Shoreline City Manager report week of 6-9-2014

Update for the week of 6/9/2014

From Shoreline City Manager Debbie Tarry

Council Meetings

·         June 9

o   Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.): Bothell Mayor Joshua Freed and Bothell City Manager Bob Stowe shared with Council the steps they have taken to achieve their community’s vision in revitalizing their downtown core.  These actions included acquisition of property, building infrastructure (roads, pedestrian connections, parks, utilities), and negotiating development agreements with specific investors for their downtown area.

o   Regular Meeting:

§  City Manager Report: During the City Manager report, representatives from the Council of Neighborhoods that attended the Neighborhoods USA conference provided an overview of the conference and a brief thank-you to Council for providing budget funds to attend the conference. Also representatives from the Parkwood Neighborhood, who won 2^nd place as Neighborhood of the Year,  shared an excerpt of their presentation and the actions they are taking to create community in their neighborhood.

§  Award of the Landscape Contract for the City’s right-of-ways: Authorized the City Manager to sign a contract with TruGreen LandCare for right-of-way landscaping services. This contract does not allow TruGreen to use non-organic herbicide or pesticide treatments.

§  Amendment to City’s Personnel Policies: The proposed amendments included two mandatory items that are required as a result of a new State law requiring local governments to provide their employees with two unpaid holidays per calendar year to use for a “reason of faith or conscience” Also a recent decision on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals provides employees with the ability to waive their rights to FMLA protections. In addition there are three optional items that Council considered:

1.    Removing the 240 hour cap for vacation cash out for retirement eligible employees (Public Employee Retirement System II & III). Although this recommendation was brought forward and it is not unique to policies of some of our comparable cities, this item will be delayed and reviewed as part of the 2015 Compensation study.

2.    Amending the language related to sick-leave cash out related to retirement consistent with the current language in the policy for retirement vacation cash out. The City has historically applied both the vacation and sick-leave cash out for retirement eligible employees in the same way. This language change will have both policies read the same.

3.    Tobacco Free Work Place Amendment. The change would expand the current “smoke free” work place to make the City a “tobacco free” work place. I recommend that Council make this change.

§  Discussion on Cost of Development: Economic Development Manager Dan Eernissee reviewed costs that investors in Shoreline have to pay, such as permits and utility connection charges.  Dan also provided an overview of how this compares to other surrounding cities, including potential impact fees that investors would need to pay.

Ronald Wastewater District Update:

We held our first Committee of Elected Officials on Thursday, June 5. Future meetings will be held on the 4^th Thursday of the month at 9 a.m. at City Hall. We received notification from Snohomish County that our Notice of Intent packet is legally sufficient. We are still working with Ronald to get an accurate legal description stamped by a licensed surveyor (Snohomish County did not require a stamped legal description) acceptable to King County.

SPU Update

Public Works Director Mark Relph and I met with Ray Hoffman, Andrea Riniker, Nick Harper and SPU staff on Monday, June 9, and will meet with Seattle Councilmember Tim Burgess on June 11.

Economic Development Update

·         Last week Economic Development Manager Dan Eernissee learned from the broker who was working with a buyer of the Marshall's property that ROIC had purchased the property. ROIC purchased the property on which the north half of Central Market sits about 2 years ago.

·         In May the City issued 115 new business licenses, of which 65 were in the City of Shoreline.

Financial Update

April 2014 Sales Tax, Real Estate Excise Tax, and Development Revenue Report. Year-to-date sales tax receipts are 10% higher than projections, but 0.3% lower than the year-ago level. This was anticipated, as the 2014 adopted budget anticipated a decline in construction related sales tax. Retail related sales taxes are 5.9% greater than projections and 1.0% greater than year-ago level. Real estate excise tax collections through April 2014 total $488,346 and are running ahead of projections by $66,533 or 15.8%. Development activity continues to be strong, with permit revenue currently 64.2% ahead of projections and 29% ahead of the year-ago level.

This and That

·         Seattle City Light sent a letter and a map to affected Shoreline customers regarding SCL's plans to replace aging utility poles beginning this summer and running through mid-September.

Calendar Items

·         June 14 – Kick-off of the 2014 Shoreline Farmers Market!