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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09242018 City Council Minutes City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 520 CALL TO ORDER The September 24,2018 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor David Squires. OPENING CEREMONY Lt. Alan Nickell led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: David Squires presiding and Marianna Keil Ristine Casagranda Sue McClure Suzanne Towsley Jeremy Horn Sharyl Seese comprising a quorum of the Council; and Jeff Bridges,Interim City Manager Brenda Ballon, City Clerk Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Brad Snowden said the governor would be visiting Seward on October 11, 2018, and Snowden thought it would be a good opportunity for the city to speak with him about the Seward airport, particularly about getting a 6,000 foot runway. Jane Belovarac and Christiana Smith were members of S.O.S. Pets, and they wanted to express their support for Resolution 2018-080.The land was in a good location near the schools,and was also a good location for emergency evacuations of pets since the high school served as an evacuation site for citizens. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda McClure removed August 27, 2018 minutes from consent. Seese removed Resolution 2018-080 from the consent agenda. Motion Passed Unanimous City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 521 The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Approval of the August 13,2018 Regular Meeting Minutes. Approval of the August 16, 2018 Special Meeting Minutes. Approval of the August 22, 2018 Special Meeting Minutes. Approval of the September 10, 2018 Regular Meeting Minutes. Resolution 2018-078, Requesting That The Council Adopt The 2018 Seward Historic Preservation Commission Priorities List. Resolution 2018-079,Authorizing Signatures For All City Bank Accounts And Rescinding All Previous Resolutions In Conflict Herewith. SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations & Awards Acknowledging Darryl Schaefermeyer's retirement from the Alaska SeaLife Center after 25 years of service Fire Prevention Month Recognizing Mike& Susie McHone for Emergency Services with Seward Volunteer Fire Department, Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department, and Seward Volunteer Ambulance Corps Recognizing Mike McHone's retirement from the City of Seward after 30 years of service Chamber of Commerce Report. Cindy Clock reported that membership was up to 415 businesses. Elizabeth Hashem joined the chamber staff as the new Events Coordinator. Historically,the chamber saw between 14,000 and 16,000 visitors come through their doors, but this year there had only been 11,500 visitors; Clock attributed the downturn to more online visitation rather than in person. The Seward Business Network resumed meetings on the first and third Thursdays every month at 8:00 a.m. at the Breeze Inn restaurant. Twinklefest would be held the first weekend in December, 2018. The Blue Pipeline Open House was held September 22, 2018.Meet The Candidates Night would be September 26,2018 at 5:00 p.m. in council chambers. The next chamber membership luncheon would be September 28, 2018 and would feature Gary Stotler, a motivational speaker. The State Harbormasters Conference would be held in Seward October 8— 12,2018. Governor Walker would be holding a town hall meeting while he was here for the conference at the library at 4:30 p.m. on October 11, 2018. City Manager Report. Assistant City Manager Brennan Hickok reported the following purchase orders between $10,000 and $50,000 have been approved by the City Manager since the City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 522 last council meeting: None. Hickok introduced and welcomed Interim City Manager Jeff Bridges. The Harbormasters Conference would be October 8-12,2018;State Senator Peter Micciche would be at the conference on October 0,2018,and Governor Walker would be at the conference on October 11,2018 to sign SB 92 for derelict vessels. A new curator had been hired for the museum. Rebekah Ivy was commended for her professionalism during the recent unscheduled outage last week. Welcomed Becky Roy as the new payroll person. MIS Director Mike Meeks reported that the city had experienced a server crash last week; the MIS Department worked with Microsoft to get things up and running.Meeks also worked with Telalaska to repair a firewall issue. All systems were up and running as of today. In response to Towsley,Meeks said anyone who had a gap in their emails should notify Meeks. In response to Casagranda,Bridges said administration would bring forward the"pros"for opting back into Public Employees Relations Act(PERA). City Attorney Report. The City Attorney Report is being provided in tonight's agenda packet, but will not be discussed until the October 8, 2018 meeting when the City Attorney is present. Other Reports,Announcements and Presentations PND Engineers presentation on the proposed Seward cruise ship dock concepts PUBLIC HEARINGS Ordinances for Public Hearing& Enactment Ordinance 2018-006,Amending Seward City Code Title 6,Entitled "Purchasing,Contracts And Professional Services,"And Section 7.05.510,Entitled"Easements And Right-Of-Way," By Decreasing The Purchase Amount Limit The City Manager Is Authorized To Make Without Advertising Or Previous Action By The City Council From $50,000 To $10,000 In Any One Item And Adding Language To Section 6.05.010,Entitled"Purchases Of$50,000 Or Less," Require The City Manager To Report All Purchases Between$5,000 And$10,000 To The City Council. This ordinance was introduced on September 10, 2018 and is coming tonight for a public hearing and enactment. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Enact Ordinance 2018-006 Bridges provided a laydown which showed a breakdown of purchase orders since 2014. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 523 Willard Dunham thought this ordinance was taking a step backward. In today's world, purchases tended to run a little higher in cost. He could understand why council might want to review some purchases, but thought smaller size purchases would be more troublesome. He cautioned council about getting too involved with purchases. No one else appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Casagranda said this ordinance had been discussed quite a bit when it was introduced; she brought this forward due to a lack of trust, and because other communities had lower spending limits. She understood that the intention with raising the spending limit to$50,000 previously was to improve efficiencies, but she didn't think it was appropriate anymore. Motion to Amend (Casagranda/Towsley) Amend Ordinance 2018-006 by striking "$10,000" and replacing it with "$30,000". Motion to Amend Passed Yes: Horn, Casagranda, Towsley, Seese, McClure, Squires No: Keil Main Motion Passed Yes: Seese,McClure,Towsley,Casagranda, Horn No: Keil, Squires Ordinance 2018-007,Adopting Seward Municipal Code Chapter 9.35,Entitled "Plastic Bags And Polystyrene Containers,"To Prohibit The Use Of Non-Biodegradable Plastic Carry-Out Bags,And Polystyrene Foam Disposable Food Service Ware In The City Of Seward. This ordinance was introduced on September 10, 2018 and is coming tonight for a public hearing and enactment. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Enact Ordinance 2018-007 Bridges recommended amending the implementation date, and some ensuring that advance notice would be provided to business owners. Squires passed the gavel to Keil and declared a potential conflict of interest because he was co- owner in a retail store and they used plastic bags in the store.Keil declared that Squires had a conflict of interest. There was an objection from council over the ruling. A vote of council failed to overturn the ruling, and Squires left the dais. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. Lori Landstrom was a board member of Sustainable Seward,which was a community group focused on reducing waste. She was speaking as a private citizen and not a board member. Landstrom said much of Seward's local economy relied upon marine services. She believed this City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 524 ordinance would go far to protect Seward's environment and future interests. She suggested an implementation date of Summer 2019 to allow stores and restaurants to use up their inventory. Brenan Hornseth thanked council for bringing this ordinance forward. He supported this action. Hornseth was a member of Sustainable Seward, but was speaking for himself. He was concerned with plastic bags and their effect on the environment. He encouraged people to use reuseable bags for shopping. He thought a 6-9 month implementation date would be appropriate. Regarding enforcement,Hornseth said Seward City Code addressed violations and penalties;a code compliance officer may be a good idea, but there could simply be a lot of community support to enforce it. Lynda Paquette wanted to say how pleased she was with this ordinance coming forward. She said in Germany they moved away from using plastic bags by charging for them. Andy Bacon supported this ordinance, and thanked council for bringing this forward. He thought more and more communities were enacting ordinances of this type. He believed, from his own experience, that reusable grocery bags would catch on quickly once people realized that no plastic bags were available.He requested to eliminate the reference to the thickness of bags,and also to allow for a 6-9 month implementation roll out. Norm Regis recommended that the implementation date take into consideration that many seasonal businesses have already closed for the season;perhaps delay the implementation to the end of next summer. Anthony Baclaan was a member of Sustainable Seward, as well as a local small business owner. He was already using biodegradable containers at his business. Several business owners he spoke with had already started adopting the ban. Melody Jordan wished to see this ordinance enacted. The implementation date might be tough,but the adoption of this ordinance she thought would be painless. She had shopped in stores where plastic bags had been eliminated, and found it to be easy to accommodate. No one else appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Motion to Amend (McClure/Seese) Amend Ordinance 2018-007 by adding a new Section 2, "Implementation Date will be October 1, 2019" and moving the next section down. Motion to Amend Passed Yes: Towsley,McClure,Keil,Seese No: Casagranda,Horn Motion to Amend (Casagranda/Towsley) Amend Ordinance 2018-007 under 9.35.010 Definitions by striking, "...and that is less than two and one-quarter mils thick..." City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 525 under the definition for plastic carry-out bags. I Council suspended the rules to ask Andy Bacon some questions In response to Casagranda, Andy Bacon said there was a lot to plastic bags that most laypeople did not know. He was concerned that enforcement would be difficult because of the difficulty with measuring thickness. Council went back on the rules. Motion to Amend Passed Yes:Towsley,Casagranda,Seese,McClure No: Keil, Horn Motion to Amend (Casagranda/Seese) Amend Ordinance 2018-007 by creating a new Section 9.35.030 entitled "Violations and penalties". Motion to Amend withdrawn with no objection from council. Main Motion Passed Unanimous Council recessed at 8:54 p.m. Council resumed at 9:01 p.m. Squires returned to the dais. Ordinance 2018-008,Amending Title 3,Chapter 15,Salary Administration to Require Council Approval of the City Manager's Review and Recommendations for External Equity. This ordinance was introduced on September 10, 2018 and is coming tonight for a public hearing and enactment. Motion (Keil/Casagranda) Enact Ordinance 2018-008 Bridges said each council set their own limits as they were comfortable. Once the union was put in place,only non-union employees would be eligible. In response to Keil,Bridges said council would have to be able to review the employee's current salary, and compare that to supporting documentation provided in order to make a determination on whether to grant external equity. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. Patrick Messmer supported this ordinance, whether the decision rested with the city manager or council. He was most concerned with transparency, and thought that as public servants all employee salaries should be made public. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 526 No one else appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Casagranda said external equity was something used to attract or retain an employee,based on a comparison with other external employers or communities. She did not think that individual employee records would have to be reviewed or disclosed in order for council to make decisions.In response to Keil, Casagranda said she was not suggesting that anyone currently receiving external equity should lose it. McClure was concerned that this would be perceived with interfering with personnel matters. Bridges suggested that council would have to prepare for was to vote on an individual's pay. In response to Towsley, Casagranda said any employee could potentially receive an external equity consideration. Casagranda added that according to state statutes, public employee salaries were public record. Squires thought this ordinance would limit the city manager's ability to attract new talent. In response to Towsley, Bridges said an alternative to passing this ordinance would be for council to consider a revised pay scale for employees with the biennial budget. Motion to Amend (Casagranda/Towsley) Amend Ordinance 2018-008 in Section 1(c) to read,"The City Manager may adjust the pay plan to account for external equity and report to City Council within one month of approval..." Motion to Amend Passed Yes: Seese,Towsley,Horn,Casagranda, McClure,Keil No: Squires Main Motion Passed Yes:McClure,Towsley,Casagranda,Seese No: Keil,Horn, Squires UNFINISHED BUSINESS—None NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2018-080, Recommending That The Alice Pickett Memorial Animal Shelter Be Relocated To Lot 6A-2 Fort Raymond Subdivision Replat Number Three,Located At 605 Sea Lion Avenue,Within The Institutional(INS) Zoning District. Motion(Keil/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2018-080 City Planner Jackie Wilde said this resolution proposed to relocate the animal shelter to the lot just west of the Electric Warehouse on Sea Lion Avenue,with the driveway and parking access coming out onto Sea Lion Avenue. City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 527 Motion Passed Unanimous Other New Business Approval of the August 27,2018 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion (McClure/Keil) Approve the August 27, 2018 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion to Amend (McClure/Keil) Amend the August 27,2018 Regular Meeting Minutes under the City Manager Report for City Planner Jackie Wilde's comments so it reads,"...Last year,the city collected a little over$53000$500,000 in sales and bed tax and had a little over X000 $1,700 in penalties..." Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Main Motion Passed Unanimous Consent Review citizen applications and make selections on participants for the 50th Anniversary celebration in Obihiro,Japan in October,2018. Council Member Horn declared a potential conflict of interest because he was an applicant. Mayor Squires ruled that a conflict existed, and Horn left the dais. Motion (Keil/McClure) Send Mayor Squires to Japan along with six citizens as the delegation. Motion Failed Yes: Keil No: McClure,Towsley,Casagranda,Seese, Squires Motion (Casagranda/Seese) Send Mayor Squires along with nine citizens as the delegation. Motion Passed Yes: Towsley, McClure, Keil, Seese, Casagranda No: Squires City Clerk Brenda Ballou passed out Ballot#1 containing the names of the 13 applicants,and instructed council to eliminate four applicant names,thereby voting for the remaining nine to travel to Obihiro. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39,Page 528 The results of the first vote were: 5 Angela Schwertfeger Approved 5 Cathy Byars Approved 3 Dana Paperman 6 Erik Slater Approved 6 Hank West Approved 6 Jeremy Horn Approved 4 Kelley Wiley Lane Approved 6 Lynn Hohl Approved 4 Michael Meeks Approved 3 Rachel Gordon 2 Tom Swann 1 Lori Swarm 3 Vanessa Verhey Ballou passed out Ballot #2 containing the names of the five remaining applicants, and instructed council to eliminate four applicant names,thereby voting for the remaining one to travel to Obihiro. The results of the second vote were: 2 Dana Paperman 1 Rachel Gordon 3 Vanessa Verhey Approved By unanimous consent, council selected Dana Paperman to be the first alternate should anyone be unable to travel. Council directed the city clerk to obtain Seward city flags for presentation to Kushiro and Obihiro. Council Member Horn returned to the dais. Discuss Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics. (Keil) Keil said she met with Lynda Paquette today and they discussed creating a grassroots effort to draft a code of conduct and code of ethics with a citizen group,perhaps beginning in January,2019. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS Clerk's Report on Public Records Request for August, 2018. On-Going City Projects and Goals. Meet The Candidates Forum on September 26, 2018. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 529 Financial Reports for Providence Seward Medical and Care Center and the City of Seward through July, 2018. COUNCIL COMMENTS Seese thanked Darryl Schaefermeyer for his years of service. She said the Kenai Peninsula Borough gave a discount to businesses when their sales tax remittance was timely;perhaps the city could consider that approach for bed tax. Horn thanked Schaefermeyer for his service,and thanked council and the city for selecting him for the trip to Obihiro. Hank West would be interested in providing a Japanese language workshop for all attendees. Casagranda echoed congratulations for the McHones and Darryl Schaefermeyer;their service was commendable. She thought the report of sales and bed tax revenues should be more than $1 million. Seward High School football played in Homer this weekend and they were inspirational. Keil thanked the McHones for their service as well as Darryl Schaefermeyer. Keil was looking forward to working with Lynda Paquette. She wished Squires a happy trip to Washington DC and Japan. McClure thanked the McHones and Darryl Schaefermeyer. She noticed some high school students in the audience tonight,and encouraged everyone to attend council meetings.McClure gave a shout out to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting Meet The Candidates on Wednesday, September 26,2018 at 5:00 p.m. She reminded everyone that tomorrow night was a work session at 6:00 p.m. to discuss Transco. Towsley congratulated Schaefermeyer and the McHones, and wished them all a happy retirement. She reminded the public to let council know how they felt about the cruise ship dock proposal.Towsley was thrilled that an investigation would move forward.Election Day was October 2, 2018. Squires congratulated Darryl Schaefermeyer on his retirement. He was sorry to see the McHones go. Squires announced he would be out of state starting Sept 27, 2018, and that Vice Mayor Keil would be providing the welcome at the Harbormasters Conference. CITIZEN COMMENTS Willard Dunham thought the cruise ship dock concept was interesting.Following the 1964 earthquake, it took a lot of work to re-establish the harbor infrastructure. He cautioned council to remember there were almost 6,000 people in this town that needed support throughout the year,not just for 120 days each year.He was concerned that the cruise ship industry could take over the town and eliminate he diversity of Seward's businesses to its detriment. Council recessed until September 25,2018 at 5:00 p.m. Council resumed on September 25,2018 at 5:00 p.m. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 530 ROLL CALL There were present: David Squires presiding and Marianna Keil Ristine Casagranda Sue McClure Suzanne Towsley Jeremy Horn Sharyl Seese comprising a quorum of the Council; and Jeff Bridges,Interim City Manager Brenda Ballou, City Clerk Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS Brooke Andrews appreciated the live streaming through Seward Civic Engagement.She was concerned about cruise ship dock proposal,especially as it impacted commercial fishing. City Attorney Will Earnhart joined the meeting telephonically. Lynda Paquette announced that there had been a resolution and ordinance training done by Seward Civic Engagement on September 20, 2018, and the replay could be found on Facebook. October 4,2018 would be the next meeting. Future topics would be citizen initiatives and budgets. This winter,the group would be looking to develop code of conduct/code of ethics. Regarding the cruise ship concept,Paquette thought we should look at how ships were evolving and perhaps try to address that. Rhonda Bohart was very opposed to the cruise ship dock. She didn't think it made sense to expand by adding new docks. Motion to Reconsider(Horn/Keil) Reconsider Ordinance 2018-007 Squires removed himself from the dais. Motion to Reconsider Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Horn/McClure) Amend Ordinance 2018-007 under 935.010 Definitions by reinstating the original language,"...and that is less than two and one-quarter mils thick..." under the definition for plastic carry-out bags. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 531 Main Motion Unanimous COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Seese agreed that the city could focus on doing more with the current cruise ship dock. Horn thought the proposed cruise ship timeframe was unrealistic. Casagranda thanked Lynda Paquette for providing a conduit for education to the public,and for being so engaged in the city activities. Keil concurred that the current railroad cruise facility should be the focus. McClure agreed with that sentiment; she had an outpouring of citizen comments. Towsley agreed with the concerns raised about the cruise ship dock. Squires said the presentation last night was intended to provide a fair chance for the public to hear the concept; he encouraged the public to continue to share their thoughts about the concept. EXECUTIVE SESSION Motion (Casagranda/Towsley) Go into Executive Session to discuss the perceived threatened litigation made by the finance director during the August 22,2018 Special Meeting. City Attorney Will Earnhart said it was his opinion that there was no legitimate threat of litigation and, therefore, he did not recommend council going into executive session. In response to Towsley, Earnhart said if council had concerns about the finance director's behavior, they could provide direction to the city manager to investigate the propriety of the statements. Towsley stated that the council,as a body,had not voted to pass communications through the mayor;there were other protocols set up in council rules of procedure.Casagranda added that it was also the protocol that council members had the ability to contact the city manager directly without going through the mayor. Motion withdrawn with no objection from council. Motion (Casagranda/Seese) Direct the city manager to investigate the propriety of the statements made by the finance director on August 22, 2018 to determine if in violation of the city's defamation and harassment policy,and,to investigate the allegations of fraud against City ofSeward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 532 Towsley, and provide a report to the public. Motion Passed Yes: Keil, McClure,Horn, Squires No: Seese, Towsley, Casagranda Motion to Amend (Towsley/Casagranda) Amend the direction to the city manager by adding,"...and to determine if there was a violation of confidentiality or personnel code, ..." so that it reads: Direct the city manager to investigate the propriety of all the statements made by the finance director on August 22, 2018 to determine if in violation of the city's defamation and harassment policy and to determine if there was a violation of confidentiality or personnel code, and to investigate the allegations of fraud against Towsley, and provide a report to the public. Keil objected to the motion on the grounds that this was a take back motion,and requested a recess to research parliamentary procedure. Council recessed at 5:47 p.m. Council resumed at 5:58 p.m. Ballou stated this was not a take back motion, and recommended council continue with the vote. * Bridges stated that any party subject to the investigation would not be privy to the progress of the investigation to which council raised no objection. Motion to Amend Passed Yes: Horn, Casagranda, Towsley, Seese No: Keil, McClure, Squires ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:59 p.m. 1 3C, Br ndi ' :: �' '�i•' .`° David Squires City�loc,� Two. Mayor (Cit31* ) SEAL t . t. �, .• .• , 1 •.••?., . • ��ti�rF�OF P r%** City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes September 24, 2018 Volume 39, Page 533 *Clerk's Note: These minutes were brought forward for council approval on October 8, 2018, and were not approved. Regarding the portion of the minutes relating to the Executive Session, Keil restated her original objection to allowing the second motion to be made on the grounds that it was a take back motion. The approval of the minutes was postponed to the October 22, 2018 meeting. Upon further research, the City Clerk concurs with Keil that the second motion was a take back and should have been done as a reconsideration, which is a motion that could only have been made by someone voting on the prevailing side of the first motion. Since Towsley did not vote on the prevailing side of the first motion, the motion to reconsider could only have been made by Keil, McClure, Horn, or Squires. The direction given was put into action immediately by the city manager following the September 24, 2018 meeting, and cannot be taken back so the action must stand, even though the voting action took place via a parliamentarian error.