SUMMARY MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING

Annual Strategic Planning Workshop

Friday, March 16 and Saturday, March 17, 2018

Brightwater Clean Water Treatment Facility

March 16 - 8:30 a.m. 22505 State Route 9 SE, Woodinville, WA 98072

PRESENT: Mayor Hall, Deputy Mayor Salomon, Councilmembers McGlashan, Scully, McConnell, Chang and Roberts

ABSENT: None

STAFF: Debbie Tarry, City Manager; John Norris, Assistant City Manager; Randy Witt, Public Works Director; Margaret King, City Attorney; Paula Itaoka, Human Resources Director; Rachael Markle, Planning and Community Development Director; Sara Lane, Administrative Services Director; Eric Friedli, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director; Shawn Ledford, Shoreline Police Chief; Dan Eernissee, Economic Development Program Manager; and Carolyn Wurdeman, City Council Executive Assistant

GUESTS: Allegra Calder, Principal, BERK Consulting, Workshop Facilitator; Jamas Gwilliam, Business Attraction Panel Member; Holly Smith, Business Attraction Panel Member; Anne Marie Koehler, Business Attraction Panel Member; Joe Donahou, Business Attraction Panel Member; and Ken Batali, Business Attraction Panel Member

At 8:33 a.m. the Special Meeting was called to order. Mayor Hall provided a welcome to Council and staff. Mayor Hall also discussed the purpose of the workshop and provided his thoughts on the value of goal setting. Then, Mayor Hall turned the Workshop over to Facilitator Allegra Calder, who provided an overview of the Workshop and led the group through an introductory exercise.

Council then discussed the 2017 City Accomplishments. Assistant City Manager John Norris provided a brief overview of how staff put together the accomplishment list and provided some thoughts on key accomplishments from the staff perspective. Mr. Norris also stated how City staff were proud of all the work that was accomplished this year. Council also provided reflections on the accomplishments and thanked staff for all their efforts to achieve such a large volume of work in 2017.

The City Manager then began reviewing the current (2017-2019) City Council Goals and Work Plan and some of the performance measures that were also collected that correspond to the Goals. Council had a few questions regarding economic development performance measures, such as if the assessed valuation of new construction of commercial buildings is declining. Council also discussed a potential new performance measure for commercial activity, such as amount of retail sales tax collected by year. Staff confirmed that they would review performance measures going forward to provide the most helpful data to Council in regards to whether the City is achieving Council Goals.

The City Manager and Council also reviewed the staff proposed Goals and Action Steps for 2018-2020. Council held off on a discussion of Council Goal #1, as that was discussed later in the morning, and started with Council Goal #2. Council proposed a few changes to Action Step #1 of Goal #2, with a focus on advocacy for funding strategies and that the Action Step accommodate sidewalk maintenance in addition to new sidewalk construction. The Council was generally supportive of this suggestion. Council also asked a question about the priority environmental strategies Action Step in Goal #2, but felt that the current proposed Action Step language was sufficient.

Council asked whether there should be an Action Step in Goal #3 regarding development updates for the two Station Areas. Staff responded that periodic updates are already scheduled and Council felt comfortable not adding this as a specific Action Step. Council also asked staff to look at the increase in the number of new housing units in the Station Areas as a potential new performance measure. Also for Goal #3, Council asked staff about developing a parking management strategy, including residential parking zones, and adding this as an Action Step. Staff stated that they are currently working on developing a baseline study of parking now and that a parking management strategy is likely a couple years away. Council was fine not including this as an Action Step in this year’s Work Plan.

Council also discussed an idea for a new Action Step focused on supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and opioid addiction. Specifically, this Action Step would focus on how the region, the City, and the City’s partners are addressing these issues, and if there are any gaps in service that the City can help fill. Staff stated that they would work on coming up with proposed Action Step language for Council consideration. Council was generally supportive of adding this Action Step under Council Goal #5. There were no other proposed changes to Council Goal #4 or #5.

Following the discussion of Council Goals, Economic Development Manager Dan Eernissee discussed the City’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, including accomplishments of the six-year Plan and potential themes of a plan update that staff will be working on this year. The proposed Plan will continue to focus on Place-Making, and include other themes such as neighborhood commercial centers and supporting home-based businesses. Council was in general support of the proposed Economic Development Strategic Plan direction. Staff will be bringing back the Plan for Council approval later in 2018.

Following this discussion, Mr. Eernissee and Ms. Calder welcomed and facilitated a panel discussion on business attraction, with a focus on neighborhood scale businesses and the retail and restaurant sectors. The Council and the panel had a robust discussion and Councilmembers asked many questions of the panel. Panel members discussed how the City can support development occurring in Shoreline and what business owners are looking for when making decisions to locate in a City. Some panel members also explained the realities of the restaurant business and the current retail landscape, and how that may affect business attraction strategies.

At the conclusion of the panel discussion, Council then began discussing Council Goal #1, which is focused on economic development. Staff explained that the proposed language to expand this Goal to also include ‘economic opportunities’ was included based on Council’s earlier direction. Council was supportive of the proposed Goal title and description. Council then discussed potential new Action Steps under the revised Goal #1, and agreed that moving the affordable housing Action Step under this Goal was a good idea. Council also discussed the idea of an Affordable Housing Levy as a way to generate funding for additional affordable housing, but was not interested in adding this as an Action Step at this time. Council also discussed using certain City properties/facilities to create retail/restaurant opportunities in Shoreline, but no specific Action Step was proposed for this.

Following the wrap-up of the proposed Council Goal discussion, Council and staff took a tour of the Brightwater Treatment Plant and discussed the use of reclaimed water in the region with King County Brightwater staff. Council and staff then wrapped up the day with feedback on the first day of the Workshop and reflections.

The first day of the Strategic Planning Workshop was adjourned at 4:00 pm.

Council Chambers - Shoreline City Hall

March 17 – 8:30 a.m. 17500 Midvale Avenue North

PRESENT: Mayor Hall, Deputy Mayor Salomon, Councilmembers McGlashan, Scully, McConnell, Chang and Roberts

ABSENT: None

STAFF: Debbie Tarry, City Manager; John Norris, Assistant City Manager; Randy Witt, Public Works Director; Sara Lane, Administrative Services Director; and Eric Friedli, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director

GUESTS: Allegra Calder, Principal, BERK Consulting (Workshop Facilitator)

At 8:35 a.m. the second day of the Special Meeting was called to order. This began with a review of the 2018 citizen satisfaction survey questions. Council provided direction to staff on the proposed survey questions and suggested removing the more in-depth questions regarding traffic congestion and delay. The Council also suggested some edits to the public safety questions.

Council, the City Manager and Assistant City Manager were then joined by Public Works Director Randy Witt, Administrative Services Director Sara Lane, and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Eric Friedli for a discussion of a potential sidewalk construction and maintenance ballot measure and a parks and community/aquatic center ballot measure. Council and staff had a robust discussion of these ballot measures focusing on their priorities and how these measures should be sequenced and potentially proposed to the community.

This discussion began with Ms. Lane presenting information about the potential ballot measures and some key discussion questions, including whether Council was interested in a property tax supported ballot measure for sidewalk construction in 2018. The majority of Councilmembers were not in support of this as they were concerned about the cost of a ballot measure to taxpayers and the timing of bringing this to the voters, given the pressure on property tax from other sources, especially with the increase in property taxes levied by the State Legislature in response to the McCleary decision. Councilmembers were also concerned that proceeding with a sidewalk property tax measure at this time could affect the ability to propose a property tax bond measure for development of a new community/aquatic center and park project development in the future. The Council also briefly discussed combining a parks and sidewalk measure into one ballot measure, but there was concern with this idea. Councilmember Chang was interested in staff looking at the sidewalk fee-in-lieu program to help fund the development of new sidewalk construction and was interested in looking at public-private partnerships or the formation of a Parks Foundation to help fund a community/aquatics facility with private dollars.

Council then began focusing on how to fund maintenance of existing sidewalks. This included a discussion on the use of sales and use tax, which would need to be approved by the voters, or use of an increase in the vehicle license fee. Council had varying opinions on these revenue sources to fund sidewalk maintenance, and potentially some construction of new sidewalks, and requested that staff bring these options back to Council when the Sidewalk Advisory Committee also brings their recommendations to Council later this spring. Councilmember Scully also requested that staff bring back the option to Council of funding new sidewalk development with a larger property tax measure, even if this does not have the current support of the full Council, as he would like the Council to formally discuss and vote on this option. Staff stated that they would bring this back along with other options for sidewalk maintenance funding. Staff also stated that they would provide a summary of the Council’s ballot measure discussion with the Sidewalk Advisory Committee so that the Committee is aware of the discussion and the Council’s current thinking, even though Council is still expecting a recommendation from the Committee.

Following the ballot measure discussion, Council reviewed the proposed changes to their Council Goals again to make sure that the proposed changes were captured accurately. Council did not have any concerns with staff proposed edits to the Goals, but a couple of Councilmembers did propose a few other ideas for potential Action Steps. Councilmember Chang asked about the idea of an Emergency Preparedness Action Step, and staff explained that there had been Goals and Action Steps devoted to emergency management and preparedness in the past, but as this program has become operationalized, staff did not feel it was necessary. Council agreed, but did request that a future Council dinner meeting be dedicated to the City’s Emergency Management Program so the Council could learn more about the program and how it is structured and operates.

Councilmember Chang also asked a question about how staff reports and Council agendas communicate key policy considerations for the public, and whether the public is able to glean these considerations from the currently produced Council meeting material. Council discussed this idea and felt that a Council Goal Action Step was not necessary. Staff did state that they could accommodate a change to the email notification about Council meetings to include which City department is responsible for various agenda items. Staff stated that they would also look to conduct a continuous improvement work project on the City’s staff reports to see if they should be improved and streamlined. Council was supportive of this type of work effort.

Finally, Council also discussed Council Goal #1 again to determine if any additional Action Steps should be included in the goal or whether the shift in focus from solely economic development to economic climate and opportunities made sense. Mayor Hall also provided some context of why economic development had historically been such a high priority goal for the Council. Council did not suggest any new Action Steps under Council Goal #1 following this discussion, but did suggest that it would be helpful to draft a Currents article or other form of citizen communication that explains the reality that Shoreline’s population is not growing, contrary to what many Shoreline residents may feel is happening in the community. Staff stated that they could work on an article of this nature.

The final agenda item that Council discussed was a series of policy questions generated by various Councilmembers. This began with a discussion of compostable and recycling collection for commercial/business accounts. Council was comfortable with staff’s recommendation to not create a new regulation that would require this, but rather focus on education and incentives to achieve higher levels of commercial recycling and composting. Council also expressed their interest in working towards becoming a zero land fill City and adopting a proclamation in the future to that effect.

The Council next discussed the potential for City scholarships for Shoreline School District students receiving free and reduced lunch on potential shortened school days, and the Council was not interested in further exploring City scholarships for this purpose. The Council also discussed exploring regulations prohibiting plastic drinking straws/food service ware and, similar to the commercial account recycling/composting discussion, asked staff to focus on education and incentives to help restaurants and Shoreline businesses reduce their use of these plastic items voluntarily.

The Council then discussed having the City’s prosecutor discontinue bail recommendations for certain non-violent criminal offenses, and Council had a robust discussion about the problem this creates for those defendants who cannot afford bail, while at the same time discussing the issue of directing prosecutorial discretion. The Council decided to not ask staff to continue to explore this, but rather asked that staff provide Council with a memo detailing how the prosecutor makes bail recommendations and include data regarding the bail decisions, such as the number of defendants released on their personal recognizance; the number of defendants who have failed to appear for a court proceeding, necessitating a warrant for their arrest; typical bail amounts by case type; etc. Staff stated that they would be able to work with the City’s prosecutor to provide this memo.

The final two policy discussions related to Council Operations, and specifically involved citizen congratulatory letters and City auction donations, such as a ‘Mayor for Day’ auction item. Following Council discussion of both of these operational questions, Council decided against instituting either of these ideas. Councilmember Roberts then brought up another operational issue regarding term limits for the City’s Boards and Commissions because there are different term limit regulations for the Parks Board and the Planning Commission. The Parks Board has rules that provide term limits of three, four-year terms, while the Planning Commission has rules that provide term limits of two, four-year terms. The Council generally agreed that the term limit regulations should be consistent and that they should both be two, four-year terms. Staff stated that they would work to bring back a Code amendment to amend the Parks Board Code.

At the close of the City Policy Issues discussion, the Mayor thanked the Council and staff for a good Workshop. Ms. Calder also thanked the Council for their participation over the last two days.

The Special Meeting was adjourned at 1:05 pm.

/S/John Norris, Assistant City Manager