FEDRAC MINS 08-26-2003
City of Federal Way
City Council
Finance/Economic Development/Regional Affairs Committee
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
2:00 p.m.
City Hall
Mt. Baker Conference Room
MINUTES
Committee Members in Attendance: Chair Michael Park, 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 Man agemen t Ser vices; Rob Van Or sow, Solid Waste/Recyclin g Coor din ator ; Jason Suzaka,
Management Analyst.
Others in Attendance: None.
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Michael Park called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
3. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a) Approval of the August 26, 2003 meeting minutes
Motion to approve the July 22, 2003 meeting minutes. Motion seconded and carried.
b) Legislative and Regional Affairs Update
Presented by Der ek Math eson
Mr . Math eson r epor t ed t h a t t h e l obbyi st i s keepi n g a n eye on Sen . Ji m Hor n a n d h i s opi n i on t h a t
local governments should not be using grants from other sources to use as the local match on TIB
(Transportation Improvement Board) grants. This strategy has typically worked well for Federal
Way. The Board will discuss this issue at their September retreat. Cary Roe, Doug Levy, and
Don Wickstr om (City of Ken t) ar e meetin g with th e TIB Executive Dir ector (a Feder al Way
residen t) to discuss th eir con cer n s on th is issue.
AWC (Association of Washington Cities) is forming a committee to discuss the next step in
transportation issues. Although the 5-cent package is funding many important projects, it is only
funded through the next two years, so staff will monitor to make sure that the area’s projects are
funded at the right time. Ms. Gates advised that staff should track in particular the temptation by
policymakers to try to change the timing of project funding, and even try to move Federal Way’s
projects up in the funding schedule.
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U.S. Congressman Adam Smith will be in Federal Way on Friday, September 26th at 3pm. Staff
will work on an agenda for the meeting. Staff is also trying to get staff from our other legislative
representatives as well. Doug Levy is also going to meet with departmental directors and key
staff in September in order to start work on the 2004 legislative agenda, which staff hopes to
br i n g ba ck t o FE DRAC on Oct ober 28th and full Council on November 18th.
Mr. Matheson will be absent from next month’s meeting, as he will be on vacation.
c) 2004-05 Solid Waste/Recycling Division Grants
Pr esen t ed by Rob Va n Or sow
Mr. Van Orsow reviewed the memo with the committee. Letters of intent have been sent out to
the County for each of the three grants to reserve our funding allocations. The three grants are:
Coordinated Prevention Grant, Waste Reduction/Recycling Grant, and the Local Hazardous
Waste Man agemen t Pr ogr am.
After the grants are reviewed by the committee, a resolution would need to be passed by the
Council (attached). No city fund expenditures would be used, since outside grant money is being
used for the match.
Councilmember Gates complimented Mr. Van Orsow on the table he created laying out the grant
projects and funding amounts. She felt that this method of presenting information could also be
used to address Senator Horn’s views on local governments using grant money.
Motion to forward the resolution to full Council for approval with a “do-pass”
recommendation. Motion seconded and carried.
d) Insurance Renewal Update
Presented by Iwen Wan g
No action is needed by Council if the City is planning on renewing insurance; however, notice
will need to be given by September 1, if the City is planning on terminating its coverage with
CIAW (Cities Insurance Association of Washington). So far, staff has been very happy with the
services pr ovided by CIAW.
Because CIAW uses a different policy year (September-September) than what the City was using
with St. Paul, there will need to be a budget adjustment made to accommodate. Premiums are
expected to increase by about 12.5%; however, no broker will be needed by using CIAW, so there
will be some savings realized to go along with the budgeted 10% increase.
e) July 2003 Monthly Financial Report
Presented by Mich ael Olson
Michael Olson reviewed the July Monthly Financial Report (MFR) with the Committee.
Operating revenues are slightly below YTD budget (0.3%), as are sales tax revenues (4.4%).
Utility tax revenues continue to be below budget (11.6%); however, real estate excise taxes
con t i n ue t o be st r on g (61.9% a bove YT D budget).
Correction: The office building on 8th Ave. S. should read “USAA,” not “USSA” as stated.
Staff will look into why manufacturing seems to be so far below 2002 levels. The committee also
asked staff to produce a month-to-month showing of sales tax revenues from the SeaTac Mall.
Right of Way Permits/fees are not considered stable.
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The police department’s overtime expenditures continue to decline; at this rate, 2003 overtime
expenditures will be approximately 40% below 2002 levels. A main contributor to this decline is
the fact that the police department is nearly fully staffed, which has cut down on patrol call-
backs. Termination pay consists of vacation pay and other “buyouts” when an employee is
terminated.
There was a question regarding the utility tax subsidy given for Celebration Park, and whether or
not too much of a subsidy was being given. Staff replied that the expenditure figures do not
include the costs of program coordination. In addition, the utility tax subsidy covers the full year;
whereas the expenditure figures account for only the first six months of the year.
YTD Gambling tax revenues are down compared to 2002, mainly because of increased
competition in the area, and some of the new casinos are not doing as well as hoped.
Motion to accept the monthly financial report and forward to full Council for approval.
Motion seconded and carried.
f) Vouchers
Presented by Michael Olson
Mr. Olson presented the vouchers for approval.
Motion to accept the vouchers and forward to full Council for approval. Motion seconded and
carried.
4. OTHER
None.
5. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
a) City Center Redevelopment
b) Business License Amendment – Massage Practitioners
There was some discussion on whether or not a second FEDRAC meeting should take place to discuss
economic development issues, specifically in the downtown area. One option was to add a line item in the
agenda for next month’s scheduled meeting to discuss this particular topic. The committee could then see
how it works and if a second meeting is needed.
The committee decided that for next month’s meeting they would create in the agenda a line item labeled
“economic development report.” They directed Patrick Doherty (Deputy Director of Community
Development – Economic Development) to create an agenda for that line item to discuss the topic. This
line item is for next month’s agenda only – the committee will decide where to go from there.
6. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING
September 23, 2003 at 4:00 pm. in the Mt. Baker Conference Room. (Please note time change)
7. ADJOURN
Chair Michael Park adjourned the meeting at 2:50pm.
Recorded by Jason Suzaka