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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/07/1970 251: MINUTES OF THE.REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL æth 1970 8 April 7, 1970 Port Townsend, Washington The City Council of the City of' Port Townsend, met in'regular session this 7th day of April 1970 at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers or the City Hall. Mayor Smith presiding. ROLL CALL Off'icers and members present were as follows: Mayor Smith, City Attorney Abraham, City Clerk, Youngblood, Councilmen Camfield, Hoglund, Scheyer, Norw~od, Steve, Lindsey. Councilman Judy arrived during the reading or the Bills & Claims. I MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS SESSION It was moved by Councilman Lindséy seconded by Councilman Camfield. that the minutes of the previous session be dispensed with. Motion carried. BILLS & CLAIMS I The following bills & claims as audited by the finance committee were presented and acted upon as follows: CURRENT EXPENSE FUND---------------Voucaer No~ WATER-SEWER FUNB-------------------260~er No. STREET FUND------------------------Voucher No~ GARBAGE FUND-~---~-----------------Voucher No; LIBRARY FUND-----------------------Voucher No~ PARK FUND--------------_':"_---------Voucher No. 1967 Port 'rownsend 'Const. Fund-----Voucher No. 7068 2607 1718 1614 2034 1019 238 through 7l20---~:11, 141 ~ 42 through 2640---~ 6,827.03 through l744--~~; 4,206.58 through l634---I~; 2,366.61 through 2057--- .; 988.85 through 1032---; 762.63 throggh 239 ---; 68.12 8 It was moved by Councilman Hoglund seconded by Councilman Scheyer that the bills & claims be approved as read and that the' Mayor and Ci ty Clerk draw warrants upon the prop:¡ r funds for payment so same. Motion carried. OFFICERS REPORT City Clerk --.yhe City Clerk reported the following Salary Warrants .cor the Month of March 1970. ' - . I CURRENT EXPENSE FUND---------------Voucher No~ WATER-SEWER FUND-------------------Voucher No: STREET FUND------------------------Voucher No~ GARBAGE FUND-----------------------Voucher No~ LIBRARY FUND-----------------------Voucher No: PARK FUND--------------------------Voucher No: FIRE PENSION & RELIEF FUND---------Voucher No. 7048 thrOUg. h 7067_-7;:6' 780~ 32 2600 through 2606--~ .2,531.98 1712 through 1717--- ;2; 387 ~37 1610 through 1613--- a,653~87 2032 through 2033---~; 459.00 1018----------------i 343.92 312 through 313 ---:¡¡; 437.50 Treasurer - The 'l'reasurer' s report was read in full for the Month or March 1970 and was ordered f'iled. Police ~ne Police report Was read in f'u11 for the Month of March 1970 an¿ was ordered filed. COMMUNICA TI ONS The following communications were presented and acted upon as follows: From Port Tavnsend Kiwanis Club March 31, 1970 to-wit: 8 Port Townsend City Council Port Townsend Washington 98368 The Honorable Mayor and Council Members: I For the past seyera1 months, the Kiwanis Club has been looking into and considering restoration of the Bell Tower as one of ' its service proTjects. After receiving inspection reports from Mr Ed Becker, the County Engineer, and Mr Robert Sahli, Local contractor, it was felt that such a project would be too extensive for one service club to undertake. A community wide project with all service' organizations and interested persons involved wou1å, seem to be ~he better course of action. . . In as much as the bell itself and the striking mechanism are a unLue combination that could not easily be duplicated, the Kiwanis Board of Directors has recommended that these items be removed from the tower. This would reduce the danger of collapse of the tower and at the same time protect these valuble pieces until restoration of the tower can oe completed. It was furtfuer recommended that immediate action be initiated on this matter to insure the preservation of thi~ historical landmark. I Resp ec tfu1ly, Bob Chase Secretary Mayor Smith said that the letter would be brought up under new business. , ' From: Port Townsend Chamber of' Commerce March 31, 1970 to-wit:- Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Port Townsend Port Townsend, Washington 98368 8 Gentlemen: The matter or-the condition of the bell tower was brought to our attention. We have no authori~y in the matter, but would like to suggest that'your'engineer survey the problem and after you get his report, that you propose recommendations. ' The Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce would be hapy to cooperate in rectifying this situation and in spearheading a community ef'fort to pr eserve this valuable hiD toric structure. Respectfully yoùrsJ A. Clemens Grady Secretary ~ 252 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL 7, 1970, CONTINUED Mayor Smith said that the letter would also be brought up under new business. From: Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce Iviarch 31, 1970 to-wit: The Honorable Frank Smith Mayor of Port Townsend and City Council Port Townsend, Washington 98368 Gentlemen: The Port Townsend Chamber of' Commerce has long been concerned with the ene~uities of the B&O Tax. Now that some relief' is being afforded by the recently enacted sales tax, we f'eel that thds is a most opportune time to do away with the tax that was first adopted only as an emergency measure to meet a desprate situation. Taxpayers claim that once a tax gets on the books, it is never repealed. ~1e hope that this is not true as far as the City Council is concerned in regard to this particular tax. .ú R spe ctful1y yours, A:C. Grady Secretary Mayor Smith said that'the letter would also be brought up under new business. From: Cascade Ambulance Service to-wit: Port Townsend, Wn. April 7, 1970 The City Council City Hall Port Townsend, Wash; 98368 Dear Madam & Sirs: I am writing this letter in order to ascertain whether or not the council is prepared to negotiate for contract ambulance service. However, before a decision can be reached on such an issue, necessarily it must be clearly defined. There are many questions that need to be answered. The most basic of' which is: why? Vfuy is a private company asking the city council to consider entering into a contract to provide a service which, historically, has never been a concern of' this city's government? An adequate response to t4at question involves a thorough appraisal of the responsibilities of an ambulance service to the community which it serves and more importantly, the responsibilities of' the people of that community who are the beneficiaries of that service. The responsibilities to which I refer are not of a'leg&l nature. There are no statutes compelling a private concern to extend such a service. However, I personally feel that in order to provide the type of service that merits the support o~ the community, it is mandantory that those who engage in its operation experience an awareness of their moral responsibility for the welfare of the people to whom the service is extended. I am thoroughly cognizant of that profound responsibility. If I were not, I would not be witing this letter. However, there are other, personal responsibilit- ies which I am increasingly undble to f'ulf'ill. I refer specifically to my responsibilities to my wife and family. The situation that precipitated this letter is the current financial instability of this company. I cannot continue to sacrifice the welfare of my family in order to provide a service to the people of this community. The average monthly operating expebse of this company is thirty-two dollars and nenety - seven cents ($32.97) more than the average monthly gross. This does not include a salary for me. In 1969 I incurred a loss of three hundred and n'inety-two dollars and ninety-one cents ($392.91). I no longer have the financial resourc:)s necessary to continue to incur such a loss. Therefore, unless the city èounci1 is prepared to enter into a contract with my company, I shall be forced to close my doors. Certainly a contract wity my company isn't the only course of action open to the council. Howerver, it is the most f'easible and least costly method of' providing for the continued availability of a professional twenty-four hour emergency service. In order to emphaxize the truth of that statement, I will briefly explore the other possibilities. For instance, what about my predecissors? All of the prior operators of ambulance services in this city extended the service as a part of another business. They are fully aware of the fact that it was ohly because the profits of the other business supplanted the losses of the ambulance service that they were able to extend the service at all. They cannot be expected to reinstate a losing proposition. Nor are they willing to do so. ~fuat about providing the service as a part of' city government? The total annual cost of insuring and maintaining an ambulance plus the annual salaries of personnel is at least six times that of contracting the service to an outside vendor. Add to that the initial costs of purchasing and equipping the vehicles and providing for adequate training of personnel. What about eliminating the expense of salaried ~rsonne1 by making the service a part of fue Volunteer Fire Department? Even if this were feasible, the expenses other than salaries still have to be considered and would total more than a contract service. Furthermore, by using volunteers you no longer have the ambulance staffed adequately. In thÐ f'irst place you lose time. I am ref'erring to the time it takes for the volunteer to get from his home b the ambulance. In many instances, the patient cannot afford that additional time. For example, if the patient is in cardiac arrest, effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation must be institutèd within the first f'our minutes or permanent brain damage will result. In the second place, you lose the effectiveness of a professional service. Even though the volunteer is highly motivated, in order to make the decisions that an amubu1ance technician is confronted with in an emergency situation, he must have a great deal more training and experience beyond advanced first aid. Dr. Robert H. Kennedy has stated the problem this way: "For years the Committee on 'frauma of the American College of Surgeons (Dr. Kennedy is director of their Field Program) has advised that every ambulance driver and attendan should take an American Red Cross Advanced First Aid Course or its equivalent. We now know that this is not enough. The management of emergency childbirth, cardiovascular accidents, as well as emergency care beyond first aid needs to be taught by physicians to all personnel concerned in any way with the immediate care and transportation of the sick and injured." When I began this letter I anticipated citing cases from my experience in the ambulance business in order to demonstrate the fact that, had I not previously been availed of such training, the patient's welfare wold have been seriously impaired. However, I decided that that manner of illustration was distasteful. Dr. Kennedys statement clarifies the situation eff'ective1y. . I cannot think of any other method of resolving the Question of providing continued ambulance service to the City of Port Townsend than those alternatives I have outlined above. A contract between the city and the existing service is the only reasonable conclusion. Either that or a combined city-county contract. The reason that this letter is addressed to the city council rather than to the county commissioners or to both governmental entities, is this: Since I have been in business here, 8 I I 8 I 8 I I 8 ~53 I MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL 7,1970, CONTINUED OVER 80% of the calls to which we have responded have originated within the City ~ Port Townsend. As I stated at the outset, I wrote this letter to ascertain whether or not the council is prepared to enter into negotiations for contract ambulance service. I am not asking the City Council to vote on a contract at this time. But I am as1{ing the council to vote on a motion .to enter into negotiations. If the vote is f'avorab1e, I will endeavor to continue operations until a contract is finalized. However, if the vote is unf'avorable, I will be forced to close. Before coming to the council I explored every other possible method I could think of' for sustaining the service; this proposal is the only remaining possibility. Throughout this letter I have discussed costs. If your vote is favorable it will, admittedly, cost the people of this city money to maintain an ambulance service. However, if your vote is unfavorable, the costs will not longer me measured in dollars and cents. The absence of the service will cost some of those people an arm or geg, partial or total paralysis; some will needlessly die. ' Those are harsh statements. I considered closing this letter without but that is the reality of the situation. T hope that in this letter I the situation to the extent that the council is aware of that reality. wrote it. making.those statements, have clearly defined I am. That why I 8 I Sincere1ý, Ronald G. Slighte, Cascade Ambulance Service Ma yor Smith said he would take the letter ,up under new business. From Phil Rich, Port Townsend, Washington TO: The Mayor and Honorable Members of the City Council of the City of Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Wn. Gen t1e men: 8 I enclose herewith a proposed ordinance which I believe will help solve the auto thef't problem in the Port Townsend communi~y. The con~ributing factorf'or auto thef'ts has been the neglect:.:~ of the user of the vehicle in leaving his keys in the car when the car is unoccupied. This ordinance would remedy the situation and result in eliminating the theft problem itself. Dated this 12th day of March, 1970 ,/ /- .' ,/ Respectfully submitted, Phil Rich PROPOSED ORDINANCE FOR CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND I WHEREAS, numerous car thefts have occurred periodically within the Port Townsend community;: and WHEREAS, such thefts are ,due to the carelessness of the vehicle owner or user in leaving keys in the igàition switch of' the unoccupied vehicle; and lNHEREAS, such owner or user neglect creates a situation where the vehicle may be easily stolen and thereby the oub1ic put at great expense for the recovery of' the vehicle through law enf'orcement officers; and ~mEREBY the public is submitted to an unreasonable risk of harm on account of the erratic use of the vahic1e ,by theives; and WHEREAS, a simple public remedy to avoid car theft and the consequent'pub1ic~expense and hazard would be authorize po1icemen~to impound keys left in the ignition, now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the city of Port Townsend that the law enf'orcernent offic ers of the Ci ty of' Port Townsend be and they are hereby authorized to enter any unlocked, unoccupied vehicle werein keys are seen within the ignition switch and to impound said keys by revoval f'rom the vehicle the said ignition key and any other keys attached or strung to it and by placing such keys in storage with the city clerk f'or such period of time as and until the owner of the keys identifies himself and pays an impunding charge of $5.00. Mayor Smith again said that the proposed letter and ordinance would be brought up under new business. 8 COMMITTEE REPOR~' I Under committee reports, Councilman Hoglund gave a short report on union aegotiations on the police department, he said that union represenatibes and the state mediator along with a member of the police department had met and talked over a propos~d contract that had been presented, they could not get together on cbn the contract and felt sure that a new proposal 1Q)u1d be presented to the council in the near future. The City Clerk reported that a meeting WaS held- for all uniform personel on medical, all had signed up with the Washíngton Physicians "Service and were col9'ered by medical as of April 1, 1970. He also mentioned that the cost would 'be more that what was budgeted f'or "1970 and there would .' probably would have to be an emergency ordinance befoÐe the year w~s out. OLD BUSINESS I The f'ollowing ordinance was presented under old business. ORDINANCE NO. 1588 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 7 OR ORDINAN CE NO. 1301, PASSED AND APPROVED ON APRIL 6,1954. I I II ! Attorney Abraham said that the ordinance does not change anything but fees. It was moved by Councilman Camfield seconded by Councilman Judy that the first reading be considered the second reading and the third reading be by title only. Motion carried. 8 Ordinance No. 1588 was again read for the third time by ti tle on1:y' and jt WaS moved by Councilman Judy seconded by Councilman Camfield that Ord. No. 1588 be now adopted. Motion carried. Mayor Smith said that under old business the State Engineers were taking another look at the MonDoe Street project and it looked very much that they would improve the project only to Roosevelt street. He also mentioned that the reservoir project was in progress. ,I \\ ~ 2.54 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL 7,1970, CONTINUED NEW BUSINESS - -- - Mr George Huntingford spoke bef'ore the council about water taps in the Hadlock, Ironda1e & Chimacum area and asked the council to review the situation and if' at all possible to issue more taps in the area for they needed the water. Mayor Smith referred the rsquest to the Water Dept. and the Water Committee. 8 CALL FOR BIDS The City Clerk asked the councils permission to call ßor bids for Liability Insurance coverage requirements and bids to be opened May 5, 1970. It was moved by Councilman Judy'seconded bv Council~an S~heyre that the City Clerk be authorized to call f'or bids. Motion caRried. I ORDINANCE NO. 1589 The f'ollowing Ordinance was presented and acted upon as f'ollows: AN ORDINANCE APPROPRIATING T}Œ SUM OF $43,000.00 TO CONSTRUCTION FUND UNDER CAPITAL OUTLAY IN THE 1970 BUDGET OF THE VJATER-S ~;¡JER DEPARTMENT AND DECLÆING AN E~ŒRGENCY. I Mayor Smith said that due to the nature of' the above ordinance it would have to be held over until the next regular session. STR2ET PETITION The following street petition was presented and acted upon as follows: The undersigned, constituting all of the owners of lands abutting uron the portion of' street herein requested to be vacated, respectfully petitiJn the city council of the City of Port Townsend to cause to be vacated. 8 That portion of Landes 8treet lying between the North boundary of 28th Street and The South boundary of 29th Street in the City of Port Townsend. The portion of Landes Street to which reference is made is unopened, and has never been used by the public. Martha N. '.ioodworth Catherine Merrill Vickie Meyer John Woodworth John Merrill Donald Meyer I Mayor Smith referréd the above petition to the Street committee the Engineer and the Planning Com ission and set a public hearing for May 19, 1970. Mayor Smith brought back on the agenda the letter from the Chamber of Commerce for the repeal of the B & 0 Tax, and asked any comment or discussion. Attorney Abraham said he would like to make a historical comment, he said it was the first time he realized that the B& 0 was an emergency tax in view of the fact the council had worked on it for two or tree years before it was enacted. He also commented that he had read and heard that the B& 0 tax was inequitable, he would like to invite people to look at some textbooks on tax laws, the B& 0 Tax is equitable because the business man is getting city services for his business in addition to city services he is getting at home such as police protection, fire protection and etc in two places, if the Chamber of Commerce or anyone else would like to see an example of an ineouitab1e tax let them turn their attention to the State B&O tax,- the state provides no services to a business man, and has not heard our local Chamber of Commerce intering into any objection to that tax. Mayor Smith said that at the Mayors standpoint, there has been a lot of figures kicked around and for general information the state has indicated something in the nature of' 60 or 70 thousand dollars in sales tax, on the other side of the ledger the city will lose the special aid and jn recent years there has been budgeted money out of reserves, ther e has at times been windDalls such as pipe litigation, special aid, but this comming year could see none of this in sight. Councilman Hoglund, Finance Chairman, commented that we had to look at both sides of the coin, he said he failed to see this great windfall of monies and financial security that we are led to believe that we are going to enjoy. He said he could not see that we are in a position to repeal the B&O tax and thought it would not be in the best interest of the city to do so at this time. C~uncilman Steve made a motion seconded by Councilman Hoglund that the letter from the Chamber of Commerce requesting to repeal the B&O tax be tabled. Motion carried. Councilman Lindsey commented that the street department had a grader that was thirty yeaBs old, they needed a new loader which would be around 23 thousand dollars and could not see in cutting the B&O tax off at this time. 8 I Mayor Smith brought back on the f'loor the letter from the Cascade Ambulance Service to negotiate âor a contract ambulance service. Councilman Lindsey said he did not like to see Port Townsend without an ambulance and thought if all the council could get together and hold a meeting to see if any arrangements could be met. Ater some discussion Mayor Smitp appointed Councilman Scheyer, Lindsey and Hoglund as a co,"mittee to meet with Ìilr Slighte and it was suggested that the county Hospital District be contacted to meet with the committee. I Mayor Smi th brought back on the floor letters on the Bell 'reviler. lIe said this sub jec t has been kicked around nuite a bit, it is on city property, it belongs to the city and felt that the city engineer should take a look. After some discussion it was moved by Council an Camf'ield seconded by Councilman Scheyer that the City Engineer check the condition of the bell tower and report his findings back to the council. Motion carried. Mayor Smith brought back on the floor the letter and proposed ordinance on car theft. City Attorney Abraham said that the proposed ordinance would violate the search and seisure ruling made by the Supreme Court since the car would be considered priv te property and a search warrant would be necessary. Mayor Smith referred the matter to tile police committee. 8 Mayor Smith said that th~re were two or three situations concerning the Bishop Development the Deleo Development and the Hensel Plat, it had to do with wiater, sewer and street improvements. H<¡3 sai9- that the City Engineer had <B.discussed this with them and a mò;mber of people on the sltua~lon and made Recommendations to him which h ld . councilmen and it had to do with a s~cial asses~~n~~~ist~~~.coPles of and give to each ;1 2 5-~T MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL 7,1970, CONTINUED I Mr Bonzo Deleo spoke before the council saying that he didnt think he was getti~ a fair shake on the water and sewer situation, and could not see why he cou1dnt run a 6" main from Sheridan to his properties and he also mentioned that he could not see the street project on Monroe. Mayor Smit~ said that the Monroe Street Project was under the 6yr street program, and the state would not shift monies f'rom the Monroe project to another. . Engineer French sgid that on the sewer that Mr DeLeo had already put in and if the council went for a special assessment district he m uld be would be re-embursed, he also what he had recommended to the council was a 6" line on 10th 11th & 12th between Sheridan and Holcomb and property owners on both sides of the street would ~y their fair share. He also mentioned to Mr Deleo that he would be able to get water for his project on a temporary basis. Attonney Abraham said that he and the Engineer had talked about this at length and ~u1d recomment that the council get some one from a bonding House here either at a regular meeting or a private get together and talk over the possibility of' financing projects that the engineer has written up, he said if the council would set a time he would be happy to call a bonding house and have someone to meet with the council. Councilman Scheyer made a motion seconded by Councilman Judy that the council in gen~ral approve the concept of a special assesment district as means of improvement in the city. Motion carried. 8 I ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business to come before the council at this time, it was moved by Councilman Steve seconded by Councilman Judy that the meeting do now adjourn. Motion carried. 8 ått est: Å ,~ z::--~r~ i ty~er MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL' 21, 1970 April 21,1970 Port Townsend, Washington The City Council of the City of Port Townsend met in regular session this 21st day of April, 1970, at .7:30 p.m. in the council chambers of the City Hall. Mayor Smith presiding. ROLL CALL I Officers and members present were as follows: Mayor'Smith, City Attorney Abrah~, City Clerk Youngblood, Councilmen Scheyer, Judy, Camfield, Steve, Lindsey, Norwood. Councilman Hoglund absent. MINWTES OF firE PREVIOUS SESSION It was moved by Councilman Camfield seconded by Councilman Lindsey that the minutes of the previous sess ion be dispensed with. Motion carried. COMMUNICATIONS The following communication vms presented and acted upon as follows: From: Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, April 13, 1970, to-wit: 8 The Council of the City of Port Townsend Port Townsend, Washington Gentlemen: The Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce is vitally interested in the continuation of ambulance service in this area. I We do not pretend to tell the City how this should be accomplished but we do urge the City to use whatever efforts may be required to see that ambulance service is continued. This does not necessarily mean that we want the City to subsidize the'service but we feel the City should take some type of leadership in connection with this matter. Respectfully yours, A. Clemens Grady, Secretary I Mayor Smith said he VÐuld bring up the letter under old business. COMMITl'EE REPORTS Councilman Steve' said that the police committee upon the advise of the City Attorney recomm- ended that no action be taken on the empounding of car keys that was recommended in a letter at the last regular session. 8 CO'.lllC ilman Lindsey reported on the ambu1anceservice, saying that he aad talked to several different ones and was trying to get a meeting scheduled, he mentioned that he was waiting for a letter from Olympia on ambulance service explaining that maybe the state next year would help the ambulance services along. .. Mayor Smit~ said that he also had requested information from the Washington State City's, and also said that in regards to the Chamber of' Commerce letter, the city is taking what leadership they can and f'elt that the Hospital District might be a very 10gicial orgànization to undertake something of this nature and hoped that the Chamber saw fit to direct a letter to the Hospital District on the subject. Ci ty Attorney Abraham said that he had talked to most of the Counc~i1men saying that Mr Dowd of Foster & Marshall Bonding firm had been contacted and they rould like to meet with the council f'or lunch at noon of' next Monday the 27th. He said in gener'a1 they want to ou\line ............