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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/11/2014 04A Minutes 02-10-2014 Council Partnerships CommitteeCommittee Meeting Minutes Yakima City Council Partnerships Committee Monday, February 10th, 2014 Members in attendance: - Mayor Micah Cawley - Council Member Dave Ettl - Council Member Maureen Adkison City of Yakima staff in attendance: - City Manager Tony O'Rourke - Comm. & Public Affairs Dir. Randy Beehler Mayor Cawley called the meeting to order at 11:03 am. - Election of Chair Mayor Cawley noted that a new chair of the committee needed to be elected. Mayor Cawley nominated Council Member Adkison to serve as committee chair. Council Member Ettl seconded the motion. Adkison was unanimously chosen to serve as committee chair. - Presentation by Yakima Union Gospel Mission re: Request for Letter of Support Adkison introduced Yakima Union Gospel Mission Executive Director Rick Phillips, who was to address the committee regarding his organization's request for a letter of support from the Council concerning a grant application. Phillips explained that demand on the Mission's Medical Care Clinic has continued to grow, necessitating expansion of the clinic. Phillips noted that the Mission's application for a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco will be evaluated, in part, on "points" accumulated a number of ways including garnering community support. He said a letter from the Council supporting the Mission's application would boost its chances for success. Phillips said the clinic has saved local hospital's an estimated $1.5 million by not having to provide services to man poor and homeless patients that, instead, have been treated at the clinic. Phillips also said that the clinic has benefitted tremendously from the donation of time by volunteer medical professionals. In 2013, the value of that volunteer time was estimated to be $350,000. In addition to the pending grant request, the Mission will also conduct a local capital campaign to generating funding for the estimated $3 million project, which also includes expansion of the Mission's Long Term Housing Complex. Cawley moved the committee recommend to the Council that it provide a letter of support for the Mission's grant application. Adkison seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. - Update on State Leqislative Activity Based on information prepared by the City's Olympia lobbyist, Jim Justin, Communications & Public Affairs Director Randy Beehler reviewed the status of several pieces of legislation that have been considered during the current session of the Washington State Legislature. Among the legislation that had not made it out of committee was a bill banning breed -specific dog regulations (Yakima opposes), a bill naming the Central Washington State Fair the "Official Washington State Fair" (Yakima supports), and a bill restricting public disclosure of certain information gathered during 911 calls (Yakima supports). Items still active as of the date of the meeting included a bill creating funding for statewide tourism promotion (Yakima supports), a bill creating special liquor licenses for fairs (Yakima supports), a bill creating funding for indigent defense (Yakima supports), a bill prohibiting local jurisdictions from banning the production, processing, or sale of recreational marijuana (Yakima opposes), and a bill restoring some resources to the Public Works Assistance Account (Yakima supports). A further update will be provided to the full Council at its February 18th business meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 am.