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2019, 10-29 Study Session MINUTES SPOKANE VALLEY COUNCIL MEETING STUDY SESSION Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers Spokane Valley,Washington October 29, 2019 Attendance: Councilmembers Staff Rod Higgins, Mayor Mark Calhoun, City Manager Pam Haley,Deputy Mayor John Hohman, Deputy City Manager Brandi Peetz, Councilmember Cary Driskell, City Attorney Linda Thompson, Councilmember Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney Ben Wick, Counoilmember Mike Stone, Parks & Recreation Director Sam Wood, Councilmember Bill Helbig, City Engineer Arne Woodard, Councilmember Chelsie Taylor,Finance Director Adam Jackson, Planning/Grants Engineer Morgan Koudelka, Sr.Admin Specialist Mark Werner, Police Chief Gloria Mantz,Engineering Manager Erica Amsden, Senior Engineer/Projects Mgr Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk Mayor Higgins called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 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. ACTION ITEM: 1. First Reading Ordinance 19-018 Amending Park Regulations—Cary Driskell.Mike Stone After City Clerk Bainbridge read the ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley and seconded to advance Ordinance 19-018 amending park regulations to a second reading. City Attorney Driskell explained the proposed changes to the park regulations, adding that one of the main changes is the open hours of the park, which he said based on public safety; said he wants to make sure that we provide the appropriate tools to law enforcement so they can better police these issues so we have parks that are open, available and safe for the majority of our population;he noted the two-tier park hours of April 15 to October 15, open at 6 am and close at 9 pm; and October 16 to April 14, open at 6 pm and close at 7 pm, and Mr. Stone further explained that these dates coincide with the winterizing and closing of the restrooms, including turning off the water. Mayor Higgins invited public comment; no comments were offered. Councilmember Wood expressed his preference to keep the parks open until 9 pm instead of 7 pm; said he thinks citizens have the right to use the parks and he doesn't like criminals controlling the rest of us. Councilmember Wick asked for clarification concerning hot air balloons. Attorney Driskell said that Valleyfest has not used the balloons for a few years, partly because we were requiring enhanced insurance if they were to be launched from City property;further, he explained, WCIA(Washington Cities Insurance Authority) expressed concern about the activity and that if we were to allow it, to make sure the people launching the balloon and us,were covered; he said the policy choice now is whether to allow it and if we do allow that activity,he recommended it be done under the special event permit. Other discussion included inflatable equipment,and fishing.Mr. Stone said we haven't allowed fishing for twelve years; said the pond is man-made and there would be challenges; that historically Valleyfest was allowed use for one day only, and that through special event permit;he cautioned allowing this activity and said challenges would include possible damage to the pond, and cleanup; he also noted inflatable play equipment also causes significant Council Study Session: 10-29-2019 Page 1 of 5 Approved by Council: 11-12-2019 damage to turf; that it is a high risk activity and insurance is required; said if we allow it even through special permit,that also presents a problem as people see it and assume it is permitted; said this would be a policy decision by Council,but that he would not support that activity. Vote by acclamation on the motion to advance the ordinance to a second reading: In Favor: Mayor Higgins, Deputy Mayor Haley, and Councilmembers Peetz, Woodard, Wick and Thompson. Opposed.' Councilmember Wood. Motion carried. Discussion then continued on the activities that might require a special use permit, and it was determined that further changes can be made for the ordinance second reading. There was full Council consensus to include inflatables and hot air balloons as part of the special event permit. Concerning park hours, Councilmembers stressed the need to have signs very clearly posting the park hours; and except for Councilmember Wood,there was consensus to keep the two-tier hours as drafted in the ordinance. 2. First Reading Ordinance 19-019 Regulating Public Camping—Erik Lamb, Cary Driskell After City Clerk Bainbridge read the ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley and seconded to advance Ordinance 19-019 adopting regulations regarding camping on public property to a second reading. Deputy City Attorney Lamb said that this is just one component of the overall discussions regarding the homelessness issues and that there will be future collaborative discussions on the topic with Spokane County and Spokane City. Mr. Lamb said that this ordinance will adopt a new chapter in our Municipal Code to regulate camping on public property; that this ordinance has three components, (1) no camping on public property, and he noted the change in 7.50.020 regarding the fairgrounds and that this ordinance is not intended to prohibit camping in designated spots; (2) it prohibits encampments, which is defined as two or more in close proximity;and(3)consistent with the Martin vs Boise case,our Code would not be enforced if shelter bed space is not available;he also noted there would be certain areas where public camping is never allowed, including City Hall grounds, Balfour Park, and Mirabeau Meadow/CenterPlace grounds. Mr.Lamb explained that Balfour Park is not permitted due to the high number of responses of law enforcement there;and said this ordinance is similar to the County's already adopted regulations.Mr.Lamb stated that the goal is not to arrest but to get people into the resources they need, and to provide notice that this is adopted and at some point, will be enforced; but for now, it would be a tool to use for those who don't want to take advantage of the resources. Mayor Higgins invited public comment. Ms.Barb Howard, Spokane Valley: regarding the 48-hour notice to vacate,said that is a longtime;said she has been working with Chief Werner about an individual and his RV which he keeps moving from spot to spot; she also questioned why there can be none of that type of parking at City Hall, but that people can park on city streets. Mr. Bill Gothmann, Spokane Valley: said he has a relative who drives an RV across country to see him; that it is a fully contained RV and he would be staying out here about a week, but that this ordinance would prevent him from parking there; said people should be able to park on their own property or on a right-of- way that the City owns and isn't used, like in front of his own house; he suggested maybe permit this type of parking for up to one week. There were no further public comments. Councilmember Wick asked about precluding RV's in rights-of-way and Mr. Lamb explained that this would preclude camping in rights-of-way; he said the rights-of-way are intended for the public's use; said it would present a challenge to allow an exception and difficult to enforce to have such an exception for a week; said private property would seem to be the better location than the public right-of-way. Vote by acclamation: In,favor: Mayor Higgins, Deputy Mayor Haley, and Councilmembers Thompson, Woodard, Peetz, and Wood. Opposed: Councilmember Wick Motion carried. 3.Motion Consideration: City Hall/CenterPlace Holiday Closure—Mayor Higgins It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley and seconded to authorize the closure of City Hall and CenterPlace at noon Wednesday, November 27, 2019, to allow staff time to prepare for their Thanksgiving Holiday; to close City Hall and CenterPlace for the entire day on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, and to close at noon Council Study Session: 10-29-2019 Page 2 of 5 Approved by Council: 11-12-2019 Tuesday, December 31, 2019; that this closure will affect only normal administrative functions of the City, however, all pre planned events at CenterPlace will take place as scheduled Mayor Higgins invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation:In favor: Unanimous. Opposed.'none. Motion carried NON-ACTION ITEMS: 4. Mental Health Crisis Stabilization Facility—Morgan Koudelka, Chief Werner,Ariane Schmidt, Kristin Gable Leading the discussion was Ms. Arianne Schmidt, Regional Project Manager for the City of Spokane and Spokane County, along with Ms. Kirstin Gable, under contract with Pioneer Human Services, the organization selected as the operator of this program, as well as Spokane Valley Police Chief Werner, and City of Spokane Valley Senior Administrative Analyst Koudelka. Ms. Schmidt explained that they are here tonight to brief Council on the update of this facility. As shown in Ms. Schmidt's PowerPoint presentation, she noted there are three phases of this project: Phase I, initiation and planning, August 2019 through October 2019; Phase II, construction/ramp-up, November 2019 through October 2019, and Phase III, operational readiness, November 2020 through March 2021. Ms. Schmidt went over the performance measures including goals and the associated metric; they showed the Spokane current state individual in mental health crisis incident, compared with the Spokane future state with MHCSF individual in mental health crisis incident; with the future state alleviating the need for court proceedings and other steps associated with jail bookings; they also showed some statistics from the Snohomish Diversion Pilot program; they mentioned the program definitions and scope with the core services of mental health crisis stabilization and withdrawal management operated by Pioneer Human Services, and offering on-site at the facility;they went over the proforma summary core services operating costs and estimates;they noted the municipality fee construct criteria and estimates based on 2019 point in time counts; and showed the municipality fee breakdown of those organizations and entities participating in the facility;they mentioned that next steps include approval by the Spokane County Commissioners,and once approved,they can begin Phase II to develop contract and agreements with municipalities, engage the architect, and collaborate on building requirements. City Manager Calhoun said he would like to hear from Chief Werner on law enforcement's perspective of what this would mean to their operation. Chief Werner said currently there are two alternatives for people in crisis: the hospital or being booked into jail; he said the goal of the proposed facility is to assist in connecting people to the services and get them stabilized; otherwise, the people get booked into jail, released and go through the system over and over, which of course is not a great solution. Chief Werner also noted the potential costs are preliminary numbers and further research is needed to refine those figures, with Ms. Schmidt adding that they want to make sure municipalities are in for the Iong haul. There was Council consensus to be and stay involved. 5.Police Department Quarterly Report—Chief Werner For his quarterly report, Chief Werner discussed the scope, patrol, investigative units, and staffing, including volunteer SCOPE hours,average patrol staffing per shift,calls for service and responses,external complaints and their resolutions, number of persons charged and number of felony and misdemeanor charges, number and type of search warrants issued, seizures and recoveries,property crimes, and staffing. Councilmember Peetz asked if there are any positions that need to be filled and Chief Werner explained that all authorized funded positions are filled, and said the factors contributing to the attrition rate have not yet had an opportunity to fully impact the 2019 new hires. Councilmember Woodard added that they are filled, but due to various stages in training, not everyone is in the field yet. Mr. Calhoun said there will be a more in-depth report on staffing at the November 12 Council meeting. 6. Barker I-90 WSDOT Interchange Project Update—Gloria Mantz, Erica Amsden Engineering Manager Mantz introduced Ms. Erica Amsden, Spokane Valley Project Manager, and HDR Engineer Mr. Scott Marshal. Mr. Marshall explained the WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation)project location and purpose, showed a drawing of the design summary with the eastbound Council Study Session: 10-29-2019 Page 3 of 5 Approved by Council: 11-12-2019 and westbound roundabouts,and discussed the tum restrictions at Boone Avenue and at Broadway Avenue. Ms. Amsden then discussed a summary of the public meeting which included about 70 members of the public; she said most people are in favor of the project, but there were some traffic concerns, as noted on the slide; she also mentioned concerning temporary traffic control, that there will be coordination of this project with the Liberty Lake projects. Councilmember Wick asked if both projects were going to be scheduled at the same time and Ms. Amsden replied that yes, WSDOT is planning to construct both at the same time. 7. Pavement Preservation Ad Hoc Committee—Bill Helbig,Adam Jackson Although this is a continuation of the October 1 presentation, Mr. Jackson said the information is not necessarily new; said they had a third party consultant perform an evaluation and do some improvements of the program, particularly concerning the public outreach; said that other entities who had such an ad hoc committee or task force were more prone to succeed as they had a group of stakeholders help provide recommendations; he said this committee would not be a sole source and would be open to questions, and he brought Council's attention to the draft committee outline, which Mr. Jackson said will change as needed.Mr.Helbig agreed the schedule is aggressive;said the City of Vancouver went through this process and it took about two years to get through it; and that Bend, Oregon kept their committee in place to help them annually.There was some discussion about meeting attendance and Mr. Jackson said while they want to be flexible,the dates are critical. After further brief discussion,there was Council consensus to proceed as staff suggested. 8. Pines Road/BNSF Grade Separation Project. FMSIB Funding—Adam Jackson Planning and Grants Engineer Jackson explained that this project is a city priority, discussed by Council numerous times; he went over the history of the project as noted in his Request for Council Action, and said that there is an opportunity to go before the FMSIB board to ask that this project say on the list and remain active and said we don't want to lose that opportunity; said the FMSIB Board meeting will be held November 15 and we'd like to make a request that FMSIB reinstate the project on their active list and continue to fund the project;he said staff recommends that we ask for the original requested amount of$5.3 million; he noted that the$5.3 million is 18.28% of the currently anticipated $29 million total project cost and that amount is consistent with the City's previous awards for the Barker Road/BNSF Grade Separation Project as well as the Barker Road Corridor projects FMSIB award amount which was equal to 20% of the total project cost. Discussion followed with Mayor Higgins asking if those figures are adjusted for inflation. Mr. Jackson replied that there aren't any real dollars as the funds are about to be taken away; he mentioned that the Iegislature has given FMSIB a tool to formally cancel projects; he said this wasn't a priority when we incorporated as Bridging the Valley was still being developed; that in 2017 we dedicated local funds and the project was gaining traction and ranked a very high priority state-wide as well as FMSIB's #1 project in the state. Councilmember Wick stated that as one of the City's representative on the FMSIB board, he doesn't get to vote on this since it is our project, but a case for this project was made a year ago and this was up for cancellation then but still slated as a WSDOT project; that the Board wants to see projects completed but doesn't always have the funds so they elected to keep it around for another year to see if the project gained any progress; he said that when the board does allocate funds, they either set a cap on the total dollar amount and then look at the percentage of the project; that they adhere to an RCW statute that states funding needs to be at least 20% of the project but that they have not always held to that, and if we ask for 20% of our new project balance,that would probably be closer to$6 million. Mr. Jackson said it is his impression that a 20%award is a very high value and often awards are less. After further discussion on the process of the FMSIB Board,Mayor Higgins asked if there is Council consensus to move this forward, and all Councilmembers agreed. Mr. Calhoun noted that since the FMSIB Board meets November 15th, and we don't have another meeting until November 12,we need to settle on a number tonight; he said the deadline to submit items is November 5. Mr. Jackson stressed that it is critical to make sure there is consensus to submit and then put our funds Council Study Session: 10-29-2019 Page 4 of 5 Approved by Council: 11-12-2019 as a match to support the application; that FMSIB doesn't rely on a 20/80 split as they will come in with their percentage, and we would be responsible for the difference; or as an alternative, staff can go present and Council can leave that to staff's discretion on the fine point of what we believe would be the most profitable or reasonable request, All Councilmembers nodded their heads in agreement. There was further discussion about which figure or range of figures to decide on and what would be more likely to get us funding. Councilmember Wick also suggested we determine which bi-annum for appropriation. City Manager Calhoun said we could ask 30% and might get 20%; and note the amount of our own funds for this project,which at the time of application was estimated at$11.2 million. After Mr. Calhoun calculated that$3.36 is 30% of$11.2, all Councilmembers agreed with the 30%. 9. State Lobbying Contract Request for Qualifications(RFQ)Update—Cary Driskell City Attorney Driskell explained that the City has contracted with its current lobbying services contractor, Gordon Thomas Honeywell, since 2007;that the basic services started in 2007 and have increased over the years,as noted in his Request for Council Action form;he said the City issued a Request for Qualifications in September and we had one response: Gordon Thomas Honeywell. There was some discussion about the scope of services, with Mr. Driskell adding that our base price is low compared with other jurisdictions. There was complete Council consensus that staff come back at a future Council meeting with a proposed negotiated agreement. 10. Advance Agenda—Mayor Higgins Councilmember Wood mentioned that there are some kind of boxes in Coeur d'Alene on various street corners, with different sketches, like public art, and he asked if we could do something like that. Councilmembers concurred to have staff research that suggestion. 11. The following items were for information only and were not reported or discussed: a. Election Night&Council Meetings History c. Admin Quarterly Report b. Police Dept. Monthly Report d. Customer Service Survey Report 12. Council Comments—Mayor Higgins There were no additional comments from Council. 13. City Manager Comments—Mark Calhoun City Manager Calhoun said that the Barker Road widening project ribbon cutting is scheduled for Monday, November 4, at 3:30 at the north section of the new pavement just north of Garland Avenue; he said there will be a small groundbreaking of the Appleway Trail at Evergreen and Sullivan on Wednesday,November 13, at 2 pm, by the Appleway Trail just off Evergreen, said this will also be announced via social media,. and that there will be a larger ceremony in the spring. Mr. Calhoun reminded everyone that next week's Council meeting will be cancelled as we have councilmembers up for election, and he noted the informational report in tonight's Council packet; said when we don't have councilmembers up for election, we don't typically meet, and that election night is of course,not a holiday. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Haley, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m. Ire A ST. /q()..r L.R. Higgin 4 o hrrstine Bembridge, City Cket° / Council Study Session: 10-29-2019 Page 5 of 5 Approved by Council: 11-12-2019