HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/07/1999 Adjourned Dinner Meeting 19
CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
DECEMBER 7, 1999
ADJOURNED DINNER MEETING WITH AREA LEGISLATORS
City Council met in session on this date at 6:30 p.m. for a
dinner meeting with area legislators in the Harrah Room at the •
Double Tree Inn, Yakima, Washington. Mayor John Puccinelli and
Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan,
John Klingele, Mary Place, and Bernard Sims were present.
Council Member -elect Larry Mattson was also present.
Legislators present were Senator Alex Deccio (14th District),
Representative Mary Skinner (14th District), Representative Jim
Clements (14th District) and Representative Bruce Chandler (15th
District).
Staff members present were City Manager Zais, Assistant City
Manager Rice, and Marketa George Oliver, Administrative Assistant
to the City Manager. Also present was Stan Finkelstein,
Executive Director of the Association of Washington Cities.
. The meeting convened at 7:05 p.m.
City Manager Zais began by discussing the proposed ergonomics
rules from the Department of Labor & Industries. Legislators
indicated that they were aware of the rules and discussed the .
problems with and need for administrative reform. Council Member
Barnett gave an example from the home builders and said that;
under these rules, companies would need to have two construction
crews because workers with jobs which involve having their arms
elevated, would only be able to work for four hours. Executive
Director Finkelstein said that the legislators could limit, by
statute, the authority of any agency to help address these kinds
of issues. Assistant City Manager Rice said that he had an
Attorney General draft opinion that was not sympathetic towards •
the rules. Representative Clements said that he could get the
agencies' attention by not budgeting any money for them. Senator
Deccio said that ultimately the Legislature needed to address the
Administrative Procedures Act, but it is difficult to do with the
current executive branch. City Manager Zais further commented on
the power of regulatory agencies and gave the recent 750 -pages of
stormwater regulations from the Department of Ecology as an
example of the proliferation of costly rules, that have no regard
for the climate or geography of an area and could ultimately cost
Central Washington $300 to $500 million.
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Mayor Puccinelli made some opening remarks and asked the
legislators to discuss what issues they viewed as being important
during the next session. Senator Deccio said that he was opposed
to spending the Rainy Day fund to fill in the funding holes left
by the passage of Initiative 695; that he viewed the passage of
I -695 as a policy change in funding from the voters - not as an
emergency. He also discussed ideas for spending $100 million of
the tobacco settlement money. He was not in favor of spending it
on billboards to discourage smoking. He said he viewed
transportation funding as critical, considering 1 -695 eliminated
the funding passed by the voters in Referendum 49. He said that
may be possible with the $200 million of new revenue coming into
the State's general fund.
Mayor Puccinelli said that there would still be some Motor
Vehicle monies coming in and indicated he would like those
earmarked for local government. He said that people are still
paying $30 and that should be given to local government.
Executive Director Finkelstein explained that the $30 is a
replacement for the- $23.75 license fee that is used to fund the
State Patrol and the rest is used for the administration of
issuing licenses. He also indicated that for the average city,
3.7 of its budget is /was MVET revenues. For counties, the
average was 2.5 %. City Manager Zais said Yakima's budget was.
3.9% MVET and that, due to economic conditions, there had been a
6 1/2% reduction in Yakima's budget since a year ago. There was
some discussion about what the Governor would include in his
proposed budget, which is due to come out on Thursday, December
16th. Representative Skinner discussed transportation and
health care and how to use the tobacco dollars.
City Manager Zais asked if the "Son of 695" initiative passed
what the impact would be on Referendum 49? He further stated
that the voters had detailed a method by which property taxes
could be raised and said the Council had been following that for
the past three years. Would "Son of 695" nullify what the voters
passed in Referendum 49? Executive Director Finkelstein said
that under "Son of 695," the ability to raise property taxes even
by the Implicit Price Deflator, without a vote of the people,
would be lost. There was a discussion about utility services and
the challenges facing utilities in light of the fact that
according to State law, they are required to break even, but may
not be able to do,that if voters do not approve the rates. City
Manager Zais asked if the courts could overturn the voters if
voter do not approve rate increases necessary to meet State or
Federal mandates. Finkelstein an example of being sure who
is able to vote - to which 'voters' was I -695 referring. For
example, Tacoma Water has a project that will cost $100 million
and is necessary to provide water to smaller districts in the
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DECEMBER 13, 1999 - ADJOURNED DINNER MEETING
area. Rates will have to be raised for the project, but do the
Tacoma voters vote on it or do the voters in the smaller
districts? Representative Clements said that issues like that
can be overcome with a 2/3 vote in the House and Senate and he
has the strength to do it. He said the beauty of I -695 is that
it can bring into focus excess regulations.
Mayor Puccinelli began to go through the City's legislative
priority list. One of the priorities discussed was one that
would authorize alternative revenue sources for funding local
government needs and provide more flexibility in current funding.
Council Member Sims stated that we just lost Pacific Power to a
Scottish company and does not see people voting for any kind of a
rate increase. Executive Director Finkelstein said that in some
cases, voters may be willing to accept taxes to preserve programs
they want. Senator Deccio said he was in favor of giving local
communities the ability to levy any taxes that the voters wanted.
He thinks local government should have all of the options. City
Manager Zais proposed that every mandate being considered should
have a fee attached to it that would be subject to a vote of the
people. Then, if the voters wanted a mandate, they would approve
the fee. Finkelstein said the State of Florida had a good
unfunded mandates bill that was working. Mr. Zais said he would
help craft an unfunded mandates bill that would provide a two -
year moratorium on all rules and regulations being promulgated by
State agencies.
The group then discussed the Higher Education Center and the
Yakima Readiness Center. Senator Deccio said there would need to
be more money in the 2001 budget cycle for Yakima Valley
Community College and there was money in the current budget to
accomplish design work. He asked the City to keep an eye on the
project and give him notice if there were any problems. He then
talked about the Readiness Center and said he would write
Congressman Hastings regarding the Department of Defense, who
needs to request the federal share of the armory project. Mayor
Puccinelli thanked Senator Deccio for work on the armory and the
YVCC' Higher Education Center projects. There was then a
discussion regarding the fish hatchery property located at the
airport. Assistant City Manager Rice said there is a potential
that the Federal Aviation Administration would buy the property.
Council Member Place said she wanted to make sure to keep the
water rights of the property.
Council Member Place talked about probation liability and
sentencing guidelines. She had recently attend a Probation &
Sentencing Guidelines Meeting. They discussed a measure which
would extend a period of probation of a State parolee and if the
parolee violates it, he or she would be placed into a county
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DECEMBER 13, 1999 - ADJOURNED DINNER MEETING
jail. This was an example of an unfunded mandate. Why should
the person not go back to a State facility?
Council Member Place then discussed some gambling issues, one of
which was related to the Yakama Nation, which had still not
distributed 2% of its net profit dollars to local entities as was
required under the compact. Representative Clements asked her to
send him a letter about this problem.
Senator Deccio asked about a gambling issue which provides that
• any city may exercise its planning and zoning powers with respect
to social card game activities. He asked for an explanation.
Administrative Assistant to the City Manager Oliver indicated
that this issue arose out of a conflict with the State Gambling
Commission. The Commission had previously asserted that its
authority to license an establishment superseded a city's zoning
authority and the draft legislation that is currently under
review by the City Legal Department would clarify those issues.
Council Member Klingele discussed water basin planning. The
Salmon Recovery Act and the costs associated were then discussed.
The core issue regarding salmon is more centered around who
controls the water. City Manager Zais suggested that if the
Legislators need someone to testify at a hearing, Rotary had an
excellent speaker and he will find out the speaker's name and
forward it to them, or send them a video if the speech was taped.
Economic Development issues was the next topic of discussion.
Representative Clements favors the development of tax free,
economic development zones. This concept is similar to tax
increment financing, which• is on the City's priority list.
Personnel issues were then discussed. The City is opposed to
expansion of benefits for LEOFF II and the impact on the City's
fiscal condition could be considerable. City Manager Zais then
discussed the early out option for PERS I and PERS II members.
Both he and Executive Director Finkelstein indicated that this
could be good for both cities and the State and the retirement
portfolio had done well enough that the money already exists to
fund it.
Council Member Klingele discussed electrical restructuring.
Other issues addressed included: liability reform (which Marketa
Oliver explained was a repeat from last year's priorities);
public purchasing /bidding and Municipal Research Services
Corporation funding. Mayor Puccinelli talked briefly about the
idea of privatizing liquor stores and thought it would be
beneficial to the cities and the State.
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DECEMBER 13, 1999 - ADJOURNED DINNER MEETING
There was •a discussion about annexation. The Department of
Revenue has issued an opinion indicating that it believes
revenues from annexations fall under the I -695. The Department
of Revenue indicated that it considers an annexation a 'monetary
enhancement' that would trigger the public voting requirements in
I -695. City staff indicated that Yakima will follow up with a
legal opinion on this issue.
The Council members thanked the legislators for their time and
consideration.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:25 p.m.
I
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: 1 �� ,
N CI MEMBR DATE
C 4 00FL MEMBER DATE
ATTEST:
Arrii
CITY CLERK •HN PUCCINELLI, MAYOR
Minutes prepared by Marketa George Oliver.
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