City Council Special Meeting · Monday, November 13, 2023 · City Council Digest

2. PUBLIC HEARING

High Street Collection Development Agreement AB 8704

Conduct Public Hearing · packet pp.5–466

Topics: Transportation

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

Shelter owns an approximately 21.46 acre parcel in the Issaquah Highlands (the Property) (Parcel No. 2724069208). On June 19, 1996, the City and Shelter’s predecessor-in-interest executed the former Grand Ridge Annexation and Development Agreement, more commonly known as the Issaquah Highlands Development Agreement (“IHDA”). The Property is currently vested to the IHDA, inclusive of all amendments and supplements thereto. On October 4, 2023, Shelter submitted an application for the High Street Collection Development Agreement (the “Agreement”), a copy of which is attached as Exhibit A. A Notice of Application and Public Hearing was issued by the City on October 6, 2023.

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0:04 ↗ good evening everyone and welcome to the

0:06 ↗ city council special meeting uh November

0:09 ↗ 13th I'm going to call it to order the

0:12 ↗ purpose of tonight's meeting is to

0:14 ↗ conduct a public hearing on the High

0:15 ↗ Street collection development agreement

0:17 ↗ as a reminder we continue to have a

0:19 ↗ remote aspect to our meetings and both

0:21 ↗ staff and members of the public may be

0:23 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:24 ↗ remotely via WebEx this meeting will be

0:27 ↗ followed by a council Committee of the

0:29 ↗ whole so there are two meetings this

0:31 ↗ evening if you've come for the committee

0:32 ↗ of the whole uh it's going to take a

0:34 ↗ little bit till we get through our first

0:36 ↗ session so thank you for

0:38 ↗ coming the first item is the public

0:40 ↗ hearing this is AB

0:42 ↗ 8704 High Street collection development

0:44 ↗ agreement and um the council tonight

0:46 ↗ will be holding the public hearing I'd

0:48 ↗ like to invite City attorney Rachel

0:50 ↗ Turpin up to the microphone to make a

0:51 ↗ presentation welcome

0:56 ↗ Rachel thank you mayor good evening uh

0:59 ↗ council members mayor staff members of

1:02 ↗ the public I'm Rachel bender tpin and

1:04 ↗ I'm the City attorney and I'm here uh

1:06 ↗ tonight to give you a brief overview of

1:09 ↗ the High Street collection development

1:15 ↗ agreement so the purpose of tonight's uh

1:19 ↗ public purpose of tonight's public

1:22 ↗ hearing is um to discuss the and provide

1:26 ↗ input into the High Street collection

1:29 ↗ development agreement purpose of this

1:31 ↗ presentation is to give you an overview

1:34 ↗ of what that development agreement

1:37 ↗ entails next

1:40 ↗ Slide the action um requested of the

1:43 ↗ council is not action for this evening

1:46 ↗ but uh we ask that the council forward a

1:49 ↗ proposed ordinance authorizing the mayor

1:51 ↗ to execute the High Street development

1:53 ↗ agreement for consideration at the next

1:56 ↗ regular meeting of the city council on

1:58 ↗ November 20th

2:03 ↗ a little background on the proposal here

2:06 ↗ this evening iif commercial doing

2:10 ↗ business as shelter Holdings which I'm

2:12 ↗ going to refer to them this evening as

2:14 ↗ because it's much easier for me to say

2:16 ↗ owns a parcel that's approximately

2:28 ↗ 21.46% uh this was established by the

2:32 ↗ court of appeals after extensive

2:35 ↗ litigation between the parties that

2:37 ↗ ruling came down in August uh of

2:41 ↗ 2022 so that's currently where the

2:44 ↗ properties existing entitlements come

2:48 ↗ from and what those are however last

2:51 ↗ year the parties entered into

2:52 ↗ negotiations on a new development

2:54 ↗ agreement for the property which if

2:57 ↗ approved would supersede the applicants

3:00 ↗ vesting under the isqua highlands

3:02 ↗ development

3:04 ↗ agreement on October 4th of this year

3:07 ↗ shelter formally applied for the High

3:09 ↗ Street collection development agreement

3:12 ↗ which is why we're here this evening

3:14 ↗ next

3:16 ↗ slide this is a visual depiction of the

3:20 ↗ property uh as you can see it is um it

3:26 ↗ runs from kind of the corner of

3:28 ↗ Highlands and

3:30 ↗ ninth um all the way over

3:36 ↗ to Discovery thank you too small for me

3:39 ↗ to

3:41 ↗ read and we'll bring this back up later

3:44 ↗ so everyone can see but I think this is

3:46 ↗ good for now now a little bit more about

3:49 ↗ why we're really here what this

3:51 ↗ agreement

3:52 ↗ entails this agreement proposes a

3:55 ↗ development project that would be a

3:57 ↗ phased mix use development including

4:00 ↗ commercial retail and residential uses

4:04 ↗ it would be developed over a 15-year

4:07 ↗ term which is the term of the

4:09 ↗ development agreement that's proposed

4:12 ↗ the project would include up to 325,000

4:15 ↗ square fet of commercial and Retail uses

4:19 ↗ that's those are commercial and Retail

4:20 ↗ uses combined and up to

4:24 ↗ 1,250 residential units that would be

4:27 ↗ primarily located in mixed use

4:30 ↗ buildings the project would provide

4:33 ↗ additional public benefits such as

4:35 ↗ community recreation elements that were

4:38 ↗ not contemplated for that property under

4:41 ↗ the isqua highlands development

4:43 ↗ agreement it would also provide an

4:45 ↗ opportunity for more affordable housing

4:48 ↗ in the area age and age restricted or

4:52 ↗ Assisted Living housing as

4:56 ↗ well next thank you a little about the

5:00 ↗ community amenities and Recreation

5:02 ↗ because I know that that's a a very big

5:04 ↗ deal for our community this under the

5:08 ↗ agreement uh there would be a

5:09 ↗ requirement for 200 square ft of what we

5:12 ↗ call Community amenity space per

5:15 ↗ residential unit Community amend space

5:18 ↗ may include Recreation areas Landscaping

5:22 ↗ Festival streets Trails plazas and other

5:26 ↗ uh pedestrian gathering places for

5:29 ↗ people to connect with one another 20%

5:33 ↗ of this requirement could be met with

5:35 ↗ indoor amenities that would allow for um

5:38 ↗ yearr round use such as health and

5:41 ↗ fitness facilities club and game rooms

5:43 ↗ or Indoor Sport facilities for folks to

5:47 ↗ use there would also be two outdoor

5:50 ↗ community recreation elements that would

5:53 ↗ total 40,000 square ft they may either

5:57 ↗ be combined um or there they may be in

5:59 ↗ the form of a 25,000 squ ft parcel and

6:03 ↗ another 15,000 square ft uh these areas

6:06 ↗ would be designated and designed for

6:09 ↗ active uh outdoor recreation amenities

6:12 ↗ for instance potential water features

6:14 ↗ Sports courts climbing walls adaptive

6:17 ↗ playground equipment or outdoor fitness

6:20 ↗ equipment there' also be a covered

6:22 ↗ portion to allow for all weather use

6:25 ↗ which is important to us here in the

6:27 ↗ Rainy Pacific Northwest

6:30 ↗ and then um the applicant shelter would

6:33 ↗ also have to construct a trail

6:35 ↗ connecting High Street linear Park to

6:38 ↗ Discovery Drive which is currently an an

6:41 ↗ existing um and I won't say deficiency

6:44 ↗ but it's a a hole that would we'd like

6:46 ↗ to we'd like to fill for the community

6:50 ↗ next

6:51 ↗ slide development regulations for the

6:54 ↗ property would be as set forth in the

6:57 ↗ development agreement they include

7:00 ↗ standards for land use parking roads

7:03 ↗ Landscaping the community ameni space

7:06 ↗ that we talked about Trails signs

7:10 ↗ lighting it would also uh it also

7:12 ↗ includes procedures for the site

7:14 ↗ development process uh and standards and

7:19 ↗ scale for the buildings to use as well

7:21 ↗ as land use standards meaning what kinds

7:25 ↗ of uses there would be allowed in that

7:28 ↗ area there are Provisions for

7:30 ↗ streamlined permit processing with the

7:33 ↗ applicant paying review costs as

7:35 ↗ specified in the agreement and there

7:38 ↗ would also be a process for minor

7:39 ↗ modifications to development standards

7:42 ↗ that would allow the parties to benefit

7:44 ↗ from new technologies or

7:46 ↗ information uh that you come into being

7:49 ↗ during the term of the agreement or to

7:51 ↗ address unanticipated issues because as

7:54 ↗ we've tried to address everything I'm

7:55 ↗ sure little things will come up from

7:57 ↗ time to time slide

8:01 ↗ the design review process for the

8:03 ↗ project would have to comply with the

8:05 ↗ isqua Highlands Community

8:07 ↗ associations High Street Properties

8:09 ↗ architectural standards and design

8:12 ↗ review would actually be completed by

8:14 ↗ the isqua highlands Architectural Review

8:17 ↗ Committee which will ensure that the

8:19 ↗ project looks and feels like the rest of

8:21 ↗ the community up

8:26 ↗ there State Environmental Policy Act or

8:29 ↗ sea review was conducted for this

8:31 ↗ project and a termination of

8:34 ↗ non-significance and a docu an adoption

8:36 ↗ of existing environmental documents was

8:38 ↗ issued on October 29th of this year that

8:42 ↗ agreement or that that document uh

8:44 ↗ adopts the Grand Ridge View draft and

8:47 ↗ final Eis for the

8:51 ↗ project the options that are before the

8:54 ↗ council not this evening once again but

8:56 ↗ uh in general would be to adopt an

8:58 ↗ ordinance appr approving the agreement

9:00 ↗ or to not adopt an ordinance approving

9:03 ↗ the

9:06 ↗ agreement and my recommendation and the

9:09 ↗ recommendation of the administration is

9:11 ↗ that the council pass an ordinance

9:13 ↗ approving and authorizing the mayor to

9:15 ↗ execute the

9:17 ↗ agreement next steps uh at the meeting

9:20 ↗ on November 20th the an ordinance uh

9:24 ↗ approving the agreement will be up for

9:26 ↗ consideration by the city council

9:32 ↗ and I believe that's it so with that I'm

9:34 ↗ happy to entertain any questions um

9:36 ↗ although it may be helpful if we do a

9:38 ↗ brief presentation from the applicant

9:40 ↗ first and then perhaps we can field I

9:41 ↗ think questions together all right and

9:45 ↗ Tisha if you mind putting up that one

9:47 ↗ slide thank

9:57 ↗ you thank you Rachel uh I'm Gary Young

10:00 ↗ with shelter Holdings mayor Paulie

10:02 ↗ council members community at large and

10:05 ↗ uh guests and staff uh we've been

10:09 ↗ waiting a long time and uh really

10:11 ↗ appreciate uh the collaborative and the

10:14 ↗ tremendous amount of work that both the

10:16 ↗ council has undertaken and staff uh to

10:19 ↗ bring us forward to the day and we're

10:21 ↗ looking forward to doing the best job we

10:23 ↗ can in moving forward uh shelter

10:25 ↗ Holdings uh is a uh family business my

10:29 ↗ partner Jeff G and myself are the

10:31 ↗ founders and uh we live here in the area

10:34 ↗ Jeff's three daughters went to the uh

10:38 ↗ Children's Garden school and graduated

10:40 ↗ from isua high school uh many years ago

10:43 ↗ and so we're very connected and part of

10:44 ↗ this community we've been actively

10:46 ↗ building in the community for well over

10:49 ↗ 30 years in all various shapes and forms

10:52 ↗ and also throughout the region um we

10:55 ↗ typically hold and operate and uh own

10:57 ↗ our projects we're also very active with

11:00 ↗ our local community organizations and

11:04 ↗ just briefly to touch on uh a long term

11:07 ↗ probably our oldest relationship going

11:08 ↗ to Life Enrichment options where we

11:11 ↗ built the first home and our sub trades

11:13 ↗ and everyone pulled together and and we

11:15 ↗ built that first home and uh and

11:17 ↗ dedicated it to Leo to be their first

11:20 ↗ asset as that um important group moved

11:22 ↗ forward and our whole entire staff and

11:25 ↗ office came and landscaped that first

11:27 ↗ home right across from Ava fringer house

11:30 ↗ the mayor of uh Es squa at that time

11:32 ↗ right across the street turned out

11:34 ↗ really incredible we've been involved

11:36 ↗ with every home since all the way

11:37 ↗ through the process uh supporting

11:40 ↗ providing financial support every year

11:42 ↗ and uh Leo is is well established on its

11:45 ↗ own feet carrying forward on its own and

11:47 ↗ obviously we have a beautiful Leo home

11:49 ↗ here in isqua Highlands which is great

11:52 ↗ to be a part of that carrying forward uh

11:54 ↗ Isel School Foundation uh we've been

11:57 ↗ involved with for years um we have a

11:59 ↗ small Orchard of golden apples in uh

12:02 ↗ awards from ywa um School foundation in

12:06 ↗ my office and uh we participated in many

12:09 ↗ programs uh through that uh tenure and

12:13 ↗ continue to do so one of which helping

12:15 ↗ teachers in the esquad district trying

12:17 ↗ to uh relocate younger teachers lower

12:19 ↗ income uh in some of the apartments that

12:22 ↗ we've used and different steps like that

12:24 ↗ but we really appreciate the work that

12:26 ↗ uh the foundation does Teen G Kaylee and

12:30 ↗ all the work that happens with that is

12:32 ↗ an amazing property project City's very

12:35 ↗ involved with that and is essential I

12:37 ↗ think to the being approximate to the

12:39 ↗ school carrying forward then it's called

12:41 ↗ History Museum I was serving as chair on

12:43 ↗ the steering committee a number of years

12:45 ↗ before Co is a group working to try to

12:48 ↗ bring that to another level and now

12:51 ↗ fortunately I think it's been

12:53 ↗ reorganized now and Paul winterstein is

12:55 ↗ involved there's going to be an open

12:56 ↗ house this Thursday that's pretty

12:59 ↗ exciting to see that move ahead and be

13:01 ↗ able to hold a lot of the history of

13:02 ↗ this area going so far back uh finally

13:06 ↗ East Side baby corner now kid Vantage

13:09 ↗ we've been involved for years with them

13:10 ↗ helping them in different areas to get

13:13 ↗ their computers and things set up for

13:14 ↗ distribution it's an amazing

13:16 ↗ organization and Rob Hunt is my neighbor

13:19 ↗ and close friend and uh with Village

13:21 ↗ Theater we're very cons active with the

13:24 ↗ uh children's the the kids programs in

13:26 ↗ the in the summer essentially where they

13:28 ↗ were B basically helping 3,000 kids

13:30 ↗ between Everett and isaga because

13:32 ↗ they're located in both areas going

13:34 ↗ through that so moving ahead uh a dark

13:37 ↗ cloud maybe is the word coid and Co has

13:41 ↗ maybe completely altered all of our

13:43 ↗ lives in so many respects and and uh

13:46 ↗ probably brought a lot more work to the

13:48 ↗ council than they ever dreamed theyd

13:49 ↗ ever want to have it also has very

13:52 ↗ dramatically impact the office and the

13:54 ↗ workplace market and I touch on this

13:56 ↗ point briefly just to say that many

13:58 ↗ local companies we have built our own

14:00 ↗ building we have tenants we lease and

14:02 ↗ we're very active in that area but not

14:05 ↗ as as much now but essentially many of

14:08 ↗ our companies businesses are downsizing

14:11 ↗ uh companies like Microsoft Amazon are

14:13 ↗ proceeding with uh changing plans entire

14:17 ↗ existing buildings are looking to maybe

14:19 ↗ having leases change uh emptying them

14:23 ↗ and also new projects being cancelled

14:25 ↗ we've had a complete change in the

14:27 ↗ fabric of the office Market in the

14:29 ↗ region basically Seattle bellw being

14:32 ↗ most concerned about that and it also

14:35 ↗ affects uh isqua we Works recent

14:38 ↗ announcement on bankruptcy is another

14:40 ↗ conversation that Keys into this uh

14:42 ↗ aspect in this conversation so as we

14:44 ↗ move forward we're going to have an

14:46 ↗ evolution or a new kind of hybrid

14:48 ↗ Workforce that we're all anxious to

14:50 ↗ understand and see how that plays out

14:52 ↗ and how does that work in all our

14:54 ↗ communities and I think that'll be a

14:56 ↗ combination from what we can see of

14:58 ↗ people working at home people are going

15:00 ↗ to work remote and people are still

15:02 ↗ going to be coming into the office but

15:04 ↗ might not be 5 days a week maybe two

15:06 ↗ maybe three so in thinking of these

15:08 ↗ things we're also paying attention to

15:10 ↗ the medical model I obviously do because

15:12 ↗ I'm 75 coming up this year so as we look

15:16 ↗ our hospitals our clinics are coming

15:19 ↗ into new ways to deal with providing

15:21 ↗ their services and especially that's

15:23 ↗ important in Isa Highlands so we're

15:25 ↗ seeing an entirely new approach to these

15:28 ↗ our proposal as we're looking that we've

15:30 ↗ worked through uh is providing

15:32 ↗ flexibility to address the changing

15:34 ↗ needs that isqua Highlands is

15:36 ↗ experiencing and our community at large

15:39 ↗ we are enhancing many of the services

15:41 ↗ that the community presently enjoys in

15:43 ↗ our plan we're also adding additional

15:45 ↗ Park and Recreation opportunities that

15:47 ↗ Rachel has touched on we're providing an

15:49 ↗ opportunity for some of the founding and

15:51 ↗ longtime residents like Jeff Walker 25

15:53 ↗ years I think now um to be able to stay

15:56 ↗ in the neighborhood maybe and have a

15:58 ↗ choice for for downsizing uh I won't

16:00 ↗ bring up the word senior Jeff but anyway

16:03 ↗ that happens we all get old but there's

16:05 ↗ an opportunity um and a need for

16:08 ↗ different varieties of choice of

16:11 ↗ residency and and for people that

16:14 ↗ understand have lived in this community

16:15 ↗ know how important it is and it's not

16:18 ↗ the most do not want to leave but they

16:20 ↗ also don't want to have a big big house

16:22 ↗ so that's another point that we're

16:24 ↗ trying to address in our planning we're

16:27 ↗ providing the Bly needed Workforce

16:29 ↗ housing and more affordable housing for

16:32 ↗ the neighborhoods in general I'll

16:34 ↗ summarize by saying we just very much

16:36 ↗ appreciate the opportunity to be

16:37 ↗ thoughtful long-term participants in

16:40 ↗ this thriving ISO Highlands Community to

16:42 ↗ make it even more enjoyable to call it

16:44 ↗ home over the last eight years that we

16:47 ↗ have owned this property we have shared

16:49 ↗ ideas with the community at various

16:51 ↗ events that we held and uh reach out

16:54 ↗ sessions engaged Consultants met with

16:56 ↗ many of you individually to learn about

16:58 ↗ about your community's needs and to

17:00 ↗ develop ideas for projects that would

17:02 ↗ make Isa Highlands an even better place

17:05 ↗ to live we're excited that the

17:07 ↗ development agreement establishes a

17:08 ↗ framework that will make it possible to

17:10 ↗ build a project that responds to many of

17:14 ↗ these very diverse needs that we have

17:16 ↗ heard requested over the years and we'd

17:18 ↗ like now to turn this conversation over

17:20 ↗ to Tia who's worked on this for over

17:22 ↗ eight years now and as my associate and

17:25 ↗ she'll cover a few more details and I

17:27 ↗ just want to thank you all very much for

17:29 ↗ your time

17:32 ↗ thanks good evening Council thanks for

17:35 ↗ having us here tonight um I'll try to

17:38 ↗ try to be brief here but maybe hit on

17:40 ↗ some of the details that are in the

17:42 ↗ development agreement that might be of

17:43 ↗ interest to to people um first of all we

17:46 ↗ are really excited to be able to be in a

17:49 ↗ position to turn the page and work

17:51 ↗ together with the city on a project that

17:52 ↗ we think um will really be beneficial to

17:55 ↗ the community the city um and everyone

17:58 ↗ involved uh this development agreement

18:00 ↗ would establish a framework that would

18:03 ↗ allow us to finally utilize the vacant

18:05 ↗ property that would complete the isqua

18:07 ↗ highlands in a way that would be

18:09 ↗ beneficial to the community and would

18:11 ↗ help resolve many years of dispute um

18:14 ↗ the the as Gary mentioned the

18:16 ↗ development agreement would also allow

18:17 ↗ us to respond to many of the needs and

18:19 ↗ desires that we've heard from the

18:20 ↗ community over the years um so I'll

18:23 ↗ touch on a few of those um it would

18:26 ↗ allow uh mixed use development that's

18:28 ↗ responsive to Market which has been an

18:30 ↗ issue in the past is is having Market

18:33 ↗ support for the types of development

18:35 ↗ that are desired the majority of the

18:37 ↗ residential buildings would be mixed use

18:40 ↗ with residential units over ground floor

18:42 ↗ commercial which means more shops more

18:45 ↗ restaurants more

18:46 ↗ services we know that the community

18:48 ↗ would love to see um a restaurant that

18:51 ↗ serves breakfast in the isua highlands

18:53 ↗ that was something we heard over and

18:54 ↗ over again we didn't forget and this

18:56 ↗ would allow us to go look for a tenant

18:58 ↗ that could fill that need um it would

19:01 ↗ allow for at least one space that could

19:03 ↗ accommodate an entertainment tenant um

19:06 ↗ which again was something else that we

19:07 ↗ heard a desire for and a need for in

19:09 ↗ isqua

19:10 ↗ Highlands um for mixed use buildings the

19:13 ↗ majority of the parking would be

19:15 ↗ anticipated to be underground which

19:17 ↗ really allows us to focus on making a

19:20 ↗ walkable project that's really focused

19:22 ↗ on The Pedestrian experience and and

19:24 ↗ making it easy for people to get from

19:26 ↗ one use to the other

19:30 ↗ um shelter shelter's property has always

19:33 ↗ had a certain amount of traffic

19:35 ↗ anticipated and already mitigated for um

19:38 ↗ associated with full buildout under the

19:39 ↗ isqua highlands development agreement

19:41 ↗ which shelter is vested to for the new

19:44 ↗ development agreement shelter's traffic

19:46 ↗ Eng engineer looked at how changing that

19:48 ↗ mix of uses on our property from

19:51 ↗ primarily commercial retail to a mixed

19:53 ↗ use

19:54 ↗ development um how that impacts traffic

19:58 ↗ the the traffic analysis was thorough it

20:01 ↗ used updated traffic counts and it found

20:05 ↗ that under the new development agreement

20:08 ↗ it would generate fewer total trips and

20:10 ↗ no significantly different overall

20:12 ↗ impacts than what was allowed and

20:14 ↗ planned for under the isqua highlands

20:16 ↗ development agreement in terms of

20:18 ↗ considering how shelters project fits

20:20 ↗ into the traffic of the broader isqua

20:23 ↗ Community the Citywide traffic modeling

20:26 ↗ maintained by the city assumes full

20:28 ↗ buildout of both the Lakeside property

20:30 ↗ and shelter's

20:31 ↗ property in addition the Lakeside

20:33 ↗ development was factored into the growth

20:36 ↗ rate that we used in the shelter

20:37 ↗ Holdings um traffic

20:40 ↗ analysis this would end up being a

20:42 ↗ Transit oriented development just by

20:45 ↗ proximity to the isqua Highlands Park

20:46 ↗ and Ride um it would also provide some

20:51 ↗ missing connections for trails and Roads

20:54 ↗ um I think you heard about the the

20:56 ↗ connection of the High Street linear

20:59 ↗ Park to Discovery Drive it would also

21:01 ↗ include the extension of federal between

21:03 ↗ 9th and 8th and the extension of 8th

21:06 ↗ between Deer Lane and Discovery uh so

21:09 ↗ overall it's just going to provide

21:11 ↗ stronger pedestrian and bike connections

21:13 ↗ from Swedish Westridge West Highlands

21:15 ↗ Park neighborhoods to both the new and

21:18 ↗ the existing commercial and Retail

21:21 ↗ areas uh it also provides for Community

21:24 ↗ Gathering spaces with possibilities for

21:26 ↗ festival streets and plazas that could

21:27 ↗ be used for community

21:30 ↗ events it provides 40,000 square ft of

21:33 ↗ community wreck space and at the point

21:36 ↗ we get to uh planning that there will be

21:39 ↗ a process for input from the public and

21:42 ↗ and the city on the design of that space

21:45 ↗ and ultimately that space could either

21:46 ↗ be owned by ihca or if they don't want

21:49 ↗ to take title to it then it would be

21:50 ↗ owned by the city um also opportunities

21:54 ↗ for affordable housing and assisted

21:56 ↗ living or senior housing which again

21:58 ↗ were things that we've heard over and

22:00 ↗ over there's a need

22:01 ↗ for and it does not include Self Storage

22:04 ↗ as an allowed use which I know was also

22:07 ↗ some feedback that we've gotten over the

22:09 ↗ years um this this development agreement

22:12 ↗ will result in a development that's

22:14 ↗ consistent with the existing Community

22:16 ↗ uh the development regulations that are

22:18 ↗ in this agreement are based on the

22:19 ↗ regulations that were in the isqua

22:21 ↗ highlands development agreement which is

22:23 ↗ what governed all the rest of the

22:25 ↗ development in isqua Highlands uh but it

22:28 ↗ does have some updates for things like

22:30 ↗ parking storm water management Community

22:33 ↗ spaces all of which will be to the

22:35 ↗ benefit of the community there are no

22:38 ↗ changes to the maximum height on the

22:40 ↗ property and the density and scale are

22:42 ↗ all consistent with what has always been

22:44 ↗ planned for that property under the

22:45 ↗ isqua highlands development

22:47 ↗ agreement um the development agreement

22:50 ↗ does not change anything with respect to

22:52 ↗ ihca the property will still be part of

22:56 ↗ the

22:56 ↗ ihca uh will continue to pay dues and as

22:59 ↗ you heard the design review will be

23:01 ↗ conducted by ihca

23:04 ↗ Arc so we firmly believe that this

23:06 ↗ development agreement is a good outcome

23:09 ↗ for the city the community and shelter

23:11 ↗ Holdings and we thank you for

23:13 ↗ considering

23:20 ↗ it we have heard both from Rachel and

23:23 ↗ the applicant and for any of the

23:24 ↗ information presented does council have

23:26 ↗ any questions

23:32 ↗ what go ahead just a quick question um

23:35 ↗ we received quite a few uh comments and

23:38 ↗ questions from the community can you

23:39 ↗ just talk about how we went about

23:40 ↗ responding to that and if they got an

23:42 ↗ email response with it or or is this

23:45 ↗ their response here the responses are

23:48 ↗ there in the the packet for all comments

23:50 ↗ that we received at least up until about

23:54 ↗ a week ago we did get a few that came in

23:57 ↗ after that that time which we have not

24:00 ↗ yet had a chance to respond to but we

24:01 ↗ will be writing responses to those as

24:05 ↗ well any thank you Deputy council

24:07 ↗ president any other

24:09 ↗ questions I'm going to keep Rachel up

24:11 ↗ there for a second um Rachel there was

24:13 ↗ one comment made in in the application

24:15 ↗ and you are probably the most familiar

24:17 ↗ person uh of all of us with the

24:20 ↗ agreement um the recreational amenity

24:22 ↗ either could be managed by ihca or the

24:25 ↗ city yes okay correct

24:32 ↗ okay last

24:34 ↗ chance not seeing anyone um I will open

24:38 ↗ the public hearing at

24:42 ↗ 654 and this is the opportunity for

24:44 ↗ members of the public to address the

24:46 ↗ council in person or virtually a

24:49 ↗ reminder that comments made under this

24:51 ↗ public hearing are to relate to the

24:53 ↗ proposed development agreement uh this

24:55 ↗ is not the time for General comments we

24:57 ↗ will will have a time for General

24:58 ↗ comments when the city council opens up

25:01 ↗ the committee of the whole Meeting those

25:03 ↗ who have signed up in advance will be

25:05 ↗ called on First and if you're joining us

25:06 ↗ virtually and would like to make

25:08 ↗ comments please raise your virtual hand

25:10 ↗ or send our host a uh message in the

25:13 ↗ chat if you are on the phone please

25:16 ↗ press star three and if you've joined by

25:17 ↗ computer or smartphone there is a hand

25:20 ↗ icon if you are in the room and did not

25:22 ↗ sign up I will ask for other speakers

25:24 ↗ before closing this portion of the

25:26 ↗ meeting so do not worry

25:28 ↗ and for those making comments please

25:29 ↗ remember to address the whole Council

25:32 ↗ and not individuals on the council and

25:33 ↗ while this is not a question and answer

25:35 ↗ session we will contact you to follow up

25:38 ↗ if needed so when you are recognized um

25:41 ↗ please come up if you're in the room to

25:43 ↗ the podium in the center to turn the

25:45 ↗ microphone on uh and if you are um

25:49 ↗ virtual with us there is a there will be

25:51 ↗ a way for you to unmute your microphone

25:53 ↗ state your name address relationship to

25:55 ↗ the city and speak clearly and paused

25:58 ↗ frequently uh please limit your comments

26:00 ↗ to 5 minutes if someone is attending

26:03 ↗ virtually and does not respond after

26:05 ↗ their name or phone number or if the

26:07 ↗ connection is lost unexpectedly the

26:09 ↗ meeting will still need to proceed and

26:10 ↗ you are encouraged to rejoin the meeting

26:12 ↗ if you are able personal attacks obscene

26:15 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

26:16 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

26:18 ↗ permitted public comments written and

26:21 ↗ verbal are an important aspect of the

26:22 ↗ public process and the city takes these

26:24 ↗ comments seriously so we thank everyone

26:27 ↗ who takes the time to address us this

26:29 ↗ evening city clerk can you please

26:31 ↗ identify the first person who has signed

26:32 ↗ up to speak this evening uh yes so uh we

26:36 ↗ have four individuals who've signed up

26:37 ↗ to speak in the room here and at least

26:39 ↗ one virtual attendee we have about a

26:41 ↗ dozen folks with us online tonight the

26:43 ↗ first person signed up is Terren

26:47 ↗ Danish welcome

26:52 ↗ Terren you

26:55 ↗ do there we go thank

26:58 ↗ you good evening Madam mayor good

27:01 ↗ evening council members thank you for

27:03 ↗ taking the time to hear from us the

27:05 ↗ public and interested parties my name is

27:08 ↗ Terry Danish I'm outside Council for

27:10 ↗ Regency centers the developer of the

27:12 ↗ ground rdge Plaza you know that they

27:14 ↗ have a strong interest in what's

27:16 ↗ happening here today um and I want you

27:19 ↗ to understand that we respect the fact

27:22 ↗ that you have gone through a long

27:23 ↗ process with shelter Holdings uh we know

27:27 ↗ what that's like we've gone through that

27:28 ↗ process ourselves many years ago um and

27:32 ↗ we're mainly here to talk about uh those

27:36 ↗ promises and discussions that took place

27:38 ↗ a long time ago at least a decade ago to

27:41 ↗ my client the Regency Center folks and

27:44 ↗ how that um interacts with the proposed

27:48 ↗ development agreement um we know that

27:51 ↗ the city is confined to the decision

27:53 ↗ that was handed down back in August of

27:55 ↗ 2022 by the court of appeals uh but the

27:58 ↗ proposed development agreement at least

28:00 ↗ in our opinion goes beyond that

28:03 ↗ constraint um and we are concerned that

28:07 ↗ some of the proposed design standards

28:08 ↗ are not consistent with those of the

28:10 ↗ original isqua Highlands development

28:12 ↗ agreement that's not something that you

28:13 ↗ heard from the developer shelter

28:16 ↗ Holdings here but I'm going to just

28:18 ↗ touch on that briefly and we can

28:20 ↗ obviously go into more detail at some

28:21 ↗ other time if you invite us to or

28:23 ↗ otherwise um among other things the

28:26 ↗ proposed development agreement is devoid

28:28 ↗ of the density and floor area racial

28:30 ↗ restrictions that are applicable in the

28:33 ↗ uh Highlands development agreement um in

28:37 ↗ fact ultimately as a result of that it

28:39 ↗ creates that imbalance that and and what

28:42 ↗ I might otherwise characterizes

28:44 ↗ unfairness as between what my client

28:47 ↗ Regency uh has done at the Grand Ridge

28:49 ↗ Plaza and was constrained by in the

28:52 ↗ course of the many years of development

28:53 ↗ of that and what is uh now being

28:56 ↗ proposed to uh allow shelter Holdings to

28:59 ↗ proceed with um uh also the development

29:03 ↗ agreement is devoid of some similar

29:06 ↗ height bulk and scale type standards

29:08 ↗ that are applicable to the original

29:11 ↗ development agreement and the property

29:14 ↗ that in this case don't apply allowing

29:16 ↗ for example um 85 foot Heights across

29:21 ↗ the balance of the 20 acre uh parcel

29:24 ↗ without limit that's not something that

29:26 ↗ uh was originally contemplated under the

29:28 ↗ original development agreement and not

29:30 ↗ something that my client was able to

29:32 ↗ benefit from um the Practical effect of

29:35 ↗ that kind of latitude is that shelter is

29:38 ↗ going to be able to develop this

29:40 ↗ property much more

29:41 ↗ intensively uh than their prior

29:44 ↗ neighbors their existing neighbors that

29:47 ↗ uh that are already there um regen

29:51 ↗ c as you know is the major stakeholder

29:55 ↗ in that property uh up on the highlands

29:58 ↗ um I know this quite well because I

30:01 ↗ lived in the uh snami Ridge Neighborhood

30:03 ↗ for 15 years and before the Safeway came

30:06 ↗ there I was always at the the isqua

30:10 ↗ Safeway the issaqua Highland Safeway and

30:12 ↗ patronizing the businesses uh at the

30:15 ↗ grandridge plaza um it's obviously a VI

30:18 ↗ you know that it's a Vibrant Community

30:20 ↗ it's really uh it's really the Envy of a

30:23 ↗ lot of the East Side uh King County

30:26 ↗ communities um but it feels like shelter

30:30 ↗ is kind of uh stepping in to reap the

30:34 ↗ rewards of the investment that Regency

30:36 ↗ has made over the last decade in that

30:39 ↗ property um so with that said really and

30:44 ↗ you will hear from other representatives

30:46 ↗ of Regency and from Safeway tonight

30:49 ↗ briefly uh but what we're really

30:52 ↗ appealing to the uh Council for is an

30:55 ↗ element of partnership here uh Regency

30:58 ↗ would like to partner with the city and

30:59 ↗ with shelter uh in the process going

31:03 ↗ forward um we would like to participate

31:06 ↗ and be allowed to participate and ask

31:08 ↗ for a role in participating in either

31:10 ↗ the Architectural Review Committee or

31:12 ↗ some mechanism that allows for some of

31:17 ↗ that balancing to occur it may not be

31:19 ↗ required as a matter of law but as a

31:22 ↗ matter of equity we feel quite strongly

31:25 ↗ obviously that the investment Regency

31:27 ↗ has made is worth the cities and

31:31 ↗ shelters uh respect and um uh investment

31:36 ↗ in their own time to create that

31:38 ↗ partnership uh so you know our hope is

31:41 ↗ obviously that ultimately what occurs

31:43 ↗ here is as successful as attractive and

31:48 ↗ as welcoming to all as has been the

31:50 ↗ Grand Ridge Plaza uh but we have some

31:53 ↗ concerns as I said that the development

31:55 ↗ standards that allow the shelter

31:58 ↗ Holdings project to go forward under the

32:00 ↗ proposed development agreement uh create

32:02 ↗ an imbalance an unfairness so with that

32:06 ↗ I appreciate your time thank you thank

32:08 ↗ you Terrence that is our five minute

32:11 ↗ buzzer uh city clerk who is uh next Jeff

32:19 ↗ Parker hello good evening um excuse me

32:23 ↗ uh my name is Jeff Parker I'm a senior

32:25 ↗ real estate manager for safe

32:28 ↗ uh uh my address is 1121 124th Avenue

32:32 ↗ Northeast Belleview Washington

32:35 ↗ 98005 the only familiar face I see up

32:38 ↗ here I believe is council member uh

32:40 ↗ Marts who uh was here when I went

32:42 ↗ through my presentations uh many many

32:46 ↗ years ago um we opened our store uh I

32:49 ↗ was the the project manager for Safeway

32:52 ↗ uh for that grand opening uh back in

32:54 ↗ October of 2013 uh I started started my

32:57 ↗ uh interaction uh up in the highlands uh

33:00 ↗ with Port Blakeley probably in 2011

33:03 ↗ maybe 2010 uh and uh developed uh a

33:07 ↗ relationship with them and then

33:09 ↗ eventually uh with uh with Regency

33:11 ↗ centers um we went through a design

33:14 ↗ review uh with uh with the esqua

33:17 ↗ highlands uh and our entitlements uh

33:20 ↗ through the city uh back then uh Safeway

33:23 ↗ made a significant investment uh in in

33:26 ↗ the islands and Grand Ridge Plaza uh

33:30 ↗ along with Regency uh we did a ground

33:32 ↗ lease there so we built the building

33:34 ↗ ourselves uh we we pay rent uh as a as a

33:38 ↗ ground lese up there but uh we we

33:41 ↗ invested millions of dollars in the

33:42 ↗ islands uh under really under the

33:47 ↗ uh the understanding of the development

33:50 ↗ agreement as it was and then uh in my

33:54 ↗ interactions personally with with staff

33:57 ↗ uh the city staff that the development

34:01 ↗ agreement was going to be the rules that

34:03 ↗ everybody was going to play by uh not

34:06 ↗ only then but but in the future and and

34:08 ↗ I understand uh you know what has taken

34:10 ↗ place uh you know subsequently but the

34:14 ↗ the development

34:16 ↗ agreement uh at that time said that the

34:19 ↗ the land on the west side of 9th was was

34:22 ↗ going to be either office or was going

34:25 ↗ to be residential uh and and we invested

34:28 ↗ in our in our store and our uh in in in

34:31 ↗ the community with that understanding

34:34 ↗ and

34:36 ↗ uh it was gr Ridge Plaza was to be the

34:39 ↗ only commercial shopping center uh that

34:42 ↗ we were an anchor of uh for the isqua

34:47 ↗ highlands uh what I what Safeway uh asks

34:51 ↗ is that uh shelter and and their future

34:55 ↗ tenants uh operate under a development

34:57 ↗ agreement that is similar in nature uh

35:01 ↗ to the one that we invested in and that

35:03 ↗ we uh went through uh with the city and

35:07 ↗ and staff uh so that uh what what they

35:12 ↗ are developing and their tenants uh are

35:16 ↗ of of a similar nature to what we

35:18 ↗ invested in and what Regency has

35:20 ↗ invested in thank

35:23 ↗ you thank you Jeff City Clerk who's next

35:26 ↗ up to speak Craig

35:30 ↗ Ry good

35:32 ↗ evening uh my name is Craig Remy um

35:36 ↗ thank you um for allowing me the

35:39 ↗ opportunity to speak tonight um I've

35:41 ↗ been before not everybody here but this

35:44 ↗ group many times over the last 12 years

35:48 ↗ um it's been a while I've gained a

35:50 ↗ little bit of weight and have a lot more

35:52 ↗ gray hair than last time I was in front

35:53 ↗ of you but um I'm going to be very brief

35:57 ↗ um and let you know that we're super

35:59 ↗ excited about Grand Ridge Plaza the all

36:01 ↗ the hard work that went into it uh with

36:04 ↗ the mayor at the time city council UV DC

36:07 ↗ and Jeff Walker I know he he's here

36:08 ↗ today he put a ton of effort into what

36:10 ↗ we did um the association and Sarah and

36:15 ↗ her group were super helpful a Safeway

36:17 ↗ and all of our tenants um the

36:20 ↗ neighborhoods it was a lot of work but

36:23 ↗ it's worth it when I drive through there

36:25 ↗ tonight I'm I don't live up here but but

36:27 ↗ when I come through I'm super proud of

36:29 ↗ what was accomplished by everybody um

36:32 ↗ and it's really important to us as

36:34 ↗ shelter Holdings go forward that that

36:38 ↗ same collaborative effort okay and that

36:40 ↗ same interaction and trying to create

36:43 ↗ something special that fits in with the

36:45 ↗ community that fits in with the

36:47 ↗ development and the ownership and the

36:49 ↗ investment that's already taken place

36:51 ↗ that we maintain that same goal and

36:54 ↗ objective um you know I'll let

36:57 ↗ the the development agreement and what

36:59 ↗ it used to say and what it says today um

37:01 ↗ and what was said to us you know 10 or

37:03 ↗ 12 years ago um that doesn't do us a ton

37:06 ↗ of good right now right what's important

37:09 ↗ to us right now as we go forward is that

37:12 ↗ we're respectful of the investment

37:14 ↗ that's taking place respectful of all

37:16 ↗ the time and effort that has been put in

37:20 ↗ um and and and really find a way to move

37:22 ↗ forward I mean we love to see shelter

37:23 ↗ Holdings go forward and be super

37:25 ↗ successful next store nothing would make

37:27 ↗ it nothing would make us happier but we'

37:30 ↗ like to be we like to make sure that

37:33 ↗ it's in in in in keeping with the rest

37:36 ↗ of the project that we've developed and

37:37 ↗ the rest of the community and if we can

37:39 ↗ accomplish that goal then I think it's

37:41 ↗ going to be awesome thank you very

37:45 ↗ much thank you very much Craig city

37:47 ↗ clerk uh before we move on to the next

37:50 ↗ one uh we do have some folks

37:53 ↗ participating virtually and the chat is

37:56 ↗ a great place place for you to indicate

37:57 ↗ whether or not you have questions or

37:59 ↗ comments that you would like to address

38:02 ↗ so it's not a place to ask a question

38:04 ↗ it's a place to raise your hand so you

38:06 ↗ get put on the speaker list so if you

38:08 ↗ are participating virtually if there's a

38:10 ↗ comment or a question you'd like to ask

38:12 ↗ please raise your hand so that the clerk

38:14 ↗ can add you to the speaker's list thanks

38:17 ↗ and city clerk who's next on our list

38:19 ↗ Kurt

38:25 ↗ utterbach

38:27 ↗ good evening esteemed members of city

38:29 ↗ council mayor staff my name is Kurt

38:32 ↗ utterbach I'm the market officer

38:34 ↗ overseeing Grand Ridge Plaza in the

38:36 ↗ highlands as well as a frequent patron

38:38 ↗ of not only Grand Ridge but also a

38:40 ↗ number of businesses that call isqua

38:42 ↗ home as a proud stakeholder within the

38:45 ↗ city um sorry as a proud stakeholder

38:48 ↗ within the community I want to express

38:50 ↗ my gratitude uh for the city council's

38:52 ↗ ongoing commitment to ensuring the

38:54 ↗ well-being and prosperity of esqua when

38:58 ↗ Regency committed to the developing to

39:00 ↗ developing Grand Ridge Plaza after the

39:02 ↗ Great Recession of 2008 it was the worst

39:04 ↗ economic downturn since the Great

39:07 ↗ Depression there were many unknowns in a

39:09 ↗ high degree of risk that Regency and our

39:12 ↗ partners agreed to take on at the time

39:15 ↗ we were steadfast in the vision laid out

39:16 ↗ by the council committed to building a

39:18 ↗ central meeting place for the community

39:20 ↗ and confident in the relationships we

39:22 ↗ have established with the city of isqua

39:25 ↗ fast forward 12 years later and the

39:28 ↗ Visions set forth by those before us

39:30 ↗ have become a thriving vibrant

39:33 ↗ destination for Gathering shopping

39:35 ↗ dining and

39:36 ↗ entertainment our on our retail lineup

39:39 ↗ includes Dick Sporting Goods Regal

39:41 ↗ Theaters Marshals HomeGoods Ulta and

39:44 ↗ Safeway to name a

39:46 ↗ few in fact a number of these stores

39:48 ↗ rank as top performers in the state of

39:50 ↗ Washington contributing significant

39:53 ↗ significantly to the local

39:55 ↗ economy agency has not only continued to

39:58 ↗ improve on the merchandising mix of the

40:00 ↗ center with the new and Innovative

40:02 ↗ Concepts providing a balance between

40:04 ↗ local and Regional retailers as well as

40:08 ↗ sought after National tenants we also

40:10 ↗ pride ourselves in a partner in being a

40:14 ↗ partner in the

40:15 ↗ community since the beginning of the

40:17 ↗ project we have worked closely with

40:19 ↗ isqua Highlands Community Association

40:22 ↗ and Highlands Council investing in the

40:24 ↗ community year in and year out to bring

40:26 ↗ events such as the holiday Santa Cruz if

40:28 ↗ you guys remember that one where it was

40:30 ↗ a six we initiative of Santa driving in

40:32 ↗ the neighborhood during Co we're here

40:34 ↗ with you Wednesdays also during Co

40:37 ↗ providing meals for local responders

40:40 ↗ assisting the buildout to the of the

40:41 ↗ tech room for the

40:43 ↗ YWCA primary sponsor for light up the

40:46 ↗ lane for the past three years running

40:48 ↗ and most recently step into art at the

40:50 ↗ staircase mural Dedication that I was

40:53 ↗ lucky to be involved with pretty cool it

40:56 ↗ takes a village and with the support of

40:58 ↗ people like Sarah hoie and Lindsay P

41:00 ↗ Pinkston to name a few regeny has been

41:03 ↗ able to connect with the community in a

41:05 ↗ meaningful way our dedication to the

41:07 ↗ residents of the Highlands is aqua

41:09 ↗ community and our customers is who we

41:12 ↗ are not just what we do as the council

41:15 ↗ looks to finalize the development of

41:17 ↗ isqua Highlands I encourage you to

41:19 ↗ continue to include Regency centers as a

41:21 ↗ partner in the growth of the community

41:23 ↗ protecting what was built while building

41:25 ↗ on the vision for the future thank you

41:27 ↗ for your time I really appreciate it

41:29 ↗ thanks very much Kurt um City uh well

41:32 ↗ before we go to online I'd just like to

41:34 ↗ check and see if anybody else in the

41:36 ↗ room would like to address Council this

41:40 ↗ evening not seeing a lot oh de Walker

41:43 ↗ what

41:47 ↗ up good evening everyone I don't

41:50 ↗ normally have notes but I'm getting a

41:52 ↗ little older myself so uh my name is

41:54 ↗ Jeff Walker I've lived here in this

41:56 ↗ Highlands for 25 years I've had six

41:58 ↗ family homes up there my kids were 6 4

42:01 ↗ and one when we moved in they're now now

42:04 ↗ all graduated and married and one even

42:06 ↗ gave me a grandchild recently um I have

42:09 ↗ seen all the growth in es Island uh I

42:11 ↗ even participated in being on the UVC

42:14 ↗ for 19 and a half years um I can't tell

42:18 ↗ you how much time money I've spent at

42:19 ↗ Regency centers over the years and I

42:22 ↗ appreciate what you guys have built and

42:24 ↗ what uh goes on every day over there so

42:27 ↗ um it's all a good thing and we've seen

42:29 ↗ uh businesses come and go the good ones

42:32 ↗ stay the ones that don't do so well move

42:34 ↗ on and that's the natural flow of

42:36 ↗ business and we look forward to that

42:38 ↗ continuing um I was pretty much married

42:40 ↗ to the development agreement um with the

42:43 ↗ with the three uh housing um

42:46 ↗ entitlements I've kind of gotten over

42:48 ↗ that I want to see I know things are

42:49 ↗ different I I want to see things move

42:51 ↗ and I'm very happy that shelter Holdings

42:53 ↗ the city and the community can move

42:55 ↗ forward with something and hopefully

42:57 ↗ benefits everybody um I believe the

42:59 ↗ demand is there for more services retail

43:02 ↗ um and as we've seen as more have

43:05 ↗ emerged over the years the patronage has

43:07 ↗ followed um sometimes LED so I I do

43:11 ↗ think there's an opportunity there you

43:12 ↗ know a rising tide lifts all boats we

43:14 ↗ all know

43:15 ↗ that have I been cut off no there we

43:18 ↗ go

43:20 ↗ um so there are a few holes and I've

43:24 ↗ I've had conversations with uh folks

43:25 ↗ atel

43:26 ↗ and uh many community members about some

43:28 ↗ of these things and I know you know a

43:29 ↗ lot of this but I'm going to put it here

43:31 ↗ in front of you guys as well um I do

43:33 ↗ think we absolutely should take

43:35 ↗ advantage of the space u and the um

43:38 ↗ geography and topography that we have

43:40 ↗ have a rooftop bar restaurant somehow a

43:43 ↗ public place for people to go and enjoy

43:45 ↗ the beautiful scenery that we have here

43:47 ↗ we don't have that today and it's a huge

43:49 ↗ Miss in my opinion uh outdoor spaces

43:53 ↗ with and without weather protection um

43:56 ↗ cities like Paris and London and many

43:58 ↗ others that we know do a great job of

44:00 ↗ having outdoor spaces that um we just

44:02 ↗ don't take advantage of here because we

44:04 ↗ think uh our weather is not good enough

44:06 ↗ there are ways to manage that and I

44:08 ↗ think um everybody here loves the

44:09 ↗ outdoors and we should take advantage of

44:11 ↗ that as well um ample parking we talked

44:15 ↗ about that I love that they're talking

44:16 ↗ about doing underground parking um I

44:18 ↗ would like for people to be able to park

44:19 ↗ in one place and move around uh by foot

44:22 ↗ or bike or skateboard or whatever uh

44:24 ↗ without having to move their car around

44:26 ↗ um I think we need more competitive and

44:29 ↗ complimentary restaurants and services

44:31 ↗ so not just one terak place but maybe

44:35 ↗ some competition I know there are

44:37 ↗ category exclusivity deals that are made

44:39 ↗ and that's fine to some degree but you

44:41 ↗ know if there's ice cream there we

44:43 ↗ should also be able to have yogurt or

44:44 ↗ bubble tea um I just think that we

44:47 ↗ shouldn't restrict too much U because

44:49 ↗ there are a lot of people with different

44:50 ↗ tastes um I would love to see a splash

44:53 ↗ pad for the kids it's not a a a huge

44:56 ↗ um liability and it's a lot of fun for

44:59 ↗ everybody um I'm not a big fan of the

45:01 ↗ outdoor Fitness baces I don't think

45:03 ↗ they've worked all that great um but I

45:05 ↗ also hope and expect that shelter

45:07 ↗ Holdings uh puts as much care and

45:08 ↗ quality into the public and recreational

45:10 ↗ spaces as they do for the revenue

45:12 ↗ generating square footage we've seen a

45:15 ↗ couple instances in the highlands where

45:17 ↗ it's been not an afterthought it's been

45:18 ↗ part of the deal but the effort and the

45:21 ↗ energy hasn't been put into it uh for

45:23 ↗ the final result and I expect that uh

45:25 ↗ shelter will do that

45:26 ↗ and I'm really looking forward to the

45:28 ↗ community surveys and the discussions

45:30 ↗ that are going to take place thank you

45:31 ↗ for your time thanks Jeff uh City I give

45:34 ↗ one more chance in the room if there's

45:36 ↗ anybody else that hasn't spoken that

45:37 ↗ would like to speak please raise your

45:39 ↗ hand city clerk let's go to online do we

45:41 ↗ have any hands raised you know mayor um

45:44 ↗ we have 11 individuals with us as you

45:46 ↗ mentioned they've been posing some

45:48 ↗ questions so we're directing them to our

45:49 ↗ planning staff but I don't see anyone

45:51 ↗ indicating a desire to speak under the

45:53 ↗ hearing thanks city clerk um so just for

45:57 ↗ the the the group that is here today we

45:59 ↗ had many many individuals speaking at

46:02 ↗ our public hearing um representing both

46:05 ↗ retailers residents and others um some

46:08 ↗ of the comments included making sure we

46:10 ↗ weren't being inconsistent with design

46:12 ↗ standards looking for strong

46:14 ↗ Partnerships between the city shelter

46:16 ↗ and those that are already there looking

46:18 ↗ for consistencies in how grandridge um

46:22 ↗ other retail developments were developed

46:25 ↗ uh really wanting to have strong

46:26 ↗ collaboration and success for all um we

46:30 ↗ also heard a little bit about the

46:31 ↗ history of the economic conditions

46:33 ↗ during the deal um during the decades

46:35 ↗ when the original retail was showing up

46:37 ↗ in the area and the relationship between

46:40 ↗ business partners in the community we

46:42 ↗ also heard residents perspective on life

46:44 ↗ in the highlands suggested am amenities

46:46 ↗ to enhance uh promoting weather

46:49 ↗ protection for outdoor spaces believing

46:51 ↗ in retail um competition and like we

46:55 ↗ always hear water

46:56 ↗ features water features are huge it

46:59 ↗ comes up a lot so um thank you all for

47:01 ↗ taking the time and thank you for those

47:03 ↗ attending online uh whether you ask

47:05 ↗ questions or not it's really important

47:07 ↗ I'm sorry we have had one virtual

47:08 ↗ attendee raised their hand let's go for

47:10 ↗ it you're open to that

47:13 ↗ okay all right so uh Maryann I've just

47:16 ↗ made you a panelist so you should have

47:18 ↗ the option to unmute and you can choose

47:20 ↗ to turn your video on as

47:24 ↗ well oh hi can everybody hear me yes we

47:28 ↗ can hi my name is Maryanne I've been

47:31 ↗ living in isqua for almost about five

47:34 ↗ years now and I just had a few questions

47:36 ↗ on this um one thing that the developer

47:40 ↗ was talking about was Community

47:42 ↗ amenities and I just wanted a

47:44 ↗ clarification on community um they

47:47 ↗ talked about having a senior living

47:50 ↗ facility and I kind of just referenced

47:53 ↗ immediately Providence Point which is

47:55 ↗ gated that has some Community amenity

47:58 ↗ features like the tennis courts or a

48:01 ↗ community garden but that's not really

48:02 ↗ accessible for any but for other

48:04 ↗ residents of isqua so I was just

48:06 ↗ wondering what they're referring to as

48:08 ↗ Community if it's the entirety of isqua

48:10 ↗ or just the residence of this

48:13 ↗ development and then the second one I

48:15 ↗ want clarification I wanted was also

48:17 ↗ regarding the retail space if they are

48:21 ↗ looking at small businesses going into

48:23 ↗ these retail areas um just because I see

48:26 ↗ that initiative of isqua loyal going

48:29 ↗ around and if they're making an effort

48:31 ↗ to find um local retailers to occupy

48:35 ↗ those

48:36 ↗ spaces and that was all I had thank you

48:39 ↗ Maran thank you for putting your hand up

48:41 ↗ um we will make sure we do not during

48:44 ↗ the public um hearing actually answer

48:46 ↗ questions but we will have our staff

48:47 ↗ reach out to you on both of these the

48:50 ↗ community amenities and your example of

48:53 ↗ what does it mean for senior living and

48:54 ↗ whether or not it's gated and retail

48:56 ↗ space and small businesses in isqu loyal

48:59 ↗ so if you have not provided your contact

49:01 ↗ information could you do that in the

49:03 ↗ comment area right now so that our city

49:05 ↗ clerk will be able to record

49:07 ↗ it city clerk did you see anyone else on

49:10 ↗ um and thank you Maran did you see

49:11 ↗ anyone else indicating a desired to

49:17 ↗ speak I

49:19 ↗ don't thank you very

49:21 ↗ much city council do you have any

49:23 ↗ objection to my closing the public

49:27 ↗ hearing not seeing any objection hearing

49:30 ↗ none I will close the public hearing at

49:32 ↗ 7:20 and thank all those that came to

49:36 ↗ join us this item of business will be

49:38 ↗ returning to the city council uh on our

49:41 ↗ agenda on November 20th for Action under

49:43 ↗ regular business so thank you all for

49:45 ↗ coming this evening there will be a

49:47 ↗ committee of the whole meeting convening

49:49 ↗ immediately after this meeting we'll

49:51 ↗ take a 5 minute break but we will be

49:53 ↗ using the same virtual WebEx meeting for

49:55 ↗ the committee of the whole and I'm

49:57 ↗ assuming the council would like a 5

49:59 ↗ minute water bathroom break so uh we

50:02 ↗ will adjourn at 7:20 and council

50:05 ↗ president will reconvene few minutes

50:07 ↗ later so this meeting is adjourned at

50:24 ↗ 7:20

56:09 ↗ chance I think we are

56:12 ↗ ready thank

56:14 ↗ you okay welcome everyone

56:19 ↗ wh great welcome everyone I council

56:23 ↗ president Walsh call the November 13th

56:25 ↗ special Committee of the whole meeting

56:28 ↗ to order at 7:26 p.m. as a reminder we

56:32 ↗ continue to have a remote aspect to all

56:34 ↗ of our meetings so we may have staff

56:36 ↗ members community members or even

56:38 ↗ council members participating in

56:41 ↗ tonight's meet meeting remotely though I

56:43 ↗ think we're all here that's good that's

56:46 ↗ good um there are M multiple public

56:49 ↗ comment opportunities at tonight's

56:51 ↗ meeting there is a general public

56:53 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

56:54 ↗ the meeting or you can make comments

56:56 ↗ after the presentation and Council

56:58 ↗ question and answer period on tonight's

57:00 ↗ agenda

57:01 ↗ items members of the public May address

57:04 ↗ council at this time in person or

57:07 ↗ virtually those who signed up in advance

57:09 ↗ to make comments will be called on first

57:11 ↗ if you're joining us virtually and would

57:13 ↗ like to make comments please raise your

57:15 ↗ virtual hand if you're on the phone this

57:17 ↗ will be star three if you're on a

57:20 ↗ computer or smartphone you can look for

57:22 ↗ the hand icon or you can send the host a

57:24 ↗ chat message if you're in the room and

57:27 ↗ did not sign up I will ask for other

57:28 ↗ speakers before closing this portion of

57:30 ↗ the meeting

57:32 ↗ and clerk do we have anyone who has

57:34 ↗ signed up to

57:36 ↗ speak yes okay give me a moment here uh

57:42 ↗ public comments are an important part of

57:43 ↗ the public process we take them

57:44 ↗ seriously and Factor them into the

57:46 ↗ decisions we make please direct comments

57:48 ↗ to the whole Council and not to

57:50 ↗ individuals while this is not a question

57:52 ↗ and answer session we will Conta contct

57:55 ↗ you to follow up if needed when

57:56 ↗ recognized unmute your microphone for

57:59 ↗ virtual attendee or step step up to the

58:01 ↗ lect turn and press the button to light

58:04 ↗ up the microphone state your name

58:06 ↗ address and relationship to the city

58:09 ↗ speak clearly and pause frequently limit

58:12 ↗ comments to 5 minutes if you're

58:14 ↗ attending virtually and do not respond

58:16 ↗ after your name or phone number is

58:18 ↗ called or if your connection is lost

58:20 ↗ unexpectedly the meeting will need to

58:22 ↗ proceeded you're encouraged to rejoin

58:24 ↗ meeting at fa personal attacks obscene

58:27 ↗ language derogatory remarks and

58:29 ↗ disruptive behavior will not be

58:31 ↗ permitted clerk can you identify the

58:34 ↗ first person who has signed up to speak

58:36 ↗ yes Cyrus cron fantastic thank

58:45 ↗ you so uh thank you it's nice to see you

58:49 ↗ and to the whole congratulations to

58:52 ↗ those who had recent victories um

58:57 ↗ as someone who follows current events

58:59 ↗ and as a member of the Jewish Community

59:01 ↗ here in isqua I went to the uh City's

59:05 ↗ website just to explore and see what I

59:08 ↗ saw and there's some interesting

59:10 ↗ findings that I just wanted to bring to

59:12 ↗ your

59:14 ↗ attention there was a community input

59:17 ↗ May of

59:19 ↗ 20121 uh for the school resource officer

59:22 ↗ and there was a student who submitted a

59:24 ↗ comment stating as a member of the

59:26 ↗ Jewish Community I know the struggle of

59:28 ↗ supporting your country publicly and the

59:31 ↗ fear that comes with it fearing hate and

59:33 ↗ discrimination uh the school resource

59:35 ↗ officer program has uh potential to be a

59:39 ↗ great program to allow for safety for

59:41 ↗ all cultures um then I saw that the

59:46 ↗ equity board had a

59:48 ↗ meeting September 6th of

59:51 ↗ 2023 uh recently preh Hamas attack mind

59:55 ↗ you um that's important when you get to

59:57 ↗ the statistics of what the equity board

59:59 ↗ presented in that

1:00:01 ↗ meeting from 2018 to

1:00:05 ↗ 2023 the uh ipd has kept records on hate

1:00:09 ↗ crimes in

1:00:10 ↗ isqua on page 41 of the equity board's

1:00:15 ↗ uh

1:00:16 ↗ deliverable uh the data clearly showed

1:00:19 ↗ that hate crimes against Jews is the

1:00:21 ↗ number one um document set of hate

1:00:25 ↗ crimes in isqua uh ahead of uh the black

1:00:28 ↗ community so I found that data

1:00:31 ↗ interesting it's on page 41 of a

1:00:33 ↗ multi-year study that isqua Police

1:00:36 ↗ Department uh tracked so um I have a

1:00:40 ↗ really good black friend and we talk

1:00:42 ↗ about I have multiple black friends but

1:00:43 ↗ I have one in particular who we have uh

1:00:47 ↗ a deep dialogue about this topic on and

1:00:49 ↗ uh he said you know Cy I'll never forget

1:00:51 ↗ this he said you know Cyrus he goes the

1:00:53 ↗ benefit that you have is that you've got

1:00:54 ↗ your camouflage your white skin and uh

1:00:57 ↗ we as blacks don't have that and that

1:00:59 ↗ just really resonated for me

1:01:02 ↗ [Music]

1:01:05 ↗ um where was I oh the equity Bo the

1:01:09 ↗ equity board in their meeting on

1:01:11 ↗ September 6th stated that they were

1:01:14 ↗ going to be coming to council and the

1:01:15 ↗ city with recommendations on how to

1:01:18 ↗ address um the environment that they've

1:01:22 ↗ researched through the data the city has

1:01:24 ↗ and with Jewish hate crime being the

1:01:26 ↗ number one issue in the city I hope that

1:01:29 ↗ the equity board comes back with strong

1:01:31 ↗ recommendations to support the Jewish

1:01:34 ↗ Community um so what can be done

1:01:37 ↗ immediately and what what are options

1:01:39 ↗ just in in the uh very near future um in

1:01:43 ↗ 2024 May 1st is Jewish Heritage day and

1:01:49 ↗ um maybe a proclamation on that day

1:01:53 ↗ would be appropriate the city has

1:01:55 ↗ submitted proclamations for many many

1:01:57 ↗ other items um yet this might be an

1:02:00 ↗ opportunity for the first time to

1:02:02 ↗ provide uh some recognition of the

1:02:04 ↗ Jewish

1:02:06 ↗ Heritage

1:02:09 ↗ um I think that was everything um I

1:02:12 ↗ appreciate your

1:02:13 ↗ time and

1:02:17 ↗ um I think that's it um oh switching

1:02:20 ↗ topics slightly uh would have been

1:02:23 ↗ awesome if the bik pass had been voted

1:02:26 ↗ in in support because now that issue has

1:02:28 ↗ reared itself again and would have been

1:02:31 ↗ a lot less expensive to have that at the

1:02:34 ↗ time so okay thank you have a good

1:02:37 ↗ evening I press a button here

1:02:40 ↗ or thank you

1:02:43 ↗ Cyrus and do we have anyone else

1:02:46 ↗ indicating a desire to

1:02:50 ↗ speak

1:02:53 ↗ no

1:02:56 ↗ okay great so as a reminder um we really

1:03:01 ↗ do welcome written

1:03:02 ↗ comments any emails just just send them

1:03:05 ↗ our way um you can send a email to all

1:03:09 ↗ seven of us by sending to city council

1:03:12 ↗ at isqua

1:03:14 ↗ w.gov okay so we have two items on our

1:03:18 ↗ agenda tonight we've got ID 1520

1:03:22 ↗ Transportation sales tax public out

1:03:24 ↗ reach summary and idid 1535 amending

1:03:28 ↗ financial management policies for the

1:03:31 ↗ first item we welcome up Andrea Snider

1:03:34 ↗ our Deputy City administrator to talk

1:03:35 ↗ about Transportation sales tax thank

1:03:53 ↗ you

1:04:02 ↗ good evening Council hi I'm Andrea

1:04:04 ↗ Snyder Deputy City

1:04:06 ↗ administrator and uh tonight's topic is

1:04:09 ↗ really an update on the public Outreach

1:04:12 ↗ done to date over the proposed

1:04:14 ↗ Transportation benefit district sales

1:04:23 ↗ tax um so the purpose for this evening

1:04:26 ↗ is to provide a summary on the Outreach

1:04:28 ↗ conducted to date and also confirm next

1:04:31 ↗ steps for the sales tax

1:04:33 ↗ item specifically Direction needed is um

1:04:37 ↗ given the feedback received to date is

1:04:39 ↗ Council comfortable proceeding to a

1:04:41 ↗ public hearing next week on November

1:04:43 ↗ 20th regarding the

1:04:45 ↗ tax a little bit of background uh and

1:04:48 ↗ reminders the the proposed sales tax

1:04:50 ↗ would increase from 10.1% to 10.2 2% so

1:04:54 ↗ that's a

1:04:55 ↗ 0.1%

1:04:57 ↗ increase uh we expect that that increase

1:05:00 ↗ would generate about 2.2 million

1:05:03 ↗ annually uh that Revenue could only be

1:05:06 ↗ spent on Transportation not any other

1:05:09 ↗ type of expenditure it would

1:05:11 ↗ automatically sunset in 10 years without

1:05:13 ↗ Council

1:05:15 ↗ action and this sales tax uh would

1:05:19 ↗ distribute the cost to transportation

1:05:21 ↗ system users not just residents so as

1:05:23 ↗ the city has two main ways of raising

1:05:25 ↗ revenue one is property tax the other is

1:05:28 ↗ sales

1:05:29 ↗ tax this would mean that those who are

1:05:32 ↗ using the transportation system who

1:05:34 ↗ maybe don't live here but are accessing

1:05:36 ↗ goods and services here help pay for the

1:05:38 ↗ system that they're using and it

1:05:40 ↗ wouldn't just put the cost of the

1:05:41 ↗ transportation Network on residents only

1:05:44 ↗ or property owners only for example the

1:05:48 ↗ average individual impact is estimated

1:05:51 ↗ to be about $36 annually

1:05:54 ↗ and uh there hasn't been any evidence of

1:05:57 ↗ impacts to businesses or consumer

1:05:58 ↗ shopping habits for a 0.1% increase in

1:06:02 ↗ isqua or in cities like isqua that we've

1:06:04 ↗ experienced as we've gone around to

1:06:06 ↗ different isqua businesses and have

1:06:08 ↗ asked them for their feedback they also

1:06:11 ↗ haven't provided any feedback on

1:06:13 ↗ concerns about impacts to their

1:06:15 ↗ businesses um with this tax

1:06:19 ↗ proposal a summary of some of the

1:06:21 ↗ stakeholders that we have reached out to

1:06:23 ↗ over the past few months include uh just

1:06:26 ↗ residents at large HOAs businesses uh

1:06:30 ↗ the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown

1:06:32 ↗ isqua Association uh we did focus and

1:06:36 ↗ Target some of the top sales taxpayers

1:06:38 ↗ in isqua specifically uh We've also

1:06:41 ↗ connected with Transportation Advisory

1:06:43 ↗ board members just to name a few of the

1:06:45 ↗ stakeholders that we've reached out

1:06:47 ↗ to how we've reached out to them there's

1:06:50 ↗ been a lot of emails some direct emails

1:06:52 ↗ some newsletter emails we do have a web

1:06:55 ↗ page that's up and running that provides

1:06:57 ↗ a little bit more information about the

1:06:58 ↗ tax that can also collect feedback

1:07:01 ↗ anonymously uh so we've sent out emails

1:07:03 ↗ connecting them with that page uh We've

1:07:06 ↗ also given a number of presentations at

1:07:08 ↗ various events such as the business

1:07:10 ↗ leadership Forum in September uh the

1:07:12 ↗ farmers market Council listening session

1:07:14 ↗ we had information available and staff

1:07:16 ↗ present to be able to answer any

1:07:18 ↗ questions we um also had a presence at

1:07:21 ↗ sammon dayss we've done a chamber board

1:07:23 ↗ presentation

1:07:24 ↗ we've emailed the transportation

1:07:25 ↗ Advisory board members and we also had a

1:07:28 ↗ council listening session last Thursday

1:07:31 ↗ just an example of the types of Outreach

1:07:33 ↗ email and presentations and events we

1:07:35 ↗ have

1:07:37 ↗ conducted and feedback received as of

1:07:39 ↗ 116 so in order to prepare for tonight

1:07:42 ↗ we had to um type this up uh last week

1:07:45 ↗ we have gotten more feedback since then

1:07:48 ↗ that feedback I can provide at a later

1:07:50 ↗ date the public hearing next week for

1:07:53 ↗ example but to to date we have received

1:07:56 ↗ General support from the business

1:07:58 ↗ Community when we've given these

1:08:00 ↗ presentations um we haven't heard a lot

1:08:02 ↗ of opposition from our business

1:08:04 ↗ community at all uh what we have heard

1:08:06 ↗ from the business Community is that it's

1:08:08 ↗ really important that we consider

1:08:10 ↗ keeping tax rates in line with peer

1:08:12 ↗ cities and so as part of this proposal

1:08:15 ↗ isqua would be more in line with cities

1:08:17 ↗ like Kirkland and Auburn at that

1:08:19 ↗ 10.2% U Belleview is also considering

1:08:22 ↗ raising their sales tax and supportive

1:08:25 ↗ transportation and so um we anticipate

1:08:28 ↗ being in line or perhaps even less than

1:08:30 ↗ Belle's tax rate and that was really

1:08:32 ↗ important to the businesses that we

1:08:33 ↗ talked

1:08:35 ↗ to um we have as was included in your

1:08:38 ↗ materials for tonight received so far uh

1:08:41 ↗ eight resident comments that were

1:08:43 ↗ opposed and six resident comments that

1:08:44 ↗ were in favor those are all detailed in

1:08:46 ↗ your packet materials tonight um and

1:08:50 ↗ we've also heard from a couple of our

1:08:52 ↗ residents in those comments that there

1:08:55 ↗ they would support it if the funds were

1:08:57 ↗ applied to pincho or the Northwest

1:08:58 ↗ mamish non-motorized improvements as we

1:09:01 ↗ have uh discussed in the

1:09:05 ↗ past so our recommendation moving

1:09:07 ↗ forward is to proceed to the November

1:09:10 ↗ 20th public hearing at that public

1:09:12 ↗ hearing I can provide a summary of the

1:09:14 ↗ additional feedback we've received over

1:09:16 ↗ the past week um and then um and then we

1:09:21 ↗ would be able to hear more comments of

1:09:23 ↗ the public has additional things to say

1:09:25 ↗ about the sales

1:09:27 ↗ tax so timing and next steps on the tax

1:09:31 ↗ proposal like I said November 20th for

1:09:32 ↗ the public hearing uh and we anticipate

1:09:36 ↗ uh December 4th we're scheduled for a

1:09:38 ↗ City Council vote to approve the tax

1:09:40 ↗ should Council approve the tax then the

1:09:43 ↗ collection of the tax would begin April

1:09:45 ↗ 2024 uh and there would be a subsequent

1:09:48 ↗ budget amendment to account for the new

1:09:49 ↗ revenues and expenditures associated

1:09:51 ↗ with the

1:09:52 ↗ tax

1:09:55 ↗ um again Direction needed are we

1:09:56 ↗ comfortable moving forward to that

1:09:58 ↗ public hearing next

1:10:00 ↗ week and uh otherwise I'm accepting any

1:10:03 ↗ questions you might

1:10:06 ↗ have okay we will start with council

1:10:08 ↗ member

1:10:10 ↗ Joe thank you council president um

1:10:14 ↗ Deputy Administrator

1:10:16 ↗ Snyder um you uh reached out to the

1:10:20 ↗ chamber board on October 20th um as my

1:10:23 ↗ colle colag know I'm the liaison to the

1:10:25 ↗ board from the council um and could you

1:10:29 ↗ go into a little more detail on what you

1:10:31 ↗ heard after you made your presentation

1:10:33 ↗ from the chamber board

1:10:34 ↗ members sure thank you council member um

1:10:37 ↗ we had one of the chamber board uh

1:10:40 ↗ members come out and announce their

1:10:42 ↗ support for the tax saying that these

1:10:44 ↗ investments in transportation are needed

1:10:46 ↗ and would benefit the community um we

1:10:48 ↗ also heard from other chamber board

1:10:50 ↗ members who said that uh generally it's

1:10:53 ↗ hard for businesses to say they really

1:10:55 ↗ support a tax but that the proposal made

1:10:58 ↗ sense um and I think that kind of sums

1:11:01 ↗ up the type of feedback that we heard

1:11:03 ↗ again I think we heard uh business

1:11:05 ↗ Express that it was important to them

1:11:07 ↗ that the tax rate wasn't going to be um

1:11:10 ↗ significantly higher than neighboring

1:11:12 ↗ communities that was really important to

1:11:14 ↗ them those are the general comments we

1:11:16 ↗ received so having that parody with our

1:11:18 ↗ fellow communities was important to them

1:11:21 ↗ and they thought that moving it up by a

1:11:23 ↗ tenth would would reach that kind of

1:11:26 ↗ opportunity right that's right um but

1:11:28 ↗ they were discouraging of additional

1:11:30 ↗ sales tax hikes Beyond uh that 10.2%

1:11:34 ↗ Mark okay and no one at the chamber

1:11:38 ↗ board meeting expressed any uh strong

1:11:42 ↗ opposition to the tax correct okay I

1:11:46 ↗ really appreciate you getting up early

1:11:47 ↗ and going to that meeting um I go to it

1:11:50 ↗ and I'm kind of lonely most of the time

1:11:51 ↗ uh Wally's with me but it was ni nice to

1:11:53 ↗ see you at that meeting as well thank

1:11:55 ↗ you thank you council

1:11:57 ↗ member uh council member Ray that's a

1:12:00 ↗ hard act to follow um so this is pretty

1:12:04 ↗ exciting I I was kind of curious on the

1:12:06 ↗ top 10 sales tax con contributors we

1:12:10 ↗ sent out 10 emails did everybody respond

1:12:13 ↗ to our

1:12:14 ↗ emails uh no not everyone responded I

1:12:18 ↗ think I got about four replies that all

1:12:20 ↗ said thank you very much for this

1:12:22 ↗ information uh we'll let you know if we

1:12:23 ↗ have questions and did they have any

1:12:25 ↗ question they did not okay and did and

1:12:28 ↗ they didn't provide any yay or nay kind

1:12:30 ↗ of comments no and I got no bounce backs

1:12:33 ↗ either so they all seem to have reached

1:12:35 ↗ someone whether or not there was a reply

1:12:38 ↗ okay and then um my second question is

1:12:41 ↗ with the public hearing um on the 20th

1:12:44 ↗ right is there anything we can do to get

1:12:47 ↗ the word out not that um people don't

1:12:51 ↗ haven't heard already and I know you've

1:12:53 ↗ are already tried many channels but it

1:12:55 ↗ would be really nice to have

1:12:57 ↗ um kind of a uh people to know that they

1:13:00 ↗ can come in at least for that public

1:13:02 ↗ hearing and share their their thoughts

1:13:05 ↗ either for or against and so if there's

1:13:07 ↗ a way for us to do some sort of of

1:13:10 ↗ Outreach to get people to come in or

1:13:12 ↗ participate in the web meeting or send

1:13:15 ↗ an email or something but one last push

1:13:17 ↗ to get some more feedback

1:13:19 ↗ um I'm I think I'm be behind the tax and

1:13:23 ↗ everything everything but I was really

1:13:24 ↗ concerned with the public Outreach and

1:13:27 ↗ this you know 14 uh kind of responses

1:13:30 ↗ isn't really out of a town of 40,000

1:13:32 ↗ people isn't a whole lot so anything we

1:13:34 ↗ can do to push to get uh some more

1:13:36 ↗ feedback before the public hearing would

1:13:38 ↗ be really positive in

1:13:40 ↗ my thank you um we certainly can through

1:13:43 ↗ our uh social media or through the um

1:13:47 ↗ City newsletter when we sent the C City

1:13:49 ↗ newsletter out later last week we

1:13:52 ↗ received a few uh additional comments

1:13:54 ↗ that I wasn't able to put in these

1:13:55 ↗ materials tonight just due to the

1:13:57 ↗ publication date um so I can include

1:14:00 ↗ that in the next public hearing that we

1:14:01 ↗ have uh and summarize those comments um

1:14:05 ↗ but we do know we've had uh several

1:14:07 ↗ hundred page clicks I think that was in

1:14:08 ↗ the materials for tonight um so people

1:14:11 ↗ have have seen it uh through the city

1:14:13 ↗ newsletter and other venues they just

1:14:15 ↗ haven't uh been compelled to leave

1:14:18 ↗ comments great thank

1:14:20 ↗ you thank you council member Merz

1:14:24 ↗ couple of questions around the feedback

1:14:25 ↗ that we've received um have we I was

1:14:28 ↗ looking in the packet have we received

1:14:29 ↗ information on rates and in the

1:14:31 ↗ surrounding communities I didn't I

1:14:33 ↗ didn't see it in the pack uh I don't

1:14:35 ↗ believe it was in this packet or

1:14:37 ↗ presentation but it was provided in

1:14:39 ↗ previous presentations on the TBD sales

1:14:42 ↗ taex and it's also on our web page about

1:14:44 ↗ this topic okay um I I asked because one

1:14:47 ↗ of the comments from the community was

1:14:50 ↗ one of our nearby municipalities that

1:14:51 ↗ they claimed had a much lower tax rate

1:14:54 ↗ than

1:14:55 ↗ we so I was curious about the idea that

1:14:57 ↗ we're at Equity with

1:14:59 ↗ running yes um so we are at

1:15:04 ↗ 10.1% we are um I would say within the

1:15:08 ↗ mode of surrounding communities there

1:15:10 ↗ are some communities whose sales tax is

1:15:12 ↗ lower because they're outside of that

1:15:14 ↗ sound transit uh boundary and other um

1:15:18 ↗ uh Regional taxation that occurs uh with

1:15:21 ↗ us and a few other side communities so I

1:15:24 ↗ think you're referencing the Maple

1:15:25 ↗ Valley comment that there's is lower um

1:15:28 ↗ but when we look at cities that we would

1:15:31 ↗ generally consider more of our peers uh

1:15:34 ↗ like Kirkland uh Belleview Redmond Etc

1:15:38 ↗ um we are more in line with those cities

1:15:40 ↗ at 10. 1% currently and then 10.2% we

1:15:45 ↗ would share that with auburn and

1:15:47 ↗ Kirkland and perhaps bellw in the near

1:15:50 ↗ future right uh the second question was

1:15:53 ↗ was one of the things we had heard at

1:15:54 ↗ the listening session was how did we

1:15:57 ↗ come up with $36

1:15:59 ↗ average yes thank you for that and I see

1:16:02 ↗ already our CFO Robert hammood is online

1:16:05 ↗ and and anticipating that question and

1:16:07 ↗ so since he came up with the methodology

1:16:09 ↗ and the estimate I'll refer to our

1:16:15 ↗ CFO thank you Andrea council member

1:16:17 ↗ Marts just also to to touch on Andrew's

1:16:20 ↗ response on the the previous question so

1:16:23 ↗ also the City of Redmond is going they

1:16:25 ↗ just formulated a TBD this year and

1:16:27 ↗ they're exploring this 0.1% sales tax as

1:16:30 ↗ well so biew is Kirkland has already and

1:16:34 ↗ Redmond's looking into it and um some of

1:16:36 ↗ the cities outside of the project area

1:16:39 ↗ of Sound Transit include Maple Valley

1:16:41 ↗ North Bend and Stow kwami so when you're

1:16:42 ↗ looking at those rates they're going to

1:16:43 ↗ be lower because they're outside of it

1:16:45 ↗ um as far as the 36 so we estimated

1:16:49 ↗ approximately $100 per household or 36%

1:16:52 ↗ 36 $6 per individual it's an it's a

1:16:56 ↗ tough number to quantify because

1:16:57 ↗ everybody's spending habits every

1:16:59 ↗ household spending habits is different

1:17:01 ↗ so it's depending on what mix of taxable

1:17:04 ↗ versus non-t taxable items you're buying

1:17:06 ↗ each month but we took the the average

1:17:09 ↗ of the Metropolitan expenditures from

1:17:13 ↗ the Consumer Price Index so Seattle they

1:17:16 ↗ did a 2122 average through the Bureau of

1:17:18 ↗ Labor Labor Statistics and the median

1:17:22 ↗ household expend in the area was

1:17:24 ↗ approximately 92,000 so I use that as a

1:17:26 ↗ starting point and um again that

1:17:30 ↗ information is a couple years old but we

1:17:31 ↗ also pulled down that number when we

1:17:33 ↗ took out um expenditures for rent

1:17:37 ↗ housing and again non you know non-

1:17:39 ↗ taxable items like everyday groceries as

1:17:42 ↗ a percentage of all food categories

1:17:45 ↗ because some food is taxable some is not

1:17:47 ↗ when you go to the grocery store um and

1:17:49 ↗ also gas is not applicable to this tax

1:17:52 ↗ and so we just try to look at again a

1:17:56 ↗ slice of what an average household

1:17:58 ↗ spends per year in a AA and what items

1:18:02 ↗ would be taxable what items would not be

1:18:04 ↗ taxable but again if you make a big

1:18:05 ↗ purchase it's going to be a little

1:18:07 ↗ different but in context like a

1:18:09 ↗ $500 purchase of a TV at Target this

1:18:13 ↗ would be 50 cents because again it's

1:18:15 ↗ 0.1% of that so it' be a 50c increase if

1:18:18 ↗ you bought again $300 worth of Amazon

1:18:21 ↗ products that's an extra 30 Cent

1:18:27 ↗ thanks uh would uh are automobiles

1:18:30 ↗ covered by that so is it at the straight

1:18:32 ↗ up yes automobiles are subject to tax

1:18:34 ↗ correct all right so if you bought a car

1:18:36 ↗ at $40,000 it would be uh

1:18:40 ↗ $400 $40 that's correct $40 yeah there

1:18:43 ↗ we go sry4 $4 thank

1:18:46 ↗ you it's a little different also just

1:18:49 ↗ just a side note on leasing if you're

1:18:50 ↗ leasing a vehicle you're actually paying

1:18:53 ↗ the tax each month on the lease so if

1:18:55 ↗ you have a $500 lease then again it's 50

1:18:58 ↗ cents per

1:19:01 ↗ month okay good questions uh is that

1:19:05 ↗ council member D Michelle

1:19:07 ↗ thanks um so uh Robert um we talked

1:19:12 ↗ about the fact that we're spreading this

1:19:15 ↗ tax burden

1:19:17 ↗ across uh with people who don't live in

1:19:20 ↗ isqua it's people who are passing

1:19:21 ↗ through and spending money here have we

1:19:23 ↗ taken that into account in that formula

1:19:26 ↗ oh okay that's that's another piece of

1:19:29 ↗ information that people might want to

1:19:31 ↗ know the formula itself again we're just

1:19:34 ↗ trying to say what's the impact and

1:19:36 ↗ again the other question mark to that

1:19:37 ↗ impact is how much of our own residents

1:19:39 ↗ in isqua spending inside of the

1:19:41 ↗ community we're assuming because isqua

1:19:43 ↗ is a retail Hub they're spending a bulk

1:19:46 ↗ of it but again say a resident of isqua

1:19:50 ↗ spending one weekend a month shopping at

1:19:53 ↗ Belleview Square of course we're not

1:19:54 ↗ going to get that that sales tax back to

1:19:56 ↗ isqua so it's not an exact science um so

1:20:00 ↗ again it's about $100 per household in

1:20:02 ↗ the city or $36 per

1:20:04 ↗ person that would be the same if

1:20:07 ↗ somebody was coming outside is again

1:20:09 ↗ it's looking at people's spending habits

1:20:12 ↗ and compared to that now outside it

1:20:14 ↗ might be a little higher if somebody's

1:20:16 ↗ making say they're going to Best Buy and

1:20:18 ↗ they're making all their Electronics

1:20:19 ↗ purchases in the city of isqua they're

1:20:21 ↗ making all their furniture purchases at

1:20:24 ↗ Costco or something like that or our

1:20:26 ↗ furniture stores in the city so they

1:20:28 ↗ might actually be spending more than

1:20:30 ↗ some of our residents that they're just

1:20:31 ↗ coming into iser Big Ticket items that

1:20:33 ↗ makes

1:20:38 ↗ sense okay Deputy council president

1:20:42 ↗ Hull um thank you so um we've always

1:20:45 ↗ talked about uh this Revenue tool as a

1:20:47 ↗ way to

1:20:48 ↗ find specific projects right so

1:20:51 ↗ Northwest samamish Road non-motorized

1:20:52 ↗ improvements and the IT plan

1:20:54 ↗ implementation so when we consider um

1:20:57 ↗ the adoption of the revenue tool none of

1:20:59 ↗ that is tied

1:21:00 ↗ into what we're adopting right that

1:21:03 ↗ would that come at a later budget

1:21:04 ↗ amendment that's correct that would come

1:21:06 ↗ during the budget amendment uh this

1:21:09 ↗ because this is a council manic uh

1:21:12 ↗ process we and this when Council votes

1:21:16 ↗ uh to approve or not to approve we don't

1:21:17 ↗ need to necessarily dedicate the

1:21:19 ↗ revenues at that moment of time towards

1:21:22 ↗ certain expens expenditures they can

1:21:24 ↗ only be spent on Transportation um but

1:21:26 ↗ that would come at a later time when we

1:21:28 ↗ uh go through the budget process and the

1:21:30 ↗ budget amendment

1:21:35 ↗ process okay and just a question for me

1:21:38 ↗ um can you talk through timeline so if

1:21:41 ↗ someone still wants to give a comment

1:21:44 ↗ how long do they have and then if we are

1:21:47 ↗ looking and potentially adopt this on

1:21:50 ↗ the November 20th when does it go into

1:21:52 ↗ effect and when does the revenue start

1:21:54 ↗ to come

1:21:56 ↗ in great question so if somebody wants

1:21:59 ↗ to provide comments great way to do that

1:22:01 ↗ would be go to our web page and look up

1:22:04 ↗ Transportation sales tax and that will

1:22:06 ↗ take you to the web page where they can

1:22:09 ↗ submit their comments

1:22:10 ↗ anonymously um they could also of course

1:22:12 ↗ write to city council at any time as you

1:22:14 ↗ mentioned earlier in the meeting today

1:22:16 ↗ from now through December 4th when

1:22:18 ↗ council is scheduled to vote on this so

1:22:21 ↗ they can come before the hearing next

1:22:23 ↗ week um but they can do that anytime

1:22:25 ↗ between now and December 4th we are

1:22:27 ↗ accepting comment um should Council

1:22:30 ↗ approve of this tax then uh it would

1:22:33 ↗ start to be applied uh in April April of

1:22:37 ↗ 2024 so then we would start to see those

1:22:40 ↗ collections in the subsequent months uh

1:22:42 ↗ after

1:22:46 ↗ April okay I think we have had time to

1:22:50 ↗ ask our question and answer answer

1:22:53 ↗ period um at this time I will open

1:22:56 ↗ public comments and see if anyone would

1:22:59 ↗ like to make

1:23:01 ↗ comments

1:23:03 ↗ no okay

1:23:08 ↗ fantastic I would agree with having the

1:23:11 ↗ sales TX can you start with your name

1:23:13 ↗ and your relationship to the city thank

1:23:15 ↗ you my name is Linda Timone I live in

1:23:18 ↗ the issaqua highlands and um I would

1:23:22 ↗ support the sales

1:23:24 ↗ tax that's

1:23:26 ↗ all well thank you appreciate an

1:23:28 ↗ audience member and I will check in with

1:23:31 ↗ our Clerk and see if we have anyone

1:23:33 ↗ online indicating a desire to speak we

1:23:36 ↗ still have a few virtual attendees but

1:23:38 ↗ none indicating a desire well as usual I

1:23:41 ↗ will say you can always send us an email

1:23:43 ↗ we read them all city council at ISA

1:23:46 ↗ w.gov okay so um is there any other

1:23:52 ↗ comment commentary that anyone wants to

1:23:54 ↗ make we'll start with council member

1:23:57 ↗ hunt thank you thank you for the

1:23:59 ↗ information tonight for the um public

1:24:02 ↗ hearing on this topic I think it would

1:24:04 ↗ be helpful to give information about the

1:24:07 ↗ projects that we've talked about um

1:24:11 ↗ potentially being funded by this I know

1:24:12 ↗ that we won't be deciding that at at

1:24:14 ↗ that exact moment but the council will

1:24:16 ↗ be the future decision makers on that

1:24:19 ↗ and I think it would be helpful to hear

1:24:20 ↗ about those projects um and it will

1:24:23 ↗ better inform the community about that

1:24:26 ↗ about those projects if we provide more

1:24:27 ↗ information um than was provided in this

1:24:29 ↗ presentation tonight also when I was

1:24:32 ↗ reading through the comments that have

1:24:34 ↗ been Pro provided so far as would make

1:24:36 ↗ sense the people who are supportive are

1:24:38 ↗ often supportive specifically because of

1:24:41 ↗ projects that they would really like to

1:24:42 ↗ see that would improve their their

1:24:44 ↗ quality of life and and their ability to

1:24:46 ↗ get around town and so um I think to

1:24:49 ↗ support that part of the conversation

1:24:50 ↗ just providing more information about

1:24:52 ↗ what we've discussed in the past for

1:24:54 ↗ those projects including the pinch Point

1:24:57 ↗ non-motorized connection to the south

1:24:59 ↗ lake samamish neighborhood that would be

1:25:00 ↗ helpful thank

1:25:02 ↗ you great uh council member D

1:25:05 ↗ Michelle um thank you uh yeah the the

1:25:08 ↗ feedback is is sparse and it's it's

1:25:11 ↗ somewhat disappointing it's hard to know

1:25:13 ↗ whether people didn't respond because

1:25:15 ↗ they're just fine with the information

1:25:17 ↗ like the 168 who went on the website and

1:25:20 ↗ looked at it and we only had 14 and

1:25:22 ↗ actually commented did the others not

1:25:25 ↗ respond to it because well that's okay

1:25:28 ↗ you know uh I don't have to respond

1:25:30 ↗ because this looks okay to me it's

1:25:32 ↗ really hard to read what the public

1:25:33 ↗ wants from from those comments and I did

1:25:36 ↗ notice that um several of the ones that

1:25:39 ↗ were opposed uh were not clear that we

1:25:42 ↗ could only spend this tax money on

1:25:45 ↗ Transportation um so again I think that

1:25:48 ↗ uh we can emphasize that fact as well I

1:25:52 ↗ want to a plus one uh council member

1:25:53 ↗ Ray's comment that we need to um really

1:25:57 ↗ uh see if we can uh uh inform the public

1:26:01 ↗ a lot about this hearing um that's

1:26:02 ↗ coming up and I was thinking that maybe

1:26:05 ↗ on the isqua ins slider we could it

1:26:07 ↗ could be the like the banner topic uh if

1:26:11 ↗ we could ask Thomas rush to make it a

1:26:13 ↗ big deal on The isqua Insider that goes

1:26:17 ↗ out that perhaps we can get more

1:26:19 ↗ commentary but uh yeah it is it is dis

1:26:22 ↗ pointing but then on the other hand um

1:26:24 ↗ you certainly have tried to outreach to

1:26:26 ↗ a lot of people and uh again sometimes

1:26:29 ↗ people don't comment because they're

1:26:31 ↗ just okay with their proposal so um if

1:26:35 ↗ we could do another big push uh then uh

1:26:38 ↗ I think that would be great and I I am

1:26:40 ↗ comfortable going forward with the

1:26:41 ↗ hearing on the

1:26:44 ↗ 20th thank you uh Deputy council

1:26:47 ↗ president Hall thank you um thanks for

1:26:50 ↗ all your work on this uh Deputy City

1:26:51 ↗ administ

1:26:52 ↗ uh I haven't heard anything I disagree

1:26:54 ↗ with yet um you and I have talked about

1:26:56 ↗ this before but I have found that

1:27:00 ↗ community members in particular uh

1:27:02 ↗ really appreciate understanding the full

1:27:04 ↗ Arc of where this has come from starting

1:27:07 ↗ with the mayor's Capital Finance

1:27:08 ↗ Community task force all the work that

1:27:10 ↗ went into that and the recommendations

1:27:12 ↗ that bubbled out of that group um so I

1:27:15 ↗ wonder if that context could be included

1:27:18 ↗ in in the public hearing presentation I

1:27:20 ↗ if you think that the presentation for

1:27:23 ↗ the public hearing it's too long I

1:27:25 ↗ understand but I do think that that's an

1:27:26 ↗ important piece of information um about

1:27:29 ↗ this because um we went through a very

1:27:32 ↗ long process to get to where we are um

1:27:35 ↗ it included uh stakeholders from all

1:27:37 ↗ over the city um but the task force and

1:27:40 ↗ the city council and the mayor and the

1:27:42 ↗ administration all thought it was still

1:27:44 ↗ a priority to continue to collect public

1:27:47 ↗ input on on the proposal rate so I think

1:27:50 ↗ it's important um to make sure that we

1:27:51 ↗ have that context in there um I'm also

1:27:54 ↗ disappointed that we don't have more um

1:27:56 ↗ engagement but it's always difficult um

1:27:59 ↗ people have very busy lives and we have

1:28:01 ↗ to be able to balance moving forward

1:28:04 ↗ with with collecting as much input and

1:28:05 ↗ engagement as we possibly can as well um

1:28:08 ↗ I am happy to to hear that part of that

1:28:10 ↗ quote that you had that but the tax

1:28:13 ↗ proposal makes sense that seems like a

1:28:16 ↗ success to me that we did our homework

1:28:18 ↗ right if it makes sense to you and maybe

1:28:20 ↗ it is that people are going going to the

1:28:22 ↗ website and seeing that okay my leaders

1:28:25 ↗ did their homework and they showed up

1:28:26 ↗ and and they did this right and if

1:28:28 ↗ that's the case then I'm really happy

1:28:29 ↗ about that but I agree I think maybe a

1:28:31 ↗ last minute um push just in case anyone

1:28:33 ↗ wants to comment on it would be great um

1:28:36 ↗ and again um it seemed like from the

1:28:38 ↗ comments and also from our most recent

1:28:41 ↗ listening session there's um some uh

1:28:45 ↗ concern bubbling up that maybe the city

1:28:47 ↗ isn't budgeting By Priority in terms of

1:28:50 ↗ well if transportation is the top

1:28:51 ↗ priority why aren't we we dedicating

1:28:52 ↗ Capital dollars to that first and we do

1:28:55 ↗ so I I think it's important for us to be

1:28:57 ↗ able to highlight not necessarily part

1:28:58 ↗ of this process but this is just general

1:29:00 ↗ feedback for the administration um ways

1:29:02 ↗ to talk to the community about how we

1:29:04 ↗ have this huge bucket of um that we have

1:29:07 ↗ to fund with regard to legal

1:29:08 ↗ requirements and safety improvements and

1:29:11 ↗ regular maintenance which leaves us very

1:29:14 ↗ little left over to make meaningful

1:29:16 ↗ progress on what continues to Bubble Up

1:29:18 ↗ on the community service so finding a

1:29:20 ↗ new way to be able to talk about that

1:29:22 ↗ genuinely with the community um seems

1:29:25 ↗ like an important takeaway but yeah I'm

1:29:26 ↗ ready to move forward

1:29:29 ↗ with council member

1:29:31 ↗ Mars as the uh second council member of

1:29:35 ↗ the Capital Finance Community task force

1:29:37 ↗ I'd like to plus one um providing some

1:29:40 ↗ more of context from the Capital Finance

1:29:43 ↗ Community task force because um what's

1:29:46 ↗ one of the things that's important for

1:29:47 ↗ the public to understand is that the

1:29:49 ↗ task force came up with a sort of raft

1:29:53 ↗ of things to do uh raft of potential re

1:29:57 ↗ Revenue mechanisms some of which were

1:29:59 ↗ short-term some of which were

1:30:00 ↗ medium-term and some of which were

1:30:02 ↗ long-term and this is really only one

1:30:04 ↗ element of that raft and there's a

1:30:06 ↗ there's a bunch of other stuff in there

1:30:08 ↗ so I think it's important um you know I

1:30:10 ↗ I I think

1:30:11 ↗ that task force was was super valuable

1:30:14 ↗ but I really want the public to

1:30:16 ↗ understand when this comes up that it's

1:30:17 ↗ part of a larger conversation and a

1:30:19 ↗ larger uh set of tools that we have in

1:30:22 ↗ front of us that we will be continuing

1:30:24 ↗ to work on in

1:30:29 ↗ this

1:30:31 ↗ okay do you have what you need on this

1:30:34 ↗ one I do thank you very much okay

1:30:38 ↗ fantastic so looking back at our agenda

1:30:42 ↗ um we will now move on to ID 1535 uh

1:30:46 ↗ amending financial management policies

1:30:48 ↗ presented by Rachel Bender Turpin our

1:30:50 ↗ City attorney

1:30:52 ↗ thanks Rachel hello

1:30:57 ↗ again I'm very excited to talk to you

1:31:00 ↗ this evening about another project I've

1:31:02 ↗ been working on for a solid

1:31:07 ↗ year um for the record Rachel Bender

1:31:10 ↗ Turpin City attorney and tonight I want

1:31:12 ↗ to talk about uh proposed amendments to

1:31:15 ↗ the city's financial management

1:31:20 ↗ policy ready for the next next slide

1:31:22 ↗ whenever thank you the purpose of

1:31:25 ↗ tonight's uh discussion is so that I can

1:31:27 ↗ solicit feedback from this group to

1:31:30 ↗ incorporate into the proposed amendments

1:31:33 ↗ to the financial management policy that

1:31:35 ↗ we've been working on for over year at

1:31:38 ↗ this

1:31:40 ↗ point we the direction needed is um is

1:31:44 ↗ essentially just that feedback um at

1:31:46 ↗ this point and then we'll be back at the

1:31:49 ↗ meeting in in December with an an

1:31:51 ↗ updated version for the council to look

1:31:54 ↗ at and take action on next slide

1:31:57 ↗ please little background on the

1:31:59 ↗ financial management policy uh the city

1:32:02 ↗ council adopts the financial management

1:32:04 ↗ policy to provide guidance to staff

1:32:07 ↗ officials and to set internal controls

1:32:09 ↗ and oversight over the city's Financial

1:32:13 ↗ transactions The Current financial

1:32:15 ↗ management policy was uh adopted in 2017

1:32:19 ↗ and then it was subsequently amended in

1:32:21 ↗ January AR 2020 September 2021 and then

1:32:25 ↗ March and April of

1:32:31 ↗ 2022 as I mentioned this has been a long

1:32:35 ↗ process um I believe that the slide may

1:32:39 ↗ even be incorrect I think thinking back

1:32:41 ↗ it on it this afternoon I think we

1:32:43 ↗ actually started in September or October

1:32:46 ↗ of 2022 but we started with some uh a

1:32:50 ↗ multi departmental working group that we

1:32:54 ↗ brought together um after I had been in

1:32:56 ↗ the role for almost almost a year and

1:33:00 ↗ had noticed a lot of on my own various

1:33:05 ↗ issues with um staff being able to

1:33:08 ↗ clearly interpret portions of the

1:33:11 ↗ financial management policy and coming

1:33:13 ↗ to me for um help with that and

1:33:16 ↗ myself seeing that there were areas

1:33:19 ↗ where I thought maybe we could better

1:33:20 ↗ clarify or uh set different or clear

1:33:26 ↗ standards so I decided Well I've seen

1:33:30 ↗ these issues I know Finance has seen

1:33:31 ↗ some of these issues let's get a whole

1:33:34 ↗ group of representatives from every

1:33:36 ↗ Department together and just ask for

1:33:39 ↗ kind of the laundry list of what what

1:33:41 ↗ are the issues that you have with

1:33:45 ↗ Contracting and procurement primarily

1:33:47 ↗ but we addressed a few other things in

1:33:49 ↗ the financial management policy as well

1:33:51 ↗ well uh things like roadblocks to

1:33:55 ↗ efficiency things like consistency with

1:33:57 ↗ other policies and codes I I get a lot

1:34:02 ↗ of there's a lot of areas of confusion a

1:34:04 ↗ lot of places where we have to make

1:34:06 ↗ interpretations because the financial

1:34:09 ↗ management policy may speak to certain

1:34:11 ↗ types of procurements or contracts but

1:34:13 ↗ not all and so then we have to kind of

1:34:15 ↗ guess where in the policy uh certain

1:34:19 ↗ types of agreements would fall

1:34:22 ↗ we met multiple times um as a group I

1:34:26 ↗ think I'll talk about that later but we

1:34:27 ↗ also reviewed signing thresholds for

1:34:30 ↗ neighboring jurisdiction so we tried to

1:34:32 ↗ look and see you know what was out there

1:34:34 ↗ for uh our our friends and neighbors

1:34:37 ↗ around the around the area I called in

1:34:39 ↗ some favors with other City attorneys I

1:34:41 ↗ knew to get me their their financial

1:34:43 ↗ management policies when they didn't

1:34:44 ↗ have them online and we reviewed

1:34:48 ↗ multiple iterations of this document

1:34:52 ↗ which is why I'm I do not know how I

1:34:54 ↗ didn't catch the typos that council

1:34:56 ↗ member D Melle so kindly caught for me

1:34:59 ↗ I've read it so many times I think they

1:35:01 ↗ must have just Blended in and then um

1:35:04 ↗ after we'd meet as a group we would go

1:35:06 ↗ back and uh the kind of the main working

1:35:09 ↗ group of this was myself Natalie McNab

1:35:13 ↗ our contract and procurement specialist

1:35:16 ↗ and then we got a lot of help from our

1:35:18 ↗ amazing City Clerk and uh Genie Justice

1:35:22 ↗ our administrative services manager and

1:35:25 ↗ we would go back and we would you know I

1:35:28 ↗ would write I would take the input that

1:35:30 ↗ I received in the large group meeting

1:35:33 ↗ and then I would write something and run

1:35:34 ↗ it past the smaller group first to make

1:35:36 ↗ sure that it made sense to someone other

1:35:38 ↗ than me and then we would meet as a

1:35:40 ↗ larger group again for everyone to

1:35:42 ↗ review the documents so we did this

1:35:43 ↗ several times over the last year next

1:35:47 ↗ slide

1:35:49 ↗ please and uh we came up up with some

1:35:52 ↗ proposed amendments based on that work

1:35:54 ↗ and so I'm going to go through with you

1:35:57 ↗ what um my current recommendation is for

1:36:00 ↗ you to consider and for you to weigh in

1:36:02 ↗ and give your own Direction on my

1:36:05 ↗ recommendation is that we adopt

1:36:08 ↗ standardized signing thresholds for all

1:36:10 ↗ contract types currently we have

1:36:14 ↗ currently it's a little bit unclear uh

1:36:17 ↗ we have one and it's difficult for staff

1:36:19 ↗ to administer we have an amazing cheat

1:36:22 ↗ sheet that we that staff use that is

1:36:25 ↗ really informative and explains what is

1:36:28 ↗ needed for each particular type of

1:36:31 ↗ contract however that document doesn't

1:36:35 ↗ match up perfectly to what is in the

1:36:38 ↗ financial management policy and the

1:36:39 ↗ financial management policy actually

1:36:41 ↗ only touches a certain segment of the

1:36:45 ↗ types of contracts that we look at so

1:36:50 ↗ you know we have different currently

1:36:51 ↗ have different signing authorities for

1:36:53 ↗ for instance Public Works contracts

1:36:56 ↗ versus Professional Services

1:36:59 ↗ contracts

1:37:00 ↗ and where you find those thresholds can

1:37:03 ↗ be different in different places and

1:37:05 ↗ that's just causing a lot of confusion

1:37:07 ↗ for staff and it also causes a lot of

1:37:09 ↗ questions to come up as you know it it

1:37:12 ↗ makes us make a lot of judgment calls

1:37:13 ↗ what is a professional service exactly

1:37:16 ↗ is a photographer Professional Service

1:37:18 ↗ or are we only going to look at people

1:37:19 ↗ who have you know licenses or some sort

1:37:21 ↗ of specialized education like that um

1:37:26 ↗ there there were I don't love vagueness

1:37:28 ↗ and ambiguity it's not like generally a

1:37:31 ↗ a thing that

1:37:32 ↗ lawyers lawyers love and um those types

1:37:36 ↗ of questions just kept coming up places

1:37:38 ↗ where it was ambiguous and where places

1:37:41 ↗ where it was there was room to be

1:37:43 ↗ ambiguous and I thought it was

1:37:45 ↗ preferable to set just standard

1:37:48 ↗ thresholds rather than trying to on a

1:37:51 ↗ one oneoff basis figure out where each

1:37:53 ↗ contract fits

1:37:55 ↗ in overall I didn't change the the

1:37:59 ↗ signing thresholds I used essentially

1:38:01 ↗ what we what's already what we already

1:38:04 ↗ have for Professional

1:38:07 ↗ Services I'm just suggesting we use that

1:38:10 ↗ for all of the and you're and I see a

1:38:14 ↗ quizzical look because this doesn't

1:38:16 ↗ match what's in the financial management

1:38:18 ↗ policy there is a table in there and I

1:38:20 ↗ think that table is an error because

1:38:24 ↗ there are other places in the document

1:38:27 ↗ that actually have for instance the city

1:38:30 ↗ administrator signing threshold up to

1:38:32 ↗ 999,000 but I do think that the table

1:38:34 ↗ doesn't have that

1:38:36 ↗ so there's a lot of weird little issues

1:38:40 ↗ here that I think we can address through

1:38:42 ↗ this update such as making sure that we

1:38:45 ↗ all do know what the actual delegated

1:38:48 ↗ signing thresholds are for all types of

1:38:50 ↗ contracts

1:38:51 ↗ I'm going to pause for a question from

1:38:53 ↗ council member marks yeah um thank you I

1:38:58 ↗ thought uh that the threshold between

1:39:00 ↗ mayor and city council was $200,000 or

1:39:03 ↗ thereabouts is that not

1:39:05 ↗ correct it it

1:39:08 ↗ for let me look at the current policy

1:39:12 ↗ here for Professional Services I do know

1:39:16 ↗ that this is this is correct for Public

1:39:20 ↗ Works

1:39:27 ↗ Robert do you happen to have that up by

1:39:28 ↗ any

1:39:32 ↗ chance give me just a

1:39:40 ↗ second I believe in the marked up

1:39:43 ↗ ordinance it shows the old chart um

1:39:46 ↗ showing 100,000 to 349,000

1:39:51 ↗ mhm so that that's on page 12 of the

1:39:54 ↗ merked up

1:40:08 ↗ document now my screen's too

1:40:13 ↗ small when you get there can you clarify

1:40:16 ↗ if there's a red line through the middle

1:40:18 ↗ of it which I'd assume meant red line to

1:40:20 ↗ the full t cuz then there's a new table

1:40:22 ↗ below it there is that is correct yes

1:40:25 ↗ that's just how it showed up on track

1:40:26 ↗ changes I'm looking at the cheat sheet

1:40:29 ↗ which was pulled from multiple sources

1:40:31 ↗ so I can't tell you exactly where each

1:40:33 ↗ of these came from but in that cheat

1:40:36 ↗ sheet it looks like the count

1:40:39 ↗ the mayor's Authority

1:40:45 ↗ for equipment Goods supplies and

1:40:48 ↗ materials purchase General services

1:40:51 ↗ Professional

1:40:54 ↗ Services is are all um from 100,000 to

1:40:59 ↗ 349,000 I think where it may start to

1:41:03 ↗ differ is with

1:41:07 ↗ um with public

1:41:12 ↗ works

1:41:14 ↗ and Architectural and

1:41:17 ↗ engineering and that's where the cheat

1:41:19 ↗ sheet starts to get a little bit

1:41:20 ↗ confused

1:41:22 ↗ thank

1:41:24 ↗ you right I think we can go to the next

1:41:26 ↗ slide Tisha thank you the proposal would

1:41:30 ↗ also clarify that a contract is budgeted

1:41:33 ↗ if funds for the expenditure were

1:41:35 ↗ appropriated in the banal budget and the

1:41:38 ↗ contract would not exceed available fund

1:41:40 ↗ balances the reason for this is the

1:41:43 ↗ language as is I I got a lot of

1:41:45 ↗ questions about it many all every week

1:41:48 ↗ pretty much of what does it mean for for

1:41:50 ↗ it to be budgeted because as you all

1:41:52 ↗ know our budgets are we don't have line

1:41:54 ↗ item budgets that specify each

1:41:57 ↗ particular procurement and so that it

1:42:00 ↗ just became a um a real question for

1:42:03 ↗ folks so if even if this is not the

1:42:06 ↗ definition we want to go with I would

1:42:08 ↗ like to have some sort

1:42:11 ↗ of clarity regarding what it something

1:42:14 ↗ means to be budgeted so that staff know

1:42:18 ↗ because there they not there isn't going

1:42:19 ↗ to be a specific line it our budget

1:42:22 ↗ document doesn't get as detailed where

1:42:24 ↗ you know x amount is appropriated for

1:42:27 ↗ this type of this particular contract so

1:42:31 ↗ we need to have some way for folks to

1:42:35 ↗ know what that

1:42:38 ↗ means it would also establish signing

1:42:41 ↗ authorities for various types of

1:42:43 ↗ contracts that are not addressed so

1:42:46 ↗ right now the types of contracts I get

1:42:48 ↗ questions about almost daily

1:42:51 ↗ are things like

1:42:53 ↗ easements

1:42:54 ↗ leases Aid affidavits of ownership which

1:42:58 ↗ the council gets to see on a regular

1:42:59 ↗ basis because there are things that we

1:43:01 ↗ sign that just

1:43:03 ↗ say yes we own this property and we're

1:43:06 ↗ okay with our tenant applying for a

1:43:09 ↗ permit you know things like that where

1:43:10 ↗ you're we're just certifying that we own

1:43:12 ↗ the property uh these are things that

1:43:15 ↗ settlement agreements these are things

1:43:17 ↗ that we do from time to time they

1:43:19 ↗ they're just the policy is is just

1:43:21 ↗ silent on them and that then again

1:43:23 ↗ leaves us in a position where we have to

1:43:26 ↗ just guess as to which category they

1:43:28 ↗ would fall into or we just bring it all

1:43:31 ↗ forward to council which results in some

1:43:34 ↗ crowded

1:43:36 ↗ meetings uh the proposal would also

1:43:38 ↗ allow contract terms up to three years

1:43:41 ↗ that's based on staff feedback that it's

1:43:45 ↗ difficult to do many of the projects

1:43:50 ↗ that we contract for within two years

1:43:53 ↗ and so we were getting into the issue of

1:43:57 ↗ constantly having amend contracts which

1:44:00 ↗ is another thing that the that the

1:44:02 ↗ policy does is it provides significantly

1:44:06 ↗ more clarity regarding when amendments

1:44:08 ↗ are appropriate and also when they are

1:44:10 ↗ not appropriate because once again we

1:44:12 ↗ don't want people entering into serial

1:44:14 ↗ contracts where they can just continue

1:44:16 ↗ to um contract past you know a curement

1:44:21 ↗ threshold or past assigning threshold

1:44:23 ↗ just because they're you know extending

1:44:25 ↗ a contract or adding something to the

1:44:27 ↗ scope of

1:44:28 ↗ work next

1:44:33 ↗ slide like I just said it require or it

1:44:36 ↗ provides clarity about when contracts

1:44:38 ↗ can be Amendment amended a frequent

1:44:41 ↗ thing that I get is requests to amend

1:44:44 ↗ contracts that have expired to extend

1:44:46 ↗ the date well once the contract's

1:44:48 ↗ expired there's no contract to extend

1:44:50 ↗ you just have to do a new contract so

1:44:52 ↗ the policy gets into things like that it

1:44:55 ↗ also has an accompanying lengthy

1:44:58 ↗ contract manual that I drafted to give

1:45:00 ↗ even further detail to staff on uh

1:45:04 ↗ issues like this and descriptions of the

1:45:07 ↗ types of contracts uh so that people

1:45:09 ↗ have a better idea because sometimes you

1:45:11 ↗ know the difference between interlocal

1:45:13 ↗ agreement and just a general inter

1:45:15 ↗ agency agreement can be really you know

1:45:17 ↗ it can be tough for folks to understand

1:45:20 ↗ that

1:45:21 ↗ the policy authorizes Finance to audit

1:45:24 ↗ all departmental contracts for

1:45:26 ↗ compliance with the financial man

1:45:27 ↗ management policy and our procurement

1:45:30 ↗ requirements this is arguably something

1:45:32 ↗ that Finance could do regardless but I

1:45:35 ↗ thought it was important to include

1:45:36 ↗ specific language in there so that we

1:45:39 ↗ don't get into a territorial dispute

1:45:42 ↗ with between departments now it's very

1:45:44 ↗ clear that Finance has that Authority

1:45:47 ↗ and in fact that that job that's their

1:45:49 ↗ responsibility to do that and therefore

1:45:52 ↗ other directors won't feel like um

1:45:54 ↗ finances meddling in their business it's

1:45:57 ↗ just part of the process it also revises

1:46:00 ↗ the city's competitive procurement

1:46:02 ↗ requirements to match up with to what's

1:46:05 ↗ found in state law and also the already

1:46:08 ↗ existing IMC chapter

1:46:11 ↗ 3.7 I believe trying to piece together

1:46:16 ↗ uh the pieces here that I think folks

1:46:18 ↗ may have forgotten

1:46:20 ↗ that IMC 3.7 existed because it actually

1:46:24 ↗ has pretty detailed procurement

1:46:28 ↗ um laws in it that are based on state

1:46:31 ↗ law but they are different from what we

1:46:34 ↗ are operating under for instance like

1:46:36 ↗ what we have in in the cheat sheet and

1:46:38 ↗ even some of the requirements that are

1:46:40 ↗ set forth in the financial management

1:46:42 ↗ policy so I think maybe when in 2017

1:46:45 ↗ when folks worked on the financial

1:46:46 ↗ management policy I just think maybe

1:46:48 ↗ that 3.70 was not on everyone's radar

1:46:53 ↗ so it was on mine and so I am also going

1:46:57 ↗ to be proposing some amendments to that

1:46:59 ↗ chapter as well that match up to what

1:47:03 ↗ we're doing with the financial

1:47:05 ↗ management policy

1:47:06 ↗ and clarify the language in the chapter

1:47:09 ↗ because it really is it's not I can see

1:47:11 ↗ why it was confusing to staff because it

1:47:14 ↗ it it's not super well drafted the way

1:47:16 ↗ it is so it will essenti clarify what

1:47:21 ↗ the existing chapter is all what it

1:47:25 ↗ already says just so that everyone

1:47:28 ↗ really knows what their procurement

1:47:30 ↗ responsibilities

1:47:32 ↗ are next slide

1:47:36 ↗ please another thing that came up a lot

1:47:39 ↗ was grants get a lot of requests from

1:47:42 ↗ staff uh does this grant have to go to

1:47:45 ↗ council and sometimes these are very

1:47:47 ↗ small grants as you've probably noted so

1:47:50 ↗ so this would authorize administrative

1:47:52 ↗ acceptance of Grants I proposed $100,000

1:47:56 ↗ of course this is your policy you can

1:47:58 ↗ decide whatever you want but um I think

1:48:01 ↗ it would be advisable to have some sort

1:48:04 ↗ of administrative

1:48:06 ↗ approval level in the policy so that

1:48:09 ↗ some of these small grants can be taken

1:48:12 ↗ through quickly uh often there are short

1:48:15 ↗ deadlines with these and they're

1:48:18 ↗ probably quite frankly some things that

1:48:21 ↗ that the council um would be better

1:48:25 ↗ spending other time on on other things

1:48:28 ↗ some of these really small ones some of

1:48:30 ↗ them don't even have

1:48:31 ↗ matches another uh thing that it does is

1:48:34 ↗ it revise our Surplus asset language to

1:48:37 ↗ make it consistent with the city's

1:48:40 ↗ Surplus real property policy that we

1:48:43 ↗ adopted last year well there's a few

1:48:45 ↗ things or I think earlier this year

1:48:47 ↗ there are a few things in it that needed

1:48:50 ↗ to be changed in the financial

1:48:53 ↗ management policy to match there's a

1:48:55 ↗ couple things that I think once again

1:48:57 ↗ folks just they were just oversight

1:48:59 ↗ errors um incorrect statutes that were

1:49:03 ↗ cited in that section you know ones that

1:49:05 ↗ apply to the state not

1:49:08 ↗ municipalities and um a little bit of

1:49:11 ↗ confusion regarding the requirements for

1:49:13 ↗ when you need to do a public hearing for

1:49:16 ↗ utility

1:49:17 ↗ property this would also delegate author

1:49:20 ↗ to the mayor to administratively accept

1:49:23 ↗ donations so right now as per state law

1:49:26 ↗ the city council has to adopt or has to

1:49:29 ↗ accept donations by ordinance this would

1:49:32 ↗ often in many cities they pass an

1:49:34 ↗ ordinance that provides for some level

1:49:37 ↗ of administrative acceptance of gifts

1:49:40 ↗ this would allow for administrative

1:49:43 ↗ acceptance of of No Strings Attached

1:49:46 ↗ donations as well as donations that are

1:49:49 ↗ earmarked for use by certain city

1:49:53 ↗ programs as long as the donation is not

1:49:56 ↗ is not so restrictive that it can't be

1:49:57 ↗ used for basically any equipment items

1:50:01 ↗ or expenses that are related to that

1:50:03 ↗ program this specifically came up um

1:50:06 ↗ with a from the parks department this

1:50:09 ↗ last last few months actually because

1:50:12 ↗ Microsoft would like to te and Microsoft

1:50:14 ↗ employees would actually like to team up

1:50:16 ↗ with the city and be able to make

1:50:18 ↗ donations that Microsoft then match is

1:50:20 ↗ to the green isqua program but

1:50:23 ↗ currently the way the financial

1:50:25 ↗ management policy is written even for

1:50:28 ↗ you know small donations made on a

1:50:30 ↗ one-off basis like that we'd have to go

1:50:32 ↗ to council to get approval for each of

1:50:34 ↗ them which is is frankly it's it's

1:50:37 ↗ disincentivizing people to give um my

1:50:40 ↗ experience has been if people can't just

1:50:42 ↗ give it to you and they have to go wait

1:50:44 ↗ through for an ordinance process by the

1:50:46 ↗ time it they don't want to give it to

1:50:47 ↗ you any longer so I think you know

1:50:50 ↗ especially for things where there are no

1:50:53 ↗ strings or the strings are something

1:50:55 ↗ that are manageable within our um with

1:50:58 ↗ our resources then I think that it would

1:51:00 ↗ be nice to be able to take those gifts

1:51:03 ↗ uh more

1:51:05 ↗ efficiently next slide

1:51:07 ↗ please so we have multiple options for

1:51:10 ↗ you this evening you could adopt the

1:51:13 ↗ proposed amendments that as recommended

1:51:16 ↗ which you know our staff group has put

1:51:18 ↗ together but please you know we're here

1:51:20 ↗ for your feedback you can adopt

1:51:22 ↗ different amendments to the financial

1:51:23 ↗ management policy you can also just say

1:51:26 ↗ you don't want to touch this at all and

1:51:28 ↗ not adopt any amendments but that will

1:51:30 ↗ make me sad so I hope that we can at

1:51:32 ↗ least clean up some of these

1:51:34 ↗ things next

1:51:36 ↗ slide um my recommendation is that we

1:51:40 ↗ forward the proposed amendments to the

1:51:44 ↗ financial management policy for

1:51:45 ↗ consideration and approval at the

1:51:48 ↗ December 4th meeting and of course we

1:51:50 ↗ can include any edits in that document

1:51:53 ↗ as

1:51:55 ↗ well uh as far as next steps uh between

1:51:59 ↗ in the next couple weeks I'll be putting

1:52:01 ↗ together the final document uh and an

1:52:03 ↗ ordinance approving the the new

1:52:06 ↗ financial management policy for you to

1:52:08 ↗ take a look at and consider on December

1:52:13 ↗ 4th so with that um this is the

1:52:16 ↗ direction I am looking for and I will

1:52:19 ↗ open it up for questions and directives

1:52:22 ↗ from you thank you great so questions

1:52:26 ↗ first uh Deputy council president Hull I

1:52:29 ↗ do have a question thank you um so on

1:52:33 ↗ one of the proposal slides that talks uh

1:52:36 ↗ the granting Grant slide um it allows

1:52:40 ↗ the mayor to accept grants of up to

1:52:43 ↗ $100,000 right yes correct without

1:52:46 ↗ Council approval so one side of that is

1:52:49 ↗ definitely

1:52:50 ↗ um it takes a little bit less off off

1:52:53 ↗ our plate right or more off our plate

1:52:56 ↗ and and allows for the more timely

1:52:58 ↗ acceptance of of those dollars so we can

1:52:59 ↗ expend those the other side of that

1:53:00 ↗ right is that we are a check to make

1:53:02 ↗ sure we're not accepting more money than

1:53:05 ↗ we can actually

1:53:06 ↗ expend I'm not saying that's going to

1:53:09 ↗ happen but is is that something we can

1:53:11 ↗ track is there any is is that an easy

1:53:13 ↗ way to would there be an easy way of

1:53:15 ↗ identifying that that's a problem if it

1:53:17 ↗ is if we need to make amendment in the I

1:53:19 ↗ would believe so because that the grants

1:53:21 ↗ will still have to be overseen by our uh

1:53:24 ↗ finance department and our CFO Robert

1:53:26 ↗ hamud so there will still be an analysis

1:53:30 ↗ of of that sort of thing whether the

1:53:32 ↗ city you know does it does it fall

1:53:34 ↗ within the city's strategic plan and

1:53:36 ↗ mission and goals policies and Is it

1:53:40 ↗ feasible is this something we can spend

1:53:42 ↗ or is this going to be you know a waste

1:53:44 ↗ of time I mean it's not fair to anyone

1:53:46 ↗ including the other people applying for

1:53:47 ↗ Grants if we're taking grants that we

1:53:49 ↗ can't

1:53:50 ↗ utilize the funds for Robert do you have

1:53:53 ↗ more to add to that you'd be more in the

1:53:55 ↗ Weeds on that than

1:53:57 ↗ me yeah we do just to understand the the

1:54:00 ↗ question we

1:54:02 ↗ do we do monitor these grants and

1:54:04 ↗ actually we have a process internally

1:54:06 ↗ where you know I'm I'm evaluating my

1:54:09 ↗ staff's

1:54:10 ↗ evaluating um those applications so

1:54:13 ↗ there's an approval process where I'm

1:54:15 ↗ looking to you know agree to proceed to

1:54:18 ↗ to look at those those funds and so

1:54:20 ↗ actually the City attorney is also in

1:54:21 ↗ that

1:54:26 ↗ strain okay do we have any other

1:54:31 ↗ questions okay uh council member hunt

1:54:34 ↗ think it's a quick question um In the

1:54:36 ↗ comparison to the other cities it seemed

1:54:38 ↗ to me that they did have those

1:54:40 ↗ Department specific like Belle had

1:54:42 ↗ Public Works and actually all of the

1:54:44 ↗ examples I think had these you know

1:54:45 ↗ public works at a different um amount

1:54:48 ↗ and the other

1:54:50 ↗ um departments had uh the same designes

1:54:53 ↗ but a different amount so I know you're

1:54:56 ↗ recommending and we previously did have

1:54:58 ↗ that as well right we had some different

1:55:00 ↗ departments with different amounts that

1:55:01 ↗ they could um authorize uh so I'm

1:55:05 ↗ wondering if you could explain a little

1:55:06 ↗ bit more you you said you did consider

1:55:09 ↗ what other cities were doing and I'm

1:55:10 ↗ wondering if you can explain a little

1:55:11 ↗ bit more why we would go a different

1:55:13 ↗ route than the other cities that you

1:55:15 ↗ looked

1:55:17 ↗ at I I think that you're I know I noted

1:55:20 ↗ that as well and I thought that was

1:55:21 ↗ interesting because in my experience

1:55:23 ↗ working in multiple jurisdictions I'd

1:55:26 ↗ say most do not have separate limits so

1:55:31 ↗ I was surprised to see that our

1:55:32 ↗ neighbors do for the most part I think

1:55:36 ↗ it's really an issue of Staff

1:55:40 ↗ confusion we we can do whatever we want

1:55:44 ↗ however when we don't follow our own

1:55:46 ↗ process that's where we start to get

1:55:47 ↗ issues with an auditor and so my concern

1:55:51 ↗ having different signing thresholds for

1:55:54 ↗ different types of contracts is one we

1:55:56 ↗ get into that issue of having to

1:55:58 ↗ determine what type of contract each

1:56:01 ↗ thing is and it's very easy to say

1:56:03 ↗ something is a public works contract

1:56:05 ↗ generally it's probably easy to say

1:56:07 ↗ something is a a purchase of simple

1:56:11 ↗ supplies it gets really tricky when we

1:56:14 ↗ have something that's maybe a

1:56:16 ↗ combination of service and supply or a

1:56:20 ↗ combination of um something other than

1:56:24 ↗ you know you other than public works but

1:56:27 ↗ two different types of we we get a lot

1:56:29 ↗ of um for instance software contracts

1:56:32 ↗ maybe that part of it is the the product

1:56:35 ↗ but part of it is the Professional

1:56:37 ↗ Service which which do which do we apply

1:56:41 ↗ and we have to sort of decide on a

1:56:42 ↗ caseby casee basis and we also get the

1:56:44 ↗ question of what is a Professional

1:56:46 ↗ Services agreement that comes up

1:56:48 ↗ routinely because

1:56:50 ↗ you know the the distinction there is no

1:56:52 ↗ real legal distinction between a

1:56:54 ↗ Professional Services agreement and a

1:56:56 ↗ Services agreement other than we can of

1:56:58 ↗ course pull out Public Works Services

1:57:01 ↗ because those are very those are

1:57:02 ↗ separate they are defined by the statute

1:57:05 ↗ there there really isn't a legal

1:57:07 ↗ definition in the RCW or the IMC that we

1:57:10 ↗ can rely on for those others and so then

1:57:12 ↗ we end up getting into position where

1:57:15 ↗ we're kind of trying to infer what the

1:57:19 ↗ council would have wanted on each one

1:57:20 ↗ and I I just think it's cleaner

1:57:24 ↗ to have one set of rules that everyone

1:57:27 ↗ memorizes and then we hold them

1:57:29 ↗ accountable to

1:57:33 ↗ those okay any other

1:57:38 ↗ questions okay we get another moment for

1:57:41 ↗ public comment should anyone in the room

1:57:44 ↗ or

1:57:46 ↗ online uh I'm seeing a a headshake maybe

1:57:50 ↗ not contributing to this one but let's

1:57:52 ↗ see do we have anyone online who is

1:57:54 ↗ indicating desire to speak they have all

1:57:56 ↗ dropped off oh okay well then I think

1:58:01 ↗ we're good on that so let's move to uh

1:58:04 ↗ deliberation feedback all of that who

1:58:07 ↗ wants to

1:58:09 ↗ start council member Ray um thanks um

1:58:13 ↗ Rachel thanks for uh uh waiting through

1:58:16 ↗ this this is no small Creek to go

1:58:18 ↗ through this is like gu quad Creek

1:58:20 ↗ during the flood period um so there are

1:58:24 ↗ a couple things that I think are really

1:58:26 ↗ important just generally and one is

1:58:28 ↗ around streamlining operations so I I

1:58:30 ↗ get that and reducing ambiguity I get

1:58:32 ↗ that um that makes perfect sense to me

1:58:34 ↗ and we don't want the council to be a

1:58:36 ↗ roadblock or a barrier to getting stuff

1:58:38 ↗ done so that all makes good sense to me

1:58:41 ↗ um but I'm dealing with something um

1:58:43 ↗ that deals with sort of what are

1:58:44 ↗ reasonable checks and at what level do

1:58:45 ↗ we need to have those reasonable checks

1:58:47 ↗ and then also um have having things of a

1:58:50 ↗ certain level come to council um

1:58:52 ↗ provides public visibility which we

1:58:54 ↗ would not get if every if this is done

1:58:56 ↗ kind of administratively so I'm I'm

1:58:58 ↗ concerned about

1:59:00 ↗ that um most of the financial items that

1:59:03 ↗ do come to council are on consent so

1:59:05 ↗ it's not like it's a major burden for us

1:59:07 ↗ to to deliberate um all of these

1:59:10 ↗ contract things they go through very

1:59:11 ↗ quickly so a I don't think it's um I

1:59:14 ↗ don't think it's a a burden for this

1:59:16 ↗ body to to deal with those and I don't

1:59:18 ↗ think it should be major

1:59:20 ↗ um um

1:59:23 ↗ delay while we we kind of respond to

1:59:26 ↗ that so I'm not sure that those are big

1:59:28 ↗ deals but I I um I'm I am the two things

1:59:32 ↗ that I really want us to focus on are

1:59:35 ↗ are um there's a certain amount of

1:59:37 ↗ diligence that goes into putting

1:59:39 ↗ something in the packet and how are we

1:59:41 ↗ going to ensure that we still go through

1:59:42 ↗ that same diligence um and that people

1:59:45 ↗ are um have the same level of

1:59:46 ↗ seriousness if we reduce the threshold

1:59:48 ↗ for

1:59:49 ↗ what comes to council so that's got to

1:59:51 ↗ be built into that and so I guess you

1:59:53 ↗ know if I really uh listen to myself for

1:59:57 ↗ just a second and I I boil this down to

1:59:59 ↗ two things it's how do we provide

2:00:01 ↗ visibility and how do we ensure

2:00:03 ↗ diligence and because what we're doing

2:00:05 ↗ in many of these things is upping the

2:00:06 ↗ Threshold at which point something could

2:00:09 ↗ be dealt with

2:00:10 ↗ administratively um so I I like the

2:00:13 ↗ goals I appreciate what's been um what's

2:00:15 ↗ been done but I don't know that I feel a

2:00:18 ↗ whole 100% comfortable um adjusting

2:00:21 ↗ thresholds unless I saw how we were

2:00:23 ↗ going to have public visibility and

2:00:25 ↗ better

2:00:26 ↗ D that's all I

2:00:28 ↗ got that brings up a question for me um

2:00:33 ↗ do we have a sense

2:00:35 ↗ what percentage of our financial

2:00:38 ↗ decisions that would this policy would

2:00:41 ↗ apply to fall into the category of

2:00:44 ↗ Public Works versus everything else I'm

2:00:48 ↗ trying to get at the concept of hey if

2:00:50 ↗ we had two different sets

2:00:54 ↗ and of you know metrics that we were

2:00:58 ↗ looking at previously and we're choosing

2:01:02 ↗ the larger amount for everything now how

2:01:06 ↗ does that apply to what percentage of

2:01:09 ↗ our

2:01:11 ↗ decisions my what I've what I've seen is

2:01:15 ↗ that this would mostly affect nonpublic

2:01:20 ↗ Works

2:01:21 ↗ contracts the Public Works contracts at

2:01:23 ↗ least for the large capital projects are

2:01:25 ↗ all going to be well over anyone's

2:01:28 ↗ signing Authority this might affect some

2:01:32 ↗ of the smaller contracts that you're

2:01:35 ↗ seeing where folks pulled from the small

2:01:38 ↗ Works roster though you know little

2:01:40 ↗ little things like that I mean last

2:01:42 ↗ week um several that came across my desk

2:01:46 ↗ were like an $88,000 light pole

2:01:48 ↗ replacement you little things like that

2:01:51 ↗ I would would be you know our public

2:01:53 ↗ works but I think the vast majority of

2:01:56 ↗ these are other types of contracts but

2:01:58 ↗ Robert I see his turned his camera on do

2:02:00 ↗ you have more to that you can add to

2:02:03 ↗ that I think that the best way to answer

2:02:05 ↗ this and and council president Walsh

2:02:07 ↗ this is something that we were we were

2:02:08 ↗ really evaluating internally and um we

2:02:10 ↗ can get back to on the actual statistics

2:02:13 ↗ I mean it changes obviously every year

2:02:15 ↗ depending on our volume of capital

2:02:17 ↗ projects or volum you but the the one

2:02:19 ↗ area and I know Rachel touched on the

2:02:21 ↗ city administrator tpin excuse me City

2:02:23 ↗ attorney Turpin touched on it a little

2:02:25 ↗ bit in her presentation is um it so just

2:02:29 ↗ a few years

2:02:30 ↗ ago um an it say just a Microsoft

2:02:34 ↗ license wasn't considered a contract but

2:02:36 ↗ now it actually is and so we have

2:02:38 ↗ software for service contracts and we

2:02:40 ↗ have um just a large amount I think and

2:02:44 ↗ again U we can get back to with the

2:02:45 ↗ specific number but it's it's several

2:02:47 ↗ dozen each year that come up for Renewal

2:02:50 ↗ so that's part of the volume is is

2:02:52 ↗ higher on some of those kind of small to

2:02:55 ↗ middle end contracts that come up and

2:02:57 ↗ again especially on the software for

2:02:59 ↗ service side that's really a growth area

2:03:02 ↗ and so this is one one item that why the

2:03:05 ↗ thresholds were what we said and again

2:03:07 ↗ we had a lot of discussion internally on

2:03:09 ↗ it was specifically those contracts

2:03:11 ↗ because we're getting so many more than

2:03:12 ↗ we have in the

2:03:14 ↗ past okay so I I think what I'm still

2:03:19 ↗ either going to want more information on

2:03:22 ↗ or trying to get a handle on is just the

2:03:26 ↗ sense of what's the scope of decisions

2:03:30 ↗ that

2:03:32 ↗ fall you know everything that falls

2:03:34 ↗ above 350 was going to come to us anyway

2:03:37 ↗ so really what we're talking about is

2:03:39 ↗ the difference between

2:03:41 ↗ decisions financial decisions between

2:03:44 ↗ 100,000 and

2:03:46 ↗ 350,000 and trying to get a sense of is

2:03:50 ↗ that one 100 or 100,000 decisions that

2:03:54 ↗ happen every year um to understand this

2:03:57 ↗ right relative scope of that okay anyway

2:04:01 ↗ we'd be happy we'll get back to you with

2:04:02 ↗ that information yeah no appreciate it

2:04:04 ↗ sorry just had to go into question

2:04:07 ↗ period um continuing on with feedback

2:04:10 ↗ deliberation any comments that anyone

2:04:13 ↗ wants to bring

2:04:17 ↗ up council member

2:04:20 ↗ hunt uh under this page 10 um where

2:04:25 ↗ there's language about accepting um that

2:04:29 ↗ designated people can accept um

2:04:33 ↗ materials there's two conditions so one

2:04:35 ↗ is funds have been appropriated by the

2:04:37 ↗ city council in the banal budget and the

2:04:39 ↗ contract does not require expenditures

2:04:40 ↗ that exceed available fund balance and

2:04:43 ↗ um the second one is the expenditure is

2:04:45 ↗ consistent with the city's goals and

2:04:47 ↗ policies I think think um it would help

2:04:50 ↗ me if it were clear that they're they're

2:04:53 ↗ budgeted for the specific use that is

2:04:55 ↗ intended just to make it you know that

2:04:57 ↗ there's a project in or a line item in

2:05:00 ↗ the banal budget which as you said it

2:05:02 ↗ could be more General than that specific

2:05:04 ↗ part of the project that is covered by

2:05:06 ↗ the contract but it should still be able

2:05:08 ↗ to be tied back to Something in the

2:05:11 ↗ budget um and support that and then I

2:05:14 ↗ thought it would be helpful for me if

2:05:17 ↗ you could consider Gra language like

2:05:19 ↗ that for the donations um so the

2:05:21 ↗ donations right now it says I think

2:05:23 ↗ something a little bit softer about it

2:05:26 ↗ being um aligned with City policies but

2:05:30 ↗ I think it should still be used for a

2:05:34 ↗ project that is something that the city

2:05:36 ↗ is um that the council has approved

2:05:40 ↗ because otherwise I can imagine there

2:05:42 ↗ could be lots of donations for something

2:05:44 ↗ that is outside of the scope of the

2:05:46 ↗ budget um so I thought I may not be the

2:05:49 ↗ exact same wording but that similar idea

2:05:52 ↗ could be helpful on that just so I make

2:05:54 ↗ sure I do the I think that's actually an

2:05:56 ↗ excellent idea and I'd like that

2:05:57 ↗ language to really match up in both

2:05:59 ↗ those sections do would you want that

2:06:02 ↗ though for the general donations that

2:06:05 ↗ can be used for any Municipal purpose if

2:06:07 ↗ there's no restriction on the budget

2:06:10 ↗ item or project or program and you can

2:06:13 ↗ just use it anywhere you want would you

2:06:17 ↗ still want to make sure that there was

2:06:19 ↗ some relation to a

2:06:22 ↗ particular program in other

2:06:25 ↗ words would you still want to accept

2:06:28 ↗ General donations where they it's rare

2:06:30 ↗ that we get something honestly that they

2:06:32 ↗ say you can use this for whatever you

2:06:33 ↗ want go plan your departmental party but

2:06:37 ↗ you know well I um I would still be in

2:06:41 ↗ favor of accepting General donations I

2:06:44 ↗ think that those would probably be easy

2:06:46 ↗ to tie back to something that the city

2:06:49 ↗ is already doing because you would but

2:06:52 ↗ again that would be helpful to have

2:06:53 ↗ language in there that that's what that

2:06:54 ↗ General yep donation would do thank

2:06:59 ↗ you and now I have more

2:07:02 ↗ questions um so if someone wanted to

2:07:05 ↗ donate a park bench or money for you

2:07:10 ↗ know planting trees or anything like

2:07:13 ↗ that it would adding a clarification

2:07:16 ↗ that it has to be something that we have

2:07:18 ↗ a specific budgeted around if we don't

2:07:21 ↗ have a specific budget for say donation

2:07:24 ↗ park

2:07:25 ↗ benches would we be able to still

2:07:28 ↗ accept the donation I believe that the

2:07:32 ↗ way we've written it currently would

2:07:35 ↗ allows us

2:07:37 ↗ [Music]

2:07:39 ↗ to accept that let me look at what way

2:07:43 ↗ yeah and I guess I'm more saying if we

2:07:45 ↗ make a change to say that donations must

2:07:49 ↗ be aligned with a budget item my concern

2:07:53 ↗ is we can't predict you

2:07:57 ↗ know maybe there is a natural disaster

2:08:00 ↗ emergency that comes up and people want

2:08:03 ↗ to donate for something that would

2:08:07 ↗ address that I I don't want to put a

2:08:09 ↗ barrier in place and so right I like the

2:08:14 ↗ idea of alignment we have a bench

2:08:17 ↗ donation yes I no I know and and I was

2:08:21 ↗ really I was trying to pull out concepts

2:08:24 ↗ of maybe somebody comes up with a really

2:08:26 ↗ good idea for a donation that we would

2:08:30 ↗ all be excited for but if we don't

2:08:33 ↗ already have

2:08:35 ↗ a budget item so the way it's currently

2:08:41 ↗ worded it would only allow

2:08:43 ↗ administrative acceptance of donations

2:08:47 ↗ for a

2:08:50 ↗ specific project or program that is

2:08:53 ↗ already the city is already doing so if

2:08:56 ↗ it was something for you know an

2:08:58 ↗ entirely new idea we would have to come

2:09:01 ↗ back to council for that but if it was a

2:09:04 ↗ donation to you know I'm trying to think

2:09:06 ↗ of something other than a green isqua

2:09:09 ↗ but you know because we specifically

2:09:12 ↗ tried to make it a little open with that

2:09:14 ↗ thought in mind cuz one one you know

2:09:16 ↗ we've had green is AAL come up so my

2:09:19 ↗ original draft actually just had a

2:09:21 ↗ specific section for green isqua we

2:09:23 ↗ changed it to be program specific

2:09:26 ↗ donations because you're right there may

2:09:28 ↗ be other programs that people want to

2:09:32 ↗ help with but it wouldn't allow someone

2:09:35 ↗ to basically create a new program for

2:09:37 ↗ you because that's your job not theirs

2:09:40 ↗ got it got it okay uh council member D

2:09:43 ↗ Michelle so just to get into the Weeds

2:09:45 ↗ on the Park Bench program um there you

2:09:49 ↗ know there it is a program where there

2:09:51 ↗ is no budget line item for it because

2:09:54 ↗ it's dependent completely on donations

2:09:57 ↗ and so it does raise a good question of

2:10:00 ↗ uh you know the wording there has to be

2:10:02 ↗ really clear if it's a program or

2:10:05 ↗ project that we already support in terms

2:10:07 ↗ of offering it to the public I think

2:10:09 ↗ that would be just fine um but in terms

2:10:13 ↗ of that

2:10:14 ↗ particular uh project does not have a

2:10:17 ↗ line on budget because it is entirely

2:10:20 ↗ supported by donations so should we get

2:10:23 ↗ even deeper into that or should we just

2:10:26 ↗ leave leave it

2:10:28 ↗ there that can you uh can you handle

2:10:32 ↗ it sure I'll just create new program now

2:10:37 ↗ okay council member

2:10:38 ↗ hunt thank you I was originally looking

2:10:43 ↗ at donation funded other donation funded

2:10:47 ↗ projects which which is on page seven

2:10:50 ↗ and there it also talks about prior to

2:10:52 ↗ city council acceptance um so I wasn't

2:10:55 ↗ totally clear on if that is for

2:10:57 ↗ everything but it also um talks about

2:11:01 ↗ these other projects on a Case by case

2:11:03 ↗ basis so that was the one that I was

2:11:04 ↗ thinking like I think it would be great

2:11:06 ↗ to just make sure that everything is

2:11:07 ↗ consistent everything should be tied to

2:11:09 ↗ a city program that has been

2:11:13 ↗ approved um by us ASL by the policy

2:11:17 ↗ makers um so that that was my thinking

2:11:20 ↗ um I agree I

2:11:23 ↗ 3.7.3 I kind of left alone but now

2:11:26 ↗ looking at it it needs to be um word

2:11:29 ↗ worded differently to match and in fact

2:11:32 ↗ we may be able to just strike it and

2:11:34 ↗ incorporate some of that language into

2:11:39 ↗ 3.7.2 it's

2:11:41 ↗ confusing Deputy council president Hall

2:11:44 ↗ um two things then can you can we just

2:11:46 ↗ make sure to call this out when this

2:11:47 ↗ comes back the council again for

2:11:49 ↗ adoption just so we know exactly what

2:11:50 ↗ the effect of any change this section

2:11:52 ↗ would be okay absolutely and then I also

2:11:54 ↗ just wanted to plus one I think council

2:11:55 ↗ member Ray said it perfectly um around

2:11:58 ↗ yeah I we really do need to acknowledge

2:12:00 ↗ that you know in some sense we are

2:12:02 ↗ giving up some Authority here and so it

2:12:05 ↗ just ensuring that there is um diligence

2:12:09 ↗ in what's happening on the back end

2:12:11 ↗ there is important I know there is

2:12:13 ↗ because I know all of you but I think it

2:12:15 ↗ would be important to respond to that

2:12:17 ↗ somehow

2:12:18 ↗ comes on that if I may really briefly um

2:12:23 ↗ I'm I'm a stickler about government

2:12:25 ↗ transparency it's one of my personal

2:12:28 ↗ things I'm very concerned about and I

2:12:32 ↗ know that our city clerk is as well and

2:12:34 ↗ we would like to see all contracts

2:12:38 ↗ available publicly accessible like

2:12:40 ↗ that's something we are working towards

2:12:44 ↗ in the future I don't you know we don't

2:12:46 ↗ have any system right now or but this

2:12:48 ↗ that's something that's been on my radar

2:12:51 ↗ from day one because you know even the

2:12:53 ↗ system we have now I mean it's easy for

2:12:55 ↗ me to get a contract cuz I can just ask

2:12:56 ↗ someone but you know I think it'd be

2:12:58 ↗ nice for the public to be able to look

2:13:00 ↗ and even the ones that have gone through

2:13:01 ↗ Council you still have to search the

2:13:04 ↗ meting find it you know pull it out of a

2:13:07 ↗ PDF I mean it I think it would be great

2:13:10 ↗ to have all that type of

2:13:12 ↗ document publicly ex easily publicly

2:13:15 ↗ accessible that's the one of my goals

2:13:22 ↗ so oh okay fantastic council member Ray

2:13:26 ↗ yeah I'm not sure if this is a question

2:13:27 ↗ or a comment maybe it's a question that

2:13:29 ↗ Mars into a comment but on page 10 um of

2:13:34 ↗ the redline document it says this

2:13:36 ↗ delegation or authority to execute

2:13:37 ↗ contracts shall include but not be

2:13:39 ↗ limited to the following types of

2:13:41 ↗ agreements um I'm having a scoping

2:13:43 ↗ question um because one of the things it

2:13:46 ↗ talks about is settlement agreements um

2:13:48 ↗ it talks about real estate leases and

2:13:50 ↗ purchases um it talks about leases of uh

2:13:53 ↗ city land um um these are uh short-term

2:13:57 ↗ leases of City

2:13:59 ↗ facilities um are those not bound by

2:14:05 ↗ the the the dollar limits above or are

2:14:08 ↗ they because the way I'm reading it

2:14:10 ↗ they're not they they're they would be

2:14:12 ↗ bound by the dollar limits and if

2:14:14 ↗ there's not language right above there

2:14:17 ↗ should be L I could probably clarify

2:14:20 ↗ that by including that language

2:14:22 ↗ basically in the paragraph above because

2:14:25 ↗ it not only it means con how I wanted it

2:14:28 ↗ to read was those are essentially a very

2:14:32 ↗ exhaustive list of contracts but that

2:14:35 ↗ still they have to be within the

2:14:36 ↗ thresholds funds have to have been

2:14:38 ↗ appropriated in the biannual budget and

2:14:41 ↗ the contract can't ex require an

2:14:43 ↗ expenditure Beyond available funds okay

2:14:46 ↗ yeah that that's kind of I left it like

2:14:48 ↗ this because I thought there might be

2:14:50 ↗ ones that you wanted to pull out and

2:14:52 ↗ treat differently so it was easier to

2:14:54 ↗ kind of leave this exhaustive list and

2:14:57 ↗ then if there was something else you

2:15:00 ↗ know if you look at this and you say oh

2:15:02 ↗ well that's one that we want to keep it

2:15:04 ↗ was easier for me to be able to then

2:15:06 ↗ pull it out I wanted you to kind of see

2:15:09 ↗ that you know the this is the kind of

2:15:11 ↗ stuff I see every every day um I guess

2:15:15 ↗ I'd like to also this is more not a

2:15:17 ↗ question or comment this is a suggestion

2:15:20 ↗ um this is fairly detailed this is

2:15:22 ↗ fairly complex and this is integral to

2:15:24 ↗ everything we do and I don't and this is

2:15:27 ↗ a difficult forum for us to go through

2:15:29 ↗ and let's let's talk about line seven on

2:15:31 ↗ page 16 and should that be an if or athe

2:15:34 ↗ um and that's the conversation I think

2:15:36 ↗ quite honestly I think we need to have I

2:15:37 ↗ me this is great and you've done a lot

2:15:39 ↗ of great work but I think this is

2:15:40 ↗ something where we need to be a little

2:15:42 ↗ more involved in um the word smithing of

2:15:44 ↗ it if you will and um we can do it here

2:15:48 ↗ if if if you want to but I don't know

2:15:49 ↗ that this is the best forum for doing

2:15:51 ↗ that um so I'm just wondering if we want

2:15:53 ↗ to um do an ADOT committee meet one time

2:15:57 ↗ walk through this with legal counsel and

2:16:00 ↗ and uh finance and whoever else from the

2:16:02 ↗ administration and go top to bottom of

2:16:04 ↗ this thing and say add this take out

2:16:06 ↗ that we agree with that that's super

2:16:08 ↗ cool um just because I think we need to

2:16:11 ↗ do that because there's been too many

2:16:13 ↗ things have been talked about here that

2:16:15 ↗ aren't clear to me that we're all on the

2:16:16 ↗ same page then we're all going to um

2:16:19 ↗ kind of go that to you and then you're

2:16:21 ↗ going to try and figure out how to um do

2:16:23 ↗ that and bring it back and it's you know

2:16:25 ↗ we it'll be a lot less work and a lot

2:16:26 ↗ easier if we if we we just get together

2:16:28 ↗ and just hash it

2:16:31 ↗ out council member

2:16:33 ↗ Merz uh I'd like to say I really like

2:16:36 ↗ that idea I I think of uh when uh clerk

2:16:41 ↗ geizer led us on the what was it Council

2:16:45 ↗ uh rules of rules and procedures where

2:16:47 ↗ we had a ad hoc committee that she

2:16:50 ↗ worked us through um over in the room or

2:16:53 ↗ whatever the room is over there by the

2:16:55 ↗ mayor's office uh you know a series of

2:16:57 ↗ questions that we're able to work

2:16:58 ↗ through and then come back to the full

2:17:00 ↗ Council and I I I feel that both got

2:17:03 ↗ into a lot of good detail but also

2:17:04 ↗ allowed us to uh bring back a

2:17:06 ↗ comprehensive recommendation and and I

2:17:08 ↗ think that process might work really

2:17:10 ↗ well

2:17:14 ↗ here okay so I've heard two few

2:17:18 ↗ suggestions and some head nodding all of

2:17:22 ↗ that um I think I would be really

2:17:26 ↗ interested in having a conversation

2:17:29 ↗ about the number point the

2:17:33 ↗ 100,000 versus

2:17:35 ↗ 350 as a larger group in a public forum

2:17:40 ↗ um and so I'm

2:17:42 ↗ wondering do how does everybody feel

2:17:46 ↗ about the change to

2:17:51 ↗ 350 council member

2:17:53 ↗ hunt so earlier this evening you asked

2:17:56 ↗ the question about how many decisions

2:17:58 ↗ this um how many decisions this makes

2:18:02 ↗ that that are between the thresholds

2:18:04 ↗ that we're adjusting and I think that's

2:18:06 ↗ really important because one of the main

2:18:07 ↗ reasons we're doing this is to make it

2:18:10 ↗ really clear and to streamline the

2:18:11 ↗ process for

2:18:13 ↗ that body of decisions so I think like

2:18:16 ↗ if there's if there is some sort of

2:18:17 ↗ natural break in there then that would

2:18:20 ↗ be good to have those numbers to see um

2:18:23 ↗ if there's not then we we know that and

2:18:25 ↗ then we consider 350 and the

2:18:29 ↗ 100 okay so I think then how does the

2:18:34 ↗ body feel about potentially developing

2:18:37 ↗ an ad hoc committee that would look over

2:18:40 ↗ the line items and come back with a

2:18:43 ↗ recommendation at the same time as we

2:18:46 ↗ could get information from the

2:18:49 ↗ administration about what types of

2:18:52 ↗ decisions would fall in that Gap um and

2:18:55 ↗ how many there are and then does that

2:18:57 ↗ feel like a comfortable

2:19:00 ↗ approach nods nods thumbs up wow y'all

2:19:03 ↗ are just so

2:19:05 ↗ agreeable

2:19:07 ↗ uh uh council member hunt um yes so I I

2:19:12 ↗ support all that um and good idea on the

2:19:15 ↗ on the working through on an ad hoc

2:19:18 ↗ um I had one more thing that I thought

2:19:20 ↗ the ad hoc could consider or St Andor

2:19:23 ↗ staff could consider which is we do

2:19:25 ↗ currently have um cases for instance the

2:19:28 ↗ trolley uh safety equipment that was a

2:19:31 ↗ $330,000 um change to the mid Bal budget

2:19:35 ↗ it was really important for the squat

2:19:36 ↗ History Museum museums but it's it's a

2:19:40 ↗ small relative dollar amount but it was

2:19:41 ↗ still reported in a public forum so it's

2:19:44 ↗ easily searchable by those members of

2:19:46 ↗ the public that are interested

2:19:47 ↗ interested in that um and so I thought

2:19:50 ↗ it might be helpful you mentioned that

2:19:52 ↗ there's some guidance for staff aside

2:19:54 ↗ from this document as well as sort of

2:19:56 ↗ supporting guidance it might be helpful

2:19:57 ↗ to have some guidance about um topics

2:20:01 ↗ that are very of high interest either to

2:20:05 ↗ council or to the public or something

2:20:06 ↗ that we've tracked and we've discussed

2:20:08 ↗ as a council that you want you could

2:20:10 ↗ close the loop on even if it's not um

2:20:13 ↗ exceeding the threshold uh so that we

2:20:15 ↗ have that whole conversation in the

2:20:18 ↗ public in an easily find way because as

2:20:20 ↗ you said it's currently not always easy

2:20:21 ↗ to find these things um so I just

2:20:23 ↗ thought that sort of guidance might be

2:20:26 ↗ helpful um it's already something that

2:20:28 ↗ staff does um but I don't know that

2:20:31 ↗ there's formalized guidance about when

2:20:33 ↗ and when not to bring back items that

2:20:35 ↗ are below the threshold for for

2:20:37 ↗ council's

2:20:41 ↗ awareness I would be happy to share my

2:20:43 ↗ 25-page manual with you I'm really proud

2:20:46 ↗ of it I'm glad that anyone wants to

2:20:50 ↗ read oh how is financial management this

2:20:54 ↗ exciting or okay um I was going to ask

2:20:59 ↗ clerk gizer what the approach would be

2:21:03 ↗ for setting up an ad hoc

2:21:08 ↗ committee technically uh the council

2:21:10 ↗ doesn't take action at the committee of

2:21:12 ↗ the whole so my recommendation is that

2:21:14 ↗ we bring an agenda Bill forward even

2:21:17 ↗ maybe even on the November 20th council

2:21:19 ↗ meeting basically with the current

2:21:21 ↗ version and just of the financial

2:21:23 ↗ policies and just saying tasking the ad

2:21:26 ↗ hoc committee and the things that that

2:21:28 ↗ agenda bill would need so that could be

2:21:29 ↗ helpful for a little bit of discussion

2:21:31 ↗ is um a timeline for reporting back to

2:21:35 ↗ the council um and then we'd need

2:21:37 ↗ members um and so uh that could be

2:21:40 ↗ discussed or determined um at some time

2:21:43 ↗ before that agenda Bill comes back and

2:21:45 ↗ that's really it the the other thing in

2:21:48 ↗ the council rules is if the council

2:21:50 ↗ desires any particular visibility so um

2:21:53 ↗ in the past with the council rules ad

2:21:54 ↗ hoc because it was a bit more of an

2:21:57 ↗ internal to the city council those

2:21:59 ↗ meetings weren't televised and recorded

2:22:01 ↗ So if you have any guidance for the

2:22:04 ↗ group regarding that that would be

2:22:09 ↗ helpful yeah and I'm just looking over

2:22:11 ↗ the rules of procedure appointments may

2:22:13 ↗ be made by a majority vote of city

2:22:15 ↗ council or Council president so um the

2:22:19 ↗ other piece that would just be useful is

2:22:22 ↗ for me to know is do yall want me to

2:22:26 ↗ make a recommendation that would go into

2:22:29 ↗ the um agenda bill or do we want to

2:22:33 ↗ nominate people that night um I think

2:22:37 ↗ we're pretty non-dramatic group so if

2:22:40 ↗ anybody wants to just send their

2:22:43 ↗ interest um on as long as that's fine

2:22:46 ↗ with people

2:22:47 ↗ I think we'll use that as a

2:22:50 ↗ process okay more thumbs up Deputy

2:22:53 ↗ council president Hall can we also just

2:22:55 ↗ get a general response from the

2:22:57 ↗ administration if you have any strong

2:22:59 ↗ feelings about this

2:23:01 ↗ proposal uh I think hi this is Andrea

2:23:04 ↗ Snyder I think uh an ad hoc committee

2:23:07 ↗ sounds like a great idea what that may

2:23:09 ↗ mean is that we're just not going to

2:23:11 ↗ make that December 4th um anticipated

2:23:15 ↗ timeline for approval that's totally

2:23:18 ↗ fine from the administration standpoint

2:23:20 ↗ so um we want this to be a wellth out

2:23:23 ↗ process and for Council to be able to U

2:23:26 ↗ make sure that the financial policies

2:23:28 ↗ that you're comfortable with those so um

2:23:30 ↗ ad hoc committee process sounds

2:23:32 ↗ great would there be any other um

2:23:37 ↗ impacts that we might not anticipate

2:23:39 ↗ other than Rachel getting asked the same

2:23:41 ↗ questions again a couple more

2:23:44 ↗ weeks no no major impacts um you know

2:23:48 ↗ it's going to take a little bit more

2:23:50 ↗ time maybe but um we have the time to

2:23:54 ↗ put forward to this effort so um no no

2:23:59 ↗ anticipated negative impacts on this

2:24:01 ↗ thank

2:24:04 ↗ you uh council member D Michelle uh if

2:24:07 ↗ we have questions that we'd like to put

2:24:09 ↗ in front of this ad hoc group um what's

2:24:12 ↗ the process for submitting those and I

2:24:14 ↗ presume that we don't want to submit

2:24:16 ↗ those until after after the ad hoc has

2:24:18 ↗ actually been approved on November 20th

2:24:21 ↗ so but uh my question really is if we've

2:24:24 ↗ got if if I wanted to put a list of five

2:24:27 ↗ questions that I would like to have

2:24:28 ↗ addressed when and how would I submit

2:24:32 ↗ those as clerk Geer suggested in order

2:24:35 ↗ for us to do the agenda Bill one thing

2:24:37 ↗ one part of that agenda bill is what the

2:24:39 ↗ task is for the ad hoc committee so the

2:24:42 ↗ things that they would be working on um

2:24:45 ↗ so being able to make make such comments

2:24:48 ↗ tonight or um provide them to the

2:24:51 ↗ administration would be great for us uh

2:24:54 ↗ to be able to discuss at that time when

2:24:56 ↗ the agenda Bill comes before

2:24:58 ↗ Council I'm happy to take any questions

2:25:02 ↗ and comments you know by email that you

2:25:04 ↗ have I have a whole folder set up for

2:25:07 ↗ this project and I can put them in there

2:25:09 ↗ so that I have them when we convene the

2:25:11 ↗ ad hoc

2:25:13 ↗ committee guys Rachel is way too excited

2:25:17 ↗ about this much too excited it's a

2:25:18 ↗ little embarrassing yeah you said it I

2:25:23 ↗ didn't okay do we feel like we've

2:25:27 ↗ expressed everything we need to do more

2:25:29 ↗ thumbs up head nods gosh we're just so

2:25:32 ↗ agreeable even though we're asking for

2:25:34 ↗ more time on

2:25:36 ↗ something um but let's see with that

2:25:40 ↗ we've already attempted to go through uh

2:25:43 ↗ public comment there was none you've

2:25:46 ↗ received counsel

2:25:47 ↗ Direction uh so I think that item is

2:25:50 ↗ closed we've got good of the order

2:25:53 ↗ anybody have anything council member D

2:25:56 ↗ Michelle hi thanks um the East Side

2:25:59 ↗ Transportation partnership uh we had a

2:26:02 ↗ uh a meeting and um refined the

2:26:06 ↗ legislative priorities and uh submitted

2:26:09 ↗ those to Metro and those were

2:26:11 ↗ distributed today too too close to this

2:26:15 ↗ meeting for me to get the out to you but

2:26:18 ↗ look tomorrow uh I will send those to

2:26:20 ↗ Wally or Andrea and have those

2:26:22 ↗ distributed to you for commentary and I

2:26:26 ↗ believe the next ET meeting ETP meeting

2:26:29 ↗ is December 8th so and I'll send it I'll

2:26:31 ↗ confirm that when I send the email but

2:26:33 ↗ at any rate we'll be Distributing those

2:26:35 ↗ to all of the councils of all of the

2:26:38 ↗ members of ETP for commentary and you

2:26:41 ↗ should get your copy

2:26:44 ↗ tomorrow Deputy council president Hall

2:26:47 ↗ might as well just piggyback off that so

2:26:50 ↗ we now have the updated legislative

2:26:52 ↗ agenda for East Side Fire and Rescue so

2:26:54 ↗ we will also get that out to everyone so

2:26:56 ↗ we can have a little good of the order

2:26:57 ↗ discussion at our next Council

2:27:01 ↗ tou it is that season again

2:27:05 ↗ so um with that just a reminder we've

2:27:09 ↗ got the legislative breakfast coming up

2:27:11 ↗ please make sure that's on your

2:27:12 ↗ calendars we've also got a um um holiday

2:27:18 ↗ dinner I think U November 28th 29th one

2:27:23 ↗ of those two uh check your calendars it

2:27:26 ↗ should be there um and other than that I

2:27:30 ↗ think that's all for good of the order

2:27:33 ↗ so I will call this meeting adjourned at

2:27:36 ↗ 8:57 p.m. thanks

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh, Chair