CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
SUMMARY MINUTES OF DINNER MEETING
6:00 p.m. Highlander Room
PRESENT: Mayor Hansen, Deputy Mayor Jepsen, Councilmembers Chang, Fimia, Grace, Gustafson, and Ransom
ABSENT: none
STAFF: Steve Burkett, City Manager; Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager; Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director; and Debbie Tarry, Finance Director
GUEST: Lewis Leigh, Washington Cities Insurance Authority (WCIA)
Mayor Hansen convened the meeting at 6:25 p.m.
Steve Burkett, City Manager, explained that WCIA is a group of more than 180 Washington cities pooling resources to obtain property and liability coverage. He introduced WCIA representative Lewis Leigh.
Mr. Leigh described WCIA and said the organization is 24 years old and is not an insurance company. It is regulated by the State Risk Manager, rather than the Insurance Commissioner. Mr. Leigh noted that WCIA has annual member revenues in excess of $22 million. He said the City of Shoreline pays approximately $212,000 per year in assessments to receive about $14 million in property and liability coverage[1].
Mr. Leigh provided the City Council an overview of risk management issues. He reviewed several “do’s and don’ts” and made suggestions for avoiding problems.
Mr. Leigh also mentioned the several tort reform bills being considered by the State Legislature. He said that if those bills were to be approved by the Legislature, the City could likely reduce its annual assessments by half. He used the issue of “joint and several liability” as an example of one of the bills under consideration by the Legislature. He noted that this is a “short” session of the Legislature and that passage of this package of tort reforms is not likely.
Mr. Burkett thanked Mr. Leigh for providing his overview and briefing.
On another topic, Councilmember Ransom asked the Council to designate an alternate for voting purposes at the Seashore Transportation Forum. The purpose of designating an alternate would be to allow the City to cast its two votes at the Forum in the event one of the regular Shoreline representatives is unable to attend a meeting. Council designated Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director, to serve as an alternate. Councilmembers also encouraged Councilmember Chang to attend Seashore meetings whenever he can in order to become familiar with the issues.
Councilmember Chang said he had attended an orientation session on regional transportation processes and issues last week. He noted that Lake Forest Park Councilmember Mary Jane Goss was at that meeting and was vocal in her opposition to Sound Transit because the residents of Lake Forest Park are getting no benefits from it. He suggested the City Council hold a dinner meeting with Lake Forest Park City Council to discuss issues related to Sound Transit.
Councilmember Ransom asked Councilmembers to support his appointment as the City’s representative to the Jail Assembly Group. Council concurred.
Deputy Mayor Jepsen reported that last week’s scheduled meeting of the Sister City Committee was postponed to Thursday, February 26 at City Hall. He said the group will be meeting to continue planning for this spring’s visit by representatives of our Sister City of Boryeong, Republic of South Korea.
Mayor Hansen declared the meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
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Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director