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HomeMy WebLinkAbout010912 CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE RETREAT MEETING OF JANUARY 9, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The City Council of the City of Port Townsend met for a retreat the ninth day of January 2012 at 5:30 p.m. at the Cotton Building, 607 Water Street, Mayor David King presiding. ROLL CALL Council members present at roll call were Robert Gray, David King, Kris Nelson, Catharine Robinson, Michelle Sandoval, Deborah Stinson and Mark Welch. Staff members present were City Manager David Timmons, City Attorney John Watts, City Clerk Pam Kolacy, Public Works Director Ken Clow, Finance Director Michael Legarsky, Development Services Department Director Rick Sepler, Library Director Theresa Percy, and Police Chief Conner Daily. Committee Assignments The Mayor's proposed committee assignments to Council standing committees and outside committees were reviewed. It was noted the Community Support Services Committee has completed its assignment (develop solicitation funding process for non- profits and set rental fees and conditions for use of City facilities) and will be convened again if necessary to solicit proposals for community services when funding becomes available. The Special Projects Committee will be convened as a clearinghouse to prioritize projects and make recommendations to the full Council on whether or not to place them on the work plan. Staff will review and possibly modify the former"Inbox" issue evaluation form for use by the committee. Issues may come forward from staff, Council, committees or citizens. Some outstanding assignments will be clarified and resolved prior to the January 17 meeting when official appointments will be approved by the Council. Advisory Board Selection Process After brief discussion, Council did not direct any changes to the current selection process for advisory board and committee members. Council Office City Council Retreat January 9, 2012 Page 1 Discussion centered around individual Councilors having "office hours" in the Mayor's Office in Historic City Hall for the purpose of being available to talk with citizens. Follow-up will include setting hours, creating a calendar and publishing the office hours in the City newsletter. The desire is to have a schedule in place for the month of February. Public Comment Jim Todd supported a ban on plastic bags. Steve Hamm spoke on behalf of"Occupy Port Townsend" and the "Move to Amend" work group. He asked Council to support the movement at state and federal levels to rescind corporate personhood. Kees Kolff, on behalf of Sierra Club East Jefferson Biomass Committee, stated the group has collected 500 signatures from people calling for a moratorium on the construction of biomass boilers until steps are taken to protect citizens. He asked for Council support and referred to his more detailed e-mail sent directly to Councilors. Margaret Lee spoke regarding encouraging regular town meetings and public forums where citizens can have a dialogue with elected officials. She added that meetings should be well advertised. O'Neill Louchard spoke in support of the comments of all other speakers. Grace Cota of Port Townsend supported the ban on biomass boilers. Mr. Kolff asked for a show of hands from those present to support the ban on biomass boilers. Most of those present indicated their support. Mayor King asked for a show of hands from the audience regarding how many were present to support other issues raised by speakers (about 30 people were present). Plastic bag ban: majority of the audience. "Move to amend": majority of the audience. Town meetings: majority of the audience. The meeting recessed at 6:40 p.m. for a dinner break. Council then moved to a discussion of"potential issues" and were asked by the Mayor to identify important issues which may not or may not be on the 2012 work plan. Ms. Nelson: budget issues, biomass, plastic bag, Fort Worden, PUD electric, banking contract. City Council Retreat January 9, 2012 Page 2 Mr. Welch: making sure big projects stay on track, youth and recreation, parks situation, dealing with the County on youth, parks and recreation. Ms. Robinson: downtown sidewalk project, library construction, pool situation, Howard Street extension (keep on radar), youth initiative, biomass, plastic bags, more involvement in City finances. Mr. Gray: Pool and school district agreement regarding the Mountain View property. Howard Street, Sheridan Street work near hospital. Shift some funding to downtown to help businesses. Discussion on how to help downtown and Upper Sims businesses. Ms. Sandoval: Youth initiative, town meetings about youth and education. Youth amenities, Fort Worden, ferry routes. Ms. Stinson: agrees with all, particularly Ms. Sandoval. Schools, youth activities. Climate Action plan implementation of low and no cost items. Communication stream — information coming into and going out of the City. Mr. King: also agreed with other Councilors. Managing finances in a way the community trusts and following through. Making the community feel they are heard and feeling that even if we can't do everything we have responded constructively. Resolution 11-043 —Adopted in Connection with the 2012 Budget Listing Issues and City Council Priorities for Action in 2012 A timeline for Council consideration was presented in the packet materials. Mr. Timmons noted that the timeline called for one Council workshop per quarter dealing with the issues identified in the Resolution. A newsletter summary will be prepared in a consistent format after each meeting for the public. He reviewed the draft schedule for items to be addressed at each meeting. Mr. Timmons noted that staff will be scheduling items on the Council calendar in advance when information becomes available. Many upcoming items are mandatory or required such as secondary water treatment and Comprehensive Plan amendments. Some emerge because of issues at the state government level, such as ferries and Fort Worden. Some decisions are not ours, for example the School Board will decide ultimately about the Mountain View property. It was agreed that the Council wishes to be well informed by the time budgeting time comes around in the Fall; financial items need to be rolled into the regular work during the year. The City must be prepared to respond quickly to financial issues as they arise. At this time, financial workshops are scheduled for the Cotton Building so that the Council can meet in a more informal venue. There was some concern that the City Council Retreat January 9, 2012 Page 3 meetings would not be televised or webstreamed. Chambers is not conducive to good recording in a roundtable setting. Options such as filming by PTTV were discussed. Current matters and obligations Mr. Timmons stated that staff will put together a more comprehensive list that will include capital initiatives, utility rate review, solid waste contract, biosolids facilities lease, Comprehensive Plan review, ADU ordinance, joint City / County parks study recommendations and implementation. Other upcoming issues include budget shortages in the school system that will affect various youth programs, the County's proposed General Obligation Bond for the Port Hadlock sewer system that will increase the total debt obligation of the City, the PUD electric utility status in light of the slow progress on their timeline(with costs and complications that could affect the City), and the Port litigation regarding Kah Tai (intergovernmental issues will be extremely challenging). Mr. Timmons stated that staff will compile and keep a running list of all projects on the horizon. Town Meetings Consensus was that there is a need to determine how to frame the meetings and how to get real participation from citizens. It is unlikely a meeting can be scheduled before summer and summer is a hard time to get people to come. It was decided to target September. Regarding the topic, it was suggested that the meeting be framed to discuss parks, recreation and youth. The Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center was also suggested. The importance of preparing and communicating about the meetings was noted; considerable staff time must be allocated to the process. Mr. Sepler stated that the subject of the meeting must be ripe at the time of the meeting. There can be meaningful outreach between now and then. He would support a firm commitment to a September town meeting and build toward that. Further discussion included suggestions such as paying attention to the structure of the meeting, giving the topic its broadest scope, and using voting technology to engage the participants. Checking in on current community values should be part of any meeting. Some agencies are beginning the "Communities Who Care" project which involves public meetings that may dovetail with the youth and recreation issues. It was also noted that many important issues involve other partners and perhaps a town meeting could create the impetus for them to come to the table. City Council Retreat January 9, 2012 Page 4 It was suggested that rather than focusing on youth, the topic might be expanded to family issues, which are difficult to separate from discussion about youth opportunities and services. There is a difference between a forum where you try to educate the public and town meetings where you try to get people to help you make a decision. Too many meetings will dissipate the energy and may result in a loss of interest by the public. There is a point at which people must be proactive and show up. Mr. King suggested a demonstration of the City's website in the Council Chambers so citizens will understand how to find the large amount of information that is currently available. This could also be a chance to improve the site by hearing user input. Ms. Sandoval reminded the Council that elected officials from Sequim and Port Angeles would like to schedule a meeting to discuss regional cooperation. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 8:28 p.m. Attest: Pamela Kolacy, MMC City Clerk City Council Retreat January 9, 2012 Page 5