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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04232018 City Council Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 417 111 CALL TO ORDER The April 23, 2018 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 7:00 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 Marianna Keil Ristine Casagranda Sue McClure Erik Slater Suzanne Towsley Jeremy Horn comprising a quorum of the Council; and Jim Hunt, City Manager Brenda Ballou, City Clerk Will Earnhart, City Attorney Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Patrick Messmer said there had been a lot of emailing about the [Excelsior] list, and he wished council would discuss it. Brad Snowden wanted to bring to council's attention that Seward might benefit from becoming a Sister City with Shanghai, China. Susanne Rieder wanted Resolution 2018-030 to come back tonight for reconsideration.Her hostel business was seasonal, and in order to protect her business from damage over the winter months she needed to turn off her water. In effect, she would be paying more for her utilities while they were shut off than it cost her when she was open for business in the summer. Her suggestion was to charge a monthly fee year round. Tamara Foster said she lived in Anchorage,her dog was shot last week,and she wished to enter a laydown into public record. Lynda Paquette wanted to thank the Public Works Department for installing the concrete mudslide barriers along Lowell Point Road;it made the road wider and was an improvement for the summer. She was still concerned with summer traffic on that road. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 418 Dorene Lorenz was the Chairman of the Board for the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home (FJLH).When the Purchase Agreement was made between FJLH and the City of Seward there were a number of items that FJLH did not anticipate,including Alaska'-s economic climate difficulties,the Walker administration,and that the city would actively lobby the legislature for several years to have the funding reappropriated and the building demolished.Lorenz said she was actively trying to move the building to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources(DNR)in order to meet the obligations of the Purchase Agreement. She added that although the building was an eyesore,it was structurally sound, and she wished to have a work session with the Historic Preservation Commission, City Council and the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home. Carol Griswold wanted laydowns to be automatically added on the city website, without requiring a public records request. She was in favor of keeping the wireless electric poles up around the boardwalk lagoon for the birds to use. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Keil added an item to Other Report and Presentations for a Travel Report for the Mayor and Vice Mayor's trip to Washington, DC. Keil added an item to Other New Business to discuss and/or schedule a work session for Brad Snowden's cruise ship dock concept. Keil moved the introduction of Ordinance 2018-002 onto the consent agenda. Casagranda added an item to Other New Business to discuss the city manager's goals. Towsley added an item to Other New Business to discuss training opportunities and the letter from Jane Boer. Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Ordinance 2018-002, Amending Seward City Code Chapters 2, 7, 8, And 15 Relating To Camping Regulations. This Ordinance was introduced tonight, and will come for public hearing and enactment at the May 14, 2018 meeting Resolution 2018-039,Updating A Mobile Vendor And Roving Vendor Policy For Permitting Vendors On City-Owned Property. Resolution 2018-040, Accepting The 2018 Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant (VFA) In The Amount Of $7,312.50 And Authorizing The 10% Matching Funds Of $812.50 And Appropriating Funds. Resolution 2018-041, Authorizing Support To The Seward PTA And P.A.R.K.S To City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39,Page 419 Pursue Private,State And Federal Funding For The Revitalization Of The Bittick BMX Community Park; Located On The Southeast Corner Of Lot 11 A-1 Fort Raymond Subdivision. Approval of April 9,2018 Regular Meeting Minutes. SPECIAL ORDERS,PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations & Awards Peace Officers Memorial Day&National Police Week National Correction Officer and Employees Week Chamber of Commerce Report. Cindy Clock said the Seward Marine Industrial Center (SMIC) relaunch was a huge success this weekend; it was well attended. She thanked the Port & Commerce Advisory Board(PACAB),the hard-working harbor crew,and the chamber group.There would be a Fraud Prevention Workshop on Thursday,April 26,2018 from 11:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m.at the library;this event represented an educational component of the chamber's mission. Clock spent time with Joel Cladouhos to learn more about the Bering Sea Blue Ocean Cluster Incubator Initiative.The Rotary Conference would be here over the May 18,2018 weekend.Volunteer signup for the Mount Marathon Race was open.This week's chamber membership luncheon would feature Pete Hansen from CHARR.The chamber had successfully installed an air-to-air heat pump in their building, and it was working very well. In response to Casagranda,Clock said the first cruise ship would arrive May 17,2018 and the first train would arrive May 12, 2018. In response to Long,Clock said the Silver Salmon Derby Guide and the Halibut Tournament Guide could be found on the chamber's website at seward.com. City Manager Report. Jim Hunt reported there had been no purchase orders between $10,000 and$50,000 approved by the City Manager since the last council meeting.At the May 14, 2018 council meeting there would be a presentation by Joel Cladouhos about the Bering Sea Blue Ocean Cluster Incubator Initiative. In response to Casagranda,Public Works Director Doug Schoessler explained that there were two small water lines at SMIC near the fire hydrant that had been"bleeding"and both had been repaired.In response to McClure,Schoessler said there had been some digging out near Sailing,Inc. to remove an underground abandoned sewer line; it had a leak in it and so there was a repair underway.This weekend,on Fourth Avenue,the road had been dug up to enable the fire service lines to connect with the old park service building. Hunt thanked State Senator Peter Micciche and Governor Bill Walker for coming to Seward. In response to Casagranda,Assistant City Manager Ron Long said he would find out more about why the Teen Rec Room was being closed on Saturdays. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes Apri123, 2018 Volume 39,Page 420 In response to Towsley,Schoessler said there was no funding available currently to widen the Lowell Point Road; the city was waiting for federal funding to come through. Long said if council wished for the poles to be left up around the lagoon then administration would have to look into the pros and cons,safety concerns,maintenance,etc.In response to Squires, Long said the Electric Department could provide information as to the life expectancy of the poles. City Attorney Report.Will Earnhart reported that Holly Wells and Katie Davies would be in Seward on May 15, 2018 for training on Open Meetings Act. Oral arguments on the Orion case would be June 11,2018 at 9:00 a.m.in Anchorage.Earnhart was concerned that there may have to be a Termination Study on PERS performed in order to eliminate the field engineer position;this would be if that position was moved out of PERS and into the IBEW plan.The city could incur somewhere between$250,000-400,000 for the termination study. As the city attorney, Earnhart said he took direction from council as a body; he also took direction from administration to the extent that it was not contrary to the wishes of council; he worked for the good of the city. Regarding the upcoming union vote, he thought it was clear that counsel and administration were remaining neutral, and he was acting in good faith, fairness, and legally. Regarding the Excelsior list discussion at the last council meeting, there had been a lot of confusion. Some employees did not wish to be contacted at home,so administration produced a list of employee emails that were eligible to vote in the union election and that was provided to the union.Earnhart said the City of Seward had opted out of PERA in the 1970s,and therefore was not liable for producing the Excelsior list in accordance with NLRA or NLRB.The union was a potential business partner;there were pros and cons with working with a union.Earnhart implored everyone to start trusting each other more and move forward in good faith. Towsley requested a breakdown of the attorney's firm hours and costs for the time spent by on the recent recall application. Towsley was also interested in knowing how much time was spent on the Messmer/Earnhart interactions between April 9 -13, 2018. In response to Casagranda, Earnhart said the reason why Seward's protocol for providing employee information to the union was different was because Seward was not under PERA; if it were, the city would have to comply with what the Labor Board instructed. Earnhart considered providing employee email addresses to the union to be a reasonable compromise. Squires polled council on the release of employee information,and four out of seven felt that releasing the names and email addresses of employees for the union election was sufficient. In response to McClure,Earnhart said he believed that when the IBEW went into the Electric Department,it happened before Termination Studies were required.Keil added that she believed the Termination Study went into effect when PERS went to Tier IV. Other Reports,Announcements and Presentations Travel Report for the Annual Legislative Trip to Washington,D.C. PUBLIC HEARINGS City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 421 Resolutions Requiring Public Hearing Resolution 2018-038,Recommending The 2018/2019 Harbor Tariffs Be Amended By Adding A Rate Structure For A 10 Ton Crane Located At Seward Marine Industrial Center(SMIC), Wording Clarification For Transient/Guest Electricity Customer Charge,And Changing The Due Date For The Passenger Fees And Reports. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2018-038 Harbormaster Norm Regis said this crane rate structure was mirrored after the results from Homer's recent crane rate study. Crane users were required to take an online test,which could be done anywhere and applied to both harbors,and then the crane user would simply be required to pass a proficiency training on-site in Seward, and a separate proficiency training on-site in Homer. Kodiak was currently working on developing the same process, so the result would be crane users could access all three harbors. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. Christy Terry was here on behalf of the Port & Commerce Advisory Board (PACAB)to speak in favor of Resolution 2018-038. She said PACAB had worked hard on developing this resolution. No one else appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed In response to Squires,Regis said the online training was the same in all three harbors,but the proficiency training differed. Motion to Amend (KeiVCasagranda) Amend Resolution 2018-038 in Section 1 by striking the words,"(Hard Hat Training)" under item#2 and#3. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Keil/McClure) Amend Resolution 2018-038 in Section 1 by Adding the word"conducted"in item#4 so it reads, "...for proficiency training conducted by harbor personnel...". Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion Passed Unanimous UNFINISHED BUSINESS Items for Reconsideration City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 422 Resolution 2018-030,Amending The Sewer Tariff To Provide For A 2.1% Rate Adjustment Beginning January 15, 2018, Adding A Seasonal Turn-On/Turn-Off Fee, Clarifying That Metered Rates Apply To All Customers Other Than Non-Commercial Residential,And Other Minor Housekeeping Changes. Motion to Reconsider(Casagranda/Towsley) Reconsider Resolution 2018-030 Motion to Reconsider Passed Yes: Slater,Horn,Towsley, Casagranda, Squires No: McClure,Keil Long said there was a$5.00 RV dump fee that was collected on the honor system,and those revenues were transferred one time each year into the Sewer Enterprise Fund as a true up. In addition, there was a$1.08 per night portion of the camping fee that was also transferred into the same fund. Motion to Amend (Casagranda/Towsley) Amend Resolution 2018-030 under Group E — Special Rates and Fees under item #3 Recreational Vehicles by striking"No fee" and replacing it with "$5.00". Finance Director Kris Erchinger explained that there was a transfer of funds between the General Fund and the Sewer Enterprise Fund. She was concerned that if there was an Enterprise Fund fee included in the tariff,it would have to be collected as a business,and not as a General Fund item. Motion to Amend Failed Yes: Towsley, Casagranda No: McClure,Keil,Horn, Slater, Squires Primary Motion to Amend(Casagranda/Towsley)Amend Resolution 2018-030 under Group E — Special Rates and Fees under item #12 Seasonal Turn-On and Seasonal Turn-Off by striking the words, "(includes new account name or same account name; waived if<2 months between turn-off and turn-on; Seasonal can apply to either summer or winter.)" and replacing it with, "A system delivery charge(SDC)of$50 per month will be applied to any service that is shut off." and also striking, "Seasonal Turn-On: $262.56" and "Seasonal Turn- Off: $262.56". Secondary Motion to Amend(Casagranda/Towsley)Amend Resolution 2018-030 under Group E—Special Rates and Fees under item#12 Seasonal Turn-On and Seasonal Turn-Off City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 423 by replacing the words, "(includes new account name or same account name;...) Erchinger said the current computer program was not capable of doing what the amendment proposed and would require new programming to comply.Erchinger requested consider postponing any action on this resolution in order to allow administration the opportunity to examine the impact of these proposed changes,rather than making changes to the tariff on the fly without fulling vetting the potential impact. Council recessed at 9:11 p.m. Council resumed at 9:18 p.m. Primary Motion to Amend Withdrawn Secondary Motion to Amend Withdrawn Motion to Postpone (Keil/Casagranda) Postpone Resolution 2018-030 to the May 14, 2018 meeting. Main to Postpone Passed Unanimous NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2018-042, Contracting With Seward City Tours For Operation Of The Seasonal Seward Shuttle Bus Service, In An Amount Not To Exceed $362,411, And Appropriating Funds. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2018-042 Long said this was a seasonal shuttle bus service funded by the cruise ship passenger tax.The busses would be clearly identified and there would be one that was handicap-accessible. Council suspended the rules to speak with the owner of Seward City Tours. Jonah Swiderski said the ADA bus could be marked differently than the others to make it clear, and would be running every day. Council went back on the rules. Motion Passed Unanimous Resolution 2018-043, Authorizing The City To Restore Funding For An Accounting Technician Position Delayed During The 2018/2019 Budget Process, And Appropriating Funds. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes April 23, 2018 Volume 39, Page 424 Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2018-043 Erchinger said the original budget for 2018/2019 had proposed full staffing, but when adjustments became necessary due to state funding cuts,this position had been removed.At the time of the budget,this position was vacant;currently the Finance Department was experiencing a lot of burn out and Erchinger felt reinstating this position would go a long way towards retaining her existing staff. Casagranda handed out some research she had conducted comparing Seward's Finance Department with other communities throughout Alaska that were similarly sized to Seward.Based upon her research, Casagranda said she would not support this position at this time, but would perhaps in the future. Keil said she would support reinstating this position because the Finance Department was under tremendous stress and pressure.McClure also supported this position,and thought there were extra demands placed on the department. Towsley said she might support this in the future,perhaps following the budget true-up work session, but said there were legitimate concerns expressed at budget time to justify removing this position. Slater stated he would support this resolution, as did Horn. Long suggested that rather than comparing our Finance Department to other cities,judge it by how well the department itself was functioning and how well it was providing what the citizens needed. Casagranda suggested that adding this position might not be a solution to the turnover problem,and other communities appeared to be just as complicated as Seward.Casagranda inquired about employees that might be working for the department who were contracted. In response to Casagranda,Erchinger said there had been a short-term intern who had been a wonderful employee, and that some turnover in the department was due to retirement. Erchinger suggested that council ask the auditors when they were here to give their presentation how Seward compared with other communities,because they also audited several other communities.Erchinger added that one big difference between Seward and other communities was the level of grants that the city had to manage. Motion Passed Yes: Horn,McClure,Keil, Slater, Squires No: Towsley, Casagranda City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes Apri123, 2018 Volume 39, Page 425 Other New Business Discuss setting camping and parking tariffs. Casagranda had attended the Planning&Zoning meeting for the camping code development, and she thought it would be appropriate for the city to have a tariff to address parking and campground fees and definitions. Erchinger said campgrounds fell under the General Fund,and so the fees for camping were established through fee schedules;all Enterprise Funds had tariffs.The Parking Department had a fee schedule that was set by council resolution;there were few fees associated with parking. In response to Casagranda,Long suggested administration could create a general information website page or pamphlet for people to more easily understand fees and definitions. Long said administration would draft information about parking and camping, and then share it with council. Discuss and/or schedule a work session for Brad Snowden's cruise ship dock concept. Keil recalled that there had been a study done to analyze the viability of having a cruise ship dock,and she thought that because it was an earthquake zone,it wasn't feasible. She requested that the study information be located and shared with council in advance of a work session. Long reported the B Street Study results stated that no federal monies could be used toward a cruise ship dock off Waterfront Park because it was in the earthquake zone,but private monies could be. Long added that, separate from site selection, asking the cruise ship companies whether they thought there needed to be a new/second cruise ship dock would be an important question to ask, among many other considerations. Squires had met with Brad Snowden earlier today, and Snowden had received information about a 1980s review from the Alaska SeaLife Center. Squires added that there was more than one location being proposed. Squires said that Snowden was willing to do the legwork on gathering information in preparation for a work session. Council scheduled a work session to discuss Brad Snowden's cruise ship dock concept on Monday,July 9,2018 at 6:00 p.m. Discuss city manager's goals. Council scheduled a work session to discuss the city manager's goals on Monday, May 14, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. Discuss training opportunities and letter from Jane Boer. In response to Squires, the training scheduled for council, boards, and commissions on Tuesday,May 15,2018 was open to the public and would cover the topics of Open Meetings Act and Parliamentary Procedures, and potentially ethics. City ofSeward,Alaska City Council Minutes Apri123, 2018 Volume 39, Page 426 INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS On-Going City Projects and Goals. COUNCIL COMMENTS Towsley said laydowns were included in the legislative history/packets on the city's website. CITIZEN COMMENTS Patrick Messmer said there was no intention for the union to switch retirement systems. Unions were created to protect workers from mobsters, to end child labor, and to demolish sweat shops. Employees were communicating to Messmer that they feared retaliation. Brad Snowden said thank you. Jason Ebberson was an IBEW Shop Steward.He was offended by the city attorney's earlier comments comparing the brotherhood of a union to a mafia, and he wanted an apology from the attorney. Melody Jordan thought that adding a seasonal turn-on/turn-off fee was disingenuous at best; she didn't think it was fair to have a charge for a service that wasn't being provided. Heather Shank thanked everyone for the support of the bike park. There had been a good turnout yesterday for their fundraiser. Carol Griswold supported the camping ordinance. She was concerned that employee campground discussions had not been fully vetted;she wanted the language from the former code to be retained. She also wanted to see a requirement created for providing safe housing for temporary seasonal employees,and dis-allowing unsecure tents.She didn't feel that the employee campground section of the ordinance was ready for approval. Griswold thought winter camping should not be allowed. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Long said the city had not lobbied against the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home; the contract that the city had in place allowed the FJLH to have full custody and control of the property until June, 2019. Administration was concerned that the work would not be accomplished by the FJLH and that the city would get stuck with the property and not have the funds necessary to address the issues. McClure thanked Heather Shank for speaking about the bike park event, and said she was proud of the work being done by the volunteers. Squires agreed that the camping ordinance might need some more work. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes Apri123, 2018 Volume 39, Page 427 Casagranda thanked Laura Schneider and Christy Terry for the great work on organizing the Seward Marine Industrial Center relaunch. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m. �or/ i Com. 14. Bre 'da J. 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