City Council

Mount Vernon City Council Regular Meeting Minutes April 24, 2013 The meeting was called to order by Mayor Boudreau at 7:00 p.m. Present: Mayor Boudreau, Councilmembers Fiedler, Hulst, Lindquist, Molenaar, Quam, and Urban Absent: Councilmember Ragan (excused) Staff Present: Police Chief Dodd, Human Resources Director Bartlett, Public Works Director Bell, Wastewater Utility Manager Duranceau, Fire Chief Hari, Finance Director Huschka, Information Services Manager Kleppe, Assistant Public Works Director Love, Equipment Rental Manager Owens, and Solid Waste Manager Sutherland Citizens Present: 8 CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of March 27, 2013 Regular Council Meeting Minutes. Councilmember Quam moved to approve the March 27, 2013 Regular Council meeting minutes. Motion seconded by Councilmember Fiedler. Motion carried 6-0. B. Approval of the April 15, 2013 payroll checks numbered 101402 – 101451, direct deposit checks numbered 40952 – 41145, and wire transfers numbered 419 and 420 in the amount of $661,397.97. Councilmember Lindquist moved to approve the April 15, 2013 payroll checks numbered 101402 – 101451, direct deposit checks numbered 40952 – 41145, and wire transfers numbered 419 and 420 in the amount of $661,397.97. Motion seconded by Councilmember Molenaar. Motion carried 6-0. C. Approval of April 24, 2013 claims numbered 129643 - 129821 in the amount of $664,583.00. Councilmember Urban moved to approve the April 24, 2013 claims numbered 129643 - 129821 in the amount of $664,583.00. Motion seconded by Councilmember Hulst. Motion carried 6-0. REPORTS A. Finance Committee – for details see Committee minutes. B. Community Comments:  Richard Bowyer came before Council to comment on the sales tax proposal that Council will hear tonight regarding funding a new jail. Mount Vernon City Council April 24, 2013 Page 2 of 5 C. Councilmember Comments:  Councilmember Lindquist reminded citizens of the upcoming schedule for Ward meeting. Ward 1 will be held May 6 at the Police Court Campus; Ward 2 will be on May 7 at Hillcrest Park; and Ward 3 is May 9 at Fire Station 3. All meetings will be at 6:00 p.m. D. Mayor’s Report  Mayor Boudreau reported that she had signed a proclamation memorializing National and Community Volunteer Week and acknowledged the work that the Skagit County Community Action volunteer program does for the community.  There is a prescription drug drop off program that will take place at the Police Department this coming Saturday. NEW BUSINESS (The order of items was changed at the start of the meeting. Agenda items A and B were moved to the end of the agenda.) C. District Court Paperless Solutions: Mr. Kleppe and Judge Svaren presented an overview of the costs and benefits of creating a paperless Municipal Court System. Mount Vernon Municipal Court is under the direction of the District Court. Judge Svaren indicated that the proposal is to bring Mount Vernon Municipal Court online as the first court to go paperless followed by Skagit County, Burlington and Anacortes. There will be substantial commitments of time from City and Court staff for the conversion from paper forms and records to electronic formats. Judge Svaren and Mr. Kleppe have done site visits to assess programs that are in place as well as investigations into the best hardware and software that would meet the needs of the Courts. The financing for this endeavor would come from funds that the state has dedicated to the improvement of the local court systems. At this time the City is holding approximately $59,000 in reserve that could be used for a project like this. D. Collective Bargaining Agreement for Non-Commissioned Police: Ms. Bartlett presented Council with a request to authorize the Mayor to sign the Police Services Guild (non- commissioned employees) collective Bargaining Agreement for the years 2011 through 2014. The Guild ratified the contract April 16, 2013. Councilmember Lindquist moved to authorize the Mayor to sign the Police Services Guild (non-commissioned employees) collective Bargaining Agreement for the years 2011 through 2014. Motion seconded by Councilmember Hulst. Motion carried 6-0. E. Collective Bargaining Agreement for Battalion Chiefs: Ms. Bartlett presented Council with a request to authorize the Mayor to sign the Fire Chief’s Collective Bargaining Agreement for the years 2013 through 2015. The union members agreed to the terms in March 2013. Councilmember Hulst moved to authorize the Mayor to sign the Fire Chief’s Collective Bargaining Agreement for the years 2013 through 2015. Motion seconded by Councilmember Quam. Motion carried 6-0. Mount Vernon City Council April 24, 2013 Page 3 of 5 F. Authorization to Purchase Equipment: Mr. Owens presented Council with a request to authorize the purchase of six new vehicles. These vehicles are fully funded and budgeted for through the replacement reserve system and include three sedans, two pickup trucks and one mower. Councilmember Hulst indicated that he is not in favor of replacing the fleet vehicles at City Hall. Councilmember Fiedler replied that replacing the high mileage Crown Victorias and standardizing the fleet was Council’s intent during the budget process. Councilmember Fiedler moved to authorize the purchase of six new vehicles. Motion seconded by Councilmember Quam. Motion carried 5-1 (Councilmember Hulst opposed). G. Bid Award – Garbage Truck: Mr. Sutherland presented Council with a request for approval to purchase a new carrier/service truck from Motor Trucks, Inc. for $84,474.85. This vehicle is fully funded and budgeted for through the replacement reserve system. This truck is not available through any purchasing agreement. Three bids were received and this is the low bid. Councilmember Hulst moved to authorize the purchase of a new carrier/service truck for the Solid Waste Utility. Motion seconded by Councilmember Lindquist. Motion carried 6-0. H. Resolution to Declare Equipment Surplus: Mr. Kleppe presented Council with a listing of broken and/or unusable computer equipment and components and asked that they be declared surplus to the needs of the City and be sold through auction by PropertyRoom.com. Councilmember Urban moved to approve Resolution 857 declaring equipment surplus. Motion seconded by Councilmember Fiedler. Motion carried 6-0. I. Fiber Optic Lease Agreement: Mr. Kleppe presented Council with a request to authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement with MIN-NS, Alf Christianson, Skagit Valley Hospital, Skagit Radiology, Diversint and Allixo Technologies for open end lease agreements for access to the City’s fiber optic system. Councilmember Lindquist moved to authorize the Mayor to enter into Fiber Optic service agreements with the above companies. Motion seconded by Councilmember Quam. Motion carried 6-0. J. Amendment to Interlocal Agreement for the LaVenture/Anderson Road Extension Project: Mr. Bell presented Council with a request for authorization for the Mayor to execute an amendment to the interlocal agreement with Skagit County. This amendment will formalize and clarify some of the items in the original contract. Councilmember Urban moved to authorize the Mayor to execute an amendment to the LaVenture/Anderson Road Extension Project agreement with Skagit County. Motion seconded by Councilmember Lindquist. Motion carried 6-0. K. Professional Services Agreement: Mr. Bell presented Council with a request to authorize the Mayor to enter into a professional services agreement with Reichhardt & Mount Vernon City Council April 24, 2013 Page 4 of 5 Ebe, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $498,080.61 for construction management services during Phase 2 of the Downtown Flood Protection Project. Councilmember Fiedler moved to authorize the Mayor to enter into a professional services agreement with Reichhardt & Ebe, Inc. for construction management services for Phase 2 of the Downtown Flood Protection Project. Motion seconded by Councilmember Urban. Motion carried 6-0. A. Provisional Agreement with Skagit County: Mr. Rogerson presented Council with a request to authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Skagit County whereby the City will withdraw its sales and use tax ballot measure in exchange for a County-wide measure. Revenues from the sales tax increase would be utilized to finance future jail infrastructure needs. The County will ensure that the ballot language would allow other lawful uses of this revenue including police and fire protection. The County will submit this ballot measure for the upcoming election on August 6, 2013. If the voters do not approve this item the County will re-submit it for the next election. The City of Mount Vernon agrees not to place a new one tenth sales tax measure on a ballot during this time frame. Should both ballot measures by the County fail the City would be able to re- initiate a new sales and use tax ballot measure. The County further agrees to rescind its April 1, 2013 letter terminating the City’s existing Jail Use Agreement. For the City of Mount Vernon, the elimination of the bed rate that will be accomplished through the Provisional Agreement and further specified in the ‘to be’ drafted interlocal agreement, is approximately equal to the dollar value of the 0.1% sales tax ballot measure that the City will be withdrawing. Councilmember Urban asked when the final agreement might be done. Mr. Holloran, Skagit County Administrator, indicated that the timeline for this to become final is 90 days. Councilmember Hulst moved to authorize the Mayor to enter into a provisional agreement with Skagit County regarding a sales tax ballot measure and jail funding. Motion seconded by Councilmember Molenaar. Motion carried 6-0. A. Resolution Withdrawing a Proposition to Authorize an Additional Sales and Use Tax Ballot Measure: Mr. Rogerson presented Council with a proposed resolution to withdraw its ballot proposition authorized by Resolution 854 in return for the County’s submission of a ballot proposition to be submitted to the voters. Mr. Rogerson asked that any approval of the resolution be conditional upon execution by the county of the provisional agreement addressed in Item A. Councilmember Fiedler moved to approve Resolution 858 revoking Resolution 854 with the condition as outlined above by Mr. Rogerson. Motion seconded by Councilmember Urban. Motion carried 6-0.  Commissioners Dillon and Wesen thanked Councilmembers, the Mayor and City staff for their dedication and hard work on this issue. The meeting was convened into Executive Session at 8:17 p.m. and was estimated to last 25 minutes. L. Executive Session: Pending or Potential Litigation and Property Acquisition. Mount Vernon City Council April 24, 2013 Page 5 of 5 The meeting was reconvened into regular session at 9:45 p.m. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 9:46 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: ______________________________________________ Rebecca J. Wade, Recording Secretary ATTEST: ______________________________________________ Alicia D. Huschka, Finance Director APPROVE: ______________________________________________ Jill Boudreau, Mayor