SUMMARY MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING

Monday, October 14, 2019 Council Chambers - Shoreline City Hall

7:00 p.m. 17500 Midvale Avenue North

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

ABSENT: None.

1. CALL TO ORDER

At 7:00 p.m., the meeting was called to order by Mayor Hall who presided.

2. FLAG SALUTE/ROLL CALL

Mayor Hall led the flag salute. Upon roll call by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present.

3. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER

Debbie Tarry, City Manager, provided reports and updates on various City meetings, projects and events. The CAPRA Accreditation Certificate was presented to the City by Jesus Aguirre with the Commission for the Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies.

4. COUNCIL REPORTS

Mayor Hall reported that he, along with City Manager Debbie Tarry and Intergovernmental Program Manager Jim Hammond, met with senior leadership at the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to better understand DSHS’s interest at the Fircrest Campus. He said they were receptive in listening to Shoreline’s interests and priorities. He described it as a relationship-building meeting and said the agreed upon follow-up action is a meeting between the City, DSHS, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Washington State Office of Financial Management, with the goal of exploring how DSHS can use their property to take care of vulnerable populations while meeting the City and community’s interests in open space, and the Legislative interest in affordable housing. Mayor Hall said DSHS is aware of the moratorium on applications for Master Plan Development Permits and said it helped set the stage for a conversation towards creating a win-win solution. Ms. Tarry said she will include, in her weekly update to Council, any new information that she receives.

5. PUBLIC COMMENT

Rosetta Kastama, Shoreline resident, described her experiences and participation at the Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Center and thanked Council for their support.

Stephanie Henry, Shoreline resident, said that when she realized that Shoreline was not recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, she quickly drafted a resolution for consideration. She shared background and the effects of Columbus Day and said the cultures of indigenous people are worthy of promotion. She said the proposed resolution would celebrate the resilience, history, and beauty of all indigenous people and encourage Council to adopt it.

6. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.

7. CONSENT CALENDAR

Upon motion by Councilmember McGlashan and seconded by Councilmember Scully and unanimously carried, 7-0, the following Consent Calendar items were approved:

(a) Approving Minutes of Regular Meeting of September 23, 2019

(b) Approving Expenses and Payroll as of September 27, 2019 in the Amount of $4,073,706.31

*Payroll and Benefits:
	Payroll Period	Payment Date	EFT Numbers (EF)	Payroll Checks (PR)	Benefit Checks (AP)	Amount Paid
	8/25/19-9/7/19	9/13/2019	87069-87319	16671-16691	76067-76072	$710,195.19
	Q1 & Q2 (ESD)	9/26/2019			76197-76198	$30,877.32
						$741,072.51
*Wire Transfers:
			Expense Register Dated	Wire Transfer Number		Amount Paid
			9/3/2019	1150		$7,377.44
			9/25/2019	1151		$7,661.20
						$15,038.64
*Accounts Payable Claims:
			Expense Register Dated	Check Number (Begin)	Check Number (End)	Amount Paid
			9/12/2019	75913	75933	$213,553.04
			9/12/2019	75934	75954	$345,799.31
			9/12/2019	75955	76009	$2,012.93
			9/12/2019	76010	76034	$20,365.63
			9/12/2019	76035	76058	$41,682.79
			9/12/2019	76059	76066	$1,344.31
			9/23/2019	76073	76073	$2,351.01
			9/23/2019	76074	76075	$72,032.61
			9/25/2019	75520	75520	($21.00)
			9/25/2019	76076	76076	$263.34
			9/26/2019	76077	76100	$684,594.26
			9/26/2019	76101	76130	$596,806.76
			9/26/2019	76131	76138	$919.50
			9/26/2019	76139	76150	$78,557.94
			9/26/2019	76151	76185	$1,204,629.31
			9/26/2019	76186	76195	$47,298.78
			9/26/2019	76196	76196	$5,404.64
						$3,317,595.16

(c) Adopting Ordinance No. 851 – Adopting a New Chapter 3.90 to the Shoreline Municipal Code Relating to Assessment Reimbursement Areas and Latecomer Agreements

(d) Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Local Agency Agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation for the Ridgecrest Safe Routes to School Project

8. STUDY ITEMS

(a) Discussion and Update on the King County Metro North Link Connections Mobility Project

Randy Witt, Public Works Director, said this presentation focuses on King County’s long-range plan for regional transit service once the Northgate Light Rail Station opens. He said the plan includes significant changes to Shoreline’s service. He introduced David VanderZee, Project Manager, and Maha Jahshan, Senior Community Relations Planner, from King County Metro. Mr. VanderZee explained that the North Link Connections Mobility Project is a portion of long term and larger capital project plans. He described the project as the largest bus service restructure since the 2016 U-Link extension and listed the participating partners. Mr. VanderZee reviewed the project goals and described the what, why, and how of the project. He explained the integration of the Light Rail and Sound Transit’s parallel but separate evaluation process. He defined the project scope and made it clear the emphasis of tonight’s discussion focuses on the changes coming in 2021. He described how they are using King County’s Equity Impact Review process to help inform engagement and to evaluate the impacts of potential changes.

Ms. Jahshan listed the three phases of the community engagement process, explaining that the goal is to build long-term connections with all partners. She described the makeup of the Mobility Board, formed for decision-making conversations and said the Partner Review Board is comprised mainly of institutional or jurisdictional partners. She described other efforts for community engagement, which include online engagement, street teaming at bus stops, making informational materials available in multiple languages, and through a wide variety of media sources. She said the concepts for proposed changes will be informed by data collected in the first phase.

Ms. Jahshan said the community can provide input by contacting her or accessing the web portal and stated that she will provide this information for the City to share. It was stated that feedback has been received that people are having a hard time finding the link to give input to Metro.

Councilmember Scully said that he has heard a lot of concern from commuters, particularly those who use Route 41. Mr. VanderZee said they are looking at potential changes for this route, and that they are making efforts to reach groups of commuters though larger employers throughout the study area. He said as they evaluate how they take advantage of the light rail system, they are also taking into consideration what the transfer environment and travel time components look like.

Councilmember Chang said she is on the Regional Transit Committee and this was the first time she has seen a list of the routes with potential changes. She asked how much community input had been received and said it would be wise for Metro to solicit input from the School District and the Community College. She said that there are riders outside of the identified priority populations who would love to see more connections to move easily within Shoreline. Ms. Jahshan said that opportunities for review and reassessment will continue through the completion of Phase 3.

Councilmember Chang asked if the changes will improve travel time from Shoreline to downtown. Mr. VanderZee said they always look at ways to improve travel times but are also looking for public feedback on changes that would not significantly improve travel times but would allow for other improvements to the local network.

Councilmember Robertson said she is pleased to hear that there is a priority on engaging with communities of color. She asked how often the geographically underserved areas overlap with underserved priority populations. Mr. VanderZee said that countywide they see gaps where an overlap like this exists, most commonly in south King County. He said the engagement process is attempting to identify specific areas. Ms. Jahshan said that often times there is intersectionality.

When asked how frequently riders should anticipate service changes in the near future, Mr. VanderZee replied that an implementation date of September 2021 is established.

Councilmember Roberts said that while broadly Shoreline is well served by Metro, many routes run on a 30 minute schedule, which is not ideal for people who are trying to move around throughout the day. He said he would like to get to ten-minute headways and shorter rides and suggested that it would be better to delay service changes until the Shoreline Light Rail Stations open in 2024. He asked that Metro communicate with City partners on how cities can improve these routes through infrastructure. Mr. VanderZee said they do take future compatibility in mind when considering changes and agreed that it will be important for the Partner Review Board to continually foster relationships with cities as the plans gain clarity. He said there is attention being paid to making the transfer environment a good one.

Councilmember McGlashan asked if the changes are a reallocation of service hours, and not an increase or decrease. Mr. VanderZee confirmed this but added that a large portion of the area is within the City of Seattle and has Transportation Benefit District Funds that expire in 2020 that will affect service hours. Councilmember McGlashan said that east-west service is more challenging than north-south, and said he thinks ridership would improve if there was easier east-west access to the Light Rail Stations. Mr. VanderZee said east-west connections are a strong theme in feedback received.

Deputy Mayor McConnell said it is important to get the input from people who depend on transit. She thanked Metro for the collaboration with all entities. She said she is glad to hear this is a fluid process that will be adjusted as needed.

Mayor Hall agreed that east-west connections need attention. He said it will be even more important when the Light Rail Stations begin service. He recognized the tradeoffs that may need to take place and said all day service is an advantage. He said that by 2024 there will be significant improvements to the 145^th and 185^th Street corridors, and the City is looking forward to a major realignment to serve the 148^th Street Station.

(b) Discussing Resolution No. 448 and Ordinance No. 869 – Declaring the City’s Intent and Authorizing the Sales Tax Credit for Affordable and Supportive Housing as Authorized by SHB 1406

Colleen Kelly, Community Services Manager, delivered the staff presentation. She explained that Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1406 is State legislation that allows local jurisdictions to retain a portion of sales tax credited against the state sales tax, and that funds may only be used to support efforts related to affordable housing. Ms. Kelly described the two available options are retaining 0.0073% or 0.0146% of taxable retail sales in the jurisdiction and clarified that the option of 0.0146% would require the addition of a qualifying local tax, which would be done by voter approval. She provided estimated available funds as predicted by the Department of Revenue and explained that final actual revenue would be determined at the end of the 2019 fiscal year. She said that SHB 1406 sets a cap on the revenues to be credited within any fiscal year. She listed the allowed uses for the revenue and explained that they must serve those at 60% or below of Area Median Income.

Ms. Kelly reviewed the timing requirements for participation and reiterated that should Council take action, the City would receive half of the local sales tax credit of 0.0073% with the remainder going to King County. If Council does not take action, King County would collect the full sales tax credit of .0146%. Ms. Kelly reiterated that no new or additional taxes would be imposed with the passage of this Ordinance, but that the revenue is a credit for an existing tax already being collected. She listed considerations for Council’s discussion and said her understanding is that most cities in King County are choosing to impose the tax to retain control over allocation of funds. Ms. Kelly listed the next steps and said should Shoreline choose not to participate; no further action is required.

A majority of Councilmembers voiced support for Authorizing the Sales Tax Credit for Affordable and Supportive Housing. Councilmember Roberts said this program will help Shoreline residents remain in their homes; Councilmember Robertson shared that she looks forward to hearing how the City proposes to use the funds; Councilmember Chang stated that she would not be in support of adding any of the Qualifying Local Tax options that would increase taxes; Deputy Mayor McConnell agreed that she would also not support a new tax, but she fully supports taking local control of the portion of taxes already being collected; and Councilmember Scully asked for clarification on the impact to taxpayers and stated his support for the action as long as it does not increase taxes.

Ms. Kelly confirmed that the City will have flexibility over how the money is used, as long as it adheres to the stipulated parameters of what is allowed. She said there is no additional taxation required to take advantage of 0.0073% of the tax revenue but qualifying for the 0.0146% rate would require passing a tax increase through the voters prior to July 2020. There was not Council support for creating any additional tax.

Mayor Hall summarized that by passing the Resolution and Ordinance the City will get a larger portion of the sales tax revenue already being collected by the State. He said he would like to see this money go towards the Shoreline community. It was agreed the Resolution and Ordinance should return to Council as Action items.

9. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Potential Litigation – RCW 42.30.110(1)(i)

At 8:22 p.m., Mayor Hall recessed into Executive Session for a period of 15 minutes as authorized by RCW 42.30.110(l)(i) to discuss with legal potential litigation to which the City, or a member acting in an official capacity, is, or is likely to become, a party. He stated Council is not expected to take final action following the Executive Session. Staff attending the Executive Session included Debbie Tarry, City Manager; John Norris, Assistant City Manager; Margaret King, City Attorney; and Randy Witt, Public Works Director. The Executive Session ended at 8:37 p.m.

10. ADJOURNMENT

At 8:38 p.m., Mayor Hall declared the meeting adjourned.

_____________________________

Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk