City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon Finance Committee Parks & Enrichment Committee Minutes March 27, 2019 Present: Councilmembers Beaton, Brocksmith, Carías, Hulst, Moberg, Molenaar and Mayor Boudreau Staff present: Doug Volesky, Kevin Rogerson, Bill King, Chief Dodd, Peter Donovan, Isaac Huffman, Esco Bell 1) Minutes from February 27, 2019 were approved. Motioned by Councilmember Hudson seconded by Councilmember Carías, motion carried 7-0. 2) Finance Department: Director Volesky presented a number of items. a. CIP Revenue Sources i) Municipal Debt Presentation - Reviewed the 3 types of debt common to municipal governments. (1) General Obligation (GO) Debt or Bonds - secured by a pledge of the taxing district’s property tax authority. (a) Limited Tax General Obligation (LTGO) Bonds – AKA “councilmatic” bonds or not-voted debt. Issued by a vote of the legislative body and must be paid from existing revenues, not through additional taxation. (b) Unlimited Tax General Obligation (UTGO) bonds – AKA “voter debt.” These must be voted on by the community and will result in an increase in property taxes. (i) These must be approved by 60% of voter and must have at least 40% voter turnout as last general election (2) Revenue Bonds – issued to finance projects for any enterprise that is self- supporting; ex. water and wastewater projects. (3) Special Assessment Debt (a) Local Improvement Districts (LIDS) – special assessments levied on specific districts for improvements within those districts ii) Presented 2019 Debt Overview (1) Presented breakdown of the City General Government’s debt of $745,000 (2) Presented details on Utility Debt totaling $18.9M (3) Reviewed the City Debt before and after the Fire Bond iii) Presented possible funding options which could be used to support each specific fund iv) Questions: (1) Councilmember Hulst: Can we actually do $54M in councilmatic debt? If we go over this amount will this be covered by general funds? (2) Director Volesky: We can do $54M in councilmatic debt. Any overages will most likely come from the general fund but we might be able to use REET funds as well. City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee March 27, 2019 b. Wastewater Rate Study Recommendation – Director Bell presented summary on rate study and introduced Kevin Lorentzen from HDR, Inc. i) Reviewed purpose of the rate study ii) Recapped former meeting presentation (1) Recommended proposed rate adjustment of 2.5% per year iii) Connection Fee recommended to stay where it is currently iv) Discussed Development of Cost-Based Rates (1) Revenue Estimation (a) Presented financial estimates at a 2.5% annual increase including pro-forma financial statements and graphs (2) Cost of Service – presented cost numbers for the citizens (3) Allocation Factors and Analysis to review the impact of the rate changes on the citizens annually (4) Compared MV to other municipalities and rate categories v) Rate study findings; no changes since 2013. Recommend implementing 2.5% inflation yearly adjustment. Covers aggressive line treatment, Waste water treatment & street outlays. vi) Questions: (1) Councilmember Brocksmith – Is the inflation estimate a round number or CPI derived? (2) Mr. Lorentzen – It’s a conservative number. Seattle is at 2.23 so 2.5 is an average of multiple years. (3) Councilmember Brocksmith – Is the 4.3-4.4 million you were referring to an excess balance? (4) Mr. Lorentzen – It’s your reserve balance, the cash you need to continue to operate for a given period without any cash inflows. Some agencies have 60 to 120 days of reserve balance. (5) Councilmember Brocksmith – How is this reserve balance established/how long will it take to get to the 4.3-4.4 balance? (6) Mr. Lorentzen – Tough to say there are multiple funds involved so there may be more/less funds than estimated but at the given 2.5% it will take 10 years. (7) Councilmember Hulst – How much cash reserve do we need? (8) Mr. Lorentzen – Typically 90 days, this forecast will leave us at 110 days. c. Agreement with Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County (EDASC) for the year 2019 presented by Director Volesky. d. Agreement with Skagit Watershed Council presented by Director Volesky. i) Councilmember Brocksmith will need to disclose his relationship with Skagit Watershed Council and abstain from the vote to avoid any conflict of interest issues. e. Monthly Financial Reporting presented by Director Volesky i) Have brought in a quarter of the revenue this year ii) TBD looking to finish 18% over budget for the year iii) REET 1&2 – currently about $177k down from the same time last year. 3) Parks & Enrichment Services Department – Director King presented various items a. Park Projects i) Gillett Property – Currently in the process of being purchased. ii) Little Mountain Trail Building Project – Have not received the estimated grant funding they thought they’d receive. City of Mount Vernon Finance Committee March 27, 2019 iii) Hill Crest Lodge Garden – Finalizing the fence portion. iv) Trail Signage – The new signs allow parks to confront illegal activity and vehicles. b. Recreation Programs i) Little league – Not enough fields for teams to use. Looking to collaborate with non- city fields for kids to play on. ii) Arts Commission – Would like to add a mural to city hall; take poems about home from kids in other countries and create artwork based on those poems. Participating countries include Sweden and Syria. (1) Looking to create an app to link source poem inspiring the part of the art. c. City Work Program i) Increased in costs by 4k in 2018; 2017 included private costs and were still 4k less than 2018. ii) Total encampment costs – work orders have doubled from 2017 to 2018 d. Restroom Blockage i) Dangerous to cleanup – possibly retaliation related to the Parks trespassing operations ii) Had to blow out the clog and close the restroom for 3 days e. Riverwalk Temp Shelter – Removed temp shelter established on the riverwalk. f. Tulip Festival - 6k tulips planted should bloom in the next month. 4) Miscellaneous, for the good of the order: a. Mayor – went to Olympia on Monday met with a number of leaders on behavior health issues. Particular concern was for violent offenders on the street and how to deal with someone who exhibits dangerous behavior. i) Still trying to additional funding for homeless support. The meeting was adjourned at 6:53 p.m. Submitted by Chase Kinney Submitted by Chase Kinney