HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-07-2005
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MUNICIPAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
November 7,2005
Minutes
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Gene Cerino called the meeting to order at 5:05 PM in Conference Room
No.3, located on the second floor of Auburn City Hall, 25 W. Main Street,
Auburn, WA. Councilmembers included: Chair Gene Cerino, Vice Chair Bill
Peloza, and Member Rich Wagner. Staff members present included: Mayor
Pete Lewis, Police Chief Jim Kelly, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Gerber, Human
Resources/Risk Management Director Brenda Heineman, Finance Director
Shelley Coleman, IS Director Lorrie Rempher, Planning, Building and Community
Director Paul Krauss, Utility Accounting Manager Julie Sharkich, Fiscal Services
Manager Craig Violante, Assistant Police Chief Bob Lee, Airport Manager
Jamelle Garcia, Community Development Administrator David Osaki, Solid
Waste Supervisor Sharon Hlavka, City Attorney Dan Heid and Investigations
Secretary Kathy Divelbiss.
II. AGENDA MODI FICA nONS
There were no agenda modifications.
III. CONSENT ITEMS
A. Approval of Minutes
Chair Cerino asked to have two scribner errors corrected on page 3 of
minutes. Replace the word minutes with the word Resolution in two places.
This correction was made.
Vice Chair Peloza so moved to approve the October 1 yth Municipal Services
Meeting minutes as corrected and Member Wagner seconded the motion.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0
IV. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
A. Ordinances
There were no Ordinances for the Committee's review.
B. Resolutions
There were no Resolutions for the Committee's revieW.
Municipal Services Minutes
November 7,2005
V. INFORMATION/DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. Ordinance 5957 and Ordinance 5958 - Red Light Photo Enforcement
Program.
City Attorney Dan Heid explained that there are two items under this
information and are two different Ordinances in support of the Red Light
Photo Enforcement Program. The first ordinance establishes the program
as a part of the Auburn City Code and identifies the parameters along the
scope of legislation that was recently passed. Attorney Heid explained that
there is limited discretion to set the penalty amount at $101 since this
violation reports to the same level of seriousness as parking enforcement
and therefore it cannot be more than the set parking enforcement fine.
Auburn currently has parking violations as high as $250.
Member Wagner asked why it can't be more than $101. City Attorney Heid
reported that it could be more than $101 but not more than any parking
violation over $250. Human Resources & Risk Management Director
Brenda Heineman reported that at a recent workshop she attended on this
matter they warned cities about oversetting the fee to the maximum amount
of $250. It was recommended to set the fee at $101 to stay consistent with
other jurisdictions in our area.
Member Wagner asked how much of the $101 fee will the Red Light
Company retains. Attorney Heid said they get a straight dollar amount and
the city gets 100% of whatever is left because no money has to be sent to
the State under this program. IS Director Lorrie Rempher reported that the
cost per intersection is $4,700 but if city didn't collect that much, we would
never pay more than we collected. Chair Cerino asked about what happens
when an intersection isn't making enough money to make system viable at
that intersection. Does the City only pay for the minimal amount that
intersection made or how does that work? It was not known for sure but the
contract is still in negotiation and this will be asked about. Chair Cerino said
that Lakewood's experience with Red Light Photo Enforcement is cash
neutral. Director Heineman agreed but said when Lakewood included the
school zone enforcement the City made money. Member Wagner asked if
they would be able to see what the administrative costs are at the end of a
year.
Vice Chair Peloza stated that he did not agree with starting this out at $101
and would like to see the charge set higher than $101. He said he is
skeptical because we don't know if the City is going to lose money
administratively, using the $101 amount. Chief Kelly said that the State
Legislature sets the dollar amounts for infractions. Attorney Heid also added
that if the City uses this as a revenue generator and charges higher than the
regular infraction amount, the State will be looking at this and they may be
coming back and asking for a share of that money.
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Municipal Services Minutes
November 7, 2005
Chief Kelly reported that the vendor has scouted the intersections and
worked with the police department. They will assure that the activity is there
to support the placement of the equipment.
Attorney Heid explained to the Committee that this will need to be adopted
when we go live with the program. The contract is under negotiation right
now. The contract will be brought to the full City Council pretty quickly so
that the City can implement this program by the first of the year.
Chair Cerino inquired about who is on Committee for Red Light Photo
Enforcement? Chief Kelly said the Committee consists of representatives
from different departments, including Finance, Court, IS., Police, Legal and
Public Works.
B. Resolution No. 3931 - Agreement between Seattle Mental
Health/Auburn Municipal Court.
Human Resources & Risk Management Director Brenda Heineman reported
that this agreement is with Seattle Mental Health and it will begin our Mental
Health Court will begin December 5th and December 19th and will continue
to be twice a month on Monday afternoons. She estimates that the City will
save approximately $1,500 a month per person who uses this treatment
instead of incarceration. She reported that there is a grant available through
the state to pay for medicines that are handed out in the jail which could be a
savings of up to $17,000 a year. .
Vice Chair Peloza asked if there was a reason why we didn't use Valley
Cities Mental Health. Brenda replied that Seattle Mental Health has the
funding through the state and they also have mental health housing.
Sentencing was also discussed and the Mayor said that if sentencing is
done, as it is normally done, then this program should work well and save
money for the City. Director Heineman stated that she will be tracking this
program and will follow up with a report with the results.
C. Airport Fuel Pricing
Airport Manager Jamelle Garcia reported that a survey was done on fueling
prices that went back to the beginning of 2005. He reviewed the information
that was in the Municipal Services Committee packets. He noted that there
was a spike in the price on September 8th and the Auburn Airport ran out of
fuel at 7 pm on September 7th, so we purchased fuel on the 8th at the highest
price ever charged. The Airport Management Group is losing approximately
$0.15 per gallon. We are the only fuel vendor on the airport, so we have a
moral obligation because of safety to not be out of fuel. Air BP has agreed
to supply less than a full delivery when there is a large fuel price spike.
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Municipal Services Minutes
November 7, 2005
It was discussed that an increase would be in order after comparing what
other similar airports are charging.
D. Solid Waste Rate Analysis
Vice Chair Peloza asked about the subsidization of single family and roll-off.
Utility Manager Julie Sharkich reported that with the new software they no
longer have to enter roll-off manually. If the admin costs to roll-off were
reduced to 15% then the bottom number would look a lot better. Vice Chair
Peloza asked when we would be getting out of this surplus condition. Mayor
Lewis said we will be discussing that further in a budget workshop. Shelley
Coleman recommended that we raise the rates to our customers to at least
equal the COLA that the Seattle/Bremerton Labor Contractors get. Member
Wagner would like to make a better estimate of the admin fees distribution.
Chair Cerino agreed that we should look at the distribution costs and look at
the rates. Member Wagner said that we still want to subsidize single-family
costs but might need to phase down the subsidies so at the end of the
surplus they are not hit with a huge increase in rates.
E. Resolution No. 3935 - Agreement with the South County Area
Transportation Board.
City Attorney Dan Heid said that this agreement is consistent with the
contract we entered into in the past and that we are just renewing it. Mayor
Lewis said this is a renewal of an ongoing contract and the only change was
the additional language that brings back the ability for cities to have the
Chamber of Commerce on this body as non-voting members.
Vice Chair Peloza asked if any money is associated with this and Mayor
Lewis said it is $75 a year. Vice Chair Peloza also asked who maintains the
funds and Mayor Lewis reported that King County is the Administrator.
F. Draft Ordinance No. - Amending the Auburn City Code
relating to no parking between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM.
Chair Cerino asked Attorney Heid to look at our overnight parking ordinance
because the police do not have the authority to do anything about the people
that are parking off the road but in the vicinity of the road.
Attorney Heid handed out a copy of a draft Ordinance of where people can
park overnight. This would be adding some additional territory along
Riverside Road. It was decided that the correct name of Riverside Road is
actually Green River Road NE.
Member Wagner said that the edge of the pavement is very beat up and is
costing the City a lot to allow people to park there. They discussed the
possibly there should only be a few smaller areas for fishermen to park. The
Committee favored this Ordinance.
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November 7,2005
VI. ADJOURNMENT:
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Gene Cerino, air
With no further public business the meeting adjourned at 6:10 PM.
Approved this ;(1 db day of November, 2005.
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Kath~iss
Investigations Secretary
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