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2012, 04-24 Regular Meeting Minutes MINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Regular Meetings Formal Meeting Format Tuesday,April 24,2012 Mayor Towey called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Attendance: City Staff: Tom Towey,Mayor Mike Jackson, City Manager Gary Schimmels,Deputy Mayor Cary Driskell, City Attorney Dean Grafos, Councilmember Steve Worley, Senior Engineer Brenda Grassel,Councilmember Mark Calhoun,Finance Director Chuck Hafner, Councilmember John Hohman, Community Dev. Director Arne Woodard, Councilmember Mike Stone,Parks&Recreation Director Scott Kuhta,Planning Manager ABSENT: Lori Barlow, Senior Planner Ben Wick, Couneilmember Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk INVOCATION: Pastor Gary Hebden of the Intersection Church, gave the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Towey led the Pledge of Allegiance ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present except Councilmember Wick, It was moved by Councilmember Grafos, seconded and unanimously agreed to excuse Councilmember Wickfrom tonight's meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the agenda. INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS AND PRESENTATIONS:. COMMITTEE,BOARD,LIAISON SUMMARY REPORTS: Councilmember Woodard: reported that he attended a city forum meeting downtown on teenage homelessness and of how to assist high school students who are homeless; he participated in our joint City meeting with the City of Spokane Council and Mayor; and went to the Spokane Valley Planning Commission meeting and listened to testimony regarding shoreline management. Councilmember Grafos: reported he attended the GMA (Growth Management Act) Steering Committee concerning the update of the UGA (Urban Growth Area), which is required every tell years, and that they went through all the properties and will have another meeting in about another week; went to our Mayor's State of the City address, and participated in our joint City meeting with the City of Spokane Council and Mayor. Deputy Mayor Schimmels: said he attended the Mayor's State of the City address; said it was a good meeting with the Spokane City Council; and that the continues attending solid waste meetings every couple of weeks. Councilmember Grassel: reported that she participated in the Joint Meeting with the City of Spokane;that she also attended the Mayor's State of the City address and said the final presentation will be tomorrow at 12:30 at the Spokane Valley Mall; attended a meeting with the Sports Commission concerning sports facilities and of the possibility of building a future multi-use sports facility, said they discussed identifying about eight possible locations, and they have been asked to come back next month with possible locations in Spokane Valley. Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 1 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012 Councilmember Hafner: said he went to the GMA review where they heard testimony from those desiring to be in or out of the UGA, and said the Board of County Commissioners makes the final decision, and said the Technical Planning Committee also had recommendations as did the City of Spokane and the County Planning Committee; concerning the homeless, said he spoke with the Principal of Central Valley and learned they have forty-five homeless students; attended the Joint Meeting with the City of Spokane; went to the STA (Spokane Transit Authority) meeting where they discussed seeking funds to do a study on Division and of asking for US Funds to improve how they transport people on Division, which would be a model for other areas in the county; and said he went to the Alpha Delta Kappa International Honorary Teachers presentation,where he was asked to give a welcome speech. MAYOR'S REPORT: Mayor Towey said the two councils had a good meeting when they met jointly April 19, and said we will be working on those issues in the future; went to the Chamber business connections meeting honoring the military; and in connection with weeklong events last Saturday read a proclamation in downtown Spokane honoring Japan Week. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mayor Towey invited public comments;no comments were offered. 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. a,Approval of the following claim vouchers: VOUCHER LIST DATE VOUCHER NUMBERS; TOTAL AMOUNT 03-30-2012 25602-25624; 330120028 $1,380,768.92 04-05-2012 3884-3887;3898;25625-25630 $260,814.18 04-06-2012 25631-25661 $68,117.30 04-11-2012 25662-25701; 405120017 $447,905.83 04-13-2012 25702-25720 $35,789.68 04-13-2012 25721-25770 $164,561.88 04-18-2012 3899-3902 $57,451.57 GRAND TOTAL $2,415,409.36 b.Approval of Payroll for period ending April 15: $263,056.23 c.Approval of Minutes of April 10,2012 Council Formal Format Meeting It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schinnnels, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the consent agenda. NEW BUSINESS: 2, Second Reading Ordinance 12-013 Sign Code Amendments—Lori Barlow After City Clerk Bainbridge read the ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded to approve Ordinance 12-013 amending Spokane Valley Municipal Code 22.110 sign regulations. Community Development Director Hohman explained that relative to Councilmember Grafos' previous statements about comments from ProSigns, that staff has analyzed that proposed change and it appears it would be more restrictive than our current code, and said therefore,that is not included at this time; he said there was a lot of previous discussion about free-standing signs and spacing and those recommendations are included in this ordinance, as well as changes to the temporary sign regulations. Director Hohman said Ms. Barlow will show examples of those proposals and if there are minor suggested changes from Council, that can be done, or if Council wants to look at other suggestions like the monument sign height, it can be referred back to the Planning Commission, or council could hold a public hearing, adding that it would take a while to schedule; and said if Council is comfortable with this ordinance, it can move forward tonight and other suggested changes can be addressed later. Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 2 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012 Senior Planner Barlow highlighted the intent of the changes and explained about ProSigns' last additional suggestions;and said if Council wants to make any substantial changes,those must be referred back to the Planning Commission; and she reiterated Council's options as explained previously by Mr. Hohman. Councilmember Grafos asked about the possibility of having the temporary permit last for sixty days instead of thirty and it was determined such a change would not require further review by the Planning Commission. After Ms. Barlow went through her PowerPoint presentation, Mayor Towey invited public comment. Steve Wineinger of ProSigns, 10021 E. Knox: said he believes the current draft ordinance looks good; that the intent concerning the monument signs was not to eliminate them but to keep them on arterials; and he spoke of perhaps having the increased permitted height of 8.5' be addressed by the Planning Commission. There were no further public comments. After brief discussion, it was moved by Councilmember Grafos and seconded, to amend the motion to change the temporary permit from thirty days to sixty days. Mayor Towey invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation on amending the motion: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. Vote by acclamation on the amended motion to approve Ordinance 12-013 amending Spokane Valley Municipal Code 22.110, Sign Regulations, and to change the allowed permit time on temporary signs from thirty days maximum of two times a year, to sixty days maximum of two times a year. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. Councilmember Grassel said she also wants to pursue those other changes mentioned previously, after further review by the Planning Commission. 3.Mayoral Appointments: Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee--Mayor Towey Mayor Towey said it was a difficult decision to choose among nineteen applications; and said he hopes those not chosen will avail themselves to this committee as a resource. Mayor Towey recommended the following individuals for the committee: Councilmembers Grassel and Wick; Keith Backsen, Julie Cohen, and Robin Toth representing tourism; John Miller, Wayne Frost and John Gaurisco representing businesses; and Ben Small and Grant Person as citizens as large. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded that Council confirm the following Mayoral appointments to the Economic Development ad Hoc Committee, with an approximate time frame of four months from date of appointment: Councilmembers Grassel and Wick; Keith Backsen, Julie Cohen, and Robin Toth representing tourism; John Miller, Wayne Frost and John Gaurisco representing businesses; and Ben Small and Grant Person as citizens at large. Mayor Towey invited public comment; no comments were offered. After discussion on the motion, it was moved by Councilmember Grassel and seconded to amend the motion to include Erin Gurtel to represent tourism, and to move Robin Toth from tourism to citizen-at-large thus increasing the committee by one more person. Vote by acclamation to amend the motion: In Favor: Mayor Towey, and Councilmembers Haf tier, Grassel, Grafos, Wick and Woodard. Opposed: Deputy Mayor Schimmels. Motion carried. Vote by acclamation on the amended motion that Council confirm rm the following Mayoral Appointments to the Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee, with an approximate time frame offour months from date of appointment: Councilmembers Grassel and Wick Representing business:John Miller, Wayne Frost and John Gaurisco Representing Tourism:Keith Backsen, Julie Cohen, and Erin Gurtel Citizens at large:Ben Small, Grant Person, and Robin Toth. In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. Councilmember Hafner said in reference to a youth representative, he spoke with all four high school principals and said they will select a junior from each school, and upon that selection,those four could meet with Mr. Hohman to decide on who should be on the committee, or if all four should be on the committee with perhaps one representative reporting back. Mayor Towey said once we have names,that the process will need to be brought back to council for confirmation on the appointment. Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 3 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012 PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mayor Towey invited public comment. Mr. Joe McGrath, 9320 E. Montgomery, said he recently attended a dinner associated homeless teens, and he was impressed with how the kids who have turned their lives around. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS: 4.Legislative Update—Mike Jackson,Briahna Taylor Ms.Briahna Taylor with Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs,thanked council and staff for their assistance during the legislative session, and she encouraged everyone to read her full report; but explained that in the interest of time, she will give the highlights, and Ms. Taylor gave the following report: The main concern was the efforts for the Sullivan Road Bridge, SEPA reform, and revenue cuts. There was a short legislative session of sixty days, book-ended by special sessions,with one starting November 2011 and concluding in December in time for the regular session. The first special session passed a$400 million cost savings bill that made savings to the operating budget, leaving a $1 billion deficit. After the sixty days, they went into a thirty-day subsequent session, but couldn't complete the work and needed an extra day, which is now concluded. After a long trek, they passed an operating budget that fully funded education, a package of reform bills, and a$1.1 billion Jobs Package. This council's top legislative agenda item was protecting state shared revenues. In November, the Governor put out a proposal that would cut state shared revenues; if that had happened, we would have lost about $1.78 million. We started actively lobbying opposition to those cuts and on the last day of the last special session, HB 2823 was passed, which made changes to two different revenue sources: liquor profit and liquor tax. The tax generated as an additional tax and profit are the licenses, fees, permits and penalties, and the other revenue-generated revenues via liquor. This resulted in short term and long term changes. Short term, all the taxes were cut for 2013 fiscal year, about$477,000 to this city which will be split between two years. Profit revenues went up$10 million statewide plus the $166,000 positive impact meant an overall fiscal year cut of$311,000, spread out over two budget years. Long term,two cuts were made: a permanent reduction in liquor excise taxes moving forward in 2014 fiscal year, which reduced revenues by $166,000; in opposition to Initiative 1183, which granted the additional $10 million, so it counteracts the above and we will get no more than what we got in 2011 in liquor profit revenues. In future years,that is a cut as that revenue source grows in population,there will be an increasingly smaller percentage of what we get from the State. There are actions we can take to address the permanent changes on the $10 million as the Governor has not signed the bill into law yet, but is set to do so next Wednesday. The Association of Washington Cities sent a letter to address those permanent reductions. City Manager Jackson said we have a draft letter to ask the Governor to veto that section of the law dealing with the permanent cuts to local governments, and he asked council to take a few minutes to read the draft letter. A question of why not request a veto of the entire bill was posed to Ms. Taylor, and she explained that it would undo the budget they just enacted, that there is no feasibility in making that request as it wouldn't be carried through, but that this section has the potential to be successful and is reasonable. There was no objection from members of council to have the Mayor sign the letter and send it to the Governor. Concerning our funding request for the Sullivan Road Bridge, she tried to find funding for this project, but there were no opportunities for a project of this magnitude and type. The transportation budget would have been the most logical; over the interim, the Governor developed a large transportation revenue packet that never materialized, so she put forward a small fee package and funneled that revenue into grants instead of earmarks, grants like FMSIB (Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board), so the remaining dollars in the transportation budget were minimal, and the largest project they funded was $1 million, and this City's request was for $10 million. They look for some funding opportunities in the design and preliminary engineering funding stage, but that is something they hope to bring forward in Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 4 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012 2013 or 2014, and said we didn't meet the criteria to fund the project. She looked through the capital budget and the jobs packet and spoke with several budget chairs and committee members, and said they received a number of bridge funding requests; that they normally fund those in the transportation budget, so it was decided to leave them in there, so the capital budget is not an option. They tried to reallocate FMSIB money and that didn't work either as once a project is allocated funding, it's project specific and this project didn't meet the criteria of funding sources in Olympia. City staff were incredibly helpful concerning the SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act) reform; they started from the last legislative session where the bill failed; so an interim work group was established and several city staff participated in conference calls, resulting in House Bill 2253, which she said is outlined in her report. The goal was to streamline the SEPA provisions. House Bill 2253 was amended into Senate Bill 6406 which is an omnibus natural resources reform bill. The bill did not pass during regular sessions and became part of the final budget negotiations and was finally passed on the last day of the special session. House Bill 2417 dealt with dock legislation. She said she testified in support of the bill in both the house and the senate and it did not pass out of the senate. The plan is to pursue this again the next legislative session. Ms. Taylor thanked the delegation who worked so hard on city priorities. Councilmember Grassel asked about the lodging tax legislation and Ms. Taylor explained that prior to 2007 funds could only be used on tourism promotion operations; but in 2007 the bill allowed funds to be spent on special events and festivals, but that had a sunset date of June 2013, at which time it will revert back to the way the bill was previously. Senate Bill 6446 was introduced to eliminate the sunset date and then to amend it, but it didn't pass. She expects that to be brought up again next year. Mayor Towey asked if funds were distributed to special events,would those funds have to be reimbursed, and Mr. Jackson said the recipient of those funds would have to spend them prior to the sunset; and said our legal team can come back with a discussion for city council if desired, and he asked if council wanted to take a stand, adding that we normally try to remain neutral on these issues as some in the community support the sunset and others don't. Ms. Taylor said this was a controversial issue and the tourism industry lobbied against it. Mayor Towey called for a recess at 7:40 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 7:55 p.m. 5. Gateway Sign Update—Mike Stone Parks and Recreation Director Stone gave a brief update on the Gateway Sign project and of the history leading up to the February 14 meeting wherein council concurred with the preferred option 4. Mr. Stone said Council also amended the budget to include $120,000 from Fund 310 for this project. Director Stone said he anticipates going out for bid mid-May; that we will have to have surveys done to locate the utilities; and said he expects award of the construction bid by July 1, with the project completed no later than September. There was some discussion about having volunteers to help offset the cost, and Mr. Stone explained that they are not looking at donations; that if we want to construct this project this year, we can't stop and take donations; but that perhaps we might use volunteer labor to help on some installation or we could ask for donation of materials such as trees, or grass, but this there appears to be some urgency to get this project completed, and said he anticipated proceeding as planned. Mayor Towey agreed it would be beneficial to get this completed this year; and Councilmember Woodard said he would love to see citizen participation if not on this, then perhaps as part of our City's Tenth Anniversary, City Manager Jackson stated that staff is also working on a policy for donations. 6. Comprehensive Plan Amendments for 2012--Mike Basinger Senior Planner Basinger and Assistant Planner Janssen went over the seven requests for site-specific Comprehensive Plan Amendments as contained in the PowerPoint presentation, as well as the text amendments included in the various chapters of the Comprehensive Plan.There was council consensus to proceed with a first reading scheduled for May 8,2012. Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 5 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012 7.Advance Agenda—Mayor Towey Councilmember Grafos asked about adding the Sprague Stormwater Project and Mr. Jackson said that will likely be brought back at the May 15 meeting. Mr. Jackson also mentioned that at the joint meeting, both councils discussed SpokAnimal, and he said he anticipates having a report at the May 8 meeting. Council concurred. Councilmember Grafos mentioned the grant on the decant facility and said he got a letter the Stormwater Environmental Policy manager and that WSDOT(Washington State Department of Transportation) has an interest in locating this at their facility, and Councilmember Grafos said he favors them having the facility on their property. Mr. Jackson said at the time we moved forward on the grant, no conclusion had been reached on where to locate the facility. Concerning trucks in residential areas, City Manager Jackson said code enforcement is taking a tally on where they notice trucks in residential areas and he brought council's attention to the material in the "Information Only" portion of tonight's council packet. INFORMATION ONLY Department Reports (8), JAG Grant(9), and Trucks in Residential Areas (10) were for information only and were not discussed or reported. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Concerning the potential Sprague property, City Manager Jackson said both parties have executed the letter of intent and staff is moving forward to acquire an appraisal and traffic study. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. "IF 4011111" ATTEST: Thomas E.Toivey, ayor �- ristine Bainbridge Council Regular Meeting 04-24-2012 Page 6 of 6 Approved by Council:05-08-2012