years is to provide a financial

50:30 ↗ uh

50:32 ↗ buffer to provide sewer within these

50:35 ↗ neighborhoods so okay so 20 years is for

50:38 ↗ us that is correct to get the

50:40 ↗ infrastructure to tier one 30 years to

50:42 ↗ get to tier two and four years to get to

50:43 ↗ tier four that's pretty city

50:46 ↗ administrator for the purposes of our

50:48 ↗ Capital planning got it so Matt had

50:50 ↗ talked about our um Capital Improvement

50:52 ↗ plan or CIP we're doing a update to our

50:56 ↗ CIP this year and so we're looking at

50:59 ↗ um through a six-year time Horizon we do

51:01 ↗ that by every six years is how we plan

51:02 ↗ forward but really we want to get this

51:04 ↗ into our Sewer Master Plan so we can

51:06 ↗ think longer terms within that 20-year

51:07 ↗ time Horizon within that 30 year time

51:09 ↗ Horizon we know how to prioritize our

51:12 ↗ sewer extension projects and how to

51:15 ↗ propose them into that Capital

51:16 ↗ Improvement plan so that's what it's for

51:18 ↗ is our capital and infrastructure

51:20 ↗ planning purposes and to add on to that

51:23 ↗ there's typically like four or five

51:25 ↗ group Pockets within each tier and So

51:28 ↗ within that Horizon we'd have we'd be

51:31 ↗ able to extend one within each uh five

51:35 ↗ or six year Capital Improvement plan

51:36 ↗ Horizon and then we move to the next and

51:39 ↗ move to the next so that way we have uh

51:41 ↗ we can absorb it within our our sewer

51:44 ↗ fund

51:45 ↗ okay great thank you um and if nothing

51:49 ↗ were to change

51:51 ↗ um there would be no mandate to hook up

51:54 ↗ to the Sewer from any of our on-site

51:56 ↗ septic today that's is that kind of my

51:59 ↗ understanding of the plan then if

52:01 ↗ nothing changed from our current code

52:03 ↗ our current code our from our what's

52:06 ↗ being proposed and nothing changed in

52:07 ↗ the property that's correct okay great

52:10 ↗ that's that's really helpful

52:12 ↗ um

52:16 ↗ I was going to ask about inspections but

52:19 ↗ somebody beat me to it so I won't go to

52:21 ↗ inspections um can you talk about

52:23 ↗ um

52:24 ↗ total

52:26 ↗ um

52:27 ↗ whatever load tmdl yeah a little bit

52:30 ↗ more and and explain why that matters

52:32 ↗ and and how um what how it impacts water

52:35 ↗ quality because I think that is really

52:37 ↗ at the heart of everything we're talking

52:38 ↗ about today

52:40 ↗ um in terms of why this city is doing

52:41 ↗ the investment in in in the

52:43 ↗ infrastructure so give you a couple

52:45 ↗ minutes to just chat about that too sure

52:47 ↗ so uh fecal coliforms are one uh

52:52 ↗ pathogen that we find in uh effluent

52:56 ↗ both human and in nature but it is a

53:01 ↗ requirement uh to buy the department of

53:04 ↗ ecology to be below 100 uh coliforms

53:09 ↗ within 100 milliliters so basically

53:10 ↗ here's a leader you can only have

53:12 ↗ certain amount of coliforms within this

53:16 ↗ amount of water uh in the in the

53:18 ↗ Issaquah Creek so our thought is or the

53:21 ↗ requirement is uh to keep that low in in

53:25 ↗ septic systems are one element moment

53:27 ↗ that contributes to fecal coliforms in

53:31 ↗ the creek it's not the only pathogen

53:33 ↗ that can enter the creek from septic

53:36 ↗ systems or elsewhere but it is one that

53:38 ↗ we can control and one that we have the

53:40 ↗ opportunity to actually do something

53:41 ↗ about but again we are also looking at

53:45 ↗ dog parks which also contribute to it

53:47 ↗ and other locations and that's why we

53:49 ↗ need a long period of time to do the

53:52 ↗ inspections and do the stream sampling

53:54 ↗ because one time you know there might be

53:57 ↗ a weird instance and that creates some a

54:00 ↗ lot of fecal coliforms at that one time

54:02 ↗ so we need a couple years to kind of

54:04 ↗ really figure out where there are issues

54:07 ↗ and really help us to to pinpoint where

54:10 ↗ we want to do an extension or where

54:12 ↗ where we need to be look at for concern

54:19 ↗ no

54:22 ↗ I'm not I'm not going to take questions

54:23 ↗ so

54:25 ↗ um

54:26 ↗ can you follow up

54:28 ↗ with with the public on kind of where

54:30 ↗ we're at with that because we did say we

54:32 ↗ would follow up

54:37 ↗ I'm sorry follow up with the public on

54:39 ↗ testing yeah well not testing but what

54:41 ↗ our current testing levels are what our

54:43 ↗ current testing levels are sure yeah I

54:45 ↗ think I don't think we're prepared with

54:46 ↗ that yeah number but we can follow up

54:50 ↗ yes

54:55 ↗ okay

54:57 ↗ um more questions

54:59 ↗ councilmember Hall thank you a couple

55:01 ↗ more sorry things

55:03 ↗ um

55:04 ↗ the sewer fund uh is that only supported

55:07 ↗ by rate rate dollars or are there any

55:11 ↗ other

55:12 ↗ um funding sources that go into the

55:13 ↗ sewer fund that is typically rate fund

55:15 ↗ but we are we will look for grant

55:17 ↗ funding opportunities as well oh okay uh

55:20 ↗ generally are those I mean have we poked

55:23 ↗ around a little bit are those generally

55:24 ↗ available not out there as often but

55:28 ↗ there might be opportunities based on

55:30 ↗ our location and proximity to critical

55:33 ↗ areas this might also be

55:36 ↗ this is actually more of a comment so

55:37 ↗ I'll save it for later but I was

55:40 ↗ thinking we might try to engage the

55:42 ↗ legislature somehow in this early star

55:44 ↗ representatives in terms of resources

55:46 ↗ other question is

55:49 ↗ um

55:50 ↗ oh water sampling so part of the

55:52 ↗ recommendation also is the city would

55:53 ↗ increase the number of locations of

55:55 ↗ water sampling

55:57 ↗ oh go ahead I was just going to say is

55:59 ↗ that also going to be kind of on a

56:01 ↗ tiered level or day one we're just gonna

56:04 ↗ pick some new areas we've been doing

56:06 ↗ this for about a year now so it took

56:07 ↗ about a year to kind of get the the

56:09 ↗ program going we were hoping it would

56:11 ↗ we'd be a little further along than we

56:12 ↗ are now but that is one something that

56:15 ↗ we're currently uh

56:18 ↗ doing we have 26 sites and we have a

56:20 ↗ consultant supporting us in this effort

56:24 ↗ um and then can you really Briefly

56:26 ↗ summarize what the role of the King

56:28 ↗ County Board of Health is again in all

56:30 ↗ of this and what their role would be

56:32 ↗ moving forward if we went forward with

56:34 ↗ the proposal

56:35 ↗ they're in charge of uh

56:39 ↗ basically inspection oversight over the

56:41 ↗ entire County so they they have the the

56:44 ↗ overarching code our code can subsidize

56:47 ↗ that be more or less restrictive but

56:51 ↗ they don't

56:52 ↗ they basically monitor all septic

56:55 ↗ systems in the city in the the county

56:57 ↗ and they kind of I guess have a a

57:01 ↗ database they also monitor if a system

57:03 ↗ has failed so it's reported to them and

57:06 ↗ then they check in to make sure that the

57:08 ↗ system has the the

57:10 ↗ issue has been resolved so there's been

57:12 ↗ a few that have been I've reported to

57:14 ↗ the King County Board of Health uh and

57:16 ↗ then they check in with me see if it's

57:18 ↗ been

57:19 ↗ fixed or we're in the process of fixing

57:22 ↗ it so a lot of these do take time

57:23 ↗ they're aware of that they're patient

57:25 ↗ nothing no one's been red tagged or

57:28 ↗ anything like that but they do want it

57:29 ↗ to be fixed

57:30 ↗ eventually

57:35 ↗ anything else

57:36 ↗ all right uh thanks uh Matt that was

57:39 ↗ that was great

57:41 ↗ um I also just want to point out that um

57:45 ↗ we're doing quite a bit of uh this is

57:47 ↗ the first touch of many touches we're

57:49 ↗ going to have on this I'm really

57:50 ↗ thrilled to see everybody here tonight

57:51 ↗ but we're gonna have many opportunities

57:53 ↗ to talk through this some more so I'm

57:56 ↗ going to open this back up for on the

57:58 ↗ second round of public comment

58:01 ↗ um city clerk anybody signed up

58:04 ↗ to make comment

58:06 ↗ yes the first is Ellen mole

58:15 ↗ if you hit the little button down at the

58:17 ↗ base of the mic you're on you can hear

58:19 ↗ me okay

58:21 ↗ my name is Ellen Mulberry

58:24 ↗ um I my sister and I own

58:26 ↗ the house at 1321 Sycamore Drive

58:29 ↗ Southeast

58:30 ↗ uh we moved to Issaquah with our parents

58:33 ↗ in 1963.

58:37 ↗ septic systems were always meant to be

58:40 ↗ temporary solutions to the needs of

58:44 ↗ sanitary disposal in Sycamore after 45

58:48 ↗ years and at least four serious attempts

58:52 ↗ to take the sewer across the Issaquah

58:54 ↗ Creek in Sycamore it is clear it will

58:58 ↗ require the City of Issaquah to bring

59:00 ↗ the sewer across

59:03 ↗ the rising ground water and high Creek

59:05 ↗ levels have gotten worse over the last

59:07 ↗ 20 years

59:09 ↗ and our problem for those of us in the

59:12 ↗ low area along the creek

59:14 ↗ our first home in Sycamore just on the

59:17 ↗ other side of the creek was even raised

59:21 ↗ in response to the flooding that they

59:23 ↗ had they've had

59:26 ↗ three years ago my sister and I spent

59:29 ↗ seven thousand dollars investigating the

59:32 ↗ possibility of a repair to our septic

59:35 ↗ system

59:36 ↗ that's seven thousand dollars just

59:39 ↗ investigating the repair

59:41 ↗ our system is not repairable

59:45 ↗ our house is 300 feet from a sewer

59:49 ↗ manhole and if the city brings the sewer

59:51 ↗ across we will hook up to it

59:55 ↗ as to the argument about the use of a

59:58 ↗ spaghetti line in the sewer design since

1:00:01 ↗ this since the line will be on the

1:00:04 ↗ downstream

1:00:05 ↗ side of the bridge and it will be double

1:00:08 ↗ hauled if the line gets knocked out by a

1:00:11 ↗ tree

1:00:12 ↗ the tree will almost certainly take out

1:00:14 ↗ the bridge along with it

1:00:16 ↗ and everyone on the hillside will have a

1:00:18 ↗ much bigger problem than just our sewer

1:00:21 ↗ line

1:00:22 ↗ as to the argument of Ace that a

1:00:25 ↗ spaghetti line is a waste of money in

1:00:27 ↗ the short term

1:00:28 ↗ it is not reasonable for the city to

1:00:31 ↗ decide to hold the people who have

1:00:33 ↗ current needs Hostage to the people who

1:00:36 ↗ have future wants

1:00:38 ↗ while the people who live on the

1:00:41 ↗ hillside are divided about whether or

1:00:43 ↗ not to bring sewer

1:00:45 ↗ the people along the creek and on our

1:00:47 ↗ side are not divided we need relief now

1:00:53 ↗ as you begin to implement changes to the

1:00:56 ↗ city code for on-site systems please

1:01:00 ↗ consider the needs of those of us

1:01:02 ↗ who are asking you for the opportunity

1:01:05 ↗ to hook up to the Sewer

1:01:07 ↗ thank you

1:01:09 ↗ thank you Ellen I appreciate the the

1:01:13 ↗ Applause but let's uh let's not

1:01:24 ↗ hello I think this is still on my name

1:01:26 ↗ is Katie Cannon I'm at 1544 Hillside

1:01:28 ↗ Drive and um first I just want to say

1:01:30 ↗ I'm psyched to see that the entire city

1:01:33 ↗ is involved in this and not just our

1:01:35 ↗ neighborhood as a bonus

1:01:37 ↗ um but I guess I kind of have a question

1:01:40 ↗ you had mentioned 200 feet as being a

1:01:42 ↗ magic number for connecting and is that

1:01:43 ↗ from

1:01:45 ↗ um like your property line or from where

1:01:47 ↗ your current septic comes out like is

1:01:50 ↗ located on your lot because that's a

1:01:51 ↗ pretty big difference and your number

1:01:53 ↗ was quoted for 40 feet as you know

1:01:56 ↗ tunneling out to the sewer line and I

1:01:58 ↗ guarantee you that's not 40 feet for me

1:02:00 ↗ so just um I'd love some more realistic

1:02:03 ↗ cross numbers I guess

1:02:05 ↗ um and then also with regard to

1:02:07 ↗ extending sewer and Sycamore that'd open

1:02:10 ↗ up a number of lots for development

1:02:12 ↗ which I understand people who own

1:02:13 ↗ property there that's currently

1:02:15 ↗ undeveloped of course you don't want to

1:02:16 ↗ be held hostage but I would just ask

1:02:18 ↗ that the city

1:02:19 ↗ really kind of like take a closer look

1:02:22 ↗ at managing development because in

1:02:25 ↗ Sycamore some of the laws that have been

1:02:26 ↗ developed I've been amazed people who

1:02:28 ↗ want to move to that beautiful treated

1:02:30 ↗ neighborhood just wipe out all the trees

1:02:32 ↗ and build big ugly houses

1:02:35 ↗ so

1:02:36 ↗ um just take that into consideration and

1:02:39 ↗ then I hate talking in front of people

1:02:41 ↗ I'm hiking

1:02:42 ↗ um and then

1:02:44 ↗ uh Federal grant dollars it seems like

1:02:46 ↗ there are a lot of infrastructure grants

1:02:48 ↗ available now post covid and is there

1:02:51 ↗ any opportunity for those grants to kind

1:02:54 ↗ of help out homeowners because that's

1:02:55 ↗ not an insignificant cost

1:02:58 ↗ especially when you're talking about

1:02:59 ↗ going more than 40 feet to the street

1:03:02 ↗ and let's see

1:03:05 ↗ um

1:03:06 ↗ yeah that's about all I have to say just

1:03:08 ↗ thanks for listening thanks Katie

1:03:12 ↗ the clerk

1:03:14 ↗ Gary Hamburg

1:03:23 ↗ Gary here and wanting to speak

1:03:25 ↗ no okay so next we have Stephanie Hayes

1:03:36 ↗ sir please provide your name Lonnie

1:03:39 ↗ spivey21023 Southeast 82nd Street

1:03:42 ↗ so my question is

1:03:46 ↗ you said it is a quadcrete so

1:03:48 ↗ everything's about Issaquah Creek so

1:03:51 ↗ you're basically trying to enforce

1:03:55 ↗ a septic system across Issaquah based

1:03:59 ↗ off fecal matter in Issaquah Creek and

1:04:02 ↗ if I heard you earlier

1:04:03 ↗ today you said that the reason was sorry

1:04:08 ↗ the reading was done earlier or last

1:04:10 ↗ year

1:04:13 ↗ I believe it was I think it was 21. no

1:04:17 ↗ we the most recent was in 2023. okay so

1:04:21 ↗ the other thing that I want to point out

1:04:23 ↗ is hearing Issaquah we have a lot of

1:04:25 ↗ homeless people that live on the creek

1:04:28 ↗ so you're basing what you guys are doing

1:04:30 ↗ off of homeless people and you're

1:04:33 ↗ punishing homeowners who have been here

1:04:36 ↗ for years

1:04:37 ↗ 30 years I've been here stamming up The

1:04:39 ↗ Creeks now you're punishing me for

1:04:42 ↗ people that live on the creek who are

1:04:45 ↗ homeless that they're basically the ones

1:04:49 ↗ that are creating this

1:04:52 ↗ have you considered that

1:04:55 ↗ who who here has been here 30 40 years

1:05:00 ↗ well that's fine but you know

1:05:02 ↗ a lot of us been here forever there's

1:05:05 ↗ been plenty of salmon this was a great

1:05:07 ↗ place to live

1:05:09 ↗ but now all of a sudden we're being

1:05:11 ↗ forced to do something because of a

1:05:14 ↗ situation that was pandemic that has

1:05:17 ↗ created an issue for everybody

1:05:20 ↗ and now we're the ones going to have to

1:05:21 ↗ pay for it

1:05:24 ↗ because we you know you I can go out

1:05:27 ↗ there and I can find probably 30 camps

1:05:29 ↗ next to the creek

1:05:32 ↗ my step trip system is 500 feet from the

1:05:35 ↗ creek or more

1:05:37 ↗ and now you're telling me I have to do

1:05:38 ↗ something I know you said it's only 200

1:05:40 ↗ but eventually you guys are going to

1:05:42 ↗ come back and say no you have to hook up

1:05:46 ↗ and that's not fair for every single

1:05:48 ↗ person here

1:05:50 ↗ that's lived here forever and that you

1:05:52 ↗ guys can't prove it's their septic

1:05:54 ↗ system yeah once you address the

1:05:55 ↗ committee instead of Madness no that's

1:05:58 ↗ fine but he's the one that's presenting

1:06:00 ↗ it he's the one that's proposing it you

1:06:04 ↗ guys are the ones that are going to

1:06:05 ↗ follow what he says correct

1:06:09 ↗ that well yes or no I mean possibly

1:06:12 ↗ based off of what what everybody says

1:06:16 ↗ so

1:06:18 ↗ when you consider this consider the

1:06:22 ↗ homeless that have created an issue for

1:06:25 ↗ everybody that lives around the creeks

1:06:28 ↗ in Issaquah it's a beautiful place don't

1:06:32 ↗ punish the people that have been here

1:06:33 ↗ forever because the majority of the

1:06:35 ↗ people here look like they've been here

1:06:37 ↗ for a while

1:06:40 ↗ and we're here battling a situation

1:06:43 ↗ based off of something that

1:06:46 ↗ nobody's ever come up hey can I check

1:06:49 ↗ your system who's going to check my

1:06:51 ↗ system do I have to pay you guys to come

1:06:52 ↗ to the city to come pay it tell me

1:06:54 ↗ that's right

1:06:56 ↗ or is it the septic system

1:06:59 ↗ is it you guys

1:07:01 ↗ it's your turn to comment well no no I'm

1:07:04 ↗ asking a question because I because if

1:07:06 ↗ it's you guys then you have an agenda

1:07:10 ↗ and that's something different because I

1:07:13 ↗ want to make sure that everybody

1:07:14 ↗ understands this I know what you're

1:07:17 ↗ trying to do and I appreciate everything

1:07:19 ↗ that you're trying to do and want to do

1:07:21 ↗ and I think that's wonderful

1:07:24 ↗ but look at the homeless look at the

1:07:28 ↗ other situations and don't put it on

1:07:30 ↗ something that you're not quite sure if

1:07:32 ↗ that's truly the case

1:07:35 ↗ because like I said Iron goes through

1:07:38 ↗ Issaquah and find camps all over

1:07:41 ↗ Issaquah Creek

1:07:43 ↗ I don't live on Issaquah Creek I live

1:07:45 ↗ over by Tibbetts I'm not even close to

1:07:47 ↗ it but you guys are

1:07:49 ↗ basically telling me I have to do all

1:07:52 ↗ this stuff based off of is a Croc

1:07:54 ↗ Issaquah Creek and that's where I have a

1:07:58 ↗ problem

1:07:59 ↗ if it's at Issaquah Creek then deal with

1:08:02 ↗ the homeowners over there don't do it

1:08:04 ↗ for everybody else because it's not fair

1:08:09 ↗ thank you thank you

1:08:11 ↗ City Clerk

1:08:12 ↗ Joseph amitsen which

1:08:16 ↗ thank you

1:08:18 ↗ my name is Joseph ahmedson I'm a retired

1:08:21 ↗ pharmacist living in Issaquah since

1:08:24 ↗ 1984.

1:08:26 ↗ I have a two and a half acres on the

1:08:28 ↗ plateau

1:08:30 ↗ which is about a thousand feet away from

1:08:33 ↗ the sewer line

1:08:35 ↗ and my neighbor which is just a few

1:08:39 ↗ hundred feet or so down from me I asked

1:08:42 ↗ he's on the downhill

1:08:44 ↗ so I asked him to give me easement to

1:08:48 ↗ just sit on the sewer line through his

1:08:50 ↗ property and connect it to the sword

1:08:54 ↗ he was glad to do it then I went to the

1:08:57 ↗ uh

1:08:59 ↗ sewer department

1:09:03 ↗ and I asked to see if I could get you

1:09:06 ↗ know

1:09:07 ↗ you know saw it today uh from my

1:09:12 ↗ property to go all the way down and they

1:09:14 ↗ said since it's a private property they

1:09:17 ↗ cannot do that so in order for me to

1:09:21 ↗ take the soil line and more by home is

1:09:23 ↗ about thousand feet away from the soil

1:09:25 ↗ and 300 feet I have to climb up almost

1:09:29 ↗ about 20 25 degree to get to it

1:09:33 ↗ so I don't know if Issaquah can help me

1:09:36 ↗ out to connect to this world and

1:09:39 ↗ possibly uh wave that you know

1:09:44 ↗ requirement that you know plateaus you

1:09:47 ↗ know semamish Plateau is doing it

1:09:49 ↗ because I have to

1:09:51 ↗ easement you know everything is recorded

1:09:54 ↗ uh neighbor doesn't mind he was glad to

1:09:57 ↗ do that but the meantime I got a stuck

1:09:59 ↗ here so and I was septic that we have is

1:10:02 ↗ a two thousand uh gallon you know a

1:10:06 ↗ thousand gallon each it is a pump system

1:10:08 ↗ goes to the Mount system and we do uh

1:10:12 ↗ every couple of years we pump it even

1:10:14 ↗ three people lives in the house me and

1:10:17 ↗ my wife and you know a 20 year old you

1:10:20 ↗ know you're not populated uh home you

1:10:22 ↗ know to overload it so but still you

1:10:26 ↗ know we check it out every year and then

1:10:28 ↗ uh pump it every couple years so

1:10:36 ↗ if Issaquah take over I don't know if

1:10:39 ↗ they're going to ease up the uh

1:10:41 ↗ regulations you know or they're going to

1:10:44 ↗ help us out or

1:10:46 ↗ well let's um

1:10:48 ↗ Andrea you have something you want yes

1:10:51 ↗ thank you

1:10:57 ↗ thank you very much

1:11:00 ↗ I know Emma live very well too so

1:11:02 ↗ hopefully

1:11:05 ↗ touch it

1:11:09 ↗ so no one else has signed up to speak we

1:11:11 ↗ do have about nine virtual attendees

1:11:13 ↗ none of them are indicating a desire to

1:11:15 ↗ speak there may be I think we have a one

1:11:17 ↗ in the back

1:11:22 ↗ good evening

1:11:24 ↗ my name is Dale Timmons

1:11:27 ↗ I live at uh in overdale park and I've

1:11:30 ↗ lived here for 35 years

1:11:32 ↗ I'm a licensed geologist and

1:11:34 ↗ hydrogeologist in the state of

1:11:37 ↗ Washington and in Oregon

1:11:39 ↗ and I've been the president of the

1:11:41 ↗ overdale Water Association for over 20

1:11:43 ↗ years

1:11:45 ↗ I have a septic system it's been

1:11:48 ↗ functioning perfectly for 35 years it's

1:11:51 ↗ well maintained a pump it every two

1:11:52 ↗ years

1:11:54 ↗ um

1:11:55 ↗ you mentioned an increase in E coli

1:11:59 ↗ levels in Issaquah Creek my question is

1:12:04 ↗ you know is that from a point source

1:12:07 ↗ clearly that hasn't yet been identified

1:12:09 ↗ but uh in order to identify the effect

1:12:14 ↗ on Issaquah Creek you need to determine

1:12:16 ↗ whether or not it's from septic systems

1:12:18 ↗ or from people using the creek as a

1:12:21 ↗ toilet

1:12:22 ↗ and there's a big difference between

1:12:24 ↗ those two

1:12:25 ↗ any decisions that have to be made need

1:12:28 ↗ to be made based on pure science and not

1:12:31 ↗ on what other communities are doing

1:12:33 ↗ that's just not appropriate

1:12:36 ↗ groundwater wells in Issaquah can get

1:12:40 ↗ their water from a confined aquifer

1:12:42 ↗ which is artesian which means in this

1:12:45 ↗ area they're not susceptible to surface

1:12:48 ↗ contamination

1:12:49 ↗ my my career has been in the the

1:12:53 ↗ business of cleaning up contaminated

1:12:56 ↗ groundwater hazardous and radioactive

1:12:58 ↗ waste for over 35 years so I know a

1:13:02 ↗ little bit about this the EPA recommends

1:13:05 ↗ a 100 foot distance between septic

1:13:09 ↗ systems and a Drinking Water Supply

1:13:11 ↗ Issaquah Creek is not a drinking water

1:13:13 ↗ supply

1:13:14 ↗ so you need to understand or explain why

1:13:19 ↗ a bigger distance is required

1:13:23 ↗ um

1:13:24 ↗ you're proposing that this uh

1:13:28 ↗ program would be accompanied by no

1:13:31 ↗ enforcement okay is that forever or is

1:13:36 ↗ this a doorway to open for future

1:13:38 ↗ enforcement on these communities and

1:13:41 ↗ these people who own septic systems so

1:13:45 ↗ that's a big question

1:13:47 ↗ um

1:13:47 ↗ the other question is I live in overdale

1:13:49 ↗ Park which has somewhat large Lots

1:13:52 ↗ beautiful Community lots of wildlife a

1:13:55 ↗ lot of open space

1:13:57 ↗ and if you bring sewer in is that going

1:14:00 ↗ to force subdivision

1:14:01 ↗ because no one in that Community wants

1:14:03 ↗ to subdivide we like our community we

1:14:06 ↗ like the way it is and again I don't

1:14:10 ↗ want to live five feet from a neighbor

1:14:12 ↗ just don't that's why that's why I moved

1:14:14 ↗ where I moved

1:14:16 ↗ um

1:14:17 ↗ so anyway if overdale Park we are

1:14:21 ↗ surrounded by sewer connections the

1:14:23 ↗ community is but because of the low

1:14:25 ↗ housing density the cost of connecting

1:14:27 ↗ for the homeowners will be very

1:14:30 ↗ substantial

1:14:31 ↗ and for those reasons if the city wants

1:14:35 ↗ to force these issues then they need to

1:14:37 ↗ provide the funding

1:14:39 ↗ thank you thank you Dale

1:14:43 ↗ um anyone else in come on up

1:14:52 ↗ Heidi Foose 1564 Hillside Drive Issaquah

1:14:55 ↗ that's in the Sycamore neighborhood

1:14:57 ↗ uh my family and I have lived there

1:15:01 ↗ since 1972.

1:15:03 ↗ and just to piggyback on the gentleman

1:15:06 ↗ before me his comments and some

1:15:07 ↗ understanding ahead from earlier on it

1:15:10 ↗ sounds like the

1:15:12 ↗ cities portion of payment is going to

1:15:15 ↗ come from an increase of our property

1:15:17 ↗ taxes

1:15:18 ↗ I misunderstood that actually utility

1:15:21 ↗ rates

1:15:23 ↗ utility rates meaning the sewer wants to

1:15:25 ↗ connect up how much you're going to pay

1:15:27 ↗ which is also substantial for anybody

1:15:30 ↗ who does not yet have sewer it could be

1:15:34 ↗ four times what we're currently paying

1:15:36 ↗ for water even if you use no water

1:15:39 ↗ um

1:15:40 ↗ okay so nothing would go against the

1:15:44 ↗ property taxes if that was a

1:15:45 ↗ misunderstanding then then that's a good

1:15:47 ↗ clear point but just to reiterate that

1:15:50 ↗ any increase of what the homeowner pays

1:15:54 ↗ toward connecting up has a huge impact

1:15:57 ↗ on anybody on our fixed income and in

1:15:59 ↗ the Sycamore neighborhood that could be

1:16:01 ↗ up to 50 percent of the households who

1:16:03 ↗ are retired on fixed incomes and already

1:16:06 ↗ have a hard time paying for their

1:16:09 ↗ property taxes and

1:16:10 ↗ and other utilities to keep that

1:16:12 ↗ property so

1:16:14 ↗ and they're paid out of the system to be

1:16:15 ↗ able to move somewhere else to keep to

1:16:17 ↗ keep that in mind too

1:16:18 ↗ all right thanks Heidi

1:16:20 ↗ anybody else like to make comment come

1:16:23 ↗ on down or up whichever way it is

1:16:31 ↗ hi Tom huffnagel 280 Northeast Juniper

1:16:36 ↗ the slide deck I wasn't clear where our

1:16:39 ↗ property is I'm still confused if I'm

1:16:41 ↗ part of Sammamish Water and Sewer or if

1:16:44 ↗ I'm part of your Issaquah possible sewer

1:16:46 ↗ and I'm winning from that map can you

1:16:48 ↗ blow that up at all to figure out

1:16:51 ↗ where I'm on 280

1:16:54 ↗ is this deck available uh the deck is on

1:16:59 ↗ the city's website it's tied to this

1:17:01 ↗ meeting's agenda

1:17:02 ↗ so there's a link on here that we can

1:17:04 ↗ get the whole deck if you look at look

1:17:06 ↗ up the agenda on the series website in

1:17:09 ↗ the packet that goes with the agenda

1:17:10 ↗ there's a link they'll take you to the

1:17:12 ↗ presentation

1:17:16 ↗ is it on this handout here okay I'll

1:17:19 ↗ find it then so Juniper Street is on the

1:17:23 ↗ north side of Interstate 90. is that the

1:17:25 ↗ map can you blow that up because like I

1:17:28 ↗ said I can't figure out like I'm getting

1:17:29 ↗ letters from both sammamished sewer and

1:17:31 ↗ water and from you guys and so I can't

1:17:34 ↗ figure out

1:17:35 ↗ City administrator you want to jump in

1:17:38 ↗ yeah thank you sir I'd be happy to

1:17:40 ↗ provide you my card and we can respond

1:17:41 ↗ any

1:17:42 ↗ um personal questions that you have

1:17:44 ↗ about your service okay uh because the

1:17:46 ↗ questions I would have had were which

1:17:48 ↗ one do I belong to uh are we in a high

1:17:51 ↗ risk area at the tier ones and the tier

1:17:52 ↗ twos

1:17:54 ↗ um

1:17:55 ↗ and

1:17:56 ↗ how far from the sewer I guess are we

1:18:00 ↗ currently is this something that would

1:18:01 ↗ be happening if I'm part of the Issaquah

1:18:04 ↗ one within the next couple years or are

1:18:06 ↗ we talking 10 years or yeah

1:18:08 ↗ um so so you got Andrea's Deputy City

1:18:12 ↗ administrator Schneider's contact

1:18:14 ↗ information get a hold of her you should

1:18:15 ↗ give you all the specifics because it'd

1:18:17 ↗ be really hard to try and ferret that

1:18:19 ↗ out right now okay so I think that's the

1:18:21 ↗ best course there but if you have other

1:18:22 ↗ comments you'd like to make we'd love to

1:18:24 ↗ hear them nope that covers it thanks

1:18:26 ↗ great thanks Tom

1:18:28 ↗ okay anyone else uh like to make

1:18:31 ↗ comments this evening

1:18:34 ↗ come on up

1:18:38 ↗ hi my name is Katie Hibbard my husband

1:18:40 ↗ Greg and I live in the Sycamore

1:18:42 ↗ neighborhood

1:18:43 ↗ um just to uh questions that I

1:18:45 ↗ understand won't be answered tonight but

1:18:46 ↗ I'd like to put them in the record

1:18:48 ↗ um one it was mentioned during the

1:18:50 ↗ presentation that if nothing changes for

1:18:53 ↗ the property owner and nothing changes

1:18:55 ↗ what the plan is proposed that nobody

1:18:57 ↗ would be forced to be put connected and

1:19:00 ↗ I just wanted to clarify that wasn't my

1:19:02 ↗ understanding my understanding was so

1:19:04 ↗ long as the inspection is cleared and

1:19:06 ↗ they're set they continue to qualify for

1:19:08 ↗ a waiver they wouldn't be forced to

1:19:10 ↗ connect so I just wanted to put that in

1:19:12 ↗ the record as something maybe that could

1:19:14 ↗ be clarified in the future for the

1:19:15 ↗ public and then two um

1:19:18 ↗ if the tmdl

1:19:21 ↗ number is what we're basing kind of

1:19:23 ↗ these recommendations on I'd like to

1:19:25 ↗ know why we are moving at an frankly

1:19:28 ↗ what seems like a very accelerated rate

1:19:31 ↗ for December 2023 Target date to get

1:19:34 ↗ this in place when we don't have a

1:19:36 ↗ Year's worth of data so we haven't fully

1:19:38 ↗ established a pattern so I think it'd be

1:19:40 ↗ helpful to have more information about

1:19:42 ↗ kind of why the arrays accelerated and

1:19:46 ↗ what we expect to change if those

1:19:49 ↗ numbers change so are the critical areas

1:19:51 ↗ being based on the tmdl numbers and if

1:19:53 ↗ they are what would change about those

1:19:55 ↗ critical areas if if the numbers change

1:19:58 ↗ so that's everything thank you good

1:20:00 ↗ thanks Katie

1:20:01 ↗ anyone else like to speak this evening

1:20:09 ↗ I think uh I think we got everybody and

1:20:11 ↗ city clerk we don't have anybody online

1:20:13 ↗ who has a desire to speak

1:20:16 ↗ thank you

1:20:23 ↗ no I don't see that any of the virtual

1:20:25 ↗ attendees wish to speak at this time all

1:20:27 ↗ right thank you thank you all for your

1:20:29 ↗ your comments and for being here this

1:20:31 ↗ evening we we are going to also be

1:20:33 ↗ touching one other agenda item tonight

1:20:36 ↗ um so if you have comments on that we

1:20:37 ↗ will get to that after that part of the

1:20:40 ↗ presentation now I want to

1:20:41 ↗ uh look to my my committee colleagues

1:20:44 ↗ here and

1:20:46 ↗ there are three questions that that have

1:20:48 ↗ been put to us um

1:20:50 ↗ do we agree with the proposed changes to

1:20:52 ↗ the septic inspection requirements uh

1:20:55 ↗ that require more frequent testing but

1:20:57 ↗ no enforcement do we agree with the

1:20:59 ↗ proposed tier approach to the Sewer

1:21:01 ↗ extension focusing on Sewer Service in

1:21:03 ↗ critical areas and finally do we agree

1:21:05 ↗ to support sewer extensions with sewer

1:21:07 ↗ funds to share the cost among rate

1:21:09 ↗ payers and customers with the new

1:21:11 ↗ service

1:21:12 ↗ anyone want to get started

1:21:16 ↗ uh

1:21:17 ↗ okay council member D Michelle all right

1:21:20 ↗ so we have three questions up there so

1:21:23 ↗ just so everybody here understands the

1:21:26 ↗ process this is a subcommittee of the

1:21:29 ↗ council and so the three of us will be

1:21:32 ↗ forwarding our comments to the full

1:21:34 ↗ Council and that'll be the next time

1:21:36 ↗ that you'll be able to comment and come

1:21:38 ↗ to a council meeting of the of all seven

1:21:41 ↗ of us uh for uh for further deliberation

1:21:45 ↗ so so tonight is really a very

1:21:48 ↗ preliminary recommendation that's going

1:21:51 ↗ um going to the full Council so I am

1:21:54 ↗ supporting moving this forward for

1:21:56 ↗ further discussion to the council

1:21:59 ↗ um the the proposed change is to septic

1:22:01 ↗ inspection requirements that require

1:22:03 ↗ more frequent testing but no enforcement

1:22:05 ↗ I still have questions about how that is

1:22:09 ↗ going to work and whether or not it

1:22:11 ↗ would be effective

1:22:13 ↗ um I I guess I

1:22:14 ↗ don't believe we should put a

1:22:16 ↗ requirement in place if there's you know

1:22:20 ↗ if everybody's going to just ignore it I

1:22:22 ↗ think somebody asked a good question is

1:22:25 ↗ this just opening up the door to a

1:22:27 ↗ requirement that we are going to enforce

1:22:29 ↗ and I think if you're thinking about you

1:22:32 ↗ know do we have consequences for not

1:22:35 ↗ complying or if we have some levels

1:22:39 ↗ where we feel like we have to start

1:22:41 ↗ requiring that I think we should be open

1:22:43 ↗ and transparent about that so so I

1:22:46 ↗ support setting this forward for further

1:22:49 ↗ discussion to the council but I do

1:22:51 ↗ continue to have questions about the

1:22:53 ↗ septic inspection requirements

1:22:56 ↗ I definitely support the tiered approach

1:23:00 ↗ it seems to me that 10 20 and or excuse

1:23:03 ↗ me 20 30 and 40 years for those areas is

1:23:08 ↗ is a reasonable time

1:23:11 ↗ I I was talking to people beforehand and

1:23:14 ↗ I know as well this is a very very

1:23:17 ↗ expensive proposition even if the city

1:23:19 ↗ does

1:23:21 ↗ uh put a major investment into extending

1:23:24 ↗ the sewer to properties it is still

1:23:27 ↗ going to be expensive for homeowners

1:23:29 ↗ eventually

1:23:30 ↗ so I think that the city has is offering

1:23:34 ↗ a very very extended tier for the

1:23:37 ↗ critical areas and for the longer term

1:23:41 ↗ and so I do I do support that I think

1:23:45 ↗ that eventually we will have to

1:23:49 ↗ accommodate because we know that there

1:23:51 ↗ will be more growth going on in this in

1:23:53 ↗ this area 40 years from now what is the

1:23:56 ↗ City of Issaquah going to look like and

1:23:57 ↗ will we be able to continue to sustain

1:24:00 ↗ septic systems

1:24:02 ↗ and then to support sewer extensions

1:24:04 ↗ with the sewer fund to share costs among

1:24:07 ↗ right payers absolutely I support that

1:24:09 ↗ the city I think is coming up with a

1:24:12 ↗ very good approach to help

1:24:15 ↗ lower the cost to the individual

1:24:18 ↗ property owner as much as possible

1:24:21 ↗ and this is it's it's difficult but I

1:24:25 ↗ think we have to move forward over a

1:24:28 ↗ very long term somebody mentioned that

1:24:31 ↗ we're kind of accelerating this to the

1:24:33 ↗ December of

1:24:35 ↗ 2023. what we're really in the process

1:24:38 ↗ of doing is a plan

1:24:40 ↗ uh nothing is really going to happen

1:24:42 ↗ right away in December of 2023 so I

1:24:45 ↗ think getting that plan in place so that

1:24:48 ↗ we know where we're going in relation to

1:24:50 ↗ the funding because the funding piece is

1:24:52 ↗ going to be very major on this as well

1:24:54 ↗ is uh is good because once we have the

1:24:58 ↗ plan in place then we could start

1:24:59 ↗ thinking about where are and how are we

1:25:01 ↗ going to fund it and how will this

1:25:04 ↗ process go forward over the next 20 to

1:25:07 ↗ 40 years

1:25:08 ↗ so that's kind of the reason we want to

1:25:11 ↗ have that plan in place by the end of

1:25:13 ↗ this year so yes I recommend this going

1:25:16 ↗ forward to the full Council thank you

1:25:19 ↗ thank you councilmember councilmember

1:25:21 ↗ Hart oh

1:25:23 ↗ thank you very much

1:25:25 ↗ um uh first off Matt to you and any

1:25:27 ↗ other staff that worked on this

1:25:28 ↗ excellent work

1:25:30 ↗ thank you very much for the detailed

1:25:31 ↗ analysis and everything I want to

1:25:35 ↗ um take a step back for a minute though

1:25:36 ↗ so I think I'm mostly there I am

1:25:38 ↗ supportive of the direction but I wonder

1:25:40 ↗ if we can't get one more touch at a

1:25:42 ↗ committee level I'm wondering if we

1:25:44 ↗ can't maybe come back next month but I

1:25:47 ↗ wanted to ask before I launch into some

1:25:49 ↗ of my comments

1:25:51 ↗ um I mean obviously some of this is

1:25:53 ↗ policy implications in terms of how

1:25:55 ↗ we'll move forward with testing and all

1:25:56 ↗ that but the other is preparing for the

1:25:58 ↗ inevitable Capital cost that the city

1:26:00 ↗ will take on and so we want to do that

1:26:02 ↗ as soon as possible if we were to delay

1:26:04 ↗ a meeting

1:26:06 ↗ um and kind of have take up another

1:26:08 ↗ discussion to kind of go over some of

1:26:10 ↗ the concerns that we've heard about next

1:26:12 ↗ month would that have a tremendous

1:26:14 ↗ impact on kind of our CIP planning oh

1:26:16 ↗ and it looks like maybe our city

1:26:17 ↗ administrator Deputy State administrator

1:26:19 ↗ might have a comment on that so say by

1:26:21 ↗ the Bell thank you

1:26:23 ↗ um so yes this is Andrea uh we um I

1:26:27 ↗ think as Matt maybe showed in his

1:26:28 ↗ timeline for next steps it was a little

1:26:30 ↗ small so maybe it was hard to see this

1:26:32 ↗ is really one component of the Sewer

1:26:35 ↗ Master Plan and so we have a few more

1:26:38 ↗ touches with the Sewer Master Plan we

1:26:39 ↗ wanted to pull this item out from the

1:26:42 ↗ whole plan to focus on this discussion

1:26:43 ↗ because we know that it's an important

1:26:45 ↗ discussion for the community and that

1:26:47 ↗ this is a really tough question we're

1:26:48 ↗ trying to answer and so this is not

1:26:51 ↗ going to go to council at the next

1:26:53 ↗ council meeting we have a few more

1:26:55 ↗ touches on the Sewer Master Plan so I

1:26:57 ↗ think what we can do is

1:26:59 ↗ incorporate that into the next steps of

1:27:02 ↗ the process so we're going to go back

1:27:04 ↗ take into account these questions take

1:27:07 ↗ into account the feedback that we've

1:27:08 ↗ received tonight as Matt said there's

1:27:11 ↗ going to be more Community touches more

1:27:13 ↗ we'll return to the environmental board

1:27:15 ↗ with the Sewer Master Plan as a whole

1:27:18 ↗ and so I think there's a few more

1:27:20 ↗ touches before we go to city council

1:27:22 ↗ asking for adoption and we can take

1:27:24 ↗ advantage of that process to still pull

1:27:26 ↗ out some of these issues and make sure

1:27:28 ↗ that we have ample time to discuss them

1:27:31 ↗ thank you that's that's really helpful

1:27:33 ↗ so

1:27:35 ↗ um the Sewer Master Plan when it's kind

1:27:37 ↗ of more put together including this

1:27:38 ↗ element we'll come back to this

1:27:40 ↗ committee before we make a

1:27:42 ↗ recommendation of the councils ever yes

1:27:43 ↗ it will okay

1:27:45 ↗ um well in that case then you know I'm

1:27:47 ↗ like I said I'm mostly supportive of

1:27:49 ↗ this direction I do want to make sure

1:27:50 ↗ though that we are addressing concerns

1:27:52 ↗ that we've heard because there are also

1:27:54 ↗ just kind of some misconceptions about

1:27:56 ↗ the information too and that's because

1:27:57 ↗ there's so much information here so I

1:27:59 ↗ think almost creating some sort of

1:28:01 ↗ Matrix of common concerns that we've

1:28:03 ↗ heard in addressing those in some sort

1:28:05 ↗ of attachment would be helpful if we

1:28:07 ↗ have staff capacity to do that so some

1:28:09 ↗ of the things that I heard were

1:28:12 ↗ um you know clarifying how we're

1:28:13 ↗ defining the critical area sensitive

1:28:15 ↗ areas how we're defining these tier

1:28:16 ↗ levels there might be some confusion

1:28:18 ↗ there and it might be good to have

1:28:19 ↗ standard definitions that are shared

1:28:21 ↗ among those

1:28:23 ↗ clarifying exactly when someone would

1:28:25 ↗ need to to hook up to a particular

1:28:27 ↗ system

1:28:28 ↗ um

1:28:30 ↗ acknowledging and maybe providing some

1:28:32 ↗ additional

1:28:34 ↗ response about the concern over what

1:28:37 ↗ rates might be versus whatever cost they

1:28:40 ↗ might have right now and I think it

1:28:42 ↗ would be good too to kind of think

1:28:43 ↗ through the different iterations of that

1:28:46 ↗ in terms of well we agree but if you

1:28:50 ↗ think about it kind of long term from an

1:28:51 ↗ economic perspective we think that this

1:28:53 ↗ actually saves money in the long term

1:28:55 ↗ for our community-wide investment or

1:28:57 ↗ something so like we can kind of think

1:28:58 ↗ through how we would actually

1:29:01 ↗ address that concern but you know a

1:29:03 ↗ concern that's worth worth noting

1:29:06 ↗ um Grant support for homeowners in terms

1:29:08 ↗ of federal support I heard that so maybe

1:29:12 ↗ some sort of

1:29:13 ↗ um

1:29:14 ↗ sense of what's out there in terms of

1:29:17 ↗ availability

1:29:19 ↗ um there is you know worry about being

1:29:21 ↗ forced into something that they don't

1:29:22 ↗ want and don't punish

1:29:24 ↗ my sense of this is that there's very

1:29:27 ↗ little that anyone will ever be forced

1:29:29 ↗ into doing or punished into doing in any

1:29:31 ↗ way so again a lot of this is kind of

1:29:34 ↗ clarifying that and making sure we're

1:29:35 ↗ operating under shared information right

1:29:38 ↗ um uh let's see clarifying how

1:29:42 ↗ contamination perhaps farther away from

1:29:44 ↗ Issaquah Creek might still feed into is

1:29:47 ↗ Creek you know I think there were

1:29:48 ↗ some concerns about well if you're

1:29:50 ↗ really far away that might not impact it

1:29:52 ↗ or there are so many different potential

1:29:56 ↗ contamination sources how can you know

1:29:58 ↗ this is the right one but to Matt's

1:29:59 ↗ Point earlier which I thought was a good

1:30:00 ↗ one there are a lot of sources but you

1:30:04 ↗ know fecal is it coliform can never call

1:30:08 ↗ the form

1:30:09 ↗ um but this is one lever that we

1:30:11 ↗ actually have the opportunity to pull

1:30:13 ↗ and to you know create better outcomes

1:30:15 ↗ for environmental standards or water

1:30:17 ↗ standards all that

1:30:19 ↗ um clarifying I heard kind of a desire

1:30:22 ↗ to clarify the roles of both Issaquah

1:30:24 ↗ and Sammamish points so it's my

1:30:27 ↗ understanding that we have absolutely no

1:30:29 ↗ role in Sammamish plateau's

1:30:32 ↗ infrastructure that's we don't have any

1:30:34 ↗ role in how they decide to invest in

1:30:37 ↗ sewer infrastructure and their service

1:30:39 ↗ area just in our service area too so

1:30:41 ↗ maybe clarifying that I'm clarifying of

1:30:44 ↗ the map but there are some concerns that

1:30:48 ↗ were mentioned about the map too so

1:30:49 ↗ perhaps we can provide kind of a zoomed

1:30:52 ↗ in version of that

1:30:54 ↗ um

1:30:55 ↗ clarifying

1:30:57 ↗ um the impact or just if we've thought

1:30:59 ↗ about potential impact on neighborhood

1:31:01 ↗ character that came up a couple times

1:31:03 ↗ too in development because I know that's

1:31:06 ↗ not the intent of our Council I mean

1:31:07 ↗ right now the intent is to have better

1:31:10 ↗ environmental stewardship standards to

1:31:12 ↗ make sure our water is good quality

1:31:14 ↗ today and into the future

1:31:16 ↗ um you know as those things become more

1:31:18 ↗ difficult so

1:31:20 ↗ recognizing that that is a reality how

1:31:23 ↗ have we thought about that as a response

1:31:26 ↗ um let's see what else do I have

1:31:35 ↗ well anyways I don't have to get into

1:31:37 ↗ everything because we can go back and

1:31:38 ↗ look through the video too but

1:31:40 ↗ if we can when this comes back to the

1:31:42 ↗ committee as

1:31:44 ↗ the broader not Mobility master plan the

1:31:48 ↗ Sewer Master Plan if we can kind of have

1:31:50 ↗ a kind of more a discussion about this

1:31:52 ↗ and maybe respond to the common concerns

1:31:55 ↗ that we've heard that would make me feel

1:31:57 ↗ better but like I said great work and

1:31:59 ↗ I'm largely supportive of the direction

1:32:01 ↗ of things

1:32:03 ↗ thank you councilmember Hall no that was

1:32:06 ↗ that was outstanding I just got a couple

1:32:07 ↗ of comments that I want to share is

1:32:10 ↗ um you know my understanding is there's

1:32:13 ↗ no mandate to connect to to the new

1:32:16 ↗ sewer we're going to be building

1:32:17 ↗ infrastructure and we're going to be

1:32:18 ↗ creating opportunity to connect so this

1:32:20 ↗ isn't to force anyone to do anything

1:32:22 ↗ this isn't certainly to punish anyone

1:32:24 ↗ for anything this is about creating

1:32:26 ↗ opportunity so I think that that is um

1:32:28 ↗ from my perspective really smart council

1:32:31 ↗ member D Michelle talked about growth

1:32:32 ↗ this is a very growth oriented growth

1:32:34 ↗ mind mindset we're going to have growth

1:32:37 ↗ whether we want it or not in this

1:32:38 ↗ community so we might as well get ahead

1:32:40 ↗ of it the reason we're moving at the

1:32:43 ↗ pace that we are moving which I think is

1:32:45 ↗ appropriate and I think

1:32:47 ↗ has sufficient opportunities for

1:32:52 ↗ for discussion is so that we can do our

1:32:55 ↗ financial planning so that we can make

1:32:57 ↗ sure that we can fund whatever it is

1:32:58 ↗ that we're going to do

1:33:00 ↗ where I think we may have fallen short

1:33:02 ↗ tonight is I think we're a little light

1:33:03 ↗ on the Y uh I think we could spend some

1:33:06 ↗ more time in putting our thoughts

1:33:08 ↗ together as we come back being really

1:33:10 ↗ crisp on why we're doing this I mean

1:33:12 ↗ this quad Greek is one issue that word

1:33:15 ↗ that councilmember Hall can't produce

1:33:17 ↗ pronounce the chloro

1:33:20 ↗ fecal plural yeah that one fecal

1:33:24 ↗ coliform fecal coliforms

1:33:26 ↗ um it's an issue is not the only issue

1:33:29 ↗ it's not the single driving issue

1:33:31 ↗ there's a lot of inside you know as we

1:33:33 ↗ put our messaging together let's get

1:33:34 ↗ crisper and clearer on why we're why

1:33:36 ↗ we're considering doing this

1:33:38 ↗ um

1:33:40 ↗ uh and then the other thing that this

1:33:43 ↗ hasn't been discussed but I did a little

1:33:44 ↗ research over the weekend because I

1:33:46 ↗ thought this was a fascinating topic and

1:33:47 ↗ I started looking with other cities have

1:33:49 ↗ done and some other cities have put

1:33:50 ↗ together loan programs for people who

1:33:52 ↗ want to uh

1:33:53 ↗ uh connect to the Sewer so that's

1:33:55 ↗ something we could look at to ease some

1:33:57 ↗ of the the financial burden to people

1:33:58 ↗ who want to connect to the sewer system

1:34:01 ↗ um

1:34:02 ↗ I think we also need to and I think

1:34:04 ↗ councilmember Paul talked to this we

1:34:06 ↗ have to

1:34:07 ↗ um get get a clearer Direction how we're

1:34:09 ↗ going to deal with the samish plateau

1:34:12 ↗ Water and Sewer District because it's

1:34:15 ↗ very clear that we have plenty of people

1:34:17 ↗ who live in this city who are going to

1:34:19 ↗ be subject to city ordinances that are

1:34:22 ↗ don't get their sewer and water from us

1:34:25 ↗ and then finally we gotta figure out the

1:34:28 ↗ enforcement and I think councilmember D

1:34:30 ↗ Michelle spoke to that the enforcement

1:34:32 ↗ and inspection question so I'm glad it's

1:34:35 ↗ coming back I think we've got work to do

1:34:36 ↗ this was the first step in a long

1:34:38 ↗ journey we wanted to get this out to the

1:34:40 ↗ community so

1:34:41 ↗ um we're trying to be transparent we're

1:34:43 ↗ trying to be as Bill word as we can we

1:34:46 ↗ really do appreciate your comments we're

1:34:48 ↗ trying to move this forward in the best

1:34:52 ↗ way we can Andrea you have your mic up

1:34:56 ↗ I'm sorry chair red I didn't mean to

1:34:58 ↗ interrupt your comments no I for you I

1:35:00 ↗ will stop okay

1:35:02 ↗ thank you uh I just wanted to respond to

1:35:05 ↗ some of the things that Deputy council

1:35:06 ↗ president Hall had said because I think

1:35:08 ↗ it might be interest of the larger group

1:35:10 ↗ here this evening uh so um there were a

1:35:13 ↗ lot of questions here tonight any any

1:35:15 ↗ personal questions of how does this

1:35:16 ↗ exactly affect me

1:35:18 ↗ um math contact information is on the

1:35:20 ↗ website I've been handing out my card

1:35:21 ↗ please contact us for that we want to

1:35:23 ↗ help you through that the other uh thing

1:35:25 ↗ is uh Deputy council president Hall you

1:35:28 ↗ had listed a bunch of questions I know I

1:35:30 ↗ took a vigorous notes this evening and I

1:35:32 ↗ think our city clerk did as well so what

1:35:35 ↗ we would like to do to make sure that

1:35:37 ↗ the information is available for these

1:35:38 ↗ questions is put it up on our website so

1:35:40 ↗ we have a sewer system plan web page

1:35:44 ↗ right now I think we need to do some

1:35:46 ↗ updates and related to the master plan

1:35:47 ↗ process and we can put up an FAQ so I

1:35:50 ↗ would say look look for that in the next

1:35:51 ↗ month or so and then that information

1:35:53 ↗ will be available moving forward and we

1:35:55 ↗ can kind of continue to add to that

1:35:57 ↗ frequently asked questions or questions

1:35:59 ↗ that we've heard tonight so that folks

1:36:01 ↗ don't necessarily have to wait another

1:36:03 ↗ three months to get some of these

1:36:05 ↗ questions answered you know by the time

1:36:07 ↗ we come back here or to other Council

1:36:09 ↗ meetings

1:36:10 ↗ uh thank you Deputy City administrator

1:36:14 ↗ okay

1:36:15 ↗ um Deputy council president Hall

1:36:18 ↗ I'm done just one more comment that's

1:36:21 ↗ excellent perfect I think that's a great

1:36:22 ↗ place for it thank you very much

1:36:24 ↗ um I just also wanted to say to you know

1:36:26 ↗ upon thinking about

1:36:28 ↗ the requirement and no enforcement

1:36:32 ↗ aspect of it I actually think that might

1:36:34 ↗ be the right way to go the for the you

1:36:36 ↗ know right now because our intent really

1:36:38 ↗ their argument is that this public

1:36:41 ↗ investment will make the market more

1:36:43 ↗ attractive for customers to be able to

1:36:45 ↗ connect to the system long term so we're

1:36:47 ↗ thinking of kind of a more market-based

1:36:50 ↗ solution than a top-down government

1:36:51 ↗ mandate solution so I think this is the

1:36:54 ↗ right way to attempt to solve the

1:36:57 ↗ problem first and you know I mean if

1:36:59 ↗ down the line we need to consider

1:37:02 ↗ something 50 years from now after this

1:37:04 ↗ plan is kind of in full effect then

1:37:06 ↗ maybe we do but I think the market-based

1:37:09 ↗ solution is probably the good one to

1:37:11 ↗ start with first so anyways just wanted

1:37:12 ↗ to make sure to say that for the record

1:37:14 ↗ all right any other comments

1:37:17 ↗ all right

1:37:21 ↗ I'm not sure I mean he just asked you

1:37:23 ↗ two what you want to do I'm not sure

1:37:25 ↗ that we need to kind of vote on this

1:37:27 ↗ because we're not sending this back to

1:37:29 ↗ council this is just this is just a way

1:37:31 ↗ stop on a longer journey and I I think

1:37:36 ↗ um I I will ask uh

1:37:38 ↗ Deputy City administrator do you want us

1:37:40 ↗ to take formal action to say yeah we

1:37:42 ↗ agree or do you have sufficient

1:37:43 ↗ information from our discussion to take

1:37:45 ↗ the next steps I think there is General

1:37:46 ↗ agreement here

1:37:48 ↗ but what I'm hearing is General

1:37:50 ↗ agreement though I I'm not hearing

1:37:53 ↗ General agreement on the enforcement

1:37:54 ↗ I've heard some council members on this

1:37:56 ↗ committee call that our no enforcement

1:37:58 ↗ policy into question some seem to have

1:38:00 ↗ supported so if this committee can

1:38:02 ↗ provide further clarification on how we

1:38:04 ↗ should proceed should we proceed as

1:38:06 ↗ recommended or should we take another

1:38:07 ↗ look at the enforcement or rather lack

1:38:12 ↗ of enforcement policy that we have that

1:38:13 ↗ would be helpful

1:38:15 ↗ yeah thank you I think I just need a lot

1:38:19 ↗ more information about how it work

1:38:22 ↗ how exactly would the homeowner what

1:38:25 ↗ would be the experience that you would

1:38:27 ↗ have in terms of I get a notification

1:38:30 ↗ that I need an inspection what's the

1:38:32 ↗ next step and so forth what if

1:38:36 ↗ following a null enforcement

1:38:39 ↗ policy what if that does not help us

1:38:42 ↗ reach the goals that we want to reach

1:38:44 ↗ what happens next do we then go to an

1:38:48 ↗ enforcement policy it seems to me that

1:38:51 ↗ we can be very clear about the policy

1:38:55 ↗ that we're going to pursue if the no

1:38:57 ↗ enforcement does not provide enough

1:38:59 ↗ incentive for people to get their

1:39:01 ↗ inspections done so I you know I think

1:39:06 ↗ between now and the next touch perhaps

1:39:09 ↗ we could do some more thinking about how

1:39:11 ↗ that works and I guess I the other

1:39:15 ↗ question is

1:39:16 ↗ in your survey of nearby cities and

1:39:20 ↗ municipalities are there other

1:39:23 ↗ government agencies that use a null

1:39:26 ↗ enforcement approach and are they happy

1:39:28 ↗ with it that would be another question I

1:39:31 ↗ have so so I have questions I'm you know

1:39:34 ↗ if I could hear a good clean rationale

1:39:37 ↗ for why we want to do it that way that

1:39:40 ↗ would be good but I didn't hear that

1:39:41 ↗ tonight so thank you

1:39:45 ↗ um I'm going to agree with council

1:39:47 ↗ member D Michelle that

1:39:49 ↗ um it's more of a question of of how we

1:39:52 ↗ would do this and how it would work so

1:39:55 ↗ um if when we next take a look at this

1:39:57 ↗ we can have a little better sense of

1:39:58 ↗ what enforcement would look like and I

1:40:00 ↗ I'm also concerned about what does the

1:40:02 ↗ inspection process look like and and I

1:40:04 ↗ think there was a question about so who

1:40:06 ↗ pays for that and how often does that

1:40:09 ↗ happen and how long does that take and

1:40:11 ↗ there's I think there's a

1:40:13 ↗ there's a fair amount of uncertainty

1:40:14 ↗ around inspections and I would like to

1:40:17 ↗ have some clarity on that one we next

1:40:19 ↗ look at this all right

1:40:21 ↗ all right

1:40:22 ↗ you you got what you need okay all right

1:40:25 ↗ we're going to move on to the next uh

1:40:27 ↗ agenda item do you guys want five

1:40:29 ↗ minutes yeah all right we're gonna uh

1:40:30 ↗ take a five minute recess and then we're

1:40:32 ↗ gonna move on to the next agenda item

1:40:35 ↗ oh dear

1:48:06 ↗ foreign

1:48:48 ↗ yeah we got work to do hey Tim Let's uh

1:48:52 ↗ we're ready to go

1:48:54 ↗ all right all right well we are back

1:48:57 ↗ from recess and

1:48:59 ↗ um we have one agenda item left for this

1:49:02 ↗ evening and it is uh ID

1:49:05 ↗ 1386 public works department resources

1:49:08 ↗ going to be presented by the director of

1:49:10 ↗ Public Works Emily Moon so Emily welcome

1:49:13 ↗ and take it away thank you very much

1:49:16 ↗ trying to get the share going here

1:49:26 ↗ foreign

1:49:29 ↗ thank you yes Emily Moon Department

1:49:32 ↗ director for public works and tonight

1:49:36 ↗ we're going to talk a little bit about

1:49:39 ↗ needs within our department

1:49:45 ↗ and my my hope is just to give a lay of

1:49:48 ↗ the land how we're doing right now with

1:49:50 ↗ our resources share a few stories I

1:49:55 ↗ think the punch line which was in your

1:49:57 ↗ packet is that we don't believe we're in

1:50:00 ↗ a position right now to be able to fully

1:50:02 ↗ execute on everything that's on our 2023

1:50:05 ↗ and 2024 work plan

1:50:08 ↗ for me to say

1:50:13 ↗ so we're hoping for some feedback on

1:50:15 ↗ ideas we have to get into a better place

1:50:19 ↗ and have a better chance for Success

1:50:21 ↗ these are the two questions that we put

1:50:24 ↗ in your packet that we're wanting

1:50:25 ↗ feedback on and primarily what we're

1:50:28 ↗ looking for is

1:50:31 ↗ whether or not you support the positions

1:50:34 ↗ that we are requesting in order to

1:50:37 ↗ complete the capital projects that are

1:50:39 ↗ on that work plan we're also asking if

1:50:42 ↗ you support our recommendations on how

1:50:45 ↗ to enhance Capital project and franchise

1:50:48 ↗ management and the city's ability to

1:50:52 ↗ maintain its traffic signal system

1:50:56 ↗ and then secondly a question about

1:50:59 ↗ supporting an allocation for additional

1:51:01 ↗ Professional Services that will be used

1:51:04 ↗ to help us kind of backstop where we are

1:51:06 ↗ right now and and I would say jump start

1:51:09 ↗ as well from where we are

1:51:13 ↗ so why now as I said it's difficult for

1:51:17 ↗ me to come and ask at this moment in

1:51:19 ↗ time we typically like to package up

1:51:22 ↗ requests for money requests for new

1:51:24 ↗ position with our budget development

1:51:27 ↗ process

1:51:28 ↗ sometimes with those budget amendment

1:51:31 ↗ processes so this is out of sequence a

1:51:34 ↗ bit and that's because there is a sense

1:51:36 ↗ of urgency

1:51:39 ↗ um reasons for coming now include I've

1:51:42 ↗ I'm almost at month five of being Public

1:51:45 ↗ Works director time does fly when you're

1:51:48 ↗ having fun and I arrived after the

1:51:52 ↗ budget and the capital Improvement plan

1:51:54 ↗ were already formed the other reason is

1:51:58 ↗ the department is transitioning into a

1:52:02 ↗ department that is taking more active

1:52:04 ↗ role in developing capital projects we

1:52:06 ↗ have a much longer list of projects over

1:52:09 ↗ the next few years and we are assuming

1:52:13 ↗ more stewardship responsibilities for

1:52:15 ↗ the assets that are in town

1:52:19 ↗ we're also trying to be more proactive

1:52:21 ↗ about maintenance and developing the

1:52:23 ↗ infrastructure that's needed to support

1:52:26 ↗ our community plans whether that's

1:52:28 ↗ Mobility master plan strategic plan you

1:52:30 ↗ name it

1:52:32 ↗ the department continues also to respond

1:52:34 ↗ to an increasing service level demand

1:52:38 ↗ and a growing number of assets that it's

1:52:40 ↗ responsible for well at the same time

1:52:44 ↗ our infrastructure is needing upgrade

1:52:48 ↗ and replacement to a greater degree than

1:52:51 ↗ ever before we're going to talk about

1:52:52 ↗ one example from the traffic signals

1:52:55 ↗ unit

1:52:56 ↗ also we have the American Rescue plan

1:52:58 ↗ act or arpa that has provided welcome

1:53:02 ↗ funding for Capital Improvements but

1:53:05 ↗ it's very time sensitive Catalyst for us

1:53:08 ↗ and we need to get those projects done

1:53:12 ↗ we're also at a critical point where the

1:53:14 ↗ department needs that infusion of

1:53:17 ↗ resources again in order to meet those

1:53:20 ↗ timelines from arpa but other grants as

1:53:23 ↗ well and we need to be able to respond

1:53:27 ↗ to persisting service level and project

1:53:29 ↗ management demands

1:53:32 ↗ so we're proposing to delay a few

1:53:35 ↗ projects and assembling a mix of

1:53:37 ↗ Professional Services at which we hope

1:53:40 ↗ we could contract for right away and a

1:53:43 ↗ few new positions which we would hope to

1:53:45 ↗ work quickly to fill

1:53:47 ↗ in order to get our 2023 and 2024

1:53:51 ↗ projects in particular underway and

1:53:54 ↗ completed

1:53:57 ↗ so this is this is the punchline this is

1:54:00 ↗ a summary of what the ask is our goal is

1:54:04 ↗ to increase the Staffing levels to do

1:54:06 ↗ more capital projects and do them better

1:54:08 ↗ and add necessary Staffing for the

1:54:11 ↗ signals unit backfill vacancies and jump

1:54:15 ↗ start design work through the use of

1:54:17 ↗ professional engineering firms and

1:54:19 ↗ ultimately transition projects to staff

1:54:22 ↗ as our capacities increase

1:54:25 ↗ we also in your packet spoke a little

1:54:28 ↗ bit about some incentives that we hope

1:54:31 ↗ to apply to our newest hires those are

1:54:33 ↗ administratively possible to apply and

1:54:37 ↗ so that's why they're not on this list

1:54:42 ↗ all right uh one of the stories I said I

1:54:46 ↗ would tell you is about our signals unit

1:54:49 ↗ this group has really seen a rapid

1:54:54 ↗ growth in the systems and inventories

1:54:58 ↗ that they are responsible for managing

1:55:00 ↗ we have two signal tax and that hasn't

1:55:04 ↗ changed for a while

1:55:06 ↗ meanwhile that inventory has grown

1:55:09 ↗ tremendously those two individuals are

1:55:12 ↗ responsible for maintenance repair

1:55:13 ↗ replacement reviewing technical plans

1:55:16 ↗ for new installations stewarding the

1:55:19 ↗ city's technical specs and upkeeping the

1:55:22 ↗ inventory and a whole lot more

1:55:24 ↗ so we've had no new staff since 2007.

1:55:27 ↗ meanwhile we've had changes such as

1:55:30 ↗ implementing an integrated cellular

1:55:32 ↗ network additional intersections have

1:55:35 ↗ been constructed and upgraded we've had

1:55:37 ↗ software upgrades throughout the city

1:55:39 ↗ new use of speed radar signs new

1:55:44 ↗ contractor management needs new traffic

1:55:47 ↗ cameras relamping of signal lights and

1:55:50 ↗ modern traffic detection equipment has

1:55:53 ↗ been installed it's all owned by the

1:55:55 ↗ city it is all serviced by the city

1:56:00 ↗ these two individuals last year worked a

1:56:03 ↗ combined total of over 850 hours of

1:56:07 ↗ overtime in the month of January alone

1:56:11 ↗ 175 hours between the two

1:56:16 ↗ this is really important to me

1:56:19 ↗ this is about quality of life it's about

1:56:21 ↗ safety on our streets

1:56:23 ↗ that is why I'm here tonight again this

1:56:26 ↗ is example number one of the urgency

1:56:29 ↗ that we have

1:56:32 ↗ in your packet I spoke a little bit more

1:56:34 ↗ to a few types of infrastructure you see

1:56:39 ↗ here the rectangular rapid flashing

1:56:42 ↗ beacons or what we've refer to as rrfbs

1:56:45 ↗ this is just one example of

1:56:48 ↗ infrastructure that has

1:56:50 ↗ exponentially increased in our inventory

1:56:53 ↗ very popular with the public and yet

1:56:58 ↗ we're already at a place where where 30

1:57:01 ↗ percent of those devices need to be

1:57:04 ↗ replaced they've met the end of their

1:57:06 ↗ typical useful life

1:57:12 ↗ so the city council will soon receive

1:57:15 ↗ our intelligent traffic signals system

1:57:18 ↗ planner or its plan and I I wanted to

1:57:22 ↗ acknowledge that because you will hear

1:57:25 ↗ more about the hardware aspect of our

1:57:28 ↗ inventory software aspect of our needs

1:57:33 ↗ in order to build out the system but

1:57:35 ↗ tonight I'm really just focusing on what

1:57:38 ↗ are the staffing needs and the staffing

1:57:39 ↗ needs exist now and you will see is that

1:57:42 ↗ its plan comes forward I would assume

1:57:45 ↗ there are future staffing needs as well

1:57:47 ↗ in order to take our system from where

1:57:49 ↗ it is today to where we'd like it to be

1:57:51 ↗ over the next decade

1:57:58 ↗ so on our engineering side

1:58:01 ↗ we have 59 significant capital and

1:58:06 ↗ non-capital projects on our work plan

1:58:09 ↗ for just uh 2023.

1:58:13 ↗ that includes the its plans I just

1:58:15 ↗ mentioned these are non-capital project

1:58:18 ↗ examples concurrency update the Metro

1:58:21 ↗ squawk Talus planning for the shuttle

1:58:24 ↗ Ada transition plan and Street standards

1:58:27 ↗ some of those are fairly big projects

1:58:30 ↗ requiring a lot of Staff time

1:58:33 ↗ this list of 59 doesn't even include the

1:58:36 ↗ wash.fish passage project which will be

1:58:39 ↗ a significant impact to our staff

1:58:41 ↗ requiring quite a bit of time from

1:58:43 ↗ engineering

1:58:45 ↗ these projects are a significant capital

1:58:48 ↗ investment of City dollars Publix

1:58:51 ↗ dollars and we want to manage that

1:58:53 ↗ investment well

1:58:57 ↗ we have been working really hard to try

1:59:00 ↗ to hire the city council gave Public

1:59:02 ↗ Works to additional positions in July of

1:59:05 ↗ last year those were posted in August

1:59:08 ↗ soon after they were approved and we

1:59:14 ↗ have worked diligently to try to fill

1:59:15 ↗ those positions we revamped the postings

1:59:18 ↗ in October and began to have more luck

1:59:21 ↗ at that point in time and I'm happy very

1:59:25 ↗ happy to say that stand here with only

1:59:28 ↗ one current vacancy and the two

1:59:31 ↗ engineering divisions transportation and

1:59:33 ↗ utilities

1:59:34 ↗ but between July and this moment we lost

1:59:39 ↗ two Engineers that were relatively new

1:59:41 ↗ to the city and so we have been working

1:59:45 ↗ most of 2022 early 2023 with about five

1:59:51 ↗ individuals out of the nine that we

1:59:53 ↗ should have

2:00:01 ↗ so I put this example in your packet

2:00:04 ↗ it's just one of a few data sets that we

2:00:07 ↗ have this is data that we pulled

2:00:09 ↗ together so I I trust it a little bit

2:00:12 ↗ more

2:00:13 ↗ than other surveys that were done by

2:00:16 ↗ other municipalities but everybody's

2:00:18 ↗ been doing that same sort of work trying

2:00:20 ↗ to figure out how to

2:00:23 ↗ beef up their engineering Staffing and

2:00:27 ↗ that's because across the region if not

2:00:29 ↗ the nation everybody is trying to fill

2:00:31 ↗ engineering spots there's high demand

2:00:33 ↗ again with Federal

2:00:36 ↗ influx of of cash everybody's trying to

2:00:39 ↗ get projects done and in this region

2:00:41 ↗ Sound Transit and the port have major

2:00:46 ↗ major projects and and they are really

2:00:50 ↗ um having many positions posted and

2:00:54 ↗ trying to fill many positions at the

2:00:56 ↗ same time we are

2:01:06 ↗ the other need that we have in our

2:01:09 ↗ department is for Capital program and

2:01:13 ↗ franchise management and you'll see I've

2:01:16 ↗ asked for uh

2:01:18 ↗ some of our Professional Services

2:01:20 ↗ allocation to include resources to

2:01:22 ↗ contract for that kind of help that's

2:01:25 ↗ the way we're doing it right now because

2:01:28 ↗ our staff has not had the capacity to

2:01:30 ↗ take on that responsibility

2:01:32 ↗ but I would like to bring that back

2:01:34 ↗ in-house one of the ways that I think we

2:01:36 ↗ can do it is by building out this

2:01:39 ↗ position to help us also provide more

2:01:43 ↗ attention to our overall Capital program

2:01:46 ↗ so I'm differentiating between what is a

2:01:48 ↗ capital project manager and the capital

2:01:51 ↗ program manager

2:01:54 ↗ our staff right now has not had enough

2:01:57 ↗ time particularly at the manager level

2:01:59 ↗ to focus on the overall Capital program

2:02:02 ↗ we are making quite a few adjustments to

2:02:06 ↗ process improvements to project

2:02:09 ↗ accounting

2:02:11 ↗ there's more work to be done but it's

2:02:14 ↗ it's difficult for us to add that to the

2:02:16 ↗ plates we're also trying to realign some

2:02:20 ↗ assignments and make sure that those are

2:02:22 ↗ shared across the department and are

2:02:25 ↗ with the right positions but for cap the

2:02:28 ↗ capital program my hope is that we can

2:02:32 ↗ Implement some more robust planning

2:02:34 ↗ processes develop and utilize

2:02:36 ↗ performance metrics and tools with

2:02:38 ↗ better success and do increased enter in

2:02:44 ↗ intra departmental and interagency

2:02:47 ↗ coordination which is a big big part of

2:02:50 ↗ the way in which we work

2:02:52 ↗ is uh

2:02:54 ↗ position might also help us seek

2:02:56 ↗ additional grant funding and help drive

2:02:59 ↗ those procedural changes that would

2:03:01 ↗ enhance our on scope on time and on

2:03:04 ↗ budget success

2:03:06 ↗ with sizable Capital programs and that

2:03:10 ↗ are similar in size to us often have

2:03:12 ↗ dedicated staff devoted to a capital

2:03:15 ↗ project management and overall CIP

2:03:19 ↗ program management functions

2:03:22 ↗ it also envisioned this position helping

2:03:24 ↗ with the master project schedule

2:03:26 ↗ assisting with budget development

2:03:28 ↗ monitoring and Reporting on performance

2:03:30 ↗ assisting with negotiation and

2:03:32 ↗ resolution of issues with our partners

2:03:35 ↗ and a whole lot more

2:03:41 ↗ also just a word about franchise

2:03:43 ↗ management our rights of way have become

2:03:46 ↗ more burdened over time with more uses

2:03:49 ↗ and co-location is really very very

2:03:52 ↗ typical now and requires a lot more

2:03:54 ↗ coordination especially for Telecom and

2:03:57 ↗ fiber and typical tasks that we do in

2:04:00 ↗ this Arena include interpreting city

2:04:02 ↗ code

2:04:03 ↗ reviewing existing right-of-way

2:04:05 ↗ constraints analyzing applications for

2:04:08 ↗ New Uses in the right-of-way negotiating

2:04:11 ↗ new and renewed franchise agreements and

2:04:15 ↗ managing fees and permits and resolving

2:04:17 ↗ disputes and right now I'm estimating

2:04:20 ↗ that that franchise management function

2:04:23 ↗ takes up about 15 to 20 percent of an

2:04:27 ↗ FTE

2:04:32 ↗ so I mentioned that we're trying to do a

2:04:34 ↗ lot to manage our workload one of the

2:04:37 ↗ things I spoke to was how we're

2:04:39 ↗ realigning some assignments We are

2:04:43 ↗ continuing with process improvements

2:04:45 ↗ that I hope ultimately will help us be

2:04:47 ↗ more efficient and effective

2:04:51 ↗ but uh we still are going to need some

2:04:55 ↗ help to make sure that we can get the

2:04:56 ↗ work done

2:04:57 ↗ for the next biennium and I'd say well

2:05:01 ↗ into the future because I don't think

2:05:03 ↗ we're going to slow down with a number

2:05:05 ↗ of Capital Improvements that we want to

2:05:07 ↗ take on as a community

2:05:13 ↗ so in order again to bridge that Gap

2:05:15 ↗ that this year we are recommending that

2:05:19 ↗ we delay these projects Cabin Creek

2:05:22 ↗ tributary stabilization and enhancement

2:05:25 ↗ Sunrise place to Sycamore Drive

2:05:27 ↗ emergency Access Project The Laughing

2:05:30 ↗ Jacobs Creek Channel enhancement project

2:05:33 ↗ and Gilman Boulevard improvements which

2:05:36 ↗ is a planning concept phase

2:05:40 ↗ and I wanted to share we didn't come by

2:05:42 ↗ these projects by Magic we actually try

2:05:46 ↗ to put some science to it we tried to

2:05:48 ↗ build out a matrix to look at what we

2:05:51 ↗ thought was most important in selecting

2:05:53 ↗ the projects we thought we could delay

2:05:55 ↗ some of those questions included has the

2:05:57 ↗ work already commenced is it in progress

2:05:59 ↗ or it was an earlier phase completed is

2:06:02 ↗ a project receiving grant funding what

2:06:05 ↗ are the grant requirements is this an

2:06:08 ↗ arpa project

2:06:09 ↗ is the project needing to be completed

2:06:12 ↗ right away because of critical safety

2:06:13 ↗ needs or requirements is a city is the

2:06:17 ↗ project only receiving City funds and

2:06:21 ↗ therefore we would have more control

2:06:23 ↗ has the project been championed as a

2:06:26 ↗ high priority for community members or

2:06:27 ↗ elected officials

2:06:29 ↗ would the project be a good candidate

2:06:31 ↗ for external Professional Service

2:06:33 ↗ assistance and therefore may not need to

2:06:36 ↗ be delayed we could tackle it in that

2:06:38 ↗ way are there reasons other than

2:06:41 ↗ resource levels to delay the project

2:06:44 ↗ just it can't happen this year

2:06:46 ↗ regardless and so we could choose to

2:06:48 ↗ delay it

2:06:49 ↗ so that's what went into our thinking on

2:06:52 ↗ choosing those projects

2:06:56 ↗ as I said there are a handful of other

2:06:58 ↗ projects that we're hoping to bring on

2:07:00 ↗ some Professional Services in order to

2:07:03 ↗ help us to execute on these in a timely

2:07:05 ↗ fashion so these may have met some of

2:07:08 ↗ the criteria listed before but not all

2:07:10 ↗ and that's why we believe we still need

2:07:14 ↗ to get these projects done

2:07:19 ↗ and then this is another summary of the

2:07:21 ↗ request but this time with the dollar

2:07:24 ↗ amounts included both for 2023 and 2024

2:07:29 ↗ and

2:07:32 ↗ we wanted to make sure that you had

2:07:34 ↗ those totals I can also speak if you're

2:07:38 ↗ interested about the split between

2:07:40 ↗ general fund and Utility Fund on the

2:07:43 ↗ next slide

2:07:50 ↗ so in 2023 and 2024 we've worked with

2:07:56 ↗ the finance department to Think Through

2:07:58 ↗ how we would fund these new positions

2:08:01 ↗ and the Professional Services asks and

2:08:05 ↗ the finance department had proposed

2:08:08 ↗ filling a local government management

2:08:10 ↗ fellow position this is a national

2:08:13 ↗ program that we have utilized in the

2:08:16 ↗ past

2:08:17 ↗ that position was budgeted as a limited

2:08:20 ↗ term employee for a two-year stint which

2:08:23 ↗ is typical for that program we would not

2:08:27 ↗ participate and instead reallocate those

2:08:31 ↗ budgeted funds to the positions in the

2:08:34 ↗ public works department

2:08:36 ↗ that are general fund funded

2:08:39 ↗ secondly we would shift the funds that

2:08:43 ↗ were allocated for another general fund

2:08:45 ↗ project the Gilman Boulevard project and

2:08:48 ↗ utilize those one-time funds to help pay

2:08:51 ↗ for the costs of the positions and the

2:08:54 ↗ Professional Services in 2023

2:08:59 ↗ so the overall 23 cost for the general

2:09:04 ↗ fund is 616

2:09:08 ↗ 000 roughly

2:09:10 ↗ in the Utility Fund cost we've estimated

2:09:13 ↗ at just over

2:09:14 ↗ 326 thousand dollars

2:09:17 ↗ moving beyond 23 and 24's biennium

2:09:23 ↗ we would hope to take a look at how we

2:09:26 ↗ are budgeting capital projects and the

2:09:28 ↗ staff that work on those capital

2:09:30 ↗ projects it is not

2:09:33 ↗ um

2:09:34 ↗ unusual for cities to index positions

2:09:38 ↗ to work activities to projects it is

2:09:42 ↗ also not unusual for cities to allocate

2:09:47 ↗ some of their staff time to projects

2:09:52 ↗ and so that's a model we want to explore

2:09:54 ↗ that's a big change would require a lot

2:09:57 ↗ of ripples through the budget Etc and so

2:10:00 ↗ we need a little bit of time to work

2:10:03 ↗ through that and really go position by

2:10:06 ↗ position and project by project

2:10:09 ↗ it becomes president

2:10:11 ↗ um thank you I have some questions about

2:10:12 ↗ funding so I appreciate an opportunity

2:10:14 ↗ to stop here so

2:10:16 ↗ um utility funds so I thought these

2:10:18 ↗ funds were all based on the rate study

2:10:21 ↗ that we do for particular projects and

2:10:22 ↗ so we're only collecting as much as we

2:10:25 ↗ need for those particular projects so is

2:10:26 ↗ this fun balance for utility funds that

2:10:29 ↗ would pay into this or the rates also

2:10:32 ↗ help pay for operating expenses

2:10:35 ↗ so that's part of the answer to your

2:10:37 ↗ question I think the second answer to

2:10:39 ↗ your question is that the rates hurt the

2:10:45 ↗ rates are set at a moment in time right

2:10:48 ↗ and we we then do forecast studies on

2:10:53 ↗ future rates based on what are the

2:10:55 ↗ capital projects that are now

2:10:58 ↗ bubbling up in the CIP they they're the

2:11:01 ↗ next ones that need to be done right or

2:11:03 ↗ they're the ones that are forecast over

2:11:05 ↗ the next decade and we need to start

2:11:07 ↗ putting away money from the

2:11:10 ↗ fees that we collect for those projects

2:11:13 ↗ in the future we do the same thing on

2:11:15 ↗ the operating side so we model that out

2:11:18 ↗ and we set the rates to help us make

2:11:21 ↗ sure we have what we need on the

2:11:22 ↗ operating side as well

2:11:24 ↗ so the rates for our current rate study

2:11:27 ↗ have been set so that so we're like like

2:11:31 ↗ our expansion in in resources so I guess

2:11:35 ↗ I'm I'm not understanding because then

2:11:37 ↗ the rates would support the operations

2:11:39 ↗ that we had assumed at the time of the

2:11:40 ↗ rate study right but it's now ballooned

2:11:42 ↗ well we're always truing up so uh we're

2:11:45 ↗ going we have been going through a

2:11:47 ↗ process recently to update all of our

2:11:49 ↗ Master plans for utilities

2:11:52 ↗ there's a truing up that has to happen

2:11:54 ↗ in the CIP to then bring in the projects

2:11:57 ↗ that are anticipated to be needed we do

2:12:00 ↗ that work we also then go out and do a

2:12:04 ↗ rate study and and examine

2:12:07 ↗ what does it mean to have these new

2:12:09 ↗ capital projects that we need to fund

2:12:11 ↗ plus how is the the city's

2:12:14 ↗ infrastructure changing such that we

2:12:16 ↗ would need a higher Staffing level or or

2:12:18 ↗ a lower Staffing level and then we

2:12:20 ↗ incorporate that forecast into the rate

2:12:23 ↗ study as well so we're living off at the

2:12:25 ↗ last rate study now as we add new things

2:12:28 ↗ we make sure that gets into the data

2:12:30 ↗ that is used to forecast the future

2:12:33 ↗ rates

2:12:36 ↗ you good all right

2:12:39 ↗ okay

2:12:44 ↗ so this is our proposed next steps we

2:12:48 ↗ would like to return to City Council in

2:12:52 ↗ early April and seek the funding and the

2:12:56 ↗ authorization for these positions in the

2:12:58 ↗ Professional Services allocation

2:13:01 ↗ we would get busy right away

2:13:04 ↗ with posting these positions we still

2:13:06 ↗ have job notices that are fresh and we

2:13:10 ↗ would get those back out on the street

2:13:12 ↗ try to fill these positions as soon as

2:13:16 ↗ we could I'm estimating at best

2:13:20 ↗ July

2:13:21 ↗ Our Hope would be to get executive get

2:13:26 ↗ Professional Services agreements in

2:13:28 ↗ place also in April so that we could get

2:13:31 ↗ those firms up and running faster than

2:13:34 ↗ truthfully we could fill those positions

2:13:38 ↗ and then bring our franchise management

2:13:41 ↗ back in-house

2:13:43 ↗ in late part of the year as we've had an

2:13:46 ↗ opportunity to train that individual in

2:13:48 ↗ that function if needed

2:13:51 ↗ and then begin to transition the

2:13:53 ↗ projects from those Professional

2:13:55 ↗ Services firms back to hopefully new

2:13:57 ↗ staff that we would have on board by the

2:14:00 ↗ end of the year so that those new staff

2:14:03 ↗ members may take a bigger role in

2:14:05 ↗ executing those projects into 2024. a

2:14:09 ↗ lot of our projects as you know are

2:14:10 ↗ two-year or more projects

2:14:16 ↗ all right there are of course always

2:14:19 ↗ Alternatives

2:14:20 ↗ one alternative that I've discussed with

2:14:24 ↗ City Administration has been allocate

2:14:26 ↗ more funding for contractual services

2:14:31 ↗ in lieu of hiring more staff if we want

2:14:34 ↗ to get the projects done we need some

2:14:36 ↗ resources it could come in the form of

2:14:39 ↗ new positions that could come in the

2:14:40 ↗ form of outside help or it could be a

2:14:43 ↗ combo which is what has been proposed

2:14:46 ↗ tonight

2:14:47 ↗ we could also cancel or delay additional

2:14:50 ↗ capital and non-capital projects

2:14:52 ↗ we could limit the amount of time spent

2:14:55 ↗ scrutinizing those franchise

2:14:57 ↗ applications it is an option not

2:15:00 ↗ necessarily one I think many of us want

2:15:03 ↗ and we could adjust the service level

2:15:05 ↗ expectations for traffic signals

2:15:07 ↗ management

2:15:09 ↗ also probably not attractive

2:15:13 ↗ all right

2:15:15 ↗ um

2:15:16 ↗ we walked through this at the beginning

2:15:18 ↗ this is the direction that I'm hoping to

2:15:20 ↗ get from all of you tonight and the

2:15:23 ↗ feedback that we'd love to receive about

2:15:26 ↗ this proposal

2:15:28 ↗ great thanks Emily questions

2:15:33 ↗ councilmember Hall

2:15:37 ↗ thank you again for the for the

2:15:39 ↗ presentation

2:15:41 ↗ um

2:15:42 ↗ shocking how much overtime that

2:15:44 ↗ engineer had or a couple Engineers have

2:15:47 ↗ that's crazy so

2:15:48 ↗ mind-blowing

2:15:50 ↗ um so I was wondering if you could kind

2:15:52 ↗ of talk through just so we can say we've

2:15:53 ↗ explored

2:15:55 ↗ um the Alternatives too as a committee

2:15:56 ↗ like the value of internal staff versus

2:15:59 ↗ external help it's it's like kind of a

2:16:01 ↗ sliding Spectrum which is why you

2:16:03 ↗ provided this balanced approach which I

2:16:05 ↗ think is probably the right way to go

2:16:06 ↗ but just from in your world what's the

2:16:08 ↗ value of each

2:16:09 ↗ sure well trade-offs

2:16:12 ↗ um we we can get expertise quickly

2:16:16 ↗ oftentimes we can get Professional

2:16:20 ↗ Engineers on contract that have done

2:16:22 ↗ these types of projects elsewhere

2:16:24 ↗ there's a benefit to that from time to

2:16:26 ↗ time they come with overhead and extra

2:16:29 ↗ costs typically they're more expensive

2:16:31 ↗ per hour so that's a trade-off you don't

2:16:34 ↗ retain that knowledge in your department

2:16:36 ↗ your department doesn't get better over

2:16:40 ↗ time because of that and you're not set

2:16:43 ↗ up to have the Staffing level that you

2:16:45 ↗ need for project next year so you're

2:16:49 ↗ you're living the same equation over and

2:16:51 ↗ over

2:16:52 ↗ uh so we we tend to think about it as

2:16:55 ↗ more of a one-time or on specific

2:16:58 ↗ projects where we don't think we have

2:17:00 ↗ the level of expertise a lot of times

2:17:03 ↗ we'll we'll deal with a project that has

2:17:05 ↗ some unusual characteristic that are

2:17:10 ↗ typical civil engineers may not come in

2:17:12 ↗ contact with as frequently

2:17:20 ↗ and then I I think I mentioned this

2:17:22 ↗ having additional staff positions I

2:17:26 ↗ believe will also help us to take on the

2:17:29 ↗ number of projects that truly this

2:17:31 ↗ community

2:17:32 ↗ needs us to undertake

2:17:35 ↗ and you don't have to smoke me on that I

2:17:37 ↗ believe that

2:17:38 ↗ um is there any value also just kind of

2:17:41 ↗ an exploring an option where we move

2:17:44 ↗ forward with the admit with your

2:17:45 ↗ recommendation

2:17:47 ↗ but because of the market being what it

2:17:50 ↗ is our difficulty hiring in these

2:17:52 ↗ positions which I guess seem to be

2:17:54 ↗ experienced by municipalities all over

2:17:55 ↗ that we set up date or draw a line in

2:17:59 ↗ the sand and say if we're really not

2:18:00 ↗ able if we want to make progress on

2:18:03 ↗ these Council and Community priorities

2:18:05 ↗ and we are still struggling to fill

2:18:07 ↗ these positions by this point maybe we

2:18:10 ↗ consider outside how is that something

2:18:11 ↗ also we could look into yes I think we

2:18:14 ↗ would have to if if we if we get to

2:18:18 ↗ a couple months in on Posting and our

2:18:22 ↗ applicant pools have not been very

2:18:26 ↗ deep or well numbered but we have been

2:18:29 ↗ extremely lucky and when it only takes

2:18:32 ↗ one right but if we don't get the one in

2:18:36 ↗ the first two months I think we will be

2:18:39 ↗ talking I certainly will be talking with

2:18:41 ↗ City Administration and I suspect we'll

2:18:43 ↗ be coming back and and revisiting some

2:18:46 ↗ of these options

2:18:49 ↗ is it your sense that

2:18:51 ↗ we are recruiting in a kind of business

2:18:54 ↗ as usual way or are we thinking kind of

2:18:57 ↗ innovatively and how can we

2:19:00 ↗ be recruiting differently and getting

2:19:02 ↗ these young minds who are like really

2:19:03 ↗ interested in being a part of solutions

2:19:06 ↗ like this that's great that's great I I

2:19:09 ↗ think we have been stepping up our game

2:19:11 ↗ and beginning in October as I said we

2:19:15 ↗ did a revamp and each time we post we

2:19:18 ↗ ask ourselves that question how can we

2:19:20 ↗ do it differently how can we improve

2:19:22 ↗ upon the way that we did it last time

2:19:24 ↗ we're using social media more we hadn't

2:19:28 ↗ done that in the past so that's one

2:19:29 ↗ example

2:19:31 ↗ we're engaged with Communications right

2:19:34 ↗ now to do some Creative Marketing in

2:19:37 ↗ particular we're focusing on maintenance

2:19:39 ↗ workers because we've had a ton of

2:19:41 ↗ maintenance worker vacancies as well

2:19:44 ↗ um

2:19:45 ↗ and I

2:19:48 ↗ yes I I think the challenge that you may

2:19:51 ↗ have alluded to as well is who are we

2:19:55 ↗ targeting and and we have been open we

2:19:58 ↗ have been open and have hired Engineers

2:20:01 ↗ who have less experience

2:20:04 ↗ we have projects that we need to have

2:20:08 ↗ Engineers who can hit the ground running

2:20:10 ↗ too

2:20:11 ↗ but we we also need to look at the long

2:20:14 ↗ game

2:20:19 ↗ councilmember D Michelle I do have one

2:20:22 ↗ question

2:20:23 ↗ um I I asked this earlier but just I

2:20:26 ↗ think to put it on the record

2:20:28 ↗ um

2:20:29 ↗ and you did such a good job of laying

2:20:32 ↗ out the rationale for this and and but I

2:20:36 ↗ think the full council is going to have

2:20:38 ↗ a question about sustainability and

2:20:42 ↗ um

2:20:43 ↗ when we get to the 2526 budget are we

2:20:47 ↗ going to be able to continue to fund

2:20:49 ↗ these positions so

2:20:51 ↗ um I'm wondering if Deputy Administrator

2:20:55 ↗ Snyder would like to maybe talk or speak

2:20:58 ↗ to that before we deliberate

2:21:04 ↗ uh sure thank you councilmember D

2:21:06 ↗ Michelle this is Andrea yes and I think

2:21:08 ↗ Emily alluded to this a little bit

2:21:10 ↗ earlier in her presentation about

2:21:12 ↗ project accounting and so

2:21:15 ↗ um what we uh we haven't always charged

2:21:18 ↗ all of the costs that are necessary to

2:21:22 ↗ working on a project implementing a

2:21:24 ↗ project to that project and we've done

2:21:28 ↗ it under certain situations when we

2:21:29 ↗ receive grant funding and we know that

2:21:31 ↗ staff time can be paid for by that Grant

2:21:34 ↗ but we haven't always done that

2:21:37 ↗ internally so we've been talking about

2:21:38 ↗ how to do that more when it comes to

2:21:42 ↗ certain types of funds like Reit funding

2:21:44 ↗ real estate excise tax funding that we

2:21:47 ↗ try to exclusively use for

2:21:48 ↗ infrastructure projects because it's

2:21:50 ↗ considered one-time funding so we want

2:21:52 ↗ to apply it towards one-time costs and

2:21:54 ↗ for that reason we haven't been applying

2:21:56 ↗ it towards staff cost but if staff are

2:21:59 ↗ working 20 hours a week on a certain

2:22:01 ↗ project that's funded by Reit then

2:22:03 ↗ perhaps we should be billing that time

2:22:05 ↗ to read and so we're looking at that at

2:22:10 ↗ how to

2:22:11 ↗ um

2:22:12 ↗ change our processes and practices

2:22:15 ↗ around project accounting that's

2:22:17 ↗ something we're looking at internally

2:22:18 ↗ and I think that's going to help make

2:22:20 ↗ these positions a little bit

2:22:22 ↗ that's going to help our long-term

2:22:24 ↗ sustainability Financial sustainability

2:22:26 ↗ for these positions is really really

2:22:28 ↗ considering how we're using our revenues

2:22:30 ↗ to support infrastructure

2:22:32 ↗ and the necessary cost to support

2:22:36 ↗ infrastructure

2:22:41 ↗ any other questions

2:22:44 ↗ I don't know that I have any questions

2:22:45 ↗ so

2:22:47 ↗ I will open it up for public comment

2:22:51 ↗ clerk is there anyone online

2:22:56 ↗ no one from the public is online

2:22:58 ↗ okay

2:23:01 ↗ then I I guess we will move into

2:23:03 ↗ discussion and deliberation so the two

2:23:06 ↗ questions we have is does the council

2:23:08 ↗ committee support the additional

2:23:09 ↗ requested

2:23:10 ↗ positions to complete capital projects

2:23:12 ↗ enhance Capital programs and franchise

2:23:14 ↗ management and improve the city's

2:23:17 ↗ ability to maintain its traffic

2:23:19 ↗ signaling system

2:23:21 ↗ and does the County Council committee

2:23:24 ↗ support the allocation use of

2:23:26 ↗ Professional Services to ensure delivery

2:23:29 ↗ of projects while public works

2:23:32 ↗ department completes recruitment hiring

2:23:34 ↗ and training anyone like to jump in

2:23:36 ↗ first

2:23:37 ↗ councilmember D Michelle yeah well

2:23:40 ↗ thanks to Emily for a really well

2:23:43 ↗ thought out plan and I really appreciate

2:23:46 ↗ the fact that it wasn't all in one

2:23:48 ↗ bucket that you came with a whole range

2:23:51 ↗ of things that can be done to alleviate

2:23:53 ↗ the situation or really take the heart

2:23:55 ↗ you're comment about this is you know

2:23:58 ↗ we're talking about people's

2:24:00 ↗ life work balance and that is a shocking

2:24:04 ↗ amount of overtime

2:24:07 ↗ um and we also know because we've all

2:24:10 ↗ been there before we get to uh

2:24:14 ↗ the leadership position that what that

2:24:18 ↗ pressure does on a day-to-day basis when

2:24:20 ↗ you're when you're working for an

2:24:22 ↗ organization so so yes I support this

2:24:26 ↗ um and uh

2:24:29 ↗ I've already expressed the one concern I

2:24:32 ↗ would have which I think we have a good

2:24:34 ↗ answer to which is we don't want to hire

2:24:37 ↗ people that we can't sustainably employ

2:24:39 ↗ especially as you I thought you did a

2:24:42 ↗ really good job of explaining why

2:24:43 ↗ in-house people are more desirable than

2:24:46 ↗ contractors especially that knowledge

2:24:49 ↗ base that you have with your

2:24:51 ↗ organization so we don't want to lose

2:24:54 ↗ people especially if we find out that

2:24:56 ↗ they're really good because we can't

2:24:57 ↗ afford them anymore so that would be my

2:25:00 ↗ concern but not enough of a concern to

2:25:03 ↗ um to not take this up and do it now

2:25:07 ↗ um and the second question about using

2:25:10 ↗ contractual Services

2:25:12 ↗ um uh yes absolutely I think the

2:25:16 ↗ community is expecting a pretty high

2:25:18 ↗ level of delivery

2:25:21 ↗ um and we've committed to that so let us

2:25:23 ↗ go ahead with the best plan that we can

2:25:25 ↗ until we get those people in place

2:25:28 ↗ so thank you

2:25:30 ↗ um committee I know as we now have a

2:25:32 ↗ member of the public in the room if a

2:25:34 ↗ member of the public in the room would

2:25:36 ↗ like to make public comment we just

2:25:37 ↗ moved off of it so if you wanted to say

2:25:39 ↗ anything I would open up the mic for you

2:25:42 ↗ no okay

2:25:44 ↗ um councilmember Hall Deputy council

2:25:47 ↗ president Hall excuse me sure unless

2:25:49 ↗ you'd like to go first

2:25:51 ↗ yeah wrestle usually went last too so

2:25:53 ↗ yeah it's a chair thing okay

2:25:56 ↗ um

2:25:57 ↗ I mean yes I I completely agree with the

2:26:01 ↗ comments of councilmember D Michelle I

2:26:03 ↗ do think this is the right direction to

2:26:04 ↗ go I I do think you've provided us kind

2:26:07 ↗ of with this reality check

2:26:11 ↗ think the community but also Council

2:26:13 ↗ especially of late when our last retreat

2:26:16 ↗ was all about Capital planning has very

2:26:18 ↗ high expectations for what we want to

2:26:20 ↗ accomplish over the next let's say 10

2:26:22 ↗ years

2:26:24 ↗ and we need a little bit of a gut check

2:26:27 ↗ to understand the resources that it's

2:26:29 ↗ going to take to accomplish this Vision

2:26:32 ↗ to accomplish the mobility master plan

2:26:35 ↗ getting people around quicker and safely

2:26:39 ↗ protecting and

2:26:43 ↗ maintaining the infrastructure that we

2:26:45 ↗ currently have in just preventing

2:26:47 ↗ long-term problems with regard to

2:26:49 ↗ infrastructure so I agree that I think

2:26:51 ↗ this is a very well thought out plan the

2:26:54 ↗ council has expressed over and over that

2:26:57 ↗ we

2:26:58 ↗ um you know are committed to building

2:27:01 ↗ I guess building better outcomes

2:27:03 ↗ um you know and so we have to be able to

2:27:06 ↗ put our money where our mouth is too I

2:27:08 ↗ do think though that we need to I don't

2:27:10 ↗ know if this is really more on the staff

2:27:12 ↗ side or from a policy side set kind of a

2:27:15 ↗ date forward to say

2:27:18 ↗ we obviously really want to try to go

2:27:20 ↗ with this approach but we may need to

2:27:22 ↗ adjust a year from now or something like

2:27:24 ↗ that if we're not able to keep on track

2:27:26 ↗ with some of these major priorities that

2:27:29 ↗ you identified earlier in the

2:27:30 ↗ presentation so I'll leave that to staff

2:27:32 ↗ to figure out kind of how to do that

2:27:35 ↗ um

2:27:37 ↗ see I agree with the concern of being

2:27:40 ↗ able to kind of fund positions long term

2:27:43 ↗ I guess I don't know enough about

2:27:46 ↗ the use of limited term employees in

2:27:50 ↗ kind of the capital or engineering

2:27:51 ↗ spaces like a solution in this space too

2:27:54 ↗ so as long as staff is kind of thought

2:27:57 ↗ through that as a potential option that

2:28:00 ↗ I'm comfortable just going with the

2:28:02 ↗ proposal that you have and not exploring

2:28:03 ↗ that any further I also think this might

2:28:06 ↗ be an opportunity for Council and the

2:28:09 ↗ mayor to talk with our state legislators

2:28:12 ↗ too about well what is the Workforce

2:28:14 ↗ Development in this area here in

2:28:17 ↗ Washington state what can we be doing

2:28:18 ↗ more and how can we be participating to

2:28:21 ↗ help grow our future employees here in

2:28:25 ↗ Washington and even here in Issaquah we

2:28:28 ↗ had a council leader or council

2:28:30 ↗ president and I had a meeting with the

2:28:32 ↗ iska school district a few weeks ago and

2:28:35 ↗ started talking about what are the

2:28:37 ↗ opportunities that for like shadowing or

2:28:40 ↗ just kind of career interests from

2:28:42 ↗ students that we could be doing more

2:28:43 ↗ maybe there's something this doesn't

2:28:45 ↗ solve this problem obviously but just

2:28:47 ↗ thinking about larger Workforce

2:28:50 ↗ Development maybe there are ways that we

2:28:52 ↗ can partner with kind of Youth to get

2:28:54 ↗ them more excited about this kind of

2:28:56 ↗ career path

2:28:58 ↗ um

2:29:01 ↗ because I do think I mean I think I

2:29:04 ↗ think this a lot right now especially in

2:29:05 ↗ the field of

2:29:07 ↗ um young people on public policy but two

2:29:10 ↗ also with engineers and planners and

2:29:12 ↗ stuff these people are learning

2:29:15 ↗ the best available thinking in terms of

2:29:18 ↗ how to create better better and

2:29:20 ↗ successful outcomes in communities that

2:29:21 ↗ are different that are challenging

2:29:23 ↗ convention right so I'm really

2:29:25 ↗ interested in getting the kinds of

2:29:26 ↗ Engineers that are pushing I'm sure you

2:29:28 ↗ are too that are kind of pushing the

2:29:30 ↗ boundary and saying how can we be doing

2:29:32 ↗ this better

2:29:33 ↗ and to me that's that's always our youth

2:29:35 ↗ but I there's at some level with

2:29:38 ↗ engineering where you just gotta have

2:29:40 ↗ that kind of experience to be able to

2:29:42 ↗ execute too so I I just wanted to say

2:29:44 ↗ that just for the record so like that's

2:29:46 ↗ I know Mary Lou's been thinking about

2:29:47 ↗ that a lot and we've had conversation

2:29:49 ↗ the mayor mayor Paulie I'm sorry has

2:29:52 ↗ been thinking about that but I just want

2:29:53 ↗ to make sure that staff at the director

2:29:55 ↗ level two are kind of thinking about

2:29:57 ↗ well how are we like pushing the

2:29:58 ↗ envelope how are we thinking about

2:30:02 ↗ how cities and towns are going to be

2:30:04 ↗ doing this in the future and getting a

2:30:06 ↗ jump on that right so but anyways I'm

2:30:08 ↗ sorry I'm rambling now I agree with the

2:30:09 ↗ direction that you've proposed here

2:30:12 ↗ today and again thank you very much for

2:30:13 ↗ doing the complex evaluation over the

2:30:17 ↗ last what was it five months so that

2:30:18 ↗ you've been here and um you know

2:30:21 ↗ honestly that's very quick to be able to

2:30:22 ↗ then come back and say we have a problem

2:30:24 ↗ and here's the solution or here's a

2:30:26 ↗ solution so I really appreciate you just

2:30:28 ↗ like quick thinking and all of this and

2:30:30 ↗ just being a good resource for us so

2:30:31 ↗ yeah

2:30:33 ↗ sorry I keep going on and on this is a

2:30:35 ↗ fun meeting for some reason I don't know

2:30:36 ↗ well we appreciate your uh your thoughts

2:30:39 ↗ we really really do

2:30:41 ↗ um I'm gonna go right to the the point

2:30:44 ↗ which is yes I think that we need

2:30:47 ↗ additional resources to complete our

2:30:48 ↗ capital projects it's become really

2:30:50 ↗ uh sadly apparent that that we're

2:30:52 ↗ struggling in that area and so let's get

2:30:55 ↗ the resources we need I am particularly

2:30:58 ↗ super excited about the intelligent

2:31:00 ↗ transportation system I think it's one

2:31:02 ↗ of the things that we really desperately

2:31:03 ↗ need in this community

2:31:05 ↗ um I also think that um I'm a big fan of

2:31:08 ↗ Professional Services I did it for way

2:31:10 ↗ too many years there is a role for

2:31:13 ↗ Professional Services and I think you

2:31:14 ↗ you spoke to that a little bit which is

2:31:17 ↗ they can get you over the hump they can

2:31:19 ↗ provide some real specialized

2:31:20 ↗ expertise I'm not a big fan of using

2:31:23 ↗ Professional Services on an ongoing

2:31:25 ↗ basis is Staff augmentation I would much

2:31:27 ↗ rather hire our own people because we

2:31:30 ↗ retain the expertise and we're not

2:31:31 ↗ paying the premium that you always will

2:31:33 ↗ pay for Professional Services so

2:31:36 ↗ um so in the um context in which you're

2:31:39 ↗ presenting it all over it in terms of

2:31:42 ↗ like if we can't staff these positions

2:31:45 ↗ then I think we've got a harder choice

2:31:47 ↗ because it's not a long-term solution

2:31:49 ↗ it's like eating sugar

2:31:52 ↗ lots of calories but it doesn't stick

2:31:54 ↗ with you

2:31:56 ↗ um

2:31:59 ↗ anyway and then of course yeah let's

2:32:01 ↗ work on the recruitment I'm excited to

2:32:02 ↗ see that we're doing some new new things

2:32:04 ↗ but I have a couple of uh just

2:32:06 ↗ commentary about what you're doing

2:32:08 ↗ because I think it's pretty exciting

2:32:10 ↗ um we need to focus on the right size of

2:32:13 ↗ projects on our list we have to match

2:32:15 ↗ our capabilities to deliver with our

2:32:18 ↗ with our resources and I think we're out

2:32:20 ↗ of balance and I think you think we're

2:32:21 ↗ out of balance and I think this is a

2:32:22 ↗ plan to bring us into balance but what

2:32:24 ↗ we can do is come into balance and then

2:32:26 ↗ let city council say oh yeah but we got

2:32:29 ↗ seven other things we want to do too so

2:32:31 ↗ we got to have a little discipline here

2:32:32 ↗ uh across the board because

2:32:35 ↗ um because we can't do it all we can't

2:32:37 ↗ afford to do it all

2:32:39 ↗ um I think that the arpa has skewed the

2:32:43 ↗ demand for engineers and other

2:32:44 ↗ infrastructure professionals way off the

2:32:47 ↗ chart I think that the difficulties

2:32:49 ↗ we're having right now are to be

2:32:51 ↗ expected and I think they'll also

2:32:52 ↗ ameliorate over the next couple years so

2:32:55 ↗ um I I'm kind of of the mindset we need

2:32:59 ↗ the resources to get our work done but

2:33:01 ↗ we may have to be a little bit patient

2:33:04 ↗ because the market is

2:33:06 ↗ outrageous right now

2:33:09 ↗ um

2:33:09 ↗ super excited about a capital Pro

2:33:12 ↗ program manager and the concept of

2:33:13 ↗ program management something we

2:33:15 ↗ desperately needed here uh I think the

2:33:17 ↗ idea of coordinating these activities

2:33:19 ↗ across the city super smart Super Spot

2:33:22 ↗ on and I would love to see a portfolio

2:33:24 ↗ management approach to all of our

2:33:26 ↗ projects where we're looking at we got

2:33:28 ↗ some big ones we got some little ones we

2:33:30 ↗ got some long-running ones we got some

2:33:31 ↗ short running ones but to manage this is

2:33:33 ↗ a portfolio of activities so that we're

2:33:36 ↗ maximizing the amount that we can push

2:33:37 ↗ through the pipe

2:33:39 ↗ kind of a sewer metaphor I guess

2:33:42 ↗ um

2:33:44 ↗ uh and then I I will always say this

2:33:47 ↗ always focus on Effectiveness before

2:33:49 ↗ efficiency if we're doing the wrong

2:33:51 ↗ thing I don't care how well we do it so

2:33:53 ↗ let's make sure that we're focusing on

2:33:55 ↗ the right stuff and we're doing it in

2:33:56 ↗ the right way and then we can worry

2:33:58 ↗ about getting efficient at doing it

2:34:00 ↗ and

2:34:02 ↗ and I think I think I just I said this

2:34:04 ↗ but I'm saying it again

2:34:06 ↗ um you know it may make sense to say

2:34:07 ↗ we're going to delay some of these

2:34:09 ↗ projects until we get a little bit of

2:34:11 ↗ easing in the engineering Market it's

2:34:12 ↗ just I I hate to do it because I'm super

2:34:15 ↗ excited about some of them but I think

2:34:16 ↗ that's our reality right now

2:34:19 ↗ um and then we need to capture when

2:34:21 ↗ we're doing our CIP we've got to be real

2:34:23 ↗ realistic about it's not just the

2:34:25 ↗ project it's the after the project and

2:34:28 ↗ it's it's a

2:34:30 ↗ and how how do we capture all those true

2:34:32 ↗ costs because I think that's

2:34:34 ↗ that's how we balance this question of

2:34:36 ↗ these capital projects with the

2:34:39 ↗ resources we absolutely need to manage

2:34:41 ↗ them from our side so that's all I have

2:34:44 ↗ to say any other comments from you all

2:34:48 ↗ councilmember Hall you look like you're

2:34:51 ↗ you're warming up

2:34:53 ↗ all right

2:34:54 ↗ um we can take a vote on the direction

2:34:56 ↗ or I think maybe we've been pretty clear

2:34:58 ↗ on it are you happy

2:34:59 ↗ or you want us to formalize it because

2:35:02 ↗ I'm either good either way I am I'm

2:35:04 ↗ happy I I think I have Clarity and

2:35:07 ↗ consent and Deputy City administrator

2:35:10 ↗ would like more

2:35:12 ↗ well that is something I'm interested in

2:35:14 ↗ hearing from the committee

2:35:16 ↗ um should this be on consent or regular

2:35:18 ↗ business oh I'm I'm in favor of a

2:35:20 ↗ regular business on this one it's it's

2:35:22 ↗ got a big impact yeah

2:35:24 ↗ great and we're looking at a early April

2:35:26 ↗ April 3rd

2:35:27 ↗ bring it back

2:35:31 ↗ thank you very much thank you great

2:35:33 ↗ presentation Emily thank you very much

2:35:34 ↗ and Matt thanks for sticking around

2:35:37 ↗ all right

2:35:39 ↗ um any announcements any comments

2:35:45 ↗ all right

2:35:46 ↗ that we've reached the end of the agenda

2:35:49 ↗ there's no further business we are

2:35:51 ↗ adjourned

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Motions and votes (1)

Approve the Jan. 10, 2023 minutes. . AGENDA ITEMS a) ID 1277 Sewer Master Plan: On-site Septic Policy Recommendations After the staff presentation, the following public comment was provided: • Ellen Mohl Barouh, 1321 Sycamore Dr. SE, spoke regarding the need for City support for extending sewer into…

Moved by HALL · seconded by DE MICHELE

Carried 3-0