HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/15/1993 Adjourned Meeting 1 303
CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
ADJOURNED MEETING
JUNE 15, 1993
I/ The City Council met in session on this date at 7:00 am. in the
City Manager's Conference Room at Yakima City Hall, Yakima,
Washington. Council members present were Mayor Pat Berndt,
presiding, Henry Beauchamp (present after 7:20 a.m.), Lynn
Buchanan, ,Skip Semon (present after 7 :15 a.m.), and Bernard Sims.
Council Members Clarence Barnett and Bill Brado absent and
excused.
Staff members present were City Manager Zais, Assistant City
Manager Rice, Jerry Copeland, Director of Public Works, Dave
Flaherty,. Parks and Recreation Manager, Nancy Gaudette, Refuse and
Recycling Manager, Dave Hussell, Street and Traffic Operations
Manager, John Haddix, Acting Transit Manager, Don Toney, Fleet
Manager, and City Clerk Roberts.
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
Jerry Copeland stated staff wanted to inform Council about its
goals and current status on reaching those goals. We are
continuing to find ways to provide service without adding new
staff, primarily by computerization and equipment. Public Works
is pretty much computerized now. (Council Member Semon present
at 7:15 a.m.) We are trying to eliminate the clerical pool system
to provide better division support. To increase effectiveness,
staff is considering instituting a Total Quality Management (TQM)
system in Public Works. Staff has been learning about that
management concept and will have a presentation from Larry Rice
this week. Mr. Rice is the Public Works Director from Deschutes
County, which implemented this concept three years ago. (Council
Member Beauchamp present at 7:20 a.m.)
Refuse and Recvclina Division
Nancy Gaudette reported that this division has been working with
other divisions and organizations to try to be as efficient as
possible. She named a few of the cooperative ventures the
division participated in, including the Christmas tree recycling
program, working with Pacific Power; Clean -Up Green -Up, working
with Yakima County; helping the Street Division with the leaf
pick -up program; working with the County on its hazardous waste
turn -in program, and working with Rebound Plus with some of their
clean -up projects. The crews have been advising staff about areas
with litter problems so a letter can be -sent about abatement of
the problem. There was discussion regarding the feasibility of
utilizing the utility billing statement to give notice of City
clean -up projects. The drawback to that communication method is
the billing is on a two month cycle. Mrs. Gaudette referred to a
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ADJOURNED MEETING
map of the current routes which have trucks working all over the
city on any given day. She reported she devised a plan to divide
the city so that the daily pick -ups are grouped together. The
crew voiced concern that people would not like changing their
pick -up day and the crews would not be familiar with the routes
and the people on the routes. She stated she also tried to
equalize the routes taking the number of accounts into
consideration. (Council Member Brado present at 7:35 a.m.) The
refuse drivers devised a plan which would allow a truck to stay in
areas similar to their current routes. However, the size of the
routes are not very even, plus they did not take annexations into
consideration. We are still working on it and hope to have this
route consolidation in place soon. Discussion ensued regarding
route consolidation. Mr. Copeland stated that some of the routes
are so overloaded it is affecting the service level, so they need
to be better balanced.
Transit Division
• John Haddix reported there will be new summer uniforms for the
Transit drivers. He updated Council on the status of the Transit
Transfer Facility and Public Works Complex projects. The
groundbreaking ceremony for the Transfer Facility will be held
today. Tri -Ply Construction was awarded the contract which should
come in under the budgeted amount. The targeted completion date
is the second week in October. Referencing the Public Works
Complex project, he reported a Local Improvement District for
water was formed on North 21st Avenue. There were three bids
opened for this project, of which, two were non - responsive by
failing to sign the affirmative action compliance form. One of
those contractors withdrew its bid; the other contractor filed a
bid protest. The issue is now being reviewed by the attorneys.
Moen Construction appears to be the low responsive bidder at $2.48
million compared to the architect's estimate of $2.6 million.
City Manager Zais commented that the project may end up with
change orders because of the complexity of the project.
Mr. Haddix reported Transit has submitted an application for a
$926,000 Section 9 operations grant. The People for People Dial -
a -Ride contract seems to be going fairly smoothly. Council Member
Beauchamp commented that it seems like the People For People vans
are always dirty. Mr. Haddix stated he would contact them about
it.
Street /Traffic Division
Mr. Copeland stated that Dave Hussell will inform Council about a
Total Quality Management experimental project in his division.
Council Member Beauchamp asked if all the Public Works management
staff have been trained in TQM. He was advised that most of the
managers have been exposed to it and have some knowledge about it.
The seminar with Mr. Rice will give them more information.
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JUNE: 15, 1993 3 0.5
ADJOURNED MEETING
Mr. Hussell showed Council a slide of a crack filling machine
which provides an elasticized kind of filling in the street
cracks. The old method took ten people on a crew to seal the
cracks. The new method uses six people and since the crack isn't
- covered with sand, the crew doesn't have to go back to sweep up
the excess sand. The material is more expensive, however, it
lasts longer - usually 3 -5 years compared to one year under the
former system. The equipment would cost $28,000 to purchase,
however, it is being leased because it will probably only be used
about one month a year. A second piece of equipment being used in
the Traffic operations section is a computerized sign making
machine. Staff has been able to make signs so much quicker,
saving man - hours. This equipment is also a plotter for making
maps. He showed a slide of a road grader recently purchased. Don
Toney explained that about three years ago they started purchasing
off -road equipment through a guaranteed buy -back program. For
example, the last road grader was purchased three years ago for
about $103,000, with a guarantee to buy it back in three years or
3,000 hours for $87,000. Since the old equipment had less than
3,000 hours, they bought it back for $91,000. This program keeps
the City in new equipment for less money and less maintenance
costs. Mr. Hussell stated this program will benefit the City as
annexations occur in the West Valley area which has a lot of
gravel roads. Mr. Hussell informed Council about a staffing
change. A working foreman retirement was discussed with the
Traffic Operations crew. They thought the position was not needed
and talked about underfilling the position. They also discussed
how scheduling decisions would be made and then implemented that
strategy. The crew now makes many of the decisions that the
supervisor was making. We are finding they are more efficient and
the personality difficulties have been reduced. They work it out
and make it happen.
Parks
Council Member Buchanan reported that at a recent ISTEA
Enhancement meeting a question was asked about Yakima having the
highest municipal population in the County and yet its projects
are always listed at the bottom for funding. He asked why Yakima
has to do the work for COG /RTPO Committee if Yakima is always at
the bottom of the list.
Dave Flaherty spoke briefly about the $36,000 grant Yakima
received for design of the proposed Powerhouse Canal Pathway,
commenting that a 20% match needs to be met. (Council member
Buchanan absent after 8:35 a.m.) He distributed a list of
agencies working with the Parks and Recreation Division to provide
recreational services to the citizens. Referring to a slide
showing a sign made for Tieton Park, he spoke about problems
experienced at Tieton Park and how it was resolved in neighborhood
meetings. He stated staff will soon be meeting with the Citizen
CIP Committee and a tour is scheduled in July.
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JUNE 15, 1993
ADJOURNED MEETING
Equipment Rental
Don Toney stated he looked at a computerized maintenance
management system in Deschutes County, including purchasing and
accounting functions. For the past 18 months he has been without
the Mainstem management system since they closed their door on
their batch operations. (Council Member Beauchamp absent after
8:45 a.m.) Those reports were extremely helpful in budgeting
maintenance costs. He stated he will come back in about 60 -90
days with a recommendation for a software program, which is
budgeted. City Manager Zais interjected that it is budgeted for
one year because it includes more than the Equipment Rental
Division. Mr. Toney reported the underground fuel tanks have
been replaced and have been on line for about one month. The
other city underground fuel tanks will be decommissioned.
Hazardous waste is a problem for everybody. He spoke about the
heating system in the shops area using waste fuel. City Manager
Zais stated if Transit goes to PTBA, they will contract with the
City for three years for transit maintenance. After. that, they can
go private, contract with the City, or build their own facility.
Mr. Toney stated that if Transit goes county -wide additional staff
would have to be hired for maintenance because it would increase
the fleet by 30 -40 vehicles.
The meeting adjourned at 8:53 a. . Al
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