FEDRAC MINS 10-29-2002
City of Federal Way
City Council
Finance/Economic Development/Regional Affairs Committee
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
8:30 a.m.
City Hall
Mt. Baker Conference Room
MINUTES
Committee Members in Attendance: Chair Michael Hellickson, Member Mary Gates, Member Eric Faison.
City Council Members in Attendance: Council Member Linda Kochmar
Staff Members in Attendance: Iwen Wang, Management Services Director; David Moseley, City Manager;
Derek Matheson, Assistant City Manager; Karen Kirkpatrick, Assistant City Attorney; Michael Olson, Deputy
Director of Management Services; Patrick Doherty, Deputy Director of Community Development; Tho Kraus,
Financial Management Supervisor; Andy Hwang, Commander - Public Safety; Brian Wilson, Deputy Director -
Public Safety; Medhi Sadri, Information Systems Manager; Jason Suzaka, Management Analyst.
Others in Attendance: Doug Levy.
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Michael Hellickson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Member Mary Gates is attending
another meeting and will be running late – excused by Chair Hellickson.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
3. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a) Approval of the September 30, 2002 meeting minutes
Motion to approve the September 30, 2002 meeting minutes. Motion seconded and carried.
b) Legislative and Regional Affairs Update
Presented by Der ek Math eson
The biggest issue is still the election on November 5th, which continues to be a very tight race.
After the election, the biggest issues will be addressing the $2 billion budget gap and the
aftermath of Referendum 51 from the 11/5 election.
AWC has been working with the two county associations – the Washington State Association of
Counties and the Washington Association of County Officials – on a united legislative agenda to
address financial issues of local governments. They adopted a set of principles; centering on
ways for providing local governments with adequate resources to fund required programs.
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The Suburban Cities Association Interjurisdictional Group meets on Wednesday, October 30.
The Management Board will meet next week. Topics of interest are human services and the
association’s appointment process next year.
What will happen if R-51 fails? It depends on who controls the legislature – too hard to say at
this point. If it does fail, the RTID process will have serious problems since a number of items
on their agenda are relying on state-matching dollars for these projects. While it won’t affect
most of th e TIP pr ojects h er e in Feder al Way, it would affect th e pr ojects on 312th, the triangle
interchange, and the HOV lanes would stop at 320th instead of going to the Pierce County line.
c) 2003 Legislative Agenda
Presented by Der ek Math eson
Mr. Matheson reviewed the agenda with the committee. The document is separated into four
sections: The Legislative Agenda (reflecting the City’s position on issues – denoting an active
role or supporting), Federal Issues, Legislative Policies and Statements of Principles, and Index.
A question was raised regarding the PERS 3 program on page C9. Is there a way to allow City
employees to take some of their PERS money and invest in real estate (rental properties, etc.)?
Since the program is a state-run program, unfortunately there is not much the City can do.
Have any cities inquired about contracting with Federal Way’s municipal court? Not at this time
– any that would inquire will most likely be the smaller surrounding cities. Most of the inquiries
seem to be with the City of Kent, due to their proximity with the Regional Justice Center and
central location in South King County.
Mr. Faison noted that Ms. Gates suggested a discussion of procedures/policies to follow when the
City contracts with other cities regarding our services.
Discussion then focused on gambling. A group called The Entertainment Industry Coalition is
proposing legislation which would allow non-tribal casinos to add up to 20,000 new slot
m a ch i n es. Doug Levy, wh o wor ks a s a l obbyi st for Feder a l Wa y, spoke t o t h e committee about
the issue. The Coalition is an umbrella group of restaurant/tavern owners, mini-casino operators,
an d bowlin g alleys. Th ey ar e seekin g to h ave access to as man y electr on ic/video slot mach in es as
the tribal casinos do. Of interest to the local governments is a section in the bill which proposes
a 5% net tax on gambling devices that are in their jurisdiction.
On the other side is the Tribal Self-Reliance Coalition. They believe that the amount of revenue
th at comes in to th e state fr om th ese devices is exagger ated. Th ey also con ten d th at th er e is a
saturation point regarding the number of these devices and that if the bill were to pass,
Washington State would be the 3rd largest gambling state in the nation. They believe that it is
only right that they have sole access to this tool for addressing their socio-economic problems.
Many legislators are divided on the issue. On one hand, some acknowledge that the revenue
could be used to address the cuts in human services. Others believe that the image of the state
being the 3rd largest gambling state in the country would not look good. If the bill does pass, the
biggest beneficiaries in terms of revenue would be the cities where most of these non-tribal
gaming establishments are located.
The issue before Federal Way is whether or not the City wants to take a position on the issue. If
it decides to take a neutral stance and the bill passes, does it want to engage in conversation with
legislators in advocating local distribution of the revenue for policing purposes? The AWC does
not have a solidified position.
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The three councilmembers present at the meeting (Hellickson, Faison, and Kochmar) directed
staff to draft language stating the Council’s opposition to the legislation. In addition, if the bill is
passed, the Council directs staff to advocate for the state to collect a tax and distribute it to local
governments for policing efforts.
Motion to forward the attached proposal to full Council for approval with language stating the
Council’s opposition to the EIC’s proposal, but also making sure that increased services are
mitigated with taxation derived from these gaming devices. Motion seconded and carried.
d) T-Mobile (Voicestream)/BPA Twin Lakes Lease
Presented by Kar en Kir kpatrick
Ms. Kirkpatrick reviewed the proposal with the committee. She also stated that Voicestream is
now known as T-Mobile, and that the law department will make the appropriate changes to the
agreement if passed by Council.
Discussion than shifted to the issue of collecting back rent on the cell tower leases. However,
because the issue could involve potential litigation, Ms. Kirkpatrick advised the committee that
th e issue sh ould be discussed in executive session .’
Motion to move the agenda into executive session as item I on the FEDRAC agenda for the
purpose of potential litigation pursuant to state law. Motion seconded and carried.
e) Purchase of Surveying Equipment for Public Safety Department
Presented by Medhi Sadri
Mr. Sadri reviewed the proposal with the committee.
Motion to approve the purchase of a Trimble Total Station not exceeding $27,500 for police
collision and crime scene data collection and forward to full council for approval. Motion
seconded and carried.
f) Funding of “Shop, Play, and Stay in Federal Way” Holiday Marketing Campaign
Presented by Patrick Doherty
Mr. Doherty reviewed the agreement with the committee. [Councilmember Gates also makes her
appearance at this time.]
A question was raised con cer n in g th e con tr act. Does ever yth in g LTAC does h ave to be by
contract, and does it have to be executed by the City? Mr. Matheson explained that in this case,
the City is granting money to another agency and is not spending the money itself. Only the City
Council has the legal authority to approve the contract between the City and the contracting
agency. This is for accountability purposes.
Anoth er question ar ose con cer n in g th e pr ocedur es in wh ich LTAC spen ds th e lodgin g tax
r evenues. Staff explained that when LTAC’s budget is pre-approved by Council and says how
much will be spent for a particular item, the item does not need to be approved again by
FEDRAC if it also doesn’t need a contract. Staff also explained that LTAC is following normal
purchasing pr ocedures and the item was pre-approved according to its workplan.
Ms. Kochmar and Mr. Hellickson said that FEDRAC should review LTAC items first before
sending to full council, since FEDRAC is LTAC’s oversight committee. They would like to see
procedures in written format for spending funds in LTAC’s budget. Mr. Faison felt that since the
item was already approved by Council in the workplan, then there is no need for FEDRAC to
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vote to send it to full Council again for approval. The city manager is the appropriate person to
approve the funds. Ms. Gates offered another solution – to review if the new item departs from
the workplan by an X amount of dollars. LTAC already has a councilmember and city staff to
review the items, so there shouldn’t be a need for items that are clearly part of the workplan to
unnecessarily get bogged down in lengthy administrative processes.
Motion to approve the commitment of $4,000 to the holiday promotion. Motion seconded and
carried by a vote of 2-1. Mr. Faison noting that he believes the item should be approved by the
city manager and not FEDRAC and Council.
g) Quarterly Financial Report
Presented by Th o Kr aus
Ms. Kraus reviewed the 3rd Quarter Financial Report (QFR) with the Committee. Of note:
• General operating revenues are about $2.3 million, which is 7.9% above t h e YT D
budget.
• Real Estate Excise Tax collections are about $1.77 million, which is 70.2% above t h e
YTD budget.
• Sales Tax collections are about $8.1 million, which is 9.5% above t h e YT D budget.
• Gambling Tax collections are about $1.54 million, which is 25.2% above t h e YT D
budget.
• Revenues from Community Development permits were about $1.15 million, about
18.2% a bove t h e YT D budget.
• However, court r evenues fr om traffic and non-parking infractions were $303,000, or
33.7% below YTD budget. This is mainly due to current staffing problems; however,
additional staff is being added and this problem should be corrected shortly.
• General government expenditures totaled $27.7 million YTD, which is 7.4% below
YTD budget (favorable).
Motion to accept the 3rd Quarter Financial Report and forward to full Council for approval.
Motion seconded and carried.
h) Vouchers
Presented by Th o Kr aus
Ms. Kraus presented the vouch er s for approval.
King County Fin an ce Division (page H5): Th ese wer e paymen ts fr om past year in voices.
Motion to accept the vouchers and forward them to full Council for approval. Motion
seconded and carried.
Meeting stopped at 9:40am.
i) Executive Session
Meetin g r econ ven ed at 9:48am.
d) T-Mobile (Voicestream)/BPA Twin Lakes Lease (cont.)
Presented by Kar en Kir kpatrick
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Motion to approve the site lease agreement and forward to full Council for approval. Motion
seconded and carried.
4. OTHER
None.
5. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
A. Olympic Pipeline
Ms. Kirkpatrick reported she received a draft and will have something ready shortly once
reviewed.
6. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING
November 25, 2002 at 8:00 a.m. in the Mt. Baker Conference Room.
7. ADJOURN
Chair Michael Hellickson adjourned the meeting at 9:53pm.
Recorded by Jason Suzaka