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Home My WebLink About09/07/2010 04A Draft Minutes 08-23-2010 City Council RetreatYAKIMA CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2010 RETREAT. AUGUST 23, 2010 — 9:30 A.M HARMAN SENIOR CENTER Roll Call. Present: Council: Mayor Micah Cawley, presiding, Assistant Mayor Kathy Coffey, Council Members Maureen Adkison, Dave Edler, Rick Ensey, Dave Ettl and Bill Lover Staff: City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manger Zabell, and Deputy City Clerk Watkins Mayor Cawley called the meeting to order at 9:38 a.m. 2. Review Yakima City Council Policy Priorities Progress Update • Discuss Council and City staff implementation efforts re: Council Policy Priorities City Manager Zais gave opening statements referring to a recap of the January 23, 2010 retreat on strategic priorities supplied to the Council. Included in the packet was a milestone report on steps taken in the last six months with respect to each policy /priority. 0 Council General Discussion Efficiently managing resources and fiscal stability has become the overarching priority and everything else falls under that. ( Ensey) There is an assumption that things will get better, but what will the new normal be? Fiscal management has been understandably elevated to the top of the priority list. (Edler) Times like this tell us what our real function is, what our priorities are. We should be questioning our programs and asking if we should continue them. (Lover) We have made progress on our priorities; the gang project is up and going, there has been.a tremendous drop in crime. Do we have a crime problem or a policing problem? If we can put the right number of police out there we can stay on top of the crime problem? (Ettl) When things are unsettled you must minimize and focus instead of spreading out. We need to narrow our focus again. (Coffey) • • Hold regular, less - formal meetings — eliminate from the priority list. North 1s' Street Association — continue as a high priority. Pursue opportunities for collaboration — combine resources regionally. It was agreed to move this item from Medium to High Priority. l►Ll�!I1�1��i Fair Avenue Corridor - continue as a Medium Priority. Assess best practices related to communications and community outreach. - remove from the priority list. Assign CED Committee to explore community visioning process — remove from the priority list. 2 COUNCIL RETREAT AUGUST 23, 2010 Provide direction re: continued implementation of Council Policy Priorities • Recommend any necessary modifications to Council Policy Priorities HIGHEST PRIORITY Gang issues and economic /fiscal challenge — Council consensus that these two Highest Priority items should remain as such. . City Manager recruitment/transition process — moved up to a Highest Priority item. This item initiated discussion on the potential change in the city's form of government to a strong mayor format. Form of.Government— this too, should be a Highest Priority item. A potential timeline is 1) make a decision on changing the form of government; 2) hold a special election in February or March 2011; 3) elect a strong mayor in the November 2011 election. City Manager Zais advised on the necessary steps for holding a special election. He also clarified that while we could identify a search firm for recruitment, they will not recommend doing a candidate search until a decision on the form of government is made. Questions were asked about public interest in this subject. The public hearing will hopefully show that level of interest. HIGH PRIORITY • Hold regular, less - formal meetings — eliminate from the priority list. North 1s' Street Association — continue as a high priority. Pursue opportunities for collaboration — combine resources regionally. It was agreed to move this item from Medium to High Priority. l►Ll�!I1�1��i Fair Avenue Corridor - continue as a Medium Priority. Assess best practices related to communications and community outreach. - remove from the priority list. Assign CED Committee to explore community visioning process — remove from the priority list. 2 COUNCIL RETREAT AUGUST 23, 2010 3. Discuss Upcoming Forms of Government Public Hearing It was noted that the information supplied to the Council on the forms of government was available on the City's web page. There will also be copies available at the hearing. Some Council members suggested that it would be best for a ballot measure, if there is going to be one, to be developed by the Council. Prior to doing that, the Legal Department will provide Council with a variety of information for review. It will include a list of 12 -15 questions needing to be answered. It was suggested a study session be held to deliberate and answer those questions to give specific direction as to what the Charter language will look like. General discussion on the subject included the following comments: Form a blue ribbon panel with Council members and. citizens to hammer out the details. What is the financial impact? Discussion among Council members alluded to. it being a wash when comparing the City Manager and Assistant City Manager salaries to a Mayor and a City Administrator. Questions were asked about taking all the functions of the City Manager and expecting an elected person, with no knowledge or experience, to handle them. 4. Other Business 6 The Mill Site Council Member Edler asked for a sense from Council on what they feel about a public facility on this site. It was suggested that more information was needed prior to giving an opinion. The financial aspect was discussed. The facility will cost approximately $23 million. The Bears are supplying $5 million and have requested at least $10 million of LIFT funds. The landowners are donating approximately $5 million worth of land. Another option that requires analysis is whether new market tax credits would come into play, or whether the PFD concept might be reconsidered. Those were two major sources outside of a traditional bond issue. There is also the potential of a floating tax option (admission tax) that could be adopted. Those issues need to be examined to see if any would sustain this type of facility. The operating side also must be considered. The City would issue • 9 COUNCIL RETREAT AUGUST 23, 2010 • bonds as the owner of the project and would need a dedicated, guaranteed revenue source to not jeopardize existing revenues. There is a proposal on a lease but that still requires more detail. The Bears envision a multipurpose facility, available year -round for concerts and other activities. As the infrastructure is added, it opens up the door for future investment. The Bears have a brand that is well known and is attracting more attention than an aquatics center did; but it has to be vetted carefully to protect the City from being on the hook for the costs, including a broken lease. A study session on the subject is scheduled for September 8, 2010. • Capital Projects Assistant City Manager Zabell briefed Council on capital projects and referred to material provided on what the effort will be to go through all the different capital facilities plans and putting them into a comprehensive format. He referred to the current condition of our streets; approximately 40% are satisfactory, 40% are moving toward poor, and 20% are poor and failing. He reviewed a chart on pavement management concepts that depicts how the cost to repair increases over time as the streets continue to deteriorate. Discussion continued on the need to identify street repair as a "highest priority" and potential revenue sources such as a $20 vehicle fee, or a street bond. The discussion also covered capital funding versus sustainable funding. Council Member Lover discussed the subject of streets being identified as a stormwater conveyance; therefore they should receive a percentage of stormwater money. It was explained that to obtain enough stormwater money to help maintain streets, the stormwater rates would have to be raised. This would require expanding the stormwater program beyond the original philosophy of only meeting the minimum requirements. Another critical item on the horizon is stormwater but more information is needed on the subject. Other government facilities requiring ongoing funding are the Senior Center, the YPAL Center, and the Southeast Community Center. We have been able to use a certain amount of REET money but that has taken a steep drop. It is,just now coming back but is 45% less than it was 2 % years ago. There needs to be further conversation on how to obtain money to maintain them. There is always the question of privatization. • Annual Lobbying Trip to Washington D.C. Mayor Cawley questioned whether we might consider going to Washington D.C. in February rather than during the March National League of Cities conference to save the cost of conference fees. He said Community and Economic Development Director Morales had suggested February would be a better time to make the City's case. Council agreed on the lobbying trip being in February and foregoing the National League of Cities Conference in March. They also decided to limit Council attendees to two. City Manager Zais advised that another effective time for a Washington D.C. trip is in July. 4 COUNCIL RETREAT AUGUST 23,2010 5. Adjournment EDLER MOVED AND ENSEY SECONDED TO ADJOURN. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 12:37 p.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK MICAH CAWLEY, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office EA1