CITY OF SHORELINE

SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL

SUMMARY MINUTES OF WORKSHOP MEETING

Monday, August 16, 1999

6:30 p.m.

Shoreline Conference Center

Mt. Rainier Room

PRESENT: Mayor Jepsen, Deputy Mayor Montgomery, Councilmembers Gustafson, Hansen, King, Lee and Ransom

ABSENT: None

1. CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 6:34 p.m. by Mayor Jepsen, who presided.

2. FLAG SALUTE/ROLL CALL

Mayor Jepsen led the flag salute. Upon roll by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present with the exception of Councilmember Lee, who arrived at 6:35 p.m., and Councilmember Ransom, who arrived at 6:40 p.m.

3. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

City Manager Robert Deis introduced Bill Conner, the new Director of Public Works.

Mr. Deis also reminded Council of next week’s dinner with the Shoreline School Board.

Wendy Barry, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services, described the activities planned for Saturday’s Celebrate Shoreline. Councilmember Ransom referred to issues that arose last year regarding a vendor who was not part of the City’s event. Ms. Barry said the City has authorized certain vendors this year, and no others have asked to participate.

Police Chief Sue Rahr distributed a draft letter to John Hull, a citizen who testified at two Council meetings regarding traffic stops by the Shoreline Police.

Councilmember Hansen doubted that the response will be considered adequate, but he felt that unless a pattern of abuse was indicated by more people raising this issue, he would consider it an administrative matter. Councilmember Gustafson concurred.

Councilmember Lee noted that the letter did not detail the specific infractions for which Mr. Hull was stopped. Chief Rahr explained the reasons for the stops.

Deputy Mayor Montgomery concurred that it would be important to clarify what behavior on Mr. Hull’s part justified the stops and to make clear that the police consistently stop drivers exhibiting those behaviors.

In conclusion, Mr. Deis distributed a memo to Council providing background on the comments of another citizen, Donna Hull, who spoke regarding the cost of right-of-way permit fees. He noted the fee is based on an average time spent for a permit and pointed out that much more time has been spent on her case.

4. COUNCIL REPORTS

Councilmember King reported on events and meetings she attended. She noted that the Kenmore and Lake Forest Park City Councils are meeting on August 30 to discuss the Regional Wastewater Plan and that they have invited the Shoreline City Council to attend.

Deputy Mayor Montgomery commented that the Sound Transit Board is considering bringing light rail to Northgate and more transit service to the Shoreline area.

Councilmembers Hansen and Ransom also reported on events they had attended, including the Aurora Improvement Council (AIC) meeting.

Councilmember Ransom noted comments at the AIC meeting that a continuous median on Aurora Avenue will present problems for service delivery trucks turning into businesses. He mentioned that Lynnwood has six-foot sidewalks and no median along Highway 99 for this reason.

5. PUBLIC COMMENTS

(a) Dennis Lee, 14547 26^th NE, called attention to an open ditch along 27^th, pointing out that children walking to Briarcrest Elementary School must cross the street two or three times to avoid the ditch and stay on the sidewalks. He said this happens elsewhere as well. He asked that Council discuss this issue with the School Board and consider covering ditches in strategic places to create a continuous walking path. He suggested the prioritization of capital improvement funding with this in mind.

(b) Charlotte Haynes, 836 NE 194^th, distributed information on what other cities have done to beautify their streets. She suggested that in North City the planters be placed closer to the curbs and the hanging baskets lowered for better visual effects. She also asked that something be funded in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to address North City business district needs.

(c) Carl Stokes, 14702 8^th Ave. NE, commented on the speed of traffic on 8^th Ave. He asked that a permanent solution be provided to avoid accidents.

6. WORKSHOP ITEMS

(a) Youth Services -- Goal No. 4

Rob Beem, Health and Human Services Manager, reviewed the work done on Council’s goal related to youth services. Key issues for youth services include the overall availability of services, Eastside teens’ access to Late Nite, the role of the City in youth services, and how to implement this role. Mr. Beem described the responses to the survey sent to youth providers and the outcomes of the forum of providers convened on May 11, 1999. He concluded that much effort in Shoreline is going into youth services but there are issues related to getting people into programs and some barriers to access. Some programs are available and well-used; some are reliable but hard to locate; some are available only on a limited basis, and some, such as dental care and a community center, are completely missing. Providers suggest improved coordination and construction of a community-wide system with better information.

Continuing, Mr. Beem said staff specifically recommends continuation of the Eastside Late Nite Teen Program through a partnership with Lake Forest Park and a contract with the YMCA. He concluded that the work plan includes developing a Health and Human Services Strategy, a Parks and Cultural Services Strategic Plan, and refinement of the City’s specific roles in youth services.

Mr. Beem made a distinction between earlier youth programs, which focused on making youth problem free, and the newer emphasis on helping youth become problem free but also fully prepared for a successful adult life. He said the City will continue encouraging interactions between providers and spend the fall developing a framework for a system of services. This will be brought back to Council early next year.

Mayor Jepsen informed Council that Mayor Hutchinson of Lake Forest Park has asked his staff to work with Shoreline to develop a funding approach for the Eastside teen program. Mayor Jepsen supported this effort.

Responding to Mayor Jepsen, Mr. Beem said right now he cannot be specific about what the City will do in its role as a facilitator. The specifics will evolve over time and be continually refined. He said the current funding strategy is tied to the framework of the Human Services Strategy and will probably be even more consistent with it next year.

Responding again to Mayor Jepsen, he said staff will also evaluate the one-year versus two-year funding approach for human services.

Responding to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Beem said young people did not participate in the provider forum. He said one part of the plan is to look at the City’s role in a Youth Council. Councilmember Gustafson commented that youth involvement in the planning process is an important component.

Responding to Councilmember Gustafson’s question about current needs, Mr. Beem said what is missing right now is knowledge about what services are available. Councilmem-ber Gustafson agreed that it is a significant effort to provide this information.

Councilmember Gustafson emphasized the importance of programs for families and family/youth-centered services. He also supported the concept of partnerships and said the City’s leadership role vis-à-vis the School District must be further considered. He felt this is a good time to get the School District staff more involved. He supported staff’s recommendation to continue the Eastside teen program and concluded that staff is moving in the right direction.

Councilmember King suggested the Boys and Girls Club could be brought to Shoreline. She thought that perhaps businessman Ken Easley might be willing to become involved in this because of his past involvement with youth programs in other areas.

Responding to Councilmember King, Mr. Deis said Shoreline is ramping up much faster in human service provision than other new cities.

Councilmember Lee commented that a discrepancy still exists between the desired outcomes of the City Health and Human Services Study and the needs in Shoreline. She emphasized the importance of meeting these basic needs. She wanted the City to be an umbrella organization to provide information and referrals.

Responding to Councilmember Lee’s question about concrete results she can expect to see in three years as a result of moving in the recommended direction, Mr. Beem said there will certainly be better information about how to access youth services. He said he did not know other tangibles yet.

Councilmember Gustafson noted that statistics show vandalism and juvenile delinquency occur between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00 p.m., yet the Shoreline School District has historically cut back on after-school activities. In contrast, the Mukilteo School District put $225,000 into after-school programs. He emphasized the role of the schools in addressing youth and family issues, and he asserted that the Shoreline School District should look at these issues. Mr. Beem mentioned that three northend school districts, including Shoreline, received a grant for after-school programs.

Councilmember Gustafson concluded that Meridian Park School was built as a community center of sorts, and that Council should discuss this with the School Board Monday night.

(b) Community Development Block Grant Interlocal

Mr. Beem explained the analysis of the requirements for the City to administer its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement, as opposed to entering into a Joint Agreement with King County to administer the program. He said staff feels that Shoreline receives excellent service as a member of the King County Consortium and that it has a good degree of flexibility to make its own decisions.

Responding to Mayor Jepsen about the County charge to administer the entitlement, Mr. Beem said his analysis showed how much revenue came to Shoreline under the two different scenarios. He said costs vary from year to year with the size of the grant. He estimated that the County would charge about 11 percent to administer Shoreline’s entitlement.

Councilmember Hansen asked whether Mr. Beem’s conclusions would have been the same if the City received closer to the maximum amount from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rather than the minimum, upon which staff’s analysis was based. Mr. Beem said even at the higher figure, it would not pay for the City to administer the program itself.

Councilmember Hansen clarified that Shoreline would still participate in the Consortium, but through a Joint Agreement rather than as a pass-through city. He noted that if the City were to withdraw from the Consortium in the future, it would not get back the money advanced through the home repair loan program.

Continuing, Councilmember Hansen asked why Bellevue and Auburn administer their own entitlements. Mr. Beem responded that these cities began doing this before the Consortium was fully developed and, thereby, built up the internal capabilities over time to administer their programs. He said he would recommend against the City administering the program itself, even if the savings from such self-administration resulted in sufficient savings to hire a program administrator.

Mayor Jepsen concurred with the recommendation but said he would like to revisit this issue in two years.

Councilmember Lee wished to ensure that Shoreline’s needs are addressed in the Consortium’s planning. Mr. Beem responded that the program has not prohibited Shoreline from making decisions about programming and that it provides flexibility that the City has not yet used. He said Shoreline businesses have access to a larger pool of loan funding through the City’s membership in the Consortium than they would through the City’s funding alone.

Councilmember Gustafson supported the recommendation but agreed this could be revisited later.

Councilmember Ransom clarified that the services provided to the public will be about the same as in past years.

Mayor Jepsen suggested that staff negotiate a clause in the joint agreement to protect Shoreline’s collection of the HUD money distributed through the home repair program. He said that although the amount to come back to Shoreline is small now, this amount will grow and there should be a stipulation that the money is returned to Shoreline.

(c) Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program

Kristin Stouffer-Overleese, Project Engineer, explained the proposed public involvement process recommended for the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP). She noted that during the development of the CIP, citizens emphasized the importance of addressing improvements in neighborhood safety through a comprehensive program, so funding for development of the NTSP was included. Goals for the NTSP are improvement of safety, ease of understanding of the program, wise use of City financial and staff resources, consistent treatment of all neighborhoods, reliance on neighborhood cooperation and coordination, not pushing the problems of one neighborhood into another, and consideration of emergency response times. She said other goals may be added through the public involvement process.

Ms. Stouffer-Overleese outlined the three common program elements in most NTSPs: 1) education; 2) enforcement; and 3) engineering. These may or may not be utilized in Shoreline. She then described the proposal to appoint a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) of five individuals, two to be nominated by the Council of Neighborhoods and the others selected by staff after a public recruitment process. There will also be a Technical Advisory Committee made up of representatives from the Shoreline Police and Fire Departments, School District, King County METRO, the development community and City staff. Two open houses are also proposed, one in September and one in the winter to consider the draft NTSP. She concluded that this recommendation was reviewed and supported by the Council of Neighborhoods.

Councilmember King recommended the consideration of brick pedestrian crossings as traffic calmers. Staff agreed that this will be on the table for consideration.

Responding to Councilmember Lee, Ms. Stouffer-Overleese said there is funding in the CIP for program development. Mr. Deis added that the purpose of the program is to identify which tools are applicable in which situations. There must be a prioritization process so that the funding in the CIP will address the most pressing problems.

Councilmember Lee suggested changing the policy on neighborhood mini-grants so that this funding could go to traffic problems. Mr. Deis commented that there is a limit to what $5,000 can do.

Mayor Jepsen emphasized the importance of having the NTSP parallel what is required by the new street standards.

Councilmember Ransom felt it would be more appropriate if the CAC were appointed by Council upon recommendation by a subcommittee of the Council. He also suggested a seven-member committee.

Mr. Deis said the staff appointment approach was recommended to speed up the process and to ease the Council workload.

Councilmember Ransom felt it is important to have Council involved in the appointment of citizen committees.

Ms. Stouffer-Overleese said the goal will be to get good cross-representation after an extensive recruitment process, and Mr. Deis added that if there is a great deal of interest in the CAC, staff would consider adding additional people.

There was consensus by the other Councilmembers that an administrative selection process is suitable and that the membership of the committee could be expanded if the City receives a significant number of applications.

(d) Second Quarter Financial Report

Joe Meneghini, Finance Director, briefly reviewed the highlights of the Second Quarter Financial Report, noting that both resources and expenditures are tracking much as expected. He noted that activity in Development Services is somewhat lower than expected, thus lowering both expenditures and revenues.

Councilmember Ransom pointed out that gambling revenue is expected to be approximately $1.3 million higher than the 1999 budgeted amount. He also pointed out the amount of money saved in capital funds over the past two years.

Mayor Jepsen commented that the significant savings from this year and last year can be quickly eaten up by the loss of revenue if I-695 passes. The City has operated in a fiscally conservative manner but this would not cover these losses.

Councilmember Hansen believed that the State has a surplus of approximately the same amount as revenue to be lost if I-695 passes, so he felt the State could reimburse the cities for their losses.

Councilmember Lee questioned how dependable gambling tax revenue will be in the long run as a revenue source.

Councilmember Hansen wished to consider at the budget retreat whether there should be additional annual contributions to the reserve fund. He also felt that interest revenue earned by that fund should remain in the reserve fund. Mr. Deis said staff will address all these issues at the retreat.

7. CONTINUED PUBLIC COMMENTS: none

8. ADJOURNMENT

At 9:06 p.m., Mayor Jepsen declared the meeting adjourned.

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Sharon Mattioli
City Clerk