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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/05/2000 Adjourned Meeting 44 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 5, 2000 — 11:30 A.M. PROVIDENCE MEDICAL CENTER 1. ROLL CALL Present: Council: Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, and John Puccinelli, Staff: Dick Zais, City Manager; Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager; Deborah Moore, Executive Secretary; and Melynn Skovald, Public Works Office Assistant Absent: Council Members Clarence Barnett and Bernard Sims (excused) 2. PUBLIC SERVICE LEGISLATIVE LUNCHEON Mayor Place invited attendees to introduce themselves; handouts were provided, and the group discussed legislative priorities to take to Olympia. Health Care Issues Earl Christison, Administrator, and Chris Boor, Public Affairs Coordinator, Providence Health System, identified several challenges health care organizations are experiencing in Central Washington. In light of voter - approved initiatives in recent years, there will be less state and local budget revenues and expenditures will increase due to new mandates. These will affect the 2001 -2002 biennium budget and Providence fears health care will again be impacted. The Public Health Insurance Program already includes declining choices for coverage, and further reductions would not only negatively impact patient care, but would lead to reduced services and access to health care. Providence would like to see Washington's health care budget protected from any more cuts, and they support legislation that would facilitate and encourage health insurers to participate in the Healthy Options and the Basic Health Plan. They also support legislation strengthening insurance coverage because level -of -care costs are not adequately reimbursed and carrying those extra costs are burdening health care providers. Providence Health System is also concerned about the Rural Health Care System since the number of uninsured has increased in rural areas. Local economic development efforts should also continue, and the Yakima community is in desperate need of a trained workforce. Currently, there is a nursing shortage, and they believe the health care industry is over regulated reinforcing patient -care staff focusing on documentation rather than patient care. They also oppose any increase in license fees for health care providers. Anita Monoian, Chief Executive Officer, and Rhonda Hauff, Primary Care Administrator, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, agreed with concerns expressed by Providence Health System. They also believe there is a need for quality health care coverage and • 45 DECEMBER 5, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING COMMUNITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES LUNCHEON support legislation to facilitate that aspect. Emergency room traffic is expected to increase, especially those patients with multiple health problems from lack of health care. Dennis Klukan, Executive Director, Yakima County Health District, supports legislation to continue state MVET replacement funds. He pointed out that some of the services that had been discontinued have been temporarily reinstated. He also outlined some of the other initiative cause and effects as mandated by the voters that shifted Health Department issues and task reassignments. Marty Lentsch, Yakima County Public Health and Safety Network, noted that they have the coordination capability to network referrals between non - profits and DSHS in order to be cost effective by leveraging funding very efficiently within the budget. Education Issues Benjamin Soria, Superintendent of the Yakima School District, reported that there are significant student achievement needs in Yakima. Although the Yakima School District • has renowned special education services available, additional resources are definitely needed for bilingual education and counseling services for students. In addition to current classroom teacher vacancies, more are expected because classroom size will be decreased due to the recent initiative mandated by the voters this fall. He directed attention to the upcoming February school bond levy proposal and the group discussed the simple majority requirement as it relates to voter approval. Linda Kaminski, President of Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC); highlighted YVCC's Capital Budget Requests for 2001 -2003. Those priorities include the Higher Education Center, the Grandview Campus Expansion; Childcare Facility Replacement; Sundquist.Hall Renovation to accommodate a new media technology program, Sundquist Student Study Space, and replacement of the antiquated HVAC system at YVCC. Economic Issues Dave McFadden, YCDA, explained that rural economic development is essential, and support is needed to keep sales tax funding for infrastructure development to attract new or retain existing companies. Workforce issues also need to be addressed since qualified people are unavailable. He also felt special tax credits should be given to allow employers to do customized training programs. Mr. McFadden reported that the Washington State Trade and Economic Development and Community Development agencies are going to split up their endeavors. He is also concerned about regulatory reform issues, i.e., water availability, salmon recovery, and 'other advocacy, issues dealing with deregulation. Leopoldo "Polo" Aguilar, Yakima County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, commented that technical assistance is needed in the Hispanic community to enable grant- funding opportunities for workforce training. 2 46 DECEMBER 5, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING COMMUNITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES LUNCHEON Gary Webster, Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce, noted workforce and colleague issues are concerns, as well as budget ramifications including unfunded mandates, regulatory reform, the school bond levy, and recent ergonomics regulations that will impact company operations. Water and its availability is also a priority. He believes the initiative process is out -of- control and is very close to an unbearable, didactic situation. Don Skone, Executive Director of the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments (YVCOG), commented that attention needs to be directed to smaller communities' needs and their inability to deal with complex regulations. He encouraged support to assist small towns' ability to meet mandated requirements. Housing Issues Alice Sells, Executive Director of the Yakima Housing Authority, identified her agency's concerns, many of which are the same year after year. These include affordable housing, health care, education, and investments for the citizens in Yakima. She posed the question, "What else can we do, and how can we flex our power to get our needs met ?" She suggested a committee be formed to identify some feasible possibilities to help Yakima Valley's economy. City and County Issues Council Member Beauchamp echoed concerns expressed previously, including loss of revenues from initiatives that he feels will continue to be a challenge well into the future. He called attention to the critical issue of young people getting into difficult situations and the possibility of juvenile criminal justice issues increasing. He feels young people should be a priority and these potential problems addressed. Research is needed to find a way to counteract the loss of human potential. He noted that it would cost more if this issue is fully addressed. He pointed out that a new job creates a sense of pride and erodes crime, and workforce training should be a priority. Council Member Puccinelli said that according to MSA's statistics, Yakima's main problem is their per- capita income is fourth from the bottom in the United States. He feels this creates many problems for schools, as well as other quality -of -life issues. However, he feels the effort is being made to address this need to increase the per - capita income problem. Gary Webster questioned the reliability of MSA's statistics. Council Member Mattson, directed attention to the new salmon listing and stormwater rules. These two rules need to meet halfway somehow, since there are not enough resources to meet those requirements. Other areas of concern are impacts to economic conditions, such as unfunded mandates and workforce training issues. Council Member Buchanan noted that federal legislators should be available to hear concerns of their constituents. Ron Gamache, Yakima County Commissioner - elect, pointed out that the people have mandated budget cuts. 3 47 DECEMBER 5, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING COMMUNITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES LUNCHEON Mayor Place believes that the Higher Education Center at YVCC will increase the local economy and what needs to be done in the meantime is to cope with what currently is available. There are some big cost items and it needs to be determined how those issues are to be dealt with. Lisa Fruend, Yakima County, noted that permanent resource replacement is necessary to deal with the 1 -695 and 1 -722 losses in addition to criminal justice issues. City Manager Zais reported that the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) is going to request 1 -695 Reenactment backfill funding. Also a priority is the Higher Education Center at YVCC. Legislation needs to be reintroduced concerning unfunded mandates to provide relief from those burdens. Transportation funding is a critical issue and so is infrastructure for economic development. Finding a funding source in the market place needs to be encouraged. Resources are necessary for government to work and are vital for the communities' needs to be met. Lynne Kittelson brought up the large, non - taxable exempt property tax base in this area, suggesting that ways to change that situation should be looked at. Senator Deccio Comments on the Communities' Concerns Alex Deccio, Washington State Senator, briefly described several aspects of the Yakima Valley Community College Higher Education Center project, which required a significant amount of his attention in order to get its capital budget approved by the State Legislature. Construction is slated to begin in the fall of 2001. City Manager Zais noted that the Armory Project is a great legislative accomplishment as well. It was started in 1994 and received federal and state monies in the last biennium. As for impacts from initiatives approved by the voters in recent years, Senator Deccio explained that the current initiative process does not specify any requirement on how revenue or spending reductions would take place. The law needs to spell out exactly, and clearly, how revenues or spending would be changed. The reality of this situation is there will probably be cuts, in DSHS programs, such as Healthy Options. As far as regulatory reform, Senator Deccio noted the need for legislative reform of teenage work statutes, specifically, permitted hours and types of work. Work - related ergonomic issues also need to be reviewed. Concerning the Governor's 2001 Budget, Senator Deccio said that 62% would go toward education. Governor Locke's budget is expected in late December; however, the proposed budget is over - budget by $2.5 billion. Education is not on the hit list, therefore, cuts will probably come from other areas of the budget. Senator Deccio also strongly stated that he feels budget surplus money needs to be guarded for future needs and priorities should be identified and then dealt with. Gary Webster said that he feels state standards should not exceed federal requirements. 4 48 DECEMBER 5, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING COMMUNITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES LUNCHEON 3. ADJOURNMENT TO 1:45 P.M. TO CITY HALL PARKING LOT FOR VEHICLE DEMONSTRATION Mayor Place thanked Providence Health System for their hospitality and everyone for attending. The meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: %OUNCI MEMBER Ve �.i• • - NM MEMBER ' DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK MARY PLACE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Public Works Office Assistant Melynn Skovald. An audiotape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office 5