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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03282017 City Council Minutes City of Sewar4 Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 196 CALL TO ORDER The March 28,2017 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Jean Bardarson. OPENING CEREMONY Police Chief Tom Clemons led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Jean Bardarson presiding and Marianna Keil Ristine Casagranda Dave Squires Sue McClure Deborah Altermatt Erik Slater comprising a quorum of the Council; and Jim Hunt, City Manager Johanna Kinney, City Clerk Brenda Ballou, Deputy City Clerk Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Rolf Bardarson said he was contracted to sweep the Safeway parking lot,and historically he tried to do it in the off hours when the parking lot was not full of customer vehicles.His truck made noise at 73 decibels,which was above the 50 decibel maximum allowable by city code.He requested council provide him with a noise ordinance exception for performing the job. John French was being considered for the city's Prince Williams Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council(PWSRCAC)representative and was very interested in serving in this capacity. Orson Smith had been the city's PWSRCAC representative for the past two years, and he would be happy to continue for the next two years. Lynda Paquette said the Lowell Point Sewage Lagoon had recently turned sour again,and the smell was suddenly awful. Wadeen Hepworth was here to address the statement made at the previous council meeting. She said the best defense was a good offense.She wondered why the employee who spoke at the last council meeting, if she was so concerned, wouldn't file a police report. Moreover, she said she City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 197 wondered why information was leaked from a confidential session, especially when the person leaking the information knew it would be inflammatory. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (KeiVMcClure) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Casagranda added an item under Other New Business to discuss funding for the completion of the Historic Preservation Plan. Casagranda requested to move the Executive Session to a public discussion item.Keil opposed. Motion(Casagranda/ Strike the Executive Session from the agenda and add a new item under Other New Business: "Discuss potential further action regarding Council's role in monitoring administrative employees and the legal implications thereto." Motion died for lack of second. Bardarson requested to move Resolution 2017-017 onto the consent agenda. Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Resolution 2017-016, Encouraging Congress To Create A Reliable, Predictable Stream Of Resources To Address Deferred Maintenance Needs In America's National Park System. Resolution 2017-017, Retroactively Amending The 2016 Budget To Account For Additional Sales Tax To The Hospital Fund Based On Additional Collections And Closing Out Completed Projects At Year-End,And Appropriating Funds. SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations & Awards—None Chamber of Commerce Report.Cindy Clock introduced Ron Wille,one of the Chamber of Commerce board members who accompanied her tonight. Wille spoke about the chamber's goal of supporting the increase in affordable housing; one idea proposed was for more high-density housing options. Clock said the Adventure Travel Show was held recently in Denver, and over 10,000 people attended every day. Hundreds of people had visited Seward last weekend for the Marathon Miners Wrestling Club Tournament.This coming weekend was the Mat-Su Sports Show, which was a big, well-attended event. People were also excited about the upcoming Mermaid Festival which would coincide with Harbor Opening Weekend.The annual Seattle Partners trip was City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 198 coming up soon,and the agenda was full for that visit. The next chamber luncheon would be April 14, 2017 at the Breeze Inn. Clock showed a new video that would be on the chamber's website (seward.com) and Facebook page; it was compiled partly from amateur video that had been submitted. In response to Squires,Wille explained the chamber board had identified affordable housing as a key goal to focus on this year. Squires would be interested in the City Council having a joint work session with the Chamber of Commerce to address this issue. In response to McClure,Clock said the Mt.Marathon Race sign ups would close on Friday, March 31,2017 and it appeared that approximately 2,000 people had applied.Some of the race fields had been expanded to accommodate increased participant interest. City Manager Report.Jim Hunt said the following purchase order between$10,000 and $50,000 had been approved since the last council meeting:$13,600 for a DL350 5-wheel loader with 337 hours to be used at the Seward Marine Industrial Center(SMIC).Hunt added that,following up on a previous council request for information about the status of the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home (FJLH), there was still an active contract in place with FJLH so he had no changes or updates to report. Keil mentioned that a stop sign located at Third Avenue and Washington Street had fallen over. Other Reports,Announcements and Presentations PUBLIC HEARINGS Resolution 2017414,Authorizing The Exercise Of Option No. 1 To The Kenai Fjords Tours Lease 97-102 To Extend The Term Of The Lease By Five Years,And To Add Interim Rental Adjustments By The Annual CPI. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2017-014 Assistant City Manager Ron Long invited Harbormaster Norm Regis to address council. Regis said the current lease would expire on September 23, 2017. Regis said the original lease included two five-year extensions,but required that each five-year extension was required to come before council for approval.In addition,the lease would also be impacted by a mandatory Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. No one appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Squires asked if the leaseholder was in good standing with taxes,etc.Regis confirmed they had never been in default and were in good standing. Motion Passed Unanimous City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 199 Resolution 2017-015,Authorizing The City Manager To Enter Into A"Third Amended And Restated Agreement For Lease Of Tract 2A,Waterfront Tracts,And The Lease,Operation And Maintenance Of The Alaska SeaLife Center" With The Seward Association For The Advancement Of Marine Science. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2017-015 Long said,although this resolution appeared to be complicated, it boiled down to two funds which were in place: one for the Maintenance Repair and Replacement Fund(MRRF)and another called a Termination Fund which was in place in the event that the Alaska SeaLife Center(ASLC) had to shut down operations. Tonight's resolution would open a portion of the funds in the Termination Fund for short-term access for cash flow purposes,and was to be replaced/repaid over time. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. No one appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Squires asked if the ASLC had access to the MRRF now;Long said they did for repairs,but not for cash flow purposes. In response to Squires, Long said the Termination Fund was what was being opened up for the ASLC to access for cash flow purposes through this resolution. Motion Passed Unanimous UNFINISHED BUSINESS—None NEW BUSINESS Resolution 2017-018,In Support Of Changes To Timing And Siting Of U.S.Navy Operation Northern Edge Training Exercises In The Gulf Of Alaska. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2017-018 Long said this resolution was a compilation of feedback from council plus additional research administration has conducted, and he was bringing it forward at the behest of council. Motion to Amend (Squires/Keil) Amend Resolution 2017-018 by adding a new "Section 2. With the concerns the community has raised, the City Council respectfully requests the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to conduct an after-action survey of the training area, migration routes, haul out areas, and rookeries, and advise the concerned communities of any findings." and moving the old Section 2 down to become Section 3. City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 200 Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Main Motion Passed Unanimous Council directed administration to send a copy of this resolution to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, the City's entire state and federal legislative delegation, all communities impacted by this exercise,and to Emily Stolarcyk and Christina Hendrickson from the Eyak Preservation Council. Resolution 2017-019,Amending The 2017 Budget To Reflect Mid-Cycle Budget Adjustments, And Appropriating Funds. Motion (Keil/McClure) Approve Resolution 2017-019 Long said this was a low-key true-up of the mid-cycle budget. The highlights included:both sales tax revenues and property tax revenues were up; fish tax revenues were estimated to be down by approximately$100,000; the Police Department had an increase in wages; insurance costs were up; and, the cemetery needed $25,000. There would also be some changes to the structure of the Parks and Recreation Department which would help smooth out seasonal training issues. In response to Casagranda,Long confirmed that there were no other changes predicted to the budget at this time.Casagranda wondered why there wasn't a projected increase in parking revenues documented as well. Long suggested that any revenue increase would be reflected in the actuals,and would only appear in a mid-cycle budget amendment if there was an anticipated expense related to it. In response to Keil, Finance Director Kris Erchinger said it would be up to council to decide if the police department increase would be retroactive to January 1, 2017. In response to Squires,Police Chief Tom Clemons said patrol was the area that was experiencing the highest staff turnover,although there were also several dispatch positions open at this time as well.In response to Squires, Clemons said it took approximately 4.5 months to train a police dispatcher. Motion Passed Unanimous Other New Business Items Appoint John French or Orson Smith as the City of Seward Representative to the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, with a term expiring May, 2019. City Clerk Johanna Kinney passed out ballots to council then collected them and read the vote count as follows: 6 votes for Orson Smith and 1 vote for John French. Council re-appointed Orson Smith as the city's representative. Schedule a work session to discuss proposed evaluation procedures for City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager. A work session was scheduled on April 10, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 201 Discuss funding for the Historic Preservation Plan. (Casagranda)Casagranda said Judith Bittner at the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) was offering the city grant funding for the final editing of the Historic Preservation Plan for$2,000,but SHPO requested to see the draft first prior to providing the funding and the city's Historic Preservation Commission was reluctant to do that and were also concerned that the Plan wouldn't be finished by May, 2017. Another $1,000 would be needed after the final editing to cover the printing costs.Long said that was a self-imposed timeline put in place by the city's Historic Preservation Commission, and his recommendation would be to accept the grant funding from the state. Council directed administration to apply for the SHPO organization grant fund of$2,000. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS Tentative travel dates for Bardarson and Keil to Seattle and Washington, D.C. of April 25—May 4, 2017. (Bardarson) Bardarson corrected the dates to April 26—May 4,2017. Priority goal list, as discussed at the March 20, 2017 Work Session. (Bardarson)Council requested that this item remain as an informational item in their packets going forward. COUNCIL COMMENTS Casagranda thanked John French for applying to PWSRCAC; she thanked all the community's volunteers for their efforts. She had attended the Skip&Marie Fletcher Movie Night last week and commended the volunteers for doing such a great job. She applauded the upcoming Mermaid Festival as another great community project,and gave a big thank you to the wrestling club for the very successful tournament last weekend. Altermatt apologized for missing the last council meeting due to illness. She reiterated the importance of the Mat-Su Sports Show coming up this weekend. She commended the Library Museum staff for handling an influx of February visitors,and said on March 30,2017 there would be a big Seward's Day celebration at 7:00 p.m. at the library. The annual Harbor Opening Weekend would be May 19-21, 2017 and would include a dedication at the Mariners Memorial. Slater reminded everyone to drive safely; he had noticed new visitors in town. He thanked Ron Wille and the Chamber of Commerce for a good report. Keil reminded everyone that Friday, March 31, 2017 would be the last day to apply for the Permanent Fund Dividend. Squires thanked John French and Orson Smith for applying as the city's representative to PWSRCAC. He said tomorrow would be the Chill It's A Drill tsunami warning exercise between 10:15 a.m. — 10:45 a.m., and also reminded the public that flashing blue lights on a private vehicle were,by state statute,a recognized emergency vehicle that required drivers to pull over and yield for. McClure asked people to help newcomers understand the tsunami drill if they noticed someone in distress. She encouraged people to attend the Seward's Day presentation which would City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 202 feature author Michael Dunham as a speaker. The Mayor's Cup Race would be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017. McClure thanked French and Smith for their interest in serving on PWSRCAC. Bardarson would be attending the Mayor's Cup Race, but wouldn't be mushing this time. April 4, 2017 was the Mayor and County Recognition Day for National Service and thanked people for their service. She had heard from residents of Dora Way who reported they were happy with the street plowing,but were having problems getting in and out of driveways because of the snow berms created. Hunt welcomed REI in town while they did a photo shoot for a future catalog. He noted the electricity had gone out for about an hour this evening, but had already come back on. Long said a temporary stop sign had been placed at Third Avenue and Washington Street this evening. He attended a successful project meeting this morning for the South Harbor Uplands Development. CITIZEN COMMENTS Wadeen Hepworth continued her earlier comments.Her concern was that the confidentiality of an Executive Session had been breached. The citizens of Seward had a right to know that if a confidential meeting was held, the discussions would be kept confidential. Rolf Bardarson again requested a noise ordinance exception for sweeping the Safeway parking lot. John French thanked council for their consideration of his application for PWSRCAC.He agreed that the city's Historic Preservation Commission had a self-imposed timeline for completing the Historic Preservation Plan,but said completing the plan was very important to the commission. Willard Dunham said on April 21-22, 2017 there would be a Kenai Peninsula History Conference to celebrate 150`h Anniversary of the purchase of Alaska from Russia. He encouraged everyone to attend. Tara Reimer thanked council for their support tonight for the Alaska SeaLife Center. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Keil said she thought that the concerns brought forward by the employee at the March 13, 2017 council meeting warranted a response from council. Squires thanked French and Hepworth for their time and effort on the HP plan. In response to Squires, Long said administration had the ability to issue a short-term exception to the noise ordinance to allow Bardarson to sweep the Safeway parking lot. Bardarson called City Attorney Will Earnhart on the telephone. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes March 28, 2017 Volume 40, Page 203 Casagranda read a statement in response to the employee complaint from the last council meeting,and in advance of the Executive Session scheduled for tonight. She requested that it become part of the public record. City Attorney Will Earnhart was invited to speak via teleconference by Bardarson. Earnhart referenced his public memo of March 24, 2017, and said the memo was somewhat incomplete on purpose in order to protect the identity of certain individuals. There was a specific exposure to the city if someone felt they were being surveilled,retaliated against,or being submitted to a hostile work environment.Under the charter,city code and council rules,council members were not allowed to take personnel matters into their own hands; that was the responsibility of administration.Earnhart said there were nepotism issues brought to his attention in 2014,and he felt that he had investigated it at that time to his satisfaction and determined there were no nepotism concerns. EXECUTIVE SESSION Go Into Executive Session Pursuant SCC 2.10.030(b)(3),matters pertaining to threatened or pending litigation and SCC 2.10.30 (b)(5), matters which by law, municipal charter, or ordinance are required to be confidential, and to discuss potential further action regarding Council's role in monitoring administrative employees and the legal implications thereto. (Bardarson) The Executive Session was not held. Rather, the topic was discussed in an open public forum during this meeting. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:12 p.m. y Qa4&), /idade°' Jo a Kinne•,MC ean Bardarson Clerk .1 Mayor (City Seal) .••y OF SE 11:47 • GO • •. • •ter- . SEAL r '�qPaP••• 'TE OF ••...d@f.....,