Update for the week of 2/10/14
From City Manager Debbie Tarry
Council Meetings
No meeting February 17 (President’s Day)
Legislative Update
The cutoff for policy bills to be voted out of committee was last Friday. If a bill was not voted out at that time, it is generally finished with the exception of bills leadership finds important. Fiscal bills must be voted out of committee by Tuesday, Feb 11th – so we’re nearing the half way point of session. By Friday we will have a much better sense of what’s actually moving.
- Marijuana (HB 2144) – This bill includes both a revenue component for cities and a section about preemption of local city land use regulations. The bill was heard last week in House Appropriations Committee with mixed results. While we support the funding provisions, the preemption issue is very problematic.
- Indigent defense (HB 2497) – Authorizes increases in certain fees and assessments associated with criminal offenses, and requires funds collected attributable to the increases to be used to support local court operations and criminal justice functions that have a clear connection to indigent defense cases. The bill passed out of the policy committee and is moving to the appropriations committee. If passed, it would provide funding to address the new court rules that are increasing indigent defense costs for cities.
- Sharing liquor/marijuana tax proceeds with cities – Due to the fact that there is dire need for more education funding, finding ways to share liquor and marijuana tax proceeds with cities is not getting much traction. AWC and cities will most likely make a strong push for at least some of these funds to be shared with cities. Once we reach the fiscal cutoff next week there should hopefully be a clearer picture.
Marijuana Applications
Wednesday the City received notice from the Liquor Control Board (LCB) of an application by Emerald City Industries for a Producer Tier 2 license. The proposed location is 1539 NE 177th (in North City). Staff is reviewing the application and we will have 20 days to file any objections with LCB.
Federal Legislative Trip
The Mayor, Intergovernmental Relations Manager Scott MacColl, and I had a successful trip to Washington DC. We had the misfortune of being there on the same day as the Seahawks parade, but had good meetings regardless (I think we passed Senator Cantwell in the air somewhere over Nebraska…). We covered three main topics with the delegation:
- Long Term Strategy – Lay out the challenges – and opportunities – facing the City in preparing for light rail in 2023, including reconstruction of 145th, Transit-Oriented Development adjacent to the new light rail stations, and the water, sewer and electrical infrastructure needed to prepare for density and growth.
- Our Community Vision for growing our community around transit. This is our umbrella concept for a number of significant project in Shoreline around light rail station area development, infrastructure investment, and reconstruction for 145th St.
- The City’s message about using all of the tools currently within its legal authority (e.g. vehicle license fee, property tax increases, etc.), but still needing assistance from regional, state, and federal funding partners to meet the needs of light rail coming to Shoreline resonated very well.
- Transportation Funding - Ensure the delegation understands that the City is using every available tool it has to meet infrastructure opportunities – but cannot build them without funding support from other levels of government.
- Federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill – Thanks to our proven track record on the Aurora project, the City is trusted by the delegation and was specifically asked to provide an analysis of the most recent Transportation bill, MAP-21, and suggest changes the delegation could work on as Congress considers reauthorization of the bill this year.
- Secure support from Congressman McDermott to reach out to Rep. Rick Larsen about raising the population threshold for designating one-third of the TIGER grant funding toward cities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000. Shoreline would like to see the population threshold increased so as to include cities of Shoreline’s size.
- CBDG Direct Allocation – Ask Senator Murray to protect the status quo for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding allocations that are under threat by the current Administration to allow Shoreline to keep its direct allocation. If enacted, Shoreline would lose more than $250,000 annually from the City’s budget and would be required to compete for funds on a year-to-year basis, making multi-year planning very difficult. Shoreline was the first Washington City to bring this to her office’s attention. The day after our meeting, the Murray staffer had already contacted the Obama Administration on behalf of the City and responded to us with a complete debrief.
Light Rail Update
The second series of 185th Station Design Dialogue Workshops will take place February 19 and 20. The Design Dialogue Workshops consist of 8 small stakeholder group discussions, followed by a community meeting. The community meeting is on Thursday, February 20, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Visit shorelinewa.gov/lightrail for more information.
Planning Commission Applicants
The Council Sub-Committee (Councilmembers Hall, Roberts and Eggen) will interview the following Planning Commission candidates on Saturday, February 22: Lee Fenton, Jack Malek, Laura Mork, Marc Mignogna, Donna Moss, Terri Strandberg, and Shelly Rae Watson.
Saltwater Park Bridge Repair
The bridge over the railroad tracks as Saltwater park needs repairs, which will extend its life 20+ years. The repair is included in the 2014 CIP; however, getting the work done this spring will be difficult, possibly extending into early summer. With heavy park use during good weather this option is no longer being considered and the bridge work will be pushed back to January through March 15, 2015. An earlier structural assessment confirmed the need for the repairs, but also stated that the bridge main structure is sound. As a result the short delay will not cause any additional safety issues.
This and That
The City has been selected to receive the “Outstanding Leadership in Green Building” Award by King County Green Tools Program on March 13 for our work in environmental sustainability, green building, and climate action.
It has been more than a week since City Manager Tarry has submitted any kind of community report. As it is, she has managed to omit anything of significance, like the dinner and special meetings of the Council called by the staff for the purposes of rubber stamping whatever agenda the staff has dreamed up lately.
ReplyDeleteSB 6008 was not mentioned in the City Manager's Legislative Update. This bill would require a majority vote of the people before a city assumes a water or sewer district. Governmental Operations passed it out of committee on February, and Rules placed it on second reading on February 13.
ReplyDeleteThe City of Shoreline's lobbyist registered the City's opposition to SB 6008 in a public hearing on January 20, while former Ronald Wastewater District Commissioner candidate, Ginny Scantlebury, testified in support of it. Senator Maralyn Chase (32nd LD) is the prime sponsor of this bill. Representative Cindy Ryu (32nd LD) is a co-sponsor of the House companion bill (HB 2413).
What possible business does the City of Shoreline have with the feds to justify a boondoggle to DC, while its citizens are struggling, and the City Council angsts over the salary of its Human Resource Director? Everything the City needs to take its seat in this brave new world is already covered by the agenda of the National League of Cities, of which Shoreline is a card-carrying member. Why must they fly all the way across the country to meet with representatives from their own state in this digital age?
ReplyDelete@12:03 ------ Don't worry about it. They can just float a 30 year bond to cover it, like they did to pay for the project manager for the new utility operations site at Brugger's Bog.
ReplyDelete@12:03 pm - good question, especially since the City of Shoreline pays two lobbying firms (one in Olympia and one in Washington, DC) to "help" our Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator with his work. But I guess you haven't realized yet the biggest social services program at City Hall is lifelong employment for the city staff with absolutely no consequences for poor performance.
ReplyDelete"Using all the tools at its disposal...including property tax increases." Is the City Manager trying to blow smoke here? The City does not use property tax increases for property that is legislatively up zoned property to CB or MUZ, they give property tax exemptions to developers and pass the loss onto single-family residential property tax payers in the form of levy lifts and the planned upon utility assumptions (the residential property tax holders will be expected to pay higher rates in order to pay for "economic development" for multi-family residential since Shoreline has no impact fees). These City Manager reports are nothing but propaganda spreading lies to support the employment for life plans for the City staff, she doesn't mention the $1 million budget hole the city faces in 2018 that the City Council discusses at dinner meetings as opposed to full and open council sessions.
ReplyDelete