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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/01/93TAPE #1133 UNAPPROVED DRAFT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 1, 1993 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, September 1, 1993, at 5:30 P.M., with Council President Eileen Fitz presiding. Council members present were Richard Neville, Lynn Horton, Hank Waibel, C.R. "Tiny" Collins, Morrie Dawkins, Russ Johnson, and Lon Overson. Councilman Al Colvin was absent. Also present were City Attorney Ian Sievers and City Clerk Kathleen McCluskey. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Fitz and Invocation given by Captain Terry Winter of the Salvation Army. CONSENT AGENUA A. Minutes of Meeting -- August 11, 1993 #AB93-177 #0029 M/S/C/U(Waibel/Horton) to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. CLAIMS/WARRANT REGISTERS 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. #0045 M/S/C/U(Johnson/Dawkins) on September 1, 1993, the Council does approve for payment those vouchers included and further described as follows: 169058, 169072 through 169233 in the total amount of $2412.370.39; and Retirees Payroll for the period ending August 31, 1993, in the total amount of $94,958.81. COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS Mr. Neville attended the ground breaking ceremony for the Andy Pendergast Regional Park. This event was the kick off ceremony for construction of the sports complex and a welcome sight to be seen. It pleased him to see the County and City working together one more time and truly making a jewel for the future. On Tuesday evening, August 31, he attended a neighborhood meeting on Park Avenue. At that meeting they discussed problems relating to the sewer system and solutions to those problems. TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 2 of 8 Mrs. Horton reported on Friday evening she accompanied Police Officer Greg Steele on patrol from 10:00 PM to 4:00 A.M. This was not her first time as a ride-a-long with a police officer, but she again found it to be a real eye opener at that time of day, especially in the downtown area. One of the things she and Officer Steele talked about was the fact that a lot of kids who congregate in the downtown area are not residents of Kitsap County, but are imported from Tacoma, Puyallup, Seattle. When she asked him why kids would be drawn to Bremerton, his response was because other communities are not conducive for cruising and congregating like the City of Bremerton. Officer Steele related to her that in his opinion one - way streets would have an impact on cruising and congregation because it would. lessen the availability of stopping on both sides of the street. He also made a recommendation to replace the barricades used for diverting cruising that either get stolen, run over, etc., by installing arm mechanisms installed in the light fixtures that would automatically drop down with flashing lights. She felt such a proposal had merit to address an on going problem and eliminate the need for portable barriers. During that evening patrol they went from group - to - group breaking up congregating, especially in areas where it appeared congregations could lead to altercations. She was very impressed with Officer Steele's handling of people, especially the young people. When he addressed people he would let them know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to put up with a lot of the things kids throw out, such as bad language or illegal behavior. She believes the youth respect Officer Steele for knowing exactly where he is coming from and for treating them like human beings, yet knowing where the lines are that they needed to abide by. She found it very informative hearing what Officer Steele goes through when out on patrol and his recommended solutions to some of the problems he encounters. She encouraged her fellow Council members and even people from within the public to take advantage of an opportunity to accompany an Officer on patrol. She also attended the Pendergast Regional Park ground breaking and it was nice to see the first pitch on the Pendergast field batted out into center field. Additionally, she announced the Parks Department are in need of more volunteers to man some of the kids activities on September 3 and 4, at the Blackberry Festival. Lastly, she announced the Junior High School starting time is different this year due to the opening of the new Middle School. The new Junior High School start time is the same schedule as the High School, which she believes is 7:35 A.M. Mr. Dawkins reported he enjoyed the ground breaking event at TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 3 of 8 the Pendergast Regional Park. He knew Andy Pendergast for over 20 years and acknowledged he was a great bowler as well as being a great public official and a great softball man. Mr. Johnson reported he received lots of calls from the public following his comments, at the previous week's Council meeting, relating to Cable TV and the new FCC rules coming on line as of September 1. About 50% of those calls were from residents in the County from as far away as Belfair and Hansville. Many of those callers asked if they would be welcome at the City's public hearing on the Cable TV service. He indicated to them that it would be ok for them to attend, however, he cautioned that if the Council Chambers was packed there may have to be some sort of priority set up for those testifying. Many of those callers felt there wasn't another forum where they could find out information or place issues on the table. Mrs. Fitz reported she also attended the ground breaking for the Pendergast Regional Park. Prior to that event, she had not been on the site and she was very impressed with the beauty of that site...the mountains and treed hills. She announced on Tuesday, September 7, at 6:00 P.M., KITZ will broadcast a forum for Mayoral candidates. All three candidates for the City of Bremerton's Mayor position will be part of that program and the public will be able to call in during that program. She felt such a forum would be very informative for the general public and hoped everyone would "tune in" to become better informed on candidates and issues. This past Sunday she visited the Farmers Market on the boardwalk and was pleased to report there were lots of people enjoying the various activities happening in that area, which included a square dance demonstration. Next, she looks forward to the Blackberry Festival on September 4 and 5. Lastly, she reminded everyone schools open next week and to be very careful when driving and be watchful for children walking their routes to and from school. PUBLIC RECOGNITION Mayor Louis Mentor reported he was visited by Captain Thomas Danaher, the new skipper of the USS Rainier, who was in Bremerton looking over the area prior to their being homeported in Bremerton in about one year. The USS Rainier is a new supply ship that is currently being built. This past weekend Mayor Mentor attended the Kitsap County Fair and Rodeo, where attendance records were set. He was very pleased with the ground breaking ceremony for the Andy Pendergast Regional Park on Tuesday, August 31. He commended the Parks Department for their preparing the site and setting up the TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 4 of 8 festivities. He was especially pleased with the people who stood by this project since its first inception in 1986. Many people who made pledges several years ago are following through on their commitment. Mayor Mentor announced an AIDS WALK on the boardwalk will take place on September 12, at 10:00 AM. He reminded everyone of the upcoming Blackberry Festival this weekend - September 4 and 5. He anticipates lots of people coming to Bremerton for this festival. He was pleased to report his wife and Carol Atkinson were having lots of success selling Blackberry Festival tee shirts. And, he was pleased that he has another advocate for one - way - streets. He believes such a proposal will happen in the near future and hopefully it will be tied in with the new entrance planned for the City. He reported he also had the opportunity to ride on patrol with Officer Greg Steele several months ago and at that time he offered the same suggestions to him that were offered to Mrs. Horton. He agreed that the armmechanisms for traffic control were a good idea and he did follow up and priced what they would cost. Such a system could be installed, however, it was rather costly, but maybe it is something that needs to be revisited. He found Officer Steele to be a very conscientious person and he enjoyed hearing his ideas for the betterment of Bremerton. Don Atkinson, Bremerton Main Street Association, reported the Chamber Of Commerce Education Committee welcomed approximately 500 Bremerton staff members back to school with a breakfast that is traditionally served each year at the High School. He emphasized much planning has gone into the upcoming Blackberry Festival. There will be over 80 food and craft booths, free family entertainment on stage all day both Saturday and Sunday, the Parks Department's children's obstacle course, Bremerton Friendship Bathtub Races, helicopter rides, Sunday Farmers Market will move from the Boardwalk to 2nd Street, which will be blocked between Pacific and Washington Avenue, pony rides, blackberry pies, jams and jellies, blackberrybake offs, Rod and custom car show, moonwalk, tee shirts - sweatshirts. The corporate sponsors for the festival are Parr Ford, The Sun, and Puget Sound Beverages, with Bremerton Main Street being the primary sponsor. Hours of the festival are 10:00AMto 6:00 P.M. both Saturday and Sunday. He emphasized parking in the downtown area will be very restricted both Saturday and Sunday and he urged everyone to use the park and ride lots at Olympic College and the Bremerton School District Office. Kitsap Transit will provide shuttle transportation to the downtown area from the park and ride lot locations. Robert Boddie, 4402C Arsenal Way, reminded everyone that POWER is sponsoring another community meeting on September 2, 7:00 TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 5 of 8 P.M., at Emanuel Apostolic Church. The guest speaker at that meeting will be Clarence Scott, director and founder of the Excellence program and author of a book title "Silent Drive By". He emphasized more commitment from the community is needed. They are trying to tackle the gang problem, violence and racism that is going on in this community. He stated he has to reinforce what happened at Pastor Allen's church - they are not going to let that go and there have been some arrests made in that case. There have been too many times in Bremerton where things happen and everyone just forgets about them. He believes the Bremerton community is still living in the 60's and needs to get up - to - date to the 90's. He stressed violence is on the rise and as a crime victim himself, he knows what violence does to people. He lives in pain daily following an act of violence that happened to him in 1981. The City has brought in someone to implement the "Safe Streets" program and hopefully that will benefit the community, but it won't stop drive - by shootings or people from joining gangs. Effort needs to be made to re - educate ourselves first, ask questions why are these things happening and the City has to step in and do their part with the community doing their part. He emphasized the Police Department needs to be re - educated and given multi - cultural, diversity and sensitivity training. POWER is accepting donations and they can be sent to POWER INC., P.O. BOX 2511, Bremerton, WA 98310. Don Larsen, 135 Rainier Avenue, President of Washington Scuba Alliance, stated he received a call from Jay Straith of British Columbia about the possible availability of a surplus ship from the Canadian government that could be used as an underwater park. Environment Canada conducted astudy on the sinking of a ship in British Columbia last December as an underwater park and they determined there have been no adverse environment impacts. He noted the Canadian government is also very pleased with their artificial reef program. Mr. Larson noted if Bremerton was given a ship he did not have a place to put it at this time. He has been working with the Council trying to convince them to establish an underwater park near the Turner Joy. He pointed out the Canadian Navy learned a lot about cleaning up and readying a ship for use as an artificial reef. He was not sure if the Canadian government would even consider transferring a ship to the United States, but that point is being looked into. Coastweeks data was briefly reviewed as identified at the Council meeting of August 25. Lastly, he requested.the City to station a Medic 1 vehicle at the First Street Dock during the clean up event scheduled for September 18. President Fitz stated one of the things discussed by Council earlier this evening concerning TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 6 of 8 the possibility of an underwater reef was the current in Sinclair Inlet and through the Port Washington Narrows. She questioned if Mr. Larson considers the current in that area a problem? Mr. Larson stated no. He explained there are several things to do in an area that has strong current: (1) read the tide chart and dive on the "slack"; (2) divers could go to the leeward side of the wreck or underwater reef. Keystone and Edmonds are very popular diving areas with strong current. There are times when Edmond area divers end up in the Ferry lanes and he did not see that happening in Bremerton. He anticipates installing an underwater trail, similar to Edmonds, that consists of a rope tied underwater that leads divers to where they want to go. President Fitz stated the next biggest question is the Army Corps of Engineers requirements for such a project? Mr. Larson stated true and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). President Fitz suggested that Mr. Larson obtain information from the Army Corps and DNR in regard to such a project. Mr. Larson stated he already had the Corps requirements and the next step would be to sit down with State officials and possibly Fish Pro to talk about how to go about building such a project. If a ship is placed underwater for a reef, he would like to see a portion of it sticking up out of the water, similar to the USS Arizona memorial. Not all people agree with having a structure sticking out of the water and DNR does have rules that state there must be 15 - 20 feet clearance normally for any type of reef project so there aren't any navigation concerns. President Fitz suggested Mr. Larson contact Mayor Mentor in regard to his request to have Medic 1 at the September 18 clean up event. Mrs. Horton stated as Mr. Larson was aware, the City has a lot of projects yet to be completed so the City's staff time is very limited. She recommended Mr. Larson develop a packaged proposal for the City, researching what other communities have done, how they accomplished their project and what kind of dollar costs have been involved and borne by whom. City projects are suppose to go on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and she recommended he put a proposal together with some of the details and make an official presentation to the City to see if it could be placed on the City's CIP. Mr. Larson agreed with Mrs. Horton's suggestion and asked if the City Council could give him some general guidelines, such as is there interest in having a structure above the water or that it should be totally submerged? Mrs. Horton stated she felt that would be detail items that would be worked out during the discussion. She suggested before he spent a lot of time working on details, that he come up with concept and possible dollar impacts. Mr. Larson stated he could obtain development information from other communities where they have such a facility. Mr. Collins questioned if TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 7 of 8 Mr. Larson had checked with the U.S. government's EPA as to what would have to be done to clean a ship, especially one that had bunker fuel in it for a number of years and some kind of a plan that would meet the requirements of the United States EPA? The reason he was saying that was that the Canadian EPA is still allowing Victoria to dump raw sewage into the Straights. Mr. Larson stated yes, he had checked and the Department Of Ecology (DOE) is in favor of helping develop underwater parks because they believe such a park would help with their Urban Bay Action Plan. Mr. Collins stressed what he was questioning was how do you sanitize a ship? Mr. Larson stated probably by taking out the engines, tanks, and anything that would have used or stored oil. Mr. Larson stated currently the Navy is cutting up submarines into small chunks of metal and he has made a proposal about obtaining a "sail" off of a submarine or missile tube that could be used for an underwater reef. Roy McInnis, 2711 Maple Street, stated Mr. Olwell brought up some very interesting things at the previous Council meeting. On several occasions he had voiced his concern before Council, about the Police levy funds that went into a special project. He also believed that the City Administration promised that a full time D.A.R.E. officer would be funded out of that special levy. On another matter, he invited anyone who would be interested in helping the Sinclair Missionary Baptist Church in their celebration of their 50th Anniversary. Anyone interested in taking out an ad for that celebration can contact him before Saturday, September 4, or after September llth. President Fitz asked the date of the Church's anniversary?Mr. McInnis stated October 24. Gordy Byrd, P.O. Box 930, stated he had a good time at the Kitsap County Fair. As of this date, he has collected $15,786.00 for his shelter for the homeless. Shannon Cook, 256 Burwell Street, Apt. 202, stated she and her husband attended the Kitsap County Fair and had a very good time. She thanked Kitsap Transit for running the long hours bringing people back and forth. Peter Cook, 256 Burwell Street, Apt. 202, stated he was very concerned about the excessive noise coming from the Night Shift Tavern, which is next door to their residence. He and his wife find the excessive noise unbearable and they have had incidents where people climbed over their fence and defecated in the yard. He asked what can the City do about this problem? President Fitz suggested Mr. Cook contact Mayor Mentor. TAPE #1133 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes September 1, 1993 Page 8 of 8 6A - KITSAP WAY RECONSTRUCTION, WESLON PLACE TO AUTO CENTER WAY; AGREEMENT ACCEPTING STATE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT BOARD (TIB) MATCHING FUNDS, #AB93-178 The City has received Federal ISTEA funds for 86.5% of the design, construction, and inspection of the Kitsap Way reconstruction, Weslon Place to Auto Center Way project. After receipt of the Federal ISTEA funds, the City applied to the State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) to fund the local matching requirement (13.5%). The City has received notice that the State TIB will provide $71,168 for the local match. Execution of the attached agreement will allow the City to receive these funds. Randy Witt, City Engineer, explained with these funds the project will be fully funded by State and Federal money. Mr. Dawkins questioned if the project would go past the freeway? Mr. Witt stated it would go past the freeway up to Auto Center Way and would include sidewalks, street lights and roadway improvement. Mrs. Horton questioned the budget for that project? Mr. Witt stated it would be in the 1/2 - million dollar range. Public comment - none. Mr. Waibel noted while this is not local City money, a good portion of it was collected locally by gas taxes and it was good to get some of that back into the local economy. #1459 M/S/C/U(Horton/Waibel) motion to authorize and direct the Mayor to execute the attached agreement with the State Transportation Improvement Board to provide $71,168 as the local match for the Kitsap Way reconstruction, Weslon Place to Auto Center Way project. With no further business meeting adjourned at 6:25 P.M. KATHLEEN L. McCLUSKEY, City Clerk EILEEN FITZ, Council President City of Bremerton KLM/EF/me cc: Normal Distribution File/Vault