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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/21/05 CITY COUNCIL MEETINC3 MINUTES .'" 1IPRIMfJ. JAIl 4_ DIGITAL RECORDING Wednesday, December 21,2005 The weekly meeting of the City Council of the City of Bremerton was called to order in the City Council Chambers, of the NORM DICKS GOVERNMENT CENTER 345 6th Street, aremerton, Washington, Wedne'sday, December. 21, 2005, at 5:30. PM, with Council. President Daren Nygren presiding. Council members present were' Mike 'Short, Will Maupin, Carol Arends, Dianne Robinson, Mike Shepherd, Wendy Priest, Cecil McConnell, and Brad Gehring. Also present Were City Attorney Roger Lubovich, City Clerk Paula Johnston; and Council Assistant Christine Grenier. The Pledge ,of Allegiance was led by Council Member Cecil McConnell followed by the invocation p'rovided by' Pastor. Brian Banke of Memorial..Lutheran Church. President-Nvaren announced that a Pre-Council sessiQn was held in Council Conference Room 603 from 5:00 to 5:30 PM; if citizens would .Iike.to receive information on upcoming Council meetings, they may go to the City's website at htto:/Iwww.cLbremerton.wa.us. or call the C~uncil Office at (360) 473-5280; and Item 7C was added urider GENERAL BUSINESS. '. MAYOR'S REPORT - There was no report tonight... . . PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS . President Nvaren read a proclamation to proclaim The Month of January 2006 as "Kitsap County Mentoring Month", which he accepted on behalf of Maureen Thacher.of the Bremerton Housing Authority. CONSENT AGENDA A. Check Numbers 304560 through 304933; and EFT -8736 through EFT -87 45 in the amount of $1,249,984.56 (#AB05-289) B. Purchase of Property Insurance (#AB05-290) - C. Acceptance of Public Works Trust Fund' Loan Agreement PW-05-691-PRE-135 (#AB05~ 291) '0. Contract Award to LVDEL CONSTRUCTION for project titled "12-:lnch Transmission Main, Union Avenue to Pump Station 4" (#AB05-292) E. Purchase.of inHANCE Utility Solutions Billing Software by HARRIS (~AB05-293) F. Professional Services Agreement with RIVER OAKS COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION for Consulting Services relatin'g to Cable Franchise Renewal Process (#AB05-294) G. Assistant City Attorney Position (#AB05-295) H. Re~olution No. 2983, authorizing the extension of an interfund loan from the Equipment Rental Reserve Fund to the Civic Improvement Fund (previously authorized by.Resolution No. 2760) (#AB05-296)' , I. Resolution No. 2984, authorizing the extension of an interfund loan from the Equipment Rental Reserve Fund to the Wastewater Utility Func;j (#AB05-297) . There were no comments from the public. 5:37:20 M/S/C/U (Priest/McConnell) Move to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. 6A - CLOSED RECOR~ HEARING REGARDING RE~OLUTION NO. 2985. APPROVING WATERSIDE LANE FINAL PLAT AND PLANNED UNIT.DEVELOPME'NT. FILE BP0400231 (#AB06-298l: JoAnn Vidinhar, Community Dev.elopment, summarized that Resolution No. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Page 2 of 5 . 293~ .granted .prelim~nary approval to the Waterside Lane Plat and Plann~d Unit Develofment . to divide 2.48 acres Into 22 lots at the northeast corner of North Wycoff Avenue and 25 Street. The City Engineer' and Community Development Director signatures accompany the final plat recommending approval. President Nyaren re.ad the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine and asked if any 'Council Members felt they have .1) demonstrated bias 'or prejudice for or against any party to the proceedings 2) a direct or indirect monetary interest in the outcome of the proceedings 3) a prejudgment of the issue prior to the hearing the facts of the record or 4) ex parte contact with any individual, excluding administrative staff, with regard to an issue prior to the hearing. All Council Members were seated. . President Nyaren then asked if any member of the public believed any Council Members should excuse themselves aue to a conflict with the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine: All Council Members remained seated. Mr. Lubovich summarized that the final plat is b~sed on the preliminary plat which was already approved. The issue'is whether or not conditions have been met which were d.iscussed at the time of the preliminary plat approval. . , Mr. Gehrina asked if the viewing platform was included in the final plat. Ms. Vidinhar stated that the platform was discussed as part of the preliminary review but was not a condition of final approval, and that the platform is still being discussed. 5:43:36 M/S/C(U (Arends/Short) Move ~o pass Resolution No. 2985 approving the final plat for Waterside Lane and authorizing the City Council President to sign the Mylar. ' 6B - HABITAT FOR H.UMANITY OF KITSAP COUNTY REQUEST FOR $307.000 IN HOME PROGRAM FUNDS '(#AB05-299l: Betsy Howe, Community Development, explained that as a member of the. Kitsap County H.OME Consortium, the City of Bremerton receives an annual allocation of HOME'funds from the Department of Housing and'Urban Development (HUD) to expand, the supply of safe, sanitary. and affordable housing for low income persons. The City Council-will make the final determination concerning the use of HOME funds. There were no comments from the public. Mr. Gehrina provided comments in support of the project which would improve the availability of affordable housing. . Mr. McCon"nell asked if there have been other applicants for this funding. Ms. Howe responded that there have been few applicants and that there are other ways of helping the community such as the First Time Home Buyers' Down Payment Assistance Program. Mr. McConnell also '~sked how long the City could keep the money without allocating it. Ms. Howe answered. that the funds would .be obligated for 2 years and the project would need to be completed within 5 years. Mr. Shepherd mentioned that provi~ing affordable housing is one of the City's goals. Mr. Nyaren affirmed that affordable housing is on both the Mayor's and Council's list of goals. Ms. Howe encouraged people to contact either herself or Hugh Morgan at the Department of Community Development by calling (360) 473-5211 or (360) 473-5375 respectively to r~ceive more information on the First Time Home Buyers' Down .payment Assistance Program. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Page 3 of 5 5:48:35 M/S/C/U (Gehring/Short) Move to approve allocation of $307,000 to Habitat for. Humanity of Kitsap County from HOME program funds. 7A -.PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH TAX.RECOVERY SERVICES LLC TO PERFORM BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION'AN-D UTILITY TAX AUDITS (#ABOS300): Cathy Johnson, Financial Services believed th~t Financial Services has identif!ed several areas of potential tax recc;>ve'ry that could have' a positive ongoing impact on future revenue collections. A review by, TAX RECOVERY SERVICES (TRS) has revealed several'large national and international companies that are not currently reporting or paying required B & 0 tax to the City. Since TRS has significant expertise in this area we propose to contract with them to identify those companies, audit their records and work with them until they 'are paying their lawful share of B & o tax to the City. ' There were no comments from the public. Mr. McCo~nell asked how long it would take to perform the audit. Cathy Johnson estimated that it ~ould take about 75 t0110 hours per audit. Ms. Lyon added that.~ime would only 'be invested in audits that would yield a large recovery. ' Mr. Short asked.where these types of audits been done successfully and requested more . background information.on TRS.' Ms. Lyon answered that-the Cities of Seattle, Tacoma, .' Olympia, and Bellingham have had audits conduCted by TRS. Mr. Short also expressed concerns of costs' associated with this agreement .for services. _ Ms. Lyon provided -assurance that per the agreement for the expectation of large recovery,' if no money is 'collected then~ no fees will be collected. Mr. Nyaren asked if there were a possibility of ,recovering an amount and then paying equal amount in fees. Ms.. Lyon stated that was not her expectation. . Ms. Robinson asked if contract would be for 2 years. 'Ms. Lyon answered that the contract could span up to- 2 years, but she did not anticipate the audit to take that amount of time. Mr. Gehrina asked if this audit will include review of the utility tax. Ms.:Lyon responded that utility tax was included in error and will not be subject to the audit. Mr. Gehrina asked if there. wer~ any revenue steam projections ayailable. ,Ms. Lyon was provided an estimate from TRS that the City could see a recovery of about $140,000 to $170,000 p~r company whi~h could include 5 years retroactive payment. . Mr. Nyaren clarified that this is about going after taxes that are owed to the city.not creating new taxes; added that there will be future discussion about possibly ~educing Band 0 taxes.. Ms. Lyon emphasized that are several companies that are compliant and this would not affect them. 5:58:40 M/S/C/U (Arends/Priest)"Move to approve the PSA with Tax Recovery Services, LLC to provide a'udit $ervi~es and authorize the Mayor to fina.lize and execute the ne~essary contract documents for the agreement in substantially the same form as presented. . 7B - ORDINANCE NO. 4960 TO, AMEND. ORDINANCE NO. 4947~ WHICH AM'ENDED THE' -FY2005 BUDGET As ORI,GIN~LLY ADOPTED BY ORD'INANCE .NO. 4921 (#AB05-301l: City Council Reg.. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Page 4 of 5 Laura LYon, Financial Services Director stated, that tt)e Bremerton City Council adopted the 2005 annual City budget by Ordinance No. 4947 on September 7,2005. Certain programs have been implemented and ~Gtions:.taken since the September amendment which have an impact on .the City's 2005 budget resulting in the need to further amend the 2005 budget document. Some of the changes address buildi'ng association fees, general facilities costs, rebudgeted personnel costs and labor settlements, adjustment to the water fund for debt service, and placing the unexpended funds of the conference center construction fund into the ending balance of the general capital impr.ovement fund. There were no comments from the public. . . Mr. Maupin was pleased with the budget process that was accomplished this.year. Mr. Shepherd acknowledged the efforts of the finance committee to improve the budget process. 6:04:46 M/S/C/U (Arends/Robinson) MOVe to .approve Ordinance No. 4960 amending Ordinance NO.-4947 which amended the F!scal Year 2005 Budget as originally adopted by Ordinance No. 4921. . . 7C -APPROVAL OF EXTENSION"OF THE CLOSING.DATE ON'THE SALE'OF OLD FIRE STATION NO.'1 (#AB05-302l~ Mr.,Lubovich .e.xplair:Jed that. Mr. 'Elie Benaron 'requested a one week extension of the closing date of tl'1e purchase and sale transaction. Staff worked out the interfund loan payment. There were no comments from. the public.' 6:07:14 M/S/C/U (Priest/Maupin) Move to approve extension of closing on the sale of old Fire Station. No. 1 to no later. than. January Q, 2006 and that.the.interfund loan between the ERR' . Fund and the Public Safety Bond be'authorized,to'remain outstanding.until n~.Iaterthan . . January 6: 2006 and that the 2006 budget shall be amended to provide for the receipt of these funds. and the repayment 'of the interfund loan accordin91y in 2006.. PUBLIC RECOGNITiON - There ~ere no questions or concerns addressed tonight. COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS , , Mike Short thanked District 9 residents, .fellow Council Members', and his wife for their support; spok~ well of Nick Wofford as his successor; and wished the community a ,Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Will Maupin commended Daren Nygrer:J and Mike Short for their work during their terms; and wished all a Merry Christmas. ' Carol.Arends wished everyone a Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas; and congratulated . Sue Sholtz of the. Police Department for being mention~d in the Seattle Post Intelligencer and thanked her for her work on domestic violence. Dianne Robinson also thanked Mike Short for-working closely on the cell p~one committee, and commended Daren Nygren for hi~ work as Council President; wished everyone a Merry Christmas; and offered special thanks to Block Watch member Ron Jefferson who has provided . gifts to the children and food for families living in Anderson Cove. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes VVednesday, December21,2005 Page 5 of 5 Mike Shepherd attended the One Church One Family meeting last week'and hoped that next month the group will transition from helping other communities to 'applying that data to Kitsap to see how we could help h~re; thanked Mike Short and Dare'n Nygren for their service and- hoped to see them ~s community activists in. the future. Wendy Priest win miss Mike Short and his wife's cookies; thanked Daren Nygren for his . positive leadership; and also wished the community a Merry Christmas. Cecil McConnell has worked closely with Mike Short and Daren Nygren over the past 2 years and will miss them; and wi~hed everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays. Brad Gehrina found that being on Council has been very informative, and enjoyed working with Mike Short and Daren Nygren; welcomed Nick VVofford and Adam Brockus to the Council; encouraged safety during the holidays; and wished everyone a M~rry Christmas and Happy Hanukah. Daren Nvaren mentioned that he would be providing a response to Don Larson of Kitsap Trees regarding 'his complaint about a large tree being cut down. At this time it appears that the tree was located on private property and there is no' City program in place to protect trees on private property; he also wished everyone a safe and happy holiday season. .. VVith no further business, the meeting of the City Council was adjourned at 6: 18 PM. Prepared and Submitted by: ~~~.~. CHRISTINE GRENIER Council Assistant Attest: CM/PJ/ls/cge