City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon Public Safety Meeting November 1, 2017 Minutes Attendees Present: Mayor Boudreau Councilmembers: Fiedler, Hudson, Hulst, Lindquist, Molenaar, Quam, and Ragan Staff Members: Chief Brice, Chief Dodd, Doug Volesky, Isaac Huffman, Peter Donovan, Kevin Rogerson, Bill King, and Tom Wenzl Approval of Minutes Councilmember Ragan asked that the 6th sentence of the 2nd to last paragraph be stricken from the October 4, 2017 minutes. Minutes were approved pending the correction as noted. LIBRARY- PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Isaac gave a presentation showing different types of public/private Library partnerships. There are different types of arrangements that a can be of benefit to a city when a new library is under consideration. Some of those benefits are flexibility in design, creating housing centers as an anchor tenant, moving the library to where the people are, as well as cost containment. Isaac presented different libraries that utilize some of the public/private partnerships in different cities. Leased space has low cost and some flexibility but is constrained by smaller spaces. Co-Development libraries have higher up-front costs but are an excellent cornerstone of development. Co-op Libraries can create good relationships with the other tenants but space can be challenging. Strategy to work with FEMA re: LOMR Esco came forward and outlined the next steps towards obtaining the Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) from FEMA for the downtown flood protection project which is coming to conclusion. The steps are fairly straight forward at this point. The construction has to be finalized, then that work is to be documented and certified as substantial to work form as presented in the CLOMR. Esco suggested that this package be hand delivered to FEMA and a personal presentation of it would be in the City’s best interest. It is likely that there will be two way conversations with FEMA following this presentation and FEMA has the option of utilizing 90 day windows to either approve the map or request more information from the City. They have the option of unlimited 90 day extensions. Paver – Esco provided more concrete numbers on the benefits of owning a paver. 2018 Legislative Preview The Mayor presented AWC’s 2018 legislative priorities. The small cell site technology is coming to the fore front again. Ms. Lowell and Mr. Rogerson are working with a consortium on regulations. Carlyle has a letter in the packets that underlines the perspective of city’s wanting to control the placement of this technology on rights of way. Cities have the ability to charge for use of the City’s poles to a profit making company. Council is welcome to put items forward as they wish. Homeless Encampments on Private Property This is an issue that is starting to impact many of the City’s departments. The majority of the camps are on public property. The parks dept. does not go onto private property and try to address these camps. The cost associated with clean up on private property can be the expense of the property owner, there are examples along the Kulshan trail where the camp is accessed through city property but is actually located on private property. The outreach coordinator works closely with the parks department to try and guide the inhabitants to other resources. Often the take down of a camp just moves the problem to another site. Response and tolerance levels need to be determined. The accessibility to services and proximity to I-5 makes Mount Vernon a desirable location. The balance between complete compassion and strict enforcement is difficult. The lack of affordable housing creates many of the issues for people within a community. What is the answer when the private property site has an impact on the City? The Urban Ave area is a magnet for encampments. The property owners are faced with an expensive task of trying to clean this up and prevent returns. The current ordinance does not allow a public nuisance on private property. Enforcement takes time and costs Peter has met with two of the owners of the Public Safety Committee Meeting November 1, 2017 Page 2 of 2 property. The City’s ability to enforce the code is actual the owners do not have the financial resources to address this problem. Vegetation control is often successful as it eliminates hiding places. Working on changing the environment. **The meeting was adjourned for a 10-minute break at 7:45 p.m. **The meeting was reconvened at 7:55 p.m. FINANCE  Employee healthcare insurance increased 130,680 over the original 238042 in the General Fund. .  Major considerations for revenue could include a property tax increase, some potential one time increases in sales tax associated with larger construction projects and the Main Street Fairness act which will send sales tax from on-line sales to the product destination. He emphasized that fund balances and reserve goals should be met as well as reviewing and possible resetting rates for services. Council could ask the public to vote on a bond for a new Fire Station 1. Question on staffing – GIS manager & Fire Inspector in Development Services could this be combined? The Fire inspector is not part of the building inspection process. Brian come forward and to define the roll of this. It is Fire Marshall 1st for inspections, then the crews if they aren’t too complex. In this case it would be passed to the inspector. Coordination communication and follow up becomes a problem if the investigator is not in the Fire Dept. This is not a union position. So there is no rotation aspect. GIS services – is this a consulting service that is available? Chris came forward to remind them that 60% of this position will be funded by utilities. Joe asked what the total of the proposed reductions. Removal of the police vehicle, create a tbd budget stand alone. Use the REET 2 for the street dept shortfall for maintenance. Budget discussions will continue at the October 11 and 18, 2017 Committee meetings. On October 25th the City will hold a public hearing on revenues and City Council will be asked to consider setting the 2018 property tax levy amount. Good of the order Mark said that tom estimates that at least $20,000 of paving done in the parks dept. Adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Submitted by Rebecca Wade