City Council Worksession

TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 1 CONVENE: 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Debbie Sullivan and Councilmembers Peter Agabi, Michael Althauser, Joan Cathey, Leatta Dahlhoff, Angela Jefferson, and Charlie Schneider, Excused: Councilmember Eileen Swarthout. Staff: City Administrator John Doan, Sustainability and Water Resources Program Director Dan Smith, Fire Chief Brian Hurley, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer, Communications Manager Ann Cook, Recreation Manager Todd Anderson, Sustainability Coordinator Alyssa Jones Wood, Arts Specialist Brittany Bowman, and City Clerk Melody Valiant. 2021 GREEN TEAM Director Smith introduced Sustainability Coordinator Alyssa Jones Wood. SUSTAINABILITY Coordinator Jones Wood recently joined the City coming from Florida as a REPORT: Sustainability and Resiliency Officer for the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida. Coordinator Jones Wood presented the third annual Green Team Sustainability Report for 2021. The presentation covered data comparing previous years and baselines, the status of the City’s Green Team, progress on goals and operations, and projects completed or underway. The report focuses only on City operations and not community-wide sustainability metrics or progress. Greenhouse gas emissions calculations for the City were completed by Dave Bradley, a volunteer of the Thurston Climate Action Team (TCAT) using 2015 as the baseline. The Council subsequently approved the 2015 baseline calculations. The City’s total emissions increased 3% above the 2015 baseline in 2021. Tumwater participates in Puget Sound Energy’s Green Direct Program and was the beneficiary of retirement certificates of 5.58 million kilowatt hours generated at the Skookumchuck Wind Facility in 2021. Combined with solar generation on the City Hall roof, net emissions for 2021 totaled 1,100 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, reflective of a 70.9% decrease from 2015 baseline total emissions. Overall fuel consumption by the municipal fleet decreased 6% from 2019 baseline calculations in 2021. The vast majority of diesel consumption and combustion is from Water Resources and Sustainability, Transportation and Engineering, and the Tumwater Fire Department. Nearly 50% of gasoline consumption and combustion is from the Police Department, Water TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 2 Resources and Sustainability, Transportation and Engineering, and Parks and Recreation. The City purchased 175 gallons of renewable diesel in 2021. The fleet is comprised of 1% electric, 8% hybrid, 19% diesel, and 72% gasoline fueled vehicles. Natural gas 2021 consumption was 4% less than the 2019 baseline with most of the consumption by City Hall and the fire stations. Buildings and infrastructure used 5.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2021, a 1.4% decrease from the 2019 baseline. In 2021, the City’s rooftop solar produced 5% of City Hall’s electricity consumption. The City’s Commute Trip Reduction Program was paused during COVID resulting in a reduction in participation in the program and a transition of telecommuting as an incentivized action to a fully normalized practice. In 2022, the Green Team released a revised Commute Trip Reduction Program to incentivize active transportation, transit, and lower carbon transportation methods. In 2021, the City’s potable water consumption increased 14%. As in previous years, 99% of water consumption was from outdoor water uses, such as irrigation of right-of-ways, parks, and building landscaping. In 2021, reclaimed water consumption increased by the golf course. Previous annual reports did not include a baseline for solid waste. Based on data from LeMay, an estimate was developed factored on the size of containers and frequency of pick-up to serve as an interim baseline until a waste audit of City operations has been completed. The estimate identified approximately 77% of waste from trash with the remaining waste comprised of recycling or composted material. In 2021, the Old Town Center participated in food waste composting through LeMay. The program will be expanded in 2023. In 2022, the City of Tumwater received the Thurston Green Municipal Award for the second time. The City’s Green Team is committed to sustainability at the City. The City is on track to achieve net emission reduction goals, increasing the percentage of renewable energy usage, and the use of reclaimed water. At the end of 2021, the City was not on track for reducing total emissions of electricity consumption, water consumption, solid waste, nor increasing the number of employees using an alternative commute option. Staff continues efforts to achieve progress in 2023 by adopting an anti-idle policy for municipal fleet vehicles, continued use of reclaimed water at the golf course, TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 3 and updating Commute Trip Reduction Program policies. Other projects include an energy and water audit of City facilities, water, and sewer infrastructure. Other efforts include replacement of LED lights at Tumwater Timberland Library, installation of three charging ports for electric vehicles at City Hall, installation of two small solar arrays on water infrastructure, developing a Citywide environmentally preferred purchasing policy, purchasing electric vehicles for the City’s fleet, purchasing small electric powered equipment, and implementing recycling and composting during City events. The City will continue implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan. As sustainability is an iterative process, several other processes were identified to improve greenhouse gas emission goals. One program is implementation of implicit fossil fuel combustion reduction goals by establishing goals to reduce natural gas, gasoline, and diesel consumption. The reductions should be data-driven by a fleet electrification assessment using a free tool provided by the Electrification Coalition. As electrification of the fleet and building increases, the City should measure and track total electricity consumption and set goals for efficiency, such as kilowatt hours per square foot in buildings and goals for electrification of HVAC equipment at the end of life replacement. Electric vehicle charging stations should be on a separate panel to enable the tracking of electric consumption. Electricity used to produce and distribute drinking water and transporting wastewater likely will not decline as the population grows. Measurements of those electric uses should be on a per capita basis to track efficiency. Other suggestions include waste diversion goals in addition to the total waste reduction goal, such as matching a 75% goal for diversion of organic material from landfill goals established by the state in the 2022 Organics Management Law. Currently, the Green Team lacks goals tied to three of the City Council’s Strategic Priorities of recruiting green employers and jobs, streamlining permitting for green projects, and requiring all City buildings to be electric. Coordinator Jones Wood invited questions from the Council. Councilmember Dahlhoff recommended the Green Team consider reviewing the Department of Enterprise Services Washington State Green Purchasing Guide. The guide includes nearly 80 categories with green purchasing specifications. The guide would be useful to develop preferred purchasing policies for goods and services. Coordinator Jones Wood affirmed she received the resource when she was notified of the passage of the Organics Management Law. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 4 Councilmember Schneider inquired about the possibility of the City adopting policies requiring new residential and commercial to utilize water wise landscaping methods. Coordinator Jones Wood advised that the Community Development Department, Tree Board, and the Planning Commission are working jointly to revise the City’s landscaping policies. The discussions will cover irrigation requirements and potential revisions. Coordinator Jones Wood responded to questions about any plans by the City to ban the use of natural gas for new development. Actions pertaining to natural gas are included in the Climate Action Plan. Recent state legislation bans the use of natural gas for commercial and residential uses for hot water and heating but not for cooking. Discussion ensued on retrofitting existing uses and promoting efforts to encourage the state to offer a grant program to fund retrofits. Coordinator Jones Wood shared that the City is a member of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, which provides the City with access to other sustainability staff, lived experiences, and a platform for broader advocacy. Coordinator Jones Wood addressed questions on some of the challenges by the City to initiate efforts to increase recycling, food waste pickup at the fire stations, and composting and recycling at City events. DRAFT ARTS Manager Anderson described some of the history surrounding the City’s STRATEGY AND efforts to create an arts program. In 2019, the City appointed an Arts Task INTRODUCTION OF Force comprised of 35 individuals representing community members, ARTS SPECIALIST students, and artists to explore an arts program for the City. The state’s BRITTANY former director of the Arts Commission served on the task force. Initially, BOWMAN: the task force met once a month until the advent of COVID, when meetings ceased. Despite the pandemic, the task force was able to distribute a community survey in 2021. Manager Anderson introduced Brittany Bowman, the City’s Arts Specialist. In 2022, through funds allocated from the Tumwater Metropolitan Park District, the City was able to add a .5 FTE Arts Specialist position. Specialist Bowman joined the City in June 2022. Specialist Bowman received a bachelor’s degree in art history and a minor in English. Specialist Bowman presented the Tumwater Parks and Recreation Arts Strategy. The definition of art or fine arts is modes of expression that use skill or imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others. Types of art can range from literature, poetry, drama, story, and visual arts, painting, drawings, sculptures, graphic arts (flat surface), classic arts (sculpture & modeling), TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 5 performing arts of theater, dance, music, as well as movie acting, architecture (built environments and interior design, and decorative arts (enamel work, furniture design, and mosaic art). Culture is defined as the beliefs, customs, and arts of a particular society, group, place, or time. Heritage is defined as traditions, achievements, and beliefs that are part of the history of a group or nation. Specialist Bowman said she reviewed numerous City documents and met with different individuals. She also understands some of the confusion as to the connection between culture and arts. She believes culture serves as the umbrella over many different forms of art. Essentially, culture can be defined as community values and beliefs, language, communication, and practices that are commonly shared through arts, heritage, traditions, and rituals. As part of reviewing the proposed Tumwater Arts Program, she studied different arts programs in the state. The City of Tacoma Arts Program includes arts, culture, heritage, and science. Tacoma’s program can be viewed as a groundbreaking arts program in the country as the city received special funding to incorporate a themed STEAM framework into the arts program. The City of Olympia’s arts program includes arts, culture, and heritage. Both examples are funded through special taxing districts or initiatives. STEAM is defined as science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The City’s arts strategy begins with, “The City of Tumwater sits on the Deschutes River in Washington State. One can stroll through our forested parks and see artists sketching, taking photos, and writing. Tumwater is a beautiful place with a treasure trove of creative people.” The Arts Task Force established in 2019 was tasked to study what the community desired for arts and were willing to support. A cultural arts survey was distributed to the community in 2020. Survey results reflected a community that wants more live music and more community events. Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls was most desired location for art events by 83% of respondents. Respondents expressed a strong desire for more public art. Respondents want more children and family theater, comedy and street performances, and folk, pop, classical, country, children’s, blues, and jazz music. Respondents requested visual arts offerings through adult and children’s art classes, painting, ceramics, and pottery. Specialist Bowman reviewed the vision statement for the Tumwater Arts Program: The City of Tumwater is dedicated to building an innovative and sustainable arts and culture ecosystem that works for all. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 6 Goals to achieve the vision include: 1. Build an innovative and sustainable arts and culture program with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the core. Survey and protect art and culture that is already present in the City. 2. Use existing systems, resources, partnerships, and spaces to create and showcase arts. 3. Create a public arts strategy that enlivens the community, communicates diverse stories, and adds to the mosaic of economic development in Tumwater. 4. Cultivate support and engagement from the community regarding the Arts Strategy by adding art offerings to Parks and Recreation events and cultural celebrations. Emphasize to the community that art making and art interaction are for all. Specialist Bowman shared examples of art programs integrated within existing parks and recreation programs and City events. 5. Create new partnerships, events, and systems, that elevate the lives of Tumwater citizens and other stakeholders through art making, engagement with the arts, and cultural exchange. Use the arts as an integral catalyst of economic development. Specialist Bowman reviewed six objectives to achieve the five goals: 1. Form an Arts Commission 2. Build a Communication Plan for the Arts in Tumwater 3. Integrate Art into Existing Tumwater Events with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a Driving Force 4. Utilize and Highlight Existing Spaces 5. Grow the Program 6. Funding for the Arts Program Next steps include:  Continue to add art offerings to parks and recreation events  Establish an Arts Commission  Seek out and attend DEI training and learning opportunities  Create policies for public art expenditures and make initial acquisitions  Purchase practical items such as supplies, storage, and tents for events  Complete an updated arts inventory of all current arts assets and activities  Plan for a funnel into new events  Start a marketing strategy Suggestions by the Council included pursuing partnering opportunities with Tumwater Library and the school district to involve youth and consider TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 7 initiating a program highlighting and involving talented seniors at the Old Town Center. Mayor Sullivan thanked Specialist Bowman for providing the update. BUDGET City Administrator Doan reported the City’s salary schedule is comprised of WORKSHOP #4: a grade and step system covering all regular City employees. The schedule includes nine steps in each grade. An increase in the grade of a position does not necessarily mean an increase in compensation because of steps. Councilmember Schneider commented that based on the rate of growth occurring in the City, he believes more police officers are required, and because of the extended time necessary to recruit, employ, and train a new officer, the City should consider adding more officer positions now rather than delaying the hiring process for another year. City Administrator Doan responded that the Council identified the issue during the budget process with the Council creating a goal to initiate a discussion about determining the appropriate level of staffing in the police department and ways the City could fund positions. Currently, no scenarios exist within the current revenue forecast to fund additional positions. The biennium budget includes three officer positions, as well as a new support position in the police department. Of the three officer positions, one position is a new detective sergeant and two are replacement officers funded for only two years in anticipation of filling positions that would become vacant in the future. The Council’s conversation would likely center on determining the right number of officers and how to fund additional positions. Councilmember Cathey inquired as to whether the budget includes some fire department compensation increases to assist in aligning the department’s compensation rate similar to the rate of compensation within the Olympia Fire Department. City Administrator Doan affirmed some compensation and operational changes are included within the budget. The Olympia Fire Department is not a comparable fire department for compensation purposes and the budget adjustments would not match Olympia Fire Department’s current compensation rates. However, the proposed Regional Fire Authority (RFA) budget includes funds that would equalize pay, but only if the RFA is approved by voters. Fire Chief Hurley said the budget proposal for battalion fire chiefs has been included in previous budget requests and is not related to the current efforts to create the RFA. Councilmember Schneider emphasized his concerns surrounding the inability of maintaining an appropriate police officer staffing level in TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 8 anticipation of the City adding up to 3,000 new residents over the next several years based on current and future development activity. City Administrator Doan replied that the issue needs to be addressed by the Council in terms of the staffing level for police officers and whether officers per 1,000 capita is the only measure to use to determine the department’s staffing level. At this time, the current budget forecast does not include funding resources to pay for additional officers. City Administrator Doan advised of a budget public hearing scheduled on December 6, 2022. Councilmember Dahlhoff requested consideration of a goal to transition from dash cameras to body cameras for police officers over a two to five year period or include the goal within the police department discussion. A majority of the Council supported adding the goal to the future police staffing discussion. CITY LOGO: City Administrator Doan introduced the topic and reminded the Council that the City’s logo is not considered the City’s brand. Conversations with new employees have been interesting in terms of the current logo, as it has been identified as outdated. The conversation is not intended to recommend a new logo but it will include information and concepts reviewed by the General Government Committee. Manager Cook briefed members on concepts and the process for transitioning to a new logo for the City of Tumwater. The General Government Committee reviewed some concepts and discussed logos and brand. The current logo is dated in terms of style. Manager Cook described the brand experience as a sum of all the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and reactions that individuals have in response to a brand. It is the lasting impression that remains after someone encounters or engages with a brand in any environment. A new contemporary logo design demonstrates the City’s ability to adapt to changing demographics and cultivates an image of the organization’s culture. It allows the public to feel reassured that the organization will be proactive in keeping current and will provide the best in services. A city logo as brand identity of a city symbolizes a city’s assets and positive features in people’s minds and plays a significant role to reinforce the city branding strategy. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING November 7, 2022 Page 9 Manager Cook shared a copy of the City’s current logo and several local city logos and other city logos in Western Washington. She shared several examples of other contemporary and simpler logos. Manager Cook presented and described several samples of a new logo for the City. The plan includes a slow rollout of the new logo with prioritization of items to update as the City transitions to a new logo. Discussion by staff and the Council included:  Questions on the cost of transitioning to a new logo  Staff recommends not pursuing a public process for logo design suggestions  The logo should be colorful and vibrant  Support for including the brewtower and Tumwater Falls  Prefer not including the brewtower as it is in the City’s historic past  A request for more and different logo examples  The contemporary example does not align with the atmosphere of the City. Consider a placemaking design reflective of a community that is connected and supported Manager Cook reported the next step in the process is to consider the feedback and work with a graphic designer to prepare a logo samples using proposal #3 as a baseline, including some color, and considering ways to include Tumwater Falls. MAYOR/CITY Mayor Sullivan conveyed her appreciation for support by staff and the ADMINISTRATOR’S Council during her recent absence. REPORT: ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mayor Sullivan adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net