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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/27/2001 Adjourned Meeting 3 6n I CITY OF YAKIMA ADJOURNED MEETING - BUDGET REVIEW NOVEMBER 27, 2001 - 8:30 A.M. = NOON 129 NORTH 2 STREET - COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. ROLL CALL Present: Council: Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson (present after ■ 9:05 a.m.), John Puccinelli (absent after 10:00), and Bernard Sims Staff: City Manager Zais, City Attorney Paolella and City Clerk Roberts 2. MUNICIPAL COURT SERVICES (Budget Page F -1; Policy Issue Page V -1) Judges Martin and Woodard and Linda Morris, Court Services Manager, were available for questions. • Policy Issue — Digital recording system Judge Martin spoke to the need for a digital recording system. The current system is worn out and has caused several matters to come back from Superior Court because the tapes were undecipherable. A new digital recording system will give more accurate tracking of who said what at what time, as well as eliminate technical problems. This system will pay for itself because it will eliminate the need to retry or dismiss cases due to tape failures. • Budget Judge Martin compared Municipal Court's caseload of 9,722 per judge with District Court's 7,670. He also noted that Municipal Court has six clerks versus District Court's twenty -nine. There was a discussion about the potential of using the offenders as a crew for graffiti removal or other work similar to what the Department of Corrections does. Judge Martin also commented that he felt the City should take a stand on the subject of the jail siting saying that it should be here, where everything is, for the convenience of the City, the Police and the courts. PROBATION CENTER (Budget Page F -5) • Budget Colby Way, Probation Services Manager, was available for questions. Mr. Way reviewed the Probation Center statistics and when asked to compare their statistics with the County, said they have an active caseload of about 550 compared to 250 for the County. He also said the State Department of • 3 6: 2 November 27, 2001 — Adjourned Meeting — Budget Review Corrections is trying to reduce theirs to 50 per person. They discussed the potential impact if the State DOC reduces their budget by 15% and reduces the time spent in their facility by up to 20 %. 3. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION (Budget Page K -1; Policy Issue Page X -31) • Policy Issue — Master Site Plan review Chris Waarvick, Director of Public Works, was available for questions. There was discussion on the policy issue for a Master Site Plan Review. Council Member Barnett expressed concern about spending $50,000 for a plan during a lean budget year. It was explained that an infrastructure condition assessment has been mandated by the Growth Management Act and is an integral part of the Capital Facilities Plan due in 2002. • Budget Discussion was held on the water increase and plant charge distribution. Council Member Puccinelli suggested the City not charge itself for water and thereby could avoid paying taxes to the state on water. There was concern on whether this suggestion was feasible and Mr. Waarvick committed to check into it. STREETS and TRAFFIC ENGINEERING (Budget Page K -15 and K -32; Policy Issue Page X -21) Shelley Willson, Streets and Traffic Operations Manager, and Joe Jackson, Streets Supervisor, were available for questions. • Policy Issue — Repair /Upgrade two intersections Shelley Willson, summarized intersections in town where there are technical deficiencies and explained this policy issue is to reduce the amount of deficient signal equipment allowing full use of existing capacity. Mr. Waarvick noted that they will be working on obtaining grants or funds from other sources for the unbudgeted $210,000. • Policy Issue — Department of Corrections crew There was discussion on the policy issue for a Department of Correction crew to improve rights -of -way appearance with Mrs. Willson explaining this would add a third crew to replace the private contractor that previously did the work. The question arose as to whether we could use the City's inmates instead of using a County crew. It was suggested that this was a city -wide issue and Administration and the Courts could work together to bring back a city -wide policy issue. • Budget Mayor Place asked if it was possible to put in more of the solar - powered school flashers. Mrs. Willson advised they are watching the state web site for a funding 2 November 27, 2001 — Adjourned Meeting — Budget Review 3 6 3 source. There was discussion on seal coating and how it doesn't start until after the vintique event, which causes the loss of about six weeks of prime time. Mr. Waarvick said they would prepare a plan on how they could potentially begin seal coating during that timeframe. Also discussed was the impact on the budget of the increased mileage in the City for paving and dust abatement. Mr. Waarvick commented that he feels the increase in Account 110, Salaries and Wages, for an Environmental Engineer should be under Engineering's budget. A discussion was held on the quality of repairing street and curb cuts when someone puts in a driveway and who should be responsible for inspecting the repair. Mrs. Willson said they may be changing the standards. Mr. Waarvick said that, following the budget cycle, they will get together with Engineering, Water, Streets, and private utilities to prepare a review for Council. TRANSIT (Budget Page K -43) • Budget John Haddix, Acting Transit Manager, was available for questions. He explained that the reason ridership increased by 5,000 but revenue remained about the same was due to free fares on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the summer, and an increase in transfers. There was discussion on the impact of the new annexations on Transit and the various options to accommodate them. Mr. Haddix noted there is an error in the 72 annexation policy issue (1 -18); where it says no Saturday service it should say the circulator route will have no Saturday service, they will provide hourly Saturday service. REFUSE (Budget Page K -59; Policy Issue Page X -11) • Nancy Fortier, Refuse Manager and David Moses, Refuse Supervisor were available for questions • Policy Issue -.Rate increase /reduce in -lieu tax to General Fund Mrs. Fortier spoke about the policy issue to increase refuse rates on residential can and extra garbage service by 15% and reduce the in -lieu tax from 10% to 9 %. They are expecting the rate increase to generate approximately $235,000 additional revenue for the division. The reduction would be about $29,000 which would be revenue neutral. There was discussion on what has been learned in the two routes with the automated trucks. • The tonnage has increased • Garbage cans should not be picked up in addition to the carts • The drivers appreciate the automated trucks and say they wouldn't go back to throwing cans. It avoids worker's compensation claims and other problems. • Some education of the public is needed. They are currently using an employee who is on modified work release to accomplish that. The Council recessed at 10:30 a.m. and returned to session at 10:42 a.m. 3 364 November 27, 2001 — Adjourned Meeting — Budget Review • Policy Issue discussion continues There was a detailed discussion on workman's compensation claims for the Refuse Division and the need to properly appropriate funds for those costs. Other options besides the proposed rate increase were reviewed. Archie Sutton, Human Resource Manager, commented on a review that had been done on utilizing the state fund for worker's compensation and how it was deemed less cost effective than continuing under our self- insurance program. Mr. Waarvick spoke about the benefits of dealing with workers compensation claims by being self- insured. • Budget There was discussion about the chart on page K -60 and the estimated annual cost per account for residential cans. Because this is a complex comparison, Mrs. Fortier said she will put together a write -up for Council. EQUIPMENT RENTAL & ENVIRONMENTAL FUND (Budget Page K -70 and K -84; Policy Issue X -31) • Budget Richard Wonner, Fleet Manager, was available for questions. It was noted the policy on page X -31 had been discussed earlier. Ms. Anson, Director of Finance and Budget, answered questions regarding motorcycle replacement for Police. She said there is no expansion of the motorcycle group. There was also a discussion that explained a shift of revenue from the Equipment Rental fund to the Environmental fund with regard to the fuel surcharge. PARKS AND RECREATION & CEMETERY (Budget Page K -87 & k -123; Policy Issue X -1 & X -7) Denise Nichols, Director of Parks and Recreation was available for questions. Mr. Waarvick announced that on Friday December 7th there will be a Pearl Harbor Day Memorial at Tahoma Cemetery. • Policy Issue — Pool covers and Washington Pool repairs Mrs. Nichols explained the plan to purchase energy efficient pool covers for Lions and Franklin pools. Council Member Barnett expressed concern about the policy issue on page X -3, Washington Pool Repairs and Options, asking if this was leading toward eliminating the pool. Mrs. Nichols explained that this last summer the boiler went out and it wasn't repaired as the funds were not available to do so. She said if we are going to open it up this season, it will require about a $12,000 repair or replacement of the boiler. They propose coming back to Council after they fully study what options are available and to talk then about whether it is cost effective to operate all five pools. Washington pool cannot be operated without a large dollar amount for repairs. There is the potential that one of the options would be to totally remove that pool. 4 November 27, 2001 — Adjourned Meeting — Budget Review • Policy Issue — Fees Mrs. Nichols said that it has been a couple years since the Parks and Recreation fees have been increased. The Parks and Recreation Commission would prefer trying to, keep up with escalating costs by fee increases every year or two rather than waiting four or five years and coming in with a major increase. The two areas most impacted by fee increases are acquatics, raising the swimming cost by 25 cents for youth, and Fisher Golf Course. She will supply charts showing the rate history and how fees have increased over the years. There was also discussion regarding a 10% fee increase for Tahoma Cemetery. The subject of building a new senior center was discussed. There is a donor who wishes to build a new senior center in Yakima. They are currently working with an architect and the seniors at the current senior center, looking at preliminary site plans. They hope to bring a site plan and recommended site location to Council after the first of the year. It is not known at this time whether that will eliminate the current senior center or not. Discussion continued on where the location should be. • Budget City Manager Zais referred to a handout that was distributed which changes page K -121 regarding the Parks and Recreation Capital fund. The major allocation for Larson Park has not changed significantly. The project that has changed and has a significant impact on the Larson Park proceeds is the Kissel Park development. It was funded briefly by a grant from some parks capital fund but most came from • the proceeds from the sale of Larson Park. The costs for environmental remediation have risen and now result in $531,000 of unanticipated costs. There have been efforts to try to secure funding for this from the Department of Ecology and, at this point, we appear to have about $300,000 or more in grant funding. This leaves a shortfall of $227,000 that will have to be funded from the receipts from Larson Park. There is no choice; the remediation has to be done. Council Member Barnett brought up the need to resolve some traffic measures on 16 Avenue with part of the proceeds from the Larson Park sale. Mr. Waarvick said that in the transportation plan update we expect to look at the impact of restricting left turns on major arterials. Mr. Zais continued stating that the remediation must be done before the project can get started. There has been some confusion as to what Kiwanis Park property acquisition was costing and where the money was coming from. The media seemed to think all of the property was given to the City or was included in the grant funding from the state, but that is not true. Although there was a sizeable donation from the service clubs, and a secured -in- commitment grant from the state, the City would be putting in approximately $600,000 from the Larson Park proceeds. However, we have learned the state has sequestered, impounded, and withheld the grant funds from us as a part of their budget review. We've acquired most of the property and it is a significant - investment that needs to be recouped in order to go forward. He said we are 5 366 November 27, 2001 — Adjourned Meeting — Budget Review waiting to see what the state does, and Senator Deccio is trying to help out on our behalf to have those funds released to us. If we cannot get those grant funds reinstated, the replacement of the one ball field is in jeopardy. The construction of the one ball field from Larson Park to Kiwanis Park is what remains and the estimate for that budget is about $700,000. He said if we get the state grant we should break even. 4. ADJOURNMENT MATTSON MOVED AND BUCHANAN SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO DECEMBER 4, 2001 AT 8:30 A.M. FOR BUDGET REVIEW (CITY MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE). The motion carried by unanimous voice vote; Puccinelli absent. The meeting adjourned at noon. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: t ✓. _ • 3 D �'pZ OU IL ME :ER �A Cr. NCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: 4°4( CITY CLERK MARY PLACE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins, edited by Karen Roberts. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 6