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2008, 07-08 Regular Meeting MinutesAttendance: Rich Munson, Mayor Dick Denenny, Deputy Mayor Rose Dempsey, Councilmember Steve Taylor, Councilmember Diana Wilhite, Councilmember ABSENT: Councilmember Gothmann Councilmember Schimmels MINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Regular Meeting Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Mayor Munson called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m., and welcomed everyone to the 140th meeting. City Staff: Dave Mercier, City Manager Mike Connelly, City Attorney Cary Driskell, Deputy City Attorney Mike Jackson, Deputy City Manager Neil Kersten, Public Works Director Kathy McClung, Community Dev. Director Ken Thompson, Finance Director Mike Stone, Parks & Recreation Director Rick VanLeuven, Police Chief John Whitehead, Human Resources Manager Mary Kate Martin, Building Official Carolbelle Branch, PIO Bill Miller, IT Specialist Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk INVOCATION: In the absence of a pastor, Councilmember Taylor gave the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Munson led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called roll; all Councilmembers were present except Councilmember Schimmels and Councilmember Gothmann. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Denenny, seconded and unanimously agreed to excuse Councilmember Schimmels and Councilmember Gothmann from tonight's meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: It was moved by Councilmember Wilhite, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the agenda. INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS AND PRESENTATIONS: Mayor Munson read the "July is Parks and Recreation Month" proclamation, which was handed to Parks and Recreation Director Stone, who thanked Council for the proclamation, and briefly explained that this is celebration throughout the United States, and such proclamations are used to support and draw awareness of the facilities and programs offered by Parks and Recreation Departments. COMMITTEE, BOARD, LIAISON SUMMARY REPORTS: Councilmember Wilhite: mentioned she attended the GMA meeting. Councilmember Dempsey: reported that she attended one of the hospital hearings; attended her first Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency meeting where they discussed various resolutions; attended a meeting of the International Trade Association where Mark Peters mentioned his hopes of further developing trade between this area and parts of China and India and to develop a sister city in India. Deputy Mayor Denenny: stated that he attended a Health District Meeting but there is no further report on the director search. Councilmember Taylor: no report. MAYOR'S REPORT: Mayor Munson reported that he attended the Chamber Board meeting and that the Chamber has indicated they will sponsor the Mayor's ball next year; attended the GMA Board Council Regular Meeting: 07 -08 -08 Page 1 of 4 Approved by Council: 07 -22 -08 meeting; met with Peggy Doering regarding Valleyfest and then consulted with the Police Chief regarding the need to hire officers for the Valleyfest parade, and mentioned that he was able to donate $1,000 from the Mayor's ball overage for that purpose; attended the Valley hospital hearings and testified on behalf of the city repeating what the previous letter of support stated; that he attended the Mike Fitzsimmons radio show where they discussed current events; and attended the installation of the new post master of Spokane where the Sweet Adelines performed. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mayor Munson invited general public comment; no general public comments were offered. City Manager Mercier asked for and was allowed a point of privilege to speak, and delivered the following comments: "A city manager's livelihood and professional success is based on their reputation for competence, credibility and, most importantly, their integrity. Last week I made a presentation before the City Council on a proposed assessment of law enforcement services and following my Powerpoint display of information a member of the audience claimed that I had lied and misrepresented information presented to the public. However, recalling a portion of my presentation to the display screens in the Council Chambers showed there was no falsehood in my presentation. At the time the charges were made against me, the Council Chambers were full of people: some regular attendees, some who had come to their very first city council meeting, many community volunteers, members of the media, city employees, Sheriff Deputies who work in Spokane Valley and the County's top elected law enforcement officer, among others who had business before the Council that evening. I believe that such false statements spoken in a highly public setting have the effect of undermining positive perceptions in the minds of community members about how trustworthy and honest their city manager is when conducting city business. And, such false allegations compromise a manager's ability to effectively pursue the best interests of the city when interacting or negotiating with other parties. In this country, it is a generally held belief that public confidence in government officials is both a precious and a perishable commodity —it takes years to build, but just moments [to] shatter. As a public official, it is appropriate that I be held to account for my actions in office, but it is not appropriate to have my character slanderously defamed with reckless disregard for the truth, or frankly, any other city employee's. While this episode is unsavory, I hope that it will spark a realization that it is time for community members to return to civil discourse on public policy maters —once the hallmark of civic interaction at Spokane Valley City Council meetings. That's all for now Mr. Mayor. Thank you for allowing me to speak." 1. CONSENT AGENDA: Consists of items considered routine which are approved as a group. A Councilmember may remove an item from the Consent Agenda to be considered separately. a. Approval of Claim Vouchers 14726 — 14763, 14764 — 14866 totaling $832,478.98 b. Approval of Sprague /Conklin Signal Change Order c. Approval of Specific Barker Road Bridge Artwork in the amount of $28,000 d. Approval of Appointment of Neil Kersten to the Spokane Regional Solid Waste Audit Committee e. Payroll for pay period ending June 15, 2008: $228,493.06 f. Payroll for pay period ending June 30, 2008: $328,527.00 g. Meeting Minutes of June 14, 2008 Council /Staff Retreat h. Meeting Minutes of June 24, 2008 regular Council Meeting It was moved by Councilmember Wilhite, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the Consent Agenda. NEW BUSINESS: 2. Motion Consideration: Fire Department Interlocal Agreement — Mike Connelly It was moved by Councilmember Taylor and seconded, to approve the Interlocal Agreement for Fire Services in the City of Spokane Valley and authorize the city Manager or designee's signature thereon. City Attorney Connelly said that subsequent to the adoption of the current agreement, the parties recognized that a number of services performed by both the fire district and the City were not clearly Council Regular Meeting: 07 -08 -08 Page 2 of 4 Approved by Council: 07 -22 -08 delineated in the agreement; and that changes have been made to reflect what is actually done by each entity, and mentioned that tonight's copy is a clean copy of the red -line version Council saw last week. Mayor Munson invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Abstentions: None. Motion carried. 3. Motion Consideration: Approval of City Hall Site Planning Contract — Neil Kersten It was moved by Councilmember Wilhite and seconded to approve a contract with Bernardo Wills /GGLO for concept site planning as outlined in their proposal for an amount not to exceed $75,000. Public Works Director Kersten explained that this would be the preliminary site plan on the new city hall; that the location is directly south of the city center place; and this proposal will give us the information needed to determine size, improvement costs, and other information needed for the purchase. In response to Council question, Mr. Kersten said there is no reason for traffic studies and that was not included in the scope. It was also noted in the June 1 letter to Neil from Gary Bernardo, that #3 mentioned two sites under consideration, but Mr. Kersten mentioned that has now been changed to one site. Mayor Munson invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Abstentions: None. Motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mayor Munson invited general public comment; no general public comments were offered. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS: 4. Charitable Donations in the Right -of -way — Cary Driskell Deputy City Attorney Driskell mentioned that when this was last discussed, there was a presentation from some firefighters from the Spokane Valley Fire District and from the Muscular Dystrophy Association who presented some materials from other cities regarding issues to consider concerning the "Fill the Boot" campaign, and whether it should be allowed to continue as it has in the past; and that Council directed staff to give consideration to the Tacoma provisions, which the proponents of the Fill the Boot showed as an example of an exception to the prohibition of soliciting funds form the right -of -way. Mr. Driskell explained that he contacted an attorney for Tacoma who was involved in drafting the provisions, who advised that Tacoma did not specifically exempt Fill the Boot, and mentioned that the copy we had of Tacoma's provisions was merely a draft. Mr. Driskell further explained that the Tacoma council elected to adopt a special permits events process, which is administered from their City Clerk's office, and that he [Mr. Driskell] has asked for but not received a copy of the permit. Mr. Driskell also mentioned that the last attorney he spoke with said if we were considering copying their provisions, that he would recommend changes prior to adoption, however, he didn't elaborate, but Mr. Driskell speculated that an appeal process might be something to include. Further discussion included mention from Councilmember Taylor that he appreciates knowing that the previously referenced Tacoma ordinance was not their final document, and that he likes the idea of a special event permit, as well as adding some qualifying criteria, such as the applicants having had traffic safety training. Mr. Driskell said that our insurance provider will likely give him input on this topic, as he assumes they must have addressed this with other jurisdictions. In response to Mayor Munson's question of the Tacoma document's mention of allowing participants in the right -of -way; Mr. Driskell said the attorney in Tacoma mentioned a restriction to the two sidewalk lanes and not allowing people in the center island. Mr. Mercier brought attention to the Tacoma Municipal Code 11.15.100 concerning conditions affecting the issuance of a special event permit, and suggested Council may want to consider any of those mentioned. Mr. Driskell also reminded everyone that if we were to have legislation that only permits one entity to conduct such fundraising, someone may see fit to challenge that kind of legislation. Criteria for Mr. Driskell to consider including in a draft ordinance for next week included Mayor Munson's preference of not allowing such activity at intersections where the intersections are at or near failure; include some type of training requirement; limit the participant's age to 18 or above; restrict the Council Regular Meeting: 07 -08 -08 Page 3 of 4 Approved by Council: 07 -22 -08 number of times a year to hold such events; and the ability to restrict location or roads based on such things as unsafe physical conditions. Due to the quick turn- around needed for this ordinance to meetlthe August 2 event, it was determined that staff will bring a draft ordinance at the next meeting, and Council can decide what to enact or change from that draft. Deputy Mayor Denenny mentioned that if we have a permitting process with numerous criteria it might be so restrictive that only a few would apply, adding his concern of if we allow one group, we must allow all groups, while also acknowledging the desire to have code provisions for that special process, but with limited restrictions. 5. Proposed Code Compliance Changes — Cary Driskell /Mary Kate Martin Deputy City Attorney Driskell explained that in an effort to fix things that don't work as intended, or make the Code work better in its application to real life situations and remove unnecessary provisions, and based on public comment, staff constantly reviews our Code provisions, and that the attached proposed changes in SVMC 17 and 7.05 reflect those efforts. After Mr. Driskell highlighted some of those changes, the question arose concerning not having an appeal fee as our fees are generally based on cost recovery, but Mr. Driskell explained that in the nature of an adjudication, legal counsel feels it necessary because if the Hearing Examiner determined we are not correct, we have forced an appellant to incur a $500 fee. There was Council consensus to refer these proposed changes to the Planning Commission. 6. Transportation Benefit District - Ken Thompson Mr. Driskell reported that our Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which was adopted by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council provides for assessing the car tab fee to use for capital projects and street maintenance; and that at the June 10, 2008 meeting, staff advised that we, in conjunction with AWC have been discussing potential changes with SRTC staff to the 2007 MTP that would meet the statutory requirements, those proposed changes being as noted in his July 8, 2008 Request for Council Action form, and that he heard from Glenn Miles, SRTC Director, who also agrees with the proposed changes and who stated that those changes would fit in well with other changes being contemplated this year for adoption in the fall. 7. Preliminary 2009 Budget: Revenues /Expenditures — Ken Thompson Finance Director Thompson explained that this is the first touch toward a 2009 budget, including a hearing set for July 22 .nd; and he explained his Powerpoint presentation of proposed 2009 revenues and expenditures, and said these figures can be expected to change a little as the budget is fine- tuned; and that we will hold additional public hearings in the fall. Mr. Thompson said at this point there are no issues being contemplated to add to the fall ballot. INFORMATION ONLY: The Letters of Citizen Compliments for Customer Service and WSDOT Agreements were for information only and not reported or discussed. There being no further business, it was moved by Councilmember Taylor, seconded, and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. ATTEST — hristine Bainbridge, City Clerk Council Regular Meeting: 07 -08 -08 Approved by Council: 07 -22 -08 ard Munson, for Page 4 of 4 Remarks for the record made before the Spokane Valley City Council, July 8, 2008 A city manager's livelihood and professional success is based on their reputation for competence, credibility and, most importantly, their integrity. Last week I made a presentation before the City Council on a proposed assessment of law enforcement services and following my Powerpoint display of information a member of the audience claimed that I had lied and misrepresented information presented to the public. However, recalling a portion of my presentation to the display screens in the Council Chambers showed there was no falsehood in my presentation. At the time the charges were made against me, the Council Chambers were full of people: some regular attendees, some who had come to their very first city council meeting, many community volunteers, members of the media, city employees, Sheriff Deputies who work in Spokane Valley and the County's top elected law enforcement officer, among others who had business before the Council that evening. I believe that such false statements spoken in a highly public setting have the effect of undermining positive perceptions in the minds of community members about how trustworthy and honest their city manager is when conducting city business. And, such false allegations compromise a manager's ability to effectively pursue the best interests of the city when interacting or negotiating with other parties. In this country, it is a generally held belief that public confidence in government officials is both a precious and a perishable commodity - -it takes years to build, but just moments shatter. As a public official, it is appropriate that I be held to account for my actions in office, but it is not appropriate to have my character slanderously defamed with reckless disregard for the truth. While this episode is unsavory, I hope that it will spark a realization that it is time for community members to return to civil discourse on public policy matters - -once the hallmark of civic interaction at Spokane Valley City Council meetings. That's all for now Mr. Mayor. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Respectfully, David Mercier, City Manager