Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-28-2004 - MinutesMEDINA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION MINUTES June 28, 2004 Medina City Hall 7:00 PM 501 Evergreen Point Road Mayor Odermat called the Council Study Session to order at 7:06 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Council members Miles Adam, Drew Blazey, Katie Phelps, Deputy Mayor Todd Nunn and Mayor Mary Odermat Absent: Council members Bob Rudolph and Pete Vail-Spinosa Staff Present: City Manager Doug Schulze, City Attorney Kirk Wines, Director of Public Works Shel Jahn, Director of Community Development Joseph Gellings, and Recording Secretary Caroll Wedlund ANNOUNCEMENTS Mayor Odermat relayed the following: • The Green Store hearing will take place in King County Superior Court on Friday, July 2, 2004 at 8:30 a.m. • Medina's citizen representatives for the SR-520 project, Steve Broback and Laurel Preston, have called a meeting from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on June 29, 2004 at Overlake Golf and Country Club. • Mayor Odermat congratulated the Police Department for receiving the Association of Washington Cities 2004 Municipal Achiever of the Year Award for Medina's work with the Coalition of Small Police Agencies. City Manager Schulze announced the following: • Association of Washington Cities will conduct an annual budget workshop in Lynnwood July 29-30, 2004. Any interested Council members should contact him. • The Regional Transit Committee Caucus was accepting nominations for an open alternate position. Anyone interested should contact him, as nominations must be submitted by July 30, 2004. • City Manager Schulze gave the Council a briefing on municipal court jurisdiction issues. COMPUTER AIDED DRAFTING AND DESIGN PRESENTATION Community Development Director Gellings stated computer aided drafting and design software (CADD) was used by architects and other designers to present a three -dimension moving animation. The design had undergone some refinement since presentation to the public in a community meeting at Medina Elementary about two weeks prior to the June 7, 2004 Special Use Permit public hearing. Imad Bahbah, Architect for McGranahan Architects, 2111 Pacific, Suite 100, Tacoma, 98402, explained he was the project manager for the Medina Elementary School design team. He clarified CADD was a design tool that helped them study massing, window and door locations. There was still some detailing to be finished. Andrew L. Cottrill, of McGranahan Architects, noted the difference between rendered images and a model was the sun created shadows on rendered images. He presented a 360 degree panorama of the proposed school, as well as views from different perspectives. Mr. Bahbah distributed copies of design renderings to Council members, and requested that they be made available for the public at the front counter. A Council member suggested the copies be marked "draft" and Mayor Odermat added they should also be date stamped. Mayor Odermat noted since discussion of the CADD presentation had not been, scheduled for this evening, the Council would need to discuss anything related to the proposed school at another meeting, it that was necessary. DISCUSSION City Facilities —City Manager Schulze explained discussion of city facilities was a follow up to Council direction dating back to October 2003. He had included in the packets all options that had been provided to date by the city facilities architect, Frank Lawhead. The options and schematics in Council packets were not intended to be design preferences, but rather programmatic types of examples. There was agreement among Council members more space was needed for city facilities. City Manager Schulze stated the first six options represented a stand-alone Police Department of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. Over time and as design was refined, that square footage could change. A Council member asked about the advantages and disadvantages to having City Hall tied together with the Police Department. City Manager Schulze stated the advantages of having a combined facility, such as avoiding duplication of various staff needs, telephone systems, computer systems and office equipment. Also, it was more efficient to have one of the key members of the management team in the same building. There were also City Council Study Session Minutes June 28, 2004 Page 2 benefits to having a stand alone police facility, such as officers not having to be in a public park with loaded weapons. Upon occasion, there were also arrests or police interrogation of suspects, which were good reasons to have a stand alone facility. City Manager Schulze stated having a police facility at the end of a street made it easy to block an ingress and egress point. However, in reality the chances of that happening were fairly slim, as typically, the officers were patrolling the city. City Manager Schulze continued if the Police Department were not co -located with City Hall, it would be possible to remodel the lower level to house staff. A Council member stated staff was delivering service with the present square footage, so he did not think the most efficient route was expanding to four times that size for two facilities. That Council member also suggested the Council should agree on funding before proceeding any further. Another Council member opined a bond measure could be submitted for citizen vote for either remodel of City Hall or a new police facility, but it was not necessary to fund both expansion and a new police facility. Mayor Odermat reminded the Council that they had previously decided there were considerable cost savings by hiring employees to replace consultants, and City Hall did not have extra room for staff. Deputy Mayor Nunn suggested City Hall be increased to house both the Police Department and staff. He voiced pessimism about acquiring property to house the Police Department. Deputy Mayor Nunn also recommended the integrity of the building should be preserved. Mayor Odermat joined with Council member Adam and Deputy Mayor Nunn as advocates for what could be done with the existing City Hall, while maintaining the integrity of the building. It was suggested the Council be provided with options for reasonable expansion of City Hall on the existing property that would meet functional requirements for both staff and the Police Department. That information would help them to determine a rough cost estimate. Mayor Odermat suggested all Council members visit Clyde Hill's City Hall to see what was available for their staff and Police Department before discussing Medina's facilities. The Council gave direction for the next city facilities steps as follows: • Plan for use of existing property, rather than for new property. • Meet functional needs through a reasonable expansion. • Provide cost estimates for options. City Hall Trash Enclosure and City Hall Portable Office —City Manager Schulze furnished background information regarding the history of the trash enclosure near City Hall. When the Dustin property was purchased, four additional parking spaces had been created. The trash enclosure near City hall took two spaces, so there had been a net gain of two parking spots. City Manager Schulze presented options for consideration. It would cost at least $10,000 for a two -month period for a vehicle and driver if employees were shuttled from off site to City Hall. Another option suggested by a Council member was placing the portable office at the Public Works site, as that would add four available parking spaces at the beach. Another Council member suggested placing the portable office elsewhere was not a feasible solution, as the Director of Public Works was frequently at City Hall. A Council member remarked easing the parking restrictions when the Blue Angels came to town might help to reduce complaints regarding tickets issued. Director of Public Works Jahn thought the city had 16-17 parking spots around City Hall. It was suggested employees commute by car pool to reduce the number of parking spaces used by staff. Mayor Odermat pointed out staff members did not live in the same neighborhoods. Further, what would happen if an employee needed to run an errand for the city in the middle of the day? Also, staff members often carried work -related material, and employees took work home at night. She was not in favor of removing staff parking spaces, nor forcing long-distance employee commuters to car pool, as such action would make working conditions more difficult for them. Deputy Mayor Nunn suggested the Council do nothing. A Council member agreed, adding the Blue Angels should be part of community relations. City Manager Schulze clarified strict enforcement had begun when angry citizens had complained about people from Bellevue who visited over the lunch hour parking on landscaping and causing property damage. Another Council member agreed with Deputy Mayor Nunn. No decision was made to relocate the trash enclosure that was currently near City Hall. Mayor Odermat, Deputy Mayor Nunn and Council member Phelps were not in favor of moving the portable office because of access to City Hall. Council members Adam and Blazey were in favor of moving it to the Public Works site. No action was taken regarding the portable office. Beach Park and City Hall Parking —The Council decided to address the Medina Beach Park and City Hall parking problem with facility planning. City Manager Duties and Authority —CM Schulze explained during the past year, questions had been raised regarding authority delegated to him for entering into contracts and agreements. As a result of the increased level of concern regarding this matter, the City Attorney had been asked to research the subject and provide an City Council Study Session Minutes June 28, 2004 Page 3 opinion, which was in the Council packets. The City Attorney had opined in order to avoid misunderstandings or confusion, many cities had drafted ordinances setting forth the extent of authority which the Council delegated to administrative staff. City Manager Schulze stated Resolution No. 42 had been adopted by the Council in 1961, and defined the duties of the City Manager. That Resolution had not been rescinded or amended, even though it was clearly outdated. Resolution No. 42 was silent regarding the subject of contracts and agreements. A Council member voiced unwillingness to authorize the City Manager to enter into settlement agreements. Another Council member thought it was important to be involved with the union contracts as well as the personal service contracts for some of the higher level managers. City Manager Schulze clarified number 11 did not suggest the Council would not be involved with union negotiations. Further, the Council would have to ratify an employment contract. He suggested since Resolution No. 42 was outdated, it could be rescinded. Deputy Mayor Nunn and Council members Adam and Blazey voiced objection to the present wording in number 11 and requested more specificity. Following further discussion, the contracting authority ordinance was moved to the August 9, 2004 Council meeting, with the following changes: • Change paragraph F on page 3 to include extensions and renewals. • Reword number 11 to provide more specificity. Historic Preservation Options —Director of Community Development Gellings recommended the Council discuss options for an historic preservation program and provide direction to staff if such a program was desired. He noted recently local home designer Karen Crenshaw had brought to the Council's attention an historic barn structure at 7722 Overlake Drive West. An associate of hers had recently purchased this property with the intention of developing three homes on it. She had asked if the Council would consider creating incentives to preserving the barn. He explained another representative of that organization was present this evening. Mayor Odermat, Deputy Mayor Nunn and Council member Blazey did not see any public benefit from creating incentives to preserving the barn. The Council decided not to proceed with the Historic Preservation proposal. 2004 Retreat Agreements —A Council member emphasized it was incumbent upon staff to clarify and publish the protocol for public speaking during Council meetings. The 2004 Retreat Agreements were accepted by the Council and moved to the August 9, 2004 Council meeting for action. Medina Park Dog Control Public Hearing —The July 12, 2004 public hearing for Medina Park dog control was moved back to City Hall. The Council decided upon a light system for speaker time limits, with a yellow light as a 30 second warning, and a red one to signify the speaker should stop speaking. City Attorney Wines suggested each speaker be given three minutes, and that three to four citizens should be called at a time. Further, the written speaker procedures would be needed prior to that public hearing. It was agreed the Council would not answer questions from the speakers or from the audience. Their role was to listen to the comments, after which they would discuss the issues and render a decision. Council Agenda Calendar —Future Council agenda items were discussed. It was decided the City Manager's performance review should be discussed in Executive Session at 6:00 p.m. prior to the July 12, 2004 public hearing. A Council member requested time during a future study session to discuss some points in Ordinance No. 600 for building permit timeliness standards. City Manager Schulze had distributed Ordinance No. 600 a couple of weeks prior. City Manager Schulze stated there was room on the September Study Session agenda. EXECUTIVE SESSION The Council decided by consensus to recess into Executive Session at 9:52 p.m. to discuss land acquisition, per RCW 42.30.110(c), and possibly personnel matters, per RCW 42.30.110(g), and contemplated reconvening in approximately fifteen minutes, at which time they would adjourn. The Council recessed into Executive Session at 9:52 p.m. At 10:08 p.m., Council member Adam moved, seconded by Council member Blazey to reconvene, and the motion carried unanimously. ADJOURNMENT Council member Adam moved, seconded by Council mf carried unanimously. Attest: 0 t;14 Caroll P. Wedlund, Recording Secretary motion