Council MIN 01-07-1993 Special
FEDERAL WAY CITY COUNCIL
PLANNING SESSION
January 7, 1993
SUMMARY
Mayor Stead opened the planning session of the Federal Way City Council at the hour of 1:20
p.m., in Council Chambers, City Hall, Federal Way, Washington.
Councilmembers Present: Mayor Bob Stead, Deputy Mayor Joel Marks, Councilmembers Ray
Tomlinson, Mary Gates, Ron Gintz, Lynn Templeton, Skip Priest.
City Staff Present: City Manager J. Brent McFall, Assistant City Managers Steve A.nderson and
Ken Nyberg, Finance Director Deborah Larson, Parks Director Joe Stevens, Public Works
Director Philip Keightley, Long Range Planning Manager Larry Springer, City Attorney Carolyn
Lake, Management Assistant Dena Laurent, Deputy City Clerk Chris Green. Mr. McFall
introduced newly appointed Federal Way Fire District Administrator Jim Hamilton.
Mr. McFall, acting facilitator, announced the agenda includes a review of goals and future
vision for the city.
Mayor Stead invited Council members to discuss staffing problems and concerns.
Gates: Staff responding "not my job"
Templeton: Becoming side-tracked, however, more Council than staff
Marks: Staff should treat purchases as their own to help economize
Tomlinson: Being able to locate appropriate staff when needed
Priest: Tired of staff being in meetings and unavailable
Stead: Unable to locate City Manager and other staff via telephone
Priest: Citizens seem happy with personal contact with staff--phone contacts are a problem
Gintz: Feels staff should be as accessible to citizens as to Council
Tomlinson: Staff should advise all Councilmembers of same issue at same time
Templeton: Suggested Councilmembers have city e-mail available at work and home locations
ORIGINAL
Priest: Need to improve communications between Council and staff prior to actual meeting
presentations--reduce length of presentations to make more effective use of regular meetings;
also stick to key presentations--make brief with brief response to Council questions--get to point
ASAP
Gates: Councilmembers need to ask appropriate questions up front and prior to meeting
Priest: Doesn't like memo distributed day of or time of meeting
Springer: Briefly discussed city marketing
Stead: Said city needs vision first, then provide for wanted services
Priest: Wants city made attractive to businesses
Stead: City needs balance
Priest: Needs must be attainable
Stead: Does city want good development--decide method of obtaining--provide proper zoning--
must decide if want quality
Priest: Need innovation and creativity to develop city
Templeton: Need to look at future and provide ahead to see affect on city and appearance
Tomlinson: City doesn't draw people from Seattle and Tacoma
Gintz: Wants to annex Weyerhaeuser for international trade reflection on city--need light
industrial not just white-collar
Priest: Need rail
Springer: Proposed economic development reflects light manufacturing and industry--will be
presenting next six weeks
Marks: Need to identify areas and make property available
Springer: Economics and marketing will identify large areas of availability
Gates: Need to make community interesting to keep children in community as future adults
Stead: Wants city to be business-friendly, as well as preserving residential areas
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Gintz: Wants development throughout city
Priest: Wants to give citizens a choice
Springer: Three types of economics identified at earlier housing fair: (1) retail center; (2) office
and manufacturing added; (3) 200,000 sq ft building added per year
Mayor Stead announced a recess at 3:00 p.m., and reconvened the session at 3:25 p.m..
Mayor Stead called on staff to identify their concerns and problem areas with Council.
Keightley: Expressed awkwardness of pin-pointing problem areas to Council
McFall: Explained Council is policy-making body and he is hired to deal with personnel and
administration--makes it difficult when Council steps over the line--creates difficulty for problem
solving
Marks: Need to define line
Anderson: Councilmembers need to understand all requests should go through department
heads--there should be no rank and file reports unless authorized; Council tends to intimidate
staff
Stevens: Councilmember phone requests directed to rank and file also a problem
McFall: Council requests to directors are okay, but any work projects must be approved by him
Stevens: Appreciated guidelines during budget process
Lake: Projects need to be done through City Manager, so not repeated by other staff
Tomlinson: When Council member requests information, wants staff to respond immediately--
doesn't want to wait for answer
Anderson: Okay for Council to ask simple answer questions (i.e., cost of licenses, permits) of
staff if don't intimidate staff in process--no research questions
Stevens: Is concerned Council may get wrong information from staff
Lake: Need to keep Council requests at top, so answers correct without wasted staff time
Nyberg: Is concerned that Council feels staff is involved in too many meetings--he explained
managers and other staff must be involved in continual contact with others--that is their job
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Keightley: Don't always have time or staff to answer Council questions immediately; also afraid
to answer as get bad press
Tomlinson: Staff needs to tell Council if there is a problem--lay it on the line
McFall: Staff needs mutual respect; Council should discuss staff problems with him, not in
public
Priest: Okay for staff to answer Council requests next day, etc--no need to drop current project
to respond immediately
Stead: Necessary to know and understand fine line between policy and administration--need
open communication
McFall: Agreed
Templeton: Has seen staff upset many times--he's glad Keightley spoke up in public--difference
between personnel issues (staff to staff)--too many personnel issues go public--shouldn't be for
publication--unfair to all; McFall has previously talked with him in private and not in front of
whole Council if there is a problem with him personally
Priest: Too many times haven't received timely information for Council meetings--if
information isn't included with complete packet, should be pulled off agenda; Council must
receive all information to allow for timely review and inquiry if necessary; Council wouldn't ask
stupid questions in public if made aware of items prior to meetings
Keightley: Teamwork is needed--staff needs to know what each Councilmember wants and
needs
Lake: Answers can't be given to only one Councilmember--entire Council must be made aware
Priest: Feels Council should be able to ask individual questions
Stead: Prefers staff has Council pull off agenda if can't answer questions at time--better to get
back with correct answers later
Priest: Staff should get information to Council early, so Council can ask staff for information
if necessary--staff must force Council to decide
Lake: Council needs to be aware of turn-a-round times for staff response--need to be key issues
Stead: Council may have seven different questions and staff needs to respond to all seven--may
need to research seven different issues if multi-questions--if all seven issues can't be researched
and answered in timely manner, entire item should be pulled off agenda
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Anderson: Asked for clarification--if staff can't respond to all questions, the entire item should
be pulled from agenda?
Stead: "Yes"
Marks: Hopes staff treats all Councilmembers with equal attention
McFall: Staff is committed to responding to all Council members with equal attention--staff must
understand one Councilmember can't make decision or direct staff--need all seven members
Stead: If two Councilmembers want to propose a draft ordinance, who do they approach
Priest: Council is problem solvers, not identifiers--when important issues surface, staff should
put on future agenda after staff has had time to research completely
Gintz: Appreciates Keightley's honesty--invited all other staff present to identify any problems
Anderson: Management is running City on shoestring budget and staff--doing best possible job
McFall: Can't fix everything now--don't have the resources
Stevens: Due to timeline, it is impossible to get everything to staff all the time--staff will do
best under the circumstances--he doesn't appreciate not being made aware of problems
Templeton: During pre-incorporation Council thought it could do all--then first year put major
issues and necessities in place--snowballing now and can't do everything
Gates: Council may want to look at what is a sensible timeline and normal projects--no longer
functioning alone--need to chart needs and staff--too many directions--need to set guidelines
Stead: Wants staff to give Council deadlines and stick to it--need to be optimistic
Stevens: One major problem is the Jr Hi #6 project time frame
Priest: Council can't always judge tracking time and the correct funding--need to understand
potential problems and results
Stead: Council and staff are all on same team--will make mistakes and waste money--only
normal
Templeton: City Manager's Office needs to be honest and tell Council what they can and can't
do
Marks: Agrees with Templeton--not always possible--must tell Council they can't do it
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Nyberg: One problem--hired problem solvers who don't know when to stop--it's against staffs
personal code
Templeton: Council in same position--can't always satisfy citizens either and need to realize it
Stead: Staff should never say "no" to Council--staff should look into it and then respond
Priest: Need to prioritize projects
Keightley: Appreciates dialog--need to know how to divide policy vs. administration--need to
get on with jobs--Council needs to prioritize and give proper information to staff to allow them
to proceed with projects efficiently and move forward
Gintz: Council still has oversight response--he is always concerned about expenditures--feels
he should be able to ask for explanation and not be ignored--doesn't like "ballpark" figures--
expects good and accurate numbers
McFall: City staff just as concerned about costs--certain staff have expertise in certain areas to
assist Council
Tomlinson: If Council questions costs, feels should be able to ask staff to review for best price
McFall: Staff will ask for best rate--if accept project, can't pick apart everything or project will
never get done--is policy vs. administration
Stead: Prefers variety of options, so Council can accept portion or entire project and know cost
Priest: Asked if Council can go out and research better prices on purchases to save money--need
to trust staff or ask in positive and honest manner; Council tends to put staff in defensive
position to rebel--Council needs to aid staff when possible; staff needs to be allowed to compare
apples to apples--staff and Council need to work together for best results and prices
Keightley & McFall: Can vary and minimize initial costs, but might save maintenance costs
down the road with better equipment or better quality at beginning
Stevens: Explained field costs, Le., price vs. maintenance
Gates: Council doesn't know or appreciate fact that everything possible has already been
researched by staff--information will help Council respond to press and citizens more effectively
Stead: Feels this interaction between Council and staff has been beneficial, but need to schedule
another session for goal setting and review
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Priest: Wants to discuss 348th Street and airport issues at this time; surface water and set up
informal group of Council/staff/retail/homeowners to discuss 348th Street infrastructure for
freeway access--Council can be proactive in area--need to look at long term; he offered to chair
group
Stead: Suggested Priest, McFall and he coordinate and place on January 19th regular meeting
agenda and not take staff time at this point; he thanked Council and staff for their interpretations
of problem areas--felt time spent was beneficial to all; Council needs to set level of service now;
needs to be proactive; he suggested Councilmembers check their calendars and have Jann
arrange a date for next planning session--he prefers a Saturday--possibly the 16th; also decide
if use an outside facilitator or City Manager
Springer: Need to set out goals and alternatives for CityShape and to challenge Council
Priest: Would like to see proactive treatment of airport and 348th Street issues--need to decide
on smaller vs. larger projects
Stead: Need to set short and long-term goals
Stead & Priest: Six-year TIP example of bad project
Keightley: Need Council to set ground rules for CityShape and CIP
Council and staff continued discussion of 348th Street exit off 1-5
Mayor Stead adjourned the session at the hour of 5:52 p.m..
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N. Christine Green
Deputy City Clerk
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