City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon Finance Committee Parks & Enrichment Committee Minutes February 27, 2019 Present: Councilmembers Beaton, Brocksmith, Carías, Hulst, Moberg, Molenaar and Mayor Boudreau Staff present: Doug Volesky, Kevin Rogerson, Bill King, Chief Brice, Peter Donovan, Isaac Huffman 1) Minutes from January 23, 2019 were approved. Motioned by Molenaar seconded by Beaton. Carried 7-0. 2) Parks and Enrichment Services Department: Director King presented a number of items. a. Presented New Parks Marketing Video b. Presented updates to Parks & Enrichment Services Comprehensive Plan i) Completed 2nd open house with 38 attendees ii) Received 867 responses to the Parks’ Surveys iii) Data Gathering continuing for the following (1) Developing levels of service (2) 20 Year Capital Plan – rough draft (3) Validating parks, trails and pathway inventory iv) Begin Phase III – Analytical Phase in March v) Complements requirements for Impact Fee study c. Presented the Municipal Arts Fund. i) Purpose: to support the Arts Commission and public art program. (1) Fund will be used for commission programs and operating expenses of the public art program (2) Creation of this fund will consolidate the multiple legacy funding sources currently used, allow improved efficiency in fund tracking and managing, and simplify the process for receipts and expenditures d. Presented Legislative Issues facing the Parks Department i) SB 5882: Prohibits the location of homeless encampments near schools and early learning facilities ii) SB5134/HB 1102: Key funding for WWRP, YAF, ALEA iii) HB 1591: Rights of homeless people to survive in public e. Presented staffing changes i) Received question if they expect to fill the Park Ranger position by June of 2019. It might be doable but the process is 4-5 months from completion. f. Presented Projects statues i) Including Hill Crest concrete pour ii) Edgewater Major Camp Cleanup (1) Question: Was the Edgewater camp clean up an active camp? Not active at the time of clean up. City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee January 23, 2019 (2) Question: Do you know where the campers are going? How often do you check back on these locations? Check every other week or so but some areas are remote. Homeless tend to migrate to where they aren’t bothered. (3) Question: Are you able to maintain the areas once they’ve been cleaned? We don’t maintain but just monitor the area. A lot of times they will move 100 yards over onto private property and then come back after we’ve cleaned up. (4) Question: Are we supposed to store their belongings when we clear an encampment? We’re supposed to give 72-hour notice and store “items of value” (back packs, electronics, etc.) We have a formal process of cataloging, documenting, and storing eventually, it’s claimed or disposed of. 3) Finance Department: Director Volesky presented a number of upcoming items. a. Presented “Audit 101” i) Provided an over view of the Audit Process ii) Defined the 3 types of Government Audits (1) Accountability audit – evaluates if an organization is in compliance with state laws, regulations, and its own policies and procedures (2) Financial audit – provides independent opinion on an organizations financial statements and results of its operations and cash flows. (3) Federal Single Audit – determine whether a local government that received federal funding has complied with applicable requirements. iii) Audit start date scheduled for: 05/01/19 b. Presented the Local Infrastructure Financing Tool (LIFT) i) What is Lift? Washington State tax increment financing used to pay for public improvements within a Revenue Development Area (RDA) in order to promote economic development. ii) State will match the City’s new property & sales tax revenues with an equal amount of redirected state sales tax up to the maximum amount awarded of $500,000 for 25 years. iii) Can only spend on bond payments or pay-as-you-go qualified capital projects. iv) City of Mount Vernon established an RDA which is where the tax will be assessed and where the new projects must be built. v) City of Mount Vernon established the tax rate of 0.0969% with ordinance #3457. vi) Eligible Lift Projects include (1) Downtown parking facility (a) Construction (b) Land acquisition (c) Associated design/engineering (2) Promenade/river walk, park facilities, trails (3) Street construction or improvements vii) Time Lines and Considerations (1) Latest date to impose tax to maximize return is July 1, 2019. (2) Imposition ordinance due by May 31, 2019. (3) Requires the City of Mount Vernon file LIFT annual reports by March 1st each year (4) Must match state revenues with our local revenues City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee January 23, 2019 viii) Question: Where is the Lift tax imposed? The state collects sales tax and this percentage is refunded from the state’s portion back to the city. c. Presented preliminary Tax information thru February i) Sales and TBD taxes are up but REET taxes are down. d. Presented Finance department current events i) Tyler cashiering program rollout ii) New hires Michelle Kerr and Tyler Rude iii) Sheryl Gerard is retiring in March. 4) Miscellaneous, for the good of the order: a. Councilmember Brocksmith – temporary homeless shelter, 7th day Adventist has temp shelter now but permit expires on March 7th. Is there any other group/org stepping up to provide this service? Can we extend this timeline for another 30 days? i) City Attorney Rogerson – The temporary shelter permit can only go for a maximum of 120 days. b. Councilmember Brocksmith – County’s hinting at creating a recovery center soon. Would like to set down with the commissioner’s and staff to figure out what their vision is and what would work well for the city and open a dialog. Does the council want to pursue this? i) Yes, but after the April 10th meeting with the county Public Health when we know more. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m. Submitted by Chase Kinney Submitted by Chase Kinney