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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/31/90 TAPE #779 UNAPPROVED DRAFT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 31~___19~ 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~ October 31, 1990 at 5:30 p.m., with Council President Lynn Horton presiding. Council members present were: Lon Overson, Wayne Estes, Spencer Horning, C. R. "Tiny" Collins, Morrie Dawkins, Russ Johnson, A1 Coivin, Hank Waibel. Also present were City Attorney Ian Sievers and Deputy City Clerk Gil Johnson. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Horton and Invocation was given by Rev. Clayton Bonar of First Church Of The Nazarene. President Horton announced Item 2C had been pulled off the Agenda indefinitely. CONSENT AGENDA - A. Minutes Of Meeting - October 10, 1990, #AB90-275 B. Minutes Of Meeting - October 17, 1990, #AB90-276 ! #0021 M/S/C/U(Waibei/Dawkins) to approve Consent Agenda as presented. CLAIMS/CHECK 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 which has been made available to the council. #0039 M/S/C/U(Colvin/Dawkins) On October 31, 1990 the Council does approve for payment those checks included and further described as follows: 118753-118757, 118781, 118782, 118917 through 119120 in the total amount of $293,359.64 and Retirees' Payroll in the total amount of $53,856.94. COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS Mr. Overson stated he hoped everyone enjoyed celebrating Halloween. Mr. Estes stated movement was being made on the slum landlords issue. He had been approached by two groups, who were concerned with the crowded conditions of two museums, the Kitsap County Museum and Bremerton Naval Museum. He emphasized the need to find more space for both of these museums and requested input from the public as to ways to solve this problem. He visited museums in Illwa, Long Beach and Westport, and found them to be outstanding. TAPE ~779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 2 of I0 Mr. Horning extended a "Happy Birthday" to President Horton and to Kathleen McCluskey, both celebrating their 40th birthday. He also extended congratulations to Lon Overson and his pinning as Captain. Mr. Johnson reported the National Cemetery for the Pacific Northwest was funded by Congress. A site for this cemetery had not been selected yet, and the Illahee site was still in the running as one of the final four sites being considered. He noted there was very active participation by various Veterans groups and organizations promoting the Kitsap County site. Currently those supporters were circulating petitions to show the strong support by the general community. Anyone wishing to pick up blank petition forms to circulate may do so by stopping by the City Council office. He reported City staff was working on a new franchise agreement with Cascade Natural Gas Corporation, which would be brought before the Council very soon. He felt this agreement should include some mechanism that would allow universal gas service for any resident of the City of Bremerton within the next 10 years, or sooner. Currently, to expand the service area could mean real financial hardship on the resident and with the increasing costs of fossil fuels he hoped that the option of hooking up to natural gas could be made available. If anyone had any questions or comments pertaining to natural gas service, they could call the Council Office. The Bremerton Solid Waste Advisory Committee continued to meet and were in the process of organizing their efforts into three committees, considering (1) all of the elements of a Solid Waste Program, (2) single family and multi- family residents, (3) commercial and business uses, (4) public, (5) governmental solids waste programs. ~r_t_c~!~ extended a "Happy Birthday" to President Horton and Kathieen McCiuskey. He reminded the citizens that a Beneficial Suggestion Box was available in City Hall and he encouraged anyone who had a suggestion to take advantage of this opportunity. This past weekend Mr. Coivin met a newcomer to Bremerton, Mr. Eric Hunter and invited him to share some comments to the Council. Eric Hunter stated he and his wife recently moved to Bremerton from Bellevue and had taken three rental properties and were turning them into owner occupied residences. He felt there were lots of positive things about Bremerton and would be bringing some questions to the Council after he had a chance to gather and understand some additional data. He noted he loved the area and looked forward to being an active City resident. Mr. Dawkins reported members of the Bremerton Central Lions Club were helping in the clean up of the Admiral Theater. He noted the theater may be in better shape than he thought previously. M~ ~gl]!ns expressed his wonderment at the number of "turtle" TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 3 of 10 costumes he observed on his way to the Council meeting, and he wasn't sure of their significance. He urged everyone to drive carefully as there were lots of children out trick- or- treating on this night. ~K~. ~pr~9~ stated she and the Mayor attended a Department Of Ecology press conference, on October 30, relating to the Dyes and Sinclair Inlets Urban Bay Action Plan. The news media was present and they asked some very pointed questions, such as who exactly would pay for the clean up of the two inlets? At this point,no one knows for sure who would pay for the clean up nor was it known what that bill would ultimately be. It was known that it would not be long before the State and Federal agencies would get on line and mandate that clean up efforts be implemented to clean up those bays. What was being done at this point was to get an understanding of what needed to be done, so as the City upgrades some of the infrastructure immediate steps could be taken to undertake smaller improvement projects rather than one giant project to address the problem. By the City's agreement to support the Urban Bay Action Plan, she felt this was a good step forward, which would involve some long-range planning. PUBLIC RECOGNITION ~!~._~9~o__n_, Deputy City Clerk, read a proclamation recognizing that the month of October had been designated as NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH, and that the promises of the Declaration Of Independence applied to the developmentally disabled citizens of this community. Recognition was also given that the developmentally disabled fellow citizens had repeatedly demonstrated their skills in all walks of life and had made significant contributions to every facet of our community life. Mayor Mentor did proclaim October as NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH. Carol Atkinson, President of Holly Ridge Center Board, accepted the Proclamation. She noted Holly Ridge Center had been serving individuals with disabilities in the City of Bremerton for 26 years. She introduced Board member Barbara Modlan and Gerry David and Ricky Nelson, staff members at Holly Ridge. ~a~q~._~9~.~D~p~ (in disguise as Frankenstein, along with his bride, Paulette) urged everyone to support the Fire Bond Issue and the Public Works Bond Issue on election day -November 6. And he wished everyone a "Happy Halloween". ~__~_~oh~nso_n_, Deputy City Clerk, read into the record a letter received from Mr. O. M. Vanderkleed, 2109 Nipsic, protesting the current 2-hour parking regulations in downtown Bremerton. He felt this deterred people from patronizing businesses and cultural events in the downtown area. TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 4 of 10 Gordon BI~, 402 Chester #3, gave an update report on his fund raising efforts for the "Byrd's Nest", a home for the homeless. The agreement with Kitsap County provides for Jury Panels for Municipal Court at a cost of $325 per day for each day a jury panel or portion thereof reports for duty or serves on a City case. The agreement is for !0 years with a 30 day termination clause. Kathi Johnston, Court Administrator, stated this was a continuation of the current contract, which included Industrial Insurance for jurors. Public comment - none. ~_~..~.9~.¥~ questioned if there were any differences between the past contract and the proposed contract? ~.S._.._~q~t__o_n_ stated the differences included: (1) a i0 year contract term; (2) provision for Industrial Insurance coverage for jurors. ~__._~ requested clarification as to how the Industrial Insurance would cover persons on Jury Duty? ~.~._.Johnston stated if a person was on Jury Duty and was injured then Industrial Insurance would take over. Mr. Estes questioned if that would including traveling to and from the Jury Duty? Ms. Johnston stated ~.t did not include travel. When jurors sign in they include the time they arrived at the Court House and when they leave they sign out and they were covered by the Industrial Insurance between those two periods. Mr. Johnson noted the contract stated the City was at risk for any consequences if people selected for Jury Duty did not show up - he questioned what kind of consequence could that be? ~._.._~9~DS~9~ stated the only consequence occurred if the situation arose where there were not enough jurors to constitute a panel to take into the Court Room. At that time, a call would be made to the County requesting additional jurors be provided in order to seat a full panel (14 total). M_r__~ Overson questioned if the issue of "consequences" had been included in the last agreement? Ms. Johnston stated no, however, if a jury case could not be heard within a one day period and it might be at a 90 day point and there was no more time to hear a particular case, then the City could be asked to agree to a dismissal of the case if there were not enough jurors to seat a full panel to hear that case. It was her practice to not schedule juries up to the 90-day period limit. Mr. Collins questioned since the City was insuring the jurors with TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 5 of 10 State Industrial Insurance, how much would this cost the City? Ms. Johnston stated it would be calculated at the rate for Industrial Insurance times the number of jurors times the hours served. President Horton questioned if that amount was above the proposed contract amount or was it included? ~_ ~9h__n_.~p~ questioned if the Contract shouldn't be signed by the Mayor? ~.~.~9.~S~, Deputy City Clerk, stated contracts were signed by the Mayor after they were approved by Council. Ms. ~9~Rs[p~ noted that they were going to change the signature from Judge Rainey to Mayor Mentor. ~_~9.!1i~ questioned if the funds for the Industrial Insurance to cover jurors was included in the 1990 budget? Rich Hanna, City Treasurer, stated yes, they were budgeted through the Court and the City was self-insured for Workers Compensation. He noted the hourly rate for the insurance would be i0 cents per hour. This money would be paid into the City's own Risk Management Fund because the City was self-insured. Mr. Dawkin~ questioned if other cities in the County had the same arrangement as the proposed contract? Ms. Johnston stated it was her understanding that most of them did because of its convenience. #1031 M/S/C(Dawkins/Coivin) to approve the Jury Management Activities Agreement. Vote: In Favor: Horning, Collins, Dawkins, Colvin, Johnson, Overson, Estes, Horton Abstain: Waibel The contract between the City of Bremerton and the Kitsap County Sewer District No. 1 expired on September 30, 1986. The original contract provides for treatment of the District's wastewater by the City at its Charleston Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant. The District has indicated their preference for a new wholesale contract which provides for the treatment of the District's wastewater and allocates capacity of the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant for use by the District. ~.~.~._P~f~f3, Utilities Director, stated currently the Utility was billing the District based on water consumption of the individual water meters. Recently they completed the installation of three new master meters, shifting the emphasis to utilization of those meters. Therefore, he requested Council to authorize them to TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 6 of 10 implement the terms of the contract. Public comment - none. M~_~ ~0~9~ expressed concern that the City had agreed not to extend services to residents, who were not within the Utiiity's boundaries, and questioned why it wasn't serviced by the Utility service area? Mr. Duff~ stated the boundaries represent the District's current infrastructure and did not give consideration to any additional unsewered area. The City's sewer plant did lie within their Sewer District and some of the City's sewage actually flowed through their pipes. There was some additional language included in the agreement that attempted to clarify the ownership so that their sewage could be metered separately. Mr. Johnson questioned if the City built a small house on the area where the Humane Society use to be would the City have to go to the Sewer District to hook up to the sewer? Mr. Duffx stated currently that would be correct. M~ .... 9~S~_n_ questioned after the proposed agreement was implemented, would that be corrected? Mr. Duff¥ stated even before the agreement if anyone wanted to connect to the sewer from the old Humane Society site or any area south of that. would lie within their District area. Mr. Overson noted there would be an impact of $121,000 facilities construction and questioned if the District would reimburse the City for those costs? ~__~uf~l stated yes. #1192 M/S/C(Waibel/Horning) to approve the Draft Agreement between the City of Bremerton and the Kitsap County Sewer District #i and authorize the Utility to adjust the billing rate of the District's customers to allow for reimbursement of the cost of service pursuant to the wholesale rates established in the contract and subject to City Administration Polices and Procedures. VOTE: in Favor: Overson, Estes, Horning, Waibel, Horton, Collins, Dawkins, Colvin Opposed: Johnson CO55ECTION IN 1991, #AB90-280 State law requires that the City levy property taxes through passage of an ordinance. The figures in the ordinance are based on the preliminary assessment roll. They will be adjusted upon acceptance of the final assessment roll by the County. ~_~c__h~._~n~n_~, City Treasurer, stated this year represented the first year where the constraint on the property tax levy was not what was commonly called the 106% levy lid, but rather the statutory limit on the property tax assessment rate that cities of Bremerton's TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 7 of 10 class were authorized to levy under State law. The reason for this was that in recent years the City had levied up to the limits of the 1064 and during that time frame the City's assessed value had not grown at a rate greater than or equal to the 6%, so each year the levy rate had increased slightly and the City was now at the State limit for the general property tax levy rate. The Emergency Medical Levy was voted for a six year period by the citizens approximately two years ago and that remained at the 25 cents per $1,000 rate regardless of the changes in assessed value. The three additional levies were all excess property tax bond levies that were approved by the voters in past years. The City had the authority to levy taxes sufficient to meet the annual debt service requirements for those various bond levies, so the amounts of those levies would vary each year as needs for debt service change as well as the changes in the assessed value of the City. Public comment - none. ~r_~_._p~_w~i~_s questioned if the estimated assessed value raised from last year? ~=_. Hanna stated yes, the estimated assessed value a year ago was $844,000,0000, so there was an increase but the rate was modest. Mr. Dawkins questioned the length of the Library Bond that was passed in previous years and the Fire Bonds? ~r. Han~ stated the Library Bonds were dated 1977 and would run until 1997. The Fire Bonds would run to 1999 and 2003. Mr. Overson noted that no one individual piece of property could represent the average but questioned on the average what was the increase, by percent, of the property tax over 19907 ~. Hann~ stated actually the increase would be very modest because in 1990 the City was very close to the statutory limit on the operating levy and the aggregate level for 1990 was $3.73 per $i,000 and the aggregate level for 1991 would be $3.76. ~=~9~9~ questioned what would be the impact of loosing 22 acres to the Shipyard and off the Assessed Valuation Rolls next year, assuming everything else remained constant? Hr~_~Ra stated the affect on the City would be approximately $6,000,000 of assessed value, with the multiplier of $3.76 per $1,000, which would be a significant loss of revenue to the City. The loss of that assessed value would not decrease the obligations for excess property tax bonds, in fact they would increase for the remaining tax payers. ~.~gh~R stated once the City reached the levy limits then a downward spiral happens until something happens to increase the valuation figures. ~_r_~__H_~. stated that was correct. The City's general maintenance and operating tax levy will now begin to act as the EMS Levy, the rate would remain the same and then the property tax revenue would become a direct function of the assessed value TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 8 of 10 with no further change in rate until the assessed value grew at a grate greater than 6%. ~.~.__W_a_~ questioned how much assessed valuation did the City receive last year from annexation actions? Mr. Hanna stated the following annexations took place: south Auto Center (1 1/4 millions dollars), Lilac Lane (i 1/4 million dollars). It was his understanding that annexations were considered "like new construction" in terms of when the City's property taxes were limited by the 106% levy limit - that was 106% on the old assessed value and new construction and new annexations were in addition to that. Now the City was up against the statutory limit, it would represent new value. ~. Waibel stated he thought it was approximately $4,000,000 and the increased taxation in the City was $14,000,000 ($4,000,000 being from annexation), therefore the increased assessed valuation went up only $10,000,000, which represented less than 1% increased in assessed valuation. He felt this was not logical. ~ Hann~ stated the assessed valuations did not reflect the data coming from the real estate industry relating to home values and sales. ~.. Ove~_s_oD pointed out what the City might be seeing was a delayed reaction because properties were not assessed every year. ~_~p_~.b__e~ stated every resident was supposed to be assessed this year, which should have shown a very significant increase over what had been done over the past five years. ~ro Hanna stated he had anticipated this question coming up and had contacted the County Assessor's office and raised that question with them. Their response was that they were in the process, right now, of reassessing the residential areas of Bremerton. He recalled giving that same answer to the same question one year ago. Mr. Overson pointed out there was a way to appeal the figures that were being given to the City. noted the City had made a protest in past years. Mr. Hanna stated this year made the third year where the City was disappointed the change in assessed value. He was not sure how the City, as a taxing entity, would protest an assessment made by the County. Mr. ~.~v_~e~, City Attorney, stated he believed the City could pursue an appeal. ~r-._~_~ requested explanation why the 1979 Fire Bond debt service went up and the 1983 debt service went down? Mr. Hanna stated the reason was that each of those levies was a combination of interest and principal. Typically, through a serial bond issue as the principal was paid off the interest portion each year would decline, whereas the principal increases through the life of the serial bond increased in increments of $5,000. What had happened in one case, the increase in the principal payment was larger than the decrease in the interest and in the other case it was not. President Horton questioned would the appeal process be through the TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 9 of 10 County? M~.~ Sieve~.~ stated he did not believe the Administrative Appeal process was appropriate, but he felt it was necessary to set a meeting with the County to review their process for determining assessed valuation. President Horton stated she wanted to go a step farther and make an inquiry through AWC or Municipal Research. She felt Bremerton was probably not the only City affected. Mr. Dawkins stated he believed real estate costs in Bremerton had gone up 10-20%. He suggested requesting the County to do a special sampling of residential valuations. ~__~.~. stated indirectly the City was seeing two things that would support the City's position on this issue: (1) the Real Estate Tax for 1990 would be at least double the amount of revenue, just a direct function of volume of real estate sales, which was indicative that twice as much real estate was changing hands than a year ago; (2) Building Permit fees were significantly higher, in addition to the annexation assessed value. Mr. Johnson acknowledged that the Ordinance needed to be passed, however, he wanted to also add something that would indicate a formal protest against the figures of assessed valuation given by the County. Mr. Hanna pointed out the last sentence of the Ordinance stated: "This levy shall be modified~ if necessary, upon receipt of this final assessment roll from the County", which could be the flexibility Council desired. And, the figures given by the County were tentative, with the final calculations coming at a later date. He felt the City had left a reasonable degree of latitude with the last sentence in the Ordinance. President Horton stated she felt any protest to the County should come via the Attorney's office, with concurrence from the City Treasurer. #2023 M/S/C/U(Horning/Colvin) to approve Ordinance, on first reading, levying Municipal Taxes against all the taxable property within the City limits of Bremerton for the year 1990 and approving the assessment roll made by the Assessor of Kitsap County, therefore to be collected in the year 1991. TAPE #779 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes October 31, 1990 Page 10 of 10 With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 PM. K , CITY CLERK APPROVED , Council President City of Bremerton KLM/LH/me cc: Normal Distribution File/Vault