HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/26/1996 Adjourned Meeting / Business Meeting 215
CITY OF. AMNIA , WASHINGTON
NOVEMBER 26,'1996
ADJOURNED MEETING - BUSINESS MEETING /BUDGET REVIEW
1. ROLL CALL
The City Council met in session on this date at 9:00 a.m. in the
Council Chambers at City Hall, 129 North Second Street, Yakima,
Washington. Council members present were Mayor Lynn Buchanan,
presiding, Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Ernie Berger, John
Klingele, and John Puccinelli. Council Member Bernard Sims
absent and excused. City Manager Zais, Director of Finance &
Budget Hanson, Accounting Manager Wheeler, Accountant Tim Jensen,
Accountant Cindy Epperson, Accountant Edna Pettyjohn, City Clerk
Roberts, and Deputy City Clerk Skovald were also present.
2. APPOINTMENT AND CONFIRMATION OF NEW MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE FOR THE
CITY OF YAKIMA (MATERIAL AVAILABLE MONDAY)
This item was considered out of sequence of the agenda after
Agenda Item No. 3.
City Manager Zais announced the appointment of Yakima's new
Municipal Court Judge, Jonathan Martin. Mr. Zais introduced
Mr. Martin and asked the Council to proceed with action on the
official confirmation resolution and administration of the oath
of office. Resolution No. R -96 -153 having been read by title, it
was MOVED BY BERGER, SECONDED BY PUCCINELLI, TO ADOPT THE
RESOLUTION. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote;
Beauchamp and Sims absent. City Clerk Roberts administered the
oath of office to Jonathan Martin, and he accepted his
appointment, stating he is looking forward to his new position as
the City of Yakima Municipal Court Judge.
RESOLUTION NO. R -96 -153, A RESOLUTION confirming the appointment
of Jonathan H. Martin as the City of Yakima Municipal Court
Judge.
3. PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED 1997 BUDGET (CONTINUED FROM 11/19/96)
This item was considered out of sequence of the agenda before
Agenda Item No. 2.
This being the time set for the public hearing, Mayor Buchanan
opened the hearing and invited comments on the proposed 1997
Budget.
Brian Canfield, Chairman of the Cable Advisory Committee, asked
that Council not adopt a policy to eliminate public access. He
spoke in support of the YCTV public access channel and felt it
encourages, promotes, and provides opportunities for the people
in the community to express themselves through the medium of
television. Mayor Buchanan noted that letters have been received
from Donna Hill and Connie Little asking that community
television not be changed.
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Ester Huey, Executive Director of the Yakima County Substance
Abuse Coalition, urged the Council to continue the same level of
general fund allocation as provided last year. This is necessary
to maintain a reasonable level of service to the Community.
Gary Webster, General Manager of the Greater Yakima Chamber of
Commerce, urged the Council to sustain the dollar investment the
City has put forth as part of the Chamber's initiative program.
Jay Tuman, Chairman of the Leadership Forum, and Carol Pogorelc,
Chairman of Image Improvement in Community Marketing, described
their respective programs sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
Daniel Enriquez, Cable Advisory Committee member, spoke in
support of maintaining public access at YCTV. He felt more
public access is needed.
Elizabeth Miller, Executive Director of Allied Arts, provided
statistical information about the ArtsVan Program and asked for
continued Council support for the children's program.
Bill Flower, Yakima County Commissioner, urged the Council to
continue funding for. the Ag Showcase. He noted changes to the
administration and executive board which now consists of industry
leaders who will focus on the agricultural industry to promote
the event.
Betty Gaudette, 701 North 6th Street, spoke to the Council
regarding the Community and Economic Development Code Compliance
Officer position request in the proposed budget. She feels many
problems in local neighborhoods occur because compliance of codes
is not enforced. She suggested funding for the position come
from fines imposed on owners who do not comply with codes after
being notified or who repeat the offense. The proposal calls for
increased permit fees to fund the position. There was a
discussion about due process as it relates to code compliance and
other options being explored to expedite the actual clean -up
process. Council Member Barnett expressed concern about
increasing various permit fees for a city -wide function. He felt
funding should come from the General Fund.
Mayor Buchanan asked if anyone else would like to comment.
Council Member Barnett felt the public is not generally aware
that the Council is considering increases in water rates, sewer
rates, refuse rates, and other fees. He expressed concern about
the lack of testimony from the public concerning whether or not
these rate increases should be implemented to the level being
requested. Since the Water Rate Study was only provided to the
Council a few days ago, and he has not received the Sewer Cost of
Service Study, it would be impossible for the public to have that
knowledge at this time. Council Member Barnett expressed hope
that next year there will be a better means to communicate to the
public at large on the major issues that affect them as
individuals. He suggested information be made available a couple
of months before it will be considered by the Council. Council
Member Puccinelli agreed and felt that neither industry nor the
general public has had enough time to respond to this issue.
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Mayor Buchanan asked if there were...any further comments on the
proposed 1997 Budget. ;The're being = ?one wishing to comment, he
declared the hearing closed.
4. BUDGET STUDY SESSION
Mayor Buchanan directed attention to the Preliminary
Budget /Policy Issues for 1997. It was the consensus of the
Council to review first the policy issues and then the
preliminary budget requests for each department.
Department of Finance and Budget
Information Systems
Referencing Policy Issues, Pages 18 -21, Council Member Klingele
referred to the replacement of the Police Department Mobile Data
Terminals. Rick Pettyjohn, Information_ Systems Manager,
explained they are being replaced on a piece by piece basis and
are included as part of the Police Department Capital Budget.
John Hanson referred to Page 18, Information Systems Re-
Organization policy issue request for two Supervising Senior
Analyst positions. Mr. Pettyjohn explained this request is very
important to keeping qualified staff.
Council Member Klingele questioned the capabilities of the
existing cobalt programming system currently used for payroll.
Mr. Pettyjohn indicated he is planning to change that.
Council Member Barnett referred to Page 20, Global Positioning
System (GPS) for Utilities Geographical Information System (GIS)
policy issue request, and',explained he takes exception to funding
this system through water and wastewater rates. He feels other
divisions could use the system, and if the Council passes this
policy, the funding should be spread among all the divisions.
Mr. Pettyjohn explained that 90 percent is used by the utilities;
however, the technology would . benefit everybody. The standard
surveying equipment is still being used. There was discussion
about the calculation information on utility locating systems and
the equipment costs. Mr. Pettyjohn pointed out GPS is an
instantaneous and a much more accurate and efficient way of
gathering information and will be used to build better systems
for Wastewater and Water. Mayor Buchanan explained this type of
system has proven to be more accurate than standard survey
equipment when it was used by the City of Phoenix. This
equipment will be a tremendous value. It will meet the kinds of
comprehensive planning done that need to be done more
standard conventional survey. Council Member 'Barnett reiterated
his preference that all divisions which will use the equipment
should share the costs, and staff should provide . an allocation,
Mr. Waarvick suggested a rental rate be established for use by
other divisions. John Hanson pointed out the difference is the
cost to hire a consultant. The process is done for water and
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November 26, 1996
sewer because of the direct benefit to them and the other
departments would only have a residual effect. Council member
Barnett referenced the other departments to benefit from this
including Streets, Parks, and the Police Department, as listed in
the budget. Council Member Barnett requested reallocation of
funds via rental rates from other divisions to benefit from the
requested Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical
Information System (GIS). This information should be ready for
Budget Wrap -Up.
Customer Services /Utilities
Referencing Page 22, the Policy issue to Add One Full -Time
Permanent Water. Service Representative I, Bert Tabayoyon,
Customer Services Manager, explained there have only been two
Water Service Representatives in the last 19 years. There has
been no increase in meter readers. The additional position would
provide additional services, such as changing dead meters or
other functions which previously have not been done because of
the tremendous increase in service accounts.
Referring to Performance Statistics on Page 224 of the Financial
Services Budget Request Summary, John Hanson explained that the
"Warrants Issued -- Claims" category is for the vouchers paid.
Referring to Pane 228, Municipal Court Budget Request Summary,
John Hanson pointed out that there will be a change in the way
payments of fines and collections for Municipal Court will be
allocated with the possibility of some kind of sharing.
In response to a question from Council Member Klingele,
Mr. Pettyjohn explained his goal to be off of Prime by the middle
of 1998. Although Prime parts are still being rebuilt, they are
not as reliable. John Hanson pointed out that recent vacancies
and impacts from the state .System has resulted in a shift of
priorities for the Information Systems Division.
City Management
Staff from the following divisions were available to answer
questions about their proposed policy issues or preliminary
budget requests; however, there were no questions from the
Council: Legislation, Budget Pages 124 -126; City Manager, Budget
Pages 127 -129 and Policy Issues Pages 7 -8; Records /City Clerk,
Budget Pages 138 -141; and Human Resources, Budget Pages 142 -155;
Purchasing
Referring to page 9, Policy Issues for the Purchasing Division,
Council Member Berger questioned the necessity of increasing
staffing for the Purchasing Division's Department Assistant II
position. He felt increasing the position from half -time to
full -time seemed to contradict the already stated cost- saving
benefit of AIMMS. John Hanson explained this proposal is
necessary to improve the service level and to keep up with the
workload of the entire division, not specifically because of
AIMMS. Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager, explained the
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increase in the position is needed.because overtime has been used
to keep up with the workload; theyvo•lume of work is such that it
requires a full time person.
Water /Irrigation, Wastewater Divisions
City Manager Zais described the cost -of- service studies process
which includes gathering and assembling the statistics and
recommendations necessary for presentation. Mr. Zais explained
this is the budget timeline to present recommendations for water,
sewer, and refuse rates. The Refuse budget is sensitive to
impacts on an annual basis. It is hard to predict what those
impacts will be from year to year since information from Yakima
County and the work of the prior year affects the figures. The
Refuse budget should have action taken on it during the budget
wrap -up session. However, Water /Irrigation and Wastewater cost -
of- service recommendations do not need to be acted upon at this
time. Since there are a couple of Council members who have not
been able to engage in some of these budget deliberations,
perhaps final consideration of these cost -of- service
recommendations and rate adjustments and policy issues could be
deferred until first of the year. This would allow the
public to see and understand these matters better.
Council Member Barnett explained there are issues in the Water
Study and the Comprehensive Plan which he feels causes
significant questions. For example, the Comprehensive Plan
recommends the Wright Well be rehabilitated or replaced, but the
plan in the budget is for rehabilitation. He felt more
information is needed as to why the well is being rehabilitated
instead of replaced. He stated the Wright Well is located on a
shallow aquifer, and the Comprehensive Plan refers to the danger
of wells in the shallow aquifer. He asked if information is
available that there is water below that shallow aquifer to
warrant spending $1.2 million on rehabilitation. He felt these
issues needed more study. Dueane Calvin, Water /Irrigation
Manager, explained there is no specific information on the Wright
Avenue Well as it relates to available water depth, although the
basic information available at this time indicates there is a
potential for water to be at deeper depths. A final
determination needs to be made whether or not there is water at
deeper depths. Council Member Barnett felt these things need to
be studied before rehabilitation is confirmed and that needs to
be done before this rehabilitation is used to influence the rate
increase. Since the Wright Well is on a shallow aquifer and
shallow aquifers are suspect, and this well is not on a deeper
aquifer, then relocation should be considered rather than
rehabilitation. Dueane Calvin explained the report did not
specifically address the Wright Avenue Well, but it did address
the area immediately surrounding it. That was what led.s,taff to
believe this would be a viable project to drill deeper and find
water at a deeper depth. Glenn, Rice explained it should cost
less to rehabilitate an existing' well, and the Wright Well is
already down to 450 feet. If there was a reason to believe water
was present down deeper, money,would be saved by using this
existing well to drill down.
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Council Member Puccinelli indicated he would prefer to wait until
January to allow some discussion time and public input on
proposed Water, Wastewater and Refuse rate increases. Mr. Zais
stated that the rate structure for Refuse needs to be decided to
avoid starting out with a deficit position. However, the Water
and Wastewater rates can be deferred for further study without
negative impact on their budgets. Council Member Barnett noted
there are some issues that need further evaluation to look at
further breakout and how it will affect revenue before a final
decision is made. This would allow more time for staff to
prepare it for January.
Glenn Rice described the critical nature of the entire water
system. He pointed out that decisions Council makes at this time
will affect rates and taxpayers for many years. Mr. Zais
suggested the Water and Wastewater budgets be deferred for the
policy issue cost -of- service recommendations until January to
allow time to revisit and pursue some of the inquiries that were
made and to allow the Refuse policy issue to stand for Council
deliberation next week.
Legal Department
Council continued discussion on the budget, reviewing the issue
of the Indigent Defense budget request on Page 133. .
Ray Paolella, City Attorney, explained the Indigent Defense was
within the budget at the present time, but significant changes
would occur as the Municipal Court is implemented. John Hanson
pointed out the Municipal Court Public Defender is budgeted in
the Municipal Court budget.
Referencing Page 142, Mayor Buchanan requested that all acronyms
be spelled out for clarification purposes.
Wastewater
Referencing Pages 15 -17 and 159 -197, Council Member Barnett
requested review of the Wastewater Budget move forward since he
was apprised throughout the year as to the status of those rate
increase requirements. Council Member Puccinelli explained there
are some strong waste increases that are quite high and some
customers may want to comment on that issue.
Chris Waarvick, Wastewater Superintendent, and Doug Mayo, Project
Engineer, reviewed maps which were illustrative of budgetary
needs for the Wastewater Division. Mr. Waarvick provided copies
which included a change in the cost -of- service fee adjustment
equation. He also provided copies of two alternatives for The
East Mead Sewer Collection System Plan. Mr. Mayo provided copies
of Public Works Trust Fund Loans Construction Projects and
provided a brief status report on capital projects.
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Council Member Barnett referred to water main construction at the
Airport and whether thatr cost wouid'be covered by the Military
Department if the armory is built at the Airport. Glenn Rice,
Assistant City Manager, and Dueane Calvin, Water /Irrigation
Manager, explained that capital improvement is proposed for
service to areas surrounding the airport, which will not be
covered by .the military if they choose to build at the airport.
Mr. Rice reported a comprehensive work plan is being developed
for the Water Division, which will be similar to the Wastewater
comprehensive work plan.
Council Member Klingele asked if private contractors will do the .
sealing and grouting. Mr. Waarvick explained that the choice was
made for staff to do what they can. Private contractors might be
utilized for manhole rehabilitation if it proves to be cost
effective, and it may be proposed in 1998.
Council Member Puccinelli felt there are some problems with the
theories of strong waste and those being charged. He requested
this issue be discussed. Mr. Waarvick explained how the fairness
test was applied and the difference in strong waste and grease.
Water /Irrigation
Dueane Calvin, Water /Irrigation Manager, provided a handout which
indicated a correction to an error in consumption comparisons
between 1997 and 1998 rates. It also provided the dollar change
and percentage of change.
Page 198, Council Member Klingele commented about the rates in
the corrosion control program. He felt a review might be
required and a Municipal Code revision might be needed.
Page 203, Council Member Barnett referred to Capital Outlay
Requests, concerning clarification of the backhoe and the cutting
saw item.
City Manager Zais explained that since there were corrections to
data and because of the overall magnitude of the issues
concerning the Water Comprehensive Plan and its implementation,
more time is needed to study and discuss the issue. It was the
consensus of the Council to defer decision on Water and
Wastewater policy issues until after the first of the year.
Mr. Zais explained that deferral means the policy issues will
stand still, the spending will remain in the budget, but stand
still. The revenue adjustment stays as it is until the action of
the Council is finalized on the policy issues being deferred
until after the first of the year.
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It was MOVED BY KLINGELE, SECONDED BY BERGER, TO ADJOURN THE
MEETING AT 11:20 A.M. The motion carried by unanimous voice
vote; Beauchamp and Sims absent.
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: Z..,1,! - L.✓, �:
COUNCIL MEMB R DATE
AP,
COUNCIL MEMBER DATE
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK =� BUCHANAN, MAYOR
Minutes prepared by Deputy City Clerk Skovald. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available
in the City Clerk's Office.
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