2021, 06-15 Special Budget Workshop Meeting MINUTES
SPOKANE VALLEY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
BUDGET WORKSHOP
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers—Via Zoom
Spokane Valley, Washington
June 15,2021
Attendance:
Councilmembers Staff
Ben Wick,Mayor Mark Calhoun, City Manager
Brandi Peetz, Deputy Mayor John Hohman, Deputy City Manager
Pam Haley, Councilmember Chelsie Taylor,Finance Director
Tim Hattenburg, Councilmember Cary Driskell, City Attorney
Rod Higgins, Councilmember Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney
Linda Thompson, Councilmember John Bottelli, Parks, Rec. &Facilities Director
Arne Woodard, Councilmember Dave Ellis,Police Chief
Morgan Koudelka, Sr. Admin.Analyst
John Whitehead,Human Resources Manager
Bill Helbig, City Engineer
Jenny Nickerson, Building Official
Mike Basinger, Economic Development Mgr.
Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
Mayor Wick called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
WELCOME: Mayor Wick 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 budget book contains 21 sections, which he noted is a lot of
material to cover but said it is his intent to be finished no later than 2:30; said this workshop is to provide a
broad scope and explanation of the departments, but we will not go into a full line-by-line detail; said if we
find we are running ahead of schedule we will re-adjust the agenda as needed. Mr. Calhoun also noted the
supplemental requests will further increase the budget, and that when we come back in August to further
discuss the budget, we don't expect material changes from today's information.
Finance Director Taylor then gave a cursory overview of the contents of the budget workshop binder,
starting with pages 1 through 8 which includes the budget calendar, a summary of the general fund as well
as general fund department changes from 2021 to 2022, and street fund 101 which shows another drop in
the utility tax but an increase in the motor vehicle fuel tax based on the assumption that we get back to some
normal traffic. She noted recurring expenditures are greater than recurring revenues by about $2 million
which is resolved by a transfer of funds; she mentioned the stormwater fund on page 7, followed by a ten-
year history of our FTE (full time equivalent staff). Going back to page 2, Director Taylor stated that our
2022 proposed revenues increase by a conservative estimate of 6.43%;said the figures also assume we will
not take the 1%allowed property tax increase, but it does include new construction; and said the gambling
tax shows a decline as we assume they have not fully recovered from closures due to Covid-19. Ms. Taylor
went through the remainder of revenues on page 2 of 8 and mentioned the significant drop in fines and
forfeitures due to an accounting change that occurred in 2020 which requires that all pass-through activities
be accounted for in their own fund, fund 632. She stated that recurring revenues exceed recurring
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expenditures by about$4.6 million. Director Taylor continued her explanation, and noted on page 3 there
is about $33 million expected in the ending fund balance; she also noted the spreadsheets show actual
activity for three years, and that the budget reduction exercise is not a recommended course of action, and
that the reductions get pretty bad fairly quickly.
[Note: Agenda items were taken in the order as noted below.]
Tab 1: City Council—Mark Calhoun
City Manager Calhoun went over the spreadsheet showing the line-item details and he gave a quick
summary of Council's 2022 budget, which shows an overall increase by slightly over 1%; said the biggest
changes are usually seen here in years following elections, and he noted some Councilmembers opted into
the retirement system plan. Mr. Calhoun went over the figures for supplies and said that other services
remain unchanged with the largest appropriations going to our state and federal lobbyist services; said
memberships include our memberships to the Association of Washington Cities(AWC)and to the National
League of Cities(NLC).Concerning broadcasting,Mr. Calhoun said he is hopeful we will have the Twisted
Pair back in the near future recording our Council meetings.
Tab 2: City Manager—Mark Calhoun.
Mr. Calhoun noted this department shows an overall increase of about 3.5% with the nonpayroll increase
coming in just under 7%; said the FTEs remain the same as the 2021 budget which increased our FTE with
our new homeless coordinator position; that the nonpayroll figures include an increase in software license
by about$5,000 as a result of the public record software Gov QA,which is the latest in professional services
for handling public record requests; and he briefly went over other services and charges.
Tab 3: City Attorney—Cary Driskell
City Attorney Driskell explained that his department is mostly status quo from the last few years with three
attorneys,one of which is dedicated to code enforcement; said the nonpayroll increase is about 1%, and the
largest nonpayroll amount is for when we use outside counsel for specialty items like the Shoreline
Management, Growth Management, or litigation as those are very time consuming.
Tab 4: Public Safety-Morgan Koudelka, Chief Dave Ellis
Senior Administrative Analyst Koudelka started out by explaining that all those zeroes shown under non-
.
department are pass-throughs; said the wages and payroll are associated with maintenance services
associated with the Precinct building; that the supplies mostly deal with the $25,000 for the JAG grant,
adding that we just received notification in the last few days that this year's JAG grant will be closer to
$30,000; he noted in the other categories some changes were made as a result of better cost calculations.
He mentioned the Municipal Court which operates out of our Precinct Building; said that the $200,000
contingency is included as our budget cycle is early compared with that of the County; said we won't know
the cost on a lot of these public safety contracts for a while.Mr.Koudelka went over the intergovernmental
services including the District Court contract and that we pay by case types; said part of the reduction in
cases is a result of Covid; that looking at historical trends, 2012 was about $1.1 miIlion so that hadn't
changed very much in ten years; said that as Covid restrictions arc gradually lifted, we will see some odd
fluctuations in our usage levels, plus the Blake decision is Iimiting a lot of the drug possessions as felonies.
Mr. Koudelka also mentioned he met with staff from the Prosecutor's office, and for pretrial services, he
will be bringing Council an amendment in the future as more monitoring services have been included to
assist judges to help defendants appear for their court dates.For law enforcement,Mr. Koudelka noted that
the County added staff as a result of the McArthur grant, but with the end of that grant, our numbers will
increase as law enforcement drives our budget; said we budget for full staffing of about$24 million.
Police Chief Ellis explained that all officers are being and will be supplied with body cams as part of the
digital evidence management system which he said will begin rolling out this fall. Mr. Koudelka said we
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will see more of this later in supplemental requests for law enforcement. He also said that the Precinct has
some supplemental requests,that maintenance is now being handled by Mr. Bottelli and there will be some
coordinating with the Chief and Assistant Chief to develop a list of priorities for the precinct,some of which
will be discussed later this afternoon. He mentioned Detention Services as another large item; said staff
will track those large items and keep Council apprised.Mr. Koudelka noted we have a recently negotiated
Emergency Management Contract; said the Animal Control contract has about a 15% reduction from the
previous year and that staff is working with the County as operating costs are controlled by CPI(Consumer
Price Index),but the end result is,we will hold to the terms of our agreement as they are now; and he noted
that overall for public safety,there is a 4.4% increase.
There was some discussion about alternatives to jail; mention of our new Housing and Homeless
Coordinator who is very interested in having someone at the prosecutor's office assist us in providing better
outcomes for the homeless community; mention of working with law enforcement, and the suggestion of
coming back to Council in the future with additional feedback on alternatives to jail. Councilmember
Thompson asked what percentage of cases are prosecuted, and Chief Ellis said he would have to research
that information;he said Covid-19 interrupted a lot so he will have to look further back than 2020 in order
to get a better perspective. Mr. Koudelka said that an evaluation was done several years ago but only for
DUI and domestic violence, which is what the district court had requested; said these services were
expanded under the McArthur Grant but have now dropped back to basic services; but we might want to
examine the potential impact to other departments if we feel too many people arrested and charged are
released on their own recognizance.
Tab 5: Deputy City Manager -John Holman
Deputy City Manager Hallman explained that he is the only FTE in his department, and that as noted,there
has been very little change from the previous year, with a total budget increase of 3.73%
Tab 6:Finance & Information Technology- Chelsie Taylor
In reviewing the information under this tab, Finance Director Taylor explained that as we are now
recovering, some line items were put back in the budget which had been taken out previously due to Covid,
such as travel and training; and noted she is hopeful she will be able to send some staff to conferences so
that they can stay current with the standards.
Tab 7: General Government—Chelsie Taylor
Director Taylor noted the general government shows a reduction of 65%, which she explained is due to
many of the larger nonrecurring items in 2021 which were amended into the budget that year;she also noted
some of the increases on page 1, in particular that some new funds were added this year for a more detailed
IT budget;she mentioned the network hardware of$51,000 includes an update for a piece of hardware; said
the professional services miscellaneous is more of a contingency in case it is needed; that personal
computers are leased on a three-year cycle; and that the software license maintenance is mostly to keep
current the financial software annual subscriptions to such things as Laserfiche.
Tab 8:Human Resources—John Whitehead
Human Resources Manager Whitehead went over the spreadsheet for his department, noting that his
department includes just two FTEs, and that his total budget increase is 3.7%.
Tab 9: Community&Public Works—Building and Planning Jenny Nickerson, John Holman
Building Official Nickerson gave a brief overview'of some of the more significant increases in Building
and Planning,which include software licenses,registrations,and recording fees,which she said are mostly
covered by customers;there was some discussion about waiving credit card transaction fees during Covid,
and of the proposed amount based on trends, with comment from Finance Director Taylor that we expect
the figures to changes since we are now collecting that credit card fee.
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Tab 10: Community &Public Works—Engineering—Bill Helbjg
City Engineer Helbig explained about the 33 FTEs in engineering, broken out into several different funds
such as general, street, and stormwater;he went over larger increases and decreases for 2022 and noted the
6% total budget increase; mentioned the change in some wages as they are bringing the GIS position in
house, which still represents a significant decrease in what general engineering was paying for that, adding
that the County continues hosting some of our software; said the$100,000 increase in professional services
is associated with grant applications; said we will be spending about$15,000 to $50,000 in consultant fees
to help us pay for those;also noted the advertising increase as we maintain our own federal consultant roster
while MRSC (Municipal Research and Services Center) handles the roster for all the state projects, but
when federal funding is involved, there are certain requirements we must meet, including maintaining our
own federal consultant roster.
Mayor Wick called for a recess at 10:00 a.m.;the meeting reconvened at 10:10 a.m.
Tab 11: Community&Public Works—Economic Development—Mike Basinger
Mr. Basinger explained that economic development oversees long-range planning for such things as the
Shoreline Master Program, and Comp Plan Amendments; said the employee count is five FTEs, and they
will have the new position of GIS Specialist which accounts for that 6% increase in training and payroll.
Tab 12: City Hall Operations & Maintenance—John Bottelli
Mr. Bottelli said this is his first City Hall budget, but not much has changed this year; under Other Services
& Charges, he noted the largest is the janitorial services; and that overall the total budget increased 7%.
Tab 13: Parks &Recreation—John Bottelli
Mr. Bottelli started out by going to the item in the box shown on page 2 of the spreadsheet, which shows a
combined increase for recurring items for all divisions of 1.34%; page I of the spreadsheet shows wages
and payroll as well as supplies,and other services and charges for a total budget decrease of 1.24%. Moving
to the Maintenance division,Mr. Bottelli explained that the majority of costs are Senske maintenance tasks,
which includes maintenance on our section of the Centennial Trail with an annual contribution of$20,000;
miscellaneous services of$17,000 includes trying to make the restrooms more secure and safe for the
public; he noted the Recreation division shows an increase of almost 1%; the small tools and minor
equipment includes inflatable movie screens which were almost twice as expensive to rent compared to
purchasing. Mr. Bottelli said he is hopeful aquatics will all be back up next year, and mentioned that 80%
of this budget is for the YMCA which operates all the pools. Mr. Bottelli noted that the Senior Center is
operated by the Senior Citizens Association with .4 FTE to provide services to help. CenterPlace, Mr.
Bottelli noted,takes up about one-third of the overall budget; he briefly went over some of the supplies and
then the larger items in Other Services & Charges, for a total budget increase of.03%, and a combined
reduction of 2.3% in nonpayroll.
Tab#15: Street Operations & Maintenance Fund—Bill Helbig, John Holnnan
Helbig went over the different shaded areas shown on the spreadsheets for snowplows and bridges,and
explained that the street fund shows an overall increase although much of that is contracted maintenance;
he noted the removal of temporary employees due to a shortfall; said small tools and minor equipment for
traffic increased $15,000 due to replacing part of the ITS (intelligent transportation system) network every
two years, and said two switches will need to be replaced in 2022.For the bridge program, Mr. Helbig said
we are trying to track such things as dealing with graffiti; he mentioned contracted services and that next
year we are in line for another full scale of street network, with $105,000 for engineering and architect
services; he said the memberships and professional licenses mostly is due to SRTC; and that overall there
is about a 7% increase. Mr. Helbig went over some of the figures for snow operations, some of which are
changing to more accurately reflect what we typically spend; he also mentioned our aging snowplow fleet,
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which will be addressed again during the supplemental budget discussion; he noted we are no longer renting
snowplow equipment or hiring temporary personnel for sidewalks as sidewalk maintenance will be
contracted;concerning the street light replacement program,said we own the lights but they are maintained
by WSDOT and the lights will be replaced over the next three years with LEDs, so overall we will see a
decline in our electrical consumption.
Tab#16: Stormwater Fund—Bill Helbig
City Engineer Helbig went over the figures for the stormwater management fund and noted recurring
expenses are now starting to approach recurring revenues, so they are watching that closely; said they are
not hiring interns to help in the stormwater area; other services and charges will see a decrease as we move
the GIS in-house; said private stormwater maintenance has about fourteen separate contracts, with an
overall budget decrease by about 3%;he also noted they need to examine the stormwater rates as they have
not been increased since incorporation. Mr. Hohman mentioned that they are also researching new
technologies for stormwater treatment that wouldn't require the typical grassy swale.
Tab#14: Supplemental Budget Requests—Chelsie Taylor, Mark Calhoun
The following are the supplemental, estimated budget requests per department:
City Manager: Five-Year Cost: $120,000. Shelter Bed Year-round rental
Mr. Calhoun spoke of the steady rise in the homeless population, which issue has consumed substantial
employee time in the City Attorney's Office, Police Department, Code Enforcement, Parks & Recreation,
and City Administration; but that we are unable to enforce our camping on public property ordinance
because according to the case Marvin v Boise,shelter bed space must be available;said he is proposing two
beds for men, and two for women to be available continually as a means of assisting our homeless
population and ensuring our ability to enforce our ordinance concerning camping on public property.There
was some discussion about funding options such as through the Homeless Housing and Assistance Act
(HIIAA); and of resources for families such as Family Promise.
City Manager: Five-Year Cost: $732,352.New Position, Project Manager
Mr. Calhoun said current staffing levels find it exceptionally difficult to proactively address emerging
federal and/or state issues such as the 2020 CARES Act,and the 2021 ARPA(American Rescue Plan Act);
said this new individual would have to research and understand complex issues in a very short time period,
and be able to work with City staff on issues and programs that might be considered for future Council
policy input and implementation.
Public Safety: Five-Year Cost: $904,500. One Police Officer Dedicated to the Homeless Effort.
Mr. Calhoun explained that this would not be our FTE but would be added to the County contract.
Public Safety: Five-Year Cost: $4,021,902.Addition of Five Police Officers
Mr. Calhoun noted that none of this has been built into the 2022 budget and today is an opportunity to walk
Council through this for future consideration;he explained that he would like Council to consider these five
officers sometime in 2022 rather than now since there are currently ten vacancies in the Police Department,
and Spokane County will charge us for all vacant positions, both existing and additional, whether filled or
not;he said as the Police Department approaches having all ten current vacant positions filled,he will work
with Chief Ellis to begin discussion with Council on the prospect of adding five additional positions.
Building: Five-Year Cost: $710,677.New Position, Code Enforcement Supervisor
Deputy City Manager Hohman explained that this is the start of an on-going conversation, with more to
follow about what code enforcement areas does Council want to focus on in future meetings, to discuss
what might need to be amended; that once that is determined, he and legal will give options on how to
address those areas; said he feels this position is needed; that of the complaints we received over a year's
time,many deal with building codes and development;said our staff structure is a flat management structure
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so supervisors are working supervisors, and we are reaching a point now that the direct reports constitute a
lot of employees for each supervisor; said this is a complex area and takes time to work the details and
especially handle the more complex cases, in addition to having certain properties that demand so much
attention.
Concerning the Valley Precinct, attention was brought to page 3 of 34 showing the description of work
projects, priority level,year to be or was accomplished,justification, approximate expense, and status. Mr.
Calhoun said that there is a backlog of precinct items that need to be done and he wanted Council to have
a policy discussion for their vision on the rear section of the building,or perhaps have a separate discussion,
keeping in mind things as stormwater,the pole building, and for Council to think about what would adding
parking do to the ability to expand the precinct building. Council discussion included the suggestion of
doing as much work as possible at the same time; the need to prepare for expanding the building so the
precinct is functioning at its best, and whether there is enough land or do we need more to accommodate
the police force into the future.Mr.Koudelka said he attended a Sheriff's Office strategic planning meeting,
said there is not enough secured parking for their vehicles; that there is also needed space for impounded
vehicles;there are also zoning challenges and stormwater issues;which he said is why the immediate needs
rose to the top and to roll that into an evaluation of what we envision we might need on that lot someday;
said we have a court and while it is convenient, it is not absolutely necessary; so there are options to
consider, he said there are a lot of things to keep in mind and evaluate in order to protect the taxpayers and
keep in mind the police department needs.
Parks&Recreation: Five-Year Cost: $358,800 Security for Restrooms
Director Bottelli explained that some restrooms have locking mechanisms but some individuals have
discovered how to work around that;he said the estimated cost for all restrooms is$71,760 per year,but an
option would be to just have the security for problem areas,at an approximate annual cost of$38,640. Mr.
Calhoun said staff is working on the details but we prefer not to wait until 2022 and are investigating
whether we can fit it into the existing budget.Mr.Bottelli also mentioned the meeting he had with members
of SCOPE to see what they might be able to do and that they might be better for early morning inspection
instead of evening,and then get private security to do the closing, and again, said staff is exploring options.
Parks &Recreation: $12,000 CenterPlace, Repainting
Director Bottelli went over the figures shown on the capital outlay request for painting the ceiling of the
exterior entrance portico.
Parks &Recreation: $26,700 CenterPlace Recarpeting
Director Bottelli explained about the request for recarpeting the Senior Center card/activity room($5,000),
classroom 205 ($12,700), and the executive conference room ($9,000), with the highest priority being the
senior center to avoid a trip hazard, followed by room 205, then the executive conference room; total
estimated cost for all three rooms is $26,700.
Parks &Recreation: $30,000 Aquatics, Capital
Mr.Bottelli explained that evaluation and repair of plumbing systems and pool leaks are needed at the three
pools.
Parks &Recreation: $80,000 Parks Maintenance, Pond Liner Mirabeau Springs
Mr.Bottelli explained that the pond liner at Mirabeau Springs needs to be replaced as activation of the pond
in 2021 revealed a significant leak believed to be from a tree that fell into the pond during the winter 2020
windstorm; said the pond is losing approximately one foot of water weekly.
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Parks & Recreation: $15,000 Parks Maintenance,Public Access Parking Flora Road River Property
Mr. Bottelli explained that this is a request to develop basic public access parking at the Flora Road River
property.
Parks &Recreation:Parks Maintenance, Benches, garbage cans,etc.Appleway Trail
Mr. Bottelli explained that this is a request to install benches, garbage cans, etc., along the Appleway Trail;
and that costs are currently being investigated, adding that he will be coming back with further details on
this and the previous request.
At 12:00, Mayor Wick called for recess for lunch. The meeting reconvened at 12:35 p.m.
Community & Public Works, Estimated Cost: $253,856,000. New Positions, CAD Manager/Engineering
Technician III
City Engineer Helbig explained that the new position of CAD Manager/Engineering Technician III would
directly supervise the Engineering Technicians I and II positions; he noted that Engineer Manager Mantz
currently has eleven direct reports, and there are only two engineering techs in the office; said the second
position of Engineering Tech 11 would help with design of projects, adding that they had a temporary
engineering tech in the past who retired last year; he noted that 64% of the cost will be borne by the capital
projects themselves as they bill their time directly to the projects,whether to grants or otherwise; and 36%
would be billed toward the general engineering budget.
Mr. Hohman said we are attempting to contract with companies for inspection, but there are not many
inspection firms with available personnel,and said staff will continue looking at all options to keep up with
the workload. Mr. Hohman said that last year one position was moved to re-purpose to the homeless
coordinator, but that he is now asking to have that position back with a different level, adding that the
supervision would reduce the direct reports to the manager by three. There was discussion about the
workload and new funding packages coming from the federal and state level. Councilmember Woodard
said we know we will have more projects that will need engineering, so we need to be thinking about
already having someone in the system by the time we get hit with the next wave; said he'd like staff to
come back with an idea about maybe we need three this time,but we need relief now to work them into our
system so they are at their maximum by the time we get slammed again. Mr. Helbig further explained that
more time goes to the project then to general engineering,and that general engineering will take care of the
training.
Mr. Hohman added that staff is looking at the current workload; that this staff works very hard and hasn't
seen any downtime even with Covid;and that those who were working from home were doing so diligently;
said we don't have the funds today but once we do,we will need to re-visit what the needs are;he mentioned
that we almost need a full time project manager just for Barker; said many projects are complex, and we
will need to discuss the American Rescue Plan to determine how we can and can't use those funds. Mr.
Helbig said that until we know what is really coming, staff is not ready to propose additional staff. City
Manager Calhoun said we could be back with a mid-year conversation.
Facilities: $415,000 Generator for CenterPlace; $100,000 Generator for City Shop
City Manager Calhoun said that we have discussed previously about adding generators to our other
buildings, CenterPlace and the shop; he added that if there was ever a need for an evacuation point,
CenterPlace would be a good place; and added that he feels strongly about the shop's generator as given
many emergencies require street maintenance as a necessary service, so making sure the building can
operate at full capacity is imperative. Mr. Helbig added that we hired an engineering firm to help with the
engineering design, but at CenterPlace, we'd cover the building to full capacity, which is less expensive
then to do it partially, and said that the shop doesn't have a large power draw. Mr. Helbig stated that the
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generator at CenterPlace would be twice as big as City Hall given the building's power load.
Deputy Mayor Peetz mentioned she believes the Fairgrounds is part of a regional evacuation plan,and Mr.
Calhoun said that perhaps that would be a good advance agenda topic that we could include the assistance
of Chief Ellis. Councilmember Woodard said that even if the Fairgrounds is part of an evacuation site, one
site wouldn't be able to handle everything.
Community and Public Works, Vehicle Replacements
City Engineer Helbig explained about the following vehicle replacements: replacing the 2003 Dodge
Caravan,which is one of our oldest vehicles(cost$47,500);replacing the 2006 Dodge Dakota with 106,000
miles(cost$47,500);replacing the 2013 Ford Escape with 139,500 miles with the purchase of a new pickup
($47,500); and to add a new Ford F-550 needed for emergency wind damage removal, additional roadway
maintenance, and as a backup liquid deicer vehicle ($86,500); and to replace snowplow #206, which we
acquired in 2009 ($250,000). A question arose about having any of the vehicles surplussed and staff said
they will provide that answer for the August report. Councilmember Woodard mentioned that he is in full
support especially of the snowplow. Mr. Calhoun brought attention back to page 1 of 34 near the bottom of
the page, with a total general fund recurring expense of $938,400 and $1.6 nonrecurring, of which $1
million would be that piece of financial software to replace the current Eden system;he also noted back on
page 2 of 8 in the front of the book, that recurring revenues exceed recurring expenditures by$4.5 million
and that we could afford to do that at this point, and said we will do our best to refine the revenues and
expenditures when we talk about the budget to Council again; and said that our budget ordinance is
scheduled for final adoption November 9.
Tab 17: General Fund—Fund Balance—Chelsie Taylor
Finance Director Chelsie went over the highlights of the Memorandum explaining about the fund balance,
or reserves,how that is calculated,the minimum reserves required to meet the needs,and that it is necessary
for cash flow purposes; she also explained the capital construction projects and the capital projects reserve,
our history of how we manage the fund balance when it exceeds 50%, and mentioned our Aa2 rating from
Moody's Investors Service, which rating is slightly stronger than the median rating of Aa3 for cities
nationwide.
Tab 18: Potential &Pending Capital Projects—Mark Calhoun, Chelsie Taylor
Finance Director Taylor brought attention to and briefly discussed the spreadsheet showing the
Pending/Potential Projects Worksheet and noted that figures in blue have changed since Council last saw
this. Director Taylor noted that staff will return with follow-up reports on the 2022 budget development
progress and will seek consensus from Council on how Capital Reserve Fund #312 reserves should be
allocated. There was some discussion about the priority of finishing Balfour Park, and a question from
Deputy Mayor Peetz about whether the$750,000 can be used for the design of the fairgrounds.Mr. Calhoun
said that our lobbyist Briahna Murray's preliminary answer to that question is we can likely spend 10%
toward design, or could use all toward a distinct portion of the entire project; and Mr. Calhoun said once
we learn more we will come to Council and said it might be a while before we see a contract on the
Fairgrounds building, perhaps not until the fall. Other project suggestions included the Sullivan/Trent
interchange; Valley Partners outgrown current building space; radar speed trailer; railroad crossings and
major intersections; our Master park plan and the River Loop Trail.Mr. Calhoun said when we come back
next time on this topic, we will provide a list and let Council know how much money is available, and
Council can collectively give staff views on funding. Ms. Taylor said that will likely occur sometime in
August.
Tab 19: Fiscal Policies—Mark Calhoun
City Manager Calhoun went over the fiscal policies including financial management and objectives, and
noted that we built these into our budget.
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Tab #20: Council Goals Mark Calhoun
Mr. Calhoun explained that many of these goals carry over for many years and these specifically were
adopted back in 2020; he went over the 2021 Council goals, with the following suggestions from Council:
to add in the Spokane Valley River Loop Trail in goal#7; add in a goal addressing electrification much like
was done with an STA grant;Councilmember Thompson suggested since the community has been impacted
by the pandemic,to have a new goal to "actively partner with local, state and national partners to support
the economic, and community recovery from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic." Mayor Wick suggested
Covid-19 could be worked in an expanded version of goal#4, and Councilmember Thompson agreed.
Tab#21: Advance Agenda
Deputy Mayor Peetz said she would like more information on prosecutor services;mentioned a presentation
that was given a few years ago about options like having a prosecutor in-house, and alternatives to jail.
There was Council consensus to have staff bring back the previous report for further discussion.
It was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 2:19 p.m.
Ui
AT S . Ben Wick, Mayor
� L 17tuj11 .
Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
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