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2022, 12-20 Study Session MINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Study Session Meeting Tuesday, December 20, 2022 Mayor Haley called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. The meeting was held in person by Council and staff in Council Chambers, and also remotely via Zoom meeting. Attendance: CounciImembers Staff Pam Haley,Mayor John Holman, City Manager Tom Hattenburg, Councilmember Erik Lamb,Deputy City Manager Brandi Peetz, Councilmember Cary Driskell, City Attorney Laura Padden, Councilmember Tony Beattie, Deputy City Attorney Ben Wick, Councilmember Chelsie Taylor,Finance Director Arne Woodard,Councilmember John Bottelli, Parks &Rec Director Bill Helbig, Community&Public Works Dir. Absent: Caitlin Prunty,Deputy City attorney Rod Higgins, Deputy Mayor Chris Johnston, Code Enforcement Officer Tim Wirun, Code Enforcement Officer Jenny Nickerson,Building Official Mike Basinger, Econ. Development Director Gloria Mantz, City Engineer Henry Allen, Senior Engineer Emily Estes-Cross, Public Information Officer John Whitehead, Human Resources Director Dave Ellis,Police Chief Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called roll; all Councilmembers were present except Deputy Mayor Higgins. It was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agree to excuse Deputy Mayor Higgins from tonight's meeting. APPROVAL OF AMENDED AGENDA: It was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the amended agenda. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY:After explaining the process,Mayor Haley invited public comment. Mr. John Harding, Spokane Valley: said he thinks the one opportunity for giving public comment should come after the items instead of before; concerning the legislative agenda, said he hasn't heard anyone pushing back on gubernatorial mandates and thinks they are unconstitutional. Mr. Dan Allison, Spokane Valley: wished everyone a merry Christmas. There were no other public comments. ACTION ITEMS: 1. CONSENT AGENDA: consists of items considered routine which are approved as a group. Any member of Council may ask that an item be removed from the Consent Agenda to be considered separately. Proposed Motion:I move to approve the Consent Agenda. a. Approval of claim vouchers on Dec 20, 2022 Request for Council Action Form Total: $2,331,646.67 b. Approval of December 6,2022 Council Meeting Minutes, Special Meeting c. Approval of December 6, 2022 Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session It was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the Consent agenda. Council Meeting Minutes,Study Session: 12-20-22 Page 1 of 5 Approved by Council: 01-10-23 1 A. Motion Consideration: Adjusting Employee Compensation and Amending City Employee Pay Matrix It was moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to authorize the City Manager to provide a 3% compensation increase to regular employees of the City and to increase the pay grades of City positions by an additional 2% to allow for increases based upon performance; both changes to become effective on January 1, 2023, and to amend the City's pay matrix accordingly. Human Resources Manager Whitehead explained that there is a periodic review of compensation of employees and that inflation in 2022 has ranged from 7% to 9% which has had the effect of reducing the value of employee compensation; said the City competes with other employers and many of those provide significant increases to their employee compensation, which impacts our ability to keep high performing employees. Councilmember Padden asked if this is limited to one year. It was then moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to amend the motion to include the words for the year 2023 only' at the end of the motion. Mayor Haley invited public comment; no comments were offered. Councilmember Woodard said this proposed action is in recognition of talent recruited and to recruit for open positions or positions that become open; and that this is a thank-you from him. Mayor Haley added that this is more of an appreciation for all staff does. Vote by acclamation to amend the motion: in favor: unanimous; opposed: none. Motion carried. Vote by acclamation to approve the fully amended motion: in favor: unanimous; opposed: none. Motion carried. 2.Approval of Claim Voucher to HUB Sports Center—Chelsie Taylor Councilmember Wick announced that he is recusing himself from this item and he left the room. It was then moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to approve Claim Voucher #58581 to HUB Sports Center in the amount of$13,165.34. Finance Director Taylor explained that this claim voucher was removed from the claim voucher list in order to be discussed separately; that this is a Iodging tax grant reimbursement payment to the HUB Sports Center that includes two expenses for Wick Enterprizes totaling $1,000. Mayor Haley invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation: in favor: unanimous; opposed: none. Motion carried. Councilmember Wick returned to the meeting. 3. Motion Consideration: Sullivan/Trent Interchange Gloria Mantz It was moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to advance Alternative #2-Diamond Interchange with Roundabout to final design. City Engineer Mantz went over the background of the project; she stated that the $42 million estimate was done just a couple of months ago, and that the design phase should take about two years, which includes right-of-way negotiations. Mayor Haley invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation: in favor: unanimous; opposed: none. Motion carried. 4.Motion Consideration: Amended State Legislative Agenda—Erik Lamb, John Hallman It was moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to approve the amended 2023 State Legislative Agenda. Mr.Lamb explained that as previously noted,the changes include removing the Pines GSP Project, adding a more complete description of the Greenacres Phase 2 project, adding the first policy statement on public safety to the first page;and that a header was added to page two to indicate the continuation of policy statements. Mayor Haley invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation: in favor: unanimous; opposed.' none. Motion carried. 5. Motion Consideration: Federal Legislative Agenda;Erik Lamb, John Hohman It was moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to approve the proposed 2023 Federal Legislative Agenda as presented. Mr. Lamb stated that the agenda includes three primary funding requests and three policy statements as shown on page one; he also noted the three, one-page sheets attached to the agenda, which further explains funding requests.Mayor Haley invited public comments;no comments were offered. There was discussion about the verbiage. Councilmember Padden expressed her concern about the bipartisan infrastructure law; she stated that our federal delegation was split on that and she suggested removing the actual direct references to that in the first part; she said that the funding for that is very fluid and a lot of that has not been appropriated; she suggested that we just keep it that we are in favor of federal Council Meeting Minutes,Study Session: 12-20-22 Page 2 of 5 Approved by Council: 01-10-23 funding of infrastructure,then they can do as they wish on the various bills. Mr.Lamb explained that it was his understanding for keeping that, is precisely for the reasons Councilmember Padden just voiced in terms of some of the uncertainty on the funding,that was the reason for putting that in there in terms of continuing that identified funding; he said the point was this was identified funding opportunities for the city and because of the potential benefits for us and the use of funds, the reason for including it and identifying it was to be able to speak to our delegation to let them know we will be able to use these funds and they should be kept at this level, and that would be true for any new members as well as working with our delegation even though they may have been split on this particular bill. Mr. Hohman said that an infrastructure bill is one of those items that has been a long-term goal of Congress which they passed and that they have established a lot of programs; one that we were a recipient of was a very significant award of the Pines GSP project; he stated that one of the reasons this was included in the agenda was to protect that funding; he said it has been appropriated but one never knows and we want to make sure that award is protected; he also mentioned that another item to think about is that we have a whole host of projects that could use this infrastructure law; said he understands the concern about being more general; said he just had a conversation with the Representative's representative about that and the guidance was, is that they are aware of what's included in our agenda, and that we don't want to lose the ability to continue to fight for the projects we have here. It was moved by Councilmember Woodard and seconded to amend the motion by changing the title for that section that Continued funding for the IIJA BIL Programs—make that the title of that section, and within that section, remove 'at the authorized levels' in sentence one. Mayor Haley invited public comments; no comments were offered. Mayor Haley commented that although our Congresswoman did vote against the bill,once it became law she became our cheerleader with Senator Patty Murray;that they both worked very hard to get us that money;that she wants to make sure Council honors what they did for us and that it was successful. Vote by the acclamation on the amended: in favor: Mayor Haley, Councilmember Woodard, and Councilmember Padden; opposed: Councilmembers Peetz, Hattenburg, and Wick; the motion failed. Vote by acclamation on the original motion to approve the proposed 2023 Federal Legislative Agenda as presented: in favor: unanimous; opposed.' none. Motion carried. NON-ACTION ITEMS: 6.Neighborhood Restoration—Bill Helbig,Henry Allen Mr. Allen gave a recap of the Neighborhood Restoration Program, which he explained was an opportunity to provide neighborhood clean-up events around the City.Mr.Allen further explained that although Council was in favor of having such an event,unfortunately,for various reasons,it never came to fruition.Mr.Allen also mentioned that should we have such an event,we need to have realistic expectations; he said that all jurisdictions he contacted held annual events but there are underlying problems sometimes associated with cleanup events such as persistent personal issues or mental health issues. Mr. Allen also stated that those other jurisdictions also suggested things that would help neighborhoods such as putting in sidewalks, or planting street trees; and he said that staff is looking to hear Council's thoughts about re-starting the neighborhood restoration program. Discussion included the need for the appropriate location, who would oversee the event, and what funds would be used. Mr. Helbig said funding would be the solid waste fund,the admin fund not the roads fund, so it would come out of fund 106. Finance Director Taylor added that the solid waste fees are part administration and part roadwear fee and they are accounted for separately,with Mr.Helbig explaining that Sunshine was chosen as we have a contract with them for that service. Mr. Allen stated in looking for the appropriate location, that staff looked at the lower income areas and the Edgecliff area qualified, and that if we were to re-start this program, that would be a reasonable place to start. Mr. Hohman said the issue of mandatory pickup plays into this as well. Mr. Allen said of the five municipalities he contacted, four had mandatory collection and the cost is built into their solid waste fees. Mr. Lamb added that Waste Management was part of the initial discussions but they didn't want to provide dumpsters at that level; he Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 12-20-22 Page 3 of 5 Approved by Council: 01-10-23 added that Waste Management does provide curbside pickup of big bulky items; that we collect$125,000 directly from Sunshine and using the fee from them is the fairest way to use that to distribute throughout the community; that Waste Management doesn't have pickup from all areas of the community so we don't want to subsidize the cost. Councilmember Wick stated likely most people won't use it to fix a problem and Mr. Allen agreed that there are those who do not want their material removed but the purpose of a pilot program is to find out what happens. City Manager Holtman told Council staff is not advocating for a pilot project,just seeing if Council wants to potentially do this. Councilmember Hattenburg added that something Iike this could also give an opportunity to help people be aware of some of the nonprofits we have who could help. Councilmember Wick noted there would need to be an education process so people would not continue to drop off materials after the event ends. Mr.Allen agreed that such location would need to be monitored for a while afterwards to let people know the collection event is over. Mr. Lamb said another idea is to open the transfer station for a week or two and encourage people to get tickets to take their materials to the station; that our Code Enforcement process is set up to require those responsible to pay and not have neighborhoods subsidize people getting rid of materials,keeping in mind there will always be special circumstances as well as those individuals who would not be willing to clean up their area. Further discussion included mention that previously it was brought up about having Union Gospel Mission tow cars, and of handling graffiti; said she isn't sure how the current conversation moved from restoration to garbage although garbage would be a piece of it; she also noted there are people who don't have the funds to dump tires. Councilmember Woodard said that just because such an event could fail doesn't mean we shouldn't do something as a key to this issue is to help those who might become a code enforcement issue in the future. Councilmember Wick brought up the idea of having an event associated with the City's 20th Anniversary and maybe do a big cleanup in the spring and allow residents to take loads to the transfer station.Mr. Hohman said this has been a good discussion with lots of different ideas for staff to sort through and bring Council options at a future meeting. Council agreed. 7. Code Enforcement 2022 Highlights---Bill Helbig et al Mr. Helbig introduced Building Official Jenny Nickerson, Deputy City Attorney Caitlin Prunty, Code Enforcement Officers Chris Johnston and Tim Wirun. Mr. Helbig, Ms. Nickerson, and Ms. Prunty then went through the PowerPoint presentation of the 2022 code enforcement highlights,which included several abatements. Council thanked the team for their diligence on these projects. 8.Fire Department Monthly Report—Chief Soto Chief Soto went through his PowerPoint presentation discussing the Department's response numbers for November. 9. Advance Agenda—Mayor Haley There were no suggested changes to the Advance agenda. I0. Department Reports The Department reports were for information only and were not reported or discussed. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Woodard distributed some information about Wreaths Across America. Mayor Haley said that she was invited to Sheriff's Knezovich' s retirement party,where she had the opportunity to thank him for all he did for us and wish him well. Council Meeting Minutes,Study Session: 12-20-22 Page 4 of 5 Approved by Council: 01-10-23 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Mr. Hohman mentioned that as per our policy, there will be a third residential city plow; said the appropriations bill is still moving through the federal process;we have two earmarks: one for Pines and one for Sullivan/Trent Interchange; he also introduced our new PIO Emily Estes-Cross fi•om the City of Kennewick.And finally,Mr. I-lohman reported that Council held 54 meetings this year with about 98 hours of meetings and he commended Council for their tremendous amount of work EXECUTIVE SESSION: It was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn into executive session for approximately 45 minutes to discuss pending/potential litigation, and that no action will be taken upon return to open session. Council adjourned into executive session at 7:56 p.m. At 8:44 p.m. Mayor Haley declared Council out of executive session, at which time it was moved by Councilmember Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. ATTE ciziX Pam Haley,Mayor istine Bainbridge, City Clerk Council Meeting Minutes,Study Session: 12-20-22 Page 5 of 5 Approved by Council: 01-10-23 Chris Bainbridge From: AOL Mail® <Ilydeemer@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 3:28 PM To: Council Meeting Public Comment Subject: SPRAGUE AVENUE STORMWATER/ LANE REDUCTIONS PROPOSAL [EXTERNAL] This email originated outside the City of Spokane Valley.Always use caution when opening attachments or clicking links. Meeting Date : December 20, 2022 Larry Deemer Spokane Valley 99212 Council Members and Engineering Staffs : My request is that you reconsider your inclination to proceed with the proposal to convert two lanes to swales and catch basins. In summary : public works, and especially ones that involve deconstructing existing and paid-for infrastructures, should be NECESSARY EFFECTIVE w/o BETTER ALTERNATIVES EVIDENCE BASED As to NECESSITY: * Adding swales and catch basins to existing drywells in any single section of road in the valley will not protect the aquifer unless it is part of a plan that cover most of the roadways. Most of our roadways do not have the extra space for these additions. 1 * Swales / catch basins add another PASSIVE process to existing drywells and do not constitute an active TREATM ENT. * No street flooding or other stormwater problem exists in this section of Sprague that is not handled by the existing dry wells. * Non-stormwater issues (speeding, emergency vehicle access, pedestrian safety) have more direct, better, and cheaper alternatives. * Not a priority. Other arterial roadbeds have OVER five lanes. * Five lanes is not excessive or dangerous under engineering standards; but rather ideal : 2 turn lanes, 1 bus lane, & 3 through lanes. As to EFFCTIVENESS : * Swales and catchbasins, like drywells, do not TREAT stormwater but retain sediments (sand and leaf litter ) and slow down the filtration of water and any pollutants (like ice melt chemicals) through the depth of the soil above the aquifer. * Swales add to the pollution load through the fertilizers used to maintain the grass cover. * Swales draw down the aquifer by the irrigation (usually excessive and poorly timed ) used to maintain the grass. As to BETTER ALTERNATIVES : * Aquifer Protection : Facilities that actually TREAT specific pollutants; prioritize, identify, remedy, prevent the real major pollution sources (industrial and commercial) ; cover open aquifer sites. 2 * Speeders : synchronize the traffic lights and inform the public of the "green wave" speeds; identify speeding zones / times /drivers and install traffic cameras; increase police visibility/presence. * Pedestrian Safety : Traffic light and crosswalk at an intersection ; Wheelchair-accommodating-island in the crosswalk; bus stop beyond the intersection/crosswalk. * First Responder Safety : Using remote control of traffic light at University; Flashable caution lights across Sprague and yield reminder signs; flagger personnel accompanying egress of emergency vehicles. * Generous service level, comfort, safety of drivers/passengers : Wait a few years of typical Valley growth . As to the EVIDENCE : * Peak traffic count: is not captured by the recent summer/fall special studies. Peak traffic occurs at times between Halloween and Easter. * Cause of Speeding : The occurrence of speeding in this stretch of Sprague is not evidence that the speeding is caused by the availability of 5 lanes. Speeding may be a behavioral pattern of certain drivers and may be observed elsewhere, even on two lanes . * Control of Speeding : Is creating congestion the appropriate way to regulate speeding? * STA Crosswalk : Sprague Avenue is one of the heaviest used routes in STATs entire system ; the stops after University and before Farr, however, are among the least used in the entire system . 3 * Real Issues : Actual pedestrian and traffic issues/needs will not be observable until after the library and park have been operational . * Priority : Other 5-lane (even 7 lane) stretches exist in the Valley; Proposed solutions are not applicable/feasible to most Valley roads; current statistics suggest continued accelerated growth and the need for accommodating proportional increases in traffic rather than creating a bottleneck. * Increased Risk to first Responders : Is crossing 5 lanes of one-way traffic more dangerous than crossing 2 lanes of two-way traffic? And finally, still UNRESOLVED : * WHY? : This stretch? Now? Using Covid funds? WHY? Thanks in advance for your consideration . L. D . 4 CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY Request for Council Action Meeting Date: December 20, 2022 Department Director Approval: ❑ Check all that apply: ❑ consent ❑ old business 11 new business ❑ public hearing ❑ information ❑ admin. report ❑ pending legislation AGENDA ITEM TITLE: Motion Consideration adjusting employee compensation and amending the City Employee Pay Matrix BACKGROUND: City staff and Council periodically review the compensation of employees and make changes as necessary. Inflation in 2022 has ranged from 7% to 9% which has had the effect of reducing the value of employee compensation. The City competes with other employers to retain and recruit qualified employees. Many of those employers are providing significant increases tc employee compensation which impacts our ability to keep high performing employees who are critical to providing City services. OPTIONS: Authorize the City Manager to provide a 3% compensation increase to City employees and increase pay grades by an additional 2%, effective January 1, 2023; or provide additional direction to staff. RECOMMENDED ACTION OR MOTION: I move to authorize the City Manager to provide a 3% compensation increase to Regular employees of the City and to increase the pay grades of City positions by an additional 2% to allow for increases based upon performance. Both changes to become effective on January 1, 2023; and to amend the City's pay matrix accordingly.-.., BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACTS: As determined by a future budget amendment. STAFF CONTACT: John Whitehead, HR Manager ATTACHMENTS: None