0:02
welcome everyone
0:03
I'm calling the may 18th City Council
0:05
meeting to order
0:07
we are doing a remote meeting tonight
0:09
and before we move on to tonight's
0:12
agenda items I'd like just to
0:13
acknowledge the remote meeting format on
0:16
March 6 I issued an emergency
0:18
proclamation declaring a civil emergency
0:21
in the city due to the Cova 19 outbreak
0:24
pop-up screens right in the middle of my
0:27
message on March 24th the governor
0:29
issued proclamation 20-20 eight meetings
0:33
that fall under the open public meetings
0:35
acts such as our city council meetings
0:37
from being conducted in person the
0:39
proclamation has been extended through
0:41
May 31st tonight's meeting will be held
0:43
entirely remotely the meeting will be
0:45
recorded streamed live and available for
0:48
later listening on the city's YouTube
0:50
channel myself the council and certain
0:53
city staff are using our cameras however
0:55
be aware that our meeting platform
0:57
cannot show all of our videos at one
0:59
time rather it will focus on the last
1:01
four to five individuals who spoke a
1:03
callin number was provided on the
1:06
meeting agenda for members of the public
1:07
who wished to call in by phone to listen
1:10
live to the meeting for our phone
1:13
callers during staff presentation staff
1:15
will make every effort specify which
1:18
materials they're referencing so
1:19
everyone can follow along those who
1:22
provided advance notice are able to make
1:24
comments under the audience comment
1:25
portion of the meeting we also encourage
1:29
email comments to be sent to the council
1:31
as well at this point we'll take a
1:33
moment take a roll call of the council
1:35
members in attendance so please stay
1:37
here when I call your name councilmember
1:39
Dee Michelle cheer councilmember Goodman
1:43
here councilmember Hall here
1:47
council president hunt here
1:49
councilmember mark here
1:52
deputy council president ray here and
1:56
councilmember Walsh here all present in
1:59
addition the following City staff are
2:02
participating in tonight's meeting city
2:04
administrator Wally babka WIPs deputy
2:07
City Administrator Andrea Snyder city
2:10
attorney Jim Haney city clerk Tina
2:12
Eggers
2:13
deputy city clerk tisha Geezer Public
2:16
Works Operations Director Brett Heath
2:18
economic development manager Jen Davis
2:21
Hays finance director Beth Goldberg
2:23
senior budget analyst Suzy Munsell have
2:27
I missed any staff members city clerk's
2:32
it looks as if we also have HR director
2:35
Stephanie Johnson on the line thank you
2:37
for that for those members of the public
2:40
on the call welcome the clerk or I will
2:42
call on you to make comments when we
2:43
reach that portion of the agenda so
2:46
before we begin I'd like to reiterate
2:47
the meeting guidelines for all meeting
2:50
attendees p-please speak clearly and
2:54
pause frequently state your name each
2:56
time before speaking and mute your
2:58
microphone when you're not speaking if
3:01
you are also streaming the live video
3:03
feed please turn the sound off as there
3:05
is a delay for council members please
3:08
continue to use the Skype meeting
3:10
messenger to indicate when you wish to
3:12
speak identify yourself before you ask
3:14
the question make a motion or second
3:17
demotion or participate in a debate
3:19
first item on our agenda this evening is
3:22
the Pledge of Allegiance so if you all
3:24
keep your microphones needed I do
3:26
welcome you to join me in the Pledge of
3:28
Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
3:31
flag of the United States of America and
3:34
to the Republic for which it stands one
3:37
nation under God indivisible with
3:40
liberty and justice for all the next
3:44
item on the agenda this evening is some
3:46
special business we're going to take a
3:49
few moments to recognize the work and
3:52
career of Brett he's our public works
3:54
operations director effective June 1st
3:57
Brett will be leaving the city of istic
3:59
LA and he is the city's longest-serving
4:02
employee of 42 years brett has made a
4:05
lasting impact on our community both at
4:07
City Hall and for our customers and
4:09
residents fred has ensured the safety of
4:12
our community mentored countless
4:15
employees opened the existing public
4:18
works operation shop developed one of
4:20
the best emergency preparedness programs
4:22
in the state served as incident
4:25
commander during several emergencies in
4:27
design
4:27
and was a member of our city's senior
4:30
leadership team and these are only a few
4:32
of his accomplishments Brett I want to
4:35
thank you for your distinguished service
4:36
for the city of Ithaca and I understand
4:38
that you may have some comments you'd
4:40
like to share with us tonight yes good
4:45
evening to take this opportunity to say
4:49
thank you to the mayor and to the City
4:51
Council and I'd also like to thank past
4:53
mayors and past City Council's for the
4:55
opportunity to serve the city of
4:57
Issaquah over the last 42 years I also
5:02
want to take an opportunity to say a
5:04
special thanks to Leon cost for taking a
5:06
chance on me many years ago and it's
5:09
been a great great opportunity to serve
5:12
the community it's been a very good
5:14
experience and I will certainly miss
5:16
everyone as I move on so thank you very
5:19
much for the opportunity to work and
5:22
serve it as a quad Brett thank you it's
5:25
been an absolute pleasure to work with
5:27
you I also want to let everybody know
5:29
that the interim pwo director will be
5:32
Harvey Walker and Harvey has been with
5:34
the city for nearly 13 years and is
5:37
currently our Public Works manager of
5:39
storm water and sewer operations next
5:42
month the city will begin recruiting for
5:44
a new public works director who will
5:46
lead the efforts to merge two existing
5:47
departments engineering and operations
5:49
Brett thank you very much for your
5:52
service
5:54
next portion of our meeting this evening
5:56
is audience comments I'll be asking the
5:59
city clerk if anyone has signed up to
6:01
speak this evening yes we have Ann
6:07
Fletcher and I understand you have some
6:09
guidelines to read so hold on just a
6:11
moment Anne thank you written comments
6:17
can be submitted at any time to City
6:20
Council at escola gov comments received
6:23
by email on tonight's agenda items will
6:25
be acknowledged by council president
6:27
hunt under the corresponding agenda item
6:32
citizen comments are important part of
6:34
the public process we take them
6:36
seriously and factor them into the
6:37
decisions we make please make sure to
6:39
direct your comments to the whole
6:41
council and not individuals well this is
6:43
not a question-and-answer session we
6:45
will contact you to follow up if needed
6:47
when recognized please unmute your
6:49
microphone state your name address and
6:52
relationship to the city speak clearly
6:55
pause frequently limit your comments to
6:58
five minutes and remove remute your
7:01
microphone when done if you do not
7:04
respond after your name or phone number
7:05
is called or if your connection is lost
7:07
unexpectedly the meeting will need to
7:10
proceed you are encouraged to rejoin the
7:12
meeting if able if a speaker is out of
7:15
order I will ask them to stop and mute
7:17
your microphone and if the speaker does
7:18
not comply I may direct staff to mute
7:20
their microphone if a disruption to the
7:23
meeting occurs an order cannot be
7:24
restored I may direct staff to remove
7:26
you from the call again citizen comments
7:29
written and verbal are an important
7:30
aspect of the public process the city
7:33
takes comments seriously and we thank
7:34
you for taking the time to address us
7:36
during our meetings city clerk can you
7:39
identify the first person who has signed
7:40
up to speak this evening yes and
7:43
Fletcher thank you very much and if you
7:46
would like to unmute your microphone and
7:48
go ahead thank you for coming to the
7:50
meeting this evening can you hear me we
8:00
can Thank You Ann oh good okay this is
8:04
Ann Fletcher I'm a resident at 255 South
8:07
East Andrews Street in Issaquah and I
8:10
would like to orally share some points
8:13
from a letter that the people for
8:14
climate action already submitted to the
8:18
City Council dear City Council members
8:23
if the call people for climate action
8:25
appreciates the environmental caring and
8:28
commitment the city has shown despite
8:31
the intensity of the response that was
8:34
needed for the pandemic we are grateful
8:36
that you have kept in mind the continued
8:39
need to allocate some resources and to
8:42
engage community members in addressing
8:45
climate change we are currently working
8:47
with Issaquah sustainability staff
8:50
member megin curtis murphy and other
8:53
community organizations
8:54
the other week to plan a two-part
8:57
virtual climate community convening
9:01
scheduled for July 20th and 30th we also
9:06
look forward to a city sponsored meeting
9:08
on June 16th for the public to give
9:12
input on expanding the current rivers
9:15
and streams board to include all areas
9:18
of environmental sustainability in other
9:22
news King County held two virtual k4c
9:27
public input sessions about the toolkit
9:30
being developed by consultants for use
9:33
by cities several PCA members at least
9:37
two council members and staff member
9:41
Megan Curtis Murphy attended to learn
9:43
from the many concerned citizens who
9:45
attended also about 70 each session and
9:49
to provide perspectives on priorities
9:51
for the toolkit the toolkit will be
9:55
finished hopefully by the end of August
9:58
and sent to the King County Council for
10:00
approval in September although the
10:04
public will not have further direct
10:06
opportunity for oral input before then
10:09
people for climate action will be in
10:12
touch with our city representatives who
10:15
will attend a June 3rd k4c meeting about
10:17
the toolkits mayor poly an alternate Zac
10:21
Hall as well as k4c steering committee
10:25
member Megan Curtis Murphy and we will
10:28
be encouraging them to make the elected
10:30
officials meeting very interactive for
10:33
them and as transparent as possible for
10:36
the public and to provide a follow-up
10:40
summary of what was discussed in any
10:42
action item on another front people for
10:47
climate action held a webinar on May 2nd
10:49
with a focus on building energy
10:52
efficiency it included several
10:55
interesting speakers and so we provided
10:58
a link to the webinar recording in the
11:02
communication to you to accompany this
11:06
the PTA coalition
11:08
published the building section of a list
11:11
of possible City actions which they've
11:14
been working on this spring and it's
11:17
it's also attached to the email by
11:20
mid-june PC a coalition plans to publish
11:22
the transportation and land use section
11:25
of this same document as you may recall
11:29
is cause to biggest carbon emission
11:31
areas are buildings and transportation
11:35
accounting for over seventy percent of
11:37
our greenhouse gas production cities
11:41
must take bold action in those two
11:44
sectors if we are to meet the goals of
11:47
50% carbon emission reduction by 2030
11:51
and finally we offered you an important
11:56
five minute YouTube video from the
11:58
global Council of Mayors published April
12:01
24th it emphasizes the push by this
12:04
global alliance of 10,000 mayor's for
12:08
local actions on climate we hope our
12:12
representatives will be able to view it
12:14
before the June 3rd k4c toolkit meeting
12:18
to see the opportunities we have before
12:21
us still and to continue the positive
12:24
partnership that we have begun thank you
12:29
Thank You M I just want to check back in
12:32
with the city clerk and make sure that
12:34
we only had one person signing up to
12:36
speak this evening yes that's correct
12:39
thank you thank you for your comments
12:42
and again just to remind folks you can
12:45
also submit comments to the council
12:47
before the meeting at City Council of
12:49
the square walk of the next item of
12:52
business this evening is the committee
12:54
and regional report so I'd like to call
12:56
each council member to in order to
12:59
report out councilmember Hall Thank You
13:05
mayor Polly I have two reports this
13:08
evening first last Thursday I attended a
13:12
board meeting for East Side Fire &
13:14
Rescue and I'll let either councilmember
13:17
Goodman or deputy council president
13:19
braze speak to that meeting
13:20
as I'm just the city's alternate last
13:25
Friday I attended a meeting of the
13:27
affordable housing committee and we
13:29
spent a lot of time talking about Kovan
13:31
19 impacts on the broader affordable
13:34
housing world of that day we discussed
13:37
short-term emergency measures long term
13:40
challenges and lessons learned from
13:42
previous experiences like those from the
13:45
Great Recession and just for some
13:47
perspective for council and for the
13:50
community I'm moving my camera over
13:53
because it keeps moving to the right for
13:55
some reason before the coab in nineteen
13:57
crisis one in three king county
13:59
households were cost burdened which is
14:02
30% of your income or more dedicated to
14:07
housing and renters were twice as likely
14:09
to pay half of their incomes on housing
14:11
communities of color were significantly
14:14
more likely to be paying more than half
14:16
of their incomes on housing so very
14:19
clearly there is a huge need for housing
14:22
affordability in our region and some
14:23
takeaways from the presentation last
14:26
Friday where it was that cost burden
14:29
households would rise dramatically a
14:32
disproportionate impacts like those on
14:34
communities of color would be amplified
14:36
and the need to build and preserve
14:38
affordable housing is still there in in
14:41
fact is growing as each day passes
14:44
so another thing another takeaway was
14:46
that we need to be doing more to connect
14:47
to the silos of Housing and Human
14:50
Services work together so as a committee
14:54
our charter responsibilities are
14:55
somewhat narrow sometimes frustratingly
14:57
narrow but we decided that we wanted to
15:00
take time to focus really on advocating
15:03
for new policy at the state and federal
15:04
level as well to support the affordable
15:07
housing need in our region so that is
15:09
that work to identify a future policy
15:12
action is happening now so I'll keep the
15:14
council in the community updated on that
15:17
work and that was really just a little
15:20
bit of what we discussed and I'll be
15:22
consolidating my notes for city staff
15:24
this week as I think we discussed a lot
15:27
of helpful and interesting information
15:28
that city staff will find interesting
15:30
and helpful as well and if any one a
15:32
councillor in the community want to talk
15:34
about this meeting offline I'm happy to
15:36
do that to just let reach out and
15:39
finally our next regularly scheduled
15:41
meeting is scheduled for July 22nd thank
15:44
you who's my report Thank You
15:46
councilmember Hall
15:47
councilmember G Michele thank you marry
15:52
me or Polly I attended the healthier
15:55
here governance board meeting on May the
15:58
7th and at that meeting they reallocated
16:02
funding from their training fund to the
16:05
community navigator fund the community
16:07
navigator fund supports services that
16:10
help non-english speaking residents and
16:12
citizens to navigate social services
16:15
behavioral health and health care
16:17
systems this reallocation added two
16:20
hundred and forty thousand to the
16:22
previously reallocated funds of three
16:25
hundred seventy-five thousand and I took
16:28
it upon myself to do a little bit of
16:29
research to find where the closest
16:31
community navigator is located in our
16:34
area it is located ordinarily at
16:37
Bellevue City Hall they offer Spanish
16:40
and Russian languages and they share the
16:43
couple dare one day a week with it
16:44
together Center in Redmond and of course
16:47
all services are currently being
16:48
provided remotely it's important to note
16:51
that the agencies and tribal partners
16:53
across County have requested 1.8 million
16:56
in assistance for the community
17:00
navigator fund and so the funds that
17:02
were allocated by healthier here meet
17:04
only a relatively small part of that
17:07
need agencies that offer cultural
17:10
navigator services such as those offered
17:13
at that together center have been
17:14
severely impacted by the dual pressure
17:17
of extremely increased need at the same
17:19
time as fundraising has collapsed
17:22
another highlight at the meeting was
17:24
that healthier here was warded 1.4
17:27
million for the implementation of a
17:29
community information exchange or CI
17:33
platform again the goal of this project
17:36
is to reduce the barriers silos that
17:38
characterize a lot of modern medicine
17:40
and allow different doctors and agencies
17:43
to share information and integrate
17:45
mental health services and substance
17:47
abuse
17:48
services with health services the
17:50
funding for the 1.4 million came from
17:53
the county's veterans seniors and Human
17:56
Services funding coming up I will be
18:00
attending the Eastside transportation
18:02
program tomorrow morning at 9:30 it's a
18:06
combined meeting with ETP
18:07
skateboard and seashore will be meeting
18:11
with Metro and then on Thursday at 9:30
18:15
in the morning I will be meeting with
18:16
the site Human Services forum for the
18:20
second meaning of this year the past my
18:23
report Thank You councilmember G
18:26
Michelle
18:26
councilmember Walsh Thank You mayor Poli
18:32
a last Friday City Administrator well
18:36
like Bob quits and I attended the
18:38
Chamber of Commerce board meeting just
18:42
trying to stay in touch trying to
18:44
understand what our economic development
18:46
needs are and because everything is
18:51
still up in the air we were just talking
18:54
a lot about this meeting and what our
18:57
budgetary issues look like and making
19:01
sure that they understood where we were
19:02
in that conversation we also talked just
19:06
a little bit we had just received notice
19:09
from King County that some of their
19:11
carers act funding was going to be
19:14
distributed to cities in order to use
19:18
for economic development we still don't
19:20
know what King County if there are any
19:23
requirements on who we can give the
19:25
money to or how we can use it but we
19:27
wanted to let the chamber know that we
19:30
had received notice that that money was
19:32
going to come and we would keep in touch
19:34
with them about what that means and how
19:37
we're going to be able to use it and
19:39
then the PSoC economic development
19:43
economic District Development Board the
19:46
other way around has not had a meeting
19:49
that they are hosting a webinar on
19:53
Wednesday which I'm going to attend
19:55
about cares Act funding in the region
19:58
and how we might best be able to utilize
20:01
that so if I learn anything from it I'll
20:03
be able to bring that back that
20:07
concludes my report
20:08
Thank You councilmember Walsh
20:10
councilmember Goodman thank you madam
20:13
mayor council member Goodman here last
20:15
Thursday the Eastside Fire Rescue Board
20:18
of Directors met and at that meeting we
20:24
received a couple of briefings from the
20:27
chief one was just an update or a report
20:33
out to the board about Eastside fire and
20:36
its approach to Co bid and that if
20:40
phasing will coincide with the
20:43
governor's facing process we also
20:46
received some budget information and
20:50
esight fires current expenses related to
20:53
cooperated 19 it's about four hundred
20:55
thousand dollars and it's costing
20:57
Eastside fire ten thousand dollars in
21:01
additional costs weekly for the cobia
21:05
response and that's tied mostly to
21:08
supplies increase in the cost of
21:10
supplies and the chief as everyone is a
21:14
little bit concerned about the threat of
21:16
a second wave of kovat 19 and mitigating
21:18
those financial impacts also the copa 19
21:22
doesn't anything have anything to do as
21:23
diminishing the potential wildland
21:26
season threat and that would be
21:27
wildfires and if any events of any
21:30
significance would take place that would
21:32
be a minimum impact of about a million
21:34
dollars to eat like fire in with pea
21:39
sauce the Department of Ecology has
21:45
money for capital funding for that
21:47
problem that project but that there is a
21:52
potential that that capital funding
21:54
could be swept by the governor
21:56
Eastside fire has 250,000 dollars spent
22:00
on that already hoping to get
22:02
reimbursement before any sweep of that
22:07
capital budget could take place not that
22:10
it's going to take place but that is one
22:14
and the result of that gets potentially
22:17
possibly suspending the work a little
22:19
bit also transports are down 20% which
22:23
directly impacts revenue do the less
22:25
people being on the road and also fewer
22:27
people being interested in going to the
22:29
hospital right now
22:31
east lights fire has also done some
22:33
expenditure control they have a hiring
22:35
freeze and right now in vacant positions
22:38
are frozen there is a freeze on all
22:41
non-essential spending and that aside
22:44
fire has negotiated a memorandum of
22:47
understanding with the Union related to
22:49
a 12-hour training day and reducing
22:52
overtime which will see a $100,000
22:54
savings we talked about is akua's
22:57
request for some contribution
23:00
concessions and in response to that
23:06
these are my words that it appeared as
23:10
though the board took that as an
23:13
opportunity in light also of the
23:17
increased expenditures related to kovat
23:20
for each side fire to look at revenue
23:25
increases potential revenue increases so
23:28
the board decided to refer to the
23:29
finance and administrative committee the
23:31
task of discussing ambulance fees and
23:34
any other fees and potential revenue
23:36
sources that the committee may deem
23:38
appropriate to discuss and then bring
23:40
those recommendations back to the board
23:42
that meeting will take place in early
23:45
June I don't have the exact date in
23:47
front of me and that concludes my report
23:50
thank you
23:51
Thank You councilmember Goodman
23:52
councilmember marks thank you madam
23:58
mayor
23:58
this is councilmember mark speaking but
24:01
the sound cities association public
24:02
issues committee met on Wednesday May
24:05
13th at that third date yes once I mean
24:13
13 sorry at 7:00 p.m. there were three
24:16
Co vid 19 related issues that we are
24:20
either considering or took action on the
24:23
first is that we will be considering
24:26
next month a resolution that states that
24:29
the sound cities association urges King
24:32
County and other entities to forego any
24:34
increases in rates and fees in light of
24:37
the kovat 19 public health emergency and
24:39
the resulting economic impacts what I
24:43
would ask is that my fellow council
24:45
members take a look at the FCA a bias on
24:47
cities association public issues
24:49
community packet from may and be
24:52
prepared to discuss whether we should be
24:55
supportive of this potential action by
24:58
the sound cities association at the next
25:01
so we should discuss it at the next
25:03
council meeting for potential action at
25:06
the next sound cities association
25:07
meeting which would be in June the
25:09
second issue that I would ask that you
25:11
take a look at it be prepared to discuss
25:13
was potentially basically in preparation
25:19
for the potential of a special session
25:21
the association of Washington City's AWC
25:24
adopted legislative priorities related
25:26
to kovat 19 response and relief to
25:29
provide a consistent message to
25:31
legislators FCA is considering adopting
25:33
the same legislative priorities so I
25:35
will be asking the next council meeting
25:37
whether we should consider taking we
25:40
should consider recommending that FCA
25:44
adopt the same legislative priorities
25:47
and then finally emergency action was
25:49
taken it was a first reading but a
25:53
supermajority considered it an emergency
25:57
and a even stronger Seibert majority
25:59
voted for a proclamation of commitment
26:02
to an inclusive community that rejects
26:04
stigma and bias related to coab in
26:06
nineteen and I will actually be
26:09
discussing this further in for the order
26:11
because a number of cities have taken a
26:14
municipal level similar proclamations or
26:18
made similar proclamations and I will be
26:20
discussing with the rest of Council and
26:22
the mayor whether we as a city want to
26:25
consider doing something similar so that
26:28
concludes my report
26:29
Thank You councilmember Mertz deputy
26:32
council president ray thank you Mira
26:34
Polly I have no report this evening
26:36
Thank You council president hunt
26:39
thank you madam mayor this is councillor
26:42
president hunt the salmon recovery
26:45
Council of riah 8 which is water
26:48
resource inventory area but it's the
26:50
technical name for our watershed the
26:53
salmon recovery council will meet this
26:54
Thursday at May 21st at 2 and the main
27:02
agenda item will be approval of the work
27:06
plan and cost share for 2021 and it's a
27:10
clause proposed cost share is $16,000
27:14
it's the sixteen thousand eighty five
27:16
dollars this reflects a increased based
27:18
on the Consumer Price Index CPI /w from
27:23
our previous cost share of fifteen
27:26
thousand seven hundred and nine dollars
27:28
so we will be voting on this as well as
27:30
on the work plan which explains what
27:32
conservation actions and camera recovery
27:36
actions will be taking place by the
27:38
salmon recovery council and what work
27:41
will be funded so if you have any
27:43
questions about the cost share or
27:44
anything like that please do let me know
27:46
if you have concerns please let me know
27:48
before we vote on that on Thursday and
27:51
that concludes my report thank you
27:53
council president hunt next thing on the
27:55
agenda this evening is the mayor's
27:57
report and most of my report has to do
28:01
with Cove at 19 in the city in in March
28:05
of this year cities and counties reacted
28:07
quickly to reduce the spread of Cove at
28:09
19 by adopting physical distancing
28:12
measures and focusing on readiness to
28:14
treat those affected by the disease now
28:17
we're in the position to engage our
28:20
community in a conversation about
28:21
reopening our community in a phased
28:24
approach as we learn more about this
28:26
virus
28:27
earlier this month I appointed a
28:29
recovery task force selecting community
28:31
members to represent the many important
28:33
perspectives in Issaquah this diverse
28:36
team is comprised of representatives
28:37
from the cities boards and commissions
28:39
as well as some community members at
28:41
large they will advise the city on
28:43
various issues relating to responding to
28:46
the Cova 19 pandemic and future
28:48
reopening of city services and programs
28:51
the task force will also advise the city
28:53
on other community initiatives that are
28:55
important to instakill our residents and
28:57
businesses and the task force will meet
28:59
regularly through August 2020 however
29:02
meetings may be extended beyond this
29:04
time depending on the progress of the
29:06
pandemic response so far we've had two
29:09
meetings May 7th included introductions
29:12
briefing of our response to date and
29:15
city halls new budget realities May 14th
29:19
included presentations on economic
29:21
development from community partners as
29:23
well as a brainstorm on the group's work
29:25
plan moving forward which will have a
29:28
focus on community health economic
29:30
recovery community engagement and more
29:33
our next virtual meeting will be held at
29:36
4:00 p.m. on may 28th and community
29:39
members can watch live submit comments
29:41
through the group ahead of time or just
29:43
join us for public comment
29:45
councilmember Walsh had mentioned about
29:48
some potential funding Kovach funding
29:50
for businesses and I thought what I
29:52
would do is talk about what we do know
29:54
and what we don't know so far in terms
29:56
of funding that might be available our
29:59
city is experiencing the financial
30:00
strain from the pandemic response and
30:02
the resulting impacts to our economy and
30:05
we have been working to reduce
30:06
expenditures to align with a revised
30:08
revenue forecast as well as looking for
30:12
available funding to offset covered 19
30:14
related expenses the state of Washington
30:17
has proposed funding to cities including
30:20
Issaquah through the Coronas coronavirus
30:22
aid relief and Economic Security Act
30:25
also known as the cares act if the kwame
30:28
receive 1 point 1 2 million dollars and
30:31
at this time the money can only be spent
30:34
to cover costs related to kovat 19
30:36
crisis and cannot be used to make up for
30:40
revenue losses current guidance appears
30:43
that the reimbursement guidelines will
30:44
be very broad but we're waiting for
30:46
further details
30:47
additional funding for economic recovery
30:50
from the federal government is possible
30:52
but it remains unknown at this time
30:54
there will also be available funding
30:57
from the Federal Emergency Management
30:58
Agency FEMA for costs directly incurred
31:02
from kovat 19 but specifics
31:05
unknown at this time and I'd like to
31:07
give a special thanks to King County
31:08
councilmember Cathy Lambert for
31:10
directing $5,000 in unrestricted funds
31:13
to the city of Vista club and the city
31:16
administration will continue to keep you
31:18
informed as we know learn more about the
31:21
various funding or reimbursements that
31:23
become available but right now there's a
31:24
lot of unknowns and a lot of uncertainty
31:27
also tonight this evening finance
31:30
director Beth Goldberg will be
31:32
presenting the city's plan for the
31:33
second round of expenditure reduction
31:36
round two identifies an additional 1.6
31:39
million in general fund under spend
31:41
bringing the total under spend from
31:43
rounds one and two to six point four
31:45
million round 2 also includes plans to
31:48
address covered related financial
31:50
impacts on the following other funds on
31:53
the other city funds director Goldberg
31:56
will be providing details in her
31:58
presentation this evening we are right
32:01
now in a monitoring mode waiting for
32:03
additional revenue projections from the
32:05
state and confirming financial
32:07
assistance from the federal government
32:09
FEMA state in King County and at this
32:12
time we are not expecting any additional
32:15
expenditure reductions and that
32:17
concludes the mayor's report the next
32:21
item on our agenda this evening is
32:23
informational updates and will be
32:24
starting with I do 696 food delivery
32:28
fees and I'd like to ask gen Davis Hays
32:30
to unmute she is our economic
32:33
development manager and she's going to
32:34
have a presentation for council this
32:36
evening thank you madam mayor and good
32:40
evening council members I'm Jen Davis
32:42
Hays and the Economic Development
32:43
Manager first I'd like to showcase and
32:47
ask for forgiveness for wearing a
32:50
t-shirt to today's council meeting and
32:52
hopefully those you can see it I just
32:54
received this in the mail today
32:56
it actually says for those of you who
32:57
are not able to see this difficult I
32:59
once traumer together and this was an
33:02
issue Highlands council fundraiser for
33:06
their organization and if I thought was
33:08
a great message to share because all the
33:09
things we're doing for businesses oh is
33:12
about our work with our partners which
33:14
helps to makes us make us stronger so we
33:17
were training tonight
33:18
additional information about the
33:20
restaurant service fee topic and what
33:22
our efforts to help restaurants and
33:24
actually also to hear from Kathy McCrory
33:26
the is a call chamber CEO so two weeks
33:30
ago we provided some initial information
33:33
about the restaurant delivery apps we
33:35
have continued to reach out to
33:37
restaurants and either the city or our
33:38
partners have spoken to approximately 50
33:41
businesses the input we received was
33:43
similar to what we shared with our
33:45
initial report out that some businesses
33:47
are not using the food delivery services
33:49
some are using them but we'll only
33:51
during do that so during their reduced
33:53
sales period and some are you in general
33:57
sorry in general the businesses would
33:59
like to pay lower delivery fees and but
34:01
they also mentioned that several
34:03
services already reduced their fees on a
34:05
temporary basis they shared with us
34:08
there are varied performance for each
34:09
platform and some is concerned about the
34:12
delivery service choices such as one of
34:14
the apps waiting for several orders in
34:17
an area before dispatching a driver and
34:19
other factors that can create a negative
34:21
customer service experience in the
34:24
councilmember council agenda memo we
34:28
provide some additional information
34:29
about research from other cities
34:31
regarding fees in general we can't just
34:34
look up how much a food delivery service
34:37
app charges to restaurants but there was
34:39
some research done in other larger
34:41
cities in general in general the service
34:44
delivery apps charged differently
34:45
according to not only the business
34:47
models they individually have but also
34:49
the area they're serving the type of
34:51
restaurant and the level of services
34:53
provided several cities have already
34:56
passed caps while others are exploring
34:59
it currently this is a moving target and
35:01
activities and the caps are so new that
35:03
impact name may not be completely known
35:05
yet most are in larger cities and I
35:09
spoke to staff in Seattle and Evanston
35:12
Illinois to learn about their experience
35:14
I mentioned in the memo that Seattle has
35:18
had antidotal stories about not
35:20
following the rules and they are also
35:22
exploring exactly how to take
35:24
enforcement there is some interest to
35:26
potentially maintain some regulations on
35:29
their fees after the state of emergency
35:30
in Seattle
35:32
in Evanston Illinois which several
35:34
council members had asked us to look
35:35
more into because their size is smaller
35:38
than Seattle but still has a population
35:40
of about 74,000 people they've also set
35:43
a cap during the state of emergency they
35:45
have not had any pushback from the
35:49
delivery services nor reports of
35:50
providers not following the rules
35:52
although they acknowledge the challenge
35:54
in that they don't get to see the
35:56
individual receipts they're also
35:58
exploring how to actually enforce what
36:02
kind of mechanism they have which may be
36:03
a fine through a general citation and
36:06
she mentioned that there's an
36:07
uncertainty if that would deter action
36:09
or not by the delivery service acts so
36:12
the administration has decided not to
36:14
bring a recommendation to implement a
36:16
cap on food delivery service fees
36:18
instead focusing on promotion education
36:21
and enhanced business support of the
36:23
restaurants so this will include
36:25
education and promotion will include
36:28
encouraging the public to order directly
36:30
from restaurants to avoid the food
36:32
deliveries surcharges that are put on
36:35
our restaurants will also do promotion
36:38
of our local restaurants in the regional
36:40
restaurant map on the saving local
36:42
website and other eat local messaging we
36:46
have allocated ten thousand dollars of
36:49
our economic development funding to
36:50
implement a sixty day restaurant
36:52
marketing campaign this is an amount
36:55
that we could really reallocate from our
36:57
port grant funding from our business
37:00
attraction marketing we believe there's
37:02
an immediate need for this and plan to
37:04
take some efforts in June and July we've
37:07
had some initial discussions and we'll
37:09
continue these with our vision partners
37:10
that includes the chamber the downtown
37:13
Issaquah sociation the visit Issaquah
37:15
Gilman village merchants and Sukhois
37:18
Highlands Council on how to best
37:20
implement and ways to leverage actions
37:22
that they have already taken well we
37:24
don't have all the details yet some of
37:26
those ideas include social media
37:28
marketing and some joint marketing
37:30
efforts with our partners that are
37:31
already occurring we'll continue to do
37:34
outreach to our businesses through
37:36
one-on-one calls and roundtables to
37:38
discuss how they plan to how and if they
37:41
plan to reopen in phase 2 and phase 3 so
37:44
that's at 50% and
37:45
75% capacity of their interior dining
37:48
space and learn more about the
37:50
restaurant needs and our initial
37:52
discussions the restaurants some were
37:54
not going planning to open during phase
37:56
2 because of the challenges of opening
37:59
at a 50% capacity the we will also
38:05
ensure that our restaurants at all
38:07
businesses know about our business
38:09
assistance resource through restart up
38:11
four to five and that is one-on-one
38:12
technical assistance free for business
38:15
business owners in Issaquah and then our
38:18
partners are also looking at some other
38:19
efforts such as bulk purchasing of
38:22
personal protection equipment PPE
38:25
they're looking the reservation platform
38:27
through open table how do use expansion
38:31
of outdoor eating options so this may be
38:33
around helping to assist with the
38:36
permits or allowing expansion into
38:38
private and public parking lots and
38:42
we're also exploring a signage so
38:44
everywhere from a-frame signage as well
38:46
as dedicated curbside pickup spaces and
38:49
some of our partners have talked about
38:50
decals for windows with cohesive
38:52
messaging so we recognized a need for
38:55
signage about being open and will
38:56
explore options we also need to know
38:58
know we also know that we need to set
39:00
some boundaries about what's allowed as
39:02
we've already heard that there are some
39:03
business signage miles away from the
39:05
current business and so we want to make
39:07
sure that we have such as our community
39:10
remains beautiful as that moves forward
39:14
so we'll figure out a good balance on
39:15
that at the last council meeting we
39:19
heard that you like to hear directly
39:20
from the chamber so I would like to
39:22
introduce Kathy McCrory the CEO of the
39:25
Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce to
39:27
further speak on this topic and we'll
39:29
both be available for questions after
39:30
she's done thanks Jen before we get
39:34
Kathy on are there any I know I have one
39:36
question lined up councilmember Goodman
39:39
would you like to raise your question
39:43
for Jen I can wait until after Kathy
39:48
McCrory has spoken thank you thank you
39:51
Kathy go ahead and I apologize I had a
39:54
dog barking in the background there and
39:57
thank you Jen
39:58
good evening madam mayor City Council I
40:01
pretty much I'm gonna echo a lot of
40:04
Jen's statements we do support
40:09
everything that the restaurants first
40:11
inquired about as far as anything we can
40:14
do to help them lower their costs
40:17
restaurants traditionally have a very
40:19
thin margin when it comes to markup and
40:24
so we we look to at what was being done
40:29
by the delivery services it is very
40:32
complicated lots of different models are
40:36
out there the things that came to mind
40:39
for us was if you've ever used those
40:43
apps they tend to be more regional you
40:47
can pull up Mexican food and you can see
40:49
Mexican food from Issaquah from
40:53
Sammamish from Bellevue and so some of
40:57
the things we were concerned about is if
41:00
if we set caps on what delivery
41:06
organizations could charge would that
41:10
put Issaquah at a disadvantage could it
41:13
have those restaurants show up lower in
41:15
the rankings could it delay delivery as
41:19
Jen mentioned would they start bundling
41:21
delivery for Issaquah so that it takes a
41:25
little bit longer and the one thing we
41:27
want to make sure that doesn't happen
41:28
for our restaurants is that their
41:30
reputations would suffer during any of
41:32
this what we also noticed was that you
41:36
know free market was already taking hold
41:38
in some cases we saw doordash lower
41:42
their fees right away and capped theirs
41:44
at 15% and so we're hoping that others
41:49
do follow suit we realize some have and
41:52
there are a few holdouts of course but
41:55
again if it were more regional in its
41:57
application to include Sammamish
42:00
Bellevue etc I think it would be more
42:04
equitable to all the restaurants so when
42:07
we mentioned unintended
42:09
sequences in our letter those were some
42:11
of our concerns we want to make sure
42:13
that is a quantum repeat its acquired
42:15
restaurant reputations remain solid and
42:20
that there would be no unintended
42:22
consequences and lack of service in
42:25
lowering their where they appear on the
42:28
listing of restaurants etc some of the
42:32
other things were that we talked about
42:36
were the educational proponents and
42:39
again Jen touched on this anything you
42:42
know anything that the chamber can do to
42:45
help the city to help the restaurants
42:47
share messaging restaurants a lot of
42:52
times they have great specials that
42:54
they're offering on their web sites that
42:56
might not be available through delivery
42:59
services so can we do something in that
43:01
respect to help draw make residents
43:04
aware of the fact that maybe they want
43:06
to go to the web sites first they want
43:08
to look at the options that they have
43:10
even from the standpoint of the money
43:13
they can save ordering directly from the
43:15
restaurant and doing takeout or less
43:18
expensive options that the that the
43:21
restaurants might have available we
43:23
realize that everyone has their favorite
43:25
app per se but we think that there's a
43:28
lot that we could do together to educate
43:31
local restaurants and in particular our
43:34
residents about their options and how
43:37
they could actually eat out more often
43:41
for less and with that I just want to
43:45
say that we will support any and all
43:47
decisions made by the City Council
43:49
regarding the restaurant delivery fees
43:53
we support our restaurants as we do all
43:56
of the businesses in the community and
43:59
we're here to help and thank you very
44:01
much for your time Thank You Kathy Jen
44:05
did you have any closing comments no
44:09
that was it I just look forward to two
44:10
questions council members okay we will
44:13
move to councilmember Goodman Thank You
44:17
councilmember Goodman here Thank You
44:21
Kathy for come
44:23
to our meeting and presenting
44:24
information and Jen for your information
44:26
as well so the materials and Jen talked
44:29
about the allocation of ten thousand
44:31
dollars of economic development program
44:33
funding to implement a sixty day
44:35
restaurant marketing campaign and I I'm
44:41
a little bit concerned not about
44:45
supporting restaurants with this but
44:46
about the other segments of our retail
44:51
and commercial businesses who are also
44:53
that are also hurting and so setting out
44:57
to help one segment of that of the
45:01
business community at this time seems to
45:05
set us up for other segments also asking
45:08
us for help and so I went in and I did
45:14
have a brief conversation with
45:17
administrator Bob Kuwait's today and who
45:20
gave me the impression that this was not
45:23
going to be strictly about restaurants
45:25
so I'm looking for information that
45:27
would make me feel comfortable that
45:30
we're not it looks as though we're you
45:34
know we're focused on one segment of the
45:36
business community which has me
45:38
concerned
45:38
you know hotels are you know really
45:41
hurting as well and so what are we going
45:43
to be doing to help them out with with
45:48
money later because I think that's the
45:50
expectation that we're setting up so
45:52
that's sort of my question I'm looking
45:54
for information about how this is not
45:58
just focused on one segment or if it is
46:00
what we're prepared to do to respond to
46:03
that future request Thanks great
46:08
question thank you councilmember Goodman
46:10
you again we believe that there's an
46:13
immediate need an urgent need with our
46:16
restaurants right now that are open as
46:19
councilmember wash mentioned there is
46:21
some allocation of cares Act funding
46:24
that for from King County to the city
46:27
that again we don't know the exact rules
46:31
and regulations on how to use that
46:32
that's an available resource to help
46:34
market more
46:35
in the future we completely anticipate
46:38
that our future economic development
46:41
efforts will be about a buy local and a
46:45
welcome back in a more local tourism way
46:49
so check out the your attractions in
46:52
your own community and so we do have
46:55
partners again so we will have some
46:57
resources from the cares act and also
46:59
from our port grant that is not been
47:02
allocated to other resources and we have
47:05
our visit Issaquah and our chamber and
47:08
our downtown ethical association that
47:09
also have resources to help amplify and
47:12
leverage that those messages for buying
47:16
local for all businesses in Issaquah
47:21
councilmember Goodman does that answer
47:23
your question
47:29
well let me maybe yes and maybe no I
47:32
think it answers maybe answers my
47:34
questions I don't know that it lays my
47:36
concern so it looks like we are spending
47:39
$10,000 now focus on restaurants and
47:42
that we are expecting to allocate other
47:48
money in the future to help other
47:51
business segments is that accurate
47:55
so it is going to be a Buy and local eat
47:58
local kind of effort in the beginning
48:00
but the buy local will be an ongoing
48:01
effort I don't know exactly if we're
48:04
going to allocate a certain amount of
48:06
dollars for marketing in the future but
48:07
we do anticipate that a buy local and
48:14
recreative Minister Bob woods have a
48:17
comment on this as well ok yes madam
48:23
mayor
48:24
councilmember Goodman I think it's fair
48:26
to say there will be additional requests
48:28
for spending to support the business
48:30
community as I think miss Davis has said
48:33
we see this as a first step the
48:36
restaurants are sort of leading into
48:38
this as the first large business segment
48:41
in the community I think by having this
48:43
be a shop dine local event there will be
48:46
some opportunities to leverage that
48:48
investment with other
48:49
industries but it clear that we're going
48:51
to have to have a discussion I think at
48:53
some later point about the hospitality
48:55
industry we collect lodging tax money
48:58
there is some fun balance there I think
49:00
it'd be natural to talk about that we
49:03
have a large performing arts
49:05
organization in the village theater we
49:07
have been talking about them because of
49:08
the enormous economic impact they have
49:11
on our community the number of
49:13
individuals they bring to Issaquah every
49:15
year so I think there will be other
49:17
discussions of our intent is to use this
49:20
initial funding to partner with our
49:23
vision partners to focus on shop buying
49:27
local and we'll keep you posted on our
49:30
good progress Thank You councilmember
49:34
Goodman thank you before we go on I
49:40
should have gone to council president
49:41
hunts before we start our questions and
49:44
comments and councilmember hunt do you
49:46
have any items from the public that you
49:48
received in the way of comments City
49:51
Council that you would like to report
49:52
out on and thank you yes mr. council
49:56
president hunt and we did receive some
49:57
emails so I will summarize them as best
50:01
I can so we received the email from
50:04
Steve Pereira on this ID and he wrote
50:08
that he did not support taking action on
50:11
the delivery fees and he also opposed
50:13
the city of its by entering into the ten
50:16
thousand dollar marketing campaign for
50:18
restaurants that's described in the ID
50:20
additionally Connie Marsh wrote to us
50:23
that restaurants run on volume with
50:26
narrow margins and she felt that
50:27
restaurants currently have our larger
50:29
problems and delivery fees and she wrote
50:32
to us with a number of solutions
50:34
focusing on promotion of businesses
50:39
that's a key includes that of course -
50:41
Thank You council president hunt so in
50:44
my list of those wishing to have asked
50:47
questions or have comments you are next
50:49
up council president followed by
50:51
councilmember hall and then
50:52
councilmember marks so helps the
50:54
president hunt
50:55
thank you this accounts the president
50:57
hunt I have a question regarding the
51:00
$10,000
51:03
Marketing also so it was mentioned in
51:06
your presentation that this is from the
51:10
Port of Seattle grants and so I wondered
51:13
if you could give us an overview of what
51:15
we would not be doing with that and then
51:20
additionally is the 60 days is that so
51:24
that we would be able to prepare for the
51:27
phase 2 or how does that timing line up
51:30
with phase 2 Thank You council president
51:35
so the $10,000 from the port grant it
51:39
would be from our business attraction
51:42
marketing component that we had that
51:45
bucket for and again we even in
51:47
communication with our Port of Seattle
51:48
partners about reallocating and how to
51:52
they have given us the message loud and
51:54
clear to work on business retention
51:56
efforts and so that's coming from the
51:58
port commissioners down to the staff so
52:00
this fits in and aligns with their their
52:03
goal so that is not a problem to
52:05
reallocate these funding and then of the
52:08
60 days it's really meant to again more
52:11
of an immediate urgent need in the next
52:14
and you know June in July given us some
52:16
time to ramp to develop in more detail
52:20
the marketing campaign and to really
52:22
again and the times when people are
52:24
starting to get back out and thinking
52:25
about eating and shopping and so really
52:30
encourage people to do that locally so
52:32
there's no magic number I think it's
52:34
again the amount of money what will may
52:39
may not by a large media Buy so having
52:41
it more focused and over 60 days seem to
52:44
make sense but it's not set in stone but
52:46
we wanted to also be able to make an
52:48
impact and come back to the council with
52:51
that those results okay that would be
52:56
great to know at a future time with
52:59
those results will be and what the
53:01
discussion would look like and then my
53:02
second question is about you mentioned
53:07
in the memo about the outdoor seating
53:11
requirements and then also in your
53:12
presentation you talked about the
53:14
signage and I believe the permit
53:16
on signage and other things and that we
53:19
might do and so I wondered which of
53:21
these potential actions do we expect
53:25
will take council action and then what
53:28
will the timeline be for that and again
53:30
I'm trying to be conscious of the phase
53:32
two and restaurants trying to know what
53:35
they're gonna actually be able to do
53:37
when they reopen and if they're going to
53:38
be able to reopen and all of the
53:40
uncertainties so if we could get
53:41
certainty on our timeline that would
53:43
that's the context of my question great
53:49
yes I appreciate that because timing is
53:51
of the essence so we actually are
53:54
partners in the downtown Medical
53:55
Association and it's chol Highlands
53:57
Council are currently reaching out to
53:59
restaurants and also talking to their
54:01
other other businesses about curbside
54:04
parking and also signage needs so one of
54:07
the things we need to the idea of
54:10
curbside parking or pickup parking
54:12
spaces and allocating those whether
54:13
they're some of those spaces are in
54:16
private Lots so that's not as in our in
54:18
our bailiwick but in the downtown we
54:21
definitely own the parking behind some
54:23
of those businesses and all along the
54:25
street frontage the idea is at a higher
54:29
level is a great idea we need to make
54:31
sure that we allocate those we look at
54:33
those spaces in a way that works for
54:35
businesses and is not two blocks away
54:37
from where they may deliver that so
54:39
those things may not need council action
54:42
I believe then the other parts about the
54:45
permitting around the signage and the
54:50
outdoors our eating would potentially be
54:54
about around permitting us that would be
54:55
under the Community Development
54:58
Community Services directors ability to
55:02
to proceed with that so I don't
55:06
anticipate any initial council needs or
55:09
actions for that but as we start to dive
55:11
into the code and hear what those ask
55:13
specific ask are there may be some
55:16
nuances we need to explore thank you
55:19
City Administrator Bob Chris you had
55:21
some information you wanted to add here
55:22
yes madam mayor council president hunt
55:25
we plan to come back to the council at
55:27
the first study session you're going to
55:29
be
55:30
on Tuesday June 9th and we should have
55:32
answers to many of those questions we
55:34
see this as a very urgent matter of the
55:37
mayor's recovery task force spent a lot
55:40
of time speaking about these issues on
55:42
Thursday our presentations from the
55:44
chamber from from anti-business
55:47
association with some very specific asks
55:50
and so we would like to process those
55:52
and bring those to the council in the
55:54
study session format on June 9th and if
55:57
there are specific actions for the
55:58
councilman to bring them back to your
56:00
next regular meeting follow me Thank You
56:04
administrator Bob Krist and in case
56:06
councilmembers have not all been able to
56:08
view or see a summary of those recovery
56:10
task force meetings we may be trying to
56:13
do things through the next nine months
56:15
12 months just to help businesses be
56:19
able to get their feet back on the
56:21
ground and some of them may be that we
56:23
are waiving a fee so they still are
56:27
required to have insurance and do all
56:29
the rest of it but whatever we can do to
56:32
help them be more successful so there's
56:35
there's a laundry list of items so thank
56:37
you for bringing that up to the
56:38
administrator council president hunt did
56:41
you have any additional questions no
56:44
that's it thank you Thank You
56:45
councilmember Hall with the question
56:49
Thank You maripony yeah I have a quick
56:52
question and thank you to Jen thank you
56:54
to Cathy for the great presentation I
56:56
appreciate all the deep work you did
56:57
there when I was going through this list
57:00
of next steps that you have nicely laid
57:03
out in our agenda packet I tried to go
57:07
through it with a focus on different
57:09
things first on you know business
57:11
assistance and then second more broadly
57:14
on Public Health and I noticed that
57:17
there were two to next steps that I
57:20
really appreciated you know ensuring
57:22
that you know when we review when we are
57:23
opening up we're doing it in a right way
57:25
we're doing it in a way that are going
57:29
to keep people healthy and ensure that
57:31
we don't have a you know resurgence and
57:33
infections so I was hoping you could
57:35
speak a little more in detail about two
57:38
that was particularly interested in the
57:42
first bullet point
57:43
the second batch which was out oh no
57:47
sorry not that one the one that says
57:49
discuss operations with restaurants
57:51
regarding 50% and 75% real thing so that
57:54
phase 2 and phase 3 you know what really
57:55
should that look like and I know we're
57:57
going to be getting you know guidance
57:59
from the governor about what that looks
58:01
like but I'd be curious what Jen you
58:04
know what you're thinking and Kathy what
58:05
you're hearing from the business
58:06
community about about that too from the
58:08
ground up and then also that last one
58:10
about coordinating supply chain and
58:13
other efforts to provide PPE to
58:15
restaurants and other retail businesses
58:17
I was really interested about those two
58:19
points that you can discuss that that
58:21
very um I'll have Kathy to start off
58:26
because she actually is involved in both
58:27
of those and more so for the second one
58:29
so then I'll fill in anything else Thank
58:34
You Jen um so regarding the PPE I think
58:40
one of the things we're looking at is
58:42
[Music]
58:43
finding out if we can find resources
58:46
that for instance the chamber has some
58:50
accounts that we use primarily for
58:53
salmon days but could we get them could
58:56
for instance maybe the chamber be the
58:59
the Clearing House so that we could
59:03
purchase larger orders saving money
59:06
combining our resources together to give
59:10
us greater buying power and there's also
59:15
an effort by dia to have masks donated
59:20
so that the businesses downtown can get
59:24
free masks and we think we could
59:27
probably all do a little bit more of
59:29
that the highlands the chamber and Dia
59:31
but I think most of our efforts were
59:34
really around trying to get those group
59:38
buy-ins so that we can truly lower the
59:41
cost of what everyone's having to pay
59:44
maybe even taking advantage of some of
59:47
those deals that a lot of the
59:51
distilleries that have switched over to
59:54
making Hansen
59:55
tiser and they're giving away certain
59:57
amount you know finding those and seeing
59:59
if we can make runs for multiple
1:00:03
businesses at the same time and if some
1:00:05
of those distilleries would allow us to
1:00:07
do that on their behalf things like that
1:00:09
and I'm sorry Zack could you refresh my
1:00:13
memory on your first question
1:00:15
it was the safety issue
1:00:18
sure yeah thanks Kelly yeah kind of
1:00:20
everything under the umbrella of you
1:00:23
know public safety and public health so
1:00:24
one in particular was discussing you
1:00:27
know what is operation for restaurants
1:00:28
and retail business is going to look
1:00:30
like in phase 2 and phase 3 and how do
1:00:33
we do that safely because you know I I
1:00:34
know a few business owners here in
1:00:37
Issaquah and I think the in the
1:00:41
community the misconception is everyone
1:00:44
is chomping at the bit to just reopen
1:00:46
regardless of what public health is they
1:00:48
just want to reopen but everyone that I
1:00:50
talked to who our business owners like
1:00:52
know we've got to keep people healthy
1:00:54
otherwise we don't have customers so it
1:00:56
seems to me like our community gets it
1:00:58
so I was just interested in in from your
1:01:01
perspective what's the conversation like
1:01:02
about what what is phase 2 and phase 3
1:01:05
and look like maybe that's just
1:01:06
beginning yeah it is just beginning
1:01:09
that is correct there's um there's a
1:01:12
true concern from the restaurant
1:01:14
standpoint about the actual
1:01:18
affordability of being able to open and
1:01:20
Phase two at all you know 50% capacity
1:01:24
on our smaller restaurants isn't you
1:01:29
know they do the math they're trying to
1:01:30
figure it out is it worth the expense of
1:01:33
bringing back the staff if they can only
1:01:36
serve so many people in an evening
1:01:39
so what we're anticipating is some
1:01:42
businesses will reopen it at 50%
1:01:45
capacity in Phase two some might choose
1:01:48
to wait till Phase three
1:01:50
some might even wait and to not open
1:01:53
until phase four when they can bring
1:01:56
back a hundred percent capacity so they
1:01:59
have those options and yes indeed safety
1:02:03
does come first they do have they've
1:02:06
gotten behind the ordering
1:02:08
online and doing takeout so they have
1:02:10
that and now it's just a matter of that
1:02:15
next economic portion on top of keeping
1:02:19
people safe does it can they afford to
1:02:22
open that 50% capacity that's great
1:02:28
thank you Kathy and I think she hit the
1:02:31
nail on the head what we've been hearing
1:02:33
as well with restaurants and so the
1:02:34
phase 2 restaurant report guidelines
1:02:37
already out so they have been looking at
1:02:38
them and they're still they're still
1:02:41
being adjusted so for instance the
1:02:43
governor has changed about the logging
1:02:45
of customers for restaurants so as they
1:02:48
continue to look at that and figure out
1:02:50
what makes sense for their individual
1:02:51
floorplate and their operations
1:02:54
you know they will make the decision and
1:02:56
they want to keep their employees
1:02:57
healthy as well and so having an
1:02:59
additional exposure to people at this
1:03:00
time is a concern and so I think again
1:03:04
we'll be working with the chamber as a
1:03:05
held restaurant and retail and other
1:03:08
industry type roundtables downtown
1:03:11
Issaquah Association is having around
1:03:13
holding roundtables as well with their
1:03:15
businesses so this is how we'll learn
1:03:17
about what the needs for the individual
1:03:19
businesses are beyond our one-on-one
1:03:21
contact with them Thank You
1:03:24
councilmember hall satisfied yeah that
1:03:28
was great thank you so much for all that
1:03:29
great information I love the emphasis
1:03:31
Kathy behind you no greater we are and
1:03:35
you know the support from everyone we're
1:03:37
better and working together to get
1:03:39
people the protective equipment they
1:03:41
need hand sanitizer dot so thank you for
1:03:44
a great work that's great next question
1:03:48
or comment is coming from councilmember
1:03:50
marks thank you madam mayor actually
1:03:54
first a question are is the
1:03:57
administration I sort of thought when we
1:03:59
started this conversation the
1:04:01
administration was looking for a
1:04:02
feedback now but it sounds like you're
1:04:05
more looking for feedback at the study
1:04:07
session that may have city administrator
1:04:11
Bob coats come back on mister yes madam
1:04:15
mayor council remember March you know
1:04:18
this is an evolving issue we want to
1:04:20
give you the benefit of the
1:04:22
information that we have tonight we
1:04:23
certainly are interested in getting
1:04:25
feedback from you we've gotten a pretty
1:04:27
long list of items from the council from
1:04:31
the recovery task force from businesses
1:04:33
we want to keep the ball rolling and so
1:04:35
we're going to come back in a couple of
1:04:37
weeks with some more details but
1:04:39
certainly anything you have to
1:04:40
contribute this evening is very welcome
1:04:43
our bottom line is we have a business
1:04:45
community that needs help and we want to
1:04:47
be as focused as we can to provide that
1:04:49
assistance would you like to comment or
1:04:53
have a question or both sure I'll come
1:04:57
up first of all I want to thank Jen
1:04:58
Davis Hays and the city staff this was a
1:05:01
lot of really good informative
1:05:06
informative information which is a
1:05:08
redundancy but really helps me
1:05:11
understand the feedback from a number of
1:05:14
restaurants helps kind of move it beyond
1:05:17
just anecdotal so that was extremely
1:05:20
helpful yeah this is this is help for
1:05:23
restaurants in particular and yeah
1:05:25
perhaps we're gonna have to help other
1:05:27
businesses good if it's good help if
1:05:30
it's not just throwing money at a
1:05:34
problem you know I've heard about some
1:05:36
cities that are doing vouchers for local
1:05:38
businesses that's an example of just
1:05:40
kind of handing out money but this isn't
1:05:43
this seems to be a smart small use of
1:05:46
uniquely city functions things the city
1:05:48
can do that other entities can't do as
1:05:52
well in terms of getting information out
1:05:54
to the public so it seems like a really
1:05:58
really smart use of a small dedicated
1:06:00
amount of money you know our restaurants
1:06:03
are as already mentioned low-margin a
1:06:06
lot of them are run by families you know
1:06:08
they're going to be under the same
1:06:10
regulations as everybody else that
1:06:12
somebody's exposed to coronavirus
1:06:14
they're gonna have to self quarantine
1:06:15
that could have a that could have a
1:06:19
terrible effect on the small family-run
1:06:21
restaurant many of our small restaurants
1:06:25
and Issaquah really unique and part of
1:06:28
the essential charms that make our city
1:06:31
they're also most of them are not
1:06:34
big chains that can afford to you know
1:06:37
amortize the cost out over a large
1:06:39
number of restaurants so for all those
1:06:42
reasons I think taking a small focused
1:06:44
amount of money and doing things the
1:06:46
city does uniquely well is really smart
1:06:49
and a great suggestion by the part of
1:06:50
the city thank you Thank You
1:06:53
councilmember Martha I have
1:06:55
councilmember Goodman up next with a
1:06:57
question followed by a councilmember D
1:06:59
Michelle I'm happy to let councilmember
1:07:01
Dee Michelle go first since I've already
1:07:03
had a question that is very nice
1:07:06
councilmember D Michele question and a
1:07:08
comment perhaps yes thank you
1:07:10
Thank You councilmember Goodwin so as a
1:07:14
frequent user of door - I have observed
1:07:19
how many people are working as delivery
1:07:24
people and I think I raised this last
1:07:27
time as well and maybe Kathy McCrory has
1:07:31
some insights into this but as we have
1:07:35
so many people unemployed and I'm sure
1:07:38
that for some being a delivery person
1:07:41
for the the food delivery of industry is
1:07:46
a lifeline that they wouldn't have
1:07:48
otherwise have do we have any insight
1:07:50
into how many people in Issaquah are
1:07:55
employed by these services and are you
1:08:00
working with people in the so-called gay
1:08:05
economy to help support people who are
1:08:10
out of work and and as we ease into
1:08:14
reopening is that playing a role in the
1:08:17
plans that you're making Thank You Kathy
1:08:21
McCrory
1:08:28
still getting used to my unmute button I
1:08:31
apologize for the delay I do not know
1:08:34
exactly how many are employed in that
1:08:37
field in Issaquah so my apologies
1:08:41
councilman G Michelle I do not have that
1:08:44
information I can tell you though what
1:08:48
we have done and will continue to do is
1:08:52
in our kovat 19 pages there's actually a
1:08:57
jobs page now that we post who's hiring
1:09:01
and companies like that are listed so
1:09:05
we're not concerned with who's a member
1:09:08
who's not a member
1:09:10
we're concerned with who needs help and
1:09:12
so in that those delivery companies as
1:09:17
we find the websites and we can drive
1:09:21
people to them because you're right in a
1:09:24
gigawatt imme many delivery people do
1:09:27
have other jobs or multiple even
1:09:30
deliveries that they will deliver for
1:09:32
doordash and GrubHub
1:09:34
and etc so we do continue to pay
1:09:38
attention to that but I just don't have
1:09:41
all the answers to your questions at
1:09:44
this time and I'll just add that we
1:09:49
aren't tracking the number of people
1:09:50
that are working for get in the gig
1:09:52
economy in Issaquah as far as residents
1:09:54
and we also on our city web page for the
1:09:57
Cobie 19 have listings for jobs and also
1:10:00
linking to work source and other
1:10:03
resources for jobs we were planning to
1:10:06
have our annual job fair on May 12 we
1:10:09
did cancel that postponed it we have
1:10:11
attentively scheduled in August but
1:10:14
we're also looking at virtual options so
1:10:16
we'll determine closer to the time if
1:10:18
the in-person job fair makes sense or
1:10:21
really continue to kind do some virtual
1:10:24
connections through the chamber and
1:10:26
other organizations to make sure that
1:10:28
people can get jobs in Issaquah and the
1:10:30
businesses have the resources because as
1:10:32
Kathy mentioned and the recovery task
1:10:34
force last week and there's some
1:10:36
businesses who are you
1:10:38
you think they're not doing well but
1:10:39
beyond restaurants that are open and
1:10:42
actually are hiring people so we want to
1:10:46
make sure that we help support all the
1:10:47
businesses that are in need of
1:10:48
additional employees throughout the
1:10:51
community and I I appreciate the fact
1:10:55
that those are difficult numbers to come
1:10:56
by and I appreciate your input thank you
1:10:59
thank you for the question councilmember
1:11:02
Dee Michele it was something that the
1:11:03
Issaquah recovery task force also felt
1:11:06
so it's a highly appropriate thing for
1:11:08
city resources partnering with the
1:11:10
chamber to do connect people with
1:11:13
available jobs so that was a great
1:11:15
question um councilmember Goodman thank
1:11:18
you madam mayor council member Goodman
1:11:19
here I don't think I've heard an answer
1:11:24
to this and if I missed it I apologize
1:11:27
but my question is how do we with this
1:11:30
money how do we define success what a
1:11:34
success look like
1:11:36
what are we i I'm not I think I know
1:11:44
what we're trying to achieve and I'm
1:11:46
certainly not opposed to us I just
1:11:47
opposed to it I just wanted I'm just
1:11:49
trying to understand what success looks
1:11:51
like and then how do we monitor that and
1:11:54
how do we measure it when we had rentals
1:11:57
assistance discussion we had there was a
1:12:00
lot of talk about the parameters and the
1:12:01
requirements and there seems to be
1:12:05
unanimous agreement here that this is
1:12:08
just the first financial help for the
1:12:12
business community so want to make sure
1:12:15
that we get off on the right foot and
1:12:18
agreed that we don't want to with
1:12:20
councilmember marks comment that we just
1:12:23
want don't want to throw money at
1:12:24
projects we want to make sure that we
1:12:26
are actually using it for good and I
1:12:30
realize that for good that I also want
1:12:32
to make sure that we are we are
1:12:36
successful in what we're trying to
1:12:37
achieve thank you in great yes I mean we
1:12:41
take we take our public dollars as
1:12:43
serious as as you do and making sure
1:12:46
that we're not wasting them and I will
1:12:48
say that we don't have all those answers
1:12:49
right tonight and so we will again we're
1:12:51
going to
1:12:51
coming back to the June study session
1:12:54
we'll have more details so it really
1:12:55
will depend on if we end up leveraging
1:12:58
some of these resources with programs
1:12:59
that exist already marketing programs
1:13:01
with our partners so it could be if we
1:13:05
do some social media marketing we'll
1:13:06
have exact numbers of click-throughs and
1:13:10
other metrics through the social media
1:13:14
platform we use it could be surveying
1:13:18
restaurants again I don't want to commit
1:13:20
to anything right now until we have more
1:13:22
details of exactly what we'll do and
1:13:23
then base those metrics off of that but
1:13:26
completely agree that we want to be able
1:13:28
to come back because we will also need
1:13:29
to report this to the port so this isn't
1:13:32
this is important from many and many
1:13:35
levels but also to our funders who to
1:13:38
make sure that we're we can show them
1:13:39
that we've done good things with their
1:13:41
money and not just fin it where we
1:13:43
nearly thank you and I think that we
1:13:47
should probably make a pretty quick
1:13:49
pivot to not simply restaurants because
1:13:52
we also have retailers who are now able
1:13:53
to offer a curbside curbside pickup
1:13:56
anyway thank you very much everybody I
1:13:58
really appreciate it City Administrator
1:14:00
Bob quits you want to add some more
1:14:01
additional information yeah just to
1:14:04
follow up what Jen said you know the
1:14:07
metrics piece is going to be really
1:14:09
important right now we have one economic
1:14:10
development staff member we hope that
1:14:13
with the item later on the agenda
1:14:14
tonight we're going to be able to have a
1:14:17
second economic development staff member
1:14:19
and I think our goal working with a new
1:14:22
staff member and our finance department
1:14:24
as we look at performance measures
1:14:25
another item that we would like to talk
1:14:28
about it you're a Jew study session is
1:14:30
what metrics can we be putting in place
1:14:33
but the entire ISKCON how can we measure
1:14:35
jobs businesses in place I think
1:14:38
business license revenue be you know tax
1:14:40
revenue that comes in so I think there's
1:14:43
lots of ways to measure success and it's
1:14:46
clear that we need to have multiple
1:14:49
meant for not only this initiative that
1:14:51
we're proposing this evening but I'm
1:14:54
sure other initiatives and listening to
1:14:56
the conversation the other day at the
1:14:58
recovery tax course you know they
1:15:00
certainly believe that in a very
1:15:02
comprehensive way of looking at economic
1:15:04
recoveries a real
1:15:05
piece of this and so we need to
1:15:06
measuring that so we'll come back at the
1:15:08
June meeting to talk a little bit more
1:15:10
about economy why it measures within
1:15:13
this fall
1:15:14
thank you City Administrator Bob Chris
1:15:16
Thank You councilmember Goodman for the
1:15:18
question we do want to make sure we're
1:15:20
getting the outcomes and we are using
1:15:22
the money effectively and efficiently I
1:15:24
am not seeing any additional questions
1:15:26
on this item I will wait a second or two
1:15:29
to see if I have missed anybody Thank
1:15:33
You Kathy Thank You Jen
1:15:36
we are going to move on to the next item
1:15:38
ID zero 691 Kovac responds round two
1:15:43
budget plan and I'd like to ask finance
1:15:46
director Beth Goldberg to make the
1:15:47
presentation
1:15:48
Beth good evening everyone I tisha could
1:15:55
post the PowerPoint on the screen that
1:15:59
would be terrific
1:16:10
there we go okay so good evening
1:16:22
everyone we are here tonight to present
1:16:25
the round two budget plan in response to
1:16:30
the ovid crisis and tisha if you can go
1:16:34
to the next slide please
1:16:37
so the purpose of tonight's presentation
1:16:40
mayor Polly spoke of this a little bit
1:16:42
earlier is to provide an update of the
1:16:46
next round of our work to respond to the
1:16:51
general fund budget shortfall that we
1:16:53
spoke about first starting in April and
1:16:57
then also starting to look at the other
1:16:59
funds that we are anticipating to have
1:17:02
some financial difficulty as a result of
1:17:05
bovid and then also to provide you a
1:17:08
preview of the round three work that as
1:17:12
well as other next steps latisha if you
1:17:14
can move to the next slide please
1:17:17
so just by way of background and to
1:17:21
remind everyone we projected ana 10
1:17:25
million decline in general fund revenues
1:17:27
as a result of the kovin emergency
1:17:30
during round one which was April 20th
1:17:34
screen went blank
1:17:36
there goes okay during round 1 we
1:17:40
identified nearly 5 million dollars in
1:17:43
under spend plans that included 22
1:17:46
layoffs and freezing 15 vacant positions
1:17:49
if that meaning we indicated that we
1:17:53
would be reporting back with round 2
1:17:56
plan which is the intention of tonight's
1:17:59
presentation if you can move to the next
1:18:02
slide please so just a brief reminder we
1:18:06
went over this at the April 20th council
1:18:09
meeting in terms of roles and
1:18:11
responsibilities the ability to
1:18:14
understand a budget which is what this
1:18:17
plan is rests with the mayor but there
1:18:21
are certain elements of this plan as
1:18:24
the case with round one that we will be
1:18:27
seeking council action force so the last
1:18:30
meaning it was primarily changes to
1:18:33
personnel policies um tonight in
1:18:36
addition to some personnel policy
1:18:38
changes on the consent agenda we will
1:18:41
also be asking council to adopt some
1:18:44
changes to our inner fund transfers and
1:18:47
don't hear me speak about that
1:18:48
throughout the meeting or breakfast
1:18:50
presentation and then there's a regular
1:18:53
business item that covers this later on
1:18:56
tonight's agenda
1:18:58
tisha if you can go to the next slide
1:18:59
please so is a reminder of where we are
1:19:06
and the results of of the work that we
1:19:10
have done we started on April 6th with
1:19:13
the ten million dollar shortfall that I
1:19:15
mentioned earlier during round one we
1:19:19
identified roughly five million four
1:19:21
point eight million dollars worth under
1:19:23
spend plans that left a remaining
1:19:25
shortfall of roughly 5.2 million dollars
1:19:30
tonight's plans that I will talk about
1:19:32
momentarily identify another 1.6 million
1:19:36
dollars of under spend leaving the
1:19:39
remaining shortfall to three point six
1:19:42
million dollars so if we can go to the
1:19:46
next slide please so now I want to talk
1:19:53
about a summary of how we got to the one
1:19:55
point six million dollars worth of
1:19:58
reductions or under spend that we're
1:20:00
talking about tonight the first is we
1:20:03
identified in doing a little bit more
1:20:06
work on the round one savings that we
1:20:08
identified we've identified another
1:20:10
three hundred and nearly eighty thousand
1:20:12
dollars worth of savings you'll recall
1:20:15
at the last meeting that we talked about
1:20:18
leave cash outs for the departed
1:20:21
employees we allocated those at that
1:20:24
meeting entirely to the general fund
1:20:26
however some of those positions were
1:20:28
funded again some of our other funds so
1:20:30
that reduced the hit to the general fund
1:20:33
so that's one source of the savings we
1:20:36
also have run since
1:20:38
calculations on how the furloughs and
1:20:43
salary reductions that we identified in
1:20:46
round one will lower our employer taxes
1:20:48
so that's also captured in here and then
1:20:51
some other fine-tuning another element
1:20:54
of round two was we did a thorough
1:20:57
review of our IT functions and IT costs
1:21:02
in particular that are borne by the
1:21:05
general fund but also some but for other
1:21:07
funds and the results of that work and
1:21:11
I'll go into more of these details later
1:21:13
total three hundred and four thousand
1:21:15
dollars so I had mentioned in I think
1:21:19
two slides ago about how the actions to
1:21:24
adjust interfund transfers and a
1:21:27
required council action so the concepts
1:21:30
behind this is that this IT savings that
1:21:34
we've identified here will accrue to the
1:21:37
IT fund but in order for the general
1:21:40
fund to reap the benefit of it that's
1:21:43
where the revenue hit is we need to
1:21:45
lower the amount of money we're
1:21:47
transferring to the IT fund so this is
1:21:49
one of the changes that will require
1:21:52
council action through an interfund
1:21:55
transfer similarly the general fund
1:21:58
makes a sizable contribution to the
1:22:01
street operating fund so we've
1:22:03
identified reductions there I will go
1:22:05
through those momentarily that will
1:22:08
reduce the transfer by seven hundred and
1:22:10
eleven thousand and then last we've
1:22:13
identified nearly two hundred fourteen
1:22:15
thousand of additional labor savings
1:22:18
from furloughs and some of our
1:22:20
retirement contributions thanks to some
1:22:23
concessions made by our AskMe labor
1:22:26
union and the administration wants to
1:22:29
extend our thanks to that Union for
1:22:33
helping us address these financial
1:22:35
challenges the administration is
1:22:37
continuing to negotiate with the
1:22:40
Teamsters and it's F for additional
1:22:43
concessions and if we are successful in
1:22:46
those negotiations we will report back
1:22:48
to Council so
1:22:51
you can move to the next slide please so
1:22:56
mayor Polly spoke of this earlier in the
1:22:59
evening we are anticipating that we will
1:23:02
receive some Paris act funding through
1:23:05
the state of Washington we believe this
1:23:08
will total roughly 1.2 million dollars
1:23:11
we are expecting application materials
1:23:14
sometime this week we have not allocated
1:23:19
this fund these funds as part of the
1:23:22
round 2 plan but when we have more
1:23:25
information about the receipt of these
1:23:26
funds we will be reporting back to the
1:23:29
council and some options for this
1:23:32
funding and it could help us offset some
1:23:36
of the remaining gap while the funds
1:23:39
cannot be used for to offset the revenue
1:23:42
it that we are experiencing they can
1:23:45
help offset some of the costs that we
1:23:47
are incurring as part of our day-to-day
1:23:49
work these days in response to the
1:23:52
ghovat emergency so that's one option
1:23:53
the other option or a combination
1:23:56
thereof would be to offset any
1:23:59
unforeseen ovid related costs that the
1:24:02
city anticipates in the future so if we
1:24:05
can move to the next slide please
1:24:08
I'm so I'm going to talk a little bit
1:24:11
about the other friends but at first
1:24:13
maybe I want to touch on some of the
1:24:15
other steps the administration is taking
1:24:18
to identify additional savings so we're
1:24:22
continuing and councilmember Goodman
1:24:25
spoke of this in her comments and at the
1:24:28
beginning of the meeting we're
1:24:29
continuing discussions with efer about
1:24:32
whether there are any opportunities the
1:24:34
reduce our contractual costs with them
1:24:37
we're also as I mentioned continuing
1:24:40
discussions with our labor unions and
1:24:42
there may be additional opportunities
1:24:44
for Tears Act money through the county
1:24:47
and there's also talk although there is
1:24:51
not bipartisan support for this so a
1:24:54
little bit of skepticism but there's
1:24:56
talk that perhaps Congress in their next
1:24:59
relief package may offer some funding to
1:25:02
state and local governments
1:25:04
struggling right now so on to the other
1:25:08
funds so when we provided the the
1:25:11
financial forecast on April sticks we
1:25:14
did touch on very briefly the work at
1:25:17
that point had been very preliminary
1:25:18
that we were anticipating some of our
1:25:21
other funds we're gonna feel the pinch
1:25:24
from the economic downturn and we
1:25:28
committed to reporting back on plans for
1:25:31
how we would address those challenges so
1:25:34
we've identified six funds that we
1:25:38
believe will be facing financial
1:25:40
challenges as a result of kovat and that
1:25:42
includes the street operating funds and
1:25:45
I'm gonna go into more details of each
1:25:46
of these throughout the presentation the
1:25:49
street operating fund the real estate
1:25:52
excise tax fund our school zone safety
1:25:55
fund municipal arts fund RIT fund not
1:25:59
because they're facing direct revenue
1:26:01
challenges but because they support
1:26:03
functions in funds that are facing
1:26:06
challenges and then last the lodging tax
1:26:09
fund I want to point out that we are not
1:26:14
talking about some of our other larger
1:26:16
funds such as the utility funds because
1:26:18
we're not anticipating at this time that
1:26:21
they're gonna experience significant
1:26:23
significant Kovan related financial
1:26:26
impacts so if we can move to the next
1:26:29
slide please
1:26:32
so first I want to talk about the street
1:26:36
operating fund so the street operating
1:26:39
fund rice ninety seven percent of its
1:26:42
revenues from sources that are forecast
1:26:44
to decline as a result of the 19 the
1:26:47
first revenue listed on this slide is
1:26:52
the motor vehicle fuel tax so under the
1:26:56
stay at home orders people are driving
1:26:58
less so we are expecting that this
1:27:00
revenue is going to contract
1:27:03
similarly general fund we've talked
1:27:06
about that at length when we allocated
1:27:08
reduction targets we're anticipating a
1:27:11
20% shortfall in general fund but
1:27:14
because some functions couldn't take his
1:27:16
veto cuts
1:27:17
someone given 30% targets which is
1:27:19
what's reflected here and then REIT
1:27:23
which I will talk about in a little bit
1:27:26
we're forecasting a 20% reduction in
1:27:29
that revenue so this was our starting
1:27:32
point basically needed to come up with a
1:27:35
plan that would close a 1.2 million
1:27:38
dollar shortfall in the street operating
1:27:41
fund as a result of these three revenue
1:27:44
sources contracted so if we could move
1:27:48
to the next slide please
1:27:55
so in terms of what we have identified
1:28:01
to bring the street operating fund into
1:28:05
balance were freezing to vacant
1:28:08
positions a senior engineer position and
1:28:10
a construction technician technician
1:28:13
position staff as was the case in the
1:28:17
general fund will be furloughing and
1:28:19
we're also capturing savings for the 457
1:28:24
retirement account contributions like
1:28:28
other departments the street operating
1:28:31
fund is reducing miscellaneous operating
1:28:33
accounts that includes like travel and
1:28:36
training things of that nature
1:28:38
the review of the work plan and our
1:28:43
professional services contract has
1:28:45
resulted and some changes in some of our
1:28:47
professional services expenditures from
1:28:50
deferral of repairs and maintenance and
1:28:53
then as the mayor acknowledged at the
1:28:57
outset of this meeting with the
1:29:00
retirement of our Public Works
1:29:02
Operations Director the city is looking
1:29:06
at this as an opportunity to consolidate
1:29:08
our public works engineering departments
1:29:11
and our public works operations
1:29:13
department into a single department so
1:29:17
all of these these changes accumulated
1:29:21
some savings but not enough to close the
1:29:24
1.2 million dollar gap that I spoke
1:29:26
about on the earlier slide maintaining
1:29:29
funding for our street opera
1:29:31
functions is a high priority and so as a
1:29:34
result of that we actually and I'll talk
1:29:37
about this a little bit later in
1:29:39
tonight's presentation but as part of
1:29:43
this we made some deeper cuts into some
1:29:46
of the capital investments that were
1:29:49
planned for the REIT funds so that we
1:29:51
could increase the amount of reap that
1:29:54
were transferring from the refund into
1:29:56
the street operating budget so if we can
1:30:00
go to the next slide please
1:30:03
so now for the real estate excise tax so
1:30:09
by way of background this is a
1:30:11
notoriously volatile revenue source this
1:30:13
is a revenue source our revenue that is
1:30:16
derived by a small assessment on the
1:30:22
sale of real estate in the city of
1:30:24
Issaquah and it has been a healthy
1:30:27
source of revenue of late but during the
1:30:30
Great Recession this revenue source
1:30:33
defined by 55% so that's that's kind of
1:30:38
a peg in which to think about this so
1:30:42
far the data on how the real estate
1:30:45
market is holding up has been a little
1:30:47
bit mixed on there there was certainly a
1:30:50
drop in mark but there is some
1:30:52
indication in April that things were
1:30:54
picking up again
1:30:56
certainly not to the precoded levels but
1:31:00
indicating some level of strength in the
1:31:03
real estate market so for the purposes
1:31:05
of this exercise were assuming a modest
1:31:09
20% reduction in these revenues so part
1:31:13
of it is because of uncertainty about
1:31:16
how this is going to impact the real
1:31:18
estate market some of this also is
1:31:20
driven you will notice that these that
1:31:22
Reed has a very healthy fund balance so
1:31:24
that provides us a little bit more
1:31:26
cushion to respond if revenues
1:31:29
deteriorate beyond 20 percent we will
1:31:33
have some resources to fall back on so
1:31:37
if we can move to the next slide I will
1:31:39
then talk about some of the changes that
1:31:43
we have made
1:31:44
in our plans so on this slide lists a
1:31:50
number of transfers made from the brief
1:31:54
the refund to other city funds to
1:31:58
complete various primarily capital or
1:32:01
one-time investment cost so we're making
1:32:04
a series of reductions meaning we will
1:32:10
spend less on the particular project or
1:32:13
some deferrals of various investments so
1:32:18
what you will see on this slide is most
1:32:20
of these numbers are negatives except
1:32:23
for under the street operating fund
1:32:26
which is displayed in the upper
1:32:28
right-hand corner of the table on the
1:32:31
screen you will notice an increase to
1:32:34
the street operating fund four hundred
1:32:37
and fifty eight thousand dollars and
1:32:39
that is because as we looked at the
1:32:41
street operating fund and the reductions
1:32:44
we felt we can make there or the
1:32:46
underspend we can make there we did not
1:32:48
feel like we could cut any deeper so
1:32:50
we're cutting a little bit more deeply
1:32:53
on the capital plans on reach so that we
1:32:57
can bolster the investment to the refund
1:33:00
I'm just also another note on this in
1:33:05
deferring or reducing the capital
1:33:09
investments it's it's providing some
1:33:12
protection for us the city of Issaquah
1:33:15
is unique and that it uses this the real
1:33:18
estate excise tax fund to support
1:33:21
ongoing operating cost this is fairly
1:33:24
unusual most jurisdictions rely on this
1:33:27
fund because of its volatility solely
1:33:30
for capital investments in one-time
1:33:32
investments because it's easier to
1:33:34
adjust if the real estate market
1:33:37
contracts and this revenue goes down so
1:33:42
one of the reasons to defer some of
1:33:45
these capital projects is to position us
1:33:47
so that we can have those unbalances
1:33:50
remaining will allow us to sustain those
1:33:53
ongoing operating costs if this revenue
1:33:56
deteriorates so for
1:33:58
example currently were contributing
1:34:01
about 1.2 million dollars to ongoing
1:34:03
street operating costs if Reid were to
1:34:07
decline the 55% as was the case during
1:34:10
the Great Recession we would we would
1:34:14
barely have enough money to sustain
1:34:16
those ongoing operations so by putting a
1:34:19
pause on the capital investments we're
1:34:21
protecting the fund balance as a cushion
1:34:24
to support this ongoing operating costs
1:34:26
not only this year but into future years
1:34:29
if this revenue source contracts if for
1:34:31
some reason the revenue picture improves
1:34:34
we can return to the council and
1:34:37
recommends that we proceed with some of
1:34:41
the capital investments that we are
1:34:43
deferring or reducing here so tisha if
1:34:47
we can go to the next slide please
1:34:51
actually maybe one last thing before I
1:34:53
move on to this slide so the refund I
1:34:56
think I mentioned is making transfers to
1:34:59
other funds so this is another section
1:35:02
where the budget amendment that will be
1:35:05
on discussion to regular business this
1:35:08
evening adjusting those interfund
1:35:10
transfers important okay now we can go
1:35:14
to the next slide so the school zone
1:35:17
safety fund receives revenue from the
1:35:22
speed enforcement camera near is a high
1:35:25
school these cameras are only
1:35:27
operational when school is in session so
1:35:31
the closure of the schools since March
1:35:35
through through June is putting a damper
1:35:38
on these revenues we are anticipating
1:35:41
about a two hundred and seventy-six
1:35:43
thousand dollar revenue hit as a result
1:35:46
of disclosure this forecast assumes that
1:35:50
schools will be back in session in the
1:35:53
fall if that's not the case then there
1:35:55
will be an additional revenue hit here
1:35:58
but the main point with this slide is
1:36:01
that this is another fund with a healthy
1:36:04
fund balance and it can sustain even
1:36:08
with this revenue hit and even frankly
1:36:11
if there's an
1:36:11
the revenue it in the fall could sustain
1:36:15
all of the anticipated investments that
1:36:18
had been planned in the 2020 adopted
1:36:20
budget for this fund so we are not
1:36:23
recommending any major spending changes
1:36:26
to this fund at this time this plan does
1:36:29
reflect a modest twenty four thousand
1:36:32
dollar reduction because the firm that
1:36:35
manages the cameras for us is not
1:36:38
charging us to all of the schools are
1:36:40
not in session so we are capturing that
1:36:42
savings I also want to point out that in
1:36:46
doing this work we have identified that
1:36:50
the fine the penalty charge for people
1:36:53
that speed through this zone is below
1:36:57
what nearby jurisdictions are charging
1:37:00
so our plan is to return to the council
1:37:03
the summer with a plan that would bring
1:37:06
that penalty more in line with what our
1:37:10
nearby jurisdictions are charging and I
1:37:13
should point out that the people that
1:37:16
receive this penalty 85% live outside of
1:37:21
the city of Issaquah so we will be
1:37:24
returning with a plan the summer to
1:37:26
increase the penalty so that it can be
1:37:29
in place when schools open again this
1:37:31
will help recover these revenues that
1:37:34
have been lost during the shutdown and
1:37:36
also give us some flexibility to perhaps
1:37:40
make additional investments as some of
1:37:42
our other revenue sources are
1:37:43
contracting we can move to the next
1:37:46
slide please
1:37:49
so the municipal arts fund derives a
1:37:53
majority of its revenues from the
1:37:55
admissions tax on emissions taxes urged
1:37:58
on people that attend movie theaters in
1:38:00
the city who supply live theaters they
1:38:03
are all shut down now this initial
1:38:06
forecast it seems the 30% reduction but
1:38:09
certainly depending on the length of the
1:38:11
stay at home orders
1:38:13
this revenue could contract further but
1:38:17
again looking at the fund balance on
1:38:19
this fund there is sufficient fund
1:38:21
balance to sustain this year spending on
1:38:24
even if this revenue source contract so
1:38:27
we are not recommending any underspend
1:38:30
plans with the Municipal Arts Fund at
1:38:33
this time we are and we recognize
1:38:36
particularly if the stay at home orders
1:38:39
extend for a longer duration we will be
1:38:42
looking at this fund as part of the 2021
1:38:46
budget process and may be recommending
1:38:48
some changes in for this fund in 2021 we
1:38:55
move to the next slide please
1:38:58
so the IT fund so as I mentioned I think
1:39:03
a little bit earlier the IT fund is not
1:39:07
facing revenue challenges per se but
1:39:10
many of the funds that it serves are
1:39:13
facing revenue challenges so we asked
1:39:17
the IT team to look at its spending and
1:39:20
identify savings mainly to provide
1:39:23
relief to the general fund but some of
1:39:27
the the plans that they identified will
1:39:29
also result in savings to some of our
1:39:32
other funds so this slide provides a
1:39:36
summary of that savings and again all of
1:39:40
this is effectuated through a cost
1:39:42
allocation plan or interfund transfers
1:39:44
so so that is part of the amendment that
1:39:49
will be before the council for
1:39:52
consideration on regular business
1:39:54
tonight and I see there's a question so
1:39:56
I will pause there okay mute this for a
1:40:08
second Thank You councilmember Hall has
1:40:12
a question
1:40:13
on the IP fund yeah thanks Mary Polly
1:40:16
Beth I just have a quick question I've
1:40:22
seen two numbers associated with IT fund
1:40:24
savings the general
1:40:25
and I know you can clear this up for me
1:40:28
so I see this 376 six to 370 thousand
1:40:35
six hundred sixty-two dollars but then
1:40:38
towards the beginning there was IT
1:40:39
savings in round two at three hundred
1:40:42
four thousand dollars and sixty eight so
1:40:45
I was hoping you can clear up what each
1:40:49
of those mean yes so on that first slide
1:40:57
the three hundred four thousand is
1:40:59
capturing the new savings that we've
1:41:03
identified in round two you may recall
1:41:07
that in round one we identified a
1:41:11
position for layoffs that was an IT
1:41:16
position so the savings from that
1:41:19
position was captured in round one this
1:41:24
slide here is capturing the full savings
1:41:27
whereas from a general fund balancing
1:41:30
perspective why that earlier slide was
1:41:33
was trying to capture what is new the
1:41:36
new Delta for tonight perfect thank you
1:41:40
very much appreciate that clarification
1:41:41
I also have a question from
1:41:46
councilmember marks hi director Goldberg
1:41:50
my question for you is what does this
1:41:53
represent as a total fraction of IT fund
1:41:57
and what are we really talking about
1:41:59
when you say understand what's the
1:42:01
actual meat and potatoes what what
1:42:05
checks don't get written in cash to
1:42:08
realize these savings thank you so maybe
1:42:13
that's a good opportunity to go to the
1:42:15
next slide where we've got some
1:42:18
additional details on what is not going
1:42:22
to be done through this underspend plan
1:42:26
so I mentioned in response to
1:42:28
councilmember Paul's question about the
1:42:32
the the position that we've had been
1:42:37
slated for layoffs
1:42:39
um also similar to the other funds that
1:42:43
we talked about we are capturing some
1:42:45
savings from furloughs and the
1:42:47
elimination of the 457 account and then
1:42:51
there's a series of projects listed on
1:42:53
the slide
1:42:53
where were either deferring or reducing
1:42:57
some of the investments that had been
1:43:00
planned for 2020 through the IT fund and
1:43:05
maybe I can pause there and see if
1:43:09
council member Mart's has follow-up
1:43:12
questions now that he has seen these
1:43:14
details just the question about what
1:43:19
fraction of the total IT budget this
1:43:21
represents thank you so I might have to
1:43:27
phone a friend for that one
1:43:29
um if Suzy's on the line maybe she I
1:43:32
don't know if she has that at her
1:43:33
disposal or if you can look it up while
1:43:35
I'm finishing the rest of this
1:43:37
presentation and we can report that back
1:43:39
to you we have an additional follow-up
1:43:43
question from council president hunt and
1:43:46
we'll see what we can get from Suzy
1:43:49
council president hunt thank you council
1:43:52
president hunt here I wonder if and it
1:43:57
it might be at a future present a few
1:44:00
Chur meeting that we would get this
1:44:02
information but I wonder if we could get
1:44:04
information about the implications of
1:44:08
the cost reductions that were on the
1:44:12
previous slide so especially with the
1:44:16
reach slide there were a number of
1:44:17
deferrals and a number of a number of
1:44:22
reductions and some of them are specific
1:44:25
projects some of them I imagine are
1:44:27
going to be a cost that will incur the
1:44:30
next year on top of additional costs and
1:44:32
so I think for our planning purposes it
1:44:35
would be helpful to understand the
1:44:37
implications of all of the costs in
1:44:40
addition to these ones which are
1:44:42
explained for the IT fund yeah we can
1:44:47
report that back to you okay
1:44:53
do you want to continue bath Susie is
1:44:56
chasing the numbers yes continue the
1:44:58
presentation that degree yes so if we
1:45:00
can move to the next slide please
1:45:04
so the LTAC fund the lodging tax fund
1:45:09
similar to municipal Arts Fund and the
1:45:13
school's own safety fund this is a fund
1:45:16
that we're anticipating will contract as
1:45:19
a result of ovid this fund derives its
1:45:23
revenues from a surcharge on people
1:45:26
staying local hotels so we're assuming a
1:45:29
30% reduction to this revenue source
1:45:32
again depending on the length of the
1:45:35
stay at home orders there may be
1:45:37
additional reductions that we'll need to
1:45:39
recognize your additional revenue
1:45:41
reductions we need to recognize but like
1:45:43
the school zone safety fund and the
1:45:46
municipal arts fund this fund has a
1:45:48
healthy fund balance that is enough to
1:45:51
sustain the plan spending for the
1:45:55
duration of the year so we are not
1:45:57
recommending any understand for this
1:45:59
fund at this time but we are working as
1:46:04
part of the 2021 budget and we may
1:46:07
return later the summer with additional
1:46:09
plans for this fund on and then just
1:46:13
looking at the comments I am seeing
1:46:16
Susie has responded the IT reductions
1:46:20
represent about thirteen point four
1:46:22
percent of the budget for IT for 2020 so
1:46:28
if we can move to the next slide please
1:46:31
so as I mentioned at the outset these
1:46:39
under spend plans are within the mayor's
1:46:41
authority to to achieve but a number of
1:46:47
these changes in order to capitalize on
1:46:53
the savings in the funds that are
1:46:55
actually being constrained we do need to
1:46:58
adjust the interfund transfers so on the
1:47:01
budget amendment that's on councils
1:47:03
agenda later this evening
1:47:05
include some items to make those changes
1:47:08
to those interfund transfers so that's
1:47:10
one area that will require council
1:47:12
action and then on the consent agenda
1:47:16
this evening there are several changes
1:47:18
personnel policies that we will also be
1:47:21
seeking a council action on I see that
1:47:25
there may be another question so I will
1:47:28
pause there Thank You deputy council
1:47:32
president ray has a question hi this is
1:47:36
Chris Rea that's when we talked about
1:47:39
the general fund the administration's
1:47:41
position was not to draw down on fund
1:47:45
balance and yet with all the funds we've
1:47:48
talked about today we're drawing down on
1:47:49
fund balance to you know maintain spend
1:47:52
is there their rationale there that that
1:47:56
you're differentiating between general
1:47:58
fund and these other funds yeah
1:48:02
so the general fund is supporting
1:48:04
ongoing services for which the city has
1:48:08
an ongoing obligation to continue to
1:48:11
provide so having a fund balance and
1:48:15
sustaining a fund balance is important
1:48:18
for example if the downturn is deeper
1:48:22
than we anticipated or you know god
1:48:25
forbid there is another you know natural
1:48:28
disaster that's happening at the same
1:48:29
time there's another another shock to
1:48:32
the budget for which we need to draw
1:48:34
revenues on things like municipal arch
1:48:37
funds schools own safety fund and the
1:48:40
elf hat fund are very limited in scope
1:48:44
and there aren't necessarily
1:48:47
requirements that we continue those
1:48:50
functions so if revenues recover we can
1:48:55
continue our current spending and you
1:48:58
know perhaps work to build that fund
1:49:00
balance but if if there's a contraction
1:49:04
there you know you can have a discussion
1:49:06
of you continue in the municipal arts
1:49:09
function the way it had originally been
1:49:11
contemplated or not we feel like that is
1:49:14
a better discussion to be having
1:49:17
in the context of a formal budget
1:49:19
process and that to change course with
1:49:24
with some of these functions mid-year
1:49:27
gets a little bit tricky so for example
1:49:29
the LTAC fund the city appropriates
1:49:34
those dollars but it's actually the l
1:49:36
tax committee that is setting those
1:49:38
spending plans so in order to change
1:49:41
that spending we'd have to go back to
1:49:43
the L tax committee and ask them to take
1:49:46
a vote to change that allocation but
1:49:48
that's kind of the difference between
1:49:50
fund balance philosophy on the general
1:49:54
fund versus versus these other funds
1:49:58
also the general fund is the only fund
1:50:00
that has a formal fund balance policy at
1:50:03
this point that we need to honor and
1:50:06
that's for example what the bond rating
1:50:08
agencies are looking to that we're
1:50:10
maintaining maintaining those fund
1:50:12
balances thank you thank you
1:50:20
Thank You deputy council president ray I
1:50:23
am not seeing any additional question
1:50:25
and comments that you have any
1:50:27
additional information to present are we
1:50:29
wrapping up actually madam mayor members
1:50:34
of the council I'm going to take the
1:50:35
last few slides to wrap up if that's all
1:50:38
right thank you we have the next slide
1:50:43
please so next steps as we've said at
1:50:50
the outset the idea of the first two
1:50:54
rounds was to get us to a place that we
1:50:57
felt comfortable we do not anticipate
1:50:59
any other proposals to the City Council
1:51:02
for any further significant reductions
1:51:05
at this point as I have been meeting
1:51:08
with staff over the last few days it is
1:51:11
the number one question on their mind is
1:51:13
are we done and the answer is generally
1:51:16
yes we are done the best of our building
1:51:19
short of other issues or calamities that
1:51:23
may follow us as I think that I did a
1:51:26
good job of detailing we are done the
1:51:30
only except
1:51:31
into that Oh an element I'll talk a
1:51:32
little bit more in the minute is our
1:51:34
ongoing work regarding the ball Police
1:51:37
Department Jail and if there may be
1:51:39
opportunities for closure of the jail
1:51:42
prior to the end of the fiscal year
1:51:43
that that would have an impact on on
1:51:46
staffing but as we look at next steps
1:51:48
for the remainder of the year on budget
1:51:52
management and planning we are going to
1:51:54
continue to monitor data and pursue
1:51:56
additional underspending revenue
1:51:58
solutions as they present themselves I
1:52:00
think we've detailed that we have
1:52:02
outstanding issues with a number of our
1:52:04
bargaining units so there are some small
1:52:07
ways to do that we certainly are waiting
1:52:09
to see if the federal government
1:52:11
provides any additional dollars if
1:52:12
there's any additional tasks through
1:52:14
from the state of Washington County our
1:52:16
plan on June 9th is to come back to you
1:52:19
with an update on the budget schedule
1:52:21
because as we end now around 2:00 and we
1:52:25
look toward the future of the future
1:52:27
also includes the preparation of the
1:52:29
2021 budget our next major financial
1:52:32
update to you again pending any other
1:52:36
unknown calamities than they occur would
1:52:39
be in August where we would give you a
1:52:40
full update invest of our knowledge of
1:52:42
where we've ended mid-year and then our
1:52:45
updated financial forecast as we work on
1:52:47
the 21 budget and then in September
1:52:50
begin the 2021 proposed budget process
1:52:54
next slide to other pieces that we have
1:53:01
been working on which I'd like to give
1:53:02
you a brief update on are the
1:53:04
reorganizations of two departments as
1:53:07
the council is aware we started work on
1:53:09
these reorganizations earlier this year
1:53:11
we have been working with the staff of
1:53:13
Public Works operations Public Works
1:53:15
engineering on models for combining the
1:53:18
departments that work continues now that
1:53:22
we will have interim directors of both
1:53:24
departments we can move to the next
1:53:26
phase of that which will be to advertise
1:53:28
for and recruit a new public works
1:53:31
director for a single public works
1:53:33
department given the challenges that we
1:53:36
are facing the issue of hiring staff at
1:53:40
this executive level I think is a
1:53:42
question and I want to take an offer
1:53:44
you need to reach out to the community
1:53:47
of recruiters that work to hire these
1:53:50
types of positions to get a sense of
1:53:52
what the marketplace is like certainly
1:53:54
all the public works directors are busy
1:53:57
serving their communities through this
1:53:59
crisis and I think we're going to have
1:54:01
to pay close attention to the
1:54:03
marketplace to see when an appropriate
1:54:05
time would be to begin a full
1:54:07
recruitment I am will keep the council
1:54:09
apprised of that the other department
1:54:11
reorganization that we've been looking
1:54:12
at is Development Services Department
1:54:14
those discussions also began before the
1:54:17
koba 19 crisis we are resuming those
1:54:21
discussions there have been some impact
1:54:23
with position reductions through round
1:54:26
one that have had an impact on the
1:54:28
department and Fe City Administrator
1:54:30
Snyder and I will be meeting with the
1:54:32
staff of a DSD over the next few weeks
1:54:36
to begin we began the those
1:54:39
reorganization prize projects and
1:54:42
development services next slide with
1:54:49
this presentation this evening we really
1:54:52
see ourselves turning yet another corner
1:54:55
as part of our new normal
1:54:56
um and we believe it is appropriate to
1:54:59
begin resuming more of our regular
1:55:03
projects and initiatives as we've
1:55:06
indicated a few times this evening our
1:55:08
intention is to resume the site of the
1:55:09
assessment scheduled with the City
1:55:10
Council starting on June 9 having to
1:55:14
study sessions in June 2 in July 1 in
1:55:17
August which will cover a whole variety
1:55:20
of different issues I've listed some of
1:55:23
them here on this slide on the issue of
1:55:26
recovery and reopening lots of issues
1:55:28
economic development the logistics of
1:55:32
reopening our own city facilities all of
1:55:34
that needs careful attention and so we
1:55:36
will continue to focus on that
1:55:38
next is the munis reimplementation again
1:55:41
much has been discussed by the council
1:55:42
the council approved a a contract to do
1:55:46
this so this will be a prime focus of
1:55:48
ours through the summer months into the
1:55:51
fall as we shoot to relaunch our general
1:55:56
ledger general financial operations
1:55:58
obligating January 1st 2021 also as I
1:56:02
mentioned this evening jail operations
1:56:04
as we've looked at the city assessment
1:56:07
of program and looking at the
1:56:09
initiatives that we can pursue there's
1:56:12
been interest on the council and
1:56:13
interest among senior staff to continue
1:56:15
to look at jail operations there are a
1:56:18
number of issues associated with that
1:56:20
but we feel that the opportunities for
1:56:23
the city are significant enough that we
1:56:25
need to continue to focus on exploring
1:56:28
that and we will keep the council
1:56:29
apprised of our work if we are able to
1:56:33
make a recommendation to the council
1:56:35
this would occur prior to the end of the
1:56:38
fiscal year then that is something that
1:56:40
we would look at and look at the impacts
1:56:42
that would have on staffing for the
1:56:44
current fiscal year water operations and
1:56:47
fees another issue that has been on the
1:56:50
backburner since the beginning of the
1:56:51
year we need to bring back forward to
1:56:53
you and we plan during a study session
1:56:55
in June or July to come and resume that
1:56:58
discussion regarding water operations
1:57:00
and fees issues regarding community
1:57:03
engagement as we've talked previously on
1:57:05
June 1st will begin community engagement
1:57:09
initiatives remotely three specific
1:57:12
items one is a broader look at how we
1:57:15
engage our neighborhoods and we
1:57:17
currently plan to come to the study
1:57:19
session on June 9th with an update on
1:57:21
that initiative you've heard from a
1:57:23
public speaker this evening about the
1:57:25
work we're doing with sustainability not
1:57:27
only having a 3-2 key being on
1:57:29
sustainability issues later in the
1:57:31
summer but also the work regarding the
1:57:33
urban streams board and the
1:57:35
reconstitution of that and then finally
1:57:38
another initiative that will start up
1:57:40
again in the month of June is issues
1:57:42
regarding the mobility master plan next
1:57:45
slide so madam mayor members the council
1:57:49
of that concludes our presentation this
1:57:52
evening on behalf of your excellent
1:57:55
finance team and all of the department
1:57:57
directors that have work so diligently
1:58:00
over the last eight weeks it's been a
1:58:02
very very difficult process to assess
1:58:05
where we were because of the Go vat19
1:58:07
crisis to take decisive action to make
1:58:11
adjustments to the
1:58:12
that we think are appropriate as we move
1:58:14
forward as a city but also being prudent
1:58:17
to keep reserves in place so that if
1:58:20
there is a second way of a coronavirus
1:58:23
if there's anything else that would
1:58:25
bring would come to the city where we
1:58:27
would need resources that those
1:58:28
resources are still available to us
1:58:31
again madam mayor members of council of
1:58:33
this goldberg myself others are
1:58:35
available to answer any questions thank
1:58:38
you for that the administrator I do want
1:58:41
to go back to council president hunt to
1:58:43
see if there were any email comments to
1:58:46
the City Council that she would like to
1:58:47
summarize on this item
1:58:50
thank you sis council president hunt we
1:58:53
did receive an email with comments on
1:58:56
this informational item from Steve
1:58:58
Pereira he commented that he is looking
1:59:03
to the istic West City Council to be
1:59:04
active members in this budget and
1:59:06
prioritization process regarding the
1:59:09
school safety fund he was okay with the
1:59:11
increase in the fine structure and
1:59:13
lastly regarding the administration's
1:59:16
plan to rely on some balance to sustain
1:59:19
the 2020 budgeted expenditures and then
1:59:22
evaluate as part of the 2021 budget
1:59:25
process he asked some clarifying
1:59:26
questions about what else we will be
1:59:28
able to do to close the projected
1:59:30
revenue gap that concludes the
1:59:33
correspondence
1:59:35
thank you very much council president
1:59:37
hunt deputy counts president ray do you
1:59:39
have a question or a comment it's more
1:59:42
of a clarification and I I apologize if
1:59:44
I missed this but on page 5 of the
1:59:48
presentation there was a general fund
1:59:50
summary that showed the initial
1:59:53
forecasted deficit at ten million
1:59:55
dollars and then round one spend at four
1:59:57
point eight remaining shortfall of five
2:00:00
point two and then we just covered the
2:00:02
round two under spend plan of one point
2:00:05
six that still left us with two point
2:00:08
our three point six million dollars a
2:00:09
shortfall and I thought I heard ministry
2:00:12
Bach would say that we were done with
2:00:14
additional cuts and I I didn't how do we
2:00:18
fill that three point six or did I miss
2:00:20
something administrator Bob Chris
2:00:26
well at this time
2:00:28
council president ray members of the
2:00:30
council I think there's a number of
2:00:32
outstanding issues that may very well
2:00:34
help us with that one is the care grant
2:00:38
money that the state of Washington is
2:00:40
passing through that's about 1.1 million
2:00:43
dollars there will be money from the
2:00:46
federal government I'm confident to help
2:00:48
cities and states it will not be at the
2:00:52
level that the heroes Act that was
2:00:55
passed by the US House of
2:00:56
Representatives had the amount of money
2:00:59
that would have been included for
2:01:00
Issaquah and that was 12 million dollars
2:01:02
and so we don't suspect to see that I
2:01:06
think though that it is safe to say that
2:01:08
there will be a small smaller amount of
2:01:11
money that will come unclear as to when
2:01:14
that will happen it's unclear to how
2:01:15
much that will be
2:01:16
so I think there's that and then I think
2:01:19
anything else we can hope that our
2:01:22
projections perhaps were more dire than
2:01:26
the reality is and I think that at that
2:01:29
point you take the carrot act money what
2:01:32
would get from the federal government
2:01:33
were probably under a million dollars to
2:01:36
reach that ten million and I think as we
2:01:39
stand here this early still in the year
2:01:41
I am comfortable and discussions with
2:01:44
the mayor she's comfortable that if we
2:01:46
would have to rely that on fund balance
2:01:48
for the remainder that's a relatively
2:01:50
small amount given the scope of what
2:01:52
we've accomplished great thank you
2:01:55
so just kind of paraphrase we're doing a
2:01:57
little bit of risk management here and
2:01:59
we know we've got a certain amount of
2:02:01
this gap that that we don't have a plan
2:02:03
to fill but we believe that it's
2:02:06
reasonable I think that we we are going
2:02:08
to be able to fill it through external
2:02:12
funding unseen additional expense
2:02:17
reductions or if has a fallback fund
2:02:20
balance yeah that's that's what I think
2:02:23
I heard you said great thank you all I
2:02:24
appreciate it yeah and if I made that be
2:02:26
council president finance director
2:02:29
Goldberg has a comment as well yeah
2:02:32
thank you
2:02:33
city administrator Bob coats just wanted
2:02:36
to add
2:02:37
I did a little bit of an analysis of
2:02:39
that three note that three point six
2:02:42
million that remains if we get the cares
2:02:46
at funding and we apply it plus some of
2:02:49
these additional things that we've
2:02:52
talked about through the evening while
2:02:54
we might have to draw on fund balanced
2:02:56
fund balance as a percent of
2:02:59
expenditures which is what the policy is
2:03:01
set on would actually remain fairly
2:03:04
constant to where we were at the start
2:03:06
of the year because we have been
2:03:09
reducing expenditures so we started the
2:03:12
year with fund balance equaling roughly
2:03:14
thirty percent of expenditures when you
2:03:17
take into account all the under spend
2:03:19
plans plus the infusion potentially of
2:03:23
the cares Act funding and you do the
2:03:26
calculation on that we would remain at
2:03:28
about thirty percent
2:03:33
Tibbie council doesn't raise does the
2:03:36
mayor I'm just gonna add a couple of
2:03:37
thoughts here most of the funding
2:03:40
sources that we're talking about for
2:03:42
kovat can go only for kovat related
2:03:46
expenses for the city or if the city
2:03:50
chooses to do for businesses etc the
2:03:53
money that the federal our that the
2:03:58
health would actually be able to be used
2:04:04
as far as we know for revenue
2:04:07
replacement so that's the first funding
2:04:11
source that could actually do some
2:04:12
revenue replacement but just to get you
2:04:14
all thinking about August I'll remind
2:04:16
you that if we get it this year we do
2:04:18
not have it likely there I think they
2:04:20
broke it into two buckets a significant
2:04:22
bucket in 2020 and a lesser amount in
2:04:26
2021 but it's not a solution because
2:04:29
it's just it's just a little bit of help
2:04:32
in twenty and twenty-one so just
2:04:35
something to think about as we come into
2:04:36
budget in the fall I am not seeing that
2:04:40
there are any additional questions but I
2:04:42
will wait a few seconds to see actually
2:04:45
I think I did have yes sorry
2:04:48
councilmember hunt history councilmember
2:04:50
Hall
2:04:51
the question thank you Mary Polly this
2:04:55
is Zach Hall I just wanted to ask a real
2:04:58
quick clarifying question of director
2:05:02
Goldberg what you just said because I
2:05:04
thought it was probably the most
2:05:07
important line that ever at all evening
2:05:09
so you said using a fund balance you
2:05:13
know as a percentage of expenditures
2:05:15
even if we were using from about so it
2:05:17
still remains similar to the beginning
2:05:19
of the year because of the reductions
2:05:21
that we've been making and in current
2:05:23
expenditures throughout the year is that
2:05:24
correct that's correct so the fund
2:05:29
balance policy is set at fund balance as
2:05:34
a percentage of expenditures so as were
2:05:38
I were lowering the expenditures the
2:05:44
amount of fund balance that is required
2:05:47
by policy or to maintain current levels
2:05:51
actually decreases so the combination of
2:05:56
expenditures going down and then if we
2:05:59
have to take the modest bras on fund
2:06:01
balance the math of that would be such
2:06:04
that we would be at about 30% at the end
2:06:08
of all of this council member Hall that
2:06:16
was excellent thank you great not seeing
2:06:19
any other questions or comments from
2:06:21
Council I will move to the next item on
2:06:25
the agenda this evening Thank You
2:06:27
director Goldberg thank you city
2:06:28
administrator bob quits next item is the
2:06:31
consent calendar and it was distributed
2:06:33
to council in advance and if it's
2:06:35
authorized the items on the consent
2:06:36
calendar will be considered together and
2:06:39
approved by one motion the clerk's
2:06:43
office has circulated and posted a
2:06:45
revised copy of the may fourth regular
2:06:47
council meeting minutes agenda item c2
2:06:50
correct the call to order time this is
2:06:53
the version that will be adopted upon
2:06:54
approval of the consent calendar have
2:06:57
the payables and payroll been reviewed
2:07:00
they have this is a call they have thank
2:07:04
you and councilmember Goodman voiced I
2:07:07
believe does any councilmember desire
2:07:09
that was traitors council president hunt
2:07:11
they have been a thank you very much
2:07:14
does any councilmember desire to remove
2:07:17
any items or items from the consent
2:07:19
calendar and considered under regular
2:07:21
business before we move to the motion
2:07:25
council president hunt do you have any
2:07:27
email comments to share on the consent
2:07:29
calendar item thank you
2:07:32
yes this is council president we do have
2:07:34
one email with specific references to
2:07:37
consent calendar items we received an
2:07:40
email from Steve Pereira so I will do my
2:07:42
best to summarize her item on a be seven
2:07:47
eight zero nine which is King County
2:07:49
flood district Flood Control District
2:07:51
France he recommended approval on eighty
2:07:55
seven nine six three federal Community
2:07:58
Development Block Grant ask clarifying
2:08:00
questions regarding reasons for having
2:08:03
not submitted a grant application
2:08:05
previously holiday in lift station
2:08:10
change order a b7 965 asked clarifying
2:08:14
questions eighty seven nine seven one
2:08:18
amendments of personnel policies
2:08:20
commented on the part of that ad that
2:08:24
refers to the senior leadership team
2:08:26
being eligible for an annual Bank of 80
2:08:29
hours and managers being eligible for an
2:08:32
annual Bank of sixty hours and wanted to
2:08:36
see the bank potential extended beyond
2:08:38
managers and the senior leadership team
2:08:40
and that concludes the items that coming
2:08:45
Thank You council president hunt is
2:08:47
there motion so it's council president I
2:08:53
move to approve the consent calendar as
2:08:57
has presented in this evening's agenda
2:09:01
hi this is Chris Rea I will second the
2:09:04
motion
2:09:05
it's been moved and seconded so we'll
2:09:07
have the clerk proceed with a roll call
2:09:09
vote
2:09:11
councilmember dee Michelle are
2:09:14
councilmember Goodman hi
2:09:18
councilmember Hall aye
2:09:21
council president hunt aye
2:09:24
councilmember Mart aye
2:09:28
deputy council president ray hi
2:09:32
councilmember Walsh hi @ 7i 0 nice thank
2:09:38
you very much that passes unanimously
2:09:41
next item will be moving to as regular
2:09:44
business and before we begin I'd like to
2:09:46
clarify that there are two agenda bills
2:09:48
under the regular business tonight but
2:09:50
only one proposed action adoption of an
2:09:53
ordinance that encompasses both items
2:09:56
staff will begin by presenting the
2:09:58
budget amendment a b7 9:00 to 6:00
2:10:00
followed by council questions staff will
2:10:03
then present the budget reauthorizations
2:10:05
a be seven nine three zero followed by
2:10:08
council questions then council may
2:10:10
choose to make a motion to adopt the
2:10:11
ordinance and debate both items a B
2:10:15
seven nine two six the first 2020 budget
2:10:18
amendment I'd like to ask senior budget
2:10:20
analyst who's new Munsell to make a
2:10:21
presentation Suzy
2:10:24
Thank You mayor can everybody hear me
2:10:27
yes we can excellent thank you I will
2:10:33
give tisha a moment to pull up the
2:10:35
presentation the first presentation that
2:10:38
I'll be giving tonight both should be
2:10:40
pretty brief the first one is this first
2:10:44
2020 budget amendment so I think we can
2:10:47
go to the next slide great thank you so
2:10:52
the purpose of this proposed amendment
2:10:54
it's primarily to implement the changes
2:10:56
to interfund transfers the Director
2:10:59
Goldberg
2:11:00
discussed earlier this evening as well
2:11:02
as those discussed in round one that
2:11:05
require an adjustment to those interfund
2:11:08
transfers in order to recognize the
2:11:10
savings in the fund where those savings
2:11:12
are needed but it also implements a
2:11:15
couple of budget changes associated with
2:11:18
earlier council action and I'll get into
2:11:20
those in a moment as well next slide
2:11:23
please
2:11:25
alright so there are three types of
2:11:27
items included tonight the first is the
2:11:31
previously approved request so these are
2:11:32
items that went through by agenda bill
2:11:35
through the council that just needed
2:11:39
formal actions or a budget amendment to
2:11:41
actually be included in the amended 2020
2:11:44
budget there are two of those items this
2:11:47
evening there is also one that has come
2:11:51
before the council before but not
2:11:54
necessarily in a formal addition of
2:11:57
funds to the budget we consider this a
2:11:59
budget correction it doesn't really
2:12:01
reflect a change in policy
2:12:03
it just corrects a prior error to the to
2:12:08
expenditures in the budget the bulk of
2:12:12
the amendments that will be seen tonight
2:12:14
seven of which are these interfund
2:12:17
transfer adjustments that director
2:12:20
Goldberg mentioned next slide please
2:12:25
so the previously approved request the
2:12:29
first came in 87 nine four eight which
2:12:33
was the Renner's Assistance Program it
2:12:35
added $100,000 of general fund or
2:12:38
allocated $100,000 of general fund
2:12:41
dollars or that Renner's Assistance
2:12:43
Program
2:12:44
the second item was accepting a 2020
2:12:49
census outreach funding for that out
2:12:52
says this outreach in 87 nine to nine as
2:12:56
well as the corresponding expenditures
2:12:58
in use of those funds next slide please
2:13:04
thank you the one budget correction
2:13:07
included tonight is filling an under
2:13:09
budget in a 2019 Street capital project
2:13:13
which was the Gilman Boulevard and three
2:13:14
trails crossing this was presented I
2:13:18
believe in late March or early April by
2:13:22
the Public Works operations department
2:13:24
it was accepting a contract for this
2:13:28
work and in further evaluation of this
2:13:33
project it had been determined that
2:13:34
three hundred thousand of the three
2:13:37
hundred and seventy-five thousand
2:13:39
dollars a project cost hadn't had an
2:13:41
identified revenue source when it had
2:13:44
originally been added to the budget a
2:13:46
few years ago
2:13:47
so this corrects that error by
2:13:50
allocating three hundred thousand
2:13:52
dollars out of street capital fund
2:13:55
balance which would ultimately be
2:13:58
utilizing and understand on another
2:14:00
capital project that wasn't using those
2:14:02
dollars next slide please
2:14:08
thank you so as I said the bulk of the
2:14:11
items tonight are the changes to the
2:14:14
interfund transfers I can talk about
2:14:17
these in broad quick strokes as Dirk and
2:14:20
Goldberg already provided significant
2:14:24
detail but these first four were from
2:14:26
round one which was presented about a
2:14:29
month ago
2:14:30
the first was adjusting the transfer
2:14:34
between the general fund and the cable
2:14:36
TV fund the second between the general
2:14:39
fund and sustainability fund the third
2:14:42
between the general fund and the debt
2:14:44
service non voted fund and the fourth in
2:14:49
regards to the cost allocation the new
2:14:51
cost allocation policy for city
2:14:54
facilities cost which primarily affects
2:14:58
the general fund as well as treat
2:15:01
operating and the utilities next slide
2:15:05
please
2:15:07
thank you so the last three items of the
2:15:10
ten amendments tonight were presented
2:15:14
earlier this evening in round two the
2:15:18
adjustment the IT fund and the eight
2:15:22
funds that it ultimately event altom
2:15:24
utley feed into the IT fund the general
2:15:27
fund and street operating fund and
2:15:29
finally between reet and b5 funds that
2:15:34
were benefiting from projects that are
2:15:38
now being reduced in scope next slide
2:15:42
please
2:15:46
thank you
2:15:48
so ultimately the slide reflects all of
2:15:52
the revenue and expenditure impacts
2:15:53
across all of the funds affected by
2:15:57
tonight
2:15:58
amendment the net impact across all the
2:16:01
funds is a negative $400,000 excuse me
2:16:06
which is primarily just the renters
2:16:08
Assistance Program and the street
2:16:11
capital project correction all of the
2:16:15
interfund transfers are balanced in that
2:16:18
one fund goes up one fund goes down so
2:16:21
those haven't met across all funds of
2:16:25
zero next slide please
2:16:29
which I believe is just questions great
2:16:31
okay so that is the budget amendment
2:16:35
presentation there is a budget
2:16:38
reauthorization presentation that
2:16:40
follows this but I wanted to certainly
2:16:43
give the opportunity for any questions
2:16:45
on the amendments Thank You Suzie that
2:16:48
is great I am not seeing any questions
2:16:50
or comments right now on a b7 9:00 to
2:16:53
6:00 so feel free to move on to a B 7 9
2:16:57
3 o 20/20 budget real thank you and I'll
2:17:03
give tisha a moment to pull that one up
2:17:17
let me take a step back here
2:17:19
councilmember hunt did you have anything
2:17:21
you wanted to add to summarize public
2:17:24
comments that might have been emailed in
2:17:26
87 96 but did I ask you that already
2:17:28
this is council president hence I do but
2:17:32
I will save that for the second
2:17:34
presentation because it's tied together
2:17:35
Thanks great thank you
2:17:39
great so budget reauthorizations
2:17:43
I think we can't go to the first slide
2:17:46
thank you
2:17:48
the purpose of this presentation it's
2:17:50
requesting council approval to
2:17:53
reauthorize certain funds which were
2:17:55
previously budgeted in 2019 for
2:17:58
expenditure in 2020 next slide please
2:18:04
so the background on budget
2:18:06
reauthorizations in general typically
2:18:09
this is an annual housekeeping matter
2:18:11
that is done at the beginning of every
2:18:13
year once you close out the previous
2:18:16
year and a budget reauthorizations
2:18:19
typically just reallocates
2:18:21
unspent funding Authority for an
2:18:23
unfinished project from the prior fiscal
2:18:26
year in this case 2019 into the next
2:18:29
fiscal year to allow for the completion
2:18:32
of the project next slide please
2:18:37
thank you so 2020 we'll be doing a
2:18:41
little bit different of an approach from
2:18:43
prior years primarily because in prior
2:18:46
years the city wasn't really following
2:18:47
that practice when it comes to
2:18:49
reauthorization in prior years
2:18:52
reauthorizations were included in the
2:18:54
annual budget and since the annual
2:18:57
budget is that process begins
2:19:01
usually June or July of the of the prior
2:19:05
year for which you are budgeting
2:19:08
obviously that year isn't finished yet
2:19:10
so you don't necessarily have a clear
2:19:12
picture of how much you're going to be
2:19:13
spending on each project so in prior
2:19:16
years
2:19:17
the year-end projects spend so the spend
2:19:20
on each project was anticipated based on
2:19:22
actual only through mid 2019
2:19:26
excuse me in 24 the it's the prior year
2:19:29
put that way
2:19:31
and what this leads to is a lack of
2:19:33
transparency over new budget authority
2:19:36
versus reauthorization for each project
2:19:38
so it wasn't always clear in it for a
2:19:42
given project how much of that funding
2:19:44
was new to that budget year and how much
2:19:47
had been reauthorized from prior years
2:19:49
but for 2020 we are we could we
2:19:53
separated it from the annual budget
2:19:55
process so our year-end projects end was
2:20:00
confirmed based on year-end actuals when
2:20:02
we closed the 2019 financials we were
2:20:06
able to calculate how much was spent on
2:20:08
each project that was being considered
2:20:10
for reauthorization so that we made sure
2:20:12
we weren't exceeding the prior year
2:20:15
Authority for that project and what this
2:20:18
ultimately gives us is clarity over what
2:20:21
is new 2020 project costs and what is
2:20:24
carried forward and it gives us some
2:20:27
better authenticity in the numbers that
2:20:30
we're providing and the end result of
2:20:33
this is that the 2020 process better
2:20:35
aligns with best practice and what we're
2:20:38
seeing from many of our neighboring
2:20:39
jurisdictions next slide please
2:20:44
thank you
2:20:45
so the items that can be considered for
2:20:48
reauthorization so unspent funds for
2:20:51
routine expenses so things like office
2:20:53
supplies or you know things like travel
2:20:57
and training or things like that are not
2:21:00
eligible for reauthorization to be
2:21:03
eligible for reauthorization it must be
2:21:05
a discrete project that we had
2:21:09
originally intended to be completed in
2:21:12
2019 but was not finished for various
2:21:15
reasons and must be continued into 2020
2:21:18
to be completed
2:21:20
it was also required that funds
2:21:22
originally appropriated in 2019 remain
2:21:26
to support the continuation of that
2:21:27
project in 2020 so what this means is
2:21:31
that the if funds were transferred for
2:21:35
to support that project that those funds
2:21:38
were transferred and they are still
2:21:39
available in fund balance to use for
2:21:41
this project
2:21:44
slightly so what made this year also a
2:21:50
little unique as it made many other
2:21:53
things unique is in response to the Cova
2:21:56
19 budget reductions we did a full
2:21:59
reexamination of what we had intended to
2:22:01
propose for reauthorization originally
2:22:04
we had intended to present the
2:22:06
reauthorization proposals to the council
2:22:09
in late March but you know due to many
2:22:14
other things getting pushed down the
2:22:15
calendar listed as well but that allowed
2:22:17
us the opportunity to reexamine these
2:22:20
items before we brought them to the
2:22:22
council and from this reexamination what
2:22:26
resulted was a nearly 1.9 million
2:22:30
dollars less and originally considered
2:22:32
across all funds in all projects and the
2:22:35
elimination of 11 projects from the
2:22:37
original list and what remains that our
2:22:42
primarily projects where the funds have
2:22:44
already been spent in the first half of
2:22:46
2020 or our longer-term capital projects
2:22:50
with a dedicated revenue source next
2:22:53
slide please
2:22:58
so this summarizes all of the items for
2:23:01
consideration and the detail of those
2:23:03
items were included in the packet this
2:23:06
evening so the list of specific projects
2:23:08
and the specific amount for each project
2:23:11
this just summarizes the number of
2:23:13
projects by funds and the total
2:23:15
expenditures by fund but I also wanted
2:23:18
to flag here that several projects have
2:23:22
an accompanying accompanying revenue
2:23:24
reauthorization as well which is
2:23:27
primarily or its its grant it's pretty
2:23:31
exclusively so when a reauthorized
2:23:35
project is reliant on a revenue source
2:23:37
that is sitting in fund balance there
2:23:39
that has already been included it's fund
2:23:42
balance if it's a grant for example
2:23:46
that's a typically a real reimbursement
2:23:50
grant we won't bill for that grant until
2:23:53
the project expenditures have occurred
2:23:57
which means that those grant revenues
2:24:00
aren't available in fund balance yet so
2:24:01
we need to make sure that we carry
2:24:03
forward those revenues along with those
2:24:06
expenditures to make sure that we
2:24:08
understand that those revenues are still
2:24:10
coming and so that it wouldn't create a
2:24:14
false negative fund balance next slide
2:24:20
please
2:24:22
all right just questions I'm happy to of
2:24:26
course answer any questions from this
2:24:28
presentation or if there are any that
2:24:30
linger from the prior presentation Susie
2:24:33
thank you I'm going to go back to
2:24:35
council president hunt first there were
2:24:37
some public comments received on this
2:24:40
and the prior attended bill council
2:24:42
president hunt thank you we received a
2:24:46
email from Steve Farah on this item on a
2:24:51
b7 nine-30 the budget reauthorization
2:24:54
and he asked what actions if any are our
2:25:00
forecast that previously approved grants
2:25:02
may not be fully funded and the
2:25:03
corresponding impact to the budget of
2:25:05
not receiving such funds and wondered
2:25:09
because budget constraints by original
2:25:12
grants or may results in delay or
2:25:13
cancelling of such funding that
2:25:17
concludes the email comments on the same
2:25:20
Thank You council president hunt I whew
2:25:22
councilmember Walsh has a question got
2:25:27
to get to the microphone and unmute
2:25:29
myself okay I have I have a few
2:25:32
questions so first of all I wanted to
2:25:33
say very much appreciate bringing up
2:25:36
this reauthorization idea and the
2:25:40
transparency it provides in the past
2:25:43
it's always been a little bit murky what
2:25:47
was spent out of a previous budget year
2:25:52
what was continuing on what was new
2:25:55
authorization of funds so I really
2:25:57
appreciate this concept here what I'm
2:26:02
trying to get a sense of because this is
2:26:05
packaged in a general idea about
2:26:08
our financial situation we're looking at
2:26:12
this on a numbers basis but I think it's
2:26:15
really important for us to think about
2:26:17
this on the project impact side and so
2:26:21
when when we look at many of these
2:26:26
projects that we're talking about lower
2:26:30
authorizations for I really need to get
2:26:33
a sense of what the impact is on the
2:26:35
project is that a you know less is being
2:26:40
done on the project
2:26:42
you used the dog perk for an example
2:26:45
that has less money that's being
2:26:50
reauthorized for that does that mean
2:26:53
less is being done for that does it mean
2:26:56
that hey construction was delayed and so
2:26:59
we're expecting a continued sense of
2:27:01
cost in 2021 is there cost savings that
2:27:08
was discovered in the first portion of
2:27:11
doing the work in 2019 I think that's
2:27:15
the level of visibility that I think I
2:27:18
need to see to understand this Thank You
2:27:24
councilmember boss is this City
2:27:26
Administrator Bob Choate's or finance
2:27:29
director Goldberg on the projects madam
2:27:36
mayor members of the council I think
2:27:38
it's a question for I'm sorry I'm
2:27:43
getting text messages hold on I think
2:27:47
each each project has its own story I
2:27:51
understand from the deputy City
2:27:53
Administrator that Suzy's not prepared
2:27:56
to speak individually to these we can
2:27:58
put the slides back up and I can do my
2:28:00
best
2:28:01
I think madam mayor I think it might be
2:28:03
Lydia a better sense of the council of
2:28:05
where folks stand and how much time
2:28:08
you'd like to spend on this this evening
2:28:09
versus putting this to another meeting
2:28:17
not sure where everybody stands on that
2:28:19
right now but I know Council President
2:28:21
Hunt has a question in a comment so
2:28:24
let's start there this council president
2:28:28
hence I I had very similar questions
2:28:32
concerns to councilmember Walsh I feel
2:28:36
that as I asked earlier there are
2:28:40
projects here where we are deferring
2:28:43
cost into next year but there are also I
2:28:45
think a lot of a lot of projects that
2:28:48
will have implications in terms of the
2:28:52
services that will be provided and those
2:28:54
are not explained here so for me there's
2:29:00
a big teeth missing as far as what the
2:29:02
actual implications are and what the
2:29:07
timelines are for the projects
2:29:10
implications of these changes thank you
2:29:13
and I see deputy council president ray
2:29:16
has comment I'm working on the mute hi
2:29:23
this is Ben this is uh I got the mayor's
2:29:26
problem this is a Chris ray you know you
2:29:32
know I think that there's enough
2:29:34
question about what the budge are the
2:29:36
output impact of the reauthorizations is
2:29:41
going to be particularly with the
2:29:41
projects that have been reduced in scope
2:29:44
and we have deferred this until this
2:29:47
date anyway I think this is something
2:29:49
where we could easily push this off and
2:29:52
get a little more information so the
2:29:53
council would be more comfortable in
2:29:55
making a decision with the
2:29:56
reauthorizations with a better
2:29:57
understanding of what the service
2:29:59
delivery impact would be associated with
2:30:01
them thank you I'm not question for the
2:30:06
city administrator and that is what
2:30:08
other additional information would you
2:30:10
like from the councilmembers to
2:30:12
understand their need do you have any
2:30:15
questions for them about additional
2:30:17
information
2:30:22
oh alright make sure before we close
2:30:30
this that the administration is clear in
2:30:34
what additional explanation needs to be
2:30:38
provided in order for the council
2:30:39
members to feel like they are ready to
2:30:41
move forward with this madam mayor
2:30:44
members of the council I'm looking at
2:30:47
some information we provided to the
2:30:49
council earlier today it's a relatively
2:30:52
small number of projects I think that we
2:30:55
can be able to come back some of them
2:30:58
III think we can provide a narrative in
2:31:02
a staff report and then briefly walk
2:31:04
through it at a council meeting I think
2:31:06
we know what we need to do okay a second
2:31:10
question since the council was going to
2:31:12
move towards just one motion does this
2:31:17
impact the nature of the motion for
2:31:19
tonight or both these items coming back
2:31:23
madam mayor members of the council I
2:31:26
don't know a reason why we couldn't hold
2:31:29
both items at this point I think the the
2:31:33
other budget transfers were just good
2:31:36
timing housekeeping for us and I think
2:31:39
if your agenda for June 1 is already
2:31:42
pretty light at this point so we can
2:31:44
come back on June 1 with this
2:31:47
information and I think of actions taken
2:31:49
I don't think that we'll have any
2:31:50
material impact on our operations thank
2:31:54
you so do we need a motion to continue
2:31:57
this to the June 1st meeting and I'd ask
2:32:01
the city clerk for guidance on an
2:32:04
appropriate motion this is tisha
2:32:08
typically the council has made a motion
2:32:11
to postpone an item that they had
2:32:14
planned to take action on at a given
2:32:16
meeting I don't believe that's a
2:32:19
requirement as there's no motion pending
2:32:21
currently no I think we've received
2:32:25
direction from them if there's a desire
2:32:27
to formalize that through a formal
2:32:29
motion to postpone these agenda bills
2:32:32
someone could proceed to do that and
2:32:34
take a formal vote
2:32:35
oh I think it hmm that's a great
2:32:39
question we've only heard from two
2:32:43
council members if I don't see anybody
2:32:46
else wishing to comment on this I will
2:32:48
assume that direction is provided it's
2:32:50
good enough and we do not need to have a
2:32:52
motion councilmember Hall you have a
2:32:55
question thanks mayor Poli this is Zack
2:32:59
Hall I just had a quick follow-up
2:33:01
question to what City Administrator bout
2:33:03
quotes was saying I'm always concerned
2:33:09
how much we ask of you all and your
2:33:11
staff and so it seemed to me what I
2:33:14
heard from you was that it seems doable
2:33:17
that you could come back to council with
2:33:19
to have a discussion about this I just
2:33:22
wanted to confirm that and also what the
2:33:24
scope of the work would be would it be
2:33:26
breaking out each of these funds and
2:33:28
saying these are all the projects that
2:33:30
are being affected or is it just
2:33:33
projects that are being affected to a
2:33:39
certain extent what's your vision in
2:33:42
terms of yeah go ahead I think our
2:33:45
understanding of the question is that
2:33:47
the reauthorizations
2:33:49
its funding for particular projects and
2:33:52
so if I'm understanding correctly the
2:33:55
council members would like to understand
2:33:57
what does that mean to that specific
2:33:59
project so it's not so much of the
2:34:00
funding source as it is this is a
2:34:03
smaller project is this delayed business
2:34:06
cancels so getting just a better
2:34:09
understanding of the impacts to each
2:34:11
individual project see the administrator
2:34:13
Bob quits is that your understanding yes
2:34:15
ma'am
2:34:16
okay council member Hall
2:34:19
does that answer your question hmm yeah
2:34:23
I guess so I had mentioned the funds
2:34:28
really because that's kind of how it was
2:34:29
structured and presented to us like this
2:34:31
so I was envisioning a project list
2:34:34
within each fund that would but it
2:34:38
sounds like I
2:34:42
sounds like counsel was talking about
2:34:44
something else so I'm maybe I'm maybe it
2:34:46
needs to be repeated again I'm
2:34:47
okay let me get director Goldberg to add
2:34:51
something in as well and then we'll go
2:34:53
to a comment from councilmember Walsh so
2:34:57
I guess I'm a little confused too and
2:35:01
would like some clarification so the
2:35:04
reauthorizations are not for the most
2:35:08
part impacted by the round to plan so
2:35:14
those a few of those were reduced
2:35:17
because of kovat but it's basically
2:35:19
carrying forward work so I'm hearing
2:35:21
there being a request for an explanation
2:35:25
of projects that are being reduced but
2:35:28
very few of that is in the
2:35:30
reauthorization most of that is in the
2:35:33
budget amendment related to the
2:35:36
interfund transfers we did provide lists
2:35:39
of most of those projects in the
2:35:41
presentation of what would be deferred
2:35:44
and what would be reduced perhaps there
2:35:48
is an desire for more specifics but I
2:35:52
want to be clear what we're providing
2:35:55
that for is it for both the
2:35:57
reauthorization which has less to do
2:35:59
with the reductions or is it the budget
2:36:02
amendment and the transfers that are
2:36:04
impacted by the ground to production so
2:36:07
if I can get some clarification on that
2:36:09
that will help guide our work over the
2:36:11
next couple weeks
2:36:12
sure I'll head back to councilmember
2:36:15
well great so the reason that this came
2:36:19
up for me was looking in our packet let
2:36:24
me get back to it page 234 of our packet
2:36:28
has exhibit a which shows the full
2:36:32
project list and then we've had a few
2:36:35
different emails going around one with a
2:36:37
PDF one with an Excel document and the
2:36:41
Excel document that really shows the
2:36:43
difference between the previously
2:36:45
proposed reauthorization amount and the
2:36:48
updated it I'm seeing over a dozen
2:36:54
projects it looks like where the project
2:36:59
just doesn't have a
2:37:01
reauthorization amount which to me means
2:37:03
it was canceled or delay I don't know
2:37:08
what that means for that project and so
2:37:10
I'm trying to understand on the sign
2:37:12
code update for example why the previous
2:37:17
authorization was 57,000 and the new
2:37:20
reauthorization is only 11 thousand you
2:37:23
know are we not spending the 46,000 is
2:37:26
that gonna be spent later so I'm trying
2:37:28
to understand this on a
2:37:29
project-by-project basis not really on
2:37:31
the fund basis but what this is an
2:37:35
impact for our community
2:37:38
Thank You councilmember Walsh I think
2:37:40
that it was my understanding and city
2:37:42
administrators as well as the status of
2:37:44
the project based on on the table that
2:37:47
you're looking at I just want to check
2:37:49
in and see if there are any other
2:37:51
council members that have a question or
2:37:53
a comment on this and if not we'll take
2:37:57
the direction provided which is to bring
2:37:59
back that project list on june 1st with
2:38:01
some additional explanations okay City
2:38:09
Administrator Bob Chris did you want to
2:38:10
add anything are we good to go we're
2:38:12
good to go
2:38:13
thank you so thank you for that the next
2:38:17
item on the agenda this evening is good
2:38:19
of the order and do any councilmembers
2:38:21
have something for good of your order I
2:38:22
believe councilmember marks suggested
2:38:25
that he had something there you go
2:38:26
councilmember marks thank you madam
2:38:32
mayor so I wanted to discuss a
2:38:34
resolution passed by the sound cities
2:38:36
Association and let me just well yeah it
2:38:41
says whereas the sound cities
2:38:43
association has declared a commitment to
2:38:45
diversity equity and inclusion as an
2:38:48
organizational priority whereas since
2:38:50
the outbreak of Koated 19 immigrant and
2:38:52
refugee community leaders and civil
2:38:54
rights organizations have reported a
2:38:56
regional and national increase in bias
2:38:58
harassment and hate crimes particularly
2:39:01
against Asian American and Pacific
2:39:02
Islander black and african-american
2:39:04
Hispanic and Latino and other
2:39:06
marginalized communities whereas
2:39:09
misinformation about coronavirus
2:39:11
propagates fear that hurts people and
2:39:13
impairs the ability of our first
2:39:14
Ponder's in other city services to
2:39:17
provide necessary response Cove is 19
2:39:19
and where each of us can and should
2:39:22
promote inclusiveness celebrate
2:39:24
diversity support all fellow community
2:39:26
members prevent the spread of
2:39:28
misinformation reject hate and bias in
2:39:30
all forms whereas the sound cities
2:39:32
association and its member cities reject
2:39:34
racially buy based biased harassment and
2:39:38
hate crimes due to crook obeyed nineteen
2:39:40
will not tolerate discrimination of any
2:39:42
kind and denounces all koban nineteen
2:39:44
related miss naming blaming and
2:39:46
harassment based on race ethnicity place
2:39:49
of origin physical ability socioeconomic
2:39:52
status gender identity sexual
2:39:55
orientation age or religion and whereas
2:39:58
we ask community members who observe or
2:40:00
or are experiencing incidents of
2:40:03
discrimination harassment or hate crimes
2:40:05
to report the incident to call 911 in
2:40:09
emergency circumstances or to contact
2:40:12
the Washington State Human Rights
2:40:13
Commission and it has a number or the
2:40:15
King County Office of Civil Rights with
2:40:17
a number now therefore we the some
2:40:19
cities associations you hereby the claim
2:40:21
our commitment to an inclusive community
2:40:22
that rejects stigma and bias related to
2:40:25
cover 19 and we urge all our members and
2:40:28
residents of our member cities to treat
2:40:29
each other with respect and work
2:40:31
together to overcome all expressions of
2:40:33
hate and bigotry so in addition to sound
2:40:38
cities Association the cities of Redmond
2:40:40
Renton Burien and feat tag as well as
2:40:43
the Port of Seattle have also issued
2:40:45
similar proclamations having to do
2:40:48
specifically with kovat 19 and targeted
2:40:52
communities so my question for fellow
2:40:56
council members is whether we want to
2:40:59
consider joining SCA and the cities that
2:41:03
I've mentioned already I in addition I
2:41:06
have mentioned Bellevue has also passed
2:41:08
a similar Proclamation so whether we
2:41:12
want to consider at a future meeting
2:41:14
some similar Proclamation and the
2:41:17
urgency that surrounds the response to
2:41:20
provide 19 thank you
2:41:24
I am looking in the comment box to see
2:41:27
who would like to speak to this I have a
2:41:29
question for councilmember marks it was
2:41:33
at the board of SBA that approved it or
2:41:35
did this happen at a pic meeting it was
2:41:41
the pic unanimously recommending that
2:41:45
the board adopt the policy I believe is
2:41:48
technically how it went okay thank you
2:41:52
we have comments from Council member
2:41:54
team Michelle followed by councilmember
2:41:56
hunt
2:41:56
well I'm sorry before before we move on
2:41:58
I'm sorry I said unanimously it was not
2:42:00
unanimous
2:42:01
we had several cities that abstained
2:42:05
from voting but it was greater than 85%
2:42:08
of the members present okay great
2:42:11
councilmember Dee Michelle followed by
2:42:14
council president hon thank you me or
2:42:17
Polly I would also be very interested in
2:42:19
seeing a proclamation similar to this
2:42:24
you know edited to reflect is a clause
2:42:29
interest in it
2:42:31
and I would like to I would very much
2:42:33
like to work on that and have that come
2:42:37
before us perhaps next next month so I
2:42:41
support having this on the agenda in a
2:42:45
future meeting thank you council
2:42:49
president hunt followed by councilmember
2:42:51
Goodman
2:42:53
Thank You this is council president hunt
2:42:55
I I too am interested in this similar
2:43:00
proclamation to the one from a CA on
2:43:03
this topic and wanted to add that we we
2:43:09
have received some concern about this
2:43:12
and questions from the community about
2:43:15
what we are doing to to be an inclusive
2:43:20
community and to prevent any sort of
2:43:24
bias and I think that it is appropriate
2:43:27
at this time so I I do support it and I
2:43:31
also would ask that during that
2:43:33
conversation we have information
2:43:35
presented about what we are doing in
2:43:37
terms
2:43:37
of our messaging and and other actions
2:43:41
to counteract bias so that we can have a
2:43:44
conversation about actions that
2:43:45
accompanies this resolution Thanks Thank
2:43:50
You councilmember Goodman followed by
2:43:53
Dexy council president right Thank You
2:43:56
councilmember Goodman here we have had
2:43:59
two or three proclamations in the last
2:44:02
well I want to say 15 years I can't
2:44:04
remember we went through this history a
2:44:06
couple of years ago or a year and a half
2:44:08
ago and so while I support the message
2:44:17
and the words I am concerned that we we
2:44:24
actually do think that make a difference
2:44:26
and we actually have actions rather than
2:44:29
just piling on words and so I think I
2:44:33
would be it would be interested in
2:44:35
knowing how this would be any different
2:44:37
from what we've done in the past and
2:44:42
because I'm not hearing how it'd be any
2:44:44
different we did have a presentation
2:44:46
last year about what what a difference
2:44:52
it made in our proclamations and I
2:44:55
frankly can't recall at this point
2:44:57
because it was a while ago but but
2:45:01
that's my concern is that we do things
2:45:03
that make a difference not just do
2:45:07
things that feel good at the time so I'm
2:45:11
it's not that I'm not interested
2:45:14
I'm just want to make sure that we do
2:45:17
things that make a difference because
2:45:19
this these kinds of things are
2:45:23
significant and let me back that up want
2:45:32
to make sure that what we do for the
2:45:34
concerns that are significant are
2:45:36
actually actions that that are
2:45:40
significant in response and not just
2:45:42
words Thanks thank you give
2:45:46
council president ray Kenny come here
2:45:49
Polly this is Chris right I'm a little
2:45:52
bit
2:45:53
aligned with councilmember Goodman I
2:45:56
think this is something that we've
2:45:58
talked about a lot and I think it's
2:45:59
something that this body is completely
2:46:01
on board with which is inclusion
2:46:03
anti-hate Ann Tobias
2:46:05
and making that resolution so as we move
2:46:08
forward with this and if we're going to
2:46:09
tag it to Coba 19 I'd like to know what
2:46:11
specifically is different about covin 19
2:46:15
then our more global Proclamation that
2:46:18
says we we don't support it we don't
2:46:22
condone it we actively try and crush it
2:46:24
wherever we find it so so as we move
2:46:27
forward I just want to be anywhere if
2:46:30
we're going to tag it with Cove in 19 I
2:46:31
just wanted it to speak specifically to
2:46:34
what we could do in this theater or in
2:46:38
this situation but I completely reaffirm
2:46:42
our commitment to to the values that the
2:46:45
proclamation talks about thank you for
2:46:47
bringing it forward councilmember marks
2:46:48
Thank You deputy council president ray
2:46:51
comments from council president hunt
2:46:53
followed by councilmember d Michelle
2:46:57
thank you this is council president I I
2:47:01
agree as well about the need for action
2:47:06
to back up any sort of proclamation that
2:47:10
we do so that we are so that we're
2:47:14
taking meaningful actions with what
2:47:18
we're working on and so that that's one
2:47:20
of the reasons why in my comments I was
2:47:23
suggesting we discuss what actions we
2:47:25
are taking we are taking and I know from
2:47:28
talking with autumn our communications
2:47:30
and communications department director
2:47:33
that we are in our communications and
2:47:37
our messaging taking specific steps
2:47:39
regarding anti-bias in our messaging and
2:47:44
so I think we we have actions to back
2:47:47
this up and we should discuss those and
2:47:51
discuss what else we can do
2:47:52
so I would I would be supportive of this
2:47:55
kind of proclamation especially if we
2:47:57
can pair it with the discussion about
2:47:59
what actions we
2:48:00
Thanks Thank You councilmember G
2:48:04
Michelle Thank You mayor Paulie I take
2:48:10
to heart the comments about making a
2:48:13
difference and making sure that we're
2:48:15
not just putting out empty words I agree
2:48:19
with that
2:48:20
however I I want to remind everybody of
2:48:24
the power of the bully puppet and we as
2:48:29
a council making a statement like this
2:48:32
that is very meaningful to the
2:48:35
communities that are directly impacted
2:48:37
by discrimination and marginalization
2:48:40
and just to give you one example a
2:48:44
number of years ago the City Council
2:48:46
honored Pathak's point for its diversity
2:48:50
efforts and I can tell you visiting
2:48:54
package point shortly after that
2:48:56
occurred that those people were thrilled
2:48:59
and felt so recognized and so
2:49:03
acknowledged by that gesture on behalf
2:49:08
of the council and the mayor at the time
2:49:10
and so if we seek that words don't
2:49:15
matter or that that's not important to
2:49:20
marginalize communities I think that
2:49:23
we're wrong I think it's really
2:49:25
important and it really is meaningful to
2:49:29
them and just to just in response to
2:49:34
councilmember Ray's comments about how
2:49:37
is this different I think there has been
2:49:39
well documented that in this particular
2:49:43
case in many many people in the Chinese
2:49:47
community and then of course the greater
2:49:49
agent community have been targeted
2:49:52
unfortunately unfortunately because of
2:49:57
some of those things that appear in the
2:49:58
media and so forth and so there is a
2:50:00
particular reason why there's an urgency
2:50:03
around this to really point out again
2:50:06
that we do not tolerate those kinds of
2:50:10
actions in our community thank you
2:50:13
councilmember Dee Michelle not seeing
2:50:16
any other councilmembers machine to
2:50:18
comment at this time I'd like to ask
2:50:19
city administrator Bob quits if the
2:50:21
request is clear and possible to add for
2:50:27
the June 1st agenda is being suggested
2:50:30
madam mayor members of the council
2:50:32
certainly transmitting a resolution is
2:50:35
something we can do I think the
2:50:37
challenge is the compilation of work
2:50:40
that we have been doing quite honestly a
2:50:43
lot of the resources that we've devoted
2:50:45
to this have been limited through
2:50:47
changes with the Cova 19 if it's if you
2:50:50
just would like to hear what we've been
2:50:52
doing with messaging we can do that if
2:50:54
you're looking for a broader analysis or
2:50:57
scope of things I think we would need
2:50:59
until June 15 sorry and had done meet
2:51:10
myself not seeing any other comments of
2:51:13
council members wishing to comment at
2:51:14
this time but I do know that
2:51:15
councilmember Hall also had something he
2:51:17
wanted to bring for good of the order
2:51:18
couple member home Thank You mayor Polly
2:51:24
this is Zack Hall I just wanted to
2:51:28
quickly say some of you on council and
2:51:33
if community may know that a year ago
2:51:37
today I lost a friend of mine to suicide
2:51:38
and spent most of the weekend and today
2:51:41
reflecting and remembering him and
2:51:44
really I just wanted to take this
2:51:45
opportunity now as a council member to
2:51:47
remind everyone to please take good care
2:51:50
of yourself and your friends and your
2:51:52
family during this challenging time and
2:51:54
just to remember that you know no matter
2:51:57
what you may think are here or how
2:52:00
helpless or alone you may feel you
2:52:02
matter and you are loved and you make
2:52:04
the world a better place to live in so I
2:52:07
just ask that everyone on council and
2:52:09
the community keep that at top of mind
2:52:11
throughout the week and thank you
2:52:14
Thank You councilmember Hall for sharing
2:52:16
that I have a couple of little items to
2:52:21
provide upcoming council meetings city
2:52:24
council regular meetings will continue
2:52:26
to occur as scheduled
2:52:27
this room using a remote meeting
2:52:30
platform the next regular meeting will
2:52:32
be held on June 1st at 7 p.m.
2:52:34
Council study sessions will also begin
2:52:37
again remotely in June the next study
2:52:39
session will be held on June 9th at 6:30
2:52:42
p.m. and certain boards and commissions
2:52:44
will meet remotely in June on an
2:52:46
as-needed basis the retired recovery
2:52:49
taskforce will continue meeting remotely
2:52:52
on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month
2:52:55
there is no executive session happening
2:52:58
as part of this meeting but there was
2:53:00
one conducted earlier at 6:30 during a
2:53:04
special council meeting just like this
2:53:06
evening
2:53:07
and there being no further business this
2:53:10
meeting is adjourned at 9:50 - thank you
2:53:13
all very much
2:53:22
you