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Home My WebLink About032218 PSC minutesCouncil Public Safety Committee March 22, 2018 MINUTES Members present: Councilmember Dulce Gutierrez (chair) Councilmember Holly Cousens Councilmember Kay Funk The meeting was called to order at 3:03 p.m. 1. Election of chair Staff: City Manager Cliff Moore Asst, City Mgr. Ana Cortez Chief Dominic Rizzi, Police Deputy Chief Pat Reid, Fire Tony Doan, Fire Scott Schafer, Public Works Joe Caruso, Codes Glen Denman, Codes Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez, Legal Ryan Bleek, Legal Terri Croft, Police It was MOVED by Cousens and SECONDED by Funk to elect Gutierrez as committee chair. 2. Approval of minutes of February 22, 2018 It was MOVED by Coffey and SECONDED by Gutierrez to approve the minutes as presented. Motion PASSED unanimously. 3. New Business A third item was added to new business — pit bull ordinance discussion 2.a. Fire Code inspections Doan introduced proposed legislation that would clarify International Fire Code regulations for cooking under tents. This will ensure safety while giving inspectors a practical, consistent standard for inspections. It was MOVED by Cousens and SECONDED by Funk to move the item to the full council. Motion PASSED unanimously. 2.b. Enhancing crime victim participation Martinez shared with the committee that HB1022, the safety and access for immigrant victims act, was signed by Governor Inslee. The act will go into effect on June 7, 2018. There will be some impacts on the city's operations, which Martinez will review with Rizzi. The item will be carried forward to the June agenda for additional information. 2.c. Pit bull/Dangerous Dog ordinance At the direction of the full council, the committee discussed potential changes to the dangerous dog ordinance. Bleek presented a matrix of other cities' ordinances. The current City of Yakima ordinance is very similar to other cities throughout the state. Cousens inquired if the ordinance was missing any requirements such as ADA accommodations. Bleek advised he had not looked at that issue. Committee members discussed various requirements they would like to see regarding the ordinance, including neutering requirements, insurance coverage, penalties for making currently banned dogs "legal" if a the pit bull ordinance is repealed, and making the repeal of the current pit bull ban a ballot measure. The committee discussed that the direction from the full council was to ensure the City's dangerous dog ordinance was robust enough to stand if the pit bull ban is repealed. The topic was opened to public comment. De Ette Wood of Selah spoke in favor of an additional licensing fee for pit bulls Becky Pascua of Yakima County inquired about stray control — Ben Zigan of City of Yakima Animal Control advised currently the City employs one full time animal control officer and contracts with the Humane Society for three additional animal control officers. - Vaughn Merry of the Yakima Humane Society spoke regarding the Humane Society's operations. He noted that he opposes breed -specific bans and also that of the dogs they receive, 13% are pit bulls. - Morgana Holman of Yakima provided examples of the Tacoma legislation for consideration - Amy May of Yakima stated there has been no epidemic of pit bull mauling Taylor Sharp of Seattle spoke on behalf of Best Friends Animal Society and stated the focus should be on negligent owners - Bill Lover of Yakima stated the need to separate the issues of the pit bull ban and dangerous dog ordinance - Tony Coursey of Yakima felt the state and city laws should be combined - Kelly Murray of Yakima and the board of the Yakima Humane Society corrected an earlier statement regarding pit bull use in the military and noted that both the military and Union Gap Police Department use pit bulls After the public comments, the committee asked to have staff synthesize the information from the public input and the Tacoma ordinance, to include the insurance, muzzle, and spay/neuter requirements, as well as giving Animal Control discretion in assessment of dangerous dogs. Gutierrez requested a penalty to bring pit bulls out of the shadows also be implemented. The committee felt the April 17 date was unrealistic to incorporate all of the input. It was decided that Legal staff would have a draft dangerous dog ordinance prepared for the council briefing prior to the April 17th meeting. At the briefing, the committee chair will discuss the possible ban rescission, the possibility of making it a ballot measure, and fines to make pit bulls already in the city legal if the ban is rescinded. 4. Old Business 4.a. Traffic Calming Procedure Shafer brought forth a revised procedure for requesting traffic calming devices. The revised document would require 75% approval of the neighborhood affected and public input. He noted that the plan is a work in progress. He additionally added that Spokane had dedicated $500,000/year for three years to address traffic calming issues. Yakima is only able to dedicate $30,000/year currently, limiting the number of projects that can be undertaken. Because of the limited funding, Public Works uses education, enforcement, and engineering to address concerns. Engineering (speed bumps) is the last resort and the need must be supported by data. Traffic studies take most of the budget, leaving little to solve the problems. Funk expressed concern over the public meeting cost. Schafer advised that the only cost would be staff time for the public meeting. Funk also asked about the size of speed bumps and the intended speed to cross them. Schafer advised Public Works is working on standardization of the speed bumps. Gutierrez expressed concern that the 75% threshold could be difficult to obtain in high density neighborhoods and stressed the need for equitable access. It was MOVED by Gutierrez and SECONDED by Cousens to direct staff to obtain information from other municipalities for an equitable access process. Motion CARRIED by consensus. Cousens asked about the cost for the modifications at the intersection of 40th Avenue/Chestnut. The cost was $50,000 for that project. Schafer advised the cost per speed bump is $1000. The topic was opened for public comment. Gina Ord of Yakima discussed her concerns for pedestrian safety on the east/west arterial streets and lack of regard by drivers for pedestrians trying to legally cross the street. She asked how to proceed with traffic calming in these areas. - Joshua Hicks of Yakima expressed similar concerns about pedestrian safety and the walkability of the area around Franklin Middle School. He also had observed drivers on the main arterials not stopping for occupied crosswalks. - Robert Strader of Yakima expressed his impression that speed bumps are intended to redirect traffic to the main arterials and his concerns for children walking on those arterials. He asked if there were any studies of the 40th/Chestnut intersection after the revisions had been made. He suggested the committee consider property owners rather than residents and a 60% approval rather than 75% for the revisions to the traffic calming request process. Schafer stated that traffic calming would not be appropriate on the arterials. The topic of east/west arterial pedestrian safety will be added to the April Public Safety Committee agenda. 4.b. Domestic Violence legislative action Martinez advised she had not had the opportunity to meet with other staff members to complete the memo. The topic will be added to the April agenda. 4.c. Forum wrap up Gutierrez distributed a draft summary report of the forums. There were some variations in the summaries due to different note takers and staff doing one summary. Gutierrez noted the importance of documenting the stakeholders who had attended the forums and that the forums had gained the attention of the legislative delegations and school officials. She asked for approval of the formatting of the report and advised she would continue working through the remaining forum agendas to complete the report for the April 3 council meeting. It was suggested that the format could keep the details specific to each forum, but consolidate the comments and responses to questions into a table. 5. Other Business No other business 6. Information items There were no information items 7. Recap of Future Agenda Items • Traffic calming — April • East/west arterial pedestrian safety — April ■ Domestic violence legislative action — April ■ HB1022 - June 8. Audience Participation There was no additional audience participation 9. Adjournment It was MOVED by Cousens and SECONDED by Funk to adjourn the meeting. Motion PASSED unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Approved: