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Home My WebLink About04/21/2009 05 Audience Participation ,stri bu-/I 'l 2//09 1 I t>. TO Honorable Mayor Dave Edler and City of Yakima Council Members b 129 North Second Street, Yakima, WA 98901 DATE: April 17, 2009 FROM: Constance E. "Connie" Little, 2002 Simpson Lane, Yakima, WA 98901 -3908 (509) 453 -2815 e-mail: clittle @bentonrea.com RE: Recent motion by a council person to change the system of finance from a working system of budgeting through a fine staff under the direction of the city manager. It seems very peculiar that this subject has not come up for public scrutiny. I did not see anything in our newspapers or the business paper. It was news to me and I keep tabs on everything I can re our city and my small community in the south east portion of the City of Yakima. All of you have received my reports. The last big issue I tackled was when the town of Union Gap wanted to annex our portion of the Broadway Fire District No. 11 in the early 1990's. I came before the city council of that era and asked that they support my efforts to prevent being annexed to Union Gap. Six of the seven council members supported me and Larry Peterson, an assistant city attorney, was appointed. The city paid $300 and I paid $300 to the Boundary Review Board to take the matter to court. Larry gave me some lessons on civil law when he saw I was not going to take my $300 back. He said the city would pay $300. I told him I would leave my $300 with the BRB because I could testify what I believed our area wanted. We won the case and this story is in the history of this area I am writing. The idea of changing the method of doing the budget should have been thoroughly studied and brought to the attention of the voters in the city. Not pushed through as it _ seems to appear. For that reason, please note I am ready to defend the budget system we have had for at least five decades. If isn't broken, it doesn't need to be fixed! The city manager and department heads over these many years have worked diligently and honestly to provide us with services and kept us "in the black." That is quite an achievement. Larry Peterson is with the county prosecuting attorney's office and can verify what I am writing. I also was deeply involved in getting the potable water for the railroad area. My interest in what affects our community goes back to when I was a county resident, but appointed to replace the Yakima Police Department complaint desk sergeant by then Chief of Police, Harold A. Robinson. At that time I faced the irate parking crowd who suddenly had to start paying their parking tickets. Your recent ventures in this area are noted. The Bellingham area where I lived until 1949, recently adopted the towing of all cars which have four or more parking tickets. Please recognize my appeal for a reconsideration of the motion made and voted on too hastily. Thank youi' ---- '�- Constance ce �, . ittle, aka vConme" Little Cc: City manager, department heads, and others 1"1/Zeloq rnp e Yakima City Council Meeting, April 21, 2009 Public Meeting — Item #5: Audience Participation Subject matter — City Council Study Session on Priorities of Government. I come before you today to present my displeasure in the actions of you, my representatives in city government, during your recent study session on Priorities of Government. I am not questioning the outcome of your vote but how you got there. It seems that you as a Council made agreements at an earlier retreat and did not keep them, thereby angering one of your colleagues, resulting in his resignation. In my opinion, and whether you agree or not, the city lost a good Councilman. On public television, this Council came across as divisive, disrespectful at times of other Council members positions, and with an agenda, to force a vote without discussion. Just because one or more of you felt you had a majority to pass the motion does not sit well with me when the minority seemed to have minimal or no information on the subject matter. We the citizens of Yakima have elected seven Council members (Council woman Rodriguez excluded), not four, and all should be on board for any vote. As my representatives, I urge you to personally review, as many times as necessary, the tape of that study session with the purpose of improving your interpersonal skills and to build a cohesive, not divisive city council. Thank you for your time. William R (Bill) Duerr 3206 W Yakima Ave Yakima WA 98902 -2765 TTrbrn � / rnas 7a ■.45 124109 &S, ss R15 . To Yakima City Council: From Thomas Davis 620 S. 70th Ave I have a system of how to select a new council member if a midterm vacancy comes about. 1- Open registration for one week. 2- Disqualify any applicant who does not meet the vacancy qualifications (resident of city of Yakima or district, not registered to vote, etc.) 3- All qualified candidates get three minutes to speak in front of council (special open meeting). 4- Each Council Member will go in private to rate all candidates by the points system, i.e. #1 choice gets 1 point, #2 choice gets 2 points, #10 choice gets 10 points. 5- City Clerk? tallies points for each candidate and presents totals in open meeting. (any Yakima resident can request that each individual council member's votes be read off. 6- Council takes top 1/3 of candidates for next round of interview process. 7- Each council member will create one question apiece and present it to each interviewee. Questions will be given to the interviewee no less than 24 hours prior to the interview. 8- The points process will follow the interviews and be handled in the same manner as the first round, with the least amount of total points filling the vacancy. 9- In case of a tie...coin flip...roll call vote... points system (third times a charm). J�sfri 'f /2i v9 M- . YAKIMA AIR TERMINAL - McALLISTER FIELD REGULAR BOARD MEETING AGENDA April 23 2009 7:30 AM AIRPORT BOARD ROOM 1. Roll Call 2. Consent Agenda Items * All items listed with an asterisk ( *) are considered routine by the Airport Board and will be enacted by one motion without discussion. A citizen' may request Council to remove an item from the. Consent Agenda, and if approved, will be considered in its normal sequence on the Agenda. 3. Pg. 1 * Review Minutes of the March 26, 2009 Board Meeting. 4. Audience Participation 5. Pg. 5 Staff Report 6. Capital Projects Report 7. Pg. 7 * Boarding's Reports 8. Pg. 9 * Finance Reports 9. Pg. 21 Approve Engineering Services Agreement with JUB Engineers 10. Pg. 23 Tentative award of the Runway 27 Runway Safety. Area Improvement project: 11. Pg. 24 Authorize the Airport Manager to execute the Engineering Services Agreement with Huibregtse, Louman Associated to provide construction monitoring and quality control services for the Runway 27 RSA Project. 12. Old Business: • Update from Mike Leita on Policy Alignment in Support of Airport Overlay Finalization ® Board Approval of Revised Standard Lease Agreement Filename: Ag090423 1 p • Board Approval of Draft Policy #13 (Escalation of Accounts Receivable) • Board Approval of Proposed Definitions for Board - Related Meetings • Board Approval of 2008 Financial Report • Board Approval of Draft Policy #14 (Compensatory Time) 13. Other Business: 14. Pg. 34 Operating, AIP /PFC Funds and Funds Disbursed for March 2009. Proper authorization of the funds disbursed is two steps: 1) Recommendation to accept or deny approval from Tom Holbrook. 2) Motion and second by other Board Members regarding treasurer's recommendation. 15. Adjourn: The next Board study session will be decided at this meeting. Our next Regular Board meeting will be held at 7:30 am, Thursday, May, 28, 2009 at the Airport Board Room. • Filename: Ag090423 2