City Council

Mayor Council President Councilors TWood cnLC John C Miner Jairo Rios-Campos LynneaAmend Mark dark DaraTan WOODVILLAGECITY COUNCIL MINUTES JULY 11, 2023 PRESENT Mayor John C Miner, Council President Jairo Rios-Campos, Councilors Lynnea Amend, Mark dark and Dara Tan, City Attorney JeffCondit, City Manager Greg Dirks, Director of Public Works John Niiyama, Director of Finance Seth Reeser, and interested parties, Meeting opened at 6:09 pm ABSENT None PROCLAMATION:PARKSANDRECREATIONMONTH Miner read the proclamation designating July the Parks and Recreation month, Miner recognized Mike Abbatefor hiswork in parks and recreation. CITIZENCOMMENTS (NON-AGENDAITEMS) Dirks noted there was an email conversation with a resident regarding banning fireworks. Portland implemented a ban last year for both use and sale. Fairview considered provisional banning based on weather. Until there's a larger regional ban, they would still be readily available. Dirks noted we received a phone call about unmuffled breaking in early morning hours on the 238th hill. Noted it is difficult to regulate unless it occurs routinely at the same time. Multnomah County did a noise study and the resident was referred to their transportation department. dark noted he hears it often at his house. PUBLICSAFETYREPORT Lt, Hemsworth presented the public safety report. There were 132 dispatched calls and 124 self-initiated calls last month. There were three hit and runs, all ofthem occurred in parking lots. Three vehicles were reported stolen. Planningforthe Nile Out is ongoing. City Council Minutes July 11, 20231 Page 1 Miner noted there's a "Text 911" sticker on the sheriffcars and asked if this feature is running and effective. Lt. Hemsworth responded that the 911 texting feature is operational. It's a robust system that has been in place for a while. Amend noted that it has been operational for years and it's a good option for hearing impaired and domestic violence. Minerwould like to promote and let people knowit's an option. Tan asked if it's a chat bot or standard texting and if it has a better response rate than calling. Dirks noted that we can include an article in the next newsletter. DISCUSSION: SDC/RATE STUDY Steve Donovan presented the SDC and Rate Study. Donovan explained what SDC fees are and the difference between the reimbursement fee and the improvement fee. SDCs are one-time fees charged to new developers to purchase existing or planned capacity in the system. The capital improvement lists from the recently completed Water and Sewer Master Plans were used to calculate updated SDC rates. The proposed SDC fee also includes a small administrative fee to cover management. SDC revenues are restricted funds and can only be spent on capacity expanding projects or the portion of a project that expands capacity. While not required, they do have an impact on infrastructure development and the composition ofthe city's future tax base. The Council's policy on SDC pricing must strike a balance between developments paying for additional capacity and promoting growth. The proposed SDC rates are increased from current, but still in range and very comparable with cities around the region. Rios-Campos asked if the SDCs are paid up front. Dirks responded that SDCs are paid during construction and there is a funding option available, Donovan continued with the rate study presentation. The water fund is strong, and the 5-year forecast does not include any borrowing for capital improvements. The recommendation is to maintain a 4%/year rate increaseto keep pacewith inflation and cashfinancefuturewatercapital projects. Minerasked if that ratewould keep pacewith increasingcosts. Donovan responded that water rate increases should be reviewed and adjusted in five years or if inflation substantially changes. He also noted that the increase rate would be reviewed annually as part of the budgetprocess. Donovan noted that the sewer fund is not in good shape. The fund will need to borrow money for the Wood Village trunk sewer project. The staff and engineering team are still reviewing actual capacity and needed capacity, but if the project goes forward the sewer rates will need an annual 8% increase, dark noted the sewer line was installed when the waste treatment plant was shut down in the 70's and the populationwasaround 1000. City Council Minutes July 11, 20231 Page 2 Minerasked if the rate increasewasbasedon the estimated $3.5 million projectcost. Donovan respondedthat the increaseaccountsfor inflation. The state clean waterloan program is an option forfundingthe projectwith good terms and a discounted interest rate. Miner asked if that program is consistent year to year or subject to cutting by legislative. Donovan responded it is a very solid program. He also noted that if the sewer line project is not needed the proposed increasewould be 4% annually, Current rates are very lowin waterand higherin sewer compared to cities in the region. One recommendation is to remove the 400 cf allotment for residential accounts included in the monthly basecharge. Thecurrent ratestructure results in lowwaterusers paying a higher fee than they would based on usage. Lowvolume users could save money, but it does impact the stability ofthe revenue for the water fund. The second recommendation is to remove the retired discount rate. This program is not income basedand is not reviewed. At a minimum, there should be a meanstest for this program. Dirksnoted thatwe wouldn'tknowifother people moved intothe houseand the discountratewouldn't change unless the account holder changed. Amend askedwhatmeanstesting would involve. Donovanrespondedthatsomecities use tax returns and some use otherforms. Reeser noted that for the Cares and ARPA programs wejust verified they were already in a means tested program. Also, this discount is only for retired people in their own home and directly billed by the city. Most low-income residents are in multi-family properties such as condos, apartments, and mobile homes and are noteligiblefor this program. Donovanaddedthatthe third recommendation is to changethe sewersingle-familyresidentialflat rate. Single family residences currently pay a high sewer flat fee regardless of usage. The recommendation is to change this rate to a lower monthly base fee and add a consumption fee using winter averaging. This would also create more variability in revenues since it would be tied to usage. Reeser noted that the methodology for SDC rates is very prescriptive, and the main decision is whether to charge the maximum potential rate or not. The Council has more control over rate structures for the utilities, Reeser presented water usage compared to revenue for a prior calendar year, Single-family residences make up about20% ofthe use and revenue, which is very unusual. There is a lot of usageand revenue coming from multi-family and business accounts. Three large business users account for about 40% of the water consumption and revenue and the top ten business accounts generate more revenue than all the single-family residential accounts combined. This makes the water revenue very sensitive to a small numberof users. Charginga lowerbaseand high usagefee makesthe system more volatile and price sensitive. Ifone or two of the large business users leave, the rates would see a large increase to offset the revenue loss. Generally, about 2/3 of the revenue should come from the base fee and 1/3 from the usage fee forstability. Ifwe increasethe usagechargethatwould really impactthe high-volumeusers, conversely if we increase the base, it will impact everyone else about 30 to 40%, Most of the comments we get from customers is they don't use much water but pay the same as their neighbors. In that regard, it City Council Minutes July 1 1, 20231 Page 3 makessense to look at removing the 400cf allotment in the baseand adjustthesewerflat to a baseand usage rate. This would benefit low users and shift costs to higher users in the system, however it does makethe revenue more volatile. The current revenuesplit is about55% baseand 45% usage. Using a scenario based on removing the 400 cf out of the base charge, the revenue split would be about 41% base and 59% usage. Reesernoted thatideallyyou wouldwantabout2/3 ofthe revenueto comefrom the basecharge, but you must balancethatagainstallowing users some control overtheirbill. There are somethingsthatcan be doneto help mitigatethe revenue volatility issue. Wecould build in a lowerusageassumption whichwould result in higherrate increases. Wecould also set highercontingencyorfund balancerequirements. Expectthat rates mightneed to fluctuate a lotfrom yearto yearbasedon usageand weathersuch aswet summers. Staffwill bring some additional models, scenarios, and sample rates along with impact to typical users. Donovan noted thatthe utilities arestill in a good position and thecurrent rate structure doeswork, Amend noted the summers will likely be getting hotter and drier. Rios-Camposstated wewill need to figureout howto stabilizethe sewerrevenue and it will be crucial how we set the sewer rates going forward. Amend asked how often the rate increase will be needed. Donovan responded that the rate increase would be yearly. Minernoted the funds are in good shape. Rios-Campos could you charge more on consumption and reduce the base for businesses. Reeser responded that we can, but the high users might complain, and it makes the revenue more volatile. dark commented that he doesn't see howwe'll be able to save enough money in sewer to cover a loan of that sizewhen it took 15 years to pay off a $1 million loan. Donovan respondedthatwith an annual8% increasethe revenuewill double in 7 years. Dirks added that staff is still looking at the trunk line comprehensively and trying to determine what exactly is needed. Mineraskedwhatthe state program is forfunding. Donovan responded it is a clean waterstate revolving loan programwhichhasputbillions into cleanwater projects. Reeser added we could also do a revenue bond. Minernoted there is $1 million forArata in the sewermaster plan and asked ifthatis an imminentproject, Dirks responded thatthe big project is the sewertrunk line and mosteverything in the sewercapital plan is development driven. City Council Minutes July 11, 2023 | Page 4 Miner asked why we are not increasing the sewer SDC rate more since we have large sewer capital projects coming up. Donovan responded you can only charge SDCs based on the portion ofthe project that increases capacity. The trunk line project is 94% replacementand only 6%growth andthat limits the SDCcharge. Minercommented he would lean on the sideofstabilityfor revenues. Rios-Campos agreed there is not much potential for growth and we need to look at stability. dark commented there is still the potential for a high use business to move into an existing commercial location and that would increasethe revenues. Minerasked staffto come backwith a reasonablenumberof modeling studiesforthe rates basedon stability. Reeser responded staffwill bring back two scenarios based on current rate structure and one shifted to more conservation-based rates. RESOLUTION19.2023: PAVEMENTPRESERVATIONBIDAWARD Niiyama presented the pavement preservation bid award. The budget is $150 thousand for the annual investment. We received one bid for the project on 237th, 231st, Shannon St, and Shannon Ct. forjust over $129 thousand. The current pavement index is 75. CR Contracting has been awarded the contract for the last 4 years and they have been good to work with, This will pretty much complete the whole lower city, leaving only Shea Ln, 230th Ct, and 240th Ct remaining in the lower system, Staff recommends authorizing the City Manage to execute a contract not to exceed the $150 thousand budgeted amount. This is the final year paying offthe Cedar Ln project and next fiscal year we will have the resources for a larger project. Upon motion by Rios-Campos, seconded by Tan and passing 5-0, Resolution 19-2023 was approved. DISCUSSION:MUNICIPALCODEREVISIONS Dirks presented the background on the comprehensive code update/cleanup effort for the past couple of years. There were a few proposed changes that directly impact the community and we asked for community input. The community responses indicated there should not be any changes to the large commercial truck parkingcodedueto concernsaroundvisibilityand limited parking in some areas. There was more interest in allowing non-commercial construction work on weekends. The proposed revision is to allow non-commercial construction on weekends from 10 am to 7 pm. Several community members asked aboutexpandingthe chicken codeto be allowed in otherareasin the city. The current codepermits up to three chickensin the LR7.5 zonewith setbacksand specificationsfor the coop and run. Most respondents seemed open to allowing this ifthere is adequate space and the area is maintained. Some people also askedforthe numberofchickensto be increased.The recommendation is to expandthe current codeto City Council Minutes July 11, 2023 | Page 5 the LR 12zoneand monitorfeedbackfor potential future revisions. Thecodechangeswill be broughtback at the nextCouncil meetingfor adoption. Council had no questions or comments. DISCUSSION: HOLIDAY FOOD EVEMTS Dirkspresented backgroundinformation on the previous holidayfood events. Movingforward, should these events be run by the City, with a partner organization or should the Cityjust donate funds to an existing program. Stafftime would still be required ifwe mn the event in-house or with a partner organization. Donatingfundsto an existing programwould notrequire stafftime, butwewould not haveany inputon the process. Minernoted thatoverthe lastthreeyearswe've addedthreeevents and the communitygrantprogram all ofwhichtake stafftime, Weall likeevents and havingthe community involved, butwe also must balance that engagementwith our primaryfunction as a Citythatprovides publicsafety, water, sewer, streets, parks etc. Wealso addedan additionalstaffperson overthe lastyearand mostoftheirtime is spenton events. Rios-Camposaskedifthe EastCounty Food Bankdoesanythingforthe Christmasholidayand howmany WoodVillageresidentswereserved by them lastyearforthe Turkey Meal event. Dirksrespondedthattheydid not do anything last yearforthe Christmasholidayand thatWoodVillage participationwasa little less. There were also a fewbarriers last yearthatcould beworkedoutforfuture events. dark mentioned thatsome peopledon'thavea placeto cook. Amend asked if staff had a recommendation. Dirksrespondedthat runningthe event in-houseinvolves a lot ofstafftime. Wecould partnerwiththe East County Food Bankand promote the eventthroughourcommunitygroups, such as LideresNaturales. Promoting and encouraging the program and the food pantry might be a better use of stafftime. Miner noted the food pantry has only been around a couple years and it would be good for them to take overoneofthe events. Wecould donatethe money and helpthem thisyearwith the plan forthem to run the program goingforward.Thiswould give the community a consistentplaceto getfood and wouldenable them to growthe event. dark asked if it waslegal to donatethe money. Conditrespondedthere would needto be a publicpurpose and benefitto the community articulated and would haveto qualifythat it is forWoodVillageresidents. Rios-Campos suggested having that conversation with them and highlighting them as a resource within our community and understandingthat it's a partnership. Tan suggestedsetting clearexpectationsforthe serviceprovided and communicating to the community thatthe City is supporting thisevent. City Council Minutes July 11, 20231 Page 6 Dirks noted that they run the Saturday program well and trying to expand for the holiday meal program was a learning experience. Reeser suggested entering into a multi-year agreement with them to increase the program and build some consistency, Miner agreed with that idea and would like to help support and build their organization as a resource for our community. Rios-Campos noted they could use that to get additional support from other cities and the county. Amend addedthatwe need to makethe communityawareofthis resource. Dirks noted that last year we partnered with UberEats for delivery and will work on a solution for people that don'thavea placeto cook. DIRECTOROF PUBLICWORKSREPORT Niiyamapresented the publicworksdirectorreport, Staffdid all the valve can adjustmentsforthe street paving on Glisan. There was a fire in Donald L Robertson Park near the Cottonwood property line. We have not received an officialreportfrom Gresham Fire, buttheydid respond. There were notany injuries, and an arborist has assessedthe area. Onetree hadto be removed and staffcompleted erosion control measures. Erika passed herWastewater Collection II test and is now our responsible person for the City. Construction for Chipotle is proceeding, and the tentative opening date is in November. The water loss was 11.9% for May now that we are getting more accurate SCADAdata. Reeseraddedthatstaffhas been looking at every aspectof the utilityfrom billing to SCADAdatato engineering, capital projects, and operations. CITY MANAGER REPORT Dirks presented the city manager report. He asked which Councilor would like to be on the scholarship review panel with him and the Mayor. Tan noted she would like to be on the review committee. Dirks discussed the plan forthe City booth at the Nite Out. There will be 1 1 info boards and trivia cards with a dunk booth. Council can contact Carolineto sign up fortheevent, CITY ATTORNEY REPORT Condit noted that while the legislature session has ended, although not sure what the impact is yet from the legislation that passed. He will have a report at a future meeting for Council. City Council Minutes July 1 1, 2023|Page 7 MAYOR & COUNCIL COMMENTS Nothing. ADJOURNMENT With no furtherbusiness, the Council adjourned at 8:19pm. A John C, Miner MAYOR ATTEST. CITYRECORD R City Council Minutes July 1 1, 2023 | Page 8