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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. 198 DECEMBER 13, 1999 - ADJOURNED DINNER MEETING 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 2 199 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 3 200 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. 4 201 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. 5