On the Agenda for Jan 13 Shoreline Council meeting

Shoreline City Hall and Council Chamber
Photo by Mike Remarcke

By Pam Cross

The agenda for the January 13, 2020 Shoreline City Council meeting includes one Action Item and one Discussion Item.

Action Item 8(a) Adoption of Ordinance No. 877 – Amending Ordinance No. 829 Limited Tax General Obligation Bond Anticipation Notes

Although Proposition 1 did not receive the necessary 60% approval vote required to pass an Excess Property Tax Levy to repay the debt service, on January 6, 2020 Council affirmed its commitment to moving forward with the acquisition of property for a future Community and Aquatics Center. Council will be discussing the financing of this property.

Additionally, as per Council Rule of Procedure 6.1.B, as this item is an Action Item before the Council for the first time and is not part of tonight’s consent agenda, public comment for this item will follow the staff report but precede Council review and potential adoption of proposed Ordinance No. 877.

You may find the following definitions useful in order to follow the discussion.

Limited tax general obligation (LTGO) bonds may be issued by a vote of the legislative body. Because the voters have not been asked to approve a tax increase to pay for the principal and interest, general fund revenues must be pledged to pay the debt service on LTGO.

Bond Anticipation Note (BAN) is essentially an IOU (bond) you will pay with another larger loan (or bond).


Discussion Item 9(a)Discussing Ordinance No. 880 - Amending the Shoreline Municipal Code to Modify any and all Masculine or Feminine Language to Gender-Neutral Nouns and Pronouns

In August 2019, the City Council amended its Rules of Procedure to remove gender pronouns from the language. Staff has since reached out to the Code Publishing Company to inquire about amending the Shoreline Municipal Code to make it gender neutral. Code Publishing informed staff that cities from Alaska to California have adopted similar policies, and they received their first inquiry about gender neutral codes in 2017. Estimated cost is $450 to $750.

Meetings are held in the Council Chamber, Shoreline City Hall, 17500 Midvale Ave N, and are open to the public.