City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon City Council Finance Committee Parks & Enrichment Committee Minutes September 27, 2017 Present: Councilmembers Fiedler, Hulst, Hudson, Lindquist, Molenaar, Ragan and Quam Staff present: Doug Volesky, James Weppler, Kevin Rogerson, Chief Dodd, Peter Donovan, Isaac Huffman, Chris Phillips, Tom Wenzl 1) Minutes from August 2017 were approved. 2) Finance Department: a) Budget Calendar update: The revenue estimates will be reviewed during tonight’s Council meeting. On October 4 the Mayor will present the preliminary budget to Council and the following two weeks will have work sessions to review the budget. November 8, 2017 is the goal date for approval of the 2018 budget. b) The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) has met and reviewed the requests for funding. The LTAC members are Roger Gietzen, Director of the Lincoln Theatre Center Foundation; Tom Keogh, Regional Services Manager for Best Western Hotels & Resorts; Kelly Morse, Director of Sales at Best Western Plus Skagit Valley Inn and Cindy Verge, Executive Director of Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. i) The Committee has recommended that 22 applicants receive a total of $351,000 for 2018. This year’s requests were similar to previous years. The Mount Vernon Parks will receive $75,000 for the resurfacing of the Kiwanis Spray Park. c) Sales tax collected for September was $576,049. This $17,188 over the same month last year. The City has collected 80% of the budgeted estimates for this year. 3) Parks and Enrichment Services: a) Stokely Tower – The ladder and anti-climbing system will be replaced on September 28, 2017, this portion of the project also included covering the graffiti. The department is developing a statement of work with the assistance of Tower Engineering Services. b) Lions Park – The old restroom has been demolished, site preparation was completed and the new building was delivered September 7, 2017. The building was opened for public use on Sept 22, 2017. The project came in within budget. c) Little Mountain Survey – The boundary survey between Silver Arrow Bowman and Pacific Quarry is complete. The department is updating the Pacific Quarry and Silver Arrow Bowman agreements. d) Disc Golf – the department is working partnership with the Parks Foundation and local clubs to determine if a disc golf course along the Skagit River at Edgewater Park is a viable option. e) Completed Projects – Bakerview scoreboard upgrades are done as well as the irrigation and tree trimming project on small park near City Hall. f) Events – The Recreation Division is working on various projects i) Indoor Pickleball Open Gym. ii) The Fire Department and Parks are working together to put on an open house at Station #3 on Saturday October 14. iii) There will be luminary lantern workshops in November leading up to the Christmas Parade where participants of the workshops will be welcome to walk and carry their luminaries. iv) A Veterans Day Celebration is being planned for Saturday, November 11 th. g) City Work Program is facing a growing challenge to meet the requests that are presented for their work teams. The workload is up by 45% and the staffing is down by 38%. There have been over 1,796 hours that the works program has provided to the City within the last year. Cleaning up the homeless encampments represent at least 50% of the work load for this crew. The Department is City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee September 27, 2017 Page 2 asking for the part time supervisor to be made full time to help cover this workload in the 2018 budget. Adjourned at p.m.7:00 Rebecca Wade Submitted by Rebecca J. Wade