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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05282019 City Council Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28,2019 Volume 40,Page 714 CALL TO ORDER The May 28, 2019 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by Mayor David Squires. OPENING CEREMONY Police Chief Tom Clemons led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: David Squires presiding and Sue McClure Suzanne Towsley Jeremy Horn Sharyl Seese John Osenga Kelley Lane comprising a quorum of the Council; and Scott Meszaros, City Manager Jessica Fogle, Deputy City Clerk Will Earnhart, City Attorney Excused—None Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Stephanie Wright spoke about emergency standard protocols and race events put on by the city. She said a race participant passed away about during the Exit Glacier Race this year, and she wanted to know the response plans for Parks & Recreation Department events, and why first responders were not present during this event. She asked that council purchase AEDs for all race events and have first responders present for all race events. Phil Kaluza said that at a recent PACAB meeting he attended, the city's utility manager wanted to spend close to$30,000 to propose potential new changes to the city interconnect policy. Kaluza strongly disagreed with this. He wanted to promote renewable energy. Craig Ambrosiani stated that the executive session for the Seward Community Health Center(SCHC)on tonight's agenda was the first notice he received that the City of Seward wanted to renegotiate the city's co-applicant agreement with the SCHC. The SCHC was surprised that the city intended to meet without the SCHC and their input to discuss their agreement. He said the SCHC had always been willing to work with the city to meet the city's needs and address their concerns related to their organization. He suggested that the city attend more of the SCHC's work City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40, Page 715 sessions and simply ask if they had any changes that the city wanted made to the agreement. The SCHC would be open to discussing any changes that the city suggested. j Brad Snowden said he was considering retracting his offer to pay for the cruise ship dock and letting the City of Seward pay for it. He also reminded everyone that Seward was his town,too. Lynda Paquette said that the topic for last Thursday's Seward Civic Engagement class was Borough Representation. The next class was scheduled for September 19, 2019. She encouraged everyone to show up for budget work sessions. Ristine Casagranda said it was disturbing to her that council was going into executive session to discuss the Seward Community Health Center negotiations and she asked for executive session to be made public. She pointed out that the SCHC had also asked for the executive session to be made public, and they were the entity that the executive session was going to be about. She thanked the City Council and the Planning&Zoning Commission for the housing work session. She was in support of the city finding a way to give that 50% to developers to help solve housing problems. She thanked everyone who spoke tonight. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Main Motion (McClure/Towsley) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion to Amend (Towsley/Lane) Move Executive Session"Go Into Executive Session, per SCC 2.10.030(b)(1), for the •.� purpose of considering ongoing negotiations regarding the Community Health Center co-applicant agreement."To Other New Business Items as a New #7. Schedule a Public Special Meeting for Community Health Center. Motion to Amend Passed Yes:Osenga,McClure,Towsley,Lane,Horn No: Seese, Squires Squires removed the Executive Session, per SCC 2.10.030(b)(1), for the purpose of considering matters related to utility contributions from the agenda. Main Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Approval of April 19, 2019 Special Meeting Minutes. Reappoint Wolf Kurtz to Historic Preservation Commission with a term to expire May,2022. Reappoint Cheryl Seese to Historic Preservation Commission with a term to expire May,2022. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40,Page 716 SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations & Awards—None Chamber of Commerce Report.Cindy Clock said new chamber members were Around the Clock Pumping LLC, SeaTow South Central Alaska,and Journey to Alaska Adventures.The chamber gained 21 new members this year, which increased their numbers to 412 chamber members. She thanked all of the boats, captains, and prize sponsors who helped out with the Combat Fishing Tournament on May 22,2019.The chamber was recruiting Mount Marathon Race volunteers. She said she enjoyed her tour of the Azamara Quest cruise ship with council on Saturday,May 25,2019.First Friday was scheduled for June 7,2019.Exit Glacier Guides,Liquid Adventures,and the new Seward Outdoor Store were great additions to the community and had a great open house on May 16, 2019. Kenai Fjords National Park visitor center had been totally redone. A big Halibut Tournament was scheduled for the month of June. The chamber looked forward to hearing updates on the nightly lodging audit.Cruise ship passenger numbers were up. Seward was known as the"Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park",and Seward had been getting a lot of cruise ships in this summer.The chamber wrote a letter of support for the Alaska Railroad Corporation and the City of Seward's joint application for the U.S.Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments To Leverage To Build Grant. In response to Lane,Clock said that the chamber received a heat pump last April. She said they would also like to look into getting an electric car charger,because the chamber had received a lot of questions about the possibility of Seward getting an electric car charger. In response to Squires,Clock said the chamber booth at the cruise ship terminal was only worked in the mornings. In response to Seese,Clock said they did not have enough people to run the chamber booth at the cruise ship terminal in the afternoons,but they did leave the booth set up all day. She said that trained volunteers could be a good solution, as long as they gave out the right information. City Manager Report. City Manager Scott Meszaros reported the following purchase orders over$5,000 had been approved by the City Manager since the last council meeting:$6,432.00 to Bobs Services Inc. for Chainroller for Unity 108 (sanding truck) for Public Works Roads and Streets; $7,500.00 to Puffin Electric for 4 LED Lights at West End of N. Dock(SMIC Expansion Project)for SMIC General;$8,544.09 to GovConnection Inc.for PC Refresh for Electric Department for MIS;$5,408.32 to GovConnection Inc.for AccuFund Server Upgrade;and$10,600.00 to Alaska Industrial Hardware Inc. for two 11 HP pressure washers for the washdown pad for SMIC. In response to McClure,Meszaros said that the South Harbor Launch Ramp was anticipated to be done by the end of this week,but the contractors had eight or nine days of concrete curing left to go. They were outside of contract and the city had been charging$1,000 extra to the contractors each day that they went over the expected completion date. He had been told by the Harbormaster that the launch ramp should be open around June 3, 2019. In response to Towsley,Meszaros said that the extra charge did include the days of curing. Towsley also reiterated that council wanted an update on the stakeholders meeting for crime. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40,Page 717 In response to Lane,Meszaros stated that the Exit Glacier Run happened outside of the city limits. The actual response was immediate, and the city was surprised that the responding State Trooper did not have an AED. He said that the city had ordered four AEDs to donate to the State Troopers after this incident. In response to Towsley, Meszaros said all of the city staff and first responders did have AEDs.Towsley asked administration to look into emergency protocols for races before the next council meeting.Squires suggested having radios for city personnel during races,and agreed with Towsley that having administration look into emergency protocols for races was a good idea. In response to Seese, Meszaros said that the passing of the individual at the Exit Glacier Run was a cardiac event. Lane was in support of having administration look into the emergency race protocols. City Attorney Report. City Attorney Will Earnhart said that he was at the council meeting because there was an executive session on labor at the council meeting.He stated that even though Holly Wells was taking the lead for the City of Seward as their attorney, he had been Seward's attorney for five years,so he felt qualified to answer any questions that may come up.He educated council on executive sessions.He said that the goal of executive sessions was not to hide anything from the public,but to discuss negotiations within a contract. In response to Towsley, Earnhart said that there was outside council being used for depositions and administrative issues where it was blacked out on the City Attorney report and he was monitoring it. He did not have any outside hours with any department heads that had not been included in the City Attorney report. Other Reports, Announcements and Presentations AVTEC Presentation by Cathy LeCompte Yeosu, South Korea 53rd Turtle Ship Festival Presentation by Jeremy Horn, Kelley Lane,Reed Lane,Cindy Ecklund, and Soo Kling. Presentation about the first annual Seward Seabird Festival June 21-23, 2019. PUBLIC HEARINGS—None UNFINISHED BUSINESS Items Postponed from Previous Agenda Discuss the city's legal representation,including directing city manager to create a Request for Proposals for legal services.Postponed from March 26, 2019. Lane wanted to create a Request for Proposals(RFP)for legal services. Osenga pointed out that City Attorney Holly Wells notified everyone in advance that she was not going to be at this council meeting. McClure said that Wells told anyone who had an issue with her not attending this council meeting to let her know. She had a scheduling conflict with Homer,for whom she was also the city attorney. McClure believed that Wells had stepped up, and she saw no need for an RFP at City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40, Page 718 this time.Towsley understood where Lane was coming from,but she was happy with Wells'services so far. Lane said that she would put this topic on the council agenda at a later date. Horn reminded everyone that a firm was hired and not an individual attorney. Earnhart said that he would let Wells know that the City of Seward would prefer for her to attend all of the council meetings, if that was the case. Osenga did not feel that council should limit their use of the firm to only one attorney. He wanted council to have the option to use different attorneys within the firm for different legal matters based on the attorneys' areas of expertise. In response to Towsley,Earnhart said he had been involved in personnel litigations,which he recently handed over to attorney Jennifer Alexander. This allowed him to focus more on labor negotiations. In response to Lane, Earnhart said that he was the best person to work on legal contracts and labor negotiations, but Jennifer Alexander was also qualified to work on these legal matters. Towsley said that six months from February, council would be reviewing the city attorney firm. Council recessed at 8:50 p.m. Council resumed at 9:00 p.m. Schedule a work session to discuss housing issues in Seward. Postponed from April 22, 2019. Motion (Towsley/Seese) Direct administration to pencil out a scenario for a 50% cost share from the city with developers, check code, and review and re-work subdivision agreement, if needed. Motion to Amend (Towsley/Seese) Amend"direct administration to pencil out a scenario for a fifty percent cost share from the city with developers, check code, and review and re-work subdivision agreement, if needed" by changing "a scenario" to "a variety of scenarios". Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Squires/Seese) Amend direct administration to pencil out scenario for a fifty percent cost share from the city with developers, check code, and review and re-work subdivision agreement, if needed by changing "50%" to "up to 50%". Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40, Page 719 Main Motion Passed Unanimous By unanimous consent, council scheduled a housing work session on June 13, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2019-055, Approving Amendment No. 4 To The Management And Operating Agreement Between The City Of Seward And Providence Health & Services—Washington, D/B/A Providence Health & Services Alaska. Motion (McClure/Osenga) Approve Resolution 2019-055 Meszaros said that this resolution was brought forward as a result of the work session that council had with Providence Seward on May 13,2019. He said that Resolution 2019-055 consisted of the amendments made to the city's agreement with Providence that had been requested at the work session. Motion Passed Unanimous Other New Business J Discuss sending KPEDD Representative to the quarterly meeting. Lane requested that council send her to the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District meeting on June 20,2019 for the day in Kenai. She said that she would not need a hotel room for this meeting. By unanimous consent, council agreed to send Lane to this KPEDD meeting. Discuss setting a time limit for presentations and direct the city clerk to start using the timer. McClure wanted to limit the presentations to two presentations per meeting. She requested that each presentation be timed for ten minutes. In response to Lane, McClure said that she would not consider reports the same as presentations. Motion (McClure/) Limit presentations to two and time each presentation for ten minutes. Motion Passed Unanimous Schedule a work session to discuss Seward Mountain Haven Green House Model and options for greater fiscal responsibility regarding bond debt repayment,as suggested by Administrator r.r Don Hanna. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40,Page 720 1111 Council suspended the rules to speak with Don Hanna and Robert Rang. bow Don Hanna said that he had enjoyed his time in Seward,but he was excited to be going back home.He was feeling really good about what he had accomplished in Seward and he was happy that Robert Rang was going to be the permanent Director for the Providence Seward Medical Center. Robert Rang introduced himself. He said that his health care career started out in Bethel, Alaska and he had a lot of health care experience. He was happy to be working in Seward. Council went back on the rules. Schedule a Public Special Meeting for Community Health Center(CHC). Council directed the city manager to inform council members individually of concerns that administration had with the CHC co-applicant agreement and take advice from each council member. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS On-going City Project and Goal List. March, 2019 Providence&City Financials. Prince William Sound Regional Citizens'Advisory Council(PWSRCAC)Highlights from May Board of Directors Meeting. COUNCIL COMMENTS McClure said the Memorial Day service at the American Legion cemetery was spectacular and very well attended.There was a concert at the K.M.Rae Building on May 30,2019 at 7:30 p.m. Towsley said she would give a full report as the council liaison to the Port & Commerce Advisory Board at the next council meeting. She was at the work session that Phil Kaluza referenced in the citizen comments. She said that some police officers still had studded tires on their vehicles, but they were pulling citizens over for having studded tires on. She wanted to know how the Freedom of Information Act(FOIA)requests were coming along. Horn thanked Kyle Walker for his due diligence and professionalism. He thanked Phil Kaluza and the citizens who spoke tonight. He thanked the Seward Mermaid Festival participants. Seese thanked Doug Schoessler for painting the front step at city hall yellow,so no one else would fall outside.She thanked Phil Kaluza for speaking.She thanked Craig Ambrosiani for sending her to the Community Health Center workshop. She asked for PACAB meeting minutes. She reminded everyone to watch out for spam emails and to look at where the emails were being sent from. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28,2019 Volume 40,Page 721 Lane thanked AVTEC and Doug Hoffhauser for helping her graduate.She thanked Stephanie Wright for speaking up about a tragic situation.She thanked Seward residents for their involvement in the community. Lane said she was going to be out of town for the next Friday work session. Squires said that he wanted to look into purchasing more AEDs to prevent more race incidents.He encouraged the city manager to look into the expenditures that Kaluza mentioned that the utility manager brought up in a work session. He thanked everyone who came for the work session. He wanted to look into utility rates. He said that he was contacted by a member of the community about not signing a letter that only he and the Borough Mayor had not signed. His reasoning was because he did not want to make a decision without the rest of council having the opportunity to have a say in the matter. CITIZEN COMMENTS Craig Ambrosiani encouraged council to ask administration to work with the Community Health Center on possible solutions with the goal of trying to work on solutions together before coming before council. He asked for the opportunity to work with city administration on the co- applicant agreement before it went any further. Stephanie Wright said any non-city sponsored race event group was required to provide an emergency protocol prior to a race and it must be approved by city management. She hoped that the city personnel would be held to these same standards and asked if these protocols could be made public. She wanted to see communication devices appropriate to each location, as well as staff trained in CPR,First Aid,and AEDs at all events. She suggested the city allow Parks&Recreation to borrow the city's AEDs for race events.She wanted council to take a good look at emergency race protocols and see if they were appropriate. Kyle Walker said that even though council was not going against any Open Meetings Act,he was concerned about the council members meeting individually with the city manager to discuss the Community Health Center agreement. Lynda Paquette thanked Public Works for grading the road days before the holiday.She said there was a lot of whale action along Lowell Point Road lately. She wanted council to think about creative solutions to Seward's housing problems. She suggested partnering with AVTEC as a solution. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Seese said liability waivers did not mean anything,and she agreed that something needed to be done in the case of the emergencies during events. Towsley said she would share what she could about the executive session and be as transparent as possible. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes May 28, 2019 Volume 40, Page 722 Lane agreed that Lowell Point was amazing. She said it was discouraging that housing had been a problem for 22 years,but she was glad that council was making progress. She was in support of the Community Health Center and she said that they did an excellent job. Squires was in favor of an annual meeting between the City of Seward and the Community Health Center. He said that any changes to any contract would be done in a public meeting. Hickok said that the FOIA requests were being worked on. He planned to have an update from the airport lobbyist by the end of the week. He said that administration wanted to see how council felt about the existing co-applicant agreement with the Community Health Center before they went into the technical assistance with the CHC and brought it back for approval from the board. Motion (McClure/Townley) Go into executive session, per SCC 2.10.030(b)(1), for the purpose of considering negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Motion Passed Unanimous Council went into executive session at 10:10 p.m. City Attorney Will Earnhart and City Manager Scott Meszaros were invited to remain. Council came out of executive session at 10:57 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:58 p.m. C Jessica Fogle David Squires Deputy City Clerk Mayor (City Seal) .,,......,,° .•`'.t OF SE.1" • SEAL .'w of.�. • 0ro •• OF AV'. r•'