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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/10/1990 Adjourned Meeting ( 456 ADJOURNED MEETING APRIL 10, 1990 7:00 A.M. -- HOLIDAY INN 1. INFORMAL DISCUSSIONS AMONG COUNCIL MEMBERS The City Council met in session on this date at 7:00 A.M. at the Holiday Inn in Yakima, Washington for the purpose of conducting informal discussions regarding City business. Mayor Pat Berndt, presiding, Council members Lynn Buchanan, George Pechtel, Skip • Semon and Bernard Sims present on roll call. Council members Clarence Barnett and Henry Beauchamp absent and excused. City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manager Stouder, and City Clerk Roberts also present. Mayor Berndt announced this is a "no agenda" meeting. She commented that Council members had indicated they could set aside the first Tuesday noon to meet with different groups, i.e. the Yakima County Commissioners, Yakima Herald Editorial Board, City Boards and Commissions, etc. She commented a regularly scheduled ` meeting time would make scheduling of these meetings' much easier. Council member Sims questioned if this would allow enough time to meet with the different organizations, since it would only be 12 meetings per year. Council members discussed if they wished to set ,.aside some morning dates also. It was the general consensus of the Council to set aside the first Tuesday noon, and the second Tuesday morning for a breakfast meeting; however, not for the month of August due vacations. • Mayor Berndt stated she " teceived 'an invitation - " 1 William Bennett, Director of the'Office of National "Drug Control`Policy, to attend a national drug control strategy meeting in Washington D.C., at his expense (not sure if it is 100% funded). She stated the meeting is scheduled for May 13 -15. It was the general consensus of the Council that the Mayor should attend this meeting. Mayor Berndt stated she will bring this up in the regular Council meeting for formal action. Council member Sims asked at what economic construction level do we need in Yakima in order to maintain the economy established in 1989. City Manager Zais stated there isn't anyone on staff with that kind of economic forecasting skills. Assistant City Manager Stouder reflected that most forecasts are based upon the past and work with assumptions. Assistant City Manager Stouder 'stated it `would take some time to do that, but it would not be too difficult. Mr. Sims suggested this information may be available through Central Washington University, Department of Business. Mayor Berndt stated the Assistant City Manager has prepared a couple of alternatives regarding the visioning process. Mr. Stouder stated a visioning process is a broad -based community goal process, which can be highly structured, or not. You first get together with a committee to decide that structure. Mayor Berndt stated it is not our intention for the Council to run this - just get it started within the committee. Staff will be involved, but we want it to be a community function. Mr. Stouder distributed a couple of ideas for a notice /agenda for a` community meeting. Council members reviewed the alternatives and determined that Council should provide the committee with some focus as to what Council is looking for in this process, without it predetermining the results. Council might want to meet with some community leaders prior to taking it to the public. Names that were suggested were: Greta Bryant, Nick Temple, Phil Tullar, Larry Petry or Dr. Peter Demyan, hospital representatives - Rick Linneweh or Kathy O'Meara- Wyman, one of the Parks Commissioners - perhaps Mike Nixon, someone from Leadership Yakima - Luz Gutierrez, someone from the building community - Bob Jundt, JoAnne Almon, Jerry Sturgill or Bill Hays; senior citizen representative - Jim Whiteside, major service club representatives (president- elect), -1- 457 APRIL 10, 1990 — ADJOURNED MEETING League of Women Voters - Marilyn Hudson, Lenore Lambert, and Gary Lukehart. The committee member need not live inside the City limits since the vision would look towards the future. Lynn Kittleson reported that the City of Spokane had gone through this process several years ago and she has some material she could share with Council. She outlined Spokane's process which was initiated in neighborhood meetings. She suggested that type of model to get more input from the grassroots level. She stated they are an on- going organization in Spokane. Mayor Berndt agreed that the City will need neighborhood meetings. Council member Sims stated that Wendy Warren and Betty McCarthy would be good City' resources for • technical information. Council member Sims stated that Lynn Buchanan, Skip Semon and he are on the Transit Committee. He stated the City hired a consultant, Gary Hall, to identify 22 sites for the bus transfer facility, which was narrowed down to six options. The Council Transit Committee thought it would be prudent to discuss this with the downtown people to see if they have a. preference. He indicated the'feedback from these individuals has been good and not limited to Transit issues. He reported the Committee wishes to continue these discussions and involve the other Council members who have not yet been to any of these meetings. City Manager Zais stated he wanted to address the law and justice issue and where we go from here since the action by the Legislature is inadequate. The County gets $2.4 million to spend on capital expenditures for jail space, however, he stated he was told there are some limits on the way the Bill was written that limits the total cost of the project close to that number. He said he doesn't know how much can be used to leverage additional funding and there is no operating and maintenance (0 & M) money for a new facility. He reported AWC's plan is to wait a couple of weeks and then try to get a one day session to deal with this issue. AWC hopes to be involved with the two county associations and the legislative committee. A meeting with Yakima County in a small group or the .entire Council was suggested to see if a joint venture to address the law and justice issues is still possible. It was also suggested that a meeting with our State Legislators again is in order. Mayor Berndt stated we need to show than our facility and share with them our needs. Council member Sims suggested we take them out for a ride with the police. Council member Semon suggested that we not delay this, but meet informally with the County and find out what they are going to do and then chart our course. City Manager Zais asked if we could have an informal group from Council meet with the County, or the entire Council? It was the consensus of the Council that Mayor Berndt and Council members Semon and Pechtel meet informally with the County and then involve the entire Council. City Manager Zais cautioned that we should not dismiss the $2.4 million if that can be leveraged. Council member Sims gave Council a handout pertaining to an item on today's agenda, commenting that he will be making this recommended modification. He stated this was a number_ Council member Beauchamp suggested. Council member. Buchanan spoke about the detours for City projects, particularly the one for the 16th Avenue project. He stated something needs to be done so in the future the detours are planned prior to the beginning of the project construction. Mayor. Berndt stated the AWC Nominations and Resolutions Committees for 1990 are accepting applications. She stated that Council member Pechtel had earlier expressed an interest in serving on one of these committee. She stated the AWC meeting is June 12 & 13 and the Resolution committee will meet once before that date. She said that she will submit George Pechtel's name and asked if anyone else is interested in serving on the Nominations Committee? Council member Buchanan stated a representative on the AWC Board is needed. He is on the Board now, but wants someone there supporting him. -2- .45;8 APRIL 10, 1990 - ADJOURNED MEETING Council discussed the proposed 16th Avenue shopping mall and how it affects the downtown. Council member Sims requested staff schedule a time with Lon Wywick and have him give Council an update on the status of the I -82, 8th & 9th Street project. Mr. Stouder stated they are due to came back with a draft status report in about one month. Mr. Sims stated he wants information on what is being proposed, who is going to fund it, and what is the time frame? Mr. Stouder stated he will schedule this report with Mr. Wyrick. The meeting adjourned at the hour of 8:50 A.M.; Council members to then meet again at 12:00 Noon at the Yakima Herald Republic building. fif READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: , '. %I 31 /5 - h/ • ! MEMBER DATE UNCI L �ISATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK ' YOR -3-