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PRPSC MINS 09-11-2006 City of Federal Way City Council PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday September 11, 2006 6:30 p.m. SUMMARY In attendance: Council Committee members Chair Jeanne Burbidge, Deputy Mayor Jim Ferrell, Council member Linda Kochmar, Neal Beets, City Manager Derek Matheson, Assistant City Manager, Pat Richardson, City Attorney, Brian Wilson, Interim Director Public Safety, Iwen Wang, Finance Director, Donna Hanson, Director PRCS, B Sanders, Park Planner, Mary Jaenicke, Administrative Assistant. Guests: Ron Walker, Diversity Commission, Marie Sciacqua Parks and Recreation Commission, Charlie Demming, Heery Inc., Jean Atwell, Richard Keltner, H. David Kaplan. Chair Burbidge called the meeting to order at 6:34p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT Marie Sciacqua: stated that she was interested in the Aggressive Begging/Panhandling, Community Center Update and the Junk Vehicle Ordinance. H. David Kaplan: Reported that the Public Safety Town Hall meetings have had poor attendance. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday. Council member Burbidge announced at the Council meeting that the meeting started at 6:00pm. The Public meeting calendar also has the start time at 6:00, but the Police written information states the meeting starts at 6:30. He wanted to make sure that someone from Public Safety would be in Chambers at 6:00pm to alert people of the correct start time. A notice will be posted, and the Police Department will send out a notice. Mr. Kaplan stated he is concerned about what defines a junk vehicle. Jean Atwell: Spoke regarding her concern of beggars on the street. We do not need beggars on the street. Richard Keltner: He has an interest in the beggars and panhandlers. It needs to stop. He is also concerned about the junk vehicles. He also wants to know what the definition of a junk vehicle is. COMMISSION COMMENT Ron Walker presented the Diversity Commission 2006-2007 business plan. The business plan has not changed dramatically. There are two new items. One of the new items is creating a Diversity Commission Alumni Group. The group of past commissioners will come back and assist with some of the projects. They will continue to have the book donation and community night, but because of the size of the programs they will be held on alternate years. Within the next two months they will be presenting a proposal on how to recruit commissioners. APPROVAL OF SUMMARY Council members Kochmar and Ferrell moved to accept the July meeting minutes as written. Motion passed. BUSINESS ITEMS Diversity Commission 2006-2007 Business Plan The Council Committee complimented the Diversity Commission on their hard work, and ambitious business plan. Mr. Walker reported that last year the Diversity Commission put together a Reconciliation Proclamation which the City Council signed. Mr. Walker will present to the Diversity Commission at their next meeting that they send this to the President to see if he will proclaim a reconciliation month or day. He would greatly appreciate the Councils support on this. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to approve the Business Plan, Council member Kochmar seconded. Motion Passed. Aggressive Begging/Panhandling Ms. Richardson stated that a citizen brought forth a proposed ordinance that they wanted the city to review, in order to make panhandling more aggressive. The legal department reviewed the proposed ordinance, and discovered that the City has one of the most aggressive panhandling ordinances on the books, when compared to other cities. Most of the cities make panhandling a misdemeanor. The courts have said that the form of speech is protected by the first amendment, so we cannot regulate and censor the content of the speech, but the conduct can be regulated. The city’s ordinance is broad enough to allow the discretion for conduct that is intimidating or threatening and exploits children. If panhandling occurs on state right-of-ways then it is out of our jurisdiction. After looking at what the city PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday September 11, 2006 Summary Page 2 has, and comparing the ordinance to other cities the Law Department is not recommending any changes to the current ordinance. Council member Kochmar reiterated that the panhandler’s signs are protected by the First Amendment, so we cannot regulate their form of speech, but we can regulate their behavior. Council member Burbidge suggested that citizens carry information regarding agencies in Federal Way that offer services for people in need. This information could be given to the panhandlers. Interim Chief Wilson stated that often times the beggars are capitalizing on the good of the citizens. Interim Chief Wilson stated that the department would focus on providing education to the citizens about the services that are available, and to not give out cash. He also stated that the department is focused on enforcing the ordinance as it is written, and keeping them off private property. Deputy Mayor Ferrell would like this subject to be on the next City Video and an article written in the City Newsletter. Chair Burbidge concluded that there needs to be additional educational efforts including the City Update newsletter, Channel 21 and website, as well as discussing the issue with the store managers. Community Center Update Charlie Demming updated the committee on the Community Center project. The original contract amount was $15,441,984. There has been $536,708.00 in change orders, bringing the total contract to date $15,978,692.00. Currently there is $300,274.00 in pending change orders which are under aggressive negotiation. The project to date is within budget. Mr. Demming stated that this is a very tightly budgeted project, and the contingency funds are much less than what he has experienced having in projects of this size, and he is very aggressively negotiating with the contractor, and keeping a lid on things. The substantial completion date is January 2007. This date is later than anticipated due to the change orders. The projected opening date is early 2007. Mr. Demming also provided an explanation of impacts to the schedule and the contingency budget. The project is 72% complete overall. Ms. Hanson added that it takes a lot of work to stay within the parameters and this is a very tight project. Staff meets with the contractors on a weekly basis, and is doing the best they can to stay within their resources. Deputy Mayor Ferrell asked if there were any upcoming factors that could throw the project into the red. Mr. Demming stated that at this point the only thing their experiencing that could have an impact is Petro Chemical, but the prices are dropping. Other than that, it’s hard to know. Proposed Ordinance to Provide for the removal of Junk Vehicles on Public Rights of Way and Private Property Ms. Richardson presented a proposed ordinance that would provide for the removal of junk vehicles in a more timely fashion. Currently the city can only remove junk vehicles using abatement proceedings which are time consuming and costly. The proposed ordinance follows the state statute. Under the code, a junk vehicle is defined as having two of the following three; 1) extensively damaged. 2) Inoperable. 3) Without current or invalid registration. This ordinance addresses junk vehicles on the public right of way and private property. The owner of the property and the vehicle’s last registered owner of record will receive a notice 15 days prior to impoundment. They may request to go before the hearing examiner. This will give the owner the opportunity to argue that it is not a junk vehicle. If they do not prevail at the hearing, or do not request a hearing, the Code Enforcement Officer or Police Officer have the authority to remove the junk vehicle at the owner’s expense. This will help the process move faster. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to approval of the proposed ordinance and forward to full Council for first reading at the October 3, 2006 City Council Meeting. Council member Kochmar seconded. Motion passed. Red Light Photo Enforcement Proposal Interim Chief Wilson stated that the purpose of this proposal is to improve the safety of vehicles traveling through the intersection. A camera would be placed at the intersection, and that camera takes a picture of the rear of the vehicle, the license plate and also the light. There are several stages of the pictures that show the car going through the intersection. That information is electronically captured; it is an internet based system. It is then forwarded to a Police Officer who will review the content of the pictures, and determine if a citation is warranted. That citation will be similar to a parking ticket. A vendor would issue the citation. If the registered owner was not driving the car, then they can sign an affidavit stating that they were not driving, and the citation would be dismissed. Deputy Mayor Ferrell stated that this has the potential to create a lot of negative ill will between the community and the police department. It forces people to prove they’re innocent. He stated he would never vote for this program. He would rather have more officers out on the streets. Interim Chief Wilson stated that a big piece of this program is promotion and education and signage. The major benefit of this program is gaining compliance from the citizens. Council member Burbidge would like statistics on the number of accidents, severity of the accidents etc. She is concerned with people running red lights, but she also understands Deputy Mayor Ferrell’s concerns. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to reject the Red Light Photo Enforcement. Council members Burbidge and Kochmar requested more information. Council member Kochmar feels that there is value in this program, but needs more information before making a decision. Council member Burbidge would like to know how other cities have addressed the concerns. PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday September 11, 2006 Summary Page 3 Council member Kochmar moved to table this issue, and have staff come back to committee with further information. Staff will come back at the next appropriate meeting. Council member Burbidge seconded. Motion passed. Deputy Mayor Ferrell voted nay. Acceptance of Donation to Purchase K-9 Ballistic Vest Interim Chief Wilson reported that the owner and employees of Crestwood Animal Hospital have been collecting funds from their patients, clients and staff to go towards the purchase of a ballistic vest for the K-9 dog Roscoe. Council member Kochmar moved to accept the private donated funds, amounting to approximately $1,700.00 to cover the cost of a ballistic vest for Federal Way Generalist K-9 Dog. Crestwood Animal Hospital has independently collected donated funds to cover the cost for this purchase. Deputy Mayor Ferrell seconded. Motion passed. Purchase of Three Additional Itronix Laptop Computers for Marked Patrol Fleet Interim Chief Wilson stated these computers will enable the department to have consistency within the fleet, and will enable them to outfit additional patrol cars. It will also allow them to have some backups that they can use in the event they have a vehicle where the computer is not working properly. It is an efficient management of their fleet. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to agree to the purchase of three additional Itronix laptop computers for marked police patrol vehicles using $10,000 from the 2005 JAG grant (WI-FI) and the remaining $6,000.00 from the 2006 JAG grant (Docking Station). Council member Kochmar seconded. Motion Passed. Washington Traffic Safety Commission Grant – Advanced Collision Investigation Training Interim Chief Wilson stated that this is a very advanced training course that the City of Federal Way Police Department is sponsoring. The Department would accept a grant of $13,000 to provide the training in the City of Federal Way. It is limited to 30 participants. The large benefit to the Department is that the five traffic officers would be able to attend this course at no cost to the City. The price for the course is $2,000 per person. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to approve to accept the WTSC Grant, amounting to but not exceeding $13,000.00 to cover all costs of class. Hosting this 40-hour course would also provide training to all (5) Traffic Officers at no cost to the City. WSTC will cover all costs incurred up to and including a total of $13,000.00. Council member Kochmar seconded. Motion Passed. Council member Burbidge stated that there has been some discussion regarding an alternative meeting time. At this point the next meeting is still scheduled for October 9. PENDING ITEMS None NEXT MEETING – October 9, 2006 6:00 p.m. in the Hylebos Conference Room ADJOURNMENT - Meeting adjourned at 8:05p.m.