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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/31/95TAPE #1291 UNAPPROVED DRAFT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL APPROVED JUN 14 MAY 31, 1995 #0011 #0030 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Bremerton was called to order in the City Council Chambers, 239 4th Street, Bremerton, Washington, Wednesday, May 31, 1995, at 5:30 P.M., with Council President Sherril Huff-Menees presiding. Council members present were Bob Winters, A1 Colvin, Morrie Dawkins, Carlos Montgomery, John Law, David Farr and Lon Overson. Councilman Richard Neville was absent. Also present were City Attorney Ian Sievers and City Clerk Kathy McCluskey. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Huff-Menees and Invocation given by Jim Bemis, Deacon from Star Of The Sea Catholic Church. CONSENT AGENDA A. Minutes of Meeting - May 17, 1995 #AB95-116 M/S/C/U(Colvin/Montgomery) to approve Consent Agenda as presented. CLAIMS/CHECK REGISTEP~8 Vouchers audited and certified by the auditing officer as required by RCW 42.24.080, and those expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090, have been recorded on a listing that had been made available to the Council. M/S/C/U(Colvin/Montgomery) on May 31, 1995, the Council does approve for payment those vouchers included and further described as follows: 18456, 18458, 18461, 184986 through 185139 in the amount of $918,455.03; and Regular Payroll for the period ending May 15, 1995, in the amount of $613,723.69. President Huff-Menees announced Council will hold an Executive Session on Wednesday, June 7, 5:00 - 5:20 P.M., in the Council Conference Room - Topic of discussion: "Labor Negotiations". COONCIL MEMBER REPORTS Mr. Overson reported he thought Memorial weekend was one of the best we've had in a number of years; and he particularly enjoyed the Memorial Services held at Ivy Green Cemetery. Mr. Farr reported on recent activity in District #6 - residents, lead by Mary Sump, are organizing a clean up effort in the Anderson Cove area as well as helping to clear a lot that is to be turned into a playground. This group is seeking financial donations to help develop the lot, which will provide a playground for children in that area. He was pleased to see people helping each other and TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 2 of 9 helping to turn around a neglected area. Another issue the residents are concerned about and fighting and that is crime. He emphasized many of the properties in that area are rental properties and many are in disrepair and need some attention by the owners. He personally contacted one of the property management firms, Anchor realty, who indicated they would provide some help with maintenance and repairs. He extended an appeal to the property owners of that area to come by and look at their properties and see if an effort can be put into some maintenance and renovation work to improve the neighborhood. Mr. Montgomery reported Friday night he had the privilege of attending Mary Ann Harris's Dinner Theater where he had an excellent dinner and enjoyed the play "Private Lives". He highly recommended that entertainment for a weekend evening. "Private Lives" is scheduled to run from May 25 to June 24. He recommended making reservations for the Dinner Theater early due to tickets selling out quickly. On Memorial Day he attended ceremonies at Retsil Veterans Home, Sunset Lanes and Ivy Green Cemetery. He enjoyed all of the ceremonies and was pleased with the large turnout at each event. He was concerned that only one things was missing from the Ivy Green Ceremony - a live band to play the National Anthem. Mr. Dawkins reported he could not recall how many years it has been since we've had such nice weather for so many days in a row. He cautioned everyone to drive carefully now that school children will be getting out school. Mr. Colvin thanked Mayor Horton for the excellent report she gave to the Bremerton Central Lions Club today. He congratulated all those who organized the Memorial Ceremony at Ivy Green Cemetery. He also congratulated Councilman David Farr for his idea of absentee landowners giving some attention to their rental properties to help improve neighborhoods throughout the City. On Sunday, he was invited to a Kitsap Lake residence where he encountered a situation involving a land dispute, but some people are trying to make it a racial issue. He was told a City Police Officer told one of the property owners in the dispute that if he did not move the City could condemn his property and make him move. He discussed that situation with Mayor Horton, who assured him the City does not operate in that manner. Councilman Winters was also informed of the land dispute issue and attended the same gathering. At first Mr. Colvin was reluctant to go out into District #9 since it was Mr. Winters' neighborhood, but as far as he is concerned a Council members represent the whole City, not just their own neighborhood. Mr. Winters stated he also enjoyed the Memorial ceremonies at Ivy TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 3 of 9 Green Cemetery and was pleased the nice weather added to the holiday weekend. On Sunday, he did stop by the Tortes' residence and spoke with a number of people about the confrontational actions that are being experienced in the neighborhood. What Mr. Boddie and he determined, after walking through that neighborhood and talking with the local residents, is that a few of the neighbors have not even met one another and that was why there was a potluck type picnic to offer them an opportunity to get better acquainted. He felt his job, as a Councilman, was to go and listen to what was being said by both sides of the dispute as well as the surrounding neighbors. He believes tensions within that neighborhood could be lessened if people would be more friendly to one another even if it is just a wave of the hand or saying a "hello" to one another and then let the courts decide the property boundary issue. MAYOR,S REPORT Mayor Lynn Hotton stated when she first learned about the dispute Mr. Winters referenced it seemed like a rather low level but contentious property boundarydispute. Issues like that are fairly easy to deal with from a technical standpoint. But, when emotions tends to get involved it becomes more heated. There are more than one property disputes in the City of Bremerton and they tend to be rather unpleasant. She emphasized if a member of her staff made a statement that the City would condemn property because of a neighborhood dispute, such a statement is erroneous. The City only has certain ways that property can be condemned and the City must show the municipal need in order to initiate such action. A dispute between two neighbors does not qualify. We can't nor do we have any intention to take someone's property away from them. However, she believes the City can be of assistance in helping iron out disputes and has offered to other neighbors in similar circumstances a one-time dispute resolution session to try and mediate the dispute. The City can make such an offer in this situation, if needed. She also emphasized the need to de-escalate the emotions involved from the initial dispute then maybe it can be taken a step-at-a-time to resolve the problem. Mayor Horton reported the City received two financial donations for the Anderson Cove playground project, and she shared some of the accompanying comments. She applauds Ms. Sumps for her efforts in trying to provide a play area for their neighborhood children and to improve the general appearance of the neighborhood. Mayor Horton congratulated all of the organizers of the Memorial Day Ceremonies. She felt it was fitting for this community to not only recognize all of our dead, but specially our veterans. Mayor Horton introduced Dave Peters, Recycling Coordinator for Kitsap County. Mr. Peters announced recently Kitsap County TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 4 of 9 received an award from the Department of Ecology (DOE) - The Best Western Washington Government Waste Reduction And Recycling Program, the most coveted award in the state. This award would not have been possible without the cooperation of the City Of Bremerton and some of the leadership the City of Bremerton has shown in the area of recycling over the years. He wants the City to share in the award even though it was presented to Kitsap County. He thanked Mayor Horton, former Council member Russ Johnson, Harry Wilson, City representative on the County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, Kathleen McCluskey, Director of Administrative Services, Terrie O'Neill, Municipal Services Coordinator, and the citizens of Bremerton. The County-wide recycling rate is 39.5%. PUBLIC RECOGNITION Robert Boddie, Director of P.O.W.E.R., stated the matter with the Mr. & Mrs. Tortes was brought to his attention at one of the NAACP and after meeting with Mr. Torres and his family, he took it upon himself, along with some other organization (Blacks In Government, National Coalition Of Malicious Harassment, NAACP, Kitsap County Human Rights Council), to show community support and put together a potluck/barbecue to try and take down some of the tension in the neighborhood. When he canvassed the Torres' neighborhood he found a lot of anger and hostility because people are looking at the situation as "not in our neighborhood", and some commented they had some Indian in them and they work with coloreds. He pointed out the name "colored" has been out for a long time and in his opinion that community does need some help. He emphasized not everyone in that neighborhood are "racist", however, people perceive that because a black man lives in the area the area could become violent and an area that is inviting to gangs. No one should be judged by the color of their skin or where they work or how much money they make. Approximately 75-80 people attended the barbecue on Sunday and those attending came as far away as Shelton and Bainbridge Island. Kitsap County Commissioner Matt Ryan and Councilmen Colvin and Winters also attended that gathering. Those attending were from all races, cultures, adults as well as children. It also upset him a great deal to hear that a Bremerton Police Officer would say to an individual that they should move out of the area or that the City could cause him to move out of the area. He stressed the importance of people getting acquainted with one another and communicating in a way that people know what is going on in a particular area. He was pleased that people showed concern throughout the whole County. David Johnson, member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Odor Control project, again asked the question: "Is the City proposing to condemn the area north of the wastewater treatment plant"? He wanted an answer, either way, so that the residents in that area could be informed. He did receive TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 5 of 9 a response from Ian Sievers, City Attorney that stated: "He was basically responding to Mr. Johnson's request at the City Council meeting of May 17, 1995, requesting a formal cancellation of this project, by the Mayor,.or a preparation of a SEPA checklist for the project that the City plans on going forward". Mr. Johnson emphasized that was not his request...his request was simply was the condemnation of property a viable proposal. He and his neighbors in the subject area would like to get on with their lives, one way or another. Again, he requested a response. 7A - PROFESSIONAL SERVICE CONTRACTS FOR RETAINED COUNSEL: JEAN SCHIEDLER-BROWN & ASSOCIATES~ AND CASEY & PRUZAN, #AB95-117 The 1995 Legal Department budget reallocated funding for two civil assistant city attorney positions to professional services with the objective to retain private counsel for claims and litigation services beginning in May. The two staff positions have actually been vacant since the beginning of the year. A selection was conducted this spring beginning with a request for proposals in three categories of related legal representation: Lend Use/Environmental, Personnel/Labor, and General Tort/Contract. With the assistance of affected departments, submittals were screened for qualifications and proposals requested of those qualified. Four to five firms submitting the best proposals were interviewed by a selection team, with the Mayor, Council, and interested departments participating. The committee recommends the Casey & Pruzan firm to handle litigation in the Land Use/Environmental and Tort/Contract areas, and to provide research and consultation in these areas as requested. The firm of Jean Schiedler-Brown & Associates is recommended for the area of Personnel/Labor and research and consultation in this area as requested. Both are two year contracts terminable upon four months notice. The Casey & Pruzan firm will bill at $100 per hour, and the Schiedler-Brown firm will bill at $95 per hour. Ian Sievers, City Attorney, pointed out a correction on the term of the Schiedler-Brown contract... termination date of 1997 instead of 1995. During the interview of the finalist, an issue was raised about charging for travel between Bremerton and Seattle since both of them are Seattle firms. An agreement has been reached with both firms that they would not bill for time on the ferry traveling between Seattle and Bremerton unless they were working on Bremerton cases. In response to being asked to comment on the number of local firms TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 6 of 9 submitting proposals, in the earlier Prosecution contract seven of the nine firms that submitted proposal or qualifications were Kitsap County firms. On the other three areas of civil litigation, six of the 19 firms submitting qualifications or proposal were Kitsap County firms. By the time the final interviews were set, 3- 4 Kitsap County firms were part of that group. Mr. Sievers explained he included both contracts under a single Agenda Bill since it is a single budgetaryprogram change, however, However, two separate motions for approval are necessary. Public comment - none. Mr. Overson asked if there would be any more contract for legal services coming to Council? Mr. Sievers stated these contracts will be the last for outside retained counsel. He noted the only caveat would be if some of the firms that have been retained by the City in the past need adjustments. As he mentioned when presenting the Carney Badly contract, that was a set of figures that would probably need to be adjusted this calendar year if in fact we had to continue paying them rather than having the insurance counsel pick up that cost. Other than the Foster, Pepper & Shefelman contracts, which may need amendments on amounts, this should conclude hiring outside counsel services. Mr. Overson questioned if an assessment was conducted on the applicants as to their effectiveness in the areas of their expertise, and if he had a measure for that data? Mr. Sievers stated the City requested a specific proposal and once a review was made of their general qualifications for the submittal in areas they thought they qualified, in most cases the City received more specific background from the firms that were finally interviewed. Also, the interviews themselves did focus on those specific areas of legal services the City was wanting covered (labor/personnel, general tort and contract defense, land use and environmental law). In some cases, a secondary conference call interview was conducted. Mr. Overson stated Mr. Sievers will have a challenge as the manager of the department budget to make it all fit in according to the estimates. He asked Mr. Sievers if he felt comfortable with that aspect of monitoring the contracts? Mr. Sievers agreed with Mr. Overson that it will be a challenge. Many times attorneys grab onto to a case and it is hard to wrestle it back within a budgetary parameter. He felt if a fair amount of time was given to strategizing how the defense will be handled, and ask for preliminary budgets and revisions as they progress through a case, budgetarily it could be contained and not over litigated. The firms will be asked to submit their billings by individual claim or case so that a history can be developed showing the kind of cases money is being spent on and to provide better control. TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 7 of 9 Mr. Farr asked if he understood correctly that in coordinating the contracts for this legal service that he will have some sort of an understanding how much time would be involved in a particular case before authorization is given to move forward on it? Mr. Sievers stated yes, early on when the case is assigned or submitted to the firm the first thing he will do is to develop a strategy outlining their estimated cost through certain steps of the proceeding, and if there was a way to shortcut some of the process, such as going for early dispositive motions, joint defense, etc. If the City has some large cases going with these two firms, the budgets submitted on those cases may clearly reflect that those budgets may exceed the department's budget for that year. If that happened, he would bring the issue back to Council so they don't run up the department's budget half way through the year. Mr. Farr stated it was his hope that the City will end up with some detailed documentation. He felt the only way to judge whether or not the City was obtaining legal services for less money than to have it totally in-house was to have detailed records to compare this system with the old system. Mr. 8ievers stated he agreed and that was why the history on the type of claim or litigation is important. After a year or two, the City can make a determination that predominate number of hours were spent on minor claims and should be handled another way. The City previously contracted out its unemployment claims, however, that was taken in-house in 1987- 88. Mayor Lynn Horton stated one of the things that she tried to get a handle on in 1994, was the fact the City had individual departments contracting with their own attorneys and may or may not have been coordinating through Mr. Sievers and his legal staff. This is an attempt to do multiple things: (1) to provide the indepth expertise that we don't have readily available; (2) help reduce costs, but also to be able to identify and have a funneling conduit so that Mr. Sievers, she and the City Council, will know what entities are dealing with what attorneys on what matters. She sees this as a comprehensive approach to get a handle on certain issues and streamline the process while getting greater expertise. Mr. Law asked if this will cause the City to have less expenses for outside counsel and will they overlap into some of those areas other firms were being retained? Mr. Sievers stated the outside counsel on all of the contracts currently in place or in the past are not at a flat rate, but on an hourly rate so they don't really overlap. He is trying to maintain efficiencies with some of the cases that have been handled by Foster, Pepper and Shefelman, i.e, insurance coverage cases where they have experience with the City's policies or cases they have been handling...those cases will not be switched. With that in mind, new cases assigned to these firms should not be redundant of other work that has been done. Mr. Law questioned if some City departments have been paying legal fees out #1400 TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 8 of 9 of their budgets or have all legal fees been going through his department? Mr. Sievers stated no, the Auditor discovered a considerable amount of funds were being conduited through the Personnel Department, principally on a lot of different kinds of personnel matters. That department had a certain budget approved by Council for consultants or outside help, but their budget was supplemented with other departments' funds and was directed toward additional legal services for one matter or another. Mr. Law asked Mr. Sievers if he had any authority over the selection of attorneys for those needs? Mr. Sievers stated no, and he did not have an opportunity to review the billings on those matters. Mr. Overson noted Mr. Sievers commented on a system within his department to develop a data base to test the effectiveness of the contracted counsel services as well as having the management responsibility over said contracts. He questioned if there was something institutionalized in his department that provides for development of the data base and/or management of these contracts if for some reason Mr. Sievers left City employment? Mr. Sievers explained the department's Quarterly Reports contain data they have used in the past to determine how much cases have cost the City to settle. Again, that is one of the cost benefit factors he is looking at in this program. The other factor is in the attorneys' fees expenses, which are kept as a permanent record. He will be developing a system of attaching a total fee amount per case and will somehow build that into the Quarterly Reports or keep it as a separate record? Mr. Overson questioned if for some reason the City Attorney's position was vacant, who would assume the responsibility for managing the department, and would it pass on to the Mayor? Mr. Sievers stated the department would need someone with some degree of understanding what the billings are referring to...data in reports are charted in 1/10th of an hour and what the brief descriptions of activities actually identify, so he did not know if someone outside the legal field would be an appropriate manager. In the instances where an insurance company provides first dollar coverage or some level of higher defense costs, they take on the job of administering the contract with defense counsel and review the billing. Mr. Colvin asked if Mr. Sievers was the only attorney currently serving the City? Mr. Sievers stated at the beginning of the year he hired a couple of temporary attorneys. He has some funds available to retain those attorneys until he feels the administrative work backlog has been caught up. Mr. Colvin asked what would the City do if Mr. Sievers was no longer in his position? Mr. Sievers explained the City would probably have to hire an outside firm to serve as Acting City Attorney. M/S/C/U(Overson/Colvin) to approve professional services agreement #1410 #1448 TAPE #1291 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes May 31, 1995 Page 9 of 9 between the City of Bremerton and Jean Schiedler-Brown & Associates. M/S/C/U(Overson/Montgomery) professional services agreement between the City of Bremerton and Casey & Pruzan. 8A - ORDINANCE NO. 4515 (SECOND READING) PROVIDING SALARYAND OTHER BENEFITS FOR HUMANRESOURCES ASSISTANTI AND AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 4356, #A]395-080 M/S/C/U(Montgomery/Winters) to pass Ordinance No. 4515, on second reading, providing salary and other benefits of the position of Human Resources Assistant and amending Ordinance No. 4356. With no further business meeting adjourned at 6:30 P.M. S~F-~~S',~ouncil President City of Bremerton KLM/SH-M/me cc: Normal Distribution File/Vault