General Government Committee

TUMWATER GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING May 8, 2024 PAGE 1 CONVENE: 8:00 a.m. PRESENT: Chair Michael Althauser and Councilmembers Joan Cathey and Leatta Dahlhoff. Staff: City Administrator Lisa Parks, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Community Development Director Michael Matlock, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer, Police Chief Jon Weiks, Planning Manager Brad Medrud, Building Official Al Christensen, and Land Use and Housing Planner Erika Smith-Erickson. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE, APRIL 10, 2024: MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Chair Althauser, to approve the minutes of April 10, 2024 as published. A voice vote approved the motion. Councilmember Cathey joined the meeting. ORDINANCE NO. O2024- Building Official Christensen reported every three years, staff 001, UPDATES TO TITLE updates codes for consistency with the State Building Code Council. 15 (2021 BUILDING CODE Other than changes to the energy code, other changes were minimal. UPDATE: Some of the small changes include proposed adjustments to the Fire Code for fire requirements for fire flow. The state enacted changes to the energy code, which is also proposed for adoption by the City. Changes for electric vehicles and solar panels are included. During the last code update cycle, staff presented changes for tiny homes. Recent changes to the codes include some adjustments for tiny homes. Building Official Christensen noted that for the most part, the City adopts the state codes as codified. The City has the option of enacting stronger codes but nothing less than the codes required by the State Building Code Council effective March 15, 2024. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Councilmember Cathey, to recommend placement of Ordinance No. O2024-001, Updates to Title 15 Building Codes on the City Council consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 Council meeting and recommend approval. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. MEMORANDUM OF Manager Medrud reported the proposal is for joint participation with UNDERSTANDING WITH the cities of Lacey, Olympia, and Yelm on a housing displacement TUMWATER GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING May 8, 2024 PAGE 2 THE CITIES OF LACEY, and racially disparate impacts analysis. The analysis is a OLYMPIA, AND YELM requirement of the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan as FOR A HOUSING part of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update process. The DISPLACEMENT AND Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) enables the City to RACIALLY DISPARATE compensate the City of Olympia for the contract the City of Olympia IMPACTS ANALYSIS FOR will be managing to complete the analysis. The contract is THE HOUSING ELEMENT approximately for $85,000 with the City’s share of approximately 22 OF THE 2025 percent or less than $19,000. The important work requires expertise COMPREHENSIVE PLAN beyond the capacity of staff. The analysis will benefit from experts PERIODIC UPDATE: to assist the cities in obtaining the information required as part of the periodic update. Staff recommends the committee place the proposed action on the Council’s consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 meeting with a recommendation for approval. Additionally, staff has engaged in ongoing housing conversations with different groups in the community representing the building industry and various service providers. Housing displacement and racially disparate are issues of concern, as well as important to discuss with various community groups. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked how the work correlates with the work of the Regional Housing Council (RHC). Manager Medrud replied that because the information is required by the periodic update, the effort will be independent of the Regional Housing Council except for updates to the RHC on the status of efforts on the Housing Element as part of the periodic update. Councilmember Cathey noted the information related to the work speaks to affordable housing for all income levels. She asked whether that would change current conversations. Manager Medrud said it would entail an additional element of the conversation, as the racially disparate impacts analysis is separate from the income analysis. Although both are related, the requirements by the state are on two separate paths. The final product will be informed by both issues with the possibility of some overlap while distinctly separate. MOTION: Councilmember Cathey moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to place the Memorandum of Understanding on May 21, 2024, City Council consent calendar with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. INTERLOCAL DATA Director Niemeyer reported the next two proposed actions are SHARE AGREEMENT related. The proposed agreements were initiated because of a data TUMWATER GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING May 8, 2024 PAGE 3 WITH THE STATE breach experienced by the State Auditor’s Office. The Legislature AUDITOR’S OFFICE: adopted a law requiring data sharing agreements with all state and local governments subject to audit by the State Auditor’s Office. The proposals are at no cost to the City and essentially address the protection of City data and to ensure the State Auditor’s Office complies with state law. The first proposal is to recommend placement of the Interlocal Data Share Agreement with the State Auditor’s Office on the City Council consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 meeting for approval. The second proposal is a request to authorize the Finance Director to sign future agreements. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked about the process of informing the Council of proposals signed by the Finance Director moving forward. Director Niemeyer responded that the proposals renew every two years. Notification to the Council could be through email. Additionally, the proposal covers audit engagement letters that contain information on the cost of the audit to the City, which is non-negotiable. City Attorney Kirkpatrick advised that staff will be presenting a proposed code amendment for the delegation of authority later in the year. The audit letter will be a topic of discussion during that review, as well as the authority by the Finance Director to administer some of the routine audit contracts. For the purpose of the discussion, the proposed action is within the authority to authorize future data share agreements while the code update would be deferred to a future conversation. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Councilmember Cathey, to place the proposed Interlocal Data Share Agreement with the State Auditor’s Office on the consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 City Council meeting with a recommendation for approval, authorizing the Mayor to sign the Interlocal Data Share Agreement between the City and the State Auditor’s Office. Additionally, authorize the Finance Director to sign future Data Share Agreements and other standard audit documents, such as audit engagement letters, with the State Auditor Office. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. LAW ENFORCEMENT (See above discussion) RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INTERLOCAL DATA SHARE AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE TUMWATER GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING May 8, 2024 PAGE 4 AUDITOR’S OFFICE: MOTION: Councilmember Cathey moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to place the proposed Law Enforcement Records Management System Interlocal Data Share Agreement with the State Auditor’s Office on the consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 City Council Meeting with a recommendation for approval, and authorize the Mayor to sign the Interlocal Data Share Agreement with the State Auditor’s Office. Additionally, authorize the Finance Director to sign routine audit documents such as data share agreements and audit engagement letters. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. ENTERPRISE RESOURCE Director Niemeyer reported on the implementation of the new PLANNING SYSTEM Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System in January 2022 with CONTRACT the first module launched in April 2023 both on time and under AMENDMENT NO. 2: budget. However, the speed and the intensive efforts required to implement future modules contributed to staff turnover in the City. The phase 1 attempt to implement HR and Payroll modules continued. However, the HR Department experienced a full turnover in staff. Subsequently implementation activities were paused temporarily. With the HR Department fully staffed, the City is resuming implementation but has encountered some initial challenges requiring an extension of time to August before the new modules are launched. The proposal represents a contract increase of approximately $35,000, which is included within the budget for the project but increases the overall contract amount. The request is to place the proposal on the consent calendar at the May 21, 2024 City Council and approve the Finance Director to approve small contract amendments on the project up to 10% of the contract amount similar to the process used by public works. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked about the current process for contract amendments. Director Niemeyer explained that the proposed action pertains only to the ERP contract representing an approximate $89,000 authority to sign contract amendments or change orders. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked whether staff foresees more delay prior to August. Director Niemeyer said he is hopeful that there would be no further delays prior to August but during continued implementation of the entire system over the next several years for additional modules, it is likely more delays would be encountered. MOTION: Chair Althauser moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to place the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Contract Amendment on the consent calendar at the May 21, TUMWATER GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING May 8, 2024 PAGE 5 2024 City Council meeting, with a recommendation to approve. Additionally, authorize the Finance Director to approve minor contract amendments and change orders, up to ten percent (10%) of the total contract amount. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. ORDINANCE NO. O2024- Director Niemeyer said the proposal would create a new fund for the 003 ESTABLISHING A Thurston County public safety sales tax ballot measure approved by NEW FUND “PUBLIC voters providing a 0.2 percent sales tax increase countywide. City SAFETY SALES TAX”: with police forces are sharing in the tax revenue. The funds are restricted to public safety purposes. The sales tax increase is permanent... Staff anticipated receiving initial funds in June 2024; however, the City recently received $1.85 to date, requiring designation of the new fund. A new fund enables easier tracking and documentation of appropriate expenditures of the funds as allowed. Staff recommends the committee place the proposal on the Council’s May 21, 2024 meeting consent calendar with a recommendation for approval. Director Niemeyer addressed questions about the establishment of the account explaining that the proposal is only to create the account and not for any particular expenditures. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Councilmember Cathey, to place the proposal on the consent calendar at the May 21, 2024, City Council meeting with a recommendation of approval to adopt Ordinance No. O2024-003, establishing a new fund for the new Public Safety Sales Tax. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Chair Althauser adjourned the meeting at 8:33 a.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net