Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/01/2005 Adjourned Meeting 277 ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 1, 2005 — 8 :30 A.M. 12:00 P.M. HARMAN CENTER —101 N. 65 AVENUE 1. RoII Call Present: Council: Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Dave Edler, Neil McClure, Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Dick Zais, Assistant City Manager Dave Zabell, Community Relations Manager Randy Beehler, and City Clerk Karen Roberts Also: Rockey Marshall, council candidate 2. Review Council Strategic Direction Priorities Randy Beehler asked Council to comment on whether they believe the priorities that were established at their January 5th meeting are still working and on how they want staff to meet those priorities. Council commented: Bonlender: Community image — we are going in the right direction, but progress to clean up our city is slow. Sims: Information he gained from the campaign trail is that we are not doing enough to educate the citizens about the standards set for our city. If they don't know the standards, how can they live up to them? Bonlender: A door hanger is simple and works; most people respond to it. Sims: We need to figure out the best method to get the word out and • asked Randy Beehler to help Council focus on the areas of concern that would have a big impact. Place: Suggested a video on the maintenance of yards; use few words and lots of pictures. Edler: The priorities refocused us, and he agreed with Bonlender that things move at a snail's pace. He believes the community image has improved. He commented that the report in the packet is measurable and staff does a good job telling us what they are doing. Sims: The July and August property transfers and values are up 20- 25%, which tells us that people are seeing us as an attractive investment target. 3. 2005 Progress Report on Council Strategic Priorities Mr. Beehler asked if there is consensus on the strategic direction. 278 OCTOBER 1, 2005 - ADJOURNED MEETING COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP Community Image: Beehler: Reviewed the stats on cleaning up the community and said they are impressive. George: Suggested that increasing the budget for the Paint Out Graffiti program would send a message to the community that Council is sincere in cleaning up the city. Edler: Commented that we made owners responsible to paint out graffiti and they are doing it. He wasn't sure that adding more money to the program would make a big difference; that area of our tasks has improved. Sims: Spoke about using high school students, which would help them fulfill their required fifty hours of community service in order to graduate. Bonlender: Suggested a "Volunteer of the Month" acknowledgement McClure: Commented on the boarded up housing ordinance and how well that is working; however, we need to be more aggressive to clean up the neighborhoods. He suggested door hangers and letters to encourage the property owner to take care of the violations, and impounding junk vehicles if they are only moved to make the process start over. He stated he would like the background information about the program Seattle is using. George: Suggested a community hotline to report weedy lots and junk or abandoned vehicles. Bonlender: Suggested rather than just recording messages; "that the City use e -mail so that the reporting party can get an automated response with a case number. Council members agreed that the emphasis patrol was well done and was effective from an enforcement and PR image. Council Member Place suggested doing an emphasis patrol two or three times a year, but rotate the areas. Other areas of improved community image mentioned were the extension of bus service to Union Gap and Selah and improvements to the Gateway Sports Complex. A drop box for after -hours payments at City Hall would help provide better customer service. Progressive Community: McClure: Pointed out that the police cars have videotaping capabilities and the transit buses have transponders and commuters can follow the bus on its route on their computer and can estimate the time when the bus would be at their bus stop. Bonlender: The planned underpasses on D and Lincoln indicate a progressive community. He asked Council to consider taking the initiative and change the name of B Street.to Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Government Services: Place: Gave a status report on discussions with Union Gap to develop common animal control regulations. She suggested passing an ordinance and reviewing it after one year, then perhaps taking it to some of the other neighboring communities. She reported that the 2 OCTOBER 1 2005 - ADJOURNED MEETING 279 COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP Humane Society set up a data system to be available to everyone in our area to share information on dogs that have been chipped. Council members spoke briefly about other areas where services could be combined, and about some of the challenges and fears associated with regionalism. Increase Community Involvement: Randy Beehler stated that one part is getting more involvement and the second part is getting information to the public. George: Suggested using buses to advertise City events or announcements. Beehler: Suggested taking advantage of KIT talk show and have council members rotate attendance once a month. Edler: Stated from his experience, being on KIT is good; however, we would want to take advantage of YPAC to clarify information that is being heard on KIT that may be inaccurate or not tell the whole story. 4. Potential Additional Community Relations Efforts Council members suggested Town Hall meetings in each of the districts with that district representative and the at -large council members. Also suggested was contacting the schools and putting together a curriculum for high schools or middle schools to talk about local government and how taxes are collected and used. City Manager Zais gave a status report on the Hilton Gardens Inn project, the Yakima Avenue sidewalk improvement project, and the downtown project promoted by the Westside Merchants. 5. Council Issues Roundtable (Parts 1 and 2) Improved Customer Service: Council members shared information on calls they received from citizens complaining about how their calls were handled, particularly at the police service desk and suggested that more training was warranted in customer service. City Manager Zais asked Council to advise him if they receive any more calls of this nature so that he could address this issue. Participation in Statewide Organizations: Place: Told of the importance to be involved with AWC in the legislative and resolution arenas. It is important to be able to get involved in the legislative process and testify as to the City's needs. Appointments to the TIB and Public Works Trust Fund boards would also be advantageous to the City. McClure: Stated he serves on the TIB. Council members talked about the possibility of spreading the committee appointments amongst themselves so the burden does not fall on one or two 3 280 OCTOBER 1, 2005 - ADJOURNED MEETING COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP members. Council member Place was asked to put together a list of key committees that would be important to have our representation on. Impending Council Transition: City Manager Zais stated that there will be at least one new council member elected and we will ensure that any new member would be fully briefed and informed through meetings with the departments. All the candidates have been getting the weekly council packets. Mr. Beehler suggested that council members advise the City Manager of any weaknesses and strong points they experienced in the briefing meetings they experienced two years ago. 6. Budget Strategy Team (BST) Recommendations Beehler: Expressed his opinion that the comments made yesterday by the BST were mostly positive for the City. They mentioned that the city was efficiently and fiscally well managed. Zais: Commented that it will take some time to digest the recommendations, although we know we will follow up on several of them. He briefed the Council on some of the recommendations that they will find as budget policy issues for 2006. Discussion commenced on several budget issues for 2006: overtime, professional services, municipal court and probation costs, library funding options, EMS levy, proposed annual fire inspection fee, new staff positions being proposed, a cap on utility taxes, and an employee compensation study. 7. Legislative and Congressional Priorities (Michael Morales was present at 10:57 a.m. for this discussion.) Randy Beehler distributed an addendum to the booklet to initiate the discussion on legislative priorities. Morales: Reviewed several issues of concern to the City, including streamlined sales tax, funding for the downtown projects, freight mobility money for the grade separation project, funding for the convention center campus development project, and the Capitol Theatre improvement/expansion projects. McClure: Council had also discussed seeking state assistance with stricter curfew restrictions and collective bargaining arbitration guidelines to add consideration of ability to pay. Morales: Stated that cities are also asking for local options. Action: Add curfew and arbitration issues to the legislative priorities list. Morales: The Federal list is not much different from last year. He shared a recommendation he received from a federal representative to ask for full funding for the railroad grade separation. Place: Shared that she was advised to separate the City's 16th Avenue and Washington Avenue project from the Valley Mall Blvd. /1 -82 intersection improvements project to increase its funding chances. 4 OCTOBER 1, 2005 - ADJOURNED MEETING 281 COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP Morales: The Telecommunications Act is a hot issue for the City because it affects the rights -of -way and franchise fees for YPAC. This could eliminate one of our tools for open government. Edler: Observed that a priority project is the railroad grade separation project based on the fact that we are almost funded, but there are other issues that are more important and would impact us sooner; e.g. the Highway 12 / 40 Avenue intersection improvements, the downtown economic projects, and the Capitol Theatre improvement project. Morales: Suggested we may want to limit our funding requests to focus on one or two so we are not competing against ourselves for funding. 8. Set Next Workshop Date (Michael Morales absent after 11:59 a.m.) Beehler Asked if Council wants to meet twice yearly? Action: . General consensus was to meet twice a year; first meeting probably in March. Zais: Brought up two issues. One issue is a budget policy to create a deputy economic director position for Michael Morales. This would place him in the management ranks and would be an incentive to keep a very talented employee. Another issue is the one -half day off he has granted to permanent employees just before Christmas or New Year's Day. The state auditor wants this practice formalized, so he will bring Council an ordinance.or resolution to do that. 9. Adjournment • The meeting adjourned at 12:04 p.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY „ f W T ER/ DATE 0 /0 1 COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK UL P. GEORGE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Karen Roberts. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 5 •