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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/23/1999 Adjourned Business Meeting 155 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON NOVEMBER 23, 1999 ADJOURNED BUSINESS MEETING The City Council met in session on this date at 8:30 a.m., in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Yakima, Washington, Mayor John Puccinelli presiding (absent after 10 :45 a.m.). Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, John Klingele, Mary Place, and Bernard Sims present on roll call. City Manager Zais, Finance Director Anson, Deputy Clerk Skovald (absent after 9:00 a.m.) and Records Clerk Watkins were also present. Council Member Place presented Council Member Barnett with a plaque and a cake in celebration of his 80 birthday. Fire Chief Gillespie was on -hand in full turn -out gear to deal with the risk of 80 lighted candles on the birthday cake. Council Member Buchanan noted that Yakima is losing Melotte's Westerner, a business that has been in Yakima for 42 years, due to retirement. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE ADJUSTING FEES FOR TAHOMA CEMETERY SERVICES Ordinance No. 99 -49, having been read by title only, it was MOVED BY KLINGLE, SECONDED BY BUCHANAN, TO PASS THE ORDINANCE. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. Mayor Puccinelli commented he voted for this ordinance because he felt people had options available other than °Tahoma Cemetery. Council Member Sims said this is an area that I -695 overlooked, the ability for Cities to conduct business as a business on a competitive basis. ORDINANCE NO. 99 -49, AN ORDINANCE adopting budget year 2000 Tahoma Cemetery Rate and Fee Schedule Adjustments. BUDGET REVIEW 8:45 A.M. - NOON Neal McClure, 5708 Englewood Avenue, and Cec Vogt of the Yakima Greenway, took this opportunity to publicly thank the Council for the pedestrian projects that were completed during 1999. • • 156. ADJOURNED MEETING.- NOVEMBER 23, 1999 FINANCE DEPARTMENT FINANCIAL SERVICES (Budget Pages 272 -276) Rita Anson, Director of Finance, addressed some questions previously asked by Council. She explained that contracting out for arbitrage services provides the City with a product containing technical calculations written by an expert that also has some warranty. With regard to an earlier question as to when the Sundome bonds mature, Cindy Epperson, Accounting Manager, advised that one matures in 2007 and the second one matures in 2009. It was clarified that these are County bonds for which the City is paying a portion of the debt, approximately a million dollars between the two bonds. Council Member Buchanan suggested that there should be a sunset clause on the business licensing fees that were increased to cover the debt obligation. City Manager Zais said the records will be examined to determine whether the rate increase had a sunset clause. It was the consensus of Council that if it is determined a sunset clause was not included there needs to be council action to include it so the rate increase will go away once the debt is paid. Another area that had been questioned previously was parking services; what it is costing the City and whether it makes sense to reduce or eliminate some hours. Ms. Anson explained that the 2000 expense budget for the two parking enforcement officers, including wages and the operation and maintenance of their scooters, is $153,000. The budgeted revenues from citations and hourly parking fees is $216,000 for a net revenue generation to the City of $63,000. DARC receives the money from the monthly parking fees. Mayor Puccinelli asked that research be done clarifying whether the money required for resurfacing the parking lots has been set aside and from which revenue source. Bert Tabayoyon, Customer Services Manager, will check into that request. Council Member Klingele asked if the fees for the State Examiner (page 272) can actually be raised as planned in light of Initiative 695. Cindy Epperson will ask the State Auditor. INFORMATION SYSTEMS (Budget Pages 277 -288) Rick Pettyjohn, Information Systems Manager, was available to present this budget and respond to questions. Council Member Place asked what the status was of the City's web page. Marketa Oliver, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager, addressed this question and advised they plan to have the web page available to the public by February 2000. She explained there is currently 2 MEETING - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 1 5 7 ADJOURNED MEET O , some information available on the web at this time; the Yakima Municipal Code, some web mapping, and some engineering information. Rick Pettyjohn explained it is the City's goal to maintain the website with existing personnel. City Manager Zais also said this investment in technology is a good investment because it directs people to do research on their own without tying up City staff. There was discussion about the type of information that will be available on the website, e.g. the budget, agendas, as well as access to other governmental information. In response to Council Member Klingele's question as to why they were replacing the DEC Alpha computer, Mr. Pettyjohn responded that the current computer is old and slow and has been upgraded to it's full capacity. He also said that the savings in maintenance costs should really bring the expense down. Council Member Place voiced disagreement with cutting the Windows NT upgrade in the Information Systems budget. Mr. Pettyjohn explained that the cuts in the Information Systems budget involve things such as maintenance and the NT upgrade, most of which assume that they will be taking on more responsibilities. He further explained that is why there are no personnel cuts in the Information .Systems budget because their workload will be increasing. CUSTOMER SERVICES (Budget Pages 289 -294) Bert Tabayoyon, Customer Services Manager, was available to present this budget and respond to questions. He spoke about the impact of the Tier 1 cut of,an animal control officer advising that services will have to be cut. At this point, Council Member Place asked what the actual number is that the budget has to be cut because of the passage of Initiative 695. City Manager Zais replied that the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) reduction, in round numbers, is $1,426,000. Although it's all general fund money, all the departments are participating in this reduction. The cuts that are ultimately made in Parks and Recreation and Streets will result in a revenue shift of property tax back to the general fund to make up their contribution and loss. City Manager Zais continued by explaining that in addition to the MVET there are other adjustments needed with respect to other revenue losses. He alluded to a continuing drop in sales tax revenue saying the year -end `99 estimate of sales tax revenue will be adjusted downward by $50,000 in the general fund and there will be another $50,000. adjustment downward for the year 2000. This will make a total adjustment downward of another $100,000. He advised that they are evaluating a possible Tier 3 to deal with these sales tax revenue reductions as well as any projected future reductions. ,3 158 ADJOURNED MEETING - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 BONDS (Budget Page 297 -318) There was discussion on the bonding situation and future bonding requirements in light of the inability to raise rates to offset the expenses. City Manager Zais emphasized that the City will have to help the voters understand that bonding requirements are . to meet mandatory Clean Water Act requirements and it will take rate adjustments to pay for them. OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL (Budget Pages 542 -544) Council Member Barnett commented that the Department of Emergency Services and the Council of Governments have revised their budgets as a result of I -695 and that is appreciated. City Manager Zais assured Council that those changes will be reflected in the final budget wrap up. Council Member Sims requested that the narrative on page 543 be corrected to eliminate reference to the Agricultural Showcase. There was discussion regarding the Clean Air Authority's request for additional funds. It was the general consensus of the Council to reduce the Clean Air Authority's base budget (1999 fee) by an • equivalent amount as the 4% reduction the City is experiencing in the general fund. Council Member Place suggested that Council should write to the state legislators telling them to fund the Health District so they can provide the services required by state mandates. Dennis Klukan, Public Health Administrator, discussed the current financial situation of the Health District which is experiencing a 92.69% loss of all their local dollars. Council Member Sims asked if there was a limit to the amount that any district can put forward for a special operating levy to the taxpayers. Mr. Klukan said that a decision has not been made to make the County Health District strictly a County function. That decision would have to be made before they could go to the voters for a special levy. Council Member Barnett reiterated that the Health District will be presenting a budget to the Health Board showing no city contributions. Council Member Sims suggested the Health Board pursue the issue of running a special operating levy for next year. Mr. Klukan said Health Districts might be given the opportunity, like school districts, to have direct operating levies but are not empowered by law to do that at this time. In answer to Council members' questions as to whether the request for $65,000 has been removed, Mr. Klukan said he is not saying it has been removed, but he has been directed by the Board to have a budget available that removes all those dollars. 4 159 ADJOURNED MEETING,- NOVEMBER 23, 1999 There was discussion about the possibility of the Clean Air Authority also running a special operating levy for funding. It was MOVED BY SIMS, SECONDED BY BUCHANAN, TO DIRECT THE COUNCIL'S CLEAN AIR REPRESENTATIVE TO ASK THE CLEAN AIR AUTHORITY TO RUN A SPECIAL OPERATING LEVY. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote; Puccinelli absent. ADMINISTRATION WATER /IRRIGATION (Budget Pages 238 -265; Policy Issues 82 -86) Dueane Calvin, Water /Irrigation Manager, was available to present this budget and respond to questions. The critical nature of the timing of the Cost -of- Service Rate Study was discussed pointing out it needs to be done, and processed through Council, in time to get on the November 2000 ballot in order to avoid the requirement of a special election in 2001. • Mr. Calvin explained that with respect to the grant writers there are two areas in which they will be looking for grant money in the next year or so; the irrigation rebuild project and the intake structures for the water treatment facilities. City Manager Zais commented on the reduction in training and explained that the money left in there is to cover mandatory • certification training. Mr. Calvin suggested the Capital Outlay requests will have to be changed due to the fluoride issue. It will be reflected in Service Unit 343 and will be adopted in the final budget. It will also be in Capital Improvements for installation of the facility. Council Member Barnett noted that the treatment costs per 100 cubic feet has been very stable and asked if there will be an impact on this with the implementation of fluoride. Mr. Calvin said that the year 2001 would be the first point in time that there may be an impact from fluoridation. It was noted that on page 258 under Account 110, Salaries and • Wages, the narrative needs to be corrected to read "...the third year of the six year compensation..." With regard to page 86 in the policy issues, the request for Domestic Distribution System Connection Charge has been removed as it is pending legal review of the application of I -695. It will be looked at in the Cost -of- Service Study. 5 160 ADJOURNED MEETING - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 WASTEWATER (Budget Pages 200 -237) Doug Mayo, Wastewater Manager, was available to present this budget and respond to questions. Council Member Barnett raised the issue of the periodic installment on wastewater connection charges and how it does not apply to new residents without a failed septic tank. He thinks that the Council should amend the ordinance to extend the plan to all homeowners who want to hook up to the City's sewer system and would like to have that added as a policy issue. Mr. Mayo commented that this will shift the burden back to the ratepayer and that the rates will have to be adjusted to make up for the shortcoming in the connection charge. City Manager Zais advised that Wastewater is another area requiring a Cost -of- Service Study. This study is mandated by the Department of Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency to • review the rate structure every two years looking for adjustments that may be needed due to mandates and other fixed operating costs in the utilities. This study should be ready for review next year and is potentially subject to the same provisions of Initiative 695. Council Member Klingele requested that the fund chart on page 201, if changed in the future, define what the fund numbers stand for. For the record Council Member Barnett advised that at a previous Stormwater Planning meeting Chris Waarvick, Public Works Director, had asked whether or not they had used some of the data that had been in our Stormwater Plan, but they hadn't. He then asked Mr. Waarvick what data was in that plan that might have been used to alleviate some of the stringent regulations that are now in that graph. Mr. Waarvick said that a lot of the base hydrology information, geographic soils data, the topography, the inventory of structures, a good two - thirds of that manual had things that have not changed since the time they were done. Council Member Klingele requested a correction on page 226 of the spelling of Del Monte. City Manager Zais highlighted that the debt service obligation represents about 24% of the utility's operating budget. He said we have tried to stay under 30% in respect to our overall debt obligations. Council Member Sims emphasized that it is going to be difficult to sell any of these debt service issues to the public. 6 ADJOURNED MEETING - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 1 COUNCIL (Budget Pages 166 -168) There was no discussion on this budget. CITY MANAGER (Budget Pages 169 -171) There was no discussion on this budget. LEGAL (Budget Pages 172 -177) City Attorney Paolella was available to present this budget and respond to questions. He explained that with the reduction of one prosecutor and with the other budget savings their total reduction is about 30% in the prosecutors' budget. He went on to explain they are discussing options with the Police Chief to find other areas they can curtail prosecution, such as fireworks violations. He said they 'cannot reduce DUIs and domestic violence and will be looking at curtailing the more minor offenses. CITY CLERK (Budget Pages 178 -181) Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager, was available to respond to questions. Council Member Place requested a breakout on the election and voter pamphlet costs. There was discussion on the municipal code, the reduction in costs due to printing it inside and the fact that it is now on- line. HUMAN RESOURCES (Budget Pages 182 -196) Archie Sutton, Human Resource Manager, and Sheryl Smith, Deputy Human Resource Manager, were available to respond to questions. Mrs. Smith responded to Council's questions regarding large medical claims experienced under the City's self- insured program. Discussion occurred about options being reviewed to reduce program costs, including a change to the AWC medical insurance. Archie Sutton explained the Health and Safety Committee's function which is a state requirement because of our self - insurance. Couneil Member Klingele asked about the Employee Assistance Program. Mr. Sutton explained that it is also being used for the 7 162 ADJOURNED MEETING - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 random drug testing program. He expressed his belief that this program has aided many employees on an emotional level. City Manager Zais discussed the struggles to reduce the work force caused by I -695. Although there are only seven or eight positions that will be cut, they may have bumping rights in Civil Service that could affect 20 other people. He said they are getting a legal clarification and guidance with the Civil Service Commission to manage this as fairly as possible and not disrupt other work activities. PURCHASING • (Budget Pages 197 -199) There was no discussion on this budget. It was MOVED BY BUCHANAN, SECONDED BY SIMS, TO ADJOURN AT 12:15 P.M. The motion carrier by nimous voice vote; Puccinelli absent. �. 1 AM Cl READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: I'LL/ � • 1 2 - tq v 9 COUNCIL ` �' R DATE � ' _ l -- Fo COUNCIL MEMBE' DATE ATTEST: G i CITY CLERK P 'CE, MAYOR PRO -TEM Minutes prepared by Records Clerk Watkins. An audio and videotape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's office. • 8