2009, 09-01 Study Session MinutesSeptember 1, 2009
Attendance:
Councilmembers
Dick Denenny, Deputy Mayor
Rose Dempsey, Councilmember
Bill Gothmann, Councilmember
Ian Robertson, Councilmember
Gary Schimmels, Councilmember
Diana Wilhite, Councilmember
Absent:
Rich Munson, Mayor
MINUTES
STUDY SESSION MEETING
SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley, Washington
Staff
6:00 p.m.
Dave Mercier, City Manager
Mike Jackson, Deputy City Manager
Mike Connelly, City Attorney
Mike Stone, Parks & Rec Director
Ken Thompson, Finance Director
Neil Kersten, Public Works Director
Greg McCormick, Planning Manager
Scott Kuhta, Senior Planner
John Whitehead, Human Resources Manager
Morgan Koudelka, Sr. Administrative Analyst
Rick VanLeuven, Police Chief
Carolbelle Branch, Public Information Officer
Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk
Deputy Mayor Denenny opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m. and welcomed everyone to the study session.
City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all councilmembers were present except Mayor Munson; and
Councilmember Schimmels who it was reported, was in the building and should arrive momentarily. It
was moved by Councilmember Gothmann, seconded and unanimously agreed to excuse Mayor Munson
from tonight's meeting. [Immediately after the vote, Councilmember Schimmels arrived and took his
place at the dais.]
REGULAR STUDY SESSION ITEMS:
1. Commute Trip Reduction Interlocal Agreement Update — Morgan Koudelka and Aurora Crooks
Senior Administrative Analyst Koudelka explained that this is the latest Interlocal with Spokane County
to continue their services regarding the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Program, which has been in
existence since 1991 as a result of the State's Clean Air Act; that the County provides oversight and
responsibility in managing the nineteen employers which participate in the program; that the program is
designed to reduce the number of drive -alone trips occurring on our roadways; that this agreement is the
third rendition, and not much has changed. Mr. Koudelka said the county would retain the City's state
funds of $68,625.72 since they are providing this service for us; and he asked for Council's consideration
to place this on next week's consent agenda. Aurora Crooks, of Spokane County, added that she will be
back later as they are working on updating the ordinance with some minor verbiage changes. There was
Council consensus to place this on the next consent agenda.
2. Police Department Hot Spots/PRISM — Rick VanLeuven, Doug Silver
Police Chief VanLeuven explained that Council had asked for an administrative report on responses and
prevention efforts associated with activities noted in the "hot spots" areas identified in their monthly
reports; and he introduced Doug Silver who supervises other analysts who work for the Spokane County
Sheriffs Office, and said that Mr. Silver will also give a demonstration tonight on the PRISM
functionality. Chief VanLeuven explained via his PowerPoint presentation, of the purpose of the hotspot
data and how they analyze crimes and patterns, what determines a hotspot or location of interest, the ILP
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process (Intelligence Led Policing); and briefly discussed some of the problem areas. Mr. Silver then
gave a quick demonstration on PRISM, which is an acronym for Parcel Records Information System
Mapper; he showed some of the maps and said that the maps are available to all members, explained that
they are updated evenings, and showed how further and more detailed information can be found on any
given area. He explained that a particular crime type can be researched, or crimes at a specific district
researched and the results can be sorted by various criteria; and he said that officers can then place the
information into a printable spreadsheet for ease in use. In response to question, Mr. Silver said that the
crime check data is included.
3. Park Maintenance Contract Update — Mike Stone
Parks and Recreation Director Stone said that this fourth and final one -year renewal option with Senske
for park maintenance has been exercised; and he now seeks direction and guidance as staff works to
develop a new contract intended to be in place prior to January 2010; he said the scope of work for the
park maintenance contract includes vegetation such as mowing, trimming, litter pickup and restroom
cleaning and that accounts for about 85% of the contract; and the second part is considered a "public
work" and should be competitively bid according to law; and having two separate contracts would be
challenging and would not be efficient or feasible; he said that staff is proceeding with a bid package for a
formal bid for park maintenance services which means a contract would be awarded to the lowest
responsible bidder. Director Stone said they will not use the RFP (request for proposal) process used in
previous years; that it will take time to develop bid specifications and will take time to put everything
together to make sure we can effectively communicate to potential bidders our exact expectations.
One issue to consider, Mr. Stone said, is the length of term. Mr. Stone explained that he feels there would
be benefits to the City and to the contractor to have a longer term as there would be consistency and
quality of product; the learning curve would just be coming on to this project.and it would likely take one
to two years for a contractor to become fully knowledgeable of all aspects we have to offer, particularly
since we are a seasonable business; that if a contractor does a good job, that means a steady revenue
stream for the term of contract. Director Stone said he feels the need would still exist for annual review
regardless of what kind of contract; that in the past, contracts were for five years, and staff is examining a
seven -year contract, adding that the goal is to complete the bid package and advertise this month with the
bid awarded the end of October for the 2010 season.
In response to question of why seven years, Mr. Stone said he felt five was too short as it takes a lot of
effort to put together such a bid; and while he would not object to an even longer contract period, he felt
seven years was a good compromise. Mr. Mercier added that earlier this year Council asked about the
advantages or disadvantages of multi -year contracts, that seven years was the longest and seven years
exceeds all terms of any councilmember. Councilmember Schimmels said he feels the minimum would
be three years, is comfortable with five, but if Council feels seven is better, he would agree, as longevity
is good and the contract would be analyzed annually. Mr. Stone added that the option would exist every
year on whether or not to renew. Councilmember Gothmann said he likes the longer contract, and added
that Senske has done a marvelous job. Director Stone said they want to fully communicate to potential
bidders what this will encompass, including the need for good customer service just as if they were our
full -time staff; and added that the contractor would be providing their own equipment. Councilmember
Gothmann remarked that a seven -year investment in capital would be beneficial to the contractor. Deputy
Mayor Denenny asked about including a standard escalation clause and to make sure we have proper exit
strategies to be able to move in a different direction if needed or desired; and Mr. Stone said he would
examine the old agreement and said staff could add in those safeguards. There was Council consensus to
move in the direction of the seven -year contract.
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4. Pandemic Report — Mike Jackson
Deputy City Manger Jackson said the updated draft is in council's packet and includes all continuity of
operations plans for each department; that he is open for questions, and would like to bring this Plan back
next week for adoption consideration; including the resolution dealing with compensating employees
during an emergency situation. There were no specific comments on the Plan. Mr. Jackson said that a
worst case scenario, the swine flu could affect as much as half of the United States' population, might
hospitalize 1.8 million and result in 90,000 deaths; that the typical flu results in about 35,000 deaths; and
added that 300,000 could require intensive care, which would be a heavy impact on the health care
system. Mr. Jackson mentioned that Washington State University noted ten cases of swine flu, that there
has been no update on that report; and a second death in Spokane has occurred as a result of the swine flu.
Mr. Jackson said Resolution 09 -013 was drafted in conjunction with an opinion from the Attorney
General's Office previously when the country was dealing with the avian flu; that this resolution deals
with compensating employees who are ready, willing and able to come to work but due to a requirement
for social distancing, would be precluded from doing so; and said options are not paying them, or
requiring them to take annual leave, which would be a difficult option, and said staff proposes the option
of compensating employees as we normally do. Mr. Mercier said department heads would likely not be
affected as many could work remotely if needed, but such would not be the case for building inspectors,
or those driving public works vehicle. It was noted that this would apply to "regular" employees and that
change will be made in the resolution. There was Council consensus to bring the plan and resolution back
next week for approval consideration.
5. Governance Manual Proposed Changes — Mike Connelly
City Attorney Connelly said he attempted to do a comprehensive look at the governance manual; that the
first section identifies things which should change due to advances in technology, changes to make the
verbiage smoother, or to correct typos; and the last section included a major change due to the adoption of
the council rules for quasi judicial hearings so that the rules would be consistent; and added that there are
some areas noted for Council feedback. Mr. Connelly said the recommended change on page 4 is because
the current structure of agenda does not allow us to consider items in a special meetings if those items
were not posted 24 -hours in advance of the meeting; so the remedy is to call each meeting a regular
meeting, thereby giving us more flexibility, and said this does not preclude council from calling special
meetings just as they have in the past. After discussing the other proposed changes, Council concurred as
follows:
• 1.11 to omit the sentence about not permitting citizens from approaching the dais after ten
minutes prior to the start of the meeting;
• Page 10, 3.03 (g): no change but Councilmember Schimmels said it was suggested to him that
council keep comments more brief rather then the 30 - 40 minute reports; and Deputy Mayor
Denenny agreed that this should not apply to social events but the purpose is to report on city -
related meetings. Mr. Mercier added that the in -depth reporting of committees is now intended to
be addressed during the study session meetings when Council discusses their "External
Committee Reports" when they need Council feedback on significant policy decisions.
• Page 12, 3.03(r) to reject the change and keep the verbiage about ending the meeting at 9:00 p.m.
• Page 16, section 3.10 to re -write to follow Robert's Rules of Order on motion reconsiderations.
• 3.11 consensus to strike a and b
• Council concurred to make the noted changes in 6.02 as mentioned previously; and to accept the
other small grammatical or minor changes.
City Attorney Connelly said these changes will be made and this will be brought back for Council's
formal adoption consideration.
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5A. 2009 Federal Call for Projects — Neil Kersten
Public Works Director Kersten explained that on July 16, 2009, the Spokane Regional Transportation
Council (SRTC) issued a 2009 Call for Projects for allocation of Surface Transportation Program (STP)
funding for the years 2011 -2012; that the call is based on the current direction by Congress to pass an
eighteen -month extension to the federal transportation bill; there is an expected target of $10 million in
STP funding for the Spokane region; and project applications are due Monday, September 14, 2009; and
he went over the proposed list of preservation, reconstruction, and improvement projects. Mr. Kersten
said approval of a project list is required by council in order to meet the application deadline of
September 14. In response to Council questions concerning matching funds, Mr. Mercier said staff will
closely examine the books to see if there are more savings from projects, and to look at the next bidding
rounds, and said there are multiple variables to consider but the window is closing quickly and staff
would like to bring this back next week for formal Council approval consideration, and there was Council
consensus to do so.
6. Council External Committee Reports - Councilmembers
Councilmember Wilhite recapped the previous discussion Council held about the revision of the SRTC
Board structure and various committee members, and said she was instructed to examine the idea of
adding another person to represent Spokane Valley; and explained that Councilmember Gothmann had
previously asked about how the miles were calculated. Councilmember Wilhite said the SRTC put
together several charts (which she displayed on the overhead screen), and in examining the chart
concerning population, it shows the population of the various cities and the unincorporated area and
communities within Spokane County, and showed the population figures based on a percentage of the
whole; she said regarding the chart showing road miles, there is a difference between center lane miles
and lane miles; and in showing the "Federal Aid Road Miles #1" chart, this shows the center lane miles,
which means that if you use Sprague as an example, Sprague would be a single road, and in counting the
miles, you would count each road and add the miles; in the "Federal Aid Lane Miles #2" chart, this shows
the lane miles, which in using Sprague again, count each individual lane, so if there are five lanes of
Sprague in a mile, that would be five miles, versus the center lane miles which would be one mile; and
she mentioned that the Federal Aid Chart #2 excludes roads that do not qualify for federal aid; and said in
all cases, these are for paved miles and does not include gravel roads.
Public Works Director Kersten added that this is a type of "apples and oranges" comparison, in looking at
the chart of "federal aid miles #2 ", the County has 1800, and out of that 1800, there are about 1500 rural
arterials compared with Spokane and the remainder of the cities which are urban arterials; and he said the
urban arterials carry a lot more traffic; so it is not an equal comparison. When they do the federal funding
bill, he explained, out of the 100% funding, 15% of the funding goes to rural; 85% goes to urban because
there is more traffic, approximately 8,000 to 10,000 cars daily versus a few hundred cars daily; and so
therefore, all the cities are urban and the County is the only difference. Councilmember Wilhite said
Fairfield, Waverly, Rockford, Spangle, and Latah are all considered rural communities; and the one
exception is Millwood, which is considered an urban city although it is very small; which is how
Millwood was able to gain considerable federal funding for Argonne Road which passes through their
community.
In examining the chart "Federal Aid Road Miles Population Based," Councilmember Wilhite explained
that when the SRTC incorporated the City of Spokane Valley into the mix, they looked at both road miles
and population and calculated how Spokane Valley compared with other cities, and determined from that
the size of the committee they wanted, and how many would be represented by the various communities.
She further explained that Spokane County did not want it to go to three members because there are only
three County Commissioners and they wanted to keep it at two; so both Spokane County and the City of
Spokane, based on their population, the percentage of population and the percentage of road miles, and
they averaged that to come to the percentage of 30.7.72 %, technically 2.15; and those numbers were
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rounded so the County got two members, City of Spokane got two, and Spokane Valley got one, and the
small cities originally were given one representative. She explained that the changes regarding the
communities, that a proposal was made to increase the representation to two representing the small
communities; they did a calculation based on population; with over 5,000 to 50,000 population wanting to
have one representative, which would include the cities of Liberty Lake, Airway Heights and Cheney; and
currently they compete with everyone else for funding; and they wanted to have one representative to be
able to have more of a voice concerning projects within their communities, so that is a change for
consideration: two instead of one. She said that the current council now includes a representative from
the STA but that representative must be someone from the small communities; which takes in Cheney,
Airway Heights and Liberty Lake because they have to be communities that have bus service; so in taking
that designation away from the STA so they can have anyone from their council represented, they felt
they would be getting the "short end of the stick" so they wanted a representative from those particular
categories of cities. Councilmember Wilhite said based on this, she and Public Works Director Kersten
have reviewed the numbers, road miles, and population, and it makes it difficult to make the argument
that we have another representative based on the roads and the population
Deputy Mayor Denenny agreed with that argument that it would be difficult to justify Spokane Valley
having another representative. Councilmember Wilhite said she has not had an opportunity to share this
information with Mayor Munson as he was out of town, but upon his return, she will brief him.
Councilmember Wilhite also mentioned that once we hit 100,000, then we will have the population to
increase, but in speaking with Mr. Kersten and in examining the history, she said she thinks the amount of
federal funds we have garnered within our city limits, we have done a good job of getting projects funded.
Councilmember Wilhite said because the SRTC Board will be drafting an interlocal agreement for this
Council's review, she asked Council if they felt comfortable having two members representing the small
cities, and that there will be one representative from the STA as in the past, and that the CEO is a non-
voting member. Councilmember Gothmann, in seeking clarification, stated that the two representing the
cities, one is for under 5,000; and that the requirements in getting funds from the Transportation
Improvement Board, there is a separate fund of money for "small cities, roads and sidewalks" and that all
the money goes to cities, and then take 1% of that and it goes to the set aside funds in the TIB for small
cities; which we cannot access nor would this city be in competition for those funds as we are not a small
city, therefore he said, it makes sense to have a representative for that under 5,000 group. There was
apparent council consensus to agree with having two representatives for the small cities.
Councilmember Wilhite mentioned that because Spokane City changed its form of government, the
interlocal would be amended to reflect that new form of government. Councilmember Wilhite said there
are a number of ex- officio people who will sit at the table, one of which would be the chair of the
technical committee as the Board needs to be aware of the importance of their reports.
7. Advance Agenda — Deputy Mayor Denenny
Deputy Mayor Denenny asked that Councilmembers be sure to let him or Mr. Mercier know of any items
they wish to be included on any upcoming agenda.
8. Council Check in — Deputy Mayor Denenny
Councilmember Schimmels asked Mr. Mercier about conversations with Russ Meinke, and Mr. Mercier
reported that he asked for some information from his office identifying that the Spokane Valley's flow
control ordinance expires 2011, as does Liberty Lake's, while others flow control ordinance expires 2014;
and said he tried to sensitive Mr. Meinke that this council might have to make some serious policy
decisions in advance of others; and he asked about an alterative analysis and understands it is in process,
but there is no specific timetable.
Councilmember Robertson said that he met with City Attorney Connelly and so as not to have any
conflict of interest or even an appearance of a conflict of interest, that Mr. Robertson has resigned from
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the five community boards with which he was associated, and at the time of the discussions and vote on
the outside agency funding, that he will recuse himself from any discussions or vote on that topic this
year.
9. City Manager Comments - Dave Mercier
Mr. Mercier said he had no comments.
10. Executive Session: Land Acquisition, Pending Litigation, Labor Negotiations.
It was moved by Councilmember Robertson, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn into executive
session for approximately forty minutes to discuss land acquisition, pending litigation, and labor
negotiations, and that no action is anticipated thereafter. Council adjourned into Executive Session at
7:50 p.m. At 8:33 p.m. Deputy Mayor Denenny declared Council out of executive Session. It was then
moved by Councilmember Wilhite, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned
at 8:34 p.m.
ATTEST:
r
k-- eee
Christine Bainbridge, Ci Clerk
R c and M. . � • n, Mayor
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