Showing posts with label city manager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label city manager. Show all posts

Shoreline City Manager's report

Friday, October 17, 2014

From Shoreline City Manager Debbie Tarry

On Saturday, October 11, the City held its Third Annual Monster Mash Dash in conjunction with the Family Safety Fair! Both events were great. We had 300 participants in the Monster Mash Dash, which didn’t include strollers, and there were quite a few of those! Events Coordinator Pam Barrett tells me that this was 70 more or about a 30% increase from the 2012 event! At the safety fair there were over 20 vendors along with representatives from the Shoreline police and fire departments. Home Depot was one of the vendors and they provided materials for kids to build wooden EMS vehicles.

October 13 Council Meeting

Dinner Meeting
·         2015 Legislative Priorities:  Council reviewed the following as its draft 2015 Legislative Priorities:
1.    Support local government financial sustainability and flexibility:
2.    Advocate funding for 145th Street Corridor Project including ensuring safe pedestrian and bicycle access to the future 145th Street Light Rail Station
3.    Defend cities’ ability to assume water/sewer districts without a vote and support clarifying the City utility tax  'proprietary' vs. 'governmental' issue
4.    Support clarification of state law regarding medical marijuana vs. recreational marijuana

Legislative Issues the City Supports:

1.    Transportation funding - adopt new comprehensive transportation revenue package with direct distribution to local governments and additional local option authorities
2.    Maintain and restore funding for infrastructure programs such as the Public Works Trust Fund
3.    Ronald Commons Project capital budget funding request
4.    Advocate for city tools, such as funding and regulatory authority, to support Transit Communities

Regular Meeting
·         Amending Prosecution Services Contract with Sarah Roberts through 2015: Staff requested a one-year extension of the contract.
·         Adoption of Resolution No. 363 Revising the Personnel Policies for the Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate: Council adopted the revised definitions regarding extra-help that were discussed with Council at their April 29 meeting.
·         Strategies for Implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan Recommendations: Elizabeth Willmott, of Climate Solutions’ New Energy Cities program, helped present proposed strategies to meet the City’s green house gas reduction targets.
·         Transmittal of the 2015 Proposed Budget: Answers to budget questions from Councilmembers Salomon and Hall

October 20 Council Meeting

Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.)
·         Joint Meeting with the Shoreline Community College Board of Trustees and President

Regular Meeting
·         Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Contract with CH2MHill for the Development of the 145th Street Route Development Plan (RDP): The contract amount is $469,140. The project will create a master plan for the corridor from 3rd Avenue NW to Bothell Way NE (SR 522). The RDP will evaluate the needs for capacity, safety, access management, and accommodations for multiple travel modes (vehicles, buses, walking, cycling, and freight).
·         Adoption of Resolution No. 364, Hazard Mitigation Plan: In 2009, the City of Shoreline adopted its State and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan (Plan). The Plan is a five year plan that expires at the end of 2014. The City must have an up to date FEMA-approved Plan in order to receive any post-disaster funding to help recover from loss after a significant event that impacts our community. This City Plan Annex includes a review of work done to implement the 2009 Plan, an evaluation of new information as to the current hazards we face as a city and experience gained in recent events that impacted the City and/or the County. The draft 2014 Plan was reviewed by the Planning Commission and they recommended on July 10 that the City Council pass a resolution approving the Plan. The draft 2014 Plan has been reviewed by both the State and FEMA, with the State approving the Plan and FEMA’s final approval forthcoming following the City’s adoption of the Plan.
·         2015 Budget Department Presentations: The focus of the departmental presentations will be on any significant changes between the department’s 2014 budget and the 2015 proposed budget. Staff plans to complete department reviews through the Planning & Community Development Department on October 20. On October 27 we will review the Public Works Department, the 2015-2020 Capital Improvement Plan, and the Capital and Operating Surface Water Utility budgets. 

Meetings and Events of the Past Week (October 6-10)
·         New Energy Cities: On Tuesday, Councilmember Hall participated with King County Executive Dow Constantine and Mercer Island Mayor Bruce Bassett at an after-hours event to discuss the importance of local-governments' proactive commitments to implementing strategies to reduce the carbon footprint through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
·         North End Mayors Meeting: On Tuesday, Mayor Winstead attended this meeting.
·         Naturalization Ceremony in Shoreline: Mayor Winstead participated in this ceremony with Councilmember Hall and Roberts also being in attendance.
·         Chamber of Commerce Meeting: On Wednesday, Economic Development Manager Dan Eernissee was the featured speaker at the Chamber meeting sharing information about the 185th Light Rail Station Sub-Area planning process.
·         145th Subarea Plan Design Workshop II: On Thursday night it was standing room only for the Design Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to get feedback from participants on the “Connecting Corridor” and “Compact Community” zoning options and to explain the environmental review process. Height and density continues to be a concern for many residents.
·         Comcast Newsmakers Interview: On Thursday, Mayor Winstead completed an interview on the City’s light rail and environmental sustainability efforts.

Echo Lake Park Construction Update
Echo Lake Park is nearing completion. The future turf areas were hydro seeded Monday. With cooler temperatures and reduced daylight it will take longer to germinate the seed planted and get the turf established than was originally estimated. The staff worked hard to get the contractor moving faster but was unsuccessful. The quality of work is good, but a small contractor without a lot of staff took longer to get the work done than a larger contractor might have. As a result we will be leaving the construction fence around the site for several more weeks. If the good weather continues we might be able to dedicate the site in November. If the turf areas are not ready for activity it would be a dedication only and then close the park for another month or two for turf establishment. Dick will keep me posted on the schedule. Some photos and descriptions:
·         1st Photo: Looking from the trail across the open field area to the playground and remodeled restroom
·         2nd Photo: The trail near the beach that connects the beach/Interurban Trail area to the restroom and play area. It shows the regarded turf area that will be much more usable than previously.
·         3rd Photo: A much improved beach area with ADA access and a lot of the concrete bulkhead is the right height for sitting. In addition there are picnic table pads where tables will be installed.

Calendar Items
·         October 28 – Shoreline will host a King County Youth Action Plan meeting. King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski is sponsoring this effort.

This and That
·         Planning and Community Development has created a description of the MUR zoning designations that are being considered by the Planning Commission as part of the light rail station development regulations.
·         Trader Joe’s has Shoreline listed on their site as “coming soon!”
·         I received a response letter from Olympic View Water and Sewer District from my October 3 letter stating the City's interest in participating in the District's update to its 2009 Comprehensive Water System Plan and potential amendment to its 2007 Comprehensive Sewer Plan.


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Shoreline City Manager week of 10/6/2014

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Update for Week of 10/6/2014
By Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

City Attorney
I am pleased to announce that Margaret King has accepted the position of City Attorney. She will be joining us on November 3. Margaret is currently a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with Snohomish County and serves as the chief legal advisor to the Snohomish County Council, the elected County Treasurer, and the Department of Emergency Management.

October 6 Council Meeting – Meeting was Cancelled

October 13 Council Meeting
Dinner Meeting
·         2015 Legislative Priorities: This will be a discussion with Council regarding staff’s recommendation for 2015 Legislative Priorities. Council will be meeting with members of the 32nd Legislative Delegation on November 3.

Regular Meeting
·         Amending Prosecution Services Contract with Sarah Roberts through 2015: The City’s prosecution contract with current City Prosecutor Sarah Roberts terminates at the end of 2014. Given the recent retirement of the City’s long-serving City Attorney and the transition process within the City Attorney’s office to accommodate this retirement, facilitating a competitive selection process at this time is challenging. The proposed amendment to the existing prosecution services contract would alleviate the need for opening these services for competitive proposals during the transition process. Staff is requesting a one-year extension of the contract.
·         Adoption of Resolution No. 363 Revising the Personnel Policies for the Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate: This action will be to adopt the revised definitions regarding extra-help that were discussed with Council on September 29.
·         Transmittal of the 2015 Proposed Budget: Staff will provide the City Council with the Proposed 2015 Budget. There are a total of five meetings following the Transmittal that Council will have an opportunity to review and discuss the budget. The Budget is scheduled to be adopted on November 24.
·         Strategies for Implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan Recommendations: This will be a discussion of the strategies identified in the City’s Carbon Wedge Analysis that can help the City achieve its goal of to reduce community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80% by 2050 (80x50), with an interim target of 50% reduction by 2030 (50x30).

Other Agenda Planner Items
·         November 3 Transportation Benefit District Meeting. We have scheduled this meeting for 7 p.m. with the City Council meeting starting at 7:15 p.m.
·         November 24 We have added two items:
o   Discussion of Ordinance – Small Vendor License Fees: This is in response to requests related to reduced business license fees for small retail vendors that participate in events such as Art and Holiday Bazaars.
o   Discussion of Amendment to Chronic Nuisance Ordinance: This is a minor technical change.
·         December 1 Added Discussion of 145th Route Development Plan - Project goals and funding strategies

Letters
·         Letter from Mayor Winstead to Representative Farrell of the 46th District regarding Representative Farrell’s interest in supporting the 145th Corridor Project and the funding for a safe non-motorized crossing across I-5. Mayor Winstead will be meeting with Representative Farrell on October 20. Representative Farrell’s legislative aide attended the City’s 145th Tour in August.
·         I have sent a letter to Olympic View Water and Sewer District requesting that the City participate in their Comprehensive Plan update and our interest in preserving the wholeness of the Ronald Wastewater District assets.

2014-2017 City Technology Plan
Final draft of the City of Shoreline Strategic Technology Plan for 2014 through 2017. This plan was the product of many hours of meetings by the IT Advisory Board (staff) and involvement by the IT staff.

Staff Changes
·         Iain Draper, Public Works Engineering Manager will be retiring near the end of October.

Calendar Items
·         145th Subarea Plan Design Workshop II, Thursday, October 9, 6 p.m., City Hall
·         Monster Mash Dash & Family Safety Fair, Saturday, October 11, starting at 8 a.m., City Hall

This and That
·         Letter from the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation notifying the City that the Firland Sanatorium (Crista Campus) is being reviewed for nomination to the Washington Heritage Register.
·         Thank-you from Skagit County to the Police Department for their support in responding to the September 24th Amber Alert for a two year old child taken from Skagit County and suspected in coming to Shoreline. The Shoreline Police apprehended the father of the child and was able to reunite the child with his family.

Key Contacts from the Week and Coming Up Next Week
·         On Monday I met with both Shoreline School District Superintendent Rebecca Miner and with Shoreline Community College President Cheryl Roberts.
·         On Thursday, Intergovernmental Relations Program Manager Scott MacColl, Transportation Services Manager Kirk McKinley, and I met with Representative Cindy Ryu regarding the 145th Corridor. We asked for her support in funding opportunities through the State budget process given her position on the Transportation Committee.
·         Monday, October 6 – Scott MacColl and I met with Seattle Deputy Mayor Kate Joncas and Nick Harper regarding the SPU negotiations.
·         Tuesday, October 7 – Scott MacColl, Planning and Community Development Director Rachael Markle, and I met with Snohomish County Planning Director Clay White regarding my recent letter to them notifying them of our intent to commence annexation interlocal agreement discussions with the County.



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City Manager's report for week of 9-29-2014

Friday, October 3, 2014

Update for Week of 9/29/2014
From Shoreline City Manager Debbie Tarry

September 22 Council Meeting Follow-Up
·         2015 Budget - Human Service Funding: Here is a chart of the City’s 2006-2014 human service funding for human service contracts. As you will see from the chart, the City’s general fund contribution has increased by 17% during this time period, or an average of 2.13% annual increase. Even with this increase the total amount allocated for human service contracts has only increased by 11.4% during this time period, with the total allocation remaining flat since 2009. The reason for the difference is that the Federal allocation of CDBG funds has decreased by approximately 25%. The City’s general fund allocation has made-up this gap. Some Councilmembers have expressed interest in providing some additional one-time money for capital or one-time need in the 2015 budget.
·         O’Neill Case: Notice from the Supreme Court of their receipt of the City’s petition for review.

September 29 Council Meeting
·         Dinner Meeting - Station Area Phased Zoning: This was a joint meeting of Planning Commissioners and Councilmembers to discuss one tool that could be used in the Light Rail Station Sub-Areas to “activate” zoning in phases.  The focus of the discussion was on the 185th Street Light Rail Station Area.  The Planning Commission will further discuss this tool as they work through the light rail station sub-area plan process.
·         Regular Meeting:
o   Selection of 145th Light Rail Station Zoning Scenarios to be Presented to the Public at October 9 Design Workshop, Part II for the 145th Street Station Subarea Plan: Council confirmed the maps (No Action, Connecting Corridors, Compact Community) that will be presented at the October 9 Design Workshop. Council will review comments from the Design Workshop and make a decision on November 10 of the zoning alternatives that will be evaluated as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement process. 

October 6 – Council Meeting Cancelled

Aurora Update
The west leg of 200th at Aurora is closed as of this week. This section should reopen in mid October. The contractor is rebuilding the road with all of the utilities. All property owners and tenants have been notified. Remember, businesses along Aurora are open and the best way to support them is to visit them!

King County for Hire/Transportation Network Company Legislation
Intergovernmental Relations Manager Scott MacColl provided Council with an update on the legislation recently adopted by the King County Council to regulate companies providing ride-sharing services based on GPS driven smart phone applications (Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, etc.) to offer for-hire services. This legislation is largely modeled after the legislation passed by Seattle in July 2014. These regulations apply to unincorporated King County; however, as Shoreline has adopted the King County code by reference (Shoreline Municipal Code Chapter 5.07), the changes will automatically apply unless the City takes action otherwise. There are currently sixteen cities in King County that have adopted the King County code to regulate for-hire transportation, effectively creating a regional system of regulation.

Calendar Items
·         145th Subarea Plan Design Workshop II, Thursday, October 9, 6 p.m., City Hall
·         Monster Mash Dash & Family Safety Fair, Saturday, October 11, starting at 8 a.m., City Hall

This and That
·         Support for Hopelink Grant Application: Letter supporting Hopelink’s Coordinated Special Needs Transportation Grant application.


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City Manager's report for week of 9-22-2014

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Update for Week of 9/22/2014
From Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

September 22 Council Meeting

·         Regular Meeting:

o   Proclamation of Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry: Saturday, September 27 is being proclaimed as the Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry.  Hopelink will be hosting food drives throughout the City on September 27 at the following grocers:

1.    Safeway located at NW 175th Street and 15th Avenue NW;
2.    Safeway located Aurora Avenue N and N 155th Street;
3.    Fred Meyer located at Aurora Avenue N and N 185th Street;
4.    QFC located on Richmond Beach Drive

o   2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey:  Our 2014 results mark a decade of citizen survey information.  We will be getting this information on the City’s website over the next few weeks, but wanted to share a few key outcomes. In ten years we have seen 20 of the core areas show a 6% or greater improvement in satisfaction and there have only been two areas that have shown more than 6% growth in dissatisfaction. The City’s website had the highest growth in satisfaction (17%), with the overall maintenance of City streets, City stormwater runoff, effectiveness of leadership of elected officials and overall effectiveness of City Manager and City staff running closely behind with 12% increases since 2004! Decreases of 7% in satisfaction, over the ten year period, have occurred in availability of public transportation and the City’s efforts to prevent crime. The City continues to work closely with the community in addressing concerns of crime prevention. In 2014 63% of respondents were satisfied with the City’s efforts to prevent crime and 76% were satisfied with the overall quality of local police protection.

o   Discussion of Preliminary 2015 Budget: This was an opportunity to provide the City Council with a preliminary look at where we think we’ll end 2014 from a financial perspective and what the 2015 budget is looking like. Currently projections show that we’ll end 2014 spending $1.8 million of the City’s General Fund reserves than was originally budgeted. This is a result of revenues coming in nearly $900,000 better than projected and expenditures being approximately $900,000 less than budgeted. The 2015 budget is balanced and includes several recommended one-time expenditures along with the recommendation to increase the City’s staffing by 2.05 full-time equivalent positions (FTEs). The FTE recommendations include an Assistant Planner (our permit activity is back to the same level it was in 2007; a 0.8 Parks Maintenance worker (32 hours per week) to restore the number of worker hours funded to approximately the same level funded in 2011; and an increase in our Buyer position from 0.75 to 1.0 FTE.   Even with these additions our total FTE count is still 4.3 FTEs less than our highest levels in 2008. If the City Council approves these positions then the City will have 137 full-time equivalent positions. In addition I am recommending several technology investments, replacement of three major pieces of our City fleet that includes upgrades to better match the fleet with work that needs to be accomplished, and an additional $500,000 to the City’s grant match fund.  The proposed budget will include a recommended 1.79% cost of living adjustment. 

o   Executive Session – Potential Litigation

September 29 Council Meeting

·         Dinner Meeting - Station Area Phased Zoning: Staff will present some options that are reflective of Policy LU-31 in the City’s adopted Comprehensive Plan – Create a strategy in partnership with the adjoining neighborhoods for phasing redevelopment of current land uses to those suited for TOD, taking into account when the City’s development needs and market demands are ready for change. Planning Commissioners along with several Planning & Community Development staff are planning to attend. This topic has not previously been discussed at the Planning Commission so we thought it would be helpful for them to hear some of the City Council’s thoughts on this issue.

·         Regular Meeting:

o   Proclamation of Safe Shoreline Month: Accepting the proclamation will be Police Officer Steve Perry, Emergency Management Coordinator Gail Harris, and Assistant Fire Chief Tim Dahl.

o   Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate and Revisions to the City’s Personnel Policies: The Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate requires that in 2015, under certain circumstances, employees who average 30 or more hours a week become eligible for health coverage. This mandate impacts the City’s current policy regarding extra help. Staff will provide recommendations to the City Council on revisions to the City’s employment status definitions to address this requirement.

o   Selection of 145th Light Rail Station Zoning Scenarios to be Presented to the Public at October 9 Design Workshop, Part II for the 145th Street Station Subarea Plan: Council will review the revised maps that have been developed per the Council’s direction at the September 15 Council Meeting. The current motion is to make a selection of zoning alternatives to be presented to the public on October 9 at the second 145th Design Workshop. In the month of October the City will be encouraging comments on the proposed alternatives and what should be studied in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Council will select up to three alternatives to have reviewed in the DEIS. The adoption of zoning changes is not scheduled to happen until the second quarter of 2015, but it is critical that the public participate in the current process so that alternatives can be fully studied to inform the decisions that will be made in 2015! 

o   Executive Session – Litigation

Ronald Wastewater District Assumption

The King County Boundary Review Board issued their written decision approving the RWD Assumption by the City in King County.

·         Olympic View Water and Sewer District: Olympic View Water and Sewer District gave notice that they are initiating the planning process to update their 2009 Comprehensive Water System Plan. They intend to amend their 2007 Comprehensive Sewer Plan to clarify and address sewer service in the southwest portion of the District.

Point Wells

·         Town of Woodway: During the Snohomish County BRB Hearing Woodway’s attorney and Town Administrator, Eric Faison, stated that access to Point Wells could be provided through two access routes in Woodway. In a letter to Faison, have requested documentation of those two access routes (Faison pointed to two different routes on a map exhibit during the hearing) and information on the status of discussions regarding these routes with the Town Council. I feel strongly that Woodway cannot continue to promote route accessibility to Point Wells when convenient (Legislature, BRB, etc.) and then promote that there isn’t a feasible route in discussions with Shoreline or the community. It is important that we understand how the potential routes could affect future traffic flow and mitigation needs for our community.

·         Snohomish County: Shoreline City staff met with Snohomish Planning staff in 2013 asking for direction on the process to start the negotiations of an annexation interlocal agreement. On July 9, I met with Executive John Lovick, asking for his support and assistance through his staff on the steps we need to take to initiate these discussions. Failing to hear any more from Snohomish County, on Friday I sent a letter to Executive Lovick stating our intent to commence discussions for an annexation Interlocal agreement. I have asked him to notify me immediately if there would be any deviations from their standard process for the City of Shoreline. I will be following up this next week with a letter to the County’s Planning Department asking for a timeline for which they will provide the City of Shoreline with a preliminary draft Interlocal. The Town of Woodway has started a similar process and we expect Snohomish County to follow the same procedures and timelines with Shoreline as it is with Woodway.

Economic Development

·         Aurora Microhousing: This week we received a clearing and grading permit for the Taboo Video site (East side of Aurora/170th). We anticipate that they will come in early next week for a site development permit and shortly thereafter submit their building permit application. This will be Shoreline’s first micro-housing development. They will be required to provide parking. Also the developer has been in discussions with the Community College to have a portion of the units allocated for college students.

·         Washington State Retail Survey: This week the Washington State Retail Survey issued a report on the ranking of Washington cities based on 2008-2013 average annual retail growth rates. To be included in the analysis, a local market had to be among the 50 largest local markets based on annual retail sails. Shoreline’s 2.8% average annual retail growth for 2008-2013 made the top-20 (ranked 18th) in the state, beating the state average (2.2%), and was very close to Seattle (3.0% and ranked 15th).

·         Development revenue totaled $95,615 in August, which is 48% ahead of the year-to-date projections and 15% ahead of the amount collected in the same eight month time period in 2013. Issued building permits came in at $2.7 million (rounded) in valuation for the month with residential valuation comprising 37% and commercial/multi-family comprising 63% of this amount.

King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) Sign-On & Joint Commitments

King County Executive Dow Constantine has requested that cities supporting the King County - Cities Climate Collaboration to recommit by having their Mayors sign a letter by the end of September. The agreed targets in these documents are the same as the targets in the City’s adopted Climate Action Plan as well as those adopted by the Growth Management Planning Council in July. I recommend that Council support the Mayor in signing this letter.

This and That

·         August Business Licenses: List of new business licenses in August 2014. There were 101 new business licenses issued, with 58 of those being in Shoreline.

·         Strengthening Families – Learning in Community: Shoreline and Lake Forest Park police departments are jointly offering a workshop series regarding developing a safe community for children. This workshop series is being promoted in and targeted for Hispanic community.

·         Aurora Village: The police continue to work with the property owners and businesses in Aurora Village on their concerns related to day laborer activities. Since August 1st there have been 6 trespass warnings issued to day laborers and 3 to trespassers at Starbucks. There have been no citations or physical arrests of any repeat offenders.


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Shoreline City Manager report week of 9/15/204

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Update for Week of 9/15/2014

September 15 Council Meeting
·         No Dinner Meeting
·         Regular Meeting:
o   2014 Pavement Repair Project: Council authorized City Manager to enter into a contract with Watson Asphalt Paving in the amount $580,447 for 2014 Pavement Repair Project.
o   Ordinance No. 694 – Property Tax Exemption: Council discussed an amendment to Chapter 3.27 of the Shoreline Municipal Code for Technical Corrections to the Property Tax Exemption Program.
o   145th Light Rail Station Subarea Zoning Scenarios
o   Second Quarter Financial Report

September 22 Council Meeting

·         Dinner Meeting:  Ron Vine of ETC Institute will attend to discuss the 2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey results.

·         Regular Meeting:

o   Proclamation of Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry: Kevin Osborne, Director, and Debra Grant, Client Services Director, of Hopelink will be present at the Council meeting to accept the proclamation.

o   2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey:  This will be a complete presentation of the outcomes from the 2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey.

o   Discussion of Preliminary 2015 Budget: This is a discussion on how the 2015 Proposed Budget is starting to look and recommendations that I may include in that budget. From a big-picture perspective, the 2015 budget projections are better than what was projected earlier this year in the 10 Year Financial Sustainability Plan, as we have continued to see improvement in our primary revenue sources and expenditure growth in some areas has been less than originally anticipated. Based on current projections the 2015 budget will be balanced without using any funds from the Property Tax Equalization Fund (funds that were reserved in prior years from the 2010 property tax levy lid lift). 

o   Executive Session – Potential Litigation

Other Council Meeting Items

·         October 6: Council meeting has been cancelled as the agenda items were moved to other meeting times and there was no pressing business for this night.

145th Tour Follow-Up

We received positive feedback from WSDOT regarding the tour. Secretary Peterson's office let us know that there is strong support for better access and partners are at the table. However, all parties will need to agree on the stated goals and stick to them to make it work. On October 13 Council will be authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with CH2MHill for the Route Development Plan. As part of the Route Development Plan process, staff will be coming back to Council in late November to discuss project goals, funding scenarios, and the Plan timeline and process. Ultimately the Route Development Plan will help us identify project alternatives that can be considered to meet the goals and will most likely include not only capital improvements, but other operational or project alternatives that could be considered to meet the corridor goals.

Finance Update – Real Estate Excise Tax

Highlights for August 2014 include:

·         There were 108 transactions in August 2014, which is 19 more than the previous month and 15 more than August 2013. January-August 2014 has a total transaction amount of 607. With September still remaining, 2014 only needs 24 more transactions to meet the January-September 2013 amount of 631.

·         August 2014’s total sales amount was $43.7 million, which is 12.4%, or $4.8 million, more than August 2013. The sales amount is also up from July 2014’s $35.6 million.

·         In August 2014, the total tax collected was $218,626. That is $24,077 more than last year, and $42,506 above 2014 projections for August. August’s performance makes up for the May, June, and July’s below projections results. Projections for January- August 2014 was $1,204,428 with actual tax collection coming in at $1,228,803.

·         There were four Single Family Residences (SFR) that sold for over $1 million in August. Please note that one of the transactions for $2.4 million was for three parcels of undeveloped land in a single-family zoned area. The Shoreline Motel was the only commercial property to sell for over $1 million at $1.2 million.

·         The Categories of Transactions for August 2014 include:
Category
# of Transactions
Value
AVG Transaction Value
Tax
SFR
89
$35.3 Million
$396,255
$176,333
MFR
14
$3.4 Million
$245,607
$17,193
Mobile Home
0
$0.0 Million
$0
$0
Commercial
1
$1.2 Million
$1,200,000
$6,000
Undeveloped Land
4
$3.8 Million
$955,000
$19,100
Please note: the SFR undeveloped parcels in the chart above are listed under the “Undeveloped Land” row.

Library Board
We are recruiting for a Youth Library Board member. Individuals interested in applying can visit shorelinewa.gov/libraryboard.

This and That

·         Briarcrest BST: At a recent Briarcrest Neighborhood Association Meeting staff heard comments that some residents have found that the BST treatment has made it difficult to walk because the road is sticky and uneven – and it is particularly challenging for people walking with wheels, such as with a walker or stroller. The feedback noted that the absence of sidewalks makes it very challenging. There is interest from those in attendance to ask the City to change the priority of a sidewalk on 27th Ave NE. Public Works’ staff will review the 3/8 inch chip for residential streets and determine if the 1/4 inch chip is better to address the roughness issue. If the stickiness issue was immediately after placement, then that, unfortunately, is part of the process challenge; but if we find that the neighborhood is still experiencing an issue, then we may have to follow up with sand to blot the excess.

·         Metro/Sound Transit System Integration: This week you may have seen the press release (http://www.kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/News/executive-news/metro-sound-transit-report.aspx) from Executive Constantine regarding his June Executive Order for integration between Metro and Sound Transit. Senior Transportation Planner Alicia McIntire has been working with Metro and Sound Transit staff to see if our Transit Service Integration Plan can be part of this effort.

·         Community Mobility Contracts (Cost model and cost summary): We will continue to review the potential for metro service buy-back, but as I have previously shared, I recommend that the City wait until after the outcomes of Seattle’s Proposition 1 (November ballot) and King County’s budget process.

·         Into the Woods Recap: In the five performances held in August over 1,600 patrons attended. The Aurora Theatre Company was very grateful for the City’s participation and we plan to host another similar event in 2015. We will be exploring opportunities to help enhance the experience for the Theatre Company and the patrons who attend and hopefully 2015 will bring the same great weather we had this year!


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