CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
Monday, October 22, 2007 – 6:00 p.m.
Shoreline Conference Center
Highlander Room
PRESENT: Mayor Bob Ransom, Deputy Mayor Maggie Fimia, Councilmembers Keith McGlashan, Rich Gustafson, Janet Way, Cindy Ryu, and Ron Hansen
ABSENT: none
STAFF: Bob Olander, City Manager; Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager; and Debbie Tarry, Finance Director
Mayor Ransom called the meeting to order at 6:20 pm.
City Manager Olander started the meeting by summarizing what Council has done so far to address the short-term financial gap. Finance Director Tarry explained the public process for the citizen advisory committee, which would include approximately 24-28 members. Staff would work closely with the committee to review the City’s finances, operations and programs and the committee would make recommendations to the City Council. The committee would be formed in November or December of this year and would work through the early part of next year. In addition, the City would contract with an outside facilitator to help facilitate a fair, open, impartial process. Ms. Tarry stated that we want the process to be committee-driven, adding that the best part of the process is when citizens debate the competing needs and struggle with the same tough choices that Council has to deal with.
Councilmember Gustafson said that this is part of the long-term goal to address our financial gaps and this strategy it appropriate.
Councilmember Ryu asked if it would make more sense to form a committee in January because of the November Council election. Mr. Olander stated that regardless of what happens with the Council election, this problem is going to be there. Councilmember Gustafson said that we have to trust the City Manager since he’ll be doing the initial committee appointment recommendation. Councilmember Ryu continued to state that she believed it would be better to form the committee in January.
Councilmember Way stated that she would like to see a significant number of at-large members represented on the committee.
Councilmember Ryu asked if the Council would be involved and added that she and Councilmember Way, since they are newer members of the Council, would probably be interested in being involved in the citizen committee. Mr. Olander said that the parks bond model did include two Councilmembers acting as liaisons to the full Council and that worked well. He continued by saying that we need to be careful about not directing the citizen process, but overall, he wasn’t sure if the Council would have direct involvement.
Deputy Mayor Fimia said that she felt we keep assuming that a levy lid lift is the solution; however, she wasn’t convinced that we’ve explored other revenue options first. In addition, she said that we should work closely with the suburban cities to stop the suburban tax subsidies from going to the County.
Deputy Mayor Fimia stated that she did not believe that stakeholder groups receiving City resources should be on the committee; they have a vested interest in needing City funding; it’s important to keep the stakeholder groups at a minimum on the committee. She stated that she would like to see a town hall meeting where the issue or problem is identified and then citizens are asked to propose the public process.
Mr. Olander said that this problem will be upon us in the next three to four years, and we’ve tried to address the tax issue working with other cities, including the City of Seattle, for years. He said we should continue to do this, but he was not optimistic that this would change.
Deputy Mayor Fimia said that perhaps the town hall meeting could include asking participants what they consider to be the guiding principles for closing the gap and for potential solutions. Mr. Olander said that we could form the committee and then have them, as community members, kick off the town hall meeting.
Deputy Mayor Fimia concurred with Ms. Tarry’s proposed process. She said she would like to task them with laying out a town hall meeting agenda, similar to the Ad Hoc Housing Advisory Committee’s process. She commented that the committee should act as a “sounding board” for the public.
The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
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Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager