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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/21/2007 Special Meeting / Study Session 10 SPECIAL MEETING / STUDY SESSION AUGUST 21, 2007 8:00 - 9:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - YAKIMA CITY HALL 1. RoII CaII Present: Council: Mayor Pro Tem Neil McClure, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Micah Cawley, Norm Johnson, Bill Lover, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais and City Clerk Moore Absent: Dave Edler (excused) The two subjects were covered in reverse order, starting with the Kiwanis Park update. 2. Review of Dog License Fees and Revenues Council Member Bonlender shared his reasoning on the benefits of reducing dog licensing fees. He estimates that currently, only 20 % -25% of the dogs in the city are being licensed and he believes it is because the fees are too high. Yakima's dog license fees are near the highest in the nation. We require voluntary compliance as we don't have the capability to enforce our fees, especially the renewal fees. He feels we would increase volunteer participation and generate the same amount of revenue, or more, by reducing the fee. He is suggesting reducing the fees from $30/$15 (unaltered /altered) to $10/$5. He also suggested guaranteeing one free trip home for a dog found rather than taking them to the animal shelter. Ben Zigan, City Animal Control Officer, described the process they go through when they find a dog loose. If the dog does not have a license, it is considered stray and is taken to the shelter. If the dog has a license, they deliver it home saving the amount of time necessary to book the dog into the shelter. If they pick up an unlicensed stray and can find where it lives, they will take it home and instruct the owner to license the animal. They will do a follow -up later. Council Member Lover wanted assurance that reducing the fee would not reduce revenue. He also suggested looking into pet owner licenses rather than animal licenses commenting that people are easier to track than animals. Alan Lanvoy, Director of the Humane Society in Yakima, explained their process when animals are brought in by Animal Control. They are held for 48 hours, after which they become the property of the Humane Society. They go through a four - step process trying to either adopt them out, transfer them to Seattle, or find foster care, before ultimately having to euthanize them. As of June 1 they have started micro - chipping every animal they adopt out. He agreed that lowering fees may be an incentive for more people to license, but he would like to see people micro -chip ,1 ! SPECIAL MEETING — AUGUST 21, 2007 theft dogs as well. The bigger picture is that there are way too many animals in Yakima County and cats have become a big problem. It is more important to him and his staff that animals be spayed or neutered. He would like to see the fee for altered animals go down and the fee for unaltered to go up significantly. His goal would be to put a dent in the animal over - population problem and lower the euthanization rates. The statistics show that the responsible people who have their pets altered are the ones who also have them licensed. They would like to see licensing tied to micro - chipping. After more general discussion on the topic, Council members suggested a group investigate many of the ideas that came up; e.g. pet owner licensing, micro - chipping, fee levels, etc. JOHNSON MOVED AND CAWLEY SECONDED TO ESTABLISH A COMMITTEE WITH INDIVIDUALS FROM CODES, ANIMAL CONTROL, THE HUMANE SOCIETY AND TWO OR THREE COUNCIL MEMBERS AND REPORT BACK BY BUDGET TIME. Animal control will set the meeting dates. Council members to be on the committee will be Ron Bonlender, Bill Lover and Susan Whitman. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote; Edler absent. 3. Kiwanis Park — Current Status and Future Development Council Member Lover had requested this update of Kiwanis park development due to the number of citizen calls he received following the posting of the SEPA Review sign at the park. Denise Nichols, Parks and Recreation Manager, gave a power point presentation on the history of the project. In 1999, Kiwanis Park had three outdated fields on approximately twenty acres. From 1999 to 2006, we started acquiring property with service club partnerships with a goal of twelve lighted fields. The project started moving forward in 1999 with the sale of the Larson Park tennis courts to Yakima Valley Community College. The money from that sale was earmarked for replacement ball fields. With $120,000 donation from the service clubs, and an IAC grant for an equal amount, they purchased the first acreage to begin the expansion. Mrs. Nichols described the steps taken and the development of a master plan with new goals. Groundbreaking was in July 2003 and the actual development began. They received money for a fourth ball field and construction began in June of 2006. From the start, the concept was to use lower Kiwanis for league tournament play and develop the upper area as a neighborhood sports park serving the east side community. They purchased five parcels with plans for many amenities. In addition, they wanted to add three or four youth softball fields. This year, a SEPA checklist for the removal of the incinerator received community opposition and the decision was made to leave it as it stands. Keeping the structure does not interfere with the plans for the park. Upper Kiwanis redevelopment is scheduled to get underway with the skate park in late fall 2007, once the IAC funding and the bid process is completed. They hope to complete the first phase of the skate park early next year, and finish the remainder of the upper Kiwanis area in 2008 and 2009. Because of the continued rise in construction costs, the current funding will not complete the park development. Yakima's service groups have a strong desire to continue development of a recreational corridor along 1 -82, but future funding is unknown. • 2 ,1 2 SPECIAL MEETING - AUGUST 21, 2007 Discussion following the presentation covered the following points: • Skate park details • Service club funding described by Greg Luring. • Service club dreams for the future of Kiwanis Park _ • The need to mitigate the pond • Community support • The need for girls fast pitch ball fields by Gene Rostvold • Economic benefits Council Member Lover mentioned that citizens involved with historic preservation had expressed concern with the incinerator and the ten acres that includes the pond. He expects them to get involved to protect the pond. Lynne Quesenbury supplied research information on the pond. In 1954 the City deeded several pieces of property, including the ten acre site, over to the Metropolitan Park District (MPD) for use as a public park. In 1970 it came back to the City as a park. DOG LICENSING ISSUE 4. Audience comments (9:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.) Included in the discussion. 5. Adjournment CAWLEY MOVED AND WHITMAN SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO AUGUST 28, 2007 AT 11:00 A.M. AT THE YAKIMA CONVENTION CENTER, BOARD ROOM, FOR AN EXECUTIVE SESSION REGARDING PERSONNEL. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote; Edler absent. The meeting adjourned at 9:40 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY l 24/4/l N L /z a' COUNCIL MEMBER DATE CO , NCIL ME DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK CLERK NEIL McCLURE, MAYOR PRO TEM Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A DVD of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office 3