HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Packet ,ka
ea'co:
t* F
' • i
4 11"d
YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL
INFORMATION PACKET
March 12, 2013
1. Information Packet
2. The next meeting will be a Council Business meeting on March 19, 2013 at 6 p.m. in
the Council Chambers
„r
„E DE NEEWK,
•
WEL
LEWEEL
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No.
For Meeting of: March 12, 2013
ITEM TITLE: Information Packet
SUBMITTED BY:
CONTACT PERSON /TELEPHONE:
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
1. City Meeting Schedule for week of March 11 -18th, 2013.
2. Preliminary Future Activities Calendar as of March 11, 2013
3. Preliminary Future Council Agenda for March 19, 2013
4. 2013 Study Session Schedule
5. 3/7/13 News Release from Construction Supervisor Bruce Floyd and Community Relations
Manager Randy Beehler regarding Sewer Line Installation Project Will Close Section of Beech
Street for the Month.
6. Newspaper /Magazine /Internet Articles:
"Changes loom for Washington state pension system,” The Seattle Times, March 2, 2013
"Beauty and the street ", American City and County, February 2013
Resolution Ordinance Other
(specify)
Contract: Mail to:
Contract Term: Amount: Expiration Date:
Insurance Required? No
Funding Phone:
Source:
APPROVED FOR City Manager
SUBMITTAL:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD /COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Click to download
171 Council Information
CITY MEETING SCHEDULE
For March 11, 2013 — March 18, 2013
Please note: Meetings are subject to change
Monday, March 11
8:30 a.m. Pension Board Meeting — HR Conference Room
2:00 p.m. Bid Opening — Council Chambers
Tuesday, March 12
10:00 a.m. County Commissioners Agenda Meeting — Council Chambers
Wednesday, March 13
11:00 a.m. Boundary Review Board — Council Chambers
3:30 p.m. Yakima Planning Commission — Council Chambers
5:30 p.m. Yakima Parks & Recreation Commission — Council Chambers
Thursday, March 14
9:00 a.m. Hearing Examiner — Council Chambers
1:00 p.m. Harman Center Board Meeting — Harman Center
1:30 p.m. Yakima Regional Clean Air Meeting — Council Chambers
Monday, March 18
10:00 a.m. City Council Media Briefing — Council Chambers
Office Of Mayor/City Council
Preliminary Future Activities Calendar
Please Note: Meetings are subject to change
Meeting Date/Tittle Organization Meeting Purpose Participants Meeting Location
Mon. March 11
8:30 a.m. Pension Boards Board Meeting Coffey HR Conference Room
Wed. March 13
3:30 p.m. Yakima Planning Scheduled Meeting Ensey Council Chambers
Commission
5:30 p.m, Parks Commission Meeting Scheduled Meeting Adkison Council Chambers
Thur. March 14
1:00 p.m. Harman Center Board Board Meeting Adkison Harman Center
1:30 p.m. Yakima Regional Clean Air Scheduled Meeting Lover Council Chambers
5:30 *,m. YCDA Board Board Meetin. Adkison New Vision Office
Sat. March 16
8:30 a.m. Welcome Lions Grou. Scheduled Event Caw le Howard Johnson
Mon. March 18
10:00 a.m. City Council Media Briefing Scheduled Meeting Ettl Council Chambers
Tue. March 19
12:00 p.m. Miscellaneous Issues Scheduled Meeting Cawley, Adkison, TBD
Ettl
5:00 p.m.. (T) City Council Executive Scheduled Meeting Council Council Chambers
Session
6:00 p.m City Council Meeting Scheduled Meeting Council Council Chambers
Wed. March 20
12:00 p.m. PAL Board Board Meeting Coffey PAL Center
3:30 *.m. Arts Commission Scheduled Meetin. Adkison CED Conference Room
Thur. March 21
2:00 p.m. Council Built Environment Scheduled Meeting Coffey, Ensey, CED Conference Room
Committee Meeting Lover
3:30 p.m. YAK Corps Executive Board Scheduled Meeting Lover CED Conference Room
Fri. March 22
10:00 a.m. Council Public Safety Scheduled Meeting Cawley, Adkison, CED Conference Room
Committee Meeting Ettl
11:00 a.m. Council Partnership Scheduled Meeting Cawley, Adkison, CED Conference Room
Committee Ettl
Mon. March 25
12:00 p.m. Capitol Theatre Board Board Meeting Bristol Capitol Theatre
Meeting
12:00 exn. Greenwa Board Meetin. Board Meetin• Ettl Greenwa Visitors Center
Tue. March 26
10:00 a.m. City Council Study Session Scheduled Meeting Council Council Chambers
12:00 p.m. Miscellaneous Issues Scheduled Meeting Cawley, Adkison, TBD
Lover
Wed. March 27
3:30 p.m. Yakima Planning Scheduled Meeting Ensey Council Chambers
Commission
5:30 p.m. Historic Preservation Scheduled Meeting Bristol Council Chambers
Commission
Thur. March 28
1:30 p.m. Council Economic Scheduled Meeting Bristol, Coffey, CED Conference Room
Development Committee Lover
Meeting
PRELIMINARY FUTURE COUNCIL AGENDA
March 19, 2013
(T) 5:00 p.m. Executive Session — Council Chambers
6:00 p.m. Business Meeting — Council Chambers
• Recognition of retiring Refuse & Recycling Manager Nancy Fortier
• 2012 4th Quarter Capital Improvement Projects Report
• Resolution authorizing Professional Services Agreement with firms for
Downtown Master Planning and Retail Planning Services
• Resolution authorizing an Addendum to an existing Professional Services
Agreement with Huibregtse, Louman Associates, Inc (HLA) in the amount
not to exceed $98,600 to provide Engineering Services for the extension
of the City's Industrial Wastewater Collection System to the vicinity of
1000 Block S 3rd St (Noel Canning Corporation)
• Resolution granting reimbursement to the Yakima Valley Trolleys
Association for costs incurred by the Association to repair the Yakima
Valley Trolleys lift truck.
• Ordinance amending YMC 4.16 dealing with illegal dumping and adding
up to a $100 per-day fine.
• Ordinance creating the Yakima Air Terminal Fund
• Ordinance creating an Interfund Loan Program
• Ordinance amending One Way Streets and Alleys to remove restrictions
on eastwest alley between Yakima and Chestnut Avenue, YMC 9.50.290
7:00 p.m. Public Hearings
• Final Public Input hearing on the 2012 Consolidated Annual Performance
Evaluation Report
3/7/2013
11 29 AM
2013 STUDY SESSION SCHEDULE
Council Chambers
10:00 a.m.
3/26 Jail issues and North 1 Street strategy
4/9 Stormwater issues
May Airport Master Plan
3/7/2013
11:29 AM
6
City of Yakima
* elemme
Subject: Sewer Line Installation
Contact: Construction Supervisor Bruce Floyd — 575-6138
Community Relations Manager Randy Beehler — 901-1142
Release Date: Thursday, March 7 2013
Sewer Line Installation Project Will Close Section of Beech Street for a Month
A section of Beech Street will be closed from now until at least Friday, April 5 while a project is
underway to install a City of Yakima sewer line.
The section of the roadway that will be closed extends from the Beech Street underpass, which
is below Interstate 82, to 15 Street.
During the project, traffic delays in the area are likely to occur. Drivers should use alternate
routes if possible until the project is completed.
Access to homes and businesses in the area, including Central Premix and Arreolas Auto
Wrecking, will be maintained from Chalmers Street. Emergency vehicles will be allowed
through the project area if necessary.
As always, the schedule for this type of project is subject to change daily, dependant on
weather, equipment failure, and emergencies.
For additional information regarding this project, contact Construction Supervisor Bruce Floyd at
575-6138.
- end -
Changes loom for Washington state pension system I Business & Technology The SoNL. Page 2 of 5
Washington's pension system is one of the largest and mos complex in the nation. One of every
14 Washingtonians either receives checks from the state system or is in line to when they retire.
The system has about $73 billion in total assets, split among 11 separate defined-benefit plans
and five 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans.
Though managed by the state, the system extends far beyond Olympia. Except for the cities of
Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Spokane, nearly every city, county, port, school system and fire,
library or mosquito-control district takes part.
Among the beneficiaries is Dave Proebstel, who worked 26 years as an electrical engineer for
the Clallam County Public Utility District before retiring in June. He and his wife, who live
outside of Sequim, rely on his state pension for about half of their 86,000-a-month retirement
income — enough, he said, to let them live much as they did before he retired.
"We have three kids scattered around the country, and we occasionally visit them," he said. "Wc
go to Hawaii, and some other places."
Proebstel said he appreciated the pension's stability and predictability, as opposed to the stocks
in his deferred-compensation account. It takes a lot of the worry out of retirement, he said, and
he hopes the pension will be around as long as he is.
"That's a tough one, given all the uncertainties that pop up once in a while," he said. "But I'm
kind of hoping thc Washington employees' system is guided by smart people."
Making sure retirees such as Proebstel get what they've been promised is largely a matter of
matching assets and liabilities — the stocks, bonds, office buildings and other investments
owned by the pension system, versus payment promises that stretch many decades into the
future.
The state actuary's office, which does the heavy number-crunching for the pension system,
projects that over the next century it will have to pay out some $440 billion across all its
defined-benefit plans. (Those plans pay a set amount per month based on the worker's salary
and length of service, which makes it possible to pr ject their future obligations fairly
accurately.)
Matt Smith, the state actuary for the past decade, explains that this stream of future payments
has to be converted, or "discounted," back into present-day dollars before it can be sized up
against the plan's assets. The trick is picking the most appropriate discount rate; the bigger the
rate, the smaller all those future obligations look in today's dollars.
If the plan's discounted liabilities are bigger than its assets, the plan is underfunded.
According to Smith's current analysis, all but two of Washington's nine m jor defined-benefit
plans are fully funded, with combined liabilities worth $60.2 billion and assets worth $60.7
billion.The exceptions are two plans covering state workers and teachers that were closed 35
years ago.
Indeed, a recent report from the Pew Center on the States, using 2010 data, found
Washington's pension system was the fourth-healthiest in the nation.
But a growing number of economists, academics and outside pension experts say the standard
approach is fundamentally flawed. Most plans, they say, use discount rates that are too high,
making the present-day value of their pension promises look smaller than they really are.
"I've seen people get so red-faced about this issue," said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center
for Retirement Research at Boston College.
bUp://oeuUleLiooca.cncn/htrn|/bumiueomtechoology/2O2045V442_peosioogopxcnl.b1nul 3/4/2013
Changes loom for Washington state pension system Business & Technology I The Seattl... Page 3 of 5
Public pensions such as Washington's operate under special accounting rules, one of which
allows them to assume a long-term rate of return on their investments. Most plans have picked
a rate between 7 and 8 percent; all but one of Washington's plans assume 7.9 percent.
That assumed return is significant, because another special rule lets public plans it as their
discount rate — something corporate pension plans were forced to abandon nearly two decades
ago.
Critics such as Munnell and Biggs say this rule ignores the fact that pension benefits are
effectively almost as guaranteed as state bonds. That, they say, means they should be valued
similarly to bonds.
"The way to value a stream of promised benefits is with an interest rate that reflects the
riskiness of the promised benefits themselves, not the expected returns," Munnell said.
Critics also look askance at another special rule that allows public pensions to smooth out
abnormal gains and losses on their investments over several years, rather than recognizing
them right away.
Washington smooths returns over as many as eight years, meaning the market plunge of 2008- 8-
09 isn't yet fully reflected in the plans' official valuations.
So while the actuary's office put thc system's assets at $60.7 billion as ofJune 2011 (the date of
the most recent assessment), their market value was 857.4 billion --a difference of83.3billion,
or more than 5 percent.
The currcnt approach is defended by those responsible for making the pension system work.
State Sen. Steve Conway, who chairs the Legislature's Select Committee on Pension Policy, said
snonoLbiuAauaoLvu|uconuukeo[u,ouoreoLuh|cenup\oy*rcoubibudonx
to-year bumpiness in state and local government budgets.
"It also stabilizes expectations" from public-employcc unions, the Tacoma Democrat added.
Others see the push toward market-based valuation as a stealth attempt to weaken support for
public pensions, by making them seem too expensive.
"They'rcrca\lv
state Department of Retirement Systems (DRS), which manages the various plans. "They're
arguing about something that's not really the issue."
The real issues, Hill says, is that the bills are now coming due for expensive (and now closed)
plans for state workers and teachers, as well as for previous benefit expansions in open plans.
All this might be so much academic quibbling if the pension system's investment returns were
consistently 7.9 percent or more. But they aren't: The financial crisis and the subsequent
recession and bear market pushed down the system's to-year average return to as low as 3,87
percent.
Though long-range returns have since recovered and are currently well above 8 percent, the
crisis demonstrated that they can't be taken for granted.
Elsewhere, most public pensions discount their fu uro payouts based on market interest rates.
The Netherlands, for instance, has set its rate at 2.42 percent; if Washington operated under
conservative Dutch rules, its pension gap would swell to $105 billion.
Back in the United States, the critics' arguments are slowly gaining favor:
b|tp://uouide1icoou.000/hicul/buoioeos1euhuo1ogy/202U45q442_pcoaioogapxnu htoo| 3/4/2013
Changes loom for Washington state pension system I Business & Technology | The Sca\tl— Page 4 of 5
^IbcCuli[ozoiu9ob\icEmnhoveoo'DeionmouiSvatero(Co|9EDS),tbeunbnu`ahkosoutoubUc'
pension fund, now uses the market values of its asset to determine its funded status, s iog
that market value "represents the true measure of the plan's ability to pay benefits at a given
point io1iour."
• Last year Indiana's public pension fund became the nation's first to drop its assumed rate of
return -- and hence its discount rate — below 7 percent, citing low bond yields and volatile
stock markets.
• Moody's, one of the three big bond-rating agencies, is considering changing the way it
analyzes state pension plans. Its proposed new method, which would use market values of
assets and a discount rate based on an index of high-grade corporate bonds, would nearly triple
the total unfunded liability of the nation's state and local pensions, from 8766 billion to $2.2
trillion.
• Even the Government Accounting Standards Board, which sets rules for public pension plans
and has long defended the actuarial approach, is chan i its tune. Under new rules the board
issued last year, underfunded plans will have to start discounting their "excess" liabilities using
municipal-bond rates.
Different approach
So how would Washington's pension system look under a market-based approach?
After consulting with several economists and pension experts, The Times decided to use
discount rates derived from yields on long-term state general-obligation bonds, matched to
each individual plan's duration. The rates ranged from 3.48 percent to 6.26 percent.
Those rates were used to compute present-day values of each plan's pr jected future payments,
using data provided by the state actuary's office. The values were compared to the market value
of each plan's assets, as disclosed in their financial statements.
Looked at this way, funding levels varied widely from plan to plan. Though none was fully
funded, the two plans that cover local police and firefighters came closest: They were about 83
percent funded, generally considered a reasonably healthy level.
On the other hand, the gap between assets and liabilities in the original (and now closed) state
workers' plan grew from $3.7 billion to nearly Sio billion. The gap in the original teachers'
plan, also now closed, widened from $1.8 billion Lo $6.8 billion.
Other analysts, using similar approaches, have come up with similarly large estimates of
Washington's ''rcul" pension-funding gap.
Biggs, in a recent study, pegged Washington's total unfunded liability at 851.8 billion. Joshua
Rauh, a finance professor at Stanford's business school, estimated a 84u.9 billion gap.
Washington already has begun decoupling investment assumptions from the rate used to
discount future obligations: Under a law passed earlier this year, the discount rate will be
gradually lowered, to 7.7 percent by 2017.
State actuary Smith had urged lawmakers to bring the rate down even further, to 7.5 percent,
but called the new law a good start.
"I call it 'reasonable conservatism' or 'being on the right side of wrong," he said. "If you miss
your assumptions, is your plan going to be better or worse off?"
But even small reductions to the discount rate — not to mention the larger cuts that a full
market-based approach would entail — will widen the gap between the system's assets and
liabilities. That could force employers, workers or both to pay more into the system.
b|ln://sca1tlo|iooeS.Com/hUoul/buoiocaoicuhuology/2O2V45V447_pcuaioognpzuzl.h1ru| 3/4/2013
(Thanes loom for Washington ulutcpenaonsystenz Business & Technology The Scuitl... Page 5 of 5
Biggs' study, for example, estimated that lowering thc discount rate to 7.5 percent, as Smith
recommended, would increase required employer contributions to the open PERS plans by
nearly 25 percent.
But cash-strapped local governments, which already have had to squeeze higher pension
contributions into their budgets, likely would resist sueh a move.
In 2003' for example, King County paid 311.3 million toward employee-retirement plans. This
year it expects to pay S69.5 million; next year's bill is estimated at s83.9 million.
Nor would it be easy to reduce benefits, at least for current employees or retirees.
Dallas Salisbury, president of the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.,
cautioned that moving to market-based valuation carries its own risks.
"If interest rates shoot up to to percent, for example, it would suddenly appear that every
pension plan in the United States was well-funded," he said. "You'd have pension plans all over
the country sa 'ug'l]cy
Ultimately, Salisbury said, it makes sense for pension managers and overseers to run the
numbers multiple ways, under multiple assumptions, but to always err on the side of caution —
such as by not permanently increasing benefits during what usually turn out to be temporary
bull runs.
But, he added, "no matter what numbers you give people, if they're inclined to make stupid
decisions they're going to make stupid decisions"
Drew De Silver: 206
hUp://seaitletinuem.000/h(oo|/buuiueum1echno|ouv/202045g442 noosioogaoxnl.htol 3/4/2013
1
acrossamer
EXPLORING PUBLIC SERVICES THROUGH PROJECTS, GEAR, STATISTICS & HISTORY .
1✓ - • The? ih Street facelift
, �; brought trees _and planters,
as well as new si na e
O F .' '1 . "..• ' B uty a andlighting.(left)Also
• featured are unique, three -
µiri I . �.- ' sided benches. (below)
l! L!.• + } _ YS �' Photo Credit: Rob Williams
T _ �, :. ' L ~ 't a ree t
� ; Arthouse Design, of
' 1 Y er, Colo., developed
_ Denv
.. _ A muc h - nee makeover thedramatic,;ght,ng •
, ';3 f' q signage system.
. . t do wntovwri Denver phoioCredit:lackie
1L • it , :- ,r r 4 ' -SI , .i 4 , '1"5. Shumaker Photography
r T 'r ,. -
y _ :_. .. , , .
,a rrir "'� t t r^ L�
tic .-- •
or years, Denver's 14th Street languished as an
uninviting stretch on the west side of downtown,
comprised mainly of blank cement walls, lonely
bus stops and an occasional landmark facility. That ___._._�
began to change when the Colorado Convention
Center on 14th Street underwent a major expansion cc
in 2004. As marquee hotels moved into the area, dealing with 14th
Street's lack of ambiance became a priority. Consequently, 14th
Street was slated for the most significant streetscaping project
in downtown Denver since the 1982 opening of the 16th Street
Pedestrian Mall.
The 14th Street improvements, completed at the end of "
2011, include expanded sidewalks, a dedicated bike lane,
street corner bulb -outs, improved pedestrian lighting, bike - I
racks, benches, landscaping, and way- finding monument
signs with lighting, information and directions. -
. : - •
The project was funded and implemented through a public - private 4 .p
partnership between the city and county of Denver, the Downtown r ,, j i.„
Denver Partnership, the Downtown Denver Business Improvement i • , A
District and 14th Street property owners. The cost totaled $14 111ai
million, with $10 million funded by the Better Denver Bond -
'
Program and $4 million by 14th Street property owners through
c
the formation of the 14th Street General Improvement District. - a
Because 14th Street provides a first impression for people visiting E l ` - i o
the Colorado Convention Center, hotels and theater district, DE o
z
locally -based Arthouse Design developed a campaign branding v •
the street as an "ambassador" to the area. The firm also developed a
a 14th Street logo, directional and informational banners and a
signs, and a series of dramatic 22- foot -high kiosks that include ,
signs, lighting and directions to downtown Denver landmarks. a
www.americancityandcounty.com l February 2013 33