City Council

CITY OF UNIVERSITY PLACE MINUTES Regular Meeting of the City Council Tuesday, January 3, 2023 1. CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Worthington called the Regular Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. UN 2. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken by the Deputy City Clerk as follows: Councilmember Keel Present (arrived at 6:35) FC Councilmember Wood Present Councilmember McCluskey Present Councilmember Flemming Present OF Councilmember Belleci Present Mayor Pro Tem Figueroa Present Mayor Worthington Present Staff Present: City Manager Sugg, City Attorney Kaser, Director of Engineering and Capital Projects Ecklund, Director of Community and Economic Development Briske, Director of Administrative Services Petorak, Police Chief Premo, Parks Maintenance Supervisor West, and Deputy City Clerk Nicholas. 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IA LD Council Member McCluskey led Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: By Mayor Pro Tem Figueroa, seconded by Council Member Belleci, to approve the agenda. UM The motion carried. 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS – None OC 6. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION: By Mayor Pro Tem Figueroa, seconded by Council Member Belleci, to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: A. Approve the minutes of the December 5, 2022 Council meeting as submitted. B. Receive and File: Payroll for period ending October 31, 2022, November 15, 2022, November 30, 2022, and December 15, 2022 and Claims and Wires dated November 30, 2022 and December 15, 2022. EN C. Pass an ordinance amending Chapter 3.10 of the University Place Municipal Code relating to credit limits for City credit cards. (ORDINANCE NO. 768) D. Authorize the City Manager to execute a professional services agreement with Lance, Soll & Lunghard, LLP for the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report preparation assistance and financial consulting in an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00). T The motion carried. 7. CITY MANAGER & COUNCIL COMMENTS/REPORTS City Manager Sugg introduced Director of Engineering and Capital Projects Ecklund to provide recent park related updates. Mr. Ecklund reported approval of the Recreation and Conservation Office National Park Service grant for Cirque Park. Next steps include generating contracts for replacement and upgrades to skate park structures, pavement of trails around the ball field, installation of exercise stations, and eventually, installation of an inclusive playground.  City Council Minutes of January 3, 2023 Page 2 Lastly, he conveyed a request from the University Place Park and Recreation Foundation for input on the City’s park-naming process to use as incentive during its fundraising campaign. With no City policy in place, he offered potential controls and limitations, disadvantages associated with park naming, and a hybrid option that would name sponsors but use a non-sponsor park name. Mayor Worthington requested that council members send their questions to City Manager Sugg and when answered, decide if they are interested in pursuing the topic. UN Council Member Keel announced that Fircrest is now representing the City on the Pierce Transit Board, and that he completed his three-year service as Sound Transit Board chair. In his new role as Sound Transit vice chair, he will be hosting Federal Aviation Deputy Administrator Mims and hopes to introduce him to the City by hosting here. FC Council Member McCluskey thanked staff for their understanding and responsiveness to residents’ concerns that she brought forward earlier. OF Council Member Flemming thanked Public Works staff for their recent work on the roads during the winter storm. Council Member Belleci thanked the Pierce County Fire Department for their prompt response to the king tide incident on Day Island and thanked the Public Works crew for their sacrifice of additional personal time to keep residents safe during the winter storm. IA Mayor Pro Tem Figueroa thanked staff for keeping the City operational and complimented staff for superb interactions with residents. He shared his appreciation for newest Council Members Flemming and Wood who work collaboratively with fellow Council members which has maintained Council cohesiveness. He LD also thanked Council Member Keel for representing the City on Association of Washington Cities and Sound Transit and noted that that service will continue to benefit the City into the future. Mayor Worthington reflected that 2022 was a good year and projected 2023, with the professional efforts by staff, would be another good year. UM STUDY SESSION 8. CITY COMMISSIONS WORKPLANS OC Economic Development Advisory Commissioner Vice Chair Koontz provided the Commission’s 2023 Work Plan. The work is in support of Council Goal number 2 - Utilize targeted strategies with focused efforts to grow and strengthen the business community. Work planned leaves room to take on other projects throughout the year. Council members had interest in ongoing relationship building by the commissioners engaging with businesses to gather feedback regarding their needs. There was also interest in branding development and EN influencing businesses in the 27th Street Business District toward revitalization and community-based engagement planning. Park Advisory Commissioner Vice Chair Wolfe recapped the Commission’s 2022 work and announced the 2023 Work Plan. Council members encouraged the Commission to work with consultants to engage the community in the T parks master plan development, promote volunteer efforts to fill the gap in park maintenance, incorporate all-age interests in the parks including seniors, develop methods to leverage park usage, build connectivity between parks, work with partners to provide passive and active recreation, develop a clear budget and funding breakdown to solicit public interest in funding, and provide funded and unfunded recreation program options.  City Council Minutes of January 3, 2023 Page 3 Suggestions were made to provide the Commission with more detailed parameters for its work on the long- term planning for a community center and youth recreation programs. With no funding for these projects, Council expressed the need for clear messaging to avoid public misperception of short-term goals. Planning Commission Vice Chair McKenzie delivered the Commission’s 2023 Work Plan. Council members voiced interest in maintaining focus on integration of the proposed Chambers Bay project, considering the Four Corners project in work for the Northeast Business District Plan, including a healthy lifestyle component with each district plan, encouraging developers to build affordable housing, providing UN approaches to middle housing with opportunity to build equity, and exploring cottage style collective communities. Requests were made for the Commission to alert Council when any regulations related to middle housing arise that conflict with the City’s code. Questions were answered regarding the Housing Action Toolkit FC components that will be considered as part of the comprehensive plan update. 9. AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT RETENTION BENEFIT OF Director of Administrative Services Petorak presented Council with recruitment and retention options for use of available American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds. She provided background on difficulties of the City’s recruitment and retention efforts since the pandemic and noted recruitment for technical positions are even more challenging. Amid a surge in retirement since 2021, public and private sector companies began offering retention incentives which could now be considered a necessary employment option. Offered for Council to consider was a retention incentive program to provide employees $500 per year for only 2023 IA and 2024 at an estimated cost of approximately $30,000 each year. To do so the Department of Treasury requires the following: 1. Agencies show that employees were likely to leave in absence of the bonus. 2. Incentives may be necessary based on the presence of alternatives offered. 3. Retention must not exceed LD traditional offers by the employer or competing offers of another employer. 4. Incentives must be less than 25 percent of the rate of base pay or 10 percent for a group if all the other elements are met. Council discussed staff appreciation, effectiveness of using money as incentive, effectiveness of such a small amount, reducing expenditure from two years to one year, use of one-time funding, expectations of on-going incentives, other options such as a recruitment hiring bonus and vacation incentives, hybrid of EN recruitment and incentives, hiring bonuses for higher skilled and difficult to fill positions, and having staff explore alternative options. UM 10. ADJOURNMENT - The meeting adjourned at 8:52 p.m. No other action was taken. Submitted by, OC Debora Nicholas Deputy City Clerk T