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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/23/2015 - City Council - City Council Meeting Minutes - Steven C LacyREGULAR SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL CONVENED MAYOR STEVEN C. LACY, PRESIDING JUNE 23, 2015 6:30 P.M. ROLL CALL Mayor Steven C. Lacy Councilmember Tim Detering Councilmember George Buckner Councilmember Chuck Johnson - excused Councilmember Frank Collings Councilmember Harry Raab Councilmember Sandra McCourt Councilmember Wayne Barnhart EMPLOYEES IN ATTENDANCE Community Development Director Lori Barnett City Attorney Devin Poulson City Clerk Dana Barnard Finance Director Nick Gerde Public Works Director/Engineer Greg Pezoldt Clerical Assistant Shawn Murison Sergeant Dave Schreiber PRESENTATIONS) America's Best Communities — Shiloh Schauer, Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Lisa Parks, Port of Douglas. Lisa Parks and Shiloh Schauer, participants in the "Informal Economic Development Group", provided information on the Frontier Communications - America's Best Communities (ABC) Contest that has been entered on behalf of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, and noted that our community was selected as a quarter finalist and awarded $50,000 .to develop a Regional Strategic Visioning Planning process to accelerate the revival of the local economies and improve quality of life. These funds will provide funding to hire Steven Ames, a consultant based in Bend, Oregon, to create a plan over the next few months that will include a public process involving local residents, officials, and the business community. She added the United Way has stepped up to provide funding for the project and is acting as lead entity. The 50 quarterfinalist communities will now have six months to shape and refine their revitalization plans for the chance to win up to an additional $3 million to bring their ideas to life. In April 2017, America's Best Communities will name its three competition winners — those with the most innovative proposals being effectively implemented. The winning community will be awarded $3 million, with $2 million for second place and $1 million for third. MAYORS REPORT Mayor Lacy noted that plans are underway to send a delegation of 26 people, including himself, to Misawa. Mayor Lacy said he met with Sandy Cohen, Director of the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, to discuss ideas regarding more appealing and educational exhibits at the Museum. Mr. Cohen CITY OF EAST WENATCHEE COUNCIL MINUTES JUNE 23, 2015 C also provided him a copy of "Confluence" which portrays early days of the surrounding areas, including Douglas County. Mayor Lacy said he received a report regarding information discussed at the June 9, 2015 Council meeting pertaining to the last retreat that was held for Councilmembers, and whether those items had been followed up on or not. He said the items discussed have happened, or are happening now, and another retreat will be scheduled sometime this fall. DEPARTMENT REPORT(S) Finance Director Nick Gerde reviewed the Financial Report for the month of May 2015, and gave an explanation of the telephone utility tax, noting that the Utility Tax has had a downturn. However, it does not mean that communications are not having significantly more usage by the citizens in turns of population. With the communications devices and tools that are available it makes it difficult for us to track line charges or long distance charges. Cell phone usage is going up and landlines will be non-existent soon. What we see is a flattening out in our market, which is noticeable in the telephone utility tax. BUDGET ISSUES Finance Director Nick Gerde noted that the next Budget Committee meeting will be held July 23, 2015. Councilmember Barnhart and Mayor Lacy would be unable to attend. Mayor Lacy said he will discuss that date with Nick to confirm an appropriate date when all can attend. Nick said he is in the process of doing an Annual Plan for 2015 that will extend to the year 2020. He said this will be discussed and confirmed at the next Budget Committee meeting. Mayor Lacy noted that he wants the Gateway Project to be the chief discussion item for Budget Committee meetings throughout the year, and he would also like Nick to put options in the Plan for long term financing related to the Baker and Highline Projects. CONSENT CALENDAR Items listed below were distributed to Councilmember's in advance for study and were enacted in one motion. Council Action: A motion was made by Councilmember Raab, second by Councilmember Detering, to approve the Consent Calendar as presented. The motion carried, 6-0. 1. Consideration of Minutes — Regular Session, June 9, 2015 2. Consideration of Payables and Payroll i. 2015 Pa, a� — As of this date, June 23, 2015, Council does approve check numbers 43605 thru 443645 in the total amount of $98,994.83. Payables check 43534 was voided. ii. 2015 May Payroll— As of this date, June 23, 2015, Council does approve check numbers 43398 thru 43417, 43500 thru 43520, 43568 thru 43582, and direct deposits on Shay 18, 2015 and June 2, 2015 in the total amount of $386,957.02. No payroll checks were voided. CITY OF EAST WENATCHEE COUNCIL MINUTES JUNE 23, 2015 PUBLIC MEETING(S) 15-06-05 Public meeting to discuss community needs and issues impacting low and moderate income residents. The discussion will help provide information to identify funding priorities for the City of East Wenatchee's 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant Program. Presented by: Lori Barnett, Community Development Director Mayor Lacy opened the Public Meeting at 7:24 p.m. Laurel Turner, Executive Director, Women's Resource Center of North Central Washington, discussed low vacancy rates in the Valley. The Women's Resource Center (WRC) provides individuals and families experiencing poverty and homelessness in Chelan and Douglas County with the housing and supportive services they need to be a part of a healthy diverse community, and help with locating housing, negotiating with landlords and understanding landlord/tenants roles and responsibilities. She said WRC engages with landlords because of reluctance to rent to Resource Center recipients. The WRC has seven sites subsidized by the United States Housing & Urban Development (HUD), and they do housing location for people that are not subsidized. She said they have tried to reach out to the Rental Association by going to their meetings to engage with them and inform them about what can be done to drop some of the barriers, which include offering money to protect against damage, breach of a lease, provide background Q checks, pay fines and fees, etc. She said they are a non-profit organization so they do not have a lot of resources for that, but those things could be investigated through some sort of liaison program between agencies and landlords. Laurel Turner said funding for their organization is provided by HUD funding, the McKinney-Vento Program, housing retention funds that come from a Seattle based non- profit company called Building Changes, Community Action Council who do rapid rehousing, a County Homeless Grant from the City of Wenatchee, and United Way funds. She said she is speaking for all the agencies that if there could be a way to remove barriers to get folks into sites they do have it would be well worth the investment. She also mentioned the Parkside Project which provides 15 supportive housing units for chronically, mentally ill homeless folks, and said there is still another phase to create more units and more space for service providers. Mayor Lacy closed the Public Meeting at 7:31 p.m. ACTION ITEM(S) 15-06-06 Addendum E-1 to contract with Vision Internet for purchase and integration of a security certificate for the City's website. Presented by: Devin Poulson, City Attorney Council Action: A motion was made by Councilmember Barnhart, second by Councilmember Collings, authorizing the Mayor to sign the contract addendum with l Vision Internet for purchase and integration of a security certificate for the City's �J website. The motion carried, 6-0. CITY OF EAST WENATCHEE COUNCIL MINUTES JUNE 23, 2015 COUNCIL REPORT(S) Councilmember Detering attended a Link Board meeting noting they continue to exceed the revenues and ridership projections. The also discussed an ongoing issue with indigent and homeless people riding the free trolley system. He said there was discussion about possibility charging a fee to ride the trolley, but there are a number of arguments and concerns regarding that, so it will be an ongoing discussion, and no decisions have been made. ADJOURNMENT 7:40 p.m.