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I'll call the October 3rd, 2016 regular council meeting to order
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and ask those in the audience who would like to join
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myself and the council in the Pledge of Allegiance to please
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stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
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of America and to the republic for which it stands, one
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nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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Our first order of business
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this evening under special business
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is agenda bill 7231, the
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mayor's presentation of the 2017
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preliminary budget. Issaquah citizens, community
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members, employees, and Issaquah City
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Council. Tonight I'm pleased to
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present my proposed 2017 budget.
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Each year, I am pleased to present, and fortunate to
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stand before you, the financial plan for the coming year.
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It is my opportunity to highlight how we'll provide quality
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services that support a sustainable, safe, and vibrant community. You'll
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hear me feature several capital projects that will enhance our
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infrastructure, and I'll also cover some exciting initiatives to
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both streamline services and plan for the future. The proposed
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budget, however, is unlike any I've presented to the City
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Council in the past. Together as a community, we face
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many unknowns. From an upcoming ballot measure to a
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moratorium on certain types of development, there are many issues that
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will impact our budget in the coming year. I'm extremely thankful
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for our hardworking staff who faced these unknowns head-on and assisted
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me in developing the proposed budget. While we don't
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have a crystal ball for 2017, the proposal before
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you tonight is physically sound, responsible, and balanced. My
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main focus for 2017 is this: ensuring our community
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is prepared for the future, both in the coming
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months and the years ahead. Our
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financial roadmap for Issaquah includes continued investments in
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transportation and parks projects, enhanced customer service, a
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focus on public safety, and several long-range planning
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efforts. From Issaquah's last community survey to the
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conversations that we see on social media, Our
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community's frustration is consistent and clear. We all recognize
4:03
that we are stuck in traffic. Our clogged streets
4:09
are already a daily problem and it's not going
4:15
to go away soon. There isn't one single solution,
4:21
however, to solving this complex challenge. Instead, we must
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tackle it from all angles. So far we've
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doubled traffic fees to ensure developers are paying their
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fair share. We're also working to create a safer
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and more convenient network for pedestrians and cyclists so
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that they can easily access recreation, work and transit
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without a car. My proposed budget includes $476,000 to
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continue funding our Complete Streets program, which addresses missing links in
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our transportation network that need to be connected through sidewalks, bike
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lanes, and crosswalks. Later this year, soon after we celebrate the
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completion of the widening of the East Lake-Samamish Parkway, We
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will begin another project to ease congestion in North Issaquah
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at Southeast 62nd Street. Leveraging grants and outside funds, Issaquah
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will widen the street between East Lake Sammamish Parkway and
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to 21st Place Southeast. In addition, a new roadway will
5:46
extend Southeast 62nd Street to Lake Drive near Costco's International
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Headquarters. In just a few weeks, voters also
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will weigh in on a package of local transportation
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projects. If approved, $50 million will be invested throughout
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Issaquah from modernizing two major gateways to our city,
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East Sunset Way and Newport Way, to building the
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long-awaited safety improvements at Providence Point. The
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measure would also enhance a separate section of
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Newport Way from Maple to Sunset with roundabouts,
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intersection improvements and more. Meanwhile, we know we
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cannot tackle this issue alone. Oftentimes, local traffic
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headaches start well beyond our borders.
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That's why we're working closely with our neighbors, including King
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County, Sammamish and others, on regional solutions, including ways to
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address the morning and evening backups on the Issaquah-Hobart Road.
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We're also advocating for more bus service, park and rides,
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and other transit options in our community. While we're
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planning for what's next, we cannot forget about our
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existing infrastructure. I propose spending $900,000 on street paving
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next year to ensure our roads remain in excellent
7:38
condition without requiring costly rebuilds. On
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the eve of Issaquah's traffic bond decision, we're still reaping the
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benefits of a parks bond, which more than two-thirds of voters
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approved in 2013. Thanks to that funding, our community will soon
8:01
be playing on new artificial turf at Central Park and exploring
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Confluence Park via a pedestrian bridge that spans Issaquah Creek.
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Confluence Park also will receive a new exciting playground
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unlike any in our community. In addition, Issaquah will
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open a new skate park next year at Tibbets
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Valley Park. In 2017, our focus at City Hall
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is to further enhance customer service. To check in
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with our customers whose demographics are changing, We plan
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to conduct a community-wide survey next year. This feedback will
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show us where we are succeeding and how we can
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improve our service delivery. We're already working hard to improve
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services for a growing segment of our community seniors. More
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than 7,000 seniors call Issaquah home. which is an
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increase of more than 5% since 2010. This
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year we asked local seniors for feedback on
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their needs, interests, and talents. Several common themes
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quickly emerged, including information access, transportation, and affordable
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housing, which are all priorities.
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While outside nonprofits provide some senior services
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today, uncertainties remain. No matter what occurs
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in 2017, my proposed budget provides flexibility
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so that we can ensure a continuity
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of priority services for our senior community.
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To help the most vulnerable members of our community, I
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propose dedicating more than $500,000 to our local human service
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agencies. Many of our neighbors rely on counseling to their
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family's next meal. I also plan to continue our long-term
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commitments to ARCH, a regional coalition for housing. Our
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contribution of $50,000 will help preserve and increase the
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supply of housing for low and moderate income households
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in the region. In addition, my budget continues to
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collaborate and strengthen our nonprofit partners. Through our Community
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Funds Grant, we build organizational capacity with these nonprofits
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and assist them in accomplishing their mission to enhance
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our community. Fulfilling a city goal, we are currently
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developing a neighborhood engagement program to gather feedback
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from our citizens and provide more information about
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upcoming projects and city initiatives. Building these relationships
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will not only enhance our customer service, but
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also create more lines of communication throughout the
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community. Speaking of enhanced customer service, my
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proposed budget also supports new technologies that can make
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us more efficient at City Hall. Our dedicated staff
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are currently transitioning to new software called Munis, which
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helps organizations manage business processes. This huge undertaking is
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changing how we do business from employee self-service to
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laying the foundation for customers to pay utility
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bills online. Of all the services as a
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city we provide, ensuring your public safety is
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paramount. That's why close to 40% of our
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general fund is dedicated to police, fire, and
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emergency medical service. I'm also proposing
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additional funding next year to enhance emergency response training
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for our staff. This year, Issaquah participated in the
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regional Cascadia Rising exercise to test our response to
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a major earthquake. I'm extremely proud of our staff's
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involvement which enabled us to practice our response
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learn from each other, and identify areas for improvement.
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To ensure Issaquah continues to meet or exceed all
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standards set for safe drinking, my proposed budget covers
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the ongoing costs for a filtration system connected to
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Well 4, which was found to contain PFCs.
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as well as resources needed to continue researching
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potential sources of these substances. Without a doubt,
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2017 will be a pivotal year in Issaquah's
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history. My financial roadmap before you tonight includes
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several long-range planning efforts that will shape the
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look feel and focus of our community moving forward.
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Simply put, these are the building blocks for our
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future. Working with our community, we will make needed
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updates to our parks, recreation, open space and trails
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plan. In the coming year, we'll work with
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our citizens and other stakeholders to identify needs and
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set our vision. Once completed, this plan will be
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very useful as we continue enhancing our parks system
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and compete for future grants. Turning to
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Old Town, we plan to follow the recommendation of our
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Old Town Vitality Task Force to create a streetscape plan
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for our historic downtown. A streetscape plan provides guidelines for
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the look and feel of the street. For example, what
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the benches, lighting, and sidewalks should look like.
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As our city grows and moves further into its second
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century, we want to also ensure our broader Old Town
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subarea plan reflects our community's vision for our historic downtown.
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By working with community members and other stakeholders, We
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plan to revisit the plan to see what needs
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to be updated to maintain Old Town as a
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vibrant neighborhood well into the future. Recently, the City
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Council enacted a six-month moratorium on certain types of
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development. This pause enables us to address several issues
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from affordable housing, to vertical mixed use before
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more development proceeds. This will be a major undertaking
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for our staff as we engage with our community
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on these issues and craft ordinances and policies for
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the Council to consider. This budget does
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incorporate a reduction in revenues from building permits as
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a result of the moratorium. In addition, Issaquah is
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conducting a community needs assessment in 2017. When completed,
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This assessment will help better understand critical health issues
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in our community and help us make informed decisions
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to raise the bar for health, well-being, and livability.
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We will also engage with our community as Issaquah
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develops a strategic plan which will set the city's
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long-term goals moving forward and determine our top
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priorities. My proposed budget before you this evening is
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balanced and the general fund does not rely on
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reserves or cash balances. During our last budget season,
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Issaquah increased property tax by 1%. I recommend we
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continue this practice in 2017. As I've stated
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in the past, this increase won't generate significant revenues
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for the city in the short term. For example,
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our additional revenues next year would amount to about
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$81,000. A decade later, however, the cumulative effect of
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this continued increase will help us meet our growing service
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and infrastructure needs. Speaking of revenues, I'd like to acknowledge
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the hard work of our staff to acquire more than
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$9.2 million in grants last year. which is
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a direct saving to our taxpayers. In total, the
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proposed expenditures from the general fund add up to
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$44 million. We will end 2016 with an estimated
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fund balance of $9.6 million in the general fund,
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which represents 22% of our total expenditures. Meanwhile,
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the cash reserves through 2016 are expected to
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remain near current levels, which is consistent with
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our financial policies. While financial uncertainties remain, including
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the moratorium and November election results, I am
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confident that Issaquah's team, including our dedicated elected
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leaders and talented staff, can successfully address the
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challenges ahead. We have an impressive track record. It surprised
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one of the few cities in Washington state to achieve
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the triple A bond rating from Standard and Poor's, which
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demonstrates our strong commitment to financial sustainability. No matter what
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the coming year holds, now is the time to prepare.
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by focusing on transportation and
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parks investments, enhanced customer service,
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public safety, and long-range planning,
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my proposed budget positions Issaquah
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for a bright and successful
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future. Thank you. Well, it
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is good to be with
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you back at the dais
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now. I've delivered... the preliminary budget.
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And now we will move to audience comments. And
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I'd like to go over guidelines for public participation.
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There are two opportunities this evening for public and
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audience comments. The first is, right now and the second is
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a public hearing which will be held later in the meeting and
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these guidelines pertain really to both of those times for audience comments.
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So audience comments are an important part of the public process. We
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take them seriously and factor them into the decisions that we make.
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Anyone from the public who wishes to comment will have the opportunity to
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do so. Please direct your comments to the whole Council and not individuals.
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While this is not a question and answer session, we will contact you
22:27
to follow up if needed. If you did not have an opportunity to
22:32
include your email address, on the sign-in sheet, you may leave
22:38
that information on the clipboard, which just magically appeared on the table in
22:44
front of me. When recognized, use the lectern as I did and speak
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into the microphone. State your name, address, and any relationship to the city.
22:56
Limit your comments to five minutes. Submit any written comments to our city
23:02
clerk. A visual timer has been placed on the lectern. When it turns yellow, you
23:08
are within the last minute of your comment period. If you use the full five
23:13
minutes, the timer will sound to indicate the end of your allotted comment time. Personal
23:19
attacks, obscene language, derogatory remarks, and disruptive behavior will not be permitted. If a
23:25
speaker is out of order, I will direct the speaker to return to his
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or her seat. And if the speaker does not comply, I will ask them
23:37
to leave the council chambers. As I said at the beginning, citizens' comments, written
23:43
and verbal, are an important aspect of the public process. The city takes them seriously
23:49
and we thank members of the public for taking the time to address us during
23:54
our meetings. And with that, I would ask if anyone has signed up to speak.
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- No one has signed up. - So since no one has signed up, is
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there anyone in the audience who has not signed up to and desiring to speak
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under audience comments? Yes, please.
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Good evening, Council. My name is Danielle Rieger. I'm a resident of Old Town at
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430 Northeast Alder Street. And I came to hear the Mayor's presentation this evening and
24:30
also give a brief comment on the proposed transportation bond package. I am
24:36
undecided as to how I will vote on this. I
24:42
usually vote for bond proposals, but I did want to
24:48
raise a concern that I had for this particular proposal,
24:54
mainly being that I'm not sure that the design for
24:59
the improvements suggested for Newport Way were considered or
25:06
thrown about. I think what happened in the transportation or the traffic task force that
25:11
you had is they were given one proposal for a specific design and that's what
25:17
they ended up presenting to you and that's what you're presenting to the public. And
25:22
just as a person who drives on Newport regularly, I take the bus. I don't
25:28
really want to drive past three roundabouts within a mile period. I mean, gosh, if
25:34
I had a cup of coffee in my car, it will just go flying. So
25:39
I'm just -- I'm worried that, you know, perhaps we could have a smaller scale
25:45
proposal, maybe smaller roundabouts, something that's a little bit easier for the citizens to drive
25:50
around, something that maybe doesn't cost What was it 25 million dollars that it was
25:55
suggested? I'd really like to see something else be thrown up in the air as
26:00
far as the design for that goes So that's my comment for the traffic bond
26:05
package. I have one more comment on a different issue, which is downtown I love
26:09
the improvements to the sidewalks that you made But if you could put some trees
26:14
there to add a little bit of you know The downtown green that we used
26:19
to have that would be fantastic so thank you very much thank you
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and although danielle spoke to the uh the topic of the public
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hearing uh uh that although that is we've we have allowed people
26:36
to do that in the past uh i would encourage people to
26:41
wait until the public hearing and but With that, has anyone
26:47
else signed up to speak under audience? No one else has signed
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up to speak. Is there anyone else desiring to speak? Yes, sir.
26:58
Hi, Council. My name is Steve Pereira. I live at 170 Northeast
27:04
Dogwood Street here in Issaquah for about nine years now. I wanted
27:09
to talk to the issue of the, I guess, the traffic cameras
27:15
that are being proposed. I know it was recently before, I think,
27:21
one of the committees and It wasn't clear at that time what was being
27:26
presented as the administration position. I understand it's recommended by the administration that it not
27:32
move forward, and I guess I would like to see it move forward. My reason
27:37
is that I know that I personally don't like getting traffic tickets, and I'm sure
27:42
nobody does. I also don't like about traffic cameras that you can't go to court
27:48
and be presented with the person you're going to. be accused even take it that
27:53
said traffic is out of control and people are speeding on the streets if you're
27:58
going to put a traffic system and make sense to put it in now and
28:03
readjust people to having to go the speed limit if you can put them in
28:08
you should have them in use 7 that 7 by 24 not just during school
28:12
hours but during all hours. Nobody likes getting tickets like I said it's not about
28:17
revenue for the city either it's about We have certain expectations of people that
28:23
live here. We want to follow that. So I would like to
28:28
see us not wait, but to move forward with that. That's my
28:34
comments at this point. Thank you. Thank you. And do we have
28:40
your contact information? Well, make it easy on us, Steve. Anyone else
28:45
who did not sign up desiring to speak? Mr. Kapler. Thank you.
28:51
David Kapler, 255 Southeast Andrews Street. I live a block from East Sunset,
28:57
so I'm not thrilled with the truck traffic there, but I'm really having trouble with
29:02
this one. Not that I'm saying I would not vote for it, but the carbon
29:07
footprint that we're forcing on the truckers by going this extra distance is something that
29:12
we need to consider. How much of this problem the city created by
29:18
allowing the 6,000 some hundred trucks of peat to be taken out of
29:23
Gateway and 6,000 some trucks to bring back material to fill the hole
29:29
has is part of the problem. And what other projects will the city
29:34
be working on where we try and force those impacts out to
29:40
our neighbors outside of the limits of the city. I think the city
29:46
has to has a real obligation to not be dumping on rural King
29:52
County. As a resident of a different part of May Valley Road for
29:58
13 years, And in close work with those people in that May Valley
30:04
area and Squawk area with acquisition of the area, 220 acres on West Squawk,
30:09
I've got a lot of personal interest and support from those people. And I
30:15
just think we need to consider what we're doing to those people and those
30:21
kids at the bus stops. I can remember my first land use issue was
30:26
dealing with a gravel pit in May Valley. And I had the wives of truckers
30:32
signing my petition because of the impact from their kids from material falling off trucks
30:38
when they were waiting at the bus stops. So it's a serious issue that we
30:44
need to be sure we are addressing. Thank you. thank you anyone
30:50
else who has not signed up desiring to speak uh let's
30:56
go elizabeth and got it one two three hello i'm elizabeth
31:02
mupin i live at 100 big bear place and i serve
31:08
on the issaquah human services commission i am delighted that the
31:14
city of issaquah is looking into how we might meet our
31:20
goals for housing affordability in the central issaquah plan area
31:25
As you look at that and at housing in Issaquah as a
31:31
whole, it might be worth noting that across the whole area of
31:37
Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, and the Plateau between 2009 and 2014, the
31:43
number of rental units priced between $500 a month and $1,000 a
31:49
month dropped by about 7,500 units, a loss of 55%. We
31:55
need to keep looking at how to retain affordable housing. And if we
32:01
target building affordable units for those who earn $60,000 to $80,000 a year,
32:07
we will still be leaving out a large number of our citizens and
32:13
leave most of our senior citizens and many young people with no place
32:18
to go. Our area mean income may be high, but the wealth is
32:24
not very evenly distributed. We need to think creatively about
32:30
how to make housing affordable and how to keep it affordable over
32:35
the long haul. I have to say I was a little disappointed
32:41
to find out that we're only putting $50,000 aside for ARCH. How
32:47
many affordable units can you build with $50,000? And we're not even
32:52
replacing the 7,500 units we lost, and we're gaining more population that
32:58
needs affordable housing. So I hope we can
33:04
examine policies and ordinances that might prohibit some
33:09
creative options. We may be able to look
33:15
at things like boarding houses that might meet
33:20
a need for people who cannot afford apartments
33:26
that start at $1,300 a month. Thank you
33:32
for listening. Thank you. And then following the
33:37
gentleman in the plaid shirt, you'll follow him. Thank
33:43
you. Marina Subaya, 13418 209th Avenue SE. I spoke two
33:48
weeks ago regarding the truck rerouting and kind of will piggyback on some things
33:54
that Dave recently said. And the day after I spoke, Bob Harrison contacted me
34:00
to further the discussion about traffic issues. We greatly appreciate that contact and look
34:06
forward to further communication. Wanted to add a few things to my statements last
34:11
week. We went over the safety issues on May Valley Road, but Something
34:17
that came out of our conversation was that may valley road isn't under
34:23
the jurisdiction of issaquah city council but there are many things in issaquah
34:28
that are and we are being directly affected by the decisions that this
34:34
council makes under the jurisdiction of the city of issaquah um and yes
34:40
those are directly related One thing I just wanted to bring up is
34:46
if there is a serious injury or a fatality accident in relation to the
34:52
trucking traffic and the safety concerns on May Valley Road, most discerning lawyers that
34:57
would take that case would look at if these safety concerns had been publicly
35:03
stated that Issaquah, the city, could be named as a liable party in those
35:09
concerns and that's one issue to consider also um things that the
35:15
the city council it's my understanding approved the Gateway project which is a
35:20
large one of the main contributors to the truck trafficking that we're seeing
35:26
right now and there are many other large-scale projects that will be coming
35:31
growth isn't going to stop in this area and um Dave mentioned the
35:37
6,000 truckloads of peat that were allowed to be trucked out of Gateway and
35:43
6,000 more truckloads to be trucked back in that the traffic concerns that we
35:49
have now are not a surprise. Everyone that passed this project it realize
35:55
if you're if you're approving that much traffic in addition to all the traffic with
36:00
regular construction that it's not a surprise that 30 percent of issaquah's traffic is now
36:05
construction and it something needs to be done about it and of course the residents
36:10
on newport and maple and sunset don't like this no one does and no one
36:16
wants it in front of their house and in front of their school children but
36:21
i'd ask that we partner with the county to try to figure out just a
36:27
reasonable way to to make this better for everyone where safety isn't compromised for residents
36:33
or truck drivers and roads like i-90 and 405 and 18 and 169 and 167
36:39
are more capable of handing this type of handling this type of traffic but how
36:44
do we work together to figure out how to utilize those roads and then finally
36:50
i think The root cause of this is the growth issue. And I
36:56
would ask that the city council just consider what they are approving for
37:02
growth and projects that come up. And the moratorium is a good gesture,
37:07
but there are still two to three years of projects that are already
37:13
approved. And this Gateway project is ongoing. And I'd ask that consider putting
37:19
regulations to the was the projects that are approved to demand traffic
37:24
accounting for traffic or like when they built talus they demanded that the
37:30
turn lane was created which thank goodness they did but that wasn't nearly
37:36
enough so putting in stipulations for realistic traffic adjustments And with all the new
37:42
revenue that these projects are bringing into the city, spend a large portion of that
37:47
on improving our infrastructure and protecting it. Because the growth, like I said, isn't going
37:52
to stop. So I've been looking into fixing the congestion on 900 and Issaquah Hobart.
37:57
I don't know if widening those is a possibility or not. creating the bypass from
38:02
90 to highway 18 that is over Issaquah that I think was voted against a
38:07
decade and a half ago but the growth happened even though we didn't approve that.
38:12
So now as a result we don't have that bypass but trucks are taking our
38:17
city streets. And it's not just trucks. It's people that want to drive south. So
38:22
there are lots of things that we can do to fix our infrastructure and protect
38:27
it. We have laws to protect our salmon streams. We have laws to protect parts
38:32
of our wildlife. Let's establish laws now before the growth gets completely out of hand
38:38
so that we can keep this a city that people want to live in and
38:43
visit. That's good timing. Thank you for listening. Marina, thank you very, very much. The
38:48
gentleman in the plaid shirt, please.
38:55
You can sit down in that chair if you would like, if it makes you
38:59
more comfortable. Good evening. My name is Benjamin Scott. I am a neighbor of Issaquah
39:03
in the unincorporated King County at 14654 203rd Avenue SE. I'm also here to speak
39:07
to Agenda Bill 7238, which is the proposed truck routes with the amendment of the
39:12
truck routes within the City of Issaquah. I am also someone who lives in the
39:16
May Valley area. I share many of the same concerns as we've heard from some
39:20
of the other people here. I don't have much new to add aside from being
39:24
a cyclist, so I have some firsthand experience as well with May Valley as a
39:29
recreation corridor and some very close calls with the trucks who already traverse that route
39:33
as is. I'd prefer that we minimize any additional. But primarily it came to deliver
39:37
to the city council a petition with approximately 250 signatures from people in the Issaquin
39:42
surrounding area as well as some commentary. Just again asking the city to really consider
39:46
their actions as they move forward with whatever decision is made on this agenda bill.
39:50
so thank you then uh if you have not signed
39:56
up it would be helpful if you did yes ma'am
40:02
thank you i'm mary jo tornberg i live at 13422
40:08
209th avenue southeast i am also here to speak to
40:14
agenda bill 7238 and the additional topic i have to
40:20
contribute is that we consider isaac our home I know
40:26
that many council members have perhaps lived outside of the city limits at one time.
40:31
They also have considered the general is a qua area their home. Now they may
40:36
live in the city to be on the council. We didn't have that option,
40:41
so we can't vote, but Issaquah is where we do business. It's where
40:47
our children went to school. We consider this whole area very important and
40:53
a great part of our life. So I implore you to think beyond
40:59
the limits of Issaquah when you are working with developers. The developers
41:05
obviously have attached additional things to their environmental impact statements or whatever it
41:11
is, and that's how you ended up with all this trucking that didn't
41:16
need public approval. But it goes way beyond impacting your city constituents and I
41:22
think to be good neighbors you need to include the broader area and work with
41:27
the county as I understand you may have already given permission for someone from the
41:33
city to work with someone from the county and Some engineering work is already going
41:38
on on the county roads. But beyond that what about the state and what
41:44
can the city of isaacwa do to help partner with us and inform
41:50
us if you have suggestions of how we can help in olympia to
41:55
get highway 18 prioritized to make that a preferred trucking route it seems
42:01
like interstates should be the trucking route not county roads that are recreational
42:07
corridors so thank you and thanks for putting the moratorium on building but
42:13
please consider more than just your own backyard when you get back to
42:19
approving development. Thank you. And Mary Jo, if you would. Is there anyone
42:25
else who has not signed up desiring to speak this evening? Anyone else
42:31
desiring to speak? Third and final call. Seeing no one, then audience comments
42:37
are closed. And we will now move to committee and regional reports. Council
42:43
Member Batiste. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I attended the
42:48
Eastside Human Services Forum board meeting on Wednesday, September 21st. We
42:54
went over a variety of things, including some bylaws work and
43:00
talking about just an introduction of federal legislative topics. The next
43:06
board meeting is November 16th at Bellevue City Hall. There are
43:12
two other things that events that are coming up. There's a candidate forum
43:18
on Washington's aging readiness October 10th at 1:30 at the North Bellevue Community
43:24
Center and the AEA Education Forum on King County Human Services funding October
43:30
19th 1:00 p.m. At the youth Eastside services. I also
43:35
attended and talked a little bit at our last council session, the SCA Public
43:41
Issues Committee back on September 14th. And we talked a little bit about the
43:47
low income housing tax credit So the Public Issues Committee has a policy position
43:53
in support of the low income housing tax credit. And during the good of the
43:58
order tonight, I'd like to get some feedback from everyone. I wanted to just kind
44:03
of remind you about that and tell you that the Low-income housing tax credit is
44:09
the federal government's foremost tool for incentivizing private investment in the creation and
44:15
preservation of affordable housing. And this is bipartisan legislation that is updating it.
44:21
It's the Improvement Act of 2016. And it would increase the federal allocation
44:26
for the 9% of low-income housing tax credit by 50%, allowing 50% more
44:32
units to be funded nationwide. It is currently used to
44:38
leverage other investments into affordable housing and help finance 100,000
44:43
affordable housing homes nationwide each year, including 1,375 in Washington.
44:49
Under the legislation, approximately 688 additional units could be constructed
44:55
in Washington each year. So the Sound City's policy position is
45:00
that they are supporting the federal legislation to increase the annual allocation for
45:06
the low-income housing tax credit in order to create and preserve critically needed
45:12
units of affordable housing. So we'll talk more about this during the Good
45:17
of the Order. The SCA also... has put together a 2017 legislative agenda.
45:23
I talked a little bit about it at our last meeting. We just got, probably
45:29
an hour before the council meeting, some of the information about what they will have.
45:34
So I'll send that around via email. Then we can talk about that at our
45:39
next council session. thank you that concludes my report thank you council member
45:45
ramos thank you mr mayor um the regional transit committee and the sca caucus
45:51
met on september 21st we're working really getting deep into the details of the
45:56
metro long range plan particularly from the sca and particular individual cities concerns really
46:02
trying to pull those out from the general overall picture we're going to book
46:08
a bunch of extra meetings and workshops in the next month or two with the
46:12
goal, ambitious goal of triggering this done by the end of the calendar year they
46:16
want before committee changes may happen in 2017. So everybody's been working on this. They'd
46:21
like to get it done so that they have the depth of knowledge in there.
46:25
Those dates have not been set yet. The Eastside Transportation Partnership will meet on October
46:31
14th. The agenda is not yet set on that either, but the legislative committee that
46:36
I'm on will be bringing a proposal forward to the ETP for review and approval
46:41
at that time. And that concludes my report. - Thank you. Council Member Winterstein.
46:47
- Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Last Thursday, the Eastside Fire and Rescue Board held
46:52
a special meeting to review the status of the development of the EFER strategic
46:58
plan. So a near final draft was presented. We reviewed that. It is really
47:04
a three to four year plan. There's been a lot of work uh work it's
47:10
been about a six month process i think so far um i personally was um
47:15
very satisfied with many elements of that and uh the final there was a lot
47:20
of good discussion and and feedback i think the chief is definitely running a very
47:25
open and transparent process which i'm very pleased to have participated in a good active
47:31
discussion during that meeting we're going to be looking to finalize that in the next
47:36
couple months Then later that day, later on Thursday the 29th, I
47:42
attended a workshop sponsored by a regional coalition of housing or ARCH. And
47:48
the purpose was to review our local housing needs, including housing costs and
47:53
the impact to households on housing costs. We looked at overall housing affordability
47:59
and we discussed strategies that cities can use to create and retain affordable
48:05
housing within their communities. We also took a look at some real
48:10
data about the decreased production trends in affordable housing. For example, since
48:16
its creation, ARCH has had a goal of creating, on average, 760
48:21
affordable units per year. um in the first 10 years from 1993
48:27
to 2002 arts created 521 units per year on average which was below
48:33
their goal and then the 10 years after that from 2003 to 2012
48:39
arts created 305 on average per year so um Even though our
48:44
coalition members such as Issaquah, we haven't really changed our financial commitments,
48:50
nobody has substantially, but it's clear that our impact over time has
48:56
been decreased. I will say too, it's important to recognize this largest single donation ever
49:02
made to ARCH was the value of the land that our city gave for the
49:07
construction of the YMCA Village in the Highlands where it now houses 124. There are
49:13
124 affordable units up there. And that remains in the history of ARCH the single
49:18
greatest contribution. And really, if you look at a per capita basis, our overall giving
49:24
to ARCH is quite significantly higher than other coalition members. But still, the real issue
49:30
is that the work that's being done by the coalition, its impact is lessening.
49:36
And so we've talked quite a bit about what could be done out of Olympia
49:42
for creating new tools for municipalities to raise fund. There have been a number of
49:47
ideas. One representative actually submitted up to, I think eight or 10 bills of which
49:53
none of which went anywhere. And so I'm gonna continue to work on in Olympia
49:58
to create some new options for local municipalities to raise funds for affordable housing. And
50:04
also, and then the final part of the conversation was just in general about, you
50:10
know, should coalition members expect of themselves to start giving more toward the trust fund?
50:15
Obviously, I think everybody has common and shared goals for affordable housing. We all know
50:20
the difficulties. The trust funds impact is lessening and we need new tools, but also
50:25
we each may need to dig even deeper from our own general funds or some
50:31
cities have CDBG funds that they can use. So that was a very lively and
50:36
good conversation. I was glad to be part of it. And then next, this coming
50:42
Thursday is the next meeting of the Growth Management Policy Board in Seattle. I don't
50:48
have the agenda yet. And then next Tuesday, October 11th, and I'm hoping
50:53
we don't have a conflict 'cause we re-rescheduled our normal council infrastructure meeting
50:59
to the 11th so that it could be held here in council chambers
51:05
at 6:30 and begin the televised televising all the infrastructure meetings. But that is
51:11
currently planned again for October 11th at 6:30 here in the council chambers. And should
51:16
tonight's consent agenda pass, one of the items we'll be discussing is the creation of
51:22
a transportation mobility board. And that concludes my report. - Thank you. Council Member Martz.
51:28
- Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The E911 Strategic Plan Leadership Group met at 9:00 AM
51:34
Tuesday, September 20th in the Chinook Building in downtown Seattle. for our first meeting. If
51:39
I was going to summarize what was critical that came out of that beyond welcome
51:45
back everyone and we're going to work hard is that there was a strong request
51:50
from the municipalities for having at least a minimum of two weeks to review meeting
51:55
materials before the next meeting occurs we were when we were doing the uh scoping
52:00
exercise we were sort of running and gunning and getting information fairly late it's my
52:04
intention uh to these meetings are going to be quarterly it's my intention to review
52:09
upcoming materials with this body prior to those meetings and so all of us who
52:13
had uh who were going to be reporting back to elected bodies wanted to make
52:18
sure that we got that so it was uh It was good that we conveyed
52:23
that. Second item I have is that the Services and Safety Committee met at 5:30
52:29
on Thursday, September 22nd in the Eagle Room. We had Agenda Bill 7076, which was
52:35
the Professional Service Agreement for Traffic Safety Camera System. We voted 3-0 to hold that
52:41
for now and I apologize if this is new to the administration, hopefully it's not,
52:47
to come back We basically had a request that the administration consider moving,
52:53
accelerating a light at Park and Central Park interchange moving, accelerating that and considering
52:59
that in budget this fall. So we would like to have that considered. And we
53:05
said, so we wanted this bill to come back basically either after a light has
53:10
been installed, if that actually moves forward as part of the budget conversation, or if
53:16
not that, then a traffic study that's expected to be done next year. Then agenda
53:21
bill 7248, automated traffic safety camera review that we voted 3-0 to bring back. And
53:27
our understanding is that's going to come back in a November full council meeting to
53:33
discuss in front of the full council. And then agenda bill 7214, park naming of
53:38
dedicated park at Atlas Development. We voted 3-0 to recommend that and that is on
53:44
the regular business this evening. then finally we got a parks and recreation department
53:50
update from our new parks director jeff watling he talked about the parks and recreation
53:55
open space trails plan we were very excited about the community outreach we think that
54:00
this is going to be a really comprehensive outreach to the community and that we're
54:05
going to get a very smart set of response back from the community i think
54:10
this is going to be one of the most organized outreach efforts because we know
54:15
how important parks and recreation is in our city, how core it is. And we
54:20
think Jeff's got a good plan for that. And then there was also an update
54:24
on Central Park pad number one and where things are going with that. And I
54:28
think that there'll be some conversation about that at budget as well. Then the next
54:32
Service and Safety Committee meeting is going to be held at a special time. Instead
54:36
of Tuesday, October 11th, it's going to be Tuesday, October 25th in the Eagle Room
54:40
at 5.30 p.m. And this is to accommodate my schedule. So I want to thank
54:44
staff and my fellow council members for being willing to move that date. And that
54:49
concludes my report. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. GMPC, Growth Management Planning Council,
54:54
almost forgot, met at four o'clock on Wednesday, September 28th. And of
55:00
interest, Issaquah, as we voted to, we recommend