2019, 06-11 Special Budget WorkshopAttendance:
Councilmembers
MINUTES
SPOKANE VALLEY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
BUDGET WORKSHOP
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley, Washington
June 11, 2019
Staff
Rod Higgins, Mayor
Pam Haley, Deputy Mayor
Brandi Peetz, Councilmember
Linda Thompson, Councilmember
Ben Wick, Councilmember
Sam Wood, Councilmember
Arne Woodard, Councilmember
Mark Calhoun, City Manager
John Hohman, Deputy City Manager
Cary Driskell, City Attorney
Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney
Chelsie Taylor, Finance Director
Mike Stone, Parks & Rec Director
Mark Werner, Police Chief
Bill Helbig, City Engineer
Gloria Mantz, Engineering Manager
John Whitehead, Human Resources Manager
Morgan Koudelka, Sr. Admin. Analyst
Jenny Nickerson, Building Official
Mike Basinger, Economic Development Mgr.
Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
Mayor Higgins called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
WELCOME: Mayor Higgins welcomed everyone to the meeting.
ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present.
Worksheet Overview — Mark Calhoun, Chelsie Taylor
City Manager Calhoun explained that the purpose of today's workshop is to discuss the 2020 budget. He
noted the workshop is being recorded so it may be viewed later, but it will not be broadcast; and he
encouraged Councilmembers to ask questions as they arise. He explained that the budget reflects the City's
priorities in terms of budget commitment and staff effort, and stresses the priorities of public safety,
pavement preservation, transportation and infrastructure, which he said includes parks and recreation and
various capital projects, and economic development, and that we will focus on those combined items
throughout the meeting. Mr. Calhoun expressed appreciation to Finance Director Taylor and the directors
and support staff for pulling these materials together and said he hopes everyone will find this first budget
presentation helpful. Mr. Calhoun said that there will be changes as we move forward but the changes will
not be material; said the revenue estimates are reflective that we are only four to five months into this year,
and said the revenue estimates show the general fund trends. Mr. Calhoun noted that the state revenues in
the general fund will be updated about mid to late July, and he briefly explained the contents of today's
budget packet including Tab 23 for an executive session, which he said should only take about 20 minutes.
City Manager Calhoun noted that Tab 22 includes the Business Plan and said that budget companion
document is for informational purposes, and it will not be discussed today. Mr. Calhoun stated that this
time last year we were in one of the longest economic expansions, but that with each passing day we are
one day closer to the next recession; that the 2020 general fund recurring expenditures show a 2.3% increase
over 2019 and reflect what will allow the City to deliver a status quo level of service. However, he
continued, Tab 14 includes supplemental budget requests which could increase the recurring expenditures;
he noted the CPI (consumer price index) for Pacific cities average 2.9% and we are about 2.23% in the
budget, and that each year we have been able to do better than the CPI as we very responsibly manage our
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budget. He mentioned there is variation in individual departments due to department operations, and some
changes are a result of a change in staff, and said we can come to Council in future study sessions if needed
to follow up on any of these items.
Finance Director Taylor gave a brief overview of the pages immediately prior to Tab 1, including the
proposed 2020 budget calendar which shows among other dates, the November 12 proposed adoption of
the 2020 budget; she mentioned General Fund #001 recurring revenues and expenditures and the ending
unrestricted fund balance of $36,203,666, and explained that the ending fund balance as a percent of
recurring expenditures equals 84.48%; she went over the General Fund Department Changes from 2019 to
2020 for items such as wages, supplies, and services and charges, which includes a summary by category.
Director Taylor noted the property tax figure does not include the construction estimate, and Mr. Calhoun
added that this budget is being prepared without a 1% property tax increase, and if that holds true to the
adoption of the budget, this will be the eleventh time our City has not taken the 1% increase allowed by law
for property tax. Ms. Taylor explained that the updated figures on the state shared revenues should be
coming out soon, as well as estimates from MRSC (Municipal Research and Services Center), and that the
recurring expenditures will be explained as the day progresses. Director Taylor noted that the street fund
summary shows estimated 2020 revenues of $3.9 million, which is about $94,000 less than the previous
year, and said it is primarily related to the utility tax which appears to be declining less rapidly, but is still
declining. She also mentioned that at this point last year the deficit was about $907,000; today's figures
show a negative $506,000 if there are no changes. Mr. Calhoun said we will need to talk about expenditure
reduction since as can't make revenues greater, and how we might go about developing the 2020 street fund
budget. Director Taylor noted that the last page prior to Tab 1 shows a ten-year history of our full-time
equivalent employees (FTE); and that for 2020, some employees have been reallocated but the number did
not increase.
Tab 1: City Council
Mr. Calhoun noted the total Council budget increase of 1.6%; said the nonpayroll portion decreased by 2%
and one of the biggest change was the federal lobbyist reduction of $10,000; he explained that we usually
see the biggest changes during an election year as medical coverage can change depending on selected
family coverage. After going over some of the major items under City council general fund, Mr. Calhoun
noted that the figures are generally status quo from the previous year. There was brief discussion about
monitoring of legislative issues and of the benefit of having a resource in Olympia for that purpose.
Tab 2: City Manager
Mr. Calhoun stated that overall this budget increased 2.65%, although the nonpayroll portion of the budget
did not change nor did the number of FTEs; said one of the larger items is the $20,000 for professional
services, which he said he often uses for other departments; and noted that the legal notices include
publication in the Valley News Herald and the Exchange.
Tab 3: City Attorney
City Attorney Driskell briefly explained the purpose of his office, and said that his department is also status
quo from the previous year, with 3.5 FTEs, which includes a half-time code compliance attorney and two
interns; said his budget often uses funds for outside counsel to help on items where we might not have
expertise, and said that any funds not used are returned to the general fund. Mr. Calhoun said that statement
applies to all budgets; if funds are unexpended they return to the general fund, fund balance as we do not
have a 'use it or lose it' philosophy. There was a question from Councilrnember Wick about buying new
office chairs upon moving to this building, and Mr. Driskell said that office chair in the budget is to replace
a chair we got 14 years ago; said some staff elected not to get new furniture if we didn't need it. Mr. Hohman
added that prior to the move, we conducted an inventory and assessment on which chairs to bring over, and
said that staff was very careful not to increase the budget by buying new materials if current materials and
supplies were still functional.
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Tab 4: Public Safety
Mr. Koudelka explained that this budget is mostly comprised of our Spokane County contracts for public
safety; he said this budget is more challenging in that we can't tell County directors how to budget, but we
do try to control costs, and in some cases we try to negotiate, and we always try to do the best we can to
determine costs for the year. Mr. Koudelka said the centerpiece of this budget is the law enforcement
contract at $21 million. Mr. Koudelka said that we are facing a staffing shortage and are trying to maximize
the number of officers on the street; said Council previously saw a presentation about possible state funding
as a result of the Trueblood* settlement, which could mean funding for mental health professionals as part
of a co -response team, thereby reducing police officer overtime. Regarding officer vacancies, he stated that
we want to make sure we are only charged for positions that are filled. Chief Werner added that overtime
is an issue they are trying to control although training sometimes necessitates overtime; said they are
identifying how many people do we need at these tests to get to the number of people we need to hire; and
said that the pre -academy is still moving forward. There was some discussion on a co -response team and
our hope to have one dedicated mental health professional on such a team, and Chief Werner mentioned
that we currently do not have the staff to pursue that. The topic of officer uniforms was brought up and
Chief Werner acknowledged buying uniforms is a large expense; he said the County has agreed to assist
with a clothing allowance over the first two to three years once the officer has successfully passed their
probationary period. It was also mentioned that it is not known if the funding for co -response teams would
be long-term funding, but the goal is to have a successful model. There was brief discussion about
recruitment efforts with Chief Werner explaining that their best recruitment is often from their own
employees.
Concerning the actual costs over the last few years under non -departmental, Mr. Koudelka noted the overall
number of cases going to court has decreased for various reasons; mentioned the largest portion of supplies
falls under the JAG grant; noted the $500,000 need for the contingency as a few items remain unsettled;
said the law enforcement cost methodology is still new and they are trying to make some corrections
regarding overtime where they hope to see additional savings; said SCRAPS is a fixed 20 -year contract and
that organization is having some difficulty as they don't have sufficient revenues. Mr. Koudelka mentioned
the intergovernmental services is where we have our contracts like District Court, which increased 11%,
some of which was due to an error that the County discovered when auditing, that apparently some deputies
were not properly logged in so some valley costs were being charged to the County, although it appears
those figures are leveling off. Mr. Koudelka said that we just received word that Spokane is pulling out
from Emergency Management so there have been discussions about what that means to the remaining
jurisdictions as the County might be passing some additional costs to other jurisdictions.
Tab 5: Deputy City Manager
Mr. Hohman said this is mainly a status quo budget; said he worked to refine some of the figures for office
supplies, small tools and minor equipment; he noted that the software item and maintenance isn't just for
him; and said Q -Alert is in this budget, which was a little higher last year due to start-up costs.
Tab 6: Finance & Information Technology
Finance Director Taylor gave a brief explanation of what her department does, mentioned they have 11.75
FTEs, and said the budget is very much status quo from the previous year, with just .09% decrease.
Tab 7: General Government
Finance Director Taylor explained that anything city-wide not attributable to any single department falls
under the General Government; that it includes a lot of the general IT (Information Technology)
expenditures for hard and software; and mentioned the $3.3 million total recurring expenditure which is
about .03% less than the previous year's budget. Councilmember Wick mentioned that there are some
council areas on the third floor that don't have power yet, and Mr. Calhoun said he will make that sure that
happens in the near future.
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Tab 8: Human Resources
Human Resources Manager Whitehead went over the highlights of his budget information; said the budget
is mostly status quo with a decrease in supply costs as the employee identification access cards were ordered
in bulk so we don't need to do that annually; said training includes first aid and CPR, and this year AED
(automated external defibrillator) will be included; he mentioned that he likes to use the training services
of AWC (Association of Washington Cities) and/or WCIA (Washington Cities Insurance Authority) as
those costs are reasonable as those agencies have an interest in keeping our liability down; said the
professional services item covers things like offers to employees like a field person who would need a
physical.
A recess was called at 9:58 a.m., and the meeting reconvened at 10:15 a.m.
Tab 9: City Hall Operations & Maintenance
Building Official Nickerson gave a summary of this budget, noting it too is mostly status quo, with some
increases in supplies and professional services.
Tab 10: Community & Public Works — Building & Planning
Building Official Nickerson explained that the Building and Planning division includes 20 FTEs with
several new team members hired over the year; and she gave the highlights of the areas of code enforcement,
building, and planning. Councilmember Wick asked if overtime is a concern and Ms. Nickerson explained
that those figures are due to staff vacancies and not an ongoing trend, and said now that this division is fully
staffed, overtime should not be a concern other than the end of the year.
Tab 11: Community & Public Works - Engineering
City Engineer Helbig said that the shaded area is general engineering, and the non -shaded area is
development review engineering; he explained a little about what they do, and said the biggest changes
were reallocating people to where they actually serve; after going over the number of FTEs in each area, he
noted that there is no change in FTEs to the city; said the supplies budget shows an increase due to
reallocation of vehicle maintenance supplies in general and in development engineering; said professional
services also increased but the budget is generally status quo; and mentioned that the added staff this year
has proven to be very beneficial.
Tab 12: Community & Public Works — Economic Development
Mr. Basinger said this budget is mostly status quo; that memberships and registrations are a little more
accurate; and he highlighted what the department does with its five FTEs.
Tab 13: Parks & Recreation
Parks & Recreation Director Stone explained what his department does; said he has 9 FTEs and is currently
down two: an office assistant and a senior center specialist; said overall his budget increased 2.23% but
also it is primarily status quo; and noted that the minimum wage increases have affected the budget. Mr.
Stone said that CenterPlace is open seven days a week and in some cases, can be open from eighteen to
twenty hours a day due to the variety of events. In going through the various divisions, Mr. Stone noted
that as they embark on the master park process, they want to look at re -purposing the horse arena area; said
they anticipate a grant for Balfour Park; they have a park maintenance contract with Senske, and a contract
with the YMCA to manage the city's pools. Mr. Stone noted his department processes about 450 park
reservations a year; said they also handle the City's special event permit process which includes things like
Valleyfest. Mr. Stone noted the maintenance contract includes Appleway and Centennial Trail; the dog
park, and the gateway area, and said water is the largest utility cost. Under recreation, Mr. Stone noted an
organizational change as they do not intend to fill the senior specialist position; and said the Senior Center
is under the recreation budget. Mr. Calhoun added that they are not removing support from the Senior
Center, as this is just an internal reorganization and an opportunity to take advantage of not needing 40
hours a week for the Senior Center. Councilmember Wick asked about having a separate budget for the
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senior center versus putting it all under recreation, and Finance Director Taylor replied that splitting it
allows us to segregate expenditures related to the Senior Center. Mr. Calhoun said that having the separate
budget is not a substantial amount of effort, but we could look at that in the future.
For the recreation budget, Mr. Stone noted the temporary seasonal wages of his ten to fifteen seasonal staff
who manage the summer day camp, free park programs, new teen camp and other programs. For the
aquatics division, Mr. Stone said there are no staff as we contract with the YMCA for the pools maintenance
and operations, and said without the YMCA, we could not offer the free outdoor swims; said we pay a small
administrative fee and the rest we pay the Y based on actual expenses. Councilmember Thompson asked if
we are running out of scholarships and Mr. Stone said we are not; said we partner with the Spokane Parks
Foundation as they reimburse for 100% of those who qualify and apply. Mr. Stone said the Senior Center
is a small budget and that he will look where they might best fit that in in future years. Mr. Calhoun noted
that the Senior Specialist shifted to a recreation specialist and a portion of what that position does will be
in the senior center. Mr. Stone said he will have a newly hired office assistant at CenterPlace starting next
Monday. At CenterPlace, Mr. Stone noted there are two maintenance workers who do primarily all the
setups and maintenance; said there were over 1,000 events at CenterPlace last year and noted we have the
ability to rent the Senior Facility after 4 pm and on weekends, and having the lounge makes it a very popular
place to rent. Mr. Stone noted that the cost of linens has increased; said this service was started a few years
ago and is gaining in popularity; said he hopes to replace some of the Center's inventory as the chairs and
banquet tables are showing wear and tear. He mentioned the RFQ (request for qualifications) process for
janitorial services this spring and that there has been no increase over the last five years, so this increase is
modest. Mr. Stone stated that CenterPlace is now 15 years old and they try very hard to maintain it and
keep it looking as good as possible but it is starting to show its age. Deputy Mayor Haley asked if staff feels
it is still valuable to continue advertising in the Hagadone Black Book as the books are getting smaller, and
Mr. Stone said staff needs to look at that to see where we might get the most for our advertising dollars.
Councilmember Wood asked about getting swings for Edgeclift Park and Mr. Calhoun mentioned there is
funding in the 2020 budget.
Tab 14: Supplemental Budget Requests
City Manager Calhoun said that Council has heard a lot today about departments staying with the status
quo level of service, but each year we include a section for consideration for supplemental budget requests
in addition to what has been done historically. Finance Director Taylor gave an overview of the
supplemental requests, followed by a more detailed explanation by each department/division for each
request as noted on the documents included in the packet. Following Mr. Basinger's explanation of the
retail recruitment contract request, Councilmember Wick suggested continuing retail recruitment more as
an ongoing expense. Mr. Hohman said that it would be prudent to incorporate that in the next year's budget,
and Mr. Calhoun agreed.
Under the Building & Planning Department, Mr. Calhoun noted the justification for an additional code
enforcement officer and said if this request is approved, we envision our half-time attorney moving to a
full-time position; and if we don't get the additional code enforcement officer, then we won't need the other
half-time attorney. Building Official Nickerson stated that fuel and supplies could be shared for the two
code enforcement officers; that a new officer would help not only with the older cases but also with new
cases, like people working in the right-of-way without a permit; said when we dropped to one code
enforcement officer, we saw calls drop, but now calls have increased to a similar level when we had two
officers. There was some discussion about vehicle use with Mr. Hohman noting that we would acquire a
new vehicle for that new person, and the other older vehicle would continue as a pool vehicle, and Mr.
Calhoun stated that we have a replacement fund for all vehicles. Councilmember Thompson asked about
additional budget funds for cameras for building security. Ms. Nickerson said there are no security cameras
in this building, although there has been some discussion about having them in CenterPlace, and said staff
is examining ways to better use our existing security. Mr. Calhoun mentioned that Deputy Johnson came
through City Hall and had some suggested security changes, one of which will be incorporated immediately,
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that of keeping the upstairs doors locked at all times. Councilmember Thompson asked to get some ID
badges since many Councilmembers only have a plain white card and Mr. Calhoun asked Councilmembers
to bring in the cards and said we will get a photo printed for the cards.
As Parks & Recreation Director Stone went through requests for his department, the discussion focused on
the request to repair the CenterPlace roof leaks, which led to mention of possibly appropriating more in the
2019 budget to get the entire roof addressed during the dry season instead of waiting until next fall. Mr.
Calhoun said staff will follow up on this issue and report again to Council, noting it is important to maintain
the facility and that we have the general fund reserves that could make this happen. Director Taylor brought
attention to the CenterPlace West Lawn summary page where it appears we are paying out $2 million, but
noted that figure doesn't show the transfer in. Councilmember Thompson expressed her concern with
having a special event beer garden so close to the playground and suggested moving the farmers market
once the west lawn is completed. Concerning the past debates of funding the west lawn all at once or by
phases, Mr. Calhoun noted phasing can be expensive and inefficient and he asked for Council's input.
Concerning farmers market, Councilmember Woodard said he heard from several handicapped people who
like having the event on the hard surface; noted we will also have to prepare Balfour in the next couple of
years, but he suggested Council strongly consider getting the west lawn completed and agreed phasing will
hinder a lot of things. Deputy Mayor Haley agreed and said she too is for finishing the west lawn and not
doing it in phases.
Concerning the snowplow replacement, Deputy City Manager Hohman explained that we were on a
program to have this in the 2019 budget, but we deferred that to complete the consultant review of
maintenance activities; said he feels this is the time to get a new vehicle; we had a program for replacement
every three years and we want to maintain that three-year cycle. Councilmember Woodard said he is in full
support of replacing a snowplow, not adding another. Mr. Calhoun said that we had the funds in 2019
budget but didn't make that purchase, so the one scheduled for 2019 would be moved to 2020, and then the
next would be in 2022; said we have ten trucks and two in reserve and are not increasing the number of that
fleet. Mr. Hohman said when it comes time to make the purchase, staff will check to see if any of the local
dealers would be able to beat the state price. When Councilmember Thompson asked what happens to the
oldest vehicle, Mr. Hohman said once we don't need them any more for parts or otherwise, we auction them
off or dispose of them otherwise. There was further discussion about having an additional mental health
officer (co -response team) and Mr. Calhoun said that will be built into the conversation as a place holder at
the August 20 Council meeting so he can get a sense if we could get that through the grant funding, or
should use other funding mechanisms like a general fund expenditure. Mr. Calhoun noted that all of the
supplemental requests will be before Council again when Council sees the 2020 budget; but if anyone is
opposed to any request, he'd like to hear about that now. There were no opposing comments.
Tab 16: Stormwater Fund
At Mr. Calhoun's suggestion, it was decided to move to Tab 16 and skip Tab 15 until after lunch. City
Engineer Helbig explained the functions associated with stormwater; said there are two FTEs within the
stormwater fund and noted the increase in labor/wages was more of a reallocation of some staff; said they
have taken on a lot more facilities including the public facilities on the public rights-of-way; mentioned
they were very successful in obtaining grants but that grants have corresponding costs; said an update to
the comprehensive stormwater master plan hasn't been done in many years and they will start in 2020 to
hire a consultant to help update that plan. Mr. Hohman added that stormwater fees haven't changed since
incorporation and that will also be reviewed. Finance Director Taylor mentioned that as seen in the
summary for fund 402, over the years there have been shrinking recurring revenues, which suggests
inadequate revenues to cover our costs. Mr. Hohman noted the street sweeping contract also has not
increased over the years and we don't have enough funds to sweep the entire city.
The meeting recessed at 11:45 a.m. for lunch. The meeting reconvened at 12:18 p.m.
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Tab 15: Street Operations & Maintenance Fund
Deputy City Manager Hohman said this department has 7.475 FTEs and includes three components: street,
snow, and bridges; said some of the increases and decreases are due to wages, and he summarized the
figures. Mr. Helbig mentioned the reports Council has heard from Nichols Consulting Engineers (NCE)
about pavement management and that we are switching vendors this year for the scanning and management
system; said there were associated decreases in the budget for 2020 as costs go down, but there are other
areas where costs increase. Concerning bridges, Finance Director Taylor said there has been some fairly
recent development in splitting out those costs as we do more work on the bridges, so those costs are still
being refined. Concerning the waste disposal services and charges, Mr. Hohman said more items are being
dumped in the right-of-way which increases costs; said the street maintenance contract increased as it has
not seen an increase for several years; mentioned this is the final optional year for the Poe Contract so staff
will be putting that out for bid shortly. There was brief discussion about employees with Mr. Hohman
explaining that the individuals are only in the street fund during snow plow operations and as noted on the
top of the page in the yellow highlights, the snow plow wages as well as the snow plow temp/seasonal
wages were increased for 2020. Councilmember Thompson asked how do we handle a situation where a
utility company does repair and the repair isn't adequate, and Mr. Hohman explained that Mr. Scott
Wallace, the City's right-of-way inspector, is fully dedicated to reviewing street cuts and rights-of-way and
that he has a reputation for being the a tough inspector; said he tries to be there on the larger patches so he
can verify the work; said he and the utility companies get together twice a year with a discussion facilitated
through Avista; also there is a five-year warranty on each of the patches and when Mr. Wallace conducts
the final inspection, if there is any deviation from the utility policy, the work must be re -done.
Mr. Hohman continued giving the highlights of the funds, and reminded Council of last year's evaluation
of street and stormwater maintenance programs by LA Consultants and said it might be a good time to look
further info that now; he mentioned for sign maintenance, the County has a sign shop but staff can research
to see if there are other viable options. Councilmember Thompson asked if wayfinding signs are in the
budget and Mr. Hohman said they are not, as that item is currently on the pending agenda; said Council had
a report on that topic several years ago and that staff will look for a time to bring that forward. Mr. Calhoun
mentioned that in looking at the street fund #101 summary document prior to Tab #1, that we just looked
at the line item expenditures and expenditures are greater than revenues by over $1 million; said we will
have to address that as we move through the 2020 budget process; said that last year Council agreed to take
a portion of the reserve, $907,000 to prop up the street fund for another year; he said we need additional
revenues of $1.244 million or in the alternative, need to reduce expenditures by that amount, or some
combination; said we do not need to solve that issue today but we do need to discuss it at some point. Mayor
Higgins agreed we need to solve the bigger longer term problem. Mr. Calhoun also noted that the street
operation and maintenance is one part and that pavement preservation is the other piece; he said next week
Council will hear an administrative report on pavement preservation with a staff recommendation that
Council consider appointing an ad hoc committee with the ultimate goal of having a recommendation later
this fall as a determination needs to be made on what condition does Council and the community want to
see for our roads: good, fair, or poor, and to try to come to conclusions on pavement preservation. Mr.
Hohman explained that the idea for an ad hoc committee came up as a way to generate more public
information at community meetings. Councilmember Peetz said it is difficult for her to implement a tax and
feels we should use the reserve and then talk about a more permanent income source later. Mr. Calhoun
said that proposal is what Council did last year.
There was mention of the waste management contract and the use fee for the trucks, which would be part
of the $5 million we spend on average every year. Mr. Hohman again referenced the Nicholas engineering
evaluation and said the feeling is the ongoing budget of $10 million is required to keep the roads in their
current condition, and just to maintain what we have at the current level, assuming we spend $5 million; he
said we are going to scan the roads again this year and we learned with working with the consultants, they
recommend a different scanning frequency of scanning 100% of the roads every three years; he said he
doesn't think $1.5 million is enough to make a difference and we will continue with the degeneration of the
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numbers if we stay with the $1.5 million. Mr. Helbig added that in working with the pavement management
systems, the numbers are continually updated, so even with the amount of funds we have, there is still
degeneration system -wide. Mr. Calhoun noted when we heard the Nichols report, we had split the
information between residential and arterials, and the consultants zeroed in for pavement preservation at $5
million. Councilmember Woodard mentioned we have lost millions over the years in state shared revenues,
which funds could have been put to pavement preservation. Mr. Hohman said as we are about to embark
on an intense public participation process, if Council has no confidence in the figures generated, we need
to know now and not go forward with that public process yet; said about a year and a half ago we separated
the pavement preservation from the street fund issue, then Council said to combine them and come with a
total picture, which staff did; that if Council wants to postpone pavement preservation a couple of years,
we can keep an eye on that, but we still need to solve the street fund issue; and we need a solution for
revenue or cut the street maintenance contract, and said that some clarity would be helpful. Councilmember
Woodard said the issue is not necessarily a lack of confidence; that last year we approved that one-time
payment, but said he would have a difficult time moving funds again and that we can't keep going on one-
time solutions; said we have to have some influx of new money/taxes; that we are a growing city with a
growing number of cars on the streets. Mr. Hohman reminded Council that they have options now since we
are in a robust economy, but we need to look to the future and when we are in a recession, there won't be
the option of using surplus funds. Deputy Mayor Haley said she is not opposed to an ad hoc committee and
questioned if we should try to get input on the idea of a new tax; that if citizens want better roads without
taxing, then there needs to be a means to determine how much citizens are willing to pay. Councilmember
Wick said we had three different consultants come up with different numbers; so he too thinks a committee
would be a good way to get community feedback. Mayor Higgins agreed and said he feels there is a need
to educate the citizens on the issue, but not necessarily how to pay for that, as that is Council's purpose.
Councilmember Thompson said she supports the idea of using reserves this year as well as the need to look
at next year to do something to prevent roads from getting worse. Councilmember Peetz agreed with the
idea of involving the public and that prevention and education are key pieces to this issue.
Tab 17: General Fund — Fund Balance
City Manager Calhoun briefly explained the math behind the six-month operating reserve, and that it is a
cash flow issue; followed by further detailed explanation from Director Taylor concerning items to consider
in setting the minimum fund balance.
Tab 18: Potential & Pending Capital Projects
City Manager Calhoun said this spreadsheet gives a sense of what we have accomplished and what is
remaining to be accomplished, and between him and Ms. Taylor, they explained about the various projects,
went through the information in the box in the left-hand side of the page, and asked for discussion of where
Council might want to see that $3.9 million applied, adding that Council might want to consider these over
time as we work toward the Sullivan Road project, and as Bigelow Gulch is completed. Discussion ensued
about the CRISI Grant award and that we likely will need an additional $1.5 million to complete the design
on Pines and acquire the needed right-of-way; about perhaps earmarking some funds as unallocated; the
idea of keeping pressure on the Pines/Barker Road Corridor projects, the Balfour Project, taking care of
CenterPlace, and the idea of purchasing come pieces of land for parks; that Pines is extremely important
but we don't want to spend funds we don't have; and that ultimately this topic can be discussed further as
we move through the budget development process. Mr. Calhoun said this might be a good discussion for
August 20, and that we will need to talk more about the street fund as well.
Tab 19: Fiscal Policies
Mr. Calhoun explained that as we adopt our entire budget document, these are the fiscal policies important
for the long-range fiscal strength of our City; he said that Moody's Corporation likes these fiscal policies
and that we not only state them, but we live by them. Mr. Calhoun went through the policies, and
Councilmembers had no suggested edits.
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Approved by Council: 07-09-2019
Tab 20: Council Goals
1. Work with state and federal legislators towards advancing the concepts outlined in the Bridging the
Valley study including obtaining financial assistance for the Pines and Park Grade Separation Projects.
After brief discussion, it was determined to add in Sullivan and have the projects listed in the
following order: Pines, Sullivan and Park.
2. Continue to pursue a plan to sustain the City's Pavement Preservation Program to include sustained
financing in Street Fund #101 and Pavement Preservation Fund #311.
There were no suggested edits.
3. Pursue state and federal financial assistance to address transportation concerns along the entire Barker
Corridor.
There were no suggested edits.
4. Continue with and expand where possible, economic development efforts including the retention and
expansion of existing businesses and recruitment of new businesses.
There were no suggested edits.
5. Continue to foster relationships with federal, state, county and local legislators.
Although initially there were no suggested edits, Councilmember Thompson said she isn't sure this is a
budget goal, and she suggested adding something like `while continuing to foster relationships with... " to
have that more of a working goal. Further, Councilmember Thompson suggested adding something like
working hand-in-hand; said relationships are fostered already; mentioned she attended a local government
meeting yesterday where there was an announcement about the Liberty Lake Barker Project with Senator
Padden mentioning that the Department of Transportation would administer the funds as it was intended
and Spokane Valley would pick up part of the portion not covered by the funds. Councilmember Thompson
said she was taken aback by that as she didn't recall our City ever committing to cover any overruns from
Liberty Lake's project. Deputy City Manager Hohman said staff can work to refine that goal's language,
and he concurred that Council has not had that conversation about us picking up the overrun; he said staff
will keep Council appraised if there are any changes with the Department of Transportation. Speaking to
the goal, Councilmember Woodard added that those relationships are important for many reasons, such as
knowing what projects people are working on as that information would be a direct benefit to citizens. Mr.
Calhoun said some goals are budget related and some are not, but they are all goals to aspire towards.
Councilmember Thompson suggested including a statement at the beginning that would cover all the goals,
adding that she is ok with the way the goal is stated now.
6. Pursue financing for Browns Park, Balfour Park and Appleway Trail amenities, and continue acquisition
of park land.
Discussion included whether to keep Browns Park and/or add in other parks, and it was ultimately decided
to remove Browns Park and leave the rest as stated.
7. Update the Bike and Pedestrian Masterplan to include connections between the Appleway Tail, Balfour
Park, Dishman Hills and the Centennial Trail to create a continuous loop for users.
There were no suggested edits.
Mr. Calhoun asked if there were suggestions for other goals, and Councilmember Wick suggested adding
something about community engagement and identifying that we are trying to get more community
involvement; he mentioned the criminal justice system and to identify cost savings or that we are judiciously
involved in that to keep costs under control, regardless of whether or not we support the jail. City Attorney
Driskell said that he and Deputy City Attorney Lamb are currently on that jail task force so are participating
in that issue. Councilmember Thompson said she likes that idea; said that since 67% of our budget goes to
law enforcement and public safety, maybe add something about enhancing the opportunity to recruit, train
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and retain Spokane Valley Police officers and to provide growth opportunity for our officers to become
leaders in the Police Department. Mayor Higgins reminded everyone that we have a contract with the
Sheriffs Office and they operate under a union. Mr. Calhoun said perhaps we could write a general goal in
support of law enforcement and the efforts of our officers. Councilmember Thompson agreed. Deputy
Mayor Haley mentioned the idea of adding our support of the police and fire departments, and again
Councilmember Thompson mentioned that it seems public safety is missing from the goals.
Tab 21: Advance Agenda
There were no suggested changes to the Advance Agenda, and it was mentioned that likely the Tuesday,
June 25 Council meeting will be cancelled as Councilmembers attend the AWC Conference, and that we
will schedule a special Council meeting for Monday, June 24. Mr. Calhoun said he hopes to know by
Thursday.
Tab 22: Business Plan
This was for information only and was not discussed or reported.
Tab 23: Executive Session
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn into executive session
for approximately twenty minutes to discuss pending litigation, and that no action would be taken upon
return to open session. Council adjourned into executive session at 2:19 p.m. At 2:41 p.m., Mayor Higgins
declared Council out of executive session, at which time it was nioved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded
and unanimously agreed to adjourn.
ATTEST: L.R. Higgins,
`b04/
Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
* According to Washington State Association of Counties, the state legislature introduced bills that attempt to address
the Trueblood settlement agreement, which passed out of the Senate March 7 and does several things, including
expanding police authority to divert individuals to treatment rather than for criminal production.
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Approved by Council: 07-09-2019