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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/27/05 DIGITAL RECORDING -. -.m., '.. st 2005 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, July 27,2005 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, Bremerton, Washington, Wednesday, July 27, 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 provided by Reverend Paul Meeker of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. President NYQren announced that a Pre-Council session was held in Council Conference Room 603 from 5:00 to 5:30 P.M., and included a 15-Minute EXECUTIVE SESSION to discuss "POTENTIAL LITIGATION". PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS Wendy Priest selected the SORIANO PROFESSIONAL BUILDING owned by Jerry Soriano and Louis Soriano to receive the "City Pride Award" for July 2005. Jerry Soriano was pleased to accept the award on their behalf. CONSENT AGENDA A. Check Numbers 301466 through 301647; EFT-8467 through EFT-8477; 8478P; and 8479P through 8482P in the amount of $1 ,569,422.46 (#AB05-165) B. Collective Bargaining Agreement between the City of Bremerton and Bremerton Police Management Association (#AB05-166) Prior to the vote, President Nvaren asked if any citizen in the public would like to comment on any item on the Consent Agenda. There were no comments therefore the Council proceeded with the vote... 5:37:30 M/S/C/U (Priest/McConnell) Move to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. 5A - RESOLUTION NO. 2972 REGARDING THE PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT TO REDUCE NUMBER OF COUNCIL MEMBERS AND CORRESPONDING DISTRICTS FROM 9 TO 7; AND SUBMITTING A BALLOT MEASURE TO THE VOTERS FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 8.2005 (#AB05-167): Council Members Will Maupin and Mike Short proposed that the City Council submit to the voters, on the November 8, 2005 General Election, the question whether or not the membership of the City Council and respective Council districts should be reduced from nine (9) to seven (7). ROQer Lubovich mentioned that if the ballot were passed then all positions would be up for re- election in 2007 and the district boundaries would need to be adjusted. He further stated the cost of the election is estimated to range from $300 to $1,000, and the estimated cost of redistricting is expected to be close to $5,000. President NYQren asked for clarification on the procedure for removing an item from the agenda. Mr. Lubovich responded that at Pre-Council, one Council Member may remove an item and two Council Members may place the item back on the agenda, but now that the meeting has begun, action would need to be taken, but that action could include tabling the item for further study. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, July 27,2005 Page 2 of 4 Del Knauss requested that Council Members either table the resolution to a later meeting to allow more public comment or to vote "no". He suggested that a commission should be formed so that the public could be involved in the process to make such changes in the Charter. President NYQren clarified that the only proposed action before Council Members tonight was to decide whether or not to put the item on the ballot. Helen Miller agreed with the previous comments made by Mr. Knauss; and also believed any changes that were needed to the Charter should have been made during the previous election. Paul Drnievic also agreed with comments made by Mr. Knauss; and was concerned that this change would lower the number of Council Members needed to reach a majority in any given vote; and was not convinced that the change would save money or that work could be done by fewer Council Members. He asked for people to contact him at (360) 479-6652 if interested in rewriting the City Charter. Will Maupin stated that of all Washington cities, only a few cities have 9 or more Council Members and those cities have much larger populations. He estimated the reduction in Council would result in about $28,000 in savings and that money could be used for services. He also believed that there would be less staff time involved to cover fewer Council Members and that additional work would be easily absorbed by the remaining Council. It is a fair question to ask voters how they wish to be represented. Mike Short mentioned that he has conducted his own research, and during that polling, there was citizen support for streamlining government and saving money. He supported the action to send this issue to the ballot so the citizens have the opportunity to voice their opinion. Carol Arends emphasized that no members of the public have opposed a change in Council, but was not sure that this proposed change would benefit the City and its districts. However, she only supports changes to the Charter if done all at one time. She also suggested that the smaller Councils in larger cities may be full-time Councils. Brad GehrinQ was concerned that this change would lessen the representation of each district and believes that 9 Council Members are adequate. He did not believe that increasing the workload would improve efficiency. He supported continuing this item to include more public input. Cecil McConnell raised the issue that if there were fewer Council Members, the likelihood of a tie- vote or lack of quorum at meetings would be increased, and further pointed out that all previous attempts to change the number of Council members have failed. He agreed with previous comments regarding public input and suggested that a citizen's committee be formed to consider all of the possible changes that could be made. 6:15:45 M/S (McConnell/Robinson) Move to form a Citizen's Committee to study the City Charter and make recommendations of any changes to the City Council. No vote was taken at this time as the discussion continued... Mr. Maupin commented that he was not sure how this motion could be made when a completely different item was on the table; and secondly, reminded the Council that when citizen committees were formed in the past to study the Charter, it is believed that measures failed because some citizens may find just one thing they don't like, and then vote "no". He feels that incremer:ltal changes to the Charter would be best to improve little by little, the way the City operates. Lastly, he explained that he began with the proposal to reduce the number of Council members because this was the one issue that was most out-of-line with other Washington cities. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, July 27,2005 Page 3 of 4 Mr. Shepherd asked for a point of order regarding the motion. Mr. Lubovich stated that clarification over the intent of the motion needs to be established because if a Citizen Committee was being formed to establish proposed Charter changes, that doesn't mean that the Council can't go ahead and vote on the original proposed motion. Mr. McConnell established that the intent of the Motion is to form a Citizen Committee to look at the City Charter, and let them bring any proposed changes to the Council instead of the Council proposing that there be a reduced number of Council Members. Ms. Johnston proposed language for the motion. Mr. McConnell agreed. Mr. Maupin established that this amended Motion would basically do away with the original proposed Motion that was on the floor. Mr. Shepherd was concerned that there was a lack of citizen involvement in the original proposal, so was supportive of the amended motion, but believes that a recommendation should be brought to the Council by December 1. Mr. Short stated that he supports a Citizen Commission, but was disappointed that the proposal was not brought forward earlier during one of the many previous Study Sessions. Ms. Priest stated that although she is not generally opposed to citizen committees, she felt that in this case, it made more sense to the get the opinion of all voters versus a small group of people, especially now when it would be so cost effective to place an item on the ballot. She also emphasized that once this issue was on the ballot, it would open up the opportunity for discussion and debates. Mr. NYQren agreed, and felt it was unfortunate that the Council was being asked to take action on an item that has not been through the Council's committee process, which would have allowed for more detailed discussion. He didn't understand how much study is required to simply place an item on the ballot for the citizens to decide whether they wanted 7 Council Members or 9. 6:33:45 M/S/C (McConnell/Robinson) Move to form a Citizen Commission to study the City Charter including the issue of the size of the City Council, and report back to the City Council with recommendations by December 1, 2005. Voted in favor of Motion: McConnell, Shepherd, Robinson, Arends, Gehring Voted opposed to Motion: Priest, Maupin, Short, Nygren Motion Carried: 5-Yes; 4-No The following Executive Session was held during the Pre-Council session... 6A- EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS "POTENTIAL LITIGATION" PER RCW 42.30.110 (1)(i) (#AB05-168): Council Member Mike Shepherd outlined concerns over the management of health care services and asked to present a resolution supporting legal action to maintain health care services. 6:36:45 M/S - Retracted (Shepherd/Priest) Move to resolve that our City Attorney and Mayor have been active in the protection of the City's interest in sustaining our traditional health providers, including Harrison Hospital and Kitsap Physician Service, the City of Bremerton by Resolution continues to support and encourage both legal and moral support of our medical community and authorize the City Attorney to proceed in this matter as previously directed. The Council recessed at 6:41 P.M. and returned at 6:55 P.M. Motion was retracted by Shepherd; seconded by Priest. City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes Wednesday, July 27,2005 Page 4 of 4 6:56:47 M/S/C/U (Shepherd/Priest) Move to encourage and authorize the Mayor and City Attorney to continue our support of our traditional medical community and specifically to intervene and address issues of concern in the pending court proceedings relating to the transfer of KITSAP PHYSICIAN SERVICE to GROUP HEALTH. With no further business, the meeting of the City Council was adjourned at 6:58 P.M. The Council reconvened in the Council Conference Room 603 for a Study Session to hear presentations on upcoming agenda items. The public is welcome to attend. DN/PJ/ls/cge Prepared and Submitted by: L.- }k.,,- CHRISTINE GRENIER - Council Assistant