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City Council Special Meeting Auto captions

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

7:30 AM
Topics tracked across meetings:
Department of Ecology Water Quality Stormwater Capacity Grant AB 9179 2/3
Next Steps & Action Items 2/4
Closing Comments Mayor Pauly 1/4
Mayor Pauly's Welcome and Introductions 2/3
Mayor Pauly's Opening Remarks and Update on City Priorities Funded in 2019 2/3
Topic
AGENDA
a
Mayor Pauly's Welcome and Introductions
b
Mayor Pauly's Opening Remarks
packet pp.3–8
Staff report:
2019-2021 State Legislative Agenda Funding for Pilot Cleanup Design to remove PFOS/PFAS Perfluoroalkyl substances (“PFOS” or “PFAS”) were detected in one of the City’s drinking water wells and these contaminants have the potential to impact more municipal drinking water wells. A potential source for the introduction of this contaminant into the Issaquah Valley Aquifer may have been through the use of firefighting foam and an investigation is ongoing. Issaquah has spent over $1 million on a temporary treatment system to remove the chemical from the water supply prior to it entering the drinking water system, but a permanent remedy is still needed.
c
Presentation of Issaquah’s Legislative Priorities & Policy Stances Department of Ecology effort to characterize and design a pilot remediation of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) impacting water supply Sheldon Lynne, Public Works Engineering
Director · packet pp.9
Topics: WaterCritical Areas
Staff report:
Operating Budget Request: PFAS Next Steps Request: The City is requesting $400,000 to complete the characterization of per and polyfluoroalkyl contamination and design a pilot cleanup project to remove these harmful contaminants from the Issaquah Valley Aquifer.
d
Mayor Pauly's Closing Remarks
packet pp.13
Staff report:
Capital Funding Request: Opportunity Center Capital Funding Request: The City is requesting $3 million to support the construction of the Issaquah Opportunity Center - a community facility that will provide integrated behavioral, medical, and dental services. The Opportunity Center will be one component of a mixed-use, multifamily transit-oriented development that will have affordable and market-rate housing.
e
Hearing from You - Legislators’ thoughts on the upcoming session and information on bills, budget items, initiatives they hope to advance. Also 'next steps' items and information needed by legislators, etc
Topics: Budget
0:14 being of the Quad City Council services
0:17 and Safety Committee I am Chris Rea I'm
0:18 the chair with me this evening our
0:21 deputy council president
0:22 Mariah Vitesse and council member
0:24 Victoria hunt we have two items on our
0:28 agenda today we have agenda bill 76 93
0:30 amending imc title three revenue and
0:34 finance to streamline the accounts
0:36 payable process and agenda bill 76 96
0:39 termination of the interlocal agreement
0:41 for public defense monitoring services
0:44 so we'll get started and first up is the
0:48 gender bill 76 93 and presenting is
0:51 renee with cisco hey take it away hello
1:01 everyone
1:02 I'll try to be concise and answer any
1:05 questions hopefully at the end of the
1:07 presentation I'm here to present agenda
1:10 ville 76 93 which amends the municipal
1:14 code language the goal is to streamline
1:16 the accounts payable process and shorten
1:19 the time for invoice processing this
1:25 agenda bill adopts changes to the
1:27 Municipal Code Chapter three
1:29 to allow the finance department to remit
1:31 accounts payable payments to vendors
1:32 prior to council approval this has been
1:36 allowed under our CW 40 2.24 dot 180
1:41 since the mid 90s we do meet the minimum
1:46 requirements of the RCW to implement
1:48 this practice for example we have
1:50 adequate insurance coverage for all of
1:52 our employees for faithful performance
1:55 of duties as required and we have
1:57 effective internal controls over
1:59 purchasing and payment of invoices as
2:02 noted in the slides based on our
2:05 research and past work experience many
2:07 cities of similar size have adopted this
2:09 practice including Mercer Island Kent
2:12 Linwood Woodinville Redmond and Bellevue
2:16 King County Library District also has
2:20 adopted this practice as well
2:22 many years ago continuous accounts
2:26 payable processing is the best practice
2:28 and applies lean management principles
2:31 I've been with the city for a few months
2:33 now and I oversee the accounts payable
2:35 process and internal controls I've
2:38 noticed a sharp increase in invoices the
2:40 week before the council meeting as you
2:42 can imagine this causes a significant
2:44 increase in workflow and forces
2:46 processing of invoices in a shorter
2:49 window than if we process in a
2:50 continuous method so I make this change
2:57 in our current system checks are not
3:00 mailed until the Tuesday after the
3:02 council meeting we are looking at a
3:04 minimum of 21 days from the receipt of
3:07 the invoice often longer from when an
3:10 invoice is received until payment goes
3:12 out this at times can't subject the city
3:16 to late penalties for example utility
3:19 bills and take staff time to call and
3:22 try to get late fees removed which isn't
3:24 always successful it also doesn't allow
3:28 the city to take advantage of any early
3:30 payment discounts and rebates which
3:33 could be a real savings in addition
3:36 allowing payment prior to council
3:38 approval will improve customer service
3:41 satisfaction for vendors residents and
3:44 employees
3:48 so how would this affect the Accounts
3:51 Payable process after implementation
3:54 counsel will still continue to review
3:56 the report of payments at regular
3:57 meetings and if needed they can send an
4:00 email request to the finance director to
4:02 ask follow-up questions and if it's
4:05 determined that a repayment did need to
4:07 happen city staff would pursue a
4:09 collection of funds so far there have
4:12 been no instances in the last several
4:14 years where the council has rejected a
4:15 payment any questions on the timing
4:30 we as counsel typically meet every two
4:33 weeks and so I'm wondering how the 21
4:36 days comes about and why why it would
4:40 take 21 days on average instead of every
4:44 two weeks and then I also I didn't
4:45 understand also on the timing about when
4:48 you were saying that there seems to be a
4:49 increase right before council meetings I
4:51 guess I didn't understand why changing
4:54 why this change would help with that
4:57 timing issue
4:58 sure so we're decentralized at the city
5:01 actually not all the invoices are
5:04 entered by the finance department
5:05 they're entered by the other departments
5:09 when they because they do receive the
5:11 invoices and they enter them into munis
5:13 and so they have deadlines which is the
5:17 Monday prior to the council meeting or
5:20 the actually the Friday prior to the
5:22 council meetings where they need to send
5:24 up their batches of invoices for payment
5:26 so that we can do an additional review
5:29 and submit everything for final
5:33 processing and issuing the checks so if
5:37 they receive it after the deadline to
5:40 the finance department they've already
5:42 missed the next approval cycle so
5:46 they'll you know take an extra two weeks
5:48 at that point and there's also you know
5:52 with the munis software there's an
5:54 electronic approval that needs to happen
5:56 and so when people are out on vacation
5:58 sometimes they don't approve the
6:01 invoices before they leave
6:02 they won't be printed because they have
6:05 to wait for that actual manager to come
6:07 back in and approve them okay so it
6:10 would just give you basically more
6:12 options of when to process it would
6:15 smooth out the workflow greatly and I
6:17 think it would really help the
6:18 departments as well because a lot of
6:21 times they're they they want to add
6:23 additional that it's too late for them
6:25 and then we sometimes we end up dealing
6:28 with vendor vendor calls you know when
6:31 am I going to get my payment so we're
6:32 just trying to cut out a lot of extra
6:34 work involved and then I have two more
6:39 so one is that you mentioned that it is
6:41 a it is allowed already by was that
6:46 saying it was that to say that it's a it
6:48 would be allowed in the state code yeah
6:51 that's in our our local or municipal
6:53 code and so yeah we would need to update
6:56 our municipal code to allow us to
6:59 process according to the RCW that's been
7:03 and then other cities have also done
7:05 that and then and then my last question
7:08 is as as you know I have in the past
7:13 sometimes had questions about items in
7:16 terms of what different items in the
7:18 accounts payable actually refer to
7:19 because the description is not always
7:22 very clear to me and so I wondered in
7:26 terms of council's role in approving one
7:30 thing I I think I understood from this
7:32 is that council can can still review and
7:36 could there could be if there was an
7:37 issue that could be addressed retro
7:39 actively and then also would it be
7:43 possible to to help with the council
7:47 review to get different descriptors or
7:51 maybe more descriptors or do you think
7:54 that the process of having council just
7:56 email questions if something is unclear
7:58 is working or do you see options for how
8:00 we might improve that I feel that we can
8:02 respond to your questions pretty quickly
8:04 and I don't see I did look at the
8:08 reports and I agree that they're not
8:09 they're straight from the accounting
8:12 system because that's the best report
8:14 that we have that has
8:15 the most information on it so that's why
8:17 we're providing it that way but I do
8:20 think that it's important that if you
8:23 have questions about vendors or what
8:28 we're paying for that you're able to ask
8:30 those questions so I'm available as well
8:34 okay so so the system of counsel if we
8:39 do have questions asking questions
8:40 wouldn't change but it would I guess
8:42 give you more flexibility in terms of
8:44 addressing those invoice questions
8:46 without waiting for the approval at a
8:48 given right and we have our new
8:52 purchasing card program where we can get
8:54 significant rebates based upon the
8:56 timing of the payment so you know as
8:59 that becomes implemented further we'll
9:03 we should see some significant rebates
9:06 that we didn't see previously so
9:10 president patís thank you for your
9:14 presentation
9:15 councilmember hunt covered a few of the
9:17 questions that I had I just had one
9:20 question about is it typical for cities
9:26 this is that standard where they're each
9:28 department is entering their own ap
9:32 their own invoices and it's not
9:34 consolidated under accounts payable is
9:36 that a typical practice or is that I
9:40 don't know if that's typical but based
9:43 on the size of the accounts payable
9:44 staff in this city that's because of the
9:48 way that meanness works that's the only
9:49 way to really process effectively so
9:55 they're adding they're entering all the
9:57 a voice information and then accounts
9:59 payable also has the information and is
10:02 checking that as it comes through before
10:05 payment correct they send up the batches
10:07 with all the hard copies behind it and
10:10 they're also scanned into the accounting
10:12 software and those are reviewed prior to
10:16 posting and issuing any checks thank you
10:20 can you spend just a minute and talk
10:23 about the current review an audit
10:25 process that the accounts payable goes
10:27 through today for
10:28 when a department enters a voucher until
10:32 it goes to Council today for final
10:34 approval
10:35 sure so generally for most apartments
10:38 the department manager director will
10:42 receive the invoice from from within
10:46 their department from their support
10:47 services staff and sign off on the
10:50 invoice and then it gets entered into
10:53 munis the software with a bar code from
10:58 there it is also sent out electronically
11:02 it's routed through the software and the
11:06 manager has to approve it a second time
11:09 and they have and since its scanned in
11:12 they can pull it right up on their
11:13 desktop that's the same manager
11:16 approving it again in some cases in
11:18 other departments the the Support
11:21 Services staff just receives the
11:23 invoices and scans them all in and then
11:25 they'll get routed for approval after
11:28 that process takes place there batched
11:31 and sent up to the finance department
11:33 hard copies and it's also reviewed for
11:38 accuracy at that point dollar amount
11:41 vendor approval and then after the the
11:47 batches are entered and approved and
11:49 ready then they come to my desk and I
11:53 review them as well and sign off was
11:57 that three reviews at least at a minimum
12:04 what are the requirements of the RCW
12:06 because you mentioned that we meet the
12:08 requirements of the RCW is that would
12:10 permit us to go ahead and do this the
12:14 insurance for all employees you know
12:17 basically covering fraud and abuse it's
12:23 pretty typical and then the hiring the
12:28 purchasing and dispersing policies that
12:30 we have like all the internal controls
12:31 over approvals like requiring original
12:35 receipts having everything scanned in
12:37 and signed off
12:40 more than one person reviewing it and
12:45 then the the rest of the RCW just deals
12:47 with the legislative body must you know
12:51 review the list and sign off on the list
12:53 at their meeting at their next council
12:55 meeting subsequent to the disbursement
12:58 so that list is already provided under
13:02 the current system this just really
13:04 allows us to send the checks out as as
13:08 we process I was just looking at IMC
13:15 3.16 which is the claims fund and then I
13:18 was looking at the ordinance that is
13:21 being proposed and it's it's
13:22 significantly longer yes the from
13:27 looking at the old one it seems fairly
13:29 outdated so I'm not sure how long it's
13:33 been so there's some some in addition to
13:40 changing the process of when we cut
13:42 checks there it looks like there's some
13:43 other kind of cleanup this going on -
13:45 yeah just laying out the RCW and what it
13:48 what it states
13:55 the other questions for Rene what's
13:59 wrong I can't find it right now but I
14:02 think that this was also this had legal
14:05 review in terms of the way that the
14:09 replacement code was written yes the
14:12 city attorney reviewed it and gave the
14:15 okay it's similar language to a lot of
14:19 other cities when I researched their
14:21 Municipal Code else thanks Rene any
14:29 thoughts or comments
14:31 that's remember hunt and I appreciated
14:34 the extra explanation about why this
14:37 would expedite the process that's used
14:40 for processing these payments and I
14:44 think it makes sense deputy president
14:49 booties I - I I think this makes sense
14:52 and I'm just again appreciated the
14:57 information about the changes that need
15:00 to be made and it sounds like it's gone
15:03 through legal review so I would be ok
15:05 with this great and I think it's
15:06 outstanding that we're looking for ways
15:08 to make the city operate more
15:11 effectively also so thank you for doing
15:13 that Rene okay all those who would like
15:17 to send this back to full council for
15:21 action say aye
15:25 any objection to putting this on consent
15:27 no objection public consent January 7
15:32 January 7 okay thanks for name thank you
15:36 and welcome glad to have you all right
15:40 and next we have agenda bills 76 96
15:43 termination and the inner local
15:45 agreement or public derivative defense
15:48 monitoring services and Onam Monahan is
15:51 going to be presenting this evening
15:52 hello autumn hi so my name is automata
15:56 Han I'm the assistant to the city
15:58 administrator and I manage all of our
16:00 court contracts for a municipal courts
16:02 that includes our
16:03 defender our prosecutor and a few other
16:06 contracts so I'm here tonight to talk
16:08 about terminating our interlocal
16:10 agreement for our public defense
16:12 monitoring services with the city of
16:15 snow Kwame and to provide you some
16:18 history back in 2013 there was a federal
16:21 case called Wilbur versus Mount Vernon
16:23 which found that that city wasn't
16:25 providing adequate public defense
16:26 services the defenders had really high
16:29 caseloads and overall we're not
16:32 representing their clients in a very
16:33 meaningful way so after that ruling a
16:35 lot of cities did some self-reflection
16:38 and re-evaluated their public defense
16:40 systems here in Issaquah like I said our
16:42 mayor's office manages all of our court
16:44 contracts and we really wanted a third
16:47 party to review our public defender
16:50 services and be a resource in case we
16:53 ever received complaints we're not
16:55 experts in public defense services and
16:58 we're looking for some expertise in that
17:00 area but as we you know looked around
17:04 there wasn't much of a profession for
17:06 people who would monitor public
17:07 defenders and this also was a new
17:10 expense for the city back then so we
17:13 started a very innovative partnership
17:15 with three other cities and applied for
17:17 a grant with the state office of public
17:20 defense and so in early 2015 we started
17:23 an interlocal agreement with Sammamish
17:24 north bend and still kwame for all of us
17:27 to hire one public defense monitor and
17:29 we were very successful in receiving a
17:31 grant from OPD for that program and we
17:35 hired a monitor who was a Pro Tem judge
17:37 and started with us back in 2015 we then
17:42 applied for subsequent OPD grants and
17:44 receive feedback that they were more
17:46 interested in funding new initiatives
17:48 instead of ongoing ones and so we
17:51 started all four cities started to pay
17:53 for this service but soon after several
17:57 the cities started to drop out of the
17:58 ILA agreement and Snoqualmie continued
18:01 on with us until this current time but
18:05 we received word that our monitor is
18:07 going to be retiring this year and so it
18:10 was a good time to look at this ila
18:11 agreement with snow Kwame and there's
18:14 not much benefit for the same
18:15 and continuing this partnership with
18:16 snow Kwame we do not share the same
18:18 public defense firm so we don't share
18:21 the same monitor or defenders very often
18:24 like I said our monitors retiring this
18:27 is a good time for us to look for
18:28 someone just for the city of this aqua
18:29 and I'm doing all the administrative
18:32 work for both cities and there's that
18:34 much benefit for us doing that for it
18:36 Snoqualmie as far as doing all the past
18:38 to pass through fees and invoicing and
18:40 management of the contract so we just
18:43 thought this was a good time for us to
18:44 move on we have started looking for a
18:47 new monitor and this there is now a
18:49 growing space of people who are
18:51 interested especially Pro Tem judges and
18:53 doing this type of work for cities so we
18:55 have found some interested folks who are
18:57 excited and willing to be our monitors
18:59 so we're in that process right now and
19:02 I've spoken with some Awami and they
19:04 understand that it's time for us to end
19:08 this ila and while the program was
19:09 successful mostly it was involving grant
19:12 funding so I think that's this is just a
19:18 housekeeping item really in nature I
19:19 checked with our city attorney and he
19:21 said that we should get council approval
19:23 for this because this I am going until
19:26 we say otherwise
19:27 so that's why I'm here tonight so I'm
19:29 here to answer any questions great
19:30 thanks epi president batiste
19:33 thanks for the presentation it sounds
19:37 like this
19:38 makes sense it started with the grant
19:40 and and bringing all the cities together
19:42 and now everyone has started to split
19:44 apart with the partnership that we
19:47 currently have is that a big cost
19:50 savings or when you when you take into
19:54 account the work that you're doing and
19:57 the city is doing so can you just speak
20:00 to that yes so we're not profiting off
20:02 of the inner local agreement with snow
20:04 Kwame it's just a pass-through fief so
20:06 it's based on caseload and we charge
20:08 them just based on caseload how many
20:10 offense cases they've had versus is a
20:13 clause so we're not so it's more just
20:15 that the city is processing all of that
20:17 and not really okay yes
20:21 the other questions don't remember hunt
20:25 and I wondered about Snoqualmie just
20:28 because it is an interlocal agreement
20:30 and there are multiple parties in it
20:33 because it's into your local what if we
20:35 had feedback from them about their
20:37 thoughts on the severance and there was
20:40 any issues or if they were in agreement
20:42 that the time had sort of expired on
20:44 this they were open to continuing the
20:46 interlocal agreement but I was the one
20:47 managing the contract so they understood
20:49 that it was time for us to move on yes
20:52 they did and I also mentioned to to
20:55 Snoqualmie that once we find a martyr
20:57 will share that person's contact
20:58 information if they're interested in
21:00 continuing so and also I imagine that
21:04 this is as it was before this is a
21:07 person this isn't like a full-time no
21:09 position but you said that it is
21:12 something that now you've you're
21:15 confident that you that the city will be
21:17 able to find a person so I guess I just
21:20 wondered about the continuity of the
21:24 service being provided or the monitoring
21:27 sure yes so yes there has been some
21:30 interest from others and it's definitely
21:32 a growing field when we first started
21:34 this program I had a whole lot of cities
21:35 calling me and saying this is this is
21:38 really interesting and this could be a
21:39 really good solution for our cities as
21:40 well so it's definitely a growing space
21:43 and and there are a lot of especially
21:45 like I said Pro Tem judges who are
21:46 interested in this type of work that
21:47 understand how a courtroom works and
21:51 it's a small contract for our monitor
21:53 it's about ten thousand dollars a year
21:55 be president matisse so I'm just trying
21:59 to make sure I understand so with
22:00 Snoqualmie because the monitor was
22:03 retiring there would be a new monitor
22:05 that would come on and because they're
22:06 two different public defender groups
22:09 they would need to monitor this and then
22:12 also monitor that okay all right yes
22:14 making sure I understand so this would
22:17 be a whole lot simpler for Issaquah if
22:18 we were to hire our own and they would
22:20 only focus on our public defender yeah
22:22 thank you so if I look at section 19 of
22:27 the ILA
22:28 she probably don't have a funny but it's
22:30 the one on termination it talks about
22:31 120 days of notice did we get 120 days
22:34 in order I did oh you're so good
22:36 all right so effective it would be then
22:39 effective the end of sure it'd be
22:42 effective per council action okay so I
22:45 was sometime early next year yep what
22:50 section nineteen each five of the ILA
22:56 age before the signatures I don't have
23:03 any other questions about you everything
23:07 else yes a general question about the
23:13 the services provided you mentioned that
23:15 there they might address complaints and
23:19 that and there's a number of things
23:21 listed so I wondered if you could also
23:23 just expand on what you what you've seen
23:26 as the value of having this monitor from
23:28 from the years that we at the monitor
23:31 yeah even though this is housekeeping is
23:33 your issue it's really good to educate I
23:35 think council members on on this service
23:37 so the the contractor looks at a whole
23:41 lot of data that our public defender and
23:43 our Municipal Court provide as far as
23:45 types of cases contact with clients a
23:48 whole slew of issues that have come out
23:50 of that Wilber case so they look at a
23:53 lot of data and then they also pop into
23:54 court and watch how a public defender
23:56 are working with their clients and then
23:59 they interview the judge or a municipal
24:01 court staff and others too so they do a
24:04 lot of annual spot checks along with
24:05 some quarterly checks of data and to
24:07 ensure that that their clients are
24:10 getting the best service possible from
24:13 our defender they report to
24:15 they report to me he's open to staying
24:25 until we find someone but he was hoping
24:27 the end of the year but there's some
24:29 flexibility there so we have some time
24:31 so we would not find ourselves in a
24:32 position of having a void potentially
24:35 thankfully no good and and you're
24:38 already started the process and
24:40 this has nothing to do with Germany Iowa
24:41 yeah interesting to know you've already
24:43 started the process of looking for the
24:45 replacement yes okay Andy the other
24:49 questions any thoughts
24:53 Ellsberg um I think that it sounds like
24:58 in this case that iolite ending is in
25:00 the best interest of the city and I'm
25:03 glad to hear that the services you know
25:05 will continue and there will be
25:07 continuity of all of the value that was
25:09 provided and so there's no issue there I
25:11 guess I also though just in terms of
25:15 thinking about how cities might share
25:18 the resources if you were to use it if
25:20 we if we as a city were to have the same
25:23 law firm or if there were other ways to
25:26 use this kind of agreement that would
25:28 maximize benefit for our city I think it
25:32 it was an innovative program it sounds
25:37 like and and so it would be it would be
25:41 interesting to consider in the future if
25:45 there are other opportunities for that
25:47 sort of thing but I at this point it
25:48 sounds like it makes sense to continue
25:50 with the severance of the family so just
25:55 you know I think this made a ton of
25:56 sense when we entered into this
25:58 agreement particularly when it was the
26:00 four cities and it was a way to go away
26:01 and pursue the grant funding the world
26:04 has changed significantly a number of
26:06 people have already removed themselves
26:08 from this agreement so I think the time
26:10 is at that time is right for us to go
26:14 our way and and let's know for me
26:16 well there's I think I would agree with
26:20 those those two comments awesome all
26:24 right all in favor of sending this to
26:26 full committee on January 7th say aye
26:30 i consent okay yes I consent all right I
26:37 think that brings us to the close of our
26:40 agenda this evening
26:42 the next meeting of services and safety
26:44 is scheduled for January 8th to
26:46 nineteen even though the agenda says
26:49 2018 here at 6:30 in Council Chambers
26:52 and then I just wanted to say because I
26:55 had the microphone I was on TV I just
26:58 wanted to wish everybody happy holidays
27:00 and a very prosperous and wonderful 2019
27:03 and with that were adjourned
27:16 you

Attendance

Council / Members (13)
Mariah Bettise
Stacy Goodman
Victoria Hunt
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Director
Jeff Watling, Parks and Recreation Director
Jen Davis Hayes, Permit Center Manager
Gene Paul, Management Analyst
Liesl Olson, Management Analyst
Autumn Monahan, Assistant to the City
Administrator
Shelly Helder, Lobbyist
Excused
Paul Winterstein