Shoreline City Manager report - week of 3/23/2015

Weekly Update for Week of 3/23/15

From Shoreline City Manager Debbie Tarry

Council Meetings

March 23:

·         Dinner Meeting – Compensation and Classification Study

o   Doug Johnson from Ralph Andersen and Associates, the contractor we are using on the study, introduced the study process and began a discussion with Council on criteria used in selecting jurisdictions to be used as the market for the City’s salary survey.

·         Consent Calendar

o   Authorized the City Manager to Extend the Contract with Albright Floor Care for Janitorial Services through June 30, 2014.

o   Authorized the City Manager to Purchase a Street Sweeper and Backhoe Loader

o   Adopted Res. No. 371 Authorizing Reimbursement of Expenditures for Costs Relating to Surface Water Capital Projects from Bond Proceeds

·         Discussion of 145th Light Rail Station Preferred Alternative to be Studied for the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Planning Commission Recommendation

o   Council unanimously agreed to the Planning Commission's recommendation and voted to delay making a decision on a preferred alternative for the FEIS until after the 145^th Street Corridor Study is complete, which is currently scheduled to be complete in December 2015.

·         Discussion of 2015-2017 Council Goals

March 30

·         Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.): Council Operations. The focus will be on public records related to handwritten notes and use of personal devices.

·         Business Meeting

o   Proclamation for Cesar Chavez Day: Shoreline/Lake Forest Arts Council Staff, and the Teaching Arts Instructor and students from the “Telling Stories: A Family Celebration of Cesar Chavez” Production, scheduled to take place on April 4, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Shorecrest Performing Arts Center, will be in attendance to accept the proclamation.

o   Franchise agreement with Astound for fiberoptics: The City has received an application for a new right-of-way franchise from Astound Broadband, LLC, doing business as Wave for a telecommunication (fiber optic) system in Shoreline. Astound will provide telecommunications, internet access, and private line services to potential customers, including mobile backhaul services to existing cell phone towers. Astound may also make available dark fiber or other facilities for governmental institutions. Astound does not presently intend to provide cable television service and understands that a separate franchise may be required to provide cable services. Astound’s service area will initially include the general area west of Interstate 5 between N 205th Street and N 145th Street.

o   Annual Traffic Report: Staff will present the 2014 Annual Traffic Report.

o   Incarceration Alternatives and District Court Update: Recently, the City’s prosecuting attorney has raised a few questions about the City’s jail services and alternatives to incarceration for individuals charged with misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offenses. This item explores each of those along with various ‘judiciary tools’ that may be utilized as the situation warrants. There are a number of sentencing alternatives to incarceration, including electronic home monitoring and work release. Further, there are a number of judiciary tools available to defendants should a defendant meet certain conditions. For example, defendants may take advantage of King County’s Regional Mental Health Court (RMHC) and Regional Veterans Court (RVC) if eligible. This item will also include an update on Court operations and new initiatives by King County District Court Presiding Judge Donna Tucker.

Agenda Planner Updates

·         April 20: Deputy Mayor Eggen and Councilmembers McConnell and Salomon have requested that the Council consider amending Shoreline Municipal Code 3.60 to add “tolling” as an allowed revenue to be collected by the Shoreline Transportation Benefit District. This item requires a public hearing.

·         May 4: Deputy Mayor Eggen and Councilmember Roberts have requested a community presentation by the North King County Mobility Coalition.

Sound Transit (ST) Lynnwood Link Extension FEIS

ST shared a presentation at the North End Leadership Meeting on Monday, March 16. The ST Capital Committee will meet on April 9 and it is anticipated that ST will provide their staff recommendation on the final preferred alternative at that time. The ST Board is scheduled to vote on the preferred alternative on April 23.

Specifically slides 9 & 10 reference the 185^th station and the  parking garage being on the west side of I-5 in the preferred alternative and the potential of moving the parking garage to the east side with the station. It seems that the cost difference is very minor in the scheme of things ($1 to $2 m), and some of the drivers to considering this change may be concerns of the Federal Highway Administration that the proposed siting on the west side may pinch future expansion of I-5 (hopefully more people will be using light rail so there is not a future need for I-5 expansion).

Slide 13 provides some interesting comparisons of adding 130^th and/or 220^th stations to the Lynnwood Link extension and both the ridership and financial impact. Adding either station does not add to overall ridership, but just dilutes the ridership of the 145^th and Mountlake Terrace stations. Adding the stations adds significant cost. Also Transit Oriented Development potential at 130^th (with current zoning) is considered low.

2015 NPDES Annual Report

This week we submitted two letters to the Department of Ecology for two minor “nonconformance” issues. In 2014, the City was not fully in compliance with 2 of the 67 requirements of the 2013-2018 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater General Permit. The City is required by our NPDES permit to make notification. We anticipate that this is simply a procedural issue, especially since we have remedies/explanation, and it is our expectation that Ecology will accept our Annual Report without hesitation. 

Below are the two issues:

·         These 2 requirements were S5.C.4.c.iv Controlling Runoff from New Development, Redevelopment and Construction Sites and S5.C.5.a.ii Municipal Operations and Maintenance of Catch Basins.

o   For the requirement of S5.C.4.c.iv Controlling Runoff from New Development, Redevelopment and Construction Sites, the City was not in compliance with inspecting all permanent stormwater treatment and flow control BMPs/facilities and catch basins in new residential developments every 6 months. The City has recently updated it permitting process to require a "Storm Water Conveyance Permit" to ensure that these required inspections are performed on all active residential construction sites. This process will help ensure the City's full compliance for the 2015 reporting year.

o   For the requirement of S5.C.5.a.ii Municipal Operations and Maintenance, the City was unable to meet the 6-month catch basin cleaning deadline due to timing differences between inspection dates and when the City’s contractor can clean identified catch basins. The City does meet the intent of the permit because catch basins are being cleaned, but within an 8 month timeframe, instead of the required 6 months. The City is working on improving the catch basin cleaning process with the goal of meeting the 6-month permit requirement within the next two years.

Olympic View Water/Sewer District (OV) Comprehensive Sewer Plan Amendment

King County, Ronald Wastewater District, and the City each submitted letters to OV regarding its proposed Comprehensive Sewer Plan Amendment and the corresponding Determination of Non-Significance regarding alternatives being considered for proposed infrastructure to transport sewer flows from Point Wells to the Edmonds Treatment Plant. All three agencies believe that the proposed amendments require their agency approval and that there are gaps/inaccuracies with the SEPA analysis.

City Events

2015 city-wide City sponsored community event matrix. This matrix does not include all of the special events (i.e.,doesn’t list the summer concert series, etc), but does list the major events that City staff coordinate and participate in throughout the year. These events occur outside of the traditional 8 to 5pm work day. There are 26 events listed and include staff support, lead department, and if applicable police role. Many of the events are in the summer months, but not all, as there are already three City sponsored community events in December.

This and That

·         The Chronic Nuisance case and enforcement on the 14814 Greenwood property is continuing. The primary tenant who is suspected of setting a fire in the house has been served with a Complaint and Summons from the City in jail. The City is still trying to locate the property owner to serve the Complaint and Summons.

·         I received a letter this week from the Eastside Public Safety Communications Agency regarding the Emergency radio Communications in King County.

·         Captain Scott Strathy and Community Services Manager Rob Beem will be participating in a community conversation regarding anxiety and depression sponsored by Guided Pathways Support for Youth and Families, April 23, at Trinity Presbyterian Church. See flyer.