City Manager's report for week of 9-22-2014

Update for Week of 9/22/2014

From Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

September 22 Council Meeting

·         Regular Meeting:

o   Proclamation of Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry: Saturday, September 27 is being proclaimed as the Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry.  Hopelink will be hosting food drives throughout the City on September 27 at the following grocers:

1.    Safeway located at NW 175th Street and 15th Avenue NW;

2.    Safeway located Aurora Avenue N and N 155th Street;

3.    Fred Meyer located at Aurora Avenue N and N 185th Street;

4.    QFC located on Richmond Beach Drive

o   2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey:  Our 2014 results mark a decade of citizen survey information.  We will be getting this information on the City’s website over the next few weeks, but wanted to share a few key outcomes. In ten years we have seen 20 of the core areas show a 6% or greater improvement in satisfaction and there have only been two areas that have shown more than 6% growth in dissatisfaction. The City’s website had the highest growth in satisfaction (17%), with the overall maintenance of City streets, City stormwater runoff, effectiveness of leadership of elected officials and overall effectiveness of City Manager and City staff running closely behind with 12% increases since 2004! Decreases of 7% in satisfaction, over the ten year period, have occurred in availability of public transportation and the City’s efforts to prevent crime. The City continues to work closely with the community in addressing concerns of crime prevention. In 2014 63% of respondents were satisfied with the City’s efforts to prevent crime and 76% were satisfied with the overall quality of local police protection.

o   Discussion of Preliminary 2015 Budget: This was an opportunity to provide the City Council with a preliminary look at where we think we’ll end 2014 from a financial perspective and what the 2015 budget is looking like. Currently projections show that we’ll end 2014 spending $1.8 million of the City’s General Fund reserves than was originally budgeted. This is a result of revenues coming in nearly $900,000 better than projected and expenditures being approximately $900,000 less than budgeted. The 2015 budget is balanced and includes several recommended one-time expenditures along with the recommendation to increase the City’s staffing by 2.05 full-time equivalent positions (FTEs). The FTE recommendations include an Assistant Planner (our permit activity is back to the same level it was in 2007; a 0.8 Parks Maintenance worker (32 hours per week) to restore the number of worker hours funded to approximately the same level funded in 2011; and an increase in our Buyer position from 0.75 to 1.0 FTE.   Even with these additions our total FTE count is still 4.3 FTEs less than our highest levels in 2008. If the City Council approves these positions then the City will have 137 full-time equivalent positions. In addition I am recommending several technology investments, replacement of three major pieces of our City fleet that includes upgrades to better match the fleet with work that needs to be accomplished, and an additional $500,000 to the City’s grant match fund.  The proposed budget will include a recommended 1.79% cost of living adjustment. 

o   Executive Session – Potential Litigation

September 29 Council Meeting

·         Dinner Meeting - Station Area Phased Zoning: Staff will present some options that are reflective of Policy LU-31 in the City’s adopted Comprehensive Plan – Create a strategy in partnership with the adjoining neighborhoods for phasing redevelopment of current land uses to those suited for TOD, taking into account when the City’s development needs and market demands are ready for change. Planning Commissioners along with several Planning & Community Development staff are planning to attend. This topic has not previously been discussed at the Planning Commission so we thought it would be helpful for them to hear some of the City Council’s thoughts on this issue.

·         Regular Meeting:

o   Proclamation of Safe Shoreline Month: Accepting the proclamation will be Police Officer Steve Perry, Emergency Management Coordinator Gail Harris, and Assistant Fire Chief Tim Dahl.

o   Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate and Revisions to the City’s Personnel Policies: The Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate requires that in 2015, under certain circumstances, employees who average 30 or more hours a week become eligible for health coverage. This mandate impacts the City’s current policy regarding extra help. Staff will provide recommendations to the City Council on revisions to the City’s employment status definitions to address this requirement.

o   Selection of 145th Light Rail Station Zoning Scenarios to be Presented to the Public at October 9 Design Workshop, Part II for the 145th Street Station Subarea Plan: Council will review the revised maps that have been developed per the Council’s direction at the September 15 Council Meeting. The current motion is to make a selection of zoning alternatives to be presented to the public on October 9 at the second 145th Design Workshop. In the month of October the City will be encouraging comments on the proposed alternatives and what should be studied in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Council will select up to three alternatives to have reviewed in the DEIS. The adoption of zoning changes is not scheduled to happen until the second quarter of 2015, but it is critical that the public participate in the current process so that alternatives can be fully studied to inform the decisions that will be made in 2015! 

o   Executive Session – Litigation

Ronald Wastewater District Assumption

The King County Boundary Review Board issued their written decision approving the RWD Assumption by the City in King County.

·         Olympic View Water and Sewer District: Olympic View Water and Sewer District gave notice that they are initiating the planning process to update their 2009 Comprehensive Water System Plan. They intend to amend their 2007 Comprehensive Sewer Plan to clarify and address sewer service in the southwest portion of the District.

Point Wells

·         Town of Woodway: During the Snohomish County BRB Hearing Woodway’s attorney and Town Administrator, Eric Faison, stated that access to Point Wells could be provided through two access routes in Woodway. In a letter to Faison, have requested documentation of those two access routes (Faison pointed to two different routes on a map exhibit during the hearing) and information on the status of discussions regarding these routes with the Town Council. I feel strongly that Woodway cannot continue to promote route accessibility to Point Wells when convenient (Legislature, BRB, etc.) and then promote that there isn’t a feasible route in discussions with Shoreline or the community. It is important that we understand how the potential routes could affect future traffic flow and mitigation needs for our community.

·         Snohomish County: Shoreline City staff met with Snohomish Planning staff in 2013 asking for direction on the process to start the negotiations of an annexation interlocal agreement. On July 9, I met with Executive John Lovick, asking for his support and assistance through his staff on the steps we need to take to initiate these discussions. Failing to hear any more from Snohomish County, on Friday I sent a letter to Executive Lovick stating our intent to commence discussions for an annexation Interlocal agreement. I have asked him to notify me immediately if there would be any deviations from their standard process for the City of Shoreline. I will be following up this next week with a letter to the County’s Planning Department asking for a timeline for which they will provide the City of Shoreline with a preliminary draft Interlocal. The Town of Woodway has started a similar process and we expect Snohomish County to follow the same procedures and timelines with Shoreline as it is with Woodway.

Economic Development

·         Aurora Microhousing: This week we received a clearing and grading permit for the Taboo Video site (East side of Aurora/170th). We anticipate that they will come in early next week for a site development permit and shortly thereafter submit their building permit application. This will be Shoreline’s first micro-housing development. They will be required to provide parking. Also the developer has been in discussions with the Community College to have a portion of the units allocated for college students.

·         Washington State Retail Survey: This week the Washington State Retail Survey issued a report on the ranking of Washington cities based on 2008-2013 average annual retail growth rates. To be included in the analysis, a local market had to be among the 50 largest local markets based on annual retail sails. Shoreline’s 2.8% average annual retail growth for 2008-2013 made the top-20 (ranked 18th) in the state, beating the state average (2.2%), and was very close to Seattle (3.0% and ranked 15th).

·         Development revenue totaled $95,615 in August, which is 48% ahead of the year-to-date projections and 15% ahead of the amount collected in the same eight month time period in 2013. Issued building permits came in at $2.7 million (rounded) in valuation for the month with residential valuation comprising 37% and commercial/multi-family comprising 63% of this amount.

King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) Sign-On & Joint Commitments

King County Executive Dow Constantine has requested that cities supporting the King County - Cities Climate Collaboration to recommit by having their Mayors sign a letter by the end of September. The agreed targets in these documents are the same as the targets in the City’s adopted Climate Action Plan as well as those adopted by the Growth Management Planning Council in July. I recommend that Council support the Mayor in signing this letter.

This and That

·         August Business Licenses: List of new business licenses in August 2014. There were 101 new business licenses issued, with 58 of those being in Shoreline.

·         Strengthening Families – Learning in Community: Shoreline and Lake Forest Park police departments are jointly offering a workshop series regarding developing a safe community for children. This workshop series is being promoted in and targeted for Hispanic community.

·         Aurora Village: The police continue to work with the property owners and businesses in Aurora Village on their concerns related to day laborer activities. Since August 1st there have been 6 trespass warnings issued to day laborers and 3 to trespassers at Starbucks. There have been no citations or physical arrests of any repeat offenders.