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2019, 01-22 Regular Formal Format MINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Regular Meeting Formal Meeting Format Tuesday, January 22, 2019 Mayor Higgins called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Attendance: Staff: Rod Higgins, Mayor Mark Calhoun, City Manager Pam Haley,Deputy Mayor Cary Driskell, City Attorney Brandi Peetz, Councilmember Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney Linda Thompson, Councilmember Chelsie Taylor,Finance Director Ben Wick, Councilmember Mike Stone, Parks & Recreation Director Sam Wood, Councilmember Mark Werner,Police Chief Arne Woodard, Councilmember Mike Basinger,Economic Dev. Manager Lesli Brassfield, Economic Dev. Specialist Caitlin Prunty,Attorney Nicole Montano, Code Enforcement Officer Greg Baldwin, Dev. Services Coordinator Jenny Nickerson,Building Official Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk INVOCATION: Pastor Mike Graef of the United Methodist Church gave the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Council, staff, and the audience stood for the Pledge of Allegiance led by members of Scout Troop 468. ROLL CALL City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present. APPROVAL OF AGENDA It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the Agenda. INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS AND PRESENTATIONS n/a COMMITTEE, BOARD,LIAISON SUMMARY REPORTS Councilmember Wood:reported that he attended an STA(Spokane Transit Authority)Board meeting where they continued discussion about the decline in ridership for the past year, even though revenues are up,and said they will initiate a campaign to try to improve their ridership figures; said he attended a Freedom Devotional at the Mormon Church last Sunday night where a pastor gave the I Have a Dream Speech entirely by memory;attended the Chamber of Commerce's Gala Event at the Mirabeau,and mentioned that Jim Frank was chosen as Citizen of the Year, and Councilmember Thompson was nominated for an award. Councilmember Woodard: said he attended the HCDAC (Housing Community Development Advisory Committee) where they allocated CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds for various projects, and said our top priority project was fully funded; said SRTC (Spokane Regional Transportation Council) is starting to get some projects approved so they can be paid; said the federal government shutdown doesn't affect their program yet,but might if the shutdown continues long-term; said he attended the Chamber's Gala event and extended Congratulations to Councilmember Thompson for her Heart of the Valley nomination, and to Jim Frank as citizen of the year, and all the other winners; and said he also attended the Devotional at the Mormon Church. Minutes Regular Council Meeting:01-22-2019 Page 1 of 5 Approved by Council:02-05-2019 Councilmember Thompson: said she wasn't able to attend the Gem of the Valley event as she was out of town for her granddaughter's birthday; said she attended a Chamber Big 5 meeting where they talked about the different aspects of their plan; she mentioned the need for further research into the community regarding a lack of medical personnel; said she attended the retirement for Health District Administrator Torney Smith; she mentioned the Spokane Valley Youth Voice is planning a community engagement event in February and mentioned the group's recent service project of sending valentines to senior citizens in nursing homes; she mentioned a marijuana billboard in the Valley which is not in compliance with City Code and that action will be taken to be sure they come into compliance. Councilmember Wick: said she also attended the Gem of the Valley event and mentioned that former Representative Lynn Schlinder was posthumously given the lifetime achievement award, which was accepted by one of her daughters; said he was on the `Greater Outdoors' part of the Big 5 for the Chamber of Commerce and said there was mention about our upcoming Parks and Recreation Master Plan update, and said Spokane County will also be working on their park master plan update;said he is making sure they coordinate what is going on with both entities to try to alleviate any duplication efforts;said this year should also be our Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan update and they talked about that and how the Chamber can be involved to raise community awareness so people will be able to provide input; said Spokane County's Conservation District mentioned they had some large land acquisitions, one of which is on our City's border, and that they have the land but don't have funds to build the trailheads so they engaged the idea of whether we could form a partnership to perhaps co-sponsor or otherwise assist in the trailhead, and to put up some City of Spokane Valley signage at the trailhead. Councilmember Wick said he also met with Visit Spokane where they welcomed their new CEO Meg Winchester who started today. Concerning the Freight Mobility Board, Mr. Wick said he was in Olympia last week and it was interesting to hear the State Legislature. In other transportation issues, Mr. Wick said there was a big decision about fish culverts and there is a Supreme Court case similar to the McCleary decision that affected education, but this concerns fish passageways and how they feel the state is not fulfilling their obligation to fund these culvert replacements and demands have been made that the State needs to invest approximately $3.5 billion in changing out the culverts in the Puget Sound area, and said the cities and counties are getting nervous because if the State Supreme Court said the state has to do that,there's another$4 billion in city and county roads at the same culverts in the same area, so if that lawsuit says true and the cities and counties were not named to that,he said it could lead to that, and if those same culvert systems have to be implemented state- wide,that would be a possible reduction of$10 to$12 billion from projects, and that the state doesn't have that revenue in the transportation budget; so that question would be whether to defer funding from existing projects, such as the North/South corridor project.Mr. Wick said Transportation Committee Chair Senator Hobbs put forward a type of revenue package with$17 billion in new revenue for transportation; he said a lot of it didn't have any projects in Eastern Washington, but that it was a huge revenue package mostly based on carbon tax, a 60 gas tax, and impact fees on various types of developments; he mentioned the hearings on that have started but it could take a long time. Councilmember Wick also mentioned that the State Department of Transportation is re-doing the state rail system plan,and in projecting freight into 2040, said we are the only corridor, from Sandpoint to Spokane, in the highest tier for freight train traffic; said their base line for the year 2040 is 84 trains per day on the BNSF, and 18 trains per day on the UP line; but based on figures he saw,they really don't know how many trains per day but the majority of the train traffic goes through our corridor; he said we have the number one unfunded grade separation project in our state according to the Freight Mobility Board, yet ten to twelve other grade separation projects were in the transportation package, but not ours; and said hopefully our state legislators can assist in that regard. Deputy Mayor Haley: said she attended many of the same events as previously mentioned; and went to a McDonald Elementary class where they discussed the PACE (Partners Advancing Character Education) character trait of fairness and mentioned the class is a very active group;she also extended congratulations to Councilmember Thompson for her nomination for the Heart of the Valley, and she read the nomination Minutes Regular Council Meeting:01-22-2019 Page 2 of 5 Approved by Council:02-05-2019 criteria of someone who represents the heart of the community through service and/or financial support to improve the quality of life in our community. MAYOR'S REPORT Mayor Higgins had no report. 1. CONSENT AGENDA: Consists of items considered routine which are approved as a group. Any member of Council may ask that an item be removed from the Consent Agenda to be considered separately. Proposed Motion:I move to approve the Consent Agenda, a. Approval of claim vouchers on Jan 22, 2019 Request for Council Action Form Total: $3,599,068.63 b. Approval of Payroll for Pay Period Ending January 15, 2019: $372,682.44 c. Resolution 19-001 Specifying Employee Holiday, Vacation and Leave Benefits d. Approval of January 8,2019 Council Meeting Minutes,Regular Format It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the Consent Agenda. NEW BUSINESS: 2. Motion Consideration: Contract Approval Appleway Amenities Project—Mike Stone It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley and seconded to authorize the City Manager to finalize and execute the construction contract with AM Landshaper, Inc., for the Appleway Trail Amenities Project in the amount of$653,670.40. Director Stone briefly explained the background of this contract, and that this is as a result of not receiving any bids last November for the project; said they are ander a tight timeline due to grant contracts and the contractor feels they will be completed by the deadline and will get working on this as soon as we can execute a contract; and he briefly discussed the budget financial impact. Mayor Higgins invited public comment; no comments were offered. Mr. Calhoun added that much of the cost for this project is because of L&I (Labor and Industries) new view of how prevailing wages are calculated for landscapers,which affects this as well as other projects with a 320% increase in landscaper's hourly wages. Vote by acclamation:In favor: unanimous. Opposed none. Motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENTS: After Mayor Higgins explained the process, he invited public comment. Ms. Alexis Reyes, Spokane Valley: said she is with naomi, formerly known as Hearth Homes; her organization strives to inspire transformation in the lives of single mothers experiencing homelessness, by providing a safe home environment,and like skills development;and she thanked Council for granting them $20,000 the previous year;said she is grateful for Council's support, and mentioned that she did not submit an application for 2019 as they didn't have any tasks for those funds; said she spends about half of her time working directly with families, and is amazed at the kids' resilience, and she introduced Miss Angela Slabaugh,who read her statement about her positive experiences since first coming to naomi. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS: 3. Code Enforcement Update—Erik Lamb, Caitlin Prunty,Nicole Montano Deputy City Attorney Lamb introduced Attorney Caitlin Prunty, and. Code Enforcement Officer Nicole Montano. Mr. Lamb gave highlights of the year along with new Code Enforcement Officer Montano, and new part-time Code Enforcement Attorney Caitlin Prunty, who along with the Development Services Coordinator Doug Baldwin, Building Official Jenny Nickerson, and the office of the City Attorney, make up the members of the Code Enforcement Team. Mr. Lamb said everyone in the City Attorney's office works on these issues, including him, the City Attorney, Ms. Susan Bullock Administrative Assistant, and the legal interns. Ms. Montano and Ms. Prunty explained more about the responsibilities of their positions, and then went over some of the figures concerning number of cases closed, number of new complaints, and historical yearly comparisons from 360 total cases in 2013, to 718 closed cases and 701 new complaints in 2018. They discussed compliance efforts, and stressed that the goal is voluntary compliance, adding what could occur if there is no cooperation from the property owners to resolve the issues. Mr. Lamb went over some Minutes Regular Council Meeting:01-22-2019 Page 3 of 5 Approved by Council:02-05-2019 of the issues contributing to nuisance properties, such as long term neglect, not using weekly garbage services, and foreclosure; and in particular of the process taken and significant successes on 10" Avenue and 2nd Avenue. The PowerPoint presentation also included some before and after photos. City Attorney Driskell added that the situations on 10th and 2"d had been going on for a long time, and Council listened and adopted some new code provisions to help in these cases; he said staff is also working with people at the state to identify some statutory changes and he expects to continue to see refinements to the process. Mr. Driskell also noted as a special process tonight, and with Mayor Higgin's concurrence, some residents of those two areas will be speaking tonight. Councilmember Woodard mentioned we have aging people in our city and asked if that makes for a different way to handle things. Ms. Montano replied that we have many situations with family members residing with their aging parents, but it is generally the adult children creating the nuisance violations; she mentioned staff has reached out to Adult Protective Services to help determine how we can help; and for those without other resources, she said they also refer people to their affiliated church; and that staff has created a resource list, adding that Catholic Charities has volunteers who will come out to help clean up, but the work has to be initiated by the property owners, and she said that doesn't always happen. Councilmember Wood asked about snow complaints and Ms. Montano replied that most were in the commercial zones such as Sullivan, Sprague, and off of Argonne; that last January we had snow, rain and ice so it was difficult for businesses to get the ice off the sidewalks; said she only wrote one ticket last year for accumulation of snow more than three inches; and stated that staff has stopped at businesses to let them know of the need to take care of the snow/ice removal, and many times there is discussion about whose responsibility that is, whether it is the owner or tenant. Councilmember Wick asked about cost recovery and Mr. Lamb said concerning the liens, we have seen some positive results and we continue to work with Spokane County to make sure we get all costs owed in those cases. Mayor Higgins invited comments. Ms.Renee Anderson, Spokane Valley: she thanked the Council for implementing the nuisance law and for collaborating with the police; said she had dealt with this issue for 15 years, with such things as garbage, fights, SWAT teams, FBI, showing in the backyard and more; but collaborating with former Attorney Rachelle McFetridge about what we could do next, and coining up with the idea of shutting off the water; said it was an awesome experience and her life has changed so much for the better since the closure of that house; said she now sees kids walking down the street going to school as before, the kids were told not to walk by the house; said she thinks about one thousand people were affected, and she extended her thanks. Ms. Audrey Forsberg, Spokane Valley: said she came to Council about a year ago to help take back the neighborhood; and she too extended thanks and said the difference is remarkable; said she lives on the corner and hasn't had to pick up needles or garbage,nor does she any longer see sketchy people in front of the house; said the neighborhood is almost normal again with moms pushing strollers; and she again extended her thanks. Mr.Alexander Scott, Spokane: said he has been fortunate to be part of the solution;that he and his wife fix houses and rent homes and help educate tenants and landlords through online training and books; said he recognizes the housing problem is a combination of financial and social issues; said he enjoyed seeing people taking a multi-faceted approach to fixing these issues; that he and his wife have a passion for education and try to teach people how to reduce conflict and what to do after being evicted; and he extended thanks to the team and said Spokane Valley has been a fantastic city to work with and he is happy to have been able to help change the community. 4. Marketing Summary, 2018 Lesli Brassfield,Mike Basinger Mr. Basinger introduced Economic Development Specialist Lesli Brassfield,who then gave a summary of the 2018 marketing efforts, including a brief on the marketing plan development, marketing strategies, Minutes Regular Council Meeting: 01-22-2019 Page 4 of 5 Approved by Council:02-05-2019 multi-channel marketing including among other things, digital, television, and social media. Concerning the city's website visitors and figures for page views, Councilmember Wood asked if figures are available for 2016 or 2017. Ms. Brassfield said she didn't include those figures and Mr. Calhoun said staff can research that and send the information to councilmembers via e-mail. Councilmember Thompson said she searched our website for an employee but couldn't find them,and Ms. Brassfield explained that the website does have a staff directory so it should have come up; and she mentioned that staff is working with the website provider as well as with our new Public Information Officer (PIO) and IT staff to help with some of the search functionality. Councilmember Thompson also asked how do we get citizens to know about the contents of the agenda. Ms. Brassfield said that isn't specifically in a campaign, but that staff is always looking for ways to improve; and she mentioned the goal of launching Facebook in the near future;and that she and the City's PIO have been discussing the idea of developing some core messaging throughout the year. Mr. Basinger added that this is constantly evolving and there is a lot to learn; that we have many city webpages and staff is looking at that to determine whether they are effective,and how to make it even more user friendly. 5. Advance Agenda—Mayor Higgins Councilmember- Peetz mentioned that we used to have a mayor's ball, that she can't find out why they stopped, but thinks it would be good to implement for several reasons; said the previous balls did not use any taxpayer money as they used sponsorships; that perhaps we could do something similar to the Gala Awards, with a ball, showcasing a nonprofit like those associated with our outside agency applicants; perhaps have a silent auction to raise money to do a project;maybe some awards specific to Spokane Valley and perhaps highlight some staff to publicly thank them, especially law enforcement and said she is open to discussion. At least four Councilmembers raised their hands to indicate they are interested in pursuing a report on what took place regarding the past ball. City Manager Calhoun said he and Mr. Driskell and Ms. Bainbridge will discuss some of this information, and he also remarked that it was not a city function. Councilmember Woodard said he doesn't want to compete with other major organizations that hold such events as we wouldn't want to duplicate or diminish those organizations; and regarding an auction,we have to keep in mind there is only so much people can give. Mr. Calhoun said staff will work to gather the information. INFORMATION ONLY The (6) Department Monthly Reports, and (7) Customer Service Quarterly Report were for information only and they were not reported or discussed. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS City Manager Calhoun noted that the forecast shows a storm system blowing through tonight with strong winds and perhaps snow, rain and/or freezing rain; he said street crews will be out de-icing. Mr. Calhoun also noted that two future Council meetings will be cancelled: February 12 will be cancelled so Councilmembers can attend the City Legislation Action Days in Olympia, and the February 19 evening meeting will be cancelled as we hold a workshop during the day on the 19'x', beginning at 8:30 a.m. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m. l % P/ w.AF 111110.4111511Pa. 3111116A dr 111111 ----- - AY7It • L.R. Higgins IOW `� i ``ff h vl`il l,� / ki/VI hristine Bainbridge, ity Clerk \� Minutes Regular Council Meeting: 01-22-2019 Page 5 of 5 Approved by Council:02-05-2019 SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, January 22, 2019 6:00 p.m. Regular Meeting GENERAL CITIZEN COMMENTS SIGN-IN SHEET YOUR SPEAKING TIME WILL GENERALLY BE LIMITED TO THREE MINUTES This sign-in sheet is for making comments not associated with an action item on tonight's agenda. If you wish to comment about an individual action item on tonight's agenda (such a a otion to approve an ordinance, resolution, or contract) the Mayor will ask for comme s on ose items once that item is reached on the agenda. Please sign in if you wish to make public comments. NAME TOPIC OF CONCERN YOU YOUR CITY OF IDENCE PLEASE PRINT WILL SPEAK ABOUT / 'Qnee JeC //Y _ 04 1142 (y/ I )17 \t0, Q1 5co-Cto\boos,,S t 5 eayS a-DrA:( S. bl,c cusrk...0./cx._t *(2bk_ IV) t %Act^2__Vat JUizAk Please note that once infornmtion is entered on this form, it becomes a public record subject to public disclosure.